#Anyway I actually have ideas in advance for the next 2 days so stay tuned for that :] | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

shaechans · 4 years

Text

a shaechans fic: unexpected company

to: somni ( @insomni-writing ) a merry christmas to you somni!!! anddddd i’ve been your secret santa all this time ahhh i hope you’re surprised. maybe a little???? anyway, apologies in advance cause this is not that good and quite rushed (you may see a few edits after i’ve published ahhh but please pay no mind thanks<3) but i hope you like this. i wrote about a uh uh surprise trope and i know you like horror but i’m not good at those:(( so i wrote this. i also posted a moodboard for this (and one for you special;)) on my other account @a5ahiboyz so check it out!! small note at the end as well yee i talk too much

pairing: lee haechan x somni

genre: strangers! au, fluff, a little angst towards the end and in the middle, kinda boring:((

word count: 3.2k it was supposed to be 2.5k ahhhhhhh

warnings: like one swear word

the evening wasn’t going well for somni. ironic seeing how she was always one to get things done her way or it wasn’t considered an accomplishment to her. but today was...different. it was the day she had met a fellow, claimed master criminal lee haechan.

lee haechan, or by birth, donghyuck—something somni would prefer calling him just to see him clench fists—would be your definition of next door boy. friendly, the type to reach out for cookies with a mischievous grin kinda tune. he carries a lovely, bubbly energy every time he shows his face and is the neighborhood's pride and, at this point, only hope! and he was happy to be so.

except for the fact that he was an evil genius.

thursday, 24th december 21:11pm

flipping through the fiction section of the bookstore, somni let out a sigh seeing the stock of last ones left alive, a book she had been aching to get her hands on, diminishing each day she’d visit the store. she was running out of motivation to actually get a job, like she had considered a few days, and/or steal anything seeing how she wouldn’t be able to afford it anyway.

sighing yet again, she got herself ready to walk back to her ‘house’. rubbing her palms and blowing hot air into them she prepared for the cold and harsh wind to hit her out of her senses again. as she thought of a hot chocolate to warm her system, a certain book caught her eye from the new release section. turning back around, somni rushed over to read through the summary at the back.

all too focused on the book, she missed to hear the last call for the last of customers at the store. and when she did get back to her senses, she heard the last of the keys jingling as the owner locked the store. somni’s head whipped in the direction of the main door, as she made a run for the door, eyes widening to saucers in realization.

after a minute or so of banging and yanking at the door knob, somni let go, sliding down the door before regretting as the cold wind from the loose end of the door nipped at her skin. she sighed loudly at the thought of spending the night in this cold nightmare of a store. alone. until she heard a voice on the other, back end of the store. picking up a book near her as defense, somni carefully walked over, curiosity getting the best of her.

“um hello-AHHAHHHHHHHHKASJAKJHSSJ” the figure keyboard smashed as somni ran over, in an attack stance before smacking the shadow across the head. the mysterious person was now unconscious on the floor as somni panicked over her actions. the person would come to be the very famous, lee haechan!

somni was born to loving parents and got everything she ever wanted. except she could never be satisfied with whatever it was she did receive. don’t get the girl wrong, what she demanded would be given at her feet, but unfortunate for her parents, as easily satisfied she was, twice the dissatisfaction she would spit. it wasn’t until her father snapped at her and abandoned her by the family cottage just 2 miles away from home. but then again, it wasn’t like somni planned on going back home anyway.

and that’s when the idea of theft inspired somni for the “better”.

thursday, 24th december 21:23pm

it had been a little over fifteen minutes to haechan’s passing out, when somni had managed to find water from the storeroom of the bookstore. cradling water—ice cold water, to which she flinched first but then overcame the numbness—from the now tilted bottle on her left hand into her right, as she straight up splashed water on his face. and when he didn’t respond to that, panicking, tilted the bottle upside down, the water drenching his face and shirt.

at that, the boy gasped sharply, shooting up straight like, similar to his widened from when he experienced literal ice cubes fall on his skin. the two stared at each other for a minute, haechan in utter shock and somni in relief/concern from recovering from the fact that she didn’t murder.

somni was first to turn away, exhaling breath she didn’t she had held. “thank GOD you aren’t dead! i couldn’t be with another one” “whAT?” “NOTHING!” somni yelled, turning around and standing up to get away quickly from the wet and cold scene. haechan needed a few extra minutes to process the situation before getting to his feet too and following her to the main door.

“what are you doing?” jumping slightly and holding onto her heart, somni rolled her eyes as she took note of his presence and choosing to ignore his question, she continued to try her luck unscrewing the door with a hard covered book. that went on for five minutes before she gave up and clicked her tongue, and went on a search to find another tool.

haechan could only watch her move around, hands behind his back as his eyes rested onto the tops of the dusty bookshelves. “do they seriously not clean those? christ!” he exclaimed, pulling out a tissue from his jean pocket and climbing to reach the top part of the shelf.

a loud thud and hard covered books falling was what brought somni out of her trance from staring at the toolbox, in a dilemma with what to choose, her indecisiveness kicking in at a wrong time. running out to see a haechan piled under heavy looking books, somni stifled a laugh before trying to steady her voice “are you okay??”

to see how true of an evil genius haechan would reveal later to be what somni would come to realization a little late. to somni, haechan was a comforting sign that destruction would still present itself in the oblivious way and it made her feel a little less lonely than she would on the daily. so much comfort that it was almost like he was following her. following her enough to know that she needed a reassurance of the other evil present in the world.

somni would start low, with convenience stores and slowly then work her way up to malls and finally, her one and only love: the bookstore round the corner. the smell of newly fresh printed pages—which she would walk by simply to get motivated with her next convenience store raid—is what somni would call motivation. which is why she was currently trapped in a bookstore, past their closing time (as she knew), with her new bestie<33, the one and the only, lee haechan.

thursday, 24th december 21:57pm

“so what exactly were you doing doing here?” somni let the question hang onto the dry silence that was meant to be broken anyway. the pair moved over to the floor after somni helped and laughed and cleaned the books off him and out of the way. somni having given up on finding a way out at this point, the surroundings being too cold for her to stand solo.

at this haechan pondered for a bit, before answering “i was on the look for this one book, a series of them actually. my aunt asked, to which i’ve already forgotten the title” he paused to roll his eyes and look through his previous messages, presumably from said aunt.

“percy jackson and the olympians” shrugging as he announced, he clicked his phone ‘off’ before looking to somni, who managed to resist a sequel as he confirmed the title. that being understandable as it was her favouritest book of all time! haechan eyed her, eyebrow raising when she covered her mouth, trying her best to hide the grin etching onto her face.

“what’s with your reaction?” “oh it’s just i-” somni started before thinking; why on earth do i have to let him know. he’s just a stranger after all. she didn’t even know his name.

she didn’t even know his name.

“uh what did you say your name was again??” somni raised her brow at the boy, watching his eyes slowly widened a bit realising they hadn’t introduced themselves. he stuck out his hand, a boxy grin present as he introduced himself “i’m lee donghyuck! but everyone calls me haechan because donghyuck’s too….formal for me.” somni nodded once, before reaching out to shake his hand “i’m somni! it’s nice meeting you donghyuck” she winked at him as he groaned, causing her to stick out her tongue playfully at him.

donghyuck grew up in a family of four sisters and one twin brother. the seven of them lived contently with their father’s pay as police commissioner and mother as a lawyer—training currently for magistrate judge. however, their parents were quite conservative with family traditions and obedience. so when one of donghyucks’ older sisters came out to them as pansexual, she was banished from entering the house. this quick and stern change startling the rest and so they started to fulfill and satisfy with whatever their parents wished for them today.

all except donghyuck.

of course he was scared out of wits even at the thought of running away but after his twin convinced him to do it with him, donghyuck trusted him. and so one night, six year old donghyuck ran away. alone. his twin having ditched out of last minute thoughts. finding shelter in a nearby house down the street, turning to the first house he could. the couple thinking he was in trouble decided to take him in. before he knows, he’s staying with them for years and suddenly he’s eighteen and he goes off to his first day of university.

and then he meets his father.

thursday, 24th december 22:17pm

“why do you even like that book?” haechan asked, a disgusted look taking over his features as somni reached out to smack his leg slightly. “it’s not just a book!! it’s a journey” “jOuRneY” they said in unison, haechan mockingly as he rolled his eyes, chuckling slightly at somni’s offended expression.

since they had no other work to do, the two decided to at least clean the store while haechan was on the lookout for the percy jackson book series his aunt had requested for. somni had let the boy know that she had seen it earlier and was ecstatic to lead the way to them. while she did so, she also rambled on and on about how exciting the books are and how he should give them a try, to which haechan could only ignore.

silence took over after somni had finished summarizing the basic structure of the series when haechan asked the question somni had been dreading to hear “isn’t your family gonna be worried?” minutes of cold emptiness went by before haechan interrupted “uh...hello? are you okay??” he asked, and as somni could see from the corner of eye, worriedly. after taking in her wordless response—and a visible gulp—haechan dropped the question.

“i know mine won’t worry,” he said after a few seconds. “it’s not like they ever did” he muttered looking away. at that, he managed to get somni’s attention and continuing on “my birth parents were quite stern in their ways and so i ran away” somni gawked at this, staring at the nonchalant boy in front of her. “you ran a-away?” haechan nodded.

“when i was six” “wheN YOU WERE SIX?!!?!?” haechan’s heart sped up at her sudden increase in her volume, but nodding nonetheless. “hmm me and my twin decided to just leave. but when the time came, he ditched me so i just left by myself” he paused to search the top shelves for the books. “and obviously they didn’t come after me”.

at that, somni unintentionally reached to touch his arm as a sign of comfort. but soon removed it when haechan looked between her and her hand. sighing, somni internally debated with whether she should tell haechan of her situation or was he still yet to gain her trust. eventually she thought ‘fuck it’ and decided to tell him. what could he possibly do with the information?

somni didn’t exactly have much of a school life seeing how despite her parents paying for her fees three more years after her moving out, she was never one to mingle with people. she’d often keep to herself and just go on with whatever life threw at her. which is why she moved to theft in the first place. in order to provide for herself.

but then she was offered a job. a job at the convenience store she would raid.

having been working there long enough (two ½ years) made stealing easier for her. this way she earned her share of finance and everyday necessities. her boss was a snooze, who’d never glance over at any of the items for more that second, to realise things were missing. and in addition, somni would convince her that it was just selling well, increasing her spirits and faith in the girl. therefore not spare a thought to check cctv rolls.

thursday, 24th december 22:42pm

“i got sent away.” haechan hummed in question, heading slowly turning in her direction as they sat on the carpeted floor of the bookstore. sighing and placing her book page down, somni continued with more confidence “my parents threw my out of the house. and they were right! they had every reason to! but i” her words choked slightly, haechan looking at her with sympathy “i just miss them” she sighed finally looking up at him and after her constant eye contact with the floor, haechan was illuminating from the moon reflecting on him through the small front window.

“i’ve been an absolute brat my entire life and i can only imagine how fed up my parents were of me to actually send me away” her ramble coming to a stop when she couldn’t find words to say. the feeling of emptiness only increasing by the second within her. somni felt her tears fall when she registered haechan’s hand patting her back in reassurance.

she paid him a smile back after inhaling and exhaling to catch her senses back. he smiled back as okay before going back to reading. the precious silence lasted for a while before haechan closed his book and turned to face somni completely. “so how do you live? by yourself?? what do you do for a living? god i just need to know!!” somni raised her brow at the boy in front of her, not choosing to flinch, accustomed to his startling nature.

“well i do live by myself, i still go to school cause my parents pay for it and for a living, i steal”

and then the power tripped.

donghyuck’s new life with his parents was much easier than what he had experienced with his birth family. at first he would still be unfazed with his change in surroundings, asking permission to even go to the bathroom and bowing when the pair would confusingly agree. they would sit him down one day to explain that he needn't ask their permission to tug at their clothes to call them—to which donghyuck would look at the pair astonished at this new world.

and from then on, donghyuk was constantly loved and pampered by the old couple and it was everything he could ask for. he lived a normal life, going to school everyday and then even offering to repay his parents by working shifts at a restaurant after he would turn seventeen.

every once in a while he would run into his siblings around town but he would just walk away. it wasn’t like they were gonna recognize him anyway.

thursday, 24th december 23:24pm

somni froze. haechan had been clinging on to her arm, eyes closed shut and body trembling. his small fit went on for a while, somni being patient and even patting his back awkwardly. “i-i’m a little, tiny bit TERRIFIED of the dark” somni chuckled softly, firmly placing a hand on his back, running it up and down in comfort.

they sat there until somni tapped his hand and reached her own out for him to take “c’mon just take my hand and we’ll go find the power switch okay” haechan nodded, eyes still closed. after successfully standing up, somni walked with dragged haechan to the main switch on the other side of the store. after messing with switches carefully, somni managed to get the light back on.

she clapped her hands excitedly and turned to haechan, who was still hugging her waist. haechan looked up at her and they were close enough to have their noses touching. they stared at each other, either too frozen in place to move. somni faked a cough and cleared her throat, haechan taking the signal and moving away, standing up straight with hot pink cheeks.

friday, 25th december 00:04pm

bored out of their minds, the pair of them moved to lay on the floor, eyes boring holes into the wooden roof of the bookstore. random thoughts running wild at nothing to concentrate on. haechan was first to break the silence, gasping and sitting straight up and looking around at the clock. “it’s christmas!!!” somni soon got up too, beaming at the clock and then at haechan.

“merry christmas donghyuck” she laughed, leaning forward to hug the now sulky boy. “haha merry christmas to you somni.” the hug was soon interrupted by sirens fading into the scene. the two pulled away fast, heads whipping in the direction of the sound.

“we’ve gotta run!” “grab the books you need!” haechan stared at somni in confusion as she stood up to get her desired book. “wait wait. GRAB the books? are you gonna steal them?” somni paused to give him a look of an obvious nod. “you can’t just fucking stea-” “PUT YOUR HANDS UP WHERE I CAN SEE THEM!”

dropping the books in astonishment, the both of them throwing their hands up immediately. they were then assisted outside, shivering when coming in sudden contact with the snowy environment. somni rubbed her arms up and down as a way to provide warmth. looking around for haechan, she saw him handshaking the officer??

“ms. somni, you are under arrest for theft!” somni could not move, feet as frozen as her lips. she called out for haechan who replied with a smirk before walking over to her. “what’s up love?” “whaT THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING?” “arresting you on the basis of theft?” he said like it was blatantly obvious.

somni gritted her teeth as he winked back at her before turning to walk away. “just wait till i get out lee donghyuk” stopping in his tracks, he turned his head slightly back, “it’s officer haechan to you”

from: nes!! wellllll hi lmao. firstly, this fucking sucks ASS. i didn’t even know what i was writing half way through and i honestly didn’t have the energy to proofread so i apologize for all the grammar mistakes:( wanna lowkey make a part two to this but let me know if this was even liable for a sequel ahhhh. anyway, have a merry christmas and i guess we’re mutuals now;)

#nctincss20 #mine #somni bb #nct #christmas!!#haechan #haechan fluff #angst #nct fluff #nct angst #fluff #haechan angst

13 notes · View notes

winryofresembool · 4 years

Text

Things We Lost in the Fire, ch 14

aka Caleo uni au

Fic summary: Calypso starts studying at a new university, but to her annoyance her new flatmate is a loud mouthed mechanic who also likes to sneak his dog in whenever. But as she learns to know him better, she realizes they might have more in common than what she first thought. Eventually, even the darkest secrets come out…

Chapter summary: Leo's fear raises its head at the worst possible moment.

A/N: Finally some (slight) drama after I've drowned all of you in fluff in the previous chapters. Also, it was pretty exciting for me to finally get to explore Leo's studying life a bit more in this chapter.

I also want to take this opportunity to advertise a future fic of mine that I /hope/ to finish by the end of this week. The past week I've been working on a post ToN Caleo one-shot which is already over 4000 words long and at this point mainly needs some heavy editing to be posted. So stay tuned for that too if you like this ship!

Big big thanks to Cris for helping me a whole lot with this chapter! I really needed your science knowledge :’)

I hope you guys enjoy this chapter! And remember that comments are the only reward I get so they would be much, much appreciated!!

Characters in this ch: Calypso, Leo. Jason, Percy, Annabeth

Words: 3000+

Genre: romance & hurt/comfort

Warnings: none

previous chapter / next chapter / AO3

...

“Mister Valdez? Are you listening?”

Leo snapped out of his daze. He was at his engineering math class and for the past 15 minutes the professor had been explaining to the group a problem that had taken Leo about 2-3 minutes to solve. Usually he did something else while listening to his professors; finish more calculations (sometimes even ones they weren’t assigned to do), doodle blueprints and ideas for future inventions into his notebook, write down a new joke he had come up with, or text Jason that he was bored. Weirdly enough, doing all that other stuff helped him to focus on what was going on in the lecture.

However, this time his mind was elsewhere; it kept showing him images of a girl with shoulder length reddish brown hair, dark brown eyes that seemed a bit harsh at first but softened when she laughed at his joke, a couple of freckles on her light skin… He could also hear her laughter and smell the cinnamon scent that probably came from the shampoo she used in his head. The previous evening had gone so well but he had no idea what to make of it; even if he did like Calypso (which he wasn’t quite ready to admit yet), could anything ever happen? They were flatmates. Things would sure get complicated if they got together and then broke up and would barely stand each other’s company… Besides, who was to say she’d ever like him? Sure, sometimes she seemed amused by his jokes but what other reasons did he give for her to like him? Not much, he felt.

Leo started to get frustrated because he couldn’t get those thoughts out of his head and he might have started to growl to himself if the professor hadn’t called him at that exact moment.

“Yes?” Leo answered unsurely, not having heard what the professor had asked.

“Good. Then you can tell me what the solution to this problem is.” The professor pointed at the long and complicated looking problem on the whiteboard.

Leo sighed of relief on the inside. They were still talking about the same problem that he had solved over 10 minutes ago. He could do this.

“X is 3,65, Y is 5,51 and Z is 7,24,” he said, sounding almost bored.

“That is correct,” the professor said, badly hiding his surprise. He had thought this kid who seemed to be living in his dream world would be utterly confused by his question. He turned his attention back to the rest of the class and continued: “Of course, the easiest way to solve this equation is to divide X with… Yes, Mister Valdez?”

“Actually, I disagree,” Leo said, now completely awake. “Why would you divide it when you can…”

“Which one of us is the professor here, Mister Valdez?” the professor cut him off. “You may think you know how to do this but there are plenty of students here who aren’t quite as advanced and that’s why it’s better to show them one way to do it rather than to confuse them by....”

“Yeah, right, my bad,” Leo said sarcastically. “If these students are so simple minded, then why don’t you give them more practical problems to solve? You know, things we might actually need in the work life instead of… that,” he pointed at the whiteboard.

A couple of people were brave enough to nod and hum in agreement to Leo’s comments but there were also a few that started laughing.

“Alright, that’s it, Mister Valdez. Leave my class.”

Leo obeyed gladly (that class was such a waste of time anyway). He packed his things and headed out of the room, grinning widely as he left to let the professor know he hadn’t won that battle. It was almost lunch time so he decided to already go to the cafeteria to wait for Jason whose class wasn’t too far either.

About 15 minutes later Jason showed up, and to Leo's surprise he also had company. Percy Jackson did occasionally join them for a game night or a sparring session but Leo almost exclusively saw him outside the university. From what he knew Percy was currently focusing on his swimming career and wasn’t studying anything. Now he had however joined Jason for lunch and that made Leo wonder if there was some specific reason for that.

