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everybodyscupoftea · 4 years ago

Text

keeping a secret

pike jj x reader (ft. cody and tyler)

family secret santa in which the boys can’t keep a secret

this made my heart soft btw so y’all are going to melt

(warnings: cursing, light editing)

Secret Santa never worked the way it was supposed to. The four of you drew names the weekend after Thanksgiving, and when you got together to exchange gifts, you had pretty much figured out who had who.

“There’s a forfeit this year,” you interrupted their excited chatter, clutching Cody’s name in your hand, “if I find out who everyone has before we open gifts because of y’all’s dumbasses, you all have to buy me a gift.”

Tyler scoffed, “How is it our fault, maybe you’re just nosy.”

You raised your eyebrows, “So last year you didn’t borrow my chapstick and accidentally slide your slip of paper back into my pocket with the chapstick? And then JJ didn’t literally try and buy my gift while I was in the same room?”

Cody snorted, “She may have a point.”

“Yeah, I have a point. Y’all are sucking the fun out of it, so please, keep it a secret for fuck’s sake.”

“Mhmm, sure. Um, J, what were you wanting for Christmas this year?” Cody asked, grinning at you.

“I’m going to kill you,” you threatened, flipping him off, before pulling your phone out, “everyone send what they want in the group chat.”

You watched Cody’s message roll in and had to hold back a scoff at a date please.

“Cody, you’re being difficult,” Tyler complained.

“Fine,” he huffed and sent something else.

Idk kitchen shit i guess

Now that you could work with.

“You know,” JJ mused from where he was lying on your bed, “I think that you have me.”

“Pardon?” you asked.

“What’d you get me for Christmas, I know you have me for Secret Santa.”

You narrowed your eyes at him, “I’m not going to ask how you came to that conclusion, but I want to make it absolutely clear that if you try and ruin Secret Santa again, I will kill you.”

“You won’t,” he answered, confidently, “but I know because Tyler obviously has Cody after the text thing. And I have-” you lunged across the bed to clap your hand over his mouth.

“Maybank, I thought I was clear.”

He smirked and licked your palm until you jerked your hand back, JJ answered, innocent tone of voice, “I was just going to say that I have someone other than myself.”

“Sure you were.”

As you moved to stand, he frowned, grabbing your wrist, “I promise I’ll drop it. Can we study?”

“That’s what you’re here for.”

Wanna go to the mall this afternoon

Came onto your phone in the middle of your class, and you sighed, reminding yourself to respond to Tyler once the lesson was finished. Your professor let the class out early, and you responded, walking toward your apartment.

Yeah sure. What time?

Now. I’ll pick you up at your apartment

Okay I’m not quite there yet

I know. I’m sitting outside

You snorted, not even remotely surprised. He was parked right outside your building, looking down at his phone, and you ducked, sneaking around the front of his truck before popping up and tapping on the driver’s window.

He jumped high enough that his head slammed into the roof and screamed so loud and high pitched that even you flinched. Tyler grabbed his chest and glared at you, flipping you off.

Laughing, you ran around the truck and climbed into the passenger seat and asked, “What’s up, creep?”

“Nothing much, asshole.”

“To the mall?” you said, buckling up.

“Yeah, gotta get my Secret Santa gift.” You gave him a look, and he glanced over at you at a red light, “What?”

“Ty, baby, please tell me you’re not bringing me to spoil Secret Santa.”

“I’m,” he paused, “not?”

“Uh huh. Well, I hope you’re buying one for me too, that’s the deal.”

“How do you know I’m not getting one for you in the first place.”

“Tyler,” you warned, “I swear to god.”

“Darling,” he answered, “I’m not religious.”

You groaned, “I’m going to kill you before your driving does.”

“I need help,” Cody told you, sitting down with a dramatic frown.

“With what?” you tossed your notebook aside to give him your full attention.

He smiled sheepishly, “Can you wrap my gift for me?”

“What?”

“I know you’re joking. Did the three of you plan this? You’ve all done this.”

“Done what?”

“Tried to ruin it for me.”

“Nope, it’s honestly coincidental and absolutely hilarious.”

You rolled your eyes, “I’m not helping you.”

“Fine,” he pouted, “I guess that my person will be very disappointed, don’t want to upset-” and before he could answer, you kicked out and hit his thigh hard.

“Cody, you’re going to make me do something drastic.”

He smirked, “Oh yeah, like what?”

“I’m going to spoil it for you. I know how much you love Christmas.”

Cody looked conflicted, “Damn, you’ve kinda got me there.”

“Wrap your own damn gifts.”

You showed up to the frat house in your pajamas, ready to exchange gifts. Cody was in the kitchen, finishing up some snacks for the group, and you leaned against the counter, “Good afternoon, sir.”

“Good afternoon, ma’am.”

“Excited for today?”

He beamed, “Of course.”

Tyler stumbled into the kitchen rubbing sleep out of his eyes, and you gaped at him, “Bro, it’s 2 p.m.”

He yawned, scratching his stomach, “I’m catching up on sleep.”

“From what?”

“Life, bro. It’s exhausting being alive.”

Which, fucking true. You held your fist out for him to bump, “Feel that.”

“Nap later,” he suggested and you nodded.

JJ came down the stairs next and tilted your chin up to kiss you hello, tapping his fingers on your jaw a few times before pulling back.

Tyler made a gagging noise and reached for a mug of coffee Cody poured. JJ rolled his eyes, “Don’t be bitter.”

“Can we just open gifts?” Tyler whined.

You laughed and nodded, “Yes, let’s take a seat, shall we?”

Cody looked at you warily, “Why the tone?”

“Tone?” you asked, faking innocence.

JJ side eyed you, “You know?”

“I know.”

Tyler groaned, “Literally how? Who blabbed?”

“Cody did. He drunk texted me asking what JJ wanted.”

He smiled sheepishly, “I have zero recollection.”

“Okay but how did you figure out the rest?” Tyler interrupted.

“You have me, we didn’t buy anything at the mall that time we went, but you followed me around all afternoon, trying to figure out what I was interested in.” Tyler narrowed his eyes, “That obvious, huh?”

“It was. Which means JJ has you because I have Cody.”

Pushing himself back, JJ laughed, “Got it in one.”

You crossed your arms, “So I will be accepting gifts from JJ and Cody in the near future, thanks.”

Cody sighed, “We figured you’d find out, so we actually already ordered them, just not in yet.”

“Oh my god,” Tyler muttered, “y’all are awful.”

“Hey,” Cody pointed at him accusatory, “just because you weren’t at fault doesn’t mean you get to take a moral high ground, you’re the one who ruined it last year.”

“Yeah,” JJ added on, “I’m the only one who gets to take it.”

“You ruined it the first year,” you reminded him, “well, Brooke did I guess. She texted me asking why the fuck you were spending more money on my gift than hers.”

Tyler choked on his coffee, “What?!”

JJ’s jaw dropped, and you suddenly realized you’d never told any of them about it. They all stared at you, waiting for a response, “Yeah, she was mad I guess.”

“Jesus Christ,” JJ muttered.

Cody laughed, “God she was the fucking worst. That’s why your gift was cheap sweetheart.”

After a few more seconds of laughter, JJ finally interrupted, “Okay, we should actually exchange gifts.”

“Right, so, I had Cody,” you started, passing over your gift.

He tore into it and pulled out the apron that said plant mom in a script font with plants scattered randomly all over the front. He snorted, “This is fucking fantastic.

“Thank you,” you beamed, “but there’s actually more, so don’t get stuck on the apron.”

Cody pulled out a set of hockey tickets, two for the upcoming Hurricanes Leafs matchup and gasped, “Dude, oh my god, I’m going to kiss you right now.”

Laughing, you puckered your lips, “Any time, baby.”

JJ chuckled, “Mr. Steal My Girl, huh?”

“Maybank, she’d leave you in a fucking heartbeat for a Leafs player, we both know that. I’m not quite as great, but I’m close,” Cody fired back, softening it by sliding his gift for JJ across the table.

Picking it up, JJ shook it a few times before digging through the bag. He made a weird face and pulled out a pair of boxers. His jaw dropped and Cody was very clearly holding in laughter.

“What is it?” Tyler asked, eyebrows furrowed.

Wordlessly, he held them up and flipped them around so everyone could see daddy issues written across the ass in pink writing.

You and Tyler busted out laughing as Cody sat, arms crossed looking smug. JJ was clearly unsure how to feel, close to laughing, until Cody took pity, “Don’t worry, bro, there’s more in the bag.”

Sure enough, JJ pulled out a new wallet, one he’d been eyeing for months but hadn’t pulled the trigger on because it was a bit out of budget. Smiling softly at Cody, he told him, “Thanks bro, love you.”

“Love you too, J.”

“No sappy hours early,” Tyler interrupted, “give me my gift.”

“It’s 2 p.m.,” JJ muttered but passed the box over to Tyler anyway.

He tore into it and JJ jolted forward, “Dude, it’s breakable, chill.”

Inside was a nice tea set and a box of fancy teas. Tyler blinked a few times, in awe of the contents, “Woah.”

“I know you like tea more than coffee, and we never have any here, so I figured I’d set you up.”

“I-” Tyler cut himself off, “wow, this is really thoughtful. Thanks buddy.”

“Anytime. I’ll tell you where I ordered them too so if you like one you can order more. I kinda just got a starter pack.”

“Yeah, that would be sick.”

JJ squeezed his shoulder and Tyler cleared his throat, passing a small bag across the table. You picked it up, curious, and pulled the tissue paper out. After looking, you let out a loud laugh, “Great minds, huh?”

“Great minds,” Tyler nodded, folding his hands.

“What is it?” JJ asked, leaning over.

“Leafs tickets. Two of them.”

“Well,” Cody said, “guess we can all go now. Sitting in different places, but we can make a trip of it.”

Tyler lit up, “I didn’t even think about that!”

“Boys night,” Cody cheered.

“Fuck yes,” you agreed, clutching the tickets to your chest.

“Oh,” Tyler leaned forward, “there’s something else, but it’s in my room, be right back.”

He disappeared up the stairs, and JJ stood to grab his wallet to start switching everything over. Cody looked pleased, and Tyler came running back down a few seconds later with a box in his hand.

“This too,” he huffed out, collapsing back into the chair.

“You’re going to break that one day,” you warned him, tearing into the wrapping paper. Inside was the pair of running shoes you’d talked about the day you went to the mall with him and you smiled, “Thanks, bud.”

“Mall trip successful,” he responded, taking the last sip of his coffee before standing again, “who wants tea?”

“Me,” you answered, standing with him while Cody started pulling out plates for the snacks he’d made.

In the loudness of everyone talking over each other, you just had to smile. Sure it was chaotic, but it was your family, and you loved them all dearly.

“Oh,” you remembered, “Cody and JJ I expect my gifts on Christmas Eve, thanks.”

Cody groaned and JJ squeezed his shoulder, “You have no one to blame but yourself.”

for day nine of @obxmermaid‘s holiday challenge: secret santa

#pike!jj #jj maybank #jj maybank x reader #jj maybank x you #jj maybank fic #outer banks #outer banks fic #cody and tyler #obxmermaidholiday #frat!jj

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kingreywrites · 4 years ago

Note

your opinion on moongene?

Your opinion on _____?

Sorry I got really rambly but I have like. A lot of contradicting thoughts about this ghdjkdjd

My favourite character getting to have fun magical powers with a side of angst is obviously a concept that really drew me in at first gshjddj Truly, i was really interested in Eugene's link to the moonstone as in, this is the thing that is more or less responsible for a lot of what he went through in life? His abandonment directly stems from his family's obsession with protecting the stone, his mom probably died because of it too, and the idea of him getting stuck with it was genuinely a concept i couldn't get out of my mind for a while. I was also fascinated by the relationship the Dark Kingdom had with the moonstone, and the paradox between how they wanted it gone and how they couldn't actually destroy it so they started protecting it, and the idea of Eugene being in the middle of all that + knowing Rapunzel thought it was her destiny + knowing the black rocks had been destroying corona (his new home) and could still do that if he kept it + A WHOLE LOT OF OTHER ISSUES ON HIS SHOULDERS was just..... very fun to think about lmao I literally could not start s3 right away despite it being available because I just kept thinking about Destinies Collide and how I wanted it to influence Eugene's arc and its possibilities etc and I didn't want to go too fast because I wanted to form actual theories before seeing if anything would be confirmed (and well uh I shouldn't have worried about that gdhjdjd but basically a lot of my moongene thinking was done pre knowing what mooncass was gonna do exactly)

And that leads me to my problem with moongene as it exists in the fandom because... I Do Not Like moongene as in "Eugene does what Cass did in s3 with some tweaks", and I quickly discovered that a lot of the content and discussions about this AU were... that. There's a lot of fics i just had to close because they were not really about Eugene, in a way 😭 Starting with the reason why he would take it because I have yet to find a fic that could convince me Eugene could / would ever 1. betray Rapunzel, 2. make it a long-term betrayal and 3. refuse when she asks for the moonstone back directly. And since most of the moongene content starts with these three points, I fundamentally disagree with Eugene's characterisation most of the time gshjdkd

(I also have trouble with the idea of a selfless betrayal very quickly because the rhetoric "I have to hurt those I love to save them" gets annoying for me if it goes on too long gdhkdkd for all that Cassandra's motivations can be nebulous in s3, at least it's not stupid as in "I'm protecting Rapunzel by taking the moonstone away and there's absolutely no easier way to do that than to run off in the woods with a demon while she's miserable")

Basically what I'm trying to say is that I think a lot of the moongene content doesn't feel like it's about Eugene as much as it is about putting him in a dramatized mooncass arc and it's a shame imo. There's a lot of eugene specific questions I feel we're missing out on by simply trying to recreate Cass' arc with him!! And like, a very stupid one I rarely see raised but I feel would be interesting is how much Eugene would hate having blue hair asgjdjdg the fact that his ego and love for his own appearance is practically never questionned in a scenario where that same appearance is drastically changed is a big missed opportunity! I also do love emotional vulnerability and all but, you know, Eugene is the guy who made a room tour of the place he died, humor and practical thinking are big part of his character, and a lot of the moongene melodrama misses this part of him

