#soy luna simbar fic

[hide-in-imagination]

Paris & a Promise | Simbar Oneshot

The studio was pristine and cozy, with bright colors on the walls, white leather chairs, one in front of the other, and a big screen between them on the far wall so that the people in the audience, and of course, the host and guest occupying the two chairs, could see pictures and videos of the topic that was being discussed.

Behind the three cameras pointing at the studio (one on the guest, one on the host, and one holding a general view of everything), the floor manager, a woman in her thirties with a headset to hear and communicate the director’s orders, made a signal to the host, a charismatic man on his forties with black hair, wearing a suit and tie. In the guest chair in front of him, the blonde young woman, wearing a tasteful long-sleeve blouse and a mini skirt, listened to the countdown overhead until the ‘On Air’ sign lighted up anew, followed by a short rendition of the show’s theme song, and applause from the audience on their seats.

“Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen! We are here live with Ámbar Smith,” the host resumed the show with a big smile, facing the camera and then focusing on his guest. “Ámbar, once again, thank you so much for coming to our show. I hope you’re having as good a time as we are, but if not, do not worry, your torment is almost over now.”

Ámbar laughed along with the audience.

“Noo, don’t say that, of course I’m having a good time, I’m always happy to be here.”

“I’m so glad to hear that. Now,” the host leaned forward, “I’m sorry for deviating from your achievements but, we simply can not let you leave without talking about—” he pointed at her with his hand, “that huge rock weighing on your finger right now.” The audience started screaming. “Poor thing, she can’t even move her hand— Look how she keeps it on the armrest! Unbelievable!”

The audience whooped and laughed while Ámbar giggled, her right hand coming up to try and hide her grin and blushing cheeks.

“Ámbar, my sincerest congratulations on your engagement,” the host said now in earnest as the audience quieted down.

“Thank you so much.” The audience cheered again, stealing another giddy smile from her.

“Now, I know everyone already knows this, but in case anyone’s been living under a rock these last few years, you’ve been dating the Roller Band’s guitarist and vocalist Simón Álvarez for quite a few years now.” A picture of the couple posing together at a red carpet appeared on the big screen of the studio.

“Six years, yeah,” Ámbar said with a smile.  

“Six whole years, and he finally proposed two weeks ago, as we can see in this picture you two posted on Instagram, showing off the ring.”

A screenshot of their Instagram post showed on the screen. The photo depicted their hands together, Ámbar’s hand over Simón’s turned-up palm, the thick diamond ring front and center, shining on her finger, while the background showed an orange and red sky, with the Eiffel Tower blurry but visible in the distance. 

The audience cheered and a warm smile curled Ámbar’s lips at the photo.

The host looked at her again. “Tell me, Ámbar, did you see it coming? Did you know he was going to do it or did it take you by surprise?”

Ámbar made a complicated face. “Um, I kind of saw it coming, but no, not really,” she broke off with a laugh.

The host looked at her with intrigue. “What do you mean? Like, you did and then you didn’t? What’s the story?”

“Well. We were in Europe because the Roller Band was touring there, and they had stops in different cities, and Simón was like ‘You should come with me, you could visit Paris’ blah blah blah, so I joined them. He knows that Paris is my favorite city in the world, I’ve always loved it— In fact, I spent some months there when I was in university, as part of an exchange program for six months, and I just have very good memories of the city in general. So anyway, that got me thinking, you know… We’re going to be in Paris…” She started hinting. “He invited me to join… We’ve been dating for 6 years… So, on that front, I did have my suspicions, but I just— The timing didn’t make sense to me,” she said. “That was the problem, that’s what threw me off.” 

“How so?”

“Because we were only staying in Paris for one day,” she emphasized. “The guys were scheduled to arrive in the morning at the hotel, then they had their soundcheck in the afternoon, and then their concert, and that same night we had to go to Italy because they had their concert there the next day. So I was like… Yeah, no. No way.” She laughed. “Like, it was a lot in less than 24 hours. How could he even find the time for it? It’s insane.”

“He totally got you then.”

“He did. It took me completely by surprise, it was so sweet.”  

“It was like in some sort of balcony, right?” The host checked. “I mean, I remember from the photos you two posted— Those ones.”

New photos appeared on the screen. It was two selfies of the two of them standing close together on a black iron balcony with a view of the sunset, the city of Paris, and the Eiffel Tower. They were taken by Simón, one of his arms around Ámbar while the other extended beyond the frame, holding the phone. In one of them, they were both grinning brightly at the camera, Ámbar showing off the ring, her eyes glistening with emotion. The second was very similar to the first, probably taken seconds apart from each other, except in that one Simón wasn’t looking at the camera but kissing Ámbar’s cheek with his eyes closed. Ámbar was still grinning and showing off the ring like in the first picture, but she had her eyes closed in that one too, basking in the love. 

“Yeah, that’s the balcony of the hotel room we were staying at,” Ámbar answered, pointing at the screen. “Simón specifically looked for one that had a view of the Eiffel Tower for us.”

“He had it all planned out,” the host said, impressed.

“Everything,” Ámbar confirmed. “From the very first second. Cause— Look. This is how it all went down.” She leaned forward in her seat, entering story-telling mode, and the host leaned forward as well, giving her all of his attention. “We arrived at around 11 am in Spain. The first thing we did was sleep because we were all dead on our feet, and then around two, Simón asked me if I wanted to go out to eat, and I was like ‘Yeah, sure’, so we went to this restaurant I recommended to him, I knew it from my many trips to Paris, and we just, you know, had our meal, talked, walked around the city for a little bit after— Very normal stuff. Then, Simón had to go to his soundcheck, so he left, and I just kept walking around ‘cause, you know, I was like ‘I don’t know when I’ll be able to come back, better make the best of it now.’”

“Of course.”

“And that was all I was planning to do for the rest of the day really, but then, like an hour or so later, I get a call from Simón like ‘Hey, I’m done with the soundcheck, I’m going back to the hotel now, let’s meet up there’, and I was like… Why didn’t he just stay in the arena?” She said, bemused. “His concert was like in two hours, it would’ve made more sense. But anyway. I got back to the hotel, and I asked him how the soundcheck went, and he was like ‘Well, very well, everything good’— Which was a complete and total lie, by the way,” she pointed out, looking at the audience.

“What do you mean ‘lie’?” The host asked with surprise.

“He never went to the soundcheck,” Ámbar said. “I only found out about it later. The guys went to the soundcheck by themselves, Simón never joined them.”

“Then what was he doing?”

“I’m getting there,” she said. “So, we met at the hotel, and Simón was like ‘Hey, so, I only have like an hour and a half before I need to leave but, what do say if we order room service and eat a little something before I leave?’ and I was like, ‘Yeah, that sounds nice.’ So we sat at a little table there on the balcony, and we were just, you know, having like a regular dinner, when suddenly he says: ‘My love. I didn’t want to tell you before, but I have a surprise for you.’ And I was like.” Ámbar made a face of curiosity. “‘What?’ And the very instant— I have this so ingrained in my mind— the very instant the sun started setting, he got down on one knee.”

“Oh my god.” The audience cheered and clapped, joining the host’s excitement. “That’s crazy! So, he had it all timed down to the second.”

“He did! He totally did. I couldn’t believe it. And then he, you know, started saying all these beautifulthings, and once the shock wore off, I just started crying,” she laughed a little bit. “And just, you know, I said yes, obviously.”

The audience screamed. Ámbar laughed, radiantly happy, the camera capturing the emotion in her eyes. “Then we hugged and it was very sweet. I really couldn’t have imagined it a better way; it was perfect.”

“And then you two went to celebrate, right? We’ve got some pictures of you on a rooftop.”

“Yeah! That was the craziest part! We had just gotten engaged and Simón was like ‘I’ve got another surprise for you’ and he led me to the hotel’s rooftop, and the whole time I’m thinking, ‘What now?!’ Like, what else had this guy planned? Fireworks? I genuinely couldn’t put it past him by this point. And then we got to the rooftop, and my whole family was there.” The audience went aww. “With our closest friends too; it was like fifteen people up there. And I was like— ‘What are you all doing here?!’” The audience laughed. “‘When did you get here?!’ It was insane!”

“Simón got them all there without you knowing?” The host expressed with awe.  

“No one told me anything! I genuinely don’t know how they managed to keep it from me,” Ámbar said with disbelief. “And the rooftop was decorated with balloons, flowers, there was food— Well, you’ve got the photos there.” She pointed to the screen where the pictures from her Instagram were displaying. “So, like, it was amazing. It was truly amazing, and so beautiful. And our friends started hugging us and giving us their congratulations, and… What got to me the most was that, well, my mom couldn’t go,” she started explaining. “I don’t speak about her a lot publicly but, basically, she’s got a certain degree of blindness, so it’s complicated for her to move around on her own, she has to be accompanied— And honestly, good for her that she didn’t go, I would’ve felt terrible if she had made that huge trip just for me. But she did send me a video congratulating me. I watched it on a tablet. And I just… Well, if I had already cried, that was the moment I finished ruining my makeup.” The audience laughed with her. “But it was sweet. It was all very sweet and moving and just amazing. I had a very good time there with my friends and family until we had to leave.” 

“Sounds wonderful.” The host had a sweet smile on his face. “I bet it was a very treasured moment for you two, for your family, your friends—I have a question though,” he said, more serious now, “that I imagine all of us are wondering as well— What about the concert?”

Ámbar nodded like she knew exactly what he meant. “Yeah, you see, that’s the funniest part! Cause like— Just imagine: Simón organized this whole thing— When he was supposed to be at the soundcheck, by the way; he never did that, he was on the rooftop with everyone else getting everything ready— and in the end, he just like, stayed for half an hour and then he left.” The audience laughed. “Because he had his concert! You know?” She said over the noise. “So like. It was crazy. It was really crazy, he totally rushed to the arena. He must’ve put on his outfit and the microphone in record time, the poor thing. But he always tells me that it was worth it. So.” Ámbar shrugged with a little smile.

The audience went aww again.

A mischievous glint appeared in the host’s eyes. “Yeah, he looked very excited the night of the concert. There was even this video that went viral— You saw it, right?”

“I’ve seen many,” she deadpanned, nodding her head.

“Well, here we’ve got the one that made the most headlines on the internet; a little video posted by a fan.” A video of Simón taking the stage started playing on the studio’s big screen on mute. It was a vertical video, filmed from up close, maybe from the fifth row, or maybe using a lot of zoom. “This is the same night you were telling us about, when the Roller Band was playing at the arena.”

The volume went up and the screams of the crowd could be heard as Simón walked up to the front of the stage where a microphone stand was waiting. He had his guitar hanging from his shoulder, ready to play. For everyone watching at home, the video took the whole screen of the TV, replacing the image of the studio. 

“Paris, how are you doing tonight?!”

The crowd went wild in response to Simón.

Simón laughed a little and started talking again, so the crowd went quiet to be able to hear him. “You know, I’m the exact same way as you, guys, like, exactly. Because this next song,” he started leisurely playing the guitar as he talked, not a melody but just a simple, soft up and down of his hand on the strings, “is one I wrote about a very special someone to me, many years ago now. And since then, I’ve had the fortune, the pleasure, the utter privilege of having this gorgeous, amazing woman by my side. And this night is very special, Paris, because… This very, very night…” He started laughing and had to take a step back, unable to contain his joy. The crowd was screaming. Simón walked up to the microphone again and yelled out ecstatically.

“SHE SAID ‘YES’!!!!”

Simón began strumming the guitar as the rest of the band joined in, playing together the intro of ‘Tiempo de Amor.’

The studio came back on screen and the video continued rolling in a lower volume as Simón started singing the song, eventually going mute, and then pausing altogether. The audience in the studio was screaming excitedly.

“You do realize that because of this 15 thousand people knew about it before many of our relatives and acquaintances, right?” Ámbar told the host, making everyone laugh again.

“I can just picture them seeing this on Twitter or Tiktok and calling you up like ‘WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU’RE GETTING MARRIED?’” The host acted out.

“It happened with more than one person,” Ámbar declared. The audience laughed.

“Alright but, putting all of that aside, the important thing is that you two had this magical moment and now you’re going to take this next step together,” the host moved the narrative along. “Tell me, have you set a date yet for the ceremony?”

“We don’t have an exact date yet, but the idea is to have a Spring wedding next year.”  

“Love that. So, that means you’ve got plenty of time to plan for the event then. I imagine you’ll need it. Are you planning for a big party?”  

“We’ll see,” Ámbar replied. “We’re still deciding whether we wanna do this biiig, over the top wedding or just a small ceremony with our closest friends and family. But, whatever we end up choosing, I think the most important thing is just, our promise to always be together. So,” a serene smile graced her lips, “the rest is just a complement to that and we’ll figure it out as we go.”

“That’s beautiful,” the host said. “Seriously, I’m so happy for you two, congratulations— Give it up for Ámbar Smith, ladies and gentlemen!”

The audience went wild.

“Thank you so much for being here with us today, Ámbar,” the host told her, starting to wrap up.

“Thank you for having me, it was lovely,” she replied with a smile.

The host turned to face the camera and the shot focused on him. “And to everyone watching us at home, you’ll want to stick around because our next guest is an artist who’s been trending all over social media, not only in Spain but in all parts of the world. We’ll be right back!”

…

..

.

. * ⋆ . · 　.╰──────༺♡༻──────╯. * * . 　 *

Okay so, originally, I had this idea in the context of my Actress!Ámbar x Musician!Simón AU. It was going to be, like, a second chapter where I mixed different interviews, some of Simón, some of Ámbar, as a way to tell how their relationship developed after the ending of chapter one. But then I thought—Why limit it to just that one context? I really loved the idea I came up with for this proposal, so I wanted it to fit as many different worlds as possible, especially canon for those who aren’t such big fans of AUs, so— Here it is! I really hope you liked it. It’s very different from everything I’ve written before in terms of format, but that’s precisely why it was so much fun to write. What would you even call this type of POV? Second Person or something? Sdfkjn. I don’t know, I don’t remember much of my high school lessons; it’s been too many years.

And speaking of years. It's been 6 years now since the show ended and this proposal took place 6 years into their relationship, so I think it would be sweet to imagine that Simón and Ámbar are engaged right now as we speak and that they’ll be getting married next year in 2025 <3

Our babies have grown up, and so have we.

See you all next time. – C

[iridescentis]

random question for the people who have dabbled in some future soy luna aspects, who do we think gets engaged first?

purely because im thinking of writing a lil fic that takes place during the first engagement party and i cannot decide whose party it is

[missroller15]

see, this is why i can’t get nostalgic over my first ever fandom…. because then i’m LEGALLY obligated to write a chaotic insane fic for it so here’s to the soy luna fandom and every single amazing beautiful wonderful person i’ve met bc of it!!

[shady-swan-jones]

A story in the Soy Luna universe. Simon and Ambar. Season 3.

Ao3 . Wattpad

Wherever Luna Valente is, a buzz of activity surrounds her. She’s in the middle of the cafeteria, chatting animatedly with the Roller Jam team about yet another idea she has for the costumes of their next choreography.

The words glitter and amazing come up more than twice.

Of course they do, Ambar thinks, rolling her eyes. The scene unfolding in front of her, though not unusual, still manages to annoy her. Here she is, buried in her papers trying to keep a whole business afloat, one that provides both everyone's entertainment and several jobs, while sweet, cheerful Luna Valente is picking colour themes like she doesn’t have a care in the world apart from skating. Ambar watches as the group agrees with her ideas, praising her imagination and artistic spirit.

Flowers. She suppresses her inner Miranda Prisley. For spring? Groundbreaking.

Not only they’re shamelessly agreeing with everything her -former- sworn enemy suggests, -that’s what friends are supposed to do- they are doing it in Ambar's face, and loudly. She hasn’t seen that level of excitement since, probably the last time Luna made a suggestion.

Ugh, where can one get some peace around here? Ambar wonders, looking at her folder for answers. The papers stare at her wordlessly, refusing to pick sides. The presence of the calculator mocks her, as if there’s a chance of being able to focus with so much noise around her.

She gathers up her things and gets up to leave, when a body collides with hers sending said cowardly calculator flying around, along with a few papers and a good chunk of Ambar’s dignity. The rest of it slowly evaporates as she looks up to see whose -warm- body impedes her exit.

“Not a fan of the flower painted skates?” Simon asks as he crouches to gather her things. Ambar looks down to see him smiling at her, as if he is amused by her annoyance.

"You know I prefer black and silver”. She answers sarcastically, both knowing her annoyed face isn’t about the skate colour at all. “But there’s no way Luna and her friends could pull them off, so this floral it is”. She motions to take her things as he gets up, his smile meeting her icy gaze.

"I know they can be a lot. You need some quiet to work, right?” he asks, his eyes full of understanding.

She nods, not expecting he’d get her so easily, but again, it’s Simon. Guitarist with a heart of gold. And arms of a greek god, her mind supplies unhelpfully.

"I get it, Ambar. But be nicer, they are brainstorming for the competition”. His eyes are begging her to understand. The competition and Luna are important to him.

"Should they be doing it here? If I listen to one more conversation about tulle I’m going to lose my mind, Simon!” she exclaims, her hand lifting in a desperate attempt to communicate her frustration.

Simon barks a laugh, quickly hiding it behind his hand, as if it would insult his friends. Said friends are deeply engrossed in tulle themed conversation to notice them. His eyes are still shining playfully when they meet hers. The brown orbs are focused on her and it doesn’t fail to nudge that longing in her insides that she constantly tries to push down. Maybe that’s why he does it, maybe he’s aware of the effect his gaze has on her.

Before she gets more lost in her unexplored feelings, Simon interrupts her thoughts.

"They’ll go back to practice in the rink in a few minutes. You’ll have the place almost to yourself. In the meantime, do you want to take a walk around, clear your head? I’ll have a smoothie waiting when you come back.”

Though the idea of space right now is enticing, there’s one thing missing from being perfect.

"Only if you come with me.” His eyes spark as they try to decipher her intentions. “Just a few minutes. You haven’t taken a break yet”. Damn, the last one she shouldn’t have said.

"You’re keeping tabs on me, senorita Ambar”.

"Because I am your boss, Simon.” she clarifies. As if this is the only motive for watching him waiting tables, playing the guitar, laughing at Nico’s jokes and being a goofball all day long. Her goofball, she hopes, someday.

"Right, boss”, he plays along. “Since you’re asking so nicely, I will accompany you.” he motions to Nico that he’s taking a break, ignoring his friend's dagger filled look and they head for the door.

Ambar hides her smile.

They're in this bottomless limbo these days, Simon and her. She had apologized for the secret she kept from Luna, he's trying to figure out if he'll continue to give her chances to prove herself. It seems like every interaction they have has angry undertones and there's a place in her soul that's gaping open, longing for the kind of selfless affection only Simon has ever given her. This new normal they have fallen into is a poor substitute for what she knows they can have again.

Simon's mind seems to be in similar plains. His eyebrows furrow and casts a tentative look in her way.

"This doesn’t mean I have forgiven you, Ambar. Nor that I’ll play along next time you hide something from Luna", he asserts. He casts his sight downwards and Ambar's eyes fall to his necklace. She's dying to ask about the story behind his pendant. Maybe another time, when they're alright again.

"I know, I know, Simon, I am apologizing again-"

"-or cover for you again next time you and your teammates have an evil plan. I am tired of it. I won’t do it to my friends", he says as they cross the street, the tall trees of the park welcoming them.

"You mean you’re tired of me?” She stops walking and looks at him, the vulnerability evident in her eyes. She bares her soul to him, in this moment she’s wide open.

"No, no. I didn’t mean that, Ambar.” He stops and puts a hand to her shoulder to comfort her. It’s a quick gesture, but she feels relieved. “You know I didn’t mean that”, he says quietly, almost to himself. His hand caresses her shoulder once more and returns to his pocket.

They continue walking, a veil of silence upon them. It’s not uncomfortable, Ambar thinks, but this is the park where they had such emotional conversations and the memories it brings are too emotional to ignore. They're walking along the place where she started opening up to him, all those months ago. She remembers the person she was before finding and confiding in him, how alone and powerless she felt. The memory of his kind words and understanding eyes would seem worlds away, if he wasn’t looking at her with the same openness now. Now, after everything she’d done to him and his friends, after him coming face to face with her darkness and being on the opposite side of her evil plans. He still chooses to see the best in her, even now that he has ample evidence of her worst side.

She’s feeling her emotions build up as they walk side by side, looking in front but very aware of each other’s presence. It’s almost surreal that in the eyes of the world they are on completely opposing sides, yet in their own little universe. They’re walking close, in the same direction.

Time to start bridging the gap, Ambar thinks and she feels a spark in her fingers. She closes the small distance between them, and softly caresses Simon's hand, linking their fingers together. She squeezes his hand as her eyes close, basking in the warmth of their link. Simon looks at her surprised, but she’s avoiding her eyes and looks straight ahead. She’s smiling, a secret smile she reserves for private moments. He squeezes her hand back timidly.

