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maybege · 3 years ago

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Birthday Party Adventures

Summary: With his daughter’s birthday party approaching, Paz has many plans to make it all go right. What he didn’t expect was for Emily to invite her teacher and his crush – you.

Pairing: single dad!Paz Vizsla x fem!teacher!Reader

Wordcount: 4.0k | Rating: T

Warnings: Modern AU, fluffy fluff

Oh I feel like it has been ages since I initially wrote this (back in September actually!) but I love it just as much as on the first day and I hope that you will enjoy it too! This is dedicated to my Paz Gang @aerynwrites @datmando @hdlynnslibrary @princessbatears and @stubbychaos who came up with this wonderful AU idea. ❤

masterlist | crossposted on AO3

Paz was overwhelmed.

Paz was truly and utterly overwhelmed.

“Can I go and get my cereal?” Emily asked next to him, clearly bored with her father’s antics, “You will take ages to choose, Uncle Din was right.”

“All right, go ahead,” he mumbled, choosing to ignore the fact that Din had – once again – infiltrated his daughter’s thoughts with horrible lies. He did not take ages. Anybody would take as long as he was taking when the choices were so … vast.

Cake mix after cake mix was displayed in the aisle and how would he know which one he should get?

Emily’s birthday was this weekend – Saturday to be exact and he had promised her a cake. He always promised her a cake. And he always failed.

But not this time.

This time, he had listened to his best friend and would settle on a cake mix although he still felt like he was cutting corners. But at least it would not be store-bought. And, as Fennec had suggested, he could still buy some decorations to make the cake special.

Because that’s what Emily deserved – a special cake, made with love.

So, while his daughter was probably trying to find the sweetest cereal there was available, he tried to settle on a cake.

Deep down, Paz knew that Emily was probably eating way too much sugar. But to be honest, there were so many battles he could fight at once and he was more prepared to fight some judgmental soccer moms than the will of his own daughter.

Holding two cake mixes in his hands – birthday confetti and chocolate – Paz whipped around as he heard an all too familiar voice greet him. “Mr Vizsla, it is so nice to see you.”

There you were.

The woman of his dreams.

Emily’s teacher.

Stars, he knew he was probably acting absolutely ridiculous around you. No matter what kind of school event there was, as one of Emily’s main teachers you were always around he was never able to take his eyes off you.

Not only were you pretty and smart but you were kind. You kept all the kids in check with a calmness that he admired you for and he could see how you valued each and every student in your class. And now you were here, wrapped in an oversized cardigan and clutching a shopping basket in your hands.

But you beamed at him and he was sure he’d never seen anything prettier.

Forgotten were the cake mixes in his hands as he lowered them to the sides of his body. “Hi, um, Miss –“

“Emily was mentioning you were having trouble choosing.”

“Em saw you?”

You chuckled, avoiding your eyes as if you were embarrassed, “I came over to say hello and she mentioned you needed help to choose a cake?”

Speak, for maker’s sake, speak! A voice in his head screamed at him but his brain was still processing the fact that (a) this was not a school event and (b) you were speaking to him, leading to (c) you were speaking to him in your own free time.

“Chocolate.”

“What?”

“I would go with chocolate,” you gestured to the box in his right hand, biting your lip and stars, he wanted to hold your hand and kiss your cheek and take walks through the park with you. Instead, here he was, making a fool of himself.

“I will trust your judgment, then,” he nodded, carefully putting the other box back on the shelf. When that was done, you kept standing there in front of him looking up at him expectantly. Why – why? – couldn’t he speak? It should not be this hard to open his mouth.

He just needed to say I think you are wonderful and I would like to get to know you more. Would you be interested in having dinner with me?

“Um, would you like to …”, his voice trailed off.

You did that lip-biting thing again and your whole face lit up and stars, maybe you wanted him to ask you. “Yes?”

“I was wondering if you would like to –“

“I know you said I wasn’t allowed the sweet ones but it’s my birthday soon,” Em announced loudly, dropping a box in the already full shopping cart and pouting at him, “Can I have it as an early present, pretty please?”

Mission: Ask Pretty Teacher Out For Dinner was immediately aborted and he swore he saw a look of disappointment flash across your face. At least that was something to give him hope.

“Dad always makes me a cake and he fails every year, it’s a tradition by now,” his daughter explained and he groaned inwardly, but then she had her thinking face on – the same she had as a toddler – and suddenly added, “You should bring one.”

“What?”

“Em, I don’t think your teacher has the time to …”

But Em, bless her soul, would not be deterred from her plan. By now he cursed the stubborn streak that ran through his family and had evidently taken root in his daughter as well.

“Dad always talks about how much he likes your raspberry chocolate crumble,” she shrugged, “And my classmates like it too.”

When would the ground open up and swallow him whole?

And the worst thing was: Em wasn’t even lying. She had her blunt honesty from him and the way he had gushed about that raspberry crumble had been unusual, especially for him. But it had also been unusually good. And the way you had smiled at him when he had taken a second serving had made his heart warm.

Now though, there were no words that could describe the embarrassment that flowed through him. He felt exposed in a way that he had not felt for a long time and being at anyone’s mercy – even if it was yours – was not something that he cherished.

“Well,” you started with a smile and looked at him, “If your dad won’t mind, I could certainly bring over a cake for your birthday party.”

“He won’t mind.”

“I won’t mind.”

Your eyebrows shot up in surprise and you smiled, genuinely smiled, at him. Paz’s breath caught in his throat. Stars, you were beautiful. Everything about you was just magnificent from the tips of your hair to your eyes, your nose, your lips, how you hugged your oversized cardigan closer to you.

“Great,” you nodded, “So … I will see you then?”

“My dad will text you the info,” Emily added, seemingly the only one who kept her cool at the situation.

You furrowed your brows in confusion, “Oh, but I don’t –“

“Dad, why don’t you give Miss Y/L/N your number?” Em brazenly suggested, a mischievous twinkle in her eyes that he knew all too well, “For adult stuff.”

He could feel his ears burn, could hear himself sputtering out words about how he did not want to be inappropriate and how this should be your decision and not Emily’s. And stars, he didn’t want to make advances towards you.

Well, he did.

He did want to flirt with you, wanted to compliment you on your kind eyes and your shining smile. But not like this. Not if it made you uncomfortable. And certainly not in the blaring lights of the grocery store aisle.

But before he could say anything more, before he could dig his hole deeper, you had your phone in your hands and were looking at him expectantly. And then he stumbled through his phone number, you nodding all the while and typing the numbers into a new contact.

“Great,” you smiled, “So – I will see you then?”

“Yes,” he murmured dumbly, “I will see you then.”

5:33 pm: Hi! This is Y/N 😊 Just wanted to say I’m really looking forward to Emily’s party this Saturday. Is there anything I should bring next to the crumble?

5:59 pm: Sorry, it just occurred to me that you probably only know me by my last name. I’m Emily’s teacher.

6:12 pm: Hello, this is Paz. Emily’s dad. You do not need to bring anything other than the cake and yourself.

7:43 pm: I am looking forward to seeing you too.

Saturday rolled around quicker than he had anticipated.

He had spent the week trying to make sure everything would be ready for Emily’s party (and your arrival) and that the apartment would be in tip-top shape to be destroyed by a bunch of kids.

He had spent almost all of Friday night wrapping presents when Emily was fast asleep only to be woken up at sunrise by his very energetic daughter who wanted to have some tasty pancakes from their favourite café around the corner.

He loved mornings like this.

Where it was just Em and him and they could enjoy their peace and quiet. Seeing her grow up was bliss and torture at the same time. He loved her, he was so proud of her and seeing her grow slowly but surely into a confident young woman was everything he’d ever wished for. But at the same time, it felt like time was slipping through his fingers. He wanted to catch these precious moments in his hands and never let them go.

This moment of calm did not last for long though, only for breakfast and until they were back in the apartment, preparing excitedly for the party that was to come.

Baking a cake was a disaster just like Emily had said it would be.

Maybe she had been right in saying that it was a tradition now. Maybe he really would not be able to bake a cake for her.

But now it was not only the cake. In less than an hour, 10 kids would swarm the way too small city apartment and he would need to prepare some food and why had he decided against ordering pizza and what if something went wrong?

And you would show up too, sometime, and he had wanted to change into something more appropriate for actually having a teacher (aka crush) over and being dressed in his flour-covered flannel shirt was certainly not it.

The doorbell rang just as the bowl of cake mix fell to the tiled floor. “Kriffing shit” he cursed trying to jump out of the cloud of grains just as he heard the tell-tale footsteps of Emily running to the door. “I got it!”

“No, Em, wait -!”

But it was too late. He had just caught himself on the doorframe when you stepped into the hallway, looking around curiously. You fit in so well, he thought instinctively, you could live here too.

“I’m a bit too early, I hope you don’t –“ you halted in your words, tilting your head at his flour-covered appearance, “mind.”

“I – I am so sorry,” he started, trying to dust off but only making it worse, “I was a bit in a hurry and I –“

“It’s all right,” you replied quickly, lifting the box in your hands lamely, “I brought cake.”

“I will take that,” Em decided, taking the cake off your hands and transporting it to the dinner table in the living room. But not without showing him the huge grin on her face.

“I’m sorry for the mess, I just …” he threw up his hands in defeat, desperation clear in his voice, as you followed him into the chaotic kitchen.

“No worries, we will manage that just fine.”

The way you said we made his heart beat faster and he stepped aside to make space for you.

The apartment Emily and he lived in was actually a miracle to find in such a big city and he still thanked the stars for the day when the landlord had decided to let him, a single father and his tiny daughter, move in. But for all its perks – the layout, the view, the small balcony that fit a small bench – the apartment had one single flaw: The kitchen.

It was a tiny kitchen with the counters wrapping around all three walls and leaving only the space free where the doorway was. And it was narrow. He had always cursed it, especially with his size, and more than once had he accidentally hit his head on a cabinet door that his daughter had left open.

And where it was small for one full-grown adult, it was a tight fit for two. Which made it even worse. Or better. Depending on how one viewed things.

You bumped against him constantly, his hands brushing accidentally against yours, one time almost smashing into you but only hitting your foreheads together. And you only ever giggled or smiled shyly at him, never ever stepping away from the closeness and it made his heart flutter in his chest.

Maybe – maybe you wanted that too.

While he was mixing the dough together under your careful eyes, you had started to slice some apples that he had found in the pantry. He threw a few glances your way, catching you looking at him too before smiling at you.

Stars, he really was behaving like a lovesick puppy, wasn’t he?

“You are pretty good at this,” he commented, nodding towards the cake that you had brought with you. You spooned a bit of cinnamon into the apple mix, before spreading the dough in the baking form he had found somewhere in a cabinet.

“It’s a hobby,” you shrugged your shoulders, “I was never good with finding new connections when I moved and I found that making good food helps people to talk to you.”

“I can’t imagine anyone not wanting to talk to you,” he blurted out, feeling his ears grow hot, “I mean because – you don’t need baking to be nice and I – fuck, wait, shit no, I don’t mean fuck, I – “

You laughed, full-on giggles escaping you as he sighed and rubbed his hand over his face. “I’m sorry, I imagined all of this differently.”

“How – how did you imagine it?” you asked quietly, stepping closer to him. Your eyes were so big now and you looked so hopeful and he could feel his heart skip a beat.

“Well, I wanted to look competent for once,” he stated, gesturing around the filled countertops, “And not forcing you to help me make up my mistakes.”

“You’re not forcing me to do anything,” you protested, biting your lip, “I – I like helping you and … spending time with you.”

“Dad, Alyssa is already on her way, are you sure want to cook? Is the cake even ready? I invited Isabelle and I don’t want her to think that I can’t –“

Apparently, he could not hide the misery on his face – when had he decided that it would be a good idea to not only bake a cake but cook for a hoard of hungry kids? – because you snorted next to him, clearly amused. Emily had crossed her arms in front of her chest, looking pleadingly up at him.

“Don’t worry, your father and I will make sure there will be enough cake to go around,” you reassured his daughter before looking at him, “Do you have a plan for dinner?”

“We could always order pizza,” Emily suggested, the hope in her eyes clear as she looked at him.

Stars, when would he ever be able to deny her anything?

“It’s true,” he chuckled, patting his daughter on her back, “We always end up with pizza anyway.”

So, while you and Em busied yourselves with putting the pie in the oven, he ordered pizza for everyone. (A few family-sized pizzas would be enough right?) And because he was feeling a little more confident, he also added a side of garlic bread and a bottle of wine to the order. Maybe you would like to stay if he could offer a glass of wine?

On his way back, he passed Emily on the way to the bathroom. “I will go get ready,” she announced loudly while also wildly gesturing towards the kitchen.

When he entered the small room, he could feel the heat of the oven already.

“It should be done soon if everything works as it should,” you announced and straightened up, “The kids definitely won’t starve.”

“I cannot thank you enough,” the relief in his voice was clear, “I don’t know what I would have done without you.”

“Then it is a good thing we won’t have to know,” you teased him and the mirth in your eyes made him want to kiss you so badly. And there it was again. That silent tension between the two of you.

This would be a good moment, he thought to himself as he slowly lowered his face towards yours, Emily was occupied getting ready, the pie was in the oven, you were alone with him and he could hear your breath hitch in your throat.

Delicate fingers closed around his wrist, pulling him closer and he could feel your breath on his face and just a little bit more and then –

Ring!

He flinched away from you, bashfully rubbing the back of his neck. “That’s probably Alyssa,” he whispered, avoiding your gaze.

Alyssa was dropped off by her mother. Her eyes fell to you, standing in the doorway of the kitchen, drying your hands on a towel and looking very much at home (he tried to ignore how warm that made him feel).

“Miss Y/L/N,” she greeted you, clearly caught off guard, “what a surprise to see you here, I didn’t know that Emily had invited you too.”

“Oh well you know …” you shrugged your shoulders and he could hear the wheels turning in your head, searching for a good excuse.

“My dad invited her,” Em announced smugly, her and Alyssa grinning from ear to ear.

The awkward silence between the adults would have been hilarious hadn’t he been a part of it. But what his brain decided to focus on the most was the fact that you had not denied it, you had simply smiled at Alyssa’s mom, made some small talk about the newest English project you had the kids working on, and remained standing next to him the whole time.

Paz was sure that his gazing at you was obvious to everyone present but he could not help himself.

One after another, the little guests trickled in, playing board games and eating your delicious cake in the living room. He helped Em set up the little karaoke game that she had gotten from Din last Christmas and excited cheers filled the room as they tried to look at the different song options.

Paz left them to their own devices, knowing that should anything go wrong, Em would come and get him.

But with the living room occupied, the only space left for him and you to be was the tiny kitchen.

“So … I, um, I helped you with the cake,” you started to shuffle, hands wringing in front of your belly, “I really don’t want to outstay my welcome and –“

“You could stay if you want,” he suggested, blood pumping in his veins, “I – I have ordered some wine and garlic bread if you’d like.”

And that’s how you ended up sitting next to him on the kitchen floor, your legs stretched out in front of you. He had to angle his legs a little, the space between the counters too small for him. But the closeness it provided to you was more than worth it. He fished two wine glasses from the shelf, handing them down to you before grabbing the bottle of wine.

There were no clean plates left so he spread the pizza carton out on both of your legs, the warmth of the food seeping into his thighs.

“To a successful birthday party,” you stated, carefully clinking your glass with his, “And to the very talented father who organized it all.”

“To the best baker out there,” he replied and the way you bit your lip made him smile.

He bit into the garlic bread heartily and his stomach grumbled satisfied.

“This is so good,” you moaned next to him, mouth still full and he grinned.

You ate in peaceful silence, munching on a few leftover slices of pizza that the kids had graciously left. With the warm glow from the kitchen lamps, he decided that birthday parties weren’t so bad when he had you there to enjoy it with.

When he looked at you, his gaze fell to a drop of red sauce that had found its place on the corner of your mouth. You tilted your head questioningly.

“You, uh,” he murmured, gesturing towards his face, “You got something there.”

When your hands missed it, his own rose up to your face. He swore he could hear your breath hitch as his thumb brushed over the tomato sauce, wiping it away.

But your face remained turned towards him, your lips slightly open and were you getting closer?

Was he reading the signs right? He didn’t even know. All he knew was he wanted to kiss you. Really. Truly. No matter how inappropriate it might be.

And with the karaoke in the background and a bunch of 10-year olds shrieking the lyrics to the newest chart, he bowed down his head and kissed you. Full on the mouth.

It was soft and gentle, both of you not moving an inch. But then his hand crept forward, gently framing your cheek and you gasped against him, your hands wrapping around his neck and pulling him closer and stars you were returning the kiss.

You tasted of wine and cake and you were soft, so soft, he loved every second of it.

Slowly, he started to move his lips, brushing his tongue on your bottom lip, pulling your closer and suddenly you were straddling him, his hands on your hips pulling your closer and his back against the counter and the screeching of some Jojo Siwa song in the background.

When he slowly pulled away, your bottom lip falling from his teeth, your chest was heaving from his kisses, your lips were swollen, and he wanted to pull you to him again. A smile tugged at his lips.

“Would you like to go out with me sometime?” he asked breathlessly, eyes searching for any indication that he had crossed a line. But you were still clinging to him, your hands wandering down to grasp at his forearms.

This. This would be what he dreamed about now. The smile on your lips, how your eyes shone in the low kitchen lights, how you kept touching him.

“I’d really like that,” you nodded, the small smile on your lips growing bigger by the seconds.

“Really?” he asked, his nose nudging against yours, “That’s – that’s great, how about tomorrow? We could go for a walk in the park?”

“A walk in the park sounds great,” you whispered against his lips and he dipped his head to kiss you again, just as slowly.

“Good,” he murmured.

“Good,” you repeated, your tongue mingling with his.

“Dad, do we have any more of that cake left, it’s actually really –“

In a panic, he almost threw you off him.

You were doing your best to right your cardigan as Emily entered the kitchen, eyeing both of you suspiciously.

“Sorry, what was that, Em?” he asked, swallowing hard and hoping to all the stars that she hadn’t seen him make out with you like a teenager.

“I was just wondering if you had any more cake left, I can’t believe it but it actually tastes good?!”

He laughed and gestured towards the counter, “there some more, you can take the tray to the living room, I – we will just clean up some more.”

“You know, I totally saw you two kissing, right?”

“Emily Vizsla!”

“What? It is not like I am going to scold you or anything,” and with her usual confidence, she swayed away, the cake in her hands.

“Well, you heard her,” he grinned, hands coming up to frame your face again, as he kneeled on the tiles, his lips descending yours, “It is not like she is going to scold us or anything …”

And with that, he kissed you again.

#maybege writes #paz vizsla x reader #paz vizsla x fem!reader

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juniorgman187 · 4 years ago

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Never Enough (Spencer Reid Drabble)

Summary: Ever wondered what Garcia wrote on that sticky note in the series finale? Read here to find out. When Reader, the new technical analyst, feels out of place at a party, Penelope’s sticky note and Reid’s kind words do just the trick.

A/N: This is a comfort piece for me, someone very introverted who never seems to do well in social gatherings. So this is dedicated to anyone who’s ever felt like they didn’t belong. You are loved. Couple: Fem!Reader x Spencer Reid Category: Fluff, Drabble Content Warning: Fear of exclusion, loneliness Word Count: 2.4k

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*

All my life, all I’d ever wanted was to be a social butterfly. Their lives seemed so easy. People would naturally flock to them, what with their charisma, their confidence, their natural gift of being conversational.

I envied them for the sole reason that I was nothing like them, not in the slightest.

It wasn’t easy for me to keep a conversation going, even if I was trying my very hardest, which was often the case. I could never seem to commandeer the room in the way that someone extroverted could, and it was especially hard sometimes to feel a part of everyone.

It would be too easy to say I was invisible. Instead, I felt painfully visible, and entirely ignored.

Everyone could see my shyness peeking through, everyone could see how alienated I’d become, everyone could see my despondence, and yet no one bothered to change it.

No one cared.

My excruciating awkwardness had reached an all-time high at Krystall’s birthday party.

Agent Rossi was so keen on inviting me, and I was honored to go since it’d be my first bonding experience with the team outside of work. I couldn’t turn down the opportunity to grow closer to them, otherwise, I’d run the risk of isolating myself even more. As if being brought in as the BAU’s new technical analyst to replace Penelope Garcia wasn’t enough of a reason for them to doubt, despise, and disrespect me, I was the introvert who had a hard time making friends - unlike my predecessor, who’ve I heard could make friends like nobody’s business. I knew I could never fill her shoes, much less fill the glaring void she created when she left, but still, I maintained my bright-eyes in hopes that I’d be enough for them, anyway. I was all too eager to get to know everyone as more than just my coworkers, with one exception.

Dr. Reid maintained an arm’s length distance from me at all times, and at first, I understood. I even empathized with him.

Besides SSA Morgan and SSA Hotchner, the only other person that he’d work the longest with was Penelope, and now she was gone, too, but the longer his rejection of me lasted, the more I was curious what he truly had against me, and the more I was less interested in changing that. Why would I work tirelessly at mending this broken friendship, if he wasn’t willing to meet me halfway?

I was more shocked that he, of all people, would be the most displeased with my arrival. When Agent Rossi replaced Agent Gideon, from what I heard, the transition wasn’t as rocky as mine. Dr. Reid was overjoyed to be working with him and to discuss all his books. When Jordan Todd, and eventually Ashley Seaver, took Agent Jareau’s place momentarily, he was happy to be working with them. When Alex Blake and Kate Callahan came in after Emily Prentiss, he welcomed them with open arms. So what was it about me that was so abhorrent to him?