And this is... only concerning my issues with how he's himself treated in a moongene au, but then there's. how the other characters are written around that too. And again it gets tricky for me because like, new dream as soulmates linked by Destiny™ is something that instantly loses my interest if it's given too much weight which is not questionned at all, Rapunzel being an eplored maiden waiting for him to come back can quickly feel wrong in the sense that i don't enjoy any fic where Eugene needlessly hurts her and she ~doesn't mind it~ because she loves him and he's sad, and as you put it in this post (which was really interesting btw!) Cassandra gets the very shortest end of the stick most of the time and Zhan Tiri is just uhh floating around being mean. Also if we're lucky Lance gets mentioned (when like, I think Lance being his best friend since childhood should be a good reason to make him and his reaction important in any moongene story)

I'm not particularly picky and I have read stuff I did not necessarily agree with but in general there are no developed moongene fic out there which ever became a favourite of mine which is crazy considering how much i loved this concept. I really think that as long as this AU mostly stays stuck in the "I want what Cass had" stage, I'll have trouble finding something that speaks to me because I personally don't ghdhfgd And though I get that fan content is not obligated to touch on every issue in the show, I think that erasing Cass, her issues, the fact that she wanted the stone too and still has Zhan Tiri in her corner takes away a lot of possible conflict that would be interesting to explore in a long fic. Idk, it just feels like a lot of the content is "restricted" by the canon moonstone arc, even when people say they write about this AU to break away from what went down in the show :/

#tldr i like the moongene concept but i just don't really find what draws me to it in fanon and now i'm not as interested as i was at first #speaking of your post again i LOVE your theory about demanitus planning for eugene to take the moonstone #the drama from zhan tiri realising that demanitus managed to foil her plans even from his monkey grave.... i want it #and like this wouldn't feel like s3 rehashed but like a true au tailored to what eugene taking the moonstone entails #so like... yeah moongene is a big case of 'i think it's cool. wait no not like that' ghfhfhf #ask game

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sunflowerhae · 4 years ago

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She plays bass with jaehyun pls!! Also your music taste is *chefs kiss*

| 📣 > > ty! I quite like my music taste as well🥳😌 follow my spotify if u wanna see my playlists lmao (( @coolangelgwen - lowkey hate myself for this one but no regrets, right?!? )) I tried to make a more realistic conversation style, but idk how I feel abt it. Lemme know! Also~~ last thing, I promise - this isn’t proofread lol so sorry if it’s bad

Send in your own requests! 🧚🏻‍♀️🐮

“Hey, won't you call me back? ‘Cause I've been waiting for a text back. It hurts my brain - This chick who plays bass”

“Jesus Jaehyun, simp much?” Jaehyun reluctantly drew his line of sight from the unlit screen of his phone to the eyes of his best friend.

“What? No, what do you mean?” Johnny rolled his eyes and glanced around the coffee shop the two currently sat in, not focusing his attention on anything specific, before returning his gaze back on the hopeless romantic in front of him.

“I know you’re waiting for her to text you.” At the ~truthful~ words thrown across the table in humor, Jaehyun rolled his own eyes with a “psh” - trying to play off the fact that Johnny was unfortunately right.

“Her” was in fact Y/l/n Y/n, a girl he met at the NCT party that his frat held the previous night. Jaehyun didn’t usually enjoy or attend them, but he had a feeling (some unknown feeling) that he should maybe go to this one, so he found a calming spot in a corner, hunkered down with a beer and a bowl of chips, and prayed that the party would end soon. Friends came by and talked to him, girls came by to seduce him, but Jaehyun’s ass stayed firmly cushioned on his seat in that little, calming corner.

The corner just so happened to be near the food table, so people were coming and going; you were not privy to this fact. You - much like Jaehyun - didn’t usually attend these events. It wasn’t that you had anything against them, you just felt there were better ways to spend your nights. However, Haechan - your best friend - practically begged you to come, stating that,

“it’d be nice to have at least one other cool person there!” And when the younger boy used his pouting charms on you, you found yourself agreeing to his request.

It was lame, though. Haechan had been stuck like glue to you the whole night, prancing you around to his frat brothers and with the obnoxious, “see - I told you she was real!”, he enjoyed seeing the fire of joy ignite in his brothers eyes the more they got to know you. Haechan claimed it was because you were quite known on campus for being the cool, quiet skater girl with good fashion, and everyone who had a conversation with you came out better because of it. You would just respond that he was the Leslie to your Ann (which he would just laugh at, joking that he has scrapbooks of your friendship - thus scaring you more). What was lame, was the party. There was no reason or organization, which you didn’t really care about, you just hated the amount of people, thus lessening the amount of air flow. One glance at the food table that had basically no one by it, and you were telling hyuck you were going to get food and heading that way.

When Jaehyun first saw you, his mind immediately registered who you were. Y/n. The girl that skated through campus, and had dyed hair, and always had butterfly clips in. He had always wanted to meet you, but was never courageous enough to act on it. It was funny, girls practically killed for a conversation with him, yet the one girl he actually wanted, never even looked his way.

That was until now.

You turned your body out to the crowd and glanced around; eyes landing on the little, calming corner, and on the boy who was already looking straight at you. You knew him. Jaehyun. A lot of people liked him, but you specifically knew him as a member of this frat.

“Hi!” You smiled, and he looked surprised that you were even talking to him.

“Hey,” he waved back, “y/n, right?”

You moved closer to him, “yeah, Jaehyun, right? You know Haechan.”

“Oh, yeah I do. You know Haechan?”

“He’s my best friend.” You both nodded at this, but Jaehyun looked a bit surprised.

“Wow, how do you know Haechan? Aren’t you older?”

“I mean, yeah. How do you know I’m older?” You had a playful tone, which calmed Jaehyun’s nerves a bit.

“Oh, we have a class together. Environmental Impact on Civilization with Professor Cilinado?” Your eyes went wide, and even with the strobe lights going off, Jaehyun could see the blush that projected itself onto your cheeks.

“Shit, that’s right. Hi!” You both laughed, “um, I don’t know, Haechan just kind of came up to me once and started talking like we’ve known each other for years and I went along with it, and I guess the rest is history.” The memory of meeting your best friend made a smile cross onto your face, and Jaehyun couldn’t help but think you were beautiful.

“Yeah, that seems like him. Weird I’ve never met you, though.”

“Yeah, I don’t really come to this stuff.”

“Same, what do you like to do?”

“Um..listen to music, I like to play my bass, skate, I guess.”

“Wow, you play bass?” Jaehyun’s eyes went wide in surprise, and you laughed at his taken aback expression.

“Yeah, why, do I seem like someone who wouldn’t?” Jaehyun felt idiotic for once more saying something insensitive, but you, again, had a smile on your face.

“No! Yes? I’m not sure, it’s just always cool to hear that someone plays an instrument. And the bass is so cool.”

You start to respond, but turn your head instead at the sound of Haechan calling your name. “Well, can’t keep the devil waiting. Speaking of, if you want you can get my number from Haechan, text me!” Jaehyun eagerly nods, but you’re already walking away; your back turned around.

Johnny has to literally snap his fingers in front of Jaehyuns face to shake him from the memory of last night, and the moment Jaehyun saw Johnnys amused face, he knew he was caught.

“What’d I say - simp.”

“She plays bass, she plays bass. Nothing matters 'cause we're both in space”

Y/n (4:57pm) hey Jaehyun! I’m happy u texted me! Yesssss let’s totally do something together!! What did u have in mind??

And that’s how you and Jaehyun - basically strangers - ended up on the hood of his car at 1 am; eating chicken nuggets from McDonald’s and looking at the stars together.

“Everyone knows the buffalo sauce is the best, Jaehyun!” He laughed at your counter argument, but shook his head none the less.

“No, honey mustard is superior!”

“No, because you could get that anywhere-“

“-you could get buffalo anywhere! And why is it orange, and why does it taste the way it does?” You were both laughing in between arguing your respective sides, and if it weren’t for the slightly uncomfortable position of laying on the hood of a car, this moment would have been picture perfect (but really, it was anyway).

You were thankful that the college you went to wasn’t directly in the city, so when Jaehyun picked you up and drove to a good star gazing place, it was easy to see the night sky.

“Sometimes, I like to close my eyes and imagine I’m floating in space. It feels kind of trippy.” Jaehyun turned his head at the sound of your voice, but you continued staring at the sky.

“How do you do that?” He asked.

“Well, I have to be in a completely dark and silent room. Then, I just unfocus my gaze and I don’t move my body at all. It’s how people become, uh..Jesus what’s the word? When they get like, controlled?-“

“-hypnotized?”

“Yeah! I watched a video where he hypnotized the crowd and the viewers to see their past life - it was crazy.” Through out your small speech, you waved your hands a lot, and Jaehyun took notice of the fact that you spoke with your hands; it was something small, but he tucked it into the back of his head, and kept it to think about for when he needed to smile.

“What was your past life?”

“I lived at an old korean palace - like 19th century. I wasn’t a high position, but I was wealthy. I wore red a lot.”

“Send me the link?” You finally turned to lock eyes with Jaehyun.

“Yes, of course.” You both smiled at each. Nothing was said, but both of you could practically feel yourselves making room for each other in your hearts, the longer you sat on the hood of Jaehyun’s car; staring at the stars.

“How I wish we could just date - So you can teach me how to be more like you”

Jaehyun could feel himself fidgeting slightly while he waited for you to open the door to your apartment. After gazing at the stars, you offered him a tour of your place and a beer or two, and Jaehyun didn’t admit it, but he didn’t care if you said you wanted to kill someone - he would have agreed if it meant spending more time with you.

“Sorry it’s kind of a mess! I was going to clean it on Wed...” your voice continued going, but the farther you walked away, the less Jaehyun heard it, so he just chose to instead look around the main area of your apartment, and what he found left him in awe.

A black bass sat snugly in the corner of your living room, surrounded by plants. Behind your couch framed, vintage movie posters decorated the wall, and fairy lights, records, and books sat on the shelf above your tv.

You came out of the kitchen with a wine bottle and two glasses, and you sat them down on the coffee table while Jaehyun took a seat on your couch. “I like your apartment.”

You looked back at him with a smile while pouring yourselves drinks, and sat down next to him while laughing, “thanks. Like I said, it’s kind of messy,” you paused to take a drink, “But it’s home. Bleh, wine makes me feel old.” Jaehyun nodded while laughing, and the air became thick with quietness, which teetered between awkward and calm leniently. Jaehyun - as slyly as he could - stared at your side profile while you started talking about the movie posters hanging behind you. You had an aura of chill vibes, and it seemed that whatever you talked about, you managed to make interesting. Jaehyun was debating whether he wanted to date you, or be you, until he came to the conclusion that he wanted to date you so he could learn to be like you. Although it was the beginning of what he hoped was a new relationship, Jaehyun already had so much respect for you, and as you joked around with him about whatever the two of you could think of, Jaehyun’s excitement for the the future held only increased more and more.

Past life video

That was my actual past life btw! Lemme know what y’all get 😩 also just go on the website if you get a lot of ads - bc that can fuck w ur hypnotization! It’s not scary, I promise. The dude has a super nice voice. It’s vv trippy. If you’re a skeptic - do it anyway. Worst case scenario, you get a good laugh.

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moonlit-imagines · 5 years ago

Text

Second Cousins?

Byers x second cousin!reader

warnings:

a/n: THIS IS SUCH A REACH LMAO BARE WITH ME I LITERALLY HAD TO LOOK AT A CHART btw you’re about jonathans age? ig? idk but this is NOT romantic that’s frickin gross. p.s. horowitz is winona ryders name

prompt:

You crawled out of bed to the sound of your dad screaming for you. What time was it?

12:38pm

Great. You slept the whole day and now you have to help your extended family move in immediately. You rolled off your mattress and scrambled to get some clothes. You hadn’t seen this side of the family since Christmas of 1978!

You’d regret not eating breakfast, but not yet. You walked outside, pushing your hair from your face and waiting for your family to exit their respective cars. Your “first-cousin-once-removed,” Joyce, got out first. (You just call her “Aunt Joyce”).

“Hey, guys! Long time no see.” She smiled. “Oh, my god, y/n. Is that you?” She walked up to you and gave you a hug.

“Hey there, Aunt Joyce. We’ve missed you a whole lot.” You looked over her shoulder and saw a younger girl, maybe 13 or 14. You’d never seen her in your life. Her eyes were definitely tear stained, her hair falling out of her scrunchie, and the sleeves on her flannel rolled up. “Who’s the girl?”

“Oh, uh, that would be El. She’s a...‘new addition’ to our family.” Joyce put in air quotes.

“Wicked. I’d love to get to know her better.” You stuck your hands in your pockets and watched the boys get out of their car. “I’d like to catch up with the boys, too. It’s been years. I mean, I know we talk on the phone every once in a blue moon, but this is so exciting! You guys are gonna be living with us now!”

“Only for a little while.” She sighed.

“We’ll make the most of it.” You gave her another hug and moved towards the boys.

“Jonny Byers. You got taller.” You joked with him.

“Bring it in.” He welcomed you with open arms.

“What’s up, kiddo?” You gave Will a high five. “You still drawing that cool ass art?”

“Yeah, I have a ‘portfolio’ now. Jonathan made me put one together.” Will snickered.

“Hey, artists need them. I have one for my pictures.” Jonathan reasoned.

“Well, Will, when you’re all settled in, you’re gonna have to sit me down and show me what you’ve got. You know, I still have that picture you drew me last time I saw you.” You told him.

“Really? I was like, seven.” He shook his head.

“Yeah, seven and truly gifted.” You turned your attention to your other “second cousin,” “And as for you, I’ve got all those old vinyls and some new ones, too. What about you?”

