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tsukishimas-shortcake · 3 years

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Relationship Headcanons

↦ Character(s): Hakkai Shiba x fem!reader

↦ Rating/Warning: No rating though there are some light mentions of abuse (if you have read the manga you are aware of what I am talking about, I’m not going very deep into it though it literally just mentions it), mentions of anxiety attacks (no detail though), fluff, not proof read

↦ Word count: 1.8k (longer than planned, sections are bolded)

↦ Your Momo’s Receipt: Hello~ I’m post yet another TR headcanon and this was requested by the lovely @strawbub I hope this doesn’t disappoint, it did get longer than planned but I enjoyed writing it. I'll prob do a part two that's more of a scenario based on your first date or something since I didn't go into it here. Please note: for those of you who don’t know my blog is currently under construction, meaning I will not be updating my masterlist for the time being.

So how did you guys meet, well mostly because of Yuzuha,

One day in like elementary you’re walking home and you see this super pretty middle school girl just like yelling at this small group of guys

The guys end up running off just because they don’t wanna deal with her or the attention she's drawn to them

Behind her was a boy, taller than her but obviously younger. You didn’t assume they knew eachother though.

The boy and yuzuha began walking in opposite directions because one was going home while the other was going to pick up something like groceries

You’re so entranced by how she stood up to them yet she’s a girl who was far smaller and you end up catching up to her, almost stepping on her heels

You end up absent mindedly following her into the grocery store and eventually she just freezes, turns, and stare directly at you

Your eyes widen since you must’ve been staring and she just goes “may I ask why you’re following me?” And you explain how cool she was earlier. She invites you over for dinner (esp since her older brother won’t be home) and figured it’d be good for Hakkai to meet someone his age

You end up going over but Hakkai didn’t come down to eat so you never actually got to meet him, though from then on you would see Yuzuha every so often, visit every other weekend or so

But no matter how often you came over the next few months, you never once met hakkai,

That was until you both reached the end of your middle school education and we’re about to begin high school

You had gone over because you were going to borrow an old work book from Yuzuha, and when you go to knock on the door the door opens before your closed fist could hit it, instead hitting a firm chest

You blush and quickly apologize but the person in front of you doesn’t move at all, doesn’t say anything and almost looks like they drifted into space with their dead stare

You assume this is yuzuha’s older brother because you’ve also never met him and you immediately turn to walk away but Yuzuha calls over hakkai’s shoulder

“Y/N-Chan! You just got here where are you going?” This was def not yuzuha’s older brother. There’s no way she’d be that happy with him around; oh my god. Realization hit, the guy who you hit (though it was more of a tap) was hakkai.

The hakkai you had only caught a glimpse of in yuzuha’s photos, never talked to or actually seen in person despite going to the same school and living in the same neighborhood

He must hate you. That’s why he avoids you. That’s def why - is what you think

Yuzuha drags hakkai back inside and invites you in; you sit down with them in the living room and watch hakkai visibly relax now that he’s inside his house, his own space, with a pillow behind him and a blanket covering his lower half, he almost curls up into it as he continues to avoid your stare

“Hi hakkai…Kun? Im L/N Y/N” you say and you see his face dead pan once again

Yuzuha can be heard laughing from the kitchen as she comes back in.

She leans over and begins explaining that hakkai literally just freezes with any interaction between him and girls who aren’t in his family

You nod, thinking maybe it’s an anxiety thing? Which is the case with you, but only because he’s been watching you since you’ve come over (not in a creepy way) wanting to and working the courage up to talk to you

The 5th or so time you came over after that encounter he was inches away from introducing himself before the house phone rang causing everyone to kind of “wake up” in a sense

Every time since then he gets closer and closer but isn’t able to say anything; he even realizes he has a crush on you.

The way you sit when you do homework and how cute you look when you’re focused.

How your forehead scrunches up when you’re trying to figure something out and you end up just sitting back with a small huff followed by yuzuha’s signature laughter.

It’s also a huge thing that you get along with Yuzuha.

So enough with first meeting time for the confession.

He ends up confessing accidentally. He didn’t know you were coming over to begin with so he was flustered out of his mind. And how was he supposed to know you hadn’t actually fallen asleep and you could hear him over the tv

The tv was more white noise than anything and the day was hot since it was the middle of summer causing the window to be open and the sound of soft wind and small birds to drift in; this was the hot that makes you tired so you were all sprawled out of just sitting in a daze

So while resting your head on the table you’re dozing in and out but then you hear hakkai begin to speak, something he never really did around you

Now did you and hakkai text? Yes. Did it take him an hour to reply because his brain would explode when you replied to him? Yes. But was it a start to communication? Also a yes.

You hear him say your name quietly before he moved closer, you can feel his gaze on your features

“I like you” is all he says. Simple and sweet. But you sit there in shock, trying not to blush so he’ll have no idea you heard him but he can tell because your forehead scrunches

You heard him and are focused on if you should reply or not. And he knows that.

You open your eyes and just look up at him, he’s closer than expected. His hand close to yours on the floor and he reaches over and grabs it lightly. Hoping you’ll also return the gesture by holding his hand instead of leaving your hand limp inside his.

And you do, thank goodness, and Hakkai almost mentally can’t handle it.

Once you start dating it’s more so just hanging out at his house or yours; however he talks a bit more and you text a lot more. He’s gotten better at replying. It usually takes him like 15 minutes now

He’s kinda stressed about your relationship but not due to anything you or him did

He’s stressed because of the mentality his older brother gave him

Is he even allowed to be this happy?

He finally has someone thats small enough and naive enough that he can protect you; compared to constantly being protected it’s a sudden, strong, yet good change for him

He’s touch s t a r v e d

Yes Yuzuha shows affection; but he stopped accepting her hugs when he was around 8 just because he physically wasn’t able to handle it due to his bruises and such

But with you, even with his bruises and all you take care of him. Able to coax him into using medicines and toning down the physical violence (that he can control himself)

He also finds it super soothing when you lightly brush over his scars (especially those that his brother gave him), it helps him believe that scars are only physical and can fade with help

One thing that stresses him out the most is trying to hide you from his brother. Any time you leave something at the house its easy to pass it off as yuzuha's but when it comes to things like photos he has with you, he can't hang them up, show them off, or have them as his phone Lock Screen, etc. because he just really doesn't want his brother to know and target you since he'll then know that you're his weakness (aside from yuzuha as well)

Sometimes won't explain why he can't hang out and has legit pushed you out of his house before at the last minute notice of his brother coming home

Will always make sure you get home safe though, usually by having Yuzuha go with you since then she can just say you're a friend from school

Your parents love him, though they were a bit hesitant it became a "you always have a place to stay" because they learned about their family situation from you and yuzuha. So expect him to spend the night when he's too scared to deal with his brother. Same with yuzuha. (yes I know this isn't yuzuha head canons but its hard to write for him without mentioning her when they're so close)

We're talking three person sleep overs. Yuzuha and you of course share the bed and Hakkai takes some time to even set foot in your room much less sleep on a mattress that's on the floor

He has a small heart attack every time he comes into your room because he's overwhelmed with everything, he's never been so comfortable and it makes him feel restless. Like he's never and I mean n e v e r been less stressed and slept better than when he does so in your room

The smell, the colors, just being surrounded by you is something that completely changes his mood

Once showed up after he fought with his brother, tears in his eyes and clothes a bit tattered and you just pulled him to your room, and sat down with him.

You laid on your bed with him laying down onto of you, head on your chest as you rubbed his head and only said a few words "its not your fault"

He ends up crying so hard he falls asleep and gets dehydrated and you have to make him drink a bunch of water when he finally wakes up.

NSFW

super fucking careful w you

almost annoyingly so, but you're understanding

He knows that he might be taking things frustratingly slow but he knows that since you understand and know his history that you can help him get through it

Your first time you think you'll have to call it off because he's shaking so bad

"baby... are you sure it won't hurt you?" he keeps asking.

pretty sure that's the longest its ever taken him to finish because he was so anxious

despite being so slow and hesitant, late he isn't too scared to get a bit rougher

but im not talking anything crazy im talking like he's willing to pull your hair a bit or nip a bit harder at your neck.

Please never ask him to do anything like degrade you or some type of harsh physical rough shit, he can't

like literally im 99% sure that if you ask him to choke you or something he will pass out because of the anxiety attack he would have at even the thought.

in short with nsfw though he is sweet boy. He's a switch through and through. Loves when you take care of everything because then he doesn't have to be scared of hurting you.

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glitterytidalwavedragon · 3 years

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Putting it Out There (A Biracial Child)

I’ve always wanted to address this, I just never knew where or how to. But, as I write, I see the influences come into play more and more (More so when I am writing my B.B fanfic and the Tourist), so I thought, now is a good time as any and this is the only account and platform I feel safe (maybe because I don’t have 200+ friends or followers here who know me outside of social media). I also feel as if this prospective of life isn’t given much attention or heard.

I, as some may know cause I had commented as such, am a biracial child. My father is a Caribbean Hispanic male and my mother of German and Italian descent.

This does not mean I have the best of both worlds. In fact, most of the times I feel alienated.

Born in the early 90′s, the song “Livin’ La Vida Loca” by Ricky Martin was every where. My mother would tell me that song was about me, now I was 5-6ish. I thought she referred to me liking cats, and trying to go out to perform a crap version of ‘Singing in the Rain’ along with the love for magic.

No, it wasn’t so innocent. It was straight up because of my skin tone. I looked like the girl the song was describing. I had no idea. Nor did I realize a silent war was raging in my family.

Growing up was...hard to say the least. It is even harder when you have racism on both sides pointing fingers at each other. On my mother’s side, my aunt and uncle wouldn’t allow me to visit unless it was a holiday to which there was pressure from the family. Out of spite, they would invite my much older siblings father over to cause a fight (The man did not celebrate christmas). Meanwhile my other aunt would tell me over and over again I was Italian. In the end, during these events I would end up alone and not know why.

Now lets turn to the other side of the family, my father’s. My first words had been Spanish. Yet, I lived with English speaking relatives... guess who stopped speaking Spanish for a long while. When visiting my family on his side, none of of my relatives would address me, only if they had to because my father was not around. These people knew how to speak English, very well even though they had moved from their native island. They just refused to speak to me. This sucked cause where it was 3 people on my mother’s side, it was 16 aunt’s and uncles on my fathers not counting the dozens of cousins I had. So, as the other family events, I ended up alone not knowing why.

The answer was rather simple but much to complicated for my child self. Both sides of my family was and still is completely racist. My white mother was near exiled for being with a man many would consider black (he considers himself Spanish and oddly doesn’t get the fascination on why his skin matters or makes me worry about him when he is stopped by cops...). I was the ‘mixed’ baby, a simple of her family’s shame.

My father’s side could not care what color my mother was, only that she was not Spanish. For those who don’t know, Spanish can be an array of color, its cool. But, she was no Spanish, did not speak Spanish and therefore my father was exiled by everyone but his own mother for many years (which is why we ended up in family events, my mama wanted to see her youngest grandchild by her baby boy). This meant being put at the back table, being openly mocked, and never told of big family events like babies or weddings.

This only lead to more fighting at home and in the end even my own siblings, alienated me. It was a pretty lonely experience.

This carried on to school and friendships. Elementary was not fun, but I felt the effects more in Jr. and High school. In elementary I was grouped with the other Spanish kids, because starting in late summer I had my Spanish tan on and therefore, I was not white to other white kids. But I did not speak Spanish. At one point I spoke gibberish to just to be able to hang with the Spanish kids at recess. It worked and I still don’t know how.

In Jr. ahhhh... at one point my family was making good money, which originally, it once took the income of five adults to keep us afloat, now it just took 2. My father and my grandpa (who I will talk about later). We moved to a ‘nicer’ neighborhood. In the early 2000′s that mean, a white neighborhood. Boy, did I stick out.

Now you might think “But you grew up in NYC, said you were from Brooklyn” well, here is a fun fact. Nothing is more segregated than NYC schools. The north did not do busing like the south did, so white schools stayed mostly white while schools in low income areas stayed mostly black or other minority races. I was a very tan child going into a white neighbor hood to a white school. Lets top it off that I played video games and Yu-Gi-Oh, HA!

I received hell. I had legit parents sneer at me, and girls asking me if I had sex because I was Spanish. A 12 year old, got hit on by 15 year olds because they thought my race made me easy. I was 12, all I wanted was to collect cards and play Pokemon on my stupid advance, I had no time for boys unless they were anime. But... someone (more than likely their parents) had set these ideas in their head on how Spanish people, more so girls, acted.

Then I realized, I really liked all things Gothic. A Spanish Goth.... it pains me to think about it. Everything from poser, to faker, and ‘trying to act white’ was laid on me. I could not wait for Jr. High to end. And when it did, a whole 180 happen.

I was no longer Spanish. I did not know why, just everyone referred to me as ‘the ONLY white girl’ in the school and that is not a joke. My school, was dubbed the worse in all of Brooklyn and shut down, which I believe it was dubbed that because of the 1% white population... I was the 1 after my second year when the other white kid (who was a boy people asked was my boyfriend) graduated. Now, in high school it wasn’t the kids who gave me hell. It was the teachers.

In fact, high school led me to meet others who were also feeling alienated. One of which I am very close to, a black man who is Jewish (adopted by a white couple) and gay. He did not where he belonged either. In the mid-00′s to be a black gay man living near the ghetto was dangerous. I can’t count how many times he had to hide who he was so he wouldn’t get shot. Nor could I count how many times my other friend coped with being a biracial black man who loved anime and being goth so much he was bullied for it when we weren’t together (who I ended up dating throughout high school).

Suddenly being labelled white get me an acceptance I was not expecting. I ended up being popular against my best efforts and people who I did not know knew me. At 15 I did not get what had changed, because no one had told me yet. No, I figured it out at 16, when I was placed in senior English because of my grades. My English teacher told me, I was white, in the worse why I could ever imagine.

My English teacher, a beautiful black woman who celebrated her African roots, gave an assignment one day. I was one out of five in a class of thirty who did it, because I did it in her class the day before. I played sports, so did half the other kids, I did not have time after school. This did not sit well with her, she was mad, which was an understatement. So, she turned to the class and said

“This is why our people end up in Jail or having babies to early. Because like black people don’t take education seriously.” Then called be out by name and continued “is why she will end up being successful, because white people know the importance of an education.”

First off, she was very racist towards EVERYONE, second I at 16, who was always called Spanish in school was now labelled white in front of everyone by an adult. I was both confused and terrified as my boyfriend who knew my family cared JACK SHIT about education looked ready to kill her. Luckily, he just walked out of class and waited for me as I was too studded to move.

I later asked him if he thought I was white, he admitted he did until he saw my father and called me biracial. For the first time in 16 years, I had been called biracial. Went home, did not tell anyone what happened, asked my mother if I was biracial and she said yes. To shorten this up, this was what life felt like,

At home, I had no race. Neither side welcomed me.

In school, I was told I was Spanish and had to fake my way in the Spanish group.

Jr High, I am now trying to distance myself from everyone as being Spanish makes me a target.

High School, I thought being Spanish would be a good thing. Now everyone is telling me I am white.

I had not idea who or what I was.

All I ever wanted was to be me. I wanted to understand why my family never got close to me, and I wanted friends who were friends because I was me.

It was like I was being ripped to pieces. I could be what others wanted or be no one at all. I had no idea what to do. If people at the new school found out I was Spanish, would I become a target again? I was allowed to freely play games, watch anime, and be my gothic self if I were white. But that also meant I could not hang out with my friends who lived in the Ghetto, shouldn’t like rap, R&B, and reggaetón or use the slang I grew up always using.

To be a Spanish person trying to be white

A white person trying to be black/another minority of color.

I had watched as the former got my friend (boyfriend at the time) kicked out of classrooms as he was compared to those involved in columbine shooting from teachers since he was different. Also the hell he received from other boys for cosplaying and playing anime based card games. At one point it was so rough he thought about dropping out and I begged him to stay along with his mother. I was so afraid of going through that again.

So I kept my mouth shut.

I took on the military standard of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”. My father never came to the school because he worked so much so no one knew. Everyday, I just took what my English teacher said to be without any force back. When Obama was voted in, she told me I had no right to celebrate, that my people had JFK and that Obama was for all the minorities to celebrate. I fell into a dark hole of hating myself. My home life was awful and now school I had to pretend to be something I wasn’t comfortable with. I started ditching classes, got into more fights than I would care to admit, did some really shady stuff and began hurting myself.

The only joy I got was when I busted my ass grades wise and got out of school six months early. I did not have to go to school anymore and I could lock myself away to be no one but myself. It was lonely but I found company in books and my art. Through art I was allowed to be me and no one could take that away.

When I returned for Graduation I June, did I get the final laugh on that English bitch. My mother and father showed up, she asked if my father was a cab driver helping my mother as she had gone blind. I told her, rather happily, that was my father. She went from joy to sheer disgusts faster than you can blink. For years she kept talking about who ‘mix babies’ never got any where as their fathers were never around. Yet, despite me hardly showing up, I gradated top of my class, never had a baby nor was I ‘loose’ (In fact I feared sex as a teenager), and my mixed couple parents as she lovingly called it, were together.

She walked away from me and never said a word since.

But now school was over, college was starting. I still hadn’t figured out who I was. Was I white/Italian or Spanish. In college I learnt no one was going to tell me who I was anymore, nor did they care. At home, it was still a battle of the races. Finally, one of my cousins spoke up and declared I wasn’t Spanish as I knew nothing of the language. At home, my aunt and uncle decided I was Spanish and called me a ‘Spick’ as a joke. I did not take it as one and therefore I was called ‘uptight’.

My siblings also informed me, if I wanted free college to put down Spanish on everything unless it was the census. Then I should be white. Sometimes I still run into people who think I am one over the other. I had people come up to be speaking Spanish to be highly offended when I tell them I don’t speak the Language well. (I tried learning but it is hard when motivation is not there).

In recent years, I had someone at work tell me how they met a Spanish person, shockingly where my father works, and then described in detail my father and then tell me they thought he was illegal since he looked the type. All because they thought I was white... proud to say that person got fired for being racist.I did also inform them that was my father to their response was “you’re one of them”.

It never ends.

No, the reason why I haven’t been driven insane is because of my late grandpa. My grandpa was a man I adopted to be my grandfather. My biological grandfathers on both sides died long before I was born and the man I adopted was close to the family and acted like a father to my parents. He was a good man and the reason I had a childhood.

He once went through the same, Italian/Jewish, you wouldn’t think there would be a problem but when he was growing up that equaled Catholic/Jewish, to which he too was either pinned in the middle or rejected by both sides, this is the 1930′s-1940s. He gave me the best piece of advance ever.

To be myself.

That if I were myself, then it did not matter. The moment I stopped being who I am, that passing or faking would never tell me who my real friends were. That if he, could love me for who I was, a weird girl who liked boy things and drawing strange looking characters, then anyone else could. Being a stranger to myself would never bring happiness. So, after years of not listening to that, I finally decided to listen to my Grandpa.

I know who I am, I know the history of my families. They might not like that I am not what they want me to be, but they don’t have to live with me. I have to live with who I am. My friends are my friends because they know who I am, not who they think I should be.

So for all my biracial brothers, sisters and them’s, be yourself. Don’t try to force yourself into a mold, it isn’t worth it. None of it is worth it.

Look yourself in the mirror and say your name. Say it loud and let everyone know they can not define who you are, and so what if they say you don’t belong, guess what? You do if you want. You belong because YOU say so, because that blood runs in your veins as well as theirs. So you get to make that choice!

Make that choice of being you! Define yourself to YOUR standards.

Don’t let anyone take that away. I know I won’t.

So here I see myself! A strange fox who changes coats with the seasons, that loves anime and video games, who plays Yu-Gi-Oh and listens to opera and Metal while can twerk and get low to Daddy Yankee! Who eats sushi and makes a mean chicken cutlet but can also make the best empanda with beans and rice with the rest of them!

And no one can take that from me.

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fullmetaldevil-blog · 4 years

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Batim Stitched Au short: Holiday Hiccup

Merry Christmas everyone as I give you all a little holiday short (yes a legit short this time)

I hope you all enjoy and have a Merry Christmas and Happy holidays with your families and friends.

On with the show~!

The holiday season was upon the Connor residence faster then the couple had time to prepare for. Linda was heaven sent as she kept Benny busy for them, the Elementary school teacher asked if Benny could assist her in preparing her students for their winter production alongside Bendy. Both toons were nervous about helping her out at the school and being around so many students but the woman reassured them that they would be fine. The two toons were instrumental in helping the students learn how to sing and dance for their holiday show. The two toons were shy at first but once they became more acquainted with the students and were in charge of their respective talents, they became more confident and took center stage giving Linda a much needed break.

The school day had come to a close as Linda drove the little plushtoon home. Benny was eagerly going over the music that was chosen by the class as he had already begun to teach the children how to sing the different scales before they would begin to sing the actual songs. He hoped that when he got home and if Allison wasn’t busy, that she could help him with his musical homework so he could better teach the students being left in his care.

The vehicle came to a stop and LInda prepared to exit to walk Benny to the door when the toon lightly laid his hand on her arm. “I’m fine. You’re tired and still have to drive home.” he smiled at her. “I can let myself in.”

A tired appreciative smile crossed Linda’s face. “Thank you. Tell Allison I said ‘hi’. '' She brought Benny into a one arm hug.

“I will!” the toon happily chirped before waving goodbye to Bendy and closed the door behind himself.

Benny trotted to the doorway which was already decorated with red and white garland making the pillars look like giant candy canes while a large red leafed wreath laid upon the door. He couldn’t quite remember the name of the red leaved plant as Allison had gotten a good number of them and planted them along the driveway leading to the house. Nevertheless, he enjoyed the bright red item as pinecones that smelt of cinnamon were laced with them giving the entryway a very pleasant aroma. Benny lifted his shirt and opened up his hammerspace pulling out his house keys quietly letting himself inside.

The toon was immediately greeted with a warm home full of smells of spices mixed in with sweets as they clashed with each other, yet they worked in harmony. He couldn’t wait to taste whatever Allison was preparing, the thought encouraged him to put his little backpack away in his room before heading into the kitchen.

Allison happily hummed while she folded the dough she had rolled onto the table before slicing it into ribbons. She lifted each ribbon and carefully weaved them over her apple pie she had prepared before hearing little tapping of shoes entering the kitchen. “Welcome home Benny. How was school with the kids today?”

Benny grabbed onto a chair pulling it out before hopping up on top giving his mom his undivided attention. “It went well! I had them all learning how to sing the scales before we would begin to sing the actual songs. Linda gave me their sheet music so I can better learn the songs to help them.” he beamed at her.

“That’s good. I bet it’s fun singing with the kids. I’m sure LInda is loving the helping hand as I know her students can be a bit energetic, but then again they are children.” Allison smiled warmly at her energetic demon. It was nice to hear that Benny was getting along with the woman’s students as she feared that Benny would be too shy to handle them. She soon found Benny’s floating head hovering over her arms as he was clearly eyeballing her pie to be.

“What are you making?” The inquisitive toon asked before finding himself being lightly nudged away from the pie.

“It’s an apple pie as I have gingerbread cookies already in the oven.” The actress finished pinching off the dough on the edges before setting the pie aside and began to clean up the table all under the watchful eyes of her little demon.

Once the table was cleaned up Allison pulled out a chair and patiently waited for her timer to go off while Benny opened up his hammerspace and pulled out the folder of sheet music. His mother enjoyed the peaceful silence of the kitchen before she felt a slight tug on her arm. Benny held out the folder with a pleading look.

“Can you help me with these?” Benny gave her a hopeful look while Allison took the folder from him and fingered through its contents.

A smile crossed her face as she closed the folder. “Sure, but lets wait till the cookies are done and the pie is in the oven. Ok?”

Benny happily nodded and hopped off the chair reclaiming his folder and headed to the living room where the piano sat. He pulled the bench out and sat upon it patiently while he waited for Allison to finish with the cookies and to put the pie in the oven. He was happy he didn’t have to wait too long as he heard the characteristic ding of the timer and Allison moving the food to and from the stove before setting the timer again. He smile grew wider as he watched his mother set her oven mitt aside before entering the living room.

“All right , lets see what we got.” Allison smiled as she scooted the Benny over sitting down on the bench. Once she was seated Benny promptly placed the folder on the music stand and pulled out a few of the sheets setting them up for her.

Allison looked at the music and after studying them for a moment her fingers began to glide along the ivory keys playing out the music. Benny all the while listening to the music content with their soft yet energetic sounds. He had heard Christmas music on the radio as he rode with Linda to and from the school along with hints of the seasonal music in the stores with Allison, but at the end of the day he preferred the versions that were being played on the piano as they were far softer and more soothing. Allison played each and every song that the toon was going to be teaching the class how to sing before she pointed out the lyrics of the song.

“Now I’m gonna replay all the songs and this time I’m going to sing them. I’d like for you to follow along as best you can.” she gently lifted the toon setting him on her lap so he could see the sheet music better, but also to where she could still use the pedals.

The songs drifted through the home as Allison played the piano and both her and Benny sang the tunes. She was always amazed at how quickly Benny was able to repeat what he heard as he had the songs down very quickly to a point that she had him play the piano himself. He had to take his Ragdoll form in order to hit the pedals properly as well as to reach both sides of the piano. Even the change in size didn’t diminish the toons singing talent, Ragdolls voice was naturally deeper and more masculine than his normal boyish tones, but his sultry voice drifted through the air as he sang. All the months of working with Sammy helped the Ragdoll demon better utilize his voice in his larger form taking his normally garbled and sometimes missmatched tones smoothing them out.

Allison had to chuckle as she could tell Benny was getting into the music as he was singing louder and the stitching on his stomach came undone allowing his stomach mouth to sing with his normal voice in unison. It always warmed her heart to see Benny settle into his comfort zone. He is normally shy and reserved to a point that he needs encouragement on somethings, but to see him take center stage and be confident about it was always rewarding. She couldn’t wait to see the fruits of his labor with the children as he’ll be singing alongside them putting on his first Christmas performance.

The pair practiced together until Tom came home from work which made Benny immediately latch onto the man begging him to watch their performance. While Benny was begging for Tom’s audience Allison slipped away to handle the pie which had finished baking setting it atop the stove and turning off the oven before returning to the living room. All the while Tom had a demonic barnacle, the man wasn’t about to tell the toon ‘no’ so he kicked back on the couch and listened to the little toon’s performance while Allison played the piano. Benny was all grins as he performed for his father figure who was smiling at him, he couldn’t have been happier.

Allison watched Benny’s joy on his face as she and Tom already had planned on attending Benny’s little concert at the school. The toon was under the impression that Tom wouldn’t be able to make it so he was happy to let the man hear his songs at the moment, little did he know that his father had requested the day off solely to see the toon’s first performance as he wasn’t about to let anything in the world deter him. Once Benny finished his last song he took a bow earning a round of applause from his parents and joyous squeaks from him as Allison scooped him up into her arms.

“That was such a good show Benny.” Allison cooed at the toon in her arms with Tom getting up from the couch to lightly pat the demon between his horns.

“Yeah, I can tell you’ve been practicing very hard and you sound great.” the mechanic smiled warmly at his toon.

Benny beamed up as his folks as he couldn’t have been happier. Allison set him down allowing his to retrieve his music sheets before he stared at the lyrics pondering over who they were singing about.

“Allison?” his voice piped up from the piano bench. “Who’s Santa Claus?”

Benny had no clue as to who this man was as they were singing about a red nosed reindeer named Rudolf and a man named Santa who was happy about the deer’s glowing nose, as well as that Santa coming to town. The rest of the songs were about riding in a one horse open sleigh, silver bells as well as walking along in a winter wonderland. Those songs sang about things to do or places to enjoy during the holidays but not about this ‘Santa’ character.