I never outright asked, mainly because I feared confrontation and I also had no way of knowing if my curiosity would make the situation worse or better. But I should’ve. I should’ve marched right up to him and asked, “What’s your problem?”

Somehow, though, I finally got up the courage to do so tonight.

I watched as the team laughed at one of Rossi’s anecdotes, meanwhile, the inside jokes flew over my head, hindering that bonding experience I was so sure I’d get by coming here. So I stepped inside the house, wandering into a spare room, knowing I wouldn’t be missed.

I thought I’d only be there for a moment to get some “fresh air” even though I’d actually migrated from the outside to the inside, where there’d arguably be less fresh air, but that’d be my excuse if anyone came in. But I was forced to stay longer in the office when it finally happened.

I finally reached my breaking point.

It was building up all night. It started when I first stepped into the house. My confidence faltered almost immediately when I accidentally stepped on Rossi’s Italian leather dress shoe as I went to greet him. He told me not to worry, but of course, I did just the opposite. It was a minor bump in the road, something so minute, but still, it weighed on me thinking about how embarrassing it was that I dirtied something of his that everyone recognized as valuable.

My shame didn’t stop there. As I was talking with Krystall, there were many periods of awkward silence that I couldn’t manage to fill with words, so we each sipped at our wine until one of us would try to pick up the conversation. What’s worse was that we each knew the silence was suffocating, and I could tell we were both thinking of things to say to keep the conversation going, and yet, nothing worth saying came to mind.

And worst of all was when Penelope Garcia finally arrived at the party. Don’t misunderstand me - it wasn’t the worst part of all because she was bad - no, she was lovely. She gave me a welcome present - a Beanie Baby to put on my desk, evocative of her own style of decor, and I loved her for it, which made me hate her all the more.

Rossi’s house livened up when she came. Everyone flocked to greet her, laughter erupted and ricocheted off Rossi’s high ceilings. They were positively elated by her presence, truly happy. Which was the first time I’d ever seen them that way because frankly, they were never that happy with me.

It was a painful reminder that I could never bring what she brought to the team, and I could never be as good as her. And the general consensus I reached, sitting in Rossi’s office all alone with my glass of wine, was the same one I’d known for years now - I’m not enough.

And I will never be enough.

I hadn’t realized I was crying until a tear cascaded down my cheek, dripping right under my nose, forcing me to audibly sniffle it away. Using the sleeve of my cardigan, I desperately tried to wipe away the tears faster than they were spilling out, but it just wasn’t possible. In fact, the coarse fabric of my cardigan rubbing against my cheeks only made them redder, making the fact that I was unwell that much more obvious.

The sound of the doorknob turning sent me into overdrive, automatically engaging me into turning around and facing the wall so that whoever was coming in wouldn’t find me in the state that I was in. I sniffled a great big sniffle and fanned my face to dry it of any moisture that my silent sobs could’ve left.

“Sorry, Rossi, I was just getting some fresh air and I thought I’d check out your book collectio-”

When I turned around, Rossi wasn’t standing there as I’d assumed.

In fact, the person standing there was the last person I thought it’d be.

“Dr. Reid?”

He was lingering in the doorway, studying my face, to which I instantly preventing from continuing on any further by cowering my head and looking away.

“What are you doing here?” My voice had taken a tone of anger that I didn’t anticipate to be there originally.

“Are you okay?”

To my surprise, his question seemed sincere, but I couldn’t truly believe it was.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just allergies from being outside for so long. The pollen and stuff, you know?” I rambled nervously.

“Oh, really? Are you allergic to the grass?” He asked in a joking manner, knowing I was lying but still asking so that he’d have the satisfaction of getting to see me try and work my way out of the situation.

“Yes, I am actually. The most common outdoor allergy triggers are trees, grass, weed pollen, mold spores, dust mites, cockroaches, and cat, dog, and rodent dander. Don’t you know this? After all, you’re the one with the IQ of 187 here, not me.” I tried to joke to lighten up the room’s heaviness, but clearly, it didn’t work.

By this time, I’d already turned back to face the wall, so Reid surely couldn’t see me, but I heard the door click shut behind me, and a wave of anxiety permeated my soul.

“What’s wrong, Y/N?”

I scoffed at his question, almost hitting him back with an “As if you care.” But I decided against it in an effort to preserve what little repose we had left between us.

“Will you please tell me what’s wrong?” He sounded like he was begging - like he was practically willing to go on his hands and knees to get me to answer, but all I could focus on was the feeling of his hot breath ghosting over my neck.

Goosebumps rose on my skins once he put his warm hand on my cold shoulder, which was bare from the absence of my cardigan and where it had slipped down to my elbow.

I flinched at the sensation, causing him to recoil.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have done that.” He quickly apologized, regret filling his eyes. “Um, you look nice by the way. I like the way you did your hair. A-and your dress. It looks nice.”

Not even giving a chance to respond to his compliment, I asked again, “Why are you here?” Pressing him to get the point faster before I had a chance to react at another one of his physical advances.

“I saw you leave the backyard and I thought I should check on you.”

“Well, you’ve checked on me, so you can go back now.” I didn’t miss a beat when responding, fooling him into thinking that I didn’t catch his words and their intentions.

“I just want to talk.” He replied, finally answering my question from before.

“Okay. Let’s talk.”

He took a seat on a chaise lounge sofa while I stayed standing by the bookcase in preparation for a quick escape if need be.

“I’m sorry I’ve been pushing you away. That wasn’t fair of me.”

Although I hadn’t expected him to apologize, I wasn’t going to be misled and naively accept his apology with no reservations.

“Why did you do it? And for so long?”

“I was angry. I didn’t want another person in my life that I cared about to walk away, so I thought maybe if I made you feel unwelcome, you wouldn’t want to stay. And she’d come back.”

It hurt to say, but at least I knew he was being honest.

“I accept your apology, but it’s not okay.”

“I know that.”

“Okay, are we good now? We’ve talked, so,” My hand gestured toward the door, suggesting he should leave, but he didn’t comply.

“I’m not leaving.”

“And why not?” The wine glass in my hand nearly shattered at the way my hand wrapped around it since its presence hindered me from being able to actually clench my fists.

“I didn’t come here to apologize, even though I should’ve sooner. But I came here because I wanted to make sure you were okay.”

“Like you care.” I chuckled mirthlessly.

“I do care.”

I gave in, not wanting to fight him any longer, otherwise, I might cry some more from the altercation.

“I’m fine.”

“No, you’re not,” He shook his head. “I know you’re not fine. What’s really wrong, Y/N?”

I looked away immediately from his gaze, trying to hide the sheen that was inevitably coating my eyes from the presence of tears, but he would’ve known I was crying the minute I used the cuff of my cardigan to wipe under my nose again.

“I just . . . I feel so unconnected,” I whispered, the pain of my words stealing my volume. “I don’t fit in. And I’ve never fit in before, but I actually thought this might be my chance.”

“It still is. Just come back outside.”

“You don’t get it!”

“What don’t I get?”

“I just needed to take a moment to compose myself so I wouldn’t ruin the energy of the room. And I’d really like to do that alone, okay?”

“I know you don’t want me to go.”

“What?”

“You’re testing me to see if I’ll stay.”

“No, I’m not.”

“So you’re saying that if I left right now, you wouldn’t regret letting me walk away?”

“Yeah, that’s right.”

“I know you’re lying to me.”

“I’m not lying.”

“Yes, you are. I know what it looks like when you lie. Wanna know how I know?”

I entertained his question out of pure frustration “How?”

“Because I pay attention to you. I see your mannerisms. I notice everything. Do you think I haven’t picked up on how you crack your knuckles when you’re nervous? Or how your stutter goes away when you talk about technology? Or how your fists clench, like how you’re doing right now?”

My eyes flickered to my fist that was wrapped so tightly around the glass, my knuckles were white. Out of shame, I loosened my grip.

“I pay attention because I care. And I’m sorry that I made you ever believe that I didn’t. What you do, and say, and think - it’s important. So no, I’m not leaving. I’m staying right here to give you the attention you deserve.” He sighed with a breath of relief. “I care more about you than whatever’s happening out there.”

And slowly, then all at once, that barrier between us broke down.

“I care about you. We all do. And when you’re ready, we can walk back out there together so that you can see for yourself just how much we care.”

. . . That night, I made nine more friends.

And the day we came back to work, with my Beanie Baby in hand, I rearranged my desk.

A folded up sticky note fell out from between two tables. I picked it up, recognizing the handwriting instantly.

Penelope Garcia.

Even when the laughter always seems to come from the other room and the world seems busy as it carries on without you, may you know this to be true. No matter who or what made you feel invisible, unworthy, unloved, or unseen, in this ever-moving world, there is still a place for you. And you are exactly in the place where you are meant to be.

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*

quote by morgan harper nichols

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a3shithole · 4 years ago

Note

Hi! If requests are open could i request Masumi with a new reader who just joined the spring truope (who at first is really quiet but when they open up their chaotic side comes out) and he finds himself slowly falling for them and moving on from Izumi?

Bonus if the reader is a meme lord and does the most weird/cursed things for funzies and enjoys making their friends laugh with their stupid shenanigans.

This is such an interesting idea! I feel honored to receive this, thank you for requesting! ⌒°ʚ(ෆ❛ั ᴗ ❛ัʃƪ)ɞ♡°⌒

This will be my third time writing him, and all of them are from requests haha (≡^∇^≡) I honestly had a hard time writing chaotic reader, let alone a meme lord type of person, so I'm sorry in advance that this turns really cringy (^^")

Sorry that I'm slow at doing requests, I was too absorbed into A3!'s last event (Various Vow of Love) haha >///<

Also happy early birthday Masumi! Hope you like this and have a nice day 🌻

Masumi x reader (gender-neutral)

Reader is a new member of Spring Troupe

1294 word

He's been frowning ever since this morning.

Masumi usually still half-asleep when it's time for morning rehearsal, but his eyes turn wide open, as soon as the Director walks into the room. With a stranger. Closely stand near Izumi.

That stranger is you.

Izumi introduces you as the new member for Spring Troupe from now on. You meekly said your name to everyone in the room. The members of Spring Troupe welcomed you with open arms, making sure you adapt to the new environment feeling comfortable. Except for Masumi.

He despises how physically close you are to the Director on the whole rehearsal. He is jealous of how the Director gave her full attention to you. And he almost tackles you--thanks to Chikage and Itaru who holds him--because you praised how tasty Izumi's curry at lunchtime, and resulting in you getting an extra portion from her.

He hates you as the new rookie who's trying to steal the Director away from him.

You are aware of how Masumi has been staring at you since you arrived here. You just didn't understand what did you do to upset him.

"Don't mind him," you turned your head to the other member of Spring Troupe that's been playing on his phone--Itaru was it?

Easier said than done

You exhaled, not realizing you've been holding your breath. You are shy when you are in a new place, but with the addition of someone having vendetta towards you on the first day?

"Umm... Did I do something wrong to him?" you asked the gamer besides you.

"Nope. It's just him being his usual self," he answered casually while still focusing on attacking a slime creature on his phone.

"He is extremely inflated when it comes to the Director, you see~"

"Infatuate. And he's been like that towards the Director for years now. I'm sorry you're experiencing this on your first day."

You just nod to the foreigner and the playwright as a response. While it's a bit of a relief that it was not your fault for him to stare at you full of hatred, if looks could kill, you'd be dead by now.

You yelped in surprise when you realized Masumi stood beside you, staring you down like a small critter getting cornered by a predator. Before you even open your mouth to ask him, he cut you off with a harsh tone.

"Don't go near the Director."

"Masumi!"

And just like that, he went back to his room.

It was a short sentence coming out from his mouth, yet you felt like part of your soul just left your body. It's going to be such a long journey being on this troupe, you thought.

It's been a month since you joined Mankai Company and being part of the Spring troupe. You are mostly silent for the first two weeks, not knowing what to say and only answering stuff if it's directly aimed at you. Masumi still glares at you whenever the Director interacts with you, but that's about it.

But as time goes by, getting a bit more comfortable with everyone on the troupe, doing rehearsal is fun. You start to open up, revealing your true, loud personality to the rest of the members. And with that, Spring Troupe slowly rivals the energy of the Summer Troupe with you in the troupe. Poor Tsuzuru basically got another nuisance to take care of, he felt like he grew more white hair every time watching your shenanigans.

But it was also a fresh atmosphere for the spring troupe. Every rehearsal became so colorful and fun with you around. You love everyone in Mankai, and so do they.

And something changed with Masumi.

Every time you crack some jokes or do some stupid stuff, you do notice he always stares at you. Like, observing your every movement. Not with the ill-intent he does the first few days you join the troupe. Because when you stare back at him, he averted his gaze away from you.

Is he perhaps shy?

Because of that, you have a new mission to do; being besties with Usui Masumi!

"Bruh," you said, poking a certain gamer besides you, "how do you befriend an emo psycho?"

"You don't."

"Man, you're useless."

He throws the towel drenched with his sweats, making you shriek in disgust.

"That is so not pogchamp, dude," you said, throwing the towel back, away from your face to Itaru who is just dabbing.

"Please stop. You two are hurting me," Tsuzuru said from the other side of the room. You and Itaru look at each other and unanimously agree to do an outdated viral dance, earning a loud groan from the playwright.

"Masumiii! Check your LIME!" you yelled across the room one day. You've been trying your best to be close with Usui Masumi. And you're not going to lie, but it's so hard, especially with his lack of response in general.

"No."

"But I sent you some banger memes!"

"Don't care."

"It's Director's faves!"

And with the speed of light, he unlocked his phone to see the abomination you sent into his inbox.

"...why is this ugly dog hitting another dog with a baseball bat?"

"That's you."

"...what?"

You scoot closer to him as he scrolls on his phone, looking at all the crap you sent to him. You just laugh and try to explain each individual picture to him. It's amusing to see him so bewildered.

"Why are you sending me all these unfunny pictures?"

"You make friends by sending them memes! I think it's working, don't you think?!"

"No."

"Gah, so cold!"

"Ooh! Is that the Shoes Camel meme?"

You jumped when one of your fellow troupe mates chimed in to see at Masumi's screen, "Close Ronron! But the name's Suez Canal!"

You two start chatting animately about the recent accident-that-ended-up-being-a-meme, while also edging Masumi to also be involved in the conversation. Then the other four members of Spring Troupe slowly join into your conversation.

It feels weird, Masumi thought to himself.

On how natural you lift up the atmosphere in an instant, even though everything that came out of your mouth sounds ridiculous for him.

Maybe he judged you a bit harshly just because...

What, jealousy?

Why?

Masumi is confused.

This feeling...

He was so sure that he is so in love with the Director, he even prepared their wedding plan and their honeymoon.

Was.

And then you entered Mankai. And his life.

Never in his life, he felt this conflicted.

Recently he catches himself thinking about you randomly. When listening to a song. Or eating his lunch.

And he feels warm when you're around. The way you talk to him is... different. It doesn't feel like this when he talks to Izumi.

...why was he so obsessed with Izumi to begin with anyway?

Masumi is indeed confused.

"Hey," he jolted from a sudden touch from someone on his shoulder. Turning his head, you are standing behind him, with concern plastered on your face.

"You've been standing here for a long time, are you okay?" he relaxed a bit, "...yeah."

You might be annoying at times, but not the over-bearing type from his view, but you know when to tone down your usual energy, "hmm... just know that if you need any help, I'm here for you. I might be useless, but I'm not as useless as the 'G' in Lasagna!"

He realizes that maybe, he was too naïve for clinging onto what he felt for Izumi. He needs to grow as a person, sure, he loves Izumi. But he now realizes it's not that kind of love. With his newfound feeling towards you, however. It feels different.

For the first time, you see a smile on his face.

#a3 #a3!#a3 x reader #a3 imagines #act! addict! actors!#usui masumi #masumi usui #a3! masumi #masumi usui x reader #usui masumi x reader #fanfic #reader insert

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arse-crack-thistle · 4 years ago

Text

gifts

rwrb and the five love languages | part two

in which june struggles to have a nice valentine’s date with nora

June never expected to care this much about a stupid holiday like Valentine’s Day, but here she is, practically renovating the apartment to give her girlfriend a perfect night. She strings LED lights around the entire living room ceiling and uses Command hooks to drape the sheer, white Ikea curtains she bought on sale months ago in preparation for this. The lights glow pink through the curtains, making the usually neutral-toned living room appear like Aphrodite’s palace. June’s moved the coffee table into her room and replaced it with a fluffy blanket and a picnic set-up to rival TikTok lesbians. All she needs now is Nora, if only she weren’t stuck at school.

The texts say, Will be late! Data mining for the gods! [Monet X Change gif] I want to be home with you though. Will bring noodles! And chocolate! Scratch that, I ate the chocolate. Sorry.

June knows she shouldn’t be annoyed because Nora has no idea what she’s coming home to. She also knows who she got into a relationship with—a brilliant mind that’s constantly moving parsecs a minute and has a hard time communicating her feelings. June has to remind herself that Nora loves her even if she doesn’t always show it.

That’s what tonight is for. It’ll give them time to slow down and just be together. Break the routine. Talk or not talk. She doesn’t expect it to be mushy or obnoxious—June isn’t a super, flowery romantic herself—but she does want another sentimental moment to hold onto forever.

Like the night of the 2020 election over a year ago. After Alex and Henry slipped away and everyone else was celebrating in their own groups, Nora pulled June into a storage closet at the venue and kissed her point blank, leaving no questions in her mind that their dabbles the months before meant something more than spectacular.

Or like six months ago when Nora asked her if she wanted to move in with her. She didn’t do anything particularly special, but she slammed her laptop shut while June was throwing on one of her sweatshirts and asked her to stay—to take the second bedroom because Nora needs space sometimes—but to stay with her because she was her favorite person. June answered with a happy “yes,” and Nora got up and kissed her. They didn’t talk much more about it; June just packed up her room at the White House and let the world think they were very best friends.

June pours a glass of wine and waits on the couch, flipping through social media. A few hours ago, her brother posted a picture from the Valentine’s gala he and Henry threw for the London queer youth center. Alex, Henry, Bea, Catherine, and even Philip and Martha hold champagne flutes with cheeky smiles on their faces. The POTUS account has a sweet yet posed picture of her mother and Leo. She likes everything she sees, from the various celebrities she follows to the photos she’s tagged in by fans. The time on her phone reminds her Nora’s now over an hour late.

She texts her, Home soon?

Ten minutes later her phone dings. Need more time. Almost done!

You are aware it’s Valentine’s, yes? And that we had plans?

Yes!!!! But flexible plans, right? Not like we can’t eat noodles and make out later. Will leave soon though. Promise.

I got food covered. Just get home please.

June sighs. She thought she made it clear this morning that they deserved a night with no distractions. God, they need to talk; she’s afraid to, but nothing will get better if she doesn’t say anything and if they don’t try.

The charcuterie board spread she copied off of Pinterest has been sitting out for a while so she moves it from the floor to the fridge. “Soon” for Nora could mean an hour. Empty coffee mugs line the sink. An open pack of weed gummies sits on the counter, hardening. Binders of paperwork and schoolwork collect on the kitchen table. There’s so much Nora in here. June redecorated the living room and kitchen when she moved in, but Nora’s managed to touch everything.

She smiles. If this were Alex, she’d be pissed at the mess, but it’s Nora. The beautiful, erratic mess that is Nora. The girl who can have four different shows on at once and can still get shit done. The girl who always burns pancakes when she tries to cook breakfast for June. The girl who never fails to kiss her first.

June won’t lose her. So she sits down on the floor, runs her fingers over the fleece, and waits. And drinks more wine.

Sometime later, when a key turns in the lock, she downs the last sip in her glass and sets it down. Some old love songs play from her phone, the ones she and Nora love to make fun of. She hears her girlfriend curse when her key gets stuck, and then she bursts through the door and catches herself before she could slip on the hardwood.

“I know you said you got food covered, but I got noodles any—Whoa! You did all of this?” Nora walks into the living room with takeout bags in her hands and stares, mesmerized, at the ceiling. Her contacts must’ve been bothering her because she has on her back-up glasses.

“Hi. Happy Valentine’s Day,” June says and reaches for Nora’s hand to pull her down.

“I’m sorry, June. I had no idea. I thought we both hated this holiday, so tonight wasn’t that big of a deal. But this—this is beautiful,” Nora says, having a hard time meeting June’s eyes.

“Thanks.” June rubs Nora’s hand with her thumb. “And this isn’t really about the holiday. I just wanted to give something nice to you—to us—just us. With no distractions.”

The strings from “At Last” by Etta James play from the phone. The curtains billow from the air blowing out the vent. As much as she hates to ruin the moment, June has to start the conversation.

But Nora takes a deep breath and talks first. “I know I’m a bit all over the place but that doesn’t mean I don’t love you. I just have a lot going on.”

“I know, but sometimes it feels like you don’t care about us as much as I do. It feels like an afterthought to you,” June says.

“That’s not true, June! Come on! You know me.” She grabs June’s other hand and squeezes.

She squeezes back. “You don’t act with feelings in mind, but I know you have them. And I know it’s hard for you, but I need you to share them with me more. I need a reminder that you care every once in a while.”

Nora’s quiet. She uses her arm to wipe her eyes, knocking her glasses off. “I—I’m sorry. I don’t know what to do.”

June’s chest collapses. She wraps Nora up in her arms. “I’m sorry, Nor. I don’t mean you’re not enough for me. I love you so much. I—”

“No, I understand. I just—I need help with that. I need you to tell me when you need more—maybe not after the fact like now but—”

June laughs and pulls away. “You’re right. I have a stewing problem. I just assume you’ll eventually get it.”

“Yeah, don’t assume that.” Nora laughs too—the big kind that shows all of her teeth. “Reign me in when I’ve been off for too long. And know it’s not on purpose. I’m seriously spiraling in my own head the majority of the time.”