"Simon." Their eyes meet. "I know there are many things left to fix between us to even think about the possibility of us. I know I have more apologies to make and steps to take before I’m ready for another chance." He seems surprised by her sudden honesty. "But please, only for the 15 minutes left in your break, let’s pretend we're in that happy place where we've resolved our issues. Let's say we’re there, together. Just the two of us, like this.” she tucks her head on his shoulder, sighting happily. She molds herself to his side, basking in his warmth.

Affection doesn’t come naturally to Ambar, having grown up with a cold and distant mother figure can do that. But with Simon, it felt second nature, his body always responding to her touch.

"Pretend we’re together? Simon asks. The way he holds her, he seems to enjoy the idea of acting the part of a normal couple, without obstacles in their way. He squeezes her hand and whispers “Like a glimpse into the future?”

Hearing the hope in his voice, it almost brings tears to her eyes. This man, this loyal, loving man. She slows down their walking and finally stops in front of him. She searches in his eyes and only finds honesty and longing. They will get through this.

She untagles her hand from his, only to go for a long hug. He immediately envelops her in his arms, resting on her midriff and her hair. Ambar rests her cheek on his chest, hearing the steady thud of his heartbeat. She could stay hours like this.

“Like a glimpse into the future”, she affirms softly. Simon arms squeeze her, the unspoken emotion bursting through his skin. She hasn’t felt safer and lighter than in his arms.

She feels a soft kiss pressed into her hair. For the first time in a while, she lets herself hope.

[weirdthoughtsandideas]

Sunshine and Moonshine

Chapter 24: Sick children

It had been two days and Sharon had not confronted Ámbar properly about her disobedience yet. That made Ámbar a bit nervous, because it could happen at any moment.

She tried focusing on Emilia. It got a bit intense there for a moment… 

As she entered Blake in the morning, Delfi and Jazmin both noticed she was thinking about something, and they immediately wanted to know.

“Did something happen, Ámbar?” Delfi asked. “You look like there’s something on your mind.”

“There’s always something on Ámbar’s mind!” Jazmin said, “She’s got quite a heavy life.”

“That is true… but I got a feeling that the thing Ámbar is thinking about right now is gossip worth sharing!”

Before Ámbar could say anything, they were all caught off guard by someone sneezing extremely loudly.

“Woah, Ramiro!” Matteo exclaimed. “What’s up with you?”

Ramiro furrowed his eyebrows and stared into thin air, as if he didn’t know who to face when talking. “My little brother did not come home with the flu from his school and smitted me. I’m fine! I’m just allergic to… floors!”

With that, he stomped off. 

“Okay…” Jim mumbled. 

In class, Ramiro sat right next to Ámbar. She could hear him sniffing and trying to hold in coughs.

She instinctively tried to move away from him a bit. 

Soon, Ramiro could not hold it anymore and let out a cough. 

“Cover your arm when you cough!” Ámbar exclaimed, as Ramiro had just been coughing right out in the open.

“Relax, there’s no germs in a cough,” Ramiro said.

The teacher had heard them, and stared awkwardly in front of the board. “... I think we need a run through about germ spreading.”

-

While the rest of the school day was fine, by the end of the day, both Delfi and Matteo let out some coughs. People didn’t think much about it, though. 

As Ámbar and Luna headed home, Ámbar suddenly sneezed.

“Did you get Ramiro’s thing?” Luna asked.

“No… at least I hope so… I just sneezed.”

As they got home, the plan was to change out of their school uniforms and then head to Jam and Roller to skate. But Ámbar got this sudden headache… and she decided to stay home. At least until the headache disappeared.

Luna however, has as much energy as possible, and went to Jam and Roller.

She skated around for a bit. She noticed her throat was getting a little heavier. Not a problem, she thought, and decided to drink some water.

She later met up with her friends.

“Wasn’t Gastón coming here with you?” Jim asked Nina.

“He was, but he said he wasn’t feeling well. Maybe he caught Ramiro’s thing. They’re in the same class, after all…”

After she said this, she let out a sneeze.

“Maybe you caught it, too,” Yam said.

“Impossible! I haven’t been near Ramiro today!”

“But have you been near Gastón?” Yam proceeded to do kissing sounds.

Nina stared at her in horror.

Yam immediately backed off. “Sorry, I was just joking. I don’t know when a joke goes too far sometimes? Did it go too far? I didn’t mean to-”

“No, no, it’s okay… I just… there was this free period between two classes… ”

“Did you…” Jim tried to say it as carefully as she could. “... swap spit?”

That was, indeed, as “carefully” as Jim could say it.

Nina nodded. 

“Ok, there’s a high chance you can be sick,” Luna said.

“I hope not…”

Suddenly, Jim was the one to sneeze.

“Did you swap spit with Gastón, too?” Yam joked. Jim stared at her in shock, not prepared for that.

“Ramiro did cough next to me today,” Jim said. “I hope it was just a random sneeze, and there’s nothing to it…”

“I feel peachy!” Luna admitted. “I just feel a bit… cold, which is weird, because I’ve been working out a lot by skating.”

“Yeah, I’m freezing a little, too…” Yam admitted. “How odd…”

-

As Luna and Ámbar ate dinner that night, both were sure that they were just fine. Ámbar was just a little tired, and Luna just felt a bit chilly. 

“What are you doing?” Sharon asked Luna. “You’re shivering.”

“I’m just freezing… I don’t know why, but I do.” She then let out a sneeze.

“I don’t hope you’re getting sick…” Sharon then turned to Ámbar, noticing her looking tired. “And I hope you don’t, either.”

“I’m not sick, madrina,” Ámbar assured her, although in a very dizzy tone. “I just… have been feeling tired since I came home.”

Sharon went up and felt Ámbar’s forehead. “You’re warm.” She then felt Luna’s. “You, too.”

“How can I be warm when I’m freezing?” Luna asked.

“I’ll suggest you take warm baths and then go straight to bed. And keep yourselves upstairs.”

Ámbar felt her throat. It was starting to itch from the inside. She let out a cough, hoping it would make it better, but it didn’t. 

“Eat up your food quickly,” Sharon said, “Then go upstairs.”

Sharon was extremely afraid of getting sick. So, every time one of the girls got sick, she basically quarantined them in their rooms, not even wanting to be close to them. Basically, if you were sick, you were treated like a dangerous zombie. 

The girls went upstairs, took baths (in separate bathrooms), and spent the rest of the night in their bedrooms. 

As they woke up in the morning, it had not gotten better. Ámbar's throat hurt even more than usual and Luna felt her nose being all stuffed. 

But the girls ignored it and went down to breakfast.

Sharon noticed it, however. 

“You’re pale… both of you.”

“We are?” Ámbar asked, and the second she opened her mouth she sounded really hoarse. She coughed a bit. 

“You look sick…” Sharon said. “And you’ve been sniffing this entire time, Luna.”

“Sorry, my nose is a bit stuffed…”

Sharon glanced at both of them, back and forth. “You do not look well.”

“We need to go to school,” Ámbar said. 

“You shouldn’t go to school.”

“What?” Luna asked. “Our education is really important and we should prioritize it! Isn’t that what you always say?”

“In normal circumstances, yes, but if I send you away, your teacher will just send you home. Besides, Blake is good with sending home homework if you missed a day.”

Luna and Ámbar sighed. They didn’t want to get extra homework. 

“Gosh, I don’t feel good…” Luna mumbled.

Sharon’s eyes widened and stood up quickly. She walked fast up to Amanda, who was cleaning the hallway. She snatched Amanda’s cleaning spray and pointed it at the girls.

“Go upstairs.”

“Are you ok?” Ámbar asked.

“I can’t get sick! I don’t want to get whatever virus you have. Upstairs!”

“But… school-”

“I’ll call them and tell them you’re sick, just get up! Now! Before I get smitten!”

“Ok, geez…” Luna said. She then proceeded to sneeze, which caused Sharon to just point the cleaning spray at them harder.

-

Luna sent a group text to her friends.

Luna: I’m sick today, so don’t wait for me before class!

Yam: I’M SICK TOO

Jim: ME TOO

Yam: Conspiracy theory: Ramiro’s fault?

Nina: I’m also sick!

Luna: Aw, so no one can give me homework notes?

Yam: Bold of you to assume I even take notes normally. I learn by listening as I draw in my notebook.

Yam: More or less learning, at least. I have mediocre grades. I still pass, though!

Nina: What a coincidence all of us got sick?

Yam: You’re sick because you swapped spit with Gastón and he swapped spit with Ramiro

Yam: Wait

Jim: My sister asked why I was laughing so much

Yam: Ahh Julia!! Say hi from me!

Luna: I thought your sister was named Aillén?

Jim: Aillén is my little cousin who’s obsessed with me because my Open music performances ended up on youtube and thus she assumes I am world famous. She dyed her hair red and everything for me. 

Nina: That is adorable. Didn’t you say no one in your family actually has red hair except you?

Jim: Yep! I got a recessive gene or something. Aillén was always fascinated with it and had been wanting to dye it red herself for years. 

Yam: Julia looks a lot like you, Nina, actually. Like it’s scary. She even has glasses.

Jim: She goes to Blake too, you must’ve seen her in the hallway at some point. 

Nina: I’ll keep a lookout for her. Some day. When I’m not home sick.

Yam: I wish we could be sick together in the same house. When I was little I loved seeing best friends being sick together in tv shows and sharing a bed. It seemed so cozy. 

Jim: Come over to my house!! We’ll be sick together

Yam: Really??

Jim: Yeah! Come over! 

Yam: Ok yeah I’m coming!

Nina: Won’t you expose people outside of your germs on the way there?

Yam: I’ll wear a mask! It’s fine!

Luna wanted to write “Have fun on your date!” but she decided not to. She did understand why Yam was so excited, though, and she secretly hoped her two friends got even closer so that she could hear all the gossip.

-

Yam went over to Jim’s house quickly, trying not to cough too much on the way there. Luckily, Jim’s house was only 10 minutes away. Yet, she felt her energy dropping much quicker.

As she reached Jim’s house, she knocked on the door, and Jim’s older sister Julia opened.

“Yam! Hi! Oh, you don’t look good…”

“No, I’m sick, and Jim suggested I could come over and we could be sick together.”

Julia smiled. “That is so sweet. Come in… don’t touch me, but do come in.”

As Yam went in, Julia went out. “Well, I’m going to school now… have fun being sick. But not too much fun.”

“What do you mean?”

Julia gave her a knowing smile. “I observe more than you think. Have fun now, you two.”

Yam waved goodbye, feeling a bit unsure what she meant. She then turned to the staircase, as Jim was coming down with a blanket wrapped around her. She also had a blanket for Yam.

“Hi,” she said in a hoarse voice.

“Hello,” Yam replied, snickering. 

“Let’s go to the living room. We’ll cozy up on the couch and watch a movie.” She threw the blanket to her.

“Sounds great.”

-

Luna and Ámbar were quarantined in their separate rooms. 

Ámbar was lying with her laptop on her bed, wondering what to do. She had been checking random videos on youtube, but she felt like she needed something more.

She suddenly saw a video clip from a movie adaptation of a book series she had read a bit as a kid. She never watched the movie adaptation, as it had come out when she was a bit too old for the books and she didn’t find it interesting at that point. 

Watching the clip, she realized how cheesy this movie seemed to be. She curiously read the comments, and to her delight, most people seemed to agree.

Imagine my disappointment when I saw this in theatres.

I refuse to acknowledge this movie’s existence. Let’s pretend it was just a collective fever dream.

This movie is the reason I started writing fanfiction about this franchise. To fix what the movie ruined!

Fanfiction… Ámbar knew what it was, but she had never really… read it before. 

Curious, she went to search for some fanfiction of this book series. Not to really read any of them, but just to see what people wrote. 

She found a website that seemed to just be for fanfictions. She wrote the book series in the search bar. 

Only 200 fanfictions? She recalled this being way more popular… but maybe not that many were into writing fanfiction about it.

She scrolled through it. Some were only a few 1000 words, others were several chapters. Then she found one fanfiction.

50 chapters out of question mark, meaning that the author was still updating it. The latest update was yesterday. 

”Well, I have nothing better to do…” Ámbar said to herself. 

-

Simón sent Luna a text message.

I saw you were online. Aren’t you in school?

Luna quickly replied.

Nope! I’m sick today 

She and Simón started texting.

Simón: Too bad! I’m gonna miss you skating today. 

Luna: You’re probably not gonna see any of us! All of us got sick, basically. 

Simón: What happened? Some sort of epidemic at your school? 

Luna: We think Ramiro is the culprit. He was sick yesterday but came to school anyway. 

Simón: Oof. Well… get some rest! I hope you get to just relax and enjoy junk food.

Luna: Junk food idk. But our maid comes in every other hour and asks what we want to eat, and then she brings us something from the kitchen. I could really eat a pizza right now… but we don’t have that in our kitchen. 

Simón: I always forget you’re a rich kid with maids and stuff. A bit sad you don’t get to order takeout though. 

Luna: I mean, we do get to, but Sharon gets disappointed in us. Plus it’s easier to just get what we got at home. 

Simón: Hmmm… I have an idea

Luna: Tell me.

Simón: No, you’ll see. 

-

Jim and Yam were looking really dazed at the TV. They didn’t know what to watch, and thus they just zapped on the tv and ended up on the kids channel. Right now there was some dubbed cartoon that they were too old to have known about before.

“That voice actress,” Yam said, “I’ve heard her everywhere.” 

“How old is she?” Jim asked. “I feel like she’s been in every single dubbed kids show I’ve seen all of my life.”

“Yeah, like… is it hard to find new voice actors? Is this why they have the same like… 10 people on everything? What will you do when they pass away?”

“Don’t know!”

The kids show ended, and soon a new one began. This one was one that the girls recognized, as it was a show from their own childhoods that now seemed to air as a rerun.

“Oh, I haven’t seen this since I was like 8,” Yam said.

“Me neither! How fun that it still airs!”

They watched for a moment. Suddenly, Jim let out a chuckle.

“I forgot how funny this was!”

“I don’t think I found it as funny as I find it now!” Yam admitted. “But maybe we find it funny because we’re sick.”

“Maybe… but this show is like… on crack!”

Yam laughed.

“I love your laugh so much,” Jim said. “I know I’ve said that before, but I just… really love it.”

“Thank you…” Yam grinned. She stroked Jim with her foot. 

They watched a little more of the show.

“You know, I actually think this isn’t a kids show, it’s a stoner show,” Yam said.”I don’t know if being sick and being high is the same thing, but I feel like stoners would love to watch this.”

“Yam… do you think we should be stoners?”

“Maybe in university.”

“Yeah, that sounds good… it feels like a university thing to do.”

Yam yawned. “Gosh, I feel so tired.”

“Should we take a nap?” Jim suggested. “We’ll go up to my bed and sleep together.”

Yam stared at her for a brief moment.

“What?” Jim asked.

“I…” Yam hated how her brain automatically thought of the dirtiest thing. “Nothing. Yeah, let’s go to your room.”

-

Luna was lying with her feet sticking up, leaning on the wall. She looked up at the ceiling.

She wanted to move. She was so understimulated. 

She had been clicking a pen so much that it broke. So, she had now gone over to drumming on her nightstand. 

Then Rey bursted into her room.

“Hey! Privacy!” Luna shouted.

“You’re very loud! ” Rey muttered. “Stop hitting your furniture.”

“You don’t decide over me!”

Rey sighed. “Please. Some of us are trying to work.”

“This is my room! And I’m sick!”

“I can hear that. So lay in bed and rest.”

“I cannot rest! I cannot sit still!”

“I am very aware… I’ve been trying to suggest to Sharon to maybe look that up, but she insists you just need discipline…”

Luna bounced on her bed. “Can you leave now? I don’t like you in my room.”

“If you stop drumming on furniture so that it bugs me.”

“Fine…”

She plopped down on her bed. What was there to do?

Suddenly, someone knocked on her door.

“Come in…?” she said curiously, as she let out a cough.

Someone with their back turned walked in slowly and closed the door. They then turned around.

Simón stood there, with a large smile and a pizza. “Are you hungry?”

-

Ámbar was completely stuck in this fanfiction. She had not thought about this franchise since she was maybe 11 years old, and yet, she was certain this random person online made the original source so much better. 

She was 15 chapters deep now, and she just loved the language, the funny lines the characters got out… the author had also added some original characters, and Ámbar thought they added some flavor to the story.

She didn’t leave comments. She didn’t have an account, anyway. But, she did read some other people’s comments.

Punknotdead2012 commented on chapter 2: "Looking good this far! I need to ask if the hippie character they met is based on someone you know?"

Moondustfan commented on chapter 4: “I’m lying on the floor clutching my ribs of laughter!”

Punknotdead2012 commented on chapter 5: “Loved the scene between the captain and the starfighter, but I also once again need to ask if your hippie oc is based on someone you know.”

Fernandalikesrollerskating commented on chapter 8: “LMAO believe it or not I had an exact moment like this once with this guy on my roller skate team. A bit different since he was human and not an alien, but still.”

Punknotdead2012 commented on chapter 13: “IS. THE. HIPPIE. OC. BASED. ON. SOMEONE. YOU. KNOW?!?!?!?!?!?!”

It was also interesting seeing the author’s notes at the end of each chapter. It was like the author lived this really odd life.

Supernovagirl’s A/N chapter 3: “Sorry this took longer to post, my mom locked me inside my room and took my phone -.- But I hope the length could make up for it!”

Supernovagirl’s A/N chapter 6: “I had to rush this because my mom pushed my stepdaughter down some stairs and now blames ME and she wants me to go to Switzerland and stuff idk what to do… but hopefully next chapter won’t come out too late.”

Supernovagirl’s A/N chapter 10: “Thanks for all your nice comments! If you wonder why I wrote an extra long chapter today, well, I’m celebrating! I’m staying in this country, my mom is now in a facility and I feel safe! Life can only get better haha!”

Who knew someone with such a traumatic life could just have time to write the most wonderful fanfiction?

As she finished chapter 15, she checked the comments. Another one from Punknotdead2012 who never seemed to get an answer on their one question. But then, she noticed someone that she might know…

Sapphicskater commented on chapter 15:“As someone who’s also hopelessly in love with her best friend, I feel the struggles of both the characters and you, dear author, as you mentioned you’ve experienced this too. I wish me and my bestie could get locked inside a magical space closet too.”

It HAD to be Yam. Ok, not that Yam was not the only sapphic girl that skated and was hopelessly in love with her best friend, but… it must be. 

Ámbar screenshotted it and sent it to Yam, asking if it was her. 

She soon got a reply.

Yam: You woke me up. I took a nap.

Ámbar: Aren’t you in school?

Yam: Nope. I’m in bed with Jim. 

Ámbar raised both of her eyebrows.

“Good for her…” she mumbled to herself.

-

Yam hoped her phone vibrating didn’t wake up Jim. Luckily, it didn’t seem to do that.

Jim was cute sleeping, even when sick. 

Yam smiled and took the opportunity to snuggle into her, because she could. If Jim woke up, Yam could pretend she did that in her sleep. 

She closed her eyes again and tried going back to sleep.

“Mm…” Jim mumbled. Yam squinted at her, smiled, and then closed her eyes again.

Then Jim mumbled again. Yam didn’t think much of it. 

Until the mumbling started to sound more like moaning .

Yam wondered for a moment if maybe it was because Jim was sick, it sounded more like she was moaning in her sleep when she simply snored or even breathed.

But then, Jim started talking in her sleep.

“Yes… we can do that… mmmmm… I like that…”

“Jim?” Yam was really curious about what she was dreaming. 

“Aah…”

Yam wondered if Jim was either having a really bad dream, or a really good dream. Since she mentioned that she liked something, the latter seemed more possible. 

Maybe she’d just try to go back to sleep herself. 

Or maybe she could answer Ámbar, since Ámbar asked her a question.

Yam: That is my fanfiction account… WAIT. You read fanfics, Ámbar Smith?

Ámbar: Let’s just say I’m bored as I am sick.

Ámbar: How was it being in bed with Jim?

Yam: I’m still in bed with Jim.

Ámbar: You’re texting as you’re being intimate? Interesting…

Yam: She’s sleeping for your information. 

Ámbar: After your lovemaking session, I presume?

Yam: I wish.

Yam: FUCK why did I send that…

Yam: I mean 

Yam: No we’re just sick together so I’m over at her house and we just took a nap and she’s still sleeping. 

Ámbar: I’m gonna read your fanfictions

Yam: I was about to go “NOOO” but you know what? The ones I posted I think turned out quite well. I don’t think you’re in any of my fandoms though

Ámbar: That’s ok, then I’m just gonna treat it as an original story. 

“Yam…” Jim mumbled.

Yam turned to her. “Yeah?” She thought Jim had woken up.

However, Jim seemed to still be asleep.

Jim made a moaning sound again, and then said it again. “Yam…”

Was Yam in her dream…?

Jim formed a rather satisfied smile. 

“Yam… I love you.”

