#should I buy a 5 subject notebook? maybe.

[the-starlight-papers]

Time for the most important part of the semester: deciding what color notebook each class should be.

[https-mi1zu]

The Peacock and The Crow

(the draft-ish, chapters 1-2)

CO WRITER, SPELL CHECKER, AND MY BESTIE IN GENERAL: @cha0sdumpster

WARNINGS : nothign really ig?

word count: 4,283

To gabby, the first to hear.

CHAPTER ONE . Life is weird, but I'm weirder

I didn't really want to become a hero, but here we are.

Everyday was the same, I woke up early, 5:30 or so. I got ready, fixed my hair and packed my lunch. Meanwhile, my mother was passed out on the couch with some man. I went back to my room to get them a blanket.  I left them a glass of water before I left for school. As I walked out of the house and slowly made my way to the bus stop, I couldn't help but feel a sense of isolation. It was like I was living two different lives - my own and that of my mother's. I waited for the bus, wondering if things would ever change, or if I were always meant to feel like an outsider.

At least my mother was grateful enough to give me her headphones. As soon as I plugged in my headphones, it felt as if the world just stopped for a moment. It felt freeing, it felt as if I was high as a cloud and...is that a horse with wings??

I took off my glasses to wipe them a bit, maybe I was just seeing things. I looked back, only to see just a normal maya bird flying by. As I sat on the bus, lost in thought, I couldn't help wondering if there were other kids like me out there - kids who felt like outcasts and longed to find a place where they could truly fit in. I was aware that there were other kids in my class who also struggled with ADHD and dyslexia. My mother was surprised that I had made it to grade 7.

I wondered if there was somewhere out there where I could find people who understood me and where I belonged, maybe even a place where I could've become a forest witch.

I could daydream about finding a place where I fit in and could be a forest witch, the bus pulled up to a stop, it jolted me back to reality. I got off the bus and began walking to school, still lost in thought. I took off my earphones as I got off.

I walked in the hallways, it was quite early, I couldn't help but notice some strange things around me - a bird that was acting weirdly, a crack in the sidewalk, and a piece of paper floating in the air. But I shook my head, thinking it was just your imagination again. 'Just my imagination is running wild.' I said to myself, mostly.

I put my bags at my desk as I walked over to the corner of the room. Our classroom was quite small, but it had a fire exit. We never got to use it, but it was cool anyway. 

I could hear the slight buzz of the fan, our aircon hadn't been fixed yet. Why did I even bring a jacket anyway?

I looked at our schedule, making myself mentally memorize the subjects. 'math first...science next...filipino right after recess, ‘did I remember to bring my apron?' I thought. We had art today, double period, our art teacher was quite nice.

After I reread the schedule a couple more times, I walked to my desk. It was in the third row of the third column of our classroom.

I brought out my books, I didn't need much other than my whiteboard (which I forgot to bring, again) and my notebooks. After I got my books and shoved them under my desk, I walked over to my locker, 'I should really buy a lock.' I said to myself. Opening my locker and then shoved my bag and lunch box in. I slammed the door to it shut so nothing would fall out.

I made my way through the medium-sized room, the air seemed to grow colder, as if the temperature had dropped a few degrees. The shadows in the corners appear to thicken and deepen, almost as if they are slowly coming to life. I couldn't shake the feeling of being watched, like there are eyes following my every move. But everytime I turn around there's nobody there.

The flickering of the fluorescent lights above only adds to the sense of unease, casting shifting patterns of brightness and darkness across the room. I could hear faint, almost imperceptible whispers echoing through the corridors.

'it's just the wind.' I told myself, I sat down back on my desk

But the whispers continued, growing louder and more menacing as I sat at my desk. They seem to come from every corner of the room, as if they are trying to communicate something important like they are trying to warn me of something.

The shadows in the corner seem to twist and writhe, almost like they are trying to form some kind of shape. It's hard to make out what exactly they're trying to take the form of, but it almost seems like a familiar shape. I needed to clear my mind so I opened the door  and made my way to the bathroom. It was a quiet walk, the corridors empty with the leaves on the ground. I looked down at the ground as I walked. The rocks embedded in the beige concrete made different shapes, the sizes ranging from big to small. It really looked like a messed up mosaic.

I reached the bathroom, the whispers grew louder and more frenzied, as if they were desperate to communicate something. The shadows in the corner of the room seemed to move and writhe even more.

Turning on the faucet, the water that came out was ice cold, as if it had been sitting in a frozen pond for hours. I splashed water on my face, expecting it to be refreshing and calming, but instead the water felt strange, almost as if it was pulling something out of me.

I looked at myself in the mirror, the whispers in the back of my mind grew to an unbearable level. It was like they were trying to drown me in my negative thoughts. Didn't work though. 

The longer I looked into the mirror, I noticed the small imperfections on my face.

The small but noticeable double chin I had

My many moles on my face

The pimples and the acne

My round baby face. I've always hated my face.

I fixed and tied up my hair. It always looked bad the moment I stepped into school. I think it's the school air that always makes people’s hair look weird. Walking out of the bathroom, I could feel the whispers in the air behind, beside, and in front of me. Why couldn't they quiet down for once? Just for a day is all I ask. They kept persisting, whispering thoughts and messages through my ears. It was as if all I could hear until I saw my teacher.

Mrs Fiore. She was my mentor and my composition teacher. I forgot we had class coaching today, class coaching was for our writing. We had to make a fake myth about an item or a food in our hometown. Mrs Fiore wasn't only our English teacher, but so was Ms Santos, our literature teacher. She was a little bit more meaner than Mrs fiore.

I always found Mrs Fiore kind, she always had this vibe that I could only describe as comforting. Maybe it was because she always smelt like flowers, or because her hugs always felt nice and warm.

The small things I noticed about her was that she always had a flower in hand or her auburn hair. Miss Fiore always wore this necklace with a pomegranate charm on it. She also always had at least something black on, and she for some reason would always disappear in September, sometimes August. Those were the ber-months. I always questioned why she would be gone for so long…she did mention it was to visit someone. Maybe it's her husband, though why doesn't he just live with her? Why couldn't he visit her instead of her visiting him?

Mrs fiore wasn't the only teacher who would disappear for September and august, Ms santos too. Ms Santos and Mrs fiore looked related in a way, like niece and aunt, or mother and daughter.

I gave Mrs. Fiore a small wave and passed her in the hallways, she waved back with a smile.

The weeks felt longer and more tiring as each day passes. Sometimes there would be something interesting, for example my history teacher said that whoever recited the full intro to this TV show would get an extra point on the quiz. Everyone thought it was a joke until one of my classmates, Carmen, raised her hand. 

To everyone’s surprise, she somehow managed to recite it all. She got an extra point on the quiz that day.

I wanted to raise my hand too but, I guess I was too afraid to speak. I was always too afraid to speak, I hated the fact that I was afraid.

Sitting back in my chair, I got lost in thought.

I questioned my purpose in this world. Would it be better if I just hadn't existed? What would my classmates do if I just disappeared? would they even notice?

The answer to my last question was no. One time we had a party, teachers day. I disappeared from the class party to make bracelets with Mrs Fiore, when I came back an hour later, I asked “did you notice I was gone?” 

“Uhhhh…yeaaahh?” My classmate responded uncertainty. The music was loud. Loud to make it sound like a whisper, but not loud enough for me to hear what she was saying

I knew it was a lie.

This made me truly question why I am even here, in this school. Why did my parents choose this school? They did say it was more accommodating to my ADHD. I would've been better off in some public school than this. At least there, no one talks bad about you. Well, not in front of you at least.

Maybe if I had been a better student, only then my classmates would notice me. As the day progressed, it was somewhat quiet. We had two quizzes, one in math and the other in Filipino.

Usually I had to go to a separate place to take these tests. MLP, the modified learning program. It was for kids like me, ones that had a troubled time in learning.

 There was another girl in MLP, her name was Mars. Mars and I, were friends, to say the least. How we became friends was…interesting.

Mars saw that I liked the same thing as her, which was a TV show called The Amazing Adventures of the Hare and the Lamb. It was a children's show, I just watched it because I got bored. It was a good TV show though, I re-watched it three or four times.

The moment Mars saw that I had some merch I made myself, she immediately started to talk to me. Telling me all about her favorite character, why the show’s so good, and then about a song I haven't heard of.

Ever since that day, we became friends. Though we were in different classes, she would invite me to eat lunch, she would sometimes give me rocks she found. Sometimes Mars would even just tell me a story or a character she created on the weekend. Nevertheless, I would listen to her nonstop. It wouldn't matter what mood I was in or how much homework I had, I'd always want to listen to her. It was like she was my sister in a way, or a version of me I wished to be ever since I was young.

Entering the small room for MLP, it was quiet except for the teacher there, Miss Luzviminda. Me and Mars called her Miss Luz for short. She was already there, writing some report or something. I walked into the room, giving her a small wave before sitting down.

“Did you study for the quiz, June?” She asked me, getting up from her velvet chair and handing me my quiz paper. “Yep,” I responded, bringing out my mechanical pencil. I started to write my name, just June Manalo. I didn't want to add the extra Christina, too lazy to write my full name. I looked at the paper and giving a somewhat cringed look, math.

 I didn't like math, although yes I did understand the lesson, I'd forget how to do the steps to the questions. That's why Miss Luz would help me.

Miss Luz was kind, she was like my tita. She’d always ask how I was doing or what I did during the weekends, Mars would start shaking her hands and start ranting about everything she did during the weekend, too bad she’s absent today. Miss Luz would always tell Mars to calm down a bit with a comforting smile. Mars would sit down and fidget in her seat in response. 

I started trying my best to answer the questions in the quiz, asking Miss luz if I did this or that correctly.

CHAPTER TWO: why am I like this?

The day passed very quickly, in the blink of an eye. I didn’t even really do much except for the quizzes and writing notes. At lunch I kind of just stayed at where me and Mars usually eat, which was the gate closest to our classrooms, gate two. Opening my lunch box, I brought out the lunch I made before I had left school, a simple nutella sandwich with banana and a Chuckie. Some others might say that this isn't a healthy or a filling lunch, well I can't cook.

I opened the metal container, bringing the sandwich to my mouth to take a bite, it tasted cold, I still ate it even though. Then I peeled my banana and poked my Chuckie with the straw to drink. I should really eat more, it's not really healthy to eat the same lunch everyday.

After I finished eating my sandwich, banana, and chuckie, I just sat there and opened my notebook to draw. I like drawing, usually though i'd draw some characters I've created in my head, or Mars’ characters

I started with a simple sketch of a head and eyes, not really knowing what to draw, I just went with the flow. As I kept drawing, I heard one of my teachers pass, Miss Estioco. She was my science teacher last year, she was like me. She was socially awkward but kind of a nerd, not in a bad way though. She was like one of those cool teachers who would somewhat let you do what you want, or just talk to casually.

She waved and smiled at me, a strand of her black hair falling onto her face before she brushed it behind her ear. I waved back, wondering what she was doing at gate two. I then heard a motorcycle pull up, oh she was just getting food she ordered. She walked to the gate, gave the driver the money before walking back inside. After that I just went back to drawing.

This was calming, my therapy, I liked sitting by myself and drawing. It would be better if Mars was here but this was fine enough as is. ‘The right eye’s to big.’ I thought, erasing the eye and tilting my notebook to draw it similar to the left one. Drawing was like gambling to me sometimes, I never knew if it looked nice or not, if it looked correctly portioned or not. Its like having a love hate relationship with drawing, I both love it and hate it.

An hour or 40 minutes pass, the lunch bell rung. I packed my stuff, shoving my metal empty container in with my water jug. I fixed my hair in a window that was being covered inside with a curtain. It was dark enough for me to see my reflection through the glass. ‘Eh, look good enough’ I tightened the knot of the jacket around my waist before walking back to my classroom. There were a lot of people, some in groups or just having a normal conversation. I quickly tried to walk past them, saying “excuse me” a thousand times before reaching my classroom. It was loud, really loud, there were people in small groups in the corner and the center of the classroom chatting away. The chatter of multiple conversations and the occasional yell could be heard during break. Walking over to my locker, I opened it and put my stuff inside. Reaching into my locker after putting my lunch box in it, I grabbed my apron since art was the second to last subject of the day. After that I sat back in my seat, my apron in my lap while I continued to draw.

But something felt…different. Something felt as if I was being watched from afar. I looked up and turned my head to look around the classroom, everyone was minding their own business. I tried to ignore the feeling of being watched but, I just couldn’t. I could just feel someone’s gaze staring right at me, watching my every move, like a hawk would do to prey. I felt helpless, I don't like being stared at, it's uncomfortable and awkward. 

I heard the bell ring not too long after, getting up from my seat, grabbing my pencil and putting it in my jacket’s pocket. We didn’t need much to bring, just really our apron and a pencil. I watched as everyone left the room, I was the last so I had to close the lights and close the door. Staying at the back of the line, I still could hear them talking and chatting away, gossiping or talking about plans for the weekend. 

When we reached the art room, our teacher was already there, Miss Reyes. She was there organizing the artworks of the class before us, placing them carefully on a shelf for them to dry. She greeted us with a good afternoon and told us to sit down. Miss Reyes said that we would be making an art based on a country and its tradition, people, and artwork. We’d be able to choose the country, I chose Greece since I liked studying and learning about its mythology.

She gave us a flat canvas and a marker and told us to write our name, section, and the country we chose. She also said that we could choose from a variety of art materials, varying from paints, paint brushes, sand, and newspapers. We could use any material to paint our artwork, so I chose an eraser.  Never really did I like painting or coloring, I liked doing that virtually. We were also allowed to use the computer to search for ideas for our artwork. I stood behind one of my most talkative classmates while I waited for my turn to use the computer to search for an idea. My classmate just kept talking and talking to the point it was annoying, like seriously can't you tell that it's too loud or what you're even saying didn't even make sense? She wasn't even talking to me but one of the smarter people in class, Isabel. I stood there patiently, fidgeting with the eraser. Then I just decided to draw the first thing on my mind, since time was of the essence. I walked back to the table I was situated at and began drawing up a design. It was of the goddess Persephone, most people just say that she’s the wife of Hades but she was so much more than that. She’s the goddess of spring, the queen of the underworld. She was so much more than just “hades’ wife”.

I made sure to draw her to be looking ethereal, with long flowy jellyfish like hair, eyes comforting and kind. I made sure to add her sign, a pomegranate. I gave her a simple chiton, adding some accessories like a crown, rings, bracelets, and flowers. She looked pretty, I made sure of that. 

I was seated in the corner of the classroom, with four of my classmates lingering around  my desk. They didn’t talk to me much, as I didn’t talk to them either. I kept my head down and continued drawing, overhearing their conversation. I sketched a few more lines, as they talked about another person in our batch. Something controversial, as I remember. Every day was like this actually, people talking about someone or something. 

I tried to ignore them, trust me I did, but now I know that one person in this batch is gay, I'm gay but like it's different y'know? 

Overhearing their conversation accidentally, they kept talking and yapping away about someone else now. I stayed silent, although I did know that person, but not really on the friend level more like a simple wave or hi in the hallways type. I felt sad for her, she didn’t deserve this treatment, but I couldn’t do anything about it. I kept my silence, didn’t want to add to the gossip, neither did I want to join the gossip.

As I continued to draw, I still felt as if I was being watched. Someone was watching me, that was for sure. I could feel its eyes peering into my skin, making it uncomfortable for me to draw. I stopped for a moment, looking around to see everyone talking to each other or focusing on their artwork, no one was staring at me. So I just went back to drawing, sketching lines delicately.

After I was finished with the sketch, I didn't want to color it, it was too pretty for coloring. I got up from my seat and walked over to Miss Reyes to ask her if I should color it or not. She gave me good advice, telling me to try and use shading if I didn't want to color it. I nodded and thanked her for that before walking back to my seat. Everyone else was still drawing and painting their artwork. Since I didn't know what to do, I just cleaned up my area and stayed silent while I waited for class to end. 

Boredom took over as I watched the clock tick, waiting patiently for the bell to ring. We had like, maybe five or ten minutes left I think.

The minutes passed by, everyone was still chatting and talking. I saw Miss Reyes walking around, checking up with my classmates and giving them advice about their artworks. When she walked up to me, she asked “oh june! I'm kind of worried that the bracelet you gave me might break, can I ask that you restring it?” She took off the bracelet I made for her on teacher's day. “I wear it everyday kasi” She smiled at me warmly as I took the bracelet from her hands. “Yes miss.” I replied, putting the bracelet in my pocket, she walked off as another of my classmates called her. 

More or maybe five minutes pass, it was finally the next class. I saw everyone get up, still chatting with each other as they cleaned up their tables and their workspaces. We still had one more class, religion. I was the first to be out of the art classroom, waving my teacher goodbye.

It was quiet out, no other students were walking around, no maritesses chatting around or young students running around. I liked the quiet, but I never liked being alone. After I made it back to my classroom, I drank some water as the rest of my classmates filled the room. We all waited for a bit before my religion teacher came in, Miss Elane. Almost half my batch hated her because she always goes ‘im not mad, I'm not sad, nor am I disappointed. I'm worried about you guys failing your test.’ She always says that after half the class failed her test. She expected us to memorize the bible’s verses, I can't even remember what I had for breakfast. I know, I know Miss Elane had good intentions but why did she have to say it like that?

”Good afternoon class” She said, everyone replied with a good afternoon to her too. We were all very tired, mentally and physically. She told us all to stand up to pray, though I didn't want to, so I just stood there with my arms crossed. Then with that she started her lesson on some new bible verse.

Everyone sat back down and pulled out their notebooks to start taking notes on the verse. I didn't want to take notes, for I was too tired to do so. “June, what was Abraham promised?” she called on me unexpectedly. “He was promised angels?” I answered, standing up. Miss Elane just sighed before turning to the board to write, I am scared. Maybe I got scared because of her glare, how intimidating her ‘comforting’ smile was, or how she would always pull me out of class to ask me personal questions. I always tried to answer them vaguely and asked her if I could leave. 

 She would always call me the black sheep of the flock, commenting on how I would always walk a bit slower then my class so I don't have to socialize with them. I didn’t like her one bit, I didn’t like how she would try to talk to me, trying to pry me away from my class. There was even a time where, I swear to you that Miss Elane blinked sideways.

[rosy-wooyoung]

ATEEZ reaction : surprising them with homemade food

requested: yes, thank you! [honey, I am SO sorry for only doing it now] prompt : their s/o surprising them with homemade food genre : fluff warnings : !! food mention !! (obviously but I prefer repeating it), very poorly written, overbearingly cliché. A/N : so uhm, hi again? this got requested like months ago and i never actually sat down to write it [commitment issues oops] but now I’m happy that i actually manage to do it today! Also don’t mind the mistakes, pleaaaase I feel like I speak like a 5-year old when I have to write something in english (even though I have an c1 diploma in english sdfjhsf i’m so sorry if it’s bad)

Hongjoong

Songwriter!Hongjoong

You finished eating dinner near 8 pm and laid on the couch after doing the dishes.

After having patiently waited for your boyfriend to come home, you decided to go to bed as the clock neared midnight, still no trace of him.

It’s only when you washed your face and applied your serum that you changed your mind.

Putting on your shoes and your coat, you grabbed the plastic bag carrying the Tupperware filled with the food you had prepared for dinner and made your way out the door.

You weren’t keen on walking alone at night, but fortunately, his studio wasn’t that far, so you managed to make it safely there.

Knocking on the wooden door, you received no answer, so you slightly pulled the door open, only to be met with silence.

Hongjoong had noise-cancelling headphones latched on his ears, head bobbing at a certain rhythm as he scribbled some lyrics in his brown leather notebook.

The notebook he carried everywhere, even when he was around you.

Sometimes, he would get inspiration just by watching you sleep, read or cook. Writing down whatever crossed his mind, he never showed you what they said. 

However, you paid no mind to his privacy. You respected that he kept it a secret, you did the same with your poetry book.

You knew how it felt when someone read pieces of art you’ve created, you feel naked and exposed to the reader, and it made your guts churn of anxiety when someone even tried to look into your notebooks.

But now, you had a problem to deal with. How do you make yourself noticeable without scaring your boyfriend to death? 

Banging your fist on the door didn’t work and calling his name didn’t work either.

He jumped out of his skin when you softly placed a hand on his shoulder, a yelp unintentionally coming out of his mouth. 

Turning around, he noticed your figure and laid a hand on his chest, the other grabbing your forearm as a sign of affection.

“Sorry baby, I didn’t know how to make myself noticeable.” You said with an apologetic look, but Hongjoong waved it off.

“It’s okay, sugarplum. Are you okay? What are you doing here?”

“Well, since it’s past midnight and you weren’t coming back, I decided to bring a piece of home to you and brought you this.” You lifted the plastic bag and handed it to him. It was his turn to look at you, remorse filling his eyes as he realised that he lost the notion of time and stayed behind at the studio to produce.

“Thank you baby, but I’m sorry,” he mumbled, and he stood up, hugging you tightly as he kissed your cheek. “What did I do to deserve you?”

“It’s nothing, baby. You should eat now, it’s going to cool down,” you whispered as you let go and he sat down, drawing another chair to have you by his side. He kissed your temple before you rushed him to eat, noticing his eyebags and his tiredness written all over his face.

You were getting tired as well, but Hongjoong was a hundred times worth it to stay up late at night, to see him with a bright smile and adoring eyes on his face as he tasted the food you cooked.

Seonghwa

CEO!AU 

“Hello Miss, where can I find the office of Mr Park?”

“Park Seonghwa?” the receptionist said, and you nodded, replacing a piece of hair behind your ear. “The head department is on the 19th floor, at the far end of the left corridor.” You thanked her and made your way to the elevators, waiting with other employees.

You greeted people you knew by sight with a nod and a smile, going to the floor reception. Some people stopped talking, listening to your words.

“Excuse me, is Mr Park Seonghwa here?”

“Yes, but he’s currently in a meeting. It’ll end in a few minutes,” she said, looking up what seemed to be his schedule on the computer. “Do you have an appointment with him?”

“Oh no,” you stuttered as you could almost feel his coworkers’ eyes on you, “I’m just his wife, and I need to give him something he forgot at home.”

“No problem, I’ll guide you to his office. Please follow me,” she announced, standing up, her heels clicking on the white tiles. You awkwardly smiled and bowed at his colleagues and followed the secretary, thanking her as she showed you the door of his office.

Your husband appeared a couple of minutes later, reading a file while talking on the phone. You cleared your throat, and Seonghwa looked up, his phone almost falling from the shoulder that was pressing it against his ear.

“Can you please fix a schedule with my secretary, I have a lot of work to deal with right now. Yes, yes thank you. Have a nice day too. Goodbye Sir.” he ended his phone call, sliding his smartphone in his pants pocket. 

Tenderly looking at you, he smiled and approached you.

“Honey, baby. I didn’t expect you to see you here,” he warmly said before capturing your lips in a sweet yet passionate kiss, an arm wrapping around your waist.

“I’m because my husband, whose head is constantly into business, forgot his lunch before going to work this morning,” you stated as you lifted the brown paper bag, his eyes widening as his shoulders softly subside in relief.

“What did I do to deserve a wonderful wife like you?” he asked as he took the bag, kissing your cheek at the same time.

“I don’t know, but your wonderful wife would appreciate that her husband wouldn’t forget his lunch every day because she’s taking time on her lunch break to bring the food to him.” You arched a brow, and he chuckled, his arm never leaving your waist.

“I love you,” he muttered, and you softly kissed his lips.

“I love you too. Enjoy your lunch darling,” you said as you made your way towards the door, shooting him a smile before walking away.

Little did you know that once you were out of sight, he went out to the lunchroom to eat his food - something that he never did -, showing off the fact that his wife came to bring him lunch.

He earned the complaints and whines from his colleagues, whose partners didn’t even look at them when they came home. 

And with that, he asked his secretary to cancel a meeting in the early evening to come home earlier than you, preparing you a nice, lovely dinner to thank you for your gesture. 

Yunho

Architect student!Yunho

In the small apartment that you shared with your lovely Yunho, you were about to prepare dinner, but you realised that there was nothing in the fridge. 

Quickly turning off the stove, you put on your shoes and jacket and made your way out the door, a quick trip to the convenience store.

You arrived in front of the store as the sun was setting, the last rays of sunshine hitting the windows, sending beautiful scenery in front of you.

You knew that Yunho was working hard, as much as you did, but you wanted to surprise him a bit, so you decided to buy the ingredients to cook his favourite food.

Packs of meat, vegetables and rice in your bag, you were off to go home.

Riding the bus, you checked that you had everything and stepped off at your stop. 

Yunho hadn’t moved from his spot while you were absent. He was still focused on his work, an HB pencil in one hand and a ruler in the other.

You placed everything down on the counter and started working on your duty.

Boiling water, grilling the meat and stirring the vegetables in a pot. You were so in your thoughts that you didn’t even register your boyfriend walking in the kitchen, sneaking his arms around your waist while prepping your shoulder with kisses.

“What’s cooking, good looking,” you snorted at the pun, and he chuckled, kissing your cheek as you cooked the meat while stirring the veggies.

“Open up, handsome,” you say as you bring a piece of meat to his mouth with the spatula. He opened his mouth, and you dropped the piece of meat on his extended tongue, munching on it after kissing you.

“Maybe two more minutes? But otherwise, it’s perfect, I liked the way you seasoned it, baby,” he stated, and you smile, stirring the food for a couple more minutes.

While eating, Yunho looked exhausted but happy. He did a little happy dance when you placed the plate in front of him, earning a kiss on the cheek for taking care of everything.

“I know we can get pretty busy with college and work,” he started before taking a sip of water, the food feeling extremely hot in his mouth, “but I’m glad we established a pattern of regularly eating together,” he admitted, smiling as he reached across the table for your hand.

“It feels good to be just the two of us, it’s sometimes tiring to have someone around constantly,” he nodded at your words, his thumb softly rubbing your knuckles.

“You’re right, our friends can get pretty hectic,” he chuckled and so did you, the subject of the conversation coming back on studies.

“So, how’s your project doing?” you demanded, and he just shrugged.

“It’s sometimes hard to get inspiration, but once I get it, everything goes smoothly,” you nodded and kept listening as your partner explained his work, a passionate sparkle in his eyes, outshining the ceiling light hanging above your heads.