“Ha! And a hot head it is too.”

They both pause and look into each other’s eyes. And bust out into laughing fits. June makes a fart sound with her mouth, and Nora tackles her. They rumble around on the blanket for about forty seconds before June’s wine glass tips over and surprisingly bounces instead of shattering.

The girls take that as an opportunity to stop and pour some more glasses of wine. Nora preps the takeout while June brings the charcuterie board back to the indoor picnic. Nora changes the music to some weird techno shit, but June snatches the phone. They compromise with One Direction, which makes no sense since 1. June only knows their last album and 2. Nora definitely remembers the story of June turning down the advances of one Niall Horan when she did the daytime talk show circuit after her book deal was announced.

Either way, they stuff their faces and end up cuddled on the floor.

Nora interrupts the moment. “Before we get to sexy time—"

“Jesus Christ.”

“I just wanted to give you something. I would’ve saved it for your birthday, but I can get you something else.” She pops up from the floor and jogs to her bedroom. When she reemerges, she’s carrying a bunched-up blanket. “I didn’t have time to properly wrap it because—you know, you weren’t going to get it yet—although, it probably wouldn’t’ve been wrapped later either—but anyways, happy Valentine’s Day.”

She crouches down and hands over the present. She smiles and bops up and down in anticipation. June unwraps the blanket and sees a book.

It’s one of those photobooks you can get at Walgreens, and on the cover, it reads, “Catalina June Claremont-Diaz and Nora Elizabeth Holleran are NOT good friends…” June flips it over. “They’re fucking GIRLFRIENDS!” Inside is page after page of pictures as early as the day they first met and as recent as New Year’s Eve a month ago. A lot of candid pics they take of each other—Nora’s favorites. A lot of sleepy, cuddle pics—June’s favorites. It’s so perfect.

“Nora—this is—wow.” She feels the tears coming. No one has given her anything like this before.

“I’ll be better—”

“So will I.”

“No matter where my head’s at, I’m always thinking of you—just 50 million other things as well,” Nora says and cups her chin.

June leans in. “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

Nora kisses her, and everything wound up in June relaxes. Her body is so warm. “Best Song Ever” starts playing.

Cue sexy time.

check out the rest of my rwrb and the five love languages series: part one, part three, part four, and part five. (links to come as they’re released)

so this could be for quality time or gifts, but i decided to go with gifts since i had no other ideas for it! it’s definitely not my love language (quality time for the win!) but i had to write something lol. so i made it sapphic bc everything gay is better! <3

rwrb romance week | @rwrb-fests

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gra-sonas · 4 years ago

Note

Hey! I hate to ask this, you already do so much for us! But would you mind just a tiny recap of Vlamis’ live from last night? You don’t have to go into a ton of detail or anything, I just saw that it was a half hour long. I have a weird anxiety thing that keeps me from watching lives and stories for the most. Still haven’t even been able to work myself up to watching the vlamburn one as much as I’d love to! ��

Either way, thank you for everything!

Okay, nonnie. I went and watched the whole thing again and wrote you a detailed account of what’s been said. I’ll link the live again, then you can watch here if you want to. Or not. Up to you. 🤗 Hope this helps. 💕

youtube

Brushing his teeth and flossing for 3 minutes while talking.

800 new follower lately “where have you been before?”

“Do you do anything to your hair at night?” He adds Moroccan hair oil in the morning, nothing at night.

“What’s your favorite of the drop?” He hasn’t seen everything from the drop (like the COSMIC tie-dye) bc he’s in Santa Fe. He loves the COSMIC and MALEX embroidered things (“so subtle”) bc they are in Vlamburn’s handwriting, he loves the Manesqueeze shirt bc you can make Alex and Michael kiss by putting your wrists together. He *loves* the candle (there’s one burning on his bedside table), the silky PJs are great, but he can’t decide on just one favorite thing.

“How’s Jesa’s sanity?” She needs like 3 weeks of sleep. He explains, that while we *are* the Vlambase, the Vlambase merch company’s just Jesa and Vlamis. Jesa has a team, but all the day-to-day things, ideas, emails/customer service (Jesa), the newsletter (Vlamis). They hadn’t collaborated with anyone before Tyler, so working with him was a new experience.

One fan mentions how they wanted to buy stuff but couldn’t. Vlamis says that he’s been there, and when he wanted something in the past he couldn’t afford, he started putting away a Dollar a day.

“Thought on One Direction?” Vlamis is a Harry Styles guy. “Harry Styles’ swagger is next level!”

“What do you think about Russia? Will Vlambase merch be available here?” Talks a bit about how annoying things are with shipping companies, says they wanted to protect themselves for the holidays, and now that the Christmas rush is over, some shipping options have become available again.

“Who came up with MANESQUEEZE” He ponders about it, and settles on Jesa. It was Vlamis’s ides to put tiny Alex and tiny Michael on the sleeves so that they can kiss tho. And Tyler came up with the idea to put a “toupee” on his head (in a previous drop, the NEVER LOOK AWAY design had tiny Alex and tiny Michael on the sleeves, but poor Alex was bald) for the design.

Someone got a MALEX pin and the candle. He knows the pin sold out fast, and he feels bad about that. They want everyone to get everything they want, but it’s difficult to make proper calculations how well an item will sell. The pandemic made things even harder. Like the PJ sets. Normally, they would wait until the sale ends and see how many sets were actually ordered, but during the pandemic, stock listings have been changing dramatically from day to day, so they had to pre-order the PJs and robes to make sure they had a certain number at their disposal. He said that they “overshot” on a couple of things, but ultimately sales have been great, and he appreciates that.

“I’m excited to make the MANESQUEEZE doodles kiss bc I do that with the NEVER LOOK AWAY shirt” Vlamis jumps up and shows his closet that’s full of Vlambase merch items.

“Why am I here, it’s almost 3am” He mentions that he’s been staying up until 4 in the past couple of days, but he has to be on set in 7 or 8 hours.

“Hello, just wanted to let you know that I got a tattoo for you” Vlamis asks for a photo and to be tagged.

“Kyle the packer [Vlamis’s roomie KA, who works in the warehouse when a new drop is ready for shipping]” Vlamis says they’re working him to death.

“Please save this live” He doesn’t know whether he’ll save it. Thinks the one with Tyler was important, but since it’s just him, he doesn’t think it’s important.

“I followed Jesa, Jesa is the real MVP” Vlamis says that Jesa is “a beast, and best in the game”. Quickly explains who Jesa is, and that she’s his partner in the Vlambase merch company. He mentions that she recently called him with an idea for Valentine’s Day, and he was like “Jesa, we need to relax!” But she loved the idea. She’s a big fan of RNM and the characters (and Tyler). “Jesa’s amazing.”

“What about new Soli art [Soli’s the artist who created the Boys Will Be Boys art for a previous drop]?” Vlamis smiles. “What about new Soli art. I like that idea. 😏“

“Your house [in New Mexico] is so cute.” Vlamis says thank you and shows the ceiling of the house (which he likes best). “Santa Fe is dope!”

“I adore your teeth” *shows his teeth* Says he had to wear braces (some even adjustable)

“I could’ve used my birthday money to buy something but I forgot” 🤨 << Vlamis’s face. “How you you forget, man?”

“Back to Twitter after this live” He mentions that he’d just been on Twitter before the live.

He got retweeted by Mountain Dew and loves it.

“I’m from Australia and hope my merch arrives before winter” Vlamis says he hopes shipping will be fast.

“Love the Valentines” They’re not actually Valentines, hence they’re “Love Notes”. Vlamis considers doing them not just around Valentine’s Day.

“You catch any of the CW shows returning this month?” “Might have to” But he knows what he’ll be catching on the 12th. “Prodigal Son, baby!”

“Where did you get the Game Boys?” Those are his Game Boys. He has a Game Boy Advanced and a Game Boy Color.

“How do you feel about Forlex?” *scoffs* 😒 “Yeah”

“So excited for the robe!” Vlamis gets excited. “The robes and the PJs are so comfy!” Talks about how it’s a bit weird, bc they don’t make them themselves.

Several people mention that their closet looks like his closet bc of all the merch and he loves that.

“How do you feel about Forlex” *gets agitated* “Why are you asking me this? Don’t do that to me, alright?” *softer* “Don’t do that.”

“How are you doing?” He’s doing very well. Very relieved that eh sale went well. This drop was like 3-4 months of work, the night before the sale felt like an entire month, too. Jesa and Vlamis Facetimed for more than 5hrs. They set up the website, and that’s how the glitch with the GIVE ME MALEX OR GIVE ME DEATH shirts and poster happened. They made a mistake and only noticed after the website went live.

“Do you know when S3 will air?” No, he thought it might’ve been sooner, but apparently not.

“I love your poetry from the last drop so why no poems this time?” He writes poems when he’s inspired, he hasn’t written a poem in a while. He’s currently preparing to direct his first movie in June 2021, and he’s been very focused on that.

“The Meet & Greet day changed.” Filming schedule changed bc they had snow, the schedule’s changing constantly. He’ll be set all day tomorrow (well, today, Jan 11) from 8am until 8 or 9pm. Sometimes they might even wake up in the morning and learn that the schedule’s been changed.

“You could talk about nothing and we’d still watch.” He doesn’t want to talk about nothing, wonders if anyone has any questions about the sale.

“I’m so excited about the robe. I was going to buy more but I’m broke.” He says we should be responsible.

Someone’s still waiting about their Black Friday stuff, but he says it’s the shipping company, not them.

“Vlamentines" He *loves* that, thinks it’s a good pun.

“Gotta support Aurora.” Always. 🥰

“Jealous Guerin in S3?” You’ll see, you’ll see.

“I placed 3 orders, last one last night. Give me Malex or give me death.” He loves it. He also mentions, that they’re working hard on figuring out how to combine orders in the future so people don’t have to pay for shipping several times. They just can’t do that logistically at the moment.

“Real talk, how often do you check your DMs?” He says, that some people might’ve noticed that he occasionally likes random photos on people’s IG pages. When that happens, it’s a sign that he read someone’s DM. He feels bad when he checks his mentions with a delay, and people’s stories have already vanished after 24hours. He sometimes doesn’t get to checking DMs for a week.

“Will we ever get the original pic of the kiss recreation?” *smiles* *waggles his eyebrows* “Maybe in the morning”

“So happy the Trevor Project was chosen for this merch drop!” He’s very happy, too. According to him, it was a no-brainer. Tyler’s worked with them in the past, so it made even more sense. They wanted to make sure that Tyler felt very strongly about wherever they’d be donating.

People urge him to go to sleep. “You want me to go to bed?”

“Why is your merch not available in India?” *deep breath* “It should be, it’s ridiculous. Unbelievable.”

“Your poetry was awesome.” He appreciates the praise and promises to write some more poetry.

Someone asks whether the movie he’ll be directing in June will be a comedy, but he says it’s the opposite. He’s mentioned in the past that Aurora and him will both act in the movie, but apparently he forgot about that. He doesn’t want to jinx the movie and doesn’t know how much he should reveal just yet. Talks a bit about 5 Years Apart.

Someone mentions that it’s Jeanine’s birthday on January 14th.

“Do (or don?) a face mask, Vlamis.” He refuses. Mentions his friend and roommate Spencer Waldner, who makes face masks.

“If there’s leftover merch, will you do another sale?” He says that most things are actually sold out bc they use Blank Clo’s blanks and will only make what’s been ordered. They might try to restock some pins tho, bc they went so quickly.

“USPS are a joke” He defends them. “They’re a public service, they’re trying hard, guys.”

“You should do a Vlambase drop with the Real Vlamis [a.k.a. Jeanie]” He’s excited and thinks it’s a good idea and asks if anyone’d be interested.

Someone congratulates him on directing his first movie. He points out that he’s directed before (Making It, a 3-part web series, it’s on YouTube).

“Would you ever come to Australia Comic Con?” He’d love to. Mentions that he’s supposed to be in Paris in May for a convention, but he’s not sure whether that’s gonna happen considering how things are currently going with the pandemic.

Some more talk about 5 Years Apart.

Circles back to doing a merch drop with Jeanine. People like the idea.

“Please save this live.” After an IG update, things have changed and he doesn’t know how to do it. In the past he had the option to save it [for 24hrs], now he can only upload it to IGTV.

“$30 shipping to Australia hurts my soul but I did it anyway.” He appreciates that and mentions, that he lived in Australia for 6 months in the past.

“Sing some Bright Eyes” He thinks his singing would hurt people’s ears.

Jesa Joy pops up in the chat and urges him to go to bed.

“Jesa is yelling at you.” Vlamis says that Jesa’s a “yeller”, and that she has a tattoo that says “Don’t yell tho”. He admits that Jesa often yells for a good reason. “I need to be yelled at sometimes.”

Someone asks him to accept a request to join his live. He says he’s pretty tired.

He says hello to someone from Germany (not me btw :P) “What’s up, Germany ✌️”

More people ask him to sing, but he says he cannot sing. He says it’s not like a joke or him being modest, he straight up can’t sing and is a horrible singer.

“Will there be a sequel to 5 Years Apart?” Maybe a sequel called “10 Years Apart” (he’s joking and visibly tired)

“Should I buy anything before the sale ends?” Yes.

Jesa Joy’s from Michigan, and Vlamis’s grandma’s from Middlesborough, Kentucky.

“Is Tyler singing again?” He doesn’t know. “I hope so. Love that kid’s voice” (Tyler’s 3.5 years older than Vlamis :P)

He’s getting sleepy and will read a little bit before bed. Considers drinking some Mountain Dew.

“Do you take design ideas.” Sure. Sometimes he sees design ideas from people they’ve been working on for months, but he’s gonna “steal” an idea from someone, he’ll tell them. He’ll steal it, though.

“Are you still reading SAGA?” He read the first one and is half-way through the second. He’s currently reading a book called “My First Movie” by Stephen Lowenstein. “How cliché.” Aurora got it for him.

Purple Skittles are his favorite. Purple everything.

“Your girlfriend’s the best girlfriend.” She is, she really is.

Asks Jesa Joy whether he should go to bed now.Even though it’s late, he’s hungry. Considers eating something. People tell him to go to bed.

He asks “Should I get naked and put on the PJs?” *waggles eyebrows* “I’M KIDDING, YOU’RE SICK. YOU’RE ALL DISGUSTING.” xD

“Don’t eat!” He laughs.

Says goodbye and says that Jesa’s posted a surprise picture.

“Any advice for aspiring actors?” Tells them to make their own stuff bc no one’s gonna hire them. (He’s being sarcastic). “It’s dark, but it’s what you need to hear.”

“Okay, love you guys. Thank you again! It was our best sale yet. Means a lot to me. Means a lot to Tyler. Us doing so well might mean that Tyler will work with us again. So I really appreciate it. Okay, I love you all.”

Jesa promises to post the pic in 4 minutes. He’s excited. “See, I got her to do it! The picture is kind of ridiculous.”

*pretends to take off his shirt, stops halfway through* “Noooooo, noooooo, noooooo!”

*throws kiss* “Love you guys, good night.”

#michael vlamis #vlambase #mgv ig #mgv interviews #nonnie asks

27 notes · View notes

sassyduckqueen · 4 years ago

Text

One Bad Day- ML Prompts and One Shots 6

Whoo!! Finally did a Gotham/ ML crossover. The Valeska twins are my favorite characters from the show and I wanted to use my head cannon of them been the leaders of the jokerz gang in this so I did. Anyway, hope you guys like it :D Also warning Miss Bustier and Alya do not look good in this.

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"Dupain-Cheng," Alya's voice made her look up from her sketchpad. She sighed softly to herself as Lila and Sabrina stood next to her. All three had their arms crossed and sour looks on their faces. Marinette frowned to herself. Since Lila came back to school, she had made up so much stuff and convinced almost everyone that Marinette was the devil incarnate, which caused most of her class to bully her. Alya especially. She had turned from Marinette's best friend to one of Marinette's worst tormentors. She was also as bad as Lila herself. While most of the class bullied her, a few people didn't join but they weren't on her side either. Juleka, Rose and Mylene withdrew back into themselves, clearly effected by Lila's backhand compliments. Chloe stopped bullying Marinette but didn't stop others. She did look towards Marinette at the back as if she wanted to say something but then she would look afraid and shake her head. Nino didn't join in with the bullying either but like Chloe, he said nothing. Adrien, on the other hand... well... he still had his head in the sand and believed that Lila's lies weren't hurting anyone. She did have a small number of friends outside of the class though. Luka, Kagami and to her surprise, Adrien's cousin Felix had all joined her side and she had a budding friendship developing with Aurora but it was in the early stages. Never the less, she had high hopes for it. With another sigh, she looked at Alya who was still glaring at her.

"What did I do now?" She asked in a tired tone. Alya sneered, clearly not caring about her former best friend.

"We want you to give up your role as class representative," Sabrina stated as Marinette yawned. Both Alya and Lila smirked. It was their punishment for Marinette not falling into line.

"Yeah, you're useless at the job and we don't want a bully to be our class representative," Alya declared in a nasty manner. She believed that Marinette loved the job and would beg for them not to take it from her. She was wrong. As soon as the words left Sabrina's mouth, Marinette felt instantly relief. She had long since grown tired of been the class representative. Hell, at this point, she hand it back to Chloe with no questions asked.

"Ok," She stated, making the three girls blink at her in surprise. "I'm too busy to continue as class representative anyway. I'll tell Miss Bustier,"

With that, she grabbed her bags and walked over to the teacher's desk as she walked in. Miss Bustier smiled and looked at her.

"Is everything ok, Marinette?"

"Everything is great," She replied, rolling her eyes. Nothing had been great since Lila returned and took over her class. Nothing had been great since she was forced to accommodate for a liar. Nothing was great since she had been declared a bully because she didn't want to be friends with hers. Miss Bustier frowned. "I resign as class representative,"

"Marinette? Are you sure?" Miss Bustier asked, not wanting to lose her as the class representative. She was so organized and great at planning that Miss Bustier barely had to lift her finger to do any work.

"Actually, it was Lila, Sabrina and Alya who told me that they want me to give up my role and honestly, I'm more then happy to so yeah, I resign," She smiled before walking back to her seat and sitting down before looking at the stunned girls. "There we go. I'm no longer class representative,"

The class was stunned, along with Miss Bustier but she shook her head and smiled at her students.

"As Marinette has decided to retire as class representative, we will need a new one," Miss Bustier stated, completely ignoring the fact that Alya, Lila and Sabrina basically forced Marinette to resign. "Does anyone want to volunteer?"

"I will, Miss Busiter," Lila stated, holding up her hands. Miss Bustier smiled.

"Anyone else?" She asked but no one else rose their hands. They all were thinking the same thing. Lila had lots of connections. Lila knew lots of celebrities. Lila was the best choice to be the class representative. "Ok, if no one else wants to run then I declare that Lila Rossi is our new class representative. Congratulations, Lila,"

"Thank you, Miss Bustier," The Italian smiled sweetly as she looked at the class. "I promise to do my best. Alya, will you be my duty?"

"Of course, girl," She smiled as Marinette rolled her eyes. Once lunch rolled over, Marinette went to the classroom where the class representative met and told them what happened. They were shocked and disappointed but told her it was a good thing as she was getting more and more busy with her commissions anyway. She grabbed a folder that was practically bursting and wished them luck with the new class representative before heading to where Lila and Alya were having lunch. They began to glare at her as she walked over before she dropped the file on the table. Lila looked at it with uncertainty.

"What is that?"

"This is all of the notes, information and request forms on our class," She smiled sweetly before pushing it over to Lila. "These are all yours now. Now don't forget to send in permission forms three months in advance for trips outside of Paris. One month in advance for inside Paris. You'll want to prebook everything and use fund raisers to get the money. Oh and don't forget anyone's birthdays. For the last year, I've been setting up special birthday greetings on their desks, completely with a small present and a cupcake from my parents' bakery,"

"Can't you do that still?" Alya asked but Marinette smiled sweetly.

"No, I'm no longer the class representative," She replies, clearly happy. "That's now Lila's job. Oh and don't expect any free things anymore, Alya. Since we're not friends, you don't get the friend discount. If you want any food from the bakery, prebook and pay in advance. If you want a dress made, check out my website for a pricing list but make sure you don't leave it too late. Six months before an event is an acceptable time to order it. Do it any later and it will be rejected,"

She turned to the rest of her class who were sat at their table.

"In fact, that goes for all of you," She smiled before turning off and walking away. To Alya's surprise, there was a slight skip in her walk as if she was happy with the outcome. Alya sneered. That wouldn't last long when she sees what an amazing class representative Lila will be.

~Time Skip~

"Ok, class, I manage to secure us a week away to the USA," Lila grinned as she stood up in front of the class. Marinette was surprised for once. All of Lila's other attempts had been terrible but she guessed that she finally worked out how to do the work. Or at least she will when Lila reveals where they are going. The class were very excited as Lila smirked, believing they would be amazed. "We are going to...."

She went silent, creating suspense. The class's minds were racing. Was it New York? Hollywood? Florida?

"Gotham City!!" She squealed, expecting excitement but was met with silence and looks of fear. Everyone had heard of Gotham but not for good reasons. It was the city of Batman and his rogues gallery, who terrorizes the city. Lila took a deep breathe. "I know it has a bad rep but I promise you. Gotham is amazing. I've been there before and there is such a glamorous side to it that no one gets to see before the media is trying convince everyone it's super bad but a lot of those 'statics' are made up and there's hardly any villains anymore. I know Batman and he helps keep the streets safe,"

"Really?" Rose asked, feeling a little scared. Lila smiled and nodded.