“I have more cassette’s than vinyls, but I’ll make sure we have time to share.” He punched your arm.

“That’s what I like to hear. Now let’s go help your mom and El unload the truck.” You turned around and Will and Jonathan followed you.

“Oh, you heard about El?” Will asked.

“Your mom said she was a ‘new addition to the family.’” You quoted.

“Yeah, that’s a pretty accurate description.” Will nodded. “She’s shy, I wouldn’t push her into conversation.”

“Noted.” You picked up a box and carried it inside. There were two spare rooms. One for Joyce and El and one for the boys. Good thing they didn’t mind sharing. You put the box into Joyce’s room, then headed right for the truck. The next box was labeled “HOPPER.” You lifted it up and an your way into the house, you ran into El.

“I can take that one.” She told you quietly.

“You sure?” You raised your eyebrows and she nodded. You handed her the box and went back to the truck.

“Hey, Horowitz, wanna help me grab this mattress?” Jonathan asked. You jogged up to hig and grabbed one side. “Got it? Alright, be careful.” You guys got the mattress inside, and then the other two.

“Alright, what’s next?” You asked.

“I’m actually kinda hungry.” Jonathan wiped the sweat off his forehead. “What about you?”

“Starving. Go round the gang up, I know a great place to get some lunch.” You told him. Jonathan went around and got all of the family together. There was only six of you. You, dad, Joyce, El, Jonathan, and Will. You all squeezed into one car and hit the road. Really, it was only a 10 minute drive.

“This was my Grandma Darlene’s favorite place to eat before she passed away. We always sit at her booth.” You told your cousins in the back seat. El was in between Joyce and your dad in the front. “Ooh! We’re here.”

You approached the door and your dad opened it up for everyone. You waved at the waitresses you had known so well and went to your usual spot. You each picked up a menu as the waitress asked for drinks.

Water for you, coffee for your dad, water for Jonathan, Sprite for Will, Diet Pepsi for Joyce, and lemonade for El.

“So, boys, what’s been going on in Hawkins? Any significant people or events you wanna talk about?” You questioned the boys.

“Well, Jonathan’s got a girlfriend who leaves lipstick marks all over his face.” Will taunted.

“Oh, shut it.” Jonathan pulled his straw up and took a sip of his drink. “Yeah, her name is Nancy. We’ve been together for almost a year. She’s a badass.”

“How so?” You bit down on a piece of ice.

“She’s determined to get what she wants. We had an internship at the local newspaper and she was an assistant, but she really wanted to be a reporter. She did every possible thing she could to do it. Followed stories, wrote them, suggested topics in meetings...” Jonathan gushed.

“And did she get to be a reporter?” You asked, turning your head sideways.

“No, she actually got us fired.” He chuckled. “But she stood up for herself, that’s why I love her.”

“She sounds great, will she be visiting you soon?” You asked him. “I’d love to show her the embarrassing pictures of us with marker all over our backs and faces when you lived here in ‘73. And the pictures of you pretending to be Super-Man. Can’t forget those ones.”

“Oh, my god, you still have those?” He laughed. “Yes, she’s visiting on Thanksgiving with her brother, Mike.” El’s head perked up. “Mike is Will’s best friend...and El’s boyfriend.”

“Is that so?” You smiled and turned to her. “What’s he like?”

“He’s...funny. And awkward. And a nerd.” She mumbled to you.

“He sounds very pleasant. Can’t wait to meet him.” You winked at her and she gave you a sweet little smile. You were very curious to hear what she had to say.

The waitress came back to take your orders. You and your dad got your usuals, Jonathan got a hamburger, El and Will got hot dogs, and Joyce got soup.

“You guys should try the rice pudding afterwards, it’s really good!” You told them and your dad rolled his eyes. “It is!”

“Pudding with rice in it?” El asked.

“Seriously, you gotta have some.” You told her. “I love it cold with cinnamon on it.” Your cousins were staring at you curiously. “C’mon, if you don’t eat it, I will.”

“Darlene loved her rice pudding.” Joyce chuckled. “You know, you look just like her.”

“I tell y/n that every day.” Your dad said. “It’s the eyes, I swear.”

“And the nose.” Joyce added.

“Oh, yeah.” Your dad agreed. The waitress came with rice pudding for everyone but your dad. Joyce ate it without a question, she had it every holiday with your grandma growing up. Your cousins (including El) stared at it hesitantly, then each took a bite. Jonathan remembered eating it once and hating it. Will spit it out. El took a second bite.

“Like it, El?” You asked.

“Not bad.” She actually managed to finish it.

“Sweet.” You did the same. “Anyone wanna make brownies tonight, or something?”

“Me!” El lit up. You were happy that she was warming up to you so fast.

“Sounds like a plan, we’ll make them from scratch.”

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camistired · 4 years ago

Text

the peculiar one

chp. 1 // an emotional beginning

not edited

december 31, 2018

word count: 2671

song: alice by avril lavigne

—

On this particular humid summer day, I find myself asking the same question I always ask myself when I know it's not going to go anywhere good.

‘Why am I here?’

Four simple words that I usually used as an excuse to not move from under my comforter. Four simple words that I used to stay in room and read a couple of my mom's old journal entries. Four simple words that don't mean anything simple.

But today, they weren't going to do much and change my plans.

For the entire summer after I learned that I was able to attend public school again, I've been trying to work on getting a better habit of actually doing things and not being locked in my room. And today was no exception.

I lazily raise my head from the pillow and begrudgingly climb out of bed. I grab my towel off of my chair before trudging into my bathroom. I quickly strip from my sweats, baggy shirt, and undergarments before hopping into the warm water of the shower.

I don't know what I was going to do today. I knew that both Lila and Mar were going to be busy at work and the only person home was going to be Dannie, who usually minded his own business.

With a silent, frustrated sigh I began wash myself with body wash that was scented to smell like cherry blossoms. I don't know how or why I was attracted to the smell but I didn't do much questioning of it.

I stuck my head under the water, letting my purplish tinted silver hair get drenched with the pellets of the warm water. I wipe the water from my eyes, contemplating on whether to wash my hair or not. Deciding against it, I turned the water off and climb out into the bathroom. I wrap myself in my towel before walking back into the main part of my room.

I walk over to my dresser before pulling out a thin black and white plaid shirt, black jean shorts, and a grayish blue t-shirt. I started getting dress as I hum softly under my breath. I was slipping on my plaid shirt as three quick raps were heard at the door. I move to open the door to see Daniel, his face pale from the blood that drained his face.

“What's wrong, Danny?” I ask, slightly concerned for my brother. He quickly hands me his phone before running into his room, probably to get something.

I look down at the phone in my hands and look at the messages between him and Lila;

From Lila: hey, is Alex up? I've been texting but I'm not getting anything.

From Daniel: she's in the shower, why?

From Lila: it's about dad. his brain activity is working alarmingly unusual

they don't know if something is seriously wrong or if he's waking up

From Lila: hold on, let me call you

My breath hitches as I read the conversation. I quickly slip on a pair of high tops and practically ran down the stairs. Daniel was waiting patiently by the door ready to go.

I handed him back his phone as I turn to open the door only to be greeted with the face that I feel like is always judging me.

“Alice..! What a surprise... What're you doing here?” I force out in a cheerful tone. I never had much family that was around, and I should be greatful for Alice being here, but I feel like the person I read about and the person I see almost everyday is two different people.

“Lillian called and told me about Michael, so I'm here to take you guys to the hospital.” Her tone was strict and left no room to say no, but there was a certain tenderness behind it that would be hard to notice if you were anyone else.

I sigh, knowing I couldn't argue much with the woman in front of me, “Alright, come on let's go.”

She has a small victorious smile on her face as she moves towards the car.

I sigh and look at Daniel who just shrugs and skips towards the car. I roll my eyes and close the door behind me and locking it before getting into the back of Alice's car, seeing as Betty was sitting patiently and bored in the front seat. The engine roared as she switched the gearshift to drive and pulled out the driveway.

As we drew closer to the hospital the knot in my stomach tightened and my breathing sped up into quiet tiny pants. I look out the window to, hopefully, calm my nerves. And, unfortunately, the silence in the car isn't helping one bit. I silently prayed for someone to say something before we get there, but something tells me it isn't going to happen anytime soon.

I felt a small pat on my leg and I look up to see Daniel looking at me with some sort of assurance. I smile softly at him and I rub his shoulder to try and reassure him that I'm okay, but I can tell it does little to nothing to comfort him.

I felt my phone vibrated in my pocket and I pull it out to see it was from Jughead. My nerves calm down a little, but not much. I open the text from my best friend;

From Juggy: hey are you not at home?

no one's opening the door and it's

locked

From Lexi: wowow you show up my

house without notice? and think

you can casually waltz into it like

you own the place?

From Juggy: yea, cause i know you

don't care

From Lexi: what if i was in the shower, eh?

From Juggy: didn't your mom used to make us take baths together when we younger?

From Lexi: we were two and we dragged mud throughout the house. she didn't care at that point

From Lexi: plus we're OLDER now. we might as well be dating if you walked in on me showering

From Juggy: uh-huh

From Juggy: you know you love me

From Lexi: sure

From Lexi: omg, im going to die

From Juggy: im missing the picture here, you're going to die from what?

From Lexi: i can't tell. it's either this thick awkward tension or my anxiety

From Juggy: im still very confused

From Lexi: im on my way to the hospital but im stuck in a car with Danny, Betty, and Alice

From Juggy: alright, i'll meet you there

From Lexi: huh?

From Juggy: idk why you're heading to the hospital, but your stuck in a car with two people you don't know if they hate you or not, so that tells me that it is important

by itself alone

From Juggy: so, i'll meet you at the

hospital

From Juggy: don't know when i'll get there, so good luck until then

The car takes a sharp turn into a free parking spot and before the car jerks to a complete stop, I already had my seat belt off and was sprinting out of car and into the building. I stop myself from going into the room and stop at the receptionist.

“Hi, I'm just double checking, but Michael Nelson is still in room 22-C, correct?” I ask as she checked on her computer for the correct room number.

She nods and looks at me, “Yes he is, miss. Go right ahead.”

“Thank you so much, have a good day.” I rush out before heading down the corridor to the right room that I've been in so many times. I stop at the door and I contemplate going inside for a moment. My hand subconsciously raises up and grasp the door knob before I can even think about what was happening. It was at that moment, I knew I didn't need to think much longer.

I twisted my wrist until I hear the door make a soft 'click'. I pushed the door open and took in the sight in front of me. Lila was sitting at the end of the bed uncomfortable looking bed, her words falling silent in my ears as she talks to the man laying down, who was being covered by a curtain in the room.

I walk in the bland room, the door closing softly behind me. I stalk towards the bed to be greeted with a pair of pale eyes that I'm so used to be closed. My breath gets caught in the back my throat as a small gasp echos through the seemingly empty room. His eyes lock with mine and in a blur of a second, my arms are wrapped around the males neck and quiet whimpers fall from my lips as small tears fall from my eyes.

The feeling of his arms wrapping around my waist to return the embrace made me completely lose it; crocodile tears, full on sobbing, and clinging on to him tighter - scared that the moment I loosen the hold I have on him, he'll leave me again.

I hear the sound of swift footsteps entering the room through my crying as I let out all of my emotions on this one man that I thought I had lost for the rest of my life. The feel the bed shift and more footsteps before the door closes. I'm suddenly pulled closer and I'm, now, laying on the fragile man you seems to not even give a care in the world that I'm laying on him.

For a moment, I felt like the little girl who laid on her dad all those years ago;

“Daddy..?” I coughed out as the toxic smoke filed out of the exploded glass from our previously beloved family home. A younger Daniel laid on the grass, silently asleep and unhurt. My dad had a cut on his temple and was breathing heavily yet very, very slowly.

I laid my had on his chest hearing his faint heartbeat. I prayed silently that he'd wrap his arms around me. Even with his skin basically burned from the fire, he seemed cold as ice. And I did the only thing I knew to do at the time.

I screamed for my dad. But he was to far gone to reply.

I don't even know how long even been laying there, but I've eventually stopped crying and he started running his fingers through my hair. I felt comfortable when I heard the door open and close. I realized that I was probably being selfish and slowly got off of him, wiping my eyes. I look up to see that Daniel and Lila had walked in.

They look at me and smile genuinely at me. Lila looks down over Daniel and ushers him towards dad. He walks over to him and hugs his torso. I stare at the fourteen year old as the tension slowly eases from his shoulders. I didn't even realize that my sister was standing next to me until she wrapped her arm around my shoulders, making me jump a little.

She chuckles softly and looks at me, “Jughead is waiting out in the hall with the Cooper girls. Want me to let him in?”

I stifle my laugh at the thought of poor Jughead standing in the hall with Alice and Betty. Okay maybe being with Betty, not so bad, but Alice is pretty bad. I nod at her as she let's her arm fall and goes to get Jug.

I shrug my bag off my shoulders and open it and see the worn journal sitting in there from the last time I went out to Sweetwater River. I pull it out and examine the torn leather. I look up and to see Daniel talking to dad about whatever, but the look on both of their faces made me smile softly. I see a mop of midnight hair under a familiar beanie in my peripheral vision, making me smile a little.

I turn towards him and I feel a bit more relaxed, especially knowing that he's here to help even when I don't need to ask. A part of me even felt giddy that he decided to come here instead of go to Pop's or something. Maybe it's just the relief that he came here without me even saying anything or even asking.

Maybe.

He wraps an arm around me in a side hug, which threw me off slightly but I returned the hug regardless. It was comforting to know that he was still by my side especially since we've known each other's practically since birth and he hasn't gotten sick of me yet.

Dad looked up and greeted Jug with a smile. My best friend returned the gesture before sitting in a chair on the side of the room were on. Soon we caught him up on everything.

His face fell solemn after we've informed him that mom was still missing and that the sheriff's office said they needed to step away from the case. It was still open – barely – and if they found new information, it would be added to it. However, they said that years ago. If they, or anyone, doesn't find anything soon, I'm sure they are going to close the case and it'll be an unsolved mystery.