Allison’s eyes grew wide at the toon’s inquiry. It surprised her that Benny hadn’t heard of Jolly old Saint Nick considering all the Christmas songs that the children would be singing but she soon realized that only 2 of Benny’s songs actually sang about the man and even then they didn’t say much about him. She bent down to his eye level grinning at him.

“Santa Claus is a heavy set older gentleman who makes toys in his workshop and then goes all around the world on Christmas eve delivering presents to children on his list. Children that are naughty don’t get any presents from him so it’s an incentive to be on his nice list.”

A gruff voice sounded out from behind her. “Which means you have to behave between now and Christmas or else no presents.” Tom chuckled only to regret his statement as a frown formed on Benny’s face. “What’s wrong?”

“I’m a toon, not a human child. Does that mean I won’t get any presents from Santa cause I’m not human.” The toon looked up at his parents.

“Of course you’ll get presents sweetie.” Allison pulled the toon into a hug. “You’ve been a good boy all year, of course Santa would visit you bringing you gifts. You deserve them.” She smiled with Tom confirming her statement.

A flood of relief washed over Benny as he was happy to hear that Santa would visit him bringing him presents. The image of a heavy set man riding a red sleigh pulling up in front of the house with the man coming through his front door bringing gifts made the toon all the more excited about the holiday. He already enjoyed the quiet family time with his folks during the holiday as well as the gifts that his additional family and friends gave him, but the idea that he’ll get a special visit from the red and white dressed man was the icing on the cake.

Allison and Tom noted the toon’s increased excitement and a plan soon formed between the two of them. The time that Linda had Benny in her care gave Allison and Tom enough time to decorate the home while the toon was away. Seeing Benny come home to a fully decorated house and the Christmas tree brought inside and decorated pot and all made him firmly attach himself to his parents thanking them. He was entranced by the lights on the tree and the sparkle of the bulbs that decorated it. No matter how many times he passed by the tree in his backyard smelling it’s wonderful fragrance, it was something about it being in his home that made it even more special.

Allison and Tom could only share their smiles at seeing Benny acting like an eager child. It warmed their hearts that the toon was so childlike and that the simplest of gestures meant the world to him as he treasured the little things. Seeing him completely smitten with the wonder of the holiday season spurred them to put their plan into action. While Allison helped Benny prepare for his soon to be performance, Tom placed a few phone calls to some of their former staff to come out and to see both Benny and Bendy perform with the children for the first time. The man was eager to share the toon’s moment in the spotlight with their former coworkers who, since their escape, has done their best to help oversee the toons upbringing.

Sammy grumbled about attending, but when he heard that Benny was the one that taught the children how to sing the man was instantly on board, albeit almost too quickly. When asked why he agreed so suddenly, his excuse was that he needed to see how his teachings with Benny translated to the toon’s little pupils and will judge their performance. It was his way of saying that he’ll gladly attend. Norman was all for coming to see the toons perform alongside their little students with Bendy’s Nutcracker and Benny’s concert. The man couldn’t wait to see the boys dressed up doing the very thing that they were designed to do. He warned Tom that he was gonna be carrying tons of film to photograph the boys for the couple with Tom telling him that Allison already raided the market grabbing film.

Wally was more than happy to attend, greatly looking forward to the holiday show. Tom asked him if the man can procure a Santa costume telling him about his plan to surprise the toon. He wanted to have Wally dress as Santa and come down the chimney followed by a bag of some of the toons toys to surprise him. When asked if it was safe to go down the chimney Tom reassured the man that not only was the chimney and fireplace exceptionally large, but he’ll set up a harness to make the trip as safe as possible, that the man would have nothing to worry about. Once Wally’s concerns were laid to rest the man happily agreed and began to look for a santa costume that would fit him.

Susie was a little hesitant to attend, but Allison pleaded with her to come for the boy’s sake. They would be putting on their first show and that sure they would be nervous but seeing people they recognized in the crowd will help quell their fears. She reminded Susie of a time when she too had put on her first show and her nervousness, that the boys would be going through the same emotions. Susie finally sighed agreeing to come show her support for the little devils performances.

Once everyone was contacted and their tickets were mailed to them. Tom and Allison counted down the days until the toon’s performances while making sure Benny was well dressed for his concert. The plushtoon sported a little dark red suit and cap to hide his horns while Allison got him a little makeup to help hide his sepia yellow coloring and stitches. Benny wasn’t keen on the idea of wearing the makeup but was urged to since Yellow isn’t a natural skin color for humans and that he wasn’t alone in the makeup as Bendy had to wear some as well.

The morning of the concert was a bit chaotic as Tom had to pretend to go to work and hid from Benny all the while Allison was trying to get the toon to eat. It turned out that while Benny was initially excited to be performing, he soon became exceedingly nervous as stage fright was beginning to set in. Allison had to repeatedly try and ease the toons growing nerves as the hour drew near for when they needed to head to the school. No matter how much Allison insisted that the toon eat something before getting dressed, he simply had too many butterflies in his stomach to do so.

Allison had no choice but to make sure to pack snacks for him for the aftermath of the concert. She knew that once the concert was over that Benny’s hunger would come roaring back and she needed to be prepared for when that happened. While she packed, Benny was busy getting himself dressed in his little suit they bought him which he got a little help from Allison for the makeup. He lightly moaned about the power being put on his face but knew it was to help him better blend in as there would be many cameras facing him from parents taking photos of their children that would be standing next to him.

Once Benny was all prepared and ready to go Allison loaded him up in the car and took off down the road. The toon frowned as he wished Tom could have joined him, but at least he had Allison there cheering him on. As soon as he saw the school come into sight he would have looked as pale as a sheet if he wasn’t wearing makeup. Allison noted the very rigid movements of the toon as well as his piecut eyes that seemed to have shrunk and encouraged him that everything will be fine and that she’ll be cheering for him all the way.

Linda was having a hard time with Bendy as while the toon was showing more bravado about performing since it was in his nature, he was nervous about actually doing it since it was one thing on the big screen, it was another in reality. Bendy repeatedly had little bits of ink dripping on the side of his face with Linda constantly having to wipe the area and apply more makeup while trying to calm the toon down. She was thankful her classrooms performance was last since it gave the toons a chance to get used to the busy atmosphere of the auditorium.

Benny and Bendy watched some of the other classes performances before them in awe as all the parents greedily snapping photos of their respective child. The toons couldn’t believe how many adults showed up for the schools holiday performance which made the both of them wonder where their own families would be amongst the crowd. Bendy knew LInda would be in front of the class as she was conducting Benny’s concert after they put on their dance to the Nutcracker suite. Bendy’s eyes grew wide when he saw a group of people filing into the auditorium who were quickly fanning out to take up different positions in the hall. The little demon quickly nudged his stitched counterpart earning a soft grumble from Benny before Bendy pointed out who entered the room.

Norman had joined some of the parents who had taken up residence on the floor with various cameras as the projectionist was sporting a rather large camera of his own. It was clear that he was playing the role of ‘cameraman’. Wally soon joined the man with a smaller camera of his own not realizing that Norman had the same idea. Sammy and Susie were in the back of the hall both taking a seat in the middle. Both were looking upon the schedule pamphlets clearly wondering how many performances they would have to endure before their purpose for being there were on stage. Bendy lit up like a Christmas tree when he saw Henry taking a seat down in the front rows. He was under the impression his creator and dad wouldn’t be able to make it since the man was very vague about if he could come. Benny shared an equal look of astonishment to see Allison and Tom taking their seats next to his uncle. He knew Allison was coming but was shocked that Tom was there sitting next to her as he very bluntly told him he couldn’t make it because of his job. Normally the toon would have contemplated at getting the mechanic back for his little stunt, but his sheer excitement at seeing the entirety of his family made him forget his nervousness.

Bendy was up first for his performance with his portion of the students as they all danced to the Nutcracker suite. They all wore little costumes as they danced about the stage performing in time to music earning silent cheers from the audience. Henry and Linda both watched their little toon on stage with equal excitement and joy at Bendy being in his element, dancing. The little toon was performing to the best of his ability along with the students as they put on a very cute show. Norman and Wally’s camera were eagerly following the toons every movement snapping up pictures left and right, hoping to catch that perfect moment. One little girl tripped and was about to cry from her mishap, but Bendy slipped away from his dance routine to quickly pull her up and dance with her to cheer her up and to keep the show going. By the end of the play production the little girl was giggling and Bendy was grinning at the audience that burst into cheers at the end of their show. The students all lined up alongside Bendy with each holding onto the others hands and all took a collective bow before clearing off the stage to allow the next set of performers.

Benny had silently cheered for his counterpart all through his performance and now it was finally his turn. His group was the last set of performers as some portions of the auditorium had thinned out from parents going to retrieve their students from much earlier shows, but he wasn’t about to let that deter him. What mattered was that his family was there to see him and everything else was irrelevant. The toon adjusted his bowtie and motioned to his set of students to follow him as they entered the stage and each stood in their respective places. Linda took up position in front of the students as their conductor while another teacher took up the position on the piano. The teachers looked at each other before glancing over the students with little determined eyes and one set of piecut eyes confirming they were ready to begin.

A chorus of voices drifted through the air singing all the christmas songs that the children had selected. Benny had been selected by the class to be the lead singer as he lead the students throughout their respective pieces. All the while Allison and Tom watched lovingly from their seats at their little demons performance. The couple was truly happy that Benny was able to come out of his shell for the show as his voice was dominating the choir with the students primarily as backup vocals except for a view numbers where they all sang equally. The toon had settled into his comfort zone and he was making sure everyone could hear him. Even some of the families that had come to pick up their children and were about to head home reentered the auditorium to give the choirs music a listen. Sammy was trying his best not to smile but Susie told him she wouldn’t sell him out and the man was all grins. He was happy to see his little student performing so well in front of his first audience and was hoping for more shows in the future.

The last of the voices quieted down so a soft humm as the last song performed was ‘Silent Night’. The children sang softly allowing Benny to be the primary singer for the last song. His voice was soft as it lulled the audience into a sense of peace and calm, the crowds faces were relaxed as they leaned into the music. Once they finished the choir all stepped off their stage lining up alongside Benny holding hands to all take a bow. Linda lined them up and had them file out of the auditorium allowing the school principal to take over the podium thanking all the parents for coming and that they may retrieve their students from the school grounds for them to enjoy their winter break and to have a happy holiday.

Henry, Allison, Tom, Norman, Wally, Susie and Sammy didn’t need to be told twice that it was time to pick up the ‘children’. Henry, Allison and Tom lead the pack as they followed the students outside to gather up their toons. Bendy already had a cluster of children and parents around him as the little girl he helped as giving him a big thank you hug for helping her during the performance. Her parents were eagerly taking pictures of the two together and thanking the toon for his efforts. Benny had a small crowd of girls around him all complementing his singing talent and some were even boasting about how they couldn’t wait till he got older because they’d marry him. Benny would have been completely red faced if the makeup hadn’t hidden his actual coloring. It was a small blessing in disguise.

Tom laughed about Benny’s little collection of fan girls commenting about how the toon was popular with the ladies. Allison was having none of that and promptly relieved the toon of his little crowd with some of the girls moaning that it was time for the little demon to head home. They failed to notice little claws on the tips of Benny’s gloves clinging to his mother. Allison felt the little hints of his claws, but she could tell he was being careful and it was his way of letting her know he didn’t want to go anywhere near his little adoring fans. Tom could only laugh at the toons koala response to Allison until Benny was handed over to the man for which the toon didn’t mind digging his claws in him a little. Tom grumbled about having to hold onto a little plush cactus.

Henry gently retrieved Bendy from his little fan club telling the kids that Bendy had to go home and for them to enjoy the holidays. The animator chuckled at the students wishing his wife a Merry Christmas before their parents shuffled them on to the vehicles to make their journeys home.

Wally, Norman, Sammy and Susie all huddled around the toons happily congratulating them on their stellar performance earning bashful expressions from the both of them. Wally and Norman happily showed off their collection of film rolls with both families thanking them for their efforts. Allison and Linda both looked forward to seeing the results of their photo shoots. Susie joined the ladies as they retrieved the toons from Tom and Henry and they all gushed over the performance of the toons leaving the men to socialize amongst each other.

“Oh! Tom.” Wally gingerly walked up to the man. “I got what you asked for.”

A big grin split the mans face. “Really? That’s great.” He patted Wally on the back.

“What are you up to?” Norman crossed his arms raising a brow at Tom and Wally eagerly scheming between each other.

Tom motioned for the group of guys to come closer to better hear him for which Sammy rolled his eyes, but Henry dragged him over. Tom laid out his plans for his little surprise he wanted to pull off for Benny. He planned on setting up a harness for Wally, who would dress as Santa Claus, and go down the chimney to surprise Benny with some of his presents. The toon was looking forward to the holiday so he figured that he might as well add in a little fun along the way.

Sammy instantly bowed out saying he wanted no part of the mechanics scheme claiming that he already had plans for the holidays for which Norman commented about how the former music director and a certain little former angel actress were gonna spend the holiday together. The man turned beet red in a mix of embarrassment and anger but didn’t dare yell for fear of drawing the women to them, he uttered a few curses and left it at that. Henry too had to tell Tom that he wasn’t gonna be available for the holidays this year as his daughter had invited them to spend Christmas with her and the new grandbaby. Concerns were raised about how she may react to Bendy for which Henry laughed and told them that when they were comfortable and told her about him, she moved heaven and earth to get to their home to meet him. She was raving about wanting to meet her ‘older brother’ as she viewed the toons as a sort of sibling after she grew up seeing Henry’s short of Bendy playing with a little baby.

Norman didn’t mind helping out as he’d do anything to see a smile on the toon’s faces, however, he wondered if going down a chimney was a smart idea. Questions had been raised about how safe it was to pull off such as stunt with Thomas telling him that the fireplace and Chimney were larger then the ones he’d normally seen and that a person can easily go down it with no issues as he’s had to go in a few times to clean it. He especially questioned it when he recalled how Benny handled the would-be burglars that attempted to rob Janice’s home. Tom instantly waved away the mans concerns telling him that Benny would be excited about Santa coming and had nothing to worry about. Norman shrugged and closeted his concerns when Wally eagerly hug off the man boasting about how they were gonna have so much fun for which the group promptly had to shut him up once the women were drawn to the groups lively chatter.

Benny wished Bendy farewell and good luck on his trip to see his sibling and to give the grandbaby a hug for him. Bendy was excited about the baby but then realized how fragile a human is let alone a baby and froze up. He feared that he would hurt the baby by merely touching her and Benny had to reassure his counterpart that he had nothing to worry about. He isn’t the monster he likes to think he is as he already is about to play with human children no problem, one little baby wouldn’t be any different. Bendy relaxed at Benny’s words and wished his counterpart a farewell and that he’ll see him after they get back from their trip.

The toons were rounded up and everyone bid each other farewell and Merry Christmas with hugs all around and a red Sammy. The man yowled about the hugs, but soon found himself tackled by two demons earning more irate screeches from him as the parents had to pull the toons off him. Allison cooed with Benny happily squeaking in her arms when she told him about all the cookies and treats she was gonna make at home as she pried him off Sammy. The actress headed on home ahead of Tom leaving him to finalize the plans he had in store for his little demon with his co conspirators while Sammy beat a hasty retreat and headed home with Susie. Henry wished him luck for he and Linda headed on home with Bendy in tow.

--------- Early Christmas Morning ----------

Allison had yet to stir as the early morning had arrived. Tom was thankful his wife had spent a good chunk of her day and night making cookies and food for the day. It would make his plans to surprise Benny all the easier if she wasn’t in the way. He had already taken the liberty of setting up the ladder on the side of the house so they would have an easy access to the roof and now all he had to do was wait for Norman and Wally to show up. Though he had to admit he was getting nervous as the sun hadn't risen yet and Allison was an early riser. He hoped that she wouldn’t get up and ruin their fun.

He peered over the edge of the couch to see Benny curled up sound asleep. The little demon had tried to stay up for Santa so he could see him, but passed out shortly after laying down on the bed. A wide grin spread across his face as he couldn’t wait to see the little demons reaction to Santa coming out the chimney with toys. Of course part of him knew that Wally wouldn’t be able to keep him mouth shut and blow his cover revealing who he is, and he was fine with that. The element of surprise to him was worth more than having to explain the realities behind Santa and parents waking at unholy hours to place gifts.

The curtains by their front door briefly flashed catching Tom’s attention. The lights flickered a few times letting him know Norman and Wally had arrived. They didn’t dare use their car horn for fear of waking Benny and opted to use their high and low beams of their headlights to send the message that they were there.

Tom quietly paced to the front door letting himself out leaving it unlocked before greeting his friends. “Good morning.” he beamed at the van with the two men stepping out.

“Likewise.” Norman eased himself out of the driver's seat stretching briefly before giving Tom a welcoming hug.

“Got ya Santa costume!” Wally happily shouted waving a large bag with both Tom and Norman quickly shushing the man.

“Jesus Christ boy, th’ ‘hole point is t’ surprise th’ boy in th’ costume, not t’ wake ‘em up beforehand.” Norman scowled at the now sheepish janitor.

Tom then looked at the bag and then back at Wally. “How come you aren’t wearing the costume? I figured you’d come already in it.”

Wally then gazed at Norman “Well Norman suggested that we try to see if I can even fit down the chimney first before attempting to put the costume on.”

“Better t’ be safe than sorry.” Norman added in. “Cause if Wally don’ fit, then you or I gotta ‘ear th’ costume since we’re smaller than ‘im.”

Tom crossed his arms in contemplation. “You have a point there. Hopefully it doesn’t come to that as I will have a lot of explaining to do. Grant you I gotta explain things anyways, but it’s easier to do it if I don’t have a big fake beard on.”

The group of men chuckled at the image of the gruff and rough around the edges Tom attempting to be all jolly which was a horrific sight in their eyes as jolly and Tom are two words that don’t belong next to each other. Tom waved away their laughter at the thought and motioned for them to get a move on as they didn’t know when Allison or Benny may stir. Tom showed them the ladder he had already set up before ascending with Wally and Norman in tow. Wally was surprised to see a harness and safely ropes already established with Tom commenting about how he had already set everything up to keep their noise making to a minimum, even the gifts that were to accompany them had been brought up. He wanted the sounds of them going down the chimney to be what wakes Benny rather then them scurrying around on the roof attempting to set everything up.

Tom and Norman helped Wally into the safety gear and then had the man ease himself over the edge of the chimney with Norman already deadpanning at the sight. “Ya don’ fit.”

Wally chuckled looking at his girth with Tom also scowling at this revelation. “How much did you say you weighed?” Tom looked at the former janitor.

“Well I did put on some weight.” the man chuckled with his small laughs causing his stomach to jiggle like jello. “I guess it will be either you or Norman going down then.”

Norman instantly pointed at Tom. “I ain’t goin’ cause I can already see where this is goin’.” Tom was about to raise a voice in protest when Norman put his foot down. “Yer kid, yer show.”

Tom opened and closed his mouth a few times before a groan escaped him as he ran his hands down the sides of his face. There was no arguing with Norman whatsoever. He glanced at the bag that Wally had set aside and grumbled. “Fine. Gimmie the stupid bag.”

Wally handed over the bag so Tom can put the costume on while Norman helped the former janitor out of his harness. Wally tripped and fell on the rooftop with both Tom and Norman scolding the man to be a little more careful. All the while the sound of Wally’s stumbling and his fall had woken a little occupant within the home.

Benny blearily blinked the sleep out of his eyes as he was awoken by strange noises from above. The toon looked up towards the ceiling in confusion as to the noises he was hearing and carefully listened, hoping it was just a tree branch and not something else. However he heard a set of muffled voices coming from the direction of the fireplace as little bits of dust seemed to rain down from above. Anger swiftly swept over the toon. Someone was trying to break into his house! He growled softly as he got up from the couch taking on his Ragdoll form and paced over to the fireplace. He cautiously peeked his head in the chimney only to better hear a voice telling whoever was on the other end to slowly lower him down.

Tom looked back at Norman and Wally fully clothed and sporting the harness. “All right gents, carefully lower me down and then follow up with the bag.” earning nods from both men a they grasped onto the ropes preparing to help lower their friend.

Tom slowly eased himself into the mouth of the chimney with a small flashlight for emergencies as well as to help him see down the throat of the chimney. He felt the ropes become taught as Norman and Wally shouldered his weight and he slowly made his descent.

A grin graced Tom’s face as he couldn’t wait to see the look on Benny’s face, the little toon would be so excited. His cheer and enthusiasm diminished as he heard strange shuffling sounds below him prompting him to cautiously grab a hold of his light and directed the beam below him. His eyes nearly bugged out of their sockets when he saw a gaping maw waiting for him as the chimney was lined with massive yet familiar white teeth with bits of dripping ink on their edges. Ragdoll! Fear washed over Tom like a wave as he realized that Benny was not taking their coming down the chimney like a happy child and was on the defensive. He looked like he wanted to eat him!

“Pull me up, pull me up!” Tom all but screamed at Norman and Wally with his slow decent instantly coming to a halt.

Norman and Wally both turned pale at Tom’s screams to be pulled up and frantically began to tug on the ropes to pull up their friend. Something had gone wrong and Tom needed help. However the pair above failed to realize that the demon below had other plans.

Ragdoll loudy growled at the intruder in his families chimney, and now this guy was trying to escape! Not on his watch. Ragdoll moved himself out of his position in the fireplace and motioned for his threads to extend and sent his hands up the chimney. After some light fishing around he finally found the now panicking worm on the hook as his hands secured both legs of his intruder and began to pull.

If Tom was panicking before then he was on overdrive. He had hoped that once he was pulled out that Benny would back off, but upon feeling the demons large hands grab both his legs, that hope was dashed in an instant. Benny wasn’t backing off, and if anything, was pulling his prey towards him. He was now a worm on a hook dangling before a very angry fish. Norman and Wally struggled to pull Tom upwards before realizing that Benny was awake and was on the attack.

Memories of Janice’s words about Benny taking on his Ragdoll form to defend the elderly home flashed in his mind as he quickly glanced at Wally struggling alongside him to pull Tom up. “I gotta go.”

“W-What?” Wally gaped at the man before Norman dropped the ropes and ran for the ladder with Wally calling out to him.

Tom felt the tugs to pull him up were dying as Benny was clearly overpowering Norman and Wally. The demon was far stronger than a man as he was feeling the demon pulling him downwards. He briefly heard Wally shouting something before he felt the final tug as Benny pulled him completely down and out the fireplace.

Ragdoll dragged a figure out of his fireplace and threw the man onto the floor roaring at him with both mouths at point blank. He wanted to instill fear into this man before knocking him out as he was getting ready to deliver a solid knockout blow to the stomach.

“B-Benny! Wait It’s me!!!” the red and white clothed man was frantically waved his arms as he was pulling off a large white material that resembled a beard off his very familiar face.

“T-ToM?!” Ragdolls singular eye was as wide as a dinner plate as he looked down at his father figure who was frantically waving his hands.

Before Benny had the time to process what was going on Norman burst through the front door. “Wait Benny! Don’t hurt him, it’s Thomas!” The man's voice died as he saw Tom laying on the floor beneath Benny with the ragdoll demon standing above him with a clear look of shock and confusion.

“What on earth is going on here?!” another voice bellowed across the room as all eyes turned to see a very angry Allison stomping her foot in the doorway.

Everyone looked around at each other at a clear loss as to what to say to the irate actress who’s looks demanded an answer. Before any of them were able to get in so much as a word, Wally burst through the front door.

“Tom are you ok?!” he shouted before his eyes met Allison’s and his bravado and concern for his friend died in to a mere squeak.

Not wanting to be under Allison’s scornful gaze, Benny instantly pointed a finger at Tom. “He WaS cOmInG dOwN tHe ChImNeY aNd I tHoUgHt SoMeOnE wAs BrEaKiNg In.”

Cold angry eyes fell upon Tom as Allison glared at him. “Well?”

“Thomas was tryin’ t’ serpris’ yer boy there Mrs. Allison.” Norman spoke up. “He wanted t’ have Wally ‘ere dress as Santa and come down th’ chimney to give yer boy his Christmas gifts. Wally couldn’ fit, so Tom had t’ go down. We didn’ think that Benny would get defensiv’. We thought he’d be a happy boy.”

Allison sighed while rubbing her temples to school in her temper. “Well I can see he thought you were breaking and entering.” She looked at her husband who had picked himself off the floor. “What on earth made you think this was a good idea?”

Tom looked sheepish at his wife as her words sunk in. “I just wanted to surprise Benny for Christmas. Since he liked Santa I thought having jolly old saint nick come down the chimney would be a delightful surprise for him. I never thought he’d react this way.”

Ragdoll looked down at his father figure with surprise. Tom just wanted to make the day special for him, even if it spiraled out of control the way it did. The demon dumped the excess ink reverting back to his normal form with Benny now looking up at his father.

“I already had a feeling Santa wasn’t real.” the toons words drawing his father's attention. “I liked the idea of a jolly man delivering presents, but there is no way one guy can visit everyone in a single night unless it’s the parents delivering the presents. I stayed up to try and confirm my suspicions, but I was too tired and fell asleep.” the demon gave a small warm smile. “I’m thankful you tried anyways to make the holiday even more special.”

Tom found Benny giving him a hug while a look of shock was on his own face before it morphed to content returning the hug. Benny already knew and if anything was even more elated that he had at least tried. A glance at his wife seeking forgiveness from her was met with soft eyes and a tired hint of a smile.

“Well even though you did something stupid. What mattered was you were trying to make Benny happy. I guess I can forgive you.” She lightly laughed before approaching and giving her husband a hug. “And besides, Santa baby.” she laughed before pulling his fake beard back over his face. “I’ve been an angel all year, so what did you bring us?”

Benny instantly giggled at his mother’s affections towards a now stunned Tom with the man sputtering at his wife's actions. Norman laughed while Wally cheered before they retreated out the home to grab the gifts that had been left behind. While the pair was gone Allison and Tom shared a tender kiss before it was interrupted with Ragdoll bringing them both in for a hug.

Tom initially scowled at the toon’s interference before it gave away to a content grin. He had to admit while things didn’t exactly work as planned, seeing Benny’s happy face as Wally and Norman came in with their presents as well as the toons gratitude towards his family and friends made his holiday worth while.

Merry Christmas everyone~

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iamweartdc · 4 years

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3/19/20

Everything is covered. Not just with some invisible germ but by a blanket of tension. We've all got the same things on our minds and it's changing the temperature of it all (pun intended). It's like we're all tuned into the same station and it's all we hear. I wonder if people who are feeling hyper aware for the first time realize: this is how it feels all the time for me. That manic awareness.

If I were a legit recluse. If I were doing this how I really want, I would be posted up on a porch. Drinking. Watching the world go by. There's just a window here. Mopsy is sitting on the sill watching the pink blossoms bob against the grey sky. Two blue birds just landed amongst them.

I ripped yesterday's page out. So technically this is not my first entry. I was faded. Not sure why I did that. Just a continuation of my lifelong battle with the legitimacy of my own thoughts. "This one isn't deep enough," "This one is too melodramatic." It's like I hold my interiority to the same standard I hold my fiction. How sadistic. I guess I'm making myself into a character. Now I am only "writer." Not citizen, not party girl, not roommate, not lover, not girl on the train or in the bar. Those people are gone for now. I wake up and sit down to drink coffee and write my three pages. Then I work on something else. Yesterday I worked on escaping. I went into the woods with Sara and found a fallen tree to sit on.