"Gotham is truly amazing,"

~Gotham City~

For once, Lila wasn't actually lying. Gotham really was amazing and somehow, she had gotten them rooms in the Gotham Royal hotel, which was one of the most expensive hotels in Gotham but Marinette still felt uneasy. Neither Chloe or Adrien were here and somehow, Lila had convinced Miss Bustier and the class that Gotham wasn't crime central. She had declared that the media had made it up to get a good news story and that the level of crime was the same as most other places. Somehow, the class and Miss Bustier believed that. Marinette only decided to go because she knew her class would get in trouble. She might be angry at most of them but she didn't hate them and certainly didn't want to them to meet their hands at the likes of the scarecrow or another rouge. As soon as the rest of the class and Miss Bustier was booked in and heading to the lifts, Marinette walked over to the desk and tried to get her room.

"I'm really sorry, Miss but there's no reservations for a Miss Dupain-Cheng," The receptionist explained, frowning as Marinette sighed. Lila smirked over at her before playing the stupid card.

"Oops, I'm so sorry, Marinette," She gasped, walking over and handing her a different hotel card. "I completely forgot to book you a room too. I was so stressed with all the preparations. I hope you're not mad at me,"

"Not at all, Lila," Marinette smiled but she was fuming. She knew Lila did it on purpose but if she got mad or angry, Lila would spin it to make it look her fault. She turned to the receptionist who was frowning at Lila. "How much is a room for a week?"

"It's $2,100," The woman gasped, feeling bad for Marinette. "I can take off 20% but my boss will fire me if I go any longer. It would be $1,680 with that discount,"

Marinette sighed, knowing she couldn't afford it even with the discount this woman was offering her.

"Is there a cheaper hotel nearby?" She asked, making the woman frown.

"The Carmine Hotel is the cheapest hotel in Gotham," She explained, frowning. "Rates are $46 per night but its rough as hell and in the bowery area,"

"I guess I don't have much choice," Marinette mumbled before she grabbed her suitcase. She turned to the receptionist and smiled kindly. "Thank you for your help and I'm sorry for wasting your time. Have a good night,"

"Miss... here," The woman handed her pepper spray and a taser. "I hope you don't have to use it but this city is rough, especially at night,"

"Thank you," Marinette smiled before taking it. She put it in her bag and looked back at where her class should but naturally, they had already gone to their rooms including Miss Bustier. She sighed and left the hotel before taking her phone out and googling the location of the Carmine Hotel. She sighed and began to head in the direction that Google maps pointed her in. She walked through the streets, frowning they changed from rather neighborhoods to graffiti covered ones. She kept her head low as she noticed prostitutes, gang members and drug dealers hanging around. She sped up and made her way to the Carmine Hotel. She came to it, just as the owner put out a sign that said closed for the night. She rushed over but he closed the doors and locked them, making her gasp as she knocked on the door. Panic began to fill her as no one answered before she sank down to the steps. She was really glad she wasn't in Paris right now as she wouldn't be able to let her fear overtake her. Tikki flew out of her pocket and hugged her holder.

"It's going to be ok, Marinette," She whispered as Marinette began to cry from fear. She was alone in a city full of criminals and she had no where to stay. She knew Lila had done it on purpose but she had no proof. Tikki hugged her as she curled up in on herself and sobbed. Tikki rubbed her paw against Marinette's arm, trying to comfort her. Gradually, she stopped sobbing and just hugged herself as tears rolled down her face silently.

"Why me, Tikki?" She asked, looking at the little god with big, sad eyes. "What did I do to deserve this?"

"You did nothing wrong, Marinette," Tikki smiled, trying to reassure. "You're the most amazing person I've ever met. Come on, let's see if we can find a police station or somewhere safe,"

Marinette nodded and got up, grabbing her suitcase. She began to walk through the streets again, wondering where she should go. Gradually, she came to an abandoned amusement park. Looking at Tikki, she figured that maybe she could do what Master Fu did and hide in a merry go round til the morning. She carefully slid through the gate and made her way into the amusement park. Tikki shivered as they looked around. All the broken rides looked sad and the whole place had a spooky feeling to it. She shivered as the wind blew, carrying voices and the echoes of footsteps on it. She gasped as she realized they were getting louder. She quickly picked up her suitcase and hid in the nearest ride, ducking down as two shadows appeared. One of them seemed to be attempting to do a cartwheel.

"I'm bored!!" He stated, standing up straight before he grabbed something and threw it at the other. "Entertain me, Miah!!!"

"I'm not a performing monkey, Jay," The other replied in an annoyed tone. "And you're always bored,"

"Well, maybe if we were doing something instead of this, I wouldn't be so bored!!" Jay gasped, once again attempting to do a cartwheel. He laughed when he fell on his arse before backrolling and getting up. "Couldn't we gotten some ice cream before we came here?!"

"No, you're already hyper as it is," The one called Miah replied as Marinette watched them. She couldn't see their faces but Miah appeared to be wearing a wide brim hat and a long coat where as Jay seemed to be in some kind of suit. "Besides, we're already here,"

"Which reminds me... why are we here?" Jay asked as he did a hand stand before straightening up. Marinette could hear Miah groan in annoyance. "Hey, I don't like it here ok? Reminds me too much of the circus,"

"It would," Miah muttered as the clouds moved in the sky, revealing the moon and allowing it to light up the park including the two newcomers. Marinette covered her mouth as she gasped in shock at their appearances. They weren't much older then herself but the two of them were some of the most terrifying people she had ever seen. Jay was dressed in a light gray tailcoat, black pants and a yellow shirt, completely with white shoes and gloves. His ginger hair was spiked up and he appear to have scars across his face and surrounding his eyes. The part that creeped Marinette out the most was the grin that had been carved his face. Miah, on the other hand, was wearing a dark coat with purple details, a black wide brim hat, extremely colorful shoes and a two toned pants. He wore sunglasses, despite it been night and did haven't a single scar. However, his skin was a ghastly shade of white and his lips appeared to be stained red, giving him a similar look to the Joker. In fact, both of them resembled the joker in some sort of way. Jay with his permanent smile and Miah with his chalky skin and red lips. "Anyway, we're because-"

"Because?" Jay asked as Miah stopped talking.

"Shh," He stated, looking around. Jay pouted but when quiet as Miah turned to him. "We're not alone,"

Marinette's eyes widen in fear and she covered her mouth to cover her breathing as Jay tilted his head in confusion.

"Are you sure you're not just hearing voices again, Miah?" He asked.

"It wasn't a voice, you idiot," Miah replied, annoyed. "It was breathing and I know what my hallucinations sound like. They don't normally breathe!"

Marinette was terrified at this point. She wasn't sure how things could have got worst but she was pretty certain she was about to be murdered. God, Lila would love that, wouldn't she? Despite her fear, she managed to keep herself from bursting into tears and began to question her sense. Why did she think it was a good idea to hide in an abandoned amusement park in Gotham? Maybe she would be ok if she bolted now. She could use Tikki to transform but before she could even think or say the words, a shadow casted over her as Jay leaned over and smirked.

"Found ya," He grinned before grabbing her and dragging her out of the ride but before he could drag her to her certain death, she twisted his arm and threw him over her shoulder, slamming him into the ground before she bolted, prepared to leave her suitcase but she tripped over Miah's foot as he put it out, making her fall as Jay laughed. He got up and walked over as Miah leaned on against a candyfloss stand.

"Huh?! She's just a kid!" Jay declared as Marinette curled up on herself, more concerned about protecting Tikki.

"A tourist... clearly..." Miah stated, walking over before dumping her suitcase next to her. She looked at it as Jay straightened up. "I assume that's yours,"

Marinette nodded.

"I'm confused though... if she's a tourist, why is she here?" Jay asked, making Miah tap his chin with his fingers before he turned to him.

"Wow, you actually had an intelligent thought," He stated, smiling a little. "But you raise a valid point... why is she here and not in a hotel?"

"Please, don't kill me," She gasped, making Jay gasp in a dramatic way.

"We don't kill children," Miah stated, making her look at him in surprise. "So why are you here and not in a hotel?"

Neither of them expected Marinette to begin to cry when Miah asked her that but both looked at her with concern as she broke down in front of them. Through her sobs, she explained what had happened with her class and how she had been bullied because she tried to call out a liar. She spilled out everything to them. Not just what had happened tonight but for all of the things that had happened to her. She had repressed her feelings for too long and even though crying in front of two people she was sure were criminals was probably a bad idea, she couldn't help it. Lila on purposely refusing to book her into the hotel was the final straw. She was just glad that she wasn't in Paris. She flinched as Miah knelt down and handed her a handkerchief. She blinked in surprise and carefully took it, thanking him as she wiped her eyes. The sound of extra footsteps made the three of them look in the direction they were coming from before Miah straightened up.

"Jay, could you take care of her while I attend to why we were here in the first place?" He asked, causing Jay to nod and turn to Marinette, who was still sniffing away her tears.

"Why don't we go get some ice cream?" He smiled, helping her to her feet and grabbing her suitcase. Marinette couldn't help but nod. "I know a diner that does it 24/7,"

"Really?" She asked as Miah walked over to the newcomers and Jay led her away from the scene. It didn't take them long to get to the store. Once there, he ordered two scoops of Chunky Monkey and asked her what she wanted. They took a seat towards the back but Marinette noticed that the owner was terrified of Jay and that he didn't pay for the ice cream. She decided that it was probably best not to question it though. Jay happily dug into the ice cream as Marinette slowly ate hers. She had a lot of questions but wasn't sure how to ask them. "Um.."

"Is the ice cream not good enough?" He asked, concerned before a murderous glint appeared in his eyes.

"Oh, no... the ice cream is good... great actually," She smiled truthfully before looking down. "I just have questions. Like why are you been nice to me? I'm guessing the two of you are criminals so it doesn't make sense,"

"Huh... you're a smart one," He grinned before getting a mouthful of ice cream again. "Me and my broski are criminals but even criminals have rules and limits and you are upset, scared and alone in the most dangerous city in the world. Anything could happen to you and I guess older brother instincts kicked in. Point is we're not going to kill you or left you alone in a scary city that isn't even your hometown,"

"How did-"

"Suitcase," He stated, pointing to it as the door opened. Jay waved his hand as Miah looked around before he joined them. "No one from Gotham carries a suitcase with them,"

"And also your accent," Miah stated as he waved down a waitress. She carefully approached as he smiled.

"W-What can I get you, Mr Valeska?" She asked, shaking.

"I would like a coffee. Black, two sugars," He stated before turning back to Marinette. "You're French right? I have to say your English is brilliant,"

"Y-Yeah, I'm from Paris... um thank you... we're required to learn it in school," She mumbled, playing with her spoon as the waitress returned with Miah's drink before she rushed off again. "Um... I don't want to be rude but can I ask about...."

She gestured to her face as she went bright red. She felt super rude asking but she was also extremely curious. The two nodded and looked at each other.

"You want to tell her or should I?" Jay asked, making Miah frown.

"I'll tell her," He stated, looking back at her. "Believe it or not but we were identical twins. I'm not sure if you know this but there was a villain called the Joker. Real nutjob and crazier then anything Gotham had ever seen before. No one knows his real identity and he just seemed to manifest overnight then one day, he just vanished. No one knows what happened. Some say the bat got him. I personally think his girlfriend, Harley Quinn, finally had enough and murdered him but no one knows for certain. Anyway, he had "fans". A lot of normal folk saw him as a beacon to say fuck it to the man but mostly they just kept quiet about it. A few of his fans, however, began to make their own gangs based on him. Most of them didn't last long but the Joy Boys and the Jokerz did,"

Marinette nodded as he listened.

"Well, we ran afoul of the Jokerz," Miah sighed. "You see we were you might call petty criminals. Nothing major. Stealing and cheating a few people in rigged games at the circus. Anyway, the Leader of the Jokerz, J-Man came to our circus and got pissed at us when we ripped him off. We brushed off his threats but that night, he had his gang break into the circus and kidnap us. They took us to ace chemicals and basically tortured us for 'cheating'. As a punishment, they decided to carve up Jerome's face, giving him a permanent smile and gave me a literal acid bath in the same acid that was rumored to have created the Joker. Hence, our very unique look,"

"That's awful," She gasped, covering her mouth in shock. "Did you report it to the police?"

The two of them laughed as if she had told a joke.

"This is Gotham, sweetheart," Jay smirked. "Police do nothing, especially when they're paid to look the other way,"

"Instead, we were branded insane and throw into Arkham Asylum. We were already a little insane from our life at the circus and the torture but been in the asylum... pushed us over the edge," Miah sighed as Marinette frowned.

"Y'all could go insane with one bad day," Jay grinned before he smiled. "But don't worry. We got our revenge,"

"As of right now, we are the current leaders of the Joy Boys and J-Man... well, he drove us mad so we simply returned the favor,"

"He's basically a vegetable in the asylum,"

"An eye for an eye. A mind for a mind," Miah smiled. Marinette shivered a little but to be honest, she could see where they were coming from. She wanted to get revenge on Lila. At first, it was to help her friends but Lila had been tormenting her so much that she just wanted to return the favor at this point... but she couldn't because she was Marinette Dupain-Cheng, kindest girl in Paris and the superhero Ladybug. Even if she wanted to give into revenge, she couldn't risk feeling those feelings due to Hawkmoth. Adrien would hate her if she did and what would Tikki think? She would be so disappointed in her.

"Is there a bathroom in here I could use?" She asked. Jay pointed in it's direction and she rushed into there. She locked the door and took out a deep breathe as Tikki flew out.

"Are you ok?" She asked, seeing the tears in Marinette's eyes.

"I really wish I could get revenge on Lila right now," She whispered, sinking down to her knees. "I must be an awful person to think that,"

"Of course, you're not," Tikki stated, placing her paw on her leg. "You have every right to be angry with her,"

"I know but I can't get revenge on her like those two," She sighed, frowning. "I'm Marinette Dupain-Cheng. I'm Ladybug. I'm suppose to be a hero,"

"Only in Paris," Tikki pointed out, making her look at her with shock. "What? Ok...look, I'm not saying that you should murder or hurt Lila but maybe... those two could help bring well deserved Karma to her,"

"You think I should ask them for help?"

"At this point, yes," Tikki stated, making Marinette frown. "Marinette, I don't normally agree with people like those two. They are more Plagg's area but tonight we learnt that Lila was willing to let you wonder the world's most dangerous city on purpose. She was probably hoping you would be mugged or murdered and that is not right. Your class didn't offer to help you and Miss Bustier abandoned you so if you ask me, I think it's high time we knocked them down a peg or two and I think our new friends can help us do just that,"

"But... I can't do that... right?" Marinette asked, clearly conflicted about Tikki's suggestion. Tikki gently placed her paw on Marinette's cheek.

"Why don't you think it over?" She asked, getting a nod of the young girl before they both jumped at someone knocking on the door.

"Are you ok in there?" Jay's voice asked through the door.

"Fine," Marinette replied before splashing her face with water. Tikki flew into her purse before she walked out and headed back over to the twins. Miah was sipping his coffee as Jay dug into a second helping of ice cream. She noticed he had gotten her a second helping too. She sat down and slowly began to ate it before Miah made a noise. Both Marinette and Jay looked at him.

"It just occurred to me that we haven't formally introduces ourselves," He mused before smiling and turning back to Marinette. "I'm Jeremiah Valeska and that is my brother, Jerome,"

"Marinette Dupain-Cheng," Marinette stated, holding out her hand. Jeremiah smiled and shook it before she turned to Jerome. He shook it as well. "It's nice to meet you two,"

"Likewise," Jeremiah nodded as Jerome looked at him.

"Can we keep her?" He asked, making the other roll his eyes. Marinette blinked as she realized he had taken off his sunglasses, revealing that his eyes were in fact a pale acid green color but weirdly enough, it suited him. "I've always wanted a little sister. Hey, Mari, can we adopt you?!"

"Well, I'm sure her parents would be disappointed if she got adopted by two villains," Jeremiah sighed before looking at Marinette. "How long you in Gotham for?"

"It's suppose to be a week," She mumbled, getting a nod of both of them. She jumped a little as her phone pinged. She picked it up and blinked as she saw the time. Somehow it had become 4am. Letting a yawn, she checked the messages as the twins went quiet. Luka had sent her a message, wishing her luck with the trip, her parents had sent her a handful of messages telling her that they love her and to have fun and lastly, Lila had messaged her with the details of the event planned for tomorrow... well, what was technically today since it was 4am but with a threat at the end, telling Marinette not to show if she knew what was good for her. Marinette sighed softly and locked her phone, taking a deep breathe to try and center her feelings. The twins looked at each other with interest.

"Say, Mari, you're really good at controlling your emotions," Jerome stated.

"I broke down in front of you,"

"Yet here you are, clearly trying to calm yourself down and also you calmed down rather quickly earlier too," Jeremiah pointed out before leaning on his hands. "Why is that?"

Marinette sighed before launching into a explanation about how Paris has it's own super villain. She explained that he wasn't like the Gotham types as he was trying to get hold of two very powerful items that could basically end reality itself and he has the two to transform people into super villains, giving them powers and everything.

"I know that everywhere has criminals but Hawkmoth manipulates everyone's feelings. You can't get sad or angry because he use it to make you evil," She sighed. "Cat Noir and Ladybug are trying to defeat him but it's hard so we repress our feelings. That way we won't get akumatized. My friend, Luka, taught me some breathing techniques to help me calm down as I tend to get worked up and over-react but it's been really hard to deal with repressed emotions with someone like Lila around,"

"Lila?"

"The liar I told you about," She sighed, making the twins nod. "She is horrid. She actually got me expelled and framed me for been a bully and the worst part is everyone, apart from a small handful of people and my parents, actually believe her. Her stories are so dumb as well. The reason why my class is Gotham is because she convinced them and my teacher that it isn't dangerous and that the media is just trying to make it look bad. She claimed to have helped Batman and single handedly defeat a number of villains, including the likes of the Riddler, the Joker and Bane,"

"Seriously?" Jerome asked as Jeremiah giggled, clearly amused by the whole situation.

"Yes and they believed her!" Marinette gasped. "She once claimed a napkin could gorge out someone's eyes. A napkin! But it gets worst! The boy who she "saved" from the napkin that I toss to her was wearing glasses!"

At that point, the twins burst into laughter with tears in her eyes. Marinette couldn't help but smile a little.

"She claimed that she got tinnitus from rescuing a rockstar's cat from a runway," She stated as they laughed even more. "Mind you, this rock star has had a crocodile for ten years and is severely allergic to cats!! But nope, Lila rescued poor Mr whiskers from the nasty airplanes! Oh and then there's the whole "I'm dating Damian Wayne and we're so in love. He's the sweetest boy ever. My damiboo is devoted to me!" Like seriously?! Who is she trying to kid?!"

"She called him Damiboo?!" Jeremiah roared as Jerome cackled with laughter. "That kid is the coldest person in Gotham. Everyone knows that!"

"On the plane here, she claimed that she was practically a Wayne, that Commissioner Gordon is her uncle, she was best friends with Poison Ivy and Harley, that she helped the Riddler go straight after she defeated him, that she cured the Joker and that thanks to her hard work, Gotham is the safest city in the world," Marinette explained, getting the boys to laugh even more. To the point where they were hitting the table with their fists. "I wish that I could just prove her wrong,"

"Why don't you?" Jeremiah asked as he wiped his eyes with a napkin. "Her claims are so outlandish that it shouldn't be too hard,"

"You'd think but no one in my class believes me and the one person who knows she is lying is convinced that her lies aren't hurting anyone and that if we expose her, she'll get akumatized again," She sighed, poking her ice cream with her spoon. "He's more concerned about her then me. What if I get akumatized? Do I not matter?"

The twins frowned as she sighed.

"And it's not like I haven't tried," She frowned. "Everytime I provide proof of her lies, it's brushed aside and she makes me look bad. I tried to tell everyone from the beginning that she's a liar but I was told I needed to stop been jealous and asked where's my proof. My ex best friend posted Lila's lies on her blog without fact-checking a single thing and yet has the nerve to demand proof off me then refuses to accept the proof I give her! 'A good journalist always checks their sources' yet she didn't even bother to try and ask the heroes if they're best friends with Lila. Nope, instead she posted it straight onto her blog and refuses to listen to reason. Even Lila was friends with the heroes, Alya shouldn't have posted that cause it makes her a target for Hawkmoth and the rest of Ladybug's enemies but nope, I'm been jealous!"

"Why would you be jealous?"

"Oh, I had a crush on the same guy as Lila did but that was ages ago now. My feelings for him died the moment he put hers before mine," She admitted. "Besides, I have a different love interest now and the class knows it yet they chose to ignore it because I must be jealous at the fact that Adrien is in love with Lila. As if. If they opened their eyes and actually took a good look, they would see how uncomfortable he is with her. I'm pretty certain the only reason why she is still clinging to him is because he doesn't know how to tell her or anyone that it actually makes him feel uncomfortable but as usual when I point it out, I'm just jealous that they're in love,"

"Your class sounds like a piece of shit," Jerome stated, making Marinette sigh.

"They're not... not really... before Lila came, they use to be so nice," She smiled sadly, causing the two brothers to look at each other. "Me and Alya were best friends, I was the class representative, Adrien was sweet and caring, the class cared about each other. We would support each other and try to help each other. I would bring in food from my parents' bakery and would help make them things like banners and dresses. It was nice and peaceful. They didn't hate me or think I was a bully. I mean sure I would get tired from staying up to make a dress or they would ask me last minute to do something or to help them but I didn't mind,"

Once again, the two brothers looked at each others but neither said anything despite it been obvious that Marinette's class were using her. That was something they knew from personal experience and they also knew that it would only hurt her more if they told her that her class didn't care for her. She would deny it and get more upset. She would have to see it for herself and learn that lesson on her own. Besides, she had already been through enough for tonight.