Suddenly Lila's phone started ringing. She looked at the screen and smiled softly before answering it, bringing the speaker to her ear.

“Hey, babe. How's everything at the shop go-? What?” I watch her movements as she went from happy and calm to concerned and frigid, “Mar-Marlene! Slow down, I can't understand you.”

She turned towards me and Jug before turning forward again, “Okay, okay... I don't think I can go down there right now, I'm here with dad. How about I send Jughead and Alexandria there instead, will that be okay? .....Alright. I love you. Bye.”

I look at Jug and he shrugs, just as confused as I was. Lila hung up and turned towards us, “Something happened down at Sweetwater River. I hate asking you two to go, but I have to finish up here, then help Danny to get back home and go back to the shop– it's just a mess right now and I need someone down there with Mar.”

She ran her hand through her dark colored hair as she avoided looking at the males behind her. The worried line creased in her face made me sigh softly before nodding to ease her mind a little.

“Yeah we can go.” I can see the relief wash ovee her as I stand up and shrug my bag back over my shoulder as Juggy does the same. She engulfs me in a tight hug, mumbling ‘thank you’ to me before letting me go.

I walk out of the room with the raven haired boy after saying ‘bye’ to dad and Dan. Not realizing that after I left the room that mom's journal fell out of my bag onto the floor of dad's hospital room.

As we trudged towards Sweetwater River, the sound of sirens in the distance made me start to worry with each step we took towards the river I've began to love to find quiet. As we approach, we scan over the people which seemed to be the whole town.

I find Marlene, who is hyperventilating away from the crowd. I tighten my grip on my bag and jog towards her, not really caring if Jug followed me or not. I place my hand on her shoulder and she flinches, whipping her head towards me before she physically relaxes.

“Mar, what is going on?” I ask softly, removing my hand from her shoulder as the runs her hand through her hair.

“It's the Blossom's. Something's happened to Jason.”

And it was at this moment, that I swore that history may have just repeated itself.

#riverdale #jughead jones #jughead jones x ofc #angst #original fanfiction #betty cooper #alice cooper #original female character #slow burn #mutual pining #riverdale season one

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blurglesmurfklaine · 5 years ago

Text

Glee: The High School Musical: The Crossover: The Series (or maybe one shot idk)

A/N: this is 100% a crack fic, nothing is real and art is a lie here we go

Summary: Post “Thanksgiving”, the small fire ended up burning down East High School to the ground and the Wildcats been relocated to McKinley High. McKinley doesn’t have a drama program, but they DO have a show choir that got last place at Regions last year run by a washed up wanna-be broadway star with no idea how to handle a class.

Season Two, Canon-Divergent, Slow Burn (not in reference to a ship, I’m just describing how EHS fell to its demise), 560k+ words (jk idk how long this is gonna be probably not v long)

***

Nini Meets Finn

Nini walked in through the doors of the choir room, hoping to see the familiar faces of her Wildcat Drama department family. Mrs. Jenn had explained that in the wake of the recent tragedies (ie, the entire school brining down), they’d been relocated based on extra curricular activities. Robotics and STEM people were sent to the West High Knights, band people were sent to hell back to where they came from, and Theatre nerds were sent to McKinley high, despite the fact that this new school didn’t have a drama department.

It did, however, have a show choir who placed last in the Regionals competition last year.

Maybe she was early, because the only person was a tall pale man sitting at the drum set. He looked like he was in his twenties, so Nini assumed he was the teacher. However, his blue striped shirt and faded blue jeans seemed a little odd for a teacher to wear.

“Excuse me, are you Mr. Shue?” She asked.

He looked up at her. “Uh, no. But if I’m lucky, one day I’ll be half the man he is. He’s like the dad I never had. So I guess I technically don’t have anything to compare him to, but he’s a good teacher, probably.”

“Oh, okay...” was all Nini could respond with.

“I’m Finn, by the way. You must be one of the new transfer.”

She nodded in affirmation. “Nini. I um, don’t technically have a dad either.”

“Awesome, join the daddy issues club, then! Theres a lot of deadbeats in this town,” he said nonchalantly.

She looked back at him, a little horrified. “Ha, I um, don’t have daddy issues. I have two moms who love me very much.”

“Oh, neat. My brother’s gay and my girlfriend has two dads.”

“Yeah,” she shrugged. “The only issues I seem to be having lately are relationship troubles.”

“Tell me about it,” Finn huffed. “No, really, tell me, new girl.”

Nini didn’t know why she was venting to a complete stranger, but she did. Probably because the plot couldn’t advance any further until she did.

“Well, it’s a tricky situation,” she admitted, pulling up a chair next to the drum set and sitting on it. “There’s this guy—Ricky—and we used to go out. But then I told him I loved him and he didn’t say it back and said he needed a break.”

“Oof.”

“Right!? And then I had a boyfriend who was all sorts of awesome, but was kind of crazy—”

“Mood.”

“And we broke up. I recently found out that my understudy, Gina, kissed Ricky on the cheek. And then our school burned down, so it’s been wild.”

Finn stayed silent for a moment.

“Listen, I fucked a lesbian last year, and everything turned out fine.”

Nini dropped her jaw in horror. “Did you just say the F-word!?”

“What? Yes? It’s high school, everyone swears.”

She shook her head vigorously, eyes wide like saucers. “Not me... actually, now that I think about it, none of my friends really swear. It’s like... it just never crossed our minds. I just have this feeling that we’re not allowed to, you know?”

Finn shrugged. “Try it.”

“Eh... I don’t know,” she mumbled.

“Try it,” he urged her again. “If you don’t like it, we forget about it. But it’s a new school, new you.”

Nini drew in a deep breath and let it out. This school seemed to be about a decade behind times in terms of fashion and lingo and woke-ness, but if she was going to be stuck here, she might as well assimilate to the culture.

She opened her mouth. “F—“

The only thing that came out was a high pitched electrical tone, like a censor on a show.

What the heck was that!?

“Huh...” Finn said. “That’s... weird.”

“You’re f— telling me!”

***

A/N: no regrets but at the same time, like all of them

I’m trash so I’m gonna do another one of these, so up next: idk probably Carlos meets Kurt and then after that EJ meets Rachel

#glee #hsmtmts #finn hudson #nini salazar roberts #wow look at me im writing!#my bad i havent written crackfic in years

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ladynightmare12 · 6 years ago

Text

First Day

Summary: It's Virgil's first day of Kindergarten and he doesn't want to go. And he doesn't know what he's supossed to do there. Thankfully, neither do his new friends.

Hi! This is one of my gifts for @silverrhayn :D I hope you like it! Warnings: a few curses because I swear like a sailor Also, please keep in mind that english is not my mother language. So there's gonna be mistakes, but feel free to mention them Note: IDK anything about children or kindergarten. And the kids are five years old

@secretsanders

“I don’t want to go, Mom”

His mother sighed, a playful smile appearing in her lips as she lightly poked the lump below the covers that was her son. Her son that was going to be late to his first day of Kindergarten if he didn’t get ready in that precise moment.

“Why not, Virgil?”

“It’s scary”

“Is that so?”

“Yeah”

Chuckling, she sat down next to her child and kept poking him with both hands “Care to explain, you little ruffian?”

“I don’t know!” he squeaked, trying to wriggle his way out of his mother’s hands.

“You don’t know why you’re scared?”

“No! I mean that I don’t know!” frustrated by his mother’s questions and endless poking, he rolled out of bed and sat at the floor, pouting and glaring at his mom “I don’t know anyone, I don’t know what we’ll do, I know nothing!”

“That’s normal Virgil. It’s hard, yes, but it’ll happen a lot of times in your life” at her words, Virgil’s eyes widened and he quickly crawled to get under his bed “Virgil, no! You’ll get stuck!” she grabbed him by the waist and pulled him out, but he squirmed in her hold.

“I’ll live forever under the bed; it’ll be no problem!”

“Virgil, no! I-” she paused, an idea surging in her head “Virgil… what would Mulan do?”

Virgil stopped squirming “Save China?”

She laughed, shifting Virgil until they were face to face “Well, yes, because that was what she had to do. And yes, it was scary, but that didn’t stop her, did it?”

“No…” he mumbled, eyes looking down and hands playing with his sleeves. His mom took his hands into hers, and he relaxed almost instantly –mom’s hands were so warm- and turned to look at her.

“I know you are scared, Virgil, but I promise you’ll have a good time. You can even make it a mission! And it can have little missions within, like making friends or learning something new. How does it sound?”

Virgil put on his best thoughtful face “Mulan had a dragon…”

She deadpanned “You can take my familiar”

Gasping, Virgil nodded and rushed to get ready.

Half an hour later, they both kissed Ma goodbye and got into the car, the two of them carrying important items they would need through their day: in Susan Sanders’ case it was her bag, her briefcase, a tupper full of delicious food made by her loving wife, and a big thermos; while in Virgil Sanders’ case it was a Spiderman themed backpack, a lunch box with Ma’s food (and two more cookies than what they normally let him eat) and his Mom’s familiar (that was, in fact, a stuffed dragon Susan had since she was six but shhh).

All too soon, Mom was wishing him luck and kissing his forehead before leaving to get to work, her instruction of ‘getting inside the classroom with the green door when he was ready’ being told once more.

He stared at the green door, not knowing if he really was ready. Nor knowing what he was supposed to do besides get in.

“Hey, do you know why we’re here?” said a voice to his left. Flinching, he turned to look at them and found a boy his age with unruly caramel hair, eyes with two different colors and a Bugs Bunny themed backpack.

“Huh… I’m not sure” he admitted. Ma had said something like ‘early education’ and ‘preparing for school’ but he didn’t understand. Like, at all.

“You were told to get inside, too?” he asked, his hands tightening their hold on the backpack straps.

“Yeah”

“Hum”

A pause.

“Hey, I like your backpack”

“Thanks” the other kid smiled and, for some reason, showed him his middle finger.

“Why are you doing that?” he frowned with confusion. What did that mean? Ma had always told him that it was rude to use the middle finger to point at something, but she never told him why.

“I don’t know” he shrugged “My brother Remy does it all the time around his friends, so I guess it’s some kind of salute”

Virgil nodded. Yeah, it seemed like it.

“Kids, please get inside, the class will begin in a minute” a young man with a big smile approached them, and with a soft movement of his hand he signaled to the door.

The kids quickly obeyed, but not without the kid with mismatched eyes saying ‘you have a thicc butt’ at the man.

“That’s another thing my brother says” he told Virgil proudly “That way he will know I know grown up things”

Virgil thought it was really clever.

“Alright kids, all of you please sit in the floor of the classroom for a quick introduction and we’ll go to the tables later, okay?” the children followed his instruction (some of them a little reluctantly but hey, he couldn’t blame them) and sat in a formless mass at the floor.

Well, except one child.

The child that hadn’t stopped crying since their mom left.

“Hey kiddo, could you please come and join us?” the teacher (or at least Virgil thought he was a teacher) asked with a soft voice, walking towards the wailing boy.

“No!” he screamed, and Virgil and a few other kids covered their ears at the loudness of his voice “I want my mom! She is sick and she needs me!”

“Your mom allergies were flaring up, that was all”

“I’ll give you a dollar if you let me go!” he pleaded, waving the dollar like mad.

It took almost five minutes to calm down the boy, and two more to clean his face with wet wipes and comb his hair ‘back to the royal look’ (the kid’s words) it had. Thomas sighed and walked back to the front of the classroom, spending another three minutes in recovering everyone’s attention.

“Okay, kids, let’s begin” he put on his best smile and hoped the bags under his eyes didn’t ruin the cheerful image he wanted to give “I’m Thomas Sanders and I will be your teacher for the school year” he ignored the scream of a girl saying ‘a year?’ and kept going “The recess is at 10:00 am, and it lasts 30 minutes. You will use that time to eat, play and or go to the bathroom. Okay? You can ask me to go to the bathroom anytime, but please don’t do it if you don’t need to go. If you have any questions, feel free to ask me. Now, please grab a seat at whatever table you want, and chat a little with your companions as I prepare an activity”

Watching everyone run and almost trip over each other trying to get a seat, Virgil stayed still in his place, fear in his eyes at the aggressiveness and energy of the other kids. He wanted nothing more than to leave the classroom, but he knew that wasn’t what Mulan would do.

Hugging his mother’s familiar, he gathered all the courage he had left and tried to decide where he would sit. There wasn’t any empty table, so sitting alone wouldn’t be an option. But all the children were already talking, and he didn’t want to intrude. That was rude. Though… there was a table where the kids weren’t talking yet. At the table were two boys that looked pretty similar (what did Mom called them? Twins?), they had the same carrot-like hair, same gray eyes, and even same glasses. The only difference he noticed were their clothes, while one wore gray overalls and a baby blue t-shirt, the other wore gray shorts and a Star Wars t-shirt.

But why weren’t they talking?

Well, it didn’t matter. They looked friendly.

“Uhh… hi” he said, waving his hand at them “Can I sit here?”

“Of course! Hi!” said the kid with the overalls while he bounced in his seat.

“Aha! You lost!” his brother said, pointing a finger at him with a triumphant smile “You didn’t even last three minutes”

“Oh, well. Add another tally mark, then” he shrugged, before turning to look at Virgil where he was seated two chairs away “Hi! I’m Patton!”

“Hi…” he said, looking at the other twin as he drew a tally mark on the left side of a notebook page, where the right side was totally empty as opposed to the left side “Uhh… what are you counting there?”

“Our ‘the first to speak loses’ games. These are the times I’ve won” he proudly pointed to the left side of the page “These are the zero times Patton has won” he pointed to the other side and smiled fondly at his brother “But you are doing good, Pat”

“Thank you, Lo!” laughed Patton as he practically threw himself at his twin “This is my brother, Logan!” he told Virgil “We’re the Picani brothers!”

Just as he was about to say something, another voice beat him to it.

“Nice to meet you”

While Patton screamed and Virgil shrieked, Logan just looked at the newcomer with confusion.

