#Although I'm relieved it's probably temporary here

[pinkytoothlesso11]

Hi there! Here's another vampire AU for trollhunters.

• The night before sophomore year of high school, Jim is forcibly turned into a halfling. He does not remember who turned him.

• Barabra had went missing in his freshman year. Due to this, he is living with his Aunt Morgana.

• Morgana is a vampire, but she had nothing to do with her sister's disappearance. However, she used it to her advantage.

• The amulet chose Jim in this AU. Kanjigar was not happy with a halfling Trollhunter, despite Jim refusing to drink human blood.

• Claire and Toby both find out Jim is a vampire at some point. Not sure how. That part is up to you.

• Jim finds out his aunt is a full vampire. When Morgana learns her nephew is the Trollhunter, she keeps him a prisoner.

• Eventually Claire is brought to Morgana, and Morgana bites the girl. She releases Jim from the chains she had him in, but forces him to make a choice.

• The choice was to convert into a full vampire, or she would let Claire die. He chose to convert but refused to join his aunt.

• As a halfling, Jim can hide his fangs. He could only be invited into someone's house if they let him in. Strickler is a full vampire, and Morgana's servant. He switches sides upon realizing Morgana wasn't afraid to use her own family members or hurt them if they refused to join them. Jim only survived his aunt's wrath upon refusing to join because of Strickler helping him and Claire escape.

I do not know if Barabra is eventually found, but she definitely wouldn't be happy to find out Morgana hurt her own nephew.

How the rest of this goes is up to you. I will say this: Morgana is the one who ordered Jim to be turned. Merlin also doesn't find out his own Trollhunter is a vampire until Jim reveals his fangs during a huge argument. Douxie had 'mysteriously' forgot to tell him.

Well at least this time Barbara isn't dead lol.

Even then, her having gone missing for a year can't have been easy on Jim. Since likely if not directly Morgana who has Barbara locked up somewhere so she could try and (unsuccessfully) control Jim and make him one of her vampires, it's someone who equally wants to control Jim. So either Merlin, Angor Rot or Arthur. She would DEFINITELY be found though.

Strickler helping Claire and Jim escape, even knowing he would become a target too goes to show how he cares for Jim (and Claire) a lot. Although unfortunately Jim is a full vampire now. At least Strickler can help him adjust to that transition.

[insanermin]

oh god, can you make my heart stop?

pairing: college!au ellie x fem!reader

warnings: alcohol, uh soft ellie? lowkey nsfw, not really proof read sorry

word count: 1,8k

summary: ellie isn't a huge party fan but ever since you failed your only mutual class she hoped to see you again, and she does. or; ellie is lowkey awkward but you make out in the middle of a kitchen during a house party.

another friday night, another four walls you're not familiar with. ever since you failed this one class, you've been escalating a bit and suddenly you find yourself at every house party there is, but this is just temporary, to 'calm down'.

and for once, the music roaring from the speakers is actually good. although, when did it get so full? earlier, you could comfortably navigate your way through the living room all the way to the hallway, but all you see is bodies and red cups at this point.

so, the genius idea that the kitchen must be a little emptier comes to your mind.

you make your way to the kitchen, squeezing yourself through all the sweaty bodies until you can finally make out a room that looks like a kitchen.

relieved, you lean against the kitchen island.

"guys what the fuck, i'm not your barkeeper, i've been making drinks for 15 minutes now," a voice emerges from right behind you, how can someone speak so loudly over the booming speakers? you turn around, and,

oh.

that is ellie williams. the ellie williams you had literature with, which you failed horrendously. but it's too late to turn around now, she recognises you and a smile creeps up on her face.

"oh? i know you! haven't seen you in a while!" she yells, waving with the red cup in her hand. shit shit shit, not only did you fail the class, ellie knows too, and the worst: you will never see her again. you won't lie, yes, maybe you did have a crush on her but please, who didn't? it's not that big of a deal. and she probably knows that too. well, now you do care. what if she knows that you actually have been watching her this whole—

"hey? ignoring me? that's a little harsh," ellie shouts, her eyebrows rising in disappointment. why does she look so good? maybe you've had too much to drink, but you can't help but observe her.

white, unbuttoned shirt, black tank top.

sleeves rolled up, the tattoo on her right forearm on full sight. her hands are so veiny and big, you're relieved that no one can read your mind.

"no, sorry, just bummed about failing class, you know," you chuckle in self pity. damn, this is depressing.

"can't hear you, come here," she yells, her eyes squinting in order to hear you better, interesting. wait, did she just ask you to come closer? no, you can't, you probably smell like alcohol, you're super sweaty and why is the overhead light on? you will look so unflattering and—

ellie's standing right in front of you. now this was unexpected, you want to take a step back, but you're already leaned against the island. dead end, pretty much. you didn't expect her to be the same height as you, which makes you chuckle.

"laughing at me too now, huh?" you can hear her clearly now, all you can focus on is the way her lips move while she speaks.

"sorry, think i had too much, but how is, uh, uni treating you? doing well?" you ask, never have you ever thought so hard about what to ask during small talk. you see ellie's shoulders shaking, she's laughing. what's so funny? you pout, then realise you're standing in front of ellie williams, that probably looked really silly.

"okay, i see. small talk it is then," she chuckles, her head slightly tilted to the right, studying your face.

"what do you mean?" you ask, because quite frankly, what does she mean? small talk then? what kind of answer is that?

"don't mind me, i'm just the barkeeper," ellie says. god, she's awkward.

in your imagination, she was more cocky but now you can't decide if imagination or reality is better.

but what you don't know is, that ellie has been watching you the same way you've been watching her. the first time you entered class, ellie couldn't take her eyes off of you. you were totally her type and to her luck, you decided to sit right in front of her. she couldn't even concentrate, all she did was observe the nape of your neck and your side profile, well to specific your soft, plump lips. it was disheartening to hear that you failed class and that she wouldn't see you again, so unlike her usual self, ellie decided to go to a house party and forget about you. but here you are and you look way too good for her not to try and shoot her shot.

"can i make you a drink?" she asks, but all you see are her veiny hands.

"i thought you hated playing barkeeper?" you shoot back, is ellie flirting with you? you're confused, however you're liking where this is going.

"for a pretty woman like you, i don't mind," ellie chuckles while her hand briefly brushes against yours. you raise your eyebrow in suspicion, but ellie shakes her head, she'd never put something disgusting in your drink, not yet. ellie makes her way back to her friends, earning dirty looks from them.

"you suck, i'm losing millions of bets because of you," one of them says, but ellie returns only a smile. she finds some vodka and ginger beer, but moscow mule sucks without lime juice. you watch her open the cabinets, looking for something, her arms reaching for the top. they are really toned, you never noticed before. finally, she stops and you watch her hold something round and green in her hands. she cuts it in half, a lime you assume, you have perfect view on whatever she's doing. inappropriate isn't enough to describe what you're thinking and feeling while watching ellie squeeze the juice out of the lime, her fingers entangled in hot mess.

your whole body follows her as she comes back to you, your chest facing her again. ellie holds the cup up to her face, with her index finger on the rim of the cup.

"i spilled some lime juice right here," she taps her finger against the cup while she grins in anticipation. you cross your arms, tilt your head and raise your eyebrow in confusion.

"well, both of my hands are full—" she places her right hand on your left arm, her thumb stroking you gently.

"and you could help me out," ellie continues, her eyes fixated on your lips. suddenly, everything starts to spin around you, you feel the bass through your whole body, you see ellie's chest move up and down, her breath slowing down, slow and steady. anything you do now is a consequence of you drinking too much, you tell yourself. your right hand reaches out for her sleeve, you pull yourself closer to the raised cup, there where ellie's sticky finger rests. she looks you up and down and her gaze is so intense, you can feel your lower body throbbing. realising that makes you blush, you want to look away but you suddenly feel one of ellie's big, rough hand run your body down, leaving goosebumps everywhere. not once did she look away, her eyes still fixated on you, watching your every move. her hand stops right above your hip, pulling you closer. you look back up, move your head closer to the cup that hides ellie's neck, until you're lips are close enough to touch her fingers.

"return the favor?" ellie whispers, her grip tightening around your hips. you gently press your lips against her finger and use a little bit of your tongue, making sure it's completely clean, of course.

"tastes good, lime juice," you chuckle while you lick the lime juice mixed with saliva on your lips. watching you lick her fingers, then your own lips, ellie can't hold back anymore. she wants to know what it feels like to be kissing you, what you taste like. holding you close to her isn't enough anymore, her thoughts run wild. what does your skin feel like? how many clothes does she need to take off to get on your skin? you observe her put the cup on the counter and feel her hand leave your body as she runs it through her hair. you're surprised that you're disappointed that her hand isn't on you anymore, but before that disappointment could settle in, you feel both of them on your waist, pulling you closer than ever.

"if it's good, mind letting me have a taste?" you're even more astonished to see ellie's face turn a bright shade of red, you expected her to be a natural flirt, but she is much cuter this way. with your arms around her neck and hers around your waist, you could swear that heaven must feel just like this very moment. you nod and can't believe she waited for you to give consent, god, she is just adorable. her hands move up to your neck, cupping your face gently, the last thing you see is her smiling before you get a taste of her wet lips. ever since ellie saw you she couldn't stop fantasising about kissing you, she'd wanted your lips on hers for months and she makes sure you feel it.

your heart skips a beat or two, breath shortening, your hands suddenly in her hair. god this is messy. all you can feel is her body grinding up against yours as the bass roars from the speakers and pounds right through you. she slips her tongue in while you breathe in her intoxicating scent. burying your fingers in her hair isn't enough, you need more, and all of a sudden, ellie pushes her pelvis against yours, you inhale sharply. your lips were separated only for a few moments before she pulls you close again, devouring you. never has anyone kissed you as hungry and sloppy as she did and you felt so incredibly weak. and ellie realises that it's too late to stop, she doesn't want to, she wants her hands all over you, she wants you all to herself. She tugs your bottom lip in between hers and grins.

pounding bass, pounding heart, pounding pulse. her lips trail down to your neck, she breathes hot air on you. you roll your eyes back, biting down all sorts of noises you'd love to make at the touch of her lips. rough hands, she gently holds you by your hair and pulls your head to the side. chest to chest, you feel each other's palpitating heart while the throbbing in between your legs has made itself apparent. ellie glances down, there where you need her the most and she chuckles. You shoot her a glare; apologetic eyes return as an answer.

"you wanna take this like, somewhere else?" ellie whispers, her wet lips brushing against your ear. god, she's such a tease. you nod and she plants one more kiss on your lips, takes your hand and leads you through the crowded rooms, dancing bodies brushing against yours, but none of them feel like ellie's. her touch has left you lingering for more and ellie can't wait much longer to have her hands on you again.

a/n: wrote this omw to uni bc there's this one class that has mandatory attendance and i missed twice already,,, third time's not a charm. also this is inspired by 'bellakeo' peso pluma.

