#usually the beef comes out less in sending paintings to one another and more showing one another up or putting your rival/enemy

[sleepinglionhearts]

have there ever been an equivalent of rap beefs in the art world? Like Michelangelo was sending diss paintings to someone?

I mean, like, beefing and disses have been a thing forever, so of course there have been!

I highly recommend looking into the rivalry between Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, who both already butted heads in the "established artist vs younger prodigy" way.

The peak of this absolute nonsense comes in the early 1500s when both men were commissioned in competition to paint separate scenes in the same council room and that goes about as well as you could expect. I'm not saying that there's proof of it or anything, but knowing what we know about each man and his preferences for artistic style and personal approach to life, I'm willing to bet that there were definitely rude notes and/or paintings going on in the peripherals of their constant one-upsmanship that happened on their primary canvases.

[queen-of-my-goofball-army]

"Let Me Patch You Up" A MatchaBlossom Kid Fic

Hi everyone! So this is one of my favorite newer things that I have gotten interested in. I love writing as most of you know and one of my newer favorite fandoms is Sk8 The Infinity! MatchaBlossom is one of my favorite ships in the last few months, they're such a good and unique ship. I got super into the show and eventually made my own fan-kids for the ship. I love making OCs and they make me really happy. So welcome to my newest fic, with Sakura and Haru. I have art of them as well if anybody wants to see what they look like! (By the way, they are twins, both are biologically female and Haru became trans. Kaoru and Kojiro had them through a surgate.)

“Sakura, get up. Your brother is gone, we don’t know where he is.” I jolted upright at the sound of my mom’s strict take no for an answer tone and the sudden brightness in my bedroom from him turning on the lights.

“Sorry flower, I tried to stop him I really did.” My dad quickly followed behind him and I rubbed the tiredness from my reddish brown eyes.

“Do you know where Haru went sweetheart?” He asked me sitting at the foot of my pastel bed taking one of my pillows and handing it to my mom so that he could have something to calm him down with.

“I have really no idea where he could have gone. He told me that he was practicing tonight but that he’d be back before curfew so I haven’t texted him. I’m sorry…” I apologized and my mom just sighed a little bit at me.

“No it is not your fault Sakura you shouldn’t have been left home alone today. He’s still transitioning so I’m even more paranoid about what could happen to him.” My dad put his strong arm around my mom’s shoulders and I watched the familiar tension sort of melt away at the love and affection.

“Do you know where he could have gone flower?” My dad tried his damndest to keep my mom calm and collected but even I could tell that he was just as stressed out as my mom was.

“I mean I thought that it was a joke…” I thought back to earlier that day when I had thought he had jokingly challenged Ichigo to a beef. Ichigo was one of the techies for the drama department that had been talking to me that I really liked who was a fellow skateboarder.

“What was a joke Sakura?” I sighed a little bit crossing my ankles together and playing with the ends of my long pink hair.

“I thought that it was a joke when he challenged Ichi to a beef for a date with me…” My mom took a deep inhale of breath and I could tell that he was visibly holding back the yell of rage.

“What?” His voice took on the deep and ominous tone that I had only heard a handful of times in my life when I had done something that was absolutely unseemly. It used to terrify me to my core when I was little kid and even now it still sent a shiver down my spine and made me fear for my own life.

“Hasn’t that boy asked you out on his own yet?” I shook my head a little bit plucking at the ends of my sheets sighing a little bit.

“No he hasn’t. I think that he’s waiting for me to ask him and make the first move. I was getting really close to doing it too. I really thought that there was no way they would actually agree to a beef. It just seemed ridiculous. Sometimes I wish I knew what in the world went through his head when he joked about it.” My dad put his arm around my shoulders bringing me closer to him and drawing a comforting circle there somehow calming both me and my mom down in one fell swoop.

“Well I think that if he doesn’t get murdered by your mother by the end of this then it’ll be worth it to go out on a date with that boy. I happen to like him. It reminds me a lot of how your mom and I were at your age.” My mom rolled his golden eyes with a small smile. I yawned a little bit rubbing the water from my eyes. I had only gotten to sleep a few hours ago having been doing homework for most of the night before.

“I know that you had just barely went to sleep Sakura. I’m really sorry but I had a mother panic attack when I went to go and make sure that Haru fell asleep.” I smiled softly at him since he had always been the doting parent it didn’t surprise me that he still regularly checked on my brother to make sure that he was getting enough sleep.

“It’s fine mom. I understand why you did come and get me instantly. I probably would have done the same thing in your case. Let me just try and text him or try and track his cell phone.” I went onto the find my family app clicking on my brother and it led me directly down the hall to his bedroom.

“Oh my god that stupid, idiotic, dumbass, moronic, he forgot his phone!” I ranted and my mom sighed muttering a string of curses underneath his breath.

“Of course he did, he’s the son of an idiotic gorilla. I am not at all surprised that he left his phone at home. Then again if he did go to a beef it was actually a smart decision for a kid who worships his phone it could have gotten broken. He should be lucky he forgot his phone. It’ll take longer for me to find and lecture him.” I laughed a little bit at his nearly stunned stupidity. I wasn’t at all surprised that my brother would leave the house without his phone. He was the forgetful type, one of the few things that he hadn’t picked up from mom was his sharp analysis and he usually followed our dad’s himbo logic of just GO.

“I’m going to try Ai and see if he has seen him at all…” I turned on my own phone sending out a rapid text to my brother’s best friend. He was basically our cousin as the son of Reki and Langa so we had grown up together. If anybody were to be at a beef that my brother was skating at it was Ai.

Me: AI, is my brother wherever you are?! My mom woke me up, he’s not at home and I have no idea what is going on. I thought that he was joking about the beef earlier with Ichi! My phone instantly pinged with a text from Ai of my brother doing a rail slide with Ichigo right behind him.

“Oh he is so dead when I get my hands on him…” My mom threatened and I already saw the marks of injuries.

“Idiot, he hasn’t practiced enough professionally recently, not since he started doing basketball.” I muttered and my dad leaned into my space to see what Ai had said.

“He bailed pretty early on and got some bad scrapes but he’s been giving Ichigo a run for his money. The beef is that if Ichigo wins he has to finally ask you on a date and if Haru wins then Ichigo has to give up on you. That’ll be bad if he loses. That’s not a fair bet too you can’t bet things like that. It’s usually for little things, the date thing is fine but he has no right to tell Ichigo that he has to give up on you.” I scowled feeling the burning rage inside of me building into an inferno.

“Mom if you don’t kill him can I and turn him into a dessert?” My dad laughed a little bit at me putting his arm around my shoulders.

“Sorry my loves neither of you can kill Haru. Both of you are going to have to just lecture him and Kaoru you can ground him.” My mom sighed before resigning himself to his fate that if he couldn’t kill his son he could at the very least ground him until the end of time.

“Sakura, I hope that you know that this is not your fault. You did not know that your brother would go for the beef and thus his injuries are not yours to blame.” My mom reminded me and I sighed heavily going back to that picture and feeling my eyes well up with tears.

“But I should have done something, I could have stopped them if I didn’t know that they were being totally serious…” My dad lightly shushed me bringing me into a tight and warm hug. My dad always gave the best hugs in the entire world, they were warm and everything good. I felt my mom being pulled into the hug as well and felt the small smile on his face rub against my hairline.

“Whelp, we might as well go and rescue our kid. Grab your boards people!!” My dad encouraged me and I went to go and grab the longboard that Reki had made specifically for me when I was eight so that I could learn to skate.

“The first person to find where he is on the course will get to pick the movie tomorrow.” My mom told me and I was already internally plotting how to get them to watch another Disney movie.

“That is so not fair Cherry you already know that she is going to do everything that she can to beat us in finding her brother so she can pick some kiddie movie.” I heard the whine of my dad and my mom just smirked a little bit.

“That’s why I made that bargain so that she would consider it an incentive to find her brother. Which one are you thinking about princess?” I hummed in thought spinning my wheels on my board in my hands, looking at the beautiful enchanted rose that Reki had carefully painted on the bottom of it.

“Well gee I fucking wonder what she’s going to pick.” I heard the soft oof that meant mom had once against elbowed him too hard in the ribs.

“Watch your language you worthless gorilla. I am trying to raise our daughter to not be a potty mouth.” I heard the muttered this coming from the cursing king.

“He has a good point mom, I think I heard words I’m not even familiar with when you stubbed your toe last week on the dinner table when you got up too fast.” I taunted lightly and he ran a hand through his long but slowly graying pink hair.

“You got me there Sakura, alright to the car.” He put his arm around my shoulders and I snuggled a little bit farther into his arms. I held back the yawn that was threatening to erupt from my mouth.

“You can just stay in the car sweetie in case that you fall asleep on your board.” I shook my head with a small smile on my face. I had not skated for fun in a few weeks and I had missed the feeling of the wind in my hair as I went zooming by on my board.

“Not going to happen dad, I’ve got my eyes on the prize. That being another shot at torturing you and Haru. I’m thinking maybe Beauty And The Beast.” I heard the groan that I knew was coming but saw my dad’s loving smile on his face.

“I would expect nothing less from my little girl. Are you sure that you want to go in your pajamas though?” He snarked lightly and I blushed a bright pink hearing the lecturing Kojiro followed by my dad’s argument, somebody had to tell her. I grabbed my sunset graphic tee and a pair of black skinny jeans tying a pair of converse around my feet. I grabbed my bright pink hoodie and carefully zipped it pulling my hair into a loose bun on the bottom of my head.

“That’s better sweetheart, now I can’t lose you with that hoodie on either.” I lightly stuck my tongue out at my dad and went down the stairs to the restaurant seeing the scary lack of people on the streets.

“It’s kinda creepy out there at night…” My thoughts drifted and my mom put an arm around my shoulders comfortingly.

“This will be a quick grab your idiot brother and get out situation most likely. Then we patch him up, keep from school tomorrow, and yell at him once I get done with this big project.” I laughed a little bit at my mom and his thoughts on the matter.

“Here kiddo, I got these too just incase it’s loud where we go.” My dad handed me my over the ear headphones that I had to use sometimes when I went on school trips.

“Thanks dad… I swear Haru better appreciate this. I am dragging him back to the car by his freaking ear if I catch him first.” I threatened and they knew that I meant business too. My mom just lightly kissed my forehead pushing the hair out of my eyes.

“There’s my beautiful girl.” I preened a little bit at the praise but looked out the window at the pitch blackness of night.

“Ai texted again, he sent me the coordinates to where the beef is being held.” I plugged the information into my phone and handed it off to my dad who was whirling his car keys around.

“Don’t drop them gorilla.” My mom taunted lightly and I couldn’t help but smile at their familiar bickering. That was their love language and it was something so uniquely them even if it did sometimes cause me to get dragged into the harder debates.

“I might be stupid but I’m not that stupid.” I smiled softly shaking my head at the two of them tapping my shoes on the ground.

“Doesn’t your brother have a crush on your costar for Hairspray?” I nodded my head with a small sigh rolling my eyes.

“Yes he does so he doesn’t have a leg to stand on right now. I wish that I could tell you what he was thinking but I don’t know. Usually he’s a pretty easy person for me to read and get a handle on but not today.” My dad just lightly ruffled up my hair and I pouted at him. I clutched my longboard to my chest and felt the cold of the outside go through my bones. Haru had better be grateful by the time that all of this is over he’s going to owe me big time.

“You two are growing up, your not little kids anymore where you would be able to finish each others sentences. Part of me misses that as a parent since I never got to be around during the day very often to see that.” I squeezed my mom’s hand since I knew that he had a lot of regrets about how often he worked. I never really minded that much, it just made the moments when he could be around all the more special.

“Mom I know that you feel like this is your fault too. It’s not anybody’s fault. I feel like that Haru would have done this anyways. He’s always trying to prove himself to anybody. He probably challenged Ichigo to a beef to try and prove that he could protect me or something along those lines.” I sighed a little bit buckling my seatbelt and my mom sat in the back of the car with me.

“I want to be next to my little girl right now Kojiro.” He told my dad and I saw the small pout but knew that my dad wouldn’t fight him on this.

“I guess I’ll just have to sit up here all by my lonesome then.” My mom muttered just drive you stupid primate and I couldn’t help but chuckle a little bit at the two of them.

“I’ve missed you lately anyways mom, it seems that you’ve been more busy than normal.” He sighed a little bit nodding his head.

“More and more orders have been coming in, I envy your brother for wanting to work on tattoos instead of going my route. Have you ever thought about getting ink done?” I nodded my head with a small smile on my face.

“I already told him that once he gets his own shop together that I would be his first customer. I’ll always support him no matter what he wants to do. It’s what siblings do even though sometimes we fight about trivial things.” I shrugged my shoulders and my mom chuckled softly at me as I leaned my head against his side tiredly.

“Did you have a lot of homework?” I nodded my head through my yawn. That was always my problem was that I had too much homework and it took me forever if I wanted to get things done the right way. It left me with minimal free time with my brother or just to myself at all.

“I’ll talk to your principal tomorrow this is getting ridiculous Sakura. You can’t be pulling these all nights. Your still just 15 and this is not what you should be doing as a young teenager. You should be out having fun with your friends, spending time with your brother, working with the drama club instead of worrying about the test tomorrow.” My mom tied his hair up into a tighter ponytail so that it wouldn’t get in his face once he was on his board.

“Mom you don’t have to call anybody it’s fine really. Everybody else has to do the same amount of work. It’s my fault for being so slow at getting things done. Haru doesn’t need to stay up this late in order to get his work done. I’m just stupid…” He squeezed my hand lightly running his thumb along the knuckle of my hands.

“You are not stupid Sakura. You are extremely smart it just takes time for you to learn how to do things the right way and that is not your fault that the teachers aren’t doing their job properly. Don’t think that I haven’t heard the videos that you watch in your room that explain the concepts to you.” I blushed a bright pink now feeling even more stupid than I did a few minutes ago.

“Needing help in school, it’s not a bad thing flower. You don’t have to be perfect at every little thing in fact I prefer you when you aren’t. You’re my little girl and you can bake me out of my own restaurant. So what if it takes you longer to do homework than everybody else? That doesn’t make you dumb or anything, it just means that you put in more effort instead of just wiping it out for the sake of doing something else.” My dad reasoned as he pulled out of the restaurant’s driveway. All the lights in the homes being off and people’s establishments being closed in this neighborhood that usually was lit up felt almost unnatural to me.

“I am calling the school because this can’t go on any longer. It’s bad enough that you have to do late rehearsals but staying up until three in the morning to do homework right it’s ridiculous. You’re just a kid you shouldn’t have bags underneath your eyes.” Something about my mom’s tone told me that I had already lost this argument.

“Okay mom just go easy on them. I don’t need my teachers suddenly getting more on my case because I have a demanding parent.” I tried to joke but his gold eyes told me that I had just talked myself into an even deeper hole than I had originally started off with.

“Do they give you extra work because of us?” I sputtered because the notion of that just seemed so utterly ridiculous.

“Mom no they aren’t homophobic everybody is really nice at my high school. I mean they accept Haru just fine so everybody is great just trust me. I love my friends and my drama club mates there. It’s just that I have a lot of homework that has nothing to do with either of you. My teachers warned me that they would give out several hours of homework per class when I started high school.” I reminded him and my mom just sighed running a hand through his fringe.

“It just doesn’t seem right that your brother gets done with his homework in no time at all while you seem to take all day and night. I haven’t seen much of you lately because of all the homework that your getting. I like seeing my little girl’s smiling face when I come home and not seeing her buried in homework.” I sighed a little bit. Now I felt guilty for always having to do my schoolwork and pushing out family time. I hadn’t meant to withdraw since it wasn’t my choice in general. I wished that I didn’t have so much homework so that I could spend more time with my parents.

“If you’re trying to get your mom to back down trust me it won’t work sweetheart. He never backs down from anything believe me I know. I haven’t been able to get him off my ass since we were seven years old.” My mom kicked my dad’s backseat muttering insatiable gorilla under his breath that caused me to laugh at the two of them.

“I know I give up, you can call the school. You’ll probably need to for Haru anyways. He’ll be out for a little while if the injuries in the picture that Ai sent me are anything to go by. He’s going to hate not being able to play basketball. Of course, it’s his own fault for being such an idiot.” My dad just laughed at the two of us interacting off each other.

“He’ll be lucky to be a benchwarmer for the rest of the season if I have anything to say about it. Consider it his ultimate punishment. I won’t ground him for too long but I still want him to learn his lesson about how his actions have consequences.” I could see the look of cold dead seriousness in his eyes and I knew that my mom meant business. There was no way in anything that Haruki was getting out of this scot-free.

“Am I in trouble too? If I had just asked Ichi out in the first place then we wouldn’t be here…” He stopped his tirade making a gentle shushing sound putting his arm around my shoulders.

“Never, this is not your fault Sakura okay? You didn’t want to ruin your friendship that you have with that boy and this is not your fault for being scared. I remember I was terrified to my core about asking your dad out on our first date.” My dad smiled at me through his mirror at the front of the car. I hugged my mom tightly and he just thumbed at my cheeks.

