#my tablet pen. is not in this country at present.

[sidelys]

thank you imperishable night for twenty years (yesterday) of service to yuri and for being my favourite video game

[theoriginaldick]

I hope this question isn't offensive, however I was wondering why your drawing set up is.. on the floor. Also also!! What tablet do you have? What software do you like beat? I'm looking at getting a graphics tablet for my graduation present to myself and can't decide which one to get.

Its on the floor because I just moved across the country and don't have the means at all to get my desk to my house yet. I'm also disabled and as are my friends so unfortunately moving it here whenever is outta the question (this is my setup at the moment, sorry for the mess. I literally have to sleep on the floor too rn it sucks)

The tablet I currently use is a gaomon pd1560 (its got a screen). I've been using one for over 6 years now and despite the annoyance of having to charge the pen and having short cables, it's an incredibly sturdy tablet and also very good for a starter. Even with a giant fucking fucking shatter this thing is still alive and kicking. It's only still together because of the screen protector I'm pretty sure and the cracks get bigger sometimes from frequent use, but I've been using it with a shattered screen for like 2 years now and it still works fine.

As for program, I use clip studio, but I used to use paint tool sai. I recommend either of them! Microsoft paint is also a good start too if you use a PC, especially since they recently added layers to the program. Its where I started as a digital artist personally.

Clip is over 100 Usd to buy the programs (I own both PRO and EX) but you can do a monthly subscription for cheaper

Sai isnt super expensive, I think the last I checked it was under 60 USD

And MS Paint is free!

[a-dell]

Tablet and Studying

Hi! I'm Adel, a Food Technology student. Today, I'm gonna talk about how getting a tablet affected my grades and changed the way I study (completely).

So, I know that Ipads are kind of overhyped. Like, I've seen youtubers such as studyquill and fayefilms talks about overhyped study trend and Ipad is included in both videos together with things such as fancy stationary.

Coming from a childhood where I watch youtubers using fancy things such as sharpies, mildliners, and tombow brush pen (yes in my country sharpies are sooo expensive, they're very uncommon and for the price of 1 sharpie I can get like 10 regular markers) I used to think that I need those fancy things to recreate what they're making. Until I actually saved money and bought the exact same things, I still can't recreate it lmao. So I know that I don't need fancy things and I can just utilize what I already have.

A little background information, my GPA in 1st semester was hella good, it was 3.97. But then I had to take academic leave during my 2nd and 3rd semester to work full time. Coming back from 1 year of academic leave, I can say I forgot how to study :D My GPA falls to 3.56 real quick. It was drastic and I had a pretty bad mental breakdown, considering I used to have such high GPA.

The next semester, the grades were dropping again as the classes transitioned from hybrid into fully offline class + I am still working full time. I had a rough time trying to balance work and studying. My GPA was 3.33! However at this point I started to get chill about it, but I know I have to go back on track (my target is to maintain my overall GPA to be above 3.5).

During the 1st semester, I was studying at least 3 hours/day and it can go up to 12 hours/day during exam season. I utilized traditional note taking, but I do type down my notes sometimes. But mostly I use pen and paper. However, I can't continue this method of studying on my 4th semester because I am working full time. I have no time to write down my notes with hand, that's why I upgraded my laptop. I started typing all of my notes down. I also bought a pen tablet to handwrite organic chemistry answers (because handwriting on paper and digitalizing it during exam is sooo stressful, might as well get a pen tablet). But then this method isn't that useful since my grades were dropping.

So in the 5th semester I started to type out everything I hear during lecture and stopped using the pen tablet. At this time I stopped bringing pen and paper, I only bring my laptop. I only used the pen tablet once during the final exam and I don't feel the need to use it anymore, so I sold it. However this method also doesn't work for me because during class I would just open a bunch of games and started playing instead of listening to the lecture. So using laptop to study also not really helpful for me. My laptop is big and heavy so my back was hurting as well. At this point I know I won't be able to bring my laptop everyday to campus and I might need to buy a tablet. Not only for health reason, but this time I really need to find new method of studying since other digital methods are not working for me. I feel like tablet would also motivates me (but at this point I'm still not sure with this).

So, for my 20th birthday, I bought myself a Xiaomi Pad 5 with 8GB RAM and 256GB of internal storage. I wanted to get an Ipad so that I can use the goodnotes app, but I can't afford it. Learning from my past experience, I know I can still use alternatives to achieve the same thing (study, ofc). So I went for the cheaper version and hands down, this was the best big girl purchase I've ever made to this day. I started exploring different apps for note taking and eventually bought the stylus as well. I used to use Samsung notes on my laptop but I can't seem to install it in my tablet, so I use an app called Flexcil, which I recommend! I started writing down important notes directly on the lecture presentation. I record every lecture and started engaging in class whenever I can. At first, it was really hard because I'm not the type of person that likes "attention" in class and I don't like to raise my hand because people will look at me. I was scared of being judged. But after I started answering and asking questions to the lecturer, it became much easier for me to understand the material.

I mean I do play games sometimes during class and I don't feel like writing. In those days, I only record the lecture and highlight important points. I usually ask my friend for their notes on the day I don't feel like studying in class. I mean, there would always be good and bad days, right?

Fast forward to midterm exam, it became easier to study because all I have to do when reviewing is to read my handwritten notes. If there's anything I don't understand, I just simply replay the lecturer recording. I started asking my friend for tutoring and help. If none of my friend is able to help me, I will seek help from the lecturer. This helped me so much and my grades were going up like crazy. My GPA this semester was 3.92 (!!!).

It's really crazy considering I was going from 3.33 to 3.92, a 0.59 increase! Took me a while to find this method but I am grateful that I am able to make it work. My big girl purchase feels so worth it. Although I believe that this can be achieved by printing out the handouts and jot down notes using a pen, but a tablet definitely helped me so much since adding pictures and definitions is just one google search away.

I definitely did not expect that getting a tablet would change me so much. But yeah, it definitely gives me confidence boost and motivates me to study more. Making this type of digital note helped me focus (because I have to take down notes with stylus instead of typing) and understand the materials, making me able to engage with the lecturer during class. Being active in class helps me retain information better, resulting in better grades.

If you want to step up your studying game, you definitely have to try to engage during class because I really do think this was the biggest turning point in my studying life.

Prepare handouts before class (read if possible).

Take down notes directly during class (important points, don't forget to record the lecture to help during review)

Engage in class activities

Try to answer questions and ask if you don't understand (even if it means your lecturer has to re-explain the whole part, you can ask them outside class hours)

Get what you need to get in order to motivates you to study

Take care of yourself!! (eat good food, good sleep, drink water)

I hope my story can give you my point of view of using a tablet for studying.

[litbanana]

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#Can you get microsoft office on mac install#

Sign in to My Account to install and manage Office. My Office Account page where they can install Office, and view and manage their own installs. Any available Office installs for PC, Mac, tablets, and smartphones.When you share your Office 365 Family subscription, each person gets: Share Office 365- Who has your Office 365 Family licenses? If I define a random person to be part of my “Microsoft Family”, can I share 365 with them? If I am sharing a "house" with non-family members (ie students sharing a house, or “Friends” the TV series), can we “share” a subscription? What are MS's definitions of a "household" and “family”?Ĭan I share with a child/parent/sibling/cousin/in-law who is not living at that ame address?ĭo you have to be biologically related to share?ĭo you have to be related "legally", ie marriage, to share?ĭoes a same sex partner, (AKA "Friend") qualify for a share? But there is no explicit definition of limits on who you can share with, other than saying “household” on one page and “family”

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This page gives a good description of how to Share 365 and what the share receiver gets. Share your subscription with up to 5 other people in your family. If you've purchased Office 365 Home, you can share your subscription benefits with up to five other people in your household. Share your MS 365 Family (Office 365 Family) Subscription (share 365 Family) Make sure you go to the partner page for the right country, I’ve found that the offers are country specific. More information and a link to the Partner page. Along the way I found some existing "free" "Partner Benefits" available to existing Office 365 Home and Personal subscriptions. I was doing some digging into the upcoming change to Microsoft 365. Screen Captures of the MyAccount Site - 365 Installation Instructions Links in index on left side of page for 2016/20, and activation instructions

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[juminsmysticmc]

Hey, it’s me, the one who request the moth headcanon, sorry about the trouble and if it’s okay, instead I would like to see an MC who’s major is digital arts and animation. If not, it’s fine, just have a great day.

RFA + Minor Trio with a Mc who's major is digital arts and animations

Hey! It was no trouble at all! I hope that it’s okay for you tho, I am happy that you could request something different! I hope you enjoy this one too! Have a nice day!

Jumin

Your husband observed you. Ever since he installed a room for you alone in his penthouse, you could finally work from home a bit more.

He hadn’t realized that even before you came into the RFA, he had already worked with you.

Your major, digital arts and animation, was often used for his advertising or other programs.

You often wanted to meet the CEO, but since he always thought that you would be just a gold digger, he always rejected you, just making Jaehee send emails with the things he wanted to have inserted.

Well, today he regretted his choice back then.

Instead, he observed you.

You were working on a new project.

,,How many years did you have to study? I mean, you have so many majors… Design Director, Storyboard Director, I didn’t know, you were multitalented, my love,’’ he praised you.

You even worked a lot with the audio.

You looked up and smiled at your husband.

,,Thank you, my love. I’m trying to make your latest project work. Wanna see?’’ you asked him.

However he knew that your work would be amazing and wanted to have it be a surprise rather than get spoiled.

Zen

Your boyfriend never understood how you could be such a good multitasker.

You could cook, set the table, chat with Jaehee, and even post something on your blog.

But once he saw you at work, he understood.

It had something to do with your job.

You had to work in different kinds of media at the same time.

,,This isn’t just one,’’ you told him and scrolled through your phone.

Your long hair was in your way so you put it away with one hand.

,,I have to work with the sound, video, and stop-motion graphics at the same time. I do this and much more, but I don’t want to annoy you,’’ you laughed as you looked up.

,,You don’t annoy me, Mrs. Director,’’ he laughed and kissed you.

You were even the director of a whole section and helped new students get into the job.

,,Okay, so, see this video?’’ you showed him an animated movie you just got via email.

,,This was made by my students, but she used the wrong program because the audio is slightly separated from the video itself,’’ you told him.

He hadn’t noticed anything at first, but after you told him, he saw it too.

,,And you noticed after a few seconds? You’re amazing!’’ he smiled and looked over your shoulders. You were still cooking.

Yoosung

Your husband wondered why he never saw you or met you since your college wasn’t that far away from his building.

But thank God both of you finally met thanks to the RFA.

He was also amazed by you because you were pretty famous among students.

You even had your own blog and of course you programmed everything yourself.

It looked amazing.

You had every single section working in there, but your point was the digital arts and animation.

,,Did you really have to submit a portfolio to be admitted?’’ he asked you when he read your latest blog.

You nodded at him as you typed something on your keyboard.

,,Mhm, especially to bachelor of fine arts,’’ you told him.

He didn’t quite understand, but he still nodded.

,,I didn’t have to,’’ he mumbled.

,,That’s why it’s written on there. The little word ,,may’’ says that you possibly have to, but not always,’’ you told him, making him sulk.

,,I know what ,,may’’ means… ah, and tell me. What are the admission requirements?’’ he asked you.

You turned your head and looked at him.

,,Can you maybe read the whole post instead of just the keywords? You need to check on the page itself for the requirements. Every university does it differently,’’ you told him and closed the page.

,,Ah. I just wanted to test you,’’ he smiled and looked at you.

He looked so up to you. You always knew what the latest LOLOL update changed in the game. You were amazing...

Jaehee

,,What? You went to Harvard University?’’ Zen asked you. He didn’t know that he was in a group with such an intelligent person and you were even Jaehee’s girlfriend.

You nodded.

,,She’s also very creative. Did you see our advertisement? She did it herself. Pretty amazing, right?!’’ Jaehee said proudly, no one had ever seen her that excited.

You changed her.

You and Jaehee also often went to different festivals to check the latest innovations. It was something even Jaehee was interested in.

And thanks to you, she even understood a few things since you were very good at explaining things.

,,Should we buy this new keyboard? It fits much better than the one you have now in your studio,’’ she told you and admired the keyboard in front of you.

She looked up to you since you were such a hard worker as a owner of a coffee shop and even a designer of word advertisements and 2d animation.

Saeyoung

,,You make pretty good money, huh?’’ he asked you as he looked around.

Your studio just looked so aesthetically pleasing in the middle of Seoul.

You shrugged your shoulders as you kept typing something.

Then you took your pen between your fingers and began to draw something.

You were a storyboard artist.

Saeyoung, your finacé, loved to watch you.

He sometimes even helped you when a program stopped working.

,,Look, which one do you like more?’’ you asked him as you turned your screen towards him to show him a park.

,,Mh, I don’t know. What’s the story? LIke, this one looks cute as if you’re in a fairy tale, but this one looks more realistic,’’ he answered, making you turn the display again.

You nodded and stood up, taking your jacket and facing your fiancé. ,,We are going to the park now,’’ you said and pulled him by the hand.

That’s what he loved about you.

He, too, was someone who would simply do his work, but you wanted to give your best, even at  that moment.

At the end of the day, you however, knew which one you would decide on and you were happy that Saeyoung opened your eyes.

Saeran

,,Mc! It’s so nice to see you here!’’ someone said and hugged you.

Saeran observed the person who was so happy to see you.

Both of you were in a foreign country and people still knew you?

You hugged the person who was apparently named Mira.

,,Saeran, this was my teacher, Mira,’’ you said and told Mira about your boyfriend.

She was so happy to see that you got a boyfriend.

,,Have fun here and go visit Josef! He will be happy to see you!’’ she said, meaning your other teacher.

You took Saeran and with him you walked through every department.

,,They try to motivate you to be creative, get started, start your own company, make your own shows, produce medical videos or animations, and they want you to learn things by doing,’’ you explained.

At some point, you arrived at a place that was lit by lights. Students had pencils in their hands and they began to draw something on their papers. This was something that amazed Saeran.

,,I thought it’s digital art,’’ he whispered.

You nodded. ,,They first try to make you get used to it. When you’re ready, you can move to the digital version,’’ you told him and observed the students.

It was a pretty good day and Saeran also enjoyed seeing you presentate something on a stage about your own work in South Korea.

He was proud of you.

Jihyun

Hand in hand, both of you walked into an institute to talk about digital art.

Jihyun also liked art a lot. However, he was a painter.

But your art was also something beautiful in his eyes.

He once tried it, but failed.

,,I remember back then, I also was unsure if digital art was real art, but after I saw it myself… I’m sorry I was like that back then… so don’t give up if people are the same here as in this art institute,’’ he told you.

You nodded.

Your goal was it to teach digital art in that institute and they first invited you to talk about it.

They first invited you in and then they were ready to listen to you.

,,Thank you for your words,’’ the older man said and nodded.

,,However, digital art is, itself, placed under the larger umbrella term new media art that doesn’t require any effort, Mrs. Kim. Digital art is not considered real art,’’ he said and closed his book with the notes.

,,Why did you invite my wife then?’’ Jihyun asked as you watched your dreams get crushed in front of your eyes.

No one dared to say anything. Were you just the laugh stock? Why did you even make the effort? You were ready to give up when Jihyun began to say something again. ,,I can understand you. At first we thought that digital art was easy. Why should we ask a teacher to teach us? I’m an artist myself and I thought like that too, but here too, just like the art with real pens and colors, you need to start with it gradually. I experienced it myself and I was surprised by how difficult it was. I beg you, try at least once to draw a forest in digital art,’’ Jihyun said, begging the person in front of him.

,,Very well, I have been an artist since my twenties and I am now sixty years old,’’ he laughed and took your tablet, ready to draw.

While he was drawing, you did the same on the second tablet and a bit later you all noticed the difference, making them all apologize to you.

,,I can’t thank you enough,’’ you sobbed as both of you walked out of the room, you overjoyed about the good news.

,,I told you not to give up on them. They were just like me,’’ he laughed and kissed your hand before you could both go and pick up Lucy at Jumin’s penthouse.

Vanderwood

When he first saw your room, not Rika’s, but your own home, he was kind of shocked to know that you were almost like Agent 707.

He quickly noticed that just like him, you loved your profession.

It was something that satisfied you immediately ever since you first learned how things worked.

Indeed, animation was attracting more and more people and you were one of them.

,,Back then, when we lived in Japan, we somehow won a sightseeing trip and I got to see the Ghibli studio. I think that that was the moment I fell in love with it,’’ you told him as he looked around.

,,And then? I mean, Japan is one of the best countries to study animation, right?’’ he asked you. Vanderwood was truly interested in it.

He wanted to know everything about you.

The brown haired man wanted to know what made your eyes shine so brightly and why you were so in love with your job.

,,Uhm, yeah. Spain is the best country to study animation, but I also expected it to be Japan. Back then and still today, living there was too expensive. My parents wanted to move back to Korea and so I went to Spain to study my dream,’’ you laughed.

,,I’m amazed. I expected you to go with your parents,’’ he laughed and observed you.

,,I was amazed by myself too, you know? It was a hard decision, but I never regretted what I did. I could fulfil my dream and it’s my life after all.

And knowing more languages is even better because there are so many more opportunities,’’ you laughed.

,,Please never lock the door in other languages like Agent 707,’’

You laughed at his comment. ,,I won’t… but maybe something animated?’’ you teased him.

