#wow i am such a smartypants

[coquelicoq]

disordered eatings cw

just realized i haven't experieienced haunger in like a week and therefore i keep forgetiting to eat and that is prorbably nogt helping with my energy prohblems...turns out hunger is good for something eafter all. but i just have literally no appetite whatsoever like where did it go??

[volturiprincess]

From the other side

Demetri Volturi x F newborn vampire

Warnings: Foul language, death, mentions of a Emetophobia, I bash on the Cullens here A/N: This was a request by @kpopgirlbtssvt, I got to say I enjoyed working on this. Its been a while since I worked on an actual long one-shot request but I hope the wait was worth it, and I might of changed some ideas on the request slightly (but still stayed on topic). Enjoy💙 Word Count: 4k+ (wow)

_____________________________

(He's just so gorgeous🥰)

“I think she’s waking up”

“How do you know?”

“Well you can see her eyeball moving Emmett, I'm no doctor but I think that is a sign she is waking up”

“Oh well sorry Mister Smartypants, didn't know I was in the presences of an expert”

“Focus, should we fetch Carlisle? He said he would be back soon but what if he’s already here?”

“I'll check, you stay here incase she starts moving around, wouldn't want her newborn instincts to kill Nessie”

“Fairpoint”

Why do I feel so strange? Where the hell am I? Maybe I should wake up, maybe the one with the southern accent could give me answers. I force myself to wake up and when I do everything seems so different. Everything seems so focused, enhanced, so…perfect. When has my vision ever been this good? I know I've been neglecting my glasses quite often but even with my glasses on I never had such good eyesight, I always thought I never needed them. I sit up slowly to check my surroundings. Crap! Where am I? What even happened to me? 

Flashback….

Just left my final class of the day, Anatomy is such a pain in the ass really. Why did I decide to take both Anatomy 1 and Genetics in the same semester? But I mean it's worth it, get the harder classes out of the way and then I can maybe squeeze in other classes I am interested in before graduating. I clinged my heavy textbooks to my chest tighter as I tiredly made my way to my small apartment. I got lucky that this place was cheap compared to living on campus, and the bonus to it is that my place is about 5 minutes away from campus. I heard the school bell ring signaling some class has ended, instantly I'm surrounded by a swarm of students like me. All of them either off to  their next class, or home, or even getting a late lunch. I was slightly pushed around until I managed to find an opening but not everything can go to plan. As I was trying to get to the opening someone shoved me a bit too hard and the books I was clutching flew out of my arms, I went along with them.

I heard a simple “My bad” and then I was met with silence. I hurriedly picked up my stuff and saw how people just looked but didn't help or offer a hand. Situations like this makes me want to just disappear. Just be able to get to point A to B without any mishaps. I composed myself mentally and continued my walk to my apartment. Considering it's only 5, it's already pitch black. I don't like walking alone at night, sure I’m a night owl, but I like to be alone in a safe space. As I'm walking I felt that weird feeling of being watched, it's like a sixth sense to me at this point, please tell me it's just my paranoia and not real. I do a quick scan and I'm met with no one but silence that makes an exception to the far off train horn. I hurried off trying to shake off that paranoia until I bumped into what I thought was a wall (ended up being a ‘human’)and then I was met with darkness.

Present…

I felt my eyes fill with tears but I soon noticed they would not fall, I tried blinking but nothing happened. I went to wipe my eyes with my hand instead but felt my hand move abnormally faster. Okay what the heck? I know I sometimes have my days where my reflexes kick in or not but I have never been able to move that fast. And as if on cue my throat felt so dry, I felt like I could drain the pacific and yet that would not be enough to satisfy the level of thirst I have. I tried swallowing but noticed that it didn't even help or even do anything.

“Carlisle should be here soon with something to subdue the thirst”

My gaze snaps to the man who is casually keeping guard at the door. The way he stood made me think he was maybe in the military or something. Why is he beautiful? His blonde locks styled perfectly and his eyes… Are they gold? I have never seen that type of eye color on someone before, I mean I have read a book where one of the characters had pirate gold eyes but in person that’s strange.

“Wh-wha- where am I?”

The way his gaze slowly met mine gave me the creeps, it was like from a scene of a horror movie, where if you spot something from a distance and then you blink, they are right in front of you, killing you.

“Carlisle will answer your questions”

“Why can't you?”

“I'm not in a position to be telling you stuff, all I'm here is to keep you calm since you are a newborn”

“A newborn?”

And then I was met with silence, he turned away from me so he was back to facing the wall like he was previously. 

“Could I at least get your name?”

“Jasper Whitlock, ma’am”

What feels like ages, another man walks in with a big guy. The first one seems like he is the one in charge around here, he seemed nice. He had a calm presence within, but the other guy seemed like he was ready to pick up a fight, probably the muscles around here. Now that I'm thinking about it more, am I in some sort of mafia? But these guys don't seem all that scary, maybe the big one and the Jasper guy. The calm one got closer to me and offered me a cup.

“Here drink this, it should help with the thirst”

I crabbed the cup hesitantly, hoping it wouldn't kill me, and drank it desperately. Finishing it in milliseconds, I did feel a small relief but I still had that feeling of an intense thirst. 

“We will give you more later but I think you deserve an explanation”

“You think”

He smiled gently but nodded “Well to start of you are not human anymore, you might of picked that up slightly since you have woken up”

Not human anymore? But what could I possibly be then? What have they done to me? Am I a monster now?

“You are now a newborn, a vampire to be exact”

That right there was the biggest mick drop of my life. What does he mean i'm a-a vampire? Those exist? I thought they were just myths, that they are just some made up thing that people build up over the years. But now I'm somehow one now? This shit can't be real, he probably has me on some drugs on something. Yeah that's right, probably drugged me and I'm trapped in some dream or something.

“I can see your in denial, there’s really no way to really explain it but you really are a vampire, that cup you drank from was filled with blood, deer blood to be exact”

Oh heck no. I drank blood? I never had a problem with blood, I mean I have a major in the medical field for a reason. Just can't get over vomiting, that's just a big phobia of mine, someone throws up and I'm literally about to faint. But enough of that.

“You gotta be joking here, vampires do not exist, there just myths”

“Well with all honesty here, I assure you I'm not joking, not with the times we are facing now”

“And what is that?”

“Well my family and I are in a bit of a dilemma, you see we have engaged another coven of vampires, and they are threatening to kill our family over a misunderstanding”

“Pardon my language, but what the fuck? What do you mean ‘another coven of vampires’ and a supposed death threat, there's more of you guys out there?”

The big guy chuckled slightly at my foul language and I heard him mumble a “Oh I like her, she’s way more funny than Bella”

“Yes well you see, our kind if basically spread out around the world, this other coven of vampires are living in Italy, but this coven is basically like our government, royalty you can say even, there more dangerous than us, they feed on human blood and they have gifts that can wipe out humanity in an instant”

Ok this other coven sounds scary, wipe out humanity? What the hell did this guy and his family do to anger them anyways, must be pretty serious.

“So let me guess this straight, you and your family have angered this powerful coven of vampires who can in your words wipe out humanity and…are doing what now?”

“Well we been gathering witness to help us avoid a fight with this coven”

“I see but what exactly did you do to anger this coven of powerful vampires then?”

“My son and his new wife had a baby”

“A baby? I'm sorry I don't see a problem here”

“Vampires cannot recreate, that's what I thought until my then human daughter-in-law got pregnant”

“Ok? Still not seeing a problem here”

“I guess an easier way to explain is as I said vampires cannot recreate, we are biologically not able to do such thing between two vampires, but between a vampire male and female human, it's possible but the problem here is the Volturi believe we have created an immortal child, which we didn't”

“I see so then why do they believe you created an immortal child? And also what is an immortal child?”

“An immortal child is a child what was turned into a vampire, there stuck as a child for eternity and cannot control their thirst or be calmed or even age, they are in modern terminology are illegal, and to answer the other question, apparently hybrids are not common and they did not know about them existing”

 The more he answers my questions, the more I think I am definitely dreaming, no way in hell is all of this real. Why am I even being roped into this? I was just some human who was just trying to be a Physician and now that dream is out the window because I'm apparently a vampire now. I need to wake up, this cannot be my life right now, I have so much to live for still. Sure I was quiet and not in some relationship but I still liked the life I had. 

“Now the real question here is, why or how am I even part of this?”

They were all quiet instantly and none of them were making eye contact with me. Ok weird… I mean even the big guys amused look was gone and that guy answering my questions with a small smile was also gone. Something here does not feel right. Someone burst into the room, which freaked me out a bit because this guy along with his buddy looked intimidating with all their leather and the intense red eyes. I felt a weird current roll down my body and then I heard gasps. The Jasper dude looked at me with wide eyes, well everyone was looking at me with the same wide eyes. 

“She’s gone!”

“No I don't think so Emmett, she’s gifted”

“What are the odds of finding one that is gifted”

“Not very likely”

Why are they all talking about me as if I wasn't there?

“Um i'm right here”

The ‘nice’ one spoke up first “Well it seems you have a gift miss, your invisible currently”

“Seriously?” I looked down and as he said I am indeed invisible. Maybe that weird current I felt earlier was me triggering this. Should I tell him this?

“How were you able to do that?”

“I don't know, I um felt a weird feeling run through me after those two over there came in”

“Vladimir and Stefan triggered it? Hmm it seems it came from fear then, interesting”

So those are their names, I wonder who is who. My wild guess is the platinum blonde is Vladimir and the dark haired one is Stefan. 

As if he knew I was talking about him, the platinum started to speak “So you were desperate enough for witnesses that you created a newborn? That’s low even for you Carlisle. At least she’s gifted but even then she probably has no combat skills so she won't be able to tear heads off if the time comes”

Ok y/n, let's think about becoming visible, I don't like how they're just staring at me like that, and also speaking smack about me either. Smoke started to surround me for a minute and when I looked at my hands to see I was now visible. Again I heard the gasp. 

“How did you do that?”

“I was just thinking about wanting to be visible”

“Well that’s good to know how your gift works”

“I guess”

Carlisle, it took him like thirty minutes to tell me his name, started to explain the situation more and even introduced me to the other members of his family. Jasper along with his friend taught me some basic combat skills in case a fight broke out with the confrontation. But the weird thing I discovered was when I met the infamous son, Edward, I was able to read his mind when he was reading mine, he gave me a funky look each time and tried to reduce his thoughts as much as he could. 

Funny enough but also traumatizing, he was always thinking about his honeymoon with his wife. I do not need to know how his child was conceived. When I met Alice a similar thing happened, she spaced out (which I found out she does when she has a vision) and I saw me with another figure, a man to be exact. The man in the vision was gorgeous, I never knew such a person could exist, he looked like a greek god. I think I might have another gift but I'm not sure I should tell Carlisle, there's just something off about why he won't tell me about how I became a vampire or what happened to me that night. 

—-------------------------------

Today is the day of the confrontation. Just last night I found out about vampires and now I might face death himself. And just today I found out werewolves or shifters exist, is everything in the books true then? I can feel my chest curl into itself and I feel myself internally hyperventilating. Can vampires do that? Well if they can that is exactly what is happening to me. I was placed between Vladimir and Stefan because apparently I should blend in and be more in the background then in front with the others. The Cullens think if the Volturi find out about me they might face a punishment of some sort.

But these two vampires are freaking me out slightly, they had an eye on me constantly, as if I were some criminal or something. With the confrontation I am fighting the urge to just disappear, I don't want part in this. It's not like I could be of help anyways, I can't really turn invisible on command, it just happens and turning visible doesn't always work when I want it to. The other gift I have, I still have no idea how it works or what it is exactly. 

Everyone is standing on guard waiting for the Volturi to arrive. I think the longer we wait the longer I feel my anxiety rise. I saw Vladimir move slightly, I followed his gaze to see a whole army of cloaked figures, they all moved in sync and let a smaller group move forward, those are definitely the kings with their guards. When they all stopped walking, they removed their cloaks and my eyes widened in shock. Why are they all really good looking? The big guy looks even more scary than Emmett, he’s basically towering over everyone. The other two I see are what I can assume are twins, they look alike except for the girl having blonde hair and the guy having brown hair. I heard the others say they are the most dangerous ones. I look at the kings, the only one who looks like he would kill everyone is the blonde one, he seems like the anger issues type of guy- err vampire. 

It seems I forgot to analyze another guard, he was slightly out of my view but how can anyone ignore his presence. I think this was the guy from Alice vision, in person he's more gorgeous. His lovely blonde hair styled to look like spikes, how his face is so symmetrical, he was indeed handcrafted by the gods.

I saw his gaze shift to meet mine, and oh dear gosh, a strong feeling overcame me. I don't even know what this feeling is, it's like an invisible string is trying to pull me toward him. I want to give in but I'm scared of what this is and I'm also scared that I might die right here. His focus was on me the whole time as the others spoke, there was even a point where he turned to the bored looking vampire to ask something which concluded with a nod from him. 

I don't even know what to center my fear right now, the fear from what is happening or the fear of this strange feeling I have with the breathtaking vampire. My attention on him was paused as I saw the blonde twin try to do something but that Bella girl used her shield, the blonde girl even looked at me but something odd happened. She clutched herself as if she was in agonizing pain and fell to her knees, my eyes widened slightly as her twin brother was at her side trying to somewhat resolve her pain.

Even the other Volturi members were shocked, the same twin boy turned his gaze to us and the anger that reflected his eyes was the most terrifying thing to witness. Out of his pure instincts he released a black smoke that also came out of my hands. I started to panic and the witnesses around me were also panicking, a bunch of them hissed for me to stop but I didn't know how or what was even happening.

A loud stop from the Volturi's side made everything go back to normal, the smoke was gone, the girl who was in pain stopped clutching herself and the boy's face was back to its resting form. Even the smoke I somehow had coming out of my hands had vanished. The king in the middle was the one who shouted stop from what I can tell.

“And who is this? She seems to have a very similar ability to one of my guards”

Carlisle who still had a confused looked form the earlier actions done by me “She’s part of Vladimir’s and Stefan’s coven”

The way the two vampires looked at Carlisle at the mention of their name would have left him buried six feet under. I could tell whatever plan the doctor had in mind was not planned. I mean even I was not aware of the plan to start off with, I was just told to stay quiet in the back and not turn invisible until they commanded me to. Vladimir not wanting to be thrown under the bridge or face any death just like me didn't let his voice be unheard 

“Still low of you Carlisle, he’s lying to you”

The look on the vampire king's face can be best described as if someone stabbed him in the back.

“Oh? Please do tell”

“She’s a newborn that Carlisle himself turned just recently”

“Oh my, bring her forward now”

I looked around the witness who was just staring at me as if I grew a second head. Carlisle gave me a look to go to them, so I walked toward the other coven, twiddling my fingers to try to calm my nerves down. So this is it then? This is how I die? As I got closer the elegant vampire kept his gaze on me, it almost looked like he was forcing himself to not go to me, like he was chained down. When I was a good ten feet away from them the tall muscular vampire one grabbed me. He had a strong hold on me, if I were human, painful bruises would indeed be forming at that instant. Again that handsome vampire looked like he was about to go to me but he stood his ground. The raven one came to me closer to introduce himself

“Hello dear, what is your name?”

“Y/n”

“Now do you mind offering me your hand?”

“My hand?”

He looked a bit impatient but smiled, a creepy smile but smiled nevertheless. “Well you see I have gift of being able to look at every thought and memory with just a touch”

“Oh, I see”

I offered my hand and was instantly reliving my every thought and memory as he said but as for my incidents with Edward, Alice, and the twins I could see his every thought and memory. I saw that he wanted Alice to be part of his coven, he was thinking of just forgiving the Cullens, I even saw memories of the handsome guard who I found out his name is Demetri. It just rolls out so naturally, it's as if I was born to say his name. Aro let go of my hand after a while with a bewildered look

“Interessante, I’m sorry for the troubles you been through, but it appears you have two gifts–”

Before he could continue, the sad looking vampire rested a hand on Aro’s shoulder and he turned to him to grab his hand like he did with me. With this case when I looked at the emotionless vampire I was able to see a red string that was connecting me and Demetri. It was the richests of red I have ever seen, come to think about it, it looks like his eyes. When he let go, Aro made one of the creepiest laughs I have ever heard to humankind, straight from a horror film. 

“It appears our own Demetri has found his mate”

If I could I would shiver at the mention of Demetri’s name. The mentioned name looked at the kings with anticipation, I mean I for sure wanted answers of what is going to happen.

“Felix you can let her go now, she’s no danger to us, on the contrary she’s going to join us”

I was let go by Felix “Join you? Why?”

“Well you see dear you are the mate to one of our guards, and we would hate for him to be miserable or lack on his missions if his mate is not kept safe, maybe with time you could join him in missions”

If I'm getting this straight, if I don't join then my ‘mate’, that’s a strong word to use, will be sad and won't be able to do his job correctly. Or I stay with the people who basically kidnapped me from the life I had, turned me into this bloodthirsty monster –currently I am still thirsty– and just threw me into a situation that I was nowhere prepared for. But again I don't even know Demetri, what if he’s cruel, what if he treats me like the Cullens? My thoughts started to spiral at a point where I was one with my mind and nothing around me existed anymore. If it weren't for the husky addicting voice I would have gone mental.

“Master? May I have a word with her?”

“Go ahead, she’s your mate after all”

I felt the warmth of his soft yet rough hands. I looked into his eyes and he gave me a small hesitant smile, oh I can get used to that. I need to see his real smile now.

“Hello cariño, I am Demetri, I am aware you know nothing about me neither do I about you, but I can promise you if you come with me and my coven, I will give you anything you want, give you a life humans can never come close to having, I will promise you an eternity of love and happiness”

So this is love? The way he speaks is straight from a romance novel. And the way his face glows makes it all more sincere and truthful, heck I just want to run away with him. I was about to say something to him when I heard them. The Cullens along with their witnesses whispering about me.

“A traitor”

“All that hard work to get her here for her just to abandon us”

“I knew there was something off about her”

“Carlisle do something”

“She can’t go”

“If she goes with them, then the Volturi have more power”

“She would be stupid to go with them”

“Indeed”

“She was a mistake”

I wanted to use that gift to disappear at that moment, I didn't ask to be placed in this situation to start off with. I was forced and manipulated. 

“You promise”

His hesitant smile turned genuine “I promise amore, forever and always”

Aro literally was beaming with anticipation for my decision, reminding me of a child waiting for the final decision of their parents to let them go to a sleepover at a friend's house. I nodded which caused Aro to clap with joy 

“Magnifico my dear” His attention turned to the vampires behind me “She will be coming with us, if you dare interfere, we will wipe you out without hesitation”

Ok that’s scary but I can tell he’s serious. I could see the blonde king with a proud smirk but Demetri pulled me into his side.

“Nobody will ever take you away from me from now on”

I gave him a weak smile as we walked off the snowy battleground. I didn't ask for this new life, but maybe it won't be so bad with him. 

[tao-lay]

OKAY WAIT, hOLD ON??? derryn is about to go on a rant becausehskdfjaklsjdfjsdjf!!!! WOW I FUCKING LOVE LINK NEAL??? i just have this thing where i am very attracted to people who do math and i??? idk this was basic long division but Link executed it with so much confidence i felt my heart skip a beat sdkflajsdjf

super tangent but that reminded me of this internet fling i had waaay waay back 2015 where the person i liked was such a smartypants (lovingly) and they were SO good at math and i was like wow, please marry me

idk, i guess math is a thing for me jsjkdjfksdfl

[assassinmidnight]

Their resident Genius

The BAU is called in by Scotland Yard to help with a case, Spencer becomes intrigued when he hears that they have their own resident genius.

_________

Spencer Reid x Holmes!Autistic!Female!reader

_________

Honestly Spencer was unsure why Scotland Yard had called them in, he always knew that their team was one of the best but the fact that Scotland Yard had called them in had surprised the Genius a lot.

--

“Okay team, we’ve been called in by the English. We’re gonna be gone for a bit so pack accordingly. Airstrip in 30,” Hotch called. “Wait, the English? You mean Scotland Yard? Scotland Yard called US in, why?” 

“Really Reid, I thought you’d be the most excited to meet their team. Apparently they have their own resident genius,” The reply from Hotch had Morgan smiling “Resident Genius? Is he smarter than Reid? Man I have to see this,”

--

During the entire flight Spencer had been thinking of the so-called Genius. He didn’t really believe in genius as a word but he had become intrigued. He wondered if Hotch was honest, if he was correctly informed. Spencer had for a long time kept track of Scotland Yard but he’d only heard of Sherlock Holmes being their resident genius, but he was a consultant not an official agent. Did he decide to join them officially?

“Reid stop, I can hear the cogs turning in your head and it’s keeping me from my sleep,” 

“Shut up Morgan,” Morgan looked over “Reid I get it, you’re stressed about meeting new people and maybe even someone who can go against you in brainiac power. But dude chill, it’s gonna be all good, chances are they aren’t even close to your level.” 

Spencer took that into consideration, it’s true most people who are called geniuses aren’t close to his level.”

_

“Okay team we’re gonna meet the people from Scotland Yard. Behave,” Hotch sounded more serious than he looked.

Spencer was surprised when they entered the building, it was nothing like their own. This place was not messy or filled with people stuffing the rooms, it was all quiet and strict as if it was a classroom. “This way to the office,” Hotch pointed towards a room and they all headed there.

“Ah Agent Hotch, thank you for coming,” The man smiled and shook hands with Hotch, “This must be your famous team of profilers,” The man quickly looked at his watch before looking up again. “We should wait with the introductions, one of ours is running late,” Morgan smirked “Your resident genius?” The man looked up surprised before nodding, he looked like he was about to answer but got interrupted by the door swinging open.

“I’m sorry for being late, you know how my brother is,” A woman came in, a bit out of breath. She looked around 21 and had (y/h) colored hair, quite long too.

She seemed to realize the company they had and went beet red, Spencer thought she looked pretty cute. 

She turned back to the man, “So this is the BAU team lestrade? The best profilers,” 

“Wait you’re Greg Lestrade? You worked with Sherlock and Dr. Watson,” The two brits looked over at Reid, the girl cocked her head to the side before smiling. “Dr. Reid I presume. I’ve read a lot about you, three PhDs and working for the FBI at 24, impressive,” now Reid turned red earning a laugh from Morgan. “You did your homework,” The woman looked at Morgan, “Yes I did, I like knowing who come here, Agent Morgan.” 

“Y/n behave. I know you prefer working alone but no need to be rude, you are better than your brothers aren't you?” The girl named Y/n sighed and nodded. “Good, introduce us to the UnSub.”

__

Throughout the entire briefing Spencer had been staring at Y/N, he couldn’t figure out how such a young woman was part of Scotland Yard. He tried to profile her but all he could decipher from her movements, which were many. She fidgeted a lot, tended to stare at the wall and kept her arms crossed over her chest. She was distracted, bored and introverted. That profile didn’t fit someone in this field. 

“Yes Y/N?” Hotch's voice brought Spencer from his thoughts.

“Dr. Reid, why are you staring at me so much? Is it really that hard to profile me?” Her voice was quite gleeful. She was proud, she had an advantage and she knew that. “Mm, yes sorry, I was profiling you but it wasn’t hard. You are clearly bored by this, unfocused throughout the entire briefing and you are closed off. These are not common attributes in Agents, that’s why I was staring,” He felt pretty proud of himself until “You didn’t introduce me Detective?” “No, I thought it best to keep the introductions til we're all here. But it seems like you know them well enough which I expected but you should probably introduce yourself,” Lestrade smiled and Y/N nodded. “My name is Y/N Holmes, little sister of both Mycroft and Sherlock. I am the one who usually works alone in my cave but apparently I was needed for this case. And no Dr. Reid I was not bored or unfocused, quite the opposite actually. I was just in my mind palace,”

“You’re the sister of Sherlock? Wait you’re the resident Genius,” Y/N laughed at Morgan’s reaction. Once again she cocked her head to the side, smiling. “How many PhDs?” She turned to Reid, “None, school bores me. Also resident genius isn’t what I would call myself, creative genius with hypersensitivity. All the Holmes boys got none of the emotion so I got all of it,” Reid nodded. “Well now that we’ve been introduced to the most interesting thing in England, how about we get started.”

__

“You still thinking about Miss smartypants, Pretty boy?” Reid tossed a pillow at Derek, but he did nod. “There is something about her, she wasn’t looking at me but knew that I was watching her. She assumed Lestrade had introduced her to us but was happy when she got to do it herself and she pointed out that she is more creative and sensitive than her brothers who are known sociopaths. I can’t understand her brain, or her profile,” Morgan stared at Reid before laughing “Dude it sound like you have a crush on Miss Holmes, well if she is as smart as they say your kids will definitely be something out of this world,” Morgan kept on laughing even when Spencer turned around on his bed.

__

“Welcome to my cave, don’t touch anything without asking.” Y/N was stern, her look was cold as well Spence nodded. “So um, why am I working here instead of in the field?” he asked, she looked at him annoyed before turning to her screen. “Because your boss thought it would be best to keep the two geniuses in the same room.”

The two kept working, Reid was surprised at all the tea Y/N was drinking and how she compulsively played with her bracelets whenever she was thinking. OCD, that did fit but something still felt off. “Just ask, get it out of the way before you drive me absolutely nuts” she looked at him expectantly. Spencer gulped before asking the question “Why can’t I profile you? I know it’s nothing on my end so it must be something on yours,” She shook her head and smiled, looking back at her screen. Spencer sighed thinking she wasn’t going to answer. 