We walked around Glover Park and went to our old elementary school. It's all glass and fancy now, but we went when it was just a little brick building. I saw the tree that made me a writer. Really, I would sit there and imagine stories about that tree. The only way to describe a tree like that is magnificent. Awesome. An idol grown to worship itself, yet unaware of the process. It just is. Is it in the act of observation that the force of life becomes magic? or in the space where life exists unaware of itself, only there to do what it is already silently doing? Communicating only with its own needs in each moment and reacting to the needs of life around it. I guess my thinking about that tree, looking up at it, is still life communicating with life. I am alive, although I tend to complicate my purpose beyond just survival. All humans do that, if they're so lucky. I wrote like 80 pages about that damn tree when I was like 12. "Ignotus," the story of a magical girl with a quest.

We went to our first home and I tried to dig up a brick on the sidewalk right in front that I knew I had hidden things under so many years ago, "trinkets untold lay under this brick." I couldn't get it out of the dirt because of my long nails and Sara said we would come back with a pick axe. It all needs a pick axe.

We walked and talked about the changing world and then went back to her place and got high. Mom says I can't do that anymore, that it's too dangerous. I can't see Savta because she's an at risk community. She said it breaks her heart not to see me. At Sara's we drank red wine, ate Oreos, watched The Fellowship of the Ring and compared our place in the current apocalypse to that of the situation in Middle Earth. Who will be the Frodo? Who will cast Corona into the fire from whence it came?

It's probably not all too productive to be comparing those two situations, but it made me laugh. Made us laugh, so there's that.

Tomorrow I'll go back to the woods with my book and journal. I don't miss any of the old world, yet.

#quarantine #journal #dear diary #coronavirus

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metalchick19-blog · 5 years

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The Bowers Gang: Ship #9 - Victor Criss

Request: Alrighty I’ll have you ship me with whoever you think personally~ my hair is blonde and I’m short asl, but I also have a tattoo of a black rose on the side of my wrist. A lot of my friends tell me that I can always make them laugh with what I say or do and a lot of them will often come to me for advice or if they need to rant about something, which honestly just makes me feel even better as a person. I’m someone who will always stand by you if you’ve never done me dirty and need help. I do have a goofy side that only my closest friends see everyday, which is honestly sometimes just me as person. I think of myself as a fairly outgoing person and I’m never one to just stand in the corner of a party. Some things I need to work on are opening up to other people when talking about feelings and problems I have instead of just bottling them up. If there’s someone that I don’t like, I make it very clear and can be totally heartless towards them. I can also stress myself out easily and get overwhelmed by everything that’s going on. I’ve been through some shit, so I have a better understanding of other people’s hardships than most people. Being friends with me means that you always have someone to go to for laughs, but also someone who won’t sugar coat anything for you. Being in a relationship with me means you’ll actually have someone devoted to you and fun times, but you also gotta break down any walls built up. To put it into simpler terms, I’m a pretty chill person who goes with the flow but can get serious when it comes to something that’s important to me and I need to do. A couple of facts about me is that I want to be an elementary school teacher (I love kids so much, more than people my age tbh), I smoke the devils lettuce damn near hourly on a daily (fuck getting drunk, getting high is better), I love going to the beach, driving around downtown with friends, or just taking time to myself in my room to listen to music!

Always traces your rose tattoo absentmindedly when you cuddle/sit next to each other

Finds your transparency hot as hell, because he sees it as an indication of how honest you are

So appreciates the shit out of it, even when you’re being a total icy bitch to someone he doesn’t even know (and learns to assume you have your reasons when he doesn’t understand why)

The guys gave you a designated seat in the Trans-Am because you drive around with them after school so often (like the trooper you are)

You’re on the far left, behind Belch, with Victor in the middle between you and Patrick (very much on purpose)

Victor sometimes comes over to people’s houses to keep you company while you babysit (the ol’ “sneak in the boyfriend routine”)...

... and actually helps with the sitting of the baby, rather than expecting to fuck and/or sit and watch movies like some other teen delinquents we know

But seriously - Victor is straight-up the daddy to your mommy whenever you guys watch kids together, and it’s truly one of the loveliest things ever

Tends to start off awkward at first (he’s very friendly with kids, but has a hard time talking to them in ways they understand since he can’t “dumb down” his language), but always ends up being their literal favorite person by the time the night is over (apart from you, of course)

Entirely because Criss makes funny faces like a pro, keeps the small ones entertained while you warm up dinner, and ties shoes singing the bunny ears song and everything

I.e. He’s “the fun guy”

Also demonstrates an inside voice like nobody’s business, and slides a coaster under every drink (house rules = respected)

Also steps up to do some of the disciplinary things when you can’t get a specific smol one to listen to you

... and is low-key a toddler whisperer about it too

When he has to be the disciplinarian, Victor always just kneels down to the tiny kid’s eye-level (regardless of whether they’re screaming, crying, or otherwise), and casually starts talking to them as if they understand every adult word that’s coming out of his mouth

Which most of them couldn’t possibly do, because toddlers

... But, from the moment they make eye contact with him, the majority of kids go completely serene and just stare at Victor like they do understand what he’s saying, and clean up their act right after he “discusses it” with them

The guy seriously somehow stops all tears/whining/unacceptable behavior just by being like “hey, that’s not cool dude, and here’s why”

It’s legitimately random to the point of being annoying, because there’s no reason getting children in line should be that easy for him (considering it’s insanely difficult for some people that actually have kids)

You insist that the lil’ buns are just reflecting Victor’s calm nature, but his smug smile will always indicate he low-key thinks he’s better at child-care than you

... Which you know isn’t true, but we’ll let him think what he wants to think

He finds it really endearing how well you get along with kids though, and thinks it’s adorable that you’re able to connect with them so easily

You’re the first person he’s ever been with who’s made him think, “She’ll be a really great Mom someday,” and that’s beautiful

You make Victor smile in the moments when he truly gets down on himself

This is a pretty big deal, because he tends to feel the fuck out of things regardless of the emotion

It’s impossible for the majority of people to sway Victor’s mood at all when he’s upset, because it always settles over him so heavily...

... but you somehow do the trick.

Your goofy nature usually bounces off of him at first (he stays in his head, and doesn’t give much response to most of your humor for a while), but you always eventually say something that strikes a cord with him, and elicits a small smirk

... which eventually leads to a smile, which leads to a laugh, which ultimately leads to you talking out his issues with him and lifting his spirits

You’re seriously one of Criss’ main emotional outlets, and I wish I could shake your hand, cause’ that’s an honor

This isn’t a one-way street, though - Victor does the same for you

He noticed early on (before you were even together) that you only tended to talk about positive things/ “surface level” information even after you had been hanging out with the guys for a long time

And to him (i.e. the group psychologist), that made it clear you were trying to keep your distance by not sharing your problems or talking about things that were really important to you

So he made a point of being there for you x1,000,000 when you officially got together

Example: He knows you won’t bring up any of your issues unprompted, so Victor asks how your day is going at every given opportunity

Aka: he provides a chance for you to tell him something’s bugging you

He also jumps on it whenever you show any visible signs of being sad, and straight-up asks you to tell him what you’re feeling because real men aren’t afraid to talk about that jazz

Even though it took time for you to get used to it (i.e. sharing your emotions), it’s now something that’s become a reflex for you

You’ve cried on Victor’s shoulder, shared your previous traumas, let him see you at the peak of rage, and he’s done the same with you; there’s nothing left to hide

The two of you have seriously reached a point where you could tell one another anything on the spot

You’re each other’s permanent comfort and support - simple as that.

When one of you is feeling especially down though, or when you both just feel you’ve earned a break from life (i.e. after exams, or during spring/winter break), you and Victor have “intensive care” smoke sessions at his house

...Tastefully named “intensive care” smoke sessions by the both of you

This basically means hot-boxing Victor’s room all day long (fucking glorious), watching movies in his bed, and playing whatever tapes you want on full blast at random intervals throughout the day

The two of you cycle between just sitting and listening to the music (typically at the peak of your high, when you’re both brain-dead), to talking about incredibly philosophical/incredibly stupid things (”who closes the bus door after the bus driver gets off?”), to raiding Victor’s fridge for munchies until you eventually empty it and have to walk into town for more

Side-note: Victor is smooth as fuck when it comes to being high and acting normal in public

Whenever you guys order food anywhere after you’ve already smoked, he’s always the one who speaks because he never stutters, breaks eye contact, or forgets what he’s saying in the middle

You’ve even seen him get into full, logically sound conversations with people just minutes after taking a bong rip in the Trans-Am (group smoke sessions are a thing too)

The guy legit held it together even when his parents came home in the middle of your smoke session once, and introduced you normally even though you were having a level 10 panic attack, and were not subtle about it (those darting high person eyes were all over the place)

In short, he can basically just revert back to being sober again whenever he wants to, and it’s a major turn-on for stoners everywhere.

*Pointless side-note ended*

You try to get Victor to socialize at the 2-3 house parties Henry forces you all to each month, but he won’t do it

Just stands next to you, quietly sipping his beer and letting his attention drift around the room

Fields small-talk when he has to (he’s not shy or unapproachable - just introverted), but usually just prefers to be the handsome guy standing next to you while you own the spotlight

You’ll forever be the majestic, sociable party dom with a dry-humored wallflower for a boyfriend - enjoy

... he looks at you a lot while you talk to people though, and it’s so obvious he’s thinking about how beautiful you are, because his eyes make it clear he’s focusing on your face rather than your words

So many girls in Derry High hate you because of adorable crap like this - there’s a lot of salt over Victor Criss being so thoroughly taken by someone

Patrick often tries to break you away from Victor at parties, because, like you, he talks easily and likes to try to get into shit (and because he thinks you’re hot/would love to take a girl away from Victor using only the power of his penis)

He’ll randomly show up next you when you’re getting another drink, going to the bathroom... or, really, doing anything other than talking to Victor

...At which point he propositions the shit out of you, and tries to convince you to come upstairs

This has never worked out well for him.

You did play a legitimately sick game of beer-pong together once after you got him to stop coming onto you (for a second), but that was just because you were already buzzed, and felt unusually tolerant towards him

So even though you usually reject him wholeheartedly (and somewhat loudly/angrily), you two will always be remembered as the life of post-homecoming blowout, 1987 (where you made every single shot, and didn’t have to take even one drink between the two of you)

... Still doesn’t change the fact that he’s trying to do you though, and that you’re too loyal to Victor to be feeling it

Even though he won’t participate in other ways when it comes to parties, Victor always dances with you, because he has a specific thing for watching you move to house music

You asked him about it once, and he just said he thinks it’s beautiful because it “accentuates your purity”

If you don’t get what he means, you’re in good company - the guy has an artsy soul.

Interesting side-note: Like Patrick, Henry has low-key wanted to sleep with you from the moment he first saw you, but keeps it heavily under wraps in the interest of not screwing up you and Victor’s relationship

He doesn’t talk to you much, and has a hard time maintaining eye contact even when he does (because guilt and attraction)

Essentially decided that abstinence is key where you’re concerned, and tries not to form much of a connection with you so it’s easier to control himself

Avoids being left alone with you at all costs, and doesn’t acknowledge you much in general

... He eyes you a lot when he gets drunk though (most often, at the parties you go to)

No words, but enough wasted leering to make it clear where his head is at

It’s never escalated into anything, but it’s something you notice.

... And you’ve never told Victor in the interest of preserving their friendship.

* Interesting side-note ended *

Victor tried to take you on a private date to the quarry once (because you’d always told him about how badly you wished there was a beach in Derry), but the guys found out and showed up unexpectedly as soon as the two of you hit the water

... And it was actually your first date.

Meaning Criss was not at all entertained by that bandwagony bullshit.

They literally just came to see you in a bathing suit (hence why they came out of hiding only after you’d gotten in the water), and you’re such a bad bitch that you called them out on it rather than let it be

... But that just earned a predictably creepy affirmation from Patrick (”What, you thought we were gonna’ let Criss keep a body like that all to himself?” *Disgusting Hockstetter cackle as Victor death-stares him into oblivion*), and didn’t amount to anything more than obnoxious laughter on Henry and Belch’s part

Long story short, the guys all stampeded into the water with you, and swimming for 2 became swimming for 5

So, yeah. First date was a group date, and no one was thrilled.

Because of what you’ve been through in life, you understand some of the fucked up situations Victor has experienced better than most other people; as a result of that, you have a unique understanding of his hot/cold feelings about the gang

I.e. You get why it isn’t just black and white for him - other people may see the guys as straight-up evil, but it’s different for Victor, and you get that

Essentially you understand that he’s a ride or die (because genuine loyalty), but that he’s also ready to jump ship in the interest of not becoming something he isn’t; he’s never been able to express that to anyone else

Because you get why Victor feels moved to leave the gang sometimes (and partly because of your own experiences with them), you support him in that direction whenever he mentions it

Being that you don’t sugarcoat things, you confirm for him that the guys aren’t people that would be good for his adult life - he’s always thought that in his head, but has never had another person around who knew the guys personally to corroborate the opinion

Meaning, now that the opinion has been corroborated, it’s kind of huge for him

You may ultimately be the thing that gives Victor the strength he needed to leave the guys, because you help cement his view that it would be the right thing to do

Plus, his relationship with you would fulfill him to an extent where he wouldn’t feel as attached to the gang as before, and he would see himself as being much happier in a future with you than in a future with them

In short, you might change the course of Victor Criss’s entire life - have fun being the best thing that’s ever happened to him

#henry bowers #patrick hockstetter #belch huggins #victor criss #The Bowers Gang #the bowers gang headcanons #it

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sugapop-rp · 5 years

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*:･ﾟƜιѕнℓιѕтѕ Oƒ Ɯιѕнєѕ

⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ hi, hi! tis bunny anna here and i thought i would decide to make a little wishlist for my muses! i figured this might be handy for in the future because who knows right? so read below to see what i have in mind for my muse beans and if you are interested, please like this post and/or send me a message so we can chit chat about them :)

note:you do not have to be mutuals with me to do any of this (obviously lol), you can be a random peep passing by that is curious and that’s cool with me! you liking this means i shall be sending you a message instead thus make sure there is a way for me to do that (dm or ask). this will be also updated as time goes on depending on what new idea/muse i may have at the time

Choi Ha-joon, 26 and is an elementary school teacher

“muse a sings like an angel but is really shy so they only sing in the shower. everyday,muse b, who is their neighbor, listens to their singing and thinks muse a is actually a professional singer. one day they meet at the elevator of their building and muse b really wants to ask for muse a to sing a song for them, or just compliment them. but how will they do so without making things awkward? and to top this situation, muse a is also a lotattractive.“

give me that cliche old high school lovers see each other again after school by accident, the feels hit them once again and oof. make it angsty, make it fluffy, idc just give me some of that!

ha-joon is a book lover so what if ha-joon keeps coming to this book store that also involves your muse. they get to know each other for their enjoyment of books but the plot twist of this all is that ha-joon doens’t know your muse is not only an author but one of ha-joon’s favorite writers!

you left your USB flash drive in the library computer and i had to go through your files to figure out who you are and i ended up reading the entirety of this book you’re working on and wow you’re actually really good????

Kris Yamada, 26 and is an assassin

so lowkey when i made kris i got a bit inspired by the video game “assassin’s creed” so would be interested to do something loosely based around that. something like say your muse is working for the enemy organization that kris’s order doesn’t like. they meet and get closer (friendship or romantic, doesn’t matter) and go from there? very basic idea i know lol but can be fun i think!

give me assasin buddies, bro this is something that kris is in need of lol. sure he can be like a grouch sometimes but he knows how to have fun! he used to live the wild life so let’s do some wild friend antics lol

speaking of used too’s...why not bring something back from the past for kris? say maybe an old friend from kirs’s childhood? they can maybe meet on the street one day and they may want to ask questions because of kris suddenly dropping all contact? or we could do the more cliche idea of said friend is now a target and oops, now kris is stuck in an oopsie :’)

Song "Hayes" Hyeok, 26 and is an indie music producer.

hayes doesn’t have the best relationship with his parents (this can be read in his bio here) so maybe one day his parents may want to do a surprise visit because he does have good contact with his sister and she praised alot about him. his parents (specifically father) wants to see how “amazing hayes is doing”. cue hayes trying to make things not go south because his parents are not fans of the fact that hayes likes boys...so to see him having a boyfriend/fiance/husband may cause some problems to put it lightly. this could include hayes pretending not to be in a relationship with your muse or pretending they are just roommates. a bit of a heavy idea so far in this list, i know but it is something i would like to explore for hayes.

rival music producers, just give me some of that drama lol

a mentor type friendship where hayes could take in your muse under his wing to help them out in the music scene

“🌟–– we had a really ugly break-up and didn’t talk for a long time but oh hey, you’re at this party too and we’ve had a few drinks and now we’re kissing and … oh, all that wasn’t supposed to happen tonight but we’re sort of on better terms now and yikes!!! i might be falling for you again …”

“muse a is in an accident which leaves them without memory, and muse b had been on their way to break things off with their beloved muse a. when they arrive at the hospital the only thing muse a remembers is how in love they were with muse b, and muse b is forced to keep coming back to positive. muse b is trying to move on, trying to find a way to tell muse b that they want to leave them, but find themselves falling back in love withmuse a. muse a of course, eventually get their memories back, even the ones up until the last moments before the accident where they remember the fights and tension and out of the silence ask ‘youre leaving me arent you?’ but by this time muse b is entirely in love with muse a again, and muse a just feels hurt and decieved“

Sarla Dunnavant, 26 and is a businesswomen (no longer active)

give me that cliche idea of the businesswomen falling for their secretary or something similar, i’m weak for cliche’s and this one would be just fun as fudgecakes lmao.

enemies to lovers;your muse is a rival to sarla’s company and they sort of can’t stand each other ??? but like ??? respect each other at the same time ??? it’s weird but they think they cannot stand each other but one day during some business event, they find out they actually like each other and can get along (can be romantic or platonic)

based of this iconic post

ok hear me out...a sugar baby plot? it doesn’t have to be a schmexy plot either! it can be something like out of kindness (and boredom becuase what else can she do with her money) she will give gifts to your muse. like you want that fancy make up collection? alright, your college? paid off at the moment as we speak. want a lifetime supply of donuts? she can do just that. all she asks is to spend time with her and just chill out.

Angelica Heartorne, 25 and is a vampire huntress

legit anything vampire stuff related. i am not going to be flippen picky.

just because she IS a vampire huntress doesn’t mean it has to be ONLY to vampires. she is multiverse so she can be a hunter for anything supernatural really. this can be something discussed for sure but she is versatile, she doesn’t have to stick to only human like leeches lmao.

a bit of a weird but funny idea that jsut came to mind? but what happens if angelica was dating someone right? but what if that person she was dating...was a vampire and she had no idea about this until by accident or something? please this sounds hilarious to me and would love to rp this out.

“ muse a enters a coffee shop and was in such a rush that she forgot her wallet, as she explains what happened to the worker and ask for them to cancel her order, then suddenly there’s a hand that hoovers over her head and money is slapped on the counter incoming muse b paying for her. muse a is like wHAT THE FUCK ! I AM AN INDEPENDENT WOMEN I DONT NEED ANYONE TO PAY FOR ME, but she turns around and meets eyes with muse b who is beyond attractive. muse a then stumbles and ask how she could repay muse b and he tells her to sit down and enjoy her coffee with him “

“you said you’d call me in the morning but the voicemail you left had her voice in the background”

“ Humans start out at birth with milk white blood. The more crimes they commit, the darker their blood becomes. One day, you meet your soulmate. Skip a few years, and things are amazing… Until your soulmate trips, falls, and exposes black blood… “

based off this post

Jeong Jin-Gi, 25 and is an indie artist

“ Don’t give me one-sided unrequited love, give me two-sided unwanted love. Both sides are deeply in love with the other and both sides are like ‘fuck, really?? them??? really?’ “

“ ok so hear a sister out… i want an actual HEART WRENCHING celebrity & non - celebrity thread. like muse a meeting muse b in the most random place and muse b KNOWS muse a is famous but they’re not gonna say anything but on the inside they’re secretly freaking out. but they get to talking & muse b kinda forgets that they are because they’re just so normal and they have so much fun talking to them, and muse ahas a rich lifestyle & is the most popular person in the world, yet the only thing they wanna do is be with muse b. but dating the most famous person ever comes with the DISADVANTAGES. i want the ugly stans drilling them over dating their favorite star, i want the paparazzi making up stories about muse b & giving the constant break up - conspiracy’s, i want the late night drama filled phone - calls about “ maybe this is just too much for me “ & muse b seeing muse a in a new picture released with ANOTHER apparent love interest, and i want new songs released by muse a that’s a little T O O emotional to just be a careless piece of work. i just want the constant back & forth between them & them wondering if their love is strong enough to overcome the difficulties or if all they are is a love that was never meant to last. “

jin ain’t no angel, he’s a bit of a person with an addiction to drgs so give me anything surrounding that. dealers or pals that find out about his addiction, anything really. just want to dive deeper into this side of jin

“i’m trying to start a celebrity gossip blog and you are an effing trainwreck so now i’m lowkey stalking you in hopes of getting a humiliating story” au

plot idea : muse a was a punk, and muse b did ballet. what more can i say? muse a wanted muse b, but muse b would never that secretly she wanted muse a as well. all of muse b’s friends stuck up their nose because they had a problem with muse a’s baggy clothes. five years from now, muse b sits at home. feeding the baby they’re all alone. b turns on tv, and guess who she sees? muse a rocking on mtv.

James Yeeun, 22 and is an art student in college

“im gonna claw myself apart. we watch netflix together and i keep a respectful and responsible distance; you lean against me to pause the screen. ask if i want cookies. i can’t stop staring at your lips. what? i say. i knew what you’d asked me even as you ask again, i just don’t want the moment to end. we’re just friends. we’re just friends.”

okay but how about an “i’m in my twenties and sick of still being a virgin, so one night when i’m drunk i think it’s a good idea to dm my old celebrity crush who is no longer really that famous anyway and ask them to take my virginity – wait why did they just dm me back?? giving me their number?? i don’t even remember doing this” au

“You kissed me on the playground the day before you moved away in the 4th grade and now your dorm is right across the hall from mine” AU

would love to do something where james could realize he DOES like boys as well. this is something he isn’t sure off himself so i would like to dive into this background of james.

so i was watching tiktoks last night and i’ve came across this story time and would love a plot for it… so muse a had a bad childhood for varies of reasons one thing lead to another and they were kicked out of the house, so they ended up couch surfing.. this enters their fear of the dark because they would wake up in the middle of the night not knowing where they are and everything is just dark and scary, so they begin sleeping with night lights or any sort of light that they have. well moving into college means roommates and muse a is too embarrassed to mention how they’re scared of the dark to their roommate. so first night, muse a wakes up screaming and enters muse b aka their roommate into their room and they’re like ?? are you good? finally muse a breaks and tells muse b what happened to them and then next night muse a finds a night light in their room, however, that night they still wake up screaming. muse b wakes up as well and just tell them that they’re ok and that they got them.. second year of college goes by and they’re not roommates anymore. first night moving in, it happens again.. muse a wakes up screaming only to find that muse b texted them that ‘they’re in their new apartment and that everything is going to be okay.’ it could turn into beautiful friendship or maybe something more?? i just want it pls

Rose Price, 23 and is a rebel along with school drop out

lowkey i legit got inspired by the video game character “chloe” from “life is strange” but i decided to do my take of chloe if that makes sense so...rachel amber inspired plot xD to those that are a bit confused, rachel amber the character is someone chloe befriends during her time when life is a bit downhill to put it lightly. they get close (some would say even romantic) and up until the final years of high school...rachel is gone. now in the games, rachel isn’t alive BUT i was thinking why not twist this around? make said missing friend (this would be your muse) show up out of the blue? with no answer as to why they just “left” and simply goes back to how things were.

“gimme muse a just finished their sentence in jail and they lost contact with most of the people in their former life. on the day of his release, the gate pulls back and their high school sweetheart who they lost contact with years ago muse b is in the parking lot. “

“i drove two hours to the closest video rental store that’s still operating and you were checking out the only copy of the movie i was after“

“we both decided to take a [yoga/fencing/cooking etc] class and we’re the only two assholes not taking it seriously and everyone else is giving us dirty looks but we keep grinning over at each other“

jsut give me any fxf plot ideas man. i want rose to get some love :(

Daehwi Goe, 24 and is an indie video game creator/works at a cafe

" give me a plot where both muses are each other’s pen pals that end up falling in love through letters please. threads would be in letter format up until they finally meet each other. please. “

“ imagine that you’ve been stood up by your douche of a boyfriend on date night and the waitress keeps asking if you’re ready to order but you keep asking for more time hoping that he’s just late. people are starting to look at you with those apologetic looks like they know and you start to feel worse and worse about the whole situation but as you decide to just get up and leave, this boy you’ve never seen sits down explaining loudly “sorry i’m so late, babe, traffic is crazy right now.” and he quietly adds, “i’m Michael. just go with it, yeah? whoever didn’t bother to show up is a dick.” and so you do go with it because he’s being sweet and trying to save you (and plus he’s the cutest thing you’ve ever seen) and as you’re leaving the restaurant after the best non-planned date ever, he asks you out for real this time. “

“ AFTER MONTHS YEARS OF REPORTING TO A JOB THAT ABSOLUTELY KILLS MY SOUL, I FINALLY QUIT! WITH NO BACKUP PLAN OR WAY TO PAY MY BILLS ONCE NEXT MONTH IS OVER, I WALKED DANCED OUT OF MY WORKPLACE WITH THE BIGGEST SMILE ON MY FACE.. BUT NOW REALITY IS SINKING IN, THAT I’VE JUST DONE SOMETHING CRAZY IMPULSIVE AND OMG YOU’RE WATCHING ME SPIRAL OVER WHAT A MISTAKE I’VE JUST MADE AND YOU’RE SO SWEET TO OFFER TO BUY ME A DRINK BECAUSE I SURE AF CANNOT AFFORD ONE. “

“we broke up right before a giant roadtrip our friends planned and we don’t want to bail on everyone and ruin the trip so yay, looks like we get to spend a five hour drive and a weekend in a cottage together.”

Adagio Seo, 20 and is a warlock

just give me that chilling adventure’s of sabrina plots man...it’s why adagio was even made lmao.

adagio while yes, i did made him specifically for that show universe, just like angelica he is mulitverse so he’s not off limits to that show only. if you want him to be in a harry potter au? cool with me. a normal college au? also cool with me. want to go full on twlight, even better lmao. just because he is mostly for the show, doesn’t mean he’s not expandable :)

“ does the “i slept with you the other day and i didnt know we had a mutual friend and now we’re sitting across each other for brunch and it’s awkward because i ran out when you were asleep” au exist bc i need that fic “

ok so adagio has an interest of necromancy but like the thing is he’s bad...like really bad at necromancy lmao (there’s a reason he skills in herbal) so like just give the whacky shiz that can happen when doing necromancy wrong.

basically anything warlock/witch plots, throw them my way! want my wild warlock to have some love :(

Simone Hines, 22 and is a worker at the garden section of homdepot

the happy florist who delivers one flower to the boss of the hardcore law firm across the street everyday, just to make their day a little bit brighter

plot #001: in which muse a is really insecure and struggles with their self-esteem, so muse b, their best friend, starts secretly sending notes with all the reasons to love them.

plot #013: one day, muse a wakes up and finds themself to be in the future, seemingly married to their high school enemy, muse b.

any plot with a soft, sweet, submissive male that needs to be protected at all costs because he’s naive and doesn’t know how to speak up for himself with a girl that’s dominant, rough around the edges, not afraid of anything, and is ready to take on the world.

tbh i just need a long distance relationship plot where they cry on skype bc they miss each other so much and they have passive aggressive texts bc of what’s on each others snapchat stories but then the fluffy moments when they see each other at the airport and all the desperate please don’t leave me again sex and i just need a long distance plot

Levi Kim, 24 and owns his own cafe

highkey want a ‘someone wrote your phone number on the wall of a bathroom in my dorm with ‘call for a good time’ and i just texted you to let you know that i scribbled it out and oh wait you’re actually funny and easy to talk to and now we’re talking every day and i might have a tiny little crush on you even tho i don’t even know your name’ plot

i got up at 2 am to get some snacks at the convenience store down the street and opened my door to find you trying to sleep on the floor of the hallway because your roommate has his fiancée over so i guess i’ll lend you my couch for the night AU

it’s 3 am and you’re blasting off classic rock at full volume and your music taste might be awesome but sOME PEOPLE ARE TRYING TO FUCKING SLEEP YOU SHITHEAD

utterly obsessed with the niche but incredibly romantic concept that is “late night radio show host falls hopelessly in love with and pines for recurring caller, oblivious to the fact that the person calling in whenever they’re on air is also in love with and pining for them after finding comfort in listening to their voice every night on their long commutes home”

Park Hades, 23 and is next in line for the Park corporations/modern day greek god hades

look i’m glad you have a healthy sex life and all but will you please try not to pierce a whole through my ceiling with your bed thanks

i have a policy of not giving my real name on dating apps and apparently you do the same. we have a good conversation so we decide to meet, but oh no … it turns out you’re my ex. yikes!!!