MASTERLIST 1

MASTERLIST 2

MASTERLIST 3

17.04.2021// 00:18 MEST

[lawslessons]

A Healing Touch (Law x Reader)

“It just takes one touch, and then you’ll know in an instant that they’re the one for you. They’ll be the one that heals you...”

Hello, dears! I hope you all enjoy this! This is the letter N from the soulmate list, nursing! The premise is that a touch from your soulmate is enough to heal any ailment, any illness forever. Because of my school work load and some health issues, I may be publishing less just to take care of myself. Thank you for understanding. Love you all!

Modern! Au

Warnings: Terminal/Chronic illness, medical devices, mentions of death

Synopsis: It had been years since they had first found out they were sick. Another broken down van and another hospital trip for them to hear news they already knew before: Their illness was chronic and slowly becoming worse as time went on. But one faithful encounter with a certain doctor may be enough to change their path for the better. 

“How many years has it been since we found out you had this? Seven? Eight?” Nami asked with a small sigh as she sat with her friend on the small chair that was by the hospital bed. Her friend smiled and shook their head.

“Ten,” Ten softly said as they looked up at the ceiling as the IV in their skin slowly inserted the fluids into their system. Their eyes were somewhat dull and the bags had become more prominent from the lack of sleep these past couple of days and the serious lack of nutrition.

“The feeding tube doesn’t look comfortable,” Nami winced as she looked at the tube inside of her friend’s nose. They laughed and smiled at Nami with an affectionate smile on their face.

“You’re right, it isn’t. But I need this, I haven’t been able to keep food down in days,” they pointed out as they looked at the monitors that were next to them and saw all the vitals they were presenting. “I’m sick of being in these damn hospitals all the time though,” They said as they rubbed their face in some frustration. “I want to be able to go back and explore and have fun with you and the gang again. This is just ridiculous at this point, I’m holding you guys back,” They frowned. Nami frowned with them and moved to hold onto their hand and squeeze it.

“No, no you’re not. You can’t control your illness, no one blames you for that. Besides, maybe we can finally find a doctor here that can actually give more answers inside of just giving you fluids,” Nami sighed, the woman read the look on her friend’s face and saw that they weren’t as confident as she was in having answers so soon for this illness.

“Maybe, I’m not sure,” they sighed. “It’s getting harder each time I’m stuck here,” they said as they looked at their wrist with the numerous hospital bands on it. Nami watched the light beginning to fade from her friend’s eyes and it broke her heart just a little more.

“We can look for another — “ Nami was quickly cut off by a knock on the door and someone opening the door.

“Is this (Y/N)?” A gruff and tired voice asked as he started to look through his tablet. Part of his face was obscured by his blue mask, but they were able to see some tattoos on his hands as he typed some vital work on his tablet. “I’m the immunology specialist here, I’m here on a special consult for your case,” He said as he checked the fluids being given to them and typed some more.

“What’s your name?” Nami asked.

“Doctor Law,” The man said as he stepped back from the vital machines and looked over at Nami and her friend for a brief second. “Alright, I’m starting you on a new course of antibiotics and we’re going to take some blood samples to get some tests run,” he said as he looked up from his tablet. “Any questions?” It didn’t look like he wanted to ask that, it seemed as if he was forced to ask that out of obligation for his job. They knew that, so they knew better than to ask, but Nami didn’t seem to know that.

“How do you know that you need to start them on something new? You didn’t even do an exam,” she pointed out.

“I don’t need to,” The doctor shrugged, and they sighed at that.

“Nami, it’s alright. It’s not like he’s going to find anything new about my condition anyways,” they sighed. But the moment the words left their lips, they regretted it. Law visibly scowled and he looked away from the two who were in the room with him.

“Excuse me. I need to check on some other patients now,” he said before he went to leave the room a bit rigidly. They both watched as Law left the room and winced when the door was closed a bit roughly behind him. Silence ensued for a moment before Nami began to snicker and laugh.

“Why did you say that? I don’t think it’s a good idea to make your doctor mad,” Nami teased. They rolled their eyes and smiled at their friend.

“It’s whatever, he know’s I’m right. No doctor has been able to figure this out, what makes him think he’s so special?” They asked. Nami had to admit that what they were saying was true, she had even seen this play out in other cities and other hospitals throughout the country. They continued to talk for a few more hours before a nurse came in to inform Nami that it was time for her to leave.

“I’ll see you in the morning, alright?” Nami assured her friend as the nurses changed her friend’s medication and wrote some notes down for the doctor who as working on her friend’s case.

“Yeah, I’ll see you then,” they smiled before they started to drift off to sleep from the heavy doses of the new medication they were now on. They slept for a while until they heard something fall down in their room. They stirred in their sleep and tiredly rubbed their eyes to look up at who was in their room. Their eyes met gray ones and for a moment, the world was still between them.

“Sorry, I dropped my pen,” Law softly said as he picked up his tablet’s pen and pocketed it and looked down at the person who was staring at him. “I’m sorry that I woke you up,” he said as he awkwardly took a step back.

“Why are you here?” They asked.

“I’m checking your levels. You had low sugar and your pulse was low too,” Law explained as he looked at the monitor again. “Your levels are leveling out now, but I’m going to need you to stay here for a few more days for observation. I looked through your medical history and it would put me at ease if you stayed here,” Law said as he looked down at them again. They smirked and shook their head.

“Put you at ease?” They teased. Law scoffed and looked away.

“You know what I mean. I’m waiting on some of your tests results to come back, you know by now how slow the labs can be,” Law casually said as he looked at his tablet again. They were surprised, was he really trying to make conversation with them?

“I do know, I’ve been in and out of hospitals for ten years,” They shared. Law looked over at them and seemed to be giving them more of his attention so they could elaborate. “I was pretty young, like fourteen? Fifteen? I can’t remember, the years are blending together at this point. Anyways, I was just at school and suddenly I wasn’t. Suddenly I couldn’t stomach milk, gluten, anything. And then I felt like I was constantly on fire, I found out I was having an allergic reaction to the air freshener in my house. And when we went to the hospital, we found out that my organs were starting to shut down from how intense the reaction was. More than me being scared, my friends were terrified. My best friend Nami cried so much, we missed prom together with our other friends because of this,” They shared. And before they even knew it, Law pulled up a chair next to them and they spent the rest of the night talking, they honestly would’ve talked longer if it wasn’t for Law’s pager going off.

“I need to take this, I’ll see you later then,” He said before he had to stand up and leave. For the time they were talking to one another, they didn’t feel sick. But the second he was out of the room, their stomach started to turn and churn rather uncomfortably inside of them. They tried to get as much rest as they could before Nami and the rest of the crew came in with masks on.

“Hello! Did you sleep well?” Nami asked as she sat down next to her friend.

“Well — “ “Oi, there was someone weird standing by the door,” Luffy said as he stuffed his hands into his pockets and Zoro pointed at the door.

“Was he tall? Dark hair and with tattoos?” They asked, this emphasis on details didn’t seem to slip by Nami or Robin for that matter.

“Yeah, he was,” Usopp said while they felt their face grow a little more flushed.

“Why don’t you guys go see what’s in the cafeteria while me and Robin talk to them?” Nami suggested. And before anyone could protest, Luffy began to laugh and grab his friend’s by their hands and drag them out of the room to check out the hospital food. “Ok, so what happened after I left? I missed a lot,” Nami pouted while Robin chuckled next to her.

“I didn’t sleep that much last night,” they began before explaining with an embarrassed smile what they and Law had talked about in the night. By the end, Nami had a big smile plastered across her face.

“You like your doctor, don’t you?” Nami teased.

“Hush! No I don’t. I haven’t even known him that long,” they defended.

“I don’t believe that is a good criteria to measure it by,” Robin said with a small smile. Nami nodded in agreement before she pointed an accusatory finger at her friend.

“You’re avoiding the truth because you’re scared! You like him, and that’s ok to admit,” Nami tried to assure them. They looked a little hesitant, they brought their legs up to their chest and sighed.

“I am scared, I will admit that. I’m scared because I haven’t liked someone since I’ve gotten sick and I’m worried about what may happen if I were to one day… you know…” The trio went silent at that and all of their minds began to spin.

“Maybe that won’t happen,” Robin hopefully said, being hopeful like this wasn’t like her, so Nami knew that her friend had more to explain. “There’s this phenomenon where soulmates are able to cure each other of their ailments when they’re finally together,” she explained. Their jaw dropped and they quickly looked away.

“First you say I like him and now you’re saying soulmates? Isn’t that a bit much?” They softly asked. “I mean, I don’t think that’s possible, things like that happen in fairytales to royals, and I am not a royal. I am a regular person who is sick and dying,” a wave of sadness dropped over all of them at their words.

“Dying…?” Nami found herself asking her dear friend. They looked up at the ceiling and sighed softly.

“I’m tired of fighting,” They admitted. They heard the gasp of shock from Nami and could feel the frown from Robin, but that didn’t deter them. “There’s no point if there isn’t a cure. Every time I’m forced to be in a hospital, I get better for a few weeks and then I’m back and I’m worse than before,” their hands grabbed at the blankets as tears began to well into their eye’s. “I’m so tired of all this pain, it never ends…”

A few hours later, Nami and the rest of the group left when a nurse scolded them all for being too loud. When their friends were gone, they found themselves stuck in their own thought again. With their knees at their chest, a flood of negative emotions dropped over them and threatened to drown them before a voice seemed to pull them out of the water.

“I got your lab tests back,” He said as he closed the door behind himself and moved to be standing at the edge of his bed. “As you probably expect, the results aren’t good,” They scoffed at that and turned away from him. Why did he have to be so blunt? Couldn’t he read the situation. “But, I can do something about then,” Law shared as he tried to get them to look at him. He sighed and moved back to be a safe distance away before he pulled his mask down. When they saw his full face, their face went a soft shade of pink. Of course he had to be even more attractive, how was this even possible? “Are you listening to me?“ Law scowled, they quickly snapped out of their little day dream and nodded their head.

“Yes.”

“Anyways,” he sighed in some annoyance. “I need you to trust me,” He then said.

“Why? I don’t even know you that well,” They pointed out. Even though they talked all night, that wasn’t near enough time to get to know who he really was.

“You don’t know me? So what? I need you to trust in my medical skills,” Law sounded a little disappointed but they didn’t seem to care as much. After their talk with Robin and Nami earlier, their mind had been in one spot the entire night.

“And what if I refuse to go through with your treatment?” They asked.

“Your prognosis isn’t good,” Law looked dumbfound that they were even considering refusing his treatment, his advice. “I can only promise you weeks. Maybe a month.” They went quiet at that. The sobering thought of dying from their illness hit them. They didn’t even realize that it had gotten this bad until now.

“A month is all I need,” They finally said as they looked up at Law with a serious and content expression on their face.

“What?” Law asked in a small whisper. Were they being serious? A month? Was that all they really wanted?

“What is living if I’m stuck living in a hospital for another ten years? I would rather live one more month on the road with my friends. Our van is almost fixed, soon we can hit the road again. When it’s done, I want to leave here and live out the rest of my life,” They stated. Law looked absolutely appalled by what they were saying, while he never got involved with patient matters, he couldn’t help but feel drawn to them.

“No.” Law stated. His hands balled into fists and he glared down at the person in front of him. “You didn’t even listen to what I had to say, do you want to die that badly? Why?” Law asked. They didn’t seem to deny that, they knew that they were rejected Law’s suggestion without even listening to him.

“Do you think this is living? Laying down in a hospital bed? Not being able to eat? Crying constantly because of the pain? This isn’t living, this is hell. I’m in hell, Law,” They bluntly stated. “I just want to see heaven even if it’s only for a month, I’d give anything for that,” They admitted with tears freely flowing from their cheeks at this point. That caught Law off guard, he wasn’t expecting there to be tears. He never knew how to handle people who were crying.

“You’re right, that isn’t living,” Law agreed, “But I said I could help you, I just need you to trust me,” Law said as he put his mask on again and moved closer to them. “Do you think you can grow to trust me?” Law asked as he looked down at the patient in their bed. They looked up at Law and felt more tears burst out of them, they were overwhelmed with all the information they were given in one night.

“I’ll try,” They mumbled through their tears. Law sighed in relief and moved to stand back by the door again. If anything, they were only going through this just for Law and to appease him.

“I’ll see you tomorrow then,” Law said before he left.

The next day, the rigid treatment began. It involved Law personally giving injections to them along with fluids and more medications. He spent most of his time in their room over the next few days, and he even had to admit that he had grown attached to them the more time he spent around them. This was bad, wasn’t it? Even the nurses were talking about it.

“Doctor Law is going in there again.”

“I heard he was only here for a consult, but now he’s staying! Why is that?”

“Do you think he likes them?”

Law did his best to ignore all the words from his coworkers, but the more they spoke, the more Law reflected on his actions and the more he realized he was falling for them. Shit.

Days turned into weeks and soon they were two weeks into the process and they seemed to be doing much better than they previously were doing. And Law was too. In the nights, he would grab himself a coffee and go off to the room where they always were in and talked to them about his day at work and would hear about the shenanigans that were happening with their friends. He learned about their whole crew, Luffy was the head of their adventure and then there was Zoro, Sanji and so many others that sounded interesting. They even had a medical student traveling with them named Chopper, it sounded so fascinating to him.

“So, what’s the prognosis now? Think I’ll be better soon?” They asked Law with a hopeful look on their face. Law felt his chest tighten as they began to smile at the poor doctor.

“You should be better soon, you’re doing really good with your blood work and soon we’ll be able to give you real food,” Law explained. “What would you want to eat first?” Law found himself asking before a long conversation began between the two of them. His heart felt so, so warm, he could feel it beating even behind his eyes when he looked at them.

“Law?” They asked, “Is something wrong?” God, stop looking at me like that, Law pleaded in his head with no avail.

“No, no, you’re all good,” he assured them.

While they were at first making some progress health wise, the results that came in today were worrying Law.

“How are they that low? Why is their body rejecting the medicine now?” Law asked himself as he looked over the scans. This continued on for another three days. More tests, more worrying results and more worrying signs from them. Slurred speech, low energy, it was getting harder for them to breathe too and it was terrifying Law. Their friends were even more worried.

“Tra-guy, what’s happening?” Luffy asked with a small frown, he looked ta his friend through the window that was there and then at the taller doctor.

“I…I don’t know,” Law finally admitted. “I don’t know.” He felt like a massive failure, after all he made a promise to them to make them better. “You guys should go home now, it’s getting late. I’ll call you if I have any updates,” Law said as he looked into the window and sighed. He knew it was a mistake to get this attached to them. He knew it was farther than just being attached, he had fallen for them. Hard. It was late in the night when alarms started to blare near his area.

“Code Blue!” A nurse shouted as she stared to run with a crash cart to an all too familiar room. Law felt his heart drop while he was running, he slowed down and stopped in front of the room.

“Doctor Law! We need your help!” Another nurse shouted as she grabbed his hand and dragged the stunned doctor into the room. Law felt like he was having an out of body experience none of this felt real to him.

“Give me the paddles, now!” Law shouted as he was handed the paddles and quickly got them activated. He placed them on their chest and took in a deep breath, “Clear!” Their chest rose with the shock but their heart was still stagnant. “Charge to one-fifty!” He ordered as he looked at their tired face, God he couldn’t lose them. He couldn’t. “Clear!” Another shock, and then another and another. Soon he had to be pulled back by the nurses to stop with the paddles. “No, no no!” Law shouted as he looked down at them, the person he fell for. The nurses started to clear the room and soon Law was left alone with them.

“I’m sorry… I’m so sorry,” Law whispered out as he looked them over, tears rolling down his cheeks. “I love you…” He finally said through his tears. His hand went to their cold cheek and he gently caressed the smooth skin. The second his skin touched theirs for the first time, sparks shot through him. Under his fingers, their skin began to warm up and soon their heart began to beat once again. Law pulled back in shock as they seemingly come back to life.

“Y-you’re alive?” Law said in disbelief as he watched them gasp for air and cough.

“What happened...?” They asked, Law laughed and quickly moved to hug them close to his chest on the bed as tears continued to stream down his cheeks like a pitiful river.

“I thought I lost you,” Law said as he finally pulled back and gained his composure back. “You can’t get rid of me that easily,” they tiredly teased.

“I don’t want to,” Law said after a minute, they both looked into each other’s eyes and felt the sparks once again.

“I don’t want to either,” They admitted as they leaned in and rested their forehead against Law’s. Law softly smiled and gently ran his fingers through their hair. Law looked into their eyes and slowly leaned in to kiss them. Their lips connecting together felt so natural and raw and law began to feel his heart speed up even after he had broken their kiss.

“I need to run some tests now,” Law said as he gently cupped their cheek in his hand and smiled. “I’ll be back soon, I need to tell the nurses,” He said as he pressed a small kiss on their temple and moved to get some more of the tests run.

“What do you mean they’re cured?” Nami asked in disbelief as she looked at their friend who was standing, walking and acting carefree.

“We don’t know how it happened, but they’re all better now,” One of the doctors said in some disbelief.

“All thanks to Law,” They chuckled as they moved to stand by Nami and smiled.

“Oh! Speaking of him, aren’t you going to grab him so he can come with us?” Nami asked while Luffy nodded his head.