“When did you get here?”

“I don’t know. Who cares”

“Who are you?” asked Logan, even more confused. How could him not know? What a weird kid.

“Declan. Declan Classy Smith” he said, and now that Virgil had calmed down he recognized him as the kid with the Bugs Bunny backpack.

“Did your parents really name you Classy?” said Patton with curiosity. What a cool name!

“Yes. It is right there in my birth certificate”

“I don’t believe you” frowned Logan. It didn’t make sense to name a kid like that.

“Seriously, you can look it up for proof” he said, with the same tone his brother would say ‘I shit you not’.

A cough interrupted whatever argument they were going to have. “Can I sit here?” asked the boy that minutes ago was crying for their mom.

“I vote in favor” nodded Patton as he raised his hand. The others (except his twin) looked at him in confusion “Democracy” he said, as if that explained everything. Though, apparently for the kids it did, because they all raised their hand and nodded “All in favor?” they nodded again “Well, then, welcome to the table! I’m Patton, he’s Logan” he pointed with his thumb “he’s Declan and he’s… uh… I dunno”

“I’m Virgil” he said, looking at the new kid sit in front of him at the round table “And you are?”

“Roman García” the kid mumbled, his eyes downcast and his hands playing with the Ninja Turtles bracelet he was wearing. It reminded Virgil of himself that same morning, so of course he had the perfect solution for that.

“Roman” with the most serious voice he had, he extended his hand on the table as close to Roman as he could “Just ask yourself… what would Mulan do?”

Roman gasped. It was true.

With renewed spirits, Roman smiled and kept chatting with the boys, all of them making theories about what they were supposed to do there.

“Maybe we’ll learn to do taxes” suggested Logan.

“I hope not. Dad almost threw the computer through the window the last time he did them” frowned Roman, the thought of having to do something that put Dad like that made him want to run to Mom’s work and never come back.

“Our Dad cried” the twins said at the same time.

Before the kids even tried to formulate a plan the get the heckity heck out of there, the teacher walked back to the front of the classroom and gave them the instructions to begin the activity. Then, he went table after table proving them with paper and little bowls full of crayons for them to draw their family as he instructed.

“Remember kids, you have total freedom over your drawing, and you can talk with your companions about your family while you do it!”

“And what if we have the same family?” asked Logan “Should we do it together?”

“Well… no” Thomas tensed, worried about how the twins would react to his answer. Thankfully, they just nodded and began to work. Oh thank God. He didn’t know what he would have do if they cried or threw a tantrum.

He would’ve probably just let them do it together.

“My mom is the most beautiful woman in the world” said Roman as he drew (or attempted to) sparkles around the stick figure that was his mother.

“That’s not true” Virgil paused his drawing to look at him “Ma is. Mom said so and she never lies”

“All women are queens” hissed Declan, unaware of where that phrase came from and just wanting to stop the fight so he could reach for another crayon from the bowl. It worked, but they still looked at each other as if waiting for one comment to fight again.

“Hey Lo, what color looks more like Dad’s hair?” holding two crayons with different shades of pink to his twin, Patton sheepishly looked at him “I can’t decide”

“This one” Logan showed him the crayon he was using “Here, you can have it. I don’t need it anymore” he gave him the crayon and looked for another one in the bowl that looked like Papa’s hair.

“Your dad has pink hair?” Virgil gasped incredulously “No way!”

“Yep” smiled Patton, before turning to help Logan decide on a color.

“My brother Kai has blue hair” said Roman “Dad doesn’t like it though. I don’t understand”

“That’s dumb. It’s just hair” frowned Virgil. He didn’t understand either.

“Adults are weird” affirmed Declan, not looking up from his paper. He needed concentration to draw his brother’s glasses.

“That’s true” mumbled Logan. Finally spotting the perfect crayon, he grabbed it and began to color Papa´s hair, happy and proud to look how similar the drawing was to his family.

After a while of drawing, Declan put down his crayon and tapped twice with it to get everyone’s attention.

“Hey guys, how about we create a special salute for our group?”

Looking around the classroom, pleased to see everybody working and having a good time, Thomas sighed in relief. His first day as a Kindergarten teacher was going great!

Or at least it was, until he noticed a table with five boys flipping double-birds.

“kids NO!”

And that's it! Hope you like it! Honestly, I almost had to slap myself because I saw the opportunity to make it angsty but no! Not here. Yet, at least. A few parts of this were inspired by my own first day of kindergarten, like watching a boy cry and meeting a kid with a Bugs Bunny backpack. And of course, the not knowing why was I there. Happy Holidays, everyone!

#roman sanders #patton sanders #virgil sanders #logan sanders #deceit sanders #sympathetic deceit #sanders sides fic #platonic dlamp

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eldritchsurveys · 7 years ago

Text

o24.

1. A Song you’re ashamed of liking >> LMAO you tried it.

2. Favourite lyrics >> *rolls dice* “Every night, in every pore, the scales that do slither deliver me from... Freeze without an answer, free from all the shame; then I'll hide, ‘cause I'll never... never sleep alone.” (The Mars Volta, The Widow)

3. Favourite band/artist >> *rolls dice* Pearl Jam.

4. Top 5 Favourite songs at this moment >> Hmm... Turbo Killer by Carpenter Brut; Blood in the River by Zeal & Ardor; Exist by Avenged Sevenfold; Fundamentally Loathsome by Marilyn Manson; Rotlaust tre fell by Wardruna.

5. Latest song that made you smile >> I don’t remember the latest one, but a song that makes me smile is Feathers by Coheed and Cambria because I think of the ridiculous ass video.

6. An overrated band >> I don’t know what it means to be overrated.

7. An overrated song >> ---

8. Latest song that made you cry >> Probably that track from Interstellar, Cornfield Chase.

9. Artist/band that saved your life >> Creed, Pearl Jam, My Chemical Romance, and AFI all had their hand in it, I’m sure.

10. If you could see any band/artist live, who would it be >> I’d love to see Wardruna!

11. What song/album/band/artist always brings back memories for you >> The Dear Hunter, Black Sandy Beaches. I was listening to that when the plane started to descend into Colorado Springs the... last time, I think? Whatever time. But that’s what I always think about, how that felt.

12. saddest song you know >> A sad song I know in general, one that makes me really sad just to hear, is A Perfect Circle’s 3 Libras.

13. Favourite song to sing in the shower >> Blood Red Summer, Coheed and Cambria. Or any of the Doomstar Requiem songs.

14. If you played an instrument in grade school, what was it >> I didn’t, I was a choir nerd since the beginning.

15. What song would you like to have your first dance to at your wedding >> I don’t know.

16. 5 Songs to have sex to >> Fundamentally Loathsome, as fucked up a song as it is, it has such a sensual groove that really hits me in the no-no parts, just sayin. Rev 22:20 by Puscifer. Helvegen by Wardruna is a... I think it’s a dirge, actually, but I guess I like the idea of having sex to strange songs. Leave me alone. I can’t think of any others at the moment, but that’s enough insight into my weird kinks anyway, NEXT.

17. One band you’d have get back together/bring back from the dead >> One more Type O Negative album might have been cool. IDK.

18. You’re forced to listen to only one album for the rest of your life, what album is it >> Hm.

19. A song that gets you through shit >> I Know It’s Gonna Happen Someday, David Bowie. Just... *clutches chest*

20. A song to shut everything out >> I’m thinking like... doom or sludge metal here. But I can’t think of any songs off the top of my head, I just know that particular sound works great for shutting out the world.

21. A song that’s a joke between you and your friends >> ---

22. A song to jam out to at 4am >> Morte Lumina, Dethklok.

23. A song that punches you in the gut every single time >> The Ghost of You, My Chemical Romance.

24. A song that calms you down >> Love Boat Captain, Pearl Jam.

25. A song that makes you feel alive >> There She Goes, My Beautiful World, Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds.

26. If you could get any lyrics tattooed, which would you choose >> Oh man, I couldn’t even begin to choose. Do you know how many lyrics I’d have to choose from?!

27. What band/artist would you get your children addicted to at an early age >> I mean, I think they can get themselves addicted to whatever band or artist resonated with them.

28. Can you play any instruments, if so, which >> Nope.

29. If you could be a member of any band for one show, who would it be >> I really don’t know, lmao.

30. CDs or Vinyls >> Vinyls are fun!

31. 25 songs to play at your funeral >> 25?! That’s way too many, lmao, just play Death is the Road to Awe and call it a day. Then go get drunk.

32. What are some song titles that you love >> Most of Fall Out Boy’s, lol.

33. If your life ended today, what song would you choose to represent it >> Nope.

34. Can you give me a 10 song playlist on ____ >> I guess this is for if you use it as an actual ask meme, and the person that sends you this one is supposed to fill in the blank.

35. A heart wrenching song >> Ich Dachte Schön, Selig. For me, anyway.

36. A band/artist you’re proud of >> Janelle Monae!!!

37. A song that has a lot of meaning to you >> Nothing As It Seems, Pearl Jam. That song’s been with me through a lot.

38. A song that reminds you of school >> Prayer, by Disturbed, because that was out when I was in high school and I used to watch the video on the school computers all the time. Also, I drew like 16-inch-tall chibi versions of the band from a screencap of the video, and I laminated the David Draiman one and would just carry it around school with me all the time. So, you know, there’s that.

39. A song not sung in your native language >> Percées de Lumière, Alcest.

40. An instrumental song >> The Final Fantasy Prelude song is the first thing that came to mind. :p

41. A classical song >> Elegy, Adam Hurst...? What counts as classical, does it have to be old?

42. A song with no percussion >> Guaranteed, Eddie Vedder.

43. Something you’ve heard performed live >> For the Love of God, Steve Vai. Amazing.

44. Something you’d give ANYTHING to hear performed live >> No Leaf Clover, Metallica.

45. A song from a band/artist that’s from your town/city/state/province >> Uh, I think Anthony Kiedis lived in Grand Rapids at some point and I don’t feel like looking up bands who are from GR and hoping I know at least one of them, so I’m just going to go with this. Otherside, by Red Hot Chili Peppers.

46. A song made suddenly precious because of a special someone >> May It Be, Enya (for Can Calah).

47. A song made suddenly painful because of someone special >> I can’t think of any.

48. A song that demands lip syncing and a makeshift microphone >> Oh man! So many! But I’ll go with The Emperor’s New Clothes, Panic at the Disco.

49. A song from a band/artist you met/know >> H.O.R.S., Mother. (They’re from NYC. Click through to hear it on YouTube.)

50. A song that you would rock at karaoke >> No One Knows, Queens of the Stone Age. I cheated on this one, because I have rocked this at karaoke.

51. A song you can’t help but dance to >> Big Freedia’s Empire State remix.

52. A song that makes you want to dance on a table >> The Lost Art of Keeping a Secret, Queens of the Stone Age.

53. Your 10 song striper playlist >> Oh man, I don’t know if I have 10 songs for this! I’ll have to make a stripper playlist one day and come back to this.

54. Favourite Disney song >> Hellfire, obviously. It’s me, after all.

55. A song that starts with the first letter of your name >> Lady Grinning Soul, David Bowie.

56. A song from an artist still alive >> Younger, Seinabo Sey.

57. A song from an artist who’s dead >> Lazarus, David Bowie.

58. A song you love by an artist/band you hate >> Meh.

59. A song you love with a colour in the title >> Orange Crush, R.E.M.

60. A song you love with a number in the title >> One, Creed.

61. A song that reminds you of someone you would rather forget about >> Meh.

62. A song that needs to be played LOUD >> Skeksis, Strapping Young Lad.

63. A song that makes you think about life >> These Things, Fuel.

64. 15 Songs that get suck in your head easily >> Oh no. Here is A song that gets stuck in my head easily: Terra Novum, by Michael Curran, which is the Sid Meier’s Civilization V: Brave New World theme. It gets stuck in my head all the time because one of my tags on my main blog is a lyric from it.

65. A song that you think everyone should listen to >> Uh.

66. A song that makes you want to fall in love >> LMAO I’m not sure?

67. A song that makes you think about ‘him/her’ >> I don’t know who the ‘him/her’ is supposed to be here... like an SO? Ok then... Noll, kent; Someone New, Joywave; Work Song, Hozier. One for each.

68. A song that you remember from your childhood >> All Coming Back to Me Now, Celine Dion. My JAM.

69. A song that reminds you of you >> Gravity, by Steven Price, for the movie of the same name.

70. Okay what’s the real answer to number 1 >> I AM NOT ASHAMED OF THE THINGS I LOVE. GOT IT?

#surveys #survey #music survey

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sad-trash-writing · 8 years ago

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idk if you've seen that extra gum commercial where this guy draws little comics on gum wrappers, and he has this crush on this girl. they date and he draws things from their relationship on the wrappers and he draws one to propose to his gf and she says yes. and the song playing is "i can't help falling in love with you". i really would love to see a skimmons version of that. it could be a high school-college au

I know this took ages, but I hope it’s worth it. Thanks for the prompt! It was a ton of fun!

AO3 Link

Whoever invented high school clearly hated teenagers. Daisy huffed out a dramatic sigh and leaned back in her rickety wooden desk. The teacher kept droning on about some boring battle in the Civil War (which Daisy swore they learned about last year, too). Worst of all, she had forgotten her backpack at home today so she didn’t even have anything to doodle on to kill the time.

A slight rustle in front of her drew her attention from counting the ceiling tiles to Jemma Simmons, the only redeeming factor of this class. US History was the only class Jemma wasn’t in the advanced section of (since she was British and only moved to America last year) so Daisy got to stare at the back of her head and listen to Jemma’s voice every time she asked a question.

The sound that drew Daisy’s attention was just Jemma digging a pack of gum out of her bag. A lightbulb went off in Daisy’s head when she realized that it was the type that had the little foil wrappers, or in Daisy’s universe, something to draw on.

She leaned forward across her desk and lightly tapped Jemma on the shoulder. “Can I have a piece?” Daisy whispered.