#indie rp #krp #plot wishlist #thread wishlist #wanted opposite #indie krp #{ bunny anna's wishy list }

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youngsoutheastasianleaders · 5 years

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Hard to Analyze Love When You’re in it.

“I’m in the land of pine and air

Of mountain, squirrel and grizzly bear,

In the land of bitterroot and sagebrush, too.

Where trout filled streams are not a few.”

I’m in Montana and it is LOVE. And I give a nod to John Steinbeck when he said it’s hard to analyze love when you’re in it.

My YSEALI experience can’t be written in 140 characters. IG stories can’t speak enough about this 5-week academic institute. It’s more than just an Fb photo, more than just a blog. While all these can’t capture the littlest details of my journey, my heart can never lie on how much love this program can ever bring. Indeed, there’s no better way towards self-discovery than YSEALI.

And since it’s overwhelming, let me squeeze these countless experiences in 10!

The American University

I never thought that university settings in American movies would come to life! We just felt so privileged to be hosted by the University of Montana (UM) which is on the top 2.4% of Universities Worldwide (Center for World University Rankings). Over a couple of nights, our consciousness grapples with book chapters and case studies to prepare us for an exposure inside a “legit” American classroom, joining both bachelor’s degree and graduate school classes. Every morning was colder than expected but we have to get our bikes unlocked and cross a bridge to reach school. Two well regarded UM courses –“Conservation Without Borders” with Dr. Len Broberg, and “Introduction to Climate Change” by Dr. Nicky Phear- were participated in by the fellows. We experienced watching a Shakespeare in the park play while sitting on our picnic mats, studied inside Montana’s largest 5-level library, enjoyed free food and souvenirs during the welcome feast, felt amazed by their Star Gazing Room, and joined an exclusive supplementary discussions at Davidsons Honors College. Students are very welcoming and bubbly but turns focused when it comes to studying- something that everyone should ponder in striking a balance.

Good Food, Good Mood

Bacons, eggs and patties wake us up with vigor! While most Asians are rice-eaters we took the time to enjoy a wide variety of salad and a daily vegetarian selection. The Food Zoo which is the university’s primary café serves rotating choice s of entrees, fresh fruits, desserts, and traditional fast food favorites. We were also introduced to cuisines from China, India, Vietnam, and Thai while savoring the flavor of fruits from Downtown Farmers Market up to the Cajun fries and Po Boys of Louisiana.

Service Projects

Roll sleeves and we’re ready to serve! Americans are sympathetic and openhanded. They don’t only share; they assure the quality of what they share, since community involvements and civic responsibilities are known to be key aspects of American society. We harvested produce in the PEAS Farm which is also used for personal rehabilitation of troubled youth and adults through service education; repacked pretzels in Missoula Food Bank for distribution to school children; contributed to the maintenance of young poplar trees in Misssoula Hybrid Poplar Water Reclamation Project; and finally volunteered in D.C. Central Kitchen which uses food as a tool to strengthen bodies, empower minds and build communities.

Educational Study Tour

Authentic learning is also found beyond classrooms. While based in Missoula, we enjoyed a variety of field trips throughout Montana. Lips can’t lie when it says “The snow glows white on the mountain tonight”, because the Glacier National Park handed to us our first trail, first slide, and first snow fight. I must say, the cold never bothered us anyway. Meanwhile, evening lecture on Apex Predators and Wildlife Conservation in th e Crown of the Continent as well as the Nat Geo’s Geotourism Project gave us a glimpse of their preservation initiatives. We also visited the state capitol in Helena, Anaconda Company mining of Butte and Miltown, and the Flathead Indian Reservation of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes. Jam-packed as it may seem, all these tight schedules and long travels were unfelt when you just have karaoke buddies singing out loud over a carpool!

School Visits

I admit I missed home. But whenever I visitt other schools, I miss my own workplace, colleagues and my students even more. There’s a legit High School Musical feels as we paced along the hallways of the Arlee High School where we also played a Native American sport called “Lacrosse”. Also, the visit in Montana Tech University provided us with discussions on mining technology. What’s most interesting though is that young American students in Lewis and Clark Elementary School seemed to be native Filipino speakers after learning our language and culture. In fact, it wasn’t hard to handle them because they have such inquisitive minds and are ever curious about the world.

Outdoor Exploration

Our adventure spree kicked off by riding a chairlift to see the scenic view of Snowbowl Mountain Resort miles above the ground. This serves as ski resort during the winter and popular location for outdoor pursuits such as mountain biking and hiking in the summer. Most of the days may be freezing cold, so we look for ways to sweat a lot! We went on foot for a hike to the “M” on Missoula’s iconic Mt. Sentinel; conquered our fear of heights with the ropes course and climbing wall; and sailed the Clark Fork River in a whitewater rafting. There are a lot to explore from First Friday gallery night in Downtown Missoula to a Saturday Market with local artists and producers. “Go Griz” is our battle cry! We can’t help but scream in awe to show our support for UM’s Grizzly football game in America’s most popular sport. Indeed, our “Touchdown, Montana!” yell was more than literal!

One ASEAN

YSEALI is United States’ signature program to strengthen leadership development and networking in Southeast Asia. And as chosen representatives of our countries, we discussed environmental concerns we face at home which made us reflect on our social responsibility and illuminated the many issues that transcend national borders. All of us were exposed to an array of seminar-workshops on climate change, forestry, water resource management, environmental impact assessment, ecological restoration, food security and transboundary issues where our speakers are the book authors themselves. I must say, thi s US program went beyond just learning from every other ASEAN young leader—it forged linkages and created bonds which time can never erase. In fact, we don’t worry much anymore in travelling the world because we know at least one passionate leader and best friend who thrive in each of the ASEAN countries!

Homestay Experience

We definitely found a family away from home! We spent quality time with our host families over a weekend to experience first-hand how Americans live in a daily basis. Eating home-cooked dishes, hiking and biking for a hilltop picnic, exploring local restaurants and markets, discussing politics and similarities among countries, playing gamelan, and most especially taking the longest sleep in the whole program duration, were only few of the many experiences that made us feel at home amidst distance.

To the “Big Easy”, New Orleans

Big Hello to the Big Easy! This nationwide educational tour took us to New Orleans and Lafayette, Louisiana in order to study watershed management, natural disaster mitigation, and coastal climate change after Hurricane Katrina in 2005 which was an extremely destructive and deadly tropical cyclone that hit the gulf coa st of US. Meanwhile, we grabbed the chance to venture French Quarter which reflects the neighborhood’s deep history seen in its beautiful 18th-century architecture, strolled the streets of Central Business District, and discovered Tremé which serves as a hub of African American and Créole culture in New Orleans. Also, the swamp day tour by boat through the Atchafalaya Basin took as into adventure through moss-draped trees and lingering alligators, while the Cajun culture got as dancing in a full night of music that keeps “joie de vivre” alive and flourishing.

US Capital City- Washington D.C.

We spent the final stop of our program in D.C. to learn about the formulation and enforcement of environmental legislation. The formal feels and busy vibe around the city brought our feet to the iconic memorials of the late presidents Jefferson, Roosevelt and Lincoln, while reading all remarkable quotes of Martin Luther King, Jr. Moreover, our visit in the Ocean Conservancy and the Greenpeace wrapped up our exposure with the most successful environmental organizations worldwide; and of course, the experience won’t be complete without a glimpse of The White House and the US Capitol.

All these myriad escapades taught me how to love a country that’s not my own. And this same love translates into a mission to serve my home. As a young millennial leader, 140 characters, IG stories, Fb posts and blogs can never fully express how grateful I am to have witnessed the brilliance of the outside world, the brilliance of drawing lines from the dots that connect us, and the brilliance of life that made these days happen. I have had lots of stories to share. And these stories shall give life to little dreams built by love.

#YSEALI #AcademicFellowship

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tuwam · 5 years

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comfort.

‘are you okay hanna?’ jamie asks, with snickers that she can’t keep in from across the table. “no.” and as she says it, hanna’s feels another itch at her skin, causing her head to fall promptly back on the desk.

[ the soulmate au where once you meet your soulmate, it’s physically uncomfortable to be apart from them for too long. ft. minna @rosaeau ]

rewind to a few months ago.

hanna didn’t need a damn tutor. she was a good student, no matter what her english professor said. she mentions that she has dreams of entering the new york fashion scene and her father jumps at the chance to flaunt his money.

“it’s a bad idea pop.” they’re at the kitchen table when he suggests the idea, his ridiculous money themed apron on while his mother makes sure he doesn’t burn another pancake that he tries to flip. hanna’s father is - a joke. to her and her mother. a joke that her mother can’t seem to get enough of and while he almost lands the pancake on her face both of them are laughing. hanna for a few seconds before she returns to her previous statement. “i don’t need a tutor.”

while he looks like he might cave, her mother is the one to grab the skillet handle and fix hanna with a look. her dad’s easy to persuade, her mother, not so much. for the life of her, hanna sits there and tries to figure out how the two of them can possibly match. her father, gambling addict, tycoon owner whose about as silly as they come when he steps out of his world with flashing lights. her mother, stubborn, hard-working and caring less about money unless it’s to keep her going, keep her free. her mother’s stubborn but her father’s persistent.

she watches them wrestle for the skillet before her mother’s expertly flipping one. naturally, it’s the one thing she doesn’t get about soulmates. she’s heard so much about it, and is told she’s lucky to be able to see it up close. it’s unpredictable and apparently the talk of the world.

soulmates. not in the way people write them in stories, dreams them up when they talk about how they wish romance to be. actual soulmates, destined to be by something that humans can’t quite comprehend. because each story is different, all everyone knows is once you know you know. by something less cheesy than a spark in a kiss or a tug on the heart. something physical, almost biological.

hanna doesn’t know the details, she just knows her parents had that experience and now they’re never apart. it’s cute, but she’s trying to win a case here, so she’s boring holes into her father’s resolve.

‘you’re not paying attention in classes hanna.’ “noted. still don’t need a tutor.” ‘you don’t care about anything that’s not fashion hanna.’ “noted. but i don’t need a tutor.”

‘at least try it out seol.’ a tough blow. a low blow. hanna regards her father with a glare before she’s grabbing her things to head to her first class.

hurray for econ.

‘he used your name?’ hanna’s only solace from these troubles are jamie. jamie who is greeting her outside of class with a chocolate mocha and hanna could kiss her. could, but she’s too busy sipping at the drink and relishing it all. the joy and wonders of a mocha on a hot day. “he knows I won’t say no.” the decision to go by hanna came from the time spent with her mother, just a little joke about the flowers she’d put on her designs when she was younger. she’s far past the flower-dazzle stage but the name stuck. ‘okay but, you don’t study for english, they’re not wrong.’ “whose side are you even on these days, the disrespect.” ‘just try it out, it might be good? if not i’ll learn it just to tutor you.’ “your lover boy might be mad but just to humor myself, i will.”

jamie makes a motion, maybe to fight the lover boy comment but hanna is too busy dashing up the library stairs.

the thing is, she knows she’s not paying enough attention to her english class. simply because when she’d expressed her interest in the new york market, she meant learning a bit for her visit there. learning the essentials and not the fundamentals of the language. of course her father is who he is, a renown businessman and if there was one thing he drove home it was that she should never half-ass anything. family drawings in elementary school - have hers at the top. golf carts races with her family - first place. if she wanted to be in fashion, she had to conquer. she had to explain to him why couture houses just - wasn’t a possibility in this day and age.

the rest was very much doable. her competitive streak comes from him no doubt. but, she wasn’t to blame if she just wasn’t that into her english class as she was her other classes. the business classes were a necessity and well the fashion classes were just that. long before she realized she was failing even vocabulary quizzes because of lack of studying, and they were so far into the grammar components she couldn’t catch up.

it was frustrating but she’d be damned if she let anyone else know that.

aside from jamie hanna had accumulated something of a reputation on their campus. other than the reputation that came with her father’s empire, she was simply known for being a socialite. being at parties but never interacting with people, just shining in diamonds she just had to bat her lashes to get. for that, hanna just liked to try new designs around the masses, she didn’t even enjoy the parties, but the image must be maintained for the goal ahead. really, most of her time is spent with jamie. when people sit and gossip to one another, whether about her or the newest soulmate phenomenon, she’s never a part of it.

only now she hears the giggling behind her when jamie finds a spot for them to set up shop. hanna’s econ books thrown around while jamie tosses her english book atop them all.

'apparently, sam’s friends. joon and ahyeon?’ hanna makes a hum that she’s listening, though her eyes show she’s contemplating opening this damned book. ‘they’re soulmates and he’s having a hard time stopping them from killing each other.’ “huh?” when she does look up jamie is engrossed in her phone, as usual, and hanna gets revenge by dropping her huge ethics book on top of her pile. jamie’s jump in her seat and scandalized look is just the reaction she’d expected. ‘he won’t say rather- he says he doesn’t know why. they’re antsier than usual.’ “makes you wonder if it’s all really a good thing? or if the match up is legit.”

‘well, it worked for your parents.’

another hum.

“i suppose.”

hanna just doesn’t enjoy the thought of having no control, can’t really fathom how her mother handled it. but it’s not something she needs to think about - and it’s joon and ahyeon’s problem not her own. she has english to pretend to study so that jamie will give her sketchbook back.

if there’s one thing hanna loves more than anything (and jamie) it’s being right.

‘it could’ve have been all bad.’ see it’s been a week and some days since her father committed to getting her tutors. she’s had to try a tutor each day and hanna’s damn near ready to rip her hair out.

it’s been, a wild few days. and jamie’s expression shows she’s enjoying the insufferable stories more than she should. if it weren’t for the vanilla bean that’s before her, hanna might actually forego the entire story. but she’d been right, this was a bad idea.

day one.

hanna’s on-time. tired from studying all night for her art history class, fingers patched from an accident with her sewing machine. granted, she wasn’t in the best mood from the beginning. she’s on-time though, her books and pencil case laid out neatly on the cafe table. a cafe table of all places.

he comes, and it’s a guy because he’s announcing his presence before he even sits down. there’s nothing really wrong with him, he’s a little loud, a few minutes late but hanna’s always a little too punctual so it’s understandable. what she remembers is that he dressed nice and she’s sure she has a business class with him.

'okay let’s get right to it shall we?’ he’s the asshat who talks too much because he wants everyone to know that he knows too much and wants too much. in short, greedy. ‘let’s test your knowledge of english first alright?’ his name is minhyun and hanna had never wanted a death note faster in her twenty two years of living.

because the test was the problem. not his perfectly combed up hair, or his perfect teeth, or the tailored suit he always fucking wears to class because he has to be that business major. hell his accent wasn’t even the problem. it was the test - with questions specifically tailored to her understanding of business and her father. as well as a reading comprehension that was simply a list of his achievements. the nerve.

“do you just want to cut a deal with my dad?” ‘what? no - what?’ his english was surprisingly good here. ‘however, if it were possible, could you slide him the resume?’ when her coffee arrived she was sure to pour it all over that damned exam and leave.

( jamie promptly laughed at this one because ‘hanna you didn’t’ and hanna took one more sip before saying ‘yes i did’. )

day two.

they meet in the student courtyard, hanna taking the time to attempt to sunbathe and lower her blood pressure. it as a nice day which meant crop tops and athletic leggings, seeing as she’d just come from a run. something to clear her mind before this english tutoring completely consumed her. hopefully the heat would do it first.

here’s the thing. hanna works out, has to work out if maybe one day she has to model her pieces for someone. technically she’s always modeling her pieces, plus her mother is a workout buff so she’s always at the gym. her figure is exceptional though it’s hidden behind her fashion.

so, she’s not confused when she feels eyes on her. they’re college students but apparently some of the male students are as shameless as ever. no one could be as shameless as minhyun so she’s ready to give a proper scolding, when she recognizes the face.

well not at first. but she should’ve.

“unless you plan on never having kids, i’d look away.” a cough and the male standing above her is tumbling apologies. ‘i’m your tutor, seolhyun-ssi.’ which is weird because few people call her by her full name. hanna is curling her legs under her before gesturing out for him because what. the. fuck?

the test was fine. the test was actually alright, aside from the outdated questions that she’s sure she’s seen somewhere before. no the test wasn’t the problem, the fact that they were outdoors wasn’t, and certainly not that he called her by her name. the problem was that he couldn’t keep his eyes off her while she took the test, or while she spoke. it’s one look, one particular look before hanna remembers.

“don’t you work for my father?” ( it’s at this point in the story that jamie yells out a ‘nooooo’ ) ‘ah, so you remember me?’ she remembers him, remembers his long-standing crush on her and him bothering her each time she went to visit one of the hotels. it was creepy. this was creepier. “uh-huh. two minutes before I call my father’s guards.” he was off like a light.

hanna was exasperated.

the next one, a girl her age who apparently was korean-american. a girl who spent half the time just swapping instagram feeds and asking for pictures and tours of hanna’s closet. it hit a limit when hanna caught her taking pictures of her designs. she’d almost broken her phone - instead she factory reset it. she’d accepted the praise her mother had given her and the high five jamie had given her when she heard.

the one after that - an older woman because yes that was the problem age. an older woman who aside from being entirely too punctual was going on and on about the history of english and it’s arrival into korea. then she proceeded to discuss why english was important and should be studied before she addressed that hanna was not studying english and was studying fashion and why that was bad. yeah, when that tirade started, hanna just up and left.

It doesn’t help that the one for the next day had ended up rescheduling and hanna – didn’t have it in her to accept nor decline, she just didn’t have the energy to deal with another joke.

she was tired of playing tutor roulette.

‘just drop english.’ Is jamie’s final answer after hanna’s given her the full rundown of her week, head lowered until her forehead’s almost touching the top of her drink. “my father wouldn’t let me dare.” It’s her ego too, her ego that won’t let her just give up on it and while Jamie knows, she’d rather hanna sit in her own stubbornness than tell her about it. she does however, offer a comforting hand to ruffle hanna’s hair like she always does giving hanna time to jolt up from her miserable position and fix her hair with a pout.

‘try this last one out, if they’re that bad than I promise I’ll save you from your misery and tutor you myself.’ “deal.”

they meet in the library. jamie’s been a dear and promised hanna another refill of the vanilla bean she’d gratefully placed on the table, as long as she clears this session. clear meaning she doesn’t leave early though hanna is looking at the clock for the minute reason she needs to book it out. jamie is sitting a table away and watching intently and hanna, hanna is sitting rather miserably, chin on the table, eyes on her watch, and fingers playing with the drink that’s currently keeping her alive.

please be late please be late please be late.

‘kim seolhyun?’ she looks up, dreading the sense of déjà vu that’s about to come over her because what. she notices a few things, he’s very tall, very on-time, and very unlike the image she’s been ready to torment her. he’s in a button-up and he’s already sitting across from her as he starts to pull things out his bag. ‘I’m bang minsoo your tutor.’ he’s tall, tall to the point where if she were standing she’d still have to view him from this angle. well she is watching him from a weird angle and he’s still pulling things out his bag. It’s a normal bag too, his clothes, normal too. he’s – normal. aside from exceptionally soft looking hair but who cares about that.

“you’re on time.” ‘I am.’ “you’re dressed normal.” ‘as are most college students.’ it’s then that she realizes he’s all about finished taking out all of his things, now scattered neatly across the table and she’s aware of the things she doesn’t have spread out. ‘now are you ready?’ “for what?”

‘I’ve reviewed your class syllabus and I’m planning on at least getting you prepared for your coming quiz, then we can start with fundamentals and such.’ he’s flipping through papers, books and hanna’s suddenly sitting a lot straighter than before. she also doesn’t take her eyes off how concentrated he seems to be. concentrated but – calm. It’s strange. ‘seolhyun-ssi?’ “huh?” she takes her eyes off Jamie, who’s busy throwing signals from behind his ear. questions probably but hanna can’t quite make them out because her tutor – minsoo is looking dead at her. ‘are you ready to begin?’ he doesn’t seem bothered by the fact that she has no paper as he’s already slid his materials over to her. he’s just waiting. “hanna.” ‘pardon?’ “hanna, I go by hanna.” ‘alright then hanna, lets begin.’ “yeah sure.”

‘that just about does it. review these concepts tonight and your oral exam should go fine. review some right after I leave though.’ “you’re leaving?” hanna’s almost embarrassed at the words, because they come out so easily and she’s still looking at the words he’s underlining when she says it. ‘your session’s up, and - I do have class.’ she’s even more embarrassed to say she’s having a good time because god her father won’t let her live it down. “okay, thank you. next week we’re meeting here right?” ‘ideally it would depend on if you pass tomorrow but yes here is fine.’

she understood concepts that she’d normally drown her teacher out. minsoo was patient and well he wasn’t speaking on overwhelming amount of english so she could follow. It’s probably why she’d been able to follow along, and probably why she didn’t notice the time pass, she does notice minsoo getting up – probably because it’s so abrupt and she’s sorting through her thoughts, but it makes her shift in her seat. even more so when jamie bounds over and fixes her with a stare – one she can’t quite read. hanna shifts even more, a strange shudder taking over as she immediately grabs for her drink.

‘okay so?’ “well – I didn’t throw my drink on him.” ‘I noticed.’

“okay he wasn’t too bad, I still want my drink.” ‘did you mean he wasn’t bad looking?’ “absolutely not, lead me to overpriced coffee!”

and if hanna sticks closer to Jamie during the walk there, neither of them complain.

of course she has to tell her father to stop looking for another tutor. It’s at the end of the next day, after studying thoroughly and doing not so bad on her oral exam the morning after their tutor session. he’s in the study, normally where he doesn’t like being bothered, but there’s her mom, lounging on the chair while he flits back and forth between bank books and the laptop. how they spend so much time together is beyond her. she pops in and eyes are on her.

“hey, just wanted to say I’ll be keeping this tutor.” ‘he’s cute isn’t he?’ is the first thing her mother says and hanna quite literally falls from where she’d been planning to stick her head in and right out. “shameless.” ‘didn’t hear a no.’

‘that’s great dear, it was getting hard to not do a full screening on the next one and scare them away.’ “yeah yeah thanks.” hanna’s composing herself, rubbing at her shoulders to relieve her goosebumps. her mother catches this immediately and looks up from her book, eyes calculating. ‘are you cold hun?’ her father looks up, more concern in his eyes than anything. the drama queen. “yeah, do you guys have the air on?” they share a look – the strange telepathy that they always do. ‘no – but darling you’re in a long-sleeved shirt.’ “I could be getting sick. I’ll take something.”

as it turns out, she’s not getting sick. that was evident after the hoard of medication she’d taken and the lack of actual flu or cold symptoms. couldn’t be allergies as hanna has none, and there’s no bug going around school.

she just feels.

antsy.

she keeps shivering whether she’s in her clothes or not, itching and shaking even under cold water.

the morning after the conversation with her parents she’d bundled up fiercely the next day, making sure she would sweat out whatever cold would hit her. when it seemed like the fabric of her clothes was just making things worse, she opted for shorter sleeves and lighter, softer clothing. something to take away the itch that’s making her body shake.

‘maybe you’re allergic to something.’ Is jamie’s rationing. “my allergies would’ve been shown up.” is hanna’s answer.

she considers her diet, though she’s relatively a healthy person, she makes a log of what she could’ve eaten to cause it. but again, she has no food allergies either, she’s relatively healthy and it doesn’t feel like a food issue. even if her stomach does start to twist and turn now and then, it’s not the sick feeling from eating something bad – and hanna would know she’s had food poisoning.

she gets chills, has goosebumps she can’t really see. Her stomach twists no matter how much ginger tea she drinks and she’s at the point of wanting to jump out her own skin. It’s led to her being quite irritable too. rolling her eyes when her teacher asks her a question she knows hanna doesn’t know the answer to, snapping at someone near her parking space on her way to class.

‘could be your period babe.’ “my period was two weeks ago.”

and it’s not that either. It’s not the emotion that double over before her period, it’s not the stabs in her stomach that start coming early, or the cravings she’ll likely have. It’s none of that and this is the first time hanna’s wished that it was, at least then she would know what to do. because right now she wants to shed her own skin, feels like she’s growing in and out of it at the same time. feels like she’s itching something but never quite scratching it, like she needs something soothing but the burn isn’t painful it’s just – uncomfortable.

“do I need to see a doctor?” it’s a week into this when she mentions it to her parents. a week of her arriving irritable to school, practically clinging to jamie and saying nothing but groaning each time she feels a pull she doesn’t understand. like her skin was rubber and something was trying to call her back, pulling her thin but not ripping just – stretching. hanna was in agony and her mother now sat on the edge of the couch, running her hand through her hair while her father observed her. she’d told them her symptoms but she’s all but realized how crazy she must sound. ‘describe it again seol.’ hanna groans into the pillow but her mother’s touch is – distracting, helps her focus. “feels like I’m being tugged in several directions, everything is subtle but at the same time it’s overwhelming. It’s like if someone pressed needles against you but just the tip so you didn’t feel the pain. It’s terrible.” If anything, she would get bonus points in creative writing for her descriptions. If her teacher could see her now. Hanna wishes no one could see her, wishes she could all but melt into the couch. ‘do you know when it started?’ “I don’t know last week sometime?”

all these questions and all hanna wants to do is bury further away from it all.

‘we’ll get you to a doctor this afternoon, are you still going to class?’ she wants to say no, wants to stay right where she is until later this afternoon, instead she drags herself up and to her room. If she were more attentive, she might’ve noticed the look her parents share as she heads to get ready.

jamie is ready with a chamomile tea, a hint of ginger and a hug for Hanna when she walks out of her class. she makes no comment on how hanna left early and just smothers her in a hug, a hug that hanna can’t be bothered to wiggle out of. she focuses on the fact that it’s jamie and not that her body feels like it wants to be somewhere else but can’t figure itself out. instead they head to the library, jamie sending worried glances each time hanna shakes her shoulders or holds her head.

“please not headaches.” she doesn’t have time to think because as the headache grows there’s a figure before them both. it’s of course her tutor, though it was almost hard to tell because of the mask he’s sporting. ‘sorry, I’m a bit late.’ truthfully hanna hadn’t noticed. she’s more concerned at how he sounds as bad as she feels. ‘ready to start?’ “are you feeling okay?” is the first thing hanna asks, jamie having left her side so they can start. ‘nothing too bad, wore a mask in case it’s contagious but I don’t think so.’ “i’d take anything over whatever is hitting me right now.” she swears she gets a smile at the comment, but they’re launching into problems right away.

for the past week, the discomfort that hanna’s felt has been relentless. it started in small bursts but began to last the entire day, hence why she’d begged her parents to see a doctor today. as minsoo starts to finish reading her homework for the week, she’s suddenly aware that she’s feeling better. much better. his mask is off too. she’s grateful because truthfully, hanna didn’t think she could get through this session with that same pain that’s been plaguing her. she’s also relieved that he seems to be feeling better. she has half a mind to text her parents that all are good but he’s getting up, things packed already and her lips move with an urgency new to her.

