#made this awhile back and immediately forgot about it oops

[grimeowkin]

The Ai♡Scream! meme but it’s Varré 🥴

[maddieinwonder]

A Lesson In Romance #7: False Start

Spencer Reid x Fem!BAU!Reader

Genre: Fluff

Warnings: Just a lot of awkward vibes hahaha

Word Count: 1.7k

Plot: Reader keeps getting caught in rom-com situations with Spencer Reid. This time, they try to confess their feelings.

A/N: I didn’t actually manage to include the definition of a False Start in the chapter itself, so I’ll add it at the end. No spoilers for now!

Masterlist | All chapters here!

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It took you 24 hours to decide that you were going to do something about your feelings for the good doctor. Pretty quick, considering you were a living, breathing rom-com cynic. But as ancient Greek philosopher, Heraclitus, once said: "The only constant in life is change".

Specifically, change happened after you woke up in your cute co-worker and dear friend's arms and you wanted nothing more than to get back into them as fast as possible.

But by the universal laws of working in the BAU, catching a break seemed to be the hardest when you actually wanted one.

Firstly, it was like every serial killer in the country decided to cancel their vacations simultaneously, swamping the team with urgent case after case. At this point, you were more familiar with the couch on the jet than your bed at home, and everyone was feeling the strain.

Secondly, if you weren't sleeping, you were usually out in the field chasing unsubs with Derek or Rossi. You had stopped holding out hope for being paired with Spencer — on account of your areas of specialty overlapping too much, and Hotch not being the type of leader to waste his resources — and as a result:

Thirdly, getting even ten minutes alone with the genius became an impossible task, and not for lack of trying either. At the start of the month, the two of you had tried to adapt your breakfast ritual to the road, but it always got interrupted mid-coffee order or even at the ding of the lift. Not that you and Spencer stopped trying, no, but your patience was wearing thin.

So you did something you hadn't done since you submitted your application to join the BAU — you prayed for a chance.

Because every day that you didn't admit your feelings to the doctor was another day fighting the compulsion to tell somebody else about them, and god only knows what a room full of profilers (and one nosy tech analyst) would do with that kind of information.

Then, out of the blue, the door of opportunity opened.

After two weeks of straight travel, the team had earned a well-deserved one night’s rest in your own beds before dealing with a local case, bright and early tomorrow morning. And since your flight landed at 2am and all the trains had stopped by then, this gave you the perfect shot to execute your plan.

Unfortunately, you forgot to take into account the most important factor — your nerves.

It didn't help that Derek had wolf-whistled in the carpark as the two of you walked off in the same direction, nor that Spencer immediately put your favourite album into the CD player out of instinct; an overly domestic action that made your heart beat even faster.

But it was when you arrived in front of his apartment building that you felt the worst of it. As you tried to summon the right words to your lips, your heart hammered in your chest and your thoughts jumbled themselves into nonsense.

"Are you ok?" Spencer asked, snapping you out of your anxious spiral instantly. "You don't look so well."

"I-I'm fine." Your fingers twitched nervously.

"Doesn't seem like it." He looked down at your hands, and you cursed your subconscious brain for giving you away. Then, he placed a hand over yours and your heart stopped.

"You're not alright, that's for sure, but it seems like it's just sleep deprivation." He assessed, bending slightly to look at your face. "You can't drive in this state. Do you want to come in?”

Your head snapped up to meet his gaze, ready to protest, but Spencer beat you to it. "Let’s go. You wanted to talk about something, right?" He called out, already one foot out of the car.

Before you could realise what was happening, you found yourself sitting on Spencer's couch holding a warm cup of tea.

This was the first time you were in his apartment. Yet, it was exactly what you thought it'd be like. Every wall was lined with bookshelves, filled to max capacity with books of every topic imaginable from neuroscience to philosophy. Those that didn't make it to the shelves were found in random stacks around his apartment, standing out against his forest green walls.

"Did you know that chamomile tea is a natural remedy for insomnia? In fact, it is commonly regarded as a mild tranquilizer. It's calming effects may be attributed to the antioxidant apigenin, which binds to specific receptors in your brain that initiate sleep and reduce anxiety." He explained, walking over with his own mug.

"I actually did know that." You smiled. The tea seemed to work its magic because you did feel relaxed, and you must have looked it too, because the worried frown disappeared off Spencer's face.

"Didn't know you were a tea person." You commented lightly, blowing the steam from your mug.

"There's a lot of things you don't know about me." He replied mysteriously, and you raised your eyebrows.

Spencer's apartment was too quiet, no rumbling fridge or quiet radio playing in the background to make your awkward silence any less pronounced. It was then that you noticed he didn't have a TV. Somehow this fact didn't surprise you very much.

"You... you wanted to talk to me about something?" He broke the silence, looking down at the hot tea swirling in his mug.

Right. You were here to talk about your feelings. Your face flushed as you tried to summon your willpower, again.

"I wanted to tell you something—" You began shakily. "But before that, I just want to preface, we can ignore this entire thing if you don't agree. I mean, I really enjoy our friendship as it is, and I wouldn't want to do anything to affect tha—"

"Wait." Spencer interrupted urgently, before catching himself. "Sorry, um, before that, can I say something?"

"Um, ok, shoot." You replied meekly, trying to hide your relief behind a long sip of tea. There was a pause as he gathered his thoughts, and you might have been seeing things, but he looked almost... nervous? 

"The day we met, I calculated the probability of meeting somebody that shared my exact coffee order and the result was almost one in a million.” He finally spoke, lifting his head to meet your gaze. “That probability decreased when I factored in working together, sharing the same interests, and... and how I enjoyed spending time with you more than with anybody else."

Spencer cleared his throat, a blush coming onto his cheeks.

"Ever since then... my life just started making sense. I know I’m a scientist, not a poet, and I could tell you all the statistics about relationships in the world, but when it comes to you...”

His cheeks were crimson now, as he ran his fingers through his hair. You had a feeling yours looked the same.

"I guess, what I'm trying to say, is that I think you're beautiful and smart, and I have no idea what you see in me, but I'd really—"

Suddenly, both your phones buzzed violently against his coffee table, jolting you out of the moment. You leaned over in a trained motion, only to see exactly what you expected:

Garcia: No rest for the wicked, crime fighters. Conference room in 30.

Penny: No rest for the wicked, crime fighters. Conference room in 30.

You let out a sigh you didn't realise you were holding, and Spencer looked over at you, doe-eyed and nervous.

“The case?" He asked quietly.

There was a silence filled with words unsaid. "We should go." He said finally. "If we leave now, we can still make it on time."

You only nodded in response, more out of duty than desire, and gulped down the rest of your tea. The thought of what he was about to say burned down your throat.

Driving away from Spencer’s apartment was torturous. The doctor hadn’t said anything to you since he entered the car, only fiddling with his bag as he looked out the window. It was too dark to read his expression, but you wondered if he could still hear the way he called you “beautiful”, or whether the moment had already dissolved into the space between you.

Luckily, you didn’t need to wait long for an answer, as Spencer tugged on your sleeve before you exited the carpark, his face scrunched in worry.

"I really didn't mean for that to be so... weird. Can we talk about this again after the case?" He asked softly, and despite every semblance of logic left in your brain, you couldn’t stop the hope from blooming in your chest and you smiled.

That was when Spencer did something completely uncharacteristic. (You didn't know this at the time, but it was something that you would tease him about for a long time after.)

In one fluid movement, the doctor pulled you into a tight hug that elicited a squeak from you, but it only took a second for the initial shock to wear off before you relaxed completely into his warm touch. He took that as a sign to continue, burying his head into your shoulder and letting out a content sigh.

Unlike waking up to your bodies intertwined, nothing about this was a mistake. Not the way his fingers stroked your back peacefully, nor the way his curly hair tickled your cheek. You felt the stress of the past two weeks melt away in his embrace, and so did any coherent thought, except one: normal friends didn't hug each other like this.

Later when the two of you finally entered the conference room, miraculously still on time, nobody commented on the smiles plastered on your faces but everybody could tell. They were profilers after all.

But for the first time in awhile, you were just too happy to care.

-----------

Tag List:

@blue-space-porgs @nobutalsoyes @lady-loves-a-lot @queen-flower @oops-all-ajs @spottedzebrasinpartyhats @agentcarterisgay @totalmess191 @sapphic-prentiss @mellowalieneggsknight || @averyhotchner @amesandpineapples @willowrose99

Definition of a False Start here

[imnotoverlyobsessive]

Looks Like Someone Picked a Whole Bushel of Oopsie Daisies

Chapter Ten: Shades of Blue

As always, thanks to @edward-or-ford and @pacific-ship!

How can you leave me on my own? Desperate and destitute, these seconds feel like lifetimes without you.- New Years Day, My Dear

Mabel marked off February 1st in her calendar with an X in her pink gel pen with sparkles (was it really even a gel pen if there were no sparkles? Mabel’s opinion was firmly on the side of ‘no, absolutely not’).

Just two hundred and twelve days to go. She was counting the days, the hours, the seconds (okay, maybe just the days, she wasn’t that good at math) till her parents could no longer keep her from her soulmate.

Because on August 31st, 2017, Mabel and her super awesome brother-boyfriend-soulmate combo would be turning eighteen, and there was nothing their parents could do to keep them apart once they turned eighteen.

Their parents had insisted they were monitoring their texts, and that they weren’t allowed to speak under any circumstances.

Of course, Dipper had called Mabel from Grunkle Stan’s phone (turns out their parents had been total liars about that, too, and neither Grunkle Stan nor Grunkle Ford was in any way opposed to the whole soulmate situation) as soon as she got home, and they had both downloaded an untraceable messaging app where they could text, make phone calls, and send pictures.

As one might imagine, they sent a great deal of pictures.

And also videos.

They had a lot of phone sex and sexy texting time, okay? They’d only gotten to have actual in-person sex twice (twice!), so they had to compensate somehow.

In any case, there was nothing they could do about it before they turned eighteen, so they had to come up with workarounds.

Not that it could prevent the withdrawals that were likely to hit if another month or two went by without them seeing each other, of course, but it sure made the days go by easier.

Mabel wasn’t sure what her parents were planning to do once they hit the three month mark and the first of the withdrawal symptoms started. It wouldn’t be so bad at first, according to what Dipper had told her regarding the massive amount of research he’d done. Probably just more of the usual depression she’d been having since she watched him disappear behind their car, and then sleepiness, then headaches and body aches, and then things would get progressively worse until eventually, they wouldn’t be able to function at all anymore.

She didn’t know what their plans were for anything, really. She hadn’t spoken to them since they’d left Gravity Falls. She hadn’t said a word to them on the drive home; just put her headphones in and tuned out. She hadn’t said anything to them since, either. Her parents would try to get her to talk sometimes. Her mom did it more often. She had headphones on most of the time. She wasn’t even home very much.

She didn’t tell her parents when she was going to a friend’s house the way she had before. The first few times, her parents had called the parents of various friends until they found her. After awhile, though, they stopped.

She didn’t care if they were worried. They clearly weren’t worried enough about her and Dipper to let them be together, so Mabel didn’t see any reason to notify them or her comings and goings, despite their protests. Just because they wanted to cherry pick their concerns for her well being didn’t mean she had to let them.

Besides, she came home every few days, anyway. It was usually only for a night, of course. Then she’d go back out again. And yeah, that meant she was out on school nights, but her grades were good, and she always made it to class on time.

She wanted Dipper. She wanted to be in his arms again. She slept in the shirt she’d taken from him every night, and she hadn’t even washed it. It smelled more like her by that point than it did him, and not in a good way, either, but it made her feel a little better.

Plus, whenever she sent him pictures of herself wearing it (sometimes leaving enough of the buttons undone to where her cleavage was visible, other times leaving all the buttons undone), he got all possessive and sexy, and the night usually ended with them panting each other’s names into the phone as quietly as they could.

Mabel stared at the cheery pink gel pen in her hand. She wasn’t feeling particularly pink. She hadn’t felt pink in just over a month, as it happened. Which was strange, because Mabel always felt some shade of pink or purple.

But she could hardly remember what Dipper smelled like. She could hardly remember what he tasted like. What he felt like. If she couldn’t remember those things, she couldn’t make herself feel anything that wasn’t some shade of blue or other.

She hung the gel pen back up on her calendar, grabbed her overnight bag, and opened her bedroom door.

She had her headphones in and was looking at her phone, pulling up a playlist, so she didn’t notice her mother there until she spoke.

“Honey, why don’t you spend the night here? I’ll make your favorite, if you want, and we can watch a movie, and…” tears welled up in her mother’s eyes. “Please, sweetheart, I can barely remember what your voice sounds like.”

Well, Mabel thought, maybe you shouldn’t have decided to separate me from my soulmate, then.

With that in mind, Mabel shot her mother a glare severe enough to make her flinch, and pushed past her, her overnight bag bumping against the hallway wall as she did.

Her friends were waiting for her in their car outside.

Mabel loaded her bag into the trunk and ignored her mother watching her behind the curtains in the living room.

Squeezing into the only empty seat in the car, she grinned at her friends.

Kristin, Eva, and Julie had been total lifesavers. They knew about Mabel’s soulbro situation, and they were, like, super supportive.

“Your ‘rents still giving you shit?” Julie asked over her shoulder as she pulled out of the driveway.

Mabel sighed heavily, her shoulders drooping. “It’s not shit, exactly, just…” she sighed again. “They just, y’know. They won’t let me see him.”

“Yeah, that still doesn’t make any sense to me at all,” Kristin said, adjusting her black lipstick in a compact mirror. “I get that having an incesty-soulmate isn’t, like, ‘socially acceptable’ or whatever,” she did air quotes with her fingers, the motion seeming a bit off due to the tube of eyeliner she had in between her pointer and index fingers that she was using in lieu of lipstick. “But if my parents can handle me being bi, yours should be able to handle your soulmate being your brother.”

“Okay, so here’s the thing,” Eva cut in, turning around to address Kristin and Mabel. “I feel like, if it were me, and they were my kids, at first I’d be all freaked out, y’know? Cause like, they’re your kids, and then it turns out they’re soulmates and have to bang a whole bunch or they’ll get all eeeeuuughh, right? That’d mess anybody up, I think,” she paused for a moment before continuing. “But the thing is, though, I feel like after that initial freak out, I’d be kinda relieved, honestly.”

“Relieved? Really?” Julie was so surprised she forgot to use her turn signal when changing lanes. “Oops, my b,” she said, half to herself and half to the driver who had honked at her. Not that he could hear her, of course.

“Why relieved?” Mabel wondered.

“Well, if you’ve got a kid, right, and your kid finds their soulmate and it’s some stranger you don’t know, how do you know your kid’s soulmate isn’t gonna hurt them, or be a terrible person or something?” Eva reasoned.

“That’s a good point,” Kristin agreed, shutting her compact mirror with a snap. “Soulmates aren’t exactly exempt from domestic abuse and shit.”

Eva nodded. “Exactly, so like, if it were me, I feel like I’d be cool with it once I got used to the idea, because I’d know my kids, right, so I’d know they’d never hurt each other.”

“That makes sense,” Julie said thoughtfully.

“Mmm,” Mabel hummed. “I guess. I dunno. They’re weird about it.”

“Wait a sec,” Kristin interjected. “Didn’t you say your parents mentioned something about their parents being, like, religious fundies or something?”

Mabel nodded. “I think my grandmother on my mom’s side might be. Which would make sense, honestly, since my mom has been so militant about keeping the Dipster and me apart.”

“Okay, first of all,” Eva had a haughty air to her voice, and Mabel raised an eyebrow at her. “First of all,” she said again. “It’s ‘the Dipster and I’.”

The other three girls groaned, and Julie took a hand off the wheel to swat at her half heartedly.

“Ommigod, shut up!” Mabel giggled.

“Whatever, you love me and you know it,” Eva said with a grin.

The others grumbled but did not object.

“FYI, Mabes,” Kristin put a hand on her arm. “You should send him a selfie real quick.”

“Oh?”

“Mhm,” her friend nodded sagely. “You look hot, and it’s a damn crime he doesn’t get to see it in person, so you gotta help a brotha out!”

Mabel smiled and snapped a few dozen pictures of herself.

“Okay, which one’s best?” she asked, handing her phone to Kristin, who scrolled through and inspected each one.

“No, no, no… meh, maybe… no, no… oooo, yes, love it, this one, totes send this one! Look at how much boobage you got in there, just fuckin’ go for it, man!”

Mabel grinned and sent the picture to Dipper, along with a short little miss you <3 text.

He responded with a miss you too and then, two seconds after, fuck you’re beautiful.

She giggled and showed Kristin his response. “Mhm, mhm, told ya.”

“Okay, so, confession time,” Julie said, pulling into her parents’ driveway.

“Spill it,” Eva immediately demanded.

“So you guys know Chad, right?”

“Unfortunately,” Kristin said with a grimace. The guy in question was a bit of a fuckboi.

“No, don’t say that!” Julie whined, getting out of the car. “He’s really sweet!”

”Of course he is,” Eva deadpanned.

“He is!” Julie insisted. “Anyway, so he asked me out.”

Mabel groaned. “Jules, tell me you didn’t.”

“I might have, yeah.”

“Ugh, ew,” Kristin said.

“It’s not ew!”

“No, it’s totally ew,” Eva pointed out, and Mabel nodded her agreement.

“If it helps,” Julie was saying sheepishly as she unlocked her front door, “he’s really, really good.”

“Of course he’s really good, numbnuts,” Kristin said with an eye roll. “He’s slept with half the school.”

“So have you!” Julie said defensively.

“Oooo, gotta point there,” Mabel snickered, pointing a glittery blue nail at her friend.

“Yeah, but I’m, like, discreet about it,” Kristin pointed out. “And I’ve actually dated people seriously, too!”

“Anyway,” Julie cut in. “So the consensus is ew, then, huh?”

“Definitely ew,” Mabel agreed.

“Why are Chads always such Chads?” Kristin wondered aloud, opening the door to Julie’s bedroom.

“They really are,” Eva laughed, plopping down on the bed.

“Soooo…” Mabel trailed off. “Cards Against Humanity, anybody?”

———————————————————————Her friends always helped push the separation anxiety to the back of her mind, but with the other three girls asleep, there was nothing for Mabel to do but wallow.

Her phone lit up the dark room, illuminating the air mattress Mabel lay on.

Dipper had sent her a message.

I want you.

Mabel unplugged her phone and scrambled up as quietly as she could, crossing the hall into the guest bedroom and locking the door behind her and turning on the light, typing out a quick okay in response.

She knew from experience that as long as she was quiet, nobody would hear her.

Now? he asked.

Now.

And then he was calling her, and she was hastily stuffing her headphones in her ears and hitting the little phone icon on her screen.

“Hey,” he greeted, and she could hear the smile in his voice.

“Hey,” she said back. It was always such a relief to hear him. “I miss you.”

“We’ve been texting all day,” he laughed.

“I know, but…”

“It’s not the same,” he agreed with the words she hadn’t said.

“Yeah,” her voice was soft, and she heard him sigh on the other end of their call.

“Can I see you?” he asked after a moment.

“Y- yeah, one sec.” They’d done this more times than she could count, but somehow, she was always nervous.

She stripped out of her shorts and unbuttoned his shirt to let it reveal her breasts, pulled her panties down a bit with her thumb and smiled into the camera.

She only had to take six or seven pictures before she had one she was satisfied with. Sending it over and promptly deleting them from her phone, she waited for it to arrive.

She knew when he got it, because he said, “Fucking hell, Mabel,” with a groan, and she could almost picture him stroking himself.

She’d only seen him do that a handful of times, when they’d gotten the chance to do this on the rare occasion she was at their parents’ for the night. She could have watched it for hours.

“You’re so perfect,” he sighed in her ear, and if she closed her eyes, she could almost imagine he was there with her. He’d kiss her neck, maybe, and then squeeze her breasts and pinch her nipples. Mimicking the things he was doing to her in her mind’s eye, she trailed a hand down her body and stroked herself lightly through her panties, listening to the way his breath was quickening.

“I wanna see you, too, Dip,” she sighed into the phone.

A few seconds later, a picture came through of him holding himself, and when she saw him naked… well. She had seen him naked more times than she could count by that point, but it was always breathtaking each time.

“Are you wet for me, Mabes?” he murmured in her ear.

She nodded, pulling her drenched panties off and kicking them to the side, before remembering he couldn’t see her. “Yes.”

“Show me.”

She took another picture, this time of a part of herself she didn’t really understand why he wanted to see, but he liked it so she sent it to him anyway.

“I wish I had gotten to taste you,” he gasped. “I think about that a lot.”

“O- oh?” How embarrassing. She knew she was blushing. She could feel it.

“Are you blushing right now?” Dipper asked. “I bet you are. You’re so cute when you blush.” She giggled a little, and he went on. “Will you touch yourself for me?”

“Mhm.” She brushed her fingers over her slit, dipping one inside slightly, just for a second, and gasping as she did so.

“Pinch your nipples, too, okay? I know you like that.” He did know, didn’t he? He knew all the things she liked. He seemed to know them intuitively. To be fair, though, he’d said she knew all the things he liked, too.

Pinching her nipple and brushing a finger lightly over her clit, Mabel whimpered.

“Does that feel good?”

“Y- yes,” she gasped out.

“I wish… mmmf,” he cut himself off with a groan. “I wish this was your hand instead of mine.”

Mabel squeezed her breast roughly, rubbing a finger back and forth over her clit.

“Me too,” she whined. “God, Dip, I want… I want you inside me so bad, I-“

“I know, Mabes. I know. I’d give anything to be inside you right now.”

She rubbed herself a little faster, and her legs were going to give out, she could tell they were, so she allowed herself to collapse onto the cold of the hardwood floor.

“You okay?” Dipper asked when he heard her fall to the ground, concern evident in his voice.

“Yeah, I just had to… ah!” she gasped. “I had to sit down.”

“Oh, okay,” he murmured, and it sounded like he went back to stroking himself.

“I need you.” She’d resorted to begging. She always did that when she was getting close.

“I know,” he groaned. “I need you, too.”

“Dipper, I- please, I need…” she rubbed herself faster, and her hips lifted off the floor an inch or so.

“I know,” he said again.

“I need you.” She couldn’t stop. It felt too good. “I need it, I want you so bad, please,” she begged. “Please give it to me, please Dip, god, I can’t-“

“Are you gonna cum for me, Mabes?”

“Yes,” she gasped. “Yes, I’m gonna- fuck, I want your cum in me, yes-“ her wrist hurt, but she kept going. She was so close, so fucking close-

“Cum for me, I wanna hear you cum for me.”

“Dipper, ah, oh fuck, Dipper, I’m gonna-“ her body spasmed, and she fell limp.

A few seconds later, he followed her with a grunt.

It had felt so good, and Mabel felt so content for a split second, because she’d forgotten that Dipper wasn’t there with her.

The tears started to fall, and she began to sniffle. It usually ended that way. She couldn’t help it.

“Mabel,” he said with a sigh.

“I’m sorry,” she hiccuped.

“No, no,” he assured her. “I just… I wish I could be there with you.”

“I don’t care where we are as long as we’re together,” she cried softly.

“I know,” he sighed again. “But we’ll be together soon, okay? I’ve got an idea.”

“An idea?” What kind of idea, she wondered.

“Yeah, but it’s a surprise, so until I’ve got everything worked out, just be patient for me, okay?”

“Okay,” she sniffed.

“I love you,” he told her softly.

“I love you, too.”

After a few seconds, he said, “and on that note, I need to clean this jizz off my stomach before it drips all over my bed.”

She giggled. “Okay, I’ll talk to you later.”

“You’ll text me tomorrow, right?”

“Uh, doi, when don’t I?” She sniffed again. It was hard to force the silliness that usually felt natural when she felt so blargh.

“Good point,” he chuckled. “Night, then. Love you,” he said again.

“Love you, too.”

After they hung up, it took several minutes for Mabel’s body to stop tingling from her orgasm, and then several more minutes before she could stop the tears and go back to bed.

Being without him was tougher than she’d imagined.

[tatooedlaura-blog]

Narrow Beds

Oh, it’s been awhile ... fingers creaked as I began to type ... brain hurt trying to remember words ... I have forgotten how much I love to write over the last few months but I think I will begin again ... 

@today-in-fic

&&&&&&&&&

He really should have obeyed more traffic laws getting to the house but he didn’t: thought he saw a cop, began immediately planning alternate route hairpin turns and concocted stories of plunder and raze but in the end, it was just a car with two old ladies and a penchant for drinking their coffee in a parked vehicle as opposed to speeding precariously on the highway.

Regardless, he arrived without incident and knocking on Maggie Scully’s door, fiddled with the keys in his hand until the front door opened up, “Fox. That was quick.”

Desperate to grab her by the arms and ask, in that panicked tone he tried not to let anyone know he had, where Scully was, he instead held himself in check, jamming hands in pockets and rocking on his feet no more than two inches back and forth, “I didn’t catch any red lights.”

