#Mr. poke it with a broom do you have something to say about your confidence in the attic’s stability

[stonemouthzag]

Jeff Buckley is soooo dangerous after 10pm

[the-dream-team]

hi dylan! i've seen you around a lot but never interacted with your posts before (a tragic error) so i wanted to remedy that by saying that 'July' was very beautiful and utterly perfect!

P.S. I've heard some mumblings about Shirtless James May 👀👀 here is my formal request for you to participate 😂

Oh my gosh, hi! I’ve definitely seen your username around, so it’s lovely to finally say hello :) That’s so sweet, I’m glad you liked July- it was very fun to write! And you know what else was fun to write? This ridiculous one shot for Shirtless JP May, dedicated you, @sunshine-marauders <3

Three Times Lily Evans Did NOT Want to See James Potter Shirtless and One Time She Most Certainly Did

***

“Mr. Potter, please put your trousers back on, my boy!”

“Sir, I would, but there’s just no way of telling if this potion might be poisonous, and I’d rather play it safe.”

Lily’s eyes narrowed as she shrugged off her own robes, now covered head to toe in acidic slime from the Dungbomb that had just exploded in her and Sev’s cauldron. The purple liquid smelled something foul, but there was nothing poisonous about what was once a perfectly brewed Sleeping Draught. James Potter knew that, but he’d stripped down to his pants regardless. 

“Really, Professor Slughorn, I don’t mind,” Potter continued while he sauntered back to his own workstation, bare chest puffed out as though he wasn’t practically nude in the middle of the damn classroom. His display garnered a collection of giggles from around the dungeons and a wolf whistle from Remus. “And who am I to deny my fellow third years of this view?”

Lily scoffed. She couldn’t speak for her classmates, but she knew her own view consisted of scrawny limbs, knobbly knees, and the most insufferable smirk known to wizardkind. And when he turned to her with fingers running through his hair and an infuriatingly pointed look in her direction, Lily balled her hands into fists, nails digging into her palms to keep herself from reaching out to smack that stupid grin and those lopsided glasses clean off his face.

***

“There’d better be a good explanation for this, Potter.”

“It kills me, Evans, because there is an excellent explanation for our current predicament- one that I think you’d find admirable and impressive- but unfortunately we’re sworn to secrecy, so you’ll just have to assign us detentions and continue on with your rounds for the night.”

Lily turned, exasperated, to Remus, whose Prefect’s badge looked awfully heavy on his robes that night. He didn’t meet her eye, instead focusing on his three naked friends standing before them in the middle of the first floor corridor. Well, mostly naked. Each of the fifth year Gryffindor boys held strategically placed Shrivelfig leaves to cover their most intimate areas, but only Peter looked as though that protection was a matter of life or death. Sirius stood as casually as he always did, completely unphased to find himself caught clothesless in the middle of the night, and James somehow looked more confident than usual (if that was even possible) with his chest on full display. He seemed to be strategically flexing every Quidditch-trained muscle as he grinned down at her with that pointed look she’d become far too familiar with. She spent every last drop of concentration keeping her eyes locked on James’ face to avoid any potential… drifting. 

“Did you have any luck?” said Remus after a moment. Lily whipped around in shocked betrayal. He couldn’t possibly approve of this behaviour?

“Not this time,” Sirius responded, “but I got bloody close. Don’t think having clothes makes a difference, but it was worth trying.”

“I’d say we should be on track to making it work before the end of the month,” added James, his crooked grin turning into a proper smile. 

Remus’ eyes sparkled. “Holy shit, that’s brilliant.”

Lily let out a frustrated grunt before turning on her heel to storm away from the disrobed boys and her fellow Prefect, upset that Remus wouldn’t take their duties seriously, but thankful to be out of sight from James’ sharp gaze, finally able to let the blush she’d been desperately fighting back escape across her cheeks.

***

“I’m sorry, Evans, but I don’t make the rules. You’ve got to lose an article of clothing or else you’ll have to forfeit.”

“That’s bollocks, Black, you literally came up with the idea for Strip Exploding Snap this evening.” 

The sixth years were circled up around the Common Room’s fireplace, loose socks and sweaters littering the floor, a half-empty bottle of stolen Firewhisky passing around from hand to hand. If it weren’t for Mary’s ridiculous crush on Sirius, Lily would never have found herself anywhere near this kind of event, but she’d decided to be a good friend, and now she was down to an undershirt and knickers. It was unclear whether her face burned red from the whiskey or the nerves. 

“Look, Evans,” Sirius continued with an air of indifference, “if you’re not going to participate, you can just put your cards back in the pile-”

“I’ll do it for her!” James nearly shouted as he jumped up from his seat, swaying slightly. His eyes as glossy as the crooked glasses falling down his nose. He reached for the collar of his white t-shirt, grabbing hold to pull it over his head, but a competitive rush propelled Lily to her feet. 

“No!” she protested before the shirt could make its way too far up James’ stomach. He froze in place, peering over the fabric at her in confusion. “You can’t just play for me, Potter, that’s not fair. I want to win on my own.”

“Really, Evans, I don’t mind,” laughed James, finally following through to remove the shirt completely. His glasses came off in the process, stuck in the fabric, and Lily nearly choked as her mouth went dry at the full sight of him, broader and fuller than she’d remembered. Had she ever seen him without his glasses before? His face as naked as his torso? She needed another drink. 

“I’m not going to let you cheat,” she said, actually stomping her foot in the process. And to prove the dedication to her claims, she stripped down to her bra and sent James her most determined, pointed stare. His glasses made their way back to his face so fast, he nearly poked his eye out. “Now, put your shirt back on, Potter, or I’ll come over there and do it myself.”

“That’s not the threat you think it is, Evans,” he breathed, nearly choking on his words. 

Lily thought her leaping heart must be horribly visible through her exposed skin.

“Do you both need the rest of us to leave?” chimed in Sirius, throwing Lily from her rapidly spiraling thoughts. 

She immediately sat back down, throwing James his shirt in the process, desperately trying to contain the butterflies threatening to escape through her throat. His shirt never made it back over his head and the rest of the night no longer passed in minutes, but instead in glances stolen from across the room.

***

“Whatever is the problem, Miss Evans, my dear?”

“Sir, I accidentally spilled an entire vial of Mermaid venom all over Potter. It’s burned straight through his robes and I’m worried it might be serious. Do you mind if I leave to take him to Madam Pomfrey’s?”

Professor Slughorn fumbled out a concerned response, granting his blessing, and Lily spared no time grabbing James by the wrist to drag him out of the classroom and through the dungeons. His eyes were wide as he studied the golden liquid eating through the fabric of his sweater. “Is this poisonous?” he asked, fingers fumbling with his deteriorating uniform. 

Lily spun around with emerald fire behind her eyes. “It is,” she responded, stopping him in his tracks as they turned a corner. “So we ought to play it safe and get these off you.”

She watched his eyes flash with sudden realization before she pulled off his sweater and made quick work of the buttons on his shirt.

The knowing grin that broke out across James’ face sent waves of elation through her heart, radiating out to find him again and pull him down to her. Their mouths met with smiling lips and heavy sighs, eager to reconnect after what felt like ages apart, but in reality, couldn’t have been more than an hour. 

“What did I do to deserve this?” James asked through jagged breaths as he grabbed for the door handle to the nearest broom closet, dragging Lily in after him by the waist. 

“You gave me that look,” she said, laughing slightly as she moved her hands up his warm skin to comb through his tousled hair. “That bloody pointed look you get that drives me crazy.” She kissed him and he deepened it before pausing. 

“Wait. You poisoned me because I looked at you?”

“I spilled poison on you because I wanted to get your shirt off.”

He beamed, his smile brightening the dim, crowded cupboard as he brought his hands up to hold her face. “Well, in that case, who am I to deny you this view?”

She scoffed. Then kissed him again.

[official-weasley]

The Irreplaceable Charlie Weasley: Pt. 3, Ch. 5

PART 3: THE YEAR OF QUIDDITCH & MAGICAL CREATURES Chapter 5 - Telling Charlie

Nova

I rushed down the stairs as fast as I could as I didn't want Bill questioning me about Penny any longer! As much as I felt my cheeks go red, it would be a miracle if he doesn't realize what is going on with Penny at this point.

She didn't even admit to me that she has a crush on Bill and I already have to do damage control!

I was running to the Quidditch pitch as fast as I could, hoping Charlie didn't already finish and leave for breakfast; I really wanted to catch him alone.

As I was getting closer, my confidence started to shrink. Bill's words were quite encouraging and I am so glad I've decided to talk to him and ask him for advice but it didn't make the matter any easier for I had to do the talking to Charlie part alone.

I ran to the Gryffindor tent and listened for voices. I couldn't hear anything but then I heard a whistle coming from the pitch. They just finished!

I took a deep breath and blinked a couple of times. I hope Charlie won't notice I was crying.

“Nova! You're alright!” He spotted me immediately. He dropped his broom and ran to me. He squeezed me in a hug so tight that he could give Molly a run for her Galleons. He kept me in a tight hug as his teammates passed us, giggling.

“Where have you been?” He pushed me away and poked me in my shoulder. “I was worried sick! I thought you got hurt at the tryouts so I went to the Hospital Wing but you weren't there. I went to the Courtyard in case you were drawing there. I rushed to the Owlery but was only greeted by Pip. Library...empty, well except for Penny. Went to Hagrid's, you weren't there either. Not down by the Black Lake.” He stopped for a second. “But I still waited there for a while just to be sure the Giant Squid didn't take you. And I ended up sitting next to Tonks in the Great Hall and she said she hasn't seen you either. Neither has Bill. So...” He frowned. “Where...have...you...been?” Poking a finger in my shoulder with every word.

It was for moments like this that I cried in the Owlery this morning. Just imagining doing something that would tear our friendship apart and not seeing his worried freckled face made me want to be fed to the Giant Squid.

“I'm sorry I disappeared like that. I was in my dormitory the whole day.” I scratched the back of my head.

“Tonks was right. Should've asked Tulip.” He had a bewildered expression on his face. I think he was thinking just how many times Tonks has been right or given good advice this year.

“But why were you in your dormitory? Did the tryouts go so badly?” His worried face made me want to just lie that I didn't make the Team but I had to focus! I had to tell him.

“No, the tryouts weren't so bad.” I started slowly. “And I kind of hid from you.” My cheeks started to burn.

“From me?” He looked confused.

“Well, let's just say that the tryouts didn't go as we daydreamed about all Summer. I didn't become a Chaser.” I bit my lip, stopping myself from saying anything else. Why was it so hard to tell him!

He looked me deep in my eyes and I could see he was going through several scenarios of what could have happened differently than what we talked about during the Summer.

“Oh...” Was all he said. He gestured to follow him, grabbing my hand and we went up the stairs to one of the stands and sat down.

“You became a Seeker for Ravenclaw, didn't you?” He asked softly.

My eyes started to water but I blinked the tears away. I didn't want to cry in front of him. I nodded, looking down at my lap.

He gently lifted my chin with his finger and looked me in the eyes.

“And you thought that I was going to be mad?” I nodded quickly, trying to avoid his gaze.

“Why?” He asked with a rather confused voice. “You know I will support you no matter what you do! I just wanted you to be on the Team, no matter which position they assigned you!” Now he looked mad. Well, more disappointed than mad.