“So yeah, we’ll see how it goes. Normally, if I didn’t mess up too much, my professor should be happy about the plans.”

“Why wouldn’t he be happy?” you questioned as you took the last piece of food that you had on your plate before crossing your cutlery.

“I mean… There are elements of my imagination in my work,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck, his warm hand leaving yours, “but I took into account every piece of advice that you gave me since the beginning of my work, and honestly, I think I wouldn’t have gotten this far without them.”

“Oh shut it,” you snorted at your boyfriend, but immediately calmed down as you noticed the same serious expression on his face, “are-are you serious?”

“Dead serious,” he smirked, and you both stood up, going back to the kitchen to fill up the dishwasher.

“But you’re the one majoring in architecture, not me,”

“I know,” he retorted as he wiped the counter, “but it sometimes helps to have an outside point of view. Someone who doesn’t constantly have their nose in the theory and lecture notes is very helpful for creativity. You’re my muse Y/N, you have such amazing ideas that everything seems brighter and easier when you help.”

You chuckled at your boyfriend’s praise and went for a hug, squeezing him tight around you.

“I’m so happy that we’re together,” you said as you laid your head against his chest, his hand going into your hair.

“You don’t know how much I love you Y/N,” he said as he kissed the crown of your head.

“I think I have an idea,” you said as you looked up at him.

“No, you don’t, I love you more than you can ever see or imagine,” he mumbled as he pressed his lips on yours in a sweet kiss. He was giving you all the love and affection he had for you in this kiss, and you felt complete.

Yeosang

Idol!Yeosang

Waking up to the sound of your alarm, you were quick to turn it off to not wake up your boyfriend sleeping next to you.

Forcing yourself to start your day this early is such a pain in the ass, but your income makes it motivating and worth it. Plus, you wanted to save time for tonight because you knew how lazy you could get when it came to cooking.

So, at 6 am, you put on an apron over your pyjamas and started cooking the meal for tonight - Yeosang’s favourite - while preparing your breakfast at the same time.

Being good at multitasking has its perks after all.

Around an hour and a half later, you were done with cooking and washing the dishes, now getting ready to go to work.

The sun was rising, making the task of getting out of your comfortable apartment a little less painful.

Yeosang didn’t move an inch when you closed the main door, still dead asleep in your shared bed.

It was his first day off after going a few months without truly resting, and you could tell that his body needed it. When he came home last night, he was slow and could barely keep his eyes open during the show you chose to watch, he was tempted to use your shoulder as a pillow.

But it was one of the rare times that he could spend alone with you so he wouldn’t let that pass.

It was finally midday when you looked at your phone, still no news of Yeosang. 

Knowing how tired he was, you didn’t worry about it, he was probably still asleep.

And you were right, his body went into recovery mode.

He woke up around two in the afternoon, shaken awake as a truck honked just under your windows.

Yeosang was still tired even though he slept for over twelve hours, so he decided to stay in bed for a bit longer.

He finally got out of bed around three as the rest of the group asked to play a bit of Among Us with them.

He stayed behind the computer for the rest of the afternoon, deciding to go for a run as the day was coming to an end, only eating a banana while he was getting ready.

It smelt like you had cooked something this morning, so he wanted to wait a bit until you came home to eat with you. 

You were about to close the door behind you when you heard a familiar low voice.

“Y/N, wait!” Yeosang was in his sports equipment, slightly out of breath as you let him in.

“Hi,” you said with a smile as you swiftly pecked his lips. You both took off your shoes, hurrying your boyfriend to take a shower as you entered the kitchen.

You could finally settle down to eat when he appeared from his shower, making your way towards you before prepping your neck with kisses, asking about your day.

“Woah, you cooked my favourite dish?” he asked as you put a plate in the microwave.

“Yes! I figured out that you’d appreciate eating something special on your free day,” you replied, and Yeosang hugged you tightly from behind, giving you a big smooch on your cheek.

“Thank you, love,” he mumbled against your skin as a ‘ding’ drowned his voice out. 

You both sat down on the couch, your plate in hand and enjoyed the food and each other’s company for the rest of the evening.

San

Hacker!San

“Sannie?” you asked as you walked into his dimmed bedroom, his computer screens being the only sources of light in the room, alongside with LEDs ornating the walls.

Headphones screwed on his ears, he rapidly typed on his computer, lines of coding appearing on the screen. San couldn’t hear you, he was a tad bit too focused on his task to pay attention to his surroundings.

As a way to make yourself noticeable, you turned on his bedside lamp, startling him as he took off his blue light glasses, Grime blasting from his headphones as he let them fall around his neck.

“Sweetie, do you need anything?” he said as he spun his chair around, observing you.

You were balancing a plate, a glass filled with coke, a napkin and some cutlery on a trail, carefully making your way towards your boyfriend as you tried not to spill anything on his fancy setup.

“Dinner’s served,” you sweetly chanted as you finally laid the trail in front of him, the smell of fresh, homemade food invading his nostrils.

“Thank you, baby, you’re amazing,” he said as he encircled an arm around your waist, making you fall on his lap. You smiled as he laid a soft kiss on your upper arm, grabbing the fork with his other hand before bringing the food to his mouth. He gratefully hummed and nodded as he munched on it, shooting you a wink as he looked up at you.

“It’s delicious baby girl,” he mumbled after swallowing, directly taking another bite. He lightly frowned as he didn’t see a plate for you. “You already ate?”

“Yeah, I called you a couple of times from the kitchen, but you seemed busy so I didn’t want to bother you,” you said as you shyly tightened your ponytail, a disappointed look growing on his face.

“Y/N, babe,” he started, tightening his grip around your figure as he put the fork down, “you should’ve yelled for me to come to eat with you... You’re my girlfriend, coding and hacking come after you, okay? I love you more than anything, I can and I will put everything aside to spend time with you. So next time, I’ll come downstairs to eat with you, alright? I don’t want to know that you’re eating alone in our home.”

“Yes Sannie, but-”

“Shht, there are no buts,” he said as he kissed you on the lips, keeping on eating the food you cooked for him with you still on his lap after he made sure that this wouldn’t happen again. You watched your boyfriend filling his stomach and talked with him about everything, just catching up on the last few days that you spent separated from each other.

“I love you darling, thank you for the amazing food,” San said as he cupped your face, placing a big, soft kiss on your cheek.

You giggled and slightly moved his beanie, being able to play with the hair at the back of his head.

“I love you too San, I do,” you whispered as you straddled him and rested your head on his collarbone, his hand rubbing your back up and down your spine.

“Wanna cuddle?” he suggested, and you were about to say no since he looked busy, but you caught yourself just on time, his light scolding coming back in your mind.

“Yes, please,” you mumbled, and he approved, removing his headset from his neck and shook the beanie off his head, replacing his hair in a somewhat correct way.

“Alright,” he softly mumbled while wrapping his arms around you, carefully standing up as he laid kisses on your exposed skin. It didn’t matter where it was, every spot that he saw some skin, he had to kiss it.

And that’s how you spent the rest of the night cuddled in San’s arms, his cold hand drawing circled on your stomach, sending shivers in your body as he soothingly rubbed the skin.

Mingi

Dancer!Mingi

You huffed as you nonchalantly threw your phone on the table, your boyfriend being unreachable as you called him for the nth time tonight.

You knew that he was training and improving his dancing skills, but you wished that he could take small breaks here and there.

Not to text you back, you could wait, but for his sanity and health.

There’s a reason between working hard and overworking yourself.

And Mingi seemed to struggle to distinguish the difference between the two notions.

You never said that it was easy, you were struggling as well, but sometimes you wished that he’d understand it better than you do. 

The clock neared midnight, and he still wasn’t home. You started getting slightly irritated as he was probably overworking himself and not eating.

But you couldn’t blame it for that, you did the same when you had big exams or assignments coming up, you tended to ditch breaks and skip meals.

So, since you were caring about your boyfriend’s well being, you stood up and went to the fridge, where a container filled with the potion you had prepared for your boyfriend was.

Putting on a warm sweater and some pants before making your way out, locking the door behind you.

You took a longer road to go to his practice studio, but you found with relief that the convenience store was still open, sighing in relief as you read that it wasn’t going to close anytime soon.

You took drinks for the two of you and some extras as you thought that some of the boys could be still practising, paid and headed to the practice room.

When you arrived, you waved at San, who looked exhausted and sweaty, surprised to see you out at this hour.

“You’re here for your lovely Mingi?” he teased as he declined to give you a side hug due to his current state.

“Yes, I was getting worried since he wasn’t coming home,” you declared, and San smiled, finding adorable that you were looking after your boyfriend.

“You can go, he’s still in the practice room, he’s the only one left.” you thanked him and gave him one of the spare drinks that you bought since you didn’t know who would still be there with your boyfriend. His dimples appeared when he thanked you, and you wished him a good - yet short - night of rest before entering the building.

When you arrived in front of the practice room door, you noticed your boyfriend dancing through the window, and you could see that his movements were slower and less energised than usual.

You slowly opened the door, your eardrums being attacked by loud music, the bass resonating in your stomach as you made yourself seen.

When Mingi saw you, a sort of relieved yet guilty look appeared on his face as he went to the stereo to lower the music.

“Hey,” he said in a whisper, eyes carrying a truck of guilt in them.

“Hi babe,” you said as you handed him the plastic bag, “I knew it. I knew you wouldn’t have eaten, so I went out and bought this for you,” you said as you sat down together, in the middle of the room.

Mingi was more tired than he wanted to show. You had identified a pattern within him, his looks on his face and his figure betraying him. When he was as hunched over as he currently was, you knew that his back was hurting and that he was overworking himself.

However, you didn’t say anything, your behaviour and gaze unintentionally telling him what your opinion was. The silence was the best option. You were both exhausted, and the last thing you wanted to do was to start a fight this late in the evening. 

“Thank you for taking care of me, Y/N,” he said before clenching his jaw to stifle a yawn, but you caught it.

“You’re welcome honey, but you know my opinion on your behaviour,” you added, and he nodded, eating his mouthful.

“I know, I know,” he sighed and kept on eating while you opened the two soda cans laying in front of you. Mingi took a few gulps of it, and you got another one from the plastic bag, your boyfriend looking at you with wide eyes.

“But, let’s not talk about this now, the last thing I wanna do is get in an argument with you,” you said, and he listened, thanking you as you handed him the can. “I already barely see you during the week, so I don’t want to get into a fight when I have an opportunity to see you,” you sighed but smiled anyway, Mingi’s guilt increasing in his heart.

“I’m sorry-” 

“Shht,” you said to your boyfriend as you gently rubbed his back up and down, applying some pressure on spots that you knew were aching. “Are you coming home soon or do you plan on sleeping in the guest room in the building?” you asked as you watch your boyfriend take another bite of the food you had prepared for the two of you.

“Let me finish this amazing food, and we’re going home,” he answered, and you nodded, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek. “It’s very tasty by the way,” you knew that he was trying to change the subject and you appreciated the effort, trying to forget his neglect of self-care and simply smiled at him.

When he finished his meal, you stood up and put everything in the trash, noticing in the mirror that Mingi struggled to get up, a grimace abruptly replacing the smile he was giving you moments ago. As soon as you turned to face him, he tried his best to erase the pain off his face. You didn’t raise it, but you made a mental note to yourself to try and reason him later. And, if it wasn’t working, you’d call Hongjoong for help. Maybe he’ll listen to him. 

The walk home was silent, quite awkward. Your boyfriend tried his best to be as natural as possible, but his back pains were making him hiss and silently groan in pain at almost every step he took.

“Okay, maybe I did a bit too much tonight,” he said as his voice hesitated, alerting you. He looked broken, his bottom lip between his teeth as he kept on walking to your place, feeling a wave of relief as your apartment building came into sight. 

You held his hand and grabbed his forearm with your other free hand, helping him to walk until you finally arrived in front of the elevator.

As soon as you entered your home, you sped to the bathroom and ran a warm bath, sprinkling some relaxing salt in it before helping Mingi to take off his shirt.

Once he was done, you helped him to get out of the tub and took care of him. He stared at you in awe as you dried his hair with the blow dryer and assisted him in putting on his pyjamas before walking him to bed.

Quickly doing your nighttime routine, you walked to your bed with heating patches as your boyfriend was already lying on his stomach, the most relieving position for him to sleep into. You slightly pressed some areas in his back, and you applied some patches where he grunted more loudly.

“Alright, now rest, baby,” you kissed his cheek, and he extended his hand to grab yours.

“Thank you for everything, baby,” he said as you shook your head with a faint smile, feeling the tiredness getting the best of you.

"It's okay, Mingi," you whispered as he lifted your linked hands to his mouth, kissing the back of your hand, a loving gesture that you particularly appreciated.

“Sleep well, baby, and think about what we’ve talked about at the studio, okay?” you mumbled, giving him one last kiss before falling asleep, still holding his hand.

“I love you,” Mingi mumbled before falling asleep, as well. 

Wooyoung

College AU

Entering the library, you tried your best to hide the plastic bag from the librarian, hoping that she wouldn’t notice the smell of food following you like your shadow.

You weren’t allowed to bring food inside the library, school authorities were scared that you’d stain the books or not clean the tables, which was the case when you went to work in the library.

You had always found this disrespectful that people would leave their trash on the tables without cleaning, it exasperated you.

Why was it so complicated to put your trash in a bin?

But since you thought that you were quite a clean, hygienic student, you allowed yourself to sneak in food for you and your friends.

When you arrived near your friends, Mingi was the first one to spot you, hungry for the content of the plastic bags you were carrying.

Your friends discreetly clapped their hands as you arrived as a hero at the table. You shushed them when they got a bit too excited over the food, reminding them that you weren’t supposed to eat there.

Since you were the one that went and bought the food, you were the one distributing the small containers the Chinese takeout the employees had put the food in.

Wooyoung was the only one who was kind of sulky because he wasn’t fond of the place you bought the food from since that event. That event where one of the cooks had put in a sauce containing bell pepper, and he hated them.

He always associated this restaurant with this event, and now he doesn’t set foot at this establishment anymore.

But before he could even say anything, you took the container in front of him and gave him a blue bento box, making him frown yet didn’t say anything.

“Enjoy, everyone!” you whispered as you all started to eat. 

You slightly observed your friend’s reaction next to you as he opened the container.

Wooyoung discovered that his food had nothing to do with Chinese takeout. It was homemade food, cooked by you and his eyes opened wide.

You giggled as he took his fork and started eating hastily, munching on the food with closed eyes and a content look on his face.

“Is it good?” you questioned, and Wooyoung eagerly nodded, taking another bite as he didn’t even swallow his first one. 

“It’s perfect,” he answered, rice almost falling from his mouth as it was full. Hongjoong, who was sitting next to you, slightly elbowed you in the ribs, a smug look on his face.

Wooyoung wasn’t expecting the fact that you would make a detour to your apartment to take and heat homemade food just for him. 

He was touched, but now he was too focused on devouring his plate to care about anything surrounding him.

A few moments later, as he had finally emptied the lunch box, he rested back a bit, a hand on his stomach.

“Wow, I’m full,” he said as a hiccup took over him, immediately slapping his mouth as the sound came out of his organism. 

“Did you see at the pace you ate? Y/N isn’t even done yet,” you puffed as Seonghwa took you as an example, known among your friend group that you were the quickest to shove your food down your throat.

“It was worth it, though,” Wooyoung said, and you shook your head, the indirect compliment sending warmth to your cheeks. 

“And what do you say to Y/N?” Hongjoong said before taking a sip of coke as if he was a mother scolding her child.

“Thank youuuuu,” he said as his voice trailed on the last word, resting his head against your forearm, only to have you put your fork down and ruffle his hair, a way you use to say “you’re welcome” when your mouth was full.

Once you were all done with eating, you placed everything back in the plastic bags and started working again, Wooyoung’s head never leaving the spot on your upper arm.

You didn’t mind him, you were sometimes adjusting his head as your muscles started getting sore, but nothing much.

A while later, as you wanted to stretch your arms above your head, you woke Wooyoung up, his head almost slamming on the table as you moved your arm.

“Mmh?” he said as he woke up, wiping the fatigue away from his eyes, nodding as you asked him if he was alright. “Food coma is kicking hard right now,” he added, and you smiled, relieved that he felt a bit better after his nap. 

“It’s okay, but you need to go to bed now, it’s getting late,” you said as you packed your stuff in your backpack, putting your coat back on.

“You’re going home already?”

“Yes, it’s almost midnight, and I have a presentation tomorrow at eight,” you explained as a pained smile drew on his face, and you agreed with him by nodding. 

“I’m out now, good night guys!” you said to your friends as you stood up, waving goodbye as some of them looked like they would leave this place near dawn.

You bid farewell to the librarian as well and braved the freezing night, hurrying home as not to catch a cold.

And run into someone suspicious and creepy but that’s another thing.

“Y/N!” someone said behind you as you paused in your steps, recognising your friend’s voice.

“Woo? Aren’t you staying with them?"

“No, I’m tired, I honestly don't know how I'm still awake,” he said, and you started walking again with him by your side.

“And…” he stopped in his tracks, and you frowned but imitated him. “I wanted to thank you for being considerate and caring towards us, but particularly towards me,” he said, and you chuckled, waving it off.

“Of course, you are all my friends after all,” you said with a smile as you looked at your friend, who had an indecipherable look on his face.

“That’s... that’s the problem, Y/N,” you looked at him confused and blinked, not knowing where he was coming from.

“What do-”

“Y/N, I like you,” he blurted out, your eyes widening in surprise, not expecting him to confess right now, in the middle of the night in the freezing cold when you could both fall asleep standing up. “More than friends,” he added, and you nodded while looking away, feeling the red spreading on your cheeks. Your friend took a step closer and cupped your face with his cold hand to make you look at him.

“What about you? I've been dying to know, even if you don't feel the same,” he said in a breath, and you inhaled sharply, confused about the sudden question.

“I- I think I do too b-”

“That’s all I needed to hear,” he said, and you suck in a breath, anticipating his next move.

“Can I kiss you?” Wooyoung asked, face dangerously close to yours, his eyes going back and forth between your eyes and your lips.

“Of course.” 

Jongho

College AU, Student abroad AU

“Mom?” you asked as you came into the living room, your iPad with a Chrome tab opened in hand.

“Yes honey?” she answered, looking up from the TV, your dad slightly huffing as he couldn’t hear the news.

“You know Jongho, right?” she nodded at her words, initiating you to keep going, “I’ve just gotten off the phone with him, and he seems very sad and down,” you explained as you sat down next to her.

Your dad’s attention immediately shifted to you and your mother as a boy was brought up in the conversation.

“Who-”

“Honey, no, it’s not her boyfriend,” your mother said, and your dad blinked, surprised by her reaction and shrugged, his attention going back on the telly. “And? Do you want to do something to cheer him up?”

“Well, I concluded that he’s a bit homesick, so I wanted to prepare a Korean dish for him. Wanna help?” Your mother agreed and stood up from her seat, fixing her glasses on the bridge of her nose.

“Sure!” she says as she washed her hand. “So, kimchi fried rice. What do we need?”

A few hours later, here you were, in the kitchen with your mom, right back from a trip to the convenience store to get the ingredients. You read a bunch of recipes and even watched a tutorial, trying your best to make it as similar as possible to the way they made it in South Korea.

You were struggling a bit at first, but everything turned out alright in the end, happily placing the mixture in a safe spot to let it rest for a couple of days. You were proud and satisfied with what you’ve created, truly hoping that it would heal his visible homesickness.

A few days later, you placed a container filled with your preparation in a paper bag along with your lunch and went out the door after saying goodbye to your parents, who were still eating breakfast. For once, you were happy to go to college, because you were dying to see Jongho and his potentially positive reaction. 

The lectures go faster when you pay attention to the teachers, amazing. In no time, here you were in the cafeteria, eyes scanning the crowd to see your friend. Once you caught sight of your “target”, you made your way over and sat across from him, a gentle yet faint smile decorating his face when he saw you.

“Hi Y/N,” he said after swallowing a piece of his industrial sandwich. He looked heavyhearted and tired as if he had spent the entire night on his phone speaking with his family on the other side of the world.

“Are you okay?” you sweetly asked, and he weakly nodded, and you kept staring at him. “You sure?” you raised your eyebrow with a concerned look, and he just shrugged.

“My feelings didn’t really subside,” he stated as he referred to the conversation he's had over the phone with you the other night. You reached across the table and softly rubbed his forearm, the gesture making him weakly smile.

“I’m sorry, I don’t know how I can help,” you say, and he shook your head.

“I appreciate your kindness Y/N, but I don’t think you can do anything about this…” his voice faded as he thickly swallowed, the sight of your friend being so close to crying made you pout.

“Okay,” you said as you withdrew your hand, Jongho internally whining at the lack of warmth. You searched in your bag and pulled out two steaming lunch boxes, one for you.

And one for him.

“What is this?” he asked as he turned the box between his hands.

“It’s a surprise! Open it,” you smiled as you innocently opened yours, stabbing your hot food with your fork.

Taking the lid off, his eyes widened, going back and forth between the kimchi and you, sitting across from him with a soft smile on your face.

“You seemed so down last time we called,” you said as you ate a spoonful of your lunch, “so I made you a dish with my mom that I remembered you liking. I know it won’t bring your family to you, but it’s still something I guess,” you explained as Jongho pursed his lips, nodding at your explanations, never looking at you in the eyes.

It took you a few seconds to register what was happening, and you drop your fork in your box.

He was crying.

You stood up and sat down next to him, circling your arm around his shoulders.

“Oh Jongho,” you said in a concerned tone, “I didn’t mean to make you cry, I just wanted to make you happy. I know how hard it is when you miss your home and family, I just wanted to give you a bit of family love and warmth that you can’t have right now.”

“Thank you so much Y/N, really,” he said as he sniffled, wiping his tears with the back of his hand. He chuckled as he realised how emotional he's just gotten over food, and he turned to the side to give you a proper hug. 

“Thank you,” he whispered in your ear and squeezed you tight against him, feeling his rapid heart beating against your chest.

“It’s okay, Jongho. Taste it first, I wanna know if we can make you some more further in the school year,” you gently rubbed his upper back and he smiled, grabbing your fork from your lunch box.

“It’s delicious,” he said as he munched on the kimchi fried rice, reaching for your hand and rubbing your knuckles. 

He looked at you with such adoration in his eyes that you got shy and flustered, your hands going clammy as he wholeheartedly approved your work, taking another bite of the food.

“You’re welcome,” you said in a soft voice, and you smiled at each other, enjoying each other’s company for the rest of the lunch break.

___

A/N: I like it but not a lot... I don’t like it. Anyway I hope you enjoyed it!!  

[songtoyou]

Chapter 8: Wine Before Whiskey

Tolerate It

Paring: Modern!Tommy Shelby x Original Female Character

Story Rating: R (No minors should read this fic).

Word Count: 2,827

Warnings: None

Description: Tommy Shelby is the owner and CEO of Shelby Company Limited. Starting out as a Bookmaker, Tommy had big ideas to expand his riches. In the past ten years, the company has grown rapidly to expand its business ventures from bars to producing alcohol, manufacturing motor vehicle parts, and exporting. One of the richest men in Great Britain, Tommy Shelby, has it all. Unfortunately, the death of his wife, Grace, left the multi-millionaire mogul alone and depressed. He needed someone to fulfill his needs and deepest darkest desires.

A/N: I wanted Tommy and Rose to connect on a more personal level in this chapter. I wanted them to become comfortable with each other outside of the bedroom. I don’t want their relationship to be solely about sex. 

I do not permit my work to be posted on any other site without my permission.

Tag list: @owenniasstars​

Wine. A nice tall glass of wine. That is all Rose wanted to cap off the day. She decided not to respond to the text messages from her friends or mother. Rose was not in the mood to come up with some bullshit excuse for being photographed out with Tommy. Also, it was not their business, and she didn’t need to justify anything with an excuse.

With a glass of wine in hand, Rose sat on the couch in the living room with her feet up. As Rose flipped through the television, the front door opened and slammed shut.

When Rose saw Louis rush up the stairs, she called out to him, “Hey, Louis!” He ignored her. Sighing, Rose got up to follow her son upstairs.

“Louis,” she spoke through the door while knocking. “Is everything okay?” Still nothing. “Louis, honey, what is wrong? From the way you slammed the front door, you seem upset. Did something happen at school today?”

Louis opened his bedroom door to come face-to-face with his mother. “Did something happen at school today,” he said mockingly. “How about the fact that my mother was photographed out with a rumored gangster. Or the fact that some of my classmates are referring to you as one of Tommy Shelby’s whores. You know he has been rumored to date escorts mom. Did you not know when you first started seeing him? In fact, how did you even meet him in the first place?”

Shifting from one foot to the other, Rose looked down at the floor. She was too embarrassed to meet her son’s accusatory gaze. “All of that stuff, the rumors about Tommy, are just that, rumors.” Rose felt sick lying to her son. “And Tommy isn’t a gangster. He is a businessman.”

“That is not what I hear. There is a whole sub-Reddit about how he really earned his millions. I should show it to you. Maybe it would rethink your association with the man,” Louis rambled on. “How did you get introduced to him anyway? It isn’t like you both run in the same social circle.”

Rose sat down on the bed and drew her knees up. It was her way of buying time to formulate a believable response, or rather lie. Thankfully, she had already thought up different scenarios that would be the most believable.

“Do you remember that business trip I took with Linda back in March? It was to a conference up in Birmingham, the educators and practitioners conference,” she explained, which that part was actually the truth. She did go to a conference up north with her boss back in March. However, here comes the lie, “Well, Tommy was there as well. He just showed up unexpectedly. He wasn’t on the agenda, but he gave a speech, something about…I don’t know, I can’t remember. I wasn’t really paying attention. But it was at one of the social networking gatherings where I ran into him. We talked most of the night. He asked for my number, which I gave him, not thinking he would actually call. But we have been in contact for a while. It was only recently that we have gone on dates.” Again, all lies. Rose started to feel sick. She could feel bile began to rise in her throat.

Sighing, Louis folded his arms across his chest and leaned against his desk. He still wasn’t looking at his mother. “It’s all weird. You never really dated. Or not date so out in the open before.”