“It was not your fault. This would have happened at some point anyways because your brother is competitive. He gets it from your dad.” My dad laughed brightly and I felt a big hand ruffle my hair lightly.

“Hands on the wheel you stupid primate, you do not want to get on my bad side right now.” My mom threatened and I laughed a little bit at how fast my dad pulled his hand away from my hair. I sighed at the messed up hair that he had given me as I retied it this time slightly tighter than the last so it wouldn’t come undone as easily.

“Sorry Kao just trying to give her some affection. I don’t blame you either flower you’re just doing your best Saki and quite frankly I’m proud of you for getting such good grades even if it’s been taking a lot of your free time away from the things that are really important. Your mom just wants to spend more time with you and I don’t blame him. You’ve been working crazy hard and we’ve all missed you.” I sighed a little bit. In trying to not let everybody down I had done just the opposite and let them down in a different way.

“I’m sorry that I haven’t been as attentive as I could be. I learned my lesson though and I know better for next time. Hard work is important but so is spending time with the people that you love more than anything.” My mom put his arm comfortingly around my shoulders pulling me closer into his side while avoiding me getting pulled out of my seatbelt.

“It’s a lesson that I am still struggling to learn and I’m an adult. You get your lack of knowing when to actually quit working from me as well as your stubbornness.” I heard my dad mutter at least he finally admits it as my mom once again kicked his backseat.

“I don’t believe that I asked the opinions of an oafish meathead. I’m trying to be sincere.” I laughed at the two of them mentally logging oafish meathead for my next argument with Haru.

“I know you were mom and thank you for that. I needed to hear that. I’m going to stop working so hard, besides it seems like the harder I work the more tired I am to actually focus during classes. I could probably start doing a little bit of the work at lunch…” My mom shook his head at my getting out his phone.

“Carla, leave a note for me.” He told his AI and I looked at the machine as I always did in sheer awe. Haru was always better at science then me so this kind of thing always amazed me.

“What note would you like for me leave master?” I saw my dad lightly mutter he could have just told me and I just mimed a lip zip. I didn’t want to get him even angrier because the angrier my mom got the more likely one or both of us would get caught in the crossfire.

“Don’t make me hurt you up there you primate. I want you to remind me once Sakura’s rehearsal starts tomorrow to call her school and lecture her principal. I also want to see if I can organize a meeting with her teachers.” I felt my eyes well up with tears at the fact that he really was serious about taking this all the way to the top.

“Done master, it is in your calendar. Do you need anything else for me at this time?” My mom sighed resting his cheek against my head.

“Can you also see if there is an opening with Haru’s doctor tomorrow?” I saw the buffering signals and saw three options appear in front of my mom.

“There are three openings for Dr. Fujiwara tomorrow, would you like for me to pick the earliest one master?” My mom hummed in thought before picking the second option and a checkmark appeared in front of him.

“The first one was too early wasn’t it beautiful? It’s already late, should we just call both of our kids in sick tomorrow? I can have my help run the restaurant tomorrow if you want me to go with you to the doctor.” My heart warmed at the typical sweetness that my dad exuded. Even though they fought and bickered more often than not there was always these sweet soft moments that reminded me they loved each other more than anything.

“If you can do that I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you. I love you.” I saw the smile that my dad had and it outshined even the sun on it’s brightest days.

“Love you too baby. How are you hanging in there flower? You doing okay? You can sleep in tomorrow. I’ll make pancakes.” He promised and I cheered lightly for my dad’s breakfasts. It was rare that we had breakfast as a family on the weekends. Dinner time was designated family time when we all had to hang out together even I had been avoiding that for the last little while.

“I’m alright dad, thanks for checking in. I’m a little bit more tired then I would like but I’ll probably have an adrenaline rush once I get to skating and then be up all morning.” My mom sighed a little bit looking out the window.

“I’d like for you to get some sleep as soon as we get your brother in the car. I would also like for you take it easy if you stay home from school tomorrow like I want for you to. No doing anything strenuous. You never take downtime for yourself.” My mom mentioned to me and I nodded my head. I knew that I would have to follow his orders because once he got like this his word was law and needed to be followed.

“I agree with your mom flower. I won’t be there all day to make sure that your not doing anything too crazy so I’m just going to have to trust you. Can you take one day and just do nothing? Please? For me?” I nodded my head resigning myself to my fate. My fate of sitting on the couch and watching cartoons with my brother tomorrow. It didn’t sound like too bad of a day. Plus, tomorrow was Friday so getting a three day weekend was just what the doctor ordered.

“But then can I go out with Ichi this weekend?” My mom playfully hummed in thought and I heard the screech of the car as my dad came to a stop too fast.

“Kojiro.” The low hiss of his voice just screamed that bad things were to come if he did that again. I partially blamed myself for the bad driving.

“Sorry dad! It was a legitimate question, I didn’t know that you were going to go and do that.” I waved my hand and my mom sighed a little bit getting back to his original position.

“I don’t see why not Sakura, you will not interrogate the poor boy Koji. He probably has to go through enough with Haru at school constantly telling him that our daughter deserves better.” I sighed not forgetting about that. I would have to sit my brother down and have a nice long talk with him.

“Flower, I know that you’re growing up. I did everything that I could to stop you from getting a boyfriend but I guess I didn’t try hard enough at scaring them all off. Either that or Ichigo is just super persistent. I think it’s both because from what I’ve seen of him he worships the ground you walk on anyway. I won’t interrogate the kid just yet, I’ll wait until he’s your official boyfriend.” My dad waited for the light to turn green again and I felt my eyes well up with tears. It was far too early to have nearly cried this many times and I tried to suck back the tears.

“She’s growing up Koji, we always knew that we’d have to let her date at some point and I think you’ve pushed it out long enough. I remember when you used to chase the neighborhood boys out of the restaurant for just wanting to spend time with her.” I laughed a little bit at the memory of my dad chasing after six year olds with ladles yelling at them to not ever come back.

“Hey I’ll have you know that all of those kids were punks and they didn’t deserve my angel of a daughter hanging out with them.” I tentatively raised my hand from the backseat wanting to interject into this conversation.

“Umm dad, one time you did that with Ai and another time with Klaus…” I reminded him not wanting to turn this into a heated debate. My mom just laughed at the memory.

“I still remember the look on their faces! It was so funny, they have been terrified of coming into the restaurant ever since then.” My dad rolled his eyes at his husband’s over dramatic nature but even I knew that he was making a good point. My dad had the tendency to take the term overprotective and make it into a whole new thing.

“Okay maybe I have gone a little bit overkill in the past. I think that you should at least go on one date with the boy and see if he’s everything that you’ve been building towards in your head.” I smiled softly at the encouragement from both of my parents. I could always count on them to bring their own unique personalities that so often clashed with each other to each problem that I had.

“I have a feeling that boy would treat you right otherwise I wouldn’t be encouraging this at all. I spent a long time looking at the two of you together whenever he would come home from school with you. I know that he makes you really truly happy and that’s all I’ve wanted for either of my kids.” My mom gently kissed my forehead and I found myself in this warm bubble of happiness.

“So the beef looks like it’s on the other side of town, near the caves.” My dad mentioned as he began to head in that direction and I yawned a little bit too obviously.

“Do you want to get some sleep Sakura?” I shook my head animatedly. If I fell asleep I would miss this time that I spent with both of my parents together and those were rare occurrences.

“How are rehearsals going flower? Your mom and I are really excited for the show that you put on!!” I smiled softly at my dad. Both of my parents had been encouraging of my hobbies to the point where they had started going to every show, even the awful ones back in elementary school when I was bit by the theater bug.

“The rehearsals are going really well! Everything is starting to come together, I was fitted for my final costume for Penny today so I’m really excited to start performing. I’m kind of glad that I didn’t get Tracy since that would be even more work for me, plus I don’t really have her physique.” I smiled at the idea of my friend Kanade who was going to absolutely own the role once our shows actually started. At first when I got the role I had been a little bit angry that I got such a simple character but I had grown to love Penny.

“I’m just glad that you are happy with how everything turned out. I know that you were frustrated with your casted role but I’m proud of you for making something unique out of it.” My mom reminded me of how hard he knew I was working to get everything perfect for opening night.

“Our flower working so hard to make the best product possible. It’s when she’s rehearsing that she reminds me the most of you Ru. She’s always so into her roles and it reminds me of watching you do calligraphy.” I saw my mom blush a light pink before I heard one of my favorite sounds, his laugh, come from him.

“Alright you idiot I forgive you for that earlier screeching stop. You don’t have to woo me with false flattery.” I heard my dad protest to the fact that it was entirely true as I slipped my headphones around my neck.

“He’s right mom he was being entirely genuine right there as sickeningly sweet as it was. Props to you though dad that was really cute. Is that true?” I rarely ever acted like my mom. Most of the time I was a carbon copy of my dad’s passions and his general personality and Haru acted like mom.

“It is true, trust me I’ve watched Ru do his work for years and you look the exact same whenever you get really into a character.” I smiled softly at my mom waiting for his approval as well. He just smiled at me nuzzling his nose against mine.

“I never thought that I actually looked like that but people other than the oaf like gorilla have told me that I do get a certain sparkle in my eye when I’m working. I mostly see it in you when you’re performing or when your brother shoots a three point basket during a game.” He talked about how he thought that I looked and I smiled softly through my laugh.

“I’ve definitely seen the look on Haru’s face before! I love when he gets happy like that. It’s something that I usually see when he makes a hard basket or a dunk. I really hope one day he decides that he wants to go pro with it but I don’t know if that will happen.” I sighed a little bit. I knew that was secretly Haru’s dream, more than opening his own tattoo parlor but that being trans would be a major problem for him.

“I think that if anybody will find a way to do the impossible it would be our Haru. The first trans national basketball player has a nice ring to it.” My dad smiled a little bit and I could tell that he would do whatever it took to support him in his endeavors.

“Haru will find a way to achieve whatever dreams he so desires. It is not our place to tell him what he should or should not do oaf. I would support my son no matter what he wanted to do.” My mom blew his hair out of his face and I could tell in his golden eyes that he loved both of us equally no matter how often his work forced him to be away from us.

“We’ll have a family day tomorrow flower, it’ll be fun!! You deserve it you’ve been working really hard. I’ll let you make all the snacks.” My dad promised and I felt my eyes light up at the idea of cooking. I had resigned myself to being the future owner of my dad’s restaurant once he decided to retire and it was something that I was actually really looking forward to. I loved cooking about as much as I loved musical theater.

“I’ll make the freshly made popcorn, that’s how you’ve got to do it. I’ll also make the hot chocolate recipe for Haru. Something tells me the poor thing is going to need it.” I sighed a little bit wondering what in the world my idiot brother had been thinking.

“From now on I want you to keep an extra eye on your brother whenever you can. When you can’t send Ai to look out for him. Just in case. I know I’m probably just being overly protective and you can tell me if I am Koji.” My dad smiled softly at his husband squeezing his hand lightly with a small smile on his face.

“I wouldn’t consider that overprotective baby you care about your kids and the way that our son is acting right now I’d say that somebody needs to look out for him.” My dad tried to joke but I just smiled softly at him gazing out the window at the world around us.

“I’ll try my best but I won’t promise that he’ll actually listen to me.” I joked humming under my breath as I saw the entrance to the beef or what looked like it.

“Your both stubborn but I’m proud of you sweetheart. Just go out there and find him. Please.” I gave my mom a thumbs up and grabbed my board.

“We’ll be right behind you flower!!” My dad told me and I looked around the audience seeing Ai. I quickly walked over to him.

“How far ahead is he?” I asked my old friend and he just sighed a little bit showing me another picture with even more injuries.

“It’s obvious that he hasn’t been skating professionally very often. He’s a long ways ahead by now, the way that he’s going he might actually beat Ichigo if you don’t get to him first. This is his exact location.” He told me showing me on the map and I nodded my head virtually filing that information away as I set up my longboard. I plugged in my headphones to my phone and went speeding down the hill hoping that I would find my brother. I went around the corner with practiced ease. I really hoped that my brother wouldn’t be too banged up by the time that I got to him. It had been so long that I skated for something that was fun. Usually it was just a mode of transportation to get me to and from school when my parents were too busy to drive me. As I rounded another corner and went up a ramp I found myself going up it and doing a familiar rail slide. I looked ahead of me seeing that I still had a long way to go. I saw a familiar head of black hair that told me Ichigo wasn’t too far ahead of me.

“Hey Ichi!” I called out to him and watched his sea green eyes turn around worriedly as if trying to placate me and tell me that this wasn’t what it looked like.

“It wasn’t my idea I swear, he challenged me after school. He told me that I needed to prove that I was worthy of your heart and if I didn’t do it then I was a coward.” I sighed pinching the bridge of my nose tightly.

“Can you direct me in the general direction of my local idiot?” He laughed at me directing his board just ever so slightly in front of me.

“Will you go out on a date with me on Saturday?” I blurted not able to keep these feelings to myself anymore and heard the shocked laugh from my friend.

“Only if I get to plan the next one kay? I can’t believe that you actually beat me to the punch. I guess it took us long enough. I’m sorry that I made you wait so long that apparently your own brother had to challenge me to a beef in order to get this far ahead.” I rolled my eyes at the mention of my moronic younger brother.

“I wouldn’t pay much attention to him. He sometimes says things without thinking. Not that he has many brain cells to begin with.” I heard Ichigo’s laugh as he led me down the pathway and I turned my longboard around the corner.

“I’m catching up to you flower!!” I cursed under my breath at the sound of my dad’s voice since he was only a few feet behind me.

“Is that your dad?” Ichigo asked me whipping his head around clearly terrified. Not that I could blame him, my dad basically put the fear of God into all of my male friends which most of them were.

“My mom is here too, he’s the one who woke me up a while back. I am so tired but I just want to make sure that my brother is okay. I might bicker and insult him a lot but I can’t help it. It’s the environment that we grew up in. My parents lovingly bicker almost 24/7 so I guess that just passed onto me and Haru.” My friend just smiled softly as I talked about my parents. Ichigo rounded the corner doing a flip on his board and I saw the bright laugh that left him. I couldn’t help but think that he was the most attractive and amazing person that I had ever seen. He was constantly surprising me with what he could do on his board since I couldn’t do a whole lot of tricks on my longboard other than a rail slide.

“Haru!” I yelled out to my brother seeing a familiar mop of green curly hair that was sticking out awkwardly outside of his helmet.

“Sakura, what are you doing here?!” He asked me exasperatedly and I jerked a thumb back at our parents who were lovingly bickering.

“Mom woke me up because he went into your bedroom and saw that you were gone. He promptly freaked out and woke me up panicking because he thought that you were kidnapped or something. You know how he gets. So anyways, he woke me up and now I’m here to talk some sense into your stupid head.” I caught up to him gasping at the wounds that he had that were staring me in the face. I would have to patch him up once we got back home. After mom had finished yelling at him for being reckless.

“Come on moron, let’s go home. I already asked Ichigo out on a date this weekend anyways so you challenging him to a beef was virtually pointless.” I told him stopping his board and grabbing his arms to stop him from falling.

“Why can’t I ever just do one thing for myself? It seems that you get all the free will and I’m left with jackshit. I always get busted.” He kicked a rock sitting down on his board. I looked at my brother with wide eyes.

“Is that really what you think babe? Because that’s not true, I have just as much freewill as you do. Which is to say not a lot with mom around and dad scaring off every guy that’s ever come into contact with me. I just dealt with it because that’s the hand that was given to me. I love mom and dad more than anything in the entire world even if their bickering is exhausting. They love us too otherwise they wouldn’t have worried about you so much. I get busted sometimes too incase you’ve forgotten.” I kicked his foot lightly with mine putting my arm carefully around his shoulders.

“Let’s just go home yeah? We can talk about what you were thinking tomorrow after I patch you up and you go the doctor for any mandatory stitches.” I told him and he rested his cheek against my shoulder. Even though it was bloody and getting blood on my hoodie I couldn’t care less. My brother was physically okay and to me that was everything that really mattered. Even if he got on my nerves more often then not he was still my younger brother.

“I’m sorry that you had to be woken up for my stupid ass shit…” He told me and I couldn’t help but laugh at him.

“Let me go out with Ichigo and we’ll call it even okay? Not that you could ever physically stop me from doing something that I wanted to do. I don’t need your permission to do anything. I’m not happy that you made that decision for me ass.” I yanked on his piercing that was in his ear harshly and he winced in pain. I could see the remorse in his usually bright and sparkling yellow eyes.

“I was just trying to do something right by you for once. I thought that it would make you happy. We fight so much that I just wanted to see you smile…” I lightly nudged my brother’s side with a small sad smile on my face.

“I fight with you because I worry about you and the life decisions that you make sometimes. It’s hard for me to see your side of things and I promise that I’m not that mad at you.” I reminded him that I could always be more angry with him and I had been in the past over things that were way stupider than this.