“I can't believe you would think that I would be mad at you for working hard and getting on the Ravenclaw Quidditch Team.” He frowned at me. Now, he was mad.

“Yes I knew you would be happy for me but Char, we are both Seekers, we will have to compete against each other. Fly around and chase each other after the Snitch!” I tried to explain my worries, which to be perfectly honest, seemed like nonsense to me now.

“So we chase after the same ball. So what! It's one game per year and you have to admit it's going to be fun competing against each other!” He put his arm around my shoulder and squeezed it, a smirk on his face.

“And besides, imagine the look on your face when I snatch the Snitch right in front of your nose!” He grinned at me.

“Not before I do the same to you! You have some competition now, Weasley!” I ruffled his hair.

“See,” he grinned, “that wasn't so bad was it?”

“Oh, stop it! Your reaction could've gone in a totally different direction.” I poked him in the ribs.

“Really? You really think I would be mad at you?” He winked at me. “We talked this over. We leave our friendship in the tents. At least Madam Hooch is going to be happy when the Seekers don't try and kill each other for once.” I giggled.

“Now,” he turned to me rather hastily, “tell me how in the bloody hell did you go from trying out for a Chaser to becoming the Ravenclaw Seeker!” His eyes were glowing. I could tell he couldn't wait to hear about my tryouts since yesterday.

I told him all about it. About Skye and Orion and Andre's rage and how everything went awry in a second and how before I knew it Orion was asking me if I was going to be able to compete against him.

Charlie laughed a couple of times as I was describing our Friendly as if telling an unbelievable story. I was relieved that I didn't lose my best friend and mad at myself for thinking that something like this could break our friendship.

Charlie, of course, couldn't hide how proud he was of me and said that Ravenclaw might actually have a chance to be second this year.

“Second? What do you mean second?! We're going to beat your arses, Weasley!” We both started laughing.

“Oh, this is going to be so much fun!” Charlie clapped excitedly. “And we can compare the strategies that we learn during our practice matches and during Summer we can practice catching the Snitch together!”

“I think our Captains are not going to be happy about that.” I chuckled.

“Eh, I don't care, we can say we were doing it to beat the Slytherins and Hufflepuffs.” We both laughed again.

“Nova?” His face turned serious.

“Uh-huh?”

“Promise me you will never overthink our friendship like this again, okay? I was really worried when I couldn't find you yesterday.” He said with a sad expression on his face.

“I promise.” I smiled at him, my cheeks pink.

“Alright then! What do you say I get changed and we get some breakfast. I'm starving!” I chuckled and we went back down to the tents.

We hurried to the Great Hall as we only had half an hour to catch breakfast. On our way there we already went through several scenarios of how he catches the Snitch, how I catch it instead, and how awesome it will be to be on the Quidditch pitch together, even if on the opposite team.

“Look who made up.” Bill grinned as we sat down next to him. At first, Charlie looked confused but then he knew exactly what I have done before talking to him.

“Did you go to Bill for some brotherly advice?” He mocked me.

“Well, thank Merlin I did because if it wasn't for him, I would hide from you forever!” We all laughed.

Tonks, Tulip, and to my surprise, even Penny joined us. Penny asked me about the tryouts to distract herself from looking at Bill as soon as they sat down. I told them all about it and just as I was finishing the story, an owl dropped a long package right in front of us.

I recognized it at once!

“Waffle, what did you bring me?” I petted him on his head and he hooted happily.

“Well, open it!” Tonks thought we were observing the package for way too long.

I tore the paper and revealed a brand new broom. Charlie, Penny, and Bill gasped.

“Is that the Comet 260?” Asked Bill, finally closing his mouth.

“It is!” Charlie said excitedly.

“Who is it from?” Penny started to look for a card.

“There you go, Nova.” Tulip who was also searching for the card handed it to me.

A big grin appeared on my face as I read aloud.

Dear pumpkin,

a little birdie told me that you've made it on the Ravenclaw Quidditch Team. I can't express in words how proud mum and I are of you! Here is a little present for you. Now, beat Gryffindor for me, will you! Mum would be so jealous if you do!

Love and lots of hugs,

Dad

“Hey!” Charlie acted offended when I read that Ravenclaw should beat Gryffindor.

“A little present, huh?” Chuckled Tonks.

“Bill, were you the little birdie again?” I looked at him, smiling.

“Not this time no. However, I do wonder who was so quick to tell your parents?” He narrowed his eyes, thinking.

“That would be me, Mr. Weasley.” We all turned around to see Professor Flitwick standing behind us.

“Professor, you?” I asked in shock. “But why?”

“Mr. Amari told me that you were the only one who didn't bring your own broom to the tryouts. As I taught your father and he was as excellent at Charms as he was at Quidditch and a proud Ravenclaw too,” Flitwick beamed, “I took the liberty to write to your parents, telling them to send you your broom. I had no idea they were going to buy you a new one.” He clapped excitedly.

“I didn't own one, Professor.” I said.

“That would explain it. Congratulations on making the Team Miss Blackwood.” He grinned at me. Then he turned to Charlie. “To you as well Mr. Weasley. Even though I am sorry to say that you have picked an unfortunate year to join as my Ravenclaws will beat Gryffindor for sure!” A proud smirk on his face. “Go, team!” He swung his arm into the air and walked away, leaving Charlie with an open mouth.

“Who would've thought that our Heads of House were such big Quidditch enthusiasts.” We all laughed as we remembered Professor McGonagall last Summer when Charlie tried out for the Gryffindor Seeker position and she was more than happy when he made the Team.

—

Winter was approaching fast and so did our first trip to Hogsmeade. We were all so excited that I really can't tell who wanted to go more.

Tonks, Tulip, and Jae couldn't wait to go to Zonko's Joke shop. Charlie and I couldn't wait to try Madam Rosmerta's Butterbeer as it was rumored to be one of the best and Penny couldn't wait to buy some sweets.

Overall, I knew we were all just waiting to spend some quality time together as we were so busy with school that we have barely seen each other. Tulip and I made a pact to only talk to each other in our dormitory to have time for other friends. Charlie and I were busy with Quidditch as we both had practice two to three times per week. Penny spent most of her time in the Library and already started to nag us about exams.

Tonks, Tulip, and Jae were Merlin knows where most of the time and the free time we did have, we visited Hagrid, or I drew or we were down by the Lake. Which didn't mean hanging out at all as our noses were in books or writing essays for classes, or reciting potion ingredients or translating runes.

Penny was handling her crush on Bill very well lately. She rarely excused herself anymore when he sat down next to us in the Great Hall or joined us by the Lake. She turned less pink and she even helped Bill with his Potions homework once. Bill was happy to see Penny was talking to him again and I wondered if he ever got around to talk to her about why she was avoiding him.

With all the work our professors gave us you can imagine how happy we were when we read about the first trip to Hogsmeade announcement!

I woke up on a Saturday the Hogsmeade trip was scheduled and I shrieked as I saw that it was snowing. That, of course, woke Tulip up, who sat up so abruptly that Dennis jumped out of the bed and hid under it.

“What is going on?” She rubbed her eyes.

“Tulip, look! It's snowing! And we're going to Hogsmeade today!” That was all I had to say and she was wide awake. We got dressed and took our hats, scarves, and gloves with us.

We were surprised to see Tonks fully awake when we sat down at our usual spot in the Great Hall. I guess all you need to do to wake her up is allow her to go to Hogsmeade. As we ate breakfast, we were making a plan to have a snowball fight by the Lake on our way back to the Castle.

Just walking there was beautiful and I was grateful that I put on the jumper Molly gave me for Christmas in my First Year as it was freezing. Once we arrived Jae, Tonks and Tulip ran to find Zonko's at once. Bill, Penny, Charlie, and I were standing in front of Three Broomsticks, ready to go inside.

“Nova, could I talk to you for a mo?” Penny grabbed my hand, stopping me from going inside. Charlie and Bill looked at us.

“We'll join you in a second. Order two Butterbeers for us, will you!” I said and allowed Penny to drag me away.

We started walking down the street and she linked our arms.

“Penny, are you okay? What do you have to talk to me about?” I looked at her. Her face was so red that I didn't know was it from the cold or was she blushing.

“Listen, Nova. I know we didn't have that much time to talk in private these past few months.” I nodded as I agreed with her. I was busy with Quidditch and Advanced Transfiguration and she was busy hiding from Bill and studying in the Library.

“I know! I am so jealous of Tonks and Tulip as they always find the time to be together. I feel like I haven't seen you all year. I miss you, Penny.” I couldn't deny it.

“I miss you too and I've been meaning to talk to you about something and I feel bad and I hope you don't think I'm avoiding you or something.” She wasn't making much sense until it dawned on me.

“Is this about your crush on Bill?” I mocked her.

“Shhh!” She put her finger on my mouth. “How do you know I have a crush on Bill?” She whispered and looked around if anyone heard that.

“Oh, c'mon Penny, it's super obvious!” I giggled.

“Does everybody know?” She lowered her head.

“I think, Penny, and I mean no offense when I say this, that you are the only one thinking about crushes. So no, I was the only one who noticed and even I wouldn't if we weren't alone that day at breakfast when you blushed when I mentioned him.” I reassured her.

“Oh, good.” She nodded. “Because I wanted to let you know that it's not a big deal, I will get over it and nobody else needs to know, promise!” She pointed her finger at my face. I giggled.

“I promise, Penny. I was thinking about talking to you about it, you know, to see if you wanted to get it off your chest but you have been in the Library hiding so much that I really didn't get a chance to do so.” I smiled at her.

“Was it that obvious?” She frowned.

“Again, only to me.” I reassured her again. “Tonks and Tulip are too busy planning pranks with Jae, Bill is too busy being a Prefect, studying for O.W.L.s and his Career Advice Meeting and Charlie is so oblivious to these things that I think not only would he not notice if a girl had a crush on him and wouldn't believe a girl even if she told him straight to his face. But I am also pretty sure he wouldn't even know if he had a crush on a girl either.” I chuckled.

“Well, that certainly puts me in a better mood. I am getting a hang of myself around Bill.” She said proudly.

“I have noticed. Well done!” I tried keeping a straight face as I didn't see this as a problem.

“And thank you for wanting to talk to me about it. I just really didn't want to make a big deal out of it.” She blushed, playing with her braid.

“It's not, Penny. So you have a crush. It can happen to anybody and besides, Bill is kind of cute, I guess.” It was hard to imagine Bill as anything else but a friend, especially after the talk we had in the Owlery, I began to think of him more like an older brother.

“I know it's not. I just didn't want anyone to find out. I wasn't going to act on it. I'm too young for that and Bill probably likes someone else anyway.” She looked at me hopefully.

“Oh, don't look at me! I wouldn't know anything about that. We don't talk about these sort of things.” We stopped in front of Three Broomsticks.

“Ready to go inside?” I smiled gently.

“Yes, I want to try the Butterbeer already!” She hugged me and we joined Bill and Charlie.

I have only had Butterbeer once before but I can tell you Madam Rosmerta makes the best one as we were already ordering another round.

Penny started a conversation about O.W.L.s with Bill. I really didn't want to think about my Fifth Year yet so I turned to Charlie and we started to discuss our first Quidditch match that was happening right after the holidays. It was the first game of the season and we were playing against Hufflepuff.