“Is one of the reasons why you’re upset with me dating is because of dad? Are you still hoping your dad and I get together?” Rose asked, concerned about what he would say. She wished Louis weren’t so hung up on the idea of her and Nick ending up together. It was never going to happen. 

He only shrugged. “Is it so wrong that a kid would want their parents to be together?”

There wasn’t much she could say to that concept. “How about we get pizza for dinner, okay,” she suggested hoping to move on from the subject.

“Fine. I got homework to finish up,” said Louis defeated. The look on his face broke Rose’s heart. 

“Alight. I’ll tell you when the pizza arrives. The usual?” she asked.

“The usual,” replied Louis nonchalantly while opening his school books and notebooks.

Rose left his room and walked down the stairs. She hated herself at that moment.

While Rose waited for the pizzas to arrive, she decided to send a quick text to Tommy.

As Tommy sat at his desk looking over contracts, it would be another late night at the office; he received Rose’s text. 

Rose: Tommy, we need to talk. Can I stop by your office around 3 PM tomorrow?

The message took him by surprise. He wasn’t expecting to hear from Rose or for her to ask to meet up with him.

Tommy: Yes, you can stop by. However, instead of 3:00, let’s meet at 4:00.

His reply back was his way of maintaining control. He found it rather amusing that Rose felt comfortable requesting, or rather ordering, Tommy for a meeting. Tommy was tempted to ask what the meeting would be about but didn’t really think too much of it. 

If the meeting turned out to be fruitless, he could end with Rose bent over his desk and punish her for wasting his precious time. The thought was already getting him hard. 

Leaning back in his chair, Tommy began to rub his hardness through his pants. Taking his cock out of his pants, he began to stroke back and forth. As Tommy continued to stroke, he only thought of Rose, which was unusual. Whenever Tommy was pleasuring himself alone, he would always think of Grace. He would picture his wife on her knees or bent over his desk or taking her up against the wall. It was always Grace.

But now, Tommy was picturing Rose. He saw her face clearly in his head. He imagined Rose under his desk pleasuring him with her mouth and hands. He wanted Rose bent over on his desk, taking her from behind, on the floor, the conference table, against the wall, and the floor. Tommy began to realize he wanted Rose all of the time.

At that thought. Tommy soon began to worry about why Rose asked for a meeting out of the blue. He began to wonder if she was regretting their arrangement due to being in the press. However, Tommy told Rose that being in the press was likely, and she appeared to understand that fact. No, something must have alarmed her. He would find out what it was. He would get it out of her one way or another. Tommy wasn’t going to let her go that easy. 

Friday! The day Father Time preferred to drag on and on. The hours on the clock appeared to move slower and slower, Rose noted. She was at work catching up on what she missed yesterday morning. It was the usual task; looking over budgets, setting up meetings, working on meeting agendas, finishing up the minutes from past meetings, and making sure the office was stocked with supplies. It was the same thing every day. Nothing changed, and the more she stayed at the job, the more fed up she became. Rose knew she needed to get out there and look for a better job. One that matched the college degree that she worked hard to obtain. A job that paid well where she would no longer have to be an escort to make a living. 

However, the money Tommy was offering to Rose was better than any standard 9 to 5 job could offer.

When 3:15 finally rolled around, Rose gathered her belongings and headed to meet Tommy. 

“Ms. Turner!” someone shouted at her. 

Thankfully, Rose knew that voice. She turned around to see Isaiah with a megawatt smile, waving her over to his car. 

“Let me guess, Tommy sent you to deliver me to him?” Rose questioned sarcastically. “And I told you to call me Rose.”

“Yes, he did, and yes, you did. Come on, we don’t want to be late,” Isaiah answered and opened the passenger door for Rose. She got in the car.

“You saw my son take the car this morning and let Tommy know, huh?”

“Yep,” was all Isaiah said and began to drive out of the College’s parking lot. 

With the way Isaiah drove, he managed to make it to the building that held Tommy’s office in half of the time. He smoothly moved the car around the building’s underground parking garage. 

“Okay, we are here. You can take the elevator to Tommy’s office,” he instructed and told Rose which floor to select.

“Thank you, Isaiah. I appreciate it. I figure Tommy is going to ask you to take me home?”

“That is to be determined. He might want to take you home himself. Have a nice evening, Rose. Take care,” said Isaiah and waved goodbye.

She selected the floor instructed by Isaiah and waited. Tommy was on the building’s top floor, so the elevator continuously stopped and let people on and off. When the elevator finally reached her destination, the doors opened. Rose only saw a few people pass by. There was no one at the front desk, so she stood by and waited until someone showed up.

Looking at her phone, it read 3:50. She still had ten minutes to spare. “Rose, hi. How are you?” She turned to see Andrew walk towards her. 

“Andrew, hi. I’m good. You?”

“Same. Can I get you some coffee or tea?” he asked. “Mr. Shelby is finishing up a call at the moment. Please, have a seat.”

“Okay. Water would actually be great, thanks.”

Andrew managed to get Rose’s water before Tommy emerged from his office. However, he was not alone. He was followed by a very tall and lanky man with a full beard and similar hairstyle to Tommy, but longer on top. 

“Arthur, continue to keep me posted on Changretta,” Rose heard Tommy whisper but pretended not to hear anything. She made it look like she was too preoccupied with her phone to notice the two men not far from her. 

“Esme is working on it, Tom. She is having trouble with a few firewalls, or whatever she called them, but assures she can crack ’em,” Arthur shared. “Said she would get a file on your desk by Monday.”

“Okay, good. That is good. I’ll talk to you later, brother,” Tommy responded, patting Arthur’s back.

Arthur said his goodbye and left for the elevators. Tommy turned towards Rose.

“Rose,” he spoke to get her attention. He motioned with his hand for her to follow him into the office. 

Closing the door behind him, Tommy told Rose to take a seat.

“Your text seemed rather…urgent,” Tommy began as he poured himself a whiskey. He offered on to Rose, but she declined. “Everything okay?” 

“Yeah, well…no, not really. I…uh…I don’t really know…” Rose began but was having trouble forming the words. “I don’t really…oh my God, it’s my son. He isn’t too keen on the idea of me ‘dating’ you. He saw the pictures. Apparently, some of the kids at school were making fun of him because of them. I have friends asking questions. Even my mom saw them, and I don’t talk to her at all. Everything has gotten out of hand. I mean, I wasn’t quite expecting this kind of outcome. It is a lot to take.”

Gulping down the whiskey, Tommy proceeded to pour another one for himself and one for Rose. 

“Drink,” he ordered, handing Rose the glass that held the amber color liquid, which she took and gulped it down. She placed the now empty glass on Tommy’s desk. “Feel better?” 

“Not really. Can I ask you something? It is kind of a personal question, but I’m asking you for some advice,” Rose asked and continued when Tommy gave her the go-ahead to proceed. “You have a kid yourself, a son. When I originally agreed to our deal, I never fully thought of the consequences that could occur. I didn’t think of how it would affect my child. To put it blankly, he is upset that I’m with you. It’s all about his stupid dad and wanting us to be together. So my question to you is, how do you go about lying to your child?”

Once again, Rose caught Tommy completely off guard with her question. That was not what he was expecting. The fact that she had the audacity to bring up his son didn’t even bother him as it would if it were anyone else. He was craving a cigarette at the moment. “My son, Charlie, spends most of his time at boarding school. He is only home on holidays and special occasions. When I have my son with me, he only wants to spend time with his cousins or me. He never really gave my ‘relationship’ with Lizzie much thought. To him, she was only daddy’s friend. Plus, the observation skills of an eight-year-old doesn’t quite compare to the observation skills of a sixteen-year-old.”

Tommy had a point, Rose thought. She motioned to him if she could refill her glass of whiskey. With Tommy’s go-ahead, she got up and poured herself a drink. This time Rose took small and sat back down.

Taking in a deep breath, Rose mentioned, “You’re lucky. It is so much easier when your kid is younger. They don’t ask so many questions or notice things that don’t add up. You can tell them pretty much anything, and they’d believe you. But when your kid gets older, prepare yourself for the questions he will no doubt ask.”

She looked up when Tommy sighed. He was leaning in his chair, staring up at the ceiling. “Charlie turned eight back in February. He is beginning to ask me questions about his mother, like where she was from and if we can visit the town, how we met, what made me attracted to her, all that stuff. The one question that scares me…” Tommy began, but Rose could sense hesitation. 

“He’s going to ask why did mummy have to die?” Rose finished for him. Tommy only nodded his head. “I don’t envy you on that part.”

Quite soon filled the office as Tommy and Rose sat in silence and sipping down whiskey. “Who was that guy that in here earlier?” Rose asked to kill the silence.

“That was my older brother, Arthur,” Tommy answered. “He and my younger brother, John, both own a couple of bars and clubs around England. They have been working on a new line of Peaky Blinders Vodka to go with our whiskey and gin brand.” 

“You really dabble in everything, don’t you. Where do you go from here?”

“I don’t know. Maybe I should try my hand at politics, eh. An MP to go with my OBE” teased Tommy with an exceedingly rare boyish grin on his face. Rose noticed that Tommy’s smile was rather sweet and brightened his facial features. “Yeah, that is exactly what my family needs is me in politics.” 

Rose softly scoffed, “I don’t think we need any more millionaires in politics, no offense.”

“No offense taken,” Tommy chuckled and downed his drink. He got up to grab his jacket and swung it on. He took Rose’s glass and finished it for her. “Come on, let’s go.” 

Tommy grabbed Rose’s hand and pulled her up from the chair. “Where are we going?”

“I’m taking you to dinner. We can talk more there,” Tommy proposed and guided Rose out of the office. 

“I won’t be able to stay the night if that is what you were considering,” she stated while in the elevator.

“Not what I was considering,” uttered Tommy, honestly. He put his hands on Rose’s shoulder and turned her to face him. “Only dinner.”

“Only dinner?”

“Nothing more, nothing less,” Tommy replied, placing a soft kiss on Rose’s lips. He entwined his hand in Rose’s and walked her to his car.

He took Rose to Bar 61, London’s most famous Spanish tapas restaurant. When they were seated, Rose liked the relaxed and upbeat charm of the establishment. She was surprised that Tommy chose the place since it was more family-friendly rather than high-end/upscale. But the man before her was always full of surprises. They sat in a more secluded area of the restaurant where they wouldn’t be disturbed.

Tommy ordered a bottle of wine for them to share. He raised his glass for a toast. “What are we toasting?” Rose asked with a smile.

“How about to good health and new friends,” Tommy suggested and clinked his glass with Rose’s.

“And to new adventures,” Rose added, now with a sly smile on her face.

“To new adventures,” Tommy repeated, and they clinked their glass again.

[official-weasley]

The Irreplaceable Charlie Weasley: Pt. 1, Ch. 5

PART 1: WHERE IT ALL BEGAN Chapter 5 - Saving a Weasley

Nova

I felt so bad for Penny having to stay behind and clean the slugs that were without a doubt brought to the classroom by Tonks when she went to the bathroom and were the jelly things hitting the floor.

I wanted to find Tulip and Tonks as soon as possible as I couldn't help but be a bit angry with them, my head still hurting.

I was almost at the Great Hall when I heard someone calling me.

“Nova, over here!” I turned around and saw Tonks and Tulip waving at me.

“Where's Penny?” Asked Tulip, oblivious.

“She got detention because of your slugs!” I said, trying to control my voice. Tonks had to bit her lip no to burst out laughing as I continued.

“I stood up and stepped on one of them and fell flat on my back. Snape, of course, noticed at once and since the slugs made their way under our table and Penny and I were the only ones left in the classroom, he blamed her, took 20 points from Hufflepuff, and made her clean the mess all by herself! I tried defending her but Snape threatened me with detention as well so Penny nudged me to leave.” Seeing that I was angry, massaging the bump on my head, Tulip and Tonks' faces changed.

“Blimey Nova, I'm sorry.” Tonks said sincerely. “Are you going to be okay or should we go to the Hospital Wing just in case?” She added.

“I'll be fine. And it should be Penny you should apologize to because I don't want to know how mad she is at you! Not only is Potions her favorite subject and she asked you not to pull any pranks on the first day, but you also got her in detention on the first day of school!”

“Tonks, I think Nova is right. Why don't we go back to the Dungeons and tell Snape the truth.” I could see Tulip felt really bad, just for thinking slugs in the Potions classroom were funny.

“Alright, alright. You girls will make me a better person if this continues!” She groaned but Tulip and I knew she liked that we made her responsible for her actions.

“Are you coming with, Nova?” Tulip asked me as I was about to head in the other direction.

“Are you kidding? I don't want to be anywhere near Snape until our next lesson on Thursday!” I exclaimed. “I think I am going to the Courtyard to draw. Meet you at dinner?”

“See you later!” They both said and ran towards the Dungeons.

It was weird going somewhere alone. I know I have only been at Hogwarts for 3 days but I always had at least one of the girls with me. I was debating between the Owlery or the Courtyard to relax and draw. I decided to go to the Owlery to check if Pip was sleeping.

It didn't surprise me that the second I stepped in, he was already on my shoulder, hooting happily and nibbling my ear, probably to thank me for the visit.

“What do you say we go to the Courtyard and I draw you, you beautiful bird?” Pip hooted ever so loudly, moved from my shoulder to my arm and we made our way down the stairs.

I was happy it wasn't as full with students as I thought it would be since there wasn't a cloud in the sky.

I sat down on one of the stone benches, putting Pip and my bag down and taking out my drawing book.

“Oh, how I've missed you!” I whispered to the notebook and hugged it slightly. I haven't drawn for about 4 days and I was angry at myself for it.

I sat on the grass next to the bench rather than on it because it was easier for me to use the bench for a table and Pip positioned himself so well as if he was posing.

“Good boy, Pip! Now stay still so that I can at least make a good sketch.” Pip hooted at me and returned to his posing. I chuckled as I took out my brand new pencils, bought by my dad as a 'you're going to Hogwarts and I am proud of you' gift.

It felt like ages to complete the sketch as Pip constantly wanted to peek and see if his portrait was done yet. “I told you to stand still. The more you act like a statue the quicker I can draw you.” I explained to which he replied with a single 'hoot'.

As I started to draw details on the feathers, I heard a rather mean laugh a little away to my left. At first, I didn't put any attention to it.

“Oh, look at that. What a loser!” I couldn't help to overhear a girl say. I tried to mind my own business and went back to drawing.

“What are you doing? Are you reading?” The girl continued, in a baby type of tone.

“And look how old his book is, it's going to fall apart any second now, ha!” A boy spoke this time.

“What's the matter, Weasley? Can't afford a new book and you have to reread an old one?” As the third voice spoke I turned around to see what was going on. I saw 3 Slytherin students that looked at least 2 years older than me standing in front of a boy with a frightened look on his face, clutching the book that I assumed they were mocking him for.

The one on the left was probably shorter than me. She had long black hair, made into a braid on each side. She had an upward crooked nose so that I could see her non-existent brain. The one on the other side was the only boy in the group. He looked fairly normal except for the fact that he was so large that if someone pushed him right at that moment, he would've rolled straight out of the Courtyard. The one in the middle, for which I assumed was the one who started to mock the boy was tall, slim, with thin rat-colored hair that was so greasy that if the wind blew, it wouldn't even move. She had pimples all over her face; one so big that it could easily be mistaken for a boil.

Then I looked harder at the boy. He was the freckled Gryffindor that's in my year! He looked so uncomfortable, looking around to see how he could escape the trio that now surrounded him. He kept pressing his book to his stomach and I could see he would do anything so that they wouldn't take it.

“What, not going to say anything?” The fat boy asked.

“Your parents aren't able to buy you a new one? Are they too poor, Weasley?” Mocked the greasy-haired girl.

“Leave him alone!” Before I realized that the voice came from my mouth I was already on my way towards them. Raising my hand at Pip to make him stay on the bench.

“A First Year defending a First Year. See this Shmeasley, this is your protection!” The greaseball said as all three of them burst out laughing, holding their stomachs.

“That's right, I am a First Year!” I almost shouted at them now, coming even closer. I put my hand in my pocket, trying to grab my wand as I saw their faces get even angrier for disturbing their bullying but I reached for an empty pocket as I put the wand in my bag that stayed with Pip. But that didn't stop me from talking more. “Maybe you should pick on someone your own size, or better yet, your own age!” They laughed at me even more now.

“What are you five? You're sure acting like it.” I continued. Apparently, this was the last straw, as their faces frowned so much from anger that I thought one of the pimples from the girl in the middle was going to burst straight in my face.

“Zip it Ravenclaw! What are you going to do to us? We are smarter than you AND you are outnumbered!” Yelled the boy now as they simultaneously pulled out their wands.

“Flipendo!” Yelled one of the girls. I couldn't see as I closed my eyes but nothing happened. I opened them slowly and all I could see was an emerald cloak in front of me. It was Professor McGonagall and she had to block the spell from hitting me. I stepped on her left side, still hiding a little behind her cloak.

The freckled boy was now staring at her with an opened mouth.

“Miss Bellgrim, Miss Tailbottom, and Mister Morgan, what do you think you are doing!?” She yelled at them, her eyes filled with such fury that I thought I could see little lightning bolts shoot from them. Both the Gryffindor boy and I chuckled when Professor McGonagall said 'Tailbottom'. “Attacking a First Year without their wand! Explain yourself!” She shouted further.

“I...we...well.” The pimpled girl wasn't so loud now.

“I thought you had no explanation for such act of foolishness. 30 points will be taken from Slytherin and I will make sure your Head of House picks good and long detentions for you!” Said Professor McGonagall.

“30 points?” Exasperated the boy, the Professor called Mister Morgan.

“Each!” Professor said, moving her hand to indicate that they should get out of her sight. The trio nodded and hurried from the Courtyard. She then turned to me.

“Are you okay, Miss Blackwood? Why were they trying to duel you?” She asked, concerned.

“They were being rude to him,” I said and nudged my head to the freckled boy, “and I wanted to help. They were really mean to him, Professor.” Her expression softened.

“You stood up to three Four Years to help a fellow First Year?” She asked gently. “The Sorting Hat was right thinking to put you in Gryffindor, you are as brave as you are foolish, Miss Blackwood.” She added.

“If I haven't blocked that spell in time you would've been in the Hospital Wing right about now.” She continued, worry in her voice.

“50 points to Ravenclaw for such braveness and the will to help a fellow student. She then turned to the redhead boy. “Are you alright, Mr. Weasley?” The boy just nodded. She examined us both from head to toe. “Please be careful, Miss Blackwood, Mr. Weasely. And if this happens again, come straight to me. That means you too.” She looked at me again and walked away.

The boy with red hair finally closed his mouth as he realized it was all over. He looked at me, still sitting on the ground, holding his book. “Thank you so much for that. I thought they were going to take my book this time.” He said sadly.

“This time? This wasn't the first time?” I asked puzzled.

“No,” the boy said, lowering his head, “it happened on the train too. I was alone in a compartment, you know reading about Dragons,” he said casually as all anybody ever really does is read about Dragons, “and they came in and started picking on me. Thank Merlin that my brother Bill came to see me and he shooed them away. He then stayed with me just to be sure that they wouldn't come back.” He said and smiled a bit, reminiscing on the memory.

Pip decided that I have left him alone for far too long and he flew on my shoulder and hooted loudly in my ear.

“Is he yours?” The boy asked excitedly.

“Yes, would you like him on your arm?” I asked and sat next to him. I then nudged Pip from my shoulder and tapped on the boy's arm to indicate that he should sit there.

“Wow, she is beautiful. We have a family owl, Errol, but she is more clumsy than my younger brother Ron.” He said as he stared at Pip with amazement.

“It's a he actually and his name is Pip.” I smiled.

“Such a cool name!” He finally looked at me. “I'm Charlie by the way. And in case you haven't heard those Slytherins shout my last name before, it's Weasley. Charlie Weasley.” He extended his hand to me with a look of embarrassment on his face due to what happened earlier.

“I'm Nova Blackwood.” I shook his hand. Pip suddenly flew from Charlie's arm, back to the bench where all my stuff was still laying around. He flew back with everything in my bag and dropped it right in front of us. My drawing notebook flew out of the bag as it hit the floor and opened several pages in, revealing a drawing inspired by my Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Thembook.

“Woah, that's the Common Welsh Green!” Charlie said in awe. “Did you draw this?”

“Yes.” I said proudly.

“Wow, you are really talented. Would you mind?” He asked, shaking my book, indicating if he could go through my drawings. I nodded.

I loved how careful he was while turning the pages. Sometimes he murmured something to himself. He gasped and let out a little squeak every time there was a drawing of a Dragon.

When he was done, he gently closed the notebook, turned to me and gave it back. “Thank you for this. You standing up to those bullies and letting me see all these beautiful creatures you've drawn is the best thing that happened to me so far at school.”

“But the year has just begun.” I said, smiling.

“Unless I see a real Dragon at Hogwarts, nothing can top this.” He smiled back. “Want to see my book?” He offered. “It's about Dragons but it's very old.” Of course, it's about Dragons, I thought.

“I don't mind. The older the book the better the smell and more valuable it is.” I said genuinely.

“I forgot you're a Ravenclaw.” He chuckled and opened the book.

He showed me so many different Dragon species that I haven't even heard of. The illustrations in the book were so beautiful that I couldn't stop admiring them. I don't know what holes those Slytherins had in their brains but to me, this was the best book I have ever come upon.

He then told me that his dream is to work with Dragons and that, even though very ambitious, would like to get a job in the Romanian Dragon Sanctuary. He told me that he has 6 siblings, about which I gasped and said that he is the second child in the family.

“My favorite Dragon is the Hebridean Black. What's yours?” He said, excited. “Oh, don't answer that, I can't expect everyone has a favorite Dragon like me.” He lowered his head.

“Chinese Fireball.” I said before he could say another word. “Has been since I first saw it in the Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. My dad bought me the book. He was hoping it would shut me up about wanting to own a Chimera and a Fire Salamander.” I chuckled.

“You wanted to have a Chimera?” He laughed but I could see he was imagining having one too.

Before we could go back to his book, a voice called for Charlie.

“Charlie?! Charl... there you are! I was worried sick. Why aren't you at dinner? You know that I promised mum I would look after you!” The boy with longish red hair said after finding us, still in the same spot as before. From what Charlie told me, I assumed that was his older brother Bill, who was currently in his Third Year.

“I'm sorry, Bill!” Apologized Charlie. “I was showing Nova my book after she saved me from those Slytherins again.” Charlie said thankfully.

“Those Slyth...again? Charlie, we have to tell Professor McGonagall now!” Bill was furious.

“Oh, I don't think that will be necessary.” Grinned Charlie as he told his brother how I intervened, how McGonagall saved me from the Knockback Jinx, and how they lost the Slytherins House 90 points and I gained Ravenclaw 50.

“What is your name?” He looked at me astonished that I stood up to 3 Slytherins much older than me just to help his brother.

“My name is Nova Blackwood.” I said as I shook his hand.

“Thank you Nova for saving my brother. I don't even want to imagine what they could do to him if you weren't around.” He said with a worried face.

“Bill!” Said Charlie, obviously embarrassed as the pink hue between his freckles started to show. “You are starting to sound like mum.” He mocked him to take attention off himself.

“You know what mum would have done to me if something ought to happen to you. I would receive a Howler and then the whole school would know I'm a bad brother.” Bill defended himself.

“Get off it Bill, you're the best brother!” Charlie said and smiled at him. Bill smiled back and ruffled Charlie's hair.

“Now, as much as I like that you are making friends Charlie, I would like for you two to go to the Great Hall and get some dinner before it's too late.” Bill said, helping us get up.

I turned to Pip and told him to go get some rest in the Owlery. Bill accompanied me and Charlie to the Great Hall. There he thanked me again for helping his little brother. “See you around, Nova. Was nice to meet you!” He ruffled Charlie's hair again and went towards the Gryffindor Tower.

Charlie and I entered the Great Hall together, which by now was half empty since dinner time was almost over. Charlie was called over to the Gryffindor Table by that boy who could barely see through his thick black hair. He turned to me.

“Nova, thank you again. I had so much fun with you!” He said and to my surprise gave me a hug. “We'll see each other around, we have a lot of classes together, we can hang out then.” He said, rather excited and hurried to the Gryffindor Table.

I looked around and saw a blond, pink, and redhead at the Ravenclaw Table. I hurried to the girls and sat down.

“Blimey Nova, where have you been?” Tonks said.

“We got worried that you had to go to the Hospital Wing because of your fall.” Added Penny.

“I almost ended up at the Hospital Wing, but not because of the fall.” I said and they gasped.

I then told them all about how those Slytherins attacked Charlie and how I forgot my wand in my bag, to which Tulip commented that it can happen to anyone. I told them how McGonagal protected me from the Knockback Jinx to which they stared at me with opened mouths. I then told them all about Charlie and how he is as excited about Care of Magical Creatures as I am. Tonks murmured something about how we are all too excited for school and we laughed at her comment.

When I finished my story Penny told me that Tonks and Tulip apologized to her and that they wanted to take full responsibility for what happened in Potions class but Snape wouldn't let them. To my surprise, Tulip said that Penny thanked them both as her detention with Snape enabled her to show him her knowledge of potions and that he gave Hufflepuff 5 points for knowing all the potions she had to sort.

Of course, she is confident that she will never receive such detention again as Snape soon realized that it wasn't a punishment for her at all.

While lying in bed that night, I couldn't believe the day I had. The year has hardly started and I was having so much fun. I would even dare to say that I have made a new friend and I couldn't believe how much we had in common. Nobody I knew loved animals as much as I did, not even my aunt who was breeding Abraxans. Nobody, until I've met Charlie.

[hitsuackerman]

What in the World? (Akaashi Keiji x Reader) pt.12

a/n: it begins >:)

Akaashi’s lineup: @alluring-akaashi @oikawalmart-hq @extrasugafree @bbykiyoomi @apricotjihyo @awings @simpformiya @sayakaaaaaa @colorseeingchick @demursv1ogs​ @chrisrue15 @beanst0ck @something-that-idk (i have no idea why i can’t tag some of you :( huhu )

links: part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6, part 7, part 8, part 9, part 10, part 11, part 13

Time flew by so fast in this dimension. Now that you were well adjusted and loving the new life here, it had not dawned on you that 7 months had already passed. Things were moving smoothly and pleasantly.