Mama Scully half-wondered if he’d driven on the sidewalks part of the way but keeping the traffic lecture to herself, she stepped aside, gesturing towards the steps, “she came in, said ‘I’m fine’ and disappeared upstairs.” Reaching for his elbow, she touched it lightly, “what happened?”

Normally she didn’t ask, knowing their history of diluting the horrors of their day for her benefit, but the look on her daughter’s face when she’d brushed past had her calling Mulder before she heard the bedroom door shut.

He’d been in the car on his way to Scully’s so a detour hadn’t been difficult: two lefts, one right at ‘Oops, I cut it again’ salon and minutes later, he was here.

Fourteen to be exact.

But who was really keeping track.

“We had a bad case. I asked about dinner but she said she just needed a bath and a nap.” Pointing up the stairs to move things along, “she in her old room?”

“Yeah. Thank you, Fox.” Watching his already retreating form, “let me know if you need anything.”

All she got was a wave over his shoulder.

It was enough.

&&&&&&&&&

Having been to her childhood room several times, he knew which door would lead him there instead of the bathroom and knocking lightly, he waited, listening for acceptance or denial of his request.

Instead he got, “I’m fine.”

Opening the door slowly, “you are a big, fat liar.”

She didn’t even flinch at the intrusion that wasn’t her mom, instead simply half-rolling towards him, hands crossed on her stomach, “mom wouldn’t have known that.”

“Your mom is the least dumb person we have ever met. It was your first, ‘I’m fine’ that made her call me and ask what the hell was wrong.”

Instead of denial and irritation at his implication that her world was not all peachy-keen, she stared at him for a long moment, looking from his rumpled t-shirt to his tired eyes, biting her bottom lip in debate and then in resignation at asking for the only thing in the world she wanted at the moment , “are you wearing your shoes?”

Taking the question in stride, “no. I left them downstairs by the door. Why?”

“Because mom doesn’t like shoes on the bed.” Scooting as close to the wall as she could, given she was an adult in a single bed, “would you mind shutting the door and laying down with me, please?”

Shutting as ordered, he maneuvered, with maximum confusion and minimal jostling, to lay behind her on the narrow mattress, “I have forgotten, in my adult years, how much I have grown in relation to my childhood.”

Practically smushed against the wall, she felt an almost-need to try to smile but the mood passed instantly, morose overtaking with lightning speed, “you know, the last person in this bed with me was Melissa; a few weeks before she left for college.”

Not sure where to put his arm, he held it awkwardly against his side, wondering with every passing moment if taking a deep breath would send himself crashing to the floor, “she was decidedly less …” wiggling slightly, his jeans twisted around his knees, “hulking than me.”

The only thing keeping her nose from pressing against the wall was her hand, “she was definitely smaller than you, I won’t argue.”

He’d shared a bed with her before, well, not so much a bed as a quiet corner in some snowed-in airport outside Fargo but whatever.

At least this time, he had the option of covers if necessary.

If only half his body wasn’t hanging off the side of the mattress.

He gave up.

“I’m coming closer.”

For one bless-ed moment, she forgot her churning black cloud in favor of wonderment, “Is that even possible?”

“Hopefully.” Sliding eight millimeters at best, he was now pressed solidly against her from upper chest to ankle, “much better.”

And for some reason, it was the extra warmth, the simultaneous heartbeats, the overwhelming air of another’s existence so close to hers, that made her crumble.

He heard the walls fall, crashing in voided silence and arm be damned, he moved it from himself to her, hand slipping beneath her elbow to rest on her belly, mouth moving as close to her neck as his nose would allow, “it wasn’t our fault.”

“It’s always our fault, Mulder. Every time we go out the door, it’s our fault.”

Moving enough so it was his forehead resting against the back of her head and not his nose, he found himself staring down at the minor flaw in her otherwise perfect neck, “we didn’t know. I didn’t know and you sure as hell didn’t know.”

“Nobody knows anything ahead of time, Mulder but if I had just waited a quarter of a second, a blink of a fucking eye, I would have noticed him. At the academy, the first thing they tell you about handling a gun is always know what’s behind your target. You look behind the damned target before you shoot.”

“No one, not even … shit, not even Superman and his super peepers … would have noticed Jamison under that table. It was pitch black down there. We were doing our job. We did our job and now it’s done and we’re home and jammed into this bed and it wasn’t your fault.” Emphasizing his point, he, for a brief moment, tightened his arm, sinking into cotton-covered stomach, “it wasn’t your fault.” He felt her muscles tighten, knowing full well she was trying to sit up, turn to him, argue his reasoning and he stopped her, quietly, his words drifting over her shoulder, “if you make me fall off this bed with all your arm flailing and point making, I am taking you with me which will just bring your mom up here and then you’ll get in trouble for having a boy in your bed.”

Tensed but debating, she settled back down, logic winning for the shortest possible moment, movement stilled but voice quavering, “I shot and killed a man. Somebody’s husband, Mulder, somebody’s son, somebody’s father. How do I justify that with a simply phrase of ‘it wasn’t my fault’?” Cracking words, her breath hitched violently, chest jumping, abdomen contracting with the effort of not wailing at the top of her lungs, “it was my fault, Mulder. He was hiding under a table. He’d managed to free himself and in trying to escape, heard the raid, crawled under a table and for all his efforts, he died anyway.”

Her last words trailed in a sob and Mulder, ignoring wedged-in bed etiquette, sat up as best he could, wiggled his arm under her neck and finally holding her from both sides, hugged her, kissing each bump of her spine from hairline to neckline, knowing it was time for him to be quiet, to listen, to ache for her.

And when it was time to hold the edge of the mattress as she tried to move closer. Needing any and all leverage he could get to stay on the bed, he simultaneously vee’d his knees, pushing hers forward as well, accidentally-on-purpose spooning to the best of his ability.

She didn’t argue, burrowing into her cocoon of Mulder-heat, vaguely wondering, as the tears flowed out of her and consequently onto him, if it would be, while not scientifically likely, metaphorically possible to crawl inside him, live there protected from the world, for the next few seconds to several hundred years of their combined life.

Choosing to focus on that rather than the harsh reality of now, it still took quite a while for her tears to taper off. Feeling her heart slow its rat-a-tat pace, she whispered into the crook of his elbow, “how do I get through this?”

“Just like we are now. You hold me, I hold you; tomorrow, we do it again.”

It was only now that she began to register how cramped they were, how un-professional they were, how perfect they were, at this very moment and doing a most un-Scully like thing, she let herself sink into the moment, “We should probably find a bigger bed then.”

Hearing just a little of the humor he loved, he chuckled once against her, repositioning his head, deciding both would benefit from a little nap, “I’m not worried about it right now.”

Finding his hand, she ran fingers over crooked knuckles, as close to a handhold as she could manage at the moment, “I wonder if I’ll get grounded if mom finds you here in the morning?”

Already headed to dreamland and taking her with him, “I think we should find out.”

&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Myth: falling asleep.

Fact: waking up.

Confusion: setting in quickly.

Resolution: someone was mumbling beside him.

Follow-through: Once he’d realized he was indeed awake and for some reason in a bed that was seven to eight times too small for two people, he carefully rolled to his side, creating a precious hands-width of space between him and the mumbler.

About to ask if she was alright, he instead, being the terrible person that he was, eavesdropped.

Because … just … because.

And all he heard was a shopping list.

Sleeping next to him and she dreams of chocolate chips and bacon.

He couldn’t help his smile.

Then she hit ‘lube’ and ‘batteries’ and his interest sky-rocketed.

His smile widened.

Oil change and toilet paper should have bought him back to Earth but it didn’t and he listened to her talk another few moments before silence settled again in the time-locked room.

Continuing to stare at her and the dark grey wall behind her instead of going back to sleep, he began thinking in Mulder-type fits and spurts about time and space and awareness and his infinitesimally small space in the universe.

Did the universe still exist outside the room?

Had he been granted his desire to wake beside her only to have the rest of existence forget about them and consequently, forget about existence in the process?

What if Scully’s God had raptured the world and left them behind, alone but together?

Outside the door could be nothing, a vast void of blackness stretching out beyond infinity?

He wasn’t supposed to be here. This was just a rest stop between today and tomorrow. He ought to have been at home on his couch, comfortably hugged by warm leather and soft cotton.

Instead, he was in some weirdly light, hollow, empty, anticipating place.

He could feel the room around him. Everything in it, except him, resting their weary constructs: dust motes, drafts, deliciously warm partners. It unsettled him. This was the snowed in airport at 3am when he had to get up to go to the bathroom and fought it because the empty, dim hallways made his heart beat faster and put him on an edge he didn’t enjoy.

“Scully?”

Another mumble and what he would describe as a weirdly purring throat noise, later, she opened one eye in his direction, “trash bags.”

Another soul awake. Aware. He took a deep breath but continued his whispering, “I’ll add it to the list.”

Finally grasping some sort of faculties, she opened the other eye, brought him into focus as best she could, “why are you in bed with me?”

“You invited me here, remember?”

It took a second to recall but she got there and the smile desperate to cross her lips showed itself at the corners of her mouth but she didn’t let it win, “oh yeah.” Pausing for deep breath, she shut her eyes again, stretching as best she could and very narrowly using him as a full-body pillow in her quest for more sleep, “why did you wake me up?”

“Because I’m an adult freaking out about the dark and infinity and weird spaces where time doesn’t seem to exist and frankly, I’m worried that we are the only two people left in the universe and that we are floating in an utter blackness void even of stars and …”

He stopped because her hand was now covering his mouth, “Mulder … I swear to you. Outside is still outside.”

Talking through her hand, “Then why do I feel so strange? This never happens when I wake up at my own place in the middle of the night.”

Knowing sleep was now officially at least a few minutes away, she removed her hand but kept her eyes shut, thinking that if sleep accidently floated by, she could catch it, “you, my friend, are caught in a ‘liminal space’”

Liminal space. He felt he should remember that from somewhere but his 2am still spiralling mind couldn’t organize, “what?”

“I will be writing this down as the day I knew something you didn’t. Remind me to play the lottery later.”

Smart-ass-ness was starkly evident this later/early in the day but he liked her so he didn’t tell her about the ‘lube’ comment, “this isn’t helpful.”

“Sorry.” Finally looking at him, eyes dilating wide in the dark, “liminal spaces are kind of like waiting areas between one thing and the next. After one point in time and space and before the other.”

He was remembering now, “where magic happens and anything is possible.”

“Or where you begin to doubt universal existence and are afraid of the dark.”

“I am not afraid of the dark.”

She really hadn’t meant it to sound like it did and in apology, she rested a finger in the dimple on his chin, “I know. I just meant … when I was a kid, I’d wake up just like you and wonder if mom and dad were still in their beds. If Missy and Bill and Charlie were going to be at breakfast the next morning or had the darkness snatched them away?”

“But I’m an adult and I know better.”

“No one knows better at 3am or whatever the hell time it is.” Figuring the best way to fix this was to show him and she struggled to sit up, she accepted an assistance shove from her Mulder, “come on. We’re going downstairs.”

Now he was just starting to feel silly and for Mulder to feel silly required quite a bit of silliness, “it’s okay. We should probably just go back to sleep.”

“No.” Taking his hand and tugging until he was standing beside her, thankful for socks against the chilly floor, “I want to show you something.”

Giving in because she was her, he followed, inaudible sigh of relief he would never admit to once the bedroom door was open and he saw that, indeed, the rest of the house still stood. Shuffling across wood floor and creeping down the stairs, avoiding, under Scully’s direction, the creaky seventh step, she took him to the couch, pushing on his chest lightly to get him to sit. Once settled, several afghans piled over their legs, he waited as long as he could before asking, “what are we doing?”

“We are learning to love liminal spaces.”

“We are?”

“Yeah.” Quiet for another moment to gather her explanation, “we are witnessing timelessness. Enjoy it.”

So he sat, hand in hers, until he mused, half to himself, “liminal spaces should be an X-File.”

“No. I’m not letting you file these away. I have fallen in love with them and don’t want them categorized and easily referenced. They are meant to be discovered by accident and left alone when done.”

Sliding somewhat down the cushions to rest his head against the back of the couch, “do these spaces make you feel better?”

Knowing the question behind the question, “this space is making me feel better right now. It was still my fault but I think I’ll have to accept it and move on.” Matching his slide, she went one better and shifted her head to lean on his shoulder, “how are you feeling?”

“Better about the universe and about liminal magic.”

“Liminal magic?”

Turning his head, he first kissed her forehead, then shifted enough to brush his lips against hers, impulsive and unassuming, “that right there was liminal magic.”

With a smile, she let her hand drift to his knee, then his thigh, squeezing before coming to a rest slightly higher than strictly friends defined, “shush.”

“Shushing now.”

&&&&&&&&&

Maggie found them prone on the couch the next morning, smushed together on something even more narrow than the bed they’d occupied earlier. Scully, true to form, using him as a pillow while he held onto her dear life, fearful even in sleep of falling to the ground and leaving her behind.

It was then that she knew her daughter’s answer of ‘I’m fine’ later on would be a genuine one and moving to the kitchen, she decided chocolate chip waffles and bacon would be the order of the day. 

[goggles-mcgee]

How about a body swap of the Kwami Tiki and Plagg to their Miraculous and Mari and Plagg has to stay home and while at school Plagg in Adrien's body hanging out with Tiki and he called Tiki Sugar Cube while everyone looks at them and everyone thinks in the classroom the two are finally dating until the four return to normal and the next day Alya and the gang congratulates the two

It sounds super cute! I love the idea honestly I think it would be hilarious.

_____♡_____

It was a normal morning.

Well...it was supposed to be.

Marinette woke up as she usually did, her alarm screaming, her maman calling her down for breakfast, and Tikki's small pokes. Except one thing was off, the poking, it didn't feel small as usual. Actually it felt like what she imagined Tikki felt when Marinette poked her cheek. Though it may be weird, Marinette often wondered what everything felt like to Tikki, considering her size and what not. And when she opened her eyes, well, she was completely in the right to scream considering she was staring at her own face. She was pretty sure, about 99.2% sure she did not attack a mirror to her ceiling before going to bed, so she was rightfully freaked out by what was going on. She saw herself reach for her and cover her mouth while shushing her. A part of her knew she had to call down, but the louder part of her was still screaming.

"Marinette, it's me, Tikki! I need you to calm down! Please. I can explain everything." Herself said...well...Tikki said, she guessed.

This was fine, this was cool, cool, cool, COOL. She was Ladybug, she could handle whatever Tikki was going to tell her. Tikki who was wearing her face and body and who was, now that she thought about and observed, wayyyyy bigger than her. She stopped screaming but only so she could look down at the hand that was covering her mouth....and body?????? Que more muffled screaming.

"Marinette! Shhhhh! Please! Your mom will come up here if she hears you and that would be an awful moment for her to find out her daughter is Ladybug but not just that, that her daughter and her kwami have switched bodies!" Tikki whisper shouted in, amazingly, one breath.

Marinette's reply was muffled until Tikki took her hand away, well Marinette's hand, but well Tikki was in her body so it was technically Tikki's hand now...it was a hand on loan! With...the rest of the body on loan as well. "Tikki...please explain...you said you can explain!"

Tikki gave her a sheepish smile and lifted Marinette up so they were at eye level with one another. "First of all, I'm so proud of you!"

"Proud of me?"

"Yes! This is a huge step towards becoming a better Ladybug! Honestly, I don't remember the last time a holder was this young when this happened!" Tikki squealed out with joy.

"Tikki! Focus. When what happened? What is currently happening?"

Tikki stopped and gave Marinette another sheepish smile. "Sorry, I'm just so happy! When a Miraculous holder and the kwami bond so much, and begin to understand one another better, they have a switch! And we have switched!"

"So this isn't an akuma?"

"Oh no, no, no! Not at all! This is a very good thing. This is like that human saying, getting to walk in another's shoes? This is so we can better harmonize with one another when we transform! This will unlock other powers to use and a longer transformation hold after you use your lucky charm!" Tikki explained as she placed Marinette on one hand and climbed out of her bed.

"Oh...Oh! That's amazing Tikki! Why did you never tell me about it before? It probably would have saved you a Marinette freak out." Marinette joked. This was amazing! All she could think of was how great this would help out with being Ladybug. And hopefully defeating Hawkmoth.

Tikki chuckled softly as she placed Marinette by her computer and grabbed her school bag...oh right, school! "I'm sorry Marinette, but I honestly forgot about it, and like I mentioned, this hasn't happened this early in a very long time. You're so young and you've been Ladybug for such a small amount of time, well I guess I should have expected it given the circumstances and how unusual this is."

Marinette frowned and kept trying to get a word in but she kept getting distracted by Tikki packing her school bags, and wait a minute, she just noticed Tikki had gotten her dressed but she was...well she was a little messy. Her pigtails were crooked and loose, her usual capris were buttoned thank goodness but one side was cuffed shorter than the other. Marinette gave herself a mental high-five that she usually wore flats this time of year, and that the blazer she designed wasn't meant to be buttoned up.

"Tikki...what are we going to do about this though? There's no way I-I mean you- can go to school."

"Why not?" Tikki asked with a slight tilt of her head, and yeah this was really weird to be talking to herself. Marinette knew it was Tikki but Tikki looked and sounded like her!

"Why no....Tikki, someone is bound to notice that I'm not me!" Marinette said as she flew- She Flew!- over to Tikki and fixed the crooked pigtail and zipped down to fix the shorter cuff of her capris. "You weren't even dressed right! How long has it been since you've...uh...switched?"

Tikki shot her an apologetic smile. "Oops, sorry about that Marinette! I guess it has been awhile."

"How long is a while?"

"Oh a couple millennia I think."

"A couple mil- Tikki! There's no way we can go to school! We should tell mom that you're-I mean I'm not feeling good!"

Tikki frowned at her and placed her hands on her hips. "Absolutely not! Your education is very important Marinette, I would feel so bad if you had to miss out because of this. I promise, everything will be okay! No body will tell the difference. I'm confident that we can get through this day!"

Marinette frowned too and flew up so she could look Tikki in the eye and tell her this absolutely wouldn't work and she could text Alya to see what work had to be done for the day, but before she could the trapdoor to her room opened up and she knew she had to hide so she zipped over to hide behind her backpack.

"Marinette, come on dear you should come eat now, or else you will skip breakfast or be late for class and I know you've been trying really hard to get to school on time this week." Her mother said with a gentle smile to who she thought was her daughter.

"I'll be right down, I promise Mari-maaaaaman!" Tikki said with an awkward chuckle. Nice save Tikki. Real nice.

"Okay sweetie, I left you a pain au chocolat and some fruit on the counter. Today is a busy day, your father and I have a lot of custom orders to make today so I'll be down in the bakery but we'll see you for lunch!" She heard her mom say before the trapdoor closed. Once it did she immediately zipped up so Tikki could see her.

"I told you it would be fine Marinette! Besides it will only be till the end of the day! Then we'll switch back. I know what's going on is weird but the whole point of the switch is to experience life in your holders place and you as your kwami's so you'll be better in tune with one another." Tikki said as she gently grabbed Marinette and brought her to her face so they could huh.

Marinette was nervous but she understood the good this would do and honestly there was nothing she could do since it was already in motion. "Okay but if anything happens during school we will come back home and say we're not feeling well. Deal?"

"Well..." Tikki said as she looked off to the side.

Marinette narrowed her eyes, "Well what?"

"I think it would be best if you stayed here. You've never been a kwami before and well, in the past holders couldn't control the power well enough to keep it from getting out of hand. Identities were found out and a lot happened." Tikki said without looking at her.

It was one thing to switch and be with Tikki, it was a whole different thing to switch and be separated. "What about akumas? Tikki we can't just be away from each other!"

"I've thought about that! Trust me Marinette, I know you've noticed the drawl in Akumas lately. Maybe Hawkmoth is busy this week! And if one does happen I'll run right over, but believe me when I say an akuma won't happen today. Luck is on our side I promise."

Marinette didn't like it but Tikki was way older than she was and she was the kwami of Creation, basically a psuedo-God, and she has switched in the past, and Marinette trusted her, but she couldn't help but worry. "Okay...I don't like it, it makes me anxious, but I trust you Tikki. Just please promise me, if it gets too much, or you think someone is on to you, that you will come home."

"I promise you Marinette. This day will pass by fast! It'll be over before you know it!" And with that Tikki gave Marinette a kiss on the cheek and ran downstairs. Marinette didn't know what to do, but she promised Tikki she wouldn't worry so she took a deep breath and flew up to her hatch door, the least she could do was hang out outside, that way there was no way her parents would see her on accident. She attempted to lift the hatch but gave a little scream when she phased through it...that was going to take getting used to.

_____♡_____

Tikki took in a deep breath as she made her way to Marinette's school, she knew she told Marinette not to worry, but if Tikki was telling the truth she was nervous. It had been ages since she last switched, ages since she was last in a human body, and the only humans she interacted with were Marinette and Master Fu! But she had to remain calm, she promised Marinette this day would go by fast and that she could handle it, so that's what Tikki was going to do, handle it.

When she walked in she felt her palms sweat and wow okay, that was unpleasant, and a sensation she had not missed. She waved to those who called Marinette's name and gave them smiles and said good morning the way she heard Marinette say in the morning on their way to school. She felt bad that she had to leave Marinette on her own but too many Ladybugs had been found out because they couldn't handle the magic and power of a kwami body during the switch, and Tikki would phase herself all the way to the end of the earth if that happened to her and Marinette. She loved Marinette, like all her chosens, Marinette was a creation soul. But Marinette breathed creation like she was born directly from Tikki, it was amazing! It had been such a long time since Tikki had met a creation soul like Marinette. In a way, Tikki felt like Marinette was one of her own children, a being born purely from creation, but Marinette was too human to have been so, but Tikki loved her all the same. They weren't just coworkers, or friends, they were more and it made Tikki so happy that they switched. Switching was a very special occasion, even more special than a holders day of birth! Switching was a bigger show that a holder was growing and maturing than a birthday ever did. It was somewhat bittersweet to Tikki. Her little creation was growing up.

The thought made her smile as she walked into Marinette's classroom. She waved at Alya and was about to walk over to their seat when she felt herself being embraced and lifted a little of the ground.

"Sugar Cube!"

Oh....kwami! She forgot about him! On one hand she was happy for Plagg, on the other she wanted to smack him. She was probably going to smack him later, she promised Marinette she wouldn't act any differently than her, she would have to apologize and make it up to Mari later, Tikki was wrong. Today was going to be a long day.

"Sugar Cube? Adrien are you feeling okay?" She heard Nino ask.

A very. Long. Day.

_____♡_____

This is part one because this was so fun to write! I'll definitely be writing more but it is late and I'm tired XD good night guys!

And again I'll add more on to this fun idea tomorrow!

[dc41896]

Goodbyes

So a little tidbit about me, I frequently have weird dreams and this imagine is the product of one involving a guy using a funny yet random pickup line on me mixed in with inspo from the adorable video of Mr. Evans reading the children’s book. Hope you guys like it! 😂

Pairing: Chris EvansxBlack Reader

⚠️: None💕!

“And so, Princess Jasmine and Prince Aladdin got married in the palace, with everyone in the city in attendance and lived happily ever after. The end,” Chris smiles closing the book.

“Another story please!,” your six year old daughter, Lori, asks lightly tugging her father’s arm beside her.

“I don’t know peanut, it’s already pass your bedtime and I don’t want you to get in trouble or miss your sleep.”

“Pleaseee??? Pretty please with cherries???”

Just like her mom, Chris was wrapped around his daughter’s finger so tight he’d probably try to buy the moon if she said she wanted it. And the moment she looked up at him with those big brown eyes, similar to yours, he felt his world stop and felt as if he was on cloud nine.

“Oh man, how could I say no to pretty please with cherries?,” he answers tickling her side and causing an eruption of giggles. “Ok one last story but then you have to go to bed.”

“Deal,” she said nodding her head before snuggling up closer to him while holding her tiger stuffed animal.

“Any requests? We haven’t read about Barbie in a while or Dr. Seuss?”

“Daddy how did you meet mommy?”

“Ohh that’s a good story! Let’s see it all started at a party uncle Mackie was having,” he started just as Lori’s room door opened to reveal you holding some of her freshly washed and folded clothes.

“Sorry, I don’t mean to interrupt story time. I’ll put these up and then be out of the way,” you smile, slightly holding up your hand to excuse yourself as you make your way to her wooden dresser.

“You can stay mommy! Daddy’s telling another story about how you met!,” she excitedly reveals sitting up in her bed before realizing exactly what she said. “Oops...”

“It’s ok sweetie, I’ll allow a two story night tonight since daddy’s back home,” you softly laugh watching her snuggle back into his side. “So what did I miss?”

“Nothing much, I just started,” Chris answers as you sit on the other side.

“So uncle Mackie was throwing a party and all our friends were there eating and playing games. We were standing in the kitchen talking when all of a sudden he looks towards the door and he gets so excited that his eyes go wide.”

Copying his expression, Lori giggles at the funny look on Chris’ face followed by one of her signature adorable snorts. “What was it daddy?!”

“I wondered the same thing! Then uncle Mackie jogged to the door and returned with the most beautiful, gorgeous, stunning woman I had ever seen, your mom,” he answers, smiling at you with those clear blue eyes that could always make your heart race.