Yam’s heart started beating faster. She didn’t know what kind of dream Jim actually had. She didn’t know if the “i love you” was platonic or romantic, or whatever else. She didn’t know if Jim was just having a fever dream, even though it didn��t seem like any of them had a fever, just a nasty cold. 

Yet, she smiled to herself, and hoped Jim remembered her dream when she woke up.

“I love you too, Jim.”

-

“Simón, what are you doing here?” Luna asked. 

“I decided to give you some pizza!”

“Wow!”

Simón sat down. “I didn’t know exactly what your favorite pizza flavor was, but I went off vibes.” He opened the box to reveal a pizza with bacon on it.

“Wait, is this a pizza that exists?” Luna laughed.

“Apparently! And I thought it was perfectly chaotic for you!”

Before Luna could eat, he took a slice and fed her himself. She made eye contact with him as she chewed on the pizza. 

“Delicious…”

“Really? I have to give it a taste!” Simón picked up his own slice. Meanwhile, Luna just stared at him.

Something in her belly tickled. She wondered at first if it was because she was sick and her body fought against anything she ate. But it felt… good.

“I hope I don’t get you smitten…” she said.

“Oh, it’s fine! I have four siblings! I’m pretty used to getting sick! Starting to get immune to it by this point, haha.”

“That’s good…” She took another pizza slice. “Mm! I don’t know how you actually could find out my pizza preference without me even having tasted this type of pizza before!”

“Well, I guess I have magical powers.”

She giggled.

“Are you the only one home sick today?” Simón asked.

“No, Ámbar is sick, too.”

“Aww… do you think she wants pizza?”

“I’m sure she does… you could go over and give her some.”

“Alright! I’ll go over and give her a slice. But then I’ll be back, ok?”

“Yeah…”

Luna felt really happy he was gonna come back to her. Though, she knew he’d probably want to be with Ámbar more. Even if they broke up… 

A minute after Simón had left the room, Sharon suddenly opened the door. She didn’t go in, due to not wanting to be smitten.

“I heard loud noises. What are you doing?”

“I’m just being myself in my own room!” Luna replied.

Sharon looked at the pizza box like it was a weapon. “Where did you get a pizza from?”

“I don’t know! It just seemed to come from thin air! Weird, right?” Luna held up a slice. “Want some?”

Sharon stared at her in silence, before slowly closing the door.

-

Someone knocked on Ámbar’s door and she immediately closed her laptop. “Come in!”

Simón came in with a grin. “Surprise! Want a pizza slice?”

“Simón? What are you doing here?”

“I bought Luna pizza and I wanted to give you a slice!”

“Ok… why did you buy Luna a pizza?”

“I felt like it!”

Ámbar took the slice and ate it. “It was… ok, but a bit strange. Could you get me some wipes, my hands are sticky from pizza now…”

Simón handed over some wet wipes for her to wipe her hands with.

“So, what are you doing lying in bed sick?” Simón asked.

“I mostly check my laptop.”

“I see! What are you looking at?”

“Well…”

Simón crossed his arms and smirked. “Ámbar, it’s ok if you look at something embarrassing. I promise I’ve looked at worse things online than what you’ve ever seen.”

“Fine…” She opened her laptop and showed him. He immediately started laughing.

“Oh, fanfiction? Ámbar, that’s nothing to be ashamed of. I read it sometimes, too. Although. I prefer reading it out loud for my friends, it’s really entertaining.”

“I found Yam’s fanfiction account.”

“Yam’s? Oh my gosh, show me!”

He took a picture of Yam’s account. “I’m totally gonna read this later and then reference it to her!”

“She’s gonna be so surprised!”

“I know!”

Both chuckled. 

“Well… get well soon, Ámbar. I need to go.”

“Yeah… see you!”

Ámbar still had a soft spot for Simón. She wasn’t sure if she still had romantic feelings for him, but he made her feel good.

Suddenly, her phone buzzed. It was from Emilia.

How’s it going? Wanna skate?

Emilia also made her feel good… but in another way. 

Ámbar: Sorry, but I’m sick today.

Emilia: Are you really sick or are your weird guardian forcing you to be inside?

Ámbar: Well both, but I am actually sick. Like I cough and sneeze and shit

Emilia: Gnarly! 

Emilia: I wish I was over there and fed you pizza or something

Ámbar: Haha.

She closed her eyes, and imagined Emilia coming over and seductively feeding her pizza.

Suddenly, Sharon came in. Not knocking, of course, this was her house and privacy was a privilege, not a right. 

“Ámbar…” she said slowly.

“Hi, madrina.”

“I’m not gonna get close to you, but we need to discuss you being disobedient the other day.”

“Ok.” Ámbar was too sick to really feel anything about a lecture about her bad behavior.

Sharon closed the door, leaning against it to be as far away from Ámbar as possible. “You’re out of control, Ámbar, and I am wondering if there is some outside force influencing you to be like this.”

“No, I just feel grumpy over life.”

“How come?”

Ámbar sighed. “I’m raised by you, and you wonder why I feel grumpy over life?”

“See! Now you’re like that again! Rude and no respect for me.”

Ámbar felt like keeping her eyes up was harder for each second that passed.

“Why can’t you be like you were when you were little? Always listening and being respectful.”

“You never told me that when I was little. I tried and tried to please you, and it never seemed like it was enough for you. Eventually I guess I gave up, because it was no use anyway.”

Sharon crossed her arms. “I don’t remember what I said and didn’t say, but this is not the Ámbar I raised.”

Ámbar yawned, not really having the energy to care about anything Sharon said. “Well, I’m not 8 years old anymore.”

Sharon glanced at her. Suddenly, she felt a bit of sympathy, which she rarely felt.

“You really are sick right now, aren’t you?”

“Maybe…” 

“I can see that… you look really tired.”

“I’d like to nap, actually. I don’t want to argue with you. I don’t have the energy for that.”

“You’re right. We shouldn’t argue. You should get some rest.”

Ámbar closed her eyes. 

Sharon stared at her for a few moments. “Ámbar…?” she said carefully. No response. 

She went as close as she could without feeling like she’d be at risk to be smitten. 

She had put that little girl down for a nap when she was very young. She knew when Ámbar was actually sleeping.

She almost wanted to pet her, but… once again, she did not want to be sick.

Suddenly, Ámbar’s phone vibrated.

Curious, Sharon took it. 

Emilia: Imagine that tho. You sitting there like a princess and me feeding you. Would be pretty hot lol

Sharon furrowed her eyebrows. What kind of language was this?

She wondered if she could unlock Ámbar’s phone.

Immediately, she walked out in the hallway. 

“Rey! Come over here?”

Rey came very fast. 

“Yes, Miss Benson?”

“Unlock this phone for me, please.”

“Right on it, Miss Benson.”

[countessofravenclaw]

Like the Red Rose blooms in the Oxford Garden: Chapter ten

Sometimes when your heart breaks… it feels like there is no way to fix it. No matter what you try. All the memories get left behind as something unfinished… But maybe, there is to way to fix it, A second chance. Some way to finish the story you two started writing because it was never the end, but just a part of the story… even if you have to travel far to achieve it.

You can say "Goodbye", you can say "Hello". But you'll always find your way back home.

“Was that your phone?” Nina asked as Gastón’s phone dinged. 

They had been studying at the library on the evening as the term finals closed in on them. There only was about a month left before the exams, and the summer would begin.

“Oh, yeah I think it was,” Gastón reached for his phone and looked at it. “It was an email… from Renishaw.” 

“What does it say?” Nina closed the book she had been browsing through, “I thought you already got the job.”

“I did,” Gastón opened the email. He would be continuing the internship he had done at Renishaw last summer, this summer. “It must be just some information.”

“He opened the email and read it through. “Huh?” 

“What is it?” Gastón looked up and saw Nina’s face growing in concern.

“Oh, nothing bad,” he reached her hand in reassurance, “Just the email said that I don’t need to do the three-week intern training period there, because I was there last year.”

“Is that a bad or good thing?”

“Good,” Gastón laughed while playing with Nina’s fingers, “It means that I have three weeks free at the start of summer. So, what do you wanna do?”

“What am I supposed to want to do?” Nina looked at him. The look of slight confusion on her face was way too cute, and Gastón had to try his hardest not to get distracted. 

“Well, it would be a waste if we just sit here the whole summer. There are lot of different things we can do.”

“I don’t know how to come up with something. You choose.”

“Well, if you want me to.” Gastón grinned at Nina, “We already were at Kent, but there are lot of other places here as well.” Gastón stopped to think for a moment, “but, honestly, we can just do that during the weekends if we want, so… How about we go back home?”

“Home?” Nina looked up at his eyes, “You wanna return to Buenos Aires?”

“Well… Yeah.” Gastón reached to take both of her hands to his and ran his thumps over them. “I have been thinking that for a while now. I mean, I didn’t come back last year, and honestly kind of regret it. Matteo really tried to get me to come. So, you’d like that, if we did go back? We could stay at mine.”

“Yes, I really would love that,” Nina smiled at him, “Your parents would be fine with us staying there?”

“Of course. I am not sure about their schedules right now, but if we get to be by ourselves, I’m not gonna be upset.” Gastón got up from his chair and moved to one on the other side of the table next to Nina.

“Luna will be so excited,” Nina smiled, “It would be so great to see everybody…and we can tell them.”

“Right, they don’t know,” Gastón laughed, “Almost forgot about that. If Luna and Matteo have kept their mouths shut, which I think they actually have. Jazmin would have flown across the ocean to make a video about this.”

“She’s probably never going to change in that aspect,” Nina laughed, “At least Delfi shut Fab and Chic down, but Jazmin is never going to stop.”

“We’re never going to live to see that day,” Gastón agreed, “How about we just call Matteo and Luna now, and let them know, so we can plan accordingly? And make sure nothing has actually leaked and they are just waiting to ambush us.”

“That's a good idea.”

“Well, lets not waste any time.” Gastón took his phone out and called Matteo.

“Hey!!!” Matteo appeared on the screen after a moment, “Nice to see you fancy school people. I was beginning to worry that you are beginning to forget how to speak Spanish.”

“We spoke yesterday,” Gastón snarked while changing his phone to his other hand, while wrapping the other around Nina. “Is Luna there?”

“We want to talk to you both.” Nina continued.

“Yeah, she is here… somewhere.” Matteo appeared to look around, “I think she went to the kitchen.”

Nina and Gastón looked as Matteo got up, from Mansion’s living room from the looks of it, and started walking around. 

“She’s with Simon in the kitchen,” Matteo whispered to them, “Do you want to…?”

“Just don’t show the screen,” Gastón said, while their view on the video call got quite crooked as Matteo lowered the phone.

“Chica Delivery,” Matteo entered the kitchen where Luna was sitting with Simon and Ambar, “Can you come with me for a moment?”

“For what?” Nina and Gastón heard Luna’s voice question. 

“We, uhm, have a phone call,” Gastón felt half bad for kind of finding Matteo’s stumblings in the attempt of hiding who he had been talking, kind of funny.

“From who?” Simon’s voice rang, “Why the secrecy?”

“There is no secrecy. It is my cousin, wants to meet my girlfriend,” Matteo continued, “And its none of your business anyway.”

“You know, if you wanna make out, you can just say so!” Ambar’s voice yelled as Luna and Matteo walked to the mansion’s stairwell.

“What does your cousin want from me?” Luna questioned as they entered her room. 

“It’s not my cousin,” Mateo huffed and sat on her bed, flipping the videocall’s camera back to the front and spoke to Nina and Gastón. “I hope this means we can stop this act at some point soon.”

“Oh my gosh!!! Hi!” Luna jumped next to Matteo on the bed. “You could have just said that it was them.”

“Actually, your performance was very entertaining,” Gastón laughed. 

“Glad you enjoyed it,” Matteo rolled his eyes sarcastically. “So what is up with you two?”

“Well, we want to talk with you two about something,” Gastón started talking, “You’ll probably be happy about that, since you like to complain.”

“Uuuuuu, about what?” Luna leaned closer, excited.

“We were talking about the summer, and Gastón’s internship doesn’t start until in a few weeks from starts of the summer—” Nina started explaining, “—so we thought we’d come back, for a couple of weeks.”

“REALLY!?!” Luna started jumping, “OMG! You are really planning on coming back?”

“Yeah, I think we both miss all of you there,” Gastón responded, “Plus, maybe it is time to let everyone know, about us I mean. You two haven’t told anybody right?”

“Of course not.” Matteo scoffed clearly smiling, “Everyone else is in deep darkness about you two, even if it really should be really obvious, if they just saw your faces.”

“Well, thats the plan, we want to tell everybody.”

“So, when exactly are you coming, on what day?” Matteo asked, “Because, uhm… actually, I have an idea. We’ll be at Italy for a couple of days at the start of summer, so what if we fly to you after that and then we fly back to Argentina together.”

***

“I wonder what Matteo bribed Luna with to get her on this early morning flight,” Gastón said to Nina as they were walking towards Luna and Matteo’s arrival gate at 9:35 the morning at Heathrow.

“I honestly don’t know, or do I want to know,” Nina shook her head and turned to look at Gastón’s watch, “When is it landing?”

“In ten minutes,” Gastón said pulling her closer by the waist as they sat down. “We better enjoy the quiet while we can.”

“You know you miss them,” Nina rolled her eyes at him before leaning her head in his shoulder, “But it probably will take a while until they can get off. I can’t imagine Luna and the baggage claim conveyer belt are good friends. Remember when she was convinced that she had lost her bag at Cancun during Roda Fest?”

“Good times,” Gastón laughed before brushing a strand of hair back behind Nina’s ear. He looked like he was about to lean in to kiss her when a burst of people started coming out of the arrivals gate. 

There was no sign of Luna and Matteo until the crowd started dwindling. 

“¿Estás seguro de que esta es la dirección correcta?” A bubbly voice all a sudden was heard at the terminal.

“Yes, this is the right direction.”

“But are you sure? We need to find them.”

“I have been here before… I am sure.”

Nina and Gastón raised their heads to see a couple walk out of the gate. Luna was hard to miss in the crowd while she was wearing a flagrantly bright rainbow summer dress. 

“But are they here?” Luna was jumping on her tiptoes on the platform sneakers she was wearing, “What if they went to the wrong gate?”

“They didn’t,” Nina and Gastón saw Matteo and Luna’s heads turn towards them and they got up from the bench they had been sitting. “They’re right there.”

“AAAAAAAaaaaaahhhh!” Nina felt Gastón detach his arm from around her, just a few moments before she was tackled into an extremely tight hug. Wasn’t Luna just at the other side of the terminal? Well, maybe she had finally actually learned to fly. “I MISSED YOU SO MUCH!!”

“I missed you too.” Nina hugged Luna back, and Luna tightened her grip, so it got hard to breathe for a moment. 

“You look so good!” Luna still kept jumping up and down after she had released Nina, “You have not fully turned into a “posh English lady” on me?” Luna joked.

“No, never,” Nina laughed. She turned to look at Gastón who was just coming out of his own hug with Matteo.

“I honestly can’t believe this! You’re together again. True love really conquers all!” Luna gushed after tackling Gastón in a hug as well. 

“I am with her,” Matteo laughed, “I honestly needed to see this in person, so now I can fully believe it.”

“You need a demonstration?” Nina saw Gastón smirk before his arm wrapped around her pulling her into a kiss. 

***

“So, you are looking very well,” Matteo nudged Gastón with his elbow. They had separated from the girls at first when they had arrived at campus because Luna had wanted to see Nina’s room. “Such a different tune from the fall.”

“Well, it is hard to mask how happy she makes me.” Gastón smiled as he opened the door to his room. Oliver and Jacob had left to their homes earlier during the week.

“And everything that comes with it?” Matteo raised an eyebrow suggestively as he sat down.

“Well, I don’t have any reasons to complain,” Gastón nodded his head, “She’s amazing, in any way imaginable. Even though I do sometimes fear that Nina’s mother is getting ready to wring my neck for what we have been doing, like she probably would have when Nina was 17.”

“Are you in a relationship if you are not scared of your in-laws?” Matteo laughed, “Oh, I can finally say this in person. Congratulations, you’re no longer acting like an idiot!”

“You been waiting for a long time to say that huh?” Gastón punched Matteo lightly on the shoulder.

“Yes!” Matteo punched him right back, “I have been watching you to be the biggest mess in your life when it has come to Nina for FOUR years now… it’s finally over! I am just so happy about you two being happy.”

“I mean, I could say the same about you and Luna—” Gastón was interrupted by the door opening. Had he not locked it and the girls were coming… No, they would have heard them afar.

“I thought you left in the morning?” Gastón asked as James suddenly walked through the door.

“Series of unfortunate events… because I don’t have a car,” James leaned on the doorframe, “Dad’s picking me up…” James moved his eyes in the room and finally noticed Matteo, “...I’m sorry, I didn’t realize you had company. Wait… are you Matteo?”

“En vivo y en persona.” Matteo got up from the bed, while eyeing James verily. Gastón had not really considered how this meeting would go down before this moment. Matteo out of principle wasn’t the biggest fan of Gastón’s other friends —whom he had never met until now— because he was a bit territorial about their friendship. On the other hand, Matteo did know that what he and Gastón had was never going to be broken. 

“Matteo, be nice.” He said in Spanish.

“I am always nice,” Matteo rolled his eyes before offering his hand to James and switching to English, “Matteo Balsano, Gastón’s best friend.”

“James Wilson,” James shook Matteo’s hand, “Nice to finally meet you, since I have heard a lot about you. Plus, I have heard you multiple times, but never understood what was being said.”

“Yeah, Spanish can be a hard language to master… But I managed to do it once upon a time.” Matteo deadpanned. Gastón found this scene purely comical.

“So, you are flying to Buenos Aires in the evening?”

“Yeah,” Gastón answered James, “Matteo and his girlfriend flew here from Italy, so we can go back together. Nina’s showing her around.”

“Oh yeah, you finally got to meet her,” James directed his words to Matteo who threw Gastón a side glance. “I am sure you have heard all about everything to do with Nina, so you definitely can agree that it definitely was such a relief that Gastón stopped being an idiot.”

“Yeah, I have a lot of experience with him being an idiot when it comes to girls. Nina’s no exception” Matteo started saying, his side eye towards Gastón growing “But yep, I have met her… for the first time.”

“Don’t oversell it,” Gastón said to Matteo in Spanish so James couldn’t hear. “We should probably go find the girls.” 

“James, I see you at the fall.” He patted James on the back as he and Matteo walked out of the door.

“How long are you gonna keep this up?” Matteo questioned as they were walking down a hallway, “These guys still don’t know about your crazy quest for the invisible internet girl?”

“Or that I knew her before at all,” Gastón shook his head, “I even told them that Luna’s name is Sol, because otherwise, it would look quite weird that my best friend's girlfriend has the exact same name as Nina’s best friend.”

“You do know that you need to tell them someday,” Matteo continued, “You can’t lie to save your life, so I am surprised that anyone has ever bought this. They’ll find out during the wedding anyway.”

“When have you become this wise?” Gastón nudged Matteo with his elbow.

“I have always been like it,” Matteo shrugged laughing, “But don’t change the subject. They need to know before the wedding.” He looked at Gastón smirking, “What? We both know that that’s the endgame here. Not like you haven’t thought about it.”

“Of course, I have.” Gastón smiled. He had thought about it, maybe a little too much for only being 20, but he couldn’t help it. That was the only future he saw in his mind. “But, we've only been together again for a little over a month. We can’t just pick up where we left off and were young. Nina’s 19. Ana would actually kill me. I guess there is no rush, if we're being realistic here. It’s not like you have any proposal plans yet either.” 

“Hey! We were talking about you!” Matteo pointed a finger at Gastón.

“It’s really good to have you back!” Gastón started laughing.

“You too,” Matteo hugged him suddenly, “I honestly missed you, a lot.”

***

“Are your roommates here?” Luna asked while skipping ahead of Nina in the stairwell.

“No, I told you, Marlee and Ariana went home earlier this week.” Nina explained as she opened the door to the level where her room was located. 

“Awww, thats sad.” Luna hung her head as they walked on a hallway, “They sound awesome, I would like to meet them.”

“I am sure you will,” Nina said as she opened her dorm room’s door.

“Uuuuuuu, this room is nice,” Luna gushed as they walked into the room. It was a little more bare than normal as Marlee and Ariana had taken most of their things home. “But have you been staying here alone now that they’ve gone?”

“No, I haven’t been staying here,” Nina said as she sat on her bed. “Gastón’s roommates are also gone, so I have been spending the night there.”

“Oh, right,” Luna said while jumping next to Nina, “So, do you need any help with packing?”

“I got everything sorted out yesterday,” Nina said while pointing to the suitcase next to the bed. That had been one of the only times she had actually been back in her room after Oliver and Jacob had been gone. Staying in separate rooms with Gastón didn’t make any sense when they weren’t forced to do it.

Suddenly there was a knock on the door. 

“Are we going to eat or what?” Matteo and Gastón appeared through the door, “I am starving.”