"You know if you want, we could help you get a little even with your class," Jerome suggested, making her look at him.

"No... they don't deserve it..." She mumbled, playing with her hands. She was expecting the twins to try and convince her otherwise but they shrugged.

"Ok but the offer still stands if you change your mind," Jeremiah stated, making her look at him. "Now why don't we find you a hotel to stay in for the rest of the week? I'm sure you don't want more nights like tonight,"

She nodded and yawned a little.

"Thank you for helping me,"

~Later That Day~

Marinette sighed to herself as she arrived at Wayne Tower. She didn't want to go but she also knew that there were assignments on this trip that would affect her grades so she had no choice but to turn up. She frowned when she saw the group and Miss Bustier talking to one of the workers of Wayne Tower. Lila noticed her and narrowed her eyes before whispering something to Alya, making her ex best friend smirk and nod. She frowned, knowing she would have to be extra careful. However, she had a nice hotel room in Gotham's ritz hotel. It wasn't quite as fancy as the royal hotel but it was nice and not in a rough area. Jeremiah and Jerome had gotten her a great deal, causing her room to practically be free. Despite been criminals, they were extremely charismatic and charmed the hotel staff into giving her a huge discount and free breakfasts for the full week. They also gave her a number she could contact them on if she needed help. She was honestly quite surprised at how nice they were been to her. She offered to buy them breakfast as a thank you but they told her it's fine and that she owes them nothing. She put it down to their older brother instincts. She took a deep breathe and walked over to the class as Miss Bustier spotted her.

"Ah, there you are," She smiled, not even asking to see if she was ok or if she got a hotel to stay in. "Alright, class, let's head inside,"

Marinette sighed and followed the class in. She rolled her eyes when Lila began to talk but ignored it, just keeping herself to herself. Honestly, she couldn't wait to head back to her hotel and spend the rest of the day doing what she wanted. She frowned to herself as she saw Lila whispering to Alya again. She wasn't impressed with the smirks that they were wearing and it made her feel paranoid. The tour continued through the morning and yet Lila or Alya did nothing. Finally, lunchtime rolled around and just like in school, Lila got everyone she could to carry her stuff. Marinette rolled her eyes and brought herself some lunch before sitting down away from everyone else. She slipped a cookie to Tikki, who happily munched on it before continuing to eat. She was quite happy enjoying her meal when Alya walked over and slammed her hand on the table, making her jump.

"What the hell is wrong with you, Marinette?!" She practically screamed, making Marinette look at her fear and widen eyes. "Lila tried her damn best to get the best thing for us and you blame her for making one mistake?!"

"Wh-what are you talking about?" Marinette gasped.

"Blaming her for forgetting to book you a room," She growled, making Marinette frown before she sneered darkly. She snatched Marinette's drink. "I think I should teach you a lesson,"

Before Marinette could do anything, Alya proceed to throw the drink over and then dumped the rest of her foot on her. Tears welled up in Marinette's eyes, making Alya laugh.

"Good, you're so pathetic," She sneered. "I'm glad I decided to stop pretending to be your friend,"

"W-what?" Marinette gasped, looking shocked. Alya laughed at her reaction before smirking darkly at her.

"Did you actually think we were friends?" She asked in a bitchy manner. Marinette say nothing. "Because we weren't. I only befriended you because you had a use. You gave me free stuff and food but since you don't do that anymore... well, you're no use to me or the rest of the class,"

"B-But... we were... friends?"

"News flash! I was using you! All of us were and you were so desperate for friends you couldn't see it," Alya snarled, causing the tears in Marinette's eyes finally fall. She jumped up and ran as fast as she could but tripped up, causing the class to laugh. She rushed as fast as she could out, trying to wipe the tears from her eyes as she ran. She didn't care who she ran into but gradually she slowed down. She wrapped her arms around her waist as she walked. As she walked, the sky darkened and rain poured from it. She finally came to a stop and just fell onto her knees, tears sliding down her cheeks as she shook. Alya was never her friend. She was using her... so was the class. They didn't care for her. They just saw her as an easy target and used her for what they could. They weren't good people that were been misguided by a liar. Lila's appearance didn't force them to change. She just brought out their true colors. Adrien wasn't a kind guy. He was a doormat who cared more about Lila's feelings and keeping the peace then Marinette. Alya wasn't a fun loving, kind girl. She was a selfish, arrogant fool and she was never Marinette's friend. None of the class were. She was nothing more then a joke to them. A small giggle escaped her lips through her sobs as she thought about it. She was a laughing stock and never released it. They were using her and she was too stupid to see it. Her sobs slowly turned to laughter as she realized the whole situation. They didn't care for her. Everyone had chosen Lila over her even though she never forced them. They saw her as a bully, despite knowing that she would never do that. Her class were full of wolves and sheep. Her laughter turned manically as she slammed her fist into the floor. Tikki flew out of her purse and hugged to her cheek.

"Marinette?" She asked as she continued to laugh. "Are you ok?"

"I'm... fine..." She giggled, wiping her eyes before she cupped Tikki in her hands and gently kissed her head. "I just realized that the class see me as a joke and I finally got the punchline..."

"Oh, Mari..." Tikki sighed, hugging her cheek as Marinette took out her phone and called the only people who had shown her actually kindness in the last 24 hours.

(***)

"Here we are," Jeremiah smiled as he handed Marinette a fresh cup of hot chocolate. She smiled and muttered a thanks. As soon as she contacted them, they sent one of their hench women to pick her up. Ecco had located her quickly and brought her back to their hideout, which was an underground bunker. Jerome was sat on the sofa, watching some cartoon and Ecco had disappeared. Marinette took a sip of the drink and smiled a little as it warmed her up. "Ecco's gone to go find you some fresh clothes,"

"Thank you," She muttered as he sat down next and looked over some blue prints. "What are those?"

"Designs for the Riddler. Usually, he makes them himself but he wanted a maze this time round. I have experience with them and well we needed the money," He replied, drawing something. Marinette leaned over.

"It looks cool," She muttered. "Are you good at solving them?"

"Yes but I also like designing them," He replied, turning to her. "I designed this bunker actually. It's a maze,"

"Really?" She asked as he looked through the blue prints before placing one in front of her. She looked at it and nodded, tracing her finger along the escape route.

"Impressive,"

"I'm good at solving problems," She muttered, smiling as Ecco came back in, holding some clothes in her arms. She gestured to her, causing Marinette to follow her and showed her the bathroom, which Marinette was grateful for.

"I figured you would want a shower to get that drink out of your hair," Ecco smiled before handing her a towel and fresh clothes. "You can use my stuff to clear yourself and to wash your hair. It's on the left hand side,"

"Thank you, Miss Ecco," She smiled, causing Ecco to smile a little.

"You can just call me Ecco. No need for Miss," She smiled, getting a nod of Marinette. "I'll wait here so you don't get lost when you're done,"

"Ok," Marinette nodded before disappearing in the bathroom. It didn't take her long to get her shower but when she came out, she looked a lot happier. Ecco took her old clothes from her and showed her back to where the boys were before disappearing again. Jerome looked over as she walked in before the two of them moved and took a seat on the sofa. She sat down on the armchair and played with her hands.

"Now that you've had a shower and feel a little better, want to tell us what happened?" Jeremiah asked, making her sigh before she launched into an explanation. She explained how Lila had threatened her in a text last night and how she told Alya that Marinette had had a go at her for not booking her a room at the other hotel. Jerome happily pointed out that Marinette had every right to blame Lila as it was her fault. Marinette nodded and continued with her story, explaining why she was covered in a drink when she got here. Both of them looked pissed off when she revealed that Alya had poured her drink over her and threw her lunch on her before calling her names and revealing to Marinette that they were never friends and that she was only using her. Marinette sighed and sadly explained that she realized that her class actually didn't care for her. Sure, some of them weren't as bad as the likes of Alya or Lila but Lila's appearance had simply brought out her classmates' true colors and it wasn't good. They were either bullies or cowards. She sighed, looking sad as she finished her tale.

"So what do you want to do about it?" Jeremiah asked, making her look at him.

"Yeah! Are you gonna let them get away with treating you like shit or are you finally gonna do what you should have done in the first place and put them in their place?" Jerome asked. Marinette frowned a little and looked down.

"I can't..." She whispered, looking down at Tikki who gave her an encouraging smile. She looked up at the twins. "Look... what I'm about to tell you must never be repeated to anyone ok?"

"We can keep a secret," Jerome grinned, getting a nod of Jeremiah. Marinette took a deep breathe.

"You remember I mentioned that Paris has two heroes, Chat Noir and Ladybug?" She asked, getting a nod of them. "Well... I'm Ladybug..."

Both boys reminded silent as they stared at her in surprise.

"Great... now you hate me because I'm-"

"How the hell did you become Ladybug when you're like... what 15?!" Jerome shouted, making her jump as Jeremiah frowned.

"That explains a lot," He muttered, looking at her but to her surprise, neither of them looked at her with hatred but with sorrow. "No wonder why you refuse to break. You literally can't afford to,"

"She's 15, Miah!! She shouldn't be a superhero!!" Jerome screamed, standing up. "She should be having fun, not fighting a fucking supervillain!"

"Agreed," Jeremiah nodded. "How long have you been a superhero?"

"Since I was 13," She admitted, causing Jerome to scream and kick something while Jeremiah frowned. "You don't hate me?"

"Contradictory to popular belief, we don't hate heroes," Jeremiah explained. "Without heroes, villains wouldn't exist but what I'm more interested in is how you became Ladybug? Are you a meta?"

"Oh, no," Marinette stated, lifting her hair. "I can't tell you the details but it's basically magic,"

"Magic is real?" Jeremiah asked, frowning as Jerome ranted angrily. "I take it no one knows your identity,"

"Well, Master Fu does but that's because he gave me my miraculous,"

"Miraculous?" Jeremiah asked as Jerome went silent. She explained that it was a magical jewel that gave her the ability to transform into a hero. "Fascinating,"

"Does this Master Fu help you fight this Hawkbitch?!"

"Um... no..." Marinette muttered. "I have my partner Chat Noir but it's our responsibility to defeat the akumas and find hawkmoth,"

"An adult gave you that kind of responsibility?!" He screamed. Marinette nodded. "Oh my fucking god!! Right, we're killing him!! What kind of fucking adult dumps that kind of responsibility on a kid?! Even Jim fucking Gordon or Batman would do that!!"

"The Robins are children,"

"Yes but Batman is always with them and actually does the majorly of the fights! The Robins are side kicks, not full time heroes!" Jerome declared before stopping for a second. "God, it really tells you how fucked up a situation is when a villain like me is questioning it. Anyway, what has this gotta do with you not been able to get even with your classmates?"

"I'm a superhero,"

"Yeah but only in Paris," Jerome countered. "You're in Gotham City, sista! I think it's time to let loose, get even and have a little fun!"

"I'm with Jerome on this one," Jeremiah stated, making Marinette bit her lip. They watched as she got up and began to talk to something. Jerome rose an eyebrow before she walked back over. To their surprise, a red blur suddenly flew from her pocket, revealing Tikki to them. "Uh... Jerome... you're seeing that little red thing right?"

"Yep..."

"Ok, cool..." Jeremiah muttered in relief. "I thought I was hallucinating again,"

"Hello," She smiled, making Jerome jump onto Jeremiah and scream.

"It talks!!" He screamed, making Marinette giggle.

"It's ok," She reassured, gesturing towards Tikki. "This is Tikki. She's a kwami and agrees with your suggestion of having some fun,"

"What the hell is Kwami?" Jeremiah asked, shoving Jerome off him before looking at her. "Um... no offence,"

"None taken," Tikki smiled. "Also Kwamis are basically gods. We were created when certain ideas came into existences. I'm the kwami of creation,"

Jeremiah blinked and looked like he was having an existential crisis.

"Everything I know is a lie..." He muttered as Jerome sat up. "Gods are real..."

"I'm guessing you don't believe in gods?"

"Not my cup of tea," He replied, frowning as Jerome looked at Tikki before holding out his finger.

"Jerome Valeska," He grinned as she shook it.

"Tikki, kwami of creation," She smiled. "It's nice to meet you,"

"Likewise," He smiled. "Though it's my first time meeting a god,"

"So now that formal introductions are done, shall we make a plan?" Marinette asked, smiling a little.

~A Few Days Later~

"I'm so sad that we only have two more days left in Gotham," Lila stated, pouting as Alya sighed as well. Truth be told she couldn't wait to get out of this godforsaken city but it had served a purpose. None of the class had seen Maribrat since the Wayne Tower incident. Lila hoped that she had been killed and dumped in a ditch somewhere. It would serve her right for trying to expose Lila for what she was. Shaking her head, she sighed gently as the class walked to the Crystal Palace that was a mall. Lila was glad. She could finally get some new clothing. She could try and get some free stuff by throwing around the Wayne and Agreste names. She turned to Alya. "I wish I could off helped Batman a little more,"

"Don't beat yourself up, girl," Alya assured as they walked through the mall with the rest of the class. "You should be impressed with yourself. Thanks to you, Gotham is a safe city again,"

"Yeah, I supp- is that a jack in a box?" Lila asked as she stopped, along with the rest of her class. To their surprise, the mall security had cornered it off, called the police and had began to evacuate the area while the police checked over the box. An officer walked up to the class and began to order them to leave the area. Miss Bustier, however, tried to argue.

"With all due respect, it's just a big box," She pointed out but the guy gave her a dead pan look.

"Last box we had like that turned out to be a bomb. Now please move-" He stated but suddenly, a bunch of clowns holding machine guns suddenly came out from the different shops and shot into the air, causing Miss Bustier and her class to scream. The security guard took out his gun and pointed it at the clowns.

"GCPD!!" He shouted, clearly not impressed as the rest of his officers took out his gun. A couple of the clowns began to shoot, causing the officers to shoot back.

"ENOUGH!!" A voice shouted, making the clowns stop shooting. The officer frowned and lowered his gun slightly as a young man dressed in a black pin stripped trousers, a red shirt and a purple jacket walked out. His dark green hair was gelled back. Lila gasped in horror as she saw his face. She knew he wasn't the joker but he resembled him. He was holding up his arm and had something in his hand. He stopped and smiled as. "Dead man's switch! You're familiar! Another trick me and my brother have. Only this one's more advanced then the last. You shoot me, my thumb loses and then... boom, boom, boom... now I have several bombs sprinkled through the mall but of course, that's not the only trick up my sleeve,"

A few clowns marched out with a couple of hostages as well, followed by another young man. The class gasped in fear as they saw the scars and the smile that was carved into his face. He was wearing similar pants to but his shirt was yellow and he had a light gray jacket with white boots and gloves. His ginger hair was spiked up and he had a shot gun slung around his side. He was also holding a dead man's switch.

"Jimbo!! It's been a while!! Hey, are you and that cute doctah still together?!" He shouted, grinning. James turned his gun on him but he tutted, holding up . "Uh, uh, uh!! You shoot me and boom, headless people,"

"Man, I hate this family," One of the other office stated as James lowered his gun. Miss Bustier's class were clearly scared, expect for Lila. She was thinking how she could spin this into a fantastic story. "What the hell do you two circus freaks want this time?!"

"This is our little sister's welcome party," Jeremiah smiled, making the police officer groan as James looks at them in confusion.

"Little sister? You don't have a little sister!" James shouted as the officer groans.

"Another Valeska?!" He gasped. "Sure, bring out some crazy broad!!"

"I wasn't always crazy, Officer," A girl's voice stated, making me everyone look at her as she skated over to them. She didn't look like the twins. She had dark hair that was placed in space buns and wore a pink and blue jester's outfit with roller skates on, that were mismatched along with her stockings and gloves. Her make up was simple. She had stripes under her eyes and a tear drop on her left cheek. Her lips were ruby red and her eyes were a bluebell shade. James frowned as he realized her accent was french. She wasn't originally from Gotham. "But you know what they say. Y'all can go insane with one bad day,"

"Marinette?" Alya gasped, causing the clown girl to look at her.

"I'm not Marinette anymore," She stated. "I'm Miss Fortune,"

"Marinette, you ne-" Miss Bustier stated but she stopped when she saw the look on Marinette's face.

"Ah, Miss Bustier... you use to be my favorite teacher," She smiled sweetly. "Until you took the side of a liar that is. Did you ever consider that Lila hadn't booked me a room on purpose?"

"Marinette, I can't-" Lila stated but was cut off by Marinette's insane giggle.

"Oh but Lila. I'm not angry at you," She smiled in a psychotic way. "In fact, I want to thank you. You see I never would have met my brothers if you hadn't pushed me over the edge, turned my whole entire class against me, convinced them I was a bully and of course... if you had booked me a room in that hotel. Thanks to you, I met the Valeska twins and it's a real eye opener when two villains were more compassionate then my own class and teacher! Without you, I never would have realized that I'm a fucking joke to you fair weathered friends! It doesn't matter that you lied about everything. Cause they should have trusted me. That's what friends do! But no, instead, they claimed I was jealous! Refused to give me the benefit of a doubt! Well since I don't have friends, I thought why not make some new ones. Turns out most of the Gotham villains really, really hate liars and bullies,"

"What the hell, Marinette?!" Alya screamed as James looked at her. "What the hell is wrong with you?! Just because Lila is better then-"

"Lila? Better then me? That will be the day!!" She grinned, laughing in a way that made Lila uncomfortable. "Lila isn't better then me and I'm here to prove it. Unlike you. Jimbo, you're the commissioner right?"

"Yes?"

"Do you know Lila?" She asked, pointing at her. James looked over and frowned.

"No... I don't,"

"Really? Cause she claims to be your niece!" Miss Fortune stated, reeling off and debunking every liar Lila had said about Gotham before exposing the class and Miss Bustier too. She went into detail about how she broke down and how Miss Bustier didn't even help her find a place to stay. The more she revealed, the angrier James and his officers got. The focus was no longer on the Valeska brothers but on the french teacher. To her horror, she was arrested for child endangerment and negligence. Lila wasn't arrested for anything but neither was Marinette. In fact, she broke down and to the officers' surprise, the Valeska brothers stayed with her. They didn't even put up a fuss when they were arrested but insisted that Marinette was innocent. For the first time in his career, James decided to look the other way, refusing to arrest Marinette. She was taken down to the GCPD along with the Valeskas and the rest of her class. James connected a few of his friends to get the french class out of the city and back to their homes. Thanks to Bruce Wayne, it only took a few hours before they were all sent home.

~A Few Weeks Later~

Lila unlocked the door to her home and smirked, noticing it was once again empty. Her mother had pulled her from DuPont after the whole Gotham incident, shocked that her teacher would arrange such a dangerous trip for her class. Of course, she had kept her mother in the dark about her role in it and while she wasn't able to paint Marinette as a true villain, she still spun the story to seem like a hero in it. Last she hear was that Marinette was in therapy and had left DuPont as well, Miss Bustier was fired and the rest of their class had realized the truth, not that it made a difference now. The damage had already been done and she was still doing more. She walked over to the fridge and took out a bottle of water. She turned on the lamp and dropped it in shock as she noticed two people in her living room. Her eyes widen as the twin with the carved smile took out a blade as his brother sat in the armchair.

"Hello, Lie-la," Jeremiah stated. "Our little sister sends her regards,"

~Bonus Scene~

"Whoooo!!" Marinette giggled as she sat in the trolley. Jerome was running full speed, pushing her through the shop as the security chased them. Jeremiah was holding onto the edge of the trolley, laughing as well. The three of them jumped away, letting it crash into some where before running off. They headed into the nearest store and straight to the toy section. Jerome grabbed a toy light saber and threw it at Jeremiah who caught it before he grabbed a second one. Marinette laughed as the two of them began to fight each other, making noises as they did. Jerome paused the fight and gave her his light saber before helping her onto his back. Once she was comfortable, they resumed the fight with her and Jeremiah fight as Jerome carried her on his back.

"Die, Sith scum!!" Jerome shouted, causing Marinette to laugh.

"My force powers are too great for you, Jedi fool," Jeremiah replied back as he climbed on the table and kicked the display. "Oh, security is coming!!"

"Retreat!!" Jerome screamed, running off with Marinette on his back. Jeremiah jumped down and ran with them, grabbing a bag of sweets on the way out.

"Best day ever!!"

-------------------------------------------

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issabangtanfic · 4 years ago

Text

[Jungkook] The Windmill House (Chapter 6)

Masterlist

Synopsis: When for once rich doesn’t rhyme with Christian Grey.

Pairing: Jungkook x OC

A/N: Feel free to submit a cover! Tell me what you think in my inbox! Enjoy!

I jolt awake after a loud thud, yanking my face off of my pillow. I look around, my vision blurry and dark at first. My door has been slammed open, a familiar ball of energy beaming at me.

“Tadayimaaaaaaa!” She sings. She walks in, but what I her stomping, the sound so loud in my head it feels like she’s wearing boots made of concrete. Groaning, I let my head plop down before she drops her full weight on me.

“Hi, babes!” She squeals, wrapping herself around me, crushing me under her body. Oh god, my head.

“Sidney, please.” I groan, blocking my ears. I hear Juno’s paws scraping the floor and soon enough she’s barging in, barking at me and jumping onto my bed.

“What do you mean 'Sidney, please'? We’re back!” My roommate says, slipping off of me only to start shaking me generically. I’m going to throw up. Juno pokes me with her nose, trying to find a way to lick my face hello.

“My head.” I mutter, flipping onto my back painfully. Juno barks again, and her wet tongue s all over my eyes.

“Juno, stop.” I mutter, grabbing her head and lifting my chin, trying to keep my face out of her reach. Our Labrador is way too excited to see me.