“Yeah! I want Tra-guy to come with us,” Luffy pouted. They laughed at that and smiled, for the first time in weeks, months, they were feeling better. And this was a different kind of better, a cured sort of better. They went over to one of the nurses and smiled at them.

“Is Doctor Law here?” They asked, the nurse looked at them with a bit of an uneasy expression on their face.

“Him? Oh, he left early this morning, I think he has to return back to his other hospital,” the nurse explained. They stood there with a shocked and hurt look on their face. He left? Why did he leave? Why would he want to leave? They silently nodded their head and moved to go back to their friends, but they did their best to smile. Did Law lie to them? Was he just messing with them this entire time?

“He left, but it’s ok. I think it’s time for us to leave too,” They said as they started to lead the way out of the hospital. The group of friends all looked at one another with an unsure look on their face, but they knew better than to question them about it. When they went outside, Franky stood by their nice van with a big smile on his face.

“All ready to hit the road again?” Franky asked, the group all did their best to smile with him. The group of friends looked at their now healed friend and watched as they did their best to smile/

“Yes, I think — “ They were cut off when a tan, warm hand was placed on their shoulder.

“You going to leave without me?” Law whispered to them. They quickly turned over their shoulder and looked at him in shock.

“Law! You’re here! I thought you left,” They said as he pulled Law into a heartfelt hug. Law awkwardly smiled and rubbed their back before he pulled away and gently ruffled their hair.

“I did leave, I left the hospital, I’m taking a small break for now, I need to make sure that you’re doing alright and that nothing will happen to you,” Law explained as a small blush appeared on his cheeks. He moved to used his fuzzy hat to try and hide it, but they stopped him by placing a hand on his cheek. They smiled and gently moved to press a small kiss on his cheek that left the man breathless.

“Come with us, Law,” They said before they looked back at the rest of the group, everyone behind them smiled and seemed to be on board with this idea. Law looked at them all and watched as they all came forward and tried to bring him in closer.

“Yes! A new friend!” Luffy cheered.

“Welcome to our team, Tra-guy,” Sanji smiled as he stubbed out his cigarette on the concrete. They held onto both of Law’s hands and squeezed them with this new found confidence and strength. It was all thanks to Law, they both looked into each other’s eyes and smiled at one another and knew this was the beginning of something special, a new life together. Not only that, but their crew as well, them being so accepting and warm to him made his heart clench in an amazing way, he couldn’t believe it. He couldn’t believe he could be this happy.

“Thanks,” Law smiled as he squeezed their hand, he could get used to these guys. Anything for them.

[lostjulys]

ok yeah i understand that it's vaguely unhealthy to spend all yr time thinking about the future and romanticising it and not living in the present and enjoying it as much as you can. but consider. what, in my current space of being, is worth living to the fullest. living with all my shit in boxes? my ma being slightly less of an asshole than usual? trying to figure out how to move from the house with eighteen years of stratified stuff to halfway across the country? the promise of living in a small town in a deeply conservative red state? the way both of my harps are in storage rn and i can't play them at all? that im too exhausted at night to text my best friend or pick up my tablet pen? the way my parents should be divorced? no thank u i am going to dream of a future where i am content and can make blackberry liqueur for my friends for christmas.

[the-silentium]

Jinx

Masterlist

Pairing: The Swedes x Reader

Words: 3300 words

Warnings: Mention of semi-nudity.

A/N: Hey dear people. I know I usually write for Five, but I had to write at least once for these nice brothers who I clearly love too much. @jossambird​ this one is for AND is because of you. Please enjoy!

What made you pleasant in the brothers’ eyes was exactly why people generally avoided you. You didn't talk much, always preferring to stay by yourself instead of gathering into groups, passing your time daydreaming, and drawing on a weird small board instead of drinking collectively with the rest of the Commission's workers. You had a perfect mission success rate and to the surprise of many, you always came back unscathed. A lot of agents asked you about your methods but you never answered, much to their annoyance. Not even your supervisor knew, not that he minded. 

So a majority of the Commissioners treated you like an outcast, someone to be left alone and forget. In your time as a reject, you met the only trio that was as silent as you. You never planned on accepting more than one cooperative mission with them, but something attracted you to the brothers. Maybe it was their acceptance of your personality, how they never forced you to express yourself and treated you like a normal person or perhaps it was the bond they shared that made you desire to not be alone anymore. 

The boys didn't mind your presence around them. They quickly realized that a lot of the rumors about you were false, you had so much more to give to those who accepted your introvertness. You were diligent in everything you were a part of, always taking initiative before the brothers even asked you to do something, you were observative enough to predict what they needed and always gave them a helping hand whenever they asked. You were a hard worker, that was for sure. On the other side, after a couple of missions alongside you, they noticed that you often put everyone's need before your own, so they had to keep that in mind. 

A year later, you were an unofficial member of the group, accompanying them more often than not on their trips. Oscar became your best friend, the one with whom you'd share the second twin size bed available in the crappy motel rooms, the one who had managed to make you open up about your past -some part of it, at least- and the one who would always hold your hand whenever the dark was too much for you to handle.

Axel was often the one to make you laugh, with his snarky remarks to Oscar's stupid pranks or with his silly fire camp stories. (The boys will never tell you that, but these stories were made solely for you as a mean for Axel to hear your melodious laugh. Never did the older brother tell his siblings stories of the sort. Oscar and Otto were quick to realize their brother's enamored behavior, to which Axel threatened them to keep their mouth shut about.) To your delight, Axel even let you cook meals from your country. He often helped you around the kitchen just like you often did when he was the cook. 

To your embarrassment, you systematically seemed to fall asleep on Otto whenever he was your couch buddy. His body heat mixed with his height made it perfect for his bicep to serve as your pillow. He always said that it was fine, that you needed the rest but you couldn't stop yourself from feeling ashamed. In return, you made sure that you helped him with the chores and the cleaning. 

You smiled as you stopped the vacuum, admiring your handy work. Wherever you guys went, the stray cats were always welcome into your little temporary home, meaning that cat hairs were everywhere. This time wasn't so bad, the only two stray felines passed the majority of the time on someone's knees seeking body heat. 

You put away the vacuum in its rightful place and made your way to your bed. It was rare, but sometimes you had your own bed. You were grateful that Otto found a place for rent, causing you to have your very own room for the first time in three months. You loved Oscar but you couldn't wait to remove your pants and bra and walk around your room with only a baggy t-shirt and panties on. 

You passed the table where Axel was reading a file and Otto was bent over a map marked with red dots here and there. You stopped at Otto's side in hope of catching his attention. It didn't take long. 

"I finished the vacuum, you won't have to do it later." You smiled as he huffed and rolled his eyes, unsurprised that you hadn't listened to him when he told you to take the day to yourself and let him do the cleaning. "If you guys need me, I'll be in my room." 

Otto hummed in response as Axel nodded, a small smile on his lips. You had to curl up your toes to refrain yourself from moving forward and do something stupid. Quickly, you turned around and walked to your room, glancing for a second at the snow covering the houses, trees and yards. The sight was truly bewitching, although you weren't a fan of the cold temperature. 

Looking under your bed, you pulled out your bag and searched around in its depth, taking out your fully charged iPad and apple pencil. 

Drawing has always been a part of you, despite what it caused. You had to get your thoughts and ideas out of your head and drawing was your way of doing it. All you had to do was find a way so no one could see your drawings. It wasn't easy with your old sketchbook, anyone could find the book and open it, so you requested an iPad with a compatible pencil and locked it with a very complex password. 

You verified that the door was completely closed before caving to your wants and discarded any unnecessary clothing, leaving you in your most comfy oversized t-shirt and your undergarment. 

Now comfortable, you jumped into the bed next to your tablet and started drawing as soon as you positioned yourself with your back pressed onto the headboard. You didn't know how long you passed there, drawing the content of your mind, only knowing that you were at your fourth piece when the door flew open, presenting you Oscar with a shit-eating grin plastered on his face, leaning in the doorway. 

"I came to ask if you wanted to watch a movie, but I see you already have one." He snickered. 

You had once told the brothers what your "small board" was, although skipping the part that it was your drawing tablet. You showed them the music and videos kindly pre-installed by your supervisor and of course, Oscar wanted to watch modern movies with you. You'd never scrolled through the entirety of the movie selection available, but you should have. Before you knew, Oscar had selected Fifty Shades of Grey and everything went down from there. Needless to say that his own time period wasn't that open into showing nudity so it was a shock for him. At first. You were only grateful that the older brothers weren't interested into watching modern movies and that they never knew why Oscar teased you with a color. 

"I'm not watching anything, Oscar." You countered defensively.

He entered the room, unbothered by your appearance. 

"What are you doing then?" He reached for the iPad, causing you to hit the lock button in a hurry, hiding the lines and color behind a hard black screen and a password. 

"But I wanted to see." He whined, putting. You made the error of rolling your eyes, giving Oscar the opportunity to grab your pencil out of your hand. 

"Give it back!" You yelled, reaching for the electronic crayon. Oscar stepped away from the bed, almost making you fall off the bed. 

"It's a pen? You draw? Can I see it?" His eyes were sparkling, but it didn't hurt in the slightest when a categorical no fell from your lips. "But why?" 

You jumped out of bed, ready to jump on him if need be to recover your stolen good. 

"Because. I don't have to give you a reason- Oscar!" You followed him out of the room as soon as he dashed for the door. He stopped in the living room, where he used his height to annoy you and keep the device out of your reach. You tried to reach it on your tippytoes, without success. 

"Oscar I'm not kidding. Give it back." Your patience was getting thinner by the second. 

"Same for me. I want to see." He smirked at something behind your shoulder, but you couldn't care less at the moment. 

"I said no!" You tried again to reach for your iPad in the outstretched arm of the younger Swede, unconsciously offering a perfect view of your behind to two completely red Scandinavian. 

"Give it back!" The desperation in your voice caused Axel to intervene, his heart reacting to your panicked state. 

You felt tears forming into your eyes, from anger or distress, you didn't know, but you harshly wiped at them in hope of concealing your weakness. Oscar froze at your movement, eyes widening at the sight. Someone behind you grabbed the devices from Oscar's hand, before handing them to you. 

"Enough brother. She said no." His tone was hard and let no place for discussion, not that Oscar would have tried to argue after he saw the water in your eyes. 

With shaky hands, you pressed the electronics to your chest, protecting them from any other wandering hands. With them close and safe, your frantic heartbeat could finally slow down. 

You turned to Axel to thank him until you noticed how bright red his cheeks and neck were. He was still glaring at Oscar, although when he realized that you had turned to him, his gaze fell somewhere near you. The realization of why he couldn't meet your gaze dawned on you like a cold bucket of water, your very own cheek reddening. 

Mortified, you fled to the security of your room, the door banging on its hinges behind you. You searched the doorknob for a lock, helplessness invading you when you found none. Rushing to the bed to hide under the covers, you could only hope that the boys would leave you alone for as long as you needed. Forever would be an acceptable amount of time. 

You cried yourself to sleep, remnants of your panic playing tricks in your head, tormenting you with what-ifs. What if Oscar had seen your drawing? What if he decided to try again in the future? What if the boys decided that they had had enough of you? What if- whatif--

A soft knock resonated through the door, waking you in a panic. You had a terrible headache and your eyes were burning. You were disoriented until Otto's soft voice reached your ears. 

"Dinner is ready. I brought you a plate." 

You couldn't possibly think of eating at the moment, but you couldn't find it in yourself to let your sweet Otto turn back, defeated, to the kitchen. 

"Come in." You managed to croak out, your throat not used to form words instead of sobs. 

Otto opened the door slowly, the light of the house entering your dark room, allowing Otto to see your form concealed under the sheets. Only half of your head was poking out of your safe zone, giving him all the information he needed on your state. 

You managed to give him a small smile as he walked into the room to place the plate onto your nightstand. He paused for a second, seemingly thinking over what he wanted to do or say, before making up his mind.

"Oscar is very sorry." His hands formed fists when he met your red eyes. 

"I won't say it's fine because it's not." You answered, breaking the eye contact to concentrate on the wet spots on your pillow. 

"We know." A shadow blocked the light coming from the hallway and into your room, creating an enormous dark form onto the opposite wall. You lifted the covers to hide the remaining of your face, causing Otto to walk out of the room to keep the newcomer outside. 

The smell of the food was heavenly despite the fact that your stomach wasn't ready to welcome any of it soon. You pulled the cover off your face to allow fresh air to enter your lungs and repositioned yourself in a somewhat comfortable position. It didn't take you long to drift off, too tired to resist the welcoming arms of Morpheus. 

You woke up to a pair of steely eyes glaring at you from the doorway. Nervous, you got up from the bed and followed the retreating figure. On your way, you grabbed and slipped on your sweat pants, running to catch up with Axel. You collided with his back when he stopped abruptly and fell on your ass due to the force of the impact. 

Your eyes widened as soon as you caught sight of Oscar's body lying on the floor, blood running down his nose, eyes open but unseeing. A scream died in your throat, the pitiful sounds you managed to do were muffled by your hand covering your mouth. Axel turned to you, glaring at you from his vantage point. 

"He saw your drawings. It's your fault." 

Sobs shook your body as tears ran down your face once more. All you could do was chant a succession of no, desperately wishing that it wasn't true, that you didn't kill him. 

You expected the older brother to kill you in retaliation, but he must have known. No, he knew. As a fruit of your imagination, he knew how to make you suffer. Slowly, his arm lifted to the side, pointing towards the door where Otto was waiting, a blank expression darkening his features. 

"Leave." 

Your heart stopped. You would be alone again. Just like the past 16 years of your life. The only ones who accepted you were now rejecting you because they had seen what you so desperately tried to hide. Because your selfishness had broken them. Why couldn't you just stop drawing? Why-

Axel's hand closed firmly on your upper arms, the surprise and fear causing you to shot up into your bed, the sheets falling from your body and exposing your sweaty skin to the chilly air of the room. You slammed your hands onto your mouth in hope of containing the sobs and not disturb the other residents of the little house. 

Just in time, your body stopped shaking, your tears stopped falling and your breath stopped breaking. You stiffened as a knock resonated in the air, Oscar's voice breaking the silence. 

"Are you up?" 

You were relieved to hear his voice, to know that he was still alive and well. You really wanted to answer him, to let him know that he was forgiven and that you didn't hate him, but you knew you looked like hell and that it would only hurt him more. So you stayed silent, waited until your heard his footsteps walking away to get up, gather your clothes for the day and with the discretion that one could only acquire after years of training, you made your way to the bathroom down the hallway. 

The woman looking at you through the mirror looked definitely dead, with her dull puffy eyes, her untamed hair, the tear tracks on her cheeks and her pale skin. Quickly, you showered to remove any trace of your sadness, took an aspirin to lower the pressure into your skull and got dressed to not embarrass anyone furthermore. Now, the woman looked just like you, healthy and beautiful, if not just a little more down than usual. 

As you came out of the bathroom and entered the living room connected to the kitchen, Oscar immediately shot up from the couch like he had waited for you all this time. You knew Otto and Axel's attention were on the both of you even if they continued with their activities, making breakfast and petting the cats. 

"I am so sorry. I crossed a line and I know it wasn't right. Please, don't hate me. I'm sorry." He was as shaken as you were if his disheveled hair was anything to go by. This was a first. 

"I don't hate you, Oscar." He relaxed at your word, a soft smile leaving his lips. "I forgive you, but please, don't do it again." 

He shook his head and wrapped you in his arms. The tightness was a bit too much, but you didn't mind, you hugged him just as tightly. 

"Thank you." He whispered as he pulled away, a small smile on his handsome face. 

You playfully punched his shoulder to which Oscar retaliated by poking your sides until you were on the floor, laughing so much that your headache came back. 

"Food's ready." You cheered at Axel's statement, successfully pushing your white-haired friend off of you when he wasn't focussing. 

"Thank you." You said to the cook while getting seated to your place. He hummed, just as usual, the events of the day before seemingly forgotten. 

Despite your great appetite, you didn't touch your fork, instead gathering the courage to come clean. 

"My birthday is October 1st, 1989." The Swedes froze, surprised about the new information. Everyone at the Commission knew about the children born on this particular day. You continued when Oscar opened his mouth. "My ability," you frowned, "if I could call it like that, is that if I accomplish a specific task, people die."

The brothers were lost, not getting to what you were implying. 

"If someone sees a drawing I've made, they die. Generally in the next day or so. It can be by a heart attack, a brain hemorrhage or a stupid accident." Your gaze found Oscar's grey one. "You didn't see it, did you?" 

He shook his head, a smirk stretching his lips. "You're that bad, eh?" 

You kicked his ankle under the table, a yelp resonating into the room. 

"You could have died, you moron." 

"You're not kidding?" His head tilted to the side.

"No! How do you think I killed for the Commission for the last 16 years? I only had to show them a drawing and they were dead by the next day!" You huffed, frustrated that he didn't believe you at first. "I've lost my family because of it, I won't lose my friends too." You chewed on the interior of your cheek, your gaze fleeing everyone’s by falling on your plate. 

Before any dark thoughts could invade your mind, a hand fell on your shoulder. Axel didn't have to say it in words for you to understand. They'd never give up on you, no matter what, the reassurance making you smile to your plate. 

"Why don't you stop?" Otto's question pulled at your heart. 