“hey, can I get your number, in case I feel under the weather again and actually can’t show up?” minsoo’s giving it though, without question or complaint and hanna’s waving the phone as she waves him off. ‘you look like you’re feeling better.’ “thank god, or he might’ve asked for different pupil.” ‘mmmmm, I doubt that.’

hanna shrugs though, making sure to send a quick message to him.

to: 💥 minsoo [ hanna! ✌️ ] from: 💥 minsoo [ 👌 ]

when she arrives home, her mother is questioning her instantly.

“i just feel better? not sure, but my tutor session went well!” just to bring the mood up because she can see her parents are visibly concerned. ‘but hanna, you were in pretty bad shape.’ “maybe I just needed to flush out a bad bug, I feel fine!”

hanna’s in the same predicament, though it feels worse than before. the symptoms double over within half the time from before and she’s cuddled under her covers trying every possible position to ease the discomfort.

‘hanna I’m really worried.’ jamie’s voice rings on the other end of the line. “don’t worry, I really think it needs to run it’s course.” whatever it is.

whe doesn’t miss tutoring this week, though she can tell from minsoo’s hair, a little shaggy on the edges, that he’s dealing with his own things too. things that seem to disappear during their session, a reason why she makes it a goal to not miss them, no matter how bad she feels. It’s not exactly pain anyway, it’s just discomfort.

body-shaking discomfort.

she continues her routine. suffering for a week but managing to make her tutoring sessions just because she can. and they always make her feel better in that moment, a reason why she thinks it might just be stress.

two more weeks pass and hanna’s sure it’s not just a bad bug. because the intervals are shorter where she feels discomfort. It goes from a few days to one day to a few hours. it gets bad that she’s in her bed staring at her phone.

to: 💥 minsoo [ hey, it’s hanna! I might not make our session tomorrow, I’m really not feeling well. 😷😷😷😷 ] from:💥 minsoo [ I hope I didn’t give you what I caught, it’s not exactly fun ] to: 💥 minsoo [ don’t think what I have is contagious ] from:💥 minsoo [ how so? ]

and hanna hadn’t planned on discussing this, talking past her update but, she indulges.

to: 💥 minsoo [ feels like my insides being stretched ] from: 💥 minsoo [ ouch, in every direction and nowhere at all ] to: 💥 minsoo [ YES ] from: 💥 minsoo [ sorry I might’ve given it to you ] to: 💥 minsoo [ hm, I likely gave it to you ] from: 💥 minsoo [ either way, I hope you feel better ] to: 💥 minsoo [ if you find any remedies tell me!!!!! ] from: 💥 [ sure thing. ]

and for good measure.

to: 💥 minsoo [ goodnight! ]

she feels worse after missing their session. much worse. to the point where she’s pacing around her room, stepping in place, doing anything to try and ease her body and it’s confusion. it’s restless and it’s making hanna’s head spin. when her parents ask she just says she doesn’t know. when she asks the doctors they just say they don’t know.

because yeah that gives her hope.

“seriously I have no idea what it is.” hanna’s panting now, having resorted to running to let off some steam. she’s on the phone with minsoo, who despite his own afflictions has been a good comfort for her during it all. ‘me neither, needless to say, I keep worrying my sister.’ “my parents are surprisingly calm, though I know they’re worried.” they haven’t kept off her case, in a good way though. They check up on her and give her food without her needing to ask, she’s just been unable to feel reprieve from anything really. minsoo had laughed when she told him how her father hovered by the door ready to get her anything. “I’ll have fun trying to explain this sick note to my professors.” not that she minds, maybe she needed the break. running like this, and watching minsoo’s face change as he talks, as she cools down and listens, isn’t too bad.

‘hanna.’ “hm?” ‘you’ve been walking a while where are you?’ “uhm, don’t know. Why?” ‘it looks familiar…’ for a second it looks like he’s leaning into the screen and then there’s a flurry of movement, then laughter. ‘you’re nearing my neighborhood, how’d you manage that?’ “who knows. didn’t realize I was walking that far.” ‘I’ll come down.’ before she can say that he doesn’t have to, or that he’s not feeling well, she sees his figure approaching from the end of the street. funny enough, he looks like he ran. “you didn’t run here did you….” ‘I needed the exercise. I feel better already.’ and though he’s joking, catching his breath hanna’s been feeling immensely better since a little after her run. enough that she can smile fully at him, even laugh at his words.

he walks with her for the rest of her cool down. a cool down that she feels like she doesn’t even need because everything’s settled right now. It could be, and hanna considers it, the calm of the night, maybe she needed a good run. maybe she needed a change in environment, in pace. whatever it is, it’s working. has her joking with minsoo and feeling like herself, feeling that she’s missed their sessions all too much.

‘is that true?’ she doesn’t realize she’s spoken the words until she meets minsoo’s eyes on her. and she’s suddenly very aware of how close they’re walking together. hanna doesn’t move though, instead she just laughs and averts her eyes. “I miss them, they were the highlight of my week.” which isn’t a lie, even if she tries to put sarcasm in her tone. really, english tutoring as the highlight of her week? it was true whether she denied it or not. she suddenly didn’t mind if he knew or not. ‘it’s definitely been the best part of my few weeks.’

they walk a bit more, night closes in a bit more and they lose track of time. to where her father’s messaging her and hanna almost dreads having to go back, having to end the peace. but she’s feeling better so there’s a plus.

“I have to head home before my father sends a search party.” and – as if he knows. as if her eyes reveal everything without knowing, minsoo’s speaking up as she turns. ‘I’ll walk you.’ she doesn’t object. not when he sticks just as close, not when they pass the gates to her compound and he’s at the door, past the door and they’re laughing in the study.

‘you’re feeling better.’ Is what her mother says first. they’re both at the door, her father’s arm wrapped snug around his mother’s waist, his eyes on minsoo. “hey, sorry i’m late. i ran into minsoo? guess we both just needed a run.” ‘both? minsoo I wasn’t aware you weren’t feeling well either.’ ‘I’m fine ma’am, i was worried I’d given whatever I had to hanna but I’m glad that’s not the case.’ ‘i’m glad too. hanna do try to answer your phone more often, your father gets restless.’ “please, he’d be up the roof if it was you.” to which hanna’s father, the joke of her life, quite literally picks her mother up bridal style as he announces his love. hanna notices minsoo’s confusion and realizes she’s never told him, though she’s never in a position to tell anyone. “my parents are a soulmate match. for them they can’t spend too much time apart of they get restless, it’s wild. you’d think my mother was going through menopause.” ‘hanna!’ though her mother’s words have no bite while she’s literally being hugged tight by her husband, even after he’s set her back on her feet. ‘is it painful?’ are minsoo’s first words. unsurprising because most people have tons of questions when they hear about it. minsoo never seemed the curious type though, but hanna leans back and watches as her parents perk up at the opportunity to talk about their love.

‘at first it was unbearable? because we didn’t know what was going on or how to tell the cause. with ours it’s hard to tell but overtime the pull quite literally leads you to them because you’re in agony.’ ‘the pull?’ minsoo looks thoroughly interested and hanna – for whatever, maybe the aftereffects of this nonexistent flu, finds it cute. ‘hard to describe, the body literally cannot stand the distance for too long. after a while it becomes easier to withstand distance, the discomfort is there but not as strong the more time we spend together afterwards, and the more we deal with it. hanna’s father is just a baby. Hanna takes after him I suppose, she’s been moping about this house you’d think she was having period pains.’ “mom!” minsoo, the traitor, finds it his job to laugh and hanna quite literally thinks about knocking him out the couch. Until he smiles her way saying stupid things like: ‘glad you’re feeling better now.’

hanna’s floored because she’s got an urge in that moment. and it makes her want to shove everyone away, and yet, pull one person close.

abort mission.

she’s shooing everyone out, minsoo particularly.

‘he can’t go home by himself this late.’ “HUH?” the one time her father wants to be lenient about a boy.

the one time.

‘it’s fine I can call a taxi.’ ‘nonsense, we have a guest room down here.’

after much preparation hanna’s closing the door after bidding him a good night and a small apology. she sees her parents from atop the stairs and marches past them and their smug grins to her room.

‘he’s what?’ “downstairs in the guest room.” ‘wow, third base already.’ “like you haven’t slept over at sam’s.” ‘touche.’

just then hanna’s phone vibrates and she’s looking at the screen and nearly dropping her phone.

from: 💥 minsoo

“he’s texting me, jamie. jamie minsoo’s texting me why’s he texting me he’s downstairs what’s going on?” ‘well I suppose we won’t know the answer to that unless you read it and text back now would we?’

touche.

from: 💥 minsoo [ thanks for letting me spend the night. forgot to say so earlier. ]

“why’s he thanking me, he should thank my parents.” ‘idiot – does he have your parents on speed dial, no he has your cute ass.’

to: 💥 minsoo [ it’s no problem! I hadn’t realized how late it was, hope you don’t mind. ] to: 💥 minsoo [ hope you’re not secretly a thief either. sorry about my lovey-dovey high school parents ]

From: 💥 minsoo [ don’t mind at all. It was nice of them. and they’re nice too, obviously very in love. i’ve seen soulmate pairs before but they’re – refreshing. ]

‘oho, soulmate talk.’ “I’m gonna hang up.” ‘fine, hang up and talk to your loverboy.’

hanna chokes.

to: 💥 minsoo [ are they? I thought they’d be a bit much. you never seemed like you’d be interested in that. from: 💥 minsoo [ soulmate lore and stuff? you never asked. ] to: 💥 minsoo [ i’m sorry among all the agony and english suffering I forgot to ask about soulmate lore with you. ] from: 💥 minsoo [ what do you think of it then? ]

In that moment, hanna has to take a break because a headache’s coming. She almost groans at the feeling and jamie picks up immediately.

‘I’m going to assume he didn’t say anything bad, you okay?’ “yeah I might turn in, not feeling good again.” ‘okay, call me if you need anything alright?’ “okay bye bye.” sealed with extra loud lip smacks and kiss noises because of course.

from: 💥 minsoo [ you okay? ] to: 💥 minsoo [ yeah, headache. maybe I’ve been up too long. ] from: 💥 minsoo [ not good, you should take a nap ] to: 💥 minsoo [ but! soulmate! lore! ] from: 💥 minsoo [ someone’s excited. ] to: 💥 minsoo [ I can talk all night about it, since I have first hand encounters ] from: 💥 minsoo [ I’ll be up all night, can’t seem to sleep ] to: 💥 minsoo [ I’ll be down in five ]

and for some reason he doesn’t protest. so hanna wraps herself in her blanket and slinks her way downstairs to the guest room, praying to the gods that her parents don’t wake up. or even if they do, they don’t ask.

they talk all night. hanna’s headache that was calling her to bed nowhere to be found. minsoo’s restlessness lulled into alertness and attention he gives her the entire night, both splayed over the living room couch. he tells her about his doubts and beliefs in the soulmate theory, his experiences both good and bad. he tells about couples he’s seen fail and couples he’s seen prosper, talks about how hopeful hanna’s parents can make people. hanna talks about her fears with it, her reservations and also her fascination when she looks at her parents. they talk and they talk until they can’t fight sleep and it’s the easiest sleep they’ve had in weeks, though neither admit. they just fall into one another.

that’s how hanna wakes up. with her head between her arms, placed firmly on the edge of the couch and minsoo’s chest directly in front of her. she doesn’t move though, relishing in the best sleep she’s had in weeks. in fact, it’s the sound coming from the kitchen that wakes her. it’s a glimpse of her father peeking over the couch and her making eye contact that has her shrieking and bounding for her room.

when she’s showered and changed and sent jamie a promise text to tell her everything, she joins her family. minsoo is up and looking so well-rested that he hasn’t quite fixed his hair yet. it’s cute ad insufferable, hanna wants to crawl back upstairs. but she quite literally feels her headache disappear when he waves a good morning and she waves back, turning to glare at her parents before they can say anything. of course, her mother isn’t phased.

‘you both slept well.’ “good morning and good bye mother.” ‘I made breakfast.’ “to go, I have class and minsoo has to get home.” ‘I’ll take---’ “I’ll drive him thank you father.”

hanna’s grabbing the keys, the kimbap and literally rushing minsoo out the door before her parents can trap them any further.

easily, thankfully, they fall into conversation as if they hadn’t fallen asleep earlier. hanna offers to drive minsoo to campus and the top-down on her car makes his hair more of a statement when they arrive. so much so that she’s laughing and he’s puzzled.

‘you’ve been laughing for fifteen minutes, earlier I was worried we’d crash.’ “yikes, your faith in my driving skills. here hold on.” without prompt, without warning really, hanna’s leaning over to fix the strands of hair that have gone wild. not like she couldn’t just tell him because now he’s this close and hanna thinks she can’t breathe but this is the easiest it’s been to breathe in weeks. and that’s scary. terrifying.

‘hanna!’ thank god for jamie. because hanna, jumps back and is hopping out the car to greet her friend. thank god for jamie but oh god jamie, jamie doesn’t spare one single glance moving from hanna to minsoo and her eyebrows doing that thing that makes hanna want to run. ‘thanks for the ride.’ Is all minsoo says, a smile on his face after he bows to jamie and waves himself off. hanna’s got about two seconds of leeway and she’s considering running, instead she calls after minsoo, practically bounds after him. “can I walk with you, I barely know your classes.” she half expects him to deny her, instead he’s nodding. and hanna for now will say it’s just to avoid getting grilled.

except that it becomes a routine. and hanna hadn’t planned that. hadn’t planned on getting used to the feeling of walking with minsoo to classes and him eventually walking her to hers. after one morning where he doesn’t and she does so bad on her english exam he’s waiting outside with vanilla bean and she’s forgetting all about it.

seriously what kind of warlock is he, hanna’s been trying to figure it out. she’s so caught off-guard that jamie’s managed to pull her out her daze with a fry to her face.

‘maybe you just like him.’ “pardon.” ‘you literally suffer when he’s not around, you like him.’ hanna takes a careful sip of her drink, letting jamie mull over her words. when she doesn’t, hanna swallow. “nah.”

jamie groans.

she does enjoy the company he brings though. the feeling of him walking beside her to class, to tutoring, even home that’s become more routine. it’s always the leaving part that hanna can’t quite get over, always makes her rub her hands together as if she’s collecting static, settling herself. she thinks nothing of it though, glad to be free of whatever plagued her in the earlier months.

except that the bug comes back.

at the worst of times in her opinion. it’s midterm season and while she’s enjoyed the help he’s given her, thoroughly enjoyed his presence around her, how they’ve started grabbing coffee together and even eating out when tutoring lasts too late, they need to study. hanna doesn’t want to disrupt minsoo’s study schedule and respects the request to take their tutoring out of midterm week. that also means, he’s busy studying that he’s not around to walk her to classes, and it’s not like hanna’s been dependent on it, that’ silly. but she feels it, feels it more apparent than she thought she would from the week before midterms start, into the beginning of the exam week.

‘maybe it’s because you guys just spend so much time together.’ Is jamie’s answer. Though hanna can tell jamie’s beginning to worry, about a lot really. hanna doesn’t get attachments like this, and the fact that it’s becoming so apparent and so troublesome that it’s affecting her environment. jamie’s worried but doesn’t want her worry to affect hanna. hanna appreciate it, so she wants to get to the bottom of this.

‘you could just miss him.’ is the solution her mother offers, still perched in the couch in the study, a book on soulmates in her hand. it’s plausible, even if it’s only been a few days since she’d seen him, it’s very plausible. hanna takes a look at the book in her mother’s hand and ignores how her stomach churns at the title. ignores what that might mean for her.

because to hanna that was dependence bordering on insanity. for her, for minsoo, whom she barely knew. sure she knew the little things, like his favorite color nowadays, how simple he liked his wardrobe, how tall she’d have to stand on the top of her toes to reach his height. how he likes his coffee and which classes he dreads and why, his little ticks when he doesn’t understand things and just how endearing it is that he can not understand things. the look on his face or the color on his face when she points out that she thinks it is endearing. she knows these little things, has saved them for the moments when she’s stuck in a long day and she knows they can still walk home together.

she knows that but it’s not enough to need. it shouldn’t be.

but hanna counts all that she knows, all she’s beginning to adore and she’s getting frightened.

scared as she is, she doesn’t get to hold it in for long. it’s the middle of midterm week and she’s sure she’s going to fail her english midterm tomorrow because she can’t fucking focus. for the life of her, her body itches and the covers aren’t helping but she’s wrapped in them anyway. she doesn’t want to call anyone, ask anyone, she just wants the feeling gone.

as if on cue her phone vibrates.

from: 💥minsoo [ you doing okay? ] to: 💥minsoo [ guess ] from: 💥minsoo [ exam stress? ] to: 💥minsoo [ nope, worse ] from: 💥minsoo [ penny for your thoughts ] to: 💥minsoo [ I’ll give you a million if you come by ] from: 💥minsoo [ on my way ]

and hanna doesn’t wait. she’s downstairs and meeting him outside the door.

they walk and they walk and they walk until they come across a playground. hanna on the swings and minsoo sitting quite literally in front of where she stops.

‘any reason you chose swings?’ “any reason you’re sitting there?”

touche.

she steps back, as far back as she can before the swing is pressed into her back and minsoo is a few feet in front of her. and she stays there, stays there and watches him. he sits absently, fingers idle in the woodchips, night just moving around him. around his shoulders, around his hands, his silhouette.

hanna looks for strings first.

she feels the first tug but sees none. it’s not like the swing is pressing into her back, it’s the opposite. something pulling. with the tug comes the itch, the shudder. and it’s not the cold. she sees no strings though, nothing buzzing around minsoo. but she sees him shudder, sees him look up instantly in her direction.

when their eyes meet hanna allows herself to sit and walk forward until her feet kick lightly against his own.

she moves back again, as far back as the swing will let her. and waits. without a word, waiting for something in the moonlight around him to shift. like how tides just follow the pull of the moon, she waits for it. then her skin starts to crawl and his eyes haven’t left hers, so she sits and moves forward again. this time his hand is on the swing when her feet kick at his. stopping, holding.

‘you’re a glutton for punishment.’ “I was testing my theory.” ‘which is?’

hanna bites at her lip. even the sting she feels couldn’t quite compare to the feeling, the calm that settles over her each time she swings back over to him.

“you know how – you can only go so far on the swing, until you’re yanked back.” ‘i’m aware.’ “that’s what it’s like with you. like pulling tight of a band until it’s released back.” ‘and it’s like it was never pulled in the first place.’ “right-!! you know?” ‘well since it’s a soulmate thing, the other person feels the same you know.’

hanna’s suddenly very shy and very grateful for how dark it is.

“so do you – how do you feel?” ‘how do you feel?’ “scared as hell. excited. better than I felt earlier.” ‘I’m about the same. not as scared, curious. willing.’

the last one has hanna’s head snapping up, minsoo who’d been looking elsewhere, maybe for a pull of the tides too, fixes his eyes back on her.

“willing to – what?” ‘well, I’m here.’ “you’re helpful.”

but hanna’s smiling as she says it. smiling and playing with the chips below her feet.

‘hey, fate picked me.’ “well - i’d pick you.”

oh boy is she glad it’s dark as hell outside.

“how long did you know, I can’t believe you two knew.” ‘i can’t believe you took so long to figure it out.’

hanna is, staring quite scandalized at her parents, while minsoo sits not bothered in the slightest, at the kitchen counter. they’d talked, but upon deciding that hanna does need to sleep to attempt to pass her exam, that she head home. minsoo of course had walked her, her parents had of course been up when they arrived.

‘admittedly your mother was in denial so you take after her.’ if it weren’t for the skillet she was focusing on, hanna was sure her father would have a spoon shaped mark on his face. “i wasn’t in denial.” minsoo makes something that sounds like a snort and hanna is betrayed. ‘jamie even asked me outside your class if i’d give you time to figure it out.’ “wow is this why sam’s friends were ready to kill each other, how long have you known.” ‘since the first night your parents let me stay here.’ “i am surrounded by traitors.” ‘i’m wondering if he should still tutor you.’

if she weren’t starving, hanna would’ve gone right to bed. but minsoo took the blanket and is offering a more comfortable spot curled up beside him. and pancakes. comfort and pancakes and minsoo seem like the better option. and when hanna’s close to falling asleep, head on his shoulder and stomach full, she thinks it might be the forever option.

fast forward to present day.

“a vacation with his sister, why.” ‘yes, the nerve of your boyfriend, spending time with his family.’ “he said he’d be back today.” ‘yes, he said sometime this afternoon, it’s one.’

hanna is close to drowning herself in this damn vanilla bean when she hears a chime, and already feels the ache start to subside. already feels a smile curling, though she’s a bit peeved.

“i’m the glutton for punishment.” ‘i missed you too.’ and she’s pouting, even when he hands her a souvenir, up until the kiss pressed to the top of her head. up until all of the ache disappears and she’s engulfed in arms for the remainder of their time at the cafe. engulfed in the very feeling that makes her feel like, the wait doesn’t hold a candle to the reward. and it never will.

#{ w: hanna. }#rosaeau #( if my computers da RES #au.

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francesderwent · 6 years

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“In Need of a Generic Father Figure” A Veronica Mars Everybody Lives/Nobody Dies Meet-Cute LV AU Week Day 7 Canon-typical language, but otherwise general audiences On AO3 Inspired by this post and that one scene in Charlie Don’t Surf.

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It was supposed to be a kind of housewarming-slash-homecoming party, the kind of event that was totally low key in its formulation and planning stage but got completely out of hand once things got rolling. All their friends from the old neighborhood were coming over, and it was supposed to be all nostalgic idiocy born from the eternal familiarity of each having been present for one another’s particular flavor of shitty childhood. There were no delusions about the depth of this bond, and so they weren’t expecting it to be a great party, not the best night of anyone’s life by any means, but it was the sort of gathering you could predict, could depend on. Low-pressure, low stakes, low key.

So, precisely the kind of event which would have a giant wrench thrown into it if you were to add in an unknown factor, say, a perfect stranger to man the grill.

“But he wouldn’t be a stranger,” Dick is insisting. “He’d be a dad.”

Logan gapes at him. “Whose dad?”

Dick shrugs, ineloquently.

“So by dad, you just mean some unknown-as-yet male person who has at one point fathered a child?”

“Sure.”

“So, some unknown person’s father, standing on the corner of our property, making hamburgers.”

“Grilling hamburgers, that’s essential.” Dick looks up from his computer and gives Logan a look like he’s disappointed in him for missing an obvious point. “And it’s not just some random sperm donor, dude, he has to be fatherly and shit. I put it in the ad.”

“Ah yes, the ad,” Logan says. “The Craigslist ad, which you put up online without consulting or telling me. I read the ad. And yet here I stand, questioning the entire premise behind it.” But Dick has returned to his computer, presumably to scroll through his emailed responses. Logan pinches the bridge of his nose. “Alright, the court recognizes that grilled hamburgers are better than any alternative. But why do we need someone else to come grill? You and I are fair-to-average at setting things on fire already.”

“We don’t have a grill.”

“No, but we both have trust funds that kicked in some time ago. You may remember them. They’re how we afforded the house…”

Dick huffs. “So we just buy a grill?” Logan gives him the raised eyebrows and jazz hands: duh. Dick bangs on the space bar. “Just buy one, from the depths of our rich boy pockets, without working for it or anything.”

Logan stares. “Are you having some kind of break?”

“It’s stupid to spend money if we could just borrow one.”

“Okaaaay,” Logan says. “So why aren’t you advertising for a grill we can borrow?”

“Because!”

“Because what, Dick?”

“Your dad is supposed to teach you how to grill!” Dick bites out.

They stare at each other for a long beat, then Dick tears his eyes away and starts clattering angrily on his keyboard. Logan sighs, then gingerly sits next to him on the sofa.

“You know,” he says, careful to keep his tone conversational, “if you wanted to sign up for one of those programs for kids with deadbeat dads where they hang out with well-adjusted adult men and learn life skills, I would have happily signed up with you, but we really should have done that when we were younger.”

Dick throws an elbow into his ribs half-heartedly. “Shut up.”

“I’m not saying, like, when we were twelve,” Logan goes on, warming to the topic, “because we mostly hadn’t figured out our dads were deadbeat by then. But definitely before we finished college and joined the workforce. I’m thinking like nineteen or twenty would have been the ideal age. Our father figures could have taught us to consume alcohol, in addition to teaching us to grill.”

“We were already pretty good at drinking alcohol by then,” Dick reminds him.

“Then they could have given us a strict talking-to about underage drinking,” Logan says. “It’s far too late for that now, and we’ve missed our chance.”

“Missed our chance…” Dick echoes.

Logan looks at him sideways.

Dick catches his eye and actually sniffs a little. “I know it’s stupid. You don’t have to tell me it’s stupid.”

Logan shifts uncomfortably. “It’s not stupid, man. I just wish we knew of some actual father figure we could get to sub in for you, rather than resorting to Craigslist dads.”

“It’s not just for me, dude,” Dick insists. “I know you care about this shit, too.”

Logan cracks a smile despite himself. “If some guy with a beer gut shows up and grills me a hamburger and calls me ‘sport’, that’s not going to make the old man any less of an abusive asshole.”

“I know, but we can make some nicer memories can’t we? Some nice dad-memories?”

For a second, Logan allows himself to enter into the delusion, but almost immediately becomes sidetracked on the mental image of Gregory Peck from To Kill a Mockingbird standing in their backyard, holding a light beer and grinning affably. That would be one thing – but he can’t imagine that any fathers like that actually exist in the world. No, this dad was probably going to be more or less a deadbeat himself, or else how would he have time to babysit a bunch of profligate twenty-somethings? At best, it would be some old guy whose kids were too grown-up and busy to talk to him anymore, a dad whose desperate neediness for attention and affirmation matches Dick’s. But then again, Dick will inevitably be drunk for the entire party – he wouldn’t notice if the dad was an escaped convict in black and white stripes with a literal ball and chain on his ankle. What harm could it do? He sighs, asks in a wry tone, “Are you going to ask for proof of paternity, or is this person going to be a fake dad on top of being random?”

Dick lights up. “That’s a great idea, I’ll edit that in!” He resumes typing at a frenzied pace; Logan watches bemusedly.

Still. It’s one weird thing on one day. It won’t make any difference one way or another, in the long run.

Nobody’s life was ever changed because a stranger made them a hamburger.

-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-

After that, Logan tries to extricate himself from the whole dad-audition process, but Dick is, as usual, both oblivious and incorrigible. Logan very quickly comes to dread the phrases “hey, listen to this” and “what about this”, since both are sure signs that he’s about to be read a joke resumé with phrases like “excels at offering positive reinforcement”, or shown a headshot of a guy in a sweater vest. So when he gets home from work and the first thing he hears is “Logan, dude, this is the one”, his first response is to groan and flop face first onto the sofa. They found the sofa at the side of the road the second week in the house and it is therefore a little worn out, so the decision to be dramatic hurts.

“Asshole,” Dick tells him absently, wandering in from the next room holding his laptop. “Listen: father for twenty-plus years, expert level jokes and manly affection, bonus secret-family-recipe hot sauce.”

“The hot sauce is a nice touch,” Logan admits, rolling over onto his back and kicking his feet up onto the sofa arm. “All of the other applicants have really fixated on the ‘dad’ part of ‘grill dad’.”