“I am autistic with traces of OCD and dyslexia, that’s why you can’t profile me. I don’t fit the general profile for autistics. I have a deep emotional understanding but I lack logical intelligence that is usually paired with the diagnosis. My OCD traces are caused by my autism and the compulsive behaviors are mainly caused by anxiety. I suffered deep trauma in my childhood like both my brothers but unlike them I never emotionally distanced myself, this is why you can’t profile me Reid, I don’t fit the general profiles just like you,”He was surprised at her answer but considering what she just said he really shouldn’t have. 

“Wow, that’s- that’s a lot. Wait, you profiled me?” He was genuinely surprised, she laughed at him, breaking her cold act. “No I didn’t, but most intelligent people are the same,” he nodded before laughing with her.

__

“So thanks to the BAU and our own Agents we’ve managed to catch this killer and he will soon be behind bars,” JJ announced on the news. The team were currently at Lestrades house having a drink. Reid kept looking over to Y/N, ever since they’d solved the case she’d been distant towards him, it hurt for some reason. He thought they were getting along, especially after they’d started to talk about Dr. WHO, guess not. 

“Something wrong, Reid?” He turned and saw that the voice belonged to Lestrade, he nodded. “In my experience with the Holmes siblings, they rarely act like this unless it’s something that will actually impact them. You should talk to her, as much as she detests it she is like her brothers and when angry instead of being consumed by emotions like them she turns them off and goes all logical. Easy to have a conversation with if you watch your words,” When Spencer didn’t move Lestrade pushed him slightly making him go over to Y/N.

“Why are you ignoring me?” She turned to him, cup of tea in her hand, she sighed then gave him a strained smile. “Reid, go back to your team,” “Not until you tell me why you’ve been ignoring me?” She gave him a cold look before sighing again. “I have been ignoring you because I like you, Reid. You are going back to America so I am simply distancing myself to get used to not having you around any more. It’s all logical,” 

“You like me?” he was genuinely surprised, he found Y/N cute and even had a bit of a crush on her, something he’d never admit to Morgan but he never thought she liked him back.

“Of course I like you. You are smart and cute and have these small quirks about you. You are funny and a geek and get almost every single of my pop culture references,” Reid just looked at her with fond eyes, she liked him back and was now rambling on about why. It was cute, really cute. He pressed his lips against hers, successfully muffling her rambles. She seemed surprised at first but soon reprocrated the kiss.

“WHO IS THAT GUY KISSING MY BABY SISTER!” The two geniuses broke apart, red and turned to the voice. Seems like Sherlock Holmes had invited himself in and based on the look in his eyes said one thing, the high functioning sociopath was not happy with Reid kissing his sister.

[letarasstuff]

When everybody turns into an oracle

Summary: Nothing puts more pressure on you than other people teling you your grade will be perfect, because behind that stands so much more than a number on a sheet of paper. Same goes for Spencer's daughter.

Warnings: School, grades, angst (there is fluff and a badass moment), fear of failure/disappointing someone

Wordcount: 1.5k

✨Masterlist✨ __________________________________

“I really pooped this quiz. What about you, (Y/N)?” Before the teenager is able to answer, another classmate comes up from behind the two. “She’ll get a 100, like always.”

“I-I don’t know. Question two and three really got me there, I’m just happy to pass it.” The little group of people around her groans.

“You always say that.” “And get a perfect score”, the first one adds, “Just stop to make us look bad, because we really do have to worry about passing this class. What do you have to worry about? Getting straight A’s like that. I really want your problems.”

(Y/N) just keeps it quiet. She stopped a long time ago trying to defend herself. ‘I am on my way to the BAU’, she shoots a text to her father and exits the school building. Today she doesn’t take the train. There are too many noises and all she wants is some peace.

The words of her classmates echoes through her head. Yes, she always has a good score and she intends to keep it up. She is just doing her best, right? Her problems have to be still valid, don’t they?

“Ahh, Wonder Baby. I thought you forgot about us and decided you are too cool to hang out with us”, Derek calls out after her as soon as he spots his godchild. “Nah, Uncle Derek. Nobody can be too cool to hang out with you. I just hadn’t had much time because of school work. But there are only two weeks left before spring break starts and the only thing I have to do now is waiting for my results.”

“Right, Spencer told us you are stressing yourself out about those. Your last quiz was today, wasn’t it? The one you dread the most apparently?” Emily joins the conversation. “Uh, I did. But don’t get your hopes up too high, I really don’t have a clue what I did there. The grade can range between passed to 100.”

“Naw, Smartypants, you say that every time. What are you afraid of? Telling us you are real smart? Don’t be humble, we work with your father. We know how to handle geniuses.” Derek isn’t exactly helping her with that. (Y/N) just turns red and tries to change the subject. “Uh, no. Another thing: Where is Dad?”

“Spencer went to pick some reports from the M.E. in D.C. who helped us on the last case. He should be back in half an hour. But Penelope wants to see you, something about trying new vegan cookies she baked last night”, JJ informs (Y/N) as she passes the group to drop some files off.

For the remainder of the day the teenager hides out in the lair, blocking any human reaction out with her earphones. She just can’t handle any more insensitive stuff like earlier. Later her father picks her up to go home together.

“So, Emily told me you didn’t do well on your test today? Do you wanna talk about it?” He asks, choosing his words carefully as he prepares dinner with his daughter sitting at the kitchen table and watching him. The doctor knows the pressure created by asking his daughter about school related topics.

“I don’t know. Everyone keeps telling me I’ll get a perfect score and I think it’s admirable that all of them turn out to be able to look into the future. How do they know better than me what I get?”

It’s months of pent up stress and anxiety finally making its way up to the surface. (Y/N) tries to fight the tears down. “I really don’t understand this. I get asked how I did, I tell them I don’t feel good about the test and then they talk over me every single time. And when I say I don’t know it, I say it to not get anybody’s hope up high. I don’t want to disappoint anybody.” Finally tears stream down the teenager’s cheeks.

“Oh Sweetheart”, Spencer makes his way over to her and engulfs his daughter in a hug. “Shhh, don’t cry. I know it’s incredibly difficult to live up to their expectations, but you don’t need to. You don’t need to impress them, because their opinion doesn’t matter. Neither your classmate’s, your teacher’s nor the team’s. Not even mine should be important to you. Also, it doesn’t matter what you do, I’ll always be so proud of you, words can’t even describe it. There is literally nothing you can disappoint me with. You pushed and still push through so much crap and still you don’t fail to amaze me. You can never fail to amaze me. You can fail any class and become a professional card counter, I’ll still be proud to be your father. Please don’t cry over something you shouldn’t care about.”

They remain like this for several minutes, grasping each other until (Y/N)’s tears eventually die down. “I just want to be something more than just the smart girl with the good grades. I don’t want to feel like a two dimensional side character in a show, only there to provide the main characters with knowledge. I don’t want to be Velma, River Song, Frozone or Domino from Deadpool 2. I don’t want to be overlooked like this anymore.”Finally talking about her deepest insecurities lets her feel like a weight is lifted off her shoulders.

“And you are so much more”, Spencer encounters, “Some people just choose to ignore it, because you are so much more than their small brain with a low capacity is able to comprehend. They just pick the trait they understand the easiest. But never stop being you. Stay loud, stay complicated and, if you want to stay, uncomfortable for them. The right people will take the time and effort to get to know the real you, not just a copy others think you are. I know, it takes a great amount of patience to wait for them, but it’s worth it in the end. You hear me?”

(Y/N) looks up at her father, a small smile forming on her face. He would walk to the end of the world if it means to see it. “I hear you, Dad. Thank you so much.”

This night the teenager doesn’t get a lot of sleep. There are many thoughts that want to be, well, thought through. Still she wakes up and goes to school with a new amount of confidence.

This sadly only lasts until her first period. The teacher, one who is typically known for grading student’s work pretty fast, gives back yesterday’s quizzes. A small tumoult ensues as everyone compares their scores with each other.

(Y/N)’s anxiety rises into the unmeasurable until her teacher puts down her worksheet without a word. Confused she looks at the B- sitting at the dotted line, where the grade is supposed to be.

Now, a B- isn’t bad or anything, but she spots several answers her teacher didn’t tick as right or wrong. He must have oversaw them. Deciding to ask him about it after class, she puts it away and focuses on the material he is teaching.

So there she is, waiting for other classmates asking their questions regarding the quiz until it’s her turn. Meanwhile her lab partner Masey comes up to the teenager. “And, how did you do?”

“Uh, I got a B- bu-” “Oh my god, I’m better than the class nerd. I’m better than The Brain. Casey, I got a higher score than (Y/N)! I think you, too! Wow, I didn’t know I’m that smart. But no worries, (Y/N). I can explain this unit to you later, so you can do better next time.” This is the final straw for her.

“Hold on a sec, Masey. I’ll get that A, because Mr Harries didn’t see some of my answers. And just for your information: I didn’t ask you about your grade last time, because I knew you would poop that one after trying to explain it to you for four times while I got another A. Like every single time until now. Stop trying to appear cleverer than you are, it doesn’t suit you as much as these pants don't, because they are at least two sizes too small.”

The line finally moves up and (Y/N) is able to show Mr Harries his mistakes. He apologizes profusely, admitting that he maybe was too tired to grade these last quizzes and rewrite the B- to an A.

With her head held high she walks past her classmates, a content smile on her face.

It may be a long road to accept that you can’t be perfect and your grades don’t have to be, but forget this for a second and appreciate the feeling you get proving someone wrong like this.

Taglist:

All works:

@agentshortstacc

Criminal Minds:

@averyhotchner @mggsprettygirl

[bluepenguinstories]

Remoras Full Chapter XLIV: Sting Ray

Exhaustion set in as soon as the form before us faded. Vague shapes of the people around me blurred further until they were just airbrushed silhouettes who swayed from side to side. They were both close to me while also being further away. Miles away, even as they stood in place, next to Sunny and I. Even without exhaustion, I would have felt the same, thanks to the high setting in.

“I can’t believe it’s over...”Sunny muttered as she puffed the last of her joint. I think we were all shaken by the experience, even if none of us were naive enough to believe we were rid of such a monster.

Before we were ready to move on, Remora stepped out in front of us and lowered herself down to one knee.

“Aw, are you about to propose to someone?” Sunny leaned in and teased. Remora looked up and tilted her head.

“...What?” She asked, perpetual confusion. “No. I just...well, I do have a proposition.”

“Well, out with it!” Sunny urged.

Remora lowered her head, then continued:

“I left you all at a time when I suspected we weren’t rid of the one who sought to harm us. Thus, I put you all in danger. For that, I am sorry.”

“It’s fine,” I tried to reassure her, “I don’t think any of us knew Cronus could conjure up a fog like that.”

“Even still...I left and I shouldn’t have. For so long, I wanted a home, some place I felt right in. Maybe this place wasn’t what I would have considered ‘home’ at first, but over time I found you guys to be important to me. Yet I left you all behind, because I was scared. Because I didn’t understand what you all meant to me. So, even though I know I have no right to ask this of you, I will do so anyway: may I be a part of your lives once more? If you refuse, we’ll part ways once we reach the surface and you’ll never have to see me again.”

We all stood in silence. Despite the haze which was taking over, I took the initiative and cleared my throat.

“Oh my. I wasn’t expecting this,” I remarked.

“I’m serious,” Remora replied.

I can’t do serious. Not when I’m starting to feel the buzz kick in.

“I know. It’s just that you should know by now that at least in my eyes, you’ve always got a home here.”

“Yeah, I don’t see why you’d need to worry about something like that,” Sunny added.

“Still,” Remora turned her head away from Sunny and I, “I want to make sure it’s okay with everyone.”

Tigershark stamped her feet as she marched up to Remora, then tapped her on the shoulder.

“I still don’t like that you used to kill people. That’s not a very nice thing to do. But the you that I know is a good person now, so that’s what matters to me. Besides, you’re still one of my precious older sisters!”

“I…” Remora sounded ready to object.

“If you don’t stay, I’m going to be mad, so you have that to think about!” Tigershark roared, hands on her hips.

“I guess I do, huh?” Remora chuckled a humorless chuckle, awkward smile to boot. Afterward, she turned her attention toward Demetria, to which, the rest of us did as well.

“What? Why’s everyone looking at me for?” Demetria stammered, then on the defensive, took a step back and crossed her arms, “what do you need my opinion for? It’s not my decision to make.”

“Everyone means everyone,” Remora told her, insisting on an answer.

“Sure...Yeah. Whatever.”

“Is no one gonna ask me how I feel?” Tigershark jumped up as she asked.

“How do you feel?” Sunny looked down to humor the child, still with enough energy to jump in place.

“Terrible! Thanks! This whole thing has been a nightmare! First, there was that other you,” Tigershark looked over at Remora, “who turned out to be a monster. Then we fight rock monsters. We’re all bleeding and getting hurt. Then we fight another guy who’s a monster and apparently he’s the one who killed my parents? It wasn’t a blizzard, but a scary guy? And now...I’m ready to wake up.”

“Aw, we’re sorry, dear,” Sunny pursed her lip.

“No, I agree, though,” rasped Demetria’s rough voice. Odd, ‘rough’ when I had known her to have more of a mouse-like voice. “What else could it be called other than a nightmare?”

She didn’t speak another word after that, opting instead to hobble her way closer to me, and further from Remora. It was remarkable, that even in my high state, I could notice such subtleties. As we made our worn-out strides out from the room of Cronus’ design, I noticed little pebbles fall into my messy black hair. I ruffled through my hair, trying to shake the flakes out, all while more fell onto my head.

Of course. This part of the tunnel is one of his own design. Once he’s faded away, so too do his illusions.

“Don’t mean to rush any of you all, but I think this place is about to collapse,” I dropped the hint, and being the smartypants that they were, they looked at each other, eyes bulging, then in a panic, began to pick up their pace.

“Demetria, if you find it hard to walk, you can hold onto the side of my suit,” I offered to her. She scowled, though the scowl dropped to a more relaxed frown. As if to say, “fine. If it comes to that, I’ll allow it.”

“Good, and Sunny,” I added, then turned to my wife, my life, “you can do the same with Remora. If either of you need to lean on each other, that’s totally fine,” I gave the thumbs up. Sunny winked.

It was more like a game of hopscotch than a race of peril. Really embarrassing, if I were to be honest. If I had thought to bring a video camera, or even just record them on my phone, I’d look at the footage of us running for our lives and I would laugh. As it stood, I didn’t have that luxury. Any reason to laugh had to be put on hold as my breaths grew short and shallow and the collapsing rocky ground continued to close in behind us. Its pace picking up alongside our own increasing pace.

Other short breaths followed my own as if the other four were a barbershop quartet with stage fright. Hell, with me alongside them, it may as well be a quintet.

Remora and Sunny were both tall ladies. Tigershark was somewhere. Demetria was not a tall lady and I was a Short King (OK. So actually, I am Average Man height. Like 5’7”-(on my good days) 5’9”. Probably). Together we made up a group of people trying to get by with our lives.

I felt a little pull against my arm sleeve. I looked down and saw the orange jelly bean, Tigershark herself, held on tight to my sleeve.

“Hey! Look at you! Good job!” I congratulated her as I tried to work up a smile. If not for myself, then for the kid. She still looked ready to cry. Maybe when we got back to the diner, I could make a cake. If we even still have enough ingredients. Dammit Cronus (because the fog, not because he stole our food, which in an indirect way, he may as well have).

“Fancy weather, innit?” Sunny tried up a Parisian accent.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. We’re underground,” Remora replied in a non-emotive shout, partially muffled by the rumblings around us.

Out the false tunnel and into the original tunnel as we slid our way through as the collapsing illusion. As it shut behind us and became a wall once more, it caused a miniature quake and had us all jump into place before we fell into the ground.

“Worst trampoline I’ve been on in a while,” I remarked as I rubbed my sore bum.

Tigershark was the first to stand back up and made cymbal crashing motions as she danced around with an angry chicken look on her face.

“When I get back, I’m going to bang pots and pans, because I deserve to!” She roared.

“Yeah, can’t argue there,” Sunny murmured. Then her and I laughed.

When we struggled back up and continued walking, I decided to break the ice:

“So, anything you wanna talk about?” I peered at the Demetria beside me. She didn’t say a word.

“Ah, the quiet game. I see,” then I turned to Remora who had a confused look on her face, but also said nothing. “You’re playing too, I see.”

“You’ll have to excuse my Ray of Sunshine, he’s a little high right now,” Sunny waved her hand around in a fanning motion.

“High?” Tigershark looked up. “What’s that mean?”

“He’s ascended,” Sunny then fluttered her hands to the side, like she was breaking out of her cocoon and becoming a beautiful moth fairy.

I tried to keep quiet. I knew I should. There were rules, and if all the world was a stage, then I was a character just as much as anyone else around me. Which meant, there were rules. One of those rules was that I was to stick to the established personality traits of my character. Any deviation was forbidden.

Oh, but much like someone who drank a gallon of tea needed to pee, if we walked through this long tunnel with neither Sunny nor I saying a word, I think I’d be in throbbing pain.

“A word,” Sunny took one for the team. “That’s all I’m going to say, though.”

Wow. Do we share the same mind?

“Thank you, dear,” I told her.

“Any time. Just remember: you’re my wife.”

I chuckled in response.

“I’m your wife, just as you are mine.”

“Wife and Malewife. We’re a gay male and female couple,” Sunny snapped her fingers and remarked.

“That’s what I’m saying!” I exclaimed in agreement.

Collective groans were made from the other three ladies.

Much of our trip back from then on was a blur, other than the fact that at one point, Demetria remarked, “gee, I bet everyone else back at the diner’s wondering what’s taking us so long.”

Although I was still a little outside of my mind, I let out a chuckle.

“Yeah, they’re probably thinking, ‘it can’t possibly take this long just to turn the lights back on’.”

Speaking of lights, as weary as we were, the sight of the bright, yellow glow flooded into view the closer we reached the entrance back into the basement. I looked beside me and saw Tigershark blink several times and rubbing her eyes. The others might have been just as astonished to see light again.

For my part, I was just hoping I had a spare pair of glasses somewhere once we got back up to the surface.

We walked through and everyone’s astonishment was voiced through low “ooh”, “aah,” and “wow.” While they all looked around, I couldn’t help but notice little red streaks on the otherwise clean floor.

No doubt from the fight that went on.

Everyone else made it up to the ladder before me. When it was my turn, I noticed some red marks upon the bars of the ladder. Whether blood or rust, I couldn’t tell. I just hoped they were dry enough that none of the others had gotten it on them. Even without getting it on them, one thing was certain: all five of us were due for a bath (but not at the same time).

Once I made my way up into the kitchen, I closed the hatch behind me. Sunny dropped to the floor, a wide grin on her face, then shot her arms up.

“Whee! Let’s do that again!” She cheered.

“NO!” The rest of us shouted in unison. It couldn’t be helped, of course. She was still riding that high, even if I was starting to come down.

I half-expected for someone, or a few someones, to bolt through the kitchen door and check in on us. When that didn’t come, I expected to hear commotion from the dining hall. Then, when that didn’t come, I just had to investigate. My heart beat like a dog would wag their tail at the prospect of a treat. Though replace ‘treat’ with ‘mystery’.

So I strolled, or strode, whichever suited my fancy, out into the dining hall where I saw the crowd...that wasn’t there. Yes, despite my poor vision, I still couldn’t believe my eyes at the emptiness of it all. There were still plates and messes on each table, signs that life had been there. But where they had gone, that was still a mystery.

Everyone else came out from the kitchen soon after me. Behind me, I heard Tigershark ask, “where did everybody go?”

Yes. Good question. Just how long were we gone? What could have happened in the meantime? Were they all hurt?

“That’s a good question, pipsqueak,” Demetria replied.

“Hey! Who you callin’ pipsqueak? In a few years, I’ll be taller than you!” Tigershark shouted back with ferocious fury.

“Man, I love you all,” Sunny drawled out, an adorable smile spread across her face.

“Uh. OK? Thanks?” Remora didn’t know how to respond.

Two things caught my attention: one, though outside looked fuzzy and dark, it did not look foggy. Which could only mean that the fog was lifted. The other thing I noticed were a few sheets of paper spread out on a nearby table. Ignoring their banter, I wandered over to the table. Each sheet had our names written on one side, with a series of text on the back. Although I couldn’t make out the individual words of our names, I could tell who was who by the individual letters shown and the vague shapes that made them up.

I chuckled at the absurdity of not even being able to read a simple letter.

I hope I have a spare pair of glasses somewhere.

“Hey guys,” I motioned for the others. It was my own little way of obfuscating from the fact that I couldn’t see what was written, “come check this out.”

The others scrambled on over and noticed the sheets of paper on the table, just as I had.

“They’re...letters?” Demetria blinked, astonished, and just a slight tinge of confusion.

“Man, oh man! This is too much!” Sunny held one hand over her face while the other held the sheet of paper, “she spelled it ‘hoomin’! Like Moomin, but with an ‘H’!”

“It’s Astraea!” Tigershark gasped as she read her letter, “she said that everyone else went to the hospital and she followed them there! Apparently there’s someone in particular she wants to see.”

“What does yours say, Demetria?” I turned to her as she parsed through the page. Before she answered, she folded up the paper and put it in her pocket.

“Nothing important,” she answered in a dry manner.

“Same here,” Remora added with a shiver and a shifty look.

Nervous, much?

“In that case,” I smiled, still trying to save face, “I’ll keep my letter private as well. They are meant for the individual, after all.”

“Aw, I wanted to know what yours said,” Tigershark whined. I pat her head and chuckled.

“Maybe I’ll tell you about it later,” I suggested as a means to reassure her.

“...Heh...Hoomin,” Sunny mumured to herself and laughed a howling laughter.

Now that I think about it, she probably has less of a tolerance to that kind of stuff than I do.

I strolled over to each table and picked up each plate, ready to take it to the kitchen. As I held a stack in hand, I turned to the other four.

“Now, we’ve all had a long day, so how about we all relax? Go ahead, sit down, I’ll get you guys something to drink.

“I’ll take vodka,” Remora requested whilst lowering herself down to the booth next to her.

“What’s vodka?” Tigershark asked.

“Shitty alcohol,” Sunny answered, not seeming to care about the swear, “I’ll have whiskey, take it or leave it.”

“Both of those sound gross!” Tigershark stuck her tongue out. “I’ll just have some hot cocoa.”

“Whip or no whip?” I asked.

“Lots and lots of whip cream!” She roared and cheered, fist pumping into the air.

“How about you, Demetria?” I turned my attention to her and watched as she slumped over in her seat, next to Sunny, and sulked at the table.

“Coffee,” she stated, which I found interesting, as I never pictured her to be a coffee drinker. Then again, I didn’t know what kind of drinks she tended to like.

“And how do you take your coffee?”

“Orally.”

Her response left me no choice but to make my expression as dull as hers as I teased, “oh, really? And here I thought you took yours rectally.”

“Wha...no. I mean, black, I guess.”

Sunny cackled into a thunderous laughter and slammed her fist on the table, which shook the poor thing every which way.

Sheesh. It’s like I’ve got my own laugh track. Thanks hun.

As I worked my magic in the kitchen, washing dishes and preparing drinks, I thought it over and decided that what Sunny really needed was water. As for everyone else, it went over just fine: I didn’t have to venture back down into the basement to get some vodka (thank goodness) as there was a bottle in the fridge. After I poured a shot, I filled another shot glass with water from the tap. Next, I brewed a pot of coffee, boiled a kettle of water on the stove, and as I waited for each one to heat up and fill up, I took off to the back of the diner to search for a pair of glasses.

There were none in my desk drawer. Next, I ascended to the upstairs bedroom. Sure enough, on the night stand, there was a box for glasses. I opened it up, half-fearing that it would be empty, but my heart fluttered upon seeing that there was indeed a pair for me.

Thank my lucky stars. Feels like things are finally starting to turn around.

As soon as I put them on, the world opened up to me.

“I can see clearly now the rain is gone,” I hummed and made my way back down.

Before I went back into the kitchen to prepare the final three drinks, I unfolded the paper and read its contents. For the sake of posterity, I will transcribe it without so many spelling errors (trust me, just about every word was misspelled):

Dear Ray,

Thank you a lot for letting me be a waitress. I appreciate what you taught me about humanity, just as much as I do with the things Sunny and Tigershark have taught me. Tigershark is my friend, you know. Also, I liked asking people what food they wanted to eat. I learned so many names of foods.

I think we’re a lot alike, because we’re both curious about things. It’s good, I think, because there’s always more to learn. While I didn’t understand what was going on at the time, I know a lot of people weren’t doing too good and you looked a bit sad. But I think even if bad things happen, you’re still very nice. I also want to be very nice! But I think I like tricking people too. That’s fun (Tigershark taught me about tricking).

As for how I managed to write all this after everyone went to the hospital it’s because I can write fast (Tigershark taught me to read and write). I’m very fast! Maybe not running but I can do things fast!

Also everyone left because someone called the doctor and the doctor mobile picked them up. I was in my room but I heard that someone fell over. It sounded interesting, so I’m going to walk to the hospital now. I might come back, but it also might take me a lot of days. I can’t always tell where I’m going.

P.S. I think you would like Animal Crossing. Tom Nook is kind of like you. He’s a nice man and maybe human.

I smiled and folded the paper back up, placed it into my desk, and strolled back into the kitchen. There were still some missing pieces, some gaps that needed to be filled in, but I’m sure they would be explained in time.

Actually, I’m growing a little impatient on that front.

After pouring in the hot cocoa mix into the boiling water, I stirred it. Then I filled it sky high with whipped cream. The coffee was easy, since it was all automatic. Really, needed no explanation. As for my tea, I chose a nice cup of ceylon and jasmine tea, and let it steep. While it sat, I decided to call up Dr. Cole-Slaw. To my surprise, she answered right away.