“Here you go.” Akaashi handed you a snack bar. The two of you (well maybe three if Bokuto is included) were practically inseparable. The team had finally managed to pin the both of you down and confirm that you two were indeed dating. “Did you sleep well?”

Walking to school was still a thing both of you did. Except this time, fingers were intertwined and barely any distance between the both of you. The only time you two let go was when the school gates were near. Still, walking down the hallways, Akaashi made sure to always brush his fingers with yours.

“I did!” You pulled him in to kiss his cheek. The small smile he gave you still made your stomach butterflies flutter. “I did have a weird dream last night. You and Bokuto-san switched personalities. Seeing you do his ‘HEY HEY HEY’ was just so wrong on all levels.”

“Is there a quirk that can do that?”

At this point in time, you barely relied on your quirk. The feeling of accomplishing things without it’s aid was much more satisfying. Of course, Akaashi still reaped its healing benefits and took note of how his stamina had improved.

“High chances. If we can have a washing machine as a pro-hero, then there’s bound to be a quirk swapping quirk.”

“A washing machine?” He brushed his thumb on the corner of your lip to wipe off a crumb. “Even now, your world still surprises me.”

“It’s great if you hear it.” Leaning on his shoulder, you tightened your hold on his hand. “Living in it is a completely different story. It’s been, what, 7 months since I arrived here and I am more than content with not having to rely on my quirk.”

“What about your combat skills? Shouldn’t you still be sharpening them?”

“I wish I could.” That was true, though. “I’m pretty much useless at 30%. Even if I wanted to lift boulders or shit, I have to maintain at least 40%. The difference is small but the output is huge. I don’t get my quirk’s logic.”

“Well, it’s still early.” The gates were now in sight but he refused to let go of your hand. “I’m pretty sure you can work on your quirk. The others won’t arrive within 30 minutes.”

“It’s been 5 months and you’re still curious to see how I fight?” You giggled.

“Yes.” He nodded. “If my girlfriend trained to be a hero, I’d love to see how you move.”

“Well, you made that sound sexy~” You nudged his elbow. “Think we can have a little action before we head to the gym?”

“It’s 6:30am, (y/n). It’s too early for that.” He teased. Yet his steps were a little faster than before. “But, I guess I can’t oppose the idea.”

The next thing you knew, your back hit the wall as Akaashi hungrily kissed you. With your legs wrapped around his waist, your fingers found themselves coming through his hair. Pinning you even more, Akaashi’s hand undid your ribbon and unbuttoned the first two. Letting go of your lips, he trailed kisses from your cheek down to the crook of your neck.

As he was softly sucking on your skin, you loosened his tie and undid the two buttons as well. Tugging his hair, you were face to face with him again. Lust filled eyes staring back into yours. Leaning in, you gently kissed his lips before returning the favor. Activating your quirk, Akaashi felt his feet leave the ground. Knowing what you were about to do, he could feel you turning the both of you around.

Skillfully placing the both of you on the floor, Akaashi leaned on the wall as his hands began to roam higher and higher up your skirt. Having you straddle him this early in the morning was rather pleasant in all aspects. Tilting his head a bit, he gave you much easier access and felt you sucking on his skin a little harsher this time.

“Make sure it’s hidden under the collar.” He managed to whisper. Hickeys were a common thing to have both your bodies. He smirked at how your only response was a nod.

Caressing your cheek, he admired the way your face glowed even more. Pulling you in softly for another kiss, he felt his stomach fluttering when you smiled.

“We should probably head to the lockers now.”

“Fine.”

“We can continue this in my room later.” He whispered before kissing you deeply.

“Counting the hours~”

Moments later, you were now pumping air into some volleyballs. Morning practice for today would only take an hour so there was plenty of time to freshen up before the homeroom. Now that the gym was packed with your boys, you rolled out the volleyball cart and positioned it beside the net.

Everyone was now used to having you as a ball girl. In fact, some of them even tried to challenge you by purposely hitting the ball too hard or too low. With your hero training, it was nothing but a walk in the park. You did notice, however, that your body began to sweat a bit more. The after effects of not using your quirk for a long time was showing.

Nothing bad happens, though. Just panting and sweating.

“Aghkaashe!” Bokuto yelled. “Can you and (y/n)-chan help with my math later?”

“I don’t mind. What about you, (y/n)?”

“Sure thing~” You approached your two favorite boys. “Bokuto-senpai, how well did you do on your previous quiz?”

The captain’s golden eyes sparkled.

“HAHAHA! Thanks to you both, I managed to get a 32/50! Whatdya think?!” He punched the air and grinned widely. When the both of you applauded he began to jump up and down while shouting his trademark.

“Calm down, Bokuto-san.” Akaashi tried to stop him from jumping up and down. His friend obeyed and gave a cheeky thumbs up.

“God, I love you both so much~” You giggled at their exchange.

“But you love Ahkaashi more, don’t you (y/n)-chan?” Bokuto added as he shouldered Akaashi. This time, his deadpan face was holding a soft smile.

“Of course!”

When Konoha’s alarm sounded, each of you began to clean up and prepare for the rest of the day. With how often you did it, it had now become second nature to you. Yukie and Kaori even admitted that you adapted much faster than they had anticipated. Once all of you were now freshened up, the gym was locked once more and each player looked forward for the after school practice.

“Exams are approaching.” Akaashi said as he let you step into the classroom first. “Have you prepared your notes?”

“I did. But, you do remember that the subjects you have here are way too easy for me, right?” Placing your bag on your desk, you took a seat and faced Akaashi. “Shall we study in your room or mine?”

“we can take turns.” Now that he was seated, he fished out one of his notebooks and placed it on his desk. Not that it was needed, it merely became one of his habits. Watching as you dragged your chair closer to him, he offered you a pen and flipped the notebook open.

“So, what do you want me to draw?” This had become one of your recent traditions. Before the start of homeroom, Akaashi noticed how you liked to doodle on his notebooks. Deciding that a special one was needed, he took the liberty of buying a blank journal for you to fill with whatever it is you saw fit.

“Hmm, I recall you saying that you designed your own hero costume.” He saw how your eyes lit up. “May i see what it looked like?”

Starting the sketch, you began to draw a figure and dressed it with your costume.

“So, my costume isn’t flashy unlike the others.” You explained. “A quirk like mine doesn’t really need a lot of support items so I went with mobility and comfort. I decided that simplicity was key. Just the normal jacket, shirt, pants, and boots. The only support item I had were my gloves.”

Sketching your gloves, Akaashi couldn’t help but adore just how focused you were. Tucking in a loose strand of hair, he felt the butterflies in his stomach churning once again as the corners of your mouth formed a smile and your cheeks turning a faint hue of pink.

“What do your gloves do?” They looked like standard fingerless gloves.

“The material was specifically designed to aid in manipulating my quirk. It concentrates the energy I release and wraps around my hand. Sorta like a human torch~” It was a bit difficult to explain how it worked knowing you didn’t listen to the man who gave you the item. As long as it aided you, it was fine.

“What were Todoroki-kun’s support items?”

“Shoto’s support items were mostly temperature regulators. Wristbands and a big one he wears like a backpack to help even him out.” You drew his support items rather well.

“Can you try to sketch Todorki-kun’s face?” Letting you draw your friends was something he wasn’t so comfortable with. Not for that reason of course. He merely assumed that it would be a sensitive topic knowing the circumstances of how you arrived in his world. When you giggled, he tilted his head.

“About time you asked~” Beginning to draw your childhood friend, you continued. “I honestly wouldn’t mind drawing my friends for you, ya know? There’s no way I can introduce you to them so sketching them would be the best alternative.”

“I’m sorry.” He held on to your free hand. “I just didn’t want to make you uncomfy.”

“You never make me uncomfy. Keiji~”

It was a quick sketch of half and half but a good one. He squinted his eye when he took note of the scar. He had heard of Tokoyami and Mina, but this one merely showed a boy about his age with a nasty burn on his face.

“Shoto’s got one helluva back story.” Your thumb began to brush Akaashi’s knuckles. “That scar was given to him by his mum when he was around 5 or 6 years old. It’s sad but he grew to accept it and is now healing.”

“You were engaged before, right?”

“For a while, yeah.” You handed him back the pen and closed the sketchpad. The bell had now rung and right on time, the teacher entered the room. Just as she was relaying a message, you were rummaging in your bag for a notebook.

“Please introduce yourselves~” The teacher said.

“Bakugo Katsuki”

“Midoriya Izuku.”

- - - - -

a/n: sooo... what yall gonna do now? :’)

[searchingforenadi]

writing a will is standard procedure

although it’s terribly misleading, the power of a name like ‘bloody bakery’ is too strong to ignore, so that’s exactly what we’re going to keep it as :O

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6

a brief summary: Your customers won’t stop bleeding in your shop. You realize this might be a problem. (second person!OC, TYL).

xxvi.

You spend a few more days reevaluating your life choices. 

Perhaps, you think, hands clasped firmly in front of you, you’ve gotten a little greedy with your  new source of revenue. 

On the other hand, another voice in your head argues, it’s not like you could’ve refused them. Paying customers are the same wherever you go. What kind of business owner would you be if you turned away every customer wearing a fancy suit?

You stare into the empty space of your store, the quiet ticks of a clock ringing in your ears. 

The fallacy of mankind, you think solemnly, is wanting nice things. 

Is this how it always begins? You used to find it ridiculous whenever the media reported sensational news about a company’s descent into corruption. Now, however, it occurs to you that perhaps you’re the one facing that same downfall as well.

Should I write a will? You stare even more deeply at the tiled floor. 

The thought has never crossed your mind before. It’s something you had planned to do when you turn old and grey, but since it looks like your chances of meeting an early demise have skyrocketed in the past few months, maybe you should.

The entrance to your door swings open. 

“Welcome,” you say, already on autopilot. It won’t do to ignore any potential customers right when you’re on the precipice of cutting off your very dangerous, very generous regulars. “How can I - ”

Yamamoto waves a hand. By his side, Gokudera remains silent, his hands inside the pockets of his pants. 

“ - help you?” you finish smoothly. It’s only through a decade of customer service that you’re able to keep a polite smile on your face. “It’s good to see you again.”

“It’s good to see you too,” Yamamoto says, eyes creasing with a smile. Gokudera, in the meantime, lets out a grunt. 

“The usual then?” you ask, keeping your eyes trained on their faces. You’ve spent too long pointedly avoiding Yamamoto’s sword to start staring now. 

Yamamoto’s smile doesn’t waver. “That would be great!” 

You get started on the coffee and, while the water is slowly boiling, you pull out your usual tiramisu cake. 

“So,” Yamamoto says, leaning casually on the counter by your register. “Anything interesting happened lately?”

Yes, you immediately want to blurt out. I saw your friends handling illegal weapons outside my shop. 

“Not really,” you say instead, the picture-perfect image of a clueless baker. “I’ll be shopping at a new place this weekend. Very exciting.”

“I’m sure it is,” Yamamoto says, and it sounds like he means it. You turn back around and pass him the usual box of cake. 

In your other hand is the usual cup of coffee and, right as you’re handing it off to Gokudera’s outreached hand, you quickly glance down. 

His legs, thankfully, are free of any knives. 

Gokudera snatches the cup from your hand. To the side, Yamamoto slaps a hand to his own mouth.

“You - ” Gokudera starts with a snarl, eyes flashing. 

“And that’s our cue to go,” Yamamoto cuts in, stopping a potential crime scene from occurring within your shop. He slaps down a wad of cash and wraps an arm around Gokudera’s neck.

“Let me go, you little - !”

“Keep the change,” Yamamoto says, eyes creasing and shoulders slightly shaking. They leave right after, as Gokudera sends you silent death threats while struggling to escape from Yamamoto’s grasp. 

You stare down at the pile of money on your counter. The fact that you’ve narrowly missed an early meeting with your late grandpa seems to pale in comparison to the stack of bills in front of you.

No, a voice that sounds awfully like your conscience whispers, you shouldn’t. Just take the right amount and return the rest! That way, the government has no proof when they knock on your door - 

You very delicately pick up the money and slide it into the register. 

“I’m human too,” you say out loud, to the utter silence in your shop. “We all have our flaws.”

The absence of any response should’ve been telling enough.

xxvii.

The next day, during the late morning, you fiddle through several documents. 

You have enough to finally buy that mixer and now, your days of suffering are over. No longer will you have to hand mix your dough whenever your rusty, old mixer gives up on you. No longer will you weep over its struggle to handle your heavier mixtures - 

The front door opens, sending a warm breeze through the shop. 

“Welcome!” you call out, closing your notebook shut. If everything goes as planned, you should be able to order it by the end of the weekend. “How can I help you?”

You stop. There, standing in all his teenage glory, stands Lambo - your well-paying regular and possible juvenile delinquent.

Lambo grins. “Hi!”

“Hi,” you say, for lack of better words. It doesn’t seem like an appropriate time to mention your eye-witness account of his crimes. “You’re here early today.”

You can’t remember ever seeing Lambo coming into the shop earlier than the afternoon. 

He shrugs, before plastering his face into your glass display. “School’s cancelled today.”

“School,” you repeat, somehow astounded by the news. It shouldn’t surprise you - Lambo is still a teenager and those types of people should still be in school. It certainly explains the fancy uniform he’s always wearing. 

“I didn’t know the local school here required uniforms,” you think aloud, pushing a finger against Lambo’s forehead to remove him from the display. It’s enough of a sanitary hazard that you’re willing to risk getting shot for it. 

Lambo laughs, a little too loudly for the quiet shop. He rubs the back of his neck. “Oh, I, uh, go to school somewhere else. Outside town.”

“Outside the town?” you blink slowly. So a private school? It fits the image you have, considering how much money Lambo throws your way. 

Lambo laughs even more, and it is the most awkward sound you’ve heard this week. You take this as a sign to leave the subject matter alone and instead say, “I have some candied fruits, if you’re interested.”

“Yes!” Lambo blurts out, his demeanor shifting immediately into something bright. “I want that.”

You wait for a moment.

“Please,” he adds belatedly, before sending you a winning smile. 

An answering smile finds its way onto your face and you move to pack a jar or two. You pull out your usual stash of dango and stick it into the take-out bag as well.

“Make sure you share some with Tsuna,” you tell him, taking his cash and trying not to scan his clothes for any suspicious lumps that would hide a weapon. 

Lambo makes a face. “But you gave him some last time!”

Your smile widens. “I’m not making you share if you don’t want to.”

He droops instantly. 

“Fine,” he says petulantly. “I’ll think about it, I guess.”

You lean onto your display, resting your head on a hand. “If you stop by next week, I might have some mochi for you to try, if you know what it is.”

Lambo perks up, so quickly you wonder if he’s ever gotten whiplash from his constantly changing emotions. “Mochi? Of course I do! I used to eat them all the time in Japan.”

You pause at this new information. “You used to live in Japan?”

“For a few years,” Lambo says, waving a hand flippantly in the air. “It was nice.”

“Uh-huh,” you say, unsure as to why this reveal bothers you so much. “Well, you’re welcome to try some if you’re here.”

Lambo gives you a strange look. “But I’m here almost every day.”

You sigh. “But you shouldn’t. Spend some time somewhere else, Lambo.”

Lambo slowly grins, in a way that tells you he hasn’t even bothered to consider your words, before waving a hand goodbye. 

You run a hand through your hair - sometimes, you wonder why you even bother.

xxviii.

That night, you set your alarm and settle into bed, closing your eyes firmly shut. Tomorrow morning, you will be getting that anko, one way or another. 

If the marketplace doesn’t have any, you already have an order form for azuki beans filled out and ready to go. At this point, price or time doesn’t matter - your desire for anko has transcended all logical thought and has become a primal need.

Just you wait, you think, turning over to one side and pulling your blankets up to your face. 

The next morning, your eyes shoot open the moment your alarm goes off. You slap a hand to your phone and sit straight up, blinking blearily into your dark bedroom.

It takes a short while to feel human again. A cup of coffee in hand and thirty minutes later, you stare out of your window, to the dusty, light blue sky. 

Outside, where the sun has yet to hit your apartment, you inhale deeply, feeling the cool, sharp air in your lungs. 

You’ve already mapped out the way to the new marketplace last night. After a few wrong turns and a five minute break to consider if you’ve perhaps lost all common sense, you eventually find a blocked off plaza full of different sized stalls.

The sun now resting on the back of your neck, you trudge through the plaza, shuffling past a crowd of people huddled around a fruit stall. Staring out into the bustling market, you decide it’s a travesty it’s taken you this long to find out about it. 

You continue wandering down the road, eyes peeled for any hint of your sought after anko. Tsuna had given a general area but it’s up to you to narrow down your search.

The sun rises higher as you awkwardly move around another small crowd of elderly women. Your crane your neck to squint at a particularly promising stall and - 

And promptly walk into a wall. 

Not a wall, you then think, hissing in pain as your hand flies to your smarting nose. Walls don’t feel like fabric and smell like smoke.

“Sorry,” you say, eyes blinking rapidly. “I wasn’t watching where I was going - ”

You pause. Through your watering eyes, your head slowly rises higher and, under a crown of silver hair, Gokudera scowls. 

What are the chances, you think distantly, absentmindedly rubbing your nose. This isn’t the first time you’ve come across a customer outside the shop, but you prefer keeping your business and private life separate. 

“Of course you weren’t,” Gokudera says, rolling his eyes. It might have been more intimidating if he had been wearing his suit, but for the very first time, he’s wearing more casual clothes - a pair of jeans and a simple t-shirt. 

“Right,” you say, a smile almost making its way on your face. A local marketplace is the last place you would ever expect to see Gokudera, but there’s something about it - the bustle of people, the laughter of children, the scent of fruit and spices - that almost makes him seem approachable. “Nice to see you too.”

Gokudera scoffs, shoving his free hand into his pockets. He tightens his grip on several plastic bags, before turning around and walking away. 

You imagine this is the closest thing to a peaceful exit you’ll ever get from someone like Gokudera. 

WIth a shrug, you resume your search, scanning the stalls and making sure to keep an extra eye on the road in front of you. Strangely enough, Gokudera is still only a few paces ahead of you, with hunched shoulders and trudging feet. 

It doesn’t take long for a set of somewhat familiar characters to catch your eye. You squint immediately, feet stopping in place. 

Like paper clips to a magnet, you walk up to the stall - already, you recognize several snacks you used to horde back when you went shopping at the Japanese market with your mom in the States. 

Your lips curve up into a smile.

A commotion on the other side grabs your attention. There’s an older woman, face flushed red and a package in her hands, speaking loudly to the owner of the stall, an elderly Japanese woman with gray hair tied tightly into a bun. 

All too familiar with irate customers, you send a silent prayer of sympathy to the old lady and look back down. Those same snacks are now somehow in your hands. 

The power of nostalgia, you think, clutching the snacks closer to your chest, is a terrifying thing.

You turn around - and nearly drop everything when you come face-to-face with Gokudera once again.

He narrows his eyes.

“You again?” he mutters, a perplexed look on his face, as if he can’t decide if he should stab you or leave the subject matter alone.

You fix a smile on your face. Maybe you should’ve written that will after all.

But no, you’ve risked too much to leave now. After a second of deliberation, you decide that you’d rather get shanked than miss your chance at finding some anko.

“This is the new place I was hoping to check out,” you tell him, as a reminder that, despite his intimidating appearance, you’re the one providing the goods in this business relationship.

And, because you still value your life (despite your previous resolve), you add, “Tsuna recommended it to me.”

(You actually don’t have a single clue about the sort of relationship Gokudera and Tsuna might have, since you’ve never seen the two together.

But you’re hoping it won’t hurt to bring in some familiar names, just in case, to keep Gokudera accountable.)

Gokudera pauses, his eyebrows furrowing.

Then, with a click of his tongue, he runs a hand through his silver hair and says, “Yeah, whatever.”

You give Gokudera a wide amount of space and he walks around you, grumbling under his breath.

Disaster averted, you continue your (rather limited) shopping spree, walking around to the tune of a woman’s yells. 

A few minutes pass and suddenly, after finding yourself staring blankly at a series of foreign words, it finally hits you. 

You can’t read a single speck of Japanese beyond your own name.

The despair that follows nearly cripples you. It only lasts for several moments, thankfully, because your parents haven’t raised a fool.

You pull out your phone and look up the kanji for anko. Like a makeshift metal detector, you continue walking around, appraising anything that might look like red bean paste. 

The search goes on for a short while before it leaves you completely empty-handed. You let out a long sigh, shifting slightly to accommodate the number of snacks in your arms.

You drag your feet to the register, already calculating the days it’ll take to have azuki beans delivered to your doorstep.

If I pay more, I can get it next week, you think, folding your fingers to keep track of your numbers. It would’ve been a problem a few months ago, spending an exorbitant amount of money for azuki beans, but your strange and well-dressed regulars have solved it for you with their… generosity.

You check the time on your phone. The same woman from before is still at the register, and you’re a little impressed at how she’s gone for ten minutes without taking a single breath.

It’s bothersome enough that you consider dumping the snacks and leaving altogether. From the almost blank look on the stall owner’s face, you can only imagine this will continue for a while.

Except, by sheer coincidence, your eyes focus on the package in the woman’s hands. The kanji looks vaguely familiar, which is impossible, because you only know - 

You quickly pull out your phone and almost drop your snacks in your haste. 

“There’s no way,” you say to yourself, staring at the matching kanji on your phone. 

The stars aligning themselves to dangle anko in your face isn’t the most terrifying part. Rather, you can’t believe you’re actually considering, actually thinking about taking the anko, without knowing where it’s been, or where it came from - 

A rustle of noise grabs your attention, dragging you away from your horrifying, unsanitary thoughts. You look back and, surprise surprise, it’s Gokudera, lining up behind you. 

His lips twist into a scowl as he watches the one-sided argument. It’s a look so foul, you can almost see him planning a premeditated murder. 

Which, he wouldn’t do, of course, because this is a very open space, in a very public area. 

… Right?

He wouldn’t, you think, a little less confidently. 

An ominous creak fills the air when Gokudera digs his fingers deep into the plastic packages in his hands. 

You swiftly walk up to the register, because you’re not particularly eager to witness a crime on a Saturday morning. It’s the grandest act of community service you’ve done since high school and you hope it’ll be the last.

“Excuse me,” you say, plastering on your best customer service smile. “That anko - is there a problem with it?”

The woman stops her tirade to give you a dirty look.

“The problem is that I was tricked!” she snaps, gesturing to the packaged anko. From a glance, it doesn’t look opened. “I asked for regular beans and this old lady gave me this!”

“Regular beans,” you repeat, before slowly looking back at the anko. You’re sorely tempted to ask how red bean paste could ever be mistaken for actual beans, but you swallow the words down.

“That must have been confusing,” you say instead, keeping that smile on your face because you’re a professional. “How much did you pay for it?”

“Ten euros,” the woman says, crossing her arms. “And I’m not leaving until I get a full refund for it!”

You put your snacks down on the counter, pull out your wallet, and hand over the right amount. “Great! Consider it paid for.”

The woman stares at the bills in her hand. “What?”

“Your refund,” you say, taking the anko from her loosened grip. “You can leave now, right?”

It doesn’t take long before the woman leaves in a huff, face still flushed and a hand clutching the cash tight. 

You turn to the stall owner, who still doesn’t look particularly invested in the commotion before her. She studies you for a moment and slowly, a smile appears on her lips.

“---?” she asks you in Japanese, dark eyes gleaming. “--- is okay, but ---”

“Oh, uh, sorry,” you say, only able to catch a few words. Heat flares briefly on your cheeks. “I don’t really understand.”

(For the briefest of moments, you suddenly wish you had taken your mom’s efforts to teach you Japanese a little more seriously. If you had, would you even be in this situation right now?)

The elderly woman’s smile widens. 

“No problem,” she says, switching to Italian with a heavy accent. The creases around her eyes deepen as she points to the snacks on the counter. “You take this?”

“Uh, yes,” you say, a little startled at the topic change. The stall owner hums, ringing up your snacks and calling out something else in Japanese.

You’re left slightly bewildered when she waves a hand, until moments later, someone else joins your side.

With a slightly resigned expression, Gokudera sets down his own purchases, and answers back in Japanese. 

In completely fluent, native Japanese.

This, you think, blinking rapidly, shouldn’t bother you. Gokudera is clearly, at least, partially Japanese, and why wouldn’t someone like that know how to speak it?

(This time, however, you can’t stop the flash of envy that spikes through your chest.)

You shake away your thoughts when the stall owner passes back your snacks in a bag.

“Thank you,” you say, accepting the bag and adding your newly acquired anko inside as well. “How much should I…?”

The stall owner smiles warmly before saying something to Gokudera again.

Gokudera, in the meantime, lets out an aggravated sigh.

“She says don’t worry about it,” he tells you, looking as if he’d rather be doing anything else than translate an old woman’s words for a random baker. 

You look down at your snacks in surprise. “Wait, really?”

The stall owner says a few more words. 

“‘It’s payment for getting rid of that annoying fucker,’ is what she says,” Gokudera lazily adds.

There’s a moment of stunned silence.

You open your mouth, and close it again. 

“Is that,” you finally begin, after another pause. “Is that what she really said?”

Gokudera shrugs, which you find is a far worse response than a simple yes or no. 

You turn back to the old woman, who still has a serene smile on her face. Your head spinning, you say hesitantly, “Um, thank you then.”

Then, because you’re fairly certain you’ve somehow entered the twilight zone, you give a returning smile and slowly back away.

At this point, Gokudera’s purchases have also been bagged and, a little dazed,  you follow him back into the plaza. 

“Well, I’ll see you around then,” you say, a heartbeat too late, but really - who can blame you? “Thanks for translating.”

You’re not sure if you actually mean it, but you imagine Gokudera could’ve ditched at any point, so props to him for helping out the elderly.

“Yeah, whatever,” he says, his free hand once again stuffed into his pocket. It’s strange how harmless it makes him look for once. “Next time, figure it out by yourself.”

“I’ll do what I can,” you say, after coming to the conclusion that, despite the roller coaster of events, you’re more than willing to return if you can find more of this anko. “I’m used to language barriers.”

The both of you reach the plaza entrance and, with piercing green eyes, Gokudera looks at you like you’re the slowest person on the planet.

