#so clearly she didnt want a conversation she just wanted to rag on me

[munch-mumbles]

ive been a little upset about it all night so i need to write out all the things that happened at work today and are bugging me so i can TRY to get it out of my head and actually RELAX bc i just keep pacing in circles around it instead of just accepting it and moving on

[strongsassysexysloane]

Take me for a Ride, Jack...7

Wow, this part was written so long ago.. I didnt realise it took me this long to get to the part that inspired this whole story. Time to get greasy. 

. . . . 

You eventually turn around and head back to the market, Jack tugs you back to the cheese stall, not before she stops in at a stall full of scarves and hats. You drop her hand and watch her hands run over a few scarves she likes and purchases just one before you move next door to the cheese stall.

"Pick your favourites and we'll find a spot to go eat." She rests her hand on your lower back as you scan the selection

"I love that you think I'm sharing this cheese with you." She laughs and you buy  almost double what you would usually get because you have a hard time sharing food. The man prepares it on a platter for you.

"You really have a problem sharing food?" She laughs sitting beside you at the beach side table.

"Oh, J. You have so much to learn." You smirk and dig into your platter. The meal is spent in mostly silence and a few moans of pleasure from the food on your end and you can see the affect it's having on Jack which only spurs you on more before she grabs your thigh tightly.

"Stop, now." She purrs into your ear and just like that you're undone. "Thank you." She clearly saw your resolve change and loosens her grip on your thigh, moving it slightly higher before going back down again.

"And im the tease?" You scoff and finish off the last of the cheese.

"You started it. I just finished it." She smirks, packing up the platter and picking it up before walking over to place it in the trash can. "Want to see anything else?"

"Not really." You smile, watching Jack walk back over to you and she reaches out to take you hand. You take another walk around the markets. Happy to just hold her hand in yours and look over the stalls closing up. Then you cross the road and stroll down the shop fronts, looking in a few shops. The second hand book store takes Jack's attention. She picks out a few books and buys them.

"I need a few more for my collection." She smiles swinging her shopping bags by her side. "Ready to start heading home?" The sun was slowly setting, the cool breeze brushing your faces. The small walk back to the bike was too short for your liking but you slid onto the bike behind Jack and held onto her waist all the way back to DC.

There was a bit of DC traffic heading back into the city. Everyone coming back into DC from their day out on the coast. You laughed when Jack took the back roads to your place, prolonging the ride. But it still wasn't long enough. She pulled up to your curb and you both hopped off.

"That was a lovely day. Almost perfect." You smiled, hooking up your helmet to the back of the bike.

"Almost?" Jack huffed, hooking her pinkie in yours and tugging you close.

"Yeah.." You smirked, resting your hand on her waist, while her other hand and pinkie was still hooked with yours.

"Ah so what Torres mentioned is true." Her smirk growing more smug by the second. "You like to drive but me driving seems to be a loophole."

"You are a loophole in my brain, Jack." You both chuckle. You shake your head at the way those silly words came out. Hoping to god it somehow sounded cute.

"Smooth." Jack leans in and her lips graze the corner of your mouth on the way to dropping a kiss on your cheek.

You close you eyes, enjoying the lingering touch of her lips against your skin before it's gone too soon.

"Today was almost perfect for me too." She whispers and you open your eyes, to see hers teasing you.

You huff out a laugh and squeeze her hand before dropping it and watch her walk back and slide onto her bike. "Maybe it'll be perfect next time."

"Next time? You think I'll let you ride this girl?" She winks, sliding her hips slowly back and forth causing you to drop your head back and laugh. "I left that one wide open."

"So wide." You laugh and look back at Jack. "I'm sure I can convince you." You wink.

Jack laughs. "I'll chat with you later and see you at work tomorrow."

"Drive safe." You just get a wink in return and watch Jack ride off down the street.  Smiling all the way up to your apartment, running through the events of the day. It was perfect and you can't stop smiling. Jack does text you when she gets home, it feels so couplely for you and for once that doesn't frighten you. With Jack you feel light, like you can float and nothing can hold you down. Even Jamie's pokes and jokes don't break your mood. The days events finally catch up with you and sleep finds you easy for once.

You catch a case on Tuesday that get's all your attention but Jack is unfortunately held up with helping Vance and another team with a case for the next week so you hardly see each other. The case drags on and you don't end up catching the bad guy until the following Monday. Gibbs thankfully gives the team a few days off but Jack is still held up with other team's cases that you don't see each other, even texting is minimal. Thursday and Friday is just catching up on reports. Thankfully no new case which means the team goes for drinks Friday evening after work, only Nick, Ellie and you end up staying the longest, Kasie and Jimmy too tired to carry on, before you head home around 2200.

Before you leave Ellie suggests joining her in her kick boxing class on Sunday. You give her a tentative yes unsure if you'll remember in the morning. Also leaving it open to see if Jack wants to do something. Ellie smiles, holding a hand over Nick's teasing lips.

"Have a good weekend, chat on Monday in the gym." Ellie waves goodbye and you see her release Nick's mouth once you are out of the bar.

Saturday morning rolls around and you lay in bed longer than you should. Over thinking about texting Jack, asking if she wants to go out. You had coffee with her twice during the week, nice chats, more hand holding and another kiss on the cheek. She even came into the bullpen before she left Friday afternoon to say goodbye to everyone and gave you an obvious extra smile.

You make yourself a coffee, fiddling with your phone in your fingers. Jamie notices. You check your phone for the tenth time in probably an hour. You bite the bullet and send her a good morning text to which you get a reply a few minutes later.

'G'morning to you too. I'm working on my girl (bike) if I don't reply straight away.' You laugh at her clarification.

'I'm sure she appreciates the attention.' You can't help it, she brings out the sass in you.

You manage to make a cup of coffee and slightly burn some toast before you get a reply. Making yourself comfortable on the couch across from Jamie who's watching some medical show on tv.

'You jealous? ;)'

"How's Jack?" Jamie asks tearing her eyes away from the tv and sipping her cup of tea. You notice she has bags under her eyes, decent ones and she's wearing scrubs.

"You going in for over time?" You look slightly concerned, it's meant to be her day off, she didn't come home until 0300 last night and it's only just hit 0800.

"Yeah, Patricia called in sick. So i'm doing her shift and Tyson is taking mine this evening."

You nod accepting that at least she got someone to take her shift and not have to pull a double.

"So how's Jack?"

You smile and look back down at your phone, still trying to find the right reply but you know anything would be fine. "She's good, cheeky as hell." You take a bite of toast.

"So what's the situation?" You look at Jamie wide eyed at the question she just asked.