“He told me how they were close friends from high school and I had to meet her and see for myself how amazing she was. So he brought her and auntie Sky into the kitchen since she came with her.”

“Auntie Sky was there too?!”

“Yep pretty much all your uncles and aunts were there! Mackie said that he wanted to throw the biggest party of all time,” you softly laugh remembering how excited he was the day he told you about it.

“Oh how did mommy look daddy?! Was she like a princess?”

“She was prettier than a princess! She had long braids with some over her shoulder and her outfit?! I wish you could’ve seen her peanut.”

“Did she have on a long dress?! With glitter and sparkles?!”

“No she didn’t have on a dress, but she had on a light blue flowy button up that was slightly tucked in with her jeans and white sneakers.”

“Yea love, my outfit was very casual and nothing like what a princess would wear. Daddy’s just being a tad dramatic.”

“Don’t listen to her Lori, mommy had all eyes on her as soon as she walked in. A few other guys there wanted to talk to her too.”

“I can imagine mommy, and you look really pretty!,” she smiles switching from her father’s side to yours.

“Aww thank you sweetie!”

“But you know what stood out the most to me about your mom? Her eyes. It’s like they lit up the room more than any lightbulb could from how bright they were, and hypnotized you so that you never wanted to look away from them.”

“Like in Aladdin?”

“Similar, but a good type of hypnotize that left me feeling warm and happy,” he smiles.

“So your uncle finally introduces us and I’ll admit I was nervous, but I tried to keep calm to not lose my chance. We talked and laughed the whole night until it was time to go. I asked for her number and gave her mine and then the rest is history,” he finishes, booping Lori on the nose and making her smile.

“Um Chris, you forgot about an important part,” you smirk, arms crossed in front of you. You knew why he didn’t want to share the part, but it was a vital piece of the story that needed to be said.

“Oh that small part isn’t important,” he nervously laughs moving to stand up before Lori pulled him back down to the bed.

“Mm I’d say it is,” you lightly laugh as your daughter turns her attention to you, anxiously waiting to hear what this other part is.

“So mommy and daddy talked for a while before uncle Mackie wanted to introduce me to other people there. He asked if it was ok to take my away for awhile and daddy said yes so we said goodbye.”

“As I was talking to another person, your dad decides to come up and he hugs me saying how he’s leaving so again, we say goodbye and I go back to my conversation. Of course there’s nothing weird about this, but he did it 4 more times whenever I was talking to other people!”

“Daddy that sounds weird!,” she giggles, Chris’s ears and neck becoming red from his impending embarrassment.

“I was trying to do something to stand out so mommy wouldn’t forget me.”

“And I can say it definitely worked,” you laugh. “Before I left I see him still hanging around so I go up to him and ask him why he told me bye so many times. His answer was that he wanted me to get so annoyed with him saying goodbye that I’d never want to to hear him say it to me again, thus he’d never be able to leave me.”

“I’ll admit it sounded better in my head than when I actually said it out loud,” he chuckles rubbing his hand over his buzzcut hair.

“Well although it might’ve been a weird idea, it worked because it made me laugh and we talked even more until we had to go. And that is the story of how your dad and I met,” you finish, looking down to see your daughter asleep and holding onto her tiger as she softly breathed in and out.

“At least she was awake for the main points,” Chris quietly chuckles, leaning down to kiss her cheek followed by you doing the same.

Walking out her room and making sure to softly close the door to not wake her, you laugh to yourself as Chris follows behind to your bedroom.

“What’s so funny? Still thinking of my dumb line?,” he smiles as he sits at the foot of the bed.

“Yea I’m laughing at the line, but mostly at what Mackie said before he introduced us.”

“He warned you I was gonna do something dumb didn’t he?,” he asks making you laugh even harder as you move to stand between his legs in front of him and wrap your arms around his neck.

“No, he actually told me to not be surprised if I met my husband that night and sure enough I did.”

Smiling with rosy cheeks, he stands up placing one of his strong arms around your waist before deeply kissing your lips.

“Also I was thinking of how everytime you say bye I immediately think of that night,” you laugh making Chris playfully roll his eyes as he brings you down on the bed with him.

Taglist: @crushed-pink-petals @fumbling-fanfics @honeychicana @lady-olive-oil @lovelymari4 @melinda-january @themyscxiras @nunubug99 @felicity-x0 @ellixthea @jojolu @jnk-812 @brwn-sgr @captainsamwlsn @itshinothey @wildfirecracker @nina-sj @iammyownlover

If anybody wants to be added to the taglist, has asked to be added but don’t see your name, only wants to be tagged for certain people I write for, or no longer wish to be tagged let me know🤓!

[seouledbysisi]

A Brighter Dawn

Chapter One

Woozi

Ring…

Ring…

Ring….

He sat and waited for his best friend to finally answer the phone. Usually it never took this long but maybe she was busy.

“Hello?!” Naomi answered seemingly out of breath.

Woozi was taken aback a bit. “What are you doing? Running laps?”

She giggled a bit. “I’m attempting to finish this Zumba class with Elyse.” She sat on a bench in the gym and crossed her leg over the other.

“Oh I forgot you’ve been working out together lately. Are you busy later?” He asked in hopes that she’d say no.

“Don’t we always have dinner on Wednesday? Of course I not busy.” She replied & rolled her eyes a bit.

Elyse snapped her fingers in Naomi’s face. “Are you coming back or what? You can talk to lover boy later.” She chuckled. She spoke the lover boy part under her breath.

Naomi waved her sister away. They were the same age. Most people wondered how that was even possible since they looked nothing alike but it was simply because Naomi’s parents adopted Elyse when she was three years old. She had been in the foster system before that. She had been apart of their family for so long people tended to forget that she was adopted.

“How about park picnic? The guys want to change it up a bit.” Woozi asked.

Naomi was down for whatever. That’s what made their friendship so easy because they both knew how to just go with the flow. “That’s cool. What should I bring?”

“Whatever you want. We’re not picky eaters. We’re ordering some food too.”

Naomi thought for a moment. “Elyse is the cooker so maybe I can persuade her to cook something.”

“Can she make one of those chicken & broccoli casserole’s?” Woozi loves when she cooked that.

Naomi giggled. “I can try.”

“Also bring Laiya too. She’s never around.” He sounded a bit sad.

“She’s always busy with work now. She got a promotion in the company. I’m happy for her though.”

Woozi cleared his throat. “I think someone else misses seeing her too. She’s kinda the big girl on campus now since she’s part of our A&R team now.”

Laiya, Elyse & Naomi met the guys because they were hired by Pledis Ent to tutor the guys in English. After a year Laiya decided to apply for the new A&R position that opened up so she barely has time to hang out because she’s always dealing with the artists of the company.

“Minghao misses her? They were pretty close at one point.”

“Yeah. He said he’s lucky to even get a response from her when he texts her to check in on her.”

Naomi’s heart broke a bit. They all were so close to one another at one point and now the dynamic was so different. She was all for Laiya following her dreams and aspirations but it didn’t make it any less sadder with her presence being almost void.

“I’ll call you when we’re on our way to the park, okay? If I don’t get back to this workout Elyse is gonna kill me.” She spoke and finally hung up.

The park

The girls were able to convince Laiya to take a breather from working and come to the park with them. She fought a good fight till they told her that she had been hurting their feelings because she never had time for any of them anymore. The guilt trip worked perfectly.

Naomi immediately greeted Woozi to let him know they were there. He was playing soccer with some of the other guys so she decided to take a seat on the blanket with Minghao, Wonwoo, Josh, Kayla, and her other younger sister Natalie. “Hey y’all!” She exclaimed as she laid her head on Wonwoo.

Laiya felt a bit uneasy as she sat down next to Minghao. He barely had even looked at her. “Hey everyone.” She spoke with a small smile.

The other guys spoke politely while Minghao simply waved but there was no emotion behind it.

Natalie looked from him to her. “Soooooo…hows everyone been?” She tried to break the ice.

Joshua chuckled. “I’ve been great!”

Wonwoo was always quiet, and especially when the air was so thick that it could be cut.

Minghao’s emotions were rising and he was starting to not be able to control them. He fiddled with his fingers trying to gain control but nothing was working.

“It’s been awhile since I’ve actually been around y’all, how’s the comeback going? I know y’all finally picked a concept, right?” Laiya asked. She stared at Minghao hoping he would take the bait and answer her.

Minghao sighed. “Did I do something wrong?” He finally broke thru his silence.

Her eyes widened. She honestly didn’t even know what to say. “What are you talking about?”

Joshua stared at Minghao like a proud father. “I know this is your conversation and you need it but my God, your English! It’s getting so much better!” He exclaimed and patted Minghao on the back.

Minghao shrugged his hand off of him. “Thanks Shua but not now. Did I do something to deserve your silence?”

Laiya took a deep breath. “None of you have done anything to me I’m just always working. Even when I’m home I have to work. I just don’t have time for anything but the artists. I know that doesn’t make you feel better but it’s the truth. If I had more time I would hang out.”

He stared deeply at her. Fear of his anger boiling over was the only thing he was worried about. “So you can’t make time for the important people in your life? Or are we not important anymore?” His diarrhea of the mouth just wouldn’t stop.

“Of course you’re all important to me, what do you mean?!”

Minghao chuckled a bit. “You fooled me. I really thought you might be the one but how can that be when the feelings are all one-sided!” He stood up abruptly.

Laiya was shocked that he had just confessed his feelings for her. She didn’t see that coming at all. She thought they were just friendly. She watched as he walked away. Her whole body stilled.

Elyse slapped her leg. “What the heck are you doing?” She asked Laiya.

Laiya snapped out of her trance. “I’m sitting here in shock. What does it look like?”

“Well snap the hell out of it and go talk to him!” Elyse snapped.

Laiya simply stared at her with tears in her eyes. “I don’t know what to say.”

“Do you care about him?” Elyse asked.

Laiya simply nodded.

“Even if you don’t care the way he does you at least owe him your understanding. He deserves that much. He’s hurt and you need to fix it.” Elyse spoke firmly.

Wonwoo simply stared at her as she spoke.

Laiya stood finally and went to search for Minghao. She didn’t know what would happen and honestly she deserved whatever was coming. She hadn’t realized he cared that deeply for her and she felt like she had been a terrible friend to all of them. She was just way too wrapped up in the A&R team. She needed to find a balance some way somehow.

Elyse stood a few moments later after the aura had went down some. “I’m gonna go cheer for the guys with Seungkwan.” She smiled and walked away leaving everyone else behind.

Joshua stood too. “I’ll come with!” He ran off with her.

Natalie looked from Naomi to Wonwoo. “I don’t even like soccer but I guess I’ll go watch too since y’all are so quiet.” She rolled her eyes and ran over to the others.

Wonwo sighed. “That was a lot.” He wasn’t a man with a lot of words but that’s what made him so intriguing.

Naomi rubbed his back. “It was a lot but I understand where Minghao is coming from.”

He nodded. “I do too. He really likes her, I’m shocked it took him this long to tell her.”

Naomi nodded quietly for a moment. “You’re so mysterious, woo. Do you like anyone? Are you seeing anyone?”

He eyed her peculiarly. “Seeing someone? What does that mean?” He wasn’t quite fluent in English but it had gotten a lot better.

She giggled. “Are you dating someone? Or do you want to date someone?”

He cracked a small smile as he looked around at the guys playing soccer. Coups had just scored and as Elyse cheered he engulfed her into a huge hug picking her feet off the ground. “Yeah but it’s just a silly crush.” He turned back to Naomi with a sad smile.

She watched the guys on the field. “Crushes are never silly. Who is it? I can give you advice!” She pushed.

He shook his head silently, praying that she would stop interrogating him.

She stared at him for a moment then looked back at the field. Two things had clicked. Coups and Elyse did have a habit of flirting and being touchy. Also the fact that Wonwoo seemed sad while watching them. “Is it my sister?” She yelled a bit too loud.

His eyes flew open wide. “Can you quiet down?”

“Oops, Sorry. But is it?” She asked again with a cheeky smile on her face.

He debated whether he should say or just walk away from the conversation. “You have two sisters.” He spoke plainly.

“Well I know it’s not Natalie because her and Vernon are dating. Wait- is it Natalie?” She stared in disgust.

He burst into laughter. “Of course not! She’s a bit younger than I would be into plus Vernon would kill me over her.”

Naomi was relieved. “So it is Elyse?!” She jumped to her feet, Getting ready to make a run for it so she could spill the news.

Wonwoo grabbed her from behind and covered her mouth with his hand. “You can’t say anything. Promise me!”

She sighed as her laughter died down. “Why? Why would you not want her to know? Give me a good reason.”

He nodded his head in the direction of she and Coups being overly playful. “You see that? That’s why. Whether they ever say it or not something is there and I don’t stand a chance.”

Naomi clutched her heart. That hurt a bit. “Elyse is just super friendly, she’s always been like that. I wouldn’t read too much into it.”

Wonwoo chuckled under his breath. “But Coups isn’t that friendly with girls so I know enough about him to know that there’s something there.”

Naomi sighed. “I won’t say anything but if my opinion counts for anything I think you’re a great guy and I wish you actually could see that.” She patted his back and walked over to Woozi.

Woozi sighed as she approached him. “Since when are you so giggly with Wonwoo?”

Naomi rolled her eyes. “I giggle with all of you.”

He simply shrugged. “What was so funny?”

“He lik- I cant say, Wooz. I promised that I wouldn’t say anything.”

He eyed her suspiciously. “You like him?”

“As a brother, yes. Why are you being like this?” She asked with a giggle.

Woozi stared out at the others who were eating. “Being like what? I’m just tired.” He saw one of their managers and stood and met with him without saying another word to Naomi.

The night was approaching fast and it had been an overwhelming day. Laiya and Minghao still hadn’t gotten anywhere and Woozi was acting funny. And on top of all that, Wonwoo had confessed his feelings for Elyse and Naomi couldn’t even say anything to anyone. She always kept a promise.

Elyse interlocked her arm with Naomi’s. “What’s wrong, twin?” She asked as she pouted her lips.

Naomi simply sighed. “I need an entire nap, that’s what’s wrong.”

Elyse smirked. “Me too sis. Me too.”

-Stay tuned.

[callioope]

Good Things in 2019

@theputterer and @the-strongest-stars tagged me in the awesome annual end-of-year Good Things meme! I’ve done this in 2018 & 2017 and always think it’s a fun exercise of both reflection and looking forward.

Oh boy, though, my first thought was, what even happened in 2019? (Looking at a calendar helped! It reminded me of a few things I forgot)

It’s been a Rough Year, friends. Between OCD and basically travelling almost every weekend in the latter half of 2019, I am very much ready for a new year and hopefully a new slate.

But this is about the positives!

Personal

Played a lot of Dungeons and Dragons! I am now officially in two campaigns. This year, I endeavored to recruit more women to play, including the wonderful @allatariel. I play both my beloved cleric, Maritsa (who I’ve been playing her years now) and my new character, Noara, a ranger elf with a red panda familiar (yeah, my DM let me do that for funsies, so I could get an animal sidekick but also still try out the Horizon Walker subclass). 

Speaking of red pandas, I accomplished my LIFE GOAL of meeting a red panda face-to-face. I got to feed Harriet at the Cincinnati Zoo for 30 minutes. She was adorable. 

Completed all my dental work and had a clean bill of dental health two cleanings in a row! 

Attended DC’s Around the World Embassy Day event, always fun

Attended Star Wars night at a local library, where I got to participate in a short demo/lesson on how to fence with a lightsaber!

Attended 50th Anniversary Celebration of Apollo 11 / landing on the moon (dude they projected the rocket on the Washington Monument and it looked so cool)

Returned to the NY Ren Faire and upgraded my ren faire garb

Celebrated at THREE friends’ weddings and got to catch up with old friends I hadn’t seen in awhile

Ate ice cream at the Ben & Jerry’s Factory in Vermont

Went to NYCC for the third year in a row. Got to wear 2 costumes this year: a 1920s flapper interpretation of an occamy and my Endor!Leia costume (repeat of 2017). Learned the True Pain of sewing. Created feather shawl for my occamy costume. Learned the True Pain of crafting.

Celebrated one year anniversary with hubbie down where we got married: visited the museum we got married in and actually got a chance to enjoy the exhibits, went to our favorite brunch place down there, got to check out Fleet Week and tour an aircraft carrier and uh... I think it was a missile cruiser? 

Went up to PSU for a women’s hockey game for sister’s birthday (made embarrassing HAPPY BIRTHDAY sign for the cameras); also it was an absolutely wonderful fall drive on the way up there

Got to see The Rise of Skywalker in IMAX at the Smithsonian Air & Space Center with the awesome @allatariel! (thank goodness we had each other to get through that movie lol) also got to reuse my Endor!Leia costume. I did my own braids for the first time ever! (usually my talented sister does them) They looked like braids done by a n00b, but I didn’t care because they were passable and I did them myself and that was a Big Thing for Perfectionist Me (to not just... say screw it and undo it and just. give up. but to just let them be as is)

Worked hard at therapy and self care

Got a Sleep Number bed and holy shit let me tell you. i can actually sleep now.

OH! I almost forgot!!! Started playing Assassin’s Creed! I’ve only ever really played the LEGO Star Wars and Harry Potter video games so like. This was big for me. 

Writing

Finally finished Learning Curve. TBH I was a bit shocked that this was in fact the only fic I published in 2019. What a travesty.

However! I have been writing

@allatariel & I sat down, overanalyzed You’ve Got Mail, and drafted up the outline for my in-universe AU, something I’ve been dreaming of starting for years. Have about 4300 words so far.

Just under the wire, I did manage to start my NatGeo AU, which I’ve been dreaming of since my honeymoon in Nov 2018

Started editing/revising my original young adult fantasy novel

Poked a little at my epic fantasy pirate travel novel idea

Books

I read exactly one book, Among the Red Stars, which I enjoyed. It’s about women fighter pilots in Russia in WW2. Inspired by real people.

Music

Saw Panic at the Disco! in concert. I went along with my sister. Not like a huge fan, but they put on a pretty fun show!

Saw Waitress on Broadway!! OH MY GOD. And Sara Bareilles was starring in it. Amazing. I freaking love her music (”How does she know / what a heart sounds like?” gahhh). She was so good, and the show was so good. I literally cried all the way through it just because I was so happy to be there, but also because of the content. Man.

Saw Sara Bareilles again, in concert, in Philly. I love her so much.

Television

Finished Critical Role Campaign 1! Oh man, what a ride. Gosh, I love that show. I really need to catch up in C2 now. I’ve started it but I’m only on episode 26 or 27.

I’m not sure whether I finished The Clone Wars in 2018 or 2019. I think it was early 2019. This show was amazing and this was the character development that Anakin Skywalker needed. I love Ahsoka Tano. I cannot wait for the last season.  

Finished Rebels!!! AGAIN, what a ride!!! I still love Ahsoka Tano. I also love Hera Syndulla and Sabine Wren. Sabine’s Darksaber arc was fantastic.

The Mandalorian OMG BABY YODA!!! Yes, I have succumbed to the adorableness of Baby Yoda. Most adorable SW character forever. But also just an enjoyable story in general. This, this is how you craft a story. still NOT over the darksaber omg. 

The Good Place is continuing to be good. Not as crazy about season 4, but I’m so glad they decided to limit the seasons.

Got my sister to watch Rebels!! And then even a few episodes of The Clone Wars!!! Mwahaha >) 

Finally got around to watching The Great British Bake Off, what a sweet show!

OMG I ALMOST FORGOT Anne With an E!!! Gosh what a wonderful wholesome delightful show. No I haven’t watched S3 yet because I am Lawful Good to a fault and just patiently waiting for it to come on Netflix

Film

So, I woefully neglected to mention The Aeronauts in this post about my favorite movies in the 2010s and that was a Mistake. Because I really enjoyed this one

But otherwise probably check out that list. Because I don’t go to the movies that often, actually, and anything I really loved from 2019 is most definitely listed there.

Did I meet my 2019 Goals?

Writing: Fandom

Finish Learning Curve YES

...and How to Lose a Spy in 10 Days Uh, no, not so much

Begin and complete the in-canon universe You’ve Got Mail AU YES, it is begun but no it is not complete

Try to knock out a few other projects on my 30+ SW ideas Umm, I did start / poke at a few things in addition to the YGM and NatGeo AUs, but nothing really “knocked out”

Try my hand at creating more visual fan works (like moodboards/photosets, step 1, learn proper terminology) ahahahah, no. 

Writing: Original

Query more agents for my completed original novel YIKES, No. But I wasn’t anticipating that I’d decide to heavily edit/revise my manuscript.

Actually get around to deciding which idea I want to work on next and work on it Yeah, sure, I decided. How nice of past!Liz to make this goal so reachable as “deciding” lol

Reading

Be more supportive in helping my friend run Book Club so that it can actually meet more regularly HA, oops. Book Club died, but kind of in favor of being able to start a second D&D campaign. At least that’s the trade off I’m looking at. I had some OCD-related glasses issues this year that inhibited reading a lot.

Try to read at least one book for myself outside of Book Club lol WELL the one book I read this year was not part of Book Club sooo

Goals for 2020

Writing

I’m not going to make this a completion goal, but instead...

...I’d like to just focus on creating a regular writing schedule/habit. Whatever the project, I just want to make sure I carve out significant time each week just to write. I don’t want to set a specific goal like “x hours a week” for now, but I want to make sure that I am writing each week.

To achieve that (because what are goals without maps):

If the words don’t immediately jump onto the page, then I’m going to try outlining or summarizing. I’m going to let go of overthinking how sentences are phrased, and just pretend I’m describing the story idea to a friend.

That blank page is staring at me and I’m just going to fill it with words no matter what I might think of them!

And I’m going to let everything else expand from there. And see how that works.

Edit my original manuscript

Query more agents re: original manuscript

Look into the idea of perhaps forming or joining a writer’s group for original writing oh gosh that is so scary

Other

Get back into reading

Develop a routine for working out

Eat healthier

Continue focusing on therapy goals

Get around to watching: Black Sails, Mad Max: Fury Road, Arrival

Get better at responding to things in general

Tagging: @allatariel, @magalis, @mythologicalmango, @skitzofreak, @threadsketchier, @brynnmclean, @ruby-red-inky-blue, @siachti and anyone else who sees this and wants to do it!

Happy New Year y’all!

[emeraldwaves]

Title: What We Lack Part 10 Pairing:  Kacchako, Deku/Melissa, Todomomo Rating: T Word Count: 4,079 Read on Ao3 Summary:  

Quirkless.

They’re the last people anyone expects to have a child without a quirk.

Neither of them can fully wrap their heads around it, but Ochako knows Katsuki is struggling far more than her.

Thank you to @its-love-u-asshole for beta-ing

Full fic under the cut

His hands shook as he held the unopened letter in his hand. His future, the entire path of his life rode on the answer inside of it. He took a deep breath, his eyes fixated on the envelope, as if he could see through it.

"You're being kinda dramatic, Shou," Sayuri said, raising her eyebrow at him.

"Sayu... be nice. I'm sure you'll be just as nervous when you apply to high schools," Ochako said softly, placing her hand on Shouhei's shoulder. "It's going to be okay sweetheart-"

"Just open the damn thing!" Katsuki hissed, slamming his hand on the table.

"Katsuki!" Ochako gasped.

"Shut up, Dad! I bet you took forever to open yours!" Shouhei snapped, glaring at his father.

"Yeah, right," Ochako rolled her eyes. "Knowing your father, he probably tore the letter open with his teeth."

"Gross!" Sayuri giggled. "You would do that." She wrinkled her nose and nudged her dad in the side.

"Shut up, all of you and let Shouhei open his freaking letter!" he said, folding his arms over his chest.

"You were the one who was pressuring him to open it faster!" Sayuri said.

"I'm going to open it in my room if you all don't shut up!" Shouhei snorted, shaking his head.

He tucked his finger under the back of the envelope, pulling up on the sealed down flap. He yanked the paper out, tossing the envelope aside as he began to scan the letter. "U.A. is... proud to welcome Bakugou Shouhei.... to class 1-A!"

Ochako immediately cheered, throwing her hands up as she wrapped them around her son, snuggling him so hard. "The same class as us and everything!! Oh my boy!" she said, and cupped his cheeks, pulling him into a large hug. "I knew you could do it! You're going to be amazing!"

"Thanks, Mom," he said, a huge smile on his face. "I wasn't too worried either."

"We'll have to celebrate! Tomorrow, Katsuki and I will get home early and we can all go to dinner together!!" she said, bouncing up and down. "I'm so excited!" Ochako danced about, clapping her hands together. "I'm so proud of you!"

"Great fuckin' job," Katsuki said, letting his hand fall onto Shouhei's shoulder. "I knew you'd kick ass. You're my goddamn son. I knew you were going to do just as great as your mother and me."

"Thanks Dad."

For a moment, Sayuri watched the scene take place. Her mother cupping Shouhei's face, her father with the widest smirk she had ever seen... Did she even belong here? She would never experience this to the same level... sure, her parents would be proud of her when she finally got into high school, where ever she chose to go. But she would never be a pro-hero, she would never be in the same classes her parents were in...