"Because whenever I draw, I draw my family. I miss them a lot." You could hear the laugh of your little sister in the wind sometimes or could see yourself playing in the snow with your older brother. It was an accident, you didn't know at the time, but when you showed your very first drawing of the neighbor's dog to your family at dinner, you had sealed their fate. Four heart attacks under the same roof on the same night was hardly a coincidence, leading the Commission to take your case seriously. They took you in and made you who you were. 

A chair moving harshly on the floor caught your attention. Oscar walked around the table to hug you from behind, his face pressed against yours.

"We are your family now." 

[pravasichhokro]

Moments of Happiness in my Childhood

In complete contrast to today’s digital entertainment and modern transport systems, my childhood was simple but I enjoyed some special moments and activities. I will pen down the experience from 1955 to 1965 (my age from 6 yrs to 15 yrs). Those were my school going days in Ahmedabad.

The first priority was sports and games. I was an avid fan of soft ball (tennis ball) cricket and played it with friends almost anywhere and anytime. We played on streets, in compound of bungalows, in open fields, on terraces and in balcony. We adopted the bat size (small or big) and bowling style (overhand or underhand) to suite the space. I picked up, after class 8, field hockey under an able coach, who was an ex-India player. I excelled in hockey to represent Gujarat State in inter-state school tournament in Shillong, Assam. Other games were desi. We played team games at school- Kabbadi and kho-kho. We played marbles and gulli danda. We also played a game where 7 flat stone pieces were heaped like a pyramid and two teams were involved. The defending team will use a ball and try to topple the pyramid. The other team will hit with the ball the members of the team who toppled it. The first team will try to resurrect the pyramid without getting hit. It was an interesting game. Unfortunately I forget the name.

I also enjoyed indoor games –playing cards, carrom and chess among others. All these games were gender neutral and could be played with family or friends. One family, our neighbors, played chess with passion. The game would extend from one day to another and the chess board would remain untouched overnight.

Today’s kids play mostly games with smart phone, laptop and computer in the comfort of their home. Most of these games are foreign to us. Some Desi versions may be available.

Second on the list was outside food. My grandmother and mother cooked traditional Maharashtrian food at home so outside food had to be different. Once in a while we went to Havmor (Gujarati spelling of HAVE MORE) restaurant, which served variety of ice cream, Dosa and Punjabi Samosa. Their Cassatta and truti-fruity ice cream were popular and our favourite. Occasionally, we would go to Chetna Restaurant, which served unlimited Gujarati thali. In summer, we would go to Law College Garden (popularly called “Love” Garden for obvious reasons) in the evening. We enjoyed the pot ice cream, bhel and ragda pattice. The garden had a restaurant where there was an imported juke box. The machine played selected song once you put in a coin and press the number against your choice. The robotic arm would pick up the LP disc and place it on turn table. The movement of the mechanism was fascinating. I also enjoyed going to the famous night market at Manek Chowk for titbits. Please note that pav bhaji had not appeared on the scene then.

Today eating out is no more an attraction as most urban families eat out once a week when Lady of the House keeps the kitchen closed, her off day.

I was fortunate that my father took us once in a while to see Hollywood comedy films of Laurel and Hardy, Charlie Chaplin and Norman Wisdom. These films were either silent or English but neither hampered the laughter that got generated naturally. My father also introduced us to wild life through movies like African Safari and Hattari. The wild life depiction was so real and very engrossing. This experience was reinforced with visits to Kankaria, Ahmedabad zoo and Byculla, Bombay zoo ( Rani chi bag).One movie, which was most educational, was “Around the World in 80 days”. My father had briefly told us the story but the picturisation of various countries and the difficulties faced en route were very mind blowing for a child. I still recall the train being held up due to thousands of wild cows/cattle crossing the rail track in USA. After age of 12, I was allowed to see two Hindi movies a year (one after half yearly exam and another after annual exam) with my friends. Present day kids enjoy cartoons and other animated movies on TV or internet at home.

We eagerly used wait to go to a circus, which happened once a year. I have seen most of the famous circus of those days- Gemini ( Mera Naam Joker fame), Rajkamal, Appollo. As a child, I was quite impressed with the acrobats and animals showing their skills. But the most awaited act was by the jokers- small and tall or fat and thin as the pair might be. We enjoyed these acts so much that we used to try to enact them at home with friends after coming back. Today I never hear any urban kid having seen a live circus. My wife keeps pressing me to take her to a circus when we see advertisement of it in Pune local newspapers. We saw one virtual Rambo performance last year on laptop during lockdown.

We, as kids, looked forward to two festivals – Divali and Makar sankrant (Uttarayan). Divali meant new clothes and fire crackers. Shopping for the fire crackers was exciting as we would go late at night to a whole sale market to seek bargain and rub shoulders with the crowds. Makar Sankrant meant kite flying day. The preparation would start with getting the “manja” (special thread) and then buying various types of kites from the night market. On the day (Jan 14) kite flying would start early morning and end late evening. The food, Undhyu (a Gujarati mix veg specialty) and Jalebi, would be served on the terrace. I believe kids enjoy these festivals, on a smaller scale, even today.

I enjoyed various rides (not roller coaster type). I started using city bus to go to school from age of 8. I started using bicycle in high school. I recall our long cycle ride to Theur Ganesh temple in Pune during summer holidays. I used to look forward to train journey to our native place in Maharashra for summer holidays. We made transit halt at Bombay (Mumbai now). I loved the ride in horse carriage (called Victoria) from Chinchpkali to Bombay Central or Byculla Zoo. I also used to take ride in double decker bus in the front row on upper deck from Chinchpokali to Ballard Pier and back. Once in awhile I took the double decker tram from Lal Bag to Fountain. Both these rides gave a good view of the major parts of Bombay and were the best time pass.

In conclusion, I can state that the academic performance, where I excelled, never gave me the kick (happiness) as the above mundane activities did. I had no access to TV, WiFi-smart phone, tablet, and laptop. For some readers, it may be difficult to appreciate my feeling of happiness at such most common acts. Each person finds his own moments of happiness, I guess.

[cornholio4]

Left Behind

Note: Based on a prompt left on the Tumblr of Miraculous-Of-Salt but not Daminette. Sorry but personal opinion and you are free to like the ship if you do but I don't left Marinette X Damien. My fave crossover ship of Marinette is with the Peter Parker Spider-Man. It's mostly due to not liking Damian from the comics and media I have seen with him as a murderous brat. I don't see Marinette actually tolerating him. That's just my view and I have liked Daminette fics I have read (though for the salt) and they are fine.

Ms Caline Bustier had gotten her class back from the long flight home; she had the class on a weeklong field trip to check out Gotham Academy, all the way in Gotham City in the US! It was also funded by none other than Wayne Enterprises as well.

It had taken a lot of work to do and set up along with the permission slips and not everyone was allowed to go, especially not Adrien Agreste due to his strict overprotective father. She never thought she was allowed to directly criticise parenting but Gabriel Agreste was too strict a parent to Adrien, it had only been recently that he even allowed him to go to school like a normal child.

Most of the School Board needed to be convinced and she along with Principal Damocles was sternly warned that anything that goes wrong will be on their heads.

It was mostly due to the infamous status that Gotham had; corrupt politicians and police officers that were replaced by dangerous Villains and insane criminals. She swore she had everything under control.

She was happy to report that everything went off without a hitch; nothing happened. The only disappointment was that Marinette seemed to be distant from her classmates and especially when Lila was nearby. She seemed to go out of her way to talk to the Gotham Academy students instead of joining any conversations that Lila was involved in.

She frowned at this and decided when they got back she needed to have a small little talk with Marinette; she noticed she was becoming more distant from her classmates and it couldn’t be good for her. She had been hoping she could reconnect with her friends which was why she insisted to her parents that she go.

It didn’t work so she would have to do more.

She made sure to check all the names on the list before leaving but there was one that was crossed out weirdly with a pen but she guessed it was a name that cancelled at the last minute.

She made sure everyone was sent home that Friday afternoon when they got back. However on Monday morning she got an urgent email from Principal Damocles that she was to report to his office immediately after arriving. She was stunned but rationalised that he must just want a report on what happened.

However she was met with a unhappy Principal Damocles; several people she did not recognise, Marinette’s parents who looked uncharacteristically furious and several representatives of the School Board. The representative’s fury was only overridden by the Dupain-Cheng couple’.

She could not even begin to ask what wrong before Sabine Cheng went on a tirade about how she left her daughter alone in one of the most dangerous cities on the planet when she assured them she would be totally safe.

She was in the middle of asking what they meant before her brain frozen when she realised something: she did not remember seeing Marinette on the line to come back at the airport or on the plane.

Marinette had phoned them home saying no one had told her when they were leaving so she was waiting at the meeting place at the hotel having been unable to find any of them. She had been found by Bruce Wayne who had to contact her parents arrange for her to be flown back in a private plane.

Ms Bustier was relieved that Marinette had gotten back safely then but one of the representatives passed her a tablet and saw it was the Gotham Gazette website. Ms Bustier was asking why she was being shown it and was about to get back on the topic of Marinette but she was harshly told to read it.

She saw it was about something that happened on the Friday Night after their flight left, the hotel they were staying at was attacked by criminals after a VIP guest who was in a luxury suite. The photo showed several criminals being handcuffed by GCPD police officers, she could make out the dark vigilante of Gotham ‘the Batman’ (a pretty bleak figure if you asked her) and next to her were the superheroine Starfire and the Bludhaven vigilante Nightwing. The two were comforting a teenage girl.

A teenage girl who looked a lot like Marinette....

Oh no..........

The backlash had been enormous and school was cancelled indefinitely for the students; the School Board and Marinette’s parents were furious that not only was Marinette left behind in a different country but it was in one of the most dangerous cities ever with her life at risk by an attack by criminals.

It was a miracle it was not someone like the Joker, the Batman Who Laughs, Killer Croc, the Scarecrow, King Tut or even the Bookworm who was involved. The criminals were being personally led by someone called the Ventriloquist and what had happened was that they were not willing to harm a teenage girl so they let her get to saftey just before the Superheroes had come.

Of course that was the official story; the one Batman had told the GCPD who related it to the Gotham reporters. The criminals were not contradicting the story due to their embarrassment of what had actually happened:

Batman, Nightwing and Starfire had arrived to see the criminals all tied up to a pole with a Yoyo, there was Ladybug there. Tied up was Arnold Wesker a middle aged grey haired balding man with glasses and was tie up along with Scarface his mobster ventriloquist dummy who he still had his hand in.

Ladybug was actually tickling his cheek asking who was a cute mob boss and Scarface was shouting to his men that anyone who lets this go out will be a dead man walking.

The story became everywhere in Paris; Nadja Chamack made sure to get it out through the news media. She was angry that the daughter of her friends had her life endanger by being left behind in a different country.

Marinette was interviewed about it in the investigation and was asked about the record of her having been bullied by the mayor’s daughter for years at the school. She related what had happened and asked about what Ms Bustier had done about it. She had to say that she didn’t do a whole lot and had taken her aside to encourage just be a good example for Chloe after she had ruined a birthday present she had made for the teacher.

That did not look good at all.          

It turned out that when the classmates were asked they said that Lila Rossi promised she would tell Marinette when they were going and didn’t. There were apparently some beef between them and looking into their file they found claims of disabilities, diseases and absences that didn’t have notes.

Her mother was called in for a talk.......

Ms Bustier was on indefinitely suspension but knew she could not count on keeping a teaching profession and didn’t know if Principal Damocles would survive the ordeal. Ms Bustier came to the bakery and gave a well deserved apology Marinette and their parents even knowing it would not do much. Marinette looked apologetic but her parents just said they didn’t have anything to say to her.

She felt that even the look Marinette had given her was more than she deserved.

Marinette had gotten home and despite what happened did enjoy her time in Gotham. She had a few souvenirs including a communication device with a T on it, it seemed like Ladybug was now an honorary Titan.

Her classmates had come to the bakery and given her apologies for what happened along with her parents. She accepted them but was upset about what happened.

She was more than happy with the other classmates (the ones who didn’t go) who wanted to make sure she was okay along with other students. Juleka and Rose had come to make sure she was alright along with Luka.

When she next saw Alya she was enveloped her into a hug that seemed to last forever and tearfully told her that she was glad she was okay. She hugged back. Alya was vehemently refused permission to go by her parents; they knew what she was like in wanting to get Superhero footage in the Ladyblog and the lengths she went.

They did not trust her to do the same in a city like Gotham.

On social media and TV interviews Bruce Wayne talked about making sure the visiting Marinette had gotten home safely and criticised the French school officials who allowed it to happen. Former GCPD commissioner and current Gotham City Mayor James Gordon shared the sentiment.

There were tweets and interviews from Bruce Wayne’s foster son Dick Grayson and his fiancé Kory Anders (a beautiful young woman who most people swore that she did not come from this world) who talked of making sure the poor girl was consoled until they were able to send her home.

Marinette was asked what it was like meeting Bruce Wayne by her friends but she was being humble about it and didn’t like saying anything. It was not like her classmate Lila.

Said girl was angry about the attention her hated rival was getting and the enormous trouble she was in. If she came back to school she knew she would have to face tougher and sharper personnel.

Why did she decide to make sure Marinette was left behind again?

[fictionalboysarejustbetter]

Friendships from Afar

Distance creates a barrier of trust. There are no worries. There is always a safety net to fall back on that protects from hurt or pain. Beginning in second grade, my personal goal had always been to find a singular, perfect friend who lives far away. We could talk openly with each other, and I would have the ability to be myself. The plan is that years later, I would meet this person in the weirdest of circumstances, and we would be best friends forever. It’s even better if this friend is a guy, so then we can both fall in love and get married to live happily ever after.

In second grade, the entire class received school pen pals, and while my fourth-grade pen pal was not ideal, I knew I loved this “secret” letter writing system where I am just Rebecca, nothing more or less. Moving into fifth grade, Mrs. Smith found me a pen pal from China. Through our teachers, we would send each other letters back and forth until the school year was over. From this moment onward, I was hooked; pen pals didn’t care what I looked like or how shy I was or how involved my mother was with the school, I could just be me, and they only knew the information I told them. Without asking for help, I scavenged through the internet, trying to collect pen pals as if they were Webkinz. I was convinced this perfect friend could only be found on pen pal websites that look like they were made by my fellow fifth graders.

Starting in sixth grade, I would spend night after night stalking the profiles of random teenagers on Students of the World, a supposedly “safe” pen pal website for kids. Gender? Who cares. Age? About 10-16. Likes? Reading, of course. Language? English please. I would then press search and sift through hundreds of profiles, finding the perfect candidates to be my best friend. This process was extremely predictable, including:

The teenage boys “looking” for a relationship:

Nathaniel, Age 14, UK

HOBBIES:

Photo

Trips

Cinema, Television

Sports

Reading

Painting, Drawing, Art

Hi! Are you looking for a cool guy to write to? Send me a nice message otherwise you’ll miss something priceless. 

I can speak:

English, French

The liars that claimed they like everything and speak every language:

Janhvi, Age 16, USA

HOBBIES:

Photo

Trips

Clothes

Cinema, Television

Sports

Sciences

Music

Reading

Animals, Nature

Cooking

Collections

Painting, Drawing, Art

Hello !!👩I'm Janhvi .I like to travel.I have traveled in to many countries .Such as india , sri lanka, china, france and more.I like make new friends.message me soon guys.👭👫OUR LIFE IS CHANGE , BUT FRIENDSHIP NEVER BE CHANGE.

I can speak:

English French German Italian Spanish Arabic Chinese Japanese Korean

The students making a profile for class:

Chaya, Age 13, USA

HOBBIES:

Clothes

Cinema, Television

Music

Reading

Animals, Nature

I am looking for a penpal for our school project. I would like to find some in Atlanta, Georgia.

I can speak:

English

I would scroll through these profiles so constantly that I rarely found new profiles. I was judging every profile based off of the person’s name, biography, age, likes, languages, everything. Most people without a profile picture wouldn’t receive an email from me. I tried to avoid messaging anyone from the United States unless they sounded like a major fangirl or fanboy over the books I liked. I automatically favored anyone from Europe, especially if they had an interesting name. But regardless if anyone from anywhere sent me a message first, I would respond back at least once.

Shortly after the search began, I received a message from a girl named Julia from Australia. She and I were the same age, we both needed a friend, and we both liked reading, animals, music, and clothes. Quickly, my life began to revolve around the fourteen hours that always stood between Australia and the United States. Throughout sixth and seventh grade, we would be constantly messaging on the messaging app “kik,” confiding everything deep and useless to each other like best friends do:

Becca says:

Hey, how are you?

Julia says:

Everyones well... Mum and dad start the long drive to melbourne this weekend so everythings kinda topsy turvy :p

How is your family and pets? Im sorry for my rudeness that i didnt ask earlier

Nearlytime for school?

Becca says:

Lol that is fine! I get to school around 8, so normally ill drop off right before, lol i try to remember to tell you but i tend to forget. Theyre good though. Willie and Apricot are happy my grandma left :-P mom and dad are helping me with my ancestry project and exploding of happiness because I got a position in that volleyball club and my sister has been working and spending money :-P her favorite thing to do

Julia says:

Ahh the christmas spirit... Lol is there anyone in the house who loves your grandmother?

Becca says:

Lol we love her because shes family, but no one loves her when shes here if you know what i mean.

What’s up?