Jemma lurched slightly in her seat, but pulled a second piece of gum out of the pack and handed it over her shoulder. “Of course.”

She shot Daisy a bright smile and turned back to her notes.

Daisy’s heart really should not be beating this hard from that seven-word conversation. So maybe she had a little crush on the super genius Brit she never saw outside of history class. Sue her.

Once her pulse returned to normal, Daisy slipped out the pencil she always kept stuck her ponytail and started sketching.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Um, excuse me? Do you mind if I sit here?”

Daisy’s head whipped towards the accented voice and instantly regretted taking Miles’ bet that she couldn’t fit a whole order of spaghetti in her mouth.

“Jemma!” she exclaimed through a mouth of pasta. “Yeah, sure you can—”

Daisy quickly realized that Jemma couldn’t understand her and she would probably choke if she tried to swallow right now. Instead, Daisy planted a foot on Miles’ chair and shoved him far enough down the table that there was space for a chair next to Daisy, ignoring his indignant noises.

Luckily, Jemma didn’t seem disgusted by Daisy’s antics and just smiled and pulled up a chair next to her. Daisy quickly choked down the remainder of her spaghetti and tried to remember what a normal sitting posture was.

To distract herself from the sudden presence of the girl she had a major crush on Daisy held her open hand out to Miles.

“Pay up, I did it,” she demanded. She half expected Miles to argue with her, but he slyly glanced at Jemma, who was suddenly engrossed in her sandwich, and slapped a $5 bill into Daisy’s hand.

“So, Jemma—” Daisy started, but was cut off by Jemma mumbling under her breath. “Uh, what was that?”

Jemma peered at Daisy and blushed. “I bet you can’t fit that whole piece of garlic bread in your mouth,” she muttered with a mischievous glint in her eye.

Daisy balked for a moment. Whatever she expected from the quiet British girl, it wasn’t that. “You’re on.”

Once she won Jemma’s bet, after nearly inhaling garlic bread crumbs while laughing at Jemma’s shocked expression, Daisy slipped a spare scrap of paper out of her bag and doodled a tiny scene on it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“So, Jem. Wanna watch Sharknado or Paranormal Activity?”

Jemma wrinkled her nose. “I can’t believe those are the options you’re giving me.”

“Well, do you want to take apart the science of demons or sharks forming a tornado and eating people?” Daisy countered.

Jemma rolled her eye. “I suppose Sharknado. I know there’s at least two more Paranormal Activity movies that you’ll try to force me to watch next, so let’s avoid that.”

“Oh, don’t worry. There’s four Sharknados, too!”

Jemma groaned loudly as she and Daisy strolled towards the bus stop. Jemma had started sitting at Daisy’s table everyday for lunch and even choosing Daisy every time they had a partner project in class. Daisy wasn’t complaining. She even managed to shove aside her stupid feelings for awhile to just spend time with Jemma as a friend.

And friends watched terrible movies at each other’s houses every weekend while over-caffeinating themselves and staying up way too late.

“I can’t stay too late tonight, though. I’ve got an interview tomorrow for a college scholarship,” Jemma said.

“College? We’re sophomores. How have you started looking at that already?” Daisy replied.

Jemma shrugged. “I’ve just had a few contact me because of my test scores and thought it would be a good idea to check my options now.”

Daisy chuckled. “Well, you always do know how to over-prepare. But I guess we’ll only watch Sharknado one and two tonight then. The others can wait until next weekend.”

“Unless every copy of the DVDs mysteriously goes missing by then.”

“That’s what the internet is for, Jem.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“This has got to be my favorite song,” Jemma announced.

Daisy looked up from her ice cream with a frown. She hadn’t even realized there was music playing, honestly. She was just tired from the school day and not looking forward to the amount of homework she had to do later. Luckily, Jemma agreed to help her out, on the condition that Daisy took her out for ice cream first. Only when Jemma mentioned it did she notice that Can’t Help Falling In Love With You was quietly playing over the speakers above them.

“Didn’t take you for an Elvis fan, Jemma,” Daisy teased.

Jemma rolled her eyes. “Well, not Elvis per se. Just this song is beautiful.”

Daisy snorted. “Seems a little sappy to me.”

Jemma tossed a wadded up napkin at her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Daisy blinked away the tears before Jemma could notice them. Jemma was occupied, cramming more bags into her dad’s car while Daisy stood off to the side, wringing her hands just to keep busy. Despite her somber mood, Daisy couldn’t help the chuckle that bubbled out of her throat when Jemma had to crawl into the backseat and pull one of her bags from the inside, while her dad pushed it from the outside.

Once the bag was stuffed into the car, Jemma tumbled out of the car, dusted off her hands, and admired their handiwork.

“Why’d you have to be such a smarty-pants and graduate early anyway?” Daisy teased.

Jemma flashed her a sad smile. “I’ll be back for holidays and summers still, I promise.”

“I know, but now I have to sit through history alone,” Daisy whined.

“For that, I am truly sorry,” Jemma said with a smirk. Despite the attempts at humor, Daisy could see tears welling up in Jemma’s eyes as well. Daisy grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her in for a tight hug, burying her face in Jemma’s neck.

Daisy didn’t know how long they held each other, but she vaguely heard Jemma’s mom clear her throat at some point. Jemma just waved her off and kept squeezing Daisy like her life depended on it.

Eventually, they broke apart, both giving up on containing their tears.

“You’ll keep in touch, right?” Jemma asked in a tone that sounded more like a demand.

“I-I—” The ‘I love you’ that Daisy desperately wanted to say caught in her throat. “I will.”

Jemma smiled and gave her another quick hug, before jogging over to the car where her parents were impatiently waiting and hopped in. As they drove away, Daisy stuck her hands in her pockets and found a crumpled gum wrapper. She smoothed it out and started drawing.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Daisy tried to keep her promise. She really did, but life happened. The first six months Jemma was away at college, she and Daisy Skype’d almost daily and texted after every class. But then Jemma had research deadlines come up and Daisy had to study for midterms and they lost touch.

Years passed. Daisy was accepted into her first choice school for graphic design and packed up to move across the country. She quickly acclimated to the dorm life with her new roommate, Bobbi.

How she got paired up with Bobbi as a roommate, Daisy would never know (Daisy being an art kid and Bobbi majoring in biology). They got along well enough, despite their differences, and it turned out that Bobbi’s sometimes-boyfriend, Hunter, was an art student as well.

They had a standing lunch date at one of the cafés on campus between the art building and their dorm. Daisy jogged in, late as usual, with paint and charcoal smeared on her shirt and a handful of paintbrushes jammed into her pockets.

“Hey! Only ten minutes late this time! Maybe next time you’ll actually be here on time,” Bobbi teased, sipping her coffee.

Daisy rolled her eyes and flopped into the chair across from her. “My lateness is a performance art piece on the societal construct of time. And Professor Rogers made me stay after to clean the paintbrushes again.”

“I’m surprised you can resist calling him Mr. Rogers and asking how things are in the neighborhood.”

“Why do you think I had to clean the paintbrushes?”

Bobbi chuckled and glanced towards the door. “I hope you don’t mind that I invited someone else to join us today.”

“Oh? Who?”

“A girl from the bio lab. She’s our age, but a couple years ahead in her program already,” Bobbi said.

Daisy groaned. “Great, so I’m going to have to sit here and listen to two of you biobabble at me?”

“Don’t even act like you don’t rant about your dorky art stuff at me. Sorry I don’t know the difference between Dega and Dada.”

“Okay, those two aren’t even in the same category. Dadaism is a movement—”

“Daisy?” A new voice cut in.

Daisy’s attention shot to the new voice and her jaw dropped. “Jemma?!”

They stared each other down, wearing matching expressions of shock. Once Daisy’s brain caught up to her eyes, she shot out of her seat like a rocket and swept Jemma up in a bone-crunching hug. All these years later and she even smelled the same. Not that Daisy remembered what Jemma smelled like.

After a few long moments, they loosened their grip and started babbling over each other.

“I thought you were going to some fancy private school—”

“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me you were coming here—”

“—I didn’t know you were going here or I would have said something—”

“—It’s been so long I wasn’t sure I had your phone number anymore—”

Bobbi clearing her throat behind them stopped the tirade of overlapping statements. “Uh…So you two know each other?”

“Daisy and I went to high school together,” Jemma supplied.

“And we were really close, until someone had to graduate two years early,”

Daisy accused, with a teasing smirk.

Jemma just rolled her eyes.

Bobbi smirked. “Then, I guess you two have a lot to catch up on.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Despite the years apart, Daisy and Jemma fell right back into their old patterns of movie nights and teasing each other. Nearly every Friday, they would squeeze onto Daisy’s dorm bed with Bobbi and Hunter and project a movie onto the opposite wall. Daisy finally gave in to Jemma’s begging and agreed to watch something that wasn’t a SyFy original and threw in some pretentious movies her fellow art students loved to brag about, exclusively to pick them apart.

Unfortunately, those stupid feelings Daisy repressed for years reappeared the moment Jemma did.

One day, a new face appeared in Daisy’s dorm room.

“Everybody, this is Will,” Jemma introduced, “He’s an aerospace engineering major.”

Daisy waved a hello with the others, but for some reason decided she didn’t like this guy. Sure, he may be a perfectly nice guy, but he stood just a little too close to Jemma and stared at her with just a little too much fondness.

That night, Jemma chose to sit on the futon below Daisy’s lofted bed with Will. Daisy spent the duration of the movie grumpily glaring in the direction of the movie, but not really watching it.

A few hours later, Bobbi flicked on the lights and everyone shuffled out of the room, leaving just Daisy and her roommate.

“What was that all about?” Bobbi demanded once the door clicked behind Hunter (always the last to leave).

“Hey, I didn’t pick the movie this week,” Daisy defended while she stacked up popcorn bowls.

“That’s not what I was talking about. You’ve never been that quiet during a movie night ever and, every time I looked over at you, you were glaring at the floor.”

Daisy flushed. “It’s just been a long week and I’m tired. That’s all.”

“Uh-huh,” Bobbi muttered, unconvinced, but she let the subject drop.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Fall weather had officially settled in, making it suddenly bearable to be outside. Daisy had to dodge at least three runaway Ultimate Frisbee games on the way to lunch and couldn’t help herself from stopping to pick some of the small fall flowers out of the dining hall’s landscaping. She had a mixed media project coming up that she could probably use them for.

As usual, Daisy was one of the last to arrive for lunch. Bobbi and Hunter were already settled in, bickering about something, but still eating off the same tray. Fitz was tinkering with some new gadget, while Trip leaned over and kept trying to poke at it. The only person missing was Jemma.

“Hey, you’re not the last one here for once,” Bobbi teased as Daisy sat down. Daisy waved her off and tossed her bag on the table, despite Fitz’s indignant protests. She had barely opened her mouth to ask where Jemma was, when a flurry of brown hair and lab reports ran into the table.

“THE ORIONID METEOR SHOWER IS TOMORROW NIGHT,” Jemma shouted, slamming her hands on the table.

Her statement was met with blank stares. “Um…Kay?”

“We need to try to see it! It’s supposed to be spectacular,” Jemma continued.

Daisy shrugged. “I’m game. I might finally see my first shooting star.”

The rest of the table mumbled their agreements and Jemma launched into planning mode.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Daisy hadn’t realized how much stuff they would be bringing to go watch the stars. Why they needed an inflatable pool was beyond her, when some ratty blankets would do just fine. She hauled the giant box out of the back of her van and dropped in in the middle of the field Jemma had staked out for the group. Even though it seemed unnecessary to Daisy, Jemma found the idea on Pinterest and thought it sounded fun, so Daisy would go along with it.

Once she wrenched the wad of plastic from the box, Daisy hooked up the automatic air pump to the pool, flipped the switch, and then sat back and waited.

The sun was just beginning to set on the grassy field. The tranquil silence was broken by the jarring whir of the pump, but the scenery was still beautiful. Jemma had really outdone herself when picking this spot to watch the meteor shower (she was very insistent that it had to be far enough away from the town to avoid light pollution). Daisy could only imagine how beautiful it would be out here when the stars came out. She rooted through her pocket and found a folded up scrap of sketch paper. She pulled out a pencil and started sketching the trees that lined the field and dotted the horizon.

The pool was just starting to take shape when Jemma’s tiny hatchback pulled up beside Daisy’s van. Jemma hopped out of the driver’s seat and popped the trunk open, while grumbling under her breath.

“Hey, Jem,” Daisy greeted. “Where’s the rest of the group? It’s going to be hard for them to find us when it gets dark.”

“They’re not coming,” Jemma huffed. “Bobbi and Hunter said something about a last minute date night and Fitz called and rambled some nonsense excuse regarding a project he was working on with Trip.”

Daisy frowned. “Huh. That’s strange. Oh well, I guess they’ll miss all the free wishes.”

“So, you want to stay?” Jemma asked, hopefully.

“Yeah, of course.”

Jemma breathed out a sigh of relief. “Oh, thank god. I was hoping you wouldn’t want to leave because everyone else cancelled.”

“I didn’t come out here for them,” Daisy blurted. She ducked down to fidget with the pool in an attempt to hide her blush. With a sly peek out of the corner of her eye she caught Jemma’s shy smile.

“Well, I’m glad to hear it. Want to help me unload the car?”

The trunk and back seat of Jemma’s car were both stuffed full of pillows and thick blankets, which Daisy and Jemma dragged out by the armful and tossed in the misshapen pool.

Once everything was arranged and the pool had taken shape, they shut off the noisy air pump and flopped into the giant nest of blankets. Jemma tucked a bag of popcorn and a thermos of hot chocolate in the folds of the blankets and they snuggled in to wait for the meteor shower to start.

Silence settled over the pair for a moment, before giving rise to the sounds of nature. Crickets chirped their last odes to the summer weather before the frost would inevitably sweep through. A light breeze shuddered through the branches of the distant trees, rattling the drying leaves together. A lone owl hooted in the shelter of the trees.