[12romy]

32 and 54 please! Chewis!! 🩵 (you are incredible!)

Hi dearie, thank youuuu! So 32 is Pregnancy fic, and 54 is secret relationship... I decided to write something absolutely self-indulging, and went with ALL the clichés XDD

Hope you'll like it, enjoy~

With how often Lewis touches his own belly, he's scared people might end up noticing, but he can't help himself.

He started to show, and it made him feel warm every time he looked at himself. Charles is probably worse than him, anyway. He can't keep his hands off Lewis' small bump every time they're together.

Lewis is so glad the season is coming to an end. He's getting tired, and starts to have back pain - although that could be because of the car. He's taking a year off. The pregnancy was not planned, but a welcome surprise. They both cried when they found out, and Charles still gets emotional about it sometimes.

The news of his retirement - he doesn't know if it will be a temporary one yet - should come out Monday morning, after they both leave Abu Dhabi. The country is not very nice to male carriers.

After long talks, Lewis decided to announce his pregnancy and come out. His relationship with Charles, however, will stay a secret for now. Ferrari was not very enthusiastic at the thought of him coming out.

Lewis knows that Charles feels bad about it, but himself doesn't mind. He hasn't been out for his entire career, he doesn't want to force his partner to come out.

Of course, things don't go as smoothly as planned. During qualifying, Max crashes him out.

Lewis grunts in pain as his car hits the wall, Max spinning off a little further away. Panic hits immediately, and he checks his stomach, frantic. He's fine, he's not hurting, and there is no blood - only then can he breathe again.

He also realises at that point that his left wrist hurts more than it should.

"Lewis!" someone calls, and it should be Bono but it's not, it's the voice of his boyfriend.

Lewis turns his head and realises that yes, Charles is here, running toward him. He wasn't in the crash, why is he…

"Lewis, oh my god, are you okay?" he asks again, close.

"Charles, I'm fine," he replies quickly. "We're fine, everything is fine. Fuck, I'm sorry, you must've been so worried…"

"Don't apologise, it's not your fault!" Charles shakes his head. "I'm so relieved that you're okay… I thought my heart was about to stop when I saw the crash. Let's get you out."

He helps Lewis unstrap and pulls him out of the car gently. Lewis doesn't miss the arm wrapped around his waist and his hand conveniently on his lower stomach.

Max comes to them, then, a confused expression on his face. "You're a medic, now, Leclerc?" he taunts. "What the fuck was that, Hamilton?"

"I'm sorry what?" Charles says dryly before Lewis can speak. He lets go of Lewis, stomping toward Max. "That was all your fault!"

"It was not! Why are you defending him? He's fucking fine, what's wrong with you?" Max scoffs.

"What wrong with-" Charles starts, cuts himself with a laugh of disbelief, then screams. "What's wrong with me is that you crashed into my pregnant boyfriend! You could've killed my child you fucking bastard!"

Before Lewis can stop him, Charles punches Max square in the face, making him stumble backward. Ouch, Max shouldn't have taken off his helmet - actually, scratch that, he's pretty sure Charles would've gone for a kick in the balls otherwise.

"Charlie, enough!" Lewis calls, Charles freezing. "I'm fine, and the baby is fine. I'm gonna get checked at the medical wing, just to be sure, okay? Just continue the quali, I'll be fine."

"No way, I'm coming with you," Charles refuses right away. I'm taking engine penalty anyway, who fucking cares."

"Charles…"

"I'm not leaving you right now. We are in trouble, I bet, with all the cameras around… I don't think either of us should stay alone."

"I have to admit, our plan to keep our relationship under wrap is pretty much busted now…"

"I don't know if I really regret it…" Charles hesitates. Lewis takes his hand, gently. The moment was broken with Max angrily grabbing Charles by the shoulder.

"What the fuck mate, what kind of joke is that?" he spits out, angry. The marshalls arrive to separate them before it can get out of hand again - thankfully. Charles insists on following Lewis in the medical car and doesn't let go of him until they have to get out. His own hand doesn't leave his stomach for a second.

They do an echography first, to confirm everything is okay, and the adrenaline from the crash finally comes down. Lewis is crying from relief before he realises what's happening.

"Hey, don't cry," Charles tells him gently. "It's all okay, now…"

"I know, I know… I think my wrist is sprained, so I'm not gonna race tomorrow."

"You what???" Charles screams out. "Lewis, why didn't you say so?"

"Sorry, I kinda… Forgot."

Twenty minutes later, Lewis' wrist is in a sling, and they are ready to leave. The front of the medical wing is swarming with journalists waiting for them, however, same as the back entry.

It looks like they don't really have the choice but to confront them. At least, their teams had sent them two bodyguards, which will hopefully be enough.

"I'm sorry for this," he tells Charles.

"Not your fault, Lew," he shrugs. "I'm the one who rushed to your car. It might be easier, not having to hide."

"I hope it will be," Lewis sighs.

"You're ready?"

"I am," he says, taking Charles' hand. "Let's do this."

Charles pushes the door open, and Lewis' hand flies to his stomach out of habit. They would be fine, the three of them.

[ramuneempiremtl]

Slave-kun's Happy Life in Another World: Chapter 26

(TN: '"branch chief" has been changed to "guildmaster")

It had been a topic of conversation several times before, but this was my first time meeting the guildmaster face-to-face.

From the looks of him, he was probably in his mid-30s by the standards of my other world. He was wearing somewhat fancy clothes and had a certain air of authority.

He came over here.

But there's something else that's bothering me more.

It's the smell.

It's not as strong as that woman's, but the guildmaster also has a faint, similar sweet scent.

While I was thinking, "Oh, man," it seemed like my master also noticed it, and he began to watch the exchange between the guildmaster and the leader with narrowed eyes.

"Do you think you'll be able to get used to this town?"

"Yes, I'm very grateful that the guildmaster himself is keeping an eye on me."

On the surface, the two of them were speaking calmly.

My heart is pounding.

And the 'proposal to have the guildmaster accompany us to the temporary lodging' went surprisingly smoothly. The guildmaster himself said, "I'm curious about the temporary lodging," and asked to come with us.

The guildmaster didn't seem to know that the employee he had forced on us had been arrested, and he was quite shaken when we brought it up.

He also didn't seem to know that this party was staying at an inn instead of the temporary lodging, so everyone kept quiet about that.

We set off right away.

"Whose child is that? I don't recognize him."

We walked to the temporary lodging, which was apparently quite close to the guild branch. The guildmaster had a single subordinate accompanying him, who seemed to be a secretary.

It seemed like he had finally noticed my presence.

"That child is the one who was a slave at the Cattle Trading Company, as you know. We don't know the details, but are you familiar with the company? It seems there was quite a commotion."

"What… Of course I know. They did a lot of business with the Adventurers Guild, so I was surprised. I didn't know there were so many slaves in that mansion."

"I was also surprised to hear that there are still people who treat slaves so cruelly. This child had a very difficult time, so we decided to take him in with our party."

"Is that so… That must have been difficult."

The guildmaster began to glance at me and seemed concerned about something.

As expected. I hid behind my master, acting like a shy child.

My master's face grew grim as we approached the temporary lodging.

"So then… Did the child say anything? I'd like to know what happened at the company."

"Unfortunately, the child is unable to speak."

"…I see."

He seemed disappointed, but also relieved.

Are you worried about me leaking information?

You probably won't have time to worry about that soon.

As we talked, we arrived at the temporary lodging.

It was a sturdy two-story house made of stone and wood, a common type in this town. It also had an open yard, so it might indeed be a good place for the party to rent temporarily.

"…Oh, right. There's one more person accompanying us."

The leader tapped the ornament on his wrist.

Squish.

Something oozed out and moved around for a while before taking on a human form.

What the heck?

A person came out of the bracelet!

I almost screamed in surprise.

I'm really glad I can't talk.

"Greetings, guildmaster Makim of the Sansa Branch of the Adventurer's Guild. I am 'Nameless Errand Boy.' I will be accompanying you, but please treat me as if I were not here."

A man with black hair and an unremarkable appearance bowed slightly to the guildmaster. He also gave a slight nod to me, who was clinging to my master's belt.

He was a strange person with an androgynous appearance and voice. I wonder if he's really human.

The branch manager was even more surprised than I was. He was rolling his eyes and gaping, expressing his surprise with his whole body.

Do you know the true identity of this person (although it's doubtful whether he's even human)?

"W-wh-what are you…the royal order!?"

"This isn't the place for such a conversation. Guildmaster, would you please unlock the house?"

"What? You must have a key too, right?"

"No, we returned the key to this house to the union. We haven't been in the house."

"What the…?"

"It's the first time I've seen it, so I'm really looking forward to seeing what kind of house the guildmaster highly recommends."

The leader smiled broadly and spread his hands as if to say, "Come on in."

The branch manager, who was sweating profusely, looked a little pathetic.

The leader is really scary when he's angry.

I felt a little cold, so I huddled close to my master.

[outrunningthedark]

HOLY CRAP! JFC! SWEET HOLY MOTHER OF GOD! What was this finale?! I mean SOOOOOO much amazing - like straight-out-of-fanfiction - Buddie content...not gonna mention all the stuff I didn't like....but Tina...Eddie made Buck Chris' legal guardian! Buck staying with Chris during Eddie's hospitalization! Eddie called Buck 'Evan'! which I didn't know how much I needed until now 🙏🙏🙏 in a sense I can't WAIT for season 5....but then again I'm kinda scared seeing some of the writing directions Tim&co decided to take (with TK and Buck) ...even if they are temporary 🤔