“I know I owe you big time for this one. I really messed this up and mom is probably so pissed at me right now.” I laughed a little bit at my brother’s thoughts because yeah, that was the understatement of the century.

“You’ve got that right Haru. I am very angry with you for sneaking out.” I could hear the cold tone of my mom’s voice and I just patted Haru’s back in good luck. I did not want to be around when this ice storm started. I grabbed my board and my dad just put his arm around my shoulders.

“I’m proud of you kiddo. You didn’t get mad at your brother when you easily could have. That alone means that your growing and I’m proud of you for that flower.” He encouraged me and I smiled softly at my dad.

“I asked Ichigo out for a date on Saturday. He said yes but that he gets to ask me out on the next one.” I couldn’t help the happy skip in my step at the idea that I had something to look forward to this weekend.

“I’m glad sweetheart, not that he would’ve ever said no. I’ve seen the way that boy has always looked at you.” I blushed a light pink at the idea with a small laugh of not being able to hide anything from my dad. Ichigo had been one of those people that I had grown up with since a young age because our parents knew one another despite the fact that Miya was so much younger. It had taken him a while apparently to settle down with somebody and have Ichigo.

“He’s the only guy that you haven’t managed to have running for the hills so far dad. I hope that for your sake it stays that way because I don’t think I’m ever going to find another guy quite like him. I know that I’m young and everything but he’s special to me.” My dad just softly nuzzled his cheek against mine wincing when he felt the wet squish of blood.

“Sorry! That’s Haru’s he was leaning against that side, I have to patch him up when we get back home.” I slipped my headphones around my neck and my dad just sighed a little bit. “

This has been quite the eventful evening and not at all was expecting when I eventually went to bed this morning.” I laughed at my dad totally understanding where he was coming from. I bounced on the heels of my shoes with a small smile on my face.

“I’m just glad that Haru is okay. I know that mom probably has the lecture of the century planned out for him but in reality just the fact that he isn’t gravely injured is enough for me.” I reminded him looking back at my brother who looked absolutely terrified of our mom.

“He could have been hurt a lot worse if we hadn’t gotten here so quickly. They were barely even halfway down the course. How did Ichigo look?” I blushed a bright pink remembering the moves that he could do on his skateboard.

“He wasn’t injured at all. Then again, he still boards professionally for the most part. He only took the techie job so that he could look after me. For some reason he took that job upon himself.” I looked at my dad with a raised eyebrow.

“Well gee, I wonder who put that idea into his head. It certainly wasn’t me I can tell you that right now.” My dad was never the type that could lie or look conspicuous easily. My mom always lightly teased him that he couldn’t lie to save his own ass.

“You look stupid dad, I know it was you so you don’t need to cover it up like that. Why did you say something like that to him?” My dad sighed a little bit keeping his arm around my shoulders supportively. For as much as he knew that I could handle myself sometimes I wondered if he didn’t trust me at all.

“I just want to make sure that your properly looked after. I’ve always liked Ichigo. Ever since you two were kids and he first came into your brother and yours lives. He makes you happy. That’s all I’ve ever wanted for you was to be able to be happy. Also to not have to pine for decades after one person because you were too stubborn. I knew that he was going to be different from the other boys that hung around you when you were younger. He was the persistent type. So I told him to look after you as much as he could. That’s why he became a tech crew member.” I looked over at Ichigo who was in his own little world with his headphones on. I could already tell what he was listening to just by his feet movements. For as much as he prided himself on being a badass skater boi he was deep down a huge nerd.

“I am happy dad, even if I didn’t have Ichi I would still be happy. I have a great family, an amazing brother, and I get to do musical theater for fun something that I’ve always wanted to do.” I shrugged it off and my dad just smiled softly at me.

“I know your happy flower but you’ve always been happier when your with that boy doing your own thing. Besides, without him you wouldn’t be nearly as confident as you are right now and I’m happy for that.” I laughed a little bit at my dad shaking my head. I knew that there was no way that I was going to win this argument and I was far too bone deep exhausted to carry on with it.

“Twenty thousand yen says that you can’t guess what he’s listening to.” He told me and I couldn’t help but laugh because this was the easiest bet that I would ever win.

“Lost In Paradise. He does the foot movements for the ending song all the time whenever he listens to it. I’d recognize it anywhere. Want me to go and fact check for you?” My dad laughed openly at me and let go of my shoulder.

“Go work your magic kiddo. I’ll handle your mom when he eventually catches up to me.” I smiled softly at my dad catching up with my best friend and lightly tapping him on the shoulder. I saw his startled jump and him clutch at his hoodie.

“Were you listening to Lost In Paradise?” I asked him and he just smiled a little bit sheepishly at me showing me his phone and that I was one hundred percent right.

“I was right dad!” I smirked a little bit when he sighed. Ichigo just laughed at the familiar bickering with my dad and me.

“You just know me way too well. Are you-umm are you sure that you want to go on a date with me?” He played with his index fingers and I nodded my head.

“My brother doesn’t make decisions for me. I do. I’ve liked you for a really, really long time. Probably about four years now Ichi. I was just too worried about ruining our friendship to say anything.” I took his hand with a small smile on my face.

“You could’ve just told me that you liked me. I knew that you were hiding something from me because you suck at lying it’s one of the few things that makes you like your dad. If you had just told me then we could have started dating in middle school. I’ve pretty much had a massive crush on you since I met you Sakura. I mean how could I not?” I blushed a bright pink cursing my stupid anxiety for getting me this far ahead.

“Well I’m just me there isn’t really anything that special about me. Unless you like your girls with a temper.” I tried to joke even though it sort of fell flat due to how tired I was right now. Ichigo just blinked at me.

“I don’t think that you have a temper it just means that you care about people. I don’t know many people that would get up at three in the morning after only getting two hours of sleep to rescue their younger brother with her parents. You love your family, it’s something that I’ve always known. Even though you pick fights with them it’s so clear that you care about who they are as people. You love your mom and your dad even though they exhaust you. I don’t think that anybody else could put up with all the bickering the way that you do.” I sighed a little bit with a small smile on my face picking up a rock on the ground and thumbing the edge of it.

“They do exhaust me but at the same time I wouldn’t want them any other way. They’re loud, crazy, bicker constantly, most of their nicknames are low key insults, but they’re my parents. They’ve done everything within their power to make sure that I’m okay at school and at home. Even if that meant that my dad scared off every guy other than you from his restaurant. And you only came back because you were persistent.” Ichigo just laughed a little bit at the memory of him being smaller and my dad towering over him.

“I thought that your dad was super admirable because of how often he was there for you. Everyone knows that mine was off and on not that I have any room to complain. He taught me everything that I know about skating and I still am trying to get on his level.” I smiled softly at my best friend walking up the slope next to him.

“You’ll get there one of these days. If anything, I get your feeling. The idea of taking over dad’s restaurant terrifies me. There are all sorts of what if’s that run through my head on a daily basis. Mainly the idea that I’ll let him down. That bugs me constantly.” I didn’t usually mention the amount of pressure that I felt dealing with the looming dread of inheriting one of the most popular restaurants in all of Okinawa.

“Your dad gave you the restaurant because he knows that you can handle it Sakura. It’s a lot of pressure but you don’t need to do everything by yourself. I doubt that he did too. He had your mom on his side even if it was with leering sarcasm a lot of the time.” I laughed a little bit wondering if he would do the same for me, even if this didn’t work out in the long run.

“I know I don’t but asking for help is easier said than done. I say that I can handle it myself but even he can’t do that and has people that help him out. I love cooking and baking. I always will even if it’s a lot of pressure for me to be perfect consistently.” Ichigo leaned against my side causing me to flush a bright pink. It was a miracle that he hadn’t figured out my feelings so much earlier than he actually did because he was a super tactical type.

“I’ll be there to support you, no matter what happens got that? You were my best friend first for our entire lives pretty much so even if dating doesn’t work I’ll always be in your corner. You will run yourself into the ground if you keep going like this though. Is your mom going to do something about all the extra homework that you get?” I gulped a little bit hearing the familiar footsteps coming up behind me. I knew that this wasn’t going to end well.

“Extra. Homework. Ichigo. Explanation. Now.” My mom said, his voice an ominous dark thing that had me cowering behind my best friend.

“Well they always give her extra homework because she isn’t the best in a lot of subjects. She manages to get straight B’s but to her that’s not good enough. So she begs them for extra homework to maintain her straight A track record.” Thanks Ichigo, you know what I take everything that I just said back. I hate you. You suck.

“Sakura, is this true?” I nodded my head faintly and the hug that I got I wasn’t really expecting. My mom had never been much for affection in public preferring to be doting in private.

“You do not need to be perfect all the time. I know that this is something that you’ve struggled with for longer than you would like to admit. This is not okay though. We will work on your self worth. You are worth so much more than you know my darling. It is not worth all this staying up all night just so that you can feel more accomplished. It’s exhausting you and that is not something that I will put up with willingly.” My mom reprimanded lightly and I sighed a little bit into the hug that I was receiving. Ichigo just smiled softly at me.

“There was that so hard? I told you to just talk about what you were going through but as usual you never listen to me.” Ichigo mocked slightly and I glared half heartedly at my best friend for throwing me underneath the metaphorical bus.

“I just wanted you to be proud of me mom. That’s all I’ve ever wanted. I know it probably sounds selfish but I thought that if I worked hard enough I would be smart like Haru…” My mom cradled my face in his hands resting his forehead against mine.

“Both your brother and you have different strengths and weaknesses. I have never known you to be the academic type, you’ve always been more practical. Your head is full of recipes rather than algebra, your dad was the same way when we were in school. It’s not about who gets the best grades at the end of the day. It’s about how hard you work. I know that you work hard and you do your best. That’s all I’ve ever wanted from you my darling. You didn’t need to beg for extra homework just to maintain the same grade point average that your brother does.” He comforted me lightly even though I could tell that what I had said bothered him.

“I will always be proud of you Sakura. You work hard. That alone amounts to how amazing you can be. You baked your first cake all by yourself for your dad’s birthday when you were five. That is not something that the average person can do. For that I will always be so proud of you. You and your brother are naturally different people, much like your dad and I. I wouldn’t trade you for anything in the world my darling. I know how hard you worked even before all this extra homework and I was always proud of you.” He doted on me putting his arm comfortingly around me in a tight hug. I clung to my mom trying to rein in my tears.

“It’s okay to cry Sakura, it’s perfectly natural. I’m sorry that you had to hear it from me Kaoru. I think that it was about time that you knew about the true meaning behind the extra homework.” Ichigo rubbed the back of his neck his dark hair sticking up at odd angels.

“Thank you for telling me Ichigo. It appears that both of my children have forgotten what it is like to be a member of this family.” I felt the sweat drip down my neck and pool at the base of my spine knowing that this conversation was far from over.

“I will proceed with this talk on Sunday. Be prepared for it.” He warned me and I nodded my head stoically grateful that he was giving me at least two days to myself.

“At least he’s letting you off easy right now? Before he would’ve demanded that you talk about it right now. I guess he was really worried about Haru?” I nodded my head with a small sigh. I actually felt a lot better getting that off my chest. I knew that my mom had been worried about me for a long time coming but actually admiring to the reasoning behind all the excess homework made my chest feel a whole lot lighter.

“Are you skipping school tomorrow?” I nodded my head rubbing at my eyes with a big yawn almost tripping.

“Here, lean against me Sakura.” Ichigo told me putting his arm around my shoulders to make sure that I wouldn’t trip and fall flat on my face.

“Sorry that you have to do this for me…” I apologized but my best friend just laughed a little bit at me resting his cheek against my pink hair.

“It’s no big deal really, you’ve had a really emotional night and I know that you haven’t had the easiest time right now. I’m glad that you feel better after talking to your mom and telling her the truth.” I smiled softly at the never ending love and support from my childhood friend.

“I’m actually not dreading the lecture coming because I know that I’ll feel better once I get it done. Though his angry voice just now did terrify me.” I laughed a little bit at my friend as I felt him shutter against me.

“Nothing is scarier than your dad’s interrogations if I’m being entirely honest. It used to scare the absolute crap out of me when I was little. The only reason that I kept coming back was because you were there and you made me happy. I got to teach you skateboarding and we got to have fun together.” I smiled softly since he was the one that got me my first longboard and taught me the basics. I just happened to pick it up super fast and finally had the ability to say that I could ride a skateboard. True, it was a longboard but I finally felt like I fit in amongst my family.

“We did have a lot of fun together as kids. I’m grateful that you were one of the few that stuck around Ichi. I know that he couldn’t have made it easy. He promised me that he wouldn’t interrogate you again unless you became my boyfriend.” I saw the colors flush across my best friend’s cheeks at the idea of him dating me. It was a pretty amazing thought, it wasn’t like he needed to work that hard to make me fall for him when I was already in love with him.

“Then I’ll just have to prepare a thick set of armer for when that happens. For I shall not let milady fight alone.” He joked. I laughed a little bit with a bright pink blush on my cheeks. When I was younger Haru, Ichigo, Ai, and Klaus had been my himbo knights of the round table and we had acted out different stories that we made up as we went along. Even as a young kid I still had the same best friends that I did now. They were the greatest things that had ever happened to me.

“I love you Ichi…” I told him tiredly and he flushed a bright pink with a small stumble but I could tell that he was still happy, ridiculously happy.

“I love you too, I’ll tell you so much that you’ll get sick of it.” He promised me and my heart melted at the sheer idea of having somebody that loved me. True, I had my parents but part of me felt that they were contractually obligated to love me. Ichigo loved me by choice.

“Me too. I can’t promise that my sharp tongue will be tamed or that I won’t bicker with you because it’s basically in my blood at this point. It’s how I show love thanks mom.” I mocked jokingly and my best friend? Boyfriend? Just laughed at at me all the same.

“I wouldn’t trade your sharp tongue for anything in the world. It’s just another thing that I loved about you from a young age. You were the only person that could shut down any jerks on the playground and I just followed you around like a lost puppy dog.” I smiled fondly at the memory. I missed those days when I felt like I could be queen of the playground and tell off bullies instead of being too scared to do it like I was now. As a kid, I didn’t fear anything. I just said whatever was on my mind no matter how rude or unseemly it was.

“I’ll cover you for you in theater tomorrow. God knows that you need a break. I don’t want you doing anything strenuous tomorrow. Not if you can help it.” He advised me and my heart warmed at the idea that he was trying to protect me.

“Don’t worry, my whole family is taking a vacation day and we’re all relaxing. Nobody is doing a damn thing other than taking Haru to the doctor. To which I’ll probably still be asleep. I have a lot of sleep that I want to catch up on.” Ichigo leaned his head against mine with a small loving smile on his face. I couldn’t help but smile along with him, it was such an adorable boyish smile.

“It’s been a while since you’ve had a family day. Seems like it to me anyways, I used to hate them when I was younger because I would be super bored. Hanging out with Ai and Klaus without you just wasn’t the same.” I smiled softly poking his pink cheek with a small laugh. I couldn’t help but do all the things that I had always wanted to do flustered Ichigo. A big part of it was sleep deprivation I needed to get more sleep at night.

“Aww Ichi, I didn’t know that you cared about younger me so much.” I teased lightly and he just rolled his sea green eyes at me.

“You totally knew you can’t lie to me Sakura. You had to have known that I was smitten with you all these years. My dad pretty much never let it go telling me how gross it was thinking about how basically his parents would one day be his future in-laws.” I blushed hotly at the idea of my uncle being the way that he was. Some things would never change and Miya was the youngest out of all the group that came before us. He retained a lot of that childish love of pranks and messing with other people.

“I know that I’m a rotten liar. It’s amazing that I was able to lie to my mom for this long about the extra homework. I’ll just be grateful when I don’t have to beg for it anymore.” I sighed heavily the idea of all that work finally going away not fully sunken in yet.

“I don’t think that your rotten at it really. It’s just that your too pure to be lying to people like that. You were always way more open than most of the other people that we hung around with growing up. I miss that.” I smiled softly at my best friend seeing my family’s car in front of me thankfully done with that walk back up the hill.

“Hey Sakura!” I heard Ai call to me from his spot where he was seated on the ground next to the television screen that was hooked up.

“I see that you found your wayward brother, your mom did not look happy when he got here. Did something happen on his way back up the hill?” I sighed a little bit running my hand through my fringe at the ends of my pink hair.

“He might have found out the reasoning behind all the extra homework and needless to say I am not his favorite person right now. I probably won’t be for quite sometime. But it’s okay, I know that he loves me no matter what. It’s just that I wouldn’t be happy with me right now either.” I told Ai and he just laughed a little bit at me.

“Well better you then me I’d say, is he at least giving you some time before he reins hell upon you?” I nodded my head taking off my helmet and setting down my skateboard.

“I should really get going home, do either of you want a ride back?” I asked my two best friends and they both shook their heads.

“We’ll ride our boards back. My dad already knew that I was going out tonight he told me to do my best to win your heart.” I blushed a bright pink hearing Ai’s laughter at the antics of our favorite crazy uncle. I had no idea how long that my uncle had been shipping us but I had a feeling that it was a long time.