“Hey, man,” Jason greeted. “You’re early today. Are they having enchiladas or something?”

“Nah,” Leo shook his head. “I may have gotten kicked out of the class.”

“What did you do this time?” Jason rolled his eyes.

“Nothing, really!” Leo exclaimed. Jason kept looking at him suspiciously, though, so he had to add eventually: “Fine, I may have disagreed with the professor about some of his methods, but really, that’s all. Didn’t blow up the lab or anything like that.”

“One time when I was in the high school I told the teacher his pants were unzipped and I wasn’t allowed to participate in his classes for a whole week after that. Didn’t miss much, though, he sucked as a teacher,” Percy joined the conversation.

“That’s exactly what I thought about this guy!” Leo said and gave Percy a high five. “Anyway, what are you doing here? I thought you’d be in the pool at this hour.”

“Just checking the places,” Percy shrugged. Leo raised his eyebrow questioningly. “Fine, Annabeth thinks that at some point I should start thinking about my career after swimming so Jason said he could show me around today so I’d get an idea what it’s like here. Oh and, he promised me a free lunch.”

“Makes sense,” Leo said while already looking at the menu eagerly. “I’d come here for a free lunch too.”

“You pay for this one, though,” Percy pointed out.

“Back to the actual topic ,” Jason said, looking at Leo a bit worriedly. “You didn’t get into big trouble with that professor, did you?”

“I think he’ll go back to ignoring me again in the next class. “ Leo replied. “So no need to worry.”

“Good. It’s just that, after that last lab incident…” Jason started, referring to an incident that had happened in the previous semester, but Leo stopped him.

“I said no need to worry,” Leo said a bit louder. “I’ve got things sorted, OK? Just… let’s go to get that damn lunch now. Chili con carne, anyone?”

In reality, Leo knew that if he skipped one more lab class, the professors wouldn’t be that understanding. The saddest part about it was that he actually enjoyed the lab classes way more than the boring theory classes because there you got to try things out with your own hands, but… there was one big but. He couldn’t be there when…

“Leo?” he heard Jason’s voice somewhere nearby

“Yeah, what’s up?”

“You were just totally zoned out, I was talking to you like a full minute and I don’t think you heard anything I said,” Jason pointed out.

“Oh, sorry. Lots going on in my mind. So, what did you say?” Leo asked.

“I was asking about when we should meet up on Saturday? I have soccer practice in the morning and Piper has a meeting with her theater group at 1 pm but we’re free after that.”

“I have to ask Cal but I think I can organize my work so I’d be free any time after 4 pm.”

“Alright, sounds fine to me,” Jason said, but Leo could sense that he was still wondering what had been bothering him that much.

“So who’s this Cal person?” Percy asked when the boys made it to the buffet tables.

“My new flatmate,” Leo said simply, currently more interested in filling his plate than elaborating on his living situation.

“OK. I was just wondering because Annabeth mentioned that she’d been at your place, and apparently she’d helped to give this flatmate of yours a makeover.”

“Oh, yeah!” Leo said, remembering that meeting quite vividly. “From what I’ve heard they’ve been hanging out quite a lot lately. That’s good because… well, she’s new here.” Leo was going to say that she doesn’t seem to have a lot of people in her life, but decided that he didn’t want to reveal too much to someone who had never even met her.

“Where is she from then?”

“I think she moved here from New York,” Leo said. “And she’s around your age. Who knows, you might even know her.”

“New York is a pretty big place,” Percy pointed out. “I guess Cal is a nickname? What’s her full name?”

Leo was going to answer when he spotted the chemistry lab professor in the crowd and he quickly hid behind Jason.

“Don’t let him see me,” Leo said hastily. “He’s gonna…”

Leo didn’t have a chance to finish his sentence when he heard the said professor say loudly: “Mister Valdez!”

Leo peeked from behind his friend.

“Hola, professor,” he said awkwardly. “Didn’t see you there.”

“Yes you did, you were just trying to hide from me. I wanted to remind you that today is the test day which is 60% of the mark. And that means that…”

“If I skip that test, I will fail the class,” Leo added, looking down at his feet. He didn’t remain like that long, though. “I’ll be there, professor.” He put up a brave face and saluted him as the professor just ‘hmmph’ed and turned away from me.

“I thought you said you have everything in order.” Jason raised his eyebrow once the boys had paid for their lunches and started to look for a table. “That didn’t seem like it.”

“Take care of your own business, Sparky,” Leo grunted and pointed at one empty table not far from them. “Let’s go there.”

“I’m serious, Leo,” Jason continued once they got seated. “Something is bothering you. We are your friends and we do care. You can trust us on this.”

Leo let Jason’s words sink in. Friends. Care. Trust. Since his mother died, he had always been the oddball, the outsider until he got a family who actually cared about him, Jo, Emmie and Georgie, but he still got a bit overwhelmed every time he realized that he really mattered to someone.

“Thanks, man.” Leo said finally. “I’ll… keep that in my mind. Promise.”

“Good.” Jason smiled at him encouragingly. “You can talk to us whenever you feel like it.”

After that the discussion moved to other things. Percy was hopeful that he was fit enough for a new record in his next competition and he didn’t forget to praise her little sister as well. Jason mentioned having seen his father at the campus but he had barely acknowledged his presence. Leo threw a few sarcastic comments here and there to let the others know he was listening. However, he had lost his appetite after hearing about the test. He had barely tasted his lunch and was now moving the rice back and forth on his plate as it got cooler. If the others noticed that, they didn’t say anything, probably thinking that it was better to let Leo open up on his own accord.

The lunch time flew by too fast for Leo’s liking. After separating from his friends he started heading towards the lab where most of the other students were already getting prepared. Taking a deep breath, he stepped in, hoping for the best.

The lab class started with a brief written test that made sure the students were ready for the practice part. This time would be particularly important, though, because it was testing them about pretty much everything they had learned so far in that class, and would be graded accordingly.

The written test caused no problem to Leo. He’d be able to name the lab tools by heart even in his sleep and the calculations weren’t much harder to him. However, he was already dreading the actual practice part for a very specific reason…

In the practice Leo would have to mix a few compounds together to get a chemical reaction. That was the simple part. But unfortunately for him, these said compounds would have to be heated in order for them to react. And of course you’d need a flame to do that. Now that was the hard part for Leo. He hated the gas burners and it had become a habit for him to skip a lab class when he knew they would be used. Unfortunately for him, that was fairly often because apparently the university’s heating plates were used by some other group at the same time, and that was also why he was about to fail this class. But if he could handle using the burner just this once, maybe he’d be fine… He knew he couldn’t afford to fail it because if he did, it might be a sign that he wouldn’t be able to do the job he was so excited about, and that would be a huge slap in his face. Maybe even bigger than he was ready to admit.

He measured the compounds and was ready to heat them when he noticed that a fellow student nearby had accidentally mistaken two of the compounds with each other, ruining the mixture. That gave him an idea.

“Pssst. I can mix a new one for you if you heat this for me.”

“What?” The other student looked at him with confusion. “Why would I do that?”

“I just told you. I can fix that for you.”

“You just want to flex with your skills, that’s all,” the guy said, knowing Leo’s reputation as the genius who however refused to join lab classes. Probably because he felt he was too good for them. “May I remind you that this is a solo practice!” the professor yelled from the front of the class. “No talking allowed.”

“Yes, professor,” Leo said quietly, but rolled his eyes at him when he turned his back. He read the instructions one more time to make sure he hadn’t missed anything and when he was double convinced that he was in the part that he had dreaded, he breathed sharply and picked up his gas burner and some matches. He felt his heart starting to race and his hands starting to shake as he took one match from the box and tried to light it.

He tried once. Twice. Took a deep breath and tried once more. At this point his hands were shaking so furiously that the match fell from his hand. Realizing that he still couldn’t do it, he made a frustrated groan, dropped the match box on the table and started shakily collecting his things.

“Mister Valdez? Did you finish your task?” The professor raised his gaze from his desk and focused on him. A few others turned to Leo’s direction as well.

“No, sir.”

“And why not?”

“I. can’t.” Leo said with a voice so deep and raw that you rarely got to hear it from him. He left his unfinished product on the professor’s desk. Then he threw his bag over his shoulder and doors banging left the class.

He didn’t make it far when he felt his knees going weak and he had to sit down on the closest chair, burying his face in his hands.

…

“Thanks so much for showing me that place! It feels so good to see some nature even this close to the city,” Calypso exclaimed happily to Annabeth as they were walking towards the dorms. Calypso loved nature and she didn’t really feel at home in the concrete jungle, hoping that one day she could afford to buy a house from the countryside. She had once mentioned that to Annabeth who also enjoyed adventuring in the less crowded areas and had promised to take Calypso to one of her favorite parks nearby. They both had had free time from their classes that afternoon so they had decided to take the advantage of that and go to explore a bit.

The park had been pretty, having a small river running through it and little trails circling the trees. Calypso, who had grown near the sea missed seeing bodies of water so even the river had made her feel a little less homesick. The girls had been there for a few hours, taking pictures and having a small picnic while talking about anything and everything that had come to their minds.

Now, unfortunately, it was time to return back to real life and the assignments that were waiting for them at home.

“No problem,” Annabeth replied to Calypso’s comment. “Honestly, I think this break was much needed. I do love architecture and history and all that but sometimes my ADHD kicks in and I just need to get out of the house.”

“Yeah, it helps to focus again afterwards,” Calypso agreed. “Hey, do you have anything special to do this weekend? Leo, I, Piper and Jason are supposed to have a video game night on Saturday and I thought I’d ask if you want to join. You can ask your boyfriend too if you want, of course! I’m sure Leo wouldn’t mind.”

“What time would it be?” Annabeth asked.

“I haven’t asked Leo yet but he does work on Saturdays so probably not very early. Sometime in the evening. I can inform you when I know more,” Calypso promised.

“Okay, I’ll keep that in my mind. My boyfriend has a swimming practice twice a day so he may not be able to join us but I might!”

“Great!”

The girls had reached the area where Calypso lived so they turned to their own directions.

“I’ll contact you!” Calypso said before Annabeth was too far to hear. She waved at her in response.

Calypso was still smiling when she entered her flat, but the smile soon melted from her face when she saw Leo hunched on the couch, looking utterly lost. Calypso approached him cautiously, asking: “What happened?”

Leo patted on the seat next to him, gesturing to her to join him on the couch. She did, but when he didn’t say anything for a while, though, Calypso decided to be bold and wrap her arm around his shoulder. Leo looked at her with dark eyes, still appreciating the gesture.

“I may have to start making new career plans.”

#caleo #leo valdez #calypso #heroes of olympus #percy jackson and the olympians #trials of apollo #my fics #caleo uni au

12 notes · View notes

anotherkindofmindpod · 5 years

Note

I just read both interviews, Part 1 and 2 of Jann Wenner's Rolling Stone Interview of 1971. It sounds as though John and the other Beatles DID have a realistic gripe about Paul taking over, directly projects, handing out musical assignments, etc., etc. and I'm sure he had the ego by this point to match! I would probably have become irritated by Paul as well. And no hints or even reading between the lines of John being emotionally hurt by Paul with regard to loss of intimate relationship.

Hello and thanks for writing in, Listener!First, I’d like to point out that we haven’t reached the Lennon Remembers portion of our Break-up Series, and will dig into it much more thoroughly in a future episode (stay tuned!).

Presumably this ask isn’t in response to anything we’ve actually discussed on the podcast, in which case I feel that I should explain that what we do on our show is reevaluate conventional wisdom and contextualize public statements within the realities of actual behaviors. In other words, not taking things like Lennon Remembers at face value is AKOM 101.

If what we were doing on this podcast was as easy as simply reading the most infamous interview John Lennon ever gave (the one upon which the conventional story of the Beatles break-up is founded), it wouldn’t be much of a podcast or a very groundbreaking analysis, would it?

Second, I’d like to mention that listeners/readers can hear the entire (3.5 hours!) interview on You Tube. Very evocative with audio! Wenner’s editing in the print versions often make John sound more coherent and less vitriolic towards everyone but Paul than the audio reveals (i.e. the shitty comments about Paul are always printed but the ones about George, Brian, etc often aren’t).

Next, we’d like to state the usual disclaimer (which everyone is probably already aware of but is a good reminder anyway!): John later disavowed this interview. In fact, he was so angry at Jann Wenner for publishing it as a book, it apparently created a permanent rift between the two. You may choose to view/value this interview as John being super honest, but please consider that in this allegedly “truthful” book/interview, John:

claims George is musically/creatively inferior to John

declares the McCartney album “rubbish”

reveals his belief that he and Paul’s confidence levels are intrinsically, inversely related to one another

says George was so aggressively rude to Yoko that John wished he would’ve punched him over it

proudly admits that he “maneuvered” the other Beatles to get Klein in as manager

bemoans the fact that everyone says Brian Epstein was so great “just because he’s dead” and that Brian cheated and robbed the Beatles

makes derisive comments about “fags” at least five times in the printed version alone and calls Lee Eastman “a wasp Jew, man, that’s the worst kind of person on earth.”

admits to lying in interviews and deflects accountability on the basis of being “just a guy” who mouths off about stuff

As for Paul, John is admittedly all over the place, swinging fairly wildly from nostalgic (reminiscing about having “a good mind like Paul’s” on his side and co-writing with their “fingers in each others’ pies”) to bitter (”Paul thought he was the Beatles,” etc).

As for the accusations that Paul was tyrannical, we’ve addressed these before (particularly in Break-Up Episode 2). Just as Geoff Emerick, Michael Lindsay Hogg and Doug Sulpy (and even John, when he was feeling more generous) have articulated, we too feel that Paul stepped up and led the band in a time of need and deserves unequivocal credit for that. We believe much of the subsequent complaining from the other Beatles is akin to the kind of griping one directs at a colleague who gets promoted (“who died and made you king!?”) and while some of it was likely based in genuine irritation at Paul’s communication style, much of it was probably petty. This is why we are looking at the situation from all angles, to get a better sense of what is reality v. spin. In any case, we don’t dispute that there were power struggles within the band.Any reader is free to choose John’s side in any/all of these battles. But our overall takeaway from this particular interview is that John was unloading a lot of pent-up rage; against teachers, fans, Aunt Mimi, his mum, critics, Paul and anyone else who didn’t properly recognize his genius and praise him for it.

“That’s what makes me what I am. It comes out, the people I meet have to say it themselves, because we get fuckin’ kicked. Nobody says it, so you scream it: look at me, a genius, for fuck’s sake! What do I have to do to prove to you son-of-a-bitches what I can do, and who I am? Don’t dare, don’t you dare fuckin’ dare criticize my work like that. You, who don’t know anything about it.”

Based solely on Lennon Remembers, one could reasonably believe John didn’t like anyone but Yoko and Allen Klein (of whom he also speaks with reverence). Fortunately, John gave a million other interviews in his lifetime, so even though this one is given a disproportionate amount of weight (probably b/c it is the most inflammatory and “raw”) we can compare John’s comments, behavior and art over a broad spectrum of time. We feel this gives us a better, more thorough and more authentic portrait of John’s POV. This is a good idea with ANY public figure, but especially important in John’s case, since, by his own admission he has a tendency to say what he feels in the moment and doesn’t necessarily stand by his own statements afterwards.

John in 1976: “I get a bit absolute in my statements. [laughs] Which sometimes get me into deep water, and sometimes into the shallow.”

To your other point, our overall impressions about John’s feelings regarding “loss of an intimate relationship” with Paul certainly do not hinge on Lennon Remembers, nor have we ever suggested they do. In fact, LR is commonly used as the primary proof-point by McCartney detractors and Lennon/McCartney deniers (those who willfully and sometimes passionately ignore and/or deny the deep love between John and Paul, as described by John and Paul themselves and everyone in their lives) that Paul was a tyrant who destroyed the Beatles with his massive ego.

We have never disputed the existence of Paul’s ego. But consider this: John refers to himself as an egomaniac REPEATEDLY throughout this interview. Why is there a loud faction of people who consider John being an avowed egomaniac perfectly reasonable (sexy even!), but find it unforgivable that Paul is the same way? Consider these excerpts from Lennon Remembers:

Do you think you will record together again?

I record with Yoko, but I’m not going to record with another egomaniac. There is only room for one on an album nowadays.

How would you assess George’s talents?

[…] Maybe it was hard for him sometimes, because Paul and I are such egomaniacs, but that’s the game.

Who do you think is good today? In any arts…

The unfortunate thing about egomaniacs is that they don’t take much attention of other people’s work. I only assess people on whether they are a danger to me or my work or not.

[Tangential]

But the Beatles were artists, and all artists have fucking’ big egos, whether they like to admit it or not […]

Yes, John rants repeatedly about Paul’s ego during this interview- while he simultaneously declares his own genius and artistic superiority over others. We find it mind-boggling how this irony continues to evade some people, but there it is.

George Harrison has repeatedly complained about BOTH John & Paul’s egos (and their shared ego IRT “Lennon/McCartney”), but again, this is often ignored in favor of singling out Paul as the villain.

Furthermore, it’s helpful to bear in mind when consuming Lennon Remembers that John and Yoko had received training in media-messaging by this point and were very savvy at Public Relations. We know from people close to them that they drafted their stories in advance before offering them to the public. This fact, combined with Lennon’s tendency to “mouth off” means we have the right and responsibility to question and examine John’s claims rather than simply parrot them mindlessly.

If you are genuinely interested in our take, we recommend our Break-Up Series. We think you will find it well-researched and thoughtful, even if you disagree with some of our conclusions.

Or if you simply dislike McCartney and find him “irritating,” that’s fine too. Not everyone has to like everyone!

For additional discussion/analysis of Lennon Remembers, I recommend any of several threads on Erin Torkelson Weber’s site, the Historian and the Beatles.

the flawed lens of Lennon v. McCartney

Jann Wenner’s bio

how Rolling Stone shaped the breakup

discussing a podcast appearance

Thank you so much for this ask! It is always a pleasure to share information. Have a wonderful day.-The AKOM crew

#Lennon Remembers #John and Paul #jann wenner #anotherkindofmind podcast #Beatles #HAPPY VALENTINES DAY

107 notes · View notes

eilonwiiy · 4 years

Text

Bookends ; A Witchlands AU

Chapter 9

An innocent trip to the library takes an unexpected turn.

Summary: Iseult det Midenzi never expected to go to a top university, so when her mother falls ill and she is forced to drop out to make ends meet, life has never seemed so unfair. But when she starts working at the local library and is unexpectedly assigned in the Children’s Room, a certain monosyllabic man and his thrice-damned demon child start showing up and Iseult begins to wonder if the threads of fate have a plan for her after all.

Previous chapters: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

Ships: Iseult/Aeduan, Safi/Merik, and more… stay tuned!

Tags: modern AU, college setting, family, friendship, humor, fluff, slow-burn, romance, eventual smut

Read on AO3: here

Tag list: (please let me know if you’d like to be added!) @lseultdetmidenzi @twilightlegacy13

* . * . * . * .

When Iseult woke up the next morning, she thought maybe she had dreamed the previous night. But no. Aeduan had texted her. Twice. First, with an all too unsatisfying Ok while she was still at work. Then, again a whole hour later as she was getting ready for bed telling her that he’d be coming to the library tomorrow. Which was now today. The gap between texts - the “lost hour” as Iseult was now referring to it - was doing an exemplary job of keeping her busy. She thought about it all through her shower. While brushing her teeth. There was a brief pause while she picked out an outfit (sweater, suede skirt, ballet flats), but then it was right back to obsessing over those missing 60 minutes.