For two years, the conversations would continue for hours, as we both wait anxiously for the “ding” on our tablets, indicating a new message. Julia’s father was a firefighter who fought the nasty bushfires that haunted their country. I interviewed him as my hero for my final paper and presentation in my eighth grade English class. I interviewed him through email after our initial plans to Skype were sidetracked by the active wildfires, and I so proudly presented the information about him that you would have thought he was my father.

One day, Julia told me about her divorced parents. Then, she told me about the twins her mom just gave birth to. Then, she explained that she actually has a twin brother and no younger siblings at all. Then, she became an aunt to twin nephews. Then, her house burned down, and she had to move across the country. Then, her parents just moved across town. The stories continued and continued only within months of each other, not adding up in any way, shape, or form. With hope still in my heart, I sent her all three books of The Hunger Games trilogy since she really wanted to read them, but two months later, the books came back in the mail as undeliverable. The address did not exist.

Unable to admit defeat or accept the idea that my best friend might not be real despite all of the evidence, I started to panic. What if she is catfishing me? I’ve seen that show before, and I even gave “her” my address. Whoever this person is could easily come to my house and kidnap me...maybe I should tell my mom and warn the police. But maybe, she just has a really hard life, and she compulsively lies to make herself feel better? Maybe, she just really wants attention, and that’s why none of her stories are adding up. Besides it could still be her, she may just be scared. She could have just lied and is younger than she said and is trying to sound cool to impress me.

With these panicked thoughts raging through my body like wildfire, I blocked her from kik and began to ignore her emails. I forced myself to just disappear, so then I would have nothing to worry about. I cannot trust that Julia is really Julia, so I will just watch “her” occasional emails come in, analyzing from afar who “she” may be. I’ll search for her on Google and Facebook and Instagram and Students of the World and anywhere else I can look. The emails would keep coming for years and years, but they never held much content to them, and I’m still left to question who “Julia” is.

My Julia investigation was stalled for now, and the void of not having a constant penpal to talk to quickly came back. Therefore, my search to find the perfect best friend needed to be expedited since Julia was certainly not cut out for the position. I continued to search Students of the World with my new smartphone every chance I had. In between games at volleyball competitions, Hope and I could be found by the nearest outlet on my phone, scouring the website for the perfect answers within someone’s profile. We would send out messages together to the nerdy fangirls and fanboys around our age. Every day during the bus ride home from school, Jenna and I looked through the website on our phones, judging everyone’s biographies and pictures. Jenna created a profile too, and we would have three-way Skype sessions with Sylvia from France until the two of them became too close and stopped inviting me to Skype with them.

Finally in April of ninth grade, I received a promising email from a 16-year-old boy from France:

To: fictionalboysarejustbetter@gmail.com From: coolfrenchboy@gmail.com

My name is Kristopher and Im from France !

I watched a few days ago Divergent and it made me want to read the books !

I see you like tv shows and video games as I do !

I am not fluent in English but I can talk to you !

If you want I can learn you French ! :)

Typically, I would spend about twenty minutes every day responding to emails from random penpals on my way home from school, but within the first three or so emails to a person, one of us would just stop responding. In regard to Kris, I generally liked video games, but I wasn’t obsessed with them, and I had a weird taste in TV, so we probably couldn’t talk about that much. But Divergent by Veronica Roth was my all-time favorite book. As soon as I read that word in the email, I knew I would be responding until he stopped responding to me. It had always been my goal to fall in love with a fanboy, especially one with the same taste in books and movies as me, so I immediately responded with:

To: coolfrenchboy@gmail.com From: fictionalboysarejustbetter@gmail.com

Hi Kristopher!

What part of France are you from? I live near Pittsburgh, PA, USA.

Yes, definitely read the books! They are amazing! I find myself gravitating towards video games and shows more than sports! :P

I don't know much of French as I take Spanish in school, but I'd love to learn some and help you with English as well!

Rebecca

He emailed me back within minutes, and we emailed for most of the evening, talking about books and food and the differences between the United States and France. That night though, my phone battery had died, and it was only for a few hours. After plugging it in, I found five unread messages from him, making sure I was okay.

To: fictionalboysarejustbetter@gmail.com From: coolfrenchboy@gmail.com

Lol it works ! :) Good courage to go back to school ! :)

To: fictionalboysarejustbetter@gmail.com From: coolfrenchboy@gmail.com

Hey sweetie 😆

To: fictionalboysarejustbetter@gmail.com From: coolfrenchboy@gmail.com

How are you Miss ?

To: fictionalboysarejustbetter@gmail.com From: coolfrenchboy@gmail.com

Do You use words like ain't or gonna ? 😆

To: fictionalboysarejustbetter@gmail.com From: coolfrenchboy@gmail.com

Are you OK ?

As soon as I read these messages, my heart fluttered a little. This was just the beginning of our constant messaging and talking. I happily responded to him, and within days, Kris was my perfect, new best friend. The random space he left between the last word and the punctuation of a sentence would drive me insane, but I didn’t have the heart to explain the process to him. We talked so consistently that it would probably be considered unhealthy, discussing pets, family, being the youngest child, aspirations, atheism, languages, food, books, video games, and everything else under the sun. I was stuck to my phone all day, and every time I picked it up, I waited in anticipation for a notification with his name and the random spaces between his words and the punctuation.

The six-hour time difference between the two of us meant nothing, with him staying up late and me getting up early. Between classes, we would sneak each other messages about how our days were going. My week-long field trip to San Antonio, Texas was spent either messaging him or scouting out an outlet to plug my phone into so that I could talk to him. The more access I had to Kris, the further I distanced myself from my friends and family. When my phone would die or I wouldn’t have reception, I would look around, annoyed by whoever the people around me were. Kris was the perfect friend I always wanted; he was my best friend, and I was his. Neither of us needed anyone else, and hopefully, all of our talking and flirting would lead to love which would lead to marriage.

The summer before tenth grade came, and Kris seemed to be growing distant. Supposedly, he was travelling all summer, and he would rarely have access to wifi. I counted down the days until he would be back home, and after one measly conversation, he disappeared again. I sent message after message, finally receiving a response about his brother pushing him in the pool and his phone being in his pocket at the time, so it was destroyed. The summer seemed to be surrounded by disappointment, but hopefully when we went back to school, our relationship would continue to be as strong as it was before.

Tenth grade began, and Kris was still busy all the time. Apparently if he kept up his hard work, he would be valedictorian. Since I couldn’t spend lunch chatting with him anymore, I bragged that I was basically dating this amazing French guy who is valedictorian at his school. Until October hit, and then I would receive the dreadful message that he has a girlfriend. Ironically, this only made our conversation stronger than it had ever been, and he even picked out my new haircut, sending me endless compliments on it. The next day, he sent another message, explaining that his girlfriend didn’t want us talking anymore so it would probably be best if we just stopped. I was bad at listening to these directions, following this conversation up with many, many new messages in attempts to strike a conversation with him again. These messages earned me a nice block from Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Snapchat.

My only method of contact would now be email, so night after night instead of stalking Students of the World for new pen pals, I would send Kris emails. I now began to understand that feeling that I caused upon Julia, who may or may not have been Julia. Throughout October and November, I received a few responses that sounded like an automatic email reply, but one email in mid-November stood out, as it was one of the last ones I would receive from him.

To: thisismyname@gmail.com From: thisiscoolfrenchboysnewemail@gmail.com

Hello Becca,

I did act stupid and didn’t answer your messages at all. When I emailed you first, I never thought our friendship would get that strong !

Guess what, there used to be a time I was really in love with you, but I haven’t dared say so … The one biggest reason was the 6000 km that stand between us ! You were the one I loved talking to ! So I talked to you and you never waited to answer and neither did I.

I don’t know, something went wrong, time changed, I’m sorry I haven’t answered you for long, this is all my bad. I wish I could go back to past to fix this.

This message will never ever be able to patch things up, but it (I hope ) will tell you that I never forgot you .

My mother would tell me time and time again that any type of relationship separated by physical distance would never work. I had never believed her, but after receiving this email, I understood. Why had I ever believed that the perfect friendship would be through time differences of at least five hours? These relationships do not automatically create a barrier of trust, often making it even harder to trust. There are always going to be worries about who that person is and what their intentions are. There is no safety net to keep you from being hurt or feeling pain. Once there is a roadblock within your barrier of communication, you cannot simply get it back after running into each other at Walmart or flashing them a fake smile as you pass them in the hallway at school. As soon as one person blocks the other or the number of unread emails increases substantially over months, that person is gone forever.

[bluewatsons]

Elaine Hatfield & Richard L. Rapson, Culture and Passionate Love, in F. Deutsch, M. Boehnke, U. Kühnen, & K. Boehnke (Eds.), Rendering borders obsolete: Cross-cultural and cultural psychology as an interdisciplinary, multi-method endeavor: Proceedings from the 19th International Congress of the International Association for Cross-Cultural Psychology (2011)

Abstract

For more than 4,000 years, poets and storytellers have sung of the delights and sufferings of love and lust. This chapter reviews what scholars from various disciplines have discovered about the nature of passionate love and sexual desire. Anthropologists and evolutionary psychologists have assumed that passionate love is a cultural universal. Cultural researchers, historians, and social psychologists have emphasized the stunning diversity in the way passionate love and sexual desire have been viewed and experienced. Culture, ethnicity and the rules passed down by political and religious authorities have a profound impact on the way people think about and act out love and sex. Marriage for love and sex for pleasure have always been deeply threatening to political and religious leaders who have feared the individualistic implications of permissive approaches to romance and passion. Individualism and personal choice are seen as the enemies of order and authority; such freedom are deemed heretical, sinful, dangerous, and an invitation to chaos, selfishness, and anarchy. The fight over the rules governing love, marriage, divorce, and sex stands as one of history’s central and most powerful themes. Today, however, in the era of widespread travel, global capitalism, and the World Wide Web, many of these traditional cross-cultural differences seem to be disappearing. Authority is giving way nearly everywhere to increased freedom, particularly in the personal realm, in the world of passion. Is the erosion of traditional authority and strict personal rules really happening—and if so what does that portend for personal and societal futures?

In all cultures, men and women feel the stirrings of passionate love and sexual desire. Yet despite its universality, culture has been found to have a profound impact on people’s definitions of passionate love and on the way they think, feel, and behave when faced with appropriate partners in settings designed to spark such feelings. Cross-cultural studies provide a glimpse into the complex world of passionate love and increase our understanding of the extent to which people’s emotional lives are written in their cultural and personal histories, as well as “writ in their genes.”

Defining Passionate Love

The Sufi poet Jelaluddin Rumi, who was born in Afghanistan in 1207 A.D., contended, “whoever has been taught the secrets of love is sworn to silence with lips sealed.” Nonetheless, Rumi penned ecstatic missives celebrating the glories of love (Mathnavi and Diwan-I-Shams). In this snippet, he rhapsodizes:

With love, bitter turns into sweetness. With love, dregs turn into honey. . .

With love, thorns become flowers. With love, vinegar becomes wine. . . .

With love, misery turns into happiness.

In all cultures, people distinguish between two kinds of love: “passionate love” and “companionate love.” Passionate love (sometimes called “obsessive love,” “infatuation,” “lovesickness,” or “being-in-love”) is the variety of love with which we will be concerned in this paper. We will not discuss companionate love, a deeper, more intimate, and longer lasting variety of love and friendship.

Passionate love is a powerful emotional state. It has been defined as:

A state of intense longing for union with another. Passionate love is a complex functional whole including appraisals or appreciations, subjective feelings, expressions, patterned physiological processes, action tendencies, and instrumental behaviors. Reciprocated love (union with the other) is associated with fulfillment and ecstasy. Unrequited love (separation) is associated with feelings of emptiness, anxiety, and despair (Hatfield & Rapson, 2005, p. 71).

The Passionate Love Scale (PLS) was designed to tap into the cognitive, emotional, and behavioral indicants of such longings (Hatfield & Sprecher, 1986). The PLS has been translated and utilized by researchers in Germany, India, Indonesia, Iran, Italy, Japan, Korea, Peru, Poland, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland. The PLS has been found to be a useful measure of passionate love with men and women of all ages, in a variety of cultures, and has been found to correlate well with certain well-defined patterns of neural activation (see Bartels & Zeki, 2000; Fisher, 2004; Hatfield, Rapson, & Martel, 2007; Hatfield & Rapson, 2009; Landis & O’Shea, 2000).

Theoretical Understandings of Passionate Love

Passionate Love: A Cultural Universal

Passionate love is as old as humankind. Love poems have been discovered on the outskirts of the Valley of Kings. Written during Egypt’s New Kingdom (1539-1075 B.C.E.) but surely composed much earlier, these songs (recorded on cuneiform tablets) speak to lovers today. Consider this fragment:

The Flower Song

To hear your voice is pomegranate wine to me.

I draw life from hearing it. Could I see you with every glance, It would be better for me Than to eat or drink.2

Today, most cultural theorists consider passionate love to be a universal emotion, transcending culture and time (Hatfield & Rapson, 2005; Jankowiak, 1995; Tooby & Cosmides, 1992). Jankowiak and Fischer (1992), for example, drew a sharp distinction between “romantic passion” and “simple lust.” They proposed that both passion and lust are universal feelings. Drawing on a sampling of tribal societies from the Standard Cross-Cultural Sample, they found that in almost all of these far-flung societies, young lovers talked about passionate love, recounted tales of love, sang love songs, and spoke of the longings and anguish of infatuation. When passionate affections clashed with parents’ or elders’ wishes, young couples often eloped. Cultural anthropologists have recorded folk conceptions of love in such diverse cultures as Indonesia, Morocco, Nigeria, the Fulbe of North Cameroun, the People’s Republic of China, Trinidad, Turkey, the Mangrove (an aboriginal Australian community), the Mangaia in the Cook Islands, Palau in Micronesia, and the Taita of Kenya (see Jankowiak, 1995, for a review of this research). A number of studies document that in both tribal and modern societies, people’s conceptions of passionate love are surprisingly similar (Neto et al., 2000).

Passionate Love: Cultural Differences

Americans are preoccupied with love—or so cross-cultural observers once claimed. In a famous quip, Linton (1936) mocked Americans for their naïve idealization of romantic love and their assumption that romantic love is a prerequisite for marriage:

All societies recognize that there are occasional violent, emotional attachments between persons of opposite sex, but our present American culture is practically the only one which has attempted to capitalize these, and make them the basis for marriage. . . . The hero of the modern American movie is always a romantic lover, just as the hero of the old Arab epic is always an epileptic. A cynic may suspect that in any ordinary population the percentage of individuals with a capacity for romantic love of the Hollywood type was about as large as that of persons able to throw genuine epileptic fits. (p. 175)

Throughout the world, a spate of commentators once echoed Linton’s claim that the idealization of passionate love is a peculiarly Western institution.

Background. The world’s cultures differ profoundly in the extent to which they emphasize individualism or collectivism (although many cultural researchers focus on related concepts such as independence vs. interdependence, modernism vs. traditionalism, urbanism vs. ruralism, affluence vs. poverty, or a family focus vs. an individualistic focus). Individualistic cultures such as the United States, Britain, Australia, Canada, and the countries of Northern and Western Europe tend to focus on personal goals. Collectivist cultures such as China, many African and Latin American nations, Greece, southern Italy, and the Pacific Islands, on the other hand, press their members to subordinate their personal interests to those of the group (Markus & Kitayama, 1991; Triandis, McCusker, & Hui, 1990). Triandis and his colleagues point out that in individualistic cultures, young people are allowed to “do their own thing.” In collectivist cultures, the group comes first.

Hsu (1953, 1985) and Doi (1963, 1973) contended that passionate love is a Western phenomenon, virtually unknown in China and Japan, and so incompatible with Asian values and customs that it is unlikely ever to gain a foothold among young Asians. Hsu (1953) wrote: “An American asks, ‘How does my heart feel?’ A Chinese asks, ‘What will other people say?’” (p. 50). Hsu pointed out that the Chinese generally use the term “love” to describe not a respectable, socially sanctioned relationship, but an illicit liaison between a man and a woman. Chu (1985; Chu & Ju, 1993) also argued that although romantic love and compatibility are of paramount importance in mate selection in America, in China such feelings matter little. Traditionally, parents and go-betweens arranged young peoples’ marriages. Parents’ primary concern was not love and compatibility but men dang hu dui. Do the families possess the same social status? Are they compatible? Will the marriage bring some social or financial advantage to the two families? (A note: Later in this chapter, we will discuss the fact that since the 1950s, in the wake of globalization, Chinese attitudes and values have begun to undergo revolutionary changes.)

On the basis of such testimony, cross-cultural researchers once contended that romantic love is common only in modern, industrialized countries. It should be less valued in traditional cultures with strong, extended family ties (Simmons, Vom Kolke, & Shimizu, 1986). It should also be more common in modern, industrialized countries than in developing countries (Goode, 1959; Rosenblatt, 1967). In recent years, cultural researchers have begun to test these provocative hypotheses.

Recent Research on Culture and Passionate Love

Recently, cultural researchers have begun to investigate the impact of culture on people’s definitions of love, what people desire in romantic partners, their likelihood of falling in love, the intensity of their passion, and their willingness to acquiesce in arranged marriages versus insisting on marrying for love. From this preliminary research it appears that, although a few cultural differences do in fact exist, cultures frequently turn out to be more similar in their profoundest of feelings than one might expect. Let us now turn to this research.