"Ummm.." You look at the tv then down at your phone, not really sure how to answer but wanting an answer yourself, hell you hadn't even kissed on the lips yet.  

"Haven't talked about it?" You shake your head and Jamie accepts your wordless answer. She turns her attention back to the tv. One thing you love about your sister is she stops asking when you need her too, most of the time.

'You're welcome to come and watch.' You smile and hop up from the couch, finishing off your toast on the way to the kitchen.

'I might just do that.' You hit send and nurse the cup of coffee as you go to your bedroom to get changed.

You turn down Jack's street and pull your car up out from of her building. You notice the bike down the side of the driveway and smile as you see Jack lying beside her. Walking up the driveway you stop for a second when Jack stands up seeing you. Your breath falters seeing her in front of you in long sleeved overalls, they're dark denim in colour and she has the sleeves rolled up to her elbows, the cuffs turned up at her ankles. Your eyes are drawn to the deep v at her breasts where she's clearly undone a few too many buttons but you aren't complaining as the v dips deep between her breasts.

Jack smirks at your pause and you kick your brain back into gear walking up to her. "Hi."

"That didn't take you too long." She leans in and you hold your breath but she kisses your cheek.

"No traffic." You shrug, dragging your eyes down her body again, not ashamed that she can see you looking.

"You like?" She does a twirl and you laugh.

"You get all the grease from the bike on you?"

Jack is covered in grease. It's sexy as hell but also funny. She's got some splotched across her face, neck, arms, hands and even a smudge on her left ankle.

"She's a tough girl." Jack turns slightly, looking at her bike.

You follow her gaze to the subject of conversation. There's a mechanic trolly on the ground that Jack was lying on when you pulled up, a large red tool box (is there another colour for a tool box?) and a bunch of dirty rags scattered around.

"What's her problem today?" You walk over to take a closer inspection and Jack goes into detail of what she's been doing but you only understand half of it. As she gets back down onto her back on the trolley you find a spot on the garden wall beside her work area, giving you a good angle to watch Jack. You happily watch as she works on her bike for almost an hour, she chats with you in between grunts and swears. You find that her swearing is kind of a turn on, well this whole situation of her in those overalls, grease and her hair tied up in a bun with a dark blue and white poker-dot scarf wrapped around her head is making you hot.

You wonder what it's like to kiss her as she works under her bike, it's definitely crossed your mind several times since the markets but the moments seemed to fly by. Would she be gentle and slow or deep and fast. You bite your lower lip between your teeth and Jack looks over at you.

"You're making it very hard for me to concentrate on my task." She slides to the side and sits up, rubbing the back of her hand across her forehead and you smirk at the new line of grease across her brow, understanding now how easily she got into this mess. "I just smudged more grease didn't I?" You nod and she stands up walking over to where you are perched on her garden wall. You watch her eyes darken and a mischievous smile begins to grow across her lips but it's too late for you to escape (not that you wanted to), she closes the gap between you, placing her hands on the wall either side of your hips. Your knees bumping into her lower belly, at least that's what you're telling yourself is where they are touching and you open your legs for her to slide in closer.

"You like me betw-" Her smart ass comment is cut off by your lips meeting her smug smile and she moans, she's kissing you back. Your hands wrapping around her neck and the tips of your fingers playing with the hairs at the base of her neck that have come loose from her working.

She swipes her tongue across your bottom lip and you make a whimpering sound parting your lips to give her the access she asked for. Your mind goes blank and all you can think and feel is her. You feel her tongue glide along yours, teeth clash, her hands grip at your hips and her left hand goes around to cup the side of your butt. It's too soon but she snaps back heaving for air but you don't let her go too far, your hands still tangled in her hair. elbows resting on her shoulders.

"Been wanting to do that for a while." You let out between breaths and Jack smiles, leaning in to peck your lips but you hold her close, dragging the kiss out longer, sucking her bottom lip between yours and releasing it with a pop.

"Me too." Jack breathes and kisses your cheek with a laugh.

"You've transferred the grease to me, haven't you?" You let one hand fall from it's spot tangled in the back of her hair and run it along your cheek where Jack was looking but you think it only made it worse because Jack just laughs harder. "How about helping a girl out?"

"Why would I do that?" She closes the small gap between you again and kisses you with more passion than the first time, she brings out sounds you don't think you've ever made before. Something between a whimper, mew and sigh which only spurs her on and she nips at your bottom lip before pulling away. "If I look half as sexy as you with a little grease on your face, I'd have kissed you hours ago."

You smile, your cheeks going a slight pink and run your thumb across Jack's cheek, smearing the grease a little more but bringing your thumb back to your face, dotting it on your nose. "Trust me, I'm shocked with my self control. Although I wanted to kiss you when you picked me up for breakfast."

"I wanted to kiss you when we spent three hours instead of one searching through profiles." She squeezes your hip and goes to step out of your embrace but your legs come up and slightly hook behind her knees and she slightly stumbles into you. "Let me finish this one last thing, I promise it will only take ten minutes and then we can kiss, cuddle or go for a ride, whatever you want." Jack smiles and you bring your hand up to your chin pretending to think about an answer but then realise you've smudged more grease onto your face in the process.  

"Might want to shower first." You add, dropping your legs to let her go and you see her huge smirk. "I didn't-"

"I know." She pecks your lips and you see her smile, it melts all your nerves away. "Ten minutes."

You squeeze her hand before dropping it. You watch her work, she bugs you again for chewing your bottom lip but you cant help it, she's dam attractive working on her bike and thankfully she sticks to her ten minute promise. You follow her up to her apartment, quickly realising this is the first time you've actually been inside her place and your heart skips a beat stepping through the threshold. It's very minimal, she has a beach style vibe as you guessed there might be as she misses the ocean so much. She offers you a seat in her lounge room and tells you to get comfortable while she takes a quick shower.

You take the opportunity of being alone in her space to wander around instead. Her living area is simple, a two seater tan linen couch with a huge circle armchair to match. There's a small oval glass coffee table with a few files spread across it and a few large shells scattered across. It's an open style area and you walk into the middle section where the four seater dining table is tucked into the corner behind the couch then onto the kitchen, its small but you can see dishes and utensils taking up most of the bench space. Taking a turn you go through the doorway into the hallway, to your left you hear the shower and see into Jack's bedroom which she's left the door open to but you turn right deciding you'll hopefully get the opportunity to see that another time.

There's four photo-frames equally spaced along the wall, all with pictures of a desert landscape. It isn't until you walk up to the last one at the end of the hall and near the front door that you see a much younger Jack with her Wingo's and you reach up and trace your fingers down the side of the frame with a sad smile. After you spoke to Jack about your time in Afghanistan you did take the liberty and did a search, asked an old friend in the Army if he recognised the name and he didn't share much but said a mission went horribly wrong with her and her team. You didn't want to know anything else even if he did want to tell you. You wanted Jack to tell you when she was ready.