She bit on her lip, trying to swallow her jealousy. She should be happy for her brother, focusing on celebrating his successes, one day she would have her own... She just hated being the odd ball, the only one of them to be on the outside. It was as if someone put up a piece of glass between her and them, and she was simply watching her family life play out as if she wasn't around.

"Well, Sayuri?" Ochako asked. "You don't have anything to say to your brother?"

"Huh!? Oh... Sorry! Spacing out... oops. " She laughed and leaped forward to hug him. "Congratulations, Shou..." she said quieter. "You're gonna kick some major ass, for both of us!"

"For both of us!" Shou nodded.

The four of them laughed for awhile longer, Katsuki and Ochako sharing stories of their first year. "I really hope it won't be as eventful for you, Shou," Ochako sighed. "There were too many things that happened in our first year."

"Even if it is, Shou is gonna kick ass. No villain will hold my son back," Katsuki hissed.

"Well, please do not get kidnapped like your father did, I think I will have a heart attack if you do," Ochako whined.

"Oi! I ended up being fine!" he snarled. Both Sayuri and Shouhei had heard the story plenty of times, but it always changed depending on who was telling it. Katsuki often talked about All Might's heroic end, while Ochako, Uncle Deku and Uncle Eijirou talked about how Katsuki never would've been okay if the small group hadn't sneaked out of the hospital. Though admittedly, Sayuri had a difficult time imagining Uncle Tenya and Auntie Momo doing anything remotely against the rules.

She would probably never know the true story, but she loved when they talked about it.

To her, her parents were incredible; absolutely perfect. Her mother was flawless, her quirk unique and obviously difficult to master. And her father was number 1, though occasionally Uncle Deku and Uncle Shouto would beat him. For as long as she could recall, the three had been at odds.

But to her, Katsuki would always be the image of a true hero.

"I should probably go finish my homework," Sayuri admitted, at the end of one of Ochako's rushed, but excited stories.

"Okay sweetheart," Ochako nodded.

"Good girl. Get your work done and get to bed early."

"Okay, Dad," she said, rolling her eyes. Sometimes she forgot how much of a nerd her father could be.

"I gotta go call Yuuta and see if he got in too!" Shouhei said, pulling his phone from his pocket.

Sayuri stepped into her room with a sigh, letting the door shut behind them. On her nightstand stood her parents’ figures and she looked at them with sad eyes. Would they ever care about what she chose to do? Even if she followed in Melissa's footsteps and helped create technology to assist heroes, would her parents find that as amazing as her brother?

She looked down at her hands. Having her father's quirk would've been so cool. She would propel herself through the sky and explode stupid bullies who were rude and...

Clenching her fists, she let them drop to her side.

She had to stop dreaming about having a quirk when she knew it was never going to happen.

~~

Yuuta stared at his brother, biting down on his lip. He trailed his finger over the top of the envelope and Arata let out a sigh, watching the nervous movement. He prayed they both got in... or if one of them got in, he prayed it was Arata.

"How about you both open on three?" Momo suggested, gently touching their shoulders. "I'll count."

"Good idea," Shouto nodded, looking between both his boys.

"One, two three, go!" Momo cheered, and both boys tore the top of the envelope off.

 U.A is proud to welcome Todoroki Yuuta into class 1-A.

He blinked, reading the sentence again. Todoroki Yuuta was certainly his name, so it wasn't wrong. He thought for sure he was going to fail.

1-A... the same class as his parents.

His lips slowly pulled into a smile. "I-I got in!" he said, "I got in! Class 1-A" he repeated, as if he needed to say it to believe it himself.

"Our old class! That's wonderful Yuu!" Momo said and leaned over to kiss the side of his head. "Arata?"

Arata stood, clutching the sheet of paper between his trembling hands, his chest heaved with his deep breaths. "This is fucking stupid," he growled, slamming the paper down on the table as he stormed off towards his room.

"Oh... Arata... " Momo said, frowning as she started to walk after him. "Sweetheart, it's okay," she called out, stopping short when he slammed the door to his room directly in her face.

"Arata!" Shouto called out. "There's no reason to slam the door in your mother's face. We can discuss this." His tone grew more calm as he continued to talk.

Yuuta bit down on his lip and leaned forward to grab Arata's paper. Had he really not gotten in? There was no way... Arata excelled at the physical tests and Yuuta was certain he must've done well on the written exam so... why-

He paused as he read the words on the page.

 U.A is proud to welcome Todoroki Arata into class 1-B.

The B-class. It wasn't technically any different than class 1-A, both of them learned the same things and were required to take the same classes, but... maybe because it wasn't the same as their parents... Arata felt it was lesser?

"A-Arata!" Yuuta called out. "Did you read your letter wrong?"

He probably hadn't... but he wanted to reassure his brother. He made his way towards his door, holding his letter.

The door swung open and Arata reached out, yanking the letter from Yuuta's hands. "I read it just fine."

"Then... why are you upset?"

"Because I..." he glared at Yuuta and shook his head. "It's none of your damn business!" he hissed and slammed the door once more.

"...Arata..." Momo whispered, gently placing her hand on the door. "Please talk to us. We're your family we want to help. We should be celebrating together!"

"What did it say, Yuu?" Shouto asked, looking to his other son.

"He's in. He's in class 1-B."

"Ah..." Shouto sighed. "This is nothing to be upset over, Arata. The A class and the B classes are the same."

"Please come out, we should be celebrating!" Momo repeated softly. Once again, they were met with complete silence.

"I'm... going to call Shouhei..." Yuuta said, feeling the awkward tension in the air. He didn't wish to upset his parents any more.

"That's fine," Shouto nodded, gently stroking down Momo's back.

"Maybe tomorrow then… we can...!" she said, looking disheartened.

"I'll speak to Arata and we can celebrate during dinner tomorrow," Shouto said. "Let's... give him his space for now." He sighed, looking at the door. Yuuta slowly backed away, listening to his parents continue the conversation. This was supposed to be a momentous, happy occasion... so why was Arata so mad?

"It seems Arata has some anger he needs to work through," Shouto whispered, and Yuuta listened in closely from down the hall.

"I just don't understand where it's coming from. The B class is exactly the same... he should be happy," Momo said, distress clear in her voice.

Yuuta hated seeing his parents like this, but it wasn't worth it to try and argue with Arata when he was in such a horrible damn mood.

He gently placed his own letter back down on the table. Hopefully they could all celebrate soon.

~~

"Arata got MAD!?" Shouhei yelled, his voice echoing through the night as they sat on the slide in the park. Yuuta lay against Shouhei, letting the other boy gently stroke through his hair.

"Shh, Shouhei!" he giggle and Shouhei gently nudged his head.

Ever since the exam, they'd been like this, closer and more willing to touch. Yuuta liked it.

They met in the park, a little while after finding out they would share the same class through their high school experience. The park had become their secret meeting spot over the past few weeks. Normally they swung on the swings, or hid out in the hollow turtle, but tonight, Yuuta was happy to be lying closer to him.

He always felt more distressed when his brother was so unhappy.

"My parents are really upset," Yuuta said softly. "He won't come out of his room and explain why."

"Do you know why? Sayuri seemed a little upset too. She disappeared to do homework tonight damn fast. But that's typical of her, she always gets a little weird when quirk stuff comes up."

"That makes sense..." Yuuta said softly. "I would be sensitive too if I was her... But Arata has no reason to be upset. The B class and the A class are the same... we're going to have different teachers but... it'll be the same," he says softly.

"Maybe you should talk to him?" Shouhei suggested, gently rubbing at his neck.

"That's the thing... Arata has barely been talking to me lately. He just seems like a giant ball of rage..." Yuuta puffed out his cheeks, frustrated with his brother.

"Yeah... that's weird. He's always been more energetic than you, but he seems really pissed lately. I mean he even told on us for sticking up for Sayuri," Shouhei scoffed. "How is it that you're so damn perfect, and your brother is a fucking nightmare?!"

"Shou-kun! He's not a nightmare... he's just... closed off right now. I wish I could figure out why."

"Yeah... it just sucks... I mean we should all be fuckin' celebrating!" he sighed, leaning back against the slide.

Yuuta turned his head and snorted. "We can still celebrate!"

"But I know you, you're gonna be all 'meh', if your brother isn't happy about it too."

Yuuta pouted. "Well... but... I'm still happy you and I are in the same class."

Shouhei pushed himself up, smirking as he leaned in towards Yuuta. "Hell yes!"

"S-Shou!" he blushed and leaned back, almost falling off the end of the slide before Shouhei grabbed his arm and pulled him back, their noses almost touching. "Th-Thanks..." he breathed.

"Think... I could celebrate by kissing you?" Shouhei whispered, his brown eyes flicking down towards Yuuta's lips.

His breath hitched. He would've been a liar if he said he hadn't considered kissing Shouhei before. He just... never expected him to ask.

"O-Okay..." he muttered and Shouhei immediately closed the space between their lips, gripping his arm hard. His lips were dry, but Yuuta didn't mind as he pushed back against the kiss. Shouhei was playful, nipping at Yuuta's lower lip as he brought his hand around his waist, kissing him deeper.

Yuuta thought his heart was going to explode right out of his chest. He could feel his flames desperate to crawl out of his palms, the excitement in his bones rising.

"Wow..." Shouhei smirked. "I should've done that way sooner."

"Sooner?!" Yuuta exclaimed. "I mean I don't want to act like I haven't wanted to kiss you, but sooner! Of course I did think about it from time to time but I was really nervous you would take it the wrong way and-"

Snorting, Shouhei clapped his hands around Yuuta's cheeks. "Calm down, Yuuta. You always overthink shit!"

They both laughed. "I-I know..." he muttered. "But it was good! The kiss I mean!"

"Good!" Shouhei smirked and leaned in to kiss him one more time. "Then I can do it whenever I want!"

"Well we should be careful about PDA-"

"Oh my fucking god, Yuuta, you're lucky you're the cutest little shit," he snorted and cupped his cheeks.

"Okay, okay. I just meant we should also focus on school."

"Right! I gotta practice so I can kick your ass at the sports fest!" Shouhei smirked, squeezing Yuuta's cheeks.

He paled. "The sports fest?"

"Yeah! You know-"

"No, no... I know but ... I don't wanna have to fight you!" he said distressed. "Or Arata!" The whole concept sounded awful. If he was face to face with either of them... could he use his quirk against them?

"Oh man, kicking your brother's smug ass would be fun too!" he smirked.

"Shou-kun!" Yuuta said, playfully hitting him.

"It's gonna be fun, you need to stop worrying! I'm sure once we move in and shit, Arata will lighten up too," Shouhei sighed, leaning back. This time he pulled Yuuta with him and two lay together on the slide.

Maybe Shouhei was right... maybe he did worry too much. He tried to focus on the boy in front of him, instead of worrying about things currently out of his control.

~~

Sayuri leaned back against her desk, kicking her feet up. "This is so dumb, school is almost over anyway," she sighed. "Can we just have our break for fuck's sake!!?"

"Sayu-chan... I don't think you should be sitting like that. You know you're just going to get in trouble," Kazu said, leaning forward to speak in her ear.

"Oh, come on, Kazu-kun! No one is looking! People don't give two shits about me."

"Bakugou-san, please put your legs down. It is inappropriate for the classroom," their teacher’s smooth tone cut through the classroom and Sayuri immediately pouted, groaning.

"This is stupid."

"I don't want to say I told you so..."

"You know you sound like your fucking Mom when you say shit like that Kazu," Sayuri hissed under her breath.

"Well... you kinda sound like your dad so..."

"Ugh," she groaned and yanked out her notebook, scribbling in it as opposed to paying attention. She was so over middle school and she still had two more damn years left there. Shouhei was so damn lucky, getting to go to high school.

Not that she could imagine high school would be any better for her.

During lunch, she immediately turned her chair around. "I'm counting down the weeks," she scoffed, tapping her foot against the ground.

"I know," Kazu chuckled. "To be honest, I'm pretty excited too."

"Yeah..." she said, yanking her chopsticks apart.

"Oh Mom wanted me to ask you if you planned on coming to the lab at all during break?" Kazu said. "I was planning on helping her with some projects and she suggested I ask you too."

Sayuri's eyes began to sparkle. "Projects!? Hero projects!?"

"Well, presumably that's what it would be-"

"FUCK YES!" she yelled, cheering her hands up towards the sky.

Kazu snorted, laughing hard. "I guess I'll tell her yes."

"Ugh yes please," Sayuri rolled her eyes. "My brother got into U.A yesterday, which is great, yay, I'm happy for him, but... it's all my parents are talking about and planning for and I can't listen to it anymore."

"Oh, congrats to Shou-kun!" Kazu smiled, but immediately pursed his lips. "But... are you okay, Sayu-chan?"

Twisting her lips, Sayuri let out a long sigh. "I mean... define... okay. I'm happy for my brother... but I think you know I'm tired of being the quirkless kid."

"Yeah but, you do amazing things too!" Kazu chuckled. "And you'll continue to do amazing things. Just look at my Mom!"

She blushed, feeling guilty. She really tried her best not to talk about her quirklessness, especially around Kazu. He was sensitive to it too, because of both of his parents... however, sometimes it was hard to hold back the emotions bursting inside of her.

Besides, there were somethings she didn't know how to explain. How could she tell Kazu she was concerned her father judged her quirklessness, when she knew all the awful things he'd said to Uncle Deku, Kazu's dad?

"Yeah! I know!" she said, and waved her hand quickly. "It's just hard when your parents are two of the greatest heroes and my brother is on track to be one too and I just..." she sighed. "I'm... really looking forward to working with you and your Mom over the break." She forced herself to smile. She was legitimately excited, it was just... different.

Kazu, however, immediately smiled and pulled out his notebook. "Great! I have so many ideas of what we could work on! Lemme show you some of my favorites. We don't have too much time though, so we shouldn't dawdle!"

He began to explain various techniques and thoughts he had and Sayuri continued to listen. She honestly did enjoy watching Kazu get so excited about his ideas, and admittedly she was excited too. Being around Kazu and his mother especially, always made her feel better.

~~

Arata slung his bag over his shoulder, his heart pounding in his chest. The words on the letter were burned into his mind.

 U.A is proud to welcome Todoroki Arata into class 1-B.

1-B.

What a fucking joke.

And of course... of course Yuuta was in class 1-A. Just like their parents were. Perfect Yuuta.

The thoughts only made him walk faster.

it didn't make sense to him. He was supposed to be strong. He used his quirk often; The crystallized, hot fire dangerous and interesting. Yuuta, on the other hand, rarely used his quirk. Sometimes his blue flames would erupt from his palms and Yuuta would freak out, like he was scared of it. He hadn't done that as much lately, not since he and Shouhei started getting closer.

Shouhei was probably in 1-A as well. The only kid of the Bakugous' who had a quirk? Of course U.A. would take Shouhei.

His parents kept trying to reassure him 1-A and 1-B were the same, the only difference was they would have different homeroom teachers. But it didn't matter. He should've been in the higher class... he should've been better than Yuuta and Shouhei and everyone...

Yuuta hadn't even left the damn starting line during one of the tests.

It made him so angry. He watched his father and mother all over the news, constantly saving people, working so hard to do the best they could. His grandfather was mentioned often too. Him and Yuuta were legacy heroes... it should've been both of them in the first class... but no... of course they would split them up.

He hated how the anger boiled inside of him. He saw how frustrated his father looked and how his mother looked like she wanted to cry. He supposed he was the disappointing child.

And right now he was about to disappoint his father even more.

He didn't want to be weak... not anymore. He wanted to be as good as his father... better even. He wanted to prove to his parents and the world he was meant to be a Todoroki.

He swallowed, glancing down at his phone when it buzzed. He'd been looking at the map here and there, but he was purposefully avoiding his texts.

[Text from: Dad]: Where are you? Your mother and I want to speak to you. We're very proud and happy. We should be celebrating.

That was why.

After staying in his room all day yesterday, he decided to slip away after school. Of course, he forgot they said they planned on having a celebration dinner, mostly because he had absolutely no desire to participate in said dinner.

He also noted he had an unread message from Yuuta and far too many from his mother.

[Text from: Yuu]: Maybe we should talk? Just me and you? I promise I won't say anything to Mom or Dad.

Yeah, Yuuta was the last person he wanted to talk to.

[Text from: Mother]: Sweetheart, you didn't walk home with Yuuta. Did you go somewhere?

[Text from: Mother]: It's okay if you did... just want to make sure you're okay.

[Text from: Mother]: Arata?

[Text from: Mother]: If you need space... I'll be happy to give it to you. I just... want to know why you're so upset. Please talk to me.

This many texts wasn't exactly giving him space, but he did feel bad she was so worried. His mother always worried too much, and he did understand why. His father mentioned once or twice how difficult it was for them to actually be conceived. On top of that, being heroes in the spotlight made their kids targets for potential villain attacks. Still, Arata wished she would relax from time to time.

It had been years since he'd been to this neighborhood, and he praised everything for phones because he was certain he would've gotten lost by now. He reopened his map, double checking he was going the right way.

When he finally arrived outside the house, he took a deep breath. He felt his stomach flip flop with a mix of excitement and fear. He was going to be better... he was going to get stronger.

He opened the small gate, letting it creak shut behind him. Taking a deep breath, he pressed his finger against the small doorbell.

Within a few moments, he heard footsteps as the door slowly opened. There before him was his grandfather, Todoroki Enji, Endeavor.

"...Hi Grandpa..." he muttered, bowing his head. "I-I know I haven't seen you in awhile-"

"Arata?" Enji's voice was booming, and Arata forgot how much of a presence the man held. His brow furrowed.

Arata turned his eyes towards his grandfather, and quickly bowed again.

"Please!" he begged. "I want to be stronger! Please train me!"

[fastidious-and-a-mess]

What Goes Around Comes Around pt 2

Summary/synopsis:

Author’s note: I’ve actually named it this time oops I forgot to do that when I posted part one, which is honestly a mood rn. I really wanted to get this out today, so apologies for any grammar/editing mistakes. So anyways, yeah, enjoy.

Part 1

Warnings: language

_____________________________

I woke up completely naked and with an absolutely splitting headache. The sunlight through the windows seemed way too bright, and only made the throbbing pain in my brain worse.

It took me a moment to remember that things had happened last night. It took another moment for me to remember what those things were. I remember the phone call with Peter, going to the Pub, and my first drink pretty clearly. Then after that, I think there was a band? Yeah, up on stage, I remember the hysterical yet serene euphoria from the music. Euphoric, that’s the only word I can find to describe it. The only things I really remember from them on is a vague face, blonde, syrupy voice. After that, nothing.

Though, judging by the choice of style I’m currently showing off, I think I can make some safe guesses.

Prying my eyes open, I search to my right for my bedside clock: 10:32 am. Wow, good thing it’s Saturday. Next to clock was a glass of water, which isn’t usually there.

I sit up a little and reach for it. Underneath is a little slip of paper,

“Last night was fun, call me? 135-246-7890 -Roger”

Oh my god. Roger. As in Roger Taylor? I mean, I don’t think there are any other Rogers. Holy shit, I slept with Roger Taylor. The Roger Taylor. And he actually left me his number, wow. I haven’t heard of him ever doing that with any of the other (numerous) girls. Maybe I was special? Or, more likely, he thought I’d be more vulnerable and susceptible because of my emotional state. Or, even more likely, I just hand theirs he does this with every girl because it’s not exactly something people share a whole lot. Well, if it was the second one, he’d be wrong there. It was a fluke, a one night thing, some poor coping mechanism of mine, and I didn’t plan on calling him back.

So with my thoughts still full, my heart still heavy, my head still throbbing, I pulled myself out of bed and into the bathroom. I grab some pain killers from the cabinet and down them with the water I assume Roger left for me. I have some decisions to make.

It’s 10:30 am on a Saturday and I’m more than a little hungover. Thoughts of Peter still linger in the back of my mind, despite my efforts to push them away. After weighing a few of my options and finishing my water, I decide to wait an hour for the headache to calm down, have a small something to eat, drink more water, then call up Jade to fill her in on everything over brunch.

Jade has been my best friend for about a year now. Even though it hasn’t been very long, she knows me better than anyone else, and I her. We tell each other everything. We’re always there for each other. We’re always ready to beat the shit out of anyone who does the other wrong. You know, typical best friend stuff.

Anyways, I walk to the kitchen and fix myself a small bowl cereal and another glass of water. With food in hand, I plop down on the couch and load up Netflix, turning on whatever was in my recently watched queue. So there I sat for the next hour or so, ignoring everything in my mind except for the headache. After a few more waters, though, it’s began calming down. Once it had done so enough, I pick up my phone and call Jade.

“Hey bitch, what’s up?” She answers.

“Hi. It’s um... it’s Peter,” I proceed to dump everything that had happened the night before, or at least all I could remember.

“Holy shit. Dude, that’s a lot to unpack,” she, as usual, is right.

“Yeah.”

“So, uh, which bit do you want to talk about first?”

“Peter, I think.”

“Oh, Y/N, honey, I am SO sorry that absolute dick bag of a human would do something like that to you. You don’t deserve it, at all. I never did like him to be honest,” she comforted me, in a way inyknshe could I suppose. “Really, Y/N, if I could be there and hug you right now, I would. I’m so so so so so sorry baby.”

“No. No, it’s fine. It’s been a long time coming, I guess,” and it really had been, if he’d been cheating this long.

“So, you hooked up with the infamous Roger Taylor last night, huh? How’d that go?” She seemed not to want to dwell on the unfortunate, as always.

“Ha, I’d tell you if I could remember. I don’t think I’ve ever been that drunk before.”

“Yikes,” was all she said. Which is fair, what else could she say? “So he just left? Before you were even awake?” That, apparently.

“Yeah. Which is understandable, I mean, avoid the awkward right? He did leave me his number though, not sure why. Maybe to seem like less of a dick.”

“He what?! Are you gonna call him? Honey, you have to call him,” she seems way more excited about this than I am.

“No, I’m not gonna call him. It was a one night thing, that’s it,” I try explaining, even though I know she won’t listen.

“Honey. Girl. Sweetie. It’s Roger. Taylor. You can’t NOT call him back.” See?

“Jade, I’m not calling him back. Period. Anyways, would you maybe want to get some brunch or something today?”

“Oh, I’d love to. But I can’t. I have so much other stuff going on, I just don’t have the time. I’m so sorry.”

That disappoints me a little, but what can you do? “That’s too bad.”

“Yeah. Maybe next weekend?” She suggests.

“Maybe. I’ve got new classes coming soon, so who knows,” I answer.

“Oh shit, sorry Y/N, my boss is calling me. I gotta go. Love you, talk to you later babes.”

“Heh, bye Jade.” And with that, I’m once again alone.

So. What now? I just had all my finals, so no homework or anything, I can’t, and frankly don’t want to even think about, calling Peter. Jade is busy. Come to think of it, most of my friends are busy, with work mostly. So that leaves me with more food and Netflix. Not bad.

Around an hour later, nothing has changed. Still just me, food, and TV. It’s at this point my phone dings. For a moment, my heart stops. Then I check the notification, and realize I don’t really know what made me freeze. Whatever the reason, that’s not what I got. What I got was a text from a friend I haven’t heard from in quite a while.

“Hey. I know it’s been a while, but I kinda miss hanging out with you. A lot has happened since we’ve last spoken, how’d you feel about getting lunch? A few of my other friends would be there too. It’d be nice to hear from you again.”

It was from Brian. Brian May. He’s right, it has been awhile since we’ve spoke. A year, almost, when we ended up at different universities. It sounded like fun to meet up again. So I sent him a text back, “Hi. It has been a while, hasn’t it? Lunch sounds great. When/where?”

I got a response within the minute, “I was thinking the small restaurant breakfast lunch place they’ve got downtown? Around 1?”

“Sounds good, see you then :)”

“:)”

Well I have something to do now. It’s about 11:30, so I have enough to finish my episode and then get ready. Which is exactly what I do. Once my episode is over, I get up from the couch, get dressed in some casual but not too casual attire, and don some light makeup. By the time all that’s done, it’s about 12:45. So from there, I grab a jacket and head out the door.

I love pretty close to a train depot, so it doesn’t take a whole lot of time to reach that, then it’s maybe a five-ten minute ride to downtown. I arrive at the place he was talking about, he didn’t need to be specific, like I said, small town. I see the tell-tale mass of dark curls sitting at an outdoor table facing away from me, chatting with a few other people.

“Brian!” I call. He turns around upon hearing his name, sees me, and immediately smiles and waves back.

“Y/N! It’s great to see you!” I join him at the table with to other guys. “So much has happened. First of all, the band’s way different now. Our lead singer and bassist quit, the prick. Anyways, this is Freddie, our new lead vocalist,” he gestures to one of the guys, “and John, the new bassist,” and to the other. “Both are way better then the other guy. Did you even meet him?”

“No, I don’t think so.” I turn to the others, “Hi, I’m Y/N, a good friend of Brian’s from high school.”

“Well hello darling, it’s very nice to meet you,” Freddie greets.