*

Nina and Gastón were sitting at the table with Ana. They had arrived in Buenos Aires the morning the day before and stayed at Gastón’s house. Nina’s mom had insisted that they come to have lunch with her as soon as they arrived. 

Ana knew about them already, Nina had told her parents pretty soon after they had talked to Gastón’s parents. Their friends at Buenos Aires on the other hand… still had no idea, but they had a plan… or part of it. After they were done with Ana they were going to meet with Luna and Matteo at the mansion. 

According to their plan, Simon and Ambar would be the first ones to be told. Luna and Matteo had told them that Nina would be visiting. After that, they would figure out how to tell the others. 

“Isla and Marco must be happy to have you back,” Ana said addressing Gastón. 

“Well, they would be,” Gastón laughed, “If they were here. They’re in Columbia. They were actually quite mad, that we were coming back while they were gone. But they’ll be back next week, and I will get no peace.”

“Well, I understand them quite well,” Ana turned toward Nina, “I would be the same way if you came back while I wasn’t here.”

“Well, you never travel anyway,” Nina rolled her eyes, “So you don’t need to worry about that.”

“Why would I want to travel? Ana continued, “There is plenty of justice in need to serving right here in Buenos Aires. Not like your father, who seems to be very at home at Miami.”

“You know Dad’s very happy there,” Nina responded, “What would he need to be here anyway? I’m not here. Oh, did you get those boxes I asked for?”

“Yes, I did.” Ana said, “What do you need them for?”

“I need to sort out my stuff so I can ship some of it over.” Nina answered. She had thought she had already explained this to Mom. “I am not going to be gone forever. We talked about this. Just until I am done with my degree. If you feel lonely you can just say so.”

“Actually, have you talked to Mora lately?”

“No, not really,” Nina furrowed her brow. 

“Well, she’s coming back from Milan.” Ana smiled.

*

“What are you looking at?” Nina asked as she walked back to her room after grabbing couple things from downstairs. Her mother had left to meet a client so Nina and Gastón had been left alone. They had few hours before they had agreed to meet up with Luna and Matteo. 

Gastón had been standing in front of her nightstand looking at something. Nina walked behind him. He was holding the framed picture from her graduation with everyone, in his hand.

“You were very beautiful,” His head turned towards her for a moment. There was clear sadness in his eyes. “I should have been there.”

“No one can blame you for not being,” Nina wrapped her arms around his shoulders, hugging him from behind. “You were across the ocean and had a lot of things going on. Renishaw is more than a formidable place to have an internship at as a freshman and look where it has gotten you now.”

“That's what I said to Matteo, but I was lying,” Gastón put the photo back down, “If I would have tried, I could have come to see your performance live at the River Live Fest, Luna’s party, and to your graduation. Mom and Dad have miles for the rest of my life… I just couldn’t do it. It wouldn’t have been fair to you and… I couldn’t have borne to see you, with him.”

“I can’t blame you for that either.”

“He’s not in this picture.”

“I broke up with him the day before,” Nina explained. She still felt guilty when she thought of that. “So, he obviously didn’t show up. I don’t know what happened with him afterward, except that he doesn’t work at Roller anymore. Maybe it’s for the best that we don’t see each other, I hurt Eric way too much for it to be fair for us to be friends.”

“You could never hurt anybody.” Gastón turned around and ran his finger on Nina’s cheek. 

“But I have, and probably will in the future.” Nina shook her head before looking into his eyes, “Why are we even talking about my ex? There’s no point to that, he’s gone, and I am in love with you. I only hope that he is happy, the way I am.”

Gastón pulled her closer and wrapped his arms around Nina as she leaned her head on his chest. Her mind turned to peaceful almost at once. 

“So, I am pretty sure your stuff isn’t going to pack itself,” Gastón said looking around in Nina’s room. “Are you taking those photos?”

“Should I?” Nina asked looking at her nightstand, “Did you pack the ones you have from your graduation?”

“Yes. I thought I’d take that whole album.” Gastón nodded, “It’s just something nice to have. Those are good pictures.”

“I agree,” Nina said, turning her head, “I’ll look through some of the books I have here, see if I wanna take any.”

She was leaning forward on the bookcase when she felt fingers trace down on her spine. 

“What are you doing?” She turned around and Gastón’s arm grabbed her tight around the waist. 

“Well, just a thought. I did some calculations, and we have more than plenty of time on our hands and your mother’s gone…”

“We were supposed be packing.” A smile formed on Nina’s lips as his hand moved to her hip, caging her against the wall next to the bookcase. She had no actual intention of fighting his intentions, she had truthfully thought about it herself. Gastón was just the one who acted on more daring impulses faster.

“We can 100 percent get it done, but now that we’re alone, and will probably be hounded by everyone the rest of the day when we get to the mansion.”

“Aha.”

***

“Welcome!” Luna and Matteo were waiting for them at the mansion’s gate when Gastón drove his car up to the gate.   

“Is everything in order?” Nina asked Luna as they started walking across the garden.

“Yes,” Luna was practically bouncing. “Simon and Ambar are thinking that just Nina is coming.”

“Pedro’s not here,” Matteo continued, “He’s out with Delfi, house hunting. Or not house hunting exactly but looking for an apartment so they can move in together.”

“Oh, I just love surprises!” Luna jumped up. 

“Lets just hope it’s a good one,” Gastón ran his hand on the back of his neck. He had been detached from the rest of the group, you couldn’t get around that fact, so he was a little nervous. 

“Why wouldn’t it be?” Luna looked at him. “When has love not been good news?”

“Well, it will be a surprise,” Nina reached to take Gastón’s hand, “No one knows that we even ended up at the same campus.”

“I can’t wait to see Simon’s face,” Matteo laughed. 

“I’m excited!” Luna jumped again as they got to the door.

“Here we go,” Gastón shared a look with Nina and tightened his grip on her hand as Luna opened the door and four of them walked inside the mansion. The hall was empty. 

“Hey!” Luna yelled inside the house and winked an eye to the others, “SHE’S HERE!”

After a moment, footstep started approaching them.

“Nina’s here already?” Ambar, wearing pastels once more, emerged from direction of the kitchen, Simon behind her. “So great that you’re back…”

Ambar’s voice trailed off as Gastón felt both of hers and Simon’s eyes focus on him. Amber clearly was attempting to minimize the shock on her face.

Simon on the other hand did not even try: “What?”

*

“You need to tell us everything,” Ambar said once everyone was sitting down at the mansion’s living room. “I mean, we knew nothing about this at all.”

“Well, it’s a long story,” Gastón said looking at Nina, “We will probably never know how this happened, but someone somewhere was clearly on my side. I have mentioned my friends before, Jacob, Oliver, James, but important to this are Ariana and Marlee.”

“Who just happened to be my roommates,” Nina continued, “So it was kind of impossible to avoid each other.”

“We bumped into her on the first day, not that I knew that Nina was there, Matteo.” Gastón shot a side-eye towards his best friend, “So I thought I was hallucinating for a second. But that being said, it was just impossible to stay away from her. Should have known that from the other times I tried that. It’s impossible.”

“We all know that fighting against something that is inevitable has no use,” Simon said draping his arm around Ambar. 

“But you kept this under wraps really well,” Ambar continued, “I mean, I am gonna be honest here, many of us, me included were curious of what would become of you now that Nina had come to Oxford, but then we heard nothing.” Then she suddenly turned toward Luna and Matteo, “I also can’t believe that you two knew about this and somehow kept it secret.”

“I can keep a secret.” Luna protested. 

“Well, yes, you can, but I thought you would have been bouncing off the walls.”

“She was, trust me.” Matteo remarked, “Not like they told us right away either, though.”

“It was two weeks,” Gastón rolled his eyes, “And you were the first to know before anybody else.”

“How did your other friends react?” Simon asked. 

“Well, thats the thing,” Gastón smiled shortly, “They do not know. I mean they know that were together and I had to deal with month of nagging about needing to ask Nina out, not just from Matteo. All they know that I had a girlfriend in Buenos Aires who I left… they don’t know that Nina’s the same person.”

“Seriously?” Simon and Ambar looked astonished, “That kind of secret is almost impossible to keep.”

“They don’t speak any Spanish, so we don’t need to worry about saying something and being overheard,” Nina started talking. Gastón slid his arm on her waist, lacing his left-hand fingers with hers. “We know that we need to tell them at some point, but don’t exactly know how. Yet anyway.”

“It is one step at the time, right now.” Gastón continued, “Right now, we need to tell you all that we’re back together. You we’re the first ones after Luna and Matteo, then there are the rest.”

“Do you have any plan for that?” Luna asked, “Because Ramiro took Jim and Yam to Chile.”

“Thats the problem, not everyone is even here.” Nina breathed.  

“I might have an idea,” Ambar perked up suddenly. 

“All the help is welcomed.”

“Okay good,” Ambar continued, “Unlock your phones and give them to me.”

“Okay…” Gastón and Nina handed their phones to Ambar. 

“So, I trust, when the case is two of you, that you have pictures.” Ambar looked very focused, “Preferably one where you are kissing.”

“Yes, we do.”

“Perfect. Now everyone else, mute the group chat.” Ambar chucked her own phone to Simon. “So, I have your permission to do this?” She looked at Nina and Gastón. 

“Yes.”

“Great,” Ambar smiled and handed them their phones back. “Now everyone will definitely know within the hour. If I have learned anything from Delfi and Jazmin, it is that news travel quickly.”

“Well, now that thats done, tell me everything about Oxford.” Ambar continued, “It must be so beautiful.”

“It truly is,” Nina started saying, “I feel like I have learned more during this year than I have in my whole life. The language was a bit challenging at first, but I am starting to get the hang of it.”

“She is already showing signs of a British accent,” Gastón turned to look at her, “So she is definitely getting the hang of it.”

“Those two won’t speak any Spanish anymore once they return to us for good,” Matteo laughed. 

“Well, we’ll see in four years.” Gastón rolled his eyes again toward Matteo.

“Four years?” Simon questioned.

“Until I graduate,” Nina explained. 

“Are you coming back then too?” Ambar looked at Gastón. “I thought you’d be doing a PhD.”

“Oh no, I am not doing that,” He shook his head, “I did think about it at some point, but no. It would be way too much effort right now and masters in science and technology from Oxford will get me way ahead in life already. I can get that doctorate later if I want, but I don’t wanna spend all my twenties studying. There are other things I want out of life.”

“I am just going to sit here and pretend to know what you are talking about,” Simon laughed, “I was talking to Mom the other day and happen to mention that two of my friends go to Oxford and for a moment she did not believe that I have winded up in the such sophisticated crowd, especially with Ambar at law-school. Rico and Julio, my brothers, flat out didn’t believe me.”

“Well, everyone has their own paths,” Nina nodded, “How are you doing with Pedro and the band?”

“Still figuring it out,” Simon grimaced, “But we’re optimistic. It is really not the same with no Nico.”

“Nico still having fun at New York?” Matteo crossed his arms, “We haven’t heard of him in a while.”

“Thats the thing,” Simon continued furrowing his brow, “I am not sure… He and Ada have not worked out.”

“Maybe he’ll come back then!” Luna piped up. 

“We can hope that.” Simon shook his head smiling. 

“Lot of people are coming back now,” Ambar said looking down, “I mean I came back from pretty much oblivion… and honestly I should thank you.” She turned to look at Gastón. “You don’t need to be this nice to me, last we saw each other I was skating for the Sliders.”

“Actually, it was during the Open,” Gastón responded. Honestly, he didn’t see any reason to be mad at Ambar. He had heard many good things about how she had turned things around. 

“I have been trying to compartmentalize the Red Sharks out of my mind.” Ambar closed her eyes.

“Well, it doesn’t matter. We’re fine. I have known you for a long time, and honestly proud of you.”

“How long have you known each other?” Simon leaned forward, curious.

“Since third grade?” Ambar counted with her fingers, “I am not doing the math right now. I went my whole comprehensive schooling at La Hoja de roble.”

“And I started there when I was nine,” Gastón added, “So yeah, third grade checks out. If I remember correctly both Delfi and Jazmin both started there in the fifth grade.”

“Did you go to that school as well?” Luna asked Matteo.

“Yep, I started there at eighth grade. Probably like a week or two after the semester actually started, because Dad’s moving schedule of course couldn’t possibly let me start school like a normal person.”

“Yep, I saved your skin during the chemistry class.” Gastón laughed. 

“Thats not what happened!” Matteo countered. “I had it under control.”

“It didn’t look like it,” Gastón shook his head, “You were absolutely lost with Mr. Patrena’s whiteboard.”

“He was the worst,” Ambar huffed, “How anybody ever learned anything from his classes, is beyond me.”

Suddenly they heard the noise of mansion’s door opening. 

“Have you seen this—??!!” Delfi walked through the door, Pedro trying to keep up with her pace behind her, her phone in her hand. They both stopped in their tracks as they saw everyone at the living room. 

“Yes, we have,” Ambar spoke first, “Live, actually.”

“It really is true?” Delfi and Pedro turned to look at Gastón and Nina. 

The Team of Jam&Roller

Ramiro: What?

Jim: IIIiiiiiiIIIIIiiiiIII!! 💗💜💚💙💛

Yam: Omg!!💙💙💙💙

Ramiro: Cool

Jazmin: I need an interview now!

Gastón: No.

Nina: No

{}

Hey! Has anyone been missing the Roller Crew? Well, don't worry, we got them back for a chapter because I miss them too. The reason why I made Simbar to be the first to find out about Gastina is because they will have a strong friendship with each other in my canon. This was the start. Little spoiler here, but you'd know this if you've red SI: Simon and Ambar will come to attend Gastón's graduation, and they will eventually become the godparents to Gastón and Nina's second child. Plus, Simbar with Lutteo are the ones who have had to face the odds when it comes to their love, and they are the Holy Trinity of Ships, who need to be a trio. You know how I feel about that if you read MOT. Also Gastón and Ambar, having known each other the longest, is a nod to Aliados, a show which Agustin and Valentina were both in before Soy Luna (They actually played love interests, and yes it was trippy).

And for my Swifty readers, I know that you always find a way back home is technically not a Taylor song, but she did write it so fair game

[mylutteoheart]

Playing Cupid (chapter 10)

New chapter out now! There are only 2-3 left before the end of this fic. The edited version will be out tomorrow on ao3. Also keep your eyes open for a little simbar in this chapter. Luna and Matteo have been building their lives together slowly. Fresh out of college, they’re planning their future. But by planning this, they have an underlying plan no one knows of. Bringing their best friends together after 4 years of not being happy without the other. How well will their plan of playing Cupid work?

Prologue | chapter 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 | find my other fics here

"So nothing happened?" Luna insisted as she and Nina were walking to the bridal shop for the last dress fitting before the wedding.

"Well, I wouldn't say nothing," Nina answered as she looked down at her feet to hide her blush.

Suddenly, out of excitement, Luna took Nina's arm and pulled it to make her stop. She asked excitedly: "What? What happened? Tell me!"

"You remember the day we went scouting for locations?", Nina said carefully.

"Right, the location you found was even better than the one we initially had," she said, already imagining her and Matteo standing there on front of all their friends.

"When we started talking about you two loving the location, I started imagining the romance that comes with marriage on that venue and there was this moment, where it was just the two of us and we were this close to kissing," Nina gestured with her thumb and pointer finger close to one another to indicate the distance there was between them.

Luna jumped up and down at the news and said: "That's great! That must mean he feels the same way about you."

"I don't want to get too excited. It was just the spur of the moment. It meant nothing," she tried to deny, not wanting to get her hopes up.

"Don't say that, you have to keep hoping," she rested her hand on her best friend's arm in support.

"Let's just get going," Nina said, not wanting to think about it.

Luna understood and together, they started walking again to go to the bridal shop.

***

"I'm talling you, she likes you," Matteo said to Gastón, also on their way to the bridal shop.

Every bridesmaid and groomsman had to come to the fitting today. The suits were also tailored in the bridal shop.

"I just think she got swept up in the heat of the moment. There was a romantic side to it all," Gastón said airily, not wanting to show how much that moment meant to him.

"And I always thought me and Luna were bad at communication," Matteo shook his head in disbelief.

"What are you on about?" he took a look at Matteo to see him roll his eyes.

"We all see they way you look at each other and it's still the same look you had when you were both so in love in senior year at Blake," Matteo explained, "It hasn't changed in six years."

"Really? I haven't noticed," Gastón frowned, trying to picture what his best friend is saying.

"Of course you haven't. You know, this all reminds me of the time I was so dumb to see how Luna truly felt about me when that guy Michel appeared," he said with a fond smile, he did frown when he said the name Michel. He would never like that guy.

"Oh, I remember you complaining a lot about that guy. I would have loved to be there to witness your idiocy and to talk some sense into you," Gastón chuckled at the many phone calls with Matteo during that time. He really was hopeless when it came to Luna.

"Well, now it's my job to do that," Matteo became serious and continued, "What you need is one clear conversation with Nina and everything will be cleared up."

"You make it sound so simple," he sighed, not believing a word.

"That's because it is," he just answered, "And I'll make sure I'll prove you right. I'll just have to convince Luna, Ámbar and Simón to leave you two alone in a way where you can't do anything but talk."

Matteo held his chin in thought, already trying to come up with dozens of ways to make this happen.

Gastón's eyes widened and said: "You're going to do this now?"

"The sooner the better, weddings are all about happiness and romance so I'd love to see you and Nina being happy and together at our wedding," he said.

"You really want us to be together?" Gastón said in surprise.

"Of course, I want you to be happy and you've never been as happy as you were with Nina. I know that wouldn't have changed a bit," Matteo said as if it was the world's most known fact.

"Thank you for being such a good friend," Gastón smiled and gave him a quick hug, "Now, let's get this fitting over with."

***

"I see you've already started on the champagne," Matteo said with a smile as he entered the bridal shop with his best friend.

"You were just taking too long," Ámbar said with a smirk.

"Is Luna here yet?" Simón asked as he appeared and stood next to his fiancée.

"She was coming with Nina, she's probably running a little late," Matteo answered, "While we wait for the other girls to appear, we can already try the suits for me and the groomsmen."

"Oh, Simón in a suit, I can't wait to see that," Ámbar said as she sat down on the sofa in front of the fitting rooms with her glass in her hands.

"I'm sure you would look radiating in your bridesmaid's dress as well," he flirted and pecked her on the cheek. Getting into the fitting room.

The other guys followed but not before he sent a text to Luna that they needed to talk as soon as she came in.

"Hey, sorry we're late. We ran into some issues on the way," Luna apologized as soon as she came in the shop.

"It's fine, we already got started," Matteo greeted her as he walked out of the fitting room and taking Luna in his arms as he gave her a peck on the cheek.

"Don't you look handsome," Luna said as she looked him up and down.

"I always look handsome," he answered her with a fond smile.

"Let's look at the other before your ego grows too big," Ámbar interrupted their sweet moment.

"Here we are," Simón said as he appeared in front of the four people in the room.

"I'm definitely not disappointed to have come here," Ámbar said as she looked at the guy she loves so much.

"I'm sure I can't compare with you by my side at the wedding," Simón said while he gave her a big smile.

"Alright guys, let the girls put on their dresses and wait with the flirting when you have a room on your own," Matteo said as he put a hand on Simón's shoulder, showing them he's just teasing.

"Let's go Nina, the bride will put on her dress after Matteo left," Ámbar said and took Nina by the arm to lead her to the fitting room.

"Hold on, Ámbar, I'd like to ask you something first," Matteo stopped her before she was gone, Nina already disappeared.

"What's going on?" she frowned, having no clue why she was pulled apart.

"Yeah, your text sounded urgent," Luna interrupted.

"It's time we do some more matchmaking with the two lovebirds that aren't together but really want to be," Matteo said with an excited smile.

Simón turned to Gastón to confirm who they were talking about, Gastón just rolled his eyes and shook his head in exasperation.

"Is that why you two have been so secretive lately? Because you were playing matchmakers?" Ámbar raised an eyebrow.

"Sadly, yes," Gastón sighed.

"Come on, you agreed," Matteo said with a frown.

"I did and I think I'm starting to regret it," he answered.

"You don't," Matteo said without blinking.

Gastón answered: "You're right."

"Okay, what's the plan?" Luna interrupted, wanting to get back on track.

"We need to get them to talk alone without interruptions," Mattteo started to explain.

"Easy, just lock them in the fitting room, it locks from the outside," Ámbar simply said.

The four others look at her with a frown.

"What? I might not pull that stuff anymore but that doesn't mean I don't notice things," she said in a flat tone.

"You're brilliant, bonita," Simón said and gave her a kiss on her crown.

"Okay, now we just got to figure out how we get Gastón in that fitting room," Luna said, thinking out loud.

"That's easy. He just walks in," Matteo said.

They all start to think for a moment and couldn't find a better alternative. They ended up nodding and agreeing with his plan. It was the best they could do.

"Alright, let's get this crazy plan started," Gastón sighed and gave in. Getting ready to finally have the conversation he and Nina had to have.