SO MUCH GOOD STUFF TO SCREAM ABOUT! 💖 Buck becoming visibly angry and rolling right under the fire truck 💖 Buck lifting Eddie into the firetruck with what seemed to be little effort (I want those bloopers 👀) 💖 "Stay with me, okay?" 💖 "Are you hurt?" *Buck suddenly remembers he's covered in blood* *doesn't want Eddie to worry about him* 💖 The way Buck's anxiety was seeping through his words as he said "We're so close. I just need you to hang on." 💖 "You okay, Buckley?" "No." 💖 The view of the universe poster in Christopher's room as Buck talks 💖 "Your dad is tough as nails. He's a fighter, right?" (Wow, Buck. Does Eddie know you admire his strength?) 💖 Buck allowing himself to cry in front of Christopher once he finds out Eddie's surgery was a success 💖 Buck and Chris literally leaning on each other for support 💖 The revelation that Buck is staying at the Diaz house while Eddie is recovering in the hospital 💖 Christopher teasing Buck about his loud snoring 💖 Buck telling Carla "The team feels off without Eddie." 💖 Buck being angry with himself that he "couldn't do anything to protect [Eddie]" 💖 The kiss being immediately followed up by Buck running to see Eddie and sharing a relieved smile 🥰 💖 Christopher getting to talk to his dad 😊 and Carla reassuring Eddie that she and Buck have everything under control 💖 Buck telling Eddie that Carla offered to have Christopher stay with her, but Buck wanted to maintain a sense of normalcy for him and decided to stay until Eddie got better 💖 "I kinda lost it when I told him you got shot. I should've held it together." BUT YOU COULDN'T. BECAUSE IT'S EDDIE. 💖 "You were there for him when I couldn't be. That's what matters." 💖 "I think it might have been better for him if I was the one who got shot." Eddie: *is annoyed* 💖 Buck driving Eddie home from the hospital 💖 "It's in my will that if I die, you become Christopher's legal guardian." ----PAUSE---- BUCKLEY-DIAZ FAMILY IS OFFICIALLY CANON!!!! 💖 "My attorney said you could refuse." "You know I wouldn't." "Nah, I know you wouldn't." 💖 Eddie made Buck Christopher's other legal guardian knowing his family would probably fight for custody, but he trusts Buck to fight back 💖 "No one will ever fight for my son as hard as you. That is what I want for him." 💖 Why is Eddie telling Buck this information NOW when he changed his will a year ago after almost dying in the well collapse? "Because, Evan. You came in here the other day and you said it would have been better if it had been you who was shot. You act like you're expendable. *audible sigh* But you're wrong." 💖 Buck watching his boys reunite at home Heteronormativity aside... I had a good time! BT becoming a couple just as Tim is being less than enthusiastic about EddieA*a makes sense, annoying as it is. Now it's Buck's turn to be involved with someone else while Eddie is on the outside looking in. Although, given what has transpired in the last 24 hours, I am not expecting the Buckley-Diaz boys to suffer as a result. Their interactions will carry a different vibe now that Buck knows he's basically Christopher's other parent. Girlfriends come and go, but that family is forever.

[blackdiamondwrites127]

Epilogue

The epilogue in the ‘Mending Bridges, Meaningful Bonds’ collection.

Fernando and Isabel go on a beach trip with their children.

Credits:

@spooner7308 for beta reading this and giving me handy writing tips!

Characters:

Isabella I of Castile, Ferdinand II of Aragon, and Juan Trastámara belongs to @weirdbutdecentart

Isabella Trastámara belongs to @lexartsstuff

Juana ‘La Loca’ de Castile belongs to @ellielovesdrawing

Maria Trastámara belongs to yours truly

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

“Do we not have news about the admiral?”

“We do not.”

The royal couple held hands as they strolled around their new palace in Granada. They had recently conquered the beautiful city and have destined it as their new vacation home.

“I predict nothing good if the winter falls on him at sea,” Fernando said.

“Have faith. How hard have you tried to recover Roussillon and Cerdanya. And now you are going to succeed,” Isabel said.

“If God wills it.”

“He shall. And Colon will return. God rewards the perseverant.”

“It is possible. At the moment, at the moment, my troops are waiting at the border in case the Frenchmen backs down,” Fernando said. His wife shook her head.

“No such thing will happen. These are new times for our kingdoms, let us enjoy them,” she said. They stopped at the entrance of a room where their children were.

Juan had little Catalina sitting on his lap. His dog, Bruto, is sleeping by his feet. He was teaching her how to read. Isabella was looking over María's shoulder. Teaching her how to write in cursive. Juana was practicing her musical skills on her brother’s lute.

Smiles came on the parents’ faces.

“Look. We owe this happiness to the peace that has cost us so much to get. It is our first duty to make it last.”

"Found anything?"

"Nope. It's like they never went to the beach at all. Which is weird considering they live close by."

Maria sighs and shuts the old wardrobe closed. Her and Juan had been looking for their parents' swimming outfits for the past twenty minutes now.

"What now?" Juan asked.

"You have some extra swimming trunks right?" Maria asked. Looking over at him.

"Yeah but I don't know if it'll fit padre though," he said. “It’s worth a try than nothing. I’ll go see if Bella has a spare bathing suit that can fit madre,” she said.

“Alright. I’ll go and help Juana with the food.”

The two split up once exiting the master bedroom. Maria goes upstairs and Juan goes to the kitchen where Juana was.

“Any luck finding anything?” Juana asked as her brother joined her to help in preparing food.

“Nothing. Maria suggested we lend them ours though,” Juan said. Taking over in frying the eggs for Juana so she can focus on making sandwiches.

“Will ours even fit them?” she asked. Putting the finished sandwiches in ziplock bags.

“I think padre can fit in one of my swimming trunks and madre can probably fit in one of Bella’s bathing suits,” he said. He placed the fried eggs on a paper towel covered plate to soak up the extra oil.

“That could work. Hopefully they’ll like the trip to the beach,” Juana said. Putting their prepared food into containers before placing them in a large plastic bag.

Juan’s phone rang and he went out back to take it. Maria had come back down, carrying some of their bags with her as well as a mini cooler. Juana raised an eyebrow.

“Since when did we bring a mini cooler?” she asked her younger sister.

“We didn’t because Bella bought this back in Barcelona to contain her cans of Monster,” Maria said, opening the mini cooler to show about a dozen cans in there.

Juana shook her head. “She’s going overboard with this addiction,” she said.

“Which is why I’m getting rid of it,” Maria said. Closing the mini cooler.

Juan comes back inside after taking his call. “Hey guys! Bella just called and...what do you have there?” he asked when he saw what Maria was holding.

“This, querido hermano, is Isabella’s secret mini cooler filled with cans of energy drinks,” Maria answered.

“Um...okay...but Bella just called me and told me that they’re already packing up their wares in the market so we should hurry and get everything in the van,” Juan said.

“Oh right! Let’s get moving!” Maria said.

“I’ll take that!” Their brother took the mini cooler and shuffled off outside.

The three got the things they needed for a beach trip ready in the van and waited on the front porch for Catalina and Isabella to come back with their parents from the village market.

“Juan, what did you do with the mini cooler?” Maria asked her older brother.

“I got rid of it. Threw the cans away and put the mini cooler in the front shed,” Juan said. His sister nods in approval.

“Here they come,” Juana said as he spotted Isabella opening the gate to let the truck. Fernando drives the truck in the property. Catalina, who was sitting at the bed of the truck, jumped off.

“¡Hola! How was the trip to the market?” Maria asked as she, Juana and Juan stood up to greet them.

“It was alright. Everything managed to sell out this time,” Isabel said as she got out of the truck.

“Oh good! Does that mean you don’t have any more chores to do?” Maria asked.

“Yes. We can relax for the rest of the day,” Fernando said. Rounding the truck to put away the table and crates to the shed.

"Great! Hop in the van because we're going to the beach!"

"The beach?" their parents asked. Their children nodded.

"But what about the farm? Who would look after it if we're not here?" Isabel asked.

"No worries! Juana managed to get a favor from her boyfriend and he agreed to watch the farm," Maria said. "Maria! Hernando is not my boyfriend!" Juana exclaimed. A blush on her cheeks.

"But we don't even have anything to wear to the beach," Fernando said.

"I can lend you one of my swimming trunks, padre," Juan offered.

"And Bella has an extra bathing suit that madre can wear," Maria said.

Isabel and Fernando looked at each other.

"Come on! We wanna spend time with you guys at the beach before we head off to the airport tomorrow. Make some memories and all that," Maria urged.

She's right. They'll be heading back to England tomorrow. And although Isabel and Fernando were given their contact information so they could still communicate from afar, their children leaving will still be bittersweet.

"Alright then," their father said. "Let's go to the beach," their mother said.

All five children grinned happily. They piled up in the van, with Catalina driving as usual, and got situated. Juana waited by the gate as the youngest backed the vehicle out of the property. She closed and locked the gate before hopping in the passenger side.

“Everyone ready?” Catalina asked. “Ready!” everyone responded.

With that, they drove off to the beach.

The drive to the beach took roughly about half an hour. Once there, Maria got out to pay their entrance fee and rent a cabin for the day.

"Maria is in charge of our vacation budget," Juana said when their parents wondered why Maria was the only one who got out of the van.

While they waited, Juan was whispering something in Isabella's ear and she briefly looked relieved and freaked out at the same time. Juana raised an eyebrow suspiciously at this as she watched them through the rearview mirror.

Maria soon returned to the van after doing payments.

"I got us cabin seven with the mini bar and karaoke!" she excitedly said.

"A mini bar?" Isabel asked.

"It's a small island counter with a shelf full of alcohol," Juan explains.

"We're going all out today huh?" Isabella asked.

"It's our last day here so might as well go out with a bang," Maria said.

"I won't be having much alcohol since I'm the designated driver," Catalina said as she drives up to their rented cabin and parks the van up front. They got out and Maria unlocked the cabin with the key given to her so they could bring their things inside.

The cabin was small but it had everything they needed for their temporary stay at the beach.

"Let's go get changed!" Juan said after everything was put away for the time being.

Isabel and Fernando were lended their children's spare swimwear and they went to go change into them.

Fernando decided to wear a plain white, sleeveless, shirt to pair with the swimming trunks Juan lended to him.

Isabel, however, felt quite uncomfortable with the one-piece bathing suit she was wearing.

"I feel a bit exposed in this. Are you sure this is how...Infanta María! What in God's name are you wearing!?” she exclaimed upon seeing her daughter wearing a yellow string bikini.

"What? This is my swimsuit," Maria said. Confidently flaunting her 'assets'.

Of course, this is a big 'no-no' to the former Catholic Monarch.

"You're basically wearing undergarments! Cover up or change into something more appropriate!"

"Mamá, this is normal at the beach. Some people wear way less than me on some beaches. Look! Even Bella and Catalina are wearing bikinis too."

Isabel looked when Maria gestured to her sisters and sure enough, the two were wearing bikinis as well.

"¡Mis hijas!" their mother exclaimed.

"It's fine, madre," Isabella reassured.

"But you're all exposed!" Isabel pointed out.

"It's normal on beaches. Trust us," Catalina said.

"Everyone ready?" Juan asked as he came out. Wearing only his swimming trunks.

"Juana's still changing," Catalina said.

"I'm done," Juana said. She was wearing a yellow bikini top and swimming trunks.

"Great! Let's go enjoy the beach!" Maria said.

"I am not going out there like this!" Isabel said.

"Alright, fine. Here. I have a shawl you can use to cover up," she said, rummaging through her bag and handing her mother a shawl.

Isabel gladly took the shawl and wrapped it around her hips. "There. Now we can go," she said.

"Alright! Let's go!"

The family heads out to enjoy the sun, sand and sea.

Catalina brought their beach ball out and played beach volleyball with Juana, Fernando and Juan. Isabella took their mother to the water for a swim. Maria decided to get some tan on while watching her family play around.