Dick nods so enthusedly it looks painful. “I know, right? And get this, there’s an attached letter from his kid,” he says. “Dear advertiser, I can confirm that the applicant has been my father for my entire life, and I can honestly say that he has excelled at the position. You would be lucky to have him at your party, where he would strike just the right balance between embarrassing and fun, call all of you by the wrong names and then substitute “son” or “honey”, and repeatedly tell you he’s proud of you. His hamburgers are to die for, and he brings his own fire extinguisher in case anything should go wrong. He has my unreserved recommendation. Also, if this is some kind of dad kidnapping scheme, I will hunt you down and kill you. Cordially, V. Mars.” Dick looks up expectantly; Logan fights a smile.

“They wrote a letter of recommendation for their dad?”

“Uh huh.”

“Hmm,” Logan says neutrally, then says, “Mr. Mars,” trying it out, hitting the ‘r’s and dragging out the ‘s’.

“Keith Mars,” Dick adds helpfully, and turns the computer so Logan can see the attached photo. Keith Mars is bald, just slightly on the portly side, staring adoringly down at the tiny pigtailed child with whom he is dancing, her feet on his – V. Mars is a girl, apparently. Dick tabs to the next picture: Keith Mars standing next to a grill holding a hot dog over the head of a plaintive-looking pitbull while a gap-toothed, elementary-school-aged V. Mars laughs in the background with a blue-haired friend. In the third picture Keith is older, wearing a suit and grinning widely, hugging someone in graduation regalia, her face obscured by her cap. “He looks cool, right?” Dick prompts eagerly.

“Yeah,” Logan says, tearing his eyes away from the graduation photo. Neither he nor Dick had had any relatives attend their college graduation, and he’d seen plenty of family reunions at the baccalaureate celebration that seemed more stiff and awkward than anything else, but Keith looks like he just might burst with pride. “Yeah, he seems nice.”

“Like a real dad, right?” Dick persists.

Logan snorts. “As if I have any experience with which to judge that quality.”

Dick offers a fist bump and Logan complies. “Trauma twins!” Dick says, sing-song. Logan rolls his eyes. “But he seems legit?” Dick says, returning to the salient point. “This is okay?”

Logan stands and claps his roommate on the shoulder. “Sure, man. If you say this is the one, I think you’re probably right.”

Dick beams at him. “I’ll tell him he got the gig!”

“Cool,” Logan says drily. “I can’t wait to meet him.”

-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-

Since Dick thinks it would be acceptable to simply explain the dad-for-hire situation when their guests show up, Logan finds himself calling each invitee one by one the day before the party and beginning with the statement, “So you know how Dick has a tenuous relationship with reality?” Lilly laughs for a full minute and a half, and Duncan, no matter how many times Logan runs through the concept, just doesn’t seem to get it, but everyone else just thinks it’s sad.

“Oh my god, our lives suck,” Gia says, sounding as if she just realized it. “Does no one in our group have a functioning father figure?”

“Carrie’s dad was okay,” Logan offers. “But he moved out of state a few years back.”

“And he never knew how to grill!” Dick yells through his bedroom door.

“And he never knew how to grill,” Logan repeats.

“Yeah, well,” Gia says skeptically, “I’m bringing extra booze for when this weird-ass idea causes someone to have an emotional breakdown.”

“Appreciated.”

And when the day arrives, booze is the one thing they do seem to have enough of.

“Why did we say we were going to supply ingredients?” Logan wonders aloud as he methodically opens and shuts every cupboard in their kitchen. “You forgot to buy onions, we don’t own any spices, I don’t even think we have salt and pepper –”

“Logan. Man! Relax.” As anticipated, Dick is already halfway to trashed, and far from caring if their hamburgers are seasoned.

“This was your idea,” Logan says, accusing sliding into sardonic. “You’re the one who wanted to make some new dad-memories, and now because you were overly confident in a Craigslist ad, our new dad is already going to be disappointed in us.”

“Dude, holy shit –” Dick bursts out laughing and can’t continue his thought. Logan turns around to glare at him in exasperation. “What if –” Dick stammers, chortling, “what if he says the thing? ‘I’m not mad I’m just disappointed?’ How absolutely sick would that be?” He’s wheezing now, and Logan can’t think of anything to do except stare at him. “Just like a real dad!” Dick howls.

Logan stands, frozen, for a beat longer, and then abandons his search for the probably-nonexistent spice cabinet to reach for the scotch instead. “Gia was right,” he says flatly. “This is going to end in tears.” He pulls a little too sharply on the tab of the wax seal and it snaps off with the seal still in place. He looks at it in consternation, and it is at this point that the doorbell rings. Dick makes no sign of moving from his position, giggling slumped over the kitchen table, so Logan jogs to the front hallway, only to discover that Dick has placed all the beer they bought in front of the door, barricading it closed. He’s kicking six packs out of the way and trying to open the scotch bottle with his teeth when he finally manages to wrench open the door and is greeted by the genial but not-quite-non-threatening face of Keith Mars.

For a moment the desire to say something dismissive rises up, as if this was still high school and he was still incapable of engaging with an adult on mutually respectful terms, but Logan takes a deep breath and forces it down. “Mr. Mars,” he says.

Keith sticks out a hand. “Richard?”

Logan snorts, but accepts the handshake. “Richard is inside. I’m the roommate, Logan.”

Keith’s eyes drop to the scotch bottle still in Logan’s hand. “I hate it when that happens,” he says mildly.

Logan makes a non-committal noise. “We probably have a wine opener somewhere that should do the trick.”

“We don’t!” Dick yells from the kitchen. “I told the chicks to bring one!”

“That would be Richard,” Logan tells Keith wryly. Keith raises his eyebrows, but then reaches into his jacket pocket and offers Logan a multi-tool. “Thanks,” Logan says uncomfortably, looking down to flip through utensils instead of making eye contact. “Can I offer you anything?”

“Nope,” says Keith cheerfully, “just point me to the backyard and I’ll get the grill fired up.”

“Get the grill fired up!” Dick’s voice repeats, maniacally.

“He’s fine,” says Logan, unconvinced himself. “The backyard’s through this way.”

“No!” Dick stumbles into the hallway and spreads his arms wide, probably so as best to show off the tshirt he bought specifically for the occasion which reads “you’re all up in my grill”, a decided improvement over the grill-themed shirt Logan had to initially talk him down from, which had a meat-related innuendo on it. “I will show you to the backyard, sir!”

Keith offers a hand. “Keith Mars.”

“Awesome, dude.” Dick shakes his hand, which is apparently hilarious because he cracks himself up again. “Welcome to the party!”

Keith glances at Logan, who shrugs. “I’m just happy to be included,” Keith says, sounding, against all odds, like he means it.

“Dope,” Dick responds. “Follow me, mon capitan, I will show you to your grill kingdom!”

“Please stop mixing your metaphors,” Logan tells him, but Keith waves him off and allows Dick to sling an arm around his shoulder and lead him towards the screen door to the backyard.

“Dude, seriously, your application was whack,” Dick says. “I was like, whoa, this guy is like a serious dad!” Logan is watching them go, wondering if he’s responsible for making Keith feel safe and if he should therefore follow, when there’s a voice at shoulder-level behind him.

“So that’s the Craigslist guy?”

He turns, smoothly accepts the proffered casserole dish. “Craigslist dad, actually, or you’re missing the whole point.”

Carrie stands on her toes to look over his shoulder at where Keith is patiently observing Dick’s wild gesticulating at all the ingredients they bought. “Huh,” she says. “I guess he does kind of look like a dad.”

“I should hope so, we took the casting call very seriously.”

Carrie rolls her eyes. “That’s a fruit salad,” she informs him, indicating the dish he’s holding. “I’ve just gotta grab my guitar out of my car and then I can help set up or whatever.”

“You brought your guitar?” Logan repeats. “Are we gonna sit in a circle and sing campfire songs? What the hell kind of barbecue do you think this is?”

“A nice wholesome one, of course. You were kind enough to invite Susan and her kid, and you specifically got a random dad to come grill you food.” After a pause and seemingly despite herself, Carrie asks, “You really couldn’t have just bought a grill yourselves?”

Logan sighs. “Actually, the grill is ours. Keith had one but it wouldn’t fit in his car, so Dick went straight out and got the most expensive one there was.”

“Don’t all serious dads own pickup trucks?”

“That’s exactly what I said.”

“And now you have your own grill.”

“We even managed to work it ourselves; we made marshmallows over it last night.”

Carrie makes a face. “I can’t believe you guys are living together. You’ll both starve to death or suffocate under dirty laundry within a month.”

“Nah,” says Logan, dismissive, “we can live on marshmallows for at least two months, and we can just buy new clothes and burn our dirty laundry on the grill.”

“That,” Carrie tells him calmly, “is disgusting.”

“People who bring acoustic guitars to house parties shouldn’t throw stones,” Logan counters.

She laughs and flips him off. “When’s everyone else getting here?”

He indicates careless ignorance with a wave of the hand. “Hopefully soon. I think we need to set up a watch rotation to make sure Dick doesn’t start crying on the grill dad.”

Carrie snorts, tosses him her keys; he manages to switch the fruit salad to one hand and snag them in the hand holding the scotch. “In that case, you go grab my guitar out of the trunk. What did you say the guy’s name is?”

“Keith Mars.”

“Got it. Do not leave me out there by myself for more than a minute.”

“Of course not! In fact, I wouldn’t dream of getting in your car and driving far, far away from here.”

She elbows past him, laughing, and jogs through the house to make a dramatic exit out the back door, where she is greeted by Dick’s incoherent shouts. Logan sighs, then picks his way back through the six-packs to the kitchen to put everything down, finally open the scotch, and knock back half a drink. When he gets back out to the driveway Casey Gant is there with his newest arm-candy girlfriend, and Logan finds himself cajoled into giving a house tour so he can explain to her why he and Dick decided on this house, how all the guests know each other, and that, no, Casey wasn’t lying about the Craigslist situation. By the time Logan manages to extricate himself, everyone has arrived and is milling around the backyard. Carrie waves to him from a picnic blanket in the middle of the lawn, where she is in fact playing guitar for Susan and her adolescent daughter. He likes Susan and the kid fine, but the three of them seem to be working on a warble-y song from the latest Disney princess sensation, so he hides a grimace, waves back, and looks elsewhere. There’s a few people clustered around the grill, listening to Keith tell some story which is apparently fascinating; Logan gives them a wide berth and joins Lilly and Gia instead, who are standing off to the side eyeing the whole scene skeptically.

“Don’t you ladies want to take advantage of this unique opportunity to interact with a genuine, human parent?” he asks.

“Nope,” says Gia, at the same time as Lilly says “Not even a little.”

Logan snorts. “Well, cheers to that, I suppose.”

“Yes, cheers!” Lilly says. “To dealing with our issues in therapy, rather than projecting all of our buried hopes onto a stranger with a novelty apron who could never live up to our ideals anyway.”

“Like motherfucking adults,” Logan echoes solemnly. They clink glasses.

Gia looks contemplative. “It’s not so much that he’s a random stranger,” she says. “I even kind of trust that he’s for real, you know?”

“I know,” Lilly retorts, pausing to take a big gulp of her drink. “That’s the worst part. Dick introduced me to him when I got here, and he was immediately more interested in my life and my job than my parents have ever been.”

“Yeah, but like, actually interested,” Gia adds, “like he thought I was worth his time and couldn’t wait to hear more about me.”

“How dare he,” Logan says mildly.

Gia elbows him in the ribs. “I don’t see you over there talking to him.”

Logan shrugs. “If I met him on the street maybe I’d be able to trust that he’s the real deal, but the fact that he answered the ad just seems fundamentally suspicious.”

“Yeah, but you guys aren’t paying him, are you?” says Lilly.

“Just in beer.”

“He’s probably just lonely,” Gia suggests.

“I thought the same thing,” says Logan. “But if he’s such a good father, then wouldn’t his own kid want to see him? So why would he need us?”

Lilly pats him on the shoulder. “Logan, you’ve honed your trust issues and pessimism into quite an art.”

He huffs, irritable despite himself. “I’m just saying, don’t anyone go writing him into their will just yet.” Gia looks at him little worriedly, and he attempts a reassuring smile. “I need another drink, can I get either of you anything?” They both wave him off, and he makes for the deck where all the refreshments are, but in his haste to get away, forgets to avoid the grill group and accidentally makes eye contact with Dick. Dick, of course, begins frantically waving him over, and though Logan lifts a hand in acknowledgement and tries to stay course, this only means that Dick starts yelling his name. Logan silently swears to himself that he will not enter the fatherland without a drink in hand, so yells back that he’ll be right there and prays that they’ll be out of something on the drinks and appetizers table so he’ll have to go inside to get it, if not drive to the store. Tragically, Carrie is already there, refilling chip bowls, and when he offers to help she just gives him an unsympathetic look.

“Go get it over with, before Dick convinces everyone to start chanting your name,” she says.

Logan sighs, grabs the beer with the highest alcohol content he can find, and skips down the stairs. “Logan!’ Dick crows. “Logan’s here, guys!”

“I live here,” Logan reminds him. The obvious statement is greeted by polite laughs from the Keith fan-club and drunken giggling from Dick.

“Get this, Logan!” he says, childlike excitement radiating off him in waves. “We didn’t even need salt and pepper, Keith brought his own burger rub!”

Logan looks obligingly at Keith, who nods. “Secret family recipe.”

“I thought the secret was the hot sauce?” Logan says.

“I’ve got that, too.”

Logan raises his eyebrows. “Everything’s a secret with you, Mr. Mars. And here I thought we were just on the verge of opening up to each other.”

Keith laughs good-naturedly. “I’m an open book, Logan.”

Logan is mentally scrolling through options for sarcastic replies which aren’t overly combative when suddenly he feels very, uncomfortably cold, from the back of his neck down, and can do nothing but gasp stupidly. For a moment he thinks Dick has poured ice down his back, but Dick is standing on the other side of the grill from him, looking genuinely surprised albeit delighted. Logan cranes his neck and turns in a circle, but can’t see what’s been spilled on him, though it’s entirely clear who’s to blame. “Duncan,” Logan says, flat and edging toward a growl.

Duncan has the nerve to roll his eyes. “Come on, man, it’s not my fault.”

Logan gestures to where Duncan has clearly dropped his solo cup and half a plate of appetizers on the lawn. “And how do you figure that?”

Duncan shrugs. “You know how hard it is to hold a drink and a plate of stuff at the same time.”

“Hmm, then maybe you should go inside and eat at the table – or better yet, maybe the family down the block can loan us their high chair.”

Duncan scowls at him. “Do you have to be like this, Logan, seriously? It’s just a shirt. And it’s your freaking house, you can just go in and change.”

Logan flicks his eyes over at Keith, who thankfully doesn’t appear inclined to use his fake fatherly authority to intervene and is pretending to look intently at something across the way. Logan fakes a laugh and says as evenly as he can manage, “And it was your freaking drink, so you could have just apologized.” Keith abandons his examination of the next-door-neighbor’s maple tree to give Logan a side-eyed smile, and for a moment, Logan feels a vague sense of satisfaction, before he remembers that he doesn’t care about Keith’s approval. He makes a wry face back.

“Logan,” Keith says mildly, “keep an eye on the grill? I need to grab something I left in the kitchen.”

“No problem, Mr. Mars,” Logan answers, saluting sloppily. Keith nods at him, and then pats Duncan on the shoulder as he passes; Logan interprets the move as condescending and is pleased again, and again annoyed at himself for being pleased. As a pathetic attempt at distracting himself, he pulls his arms into what was previously his favorite gray v-neck and puts it back on backwards so he can look at the stain, and then is horrified all over again. “Duncan, what the fuck were you drinking?” he demands.

Now, finally, Duncan has the grace to look ashamed, or at least defensive. “Mike’s,” he mutters.

“Mike’s lemonade is not this color.”

“It was Mike’s hard black cherry lemonade, alright!”

There are various titters from the group; Logan snorts inadvertently and lifts up the shirt to sniff the purple-y stain, which smells more like sugar than anything else. He knows he should stop pushing, but can’t quite restrain a “Dude, really?”, which turns the titters into full-fledged barks of laughter.

Duncan snaps. “Why do you have to be such a –”

“Donut!”

Duncan freezes at the sound of Lilly’s voice.

“Quit being a drip!” she yells. “Or go home!”

For a second, Duncan turns his glare back on Logan with full force, and Logan almost thinks he’s going to spit in his face or something, but then he just kicks at his dropped solo cup and slinks off toward the front yard.

“Wo-o-ow,” says Dick, with barely contained glee. “This really is the best party ever.”

Logan rolls his eyes, grabs the spatula hanging off the grill, and starts idly pushing burgers around to have something to do. “You’re happy with your Craigslist investment?” he asks Dick.

“Absolutely, dude!”

“And the weirdness of the concept still hasn’t dawned on you?” Casey adds, snickering.

“How could it be weird? Keith is awesome, and he’s the perfect addition to the party, just like the application said.”

“Of course he is.”

Logan jumps, almost drops a burger on the ground, and then turns to find that Duncan’s place in the circle has been filled. She’s on the shorter side, with blonde hair falling down her back in waves, a leather jacket slung over one shoulder, and a completely unreadable expression on her face – and based on the looks she’s getting from the others, no one else has the faintest idea who she is either. “Uh –” Logan says.

“Keith Mars is still here, right?” she asks, voice somewhere between businesslike and belligerent.

“Well –”

“He just went inside,” Dick says, helpfully. “He’ll be back out in a minute.”

Logan groans. “Dick, remind me never to commit any crimes you’d have to be interrogated about.”

Dick shrugs, the whole movement exaggerated by drunkenness. “Look at her, man, what’s she gonna do?”

Logan looks at her, less sure that he should be unintimidated than Dick seems to be; she gives him an unimpressed once-over, but then cracks a smile seemingly despite herself. “So was it some combination of getting dressed in the dark and a wet tshirt competition, or is this a bold fashion choice?”

Logan glances down at his backwards v-neck and the damp, purple circle on his chest. “Bold fashion choice,” he answers, looking up to raise his eyebrows at her.

“I wouldn’t have been able to picture it,” she says, looking him up and down again, “but now that I see it, I guess it works. In fact, you should only wear this. Like, ever.”

Logan grins awkwardly, unsure whether she’s mocking him or flirting with him, and still unsure what he, as a homeowner, is supposed to do about strangers in his backyard, even if they are exceptionally cute.

“So, this is weird,” Dick offers.

“Hey, honey!” Logan turns; Keith is coming down the steps of the deck with burger buns and cheese in hand, beaming at the interloper.

“And it just got weirder,” Casey announces.

“Yup,” echoes his date. “More drinks?”

“You bet.” They wander off arm in arm; Casey salutes Logan with his beer can.

“What are you doing here, sweetheart?” Keith says, dumping his armful of food onto the picnic table so he can hug the blonde girl.

She shrugs, looking considerably more relaxed now that he’s appeared. “I’m an only child, dad, you didn’t honestly expect me to let you adopt a whole party without at least coming over to check up on you. I’ve never had to share before.”

Keith laughs. “Of course, why didn’t I think of that. Why wouldn’t my grown adult daughter show up at an honest Craigslist gig to make sure she wasn’t losing her spot as my favorite child?”

“I dunno,” Dick says suspiciously, “I think she might also be here to flirt with Logan.”

“You two have met?” Keith turns a surprised look on Logan, who does his best innocent blink and tries not to broadcast that a few seconds ago he was considering using Duncan’s spill as an excuse to take his shirt off in front of this girl.

“Only just now,” Keith’s daughter assures him.

Logan nods. “You’re V. Mars?”

“Veronica,” she answers. She offers her hand to shake.

“Don’t take this personally,” Logan says, “but I wouldn’t. I’m honestly kind of covered in Mike’s hard black cherry lemonade.”

“That exists?” she says.

“There’s no limit to the abominations which crawl this earth,” he replies, straight-faced. She laughs.

“See what I mean,” Dick says to Keith. Keith looks at him blankly; Dick belches, shoots Logan a complicated and incomprehensible hand gesture, and wanders off after Casey, leaving Logan alone with the two Marses. He looks back and forth between them, trying not to stare, and wondering if it would be weird to ask what kind of degree Veronica just graduated with based on the picture Keith sent.

“So!” Veronica says, into the strained silence. “You’ve been treating my dad well?”

“He’s getting all of the standard grill-dad benefits,” Logan answers. “We didn’t want to have the agency all over us, or god forbid, the unions.”

Veronica smiles in acknowledgment, but her eyes flick to her dad with something like nervousness.

“Do you two need a minute?” Logan offers.

“No!” says Keith, confidently calm. “Everything’s all fine, here. Son, can you start putting cheese on hamburger buns? Veronica, honey, help him?”

Veronica rolls her eyes, but bumps Logan out of the way with her hip so she can grab the cheese. “So, daaad,” she says, sing-song.

“Veronica,” he says, warningly.

She actually pouts. “Come on, dad,” she says, the words coming quicker now. “It’s pretty clear Logan doesn’t care about you being his fake father for the day; his entire body flinched when you called him son.”

Logan hands her a hamburger bun he removed from the block of them in the bag, says mildly, “I thought I managed to reserve my flinch to only seventy percent of my body.”

“Nope!” Veronica gives him an apologetic smile, and then turns back to Keith. “Dad, please.”

Keith glances at Logan, back at her, and sighs. “Make it quick, Veronica.”

She drops the package of cheese and reaches into her bag to retrieve a giant camera. “So-o-o,” she says, lowering her voice, “you know that guy I’ve been on all week for a completely unrelated…work thing?”

Keith rolls his eyes. “Yes.”

“Well, he just walked through the front door of your guy’s house.”

“No, he didn’t,” Keith says drily. She tabs through a few photos on the display, shows him one. Keith looks at her. “That can’t be good.”

She lets out a huff of breath. “No, I didn’t think so either.”

“I can see both exits from here, honey, and I haven’t turned my back once.”

“From here?” Logan repeats.

They ignore him. “If I didn’t notice him going in, it was because I wasn’t looking for people entering,” Keith continues, reassuringly. “Nobody could have gotten away, so they must all just be inside. We’ll wait it out, it’ll be fine.”

Logan is just about to give up and leave them to it so he can find another drink, and maybe even change his shirt, but that, of course, is when the air is filled with the sound of breaking glass.

Some kind of instinct takes over and he dives in between the sound and Veronica, dragging her to the ground with him despite her incoherent noise of protest. He looks up in time to see a flailing person hit the ground below the next-door-neighbor’s maple tree, surrounded by the debris from the shattered second-story window.

“That’s yours!” Veronica gasps, but Keith has already produced a gun from somewhere under his novelty apron and is pointing it at where the fallen man has gotten unsteadily to his feet.

“Police!” Keith shouts. “Don’t move!”

There’s a stunned pause, Logan takes in the faces of gaping astonishment on his friends, and then the man takes off running in the opposite direction. Keith lets out a brief curse and rips off his apron. “He’s running,” he announces to thin air, and Logan hears a siren start up down the street, so apparently he really is police. Keith throws the apron at Veronica. “Don’t let the hamburgers burn,” he orders, and then he climbs on the picnic table, vaults clumsily over the neighbor’s fence, and takes off after the runner.

“You’re going to strain your back,” Veronica yells after him, almost petulant. She elbows Logan in the ribs and he rolls off her, not sure whether she’s about to join in the chase herself or whether she’s just going to lay into him for tackling her. She gets up, checks her camera and is apparently convinced that its not broken, but still looks dissatisfied about something. She peeks into the grill, lifts a single burger with the forgotten spatula. “They’re not going to burn,” she says, disdainfully.

“Dude.” Dick jogs over so he can give Logan a hand up off the ground. “Dude,” Dick repeats, “is it just me or was our grill-dad packing heat?”

Logan pats his arm. “Not only was he packing heat, but he was almost definitely using us to surveille the house next door.”

Dick looks flabbergasted. “Shit, man. Even my fake dad didn’t really want to spend time with me.”

“I’m sure he’ll be back, once they’ve collared the guy,” Veronica offers. As if inspired, she removes the first burger patty from the grill, puts it on one of their prepared buns, and hands it to him.

Dick looks at it suspiciously, takes a bite, and then nods, but adds accusingly, “Whatever, man. I’m going to need therapy from this.” He shoots a finger gun at Logan. “So, you do whatever you’re doing here, I’m gonna go apologize to Susan for exposing her child to all this violence.”

“That’s really mature and responsible of you, Dick,” Logan says, surprised.

“Duh,” says Dick. “It’s up to us to break the cycle.” And with that, he heads back towards the rest of the party, who are all staring at Veronica with no small amount of apprehension. She doesn’t seem to notice, but absently picks up Keith’s apron and puts it on, and starts assembling burgers.

Logan can’t help but ask, “You’re not going to follow them?”

“Nope,” she says, shortly, “not my case.”

“Do you need to go after…your guy?”

“No, I’ve got the pictures I needed.”

“Then I’m sure Keith would appreciate the backup…?”

She lets out a short laugh, and Logan sees with dawning comprehension that she’s worried. “He needs it,” she answers, “but he wouldn’t appreciate it. I don’t have the clearance.”

“You’re not his partner?”

She turns to look at him like he’s an idiot. “No-o-o,” she says. “I’m his daughter.”

Logan grins, lifts his hands in surrender. “Sorry, I wasn’t sure how deep the undercover scheme went.” She snorts, flips her hair over her shoulder, and turns back to the grill. “That one on the right is getting a little overdone,” he says, pointing.

“No it’s not.” She swats his hand away, and then moves the offending burger closer to the coals, Logan suspects just to be contrary.

“So you’re not a cop?” he tries again. She shoots him an exasperated glance over her shoulder, he grins, says, “If you’re not a cop, why were you surveilling the house too?”

She huffs a sigh, puts the spatula down with a clatter, and reaches for her bag where it had fallen on the ground. “Here,” she says, and tosses something at him. He catches it, turns it around, opens it.

“You’re a private detective?”

“Mmhmm.”

“Not a cop?”

“I’m going to throw a hamburger at you.”

Logan laughs. “So, what, you didn’t want to follow in your father’s footsteps?”

“I did, he didn’t,” Veronica says casually, returning her focus to the grill. “He wanted me to aim higher. I got accepted to Quantico, and was sent home after three weeks because of my issue with authority.” She shrugs, spins the spatula like a baton. “Turns out, I’m more suited for private eye work than I am for either the feds or the boys in blue anyway.”

“Huh.”

“What?”

Logan shrugs, thinking that she was already exceptionally cute, but she just became the most fascinating person on the planet. “I don’t know.”

She removes the last burger from the grill and spins to look at him, hands on her hips. He feels a goofy grin spreading over his face, and she rolls her eyes at him. “What, Logan?”

“You should only wear this.”

She looks down at Keith’s apron, which reads in big, bold letters, “NEVER TRUST A SKINNY CHEF”. She snorts. “If you haven’t figured out yet that you shouldn’t trust me, no amount of written reminders are going to do the trick.”

Logan ducks his head, rubs the back of his neck. “So I’m trusting, sue me.”

“Ah!” She taps her chin with one finger, mock-contemplative. “Is that how you ended up advertising for a strange dad to on-site cater your barbecue?”

“That wasn’t my idea.” Veronica raises her eyebrows, Logan adds, “I actually feel a lot better about your dad now.”

“You feel a lot better about him now that you know he deceived you?”

“Well, yeah,” Logan admits. “He seemed way too normal to be the kind of person who responds to Craigslist ads, so there definitely had to be a catch.” She raises her eyebrows at him, he adds lamely, “So it’s nice that the catch was he’s mainly here to catch bad guys.”