[hide-in-imagination]

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH

SOY LUNA Argentina, 2016-2018.

[putonmyfavoriteshow]

putonmyfavoriteshow's master fic writing post on-going ~ Violetta the heart of pretending (future franletta/leonetta reverse fake-dating au dramedy; my passion project) Soy Luna ...and they were roommates (post show jazmilia/delfma; self-indulgent rom-com chaos for side-characters who deserved more) BIA the celestial goat & her cosmic fish (platonic-for-now chiarleste's great astrology debate; a dynamic exploration between my favorite kind of bickering sidekicks) finished multi-chaps ~ Violetta a perfectly perfect gift (luty ft. franletta - my first official dcla multi-chap!) luty month (daily prompts from @iristhedeadflower) franletta month (daily prompts from @weirdthoughtsandideas) finished one-shots/two-shots ~ Violetta no boys, no problems (right?) (franletta s2 alternate ending to italy arc) an unexpected evening (jadangie fix-it fic - dcla gift exchange 2022 + bonus dcla pride month chap) midnights (a ludmila pov luty fic + bonus luty month chap) playing murder (and all that jazz) (violetta gang halloween fic - canon pairings) go figure (a naty pov luty fic) the mistletoe experiment (a natila story based on a dcla advent calendar prompt from @countessofravenclaw) welcome to new york (christmas version) (violetta gang xmas fic - canon pairings) it is what it is (luty - angsty ficlet) the deadfast club (violetta gang horror two-shot - luty focus ft leonetta/camcesca)

Soy Luna elevator goes up, elevator come down (simbar s3 missing scene - tumblr soy luna fic week 2021) unlock my heart (when lutteo got locked in the dressing room, except it's jazmilia aka the best non-canon ship ever made by a random wheel) there's a great big beautiful tomorrow (lutteo/gastina tomorrowland adventure - dcla gift exchange 2023) BIA losin' sleep (thiana s2 missing scene inspired by @assim-eu-sou) dream date (romantic chiarleste debut to ao3) non dcla ~ my sorta friend's sister's funeral (victorious - jori - angst/fluff one-shot) even crows have wings (six of crows - kanej - sl/roller skating au one-shot) page 55 (the villains of valley view - hartmy - missing scene drabble) if we were a horror movie (the villains of valley view - hartmy - hartmy watch jennifer's body)

other fan content: my tumblr edits tag my tumblr gifs tag

[lastshadeofme]

A Simbar fic featuring full Prince Charming Simón and wonderful mother Ámbar yay!

(Probably one of the best and longest work I’ve written so far)

[sapphire374]

Forever In Your Arms

“I scraped my knee and now you’re fixing it up and I swear if you don’t stop running your hands over my leg, I will kick you.”

Wattpad Link

Ámbar stormed out of the Jam and Roller. Furious was an understatement for how she was feeling. “No Ámbar, wait,” Simón yelled chasing after her. “For what. So you can tell me it was my fault and that I was the one to blame.” Simon was able to catch up to her and took a hold of her arm so she could stop. She turned around facing him this time and pushed her arm out of his hand. She pursed her lips in anger and barely wanted to see his face. 

“Look Ambar I wasn’t trying to accuse you. I was only trying to ask if you were the one who took Luna’s lucky keychain. Sometimes we take things by accident.”

“Oh please Simón you know that’s a lie what you’re saying right now. You did accuse me of stealing it. Nobody just takes things by accident and you automatically assumed I purposely stole it. Look I know I’ve done bad things in the past but I have changed and I thought you saw that too but it turns out I was wrong.”

Simón began to stutter seeing Ámbar’s eyes water. “No no no I don’t doubt for a second you have changed ok. I was only curious that’s all. The keychain wasn’t appearing anywhere and you didn’t say a single word after Luna told us about it.”

Ámbar bit her lip holding back the tears. She didn’t say anything all day but for a reason. A reason she wasn’t comfortable to say yet. “Simón you can’t quickly assume it was me just because I stayed quiet in a conversation. That is a pity excuse and I thought you knew me very well and would have noticed I haven’t said a word all day before that conversation happened. But I was wrong, you don’t know me. All I am to you is some girl you imagine me to be. A vision of the perfect woman but you still linger onto the doubt that I haven’t changed.” Ámbar turns around and leaves clenching the strap of her shoulder back. The tears were slowly coming out now. She didn’t mean to say all of those harsh things to Simón cause she knows he truly does love her but she felt it was best and that he deserved it. He shouldn’t have assumed she would do something like that after she has numerously proved that she has changed for good. Out of all the people in the world, it had to be him who doubted her. When that thought settled in at that moment, the pain couldn’t escape her lungs. 

Simón with his head down ambled to the Jam and Roller. There, Luna immediately greeted him. “Simón what happened? I saw you chasing after Ámbar, how did it go?” Simón scratching his head replied, “Horrible. It was the worst. And to be honest I deserved it. What was I thinking to question Ámbar is if she did it? I should’ve trusted her. She changed to become a better person for good and I, the idiot, doubted her. Now I don’t know what to do. She probably doesn’t ever want to see me again.” Luna didn’t know what to say or do other than hug him. 

After a two minute silent hug, Luna broke free from his arms and said, “Look it’s going to take Ambar some time to forgive you but I know she will cause she loves you and knows you love her, but you will have to demonstrate that to her these upcoming days.”

“Like how? How can I be able to erase my act of stupidity from existence.”

Luna giggles. “Yes it was very stupid what you did but we’re all human and the important thing is you learned from your mistakes. You won’t be able to erase that moment from existence since that’s not possible but like I said you can truly show her that you are sincerely sorry and really do love her.”

“But the real question is how do I do that?” Simón being frustrated now.

Luna pauses for a second to think. “Well there are many ways you can show your love for Ámbar. You can write her a song, you can surprise her with a gift, or you can hire a mariachi band to sing to her how sorry you are.” Luna then nudged Simon’s arm and he let out a little chuckle. 

“Luna, Mariachi bands may have been able to save us many times but I don’t think it can save me this time. Tú Carcel isn’t that powerful either so don’t even think about it.”

Luna then frowned and jokingly said, “Simón, how dare you disrespect our song that way. Ámbar probably wasn’t singing it that day but I can guarantee you, she was singing it in her head.” 

“No but I really blew it this time Luna. I doubted her and lost all of her trust after everything we have gone through together.”

Luna froze for a second. She hasn’t seen Simón so disheartening in ages. “Look Simón, what you did was wrong but you can’t give up on love so easily. Plus, we’re all human and bound to make mistakes. Eventually she will understand and forgive you.”

Simón rapidly took his hands out of his face to now cover his mouth in shock. “No no no I’m so stupid!”

“Well you definitely can be at times but I thought we already cleared up that topic since you came back here.”

“No it’s that I forgot to apologize. The whole time I was too busy trying to find excuses that I forgot to tell her I was sorry,” Simón stuttered.

“Then what are you waiting for, do it now!” Luna demanded.

“I can't, it's too late already and I’m in charge of closing up the Jam and Roller today,” Simón whined.

“Well then you’ll do it first thing in the morning.”

~~~~

Ámbar slammed the door shut behind her. Her anger lingered around the air, ever since she entered the mansion, like strong perfume. Everyone in the house noticed the vibe and felt it was best to leave her alone. Well almost everyone. She paraded around her room scrambling for her journal. She had officially decided for a month now to let out her anger in a journal. She felt like this coping mechanism was easier to work with than her mirror sessions. She had a precise plan laid out. She would write down her feelings, rip the page out of her notebook and stick it into the paper shredder. The paper shredder was a better choice than doing it by hand so no one would even be able to tape back the pieces. 

Right when she finally found her journal and a pen to use, she heard a knocking at the door. “Who could it possibly be now,” Ámbar agitated wondered. Ambar got up from the covers and annoyingly turned the knob of her door. Her face quickly changed when she saw it was Monica there. “Hi Ámbar. I wanted to tell you goodnight before you went to bed.”

“Was that all you wanted to tell me cause it seems like there’s more.” Ámbar sounded more irritated than what she meant it to be. She sincerely was curious but found it hard to show it.

“Well you appeared upset ever since you came and it made me worried. Since I am a mom, maybe I can help. It’s ok you can talk to me… or not whichever is your choice just know I’ll always be here.”

Ámbar now stared at the floor, contemplating what to say next. The only other person she felt a little more comfortable with when opening up, other than Simon, was surprisingly Luna’s mom. She always wished ever since she was little to have somebody there to talk to and listen to her, no matter how stupid or unimportant the topic may have sounded.

“I guess you can come in.”

Monica slowly took a few steps into Ámbar’s room. At the time Ámbar didn’t realize Monica was carrying something till now. She took out a tray of delicacies from her behind and placed them on the coffee table. There was a cup of milk, a plate of chocolate chip cookies, and a bowl of precisely cut fruit. They were in the shape of little stars. Ámbar couldn’t stop but stare at the food.

“I already ate dinner,” Ámbar coldly stated.

“I know you have but you forgot dessert. I brought you some options so you can pick what you like. I even cut up the fruit into little stars since I know that’s your favorite shape.”

“You do?!!”

“Of course I do. I remember you once said it in a conversation we had at the dinner table.”

Ámbar couldn’t help but get a little teary-eyed. No one has ever put this much effort for her. In fact no one has ever known her favorite shape was a star, not even her best friends Delfi and Jazmin. It’s her favorite ship since it reminds her of the birthmark she has at the side of her stomach. Monica noticed the shiny, watery glare in Ámbar’s eyes. She thought of the best thing to do, and that was to hug her. Ámbar really started crying in her warm, and gentle embrace. 

“Shh it’s ok hija. It’s ok. You’re safe with me.”

The hug lasted for a good ten minutes. Once Ámbar cried out all the tears she had held in, she broke free from the hug. 

“Thank you…. It’s just me and Simon got in an argument and I know that may sound so stupid cause it’s boy drama but it’s more than that -”

Monica immediately cut Ámbar off and said, “It’s not stupid at all and you don’t have to give me an excuse dear, I completely understand.”

This came as a shock to Ámbar. She wasn’t used to this at all. Whenever she wanted to talk about anything outside of school to Sharon, her Madrina would scold her for wasting her attention on useless topics and people.

“Well it’s just I’m worried that no one will ever believe the fact that I have truly changed. How everyone will probably still see me as the same manipulative mean girl I used to be. I’m tired of gaining everyone’s trust and belief. I really have changed but I don’t know what else to do so they can realize that,” Ámbar now sat down slouching.

“Ámbar you don’t have to prove to anyone that you have changed. You’ve already been showing it for quite a long time now. Don’t beat yourself up so hard for this. For some people it takes longer than others to trust again. Try not to focus your energy on those people. If they can’t see the incredible person I see right in front of me, then it's their loss.”

“You truly think so.”

“I know so.”

~~~~

“Wait, Ámbar slow down,” Simón yells out a mile away from her. Ámbar decided to skate in the morning to the Jam and Roller today. She tried to take the other route to avoid Simón, but he knew that she likes to take this path whenever she’s angry, especially at him.

“Can you please stop following me. I don’t want to talk to you.”

“Ámbar I came to apologize and say I’m sorry.”

This came off as a shock to Ámbar. “You wh-” Thump. Due to her attention being solely focused on Simón, she didn’t realize the big hole on the pavement. Her foot lost control of the wheel and her knee slid on to the pure concrete. Ámbar was on the floor now in pain, clenching on to her knee. It was bleeding and she tried to not show any signs of pain.

Simón came faster than lightning. “ÁMBAR!” He bent down to the floor and examined her knee. He then slid his backpack off of his shoulders and unzipped it. He took out a napkin and hurriedly cleaned off the blood streaming down her lower leg. His touch felt like an electric zap and the way his fingers swept across her leg made her badly want to kick him now. She’s still angry at him but deep down finds him very romantic the way in how he’s stressing out about her. She shook her head out of a daydream, surprisingly feeling like her prince charming coming to the rescue. She doesn’t need a prince even though having one right by her side feels nice. She may be a damsel in distress but can handle this all on her own. 

“Look it’s ok. I can fix it just let me be.”

“No you’re not okay Ámbar. I don’t care what else you say, and be mad at me for all that matters but I’m not leaving you alone. I can’t bear to witness you hurt. So go ahead and complain all you want but I’m not leaving.”

Ámbar froze at his response. He untied the plaid shirt around his waist and instead wrapped it around her leg. Before he was able to hear a response from her, he picked her up and carried her bridal style. He skated like the Flash, almost never before. She couldn’t help but stare at Simón’s worry look plastered all over his face. Now the electricity in her is building up into fireworks, her heart has never beaten so fast in her life. She can feel his tense grasp around her waist and legs. This position actually felt comforting for her, as if she can stay in his arms forever. 

Right then and there Ámbar realized how it didn’t matter if people didn’t believe her or not on whether she has changed. She has people by her side who truly care about her. 

“You know I’m still mad at you.”

“You can be mad at me for an eternity. I deserve it. As long as you're healthy and safe while you scold me, I’ll forever be happy. I truly am sorry by the way. I do trust you and I don’t know why I even doubted you for a second, it was such a dumb decision and I truly regret it,” Simón panted.

“Good. You should regret it. You apologizing and running to help me, not necessarily saving since I don’t need saving, has made me a little less angry at you.”

Simón chuckled. “I love you so much bonita. Never forget that.”

“I love you too, stupid,” Ámbar giggled.

[hide-in-imagination]

"Roads That Cross... with a Phone Call"

You can read the previous chapters here: (1),(2), (3), (4), (5), (6), (7), (8), (9), (10), (11), (12), (13), (14), (15), (16), (17), (18), (19), (20), (21), (22), (23), (24), (25), (26), (27), (28), (29), (30)

I only needed a solar eclipse to update! Yay!

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

The next day, Simón left two more marks on Ámbar’s chest.

It was during lunchtime, which was rare because, usually, after a night like that, they didn’t need to satiate any more urges so soon after. But the pause in activity had been felt by both of them, and now that they could do it again, they didn’t seem to want to wait at all.

“I can’t stop thinking about last night,” Ámbar breathed between kisses and hurried hands, yanking off his clothes with the same urgency as her tone of voice. “I can’t concentrate on anything.”

Simón groaned and held her against his body, and then he gave her what she wanted and fucked her into the mattress.

There was something so satisfying about reducing such a strong force of nature like Ámbar into a gasping, whining mess with just a few bucks of his hips. She always had a witty comeback at the ready, an ironic comment aimed at whoever talked to her, but when she was like this, with him, she felt so much that Simón could leave her speaking in tongues.

It filled him with pride. It incited him to give more.

After, when they were dressing back up to grab something to eat (Simón shouldn’t have unraveled her for as long as he did, now they’d have to eat fast if they didn’t want to go over their lunch hour, but he’d missed this) Ámbar saw the new hickeys on her breasts and laughed, saying she didn’t know he had this side of him.

Honestly, Simón didn’t know either. It took seeing Ámbar wearing nothing but his shirt for him to realize just how much he liked it, and he couldn’t deny the surge of primal satisfaction upon seeing the marks on Ámbar’s breasts and neck. It looked sexy. She looked his.

Luckily, Ámbar said she didn’t mind, as long as they were few and nowhere visible, and as long as he allowed her to mark him too. Simón had no issue with that. In fact, part of him wanted her to leave the most obvious love bite on his neck and then have her show her own ones too just so he could flaunt them in front of Benicio like— See? We’re very happy together, stop being a pest.

But that would be petty of him, and he would feel bad using Ámbar like that, as if she were an object he wanted to show off. He felt a little disgusting just for thinking about it, so Simón pushed the urge down, down, down, until he could barely feel it at all. Besides, his imagination-self was way more shameless than he actually was. If Simón really walked around with a hickey on his neck, he’d die of embarrassment.

There was nothing to prove anyway. Benicio could’ve been bluffing when he spoke about that spot on Ámbar’s neck—A lucky guess. But even if he wasn’t, it didn’t matter. Ámbar chose Simón. Perhaps they’d been seeing each other less than usual the past few days, but every morning without fail they had breakfast together, and when the time came for Simón to leave, instead of saying goodbye, they always said: ‘I love you.’

“Have a nice day, I love you.”

“See you later, I love you.”

“I’m running late, gotta go, love you.”

I love you, I love you, I love you. That was the one thing important.

Throughout the next few days, they saw each other a little more actually, which came as a pleasant surprise to Simón. A couple of official, Manager things required Ámbar’s presence in the Roller, starting with the arrival of the new hires Ámbar had been requesting from Vidia for a while. They were three part-timers who would be taking over the weekends from now on so that Pedro, Eric, and Simón himself, could rest: two girls who would be in charge of the cafeteria, Cata (or Cat for short) and Rae, and one guy who would be the rink assistant and in charge of the lockers, called Alex.   

Ámbar introduced them all personally on their first day of training. She told the girls and Alex that Eric, Pedro, and Simón would be in charge of showing them the ropes around the Roller, while she also managed to, somehow, slip into conversation, twice, that both Simón and Pedro were in a committed relationship. Very much taken. Not single.

She said it all with a smile and it was very smooth, but Simón still had a hard time refraining from laughing. Personally, he didn’t think it was necessary to point that out considering they would only be training the girls for a couple of days and then they’d never see them again unless they visited the Roller in their free time, but Ámbar apparently still felt the need to draw that line in the sand.

To be honest, it made Simón feel pretty good. It seemed like he wasn’t the only one with a bit of a territorial streak in the relationship.

The second reason Ámbar started visiting the Roller more was to personally supervise the last few arrangements for the Day of the Dead party. There were some led light signs that needed to be installed on the walls, spotlights for the ceiling and stuff like that, so Ámbar had to be there to give directions to the handymen responsible for it. Some decorations had to be done by hand too, and while Ámbar could make some of them at home, oftentimes it was more practical to just do them at the Roller.

Simón was happy to see Ámbar more, no matter how briefly. When she first started working on the decorations, he offered to help, but she told him to just worry about his own work, that she got it covered. Simón still helped her bring a table to the rink, one wide enough for her to put all of the materials on top of it and work on her crafts comfortably, and also carried any bags she needed to move from one place to another— There was no way he’d let her do all of that herself when he had a good pair of arms.

On a good day, they walked back home after work together like they used to, Ámbar’s hand in his, her snuggling up to his side to fend off the cold.

“How do you think the new guys have been adapting to the Roller?” Ámbar asked him conversationally, turning to look at him. “I mean, I asked them, obviously, they said they were fine, but with me being the manager maybe they don’t feel as comfortable talking to me as they do with you.”

Simón smiled. People could say whatever they wanted about Ámbar, but she was actually thoughtful, and ever since she’d become manager of the Roller, she’d been doing a great job at it. He would already put her leaguesover La Generala.

“They’ve been doing great,” he replied. “Alex is amazing at rollerskating, which is very lucky because that was the only thing Eric couldn’t teach him.” The two laughed at that. “The rest, he’d been picking it up nicely. Same thing with the girls. They both had experience working at places like this before, so it’s been easy for them to get the hand of making the beverages and working the register…”

“Oh that’s right, didn’t they both work at a coffee shop before this?” It must have been on their resumes, or maybe Ámbar talked about it with them when they met, before she introduced them to everyone. “Not like the same coffee shop but, you know.”

“Yeah.” Rae and Cat had told him that too. “Actually, I think they bonded over that and they’re starting to become friends.”

“That’s good.” Ámbar smiled. She looked to the side. “As long as they don’t get too distracted and do their job, obviously.”

“Obviously.” Simón laughed. Yeah, the boss position fit her well. Maybe she wouldn’t work at the Roller forever, but he could totally see her leading, with good ideas and consideration. “You know, I actually worked at a coffee shop too,” he mentioned.

Her eyes focused on him with a curious glint. “Really?”

“Yeah, back when I was sixteen. Then I started at Foodger Wheels when I turned 17. Then when Luna turned 16, she joined me at Foodger Wheels, and, well, you know the rest of the story.”

Ámbar leaned her head back a little, looking at him with slightly wide eyes. “Wow, I didn’t know you worked at Foodger Wheels too,” she said with disbelief. “So, that means that day it could’ve been you delivering my food instead of Luna?”

“Oh.” It was Simón’s turn to be surprised. “I had never thought of that— You’re right.” He huffed out a laugh. “How crazy.” He looked to the city in front of him, imagining how that could’ve been. “Do you think anything would’ve turned out different if it had been me instead of Luna?” He asked Ámbar.

“Well, maybe it would’ve helped to get me into your good graces if you hadn’t first known me as the girl who threw your best friend into the pool,” she said.

Simón burst out a laugh. “Oh my god, I had forgotten about that.” It seemed like a lifetime ago.

His gaze centered on Ámbar and his heart melted at how far they’d come since then. He brought their joined hands over her head and wrapped his arm around her in a fluid movement they had done dozens of times.

“Maybe I would’ve fallen irrevocably in love with you at first sight and never even questioned my friendship with Luna,” he told her, smiling down at her.  