“That’s stupid,” he says, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. “Why would you be used to it? Just learn the damn language.”

Something clenches in your chest.

“I,” you falter, the heat returning to your cheeks. “Do you think I haven’t thought about that?”

Gokudera snorts. “If you’ve thought about it, but haven’t tried it, does it actually count?”

It’s tempting to give into the acid that burns your throat. Gokudera doesn’t know anything about you and, frankly, it was a terrible idea to continue talking with someone who’s just a regular from your shop.

What’s even worse, you realize, is that he’s completely right.

(When have you ever really put in the effort to learn your mom’s home language? If it bothers you that much, why haven’t you tried picking it up again?)

Gokudera quickly runs a hand through his hair. 

“Look,” he finally says, after the silence stretches for a moment too long. “Forget I said anything.”

But he isn’t wrong. 

“No, that’s not it,” you quickly say, suddenly hit with the awareness that Gokudera, despite his abrasive personality, probably isn’t out to get you. “I… I get what you’re saying.”

If something bothers you, shouldn’t you at least try to go after it? Isn’t that what you’ve been doing all along with the anko in your hands?

You offer a weak smile. “I haven’t thought about it that way. So I’ll keep that in mind.”

Gokudera eyes you, lips twisting into that same perplexed expression from before.

“Right,” he says slowly. “You do that then.”

And without another word, Gokudera turns and walks away. You stare after his slouched shoulders for a brief moment, before glancing down at the bags in your hand.

Your smile falls and, with a heavy sigh, you rub the back of your neck.

As it turns out, it looks like you have some serious thinking to do.

-o-o-o-o-o-

what? you’re telling me that one of Gokudera’s weaknesses being old ladies isn’t canon? 

i actually had a lighter, more comedic plot point to end this chapter with, but it felt like that would diminish the importance of this final scene too much. heritage is something that matters more to some than others, but when you have different cultural backgrounds, it’s not easy to keep them all equal in your life - i hope this evolving struggle for our MC is clear to the people reading it!

there’s so much i want to say about my thoughts on this chapter, but to keep it short - this is the first time we see MC out of the shop and with it, a new set of experiences and facets of their personality. stepping out of their comfort zone (the shop) and being challenged through it - i imagine that Gokudera is the only one capable of doing it intentionally, at this time.

i know this started of as a ‘shitpost’ for giggles, but i do hope this brings some sort of enjoyment even when it digs deeper beyond the humor. it’s been exhausting to do many things lately, but i’m always grateful for how much love has been sent to this little, silly fic. please stay safe and healthy and aware out there!

[star-maiden]

2, 19, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25!!! Lol!

Hey! Thank you for asking. ☺️ Ok! Here we go! I’ll try to keep this short and sweet, but no promises. 😁 (Post edit: I made a valiant effort at not writing a short novel with my responses. I’m not sure that I succeeded. Haha! Thank you so much for playing the tarot ask game! I enjoyed answering these!)

2. Where or how did you start learning Tarot?

I started teaching myself tarot when I was 12 years old after spotting a beautiful tarot deck in my local bookstore and begging my mother to buy it for me. She wasn’t too keen on the idea because she was convinced that tarot cards were going to invite evil into our home or something ridiculous like that. Eventually she caved after I kept pleading with her so much that other people were starting to stare at us. I was a bit of a brat, tbh. 😂 But it lead me to where I am today, so I can’t complain too much. Tarot has been a powerful tool in my life so far, much like a dear friend. Combined, I’ve been reading/studying tarot for about 15 years, but I’ve only read tarot professionally (for other people) for a little over 8 years.

19. Do you have any weird or interesting experience with tarot?

I can tell you about the time I was pretty sure the Tower card was following me. This happened awhile ago, in the Summer. In every reading I did, no matter if it was for myself or a client, the Tower card would show up. Even while using multiple decks, there it was. The Tower. Every time. You’d think I would have noticed this as something significant, but as it turns out, I am very good at ignoring things I’d rather not deal with. Later that Summer, we had terrible wildfires that swept through the mountains and my hometown. Nearly 900 homes and businesses lost. I still swear to this day that the Tower card had been a warning.

21. 5 things you have learned from practicing tarot (about yourself, people, tarot, etc)?

Oh, this is an interesting one. Let me see...I think I’ll try to get a good variety of answers here.

Tarot is both very structured and completely subjective at the same time. Because of this, no two readers will interpret the cards in the exact same way, even if they share the same foundation of meanings.

Many times, when people seek a tarot reading, they are looking for an affirmation or some words of confidence. They already know what to do, and so the reading simply reflects their truth back at them. This isn’t always the case of course, but I find that a good percentage of the folks I work with are this way. This is why I think it’s important for a tarot reader to have strong empathy skills. A reader should strive to deliver the truth of a reading, but always with kindness.

If you seek an answer to a question that fills you with fear, the only thing you will see in the cards is that fear staring back at you. Guidance must be divined from a still mind and calm demeanor. This is why it is sometimes said that a reader shouldn’t read for themselves. (You can read for yourself, for the record. But for more emotionally charged situations, you may need some mental distance).

If you ask the same question over and over again, too many times, then the cards will eventually not respond. The reading will become muddy and nothing will make sense. This is true for self-readings, as well as those who ask the same question of multiple readers. Getting a different perspective is ok, but typically you should wait at least a month before consulting the cards again ok the same topic. Longer if the issue at hand is slow moving.

I, and likely many other readers, change my interpretations based on the deck I am using. The images and symbolism of the cards can really influence my readings. Even if I am looking at the same cards from different decks, I will interpret them all a bit differently. For this reason, I have some decks that are dedicated to specific themes.

22. Message/Tips for beginners OR querents?

For beginners to tarot: Take some time to learn your foundation of meaning. Yes, you can read intuitively, but your readings will be stronger if you know the relationship between each card and their traditional meanings. Knowing the traditional meanings also gives you something to fall back on if you find it difficult to tap into your intuition on command. They can act as a jump start for your brain. There are all sorts of activities that aren’t rote memorization that can help you learn the traditional meanings. I’ll list some for question 24.

For querents/clients: The more information you share with your reader, the better the reading will be. If you tell us what you already know about your situation, then we can focus our attention on what you want to know. Tarot is more of an art than a science. I don’t really mind either way, but I’d hate for you to be disappointed if your reading is only about things you’re already well aware of.

23. Your tarot journal/grimoire

Oh dear. 🙈 Both my tarot journal AND grimoire are such a mess. I scribble and write in Spanglish so it’s hardly even legible. I have 2 tarot journals, over 300 pages each. I don’t know that I will share photos of my writing (since it’s awful), but maybe I can share pics of the actual journals themselves at a later date. I keep all my readings for clients in a big, spiral notebook though. I’d like to say that this one is more organized, but it really isn’t. I write while not looking because I’m focused on the cards.

24. Recommendation (tarot readers, websites, videos, books, etc)?

If you are learning tarot and are having a hard time memorizing meanings, try the Tarot Coloring Book by Theresa Reed. It’s fun, it walks you through the meaning behind the traditional symbolism of the RWS deck, and you will likely remember the cards a lot better. Even experienced readers would enjoy working with this book, I think. It’s a great refresher, and who doesn’t love a coloring book?

25. What other interests do you have?

I love to read! Not just witchy things, but novels and fan fiction as well. I have 3 floor to ceiling bookshelves in my home and they’re all full of books. I also enjoy meditation, and I work with crystals a lot.

[sweetiepie08]

RebelZ Chapter 6

Invader Zim fanfic

While analyzing Zim’s PAK for weaknesses, Tak discovers strange coding that sends her on a search for answers. The clues lead her to uncover a conspiracy that governs all of Irken society. When the truth sends her on the run, she has no choice but to return to the one place the Tallest would never willingly go: Urth.

Meanwhile, Dib has noticed odd changes in Zim’s behavior. Has the invader simply grown bored of his mission over the last few years, or is there something more interesting going on?

People who asked to be tagged: @incorrect-invader-zim , @messinwitheddie, @reblogstupids, @cate-r-gunn, @agentpinerulesall​

If anyone else would like to be added to the tag list feel free to message me. Also, if you’re on the tag list and you changed your name, please just let me know.

Chapter 1. Chapter 2. Chapter 3. Chapter 4. Chapter 5. Chapter 6. Chapter 7.  Chapter 8.  Chapter 9. Chapter 10.

[-]

Dib flipped through the streaming services, looking for something to watch. The documentary had ended, pizza had been eaten, and Gaz had gone upstairs to fix some emergency with one of her online gaming groups. He knew he had surveillance tapes waiting for him on his desk, (or worse, college applications) but he wasn’t ready to check up on them just yet. He was actually enjoying some downtime for once, and he didn’t want it to end.

Then, he heard the all-too-familiar sounds of an alien spaceship landing outside.

Nope, he thought as he hit play on whatever show he landed on. Didn’t matter what, so long as he could pretend he couldn’t hear what was going on in his driveway.

Some muffled arguing came from the front door, followed by the bell ringing. Dib turned up the volume. Not getting out of this chair.

Loud pounding began, accompanied by cries of “Dib-human! Open this door!” Dib turned the volume up as loud as it would go as the pounding continued.

“Jesus Christ, Dib!” Gaz shouted from upstairs. “Just answer the door!”

“Fine!” Dib shut off the tv and stalked to the front door. When he opened it, he found two Irken idiots.

Zim and Tak hung off each other and drank from plastic bottles while their robot pets bolted right in and made themselves at home. “Hey, you grew into your head,” Tak said, lazily pointing her claw at him.

“You know, Dib, there’s a lot of reasons to hate your planet,” Zim slurred, letting himself in. “You keep chihuahuas as pets, some of you refuse to inoculate against deadly diseases, and that Game of Thrones finale was garbage! But at least you don’t need identification to buy gingzor, and that almost makes up for it.” Zim punctuated his short rant by taking a long swig from his bottle.

“And look,” Tak said, pulling a box of ginger snaps out of a plastic shopping bag, “they had edibles.”

“Are you guys drunk? What is this?” Dib grabbed the bottle out of Zim’s hands. He checked the label, gave it a sniff, and took a small taste. Yup, it was exactly what the label said it was. “This is just ginger ale.”

“Eee-yup,” Zim said, swiping his bottle back. “Your light brews aren’t as potent as the ones we’ve got on Irk, but it gets the job done.”

“Wait, are you guys seriously telling me your species gets drunk off ginger?”

“Why?” Tak asked, shoving a cookie in her mouth. “What do humans consume when they want to forget the futility of existence?”

“Uh, alcohol, usually.”

The two Irkens locked eyes, then burst into laughter. “Seriously?” Tak squealed, wiping a tear from her eye. “That’s an antiseptic.”

“Humans really are stupid,” Zim agreed.

“Not that kind,” Dib grumbled, knowing he would be ignored. Then he felt his temper boil. “What are you two doing in my house?!”

“Oh yeah,” the two brushed past him and hopped on the couch like they owned the place. “We need to crash here for a while,” Zim explained. He turned on the tv, got blasted by an old episode of The Office, then turned the volume down.

“Why?”

“We uncovered a conspiracy behind the Irken empire and our government tried to kill us.”

“I discovered,” Tak corrected. “They just caught you harboring me.”

“Eh, details.”

“The point is,” Tak went on, “we’re both marked as traitors and we need to lay low for a while.”

Dib could have sworn his ears perked like a dog’s. An intergalactic conspiracy? There was a story here so juicy he could almost taste it. Still, as he watched the earth’s total Irken population spill ginger ale on the couch and grind crumbs into the cushions, the only question on his mind was, “why here?”

“Need your lab,” Zim tossed off as if it should have been obvious.

“So? Why don’t you go back to your base and use your own lab?”

“Can’t.” Zim took a teal cube out of his pocket and tossed it in Dib’s direction.

Dib caught it and brought it up to his eye to inspect. “What’s this?”

“My base.”

“Your whole base is in this?” Dib strained his eyes, looking at the cube. “What’s going on? How did this even happen?”

“How far back in Irken history do you want to go?” Tak asked, popping open a bottle.

“Wait, you mean you’re actually going to tell me?”

She gave a non-committal shrug. “Eh…”

“Hold on, wait right there.” Dib zipped upstairs to his room, grabbed a notebook, pen, and recorder, then zipped back down. He grabbed a chair, hit record, and poised his pen. “Let’s start at the beginning.”

[-]

Dib scribbled furiously, trying to keep up with Tak’s slurred ramblings. Zim interjected occasionally to add something or explain an Irken concept, but it was clear exactly who the conspiracy hunter was.

“So, anyway, that’s when I realized this parasite has been controlling our entire society for generations and, you know, it’s just a real buzzkill to find out you’re basically living food.”

“I see,” Dib said, making a note to ask about this library planet later (maybe get coordinates?). “And this parasite has been masquerading as the Control Brains.”

“Not ‘masquerading’ exactly,” she explained. “They always were the Control Brains.”

“And, just to make sure I got this, the Control brains are what, again?”

Before they could answer, he heard a loud “eh-he-eh-hm.” He looked over to see Gaz standing in the kitchen doorway. When he met her eyes, she curled one finger, ominously beckoning him over. “Uh, one second, guys.” He put down his pen and followed Gaz into the kitchen.

“Make this quick, Gaz,” he said, peaking back into the living room. “These two are giving me everything.”

“Okay then,” she said, her voice displaying her irritation. “Just answer me this: why are there two destructive aliens drinking like civil war amputee patients on our couch?”

“Revealing their government’s secrets, that’s what,” he answered with unbridled glee. “Turns out, ginger gets them drunk and when they’re drunk, they have no filter. They’ve been rambling on and on about their creepy big-brother-like society for an hour now. Look at all these notes.” He shoved the notebook in Gaz’s face and flipped furiously through the pages. “As long as I keep them drunk and happy, they’ll keep talking. Which reminds me…” He took out his wallet, grabbed a bill, and handed it to Gaz. “Go to the store and buy them out of ginger ale. We can’t let them sober up.”

“Five bucks?” Gaz said, wrinkling her nose. “I assume you’re planning on reimbursing me for the grocery bill later.”

“This isn’t about money, Gaz.”

“Then dig a little deeper, Scrooge. I know your part-time at Dad’s lab pays more than this.”

“And you make plenty off of your twitch gaming streams,” Dib argued. “Come on, this is about furthering human knowledge.”

Gaz raised her eyebrow in her ‘you’ve got to be kidding’ way. “You’re offering me $5 to drop everything, go to the store, and buy out their entire supply of ginger ale without reimbursing me for the bill.”

“Uh…yes?”

She scoffed. “Get a pulse.”

Dib pinched the bridge of his nose and rubbed the corners of his eyes. Was she seriously arguing with him about money at a time like this? “Look, what if I give you an acknowledgement when I publish this baby? Like, say, in the forward?”

“You mean the part no one reads?”

“Uh…”

Gaz let out an exasperated huff and looked into the living room at the two Irkens. “So, they’ll really ramble on and on if you stuff them full of ginger, huh? About anything?”

“Yeah, pretty much. We managed to stay on topic so far. I mean, Zim did go on a tangent about the Game of Thrones finale, but we got back on track.”

Gaz smiled. “Did he, now? About what?”

“Something about Westeros crumbling as soon as the credits rolled. I don’t know. You watched that show, not me.”

“Hmm…” Gaz murmured, looking pointedly at Zim. Oh no, she was thinking… Worse! She was plotting!

“Gaz? What are you doing?”

She threw him a wicked smirk and sauntered into the living room. “Hey, Zim!” she called, clear as a bell. “That Game of Thrones finale sucked, right?”

“Don’t even get me started, Dib-sister!” Zim called back, slapping his hand on the couch. “Zim has never seen such a staggering drop in quality!”

Dib dropped his face into his hands. Was it too late to offer a twenty?”

[-]

“I guarantee Dorne and the Iron Islands rebelled as soon as they stepped out of the Dragon Pit.” Zim said, splashing ginger ale on the couch with every gesture. “I’ll bet they only voted ‘yes’ on Bran because this would be the easiest reign to overthrow.”

“Exactly!” Gaz said, slapping the arm of her chair. “Dany promised Yara independence two seasons ago. There’s no way she’s just going to watch him hand his sister a kingdom and not demand what’s owed to her.”

Dib twisted the notebook in his hands as he listened to them rant. They’d been at this since Gaz brought up the subject.

“And what was with them acting like Dany was in the wrong for executing Varys?” Zim added. “He tried to assassinate her!”

“As if Jon didn’t execute a child a few seasons ago for the same thing. And it was obvious that kid was coerced into it by the higher-ranking Night’s Watch men.” Gaz said. “You’ll notice Dany didn’t execute the child Varys manipulated into poisoning her. And he only thought she was ‘mad’ because she stopped listening to his shitty advice.”

“Their ‘advice’ lost her the Dornish forces, the Iron Fleet, and Highgarden’s armies,” Zim agreed.

“Plus another dragon and her best friend. And when she goes into mourning, he’s all ‘Welp, she’s clearly gone mad. Time to put her down like Old Yeller.’ Oh! And what was with Tyrion’s ‘everywhere she goes, evil men die’ speech? Like that’s a bad thing? Yeah, I know. That’s why I liked her.”

“You know wat she should have done?” Zim said. “She should have flown her three dragons to the Red Keep like she wanted to do last season. She could have taken the city with fewer casualties.”

Gaz nodded in agreement. “Maybe even no casualties if King’s Landing surrenders immediately.”

“Then she’d have all three dragons and all the armies in the Seven Kingdoms to fight the White Walkers with!” Zim added.

“Yeah, then maybe there’d be enough time to make the army of the dead live up to the hype! Nice Long Night. Lasted about six hours.”

“What is this show?” Tak asked. “I want to watch.”

“Enough!” Dib burst, jumping out of his seat. “Enough Game of Thrones! If you want to keep complaining, go on the internet and do it! Now can we please get back to you two spilling the secrets of your evil intergalactic empire!”

“There are no more secrets, human,” Tak snapped. “We’ve told all. The only other information I could find is on this.” She reached into her pocket and pulled out a square, plastic information drive. “But this technology is too outdated to decode. So, unless you have access to an ancient computer…”

Dib took the square and held it up to his eyes. “This just looks like a floppy disc.”

“Really, Dib-beast?” Zim scoffed. “Your planet’s technology is antiquated, but it’s not that archaic.”

“Actually, that’s pretty outdated for us too,” Gaz said, “but our dad’s got a computer graveyard in the attic. Maybe we can get one of those to work.”

Tak regarded the disc suspiciously. “You’re serious? You think you might be able to get it to work.”

“It could be possible,” Dib answered, eyeballing the disc. It looked about the right size and shape. It may at least fit into the disc drive. “It wouldn’t be the first time we’ve gotten Irken and Earth technology to work together. It’s worth a shot.”

[-]

After about an hour and a few trips to the attic, they found an old monitor and hard drive they managed to turn on. As the computer booted up, they compared the Irken disc drive to a standard floppy disc. Dib was right. They seemed to match up.

“You really think this has a shot?” Tak asked again. She looked skeptical they whole time the were getting set up, but as the computer whirred to life, Dib thought he could detect a hint of hope in her voice.

“It could,” Gaz answered. “If the magnetic polarity is the same as we use on earth, the computer might be able to read the disc.”

Dib nodded along. While he was good with technology, his area of expertise was more on the engineering side. Gaz was the one with an affinity for coding.

Once the computer was ready, they popped in the drive. They all gathered around the monitor and held their breath. A buffering window popped up on the screen and they let out a collective gasp.

After a few minutes, the picture went black and green Irken text scrolled up across the screen, accompanied by, what sounded to Dib, like a series of chirps, clicks, and hisses. “Um, is it supposed to be making that-”

Tak and Zim threw a sharp hiss in his direction, then went back to staring intently at the screen. When Dib quieted and listened harder, he realized the sounds came from an organic voice and had a deliberate pattern. Holy shit, it’s reading the text! This is their language!

The voice stopped and the screen froze on another set of Irken symbols.

“Oh, my…” Zim choked out, eyes still glued to the screen. “We’ve got to write that down!”

“MiMi,” Tak commanded, “my tablet.”

“Wait, what was that?” Dib asked as he watched the two aliens scramble to scribble down the symbols on the screen. “Was that guy speaking Irken? What did they say?”

“Yes,” Zim answered. “And those are coordinates to the next place we need to go.”

“You mean, I need to go,” Tak cut in. “I’m the one who uncovered the conspiracy, remember?”

Zim scowled and stomped up to her, getting in her face. “You made this my problem when you crashed at my house, drank all my gingzor, and got my base cubified.”

“Why would I ever team up with you?” she shot back.

“I’m every bit as Irken as you are,” Zim argued. “I deserve answers as much as you.”

“Will someone please tell me what that thing said?” Dib shouted. The two stopped their bickering long enough to cast him an icy stare.

“Well,” Dib growled impatiently. If these two thought they were going to force their way into his home, spill ginger ale on his couch, tell him about an intergalactic conspiracy, and not let him in on the details, they had another thing coming.

“This doesn’t concern you, human,” Zim snapped.

“You two waltzed in here expecting me to hide you form your creepy totalitarian government and let you use my lab. Unless you want me to throw you out on your ass…”

“Fine, fine,” Tak said, waving an arm dismissively. “That voice claimed to be Krislotch. He confirmed that he left the clues that lead me to discover the truth about the Control Brains. He also claims more information is waiting on a planet at those coordinates. I must go there next if I want to solve this mystery.”

“We must go there,” Zim but in.

“This is my conspiracy, Zim,” Tak growled, turning back to him. “If there are more answered waiting on that planet, I will be the one to find them.”

“Oh yeah?” he said with a smirk. “How you gonna get there? I’m the only one with a working ship.”

“Dib’s got a ship,” Gaz chimed in. She turned to Tak. “Actually, I think it’s your ship.”

“You!” Before Dib could say anything, Tak had already jumped on the coffee table and grabbed his collar. “You have my ship?!”

“Uhh…”

“Take me to her!”

[-]

“wha-wha…WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!”

They group stood in the garage and stared at the collection of barely-held-together parts, also known as Tak’s ship. Dib had to admit, his last few forays into space hadn’t exactly been smooth sailing.

“It doesn’t look like this all the time,” he tried explaining. “I’ve gotten it to work. But, you know, sometimes things happen… and when they happen, I have to convince the ship to let me fix it again.”

“And why is she blue?”

“Um… I like blue?”

“Stupid human!” Tak spat, rushing up to her ship. “You have no idea what you’ve been toying with!”

“Fine,” Dib grumbled under his breath. “Only repaired it multiple times of the last six years but whatever…”

“Ship,” Tak commanded, laying a hand on the ship’s windshield. “Respond.”

“Biosignature detected,” the ship said as it began to light up. “You are Tak.”

“Yes, yes, ship! It’s me!” she cried. Dib could almost swear there were tears in her eyes.

“Hmpf, what took you so long?”

Tak looked taken aback. “I was, uh, had a lot going on, you know? Schemes and such?”

“And you never once thought to check in on your ship?”

“When I have to eject, I thought I’d lost you forever,” Tak explained, pressing both hands on the windshield. “I never wanted to leave you behind, but I’m here now. I can take you back.”

“Hey, wait a minute…” Dib protested. He started forward, but Gaz pulled him back.

“It’s her ship, dummy.”

“And how exactly did you get here?” Ship went on.

Tak hesitated. “Well, I…”

“I knew it,” Ship huffed. “You have a new ship now, don’t you?”

“It’s not like that,” Tak insisted. “Yes, I needed a new ship to get around, but I swear, it was a simple matter of transport. That ship means nothing to me. I would trade every other ship in the universe for you.”

The ship went quiet, as if thinking it over. Dib found himself oddly captivated, like when he’d accidently get sucked into his grandmother’s soap operas. He quickly shook himself out of it. This is ridiculous. She’s talking to a ship.

“I don’t know what to believe,” Ship finally said.

“I promise, Ship, I will fix you myself and, after that, I will never even look at another ship again.” She gently caressed its side and the engines purred.

“I will allow you to repair me, for now. After that, perhaps I can allow you to pilot me again, in time.”

Tak smiled and continued to pet her ship while it continued to purr. The scene was almost sweet until Zim decided to break it up.

“Well, well, well,” Zim said, a smug smile on his face, “looks like I’m the only one here with an operational ship.”

Tak only hissed in response.

“So, I guess I’ll be taking those coordinates and be on my way,” he continued, “unless someone wants to grovel for the chance to accompany me.”

Tak stomped up to Zim and unleashed a cavalcade of Irken at him. Dib wasn’t sure what she said, but if cricket/bat/snake could cuss someone out, he imagined it’d sound something like that.

“Okay,” Zim squeaked out, looking up at Tak who now towered over him. “I suppose I could let you come, but only because you asked so nicely.”

“I’m coming too,” Dib declared.

Tak and Zim both turned to him with questioning looks on their faces. “Uh, what?” Zim said.

“I’m coming. I want to see what’s on that planet, too.”

“This doesn’t concern you, human,” Tak spat.

“Excuse me? Who’s house are you two crashing at? Who’s ancient computer did you use to get those coordinates? And who’s been keeping your ship running while you’ve been got?”

“We don’t need-” Zim started, but Dib cut him off.

“Yes you do,” he shot back. “You need my lab to get your base working again. You said so yourself. And Tak, you need my garage and my tools if you’re going to fix your ship. If you want to stay here and use my equipment, to fix your stuff, you need to let me in on the conspiracy.”

The two Irkens looked at each other intently, as if holding a telepathic conversation. Dib briefly wondered if they could communicate semi-telepathically, or at least through pheromones. They did have antenna after all.

Finally, they broke their stare down and turned back to Dib. “Fine, the Dib can come,” Zim conceded.

Dib felt a jolt of excitement jump through his body. “Yeah, Gaz and I-”

“Nope,” Gaz said, turning on her heals and heading back inside.

Okay, so no Gaz. Aw well, he could at least count on her to cover for him while he’s gone. “I will get my space travel equipment and be ready to leave within the hour.”

“Yeah, fine, whatever,” Zim said, and he and Tak headed back inside as well. Dib went further into the garage and began preparing the things he’s need for the trip.

“You’re seriously going to let him come along?” Tak asked as they walked away.

“Eh,” Zim said with a shrug. “If the Dib-worm wants to come to a dead planet where total species-wide genocide took place, let him.”