The Meaning of Passionate Love

Shaver, Wu, and Schwartz (1991) interviewed young people in America, Italy, and the People’s Republic of China about the way they viewed love. They found that Americans and Italians tended to equate love with happiness and to assume that both passionate and companionate love were intensely pleasurable experiences. Students in Beijing, China, possessed a darker view of love. In the Chinese language, there are few “happy-love” words; love is associated with sadness. Not surprisingly, then, the Chinese men and women interviewed by Shaver and his colleagues tended to associate passionate love with ideographic words such as infatuation, unrequited love, nostalgia, and sorrow love. Other cultural researchers agree that cultural values may, indeed, have a profound impact on the subtle shadings of meaning assigned to the construct of “love” (Cohen, 2001; Kim & Hatfield, 2004; Kitayama, 2002; Luciano, 2003; Nisbet, 2003; Oyserman, Kemmelmeier, & Coon, 2002; Weaver & Ganong, 2004). A few cultural researchers argue, for example, that romantic love is more important in modern, industrialized, individualistic cultures (Levine et al., 1995), in Latin cultures (Ferrer Pérez et al., 2008), and in European cultures than in Asian or Indian samples (Simmons et al., 1986, 1988; Medora et al., 2002), or in societies where men and women possess sexual equality (DeMunck & Korotayev, 1999).

There is, however, considerable debate as to how important such differences are. When social psychologists explored folk conceptions of love in a variety of cultures—including the People’s Republic of China, Indonesia, Micronesia, Palau, and Turkey, as well as a variety of other nations—they concluded that people in the various cultures possessed surprisingly similar views of love and other “feelings of the heart” (for a review of this research, see Contreas et al., 1996; Fischer, Wang, Kennedy, & Cheng, 1998; Jankowiak, 1995; Kim & Hatfield, 2004; Shaver, Murdaya, & Fraley, 2001; Xu et al., 2008). In a typical study, for example, Shaver and his colleagues (2001) argued that love and sexual mating, reproduction, and parenting are fundamental issues for all humans (pp. 219-220). To test the notion that passionate and companionate love are cultural universals, they conducted a “prototype” study to determine (1) what Indonesian (compared to American) men and women considered to be “basic” emotions, and (2) the meaning they ascribed to these emotions. Starting with 404 Indonesian perasaan hati (emotion names or “feelings of the heart”) they asked people to sort the words into basic emotion categories. As predicted, the Indonesians came up with the same five emotions that Americans consider to be basic: joy, love, sadness, fear, and anger. Furthermore, when asked about the meanings of “love,” Indonesian men and women (like their American counterparts) were able to distinguish passionate love (asmara, or sexual/desire/arousal) from companionate love (cinta, or affection/liking/fondness). There were a few differences in the American and Indonesian lexicons, however:

The Indonesian conception of love may place more emphasis on yearning and desire than the American conception, perhaps because the barriers to consummation are more formidable in Indonesia, which is a more traditional and mostly Muslim country (p. 219).

Why are these diverse societies so similar in their views of love? Perhaps love is indeed a cultural universal. Or perhaps the times they are “a-changin’”. One impact of globalization (and the ubiquitous MTV, Hollywood and Bollywood movies, chat rooms, and foreign travel) may be to ensure that when people throughout the world speak of “passionate love,” they may well be talking about much the same thing. We would argue that culture and historical pressures produce visions of passionate love that are variations on a theme. Shading, melody, and tempo may vary with culture, but the underlying architecture of the mind may remain the same. Cultural traditions and values may affect romantic visions, how one describes one’s feelings when in love, how demonstrative people are in displaying their love, but the fact of passionate love may indeed be a cultural universal based on similarities in the architecture of the mind and a common neural substrate (Aron et al., 2008; Xu et al., 2008).

The Likelihood of Being in Love

Sprecher and her colleagues (1994) interviewed 1,667 men and women in the United States, Russia, and Japan. Based on notions of individualism versus collectivism, the authors predicted that whereas American men and women would be most vulnerable to love, the Japanese would be the least likely to be “love besotted.” The authors found that they were wrong. In fact, 59% of American college students, 67% of Russians, and 53% of Japanese students said they were in love at the time of the interview. In all three cultures, men were slightly less likely than women to be in love. (In America, 53% of men and 63% of women; in Russia, 61% of men and 71% of women; and in Japan, 41% of men and 63% of women indicated they were currently in love.) There was no evidence, however, that individualistic cultures breed young men and women who are more love struck than do collectivist societies.

Surveys of Mexican-American, Chinese-American, and European-American students have revealed that in a variety of ethnic groups, young men and women show similarly high rates of “being in love” at the present time (Aron & Rodriguez, 1992; Doherty et al., 1994; Hatfield & Rapson, 2005).

The Intensity of Passionate Love

Cultures also seem to share more similarities than differences in the intensity of passionate love that people experience. In one study, Hatfield and Rapson (2005) asked men and women of European, Filipino, and Japanese ancestry to complete the PLS. To their surprise, they found that men and women from the various ethnic groups seemed to love with equal passion. (In the following table 1, none of the ethnic group differences nor any of the gender x ethnic group differences were significant.)

Table 1. PLS Scores of Various Ethnic Groups

Hatfield and Rapson’s (2005) results were confirmed in a study done by Doherty and his colleagues (1994) with European-Americans, Chinese-Americans, Filipino-Americans, Japanese- Americans, and Pacific Islanders.

After viewing the preceding results, some cultural researchers observed: “True, people might fall in love, but they don’t expect to have these desires indulged. When it comes to marriage, in family focused societies people sacrifice their own desires, and accede to the wishes of parents, authorities, and friends.”

To test this notion, Sprecher and her colleagues (1994), asked American, Russian, and Japanese students: “If a person had all the other qualities you desired, would you marry him or her if you were not in love?” (Students could answer only “yes” or “no.”) The authors assumed that only Americans would demand love and marriage; they predicted that both the Russians and the Japanese would be more practical. They were wrong! Both the Americans and the Japanese were romantics. Few of them would consider marrying someone they did not love (only 11% of Americans and 18% of the Japanese said “yes”). The Russians were more practical; 37% said they would accept such a proposal. (These ethnic group differences were significant at the p < .001 level.) Russian men were only slightly more practical than men in other countries. It was the Russian women who were most likely to “settle.” (This gender difference was significant at p < .05).

Despite the larger proportion of Russian women willing to enter a loveless marriage, a large majority of individuals in the three cultures would refuse to marry someone they did not love (see Table 2).

Table 2. Would You Marry Someone You Did Not Love?

For additional information on culture, love and sex, see Boratav (2008); Gabreyna (2008); Gabrenya & Fehir, 2008; Levine et al., 1995; Ryder, Pfaus & Brotto (2008); Schmitz (2008)— several of whose work are represented in this volume.

In Conclusion

The preceding studies, then, suggest that (in the area of passionate love and sexual desire) the large differences that once existed between Westernized, modern, urban, industrial societies and Eastern, modern, urban industrial societies may be fast disappearing. Those interested in cross-cultural differences may be forced to search for large differences in only the most underdeveloped, developing, and collectivist of societies—such as in Africa or Latin America, in China or the Arab countries (Egypt, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Saudi-Arabia, Iraq, or the United Arab Emirates).

However, it may well be that even there, the winds of Westernization, individualism, and social change are blowing. In spite of the censure of their elders, in a variety of traditional cultures, young people are increasingly adopting “Western” patterns—placing a high value on falling in love, pressing for gender equality in love and sex, and insisting on marrying for love (as opposed to arranged marriages). Such changes have been documented in Finland, Estonia, and Russia (Haavio-Mannila, & Kontula, 2003) as well as among Australian aboriginal people of Mangrove and a Copper Inuit Alaskan Indian tribe (see Jankowiak, 1995, for an extensive review of this research).

Naturally, cultural differences still exert a profound influence on young people’s attitudes, emotions, and behavior, and such differences are not likely to disappear in our lifetime. In Morocco, for example, marriage was once an alliance between families (as historically it was in most of the world before the 18th century), in which children had little or no say. Today, although parents can no longer simply dictate whom their children will marry, parental approval remains critically important. It is important, however, that young men and women are at least allowed to have their say (see Davis & Davis, 1995).

Many have observed that, today, two powerful forces—globalization and cultural pride/identification with one’s country (what historians call “nationalism”)—are contending for men’s and women’s souls. To some extent, the world’s citizens may be becoming one but in truth the delightful and divisive cultural variations that have made our world such an interesting (and simultaneously dangerous) place, are likely to add spice to that heady brew of love and sexual practices for some time to come. The convergence of cultures around the world may be reducing the differences in the ways passionate love is experienced and expressed in the modern era, but tradition can be tenacious, and the global future of passionate love cannot be predicted with any certainty.

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[seasonofthegeek]

To Save and To Sacrifice

We did a gift exchange for the Gabenath server and I was excited to write this piece for @dreamwreaver. I have ideas for future chapters so hopefully I can make that happen! <3

Gabriel eyed the woman in front of him speculatively. “It’s settled. You’re to be my wife then.” His words brooked no question and the tone set Nathalie’s teeth on edge.

She schooled her expression and held her composure in the way she’d been taught. “It would appear so.”

They stared at each other, sizing the other up without words. Two kingdoms hung in the balance but for that one moment, they were a man and a woman who most certainly wanted nothing to do with the other.

Nathalie knew immediately that she didn’t like Gabriel Agreste. He was arrogant, though most kings were, but his arrogance seemed unearned. Her kingdom wasn’t the only one in need after all. There was restlessness in his and his leadership was being questioned. To bring in another kingdom, along with acquiring a sought-after queen who’d held her throne alone for almost a decade would be quite the feather in his cap. Nathalie wasn’t sure he deserved it but her land was tilled to dust and her people were in need. She narrowed her eyes as she watched his lip curl up in disgust.

“Is there a problem?”

Gabriel pursed his lips, his expression smoothing out into one of blankness. “I wasn’t aware you wore glasses.”

“The same could be said for you. You weren’t wearing them the other times we met.”

“Neither were you.” He frowned then. “I believe it’s different for a woman of royal lineage to need glasses though.”

She blinked. “Excuse me?”

“Well, if you were to have my heir—“

Nathalie held up a hand. “There will be no heir. That’s not part of this agreement. This is a business contract to benefit both of our kingdoms. We will be united in law alone,” she said pointedly. She watched his face cloud over before the blank mask was back in place. “You already have two sons. Another heir is not a necessity and this contract is one of necessity.”

He picked up a red pen and held it over his stack of papers. “Then we’ll change the contract.”

“Fine,” she nodded, grabbing her own pen. “Then I’ll pull out. I received an offer from King Stone of—“

“You can’t go to the buffoon,” he hissed.

“No heir,” she said simply.

Gabriel’s jaw clicked but he dropped the pen back to the rich lacquered tabletop. “Fine. No heir.”

They held each other’s gaze in challenge for a few moments before there was a silent agreement to continue and they picked up their private review of the final contract one last time. __________________________________

Nathalie played her part throughout the wedding. She wore the dress Gabriel picked out and smiled for the photos and outwardly expressed the correct emotions at the correct times. It was no secret that this wasn’t a match made of love since so few royal weddings were but there was no reason to let anyone think she was in a miserable circumstance. She held her head high. She greeted his people as he did the same for hers. The merging of two kingdoms was quite the event and ambassadors from around the world arrived in droves to give their well wishes and plan their betrayals behind closed doors.

Nathalie found herself alone in the corner of the reception hall later in the night and took in a breath to steady herself. This had been the right decision for her people. She knew that. She could handle this burden. She could live the rest of her life legally tied to the vile man across the hall.

“It’s nice what you’re doing.”

She was surprised to find the two Agreste heirs in front of her. She’d seen photos of them, of course, but they’d never surfaced in her visits to the castle for negotiations. And now here both of them stood, technically her sons through marriage. One was almost a head taller than the other and both had the golden hair she’d seen in past pictures of Gabriel.

“It’s not nice, Ren,” the taller one chided. “It’s business.” He looked her over with the same unimpressed air his father had. “Isn’t that right?”

Nathalie found herself straightening, her chin tilting up defiantly. “I’m doing what I need to for my kingdom.”

“Our kingdom now that the papers are signed,” the man corrected. “Which is quite nice. It’s now the second largest in this country.”

“You’re Prince Felix.”

He gave a quick forced smile that was more social reaction than genuine.

“And I’m Adrien.” The shorter of the two offered his hand with a hopeful smile that radiated so much sincerity, Nathalie had to hold in a wince.

She clasped his hand firmly and saw him nod in appreciation. “It’s nice to meet you both.”

“For the record, I still think it’s a kind thing you’re doing,” Adrien said, releasing her hand. “It must be hard moving away from your home. Most of your people are migrating this way too, from what I’ve heard.”

Felix sighed and turned away to melt back into the crowd. Adrien looked after him with a frown before turning back to Nathalie. “Don’t mind him. He gets like this sometimes. If you need anything, you can ask me.”

“I’ll remember that. Thank you, Prince Adrien.” Nathalie dipped in a half bow that wasn’t required but she thought might be necessary after Felix’s departure and heard the young man chuckle.

“You don’t have to do that with me. I’m just Adrien. Are you just Nathalie or should I call you Queen Nathalie?” He gave her earnest green eyes and Nathalie felt the first tickle of pleasantness since she’d set foot in the hall.

“Just Nathalie is fine, Adrien, thank you.” __________________________________

“The staff you brought over seems to have acclimated well,” Gabriel noted, not bothering to look up from the tablet his assistant had presented him with moments before.

“Yes, I believe the merger was successful.” Nathalie sat at the other end of the large conference table and looked at the report on the previous week’s import and export trades. “I’ve had a few disturbances reported but they’ve been handled relatively well. I believe this will be an experiment depending on time for more results.” She pursed her lips thoughtfully. “The exports are higher but the imports have dropped. That wasn’t planned in any documentation I approved.”

“I saw that too,” he frowned. “There were multiple unapproved transactions.”

“We’ll need to bring in the trades supervisor and start an inquiry immediately.”

Gabriel gave her an impressed nod. “I’ll have him brought in today. Would you like to be a part of the inquiry?”

Nathalie set down her own tablet and picked up the delicate teacup to her right. “I think that would be for the best, yes.”

“I’ll have it scheduled when we can both be present.”

“Thank you.”

“Of course.” __________________________________

Nathalie stepped out of the bathtub and wrapped the thick towel around her body. While her own home had been full of nice things, Gabriel attempted to provide the very best and she found that she was quickly becoming accustomed to the lush and extravagant.

While she’d been very careful in making sure that her people were provided for with the merging kingdoms, Gabriel had surprised her with going above and beyond what she expected. Her people were treated no differently than his people, both kingdoms coming together seamlessly with few disruptions. The people she formerly thought of as solely hers now had a better quality of life, access to more opportunities, and more security. There was the small part of her that wondered if what she provided in the merger was enough but Gabriel had come to her with the request for a wife to strengthen his throne to send a message to other kingdoms. Their marriage had seemingly done that.

She stepped into the large suite and it felt too big, too empty. It was filled with luxurious fabrics and expensive furniture but the bed was huge and sometimes Nathalie felt lost in it alone. She’d had temporary bed partners before but none she was comfortable enough with to settle with for anything permanent. In the back of her mind perhaps she’d thought that someday she would find someone to love and share her life with in a marriage but this marriage had been created out of necessity and there were worse fates. Gabriel left her to her own doings for the most part except for their daily management meetings and she appreciated that.

Although she was realizing that she wouldn’t mind more company.

They’d had lunch together two days ago and it had been a nice occasion. Nathalie hadn’t realized how much she’d started to crave interaction with someone else who didn’t bow their head in her presence. Adrien was nice to talk to when he was around but he was younger and still had that overprotected naivety she saw in royals from time to time. Felix seemed content to ignore her and she was fine doing the same with him. He gave off the air of a sleeping bear that was just looking for a reason to go off and she was not going to be the one to poke him.

She slipped into her bedclothes and curled into the too large bed, pulling the pillows around her for comfort. She usually took breakfast in the dining hall alone but had noticed Gabriel took his in his study. Perhaps she would try to join him in the morning.

Yes, she thought sleepily, his company would be nice. __________________________________

Gabriel knew it was late from the dull ache behind his left eye. He closed the appeal he’d been going over and pushed away from his desk. He shouldn’t be staying up so late but there was double the work to be done with the kingdoms merging.

Not that the work couldn’t be shared.

He’d known Nathalie was an intelligent woman within moments of meeting her when they began negotiations. Other royals who had reached out to him had preened and bowed and presented in a way that was pleasant but not completely genuine. The first time he saw Nathalie narrow her eyes at one of his offhand comments, he’d been intrigued and pushed to continue talking terms. She’d also held onto her throne alone for a decade and that wasn’t the most common thing for a woman. Widowed queens were an exception but Nathalie was still relatively young. It proved her worth and experience.

It also didn’t hurt that he found her gorgeous, but he was trying to keep his space. His mother had been coerced into marriage with his father and there had always been a heavy sadness about her, though he realized with age how she’d tried to shield him from it. He’d watched his father treat her like a possession more than a person and Gabriel had promised himself not to make the same decisions. Although marrying for business was probably on the line.

He stretched and made the short journey to his suite. He knew Nathalie took her breakfast in the dining room in the mornings. Perhaps he would join her tomorrow and see if she would be interested in taking on an even more active role with some of the legislation.