Ámbar’s lips ticked in that way that meant she was holding back from smiling. “I mean, I am that pretty,” she agreed, making him laugh and place a kiss on her temple. Ámbar’s giggle finally broke free after that. “But I think just knowing I had a boyfriend you would’ve forgotten about me,” she said. “Too much of a mess. I can’t see you wanting to get in the middle of that.”

Right, back then Ámbar and Matteo had been dating for a while. They were the ‘it couple’ of the Roller. If Simón had fallen for Ámbar back then, he surely would’ve had a very bad time, kind of like Luna did when she was falling for Matteo.

It certainly wasn’t a position he would’ve liked to be in. But Ámbar was wrong in thinking he could’ve just forgotten about her so easily. Simón hadn’t been able to do that ever since last year, ever since he first started falling in love with her. He couldn’t imagine how he’d manage to do so.  

“Honestly, I’m glad you didn’t fall for me back then,” Ámbar said, looking to the front. “I would have not treated you right.”

She tried to make it sound funny but he could catch the self-deprecating edge in her voice. Her gaze lowered to her feet. “Well.” Her voice turned shyer. “Even now I’m not sure if I’m doing so great.”

Gently, Simón brought them to a stop. “Hey.” He squeezed her softly against his side, and when she turned to face him, he smiled at her lovingly. “You make me very happy. Don’t ever doubt that.”

Ámbar looked between his eyes and then her mouth curled into a smile, just as loving. “I love you.”

Simón gave her a short kiss. “I love you too.”

That was the one thing that mattered.

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

Another day, another 300 decorations Ámbar had to do.

She left the house that morning with Simón, choosing to work in the Roller that day. She had a box of unfinished flower garlands in her room, but she had many masks and posters at the Roller that she had started to paint and she wanted to finish those first, before anything happened to them and the paint smeared and she had to do them all over again.

If anyone had told her a year ago that she’d be doing all this craftmanship, ever, Ámbar would have either laughed very loudly or asked what millionaire sum they were paying her because there was no way she would do that otherwise.

As it turned out, some people were worth more than any sum of money, and Ámbar would personally paint hundreds of skull decorations if it meant making Simón happy. In fact, it wasn’t so bad. The artistry was rather relaxing if she just focused on the task at hand and didn’t think about how many other little trinkets she had to finish before the big day.

Maybe she would have to ask for help after all. Especially considering these were all decorations for a tradition she had never celebrated, meaning she wasn’t even sure if she was doing them correctly.

In a moment of distraction, she accidentally bumped one of the paint bottles with her arm, tipping it over and causing its contents to start dripping over the table.

“Shit.”

Ámbar hurried to pick up the bottle and place it straight on the table again. She reached for her purse and pulled out the pack of tissues she always carried with her to wipe off the damage. Thankfully, she was quick enough that the paint didn’t spread too much, so the decorations were safe and she didn’t stain the rink either. The same thing couldn’t be said about her fingers though. She hadn’t really thought about that in her hurry to protect all her precious hours of work.

The tissues helped with most of it but she couldn’t get all of the paint off her skin. Ámbar didn’t want to risk staining the decorations with her fingers, so she left the rink and walked toward the dressing room. A make-up remover wipe would definitely do the trick.

It didn’t occur to her to knock because she didn’t expect anyone to be there when she pulled the door open.

She certainly wasn’t expecting to find Delfi and Pedro making out when she did.  

The couple sprung apart instantly when they heard her come in and whirled around to find Ámbar at the door. They stood there frozen, their backs to the mirrors and their wide eyes fixed on her as growing embarrassment flooded their features.

Ámbar maintained a poker face, staring back in complete silence.

Her eyes centered on Pedro.

“It’s not what it looks like,” he blabbered hastily.

She arched a brow.

“I mean, it is, but it’s not— I’m— I only took a short break, all the tables already have their food, I’m waiting— Please don’t fire me.”

Pedro, as it seemed, gave up on trying to salvage the situation and just begged.

Ámbar kept her voice and gaze even. “Pedro.”

“Yes.”

“Get back to work.”

The boy nodded energetically. “Yes. Of course, Ámbar. Right away.”

With his head down, Pedro sped out of the room as if his life depended on it. The door closed behind his back and Ámbar and Delfi were left alone. Their eyes found each other, and they kept each other’s gaze for a long second.

Ámbar couldn’t hold it in anymore and burst out laughing.  

Delfi still looked embarrassed but she started laughing too, catching it from Ámbar, and just like that, all the previous tension totally vanished.

“Oh my god, you should’ve seen your faces—I should’ve taken a picture!” Ámbar rejoiced. It had been priceless. “I see you two totally made up from your fight,” she said to Delfi, giving her a teasing smirk. “As a person, I love it, but as the manager of this place, I need to make sure that kissing is the only thing you two have done in here.”  

Delfi blushed furiously. “Of course! Are you insane? I would never do more right here in public!”

Ámbar laughed at her flustered state and raised her hands placatingly. “Okay, okay, it was just a question.” She let her hands drop. Her smile turned more genuine. “Good for you though. You both seem happy.”

Delfi smiled with that distinctive softness pertaining to being in love. “We are. Very much.” Then, either for the sake of being polite or maybe to draw attention elsewhere, she brought the topic around to Ámbar. “How about you? How are things going with Simón?”

Well, we don’t secretly make out at the Roller, but we do much worse at the mansion when no one’s around. Or should I say better?

“Mmm, you know how couples sometimes watch TV shows together?” Ámbar said instead of that— Too much information. Delfi nodded. “Well, my boyfriend is making me watch all Marvel movies in chronological order,” she shared flatly. There truly was a lot of time for leisure when one got their period— Who would’ve thought?

“Hey, at least those are entertaining,” Delfi said. “My cinema teachers at my university make us watch 3-hour-long, black-and-white films in which nothing happens— And they swoon like it’s the best thing ever!” She complained with disbelief. 

Ámbar grimaced. “That sounds awful.”

“It is. How I wish I could be staring at Chris Evans’ back instead.”

“Oh yeah, nice view,” Ámbar had to agree. “He’s not my favorite though— Too goody-goody.”

“Says the girl that’s dating Simón.”

Ámbar gave her a dry look. 

“Is it Thor then?” Delfi asked curiously. “Chris Hemsworth is hot too. Or Antman. He’s dorky; maybe it reminds you of Simón.”

“Why does it have to be like Simón?” Ámbar protested, and kept talking before Delfi could make another joke at her expense. “For your information, my favorite’s Iron Man. He gets so much shit for being— What? Proud? He’s the smartest man alive and a multimillionaire— He has reasons to be proud. If I were him, I wouldn’t even help those idiots; fend for yourselves.”

“It’s cute the mentor-like relationship he has with Spiderman though,” Delfi said, and immediately started breaking down. “Oh my god, when I watched Infinity War, you have no idea how much I—”

“Ssshh! Don’t tell me, we haven’t gotten to that one yet,” Ámbar stopped her, raising her hands.

Delfi’s brows ticked up. A teasing smile formed on her lips. “Ah, so you do like them.”

Ámbar shrugged and focused her attention on pulling some nonexistent lint out from her sweater. “I like that Simón likes them.”

When she looked up, Delfi’s smile had grown into a shit-eating grin.

Feeling a surge of embarrassment, Ámbar straightened her back and hid it behind a scoff.

“Why am I still talking to you?” She moved toward the mirrors. “I came here to do something much more important, and I have plenty more important things to do. If you’ll excuse me.”

Ámbar sat in front of one of the mirrors and rummaged through the drawers until she found a package of makeup remover wipes.

As she pulled one out, she caught Delfi’s reflection on her peripheral vision, staring at her. “You know, you really are different now,” she commented.  

Ámbar glanced at her through the mirror before refocusing on wiping her hands. “Is that bad?”

“No,” Delfi said light-heartedly. “I like this Ámbar better. Less bossy and easier to tease.”

Ámbar sent her a look, but the small curl to her lips betrayed she wasn’t entirely mad at this playful dynamic. It felt nice to just have some unserious conversation with someone once in a while— other than her boyfriend, obviously.

She had just finished cleaning her fingers when Delfi spoke once more.  

“Jazmín told me you apologized to her the other day.”

Ámbar tried not to show her disappointment at losing the levity of the conversation so quickly. Peaceful moments never lasted very long for her. It seemed like something always had to remind her of her old transgressions (or her current ones, which she refused to think about.)

She dropped the used wipe into the trashcan next to her and replied with tranquility. “It was the right thing to do.”

She could’ve left it at that, but given the opportunity, Ámbar turned around in the chair to look at Delfi directly. “But I’m not expecting you two to go back to being my minions or anything, don’t worry,” she clarified. “I’m just slowly, little by little, tying up loose ends.” It was all she could do.

She couldn’t go back in time and change the things she did. All she could do was apologize, and be better in the future. Before, her concept of ‘better’ only meant succeeding in all aspects of her life, no matter the cost. Now, she understood all the damage she had inflicted, onto others and herself, for thinking that way.

“Yeah, I wouldn’t like to be your minion again,” Delfi said, with clear disdain forthat idea. No one would want to be in that position, Ámbar thought with some guilt.

A playful expression showed up on Delfi’s face. “But maaaybe I could be your friend.”

Ámbar had to do a double-take. She stared at Delfi, trying to discern if she was only making a joke, but she looked sincere. Something warm and bright fluttered weakly in Ámbar’s chest— Hope.

“Really?”

Delfi showed her a small smile. “I think you’ve really changed. And, if we ignore all the awful things, we did have some very good moments throughout all those years of friendship. Plus,” she added with that playful lilt again, “I’ve noticed that the only people you talk to lately are either Simón, Ramiro, or the rest of the guys that live at your house— I think you’re in desperate need of a girl view.”

The fluttering was no longer a tentative thing but the mighty upward flight of a bird through the sky. A smile grew on Ámbar’s lips and she rose from her chair, hesitating only for a moment before going for a hug, and to her utter relief, Delfi hugged her back, just like in the old days, but better.

“Thank you,” Ámbar told her over her shoulder, eyes closed to capture this moment, this proof that not all her bridges were burned.

She could hear Delfi’s smile in her voice as she answered. “You’re welcome, girl.” 

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

The raucous of many voices talking and laughing all at the same time permeated the locker room as the Roller Team tied up their rollerskates for another training session.

There weren’t enough benches in the place, so everyone took turns to put their skates on. Simón had been the first one to enter the lockers, so he gave his spot over to Jim and was then the first to slide out.

He was excited about rollerskating, of course, but the truth was that his main motivation to arrive before everyone else was the dazzling blonde standing on one corner of the rink, surrounded by an assortment of flowers and skull decorations in different colors, almost as vibrant as her, but not quite.

Ámbar heard him roll near, so she spun on her feet, and a smile blossomed on her lips when she saw it was him. Simón felt his heart do a happy dance and thought of how lucky he was to have her, not for the first time. Having the person you love love you back had to be the most magical thing anyone could ever experience. Having said person also throw a party for you just to gift you a little piece of home had to be a bonus not many received, and one Simón was incredibly grateful for.

Sure, their relationship wasn’t perfect— not by a long shot. There were a lot of things that worried him. Things he wished that could be better. But in the quiet moments, Simón was simply in awe of just how in love he was with this girl.

“You’re kidding,” Ámbar said with a happy sparkle in her eyes. “I was just about to call you, how did you know?”

If he hadn’t been already, that would’ve made Simón smile. “I don’t know, I guess we’re connected.” At least I’d like to think we are.

He pointed down to his skates. “Also, it’s time for our training session.”

Ámbar’s eyes widened. “Oh, is it that time already?” She checked her phone and, upon confirming this, pocketed it quickly. “Sorry, time flew by. Before I go, real quick— I changed my mind.” She looked at him with a slightly chagrined expression. “Could you help me with all of this? I’m sure you know a hell lot more than I do and—” The rest of the guys started filling the rink right that second. Ámbar looked behind Simón and called out to them. “Please stay clear of this corner!” She gestured to her table. “I’m working on all this stuff and I wouldn’t want them to tear or anything.”

His friends made different sounds of agreement. Simón turned to face Ámbar again. “Sure, I’ll help you with the decorations, no problem.”

“Thank you,” she said. “I’m just kinda lost with all these skeletons and things.”

“Well, you don’t have to fret anymore because the bestMexican boyfriend in the world has at least a million ideas for you,” Simón declared playfully.

Ámbar’s brows ticked up with interest. “Really? A million ideas? Well, I sure have to find him now and get him to help me. You know where I can find him?”

Simón placed one hand on the table behind her and leaned in closer, answering her little smirk with one of his own. “Well…”

Juliana clapped her hands loudly from the middle of the rink. “Alright, alright! Time for practice!”

“Yeah, let each other breathe for a moment, you guys!” Matteo yelled at them. 

Simón pulled away from Ámbar and looked at the other boy. “Envy is bad for you, Matteo!”

The rest of his friends started to tease Matteo. Simón turned back to his girlfriend with a smile. “See you at the mansion?”

Ámbar nodded. Simón gave her one quick peck before skating away to join his team with the initial warmups. He watched from afar as Ámbar walked away from the rink.

Simón wished she didn’t have to. He missed having Ámbar as his skating partner, the days when she was on the team and they were all friends. He knew that a lot had happened, and Ámbar had only stopped being a Red Shark some time ago, so it wasn’t as easy as just inviting her back, but he wished he could. He didn’t know how everyone would react if he did though. He’d like to believe they wouldn’t be completely opposed to it, but that wasn’t the same as liking the idea, and Simón would hate himself if he put Ámbar through an uncomfortable situation like that. He didn’t want there to be a them with her just existingon the sidelines. (Although he understood that it was her who first created that divide.)

In summary, he just had to be patient, as with all things Ámbar-related.

That was fine by him. After all, he was convinced that she was worth it.

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

Hours later, after everyone had already had dinner and the oldest went to sleep, Simón found himself with the guys in the storage room. They’d been showing Matteo some new songs they had created for the Roller Band, and he even helped them finish some of them, coming up with some brilliant ideas that made Simón and Pedro’s eyes sparkle and their hands play the instruments more enthusiastically.

(Simón refrained, once again, from just asking him if he wanted to be part of the band. While he would love that, Matteo had his solo career dreams, and that was totally okay— Simón wouldn’t want him to accept just out of a sense of comradery for them, or pity, and then regret it later.)

Now, after all of that, it had gotten late (and Simón had some arms to return to), so Pedro had risen from his seat behind the drums, and Matteo and Simón were putting their guitars away, disconnecting cables, and all that stuff.

It was just the usual until Matteo made a joke about how “If you wanted to, you guys could be a Christian Rock duo and call yourselves ‘The Apostles’, what with those names you’ve got” and Simón rolled his eyes.

He was about to point out how ‘Matteo’ was also an apostle’s name when Pedro jolted suddenly and grabbed Matteo’s shoulder.

“There! Did you see that? I told you!” Pedro exclaimed, amused, and pointing at Simón for some reason.

Matteo let out a laugh, joining Pedro’s amusement. “Oh my god, you were right!”

Simón looked at them a little self-consciously. “What? What is it?”

Pedro looked at him with a teasing smile. “Ámbar’s rubbing off on you, man. You roll your eyes just like her now.”   

Simón wrinkled his brows, bemused.

“Doesn’t everyone roll their eyes sometimes?”  

“Not like that they don’t,” Matteo countered. He pointed at him. “That is a registered trademark of Ámbar Smith.” 

Even though they were making fun of him, the notion made Simón feel all warm inside.

A little laugh escaped his lips. “Well, maybe. I mean, we spend a lot of time together.”

“We know,” Pedro said dryly.

“Yeah, you smell like flowers now, dude,” Matteo said, “I think everyone knows.”

“Actually, I’m surprised Luna’s dad hasn’t told you anything yet,” Pedro said.

“I think he’s pretending not to notice for the sake of his mental health,” Matteo theorized.

Simón frowned a little. He knew he was bound to smell a little like Ámbar when they started sharing bathroom products, but he didn’t think it was that noticeable— He still used his own deodorant and wore cologne some days. He tried bringing his arm up to his nose to see if he could catch a whiff of ‘flowers’, as his friends said, on his skin, but of course, it being his own body, he couldn’t really smell anything because his nose was used to it.

“Maybe I should start using my own products,” Simón thought out loud. He liked knowing he smelled a little like Ámbar (it felt like they were married, which was silly and insane, of course, therefore that thought only lived in the most profound level of his subconscious) but maybe parading around that they shared the same shower when he was supposed to have his own room wasn’t the best idea.

“I mean, considering whatever Ámbar uses is probably more expensive than what you earn in a whole week, yeah, maybe,” Matteo said.

Oh. He… hadn’t thought about that. 

“Anyway, we were talking about your new music career,” Matteo continued. “Should I help you two replace all mentions of ‘girls’ in your songs with ‘Jesus’?”

Simón and Pedro laughed out loud.

“Absolutely not.”

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

Ámbar was about to change into her pajamas and get into bed when she realized she couldn’t find her Scotch tape anywhere.

It wasn’t like it was a terrible thing. She could easily buy another one. But she liked to be organized, so she decided to go downstairs and check the living room in case she’d dropped it when she was working on the decorations earlier. If it wasn’t there, then she’d consider it lost and buy another one, because she was sure she still had it at the Roller.

Ámbar walked through the hallways and down the stairs trying to make as little noise as possible in case someone was already sleeping. The lights were off in the living room, but there was enough light coming from the garden lighting outside that it wasn’t hard to see. It wasn’t enough to find a tiny clear tape on the carpet though, so Ámbar turned on a table lamp, and when that wasn’t enough, pulled out her phone and used its flashlight as well.

Finally, she found the little roll of tape underneath the sofa. She must have kicked it under there by mistake earlier. She put it in her pants pocket, and she had just turned off the flashlight on her phone when the device started ringing, startling her a little.

It was the loud sound against the otherwise silent house, the lightning panic of ‘shoot, I’m going to wake up someone’ that reflectively crossed her mind. She would’ve gotten over it as quickly as it happened if it had been any other number calling her on the phone. But as she read the caller’s ID, Ámbar’s nervousness didn’t settle down— It was heightened.  

‘Vanessa’

Maybe it was the suddenness of it— That she took her by surprise. Maybe it was her brain urging her to quiet the noise as soon as possible. Maybe it was the mix of curiosity and worry at having her godmother call her at this hour. Maybe, under different circumstances, Ámbar would’ve thought about it twice before answering the call.

But the fact of the matter was, she did.  

“Hello?”

“Ámbar.” Sharon’s voice came through with its usual mix of impassiveness and undercurrent firmness. “I hope you’ve gotten over your little tantrum because I need your help. It’s important.”

The ball of anxiety grew in Ámbar’s chest, along with confusion. “My help? With what?”

“I need to get inside the mansion,” Sharon said without preamble. “I can take care of the guards at the entrance, but I need you to make sure that no one crosses my path while I go in and out of my room. I’ll go at night, when it’s less likely someone will see me.”

“Wait, wait, wait. Get inside the mansion— Are you insane?” Her voice almost rose for a moment and Ámbar had to remind herself to keep speaking quietly. If anyone heard her, it would be incredibly bad— But what her godmother was saying was even worse. “Wasn’t it enough with last time?” She demanded with outrage. “I thought you had understood that it’s not a good idea— You’re going to get caught.”

“Not if I have a good lookout, which is why I need you. You’re the only one I can trust, Ámbar.”

Ámbar shook her head. That was always Sharon’s technique— Try and pull at Ámbar’s heartstrings when she needed something from her. But Ámbar had done this dance too many times. She knew how it ended.

“No,” she replied, firmly. “I am not going to help you. Why are you even asking me? Ask Rey or Maggie—they are your little toy soldiers, don’t pull me into your crazy ideas.” I have too much to lose.  

The mild softness in Sharon’s voice vanished as fast as it had appeared. “Rey got me the key for the chest four days ago, but since then, he’s been reluctant to cooperate with me and I can’t enter the house without help from the inside, it’s too risky,” she explained with evident frustration. “It must be Maggie’s influence, no doubt. That woman only causes trouble.”

Good job, Maggie, Ámbar thought with some relief.  

“Or maybe Rey doesn’t want to help you because he knows as well as I do that this is a bad idea,” she emphasized. “What even is in that chest that you want it so much?” 

“That’s none of your business,” Sharon retorted immediately. “Just help me get inside to retrieve what’s mine and I promise that I won’t step on that house again. Not until I have gotten rid of those pests who took it from me in the first place, of course,” she added.

Ámbar closed her eyes. How could she not see? No one took anything from her— She was the one who alienated herself from her family for trying to hide the truth. Was accepting the reality that Luna was the heir to the Benson fortune so impossible for her that she was willing to destroy everything in order to avoid it? Destroy herself?

“You need to stop this, godmother.” Ámbar tried to infuse strength into her words but her emotions filtered in, making it sound like begging. “What you’re doing is wrong. Not only is it wrong, it’s dangerous— I’m worried that something might happen to you. Please stop this before it’s too late.”