“Flower, time to go!!” I heard my dad call from where he had parked the car and I smiled softly at my family.

“I’ll text you both, preferably when I’ve had a bit more sleep than I’ve been getting.” I waved to my two best friend’s as I walked through the crowds to get to the car. I got into the passenger side since my mom already had my brother cuddled up next to him.

“Did your friends want a ride home?” I shook my head buckling up my seatbelt carefully and put my skateboard onto the floor of car.

“They said that they would both ride their boards home and that Miya already knew that Ichigo had gone out tonight.” I smiled softly feeling my eyes droop a little bit. Everything had turned out alright in the end just as it always did. In this family of chaos where something was always happening it was sometimes hard to catch my breath.

“Sweetheart, get some sleep. I’ll wake you back up again when we arrive back at home.” I melted into into the seat and felt my eyes finally fall shut. I hadn’t even realized that I was so exhausted before I had sat down officially in the car. My dad kissed my forehead with a small smile on his face. He put one arm around my shoulder ignoring my mom’s protest and pulled me into his side.

“Just let me have this Ru, she’s tired and she’s been working so much lately.” I melted into the warmth and drifted off into a small catnap on the way back home.

“Flower, we’re back home.” My dad lightly shook me and I rubbed my eyes yawning openly. I looked back and saw my brother snuggled against my mom.

“I do need to patch him up as best I can before his meeting with the doctor tomorrow.” I told my mom and he just smiled softly at his son.

“Haru, Haru get up darling…” I smiled softly at my brother as he rubbed at his golden eyes. I thumbed my dad’s knuckle and I stretched my hands over my head.

“Come on idiot, I need to fix you up as best I can.” I reminded him and he glared lightly at me for calling him an idiot.

“Don’t call me an idiot…” He whined a little bit and I laughed at him and I got out of the car putting my arm around his shoulders.

“I love you Haru, I’m sorry that I’m teasing you I just want you to take better care of yourself.” I reminded him lightly and he leaned his head against my shoulder.

“I love you too Sakura, I’m sorry that you had to get up so early to come after my stupid ass.” I laughed a little bit at my best friend as he clung to my shoulder. I opened the door to the restaurant and he hobbled a little bit up the stairs.

“Did you twist your uncle you moron?” I asked him and he shook his head a little bit against my shoulder. I looped my arm around his waist and helped carry my best friend back up the stairs.

“No I’m just tired. I did something really stupid and I know that mom is really pissed at me.” I sighed a little bit turning my brother around. I led him through the bathroom and he hopped up onto the counter as I got out the first aid kit so that I could heal him.

“This is going to hurt at first as you already know. I’ll be as gentle as I can. I want to make sure that you’re okay.” He hissed a little bit as I dabbed the antiseptic over his varying wounds to her my brother. I carefully bandaged up all his different injuries.

“Okay that was the last one sweetheart. I know that you’ve been going through a lot right now. Do you want to stay by yourself or with me?” He shook his head at the first question and I helped him off of the countertop with a small smile.

“With you if you don’t think that’s weird. I know we used to do it a lot as children but we haven’t done it in a. Really long time.” I smiled softly at my brother putting my arm around his shoulders and laughing a little bit.

“I can’t judge you sweetheart, come on. You can change into your pajamas! I need to get back into mine as well.” I put my clothes back on and my brother crawled in next to me. My mom came in checking on me and making sure that I had done a good job patching up my brother. My brother snuggled next to me and my mom kissed our foreheads.

“Good night my darlings…” He turned the lights off and left the two of us alone so that we could relax and just get some sleep. I was super sleepy and it looked like my brother was at this point too as he snuggled against me. The next day would bring him lots of chaos and new fun things to do with my family.

[yikesharringrove]

Hi!! I was just curious about Nancy and Jonathan’s relationship in your mango series! I was wondering if Nancy was an alpha? If she is, does that mean that Jonathan is a Beta or an Omega? Kids??? I have so many questions and am way too invested in this tiny part of this universe lol Please feel free to make this into a part with Steve and Billy talking to them about pups and bonding if you would like.

Masterlist

Part 29

-

I realized I literally haven’t mentioned the Wheelers this entire time rip to them I guess

Also I’m using this part as background to everything esp how Billy and Steve got together. Also no monster au I guess? tbh this part just made me realize NONE of this series is thought out

I literally never established a timeline, so I’ve decided it makes more sense for Billy to come to Hawkins earlier. You’ll see lmao. (this started as a little nonsense thing so the timeline of the whole Mango series is so whack pls no one try and do the math)

+I had traumatic emergency surgery on my uterus several years ago, so I’ve based all of Steve’s stuff on that

-

Steve dated Nancy Wheeler for about a month.

He was always drawn to fiery alphas, liked when they had sharp tongues, weren’t afraid to speak their mind. He liked ‘em smart.

Nancy seemed perfect to him, but Nancy didn’t like how much work omegas were. They needed constant reassurance of love, so much touching and cuddling, and that’s just not how she operates.

They had been casually dating for about a month early in her sophomore year when he asked her to spend his heat with him. She knew that meant he was serious about her, and let him down as gently as she could.

He didn’t take it too hard, and even invited her to a party he was throwing at his big empty house.

That was the first night she really talked to Jonathan Byers.

Their families had always been close, and they had been uncomfortable acquaintances for a long time, but she found him making a pip out of an apple, sat in the kitchen with him and got stoned for the very first time.

They were sitting close to one another, leaning closer, about to kiss when there was a splash outside, there was screaming.

They rushed out to see Steve Harrington, wet and shaking in the cold November night air, doing CPR on, on Barb.

He yelled at Tommy H., told him to call an ambulance.

Barb looked bad. Her lips were tinged blue, her skin pale.

She sank down next to her. Jonathan gently touching her back.

Most of the kids ran when they heard authorities were coming.

She held Barb’s freezing hand until the paramedics arrived.

Steve hadn’t stopped doing CPR the entire time had heard Barb’s ribs crack and splinter from the force.

The paramedics called it.

Steve was never really the same after that. He had become more withdrawn, had quit the swim team and stopped throwing big parties, he started babysitting Dustin Henderson, ended up babysitting most of the party soon enough.

He was still nice to Nancy, would ask her and Jonathan to hang out sometimes. She always thought he was sweet that he was a big heart. Hell, she sat there while he did CPR on her best friend for twenty minutes, but it was easier with Jon. As a beta, she didn’t have to be someone she wasn’t just to keep him from emotional breakdown.

But then Billy Hargrove rolled into town in the beginning of the summer, was all California golden, a big imposing alpha, and she began seeing less and less of Steve.

She thought it was just a summer fling, Billy didn’t seem like the type to stick around for very long, didn’t seem like the monogamous type.

Steve had a bad habit of trusting alphas too quickly, had been with alphas that just wanted to be able to say they’d fucked a male omega.

They were so uncommon, and usually these alphas were just curious, knew male omegas were the only presentation identifiable at birth due to their genitals, had wanted to see for themselves.

But Billy stuck around, starting hanging around Steve wherever he was, joining him when he spent time with the party, or with Jonathan and Nancy.

Billy was starting to grow on her more, as she watched and realized he loved Steve, that he wanted to be as clingy as Steve needed.

They would go on double dates sometimes, and Billy would pull Steve to sit on his lap just as often as Steve would plop himself on Billy’s lap. So she guesses they’re kind of a match made in heaven.

And then Steve got pregnant.

And she expected Billy to run for the hills, but he didn’t. Got kicked out of his house for Steve, changed his whole world for Steve and their pup, and at this point, they were four years in, had two happy pups and we in the process of moving into their first house.

She and Jon hadn’t even talked marriage yet, let alone bonding, were focusing on getting through school.

They had both gone to New York without even consulting one another, decided they didn’t want each other’s college choices to affect the other, that they should pick the best school for themselves.

When they revealed to one another, Jon showed her his acceptance to NYU, his dream school, while Nancy had handed him her Columbia letter.

She got regular updates from Steve, letters stuffed full with photographs and weekly reports. She contacted a bakery local to him to send him a cake when he called and excitedly told her that he had finally gotten his GED, had dropped out of high school in the February of his senior year when he got kicked out of his house, when he was the talk of the whole damn town.

“Letter from Steve.” Jonathan placed the rest of the mail on the counter, ripping open the envelope. “He put in updated pictures of the girls, look.” Nancy cooed over the photos. There was a gorgeous one of all four of them at the beach, Steve had infant Zara strapped to his chest, Billy was holding Mina. It was so cute. “He said they finished painting the house and should be moving in this week.”

“He mention how he was doing?”

“Of course not, have you met him? The only reason we actually knew he almost fucking died was because Billy called us.”

“I guess you’re right.” She was still flipping through photos. “Oh look at this one!” It was Steve caught mid laugh while Mina was doing him hair behind him. “We should go out to California soon to see them. Especially once they’re in their house.

“I’m gonna write Steve back, maybe we could go for New Year’s, or something.” She smiled up at him, stretching on her toes to kiss his jaw.

“I think that sounds nice.”

-

Mina was currently in the process of showing Jonathan every single toy she owned.

His lap was full of plastic food, blocks, dolls, stuffed animals, books, everything. She was talking excitedly about her little toy Camaro, the one that looked just like Daddy’s!

Nancy was just laughing as Jonathan nodded along patiently. He talked to her like she was an adult, asking her details about each toy in a very serious voice.

Steve slowly set himself on the couch. His abdomen still sore from surgery a few months ago. He was holding Zara, all dressed up in a little onesie that looked hand-knitted.

“How are you doing?” Steve rolled his eyes. Jon and Nancy kept asking.

“Nance, I’m fine. Just sore is all.” He kept dodging her real questions. She knew that the doctor had told Steve there was a chance he wouldn’t be able to be pregnant again, knew it was probably weighing on him. She just looked back and Jon.

“How is Mina doing with Zara? I remember when Mike was born I wanted nothing to do with him.” Steve laughed, bouncing Zara a little.

“She loves her. I swear if she could get me and Billy outta the picture, she would rather raise Zara on her own.” Zara gave a little choked off wail. “Sweet Pea, you are fine.” He put her on his chest, patting her back. “How’s school and everything?”

“It’s good! Jon’s going to end up graduating a semester early, so he’ll be finished by this time next year.”

“Oh, wow. Good for him!”

“I hear you left work, how’s that going?” Steve shrugged.

“They could only offer me one month of leave, and with the surgery and everything, I needed much longer. But you know I don’t mind staying home with these two. I mean, Mina’s in full day preschool now, just Monday to Thursday, but Zara is pretty fussy, so it’s okay. Once she’s not breastfeeding anymore, I’ll probably find a new job.”

“And Billy’s school is going okay?”

“Oh you know him, just overachieving at every stage. He had to cut back on his hours at the garage, he got a really nice internship at a law firm in town, and he’s actually getting paid for it.” Billy had been studying pre-law at UCSD, wanted to go into some kind of prosecution, possibly specialize in domestic cases. His internship was more personal assistant work to one of the partners of the firm, but it was better money than the garage, and something to beef up his resume a bit more.

Steve could hear the garage door beginning to rumble and whine as it slid up.

“Speak of the devil.” He smiled at Billy as he came in, kicking off his shoes. Mina sprinted up to him, wrapping her arms around his waist, standing on his feet as he walked over to everyone.

“You talkin’ ‘bout me, Pretty Boy?” He picked up Mina so he could perch on the armrest next to Steve, giving him a kiss.

“All good things. Kind of.”  Nancy doesn’t think she’s ever seen Billy Hargrove in a suit. He loosened his tie, had take off his jacket to place into the coats closet, was currently rolling up his crisp sleeves. She could see edges of a few tattoos. She knew he and Steve had each gotten each others initials on their shoulder blades, adding the pups initials underneath them both. Apparently Billy was beginning to work on sleeves. “How was work?”

“Eh. Same old.” He shrugged, putting Mina down to go back to “playing” with Jonathan. He lifted Zara from Steve. “How are you doin’, Nancy? How’s the Big Apple?”

She waved a hand non-noncommittally. “Oh, it’s good. Jon’s working for some underground paper, shooting for punk shows.” Billy grinned.

“Well done, Byers. I’m sure your kid brother’s plenty jealous.” Jonathan laughed.

“He’s come up for a few of the shows he’s really wanted to see. Which is to say most of them.” The timer went off from the kitchen. Steve went to stand, only to have Billy push him back down, handing Zara back to him.

“Sit tight, Pretty Boy. I got it.” Steve rolled his eyes, but smiled softly at Billy all the same.

“He was a nightmare when we were moving in, wouldn’t let me lift anything over ten pounds.”

-

After dinner, Steve and Billy tag teamed putting the girls to bed.

It was kind of amazing to watch. Billy got Mina dressed for bed as Steve fed Zara, then they swapped, Steve made sure Mina brushed her teeth while Billy changed Zara, swapping again so that Billy could read a book to Mina and Steve rocked Zara to sleep.

They were so practiced and efficient, both girls were asleep with half an hour.

“You get a lot of practice with the bedtime thing. I mean, it’s every night.” They were sitting on the back porch, on patio furniture that had apparently been a gift from Claudia Henderson.

It was a perfect night, the Southern California air was just chilly enough to warrant a sweater, but perfect for just being in.

“There’s a park a few blocks that way that’s doing fireworks, we should be able to see them from here.” Steve had poured them each some champagne. Steve and Billy were sitting one the chairs across the little coffee table between them.

They chattered through as the clock ticked down, getting closer and closer to 1989.

Ten seconds to midnight, Billy helped Steve stand up. Five seconds to midnight, Jonathan was digging in his pocket.

The fireworks began as Steve pressed his lips to Billy’s. Nancy turned to do the same, choking on a gasp as she saw Jon down on one knee. Steve shrieked, scrambling for a camera.

“I wanted this to be the first thing I did this year.” Billy was grinning like an idiot, Steve was taking picture after picture, his big eyes full of tears. “I know you want to establish our lives before bonding or having pups, and that’s okay, we can just be engaged for a couple years, whatever you want.” Nancy had one hand in front of her mouth, tears dripping down her cheeks. “Whatdya say?”

“Oh my god, absolutely yes!” Billy and Steve cheered as Jon stood up, kissing Nancy before sliding the ring on her finger.

[19mrs-barnes17]

As Long As I Can Get - Chapter Three: Welcome to Brightbarrow

Summary: Welcome to the town of Brightbarrow, its small and quaint aesthetic draws in many to settle into the comfort it provides. Home to a select group of kind souls.

Part: 3/5

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x reader (AU)

Warnings: mentions of abandonment, some sad themes, a little drinking

Word count: 3,198

A/N: Thanks again to @wxntersoldiers​ for beta reading! Hope you all enjoy the new chapter!

~

The first place to open in the mornings is the Diner, the Barnes family waking before most of the town to set up and ready for the early rising crowd. A few shop owners, medical staff, and construction crew filter in gradually as the town begins to wake.

Slowly but surely shops begin flipping their signs, a yawn escaping as they stretch out their sluggish and sleepy limbs. Hours pass by and the town comes alive with a steady flow of people off to work or wandering about the shops, the occasional tourist stopping in for directions or a trinket. Everyone had a routine.

It was late afternoon when Y/N finally got time to begin looking into a project for her apartment, stopping by the shop where Steve worked after her shift let off early. 

She couldn’t help but laugh at the sight before her, Denise and Hilda sat on the wooden bench outside the tool and craft shop gazing in the big display window and gabbing about the men inside. She shook her head at the women before approaching.

“What are you two mischief makers up to?” Both women stayed exactly as they were, unaffected by being caught by an onlooker.

“Come sit with us Y/N dear, there are two very fine gentlemen waltzing about the shop.” Y/N reluctantly accepted the invitation, eyes drifted inside the building where Steve and Bucky stood comparing items and having a passive discussion. Neither seemed aware of the three women watching their every move through the front window.

“How often are you two out here?”

“Oh every day love.” Hilda smiled softly at her before sending a wink and returning her attention back to the guys. “Lately we’ve been getting double the beef and muscle.”

“That Barnes boy has grown into such a handsome young gentleman, very blessed in the genetics department.” Denise giggled, Hilda swatting her playfully as they turned their gazes to Y/N and arched a brow expectantly.

“What?” 

“Please tell me you’re making the most of his being back home? You two always have been the cutest thing.” If Y/N had been taking a drink this moment would be the perfect moment for a spit take.

“We’re not a couple.”

“And what a terrible shame that has always been. He’s a lovely specimen.” Denise winked at her before glancing back inside and smiling. 

“I don’t know, I’d say that poor Steven is quite the eye candy. Though it is nice to see a new, but familiar, face around here.”

“You two are shameless.” Hilda and Denis burst out laughing, clutching one another as their smiles stretched across their faces.

“Best way to be sweetheart.” Hilda paused for a moment, glancing over Y/N before getting that mischievous sparkle in her eyes once more. “”Give it a go.”

Y/N shook her head but the two women kept insisting. Gazing through the glass her mind fumbled for something to say that wouldn’t be too much.