What had happened to cause Aeduan to go from monosyllabic man to someone with a firm grasp of the English language? Had it been a full moon?

The ruckus of the usual morning hustle and bustle could be heard from Jitters as Iseult descended the stairs, coat already on and a messenger bag slung over her shoulder. When she brushed through the divider curtain, the sight that met her brought her to a full stop.

“Wow. Someone woke up in project mode,” she said, taking in Safi - awake and fully dressed on her morning off - and the stacks of books and magazines spread across multiple tables pushed together.

“Yes,” Safi agreed, looking proud. “I thought I’d finally try turning that weird corner no one likes to sit in into that book nook we’ve always talked about.”

“Seriously?”

“Seriously.”

Iseult stared at Safi, expression flat.

“Safi?”

“Hm?” she replied, flipping breezily through a page in her magazine.

“What are you doing?”

Safi didn’t look up. “I told you. I’m making the book nook.”

“Yeah, I heard you the first time. But see, it’s 8:30 in the morning.”

“And?”

“And,” Iseult continued, slowly approaching her mini fortress of books, “there’s a perfectly useful bed upstairs wondering where you are.”

“Well, tell it it might get lucky and see me tonight.”

“Safi,” Iseult said bluntly.

“Yeah?”

“What are you doing? And if you say ‘book nook’ one more time I’ll kill you.”

Safi said nothing.

“Spill,” Iseult ordered.

Safi sighed and made a face. “Is it so hard to believe that I actually wanted to do a good thing and get moving on this project that you’ve been talking my ear off about for months?”

“It is when it’s 8:30 on your morning off.” Iseult eyed the nearly full mug of coffee on the table. “Is that your first cup of coffee?”

“Maybe.” Safi’s eyes narrowed suspiciously. “Why?”

“Nothing. Just a concerned citizen, that’s all.” Iseult pulled up a chair and lowered herself onto the seat, clapping her hands on her knees. “Look, as tempting as the prospect of playing 20 Questions with you this early in the morning without caffeine in my system is, can we maybe skip to the end of this conversation where you tell me the truth about why you’re really up so I’m not late for work?”

Safi pursed her lips like she didn’t want to talk. Then, she grabbed a massive tome off the top of one of the piles and held it up in the air.

“I tripped over this.”

“Ok…” Iseult said slowly, eyeing the book. “Are you okay?”

“Physically, yes. Spiritually? That remains to be seen.”

Iseult sighed. “Safi, did you miss the part where I said I don’t want to be late for work?”

Safi let the book drop from her hand with an obnoxious thud that shook the table.

“As you know, I worked until close at The Cleaved Man last night. When I got home at 1 o’clock, per usual, I tripped and fell over this,” she said, giving the offending book a scathing look.

The smallest of frowns formed on Iseult’s otherwise smooth face. “How is that even possible? That’s my freshmen geology textbook. I’m not exactly reading up on pyrite in my spare time.”

“Oh, well, I knocked into the bookshelf while I was fumbling through the dark trying to find the light switch.”

“So really you tripped over the bookshelf.”

Safi gawped at Iseult. “You’re not taking this seriously.”

“I would if I knew what the heck this has to do with you waking up and deciding today’s the day you’re going to be a carpenter!”

“That apartment is too small!” Safi burst, gesticulating wildly to the ceiling above.

“Safi,” shushed Iseult, glancing around at the early bird customers who were now looking curiously at them.

“No! That place is too small and I’m so tired of barely having enough room to breathe let alone walk through the door without having to map out some sort of detour route to avoid collision!” She shook her head. “The books had to go!”

Iseult grabbed for Safi’s hand before she could point a rude gesture at the ceiling and covered it with her own. “Look I know we got our hopes up for the apartment,” Iseult said, careful to leave out Chiseled Cheater’s name or supervillain moniker, “but you need to let this go.”

“I don’t want to,” pouted Safi, pronouncing each word defiantly.

“I know. But you’re driving yourself crazy and me by extension.” She paused. “Our shoebox does have its perks.”

“Like?” The word dripped with incredulity.

“Like,” Iseult ventured, “we don’t have to walk far to get to work. We can even open the bakery in our pajamas.”

Safi’s face remained unchanging. Iseult went on.

“We don’t have to deal with some seedy landlord.”

Nothing.

“Late snacks are a flight of stairs away.”

Still nothing.

“And there’s always an endless supply of free coffee on hand.”

“Except for that time we forgot to place the order and we went a whole three days having to tell customers we didn’t have coffee,” Safi pointed out.

Iseult shuddered from the memory. “I thought Mathew and Habim were going to kick us out.”

“Maybe they’d have done us a favor if they had,” Safi muttered.

Iseult made a face at her and, for a moment, they held each other’s gaze. Then, finally, she folded.

“I’m sorry,” Safi moaned, flopping back in her chair and looking at the stacks of books dejectedly. “It just kills me that he’s living in our dream apartment while we’re stuck smelling like coffee for the rest of our lives.”

“It won’t be for the rest of our lives. And besides,” Iseult added as an afterthought, “think of how much money we save living here. I doubt I would have been able to afford that place now anyway.”

From the way Safi immediately sobered, Iseult knew she had driven the point home. After all, it wasn’t Safi who couldn’t afford to live wherever she wanted. She could leave their shoebox apartment anytime she wanted. But she stayed for Iseult.

Iseult fiddled with her hands and dropped her gaze, not wanting to look at the somber expression on Safi’s face. She almost looked ashamed.

“I’m sorry,” Safi apologized again. She waved to the piles of books. “Obviously, I lost my mind.”

“Does this mean you’re not going to build the book nook?”

Safi’s expression stiffened and Iseult saw a flicker of hesitation in her eyes.

“No, I’m going to do it,” she eventually said, sounding resigned to the prospect, but determined. “You’ve been bugging me about it long enough.”

“You said you liked the idea!”

“Yeah, but that was before I ordered those damned bookshelves,” argued Safi, nodding to the back office. “Honestly, those assembly instructions are in a different language. How can they expect the average person to put them together without a contractor?”

“Or an interpreter.”

“Exactly. It’s all a bunch of gibberish made to con you into hiring a professional to assemble it for you. It’s a money making scam.”

They sat in silence for a moment, Safi stewing. Iseult side-eyed Safi. She didn’t want to break the happy truce they had just struck, but...

“You know who would be great at putting together those shelves?” she asked. “The C-word.”

Safi gave a most unlady-like snort of disbelief. “Cam can barely hold an entire tray of cookies without toppling over let alone a plank of wood.”

“I’m not talking about Cam and you know it.”

Safi shot her a piercing look. “I am not calling Caden.” She paused. “I’ll call Leopold.”

“For what?” Iseult laughed. “Moral support?”

“Hey, your boyfriend’s more handy than you think.”

Iseult’s stomach flipped. “He’s not my boyfriend.”

Safi rolled her eyes in exasperation. “You’re right. He’s not, but he could be! If you would stop avoiding him.”

Iseult’s stomach vaulted again, but this time for an entirely different reason. “Did he say that?” she asked, not sure if she wanted to know the answer.

“That you’re avoiding him? No, but I can tell by the way he asks about you.” Safi studied Iseult for a moment. “Do you like him?”

“I…” Iseult didn't know what to say. She didn’t know what she felt. While she had spent a good deal of time telling herself that Leopold’s flirtatious advances towards her were a figment of her imagination - I mean, look at the guy. He basically waltzed right out of a Disney movie - she knew in her gut that they were real. She’d be lying if she said she hadn’t thought about what it would be like to date him. To kiss him. Would she burst into a puff of smoke when his lips touched hers and reappear a beautiful princess? It all seemed so ridiculous to her. They were like night and day. But even so, there was no denying that they shared a bond. She trusted him. With him, she felt safe.

With that thought in mind, she ended lamely, “I don’t know.”

Safi nodded, eyes soft and understanding. “That’s fair… Maybe seeing him tonight will help,” she said encouragingly.

Right. Tonight. Vaness’ little shindig. Iseult hadn’t exactly been crossing off the days on her calendar in anticipation.

Safi’s face went serious again. She hesitated. “Hey, so Alma called while you were in the shower.”

Shit. “She did?” Iseult asked, trying to keep her voice light. It wasn’t like this was the third time Alma had called this week and she hadn’t gotten back to her or anything.

“Yeah. I picked up…” said Safi, sounding apologetic. “I figured it could be about something important.”

“I’m assuming if you’re just telling me now that it wasn’t?”

Safi shook her head. “No. Just asked if you could call her back.”

“Ok… Thanks. I will.” Iseult swallowed the lie and let her eyes wander to the mess around them. “I take it this means you’re not reading the book for the book club?” She picked up a copy of Sisters of Sight from the top of one of the nearby stacks.

“No,” Safi was quick to say, snatching the book away from Iseult and holding it to her chest possessively. “I added that to the pile by mistake.”

“Of course,” Iseult said without much confidence. Sierra, one of the baristas working the morning shift, came over and offered a steaming to-go cup of coffee and a paper bag that, judging by the heavenly smell, was her favorite cinnamon crunch bagel.

“Such service” she commended, taking them from Sierra and thanking her.

“This place ain’t half-bad,” Safi chimed in, watching with approval.

“Not half-bad at all,” Iseult agreed, then took a sip of her coffee. She made a face as she swallowed. “Well, the coffee definitely falls into the half-bad category. Real Marstoki coffee my you-know-what,” she grumbled under her breath.

“You can say ‘ass’ in front of me,” Safi goaded, smirking. “I won’t tell anyone.”

Iseult shook her head and stood up from her chair. She was officially running late now. “Well, thank you for an eventful morning. Your neuroses never fail to entertain. I’m only working a half-shift, so I’ll be back this afternoon. Try to be nice to Cam before I get here,” she added with what she hoped was a convincingly stern look.

“Remind me again why we hired him?” Safi asked, crossing her arms and leaning back in her chair.

“Because we’re all about helping the little guy,” answered Iseult as she wrapped her scarf around her neck.

“I didn’t realize we meant that literally.”

“You know what I mean.”

“You broke our no high schoolers policy. I hate high schoolers.”

“Cam’s different.”

“He has no work experience.”

“Everyone has to get their start somewhere. We didn’t exactly have much work experience when Mathew and Habim hired us. Besides,” Iseult added, looking around and gesturing to the cafe, “this isn’t exactly a high-stakes operation. I think Cam can handle pouring coffee. Just be patient. Not everyone learns at the same pace.” She tugged on her beret cap and picked up her coffee and bagel. “Well, I can’t wait to see you and the book nook when I get back.”

Safi’s face tightened and her smile froze in place. “Me too,” she said as one of the book piles toppled over. “Me too…”

* . * . * . * .

Aeduan was not having a good morning.

The news that they would be making a trip to the library that day was not received with warm reception from the four-year-old. At first, Owl just frowned, not understanding why they were going if they weren’t going to see Evrane. The concept of the library existing even when they weren’t there was a shock to Owl - an unpleasant one judging by the horrified look on her face - and Aeduan did his best to explain that the library was open to more than just the two of them, and that they were welcome to visit any time they wished, even when they weren’t meeting with Evrane. He thought this would clear up the matter and put to rest Owl’s apparently very serious concerns about the library. He was so incredibly wrong.

Owl had been possessed by the devil - Aeduan was sure of it.

The nightmare started with her bath. Aeduan could have skipped his shower if he had known how wet Owl would get him with all her thrashing, suddenly violently adverse to water. By the end of it, there was more water on him than in the tub. He’d had to change - but only after he managed to wrangle Owl into her own clothes (another Olympic feat). At breakfast, she threw her Cheerios on the floor and the moment Aeduan finished picking up every last O, she spilled her orange juice. By the time they left the house, Aeduan was so preoccupied with Owl squirming in his arms, he didn’t notice Blueberry sauntering across the porch and he tripped over the damned thing, sending himself - and Owl - toppling into a snow pile. She’d started sobbing then. Not for herself or for Aeduan, whose hip was throbbing in pain. No, no, no. She was upset that he may have hurt the cat. It took 20 minutes for him to assure her that Blueberry was ok, another 20 minutes searching for the little cretin when it became clear she needed physical proof of the fact (he was hiding under the porch wedged behind the recycling bin), and by the time her sobs had turned into sniffles, he was so discombobulated that he didn’t even bother to go back inside and change out of his now soaking wet pants. Again. He was too worried he’d never get Owl out of the house again if he did. He wasn’t taking any chances. He skipped the car altogether, even though it had just snowed and the sidewalks probably weren’t all cleared yet. Barring performing an exorcism, getting Owl to sit still long enough for him to fasten her into her carseat seemed inconceivable and - with his ears still ringing with her last screaming meltdown - he wasn’t looking for an encore.

Owl was deathly quiet by the time they reached the library. Maybe she had run out of tears. Aeduan certainly hoped so. He wasn’t sure what he’d do if Owl fell apart while they were inside the building. Possibly breakdown and cry himself. Evrane would love that.

Shit. Evrane. In all the chaos, Aeduan hadn’t even thought about what he’d say if they happened to run into her. He hastily ran through some quick excuses in his head while he crossed the library’s main hall, eyes darting around the open space for a splash of white hair and listening for the tell-tale sound of clattering of silver… which was precisely the moment he ran into Iseult. Or rather, Iseult’s book cart.

The cart went toppling over, taking Iseult along with it, and crashed to the floor with a bone-rattling BOOM. The sound echoed unforgivingly through the voluminous hall. Aeduan stared at Iseult sprawled out on the floor covered in books, stunned, then snapped into action.

“Are you alright?” he asked, hastily depositing Owl on the ground and kneeling down beside Iseult. She looked shocked, eyes frozen wide, like she didn’t know how she had ended up on the floor. He hastily began pulling books off her.

“You should be more careful,” Aeduan admonished gruffly. He gathered and stacked the fly-away books into a pile off to the side while Iseult just sat there, silent. Annoyed, he opened his mouth again when he picked up a tattered volume off her leg.

His movement stuttered and his eyes locked on a jagged rip in her tights. The pale skin shone like a tear in the night sky. He swallowed thickly and he tore his eyes away.

“Someone could have gotten hurt.” He got up, leaving Iseult on the floor, and walked over the fallen cart. He pulled it upright, the wood groaning with the motion. He braced his hands on either end and gave it a firm jostle. It seemed sturdy enough, despite its obvious wear. Satisfied that it was safe, he started transferring the books back on its shelves.

A strange sort of hiccup from behind him caused Aeduan’s head to snap up. He’d had enough tears that morning. This whole day could fuck off into the void if Iseult was going to start crying too. He jerked around, not sure what he would do if he saw a single tear on her face, then stared.

Iseult was laughing. He’d never heard her laugh. Or truly seen her smile. It transformed her whole face that was always so emotionless. Even as confusion shot through him, he couldn’t help but appreciate the sight.

He offered a hand to her.

“Are you alright?” The question came out more reserved this time. Less like an accusation.

Iseult nodded, her soft laughter fading to nothing, and accepted his help. Her hand was cold against his. She let go when she was back on her feet and offered him a small smile in appreciation.

Aeduan pointed to the tear at her knee, if only to distract himself from the feeling she’d left in his empty hand. “That looks like it hurts.”

Iseult ducked her head and gave her leg a quick once-over. Aeduan found himself looking too, but when his gaze began to roam to other places, he quickly looked away.

“N-no, it’s fine,” Iseult stammered. “I’m just out a pair of tights.”

Aeduan frowned, not sure what to say to that. Iseult bit the inside of her cheek and shrugged. “I-I have a hundred pairs, so it’s f-fine.”

“Are you sure you’re alright?” Aeduan asked for a third time. The tremble in her voice was making him uneasy.

“Mhmm,” was all she responded with, nodding her head. She fidgeted with the cuffs of her sweater. “I’m sorry I almost ran you two over.”

Two? Oh, right! Owl.

Aeduan looked down at Owl next to him. The look she was giving them was downright murderous, if that was possible. Owl had proven on more than one occasion that she was capable of extraordinary things - even if she was only four.

“You didn’t,” Aeduan replied, looking away from her and back at Iseult. “I should have been paying attention. I’m sorry.” He didn’t know where the words were coming from, but they were out of his mouth before he could give them any thought. They seemed to be the right thing to say, though, because Iseult’s face relaxed and he thought he caught a faint smile.

“I’m glad you’re here,” she said, looking up at him shyly.

Aeduan swallowed, heart stuck in his throat. “You…. are?”

“Mmm,” Iseult confirmed. She wet her lips, the pink tip of her tongue darting out and capturing Aeduan’s attention fully and wholly. “I was just about to drop these off and get my things to go. I have your book. One of the other librarians would have been able to get it for you, but…” She trailed off, ducking her head and looking down at her feet.

But, what? Aeduan thought frantically. He’d never felt more desperate for someone to finish a sentence.

Instead, she abruptly announced: “I’ll go get it now,” then pivoted on her heel and glided away from him. He watched her go, eyes carefully trained on the manner of her gait. If she was hurting, she hid it well. Every stride of her legs was poised and measured, much like her personality. However, when she was about ten feet away from him she paused and turned around. Aeduan noticed how she hesitated when she saw him watching her, but, subtly, she squared her shoulders, and proceeded to make the short trek back to where him and Owl stood by the book cart.

Oh. The book cart.

Aeduan made no comment when Iseult reached them nor did she. She simply rotated the cart on its wheels and ushered it away. The rickety contraception left a trail of unwelcomed noise, earning her several annoyed looks from nearby patrons. As if it was Iseult’s fault that that ancient piece of craftsmanship made such an infernal racket.

Aeduan glared at them.

It didn’t take Iseult long to return. When she appeared, she was buttoned up in a coat and wore an old-timey looking beret on her head. On anyone else it probably would have looked childish, but on her it was cute. Aeduan shrugged the observation off by focusing on the book in her hand.

“I hope you don’t mind that I looked up your account to check it out,” she said as she handed Elmer and the Dragon to him. A boy in a red and white striped shirt and blue cap playing a flute to a circle of yellow birds looked up at him from the cover. “We’re not supposed to do that without the patron present, but... well... I figured you’d probably want to get in and get out.”

Aeduan looked up with the faintest of frowns. “Why do you say that?”

Iseult blinked, and though nothing else moved out of place on her face, Aeduan could tell she was surprised. “Well,” she said slowly, “whenever you come in you always seem like… like you don’t want to be here.”

Aeduan tensed. That wasn’t true. Maybe it had been before, but now… now he wasn’t so sure.

He assessed the facts. Today was Friday. He’d defied all logic and come in on a day he wasn’t obligated to. He’d triggered the second coming of Judas just to be here by facing off with an irritable 4-year-old and a demonic cat. He’d even risked Evrane’s unsolicited judgement. All that he had done to pick up Owl’s book. To make Owl happy. The wet jeans frozen to his ass were proof of that.

“I wanted to be here today,” he said, tucking the book under his arm. The truth of that statement almost distracted him from the pink blush that rose on the apples of Iseult’s cheeks. Almost.

She cast her gaze down to her hands and busied herself with pulling on her gloves. “I have to go to my next job.” Her voice was muffled somewhat by the thick scarf wrapped so high around her neck it obscured some of her chin.

“The coffee shop?”