“If it really worried you that much, you would help me,” Sharon said. “The sooner I get what I want, the sooner all of this will be over— You know that, Ámbar.”

“The Valente don’t deserve this,” Ámbar said. “They’re good people. And if you don’t want to think about them, think about Grandpa— He is your father. He almost had a heart attack the last time something happened, imagine if something terrible happened to him— Would you really be able to live with that?”

“My father made his own decisions, including siding with those newcomers who took everything from us, so whatever happens to him will be exclusively his responsibility.”

Ámbar shook her head in disbelief. “You can’t be serious.” Was she really that far gone? Did she not care about anything?

Am I wasting my time? Ámbar thought with sudden, terrifying despair. Is there no way to fix this?

“I’m very serious,” Sharon declared. “So think very carefully if you want to keep siding with that family.”

Ámbar swallowed a groan of frustration. “You don’t understand, it’s not about sides. I just want—”

The sound of footsteps coming from behind her made Ámbar’s heart jump to her throat.

Rapidly, she hung up and turned around, trying to not seem too suspicious.

The fist in her chest tightened when she saw it was Simón who had come in through the kitchen door— out of all possible people— and, judging by the curious look he was casting her way, he had definitely caught her talking on the phone.

Damn it, damn it, damn it!

“I thought you’d be in bed,” he said. “Why did you hang up so fast? Who was it?”

Ámbar tried to think through the buzz of panic in her head. “Yeah, um, I forgot something down here so I came to find it,” she said. Her mouth felt dry. “I did, so, it’s all good.”

Simón made a noise of understanding but the wrinkle between his brows remained. “And the call?”

“No one,” Ámbar responded instinctively. Fuck, she was so stupid— of course it couldn’t be no one! “I mean, no one as in nothing important, don’t mind it,” she tried to dismiss it.

Simón let out a laugh. “If you really told me you were talking to no one, I would be worried that you’ve been stuck inside this house so long it has started to affect you and you hear voices now,” he joked. 

Ámbar forced a weak laugh out of her in response. “Yeah, no, it was… Emilia,” she came up with. “She was just calling to annoy me, so I cut her off. But it was nothing, really.”

The amusement left Simón’s expression and he became serious. “Do you want me to talk to her?” He offered. “I’ll talk to her,” he decided before she could speak. “It’s not fair that she’s harassing you after they kicked you off the team. What does she think she’s doing?”

Ámbar’s eyes widened slightly. “Nonono, leave it, really, I can handle her,” she assured him, trying to seem as unbothered as possible while fear gripped her senses. “It’s not like it bothers me anyway, it’s her time she’s wasting, not mine.”

“You sure?”  

Ámbar nodded immediately, eager to put the topic to rest. Simón, too good to just let it go, walked toward her with a slightly saddened expression and held her hands in his. “We shouldn’t have even invited her to sing with us at the Roller Jam,” he said with some bite. “I know why you suggested it, but if she’s still bothering you even after you tried to do something nice for her, then she’s not worth it.”

He was so aggrieved for her sake and it only made Ámbar feel worse. He only wanted her to be treated fairly, kindly— He wanted to defend her from what could bring her harm. And in the meantime, what was she doing? Sinking in a sea of lies and drowning others with her in order to maintain them.

I’m the harm and he doesn’t know it.

“I just thought it was fair. And who knows? Maybe she just needs time,” she attempted to defend Emilia in order to salvage her conscience. “But whatever— I don’t have time to think about Emilia or anything of the sort, it really doesn’t matter,” she said fast and dismissively. She squeezed his hands and smiled. “Let’s just go upstairs, okay?”

Ámbar turned off the lamp and they went up to her room hand in hand. The darkness gave her an excuse to not look him in the face.  

The warmth of Simón’s hand felt suffocating against her own, as if it burned her skin— holy water on the worst sinner. Ámbar felt disgusting. She didn’t deserve this hand.

But she was not going to let it go. She held it tighter. She held him tighter.  

She was not letting Simón go.

Ever.

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

The next morning, Ámbar woke up before him, as she usually did, but Simón convinced her to stay in bed and sleep some more. They’d had a long night last night (Ámbar had been inspired, running her hands and mouth all over his body, and he had no desire to say no) but more than that, she’d been visibly tired lately with all the preparations for the Roller Jam, and she deserved the rest.

“It won’t kill you to sleep in one day; take the morning off.”

His stubborn girl was still propping herself up and rubbing at her eyes, trying to wake up even though she was clearly exhausted. “I can’t do that, I’m supposed to be working.”

“I won’t tell Vidia if you won’t.”

Ámbar gave him a disapproving look and pouted, and she looked absolutely adorable with her disheveled hair and sleepy eyes.

Simón kissed her pout. “Seriously, just sleep two more hours, it’ll be okay.”

Ámbar closed her eyes and let her head fall back on the pillow. “Mmm, but I like having breakfast with you,” she murmured.

Simón smiled and tucked some hair away from her face. “Me too. So, sleep so that we can do that tomorrow.”

Ámbar hummed again and snuggled under the covers. There might have been an ‘okay’ there somewhere but it was too muffled and sleepy to tell.

Simón leaned down to drop a kiss on the top of her head before getting up. “I love you.”

“Luv u,” Ámbar mumbled, and by the time Simón walked out of the room, she was out like a light.

The rest of Simón’s morning went on as normal, with him walking to the Roller with Pedro, starting his workday, and supervising the new part-timers while they learned the ropes in the cafeteria.

The first few days of this last activity had felt like double work for Simón and Pedro because they had to train the new girls in addition to keeping up with all their usual duties, so it was a lot. Alex, the new rink assistant, had been easier: He already had rollerskating experience, so all they had to do was show him how the rental system in the lockers worked and teach him about safety precautions in the rink and what to do in case of any accidents— stuff like that. Eric, being the full-time rink assistant, took over most of his training, so Simón and Pedro only had to worry about the cafeteria.

‘Only’ was an understatement, of course— It was the hardest part. But by now, Cata and Rae had gotten a pretty good hang of things— Simón hadn’t lied when he said to Ámbar that they learned things quickly— so he felt way more at ease. Actually, he hadn’t felt this relaxed while working since the days when Nico was still with them. Four people worked better than two, after all. He would miss the girls once they started working on their own on the weekends, and he was sure Pedro shared the sentiment, but in exchange for that, they’d finally get to have their weekends free like the rest of the world, so really, they couldn’t complain.

He brought two hamburgers over to table 4 and then there was a small lull in activity as all the customers enjoyed their food and joyful conversation. Simón took the opportunity to go to the lockers and see how Eric and Alex were doing. Just as a friendly visit, mostly, but if he was being honest, he did have another agenda.  

He’d been thinking for the past few days how great it’d be if Alex happened to play an instrument and wanted to join the Roller Band. Simón didn’t want to get his hopes up, but they could finally be a band again! Alex seemed like a very nice guy from the interactions Simón’d had with him until now, and Eric felt comfortable around him, which said a lot because he was usually nervous around new people, so really, what was there to lose in asking?

Unfortunately, when the three of them got talking and Simón subtly brought the topic up, he came to find out that, while Alex loved music, he had absolutely no ability for it.

Simón hid the disappointment he felt. Of course finding a new member wasn’t going to be that easy. Looking at it objectively, it would have been an unbelievable stroke of luck if Alex turned out to be the solution to all their problems. Not because Simón got to the Roller and was a perfect fit for the band meant that everyone who arrived would be as well.

Maybe Eric could join if he weren’t so shy, Simón thought.He’d been great at Nico’s farewell party. But Simón wasn’t going to force him out of his shell just for his own gain.

The idea of the Christian Rock duo was starting to sound appealing.

They were still talking when someone else walked into the room. There was a minimal pause, almost imperceptible, as the three of them glanced to the side to check if it was someone in need of assistance, but it was just Emilia, who walked toward her locker without even looking at them.

Eric and Alex continued talking, but Simón didn’t. He stayed staring at Emilia, feeling a spark of anger flare inside of him as he remembered last night.

He simply couldn’t understand it. Ámbar was breaking her back organizing an event that everyone could enjoy, that she invited Emilia to participate in as an olive branch, and Emilia repaid that good faith by calling Ámbar just to mess with her? How could anyone be so ungrateful?

Simón couldn’t even be sure this was the first time something like this had happened. Ámbar had a tendency of wanting to deal with everything herself— The prime example of that being that she told Simón not to worry about it, that she could handle Emilia— So who knew how long this had been going on.

Emilia put her skates away and walked out of the lockers as quietly as she had come. Simón tightened his fists. Yes, Ámbar could deal with Emilia— Simón had no doubt that she could handle almost anything if she put her mind to it. But it wasn’t fair that this was happening, and Ámbar didn’t have todeal with everything alone— She had him now. And he sure as hell wasn’t going to allow something like this to keep happening without doing anything about it.

Simón said a quick bye to the guys and walked out right after her.

In the hallway, he threw a quick look around in search for Benicio, because wherever Emilia was, Benicio was always close by. Simón found him still at the rink, rollerskating by himself. Good. That way he wouldn’t have to deal with both at the same time.

Emilia was already crossing the front door by the time he brought his gaze back to her. Simón hurried after her, walked out of the Roller too, and stood in her path, causing her to stop.

“I need to speak with you.”

Emilia blinked, both in surprise and confusion. “With me? What, is there another event you want me to sing at?” She joked. “I’m very sorry but you’ll have to tell me all about it tomorrow—I gotta get to work.”  

She tried to pass by him but Simón blocked her way.

“No, it’s not about that. And you know what? If we had known this is what your response would be, we never would’ve invited you,” he spat her way. “I mean, Ámbar wanted to invite you as a kind gesture, she was trying to put an ending to all the fighting so you could be a part of something nice for once, and this is how you repay her? Calling her up just to annoy her? It isn’t enough for you to be so unfriendly to everyone in their presence, you had to bother her during her free time too?”

Emilia wrinkled her face. “What are you talking about?”

“Last night, when you called Ámbar on her cellphone to harass her,” Simón stated in no uncertain terms.

Emilia’s eyes narrowed in a glare. “I haven’t called your little girlfriend since she sucked face with you. She became a loser by association.”

“Don’t lie, Emilia. Ámbar told me.”

“I’m not lying,” Emilia protested. “Here, you wanna see?” She pulled out her phone and offered it to him. “Check my phone’s call history. You won’t find Ámbar’s name anywhere.”

Simón hesitated for a moment. Something inside him rose in alarm, not allowing him to move. He took the phone and tried to quiet it. Emilia was just pretending to be offended, that was all.   

She unlocked the phone right in front of his eyes, which again unnerved him due to the confidence of the gesture, but he carried on. He just had to prove she was lying. He tapped out of Instagram, the last app she’d been using, apparently, and went to the home page to find the Phone app. He went to the call history and started scrolling down. 

He checked the names, the dates on the list, checked again.

Nothing. Ámbar’s name was nowhere to be found.

It must have shown on his face, the way his stomach started coiling into knots, because he heard Emilia’s annoyed vindication. “See? I told you. I don’t even remember when was the last time I called Ámbar. It should show up there somewhere. Has it been a month maybe?”

She was just thinking out loud, unpreoccupied now that she’d been proven right. Meanwhile, Simón was struggling to keep his nervous system under control.

It can’t be.

It can’t be.  

“You could’ve deleted it,” he told her, looking up from the treacherous list on that stupid device.

Emilia, arms crossed in front of her chest, seemed unamused by the accusation. “Yeah, because I see the future and I knew you were going to want to see it,” she said ironically. She rolled her eyes. “Please, Simón, don’t fool yourself. Ámbar lied to you. And, I mean, why are you even surprised? It’s Ámbar. Lying is what she does best.”  

No.

It can’t be.

“Look,” Emilia deflated, uncrossing her arms and looking at him with something akin to pity, “from one Mexican to another, I think you should stay away from her. You’re too goody-goody, and Ámbar… well, there’s a reason why we used to be friends.”

A slight tremor was taking over Simón’s limbs. He couldn’t even look at Emilia. He couldn’t look at anyone.

“Now if you excuse me,” she took her phone from his hands, “I’m gonna go.” Emilia took a couple steps before stopping. “And tell your girlfriend that if she wants to do right by me or whatever then she shouldn’t go around sullying my name with false accusations.” She walked away. “See ya, Simón.” 

Even after she was long gone, Simón remained unmoving. His heart was beating so hard he could feel it in his ears.

Ámbar lied to me.

Ámbar lied to me.

He tried to slow down his breathing, swallow the pulse in his throat, but the pain in his chest didn’t go away.   

This couldn’t be. There had to be some explanation. There had to be.

Calm down. He could hardly hear his thoughts through the blaring of his heartbeat. It’s just a phone call. It’s not a big deal. This isn’t like last year. It isn’t—

But if it’s not a big deal, then why did she—?

Simón breathed in and out, hard.

All around him, his world started crumbling down.

…

..

.

[iridescentis]

ive been thinking about my SL next gen ocs recently and ive come to realise the reason why i can't really think of any plot is because these kids have zero trauma - they are all raised in happy loving families who are at least comfortable if not wealthy and very successful

what kind of plot am i supposed to put them through?? making any of them angsty isn't even fun because it's hard to feel sorry for a teenager with a perfect well off family throwing a tantrum

my writing is 90% inner monologue what do these kids have to monologue about??

[assim-eu-sou]

the fact that the Solos videoclip exists is actually so funny

[purple-fireflies]

try to slip past his defense (without granting innocence)

A/N: Soy Luna Grey’s Anatomy au -- some plot devices will be the same, others may differ. (This is just an excerpt, I'll post the full chapter on ao3 & tumblr when I'm done with it!)

Other notes:

The title is from The Fray’s “How To Save A Life” which is basically the show’s anthem song (that and chasing cars)

Sometimes, certain dialogue may be verbatim from the show (this is only for medical-related plot devices, ie meeting patients, assigning lab reports, establishing exposition, etc) so I’m stating here right now that that specific dialogue belongs to Grey’s Anatomy, and the characters belong to Soy Luna, but everything else belongs to me

Juliana never had the last name given in the show, so for story’s sake, it’s Bahiense.

She’s referred to as “The Nazi” but that’s not meant to offend anyone at all, it was the nickname given in the show, so I’m transferring it here.

In Soy Luna, Ámbar is one year older than Luna, but here she’s the same age as her

In Grey’s Anatomy, there are only 5 people in each group of interns, but for plot’s sake, there are 7 each

In the show, Benicio’s name was never mentioned, so for writing purposes, his last name is going to be Calisto

Luna sits up quickly—bad idea.

She winces at the light coming in through the window and groans at her headache.

And someone stirs next to her.

Exactly how much did she drink?

Enough so she doesn’t remember the name of the smirky boy staring at her, pulling on his boxers.

She is never drinking again.

And he needs to leave.

“You are?” He asks, grinning the grin that probably got Luna into this mess.

“Humiliated on so many levels,” She mutters, “And I’m late, as well. So if you could just, I dunno, leave, that would be perfect,”

“Or we could pick up where we left off?” He asks, with a grin that tells Luna he isn’t used to being rejected.

“No, seriously. I’m late. Which I shouldn’t be on my first day of work, so?”

Take the hint.

“Wait, so you live here?”

Jesus Christ, she’s going to be late.

“Huh? Oh yeah, it was my aunt’s house, but I’m selling it so technically, not for long.” She rushes out.

“I’m sorry,” He replies, actual emotion in his eyes.

“My aunt is still ali—you know, we don’t have to do the thing,”

“We can do whatever you want,”

Really?

“No, the thing. Where you pretend you care or ask me nice questions or whatever. Listen. I’m going to go upstairs and shower, and when I get back, you’re not going to be here, uh…”

What was his name?

He laughs softly, “Matteo.”

“Luna,” She replies, shaking his hand.

“Bye, Luna,” He says winking at her.

She smiles in response and jerks her head towards the door.

“Bye, Matteo,”

And that’s the last she has to see of him.

𝅘𝅥𝅮𝅘𝅥𝅮

“Each of you comes here hopeful. Wanting in on the game. A month ago you were in med school being taught by doctors. Today, you are the doctors. The seven years you spend here as a surgical resident will be the best and worst of your life. You will be pushed to the breaking point. Look around you. Say hello to your competition. Eight of you will switch to an easier specialty. Five of you will crack under the pressure. Two of you will be asked to leave. This is your starting line. This is your arena. How well you play? That's up to you,” The chief, Tamara Rios, says as Luna stumbles into the room, causing everyone to stare at her.

Great job, Valente.

Luna walks around the room. She sees Ámbar, avoiding her gaze as if it was poisonous. She sees another girl, a brunette, looking around the room with wide eyes. She sees Simón, looking back at her, and resists waving at him as a kindergartner would. She walks around the OR a little more and sees two girls so close they might as well be stuck together, one a blonde and the other a redhead. She bumps into another boy, who just huffs softly and brushes her off.

Rude.

𝅘𝅥𝅮𝅘𝅥𝅮

The resident takes 3 more interns, leaving Luna with the brunette she saw at the orientation.

“Only 6 women out of 20,” She says, sighing, as if mad at the statistic itself.

“And I think one of them’s a model. As if that would’ve helped with the whole respect thing,” The redhead interjects.

Luna and Ámbar share a look.

Luna turns to the brunette.

“You’re Nina, right?” She says, smiling.

Nina nods, “Which resident did you get assigned to? I got Bahiense.”

“The Nazi? Me too,” Luna replies.

The guy who bumped into her says, “You got the Nazi? So did I. At least we’ll be tortured together,” He says, trying to lean into Luna’s space.

Luna and Nina exchange a quick look saying, God, can you believe him?

A doctor comes up and calls out “Smith, Valente, Ponce, Simonetti, Medina, Sánchez, Álvarez,”

Ámbar walks up to the guy and asks, “Bahiense?”

He points down the hall.

The seven look down to see who he’s pointing at. It’s a woman slightly shorter than them, using a cane to stand up, ordering some other resident around.

The guy who bumped into her says, “I thought the Nazi would be a guy,”

Sexist much?

“I thought the Nazi would be...you know, the Nazi,” Luna mutters.

“Guys seriously? Maybe it’s just professional jealousy. You know, maybe she’s just brilliant and they’re so jealous so they call her the Nazi. Maybe she’s nice.” The redhead says, and Luna sees her nametag saying Jimena Medina.

The blonde next to her, Yamila Sánchez, Luna supposes, nods.

Which means the only one left that she doesn’t know would be...Luna cranes her neck to see his nametag.

Ramiro Ponce. Who is currently staring wistfully at Yamila.

Please.

“Let me guess, you still have hope left in your heart,” Ámbar says to Jimena, rolling her eyes as if it’s what she was born to do.

Jimena shoots Ámbar a dirty look (wow, Luna wishes her luck with that can of worms) and proceeds to try to shake Dr. Bahiense’s hand when she walks over.

Dr. Bahiense looks at her hand as if it’s infectious.

Jimena, undeterred, continues to say, “Right, well. I’m Jimena Medina, but you can call me Jim if it’s easier,”

Yamila, who seemed to jump out of thin air, says, “And you can call me Yam,”

Bahiense looks so unimpressed Luna thinks that if contempt alone was enough to murder someone, Bahiense would be a serial killer.

Luna shares a quick look with Simón, who gives her a reassuring nod.

Bahiense looks them all up and down, evidently annoyed with being stuck with their group (ouch).

"I have five rules. Memorize them. Rule number one, don't bother sucking up, I already hate you, that's not gonna change,” She starts, then moves to a bench, filled with different objects, “Trauma protocol, phone lists, pagers. Nurses will page you, you answer every page at a run. A run, that's rule number two. Your first shift starts now and lasts forty-eight hours,”

Everyone rushes to grab their pagers, studying them before Bahiense starts talking again.

“You’re interns, grunts, nobodies, bottom of the surgical food chain, you run labs, write orders, work every second night till you drop, and don't complain!”

Bahiense opens what Luna supposes is an on-call room, “On-call rooms. Attendings hog them, sleep when you can, where you can, which brings me to rule number three, if I'm sleeping, don't wake me, unless your patient is actually dying. Rule number four, the dying patient better not be dead when I get there, not only would you have killed someone, you would have also woken me for no good reason, we clear?”

Luna rushes to nod, writing furiously on her notepad, and then goes, oh.

She raises her hand.

Dr. Bahiense looks extremely pissed at Luna for having the audacity to have a question.

“Yes?”

“You said five rules. Those were only four.” Luna says, trying not to wilt against Dr. Bahiense’s gaze.

“Rule number five. When I move, you move,” She says after her pager beeps.

That’s some TV show shit right there.

They break into a run and watch as Dr. Bahiense runs down a couple of doctors.

𝅘𝅥𝅮𝅘𝅥𝅮

The helicopter—yes, a helicopter—lands, and a doctor pulls out a teenager on a stretcher.

This is way too much for Luna on her first day.

“What do we got?” Bahiense asks, and Luna hears Nina correct the grammar under her breath.