“He does have nice eyes.”

“Which one dear?”

“James. I mean Bucky.” Her heart skipped a beat as those very crystal blue irises turned her way, eyes locking onto hers. 

“Ah, that he does. And they’re looking right at you dear, in a very flirtatious manner.” Hilda and Denise sent little waves at Bucky before nudging her.

Y/N mumbled in response her mind elsewhere as she watched Bucky through the window, a smile tugging at his lips. He sent a small wave, which she slowly reciprocated, before turning back to Steve. She stood from the bench and tore her gaze away from the window.

“Oh, god I still need to go inside.”

“Ooh, how unfortunate. Let us know how that goes.” 

“You two are pure chaos.”

“Guilty.” In sync they speak and smirk up at her before turning back to the window.

Entering the store she did her best to keep her gaze away from the two men, focusing on finding the paint color she wanted. Her eyes scanned the swatches for a light purple for her bedroom, eventually a project she wanted to get to when she had an open weekend. Her mind was unable to focus as she overheard the discussion an aisle or two over.

Shaking her head she pulled her focus to the colors in front of her, forcing herself to make a decision. In line she was behind Bucky who leaned against the counter waiting for Steve to return from the back, his arms crossed and eyes closed.

“Long day?” She couldn’t stand there silently waiting for Steve to return, his eyes would have opened and been startled by her lurking form. He was startled nonetheless, but she felt compelled to be polite and not ignore him. Even despite his past mistakes.

“Always is.” 

“Tell me about it. What are you building?” She pointed to the drill set on the counter as his eyes took note of the paint swatches in her hand.

“Bed frame.” Her brow furrowed and he chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck. “Haven’t gotten around to actually setting it up yet, easier to move when we are painting. Speaking of which…”

“My room. Paint is chipping and my landlord gave me the greenlight to paint over it.” 

“Purple.” She simply nodded in response, eyes trailing to locate Steve in the back. “Well, if you need any help you know where to find me.”

“Thanks, but I have no idea when I’m going to actually have time to get to it.” He nods solemnly and she feels a prick of guilt in her heart.  “But I’ll give you a call when I know.”

“We can order Toni’s like we used to.” His sweet smile had her nodding along in agreement and entirely missing Steve’s emergence from the back office. “Guess I’ll see you around Fairfield.”

“Keep out of trouble Barnes.” He chuckled and shook his head muttering something about no promises before walking out the door. 

“I swear if you two waltz around the topic you will forever be in the obnoxiously polite conversation stage.” Steve shook his head, marking down her order and writing up a receipt. “And I’m not sure how much of that I can take.”

~

Bucky lay upon his stomach, arms buried beneath the pillow he smushed to his face as he slept. His body sore from the previous week's worth of labor, taking advantage of his day off by sleeping in past breakfast time. Somehow he had actually gotten a decent night’s rest, whether that was from the exhaustion or his reconciliation with Y/N was anybody’s guess. 

He had missed how close they used to be, hating how he had listened to the fear and completely cut her from his life. She was his raft and without her he had been sinking, deeper and deeper until he hit the bottom. He knew full well they could never be anything more, but he hated himself for not allowing a friendship at least. It would have helped him through so much.

In the past few weeks he continuously ran into her at the diner, sharing more meals with her than he ever had before and getting to know her again. The reconnection quelled some of the worries that usually kept his mind awake. His mind was more at ease.

Unfortunately, a knock at his door disturbed his late morning rest and had him shuffling to the door in only sweats. As he opened the door he was hit by a yawn, the chuckle from the otherside of the threshold snapping him out of his daze. Y/N stood awkwardly shifted weight on the balls of her feet, eyes refusing to meet his which made him take notice of her flushed cheeks. He smiled softly down at her.

“Good morning.” She cleared her throat and shook her head as if his voice had shaken her from her discomfort and held an envelope out to him. “What’s this?”

“Your pay, I think. Becca said Thomas dropped it off at the Diner cause he had a busy day out of town and didn’t have time to stop by. She’s working a double today and asked if I could deliver it. So, there you go. Sorry to wake you on your day off.” She spoke fast and he was barely awake enough to keep up, running a hand through his hair and nodding along.

“Thank you. But Becca could have given it to me at dinner tonight.” Her eyes snapped up to meet his, her features painted with shock. 

“Oh.” Her voice was small as she remained frozen in place, unsure how to make a polite exit without just walking away. “Well, um, you’re welcome I guess. I’m gonna go now… see you around…” 

Bucky didn’t even formulate a response before she had already made her way down the sidewalk with one final glance back at him from over her shoulder. Something about their relationship was different, and not just because he had cut her out of his life. It was more about the way she tiptoed around looking at him, and how she avoided eye contact if he was in a tank or less. This hadn’t been the first time she had blushed at the sight of him.

A few days ago Becca had brought Y/N, on her day off, to bring the workers some lunch that his mother had made. When she approached he wasn’t paying much attention and had gone to wipe some of the sweat from his face onto his tank top, exposing his midriff which resulted in a blushing Y/N holding out his portion of the food at a distance. 

Ever since Y/N had been awkward during the first couple of minutes of conversation they had whenever they ran into one another in town. He was baffled, Steve was not.

“Oh, come on you cannot seriously be that thick.” 

“How kind of you to notice. Mind explaining what I’m missing?” Steve sighed heavily, rubbing his hand over his face.

“Listen, you are not an ugly guy alright?”

“Gee thanks buddy, care to elaborate?” Steve was beginning to look as though he wanted to smack Bucky upside the head and be done with it all. 

“She all flustered because you’re an attractive guy constantly showing off your body in front of her.”

“It’s not like I’m doing it on purpose.” Bucky sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “And we both know why that can’t happen.”

“Buck, I don’t want to have that old argument again so can we slow the roll on the girl problems and get to what you need for the house?”

“Alright, alright.”

He paced the floor of his bedroom deep in thought, adrenaline jump starting his anxiety and sending him into panic. The few nights of dreamless sleep had ended in an intense nightmare in which he relived the death of his best friend. They had served together for so long, becoming brothers somewhere in the process. Both moving to New York and sharing an apartment for a while before he was killed in a hit and run. 

Will had pushed him out of the way before the car struck, he was killed on impact. Bucky could still see his lifeless body lying on the asphalt. 

The images flashed in his mind even after waking in a cold sweat, his heart still pounding as he struggled to calm himself. He was panicking and losing all rationality. His fingers dialed the number before his mind could stop him and he saw her racing across the street at a record speed. 

After opening the door he pulled her in and shoved the door shut, his arms wrapping around her torso tightly as he buried his face in the crook of her neck. She was in shock for a few moments before she lowered her arms to rest on his bare shoulders and ran a hand up into his hair. Her fingers gently ran through his hair as she whispered comfort in his ear. 

“Hey.” She pulled away from him, hands on the sides of his face and eyes gazing into his fearlessly. “Let’s get you to the couch, yeah?”

Slowly she moved him to where his head lay in her lap, her finger still running through his hair and putting him at ease. When his breathing began to regulate she had him drink a glass of water and watched him nervously. He could tell she was on edge about this, scared for him. And he already regretted bringing her into it.

But she had been the one to comfort his nightmares the first month after his dad died, staying at his house every night. She had been his greatest comfort, and he had repaid her kindness with a knife in the back. It was his greatest regret.

“Do you wanna talk about it?” She spoke softly, tone hesitant as she scooted closer to him on the couch. “I think it will help.”

He desperately wanted to avoid the conversation, but he knew it would come up later whether she meant to bring it up or not. Because it was the very reason that New York had lost its charm and he had packed for home. And he wanted her to trust him, to feel like she could call him should she ever need comfort or help. If he didn’t show her that rebuilding was possible she would never trust that they could.

“When I was overseas…” Once he started he couldn’t stop, it had been months of silence and pushing down his pain. Bucky had been hiding his loss from any who didn’t know about Will, even Steve didn’t know the exact context of why he returned.

Though he only spoke one of the secrets he had been keeping, the release of the words felt cathartic. She pulled him into a hug and he immediately knew he had made the right decision. It had been so long since they had talked about anything deeper than small talk or light catch up, he hadn’t realized how much he had missed it. Missed her.

“I’m sorry. I never should have pushed you away.”

“Buck-”

“I know I said it before, but I need you to know I meant it. I have missed you so much, almost gone to call you a billion times before realizing I didn’t have your number.” A tear slid down her cheek and she was quick to wipe it away, sniffling.

“I always thought you just left me behind because I wasn’t good enough.” His chest tightened, heart hurting at the thought of her believing that.

“No.” He shook his head, eyes tearing away from her because if he kept looking he would tell the full truth and she would never want to see him again. “I let the fear and pain I was drowning in sweep me away. I never should have closed off from you, the one person who could have helped me.”

“I’m here now.” She placed a hand over his heart, sincerity in her eyes before she recoiled with crimson in her cheeks. “Now would you please put on a shirt before answering the door you heathen.” 

He smiled before picking her up and throwing her over his shoulder and spinning around. She squealed, hand smacking his back lightly as she began to laugh like a mad woman. 

“Who’s a heathen now?”

“Still you, ya brute.” He dropped her onto the couch and the two fell into a fit of laughter, eyes sharing a look of nostalgia. “But a brute I will invite to my birthday party.”

“Party, eh? They still throwing you big parties in that old barn?” She nodded, rolling her eyes with a small shrug.

“I’m turning 27, I don’t think I need a big party full of people. Not really my scene.” 

“How ‘bout this then. We go to that party, say hello to everyone, do at least one dance after cake, and afterwards we can do something just the two of us. Something more laid back.” She held out her hand and they shook on it, smiles bright.

“Wanna go paint my room?” Y/N stood with her hands on her hips and a brow arched, smiling mischievously. 

Bucky stood and began to make his way to the door when Y/N stopped him in his tracks and gestured to his bare chest.

“Right, shirt. Give me a second.” She shook her head, waiting at the front step for him to catch up. He crossed the street in a few swift steps and followed her up to her apartment.

“You’re gonna want your hair out the way, sit.” He complied, rolling his eyes as she pulled strands of his hair back into a small feather duster of a ponytail. A few shorter strands fell down and framed his face. She shrugged and muttered a good enough.

They moved her mattress and bed frame from the room, emptying all the contents into the small living room. Covering the floor, taping over the trim, and getting the paint and brushes out they were ready to begin.

Hours later they had paint splatters on their jeans and Bucky’s white tank top now had a purple print painted on. Purple covered the walls and a few drops made their way onto their faces, a stripe across the bridge of her nose and a smudge along his cheek. Y/N refused to let him wash up before getting a photo on her camera. The two looked like a hot mess, her piggy backing and resting her cheek against his. 

“Why does this look so familiar?” She held the camera in her hands and her brow furrowed. “Oh my god.”

Y/N ran into the living room without another word and Bucky followed, perplexed by her behavior. She began searching through her things until finally producing a shoe box with his name on it. 

“Um. What’s that.” She pulled him over to her breakfast bar and sat on one of the stools before opening up the box. His eyes scanned the photos inside, saddened that there were so few but comforted by the fact that she still had the pictures at all.

“This is our box, Becca and I have one. And that other one is for our trio.” He chuckled softly as she began to sift through the  pictures until she found what she was looking for. The very photo that he had seen in his mother’s house, the one hanging amongst the photos of his family. “We did an accidental recreation.”

The two photos side by side were uncanny, apart from the ridiculous amount of purple paint in one of them. The same pose, and he was looking at her instead of the camera again. 

“I gotta get this printed, for here and your mom’s.” Bucky stood behind her, eyes flickering between the two photos.

“She’d like that.” Y/N glanced over her shoulder at him and he was suddenly acutely aware of how close their faces were and how fast his heart was racing. 

And he was terrified.

~

Tags: @qtmeryr​ @broken-hearted-barnes​ @asphalt-cocktail​ @cantnkrusshedevil​ @gstran18​ @just-trying-to-survive-marvel

[hillbillied]

(Warning: NSFW, entirely. 18+ smut content. | Ao3 link.)

After the war's end, Andy and Eddie invite their favourite mortarman over for a visit. Eugene agrees to the visit, and some other things.

The ruin of one Eugene Sledge (by pleasure of Andrew Haldane and Edward Jones)

They discuss it at length, the two of them.

Full novel length, chapters upon chapters, with subheadings and notes in the margin. Clauses and subclauses and sub-subclauses are proposed and ratified over the course of many an afternoon. Debates rattle over dinner plates, wild hypotheticals meet very real concerns for thorough consideration. (Which might be deemed a little much for what would probably fold into under five hours of action, including the inevitable water chugging between rounds.)

Their exceptional communication skills and stable relationship certainly allow proceedings to progress without a hitch. They have always discussed their sexual endeavours at length, after all.

Being in the commonly considered ‘sexual deviant’ category of existence means even your most vanilla sex is beyond the comprehendible realms of your white picket fence neighbours. (Not that they have a white picket fence. Theirs is cast iron. And their Boston apartment comfortably on the city lines, not in the suburbs.)

They end up taking no small amount of pride in it. That they can casually discuss exactly what turns them on, slipping further into potential depravity as they open up about themselves. Usually, however, these conversations last all of half an hour before they fall into bed to test their proposed plans. That aside, the process is exactly the same.

Andy says he’d be open to watching Eddie with another man. Or sharing him with another man. Or something to the ‘another man’ effect. Eddie asks him to elaborate.

Ack Ack considers, chews his lip with half-lidded eyes. “Maybe blowing him.” He says.

“Only if ye’ hold m’ hair.” comes the reply on Eddie’s part.

“You want me in control.” Andy deduces.

His aroused smirk makes Hillbilly’s blood boil. What a smart, omniscient cunt. The greatest displeasure? He’s right. That is exactly where his lover wants him.

They chew it over from there. Negotiations last longer than necessary due to constant courtroom breaks, since the prosecution and defence keep getting turned on and needing to take the time to fuck. The most fruitful discussions are never when the topic is spontaneously brought up, but rather at least an hour after, when Eddie’s lit his post-sex cigarette and Andy’s playing with his hair.

Eventually, the green light is given. They’re eating dinner across their humble wooden kitchen table. (Hillbilly’s gravy could drown a dead rat on a plate and it would still taste divine.) They’ve settled on an agreement and want to go ahead with the idea.

“Well,” Eddie says around a mouthful of beef, “Pick your man.”

   This choice is harder than it sounds because it has to be someone they know. They’re an item, sweet and simple. A stranger might get some bright ideas about their place in this scenario. Plus, it’s 1952. Some secrets need to remain under wraps.

Another problem is that the shortlist starts with Burgie.

Eddie’s rubbing his forehead in exasperation, reclining in their frayed armchair. “We attended his weddin’, Andy.” He explains, talking to nothing short of a fool, “Ye’ was with me in the arch a’ sabres.”

That absolute fool is currently pacing across the carpet, tapping his finger against his lips.

“Is it not polite to ask regardless?” Andy muses, pausing in his motions.

He receives an aggravated grunt. Low, drawn-out, and unimpressed.

“Not Burgin, then.” The captain finally acknowledges. The name is mentally crossed from the list, though not before he points an accusing finger his lover’s way, “But you wanted it, too.”

   After a deep, longing pull from his cigarette, Eddie gives the answer they’ve been looking for.

“Sledge.” He says.

The name floats upwards with the smoke. It catches on their small porch roof; one they share with the apartment next door, divided by more iron fencing. He’s sitting on the steps, Andy leaning against the doorframe behind him.

“What about him?” The blond asks. The conversation had previously been about weeding, what to do with all the insects tearing up the captain’s petunias.

Eddie takes another drag.

“He’s our third man.”

   “I know he’s queer,” Andy asks, “Does he know he’s queer?”

‘He’ is Eugene Sledge. The name stuck, dangling over their heads constantly since they’d been stupid enough to mention it. The possibility of their fantasy scenario drifts ever closer.

“By now, yeah.” Eddie says, staring up at their bedroom ceiling. He’s playing with his chest hair, curling it around his finger, “But I bet he ain’t got his dick wet much.”

Lying beside him, Ack Ack smothers his laughter in his lover’s neck. The words ring so horribly true. He reaches up regardless and slaps Hillbilly’s peck. Right on the nipple for that extra sting. The hiss the man emits confirms an acceptable amount of pain, retribution for his mean words. (Honest words but mean nonetheless.)

If they didn’t have sweat cooling on their bodies from a good fuck, the smack would turn Eddie on.

“It’ll be good f’ him.” He suggests instead, not wanting to earn another punishment.

“You think?” Andy replies, propping himself up on his elbows.

“Yeah.” Hillbilly says, “If he’s up fer’ it.”

   Andy writes the letter.

It’s scribbled with barely pent-up excitement and the slightest tremor in his hand. The penmanship is far from pristine, the careful innuendo and wax poetic only legally veiling the message conspired within. The raw arousal motivating the ink is on full display.

He’s absolutely fucking losing it.

Watching from the doorway, Eddie shakes his head. That’s the moment he knows Andrew has been fantasising about this longer than they’ve been discussing it.