"So how do we play this game?" Fernando asked as he stood next to his son, opposite Catalina and Juana.

"It's simple! We just hit the ball when it comes to us and prevent it from landing on our side," Juan explained.

"Alright then. I'll follow your lead."

With that, they started the game with Juana serving the ball.

Meanwhile, Isabel and her namesake were having fun splashing about in the shallow water.

"This is so much fun!" Isabel said.

"I know! The beach is one of the best places to go to during the summer," Isabella said.

"Oh look! I found a shell!" Her mother declared as she picked up a small, pink shell.

"Ooh! Let's collect shells along the shore and maybe we can make them into little souvenirs!" Isabella suggested.

"That's a great idea!"

The two Isabellas then set off to go find sea shells. After the game, Fernando decided to take a break and went to sit next to Maria. As he made his way over, he noticed a group of young men bothering her while she laid on her stomach. The ties of her bikini top undone.

His protective paternal instincts went on high gear as he marched his way to them.

"¡Hola hermosa! Wanna have some fun with us?" one of the young men said.

"No, gracias, chicos. I'm not interested. Now please leave me alone to tan," Maria said dismissively.

"Come on, hermosa. We promise it'll be fun," another one insisted.

Fernando grabbed a discarded shawl and draped it over Maria's back before standing in front of the group of young men. Arms crossed over his chest and glaring at them.

Like the soldier king that he was.

"Papá! I was tanning!" his daughter complains.

"She said she's not interested. Ahora deja a mi hija en paz," he said.

Or rather commanded.

The group scrambled away once they realized that this man was the father of the girl they were trying to flirt with. Maria sits up and fixes her bikini top.

“You didn’t have to scare them off, papá. I was fine,” she said.

“You and I both know that they wouldn’t leave you until you agreed with them,” Fernando said.

“I know. I’m used to getting hit on like that. Especially on a good day but I still stay strong on my answer being ‘no’.”

“Even so, Maria. You should be cautious around strange men. Especially when they're in groups like that.”

Maria sighs and just shrugs. "There goes my tan, I guess," she said. Standing up from her beach towel. Dusting off sand from her lap before wrapping the shawl around her hips. "How are you liking the beach so far?" She asked. Following her father back to the cabin to get something to eat and drink.

"Aside from the encounter with that group earlier, it's been fun so far. Your madre and I really needed this break," Fernando said. Walking alongside his daughter.

They reached the cabin and went inside. Maria got behind the mini bar to fix them some drinks while Fernando looked for something to eat. The others soon joined them when the weather got too hot. They had lunch together and sang karaoke. Maria and Juan fought over who gets to sing the next song while Catalina yells at them to give their parents a turn.

Isabella used this opportunity to go to the kitchenette, sneak a can of Monster from her mini cooler, that Juan did not get rid of, and pour it into her empty glass.

"Bella, where did you get that?" Juana asked. Coming up behind her.

"Gah!" Her oldest sister squeaked in surprise and almost dropped her drink.

She had been caught.

Juana looked over her shoulder and raised an eyebrow when she saw the mini cooler. "I thought Juan got rid of that cooler," she said.

"Uh...I can explain?"

"Oh please do, querida hermana," Maria said as she came up behind Juana. Arms crossed over her chest and an unamused look on her face. "Please tell us why you have that mini cooler when-" she turns to shout, "-Juan!-" then faces her sister again, "-told us that he got rid of it?" she finished her question with a sinister sweet tone.

Now this was just not fair! Isabella was being ganged up on.

She held her precious mini cooler protectively in her arms as she tried to think of a strategy to escape her sisters that were easily towering over her.

Juan came to her rescue when he snuck up behind his two younger sisters and had the genius idea of covering their eyes from behind.

"Run! Run, Bella, run!" he said. Isabella did just that and booked it out of the kitchenette.

"Bella, come back here!" Maria shouts after her as she escapes her brother's hold. She ran outside after her oldest sister with Juana in tow. Juan went after them to stop them from catching their oldest.

Isabel and Fernando were very freaked out when their four children started to chase each other outside the cabin. Screaming and shouting at each other.

"W-What's going on? Why are they fighting?" Isabel asked. Looking outside through the open door.

"Don't worry. They're fine," Catalina nonchalantly said as she flipped through the songbook. Looking for a song to sing.

"But they're fighting!" Fernando pointed out. Confused as to why his youngest is so nonplussed by her older siblings fighting over a mini cooler.

"As long as no one is drowning the other at sea or burying them alive under the sand then we're all good," she said.

Isabel and Fernando looked at each other in worry.

The chase came to an end with a compromise between the two parties. Isabella would be allowed to keep her energy drinks and mini cooler but with each can, it corresponds to a day where she would not have any Monster whatsoever. That means she'll go twelve days without a Monster once they land in England.

Isabella accepted the compromise, though rather with much hesitation.

The weather became suitable to go back out again and the family got back to doing their activities. Fernando and Isabel got to try out new things that day and building sand castles seemed to be their favorite so far.

"Hey guys! Let's take a photo!" Maria said. Setting up her camera on a tripod.

"A photo?" Isabel asked.

"Yeah! A little souvenir for you guys. Now stand close together in the shot," she instructed as she set up the timer in the camera.

"Photo time!" Juan said and got behind their parents. Wrapping his arms around them and pulling them close together.

Isabella and Juana stood to Isabel's left while Catalina positioned herself on Fernando's right.

"Alright everyone! Smile!" Maria rushed over to Catalina and grabbed her arm in time for the timer to run out and captured the moment.

"Maria! I almost fell!" Catalina exclaimed. Balancing both hers and her sister's weight before they could topple over.

"Let's see how it looked!" Juan said. Going over to the camera to see the photo taken.

The family gathered around to see and the results were pretty good.

"I like how it came out," Fernando said.

"Yeah! Let's have this printed and framed!" Isabella said.

"I think there's a photo printing shop nearby here," Juana said.

"I'll go get this printed later. Now let's get back to having fun!" Maria said.

They agreed and continued on with their day. When the sun was starting to set, they all decided to take their showers and change back into their civilian clothes. They decided, last minute, to have a bonfire jamming session. They rented a guitar and Fernando and Isabella took turns playing it while the others sang to their heart's content.

It was dark out when they packed up their things and took them to the van. The drive back to the farm was quiet as Maria, Isabella, Juan, Fernando and Isabel were all sleeping and Catalina and Juana were the only ones awake.

"So what do you think of this trip?" Catalina asked quietly. Focusing on the road in front.

"As a whole or just these two weeks in general?" Juana asked back.

"As a whole," the youngest answered.

"The first few days in Barcelona were fun. Then things changed when we got to Girona and discovered our parents living in the countryside," the older of the two said.

Catalina nodded in agreement. They initially planned on visiting several beaches near Barcelona and Girona was their first stop. Their plans changed when their van broke down in the middle of the countryside and met their reincarnated parents.

"What about the two weeks? What do you think?" the former queen of England asked.

"It was...a rollercoaster of emotions for sure. The first week was just full of tension and it was almost unbearable. But then the second week slowly got a lot better. At least a little bit. Well, except for the time you punched padre in the face and I had a huge meltdown in front of madre," said the former queen of Castile and Aragon.

"Yes but look how far we've come in just a span of two weeks. Sure it's not entirely fixed yet but it's a start," Catalina said and Juana nodded in agreement.

"It is a start and frankly, I'm glad that our parents made the effort. Having a complete family again is nice."

"Indeed."

.

It was late at night when they had arrived back at the farmhouse. Catalina and Juana woke their parents and siblings up so they could sleep properly on proper beds.

Come morning time, Fernando and Isabel went with their children to Barcelona to see them out to the airport. Tearful goodbyes, tight hugs and promises of a second visit were shared.

The parents watched as their children walked to their gate leading to the plane they will be boarding. Fernando held Isabel close as she cried on his shoulder.

Two weeks of being with their children felt like years and now they're leaving the nest again.

At least now, they have the means and technology to communicate with them from afar.

When they got home that night, they noticed something hung up next to their wedding photo. Upon closer look, the couple couldn't help but smile.

It was the photo they took at the beach yesterday.

Maria had it printed, framed, and had hung it up on the wall before they left that morning. It was a last gift to their parents as thanks for housing them and making the effort to get to know them again.

The photo will forever be a reminder of the family they had gained over the span of two weeks.

And they had a feeling that the family would grow in time.

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

Thank you so much for reading this collection! This is possibly the biggest writing project I've ever done and I'm very proud of the result! Again, thank you for the undying support.

[xxisxxisxxis]

Gateway Drug | Part Sixty-Five

A/N: If you didn't see my post yesterday, I decide to break this chapter into 2 chapters. The preview for this chapter is included in the next chapter.

Words: 3.7k

Warning(s): Explicit language, mentions of drug abuse

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I blink my eyes open to see Izzy standing over me, my brows furrowing at the sight of him, confusion filing into my mind.

“Izzy.” I croak out, closing my eyes again for a moment.

“Viv.” He replies.

"What're you doing here?" I groan, tiredly.

"A girl I hooked up with last night lives in this neighborhood." He tells me. "Karen let me in."

“Of course she did.” I mumble, sitting up with another groan, and he sits on the floor next to me, pulling a cigarette out of his pocket, lighting it.

“So, like, what happened?” He asks me, looking around at the shithole mess I made last night and I lick my cracked lips, feeling the tightness of dried, mascara coated tears that have glued to my face, and let out an exhausted breath.

“You ever walk into your house and wonder ‘exactly how many surfaces did my husband and his mistress possibly have sex on’?”

“Nope.” He replies, blowing out smoke, and I glance at him.

“Well, that’s what happened.” I reply, sighing. “I thought I was doing good, Izzy. I really thought we were getting better. And we weren’t. It was all bullshit.”

“Trust me, Viv, I’ve fucking been there.” He mumbles.

“I gave her a key to my house.” I repeat what I told him earlier and he looks at me for a moment, looking as if he doesn’t quite know what to say. “I might as well have just handed him over to her and said, ‘he’s yours, have at it’.” I add, letting out a chuckle, although it’s not funny. “I’m not like her. I act nothing like her. I haven’t accomplished as much as she has. I’m not established like she is. I look nothing like her--”

“--She’s a ten but the drugs make her a five. And her being batshit crazy knocks her down to a solid two...on a good day. You’re a ten. Your niceness adds two points, your patience adds two more points, and your crazy is hot, which adds five more points. So technically you’re a seventeen. Don’t compare yourself to a fucking crack addict when there’s barely anything left of her to compare to.” He orders sternly, and I push a strand of hair behind my ear. “And the only thing she can say she’s got on you, is screwing your husband, and she brags about it because strung out Nikki Sixx is obviously a prize.” He sarcastically states and I smile a little. “He didn’t cheat because you weren’t enough, Viv. He cheated because he’s fucking stupid and the drugs just add to it. I assure you, if you were ugly or something, none of us would wanna fuck you. But we do.”