“Ray! You better have a good explanation for all this!” She huffed into the phone, clear annoyance rang through her voice.

“I’m sorry, Shir – Doctor, but I was hoping you could give me one. I was away while everything went down. One moment, I was attending to business in the basement, the next, all my patrons are gone.”

“Are you aware what ‘DOA’ means?” She asked, a little ‘tsk tsk’ in her tone.

“Yeah. Of course. I’ve been a wanted man in a few cities.” That was a joke. I wasn’t as popular as some might have believed me to be.

“Dead on arrival, smartass. One of your friends, Xena Warrior Princess over here, called me to go retrieve a dead body. Is this some kind of practical joke?”

Dead body? What?

“Whoa, whoa, slow down. I don’t know anything about that. Also, Xena Warrior Princess?”

“I dunno, purple sword lady.”

“Wendy. I don’t think she’d appreciate being called that.”

“Oh, no, she does. I ran it by her first. She said it’s quite amusing. Anyway, care to explain?”

Still the same Shirley, I see. Still...this is concerning.

“Trust me, I’d love to. I’ve buried a couple of people outside of the diner, but there shouldn’t be any corpses inside.”

“Excuse me? There’s more? Have you gone off the deep end, Ray? I know you’ve done some questionable stuff, but I didn’t know you had it in you to be an ax murderer.”

“It’s nothing like that. Look,” I slid back from the counter, “I’ll tell you what I’ve been dealing with for the past year: there’s been a terrible fog, maybe you’ve seen it? Maybe not. But there’s been monsters in the fog attacking people and I’ve been sheltering as many people as I could, trying to keep everyone alive on what limited supplies we had.”

“No offense, but I’ve got a hard time believing that.”

“Maybe it’s better that you don’t. I’d rather it wasn’t real, myself. But as you could see, it’s been lifted. For equally supernatural reasons, I presume.”

I got to thinking about all that I’ve endured the past year. All that we’ve endured. How all that time, I never bothered to learn the names of the people I sheltered. It was just as Aurora said. Perhaps if I had gotten to know everyone, I would have figured out Sister Cecilia’s identity sooner. I would have figured out Captain Aca...okay, that one was obvious. But still, I wished that I had a stronger bond with the others. Maybe then I might have had higher spirits.

“Say, do you know who it was you picked up?”

“No, sorry. But your cohort seems to have an idea. I’ll put her on the line. She’s agreed to mop the hospital floors while she’s here. I figure it’s a fair enough deal since I ended up hauling off a whole crowd of people.”

“Great. Do it.”

“Oh, and by the way, our little Jane Doe’s still breathing. For now, anyway. She’s in, uh, not good condition, but it’s something.”

“What a relief. Wait, I thought you said dead on arrival?”

“Yeah. But I didn’t say arrival to the hospital. I’m a genius, I know,” she gloated.

“OK, let me hear from Wendy.”

She passed the phone on over, then I heard Wendy’s raspy yet sly voice.

“Hey, Ray, guess who I’m with at the hospital right now?” She posed the question.

“Are you going to tell me?” I wasn’t really in the mood for guessing, nor did I have enough information on hand to do so. “I know they’re a woman, that’s about it.”

“Hmm…” she lingered on that last ‘m’, “have you taken a look in the mirror since you got back? I do take it you’re back, and not just calling me from underground.”

“No, I haven’t. I should get on that, but I’m busy preparing drinks for the other four.”

“You sure sound exhausted, that’s for sure. I bet you look just as bad as you sound right now,” she suggested.

“Probably. I just sound this way because I’m coming down from a high, but we all need our rest. Now, since you’re not going to tell me about this mystery patient, will you at least tell me what went on while I was away?”

“Aw, you’re no fun. But sure. Basically about a minute or two after you went down, the lights flickered back on and we were all excited. I told everyone to temper their excitement, as we still don’t know what to expect. What a statement that turned out to be, as maybe a little more than an hour later, we hear someone coming back up. Some of us got all giddy, thinking it was you guys, but instead walks out this woman none of us recognized. Well, some of us thought we did, but I’m not gonna name names. She fell down once she saw us, but not before saying something, I think it was, ‘that’s all, folks’ in a weak voice.”

“Someone besides us was down in the basement?” My heart skipped a beat. I knew there was that impostor, and later on Cronus, but I didn’t think there would be anyone else. “Did she sneak down there and hide or something?”

“Couldn’t tell ya. I’m as lost as you are on that front. But I’ll say this: upon seeing her face, I flew into a panic. I shouted for someone to call a doctor. Others thought it was ridiculous, but then we saw that the fog was gone and that was when we all wanted a doctor. Someone had the number to your good friend, Cole-Slaw, and she was happy to come out and get us all.”

Something tells me she wasn’t very happy at all, but let’s put that aside.

“Speaking of coleslaw, what’s the deal with it? You put mayonnaise on radishes and lettuce or something and for some reason that’s supposed to taste good?”

“Any other time, I’d love to talk about what constitutes as food, but I’m just a little beat.”

“I get you. I think even I would be, given what you all must have gone through. But hey, now we’ve got clear skies. That’s something to celebrate, no?”

“Yeah. Maybe in the morning I can get a good view outside. As it is, it’s just a little too dark for my liking. But anyway, I should go,” but before I did, I got to thinking, “oh, and hey: if this mystery patient manages to make it, I’d like to meet her in person. Maybe you can invite her back to the diner and Tigershark and I will treat her to a nice meal. How’s that sound?”

“Sure thing, Ray. We’ll see.”

There was a great list of things to look forward to, and that just became one of them. But anyway, I needed to deliver everyone their drinks before the hot drinks turn cold and the cold drinks turn warm. So once I ended the call, I brought out each of the drinks on a platter and strode out into the dining hall.

“Here you go, ladies,” I set down each drink onto the table. Sunny, without hesitation, downed her shot.

“Damn,” she wiped her mouth, “that’s the best whiskey I’ve ever had.”

I suppose the irony may have been that it would have been easier to mistake water for vodka than it would be whiskey, but since she was still riding a high, perhaps it was just a little hard to tell.

Tigershark sipped on her hot cocoa, a little whipped cream mustache forming above her lips.

I, meanwhile, too my seat at the booth just behind them. It wasn’t a matter of isolating myself from the others. No, I just liked to listen in as an outsider while I took comfort in the solitude.

“It really has been over a year. How old are you now, Demetria?” Remora asked, working up her best kind voice.

“Twenty-four,” Demetria replied and shrugged whilst sipping her coffee.

“Aw, man! That means I missed your birthday!” Remora then complained.

“Uh, yeah? That’s what being away for over a year means.”

“Still, it’s good to see you,” Remora smiled and continued to try to lighten the mood.

“It is? Why?”

“Because I’ve missed you.”

“No you didn’t. You just missed the attention.”

“That’s not true…” Her voice turned desperate, before lowering it.

“Sorry. That was maybe too harsh of me,” Demetria looked away as she mentioned.

“No, you’re right.”

Demetria got up from her seat, took the coffee cup, chugged it down, then announced, “I’m going to my room.”

She walked off a couple of paces, then turned back.

“Don’t worry, Ray. I’ll wash out my mug before I go.”

She walked a couple of paces once again, almost to the kitchen, then turned back once more.

“Actually, I’m going to take a shower, then I’ll go to my room.”

I couldn’t help myself, perhaps a tad insensitive of me, but I cupped one hand over my mouth and called out to her.

“Actually, you’ll go through the hallway, then take a shower, then go to your room!”

She twitched, it seeming to strike a nerve, but then just said, “yeah…”

I then saw Tigershark, still with her whipped cream mustache, look over with an incredulous face, then turn back to Remora.

“What was that for?! We just got back and she’s already got an attitude?” Tigershark thew her hands up.

“It’s because of me,” Remora turned somber and stared down as she explained, “the whole reason why she left last time, and why I left.”

“Why?”

“Because I told her that I didn’t, and couldn’t care about her. Or anyone. I really thought that at the time, too. She didn’t take it well, which...understandably so. So I tried to bargain with her, and...that made it worse, because I panicked and I wasn’t feeling well, just recovering from being sick, which probably contributed to the whole thing. So...I can’t blame her for being wary around me.”

“Well, that’s stupid! You care about us, right?” Tigershark was incensed and poised for a rant.

“Yeah, but it took a long time to figure that out.”

Interesting. I never thought I’d hear her say that. Perhaps in her absence she went through a long journey of self-discovery and probably has many stories to tell of her adventures.

“So? Just tell her that.”

“It’s not that simple…”

“Yeah it is. You just told me.”

“I’m sure she’d want me to prove it, and I don’t know how to.”

“That’s dumb too! And I’m sure you missed us, too! Also, what’s wrong with wanting attention? Who says you can’t miss people and want attention at the same time? Attention is good.”

“You don’t get it. You’re just a kid.”

“So what? What’s that got to do with anything? I’ll have you know, I’m eleven now!”

“Wow. I’m gone for over a year and all of a sudden everyone’s a year older,” Remora muttered. It was almost like she was making an observation, but to anyone else, it may have come off as sarcasm.

She looked out the window, listless, then peered her head over to where I was; to be honest, I was a little caught off guard that she would notice me, given that I was just there sipping my tea and listening in to everyone else.

“I’m going to my room, too, and, uh, Ray?” Remora announced.

“Yes?” I addressed her.

“Your wife’s asleep at the table.”

“Ah. Thank you. I suppose it’s time we get some rest. In the morning I’ll make us all a large meal, how does that sound?” I offered.

“I can do it! You’re still hurt pretty bad!” Tigershark shot her hand up.

“Very well. I’ll leave it to you, then,” I gave a light chuckle as I got up from my seat, took one last sip of my tea, and led Sunny up, first by tapping on her back.

“Come on, hun. It’s time we got ourselves to bed,” I coaxed as I helped lift her up.

“Boobas…” She murmured in a half-asleep daze. She must have been dreaming about bubble tea or something.

“Yes, dear. I understand quite well.”

We stumbled our way to the back, then up the stairs to our room. She rubbed her eyes a bit, but rather than start to wake up, as soon as we were next to our bed, she collapsed right into it. I followed suit.

The following morning, I fumbled getting my glasses back on, surprised that I had slept without taking them off, and my head almost crushing them while asleep. Once I had conquered that battle, it was time to...well, check the time. My phone read 5:31 AM, and as early as it was, I accepted it and forced myself out of bed.

As I got up, I felt the intense soreness of yesterday’s struggle. What a terrible and aching physical reminder it was. It got worse when I went down and took a shower; the hot water stung against the wounds on my sides and on my face. After getting myself dressed, I headed to my desk in the middle of the hallway and sat down. Yes, it may have been wiser to have brewed another cup of tea, or perhaps, dare I say, coffee, but I just wanted to sit and think for a little while.

What a day yesterday. For better or worse, we all made it back, and the diner is once again empty save for the five of us. While I do hope to get some customers sooner or later, I must say that I enjoy the quiet. We’ve all earned it. Now, even if some things may be different in terms of everyone’s personalities, if we are getting back to business as usual, then I ought to make a phone call.

The downside is that based on our timezones, Cybele would probably still be asleep.

I know. I’ll just send a text.

Me: It’s safe now. You can return if you’d like.

I set my phone down on the table, then almost jumped out of my seat upon seeing Remora seated across from me. Her serious expression made whatever she was there to say seem urgent.

“So, I just had a dream that we were all on a battlefield and then Demetria died and I got sad, so there’s no denying it now: I’ve got a crush on her.”

I matched her dull expression with my own.

“Remora, it’s like 6 AM,” I informed her.

“Is it? I don’t have my phone with me, so I can’t really tell the time. Anyway, I don’t see what that has to do with the dream I had, so quit beating around the bush and tell me what you think.”

Is this really all I’m good for?

“It doesn’t really sound like a crush,” I shrugged, figuring she wouldn’t give up staring until I gave her an answer, “it just sounds normal. You’d be sad if I died, wouldn’t you?”

She paused. Didn’t say a word. I let it linger for a few seconds longer, then I couldn’t help myself.

“What?! No answer?!” I spat out.

“I’m still tired,” she replied, “I have to think about this.”

I was still just a little baffled, but I let it go.

“Even if it turns out you haven’t developed a crush, like you theorize, I can still tell you’ve discovered some things about yourself, so I commend you for that. Maybe later we can discuss some of the things you’ve learned.”

“Anyway, I’m pretty sure it’s a crush,” Remora dismissed, as if she didn’t even listen to what I had to say, “but I’m going to deny it, because I already know a relationship wouldn’t work out.”

“I agree. As it stands, I don’t think either of you are ready for such things. Besides, I know how she used to be, but do you think that’s something she wants now?”

“What? That’s not what you’re supposed to say. You’re supposed to say, ‘go for it, what do you have to lose? You only live once, et cetera’.”

“I’m agreeing with something you said. Isn’t that good enough?”

“We’re friends, right, Ray?”

I put my palm over my head.

“Yes, Remora. We’re friends.”

“So you’ll tell me anything I wanna hear, right?” She closed her eyes, crossed her arms, and smiled.

“That’s not how that works.”

“I know, but can’t you just pretend?” Her smile lowered and she pleaded.

“OK. What do you want to hear?” I humored her.

She just slammed her head against the desk and groaned.

“Ugh...I don’t know. What should I do?”

“First you should get your head off my desk,” I instructed. She didn’t, at least not at first.

“Ugh...you’re so mean, Ray,” she whined before lifting her head.

“Now, you should go back to bed. You clearly need some rest.”

“Yeah. You’re probably right,” she blinked, her face back to the blank expression I was used to seeing on her. “What are you doing up so early, anyway?”

“I’m just sitting and thinking. I like to do it sometimes.”

“Wow. That’s such an old man thing to do. You’re not that old yet, you know,” she pointed out.

“Don’t you ever do that?”

“Only when I need to.”

“Well, then, I think you need to do some of that after you’ve gotten a little more rest. You said yourself after we got back last night that the reason she’s acting the way she is around you is because of what happened before you left over a year ago. So don’t you think that should be addressed first before any prospect of a relationship?”

“Hm. Yeah. OK. Back to bed I go.”

A few hours later, Tigershark had made pancakes with strawberry syrup for everyone. She, Sunny, and I sat together while Remora and Demetria sat alone in booths at opposite ends of the diner silence.

“So, I was thinking, hun, how we don’t really charge people for meals most of the time,” Sunny brought up in between bites of the fluffy pancakes.

“Yeah. We used to a few years ago, but there’s been many changes since then,” I replied.

“Right. But you don’t mind that we don’t charge, do you?” She pondered.

“I suppose not.”

“So I’ve got a couple of ideas: we could turn this place into a hotel and start charging. If we hire more staff, then it shouldn’t be all that stressful managing all those people. Yeah, we had to house many people already and it was awful because of the circumstances, but if people can go in and out, then it should be fine.”

“It would cost a lot of money to expand this space in order to accommodate,” I pointed out.

“Right. My other idea is: why do we need to be a business at all? Like, sure, the front half is pretty much designed like a business, but there’s nothing saying we have to. We get by just fine on our own as it is. So maybe we could provide free meals to anyone who comes in and advertise that.”

“So basically what we’ve already been doing, but announce it?”

“Yeah!”

“I won’t rule it out. Not sure if I really want the attention, but it’s an option.”

“What do you think, Tigershark?” Sunny turned to the kid.

“Hmm...oh! You could do both! Make it like a free hotel!”

I put my palm over my mouth and chuckled.

“So like a homeless shelter, but fancy...not bad, not bad. Still would be expensive to see it through, but it seems like the kind of thing Wendy would approve of. Not to mention, just like with the previous hotel idea, we’d have to hire more staff, and even if they’d live here with us, they’ll probably want to get paid for their labor.”

“Oh! Have you heard from Wendy?” Tigershark asked.

“Yeah, I talked to her last night. She’s doing fine. Just hanging out at the hospital.”

“That idea…” Sunny scratched her chin. “Tigershark, you’re a genius! It’s easy! We make lots of money by taking on requests again!”

“That’s one way...but then there’s the chance of Cronus striking at any moment. Sheesh, everything’s become so complicated.”

“I’m sure you’ll figure out something, hun,” Sunny reached across the table and gave me a pat on the shoulder. When she sat back down, I felt my phone begin to ring. I picked it up and saw that it was Cybele.

“Oh my Goddess! This is the best day ever!” Cybele gushed over the phone, her excitement at maximum capacity.

“Is it really?” I chuckled.

“Yes! I can’t wait! I’m going to head back on over right away! Oh, but what should I do about the big house? Should I sell it? Should I give it to a homeless person? Oh, but if I do that, then they wouldn’t be able to afford to pay utilities, so that wouldn’t be very fair.”

“You can sell the house, then give the money to a homeless person,” I suggested.

“Yes! Brilliant! Thank you so much, Ray!” She hung up right after, without so much as a goodbye.

“Who was that?” Sunny asked.

“Cybele. She’ll be coming back soon,” I informed her.

“Awesome! We’re getting the band back together!”

“Band? What band?” Tigershark looked at the both of us, turning her head back and forth.

“It’s a figure of speech,” I explained.

After breakfast, Tigershark and I tended to the dishes. Once we had finished, I headed back to Sunny and I’s bedroom so I could fetch myself a book to read. We had an extensive collection along multiple bookshelves, enough that if we expanded the space just a bit more, we could have ourselves our own little library.

After much deliberation, I decided to settle on a collection of Akutagawa’s short stories. His tales were amusing, if nothing else, so it should at least pass some time away.

As I made my way back downstairs, I heard some commotion between Remora and Demetria.

“We need to set boundaries! So you stay at your end of the hallway, and I’ll stay at mine!” Demetria shouted whilst holding a stick of chalk.

“But the bathroom is on your end of the hallway and sometimes I have to pee. Also, what about showering?” Remora stated her case.

“You’ll have to get creative! We’re not good around each other, and this is a good solution!”

I made my way to the bottom of the stairs, then turned to the two.

“Hey Demetria, I need to cut something, so can I borrow one of your knives?” I asked.

She looked up at me, blinked, then dug into her pocket.

“Uh, sure, here.”

I took her knife and held it up, making a slashing motion into the air.

“Yep. It’s just as I thought. The tension in the air’s so thick that you have to cut through it with a knife.”

“What?!” Demetria stomped her foot at my little theatrics. I handed her knife back to her, then smudged out the chalk line on the floor with my foot. She, of course, took issue with that. “Hey! What are you doing? I’m setting boundaries, here!”

“You’re acting like a child, is what you’re doing.”

“Am not! She started it!” Demetria pointed at Remora. I faced Remora, who then backed away a step.

“I was just trying to talk things out with her, but I understand wanting space and I’m willing to compromise, but please let me take a shower sometimes,” Remora pleaded.

“There’s the bathroom in the dining hall,” I explained, “but yes, there’s no reason to restrict what bathroom you use. That’s just ridiculous.”

“First off, when she tried to talk things out, she just made things worse,” Demetria was still going at it.

“Look, I’m fine if you guys fight with each other, but can you two not take up so much space? Sit down at a table, or go to a room and go at it there,” I told them.

“I don’t want to go at it with her, I just want us to coexist,” Remora explained.

“We can’t coexist! We’re not good around each other!” Demetria shot back.

I shook my head. This was really trying my patience.

“Maybe you’re right,” I relented.

“Ha!” Demetria gloated.

“What I mean is, if you two can’t get along, you both can leave. We don’t need any of this bickering.”

“What?! You can’t do that! I was here first!” Demetria protested.

“Technically speaking, Remora was here first,” I pointed out.

“Well I came back first!”

“Well, I’m...uh...taller?” Remora interjected in an absentminded fashion.

You do realize this isn’t a competition, right?

“I’m serious. Get along or else,” I reiterated.

“But we can’t get along!” Demetria whined.

“...You won’t have to. I’ll be in my room, so, there should be no issues,” Remora stated, then walked away back to her end of the hallway. Even if she didn’t look like one, the image of a sad little puppy conjured up.

Once she entered into her room and closed the door behind her, I turned to Demetria.

“Anything you would like to drink? Tea? Coffee?” I offered. She looked up, confused, but answered.

“Espresso?”

“Very well. Go ahead and sit down, I’ll make you some.”

I brewed a cup of espresso, then set it down for her and sat across from her at the booth.

“What gives? First you say I’m acting like a kid, and now you’re rewarding me?” She asked after taking a sip.

I smiled before I spoke.

“I figured ‘let’s have a drink’ would sound less like you were in trouble than ‘let’s have a talk’.”

“I see. It was a clever ruse.”

“Not really. So, care to tell me what I missed?”

“Nothing much,” she scoffed, “she just came up to me and said she was sorry and that she’s started to feel things. I didn’t get it and I still don’t. She asked me if we could be friends, at least until she figured things out.”

“What did you say to that?”

“I asked if it was even possible for her to be friends with someone.”

“Don’t you think that was a bit harsh? It may have hurt her feelings.”

“Does she even have feelings?”

Can you not tell?

“Sure she does,” I answered, “maybe she doesn’t express them in the same way that you do, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t. I don’t know, but I’m thinking she’s started to figure that out as well.”

“I’m sorry, then,” she muttered, then slumped her head down onto the table. I wanted to get her head off the table, but...I let it slide.

“I don’t need any apologies.”

“Well, she said in response to that, ‘I don’t know, but I’d like to try’ and so I gave in and said that I guess I could do that much. It’s just, what does she mean?”

“I think she means that she’d like to be friends?”

“But what does that mean to her? Can I really do that? It’s not like I really know what to do with friends either. I’ve never been good at that kind of stuff.”

“In that case, maybe it will be a good learning experience for both of you.”

“Why...why does anything have to be a learning experience?” She grunted, “I don’t want any more learning experiences. That’s not what I came here for. I don’t even want to like her anymore.”

“Don’t want to?” I questioned.

“That’s...you get what I mean.”

I do. It’s just that you’re trying to convince me that you didn’t say what you meant.

“Demetria,” I commanded, “what is it that you want?”

She looked up, leaned back toward the window, and looked out.

“I don’t know,” she replied.

“Because you don’t have to be her friend if you don’t want to. It wouldn’t be right if you forced yourself to, would it?”

“Look: I came back to protect you guys. She wasn’t on my mind at all. I did everything I could to get her off my mind and just move on with my life, but I couldn’t bear the thought of the rest of you in a dangerous situation beyond your control. So if for nothing else, I wanted to return for that.”

“And I thank you for that. Seeing as the cat’s out of the bag, I think it’s fair to say you know what I think of you.”

“But I wish I didn’t have to be in disguise to hear it.”

“Yes, but I’m telling you now: we all like you. Tigershark likes you, even if she might like to pick on you sometimes. Sunny took a liking to you right away.”

“I’m not interested in stealing your wife from you,” she replied and I couldn’t help but laugh.

“Not what I meant, but I’m amused that you took it that way.”

She puffed her cheeks and scowled. I felt like getting a needle and popping one of her cheeks, though I doubted it would pop like a balloon.

“We’re all happy to see you back, don’t get me wrong. But you should have known that there was a chance of her coming back as well.”

“Really? I thought she didn’t care about anyone.”

“Oh, come now,” I flashed a toothy smile, “and I thought you knew better than to take people’s words at face value.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” She turned to face me.

“Figure it out yourself.”

Again, she puffed her cheeks. I wasn’t going to spell it out for her, but I figured an elaboration was in order.

“Don’t get me wrong, even if she was how she was just a couple of years ago, she’d have justified it by saying ‘I’m only doing this because it’s my mess and I need to clean it up’ or something to that effect. But how is that any different than ‘I only came back to protect you guys?’”

“It’s plenty different! What? You saying I’m a liar? It was a big motivating factor! If I never heard that you guys were in trouble, I probably would have never returned. That would have been that. Like I said, I wanted to move on with my life.”

“I don’t want to put words in your mouth. You say you came back to bail us out, I believe you. And so you did and we are thankful, so now there’s nothing stopping you from moving on with your life.”

“Uh, yeah there is. Cronus is still out there and he could come back any time. What then?”

For a moment, I had forgotten that whole matter. Oh, such sweet ignorant bliss.

“It’s true he really had us on the ropes. Drove me to the point of despair, took lives right in front of me, all for the sole purpose of wearing me down. But if the same incident were to happen again, even more hopeless this time, I want to maintain compassion just to spite him. I want to learn everyone’s names, that way even if their lives end up lost to his petty game, at least they would be remembered. However, now that we have more knowledge at hand, going forward it will be that much easier to prepare. What I’m saying is that while there’s no guarantee, you shouldn’t have to hinder your future for our sake.”

“You wouldn’t be hindering my future,” she muttered.

“Oh? Why not?”

“Because if it’s something that I chose to do, then it’s on me.”

“I see. I’m just saying, you can choose to do other things. It’s true that there are times situations are out of one’s control, but you’re crafty in ways that even surprise me sometimes. If you need support, I could try and assist you in any way. Even if there’s something you want to do and you can’t achieve it, I’m just saying that I want you to have the option of trying.”

“Thanks,” she replied, then let out a dejected sigh, “she’s going to be disappointed. I’m not the same person she remembers.”

“So what? Why worry about disappointing her?”

“I’m not. I’m just saying, if she’s expecting things to go back to how they were before, she’s setting herself up for disappointment.”

“I think it goes without saying that we’ve all changed since we’ve last seen each other, but now I’m curious: how exactly have you changed?”

“First of all, I finished school. I can be a marine biologist if I want to now.”

“Good job. I’m proud of you,” I gave a little clap, “if you want to be a marine biologist, you should. There are many benefits to being a marine biologist. If you want to stay in the area, you can find an aquarium to work at and visit here from time to time. We could talk about how your job’s treating you, and how life’s been, and we can both share a good laugh.”