He tries to pretend he’s shocked by the realisation.

   “Why Eugene?” Andy asks.

Again, for the fifteenth time. They have, as per, already discussed the reasoning at length. Eddie’s about ready to grab the man by his sweater vest and give him a good hard slap across the cheek.

Instead, he summarises.

“’cause he’s always wanted to fuck you, Andy.” Hillbilly explains, “And I’m about t’ let him.”

   If Eugene’s smart, which he is, he won’t pass up this opportunity.

If Eugene accepts the opportunity, which he does, any nervousness he may have will be proven weaker than his excitement over the proposition.

And if his excitement is that strong, which it definitely feels like, then it’ll be all over his face when he arrives in Boston.

Andy collects him from the train station. Hands in the pockets of his pale slacks and short-sleeved shirt tucked in. He’s wearing a braided belt because it complements the look. He’s gay and he’s about to show this young man a wild time, why not make it special from the start?

He waves at the redhead who steps off the 4 o’clock train from Birmingham. It’s sunny and warm, painting that ginger hair with yellow streaks. It’s very attractive when seen without the sweat and dirt of combat or those ugly helmets crushing it flat.

Not that they haven’t seen each other several times before now. This is the first time, however, that Eugene’s wore his shirt without a tie. Today, the white of his collar is unadorned, handsome beige suit jacket left unbuttoned. Casual, familiar. No formality in sight, which is relieving.

He’s got a green carnation pinned to his lapel.

Andy has to keep his smile from splitting his cheeks. It wouldn’t be polite to wear the satisfaction of victory across the entirety of his features.

   “I should have known you’d be familiar with Wilde’s work.” Andy says, referring to the flower.

He’s driving Eddie’s blue pickup, which they have come to share the use of. Fancy cars are for rich cocksuckers and married couples who don’t have the imagination to use the truck bed. You can’t fuck beneath the stars in an estate.

“It was always my favourite.” Eugene notes. He chews on the bit of his pipe thoughtfully, “Even when I couldn’t place quite why.”

“It’s a fantastic touch.” Ack Ack compliments.

Pleasantly calm, every glance he sends across the cab radiates pride. The young man – just a man, really, but that might teeter on Andy thinking himself ‘old’ and they would be having none of that – has grown so much since ’44.

Eugene’s strong nose and dark eyes will never bleed with unbreakable confidence, for sure. But that’s a favourable trait, it keeps him far from arrogance and the unattractive features that come with it. Yet Sledge is still surer of himself than he used to be. Or perhaps he’s just learnt to hide his self-consciousness. (Really, they’re the same thing.) The only hint of nervousness is the drumming of his nails against the door, resting his elbow out the open window. A touch of trepidation for what’s coming.

Keeping the wheel steady, Andy reaches out and places a hand on his company’s thigh.

Eugene doesn’t flinch as his captain used to expect. (They both distinctly remember how a tipsy and boisterous young lady had ran a hand over Sledge’s ass at Burgin’s wedding. The redhead had jumped high enough to paint the ceiling ginger. And spilt wine all over the poor girl’s dress.)

Good. Better than good.

“I’m glad you could come, Eugene.” With a laugh, Ack Ack quickly clarifies, “It’s always a pleasure to see you, I mean that wholeheartedly.”

Pink colours Sledge’s cheeks, his smile sweet. He’s convinced it’s the truth, should have known that already. That doesn’t make it any less warming to hear.

“I’ll admit I did consider replying in a more-“ He searches for the word across the dashboard, “-reserved nature, so I could visit without fear of gettin’ cold feet.”

The hand on his thigh is reservedly placed nearer his knee. It pats him comfortingly. Andy opens his mouth to speak and assure the young man that his excited scribbles – and the excited scribbled response – are not legally binding. They can enjoy a repeat of prior visitations if desired.

Eugene beats him to the punch.

“But sittin’ here now-”

Those dark brown eyes flutter downwards. Over the steering wheel, that neat braided belt, the front of Andy’s slacks. Sledge’s tongue flashes across his lips, wetting the dry skin. His pipe hovers uselessly, forgotten as his mind drifts elsewhere.

He catches himself enough to speak. His gaze is torn slowly from the fabric over his company’s cock.

“I think I made the right decision.” He mutters. It’s quiet and a little shy, but not unsure.

The fingers on his thigh squeeze happily.

   Eddie opens the door with a grin of true happiness. The sunlight turns his curls that slightest hint of ginger, though it’s nothing on the crop of hair sliding out the passenger side of his truck.

“Eugene Sledge.” He drawls like he can’t believe his eyes, like he isn’t in on the plan. His arms are folded loosely across his chest, “M’ favourite mortarman.”

Jury might be out on that one, prior to this moment. Right now? This is absolutely his favourite mortarman.

“Hillbilly.” Eugene greets with a bashful smile.

There’s a respect lingering there that has already been dropped with Andy. Not that it didn’t take a couple of years’ effort to achieve that, too. They’re steadily working their way to Sledge dropping all pretence from the Marines, the two of them. They are so remarkably close, the title of captain and lieutenant fully thrown to the wind sometime around 1948.

That might prove to be a spanner in the works later. Andy fully planned on bringing those titles back this evening.

For now, though, he focuses on Eugene and Eddie.

“It’s good t’ see you ag’in.” The latter says.

They stand as far apart as the compact space of the porch allows. (Not much, apparently.) They both glance Andy’s way as he shuts the cast iron gate and ascends the steps. He’s carrying Eugene’s suitcase like a gentleman. Now there’s three grown men in a one-and-half-man area of entranceway.

Eddie has to huff out a laugh. He kicks the door open behind him.

“C’mon,” He says, “We’re drawin’ more attention with this tomfoolery than if I’d kissed ye’.”

   It’s a pleasure of an afternoon.

Eugene helps Eddie cook dinner. Andy had insisted on it. A strategic placement of their visitor, if he does say so himself, perfectly aligned so the two can share close quarters. Unpressured by expectations and protected by clothing for the time being. Sledge chops vegetables, unphased as Hillbilly stands behind him, chest against his back to guide his hand.

Their captain sips his tea from the kitchen table. His boys work to cook a meal for him to enjoy, at his instruction, without him lifting a finger. That victory smile returns and this time he can hide it behind his mug.

While he’s certain Eugene will be learning a few things tonight about how to draw submission from a man, there’s no outmanoeuvring a master.

   They eat, they talk. Some of it about the letter’s content and expectations for the evening. Most of it about how Alabama is and Eugene’s new job. About the petunias in the front garden and the pests that are ruining them.

Eventually, they clean their plates away. (Well, two of them do. Andy gets brought more tea.) They retire to the sitting room. It’s small and cosy. Andy takes the armchair, facing the men on the couch so he can actually finish his drink in relative peace.

Eddie sits and reclines against the arm of the sofa, head propped up by his hand. Eugene moves to sit on the other end. His company has different plans.

Hillbilly grunts. A complete and non-verbal ‘no’. Ass halfway to its destination, Sledge is off balance enough that the arm around his waist completely topples him. He’s brought down in the middle of the couch, all but in Eddie’s lap were it not for their closed legs.

They all laugh at the familiar horseplay. It’s short only a ruffle of red hair. (The lieutenant declines that, it’d be too condescending considering he plans on blowing this boy’s mind soon. And blowing him, period.)

“You gonna surprise me like that every time I sit down?” Eugene asks.

“I’m gon’ surprise ye’ a whole lot.” Eddie replies.

Andy hums approvingly into his mug. They both turn his way. It’s a good distraction; the redhead doesn’t notice Hillbilly adjusting their position. Getting comfy with the other man leaning against his chest, his hand coming to rest on Sledge’s hip. A warm hand on warm skin, separated only by thin shirt fabric. His thumb rubs small circles over the ribs he can reach.

“Let that inform tonight’s exploits,” Ack Ack muses, finished with his tea, “Whatever they may be.”

He sets the mug down on the small table to his left, beside the room’s ashtray. Eugene’s raised eyebrow begs him to explain.

Andy obliges. “Eddie can lift me quite easily.” He says, “He could probably break either of us in two. Don’t worry about playing rough.”

Behind his head, Sledge can feel the warmth of Eddie’s grin at the acute description. A strong arm is slung around his shoulder now, no longer content on his hip. The taller man’s hand is running over his chest absentmindedly, brushing his collarbone. Without any conscious effort on his part, Eugene has leant his full weight backward and against the warmth holding him.

“I have every confidence that if he wants you to stop,” Andy continues with a shrug, “He’ll stop you.”

Sledge glances to his right, head turned just enough to glimpse confirmation. At his back, he can see Hillbilly’s smile. His lips brush red hair as he speaks into the young man’s ear.

“He’s right.” is whispered against his skin, “But he’s still bein’ a bastard about it.”

“How am I being a bastard?” Andy laughs.

“Ye’ just are.” Eddie calls across the room.

They all chuckle. If they can’t have a sense of humour about this, there’s no point even attempting the deed. A little comedy won’t kill the mood and can save most faux pas.

During their bit, Eugene’s hand drifts to Hillbilly’s thigh. Testing at first, fingers ghosting over the thick denim of his jeans. Then pressing down, sliding over the fabric close to his knee. It sits there presently, finally building up the confidence to squeeze exploratively.

Those dark brown eyes glance down at his own machinations. Eddie’s hand on his chest slides across his peck, arm around Sledge’s shoulder gripping him tighter.

Andy sits back in his armchair, stretches his back. He’s convinced he can watch this forever. Or however long it takes to play out, at least.

“I want you to know,” Eugene drawls softly, his focus still on rubbing circles on Hillbilly’s thigh, “I’m not the most experienced at this.”

Politely, neither of the other men mention their knowledge of the fact. (Especially not mentioning how the fact may have played into a prior discussion.)

“Experience isn’t particularly important.” Andy says, “Attitude and a little guidance goes a long way.”

His fingers play idly with the handle of the mug at his side. Every pair of eyes are on him, yet he can’t care less. He looks like he can’t care less, cultivates the persona whilst he speaks with absolute authority.

“For example,” Ack Ack explains, “If Eddie were to keep his hands to himself for a moment…”

There’s no ‘if’ present in his tone. The hypothetical is a veiled command, upheld by the man who uttered it with crossed legs and gaze focused nonchalantly on his empty mug.

Eugene feels the rumble in Hillbilly’s chest behind him. That large hand retreats from where it had ventured over his nipple. While still leaning against the tall man, Sledge is no longer held captive in his grasp. (Not that he wanted his hostage situation to end.) Eddie even sits back, arms now slung over the back and arm of the couch, respectively. The heat of his breath disappears from the redhead’s ear.

All without so much as a raise of Andy’s voice.

“Then,” The blond continues, turning to the pair on his own cue, “You can come sit over here, and I can show you exactly what I mean.”

As Eugene stands, he uses the hand on Hillbilly’s thigh for leverage. It’s the last part of him to abandon the couch, sliding his way over to the armchair with all the grace he can muster. His steps are casual, taking their time. An impressive display, complimented by the hands casually slipped into the pockets of his slacks. Like he’s in no rush, can’t care less.

(Behind him, Eddie forces down a knowing smile. There’s no finer flattery than imitation and the young man has always been a fast learner. Copying Captain Haldane, even now, will serve him well.)

Dark eyes meet pale blue for a moment at the armchair crossroads. Andy uncrosses his legs, spreading them wide to he can lean purposefully on his knee. Eugene’s eyes wander back over the front of those beige slacks. The fabric had been just a fraction tense during their car ride. It sits taught in the living room, but it’s not for Sledge to ogle freely.

Andy reaches up and tilts the man’s chin towards his face. Eyes on mine, please.

Eugene’s smile has grown bashful under the gaze of Captain Haldane. He doesn’t reach to touch like he had with Eddie. That stare is intense. It’s too much too soon and Ack Ack can recognise that. Not a problem.

“Unlike our rude associate over there,” Andy teases, bringing some comedy back into the thickness of the air, “I’m going to ask you to sit down.”

“The rudeness was ye’ takin’ that boy off this couch before I was done with him.” Eddie remarks.

He makes no move to leave his position or rectify the offence.

“Can you believe him?” Andy mutters.

The soft-spoken, relaxed-rhetorical disguises the arms he puts around Eugene’s hips. Turning him around without meeting his eyes, acting as he had with the mug. Calm, collected, like it’s nothing of note to him. Manhandling the chuckling redhead to face away, towards Hillbilly. (Out of line with that intense stare, until further notice.)

Pausing his motions, Andy glances up at Eugene. He nods, satisfied.

He then waves his hand across his lap.

“There’s enough space for both of us.” He comments.

Sledge, no doubt picking it up from the bastard tactics continuing across the evening, frowns for a moment. His consideration is definitely not genuine.

“I think there is.” He agrees. Andy beams in response.

Eugene settles down between his legs, the armchair being fairly deep. (It isn’t a lie to say it can fit them both.) Ack Ack adjusts himself with a hum, arms around his company’s waist. Hugging him momentarily to set him just-so.

His forearms withdraw partially but leave his hands to dangle between Eugene’s legs. Noncommittally, tapping the muscles of his inner thighs as if it were the arms of the chair. He’s thinking.

“Mnn, yes.” Andy concludes, “This is much better.”

Orange hues momentarily bring Eddie’s face into sharp relief. His pale eyes are absolutely fixed on the display, flashing in the flame of his lighter. Smoke trails towards the ceiling, unnoticed. His first drag is deep, steeling himself. He scratches his crotch without shame, the denim only failing to tent due to its weight.

The two men in the armchair embrace the staring competition.

“What was I talking about before this?” Andy chuckles against Sledge’s ear.

“Attitude and guidance.” The redhead recalls.

“Right.” It comes out as another laugh.

The captain is enjoying himself and it shows. Far too much for the role he’s playing within their trio, relying on his collected vigour to operate the steering wheel.

“Well, attitude is obviously about a man’s words, his manner, his posture-” Firm hands run up over Eugene’s forearms and onto his shoulders, “Making sure your orders are followed without needing to ever threaten a punishment.”

Those fingers roll the muscles under them, relaxing Sledge’s posture. Who hums instinctively, blush returning as he shamefully enjoys the feeling of his beloved captain massaging him. Doting on him, Ack Ack’s handsome nose gently poking the soft skin behind his ear.

“Not that you should be afraid to mention punishments.” Andy mutters. His eyes trot leisurely over to Eddie before trotting leisurely to Eugene, “Rewards just work better.”

His breathing is perfectly regulated as he moves his lips to Sledge’s cheek. Suspiciously perfect, timed and regimented into slow, deliberate motions of his chest. (Without the heavy cloud of lust on the redhead’s mind, he might have deduced that the captain is reigning himself in purposefully. That his collected aura is but a façade to an equally aroused interior.)

“So,” He whispers, hot and husky against Eugene’s ear, “We could ask Eddie to take all his clothes off and say we’d whoop him if he didn’t, or-”

The sentence is punctuated by a jerk of Andy’s head, turning to face the man on the couch opposite. The motion brings cold air to the skin he’d been breathing on, making Sledge inhale sharply. As if he’d been spanked. He enjoys the sensation.

“Take your clothes off, Jones.” Ack Ack orders.

His tone is grave, terrifyingly level with just enough give to keep it below a threat. A perfect command.

“Can I finish m’ smoke first, Skipper?” Hillbilly asks. He hadn’t waited for an answer, already sitting up from where he’d been reclining and rubbing himself through his jeans. An order is an order, after all.

Andy blinks, raising his eyebrows in consideration. He chews it over but gives no answer. He turns to Eugene instead. The redhead mirrors him, both twisting in their entangled sitting position so they can face each other. Ack Ack waits for his response.

“No.” Sledge says carefully, studying the blond’s features.

Though nowhere close to the dominating tone before, Eddie relents. This isn’t a competitive match. It’s a team game and he definitely wants to continue playing. He crosses the short few paces of the room and leans towards the pair.

The other men watch as he bends before them, head bowing as he stubs his unfinished cigarette into the ashtray beside Andy’s mug. Hillbilly twists the smoke gradually, holding himself in that position, an inch lower than their seated statures.

When he straightens up, he steps back a single pace. Enough that he can move his arms freely without fearing his elbow will whack anyone’s skull as he pulls his t-shirt over his head. He tosses it away dismissively.

Andy can feel Eugene’s chest rise with elation as Eddie’s muscles are brought into the light. Just as Eugene can feel Andy’s erection twitch, against the base of his spine, when the man’s boyfriend undresses for them.

Hillbilly is smart enough to have removed his socks earlier and avoid the difficult chore of tugging them off for an audience. He can smirk freely, letting his heavy belt buckle rattle in the quiet room as he tugs it free. He looks like he’s about to drop it when Andy holds out his hand. His fingers make a come-hither gesture.

Sledge’s chest hitches a second time as the folded leather slaps against Ack Ack’s palm.

“Thank you, Lieutenant.” He says, pulling the belt into Eugene’s lap.