And if Gabriel were being honest with himself, he wouldn’t mind having an excuse to be in her presence more often. __________________________________

“Well,” Gabriel said, clearing his throat. “It would appear we had similar ideas this morning.” He nodded his thanks as a server placed a cup of coffee to the side of his plate.

“It appears so,” Nathalie agreed, taking a sip of her own coffee. The kitchen staff had finally perfected a creamy blend that she’d come to love.

“Yes, well, you’ve been here a couple of months now and hopefully have found things to your liking.”

“Your home is very nice.”

“Our home.” He shot her a tentative smile and was relieved to see her give him one in return.

“Our home,” she conceded.

Gabriel cleared his throat once more and picked up a slice of toast and reached for the jam. “If there are any changes you would like to make, of course, that can be done.”

Nathalie chewed on her bite of toast and then swallowed. “My bed.”

“I’m sorry?”

“It’s too big.”

Gabriel blinked. “And that’s a problem?”

Nathalie huffed. “Yes, it’s a problem. I feel like I’m going to get lost in it. I have to put pillows all around me just to feel comfortable.”

He tried not to smile. “That does sound serious.” He felt a surge of satisfaction when he saw her eyes narrow.

“It is,” she ground out and took an angry bite of her toast. “I’ve been having trouble sleeping and I believe it’s because the bed is too large.”

“I’ll see to it that a smaller bed is ordered then.”

“But not too small,” she warned.

“Perhaps it would be best for you to go through the catalogues and choose one. “

Nathalie lifted her chin. “Yes, I think it would. And while we’re at it, I want more to do.”

“Like what?” he prodded.

“Gabriel, I ruled my own kingdom for over a decade. I’m more than capable of doing that here as well. To be honest, I’m growing rather bored.”

“I see.”

“I know we have our daily meetings to go over reports but I also know there is more that can be done and I want to do it. There’s no reason for me to waste away here.”

“I agree.”

Nathalie paused, unsure of where to go now that he’d easily given in to her demands.  “Well, okay then,” she nodded, raising her cup to her lips.

Gabriel finished his coffee and stood. “I’ll retire to the study to begin my work for the day. Join me when you’ve finished.”

She smiled into her cup and met his eyes. He gave her a pleased nod and turned to leave the room. Perhaps this marriage wouldn’t be so bad after all.

Buy me a cherry coke?

[siempre-bucky]

Basically a Hallmark Movie|5|

Royal!Sebastian Stan x Reader

Summary:  When the photographer reader is made to go to the country of Romania to see and photograph the coronation of the future king, Prince Sebastian, she must overcome her Grinch-like attitude. All before Christmas.

A/N: So excited to pick this story back up with all the Christmas excitement!!! With the Tumblr purge happening and with the threat of this not being shown in the tags I will not be linking to the previous chapters or the Series Masterlist! You can find it on my blog! It’s linked for the desktop and you can search ‘masterlist’ on mobile!!!! TAGLIST OPEN! Enjoy :)

“What is this about?” Sebastian questions as Anastasia as she leads him into her office Anastasia huffs and sits in her comfortable chair. She pulls out a large black book with the families royal crest engraved into the leather, the bearded man’s never seen that before.

“The ball Sebastian it’s a royal family tradition,” she reminds him as she flips to a page, her tone reeks of distaste.

“And I’ve skipped it for the past 12,” he responds with a satisfied smile before sitting down on the couch beside the window. He looks out at the snow as she continues to blabber how it’s important. His eyes boredly shift to the snow Y/N left her imprint on causing him to laugh at the fast its still there.

“Are you listening?”

“No.”

She growls and places her hands on the table, her red nails threatened to dig marks into the nice wood “I need you to focus,” she demands, her neatly drawn eyebrows furrow together in anger, the red in her cheeks making her red blush blend together.

Sebastian laughs at her reaction, he and his father would love to make Anastasia angry even if it angered his mother “Ok, ok, I promise,” he sits up in his chair and places his hands over his lap, poised as a future king should be.

Anastasia clears her throat and stares down at the plans on the embossed paper “This years charity will be the Bucharest Orphanage, all money raised will be given to the shelter for their yearly needs.”

“What about Christmas?” he interrupts.

“It’s not in the budget.”

Sebastian frowned “Not in the budget?” he questioned her with a low growl.

“They have just enough for food and necessities,” Anastasia matched his tone which commenced a staredown between the two royals. Sebastian hated playing the rank card, it made him feel like one of those snobbish jerks that shoved their ranks in people’s faces and that just wasn’t him. Yet this was Anastasia and it was fine!

“Need I remind you that I’m going to be your king in a matter of days, Scarlett will set up a tour of the orphanage for me tomorrow and I will evaluate the amount of decoration and presents needed,” he informs her through gritted teeth.

“Fine,” she spats, getting up quickly and storming off, a strand of curses escaping her lips. With a slam of the door, Sebastian smirks, pleased with himself. He pulls out his phone and sends a quick text to Scarlett to meet him at the entrance, he shoves in back in his pocket and walks out the door admiring the Christmas decorations on the way.

“Your Highness, are you sure you want to be out in the cold before the ball?” Scarlett asks, looking down at her tablet when she sees him arrive. Sebastian grunts to himself, grumpy at the fact that another person wasn’t wanting him to participate in the Christmas spirit. Scarlett looks up and him and sees the angered expression on his face, immediately regretting her questioning. “I-uh, I will talk to Mrs. Saldana about your visit.”

“That’s better,” he laughs, examining the room. His eyes look forward and instantly smiles at the Tree Y/N finished, chuckling at the fact all the ornaments were towards the bottom and so close together.

“Sebastian,” Scarlett pokes his arm with her pen.

“Hmm?”

“Would you like to take someone from the press?” Scarlett knew the future king was developing feelings for the photographer, it was her rightful duty to force them on an outing.

“No. No press.”

“What about Y/N L/N?” He instantly perks up, hiding the smile by keeping his head low. He was taking the bait!

“Well I guess the orphanage could use the press,” Sebastian responded, taking another look at the tree.

The blonde woman smiled “Good, the camera I ordered for her was delivered a little earlier. You should ask her.”

“But her ankle.”

“She’ll be fine. Go!”

Sebastian took the hint and found the package, he thought of wrapping it but remembered her displeasure when she saw Christmas decorations, the plain Amazon box will have to do. He arrived at her door and paused suddenly. But why? His hands were scared to knock on the door, holding onto the brown box for dear life. His heart was racing, but he’d only just met her, he pushes the feelings aside and knocks loudly at the door. While he waits he shifts on the balls of his feet until he hears the door start to open.

Y/N’s face looks up in slight surprise, not thinking the king to be would be standing at her door “Prince Sebastian,” she greets with a smile.

“Just Sebastian please,” he kindly corrects her. She shyly nods and leans against the doorframe while nervously playing with her pink sweater.

“What brings you to my door?” she asks.

“Your new camera arrived,” he tells her, handing out the box. Her eyes light up when she takes the box in her hands itching to pry it open and play with it. Y/N fights the urge and holds it in front of her as he speaks “I’m visiting the orphanage in town and I am in need of a photographer…would you be interested?”

“Yes!” she nearly shouts from the excitement. The smile that emerges from his face makes her knees go weak, she’d pay good money to see that every day. “I-I mean I would be honored to take the photos.”

“Great, the car will be ready at 8, I’ll send Scarlett to get you,” he wasted no time in rushes away from her, leaving Y/N slightly confused.

She shuts the door behind her and grinned stupidly to herself, hobbling back to the bed where she would finally play with the new camera. “Hey Google,” she speaks, “call dad,” she tells her phone as she opens the box.

“Hi honey how’s Romania?” he asks excitedly when he picks up.

“Its fine, the uh country takes Christmas seriously. The Prince is like the king of Christmas.”

“Maybe it’s time for you to like Christmas again Y/N.”

Y/N shrugs her shoulders and inspects the heavy camera “No, its fine,” she dismisses his comments.

“You mom would be disappointed in you, you know how much she loved Christmas.”

“Damnit,” she whispers to herself, she knew he was right. “Yeah I know,” she answers sadly.

“Just give it a chance, have fun Y/N, I’ll talk to you soon.”

“Alright, love you.”

“Love you too!” she hangs up the phone and leans back against the headboard, staring the Christmas tree in the corner. She turned on the camera and took a picture of it, reminding herself to thank Sebastian tomorrow for it…now, what was she going to wear for the event!

The next morning Sebastian stood outside the palace, rubbing his gloved hands together as he waited for Y/N to be escorted down “Nervous?” Scarlet asks, a smirk painted on her lips.

“No, I love children,” Sebastian answers unamused.

Scarlett points her pen to the stairs, making him look at Paul helping Y/N down the narrow steps. She stood out in a bright red pea coat, black pants, black flats, white gloves all brought together by a sturdy ankle brace “That’s what I meant.”

Sebastian didn’t respond to her, instead, he was rushing to the base of the stairs to take her hand “Thank you, Paul,” he thanks as he leads Y/N to the car. “How’s your ankle?”

Y/N smiles and holds on tightly, afraid of slipping on the ice “Better. Took some Advil so I’m ready.” He hums in response and smiling down at her while she looks forward, he’s thankful she couldn’t see the smile. She looked up to catch him staring, he didn’t shy away like he normally would but instead got lost in the moment.

“Your Highness, we need to leave,” Scarlett interjects, interrupting the moment even though she liked seeing the prince happy. It’s been a while since he’s smiled like that, the loss of his parents and a lost love took a toll on the man.

“R-right, will you sit in the back with me?”

Y/N blushes and nods “Sure.”

The orphanage was a large brick building in the middle of town, covered with glistening white snow that fell during the cold night. The excited crowd gathered as the luxurious black car with the gold trimmed Romanian flags pulled around to the front, pulling their photos out to document the occasion. “There’s a lot of people,” Y/N commented, tapping her fingers on her camera.

“I’m used to it…don’t you cover things like this?” Sebastian questions, waiting for the driver to open their doors.

“Yeah but never an international event let alone royal one.” When the doors open Y/N quietly thanks the driver and carefully steps out.

“Hey,” Sebastian calls from the other side of the car.

“What?”

Sebastian gives her a reassuring smile along with a nod “You’ll be great. Just think, all the other reporters at the palace would kill to do this.” Y/N nods in agreement, poking out her bottom lip. She watches him happily walk over to the crowd that lined up to greet him, the smile on his face when he hugs the kids and shook hands with the adults couldn’t be beaten.

It warmed Y/N’s heart, she blamed the butterflies in her stomach on the holiday season of course. The sight in front of her almost made her forget her job, she raised the camera and started taking pictures of the prince. Following far behind him, taking as many photos as she could the warmth of the orphanage was a nice relief.

The prince's face fell, the inside looked so dull compared to the festive décor on the outside. The children remained cheerful as they played with the rundown toys, a Christmas movie playing on the television. “Your Highness, this is Zoe Saldana, she is in charge of the orphanage,” Scarlett introduced as they approached a woman sitting with the children. Mrs. Saldana greeted with a small curtsey and held her hand out.

“Thank you so much for having me on such short notice, ” Sebastian shook her hand kindly and looked around.

“It was no problem, we’re very happy you’re here,” she thanked him.

Sebastian walked around and evaluated the building, there was no question they were in need of help. Things were leaking and the heating was about to give out, Zoe told him how they live ration to ration, thankful for the few donations they receive. It truly broke his heart, the kids had no idea what was going on or what the adults were worried about. They were just focused on getting adopted and being children, he just wanted to make their lives a little easier.

“I have to admit there’s another reason I’m here,” he admits lowly not wanting little ears to hear.

“What’s that?” the woman asks, matching his tone.

“I know the ball we’re having tonight is to help with funds, but it was brought to my attention you have nothing left over for Christmas.” Zoe’s face grows sad, they only had one true Christmas when they first opened and they only had a few children.

“Unfortunately that’s true.”

“I will not let that happen again, I’m personally giving you all the décor and presents for a Christmas they won’t forget.”

Zoe chokes on her words but finally manages a sentence “I would be forever grateful.” They shake on the agreement and turn their attention to Y/N and Scarlett in the corner waiting for them to be done. “Are you dating her?”

Sebastian coughs, choking on air “I-I uh no, no,” he wheezes.

“I’m sorry I assumed, you’ve been staring at each other this whole time. Maybe take her as your date?” Zoe curtseyed one last time and walked away, leaving Sebastian with his thoughts. Scarlett looks at him concerned and rushes over, placing her hand on his back.

“Are you alright?”

“Y-Yeah I’m fine,” Sebastian answers, taking in short breathes. Scarlett pulls away and placed her hand back on her iPad. He finally calmed himself and started walking towards the car Y/N going into the car first.

“You were incredible,” Y/N comments happily, flipping through the photos that showed him playing with the kids. Sebastian looked over and smiled, she was extremely talented he was instantly impressed with her work. Their faces got closer as they gravitated towards the small screen on the camera, they both looked up at each other.  He took the plunge as he continued to stare at her and the pink flush that formed on her cheeks due to the cold “Would you like to go to the ball with me tonight?”

She moved away from him and laughed “I would be happy to take the photos.”

“I-I wasn’t talking about photography. Will you be my date?”

“Date?”

“Yes?”

“I’ve never been to a ball before.”

He leaned back against the seat and turned his head towards her “I’ve skipped it for the last 12 years, I basically don’t know what I’m doing,” he jokes, making her laugh in response.

“Sure, yeah why not.”

“So that’s a yes?”

“Yes. Prince Sebastian, I will be your date to the ball.”

Taglist: if your name is italic it means Tumblr won’t let me tag you, I’m so sorry

@thatnikkixx @heimdoodle  @goofygooberr @dxftprettyboys @yeeterbenjaminparker @fandom-addict-aesthetics @inmyworstlies @where-karina-gets-lost @mizz-kraziii @scarletthornrose @marvelousmendess @xxxxnatasha @dorkyallen  @petersunderroos @shut-it-tinman  @captain-maaarvel  @5secondsof-beforeyouexit @niallandsebastianaremylife @iamwarrenspeace @lame-lozer  @libbymouse @hadesgirl1015   @a-kiddo-with-a-doggo  @dragoste-lunes @imaginesofdreams @captainradicalpassion @the-nargles-made-me-do-it @likes-to-smell-books @sebastianstanandremuslupin @inlovewith3 @iamariotgrrl  @ynough @xceafh 

[open2020fan]

dresses and shoes while its men includes trainers

athletes urged to rethink nike ties Please see ourPrivacy Noticefor details of your data protection rightsThank you for subscribingWe have more newslettersShow meSee our privacy noticeCould not subscribe, try again laterInvalid EmailOnline retailer ASOS has become the latest store to launch its summer sale, with customers now able to get up to half price off hundreds of items.The sale includes a wide selection of products with its women section featuring swimwear, dresses and shoes while its men includes trainers, watches and jeans.Stand out offers include the Pitusa Bali Warp Beach Dress was 116 now 69.50, ASOS Design scuba asymmetric ruffle front midi dress was 58 now 29, Call It Spring Nydeladda Red Flatform Sliders was 48.99 now 24 and the ALDO All Over Sequin Cross Body Bag with Floral Gem Embellishment was 55 now 33.ASOS has even included some of the biggest sports brands in its sale too such as Adidas and Nike.The sale isn expected to be running for long, so anyone looking to make the most of the savings will need to be quick.Read MoreShopping deals in June 2018What's OnallMost ReadMost RecentEmpire TheatreBianca Del Rio to bring her UK tour to Liverpool next month here's how to get ticketsThe It's Jester Joke Tour heads to the UK this SeptemberFood DrinkLook inside Dirty O'Sheas on Seel StreetLiverpool barsLook inside Dirty O'Sheas the Irish bar opening inside Seel Street's former Empire nightclubThe Seel Street building is open after being closed for two yearsthings to do kidsBlackpool Illuminations switch on 2019: start times, line up, parking and moreThere will be a Coronation Street star on hand to turn on this year's lightsLiverpool City CentreTSB confirmed to be replacing Yankee Candle in Liverpool city centreThe store closed unexpectedly in December 2018Most ReadMost RecentLiverpool FCLiverpool players past and present show support for Luis Enrique after tragic loss of nine year old daughterThe footballing world voiced their support for the former Barcelona manager after his nine year old daughter passed away following a battle with bone cancerLiverpool FCMoment ex Liverpool player Dean Saunders tells police: "I've had one pint"Footage shows an officer tell the TV pundit: "Your driving is atrocious. 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[ecofinisher]

The Adventures of Super Nathan 2 - Chap. 16

Chapter 16

https://archiveofourown.org/works/18224606/chapters/46696549

https://www.wattpad.com/755614532-miraculous-the-adventures-of-super-nathan-2-super

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13243294/16/Miraculous-The-Adventures-of-Super-Nathan-2

Nathaniel, Lila, Kagami, Adrien, Rose, Juleka, Marinette and Luka had got reunited together in the break around a table at the cafeteria to eat to get prepared for the next lesson.

“Yesterday I and Luka were on our way to deliver the special prepared Sablés at everyone’s house and on the way I’ve accidentally dropped the bag with the miraculouses and the cookies on the streets and I forgot to check, if I had all miraculouses and I didn’t realize the moth miraculous was gone” The Chinese descendant girl explained her friends, “Now someone has found it and is using it for the bad”

“Don’t worry, we’re all getting the miraculous back. We all managed to take Le Paon the miraculous away, so we will also manage to take Monarch down….that’s what you heard, right sis?” Questioned Luka glancing at his younger sister, who nodded at the boy.