“The coffee shop.” She let her hand fall to her sides - gloves secured - and with nothing left to keep her occupied, she looked at him.

“Well...” she began. The suggestion of her departure was obvious in her tone, but Aeduan interrupted her.

“We were planning on heading there after. After coming here.”

“You were going to go to Jitters?” Iseult’s eyebrow actually bounced and Aeduan relished the satisfaction of getting a reaction out of her. It was becoming something of a game between them - though, he wasn’t sure she was aware she was a player.

“Yeah. It’s what we do on Fridays.”

Iseult peered from Aeduan to Owl. Unconvinced maybe. “You go to Jitters every Friday?”

“Well,” Aeduan backtracked, feeling his insides freeze up a bit, “we have been for the last month. It’s… a new tradition.”

He hoped that didn’t sound weird. Iseult was still staring at him with that blank stare of hers, her eyebrows having recovered from their brief surprise. It was all so maddening. He never knew what she was going to say. It made everything he said all the more nerve wracking… and exciting.

He realized something then, something that made the corner of his mouth curl up. Just like that, he wasn’t afraid of what to say next.

“Shall we?”

* . * . * . * .

Iseult was getting coffee with Aeduan.

Scratch that. Iseult was getting coffee for Aeduan. Or at least, she would be once they got to Jitters.

They were walking. Outside, Aeduan had apologized and muttered something about not being able to use the car in the morning. He did that a lot. Mutter. But Iseult didn’t mind. Especially when there was an apology buried in there - which, there had been that day. Twice. That wasn’t so bad either. (Not that she was keeping track, of course.)

The sidewalks were icy, and several times, Iseult nearly slipped. Each time she noticed the way Aeduan’s hand shot out to grab her out of the corner of her eye - but only just. He never quite made it to touching her. His hand would hover in the air - she could practically feel it - waiting for her to recover, and after, it would fall back to his side, wrist rolling.

The three of them walked side by side, Aeduan in between Iseult and Owl. There was no way of knowing for sure, but Iseult suspected that he had put himself in the middle to act as some sort of buffer. The contempt radiating off of Owl back at the library hadn’t gone unnoticed by Iseult. She could have imagined it, but she thought she even saw a smidgen of smugness on the child’s face after she had fallen. While Iseult admired Aeduan for fighting for custody of the child, there was no ignoring it: Owl was strange.

Aeduan held on tight to Owl’s hand, setting the pace for the three of them. Unlike Iseult, she hadn’t slipped once. So strange.

Nothing was said for the first ten minutes of their trek. Eventually, Iseult worked up the nerve and broke the ice in a way that didn’t involve falling on her ass.

“You said you started coming to Jitters every Friday?” she asked, giving Aeduan a side-long look. He nodded, keeping his eyes ahead of him.

“Before we pick up my sisters from school.”

Sisters. Interesting. Iseult instantly latched onto the topic. “Do they live around here?”

Aeduan shook his head. “Arithuania.”

“That’s not too far,” Iseult commented conversationally. “How old are they?”

“Lisbet’s 12 and Cora’s 8… They're my half-sisters.”

“Oh.” Iseult mulled over that. It was a seemingly small detail, but it invited a whole host of questions about his family. Lisbet and Cora were younger than him, so that meant he had a stepmother… which meant something had happened to his real mother. The desire to not to lose momentum of the conversation almost pushed Iseult to ask… but then she thought about Gretchya. If the roles were reversed and Aeduan had asked about her mom, she wouldn’t have wanted to answer. Her mom was about the furthest thing away from what she would want to talk about, now or ever.

So instead she said, “I don’t have any siblings. But I have Safi.”

Aeduan’s head turned to her. “Who’s Safi?”

“My best friend.” Iseult’s face broke out into a smile like it always did when she thought about Safi. “She’s the closest thing I have to a sister.”

“That… must be nice.”

Iseult nodded in agreement. “We live together.”

A pause. “Do you get along?”

“Most of the time. But even when we disagree, we’re always in sync. We’re always on each other’s side. It’s... hard to explain.”

“Hn.” That was all Aeduan had to say to that and then silence fell between. Iseult really felt like it was his turn to pick up the conversation. She’d done a decent enough job carrying it so far; a two minute run was pretty good, she thought. A record, maybe, for Aeduan. But now it was his turn. Or so she thought. Because the silence stretched. And stretched and stretched. She even heard Owl sigh at one point. She wouldn’t be surprised if she fell asleep by the time they made it to Jitters.

“Do you live around here?” she finally asked, then groaned inwardly. What a stupid question. Of course, he lived around here. They walked to the library all the time, dumby.

“Yes.”

The single word struck a match on Iseult’s nerves. She might as well have said nothing at all if that all she was going to get back in return. She wasn’t great at making conversation on a good day, but Aeduan - Aeduan was like a monolith. There was no breaking through to him. He just stood there like a constipated brick, not saying a word, with those ridiculously blue eyes and ridiculously long lashes, and just glared at her making her feel like a complete idiot for even trying to talk to him, like she was the one with the problem!

Well, she silently seethed, it was no secret to the Moon Mother that she was ripe with issues, but she was not the problem here. She peeked at him out of the corner of her eye, and the white winter sunlight caught on the lobe of Aeduan’s ear.

“Why do you wear that thing?” she blurted.

Aeduan’s head whipped to her, his eyes slightly widened, like he’d only just realized she was there. Before, Iseult might have been scared as to how he would react to such a brazen question. But her fears had nothing on the deep satisfaction of seeing the crimson blush that fanned out high on his cheeks and crawled to the tips of his ears. She half expected him to trip over himself for how long he gaped at her.

“Why do you care?” he snarled - he actually snarled!

Iseult stood her ground. In that, she kept walking, head held high.

“I didn’t say I cared,” she said smoothly. “I’m just curious. You don’t see a lot of guys walking around wearing gemstones in their ears. It says alot about a person.”

Aeduan’s jaw locked so tightly it looked like it might never unhinge ever again - which, Iseult supposed, wouldn’t make much of a difference seeing as he never said anything worthwhile anyway.

But then he did something that surprised her. He came to a full stop. He swiveled to face her directly, and when Iseult looked into his eyes, some of the fear she’d pushed aside rushed back.

“This gemstone,” Aeduan said venomously, pointing a sharp finger to his ear, “belonged to my mother.” He glared at Iseult and she swore she heard her heart stop entirely. Strangers milled about around them on the sidewalk, but in that moment nothing else existed outside of her and Aeduan. All she saw were his eyes. Cold as ice, yet burning with hatred... and grief. Even though Iseult was petrified of what he might say next, she realized that she felt like she was seeing him for the first time.

“I wear this to remember her.” Aeduan’s chest heaved. Icy air puffed from his lips with every labored breath, and Iseult suddenly noticed how close he was to her. Just another step and their noses would be touching. And their lips…

“If you’d ever lost a mother, you’d want to feel close to her too.”

This time Iseult’s heart did stop. With a disgusted look, Aeduan swung away from her and left her standing alone on the sidewalk, staring at the empty space where he used to be.

“I don’t think I would.”

Aeduan froze and looked over his shoulder. Iseult stood rooted to the spot.

“I-I d-don’t know if that’s t-true.” She shook her head, not sure where the words were coming from. Not sure how her heart could be beating so fast and not feel like it was working at the same time. Like it was malfunctioning and pumping out thoughts she would otherwise never say aloud. Not to anyone. Maybe not even Safi.

“My m-mother is sick and I d-don’t call her,” she stammered. “I never see her. I make excuses all the time about why I can’t visit her or why I don’t return her calls and even though I know I’m being a horrible daughter, I just can’t stop. I can’t bring myself to be better for her. I don’t know who your mother was or what she was like, but I do know mine. I don’t know what I’d do without her, I’ve never not had a mother, but… I don’t know if I’d want to feel close to her b-because I don’t feel c-close to her now. I… I don’t know if I’d miss her.”

The weight of everything she just admitted lifted off Iseult and she was able to breathe again, heartbeat retreating under the cool blanket of stasis she kept shrouded around her at all times. Pumping blood, not feelings, doing its job. She took a gulp of cold air. Her limbs felt foreign to her, the tension she always carried ebbing away, and a fierce exhaustion hit her with the force of a speeding train. She didn’t think she could bring herself to look at Aeduan after everything she just confessed… but she did anyway.

His expression was painstakingly emotionless. Not even a scrap of red tinged his cheeks. During her speech she hadn’t really registered him there. Even Owl at his side was looking at Iseult with something different. There was no repulsion, not judgement. Just… curiosity.

Iseult took another deep breath of air. It didn’t matter what Aeduan thought of her now. She needed to go to work. She needed to move forward. Her eyelids fluttered close briefly.

Stasis, Iseult. Stasis. Stasis in your fingers and in your toes.

When she opened her eyes, she was moving. She was brushing past his shoulder. And then-

Something stopped her.

Iseult looked down at the hand firmly gripped on the strap of her book bag, then slowly, tipped her chin up to look at Aeduan. The white winter sun behind him was a halo around his head.

“Can I buy you a muffin?”

* . * . * . * .

Somehow Iseult ended up on the green couch at Jitters. There had been scant elsewhere for the three of them to comfortably sit, so while Iseult had made a beeline for the couch before anyone else could snatch it out from under them, Aeduan headed to the counter to fetch them some coffee. Caffeine was probably the last thing Iseult needed right now - not after what had transpired on their walk - but when Aeduan had asked her how she took her coffee, she couldn’t find it in herself to refuse him.

There was an air of relaxed cheerfulness about the shop, the place bustling with people getting a jumpstart on their weekend, college students done with classes for the week. When Iseult spotted Cam alone scrambling behind the counter and Safi nowhere in sight, her first instinct was to rush over and give him a hand, but the second Aeduan stepped into her line of sight and instructed her to find a seat, she’d forgotten all about him.

It felt strange sitting and being waited on in her own coffee shop. It was like being served in her living room. She sat spine rod straight on the edge of the couch with her hands absently twisting her gloves in her lap. She hadn’t even bothered to take off her coat or scarf. They felt like protective armor now, like needing a blanket to fall asleep regardless of whether it’s cold or not. Right now, it was admittedly too hot, what with the fireplace crackling by the couch. She could feel herself growing uncomfortably warm. She resolved to loosen her scarf, but only a little bit.

Aeduan wasn’t alone when he reappeared carrying two mismatched mugs of coffee. Cam followed behind him, his face pinched in concentration, moving with caution as he balanced three small plates of pastries perilously along his spindly arms. Iseult tried not to make a show of watching him as he approached, but she held her breath, praying for him not to fumble. It would be exactly the kind of thing he would do, the poor kid. The second hand embarrassment alone would cause Iseult to combust.

The second the plates made contact with the low coffee table, she was able to breathe freely.

“Cam,” Iseult said, peering over the back of the couch and looking around the shop, “where’s Safi?”

Cam put down the last of the plates and wiped off his brow, relief evident on his face. “She ran out to the corner store. The delivery guys must be running late and we ran out of creamer.”

“That’s the second time this month,” Iseult muttered more to herself than to Cam. She sighed. “I’ll have Safi give them an earful when they get here.”

“Aye aye, sir.” Cam gave her a dutiful salute. He made to turn away, then stopped as if only just realizing that he had just served pastries to her. “You are working today, right? Safi seemed to think you were.”

“In another half hour,” said Iseult, checking the clock on the wall for good measure. “Don’t worry, I’ll be on by the time you need to leave. You won’t be late for your Big Brother meeting.”

Cam’s cheeks went a little pink and he rubbed the back of his neck. “Ok, thanks,” he said sheepishly. “I’m really sorry he called last week. I told him it wasn’t your fault, I swear.”

A memory of Safi hunched over the desk in their cramped office in the storeroom, red-faced, holding the phone to her ear flashed across her eyes. Safi’d endured a very heated discussion with some guy that claimed to be Cam’s Big Brother - didn’t even bother to properly introduce himself, the loser - and accused them of letting Cam off his shift late so that he was late for their meeting. Judging by the 30 minutes hate-rant that followed after she’d hung up the phone, it had not been a productive conversation.

“I believe you, Cam. It really wasn't a big deal,” she lied. It had taken forty bucks worth of take-out and a bottle of wine to convince Safi not to fire him on the spot.

“Ok,” Cam said again, shoulders relaxing. He surveyed the spread on their coffee table and glanced at Aeduan and Owl seated next to her. “I just wasn’t sure what this was.”

“Oh ah…” Iseult glanced at Aeduan who was helping Owl peel the paper wrapping off her muffin, not paying the least bit of attention to their conversation. “We’re just having some lunch.”

“Alright,” Cam said, eyeing Aeduan skeptically, if not fearfully. But he didn’t pry further. “Well, I’ll see you in a bit then. Enjoy your, uh, lunch.”

“Thanks,” Iseult said, watching him leave. Stealing herself, she shifted in her seat to face lunch.

Aeduan hadn’t touched his food. He was too busy fussing over Owl. She sat between them, contentedly munching on a muffin that was almost as big as her head. Much like before when they had been walking together, she felt like Owl was acting as some sort of barrier now, like Aeduan had put her there to keep some space between them. Iseult wondered if she should read into it. Maybe he was trying to tell her that this wasn’t anything special. Just two people having coffee. Nothing put the lid on romance faster than a four-year-old who, as far as Iseult could tell, hated her. And then there was the issue of the 6 months worth of guilt she’d word vomited all over the sidewalk just 10 minutes ago.

“Is everything alright?” Aeduan asked as he put down Owl’s juice box on the coffee table and picked at his own muffin.

“Oh, it’s nothing,” Iseult said, almost breathless. “Just a problem with our delivery guys. I’ll have Safi handle it when she gets back.”

Aeduan popped a piece of muffin in his mouth and chewed methodically as he studied her. He swallowed. “No, I meant with you. Your face. It’s all red and splotchy.”

“Oh,” Iseult breathed, hands flying to her cheeks. The skin burned under her fingers. “I… I’m just a little warm, I guess. The fire…” Aeduan continued to stare and she looked down helplessly at her coat. “I suppose I can take this off,” she mumbled, reaching for the buttons and beginning to undo them. She tried to steady her fingers as she continued down the line. She shrugged the peacoat off and her entire body seemed to sigh with relief at the feeling of being able to breath again. She chanced another glance at Aeduan as she unwound her scarf, noticing that he had already taken his jacket. How she hadn’t noticed until was a mystery. The white t-shirt stretched across his chest made it devastatingly clear that he didn’t need any protective armor for their not-date.

Iseult had always been so preoccupied with what was going on inside Aeduan’s head that she never really wondered what went on with the rest of him. His signature leather jacket masked how lean he truly was, but it also hid everything else. Everything else being, well, everything. And boy, there was so much to see.

Not being much of a fashion guru, Iseult had never considered what was so special about the plain white tee. That singular item of clothing had transcended decades of trends despite being, as its title suggested, plain. Now, however, its reason for persevering was evident. Embellishment would only distract from the main attraction. The attraction being, the person who wore it.

Aeduan was, for lack of a better word, stacked.

The shirt left nothing to the imagination. Iseult could see the contours of his muscles, starting with the hard plane of his chest, traveling all the way down to map the outline of his abs. His arms were on full display in all their glory, pale and strong looking and - oh my gosh - was that a tattoo peeking out from underneath the hem of his sleeve?? There was nothing unsightly about him. He was built in a way that told her that he must be well-acquainted with the benefits of hitting the genetic lottery. This wasn't the work of protein powder. Somehow he had fallen into Moon Mother’s good graces. He looked healthy and strong and 100% out of Iseult’s league… It wasn’t until now that she’d ever even considered joining a league.

She didn’t own a bat.

She didn’t own a ball.

She’d never made it to first base before, nevermind hit a homerun.

She was so woefully unequipped in every way for the living Michaelangelo statue sitting across from her that it suddenly hit her that no wonder he didn’t talk much. Who needed words when you had a body like that to do all the talking?

Except Aeduan was talking for once. Now, in fact.

“Are you going to leave that on?” Iseult barely heard him ask.

“What? Oh-” She followed his line of sight to the beret on top of her head. She hastily peeled it off and awkwardly tried to smooth out her hair. She was uncomfortably aware of Aeduan’s eyes on her. She wished she hadn’t worn the silly thing. It had been a gift from Leopold a couple Christmases back. He had insisted that it was chic and retro and, no, it wouldn’t make her look like Mary from The Secret Garden, but now she would have liked nothing more than to toss it into the fire and watch it shrivel up into a pile of ash.

“Thanks,” she forced herself to say as she reached for the mug on the table. “For the coffee and- oh.” She examined the muffin beside it, then tilted her head questioningly at Aeduan. “Did you know cinnamon was my favorite?”

Aeduan, who was mid-sip, paused. Iseult caught the corner of his mouth curled up behind his mug. Then he tipped his coffee back and it was gone. “Lucky guess.”

Iseult allowed herself to smile, a little one, before ducking her down. She began to break apart her muffin… but there was only so much eating and drinking she could do before there would need to be some exchange of words. She decided to take a stab at it.

“You said you come here every Friday?”

“Pretty much,” Aeduan said, reaching for a napkin and dabbing a smear of what looked like blueberry off Owl’s cheek. She looked like she wanted to resist but didn’t.

“You do know there’s a Starbucks right around the corner, right?”

“So?”

“Well, why come here when you could go there?”

Aeduan thought about it, then shrugged. “I like the coffee.”

Iseult snorted into her mug, sending a couple errant droplets of coffee flying. Both Aeduan and Owl stared at her. Iseult surreptitiously wiped her mouth, but when she noticed that they were still staring, Aeduan clearly confused by her reaction, she sent the same nonplussed look right back.

“Are you serious?” Iseult asked deadpanned.

“I believe I am,” Aeduan replied, a little defensive, which made Iseult want to laugh again.

“It’s not actually real Marstoki coffee,” she said, gesturing to his mug. “You know that, right?”

Aeduan peered into the contents of his mug. “It’s not?”

“Not even a little.” Iseult gave him a bemused look, enjoying the curious way he was examining his mug, almost indignant. Eventually he accepted the truth and put it down.

“You said hazelnut makes it better. I guess you were right.”

Iseult’s heart skipped a beat. He ordered his coffee that way she had brewed it for him the first time she saw him in the shop? She didn’t know why that made her feel all gooey inside but it did.

A soft chime sounded and Aeduan reached into his back pocket. The movement stretched his already too tight shirt even tighter across his chest and Iseult launched into an aggressive excavation of her muffin as to avoid ogling him. When she eventually got a grip and looked back up, Aeduan was frowning at his phone.

“Something wrong?” Iseult asked, hoping that he didn’t have to leave.

He shook his head. “It’s nothing.” He started to put it away, then stopped. “Well,” - he shifted again and slid it back out - “do you know what this means?”

He leaned across Owl and showed the screen to Iseult.

“My sister likes to send me these… things,” he explained, watching Iseult carefully as she looked at the picture on his phone. “I never know what the heck she’s talking about.”

“Oh!” Iseult exclaimed with a laugh. “It’s a meme. See, that’s Kermit the Frog. Kermit is-”

“I know who Kermit the Frog is,” Aeduan ground out like it pained him to say the goofy green muppet’s name out loud. “But what does he have to do with her trying to decide whether or not she wants to sign up for the school’s annual spelling bee?”

“Well,” Iseult began and boldly took the phone from his hand and pointed to the Kermit hooded in a black cloak. “That’s Kermit’s evil persona. He’s like the devil on his shoulder whispering in his ear and egging him on. Your sister-”

“Lisbet,” provided Aeduan.