“Gee, thanks, Izzy.” I flatly say, furrowing my brows slightly, and he nudges me with his elbow.

“You’re a seventeen.” He reassures me, smiling.

“See, this is what I would’ve appreciated hearing the other night.” I inform him.

“I was an ass the other night.” He admits. “I’m sorry for yelling at you...and there’s nothing wrong with you not picking up on our hints that something was wrong. You just see the best in people sometimes when they’re fucking shitty, is all.”

“Trust me I’ve learned my lesson.” I scoff.

“No, don’t let this bullshit ruin a good thing. You can still see the good in people and try to be positive about them, just use a little discernment from now on.” He shrugs and I wipe my eyes as he takes another drag of his cigarette.

“Did we just have a moment, Izzy?” I ask, and he furrows his brows and looks at me.

“No.”

“I think we did.”

“No, we didn’t.”

“I think we did. I think we just got a little closer in our friendship.”

“Nope, I don’t think so.”

“We did.”

“We didn’t.”

“I love you and I’m glad we’re friends.”

He just looks at me, trying not to smile, before getting a serious look on his face.

“It’ll be okay, Viv.” He assures me, genuinely, and I nod.

“I know it will be, I’m just kinda scared to go through the hell I’m gonna need to go through in order to get to the ‘it’s okay now’ part.”

“I know you are.” He tells me, exhaling more smoke. “I know you are.” 

That’s the thing about Izzy: a raging jackass when he wants to be, and quiet for the most part, but when he gets serious about something, it’s genuine and hard to ever forget.

Once Izzy decides to go home, I’m staring at the letter from Playboy, eyeing the number left at the bottom of the page for their project manager.

“Just call and see what they say.” I tell myself, taking a deep breath, my palms starting to sweat.

I dial the number and it rings a few times before someone picks up.

“Playboy Enterprises, this is Erika.”

I convince myself to calm down and ease the nerves bunching in my stomach before I reply.

“Y-Yes, this is Vivian Sixx. I got a letter from you guys?”

“Yes, they’ve been hoping you would call. Give me a moment and I’ll transfer your call to our PM.” She tells me.

“Okay, thank you.”

I wait for a moment as the line cuts out, before it cuts back in again.

“Mrs. Sixx?” Another woman’s voice greets me.

“Yes?”

“This is Danielle Wyther, I’m the one that sent you the letter.” She explains.

“Oh.”

“I take it you’ve made your decision.” She says next and I let out a little sigh, hesitantly giving an answer.

“I’m not comfortable doing full nudity--I mean, I don’t have an issue being nude but, like, I want the important parts covered.” I’m saying before I can stop myself, and I furrow my brows and mouth “what the fuck” to myself for being so blunt.

“...We didn’t expect anything different from you, Vivian, no worries.” She tells me and I let out a relieved breath. “We’ve already prepared for more tasteful photos.”

She goes on to tell me when I need to meet with her to sign my contract of payment and a temporary NDA ensuring I won’t let it out to the public I’m posing until they decide to announce it themselves, and then we go over when I need to come to Chicago to shoot.

Once a date is set to meet, and for the photoshoot itself, we hang up and I turn around to see Karen holding a cup of coffee, wearing her bedroom shoes due to the glass on the floor that I need to clean up.

“You didn’t hear that.” I tell her.

“I have no clue what you’re talking about.” She replies, obviously knowing what I’m talking about, but clearly not in a hurry to tell Nikki about it.

She just raises her brows and takes a sip of her coffee, minding her own business. 

After breakfast, I try to clean up the best I can, not even necessarily wanting to go to my room to grab a change of clothes and shower once I'm done, but I do. 

I'll just leave our room a shitshow for him since we're coming back for a five day break in like a week anyway. 

I shower and change clothes, grabbing my car keys.

"Where are you going?" Karen asks me.

"To see Sharise and Sky, and then I’m going out with the guys before I get home.” I tell her.

“Alright, be careful.”

“I will.”

I knew Karen wouldn’t say a thing to Nikki about Playboy, and she honestly never said a thing to me about it...but I could tell she didn’t necessarily agree with my decision, because nobody really agreed with it, they tolerated it.

In all honesty they all thought I had lost my mind, finally, because I was Vivian. Goody-goody, Christianly, worst-thing-ever-done-was-marry-someone-my-mother-didn’t-approve-of, Saint Vivian.

“Yes, I’m sure about it, Sharise.” I tell her, Skylar sticking a unicorn sticker to my face, making me smile at her as Sharise raises her brows at me.

“But you’ll be n-a-k-e-d.” She spells out so Skylar won’t catch on. “A-s-s and b-o-o-b-s out. For everyone to see.”

“Not really, everything’s gonna be covered.”

“Barely.”

“But still covered, nonetheless.” I argue.

“Do you want me to go with you?” She asks next.

“I wanna go!” Skylar says, looking at her mom, not even knowing where exactly we’re going, but wanting to tag along.

“No, I’ll probably have Duff or Steven go with me.” She tell her and she raises her brows.

“Oh...Duff...okay…”

“What?” I ask, furrowing my brows a little and she holds back a tight-lipped smile, shaking her head and shrugging.

“Nothing, Viv. Nothing at all. It’s just...you know…”

“...What exactly do I know?” I question.

“You know what you know.” She says back, matter-of-fact, and I think a moment before scoffing out.

“Oh, puh-lease, Sharise.” I hold back a bark of laughter.

“You know where I’m getting that idea, too.” She states and I shake my head.

“You are crazy.”

“Am I? You’ve just recently been hurt, you’re vulnerable, you’re confused, he’s available and attractive, and a complete gentleman--”

“--Which is exactly why nothing is happening because he’s not going to take advantage of me right now.” I tell her.

“Right now?” She widens her eyes and I sigh. “Ah, so you admit something’s cooking, it’s just not being served at the table at the moment.”

“It’s being poured down the drain because he’s got his own thing and I’ve got mine and neither of us are like that with each other.”

“He broke up with his ‘thing’ earlier this year and yours was just caught with a crack pipe in one hand, a needle in the other, and another woman’s mouth on his d-i-c-k, which sounds like a justified divorce to me.” She says to me, picking Sky up, and I let out a breath...because she’s right.

“Look, just think before you jump into the deep end. Just because there’s room for you to land, doesn’t mean there aren’t sharks waiting for you to dive in.” She warns me and I just nod slowly, rubbing my lips together.

I stay at Sharise’s for a couple more hours, before I’m meeting Duff at the Whisky because they’re playing a show tonight.

“Thank you.” I say as a girl in the crowded room moves for me to squeeze by her to get backstage with the guys once the show is over.

I crack open the door, seeing Axl in his assless chaps, his hair going all kinds of directions in it’s teased glory, and he smiles widely at me.

“Hey, Viv.” He greets me, and I step in to see everybody else in the room: Slash, Izzy, Stevie, Duff, and...no, no, that’s impossible.

I furrow my brows, my heart stopping in my chest.

“D-Dad?” I ask.

He’s just as shell shocked as I am, until his face is lighting up, tears coming to his eyes, as he nervously steps to me.

“What’re you doing here?” I ask next, realizing I’m about to cry.

I haven’t seen him in four years. We’ve written to each other every once in a while just to check up, but I haven’t seen him or heard his voice in four years.

“I’ve been coming down this part of town the past few nights when I heard you were back home.” He explains to me.

“Why?”

He doesn’t have to answer this, I know why. He heard his daughter’s husband possibly cheated on with her, and the mistress announced it on national television.

“Well, I couldn't really comfort you through a stupid letter.” He says and a tear rolls down my cheek.

“Aww, Dad." My voice cracks and he gives me a big hug.

"And I'll fly to wherever he is and give him a piece of my mind,  just say 'when' and I'll give him a real reason to go crawling to another woman." He states and I laugh, pulling away to wipe my eyes, getting a good, up close look at my dad. 

His hair is already starting to grey, despite only being forty-one, and his brown eyes haven't lost any of their spark that's been in them even since I could remember. 

He wipes my tears, giving me a reassuring smile. 

"I'm okay, Dad." I tell him, sniffling, looking around at the guys before looking back up at him. "How do you even know them?"

Apparently, several months prior, my dad happened to be in the same convenience store as Steven, who he saw was trying to smuggle a bag of Cheetos up his shirt because he couldn’t afford to buy them so my dad gave him a few hundred bucks and when he told Steven his name Stevie remembered my maiden name was “Kinston” and asked my dad if he knew me. It went from there and resulted in my dad checking in on them from time to time, but none of them ever told me because they weren’t ever really sure how I felt about my dad.

After the guys get changed, we’re heading to get some food  at the Rainbow with my dad tagging along.

“After she watched the Wizard of Oz with her aunt, she’d pretend she was the Good Witch of the South and used to get out of her little bubble baths and run through the house, calling herself the ‘Bubble Fairy’, with her mom chasing after her.” My dad tells the guys and I squeeze my eyes shut, wishing he wouldn’t have told the story of the notorious “Bubble Fairy.”

“Dad, they didn’t need to know that.” I say to him, seeing Duff and Slash trying to hide their laughter.

“Oh, it’s not that bad, Viv, you were a toddler.” My dad insists. “It was precious.”

“Yeah, maybe you should recreate it and let us see if it’s just as precious.” Izzy says to aggravate me.

“Hey, watch it.” My dad scolds him and I smile smugly at Izzy.

“Yeah, watch it." I echo and Izzy narrows his eyes at me.

"Whatever you say, Bubble Fairy." He says to me and I'm kicking at him under the table, before I'm looking at my dad again, taking a sip of Pepsi.

"Change of subject, why didn't you just come by the house?" I ask my dad.

"I didn't know if you would've wanted me to, if you were still trying to handle everything." He adds. "I was going to when I heard you had a health scare, but I didn't want to overstep any boundaries."

"Dad, I wouldn't have minded." I assure him, shaking my head a little. 

"Well, how much longer are you going to be in town?" He asks.

"Um, I'm flying out tomorrow for about a week, but we're supposed to be coming back home for a break." I explain. 

"'We're'? He's coming back home with you…is he staying with you?" He questions and I blink a couple times. 

"Well, y-yeah, we're still married, dad, so we're gonna be staying in the same house." I explain. "Especially since his manager thinks it's best if we play it off to the public and the media that the situation was a misunderstanding." 

"How the hell does one 'misunderstand' being engaged to a married man?" He asks, and the guys raise their brows.

"Well--"

"--I'd rip his manager a new one and tell him to use it to let out all the extra shit he's full of." 

My eyes widen, and I'm shocked, because I've never heard my dad this angry. 

"Dad, it's okay. After the tour if we want to file for divorce, we will."