As if on cue, Veronica’s cell phone buzzes; she picks up on the first ring. “Dad?” The worry smooths away from her face at his response, and she mouths a quick apology to Logan before retreating into the corner of the yard to debrief. The last thing he hears her say is “I can’t believe you jumped over that fence, are you trying to kill me?”

Logan walks over to where Dick and Gia are relating the main event to Duncan, who has reemerged and is trying very hard to appear as if he doesn’t regret missing out. “Then Keith magically pulled a gun out of nowhere,” Dick says, miming in slow motion, “and yelled get on the ground or I’ll shoot!”

“He didn’t exactly yell that,” Gia puts in. “I’m pretty sure he basically just said ‘police’.”

Dick ignores her, too invested in the story. “But the guy just books it, and so Keith literally vaulted over the fence and chased after him, yelling and firing at him –”

“No,” Gia says.

Duncan rolls his eyes. “This is what you get for inviting strangers into your home,” he says derisively.

“Trained professionals to arrest the criminal who apparently lived next door to us anyway?” Logan pipes up.

“Professional or not,” Gia says, upbeat, “as soon as shit started to go down, Logan shielded the cop’s daughter with his body, which was pretty cool.”

“Aww,” says Lilly, coming up to put an arm around her brother’s shoulders. “And you were out in the car, sulking because everyone laughed at your drink choice!”

Reminded, Logan glances down at his shirt, which he’d mostly forgotten in all the excitement; it is now starting to stick to his skin uncomfortably. What the hell, Keith won’t be back for twenty minutes at least; he can definitely get some mileage out of this. He takes the shirt off. The girls wolf-whistle, Duncan groans.

“You know,” Lilly suggests slyly, “there are definitely easier ways than Craigslist to incorporate a new father figure into your life.”

“What?” says Dick, immediately intrigued. “Is there a more specific service?”

“Is there?” Logan repeats, alarmed.

Lilly starts laughing. “You’re both idiots,” Duncan tells them, with significantly more affection now that his knowing something they don’t has reestablished him in a position of authority.

Gia appears to be about ready to take pity on them, but is interrupted by Veronica’s return. “They got the guy,” she announces. “Dad is driving him to the station. Logan, he says he’s leaving you in charge until he gets back, not Richard.”

Dick flips her off; Logan replies, “I’m touched that he’s ceding authority to me in my own home.”

Veronica performs an elaborate double take, gestures at the house. “This is yours?”

“As far as the eye can see, or at least until where I imagine the police tape will be going up.”

“It’s my house, too,” Dick puts in.

Veronica ignores him. “I took you for an out-of-towner,” she tells Logan.

The fact that she thought of this means she’s not uninterested in the possibility of seeing him again. “Nope, local boy, though and through.”

Veronica eyes him thoughtfully. “And why are you half naked?”

He realizes he doesn’t actually have a good reason. “I was really starting to smell?”

She pretends to consider this. “I guess I’ll take it,” she finally says. Lilly starts cackling.

Logan tries not to preen. “Veronica, this is everybody; everybody, Veronica.” Veronica waves awkwardly.

“Are you going to stick around until your dad gets back?” Gia asks, faux-innocent.

Veronica looks sidelong at Logan. “Stay,” he says, hearing it come out somehow as if he were laying his heart on the line. He adds, more casually, “You can scold him for his fence-jumping.”

She considers him. “Do you have anything other than Mike’s hard black cherry lemonade?”

He cracks a smile. “I think I can scare something up.”

“The good stuff is all inside,” Lilly lies, straight-faced, then elbows Duncan, who says with faux-enthusiasm, “Oh yeah, and while you’re in there, maybe Logan could put a shirt on.”

“Like, if one jumps out at him,” Gia puts in. “Not every color works on Logan.”

“Yeah,” says Lilly. “He went through a whole orange phase. It was bad.”

Veronica looks bewilderedly around the circle, then back up at Logan. “I guess I could stay awhile,” she says, a smile pulling at her mouth.

“Don’t forget to grab hamburgers before you go in,” Dick says, serious. “That’s literally the whole point.”

“Right,” says Logan, not taking his eyes off Veronica. “Thank goodness for those hamburgers.”

-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-

Yahoo answers post from user MeCasablancasIsTooCasablancas:

So a few years ago I met this really cool dad, super great, very wise, lot to offer as a father figure. I put a lot of effort into getting to know him and he’s always been totally chill. My roommate, on the other hand, barely wanted to talk to the dad, from day one. Only problem is, now that’s changed and we’re in competition, and I was wondering, how do I make sure that my prior claim to the dad is respected? My roommate didn’t even want a dad, but now just because he’s marrying the guy’s daughter everyone’s telling me father-in-law trumps the fact that I clearly called dibs? This can’t be right.

Also, the wedding is in two months, and even though there’s no way they go through with it, just in case please go to Craigslist and look for my post seeking a new roommate. If it helps, we have a grill.

#LV AU week #veronica mars #cate fic #vm #this fic brought to you by general insanity and my conveniently timed spring break #aaaaaaaand that's it for now folks!!#I promise I am working on the teachers AU #it's just very difficult to write a teacher AU #without including lots of stuff about students #which takes up space and time

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buttercream-imagines · 6 years

Text

12 Days of Imagines || Niall Horan

all masterposts found here

pairing - Niall Horan x reader word count - 1,979 warnings - none A/N - bonus imagine for 12 Days of Imagines

summary - The one based off of Fairytale of New York

It was Christmas Eve when you met Niall. You were 19 and he was 21. You were a waitress at a bar in New York City and he was just trying to get away from the paparazzi for a few hours. He stood out drastically from the drunk old men who tried to grab your ass as you handed them their drinks. You heard him speaking with your boss in a low voice. You only caught a few words but you gathered enough that he needed a place to hide. Your boss nodded and pointed at a dark corner booth where he could sit in seclusion. “Hey (Y/N),” your boss called. You walked over to him after putting down the glass you were cleaning. “That guy in the corner, he’s a celebrity, alright? Don’t fuck this one up.”

“I’ll do my best,” you said back sarcastically.

Your boss rolled his eyes at you and motioned for you to go serve the Irish celebrity. “Hi,” you said casually to him. “I’m (Y/N). Can I get you a drink?”

“How about a whiskey?” he asked, fiddling with his phone absentmindedly.

“Right away,” you said.

You went and got Niall’s drink quickly and brought it over to him. “Thanks,” he said immediately.

“No problem,” you said back with a smile. “Anything else?”

“I could use some company,” he said honestly, bringing his eyes up to meet yours directly for the first time. You looked around at the fairly empty bar and nodded.

“I can do that.”

“I’m Niall,” he said, reaching out to shake your hand.

“I got that,” you said with a laugh. Niall laughed too and let go of your hand to run his fingers through his hair. “I gather this isn’t how you wanted to spend your Christmas Eve.”

“Yeah, not really,” he said. “But when the storm hit I couldn’t exactly hit the skies back to Ireland.”

“I’m sorry,” you said. “That sucks.”

“Yeah,” he laughed bitterly, taking a gulp of his whiskey. “Some Christmas.”

“So what are you going to do?” you asked.

“I guess I have to get back to my hotel,” he said with a shrug.

“You’re going to spend Christmas alone?”

“I guess so,” he said, furrowing his eyebrows and looking down at his drink. “I really should’ve agreed to letting some security come with me.”

“You can’t spend Christmas alone,” you said back. Niall shrugged again and brought his glass back up to his lips. “Look, I know this is crazy, and you can totally turn the offer down, but how about you spend Christmas with me and my family? It’s just me and my parents and my little brother. We always have so many leftovers so we’ll have plenty to eat.”

“I couldn’t intrude on you like that,” he said quickly.

“It’s not intruding if I offer,” you countered. “But I get it if you’d rather spend Christmas totally alone getting drunk in a bar hiding from rude guys with big cameras.” Niall laughed and put his glass down after finishing it.

“Alright, I would love to spend Christmas with you (Y/N),” he said with a smile. “But for now, how about another whiskey while you tell me a bit about yourself.” You laughed and nodded, going to get him another drink.

When you sat back down and slid the glass in front of him, you put your elbows on the table and your chin in your hands and smiled. “What would you like to know about me, Mr Niall Horan?” you asked. He pondered for a moment.

“What are your hopes and dreams?” he asked before taking a sip of his whiskey.

“What?” you laughed.

“You heard me.”

“I- I don’t know,” you said, feeling your cheeks turn red. “I guess I’ve always liked singing. I play here at the bar sometimes and I’ll go to open mics across town. I’m never going to get anywhere though,” you added quickly. “So I’m going to college to be a music teacher.”

“Let me hear you sing,” he said.

“Are you kidding?” you laughed. “I’m not going to sing for you. You’re, like, legit famous.”

“Don’t say that,” he said, frowning a bit. “Don’t treat me any differently. Just pretend I’m some random stranger you met today, not that I’m Niall Horan.” He put quotes around his name as you laughed a bit at him.

“I’m really not that good.”

“I’m sure you’re great.”

You sighed and went to the back where you kept your guitar. When you came back, you sat awkwardly in front of Niall. “Do you have any requests?�� you asked teasingly.

“Do you know any Christmas tunes?” he asked. You nodded and began plucking your strings to play O Holy Night.

O Holy night

The stars are brightly shining

It is the night of our dear Savior’s birth

Long lay the world in sin and error pining

Til he appeared and the soul felt its worth

A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices

For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn

Fall on your knees

Oh hear the angel voices

Oh night divine

Oh night when Christ was born

Oh night divine

Oh night

Oh night divine

When you stopped singing, you looked up at Niall to find him smiling brightly at you. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said immediately. “You’re fantastic. Broadway’s waiting for you.”

“Thanks,” you said bashfully.

“I’ll remember you when you’re famous,” he said with a wink. You smiled and looked down at your watch.

“Come on,” you said, standing up. “My shift’s done. Time to go home.”

“No,” he said, grabbing your hand. “Let me hear more.”

Three years later, Niall was but a memory in your head. A beautiful, wonderful memory. Sometimes, if the smell of pine hit you just right, you could feel Niall’s kiss lingering on your lips.

You were right where you were three years prior, wiping down the bar on Christmas Eve. You wanted nothing more than to go to your apartment and sleep until you spent Christmas day with your family, but there you were.

The sound of the bell above the door jingling made you look up from the counter. You froze and felt your heart thump harder in your chest. “Hi (Y/N),” Niall said gently. You didn’t even know what to say. “It’s been a while.”

“Yeah,” you said, your voice coming out bitterly. “It has.”

“I know you’re mad,” he said quickly, walking over to you, “and you have every right to be. Just let me talk. I literally just flew in from Ireland. I was sitting in this pub and I couldn’t stop thinking about you. I don’t know why, but I couldn’t. I’ve never forgotten you, but this year I just couldn’t get you off my mind. I’ve just, I’ve got this feeling that this year’s for me and you.” You scoffed and tried to walk away, but Niall grabbed your arm. “Happy Christmas, (Y/N). I love you.”

You snatched your arm away from him immediately. “When you first held my hand on that Christmas Eve, you promised me Broadway was waiting for me,” you snapped. “You said all these perfect and sweet things and then you just left. Who does that shit? You were so handsome and-“

“You were so pretty,” he interrupted. “Like the queen of New York City. When you finished playing, I begged for more. Don’t you remember? You started playing Sinatra and all the drunks were singing along. Don’t you remember that?” You laughed softly and looked down at your hands. “And then we kissed in the corner, remember that?” You blushed but wouldn’t look up at him. “And we could hear the boys from the NYPD choir singing Galway Bay, then the bells started ringing out for Christmas day.”

Niall’s hand grazed yours again but you retracted it once more. “You can’t bring back those memories and expect everything to be okay!” you spat at him. “You’re a punk! You’re a, you’re a scumbag! A maggot!”

“(Y/N)-“

“Merry Christmas, you ass and I pray to God it’s our last.”

You started to walk away again but Niall stepped in front of you. You opened your mouth to say something again but the bell above the door jingled again. You caught the sound of singing outside. Once again, the boys from the NYPD choir were singing Galway Bay. Niall heard it too. His features softened and he hesitantly held your hand to get you to look at him. You did. “I could’ve been someone,” Niall said quietly.

“So could anyone,” you scoffed and let go of his hand. “And you were someone. You were Niall Horan.” You put the quotes around his name, just like he had done that day when you first met.

“That’s not what I meant,” he said, running his fingers through his hair. It was brown, not dyed blonde like when you first met him. You liked it. It suited him. “I mean, I could’ve been more than just Niall Horan. I could’ve been someone to you.”

You didn’t say anything. You had both sat down at a booth sometime after hearing the choir and you found yourself looking at the table instead of at him. “You took my dreams from me,” you said quietly. “I hardly ever sang after that night. Every time I touched that guitar I thought of you and how you just, you just left me.”

“I took your dreams with me,” he said, squeezing your hand gently causing you to look up at him. “I put them with my own. I built my dreams around you.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a wrinkled napkin. Upon further inspection, you could see your messy signature scrawled across it. “Your first autograph,” he said quietly. “I asked you for it, remember? Because I knew that one day, you’d be famous. I kept this in my pocket at every show I performed. After I met you, I couldn’t bear to part with it. I hated being without you.”

You sighed and shook your head. “Why are you here, Niall?” you asked. “Why now? It’s been three years. Clearly I’m not famous. I’m just some kid barely out of college teaching music at the local elementary school. I don’t matter. What have I got to offer you?”

“Of course you matter,” Niall said firmly. “Who cares if you’re not famous? You’re doing something that matters to all those kids out there.” You scoffed and rolled your eyes. “No, hey, listen to me. I’m sorry it took me three years. It’s just, my life finally feels normal, or at least semi-normal. It finally feels under control. That’s why it’s taken me so long. Back then I was with the band and, fuck I was still a kid (Y/N). I, I mean you saw me! I couldn’t even leave my hotel without being followed or mobbed. Life was crazy. Now, well now everything makes more sense. I,” he sighed, “I know this is crazy, and you can totally turn the offer down, but how about you spend Christmas with me?”

You felt tears in your eyes as you let out a laugh of disbelief. “You’re insane, you know that Mr Niall Horan?”

“I’m sorry for what I did to you,” he said. “And I know I don’t deserve it, but I would love more than anything for you to give me a chance. A real chance.”

The door to the bar opened again and you heard bells ringing in the distance. Instead of saying anything, you reached across the table and placed your lips to Niall’s. Just as quickly, you pulled away. “I love you,” you whispered, the words falling out of your mouth, shocking even yourself.

“I love you too,” he whispered. “Merry Christmas.”

“Merry Christmas, Niall.”

#one direction #niall horan #one direction imagine #niall horan imagine #12 days of imagines

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sending-the-message · 6 years

Text

I Have the Worst Fucking Roommate in the World by AsDeathBeckons

I know, I know. A lot of you will say I’m being sensational or I’m using hyperbole. But I’m not. I’m really not. This guy is literally going to drive me insane. Allow me to explain.

I met Gordon back when we were kids in elementary school. He was even weird back then. He was small and thin, with big, gray eyes and hair that was never combed. He didn’t have any friends and he always smelled like cheese.

No, he and I didn’t grow closer together over the years; This isn’t one of those stories. I graduated high school and went to a prodigious university for a few semesters before the stress got to me and I dropped out. I returned to town and, because my folks wouldn’t take me back, I had to find a roommate. Well, unfortunately for me, Gordon was looking for one as well. He was living in a two-bedroom house with an attic and a basement, and I figured I wouldn’t have to deal with him much given how much space we both would have in the house.

Everything was okay the first few months, aside from a few things. One, Gordon was the type to use ten different dishes in a single day and never wash them. Like, ever. So I found myself scrubbing ceramic way more often than I should have. Another thing was the fact that Gordon, although private, seemed to take certain liberties just because we were living in “his house.” I once walked into the livingroom, a girl accompanying me, and saw Gordon beating his meat to anime characters. Gordon looked at me, literally made eye contact, and then glanced back at the television, continuing his session. The girl went home in quite a hurry, and I was forced to follow Gordon’s example that night. Gordon also walked around in his underwear, sometimes wearing the same pair three days in a row. I never saw him leave the house, so I had no idea how the hell he was paying his half of the rent. But the worst part? Gordon was a hoarder.

The guy hated to throw anything away. I would come home and find empty McDonald’s cups or UPS boxes that had already been emptied of their contents and left haphazardly on the coffee table. After throwing them out, I would wake up the next day and find the trash can tipped over, with the cups either back on the table, stuffed in the closet, or put in the back of the refrigerator, even though they were empty. This was the case for practically everything Gordon owned; Clothes too small to fit him protruded from under the couch or the closet in the hallway; old papers and binders from as far back as his middle school days were up in the attic, along with who knows what else; broken foosball tables and empty potato chip bags had been tossed into the basement. And, speaking of the basement, the place was so stuffed with random shit that I avoided it altogether. Going down there, or even to the attic, was a health risk.

One day, Gordon and I got into it. I had had a long day at work, and I was looking forward to going home and eating my leftover pulled pork sandwich and drinking a couple beers. I walked into the house to find Gordon sitting on the couch, his hairy feet resting on the coffee table, with my whole six pack of Shiner (he doesn’t even drink) empty next to them, and the leftovers of my pulled pork sandwich on a plate next to him on the couch. I lost it.

“What the fuck is wrong with you, man? We have all that food in there and you decided to eat my shit?”

Gordon looked at me as though I was the one who had offended him. “I didn’t see your name on it. You should leave a note if you don’t want other people eating your food.”

“I have! This isn’t the first time, Gordon! I had a terrible day today-“

“Oh, you didn’t enjoy work? Boohoo, that’s why it’s called work!” Gordon muttered, turning back to the T.V. I was angry, and wasn’t holding back any longer.

“At least I have a job. How the hell do you pay for anything anyway?”

“My mother helps me out, actually, asshole. I find such things as ‘work’ undesirable. Clearly ‘work’ can make people act irrational and childish.”

I would’ve kicked his ass, but a voice in my head told me that it wasn’t the right thing to do. This was his house, after all. I wasn’t trying to get kicked out. I swallowed my curses, stormed to my bedroom, and slammed the door behind me. I went to bed hungry and angry that night.

A few days later, I was doing the dishes and Gordon was holed up in his room. There was a knock on the door, and I turned off the sink, wondering what the hell Gordon had ordered this time. You can imagine my surprise when I found a gorgeous blonde woman standing in the doorway, her gray eyes full of joy and excitement.

“Hi!” she said, and, still dumbfounded, I only stared at her for a few seconds. Those beautiful eyes of hers narrowed and she asked, “Are you okay?”

“Uhh, yeah, of course. Are you looking for someone?”

“Yes, I am. Don’t you remember me? I’m Gordon’s sister, Serena.”

“Serena?” I said aloud, and then it came back to me. Gordon did have a little sister that I remembered distinctly. But she definitely didn’t look like this back then.

“Yeah…can I come in?”

“Sure, yeah, come in.”

Serena went to Gordon’s door and knocked. When there was no response, she returned to the livingroom.

“He must be asleep.”

“No, I doubt it. I think he goes into legit hibernation sometimes. He can go for days in there.”

“Right. He’s been that way ever since our mom died. He’s been so withdrawn emotionally, but the Gordon I know is still in there.”

I would’ve told her that Gordon had been weird his entire life, but decided against it. If I was ever going to have a chance with this beautiful woman, insulting her brother wasn’t the way to go.

“Tell him I came by, will you? I may be able to stop by again on Friday.”

“Yeah, of course. It was good seeing you again, Serena!”

Serena smiled and left the house. I watched her go from the window, then went back to my show. A couple of days later, I found myself dogsitting a friend’s Poodle named Nancy. Nancy was more trouble than she was worth. She shit on the floor less than ten minutes after I brought her back inside from her walk, she chewed a hole through my shoe, and she managed to unplug the microwave and nearly crushed herself with it before I dived down to save for her. My own head aching and stars swimming in my vision, I heard, somewhere far off in the distance, the sound of the basement door creaking. I sat up just in time to see Nancy vanish through a crack in the door.

“No! Nancy, come back, dammit!”

I chased after her, flinging the door open. The Poodle was gone; She had managed to disappear into the sea of shit that didn’t belong that Gordon had accrued. I cursed again and promised Nancy that this might be her last day if she didn’t come back from down there. The little shit ignored me and I was forced to make my way down the rickety flight of stairs. “Nancy! Nancy come here, damn it!”

It really was a maze down there. I could see old toys, rocking chairs, broken dressers, tennis tables, furniture, rusted kitchen appliances, coat racks, and all manners of things down there. The only thing I couldn’t see was Nancy. I stumbled around for a bit before the inevitable happened. I stepped on a rubber duck and slipped, landing flat on my back. Groaning and promising myself that Gordon was going to be paying my hospital bill, I turned over and finally noticed Nancy. She was in a dark corner, beside a broken canoe, chewing on a bone. “There you are, you little shit.”

I stood back up and walked, a little more carefully now, towards the dog.

“Where’d you get that bone Nan…” I trailed off as I caught sight of what was in the canoe. It was a corpse, dressed in a purple dress, white pearls around her neck. She still had hair, though it was all gray now. I was going to scream, but I covered my mouth with my hand. I shouldn’t have been surprised, honestly. Gordon never could get rid of things.

#reddit #nosleep #scary #story

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steamishot · 4 years

Text

Changes

~4/21? I think my mindset shifted a lot this past week, especially after staying with Matt and his family for a few days. Admittedly, I used to be very fearful of going outside to public spaces and be extra cautious every time I did take out. For example, my family and I have “outside clothes” and “inside clothes”. I would immediately toss my “outside” clothes into my laundry basket when I arrived home from the market or picking up food, even if I was out for just 5 minutes. My parents were against me doing any uber eats or takeout. They believed home cooked food was the best during this time and refused to eat non-homemade food. My mom left the house less than 2 times this past month. My dad is less fearful - he’s gone out multiple times a week (to buy food and for work) and doesn’t really care, but my mom and I always gave him shit for doing so. I felt like a huge hypocrite going out to see Matt, and was afraid of how my family would react.

I’m really awkward whenever talking about love or romantic partners with my family - especially after what happened with my last parter. I’m avoidant. So I ended up only telling my mom I was going to leave to see Matt 30 minutes before I actually did pack up to go, which was very bad on my part. She was heartbroken and was super fearful and asked “can you not?”. She later called me during the car ride and told me not to come home for a month. Hearing that made Matt feel guilty, and he called my mom’s idea stupid. We got into a huge argument, with me trying to defend my family. I found out later there was some underlying resentment, where he felt like my family treats him like second-rate, which is probably my fault because I choose not to talk about partners to my family.

4/25- it’s now been over a week that Matt has been home and I’ve seen his family every single day even on the days that we were staying at the Airbnb. Things have been kinda tense between us (I think he’s being mean to me, he thinks I’m mean to him). I realize that this is due to several issues:

- Quarantine/pandemic stresses: he’s a frontline worker in the epicenter of covid and working at one of the hardest hit hospitals. Even though he doesn’t verbally acknowledge his feelings and pretends he’s ok, he’s definitely more stressed out than usual. During this time, he’s even more sensitive to any criticism I have. He used to take it all (mostly), but he’s been retaliating more often recently. On his end, he feels that his whole life is a sacrifice, and he’s working extremely hard especially during this scary time - why do I have to criticize him during his vacation? I should just let him enjoy himself.

-Attention: We’re staying with his family during this time, so it’s his time to catch up with everyone. He’s also catching up with his friends online. Because these are the people he rarely talks to (he calls me everyday vs. calling family for like 5 min once a week, and never calling/texting his friends), I have become last on the priority list in attention during his vacation. I keep telling myself it’s fine. However, because I’m also the person he is closest to, I feel like it’s me who puts up with his shit the most. Then I question, why do I have to be so nice to someone who is not very fit as a good partner (due to residency, especially during a time like covid), and on top of that has to be rude to me? I started feeling salty about that.

- Lack of comfort: not to be ungrateful, but I realize that staying at someone else’s home for an extended period of time is stressful, even more so under quarantine. I’m not carefree at his home, and I feel like I have to be on my best behavior/ “professional” around his parents. I lose structure in my daily life and I always have to depend on someone else. I have a few articles of clothing I’m wearing over and over lol. His dad generously gave us his room (because it’s attached to a restroom). However, we’re sleeping on an old spring mattress that creeks with every movement. We’ve had to have quiet, inhibited sex lol.

Anyway, I’m PMSing - 6 days before my period. I hate that I tend to PMS during the times that we have to spend together. I know my concerns are legit, but PMS can make it seem worse/more dramatic than what it is. I was watching Insecure season 4 yesterday, and there was a scene that stuck out to me. Issa’s best friend Molly (who has been single for quite some time) started dating a guy that she really likes. A few weeks later, she got upset that he wasn’t opening up to her. Issa asked something along the lines of “do you actually wanna be happy? you keep looking for problems.” Hearing that kinda put things into perspective for me, as I tend to focus on the negatives than see things as a whole.

Let’s focus on positive things:

- Having a partner in healthcare feels like having the fastpass in an amusement park. Going to costco and beating the line. Free stuff/food everyday. His mom is a PT at USC and she’s received free food, free orchids, free tangerines, etc. I stopped feeling guilty about being out for non-essential things (like going out for take out multiple times a day), because my doctor partner deserves it. When I return to my life at home, I’m not going to do this anymore. Also, he had a healthcare worker discount at the north face, and bought a jacket for me, his mom, and himself.

- Running. The men in his family are all into running. His dad is almost mid-60s and runs 5 miles multiple times a week. His teenage brother runs 7-9 miles like everyday. Matt used to run a lot too, and was the top runner in high school. That’s why even though he’s fat now, it’s only his upper body that is actually fat. His lower body still has that runner’s physique. I went out to the trail with them 3 times already. It’s hard because I have allergies in this weather, and also it’s damn hot. But I was able to run 3.5 miles last time. I’ll try for 4 today.

- Everyday, his parents always ask him what I want to eat. They’re so accommodating, especially his dad. Tea is sacred to his dad, and he never really shared before. No one else in his family was interested in tea either. But because I showed interest and love tea, he’s been asking me multiple times a day - do you want tea? Do you want wine? LOL. He buys breakfast everyday - dimsum, burger king, mcdonalds, chinese breakfast, etc. They always make sure I am fed.

4/30 - after I wrote my last blurb, everything started going uphill. We both became more understanding of each other, and more forgiving. He became more relaxed, I became more relaxed. We were able to have fun again. to highlight the fun times that i had with him and his family:

- the first or second day i was over at his parents house, his dad offered me some tea, but i declined because it was already late and i was afraid i wouldn’t be able to sleep. i asked if we could take some tea leaves to go since were staying at an airbnb at the time. matt says he’s protective of his tea. i think he was a little shocked when i first asked him, because no one in his family is interested in tea, but he gave me like 2 bags initially. his mom was like GIVE HER MORE, GIVE HER 10. SHE IS LIKE FAMILY. i felt a little awkward but i love me some tea.

- did so. much. takeout in 13 days. the first couple days I was still kinda paranoid about going out, but by the last day it felt like NBD to me. Got to eat poke, sugarfish sushi, nabemono hot pot, pho x3, banh mi, boba everyday, ramen x2 (men oh, ramenhood), burgers x3 (in n out, bunz, the win-dow), sugar cane x2, taro cake, yin ji chang fen, thai, philz, dim sum etc. it was reminiscent of our lifestyle whenever we went on vacation. we were still fatasses during quarantine.

- played board games with his brother and mom. played poker with the family and his dad. his younger brother and i lost early on cause we suck, but he and his dad continued playing for another hour and a half or so - matt ended up winning. but it was very nice to see them spend time together as spending time playing games like that was never a thing in their family

- i helped his family take some cute family photos (with and without masks on). his mom likes taking family photos and usually gets to do so on family trips, but said they didn’t get any this year because of the quarantine. the boys aren’t big fans of photos either so she took advantage of me being there. i was also part of a few family photos!