After about half an hour Tulip, Tonks and Jae joined us. Their hands were so full of stuff that Charlie joked if Bilton was left with an empty shop. As Bill decided to head back early and check on the Gryffindors that stayed behind, Charlie, Penny, and I decided to get some sweets from Honeydukes. They had so much candy to choose from that I got a little bit of everything.

Now as our hands were as full as Tonks, Tulip, and Jae's before, we were ready to head back to the Castle. We decided to skip the snowball fight as we were all freezing and we didn't want to lose all our stuff in the snow.

The next morning at breakfast both Charlie and I got the same letter from our mums. My mum wrote to me that she arranged with Molly to spend Christmas with them and Molly wrote to Charlie that he and Bill have to come home for Christmas this year and that he needn't worry as I was joining them as well.

I was happy to spend Christmas with the Weasleys even though I couldn't help but feel sad that my dad couldn't get time off work again. I was relieved, however, when I found out that we would have one more Hogsmeade trip before the holidays, as I had to go Christmas shopping for quite a lot of people this year!

[tizzymcwizzy]

Prince and The Princess

Adrinette April Day 24 - Cheek Kiss

I’ve had this waiting since april 1st!! I’m super excited to share this with y’all aaaah, Thanks to @orcarriagesthatwork​ for beta reading this!

@adrinetteapril​

Ao3

Adrien walked up to the door of the Dupain-Cheng household. The walls were a calming off-white brick and the door was a deep chocolate brown, however, Adrien didn't know why he was paying so much attention to the walls and the door. Probably his nerves. Yeah, just his nerves.

His nerves? Why was he nervous? He was just dropping off a Tupperware container that Alya needed to return to Marinette. Though the request was a little strange, he was in the area and he'd do anything to help a friend. Adrien had no reason to be nervous! Marinette was just Marinette, his caring and compassionate classmate. Even though she seemed a bit shy around him, he didn't blame her, a lot of people were like that considering who he was, she was first and foremost kind and loving to everyone. There was absolutely no reason for him to be nervous. 

And yet, here Adrien Agreste stood in front of the Dupain-Cheng's door, hand up and about to knock, gripping a Tupperware container, nervous out of his mind. 

Just knock Adrien! His mind yelled. It's just Marinette! 

Well, maybe it being just Marinette made him nervous.

He wiped his hand on his pants leg and reached up to knock again. Then, he heard laughter and yelling from inside. It was Marinette's voice and another higher voice. There was the pounding of some footsteps, more laughter, and yelling. His nerves went up tenfold.

"Knock, or I'm gonna knock!" Plagg hissed from inside Adrien's pocket.

"Okay, okay!" Adrien whisper-yelled back. He knocked on the door three times. The voices on the other side of the wood quieted down. Then a set of footsteps going down the stairs broke the brief silence and approached the door.

The door handle jiggled and he heard Marinette's muffled voice. He almost made out what she said when the door blew wide open. Marinette, in all her pink and glitter-covered glory, stood in the doorway with a gown fit for a princess and a tiara upon her head. "-at some poi-" the words spilled out until she met his gaze. Her eyes were wide open, staring at him, like a deer in headlights.

"Uh," oh god, "hey, Marinette." Adrien chuckled and waved a hand awkwardly. His eyes were probably as wide as hers. There's glitter on her face. It matches her freckles.

"Hu-" Marinette sputtered. "Hey, Adrien." She blinked. "What brings you here?" Her posture was rigid and stiff.

"Oh," he blinked and shook his head trying to shake away the warm haze that covered his mind. "Alya meant to drop this off, but something came up, and I was in the area, so, uh." He tapped the Tupperware in his hand for a moment. Stop rambling! "Here." He stuck the container out to her.

"Oh." She stared at the container and then took it from him. "Thanks," she looked up at Adrien and caught his gaze.

"Your welcome, Marinette." He scratched the back of his neck and looked away. "Also, nice outfit." He smiled warmly at her. Why was she wearing a gown anyways? Well, Marinette liked fashion, she might've been testing out the seams.

"Thanks," she said, near monotone. "Oh, oh!" Realization spilled over her face. She reached up to touch the tiara on her head and flushed brightly when she felt the metal. "I was just playing princess!" She explained reverently.

He raised his eyebrows and smiled wider. Playing princess? That made a little sense, maybe. 

"Ah! I mean- we- we were playing princess." Marinette gripped the sides of the Tupperware container and grimaced.

"I'm not judging," Adrien laughed, putting his hands up in defense. Who was he to judge, he was a leather-clad cat boy after all. She joined him in laughter, though hers sounded a bit forced. 

The dress really suited her though, it was pink, a signature Marinette color, and covered in glittering sparkles, making her shine. It was cut just above her collarbone and lined with lace. The sleeves were puffed and also lined in lace. The skirt was fluffy and full of ruffles, traveling all the way to her ankles. She did look a lot like a true princess...

He was knocked out of his trance by a small gasp at her hip.

"The prince has arrived!" An eye-patch wearing Manon called, grabbing Adrien by the arm and pulling him into the house.

"The huh?" Adrien sputtered and glanced between Marinette and Manon. He stumbled over his feet and tried not to fall over.

"The prince! To help the princess, of course. Unless you aren't up for the task," Manon waved a finger in his face and smirked at him. He scowled and smiled back. She then handed him a broom, swiped from the corner. 

"Manon, Adrien is very busy-" Marinette started.

A light feathery feeling filled his stomach. He didn't have to go just yet, fencing practice could wait. "Of course I'd be up to the task," Adrien laughed confidently and took the broomstick from Manon, parrying her cardboard sword with ease. "What prince would say no to saving a princess?" What prince would say no to saving Marinette?

"Ah- Adrien are you sure?" Marinette asked.

"Of course," he called over his shoulder adjusting his footing to best counter Manon’s wild swings, "Princess, uh," he glanced at Marinette for help.

"Cornelius!" Manon stopped swinging her sword and whispered to him behind a hand.

"Cornelius!" He stuck a finger up into the air as if the name had come to him. "Princess Cornelius, quickly, get away from here or you'll get killed by the pirate!" He waved Marinette back, continuing to parry Manon's clumsy jabs.

"Killed!?" Manon yelled. "I'm not a murderer, Mr. Prince!" She hit him on the head with the sword. Adrien yelped in shock more than pain.

"Aaugh, sorry!" Adrien grumbled and pouted at Manon. Murder, not cool, okay.

Marinette smiled, the worry absent from her face. "The enchantress wants to turn me into a lizard!" Marinette pointed at Manon with one hand and shut the door with the other, before gathering up her skirt and running up the stairs. Her dress bounced at her feet, reflecting sunlight off the glitter.

"Her parents stole my magical key!" Manon ran after her, abandoning her duel with Adrien.

"A magical key?" He chased after Manon, going up the steps two at a time and sliding through the doorway. Adrien jumped in front of Manon, shielding Marinette, who climbed onto the couch. Marinette looked down at the Tupperware container and then tossed it behind her into a pile of pillows covering the floor.

"Yes, a very special one." Manon glanced around Adrien. "Ahh! Adrien your shoes!" Manon pointed to his feet. His shoes were indeed, still on his feet. 

For anyone that doesn't know, Asian people like cleanliness, and one way they keep their houses clean is by not wearing shoes in the house. Adrien knew this, of course, he'd been to Marinette's house before, but in the chaos of sword fighting Manon, the Enchantress, he'd forgotten to take them off. 

"Oh!" He yelped and tugged off his orange sneakers as quickly as he could. Manon took his distractedness to her advantage and poked him in the side with the sword. 

Adrien gasped and clutched his side. He stumbled over into a pile of pillows laying beside the couch. "No! Cruel world!" He cried dramatically, careful to place the shoes upside down on the floor during his fall.

"Mwahahaha! The prince is down!" Manon jumped over him and the pillows and grabbed Marinette's arm. "Now for the princess!" She cried. Adrien rolled over to watch the confrontation.

"No! I'm not ready to live 'till the end of my days as a reptile!" Marinette fell to her knees in an exaggerated fashion.

"Bzzz, zap!" Manon cast out her spell and tapped Marinette's nose. The princess fell back onto the pillows beside him and whined. "Now you're a lizard!" Manon pointed at her with a firm finger.

Marinette balled her hands into fists and put them next to her face, like a cat. She stuck out her tongue and puffed up her cheeks.

Adrien looked to Manon, who looked confused and disgusted. He promptly burst out laughing. 

"Hey! Don't laugh!" Marinette sat up and punched his shoulder lightly, pouting, which only made him laugh harder.

"That's your impression of a lizard?" He snorted. "You look like a newborn kitten!"

Marinette scrunched up her nose and crossed her arms, glaring at him before bursting out into laughter herself. Her shoulders shook and she fell back into the pillows. It was the bubbly and warm sort of laughter that filled a listener's stomach with heat and adoration. "I don't know, how do you think a lizard should act?" She put her hands on her hips, which looked funny, as she was laying on her back.

"Well, first of all, a lizard doesn't talk." Manon put a finger up to Marinette's lips. Adrien covered his mouth to stop himself from giggling. Somehow, Marinette frowned deeper at both of them.

"Well, what do we do now, enchantress? The prince and the princess have been defeated," Adrien asked Manon.

"Hmm," she put a small hand to her chin. "Well, the prince can still save the princess." Manon looked at the floor and tapped her lips, looking deep in thought.

"How so?" Adrien whispered. Marinette's eyes widened in curiosity as well.

"You can break the curse..." She looked up. "By kissing the princess!" Manon put her first into her palm like she just solved a problem. But now there was a new problem.

Adrien's face turned redder than Ladybug herself. Marinette bolted upright. "WHAT!?" the two teens cried.

"A kiss cures most evil spells." Manon looked at Marinette and smirked. "I'm sure it'll work this time as well." 

"Bu- bu- bu-" Marinette's hands flew up into her hair.

"We don't have to." Adrien turned to Marinette. "I- if you're not comfortable with it, we don't have to," despite himself he put his hands on his cheeks. Christ, they were warm.

"N- i- it's, it's," she stumbled and looked between Manon and Adrien frantically. Then, a determined frown set over her face. "I-it's fine. Kiss my cheek." She slapped her cheeks and then laid back on the pillows.

"Wha- we," his voice was getting higher in octave by the minute. "Are you sure?" He squeaked. What was wrong with him? What is wrong with him! It's not like he didn't almost kiss Marinette while they were acting for a Nino's movie, and she had actually kissed him on the cheek before, but this, this, why the heck was this different at all? Well maybe it was the fact that they were alone, apart from Manon, in her house, and Marinette was wearing a beautiful princess dress, laying on her floor, eyes closed, glittering, and waiting for him to kiss her on the cheek. And maybe it was also because she was beautiful, but, but, no matter!

Adrien took a deep breath and willed his stupid fluttering confidence to come to center stage. "Oh, Princess Cornelius. What a fate has come upon thee. If I were not a fool, you wouldn't be a slumbering reptile, would you?" He whispered, kneeling beside her head. Marinette was still frowning, brows furrowed and lips slightly pouting. Adrien, despite his pounding heart, took a light hand and brushed her bangs out of her eyes. "Do not frown, Princess." Her face twitched and relaxed. "It will be alright," he told her, or himself. He leaned in, stopping within an inch of her face. Her lips strained back a smile. Adrien chuckled lightly, pressing a quick kiss to her cheek. Her skin was soft and warm and smelled like pastries.