“Juno, lay down.” I hear Sidney order, and the frantic licking a fidgeting stops. At least she’s well-trained. When I open my eyes, Juno is lying next to me, tail wagging happily, tongue hanging out. Such a good girl. I give her a head scratch.

“I thought you’d be happier than that.” Sidney says, pouting at me. My babe is all tanned.

“I’m kind of hungover, and I had a rough week.” I reply, my voice straining. I open my arms for her.

“Gimme a hug.” I invite. She lays down next to me, hugging me and resting her head on my chest.

“I just can’t deal with the screaming.” I murmur. Juno barks and licks a long stripe across my face. Ew.

“Juno!” I scold. She resumes panting, and Sid giggles.

“She can’t help herself.” She says.

“How was France?” I ask her.

“Merveileux!” She exclaims. “Especially the men.”

“Did you practice your French kissing?” I joke.

“Mais oui oui oui!” She sings. I gasp.

“Did you? You bitch!” I utter. She told me she hadn’t done anything like that! And I believed her! She props herself up on one arm, looking down at me with a face-splitting smile.

“I know, get your arse out of bed I’ve got to tell you all about it.” She encourages. I don’t like that idea.

“10 more minutes.” I beg, hugging my other pillow. Sidney sighs and slips out of my bed.

“You have to tell me why you’re so tired.” She mutters. I close my eyes.

“Mmmmh.”

“Alright, I’ll come back in an hour. Should I make some tea?” She says once she’s at my door.

“That would be lovely, thanks.” I reply. I love that girl.

“Juno, come on!” I hear her call, and feel Juno jump out of my bed. Sidney closes the door of my bedroom and lets me sleep some more.

By 10 am I am still tired but figure out I really have to get out of bed at least. I drag myself out of my comfy covers and go brush my teeth and freshen up. Once I’m fully awake, I take some time to quickly call my mom. I haven’t talked to her on the phone for a while, and I’m supposed to call her every night but haven’t been able to with the insane week I just had. After that, I right an e-mail to Fred, detailing my encounters with Mr. Jeon and asking to pull out of the projects.

I meet Juno in the living room, and she jumps me again, knowing very well this morning’s reunion wasn’t a real one. It’s not a real one until I’ve given my baby girl tons of kisses.

“Hi, Juno!” I squeal, giving her good scratchies behind her ears. I kiss her forehead and she tries to lick my face.

“Hi baby girl. Hi.” I coo, letting her put her paws on my shoulders and hugging her tightly. She wags her tail happily.

“I missed you too.” I tell her. Oh, my big baby. She’s always so sweet and loving.

“There’s your tea.” Sidney says, coming out of the kitchen with a cup I her hands. Dog cuddles and tea? See, Sidney’s return is definitely making things better. I need her so much.

“Thank you so much.” I gush, taking the cup from her hands. I follow her to the living room and we both sit down on the couch.

“Juno.” I call, patting the spot behind me. She jumps up on the couch and lays next to me.

“So, how was France? You met someone?” I ask, and She starts telling me all about her two-week long adventure in France.

“So, yeah. That’s the tea on France.” She says in conclusion. Wow, I wish I was as daring and spontaneous as her. She really did some crazy stuff back there, and she was by herself. I’m always scared she’ll end up in dangerous situations, but she always comes back from her adventures with a big smile and tons of stories.

“Now I need to hear about your new guy.” She purses her lips as a sign of anticipation. I frown.

“My new guy?”

“The one who sent you all these flowers.” She says, throwing a glance at the two flower bouquets on the kitchen counter. Have I not thrown these away?

“Oh, no.” I roll my eyes.

“Who is he?” She asks.

“A client.” I sigh. “Before you ask, yes he is cute. Hot even. Smokin’ hot.” I add quickly, watching her eyes light up like Christmas.

“He’s most definitely a 10. But he’s a boor.” I inform her. Her shoulders sag and she pouts.

“Is he?”

“The flowers that you see are for the times he had to apologies to me.” I explain, and she frowns at me.

“What did he do?”

“He made advances to me.”

Her eyebrows meet her hairline. She glances at the flowers again.

“And you said no?”

“Yes, I did.”

“Why?” She utters, looking horrified.

“Because he knows he’s hot. He’s arrogant, full of himself, and decided we had to have sex because he could tell I find him hot.” I explain to him.

“Ooooooh.” She says in realization, almost going cross-eyed. “I see.”

“At first I didn’t do anything about it because I had to have that contract if I wanted to keep my job. But after yesterday…” I add, peaking her interest. She goes serious.

“What happened?” She asks me. I tell her everything about my encounters with this man, from him making me cry on our first meeting, to him forcefully driving me home, and to his brother assaulting me sexually. By the time I’m done she’s on her knees, one hand on her heart, her jaw almost touching couch.

“Jesus Christ, Maya. That is so messed up.” She breathes, her facial expression one of pure shock.

“I know.” I say, leaning onto her, circling my arms around her waist and resting my head on her thighs. She starts stroking my hair.

“I needed those contracts but I’m sure Fred will back me up if I decide to drop him.” I tell her, twisting so I’m looking up at her face.

“Well,” She punches the palm of her own hand. “You tell me if we need to beat up anybody. I still have that cricket bat.” She declares. I chuckle.

“Nah. He’s already old news.” I reassure her, leaning onto her and laying my head on her lap.

“Should we go for drinks tonight? It’s Ben’s birthday, remember?” She proposes. Ben is her younger brother, also a childhood friend. He’s turning 23.

“Yes, I was going to propose Zaap.” I retort.

“Olala, how fancy of you.” She hits me with her French accent again. I chuckle.

“Well, it’s a special occasion.” I shrug.

“Alright.” She says, slipping from under me and rising from the couch, letting my head hit the couch. This is just as comfy.

"I’m taking him for lunch, you wanna come with?” She invites. I snuggle Juno. She’s such a good pillow.

“I won’t be operational before 3.” I mumble, already falling back asleep.

“Okay, fine. You walk Juno, then.” I hear her call from the stairs. I really don’t feel like it, but I don’t want to lay around all day. Another quick nap and Juno will motivate me to get going.

I jolt awake from a dream of a nightmare after what feels like hours. After taking time to wake up and prepare myself a light sack, I throw on some gym clothes and decide to go on a run. That’ll not only make up for my lack of movement throughout the day, but it’ll be a great opportunity to clear my mind. Next Monday will be a fresh start. New clients, new projects, same old Maya.

I receive a call on my way out, and realize it’s Fred when I see the caller’s ID. A sudden fear grips my heart. I have been confident Fred is going to be on my side, but in a small, unused part of my brain a voice echoes, asking ‘but what if he’s not?’. I muster up the courage and take his call.

“I thought you said no work on weekends.” I joke as a greeting.

“I lie. I’m always checking my mails; I just don’t reply.” he retorts dryly. Is he mad? “Did Mr. Jeon seriously do all that?”

“Yes, he did. I can’t work with him anymore.” I reply, trying to sound as composed as I can.

“Why didn’t you say anything sooner?” He says, almost reproachfully.

“Well, we need this contract.” I murmur.

“No, we don’t. And even if we did, you have the right to stop anytime if you fear for your safety.” He retorts. Oh, I love my boss. He makes our company the ultimate safe place.

“It’s in the contracts we make them sign, flower.” He reminds me. Contract? I didn’t make Mr. Jeon sign anything. I didn’t even charge him for the consultations! Fred is going to kill me.

“I know.” I mutter.

“I know I can be harsh sometimes, but I’ll always protect you guys.” He says more softly.

“I know, Fred.”

“I don’t want to scold you. I just feel bad you had to go through this. I’ll talk to that sleazy Mr. Jeon. Consider yourself free of any obligation.” He promises, lifting this heavy weight off of my shoulders.

“Thank you so much, Freddy.” I beam at my phone.

“Don’t call me that.” He snaps. “Try to rest now, Maya. I’ll see you on Monday.”

“Cheers!” I exclaim, and Sidney, Ben and I raise our glasses and cling them together. Before going to Zaap, Ben came over for dinner, so we’ve been drinking since then. Sidney and Ben are starting to have the Asian glow, so I decide to start taking pictures before they pass the point of no return.

The Zaap is packed tonight, even for a Saturday night. Thank god, we booked our own table.

“Happy birthday Ben!” Sidney yells in her brother’s ear.

“Happy birthday, baby boy!” I add, wrapping my arms around his neck. Sidney and I sandwich him between us, each of us giving him a loud smooch on one kiss.

“Guys, for god’s sake.” He moans, but he’s smiling. “Enough.”

You would think it’s weird for a 23 year-old to spend his birthday with his sister and her best friend, but Ben moved to London for class three weeks ago, so he doesn’t really have any friends in the city. I’ve known him for two decades now, so this basically a family party.

We chat all night long, unable to hit the dancefloor given how packed it is. Then we get to the gifts, and has his big sisters, you best believe we spoiled our boy. He sees his new phone and his two new watches, and it’s his turn to give us loud smooches.

After several Cosmos, I head to the bathroom for a quick emptying. After pushing my way through the compact crowd, I finally reach the loo, guarded by a security guy.

As I walk in, I nearly bump into the person stumbling out of the Men’s bathroom.

“Oops.” I say in surprise, looking up at him. Mr. Jeon lays his cloudy eyes on me.

#jungkook #jungkook scenarios #jungkook smut #jeon jungkook #BTS jungkook #bts jungkook scenarios #bts scenarios #bts smut #park jimin #bts jimin #kim namjoon #bts namjoon #kpop scenarios #kpop smut #bts fanfic #jungkook fanfic

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rebeebit · 3 years ago

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So, your parents are getting old.

TL;DR

Stuff: start cleaning out stuff they don’t need now. You might read “The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning” as a guide.

Where to live: research retirement and assisted living options in your parents’ area.

Medical considerations: HIPPA authorization, advanced directives, long term care insurance

Financial considerations: accounts, power of attorney and trusts

Dementia: what to remember when your parents forget.

So, your parents are getting old.

Most of us have parents. Many, if not most, of us will be supporting them somehow as they age. And I read somewhere that most people are not happy with how their parents have prepared for aging (I’d cite it, but I ran across that statistic a couple of months ago and ... you’ll have to take my word for it). I’ve been observing my parents as they age for a while, and in the past two years, my sister and I have become very active in the process of making sure they are safe and cared for. I decided to write a guide to help all of my friends who have parents so maybe you can avoid some of the mistakes my parents made. There are lots of resources out there, so this is by no means exhaustive, but I hope someone finds it useful!

STUFF

This is the easiest way to start, it doesn’t require uncomfortable conversations or lengthy phone calls, but could instead be an opportunity to reminisce and connect with your parents. If your parents have lived in their house for any length of time, they’ve probably amassed some STUFF. My folks lived in their house for 43 years, and they abhorred wastefulness. They also had loads of room for storage - you can imagine how much stuff they accumulated after 43 years! My mistake: I didn’t reclaim items I wanted over the years to the degree that I could have, and had to scramble to get the things I wanted when the time came to move my parents out of their house. So here are some ideas.

Your parents might feel strongly about passing on certain items - find out what these are if you don’t already know. Then you could suggest they give them to you for your birthday or another holiday. This way they get the satisfaction of knowing you have their special belongings while they’re still alive.

Did you leave your stuff at their house when you moved out, and you just never got around to getting it? That’s on YOU! Get it now, or get rid of it, if possible!

As you’re going through your stuff, you might “accidentally” run across items your parents don’t use anymore. Help them by donating these items or throwing them away.

The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning by Margareta Magnusson is an excellent guide to this process, and a quick read. Read it, and if possible, suggest that your parents read it.

We were able to move our parents’ photo albums, but they had boxes and boxes of unsorted photos and even slides. Encourage them to go through these old memories now and put them in albums - or better yet, digitize them. They won’t have room for all those boxes when they downsize.

If you wind up having to get rid of everything at once, like we did, there will undoubtedly be heartbreak as valued heirlooms get sent to the thrift shop (or the dumpster) and even loss of some income because you won’t have time to drag it to consignment shops. The more you deal with now, the happier everyone will be with the outcome.

WHERE TO LIVE

Aging in place seems like the best option for many people, but it can be quite costly. There’s no deadline by which your parents should move out of their house, and perhaps they never will. This is where you might have a conversation about the future with your parents: what do they envision for themselves, what do they want? This is a great way to phrase it, as it sends the message that you want to know their desires for aging, so you can meet their wishes as best you can. Regardless of what they say, you can do a little homework into options in their geographic area. We didn’t make too many mistakes in this area, but my parents weren’t willing to move in advance of it being a necessity, and then when it WAS necessary in the summer of 2020 … well, who would move their parents into communal living during a pandemic?

Several friends told me how important it is to move earlier rather than later, as it makes it easier to add levels of care as your parents age. Keep this in mind! Find out what is available, and make sure options for living include assisted living, skilled nursing, AND memory care. The last two are not interchangeable: memory care is very specific for dementia patients. If you have time, take a tour of a few places to get an idea of what life might be like for your parents there.

The move to assisted living was very important for our mother. Our father was hospitalized 15 or more times in the past year, and two of those included multiweek stays in nursing rehab - in fact, he’s still there now, and it’s been over 11 weeks (as of 7.24.21). The time alone in the house was difficult for my mother, and she will benefit from routines, social interaction, and 3 meals a day that she doesn’t have to cook for herself ... among other benefits! Moving was so hard for them to contemplate because they didn’t want to leave their community - which is very understandable - but moving gets much more difficult as your parents age, and in my mom’s case, as her dementia has progressed.

MEDICAL CONSIDERATIONS

Helping your parents navigate the healthcare system is difficult. I won’t claim to be an expert in this at all, but will at least tell you what I’ve encountered.

RIGHT NOW: find out if your parents have long-term care insurance. If one or both of your parents has a lengthy stay in the hospital/nursing home, Medicare will eventually STOP covering them, even if they need skilled nursing or memory care. This will easily start costing $350/day, which is $100,000/year. Long-term care will kick in after 90 days in hospital/nursing/memory care, and will cover most, if not all, of the costs.

You will eventually need HIPAA authorization with your parents’ doctors. This allows the doctor to talk freely to you about your parents’ health. Without it, the doctor can listen to your concerns, but they cannot share information. My mother was reluctant to give this to us, but when she finally did, we were able to get her evaluated for dementia and take away her car keys.

If you live close enough to go to doctor appointments with your parents, find a way to do this. When my father returned from one of his earlier but more serious hospitalizations, I requested to join him at his follow-up appointment so I could hear what the doctor had to say and ask my own questions. My father is a reasonable guy and allowed this, and it was really helpful.

Advanced Directives are their medical wishes about resuscitation. It’s a morbid conversation, and you may not want to discuss the details with them, but you should make sure they have their wishes in place.

While you’re on morbid topics, make sure you know their wishes regarding funeral and memorial services and burial arrangements. Some people even want input into their own obituaries. We knew both my parents wanted to be cremated (and where they wanted us to scatter the ashes), but we were surprised to learn my dad did not want any services. Good thing we asked!

FINANCIAL CONSIDERATIONS

For your peace of mind, you will want to know what the state of your parents’ finances is, and you will likely need to manage these finances at some point. Here is what I learned about this realm of the aging process:

Set up autopay for as many bills as you can for them, if they haven’t done so already. As my father’s health situation became more overwhelming, bills got overlooked and they started having to pay late fees. This is an easy step that you can do now and avoid the hassle later.

Suggest your parents simplify things. Do they have multiple credit cards, or multiple bank accounts? Suggest that they consolidate. Again, life gets more complicated with aging, and it becomes harder to manage. Trying to keep track of multiple accounts will be a headache for them, and they could make costly mistakes.

Make sure your parents have designated beneficiaries for all accounts. Apparently the probate process after a person dies is lengthy and annoying, and not something you’ll want to have to deal with on top of your grief when your parents pass away. On active accounts, like checking or savings accounts, try to get your name put on the account. This will help you with managing their finances when the time comes. Banks will literally not talk to you if you are not the account owner or don’t have POA.

Power of Attorney. This document WILL have to be signed, and you will want to discuss with your parents when, not if, they want to do this. The sooner the better. Sign it and scan it, and save it on your phone. This way you can email it to whoever needs it immediately so you can manage all of your parents’ affairs. I needed POA to cancel their phone service, sell their house, sell their car ... you name it.

Finally, if their finances are looking good, read on. Talk to your parents about putting their assets in a trust, especially if you have kids. If you’ve read this far, your parents probably want your kids (and you) to have something of their estate after they’re gone, but they can’t leave anything behind if they haven’t protected their assets. Medical care is expensive, and Medicaid will not kick in until you have only about $1,500 to your name, so protecting assets is important for some people. I don’t know much about this process, but if it is a concern for your parents, encourage them to reach out to their lawyer and financial advisor to take care of this.

DEMENTIA

My mother’s dementia has been the most challenging part for my sister and me over the past several years, but if you think this is in your future, it doesn’t have to be. As a society we’ve gotten better at talking about mental health, and that should also extend to dementia. As with any other health problem, early detection and intervention will lead to better outcomes. In my mother’s case, we attempted to intervene in 2017 but were unsuccessful. My mother was finally diagnosed in January 2021, but at this point she had progressed to mild dementia, and has been unable to process or accept the diagnosis. This has caused her to have worse anxiety because she’s upset about forgetting things, and fewer coping skills because she doesn’t recognize what is wrong with her. While early intervention may not prolong the life of your parent by much, it will lead to better quality of life - which is why you have read this far in the first place, you want your parents to be safe and cared for!

A primary care doctor will do a preliminary screening for dementia, so it is important for this screening to be on your parents’ radar as soon as possible. At this point, it is not automatically done at a certain age; you have to ask for it (which is idiotic, but that’s our health care system, so…). The screening will be important because it will hopefully give you peace of mind that any memory problems are age-related, and not a cause for concern. If not, it will allow the doctor to refer your parent to a specialist and get the appropriate interventions. While there is no cure for Alzheimer’s, there are some drugs that show promise, but also processing and accepting the diagnosis are important for implementing coping skills.

If your parents are diagnosed with dementia, there are loads of resources out there to help. It’s really hard for children to cope with this disease in their parents, as it’s the beginning of the role-reversal where YOU become the parent. Some tips that have resonated with me are that, in dementia, the brain still processes emotions normally, even if memories are starting to erode. So when you inevitably get impatient, frustrated, or even angry with your parent, keep this in mind: they won’t remember why you got angry, they will just remember how you made them feel. Depression and dementia go hand-in-hand because dementia patients get told so often “don’t you remember?” “I already told you that!” and so on. I am by no means perfect in how I handle my mother, but this tip has helped me find patience and calm.

If you’re like me, and you’ve seen both of your grandmothers and your mother decline due to dementia, you have more than a little concern about what the future holds for you. I recommend reading Remember by Lisa Genova (author of Still Alice). The book eased my anxiety about memory lapses I’ve noticed in myself, as lately I regard any lapse as a harbinger of dementia. She also has tips for improving your memory and for preventing Alzheimer’s - which my mother and likely my grandmother had. The number one tip? Sleep.

REACH OUT!!

I was fortunate to have many good friends lend their ears to me while I’ve been in the process with my parents, and several who have been through this and offered their advice and support as well. It was invaluable to have this support system, so I offer that to you. Please reach out if you have questions, want advice, or just want to vent about what you’re going through. If you like, add comments about your own experience below.

#aging parents #aging #dementia #assisted living #long term care

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allie1804-fan · 4 years ago

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Please Assist Me

So this is a new fic. I’ve not fully worked out where it’s taking me so watch this space. I’ve written quite a bit so let’s see how anyone likes the first little bit!

Chapter 1

He said

She was the third person we’d seen that morning. Cheryl was with me. I knew I could rely on her instincts to sniff out anyone the agency had sent who was likely to spell trouble. Of course, the agency promised to screen people so you didn’t get a nutter or an under-cover journo applying but Cheryl didn’t have total faith in their skills.

The first two had basically proved her right, being far more interested in looking round my house, asking who I might have visiting or unsubtly trying to see what freebies there might be than in finding out what the job really entailed. I was about to embark on my second directing project and I had an acting part too, so knew I was going to be all in as usual. That dedication to work would mean taking care of daily life would fall by the wayside. I’d need someone to take care of travel arrangements if I was needed out of town, there would be some bills to pay, grocery shopping and all the other day to day crap like being around for deliveries or letting a plumber in or making sure birthday cards were sent. I didn’t say so but basically I was after an old style wife but without the relationship! I also needed to keep a certain amount of control, a small chink of ‘real’ if you will. So, if it was my sister’s birthday, I’d choose the gift and write the card but maybe I could use some help finding options to choose from given how busy I would be on set.

Sophia was the first of the interviewees who seemed to grasp the importance of this aspect to me and she asked good questions about the practicalities of me being involved where necessary. She was also the only one who seemed like she knew her way around a kitchen and one of my needs was going to be a little food preparation every now and again especially as I needed to watch my diet to keep in shape for the demands of the role.

After 2 more, frankly useless candidates were seen and ruled out, we both agreed that Sophia was the one. She wouldn’t be able to travel with me on shoots or promotional tours as she had 2 small children, but my main needs were going to be at home for the foreseeable future and things like buying a gift or a card for someone could be managed at a distance with modern technology and planning. A week after the interview, Sophia came over again for an induction session.

It took me a moment to invite her in – I was kind of stunned as I looked at her – I don’t think I’d really taken in how attractive she was at the interview, being focussed on the interviewing task and making sure I was asking each interviewee exactly the same questions in order to be fair. That morning she was like a sunflower, clad in a bright yellow, sleeveless sundress. Her long brown hair was up in a practical ponytail and the dress contrasted beautifully with her tanned arms and legs, highlighting her Latin American heritage.