"When is the tour over?"

"Next spring."

"Vivian, do you have any idea how long divorce takes to be finalized?" He asks and I rub my lips together. "If you genuinely want to get divorced, I suggest filing now so you can almost be done with it by the time the tour ends." 

"We've tried. She won't listen." Axl states, lighting a cigarette and I glare at him. 

"I'm weighing my options, dad." I say.

"And what's he doing?" He asks next. 

"Shooting heroin and screwing groupies." Axl interjects again.

"Axl." I snap. 

"Dude, c'mon." Duff lightly says, not amused with his suggestion. 

"What?" Axl looks at us. "Coming from a dude, infidelity is like cockroaches. For every one you know about, there's a hundred more you don't know about." 

"Dude!" Stevie scolds him, looking at him like he's lost his mind. 

"So we're just gonna pretend there's no chance that Vanity isn't the first chick Nikki's been with in the six years they've been together?" Axl keeps going. 

"I'm going to the bathroom." I mumble, getting out of the booth, trying not to think about the possibility of Nikki cheating with multiple other girls, but knowing it isn't too far-fetched to consider it.

After a couple minutes of wiping tears in the bathroom stall, I hear the door open, and wait to hear the clicking of heels on the tile floor, but instead hear heavy footsteps.

“Viv?” Duff asks and I let out a relieved sigh, sniffling.

“I’m fine.” I say to him, despite it not sounding convincing in the slightest.

“No, you’re not.” He tells me and I roll my eyes, opening the stall, looking up at him.

“I am.”

“There’s no fucking cameras around, you know that right?” He raises his brows and I exhale softly, throwing my wet, snotty tissue in the garbage can, stepping to the mirror to fix my face the best I can.

“I’ve thought of the possibility of him having others.” I admit, wiping the running mascara from my face as he leans against the stall’s fixture and looks at me in the mirror. “I’ve thought about it, and it’s one of my worst fucking fears is hearing this whole time there’s been girls left and right that’s he’s managed to sneak past me. I don’t like it, but I have thought about it. I’m not oblivious to that possibility.”

“I know you aren’t.” He nods.

“But he’s all I’ve known.” I tell him, taking a deep breath. “He’s all I’ve known and he’s all I’ve got and if I look for any more trouble, I’m gonna find it, and I’d rather not repeat this cycle of feeling like the biggest fucking idiot, so if we can just skip the conversation altogether I’d be really appreciative of it.” I state, turning to face him.

“Got it.” He promises. “And Axl doesn’t mean anything by it, Viv, alright? He just misses the mark when it comes to communication.” He shrugs. 

“I suppose.” I sigh out. “I’m sorry, you’re probably tired of me crying.”

“I wish you wouldn’t cry because I don’t like to see it, but I think you have every reason to, right now. I’m just happy you’re not completely losing your shit like I expected you to.” He explains and I raise my brows.

“Define ‘losing your shit’.”

He looks at me with raised brows.

“What did you do?” He asks me, amused.

“It’s not really what I’ve done...more so what I’m going to do.”

“What’re you going to do?”

“...Playboy sent me a letter, offering $40,000 for a cover shoot and interview, and some pictures to go along with it.” I watch as his eyes widen, and he gets an uneasy look on his face.

“Viv, you aren’t, like, the Playboy type, though.” He points out, worriedly.

“Well, no, I’m not, and I know that and they know that, so when I called just decided to do ‘tasteful’ nude shots.”

“‘Tasteful’ by Vivian standards, or ‘tasteful’ by pornographic magazine standards?”

“Vivian standards. Naked, but none of the good stuff is showing.” I state.

“Oh, okay.” He laughs out, nervously. “Are you...sure about it?”

“Well, at first I did it for the money because if Nikki leaves me, I’m not gonna have a penny to my name--”

“--Vivian, if you need money and somewhere to stay if things go to shit, you can just ask me or one of the guys.” He offers, looking like the thought of me posing nude just for money, doesn’t sit right with him because he knows I wouldn’t do it unless I felt I had no other choice.

“You didn’t let me finish.” I tell him, smiling. “But then they said it’d be tasteful and I wouldn’t have to show everything, and now it sounds kinda fun.”

“And what does Nikki think of it?” He asks me an important question and I go to speak, but stop myself, exhaling.

“What Nikki doesn’t know, won’t hurt him.” Is all I can come up with.

“Uh, I think Nikki will know when he sees his wife on the cover of Playboy.” He argues.

“It’s not like I’m gonna be posed on the front with my tits and pussy out, spread eagle for the world to ogle at my anatomy.” I counter and he squeezes his eyes closed, shaking his head a little.

“I didn’t need to picture you like that, Viv.” He says and I feel my cheeks heat up in embarrassment.

“Oops, sorry.” I say, rubbing my lips together. “Hey, there is something I need to ask you, though.”

“Yeah?” He replies, looking at me.

“Tomorrow I’m going to their office here in town to sign the paperwork and stuff, and then I’m going to Chicago for the photoshoot, because conveniently enough, Motley Crue will be in Chicago for a few days, and I was wondering if you’d want to come with me.”

He laughs like it’s absurd.

“You are crazy.” He says, in disbelief.  “You are crazy.”

“Duff--”

“--If he finds out I was there with you, Viv, I just--you are crazy.”

“So, you’re not gonna go with me?” I ask him, scared he’s going to say “no” to avoid pissing Nikki off.

But he completely surprises me when he says:

“I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

[gg-astrology]

Hi there❤ Could I get some positivity for venus in virgo please? I've been feeling kinda down cause I feel like I don't express love and affection the way I'm supposed to

Hey there!! 💜💜💜 Ofcourse!! 💜 I’m here to show you some love 💜💜 And remind/reaffirm some things we have on our schedule today as well! 💜💜

🚫long-post🚫

Virgo Venus 💜⬇️

Note: May defer from person to person depending on what it’s aspected to/house that it’s in

Edited Note: SO I wrote the bullet points first and then the ending part (paragraphs)… I’m going to add the paragraphs first instead (positive reaffirmation) before the bullet points (what to do/things to think about) – to answer your question ok?💜

Virgo Venus: Positive Reaffirmations 💜

Alrighty 💜💜 I hope this helps!! 💜💜 This wasn’t exactly what I started out to do…. but it turned out this way skdjnk

A healthy reminder that: although you don’t express love/affection the way that you see on screen, or what you’ve consider to be ‘romantic’ (alt. what other people have told you to do for them)— you have the potential to BE romantic. Every romantic protagonist probably has a Venus sign of their own– whether it’s Sagittarius, Gemini, Pisces or Aries (character studies!) 

If they all had the same damn Libra Venus– then love stories would be boring because they’d be the same kind of protagonist/story-line right? Those venus sign isn’t always stated– yours too (Virgo Venus) could be highly romantic– if you learn how to use it well (it’s work, knowing urself, knowing editing, knowing how to finalize/finish something–but it’s worth it).

Imagine if the Notebook ryan gosling character was actually a Virgo Venus. The devotion and dedication you have for someone else– the sheer effort and the amount of work you put in to make something that’s practical (a dream house- sorry for the example, it’s the only romantic movie I know ;;) 

Virgo Venus affections might not always be ‘showering on their lovers’ (sometimes) – but the time, effort and devotion you have doesn’t undermine your feelings/truthful honesty and genuine love at all. Your feelings matter to those you love. And the devotion– said or unsaid– is shown.

That’s something to consider– you express in the way that you demonstrate, that you show. That you create and craft and work on. Rather than just always sweetly flirting your way through. This is affection too, and it’s expression of affection as well— words holds little meaning if you can’t back it up, and your meaning is larger than a thousand words sometimes.

No matter how much you think you’re bad at expressing love the way ‘it should be’ –  you’re generous with your love once you give it. You’re generous with your effort, with your time, with your feelings. That you care, and that caring nature of yours shouldn’t be dismissed (you’re valid– and validating yourself here is good for you as practice/self-affirmation as well!).  

It doesn’t always have to be conveyed so openly, just in the way you look at them that you’re there for them. That you know the little things about someone else. You pick up and notices others– things that others don’t even notice themselves. You’re sensitive, and this is how people know you love them is when they love you back as well.

You pay attention to others, just the fact that you’re there– that you listen, and that you’re caring/want to work on something together is amazing. You don’t need a million words or stars to prove to someone you love them, all you need is a heart. And that’s what you have/can show best.

You are so valued and loved, you are so appreciated and cared. Even if it’s tiny– if you ask someone why they love Virgo so much– try to give back an explanation. Just the fact that others try for you, that they give you thoughts and that they actually have an explanation for this (backed up, listed evidence, cited and analyzed) – just the fact that someone tries and thought about you. And your feelings/way of love– and the result is that they love you and here’s why. That’s enough to feel appreciated about.

And perhaps— you may be good at demonstrating love, but what your lover do is explaining things back at you. It’s the way that things tumble sometimes, and I hope this gives you a little more loving 💜  

Virgo Venus: What Do To Help/Understanding Them More 💜 

 you are SO romantic and so truthful with the way you love

In a way, even if you ARE practical and controlled (sometimes self-controlled) you may desire for something to come up– something that fucks you up, messes the entire regime, and draws you deeper and higher from yourself– relieving you from your mortal pains and into the realms of impossibility you chain yourself to. 

You think this is a miracle, an impractical and absolutely boinkers. But with the way you hold yourself back, hold yourself down. By the way you love strongly, persistently and quietly– mayhaps what you desire is a counterpart to your own mind, so you can have someone who sees You and understand You without explanation (free from your chains/understanding). And you can see Them, observe Them and Explain Them on a deeper level as well (care/nurture them in the way you think you’re supposed to)

That’s a kind of wanting power– y know? Power to get to know someone instead of yourself, power to direct, guide and talk about someone besides your own self. Power to focus less on you– and your ‘short-comings’ (so you’d think) in order to talk more about them and their valiance, their brightness, their efforts. Power to hope for a miracle, and gets it– and see them as that miracle for you. In your context/perspective. 

You love quietly, and strongly. You love persistently, but also try to balance out against that. You pick up the slacks, because you think they might need you to. But really– all you need to do is be you and learn to accept that. It’s hard– but that’s all you have to do. 

You try so hard, again, and again and again and there’s always a price at the end of the line– this you keep forgetting, but the price is that honesty and sincerity you keep inside your love, being truly seen and rewarded in the way it’s supposed to– simply, by being you. 

Wholly, fully and appreciatively by others who’ll see you, and by yourself who trusted in this ever since the beginning. 