"That was my team." Jack said softly beside you and you almost jumped out of your skin. "Sorry, saw you were deep in thought and couldn't resist." She smiles and wraps her arm around your waist. "Come with me." She tugs you down the hall and into the bathroom. "Sit." She motions to the side of the bath. You look at her confused and she just nods in the direction of the bath again.

"Wha-" You stop when you see her squeeze the wash cloth, water dripping out and brings it to your face and you laugh. "Thank you." She wipes away the grease you'd forgotten about.

"Might get certain looks if you go out like this.." She smiles, you feel the nice cold cloth travel down your neck and you close your eyes enjoying the feeling although you sweat there was no grease there.

"Gave up caring what people thought a long time ago." The cloth leaves your skin and you open your eyes to a questioning looking Jack. "Well mostly."

Jack turns away to wash the cloth in the sink but you happily stay seated, watching her. She catches you in the mirror and just smiles at you.

"So we are going out?" You try to not sound disappointed but you could happily spend the day wrapped in her arms, biting your lip bottom lip.

"I'd call us 'Going Out'" She raises her hands in the bunny ears formation to make her point.

Rolling your eyes at her. "Not what I meant and you know it.." But you blush anyway, her eyes havent left yours, looking at your through the mirror. You subconsciously bring your bottom lip between your teeth.

"I want to give her a test run to see how she goes then we can cuddle the day away." She winks at you. "If you keep biting that lip..." She doesn't finish what she was thinking, instead she shows you, turning around to you again, cupping your face with her hands and sucking you lip into her mouth, drawing a moan from deep within you and she kisses you. No one has kissed you with so much passion, ferocity and tenderness before. You surrender to her and she tugs you up, standing, you wrap your arms around her neck, never breaking the kiss.

The kiss ends and you can't not look at her, her eyes glaze over and you assume yours are as well. "So ..umm .. that ride." You breathe, the words no louder than a whisper.

Jack just nods, softly pecking your lips again before dropping her hands. "Yeah." She breaths

"Come on, baby." You smile, liking the name flowing from your lips. You grab her hand and lead her out of the bathroom and down the hall. She grabs her keys along the way and you walk out of the apartment.

. . . . 

Well? I kept re reading, adding, subtracting, knew i needed to post it before i re wrote it completely. Hope its ok.. 7 is my lucky number, funny how that worked out.

[thundercracer]

“Soft as Petals”

Fandom: Bandori/BanG Dream! Ship/Pairing: Ichigaya Arisa / Yamabuki Saya - Arisaya

Summary: Ichigaya Arisa wanted nothing to do with having a soulmate. It was rare. And more importantly; it was painful. So, when she starts vomiting flower petals from her lungs? She's clearly cursed. #hanahaki-disease, #soulmate-au

Available on AO3

Arisa felt cheated.

She'd read stories about worlds where soulmates simply shared pain or their names were magically shown on each other's wrists. Where someone saw in black and white until they met their soulmate. Hell, she’d even read about people who had timers on their skin, leading up to when they met their other half!

If only the world she lived in could be that easy.

No; soulmates were a cruel, difficult thing to have. They weren't super common as it were, but they existed. Not everyone had a soulmate. In fact, the vast majority of the population didn't.

Clinics existed for those who did and wanted to be rid of the problem. And many people did - many preferred to not find or love their soulmate as opposed to the sensation of vomiting flower petals every other hour on the daily. To rid themselves of the feeling of thorns in their throat.

It sounded much more romanticized and painless than it was. Who knew coughing up something as soft and pretty as flower petals tore up a person's esophagus and made them bleed? Movies made it out to be some beautiful thing and non soul-bonded folk hyped it up and fawned over the concept.

She stared into the toilet she had just hacked up into, glaring at the petals that hadn't quite made their way inside. As though they were mocking her.

Slightly curled white petals scattered about her, almost shaped like rose petals but not quite. Some of them - the most recent - were speckled with scarlet. Arisa smudged the blood dripping down her chin with the back of her hand as she glared at them with contempt.

Of course she had a soulmate.

Of course life couldn’t be easy for her. Arisa had learned early that life wasn’t an easy thing. Especially for her… Couldn’t catch a damn break, it seemed.

Arisa, of all people, wanted nothing to do with this whole soulmate thing. She’d never thought it was romantic or sweet, the way soulmates dealt with their issues. It was the worst! Most of the time soulmates didn’t even meet, since vomiting flowers wasn’t exactly a way to automatically know who your soulmate was! And most of the time people got them removed because they were disruptive and painful.

She rubbed at her throat, suddenly feeling tired and torn up.

She picked up a relatively clean petal and felt the velvety softness of it between the tips of her fingers. How odd, she thought, that something so soft and fragile could rip up my throat like that.

Kasumi and the others didn’t even know this had been going on. She wanted to keep it that way. She would rather not worry them. Especially if she was just going to get the damn buds removed in the end. Knowing them, they might even try to convince her to keep them.

They were all in a different class, anyway. It’s not like they knew how much she ran off during class to go puke flora. She greatly considered not going to school anymore, like she did before… the damn flowers only started showing up after she’d started attending again.

She was terrified that her soulmate was nearby.

The flowers didn’t start until a person met their soulmate face to face, after all.

What if it’s someone in Poppin’ Party?

She rarely allowed herself to follow that thought. Didn’t want to indulge herself in the ideas of one of her friends being her soulmate. It couldn’t be that easy. Yet… she couldn’t stop from imagining Saya’s bright, warm smile when she thought of who her soulmate could possibly be.

It didn’t make any sense though, as Saya didn’t seem to be having the same problems Arisa was having. In fact it seemed like Arisa was the only one in either class that even showed signs of having the disease.

So, instead, she opted to suffer in silence as more and more white petals fluttered from her lungs. She endured flurries of ivory as petals cascaded from her tired, ragged throat in a whirlwind; a storm. Alone and in relative silence.

Tae seemed to know something was up; she was much more observant than people gave her credit for. She seemed to just… know things, somehow. It was both odd yet endearing. But she’d been giving Arisa the side eye more and more frequently as her condition worsened.

The amount of times she’d been forced to excuse herself from their band practice sessions was increasing, she was loathe to admit. She was just glad she wasn’t the vocalist of the group! And while the others just worried she was overworking herself or getting sick, Tae seemed to be reserved with her concern.

“Arisa?” Tae voiced her thoughts one afternoon. The two of them were alone - a rare occurrence - as they waited on the others to arrive. “Are you hiding something from us?”