He pulled back and watched her face scrunch up. Marinette bit her lip and opened her eyes wide, sparkling blue. He smiled at her, blood pounding in his ears. Then, she lifted her arms up like a zombie and sat up, groaning. 

Manon giggled and clasped a hand over her mouth. Adrien stifled a laugh, eagerly awaiting her performance.

"The princess is," Marinette groaned, "saved!" She threw her arms up above her head and laughed. 

"Hooray!" Adrien laughed and threw his arms up as well. "Now," he stood up on wobbling knees. Curse the damn things. "We have an enchantress to defeat." He put out a hand for her. Marinette smirked and stood up on her own, pressing out her skirt. 

"Agreed." She gave him a toothy grin and grasped his hand, shaking it thoroughly. They both turned back to Manon, whose smile was full of mischief.

"That is, if you can catch her!" Manon jumped up and ran up the stairs to Marinette's room. 

"Easy!" Marinette cried and ran up the stairs after the enchantress, hitching her skirt and dragging him along.

[artificialqueens]

she loves me! (multi) — chapter three - Roza

[ summary ] : with the changing of seasons comes more and more letters exchanged, shea feels nothing but anxiety about the approaching date her and dear friend have organised. meanwhile, katya can't catch a break and sasha is adjusting to the new work life and job.

[ author's note ] : our show has been fucking incredible and just infectious and I'm so glad people love the show as much as we love performing it, I'm very, very excited, enjoy the next chapter! - lily.

My Tumblr / AO3 / (*˘︶˘*).｡*♡

— *.✧

"Autumn begins!" Shea yelled hoovering with her coat unbuttoned, walking down aimlessly the usual streets— crossing the Budapest bridge over to make it to her job though she still had a decent twenty minutes before her shift would begin.

It had been almost a solid two weeks with the new employee: Sasha Velour, who perhaps deservedly was offered the position as a clerk the minute Mrs. Coady saw the sale of that damn musical cigarette box happen in an instant. Of course there was absolutely no hesitation of acceptance from the Russian girl with a distinct pearly white and bright smile, she needed the job and badly.

Shea understood the rocky economy but a part of her ached and was jealous. It wasn't even a better of losing that pointless bet, she might be from Chicago from she can't hold a grudge as tight and long as most think she could.

Another letter was slid in her large coat pocket, waiting to get to the store to read it. She had picked it up from the mailbox, anxiously jumping and skipping around her apartment for it. The next installment was beginning and it made her entire day to know their arrangements of meeting were upcoming. She approached the door, waving to Katya who had also arrived making sure to step over Aquaria's broom.

—

Dear friend,

When the day brings petty aggravation and my poor, frayed nerves are all askew,

I forget these unimportant matters pouring out my hopes and dreams to you.

As I rest my pen and look around me, I can see the summer disappear.

Oh, dear friend, all at once, Autumn's here!

—

"Good morning Ms. Zamolodchikova!"Aquaria called out as she helped the blonde get over the newly formed crack in the sidewalk, taking her hand gently. The blonde giggled and fixed the bobby pins keeping her hair in place as she gave a kiss on the cheek to the younger girl out of thankfulness.

"Good morning Aquaria!"

"Look!" She called out, holding out her broom and gasping as the leaves from the tree officially started to fall, "Autumn!" It was now the turning of a new season in Hungary which meant colder weather but more business, Christmas would be the most god awful but whatever it took to pay the bills and suffice, they couldn't complain.

Alaska strolled down the sidewalk with her coat hanging openly, unbuttoned as her heels clacked against the newly painted sidewalks. Immediately jumping and speeding up her pace to get to the Russian girl who had her fingers laced around the handle of the door.

"Ah, Katya! Here you are on this first October day, the quintessence of autumn." Her voice shocking the blonde who only froze and crossed her arms, a brow cocked as if she was interested to listen in what her co-worker currently had to say considering their last quarrel.

"I do hope you've forgiven me for our little misunderstanding last night—" Alaska grinned, propping her body up against the front glass window of the shop, continuing with a laid-back attitude, "I just can't bear it when we fight, can you darling? Truthfully?"

"Go to hell." Katya smiled as she spoke, loud enough for everyone to hear before slamming the door right in Alaska's face, not even wanting to hear whatever the excuse was this week for skipping their arranged dates twice in a row, one right after the other.

Shea stepped outside hearing Katya and Alaska begin to already bicker and grumble under their breath about whatever situation that had arisen. Her pen shyly placed between her hand, raising the blank paper as she looked across the bridge to see that small view of the Danube, channeling the newly welcomed weather as she put her thoughts to the paper.

—

Dear friend,

With November just around the corner

I've a feeling you may also share.

Do you feel an undertone of discord,

And a sense of tension in the air?

—

Sharon groaned, opening the door as she noticed Shea sitting lonely on the wooden bench right outside the shop right where Aquaria's bike was locked and parked.

"Really Ms. Couleé? Must this sidewalk always be paved with leaves?" Snapping at the younger girl who immediately stood as the autumn weather crunched under the pressure of her heels, stammering to get out a reply.

"No Mrs. Coady!" She called out before hearing the door immediately shut behind her face, she winced and gained back enough of a confidence to finish off her correspondence.

—

If it weren't for you endearing letters

I'd be flying south with all the geese!

By the way, have you read War and Peace?

— *.✧

"Good morning Miss Velour I see you're finally on time today." The first day of December had finally bestowed upon them and Shea still was completely agitated that Sasha was working with them. Even if she did her job splendidly and they genuinely needed a replacement for Mrs. Edwards the time she had stumbled into the perfume shop.

Sasha laughed, rolling her eyes as she scrambled through her purse stopping just in front of the door attempting to find her name tag as she spoke with heavy amusement. "I'm so sorry to disappoint you Ms. Couleé."

"Disappointed? Far from it, call me surprised."

The two laughed mockingly in eachother's face before Sasha gave a curse under her breath and slammed the door behind Shea. The American quickly following in her lead as Divina put down her daily paper, Aquaria groaning as she ran over to the redhead who laughed at the clearly disgruntled teenager.

"You know they always fight with each other, why is it?" Divina wasn't too sure if that question was rhetorical but shrugged, smiling instinctively. "Well you see it's a simple chemical reaction really, when two people really like each other—" Aquaria gasped and interrupted immediately.

"Wait they like each other?"

"Well I think so."

Aquaria wasn't too sure what to believe, they had been poking at each other since the blonde had gotten the job and since then it was rare a day went by without a spat or two. "Well why don't we tell them?" Her innocent look gazing at Divina enough to make the British girl almost burst into laughter aloud, her hand touching her shoulder with a sigh.

"Aquaria, my dear, they'd never believe us."

The blonde yelped, pointing at the trees and sky around her as small flakes began to fall from the sky, her mouth agape as she brushed her hair behind her ear with a grin.

"Look! Winter!"

— *.✧

Winter wasn't ever a concern for Sasha who was from the grand Soviet Union, known for three things currently: it's harsh weather, it's botched and executed royal family and famine. Lucky enough to live a life of comfort in Leningrad she couldn't possibly complain with a bit of chill.

Chill couldn't possibly withstand the warmth she felt opening the latest letter up and reading it for the first time, her walk stumbling as she leaned against the wall of the shop simply examining the words and reading them aloud for herself, covered in a comfortable white coat.

—

Dear friend,

Have you set your calendar for Tuesday,

When we bring this chapter to a close?

When I meet my lady of the letters who puts tiny faces in her Os.

In the freezing weather of December, I'll be warmly waiting for our date.

Until then, count the hours.

—

Completely distracted by her own thoughts she quickly gasped, "I'm late for work, I'm late!" She grumbled completely frustrated before running towards the door with a thump as she shut the door behind her and wished a good morning to all the employees already here.

"I'm so sorry I'm late! I hope Shea hasn't said anything." She poured aloud as Katya gasped excitedly seeing her take off her coat exposing her perfectly fitting black lace dress and matching black and white heels.

"Look at her she's all new! The shoes, the dress!" The other Russian yelled completely engulfed with all the new fashion, Sasha laughed adjusting the bobby pin that held the curls from her face as she proudly winked pointing out the necklace and fixing the flying strands of blonde hair.

"Top to bottom!"

Alaska smiled curiously, "I have a feeling our own Sasha Velour is in love and she has a rendezvous tonight!" Sasha looked away, clasping her hands together in utter quiet as Divina laughed, rubbing her shoulders in comfort.

"Oh how would you of all people know?"

Katya quickly interjected with a bright glimmer in her eyes though her tone was anything but bright, "Alaska is an expert in love which is really quite remarkable considering the fact she's never been in it." Alaska tisked the blonde as Shea entered the room walking briskly across the floor.

"Morning Ms. Velour."

The Russian blinked, raising a small frown out of the corner of her lips. "Something is wrong, she didn't yell at me." Katya quickly walked over and cleared her throat as she nudged towards Sharon who had her back turned, her body language reading nothing but anger.

"Mrs. Coady has been angered lately and you know who gets the worst of it." She whispered before pulling Sasha to the back to begin their new task: gift wrapping all the boxes. It was definitely a nice change for Sasha who had only been changing the shop around and filling up tubes of the cold cream, making labels as well.

"Ms. Couleé!" Sharon's voice radiated throughout the shop, Divina looking up to her friend as the American quickly scattered over to her boss, still rubbing the dust off of her pants as her words extended further. "Tell me, what's wrong with this?" She extended her hand as Sharon handed a sour tube of the cold cream, the ends torn as a small stain became apparent on Shea's blazer.

"It's sour ma'am."

"And whose job is it to fill these?"

Shea groaned of embarrassment, "It is Sasha and I sir, it's my fault, I won't let it happen again." Sharon crossed her arms and walked off rather unamused, turning back to glance up and down her uniform not wanting to hark on other issues pressing at the moment.

"Thank you Ms. Couleé, that's all I needed to know."

Divina quickly ran over and huffed, scraping the last bits of the tubed cream off her blazer, "Look at you, there's Mona Lisa all over you." Shea frowned, not sure if to be first be upset over a tarnished outfit or her own boss being so aggressively targeting her recently.

"Divina, I'm so nervous, I'm meeting her tonight."

"Who? The lady of your letters?" Her eyes flashed immediately as she gripped the younger girl's suit a slight nod from her co-worker, "You look wonderful, I don't understand why you're so anxious!"

Every nerve seemed to run bone  cold down Shea's spine, feeling the need to immediately fess up to all the little details she never mentioned to Divina when reading the letters. She licked her lips, feeling her throat go completely dry.

"Well I mean— I didn't exactly tell the entire truth in those letters."

"So you lied?"

"I didn't lie! I sprinkled in little fictitious nods is all."

The red head chuckled, grabbing her shoulders feeling her nervous glance as she replied with a quick, "No wonder you're vibrating." Her co-worker groaned with cold perspiration.