“-Lisbet said she doesn’t want to sign up because she has too many other extracurriculars going on right now and doesn’t want to overload herself. But she also wants the satisfaction of wiping the floor with her peers’ asses because she knows she’ll win.”

Aeduan frowned at her.

“My words, not hers,” she clarified. She handed the phone back to him. “She was using that picture of Kermit talking to his sinister self to emphasize her evil instincts.”

“I wouldn't exactly classify competing in a spelling bee as evil,” Aeduan said, studying the meme again.

Iseult plunked a bit of muffin in her mouth and chewed. “Sounds like she's a pretty outgoing kid.”

“She is,” Aeduan said, clicking his phone off and tucking it away. “But she’s quiet about it… Humble in a way the most overachieving 12-year-olds aren’t. To her it’s not overachieving, it’s just her being her.”

Iseult watched the faint smile that spread across his lips, warming his usually cold face. “Cora,” he continued without prompting, “is a lot like her, but sillier. She’s younger, of course, but she’s always been a little more mellow than Lisbet. More carefree. I don’t think school means the same to her as it does to Lisbet, but she’s a good girl.”

“They both sound like they’re good girls,” Iseult said.

“They are,” Aeduan nodded. “They are.”

A comfortable silence passed between them in which they both indulged in a few bites of their muffins.

“So what are your plans for this weekend?” Iseult asked.

Aeduan stiffened, looking slightly uncomfortable. “Uh, sorry, but I’m busy. I have the girls all weekend.”

She blinked. “Right, I know... what are your plans with them?”

“You weren’t...?” Aeduan’s face went red and he absently tugged at his pieced lobe. “Oh. Well. Uh…” He tried to mask his embarrassment with a cough. “Nothing special. Lisbet likes to get her homework out of the way on Fridays and Cora likes to do what Lisbet does, so we usually spend the rest of the afternoon doing school work. Saturdays are a mixed bag. Lisbet’s does a lot of extracurriculars, so depending on what she has going on, Saturday is our day to just hang out and relax.”

Iseult had a hard time picturing Aeduan “hanging out” and wondered what that would entail. Before she could ask, a noise sprouted between them and they both looked down. Owl sipped on her straw like she was sucking the life out of her juice box. Aeduan gingerly pulled it out of her mouth and placed the exsanguinated carton on the coffee table.

“What about you?” Aeduan asked, like nothing had happened. “Do you have any fun plans?” It sounded like he struggled to say the word ‘fun’.

“Well, I wouldn’t exactly call my plans fun. Or call them plans at all,” Iseult confessed, tucking her hair behind her ear. “I mostly work. And read.”

“And hang out with Safi.”

Iseult smiled, nodding. “And hang out with Safi.”

It took her a full 5 seconds to realize that Aeduan was smiling back at her. Not just with his mouth but with the little dimple that winked out from his cheek. It was the most brilliant thing she’d ever seen.

“Actually,” she spoke, looking down at her hands, “we’re hanging out tonight. Our friend Vaness is having a little get-together with some people.”

“Vaness?”

Iseult’s ears perked up, catching the sharp familiarity in the way he spoke her name. “Yeah. Do you know her?”

Aeduan opened his mouth to respond, his smile and the dimple noticeably missing, but at that moment, the bells over the entrance door jingled and in walked Safi.

“Iseult,” she breathed, nose and cheeks rosy from the cold. A paper bag was clutched to her chest with what Iseult guessed was creamer.

At the sound of her name, Aeduan’s head instinctively turned to look over the back of the couch. Safi froze as the door closed behind her.

“S-Safi,” Iseult exclaimed, taken aback by the stutter over her best friend’s name. That was a first. But Safi didn’t seem to notice. Her feet seemed glued to the floor with her stare pinned on Aeduan.

“This is Aeduan and - oh!” - Owl was turning in her seat and pulling herself up with the back of the couch to see what the fuss was about - “this is Owl.”

Owl gave Safi a shrewd look that lasted all of 5 seconds before sinking back down onto the cushion and returning to her muffin. Clearly, she was unimpressed by Iseult’s choice in best friend.

“Aeduan, this is Safi,” Iseult told him, nearly choking on Safi’s name when she saw the frosty look he was giving Safi.

Neither of them said anything.

“We were just eating lunch,” Iseult explained, grappling for words. She looked from Safi to Aeduan waiting for someone to explain why on earth she’d been transported to the arctic tundra. They seemed to be locked in some sort of Vulcan mind meld; she had a feeling her limited knowledge of Star Trek trivia wasn’t going to do much to break it.

Thankfully, Aeduan was the one to do the deed. He sent a downward jerk of his head to Safi in acknowledgment that might as well have been a punch to the face for all the friendliness it had, then turned to Iseult.

“We need to get going,” he said, his voice carrying none of the warmth or depth it had had in their conversation moments ago.

“S-sure,” Iseult faltered. She was unable to ignore the sinking disappointment buoying in the pit of her stomach. “I w-wouldn’t want to keep Lisbet and Cora waiting.”

Wordlessly, he pulled on his jacket and helped Owl into hers, then bundled her up in her hat, scarf, and gloves. He started to stack the mugs and plates.

“You don’t have to-” Iseult tried to stop him, but he continued anyway.

“I got it,” was all he gruffed out. When everything was piled up, he stepped around the coffee table and transported it all to the counter by the waste bin. When he came back he held out his hand to Owl, who slid off the couch and placed her fuzzy mittened hand in his, then glanced at Iseult. She couldn’t read his expression, but she didn’t have much time because the next second he was turning his back on her and leaving.

Safi, who hadn’t budged, didn’t say a word as he sidestepped around her and pushed through the door. The second it rattled shut, her head whipped to Iseult. She whizzed over to the couch like time had stopped and was suddenly speeding to catch up. She threw herself down where Aeduan had been sitting and carelessly let the paper bag drop to the floor, barely giving it any mind. Disbelief was written all over her face. Iseult was glad that her expression was finally readable, but was still very much bewildered as to the reason behind it.

“What was that all about? Are you crazy?” Safi whisper-hissed.

Iseult blinked rapidfire in response. “What are you talking about?”

“Him!” Safi exclaimed, shooting a look over her shoulder. “That guy! Why on Earth would you hang out with him?!”

Iseult was so confused. She was barely able to form words. “He’s just a patron at the library. We’re friends.”

Safi gave her a flabbergasted look. “He’s not just a patron. Iseult,” - she leaned forward and brought her head close to hers - “do you seriously not recognize who he is or do you not remember anything from that night?” She pinned her with a stare, eyebrows high, as though waiting for a response, but Iseult shook her head smally, her mouth clamped shut. Nothing Safi was saying was making any sense and it was making her more and more nervous.

Safi sucked in a breath through her nose and her hand covered Iseult’s in her lap. She squeezed it bracingly. All it did was send another shot of fear through Iseult. She stared into Safi’s blue eyes.

“Iseult,” she said in a low voice, “that’s the chief of police’s son... the cop that crashed Vaness’ end-of-the-year party.”

* . * . * . * .

The moment Aeduan stepped outside, he felt like he could breathe again. It had become too hot in there. And then when Safi walked in…

Of course - of course - Iseult’s best friend had to be the impossible barista. But she wasn’t just that. Because just before she’d interrupted them, something that had been out of place had slid home and he’d realized something: he knew Iseult.

A memory of a hot summer night that started with a noise complaint rushed back to him. Being in the Domestic Violence Unit, it wasn’t something his squad typically covered, but staff was stretched thin that night, what with the non-stop partying shaking up the college city, and Aeduan didn’t have much choice to turn his back on the call. It had been one of the last runs he’d made before turning in his badge.

Iseult probably didn’t even remember it. But he did.

Owl tugged at Aeduan’s hand and felt her curl into his leg. He peered down at her questioningly.

She lifted a mittened hand out in front of her. “Dog,” she said.

Aeduan looked to where she pointed and, sure enough, there was a dog leashed to a lamppost, most likely waiting for his owner to return from getting a coffee. At the sight of the two of them, he lifted his shaggy head from his front paws, attention piqued.

Annoyance tugged at Aeduan’s gut. He hated when dog owners just left their pets tied up unattended. It was just notch below leaving them in the car.

Owl let go of his hand and clutched herself to him, hiding behind his leg. Wide brown eyes peeked out from behind him at the dog, who looked cold and miserable.

“Tail not moving,” she said, her words muffled by the fabric of his jeans. Aeduan nodded and gave the dog a pitying look.

“That’s right,” he told her. “He’s probably not happy being left out in the snow by his master.”

Owl tucked herself even closer to him and a small whimper bubbled out of her. Aeduan moved to sidestep away from her to show her the dog wouldn’t hurt her, but she only whimpered again, more loudly.

“It’s ok,” Aeduan shushed her, gently extricating her from his leg and lifting her up in the air like she weighed nothing. “I got you.”

Her arms wrapped around his neck the moment she connected with his chest and the warmth of her enveloped him, anchoring him, pushing thoughts of his old life his mind. He held her close, humming soft comforting words to her and rocking her gently.

From the snow-covered sidewalk, the shivering dog’s watery, mournful eyes watched him and Aeduan stared back. He thought about Iseult and her sick mother. He thought about Owl’s tear-stained face from that morning and her arms around him now. And then he thought about what it would take to lose a child and what it would feel like to not be missed.

#the witchlands #bookends #iseult det midenzi #aeduan #baeseult #owl #safiya fon hasstrel #iseult x aeduan #cam leeri #truthwitch #my fics #mine

10 notes · View notes

evakuality · 5 years

Photo

I’ve been thinking of doing this for a long time, but it kind of got kicked into another gear when I got this ask a while back. That gives a broad overview of the similarities and differences between these boys, but I’m also interested in drilling down and looking at them as their respective stories progress. Now I know a lot more about Isak because I have actually seen all the seasons of Skam and have only seen the full season 3 of Druck. So I’m going to stick to the storylines in their own seasons, but bear in mind that there’s a broader understanding of Isak behind what I’m saying. Having said that, I did watch those ‘season x but it’s just Matteo’ videos for s1 and 2 of Druck but it’s not really helped a huge deal. I don’t feel like I have that good a handle on his character as it stood before s3 started. Anyway, the thing about these characters is how fascinating it is that they share a lot of similarities (of course, since Matteo is based on Isak) and yet they’re very different and their stories play out in quite different ways. So I decided to take a look at why this has happened. Episode by episode because as usual I’ve been very wordy.

Season 3 introductions: From the start, we get some very different vibes from the two of them. The music chosen to set the scenes for each is interesting from this point of view. Isak’s is ‘LiQR’ which holds suggestions of needing social lubricant to enjoy the situation. And indeed, there is a lot of that on display: people drinking, smoking etc to enable them to enjoy the party. Matteo’s, by contrast, is ‘turning me on’ with it’s heavy suggestions of sex. That also plays out. Lots of sexually charged behaviour happens before we see him and even when he meets up with the boys it’s all very explicitly sexual. I think in a lot of ways, these things set up how the seasons play out. Isak does need to learn how to rely on himself rather than the easy drug and alcohol-fueled flippancy he’s been used to hiding behind. By the end of the season he’s much more secure in his own sense of self and we see much less dependence on those social lubricants. Matteo has been holding back from his life, including sexually, staying on the edges of those conversations etc (and it’s interesting that when he blows up later in the season at the boys it’s sex talk that he targets as the way they piss him off), and I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Matteo waits til the last episode before this is something he really explores.

Then we get the actual introductions of each of the boys. Isak’s in a bathtub surrounded by his friends, outside of the party which is what we see first. Matteo is at the party, but on the wall. He’s isolated himself not just from the schoolmates but also from his friends who at this point are in the bathtub together. Isak is far more integrated into the boys’ conversation than Matteo is, and seems to be far more consciously deploying the ‘I’m a straight guy’ cover. Matteo, as we see later in this episode, almost falls into the pretence without his own impetus, whereas Isak very definitely uses it to convince the boys. There’s a reason for this: Matteo has fallen into a reluctant relationship with his Sara and is still in it. Isak has removed himself from the relationship with his Sara, and has no ties at all with Emma. In fact, he uses her as his cover story before we meet her. Once she’s there, he has to carry through with it or he risks losing his mask with his friends. It’s very obvious that he’s only doing this for their sake by how quickly and how thoroughly he pulls back as soon as they’re gone. Matteo is still with his Sara, and we see him with her before we see him with the boys. He’s dragged into it by her but doesn’t want to be there at all, and yet he plays along. He seems kinder at the start (not to say Isak isn’t kind, but he hides that side of himself a lot more at the start of the season), and he doesn’t want to hurt Sara at all. Isak’s ‘insult her to intrigue her’ thing isn’t something I can see Matteo doing at all, even if he wasn’t already connected to Sara in a deeper way than Isak is to Emma.

The interesting thing here is that, despite the very deliberate facade Isak is wearing, Isak has a real connection with his friends and he has a happy enough life. I get the feeling that if Even hadn’t come along, Isak was reasonably happy with how things were. He may be tired of the pretence but it isn’t affecting his ability to engage in the rest of his life. For example, Isak has a much longer time with the boys in the bath and he’s much more present in the conversation. Matteo is very quiet by comparison, and is faced with explicit sex talk immediately, while Isak’s boys are much less forthright at this point (again, this ties into sex being part of Matteo’s learning curve; that’s all part of being present in his own life by the end). Part of this is because Matteo is isolating himself, putting himself on the edges and he quite clearly doesn’t really enjoy his life. From the start, Matteo is a lot softer with less hard edges, and so he feels a lot of the things in his life more obviously than Isak does. He’s also a lot more internalised than Isak is, even though they are both fairly clearly introverts.

Matteo has already gone through getting with Sara, so his comments to the boys about things with her are all vague; he has no need to convince the boys of his heterosexuality as he’s already got the cover he needs. Isak has to ‘perform’ in front of the boys to make good on his boasts, and indeed he has to make the boats in the first place to let them know he’s into girls when they question him. This is partly his own fault: he talks up his chances and talks a good talk so when Emma arrives he’s put on the spot. Still, even though the situations for each here is different, they’re both left alone with their own thoughts when the boys leave.

Interestingly, they’re both isolated and unhappy at the end of the bathroom section, but how they get there is different. Isak is there because of Emma and how that whole little farce had felt (pretty awful as it went on and he was left alone with her), whereas Matteo was already there before he got into the room and lets it out properly once the boys have left and he can be alone. Neither of them has any focus on the girls they’re with at this party; Isak is performing for the boys, and Matteo is so tuned out he can’t wait to get away from Sara. He’s not performing here, just genuinely totally not into it. They both reject sexual advances from the girls, though at different points in this episode. Emma has literally just met Isak and wants to go down on him, which flusters him because she’s just supposed to be an easy cover and not this forward this soon. Later in the episode, Sara wants to seal their newfound relationship with sex. Both boys are visibly uncomfortable (to the audience) with the idea and find ways to get out of it. Both girls don’t recognise how uncomfortable the boys are, though Sara seems to get it faster. She just always manages to talk herself out of it.

Getting the weed is different too. Isak’s boys are arguing about who ‘has’ to take it, whereas Matteo keeps it as a way of teasing when Abdi wants it back. They both have different responses to the police as well. Isak’s not at his own place, and just wants to get rid of the weed. Matteo fobs off responsibility for talking to them (but only after Linn also does), and plants the weed on Amira. Matteo’s actions are far more shitty to the person who confronts him about it, though both are shitty in trying to hide it somewhere that it will come back to bite someone else if found. This of course means Isak doesn’t know what happened to his weed, whereas Matteo does which in turn changes how they go about getting it back.

Isak in general is far more glib, able to use his wit to get himself out of trouble (eg with the police the way he talks to Emma etc), apart from the disastrous story he tries to spin Eva to get the weed back from her. Matteo is much less vocal even with his friends, and therefore less able to talk his way out of things. They both end the clip (or start the next one) with their Jonas, but Isak’s much more bro-ish. He seems by this point to be over whatever it was that he felt for Jonas. Whereas Matteo is very clearly still pining. This of course changes how they approach their love interests. Matteo seems hit by a truck, whereas Isak is flustered again. Isak sees Even in a very public place, catches his eye across a crowded cafeteria and immediately tunes out everything the others are saying. He’s ready, I think, to find this overwhelming big passion, the thing that will force him to drop his carefully cultivated mask. Matteo, on the other hand, is tuned out of his life already, moving once again away from his friends, going through the motions of the day. He wakes up suddenly when David appears. He doesn’t need to break a facade at all; he’s a bit more self aware I think, in terms of accepting who he is. So, what he needs is someone to push him out of his apathy and make him face life.

The social media stuff the morning after the party is interesting too. Isak is included and involved even if Eskild insults him a bit; he’s cuddled up with the others while they talk to Noora. Matteo leaves before they take the picture and so is once again excluded, even from his own bedroom, though again this is a deliberate choice he makes when Jonas and Hans are talking. Matteo flinching away from Jonas when Hans comes in is fascinating too. He’s hiding everything he’s feeling and it’s part of what’s isolating him so much. We see Isak consciously deploy a persona to cover up for who he is, so he puts himself out there almost as a larger than life version of himself. But Matteo doesn’t want that; his preference is to fade so far back into the shadows that no-one ever notices him and he does everything he can not to be noticed and not to be seen as different.

Having said that, Matteo is a lot more proactive in some ways than Isak (again, not to say Isak isn’t, but Matteo takes more action even at this point). It’s his choice to go and talk to Amira and try to get the weed back. This is partly because he knows exactly who has it and Isak doesn’t, but it plays out over the rest of the season as well. He’s an odd mix, actually, because he’ll let people tell him what he should think and he’s passively willing to go along with Sara but I think it’s because it doesn’t really matter to him. When it does matter, he’s all action and quite determined. Isak will be proactive in defence of his mask or persona, but he doesn’t do much about pushing in other ways. This is seen quite clearly at the kosegruppa meeting vs the abistreich meeting. Isak slips away, sure, but he follows Even outside and kind of lets the conversation come to him. For the first half, Even is definitely the leader and Isak follows, even if he picks it up more in the second half. Matteo, by contrast, speaks to David first, gets him to come along with him to the hallway and is the one offering weed. While they both take an active part in their respective conversations, Matteo is more of a leader definitely at the start. David does eventually engage further in the conversation and gives as good as he gets, but Matteo is the driver for a lot of the first half.

So that’s the first episode. Clearly, while our boys have some similarities and their stories are still mostly the same at this point, the differences in the way they are presented and the way they react have already turned up some big contrasts. It all boils down to what each has to learn, and as I said earlier, for Isak that’s to open up to himself in a more real and authentic way. To drop the mask and be true to himself. For Matteo that’s how to re-engage in life and stop hanging on the sidelines letting things passively come to him. They both actually make some progress with this stuff in this episode, but they both have a long way to go.

Episode two can be found over here.

#druck #skam #my meta stuff #my isak and matteo comparison stuff

169 notes · View notes

greekgeek21 · 4 years

Text

The Codependency Competition Ch.2

Reminder! This is also on Wattpad, Ao3, FF, and Inkitt. Also, go read Literallyobsessed's story "The Highschool Experiment." This story was inspired by it.

Thanks, JJ (nightskywithrainbows). They are a writer, too, so you should go check out their amazing works on Ao3!

Stay safe and happy reading!

– your author

ΩΩΩ

The next period was Lunch, so Percy and Annabeth were bound to see each other again. Even so, they were on a mission to keep their secret, so they tried avoiding each other's eyes for the beginning of lunch. However, their friends seemed to be on a mission of their own to expose their plan, whether they were aware of it or not.