“Listen later Alix is going to do a presentation about my superhero identity, I will inform them all to stay positive and if an akuma approaches them to try stay happy to avoid them to get akumatzed” Informed the redhead boy. “Is this a good thing?”

“It would be good to assure them, we’re always around to help them like Cat Noir and Ladybug did in the past” Responded Rose to Nathaniel. “Do it Nath”

“Does Alix know your superhero identity Nathaniel?” Asked Adrien picking up from the tableau, that stood in front of the friends another croissant to eat.

“No” Replied Nathaniel. “I don’t even know if it’s a good idea to tell her that. You all know, she has a crush on Super Nathan and I’m afraid when I tell her that she will hate me for good”

“If that is because you’re dating Lila just tell Alix you and Miss Vixen are dating. Although everyone should know that by now” Kagami said. “Well compared to me and Adrien at least”

“But in your civilian selves fangirls often go behind you two,” Lila said with a chuckle.

“They go behind Adrien, not me. They only follow me to get me out of their way to get closer to Adrien”

“What?” Asked Nathaniel surprised.

“But I never saw them going behind you?” Rose questioned looking at Kagami and Adrien.

“That’s mostly after or before photo shoots” Explained Adrien. “To avoid this fangirl mayhem she’s most of the times present on my shoots or at her house”

“It’s really incredible, how most of the fans of him only want him because he’s really famous”

“That was me a few years ago, but then I found Nathaniel” Lila mentioned leaning her head on Nathaniel’s shoulder making him smile a little embarrassed.

“That’s why I have been rejecting all the girls from every flirting attempts, cause I know it wouldn’t ever work out,” The blonde Frenchboy told the group. “I’ve seen in the movies how the relationships were like”

“At least you got Kagami” Luka added. “How did she manage to get together with you?”

“We had become friends at the fencing lessons and after a funny accident, we had during fencing I had found her….alluring” Answered Adrien looking at Kagami while scratching with his hand behind his neck.

“I was so mean for the coming days. I didn’t want us to become a thing, but I couldn’t get him out of my head and at the same time I was afraid Adrien wasn’t as kind as he seemed to be”

“And the fangirls?” Questioned Luka.

“I didn’t think about that before. I got surprised as fangirls approached me more often because I’m with Adrien”

“I don’t know, but I’d love to see myself in the future and all my fans going behind me….but of course I will still have my eyes on you, Marinette,” Luka said gazing at Marinette, that blushed at his comment.

“I really love your talking about the past and the future guys, but we came here to talk about the villain, that akumatized my sweet Juleka” Rose mentioned placing her hand on Juleka’s making the girlfriend smile a little.

“Right, that’s why the meeting was set up,” Marinette said looking at Rose together with Luka. “Sorry for the distraction”

“Whoever it is, we need to find out, who has got the moth miraculous and stop them from more akumatizations in Paris,” Adrien said. “I can’t believe shortly before our adult lives start this had to come in our way again”

“Same” Agreed Luka. “I can handle once in a while skip my band practice, but now if the akumas are back it won’t be that easy to sneak out, every time one breaks out”

“Same and what if this continues for more years?” Asked Kagami. “How are we supposed to keep up with our own lives and responsibilities?”

“We going to manage this too, we’re six heroes after all.” Assured Adrien. “And if necessary Marinette can give out one or two miraculouses to others to help us fight”

“Of course” Responded Marinette and the bell rang, advising the students to get back to the classrooms. “Oh we gotta go back”

“Well, I’m going back to the ship,” Luka said getting up from the chair. “If anyone finds any clues, inform me and Marinette” Warned Luka saluting with his point and middle finger at the squad, then walked away heading to the exit of the cafeteria.

  In the classroom, Alix was doing the presentation of her favorite superhero and on her powerpoint, she showed a video of Super Nathan being interviewed by Alix herself.

“If I had a presentation at the school about you, would you show up and show them some of your moves?” Questioned Alix.

“Of course” Responded Super Nathan. “If I’m not busy dealing with bad guys I would totally love to show up”

“Would you also appear in the classroom in your own way?” Asked Alix, then Super Nathan smirked holding his tablet to use the pen to draw something on the tablet, then the camera turned black and Alix moved her hands to the window, where Super Nathan stood on a flying carpet, that he had drawn with his tablet, then all students applauded afterward Miss Bustier opened for the superhero the window and he entered with the carpet into the classroom landing next to Alix.

“Good morning everyone, I’m Super Nathan, one of the superheroes here in Paris. The beautiful capital of France” Super Nathan explained using his tablet to draw something, then on the table of Miss Bustier appeared a small flag of the country they’re all living in.

“Bravo,” Miss Bustier said with a smile as the redhead had drawn the French national flag.

“Have you all got any special wishes I could draw for you in real life?” Asked Super Nathan and a few students raised their hands up.

“Nin….I mean boy with the red cap” Super Nathan called the Morrocan, who placed his arm down to tell the superhero what he wanted to.

“Can you draw the new Jagged Stone music cover, including its CD with the songs of it?” “I have no idea if it’s possible, but I can draw a functional stereo system,” Super Nathan said drawing on his tablet a stereo system and as he was done the device appeared over Super Nathan, then he caught it and showed it to the class.

“Amazing!” All replied stunned in chorus.

“Super Nathan” Called Kim still holding his arm in the air. “Is it possible, that you could draw a living person or animal?”

“No, but I can draw a voodoo doll, that really works” Responded Super Nathan surprising the classmates.

“Okay I don’t need to see that,” Kim said a little frightened about the response.

“Good and the next one….what about the girlfriend of Adrien Agreste?” Suggested Super Nathan.

“Can you draw me a fan of Cat Noir?” Asked Kagami earning a nod from Super Nathan.

“Well, I try. I’ve never have drawn one before….nor Cat Noir did I”

“Well, then just a fan,” Kagami said earning a nod from the superhero, who was doing the commission she asked for, seconds later a small fan appeared over Kagami and she used it to cool herself down.

“Wait, Super Nathan, I’ve got a cooler idea,” Kim said jumping up from his seat.

“What is it, Kim?” Asked Super Nathan roll his eyes wondering, what the Vietnamese was going to ask him.

“Can you draw on people clothing?” Asked Kim making Super Nathan gulp at the question.

“S...sure...” “Can you add geisha clothing to Kagami?” Asked Kim making Kagami look in shock at Kim along with Adrien.

“What?” Shouted the Japanese girl.

“I could, but I can’t promise it will look good” Super Nathan said looking at Kagami, who crossed her arms looking away from the superhero.

“Come on, it’s not like you’re going to undress her and dress her all up, right?”

“Of course not!”

“See?”

Super Nathan sighed then tapped with his pen on the screen of his device and wide his eyes as he had a brilliant idea, then started to draw on the tablet on the body of a person, that was captured by the device and after two minutes Super Nathan was done and removed his pen off the tablet looking at the class, which had all looked at Kagami, who had closed her eyes, then all were confused to see Kagami in her uniform.

“She’s still in her school uniform,” Adrien said, then Kagami opened her left eye to look at herself in surprise as nothing had been done to her.

“Why did you do this to me!?!?!” Shouted a voice and all looked at Kim, then started to laugh while Super Nathan smirked and rolled his pen with his middle and index finger at his success.

“The red lip gloss doesn’t really suit you Kim” Mentioned Lila starting to laugh along with her best friend.

“But it would suit you” Super Nathan said seeing Lila look up at him, smiling at the superhero, that approached the girl.

“Oh, what are you going to do to me Super Nathan?” Asked Lila teasingly knowing Super Nathan was just playing with her.

“Nothing, but giving you this” Super Nathan said drawing on his tablet a rose, that appeared in front of Super Nathan, then the superhero gently gave it to the girl. “Here the most gorgeous girls receive from me a flower”

“That’s sweet, but I have already got a loving boyfriend and my favorite flowers are tiger lilies” “Well I’m not into drawing flowers so….you won’t ever get them” “Well don’t worry, my sweet boyfriend is going to bring me them someday,” Lila said making Super Nathan roll his eyes down in embarrassment turning light pink on the cheeks.

“Hey Max, isn’t Super Nathan actually an adult?” Asked Kim.

“I don’t know” Responded Max “Ask Alix”

“Super Nathan, are we allowed to know your age or some details of your civilian self?” Asked Ivan.

“Just some tiny, little details” Responded Super Nathan holding his index finger and thumb nearly close together to Ivan.

“How old are you?” Asked Ivan.

“I’m….uh 25” Responded Super Nathan.

“Where are you from?” Asked Lila.

“France” Responded Super Nathan. “And Liechtenstein!” Super Nathan added to avoid anything similar to his civilian self.

“Do you know Miss Vixen’s secret identity?” Asked Adrien.

“Why not?”

“Is she hotter with or without the suit?” Asked Nino getting elbowed by his girlfriend. “I’m just asking”

“I don’t know, both are good” Responded Super Nathan making a few girls chuckle. “Uhm you were talking about the civilian self of her, right?”

“Yeah”

“Oh good” “Can I have my old clothes back?” Asked Kim looking at Super Nathan, who took his tablet in front of him again, opening the layer with the geisha outfit and erased the layer, so that the clothing would disappear and Kim would stay back with his previous outfit. “Thank you”

“Okay guys and girls, I’ve gotta finish the presentation. Maybe Super Nathan has later time to take selfies with us or to give an autograph or two” Alix said moving on her power point presentation to the end page.

“The best for me about this presentation was I could get to know my idol better and show you all, how of an awesome and kind person he is” Alix said making Super Nathan smile, then Alix moved to the last page, which was a gif of a famous rapper clapping with his hands, afterward the class applauded at the pink-haired girl.

“Well I’ve gotta go kids, I need to stay focused on Paris, mostly after an akuma having caught one of your friends” Super Nathan said looking at Juleka, which was being patted by the girlfriend. “Remember to always stay positive and if you’re feeling down and an akuma appears, try to make yourself feel happy, fight against the akuma, try to resist it trying to control your mind. I know you can do that” Super Nathan told the class, who nodded at the superhero.

“Thank you for coming, Super Nathan and for helping Juleka out of the trouble” The teacher thanked the redhead, which nodded at the woman.

“No problem. My friends, have a nice day and see you someday” Super Nathan said leaving the classroom and closing the door behind him.

“That was a very interesting presentation, Alix, good job” Miss Bustier complimented the short girl, who walked back at her seat. “Now mes enfants, in a minute the bell is going to ring. If you want you can leave now for the break and Adrien can prepare himself for his presentation”

“Sure Miss Bustier” Adrien said getting up carrying to the front a barrel bag to the front, placing it on the desk of Miss Bustier, then took from his pocket a stick to insert it on Miss Bustier’s laptop to search for his presentation.

“Hey Adrien, about who are you going to do a presentation?” Asked the Vietnamese boy passing by the blonde together with Max, while the other classmates left for the break.

“Kagami’s mother” Responded Adrien. “I wanted Jagged Stone, but Marinette had already picked him”

“Cool, it’s her mother, who was a fencing champion, right?”

“Yes” Replied Adrien.

“Great can’t wait to hear about it” Kim said leaving the class along with Max, then Kagami approached the blonde, who felt a little tensed about his presentation.

“Are you nervous?” Questioned the blue-haired girl.

“A bit” Responded Adrien.

“Don’t worry, it will go fine” Kagami comforted the boy making him smile. “I’m spreading my mother’s fencing utensils on the table if you don’t mind”

“Thanks,” Adrien said opening the powerpoint on the laptop, then connected it on the writing app with the overhead projector to make the image appear behind him on the wall. “Kagami, are you interested to go out tonight at the cinema?”

“Again?” Asked Kagami confused.

“Well, we couldn’t fully enjoy it, because we had to move out to help the staff out of the cargo ship” The blonde mentioned. “Or we go out somewhere else”

“No it’s alright,” Said Kagami. “Perhaps we go alone this time?”

“Sure, I’m fine with that” Adrien said making his girlfriend smile, then he helped Kagami take the rest of the objects from the barrel bag out to place it on the table of the teacher.

 Inside the boys’ restroom Super Nathan stood in front of the mirror gazing annoyed at his reflection.

“Karaa, stripes off. Stripes off!” Super Nathan said loud to destransform back into his civilian self, but it didn’t work out. “Karaa, what’s going on?” Asked Super Nathan. “Is it possible, that she can’t hear me?” Super Nathan told it himself walking to the exit of the restrooms opening the door, then he shrieked as he saw Alix standing in front of him with her fist in the air, about to knock on the door.

“Alix?” Asked Super Nathan surprised. “This is the boy’s restroom?”

“I know, sorry. I wanted to see if my friend Nathaniel was here. He had left to go to the toilet and hasn’t come back.”

“Oh is it a short redhead with a grey dress jacket, purple pants, turquoise eyes and has this…..hairstyle I don’t know how to explain and….is very good looking?”

“Well he is, but you’re way more gorgeous compared to my friend,” Alix said blushing a little as she avoided eye contact with the superhero.

“Oh boy” Super Nathan mumbled at how much Alix was attracted to the superhero. “Alix listen, you’re a great girl, but….I and Miss Vixen are dating. And I’ve got a double life. I can’t be always present to be there for you”

“You mean, if Miss Vixen wouldn’t be with you, I actually had a chance with you?”

“No, that’s not what I meant”

“But, what are you referring to Super Nathan?” Asked Alix and Super Nathan placed his hands on the girl’s shoulders.

“Listen Alix…...I know you’re….uh….listen to my voice. Listen to me talking now. When you hear my voice, what does it make you think off?”

“The first time I saw you on TV talking” Responded Alix dreamy. “Your voice makes you even more attractive”

“Doesn’t my voice not make you think of a certain friend or something?”

“Nope” Responded Alix making Super Nathan groan.

“It doesn’t matter, Alix listen I need to go quick. I….need to help Viperion with…..a car accident!”

“Your excuses are so ridiculous,” Alix said with a chuckle, then Super Nathan shook the girl on her shoulders.

“Why are you so oblivious?” Shouted Super Nathan annoyed, then Alix pressed her lips on Super Nathan’s lips, shrieking him as his friend had kissed him on the lips. “Fuck” Mumbled Super Nathan, then suddenly behind his back his miraculous started to beep lighting up behind his shoulder his symbol and he got transformed back into Nathaniel Kurtzberg, right in front of Alix, who just opened her eyes as she had felt Super Nathan’s cover disappear and shocking the pink-haired girl as she just discovered, whose identity was from her idol.

“Nathaniel?!?!” Asked Alix shocked. “You’re Super Nathan?”

“Karaa, what happened?” Asked Nathaniel looking up at her kwami.

“I don’t know, this nevew happened to me befowe” Responded Karaa shrugging her shoulders.

“Alix about this, I’m so sorry I’ve never told you about my secret identity, I was initially not allowed to tell this anyone, not even my best friends…..I just told this the other superheroes, because we were partners and there was really no point in hiding this from each other” Nathaniel explained watching Alix still in shock gazing at the redhead. “Please don’t get mad at me or you’ll get akumatized too and I can’t transform as long as Karaa hasn’t charged her energies”

“Her energies?” Asked Alix starting to chuckle. “Is she like some plush toy, where you can put batteries or so?” Asked the pink-haired girl, making the kwami cross her arms.

“I’m not a toy. I’m a kwami,” Corrected the white kwami.

“Awesome” Alix said tickling the kwami on the sides, making it laugh. “I can’t believe my best friend is a superhero”

“So….. you’re not angry at me?” Questioned Nathaniel a little bewildered.

“I kind of thought before, when you were gone during my presentation, while Super Nathan was there and flirted with Lila, that it would be most likely to be you his secret identity. You have even missed several times some lessons, because of an emergency and during that space of time, Super Nathan was out there”

“So….you….kinda knew it?”

“Well I’m not surprised it was you”

“And you still had a crush on Super Nathan, even knowing it was me?”

“I couldn’t know it was really you, it could have also been someone else”

“Well there you’re right”

“Yeah, I check my sources about you more than Alya. But she started doing that as she realized, she was wrong at some aspects.

“Good and you know you can’t tell anyone about my identity? But I know I can trust you” “Of course Nathaniel. Who am I, Chloé?”

“No, you’re my friend,” Told Nathaniel.

“Yeah…..and wait….since you’re dating Miss Vixen….is she Lila in someway?” Questioned the pink-haired girl earning a nod from her friend. “Makes sense”

“Thank god, imagine Lila and Miss Vixen weren’t the same girls and I had a crush on them. I’d be screwed” Responded Nathaniel and the bell of the school rang, calling the students back to class. “We gotta go, now we’re going to listen to Adrien’s presentation”

“I bet he won’t stutter that lot during the presentations as you”

“Hey!” Yelled Nathaniel. “I can’t help myself. I practice it so much, but it still doesn’t work”

“Yeah, you practiced. Right, I believe you”

“I swear I did. The other times I practiced too, the problem is it never comes out the way I want it to”

“I believe you,” Alix said opening the door of the restrooms. “Come, Miss Bustier is sure wondering, why you took so long in the toilet”

“Yeah, most likely,” Nathaniel said leaving the restroom along with his friend.