The girl in question grunted, trying not to let her surprise show through. She rubbed at her throat, not really thinking about it before waving off her bandmate.

“Nothing’s wrong, O-Tae. Don’t worry about it.”

“But I am worried.” Tae’s face was stern, serious. More so than Arisa could remember it being. “And so are the others.”

“Geh…” Of course they’d been talking about it. There was no way they weren’t all concerned with her, after running off all the time. Probably didn’t help when she refused to comment on it, either. “It’s… not that big of a deal.”

Tae gave her a piercing look before allowing the conversation to deviate away from dangerous territory. Arisa just didn’t want the others to be weirded out with her… like she was some sort of diseased, condition-ridded freak.

She’d been looking into clinics that offered removal services… But she found herself hesitating every time she went to call to make an appointment. As much as she wanted to permanently rid herself of these accursed petals… she still found herself wanting that connection with someone. And thus she found herself exploring the idea of being in love. As if someone would want to be in love with a person like her.

Saya had been showing signs of weariness in the times following Arisa’s confrontation with Tae. She had unusual bags under her eyes and her smiles didn’t quite reach her eyes, the way they always did. The way they were supposed to.

The girl immediately confided in the band, taking comfort in the support and presence of her friends. The exact opposite of Arisa…

“I think I have a soulmate,” Saya admitted one late afternoon as everyone packed up instruments and wrapped up the evening.

Arisa felt her heart lurch towards her throat, feeling the itch that pricked her lungs every time she so much as glanced in Saya’s direction. She looked up at her, dismayed.

The others gathered around, chittering excitedly.

“Oooh!” Kasumi’s voice was bubbly and thrilled. “Do you know who they are? What flowers are you growing?”

Saya laughed lightly, a lovely sound, as she entertained Kasumi’s prodding questions. “I don’t know who they are… But I’ve been coughing up daisy petals for a few weeks now. Sorry I didn’t tell you sooner, but I needed to let you guys know.”

“How do you know they’re daisies?” Arisa found herself piping up, almost against her will. She ignored the itching at the back of her throat as Saya’s sky blue eyes met her gaze.

“Oh, that’s the easy part.” Saya offered a smile, though it seemed confused as she rubbed at her own neck. “There’s lots of sites with flower languages and soulmate flower identifiers and stuff like that.”

“Oh…” Arisa hadn’t ever thought of that… She wondered what her own white petals were and what they meant.

“Yeah,” Saya continued, “I guess daisies mean purity, innocence, and true love. It’s so cute! I really want to meet them…”

Arisa ignored Rimi and Kasumi squealing and cooing as she stared right at Saya. She felt the burbling of petals building in her chest, dying to be let free. Before she could think - before she could even consider rushing out - she found herself in a coughing fit.

The others were around her immediately as she curled in on herself, her face in the crook of her elbow as she fought against the flurry of pain that battered against her gullet. She couldn’t see the bewildered expressions the others had as she hacked up petal after alabaster petal.

Saya stared at her with open awe. She moved, resting to a stop in front of her. Arisa’s skin burned as Saya’s gentle yet calloused hand grasped her wrist.

“Arisa?”

She couldn’t answer - she couldn’t breathe - as her coughing fit only worsened with the searing touch of Saya’s skin against her own.

Hands cupped her cheeks as she was forced to look into Saya’s eyes. The other girl had begun coughing herself, a single white petal resting on the bottom of her lip. It was thinner, more narrow than Arisa’s own thick petals… Not curled, but just as white.

The other members of Poppin’ Party seemed glued to their spots, unsure of how to proceed.

“Arisa?” she heard Saya’s voice, low and gentle, murmur by her ear. She felt her heart jolt and clench at their proximity. “Do… I guess this is a silly question, but do you have a soulmate?”

Arisa tried her best to glare, not quite succeeding as her eyes were watery.

“Is it me?” Saya asked in a tone that was too hopeful for Arisa’s comfort. As though she’d love nothing more for that to be true. As though being Arisa’s soulmate was something so desirable. “Are these gardenias for me?”

“You even know these ones too?” Arisa managed to get out, her voice shaky and cracked. “How much time did you spend researching this shit?”

“Gardenias… ‘They symbolize purity and sweetness. They indicate secret love. They convey joy. They tell the receiver they are lovely’.”

Arisa felt her cheeks brighten considerably as she grumbled, “Didn’t even answer my question…”

Saya grinned at her, something smug and teasing. “Do you think I’m lovely, Arisa?”

And, in a moment of sudden boldness, Arisa said, “Who wouldn’t?”

It was rare to see Saya’s cheeks bloom with the colors of spring, but Arisa found herself being treated to it. What a lovely sight it was… Arisa felt the aching of her lungs fade with the warmth of love as she went to swipe at the tears that had sprung from the seas of Saya’s eyes.

“Don’t cry, dummy…” Arisa chided halfheartedly. “I’m sorry for not saying anything sooner…”

She squeaked in surprise as Saya wrapped her into her arms, slender yet strong. Saya was openly crying as she said, “You’re always trying to take everything on by yourself…” her voice warbling.

“I know… I’m sorry.”

“I love you,” Saya said, as though they were the only ones in the room.

Arisa felt the thorns in her throat, in her lungs, wither in her chest as she was brought into a kiss as soft as petals.

[glowstickhaloboy]

smoothie klance au?? i guess

you would not guess how many half-written AUs i have in my drafts that become WAY TOO LONG for me to ever consider publishing in a text post. yes this is a short one.

keith makes smoothies for a living. it isnt a big deal until it is.

one night, this dude comes in. who cares about build-up, we all know its lance, and he looks frazzled. he sits at the counter and orders the fruitiest smoothie on the menu. keith makes it and doesnt think much of it, except to note that something about this kid is just... weird?

1: hes coming in alone, which people their age usually dont. 2: hes dressed pretty nicely. 3: hes just sitting there??? drinking a smoothie??? not even scrolling on his phone or anything, just looking around and slurping. okay weirdo. 4: he seems off. keith does not use the word “aura” on a regular basis but lance has an aura. (which does not make sense to keith, who barely understands his own emotions, let alone someone else’s.)

lance thanks keith, and leaves like thirty minutes later. hes certainly not the weirdest customer keith has ever served, but for some reason that random, singular dude sticks out in his mind.

but the shifts come and go, and gradually keith forgets about lance.

until he comes back in again.

its a lot like it was before. lance is dressed nicely, seeming miffed about something, or not miffed, exactly, but hes clearly not happy, and this time he orders a peanut butter and chocolate smoothie, and hes just as quiet as before, only this time hes rapidly tapping away on his phone instead of memorizing the inside of the restaurant, and keith is almost glad because it means he gets to sneak glances at this guy more casually??? like, hes had weird people in here before, and lance definitely isnt the weirdest, but enigma customers are intriguing to keith and he takes what he can get

the third time, its raining. lance is drenched, droplets running down the side of his face and under the collar of his (white, button-up) shirt. he smiles sheepishly at keith from across the room and sits at the counter, nearly having tripped on the way over because he didnt bother to wipe his shoes on the interior mat and created on the floor as he crossed the room.

he orders a strawberry and banana smoothie. keith has been preparing for this. he attempts small talk.