She followed me down the hallway to the kitchen, clutching a notebook which she’d brought to make notes on the tasks. By the end of our session, I felt in safe hands and she left with everything she needed to be my personal assistant starting with a one month trial period.

She said

My first real life encounter with Keanu was when I had an interview for the role of personal assistant. I hadn’t ever done a role like this having only recently signed on with a job agency after my divorce from Javier. Before that I had been a housewife and mum to our 2 kids Eva, who is 7 and Miguel who is 5. Back before the kids were born, I had done a little modelling and in between jobs had done some “runner” jobs working on sets with A list actors. That experience, and my general organisational skills and domestic experience had identified me as someone suited to this role.

Of course, I’d seen Keanu on the silver screen like anybody else in all those big roles which made it all the more surreal to be heading up into the Birds streets for the interview with him and his PR lady Cheryl at his house no less.

Cheryl was charming but also quite formidable, giving me the impression that she’d kick the ass of anyone who messed with her client! Keanu himself was all charm but kind of shy and bumbling as he tried to explain the slightly unusual mix of mundane and personal tasks he was going to want help with.

The mundane were things like making sure his Koi carp were fed, that the pool guy, cleaner and gardener were let in on the right days, getting his dry cleaning and some grocery shopping done. The personal was basically, as I saw it, the things a wife or partner would help a man like him do If he had one - he wanted to make sure birthday cards and gifts were bought for his close friends and family but he would play a role in choosing them. He just needed someone to narrow down the options, make the actual purchase and wrap the gift. If he could, he’d deliver it in person but if he couldn’t do that, at the very least he’d write out a personal message himself.

There would be some advanced planning to make sure all that happened on time as he’d soon be on set for long days on his next project. I suggested that I’d need to come over on a Saturday sometimes to make sure he could add those personal touches.

The job was basically perfect for me as I would be able to get everything done while the kids were in school and kindergarten. He didn’t expect me to travel when he did - he could use hotel services when away and declared himself not so pampered or busy that he couldn’t organise some basic stuff for himself while he was away. He also had a place in New York so, if he had to go there , he had a home base. His main concern was that his LA home kept running well and I could handle all of that.

I was thrilled when I got the call that the job was mine and it was with excitement that I made my way back to his home a week later to get a more detailed briefing and start my month’s probation.

I stood on the doorstep for what felt like a long minute after he opened the door. I had a moment of fear that he’s somehow changed his mind or forgotten our appointment but he eventually shook his head like he was jolting himself out of a day dream and invited me in.

“sorry, sorry, what am I like leaving you standing there! Come, come in!”

I followed him into the house and we headed down the long corridor and into the bright kitchen where we sat at the island and he took me through his diary and my tasks for the month. He gave me an iPad to use with an e mail already set up as [email protected] and a credit card I could use for the purchases he needed me to make on his behalf.

He was starting on set the following week and his sister Kim’s birthday was a couple of weeks away. Since she lived in Italy this would be one of the more challenging gifts to organise. He shared a little about her and took me to his office to proudly show me her picture which was on a wall filled with family portraits.

“This is a test right?” I remember asking.

“nah, nah don’t see it like that ….” He stuttered

“But it’s really important to you right?” I countered and he nodded, smiling slightly

“yeah, yeah Kim, she ……… she’s very important to me”

“As she should be” I said. “I promise to get you some great ideas along the lines you want in a day or two so you can pick and we can get it to her on time.”

“Thanks”

I hoped I’d do Kim justice – I really needed to keep this job.

On my first day, I headed up to Keanu’s house after dropping the kids at school and shopping for groceries that had been on the list Keanu had e mailed the night before.

Laundry wasn’t in my remit, but I spotted as I went in through the garage that there was a load in the tumble dryer due to finish soon. Keanu must have forgotten it. I made a note to pop back and fetch it after I’d done some other jobs.

In the kitchen, I put away the supplies and got on with making the elements of a Caesar salad with chicken that Keanu could quickly throw together after work.

Then it was time to start gift hunting for Kim. Keanu was interested in getting her a vintage Italian coffee set and we’d agreed it made sense to source it from Italy. Being a native Spanish speaker, I could muddle my way through Italian websites and I narrowed the choices down to 3 which I e-mailed to him as well as dropping him a text in case he didn’t check his e mails. He’d said he would have some down time during the day but he wouldn’t be expecting me to share ideas for a day or two.

By then it was 2pm and I needed to head off soon to fetch the kids. I grabbed the laundry and left a pile of t shirts (all Arch branded) and boxers neatly folded on his bed. I hoped he’d appreciate that I’d not left them to grow damp again in the dryer and that he wouldn’t feel weird that I’d touched his undies! If I’m honest it did feel a bit surreal to me to be in his home, dropping him e mails and texts, doing his shopping and folding his undies but I reminded myself that he was just a guy and, really, so far he’d been pretty down to earth in my dealings with him – well apart from the $1000 budget I had for Kim’s gift that is!

@fortheloveoffanfic @kindainlovewithkeanu @omg-imagine @iworshipkeanureeves @fics-not-tragedies @ficsnroses @keanureevesisbae @penwieldingdreamer @witty-wallflower @paperplanesandwallflowers @bitchyslut99 @ladyreapermc @toomanystoriessolittletime @fanficsrusz @keanuficfiles

#keanu reeves fanfic #keanu #keanu reeves fanfiction #romance with boss #keanu reeves

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shorties-unite · 4 years ago

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I Might Even Be A Rockstar (Part 3)

Summary: Roman is a normal boy with a very normal life who also happens to be a teen pop sensation. Virgil is a normal boy who also happens to have a debilitating crush on a teen pop sensation. Stuff happens I guess (Part 1 | Part 2)

*Oooh yeahh woah woah*

Logan LaMottie’s life ran on quite a fixed schedule. It wasn’t necessarily something he was consciously aware of, it’s not like he possessed a planner or an incredibly detailed schedule planned out in the calendar app of his phone. Instead he just knew that every week on Wednesday afternoons when the school bell went to signify the end of the final class of the day, he would walk to swimming practise on the other side of the school before catching the bus to the beach with his teammates, and using the rest of the late afternoon finishing any homework he hadn’t previously completed, and simultaneously supervising whichever employee of his family’s surf shack was rostered on. However, this particular Wednesday afternoon, instead of making his way to the bus stop at 4:45pm, he found himself standing in the hall of the gymnasium, chlorinated water still drying in tousled light brown hair and his damp towel hanging on his shoulder. He could hear the soft squeaks of sneakers on the polished wooden floors and enthusiastic voices learning chants. He promised himself that being late to work wouldn't throw off his life balance too much, he’d already checked to make sure one of the more competent employees would be manning the shack this afternoon, and he was already ahead of his schoolwork, and at any rate.. he had to start somewhere if he was going to solve the mystery, and this seemed as good a place as any.

In a flurry of pom poms and loud chatting voices the Seaview High cheer team burst from the hall, rapidly packing their stuff into bags in a rush to make it to the bus stop or car park in time. Logan found himself bustled along with the river of uniforms until they reached the end of the hall leading to the glass doors at the front of the school. It was there he spotted the curly golden puff of hair he was looking for, bouncing down the stairs.

“Truscott!!” he called, and the bright face of the cheerleader turned his way, already halfway down the stairs. He looked surprised and confused, trying to figure out where he had heard his name. “Truscott!” Logan called again, a little softer, making his way over to the confused boy. “H.. um Logan? Hi..”. He didn’t look any less confused now that he knew it had been Logan calling him. That was probably to be expected, seeing as Logan could probably count on one hand the number of words the pair of them had exchanged in the last three years.

“Hey,” He began “It’s Patton, am I correct?”

“Yes, it is,” Patton replied as they fell into step, the school building disappearing behind them. “Can, I um.. Help you with something?”

“Actually you can, I have a few questions I would love to get your opinion on,”. Patton having him a quizzical look in reply.

“Don’t you take like, all advanced classes?” he asked, “What question could I possible answer for you that you don’t already know?”. Logan exhaled in amusement and pressed on, “I couldn’t possibly know everything Patton. And anyway, these questions aren’t quite… Academia related,”.

“Oh.” Patton’s face and upper body seemed to suddenly go stiff at that, and his steps suddenly sped up. It wasn’t a challenge for Logan to keep up, being more than a head taller than the little cheerleader, but it was peculiar. “I.. um, I’d love to help you Logan but I actually have somewhere that I need to be, so..”

“Oh I understand, that isn’t a problem. Would another time work better for you? Maybe Saturday afternoon at the beach?” Patton's cheeks had begun to redden and he breathlessly whispered out an agreement and a quick goodbye, before dashing off, leaving Logan in his wake. He sighed as he inspected a nearby bus stop schedule, mind already buzzing with things he would need to research in preparation for the weekend.

*Ooh woah, ooh woa-woah, ooh woa-woa-woah yeahhh*

“Patton, it is so clearly a date,” Roman argued as he dug through his shoe closet, searching for the second green knee high boot to the outfit he had been meticulously planning all afternoon. “No it’s not. If it was a date, than he would have asked if he could take me on a date.” Patton retorted, perched on the edge of Roman’s bed. “So than it’s one of those ‘Not-A-Date’ dates!” Roman called, his voice muffle by the clothes he was surrounded by. “You’re hanging out, alone, at the beach at sunset. What else could it possibly be?”

“He said he wanted to ask me something,”

“Yeah, like what’s your favourite colour, or movie or how on earth you tumble across that football field and still have the energy to lead the cheer! You know, normal flirting questions,”. Finally Roman emerged from the depths of the shoe closet, Left boot in hand triumphantly.

“What, like the questions you should be asking Smokin’ Sanders?”

“We aren’t talking about that. We’re talking about you and Hottie LaMottie,” Patton blushed at that comment. “I’m sorry that this means I can’t come to New York with you,” he muttered.

“Don’t fret over it for a second my smitten sidekick. I’ll even let you borrow something from the Princey closet if you’d like.” Patton squealed and lunged at Roman, knocking the wind out of him in the process.

Eventually, Patton settled on a nice pair of sunglasses with pink lenses shaped like stars, after Roman commented that seeing Patton in them would make Logan go “Starry-Eyed”. Patton tucked the glasses into the front pocket of his sports bag, and then began helping Roman carefully pack his much deliberated on final outfit. “Hey,” Patton voiced as he began sorting through various hair and makeup produced for the second case, “You know this means you have to talk to Virgil now, instead of just flicking your hair every three seconds and hoping he’ll notice,”. Roman grew pale at the mere thought. “First of all, I DON’T flick my hair every three seconds. Secondly, noooooooooo I can’tttt,”.

“You can’t talk to a boy you’ve been sitting next to for two weeks now? You’re announcing a Tiny Award with Zac Efron this weekend!!” Roman rolled his eyes, but he knew his friend was right, so eventually he reluctantly agreed. “If Patton can go on a date with Logan LaMottie with the swimmers body, than he could borrow a pinch of Princey’s confidence for an hour long class to talk to Virgil.

an: So by a combination of finishing my last final (sorta, I still have labs to do once we can go back to campus), and it being Roman’s birthday and this feeling obligated to contribute something to at least one of my creative projects, part three of this cheesy story has finally been finished! hehehe sorry I’m sure you were all dying to know what happens next. Happy Roman’s birthday Void! xx

Taglist: @frikijedai @datfearlessfangirl @nadja-chamack16

#meganmakesapost #writing stuff #prinxiety #logicality #roman sanders #logan sanders #virgil sanders #patton sanders #ts roman #ts logan #ts virgil #ts patton #thomas sanders #sanders sides #HannahMontana!AU #hannah montana #disney channel

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ana-deaky · 5 years ago

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Ever After: Chapter 1. These Are The Days Of Our Lives

Author’s Note: Hey guys! I am a sucker for Jimercury like many of you and one fine day, after reading Jim’s “Mercury & Me”, the idea for this fic came running to me. So this fic was initially written on Wattpad like months ago and I was working on the final chapter of this fiction when I thought I should share this fic to Tumblr. I hope you guys enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Summary: Jim and Freddie after they’ve won the battle against AIDS. And some heartwarming stuff.

***********************

Like any other Saturday nights, Freddie and Jim were cuddling up in the couch in the great house, Garden Lodge. The night was quiet except for the television that was playing one of Freddie's favorite films. It was a romantic one.

They were talking about how much have changed since the time they started dating. Freddie and Jim had made their relationship public since 1991. Freddie and Jim had been cured of AIDS, thanks to the advancement of medical science. Freddie had co-founded a foundation for AIDS awareness, conducted a concert to raise AIDS awareness and funding for the global battle against HIV/AIDS called The Phoenix Trust, along with Brian, Roger and Jim Beach after his close call with AIDS.

The world has been kind to them after their long struggle. They needed everything they have ever wanted. Two family homes in England and Ireland, their fur babies and so on. It has been a good year for the band too. Family, relationships and career was going well for the boys. Brian was dating actress, Anita Dobson, who has become very close friends with the Mercury-Hutton household. Roger welcomed his fourth child just last year, Tiger Lilly Taylor with Debbie and John was having the time of his life with his wife Veronica and his six children.

The band was in the preparations of releasing their album called, "Made in Heaven", which was yet to be released later this year.

* * * * * * * * * * *

The clock struck midnight

"Happy Anniversary to us, my dear", said Freddie to Jim kissing Jim on his cheek.

"Aw! Happy Anniversary, my love", replied Jim with a kiss to Freddie's cheek, "10 years! What would I have done with you?"

"You'd have been waiting for me, darling", said Freddie

"I need to tell you about something, Freddie", said Jim.

"What is it, darling?", asked Freddie facing Jim.

"I have been thinking all our friends are moving forward family-wise and we're not getting any younger, are we?", said Jim.

"What are you getting at?", asked Freddie cutting out Jim mid-conversation

"I'm saying since we already went public on our relationship and everything. I think it's time for us to have an addition to our family.", said Jim, "And I don't mean adopting another kitty", as Freddie opened his mouth to say something.

"Alright. I can't say I haven't thought about us raising a child together. But yes, I think it's time we became parents too.", said Freddie smiling and hugged Jim.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Later that evening, the couple enjoyed a romantic dinner date at their favorite restaurant. They have planned to go with adoption even though they had an option of surrogacy which was gaining popularity around the time.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The legal procedures were hectic since the parents were both of the same sex. But eventually, the papers went through and the couple were in the list finally.

Two months later, during lunch, the phone started ringing. Phoebe ran to attend the call

"Freddie, Jim, you guys have a call from the adoption center", Phoebe said jumping up and down. Freddie and Jim held hands and looked at each other. They immediately rushed to the room where the phone was and put it on speaker.

"Hello", said Freddie

"Am I speaking to Mr. Freddie Mercury and Jim Hutton?"

"Yes", they said in unison.

"My name is Leslie Morgan and I'm calling from the adoption centre. And I'd like to inform you that a parent has selected you guys to be the parents. I'd like you you both to come down here on Friday around 4 p.m. That is okay, yes?", said the officer.

"Yes yes, thank you very much, Leslie.", said Jim

"I'll see you on Friday. Good day", said the officer cutting the call.

Jim and Freddie were beyond excited to hear the news. But they decided not to share it to the people outside the household already. Hence, they celebrated in silence within the household.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Friday came faster than expected. And the interview went smoothly even though the birth mother was starstruck seeing Freddie. She was a such a sweet kid, she was only 18 and her name was Kate and she is due in November and she was expecting twins. Freddie and Jim even invited her to stay with them so that they could provide for Kate, but she politely refused.

Everything turned out so well. Freddie was beyond happy and had already started shopping for the kids even though there was 2 more months till the due date.

Jim decided to build a changing table for the babies in this period. Freddie was all over the place decorating the baby's rooms, buying all kinds of toys and newborn clothes for the babies.

They maintained regular contact with Kate and even invited her over for lunch or tea a few times. Freddie made sure she had everything she needed. She was invited for Freddie's birthday dinner party.

* * * * * * * * * * *

It was November 24th, when Freddie and Jim were having breakfast with Phoebe and Joe in the kitchen discussing about the newly released album when the house phone ring. Around this time, Freddie and Jim made sure that one of them stayed home so that they wouldn't miss the call and every phone bell they hear tensed them up for the same reason. This time it was from the hospital notifying that the babies would be here very soon.

Freddie and Jim were beaming with happiness. They held hands and looked at each other and Jim said, "This is it. We'll be coming back home with our children". They immediately rushed into the car. Mary has also joined the couple. The hospital was 2 hours away from Garden Lodge

Jim and Freddie went to see Kate and then saw the doctor who told them that the twins would be along soon enough. Freddie almost had a panic attack pacing along the hallway. Jim held his hands at all times even though he was tensed inside.

A few hours later,

"Congratulations to you two.", said the doctor emerging from the labor room.

Freddie and Jim literally jumped from their seats seeing the doctor.

"Thank God", Freddie said, "When can we see our children?"

"You can come in now", said the doctor

As Freddie and Jim entered the room, they saw the nurse laying down a baby wearing a pink hospital hat in a crib. Jim noticed that the other baby also wore a pink hat.

"Can I?", asked Jim to the nurse laying down the baby.

"Sure, she's all yours", the nurse said carefully placing the baby in Jim's hands and correcting his hold. Jim's eyes welled up as soon as he held the crying baby and said, "Hey baby girl", he said rocking her, and his eyes filled with happy tears while Freddie leapt over Jim's shoulder to look at the baby who was now looking alternately at her dads.

"You wanna hold her, Freddie?", Jim asked. Freddie nodded and Jim handed over the baby to Freddie and told him to support her neck. "Oh they're perfect", said Freddie. All this while, Mary was attending to the other baby and that's where Jim walked to. Mary handed over the baby to Jim. He waked over to Kate to check on her.

The couple spent almost an hour holding the babies. The doctors came to take away Kate to her room and announced that the couple could take the babies home as soon as they filled out the forms for the birth certificates

Surprisingly, the twins had different hair color. The older baby had blondish hair, the boys decided to name her Lyla Hutton-Bulsara. The younger one had a black hair and they decided to name her Kathleen Hutton-Bulsara after their mother.

#jimercury #freddie mercury #jim hutton #freddie and jim #ana writes

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icharchivist · 4 years ago

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so. I see why events are such a drain on sp now. yukis design for this event tho slaps whenever he showed up in practice it put a smile on my face! also I feel like I’ve been super super lucky w/ gacha? like I’ve gotten at least 1 ssr everytime I’ve like done a pull for cards... the event is fun though! definitely adds a lot more incentive to keep up with doing the practices and stuff now that I have classes again lol

Welcome to the events’s... hecticness :’D

I joined a3 when the english server just started so it took about one? two months? for the first event to happen (and then they didn’t stop coming and they don’t stop coming and they do-) and i remember how, before that, i felt like the SP weren’t especially to use a lot, aside from doing your dailies and getting the first clear missions, you don’t need them THAT much, and then the events came around and proved me that alas, SP are useful and you’ll cry for them.

Yuki’s design is so so good!! he looks so amazing it’s so good aaah

and ooh :O i do wonder if there’s an ssr rate up for new players tbh, my luck has pretty much ran out in EN server lol but i recently joined the JPN server (which is faaar ahead of us) and i do get goodies much more easily... Still i hope this luck will carry through!! SSR SSR SSR.......

(do tell me what SSR you got tho i’m curious :3c)

oh right i forgot to say! you can add me as friends if you want (or i can add you)! that’ll get us to help each other eheh. I just need to know if you do that so that i can accept you bc i have, more friends requests that i have place in my friendlist for so i gotta find you there my code is 1122335871

Glad you’re enjoying the events though!! it does make you more interreacting with the game than you do normally and ahah that sure helps keeping up with the practices! hope you’ll get toons of xp from it ;O (and tbh doing mindless A3 while working on class works pretty well for me dLFKDJ since it’s rather low focus-energy for the events it can turn in the back while i’m studying)

for now it might be too early because you need lots of cards and leveling up materials, but the thing with events is that if you probably would rather limit your SP use per representation.

I’ll put some tips between the cut but also i am talking about more gameplay stuff that often requires having a certain amount of characters or leveling up material: so you don’t have to worry too hard about it, but it’s a guideline for the future.

Take care and good luck ;O

You will want:

IF You have Event Cards:

-Event Cards, hopefully fully leveled up or trained.Even the R brings some boost during event though check if the boost is worth it. SR and SSR are definitly worth it

-if you have event cards, put them as the leader of your team (according to the type of the card, for exemple current SSR Omi is Drama so you need to set him as lead in your Drama team), as it is the card that ends up showing up in the “support” screen.

-If you have a R as leader (with no SR/SSR cards that could take their place) you’ll be better off setting a team in the “Team 4/5″ slot that is the team you intend to use for full power. R as leader tends to bring your power down, so this is the way to both keep your R as leader to help others while also keeping your own fire power.

-Note that Event cards from Gacha are more powerful for the events that are the cards you can get in rankin up.

-Birthday cards’s stats seem lower than event cards when you see them in the list but they can also have a little more impact on your result, so they’re still very good to have. or check out.

-You’re not obligated at all to have event cards to do well in an event, but the SP use will be drastically different. I remember an event where i had every gacha cards bloomed once and even when it was at its worst, i never had to spend more than 2 SP for an Encore. Meanwhile while lacking event cards it can easily go up to 5 SP or more for an Encore. So it depends on which events you want to invest. on the long term you’ll want to check the event lists and see which are the cards/characters you want (keeping in mind all of them come with a backstage story you can’t read otherwise), and ranking up can deserve at least one attempt at pulling the event gacha.