"I'm nervous and upset: this girl I've never met is going to be with me tonight at eight Divina!" Her fingers brushing over the letter that held the key words, every overthinking thought she had placed in the fault of a piece of paper. "Tonight I'll walk right up and sit down beside the smartest girl and town and then it's anybody's guess."

The woman of my dreams, it's all coming at once.

Running over to Divina's counter she groaned as she sat in what was usually reserved for the shoppers and their own idle conversation, she plainly stared at the black watch that wrapped around her wrist, "Three more minutes, two more seconds and ten more hours to go!" She yelled as Alaska and Aquaria turned slightly, going back to their individual work rather quickly, attempting to ignore Shea's personal therapy session with Divina.

"I feel just a huge mix of depression and elation! More and more I'm breathing less and less…" she gasped as she leaned into her co-workers shoulders completely unconvinced that tonight was to go well for her though the red-head beside her was quickly becoming more and more frustrated and concerned with her friend’s behavior regarding what was to be of tonight.

Shea had been on dates before. Many.

Hell, she had multiple girlfriends before she had even begun her work at the shop but her longest latest about a year, breaking up due to differences saying it was better Shea stay involved in her own world, her work. Dear Friend was something of a comfort until it became the thing she looked forward most to in her entire week: each correspondence better and more personal than the last.

“You will be fine.” Her eye’s bounced off the walls as she glanced over at the clock for a brief moment. “Just don’t let this distract you, Mrs. Coady clearly is less than impressed than usual.”

“Two more minutes, three more seconds, ten more hours to go! If all goes well, who knows, I might propose!”

Divina definitely did not doubt Shea’s intention, she was constantly pressured by her parents and she, herself certainly did not help considering her own marriage. This shop certainly had its number of affairs though by affair’s they truly only meant Katya and Alaska who were possibly having the most obvious and bitter affair in all of Hungary.

“I could really use some help with these new boxes if anyone wants to help!” A desperate Aquaria called out, wide eyed trying to find a safe place to put down the new stock of Lavender oils. Divina running over and grabbing the box from the bottom and lifting it up to the counter right of them being extra cautious with all of its contents.

Shea couldn't help but sweat, couldn't help but think about what was awaiting her tonight. Adjusting her blazer as she groaned to herself, staring out the stained glass window awaiting for eight to roll around so that she could finally have some closure and know that this wasn't some kind of a joke, that her Dear Friend was truly out there.

In my imagination I can see our conversation taking shape, I'll know when this is done if something has ended or, if it's only just begun.

[how-manygalileos]

Yes, Minister - A BoRhap Politics AU

A/N: Hey gang, this is a fun lil project I’ve been working on with the ever wonderful @rachelweiszs-areawoman. It’s been super fun writing with her and this is the first chapter, we have no idea how long this is gonna be but probably pretty long so stay tuned, hope you like!

Word Count: 1908

Chapter 1

Miss Kathleen ‘Kick’ Shawcross, MP for Bethnal Green and Bow walked into the Foreign Office. She’d been appointed a Junior Minister at the Department for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs in the latest Cabinet reshuffle. She was a newly-elected Member of Parliament, and considered herself very lucky to have been appointed a Minister so early in her political career. The Labour party had won in a huge landslide once again in the general election and Kick was one of a new generation of Labour MPs doing their bit to govern the country.

She flashed her security pass and made her way up to her office. As expected, it was the size of a broom cupboard; charming and efficient, but ultimately a very small room. Unexpectedly, it had a connecting door with the Secretary of State’s office.

The Foreign Secretary.

The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, generally considered one of the most handsome men in Westminster, was to be her boss. Before Kick could muse about him any more, the man in question walked through the door.

“Miss Shawcross, welcome to the Foreign Office.” he said, sticking his hand out for her to shake.

“Thank you Minister, and please call me Kick.” she replied, shaking his hand.

“Kick?” he asked.

“It’s a long story from my days at Bristol University involving the Chief Whip. I'm sure you'll get to hear the tale at some point, Mr Lee.”

“Gwilym, please.”

As if on cue, the Labour Party’s Chief Whip, Ben Hardy, MP for Stretford and Urmston walked into the room.

“I would introduce you but apparently you already know each other,” Gwilym joked as Ben and Kick embraced.

“Ben, why are you here?” Kick asked as her friend shook Gwilym’s hand.

“Had to see you on your first day, didn’t I? I see you’ve met our esteemed Foreign Secretary and Member of Parliament for Holborn and St Pancras, the Right Honourable Gwilym Lee MP.” Ben replied, leaning on the edge of Kick’s desk.

“I have, and I like him more than I like you already.” she said, smirking in Gwilym’s direction. He smirked back as he left her office to continue working. Kick’s eyes stayed on the door for a few seconds after it closed.

“So that’s what your type is then?” Ben joked. Kick just glared at him.

“Ben, don’t you have work to do? Someone to go and threaten the job security of or something?” She asked, logging on to the computer in front of her as some kind of hint.

“That can all wait, I just wanted to come and see an old friend and make sure she's all settled on her first day,” he replied in a somewhat cocky manner. Kick shot him a look, reiterating her earlier hint. Thankfully this time, he took it and left her office with a wave. As the door clicked closed, Kick fell back in her chair. She sighed heavily, before there was yet another knock on the door.

“Come in!” Kick called, and the door opened, revealing a young blonde woman.

“You must be Kick,” She said as she walked over, depositing some files on the desk.

“Kick Shawcross. You are?”

“Lucy Boynton, the Minister’s secretary,” the young woman said, smiling brightly. She went to leave, but turned around as she reached the door.

“Gwilym’s single, just so you know.” she said, closing the door behind her. Kick thought, and decided that she didn’t think Lucy was the type to say something like that maliciously. If Gwilym really was single, well, that could cause all sorts of problems.

----

Kick’s first week as a Foreign Office Minister was exhausting. Meeting after meeting and Parliamentary debates. She managed to spend an afternoon in her constituency, and squeezed in a lunch with Lucy for ‘girly bonding time’ as she put it.

Kick was starting to really like Lucy, she anticipated them becoming close over their time together in the Foreign Office. In a male-dominated environment, they recognized in each other a need for female support and friendship. They’d found space in Kick’s increasingly busy diary for a wine-fuelled movie night one weekend to blow off steam after an especially busy week. For the most part, neither of them were paying attention to the film on Kick's TV. Instead they sat there talking, everything from music to family, Lucy's activism to Kick's hopes for the future… and about a certain Mr. Lee.

Not only had there been a general election and a Cabinet reshuffle, a new American Ambassador was joining the Embassy in London, creating a lot of work for the Foreign Office, and Kick. She sat in her office responding to various emails in relation to the new Ambassador's arrival, there was a somewhat intense conversation happening in the adjoining room, it intrigued her.

Collecting a stack of files as an excuse to walk into Gwil's office, Kick opened the door that connected the two offices.

“She's still bloody out there, chained to the Churchill statue of all places.” Gwilym complained, pacing the room and running a hand through his hair.

“I know that, it's about the fourth time you've said it in the past half hour.” Lucy replied, not looking up from the file she was reading.

“I just don't want her there when he arrives, especially as the refugee crisis seems to be her issue of the moment!” Gwilym sits down at his desk, acknowledging Kick with a polite nod, she places her stack of files on his desk.

“I don't mean to butt in, Gwilym, but who exactly are you two talking about?” Kick asks cautiously. The Foreign Secretary sighed and lent back in his chair slightly

“A certain Miss. Elsbeth Stewart,” Gwil seathed, causing Lucy to look to Kick and roll her eyes slightly, “since the reshuffle, she has very kindly selected me as her new target. Every little thing I do that woman seems to have a problem with”

Gwilym stood up again, taking another lap of the room.

“Why did it have to be today of all fucking days?” Gwil groaned

“She's a smart girl, she knows you have to make a first impression, I'm pretty sure she didn't pick today by accident.” Lucy said back to him,

“Lucy, can't you say something to her? You're friends with her for some insane reason”

“Gwil, if she knows you have that big of a problem with it's going to turn her 24 hour hunger strike into a 48 hour one,” Lucy placed the file she was reading on the desk, “I know Elsie, if she knew it would piss you off, she would starve herself half to death”

“That doesn’t solve the problem of her being here when the Ambassador turns up though.” Kick commented as she swiped the file from in front of Lucy and began reading it herself.

“Yes, thank you Kick, that was very helpful.” Gwilym groaned, resting his head in his hands. Before anybody could say anything remotely useful, a Parliamentary Aid poked his head through the door.

“Minister? The Ambassador is about 5 minutes away,” Gwil sighed and winced slightly.

“Great.” he muttered sarcastically, “Thank you for letting me know, I’ll be just a moment,” he said, nodding to the aid to dismiss him from the room.

“It’ll be fine Gwilym,” Kick said quietly as she walked past his desk on the way back to her office. He grimaced at her and nodded in response.

Gwilym walked down the stairs from his office to the entrance hall of the Foreign Office, and took a deep breath as the new Ambassador walked in.

The new Ambassador, Staff Sergeant Joseph Francis Mazzello III was something of a surprise. A young, womanising, ex-marine billionaire socialite with little prior political experience. The Americans obviously thought he was the right man for the job, so there he was.

“Ambassador.” Gwilym said as he shook the man’s hand.

“Please, call me Joe,”

“Then call me Gwilym,”

“Great to finally meet you, Gwilym.” He was peppy and obviously very green, he had a strange confidence and charm about him which was very refreshing to Gwilym as he had grown used being surrounded by the politicians and and diplomats of generations past. Gwilym thought he could quite easily grow to like the young man in front of him, a refreshing change from the last Ambassador.

They made their way up to Gwilym’s office, eager to discuss trade and relations between their two countries, when they almost collided with Kick.

“Kick, this is the new US Ambassador, Joe Mazzello.” Gwilym said as Kick and Joe shook hands.

“Joe, this is Kathleen Shawcross MP, one of our junior ministers,” He explained, smiling brightly at Kick.

“It’s a pleasure, Miss Shawcross.” he said, shaking her hand.

“Pleasure’s all mine, Ambassador Mazzello.” she said back

“Please, just Joe. No need for formalities, I imagine we’ll be seeing a lot of each other,” Kick blushed slightly, the American’s charm was lethal. Gwilym raised an eyebrow and frowned slightly over the Ambassador’s mildly flirtatious comment, but quickly pushed those thoughts aside based on the stories of Joe’s womanising nature, they were aside but not gone.

The second they entered Gwilym’s office, Joe made a beeline for the window.

“I don’t think I’ll ever get sick of looking at London,” he mused as he surveyed the scene, attention grabbed by the young woman chained to the Winston Churchill statue in Parliament Square, a poster board with “Lee wants Syrian children to starve to death, I’m starving for a day” propped up next to her and a confident, angry and intriguing air about her.

“Who’s she?” He asked, pointing her out as Gwilym joined him.

“That’s just Miss Stewart, she’s here a lot. Isn’t necessarily my biggest fan as you can probably see.” Gwilym replied, sitting down to get on with the business of the day.

“She really doesn’t like your policies, does she?” Joe commented as he sat down. Lucy sat down at her desk on the other side of the room, and Kick made her way into her office, where she would be listening in.