Jemma sighed contentedly and nestled further into the blankets. “The highest concentration of meteors ought to be around the Orion constellation, over there.”

Jemma gestured towards a cluster of stars, but Daisy had no clue where she was pointing. Daisy was too busy staring at Jemma, illuminated only by the dim starlight and talking excitedly about the origin of the Orionid meteor shower.

Daisy smile and nodded in agreement, meanwhile berating herself internally. Why, why did she have to fall for one of her best friends? Her straight best friend. Nothing good could come of this. Only awkwardness and heartache. Daisy pushed the thoughts of her killer crush away when Jemma offered her the bag of popcorn.

A few hours after it was completely dark, they saw their first meteor. Daisy almost wasn’t sure she had seen it. It happened so quickly so thought she may have imagined it, but Jemma’s slight gasp told Daisy that it was real. After the first one, they came more frequently, until they lit up the sky almost before the previous one had faded.

Jemma and Daisy both stayed mostly quiet, preferring to enjoy the natural phenomenon with minimal conversation. Daisy was so entranced by the streaks of light cutting across the sky that she hadn’t even noticed Jemma fidgeting with her hands until she spoke up.

“Daisy, can I talk to you about something?” Jemma asked in nearly a whisper.

The tone betrayed the serious nature of whatever Jemma wanted to say and Daisy’s eyes snapped to Jemma. “Of course. What’s up?” Daisy replied with forced casualness.

Jemma fidgeted for a moment more with her eyes fixed on her hands before she spoke up. “I— Well, it’s—There’s been something I’ve been meaning to talk to you about for awhile, but it’s—it’s just never seemed like the right time and there’s always someone else around, or we’re busy or—or—”

Daisy waited with bated breath while Jemma paused to collect her thoughts.

“I—um. I like girls, I guess,” Jemma finished.

Daisy’s heart leaped and a tiny hopeful part of her brain started cheering, but Daisy quickly shoved it away. This isn’t about you, asshole, she thought.

“Oh. Cool, um, thanks for trusting me with that,” Daisy replied, “Actually, while we’re on that subject—”

“I know, this probably isn’t the best time, but I don’t want to keep any secrets from you,” Jemma rambled. She briefly reached for Daisy’s hands, but seemed to think better of it and folded them in her lap. “You’re my best friend and I don’t want anything to change between us because of this.”

“Oh.”

“Sorry, I just completely bowled over you. We’re you going to say something?”

Daisy blanched. “No, never mind. It’s not important.”

“Please, I don’t want anything left unsaid between us now,” Jemma prompted.

“Let’s get it all out ther—”

“I love you.”

It seemed even the crickets were silent following Daisy’s confession. If she wasn’t in the middle of nowhere, Daisy probably would have bolted for the nearest closet to hide herself in for the rest of her life.

Jemma’s silence was almost worse than if she had run away in disgust. Daisy mentally begged her to say something. Anything.

“…Really?” Jemma finally whispered.

Daisy nodded, though she wasn’t sure Jemma could see her in the dark. “I shouldn’t have said anything. Let’s just pretend I never said—”

Now it was Jemma’s turn to interrupt. She leaned across the narrow space between them, capturing Daisy’s lips mid-word, and slid a hand around the back of Daisy’s neck to pull her in closer.

Daisy’s body processed this new development before her mind caught up, kissing Jemma back fervently before she was even fully aware what was happening.

By the time they broke for air, Daisy’s brain had finally caught up. “I thought you said you didn’t want anything to change between us,” she said, stupidly.

“That was a complete lie,” Jemma chuckled. “I’ve been mad about you since high school.”

“Really? Why did neither of us say anything before now?” Daisy asked.

Jemma just giggled and leaned in for another, more gentle kiss. Meteors continued to streak across the sky the rest of the night, but they passed completely unnoticed by the pair curled up in the inflatable pool together.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“What? Even I can tell you that’s a terrible— No, he’s great, but I know your— Hey, don’t yell at me, you’re the one who’s dumped him four times!” Daisy screamed into her phone. “Hello?…She hung up on me.”

“Um…Is everything alright?” Jemma cautiously asked.

Daisy groaned. “Bobbi just decided she’s going to move in with Hunter at the end of the semester.”

“Oh. That’s…good?” Jemma guessed.

“The school can’t find anyone willing to move into the dorm halfway through the year, so they’re going to make me pay the 'single-room’ price. I can’t afford that!” Daisy complained.

“I can see why you’re upset now.”

“Yeah. I supposed my van is big enough to throw a mattress in the back. As long as campus security doesn’t get weird about me parking it somewhere.”

“You can come live with me next semester,” Jemma shyly suggested.

Daisy’s heart sped up. “What?”

“I have a full scholarship that covers my rent as well as tuition, so you wouldn’t have to pay anything,” Jemma explained, “I wouldn’t mind having someone to live with. It can get a tad quiet.”

“Are you sure it’s not too soon? I mean, we are dating now. Would it be weird for us to live together so soon?” Daisy asked.

Jemma shrugged. “I was going to ask you to move in with me any way. Do you really think I’d let my girlfriend live in her van?”

Daisy pulled Jemma into a tight hug in answer.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jemma’s apartment was nice. Very nice, in fact. The extra scholarship money allowed Jemma to afford a place right off campus, away from the noise and annoyance of the fraternity houses. It was small, but not cramped. Just enough space for Jemma’s sparse belongings.

And now Daisy’s. Jemma failed to mention that her apartment was only a one-bedroom before Daisy had hauled the first box of her possessions up the stairs.

Daisy hadn’t wanted to presume anything, so she tossed her pillow on the couch and looked for a corner to cram her stuff into. Jemma had just chuckled, grabbed her hand, and dragged her towards the bedroom.

Daisy was surprised by how easily she settled into domesticity with Jemma. Given that she was completely prepared to live out of her van, Daisy didn’t expect to find herself so comfortable now. They settled into an easy routine. Jemma left at the crack of dawn for her classes, Daisy following around noon, Jemma went to the lab for a few hours after class, and Daisy went to work at the campus bookstore. They both returned to the apartment late and collapsed into bed or watched TV for a few hours. Friday night, they would make sure to be home in time for dinner and one of them would cook something nice.

The cooking was the one thing Daisy never got the hang of. Her artistic talents definitely did not translate into the culinary arts. The most complicated thing she had ever managed to make herself was a can of chicken noodle soup that she put in the microwave, so she struggled whenever it was her turn to make Friday night dinner.

But she was going to try her hardest anyway because she loved Jemma and wanted to make her something nice.

So here she was, fighting her way through making spaghetti. Jemma was perched on the corner of their bed with her headphones on full volume, typing away frantically at a report that was due early, and made it clear that she should not be interrupted until either she or dinner was done.

Daisy grumbled to herself about the inconsistency of using a 'clove’ of garlic as a form of measurement. Daisy made the mistake of buying the already diced garlic that came in a jar (much to Jemma’s dismay), so she just guessed and threw in a full teaspoon with the meat. Hopefully that was enough.

Next, she grabbed the jar of sauce. Daisy twisted the lid, but it didn’t budge. Daisy squeezed and twisted harder. Nothing. She tried clamping the jar between her knees and using both hands to twist. It was like the lid was cemented on the stupid jar.

Daisy huffed. What was the trick Jemma always used? Tapping it on the counter!

Daisy gingerly tapped the rim of the jar against the edge of the counter a few times and tried again. Still no movement. She tapped it harder. Nothing. Daisy glared at the offending jar. Now it was starting to feel personal.

Daisy gave it one last try and whacked the jar on the counter, but heard a cracking sound rather than the pop of the lid she was hoping for.

“Damnit,” she grumbled. She grabbed the lid and it twisted right off.

Which took the top half of the jar with it. The jagged edge of the jar cut into Daisy’s palm as she twisted.

“Shit!”

The stripe of blood that welled up on her palm started small, but quickly began trickling down her hand. Daisy set the ruined jar on the counter and grabbed for a paper towel to put some pressure on the cut. She barely got the paper towel ripped off the roll when the timer for the noodles went off, startling her.

She jerked back, hitting the sauce jar with her elbow, which sent it tumbling towards the ground where it shattered on impact.

“You have got to be kidding me.”

“Is everything alright out there?” Jemma’s voice called from the bedroom.

Daisy sighed and glanced at her still stinging wound. “Hey, Jem. You know how you said to only bother you if something was on fire or I was bleeding?”

Daisy heard the bedsprings creak as Jemma rolled of the mattress and shuffled toward the kitchen. “I sincerely hope you’re being dramatic again or you’re paying the security dep— OH MY GOD!”

Daisy looked up from her cut and saw the carnage of the red-splattered kitchen where she was the focal point. Right after she said she was bleeding (because clearly nothing was on fire). No wonder Jemma was freaking out.

“Oh, no no it’s just this!” Daisy announced holding up her (relatively speaking) tiny cut for Jemma to see, “I can’t really get to the mop without stepping on glass so…”

Jemma stared, wide-eyed, for another moment. Then she burst into a fit of giggles. Soon, the giggles turned into raucous laughter and eventually Jemma was bent over, gasping for air between fits of cackling.

Even though Daisy felt terrible about ruining dinner, she couldn’t help laughing along with Jemma at the entire situation. Her laugh was infectious.

Jemma grabbed the mop and helped Daisy clean up the mess and Daisy went to pick up some Chinese take out. Later that night, when Jemma went back to pouring over her computer Daisy found a red pen and sketched the scene on the back of a receipt and tucked it away.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jemma shoved the apartment door open with a bit more force than was truly necessary. It had been a very long, arduous day and all she wanted was to eat a pint of ice cream and go to sleep early.

She shuffled through the door, knocking into the wall with her stack of reports and struggling to keep them from falling. She grumbled to herself as she kicked some of Daisy’s art supplies out of the way, so she wouldn’t end up tracking paint through the apartment (again) and trudged towards the bedroom.

A little flashing light from the kitchen made her pause. The 'new message’ light on the answering machine to the landline the apartment required them to have flashed insistently. Jemma frowned. Typically, no one called that number. If they needed to get ahold of one of them, Jemma and Daisy both had cell phones that they checked more regularly.

Jemma threw her stuff down on the table and jammed the little button.

A chipper voice cut through the silence of the apartment. “Hello! This message is for Daisy Johnson, regarding the job you applied for at Creative Concepts. It turns out we will be able to cover your relocation to New York City, as well as offering you a percentage more than the listing stated. We would like to get you settled and starting work by late next month so if you could give us a call back at—”

The number the woman rattled off was drowned out by the slamming of the front door.

“Jemma, you home? I got out early and was thinking we could go do something—,” Daisy rounded the corner and saw Jemma’s face, “—fun? What’s wrong?”

“You got a job in New York?” Jemma asked, tersely.

“I what?” Daisy replied.

“A place in New York just called and said you’ve got a job. They want you to start in a month,” Jemma gritted out through her teeth, “Why didn’t you tell me?”

Daisy blinked at her for a moment. “I thought you’d be…happier.”

“Happier?!” Jemma snapped, “You never even told me you were looking for jobs, much less ones in New York City!”

“Well, duh. What did you think I was going to do, mooch off you the rest of my life?” Daisy spit back.

Jemma recoiled. “I thought you would at least tell me that you were thinking of moving across the country. What am I supposed to do? Quit my job and follow you at a moment’s notice? Or were you just going to leave and not even talk to me about it?”

“I thought you’d be excited! This is a great job and I’d finally be pulling my own weight,” Daisy shouted, more confused than angry.

“Without me!” Jemma yelled, “We’re in a relationship. We’re supposed to talk about things like this together. Why did you hide this from me?”

“I didn’t…I didn’t actually think I would get it, I just wanted to see what would happen,” Daisy said. “What do you want me to do? Not take the job?”

“Yes! No. I—” Jemma huffed. “I don’t know, I just…I need a minute.”

She stalked off to the bedroom and slammed the door behind her. Daisy groaned and thumped her head against the wall. Eventually, she shuffled over to the answering machine and replayed the message to write down the call-back number.

Daisy hung around the kitchen and nibbled on a fingernail nervously. She and Jemma had never had a fight like that before. Sure, they occasionally fought about little things, like Daisy leaving paint lying around or Jemma stealing Daisy’s leftovers late at night. Those were insignificant and usually ended in sex, so they weren’t too bad.

But nothing like this. Daisy wasn’t used to people sticking around after a fallout and kept waiting for Jemma to charge out of the bedroom with a packed bag and leave forever.

But that wasn’t Jemma. And Daisy wasn’t about to let what they had fall apart over this. Not after everything they’d been through.

She gave Jemma a few more minutes of alone time and tiptoed over to the bedroom door. She tapped gently on it, but got no response.

“Jem? Can I come in?” Daisy asked tentatively. After a few seconds with no response, Daisy was preparing herself to sleep on the couch, when a whispered 'yes’ filtered through the door.

Jemma was curled up on her side on the bed, facing away from Daisy. The occasional muffled sniffles told Daisy that Jemma had been crying and it broke her heart.

She slipped into the bed behind Jemma and slowly scooted herself next to her. When she wasn’t forcibly shoved away like she was expecting, she curled up around Jemma and rested her hand on Jemma’s waist.

“I’m sorry,” Daisy whispered, “I really wasn’t trying to hide it. I just…wasn’t thinking. I’m still not used to this 'serious relationship’ thing, I guess.” Daisy nudged closer to Jemma’s back and rested her head in the crook of her neck. “I’ll call them back first thing and let them know I can’t take the job,” she mumbled.

Jemma sighed and rolled over to face Daisy. “I don’t want that. I’m sure it’s a great job and I know you’ve been wanting to get out of this city. I only wish this wasn’t the first time I had heard about it.”

“I know. I’m sorry.”

“It’s alright,” Jemma whispered, “But, now we can deal with this. Together.”

Daisy nodded. “Agreed.”

She leaned forward and kissed Jemma gently, and then smiled to herself.

“Hey, Jemma,” she muttered.