“nasty weather,” he says.

lance nods. “yep.”

god, that was horrible. 

keith hands lance his smoothie, his change, and hides at the far end of the counter. lance alternates between staring at his phone and watching the rain hit the windows and slide down the glass. sometimes, he sighs.

the fourth time, its the middle of the day. keith is just getting off his shift, but he imagines himself whipping around and demanding to stay later just so he can serve this random kid he knows nothing about???? his eyes are trained on lance as he walks out the door. he thinks lance glances at him. for the first time, keith wonders if lance comes in when keith is not there.

months pass, and lance comes in on the regular. its clear now that when he comes in, he is not happy. in fact, he seems to be getting less and less happy, judging by the fact that he starts to order mega-sized blueberry blitzes.

and then lance disappears

and keith isnt obsessed with the guy, he doesnt, like, notice except for the fact that he totally does. where the fuck did lance go???

but, you know, whatever. a customer is a customer. keith thinks about him sometimes, but lets it go for the most part.

until he doesnt.

its four more months before lance comes in again. leaves have fallen off the trees and scarves recently appeared in the street overnight. and now, all of a sudden, in an autumn sunset, lance stumbles through the door and throws himself into the nearest chair. keith can hardly believe his eyes.

“what can i get you?” he asks lance, and he thinks lance understands that keith recognizes him. still, lance takes a moment to answer, like he has to pick every part of himself off the ground first. he drags a hand down his face. looks up at the menu. looks down at his hands.

“fuckin... i dont know, man. you ever experiment with ingredients and stuff? like, on your break, you make yourself a smoothie thats not on the menu?”

keith cannot say that he has. “you want something thats not on the menu?”

“yeah...” says lance. “something with chocolate, though. i dont care how much it costs.”

its completely out of place for keith to ask why lance looks like utter shit. hes a smoothie maker, not a bartender. also, he still doesnt even know lances name. and yet.

“what am i trying to fix with this smoothie?” he asks. “rough day? heartache?”

“bingo!” says lance, a bite in his words. he laughs like he wants to die. “dont skimp on the chocolate, man, please.”

keith nods and tries to remember things that lance has ordered in the past (its never been the same thing twice) so he can use that to guess what lance would like. chocolate? what went well with chocolate??? strawberries--people dipped strawberries in those chocolate fountains. and bananas went well with strawberries. strawberry-banana with chocolate. it might be disastrous, might be passable. keith improvises a little on the portioning, delivers the finished product to lance with a pained face.

“i have no idea how this will taste.”

lance shrugs, pays the man, and sticks a straw in it. though keith has other customers, he waits for a reply. lance doesnt give him one. his face is stubbornly unreadable. but, he doesnt choke it back up, so keith doesnt make him anything else. he, regrettably, must now face the other distractions customers.

hes never focused less on what he was making. his goal is to get the order and send it out the door. in the meantime, lance sits at the counter, sucks down his smoothie, and stares at the back wall of the room as though he has recently been hollowed out. keith wonders just what the hell has been going on in this dudes life the past three months.

finally, the line empties out. keith scoots back to lance’s seat. “can i get you anything else?”

lance sets down his 3/4 finished glass (keith has to act fast) and shakes his head.

“we have cookies,” keith offers.

lance snorts into his shoulder. “man, how pathetic do i look? pity eyes and cookie offers and free conversation.”

keith drops all pretense. “what happened?”

lance hangs his head, his shoulders slumping. “i was really hoping that i wouldnt be coming back to this goddamn place for a long time.”

keith doesnt know what to say to that. he knows that it isnt about the smoothies, but he doesnt want to pry directly into lance’s life, so he says, “the smoothies arent that bad.”

“no. the smoothies are great. perfect pick me up. it just sucks that im back to needing pick me ups.” he takes a long sip of schroedinger’s disaster-passable smoothie, and instead of saying anything, keith remains silent, an invitation for lance to explain more. “i used to come in here all the time a couple months back."

“i remember,” says keith, unprompted, because he feels like lance will respond well to honesty right now.

lance raises his eyebrows but doesnt comment. “okay. well, its super lame, and youre going to think im a total loser considering you remember me, but its sort of a personal tradition for me to come in here... after i have a bad date. but i met this dude and we hit it off and we’ve been a thing for almost four months now. and then today...” he makes a soft, sad noise as his hand plummets and crashes on the counter. “he broke up with me.” keith frowns.

“that sucks.”

“yeah,” says lance. “it really, really does. so fuck guys and girls and dating in general for a while. lancey lance is going to take care of himself from now on.”

keith blinks in surprise. lancey lance. “your name is lance?” he asks.

“since day one.”

keith offers what he hopes is an encouraging smile. “keith.”

“well, keith,” says lance, standing, “keep up the good work.”

he slides a five onto the table and heads for the door. keith frowns down at it for a moment. as lance leaves, he calls over his shoulder, “its a tip!”

after that, keith doesnt see lance for a while, but now, knowing why, thats a satisfying thing.

but also, knowing that lance is into dudes and actively looking for love is a worrying thing. keith would have to be blind not to see how attractive lance is, and after their brief but insightful conversation, lance’s happiness is on keith’s wish list. lately, a particular train of thought has been running repeatedly though keith’s head: lance wants someone who is not a jackass; i am not a jackass.

but it would be totally weird for keith to ask lance out. besides, lance isnt coming into the restaurant anymore. keith physically cant ask him on a date. perhaps that is for the best.

and then, one saturday afternoon, the planets align. keith has had a confident morning, business has been steady all day, and he rolled out of bed looking good. lance walks in. contrary to keith’s power mood, lance looks like hes been recently hit by a bus and scraped off the pavement. he makes eye contact with keith on the doormat and gives a rueful smile. keith smiles sympathetically in return.