- made charcuterie boards for his family. they really enjoyed it.

- i spent some quality time with his 88 year old grandma. she mostly does her own thing (which is being babysat by an ipad), but one day i made her draw with me by following youtube tutorials - we drew a flower, mickey mouse, a cat, and a monkey together. she asked me to save a video so she can continue doing it and get better. another day, i wanted to have her write/read in english and chinese. his mom found an elementary chinese workbook and she ended up teaching me. the material was very easy and she was like “uh you’re already very good” lol. i then switched the roles and asked her to write in english - she was surprisingly very good and could write quite quickly. as an assignment, i asked her to write a letter to matt. it was precious. it took me back to the days where i would teach english to chinese seniors. i took a pic of them using my instax camera, and she really loved it.

- watched farewell with his grandma, brother, and mom. we already watched it once before so he was sitting in the back only paying half attention. his brother was immediately into it and got emotional at times. at one point, he had to stand up and go towards the back of the room because the emotions were too much to handle. matt said his brother was tearing up. his mom said that watching their family was very relatable and it reminded her of her own family. i tried watching this film with my mom and grandma, but they didn’t get it and found it boring. it was nice to watch a chinese-american film with a chinese family to get that commentary.

- ran/walked/jogged at the trail a total of 20 miles during my stay there

- did home work outs - yoga, blogilates and peloton HIIT with him, his family and friends. we did echo park steve’s yoga one day too. his mom enjoyed peloton yoga and blogilates and asked me to save the videos for her.

- in the first few days, his mom kept repeating “life is beautiful”. the first day, we cheered to him still being alive lol. (not funny and his mom was sleepless a few nights due to worrying, but i think it’s gonna be ok)

- news so I can remember: 3 programs in cali reached out to matt during his vacation, asking if he’s still interested in interviewing for a PGY-2 program. loma linda was one of them and would have been an amazing program to be a part of. it was a very hard decision, but he declined. he had already signed a contract with brooklyn, and this would require him to speak to his program director about his interest in switching programs. not a good look if you don’t actually get into the program.

- his parents (moreso mom) is an avid, adventurous traveler. they had plans to go to africa this year and talked about rescheduling. she included matt and i in the plans to go next year and said “the four of us”. matt brought up norway instead, since that’s more doable. so we settled on going to norway as a family.

- went with matt’s dad to drop him off at LAX yesterday morning at like 6:30am. he then dropped me at home, and officially met my mom for the first time. they shook hands and he told my mom “connie is so nice”. LOL.

After coming home yesterday, my mom bombarded me with questions about matt and his family. and then asked about our future and whether we are thinking of marriage. she is against me moving to nyc during this pandemic, and i hate how uncertain everything is right now. she also thinks that i should be engaged before i uproot my life to move over to be with him. i agree to an extent, but i also understand if he is not ready. it is crazy that we have now been long distance longer than being together in person, and with this pandemic, i’m not sure how long that’s gonna continue. i found out that my mom feels ashamed of me going to stay at a boy’s house for that long. a boy i am not engaged/married to. she doesn’t say it but the actions make me seem slutty to traditional people. she hid the information from my brother and SIL - i think because she would be ashamed if the info leaked out to her parents. that is why she keeps pushing the idea of marriage/engagement on me.

I took yesterday to kinda get used to being back at home, and felt quite sad to detach from my “second family”. In a way, even though it wasn’t always comfortable or easy, I at least felt I wasn’t stagnant. It was like a “bootcamp” to fit in with someone else’s family, their routines, and their daily lives. I’m also happy that I was pushed to run. They eat pretty heavy food, and they all overeat, but they also exercise a lot. My family portions well and eats very clean, but has milder workouts. Sometimes they intentionally skip meals to lose/maintain weight, whereas my family would throw a fit if we didn’t have food at a certain time. Their family is larger (130-190lbs), whereas my family is like (110-150 lbs)? After coming back home and eating my mom’s very clean food, I felt it wasn’t as tasty and I started craving heavier food lol. I think it would be beneficial for me to eat/live like their family for a few months (to gain weight and be stronger), and for matt to eat like my family to lose weight.

When we were eating takeout ramen one day, his mom mentioned that he never used to eat carbs. When he was at home and had a workout routine, it was just protein and veggies. I realize that without me, he probably wouldn’t be such a fatass lol. He said he would probably be too lazy to go out to eat, especially if he didn’t have a partner. I remembered that before meeting me, his diet would be soylent and protein bars. We’ve come a long way.

Anyway, I’m finally getting back into my routine at home. It’s kinda boring now, but I’ll adjust. I did only the minimum for work these past two weeks, and now UC Path is down for a week, meaning I can’t really do much work. I’m taking a half day tomorrow, using COVID admin pay. My tomato plants grew a lot. My ginger may have sprouted a little, but my strawberries seem like they’re a fail. Finally applied for PUA for my uncle, hope he will be receiving a paycheck soon. Supposed to get my period really soon so I’ve been feeling pretty lazy. I may start running outside on my own.

I’m worrying less about covid now. I used to freak myself out by reading the news everyday and following the subreddit, but looking at statistics, I feel ok.

0 notes

ask-svt-hearteu · 7 years

Text

Hyung line parenting 101

@svt-seokhoon-17 I have an family au. Cheolsoo are the parents of Vernon, jeonghoon are the parents of seungkwan, wonhui are the parents of minghao and mingyu, hoshi is a single parent raising seokmin and dino. It’s the 7 oldest being the parents and youngest 6 being kids | Omg yes (like thoes soulmate, best friend bullet point things or something different)

requested by anon: “A Lee family au (father woozi, mother jeonghan, child seungkwan)”

admin note: sorry this is late LEGIT MOST OF THIS WAS RANDOM RAMBLING AND I THINK IT’S FUNNY BUT SORRY IF IT WASN’T WHAT YOU MEANT

Cheolsoo family

their kid is currently in elementary school

tbh Joshua and Seungcheol are the proudest hype parents ever

they’re proud Hansol can find his way from the house to the bus station

or if he remembers their phone numbers

they hype everything he does

even if it’s just putting on his shoes

nothing Vernon does can be called stupid to them

except for that one time he tried eating a mud pie made from mud, clearly

and Vernon isn’t a stupid kid

no not at all

he just likes hanging out with friends and watching youtube videos more than coloring in pictures of George Washington and reading short chapter books about a magic tree house

he only colors when he knows the homework is due the next day

and then he colors outside the lines because why would you want to color inside the lines, that’s boring

he somehow always finishes his math hw though

without fail

it’s like magic

he hangs out a lot with the Lee family’s kid, Seungkwan

not because the kid does Vernon’s math hw for him or anything

they’re best friends but Vernon denies this

which sometimes hurts Seungkwan’s feelings

but then they play tag or watch some mine craft videos together

and they make up and Vernon finally admits they're best friends

and Vernon protects his best friend from the bullies on the playground

bullies being the girls who call Seungkwan ugly

Vernon will throw tanbark at them no joke

and you know he'd be that one kid that gets in trouble for putting gum in a girl's hair but she was asking for it by making fun of Seungkwan

and he pushes Seungkwan on the swings a lot too

never complains about it

Joshua is the parent who works from home

because his child’s education is really important and they need to have one parent home at least

according to his how to be a parent book

also in charge of the school's PTA

so everyone knows Vernon

Joshua is always planning like fifty bake sales and a bunch of fundraisers

also tries convincing the school to host a carnival

just so Vernon can ride the Ferris wheel

he also drags the whole family to church on Sunday

he always tries cooking dinner with an apron that says “Thank God for this chef”

but he can’t cook

at all

so Seungcheol always has to put out whatever fire is roaring in the kitchen

and then order takeout

Joshua’s one of those classy af parents sipping wine in the driveway with a book while their kid runs past screaming

“You’re doing great sweetie, don’t kill the neighbor’s cat like last time.” without even looking up

really loves his family though

reads bedtime stories to both Seungcheol and Vernon even though Vernon insists he stop

always packing Vernon’s lunch in a little brown paper bag with a heart drawn on it

which some people tease Vernon for

but he will fight them if they mess with it

and he secretly likes how much his parents care for him in the randomest ways

they have a pool in the backyard

so they’re always throwing neighborhood parties

Seungcheol can actually manage BBQ’s pretty well

so he makes stuff like hamburgers, hot dogs for Vernon and Joshua

he works downtown

pretty nice office space with a nice view

normal eight-hour work day type deal

never comes home and complains though

and always that parent dragging their kid out on the lawn to run through the sprinklers in summer

and tends to set things on fire with sparklers

rest in peace that poor rose bush

the one to mow the lawn in something embarrassing like just underwear

with Joshua covering Vernon's eyes and yelling for him to put a shirt on there are children what are you doing you need Jisoos

Seungcheol also the one to go to the hardware store for a lightbulb and ends up getting the idea to build a treehouse

and makes Vernon help him

even though it ends up being Joshua putting all the planks together and Seungcheol meekly hammering them together

they often go on family vacations too

so they don’t have a pet

it probably wouldn’t survive

camping often because nature

though secretly they all bring like ten portable battery chargers each and use data to check SNS

they all drive to the beach and take lots of family photos

photos end up on the fireplace mantel

everyone who sees the pictures can't deny how cute this family is

Vernon and Seungcheol teaming up to play a prank on Joshua, with whip cream

but they get caught

and end up being given a long lecture

Seungcheol nodding his head pretending to listen

Vernon mimicking Joshua

but mess with Vernon, or any of the family

and even Joshua can turn savage

next day your car is covered in soap or post-its

and you bring it up at the home owners' association meeting

Cheolsoo will high five each other and smile innocently

like "we have no idea who could have done that"

fights are nonexistent

they all think alike too much

they all love each other

they’re family

Jeonghoon family

tbh if savagery were parents

Jeonghan always bringing in the latest gossip from the other neighborhood parents

ranting on and on to Jihoon about how one person didn’t trim their lawn

or how their cat keeps pooping in the petunias

like how dare they

and Jihoon just nods

until Jeonghan brings up the neighbors that party too loudly

then Jihoon joins Jeonghan’s roasting fest

as they both criticize their neighbor’s music taste

“why even throw a party at all?”

“I’d rather die.”

they're always plotting their revenge on some random kid or neighbor

they tolerate the Cheolsoo family

though they low key like being neighbors because they can watch Seungkwan for them whenever he hangs out with Hansol

and then they can chill and do whatever they want

and the Cheolsoo family has lit pool parties

a bit suspicious of Vernon, but they love Vernon too

low key savage to their own kid too

“do whatever”

but they always secretly worry

and Seungkwan can tell this from their questions

“How’d you do on the spelling test? Not that we care it’s whatever.”

Seungkwan is a really smart kid

though they sometimes think he might be a pushover

so they try toughing Seungkwan up

going camping like the Choi's

doesn't go exactly as planned

too many mosquitos

not enough high speed internet

so the whole trying to toughen up their kid

doesn’t go so well

Seungkwan could end up crying

so they give up and give the kid ice cream

parenting experts clearly

Jihoon has an at home-studio

works on stuff and lets Seungkwan run around

might complain about annoying Seungkwan is

but let's Seungkwan do whatever he wants

the kid running around and testing all the sound equipment

and listening to the music his dad is composing

being brutally honest and savage

because he learned rom the best

"you sure you want to put that key change there?"

"get out"

Jeonghan just stays home and watches reality tv shows

“Seungkwan, I swear if you keep doing that kid’s math hw… actually go ahead, we like that family.”

and Seungkwan will sit and watch too

and criticize the show's plot points

before Jeonghan tells his kid to be quiet

but Jeonghoon love Seungkwan a lot

Seungkwan is always bring them his pictures, drawings, paintings, hw, tests, etc.

and they don’t say much

and so you'd think they don't acknowledge the kid

but you're wrong

all the drawings are hung up somewhere

the bathroom

the fridge

on the garage door

everywhere

and the tests always end up taped to the window with the perfect scores facing outside

and they’re always bragging about Seungkwan to their friends

“Yea my kid is a genius, I bet he could do algebra better than your kid” even though Seungkwan’s only in elementary school and doesn’t know algebra

Seungkwan’s always leads for the chorus shows and school productions

no one even fights him for it

the teachers just know

and he always drags Vernon into the shows

and on opening night Jeonghan and Jihoon are sitting front row center

with a huge af sign with Seungkwan’s name on it

not even caring they’re blocking other parents

proudest parents in the world that would never admit that nonsense

and they’ll tell you no recording because respect the school's rules

but you know secretly they’re recording the whole thing on their phones too

to send to friends and family like they do every year

"The Lee Family would like to say Season's Greetings"

and buy Seungkwan a flower bouquet afterwards

and all the ice cream the kid wants

maybe going with the Choi family

Jeonghan always buying takeout and putting it on fancy dishes to pretend he cooked it

fools Jihoon but not Seungkwan

who's learning to be more savage each day from his parents

"If I wanted takeout, I could just eat next door."

also Jeonghan's the parent to smear the frosting on store-bought cupcakes to make it look home-made

"They'll never notice"

Jihoon always the one doing the cleanup, washing dishes, mowing the lawn, changing lightbulbs (despite being short)

with Jeonghan telling him every five minutes “good job” without looking up from his drama series

the parents that prank all their neighborhood friends

"Quick we need to TP the house before they call the cops!"

Seungkwan's just shaking his head being dragged into it like

"Again?!?!?"

"They forgot to bring in their garbage cans, this is deserving."

end up all running away in the dark

and hiding in bushes

and laughing together as a family

before they start getting a bunch of insect bites from the bush

and rush home to shower and help each other with the anti-itch cream

they all love each other

they're family

Wonhui family

appear as the family that’s most got their ish together

with Wonwoo being a smart professor with a library at home

and Jun with his artistic performance arts stuff at the local theater all the time

gives lessons to Seungkwan for shows

which Jeonghoon is ok with because it's free

and Wonwoo tutoring Vernon

pretty calm and quiet parents at social events

except if they're the ones hosting

then ish can get crazy

don't play charades at the Jeon household

tbh their kids are always trying to ship the other to Canada or somewhere

“Hey dad I need a box.”

“How big?”

“Mingyu, how tall are you?”

“I need a box as big as Mingyu.”

“HELP MINGHAO IS TRYING TO SHOVE ME IN A BOX.”

��Minghao stop trying to ship your brother to Canada, you can’t afford the shipping fee anyway!”

Wonwoo always running around trying to stop the kids from fighting

Jun just casually in a corner, sipping wine and staring at the chaos

not even trying to help

just shakes his head and continues whatever he's doing

and Mingyu is the actual adult of the family

like yes his parents pay the bills

but they can't cook

he and Minghao may be in middle school

and Jun and Wonwoo may be the parents

but he’s always the one to cook and change light bulbs and make everyone else's lunch

wearing an apron too big for a middle schooler

but he's tall

Minghao denies being his sibling at schoool

even though Mingu is older

Minghao's like "Mingyu who?"

Mingyu always trailing after Minghao to annoy him but also to get attention from him

Mingyu also teasing Minghao for being taller than him

and people tend to call them 2Ming for short

which they hate

don't ever

unless you want a fight

separate friend groups at school but always sit together for lunch on fridays

and although they often argue

pray for Wonwoo and Jun if they decide to team up for a prank

let's just say 2Ming is still grounded after the last "incident"

middle school = angsty teens

but Minghao and Mingyu are surprisingly well behaved

sometimes

they both have a lot of extracurriculars

hecka busy schedule this family

never enough time for anything

Jun's performances at night

Wonwoo's lectures in the morning

martial arts class for Minghao

home economics class for Mingyu

Minghao always being done with the rest of his family

"How am I related to all of you?"

secretly loves his crazy family though

especially when Mingyu sticks up for him when people say he's a crazy nunchuck wielding ninja

which he is

they both do really well in school though

cuz smart parents

Mingyu always reminding everyone about important dates and appointments

being the mature parent one minute

and acting like a giant puppy the next

too busy for family vacations

so they just go out to fancy restaurants to eat every weekend

the one family to sing along to songs together in the car

but if the kids see someone from school

"I swear I don't know them, my family actually lives in Antarctica."

don't prank other neighbors either

mostly because they argue how extreme it should be

so generally when the Lee family strikes

they do four separate things

which is chaotic

but functional enough

Wonwoo always the one trying to calm everyone and be logical

Jun not helping whatsoever watching everyone struggle

Mingyu trying to fix everything by peaceful terms

and Minghao wanting chaotic means

they're a mess, but

they all love each other

they're family

Kwon family

Seokmin is in middle school with Mingyu and Minghao

often hangs out with them

though he can't decide which friend group

so he floats from one to the other

like's hanging out with Chan too

but Chan is still in elementary school

a year younger than Seungkwan and Hansol

Soonyoung doing that hard carry as the single parent

dance classes for the whole family though

it's always lit at their birthday parties

choreos always on point

you know they rehearsed for that wedding they attended

"we have to nail the choreo to wow all the grandparents"

tbh also has a who's the adult crisis like the Wonhui family

with Chan having to scold Soonyoung for forgetting to pick him and Seokmin up

and Seokmin just being a huge happy fluffball

like idk what's going on but I love you all

Seokmin likes singing in chorus

so ends up seeing the elementary school choral director

and volunteering to teach the little ones

like Vernon and Seungkwan

and drags his dongsaeng Chan along

likes planning out all the costumes for shows too

and gets his dad to teach them choreos

and to just choreo the whole show

and Chan's just trying to hide the fact he's related to two huge dorks

but he's a dork too

and just gives up

he's a smart kid

like a genius

he's skipped a grade already

and can sometimes help Seokmin with his hw

which surprises Soonyoung who doesn't know what to do

but give his unending support to both his children

Soonyoung always asking the other parents for advice

but tbh do any of them know anything about parenting at this point

lots of full street block parties

Soonyoung is just glad to be included

his kids have friends within the neighborhood which is nice

probably the only family able to have a pet and still function

though Chan is like "Why get a pet, isn't that what Dokyeom-hyung is for?"

which gets him in trouble with soonyoung

and he apologizes

Seokshine is still smiley

they get a puppy

and that puppy leads them to get fishes too

and another puppy

and that's a lot

so Chan takes care of the fishes

and Soonyoung and Seokmin walk the puppies

Chan also does most of the cleaning

and god forbid there's a SpIdER

because none of them will be able to catch it

except maybe Chan

and maybe Soonyoung, if he learns how to use a flamethrower safely

Seokmin always relying on Soonyoung

don't mess with Soonyoung's kid unless you want a hurricane to hit you

Chan really relies on Soonyoung too

since he's kind of quiet at school

he'd never admit it

but Soonyoung's stupid dad jokes and silly dances make him laugh

Soonyoung would legit fight a dragon for his kids

they don't travel often

but when they do they always have crazy stories to tell when they come back

like the trip to the beach

where Chan fell into a tide pool

and Seokmin fell in after him

and Soonyoung slipped trying to save them

so they all ended up in a tiny tide pool

with fish swimming between them and starfish surrounding them

would probably dance as a family for money at a birthday party

and they're pretty good too

they all love each other

they're family

MASTERLIST

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chloe-elizabeth-price · 6 years

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1-40 (take that)

A lot of questions as per usual, thanks for always being curious and cute @annoyinglyuniquebread!

I’ll put these under a cut as well as trigger warn you guys for mentions of mental illness, unhealthy coping mechanisms and abuse.

Anyone who wants to, feel free to read what basically feels like my life story lol

Here we goooo

1: Talk aboutthe first time you watched your favorite movie.

This question as well as numbers 11, 24, 28 and 38 where answered here and here

2: Talk aboutyour first kiss.

I was 7 and kissed a boy in my class behind the bushes at recess in a display of young compulsory heterosexuality. He dumped me at a classmate’s birthday party a week later and I never looked at boys again lol

3: Talk aboutthe person you’ve had the most intense romantic feelings for.

This girl I met in my freshman year of college and fell hard and fast for. She clearly didn’t feel the same for me and very unceremoniously dumped me without much of an explanation, it sucked!

4: Talk aboutthe thing you regret most so far.

That I didn’t break contact with my biological father much earlier than I did, his presence in my life made me feel like shit for way longer than I deserved and now that he’s out of my life I feel a lot better!

5: Talk aboutthe best birthday you’ve had.

l’m not actually much of a fan of birthdays and much prefer Christmas, never really liked the idea of growing up…But I guess my tenth birthday was cool. It was nice to turn a two digit number for the first time and the pajama party I had that year was pretty sweet!

6: Talk aboutthe worst birthday you’ve had.

Well my fourth birthday sucked, it was my first birthday after my parents got divorced and I was worried my dad wouldn’t show up for the party and well…He didn’t……………….Yeah that sucked!

7: Talk aboutyour biggest insecurity.

I have many, many insecurities of different natures and can honestly not really narrow it down to one big one.

8: Talk aboutthe thing you are most proud of.

I’m proud of unapologetically being who I am despite breaking norms and societal expectations in more ways than one; as well as for standing up for others like me!

9: Talk aboutlittle things on your body that you like the most.

I like my eyes, they’re a nice shade of blue

10: Talk aboutthe biggest fight you’ve ever had.

Physical? Because I’ve never really been in a physical fight and I can’t really think of a huge verbal one either right now. Of course I’ve gotten into some arguments with my parents and stuff growing up, nothing major that I can remember though.

12: Talk aboutthe worst dream you’ve ever had.

I rarely remember my dreams, but since I started taking sleeping pills I’ve had some really vivid and scary ones, nothing I feel like reliving by sharing though.

13: Talk aboutthe first time you had sex/how you imagine your first time.

Yeah, nope, not happening, too demi and reserved to share that one with the internet, sorry!

14: Talk abouta vacation.

The best vacation I’ve ever been on was the one I got from my parents as a graduation gift. They accompanied me to Amsterdam (which is a beautiful, beautiful city) to see Taylor Swift live on the 1989 World Tour! It was one of the best trips/concerts of my life and I really look forward to seeing Tay again in 180 days!

15: Talk aboutthe time you were most content in life.

Probably in my last year of middle school, when I was like 15. It was the last year before I developed mental illness and fell into this dark, dark hole…Wow, that sounds depressing af! Sorry for being such a bummer!

16: Talk aboutthe best party you’ve ever been to.

I don’t really do parties, I prefer to hang out with my friends casually and just play video games and cook/have dinner together or whatever. We’ve had many awesome hangouts like these over the years and I can’t really pick a specific one as the best one!

17: Talk aboutsomeone you want to be friends with.

I’d love to be friends with Carrie Fisher, we’d get along famously and she seems like the kind of person you could just talk to you know? Carrie, if you can hear me up in heaven, please consider being my friend and save me a cloud to sit on next to you, cool?

18: Talk aboutsomething that happened in elementary school.

I got dumped at that birthday party, lol…No but really I don’t remember much of elementary school, except that one time a bitch stole my tamagotchi, that wasn’t cool Sally, so not cool!

19: Talk aboutsomething that happened in middle school.

My teacher surprised me by sneaking me into another school’s library so that I could join this class of strangers in meeting one of my favorite authors at the time and get my books signed as well as give her a book i’d written and exchange email addresses with her. We still emailed occasionally years later, it was dope!!

20: Talk aboutsomething that happened in high school.

I came out of the closet, that was pretty damn dope too!

21: Talk abouta time you had to turn someone down.

During my freshman year of college (wow, a lot sure did happen that year, huh?) this guy in my class basically started stalking me and obsess over me despite me repeatedly telling him I’m gay and wasn’t interested. It got pretty badly out of hand and it ended with the school suspending him after me having complained to the student council after he failed to recognize my rejections for what they were, FUCKING REJECTIONS!!!

22: Talk aboutyour worst fear.

i’m TERRIFIED of failure in any and all forms! Don’t wanna talk about it though, it’ll probably trigger unnecessary anxiety…

23: Talk abouta time someone turned you down.

I’m too shy to ask people out so I have never really been turned down in that sense, have been dumped tho, that’s………..unfun!

25: Talk aboutan ex-best friend.

During elementary and middle school I was best friends with this guy i’d known since kindergarten, we drifted apart since we went to different high schools and haven’t really hung out since sophomore year which is too bad really because we were like siblings at one point and I’d like to have that back someday.

26: Talk aboutthings you do when you’re sick.

I try to drink a lot of tea and stay as comfortable as possible while watching something that makes me happy and distracts me from feeling badly. Like Buffy, Brooklyn 99 or F.r.i.e.n.d.s

27: Talk aboutyour favorite part of someone else’s body.

My dog’s tail is fluffy and adorable just like the rest of her! :)

29: Talk aboutwhat turns you on.

I feel like I’ve talked about this before, but open-minded people who aren’t afraid of having frank, honest conversations in which the express their opinions. Girls are beautiful and physically most parts of girls’ bodies honestly turn me on buuuut again, too awkward for this discussion on the net.

30: Talk aboutwhat turns you off.

Close-minded and bigoted people disgust me!

31: Talk aboutwhat you think death is like.

I’m not really sure, but a quote from John Green’s Looking For Alaska comes to mind: “Thomas Edison’s last words were “It’s very beautiful over there”. I don’t know where there is, but I believe it’s somewhere, and I hope it’s beautiful.”

32: Talk abouta place you remember from your childhood.

When I was younger my grandparents lived in this big, yellow house in the countryside and I remember it as this bright, warm and very positive place! It was surrounded by a large, dark forest that my grandma used to call The Forest of Fairy Tales” and in their huge garden they had an abundance of sweet berries and I had a legit fort my grandpa had built for me at the edge of the forest. I really miss that place, almost as much as I miss my grandma!

33: Talk aboutwhat you do when you are sad.

Pretty much the same thing I do when I’m sick, I try to drink gallons of tea, stay comfy and watch something lighthearted and uplifting. Listening to Taylor Swift also helps me a lot if I feel down. The sound of her voice makes me feel at home and reminds me that things are gonna be okay, ya feel?

34: Talk aboutthe worst physical pain you’ve endured.

As a kid with cerebral palsy I pretty much grew up in hospitals and was subject to a lot of pretty painful stuff before I even turned ten, as a result my pain threshold is very high. Despite this I can’t really say breaking my wrist in a biking accident at about nine didn’t suck.

35: Talk aboutthings you wish you could stop doing.

I wish I could stop clinging to some of the more unhealthy coping mechanisms I have when it comes to my mental illness…Like I wish I’d stop starving myself and make myself sleep deprived on purpose and stuff…That’s not really healthy and I wish I didn’t cling to these things and instead could find healthier ways to deal with bad mental health situations. I’m working on this though!

36: Talk aboutyour guilty pleasures.

I don’t believe in guilt associated with interests of any kind. If I like something I like it, plain and simple!

37: Talk aboutsomeone you thought you were in love with.

This boy that sat next to me in my eighth grade math class, he was super nice and we were friends. Secretly though I was like OBSESSED with him, it was actually kinda cute. Sadly for 14 year old me I was too shy to ask him out though, which was just as well since it was clearly compulsory again and I was really crushing super hard on the cool punk girl in my social studies class who I just thought i really, really, REALLY wanted to be friends with at the time…I was too shy to talk to her too though sooo

39: Talk aboutthings you wish you’d known earlier.

That it’s okay to be both disabled and queer, the belief that you couldn’t caused me to stay in the closet (even to myself) for far longer than I needed to. you’re not “too much” just because you happen to be part of several minority groups, never forget that, kids!

40: Talk aboutthe end of something in your life.

When I was 13 I finally broke contact with my biological father and that was the end of a cycle of mental and psychological abuse. It was one of the best decision I’ve ever made and the most cathartic ending to any period in my life so far.

Thanks for all those questions, Bellz and sorry it took some time for me to answer them, I’ve had a busy week!

#thanks for the ask!

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