“Hm?”

“We just survive our first big fight.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They kept their promise to each other to deal with the new job situation together. Unfortunately, it wasn’t as seamless at Daisy would have hoped. Jemma couldn’t get away from the work she was doing for the university until at least the end of the semester, and then still had to find a job in New York City. So far, her hunt had hit a dead-end.

Daisy, however, couldn’t put off the start of her job and would have to move without her. As much as it would kill them to be apart for so long, they would have to make it work for now. They both promised each other that it wouldn’t end like the last time they were separated.

Daisy found a small apartment that she could afford on her single salary for now, and threw herself straight into work for a graphic design company that contracted out artists to client companies. The work was mind-numbing at times and she called Jemma nearly every night to complain about her thickheaded clients, but she was at least doing work she enjoyed and had many opportunities in New York to find an audience for her art.

Jemma continued to work at the university laboratory, apply for research-based positions in New York, and coordinate with Daisy when they would have a free weekend to visit one another.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jemma’s phone rang early one morning while she was eating breakfast. Well, it was a reasonable hour for herself, but for most of the population, it was early. It was especially early for Daisy, who’s name was the one that popped up on caller ID.

“Hello?” Jemma greeted.

“Hey.” Daisy sounded breathless on the other line. “Remember how we talked about you having a free weekend coming up? I really think you should come up here.”

“Alright, why the urgency, though?” Jemma replied.

Daisy was quiet for a moment and seemed to be catching her breath. “I got a gig at a gallery! I get to use the entire gallery to display some of my projects!”

“Daisy, that’s wonderful!”

“I know! This is gonna be such a great opportunity. All the best people are gonna be at the opening,” Daisy rambled. “So can you make it?”

“I’ll book my plane ticket immediately.”

The silence on the other line didn’t concern Jemma, because Daisy was probably just fist-pumping the air.

“I’m so excited. I can’t wait to see you,” Daisy finally responded. “I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A few phone more phone calls later and they pinned down the details for the trip. Jemma’s flight was getting in the morning of the gallery opening, so she and Daisy would have some time to explore the city together.

The minute she landed and turned her phone back on, their plans were upended by a text from Daisy.

Super super sorry, but I can’t get out of work til later :( I left a key under the mat at my apartment so you can drop your stuff and nap. Sry ily

Jemma huffed, but understood and went to gather her things at baggage claim. When she went to hail a cab, she notice a nicely dressed man standing near the exit holding a sign that read Jemma Simmons.

Jemma frowned and approached him. At least Daisy spared her from having to trek through New York City with all of her bags.

“Mrs. Simmons, I presume?” the man asked.

“Miss, but yes,” she replied, adjusting her bags.

The man smiled. “My mistake. Can I grab your bags for you?”

The driver loaded her things into a sleek black car and opened the rear door for her to enter.

Once on the road, Jemma couldn’t help but ogle everything she drove past. The massive buildings sparkled in the morning sun and every variety of cafe seemed tucked into the lower floors of them. Cars choked the streets, allowing Jemma plenty of time to stare and memorize the source of every mouth-watering smell that she wanted Daisy to take her to.

Even more than the cars, was the sheer amount of people, bustling this way and that. How they could even move with some many people cramming the sidewalks was a miracle.

They passed through Times’ Square and the blinding lights from every corner dazed her momentarily.

They finally pulled up to Daisy’s apartment building, which Jemma recognized from the pictures she had sent when she first moved in. It was nothing compared to the glitz and glamor of the center of the city, but it seemed cozy enough.

The driver unloaded Jemma’s things for her onto the sidewalk and bid her a good day. Jemma rifled through her purse for some cash to give him a tip, but he had returned to the car and sped off before she could find it.

Strange, Jemma thought, but, then again, Daisy is always saying how weird New Yorkers are.

Jemma shrugged and headed towards the elevator.

Sure enough, a small key was tucked under the welcome mat in front of Daisy’s apartment. It still had enough of Daisy’s form of personalization scattering the floor and stuck to the walls to remind Jemma with a pang of their shared apartment. Jemma called Daisy’s name, hoping she would have made it home by now, but found the apartment empty.

She grumbled to herself, a bit annoyed that Big City Girl Daisy couldn’t seem to spare any time for her girlfriend who she dragged up to see her. She tossed her things in a corner in Daisy’s bedroom and headed to the kitchen to find a snack. A small piece of folded paper was propped up on the counter when she got there. Jemma snatched it and found another apology, but this one included cash.

Dear Jemma, sorry again I’m flaking out. I have a few more things to wrap with the gallery before the opening tonight. Here’s some cash so you can get yourself a nice lunch. There’s a diner two blocks down that you might like. The Wi-Fi password is Alhambra.

Also, I included a bit extra so you can go down to the boutique on 7th and get something nice to wear tonight. You get to be my arm candy after all ;) See you tonight. Sry and ily.

Daisy

Jemma rolled her eyes. She wasn’t really interested in seeing the sights in New York alone, but she probably should get a nicer dress for the evening. She had a feeling that 'nice’ was a different standard at a New York gallery opening than anything in Jemma’s college town. She snatched the cash and the spare key and headed back out the door.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Despite what Jemma told herself, she did go see some of the attractions near Daisy’s apartment. She found a nice souvenir stand where she bought herself a mini Statue of Liberty magnet and a foam hat that she was going to make Daisy wear everywhere tomorrow. Then she headed down to the boutique that Daisy had mentioned to find a nice outfit.

She picked out a flattering sparkly dress that, normally, she would never buy for herself, but she wanted to impress the people coming to see Daisy. If it made Daisy drool over her and regret leaving her alone all day, that was just a bonus.

When it got close to the start of the event, Jemma was fully dressed and made up and Daisy was still nowhere to be found. Jemma was starting to worry that something might have happened to her, when her phone buzzed with another message from Daisy.

Hey things got crazy so I’ve got to stay at the gallery until it opens. There will still be a car by the apartment to come pick you up at 6:30.

Jemma frowned and typed back, Did you just have plans with your new girlfriend all day?

Jemma was mostly joking, but the lack of response way worrying. Sure, she figured Daisy was busy with the gallery and all, but it wasn’t like Daisy to be so cagey.

The car pulled up in front of the building at 6:30 on the dot, with the same driver who picked her up from the airport. He held the car door open for her, told her she looked 'ravishing,’ and then hopped in the driver’s seat.

The drive was mostly silent, with Jemma being too grumpy to initiate conversation and the driver too occupied with not crashing into every person who cut them off.

The gallery they pulled to a stop in front of was small, which Jemma expected. What she hadn’t expected was the dimness of the light filtering through the windows facing the street. Inside, Jemma could see a few small spotlights pointed at framed works on the wall that were much smaller than what Daisy usually created.

“Are you sure this is the right place?” Jemma asked the driver.

He just nodded with a smile. “Daisy’s waiting for you inside.”

That was all the encouragement she needed. Jemma was expecting a bit more fanfare about a gallery opening, even one this small, but there didn’t appear to be anyone here yet.

She pushed through the door and strode into the gallery, her slightly uncomfortable heels clicking loudly on the wood floors. She peered around corners looking for Daisy, or really any other person, but didn’t see anyone, so she paced around and looked at Daisy’s art.

Then, Jemma was more confused. Everything framed and stuck to the walls was just doodles on the back of a receipt of a gum wrapper. It wasn’t the kind of work that would normally be put up in a gallery.

“Do you like them?” a familiar voice called out behind her.

Jemma spun around and saw Daisy, dressed to the nines, slowly walking towards her.

“I…I guess. I’m just a little confused,” Jemma admitted. “And where is everyone? I thought you said everyone important would be here.”

“They are,” Daisy replied, her eyes fixed solely on Jemma. “Let me show you around.” This wouldn’t be the first time Daisy had to explain the intricacies of her art to Jemma. Just like Daisy took awhile to grasp microscopic biochemical processes, Jemma was not adept at interpreting art.

Daisy just smiled. “Don’t you recognize them?”

Jemma furrowed her brow. Why would she recognize doodles on gum wrappers? Daisy guided her back to the one by the door. It was a crumpled gum wrapped that had been laid flat with two poorly-drawn stick figure girls sitting in desks speaking. There was a tiny plaque under it with the title First Words.

It still wasn’t any clearer to Jemma, so Daisy took her hand and walked to the next one. This one was a lined piece of paper, clearly ripped out of a notebook, that had the same two girls at a long table, but one had some red scribble in her mouth and was titled Spaghetti Challenge. Jemma chuckled, since that one reminded her of the time in high school where Daisy had been dared to cram an entire spaghetti order into her mouth.

Daisy moved onto the next one and the pattern started to dawn on Jemma. The picture was on another gum wrapper and featured a small blue car and one of the girls leaving in it. The background was a wide road that faded into the distance where there was a big castle labelled College. The other girl had a small broken heart above her head. Daisy scratched her ear nervously and moved onto the next wall.

There was apparently quite a time skip here and the art style drastically improved. This one was drawn on a scrap of the same sturdy paper Daisy left lying around their apartment all the time for her class projects. It was a doodle of the two girls, which now that they had more fleshed out features, Jemma could tell were herself and Daisy, hugging in a café while another figure (presumably Bobbi) stole their food.

The next was a situation that Jemma recognized as one of their Friday movie nights in Daisy’s and Bobbi’s dorm, but she didn’t recognize the exact context. There seemed to be an astronaut sitting next to Jemma and Daisy was throwing tiny daggers at him. It was labelled Jealousy.

Jemma shot Daisy a curious look, but she just grinned and walked on.

The one that followed was obviously a focal point, with its multiple spotlights and larger frame. This one was also ripped out of a sketchbook, but it was a larger page and contained more detail. The simple, stick-figure style was the same but it had a light colored pencil gradient sketched into the sky above the two girls in a pool in an open field. Some flecks of white paint made up the stars accompanied by a single streak of white for a meteor. The plague underneath read Best Meteor Shower Ever. Jemma smirked at the memory.

The pattern continued. Sketches of Daisy and Jemma’s first date, second date, third date, that time Daisy made Jemma think she had gruesomely injured herself while making spaghetti, rendered in gory detail with vicious strokes of a red pen, the time Jemma made Daisy snort soda out of her nose with a particularly bad pun. Every landmark of their relationship scratched out in minimalist form on the backs of gum wrappers, receipts, take-out menus, etc. Basically, anything Daisy could get her hands on at the time.

Jemma circled the gallery in awe. Daisy had kept these scraps of memories for years, almost a decade in some cases, and documented everything.

Jemma circled back to the beginning of the display and noticed a solitary frame in the middle of the back wall. There were multiple spotlights aimed at this one lonely picture, as well as one pointed at the floor a few feet away. Jemma moved closer to the tiny scrap framed on the wall so she could see the detail.

It was on a gum wrapped that was pressed so flat, all the creases had been carefully ironed out. The two girls were again the main feature.

One was standing in the middle of an art gallery looking shocked.

The other was in front of her, down on one knee.

Jemma gasped and whirled around. She hadn’t noticed Daisy drop her hand or leave her side, but she slipped away while Jemma was entranced with reliving their memories.

Now, Daisy knelt in the middle of the strategically placed spotlight, with a small velvet box in her shaking hands. Daisy pulled a smirk, but Jemma could tell it was wavering and she was cripplingly nervous.

Daisy opened and closed her mouth a few times before frowning amusedly at herself. “You know, I had this whole romantic spiel planned out once I got to this point, but…I kinda just forgot the whole thing.” Her eyes sparkled with happy tears. “And you crying definitely isn’t helping.”

Jemma hadn’t even realized that she had tears rolling down her cheeks. She gave a watery laugh and stepped towards Daisy.

“You didn’t have to go through all this trouble, you know,” Jemma teased.

Daisy chuckled. “I know. But with all the crap we’ve been through, the one thing I’ve known the whole time, without a doubt…is that you and I belong together.”

That was it for Jemma. The tears flowed even more freely down her face as she threw her arms around Daisy’s neck. Daisy huffed a short laugh, but Jemma could tell from the dampness on her shoulder that Daisy was crying too.

“So, is that a yes?” Daisy muttered into Jemma’s neck.

Jemma laughed breathlessly. “Of course it’s a yes.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Wise men say, only fools rush in.

But I can’t help falling in love with you.

The minute the first chords of the song played, Daisy hoisted up the front of her dress and squeezed through the crowd toward Jemma. Jemma was sprawled out across two chairs at the 'in-laws’ table, her bare feet propped up on one and her discarded high heels tucked underneath it. Any other time, Daisy would have stopped just to watch her giggling into her glass of champagne with her family around her—now Daisy’s family as well, she realized with a jolt—but right now, she was on a mission.

“Can I steal you for a dance?” Daisy asked, extended a hand to Jemma. Jemma turned her flushed face towards Daisy and beamed. She set her glass down on the table and rose to meet Daisy with more grace than Daisy was expecting, given the amount of champagne Jemma had already consumed. Still, she took Daisy’s hand and strolled out to the center of the dance floor beside her.

Like a river flows surely to the sea

Darling, so it goes

Somethings are meant to be

Take my hand, and take my whole life, too

The standard hold for a partner dance was too distant for both Daisy and Jemma’s tastes, so they smushed the combined bulk of both of their white dresses together and held each other in a hug-like embrace while they swayed on the floor. All the practice they had done in Daisy’s cramped apartment the preceding weeks was unnecessary. It didn’t matter how they looked or how well they could waltz.

All that mattered was that Daisy now could hold Jemma, her wife, as tight as she wanted and nothing was going to take her away. As Daisy glanced out the windows of the banquet hall, over the bright city lights that glistened off every surface, Daisy started to understand why Jemma loved this sappy song.

So won’t you please

Take my hand, and take my whole life, too.

'Cause I can’t help falling in love

In love with you

'Cause I can’t help

Falling in love

With

You.

The End.

#strangegameprofessor #skimmons #bioquake #jemma simmons/daisy johnson #can't help falling in love #Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.#fluff #like super fluff

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