You yourself– and your own demons aren’t the only people who sees your suffering/struggles, you trip yourself up with momentary pitfalls and pains about your expression/experience with love (self-love as well), but your dedication and your whole-heartedness will push you through (remember, reward at the end of the line)

You micro-manage sometimes, with your feelings/the love that you keep inside of yourself. When you’re down– think of it as being visited by a friend– the stars coming down to greet you and remind you that you Do have feelings/things to figure out– repressed thoughts/emotions, friends, old pals/demons that you need to visit. These are temporary, but it’s there for a reason. Let it pass you, but work efficiently during that period. Because when the sun comes up– you’ll be ready to face the light refreshened in your resolve again.

In order to refresh your resolve (without letting these dark moments go to waste) you’ll have to use your obsession for the productive/better. Usually you use it for your detriment, hitting down on your thoughts, feelings, pushing out effort on things you KNOW by experience is something you should do. Here is an unknown anomaly you don’t know how to proceed – but you can. And you will, work through it better.

See– these moments where you’re visited by the stars, the darkness of the night disguised to greet you. These are moments where you can grab your obsessive (excessive) brainiac ass by the horn and make it WORK for You. Make it Your Bitch. Not the other way round.

What is it saying? What’s your doubt? Does it make sense? Are you being an irrational dick to yourself? This isn’t personal– this is Work. 

You’re your own lawyer, and the client (your inner parts) needs you to bring your A-game and work through this because they’re trying to not get jailed (you-jailed) by the end of it, alright? 

Otherwise, the irrational, depressing, offensive part wins out. And you might lose the case. But you don’t want that do you? Try to win it– for your client (yourself) and think of it this way.

Yes the enemy is overwhelming, the enemy is yourself. You’re your own worst enemy– not the others, not people, not partners. But the client– the ones who needs protection (yourself too) is vulnerable. And you need to protect and defend the client. This is you– fighting for you, in the least personal/obsessive way possible.

It’s hard to be appreciative of yourself, or accept yourself so I’m not asking for that. I’m asking you to use your strength to your benefit. To gain strength/power through it and use that Mercury-ruling Venus to it’s benefit. Change a perspective, tweak your thinking. Make it your bitch, this is Work. If you’re feeling like a slave to something, then you don’t have power over it. 

And in this case, we want the power in YOUR hands so you can do something about it. We want you to get to know this Virgo venus better– so that we can organize, clean up the messes and efficiently work on it better (later) as well. So you don’t hamper down on society, on people, on things that doesn’t matter to you. On emotions you’ve been suppressing, on your own wants/needs you’ve been internalizing. This is for You. Your Moment. Fight for yourself, this is your Work. 

It’s not the same as you suppressing your feelings– this is you confronting something integral/deep inside you but with the power in your own hands. This is your self-empowerment through utilizing your strength to your own benefit. Not to your detriment, and being able to see things clearly– once a blood moon– when you’re being a shit to yourself as well.

That ‘oh shit’ moment when you figure it out is to die for, because that’s the moment where you simplify and blink at it for a while going – ‘was I.. was I really??’ is that moment of balance and clarity that you needed.

Libra/Pisces as their own power, their own pains. Yours is more internalized, self-introspective. Address this, use it to your benefit. Utilize your strength against it– like scraping off scum from the sole of your shoes, you have your own strengths– but your pain over-burdens it. Those pains are scum on your shoes sometimes, so learn how to distinct between the good parts and the bad (see above: the stars visiting you) 

You don’t need to love as showy or as publicly as others– and you dont have to profess your love at every opportunity (you know this already). What you just need to do is show love in your own way– write down what you think/feel and your thoughts/journey. Do a moodboard, do a poetry writing session. 

Communicate– in your own style, the expressions of love you have for others. Keep at it like a hobby, something for yourself to get those feelings out– good or bad, it’s all worth it because you’re truthful and going after what you want (even if it’s passively).

Your sensitivity is a blessing, use it to your benefit. Use it to empower yourself, and empower those around you as well. But learn– how to distinguish between empowering yourself by empowering those around you (or what you think you should do) and empowering yourself and those around you – what they truly need, may not always be what you give them. And what you truly need may not always be what you want to hear/think about. 

You can’t empower yourself by others – and as such, we can’t always ‘stay safe’ and have to experience things that expands our vision of ourselves. Because you are– sensual and loving – you’ll need to empower those in yourself, in order to feel confidence in the ground you stand on and the way it manifests in your life experiences– so you can look at it as a fixed-point, and realize (whenever self-doubt comes along) that you are capable of being loving in the way that you didn’t trust yourself to be (see progress/development and work towards it– self-improvement this way and self-appreciation this way as well) 

You unravel through experience, through time and participation put in through you and them together. You love affectionately, and you love honestly. You’re thoughtful as a person– and what you’ll need to practice focusing on, is that you can’t think you = others all the time.

Empowering yourself by others– is like seeing your good traits because you compare it to others. Your annoyance starts when they don’t do the same, because you’re comparing them to you. At the same time, you also compare yourself to others (people, sometimes not even people but socially/responsibly what you should do) so empowering yourself by others– try to twist that into empowering yourself and others instead.

Again– this is a ‘work bitch’ situation. You gotta work it. You know damn well nothing comes easy or for free– so expecting you to be fair (to yourself/others) is a situation where you’ll have to gain experience and a bigger perspective on, 

Make it your work to empower yourself by critically evaluating how you work, treat yourself, and who you are. Make it your Business to scrape scum of your own self away from your feet. Freeing your shackles, starts here.

Alrighty 💜  💜  💜   So FINALLY I’m done with it!! 💜  💜   Let me know.. what you think? And if it’s helpful?? 💜  💜   I hope this cheers you up, and also gives you something else to think about as well 💜  💜  💜   Anyways it was really fun for me as well!! 💜  💜  💜   

[stressedoutteenager]

hello! I love your stories so much and I wanted to send you a prompt, if you have the time/inspiration and feel like writing it! yousana amnesia/losing your memory AU, please make it as angsty as you can (but with a positive ending) since I'm kinda in a "want angsty yousana mood". If you decide to do it, thank you so much!!

Hey :) Thank you so much for this prompt. This was so interesting because I had to do some research first and I really enjoyed that. (If I made any mistakes about the medical stuff, I’m sorry!)Oh, and this is probably not as angsty as you wanted it to be but it’s harder for me to write angst than fluffy stuff. So I hope you still like it!

Also: This got a bit longer and I know some people hate these long posts but somehow the ‘read more’ thing only works on the computer when I do it so I’m not doing it until I find a solution.

————————————————————————————————-

Hospitals. Yousefhated them. Always. For as long as he can remember.

The smell of desensitizer that coverseverything else. Nurses and doctors rushing around which means someone ishurting and they need to help. People crying over loved ones suffering. Theonly good thing he can think of is people giving birth in hospitals but eventhat is connected to pain. 

He just doesn’t like hospitals.Especially not now.

He’s rushing through the main entrance,asking where he can find who he is searching for while his heart takes turnsbetween beating so fast that he fears it will burst out of his chest and itfeeling like it doesn’t beat at all. His hands are shaking and his voicetrembling when he answers the woman at the information counter when she askswho he is here to see.

“Sana Bakkoush.”

The woman shows him a polite smile andcalmly looks for the right information. Yousef can’t wait. He needs to see her.All he knows is that she was brought to the hospital. Elias couldn’t reallytell him anything because he was having trouble speaking. Even over the phone.

As soon as the woman tells him where hecan find his girlfriend he sprints towards the elevators. After pressing allthe buttons he realizes he can’t wait. He takes the stairs. His stomach feelinguneasy, his head is spinning. Yousef tries to take deep breaths, calm himselfbefore facing her. 

Running through the halls of the fifthfloor, Yousef looks at the numbers on the doors and only after seeing 515 onthe door, he sees Elias sitting outside of it. Elias hears Yousef comingcloser, looks up and then walks over to his best friend before he can bargeinto the room.

“What happened? How is she? Is sheinjured badly? But what happened?”, Yousef starts rambling as soon as hesees his best friend. 

Only then he notices Elias looking likehe is at the verge of tears and he never cries. Not in front of other people.Yousef immediately pulls him into a hug and notices how much he needed that, aswell. Not knowing what is wrong with Sana but her being in the hospital makeshim want to punch something and cry at the same time.

“I don’t know yet. Apparently,after training for a long time under the sun she tripped and hit her head onconcrete stairs.”, Elias tries to explain but has to stop after everysecond word. It’s his baby sister he is talking about. Yousef’s eyes instantlywiden and tears spring into his eyes. Without being able to stop it he imaginesSana like that and his chest tightens. 

“Mom and Dad are inside. And abasketball friend of Sana that saw it happen. They’re still doing tests anduntil they’re done we should stay here.”, Elias puts a hand on his bestfriend’s arm and pulls him to sit. Yousef doesn’t budge though.

He shakes his head furiously.“Elias, I can’t just sit here. You said she hit her head. It could be veryserious. What if..”, he doesn’t even want to finish that thought.

Hospitals freak him out and make himmore anxious than he already is. 

“Yousef!”, Elias says in aserious tone, very harshly. “I called you because I thought it’s importantto you to know that Sana is in the hospital. But it doesn’t do any good whenyou freak out now. I know as much as you and am freaking out here. We’retalking about my baby sister being hurt so please shut up and sit down until wecan see her.”

Yousef knows Elias is right. He needs toget a grip on himself. It’s not about him or Elias, it’s about Sana. Sittingthere, waiting without knowing when anyone will tell them what’s going on makesYousef feel worse and worse. He starts getting a headache, his hands don’t stopshaking, he can’t even walk up and down the hall because his legs just go weak.

Both boys shoot out of their seats whenthe door opens and a doctor and nurse leave. Elias quickly asks if they can goin and gets the green light. They warn them to first talk to the patient’sparents but neither boy listens anymore after they are allowed to goinside. 

Sana’s face lights up when she sees herolder brother and she sits up quickly, making her wince. Yousef winces himself,seeing Sana like that but stands back. All he wants to do right now is run overto her and embrace her in a hug and not let her go but he knows family is moreimportant and he is aware that her parents are in the room. He is soconcentrated on Sana that he doesn’t even realize that her teammate walks pasthim to leave the room.

“Elias, can you please tell Mom andDad that I’m fine and can go home now?” Sana complains and looks very sureof herself. 

Elias immediately looks at their parentsand sees his father shake his head. Yousef sees that too and his stomach sinks.What is that supposed to mean?

Mamma Bakkoush turns to Sana and asks:“Can you tell me how you got to the hospital?”, in a tone that issupposed to proof that Sana cannot leave the hospital now.

Elias and Yousef quickly turn to thegirl sitting in the hospital bed, her hijab not as neatly done as usually, justloosely wrapped around her head. Yousef watches as Sana opens her mouth toanswer but no words come out of it. She looks from her parents to Elias andseems to have no answer. 

What is happening, is all Yousef canthink.

When he saw her sitting on the bed,talking, he felt relieved at first. She couldn’t be in a too bad of a conditionbut now he’s not sure at all. 