“Hi,” John nods. One of these people seems a little more outgoing than the other.

“And uh, Roger’s inside getting drinks I believe. He’s the drummer.” My heart stops when Brian says that.

“What?”

“Brian, our drummer, he’s inside getting drinks. I don’t think you’ve ever met him either,” Brian continues.

“Oh, I think I may have.” Just as I say that, my suspicions are confirmed as I see a blond man approach the table, various waters and sodas in his hands.

We make eye contact.

Shit.

It’s Roger, alright.

_____________________________

Hhhhhhhhh part 2. I really think I need to work on endings oops. But uh yeah, there it is. Any feedback and/or ideas/suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks :p

[cryptidofthekeys]

Naga!Robbie x Tiny!Reader

Robbie was slithering his way through the forest, humming softly to himself, he was humming a tune that he had heard random passerby's sing recently.

((aka-- well really I'll leave it up to you, whatever Christmas tune you'd want him to hum I guess haha))

Robbie continued to slither along but he stopped dead in his tracks when he noticed a small figure in the middle of the path, his eyes held concern as he quickly slithered over to the figure.

You gasped and your eyes widened when you noticed what appeared to be a snake slithering closer, you squeezed your eyes shut and prepared for the worst. ... but, to your surprise nothing happened...

Robbie blinked and looked down at you, you were the smallest human he had ever encountered, now sure he usually would run if it involved humans but this one... They seemed so small, and helpless in a way.

You slowly opened your eyes and what you saw shocked you, it looked... well the upper half looked like a zombie more than a human, but the lower half of him was a snake's body with marks and cuts all over it.

You flinched when you heard a gurgle from the creature, you expected it to just snatch you up immediately, you looked up into his pale-grey eyes and you saw what you thought was concern.

"Sooo... smaaalll..."

He slurred out rather slowly

"Aree youu.... okaay?"

He asked, tilting his head almost like a curious puppy.

You didn't speak, your eyes darted around for a moment before you got up and dashed away, or well tried to, before you knew it you felt a tail coil around you but not tightly however and it was very gentle as it seized you.

You yelped and began to scream softly which seemed to startle the giant creature, he quickly leaned down and gurgled softly, reaching his hand out to gently scoop you up

"Heeyy... itt... okaayy... Robbieee won'ttt.... hurrt..."

He tried to reassure you, he even pet your head in a soft manner.

You flinched again but blinked when he began to pet your head, he was being so soft, so gentle.... but why...?

"Y-Your.... not....going t-to eat me are you?"

Robbie grunted, as if he were offended in some way and shook his head

"Robbieee... Don't eeeattt frriendddss..."

He spoke softly, a smile appearing on his face, he doesn't even know your name nor anything about you and he already considers you a friend.

You were slowly calming down, he was being so gentle, so nice, and he hasn't even TRIED to do anything bad yet... Maybe it was wrong to judge him based on his looks

"...Y....You... What are you exactly?..."

Robbie looked at himself and wiggled his tail a little

"...Zombieee naaggaa?..."

Well, that's.... really the only thing he knew to call it, it was true after all.

((coulda made him say zombie snek boi))

You blinked, so your thoughts were correct, he was indeed a zombie... snake-like creature, a zombie naga... But, what was weird about him was the fact he seemed conscious, like he knew what he was doing, weren't zombies normally mindless flesh-eaters?

...You decided not to even ask that question in fear it may offend or trigger something within the zombie, you were about to speak but noticed his ears perking up and noticed his glances around.

"Robbiee... hearrss thaat musicc againnn..."

He grumbled, however his eyes widened when he saw two figures approaching in the distance, he figured it would be best to hide since Henrik had always told him to be weary of humans, he slithered behind a bush and out of sight.

You didn't even have a chance to protest or at least tell him to put you down, not that he would anyways, you watched as he put a finger to his lips which signalled for you to be quiet, you both watched the humans pass by, they were talking about something called 'Christmas'.

After they left, Robbie sighed in relief but he had a confused look on his face

"Tinyy frriendd.... Whattt iss... ''Chrismaaas''?..."

He looked absolutely intrigued, he didn't really know what this 'Christmas' thing was at all.

You looked at him, you weren't really afraid at this point, your fear subsided a bit ago

"Well... My name is (Y/N) first of all and second of all... Christmas is a time well.... Its where you can get gifts, but its supposed to be more about gift-giving... Giving is better than getting as most would say."

You paused, letting him take that part in before continuing.

After awhile of explaining Christmas in the best way you could, Robbie seemed to understand his eyes were full of wonder

"Chrissmaaas sounddss.... niicee... We've neverr haadd itt beforree..."

You looked at him curiously

"We?..."

He opened his mouth as if he were about to speak but quickly jumped when he heard a familiar voice, he quickly wrapped you up in his tail and hid you behind his back.

"Ah! Zhere you ah're Robbie!"

One with a (really amazing) really bad German accent spoke out

"Told ya he hadn't gotten far bro!"

Another one spoke, you regretted asking now about the whole 'we' part.

The one that looked like a doctor had slithered over, he rose a brow

"Robbie... Vhat do you have?"

Those words almost made your heart stop, you tried to keep still and hidden.

The zombie naga began fidgeting and looking around nervously

"Robbieee... haass... n-neww frrriend...."

He started, lying wouldn't get him out of this situation and he knew it very well, he leaned behind and gently scooped you up.

"Meettt (Y/N)... Theeyyy frrienddlyy.... anndd nicee"

He said in a rather quick tone, he knew how Henrik got sometimes over humans, so he was worried actually.

You looked up at the one who looked like a doctor and noticed he was glowering at you, this made you nervous and honestly a little frightened

"U-Uhm.... H...Hi there...?"

You waved slightly.

((doctor naga boi is a wee bit overprotective oops))

It took the doctor a few moments before finally saying something

"Guten Tag..."

He had mumbled it rather quietly but the one with a snapback hat on quickly intervened

"Don't worry about him lil duder! He just gets really overprotective"

The one with a hat seemed cheerful enough

"By the way, the name's Chase and this is Schneeplestein but, just call him Henrik though"

Chase greeted for the both of them, it seemed like Henrik wasn't much of a talker right now anyways.

((*That moment when you spell Schneeple's name wrong 15 different times*))

You nodded and fidgeted with your fingers

"I'm... (Y/N)... Nice to meet you both..."

You could feel the tension right now, you couldn't blame Henrik though... Most humans don't do well around snakes, so they could have been attacked before.

Chase looked down at you curiously and scooped you up

"Woah... How'd ya get so tiny? I've never seen a human this small!"

However before you could even comment, you heard a growl and felt yourself get snatched back.

Robbie had lunged at Chase and hissed as a warning, he was holding onto you carefully, great... Was Robbie overprotective too?

"Woah bro, chill! I forgot, you do love small creatures..."

Chase rubbed the back of his head

"Your getting almost as bad as Henrik with the whole 'overprotective' thing."

He grinned in a cheeky manner, it figures as much, Robbie is of course, overprotective as well.

((Chase you have no right to talk, you'd be overprotective of the smol too, like a really overprotective parent, hell you could probably out-do both Henrik n Robbie even if they were combined))

Henrik gave Chase a death glare

"Chase, I vwould advize you to shut up, unless of courze you vwant to be a test subject fo' my latest experiment~"

He watched as Chase's cheerful expression turned into one of horror.

"You.... Your joking right?"

He looked at Henrik who wore a very serious expression

"Do I look like ze type to joke?"

Those words were enough to make Chase hiss and slither away in terror.

Henrik chuckled and turned back to Robbie who was staring at him

"Youuu didn't meean thatt...rrright?"

He should know by now since Henrik had usually done something like that just to get Chase to quit pestering him, but he still wanted to be sure.

"Yes Robbie, I vwas kidding, I vwould never do zat to Chase."

Henrik seemed a little calmer now, but that didn't stop him from giving you a distrustful look every once in awhile

"Come avlong Robbie, you can... bring your little friend if you really vwant to"

He sounded reluctant but he knew how persistent Robbie was as well.

Robbie gurgled in happiness and looked down at you with a happy smile, he then realized

"Youu....dooo wanna come wwwith uss rrright?..."

He sounded worried, most likely worried you wouldn't want to.

You fidgeted slightly and looked up at Henrik who simply shrugged, you then looked back to Robbie who had a hopeful look in his eyes

"Alright... I guess it wouldn't hurt... If your friends... really don't mind that is"

Robbie's gurgles got louder and a lopsided smile appeared on his face, he leaned down and nuzzled you happily, you smiled a little when Robbie nuzzled you, you looked over to Henrik who seemed to still be a little....worried, his expression seemed like it was mixing.

"I don't mind, but, try anyzing und it vwill not end vwell fo' you..."

He hissed in a threatening manner, which you immediately nodded and understood, he then began slithering back to most likely they're home, Robbie followed, making sure to hold you carefully.

...............................................

After awhile you found yourself in what appeared to be a cave, it was rather tidy for... well a cave, you blinked slowly

"This is.... where you live...?"

"Vwell, zhere's not many optionz fo' nagas, vwe're still scary snakes to ze humans, so vwe vwon't get any 'special treatment' or anyzing like zat"

Henrik explained, rather bitterly, you couldn't help but feel bad.

They didn't seem to like the cave very much honestly, you could see they were making do with well, what they could...

"It's not very warm in here... Much less suitable for living..."

You blurted out but then quickly shook your head

"I-- I'm sorry, that just came out...."

Henrik shrugged

"Vwell, zat iz ze truth so no need to be sorry."

Then Chase nodded

"Yeah, its not the best but hey, we've made it this far... Thankfully."

Finally, Robbie gurgled a little

"Caavee iss crrampedd andd noot mucch food arround..."

He added rather sadly, well it was the truth, one couldn't argue with that last statement.

You sighed, you couldn't believe you were about to suggest this but, they did seem like they needed a place to stay, even if Henrik could be... a little bit intimidating

"...Would you... like someplace new to stay? Like... An actual house?"

All three nagas turned to face you, their expressions held one of shock and yet... hope? Was that the right word? Henrik was of course the one to speak out

"You... vwould really trust us zis quickly? Enough to let us into your home? If zat iz truly vwhat you vwere offering..."

You nodded and smiled a little

"Well... You haven't exactly attacked me, Robbie's been really nice, Chase has been energetic and you... Despite being cautious and overprotective, your nice too. I can see why you wouldn't just trust even a tiny human like myself, you look out for these guys which is really respectable of you..."

Henrik looked taken aback for a second, he looked towards Chase who shrugged

"It's up to you doc, I mean this is a chance we could finally have a proper place to live."

He then turned back to Robbie who was making small gurgling noises

"Cann wee staay wiithh (Y/NNN) pleease...?"

Henrik thought for a few moments before nodding

"Alvright... Vwe'll stay vwith you ...Zhank you (Y/N)"

He actually smiled at you, slithering off to grab a few things, most likely treasured items, Chase did the same, and even Robbie grabbed a few things, after that you all headed out, you of course had to lead the way...

........................................................

After a bit, you finally made it to your house, it seemed so much bigger than before since you were tiny, good thing it wasn't near any other houses honestly, you were rather secluded in the woods.

Henrik rose a brow

"Zis is your house? Isn't it a bit... big fo' someone your size?"

He questioned, meanwhile Robbie and Chase were amazed at how cozy it looked, even from the outside.

"Yep, this is my place and... I wasn't ALWAYS tiny... I don't even remember what happened exactly, I was taking a daily stroll through the woods and then suddenly I just woke up to being tiny..."

You explained carefully.

Henrik nodded

"Hmm.. Zat iz... razher strange, I vwonder vhat could have caused such a zing to happen"

He looked as if he were in thought now, once Henrik goes into thinking mode there's not much to snap him out of it.

You shrugged and looked over at Chase

"Hey, you think you could um... get the key? It's under the doormat, and I'm kinda... Well you know"

This made Chase glance over at you

"Oh yeah, sure thing lil duder!"

He then reached down, grabbing the key and unlocking the door.

You thanked him and looked inside, taking a deep breath, it was honestly nice to be back home, you noticed the three staring inside, oh yeah you had decorated for Christmas... They must be staring at the lights and all.

Robbie looked absolutely amazed as he slithered on inside, the others following behind

"Soo... prrretty... soo... colorrfull..."

He gurgled out happily, taking in all the decorations and the lights seemed to fascinate him the most.

Chase and Henrik seemed to know what the decorating was for... How? Well, that was a mystery... Maybe they had just heard stuff about it, who knows?

"Vwow... Zis looks very amazing..."

Henrik remarked, taking a look around and getting familiar with his new surroundings, meanwhile Chase looked amazed

"Nice place ya got here (Y/N)! It looks so cozy and comfortable, and with the decorations it reminds me of Christmas with the kids!"

...He had kids? Well that was something new, as the saying goes you learn something new everyday.

"Thank you... And it took awhile to get these decorations up but its always worth it, feel free to help yourselves to the food in the kitchen."

Robbie set you down on the table and rushed off into the kitchen, along with Chase while Henrik called out in a scolding tone

"Now don't eat everyzing! Remember, zhis iz still (Y/N)'s house!"

He sighed

"Zhey're just like children sometimez I svwear..."

You giggled a little

"Aren't you hungry as well? If you want you can go ahead and eat... I was kind of hoping you'd help me in the kitchen anyways, if you don't mind... Do you know how to make hot chocolate?"

Henrik nodded

"Vhy, yes, yes I do"

He seemed gleeful for once, maybe he liked hot chocolate

"I never really had ze chance to make it since... Vwell you know"

You nodded in understanding.

"Well, let's go make some hot chocolate!"

You exclaimed happily, watching as Henrik slithered over, however when he picked you up his grip was rather... tight.

"H-Henrik... too tight..."

You wheezed and he immediately corrected his mistake and apologized a few times, you said it was alright but he still looked over you just incase, finally you both went and started making hot chocolate.

After a good bit of talking and getting to know each other, the hot chocolate was finally done, Henrik grabbed some cups and poured the hot chocolate in, Chase had grabbed two marshmallows and tossed them, surprisingly they landed in the cup which resulted in a loud cheer from him.

You winced slightly at the loud yelling but climbed up to your cup of hot chocolate, luckily Henrik had put a little straw for you, that was really considerate of him, you slowly took a sip and smiled happily.

Chase wasn't satisfied with his, he grabbed what appeared to be whipped cream, beginning to spray his hot chocolate, after he got halfway Henrik interjected

"Chase, I vwouldn't add zat much vwhipped cream... You vwill regret it."

Chase simply rolled his eyes and sprayed all of the whipped cream onto his drink and then began devouring it, he would definitely regret that later...

Robbie drunk his plain and simple, no whipped cream, no marshmallows just normal hot chocolate

"Mmmm..."

He seemed to love the taste of it a lot, his eyes were focused on the cup.

He did glance over at you a few times and smile happily, the zombie naga seemed to be growing attached to you, he slithered his way over when he saw Henrik walk over to Chase, probably to scold him for using all the whipped cream.

"Hoott... chocooo iss... gggood."

He gurgled happily, taking a few more slow sips, finally his was gone.

You had finished drinking yours, well, you drank as much as you could

"Aahh...~ That hit the spot"

You looked over at Robbie and smiled, you watched as he set the cup down and gently lifted you up, nuzzling you close.

"(Y/NNN)... Soo cuutee...."

He was smiling happily, sure it still looked lopsided and a little creepy but nonetheless you were beginning to grow fond of him, even the others you were getting used to.

((I just now realized this deep in I could've made it sad when Chase was talkin bout his kids n the whole Christmas thing ....nAAh-- Stacy doesn't exist to me, she's dead to me-- Chase just has his kids and that's what matter mhm yep yep yep-- ok I'll stop interrupting))

You looked over and watched as Henrik was scolding Chase for using all the whipped cream, meanwhile Chase looked as if he were struggling to retort back, you looked back at Robbie

"Do they always do that?"

Robbie looked down at you and blinked in confusion, he then seemed to realize what you meant

"Ohhh, yeeaah... Hennn carres a loot abbout Chessss.... He scoldds himm forr stuff like thaat..."

He then whispers to you

"I thhink Henn likess Chesss... Likess him a lott."

Robbie must not have spoken quiet enough, both the others turned directly towards you and Robbie

"Uhh-Ohhh...."

He gurgled as he saw the pair approach.

"Robbie, vhy vwould you tell (Y/N) zat? Not zat its true or anyzing...."

Henrik spoke really fast and defensively, as did Chase and after a few moments Robbie began whimpering, the two were talking really fast and seemed to be overwhelming the poor zombie naga...

You furrowed your brows and stood straight

"HEY! Calm down you two, your overwhelming him!"

You called out to the pair who immediately stopped and realized you were right, the poor thing looked close to tears.

"R-RRRobbiee sorryyyy..."

He whimpered out, looking away from the pair

"Didn't meeaann...."

He couldn't finish his sentence hardly, his lower lip was trembling, he couldn't handle the both scolding him in such a way.

The pair quickly began apologizing, being careful not to speak too fast and talk too loud

"Robbie vwe're sorry, vwe forgot zat stuff overvwhelms you."

Henrik spoke slowly and carefully

"Yeah dude, sorry, we won't do it again"

The two gently pulled Robbie into a hug.

Robbie couldn't really hug back since he had you in hand, but he was calming down now, especially when you started comforting him and hugging his finger

"Okaay... RRRobiee okaayy nowww..."

The two pulled away and sighed in relief, they never mean to upset Robbie, then again sometimes it couldn't be helped the poor guy was rather sensitive after all.

The others slithered back into the living room, as did Robbie although he was slithering closer to the tree as if he wanted a better look at it, you then realized what you had hung near

"U-Um Robbie watch where your--"

It was too late, he slithered right under the mistletoe.

The others were now chuckling, this was not a good sign, of course Chase was the one to speak up

"Awww~! You two gotta kiss now, mistletoe rules bro~!"

He chuckled, and teased slightly, oh you were going to get him back for that...

Robbie grumbled and blushed, he looked embarrassed already

"Onnlyyy.... cheeekk..."

He gurgled out, which made you sigh in relief.

You watched as he leaned down and kissed your cheek gently, his blush still getting worser nonetheless, he then leaned back slightly, it was your turn now... You carefully leaned forward and gave his cheek a quick peck before shying away, your face was horribly red.

Chase and Henrik clapped, still chuckling a little, they didn't seem to mind the fact you kissed each other's cheek, but still... Now's the time for your ''revenge'' you quickly whisper to Robbie on what you want to be done which he gurgles and nods at.

Robbie then walks over to Chase and Henrik, he set you down on the table and then pushed the others towards the mistletoe, this made them both yelp and shake they're heads.

"H-Hey! No fair b-bro!"

Chase pouted, it was his turn to blush now, Henrik's face was slightly red

"Zat iz bullshit, you cannot push us under ze mistletoe! Zat doez not count"

You giggled and shrugged

"Sorry guys, but uh, 'mistletoe rules b r o'~"

You smirked devilishly at Chase who frowned at you, Robbie was simply gurgling and smiling

"Youuu....kiisss.... noowww"

Chase sighed and took his hat off, running his fingers through his hair

"C'mon dudes.... Show some mercy..."

He mumbled, then placed his hat back on.

"Fine, let's just get this over with... We can do a cheek kiss too"

Henrik was blushing furiously but he smirked nonetheless

"Vwell... Vhat if I don't vwant to?"

This made Chase stare at the doctor as if the man had lost his mind

"Y....Your joking.... ...You gotta be joking this time doc"

He laughed nervously, but something told him the doctor wasn't joking.

"Vhat did I say earlier Chase? Do I look like ze type to joke avround?"

Henrik chuckled and leaned towards Chase

"C'mon do you not vwant to?"

He asked in a serious tone, he would respect the other's boundaries if he didn't want to but part of Henrik hoped Chase would be okay with this...

Chase fumbled around for a moment, he sighed and took off his hat

"....I....I do want to.... I don't mind honestly..."

He said a little bit quietly, he leaned forwards and made direct eye contact with Henrik, the both of them had honestly waited for the right moment to even kiss.

Finally, they found they're lips touching together, before they knew it they're arms were wrapped around each other, the kiss was passionate and careful, as if the two were watching and making sure they didn't step across the other's boundaries.

Soon they pulled back, smiling happily at each other, they're faces were bright red as they intertwined they're hands together

"I do care about'cha doc... I care a lot about'cha."

Henrik continued to smile

"I care fo' you as vwell Chase... I alvways have... You mean ze vworld to me."

He ruffled Chase's hair playfully who began chuckling and swatting at the doctor's hands

"Hey hey hey, cut it out doc, your gonna mess up my glorious hair"

Henrik rolled his eyes and took the hat, gently putting it on Chase's head then pulling it down over his eyes in a playful manner.

((I do ship me some Henrik n Chase but in a platonic manner, I could picture them as-- like-- just, not really sexually involved with each other like they'd never go THAT far, but kissing, cuddles, etc. That's all good, they platonic bois))

Henrik and Chase were still holding hands as they slithered back into the kitchen together, this gave you and Robbie some alone time, you turned to face Robbie when you noticed he was actually staring down at you.

"What's up big guy?"

You questioned which made Robbie gurgle and jump in surprise, as if he were previously in thought

"Ohhh wasss I starrringgg? Sorryy... RRRobbieee was just thinkkingg..."

You rose a brow

"Thinking? About what?"

You noticed his small smile and his peaceful expression

"Abboutt howw niicee youu've beeenn.... Chesss... Heennn... Theey.... soo haappyy... Anddd... Youuu madddee mee happy too (Y/NNN)... I loovee youu"

Its as if he blurted out the last part, he blushed some more.

You smiled and giggled at him

"Aww, Robbie, I love you too... You've been kind and gentle... And just so nice... I don't know why people would be afraid of your kind... Your all very nice and polite... You can all stay here for as long as you want, I promise..."

Robbie gurgled happily and cuddled you close

"Thhaannk youuu... (Y/NNN) ssoo niccee... soo cuttee... RRobbieee lovvess..."

He began trailing off as he yawned and laid down, letting his tail take ahold of you, being careful as he coiled around around you.

You chuckled softly, nuzzling and getting comfort in his coils

"Go ahead and sleep big guy... You need it, and to be honest... I'm sleepy myself"

You mumbled, finally getting into that perfect position and closing your eyes.

Robbie smiled gently and closed his eyes as well

"Sleeep...goodd (Y/NNN)... Don't forrget... RRobbiee lovvess yoouu..."

You mumbled

"I won't ever forget... love you too Robbie..."

Finally, the both of you drifted off to sleep, not even caring that it was on the middle of the floor, you were both warm and cozy by the fireplace and dreaming peacefully.

((*DEMONIC SHRIEKING* JFC THIS STORY TOOK FOREVER GAH, I'm so sorry! And sorry for it being so long as well I wanted to fit some stuff in there aka the hot chocolate and the mistletoe, ah I'm happy with how it turned out albeit long-- it was as good as I could get it, I......I've never written with nagas, I hope I did nothing wrong with that ^^' anyways I'll spare you from my rambles!))

@chase-brody-protection-squad and @robthezombie-support-squad

here y’all go and again, sorry this took so long!

[korra-the-red-lion]

Unnatural Affairs. Chapter 9: Locker Room Ghost.

(Ally + Lyn + Michael)

Ally.

Unfortunately, I had to spend the last couple of days catching up on my schoolwork.

As it turned out, you still had to do the work even if all your classes were cancelled. After my night in the library with Lyn, I realized with sickening dread that I had forgotten to finish my assignments. So, I spent all of Thursday and Friday frantically catching up on my work.

We had to do our presentation of Miss Julie this Monday, so Michael, Mags and I spent all day Friday practicing our lines and doing the write up. I got to caught up in all the researching and ghost speaking that I nearly forgot that the whole reason why I was here was for school. Oops. Professor Kinkly didn’t seem like the kind of person who would take any kind of excuse as to why things were handed in late.

After that, I lugged myself back to my room and worked away at a paper I had for my Anthropology class. I had to write about cultural adaptions in other countries, so I picked beauty standards in Japanese culture. I was only allowed 700 words, which didn’t give me a lot of space. I wasn’t very good at limiting myself.

Sarah was back now, after she went home to visit her parents when classes were cancelled. She was typing away on her bed, also working on something. Eventually she groaned loudly and slammed her laptop shut.

“I hate my sociology class so freaking much,” she whined.

I took my ear bud out, turning my chair to face her. “What’s the issue?”

“I have to write this like, super judgy paper on underdeveloped neighbourhoods,” she complained to me, shifting on her bed until she was hanging upside down. “Except the film they made us watch a movie that was like, totally made by privileged people who like to blame people for issues they can’t control.”

I frowned in distaste as I listened. “Ugh, sorry to hear that, Sarah. That’s so frustrating. They need to update that course ASAP.”

“Right? Like, why do people blame the poor and underprivileged?” she glared at the weird stain we had on our wall.

“Probably for the same reason we don’t make things accessible for people with disabilities and chronic illnesses,” I remarked, a tinge of annoyance lacing my words. “The world is run by rich, able bodied, white assholes.”