“I just don’t know. I didn’t get it because I want to be a marine biologist. I wanted to, once, but I don’t know. I didn’t finish school because I wanted to finish school, either, but because I didn’t want it to go unfinished.”

“So perhaps it was a pride thing less than interest?”

She either laughed or scoffed. It was hard to tell.

“Yeah. Might have been something like that. I...also killed a few people.”

That took me aback. Though not appalled, just surprised. But given where we were at, who she was talking to, she should have known that there wouldn’t be any moral condemnation.

“You and Remora have something in common, then.”

“Is this a joke to you?” She rasped.

I smiled and shook my head.

“No. At least not one I benefit from laughing at.”

“I didn’t enjoy it.”

“I doubt she enjoyed killing, either. She was just conditioned to treat it as a chore or routine. Just another assignment.” However…

“That said,” I continued, deciding not to keep my thought to myself, “there is a certain thrill she gets from intense fights, hunts, perilous situations. It may not be that she enjoys pain. Whether it be inflicting or receiving. But...it’s a rush that’s hard to satiate.”

Demetria gulped, as if she knew what I meant. Sensing that she was afraid to speak, I continued once more:

“There are things that she was conditioned to believe about herself, things that she’s told herself, that she’s had to unlearn. Then after that, there’s learning new beliefs in its place. I can’t imagine it’s easy. I’d say it’s probably been scary for her, as well, and in that process of challenging such old mindsets, she’d resist them. Maybe she’s changed since then, and she’s not the person you first had a crush on and maybe you’ve changed and you’re no longer the person she was hoping to see again, but even if that’s the case and things can’t work out between you two, I think you should still have a talk with her.”

“About what?”

I snorted, then coughed up a laughter. It wasn’t like she said anything funny, nor did it warrant a laugh, but I couldn’t help myself.

“Anything. Just say anything to clear the air. Even if nothing’s resolved after, at least it would be better than avoiding each other. Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying you have to, nor do you need to do it right away. If you need time, if you don’t feel ready, that’s fine. But I do think it should happen sometime.”

“It’s going to be hard to face her,” she replied, and some of the edge in her voice had diminished, in its place an aching timbre.

“I can imagine.”

“What if we try to talk, but then I snap or lash out and that just makes things worse between us?”

I shrugged.

“I’d rather than not be the case, but at least then you’d have made an effort. Forty percent is better than zero, y’know?”

“Sounds like a wasted effort if it still ends in failure.”

“No effort is wasted, dear.”

She got up from her seat without another word. Her face looked a little more relaxed, though I wondered how much that had to do with the talk and how much it had to do with the caffeine. Then again, there’s the possibility that giving her so much caffeine would have done the opposite of relaxed her and make her unable to sleep, so...my god, why did she want that? Why not some relaxing herbal tea?

After dusk, Tigershark made tartiflettes for everyone with buttered sweet rolls on the side. Again, Sunny, Tigershark, and I sat together, while the other two (no need to name names) sat far away from each other at opposite ends of the diner. Both were thankful for their meals, but they remained fixated on the food in front of them, not on anyone else, let alone each other.

Once that was said and done, I walked back to my desk, gathered up papers, and examined any possible requests or avenues in which to make money through unethical means. Just me, a middle aged man, sorting through papers. As if that was what my life had been reduced to. Even with my glasses on, the words all seemed to just bleed into each other after a while. Every little option or scheme carried with it some kind of risk, and balancing risk and reward...man, it was a stress and a half.

I reached into my drawer, hoping for a joint, but none were to be found.

Sunny must have taken them. She might even be getting higher than a hot air balloon in outer space right now. Lucky her. Can’t really blame her, either. To quote a certain little nun, we all ‘went through hell.’

Going back over to the stack of papers, I looked up and saw Demetria emerge from her room and saunter (maybe ‘saunter’ wasn’t the right word choice, but she couldn’t stop me from describing her movements that way) through the hallway. She caught my gaze and turned her head.

“You said it didn’t have to be right away, but better now than never,” she told me, before crossing the threshold into the other end of the hall.

I expected that she would have knocked on Remora and Tigershark’s door (I didn’t know where the kid was, at the moment. My suspicion was in the kitchen, either cleaning up, or baking treats for herself). Instead, I watched as before she could get to the door, she bumped her head on an invisible wall. I heard her hiss, “ow,” then slide her back down against the wall until she sat, legs folded up, and her head down.

“Figures you would put up a literal wall. You’re not really one for metaphors,” she muttered, “then again, at least you’re direct. Here I’ve been trying to keep you out of my mind and avoid you to little success.”

I figured after saying that, she’d get up and go back to her room, given that it didn’t seem to be the right time. Props to her, though. She was a persistent one.

“Funny how that works, huh? I started out all obsessed with you. I wanted you, or at least I thought I did. Well, I’m pretty sure I did. I had all sorts of fantasies you probably wouldn’t want to hear about. Somewhere around the line those fantasies faded and in their place, I just wanted to know you better. Even then, though, I was still pretty attached, and I still think I wanted you to notice me, more than anything else. Now…” She shook her head, “Ha. You don’t need the whole recap.”

She folded her arms over her legs. It was like she was trying to cradle herself, but she remained still and just held on tight.

“You probably can’t hear any of this. That’s fine, too. Maybe it’s better sometimes to talk to myself and pretend there’s someone else listening. I’d do it more often, but I don’t like the sound of my own voice.”

I watched as the illusion shattered, the wall must have come down, and in its place, Remora sat at the opposite end of Demetria, in the same position. To boot, her back was against Demetria’s.

“I only caught the last bit,” Remora spoke up, “what was the rest of it?”

Demetria, startled, but regained composure within the same sentence, replied, “I’m not going to repeat myself.”

“That’s fine. But what are you doing on the floor?”

“I came to talk to you.”

“About what?”

“I don’t know. I guess just to try to work something out. Figure out where to go from here.”

“Well, you don’t have to believe me, but I’m glad.”

“I’ll choose to believe you – but only because if you aren’t, it doesn’t really affect much, but if you are, then it makes things a little better.”

“But what if you believe me, but then it turns out not to be true?”

“Dammit. Why do you have to ruin this?”

“I just want to cover all the bases.”

Demetria huffed, then answered, “I think I’ll choose to believe you anyway. I know how I’ve been since we got back, but I really would like us to be on good terms as well.”

“Do you mean that?”

“What? Now you’re doubting me?”

“No. It’s just that if you didn’t want to, I’d have understood.”

“Well...when you asked about being friends, it really caught me off guard. For one, the last time the subject came up, it was how you said you could pretend if I wanted, but it wouldn’t be real. When you brought it up this time, it was ‘at least until I figure myself out’. Which means that maybe after a while, you’ll come to the conclusion that you don’t want to be.”

“I know. It’s a risk. One that you might not want to take. I can’t really say what conclusions I’ll come to or how things will turn out. But I prefer to be upfront about what’s on my mind and how I feel, and at the moment, how I feel is that I would like to try being friends with you. I think I’ve reached the point where I can say that whether it’s pretend or not is a moot point, because if I think of us as friends, then I’m going to treat it as real.”

“B-but...what does being friends even mean to you?”

There was a pause and Remora lifted her head up.

“I’m not sure. Friends are...friendly to each other? Well, that might go without saying. I know friends are people who like each other. Get along. But then there are friends who don’t get along. So I’m not sure. I feel like I should know, it just seems more vague when I try to put it into words.”

“Well,” Demetria replied, “that makes two of us. I’ve never been good at that sort of thing, myself.”

“Then...we can not be good at it together,” Remora suggested. “Maybe we can both learn.”

“But how would we do that?”

“I don’t know.”

“I don’t know, either.”

“See? We can not know together.”

“But how would we both be friends if we don’t know how to be friends? That just makes no sense.”

“I know. But I think if we were both in elementary school, we wouldn’t think so much about that sort of thing. One of us would just go up to the other and be like, ‘let’s be friends!’ And either the other would say, ‘yeah!’ Or say something like, ‘ew! Go away!’”

“That’s kind of a cute idea,” Demetria remarked, “if only we had met that way.”

“Hm. I don’t know. Even as a kid, I preferred to be left alone.”

“Oh. Yeah. Me too.”

“But now we’re adults and we’ve spent so much time wanting to be left alone that –”

“– you no longer want to be left alone?” Demetria suggested as she tried finishing that statement.

“Hm. No. I was going to say, ‘even if we have some friends, we don’t really know what it means.”

“Oh. I guess that’s true, too.”

“Yeah. But I like your answer better.”

“Yeah. But your answer applies to you and mine applies to me.”

“It’s kind of nice that way, though. Each different perspectives.”

“You know, when we talked earlier, and you asked me to hug you, it felt weird, but I said sure. So I held out my arms and walked up, but then you backed away and said you didn’t think you were ready after all and I didn’t take it well.”

“It wasn’t your fault. I wanted to, too. I’ve just never been comfortable with others touching me, and even if it would have been okay, I was still a little hesitant and nervous.”

“It’s okay not to be ready. I should know better. I was just hoping that things would be different.”

“They might be, in time.”

“You know, it’s still hard. Because I want to be friends with you, I do, and I feel like I should be happy about that, but then I just think about when we talked right before we both left and it hurts. Like, I was so convinced that we had gotten closer and that you cared, and hearing you say that you didn’t, I wanted it not to be true. But you pushed harder, and I just thought ‘maybe you’re right.’ Now you’re saying ‘I don’t know’ and it’s like, nothing’s really changed, has it?”

“You’re wrong there. I’m sorry about what I said and how it affected you and it makes sense that it would hurt, but you’re wrong in that nothing has changed. Before, I was so sure it was a ‘no’ and now I’m not so sure, but I’m more optimistic, and even leaning toward the possibility that it’s a ‘yes’. It just feels messy and gray.”

“I think I can understand that. To be honest, it’s going to be awkward. Us, as friends.”

“We’re awkward people, so it’s to be expected.”

“But at the same time, you might not like who I am now.”

“Maybe. But I’d rather find that out for myself. It’s only been a couple of days.”

“You’re taking this rather well,” Demetria remarked.

“Not really. I’m just taking it.”

“Well, I’m just saying, I’m different than how I used to be.”

“I’ve changed as well, you know.”

“How?”

There are many obvious things you could say, so what is it you’ll say? I wondered. Remora lowered her head, and when she answered, it wasn’t an answer I would have expected. But then again, it wouldn’t have been her if she didn’t throw a few curveballs in between her signature style.

“If I was the old me, and I still had that job, and you were the target, then I wouldn’t hesitate to kill you.”

“I’d like to see you try,” Demetria spoke in what was like a half mix between a growl and a tease.

“You wouldn’t even see me coming.”

“I’d like to see you coming.”

...What?

“Well, maybe with how you are now, you would. But then, maybe with how I am now, I wouldn’t mind you seeing me coming.”

This is still about a hypothetical assassination, right?

“I suppose that’s how we’ve both changed, huh?”

“It’s not much, but it’s honest work.”

“So what are you thinking about now?” Demetria asked.

“How much I have to pee,” Remora answered. “That’s why I undid the barrier, so I could go to the bathroom, but then I saw you sitting there talking so I figured I’d hold it and sit too.”

“Oh my fuck. Just go to the bathroom.”

“But we’re in the middle of a conversation. It would be rude.”

“That doesn’t matter! We can continue when you get back!”

“But then you might lose your train of thought or I might not feel like talking anymore and just head to bed –”

This is ridiculous. I’m done eavesdropping. I should’ve just left my desk the moment they started talking. Why did they have to talk in the middle of the hallway, anyway?

I got up and headed out into the front of the diner. If those two had anything more to say, they could have at it. As for me, I went into the kitchen to check in on Tigershark.

“Hey, what’s going on?” I greeted after a knock with the back of my hand.

“I made cookie brownies!” She cheered, and I saw a large casserole dish filled with brownies.

“Oh, good. May I have one?” I asked.

“You may have two!”

She put two pieces on a saucer for me and had two on her saucer as well and she jumped down from the stool she stood on and we both walked out into the dining hall and sat at a booth together.

“Mm. Good job,” I complimented.

“Thanks. I was still hungry and sweets are sweet.”

“That they are. Just don’t have too many.”

“I won’t!” She scowled. “Maybe three. Or four. But that’s it.”

We both laughed together as we ate our brownies. Just a few minutes later, Sunny walked up. She looked (not) high, and her eyes were (not) bloodshot red. I suppose she might have moved the stash elsewhere and planned to smoke them some other time.

“Hey hun, you gotta come check this out!”

“What? I’m busy spending quality time with Tigershark,” I replied. And it’s quality time because I’m not hearing about bodily functions.

“I see that, but this is important!” She urged, and motioned us to come to the back with her. Tigershark and I hopped out from our seats and followed. When we reached the hallway, Sunny pointed and went, “aww” and Tigershark and I saw what the fuss was about: Remora and Demetria were asleep, leaned against the wall, and backs against each other.

“I guess that’s what happens when you hold it in for so long,” I remarked, then, realizing I had said that out loud, added, “emotionally, I mean.”

“Aww, so adorable,” Sunny continued fawning over the scene.

“How am I supposed to get to bed tonight? They’re blocking the way!” Tigershark complained.

“It’s okay, you can sleep with us tonight,” Sunny replied.

“Tigershark,” I turned to the child next to Sunny and I, “get the broom and dustpan. There’s something on the floor.”

“Don’t!” Sunny nudged me, “leave them be.”

“Tigershark,” I continued, “I give you full permission to draw on their faces with a sharpie.’

in response, Tigershark grinned and ran off to go find one. While she was gone, I turned to Sunny.

“So, shall we head off to dreamland as well?” I offered.

“Oh yes. Two tickets, please,” she replied and yawned for added measure. We locked arms with each other and strolled up the stairs. I’d like to say that in the coming days, the dynamic between everyone improved greatly, but the truth is, it was more like slow and drunken baby steps.

[sceptilemasterr]

Defenders of the Flame (TE Rewrite) Act 2, Scene 1 - Impossibilities

Title: Defenders of the Flame (A CIU Screenplay)

Main Pairings: Shreya x F!MC, Beckett x F!Atlas

Other Pairings: N/A

Genre: Full Rewrite (The Elementalists, Book 1)

Rating: PG-13 for violence, blood, swearing, alcohol, and sexuality

Summary: The Pend Pals discuss the incredible events of the previous night and what it all might mean.

Previous Scene: Unexpected Saviors

Masterlist: Link

INT. GLEBIZA HALL - DINING AREA - MORNING

The dull chatter of tired Penderghast students fills the dining area as Shreya and Fiora enter. Fiora lets out a huge yawn and rubs her eyes.

FIORA: I feel like I could sleep for another week. Shreya, if I fall asleep at the table, don’t wake me.

SHREYA (laughs): Well, good thing it’s Saturday! I bet you’ll feel better once we get some food. Don’t you worry.

She grabs Fiora by the hand and leads her to where the food is being served. They each take a plate and start serving themselves some food. Fiora takes from a plate of what look like red sausage links.

SHREYA: Uh, Fiora... have you had dragon links before?

FIORA: Don’t think so. Why?

SHREYA: Just a word of warning. They’re extremely spicy. And I do mean extremely.

Fiora’s face lights up and she immediately piles several more dragon links onto her plate.

FIORA (excitedly): Even better!

Shreya sighs and shakes her head as they continue serving themselves. After a few moments, they finish and find seats at an unoccupied table.

FIORA (quietly): So, about last night. It’s just us now... what was all that?

SHREYA (quietly): Right.

Shreya looks around surreptitiously, confirming that no one else is within earshot. Then she leans over the table, close to Fiora.

SHREYA (quietly, almost whispering): Okay, so: the Defenders of the Flame are a very old, very prestigious society. They have chapters in every major Stoicheal Realm school, and--

GRIFFIN: Hey, you two! How’s it going?

Shreya and Fiora look up in surprise as Griffin approaches their table, followed closely by Zeph and Beckett, all bearing trays of food. Zeph nods a head in the girls’ direction, and Fiora and Shreya scoot aside to give them room. Zeph looks over at Fiora’s tray.

ZEPH: Ooh, dragon links! Nice!

FIORA (laughs): Thanks. I heard they’re spicy; I’m excited!

As Zeph watches, enraptured, Fiora spears a dragon link on her fork and takes a huge bite. A few seconds later, her face turns visibly red and she coughs before swallowing her mouthful.

FIORA: Wow! Okay, Shreya, you weren’t kidding when you said “spicy!”

Zeph breaks down into uncontrollable laughter.

ZEPH: Oh, man! Your face... you’re so red! I can’t believe it!

FIORA (excited): Wow, okay, this is amazing!!

Despite her red face, watery eyes, and coughing, Fiora shovels several more dragon links into her mouth. Zeph watches, enraptured.

BECKETT: Yes, yes, we are all very amused by Fiora’s insistence on burning her innards to a crisp.

GRIFFIN: Ha ha, very funny, Beckett.

BECKETT: Oh, do be silent--

GRIFFIN: Never mind him. Fiora, Shreya, are you two okay? I heard about what happened last night--

ZEPH: What happened last night? Did you two actually--

FIORA (blushing): What?! No, nothing! Nothing at all, what are you talking about? We were perfectly fine!

SHREYA (to Fiora): You aren’t exactly helping. (to Zeph) If you must know, Fiora was attacked again last night.

All eyes turn to Fiora, concern etched on their faces, even Beckett’s.

ZEPH: What?! Holy Source, are you okay?!

BECKETT: Impossible! Fletchly Hall--the wards--nothing could possibly--

FIORA: Well, apparently you’re wrong. Because some kind of creepy shadow monster attacked me last night!

ZEPH: “Creepy shadow monster?” What did it look like?

FIORA: It looked kinda like that thing that attacked me during the Test of Attunement, but bigger and creepier. It almost killed me before--

She hesitates, unwilling to tell them about her rescuers. Zeph frowns.

ZEPH: Wait, so this attack... just like the Test?! Fiora, you’d better tell someone! I mean, if that thing could break through the wards, then--

BECKETT: Regardless, it matters little how this creature broke through. What matters now is what we shall do about it.

GRIFFIN: Okay, so, you managed to fight off the first attack, right? How did you do that?

BECKETT (matter-of-factly): Hmm. As I recall, she used a powerful Light technique during the Test to drive off the creature attacking her. Fiora, perhaps you ought to practice your Light-Attunement further.

Fiora stares at him, utterly flabbergasted, as Griffin and Zeph glance between Beckett and Fiora in shock. Shreya simply shrugs with an innocent ‘don’t look at me’ expression on her face.

ZEPH: You’re a Light-Att?!

FIORA: Beckett, who told you? How did you know?

BECKETT: Well, for one, you yourself just confirmed it. And for another... in case you’ve forgotten, you demonstrated your Light Stoichi in the middle of the Test of Attunement for all to see. In fact, I’m quite surprised no one else realized it yet.

Fiora stares at him, mouth agape.

GRIFFIN (embarrassed): Gotta admit... I wasn’t exactly sure what that light was. I thought it was something from the creature that attacked you.

ZEPH: And for the record, I was still in the test. So I saw nothing. Not everyone’s a genius like Mr. Smartypants over here--

BECKETT: Excuse you, my surname is “Harrington,” as you know full well--

SHREYA: Alright, enough. Keep it down, would you?

She and the others look around to realize that the students at the other tables are starting to notice their conversation. Everyone turns back to the table, voices lowered.

BECKETT: Naturally. I apologize.

ZEPH: Okay, fair enough, but wait. Fiora, you’re a Light-Att?!

SHREYA: You mentioned that already, Zeph.

ZEPH: Well, yeah. But it’s just... it’s so... COOL! I mean, you’ve got nothing to worry about now, just hit those shadow monsters with some big Light technique and you’re good! ...Right?

Fiora looks at him with a conflicted expression on her face. Then, she slowly shakes her head.

FIORA: I... I appreciate the confidence, Zeph, but truth is...

She hesitates, looking briefly to Shreya, who nods.

FIORA: ...I have no idea how I did that. The light thing at the Test of Attunement, I mean. It just... kinda... happened.

She shrugs. Beckett frowns, adopting a pensive expression.

BECKETT: Hmm. That does present a problem.

There is silence at the table for several long moments as everyone ponders Fiora’s predicament. Then, noticing Fiora’s discomfort, Shreya breaks the silence.

SHREYA: Ah, that reminds me! Beckett, have you learned anything about that reflection Fiora has been seeing?

ZEPH: What, in one day?! Shreya, not even Beckett could do--

BECKETT: I have, in fact!

Zeph spits his drink onto the floor in utter astonishment as Beckett continues:

BECKETT: Last night, I took some time to read through an old book of mine: Principles of Reflectional Travel.

ZEPH: Why would you own-- (sighs) What am I saying. Of course you would.

BECKETT: Right. At any rate, based on my initial studies, my best guess would be that this girl you are seeing, whomever she may be, is someone who became trapped in the Between during an unsuccessful attempt to travel to or from the Archikial Realm. As for why she keeps appearing to you, Fiora, I cannot be certain. Perhaps she hopes you will help her escape?

GRIFFIN: Wow, that’s impressive, Beckett! Gotta say, that theory makes a lot of sense now that you mention it.

SHREYA: I’m not sure why I haven’t thought of that before. Reflections allow us to travel between realms; if this girl keeps appearing inside a reflection, it makes sense she’d be trapped in the Between.

ZEPH: Okay, but why would she think Fiora could help her escape?

FIORA: Don’t ask me, I have no idea. I don’t even know what this “Between” thing is!

GRIFFIN: It’s... well, exactly what it sounds like. It’s a sort of “negative realm” that lies between the Stoicheal and Archikial Realms. We pass through it when we go from one to the other, but it’s rare for someone to wind up in the Between itself.

ZEPH: Rare, but not impossible. I’ve heard plenty of stories.

BECKETT: Speaking of stories...

Beckett glances pointedly at Zeph.

BECKETT: According to the book, the only way for someone to escape the Between is through a sufficiently powerful rip in time or space. You don’t happen to know any of those so-called Time- or Space-Attuned who may wish to help us out, do you?

Zeph blushes a deep shade of red.

ZEPH: Can’t say I do... I mean, even I know that the Lost Sources are, well, lost. Them being real doesn’t exactly help our situation.

GRIFFIN: Beckett, are you sure that’s the only way? What if this girl’s shadowing Fiora because it takes any Primal Attunement to set her free? A Light-Att, for example.

BECKETT: Not as far as I have found... but then, I haven’t been able to check the library yet. Perhaps a book there will shed more light on the subject.

Griffin laughs, and after a moment, Fiora, Shreya, and Zeph join in too. Beckett scowls at them when he realizes why.

BECKETT: That pun was not intentional, I assure you.

FIORA: It’s fine. Thanks for your help, Beckett! Let me know if you find anything else, okay?

BECKETT: Naturally. This is quite the intriguing project. I am happy to help.

Fiora smiles and returns to her breakfast. As everyone begins finishing their plates, Shreya takes a fork and clinks it against her glass.

SHREYA: Ah! In all the excitement and discussion, I’d nearly forgotten! Everyone, Fiora and I have an important announcement to make!

ZEPH: You’re officially dating?

FIORA (flustered): What?! No! I mean-- I-- (suddenly confused) Actually, what are you talking about, Shreya? Because I have no idea.

SHREYA: Last night, Fiora and I were--

FIORA (softly): Wait, Shreya, did you forget? We’re supposed to keep all that a secret, remember?

Shreya winks at her.

SHREYA: Oh, don’t worry, Fiora. It’s fine. (to the group) Fiora and I are both going to be inducted into the Defenders of the Flame!

Fiora stares, open-mouthed, at Shreya’s brazen announcement. The others all burst into excited cheers and congratulations.

ZEPH: What? The Order, already?! But they usually wait until third year to--

GRIFFIN: Rare, but it does happen. It’s quite the honor for a pair of first-years. Congratulations!

BECKETT: This may be a good time to mention that I myself have also been inducted into the Steel Bulwark. The ceremony will take place--

SHREYA: December 26th, right? That’s when ours is.

BECKETT: You are correct. It is quite the honor, to be certain.

ZEPH: Congrats, Beckett!

GRIFFIN: Doesn’t surprise me they inducted you all. Especially Fiora, what with the Light-Att thing. Here’s hoping I’ll be joining the three of you as a member of the Earthborn next year.

Throughout all of this, Fiora has been staring open-mouthed at everyone. Finally, she works up the nerve to speak.

FIORA: Wait, wait, Shreya! Isn’t this all supposed to be a secret?! And here you go blabbing it to everyone? Y’know, “keep it in confidence” and all that?

Shreya giggles, and the others laugh softly as well.

SHREYA: You really are so precious. The Stoicheal Orders love to keep up the façade, but to be quite honest...

GRIFFIN: They’re pretty much the worst-kept “secret” in existence. Everyone knows about ‘em.

ZEPH: Heck, my whole family have all been inducted into the Wave’s Crest, and they just love to blab about it at reunions.

BECKETT: It is true. The secrecy is all ceremonial; a relic of a bygone age when such things truly were necessary. Do not fret, Fiora.

FIORA: Wish I’d known that sooner. It kinda freaked me out a little. They just showed up, and pow! No more shadow monster.

ZEPH: Wait, it was the Defenders who rescued you?

SHREYA: That’s right. Dr. Swan herself, in fact!

ZEPH: Whoa...

SHREYA: Still, Fiora, I wouldn’t go bragging about our induction to just anyone. It’s quite rare for first-years, you know.

FIORA: Gotcha.

BECKETT: Well, the three of us, at least, have a month to prepare for the ceremonies. Not to mention studying for our regular classes, and in my case, continuing to research the mysterious reflection you’ve been seeing.

He grabs his breakfast tray and gets up from his chair.