As the paramedic puts the girl on the stretcher (while she’s seizing) he says, “Katie Bryce, fifteen-year-old female, new-onset seizures, intermittent for the past week, ID lost en route, started grand mal seizing as we descended,”

Bahiense stops, leaning on her cane for a second, and then it’s all business.

“All right. Yam, put her on the side, 10 milligrams diazepam,” Bahiense groans when Yam does it incorrectly, “No, no, the white lead is on the right, righty whitey, smoke over fire, a large-bore I.V. don't let the blood haemolyse, let's go!”

Yam injects the diazepam and Katie stops seizing.

Luna releases the breath that she wasn’t aware she was holding.

Another doctor, in dark blue scrubs, another doctor comes up in stark contrast to what she and the other interns are wearing. Luna catches his name very quickly. Gastón Perida.

Nina sucks in a breath as he walks past them, Luna realizes with a start.

“So I heard we got a wet fish on dry land?” Dr. Perida says, and Luna catches how Nina stares at him with intent.

Dr. Bahiense, her sudden brashness gone, replaced with respect as she says, “Absolutely Dr. Perida,”

Dr. Perida nods, his eyes brushing over the intern group, stopping at Nina, and he then continues.

“All right, Dr. Bahiense, I’m gonna shotgun her,”

“That means every test in the book, CT, CBC, chem. seven, a tox screen, Nina and Ámbar, you're on labs, Ramiro and Yam, patient workups, Luna, get Katie for a CT, she's your responsibility now,”

Wonderful. Her first day and she gets the really hard patient.

“What about me and Simón?” Jim asks.

Bahiense looks so tired when she stares at Jim, “Right, you two, uh. You get to do rectal exams. Okay?”

Jim and Simón have faces that say no, not okay.

Luna makes a face gloating at Simón and he just glares at her in return.

𝅘𝅥𝅮𝅘𝅥𝅮

Ámbar peeks into the OR where Dr. Bahiense is. Bahiense comes out and looks at her expectantly.

“Um, Katie Bryce's labs came out clear, there's nothing in the results that explain her seizures,” She says, hoping to catch Dr. Bahiense to ask her what she really wants to ask her.

“And…?”

“ I heard every year the attending on-call picks the best intern and, and lets them perform a procedure, during the first shift?” Ámbar asks, glaring back at Dr. Bahiense when she tries to stare her down.

Ámbar Smith does not get stared down.

“Go away. Now.” Dr. Bahiense says, and Ámbar groans internally.

𝅘𝅥𝅮𝅘𝅥𝅮

Yam sighs at yet another ill-tried joke Ramiro attempts.

Flirty in med school and flirty now.

Why should she even bother?

“We have one more patient to work up,” She mumbles and he nods, walking slower to keep up with her pace.

She places her stethoscope and hears for a heartbeat. “Everything seems to be in order,”

“So he’ll be fine?” The woman next to him—presumably his wife—asks.

“If you don’t count that my bacon days are over, sure,” The patient replies.

Yam shares a smirk with Ramiro.

“You'll have surgery tomorrow with Dr. Perida, I hear he's good, and after that, you can have all of the bacon-flavored soy product you can eat,” Ramiro interjects, speaking easily with the patients.

“Please, kill me now,” the patient jokes.

“Wish I could, but I took the Hippocratic Oath for a reason,” Yam replies absently, going over and signing his charts.

She blushes at the weird looks she gets and rolls her eyes at Ramiro’s never-ending smirk.

𝅘𝅥𝅮𝅘𝅥𝅮

Katie. Won’t. Stop. Talking. Which isn’t helping Luna find her way through these halls.

Did she just miss the last turn?

“You’re lost,” the kid says, grumbling.

What do you think I’m trying to fix right now? Luna thinks to herself and just about stops herself from saying.

“I’m not lost.” Luna insists, then remembers she’s a doctor, “How’re you feeling?”

“I’m missing my pageant. How do you think I feel?”

“Right. You’re missing your pageant.”

This poor girl is in the hospital with seizures and the only thing that she can think about is her pageant.

Luna feels sorry for her.

“The Spokane Teen Miss? I was in the top ten after the first two rounds. This is my year. I could've won,”

Luna absently hums and realizes that they’re going the wrong way. Again.

She turns around and pushes Katie back the same way.

“You are so lost. What are you, new?”

Luna chokes back a laugh. Yeah, something like that.

𝅘𝅥𝅮𝅘𝅥𝅮

Yam watches Ramiro try to give their patient a central line. It’s not working.

And it’s visibly hurting the patient.

She groans and pushes past him, about to put the line in when Dr. Perida waltzes into their room and raises his eyebrows.

“Out.” He says, his nice demeanor replaced with annoyance.

Do all of the residents and attendings just hate interns on principle?

Yam glares at Ramiro and pulls him out, watching from the window as Perida puts the line in perfectly.

“Bet you used to mess up a lot when you started out,” Ramiro tries to joke with Perida.

Yam just winces and nods at Dr. Perida as she leaves.

Ramiro at least has the decency to look sheepish.

This is going to be a long shift.

𝅘𝅥𝅮𝅘𝅥𝅮

Luna sits, taking Katie’s patient history and generally listening to her incessant babbling.

“I twisted my ankle. I do rhythmic gymnastics, which is like, really cool. Nobody else does it. And I tripped over my ribbon, and I didn't get stuck with someone this clueless. And that was like, a nurse,” Katie says.

Luna bites back a retort.

𝅘𝅥𝅮𝅘𝅥𝅮

Simón groans at the plate of food in front of him. The number of rectal exams he and Jim had to do was enough to take the appetite away from anyone.

“This shift is 80 hours long, you have to eat, Simón,” Ámbar mutters, her gaze hardening after leaving Simón’s eyes.

“I can’t.”

“Eat.” Ámbar insists, pushing Simón’s plate towards him.

“You try eating after performing 17 rectal exams. The Nazi hates me. I want to puke.” Simón says, his face contorting.

“Just don’t puke near me,” Ámbar mutters.

“The Nazi’s just a resident. Attendings hate me,” Ramiro replies.

“Did you know Luna is inbred?” Nina asks, and all heads whip to her immediately.

Partly because no one expected the shy ingenue to say anything.

And partly because Luna being inbred is very surprising.

Simón hurries to say “It’s not uncommon to be the kid of a doctor,”

“I mean royally inbred. Her mother is Lili Benson.”

“Shut up. The Lili Benson?” Jim asks.

Nina nods.

“Who’s Lili Benson?” Ramiro asks.

“The Benson method? Where’d you go to med school, Antarctica?” Yam says incredulously.

No one notices how Simón and Ámbar tense up as Yam continues talking. “She was one of the biggest women surgeons. She practically invented th—”

“She won the Harper Avery. Twice.” Jim says, rolling her eyes at Ramiro.

“So I didn’t know one thing.”

“I would kill to have Lili Benson as my mother. Scratch that, I’d kill to be Lili Benson.” Nina says, her eyes alight.

“Katie Bryce is a pain in the ass. I swear if it wouldn’t get me fired, I’d strangle her with my bare hands.” Luna says, walking over to their table, sitting next to Nina.

She seems to miss the wistful glance Simón throws her way.

She does seem to notice the way everyone’s staring at her.

“What?”

Nina opens her mouth to say something but stops immediately when Dr. Perida walks over.

“Good afternoon interns. It's posted, but I thought I'd share the good news personally. As you know, the honor of performing the first surgery is reserved for the intern that shows the most promise. As I'm running the OR today, I get to make that choice,” Dr. Perida says, and Luna feels a rush of hope.

Or. Felt. Seeing as Dr. Perida is clapping Ramiro on his back (it was kind of worth it to see him choke a little on his salad) and saying, “Ramiro Ponce. You’ll be scrubbing in on an appendectomy this afternoon. Congrats.”

Luna deflates.

She wanted that surgery.

She wanted it really badly.

“Me?” Ramiro asks, not quite believing it. Or maybe he’s just wilting under Yam’s intense glare.

“Enjoy.” Dr. Perida says, nodding to everyone.

Luna doesn’t fail to notice that he’s staring at Nina while he says that.

Nina doesn’t fail to notice either, if the blush on her cheeks has anything to say about it.

Ramiro looks like he’s still in shock.

𝅘𝅥𝅮𝅘𝅥𝅮

“I’ve seen his file. Ramiro Ponce barely even made the cut to get into the program. He’s not your guy.” Juliana says to Gastón, raising her eyebrows.

“Oh, he’s my guy alright,” Gastón responds, absently checking the labs.

Juliana sighs, “Every year you pick your guy, and every year your guy suffers most.”

Gastón smiles. Everyone who knows him knows his easy nature, his inclination to being on the side of less serious.

Unless of course, it has to do with work.

“Terrorize one, and the rest fall in line, Bahiense.”

“I get it. I respect it. But Ramiro? Ponce is a puppy. A cute little puppy that is waiting to be killed. He can’t take the pressure. Think about it, Perida.” Juliana says, walking away.

𝅘𝅥𝅮𝅘𝅥𝅮

Luna watches as Katie’s parents stumble into Katie’s room.

The look of pure worry and fear on their faces makes Luna warm to them immediately.

A couple of hours ago, their kid was supposed to go on stage and wear a sash and be a kid.

Now they’re scared that their kid could be dying.

“Katie?” The mom asks, trying to hold her hand.

Luna falters, not wanting to break their little window.

“They gave her a sedative for the CT scan, so she’s just a tad groggy,” Luna says, standing up.

“Will she be okay?”

“Does she need surgery?” The parents ask at the same time.

Their urging faces make Luna wish she had an answer.

“Uh. You know, I’m not her doctor, I am a doctor, just not hers. Anyway, I’m not Katie’s doctor. I’ll go find him.” Luna rambles.

Luna finds Bahiense, “Katie’s parents have questions. Should I get Dr. Perida to answer them?”

“What? No. Perida’s off the case. The case is the new neuro attending’s case, Dr. Balsano. He’s over there.” Bahiense says, pointing to…

Oh god.

Please.

Not today.

This is not happening.

Matteo turns and stops dead in his tracks, his eyes clicking in recognition.

This is not happening.

Luna is not dealing with this.

She turns away from his gaze and walks away. What is she going to do?

She walks towards the stairwell and gets grabbed in.

She stumbles and Matteo catches her, running a hand through his hair, which Luna grudgingly admits looks not bad.

No. Luna. Stop it. Luna. No.

“Dr. Balsano. Did you need anything?” Luna asks, trying to not look at flustered as she is.

Matteo looks positively ecstatic at this turn of events. “Dr. Balsano? This morning it was Matteo. Now it’s Dr. Balsano.”

Luna dearly wants to slap that smirk off of his face.

“Dr. Balsano, we should pretend this never happened,”

“What never happened? You sleeping with me last night or kicking me out this morning because I don’t know about you, but both are memories I’d dearly love to keep.”

This guy really can’t take a hint.

“No. No. No. This is not happening. There are no memories of anything. I’m not the girl in the bar and you’re not the guy in the bar. I am your intern, Dr. Balsano.”

“I see how it is. You took advantage of me last night and now you want to forget about it.” He says, smirking incessantly.

“I most certainly did not,”

“I was drunk and vulnerable. Not to mention, insanely good-looking,”

“You’re not that good-looking,” Luna says, while her traitorous brain says Liar over and over.

“Sure I’m not. But last night, I was wearing my red shirt and I was extremely good-looking and you took advantage,”

He’s not entirely wrong about the red shirt.

“I didn—”

“Want to take advantage again? Say, Friday night?”

He’s smiling again, only this time it’s a smile, not a smirk.

Maybe Luna wouldn’t have said no if he wasn’t an attending.

“No. You’re an attending. I’m your intern. And I would seriously appreciate it if you stopped looking at me like that,” Luna says, glaring at him. It doesn’t seem to deter him.

“Like what?” He asks innocently as if he has no idea what he’s doing right now.

“Like you’ve slept with me,”

Matteo smirks.

“Dr. Balsano. Have you ever considered the fact that this is inappropriate?” Luna breathes.

He doesn’t say anything.

Luna sighs and leaves, the door slamming behind her.

𝅘𝅥𝅮𝅘𝅥𝅮

“Open. Identify. Irrigate. Close.” Jim instructs, and Yam sighs.

“Jim, I think he’d know,”

“He looks like he’s going to puke,” Jim shoots back.

Yam looks at Ramiro and says, “We have to go to the gallery now. Don’t screw it up.”

They walk up and take a seat behind Luna and Nina.

The intern above them says, “He’s going to faint. He’s a fainter.”

Yam fights back a if you only knew.

“Nah, I’m guessing code brown. Right in his pants,” another intern snickers.

Yam and Jim share a look.

Sure, she’s not a huge fan of Ramiro but he helped her a lot in med school. He helped Jim a lot in med school.

This is just savage.

“He’s going to sweat himself unsterile,”

“10 bucks he’s messing up the McBird,” someone says.

Oh god, they’re betting on Ramiro.

“20 says he cries,” Ámbar says, and sends an apologetic look at Luna.

“I’ll put 20 on him melting down completely,”

“50 says he pulls the whole thing off.” Yam hears herself say.

Luna grins at her, “That’s one of us down there. The first one of us. Where the hell is your loyalty?”

Yam breathes out.

The entire gallery, while it was buzzing before, is now silent.

“75 he can’t even ID the appendix,” Ámbar says again.

This time it’s Simón shooting her the look.

“I’ll take that action,” someone says.

Eric, Yam realizes.

The idiot from their bio class.

Nina elbows Luna when Dr. Perida says, “Okay, Ponce, let’s see what you can do,”

Jim breathes in quickly and Yam also holds her breath.

Do it right do it right please do it right.

“Here it comes,” Simón says.

“Scalpel,” Ramiro says and the nurse hands it to him, echoing the word.

Ramiro takes it and everyone cheers.

Perida motions for them to shut up as Nina says, “God, he’s quite a bit of trouble,”

Ramiro gets ready to cut as Perida instructs, “More pressure.”

Ramiro manages to do it without any mishaps and then proceeds to say, “Pickups.”

The scrub nurse echoes the command and hands him the instrument.

They go on for a little bit, and Yam thinks he might actually pull it off.

Until it goes downhill after Ramiro takes out the appendix.

Perida mutters an angry remark as all the interns in the gallery call him Double O’7.

Jim shares a worried look with Yam and asks Luna, “What does 007 mean?”

Luna sends them an apologetic look.

“License to Kill.”

𝅘𝅥𝅮𝅘𝅥𝅮

The cool air rushes into the basement that Bahiense’s interns have settled into.

The majority of them pile onto the gurney as Nina goes to the vending machine looking for some chocolate.

Luna winces at the whine that Ramiro makes as he walks into their “hideout”.

“They’re calling me 007 aren’t they?”

Luna groans and shoves Simón’s head off of Ámbar’s lap so she can fall asleep in it.

She’s too tired to deal with any human interaction that requires her to, you know, have any sort of emotional security.

“No one’s calling you 007,” Jim and Yam lie (but they do it in unison so like, props).

Ramiro shoots Yam an annoyed look, “I was on an elevator and Eric whispered 007,”

Ámbar pushes Luna’s head off of her lap and glares at Ramiro, “How many times do we have to go through with this? 5, 10, 15? Please tell me soon or I’m going to rim your head off.”

Ramiro sits on the gurney and groans “Eric whispered 007 in the elevator and everyone laughed,”

Luna picks her head up from where she’s trying (unsuccessfully) to fall asleep and actually feels sorry for the guy for a second but the aching limbs and pounding migraine make it kind of hard to console the poor guy.

“They weren’t laughing at you,” Jim says.

“You sure?”

“Would we lie to you?” Jim asks.

“Yes,” Ramiro, Ámbar, Simon and Luna say.

“007 is a state of mind,” Nina yells from the vending machine and throws a packet of chips at Luna as she walks back.

“Says the girl who finished first at freaking Stanford,” Simón yells at her.

Nina just rolls her eyes in response.

Just as Luna finally feels the call of sleep, her pager beeps.

She just wanted 5 minutes.

“It’s 911. Damn. I gotta go,” and Luna takes off at a sprint.

“I should’ve gone into geriatrics. No one cares if you kill an old person.” Ramiro continues after Luna leaves.

“Yes. Yes, they do care if you kill an old person. Plus. Surgery is hot. Geriatrics is… Well, it’s for freaks who live in the basement with their mom,” Simón replies.

“I have got to move out of my mom’s,” Ramiro mutters.

Nina and Ámbar share a grin.

𝅘𝅥𝅮𝅘𝅥𝅮

Luna’s out of breath by the time she gets to Katie’s room.

She really has to go to the gym more.

“Finally,” Katie mutters.

Luna looks around, seeing if anything’s wrong.

Oh god, please tell me she has a good reason for this. She has a good reason. Maybe. Hopefully.

“Are you alright?” The nurse paged me 911.”

“Ha, it took me forever to get her to even pick up the phone. I had to go full Hulk.”

“Wait. So there’s nothing wrong? Nothing medically wrong?”

“I’m bored.” Katie shrugs.

Luna likes to think she’s a nice person. A little absentminded at times, but a nice person nonetheless.

Katie, however, is really testing the whole “do no harm” thing.

“I am not your babysitter. I am not your cruise director. You can’t just page me for anything.”

“Don’t be so overdramatic. My pageant is supposed to be on cable, but it’s like this hospital lives in the ’90s. I can’t find anything. If someone who’s not me gets the crown, I should at least get to see it.”

Luna takes a deep breath. She’s a teenager. You were also stupid as a teenager.

“Okay. This is a hospital. There are sick people here. Go to sleep and stop wasting my time.”

“I can’t sleep, my head’s all full.”

“Those are called thoughts. Run with them.” Luna says in a fit of anger.

She’s been working for almost 24 hours and she just wanted 2 minutes of rest.

But maybe she shouldn’t have snapped at a patient.

But that’s a lesson for another day.

𝅘𝅥𝅮𝅘𝅥𝅮

Luna and Nina are in the ER when they hear a loud voice.

“4B has post-op pneumonia. Let’s get her started on antibiotics, okay?” An intern says to a nurse.

Someone didn’t tell the newbie not to piss off the nurses.

“Are you sure it’s the right diagnosis?”

“Oh gee, I don’t know. I’m only an intern. But here’s an idea. You go and spend 4 years in med school and then talk to me. She’s got shortness of breath and fever. It’s post-op pneumonia. Start antibiotics.” He sneers.

Luna rolls her eyes.

The same guy walks over to her and Nina, “God, I hate nurses. I’m Benicio. I’m with Jeremy. You guys are with the Nazi, right?”

“You know it doesn’t have to be pneumonia, right? It could be splinting. Or she could have aPE.”

He sneers again (does it ever leave his face?), “As I said, I hate nurses.” and walks away.

“Well, he’s an absolute idiot,” Nina says, shooting daggers towards Benicios across the room.

Luna’s about to respond, but her pager beeps again.

“Dammit, Katie.”

This time she walks.

𝅘𝅥𝅮𝅘𝅥𝅮

[weirdthoughtsandideas]

When seeing the most popular fics in the Violetta and Soy Luna tags on ao3, you can see what people really prefer to read about. And it’s not so much non-canon ships

Ok, so checking the Violetta tag, the most popular fic is my season 1 rewrite (hashtag no flex). Honestly I think it gained this because 1. Back when it was posted, Violetta legit had like 10 fics. Which meant that, well, whenever someone posted a fic, you read it, regardless what it was about. And it’s been so long now that it has gained that amount of hits. So I wouldn’t say it’s really the ”definition” of what people like to read. However, number 2 and 3 in the hits list are two leonetta fics (which ALSO are written by me… which feels a bit funny because it’s also the ONLY leonetta centric fics I’ve written). And honestly, I think it has to do with the fact that leonetta is the most popular canon ship and, I myself when I was younger LOVED reading about them, and I know how much Leonetta holds so many people chokehold. I was one of them. I myself don’t think it’s as fun to write about Leonetta anymore even if they’re still dear to me, and I don’t think my fics focusing on them are my best work, but they excite young teenage girls a lot and I get that.

However, after this? The non-canon ship fics starts to flood in. It’s Luty, it’s Franletta, it’s Natila… WLW fics are dominating. I mean, sure, the fics about Leonetta have the most hits, but relationship wise, who does people want to write about the most?

The queer girls own the Violetta tag on ao3 it’s true

But the Soy Luna tag? Yeah, there is very little non-canon ships that are getting the most hits. It’s a very consistent theme there: Simbar.

Simbar this, Simbar that, Simbar doing anything and everything with each other. The majority of the first page is just tagged with Simbar, even if it’s not the only ship.

But canon ships dominate the SL ao3 tag. I mean, when it’s two boys or girls it’s most often just tagged platonically, with some few exceptions.

(Also 10 of those Jim/Yam fics are mine… I was surprised with how little content they had when they seemed to be such a well liked ship… I guess people just found it more interesting with the canon ships than with them, since they canonically didn’t end up with someone).

So… Yeah, it’s not so much non-canon ships maybe in Soy Luna, but in VIOLETTA? The queers awoke and blasted off