“Valid point.”

“I have those sometimes.”

She snorted before rolling onto her stomach. “I’m going to grab something to drink. You want something?”

I shook my head. “I’m good, thanks.”

“Okay, suit yourself,” she said with a shrug. I waved her goodbye as she left before I turned my attention back to my dumb paper.

Of course, it didn’t take long for my thoughts to drift back to my conversation with Janna Kawada from a couple of days ago.

“Hey, are you the student who did an interview for the student paper about the showers?” I had asked as I approached the team who was finishing their practice from the looks of things.

She eyed me suspiciously as she took a sip from her water bottle. “Yeah. Who’s asking?”

“I’m Ally Holland, and I uh…I’m writing a paper about what happened,” I lied nervously, hoping it would work.

Janna raised her eyebrow before shrugging it off. “Whatever, I guess. What about it?”

“Do you mind just telling me exactly what you saw?”

She sighed dramatically. “I already told this all to Anna, why do I need to repeat myself? It’s in the paper.”

I swallowed hard, attempting to make myself look serious. It was a little hard when you were short and had a bit of a round face. I looked like a big child. “Please, I need to know.”

“Seriously?” She searched my face before sighing again. “I was changing after practice because I left early when I heard a bunch of screaming coming from the showers. I went over to see what the hell was going on and saw all the swim girls covered in blood. They were totally freaking out. I thought it was some shitty prank until I saw a couple of them crying. Then I looked and the showers were still spraying out the blood. That all you need?”

It was nearly identical to what she had said in the papers. I frowned, mostly in disappointment. I was hoping there was more that she had to share. “Um,” I started hesitantly.

“Yeah?”

“Was that the only thing you saw?”

She stared at me with a strange look. “Why do you ask?”

“Well…” I chewed the inside of my cheek, “the article in the paper suggested that there was more, that the team was cursed. I was just wondering if you noticed anything else that seemed strange.”

Janna was silent for a very long time. I was getting a little disheartened when she gave a shaky sigh. “Listen, I’ll tell you this but no one else hears it,” she said with a slight tremor, “got it?”

I nodded quickly, pulling my pen and notebook out. She eyed them with disdain before shaking her head.

“I thought I saw a strange face in the mirrors.” She looked around uncomfortably. “I thought it was just one of the girls, but I didn’t recognize her at all. Not that I know all those girls, but she was really hard to focus on. When I looked again, there was no one there. I just figured I imagined things since the whole situation was freaky as shit.”

I wrote this all down as quickly as possible. “Thank you, Janna! This really helps!”

“Well,” she looked at me suspiciously again, “good luck on that paper then.”

This basically confirmed to me that there was a ghost haunting the women’s locker room. I looked up at the ceiling as I completely forgot about my paper as I got deeper in thought. Since most ghosts lingered in the spot they were killed in, that meant this ghost was at the very least killed in the Athletic Centre. I thought maybe Amelia Turner was our suspect, but I wasn’t so sure. The obituary Lyn found made it sound like she committed suicide, meaning that the cause of death had to match that. It just didn’t connect in my head quite right.

I suspected that there was a different person haunting the locker room. I bit my lip, trying to piece together this puzzle. Blood showers, attacking a student, mirrors. Usually a vindictive yet harmless act, like the showers, was an indication that this ghost was trying to get attention, or so claimed the supernatural book I read the other day. An attack suggested aggression, maybe vengeance. But by all accounts, Jackie had nothing to do with this. She was a victim of circumstance more than anything else.

Maybe the ghost was losing itself? I read that it could happen to someone who was being forgotten. If a spirit still had familial attachment to this world, they were less likely to go feral. But if there was no one to remember the spirit, or in this case the soul of the person, as they once were, they lost themselves to the darkness. Was this the case here? Was the Locker Room Ghost being forgotten? If we could help them pass on peacefully, then it doesn’t matter if their last attachment to this earth forgot them. However, that meant we needed to help them soon. An angry ghost was much harder to pass on then a normal one, because they became corrupted with negative feelings.

I wasn’t sure how long I stared up at the ceiling, lost in my thoughts before my phone buzzing on my desk startled me back into existence. I nearly fell out of my chair as I scrambled to answer it.

“Hello?”

“Ally!” Michael’s voice boomed out.

I winced as I turned down my volume. “Yeah?”

“What are you up to? Are you busy?”

“Um,” I spared a guilty glance at my long-forgotten paper, “nothing. What’s up?”

“Can you text Lyn and meet me up at the pond?”

“Yeah, sure. Right now?”

“If you don’t mind!”

“No, I can,” I said glancing at the time on my laptop. I wasn’t sure if Lyn was at practice or not. I thought she usually was there for 4:30. “I’ll be there in a few. Bye.”

“Bye!” he said cheerfully before we both hung up. I sent a text to Lyn before grabbing my coat and purse.

I closed my laptop, whispering “Sorry” before heading out. I will finish that horrible paper tonight. But for now, it must remain unfinished.

XXX

Michael.

October was one of those months that made zero sense in Canada.

Yesterday it was so freaking warm that it was regretful to wear pants, but today was chilly coat weather. I didn’t know whether to blame climate change or if this was just typical of this province, but it never did this back home. Yuck.

I dropped my backpack as I sat down waiting for Ally and Lyn. I originally was going to suggest the big tree, but I kinda wanted to be away from ghosts for the time being. I had a plan tonight involving ghosts and I wanted to stay spirit free for awhile.

It wasn’t long before Ally got here. I thought it was really funny that she was wearing a coat and scarf yet refused to wear pants. Homegirl was committed to her aesthetic and I loved that. Her socks legit went all the way up her thighs, leaving only a sliver of space between her way too long coat and the top of her socks.

I grinned at her in greeting as she sat down next to me. She adjusted herself to a comfortable position.

“Lyn said she’d be a few minutes, but she couldn’t stay too long,” she explained as she loosened her scarf.

“All good. I just wanted to share this really quickly.”

She nodded as she relaxed. I poked her in the face when I noticed she was wearing her thinking face again. She looked at me confused as I shrugged in response. She rolled her eyes and leaned back. The fact that we could sit silently like this was nice. There wasn’t a lot of people I could just sit with, but Ally was one of them.

Eventually Lyn jogged over to join us. She plopped down immediately and said, “What’s up? I gotta head to the pool in like 10 minutes.”

“It won’t take long,” I promised as I reached for my bag. Ally and Lyn watched me curiously as I opened it up, digging around for a bit before I found what I was looking for. With a triumphant smile, I pulled out the bag of jewelry I got from Talia.

“Ta-dah!” I presented them with a huge grin.

Lyn reached over and picked on up gingerly. “You called us here…” she said examining it slowly, “…for some rocks?”

“Not just any rocks,” I said happily. “Special rocks!”

Ally picked one up as well, turning it over between her fingers. “These are gemstones, right?” she asked, looking at me.

“Yes!” I beamed. “I got them for protection! Those black ones are onyx, and they’re suppose to protect us from any attacks. These are for you,” I put the amethyst and onyx in Ally’s hand, “and you,” I dropped the onyx and quartz in Lyn’s.

Lyn eyed hers skeptically as Ally put on the bracelets. “Aw, thanks Michael,” she said as she examined it in the sunlight.

“How the hell did you know my ring size?” Lyn questioned as the quartz ring fit her perfectly.

“So that’s the extremely creepy part,” I said. “I didn’t realize it until I got home but somehow just by your names alone, Talia knew who you were.”

“Right.” Lyn slipped the ring off and put it in her pocket. “That is very creepy.”

“Maybe she’s a witch or something,” Ally joked.

“If you tell me that werewolves are real, I’m heading out.”

“There’s no proof that they aren’t real,” I pointed out. Lyn groaned as she pushed herself to her feet.

“Is that all? I gotta bounce otherwise.”

“Oh! One more thing!” I said quickly. “Tonight’s the full moon.”

Realization dawned on Ally’s face as Lyn looked between us to explain. I said with a wave of my arm, “Supernatural powers are enhanced by the moon. I think we should go to the locker room tonight and see if we can talk to the ghost in there.”

“Uh-huh,” Lyn said slowly as she crossed her arms. “Wouldn’t that mean the ghost will be stronger or something?”

“Yeah.”

“So, the ghost who has already proven itself as dangerous would be more powerful, and you want us to go on a ghost hunt?”

“That sounds about right to me, yeah.”

Lyn gave me a hard look. She glanced at Ally and asked, “Are you okay with this?”

Ally looked over at me, and I nodded seriously. “I can get DNA samples if we get them at their most solid.”

She nodded and turned back to Lyn. “I trust Michael. Besides, we have these for protection now,” she said, holding up her wrist. “I don’t know if any time is a good time, so now is better than waiting for another student to get hurt.”

Lyn looked between us again before sighing deeply. She threw her hands up in defeat. “Yeah, okay, sure. This is so bonkers anyway. We’ll go tonight around 11, how does that sound? I’ll even get us a key to the building, so we’ll be the only ones inside, just in case.”

“Thanks Lyn!” Ally and I chimed together, smiling at her. Lyn rolled her eyes, but her lip quirked upwards slightly before she grumbled off to practice. Ally watched her go until she made her thinking face and got lost in thought.

I gave her a couple of minutes to stew. I wasn’t kidding when I told her she’s always thinking. She must have dozens of thoughts bouncing around in that head of hers at all times. It wasn’t until I saw her draw her lip in for that thoughtful bite she always did that I poked her in the temple, drawing her back to reality.

“Whatcha thinking about, Ally?” I asked with a chuckle. “You’re making your thinking face.”

“I don’t have a thinking face,” she replied.

I laughed. “Yeah, you do.” I pulled my eyebrows together and pulled my lips in. “It looks like this.”

“You look stupid.”

“It’s your face.”

“Hey!”

“You walked into that one.”

She looked over at me for a second before she fell back with a groan. I poked her again when she didn’t say anything, causing her to groan louder. Finally, she muttered, “It doesn’t make sense.”

“What doesn’t make sense?”

Ally looked up at the waning sun. “The Locker Room Ghost.”

I fell back with her and linked my hands together over my belly. “Why doesn’t it make sense?”

“Because Lyn found another woman who died on campus, Amelia Turner. What doesn’t make sense to me is the obituary. It sounds like she died via suicide, but a locker room isn’t a place I would do that in.” Ally’s face scrunched up in frustration. “Especially young women in the 90s. I feel like the place would be more private, like a bedroom or even a bathroom. But an open space locker room where anyone could have walked in on it? That’s where the disconnect lies.”

I frowned in thought. That was actually a good point. “Gosh, Al, you’re good at this. I don’t think I would have noticed that.”

“Fat lot of good it will do,” she grumbled. “But I’m really worried that the ghost in there isn’t Amelia, which means we’re dealing with someone else entirely.”

“Did you ask Dahlia about it?”

She shook her head. “It came to me this morning. Plus, I was so focused on catching up to that stupid assignment for my Anthro class and the write up for Drama that I haven’t had time to go talk with her. Maybe I should…”

My eyes drifted absently to where I know she was residing. I shuddered slightly when I thought about the pressure that area brought on when she revealed herself. “Maybe not today,” I suggested.

Ally looked over with a question in her eyes. I propped myself up on my elbow as I faced her. “I just…it was hard to breathe when you talked to her with me. If my theory of the full moon giving them a boost is true, then she must be freaking strong right now.”

Ally hummed in thoughtful agreement as she closed her eyes. “Yeah, I guess that makes sense. Anyway, maybe I’m overthinking it. I could be totally off. Also, you’re not sure on the whole full moon thing?”

“Not exactly, but most of the books I read seemed to agree with the theory,” I said. “It’s worth the risk, I think.”

“I agree.”

We laid there for a little while, watching the sky get dark. I wasn’t sure what was going through Ally’s head at the moment, but I knew I was starting to feel a little anxious. I really hope that this worked out for us and that we could solve this quickly. Unfortunately, I had a bad feeling this wasn’t going to be resolved by Thanksgiving.

XXX

Lyn

“I’m heading out, Nura,” I said with a yawn. “Don’t wait up for me, ‘kay?”

“Where are you going?” Nura asked.

My hand wavered between my parka and my bomber jacket as I decided between the two. “I’m just meeting up with some friends for a bit,” I said as I grabbed the bomber and threw it on.

“A party?”

I snorted as I redid my ponytail. “You know I would never. I have a swim meet in a couple of weeks.”

“Oh right,” she chuckled. “I forgot, you don’t do that.”

“Rarely,” I said dryly. I pulled on my tattered old Converse and tied the laces tightly. “Okidoki, see ya. I’ve got my keys and phone, so seriously don’t wait up for me.”

She wished me goodbye as I closed the door behind me. I pulled my tuque from the pocket of the jacket, jamming it on my head before stepping outside. It was obnoxiously cold tonight, but I always loved the smell of Autumn air. It didn’t take me long to get to the AC, where Ally and Michael were waiting.

Michael was wearing a backpack that looked to be pretty full. I raised a brow at it, and he grinned.

“Supplies,” was all he said.

I shrugged before glancing at the darkened building and frowned. “Right, guess we’re going in.”

“Yeah,” Ally said quietly beside me.

“It’s just a ghost, yeah?”

“Hopefully.”

I looked down at her. She only offered a noncommittal shrug. Yeah, that makes me feel totally safe. I stuck my hands in my coat pockets and sighed.

“Sounds like we’re good to go,” said Michael as he headed for the front door. I reached over and grabbed his shoulder to stop him from moving forward. “Huh, what?”

I shook my head. “I forgot, but the building lights are activated by motion,” I explained.

Michael looked slightly confused, but before I could explain the issue, Ally piped up.

“That means people would know there was someone inside. Security would come by and see what’s going on.” She looked at me. “Is that correct?”

“Yup.” I started walking off. “But there’s another way in. Follow me.”

We walked around the building until we got to the back door. I knelt down in front of the door and opened my own bag. I pulled out a shoehorn. Michael and Ally both shot each other a confused look before Ally opened her mouth to ask about it. I shook my head to stop her as I turned my focus on the door.

“Don’t ask,” I muttered as I jammed it under the door. “I got into a lot of trouble when I was younger.”

Like I suspected, they didn’t lock the back door. It was something they did often. A lot of the guys who worked at the desk were on the football team, and they would leave the doors unlocked so they could sneak in to use the pool for partying. I slowly pulled it open enough that I could hook my fingers around, grinning as I did.

I stood up as I opened it wide. “After you,” I said with a mock accent, bowing to them two of them.

Once we were in, I closed the door gently just in case. I wasn’t sure if there was anyone still left inside or if the guys snuck in tonight. A Friday night pool party wasn’t an uncommon occurrence. I listened for a minute, waiting to hear the sounds of guys talking or splashing. Luckily, it seemed like we were alone for now.

“This way,” I whispered. I lead them down the hall, using the key to open the door to the weight room. The lights flickered to life as we cut through, humming softly. I unlocked the other door and ushered them through. A short walk later, and we were in the women’s locker room.

“What do you want to see first?” I asked, looking around for some supernatural signs. So far nothing, though I wasn’t even sure I’d be able to see anything.

Ally’s eyes flickered to our locker room before connecting with mine. “The mirrors, actually.”

I lead them into the bathroom. Ally walked over to the mirrors and began searching around them. Michael joined her, poking around the sinks as well. I stood off to the side, not really sure what I should do. What I did notice, however, was how freakishly cold it was in here. Don’t get me wrong, the locker room was sometimes really fucking cold, but not like this. I could see my breath in here. That freaked me out, just a little.

Ally shivered as she stepped away, her eyes searching for something that wasn’t there. She was muttering to herself under breath, little white clouds puffing out as she did. Michael had wandered into the showers to see if he could find anything interesting. I stepped closer to Ally almost unconsciously.

“Are you cold?” I asked.

“Huh?” Ally blinked, clearly knocking herself back into reality. “Oh. Yeah, a little.”

I pulled my tuque off and put it on her instead. She reached up and brushed her fingers against it lightly. She looked at me quizzically.

“You look like you need it more than me,” I said lightly.

She smiled. “Thanks.” I didn’t fail to notice the blush on her face, and I looked away, thankful for the darkened room. I felt like my ears were on fire.

Suddenly, her eyes snap back to the mirror. I froze, searching. I couldn’t see anything, but Ally started approaching the mirror cautiously.

“Ally…” Michael stepped over, his voice quivering.

“What’s going on?” I asked, trying to stop the panic that was creeping up my throat.

Ally placed her hand on the mirror, staring at nothing but clearly seeing something. “What do you mean?” she asked absently.

I don’t understand what was going on. Michael was staring at the same spot, but there wasn’t anything there. Ally was clearly having a conversation with someone.

“Why shouldn’t we be here?” Ally asked, tapping her finger against the glass. “Please, tell me.”

What the fuck…I stepped back in fear. I could feel a growing tension as the lights flickered on and off. Michael dug around his backpack before he pulled out a flashlight, turning it on. He whipped the light towards me.

“Lyn, are you wearing that ring I got you?” His voice was tight with control.

Confused, I shook my head slowly. He urged me to put it on as the lights finally settled. I slipped it on, but I didn’t notice a difference. Ally was stepping away from the mirrors, looking around panickily.

My heart was thudding in my ears as I looked around, but I’m pretty sure whatever happened was over now. Shit, I wasn’t going to be a lot of help here, was I?

“Ally, what happened?” Michael asked.

Ally was breathing quickly. She forced herself to take a deep slow breath before looking over at him. “She said we shouldn’t be here.”

“Who?” we both asked at the same time.

“I’m-” Ally glanced at the mirror in a mix of confusion and fear, “-I’m not sure.”

Oh. Cool. Cool. Coooooooool. We were already dealing with some unknown ghost and now there was potentially another fucking person to deal with? My legs were shaking but I forced myself to lean into the wall.

“Ally,” my voice cracked, “should we go?”

She looked at me, her pupils large with fear. It looked like she was racing through a ton of thoughts at once before she settled on one. She shook her head, swallowing thickly before saying, “No. I wanna see the locker room. Unless…” she hesitated, “…you guys wanna go.”

Fuck yes, I wanted to go. I was scared shitless. But some part of me, some crazy part of me, said to stay. We needed to see what happened to Jackie. So, despite the screaming protest in my head, I shook my head. “It’s this way,” I squeaked.

I brought them over to the entrance of our locker room. With a shaking hand, I punched in the passcode and opened the door. I turned on the lights so we could see. I haven’t been in here since the attack. The wall was covered in a tarp, to cover up the writing on the wall I suspected.

Michael stepped in and pulled the tarp off. I was holding my breath but released it when I saw what was there.

It was mostly gibberish. There wasn’t a coherent sentence in the words, but I did pick up a couple. Help. Death. Here. Ally pulled her phone out, taking a picture of it. Michael pulled a swab out of his pocket and ran it against the wall. He pulled out some oozing goo, which looked really fresh. He carefully put the swab in a tube with a mixed look of disgust and interest.

“Are we good to go?” I asked nervously. I had both hands over my ears, squeezing them anxiously.

“I think so,” Ally said in mild disappointment. She looked around one last time before sighing. “I guess she left.”

“Who?”

“The ghost in the mirror,” she answered. I stepped out first, waiting for them to follow after me. Michael was the last one to leave. Before I closed the door, I felt something wet drip onto my hand. I stared at it blankly, my mind not comprehending what it was. It was dark and slimy. The lights flickered as I looked up slowly.

Hanging from the ceiling was some demonic looking creature. Its eyes were glowing green in the dark, and when we made eye contact, it cracked its head all the way around before opening its toothy mouth, howling at me.

I screamed.

XXX

Ally.

I heard Lyn scream. I heard something else scream too. I looked over as she slammed the door shut. She whipped around towards me and Michael, shoving us forward.

“What was that?!” I asked frantically.

“I-I-I have no fucking i-idea! Lyn stammered out, looking behind her shoulder. An arm punched through the door, ripping a hole as it retracted.

A head poked out. The face was distorted and inhuman. Bloody salvia dripped down its face as it linked eyes with us. It howled again as it dragged its body through the hole it made. It was human shaped but wasn’t at the same time. The limbs were disjointed, the torso large and barreled shaped. But something really stuck out to me.

Those eyes looked so sad and lost.

It jumped at us, but we managed to turn the corner before it hit us. “This way!” Lyn yelled, running down the hallway we came up from.

Michael pulled a bag out of his pocket and threw it at the monster. It screeched in pain as it reeled back. It clawed at its face, blood spraying as it tore into flesh.

“What was that?” I asked as we ran.

“Salt!” he cried.

Oh, that made sense. I should have brought some. It only slowed it down a little bit, before it launched itself at us again. This hallway seemed for much longer the second time around. It felt like we ran forever and ever as it stretched in front of us. Was what going on? I tried to think about all the books I was reading before this, but my mind was coming up blank. It took a swipe at us, howling in pain. Lyn shoved me to the floor as the claws raked her arm. Blood sprayed in an arc as she shouted in shock and pain.

“Lyn!” I said as I scrambled to my feet. “Are you okay!”

“I’m fine!” she gritted her teeth. She held her arm, blood oozing through her fingers. “Michael, do you have more salt?”

Michael watched the beast approached us with horror. His eyes flickered to her before nodding. “Two bags left.”

“Hold it off for a minute,” she growled. She plunged into the weight room as the beast reared up on its haunches, taking another swipe at us.

We both ducked to avoid having our heads be taken off. Michael threw some of the salt on the floor and tossed the rest at the monster. It screamed in frustration and pain as its flesh burned from the salt. I screamed as it reached over for us, its clawed hand grabbing me and lifting me into the air. It knocked Michael aside, knocking his head into the wall. He slumped to the floor boneless.

“Michael!” I shrieked. I wiggled against the grasp, but I could barely move. “Lyn!”

The monster yowled in my face, spittle and blood splattering me all over. I winced, trying to get away. It did it again, squeezing me tightly. I whimpered as I felt my bones creaking, unable to draw a full breath of air.

“ARRRGGHHHH!!” Lyn roared as she ran over. She swung a weighted bar like a bat, smashing it against the arm of the beast.

I fell to the floor as it roared in agony. Lyn swung again, hitting it in the face this time. It smashed into the wall, writhing in pain. Lyn reached down and helped me to my feet. She was breathing heavily as she backed up.

“Is Michael…?”

I shook my head. “Just knocked out.”

“Are you able to lift him?” She eyed the monster as it pushed itself out of the wall. I shook my head again. “Fuck…okay. Ally, hand me that last bag.”

I reached over and took the salt off of Michael, who groaned in pain. I muttered an apology to him as I shoved the salt in her hand. Lyn took the salt and rubbed a bunch of it over the weighted bar. She shouted as she swung it, hitting the monster one last time before she dropped it on it, pining it place.

She scrambled back as it shrieked so loudly that the overhead lights shattered. “That’s not going to last!!”

Together, we hoisted Michael over her shoulders and made a mad dash to the door. I pushed it open, and we ran outside, the cold air feeling like a blessing on my sweating face. We kept running until we were far enough way to feel safe.

I spared a fearful look at the Athletic Centre, but the demonic beast hadn’t followed us. I collapsed to the ground, my tears mixing with my sweat. I shook uncontrollably as Lyn laid Michael down gently and sunk to the ground herself.

My breathing was getting shorter and catching as I tried to take in air. My vision was spotty as I brought a trembling hand to my face, trying to get the blood off. Lyn must have grabbed my hand, but I wasn’t sure when.

“Ally, can you hear me?” she asked calmly.

I looked over at her. I think I nodded.

“Okay. What are five things you can see?” Her voice sounded so muffled.

“F-five things?” I hiccupped.

She nodded. I blinked a couple of times, trying to refocus. “M-Michael. Grass. You. Lamppost. S-scoreboard.”

“Okay, good,” she smiled softly, turning my gaze back on her. “Now four things you can feel.”

“G-grass.” I shakily raised my hand to brush her hand. “Your hand. The b-b-breeze. My leg.”

“You’re doing great,” she murmured. “Can you list three things you can hear?”

My breathing was slowing down a little, allowing me to take deeper breaths. I nodded to answer her question. “Michael groaning. The bugs.” I locked eyes with her now. “You.”

Lyn’s eyes shone with something as she nodded. “Yup. Two things you can smell?”

I took a deep breath through my nose. As I did, Michael had rolled over and vomited all over the grass. My face scrunched out a little in disgust. “Vomit…shea butter?”

“My lotion,” Lyn chuckled softly. “Can you tell me one thing you can taste?”

I shook my head. My mouth felt extremely dry and sandpapery. Lyn reached into the non tattered pocket of her jacket and pulled out a candy. Her hands shook as she unwrapped it. She pressed it against my lips, which I parted slightly so it would go in.

After a couple of seconds of sucking on it, I said quietly, “Caramel.”

“How do you feel now?” she asked hesitantly.

“A b-bit better,” I took another deep breath. “Thank you.”

She nodded. “We needed to get going,” she tried pushing herself up, only to wince and gasp in pain. We both forgot about her arm in the heat of the moment. She fell back, pressing her hand against the wound.

“Is everyone alive?” Michael asked groggily, his face in the grass. At least he scooted away from the vomit spot.