BECKETT: Congratulations, Fiora, Shreya. Best of luck to you both.

He heads out of the dining hall. Fiora and Shreya look at one another.

FIORA: Guess that’s our cue. See you guys later?

ZEPH: For sure! Pend Pals forever, right?

GRIFFIN: Of course!

SHREYA: Great! We’ll see you both later.

Shreya and Fiora take their trays and follow Beckett out of the dining hall.

_______________________

Scene Notes: And so Act 2 begins! Kind of a slow chapter, but necessary for exposition. And, of course, getting the dragon links in there. Had to introduce ‘em somewhere...

Worldbuilding: Yes, the Defenders of the Flame aren’t the only Stoicheal Order out there! Three others have been namedropped so far: The Steel Bulwark (Metal-Att), the Earthborn (Earth-Att), and the Wave’s Crest (Water-Att). At this point it isn’t much of a spoiler to reveal that there’s an Order for the Wood- and Air-Atts as well. The Orders themselves act as a sort of combination honor society and internship opportunity for students; as Griffin said, usually students only get inducted as third-years. Guess Fiora, Shreya, and Beckett really are quite exceptional...

_______________________

Next: Private Tutoring

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DotF/Elementalists Tag List:

[zumpietoo]

Time for moar getting deep with stupid.....

First off, no, it isn't.....it's a LOT of ass shaking and everything else is pretty basic. My entire issue remains that Plaiderdale, unless Dynasty, doesn't lean far enough into campy cray-cray----AND for all its musical shit, nobody has any actual, you know, talent (versus Liz and Sam alone are amaaazzzzinggggggg.....)

And no, they're done for the Night Gallery episode. And that's with me wondering if Pussy hadn't painted Jug with rats to please Tinkle...

I'm fucking stupid and inane, I don't even get how stupid I am....and, once again, I'll ignore a significant amount of actual canon AND facts presented to me (eg that Jughead wears a "crisp, white turtleneck" in all the promo shit cause it's what the stylist put him in that day) to push my utterly ridiculous and pointless narrative.

I probably think I'm unspeakably quirky and cute for doing so.

Anyway, no, Dippshit, majjjikkk is NOT "coming to Plaiderdale", ignoring RAS's recent trolling (where he also fully confessed a crossover wasn't a possibility for at least two years....by which point this show WILL be gone), he's long stated that does NOT exist in Plaiderdale. There is no supernatural. Which means shit happens because of crime, coverups, etc.

Which, honestly, is a lot moar interesting, since "majjjikkk" is a way for even lazier writers to get themselves outta corners. And, as it is, we deal a lot with dreams/hallucinations/psyche!/etc....

It did not "come to a head", it was a windstorm cause the script said so....and will form the basis for the nu Blossom Cult. And Barfie Evan knows fucking dick.

And is, possibly, a bigger fucking moron than are YOU. And wanted you to pay attention to him. Cause god knows nobody else does.

Yes. yes....

a

Oh my fucking lord......

A) that isn't entirely "majjjikkk", for those who think it's credible, clairvoyance/premonitions are more of a gift/sixth sense....in the case of Betty, if it WERE true (it is not true) the application of simple common sense

B) If Pussy can legit do this, shouldn't she be fucking intervening???? Why is she just sitting back while her cousin spirals further out of control and is gonna go off, possibly murder, certainly kidnap and torture others?

Actually, if Pussy DOES have knowledge in advance, she's an accomplice. And I get Pussy doesn't really GAF, but still. If only to help out BETTY, maybe.

Wow, you think Betty MIGHT not murder by dismemberment (the same as TBK, BTW) a potentially innocent person???? Aren't YOU the smartypants!!!

It isn't a magical red dick.....it's a prop for the Night Gallery episode. How ARE you this fucking stupid?

It's a fucking set piece, you dipshit! I predict we get either the picture opening Betty's segment OR the segment ends with the above fading into the picture.

TBC.....

[queerbutstillhere]

do you do combos? 15 and 18 for Jondami?

15. Drunkenly confessing feelings

18. Fake dating AU

It had been a weird day.

It had started something like this.

Jon: Hey, I need a date for this formal college event and no one else I know has suits just sitting around.

Damian: so you're asking me?

J: well Yeah.

D: why should I say yes?

J: there will be alcohol.

D: what time.

So nearly thirteen hours later, Damian and Jon, dressed to the nines, walked into Jon's college formal dinner awards ceremony. Because Jon was a smartypants and got academic awards. And because this college decided to have a ceremony for that.

Damian was wearing one of his favorite suits, a deep charcoal gray, with a black button down, black tie. Jon was wearing just a black suit and a white button down. He had started with a tie, but it didn't work well, so Damian made it take it off.

Now here's the thing. Damian isn't his father, but people are still gonna notice when you walk into a venue with a WAYNE next to you. And people did notice.

At some point a woman walked up to Jon, and then pointedly looked to Damian.

"So, Jon, is this your boyfriend?" She asked cheerfully.

Jon spluttered for an answer, but Damian just smiled and looped his arm through Jon's.

"And if I am?" He asked, leaning into Jon slightly. Not enough to put actual weight on him, but enough for it to be obvious.

"Oh, I was just curious! I didn't mean anything by it!" She said hurriedly.

"Of course you didn't," Damian said, with a smile that would immediately smooth over any hurt caused by his words.

He pulled his new "boyfriend" away.

"Where are we sitting?" He asked, glancing to the red-faced Jon.

"Uh, uh, over there." He pointed to the table they had been directed to.

Damian sat down at it, pulling Jon into a seat next to him.

"You know, you owe me after this," Damian said, frowning at him.

"Of course I do."

"Is that sarcasm I hear, Kent?"

"Nope."

A few hours passed of this boring event, and it was safe to say Damian got more then mildly tipsy, almost drunk even. Jon was less so, despite having drank the same amount, but that was due to him having alien DNA. So Jon drove them back to his apartment, telling Damian he was spending the night. Damian protested against this, but when Jon dragged the drunk vigilante inside, he didn't resist too much. Jon ended up carrying him up the stairs, setting him down in the kitchen of his studio apartment.

"I'm hungry," Damian said with a pout, heading towards the cabinet. "That place didn't have near enough vegan food."

"You literally ate all of my veggies."

"That's no excussee," Damian slurred, annoyed at himself for how drunk he had gotten.

Jon just sighed from behind him. Damian heard the clink of glasses and looked over to see him pulling out a glass bottle with some clear liquid inside.

"What're you doing?"

"I figured I might as well match you, since I'm already tipsy."

"Oh. Okay."

They ended up making popcorn and took that and their rum into the other room and watched a movie, Damian shedding his tie and jacket to prevent getting them dirty. Halfway through the movie, he kept dropping popcorn on his pants and decided he should probably take those off too, so stood and began doing just that.

"Woah! What are you doing!" Jon, still more sober then him, exclaimed, reaching out and grabbing his hands.

"I don't want my pants to get dirty!" Damian protested, turning to him with a pout.

"Then ask for clothes or a blanket or something!"

Damian tilted his head. "Why? You've seen me in my underwear before."

Jon's cheeks turned pink and he looked away. "Yeah, but it's different now."

"Whadyamean?"

Jon let go of his hands and sat back, crossing his arms and closing himself off. Damian raised an eyebrow, then with his pants still unbuckled and unzipped, knelt on the sofa next to Jon, waiting.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm waiting for you to tell me what ya meant."

"I'm not gonna."

"Sure you areee."

"Damian. No. Not this time," Jon said, sobering up a bit and keeping his gaze adverted.

"But I can allllwwaaayysss make you tell."

Wow Damian really was drunk, huh?

"No."

"Jonnnnoooo."

Damian clambered over, sitting in his lap, straddling him. Jon recoiled, trying to get away, but Damian is a freaking acrobat, so he easily kept his position. He put his arms over Jon's shoulders.

"What if I go first?"

"I'm not playing this game, Damian."

Damian pouted. Jon sighed, jamming his hands into his hair.

"Fine. Fine, what?"

"I likkeee yoou."

"Okay, great- wait, what?"

Damian grinned at Jon, who was staring at him with wide eyes.

"Yyup!" He said, with a pop on the P. "Ever since we were lil lil kids. I've wanted to kiss you."

Jon just stared. Suddenly Damian had a bad feeling. He slid back off Jon's lap, standing.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't've-"

Why had he done that? Why had he come onto Jon like that? What was wrong with him!

"Shit."

He took a step back and bumped into the coffee table. His drunk body was unable to compensate so he started falling. Jon lunged forwards and grabbed him, pulling him back down onto his lap.

"Damian, I really wanna kiss you too."

Damian's brain took about two seconds to register that and then he was surging forwards, pressing their lips together in a messy desperate kiss that had teeth knocking together and noses bumping. Jon grabbed his hips tightly, even as he pulled back slightly to ease the kiss a bit, encouraging Damian to take it slow, take his time. They both pointedly ignored the taste of rum and popcorn.

All that mattered was that they were kissing.

Send me prompts!

[ella-se-vuelve-loca]

Chapter 8

Grand Masterlist

Series Masterlist

Previous Chapter

~~

Maybe this plan thing is getting a little out of hand…

I mean, I almost kissed her for crying out loud! This isn’t supposed to happen! It must’ve been in the heat of the moment ‘cause otherwise I wouldn’t have considered it. What is wrong with me? She’s just some girl I met at a party.

Yeah, a girl I’ve been getting to know a little bit more and finding out she’s not that bad. She’s someone I would consider hanging out with on my own, not because of this plan.

Ugh. None of this wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t gone up to her in the first place to make Emilia jealous. This was all for her and I still haven’t gotten anything! How long am I gonna keep doing this? Am I really gonna continue going out with her, even after what almost happened? I said I was gonna do it and I have to stay committed if I want this thing to work.

Good things come to those who wait, right?

“So I’ve been working on some new music and I honestly can’t wait for people to hear it.” Yoandri spoke as he took a bite of his taco. I had decided to meet up with him a few days later after canceling. I need to distract myself from her and think of something else… someone else.

“Hey, that’s awesome bro. I can’t wait to give it a listen.” I smiled as I took a sip from my horchata. “You’ll be the first.” He chuckled and looked outside the window. “I’m glad I got to see you today. You’ve been awfully busy lately.” He smiled as I rolled my eyes, laughing. “Oh no..”

“Oh come on! You had me wait almost a week before you could even tell me anything about this mystery girl! I’m dying to know. You don’t have to tell me much if you don’t want to, just.. a little bit is all I’m asking.” He waited a few moments before I spoke up again. I knew I shouldn’t have told him anything. “Okay uh.. well, first off, her name is (Y/N).”

“(Y/N)..” He spoke her name and thought for a second. “Not ringing any bells. I don’t know any (Y/N)’s.” He laughed.

C’mon, Joel, make this believable as possible.

I smiled and looked away from him for a second. “You wouldn’t ‘cause she’s one of a kind..” He raised an eyebrow at me. I gotta channel my inner Aladdin on how he would talk about Jasmine to the Genie. Here goes nothing…

“Dude, she’s honestly so amazing. I know we only met a little while ago and this is still pretty new, but when I’m with her… I don’t know, time seems irrelevant and all I can focus on is how beautiful she is. She’s just got something special and I feel like I can be myself. Like I can breathe around her..”

This was a little more elaborate than I thought it would be.

“And this isn’t some girl you’ve dreamed about in your sleep? Like she’s actually real?” He chuckled as I went to answer his question with a question of my own. “You callin’ my bluff?” I laughed. “Hey, I’m just asking! Doesn’t hurt to ask.”

“Well, smartypants, you wanna know if she’s real?” I asked and took out my phone. “Yes, actually haha you have a picture so I can finally put a face to this girl.” He smiled as I handed him my phone. “There you go..” On my screen showed the selfies me and (Y/N) took together the day we went to the park recently.

“Oh wow, she’s really pretty.” He scrolled through a few more pictures before handing me back my phone. “She is, isn’t she?” I glanced down at the photos for a second before looking back up at him. “And nobody else knows about her?” He asked and I shook my head. “No. No I – uh we.. wanna make this a secret, you know? Not have many people know about us..” Yeah, ‘cause if they knew what I was really doing, everyone would stop being my friend.

“Oh okay. Secret relationship, gotcha. I won’t say anything.”

“Thanks, bro.” Please keep this a secret, Yoandri. Chris knows and now you… if more people find out about this, this plan is going to get a lot more complicated. This whole thing is getting harder… how is it gonna be like when I drop her for Emilia?

~~

I walked up to her door and sent her a quick text after ringing her doorbell.

‘Hey! I’m right outside! :)’

A few more seconds passed before I saw her open the door. “Hey.” She smiled at me. “Hey.” I greeted her back. “You ready to go?” I asked. “Ready as I’ll ever be.” She closed and locked the door behind her before we walked to my car that was parked in front of her house. I walked ahead and opened the passenger door for her. “M’lady.”

“Why thank you, kind sir.” She laughed and hopped inside after I closed the door. Here we go. I walked back over to the drivers’ seat and we strapped our seatbelts on.

The whole drive there, it amazed me how comfortable I was around her. I haven’t known her for very long, but there’s something about her that just makes me feel at peace. I don’t know what it is, but I like it. She’s becoming a really good friend..

We finally made it to the bowling alley and walked inside. “This is gonna be interesting.” I smiled as we went to go get our shoes and pick out a bowling ball. We looked up at the screen and watched our names appear on the scoreboard.

“You ready to lose, Pimentel?” She asked as she stood up, grabbing her yellow ball. “Oh-ho-ho is that a challenge?” I asked as I folded my arms against my chest. “You take it as you want. I’m just letting you know..” She aimed and turned to look at me, a smirk placed on her lips. “I am a very gifted bowler..”

She said before she extended her arm and swung the ball down, letting it fly off her fingers. All I could hear at that moment was the crash of the pins falling down. She turned to look at me, a hand on her hips as she just smiled. “Beat that.” Well well well…

“Hmph..” I chuckled as I stood up and grabbed my dark pink bowling ball. “Well, in that case, I should let you in on a little secret too..” I copied her previous movements and turned to look back at her. “I’m a very competitive person.” I said as I heard the pins fall down. We stood there staring at each other. A knowing smile on our faces as we both had the same thought.

“Game on.”

It was left and right. One round she was winning and the next I was. There was no telling who was gonna take the crown. We were so into the game, that we didn’t realize that the rest of my group had came in.

“You just can’t accept defeat, can you?” She laughed as I playfully rolled my eyes. “Oh, yeah. If you hadn’t distracted me on that last shot, I would’ve won.”

“Oh, boo-hoo. I wasn’t distracting! I was simply talking to you, was all.” She smiled.

“By making horrible jokes to the point where I’m laughing ‘cause they were that bad? Mhm maybe you just felt threatened that someone is just as good as you and you had to cheat. Where did this skill come from anyways? I keep beating your ass in Battlefield.” I laughed as she pushed me to the side. “Phone games are my weakness! I absolutely suck at them! Besides, if I was gonna cheat, I would’ve done something else.”

“Oh, yeah? Like what?” A smirk formed on her lips as she came closer to me and slightly leaned in. “That depends, you wanna lose again just to find out my other little tricks?” I gulped and cleared my throat, inching a tad bit closer. “What makes you think I’m gonna lose this time?” I asked as she chuckled, moving a strand of hair away from her face. This game is getting more and more interesting. “I guess we’ll just have to see.” She pulled away from me and grabbed her bowling ball.

“Another round?” I nodded. “Let’s get this started.” The scoreboard was cleared as we started another match between us. She positioned herself and aimed straight for the middle before I got the idea to stand directly behind her. Oh yeah, I’m playing dirty. Plus, this is all fun and games, right?

She stiffened for a second before regaining her composure as I placed my hands on her shoulders. “What do you think you’re doing?” She asked as I laughed. “Oh, don’t mind me. I’m just getting a better view for when you miss this shot.” I slowly ran my fingers down her arms and saw goosebumps form onto her skin.

“So this is how you wanna play, hmm?” I smiled as I thought about winning this game. “Hey, I’m not losing to you again.”

“Alright, well it takes two to tango..” She slightly bent down and pressed her ass into me. Not quite expecting her to do that, I backed away and that’s when she took the shot – almost knocking down all of the pins. “Well I refuse to let you faze me.”

I laughed as she went to knock down the rest of the pins and turned to look at me. “Your turn.” Like I said, this game got more and more interesting as we kept going. “You’re such a dick!” She laughed as I tickled her stomach, making her lose balance and her bowling ball go straight into the gutter. “Now  who’s the one cheating?” She turned to look up at me, my hands stayed on her waist as I glanced down at her.

“Hey princesa, I told you I’m not losing again.” We laughed until it died down as I continued to stare into her eyes. I don’t think I ever realized how pretty her eyes actually are. They say that the eyes are the windows to the soul… hers just looked.. soft.

Why can’t I move away from her? Why am I not even trying? My eyes dropped down to her lips for a split second before I leaned my forehead against hers, testing to see if she would pull away..

She didn’t.

I held her close to me as my face slowly leaned down to hers. “(Y/N)… is this.. I mean – ”

“Woah, am I interrupting something?” We pulled away from each other and looked behind us to see a guy holding a pizza box in his hands. “I just came here to drop off your food..”

“Oh! Uh thanks man..” He nodded awkwardly and placed the box on the table next to us and walked back to go and give the next table their food. I turned to look at her and cleared my throat. “We should..” I mentioned over to the food and she nodded. “Yeah, definitely.” We sat down next to each other as I opened the box.

“… You’re a cheater, you know that?” She joked as she grabbed a slice and took a bite. “What? No!” I laughed. “I’m just playing the game.” I smiled as I took a slice and placed it onto my plate. “Oh please! Hahaha face it, I’m better at this game than you are.”

I chuckled and nodded. “Okay okay… even though I hate to admit that I’m wrong and I hate losing games… I have to admit defeat. You won this round.” She smiled and did a small victory dance in her seat as she took another bite of her pizza. “Suck it.” She laughed. I took out my phone and snapped a photo of her. “No! I’m eating! I’m gonna look like a fatass!” We laughed as we continued eating our junk food.

I looked at her with a smile on my face as I thought about how I finally met my match.

Next Chapter

~~

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[insane-control-room]

The Linework

Chapter Two, Segment One

Previous (3.1.5) - Next

Masterpost

Ao3 Full Chapter Link

Wiring

Henry and Joey slumped onto the couch, exhausted.

Johan had forgotten how exhausting it was to be a father, and to add in all the legalities that were added in with the fact that the children were, well, not humans, the whole of the law drained his energy below the baseline.

He was so grateful that Henry was with him to help him get through all of it. Without him….

Well.

He did not want to think about that.

Bertrum, Lacie, Allison, and Susie had all been huge helps as well - not to mention the whole of the studio. Additionally, Dot had offered to babysit for a raise, to which Joey readily agreed - it was just nearing spring, afterall, so even if the government allowed the kids into school, it would still be a long time until classes would start again.

Another thing that twisted Joey’s heart strings were the ages of the children; not quite babies, not quite adolescents, but toddlers. 

Right where he left off with… her.

He was unsure if he was grateful for that or saddened, both sides awkwardly appealing and strangely comforting. To Henry, who had raised Linda, virtually alone (at least he was rather alone until Joey got into the picture), having three little ones running around was only a level up from what he was used to, especially with who little Linda’s best friend was. 

Joey looked over at Henry. His eyes were closed, fingers interlocked and resting over his stomach, his breathing slow and even, yet he was not sleeping. Joey always knew when Henry was asleep.

Johan scooted his way towards him on the couch, curling up to rest his head on his lap. Henry’s hands instantly found their way into his paintbrush hair, running through it over and over.

“What the hell did you do, Joey Drew?” Henry murmured. Johan stiffened, eyes closing tightly, brows arching in thought. He knew this question would come up eventually, and he did not quite know how to face it. “I’m not mad. Really. It’s simply important that I understand.”

“I think I made a mistake in coding,” he mumbled in answer. “I mean, I… I definitely did. B-but it’s not so simple as finding and removing it, ‘cause it’s not a bug, at least not according to the laws of this world. After reprogramming it again, I rewrote the love of death as a love of l-life. And those kids… man, if they aren’t full of life.”

“They’re…” Henry tried to think of words to describe how he was feeling. Incredulous, shocked, happy, afraid, anticipatory. He could not figure out how to word it, so he just went with, “Wow.”

“Mm. You’re wow,” Joey smiled against Henry’s leg, kissing his knee. Henry chuckled, scratching behind Joey’s ear. Joey vibrated, a rumble deep in his chest. Henry laughed quietly. “What?”

“I can see where Bo gets that from,” Henry’s voice calmed Johan, his eyes drifting shut. “Scratches and purring. I was wondering where the second one got picked up from.”

“It is not purring!” Johan remarked indignantly, until Henry grinned devilishly, scratching him right where his jaw met his ear, making his eyes flutter shut, the rumble repeating, louder, accompanied by a quiet whimper. “Mm, ah… Henry… Henry… good….”

“More?” Henry asked, grinning. Joey nodded, eyes closed, a smile gracing his lips, bliss and rapture the entirety of his expression. As soon as Henry continued to adorn Joey with soft touches and sweet comments, a cry came from the kids’ shared bedroom. Henry groaned, Joey grumbling a quiet complaint, but getting up anyways. He returned to the living room with Alice curled up in his arms, her cheeks slightly stained with tears from a nightmare, but now her face was one of tranquility. Henry smiled softly, patting her cheek, cleaning up the small streaks of acetone tears. Part of him wondered why it did not burn through her skin, the other not daring to question it, merely glad that it did not. “She’s so cute.”

“Just like her father,” Joey smiled, pressing a kiss to both of their foreheads, and ran his hand over his girl’s curly blonde hair. The halo that his arm went through sent odd tingles up his arm, like he hit his funny bone, but about five minutes later. “She looks so much like you….”

“And Bendy looks like you,” Henry sighed, wrapping his arm around Joey’s shoulders, leaning his head against his arm. “Boris… well, he’s interesting. Not really sure what I was expecting for him. Not that I was expecting any of them at all.”

“Neither was I,” Joey yawned. Alice snuggled against his chest, holding onto his pin, sucking on her wrist. He looked down at her, eyes strangely misted over, face neutral. Henry could sense that something was heading down wrong paths in Johan’s mind, twisting his thoughts, and Henry hugged him best he could from his vantage point. Joey sighed, sinking into the couch, crumbling into something miserable. “Am I a bad dad, Ray? I feel like I’m running around like a headless chicken. Shouldn’t I be better at this already? After Aramis, after Linda?”

“What?! No, not at all,” Henry assured him. “You’re a better dad than I am, hell, that’s one of the reasons Diane and I broke up, because she saw I wasn’t very good at taking care of Linda, always sending her to my parents, not really being around for her, and when she saw how good you were with kids… well, she got jealous. It brought tension into the relationship. Because of how good of a dad you are.”

“So you’re telling me that you lost out on a normal relationship because of me?” Johan asked, dismayed. Henry laughed, rolling his eyes and shaking his head. “What? It’s true, ain’t it?”

“Not at all, smartypants,” Henry kissed him softly. “We both could see it. She was happy that I was falling in love with you for who you are, Joey. Not because she was upset. She saw that we would be better together, but I constantly denied it, and then I proposed, and now the rest is history. It’s us together now, right? And you’re an amazing father, and I couldn’t ask for anyone else to be a dad with me.”

“Really?” Joey questioned, worriedly chewing on his lip. Henry kissed him again, replying, “Absolutely, you blind fool. I love you.”

“I love you, too, Henry,” Johan mumbled, blushing like a schoolboy. “A-and I mean the same for you. T-to be a dad with you.”

Again, the box under the couch cushions beckoned to him. Would this not be ideal? Would it not be blissfully sweet and romantic? Would it not be wonderful?

Henry’s arm came over his shoulder again, and Joey opened his mouth, yet his courage failed him once more, leaving him to close his mouth slowly, trying to think of what he would even say.

“You’ve been acting weird, lately,” Henry told him, raising an eyebrow. Johan sputtered, his red eyes wide and incredulous. “Almost jumpy.”

“I’m always jumpy.”

“Not this much.”

“That’s very debatable.”

“Oh, hush,” Henry frowned, folding his arms over his chest. Johan missed their warmth immediately, but Alice in his arms prevented him from reaching towards Henry. “There’s something bothering you again, isn't there?”

“Nope.”

“Yuh-huh.”

“Nada.”

“You can be such a liar sometimes, Joey Drew,” Henry’s frown morphed into a scowl. “Tell me what’s wrong.”

“Nothing, promise.”

“Real promise?”

“Cross my heart.”

[youremeimyou]

The Bet (pt.2)

Part 1 - Part 2

pairing: Kim Taehyung x Reader genre: fluff, a little more angst than the first part word count: 4k warnings: none other than stressful college life

Description: Taehyung and Y/N have managed to form a strong bond over their years of college. According to their friends, the chemistry between the two is undeniable. But the duo would rather not risk the close friendship. The very friendship that’ll be put to test by the boldest of bets, it seems.

A/N: This part turned out to be more like on the “college au” side of things. I enjoyed writing it so much. The ending parts killed me everytime I read it :’) So I really hope you guys like it. I’d love it if you guys let me know what you think of it. Enjoy!

When Y/N woke up next morning, she didn't feel the least bit rested. Considering it was already next morning when she finally came home and went to sleep, it wasn't that surprising. She grabbed her phone to see if there were any texts from.. well, someone she wouldn't admit to be expecting texts from. Instead, a long list of missed calls from both her parents greeted her on the screen. Do I have to meet them? Do I have to get up and shower right now? Her brain answered yes to both. She quickly got ready and rushed to the little café they always met up at.