“maybe im just destined to die alone,” lance says, halfway through his coconut-key-lime whatever. “or i’ll find true love when im like thirty. which would be a bummer. im cute now.”

keith grins. hes leaning nonchalantly on the counter, a cleaning rag tossed over his shoulder. “the world is full of idiots,” he says consolingly.

lance’s eyes bug out. “im one of them!” he protests. “clearly! what am i doing wrong? keith? buddy? my man??? today, my date walked out in the middle of the movie. it wasnt even a bad movie! i have no idea what i did, but clearly she just had enough. i tried texting her, but my messages wouldnt deliver. i think she blocked me.”

“what movie did you take her to see?”

“die a virgin 3.”

“i think i might see the problem.”

“its a tasteful movie!” lance protests. “the whole franchise gets a bad rap because of one bad scene in the first movie, but this one is great! it has keaton lovinsten in it. who doesnt like keaton lovinsten? i was practically drooling over him from the first-- oh. oh. i think i know what might have turned her off.”

keith snorts. “i certainly wouldnt like it if i went out with a dude and he started eye-fucking someone else.”

casually slip into the conversation that you like dudes. good one, keith!

“i wasnt-!” lance turns beet red. “it was a movie! hes a celebrity! and there is no way it was that bad.”

“she clearly thought it was.”

lance’s head falls onto the table. “im hopeless,” he says, but he seems to feel better about saying it now. something in keiths chest settles. he thinks about the alignment of the planets and decides that he cant do this yet. hes going to let the universe keep on rotating, and he’ll catch his opportunity the next time. for some reason, he wants to take this slowly.

so lance continues to make keith’s workplace his lovelorn HQ. keith continues to give him sympathetic pats on the back, one time even literally, and eventually he feels comfortable referencing lance in conversations with others as “my friend lance...”

meanwhile, lance goes on date after date with countless people who are not keith. the jealousy is starting to eat at keith, but he can endure it because he only ever sees lance on the tail end of these tragic romantic encounters, when all lance wants to do is complain about their big noses and loud chewing. still, keith starts to feel like hes playing with fire. on any random day, lance could find someone who makes him very happy, and he would suddenly disappear for good.

on a snowy thursday, lance enters the restaurant with a shiver. he pulls off his mittens and waves to keith, who smiles and waves back over the pigtails of a little girl. when its lance’s turn to order, he appears pleasant, if worn down. he orders extra whipped cream.

“what went wrong?” keith asks good-naturedly, lounging an elbow on the counter.

lance hesitates a moment before answering. he unwraps his whole straw, sticks it carefully in his smoothie, and drinks, before saying, “actually... nothing. i mean, not nothing, but... it wasn’t a bad date this time, it was just, i dont know, weird.”

keith prickles. he doesnt like the idea of lance having a date that wasnt overtly bad. “what made it weird?”

“what was weird was that it was good, but it was with someone bad. well, not bad. hes not bad, he was never bad, but, like, he kind of broke my heart, so...”

keith flashes back to the night lance told him about his bad-date-tradition. he frowns. “your ex?”

lance stirs his smoothie pensively. “yeah. he apologized for a lot of stuff and said hes changed, and, like, i dont know what to do with that. i thought i moved on, but considering im still not seeing anyone, maybe its a good idea to try again. i mean, if its what he wants, and its what i want, then what could go wrong? its not like he was a dick, he was always nice to me when we were together...”

lance’s voice fades out. keith is trying to think of all the ways he can coolly scream THAT IS THE WORST IDEA without sounding suspicious or biased. its a damn good thing that lance is staring into his smoothie instead of at keiths face, because keith is not keeping it together. he had taken too much of his sweet time, and now lance was heading back into a relationship, and keith had to decide if he was going to try to break that up, or watch lance fall in love again.

“how do you know hes changed?” keith asks carefully. “how do you know the same thing wont happen again?”

lance eyes keith for a moment instead of replying. then, he goes back to stirring his drink. “he seemed different. it felt like he had changed. he looked good...”

“you look good,” says keith. lance’s eyes flash up to him, and keith feels his face burn, his mind shouting, idiot! idiot! idiot! “i mean! i mean that you have changed, too, so you shouldnt be hasty about this decision. you should... look at all of your options.”

“do i even have other options at this point? my other option is stay lonely and unhappy.”

“or.” keith licks his suddenly dry lips. “you could try going on a date with me.”

silence rings loudly in his ears. he cant look at lance. he cant believe he just did that. he just said it, just like that, just put it out there for the world to hear. for lance to hear.

lance asks, “do you mean that?”

keith finally looks at him, and takes it as a very good sign that instead of revulsion or discomfort, he sees surprise. surprise and something happy. it gives him the courage to smile.

“yeah,” he says. “i mean it. you could finally see me out of this stupid apron. i mean! you could see me in my normal clothes.”

lance coughs hard into his hand, and keith’s soul withers with the knowledge that they are both currently thinking about keith naked.

lance recovers, albeit with a heavy blush on his face. “i’d like that,” he says. “but, um, just so you know, if it goes badly and you decide you hate me, im buying a blender and making my own smoothies after that.”

“that’s fair, but i dont think it will go badly,” says keith. “let me give you my number.” he pulls a napkin from the dispenser and scribbles on it with a pen, slides the napkin over to lance. when did it get so hot in here?

“thanks,” says lance, folding it and putting it in the pocket of his sweatshirt.

neither of them know what to talk about now.

“um, when are you free?” keith offers. “theres a new exhibit at the gallery that my old art teacher contributed to. its space themed, i think. we could go see it.”

lance nods. “that sounds fun. oh man, this is so awkward. im so sorry. im just still trying to register the fact that you actually asked me out. i did not think that was ever going to happen.”

keith cant help but think, me either. shiro is going to be so proud of him.

and, in a moment of bravery, he decides that he likes to see lance so bashful and awkward. he cant help but press his advantage. keith sticks out a hip, leans forward on the counter, and says, “was i too subtle before?”

but it seems like keith accidentally started speaking a language that lance understood. immediately, lance turns on the charm, a smile stretching over white teeth. keith is only shocked for a moment, and he doesnt let it show. lance says, “a little. thats okay. i like shy boys.”

keith wills himself not to get flustered. “how do you feel about motorcycles?”

“motorcycles?” lance repeats, genuinely interested.