At Annabeth's table, her friends were discussing her and Percy's little conversation in Greek class. At Goode, word spreads quickly when it involves Percy Jackson.

"Come on, Annabeth! What were you saying to each other?" Nora exclaimed, exasperated.

"It was nothing, and I didn't even really know what I was saying anyway. It was just a bunch of random bonus phrases you can get off the internet, ok?" Annabeth answered, looking down and playing with her food.

Her friend just stared at her with a raised eyebrow, "Annabeth Chase, the know-it-all, didn't know something? I doubt it."

Yeah...maybe playing dumb should be left to Percy. Even Annabeth was having a hard time forcing herself to act like she didn't know what she was saying last period.

"Whatever, it doesn't matter anyways. Just drop it," Annabeth ordered, letting her leader-voice drip in subconsciously.

Her friend looked a little taken aback, but another look from Annabeth silenced any protests.

"I still can't believe you even talked to Percy," Noah said, a look of fake wonder on his face, "I mean, you're just a nobody, and he's Percy Jackson."

Annabeth couldn't resist the urge to roll her eyes. Everyone thinking Percy was some kind of untouchable object was starting to get on her nerves. Sure, at camp, new campers seemed to practically worship them, but here? All they know about him is that he went missing for 8 months, came back different, and is amazing at swimming.

Mortals need to raise their standards on what's to be considered cool, that's for sure, she thought.

At the same time, Percy's friends, Mike, Jack, and Chloe were starting to interrogate their own friend. These three people were Percy's closest mortal friends, mostly because they didn't care about popularity. All they were interested in was Percy, not his status. And it was them that knew he didn't randomly have a full-fledged conversation with a stranger in another language.

"Seriously, what happened? I heard from the grapevine that you and somebody named Annabeth Chase started screaming at each other in Greek and it ended with you both getting suspended. But obviously, that can't be true because you're sitting here with us right now, so...what happened?" Jack asked.

His words seemed to silence everyone at the table, even the fake-friends. All were interested in the true story of what happened, even if it wasn't that big of a thing. Anything involving their popularity producer demanded listening-to. Or something like that.

"We just talked for a second. It wasn't that interesting," Percy tried to answer cryptically.

"But why were you talking to a complete stranger?" Chloe asked, joining-in on the conversation.

"She isn–We just finished our tests at the same time and started a little talk. I honestly can't even remember what was said," Percy said.

That was a lie. Percy remembered every word that was said, especially the end. But his friends didn't need to know that.

"Come on, man! Give us something! I'm starving for a rumor!" Mike exclaimed.

That caused Percy to glare at him and say, "Just drop it."

Mike's eyes widened in shock, and he looked like he was about to start a fight, but one look from Chloe, his girlfriend, silenced him.

Then, just like it had never happened, Percy went back to normal. He regained his signature troublemaker smirk and finished eating his lunch.

ΩΩΩ

Percy and Annabeth had separate 5th period classes, so they saw each other after another hour. The second class they shared was PE, and it was during 6th period.

As soon as the bell rang, signaling the end of 5th period, Percy was bolting towards the locker room. This was because today was the first day of the swimming unit, and everyone knows Percy is obsessed with water.

Annabeth, even if she did walk a little faster, attempted to hide her excitement. She speed-walked into the girl's locker room, grabbed her swimsuit, and changed as quickly as possible.

Unlike Percy, she had the sense to ask Lady Hecate if she could use the Mist to hide her more gruesome scars at school. That way she didn't have to explain why she had claw-marks running across her back.

By the time she was walking out of the changing room, the rest of the class had arrived, and Percy was waiting by their teacher, bouncing from foot to foot in barely-contained excitement. The sight brought an involuntary smile to reach Annabeth's lips, and she was forced to hide it before anyone caught her looking at Percy so lovingly.

She walked up to the teacher and joined them in waiting for the rest of the class to change. In an attempt to stay away from Percy's bubbly energy, Annabeth stood six or so feet away from him with a stoic expression. This was the face she wore when she was intentionally masking her emotions. It may have been a mistake using it at school, but it was a part of her, and a daughter of Athena should never be afraid of being who they are.

Once everyone had shown up, the teacher took roll and started giving instructions, "Alright class, today we're just going to be practicing basic form while doing laps around the pool. For those of you on the swim team, you can choose to practice some more advanced strokes, ok? Now, let's get a volunteer to show us a good breaststroke. Anyone?"

Percy literally jumped at the opportunity to get in the water, and before anyone knew it, he was performing a perfectly-formed breaststroke. The sight caused Annabeth to smirk and think, showoff.

Once he had finished showing off, Percy jumped out of the pool, careful to make himself wet, and walked back over to the group. He had the biggest smile on his face, and it was hard for everyone to not smile along.

"That was great, Percy! I see why they made you the captain of the team! You have a natural talent in the water!" their teacher said, not realizing how true his words were.

Annabeth and Percy couldn't help but catch each other's eye with a knowing glint in them. It was hard not to when the one person in the entire student body that actually knew the other was standing right in front of you.

Fortunately, it wasn't caught by anyone who cared to speak up. The only person who seemed to see it was Addison, and she didn't think it was necessary to put any thought into it at the time.

"Yeah. That's what a lot of people tell me," Percy said, shaking his hair out.

Little did he know, that little act made most girls in the room swoon. Percy was so effortlessly handsome, and he didn't even know it!

It would've made Annabeth laugh if she wasn't a part of the swooning. But unlike the others, she knew how to hide it. All that changed in her demeanor was her lips twitching up ever-so-slightly.

That little hair flip almost made her decide to call off the entire plan and just kiss her boyfriend. However, she was able to snap herself out of it before any rash decisions could be made.

The rest of the class was spent by Percy and the few other swimmers working on their own while the left-over students would work on their breaststroke form. Annabeth could've kept up with the swim team members, but she had no interest in doing so. The only reason she was any good was because she had trained at camp with Percy, and it felt wrong doing it with other people around. Swimming was something she did in the demigod world, and right now, she was in the mortal world. That meant that she was a nerdy new girl.

"Ok, class, go get changed. Class ends in five minutes," their teacher announced.

Everyone but the swim team members started to head to the locker rooms to take their showers, dry off, and change. Nobody was in any hurry because this was the last class of the day.

The swimmers stayed in their suits because they had practice right after school. They just grabbed some towels to dry off and that was it.

Annabeth was the first one to finish changing, and the bell hadn’t rung yet, so she just stood by the pool and the swim team members. They were in their own conversation, but as soon as she had walked towards them, Percy had drifted over to Annabeth. It was instinctual; he acted without thinking about it.

Percy did a lot of things that way.

Annabeth acted like she didn't notice his presence beside her, but he knew she could sense him. Demigod senses were too highly-tuned for them to not realize when someone was standing next to them. Instead of initiating the conversation, Annabeth decided that the best way to maintain their cover was to just keep staring at the water. Unfortunately, Percy didn't catch the memo.

"So...my friends keep asking me what happened in Greek," he said softly.

"Same. And it's your fault; it was your idea to race. Now there's suspicion," Annabeth said back, finally looking up at her boyfriend.

She had recently started to really appreciate the moments when she gets to look at his face head-on more. How, despite going through Tartarus, his eyes still held that happy glint. And how his mouth was always holding that troublemaker smirk. His eyes seemed to be sucking her in, and if she didn't watch herself, they would find themselves kissing without a care in the world for the people around them.

"It was so not my fault! You started it!" Percy's voice started to rise slightly.

"Quiet down! We need to keep anyone from suspecting our relationship," Annabeth reminded him.

Percy sighed, "Why do we have to do this again? I'm getting tired of waiting to kiss you until we're home."

"Remember, I promised you a reward for all your hard work tonight," Annabeth said in Ancient Greek in an attempt to keep her boyfriend from destroying all their hard work.

"Oh yeah...do I get to choose this reward?" Percy asked, not even realizing he was speaking in Ancient Greek, too.

What neither of them realized was that they were slowly starting to step closer and closer to each other in a challenging stance.

"Maybe...depends on what you want," Annabeth answered.

"I think I might have something in mind..." he said, drifting off into his imagination.

It was then that Annabeth finally realized how close the two were standing. Using her usual quick-thinking, she found a way to distract from what was happening.

Annabeth pushed Percy into the pool and stormed away.

She may be acting like she was mad, but she really wasn't. Annabeth just needed the newly-arrived rest of the class to forget about what had happened before. When she listened, Annabeth could hear people gasping and Percy sputtering in the pool. He had figured out that he needed to act like he had gotten caught by surprise and that he wasn't someone who could breathe underwater. He had also needed to focus so that he stayed wet.

The only one Annabeth's plan didn't work on was Addison, who had stayed in her spot, unmoving (unlike everyone else), and watched Annabeth exit the room with narrowed eyes. Addison may not know what was going on between Percy and Annabeth, but she did know that they knew each other, somehow.

ΩΩΩ

chapter 3 :)

#percy jackson #annabeth chase #percy jackson and the olympians #heroes of olympus #teen #high school #percabeth

1 note · View note

xserpentlife · 5 years

Text

Did You Hear Me - Part 2 (Final)

Requested: Hey love! Can I request a sweet pea and reader imagine where the reader where’s hearing aids and she always has to ask for stuff to be repeated and everyone usually just rolls their eyes and says it was nothing but sweet pea actually repeats it for her and she is shocked?

A/N: So this is split into two parts cause it got so long. Alright so I did try to find a beta to read this story who was hard of hearing, but that proved to be more difficult than I thought it would… so with that, I want to say I Tried my absolute hardest to make this story non-offensive and accurate to what life could be like for someone who wears hearing aids. Again if I offend anyone I am so so sorry please message me so I can fix it. Thank you all in advance and I hope you enjoy this story I love the way that it came out. Also, thank you as always to my beta @wayward-river

Warnings: Very very small amount of bullying from a bulldog nothing else.

Summary: Sweet Pea noticed the girl the first time he came to Riverdale high, constantly trying to get to know her but always being ignored. He soon learned that she wore hearing aids but she tended to hide them. She caught his attention one day in gym class when he passed by and saw her sitting on the bench. He looked at her seeing the tattoo she had on her ear. He instantly knew she was funny. The more he got to know her the more he learned the other things, but he could never get close enough. What happens when they get put in a group together in math class. Will they talk more or will he be ignored again?

Word Count: 2460

*Time Skip to the Date*

You received a good morning text from Sweet Pea before a time that he would pick you up. You did some homework and then started to get ready. You were nervous, to say the least, but Sweet Pea was different than everyone else. He was kind, sweet and never acted annoyed when you talked to him. He was thoughtful and never made you feel less and that is what made you fall for him initially. You were excited to get to know him more and excited to go to Pops with him. You waited patiently for him to come before you heard a knock at your front door.

You opened it Sweet Pea standing there in what looked like new black jeans, a black t-shirt with a flannel and his serpent jacket laid atop. He looked great. He started saying something before you realized you hadn’t put your hearing aids in. You motioned for him to come in.

“Just wait one sec I’ll be right back” You got your hearing aids before coming back down to see Sweet pea sitting on the couch. “Okay I’m ready”

“Nope”

“Nope…”

“Hair up, I mean if you want it’s your choice you just look so pretty with it up. I mean and down to I just nevermind”

“Sorry, I'm so used to wearing it down”

“Do you not like them?”

“What? My hearing aids? I love my hearing aids just sometimes it’s nice to just be Y/N not Y/N the girl who wears the hearing aids”

“I get it… I mean I don’t get it but I understand where you're coming from”

“Calm down Sweets you seem a little nervous”

“Me, nervous... Pfff no”

“Whatever you say, big guy”

“Ready Y/N”

“Yeah let’s go” He took your hand in his the butterflies rising up inside of you as you stepped out the door locking it. Sweet Pea led you to his truck opening the door for you before getting into his side himself. After a short drive, you passed Pops, not pulling in like you thought you were going to.

“Pea where are we…”

“I had a new date planned if that is okay”

“Okay” After a few more minutes you pulled up to a barren area with what looked like a makeshift fire pit and a sofa.

“This is really cool”

“Really”

“Yeah, it’s comfortable, relaxing almost homey” before he said anything else he got out of the truck making his way over to you before grabbing your hand and leading you to the back of the truck.

“Climb up”

“Okay” When you got to the back of the truck you saw a bunch of blankets and a cooler. You climbed up Sweets following after before telling you to sit down. You did as he said sitting as he took the seat next to you.

“So let me explain cause you are probably really confused”

“Okay”

“Well, I know that loud places can be hard for you to hear in, focusing and all that. I just I wanted you, us to be able to talk without you feeling annoyed about me having to repeat myself if I had to. I’m sorry if you’re not happy I just… I wanted a quiet place for us to get to know each other and I figure watching the sunset here would be cool. And the truck has a good bass I could turn on some music, I don’t know how music is for you but I usually have it up pretty loud and the truck vibrates a little… I’m sorry if I…”

“Sweets calm down this is absolutely perfect”

“Really”

“Yeah”

“Oh wait!”

“What?”

“I brought Pops too”

“My savior I am so hungry” He pulled the cooler up grabbing the food out before handing you your favorite milkshake flavor.

“Sweets how did you know my favorite”

“Well I uh I’ve seen you at Pops a few times so I asked Pop he knew right away”

“Pops is my man, he loves me”

“Everyone loves you, how can they not”

“I mean not everyone”

“Well if they don’t then they are not worth it”

“I guess you’re right”

You sat with Sweet Pea eating your food. When you were both done he hoped out throwing some music on and then climbing back up into the truck again. You leaned against him feeling the hum of his chest along with the music that was playing. He was right the vibrations of the truck helped you to feel the music and your hearing aids helped to hear it as well. It was weird how understanding Sweet Pea was, how he knew the little things that could make you that much happier. You sat like that for a few hours the sky soon turning dark and the stars beginning to show. It was nice to be in his company alone, and being able to talk with no interruptions. You closed your eyes letting him talk asking questions you would respond to here and there.

“Hey Y/N would you wanna meet my friends…” “If they are as Sweet as you then definitely”

“I’m glad you said that because I just saw their bikes pull up, I am so sorry I didn’t think they would be here I thought they were hanging at the Whyte Wyrm”

“It’s okay Sweets, really”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah” You were about to say something again before you felt and heard fists banging onto the side of the truck. Sweet Pea spoke up luckily you not having to.

“Hey Fangs”

“Hey Sweets”

“Where is Toni”

“Grabbing shit for the fire, you cool if we stay”

“Yeah, yeah Fangs this is…” “Y/N, yeah I know” Sweets screamed making him stop his voice being muffled to you due to you paying attention to what Sweet Pea was yelling, even though it ended up being nothing.

“Sweets what did Fangs say, uh nothing. No, I’m sorry I… He was just being embarrassing saying that I talked about you a few times before, sorry that is probably annoying when people say nevermind”

“It’s okay, he embarrassed you I can tell your cheeks are blushing” Fangs butted in at that moment.

“Hi Y/N I’m Fangs and…” as he was about to talk a purple haired girl came up jumping onto the bed of the truck.

“I’m Toni or T and you are Y/N right”

“Yeah, hi”

“Guys the fire is ready if you wanna sit over there” Sweets stood up hopping out of the truck after Toni, his hand being held out for you to take as you jumped out after. You followed Sweet Pea to the couch shivering as you sat down.

“You want my jacket”

“No it’s okay, I’m good”

“Your cold Y/N, take it really” He shimmied his jacket off before handing it to you.

“Oh you must be special, Pea never lets anyone touch his jacket”

“Shut it Toni” You just laughed along. Eventually, the conversation opened up going back and forth between all four of you. It was nice, you felt like you could be friends with these guys. More people showed up soon around your starting small little fires chilling out. You looked around your anxiety starting to rise slightly.

“Sorry Y/N I didn’t think about it being a Saturday night, some of the younger Serpents hang out and drink here”

“Not a big deal really” You followed the conversation along more before you got lost at what Toni said after hearing beer cans being thrown and a few groups of people yelling. You looked around hoping they wouldn’t notice that you got lost. You tended to do that, tended to pretend you heard what someone said when in reality you had no idea. You soon felt Sweet Pea’s hand on your thigh squeezing slightly as you looked into his. And you don’t know if he meant it but it almost reassured you to ask remembering what he said about how understanding his friends were. You nodded back to him before turning your attention across the first to Toni and Fangs.

“Toni”

“Yeah Y/N”

“Uhm I… nevermind” you felt him squeeze your thigh again urging you to go on. “No I’m sorry, I… I didn’t hear what you said before the loud noises kind of drowned you out I am so…”

“Oh don’t be Fangs here tunes me out all the time I’m used to it”

“Oh…”

“I’m joking, I just asked if you wanted to come to the Wyrm with us one day”

“The bar…”

“Yeah you seem really cool and if your gonna be dating Sweet Pea here you gotta hang with us more, it’s the rules”

“Oh, there's more than just dating him… I don’t know if I can handle that” You watched Sweet Pea throw a hand over his heart.

“I’m offended”

“I'm kidding Sweets, yeah I’d love to come to the Wyrm… but, nevermind”

“But what babe” the pet name threw you for a loop. Coming from him it was so endearing so… sweet”

“I just bars are so loud what if I can’t hear you guys”

“Hey we will figure it out, I’m not letting you skip out cause you‘re nervous you won’t be able to hear us, hell I will yell everything into your ear if I have to I don't care”

“It’s really not a huge deal Y/N”

“Yeah really we have a friend name Kash, he wears hearing aids too… but he knows signing I'm not sure if you do, anyway usually we just stand close to him when we hang at the Wyrm”

“I lost my hearing a few years ago so I’m not that great with sign language my parents don’t really know it much so I kinda taught myself they aren't really all that into my hearing problems”

“No worries girl we will figure it out as we go, I’m just glad you're gonna come and hang out”

“Thanks”

“I better get you home Y/N it’s almost 1am”

“Oh yeah, it was nice hanging with you guys”

“See you at the Wyrm girl”

“Bye Y/N”

“Bye Fangs” Sweets led you to the truck getting in next to you before grabbing your hand and driving off.

“Thank You Sweet Pea”

“For what…” “The date, just being you I don’t know I don’t get out much afraid that when meeting people I will annoy them”

“Y/N your not…” “I know, I know that now and you helped me see that, see that people can be sweet, that not everyone gets annoyed when someone needs a little more help than others. The Northsiders, well some of them just get annoyed with me so easily it just I don’t know”

“Well you have us now”

“Thank you”

“So you don’t know sign language”

“Only a little enough for me to have a conversation I mean I am getting better but… I feel like I don’t really need it, I can hear great most of the time, do you know any Sweets?” “Very little, my cousin I used to hang out with wore hearing aids, he was almost completely deaf couldn’t talk but either he was basically deaf since birth so I learned sign language for him so I could talk to him more, but it’s been so long I don’t even know anymore, but I mean maybe one day we can try together”

“I’d like that”

“Well hey we are at your house”

“Great”

“You okay?” “Yeah, my parents are away on business so they aren't home I hate being in the house by myself it’s dumb”

“Not dumb I get it being alone can be well… lonely” You laughed slightly, smiling mostly laughing at the fact Sweet Pea could make you smile even when you were sad.

“When do they come back”

“Not sure honestly”

“Do you wanna stay at my place?”