"So, how was finals week?"

"Do you have to shout mom?" Her mom wasn't shouting but boy was Y/N hungover. Her parents were confused. Both because she was being a prat and because she was wearing sunglasses inside.

"Sorry. I just have a migraine."

"Oh sweety, didn't you take your medicine. You probably ran out on finals week didn't you?" And bingo. Somehow her mom knew how her daughter struggled with exams and still wanted her to do the best.

"Let's buy you some new ones from the pharmacy down the block."

"It's okay, dad. I'll take care of it. How are you guys doing?"

"We're doing just fine sweety. Your mom made-"

"Let's tell her! I can't wait any longer." Her mom cut in. Then she continued with a wide smile.

"Remember the lab you were talking about last mounth? The one you said you loved the work they did."

"Yeah, BioGrid. Why?"

"You know your dad's friend Ryu used to be the driver of the CEO. And turns out, once he drove his wife to the hospital when she went into early labor and saved her life. Anyway, I saw on the newspaper that they were opening a new lab here in our city. So I had Ryu send them your CV. And they want to have you start as an intern."

"What? Mom when did you- and how did you-" Y/N was confused to say the least with all the information she was fed in just a few seconds. "But, I have school."

"I know, dear. They also know you're still a student. They agreed on making the schedule in a way you can do both. I mean with how well you're doing, damn right they should."

Both her parents had proud looks on their faces. It was endearing. But the fact that no one even thought to ask for her opinion beforehand, frustrated her. She was -like always- just suppossed to find a way to handle both. Always had to exceed expectations let alone meeting them. And yes, she'd really love to work there one day. Not this day though. She already had enough migraines regarding school. But, she wasn't gonna argue. This was a topic she could never be found right about. So she just expressed her gratitude and everyone went on with their brunch.

.........

Y/N's phone screen lit up with back to back messages. She rolled to the other side of her bed to reach it.

Tae: Sorry, I was out at the backyard shooting hoops.

Tae: Didn't hear you call.

Tae: Whassup?

She was relieved he got back to her. Hoping it would mean he wasn't avoiding her.

Y/N: No problem. And nothing's up. I mean something is but I'd rather not text about that right now.

Her phone started ringing a few seconds after she sent the text.

-‘Taetae’ calling...-

"Hey, Tae-"

"What happened?"

"I just wrote that-"

"You said you didn't wanna text about it. So I called. Now, tell me."

Y/N smiled. He always just knew how to make it better. So Y/N told him everything that went down and how she felt about it.

"Sounds to me like a great opportunity. Yet, also a great deal of work, huh?"

"Yeah."

"What're you gonna do?"

"What can I do but comply?"

"You can try to talk to your parents-"

"When has that ever been an option? And I already contacted the lab. They said I start Monday. Monday's like tomorrow!" He could tell she was frowning and scrunching her cute little nose, through the phone. "Anyways, what're you up to?"

"Gotta hit the library from now on. Full-on study week awaits. I've to take the make up test next week for plant bio. After I handed my paper to the teacher after the exam and saw the look on her face, I knew I should've given an empty paper instead of writing any kind of answers."

They both chuckled to that.

"Can't be that bad.." after Taehyung didn't reply for like five seconds, she continued, "can it?"

"Oh, it is." Both giggled again. "I was actually gonna ask you to tutor me this week. But you’re starting the internship. I gotta pull it off by myself somehow."

"No way am I letting you suffer plant bio alone. Of course I'll help you."

"You don't have to really. You already have that nanobiotech article review thing Professor Ling assigned you. When's that due again?"

"Shiiiittt. I forgot about that. That's next week.."

"You should get started on it."

"I will. I mean.. first I gotta find an article to review but I got this. And I'm definetly helping you out." She laughed. It was a nervous laugh but a laugh nonetheless.

"Just get started on your stuff. We'll talk later."

"Okay. Text me when you're headed to the library. Bye."

It turned out the next day was indeed Monday. So Y/N started the internship. BioGrid was really nice. She felt happy to be there, witnessing the new frontiers of her field. First they discussed the schedule, then they started working. She never imagined her first day to be this tiring.

After the busy first experience, Y/N finally got on the bus home. She felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. It was a set of links sent from Taehyung. All the links were of articles related to nanobiotechnology. She felt her heart flutter.

It was Friday and the week went by in a blink of an eye for Y/N. She was so busy all the time. She mostly went to sleep with headaches and woke up with them still there. Only could drop by the school for a few classes. Oh yes, she was also taking summer school for extra credit. It was easily the most worn out she had ever been. But she was glad she made it to the 9.15 class today, In hopes to finally see Taehyung who she hadn't seen whole week. So naturally, it was dissappointing when he didn't show. As she was walking out of the class she saw the announcement paper hanging on the notice board.

'Classrooms determined for Saturday's Plant Biology make up test'

Holy shit. Y/N completely forgot about tutoring Taehyung. She quickly called him but no response. Again and again she called as she practically ran to his apartment but he never picked up. Once she knocked on his door, she heard someone else alongside Taehyung's familiar voice through it. Then, there was the sound of footsteps getting closer and closer until the door opened.

"Y/N? Hey-"

"I know we only have one day, well even less than a day till the test but we can do this." Y/N brushed past Taehyung and let herself in. "Now step aside and let me force every single bit of knowledge I have upon you abou-"

She swallowed the rest of her sentence when her gaze met Jessie's who was sitting comfortably on Taehyung’s couch.

"Oh, see Taetae? And you thought smartypants forgot about you."

Jessie was being her usual irritating ass self towards Y/N. Y/N didn't have any beef with her, though. She was just another chick who’s sore about the fact Taehyung spent more time with Y/N more than any of the girls in school. Y/N knew being hated by most girls on campus came with the Taehyung friendship package.

"I never said that. And don't be annoying, Jess."

Jess? Really? What happened to Jessica or even Jessie at this point?

"What are you guys-"

“I’m teaching Taehyung stuff.” No one spoke for a brief moment. Because this was definetely not something anyone would consider normal. So, Y/N was kinda right to be baffled.

“Yeah well, who knew? Jess knows school stuff and she can share it with others. Wow, right?”

Jess. Tch….

Jessie just glared at him. “I guess you know all you can fathom at this point. I’m done here.” She started walking towards the exit. She stopped suddenly and turned back to say something she forgot to. “Breathe a word of this me tutoring thing to anyone and you can probably guess that it’ll be ugly.” And with that being said, she walked out.

“So.. are you really ready for the test?”

“As ready as I can be, I guess. I almost peed my pants when Jessie said she could help. But she really knows her stuff, I gotta say. Guess plants are just her thing.”

“I did see her trying to hide her results paper in plant bio once.”

“Yeah, that sounds like her. Hiding good grades to keep from ruining her reputation.” Taehyung smiled. And Y/N couldn’t believe how much that annoyed her. It was just a simple comment about the girl and a simple smile. And Y/N didn’t understand why but she was openly hurt.

“Why didn’t you call me Tae?” she asked with a frown.

“I knew you were busy.”

“I can unbusy myself for you. You know that. Instead you go to Jessica. No wait, what was it? Oh right, Jess.”

Her voice contained anger and dissappointment. And it was coming on much too stronger than she intented to.

“I told you she was the one who offered to help-“

“Yeah, because you confided in her. Not me, not any of our other friends but your Jess.” She practically yelled this part. And as soon as the words came out, she regretted every single one. Y/N knew it was her that messed up, not Taehyung. She supposedly came here to apologize but what greeted her when she came in made her see red. And the rest was history.

“She’s not my Jess. That’s not and will never be a thing.” Taehyung on the other hand remained calm. Even through the bitchy exterior, he knew Y/N was just stressed. He couldn’t bring himself to be angry with her when she had dark circles around her eyes like that.

“And speaking of our other friends, hyungs were asking about you the whole week. So was Chungha. I thought you would’ve at least talked to her at some point.”

Y/N couldn’t speak to anyone lately. Not even her best friend as Taehyung pointed out.

“Anyways, they figured out we hung out last Saturday. The hyungs gave me a ton of crap cuz they didn’t see you since like last month or something and I didn’t take ‘em with us to the party.”

Y/N knew she had a lot to make up for. It was true that she didn’t really hang out with her friends for almost a month. First it was the finals week, now she had the internship. It was starting to get really lonely.

“How are you doing with the article review? I hoped I could take some of the weight of your shoulders but I doubt the ones I sent were helpful.”

Taehyung continued the conversation like the arguement never happened. He wasn’t making eye contact with Y/N though. He went to sit on the table and looked out the window. The way sunshine landed on his face and made the brown locks of his hair seem blonde was perfect. The way his long eyelashes brushed his cheekbones as he blinked was perfect. There he was being all beautiful in front of her. She wasn’t supposed to feel this way.

“Once again, I forgot about that assignment. But the second one you sent was perfect, actually. I’ll go on from that. I only have to clean two labs and write reports on the devices in those labs before, that’s all.”

“Wow. I hope you get paid for that shit.” He smiled a beautiful smile and their eyes met.

“Not enough, if you ask me.” She returned it with a grin.

“Try not to forget about the artice again.” His smile became a part frown to show his worry for a quick moment. Then he broke the eye contact again and continued looking out the window. Y/N felt like it was time to go.

“I’ll see you after your test. We should gather everyone to hang.”

He replied with a nod.

“Good luck.”

She went home after that. And announced a gathering in the group chat as promised.

-‘Chungha monster’ calling…-

“Before you yell, I’m sorry I didn’t check in with you since forever Chungs.”

“You think I’ll yell about that when there’re more important things? You went out on a date with Taehyung!”

“It wasn’t a date! This is why we don’t invite you guys anymore-“

“Yeah yeah, sure. I heard from Cho that he was all over you, so spill.”

“And he said there wouldn’t be anyone there who knew us.”

“Why? So you could do piravate stuf-“

“Chungs stop!” Y/N felt flustered.as.fuck.

“Fine, I’ll force the details out Monday when we meet. I missed our gatherings. Good thing you planned it.”

“I know, me too. See you then!”

Swiftly, the weekend went by with Y/N cramped up in a ton of work again. On her mind was Taehyung. How’d he do for the test? Why hasn’t he called since last time? And why do I miss him like this? She decided to give him space after going kinda crazy on him last time. She just had to wait till Monday. And Monday came but Y/N didn’t know cuz she was still stuck at the lab. In fact she couldn’t go home Sunday night, watching over some plants crucial to an experiment. 

This internship had a way of making her lose track of time. Until she saw the 38 missed calls from Chungha. Then she asked for the rest of the day off and ran to her best friend’s aparment.

“Sorry I’m late you guys. I missed you sooo much.” As soon as she walked in, the gang gave her a collective hug. Then each of them scolded her for being absent for such a long time. Especially Jin, he gave like a whole lecture on it.

Jungkook, Jimin and Hoseok trapped her between their bodies and took a bunch of selfies, calling it her punishment. Y/N was giggling as she tried to free herself from three koala bears. Once she finally managed to do so, she gave them a questioning frown.

“Where’s Taetae?”

Jungkook and Jimin immediately looked at each other, then on the ground. Hoseok just shrugged.

“He cancelled last minute. Family thing I guess. We were gonna celebrate him passing plant bio but sadly he can’t make it.” Chungha answered. Y/N’s heart sank. She waited all weekend to give him space. But now it felt like he was out of reach. Even though he was calm and collected last time they saw each other, she felt like he was distant. After what happened at the party, Y/N was more drawn to him then ever before. Like a switch was flipped and she wasn’t able to put away the attaction she felt like she used to be. But he was acting like it didn’t even happen. Like nothing changed for him. It drove her crazy.

“Oh, Y/N. Proffesor Ling told me she loved the review you sent her. She just couldn’t put in the marks due to a problem in the system. She says grades will be up there in a few days.”

“What? I didn- I mean I forgot about that again and I- but how-“

“Girl, you’re blabbering. Let’s start the movie guys.”

Y/N didn’t even focus for a moment during the movie. She checked her mail and saw that the article review was indeed sent. But it wasn’t her who did that. Apperently it wasn’t Chungha either so that left only one person. The one guy that wasn’t here right now. The guy who made Y/N’s heart beat out of her chest.

After the movie everyone went their own way. It was already dark outside. Despite being tired Y/N didn’t want to go home. Ever since she started as an intern, it felt like she had no time to do stuff. She decided to take a stroll down the riverside. Tonight was also too breezy to be a summer night and Y/N didn’t have a coat, again. The river happened to be really close to Taehyung’s place. Would you look at that coincidence! There was nothing more Y/N wanted than to see him at that moment. So she went to his place and knocked his door, waiting anxiously.

A messy haired, puffy faced, confused looking Taehyung opened the door. Great, now I wanna snuggle up to him.

“Were you sleeping? Sorry-“

“Hey, no it’s okay.” His voice deep and raspy, its affect on Y/N indescribable. “What’re you doing here?”

“Umm.. I was just by the river and it got kinda chilly but I couldn’t find a cab and I thought you might be up but you must be tired I should’ve just-“

“Breath Y/N. Come in.”

Taehyung plumped down on the couch. Y/N sat next to him a second later. But like really next to him. No space kinda next to him. Taehyung’s gaze was fixated on the floor. Until he jumped up suddenly. “I’ll make some coffee or something.”

“Did you do my assignment and send it to Professor Ling?”

Taehyung paused for a moment. “You remember how you logged in to your account on my phone? Well, it kinda stayed there. And I just wanted to check if you sent anything and saw you didn’t. So you know, I mean you already said you liked the second article I sent y-“

“Breath Tae.” they laughed after that and the mood lifted up thanks to it. But Taehyung kept busying himself on the counter and not making eye contact with Y/N still.

“I can’t thank you enough. I wish you would’ve called me and reminded me instead of going through all that trouble.”

“You already had a lot to do. And you had already forgotten about it despite me reminding you like 8 times. I just scrabbled some stuff, it wasn’t like any trouble. Let’s hope you actually get a good mark.”

“Professor Ling loved it. And she never gives compliments to me. It must’ve been more than a scrabble.”

Taehyung actually made a lot of effort. More effort than he ever made for his own work. Not that he’d admit it to her face right now.

“So how was your day?”

“Oh, I didn’t do much. In fact I don’t think I even got out today. Kinda feeling under the weather a little.”

“Wait. Didn’t you have a family thing?”

Shit. He just exposed himself. He dropped the porcelain mug and cut his hand on the broken pieces.  

“Tae, are you okay?” Y/N ran to him in worry. “Let me see.”

She saw it was bleeding and cleaned the wound for him. Taehyung pointed to the cupboard where first-aid stuff were. She wrapped bandages around his hand. She didn’t let go of his hand when she was done though. She stood there, really close to him and looked him in the eyes. Like trying to transmit a message from her eyes to his. It was just like their many moments back at the party. Full of tension, suspense and longing. Taehyung panicked and stepped away.

“Thanks for the-“

“What’s going on Taehyung? Cuz it seems to me like you’re trying to avoid me. I mean you won’t even make eye contact. And I don’t get it because you’re also looking out for me, doing my assignments for me without even making it known. You’re making me confused. And driving me crazy!”

“I’m driving you crazy? That’s rich.”

“What do you mean-“

“Friends look out for each other don’t they? And since I’m your friend I try to do my part. You know.. as a friend!”

“Taehyung I-“

“And yeah I’m avoiding you. I’m trying to stay the hell away from you because I can’t-“ he paused and lowered his loud volume before he continued. “After the party I just can’t stop thinking about you.”

Y/N felt like her voice was ripped out of her. She wanted to say something, that she also had him on her mind. How she felt so grateful for his help, how she was so sorry for not being around. But she just couldn’t utter a word.

“Look I- it wasn’t just impulses that night. It was a long time coming for me. Because you drive me crazy. But you were right. We’re close friends. You’re practically my best friend. And I can’t lose you. I just have to pull it together.”

“Tae-“

“Don’t feel awkward. Please don’t feel awkward okay?”

“Let me speak dumbass.”

Taehyung couldn’t even look at her. It was unbareable to wait for what was about to come. He, who was a known campus fuckboy -which he may or may not have taken pride in-  never developed these kind of feelings for another girl. Well since they met freshman year, he didn’t really have much emotional availability for other girls. Not like this girl right here. The girl he bought a blue jacket for.

Once again Y/N walked to him but slowly this time. He was standing next to the kitchen counter. She went next to him, leaned back on the counter, then looked at him.

“You won.”

“Wha-“

“You won the bet.”

She could swear she saw Taehyung’s eyes sparkle for a second.

“I did?”

Feeling embarrassed, Y/N lowered her gaze to Taehyung’s chest who was now standing in front of her.

“In a way, you didn’t. Because c’mon, how could I not have developed feelings for you this whole time? It’s just, after the party I couldn’t keep it in anymore. But I thought you were being distant because you thought of it as a mistake or something.” Her voice got smaller towards the end of her sentence.

Taehyung lightly grabbed her chin and made her look up to him. Okay, his eyes are definetely shooting stars. Then, he put his hands on the counter behind her, his arms softly trapping her on both sides.

“You’re looking at me like you’re about to kiss me.”

“What makes you say that?” Taehyung said as he started getting closer.

“Cause last time you were looking at me like that, you almost did.”

He paused. But this time he gave a little chuckle and closed his eyes. Then, their lips met. Y/N melted into the soft, warm and wistful kiss. Taehyung’s lips were honey, they hugged hers perfectly. Y/N moved her hands up from his chest to the back of his head, pulling a little on the tips of his hair. It made Taehyung hum lowly into the kiss and deepen it, pulling Y/N even closer by her waist. Until they finally broke apart to breathe. Taehyung leaned his forehead against hers.

“Wait. This means I have the right to brag about how I made you fall for me for the rest of eternity.”

“But what about the part I romantically declared that I was already in love with you?”

“I’m still telling everyone that I made you fall for me on the dancefloor with my smooth moves, babe.”

Y/N pulled him in for another quick kiss. Taehyung smiled against her mouth.

“I don’t know why we ever worried about ruining our friendship. We get to be best friends who can also make out! How amazing is that?”

“It’s the best idea your smart little brain full of IQ points have ever produced, love.”

Taehyung knew there was no way he’d let her go anywhere tonight after all that.

“So, how ‘bout I get started on that coffee again and you pick an anime for us to binge on my bed till we fall asleep?”

“I wanted to snuggle up to you since I saw you when you opened the door.”

He quickly brushed his nose against hers and then took two mugs from the cupboard.

“Here, you have the blue mug.”

“Yay! I love blue.”

“I know.”

...

Author’s note: I can’t believe I just finished my first fic aAgghhH. If you guys bared with me and read that whole ass thing, thank you so so much I hope you liked it. Once again I”m sorry if there are any mistakes. I wish you all a beautiful dayyyyy :)))

[bitofthisandthat]

@hoopsheartthrob said: ‘ everyone before you was a waste of time. ’ glad

𝒇𝒖𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝒏𝒐𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒍𝒈𝒊𝒂 meme.

Did she? SHE DID. Well, almost. She was soooooo close to saying it, but those words were parallel, right on top of each other, a breath from these, he knew it. He’d never rush them out of her, but he felt his heart choking in his throat, his ears buzzing loudly at what she had said. He sunk down in his seat at her side, stifling his tail from going crazy. Brows relaxed, and the smug, trickster-like smirk he wore was now fading into a genuine, boyish smile. All slick vocabulary dissipated instantly.

“Yeah?” Brilliant. Genius reply, Gander. He watched her carefully, even if a dozen bands were playing at full blast in his head. “Uh...wow.” He scratched the back of his head nervously, suddenly feeling like a 14 year old boy on his first real date, ever. “I, uh...I feel that. Too. Same.” What a smartypants we are tonight, Gladstone! UGHHHHH! “Uh, listen, Lola...?”

“You’re the most important person in my life right now, I want you to know that. And...I am going to be here for the full distance, if you’ll let me. So.” He cleared his throat. “Thank you for that....I’ve never been the guy on the other side of that list.”

[smilingformoney]

America’s Most Eligible 3 Diamond Scene: Cram Sesh with Jen

You: First impressions are crucial. I’ve gotta find Jen! Wrenn: Good luck, Jamie. I’ve got my fingers crossed for you.

You walk into the living room to find Jen chatting with Mackenzie, Derek, and Adam. Jen: I’m so nervous, I changed six times this morning! Derek: That’s… Mackenzie: Insane? Adam: A workout? Jen: I’ll take option C… All of the above. You: Glad to see I’m not the only one who’s nervous. Before we meet the parents, we should prep each other for what to expect. Jen: Count me in. Derek: If there’s a chance of finding out what makes you two tick, we want in. You: We’ll take all the help we can get. Let’s meet on the roof in five.

You, Jen, and your friends regroup on the roof. As you all settle in around the table, you turn to look at Jen. You: Okay… Tell me everything I need to know about your parents. Jen: Are you kidding? I wouldn’t know where to start! Mackenzie: How about the beginning? After all, Jamie’s gonna need to know your family inside and out if she’s gonna make a good impression. Adam: That might take a little longer than we have. Adam: You should start with how well you get along with them. Whether you see eye-to-eye can say a lot about a person. Derek: That’s a good idea, but this is also about making Jamie feel comfortable meeting them. What do you want to know, Jamie? You: As important as it is to know about Jen’s relationship with her family…

You: I really just wanna know… -Whether they approve of me.

You: Between the craziness in the mansion and the producers’ editing for drama, there’s no telling what they think! Jen: Everyone knows you can’t trust anything you see on TV. Nobody’s gonna judge you for that.

-How I can impress them.

You: Meeting the parents is hard enough without trying to appeal to a demographic. I need a cheat sheet! Derek: Hmm… I see your point. There’s gotta be some advice Jen can give you…

Mackenzie: Jen, you know your family better than any of us. What do you think Jamie should know about them? Jen: Uh… None of my uncles have pinky toes… You: Wait, what? Adam: As interesting as that is, I don’t think it’s gonna help Jamie today. Jen: I’m sorry. There’s so much I could say, I’m blanking on what’s need-to-know. Derek: What it help if Adam, Mackenzie, and I go first? It’ll give you an example of what’s important… Mackenzie: And Jamie can learn more about our families too. You: Works for me. Why don’t we start with…

Whose turn is it? -Mackenzie!

You: Tell me about your dad, Mackenzie. Is he as cool as your little sister Natalie? Mackenzie: Cooler. As cliché as it sounds, I’ve got the best dad in the world. Mackenzie: Right from the start, he never saw me as anything less than his daughter. He’s patient, easy to talk to, kind, selfless… Mackenzie: Basically everything my mother isn’t. You: Whoa… I’ve never heard you mention your mom, Mackenzie. Jen: On your audition reel, you said you grew up with a single father. Mackenzie: I did. My mom left us fifteen years ago. No note, no explanation, just an empty closet where her clothes should’ve been. Derek: That had to be terrible. Mackenzie: It was worse for Natalie. My dad was a mess, and she didn’t understand what was happening. I had to take care of everything. Adam: But you were just a kid! Mackenzie: That’s why he asked me to stop helping. He said it was like watching his worst fear come true. You: I can see why. It’s obvious…

You: He was worried you would… -Waste your life taking care of everything else. +BACKGROUND

You: You were just a kid! That’s an impressionable time to take on such a huge responsibility. Mackenzie: I thought handling it all alone made me strong, but my dad taught me that my constant strength helped everyone but me. Mackenzie: His favourite thing to say is, ‘Strength is for workhorses and machines. You’re only human, Mackenzie.’ You: Wise words.

-Flunk out of school. -BACKGROUND

You: There’s no way you’d have been able to do that and keep your grades up. You’d have never made it to law school! Mackenzie: I’m sure that crossed his mind, but I think he was more afraid I’d feel obligated to take care of him forever. You: Wow, Mackenzie. Were things that bad? Mackenzie: Bad enough that I’d gotten used to being strong for all of us. But my dad wanted to see me become more. Mackenzie: I think I got my determination from him. You: I’m sure you exceeded his expectations.

-Derek!

You: What’s the most important thing to know about your parents? Derek: Probably that they’re polar opposites. My dad’s a fun-loving, free spirit from Colorado… Derek: While my mom’s more of the practical type. She was born in Haiti and immigrated to the U.S. as a kid in the ‘70s. Mackenzie: That’s so cool! Jen: I’m sure it has its moments. Having immigrant parents can be complicated. Derek: I love having that connection to our culture, and I’ve even gone to visit where she grew up… Derek: But it made me realise how much she sacrificed for us to have the life that we do. Derek: Sometimes, I feel like anything less than success is letting her down. Adam: That’s a lot to put on one person. You: Especially when there are so many different types of success. Derek: not in her book. Doctor, lawyer, engineer… Those are the careers she wishes I’d join. Derek: And I’ve thought about it. I know it would make her happy, but…

You: But you… -Don’t want to pretend to be someone you’re not. +BACKGROUND

You: You may be an analytical genius, but I’ve seen your work. You belong in the arts, and you know it. Derek: I love my mom, and I know she just wants me to be stable, but living a rich and fulfilling life takes more than money. Derek: Sometimes, all I need is to good around with my friends. You: The best way to honour her sacrifice is with your happiness. Everything else will come.

-Don’t think you’d be good at it. -BACKGROUND

You: Those careers are prestigious for a reason. There’s no shame in admitting you’re not up for the challenge. Derek: I developed an algorithm that accurately predicts the next AME winner ninety-two percent of the time. I can handle the work. Derek: It’s just not who I am. I’m at my best when we’re hanging out and goofing off… not working eighty-hour weeks. You: Alright, smartypants. You have a point.

-Adam!