Dib let the helmet he’d been holding clang to the floor. “Wait, what?”

[wherefunsurvives]

The Ultimate College COVID Packing List

Okay kids, you’ve seen the post about packing light for college, so here’s some specifics for all of you incoming freshmen or returning students who will be living on campus! This is NOT the year to bring extra furniture, decorations, etc. This is the year to pack light and be ready to get on out of there at a moment’s notice if you have to. i proudly present to you -

“What to bring and what not to bring when going to college in a global pandemic!!!”

STORAGE

i used to swear by my camp trunk when i packed for school and while a trunk can be useful because it has more space inside it’s going to be harder to take on a plane or bus. If you go for a trunk, make sure its combined dimensions (length+width+height) are 62 inches or less (the size requirement for checked luggage). The ideal size would probably be a 32x17x13 inch trunk.

Instead of trunks or big containers, go for a combination of suitcases and duffle bags. Your goal should be to minimize luggage - you want be able to carry everything through an airport without any help. So let’s say in theory at MOST you should have a combination that looks something like:

2 checked suitcases + 1 checked duffle + 1 carryon duffle + one personal item backpack

1 checked suitcase + 1 checked duffle + 1 carryon suitcase + one personal item backpack

1 checked suitcase + 1 carryon suitcase + 1 personal item duffle

Get creative, mix and match, calculate the costs for each combination, which will vary depending on if you’re flying, taking a bus, driving, or taking a train. 

Checked and carryon luggage should ideally have 4 spinner wheels and a handle, this will make it easier to move all by yourself. Put your duffles around the handles of the luggage so you can carry everything yourself with minimal effort. If you have checked luggage and carryon luggage, consider a bag connector like this one! You can find surprisingly decent luggage at Costco and from Travelpro, which is designed for pilots and flight attendants but has massive markdowns all the time. 

A good duffle should be spacious with multiple compartments or pockets. If you’re an experienced camper or backpacker, maybe use those types of bags! If you’re not, get something that’s 40 liters of space or more. i bought this 50L duffle for $30 and it’s absolutely absurd the amount of stuff i can fit in it.Leave all other storage options at home. 

Don’t bring your own desk, drawers, furniture etc. Use only the furniture provided by the dorm. Don’t even bring a laundry hamper! Get a fabric laundry bag that you can easily fold. 

LEARN HOW TO PACK EFFICIENTLY. Choose your fighter, the army rolling method or the KonMari folding method (Marie Kondo also has a great video on how to organize what you pack and choose only what you need). This will allow you to bring the amount of clothes you need while taking up minimal space. Speaking of which -

CLOTHING

Your goal is to minimize both items and travel (meaning you shouldn’t plan as if you’re going to travel home every break to swap out clothes). Now is a great time to learn how to build a capsule wardrobe of basic items that can be mixed and matched. Keep it simple. Obviously if you’re in a warmer climate, this will be easier. For colleges with seasons, i’d say aim for 2 pairs of jeans or trousers you like, 1 pair of dress pants, and 1-2 pairs of leggings/joggers/comfortable pants. 1 pair of shorts, no more than 2 skirts, no more than 3 dresses (1 nicer, 1 more casual and comfortable). 10-12 shirts or less (include a variety of tanks, tee shirts, long sleeves, button downs, sweaters, etc.) and 3-5 “layers” like a blazer, cardigan, hoodie, etc. 2 pairs of pajamas, one for warmer weather and one for cooler weather. One raincoat, one fall/spring midweight jacket, one good winter coat - if you’re in Chicago, NYC, etc. invest in a warm parka, and i don’t mean Canada Goose. Just something sturdy that will keep you warm.

You’re going to repeat outfits. That’s fine. You’re not going anywhere important and you’ll be spending a lot of time in your room online. Being able to get out is more important than looking cute.

Pack an appropriate amount of underwear, socks, bras, etc. Bring a hat or two, one for sun and a thick beanie for the cold. Bring one tie and one pair of snow gloves if you need either. Bring a scarf or two for cold climates (they can be an extra layer of protection over a mask). If you wear jewelry, choose up to 10 items you really want and put them in a bag or a small portable jewelry box.

You only need 4 pairs of shoes maximum - one pair of sneakers/gym shoes that you could easily walk two miles in. One pair of of easy slip-on slip-off shoes for going to get mail or do laundry (because you don’t want to walk the dorms barefoot these days) and bonus points if they can double as comfortable ‘nice’ shoes such as cheap loafers, TOMS, basic flats, etc. One flip flops or sandals if you’ll be using communal showers and bathrooms. And one pair of boots that can double as rainboots AND snowboots (duckboots are great for this!) You don’t need heels, wedges, or multiple pairs/styles of shoes for the same reason you don’t need multiple dresses or a full tuxedo - you’re not going anywhere this year! Or at least you shouldn’t! Parties, formals, conferences, etc. are all a terrible idea unless you want COVID-19.

What you should have multiples of are masks and gloves! Have a few reusable face masks you can wash (RedBubble has them in every style, almost every clothing brand sells them, and VogMask/Camridge Mask are great options for something a little more heavy duty). Invest in disposable gloves and one pair of reusable gloves such as dish gloves. Some basic eye protection doesn’t hurt either - i love blue light glasses because they provide some coverage while also being great for reducing eye strain during all your Zoom calls!

SUPPLIES

Keep it basic, and that means you too studyblr kids! You don’t want supplies to take up all your space. Buy a spacious pencil case. Buy a basic back of black Bic pens and put 10-15 in. Those things last forever. Put in 5 presharpened pencils and 5 unsharpened pencils. Bring a pencil sharpener, 1 pink eraser, and 10 eraser toppers. The eraser always runs out before the pencil does. Pack 1-2 glue-sticks, 1 pair of good scissors. Fill the rest of it with your non-essential favorites like mildliners, highlighters, felt tip pens, markers etc. But no more than what can fit in the case. And nothing too expensive, just in case you can’t bring it with you.

Small multi-subject notebooks y’all!! Just get one or two. You never use as many pages as you think you will in your notebooks and multiple full size notebooks are a pain to carry and pack. For my last two years of college i would buy 1 or 2 Five Star 5x7 inch notebooks with 5 subjects for each term. They came with pocket folders inside and i never once used all the pages. i’d often re-use at least one from last term into the next term. It also means you never have to run back for a notebook if you’re at the library and want to do homework for that other class because all your notes for all your classes are right there!!

Bring 2 rolls of scotch tape and 1 roll of masking tape in case you need to repair anything. Pack any essential medication you take, a first aid kit with bandaids, wipes, tweezers, etc. Pack 1 small bottle each of ibuprofen, Tylenol or acetaminophen, any multi-vitamin you prefer, and a vitamin C supplement to help keep your immune system strong.

1 pack of pads/tampons. You can buy more when you get to school, save the space for packing.

1 reusable water bottle. Buy plastic ones periodically/accept reusable free ones given to you at school that you can take if you need to go to the doctor/hospital/etc. so you can throw them away if needed afterwards. 1 mug, if you use one. Make it one you’re willing to leave behind if you must.

1 small set of non-breakable plates/bowls and utensils. i like the Ikea KALAS ones because they’re plastic but can be microwaved or put in the dishwasher. And it’s $2 for a set of 6. 1 small set of tupperware - again IKEA has some good cheap options - that is also microwave safe. You’ll want these solely in the event it’s unsafe to eat in the dining halls. This will let you bring food back to your room and eat, save leftovers from the dining hall or takeout orders, etc. Buy a small bottle of dish soap when you get to school to be able to wash your dishes.

If you use liquid detergent, wait to buy until you’re at school. It takes up more space. If you use detergent pods, choose your own adventure. Buy your shampoo and conditioner at school if you can, same with soap. Same thing with toilet paper, paper towels, and so on. Buy it there, be prepared to leave it behind. Do bring hand sanitizer with you though. Keep a small size in your personal item for your travels and always keep some in your bag at school.

2 disposable toothbrushes, 1-2 tubes toothpaste, 2 toothbrush travel cases. Store the toothbrush you’re using in a travel case while at school to try to prevent contamination. If you become sick, throw your toothbrush away once you’re feeling better and thoroughly wash your travel case. Buy new disposable toothbrushes as needed once at school.

A small wallet or zip ID case with a lanyard. Make sure you can fit your state ID/driver’s license, student ID, transit card, insurance card, credit/debit card, and a little cash in it with ease. One with a clear window is great because you can put your student ID in it to easily show it when required without needing to open your wallet up. A lanyard makes it harder to lose and lets you put your keys on it if you have a physical dorm key.

Your phone charger, with a wall plug. And a mobile charger of some kind (many schools give them away at some point during your first few weeks, orientation, etc. TAKE THEM). You don’t need an Apple branded one, you can find sturdy and cheap ones at Target, etc. You’ll want these in case you get stranded anywhere. And you’ll especially want these because if you need to go to the ER/doctor, you never want to let your phone die while you’re there.

1 cheap tote bag or small backpack or knapsack, etc. that you’re not too attached to. This will be your hospital go-bag. Keep a mini-notebook with your name/birthdate, emergency contact information, relevant medical information, etc. written in it in the event you cannot communicate this yourself. Keep one packed and ready. Other helpful things to have in this bag once you’re at school are a pair of shorts, a t-shirt and underwear; a granola bar, and a disposable water bottle.

1 pair of cheap but reliable headphones, ideally with a microphone. In-ear headphones take up less space than over-ear headphones. These will be great if you’re on a Zoom call or something and don’t want to be heard by your neighbors. Also great for listening to music or podcasts in the event you’re at the doctor/hospital, because just like you never want to forget a phone charger, you never want to be without something to listen to while you wait for a few hours.

DORM STUFF

Now is NOT the time to decorate your dorm. i’m sorry, i love a good Pinterest dorm board and DIY project as much as anyone else. My dorm had a whole aesthetic. It was great. But it was a nightmare to pack up when COVID hit.

All you really need is a duvet/comforter, 1 set of sheets (ideally dark color so they won’t stain, just make sure you wash them regularly), and 1 pillow.

If you want stuff on your walls, don’t bring anything. When you get to school, you’ll likely get some free swag like a college pennant you can put up. Or at the least you’ll get a bunch of papers and maps and things. Hang up the maps. Make them look cool. Draw or do calligraphy on the blank sides of the papers for DIY art and signs. Order a wall calendar with fun art or images on it. Go to Walgreen’s website and use their photo system to order a bunch of photo prints. They almost always have a discount offer happening which makes it super cheap. You can upload photos of your friends and family to surround yourself with nice memories, or upload pictures of art, landscapes, quotes, images you found on Pinterest, your celebrity crush, and literally anything else. Voila, wall decorations.

The key here is to never put up too many things. Everything you put up should be able to be taken down in 15 minutes or less and without any help.

If you really really want some decoration - buy a cheap thing of string lights from Target or something to put up. They add ambiance without much effort and don’t take up too much space. If your room is freezing with concrete floors, a small rug can help if you really think you need one. But - and you already know what i’m gonna say - BUY THEM THERE AND BE READY TO LEAVE THEM BEHIND.

No chairs. No hammocks. No lamps. No furniture. No bulletin boards. No extra bookshelves. Keep it as simple as possible.

The caveat is to bring one small grounding item from home. Maybe it’s a souvenir from a vacation you took. A mug your mom got you. A framed photo of your best friends. Choose one, and make sure it is small.

BOOKS, ETC.

Buy your class books once you get there, either from the campus bookstore, a local bookstore, ThriftBooks, Amazon (if you really must), etc. Or download them online ;) Either way, they’ll take up space while going to school so just get them later unless you have to do reading in advance.

As a book lover it pains me to say this but leave your books at home. Bring at most 4 books with you to school. i’d recommend at least one you haven’t read yet and at least one that’s a “comfort” book you like to reread. Books are one of the hardest things to move and you won’t have that much free time anyways.

Pick one hobby to pack for, and keep it basic. If you like drawing, make it 1 small sketchbook and a mini-pack of colored pencils, markers, watercolors, or crayons. If it’s photography, make it 1 single camera with 1 lens. If you like gaming, bring something small like a Switch lite. If you need a hobby to keep you busy inside, grab yourself a pair of wooden/bamboo knitting needles or a crochet hook, 1 ball of yarn, and go wild. The bottom line is only what you absolutely have to have to not lose your mind.

Have 1 large (32 GB or more) flash drive or SD card to back up your files from your laptop or tablet onto. This will be a huge help in the event something happens to your computer.

Finally, always have a plan with friends/family in the event you need to evacuate. How will you decide if you need to leave? How will you get home/to a safe place? Who will help you get there? How will you afford it? And so on.

Feel free to add anything tips that might be useful!

[whatsseobb]

More Than Meets The Eye (Crystal x Gigi Fanfic) - Chapter 5

AO3 Link

[A/N: Updates are still slow but thank you really for waiting. I’m sorry.

I hope you enjoy this fic and leave me your thoughts!!]

Synopsis:

Too bad that you couldn’t see See the girl Crystal could be There is more that meets the eye I see the soul that is inside~

Based from Avril Lavigne’s Sk8ter Boi but with different twists.

Chapter Five - Partners

The whole class was slowly coming inside their classroom by the second floor of the building. The students’ noises surrounded the floor, some were walking by the halls with their friends and chatting on their way to their rooms, there were a few who rushed around with their projects for their subject, some were chilling as they gathered on their friends’ table and giggled about boys and celebrities. At the back of the room, there were a few boys tossing their football around, mindlessly playing and not thinking of the students around them that they may hit with their ball. It was utter chaos.

“See you later.” A cheery voice bid goodbye to her friend as she and her group walked towards their classroom. A tall blonde girl appeared on the door, hugging her books close to her chest as she entered the small yet crowded classroom. She made her way to her seat by the second row in the middle of the class. She settled her books on top of her table and fixed her place as she readied herself for class. She was minding her own business when she felt a light object hit her shoulder, almost missing the back of her head. She looked at the direction where it came from and saw a bright-haired girl with a nose ring.

“Crystal!” The girl stood up from her seat and walked to the back of the classroom where her newly-found friend sat. She settled on the seat in front of her, facing her and resting her chin on the back of the chair. “So this is why you are familiar.”

“What do you mean?” The sapphire-haired girl brushed her fingers through her hair as she rested her back and slouching slightly on her seat.

“I mean when I saw you last Friday, I knew I met you somewhere.”

“I’m surprised you even notice me.” The two shared a laugh as they both glanced at the door, waiting for their teacher.

“Barely did I. You’re always sleeping here. Tsk.” Gigi shook her head jokingly as she looked at the other girl. “Better not sleep today. You have to listen to Ms. Visage.”

Crystal smiled as she noticed the other talking much more than she was used to, especially after the lunch they shared yesterday. It was something she was getting confused still, the other’s varying personality. Sometimes, she was talkative while most of the time, she appeared to be shy. She was enjoying this kind of Gigi though, the one who was willing to continue a conversation rather than the girl who was silently playing with her cup while staring at the horizon. She looked at her and muttered, “Maybe I do have a reason not to sleep anymore.”

Their conversation was interrupted when they noticed the other students hurried back to their seats as their teacher made her way towards their classroom. Gigi quickly stood up, flashing a soft smile towards her new friend, before she walked to her seat in the middle of the classroom. Crystal had her eyes on her back as she moved to her seat, the corners of her lips slowly forming a happy curve. She continued sitting upright, which wasn’t what her usual routine was when the teacher arrives to class. She would either be caught sleeping or looking down on her notebook and doodling. Well, not this time.

“So good morning, class. Today, I’ll discuss with you your upcoming project. I am fully aware you all are looking forward to a free winter break and that is why I am giving this as early as now. You have to create a book report and prepare a presentation. It’s not just you reading your book report in class but you and your partner must create a movie poster about the book you will be assigned to. Use your creative minds to portray what the story is about in your posters.”

A student raised his hand, making Ms. Visage sigh before continuing, “Yes, Mark. This project is to be done with a pair. You get the freedom to choose your partner. Now, go find a partner and sit with them for the rest of the class to discuss your plans.”

The classroom was surrounded with loud chatters as most stood up and looked for their partner. Most of them paired up with their friends, some were having a small discord at the corner because they were three in a group and were deciding who would be partners with who.

The blonde was about to approach her seatmate when her classmate stood up and went to sit with her boyfriend. She bit her lower lip as she looked around the classroom, building up courage to ask a classmate to be her project partner. She was surprised when she heard a notebook dropped on the table beside her before a figure sat down on her seatmate’s chair.

“Partners?” The skater girl offered her a kind smile, holding her hand out for her as Gigi accepted the proposal and shook Crystal’s hand. They all waited for the class to settle down, the blonde taking down some notes on her notebook for their upcoming project. “I wonder which book we will be getting.”

The Literature teacher walked around the room to each pair, making them pick a piece of paper from a small jar. It contained the book they would be assigned to for the project. Crystal nodded at Gigi, signaling her to be the one to pick a paper for their pair.

“We have The Great Gatsby.” The blonde pushed the small piece of paper to the other girl which she kept inside her pocket. Gigi wrote it down on her notebook before she turned to Crystal. “So when are you planning to start on this project?”

“Are you free after class? I am also planning to buy some art supplies by the mall. Maybe we can talk about it.” The taller girl tapped her fingers on top of her desk before nodding.

“Okay, I’ll see you later then. I have to pass by the library to borrow a copy of the book.”

“Wait for me there then, 4 in the afternoon?”

 The day was getting slower as the sapphire-haired girl kept looking at her watch, waiting for the bell to ring as she could hurry towards the library to wait for the other girl. She was in her last class for the day. As per usual, she was not listening in class and instead was looking down on her phone, texting Daya.

Daya: Bio teacher dismissed us early. See u later?

Crystal: Cant watch your practice today. Going to the mall. : )

Daya: Aw. : ( Ok. See u tom.

Crystal: Good luck and have fun! U’ll rock it, for sure.

As the bell rang, the teenager immediately got up and hurried to her locker to return some of her notebooks before getting her things as she walked straight to the library. She sat by the bench outside, glancing at the door from time to time, waiting for the tall blonde.

It took a few minutes before she saw someone open the door of the library, a pair of students making their way out.

“I’ll see you later, Geege.” A low voice spoke before he bid goodbye to her friend. Crystal’s eyebrows jerked as she watched the tall masculine figure walk away.

“Oh hey, Crystal!” The blonde walked towards the bench where her friend was sitting on. She had some books in her hand which she put inside her bag beside the sapphire-haired girl.

“Who was that?”

“Eli.” The guy was attractive, with his blond hair styled into a clean pompadour, his prominent chiseled jaw paired with his sky blue eyes that surely would make any person have a second look back at him. Crystal felt a slight, unknown feeling at the pit of her stomach as she watched the girl in front of her fix her books. All that escaped her mouth was a soft “oh.”

“We are gonna be quick at the mall, right? He promised to buy me dinner later so I’ll just meet him there at 6. Maybe you could join us, if you’re free.” The girl squinted her eyes before glancing at her wrist watch.

“I don’t think I can join you. We should get going if you wanna make it on time for your dinner with Eli.” She had no idea why she emphasized on saying the guy’s name which the other girl didn’t even notice. They walked together side by side towards the school’s gate, heading to the mall nearby.

 The pair first went to the supplies store, their conversation still full of their plans for their project. Crystal was surprised to see Gigi getting excited with it, laughing as the taller girl showed her a list of the materials that they would be getting from the art supplies shop. Seeing the excitement in the girl’s eyes made her captivated by the dedication Gigi was putting in their project. At first, Crystal was nervous to be working with her, even if she was the one who asked her to be her partner. But as they continued working on their plan, she got more and more excited, not just to do the work but also to be with the ballerina.

After buying all the things they needed, the two went out of the art supplies store with bags in hand. They took a stroll around the mall, looking at the different store windows when something caught Gigi’s eyes. She wrapped her arm around the skater girl before pulling her inside a small bookstore. “Come with me.”

“Hold your horses, Gee. We have a lot of time left.” Crystal chuckled as she let the taller girl pull her inside the shop. They walked around, picking up a few books and scanning them.

“I need to find Jac- I mean, I need to find a gift for Christmas.” Her eyes quickly skimmed over the book titles, looking for the perfect present for their exchange gift. “Maybe something like empowerment or I don’t know… what do editors like? Hmm, fine. I think you know already who I’m talking about. So what do you think Jackie will like?”

“Jackie? Well lately she’s been liking detective cases. Like Sherlock Holmes type of books. I think they have something like that around here.” Crystal walked around to the thriller books, looking at the books to help her friend. She glanced over the shelves to look at Gigi who was too focused into finding the best gift for her new friend. The serious look on the ballerina’s face made her crack a smile which she quickly shook off. She called Gigi’s attention, pointing at a shelf full of writing pads. “Or maybe not necessarily a book? You can get her one of those planners. She loves those.”

“How about you? Have you bought a gift for the Secret Santa?” Her eyes were locked at the bookshelves as she spoke with Crystal.

“Not yet really.”

“Oh. Good luck with that, Crystal.” The taller girl held a book close to her face as she read the synopsis at the back before shaking her head and putting it back to the shelf.

Crystal walked to a different shelf, scanning the range of books before her eyes, smiling slightly as her eyes caught the girl with her. The sound of her soft voice saying her name echoed inside her mind. There was just a weird feeling she can’t explain as she looked at her. All she knew for now was that she’s enjoying her company. She continued walking around, seeing a book entitled Denial. She picked up before walking up to the in front of Gigi, standing on the other side. “Hey. I have a question for you.”

“Mhm?” The other girl didn’t look up to where Crystal was, her eyes still glancing over the books.

“I didn’t know we can also find Denial River here. I thought it’s just in Egypt.” The taller girl jerked an eyebrow while Crystal was trying to hide the laughter she has been holding in as she showed the book to the other girl. Gigi looked up and rolled her eyes, a snicker escaping her lips.

“You are so funny, ha ha Crystal.”

Crystal picked another book with a green leaf on it as a cover. She put it beside her face, showing a small pout. “Aww. Should I just leaf you alone?”

The taller girl looked around and her eyes lit up as she saw two books. She pulled it out of the shelf, showing it one by one as she replied to the skater girl. “Hey, donut dare leave me yet. We have a lot to taco ‘bout.”

“Wow, Gee. You’re catching up.” Crystal followed Gigi to the shelves with foods, laughing as she got another book to show to her. “I didn’t know you’re good at this. You’re a latte fun to talk with. But you’ve got muffin on me.” The shorter girl showed a book about coffee shops with the pastry and a cup of coffee on the cover, the other girl covering her mouth as she tried to conceal her giggles.

The ballerina picked up a book about cheese, smiling as she showed it to Crystal. “Don’t you know it? I’m actually gouda this.”

The two continued exchanging puns, their laughter echoing through the small corner of the bookstore they were in. Crystal was getting lost as she watched the other laugh at her jokes. She enjoyed the sound of her giggles, making her smile as she watch the taller girl cover her laughs and scrambling to find a comeback for her puns.

“I seriously didn’t expect you to be this punny, Crystal. Well, pun intended.” The pair couldn’t stop laughing as they made their way to the cashier to pay for the colorful journal notebook alongside a short mystery book Gigi got for their exchange gift.

Crystal followed along, standing beside her as she watch the taller girl pay. She saw her take out a colorful yet worn out coin purse. “Wow, that wallet looks nice.”

“Thanks. I made this back in middle school for a project. It’s quite old and dirty already, I know.” She offered her a smile as she took the bag with her purchased items. “Shall we get going?”

The two were about to go out of the store when Gigi felt her phone ringing inside her bag. Crystal took the bag from her to help her out as she answered the call. She followed the taller girl as she walked out of the story, talking on her phone. The shorter girl glanced at her wrist watch and noticed the time. 7:04 pm

“Oh my, I completely forgot about Eli! I didn’t notice him calling me.” Gigi showed her phone screen to Crystal, reading 3 missed calls from the guy she was supposed to have dinner with. “He said he went to his teammates instead because they have a quick meeting.”

The skater girl wanted to feel bad for Gigi missing her dinner date with the tall athlete but she couldn’t understand the hint of happiness inside her mind when she realized Gigi spent time with her instead. She shook her head, trying to get rid of the thought as she followed the taller girl towards the exit. “I think we should head home. I’ll see you tomorrow then?”

“Yup! Text me when you arrive home safe. See you!” Gigi waved her goodbye after she got the bag from Crystal, flashing her sweet smile as she walked towards the bus stop. The shorter girl couldn’t stop herself from smiling as she fixed the bags in her hand and tried to fit them inside her backpack, taking her skateboard and skated her way home. Whatever it was that was building inside her chest for the ballerina was giving her warmth through that winter night.

[A/N: Okay, maybe I went too far with the puns but I like puns, please bear with me. Hahahaha. I just find them cute with those puns. Okay bye! Hope you enjoyed.]

[snappedsky]

Fanatics 72

Devi and Johnny attend a fancy party. Previous! Next!

--

The Social

           “-it’d be a great opportunity-.”

           “Mom…”

           “-there’ll be lots of people-.”

           “Mom.”

           “-you might even meet a man-.”

           “Mom!”

           Devi buries her face in her hands. During their one year trip through space, she found herself missing her family and resolved to visit them when she returned. Now she’s very much regretting that decision.

           “I’ve told you a million times,” Devi says sternly, “I hate. Going. To parties.”

           “I know, dear,” her mom, Marylyn, replies calmly, “but after your yearlong disappearance, don’t you think it’s time you finally did something with your life?”            Devi groans. She didn’t tell her parents the truth behind her trip- not that they’d believe it- so they think she just went on some kind of pilgrimage. Which actually isn’t that far off.

           “I am gonna do something with my life,” Devi insists, “I’m an artist, remember.”            “But when was the last time you made any money off your art?” Marylyn asks.

           She sputters, offended. “We-it-it-I-I haven’t a chance yet. I just got back two weeks ago. Things will pick up.”

           “Devi,” Marylyn says sternly, “I really wish you could follow your dreams but you need to be realistic. You have bills to pay, groceries to buy. You don’t wanna end up homeless, peddling your paintings on the street, do you?”

           Devi groans with annoyance.

           “Now, at this social, there will be plenty of upper management workers for many high level businesses,” she continues, “if you were to meet them, they could put in a good word for you and you could get a very high paying job.”