Finally, Sana’s gaze lands on Yousef whostood back for a while. She doesn’t show him her dimpley smile, like sheusually does when he sees him. She looks down on her hands for a second toavert her gaze from him. He hasn’t seen her react to him like that since …since before they started dating, two and a half months ago. Yousef gets a verybad feeling.

“Elias, you brought yourfriend?”, Sana addresses her brother and doesn’t acknowledge Yousef at allafter that. His eyes widen first, then he raises his eyebrows and opens hismouth to say of course he would come, he is her boyfriend, but decides againstit when he realizes that she genuinely looks confused about him being there. 

At the same time her parents shake theirheads at Elias and Yousef. 

“Boys, let’s give Sana a bitalone-time.”, her father says and nods for them to leave the room. Neitherof the boys moves. Yousef can’t take his eyes off Sana. Why doesn’t she acknowledgehim? What exactly happened to her? The fear of it being very serious comescrashing down on him and he has difficulties breathing. “Let’s give hertime, now!”

Yousef doesn’t really realize that Eliasdrags him out of the room by his arm. As soon as they close the door to Sana’sroom, Pappa Bakkoush turns to the boys and starts explaining.

“The doctor is not a hundredpercent sure yet but it looks like Sana has transient global amnesia.” AllYousef understands is Amnesia and it feels like his heart stops beating. Shefell after being exhausted from training too much, how could that lead to this.Yousef wrings his hands together and clenches his teeth. “That’s temporaryamnesia. Her teammate described that they had been training a lot under the sunand Sana seemed really exhausted and then she fell and hit her head. Those canbe triggers for the amnesia. From what the girl explained there were no signsof an epileptic attack that would indicate something more serious. We’re goingto see if the memory loss lessens over the next hours, which it should but shemight not remember things dating back about a year for those next hours.”

Elias and Yousef look at each other in horror.Elias is worried about his little sister being in pain, not remembering thepast weeks, months or even the past year. She is such an overachiever and nowshe has temporary amnesia. He doesn’t know what to say or what to do. 

“But she’ll be fine?”, Eliasasks.

“And there won’t be any long-termconsequences?”, Yousef asks, feeling himself getting worried once again.“Right?”, he asks with more pressure behind his voice. He knows he istalking to Sana’s father but he can’t help himself. The thought of Sana hurtingis bad enough and makes him want to literally cry but her having long-termdeficits in her brain? No, that can’t be happening. Her brain is what Sana ismost proud about herself. She has worked so hard to achieve all the knowledgeshe has and loosing parts of that would crush her. He doesn’t even care thatshe might not remember him for now. At least not as her boyfriend. The otherthings are a lot more important to Sana. 

Elias’ father nods and makes the twoboys sit down for them to calm down. “Honestly, I’m thinking the same asthe doctor. It’s most definitely temporary amnesia and that usually only lastsup to 24 hours and her memories should come back in the next hours. She mightjust not remember the incident well or at all. But don’t worry. All we can dois to wait and see what happens.”

Although hearing this from Sana’s fatherwho is also a doctor is relieving, Yousef can’t stop worrying. He doesn’t haveto be a doctor to know that memory loss is not a game. 

“Oh and one more thing: When you goback in don’t pressure her in any way to remember something specific.”,the boys hear but Yousef feels like it’s more directed at him than at Elias,“She has difficulties forming new short-term memories already and doesn’tneed to worry about that as well.”

When the boy enter the room again, Sanais talking to her mother but then turns to Elias and Yousef. Mamma Bakkoushleaves the room after that. When she sees Yousef she raises her eyebrows andasks Elias: “You brought your friend, too?”

Elias just nods, keeping in mind whathis father told him. He doesn’t even want to look at Yousef because he knowsthat this must be killing him.

“How are you feeling?”, Yousefasks with a polite smile.

Not remembering the past weeks ormonths, does that mean she doesn’t remember they are together? She doesn’tremember the first time they hung out alone? The first time they held hands andhugged. The first time she introduced him to her friends and not just as herbrother’s friend.

Sana smiles at him shyly but looks awayquickly, to her brother. “I’m fine. Just have a little headache. No bigdeal.”

Elias laughs at that, to lighten themood. He sees Yousef’s reaction to Sana not looking at him for long and knowshe needs to do something. To make his sister feel better and to make his bestfriend feel better. And to make himself feel better, too.

“Sana, let’s be honest here. Youjust didn’t want to go to Aunt Fatima’s birthday party so you did allthis.”

Sana laughs at that but winces lightly.She tried to cover it up but Yousef’s hand itches to help her sooth the pain inany way and he extents his hand intuitively but let’s it fall next to him whenhe realizes what he’s doing.

“I.. I actually forgot about thatbut her birthdays can be so hard to endure.”

Now Yousef is sure. For now, she doesn’t remember the first time Yousef introduced her to hiscousins. She doesn’t remember the time they went to a dance performance of thekids from his kindergarten. She doesn’t remember that Yousef finally had theguts to do something about his feelings he had for so long.

His heart breaks seeing her try to hidethat she’s not feeling too well.

Yousef doesn’t hear some of theconversation his best friend has with his sister because he was too deep inthoughts.

Sana asks: “What happened again thatI’m here? I’m fine.”

Elias’ face falls for a second but heconceals it as fast as he can. “You fell and hit your head afterbasketball practice.”

“I… okay.”, she doesn’t sayanything more but her hand finds the same spot on her head like before.

Yousef doesn’t know what to do. Hisgirlfriend, who doesn’t remember that she is his girlfriend, is in the hospitalwith what is hopefully just temporary memory loss.

“Do you want to sleep for awhile?”, Elias asks and then they exchange a few sentences in Arabic whichYousef doesn’t understand. Then Elias leans towards Yousef and whispers: “Apparently her hijab coversthe part of her head she fell on and it hurts. So she wants to take itoff.”

Yousef understands what he means to tellhim and quickly nods. Looking at Sana once more and seeing her already closeher eyes, he whispers back: “I’ll be outside.”

Elias shakes his head. “You can gohome and I’ll call you when something changes.”

The next look Elias receives from hisbest friend clearly shows that Yousef is going nowhere and that it’s not even aquestion.  Elias moves and without knowing that he just wanted to sit down Yousef tellshim to not leave Sana alone. Before leaving the room Yousef looks at Sana againand presses his lips together.

She should rest. How he feels right nowdoesn’t matter.But he still can’t help himself. It feels like all the progress they made inthe past months didn’t even happen. They are back to square one. Sana thinkingYousef only sees her as Elias’ little sister. But that hasn’t been the case formany years now. In Sana’s confused look when she saw him, Yousef could see it.He could see that Sana didn’t see him as her boyfriend but only as herbrother’s friend. Now he knows that she had feelings for him even before theystarted to properly talk but it doesn’t make it hurt less now. The worst part:Yousef feels like he doesn’t have a right to feel like this. Sana had anaccident that hopefully has no long-term consequences. How he feels is thesmallest of the problems right now. 

Sana and Elias’ parents are sitting infront of the room and both smile lightly at Yousef as he closes the door behindhim.

“She wanted to sleep.”, is allYousef says with a weak smile before he starts pacing up and down thehall. 

“Yousef, don’t you want to go homeand Elias will call you if something happens. Sana is okay for now.”,Elias father says but Yousef quickly shakes his head. 

“No, it’s fine. I’ll waithere.”

After some time in which Sana is justsleeping, her parents go down to the cafeteria and Elias still sits by his sister’sside. The doctors said she is fine, the tests basically confirmed that it’stemporary amnesia and within a few hours she should start remembering thing,probably older memories first. 

Another while later Elias leaves Sana’shospital room. Yousef’s head snaps up and he looks at Eliasquestioningly. 

“Did something happen?”

Elias can clearly hear the worry inYousef’s voice. Elias has been sitting by his sister’s side for a couple ofhours now, in which she just slept. All that time Yousef didn’t move from thishall. All he did was walk up and down or sit, facing the door. 

Elias shakes his head. “No, don’tworry. I just need to use the bathroom. Maybe you want to go in there? Just soshe’s not alone if she wakes up while I’m gone.”

Yousef immediately stands up and goes tothe door. Before he opens it he thinks of something. Elias is not too far awayyet so Yousef calls after him. 

“Did you cover her hairagain?”

Elias doesn’t know if he should laugh,roll his eyes or cry because his best friend, and his little sister’sboyfriend, is such a nice and thoughtful guy. Yousef just waits for an answerwith raised eyebrows until Elias nods. 

Only then he opens the door slowly andcloses it quietly behind him. He tries to be as quiet as possible and sits downon the chair right next to the bed. His eyes wander along Sana’s body that iscovered by a blanket as if he could see if there are any injuries. 

She’s lying on her back, one hand justat the edge of the bed. Yousef leans forward to take her hand in his but stopsmillimetres away. His hand hovers over hers but he shakes his head andwithdraws his hand. She’s sleeping, probably still not remembering that he isher boyfriend. It would be wrong. 

Yousef rests his elbows on his knees andlooks at Sana. She looks so peaceful when she sleeps. But it’s stillunsettling. She’s lying in a hospital bed. The doctor said she should be finebut that she is still in the hospital makes Yousef feel unsure. Rationally, heknows that it’s just for safety measures but he has never been the mostrational person. Sana is the rational person in his life that helps him seethings from that perspective.

It’s a bit eerie. There is barely anysound in the room. The sun is setting so there is not much light either. But hesomehow gets used to the silence in the room, right when Sana starts waking upand turning in the bed. 

Yousef sits up straight and braceshimself for another comment like: Oh, Elias’ friend is here. 

Sana finally turns to the side Yousefsits at. She blinks a few times and slowly sits up. Her eyes wander all overYousef’s face and all he can think is that she’s going to ask him to leave.Something in the way she looks at him tells him she still doesn’t remember himbeing her boyfriend. It’s okay, he tells himself, it’ll come sometime soon.

“Yousef.”, she says and stops.She tilts her head lightly and furrows her eyebrows. “What are you doinghere? ”, she looks down on herself and along the bed and mumbles:“What am I doing here?”

Yousef tries to sound calm to not freakher out: “You fell after basketball practice and hit your head. But don’tworry, there’s nothing too serious.”

Looking a bit confused Sana nods and herhand goes to touch her head. She blinks a few more times and Yousef wonderswhat the best thing to do would be. She doesn’t know why he would be hereinstead of her brother. If she doesn’t remember the past months.

“Maybe I should go getElias.”, he says and stands up. He doesn’t get to go far because he feelshow a soft hand slips into his and tucks him back. Now he is confused butstarts getting happier and happier by the second. With a step back to the bedhe looks at Sana who smiles at him, showing her dimples, which makes him startgrinning.

“Elias will come soon enough.Having my boyfriend here with me now is good enough.”