You: Give me the lowdown on Mama and Papa McIntyre. Adam: Well, their hearts are in the right place, but my parents are massive worrywarts. Adam: Though I guess that’s my fault. After the way Season 9 ended for me, I wasn’t really in the best headspace. Mackenzie: I don’t see how you could’ve been. Vince and Sierra’s plan was brutal. Jen: That was the night the Bad Boy of AME was born. Overnight, you were like a completely different person. Derek: I saw clips of your time in the Jury House. You were cold, man. You: If you became someone they didn’t recognise, that’s enough to make any parent worried. Adam: Once they saw how guarded the show made me, it turned them against reality TV. If they had their way, I’d have never stepped foot on set again. You: But you’re so much better now! You: If nothing else, AME showed you who your real friends are. They’ve gotta at least see that. Adam: I think it’s been hard getting that image of me out of their heads. Before, I was their perfect, loving son… Adam: Now, when they look at me…

You: All they can see is… -Their little boy. -BACKGROUND

You: Parents can have a hard time seeing their adult children as anything other than the kids they used to be. Adam: Not in this case. You guys weren’t the only ones chipping away at the wall I put up. My parents just never realised it had fallen. You: That has to be frustrating. Adam: They mean well. My dad actually suggested I should be more like you. He thinks you’re the perfect role model. You: Smart man.

-The wall you put up. +BACKGROUND

You: And it’s like they can’t get past it. Adam: Exactly. The way they look at me… I just feel like they’re waiting on the other shoe to drop. You: They aren’t going to hate me because you came back for the wedding… Are they? Adam: Not a chance. Before I left, my mom mentioned it would be good for me to be around someone as open as you. You: Then I’m glad to be of service.

Jen: Okay, I think I’ve got the hang of this. You: Perfect. So tell me… You: Were your parents strict growing up? Jen: That’s one word for it. My dad was in the military, so discipline and order were always the priority. Jen: He and my mom wanted the best for me, but living like that placed duty over fun. I always did what I had to, never what I wanted. Adam: That had to be tough. Derek: I can’t imagine having to toe the company line even as a kid. Jen: It’s part of why I wanted to be a flight attendant. We moved because someone said so. They flew because they were free to. Mackenzie: Not to mention you’d be in control of the snacks. You: when you put it like that, it sounds like a perfect fit. What changed? Jen: Everything. Jen’s eyes water, and her gaze falls to the floor. You watch her wipe away a tear and reach out to hold her hand. Jen: My dad was killed during his deployment, and after that, nothing was the same. My mom, especially. Jen: She stopped caring about my homework and encouraged me to do things I loved. It’s how I found producing. Jen: When I asked her why, she said losing my dad put everything into perspective.

You: Sounds like she wanted you to… -Love your work. -BACKGROUND

You: But I don’t think she meant for you to bring it home with you. Jen laughs through her tears. Jen: I think she just wanted me to see that there was more to life than work. Jen: I’ve always been passionate about every project I’ve taken on, and she wanted me to live life that same way. You: I think we can call that mission accomplished.

-Live life to the fullest. +BACKGROUND

You: You attack everything with pure passion, Jen She just wanted you to have a life that you were crazy about. You: I’m sure they both did. Jen: There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t miss him, but I know he’d be proud of me. You: One thing’s for sure… I know I am. Jen: Thanks, Jamie…

-Reclaim your childhood. -BACKGROUND

You: You said yourself you didn’t do the things you were passionate about. Maybe she thought it was time to change that. Jen: It was never about going back. We both realised the past was the past. My mom was just a different woman. Jen: Losing the love of her life made her realise we have as much of a duty to ourselves as to anyone else. You: That’s… one hell of a silver lining.

Jen: Now, if I could just convince my mom I’m not working too much, I’d be golden.

You: Jen… -I can’t believe I didn’t know that. +50

You: We’ve known each other for almost a year, and this is the first time you’ve ever mentioned any of that. Jen: There’s a lot of things we still don’t know about each other, but that’s the beauty of getting married. Jen: We’ve got the rest of our lives to learn them.

-Thank you for sharing that with me. +50

You: I know being vulnerable isn’t easy. I’m just happy you trust me enough to let me in. Jen: You’re gonna be my wife. I feel like I can tell you anything.

Derek: This has definitely been a bonding experience. You: I never would’ve guessed any of the things you guys told me. You play it pretty close to the vest. Mackenzie: You’re one to talk. You’re the biggest mystery of us all. You: Me? I’m an open book! Jen: I wouldn’t go that far. You’ve heard all about our families, and I don’t even know your mom’s name! You: That’s easy…

Her name is… [Name your mom]

Jen: Diana… Well, that’s one less thing to worry about. You: You have nothing to be afraid of. Once she sees how happy you make me, she’ll welcome you into the family with open arms. You: But if you really want to get on her good side…

You: You should… -Compliment her!

You: Whoever said that flattery could get you anywhere must’ve had my mom in mind. Jen: Time to turn up the charm. I’ll keep an eye out for just the right moment.

-Mind your manners!

You: My mom is a stickler for all things prim and proper. Jen: Good to know… I guess I’ll have to be on my best behaviour.

-Dote on me!

You: My mom has been spoiling me for years. She’ll want to make sure my future spouse can keep up the trend. Jen: Spoil you rotten… Got it!

The heavy metal door opens, and Wrenn pokes their head out. Wrenn: It’s showtime. Are you all ready? You: As ready as we’ll ever be.

[bazypitchandsimonsnow]

Catching a Cold

Rating: T

Genre: Fluff/Angst

Word count: 4589

Summary: Simon gets a terrible, destructive cold.

Read on AO3

AN: Wow another long one. Not as long as flowers, but still pretty long. Hope you enjoy it :)

Simon

I wake up feeling like my head is filled with cotton and my nose is on fire. Clear snot drips out of onto the pillow below. It even hurts to breathe.

“Shit,” I mutter. My voice is high pitch and clogged. I cough and green mucus comes out. Crowley, of all the things that could get me, and it’s fucking a cold.

And like my day couldn’t get any worse, Baz walks out of the bathroom, looking impeccable as always. He looks at me with a disgusted frown.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” He says.

“I have a cold,” I say.

“Obviously. You sound horrible.”

“Fuck off.” I wish I could sound more intimidating but my voice makes that impossible.

Baz chuckles. “That barely works when you’re healthy, Snow. Nice try.”

“Hey you-” A tickling in my nose makes me stop. I feel the sneeze building bit by bit. But something else builds too. Like a charge in the pit of stomach. It’s too late when I realise what it is.

“ACHOO!” The air explodes around me. Streaks of lightning shoot out in every direction. Baz ducks for cover, hands braced on his head. Once my vision clears, I look around. The walls are singed and there’s electricity still swirling around my head.

“Aleister fucking Crowley, Snow!” Baz shouts as he stands back. “What the fuck was that?!”

“Um, I think my magic is, uh...reacting to the cold.”

Baz groans and shakes his head. “As if you weren’t destructive enough already.”

“Hey! It’s not my fault! I-” Oh no, the tickling starts again. Baz’s eyes go wide with fear.

“Shit,” he hisses. “Snow, press your tongue behind your top two teeth.”

“Wha-”

“Just do it!”

I press the tip of my tongue there as hard I can. I feel like an idiot. But then, the tickle start to fades and eventually goes away completely. Once fully gone, I let out a sigh, as does Baz. I wipe the snot away and turn to him.

“Now what was that?” I ask.

“My little sister has very severe allergies in the spring. My step-mother uses that trick to stop her sneezing fits. Luckily it works on large children as well as small ones.”

I glare as best I can with bloodshot eyes. Baz is certainly not intimidated though. I stand up out of bed, but the entire world suddenly decides to tilt sideways. Everything is topsy turvy. I stumble forward, about to fall on my face, until two strong hands grip my shoulders to steady me.

“Whoa whoa, don’t stand up.” Baz’s voice is surprisingly soft. There’s barely an edge to it. “Get back on the bed.”

I sit on the mattress, my head hanging down. Everything is still spinning. I try to focus on the floor for some semblance of stability.

“I’m going to try a spell,” he says, still soft. “Get well soon!”

His magic hits me like a heatwave and wraps around my body like a warm blanket. But the warmth slides off me, pooling at my feet.

“Hmph. Why isn’t it working?”

“My body knows I hate you,” I chuckle. “Doesn’t want your help.”

Baz growls. “Or maybe your magic agitating cold is spell proof. You’re going to have to get over it the old fashioned way, I guess .”

I groan. “I have a project to hand in though.”

“I’ll do that,” Baz replies. “Just get back in bed, you idiot.”

“But-”

“No buts. Lie down, now.”

With one last annoyed humph, I do as he says. The usually annoyingly lumpy pillow feels like a goddamn cloud now. I sigh and snuggle into it. Baz carefully pulls the blanket up to my shoulders. I open my eyes, but my vision is too blurry to see his face clearly. I wonder what he looks like, how he’s looking at me. I frown.

“Why are you doing this? You could kill me right now, easily”

“Because you’re utterly helpless right now. And despite your deluded opinion of me, I’m not a complete monster. I won’t kick a man when he’s down. Plus the sooner you get better, the sooner I won’t have to worry about being hit by a stray lightning bolt.”

I huff, closing my eyes. “Right. Don’t want to be a pile of ash.”

He scoffs. “Go to sleep, Snow.” With that, I hear him walk away. Once the door is closed, I let myself relax. I bury my face into the pillow and drift away into sleep.

“Snow? Snow? Simon, wake up.”

I blink open my gummy eyes. There’s little sunlight coming in through the window. Crowley, I must’ve slept the whole day away. Baz is leaning over me. And I swear he almost looks concerned. Probably just afraid I’ll fry him with my literally explosive sneeze.

“You just called me Simon,” I mumble.

“No, I didn’t. You’re sick and obviously hallucinating.”

Baz is holding stuff in his hands. A stack of papers in one, and a large ceramic bowl in the other. I squint at the bowl.

“What’s that?”

He holds up the paper. “Your homework. Of course it will only be of use if you decide to do it.”

I shake my head. “Not that, arsehole. The bowl.”

Baz places the papers on his side table and lowers the bowl towards my face. The smell of salty broth wafts its way into my stuffed nose.

“Soup,” Baz says. “Compliments of Cook Pritchard. I told her how utterly pathetic you were, plus how imperative it is you get better before burning the whole school to the ground. So she made you soup. Now sit up and drink it.”

With immense effort, I sit up on my bed. The room isn’t spinning as much as before, so that’s a good sign. Baz carefully places the soup in my lap and puts a spoon in my hand. I swear his fingers linger on mine, but it’s so brief I must be hallucinating more. I take a cautious sip. It tastes great. I hum in approval.

“Good?” Baz asks.

“Very,” I reply, taking another sip. The warmth it clears my aching head slightly, enough to let a sudden thought to smash in. I inhale sharply, which causes another coughing fit, and a curious look from Baz.

“You alright, Snow?”

“Oh Crowley,” I rasp out. “Did you tell Penny I’m here? She’s probably going to freak out.”

Baz rolls his eyes. “Of course. Bunce ambushed me after class, demanding I tell her where you are or she’d smite me where I stood. I told her, she didn’t believe me, then I told her again and swore on my mother’s grave, and then she was convinced.”

I sigh. “Oh thank Merlin. Is she coming up here? I’m guessing she wants to come up here.”

“She wanted to. But I told her we should keep you in quarantine for now in case anyone else could get the more violent symptoms.”

“You’re not worried about getting sick yourself?”

“I don’t get sick.”

I nod slowly. “Right. Because you’re a vampire.”

Baz glares, seemingly trying to murder me with just his gaze. “ Because, I have a good immune system. Now drink the rest of that soup. It will keep you hydrated and give you nutrients.”

With an annoyed huff, I keep drinking it. I’ll admit, it does make me feel better. Soon I look back up at Baz, still sitting on his bed facing me. “How are you so good at this?”

“I have four younger siblings, Snow. If one of them gets sick, they all get sick. And since I never do, I help my parents.”

“Yeah, but you don’t have to help me.”

He makes a “pfft” noise, blowing a strand of hair out of his face. “Magically destructive illness means automatic truce in my book. And I told you, I’m not a complete monster.”

He doesn’t say anything else. Just keeps sitting there, silent, frowning slightly (but his face always looks like that). He doesn’t elaborate, leaving that statement hanging in the air. And honestly, I’m not sure if he’s trying to convince me or himself with it.

“Alright,” I finally say. “Truce. Until I’m not at risk of blowing you up.”

He nods once curtly. “Good. Glad that’s settled, Snow.”

I slurp down the last of the soup. (It’s really good.) Baz makes a disgusted noise at my manners. But he still takes the empty soup bowl from me and puts it on my desk. I lie back down.

“Now,” I say. “What did I miss in class?”

Baz raises an eyebrow. “You really care?”

I shrug. “I need something to sleep off my cold. Schoolwork is boring enough to send me right back to dreamland.”

“You really plan to sleep through your entire illness?”

“It’s only a cold. Should be gone in a day or two.”

“Achoo!”

Boom! A lightning bolt assaults the opposite wall and the black mark gets bigger. Five days. I’ve been sick for five fucking days and the only good thing is that I've figured out how to make my electric sneezes focused in one area. Now it just shoots out in front of me. Still makes Baz flinch though, understandably. He does so just as another sneeze bolt lets loose.

“Aleister Crowley, Snow,” he says from his bed. “Are you getting any better?”

“Obviously not,” I grumble, blowing my nose again.

“This is so weird. If this is a normal cold, then why won’t it go away?”

“Your guess is as good as mine.”

I flop down on the bed and groan. This is a nightmare. Penelope is pretty sure I have some unknown magical plague. She’s researching every minute outside of class. Agatha convinced Baz to bring me scones along with the daily soup. The Mage would care if he was bloody well around.

Baz has been surprisingly understanding. He brings the aforementioned soup and scones everyday, tells me what I missed in class, and even wrote out an assignment for me I dictated to him. Merlin, he even edited it for me. I really wonder, is this Baz pretending to be a nice person? Or is this how he actually acts but just treats me like crap? Am I the exception or the rule?

Either way, I think I like...this. This weird illness inducing truce. I definitely like it better than fighting.

“I feel like death,” I whine.

“You’re not dying, Snow,” Baz replies.

“How do you know, Mr. Smartypants?”

“Because I’m supposed to kill you. And the universe is not kind enough to let you die of a cold before I can do so.”

I roll onto my side so I can see him better. He’s reading his book with a completely blank expression. No indication he’s bothered by what he just said. It bothers me though. Usually I wouldn’t say anything, just accept it and move on. Maybe it’s my cold messing with my head, but I can’t let it go.

“You really think that?” I mumble. “That we’re going to kill each other?”

Baz flicks his eyes over to me. “Don’t you?”

I shrug. “I know I’m supposed to. It’s what everyone says. But I don’t know.” I look down at my bedsheet, tracing circles in the fabric. “I...I don’t think I'd want to now. You’ve been so nice to me through all of this. Why would I kill someone who’s being so nice to me?”

He scoffs. “Because I’m a Pitch and you’re the Mage’s heir. We’re doomed to die by each other’s hand. If the Humdrum doesn’t get you first.”

“Stop talking like your father and talk like yourself,” I snap.

He doesn't say anything for too long. I slowly lift up my head. Baz is looking at me, and it’s not with disgust, or contempt, or even blank resignation. In fact, he looks almost...pained. His eyes are round and open, his lips pressed together in a thin line. He’s got a death grip on his book so hard his knuckles are ghost white. It’s like he wants to say something but he can’t get it out. The anxious ache in my stomach grows with every passing second.

“Simon-”

Then I sneeze.

It comes out of nowhere. The bolt sails towards Baz’s head. He yelps and ducks down just in time. When he looks back up, it’s with the familiar expression of contempt.

“Fucking Merlin and Morgana, Snow!” He roars. “You nearly killed me!”

“I’m sorry!” I shout back.

“I don’t fucking care how sorry you are! If I’m going to die it will not be by your idiotic cold!”

“It was an accident.”

“Like hell it was,” he snarls. “Thought you could lull me into a false sense of security then get me, huh? Nice try, Chosen One.”

I gape at him. Does he really think I’d do that? That I’m capable of something so manipulative? “N-No of course not. I-I- How could you- I would-”

“Shut the fuck up you stupid stuttering numpty!”

He pushes himself off the bed and stomps to the door.

“W-Where are you going?”

“Out,” he mutters. “Away from you.”

With that, he walks out and slams the door closed with enough force to shake the room. I’m left there, frozen, in too much shock to move. What the hell just happened? It was an accident, I know it was. But my stupid words wouldn’t work like usual. And now he’s gone. There’s nothing I can do.

Slowly, I lay back down on my bed and stare out the window. I don’t cry. I just let myself wallow in self pity. Mentally hitting myself for doing that. Fuck, we were getting somewhere, and I messed it up. Messed it up like I always mess up everything.

I really am the worst chosen one that’s ever been chosen.

Baz hasn’t spoken to me in two days. Fuck, he hasn’t even so much as looked at me. No more homework help or soup. (Penny’s been bringing food instead.) It’s all just unbelievably tense silence. He stays out of the room too, goes out at night for longer that he ever has before. Like right now.

I’m on my back, staring at the ceiling. I’m surrounded by snotty tissues. I can’t sleep. That stupid day is still mulling around in my head all this time. It was an accident. I know it was...right? I didn’t mean to. The sneeze just came out of nowhere, no warning. I didn’t want to hurt Baz. It’s just this stupid cold.

What if it was subconscious? What if deep down I did? Oh god, am I really that much of a monster inside? I can’t be, I can’t be, I can’t-

I can’t breathe.

I bolt up and put a hand to my chest. It’s like there’s an elephant on my lungs. The whole world is spinning. The horrible thoughts keep bashing into me over and over again. You’re evil, you’re a monster, you tried to kill him after all he did to help you. It’s like the world’s worst time loop. Every inhale is a struggle. My magic reacts with me, pushing to the surface, making my skin simmer and glow. Fuck, I think I’m about to go off.

“Snow? Simon!”

Baz’s voice is distant to me. I faintly hear him run to my bed. He crashes onto the mattress, eyes wild with fear.

“Baz,” I choke out. “Can’t- Can’t breathe.”

“Oh my god, oh my god,” he mutters. “Is it your cold?”

“N-No. Head. T-Thinking- Won’t stop.”

Baz’s fear fades slightly. He looks more determined than anything. Suddenly, he takes my head between his hands, looking me right in the eye. (I think he does, it’s all too spinny.)

“Simon,” he says firmly. “You’re having a panic attack, okay? I need you to try to calm down and control your breathing.”

I try to wrangle in my mind but it won’t listen. The thoughts slip out of my grasp every time. My body keeps heating up. I shake my head violently.

“C-Can’t.’

“Shit,” he hisses. After a second, he grabs my wrists presses both my hands to his cool chest. “Simon, I want you to feel me breathe and try to sync up with it, okay?”

I nod vigorously.

“Alright. Listen to my voice, feel my lungs. In,” he inhales, “1,2,3. Out,” he exhales, “1,2,3.”

I focus on the feeling under my palms. It’s the only constant, grounding thing I can detect at the moment. In, 1,2,3, out, 1,2,3. Baz does it over and over again, keeping his grip on my wrists tight. Before I know it, I’m breathing just like him, my magic isn’t about explode, and the world isn’t spinning anymore.

I can finally see Baz’s face clearly. I’ve never seen him so scared, eyes wide and brows near his hairline. He hasn’t let go of me. But...I really don’t want him to, actually. His touch keeps me steady. It reminds me of the real world. That I didn't really kill him.

“You okay?” He says softly. I nod, and he sighs, the fear sliding off his face. “Thank Merlin.”

The exhaustion washes over me. This whole experience has completely drained me. I can’t help but yawn.

“Go to bed, Snow.” Baz starts to let go of my wrists. I inhale sharply. No, he can’t leave now. The second lets go I feel untethered, weightless, like I could drown in my own mind again.

“No,” I say, grabbing Baz’s hands tightly. He looks at me curiously. “Don’t go.”

“Snow, wha-”

“You’re, you’re keeping me grounded. Just stay. Please.”

Baz looks at me for what feels like eternity. His lips hang open. I watch his eyes for a sign of choice. He’s probably going to shove me away. Call me an idiot or something. The last thing I expect is for him to sigh and nod slowly.

“Alright,” he whispers. “Just face the other way in case of a sneeze.”

I nod back. “Okay.”

I lay down on my side, facing the window. I brush the snotty tissues onto the floor, giving me a better view of the twinkling stars. After hearing the sound of Baz kicking off his shoes, I feel the mattress shift as he lays down next to me. We’re still holding each other's hand. I refuse to let go. But it’s more awkward now, my arm bent behind me. It’s definitely preventing me from falling asleep.

Fuck it. I grunt and pull our hands in front of myself, putting Baz’s arm across my waist. He lurches forward as a result, inhaling sharply. His chest is maybe a millimeter from touching my back. Our bodies are practically lined up.

“Snow, what are you-”

“Can’t sleep if my arm twisted,” I mutter. “Neither can you.”

He humphs annoyedly, but doesn’t move. Our fingers are weaved together, resting in front of my stomach. I can feel his breath hit the back of my neck, sending a warm shiver down my spine. Usually, Baz’s constant presence makes me tense, like I’m walking on eggshells or a minefield. But now, it’s the exact opposite. I don’t feel panicked or drowning as long as I can hear him breathing and feel his skin on mine. Clinging to his hand, it’s like clinging to a life raft.

“Goodnight, Baz.”

“Night...Simon.”

I squeeze his palm once, just lightly. And I swear he squeezes back.

I wake up just before dawn. Orange light is dancing on the horizon outside the window. There’s a weight across my side. And something warm on my back. Something warm and breathing.

Oh. Right.

Baz has moved closer in his sleep, (though he didn’t have to move that much in the first place.) His nose is nudged into my neck, his chest pressed against my spine. Our legs are tangled together. We’re still holding hands too, together arms across my side, fingers interlocked.

Basilton Grimm-Pitch is sleeping next to me. Curled up next to me. And it feels...really nice. I like him like this. Under my thumb, under my hand. Not off plotting or hurting others or hurting himself. Part of me wants to never let him move from here ever again.

I let go of his hand and slowly turn to face him. He’s breathing evenly, lips slightly open (and he calls me a mouth breather.) He looks so relaxed, and kind of, pretty. His hair is all mussed, raven strands hanging in his face. The dawn light makes his pale skin practically glow. Maybe I never will let him get up. Maybe I’ll just keep looking at him for eternity.

His eyes blink open. And slowly, they focus on me. He looks very shocked for a second, but then he relaxes as the memory of last night returns. Though his eyes still look a bit scared.

“You’re still here,” I whisper. “You stayed all night.”

“You begged me to stay,” he replies, voice equally low.

“But you didn’t have to.”

He shrugs, something he rarely does. “I’m allowed to be nice sometimes.”

“You keep saying that. Maybe...you’re just a nice person.”

“Am not.” His nose curls up in disgust. “Stop trying to ruin my reputation, Snow.”

“Actually, I really think you are.” I trace a finger down his jaw and his breath hitches. “You’re a nice person, Baz. A good person.”

I run my finger up and down, and his eyes flutter shut. He lets out a shuddering sigh. I feel his hand clench behind me. His face pulls in, like he’s in pain. No, I don’t want him to be hurting. So I move my hand upward and rub his forehead with my thumb. Trying to erase his tense lines with my touch. Slowly, his grip loosens, the lines fade, and his eyes open, just halfway.

“Simon...” he sighs.

Then I kiss him.

I don’t exactly know why. The impulse enters my mind and suddenly my lips are pressed against his. A still, chaste kiss. Baz inhales sharply, head pulling back slightly. For a second I think he’s going to push me off. That I’ve made an enormously stupid mistake and now Baz is going to fry me alive for it.

But then he pushes back. He grabs my shirt at the small of my back and hauls me even closer to him. It’s like there’s a fire burning between us. Growing bigger with every way mouths move, slotting together like that’s all they’re meant to do. Baz’s hand presses hard into my lower back, like he’s making sure I’m really here.

I wonder how long he’s wanted this. I wonder how long I’ve wanted this. I’d say I didn’t, but then why is there this list in my head of all the things I’ve always wanted to do to Baz? Like this.

I push my hand into Baz’s hair. It’s smooth and slips through my fingers, just like I always thought it would. I clench my fist and shove his face into mine. Suddenly, he breaks off.

“Sorry,” I say (I’m out of breath, it’s embarrassing.)

“No, it’s... How’s your cold? Do you still feel sick?”

I raise an eyebrow. “Worried about catching? I thought you didn’t get sick.”

“I don’t. But a lightning sneeze could turn me into a pile of ash.

Oh right. I’ve completely forgot about my cold until now. I take a breath through my nose, and though it's not exactly clear, it's better than before. My throat isn’t as scratchy either. I smile, earning a confused look from Baz.

“Actually,” I say, “I’m feeling a lot better. I think you might be curing me.”

He rolls his eyes. “Don’t be ridiculous, Snow.”

“You called me Simon before.”

“No, I didn’t.”

“Baz .” I cup his cheek. The annoyance drains from his face with a single sigh. Crowley, who knew one touch could make him relax like this? He puts his hand over mine, long fingers around me.

“Simon,” he says softly. “What are you doing?”

“Holding your face, obviously.”

“No. I mean, what is this?” He gestures between us. “Is this just an impulsive illness induced decision? Or...something else?”

I chew on my bottom lip, and sigh. “Well, I’m usually unsure of most things. But, I’m sure that I like this. I like you. I like you being nice to me, I like being nice to you. I like knowing you’re okay. These past few days, when I thought I almost killed you, I thought I was going to lose my mind. Fuck, I had a bloody panic attack over it. And I’m so sorry for that, I really am. I just, I know I like this better than fighting.” I bend my head down, too scared to look him in the eye. “Do...do you?”