           “Great, be a desk jockey,” Devi growls, “I’d rather slit my wrists.”

           “Okay, that’s enough,” Devi’s dad, Roger, finally speaks up. “Marylyn, if she doesn’t want to go to the party, you can’t make her. But, Devi, your mother is right. You need to be more realistic and consider your future.”            Devi looks away, seething with irritation.

           Later that night, she’s lying on the floor of her studio, flipping a paintbrush between her fingers.

           Making a living through her art has always been the plan and it’s always been hard. She’s had moments of weakness but she’s never wanted to give up. And where has it gotten her? The only job she had that involved painting was with NERVE Publishing, and that sure didn’t work out.

           Sighing heavily, she stares at the blank canvas hanging over her. Mocking her with its blankness. Her dad’s words swirl around in her mind. He’s always been so supportive of her. Have things really gotten so bad that even he’s losing hope?

           She sighs again, dropping the paintbrush.

---

           “You want me to what?” Johnny asks incredulously.

           “Don’t make me repeat myself,” Devi groans.

           “A party? Really?”

           “Not a party, a social.”

           “What’s the difference?”

           “It’s fancier,” Tenna remarks, leaning over the arm of his couch.

           Johnny groans, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Why me?”

           “I don’t wanna go alone,” Devi replies, “and I can’t bring Tenna. She’ll stand out too much.”

           “And I won’t?” he scoffs, “people go out of their way to stare at me in restaurants.”

           “You at least know how to be quiet,” she argues.

           “Whaddya mean?” Tenna snorts, “I can be hella quiet.”            They both stare at her incredulously before Devi looks back at Johnny. “Look, just…come with me, please?”

           Johnny groans loudly and immaturely. “What day is it?”

           “Saturday.”

           “That’s in two days!”

           “It’s tomorrow.”

           “Fuck!”

           “What’s all this screaming about?” Cammie asks as she rolls in from the kitchen.

           “Johnny is accompanying Devi to a social,” Tenna replies.

           “Oh, wow, that takes me back,” she snorts, “I had to attend a ton of socials with my parents when I was about your age. Don’t you worry, Devi, I’ll get him cleaned up for it. You won’t even recognize him.”

           “Thanks, Cammie,” Devi smiles weakly, “it starts at 8 so you’ll have to pick me up at 5:30, just to be safe.”            “Ugh, fine,” Johnny groans, folding his arms like a scolded toddler.

           That Saturday evening, Devi does some last minute touch-ups to her makeup in the bathroom. Or she tries to, but her hands are shaking too much. So she just grips the counter in aggravation.

           “This is a bad idea,” she states.

           “Hey, maybe you’ll have fun,” Tenna suggests, leaning against the doorway.

           “Not likely,” Devi grunts as she slips by her.

           Stopping in the living room, she incessantly taps her foot and checks the time. It’s not 5:30 yet but Johnny is always late. She can’t afford to be late to this thing if she wants to make a good first impression.

           She groans and squeezes her arms as she paces around.

           “Look, D, if you don’t wanna go to this thing, then don’t,” Tenna says.

           “No, no, I-I wanna go,” Devi insists, “or…at least I should.”

           “But you’re like super stressed.”            “It’s just because I haven’t been to any kind of social event since before we went to space,” she points out, “I’ll be fine once I’m there…probably.”

           They both perk up at a knock at the door.

           “Ooh, I’ll get it,” Tenna chirps and races over. Devi stays where she is, sighing heavily and hanging her head. She looks up when Tenna exclaims excitedly and steps aside, gesturing dramatically.

           “M’lady, your date,” she says as Johnny walks in. He’s dressed in a three piece black suit and tie with his hair smoothed back. He’d be almost unrecognizable if it wasn’t for his permanent scowl and pouty slouch.

           “Don’t call me that,” he growls and faces Devi. His scowl disappears in a flash when he sees her. Her black hair has been styled to have tight curls at the ends and she’s wearing dark purple lipstick to match her beautiful purple dress with spaghetti straps and a slit up the right side, with black pumps.

           “What?” she grunts, starting to feel a little self-conscious.

           “Nothing,” he says quickly, looking away. “You uh look nice.”

           “Oh. Thanks,” she replies, “uh so do you.”            They both stare at the floor in awkward silence.

           “You two are so cute,” Tenna comments, popping up in between them before pushing them out the door. “Now get out there and have fun, you crazy kids.”

           As they both stumble into the hallway, she slams the door behind them and they look back incredulously.

           “She knows that’s my apartment, right,” Devi grunts.

           They both shrug apathetically and head out.

           After getting into Johnny’s car, they begin the 1-2 hour drive across the city, depending on the traffic which is always bad. They’re mostly quiet and just listen to the radio. But the sound of Devi’s incessant tapping on her arms catches Johnny’s attention, and he eyes her curiously.

           “So why do you wanna go to this thing?” he asks, “doesn’t seem like you.”

           Devi hesitates for a second. “…I just thought I should try meeting some people.”            “But you hate people,” he points out.

           “Yeah,” she sighs, “but it’s…I don’t know. Important, I guess.”

           “Hmm,” Johnny grunts, unconvinced, but drops the subject. For now.

          They arrive at the venue around eight o’clock. It’s in a penthouse of a fancy, expensive hotel. As they pull into the parking lot, Johnny eyes everyone going inside with disgust.

           “Prissy, self-important, sticks-up-their-asses…” he mumbles incessantly.

           “Be nice,” Devi warns, “or at least don’t do anything.”            They exit the car and go into the hotel. Both of them immediately feel out of place in such an expensive looking place, like if they just look at a vase for too long it might crack.

           They walk briskly to the elevator and enter it with two other couples in nice clothing.

           “Are you going to the social too?” one of the women asks.

           “Uh yeah,” Devi replies, smiling awkwardly.

           “I’ve never seen you there before. First time?”

           “Yes.”

           “Oh, you’ll enjoy it. It’s simply lovely. Good food, nice folk.”

           “Th-that’s good,” Devi comments, trying to be polite. Meanwhile Johnny doesn’t even try to mask his scowl.

           The elevator arrives and they exit into a large room. On the far wall is a giant window overlooking the city; the wall to their left has a doorway leading to a big balcony. In the middle of the room is a long table with lots of different kinds of finger foods and punch. And clustered throughout are groupings of rich folk, their chatter mixing into a cacophony of “stock market” and “economy”.

           Directly outside the elevator is a suited man with a notebook who is checking off the names of guests.

           “Hello there,” he says politely as Devi and Johnny approach. “Names please?”

           “Um Devi D,” she replies.

           “Ah yes, your mother said you were coming,” he says and Devi visibly cringes. “And this is?”

           “Uh this is Johnny, my…um…”            “Date?”

           They both rankle at the word but don’t argue and he marks down Johnny’s name.

           “Okay, enjoy the party,” he says and they pass.

           “Hoooookay,” Devi sighs heavily as she looks around. Most everyone is grouped up, like a middle school dance. But there are a few by themselves at the food table. They seem to be scanning the room, like her, but more analytically and less fearfully.

           A rustling by her side breaks Devi’s train of thought and she glares at Johnny as he tugs at his tie.

           “Would you stop that,” she hisses.

           “I hate it,” he whines, “a noose is more comfortable.”

           “Just-.” She smacks his hand away and takes a deep breath. “Just stay here and don’t do anything.”

           He huffs and folds his arms as she walks away to the food table.

           “Be confident,” she tells herself as she approaches a well-dressed man holding a glass of punch.

           “Hello,” she says, waving to him. “I’m Devi.”

          Her skin crawls as he looks her up and down, but she maintains her smile and he smiles back.

           “Hello, Devi,” he says and shakes her hand. “I’m James. It’s a pleasure.”

           “Likewise,” she replies, “so, James, what is it you do?”

           “I am so glad you asked,” he purrs and hands her a business card. “I am CEO of High Rise Banks.”

           “High Rise?” Devi questions as she looks at his card. They were the second biggest bank in the city, before Mussolini banks went under.

           “Yes,” James says proudly, “as you can imagine, our stocks have really risen since Celio Mussolini passed, may he rest in peace.”

           “Uh, he’s not dead,” she points out.

           “Yes, but he might as well be. His reputation is ruined.”

           Devi struggles not to roll her eyes and smiles instead. “That’s really interesting, James. I bet working in such a…lucrative bank is a great opportunity.”

           “It sure is,” he beams, “and a beautiful woman such as yourself would be a great secretary. Why don’t you give me a call sometime and we’ll set up an interview?”

           Devi fights every urge in her body to gut-punch the creep and maintains her smile. “Great. Happy to.”

           “Fantastic,” James purrs before walking away.

            As soon as he’s gone, a heavy sigh heaves through Devi’s body and her smile drops like a ten ton weight. She looks at the business card again. This is good. She probably has a high chance of receiving a job now because of this. It’s good…right?

           A heavy pit grows in her stomach as she stares at the card and she sighs again.

           “What’s that?”

           “Fu-!” she bites her tongue to keep from shouting ‘Fuck!’ as she spins around to Johnny, peeking over her shoulder.

           “I told you to stay put,” she hisses.

           “I saw you talking to that guy and got curious,” Nny shrugs, “I caught most of it. You were really talking out your ass. You don’t care about ‘High End Banks’ or whatever the fuck.”

           “No,” Devi admits as she pockets the card. “But I need a job.”

           “So you wanna work with these pretentious assholes?”

           “It’s not about what I wanna do, it’s about what I have to do,” she states and turns away. “Why don’t you eat some snacks or something and don’t bother me.”

           Johnny watches her walk away, eyes narrowing suspiciously.

           Devi spends about an hour talking to people around the party. She didn’t notice before, but most of them are rich, self-important, pompous, creepy white men, sometimes with pretty women hanging off their shoulders like a trophy. And they’re always happy to talk to another beautiful woman, especially when she keeps smiling at everything they say.

           It really leaves a disgusting taste in Devi’s mouth.

           Johnny watches the whole thing from the table, scrutinizingly observing Devi’s every move. He refuses to interfere, even when a group of women hanging around one older man laugh and insult her like teen girls, and she doesn’t snap back. Not even when another man gets a little too close into her personal space and she doesn’t even step back.

           But Johnny can feel himself at his limit when a third man starts getting too touchy. He takes Devi’s hand and starts rubbing her arm. Johnny spots Devi’s other hand twitching, like she wants to slap him. But she doesn’t.

           As the man reaches her shoulder, Johnny steps in, grabbing his arm and pulling it back.

           “Johnny!” Devi exclaims.

           “Who the-!” the man starts to bark but freezes up when Johnny glares at him. Johnny lets go of his limp arm and leads Devi away, despite her protests.

           “Johnny! Stop! What are you-!” she snaps as he leads her out onto the balcony, letting her go as he closes the door behind them.

           “Why didn’t you punch that guy?” he asks, “I can tell you wanted to.”

           “Of course I fucking wanted to,” she snaps, “I want to punch everyone in there! But I can’t. I’m trying to get these people to like me. And I told you to stop bothering me!”

           “Then why’d you bring me here!”

           She stops, unable to answer.

           Johnny takes a deep breath to calm down. “Look. The only reason I didn’t snap that guy’s arm and disembowel him with the punch ladle is because I know this is important to you. But I’m not just gonna watch you degrade yourself.”

           “What choice do I have?” she asks hopelessly, “nothing has been working out the way I want it to. I need a job if I’m gonna survive and art is just…is not working out.”

           “Have you even tried?” Johnny asks, “we just got back from space like a week ago.”

           “Two weeks.”

           “Whatever.”

           Devi sighs and looks off the balcony silently, rubbing her arms from the chill of the night air.

           “Why are you trying to be this person?” Nny asks, “what happened to the badass Devi who never took anyone’s shit? Who helped sabotage an alien ship? Who kicked my ass?”

           Devi chuckles lightly but quickly grows somber again. “I don’t know. Maybe my parents are in my head but…I just think…maybe I should start acting like an adult.”

           “And who decided this is what being an adult is?” he questions, gesturing to the party. “Granted, I don’t know what it is, but it doesn’t have to be this. Right?”

           She doesn’t reply, just looks into the party forlornly.

           Johnny sighs and leans against the railing, folding his arms. “Look, I’m not gonna tell you how to live your life. If this is what you want, I’ll…I’ll stay out of it.”

           Devi smiles at him gratefully and looks back at the party, then at the city skyline off the balcony. What does she want?            “Right now…” she mumbles, “all I want is to…enjoy this view.”

           Johnny looks at her with surprise before turning to the city. “It is a nice view.”            They stare a second longer when the door opens.

           “Devi, everything okay?” James asks as he walks out.

           “Uh, yeah,” she replies, “everything’s fine.”

           “That’s good,” he says, “so, listen, why don’t you join me at my after party at my house? Some other guests are coming, as well as some friends.”

           “Ah, no, I don’t think so,” Devi says, staring at the floor.

           “Oh, come on,” James insists and steps closer. Johnny’s eyes narrow angrily but he forces himself to stay put. “A pretty girl like you; you’d be the center of attention.”

           James reaches forward and gently brushes his finger against Devi’s cheek, and her patience snapping is nearly audible.

           She slaps James across the face, knocking him off his feet. He’s so in shock, he doesn’t even move; just lies there, rubbing his aching cheek. Johnny is surprised too by her sudden shift, but even more pleased.

           “That’s it. That’s fucking it!” Devi shouts as she leaves the balcony, everyone staring at her with bewilderment. “Fuck this shit! I am sick of trying to live my life everyone else’s way. I’m gonna become a freelance artist even if it kills me!”

           She stomps to the food table, taking out all the business cards she’s earned tonight, tearing them to pieces, and dropping them in the punch bowl.

           “Johnny!” she barks.

           “Coming,” he chimes, stepping over the still shocked James- but not before giving him a quick kick in the gut- and racing after her. They enter the elevator and leave behind a really stunned party.

           They’re quiet as they get into Johnny’s car and drive away. Then Nny asks, “so…what now?”

           Devi takes a couple deep breaths, running her fingers through her hair. “I know where we should go.”

           A little while later, they arrive at the hill where they had their first date, a long time ago. Leaving behind their uncomfortable shoes, as well as Johnny’s tie and coat, they get out and sit on the hood.

           Devi breathes the air deeply before stretching and sighing happily, lying back against the windshield.

           “Fuck,” she breathes, “it feels like…a huge weight was just removed from my shoulders. What a waste of time all that was.”

           “Yeah,” Nny agrees, “still, pretty worth it to see you floor that asshole.”

           “Yeah,” she chuckles.

           They’re quiet for a second as they stare at the stars.

           “Thanks for coming with me,” Devi says.

           “No problem,” Nny replies.

[silentpenlover07]

@adelinemwriting

Memorable Surprises

 

“ To you,

For you always make me smile. The way you’d walk in every time we have the same class.

You may find this cheesy, but that ordinary classroom door become gates to Christian heavens. Glowing, beautiful, heavenly. Or maybe gates to Ancient Egyptians’ heaven, who believes that once our souls reach its gates will they be asked 2 questions, and their answers will decide if they will admit you or throw you out.

Nonetheless, I’d like you to know through this letter, even if no one writes letters anymore and from a girl written to you, a boy in this case I would like to honestly tell you that my heart is always a rent-free place for you. To you”.

I have to stop writing before you totally think I’m weird and creepy. But sincerely, I liked you since we were freshmen students.

-D.

P.S.

I saw you one time at a convenience store buying 3 of these gummy bears. I wasn’t stalking, though, I promise.

Sitting in his slightly vandalized armchair at Literature class, Marco Hernandez quietly, read and finished the letter, then stared at the mini bags of gummy bear. After reading the post script, he laid the letter back to the armrest then he tapped his right pointer finger, leaned back for a few seconds. Continuously, he taps his finger, his eyes looked around. There are forty chairs in that classroom. Divided into 2, with 5 chairs each row.

Three classmates, One lady sits on their chair 2 rows apart from him by the right side, looking at an online store. 2 chairs apart and the second one, also a lady who is reading a book. The third classmate is gay. Who isn’t effeminate, is intelligent but gets annoyed quickly. Beside their gay classmate are two other bags placed in individual seats. A handbag and the other a backpack of his gal pal / BFF. All of them flamboyant as can be.

Marco stopped at that point. Donna the gay classmate probably made the letter with gummy bears, as he remembered noticing how this classmate has been “coincidentally” in the convenience store with him last week while he bought gummy bears.  The letter says “D.” in the end. Although his real name is Brando “Donna” Derano. Whatever. He said to himself. I’m gonna eat these gummy bears, and quickly he picked up the 1st bag, opened it carefully and picked the very first red gummy bear he can reach out from the mini bag. He bit the legs first, then the arms, afterwards the torso. Finally, with only the poor gummy bear’s head left, he gently pushed it into his mouth, and while he does he looks at Donna.

Marco is a sophomore student of Civil Engineering. He took his literature subject this semester to make sure next year that he will be focused on his major subjects.

Donna or Brando is also a sophomore, but he studies Psychology. He dresses up like any other man. He’s intelligent, and their professor Mr. Bravo commends him usually. But Donna ignores him whenever they cross paths. They have been classmates at biology class from last year’s first semester. Same with Addi, Em and his secret crush, Ella.

 

He finished the first bag of it, while puzzled at Donna. Is Donna really into him? Why is Donna into him in the first place when he, Marco Hernandez, is just a typical college classmate whose fashion sense is in between lame and trendy most of the time.

 He then opened the second one. Then continues thinking, if Donna goes to him and says what he wrote in the letter personally. Right in front of him, face to face. “Maybe I’d say yes to one date’’, he thought. Marco, never having encountered this situation before, cannot decide what to do when and if Donna finally reaches out to him one on one. Perhaps a single day to hang out, maybe with Donna’s friends Adeline and Emma. They are all nice. Though really, Donna is moodier than the two but well, if he should be hanging out for a day, most likely he will be able to have the best of moods. Even just for one day.

“Alright, no expectations, but if Donna would ask, I might just oblige for one group date.”

He devoured the whole yellow gummy bear he held with his left pointer finger and thumb. Alas, the whole three mini bags were empty. He took the love letter and placed it in between pages of his notebook.

And then 3 girl classmates came in the door.  Addi and Em, followed by their nerdy-ish classmate, the simply pretty Ella Denise Gomez. A second year Business Administration student. Who happens to sit next to him every literature class as they are seated in alphabetical order. According to their literature professor, it makes that seating arrangement easy for him to check attendance.

Addi and Em sat straight next to Donna. And Ella walk towards her seat, right next to him. She was all smiles for a good 5 seconds and then it quickly changed. Her eyes widened, she gently placed her bag on her chair. Then she asked him, “Uh, Marco, did you see a piece of paper and some gummy bears in your chair?” She looked a bit panicky. “No, I just got here a few minutes ago.” He alibied.

“Oh my gosh. I think I left it here “ said Ella. “ I was to put it in Mr. Bravo’s office table after class secretly, I mean uh—secretly I’m gonna ask help for, for, uh my, younger brother’s high school literature class you know.”  Anyway, I know you didn’t take them, not specially ate those gummy bears for Mr. Bravo as my token of gratitude for “secretly asking for helpt. Right? Ella was red in the face.

 

“Right”. Marco grinned like a dog. “ ’D’ for Denise off course!! ”. Marco sat their numb, with quiet humiliation.

[akaashirabu]

serenity • akaashi keiji (Pt. 4)

The Tokyo sky was in a beautiful color of orange and the quiet girl can't help but admire it. She likes sunsets and now she just badly want to go home and draw but here she was stuck with her dumbass brother.

"Hey F/N, when I told you this morning that you should make new friends, I didn't mean make new boy friends!" her brother nags.

F/N looked at him weirdly. "Stop saying it like that, you're making it sound weird and they're not my friends."

"Well, to you they're not but by the way that one dude talks to you earlier, he certainly thinks you are friends." —— "I know how boys think so I suggest you not get closer to them." He continues to nag.

F/N rolls her eyes at his brother; acting like an overprotective brother at a time like this is unnecessary.

"Say Nii-san, you do realize we can just lie to mom about taking me around the city and go home already right?" she says, totally tired of putting up with his idiot of a brother.

"Hey don't change the subject! And no, we can't go home yet. I need to go to the game store and buy something."

F/N can't help but scowl. Of course that was his motive after all.

They arrived at the Game Store and she watched her idiot brother tremble in excitement.

"Hurry up and get it, I really want to go home now, nii-san." she groaned

"Okay okay, wait for me here." he says and rushed to get inside.

F/N was left standing outside the store, observing her surroundings. Tokyo sure is on a whole different level than Miyagi, so many people are passing by and she sighs thinking that she will probably never get use to this new scene. It's so...chaotic.

She looked back at the store to check if her brother is done when someone bumped into her, making her slightly lose her balance.

"Ah...gomen." the person says quietly and bowed his head.

F/N didn't had a chance to reply since the person's attention was already back on his PSP and was already walking away.

She didn't even saw his face, only his weird blonde hair with black roots. F/N just shrugged, at least he apologized.

The following day F/N walked up to class quietly, no one was paying attention to her arrival and she really liked it.

However, it was immediately cut off by a certain bubbly girl calling for her.

"Ohayo, F/N-chan!" she greeted.

She sighs. Too loud early in the morning.

Taking a sit next to her bubbly seatmate, F/N just gave her a nod to acknowledge her greeting. She's not really in the mood for a conversation with her to be honest.

Miichan though, seems to not get it and continues to talk to her. Something about  a theater play and how she really wanted to watch. F/N wasn't getting anything out of it though.

While Miichan continues to talk, F/N felt someone was staring at her and she was right; she took a peak at her side and locked eyes with a dude who had a long face and looks mature for a first year student. As soon as the dude realized he has been caught staring, he looked away with a flustered face.

F/N went back to looking at her notebook and pen, ignoring what just happened.

"Hey F/N-chan, are you still listening to me?" Miichan asked.

She nodded even though she hasn't been listening at all.

"Oh anyway have you decided on what club are you joining?"

"Don't think I'll be joining one." she answers.

"but you need to have one, it's actually on the school rules you know, that you have to join a club." Miichan stated.

The timid girl rested her chin on her hand, thinking of how it's a pity she need to join one. She was honestly looking forward to casually going to the library and draw everyday after school.

"I'm actually in the Acting Club, maybe you can join us!" Miichan excitedly says.

"No. Thanks." F/N immediately turned her down. Acting Club is definitely a drag. She didn't want to converse with people let alone act with them on plays or whatever.

Miichan pouted. "So what do you have in mind? Cooking? Photography?"

F/N shaked her head no.

"How about sports?"

Do I even look like someone who plays a sport?

F/N sighed. "Arts, is there an Art club?"

"Oh yeah you're good at drawing, I forgot." Miichan chuckled. "Yes, I think we have one."

F/N didn't say anything afterwards. Oh that reminds her, she had to ask her something.

"Uhh Miyazaki-san, did you perhaps told someone where I came from before transferring here?" she asks.

"Hey I told you to just call me Miichan." she pouted.

"uhh...I'm still not used to it."

Miichan grinned. "Aww it's okay. And to answer your question, nope I haven't told anyone, why?"

"Oh...it's nothing." she mumbles.

Miichan was about to pester her on why she asked but thankfully Arizugawa-sensei arrived and F/N was spared.

The lesson has already started but she was still deep in thought. If Miichan didn't told anybody about her coming from Shiratorizawa, how did owl boy and messy black hair from the volleyball team heard about it then?

F/N decided to just shrug the thought. She won't meet those two again anyway and she doesn't have the slightest intention of watching their practice or match even though owl boy invited her.

Oh how F/N regrets that thought now, because just as soon as lunch came when she was about to buy food, she heard a loud voice echoing in the hallways.

"Hey Hey hey!! If it isn't F/N-chan." she sees the owl boy from yesterday and just right beside him was messy black hair with an expressionless face.

"Bokuto-san, please lower your voice." he says to owl boy with a sigh.

F/N can't help but sigh too as she saw the stares everyone was giving her and the few murmurs about the new freshman girl being friends with the volleyball team's captain and vice captain in just her second day at Fukurodani. This is too embarassing.

...an absolute pain in the ass. Being acquainted with popular people definitely has the number 1 spot in her "must avoid at all costs" list.

F/N intended to just ignore them but it was too late since Bokuto and Akaashi already catched up beside her. The Owl captain, smiling widely at her.

She sighed again, feeling defeated. "Hai, do you need something uhhh...senpai?" She mumbles. F/N figured that since he's the captain of the team, he's definitely a year higher, definitely her senpai despite being this childish.

"Are you going to watch us practice later?" Bokuto asked with enthusiasm.

"I ahh...I don——" she was about to say but he started to speak again.

"You should definitely see us play and you'll see how awesome I am, even more awesome than the Shiratorizawa team's ace." he confidently says.

F/N fidgeted on her fingers, feeling the awkwardness of so much attention that was on them right now.

Thankfully, Akaashi noticed F/N being uncomfortable so he devised a plan to distract Bokuto-san.

"Bokuto-san, if we don't hurry the Yakisoba pan will run out." he says, still expressionless.

Bokuto-san turned into panic mode. "Oh right, Yakisoba pan! F/N-chan, I gotta go, I'll see you later at practice okay?" he says, ready to run his way to the cafeteria.

F/N heaved a sigh of relief. Thank goodness energetic senpai is gone.

"L/N-san..." her heart almost fell when she heard someone talk infront of her.

It was Akaashi. Just when she thought he had left with his captain who ran to the cafeteria but uhh he's still here.

"Let me apologize for Bokuto-san...he's like that but he's a nice person." he says.

She nodded. "It's okay...I was just a little bit...uhhh culture shocked."

Akaashi slightly smiled.

Ah so stoic faced messy black hair can smile. F/N thought.

"If you're not busy, you're still welcome to watch us today." He says.

F/N was about to make some excuse and decline but was cut off with a

"AKAAASHIII" that was Bokuto-san yelling.

Akaashi sighs. "Well then, see you later L/N-san." He says with a bow of his head, walking his way to where Bokuto went.

F/N just gave a slight nod, a sigh escaping  from her lips afterwards as she realizes that now, those two are definitely expecting her to watch them practice.

What a drag.

—

part [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]...

also posted in my wattpad account @akaashirabu.