“yeah,” says keith, still smiling. “i could teach you how to ride.”

lance gags a little bit on his straw. keith laughs and leaves him sputtering to tend to a pair of kids who just came in. by the time hes finished making their drinks, lance has disappeared, and in his place is a little napkin with a smiling face and the line: am i your bike? because its easy for you to get my motor running.

keith swipes it out of public sight, grinning, and stuffs it in his pocket.

the date does not go badly. it goes very, very well. keith shows up on his motorcycle, and lance is both impressed and excited to ride it. he hugs keith tight around the middle, whooping loudly, and when they pull into a parking spot, he stumbles off the seat like a champion, drunk on adrenaline, eyes shining. keiths heart sprints. they check out the exhibit and lance amuses keith by making ritzy, intellectual comments such as, “the artist has a certain je ne sais quoi, a, how do you say, need to fuck the canvas” that have keith choking back laughter in an effort to remain respectful. it goes so well that keith has the courage to take lance’s hand halfway through the exhibit, to which lance looks down and says, “gay.” afterwards, even though they didnt plan to, they go out to eat at a diner and split a large order of fries. lance has a unique, deeply personal drink (1/3 mountain dew 1/3 cherry coke 1/3 pepsi with a shot of dr pepper) which he graciously allows keith to try. keith periodically catches himself imagining scenarios wherein he and lance show up on each others doorstep for surprise dates or lounge together half-asleep in pajama pants, lance playing video games while keith watches vine compilations on youtube. afterward, because neither of them want to go home, keith takes lance for a spin on the motorcycle just to feel lance hold onto him, and they end up parking outside a place that is very familiar to them both.

“what are we doing here?” lance asks. he frowns at a large milkshake painted on the window. inside is the counter he’s has spent much of the last six months moping at.

keith checks over his shoulder. “i thought it would be rude to ask if you were coming here after, but if you wanted to, i figured it would be polite to drop you off.”

lance shoves keith in the side, laughing. “shut up, you bastard. you damn well know that this was a good date. take me home.”

keith obediently revs his motorcycle, and they take off together. over the roar of the bike and the wind, keith does not hear lance say, “the best date.”

they arrive back at lance’s house. lance is still awkward clambering off the bike, but its better this time. keith boots down the kickstand, and when he turns back up, lance is right there.

“the best date,” lance says, knowing full well that keith is going to hear him this time. he pulls off keith’s helmet, steps close, and keith only has a flash of realization for whats about to happen before lance kisses him.

“the best date,” keith agrees, awestruck.

“i’ll text you,” says lance.

“can’t wait,” says keith.

lance’s hands are still fisted in keiths jacket. “i think this is the part where you drive away.”

“or it’s the part where i ask if i can see you again. are you free this weekend?”

“if im not, i’ll move plans. count on it.” lance lets his hands fall. “you look good out of the apron, by the way.” he hands keith his helmet. “safety first. dont ruin your face, or i might not go out with you again.”

keith rolls his eyes. “its been a privilege.” he wants to kiss lance again. “see you friday.”

he starts his motorcycle, checks over his shoulder, and kicks off onto the road, leaving lance watching after him. he cant believe its only wednesday.

[a-pretty-nerd]

Imagine: Part 3 (Jasper Jordan x pregnant reader)

A/N: Yeah, yeah, I know part 2 was slow and not really about Jasper and reader but mostly about reader. But it’s about to get real!

Warning: Cursing, violence, ansgt, etc.

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You woke up, in a hospital. Or, what looked like a hospital. A plain white room, with random art hung up on the walls. Your blury vision couldn’t really make it out. You slowly looked around the room, over to the machines which beeped at your heart beat. You ground, as the worst head ache you would ever have in your life ragged through your skull. You tried to sit up, but it was worse. You layed back down hoping it would go away. You hid your head between the sheets, in the darkness where the light couldn’t bother you. The loud sound of a door creeking open, and shutting closed drew your attention. You looked up to fine two people standing at the end of your bed.

“Ms. Y/L/N.” A woman with a clipboard spoke.

“How do you know my name?” You squeaked.

“Your friends told us.” The other, a man in a suit replied. You’d never seen people dressed so nice, and yet so, worn.

“My friends? Where are they? Are they okay? Wheres Jasper and Monty?” You spoke fluidly, quickly. Like the words were fired out of your mouth rather that spoken. The machine’s beeping increased as your heart rate did. Fear circulating through you.

“Be still. They’re alright. Worried about you, in fact.” The woman spoke, looking down at her clip board.

“I want to see them.”

“Relax, Y/N. We have some…news for you first.” The man’s voice was long, and drawn out. He made you uneasy.

“Y/N, I’m assuming you’re sexually active?”

“Uh, yeah, I guess. Why?” The woman licked her lips, and tried not to look at you. Tried to keep her eyes on her papers.

“Y/N, we ran some tests. You’re pregnant.” The word almost didn’t register. Pregnant. For a moment you forgot the meaning. Pregnant, as in, with child. As in, there was the beginnings of a human being inside of you.

“H-How do you know that?” You questioned, still a little in shock.

“You’ve been out of it for at least a week. At first we thought you were ill, that your body was reacting to the gas that knocked you and your friends out. Today, we tried a blood test to see what was wrong. It came back positive.” Her voice was low, and blunt.

“Blood test?” You looked around the room again, with better vision this time. It wasn’t like anything you’d seen before. “Where am I?”

“Mt. Weather.” The man welcomed you. There was a paused, and thoughts ran through your head rappid fire. “We’ve brought you some clothes, when you’re ready. We’ll take you to your friends. Dr. Tsing will discuss your predicament with your further. He spun on his heel, and left the roo. Leaving you with said Doctor.

"If times were different I would offer you options. But I’m afraid you don’t have many.” She spoke gravley.

“What are they?” You knew who the father was. There was no question. It couldn’t possibly be anyone else. It couldn’t possibly be Damian’s. Oh god…Damian. What were you going to tell Damian? Did you even have to tell him? I mean, what if you just got rid of it. Everything would go back to normal and be okay then, right?

“I’m afraid, a procedure to exterminate the pregnancy, would be too risky. We do not have the proper tools to preform a successful abortion. We have tried with our own people. 8 out of every ten women either die in the proccess, or become sterile as a result.” Shit.

“So…”

“You’re only a few days pregnant. Perhaps there is hope that you could misscary or, if you deliver here, we could take the child off of your hands.” Deliver here, as in, stay there for all 9 months? Where the hell even was here? Why was she being so…nice? “For now, I can give you some vitamins. It provides proteins, and vitamins we would otherwise be void of. Important vitamines for fetal development.” She hands you a bottle of pills that make a loud ‘shlk shlk’ sound when you move it. “Get yourseld dressed. Your friends are waiting for you.” She leaves you alone with a pile of clothes. She leaves you alone with your thoughts. The first thing you do, is break down crying. You were stuck like this. You didn’t know what to do. After a while of sitting there drowning in your tears, you stood up. You felt weak, and uneasy. You dressed yourself in this little purple dress. You couldn’t remember the last time you wore something like this, or if you ever had in the first place. You felt, weird to say the least.