---- 

A week later, Kick found herself sat in an expensive Westminster restaurant with Gwilym, Ben, and Lucy. Ben had called it ‘team bonding’ but in reality, Kick knew it was just a way for him to get all the gossip from the Foreign Office to pass on to the powers that be. Ben had a remarkable knack for getting anything he wanted out of a Labour MP to pass on to the Prime Minister, Dr Brian May MP.

Ben poured Kick another glass of wine as he leaned in.

“Come on then Kick, pal to pal, what’s the Foreign Secretary actually like?” He whispered as he placed the wine bottle back down. He’d known Kick a long time, and knew she’d have to be spectacularly drunk to tell him anything.

“You’re not getting anything out of me, Benny boy. You’re going to have to work a bit harder than that, mate” Kick replied, trying to listen to whatever terrible joke Lucy was inevitably telling.

“Well, what do you think of him then? Do you fancy him?” Ben asked, still probing his best friend to get something out of her. Kick thought for a few moments, pondering the questions Ben had posed.

“He’s lovely, fantastic at his job. Do I fancy him? Well, there’s still time I suppose”

----

//Chapt 2//Chapt 3

[justpeachyshua]

part time

pairing: joshua x female reader characters: joshua hong, kwon soonyoung rating/warnings: teen+ for language; no warnings au: convenience store workers, college/university word count: 4,549 summary: “Working at a convenience store is about as easy a job as you can get. People come in and out, stopping on their way to bigger and better things, getting gas or food. Never did I think that working at a job like this could be remotely fun. Not until I began working alongside a guy so gentle, thoughtful, and oh so gorgeous. The only thing is, I don’t know his name.” 

note: hey guys!! this is my first one shot and svt fic in general, so i hope you enjoy it! i am fairly new to the fic community on tumblr, though i’ve had my ao3 account for a while and i’ve been working on a the boyz chat fic on there. i decided that i wanted to try to open up a tumblr dedicated to one shots and shorter fics and other things about my faves, so here it is! just about everything i post here will be on my ao3, but i might include some bonuses or extras here. anyways, on to the fic! 

Locking my phone and tossing it onto my bed, I let out a groan at the realization that this night would truly be one of the most boring nights of my life.

“I need you and the new guy to watch the store tonight. I’ve gotta take my son to the orthodontist at 5 and I don’t think I’ll be back in time to close the store. It’ll just be a few hours so I hope you guys don’t burn the place down.”

While in the middle of an intense Mario Kart race with my roommate, Soonyoung, I received that text from my boss and almost immediately wanted to fling my body into the sun. After quickly collecting myself and sending a polite yet casual response saying that of course I’d look after the store and of course I’d try to stay out of the break room and of course I’d be sure to card anyone looking to buy liquor and just about every precaution I could imagine, I settled back into my spot on the floor.

“Work?” My roommate muttered, eyes unmoving from the TV.

“Yeah,” I sighed. “He wants me to come in tonight because his son has an appointment. I guess we have to cancel movie night.”

“This is the third night you’ve cancelled though!” He set the controller down after finishing in 8th place. “Can he get off your ass? I swear you’re always out working.”

“Well, I mean, if it wasn’t clear from the fact that our fridge contains only juice boxes, milk, leftover pizza, and half a container of butter, we need money.”

He chuckled, turning the Wii and TV off. “Fine, fine, go. But bring me back some ice cream, kay?”

“I’m not gonna steal from the store just so you can have some mint chocolate chip ice cream.” I checked my phone and saw that it was already 4:30, then grabbed my coat and headed for the door. “Nice try, though.”

Soonyoung called out to me, stopping me before I left. “Wait! You gotta promise me you’ll actually talk to that guy today, okay? It’s been weeks.”

I rolled my eyes. “Sure, sure. I’ll try. Just go back to playing Mario Kart and let me go to work.”

As I made my usual trek to the bus stop headed for the store, I thought about Soonyoung’s words. There was, indeed, a new guy at the store and a fairly cute one at that. He had joined as the only other employee just a few weeks ago and was still a bit inexperienced and shy. He never spoke much in the store other than simple greetings and questions like “Have you stocked the chips yet?” and “Do you have the key to the cigarette case?” Still, he was definitely a nice guy. Whenever he could, he did a little extra cleaning and always made sure that his area of the store was completely organized before clocking out.

Even though we’d been coworkers for a while, we still hadn’t properly introduced ourselves to each other, partially because the store was so hectic the day he joined, what with our boss’s wife going into labor with their second kid that day and leaving the store in our hands for the first time. Since then, there just hadn’t been a good enough moment to ask without it being awkward. I liked to speculate what his name could be, especially when I brought the subject up with Soonyoung. While I thought he looked more like a Tae, Soonyoung stood by his belief that he was a Jae, especially after getting to see him in person while visiting me at work.

“Even if he isn’t a Jae, I’m telling you he’s a J guy,” Soonyoung stated with confidence and a mouthful of cookie when we got home that day. “I can feel it in my bones. Like a sixth sense or something.”

“I think that’s a sugar high, Soonyoung.”

Whether or not Soonyoung’s “sixth sense” was anything to go off of or not, I did feel the urge to finally start talking to this kid. Surely Soonyoung was tired of hearing me talk about how this guy was “pretty cute” and nothing much else so, if not for my sake then for his, I decided I would learn more about this kid. It definitely had nothing to do with the fact that I had to prove to Soonyoung that I was right about his name and it most definitely had nothing to do with the fact that any moment in the store not spent lazily milling around was spent staring and daydreaming about him. Absolutely not.

The bus ride to the store took only about 25 minutes, so I entered with a couple of minutes to spare which I used to scan for the best spots I could stock while avoiding the most customers later on. Mr. Han, the boss of the store, interrupted my search, telling me to put my vest on so he could go. I heeded his words and headed to the back of the shop where we kept employee goods like an old TV and DVD player and a couple snacks. The new guy was already there, sliding his own vest on and staring down at his phone. Without a word, I grabbed my vest and quickly went back out with the new guy trailing behind me.

“Alright kids, you pretty much already know how to run the store. I won’t be back for the rest of the night, but be sure to lock up before 10:00. I don’t want to keep you guys here for too long on a Saturday night and there shouldn’t be too many customers anyways.”

We nodded along.

“Well, I’m off. Good luck and make wise choices!” He waved goodbye as he let the glass door shut behind him, the sound of the chimes above trailing off as well. Almost immediately, we went to our usual posts - me by the register and him milling about the aisles. We were completely silent for the most part. We stayed to ourselves, like usual, letting customers flow in and out every few minutes and attending to them as necessary. The store wasn’t particularly busy, though we were kept working long enough that we still hadn’t found the time to say a single word to each other by the time the clock struck 6:10, about an hour later.

I swiped the credit card of the last customer in line and handed him his bag of snacks. As he walked away, I was worried that another customer might enter and delay mine and the new guy’s introductions - maybe even causing me to lose the opportunity altogether - but no one came in. The store was quiet for a minute or two then. Awkwardly quiet.

With nothing to do, I realized I had my chance to talk. “So… what’s up?” I clumsily sat on the wooden stool behind me. Smooth...

I watched as the new guy paced around, poking at the shelves of ramen and mac and cheese. His long sleeve shirt wasn’t quite his size, so his sleeves came up to his palms as he extended his hands to the various boxes thoughtlessly. It was honestly pretty charming. “Not much. Missing out on a couple boring documentaries at home, but otherwise not a whole lot.” He picked a box up, shifting it around. “You?”

“Well, I could be with my roommate watching shitty horror movies and playing video games, but instead I’m here watching the store with some guy.”

With a box of Kraft in hand, he clutched his chest. “Just some guy? I’ll have you know I have a name.”

I smiled at his attempt at humor so early into the conversation. “I’m sure you do. But do you even know mine?” He looked down at the Kraft box as though it would give him the answer. “Ah, so you don’t.”

“I mean, neither of us has really asked,” he pointed out.

“Fair. Well, guy, I’m Y/N.” I stuck my hand out across the counter, which he strided over to in order to complete the handshake.

“Well, Y/N, I’m--”

“Mommy, can I get the Oreos?!” We both turned our heads towards the door which had just begun to chime at the entrance of new customers - those customers being a couple and their daughter. The mom looked stressed, the daughter hyperactive, and the dad fairly indifferent.

The mom grabbed the daughter’s arm, leading her away from the snacks aisle. “No, sweetie, we’re only going to be here for a short time, okay?” The little girl huffed and continued to tug at her mom’s arm.

The dad approached me and calmly asked where the bathroom was. I pointed him past the ice cream refrigerator and he briskly walked away. I made eye contact with the new guy once he left and shrugged my shoulders before walking around the counter to “inspect” some of the bottles of nonprescription medicine. Soon enough, the little girl was making another fuss, this time stamping her feet on the ground as she begged her mom for the Oreos. Among the loud shouts from the girl and the sound of little boots hitting the floor, the mom was clearly trying to quiet her down. This quickly proved to be unsuccessful when the loud thud of a large box falling resounded throughout the store, immediately followed by the sound of small items scattering across the floor. I rushed over to the aisle the two were walking through and noticed the jumbo box of cereal spilling out and the mother holding her daughter up off the floor.

“I am so so sorry! I was trying to take her away from this aisle and she pulled the box down. Oh my gosh, I am so sorry, I’ll clean it up.” The mother began to profusely apologize, her daughter sitting in her arms looking passive.

“It’s alright, don’t worry about it.” I politely smiled, already reaching for the broom and dustpan in the corner of the store and beginning to sweep up the colorful pieces of cereal. “It was cheap anyways,” I reassured her.

She ran her free hand through her hair in frustration and took out her wallet. “I’ll pay for it up front, I promise. I feel so bad for making you sweep this up.” She rushed to the front counter and the new guy quickly met her there, ringing up the price of the cereal and accepting her payment. As I finished sweeping up and hid the cereal box where I could find it later and reminded myself to check the seals on the other boxes, I watched him carefully count out change for the mom. His hands lingered over the tray in the register and delicately picked out the appropriate coins before he handed them to her, letting them fall from his fingers.

He walked around the counter and plucked a lollipop from a display we had set up, bending down and handing it to the little girl. She immediately quieted and a grin spread across her face. “I know it’s not Oreos, but, in my opinion, they’re just as good,” he smiled. He looked up at the mom standing beside her. “Ah, don’t worry. These things have basically no added sugar in them, they’re as clean as you can get them.”

The mom gave a tired smile. “Thank you so, so much. Again, I’m sorry for causing you two any trouble.”

“It’s no problem at all!” He beamed. He looked down at the little girl again. “Now, make sure you thank your mom for letting you keep the lollipop, okay?”

The little girl nodded enthusiastically in response and her father finally returned from the restroom and thanked us. As they left the store, the girl turned back and waved. “Bye bye, pretty man!”

I scoffed as I tried to hold in my laughter and I could see the new guy’s eyes widen in shock, caught off guard by the innocent compliment. I walked back over to the counter and perched myself onto the stool again. “I hope you know those things are packed full of sugar and preservatives.”

He sighed while he watched the chimes above the door slow to a halt. “I know. I just told her that so she wouldn’t get too upset over the lollipop. It’s pretty clear that girl wasn’t going to stop without getting some kind of candy.” He rused.

My eyes traveled over to the chimes as well. When they finally fell back into place, I looked back at him. “I see you’re good with kids.”