“Yeah,” I answered. I was still shaking, my head was still pounding, but I could breathe. I looked over at the building again, but I didn’t sense any negative energy coming from there. What was that thing? Was that a vengeful spirit? If it was…that wasn’t what I expected.

I shook my head, forcing myself to refocus. Lyn and Michael needed medical attention, and my panic attack wasn’t completely dealt with. I shakily got to my feet, fighting a wave of nausea. Once I was sure I wasn’t going to fall over, I helped Lyn to her feet too. Together we lifted Michael up, my heart sinking when I heard Lyn hiss in pain.

“Are you okay?” I asked concerned.

“I will be,” she said through gritted teeth. There was a sheet of sweat on her face and she was shaking way more now. “The adrenaline is just wearing off now.”

I didn’t completely buy it, but we needed to get Michael help. I was pretty sure he was concussed. I bit my lip, regretting that as soon as I did because there was blood on it. I spat on the ground. “Okay, where do we go? The hospital I guess?”

Lyn frowned. “They’ll ask questions, but it makes the most sense…”

I silently agreed with her. I didn’t want them to ask what happened, but we had very limited choices. Why couldn’t life be like books and TV? Heroes always get these wild injuries that magically were fine a couple hours later. Oliver probably should have died like 7 times an episode in the early seasons of Arrow, but he always turned out fine. Totally unfair.

The only major issue is we had no way to get there unless we walked. I wasn’t sure any of us were going to be able to make it there without passing out. Lyn sighed through her nose as she looked around in thought. “Fuuuuck, okay. I’ll call someone.”

“Who?”

“That’s the question,” she muttered. She pulled out her phone and dialled. “Olivia, hey. Can you pick me up?”

Lyn’s face dropped as she listened to the person on the other end for a few agonizing minutes. “Liv, okay. Yeah, hmm. Fuck, okay, I’ll come home Thanksgiving. I just need you to drive me and my friends to the hospital, no questions asked.” She rolled her eyes as she huffed in annoyance. “No, don’t tell mum and dad. Thank you.” She hung up without saying bye, dropping her injured arm with a groan.

I wanted to ask who that was, but I was able to put the pieces together. I adjusted Michael, who was starting to stand on his own power a little bit more. “Should we just wait here?”

Lyn nodded sullenly. “Yeah, my sister is coming to pick us up. We might as well sit while we wait.”

She lightly settled back on the ground, making sure Michael was comfortable first. I sat next to her and put my head on her shoulder. She stiffened slightly at the contact before slowly relaxing. It was so strange to think that we could be sitting here rather serenely even though we just avoided death not too long ago.

I guess life does always move on, even through tragedy.

[amoureuseeee]

Pauve du Train

written by a.v. concepcion

“Mommy, when I grow up I want to be just like you.” a small voice said.

“Why me?” the woman asked.

“Well, because you’re strong and pretty and you can do anything! So what’s your secret?”

“Ali, in order for you to become strong and pretty and capable of doing wonderful things is to find your truest self first.”

“But how?”

“You’ll find out soon enough when you’ve become a grown woman.”

“I can’t wait to become a woman!” Alina giggled.

 “hmm..hmm..hmm….hm..”

I really am bored. The only thing that’s keeping me sane is my mother’s song. The song I’m humming right now. She used to sing it to me every night before I went to sleep when I was a kid and this song is literally saving me right now in this train full of Frenchmen who are such snobs.

Those were the good old days… I thought to myself.

I am Alina Perez but my friends call me Ali. I am currently travelling by train from Gare de l'Est in Paris, France to who knows where. This is just one of my crazy trips where I really have no destination. No, really, I have no idea where I am going. I never plan my trips. I just randomly pick out plane or train tickets when travelling anytime and anywhere.

Suddenly I was pushed forward from my seat because…Oh! The train stopped, there must be new passengers.

“Mademoiselle, est-ce que ce siège est pris?” (Miss, is this seat taken?) a moreno man asked.

“Je ne parle pas français, I only speak English.” (I don’t speak French)

“Oh, then I guess I won’t have a hard time seated next to you.” he smiled.

“Go ahead, that seat is not taken.”

I smiled, contented that I may have someone to talk to.

Woo! It’s been a long long ride and all I got from the people here were rude stares so it’s nice to have someone who’s willing to speak to me in English. They knew that I could not speak French and as a tourist I should know how to speak French but as I said, I don’t plan my trips. Oops! Guilty as always.

Did I mention that he has a nice smile? What? He really has a nice smile and it looks genuine but he does look tired. He doesn’t look French to me, hm, maybe Asian? He has nice skin too…It’s a nice shade of light brown. Guess I have to find out! HA!

…..

It’s been ten minutes since he sat next me…So how can I get him to notice me?

I looked at him for a minute or two until he finally noticed that I was staring at him. More like gawking.

I gave him a little smile then I said “You don’t look French.”

“Well, because I’m part Asian” he lifted his hand for a handshake and said “By the way, I’m Matias Hadid, Mat for short.”

While I reached for his hand he smiled AGAIN. Ugh, I’m starting to love his smile.

“Perez…Alina Perez…so what brings you here?” I asked him like we were friends. What? I befriend anyone I meet pfft!

“I’m on a trip to anywhere.” Hmm..are we the same? Is he a traveler too?

“And where exactly is ‘anywhere’?”

“I don’t know.” he said with a sad tone. Now this is awkward. I don’t want to intrude his private life but I’m kinda curious.

The scene became awkward so I decided to shut my mouth.

A few minutes have passed .I’m starting to get bored again. Or I’m just starting to remember a sad memory.

“Come with me

To a place and we’ll see

Where we’ll feel safe and sound

We’ll never be unhappy..”

I tried to sing as quietly as I could but my seatmate suddenly looked at me and paid me attention so I continued singing but I didn’t make it obvious that I knew that he was listening. I’ll just pretend that I’m a shy one ;)

“Come with me

Let’s climb up a hill

Let’s see the sunrise and sit sti..”

“What’s that song?” HE TOOK MY BAIT!

I looked at him and smiled then I said “It’s my mom’s..She always sang it to me before I went to bed when I was still a little girl.”

“She writes well.” he said then suddenly he added “and your voice is nice. I wish I could write like that again. Work’s been stressful. Writing used to be my escape pod but now I really don’t know.” he talked in a serious tone like he was in a deep thought.

Wait a minute…Did he just open up to me???

“I know the feeling. I used to be a singer but ever since something happened I really don’t know how to come back up and return to my past.”

“I think we have more things in common than I thought.” he stated with that charming smile of his.

“I think so too….Is it weird to say that I want to be friends with you all of a sudden?”

“Well, I think that’s weird but I’ll make an exception for you.” He’s nice too!

“Well then ‘new friend’ do you wanna sing with me? I brought my ukulele.”

“I’d be happy to but let me tell you that I’m just a writer not a singer.” He’s funny too. J

We sang and sang and sang until we had our voices hoarse. I felt happy. I felt like what I felt before.

It feels like home…

We got tired eventually but it was fun. I realized that moments like these were gold to me. It’s been awhile since I sang with that much enthusiasm. It was my passion. Singing. It’s been so long since mom…

Alina, forget about it already!!!!

I did not want to remember. No. It hurt too much.

“Are you alright?” Mat asked.

“I’m fine.” I answered in a hurry.

I didn’t realize that I got lost with my thoughts again.

“You know, its better to grieve than to not feel anything at all.”

“How did you know?”

“I just know cause’ I’ve been there.” He gave me that comforting smile while he said that to me.

He continued, “When I lost someone I loved, I didn’t know what to do. I became a person I’m really not. I gave my full attention to work and after that I really don’t know what comfort and fun feels like until now. Until I met someone like you.”

I didn’t know what to say anymore. I was speechless. He’s more than what he looks like…He’s miserable like me…

I wanted to change the subject so I said “It’s never too late to have fun.”

“It’s never too late to mourn.”

I was taken aback. He is what I call a “sly man.”

“We really are the same.”

“But we’re opposites.. but still… the same.” Did he just copy what I said?

“Then I think that its nice that I’m not the only one.” I said while smiling.

“So where are you going? I forgot to ask.”

“Same as you. I don’t know where to go. I just picked out a train ticket randomly.”

The train suddenly stopped. I think we’re at the next stop already.

“Do you wanna join forces? I can’t let go of you yet.”

THAT SMILE AGAIN!!!

Well, the train was still on halt so I carried all of my belongings and stood up.

“I’d be glad to.” I said while smirking.

Then he followed me while carrying his belongings right after I said that.

 It’s been years since my husband and I met. I think our love story was very unexpected. I was all over the place literally and figuratively, confused on who I was as a person. If it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t have had the time to grieve for my mother’s death. If we didn’t become friends on that train ride I probably would still be travelling to places alone just to forget about the heartache that has been with me for a long time.

By the way, let me tell you the summary of what happened to us.

After getting off that train, he followed me until who knows where. As I said, I had no destination. I just walked by myself while he was behind me until my stomach made a loud sound. Then I heard his laugh.

“Come on, let’s get you some food.”

We got to know each other through dinner that night. We travelled around France for a few days but eventually he needed to go back to work. We thought that that was the last time that we’ll see each other so we kept each other’s cellphone number to catch up from time to time .

Of course we still had contact with each other. He always mentioned from time to time that he’s starting to hang out with his friends again. Work didn’t revolve around his whole life anymore. He learned how appreciate the things around him and he started to learn what the word ‘fun’ means right after meeting me.

I, on the other hand, still travelled around a few countries in a span of one year. I met a few people who I became friends with. I went to every tourist destination the country I went to had to offer. It stayed that way until I was reminded of what he said to me on that train ride. Now, I’m a 100% percent ready to let go of the hidden burden in my heart. I said to myself while I was enjoying the exquisite sights Bali had to show me that had me thinking deep.

.....

I was staying in the Philippines for a few days in my hometown where my mother and I lived. I went back to visit her grave just to say that I’ve moved on and I was happy for her because she could rest and leave the pain that she was feeling while she was on dialysis.

“Hi mom, I’m back. I’ve grown up to be the woman you wanted me to be. I finally found my truest self and I think I’ve done everything that I wanted to do since I was a kid. I hope you’re doing fine now that you’re with him up there. This is not my final goodbye mom, I’ll come back from time to time but goodbye for now.”

Finally, I feel at ease. I just need to go home now.

But I just realized…Where is home?

I felt like I needed to go back to France and so I did. I immediately booked a flight and went back to the train station where I met Matias. Again, I was reminded of the time I was with him. Suddenly, my mind and heart told me to go to the address he gave me through text a few months back.

*knock.. knock.. knock*

The door of his apartment opened and then I saw him. The man of my dreams. My home.

And that was just the beginning of our love story.

-THE END-

#CreativeWriting #ShortStory

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[lostandfoundstories]

A Real Love Song

We both knew our fair share of struggles. Parents and teachers who didn’t seem to care; not broke, not rich; not living, not dying; friends but not soulmates; happiness but always temporary. When we met, it was like any other day at first. The same monotony. 

...

At 7:30 AM my dad pounded on my door, rattling it’s loose and old hinges. “Get up!” He yelled. 

“I am!” I protested. Same old, same old. 

I could smell brown sugar cinnamon Pop-Tarts being toasted as I made my way to the kitchen, hair still wet from my shower. 

“Charlie! Hurry up! You’re going to be late for school-” A car honked outside.

“Oops, that’s my ride. See ya, shitface,” interrupted my sister. 

“Iris!” Replied my mom. It was too late as the front door was already shut. 

“Anyways…” There was a long pause. It took awhile for my mom to get back on her train of thought after an interruption. 

“Where was I?... Oh right! Charlie, you’re going to be late!” Finished my mom.

“Yeah, I’m aware,” I replied. “But not if I don’t eat.” 

“Charlie!-” But the door was already closed.

My mom was left with four steaming brown sugar cinnamon Pop-Tarts. 

I pulled out my phone and texted Makayla. She always picked me up if I couldn’t make the bus. She was one of the few people at my high school who had their own car. 

Makayla and I are what I would call friends but not soulmates. We’re there to comfort each other, pick the other up to get to school or a concert, and share homework problems. However, I don’t truly know much about her besides her name, where she lives, soci-economic level, and maybe her dad’s name. Isn’t that with every high schooler though? How much do you truly know about your classmates? Where does the line between knowing and friendship and soulmate lie? What if all there is to life is a life of Makaylas that switch in and out of your life until you eventually marry one in ten years and have more Makaylas who meet even more Makaylas to the point that you wonder what contributions you have made in life until you die and you’re left with this question, unanswered? 

Makayla arrives and opens her car window.

“Hey Charlie Brown,” she ceremoniously says. 

“Hey stereotypical rich white girl,” I ceremoniously reply. 

The door clicks and we’re off to the halls of Washington High: the converging of all the Makaylas, Kayleighs, and Chads. 

“What made you late this time?” Makayla asks. 

“Nothing momentous really. I just spent a little long in the shower combined with sleeping in about five minutes extra.” Makayla raises her eyebrows at me. “What?” She then makes the jacking-off motion. 

“Jesus!” I reply. “No, I was just thinking, you know? Everyone thinks in the shower.” 

“Whatever you say,” she says. I roll my eyes in response.

After a bit of silence, I see Taco Bell in the distance. 

“Yo, I didn’t eat. Can we pull in here?” I ask.

“Charlie, we might actually be late if-”

“Please?” I cut her off. Two sausage breakfast burritos sound really good. 

“Fine,” She concedes. 

“Yesyesyesyesyesyes! I love you!”

“Whatever,” she chuckles.

When we pull in, we notice that the drive-through isn’t available. It looks like it’s under construction or something. 

“Ugh,” Makayla says. “Be quick.”

“Thank you! I won’t call you ‘stereotypical rich white girl’ for a week after this. I promise… Did you want anything?” 

“No! Hurry up and get in there!”

I pull open the door to the Taco Bell, and I’m immediately overwhelmed and taken over by the potato, fake meat, and cheese aroma. 

I order and pay for the two sausage breakfast burritos. While I’m waiting for them to be made, I notice someone walking in who looks like a high schooler. However, he doesn’t look like a Makayla, Kayleigh, or Chad. He has a Declan McKenna, girl in red, and Muse pin on his backpack, complete with a Cavetown shirt. He has long curly dark hair, which is practically a satanic symbol among the popular faded, short gelled hair. He also has a green corduroy jacket over his Cavetown tee and cuffed jeans. He’s busy smiling at his phone.

“Charlie!” Yells the Taco Bell worker. I grab my food, and as I’m passing the mystery boy, I tell him, “Yo, I love all of those artists.” 

I’m in the process of opening the door as he replies, “Sick” in a thick Scandinavian accent.

I head back to the car as Makayla gives me a dirty look.

“We’re going to be late!” Makayla yells. 

“Yo it’s fine-” Makayla screeches the car out of the parking lot as soon as the door is closed. I almost dropped my burritos. “Yo! We’re fine!” 

As soon as we’re on the main drag of the road, I start eating and Makayla can sense my mood shift. “What’s up with you?” She asks. 

“I saw a cute boy,” I replied. I’m grinning. 

“What- Where- When?”

“In Taco Bell.”

“What did he look like?”

Silence.

She raises her eyebrows at me and grins back.

We’re silent the rest of the way.

…

We pull up to the large but rarely used parking lot of Washington High. We still have 5 minutes until the passing bell rings, but Makayla rushes out of the car, locks it as soon as I’m out, and takes off. 

“Love you, Charlie Brown!” She yells over the cacophony of high school.

“Love you too!” I yell back.

I make my way, slower, to the trash can placed at the front of the school to throw out my Taco Bell wrappers, and that’s when I see him. He’s getting off the bus that’s also placed in front of the main entrance of the school. He’s making his way over to me, and I’m getting butterflies for the first time in- for the first time in- for the first time. 

I’m going over everything that I could possibly say to him: Yo… Hey!... What was your name again?... Taco Bell dude haha… But as soon as I realize he’s making his way over to me, it’s over. He comes over for the trash can to throw away his Taco Bell wrapper as well. He doesn’t so much as recognize me. And with that, the bell rings. 

…

After three periods, the bell rings for lunch. I’m not hungry, so I immediately head to the table where Makayla is sitting. However, as soon as I’m in view of it, I don’t see her. Instead, I see the mystery boy. I immediately pull out my phone to demand an explanation. Makayla has already sent me a text, and all I read is, “I won’t make it for lunch. I’m finishing up homework  in biology. Sorry!” I see no mention of the boy. Perhaps he just saw an empty table and needed a place to sit? That’s most likely it. How could Makayla even know what he looks like or how to find him, much less convince him to join us at our table? 

I’m about to leave and just head to the library or something until I hear his phone go off really loud. Who keeps their notification sound on? I thought everyone uses vibrate? Whatever, I’m about to round the corner into the hallway that takes me to the library until I hear, very loudly, an AI voice say, “TEXT FROM MAKAYLA. WOULD YOU LIKE ME TO READ IT?” The boy replies out loud saying, “Yes.” The AI voice continues: “I WON’T MAKE IT FOR LUNCH. I’M FINISHING UP HOMEWORK IN BIOLOGY. SORRY.” 

I’m now really confused. What the hell? How do they know each other? I’m now just standing still in the hallway, utterly confused and curious as to what will happen next. 

After less than a minute, I hear the AI voice clearly again say, “TEXT FROM MAKAYLA. WOULD YOU LIKE ME TO READ IT?” The boy replies out loud, again, saying, “Yes.” The AI voice continues: “IF CHARLIE HAS NOT YET SHOWN UP, HE WAS PROBABLY SCARED OFF BY SEEING YOU.” 

I have no idea what to do. 

I end up just making my way to the library. I still have twenty minutes left of the lunch period. However, as I’m pulling out my Algebra homework, I see him again. He’s looking for someone. Without thinking, I duck under the study table. I’m getting a few weird looks, but none from the person I’m trying to avoid. 

It feels like I spend eternity under there, but after about five minutes, I slowly make my way out from under the table and peer around the library from where I’m at for any sign of him. I no longer see him. I spend the last fifteen minutes of the lunch period wondering what the hell that was about and how he knew where to find me. How did Makayla know he was who I saw at Taco Bell? How did she find him? How did she invite him to our table and then to the library. Why did he have such a loud ass AI voice reading to him his texts? I just want today to be over. 

As I’m packing my bag in preparation for the 4th period bell that’s going to ring any minute, I realize I forgot my ID and only way to get on the bus. Fuck. I’m going to have to text Makayla and ask for a ride.

The 4th period bell rings and I make my way to algebra. While waiting in my seat for the start of the period, I shoot Makayla a text: “Hey, I forgot my ID and only way to get on the bus. Can you give me a ride home again, please? Thanks” I put it away and go through the last three periods without bothering to check it once. 

... 

At the end of the day, I make my way outside to the spot where Chads find their workout partners or girlfriends or hookups, and friends get together to play Call of Duty later or talk shit. During homecoming or other holidays, it might be larger groups that are planning parties. However, it’s only April, in between everything. Monotony.

I pull out my phone and see ten texts from Makayla. I’m still too confused to read them or answer them. I only see a few glimpses of text previews: 

“Yeah, I can take you... 

“ALSO”

“Where were you... 

“Bjorn was asking…

“Oh yeah, I…

Eventually, I find Makayla. She looks mad.

“What the hell!” She yells over to me. We garner a few looks, but only for a second. 

“I should be asking you the same thing,” I reply more nonchalantly. “Why did you invite Taco Bell boy to the table at lunch, much less how did you find him?” 

A mixed look of horror and realization begins to cross her face. After a few moments of silence, I ask her, “What?”

“Oh fuck,” she replies. 

“Again, what?” 

“I had no idea that Bjorn was Taco Bell boy.”

“WHAT. How do you know him? Who is he? Where did he come from?”

“Okay, shut up for a moment.”

I’m finally quiet.

“Today, in my Scandinavian studies in class, there was a new student introduced. He’s a transfer student from Norway and he was placed in our Scnadinavian Studies class as an aid. His name is Bjorn. He’s also still learning English, and he can understand it really well when hearing it, but he still has trouble reading and writing it.”

I remember how he used an AI to read his texts for him.

“I saw he had a Declan Mckenna, girl in red, and Muse pin, along with a Cavetown tee. I know you love all of those artists.” She pauses for a moment. “Anyways, I got to talking with him and I knew you both would get along really well since he’s different than just about every boy at this school... besides you. Although I didn’t realize how well you’d get along…” She winks at me and smiles. “So I invited him to lunch. He makes the exact same comments you make and does the same gestures. I texted you that he’d be coming after I told you I was stuck in Biology, but you apparently didn’t read it, even though you can ask me for a ride.” She rolls her eyes and sighs.

“I-” I reply.

“It’s fine. I know how you are,” she says.

“I know, but I’m still sorry. I just freaked out. He’s SO CUTE and I had no idea where he came from nor how you knew him.” 

“I do not agree that he’s cute, but that’s fine…” She pauses and grins. “He’s all yours.” She pauses for another moment. “Oh, by the way I invited him to hang out with you after school. Normally it’d be us I know, but my mom needs me home for something. I thought I could drop the both of you off at your house.”

“I- Uh- Uh- I-” I stammer.

“Perfect!” 

With perfect timing, Bjorn makes his way over to us. 

“Hey, Makayla!... And Charlie… right?” He says.

“Yeah… and Bjorn right?” I reply.

“Yeah. I see Makayla finally reached you,” he chuckles. 

I just tense and stand in silence. My face goes a little red. Thankfully Makayla comes in and rescues us.

“So... I’m taking you both to Charlie’s house, right? We should get going.”

“Right,” Bjorn replies.

“Uh- I- Uh- Right,” I say. 

The entire car ride to my house is silent.

... 

We’re pulling up to my house, and Makayla is the first one to talk. “Well, this is it.” She smiles at us a little too excitedly and awkwardly. 

Bjorn is looking at me for what to do and when to leave. “Uh- Yeah, I guess it is. Thanks for the ride,” I say.

“Yes, thank you,” adds Bjorn. 

“Of course,” says Makayla. When Bjorn is turned away to look at my house, Makayla winks at me. 

I open the now-seemingly huge red door and enter the house first to check if anyone’s home. “Hello!” I call out. No answer. Bjorn is standing still behind me, smiling. “Well, I guess no one’s home.” After another awkward silence, I pass the entry foyer and enter the open-concept living room and kitchen to set my bag down. Bjorn does the same. 

“Well, this is mitt hjem,” I say. 

“My home in Norwegian. Nice,” he says. I’m really glad I took a semester of Scandinavian studies before I dropped out. 

He smiles and begins eyeing everything. The dark wood floors, the white linoleum countertops, dark wood cabinets, dark blue couch, and plants everywhere. The lighting is also very subtle. Not too bright, not too dark. 

“Can I get you anything?... Do you want a tour? Do you want to just watch TV?...” I ask.

No response. Bjorn is still eyeing everything.

“Do you want to hang in my room and listen to vinyl or-” 

“You have vinyl?” Bjorn interrupts me. “Er- I’m sorry for interrupting, but yes, I would love to listen to vinyl.”

“Okay… Anything else? Water, soda, alcohol, weed, snacks?” I reply.

“No thanks,” he says. 

What the hell was Makayla thinking? 

“Alright,” I say. I go down a hallway just past the kitchen that has one of two bathrooms, Iris’ room, and mine. I open the door to my room. “Well, this is mitt rom.” 

He smiles. “My room. Nice,” he says. I sit down on my bed, but he continues to stand in silence just eyeing everything. He sees my piles and piles of books, my tapestries, art, records, and tons of headphones and speakers. 

“The Handmaid’s Tale was good,” he says out of nowhere. He sees the book lying out and is pointing at it until he sees me notice.

“Yeah, I have to read it for a class,” I reply. 

“I did too,” he says.

There’s another few moments of silence. 

“So, what do you want to listen to?” I ask.

“What do you have?” He responds.

“Tons.” I start flipping through my vinyl collection. I eye and point at his bag with pins on it. “For starters, I have Delcan Mckenna’s first album, girl in red, and all of Muse’s albums… I also have Alt-j, Beatles, Clairo’s Immunity, Glass Animals. Anything alt, I most likely have it.”

His eyes are completely wide open. I give him a few moments, and while I’m waiting, I see my phone screen buzz while I’m knelt by the vinyl. It’s a text from Makayla and the notification says, “I hope you both…” I move to flip it down. I don’t think Bjorn saw it. 

After more silence, I eventually say, “I can pick for you if you want.” 

“I’d like that,” he replies.

I put on Declan McKenna’s What Do You Think About the Car? We both settle onto my bed while the needle situates itself on the record player and the record begins. As soon as we’re both settled in, sorta sitting up but also lying down, the opening chorus of the first song, “Humongous,” washes over us. After the first song finishes, neither of us have said a word. In the silence between the songs, we finally turn to look at each other, and it’s then that I truly see him. I truly see Bjorn. I see him past his pins, curly hair, cute Scandinavian accent, and similar interests. I see myself but cuter.