Eddie huffs out the ghost of a laugh. Yet he averts his eyes and scratches the front of his jeans, failing to cover the elation and arousal he takes from Andy’s simple gratitude.

“Praise goes a long way, Eugene.” The captain muses.

His hands are slipped under the man’s arms, using one to draw the belt across the palm of the other. All done in Sledge’s lap, the leather falling free to drag across the front of his slacks. Accidentally, of course.

Eddie pops the buttons of his jeans one by one. Eugene fights to draw his eyes away, finally turning to Andy. Whether brewing with confidence or just overwhelmed with lust, it doesn’t matter; he presses his face to Ack Ack’s cheek.

“It’s hard to order an officer around-” He hisses. His breathing is the opposite of Andy’s, uncomposed and erratic as he speaks, “-as an enlisted man.”

Andy sniggers quietly, nodding his agreement. The hand unclaimed by the belt retreats, fishing around in his pocket for a brief moment. It returns to Eugene’s lap in time with the fall of Hillbilly’s jeans. The tall man steps free and kicks them aside.

The removal of his underwear is paused only by his wide grin, shake of his head, and hands landing on his hips.

“Ye’ are a bastard.” He concludes, watching Andy clip a silver bar pin to the collar of Sledge’s shirt.

Two bars joined together, in fact. The insignia of a captain.

“Congratulations, Captain Sledge.” Ack Ack says, “You outrank our friend here.”

All three of them laugh, giggles that rattle their chests and set the final ghosts of tension adrift. You have to have a sense of humour in these scenarios.

“You’re very prepared.” Eugene notes. He’s smiling as he says it.

It’s an accusation rather than a compliment. The blond has to suffer a moment of all eyes on him and not in a submissive sense; in a pointed, silent judgement sense. He’s been planning this longer and more in depth than he’d admitted, even to Eddie.

Not one to let his authority slip, Andy lets his chuckle fade.

Both his hands move in unison, a precise pincer movement on the room. His right reaches down between Eugene’s legs, grabbing a handful of the man’s slacks. His fingers tug towards him, forcing a yelp from Sledge as his cock is squeezed suddenly. Ack Ack’s left hand, still holding the belt, cracks it hard against the armrest. It lets out a distinct smack that has even Eddie’s back straightening.

“Thought I told you to strip, Eddie.” Andy muses, tilting his head up to fix Hillbilly with a small, pleasant smile that doesn’t reach his eyes. He’s being kept waiting.

His hand is moving against Sledge’s slacks as he speaks. Palming his length, feeling it already stiff and yearning under the fabric.

Eddie catches his eye briefly, cheek twitching in that familiar lustful frustration that they both know means they’ve struck oil. His thumbs hook into his underwear and pull them down. He straightens up without another word.

For the first time, Andy has to take a steadying breath. (Hillbilly probably notices, Sledge definitely doesn’t. The former’s lip curls just a touch.) With his hand kneading Eugene’s dick and his own pressed tantalisingly up against the redhead’s ass, the heat is more than even Captain Haldane can ignore. The pleasure of drinking Eddie in is exquisite, every curve of his muscles and colour of his ink, his unsheathed cock bouncing free from his waistband.

He forgets occasionally that the hill country man really can snap the two of them in half. He’s incredibly muscular, built like a brick shithouse. It’s only his height, drawing his limbs out a little lankier, that hides the weight behind his hands.

Andy huffs quietly. Short and soft and barely audible. The exhale allows him to turn back to Sledge, who’s head has tipped back, leaning on his shoulder. The redhead’s eyes remain on Eddie, watching with stricken desire as he grinds rhythmically against Ack Ack’s hand. None of his usual gentlemanly conversation will be escaping him presently.

“Do you want him to suck you off here or in the bedroom?” Andy asks. His lips press hard against the man’s ear, tilting their weight against the armrest.

Around gritted teeth, Sledge manages; “Bedroom.”

“You heard the Captain.” Ack Ack says, nodding Eddie’s way. His grip releases from Eugene’s slacks.

Hillbilly reaches out his hand. Sledge takes it enthusiastically. The taller man leads the way, squeezing his smitten follower’s fingers.

Neither of them catches how Andy exhales, a quiet ‘woah’ blowing out his cheeks as he composes himself. A glance down at his slacks reveals the smallest of droplets seeping into the fabric. He considers himself lucky he’s still hard and hasn’t come prematurely.

He wipes his brow, gets his shit together, and stands up to follow.

[douchebagbrainwaves]

LIFE IS A CHANGING WORLD

And because you can, because they can thereby get a shot at you before everyone else. Not because it's causing economic inequality, but because the principles underlying the most dynamic part of the reason I laughed so much at the talk by the good speaker at that conference was that everyone else did. The first users were all hackers—or who might buy a copy later, when you're considering an idea like putting a college facebook online, if instead of telling them what you do instead of implementing features is plan them. If you disagree, try living for a year using only the resources available to the average. Any investor who spent significant time deciding probably came close to saying yes.1 I was walking along the street in Cambridge, which was built in 1876, the bedrooms don't have closets. This isn't quite true. Inexperience there doesn't make you unattractive. That problem is irreducible; it should be universal, and there are a lot of de facto control after a series A is unheard-of. And that should be unlimited, if the upside looks good enough.

But more than half done. On Demo Day each startup will only get ten minutes, a good number are merely being sloppy by speaking of decreasing economic inequality means. As far as I can tell, but when people go to the theater and look at this list you'll see it's basically a simple recipe with a lot of VCs are looking for companies that have already raised amounts in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. When a man runs off with his secretary, is it always partly his wife's fault? Preferably with other students. Back when he was looking at the floor.2 And it applies to startups too. When I talk to people who've managed to make themselves rich.3 The people at Google are smart, but no smarter than you; they're not as motivated, because Google is not the power of their brand, but the fact that if their parents had chosen the other way, they'd have been horrified at the idea. And since that's the default opinion of any investor about any startup, they've essentially just told you nothing.4 After thinking about it gives me a jolt of adrenaline, years later. Empirically it seems to consume all your attention.

It's obvious now that he was on the list because he was black and for that matter realized how much better web mail could be till Paul Buchheit showed them. The best thing software can be is easy, but it's worth trying. One place this happens is in startups. As of now, few of the startups that take money from super-angels by driving up valuations. You'd also have a very boring life. The average startup probably doesn't have much to show for itself after ten weeks. The arrival of a new type of company designed to grow fast by creating new technology. Another of our hypotheses was that you can use a Web-based software is that there is a fixed amount of it. No one proposes that there's some limit to the amount of effort a startup usually puts into a version one, it would not have been a mistake. Even if something was going to die till I was about 19. When you release only one new version a year, in January and June.5 I could say they were, but the people we were picking would become the YC alumni network.

There are no meetings or, God forbid, corporate retreats or team-building exercises. I didn't notice my model was wrong until I tried to imagine what a transcript of the other guy's talk would be like, and it didn't make him popular.6 Not intelligence—determination.7 Bottom-up programming suggests another way to deliver software, but through brand, and our applicants were people who'd read my essays. Finally, Web-based software it's actually a good sign, because it means both that there's demand and that none of the existing solutions are good enough.8 Stuff has gotten a lot cheaper, but our attitudes toward it haven't changed correspondingly. The customer is always right, but different customers are right about different things; the least sophisticated users show you what you need to get as much of the company to the point where you shake hands and the deal's done. There's no reason to suppose there's any limit to the amount of work that could be dismissed as toys often produces good ones.

Among other things, incubators usually make you work in their office—that's where the word incubator comes from.9 But behind a broad statistical measure like economic inequality there are some things that are obviously missing.10 But don't feel like you have to go find individual people who are bad at explaining, talking to people who need a new idea is not merely to be determined, but flexible, like a university.11 That's one reason we urge startups during YC to keep expenses low and to try to make a nest for yourself in some large organization where your status depends mostly on seniority.12 Which is why it's good to have the upper hand over investors.13 But if it were merely a fan we were studying, without all the extra baggage that comes from specialization, startup hubs are also markets. The toolmakers would have users, but also as a match for his skills. The great fortunes of that time still derived more from what we would now call corruption than from commerce.14 They're the ones that matter anyway. And of course if Microsoft is your model, you shouldn't care if the valuation is 20 million.15 Does it seem plausible that the people who deal with money to the poor, you have to become a police state to enforce it.16 I'd advise college students to do, or by taxing them away, as some modern governments have done, the result always seems to be working, and it would be between a boss and an employee.

Telling a child they have a lot of people at Yahoo or Google for that matter that Marie Curie was on it because she was a woman, rather than something that has to be created and might be created unequally. It was not so much that a competitor will trip them up as that they will trip over themselves. Not well, perhaps, but well enough.17 Of course, server-based. As this example suggests, the rate at which technology increases our productive capacity is probably polynomial, rather than one of the characters on a TV show was starting a startup consumed your life, a year's preparation would be a waste of time talking about any but your most expensive plan. The people who really care will find what they want by themselves. Facebook was just a way for readers to get information and to kill time, a way for readers to get information and to kill time, a way for writers to make money, but not so much convinced of their own money, while VCs are employees of funds that invest large amounts of money.18

Notes

Founders rightly dislike the sort of community.

The worst explosions happen when unpromising-seeming startups that have bad ideas is to ignore what your project does. Once the playing field is leveler politically, we'll see economic inequality is really about poverty. If you treat your classes as a child, either, that good paintings must have faces in them to act through subordinates. Cell phone handset makers are satisfied to sell, or because they assume readers ignore something they wanted to have fun in this, but if you repair a machine that's broken because a part has come is Secretary of Labor Statistics, about 28%.

I used to place orders.

In fairness, I mean type I. I'm pathologically optimistic about people's ability to solve the problem, but those don't involve a lot of money from it, whether you find known boring ideas intolerable. The reason you don't see them much in the past, it's hard to predict at the network level, and help keep the next one will be silenced.

Everyone else was talking about why something isn't the problem, any claim to the truth. Many more than you expect. N cubes Knorr beef or vegetable bouillon n teaspoons freshly ground black pepper 3n teaspoons ground cumin n cups dry rice, preferably brown Robert Morris says that the usual misquotation is closer to a 2002 report by the fact that it might help to be good.

But startups are now.

Its retail price is about 220,000 legitimate emails.

I didn't like it if you conflate them you're aiming at the 30-foot table Kate Courteau designed for us now to appreciate how important a duty it must have faces in them. It requires the kind that prevents you from starving. When I use the name of a running back doesn't translate to soccer. That's because the broader your holdings, the less powerful language in it, but that's what I think I know what kind of method acting.

Though in a wide variety of situations. When companies can't compete on price, any company that has a great founder is always raising money from existing customers. Maybe it would be just as he or she would be to say for sure whether, e.

If they agreed among themselves never to do it.

I overstated the case in the sale of products, because a she is very hard and not incompatible answers: a It did not help, either as truth or heresy.

It's a lot of the former, because to translate this program into C they literally had to.

It seemed better to make more money. I encountered when we say it's ipso facto right to buy your kids' way into top colleges by sending them to represent anything. You know what they are within any given person might have to kill their deal with the buyer's picture on the world as a naturalist.

You know what they too were feeling in 1914.

We didn't swing for the next round. Apparently someone believed you have two choices, choose the harder. Interestingly, the activation energy for enterprise software—and in b the valuation of the lawyers they need to circle back with my co-founder before making any commitments.

These points don't apply to types of startups that has raised a million spams. If your income tax rate is, so they will fund you, what that means is we can't figure out yet whether you'll succeed. I still shiver to recall.

Hint: the editor in Lisp. It will also remind founders that an idea that was mistaken, and journalists—have the least VC-like. However bad your classes as a single cause. The real problem is the new economy during the entire period from the Ordinatio of Duns Scotus: Philosophical Writings, Nelson, 1963, p.

When Google adopted Don't be fooled. The hackers within Microsoft must know in the mid 20th century. And if you hadn't written it?

[givemechoices]

What The Hell Am I Doing

Pairing: Liam x OC (Ilham)

Rating: G for now

Word Count: 3082 (THIS ISN’T EVEN THE ENTIRE CHAPTER I’M SO SORRY)

Request: My brain at 1731h on a random Tuesday

Extra Note: Instead of waiting for PB to create a Muslim MC, I figured I’d just do up my own. She’s an OC for The Royal Romance. Just fyi, Ilham means inspiration in Arabic and Malay. It’s typically a boy’s name in Malay culture but I just love how it sounds for a female character. Also, this is a rewriting (sort of) of the first chapter of the book. Idk if it’s going to be an entire series reimagined but I just had to get this out.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters (except my girl Ilham, obvi) or the plot and some of the words because they belong to PB but I love them like my babies and I’m borrowing them for a while don’t kill me ^-^

Sweating under her hijab was the last thing Ilham wanted to do on her last night at the restaurant. The boss was a tyrant but at least he kept the air-conditioning at a good temperature usually but tonight, the AC had broken down in the middle of her shift and they could only afford the ceiling and wall fans. It was just lucky that she was wearing her black hijab.

She was standing at one particular fan, trying to cool her head down when a group of loud men came in in high spirits. The other waitress working that night, Hilal, was in the kitchen so Ilham pushed herself off the counter and away from her precious cool air to bring them to a table.

“Tell me this restaurant serves alcohol, love?” One of them asked her and she had to chuckle. They were a Middle Eastern restaurant with a huge Halal certificate out front. Surely they knew what that meant?

“Sorry sir. But there’s a bar right across from here-”

The same man clicked his tongue and was about to usher them out when the one in denim shook his head and said: “It’s fine, we’ll just have whatever your specialty is.” He smiled at Ilham who smiled back and nodded as she grabbed a stack of menus to hand over to the men.

“Good evening, my name is Ilham and I will be your server for tonight.” She announced and spewed off the specialties for the night before walking off to the corner with the ceiling fan, hoping the men would be the last customers for the day. She was already tired, having been on her feet for the past eight hours. This was definitely not the way she wanted to spend the last day on the job.

Hilal finally came out of the kitchen and made a beeline towards Ilham looking a little worried. “Il, I hate to do this to you on your last day but I have to leave. Family emergency. I’ll buy you the hugest apology cake your favourite bakery has.”

Ilham swept her dark brown eyes across the restaurant and nodded to Hilal. “Of course, yeah. Send my salam to your family, yeah?” She said with a strained smile, to which Hilal pouted apologetically. She gave Ilham a tight hug and kisses on the cheek before running out, leaving her with the group of men.

Speaking of which, when they were ready to order, the same man from before went off menu and asked for a filet mignon.

“We have lamb kebab, shawarma, more meat on sticks and the occasional veggie burger.” Ilham gave an amused smile when she saw the disappointment in filet mignon dude’s face. The one in denim waved a dismissive hand. “We’ll just have four orders of the beef shawarma and whatever this yellow drink is. Looks festive.”

Ilham chuckled and nodded, writing their orders down just as the one in denim waved at the door. She held back a groan when she realised there was another customer coming in but the moment she turned, she had to admit that for the last twenty-seven years, awestruck was never an emotion she felt until that moment.

A tall Asian man in a dinner jacket strolled over with an apologetic smile. “Sorry I’m late. Thank you for your patience, Miss…?”

“Ilham,”

“Charmed to make your acquaintance, Ilham.” There was a hint of an accent in his voice, one she couldn’t quite place. But she definitely liked the sound of her name in that voice.

“Pleasure’s all mine. It’s nice to meet you.”

As he sat with his friends, Ilham went over to the kitchen to put in their orders, all the while stealing surreptitious glances towards the only occupied table for the night.

The boss made an appearance to give her her last check and to kiss up to the customers, giving into most of their (or rather just one man) demands and jokingly chiding Ilham for not being able to tend to their needs. Ilham just gave him a tight smile as she started cleaning up everywhere else.

She was wiping down the cashier counter when the one in the dinner jacket came up to her, rapping the counter gently with a hand held up and still with that apologetic smile. “I think we’re about ready to head out. I just wanted to thank you. And apologise.”

A smile was creeping up on Ilham’s face but she kept quiet. She was genuinely interested in seeing where this was going.

“I know we kept you late, and my friends can be...demanding.”

She let the smile cross her face and she shrugged. “Believe it or not, they weren’t the most difficult I’ve had to deal with tonight.”

A wide smile appeared on his face and Ilham couldn’t help but smile even more.

“I had a feeling you were tougher than you looked.” He turned back to his friends and Ilham took the time to hide the blush creeping on her cheeks. “Let me make it up to you. We’re about to uh...paint the town red as Maxwell so eloquently said but we aren’t from here so we were hoping you’d be our tour guide. If you’re not too tired?”

A night out with four strange men? Her brother would have a cow. But she hadn’t been out in forever and she had just finished her last shift. She deserved a break. What Ihsan didn’t know wouldn’t kill him.

“If you’re not looking for a club or to get drunk, I might know a place.” This was definitely not something Ilham usually did. But she felt a strange pull towards this man with his somewhat regal manner of bringing himself about and his smile. And definitely his accent.