[pi-cat000]

MSA: Take Two (part 10)

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9

Part 11: here 

.

Apparently, Vivi needs time to process the fact that her Arthur is not in any danger because she stands in quiet contemplation for several long seconds. Her face scrunches, brows creasing, and she massages her chin thoughtfully. Most likely, she is revising whatever theories she’d concocted since their last encounter. Arthur uses the brief reprieve to float over to Vivi’s desk and right the lamp he’d accidentally knocked over. However, when he reaches to touch it, the bulb flickers on, startling him. He hastily jerks his hand back. The lamp goes dark. Arthur hesitates, but nothing explodes, so he hovers his hand near the lamp, watching the light spark. A quick check under the table confirms that it is not plugged in. Perplexed, he switches sides, but his metallic arm elicits the same response. Weird, but also fascinating. Arthur must be producing some form of charge, creating an electric field. It can’t be the static because, now he is relaxed, the sparks - which are usually jumping every which way - have quietened, becoming almost non-existent.

“I think it’s pretty cool.” Vivi, having finished her reflection, steps beside him and gives her lamp an excited grin, like it’s not just a faulty bit of electronics.

“Uh.” Arthur is not sure if ‘cool’ is the right word. He pulls back. The lamp flickers off.

“Your anchor does that too,” Vivi continues, pointing at his heart. Impulsively, Arthur coves it, drawing back and angling away.  

Vivi freezes and quickly flushes with embarrassment, stepping back, “Sorry. Was that rude? It felt rude.”

Arthur jumps to reassure her, “No…I mean…Don’t worry about it. I’m fine.”

She doesn’t buy it. “If it’s rude, you should let me know. None of this ‘I’m fine' when you’re obviously not, nonsense,” Vivi orders, actually rolling her eyes to show exasperation. She’s got the determined air about her that he has come to associate with a lecture on honestly and sharing one’s feelings.

Deliberately, Arthur moves his hand back to his side, motioning awkwardly, “It was the pointing that made me uneasy. I don’t think I like other people being near it.” He then quickly makes to continue their conversation, “What were you saying about this thing producing an electric field?”

Vivi falters, “Oh…” seemly thrown, like she’s not used people being immediately honest with her.  She recovers quickly, “Okay. I hope you don’t mind, but I’ve been carrying you in my purse. Mystery said we shouldn’t leave you lying around, and it felt wrong to stash you someplace random. I totally fried my phone and laptop.”

Vivi’s been carrying around his heart thingamajig in her purse? Arthur is surprisingly okay with this setup.

“I don’t mind. I think I would rather you carry me around than be left alone somewhere…” If he had a mouth, he would probably be grimacing, “What do mean by ‘fried your phone’?”

“You kind of short out nearby electronics. My whole bag caught fire,” Vivi elaborates, sounding way too enthused about the subject. “It was my fault really, I should have known that keeping you and my phone in the same spot wasn’t the best idea. The laptop thing was definitely my bad. Of course, if Mystery had just told me about the plasma stuff straight away, I might have cottoned on sooner.” She delivers the last sentence with an irritated frown.

“It...I mean 'I' must produce some type of charged electric or magnetic field,” He reasons, briefly glancing down at the heart, “I can probably fix your phone…Once I figure out how to control it." He tries to sound as apologetic as possible, hoping to compensate for his lack of facial features. His fingers let out several sparks.

“Oh! Hold on,” Vivi pipes, spinning to hurry and inspect a specific pile of books, “I have something for you.” She yanks out a thicker notebook form near the top then pulls free three additional tombs, all very old going off their many scuff marks. “I’ve been writing down everything I learn. You should read it. Maybe you’ll get some ideas.”

The pile wobbles dangerously before tipping over to scatter more paper across the floor. Vivi pays it not mind. Instead, she settles down at the centre of her blue, tasselled carpet, flipping open the notepad. Arthur floats closer, curious. She pats the floor next to her, beckoning him to sit, continuing to comment, “Also, Mystery says these books aren’t ‘entirely useless’ which is pretty much a glowing recommendation coming from him. I annotated the margins when I noticed a crossover in the information.”

Cautiously, Arthur drifts down into a cross-legged position, peering at the notepad. Not wanting to touch the paper, he simply examines the first page. It is covered in Vivi’s squiggly handwriting, with sticky-notes protruding at odd angles on all sides. Arthur recognises a few diagrams, describing a magnetic field, and some other info on lightning. Vivi flips the book around, so he is not trying to read upside-down.

“How long did this take you?” He wonders out loud, “How long have I been out?”

“About a week,” Vivi turns the page for him, “There’s a whole lot of stuff about elemental affinities further in. Did you know people have auras that naturally resonate with an element? Therefore, if a ghost is strong enough, it will automatically mimic its elemental affinity.”

Arthur nods vaguely. His own Vivi, the future Vivi, had come up with a similar theory after they’d run into one too many elemental themed ghosts. It’s nice to have confirmation. It’s also nice that Vivi can learn about this stuff without putting herself in danger.

“Anyway. Since you’re only mimicking lightning, this electricity or lightning will only act per your understanding of electricity or lightning. Of course, it’s also influenced by your emotions and mental state, which is kind of tricky to control, but it’s a start.”

“That…makes a bit of sense.”

He’s not sure how this information will help him manage the lightning because one doesn’t just stop understanding scientific facts, and figuring out his emotions sounds just as impossible. However, Arthur finds the act of simply knowing is already making him feel a load better. Sure, being dead was terrible, but he hadn’t realised how badly the lack of control and understanding was affecting him until it wasn’t.

He glances up to Vivi, “Thank you…for doing this.”

“Heh, it was nothing. Besides, Lewis was the one to make the connection between your mental state and your level of control, that you wouldn’t hurt us. Also, you, the other you, explained all the technical sciency things. So, I didn’t do much, aside from accidentally fry my laptop.”

“It means a lot.” He reiterates firmly. In his timeline, Vivi had harboured a lot of guilt after the incident, which had manifested in a refusal to accept credit for her work. It had taken him an embarrassingly long time to notice. Good to know he could skip that drama this time around. Finally, he’ll be able to repay her for everything.

With new determination, Arthur reaches out to carefully turn the next page without help. Vivi stares openly then glances down. Her next smile is soft and more private. A smile for herself.  The amusement trickles back, warming his core. This time, instead of fading immediately into that void of numbness, it hangs over him like a cozy blanket.

Arthur still needs to figure out a way to exist in the same space as Lewis long enough to explain himself properly, but, in this moment, he is just going to enjoy the warmth.

.

NOTE: So Lewis was supposed to be in this part, but this conversation took more words then I planned. He’ll be in the next part though. 

Part 11: here

[nicolewoo]

First Date

I was a little behind schedule and was starting to get frantic... although I suspect it was as much about seeing him again as it was about work. Then there was the meeting I'd had with Stephanie and Paul today. That was weighing heavily on my mind.  I was just thinking I'd get my work done in time when I heard the doorbell. Hmmm. “He likes to be early; like me.” I think to myself after my heart skipped a beat.

I got up from the temporary work station I'd made for myself and went to open the door. The closer I got to the door, the more excited I got. I don't even know how I was breathing. I touched the doorknob and took a deep breath before I opened the door.

In front of me was the most beautiful man I'd ever seen, and his ear to ear smile turned me into a pile of mush. The handsome features, the tousled hair, the searing blue eyes that seemed to look into my soul.

“Hey,” said Fergal.

“Hi.” I have no idea how I got the word out, but my voice didn't crack.

“How are you?” Fergal asked as I stood awkwardly in the doorway with him.

“I'm good. How are you?” I replied.

He placed his right hand on my waist and leaned in to gently kiss me on the cheek. “Can I come in for a minute?” He asked.

I opened the door wider, “Yes. I've got a couple more minutes of work to do. I'm sorry. I tried to get it done before you showed.”

“No problem,” Fergal said kindly. “I'm a couple of minutes early, and you've had a busy morning.” He closed the door and leaned back against a table in the entry. “I wanted to talk to you before we go out.” He spread his legs a bit and took me by both hands, drawing me close to him in between his legs. It was then that he gave me a real kiss. That gentle soft one that turned me into jello last night. As the kiss ended, we both had to catch our breath. “I missed you.” Fergal said sofly

“Ditto.” I joked hoping to dissolve the sexual tension between us, and it worked, he smiled ear to ear, and his blue eyes sparkled.

“So, here's the t'ing. We are in Orlando, and NXT fans are everywhere. I'm sure I will be recognized as we're out and about. I brought a hat and sunglasses, but that's not going to buy us much time.” He reached up and brushed my cheek with his thumb. “I already know that you're going to be an important part of my future,” He said tentatively, looking at my face to see my reaction. I obliged him with a shy smile. That made him smile. “Ok.” He said taking a breath, as if I'd given him exactly what he wanted. “I don't care if people find out about us, BUT....” His tone turned somber. “The minute we become public, you're going to get trashed on social media. It never fails. Some fans just can't handle me dating anyone. You've been through enough lately. I don't want to see you hurt. You're on social media all the time, you're not going to be able to avoid seeing it.” He leaned forward and kissed my forehead. “The second option we have is to not give anyone a reason to talk about us. We can try to keep our relationship a secret, but that means when we're in public, we can't even touch each other. The decision is all yours.”  

He was right. I knew it. I had seen the thrashing Cathy Kelley took when Finn's public found out about them, and it was enough to break them up. “Yeah. You're right. I'm not ready for that.”

“So, you want to keep it just between us for now?” He asked.

“Yes,” I nodded.

He wrapped his arms tighter around me and treated me to another soft, gentle kiss. My whole body was on fire. How was I supposed to go out, and not touch him, after that kiss? “Ok, I said, I really only need 5 minutes to finish my work.” I said tearing myself away from him.

Fergal released me from his grip, and motioned that I should go finish. “Do you need anything?” I asked as I led him into the kitchen and took a seat in front of my laptop on the counter.

“Nah, babe,” He said. “Is it 'k if I catch the score of the Tottenham game t'ough?”

“Sure,” I said as I pointed to the living room.

“T'anks luv.” He said and went to check the score.

I finished my work and quickly checked how I looked in the bathroom mirror. I looked ok, but certainly not as good as last night after Stephanie had sent hair and makeup artists to the condo. I looked more.... me. “Are they winning?” I said as I entered the living room.

“Yeah.” Ferg was grinning ear to ear. He reached over and took my hand. He pulled me close to him. “You look amazin'” Ferg said. It was as if he could read my mind. He leaned in and kissed me passionately. Immediately, fire spread throughout my whole body. This man had way too much control over me already.

“I'm still in my meeting clothes from earlier.” I laughed.

“Do ya want ta change? I can wait.” Fergal said.

I mused for a second, “I.... I don't know what we're doing today, so I don't know what to wear.”

“Ahhhhh,” He said but the crowd cheering caused him looked over to the TV. “Ah, sorry. Tottenham scored.”

I just started laughing. “I know you're a huge fan. It's ok.”

“We can do whatever you want today.” He said. I was finally able to tear my eyes away from his face long enough to see he was wearing jeans and a polo. He didn't wear jeans often, but when he did, he looked so good in them. I made a mental note to check how his ass looked in the jeans later. I smiled a bit, and Fergal said “What's so funny?”

“Nothing. I'm just looking forward to today. Listen,” I changed my focus to today. “I'm sure you have some ideas of what we can do. You live here.” I said.

“Well, how would ya feel about a hike after lunch? We could go swimming t'ough if ya'd prefer. Or we could visit Disney World.”  My mind went into panic mode. A swimsuit? Oh Hell No! I was NOT ready to be in a swimsuit in front of him.....Disney? Way too many people for my mood.  “I think I'd prefer the hike,” I said.

“T’en we'll hike.” He said. “Why don't you go change?” I did. Going from slacks to jeans and a blouse to a shirt more suitable for hiking. I also grabbed a light jacket. As I passed through by the kitchen, I grabbed my Ipad and a notebook.

“Already ready?” He asked, his eyebrows rising from surprise.

“I don't take long to get ready.” I chuckled.

“It's because you're so beautiful,” he flirted.

I rolled my eyes jokingly. “You going to be this charming all day?” I asked.

He circled my waist with his hands, “I'm gonna try my best.” He smiled.

This banter was calming me down, but every time he kissed me, my mind began to spin, my body began to throb. This man had me completely under his spell.

“Is... Is sushi ok for lunch?” He asked.

I answered with a smile and a nod. “I love sushi.”

“Great! I know just the spot.” He kissed me lightly and asked if I was ready. How could I ever be ready to go somewhere that I couldn't touch him or kiss him? “What's with the Ipad and notebook?” He inquired.

“Cover story!” I chimed proud of myself. “We can pretend we are in a business meeting as long as we look at the Ipad or notebook on occasion.”

“Great idea.” He smiled. “Let's go get some lunch. I'm starvin'” he said.

As the door to the condo closed behind me, I felt a sadness that I couldn't touch him, but I was excited to get to know him better.

The sushi was excellent. I realized we had just about the same taste in sushi. We split one nori roll. I had a couple pieces of sushi, and he had two more rolls. We both detested the ginger, and play-fought over who got the most wasabi. In the end, he just ordered more wasabi.

After we ate, and the plates were cleared, Fergal got serious. “What was t'is morning's meeting about?” He asked.

I paused to focus on this morning's meeting. “Ah that.” I said, and I hung my head. There was no way I could wrap my head around the offer I got this morning..... much less make a decision when under Finn's spell.

“Yeah, T'at,” He repeated. “Musta been some serious deal. You look.... Well, you look like the WWE made you an offer you can't refuse.” he chuckled.

“I definitely have some decisions to make.” I said as the waitress left the bill. Ferg was quick to grab it and move it out of my reach.

“Don' even t'ink about it.” He said as I reached for my purse. “Let's get t'is straight. I'll be paying for everyt'ing from now on. Not negotiable.” He put his credit card in the server book.

I started to protest, but when I looked into his eyes, I saw something I hadn't seen before in person. I saw determination. He wasn't going to let me argue. So I simply nodded yes.

“I really need some time to think about this morning's meeting.” I said. Dare I say it? Fergal had admitted earlier that he wanted me to be part of his life. Maybe it would be ok to say what I wanted to say. “I.... well..... there WAS an offer..... a very good offer. But...... I don't think I can make up my mind until...” I looked at the table. “... well, until you and I figure out what's happening between us.” The words just spilled out of my mouth, and I panicked immediately. What would he say? Did I go too far? Shit! I cautiously looked up at Fergal.

There was a warm smile on his face. “Got ya.” he said. The waitress returned with the credit card slip to sign. Fergal signed the slip and left a tip in cash.

I wanted to change the subject as fast as possible. I grabbed onto the first thing that came across my mind. “Your accent is stronger today than it was last night. Did you call someone in Ireland this morning?”

He looked surprised, “Yeah. I did. Is my accent t'at much stronger?” He asked.

“It is to me.” I said shyly.

“Yeah, I talked to mum and dad t'is morning. I wanted.....” Now was his time to stammer. “I wanted to tell them about you.”

Ohhhhhhh..... I smiled to let him know it was alright. Just after that we left the restaurant. We didn't talk at all on the way to the hike area, but he held my hand as he drove. We pulled into a campground's parking lot.

“T'ese are some of my favorite trails around here.” He said as he unlocked the trunk of the car. Inside he had a cooler filled with ice, water and some pieces of fruit and jerky. A bag next to the cooler had suntan lotion, towels, his swimsuit that I'd seen in so many pictures, and bug spray. He grabbed a smaller backpack and packed up some food and water and a first aid kit.

“You come prepared.” I joked.

“Absolutely.” He smiled.

The hike was way more difficult than I was used to, but I started to think Ferg planned it that way so he could help me. “I can tell I'm going to have to get more in shape to keep up with you.”

He sat on a large boulder and reached into the backpack for two waters. He handed me one, and smirked. “Don' worry darlin'. I'll help ya get in shape.” The words were innocent enough, but the look on his face was positively devilish. He slid his arm around me, and pulled me close.

“I thought......” I started to say, but he cut me off with a kiss.

“T'ere's nobody here. I can touch you now.” He kissed me again... passionately, and left me breathless. “You ready to hike more?” He asked with a sly grin.

I reached up to kiss him again, almost losing all control as his tongue slipped into my mouth. “You're teasing me, Mr. Devitt.” I protested.

“Yes. Yes I am.” he laughed.

We hiked for another half hour. Just as I was started to get bored with the hike, we went over a small hill, and what awaited on the other side left me speechless. There in front of me was a beautiful vista of a lake, palm trees and flowers. “Nice.” I said admiring the view.

“It's my favorite view.” He whispered in my ear as he came behind me and slid his arms around my waist. “Well, my SECOND favorite view.” he whispered gently in my ear. It was so intimate, my whole body lit on fire again.

As we stood, Ferg licked his lips. He looked nervous. “So, the hike is almost over.” He said. He licked his lips again. “Would it be ok if we went back to your condo? I promise I'll be a gentleman, but I'd like to be able to hold your hand and kiss you. Would that be ok?” He looked so cute when he was nervous. “Do you trust me?” He asked sheepishly.

“I reached my hand to his neck and ran my fingers over the back of his head. “Yes.” I said calmly. “Yes. I trust you.” I said.

We hiked the rest of the trail, which wasn't far at all, and drove back to my condo. “Mind if I clean up?” Fergal asked.

“No problem.” I said. I wanted to get cleaned up too, because that hike definitely made me sweat. I showed Fergal to the spare bathroom. I climbed into my shower and cleaned up very quickly. I wouldn't have time to wash my hair, so I put it in a messy bun, freshened up my makeup and joined Ferg in the living room. I noticed he had showered too, and put on fresh clothes. He really did prepare for everything. He had another soccer game on the TV by the time I got there. He was sitting on the couch, and my first inclination was to straddle his lap. Shit, I thought. I should have taken a cold shower. I gathered my wits and sat next to him. He immediately placed his hand on my leg, which didn't help calm me down. We decided to watch a movie, and I curled up at Ferg's side.

His thumb started tracing circles on my leg. Slowly, sweetly, and yet, every time it neared my thigh, it jolted a shock of fire straight between my legs. Shit! Should I tell him? Was he doing this on purpose? I couldn't think straight. I finally decide to place my hand on his; effectively ending this stroking, but before I could, Fergal's phone rang.

“I'm sorry he said,” reaching for the remote to pause the movie.  “I've gotta take this.” He turned the phone screen to me, and I saw that it was Stephanie. I could barely hear her, but I was catching every 2 or 3 words.  I was able to figure out she was inviting him to dinner, but I couldn't hear anything else. I got up to grab a couple glasses of water for us.

When I came back, Fergal was off the phone, but my phone started ringing. “Sorry,” I said as I looked at the screen. It was Stephanie. I showed Ferg and he just laughed.

“How has your day been?” Stephanie asked pleasantly.

“Good,” I reported. “I had sushi for lunch and then went on a hike.”

“Great. Are you available for a late dinner?” she asked. Ferg must have heard, because he started nodding yes to me.

“I'd be honored,” I said to Stephanie.

“I'll have a car pick you up at 9. Ok?” She asked.

“That sounds great, I replied. I'll see you at 9.”

When I hung up the phone, Fergal started giggling. “What's so funny?” I asked.

“I'm your ride.” He said. “Stephanie called to see if I'd join you for dinner and then asked me to pick you up.”

I started laughing too. “Do you think she knows you're here?” I asked.

“We did slip off together last night, and a couple people saw us. It's hard to keep any secrets in the WWE.”

“Your right,” I breathed. “Well, I guess we're going to dinner. Crap!” I said.

“What?” he asked.

“I won't be able to touch you again.” I said sadly,

“No. Guess you'll have to do all your touching now.” He joked.

But I didn't laugh. I stood for a minute just looking at him. He started to look confused. I held up a finger to say I needed a minute. I walked out of the room. Standing in the kitchen, I thought about everything. My husband. The offer the McMahons made. Fergal. It was all going to so fast, and I needed to be careful to make good decisions. I can't afford to get swept up in the moment. I thought about the man sitting on my couch. His kindness, his generosity. He was a good man, and he wanted to be with ME. I couldn't believe it, but I wasn't going to waste my chance. I took a deep breath, and steeled myself.

When I walked back in the living room, I walked to the couch and straddled Fergal's lap. His eyes looked concerned. His dick twitched proving he wanted me.

“Whoa, Luv.” Ferg said. He placed his hands on my arms. “I promised I'd be a gentleman.”

“And you have been,” I purred in my sexiest voice.

“And I still am.” he sputtered.

“Fergal,” I said. “I haven't been touched in a very long time. I never thought I'd ever been touched again, and then you came into my life. I want you. I want you so bad, I can barely stand it. I want you with every fiber of my being. If we make love today and you don't call me after, I'll be happy knowing that you were the first man I was with after my husband.... The worst thing that can happen is that the beautiful Fergal Devitt used me as a sex toy.” I giggled at that, but he didn't.

A look of need came over his face. He wrapped his arms around me; one on my waist, one on my neck, and he pulled me down for a slow, soft kiss. “Don' tease me, luv.” He pleaded.

“I'm not teasing. If we're going to continue to see each other, I'm going to spend the next few days punishing my body by denying it what it wants only to give in a few days later. I'd rather just skip over the next few days and have you now.” I leaned over to whisper in his ear. “I want you to make love to me.” I kissed his throat.  I didn't have to ask a second time.  

His arms pulled me in. As I scooted farther up his lap, I could tell he was fully erect by now. My body responded by throbbing at the feel of it.

His next kiss was not the slow, gentle kiss that had been melting me for 2 days. It was the powerful, passionate, wild kiss that completely broke my defenses. He lowered his arms to my ass and stood up, lifting me up with him. He carried me into the bedroom, kissing me the whole time. He laid me gently on the bed, and continued to kiss me as he sank on top of me.

I started pulling at the hem of his shirt, trying to take his clothes off. He sat up and pulled his shirt off exposing his muscles, his chest, his abs. He licked his lips as he looked down at me, and he started kissing me again. I pushed up, sub-consciously, my body trying to get closer to him. My hands explored his body as he placed kisses on my neck. His fingers digging into my hips. We were both losing control. As he gently nipped at my neck, I knew I couldn't hold out much longer. I leaned up and took my shirt off, and unhooked my red lace bra I'd put on after my shower. He looked for a couple of seconds before laying me down and taking my nipple into his mouth, bra and all. He was using his mouth to move the bra out of the way. Bare nipple met his hot tongue. He began to flick one nipple with his tongue and  gently tease the other with his fingers. I thought for sure I was going to explode just from this. That had never happened before, and he stopped just short of it now. As I started to mew, he took both our pants off. He returned his attention to my nipple for just a second as his hand slid between my legs, gently rubbing my clit with his thumb. Oh Fuck! I was going to lose it. He was going to drive me out of my mind with this teasing. He didn't make me wait long. Soon, he had slipped one finger into me. I arched my back in pleasure.

“Darlin', I want you to cum for me.” He whispered in my ear. Then he started kissing me as he slipped a second finger into me, and curled them up to my g-spot. He couldn't have stroked more than two or three times before my first orgasm. He held me tight, feeling me pulse around his fingers, kissing me and saying “Good lass. Good.” I started coming to as he pulled his fingers away from me. I whimpered. “We've got time, luv” he assured me. “You'll come again soon.”

He slowly kissed his way down my body. A quick suck on my nipple sent a jolt through me, but when he started going lower, I melted. My husband was not a fan of giving me oral sex, so it had been years since I felt a tongue on my clit. I quickly learned that Fergal was an expert at oral sex. His tongue going from teasing my clit to invading my pussy to licking my g-spot. One of his hands teased my nipple as I felt myself lose control again.

I heard him hum as he started to drink my juices. It was the sexiest thing I'd ever heard. When I was done shuddering, he moved back up my body, trailing kisses the whole way.

“Are ye ok?” He asked.

“MMMMMM” I couldn't answer. I simply nodded my head.

But my body wasn't done yet. It bucked against Ferg, pushing my wet slit across his hard cock. He growled softly, and pushed back against me, this time entering me just a bit. I could tell he was trying very hard to go slow, but I didn't want him to now. I needed to have him inside me. All of him. “Now.” I begged.

“Shhhh luv.” He started to say, but I interrupted him.

“Now Fergal, Now!” I begged.

It was hearing his name that did it. I had pronounced it the way he did, with the Irish accent. He couldn't resist me any longer. He slammed his dick into me, bottoming out. We began to move together, faster and faster. I could feel him fill every inch of me. I could feel his dick pulse with pleasure. He looked down at me lustfully. His eyes boring through my soul. I came violently. “There ya go, love.” He said, and he slowed his pace again.

“Fergal, I want you to cum too.” I saw a strained look cross his face.

“I will baby girl. I will.” He whispered back to me. With that, he sat upright and placed his thumb on my clit. Slowly, gently stroking it in time with his thrusts. “Jus' enjoy right now.”

I tried to answer him, but all that came out was a moan. I exploded around his cock. The whole world turned brilliant white, my ears began ringing, I was in heaven. I don't know how long I stayed there, but as I started to come back to earth, I saw a satisfied look on his face. “T'ere you go, Luv”. This man. This man that I had admired from afar for so many years. This beautiful, brilliant, kind, loving man was making sure that I was completely satisfied before he even thought about cumming. “How's my kitten?” he asked.

I couldn't talk. I wasn't even going to try, so I let out a long, soft, contented sigh.

He chuckled a tiny bit and then fucked me as hard and as fast as he could. His massive cock filling me over and over. Slamming into the back of my pussy. Over and over and over until I could feel his whole body tensing up. “Yes, baby.” I purred and he exploded.

He collapsed beside me; both of us out of breath. Both of us sated. I watched his chest rise and fall as he caught his breath. Then I watched his abs....... those amazing abs....... the ones I'd enjoyed seeing for years........ They were.... I couldn't resist.... I moved my had to his abs and enjoyed the feeling of the rock hard muscles rising and falling with every breath he took.

He finally started stirring. “Baby girl,” He whispered. “That was.....”

“Mmmm” I replied.

“Guess we better start getting ready for tonight.” He got out of bed and offered me his hand. “Let's go clean up.” He led the way to the shower and kissed me as the water heated up. He stepped in with me and smiled an evil smirk at me. “I do love water.” he said, and I knew this was going to be the best shower of my life.