Baz lets go of my hand, and for a second I think he’s going to push me away. Tell me that he hates me, that he hopes I rot in hell after putting me there. But then he grabs my chin and tilts my head back up to face him. His mouth is stern, determined, but his grey eyes are soft. Softer than I’ve ever seen them before. He traces his index slowly up my jawline. When his fingers tangle in my hair, it sends a shudder down my spine.

“Yes,” he breathes. “I do. Of course I do. Crowley, I've always wanted this.”

I’m taken aback by that, eyes widening. “Really?”

“Yes. Almost since we met.”

My breath hitches. His utter candor hits me right in the heart. For once, there’s nothing guarded about his face. He’s not hiding behind a bored expression anymore. He’s letting himself be vulnerable to me. And I like it. I don’t want him to hide from me anymore.

I grab the back of Baz’s neck and tap my forehead against his. He takes a deep breath, his eyes fluttering shut. Dragging his hand down my spine, he settles his palm against the small of my back.

“Then let's have this, Baz,” I whisper.

"Simon," he sighs. "I do want this, I really do. But there’s still a lot of stuff in our way. You have to know that.”

“Of course I know. But...we can do it, right? We can figure it all out. If we can get through this shitty destructive cold, we can get through anything.”

Baz chuckles, shaking his head against mine. “I think an impending civil war and a super villain are a bit more difficult.”

I shrug. “Yeah, I guess. But we’ll have each others backs. We can beat it together. And for now, let’s just...” I sigh, letting my eyes fall shut. “Let’s worry about all that later, alright? I don’t want to think about tomorrow. I want it to be just us for now.”

He smiles softly, eyes opening just a bit. He pushes us closer together. I bury my face in his neck, and he pushes his nose into my hair.

“Yes. Let’s, just be us right now.”

“Good.”

So we just lay there, holding each other, letting the world happen around us while we stay still. Because while we’re here, we’re not the Chosen One and the Pitch heir. We’re just two boys who care about each other with all the time in the world.

I've hated being in this bed the past week. But now I never want leave it again.

AN: Yeah it got super sappy at the end, I know. I'm a sap king/queen. Next up: side characters!

[writings-andstuff]

Coincidences Part II (Bucky x Reader)

You guys have waited way too long for this and for that I’m sorry. But here it is, so I won’t start it with my usual long-winded preamble. 

Happy Reading!

Pairing: Bucky x Reader (Modern AU thingy)

Words: 5046 (yikes, that’s the longest fic I’ve ever written)

Warnings: The usual tiny bit of swearing

Excerpt:  For a moment, you wonder how this became your life. Yesterday, you were just another girl worrying about everything except her lack of a love life. Now that’s all you can think about because you’re flirting with a complete stranger. How insanely insane is that? For all you know, he could be a forty-something year old dude with three ex-wives and a beer-belly that could carry triplets. Somehow, though, you don’t think that’s likely.

Series Tags: @melanie451 @sebstanwassup @colagirl5 @winenighthoe @lovemarvelousfics @gotnotfeature @sebastianst-n @alwayshave-faith @hollycornish @iggytheboywonder 

Tags: @langinator @fairchild21

Your name: submit What is this?

New Message from Mr. Catarcs

3:42 a.m u up?

You blink your eyes blearily and shift in bed. The sheet is wrapped around your legs like sweaty vines, constricting your movement. You growl angrily and throw them off, sitting up and relishing in the cool air of your apartment. Despite the frigid cold outside, you somehow still manage to wake up sweating. Maybe you’re a mutant. 

Glancing over at your phone, it dings again to impatiently let you know that you still haven’t opened the text that woke you up. Usually your phone is switched to silent because of your job at the diner. There are always so many phones going off that it’s almost impossible to tell which is which. It’s just easier having your phone on silent because then you’re never worried about whether your phone is ringing or if it’s someone else’s. It saves you a lot of unnecessary anxiety. 

But ever since last night’s conversation with James, you decided that you wanted to hear your phone ring with a text. It’s the first time in your life that you don’t want to miss a text. 

You pick up the offending piece technology and swipe it open. Sure enough, the text is from James and you grin despite the fact that this message is the same one that woke you at—you squint at your alarm clock—3:49 a.m. 

Deciding you are both thirsty and in need of some time in the open air of your apartment and not under the suffocating sheets, you get up and stretch. The floors are cold as you pad to the kitchen and fill a glass with water, shooting a text back to James. 

3:51 a.m I am now

You wait for an answer while downing your glass of water and putting the empty glass in the sink again. Maybe he fell back asleep when you didn’t answer right away. 

For a moment, you wonder how this became your life. Yesterday, you were just another girl worrying about everything except her lack of a love life. Now that’s all you can think about because you’re flirting with a complete stranger. How insanely insane is that? For all you know, he could be a forty-something year old dude with three ex-wives and a beer-belly that could carry triplets. Somehow, though, you don’t think that’s likely. 

You have no proof of this, and absolutely no reason to believe he isn’t a creep except for a gut feeling. You resolve to ask his age whenever he decides to answer you. 

You think about that. He could lie to you and tell you that he’s 20 when he’s really a lot older than that. The only way you’d truly know is if you meet him in person. 

Suddenly you’re a little dizzy. This is just way too much to worry about at four a.m. You decide to just talk to him. You genuinely like his personality, and you don’t have to worry about all that other stuff until you actually meet him. If you actually meet him. That’s a big, neon-colored, flashing sign in the middle of absolute nowhere if.  

Your phone dings and you look over from where you’re clutching the counter. You don’t notice how hard you were gripping the counter until you pull your palms away and it stings, lines etching themselves across your palm. 

4:03 a.m srry didnt mean to wake u

Before you can even formulate a response, he’s texting you again. A double text. Gasp.

4:04 a.m just couldnt sleep. i was wondring if u wanted to talk

You tilt your head at your screen. He’s up in the middle of the night, and the first thing he does is text you? Why? Does he not have other people he can talk to? A stupid part of you, the same part that wants to meet him in person, thinks that maybe it’s because he wants to talk to you. 

Maybe he does. Probably not. It’s too much to hope for. All his other friends are probably asleep. Regardless, not answering is not an option. Well, it is, but it’s not one you’re likely to explore, not when your chest has those freaky bubbles in it and your stomach is doing that stupid flippy-thingy. Nope. This, you decide, feels like High School when a cute boy texted you first and the instinct to giggle shot up to level 12. 

4:06 a.m alright. what about?

Capitals, Y/N. What the hell happened to capitals?

You take your phone and pad back into your room, perching yourself up against the headboard with your knees drawn up to your chest and your phone in your hands as you wait for a response. Worrying your bottom lip, your mind drifts to work. You’ll have to get up in about three hours to be at work on time. Man, you’re going to be tired. 

It’s then that your phone dings. You decide then that talking to him makes it worth the fatigue. 

4:11 a.m twenty questions?

4:11 a.m Fine, but since you woke me up you have to go first.

The three dots that mean he’s typing pop up three different times before the response finally comes through. 

4:15 a.m whatd u go to school 4?

You laugh. 

4:15 a.m getting down to the nitty gritty personal stuff I see

You think for a moment. Telling him what you do isn’t divulging too much about yourself, so you decide it’s okay.

4:16 a.m lol yup thats me. i want the deep personal stuff. might just ask what ur fav color is nxt

4:16 a.m 1. editing; 2. sorry, that’s sacred info

4:17 a.m 1 ah i understand y ur a grammar nazi now…2 obviously

Thinking for a moment, you decide that favorites are just too cliche. Any conversation anyone has with some new friend ends in questions that start with “What’s your favorite…” You really want to know how old he is, but you figure you need an ice breaker before you get to the actual nitty gritty. 

First, though, you must take the bait to piss him off:

4:19 a.m What would you have done if I hadn’t gone to college?

With a yawn, you lie back down and curl on your side, sitting your phone on the nightstand in front of you with your eyes glued to it. Once you realize that staring at it isn’t going to make him type faster, you turn over. 

You’re totally not too eager. There’s no—

Ding!

You flip over so fast that you rip the sheet from the other side of the bed and end up with half of it between your stomach and the bed. It pulls from the bottom corner of the bed and is slightly uncomfortable, but you don’t care. 

4:22 a.m high school?

4:23 a.m I didn’t go to high school FOR anything 

You’re not sure if the use of caps-lock is weird, but you send it off anyways, deciding that emphasis on that one word is crucial to your meaning. He replies within seconds. 

4:23 a.m i mean dunno bout u but i went to learn

You laugh, probably louder than is necessary. 

4:24 a.m Touche. What’d you go to school for?

4:26 a.m repeating questions isnt alowed

Frowning, you wonder if he actually didn’t go to college. Should you push it? Maybe you should just change the question. There’s a part of you, the curious part that wanted to be a reporter when you were young, that really wants to know. 

There isn’t too much time for you to think all of that before he’s texting you again. Usually, you’re the one to mercilessly double-text. James, it would seem, has you beat in this department. Also, you didn’t want to double-text a complete stranger. 

Before you even look at the text, it hits you again: this is a complete stranger. The thought of not answering enters your mind again, but you push it down. No harm in just talking if neither of you meet, right? Right?

Right. 

4:27 a.m i joined the military right out of HS

It’s a real Oh moment, and you find yourself staring at your screen as if it’s a real person. The military? What are you supposed to say to that? What’s the protocol for a text that you’re not sure how to answer? Should you just leave it alone? No; if you leave it alone then he’ll think he freaked you out. He hasn’t. Your brain is just short-circuiting on an answer. 

Should you think him for his service? No. Not yet. You don’t want to call too much attention to it in case he doesn’t want to talk about it or he’s had bad experiences, but you’re still not sure how to respond. Have you taken too long already? 

You summon up some courage and type out a message. 

4:31 a.m Oh wow. Well, what would you have studied if you had gone?

You cringe, totally not meaning for that to sound like you were completely skipping over the issue altogether. James doesn’t seem to mind though, if his response is any indication. 

4:32 a.m hmm history i think. ive always liked ww2 4 some reason

4:33 a.m well you’ve got AP european history girl right here. 1 of only 11 in the whole senior class to take it. 

4:34 a.m well, smartypants i get 2 q’s bc u asked 2 

You feel that you handled that effectively, and you were already beginning to formulate a plan in your head while he thought about his questions. 

See, you know next to nothing about the military or what it’s all about except that it is for valiant people who want to serve their country. You can respect that, but you want—nay, need—to learn more. Convincing yourself that it’s purely for research purposes and not for anything else.

Regardless, you need to know more. It’s probably better to get it from someone who has been through it rather than from some cold, impersonal online source. And besides, you just so happen to know someone who was in the military. Someone who, in fact, lost a limb in the line of duty: Bucky Barnes. 

As far as you know, Bucky lost his left arm in the military. You’d asked him before how he lost it and he hadn’t answered you, opting instead to change the subject to Steve and his new (at the time) art studio. It had been suspicious, but you understand that it must not be easy to speak about something like that. 

You’ll have to go talk to Steve tomorrow morning to get Bucky’s number, but you think that maybe you’ll treat him to lunch in exchange for him giving you some details about the whole military thing. At the company, you get an hour off for lunch, which is just enough time to go out, interrogate a friend (respectfully, of course), and head back before the hour is up. 

The plan was formed and you had your head already set on it. By the time James’ reply comes in, you’ve tuckered yourself out thinking that whole plan out. It is really late—er, early—after all. 

4:41 a.m 1 how was ur day 2 how r u likely to spend a friday night

4:43 a.m I feel like I’m taking a Buzzfeed quiz

You yawn again and type out your answers.

4:44 a.m my day’s just begun. it’s four a.m. And probably reading or something

You put your phone down, thinking that you’ll just leave it there and wait for his reply, but you end up turning over and falling asleep. 

In the morning, you turn your phone on silent again while you get ready for work, playing some music while you apply some light make-up. 

It turned out that James hadn’t answered you anyway, so you would have been up waiting for a text that wasn’t going to come. Good thing you passed out. 

Glancing at the clock, you notice that it’s 7:02 a.m and that Steve should be up. You don’t have to be at work until 8 and it’s not a long bus ride to get to work so you figure you can spare half an hour to haggle your best friend into giving up Bucky’s phone number. You wonder why you haven’t thought to get it sooner, figuring that you just never needed it. 

You and Bucky only ever hung out with Steve or the rest of the gang. He was a friend of yours, but the two of you had never been too close in the two years of knowing each other. That said, you had heard a lot about each other even before meeting from Steve, and Bucky had expressed in the past how annoying he found it when Steve was constantly mentioning you in casual conversation. 

It was the same with Bucky for you. Steve had been talking about his best friend Bucky ever since you had met him. It was in that way that you and Bucky had gotten to know each other sort of inadvertently. 

Heading out the door and across the hall, you knock on Steve’s door lightly a few times. He’s a light sleeper anyways, and you don’t want to wake the whole hall with loud knocking. You only opt for knocking this time in case he’s not decent or something. Otherwise, you would have used your key.

Sure enough, Steve answers the door within a few minutes, clad in flannel pajama pants, a white V-neck, and holding a steaming cup of coffee. It smells amazing, and you realize then that in your rush you’d forgotten to make yourself some. 

“Got another one of those and half an hour?”

Steve raises an eyebrow but steps aside to let you in. He’s a morning person, so you were sure on your way over here that you wouldn’t receive any resistance. 

“What do you need?” he asks you, pouring you a cup of coffee not unlike how he’d done it the night before. He pours in a generous amount of milk and some sugar before stirring it and handing it to you, just the way you like it. 

Blow, sip—“Mm,” you hum. “I need Bucky’s phone number.” You say it as nonchalantly as you can manage so as not to raise any flags to Steve, but by his surprised expression you can tell that you’ve raised them all. 

“Bucky? Why?”

You shrug like it’s no big deal. “He has some info that I need.” It sounds so covert and cheesy that you almost giggle, but you manage to keep your composure while sipping your coffee again. 

Steve tilts his head to the side almost imperceptibly, leaning his back against the counter across from you as you sit at a stool by his island. Said island juts out from a wall to half-enclose the kitchen area like a wrap-around ‘J’ with the island as the tail. 

After a few moments of silence, it becomes clear that Steve is waiting for you to elaborate, and when you don’t indulge, he sighs, setting his cup down and crossing his arms. 

“Okay, but don’t call him now,” Steve says, already ruffling in a drawer for a pen and paper. “He—he has trouble sleeping, and he needs as much of it as he can get before he has to work. And he’s taking Friday off so he has to log in more hours to make up the difference.” Steve hands you a piece of paper with numbers scribbled on it. 

“Got it,” you said, taking the paper and sticking it in your bag. “Thanks, Steve.”

“Yeah,” he smiles at you. “No problem.”

You stand and head to the door, plan in motion and feeling good about it. Then you remember something and turn as you’re walking toward the door. 

“Steve?”

He lifts his head from where he’s still standing in the kitchen sipping his coffee. You realize you’ve left yours there, but decide that it’s okay. You’ll survive. Somehow. 

“Yeah?”

“Mom is bringing over pasta around two, but I won’t be home,” you can already see his eyes lighting up. “I told her to make extra and that you should be back by then. Can you—”

“—keep it here until you get home?” He knows you so well, it’s scary. “Yeah, but don’t expect me not to try some of it first.”

You fix him with a warning finger. “I’ll be over at seven and I will expect there to be enough for dinner and lunch tomorrow.”

He holds his hands up. “Hey, we all know my metabolism requires a lot of calories per day, and two is just in time for a late lunch.”

“Steve,” you warn. 

“Alright,” he laughs. “I’ll leave some of your mother’s pasta for you for dinner.”

“That’s all I ask.” 

You walk back over, kiss his cheek, take one more sip of your coffee, and then leave. 

You tap your foot on the ground impatiently as you wait at your desk for the clock to turn from 11:29 to 11:30 so you can head for a bathroom break to call Bucky and find out if he’s busy for lunch. 

James hadn’t texted you all day, but you figure that’s okay. He doesn’t always have to text you. He has a life. You push him mostly out of your head, or you try to. You fail miserably. 

He’s the reason you’re meeting with Bucky anyways. As much as you don’t want to admit it, that’s the truth. Of course, you can’t tell Bucky that. You’ll just sound stupid. And then Bucky will tell Steve and Steve will have some sort of “talking to strangers is bad” intervention with you. You definitely don’t want to endure that. 

11:30 hits and it’s officially been half an hour since your actual bathroom break. You don’t want to call attention to yourself in the office that you share with a whole bunch of other people in too-tightly-packed cubicles. You grab the slip of paper Steve had given you and head to the elevator. 

By the time you make it to the downstairs bathroom, you realize that you forgot your phone upstairs on your desk. Great. Now what are you going to do? If you go back up to get it, you’ll look suspicious. Of course, you shouldn’t really care what your coworkers think of you, but you do. Everybody says they don’t care about peer acceptance but most actually do. 

It’s human nature.

You sigh angrily and look around. The lobby is all marble floors and a little shop where they sell overpriced snacks and drinks. There’s a desk to the left of the elevator bank with one woman sitting in a black wheelie chair making and taking phone calls.

Can you just ask her to borrow one of her phones? There’s an empty seat next to her. Maybe you can explain your situation and just ask this woman if you can borrow the phone. 

The only thing is that you don’t know this woman. Your supers rented the office space with the endless rows of cubicles  from the people who owned the building. This woman obviously works for the building management, and not for anyone you know. 

You decide it’s better that she doesn’t know you. It’s less personal. You can call Bucky, discuss details, and be done with it. 

You sidle over and lean on the high desk. Its polished marble top is so high that you have to lean over it a little to see the woman. She’s plump, with dark hair, blue eyes, and a squished face. She looks the opposite of friendly. She’s wearing a black headset that you realize is some sort of Bluetooth. 

You wait until she is done speaking to talk to her. 

“Um, hello?”

She doesn’t look at you for a moment, reaching up instinctively as if she thinks you’re in her headset before she realizes she’s speaking to a real person. She eyes you. 

“What?”

You were right to guess she wasn’t very friendly. 

“I was wondering if I could borrow your phone,” you say kindly. “I have to call someone and I accidentally left my phone upstairs.”

She looks bored and eyes you for another second before looking back at her computer screen. “Just go up and get it.”

“It’s urgent,” you lie. Man, this is going to be awkward after you make the call right in front of her and she finds out its personal.

She eyes you again. “You have five minutes.”

You smile at her. “I’ll only need three.”

You wait as she plops one of the black phones on top of the counter, and it’s so high that you have to go up on your tiptoes to see the number pad. 

“Type extension 382 first, then the number.”

With that, she gets back to her work and you pull the phone from the receiver. You flatten the paper on the desk and do as she instructed. 

You wonder if he’ll even pick up. This will be an unknown number to him, and you know that if it were you, you wouldn’t answer. 

It rings three times before a familiar, gruff voice answers.

“Hello?”

“Bucky? It’s Y/N.”

He sounds surprised. “Y/N?” There’s a pause, a honking noise, and then he sounds as if he’s realized something. “Steve gave you my number.”

“Yeah,” you say. “I had to call you from a work phone, though.”

You catch the woman looking up at you briefly and can tell she’s annoyed that this is a personal call. You’re sure this call needs to be as short as you can possibly make it or else you’re afraid she’ll just cut it herself. 

“Oh.”

“Listen, are you busy for lunch in, like, half an hour?”

Bucky thinks for a moment on the other line and the lady looks at you again, her gaze becoming more venomous. You’re pretty sure that once she looks at you a third time she’s going to end your call for you. 

Just as you’re about to scold him for an answer, Bucky speaks up. 

“Yeah, I’m—”

You feel bad, but you have to cut him off. 

“Okay, great. Meet me at the Deli down the street from Steve’s studio at 12 sharp. My treat.”

Bucky chuckled on the other end. “Your treat? What do you need from me?”

You smile despite the situation. “Just your brain.”

“Sure you don’t want Banner or Stark for that one?”

“I’m sure,” the woman was giving you her last angry glare. You had to go. “See you then, Buck.”

“Looking forward to having my brain probed. Bye, Y/N.”

You hang up, thank the lady, and make your way back upstairs as fast as you can. 12:00 can’t come quick enough. 

Bucky wonders what you want to talk to him about as he drives a company truck to the deli and parallel parks a couple blocks down. The flatbed of the truck is filled with mismatched pieces of junk, from broken computers to the plastic from the top of a printer. It’s all stuff that can be broken down and reprocessed at a plant. 

The city is taking down an old building and putting a new office building up in its place. It’s Bucky’s job as the assistant to take all the not-so-useless junk and dispose of it somewhere where it can be reused. 

He doesn’t have to be at the plant until two, and he finished loading everything up early, so he has about two hours or so to spare. 

Walking into the Deli, he’s hit with a wave of merciful heat and he immediately pulls his coat off. The deli is small with few patrons a small line for take-out. One woman is sipping an iced coffee through a straw while she types madly on a computer. Two men are sitting at a table wearing yellow vests and eating huge subs. Bucky wonders if he would have ended up as one of them, working for the DPW if he hadn’t begun working with the demolition company. 

It takes him barely a moment of looking around to find Y/N sitting in a corner flanked by two windows with an empty seat across from her. There’s a wrapped sandwich and a water sitting on the table in front of the other seat. 

She’s smoothing out the wrapper of her own sandwich as if the creases in the paper wrapping are offending and should not be allowed to exist. 

“Hey,” he says, walking over and taking a seat in front of her. 

She looks up at him and smiles. “Hey,” she shoots back, and then nods to the sandwich. “Got you a BLT.”

Bucky’s suspicions are steadily growing. He pulls the paper from around the sandwich and lays it on the table as Y/N had done, though he couldn’t care less about the creases. He looks between the sandwich and the girl, eyeing both with the suspicion of someone who thinks he’s being played. 

“What’s this about?” he asks. 

She swallows and puts her sandwich down, looking like she’s about to ask him a ground-breaking, life-changing question. Her eyes quickly flick over to his arm and he’s suddenly very sure he knows what this is about. 

But that’s strange. Yesterday—or really early this morning—he was talking to Y/M/N about him having been in the military. Now Y/N is eyeing his arm like she really wants to ask what happened but she doesn’t want to sound impolite. 

Then there’s the fact that they’re both editors. That’s weird. And how Y/N reminds him of Y/M/N. 

He’s an apopheniac, he has to be. He’s seeing coincidences where there really aren’t any. It’s his brain playing tricks on him. In truth, maybe he just wants this strange girl to be Y/N. Though, probably not. Then again, maybe this whole time he thought he was jealous of Y/N for being so close to Steve, he was really jealous of Steve for being so close to Y/N. 

That thought derails him so fast that he doesn’t hear it when Y/N actually asks her question. 

She lets out a breath as if it’s a load-off to finally ask him, and he’s struck with the realization that if he says he didn’t hear her, she probably won’t take it well. He waits for her to say something else, but when she doesn’t he takes a leap of faith based on her glance at his arm. 

“You want to know how I lost my arm,” he says, rather than asks. If her expression of shock and discomfort is any indication, he’s screwed up. 

Big time.

Shit.

“I mean,” she straightens in her chair. “I guess—it’s sorta part of it? Yeah.”

She sounds so lost and he feels so bad. 

He still has no idea what her original question was though. ‘Part of it.’ His thoughts drift back to his earlier conversation with the girl he’s been talking to over text. The military. Could that be what Y/N wants to know about?

No, it’s just too weird. There’s no way. But he has to know. 

“The military? You want to know about the military?”

She nods, looking slightly guilty. “Yeah,” he tries not to let his breath of relief show, “I—uh, fact-checking. I’m fact-checking an article.”

Bucky nods slowly, sandwich forgotten. She’s a terribly liar. “You’re a terrible liar.”

Sitting back as if she’s been punched in the gut, she blinks once, twice, three times—“I’m not lying.”

“Your body language gives you away.”

“Is that something you learned in the military?”

Bucky chuckles. “That’s something I learned from a whole lot of spy movies. Seriously, why do you want to know?”

She takes a bite of her sandwich and speaks around it. Altogether, not the most sexy, but that’s okay. 

“Research,” she says slowly.

Bucky creases his eyebrows. “For?”

“For a project?”

“If you’re going to lie, at least lie with conviction,” Bucky says. “One of these days, I’m going to teach you how to lie the right way.”

Laughing, she pulls her chair in a little more and sits forward. The picture of seriousness, she says, “Alright, if I tell you, you need to promise me you won’t tell Steve.” She sounds reluctant to tell him at all. This must not have been her plan. 

Bucky draws a cross over his heart with his index finger. “Cross my heart or hope to die.”

She shakes her head. “Gotta be stronger than that. You have to pinkie promise.”

He gasps dramatically. “Not a pinkie promise. This must really be serious.”

Reaching over, she swats his arm. “Buck, I’m serious.”

“Okay, okay,” he surrenders, holding up his pinkie. She links hers with his and he’s momentarily struck by how soft her skin is. Then it’s over. “Tell me.”

She steels herself, he can see it. Jeez, it must really be something serious or she wouldn’t be swearing him to secrecy using childish, yet efficient tactics. It strikes him that she tells Steve everything, same as him, so for her to say she doesn’t want him to know must mean it’s not necessarily something good.

He lets himself think for a moment that she might be about to confess that she’s the mystery girl he’s been texting. It’s much more likely, though, that she’s about to tell him she’s got feelings for Steve or something. 

Steeling himself as well, he waits as she takes a deep breath. 

“I may or may not—”

“You may,” he corrects. She glares at him. 

“—have answered a text from a guy who was trying to text someone else—” 

This is where Bucky stops listening and his internal monologue becomes one word: 

Fuck.