Once you were ready, the man guided you down the hall ways of this bunker. One, huge bunkers. You noted the walls made of concrete and visible pipes on the ceiling and walls. Soon, you found yourself standinf in the dinning hall, frantically search for a familiar face. For someone, anyone. Even Jasper at this point would have been a comfort.

“Y/N!” Speak of the devil. You turned, just in time as Jasper’s arms tightly wrapped around you in a bear hug.

“Jasper!” You squealed. Your stomach dropped, and a wave of nervousness came over you. You looked into his eyes, and noted. He’s the one who got you pregnant. You’re carrying, his child. Jasper’s baby.

“Oh thank god.” Monty swooped in from behind Jasper and hugged you once Jasper stood aside.

“Baby! Are you alright? They wouldn’t let us see you! I was so worried!” The frantic voice of Damian came through along with his tight grasp. He planted little kisses all over you, as if proving to himself that you were really there. It made you giggle a little.

“I’m fine.” You lied.

“Look who it is!” Harper and Miller greeted you, and for once you couldn’t be happier to see all their faces at once.

“What happened? Where exactly are we?” You were given a map of Mt. Weather. Given the run down. Jasper excitedly listed off all the amazing things about the place. That day, for the first time ever, you had a true meal. Real food, pie and cake even! Clarke however, didnt seem too impressed. You tried not to think about your news too much. Tried to think about anything but. Like, how good the food was, or how nice the people were to you. How, Clarke was losing her mind. You and Jasper tried to calm her down. But to a certain point, she was right. Something was fishy about this place.

And yet even with so many questions still unanswered, and so much confusion. There was still, something you needed to address. You couldn’t just keep your pregnancy a secret. You couldn’t just, not tell anyone. Someone had to know, just in case something happened. And after all, Jasper was the father. He of all people should be the first to know. Maybe, it would even help your relationship a little. Some part of you hoped that maybe, the pregnancy would be a good thing. Maybe, Jasper would fall for you, like you did him. Maybe everything would be, okay.

“Hey, Jasper.” You approached him, your cheeks a bright pink. You were so nervous. He turned, and looked at you with that goofy smile you’d fallen for a thousand times.

“Yeah?” He asked, his eyes glancing from you, and this girl standing in front of him. You felt bad for a moment that you were interupting their conversation.

“Can I talk to you, in private?” You asked sheepishly. He looked back at the girl.

“Excuse me.” He apologized, and walked with you out into a secluded part of a hallway. “Whats up Y/N?”

“Uh, nothing, well-actually-” You stubbled through your words.

“Are you feeling okay? You look pale.” You were shaking you were so nervous. “You’re not sick are you? Maya says theres a wicked case of the flu going around here. Better be careful.”

“Maya?” You asked.

“Yeah, that girl I was talking to. She’s supper cute isn’t she? I think I’m gonna go for it.” He stuffed his hands in his pockets, and leaned against the wall. He seemed excited. He was smiling, clearly happy. Content. Maya, made him happy. Your heart dropped. You started doubting yourself. You stared at him, before shaking yourself out of your heart broken haze.

“Y-Yeah she seems…sweet.” You spoke through gritted teeth. That spark in his eyes when he talked about her. It tore you apart.

“She is. Uh. What did you want to talk to me about?” You shook your head. Trying not to let tears fall.

“Nothing. Um…just that…I found a cool board game…in one of the social halls. I though maybe a couple of us could hang out and…play.” You fabricated a lie.

“Oh. Uh. Maybe another time?” You nodded, and let him walk back to Maya. You turned, and walked away. For each step, and tear fell down your cheek. Fuck. You couldn’t tell him. You bring yourself to tell him. And its not like you could try and play it off as Damian’s! You’d never had sex! A-And you can’t tell Damian.

“Y/N?” Monty caught you, curled up in a ball sobbing in a top bunk. Trying to hide from, everything. “Hey, whats wrong?” He reached out an arm and rubbed your shoulder. You wiped away your tears, and looked at him. Red eyes, flushed cheeks, and a wet nose. You couldn’t bring yourself to reply. “Y/N. Come on. I’m one of your best friends, you can tell me anything! Did…did someone hurt you?” You shook your head. “Whats going on.” You didn’t want to open your mouth. You knew if you did, tears would just start falling again. You hopped down from the bunk, and reached under the mattress to pull out the bottle of vitamins. He curiously looked at the hand writtwn label, and his head snapped up at you. “Prenatal vitamins?” His eyes were wide. “Y/N…you’re…” You nodded slowly, holding yourself. He wrapped his arms around you tightly, trying his best to comfort you. “It’s not Damian’s, is it?” He whispered in your ear. You shook your head. He slowly pulled away, holding you by your shoulders. “Who’s?” Your eyes darted from his, the floor. It took him a moment, but something clicked. “Oh god…Jasper?” You nodded, and the tears started flowing again. “Oh no no no don’t cry!” He held you again.

“Don’t tell him Monty. Please.” You begged between sobs. “H-He can’t know.”

“Why? He got you into this mess.”

“Monty, you don’t understand. If you tell him, i-it’ll ruin his chances with Maya.” You just wanted Jasper to be happy. Seeing that smile on his face, you couldn’t do that to him. You couldn’t dare break that.

“Y/N…” Monty’s chest sunk in a sigh.

[kidcha]

Today my Manager was eating alone in the smoko while I was tidying up. I was quiet, head down and not talking, not even acknowledging he was there. I love my Manager okay, Id fucking trade every chiller boy in the world in a heartbeat to keep him around, but??

> how are you, kidcha? You dont look happy

And its just asking politely, you know? So i stop and try to answer and stare at him and frown and open and close my mouth a few times and eventually, uncertainly, settle on--

>> what do you think of harvesting manager?

> how do you mean

A pretty valid question. Its not very specific. I wouldnt want to guess at my meaning, either.

>> how he handles situations

> not the best

>> i agree

But theres no passion or anger. I dont look at him. This validation doesnt make my problems go away or clear my skin and water my crops. I keep cleaning.

> what situation? he asks, after a few seconds

So I tell him. Its just bullshit, you know? But this is twice hes gone and talked shit to the packing shed superviser. Twice hes thrown me under the bus. Twice Ive had to deal with her throwing shade and making snide remarks and being a cunt. Twice, you know? Hes meant to be a manager and he says all the right things to your face, but somehow 'I dont want them to keep touching me please deal with it lowkey' isnt a valid request and hed rather shit talk to His People.

And this is twice Ive thought 'I cant trust him.'

So I told my Manager. He listened. He didnt speak and I didnt look at him. I tried not to get too whiny. And when I shrugged and blatantly changed the subject, he allowed it.

Did you know he cooks for his wife every night and every morning?? His food sounds good too. Goddamn Manager, you are a man of many talents.