IN GENERAL:

-On the long term you will want to fully level up all of your SR and SSR cards, bloom them when you can, and eventually train them (this later takes a lot of materials so it’s not your priority). The best bet to do that are Yuzo cards bc manual leveling up is hell. (note that event cards have higher raw stats than the base cards too)

-To try to maximize your points, once you have enough cards (i’d say at least one SR or SSR of each character) your life savior would be to use Link Skills. those are specific combos that multiply your total points by a certain percentage. They’re different for each categories, but it helps. At the bottom of the page, you’ll see an optimal link option for each character.

-When you are playing an event and you don’t have any event cards, you will want to build your team around which is the main support card you’ll find, in the best case scenario with the Optimal Link Option. For exemple: Drama Omi.

if you can combo all of them you will have an optimal %. The wiki show you in the “Optimal” screen what is the best team when you’re looking for combos around only one specific card.

-If you have an event card, especially if you have more than one/a different one than the support one, you will want to build your team manually by looking at both event characters you have (or more) and see how you can build your team to maximize their combo while keeping the event boost

-I’m already talking about more high level stuff but if you already want to start using links, if you have enough cards for that, focus on leveling up cards that you can use for the Links in priority. (note that it’s always a priority to level up your event cards tho bc other people will use them)

-On the long term when you will have multiple cards for each character, do take the time to check which card is best. For exemple if you want a link with say, Citron in Drama, but you have a comedy Citron and an Action Citron, compare their drama’s stats to see which is the highest and the one you’d rather use.

About the Shows themselves:

-The least time you have for a show, the more points you will gain for doing them. if you need to discard some shows, it’s best to discard those which will take the longest time

-Ideally you’d want to keep your kamebuns for the Encore, since they cost a lot of SP and they always happen after you already used some before that.

-Note that if you use your SP on a play that will fail, you will be able to continue this specific show and spend more SP on it. FOR EXEMPLE: if, especially for an Encore, it still says you will “fail” the play after using 5 SP, you can use 5 SP, look at the “failed” screen, and then go back to the preparing show screen and use more SP to try to get the points missing for you. Obviously this is really SP consumming so you don’t have to do that, but it’s good to know it’s a possibility. (on the JPN server, when i just arrived i tried participating to events with very low cards. I had to use 11 SP for one Encore. Never again.)

OUTSIDE OF THE SHOWs:

-You can pause the Practice Lesson anytime you want. if you go on Menu>Pause, it’ll bring you back to your homescreen. It means that the lesson will not trigger more event show, ultimately sparing your SP while waiting for them to refill.

-However during the pauses you cannot access any others lessons.

-BUT!! you can also just QUIT the lesson room from the same menu. If you still haven’t maxed the flairs and the crowns, you will lose any progress made during the lesson, but if they’re both maxed, you should be okay? i THINK the progress made on the rank XP doesn’t get lost. Though any progress in leveling up the affections of some cards will be.

NOW IN GENERAL:

-If you want to rank up you will have to use diamonds.Honestly it’s best preparing yourself in advance if you think you’ll rank up for an event. But for now that’s really too early for you, unless you aim for the SR.

-especially early on what you will want is just clearing the flairs and crowns (free diamonds and the dialogues, that are all saved in the Mini Chat tab in the story mode), and especially unlocking the event story. (in this event, it will take reaching 700 points to unlock all of the story, take it easy, you will get it cleared with no problem, since it’s generally the “lowest investment” reward. Note tho that the point system is different from Seasonal events (like the Valentine day event is) and the Play Events)

-All i said are more long term things, see if you can/want to apply them early on.

-Right and there’s the bentos: you will want to aim for them, as you can only use them during the limit of the events. You will do best to use them outside of the events to rank up to unlock chapters. Note tho that, especially at low level, it means you’ll level up quite fast, which will refill your LP and SP, so once you level up you can go back to events to clear your SP and then come back to grinding.

-if i’m not mistaken, i was about level 56 when i unlocked all of the chapters from the first act (ie, up to the end of chap 4 : Once more with feelings). For reference’s sake, when i started playing the JPN vers recently and used that trick of using the bentos to unlock stuff, i leveled up a lot pretty quickly. I think it took me 2 weeks to get to level 56 without events on the EN server but it took me far less in JPN server while using the event’s bentos to my advantage

i hope it’s not too confusing? it’s not something you have to think too hard about just now, but it may help you out on the long term.

Either way, good luck and good grinding ;O i’ll be ranking up to get Hisoka’s SSR so o7 see you on the other side eheh

#ichafantalks a3 #sonnets-of-beauty #ichareply

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god-save-the-keen · 5 years ago

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Happy birthday, Tara

Book: Mother of the year

Pairing: Thomas Mendez x MC (Tara)

Summary: It's Tara's birthday and Thomas it's determined to make it special.

Warning: nsfw / sex / fluff

Words: 3673

Note: As always, English it's not my first language. Hope you likes enjoy it as I did writing it! It's not a second part, but continue the line of By her side I just love this two! Let me know if you want to be added in the tag list.

Tag list: @chetachisblog @annekebbphotography @princess-geek @malakbesharah @lilyofchoices @ao719 @marycarrillo21 @blackcatkita @kamybelen-blog @randomchoicesblog @cxld-play

Tara's birthdays never was a very important thing for her… When she was with Guy, he used to said it was just a regular day, that it was stupid spend a lot of money in things like a cake or expensive gifts, even when he made a huge meal with his friends every year. At that moment she didn't care, she thought she was happy with him. Thankfully, eventually, things ended with him and she discovered what real happiness was. After Rory's born, Tara didn't care about her birthday either, she was always busy, tired or broken, but she didn't mind, Rory was with her, she was her everything and they were happy in their little own world.

Her alarm began to blare and, without open her eyes, she turned it off. This year, even when everything was really, really good, she felt a little sad that Rory wasn't with her this time.

"Stay, enjoy your birthday." Thomas's sleepy voice said from beside her. He turned and hugged her from behind, kissing her nape. "Happy birthday, gorgeous". She could feel his smile on her neck while he kept kissing her there. She loved his lips on her back, neck, lips… Honestly, everywhere.

"I can't miss work, Thomas" she said smiling, feeling his hand in her belly, brining her near to his chest. "Don't be a bad influence on me". She giggled softly.

"Me? Never" Thomas said while his lips started kissing behind her ear softly. "I just think… Since it's your birthday… We could take the day off… And enjoy ourselves since the girls are gone" Every pause he made was accompanied with a kiss on each of her favorite places to be kissed. Rory and Luz were in a four days field trip with Eiko and the rest of their class at NASA, Houston. They had programmed lots of conferences, guide tours, workshops, meet and greet with some astronauts, etc. Needless to say how exciting Rory was. However, Tara felt a little insecure, she never was so many days separated from her and a such distance.

"You think we should call them? Just to be sure?" She said turning in his arms to face him. "Or maybe text Eiko! She can tell us if they are okay"

"Sweetie, you talked with Eiko last night and the girls send a selfie after that. They probably are just waking up too. They are okay." He said while caressed absently her back.

"I know... you right! I'm sorry" She kissed him on the lips. "I really should get up"

"Probably" He said leading her even closer to his chest while his mouth went to her neck, kissing there and biting a tiny part of skin. Tara closed her eyes with a smile on her face, sighing happily while her fingers touched Thomas's hair. "But again, you could always choose don't go and celebrate your birthday with me." He redirect his lips to her mouth, kissing her deeply.

"Fine, fine! You win!" She said laughing at his triumphant look. "Just let me text Sally to let her know, I hope I don't complicate the things in the shop... Are you gonna call to the study?" She said taking her phone and writing a text to Sally.

"No, I let them know yesterday." He said with a satisfied grin. God, she loved his smile.

"You, Mr. Mendez, are terrible" Tara giggled.

'Hey Sally! If it's not much problem, and I'm so sorry for the short notice, but since it's my birthday, can I take the day off? If you need me there, please let me know'

'Happy birthday Tara! Yesterday, Alma thought that maybe you take the day off so we are prepared for it. Enjoy your day and see you tomorrow!

"Done?" He asked, caressing her waist under her t-shirt.

"Done".

"Good" He rolled her so she could be on top of him. Tara laughed happily before looked him more serious, with adoration, stroking his cheek softly. Nine months had passed since the trial against Guy ended, and she still couldn't believe how everything went, Rory was with her, Guy out of their lives definitely and all thanks to this amazing man under her. She leane to kiss him, slowly, enjoying his lips against hers. They both deepened the kiss, mouths more demanding that before and his hands traveling to her hips.

"Oh my god!" She said hiding her head on his shoulder while Thomas laughed. Her stomach decide to demand food… in that moment... loudly.

"Okay gorgeous, let's make this right! First thing: breakfast. How about that place you like, the one with the rooftop?"

"Yes, please!" She kissed his cheek and got up. They change, Thomas in a simple jersey and black jeans and Tara in a short blue dress. Although everything was amazingly good between them, they decide not live together yet. However, they both had each other's home keys and some clothes of them and the girls in both places. At first they tried to hide their relationship from Luz and Rory, they didn't wanted to excite them in advance, just in case. The only problem was that they sucked hiding their happiness and the way they interacted each other every time they were together, so they had to come clean with them. The day before of her birthday, she went back to her apartment after work and invite him to stay with her.

She took her jacket and purse, he grabbed his car keys and they left the apartment holding hands. The coffee they went was a beautiful building with a huge sunny rooftop, Tara didn't know if was the sun, the fresh air up there or the flowers around her, but this was the most relaxing place for her in the whole city and she loved share it with Thomas. His eyes, more blue than normal thanks to the bright sun, were fixed on her.

"What?" She asked with her cheeks a little more pink and a sweet smile on her lips.

"Nothing, I like see you happy" They kissed sweetly while Tara's foot began to climb his leg slowly under the table and she felt how his cheeks turned hot. "Don't tease me Tara, you know the effect this have on me" He said without breaking the kiss.

"That's why it's so funny to do" she smiled.

"You know? That it's still one of my favorites memories of us" He said taking her hand. "Don't get me wrong, I have a lot of moments that I love, but that one was the first time I felt ready to start this with you… And I really wanted to kiss you in front of everyone."

"I'm glad". She said intertwining their fingers. "Cause I really wanted to kiss you too"

In that moment, the waitress came with a big breakfast for them: coffee, orange juice, a couple of beautifully decorated cupcakes, toasts, waffles and some fruits.

While they were eating, her phone rang and a video call from Eiko appears in the screen.

"It's Eiko" she said frowning, rushing to answered. When she did, and two huge smiles occupied the screen, she laughed at the sight of her daughter and Luz so happy. "Hi girls! Good morning! How's everything going?" She turned the phone so Thomas could see them too.

"Oh my god mom, this place it's incredible! Look look!!" Rory took the phone and spin it around, showing them computers, rocket's parts, some graphics and other stuff that she couldn't identified. She return the focus on Luz and her. "But we didn't call you for that, we wanted to wish you happy birthday!"

"Happy birthday, Tara! Hi dad!" Luz said smiling.

"Hi Lulu! Hi Rory! Are you behaving well, Luz?" He asked worried while Tara giggled.

"Yes, I am! Rory and Mrs. Matsunaga can tell you all about!" Luz said, proud.

"It's true! She only pushed August ones when he tried to get ahead of us in line!" Rory said, she looked something above the camera and then return her focus on them "Anyway, we have to go! Happy birthday mom! I love you! Bye Thomas!"

"Happy birthday again Tara, have a great day! Love you dad! Bye!"

"Bye girls! Enjoy and take care! Both of you! Love you!"

"Listen to everything Mrs. Matsunaga says! Have fun!"

Eiko's face appears in the screen.

"Hi guys! Happy birthday Tara! The girls are more than okay, so you both can be relaxed! I call if something happens but so far, everything it's perfect!" She said happily. "Anyway, I have to go, have an awesome day Tara, when I return, we will definitely celebrate with a drink." She winked and the call ends.

After finished the breakfast, they went to take a walk through a fair full of flowers, artisans, antiques, farmers, etc. Thomas sneaked his arm in Tara's shoulders and she hugged him by the waist. Luckily, the fair wasn't crowded and they could enjoy watching everything. Thomas buy her a ring she saw on one of the booth, a thin silver band with a beautiful piece of pyrite in the middle. She slipped in her finger, making it sparke in the light while he kissed the side of her head. She loved it and couldn't stop smiling at him.

Seeing Tara so happy, made Thomas's heart feel full of happiness and warm, she had suffered so much, moving there, dealing with PTA of the school, fighting against Guy, he just wanted to give her the world. Once the fair hadn't nothing more to offered, they started to walk through the car when she saw a poster in a movie theater that bring her attention.

"Casablanca! I love this movie, it's one of my favorites! Although I never have the chance to see it in theater" Thomas hugged her from behind, checking the time.

"The next function starts in 10 minutes, do you want to see it? After all, it's your day"

"You really want to? You sure?" While she leaned into his embrace.

"Of course, I like this movie!" He narrowed his eyes, and with a deeper, sensual voice said "Of all the gin joints, in all the towns, in all the world, she walks into mine"

She turned to him in his arms laughing softly, putting both of her hands in his chest and, batting her eyelashes, said "Kiss me. Kiss me as if it were the last time" and he did it. Softly. Sweetly. Lovingly. They went inside, hand in hand, bought two tickets, sweet popcorn, Tara's favorite, and soda. The movie was great, in some part they chatted quietly and at the end, during the final kiss and goodbye, Thomas saw a few tears falling from her eyes. He didn't liked see her crying, not even for a movie… She already had cried too much. He took her hand in his, giving it a little squeeze and she puts her head in his shoulder with a soft sigh.

After the movie, they bought some supplies for dinner, he wanted to take her to some fancy restaurant and spoiled her, but she preferred something more relaxed.

"Do you mind if we go to my place? I need to check a few things" He said while they started to walk to his car.

"Of course not. Let's go" Tara said entering in the car.

Once they arrive, Tara put some music and went to the bedroom to leave her jacket, purse and shoes. When she returned, Thomas was cooking, humming a Joss Stone song that sounded on the background and she stood there, watching him, enjoying and loving the sight. She walked toward him, hugged from behind and singing along with Joss in his ear "Don't you know he is some kind of wonderful"

"Oh nice, you think I'm adorable and wonderful, huh?" That damn beautiful smile of him on his lips.

"Shut up and kiss me, dork" She said moving on front of him.

His mouth were in hers in an instant, one of his hands went to the small of her back while the other turned off the oven as she hugged him by the neck, deepening the kiss. He pushed her against the counter while his tongue started to move in her mouth and she pressed tight against him, wanting to feel every part of his body. Thomas's mouth started travel to her neck, kissing and sucking a bit, while his hands caressing her hips. She put a single finger in the waist of his pants, leading him between her legs, closer. A groan escaped his lips and she felt the bulk of his pants grew considerably against her, putting a delicious pressure between her legs and she started to feel her body on fire like always used to happens when they where alone.

"Tara…? You want to…?"

"Yes… I want. Every. Single. Part. Of you"

"Thank god" he said and his hands grabbed her ass tightly. This wasn't the first time they made love but every time felt like their skins were burning, wanting to feel each other, wanting to be one. He raised her, with his hands still on her butt, and carried her to the bedroom with her legs around his waist while her mouth went to his shoulder and bite softly but hard enough to make him close his eyes for a second. Another groan leave him and she loved it.

They fell in the bed with their mouths together, hard against each other, while one of Thomas's hands began to roam torturously slowly in her leg up to her thigh, removing her dress out of the way. She shivered in anticipation.

"So eager" He said in her ear, his breath hot, so hot, and his voice deep, full of desire, nibbing her earlobe.

"For you? Always" Tara said, caressing his stomach and chest while she took off his jersey. He sat down with her on his lap, his lips on hers and his hands peeling off her dress. Once in her underwear, a black lace bra and panties transparent enough to drive him crazy, he started to kiss her chest, between her breasts, touching them with one hand while the other caressed her hips and leg. He took off her bra, kissing, cupping, touching with his tongue her boobs, making her moaned, he took his time with them both, making them hard rock and sensitive to his touch. Thomas's lips returned to her mouth while her hands pushed him closer by his pants, removing his belt and unbolting it.

"This off. Now". He obey, dropping it on the floor and returning a top of her.

"Tell me what you want"

She kissed him hard and tugged his bottom lip softly. "I want your mouth all over me"

His lips traveled by her throat, neck, shoulders, breast, belly, leaving tiny marks and goosebumps, he could feel the hot of her skin inside his mouth, like a fire that it's going to consume him. His mouth finally landed between her legs, softly kissing above her panties before remove them slowly until he dropped it to the floor.

"So ready for me" Thomas said with his breath hot against her skin, making her tremble. His tongue went inside her, touching her clit barely at first, holding her hips in place, provoking her until she let out a groan. He started to eat her out, licking and sucking her pussy hard, putting one finger inside her and starting to moving it, after a few moments, a second finger joined and he move them faster and deeper.

Tara's eyes were closed and her mouth open, breathing hard and moaning loudly, her hands on his hair, grabbing it like an anchor, her hips moving with his mouth and fingers, desperate for some release.

"Fuck Thomas". She never swear except in sex with him, he loved to hear her saying that kind of things, losing control in his arms. He could feel in his mouth how close she was to coming, with one hand he took off his boxers finally settling free his dick, while his mouth return to hers in a heatedly kiss, he rolled up a condom and pressed his hips to hers, before pushing in.

"Stop… teasing… me" she said between painting, with their mouths still together. "I need you"

So his dick enter her pussy hard, filling her, making her moan loudly, her hands in his back while her nails scratched his skin. He groan in her ear while starting bang in and out faster.

"Damn Tara, you drive me crazy"

"Don't stop Thomas… Please don't stop"

"Never"

He kissed her throat feeling the vibrations of her moans in his lips while her legs rolled up around him, pulling him even close. They both were moaning and panting, skin hot and sweated, hands touching everywhere.

"Say my name, baby" Keeping the thrusts while one of his hands start caressing her clit again. Her back arching at him, overwhelmed, holding at his shoulders with her knuckles white. "Moan for me"

"Oh my god, Thomas! Yes!" Her eyes firmly closed, pleasure all over her factions. "Shit… I… Thomas, I'm almost… Fuck!" her voice shallow.

"Come to me, Tara" His thrusts and her loud moans filling the room. She couldn't resist anymore, it was too much, he was too much.

Realising a final groan of pleasure while saying his name, she come hard, shivering like crazy, still holding his shoulders. A few seconds later, he followed her, cumming inside her before falling on top of her, being careful to not crushed her. The stay like that for a moments, panting and catching their breaths, Tara's hand caressing his hair while his head was in her chest.

"Definitely… best birthday ever." She said with her voice still a little taken. He chuckled, rested his elbows on the bed and kissed her softly.

"I have something for you" he said getting up and putting his boxer on while she dress up in her panties and some Thomas's t-shirt that looked oversized on her. She loved sleep in his t-shirt, even when they sleep together, feeling the smell of his aftershave lotion and perfume in her skin was one of her favorite things. He went through his closet and took a little wrapped package, return to bed and sit beside her, kissing her cheek. "Happy birthday, beautiful"

She sit up a little more straight and opened it. Inside was a gorgeous white gold chain with a delicate 'T' on it, also in white gold. She stood there in silence, staring at it, with her fingers touching it delicately and her eyes bright with tears.

Thomas's heart aching. Maybe she didn't like it, maybe she hated white gold, or the initial, what if she thought it was a way to take claim of her, since they both shared the initial? Oh god, maybe she was waiting an engagement ring? He knew he should checked the gift with Rory.

"We can do it in yellow gold if you preferred, I just notice you never use yellow gold but maybe I mistaken. Or you can changing it if you don't like it, for something else--"

"No! No, it's perfect! I love it! It's just…" a tear fall down on her cheek and she dried it with a tiny smile. "I can't even remember the last time someone made my birthday so special" he lead her near to his chest and hugged her tight, kissing her forehead. "Don't get me wrong, be with Rory it's the best thing in my life, wouldn't change it for anything… But, this birthday, with you, was just amazing… You didn't had to do all this, you know that, right?"

"I know I didn't had to, I wanted to. You deserve this and so much more." He said caressing her cheek and kissing her softly. "And I have the intention to give you everything I can. I love you, Tara" That it. The first time he told her those three words. There was no hesitation in his voices, his eyes full of love and his hands holding her close.

"I love you too, Thomas" They kiss again, slow and deep, putting all their feelings in it. She took the chain out of the box, and turned, directing her back to him, holding her hair up with one hand. "Help me putting it?" She said smiling wide while handing him the chain.

"Of course" Thomas kissed her nape before hanging the necklace in place and close it behind her neck. She turned to him, glowing of happiness.

"How do I look?" She was sitting on his lap, with his t-shirt and her lace panties on, her hair messy after sex falling on her shoulders, a huge smile and the 'T' in her chest.

"Like the most beautiful woman in the world" They snuggled together in bed, covering with a blanket.

"So…" she said touching delicately the chain around her neck. "This is why you wanted to came here?" A playful smile on her face.

"Maybe" He told, with his cheek a little red. She giggled and snuggled near to him, putting her head in his chest.

"Thank you Thomas, I really love it" he could feel her smile on his skin.

"We didn't finish the dinner" Thomas said after a moment of silence, with his hand on her waist, caressing there, holding her close to him. "You want me to bring something to eat?"

"Forget it. I'm enjoying this way too much so don't you dare move of here" She kissed softly his chest. "I just realized that this was the first time we had a whole day for us… No working, no schedules or crazy PTA parents… I miss the girls a lot, but this was wonderful"

"Yeah, I haven't noticed that either… it was nice having you all for myself" He kissed her forehead again before they both started to fall asleep, holding each other close.

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