“I guess I am. I mean, back home I used to babysit the neighborhood kids a lot so I guess I just got used to being around children.”

“And where’s back home?” I inquired, leaning my elbows on my knees.

“Los Angeles. Cali boy in the flesh,” he gestured over himself.

“L.A., huh? That’s kinda fancy.” I looked him up and down. “I mean, now that I really take a look at you, I can totally see it.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I mean the carefully-messy hair, the ripped jeans, the sun-tanned skin, just the way you talk - it’s sooo ‘Cali.’” I put air quotes around the word, mocking his use of it.

He stood up straight, making himself just taller than me when sitting on the stool. “You know, I bet you’ve never even been to California.”

I sat in thought for a second before hopping off the stool. “Hmm, you’re right. I haven’t. But that doesn’t mean I don’t know how L.A. boys act. I’ve done plenty of research.” I wandered the store again, eyes traveling over various sweets.

“Research?”

“You know, movies, shows, dumb YouTubers with cult followings, good sources,” I joked.

He chortled. “Oh, please. I promise I’m not like that.”

“Mmhmm, we’ll see. Next time I see you, you’ll have dropped a diss track on Soundcloud and I’ll have to pretend like I don’t know you, right?” I called back at him as I pulled a bag of cookies off the shelf for myself.

“Yup, and it’ll be entirely about you. I’ll be dropping hot bars on how the girl at the convenience store’s been taking shots at me,” he played along.

“See, the sad part is I can totally see you doing that.” I walked back towards him, opening the bag and pulling a chocolate chip cookie out. “Want one?”

He nodded, taking the cookie out of my hand and making me realize just how cold my hands were in comparison to his which were incredibly warm. I don’t know what I was expecting, but the warmth of his hands seemed right considering how warm he looked. A warm sweater, warm brown eyes, warm laughter, warm smile on warm pink lips. His lips, when I looked at them closely, were really endearing, curling up at the corners like a kitten’s. Seconds passed and I realized I had been staring for far longer than acceptable.

Looking away, I stuttered, “So, uh, what do you do? Besides work here, I mean.”

“Well, I go to university, study, and attend parties I shouldn’t really go to.”

“You local?”

“Actually, I go to Korea University.”

“Are you a genius? How the hell did you manage to get into KU?” I gaped.

He shrugged. “Just worked hard to get where I wanted, I guess.”

“Are you in any clubs or anything?”

“Hmm, not really, but I play music with friends every now and then. Nothing serious, just casual gigs at house parties.”

“What do you play?”

He hesitated quickly before settling on his answer. “Just guitar.”

I quirked an eyebrow. “Just guitar? I doubt that.”

“I sing too, sometimes.” I began to speak when he interjected, “I’m not gonna sing now, though. Not happening.”

I snickered. “I wasn’t going to ask that, actually. I was gonna ask if you’d take me to one of those house parties. For the experience, you know.”

He looked taken aback by my question and took a moment to think before responding, “I’ll consider. I don’t even have a way to reach you, though.”

“Is this you asking for my number?” I joked.

“Is this you suggesting that you’d give it to me?”

I looked up at him, seeing his eyes move around the room in what seemed to be nervousness. They landed on me for a moment and I swore I saw a hint of uncertainty in his look.

“Are you flirting with me right now?” I stepped closer to him.

“I-”

The light sound of the storefront chimes sounded again. My eyes cast down and I took a step back. I could vaguely hear him mumble a frustrated “Again?” under his breath before he stepped out from behind the counter, changing face to become the polite store employee he normally was. I turned to see who was entering the store and saw a group of about seven teenagers flooding in through the door. I sighed and took my spot behind the register, disappointed at the lost moment.

The kids wandered about the store in their little group and chattered to themselves. After a couple seconds, I pulled my phone out and began scrolling through Twitter to pass the time. Soon enough, someone was standing in front of me and I looked up to see one of the kids, a girl with clearly bleached hair.

“How can I help you?”

“Can I get a pack of Marlboro Silvers?” She asked, looking me in the eyes.

I furrowed my brow. She was clearly a high schooler, probably not older than a junior. “I’ll need to see some ID.” She swiftly pulled a card out from her pocket and handed it to me. Upon close inspection, I saw a small corner of the card peeling up. I ran my finger over it and put two and two together: it was a fake ID, and a poorly made one at that. I quirked an eyebrow and slid the card over to her. “I can’t get that for you.”

“I think you should take a better look at it.”

“You should get a more convincing ID before you suggest that.”

She huffed and angrily took the card back. I rolled my eyes as she walked back to the group, shaking her head. Mr. Han had advised us to ID everyone but I didn’t think anyone would actually try to buy cigs illegally. It just seemed dumb, walking up to a store clerk as if you aren’t obviously an acne-sprouting teenager and trying to convince them that you’re a legal adult. But then again, people do dumb things to get what they want all the time.

I looked around the store. In the corner, the kids were looking through various refrigerators, picking out sodas and ice creams. Just a few feet away, the new guy stood, wiping down some of the refrigerator doors that didn’t need wiping down. I could tell he was just giving himself something to do while those kids were around, not wanting to particularly interact with them. I almost wanted to laugh at how obviously he was wasting time, doing such a useless task. To be fair, I did it all the time, but I noticed he was especially distracted as he looked back at me every now and then.

In the midst of watching him move the towel over the same spot for the tenth time, he whipped his head and shouted. “Hey, what are you doing?!” I jumped, thinking he was talking to me, before I realized he was looking directly at the group of kids. From where I was standing, I could see one of them was carefully putting something into her backpack and I realized it was a large bottle of, presumably, alcohol. As soon as they heard the new guy’s exclamation, they bolted for the door and, by the time I could even process what was happening, he was already chasing them out of the store. I rushed out to see where they had gone, but all I saw was the guy, about five yards away, hunched over and out of breath. Scanning the area, I concluded that the kids were already long gone.

“You okay?” I called out to him.

He turned around, continuing to huff. He seemed like he was going to have an asthma attack at any second, so I jogged over to him and placed my hand on his shoulder. Upon contact, he stood back up and nodded. “Yeah, yeah, I’m fine.”

“They ran,” I said awkwardly.

“I know.” He shook his head. “If I was just a little faster, maybe I could’ve stopped them.”

“I mean, at least they’re gone now,” I offered. I motioned for him to follow me back into the store. “I’ll pay for the drink, it’s no big deal. How much was it?”

“Fifteen, I think. I don’t know, I’m just disappointed that I let them go like that.”

“It’s not your fault,” I insisted, dropping a ten and a five in the register. “They’re just a bunch of hoodlums.”

He chuckled. “Hoodlums. Haven’t heard that one used since the 20s.”

“It’s just what they are, man. Kids these days have no respect!” I exclaimed, pointing a finger in the air.

Laughing, he said, “We’re only, like, a couple of years older than them.”

I lowered my finger. “Still, I don’t associate with them.” He only continued to laugh and soon I was smiling and giggling too. His amusement was just so infectious and I couldn’t hold back. At some point in his laughing fit he let out a loud snort and I knew at that moment that I was way too enamored with him.

After calming down and catching my breath I picked my phone up once again, unlocking to check for any notifications. My eyes lit up as soon as they landed on the first notification, reading:

“Hey! We just got out of the appointment. Sorry it took so long, he ended up getting his braces put on today. You guys should probably go ahead and lock the store up now that it’s getting late. Hope you guys held the fort down well. See you Monday.”

I looked up at the time displayed at the top of my screen, seeing that it was already 9:46.

“What?” The guy asked, noticing my eyes glued to my phone. “What’s up?”

“Mr. Han said we can lock up and head home now,” I explained, shoving my phone into my back pocket and making a beeline for the break room and shrugging my vest off. “God, I am so ready to get back to wasting time at home.”

He, too, came to the back of the store with me, taking his uniform off and gathering his belongings. “What, did you not like hanging out with me for the last four and a half hours?”

I smiled to myself as I grabbed my bag. “No, quite the opposite actually.” I turned back to face him. “I had a pretty good time.”

“I had a good time, too.” He paused for a few seconds, remaining looking at me. He cleared his throat. “Let’s head to the bus stop.”

“You ride the bus, too? I always see you walking the opposite direction.”

“I thought I’d speed up the ride home,” he excused. I squinted, not totally convinced, but let it slide anyways.

We walked side by side in silence until we reached the bus stop, only a few blocks away. We stood there for a while, a foot apart, comfortable. I looked up at him and saw him staring into space, lost in thought. I tapped his shoulder. He looked at me with wide, curious eyes. “Hmm?”

“Earlier, before those kids came in, I asked if you were flirting with me. What was your answer going to be?”

“Ah, that.” He looked away sheepishly. “What would you do if I was?”

I paused to consider my response. “I think I would like it.” He turned back to me, shocked. “And I would probably flirt back and ask if you wanna hang out someplace other than a dingy convenience store.”

He nodded, looking away again. “Nice, nice. Well now I know for future reference.” I smiled at his awkwardness. “I’ll be sure to let you know if I’m ever flirting with you. So you know, of course.”

The bus pulled up a few moments later, signalling the end of this long night. I began to walk towards the bus, but he, for the first time in the past four and a half hours, wasn’t trailing behind me. “You coming?”

“Oh. Uh, I don’t actually ride the bus home. I only live a couple of minutes away, but maybe I wanted to walk you to the stop and talk for a couple of minutes more. Potentially. Hypothetically.”

“Then thanks. Hypothetically.” My grin stayed glued to my face as he ran through his explanation. I knew the bus would be leaving in only a few seconds more, so I had to turn and step on, but I didn’t want to leave this guy at all. Reluctantly, I started to take the first few steps on board. I turned back at the last second. “Wait, you never got to tell me your name.”

“It’s Joshua! Josh, for short, whatever works for you.” That kitten-like curl of his lip happened again and I wanted to melt. Joshua, of course. I don’t know how I could’ve expected his name to be anything else. It was sweet, gentle, and charming. It fit him perfectly.

“Well, Josh, I’ll see you Monday.” I waved while the bus door closed behind me and I made my way to an empty seat, sure that he was waving back at me. I thought about his earlier words - his semi-confession - and I could tell my face was heating up. It was almost childlike, the way I was getting so flustered. I sent a quick text to Soonyoung a few minutes before my arrival at the stop.

“Hey Soonyoung, I’m almost home. Go ahead and start making some ramen so we can pick a movie as soon as I’m in”

He responded within seconds.

“Lol you got it.”

I hesitated before sending another message.

“Oh and Soon? I learned his name today”

“It's Joshua”

The next couple of messages were sent in quick succession, each one in all caps and containing a variety of keyboard smashes, including one very long “I TOLD YOU SOOOOLKHJLKGDJHLK.” I chuckled to myself and shut my phone off, putting it away in my bag. The rest of the ride was short and sweet as I reminisced on the events that had unfolded. The spilled cereal, the little girl, the lollipop, the cigarettes, the alcohol, the flirting, the laughter - it all felt like a dream. The night was so simultaneously long and quick and all the best parts consisted of interactions with him - Josh. It felt odd knowing his name finally, but I never wanted that name to leave my mind. I wanted to remember it for as long as I could.