“I don’t want to intrude Sweet Pea”

“You won’t be I would love to hang with you more anyway”

So that is what you did. Sweet Pea drove you to his trailer and you stayed the night there. He gave you one of his shirts to sleep in. It was nice the smell of him on it. He offered to sleep on the couch but you both argued about who would so you instead decided on sharing the bed. You were about to take your hearing aids out before he stopped you.

“Yeah…”

“I just wanted you to hear me say goodnight, so uh goodnight babe” You could get used to falling asleep to the goodnight that came from him. You said it back before taking out the hearing aids and placing them on the nightstand next to you.

You woke up soon forgetting where you were. You remembered quickly realizing that Sweet pea was not next to you anymore. You walked into the kitchen seeing Sweet Pea, Fangs and Toni.

“Good Morning guys” You realized you left your hearing aids in Sweets bedroom. “Oh one sec”

Fangs waved to you to stop you and before you could say anything Sweet Pea signed good morning sweetheart to you before you turned to Fangs who signed good morning and Toni who signed how are you.

“Thank you guys” they all smiled and Sweet Pea came over wrapping you into a warm embrace before following you to the bedroom. You grabbed your hearing aids off the nightstand before placing them in your ears and turning them on.

“Hey baby good morning”

“Good Morning Sweets”

“I was gonna sign babe but then I didn’t know how so I resorted to sweetheart uh anyway hate to ask I just, did I sign that stuff right”

“Yeah you did, thank you” You kissed his cheek as you sat next to him on the bed

“Oh good I thought I got it wrong”

“No babe you're good, but even if you did I appreciate the effort”

“Hopefully I can get better, You excited to go to the Wyrm later”

“Yeah I am honestly”

“Good I'm glad your coming, oh and Toni left some clothes for you I put them in the bathroom towels are under the sink”

“Thank You, can you tell her thank you as well. I'm gonna head into the shower” You placed a kiss on his cheek before stepping into the bathroom.

As the warm water hit you, you thought about it all. How one person who made their way into your life could make you feel like the happiest person in the world. The way you finally felt like you had friends, friends who were real and didn’t think you were a bother or were annoying They way your whole being seemed to change every time you heard Sweet pea speak and the way you knew that even if you couldn’t hear him it would all be okay because just him being him and the sweetness that radiates off of him makes you feel so welcome and so safe regardless of if you can hear well or not.

168 notes · View notes

trashcanreddiefan · 5 years

Text

The 4th Annual Losers’ Club Christmakkah Celebration 2/2

Summary: The Losers gather for their fourth annual Christmakkah celebration, and this time Richie and Eddie get a Christmakkah surprise.

Word Count: 3240-ish for part 2. (LOL each story got progressively longer)

Warnings: Usual Trashmouth swearing.

Author’s Note: Post-Chapter 2. All of the Losers are alive in this fic, including Stan, because canon can suck it. Final part in the series, unless I get some other ideas. Part 1 here, part 2 here, part 3 here, beginning of 4th part here.

CROSS-POSTED AT AO3.

The next three weeks flew by and before Richie knew it, the day before Christmakkah had arrived.

Earlier that day he and Eddie had finished setting up the baby's room, hung the stockings they had monogrammed with each of the Losers & Jr. Losers' names on the fireplace, and pre-made a broccoli-rice casserole and 4 different kinds of pie.

He, Bill, Stan, Patty, Bev, Ben, and Mike were all sitting in the living room, watching Olivia and Burke play with some toy cars when the doorbell rang.

"That must be Bill & Audra," Richie said. "I'll get it."

He walked over to the door and opened it. "Hey guys," he greeted Bill and Audra before scooping Max up in a hug. "Max-a-million, how are you, little dude?"

Max squished Richie's cheeks together with his tiny hands. "Fishy!"

Richie immediately sucked his cheeks in to make fish faces at Max, who giggled.

"Come on in," Richie said before calling out towards the kitchen, "babe, Bill and Audra are here!"

"Coming!" Eddie replied. "Just gotta get these pies out of the oven!"

"Eds insisted on making the pies himself," Richie explained. "No store-bought pies for him."

"You don't know what kind of artificial crap they put in the fillings," Eddie said with a huff as he joined them in the foyer. "Homemade just tastes better."

"My own little Betty Crocker," Richie joked.

"Unca Ed!" Max screeched happily, reaching his little hands out to Eddie.

"Hey guys," Eddie greeted Bill & Audra before taking Max from Richie. "And hey there, Max! How are you, buddy?"

Richie grinned. It always warmed his heart to see how great Eddie was with kids. He wasn't even jealous that Eddie was Max's favorite uncle -- especially since Richie was Olivia's, much to Stan's consternation.

"Burke and Olivia are here, you want to go play with them?"

"Yeah!" Max clapped his hands.

"Sorry we're late," Audra said. "Max took a longer nap than anticipated today."

"It's fine," Richie replied. "We're all just sitting around and are just gonna order something in for dinner tonight anyway."

"We went ahead and brought the gifts over tonight so we wouldn't have as much to bring tomorrow," Bill said. "Richie, you wanna help me bring them in?"

"Yeah, sure man."

Richie and Bill walked out to Bill's car, each grabbing a box full of gifts and bringing them in.

"Hey, everyone," Bill greeted.

"So, Richie, Eddie was telling us you guys finished the baby's room," Audra said as Richie set his box of gifts down next to the tree.

"Yeah, we finished painting last week and got most of his decorations up, and the furniture was delivered yesterday," Eddie replied. "Which is good, because we wanted to finish the room before the holidays since we're going to be busy until after the new year."

"You guys went with a sea life motif, right?" Patty asked.

"Yeah, Richie actually found this cute crib set with a bunch of turtles on it, so we centered the theme around that."

"Have you decided on a name?" Bev chimed in. "I want to get something monogrammed for him."

Richie huffed out a laugh as Eddie narrowed his eyes at him. "We're still discussing it."

Eddie scoffed. "Only because someone keeps insisting that we name him Edison!"

"Well excuse me if I want to name my son after the love of my life--"

"OHHHHKAY!" Stan interrupted. "So still working on that, gotcha. Well, now that Bill and Audra are here, how about we order some dinner? It was a long flight and I'm starving."

********************************************************************

After dinner, Richie put on A Muppet Christmas Carol for the kids to watch while the adults sat and talked.

He got up from where he had been snuggled against Eddie. "I'll be right back."

"Okay," Eddie replied.

Richie walked into the kitchen when Eddie's phone, which had been sitting on the counter, suddenly started to ring.

Without even looking at the caller ID Richie answered. "Y'ello?"

"Yes, is this Mr. Edward Kaspbrak-Tozier?" the voice on the other end replied.

"This is his husband, can I help you?"

"Oh yes…" She paused as if checking something. "Richard?"

"Yep, what can I do you for?"

"My name is Monica, I'm from the Los Angeles Center for Women. You're listed as the contacts for a Sarah Peters?"

"Yeah, she's our surrogate."

"Mr. Kaspbrak-Tozier, I'm calling to inform you that she's been admitted to the hospital in labor--"

"We'll be right there," Richie said then immediately hung up.

"EDDIE!" he yelled as he ran into the living room. "Sarah's in labor. Hospital. Now. Gotta go."

Eddie looked up at Richie in surprise then jumped up. "Ok, ok, you get the hospital bag, I'll go start the car."

Richie ran upstairs and grabbed the bag they had packed for the hospital, silently praising his husband's tendency to prepare weeks in advance.

He ran downstairs to find all the Losers gathering Eddie in a hug.

Ben pulled him into the group embrace. "Go welcome your son, guys."

"Let us know when he arrives, no matter what time it is," Stan added.

"We've got things handled here," chimed in Bev.

Richie sniffled. "Thanks, guys."

He and Eddie made their way to Eddie's Acura RDX. Not only had Richie insisted that they take his vehicle over Richie's Mustang because of course Eddie had bought the SUV with the highest safety rating, but Eddie also had a built-in knack for being able to avoid traffic on the freeway by taking back roads, so it made the most sense for him to drive.

Plus Richie was too nervous to drive, but he wouldn't admit that.

He ran a hand through his hair. "Sarah's not due for another two weeks, how the hell can she be in labor now?"

Eddie glanced over at Richie as he pulled out of their neighborhood. "Pregnancy isn't an exact science, Rich. It's all about estimated dates and whatnot."

"Holy shit, holy shit, we're about to have a kid, Eddie." He huffed out a breath. "A living, breathing human that we'll have to take care of and raise."

Eddie reached over and grabbed Richie's hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. "You'll be a great dad, Richie."

They made it to the hospital in record time, Eddie throwing the car into park and grabbing the bag before he and Richie ran into the hospital.

The nurse at the reception desk looked up at them. "Yes, may I help you?"

"Yes, we're here for Sarah Peters, she was admitted a while ago? She's our surrogate," Eddie explained. "We're Edward and Richard Kaspbrak-Tozier."

The nurse typed a few keys on her keyboard. "Ahh, yes, she's in room 226. Go around to this left side and take the elevator to the 2nd floor, you'll find Labor & Delivery. Someone will check you in."

Richie and Eddie made their way to the second floor, getting passes at the Labor & Delivery reception desk.

Eddie gently knocked on the door to Sarah's room, hearing a 'come in' before opening the door.

Richie followed behind.

Sarah sat in a hospital bed, IV in her arm and heart monitor wrapped around her stomach. She smiled when she saw them. "Hey guys, you made it."

"Hey, Sarah, how are you feeling?" Eddie asked, moving to look at the monitors. "Richie hung up on the nurse before he asked any questions."

Richie listened as Sarah explained what had happened -- she was at her sister's house when her water broke, so her sister had driven her to the hospital and would be with her while she gave birth. "Apparently it's going to be a while, so she went downstairs to get something to eat and will be back in a bit."

A few minutes into their visit, a nurse came into the room. She stopped when she saw Eddie. "Eddie? Oh my gosh, it's so good to see you! What are you doing here?" she said with surprise and glee.

"This is my baby-- Well, my husband's and my baby," Eddie explained. "Sarah's our surrogate."

He turned to Richie. "Rich, this is Nikki, remember I told you about her? We were in nursing school together."

"Oh yeah, I remember you mentioning her. Hi," Richie said.

"Oh my gosh, you must be Eddie's husband! He's told me so much about you. Congratulations!"

"Thanks. We're very excited."

"I bet!"

Richie sort of tuned out while Nikki explained more in detail about Sarah's progression. "Ok, I'll be back in a bit to check on you, ok? Congrats again, Eddie. Richie, nice to finally meet you!"

"You too."

Shortly after Nikki left Sarah's sister, Beth, came back. "Hi, you must be Richie and Eddie. It's so nice to finally meet you two. Sarah's talked about you guys a lot."

"Thanks," Richie replied. "Nice to meet you too."

They stayed with Sarah for a few hours, stepping out of the room around 11 PM when the doctor decided to let Sarah get some rest since she hadn't progressed much.

They walked to the labor & delivery waiting area and found a couple of seats in a quiet corner.

"Um, so I guess we need to actually decide on a name," Richie said once they got settled. "I was looking online this morning and I think I found one we can both agree on."

Richie told Eddie his name choice and nervously chewed his lip while Eddie mulled it over.

Finally, Eddie nodded. "Ok. But I choose his middle name, no arguments."

Richie smiled. "Okay."

*********************************

Shortly after 6 AM, Richie was abruptly shaken awake from a doze. "Whazzat?" he mumbled.

Eddie was kneeling in front of Richie, holding 2 cups of coffee. "Rich, honey, it's time. Sarah's about to start pushing."

Richie sat straight up. "She is?"

Eddie grinned. "Yep." He handed Richie one of the cups. "Here, I went downstairs to the coffee shop."

Richie gratefully took the cup. "Oh, bless you. You're an angel, Eds."

Eddie stood up and took his seat next to Richie, linking the fingers of his free hand with Richie's. "Just think, we'll get to meet our son soon."

Richie beamed at the thought. "Still okay with the name we chose?"

Eddie nodded. "It's perfect."

About 10 minutes later, Nikki came into the waiting room and walked straight towards them. Richie and Eddie both stood when they saw her. "Is he here?" Eddie asked.

Nikki broke into a grin. "Yep, he's here!"

"Can we see him yet? How's Sarah doing?"

"Give it about 20 minutes while we finish cleaning the baby up and getting his vitals, but both he and Sarah are fine."

Eddie nodded. "Okay, just please let us know when we're able to go see him."

"Sure will. Congrats again on your baby boy, guys!"

Once Nikki had left, Eddie pulled their bag out from under his chair. "I'm gonna go clean up a bit and brush my teeth before we go see the baby. I'll be right back."

"Ok," Richie replied. "I'll let everyone know that the baby is here."

With shaking hands, he sent out a text to the Losers group chat. Guys, he's here. Eddie and I have a son!

Stan, who was usually up early even when he wasn't 2 time zones away from his norm, was the first to reply. Congratulations, guys. We'll all swing by once everyone's awake.

Ok, sounds good, Richie replied.

Eddie came back pretty quickly, so Richie grabbed his toothbrush and went to clean up as well. Not long after he came back, Nikki came back into the waiting room. "Ok, Dads, you guys ready?"

Richie grabbed Eddie's hand and gave it a squeeze. They followed Nikki back to the room Sarah and the baby had been moved to, where Sarah was holding a tiny bundle.

Sarah gave them an exhausted, but soft, smile. "Hey guys, come meet your son."

The second Richie laid eyes on him he burst into tears.

Eddie, whose eyes were also glistening, wrapped an arm around Richie as they peered at their child.

Sarah held the baby out. "Want to hold him?"

"Rich? You want to hold him first?" Eddie asked.

"No, you go ahead," Richie sniffled. "I'm so shaky right now that I'm afraid I'd drop him."

Eddie gently took the baby, who made a displeased noise at being disturbed.

Richie gave a watery laugh and looked over Eddie's shoulder. "Aww Eds, he's just like you -- small and angry."

Eddie gave him a fond glare as he gently rocked the baby.

"So did you guys pick a name?" Sarah asked.

Richie and Eddie looked at each other before Eddie smiled and nodded. "Yeah, we did."

Sarah grinned at the name. "Aww, that's perfect."

Eddie turned back to Richie. "Rich? You ready to hold him?"

Richie, who had calmed down somewhat, nodded. "Yeah, I'm ready."

Eddie passed the baby to him. "Here you go, sweetheart."

Richie held back a gasp as the baby's eyes blinked open and he gave a tiny yawn. "Look, he's looking at me! Well hello there," he cooed. "Oh my God, I love you already."

He sat down next to Eddie on the couch. "Here, let me take your picture with him," Beth, who had been sitting in the chair next to Sarah's bed, offered.

Eddie handed her his phone and scooted closer to Richie, wrapping one arm around Richie's shoulder and placing the other on Richie's leg.

Richie moved his arms so the baby's face would be in the picture and tilted his head next to Eddie's. "Our first family photo," he murmured.

Beth took several pictures -- one of Richie and Eddie looking at the camera, one of them looking at each other over the baby, and another of them both looking at the baby.

She had just handed Eddie his phone back when Richie felt his vibrate in his pocket.

"Everyone's awake," Eddie reported. "Bill wants to know if they can come meet the baby."

Richie chuckled. "Sarah? You up for our crazy family to come by?"

Sarah nodded. "Yeah, actually I'm feeling pretty good right now. I got a good bit of sleep before the baby came."

Richie watched as Eddie texted back an affirmative and the room number.

"Ok, they'll be here in about an hour. Just gotta finish getting the kids dressed and wait for Bill and Audra to pick them up."

"In that case, I'm going to run home for a bit, shower and change," Beth said. "I'll be back."

While they were waiting for the Losers to arrive, the hospital administrator came by to have the necessary paperwork regarding the baby's birth filled out. All of the paperwork regarding the surrogacy and parental rights had already been completed, so Eddie filled out the form for the baby's birth certificate, listing himself and Richie as the baby's parents. "There, now you're officially a Kaspbrak-Tozier, aren't you?" Richie cooed to his son.

He had just handed the baby back to Eddie when there was a knock on the door. Mike's head poked in. "Hi, can we come in?"

"Mike, hey, yeah," Eddie replied. "Come on in."

One by one, the Losers and their offspring filed in.

Olivia ran over to Richie and plopped a small blue giraffe in his lap. "Unca Ichie, we 'bought a 'raffe!" she said.

"You did?" Richie said with faux surprise. "Is that for the baby?"

Olivia nodded.

"Aww well thank you, I'm sure he's going to love it."

"This is Sarah, our surrogate," Eddie gestured toward Sarah with an elbow. "Sarah, this is our rather unconventional family."

"Hi," Sarah said. "It's nice to meet you all."

The Losers all greeted Sarah, inquiring about her well-being before turning their attention to the baby.

"Everyone," Eddie said with a smile, "meet Edwin Richard Kaspbrak-Tozier."

Richie grinned at the collective 'aww' sounds all the adults were making.

"I absolutely love his name, guys," Beverly added then grinned. "Now gimmie my nephew."

Eddie laughed and handed him over, letting Beverly sit.

"Oh my goodness, he's adorable." Beverly looked over at Sarah. "I just want to tell you thank you. You have no idea how much we all appreciate what you've done for Richie and Eddie."

Sarah nodded. "My parents had me via a surrogate, so this is my way of paying it forward."

After everyone had a brief turn to hold Edwin, they gave Richie and Eddie hugs and filed back out silently, careful not to wake Sarah, who had fallen asleep not long before.

"By the way, happy anniversary, you two," Audra whispered as she handed Edwin back to Richie. "Looks like you guys got the ultimate anniversary gift."

She gave Richie and Eddie each a kiss on the cheek, gave Edwin one last touch on his hand, and bade them goodbye before leaving.

Richie adjusted Edwin in order to cradle him in his other arm. "Shit, Eds, in all the excitement about the baby arriving I forgot to tell you you happy anniversary. I was gonna surprise you with breakfast in bed this morning."

Eddie shrugged. "I don't know about you, but to be honest this is way better than anything I had planned in order to celebrate our first anniversary."

Richie couldn't help but smile as he looked down at his and Eddie's child. "Yeah, it really is, isn't it? Audra was right. We really did receive the ultimate anniversary gift today."

Eddie leaned in and gave Richie a sweet kiss. "Happy anniversary, Rich."

"Happy anniversary, Eds."

****************

Richie and Eddie both had cried when they arrived home with Edwin the day after Christmas and saw that everyone's gifts were still under the tree and a freshly-prepared Christmakkah dinner was on the table.

"You guys waited for us?" Eddie sniffled.

"Well, yeah," Ben had replied. "It's not Christmakkah without you guys -- and now Edwin too, of course."

They had eaten, Bill and Mike insisting on taking care of cleanup since the other, 'culinarily capable' adults had taken care of the cooking. "Nope," Bill had said when Eddie protested their refusal for help. "You guys were such a huge help when Audra and I came home from the hospital with Max. The least we can do is repay the favor."

Afterward, when everyone had gathered in the living room to open gifts, Richie had been surprised to see an extra pile of presents next to his and Eddie's.

"You guys all got Edwin something?" he said in awe.

"Of course," Stan had replied as if it were obvious. "Can't let our nephew celebrate his first Christmakkah without gifts."

Now one week later, all the Losers had gone back to their respective lives until the next family gathering in March for Max's birthday.

Richie and Eddie sat quietly on the sofa together, Richie's arm around Eddie's shoulder and Edwin fast asleep in Eddie's arms after his early-evening bottle.