The opening guitar intro to the second song, “Brazil,” seems to be even louder. It’s as if I see and imagine nothing but Bjorn next to me, and I hear nothing but the soft chords and rough voice of Declan McKenna. 

It goes on like this until the end of “Isombard” when one of us has to turn over the record. I hardly even notice the A side finished until Bjorn starts getting up and I almost ask, What are you getting up for? Until I notice the lack of music. 

As soon as the music comes back on with the simplistic beginning of “I Am Everyone Else,” the trance falls over us once again. 

This morning I believed there was nothing more to life and to people than Makaylas, Kayleighs, and Chads, but sitting here now in this moment with Bjorn, I know there’s so much more. I know it’s possible to truly fall in love. I know the fairytales, novels, and Tumblr posts are the most real things on the planet. 

…

After 3 records with 0 words spoken by either of us, I’m interrupted by Bjorn’s stomach grumbling. “Are you hungry?” I ask. 

His face turns red, and he seems to be embarrassed. I immediately feel bad.

“Uh… yeah,” he replies.

“What are you in the mood for?” I pause for a second. “We have tons of options. I’m personally in the mood for mac and cheese.” He sits up after I say that.

“Oooh, yeah that sounds good,” he says.

“I’ll go make it and be back in a bit.” 

“Okay,” he replies.

I get up and head into the kitchen. I notice that it’s 5:00 and the sky is starting to get dark. I wonder where everyone else is. I open up my phone and check unread texts. Makayla’s full message says, “I hope you both kiss ;)” I roll my eyes and see a message from Iris: “Mom told me to let you know that I’ll be over at Isaac’s.” The next message is from mom: “Work went late for both me and your dad. Make something for yourself. We’ll hopefully be home by 8, and I told Iris to text you with where she’s at. Love you.” 

I put my phone away and open up the cupboard for mac and cheese. After the water starts boiling and I put the noodles in, I listen and notice that the record has changed. Now it’s playing the album The Lion’s Roar by First Aid Kit. It’s on the last song: “King of the World.” My dad used to play this song all of the time for me when I was little. I wonder if Bjorn knows that. No, how could he? Regardless, I’m still feeling really nostalgic. 

As soon as the mac and cheese is done, I separate it into two bowls for me and Bjorn, and I head into my room. He’s smiling a really big smile when he sees me. We eat in silence. 

It’s Bjorn who breaks the silence. “How long have you lived in Oregon?” 

“My entire life,” I reply. 

After some moments of awkward silence, I add, “How long were you in Norway and how long will you be in the U.S.?” 

“To the first question: my whole life, and to the second: just this last trimester.” 

My gut dropped. He would be leaving in only two months and I knew nothing about him. God, I want to kiss him. I don’t know how though. Is he even gay? Bisexual? Pansexual? He’s going to be gone soon and I might not even get to know him. Will I be able to talk to him after he moves back to Norway? Will I continue to be cursed to this boring existence of Makaylas? How do I- 

He kisses me. 

“Is that okay?” He asks. I’m shocked into silence. I don’t know how to respond. God do I want to. I begin parting my lips but nothing can come out.

“Please say something,” he pleads. An eternity of silence passes over us.

He begins getting up and gathering his things. 

“Yes!” I finally say. He stops.

“Yes, what? Yes it’s okay?” He responds.

I get up so I can reach him, and I kiss him back. 

We’re now just sitting on my bed, kissing. I have no idea what’s playing, if anything even is. All I hear is the sound of our lips colliding; the sound of my heart; the sound of the sheets and blankets moving and becoming tangled; the sound of my hands finding places naturally. I have no idea what comes next.

After 10 minutes, we finally pull apart. Both of our smiles could be used in a Dentistry ad. 

“Yes, that was most definitely okay,” I say first. Bjorn grins and softly laughs. 

I let my body fall onto the bed. I notice how tired I am all of the sudden. Bjorn follows my lead and falls next to me.

No music is playing and I offer to turn on the TV to a cute show. We turn on Spongebob because it’s all that’s on. 

As I’m almost asleep, Bjorn kisses me goodnight and he rests himself on my chest. I have no idea what time it is. 

“Thank God for Makayla,” I say, very dazed and sleepy after kissing him on his forehead. 

“Yes, thank God for Makayla,” he says and smiles.

The last thing I notice before my eyes become too heavy is Bjorn holding my one and only stuffed animal super tight while he rests his head on my heart.

[thehiddensemicolon]

Kacchako fanfic:New Prey Chapter 31

~~~the Exploding Hero~~~

They finally arrived to Endeavor's office and immediately went to change into the gear.

A lady in a lab coat arrived telling them that they were going to monitor their physical limits with and without quirks.

Everybody nodded and one by one their evaluations was being conducted.

Outside the room, the hero Endeavor looked and studied carefully what the new recruits were made of. In the end he only smirked. A sign that he chose the perfect new heroes for his agency.

"Sir. All three have finished. Here are the copies of their results." A woman said.

"Good work. Make sure you tell them to meet me at my office once they are finished resting." Endeavor responded.

The woman nodded and walked away.

The three went to their changing rooms to tidy up after all the tests they did.

Uraraka stayed underneath the warm water of the shower She was taking.

'A lot of stuff happened today. Moving into a new apartment, coming in on short notice to take a physical test, and meeting my new partners.... am glad there is someone from UA I know, but Fujimi... Bakugou hates his guts. I should try to keep stuff professional with him. Bakugou wouldn't like it if we became friends after all.' Uraraka thought.

She got out the shower and changed.

Attention. Will all three of the new recruits please report to Endeavor's office immediately. Thank you. The loud speaker turned off.

'I guess I get to finally meet my boss.' Uraraka thought.

The office was so big and there was so many floors, Uraraka got instantly lost.

She began to mentally brake down thinking she was going to be the last to arrive.

"Oh Uraraka you lost?" Shouto popped up.

"Oh thank goodness! Yeah this place is huge haha. I don't have a clue where am going." She admitted.

"Well follow me. I'll show you where it is." He offered.

"Thanks!" She said.

One the way there no one spoke a word.

Shouto broke the silence.

"So your engaged."Shouto asked.

"Uh Huh sure am!" She said. Showing him the ring on her finger.

"That's good news. Congratulations. Maybe now Bakugou will calm down with guys being around you." He said.

"Pshhh! That would never change. He is just an overprotective kind of guy." She laughed.

"Yes But he knows you two are getting married." Shouto said.

"Yeah But he thinks every person I meet is going to be pervy. Or try to attack and steal me you know. No matter how much I try to reassure him about it he just says I need to watch my back more. He said that he trusts me. Just not the other guy." She said.

"Well I suppose his reasoning makes sense then." Shouto agreed.

"I assume he isn't happy with Fujimi and myself for working with you." He said.

"To be honest. I know that he saw you as a rival in high school, but I think after today... I think he prefers me working with you, rather than the other guy." She admits.

"I feel honored then." Shouto gave a single chuckle.

"Don't worry about him though. He may sound and look scary. But in reality, he is like a teddy bear." She giggled.

"Now that is hard to imagine." He said.

"Well here we are. My fathers office."

"Am so nervous." She admits.

He wanted to tell her that she should be. But didn't want to frighten her.

He opened the door and saw his father sitting on his chair at his desk and Fujimi standing in front of him.

"Good now that everyone is here we can start this meeting." Endeavor said.

He stood up and walked towards Uraraka.

"Young lady, your quirk is powerful and a force to be reckon with. Out of all the offers you had received on evaluation day. I am honored you pick my agency to work for. It's nice to meet you." He told her.

He shook her hand and welcomed her.

His son knew what his father was doing. He knows he wants to show Uraraka his "good and noble" side of himself. Because once she finds out how much of a monster he is, she will surely go and find another agency to join.

"Thank you Endeavor you are so kind. Thank you for showing interest in me at the exams. I promise I won't let you down!" She said.

Endeavor nodded and talked with Fujimi and ignored his son in the process.

"Now I want to go over how things work here. Each of you have your office and lobby area which you can use for any purpose. When you come to work everyday, you will arrive here in your civilian clothes. My recommendation is to hide your identity when coming in and from the office. That way you can have a more private life with your hero costume off. You will change into your gear after you check in. Now normally how work goes is. Two of you will scout the neighborhood making sure there isn't any funny business going on in the streets. The other one of you will stand by at the office along with the other heroes who work here. The point of this is because in case there is an attack else where we have back up heroes that can act as soon as possible. That way we have a more efficient way of keeping everyone safe." He told them.

He went to his desk and grabbed boxes. He gave one to each of them.

"These are messaging devices. Use this in case you are in danger and request back up. We can also message orders or give out calls about your new assignments. Clear." He asked.

They all nodded.

"Good your first day is on Monday and here are papers you need to fill out. These are for us to know who to contact in case of an emergency and other stuff. Bring this in filled out Monday. Any questions?" He asked.

They all said no.

"Good. It's my pleasure to welcome you all to the Endeavor hero agency." He grinned.

He dismissed the three and told them they can go home now.

"Oh I forgot to tell you both, but because of today's miscommunication, father is giving us bonuses for us for dealing with the date confusion. He said we should all give the financial office our bank accounts for direct transaction. That's how we get paid over here." Shouto said.

"What really! That's so kind of him." Uraraka said.

"Yes And also the bonus money promised to you when you signed the contract is ready to be transaction as well." Shouto added.

"No way! So fast! Such great news. Well I better head over there right now." He said.

"Bonus money? How come I wasn't offered that?" Fujimi questioned.

"That's something you are going to have to talk with Endeavor about." Todoroki said.

"It's whatever." The zombie quirk user said clearly bitter.

"Oh dang." Uraraka said. She pounded her head a little bit.

"I don't know my banking information. I don't even have the papers on me! Oops. " She said.

"Sucks to be you. I know my information by heart." Fujimi bragged.

"It's alright! I'll call Katsuki." She said.

She left the two boys alone as she went to the side to call him.

"What's wrong. You look surprised." Todoroki said.

"It's just weird hearing that assholes first name like that. And it just so happens that I have to work with his fiancée." Fujimi said.

"Don't let it get to you. You aren't working with Bakugou. Only Uraraka. So don't take out your hatred for Bakugou on her. She has nothing to do with it." Todoroki said.

They heard muttering coming from Uraraka.

"So that is the reason why I need you to come and deliver me our banking papers. Thanks see you here bye" She said.

She didn't even let Bakugou talk back to her. Not giving him a choice to come. How funny.

"So he choose to come over here?" Shouto asked.

"Umm Nope! Didn't give him a choice. Haha!" She giggled.

Fujimi chuckled as well. He thought it was funny a cute innocent girl like Uraraka can boss around the blonde jackass so easily.

"I see. Well you know how to deal with him. Am glad you have everything sorted out." Todoroki said.

"Great do you guys finishing your work here for today?" She asked.

"I usually stay here for awhile. It's basically my second home." He said.

"How about you Fujimi?" Todoroki asked.

"Waiting until the next train arrives. It won't be for awhile." He answered.

~~couple minutes later~~~

Uraraka's phone rang. When she answered it. The three heard an angry voice on the line.

"So you make me come here to your work to delivery shitty papers and you didn't even tell the security to let me pass through the front door!?" Bakugou said.

Everyone heard him and uraraka gulped.

"Oops my mistake. I guess I completely forgot I needed to tell security to give you permission huh? Well I'll be right there!" She replied. And hung up the phone.

"You should add him into our system. That way, whenever he comes to the office security will allow him in." Shouto suggested.

"Oh thanks! I'll do that now!"She said.

She left the two alone.

Uraraka soon arrive to the first floor and saw the security guard and Bakugou.

"Um hello there. It's okay to let him in. He is my fiancé." She told the security guard.

The security guard walked out of Bakugou's way allowing him to enter.

The guard then added Bakugou in the system.

Bakugou shoved the papers in her hands.

"Here, the papers you demanded to be delivered to you, your highness." He said.

"Awww thanks sweetie!" She said.

"Wanna come to the financial department with me. I could use the company." She said.

"Mine as well. Since am already fucking here." He said.

She began telling him everything that happened since she got here and told him that Endeavor even praised her quirk.

"Duh! I already told you. Your quirk is badass. Anyone who has any brains well know that." He said.

"Aww you know you look really good today for some reason." She said.

"What? You saying I don't always look good. Do you need glasses or some shit. I always look good." He bragged.

"Yup your always handsome. And smart... strong... talented and-"

"What the fuck do you want now?" He interrupted.

"What me? I am allowed to give compliments to you. You know. It doesn't mean I want something." She giggled.

"What do you want?" He asked again.

"A dinner cooked by you." She said.

"Already done." He bragged.

"Really?" She questioned.

"Why is it so surprising huh? I just so happened to be hungry and thought mine as well cook portions for the both of us." He said.

She smiled.

"Where the fuck is this financial shit at?" He asked.

"We are almost there. Look it's right in front of us. I'll be really quick you wait here." She said.

"So we meet again Bakugou." Todoroki said.

"Where the hell did you come from?" He responded.

"I work here." Todoroki responded.

"Well no shit!"

"Hey I got a favor to ask of you. And don't you dare say no!" Bakugou said.

"Depends on the favor."

"I support Uraraka working as a hero alright. But I fucking can't think right sometimes... you know what this is fucking stupid forget I even said anything" Bakugou said. He cannot believe he was about to ask his rival for a favor.

"No continue. We are not in high school anymore. We are both heroes. What is this favor you want?" Todoroki said.

Bakugou swallowed his pride and decided to ...trust half and half.

"I want you to look out for Uraraka when I can't. I know she doesn't need any saving or help! She is strong enough to take care of herself. But she is someone very important to me. I don't trust anybody with her. Certainly not that zombie fuck. But in order for me to know that she is safe. Fucking promise me if she ever needs the help. Fucking help her. If something were to happen to her, I might kill the fucker that did it." Bakugou said.

Todoroki knew Bakugou gave up his pride to ask him of such a favor. It wasn't like Bakugou to ask for help. He can see that Uraraka means a lot to Bakugou. So it is only natural he would want to know that she has someone she can depend on while working at this agency. He wanted to tell Bakugou that his father was obsessed with Uraraka. But he felt like he shouldn't give Bakugou more stress than he is already in now.

"I can do that. I'll make sure she is safe. Even though she doesn't need the protection." Todoroki agreed.

"Am trusting you Todoroki. I don't like this place. I feel that there is trouble lurking around the corner. I don't like it." Bakugou added.

'You're not wrong to think that.' Shouto thought.

"I'll watch over her." He said.

It just came to him that Bakugou called him by his name ... for the first time.

"Good." Bakugou said.

'It feels strange that Bakugou is treating me like a human being. Having a normal non violent conversation with him feels different.' Shouto thought.

"When is your physical test at All Mights office?" Todoroki asked.

Fujimi was secretly listening into their conversation the whole time but he was shocked with what he just heard.

'A punk like him? At All Mights office? What the fuck?' He thought.

"Soon."

"I assume you can guess who your partner would be?"

"Yeah yeah. I'll only be partnered up with that nerd for a couple months. After that I plan to work solo."

"Don't fail any missions and you will get to be solo."

"I already fucking know that."

Fujimi thought to himself that he wasn't really eavesdropping on them. They were just taking loud and he could hear them from the distance he was at from them.

"Hey ready to go home! I finished up my business here for today." Uraraka said.

"About time." Bakugou said.

"Alrighty then. We will be on our way Todoroki. Please come by our place with Momo one day Okay!" Uraraka said.

"Sounds good." He responded.

As the two was walking out the building.

Endeavor watched them leave from his office window view.

"Him. He is the explosion guy I also wanted. But he turned down my offer to work here. Why is he here with my gravity newbie?" He asked to himself.

He then saw the two of them hold hands walking away to the distance.

"NO. THEY CANNOT BE TOGETHER. NOT WHEN AM PLANNING HER TO MARRY SHOUTO. She will whether she likes it or not. I will get her to agree to a quirk marriage. My agency's future depends on their offspring. DAMMIT. That explosive brat may have turned down by offer, but he will not take the power of gravity away from me. He will not ruin my plans. I should try to dig up some dirt on the newbie. " Endeavor yelled.

~~~At the apartment~~~ "Wow you and Kirishima nearly unpacked everything huh?" Uraraka said.

The apartment looked like nice and everything was set up already.

"It wasn't a big deal. Setting up this place was easy. I'll heat up the food." He said

"Watcha make?"

"Food."

"I know. But what kind of food?"

"Fucking good ass food. Cause I made it."

"Katsuki. Am asking what kind food did you make."

"And am answering your fucking question. Good food. Here." He gave her the plate of steaming hot food.

And she ate all of it.

The food was good. It was delicious.

Uraraka looked around their new place and thought it lacked something.

"You know we should add something to this place. Seems so... like you." She said.

"Eh? What's so wrong about that?" He barked.

"It just needs a dash of color or something. Looks dull... kinda like you... haha am only kidding." She laughs.

He chooses to ignore her insult.

She dashed up stairs and he heard her unpacking her boxes.

"Found it!" She yells.

She places the picture frame on top of the fire place.

"There! That added some spark of life." She said.

"A picture did all of that." He spoke.

"It sure did. We can add more later on."

"So your test is soon huh? Did you finally decide on your hero name. With a personality and a quirk like yours. You have a lot of cool options you know."

"In a matter of fact I did pick my hero name. And it's badass." He said with pride.

"Oh really? Will you give me the pleasure of being the first person to know the name of the future number one hero?" She asked.

He smirks and stands up.

He makes a small explosion in his palm and strikes a pose.

"The Exploding Hero: Ground Zero." He grins.

She stares at him and starts laughing.

"Haha am sorry it's just. I don't ever get to see you act like such a nerd as often as I would like." She explains.

"What who is acting like a nerd? You should be excited to be the first one to hear such a badass name." He says.

"Yes yes. I am honored. It does sound cool. Sounds kinda intimidating though." She adds in.

"Good that's what I was going for." He smirks.

A/n So what do you guys think about Bakugou's hero name. The author used this name for his original draft/concept of Bakugou's hero name. Also I would like to point out that my grammar and English is not great. So if you guys notice anything weird or hard to understand something. Please leave a comment.

Also I would like to point out that in case anybody doesn't know. This story is fanfiction. (In case you didn't figure it out already) I already know that a lot of these events didn't happen in the anime or manga. I already know that Uraraka and Bakugou are not a couple in the anime or manga. But that's what fanfiction is. It doesn't have to be relevant to the manga. I know that Uraraka's power in this story is a lot different than her current quirk in the manga as well. So please keep in mind that this is a fanfiction.

And if anyone has any ideas for this story please comment or message me :)

[kristallioness]

Smile for the camera

Summary: Aang and Katara discover the pros and cons of the camera.

Word count: 1,270

Author's note: Written in less than 4 hours. I like how the idea for this prompt slowly developed. When do people usually smile or ask someone to smile? Right, when getting their picture taken. What happens when everything doesn't go as planned? Uncensored footage appears, comedy ensues with the people who accidentally get their hands on it. I'm not sure who has a dirtier mind - me or Katara. And about the ending, Katara and Aang decided it'd be best to bring the second photo and the slightly disfunctional camera back to Sokka. He asked Aang to burn the photo with his firebending. They promised to keep the incident between themselves.

----------x----------

"Do you wanna put this one on top?" Katara asked her 1-year-old son. Bumi looked at the wooden block in his mother's hand with his big light greyish blue eyes. She handed the toy to him and let him place it on top of the tower that already consisted of three others. The toddler screeched with joy and clapped his hands together once he'd accomplished his goal.

"Yay! You did it, sweetie!" Katara mimicked her son and clapped along. She was playing with him in the living room, sitting on her knees on the rug where several toys were scattered. The waterbender rolled a finger across the big red ball by her side.

"Oh, Bumi!.. Catch the ball!" she gave the ball a gentle push and rolled it towards her son, who grabbed it with his tiny hands once it'd stopped between his legs. He gurgled.

"Again, mommy!" Bumi declared, attempting to give the ball a similarly strong push to roll it back to his mother. Katara pulled it closer halfway, pushing it a bit further away from Bumi this time. He happily turned around and began crawling after the toy that had bumped against the couch and stopped a few feet away. The little one screeched again once he'd caught it.

"Good boy, Bumi! Now bring it back to mommy! Come on, bring it back!" Katara praised and coaxed her son to approach her. Bumi gave his red ball small bumps with his forehead to keep it rolling in front of him while crawling back on the carpet where his mother was sitting. Once he'd made it close enough, Katara picked him up and peppered his cheeks with kisses.

"Who's my adventurous little boy, huh? You are! Yes, you are!" she cooed and rubbed their noses together as Bumi went into a giggle fit. Their playtime was interrupted when someone knocked against the wooden frame of the doorway three times.

"Oh! Hey, Aang!" Katara noticed her husband and put Bumi down in front of her. He continued rolling the ball around her. Aang remained standing at the door in an unusual pose, but he smiled at the sight of his wife spending time with their son.

"Hey, Katara!"

"What took you so long? I thought the meeting was supposed to be over an hour ago."

"It was, but I took a little detour through the suburbs. Sokka wanted me to come with him so he could show me another new invention."

"Oh, great.. What is it this time?" Katara rolled her eyes, but couldn't hold back the smirk from the corners of her lips. Aang finally stepped inside the living room, revealing a rather big box he'd been hiding behind his back.

"Ta-da!" he grinned and took a few steps closer so the waterbender could see the weird-looking device better. She eyed it from every visible side and quirked an eyebrow.

"Okay.. What is it?"

"It's called a camera! It takes pictures and immediately prints them out from this opening down here. You know how we'd usually have to see a professional painter to get a painting of our family done?"

Katara nodded.

"Well, now we can capture every moment we want, whenever and wherever we want! No sitting around or standing still for hours while the artist finishes the picture. Just a few seconds and the picture is done for us. Sokka thought that we might wanna test this prototype."

Katara still seemed a bit distrustful of the thingamajig, so Aang offered.

"Do you wanna see how it works?"

"Well.. alright. What do I have to do?"

"Umm, just be yourself? Or, if you want, make yourself pretty and be natural. Oh, maybe hold Bumi in your arms! That'll be cute!" the airbender proposed excitedly, taking a few steps back to look through the lens in order to get an idea of how the photo would look like. Katara lifted Bumi onto her lap, but he became upset and started to fidget in her embrace. He was trying to reach his red ball, which was too far away from him. The waterbender gave the toy a slight push to roll it closer to her knees, the little one immediately calmed down once his fingertips could touch it again.

"Like this?" Katara slightly tilted her head and looked at Aang.

"Hmm.. Yeah, that's great! Just.. one more thing," he pondered and squatted down in front of her. Bumi held out his hands, hoping to receive a hug from his daddy. Instead, Aang pulled a nice lock of Katara's long loose hair onto the front of her chest, running his finger over her cheek as well. She followed his movements intently and blinked at him once he was finished, a loving smile decorating her lips.

"There.. Perfect!" the airbender declared, taking a few steps back to place the camera at the right angle and distance.

"Smile!" he said a moment later. Katara did smile and watch how Aang pressed a button, which made the camera flash a bright light.

"Ow! What was that!? Oh my gosh, I have spots in front of my eyes!" she jumped after having a slight scare and released Bumi to begin rubbing her eyes since she hadn't anticipated the blinding flash. Her son didn't seem to mind at all as he continued playing with his ball in her lap.

"Oops! Sorry, sweetie! I forgot to mention the flash. It's supposed to brighten up everything during the moment the camera takes the picture. But now, let's give it a few seconds and the picture should come out right.. here!" Aang waited while the camera printed out a black-and-white photograph. He grabbed the white edge of the photo and pulled it out, smiling proudly once he saw the nice shot he'd taken of his wife and son.

But then, his smile turned into a confused frown. He slightly folded the corner of the photo and noticed another similar white edge below that one. Careful not to drop the camera in his right hand, he slid the pieces of paper between the fingers of his left hand to reveal the second picture. Aang's face turned red and his grey eyes grew wide. Katara's smile faded away, too.

"Sweetie, what's wrong? Does it look nice? Did I blink?"

"No-no! You two look beautiful, but.. I'm pretty sure the camera isn't supposed to take two different pictures at the same time."

She gave him a puzzled look. Aang slipped the lower photo between his fingers so they could see both properly while Katara put Bumi down on the carpet, stood up and stepped beside her husband. Her mouth fell wide open and a similar blush creeped up on her cheeks.

"Woah..." Katara gasped, slowly raising a hand to point a finger at the second photograph.

"Is that..?"

"Yup.. your brother and sister-in-law," Aang gulped. It was taken in Sokka and Suki's home, in their bedroom to be exact. The intimate moment that'd been captured in the picture was definitely something nobody would ever want to be revealed. The camera, which was most likely placed on the nightstand opposite to their bed, must've gone off by accident and taken the embarrassing photo. Sokka did mention there were some bugs that needed to be fixed, but he must've missed this one since the photo hadn't even come out properly. Aang and Katara simply stared at it in complete silence for awhile.

"I didn't know guys could bend that way," Katara commented.

"Uh-uh.. me either," Aang slowly nodded in agreement. Another moment of silence before Katara added.

"Aang.. we've gotta try that move."