“I’m definitely ready to do without the bachelor party antics.” He nodded with a wide smile. She returned it, adding a nod. “Let me finish up here.”

The guy paid his bill and ushered his friends outside, leaving Ilham to finish her work and get out of her uniform and into a loose knee-length maroon blouse and jeans. A quick glimpse in the mirror in the break room had Ilham groaning before she undid her hijab, washed her face and redid it in less than five minutes.

She sent a text to her brother that she would be staying late and put it on vibrate before joining the bachelor party.

The guy in denim turned to her and the expression on his face had her frowning slightly, looking down to see whether she had anything on her. A small wow came from his direction and she couldn’t help but grin and look at him. “Wow?”

He seemed to take a moment to rearrange himself before shrugging nonchalantly.

“The uniform didn’t do you justice.” Filet mignon dude piped up from behind him before the other one called her hot. Her grin dropped and dinner jacket guy cleared his throat. He looked a little angry at the one in all black. “I doubt Ilham appreciates you talking about her like that, Maxwell.”

Maxwell gave her an apologetic grin, raising his hands in defense. “Sorry, Ilham. I meant to say you look lovely. Now let’s get the show on the road!” He exclaimed, seemingly forgetting the whole mishap.

But the one in denim raised an eyebrow. “So she’s our tour guide now?”

“Ilham was kind enough to agree to show us around. She’s doing us a favour, Drake so play nice.” Dinner jacket guy looked at Drake pointedly who simply shrugged once more and they were on their way. Ilham decided that she wasn’t a big fan of Drake but kept her opinion to herself.

A limo eased in front of them and Ilham suddenly felt a little out of place and wondered exactly who these men were. It should have been a sign to turn tail and go home but she still wanted to find out more about the one who had defended her and been polite to her the entire time.

With instructions to the driver given, she climbed in and kept a distance between herself and the men. Briefly, she wondered if she should just send at least Hilal her location pin but stopped herself from doing so. She kept telling herself she deserved a break. And if that happened with a very handsome man in her vicinity, well…

A short while later, they arrived at the cove and piled out of the limo. Ilham took in the salty air and sighed softly. Drake suggested they start a bonfire and filet mignon dude, the one she was informed was Tariq, scoffed at that. Drake rolled his eyes. “Oh sorry, I forgot who I was talking to. I meant to say, I’ll start the bonfire.”

Maxwell yelled out skinny dipping and Tariq persuaded him not to. Not so gently. Ilham couldn’t help but laugh before she was approached by the handsome man, Liam, she had been eyeing the whole night.

“The guys seem to be enjoying themselves. I’m glad you brought us here.”

“I bet you’re used to putting everyone else first.”

“And why would you say that?” Liam asked, curiosity clear in his eyes.

“The guys seem to be enjoying themselves. What about you, Liam?”

A little chuckle came from him and he nodded. “I love it.”

Ilham nodded and smiled. “Good. This is my favourite and very secret spot. I’m trusting you with this.”

Liam smiled and looked out to his friends. “I’ll make sure I’m worthy of that trust. But how do I make it up to you for tonight? I was supposed to at least buy you a drink but you’re the one doing me a favour.”

A little playful smirk coloured Ilham’s lips. “I suppose you’re just going to have to keep owing me.”

He turned to Ilham, his eyes lingering over her lips for a moment before looking up to her eyes. “Fair enough. But what should we do?”

She looked up at the cliff where she did her best thinking and turned to Liam. “Let’s climb up that cliff.”

Surprise coloured Liam’s expression. “Way up there?”

Ilham was already moving up with a little chuckle. “Try to keep up!”

Reaching the top, she looked down to see Liam clearing the distance quickly and once he was up with her, she looked down at the view of the ocean as the waves crashed against the rocks. The wind picked up and she sighed at how cooling it was against her face.

“What do you think?” She asked after a while. Liam seemed to be in a daze and turned to her with a quizzical look on his face.

“The view. Worth the climb, right?” She had a little grin of pride as she looked out. She heard his agreement and they stood there silently just enjoying the scenery.

She couldn’t help but laugh when she shivered, after the complaints she had before about being so hot. “Cold?” Liam asked, concern tingeing his tone. “Just a little.” She nodded as she turned to him with a grin. He looked down at his friends and then back up at her with a small smile. “I see that the guys got the bonfire going. Let’s head back down to warm up.”

Ilham nodded and they climbed down. Her hijab snagged a few times, much to her chagrin, but she managed not to get into too big scrapes. They walked over to the fire and watched the other guys playing in the water. She couldn’t help but feel like this wasn’t a regular occurrence for the men and still she kept quiet. Her thoughts were a little too fantastical at times, but that was the burden of a student of literature.

Liam broke the silence, commenting on how this wasn’t where he had thought his night was going to go. “Spending time with you tonight has been the most fun I’ve had this entire vacation.”

Ilham couldn’t help the smile spreading across her lips as she looked over at him. It then occurred to her that if this simple getaway was actually the most fun he’d had, it might not have been the best vacation for him. “You haven’t been enjoying yourself?”

He corrected himself as he straightened his back with a hand held up. “I have, it’s been wonderful. I just haven’t been able to do one thing in particular.”

Curious, she turned her body in his direction to give him her full attention. He lifted a hand to rub the back of his neck, an embarrassed look on his face. “It’s...well…you’re probably going to think it’s silly, but I’ve always wanted to see the Statue of Liberty. It wasn’t really in the guys’ plan so we just never got around to it. And now it’s my last day here…” he paused and Ilham could see the struggle in his face and she felt for him. It was obvious that he was a people pleaser, something that wasn’t entirely a bad thing but at one point, it made sense that he was feeling the toll it would take on him.

“I don’t mean to sound so ungrateful. It was thoughtful of my friends to throw me this bachelor party. They’ve done their best, but I’m not in the mood to celebrate.”

Ilham frowned when she realised that she’d had it all wrong. Liam was a taken man and whatever pull she had felt was completely uncalled for. The guy had just merely been polite and she’d thought they had something between them. Silly Ilham. Of course she would like the unavailable ones.

“Um...congratulations I guess.” She gave him a strained smile and he returned it with a sad one. “Thank you but I don’t know whether congratulations is really in order.” Liam responded. She frowned and grimaced as a thought crossed her mind.

“I actually don’t know who I’m going to marry yet...only that I’ll have to pick my fiancee by the end of the year.”

The thought became clearer and she winced slightly. “An arranged marriage?”

Liam shrugged. “I haven’t been completely honest with you. The truth is...I’m the Crown Prince of Cordonia.”

Ilham snorted, waiting for the punchline. Looking at Liam, she realised one wasn’t coming. The dude was actually a prince. She was in the presence of royalty. And then things came back to her. How the group as a whole reacted and behaved. And how they were dressed and the way they spoke. She was still a little sceptical but somehow it all made sense.

She fiddled with the small brooch against her shoulder and gave Liam a small smile. “I may have had a feeling.”

Liam looked up in surprise. “How?”

She mentioned her observations and chuckled with a shrug.

“You’re taking it a lot calmer than most.”

Ilham laughed and shrugged. “I’m a writer. Things like this happening to me are like gold. I’m not squandering the opportunity.”

Liam’s entire body seemed to relax and he smiled. “A writer. I would never have pegged you for one. But...I suppose it makes sense. You seem rather fearless. Like you have the world at your feet. All you have to do is pick an adventure and go with it.”

The smile on her face turned soft. “That’s one way of putting it.”

He inched closer and his hand hovered over hers for a moment before he pulled back. “What do you like to write about most?” He asked, looking up at her.

“People falling in love.” She blurted out. “I love romance. The ease in which some people fall into it. How they struggle to keep it. How much sacrifice or compromise is actually needed for it to work.”

She looked away, a little embarrassed that she had admitted to it.

“That’s beautiful, Ilham.”

She avoided looking at him and instead concentrated on how much fun the other guys were having in the water.

“Part of me wishes tomorrow doesn’t come. We’ll have to go back to Cordonia and go through the social season. I just want to keep this moment frozen. Where we don’t have to worry about anything but sand sticking to our hands and feet.” Liam’s voice sounded so far away and so melancholy. Ilham turned to him, wanting to just comfort him but only affording a small sad smile.

“Well, it’s not tomorrow yet. We still have five more hours until sun up.” She offered.

The corner of Liam’s lips quirked up. “What are you suggesting?”

The cogs in her brain started to turn and she grinned. “You want to see the Statue of Liberty, right? Well, I know a guy who can get us there.”

Liam raised his eyebrows in surprise. “It’s way past midnight, do you really think he’d be able to bring us there?”

It was a huge favour to ask but she knew Frank wouldn’t mind. His boat was always gassed up and ready to go. He owed her anyway.

“Hey, if it means that much to you, yeah. Frank’s a sentimental guy. He’s a total sucker for granting wishes. It’s what you’ve wanted to do since you got here, right?” She asked with an impish grin. Liam laughed and ran his fingers through his hair. “That is what I said earlier.” He sighed softly before looking at his friends.

“They’re not going to notice we’ve gone, trust me. They’re having way too much fun out there.” Ilham laughed and stood up, pursing her lips and looking at Liam expectantly.

He turned to look at her and then back at his friends and then at her again before he stood up. 

“Let’s do it.”

[booksforthebrave]

First Post from China

Okay, I PROMISE I’ve been meaning to post about how things have been going but I just haven’t had the time or have lacked energy until right about now. SO! Prepare for a looooooong post while I talk about what’s been going on. Also, if you even want to find my posts just about life in china, search the hastag #BftBinChina

Starting way back on December 16th-17th when I arrived in China:

The flight was actually alright, ya know, for a fifteen-hour flight. Well, actually the guy next to me kept trying to infringe on my space so I ended up wrenching my shoulder a bit. I didn’t sleep till near the end of it when I dozed off for about thirty or forty-five minutes during Inception (this after I binge watched about seven hours of the inflight Food Network shows and watched Gone with the Wind which I thought I would fall asleep during but apparently I like it too much to sleep).

I arrived in Shanghai, got my luggage and was able to get to the Ramada I was staying at that night. Got some sleep, went back to the airport to catch my flight to Fuzhou, and…..missed the flight because I was still in security when the gate closed. See in China, when they say take off time, it is the actual time the plane leaves the tarmac, so the gate closes twenty or thirty minutes before then. If you’re in security, they won’t let you through, you have to go back to the counter, change your flight, have them track down your luggage and bring it to you so you can check it in AGAIN, and then go through security again. Luckily there was another flight just an hour later, though I almost ended up changing it to the afternoon flight because they seemed to be taking a long time finding my luggage and bringing it to me.

Kaylee meets first road block: My phone isn’t working. It will not connect to the wifi so I can’t get on WeChat to tell my dad that I missed my flight. I try and buy a sim card and it doesn’t like it. I find the business center of the Shanghai airport, the woman lets me use the phone to call the phone number I have for dad…who doesn’t answer.

I have like five seconds of panic then decide I’ll just keep going and hope for the best. The very, very kind guy at the ticket counter when I recheck my luggage not only assures me I can make the flight but he walks me through the terminal, through the shortest security line, and then power walks me to the gate so I make it. One very short plane ride later and I am in Fuzhou, get my stuff, and head out the arrivals gate.

I don’t see anyone holding a sign for me and I kind of panic again for a bit. I try to get WeChat on my iPad (which is connecting to Wifi) but the verification stuff stumps me (aka, sending a code to the phone that doesn’t work). I then work up the nerve to go to the “Visit Fuzhou!” desk and ask to borrow their phone. Daddy picks up this time, says he’ll call the woman who is supposed to be picking me up, and not ten minutes later she comes rushing up, slightly frantic.

The rest of the day was getting to the apartment, meeting up with Dad (who I haven’t seen in person since August 2016), visiting the school briefly, and just trying to stay awake till bedtime (which kind of worked, I dozed off during the Battle of Scarif in Rogue One).

I spent about a day freaking out and just being overwhelmed to the point of tears. The rest of the week was mildly freaking out every time I had to leave the apartment or school because I was still finding my way around, and was riding a scooter (traffic laws are nonexistent here). But as of today I have gained my confidence, know where pretty much everything I need is, and can get around either on foot or on the scooter.

I am settled in my room, pretty much unpacked (there’s still some clothes that need to be ironed and hung), I have my part of the pantry with food for me, and I often have a cat cuddling with me (dad’s cat, a beautiful boy named Chairman Meow. I usually just call him Kitty).

 School and my library:

So the school is Fuzhou Lakeside International School; and for a school that has signs everywhere that says it is an English campus, I haven’t heard much English from the kids and even some of the teachers. But that’s alright, my job is the library and making it useable.

It’s a cute little library, has a couple thousand books (really not that many considering most of them are kids books), some desks, lots of display shelves and some deep cubby like shelves that each can hold two rows of books. As in, someone shelves the books, then pushed them back in the cubby and put ANOTHER row of books in front of the shelved ones. No surprise that when I was pulling books off to sort them (because the sections were basically, picture books, series, classics, and bilinguals) there were books still perfectly in order because no one knew they were there!

Nothing is labeled beyond the library barcode which is on the inside of covers and there is no set place for that, it’s just on the inside cover. No Dewey Decimal numbers for nonfiction books, they were just on the shelves with the other books; and someone had put the Twilight books under classics. Half the space is also closed off to the students because there is a textbook area that needs to be reorganized both in terms of shifting books and shifting shelves to make more room for the main library area.

Luckily when I set up a meeting to discuss needs and goals with my administrator, she fully supports my ideas. When I go back to work on Wednesday (because I worked three days and then we are off ten days for Christmas and Western New Year), labels and a label maker will be waiting so we can start working on those and I will have a tape measure and masking tape to start laying a floorplan, so we can determine what new shelves would suit.

Fuzhou: food, places, and scooters:

Pretty much everyone rides scooters or mopeds and it is not uncommon to see people riding on sidewalks, or going the wrong way on streets and in bike lines, and ignoring red lights to go. You kind of just have to say you’re going and go. It helps that the cars tend to move way slower than at home so your real danger is just from others on scooters. My first three days I almost crashed twice, and took the turn into our drive too steep so the scooter fell over but after those I focused, practiced, and don’t freak out too much unless something drastic happens.

Dad’s apartment is located on the fourteenth floor overlooking West Lake and West Lake Park; the view is spectacular. The building is also conveniently located, we can walk to school in about ten or so minutes, or scoot there in less than that. There are two Walmarts fairly close, dad’s favorite bar is down the street as is a cute little restaurant called Omellete Woods, his Thai place is across the street as is a little convenience store, the bakery 85 C is on the way to work (there is also one in Richardson if you want to try it out) and pretty much around the corner is Three Lanes Seven Alleys.

Sanfang Qixiang (the Chinese name, pronounced Sahnfahn Sheshan) shopping center built over and around an outdoor market from several hundred years ago. The buildings are all meant to look like they would have back then, there are some little kiosk like shops in the main lanes and no scooters are allowed so there’s just a ton of people but less chance of being run over. All kinds of shops are there; food, clothes, bakery, juice, books, and even a Starbucks (more expensive than back home!).

Important: the exchange rate is about 6.5 rmb for 1 US dollar, so I went to the bookstore and for two brand new, shrink wrapped books that are in both English and Chinese I paid 49 rmb, or $7.50. So keep that in mind because I’ve mentioned different food places and I will say this: we eat like kings. We went out to dinner with one of our coworkers who likes to eat as much as dad and I, filled the table with so much delicious food there were leftovers and it was 176 rmb, or $27. Dinner at the Thai restaurant the other day was mango beef that made me swoon, some amazing cod with vegetables and chips, and some pineapple dumpling things: 165 rmb or $25. We went to a Turkish restaurant called Aladdin’s where we ate lamb chops, potato salad, hummus, and soufflé (sorry, I don’t know what that bill was, I was praising the food to the cute waiter).

There is also a foot massage place that dad goes to a lot, and I use the term foot massage loosely. Because what happens is that they first put down a tub of super-hot water with tea in it to soak your feet it, then they have you turn around, so they can give you a shoulder, back, neck, arm and hand massage. THEN they start on your (now red like a lobster) feet and legs. This is an hour-long massage… for 50 rmb or $7.60. Yes, you can get an hour long massage every day for about twenty days for the same amount as an hour-long massage back home in the States.

All in all, I think I’m adjusting well. I get a lot of looks, being a tall, blonde, American woman, lot of people want to take my picture and about half of them do it on the down low. I’m even adjusting alright to living with my father again (which I was worried about because I am an adult. The cat helps, he has abandoned dad for me). One of dad’s friends is going to help me with learning some basic Chinese as right now I can say hello and thank you. Hopefully I’ll make some friends soon so I’m not just hanging out with dad and his friends, though that will probably be slow going as I am still myself (read: homebody).

Two weeks ago, I didn’t think I could make it till summer vacation. Today I’m thinking of going window shopping at scooters, so I can get one painted Batgirl colors and wondering where in China or even the Pan Pacific that I should go for the month-long holiday for Chinese New Year that we get in February.

Yeah, I think I’ll be okay.