As Eddie snuggled against Richie's side and they both watched Edwin sleep peacefully, Richie reflected on just how complete his life was with his husband and their son. "I love you so much, Eddie," he murmured, turning his head to press a kiss to Eddie's temple. "I'm so lucky that I get to live this life with you."

"I love you too, Richie," Eddie replied. "There's no one else I'd rather spend my life with."

If Richie sent up a prayer of thanks to a magical turtle later that night while his husband and son slumbered near him, well, that would be his secret.

#Reddie #Richie x Eddie #tcrf writes

5 notes · View notes

kittysukagasterfics · 5 years

Text

Soul Sharing

Note: Thank you all for the notes on the last fic. I really do appreciate it! Onto the fic!

Handplates belongs to @zarla-s

Requested by @randomstuff7739

Summary: During a curious discovery about SOULs, the brothers are curious about what human SOULs are like. Will Gaster find he doesn’t need to hide the cracks on his SOUL from the Human anymore?

“so i just...put my hand over it like this?”

“UM, YEA. AND THEN TRY CLOSING YOUR MAGIC AROUND IT.”

The Human looked up from the color cube they were playing with. Subject 2 somehow managed to steal it from Gaster without getting caught. They saw that Subject 1 currently had his hand on top of his brother’s chest. They weren’t sure what the brothers were doing and hopefully it was nothing dangerous.

“*You ask the brothers what they’re doing.”

“UM, YOU KNOW THAT THING HE DOES WHEN HE PICKS US UP WITH MAGIC? THAT’S WHAT WE’RE TRYING TO DO-”

“bro, it’s working!”

Sure enough, a faint, blue-tinted SOUL had started to glow through Subject 2′s clothing. It dimly lit up the dark cell, casting bluish shadows against the walls. The Human noticed it looked similar to Gaster’s SOUL, only a bit smaller and, of course, there was a lack of cracks present. The brothers got really excited about this, obviously feeling proud about what they had done.

“AH! IT WORKED! HUMAN, LOOK! IT WORKED!”

“does it feel ok, bro? It doesn’t hurt?”

“YEA, IT FEELS FINE. IT DOESN’T HURT OR ANYTHING!”

Subject 2 then suggested for his brother to try and pick him up. Subject 1 and the Human seemed unsure about the idea, though.

“i don’t know, bro...you’re kinda too heavy for me.”

“YOU DON’T KNOW UNLESS YOU TRY, BROTHER!”

“*You tell him you don’t think it’s a good idea, either.”

“see, even they agree that it’s not a good idea.”

The brothers began to get into a small argument about it, with Subject 2 saying Gaster could pick them up just fine and Subject 1 retorting back that he’s bigger than all of them. This went on for a while until the Human intervened.

“*You scold the brothers gently, telling them they shouldn’t be fighting with one another over this.” ‘*Subject 1 nods in agreement but Subject 2 continues to pout.’

“IF YOU WON’T TRY TO PICK ME UP, THEN I’LL PICK YOU UP INSTEAD!”

Before the both of them could stop him, Subject 2 immediately placed his hand on Subject 1′s chest in an attempt to pick him up. A sudden surge of blue magic shot out of both the brothers’ SOULs. Strings of hot, pure energy were illuminating the cell to the point where no wall was left uncovered. The Human’s own SOUL pulsated in fear as they just stared at the intense scene. Their breath quickened as they struggled to back themselves against the wall. The brothers, however, seemed only shaken by the situation.

“what...what’s happening, bro? I feel weird...kinda blurry, too...”

“I DUNNO. I FEEL...FUZZY. IT FEELS...REALLY HEAVY.”

He quickly released his magic from Subject 1′s SOUL, causing the cell to quickly be plunged into darkness once again. After making sure there were no injuries, the brothers gave sighs of relief while the Human took deep breaths trying to calm themselves down. That’s when Subject 1 noticed that the Human’s SOUL gently pulsed as they were finally put at ease. He didn’t recognize it as an actual SOUL, though. It looked really different from his and his brother’s SOUL. While theirs were just white with bluish tints, the Human��s had actual color. It...confused him.

“human, what’s wrong with your SOUL?”

“*You ask him to clarify what he means.”

“it’s looks...different. different from ours.”

“YEA, IT HAS MORE COLOR THAN OUR SOULS.”

The Human offered to show the brothers their SOUL. They pulled down the collar of their shirt and brought out their SOUL from their chest. Both of the Subjects stared at it with curious expressions. The SOUL pulsed small flickers of red glow as if to simulate a heartbeat. It looked slightly smaller than Gaster’s SOUL, perfect for the Human’s small stature. The brothers started to ask more questions about when Gaster unlocked the cell and entered it. The Human quickly put their SOUL back into their chest. He didn’t look too pleased.

“And may I ask what all of you were doing?”

The brothers looked confused, but the Human looked a little worried by his demeanor. He turned towards the Subjects with a stern look.

“I know you two were messing with blue magic. So you need to-”

“BUT WHY IS THE HUMAN’S SOUL DIFFERENT FROM OURS?”

Gaster looked just as confused. He had never told them about human SOULs nor had they been shown a picture of one. That’s when he noticed the Human had their hands on their chest. When questioned about it, they denied doing anything.

“Human, you do know it’s rude to lie, right? Besides, this could a learning opportunity for the Subjects.”

Sitting next to the Human, Gaster was bombarded with questions from the Subjects.

“why is theirs a different color? is it broken?”

“No, it’s not broken. Human SOULs have unique colors that signify different traits. For example...”

While Gaster was explaining the meanings behind each SOUL color, he had nonchalantly pulled the Human’s shirt down to reveal their chest where their SOUL was brought out again. Their face quickly flushed when they realized what he was doing. They wouldn’t have admitted it, but they found it a little exciting.

“Since this Human’s SOUL is red, that would mean their trait is Determination. Something that I am inclined to agree with...Anyway...”

After what seemed like an hour, Gaster finally finished his lecture, releasing the Human’s shirt to let them readjust it. The brothers were listening but still seemed to have more questions.

“WHY IS THEIRS BIGGER THAN OURS, BUT SMALLER THAN YOUR SOUL?”

“Because the Human’s short in height, but they’re taller than you and your brother.”

The brothers nodded in understanding although the Human looked a little offended at being called ‘short’.

“*You tell Gaster that you’re not that short.” ‘*He ignores you and motions for you to come with him...’

(In Gaster’s work room)

“So then, Alphys was supposed to send me a file I had requested, but she accidentally sent me another one of the stories she wrote instead. I believe it had me in it so you probably would’ve enjoyed it.”

The Human gave a soft laugh. It almost seemed like Gaster and them were getting more and more comfortable with each other. He was more willing to talk about himself than he used to. Right now he was going on about how his day outside the Lab was. It wasn’t the most exciting topic but the Human just liked hearing him talk. They were a bit distracted at the moment, though.

Their thoughts kept drifting back to when Gaster had pulled their shirt collar down to bring their SOUL out. It was probably the most intimate act they will ever have with him. Just thinking about it made their heart flutter. They decided to...return the favor.

“So I asked Alphys to please check her files before she sent-!”

Gaster stopped talking abruptly when the Human gripped his shirt trying to pull it down. He quickly shooed their hand away.

“Human, what do you think you’re doing? That’s highly inappropriate!”

“*You remind him that he did the same thing to you earlier.” ‘*He rolls his eyes at you, somehow.’

“That was purely for educational purposes, Human. What, did you interpret it as an intimate moment?”

“*You admit that you did and ask him if he wants to see your SOUL.”

Gaster gave them a startled look, then looked away, thoughtful. He didn’t really get a good look at their SOUL earlier. Besides, there wasn’t really any use hiding his SOUL from them. Which also included...the scars.

“You seem a bit too trusting with something as important as your SOUL, Human. But if you’re so eager to show me then don’t let me stop you...Also since I know you’re going to ask me, I might as well show you mine.”

He and the Human then brought out their SOULs to let the other see. Looking at their SOUL, he felt a bit self-conscious. Compared to his, theirs glowed brightly with life and energy. No marks or blemishes seemed to be visible on it. A SOUL that belonged to someone...who didn’t deserve someone like him. To the Human, however, they saw a SOUL that was perfect in every way.

“You ask Gaster if he knows he doesn’t need to hide his cracks from you.”

Gaster looked the Human in the eyes. They showed not pity, but compassion. The Human then leaned against him with a sigh. He gently placed his hand on top of theirs.

“I...I know, Human. I know...”

Note: I hope you all enjoyed reading and an extra special thanks to @randomstuff7739 for reminding me I’ve never talked about SOULs in any of my fanfics. Thank you again for the awesome prompt and the wait while I wrote it. Another thing is you’re welcome for the little fan service in it ;3. Once again, this was the last request in my inbox so feel free to bombard my inbox with requests and just a little reminder, school will be starting soon for me so I won’’t have much time to write. I apologize in advance. Anyway, thank you so much for reading! Requests are always welcomed! Stay tuned for more.

#undertale #handplates #gaster #the human #sans #papyrus #my fic #ukagaster #request

31 notes · View notes

noorhelmcliche · 6 years

Text

more incantava fanfics!

just a disclaimer: this post is going to be super long, i didn’t write these AGAIN I AM NOT CLAIMING THESE ARE MINE, and yeah click ‘keep reading,’ to continue...

eleonora was having a shitty day. She got messaged again by some dude on Instagram named alessandro who just couldn't take a hint. He had been messaging her non stop for 2 weeks now which made sense to her because while edoardo's instagram was full of pics of them she decided to keep her relationship on a lower profile which was hard with a guy like edoardo. silvia wouldn't stop talking about some new guy in school named alessandro who had just transferred halfway through the year to this school. According to her sources, he wanted to join the villa and he was super hot. sana was the only one who had seen the guy and thought " he was just like the others". She showed them a picture and sure enough it was him. Her Instagram stalker. federica gave her opinion on him and soon enough so did eva. When eva was done talking she noticed a change in her friend's mood so she drifted the conversation from alessandro to silvia's new cat and her developed baking skills ( silvia’s not the cat’s). Soon the bell rang and they went to class. eva stayed behind and asked eleonora if she was okay. eleonora couldn’t tell her. eva already had enough on her plate after what happened with gio and fede, she was just trying to move on and study with no distractions. eleonora just shrugged and said “ I’m fine just didn’t sleep well last night”. Though eva didn’t seem to believe it she realized if eleonora wanted to tell their group of friends she would of. “ Ok just remember if you need anything I’m here for you.” eva said. ele nodded and they hugged before they went separate ways. Eleonora walked to her next and last class, chemistry. She got there just before class started and just her luck alessandro was in this class as well. The teacher told him to introduce himself and he happily stood up. She tuned him out and sat down on the only seat left in class the one next to his. She usually loved chemistry and actually excelled in the subject but today she couldn’t even concentrate on what the teacher was saying. Soon eleonora was snapped out of her gaze by the teacher herself. “Eleonora Sava!” she yelled, making ele stop and actually listen. “As I was saying, you will be showing the new kid about how our class works.”, she said and continued on with her lesson. “hi gorgeous , just letting you know that you can call me ale .” said alessandro in a flirtatious tone. “ ok let’s just get started” ele responded completely ignoring his advances. “ come on! you really don’t recognize me?!” he exclaimed. ele rolled her eyes and said “ ok alessandro , let me tell you this, I don’t want you and i just want to do what the teacher said and leave , ok stalker?” she didn’t wait for him to respond and started to explain to him all the material her chemistry class has done. soon there were only 10 minutes left of their class and she felt a cool unfamiliar hand start to creep up her thigh. as soon as ele realized what was actually going on, she spanked his hand and gave him a glare. he seemed to be grinning as she angrily said “ what the fuck do you think you are doing?!” “oh I’m just giving you a sneak peek of what’s to come.” suddenly ele felt sick remembering what happened with edo’s brother. she got up and asked the teacher to go to the nurse because she really felt bad and excused herself because it was her last period. before the teacher even finished her goodbyes , she gathered her stuff and bolted without a second glance. she rushed to the bathroom feeling a panic attack coming on. as she calmed herself down in a stall, two girls came in thinking they were alone. “ so did you see edoardo’s new Instagram post ?” one started. “ of course Valentina the one where he is at that expensive ice cream shop looking hot as always , everyone has already.” the other responded. “ well stella apparently he was getting his new girlfriend some you know that uptight bitch eleonora.” said valentina. “ she is so lucky I mean imagine being able to have the Edoardo Incanti at anytime.” said stella dreamily. “ well she isn’t good enough for him. he deserves someone who can satisfy him and his needs and keep him popular. she clearly can’t , have you seen her ? anyway i’m not the only one who thinks so.” said Valentina arrogantly full of jealousy. “ don’t waste your breath on her and we have to go , my parents want me home early.” responded stella. as they left , ele got out and was trying to process all that has happened. So people thought she wasn’t good enough for her boyfriend , no big deal. but suddenly ele started to feel bad, something she hasn’t felt in a long time , insecure. maybe they were right she wasn’t right for edo , a gorgeous rich boy should have a just as perfect girl next to him.so why did he pick her ? these feelings were feelings she always kept deep down inside because she had worked hard for where she is now. she wipes her tears and made her self look presentable then got out of the bathroom to meet up with the girls. they were all talking about their days when a car interrupted them. edo said hi to all the girls and then ele bid goodbyes to all her friends and walked into his car. he kissed her cheek and said “ hey bellisima”. she responded shyly not really believing him for once and let out a small hey. as they were driving to thier place it was quiet. all of a sudden edo pulls over a new street with nice houses but one seemed to have new people moving in. so he drives the car into the alleyway next to the houses so they can’t be seen. when they finally had some privacy, edo turned to her and asked her “ what is wrong bella donna”. “ please stop calling me that”she responded. “ why not it’s true” he said confused by her behavior. “ why did you pick me?” ele said tears clouding up her eyes. suddenly she is pulled in to his lap from her seat so she is straddling him. “ what? what do you mean? I love you and your whole self. I love the way you help your friends and fight for them when you need to. I love how you can be silly and funny when you want to be. I love your gorgeous emerald eyes with sleek dark brown hair that I love to run my fingers through so much and your oh so red lips. I love the way you are so perfect for me, putting me in my place when I need it . I just love you ele.” he said meaningfully while looking into her eyes. “ but others don’t think so. according to them , you deserve someone better who can satisfy your needs.” ele said touched by his words. “ you do and you are all I need eleonora francesca sava.” he responded to her lovingly. he leaned in for a short sweet kiss but ele wanted to prove the demons wrong so she made the kiss passionate and deeper. soon enough they were making out in edo’s car in an alleyway where anyone could see them but they didn’t care. Hips were colliding together and ele was just in a state of pleasure letting out occasional moans and soft gasps. as edo’s mouth was sucking harder on her neck , she hit her hand on the window and that snapped her out of her daze , remembering where they are. “edo, we have to stop” she forced herself to say. their foreheads touched and eleonora looked around and saw no one but them . “we should go home” he said with a suggestive glint in his eyes. that car ride was the quickest one she’s ever had and the moment they walked into the apartment , a night of complete bliss started. the next day when she walked into class with her head held and a hickey on her neck , mouths were wide open with shock and alessandro took a hint.

Eleonora ruefully wakes up at four fifty-five in the morning. She grumbles as she climbs out of bed, knowing she can't go back to sleep. She curses Edoardo's name as she searches for the light switch. It was his awful idea to leave for Endine Gaiano at five-thirty, since it's a six and a half hour drive. They easily could've left a few hours later, Eleonora had argued. Not wanting to get up so early.

But no, Mr. Incanti refused to. Said she had to see the villa in the morning, because it's just so beautiful. And he didn't want to waste half of their day driving.

Eleonora knows Edoardo is coming to pick her up soon, and she refuses to be unready when he arrives. She has packed all her stuff the night before, all she needs to do now is shower, eat, and get dressed.

The shower is quick, about ten minutes, and she pulls her wet hair into a bun. A lose white shirt is pulled over her head, and she slips on a pair of jean shorts.

Eleonora finishes just in time. Her phone lights up with Edoardo's message, telling her he's here.

She grabs her bags, and tiptoes from her room. Not wanting to wakeup her aunt and cousins. She gently opens and shuts the front door, making sure to lock it.

She looks for cars, and darts across the street to his Audi. She gives him a quick kiss, and fastens her seatbelt.

"Ciao." He kisses her again.

"Ciao." She says as she hooks up the AUX cord to his car. Edoardo groans,

"Please spare me from Baby K." Eleonora playfully hits his shoulder.

"No, it's not Baby K." She sticks out her tongue and hits play. Britney Spears's voice fills the car. Edoardo lets out another groan,

"This is worse." He complains. Eleonora kisses him again.

"Drive." She tells him with a laugh.

"I'm at your command, Senora." He winks at her.

The arrive at the Incanti family Villa at eleven-thirty. Eleonora has played Britney Spears for the whole drive as payback for Edoardo making her get up so early.

As they drive up the driveway, she sees the beautiful lake Endine not too far away. The sun’s beams shine across it, making it look more even beautiful.

"We'll go to the water once we've unpacked everything." Edoardo says as he parks his car.

"How long have you been visiting here?" She asks as she pulls her bags out of his backseat.

"Since I was little. My Nonna was from here. When my parents still lived together, we'd come here when school ended. I'm the only one that comes here now." Edoardo opens the front door, and they walk in. "And maybe after a swim, we can go for a hike?" He suggests. Eleonora gives him a quick peck on the lips.

"I'd love that."

She changes into a dark yellow one piece, with little flowers all over it. Edoardo removes his shirt, and puts on a pair of black swimming shorts.

They climb into the water, and Eleonora dunks her head. When she comes up for air, she sees Edoardo has gotten closer. A mischievous smile on his face.

She splashes water on him. "Whatever you're planning. Don't do it." She warns.

"Or what, you'll splash me more?" He teases. He wet curls clinging to his head.

"Shut up." She tells him, and tries to swim away. Edoardo grabs her by the waist,

"Who said you could leave?" He asks, teasingly.

"I did." She tries to wiggle out of his grasp.

"Too bad." He says and lifts her into the air.

"Put me down!" She yells. Edoardo listens, and drops her. She flounders for a moment, before coming back up. She lungs at him in retaliation, and he laughs.

She wraps her legs around him, and messes with his hair. He dunks them both underwater and kisses her. Eleonora kisses him back, and he lifts them back up.

Edoardo's hand slips into her bathing suit, and runs a hand down her back. She pulls away.

"Not here." She says, gasping for breath. They pull apart, and race out of the water. Only stopping to grab their towels.

Edoardo presses her against the back of the front door once they're inside. Her hands run through his curls, and he peppers her neck with hot kisses.

She moans with pleasure as he slips off one of her straps and nips at her shoulder.

He slips out of his shorts, and picks her up again. Taking her to the bedroom.

—

They lay in bed for hours. Wrapped in each other.

"So, want to go for that hike now?" Edoardo asks. Eleonora hits him with a pillow.

"You've tired me out too much to even think about exercise." Edoardo smirks.

"Then I've done my job." She kisses him.

"I think you have." He kisses her back, and runs a hand through her hair.

They spend of the rest of the day, and most of their vacation in bed. Not wanting to be out of each other's arms.

The hike never happens.

lol i think that’s about it for some reason i thought i had a lot more. sorry, but always feel free to send me any links to any new noorhelm fanfics! (not gonna lie i am not really a fan of skam nl or skam belgium/wtfock so yeah that’s why i don’t really post about them or read their fanfic)

#incantava

17 notes · View notes