[milothebastardman]

Hi! if you're still accepting radmond requests, maybe do something where raymond does something so sweet and romantic that rad just goes all speechless?? Thank you for accepting requests, and have a lovely day!!

(Of course Anon! I’ll always take requests, especially those of the Radmond nature. of course, it might take me a whole day to actually reply but)

Rad wasn’t the type to ever fall silent or be at a loss for words, even when others would be. He always had something to say, some little quip to add so he could provide a bit of comedic relief. Of course, that didn’t mean that he couldn’t be caught with anything to say. He was a cool guy, sure, but he was still a person. And hey, sometimes people just don’t know what to say, you know? Still, for the most part, Rad wasn’t the kind of guy to ever stop talking. Enid and KO knew this about him very well, though the two had entirely different opinions on that aspect of Rad’s personality.

While Enid would roll her eyes, sigh dramatically, and make a big show of not paying attention to Rad, KO was the opposite. He’d follow Rad around the store like a tiny puppy, listening intently to whatever tall tale the alien happened to be spinning at that moment. Yes, Rad was much more familiar with leaving someone speechless, whether it was out of exasperation or awe. In fact, he was so used to being the one to leave others speechless, he’d practically forgotten how it felt to have his brain turn to mush and his tongue tie into several complicated knots. That is, until one slow Monday morning…

As everything else he did, Raymond entered the little shop with a flourish and air of confidence. Enid was quite accustomed to the bold entrances and simply told KO to fetch the broom and dustpan so he could clean up the fragrant flower petals that were now scattered across the floor. Rad poked his head up from behind a shelf, a huge grin spreading across his face at the sight of his beloved boyfriend. The two had been dating for almost a year now and had fallen into a very comfortable routine. Raymond would stop by the store just before Rad went on break, always insisting that he needed something from the back of the store.

Of course, Rad was more than happy to assist his boyfriend and would lead him to the back so he could find whatever product he claimed to need today. Most of the time, KO would let out a happy sigh and comment on how sweet Rad was to spend his break helping Raymond find something obscure, and Enid would have to stifle a snicker because she knew what they were really doing in the back room. She was far from nosy of course, but she’d “accidentally” walked in on them making out one time when her curiosity got the better of her. Honestly, she would’ve made fun of Rad relentlessly if it weren’t for the fact that he was basically being paid to smooch his boyfriend. It was a thought she kept filed away in her head, just in case she ever got herself a girlfriend.

As Rad led Raymond into the back room, Enid couldn’t help but notice the carefully wrapped gift Raymond was hiding behind his back. She thought about spying on them just to see what it was, then decided that her chair was just too comfortable to leave it now. She buried her nose back in some trashy magazine, quickly becoming reabsorbed in other heroes dirty laundry. Rad chattered on loudly about the product Raymond was looking for, taking a quick second to look around for Mr. Gar before he clocked out. The second he’d done so, he found himself being pulled into the back room by an overexcited robot.

Before he could make some dumb joke, Raymond had him weak in the knees with one of his breath-stealing kisses. The first minute or five of his break passed them by quickly, kisses and sappy words being exchanged in hushed, gentle tones. Finally, Raymond managed to pull himself away from his lovely alien long enough to hand over the gift. Rad cocked an eyebrow at him, holding the present in his hands carefully.

“Dude, I know I’m really bad with dates and all, but I’m pretty sure our anniversary isn’t for another 12 days.”, he commented, absentmindedly fiddling with the blue ribbon tied around the present. His eyes widened almost comically, and he checked the date on his phone. “It isn’t today, right? Because I don’t have my gift with me and my break isn’t long enough to run home to get it-”, he started, cutting himself off when Raymond started giggling at him. He huffed, rolling his eyes as he gave him a very intimidating glare. It most definitely wasn’t a pout, no siree Bob!

“My darling, you haven’t forgotten our anniversary. It is in 12 days, I’ll just be out of town with Mr. Boxdad on a mission that day, so I don’t know if I’ll be back in time to give you the present.”, Raymond explained, nonchalantly carding a hand through his hair. “Well, that and I just couldn’t stand waiting around to give it to you.”, he added, grinning slyly. Rad’s eyes narrowed as he examined the gift closely, half convinced that it was some sort of joke gift. The packaging seemed too pretty for a joke gift though, and it really would’ve been a waste of ribbon and paper to get him something he couldn’t have liked.

“Oh come now darling, please tell me you’ll open it now? I really want to see how you like it!”, Raymond begged, going all out as he clasped his hands together as if praying to a god for mercy. Rad just sighed and ruffled his hair, a little smile pulling at his lips when Raymond made an indignant squawking sound. “How rude! I’ll have you know I spent over an hour with two cans of hair spray just to get that look!”, he spluttered, managing to look almost mad for about 0.2 seconds. In his defense, it’s hard to still look angry when a lovely alien man is kissing sweetly. By the time Rad pulled away, his drama queen of a robot was red in the face and much more content looking than before.

“No need to beg, baby, I’ll open the present. I swear though, it better be PG! I do not need KO finding something weird…”, Rad grumbled, fiddling with the ribbon for a moment before he managed to get it off. While normally the type to just tear into a present like a child on Christmas morning, he took his time in carefully peeling the wrapping paper off. He internally insisted that it was to tease his boyfriend, though Enid would externally insist that it was because he didn’t want to mess up the great job Raymond had done at wrapping the present. The paper slowly fell to the floor in one big piece, and Rad was left staring down at a small, velvet box in confusion.

“… If this is a ring…”, he threatened quietly, looking up to see a carefully poised poker face on his favorite robot. With shaking fingers, Rad opened the tiny box and let out a breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding. It wasn’t a ring, thank god, he wouldn’t have been able to handle that at all. Instead, it was two intricate necklaces. Raymond watched him closely, feeling doubt creeping into his mechanical heart as the silence grew tense. Before he could ask if he had messed up, or maybe gone too far, he was enveloped in the tightest, warmest hug he’d ever felt. It took him a moment to register that, but the moment it did register in his brain he was hugging Rad back as tightly as he was able to.

“I take it that my research paid off?”, he asked quietly, a hesitant smile creeping onto his face. Rad just nodded against him, the closest thing to a verbal response being the tiny sniffle he let out. Raymond slowly pulled away, surprised by the watery look in his boyfriend’s eyes and the wobbly smile he wore. Without having to speak, Rad turned around so that he could fasten the necklace into place. The chain was made up of a simple silver, nothing really flashy considering who had made it. The pendant, though, was where all the work had been done. The swirls of green and subtle tinge of black popped nicely against Rad’s blue cut off, but didn’t come off as gaudy or tacky.

Once the necklace was fastened into place, Raymond and Rad switched places so the other necklace could be put on. It had taken Raymond several tries to get the shade of turquoise just right, but it had been worth absolutely every hour he’d spent making the pendant. It fell into place against his chest easily, though it took Rad a little longer to get the chain fastened since his fingers kept shaking. Still, he managed to get it done and turned his boyfriend around to give him another kiss. This one lingered, somehow managing to express the flurry of emotions Rad was feeling but couldn’t put into words just yet. They finally broke apart, both wearing satisfied grins and cheesy necklaces.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you go so long without speaking, darling. Cat got your tongue?”, Raymond teased, still a bit breathless from the kiss. Rad rolled his eyes, though the smile on his lips betrayed his lack of annoyance at the question.

“Nope! My big, cheesy boyfriend does.”, he joked back, glad to finally remember English again. He couldn’t help but rub the pendant lightly, still feeling all warm and fuzzy from the implications it carried. It seemed that Raymond had really done his alien homework, and had gotten everything right with this gift, down to the simple chain. “You know what this means, right? I’m going to have to make you something so amazing that you’ll be the one speechless next time!”, he exclaimed, already getting that fiery look in his eyes.

“Well, I have a few ideas on what you could do to leave me speechless, darling…”, Raymond began, smirking slightly at his adorable little alien. Before Rad could do or say anything in response, though, KO burst into the room.

“Raymond! Rad! I thought you two had gotten lost or something back here while looking for the Lightning Gum!”, he yelled, clambering over a couple cardboard boxes before he reached them both. “Oh, that reminds me! I found a pack out in the front, it was hidden behind the Super Sonic Socks!”, he added, holding the pack of gum out triumphantly. Rad had to muffle his giggles as Raymond took the gum, giving the little tyke a pat on the head.

“Why, thank you ever so much KO! I’ll let Mr. Boxdad know that you were a very big help to me today.”, Raymond replied, grinning down at the proud looking boy. “Alright now, little hero, why don’t you make sure nobody else needs help up front. Rad and I-”, he began, blinking a couple times in surprise when KO interrupted. Frankly, he should be used to this by now…

“Rad! You gotta hurry back to the front, actually. Mr. Gar’s looking for you, and he seems super disappointed!”, KO interjected, giving Rad a big push towards the door. Well, the biggest push he could manage considering how small he was and how much taller Rad was than him. “C'mon, you gotta move!”, he whined, giving his favorite not-brother big puppy eyes. Rad let out a long, exaggerated sigh, and gave Raymond one last peck on the lips before he dashed off to the front. The robot waved goodbye at him, then looked down when he felt KO tugging at his arm.

“Yes, little hero? What seems to be the problem?”, he asked, kneeling down to be at eye-level with the 6 to 11-year-old. KO still had his big, innocent eyes going, and Raymond prepared himself for the normal slew of questions he always seemed to have.

“Is Rad pregnant now?”, he asked casually as if the subject were as nonchalant as discussing the weather or talking about the price of Super Sonic Socks.

“… RAAAAAD!”, KO yelled a moment later, panicking since Raymond seemed to have short-circuited. Later on that night, after several minutes of laughing, Carol had to explain to him that no, you didn’t get pregnant by kissing someone. Rad decided to never let the moment go since he was pretty sure being caught speechless was way less embarrassing than fainting over a little question.

(whoops I got a little carried away Anon, I hope you still really enjoy this though because I had way too much fun writing this.)

[uzhevko-stanislava90v-blog]

Charles Dickens: Bleak House: Chapter IV: Telescopic Philanthropy

We were to pass the night, Mr. Kenge told us when we arrived in his room, at Mrs. Jellyby's; and then he turned to me and said he took it for granted I knew who Mrs. Jellyby was. "I really don't, sir," I returned. "Perhaps Mr. Carstone--or Miss Clare--" But no, they knew nothing whatever about Mrs. Jellyby. "In-deed! Mrs. Jellyby," said Mr. Kenge, standing with his back to the fire and casting his eyes over the dusty hearth-rug as if it were Mrs. Jellyby's biography, "is a lady of very remarkable strength of character who devotes herself entirely to the public. She has devoted herself to an extensive variety of public subjects at various times and is at present (until something else attracts her) devoted to the subject of Africa, with a view to the general cultivation of the coffee berry--AND the natives--and the happy settlement, on the banks of the African rivers, of our superabundant home population. Mr. Jarndyce, who is desirous to aid any work that is considered likely to be a good work and who is much sought after by philanthropists, has, I believe, a very high opinion of Mrs. Jellyby." Mr. Kenge, adjusting his cravat, then looked at us. "And Mr. Jellyby, sir?" suggested Richard. "Ah! Mr. Jellyby," said Mr. Kenge, "is--a--I don't know that I can describe him to you better than by saying that he is the husband of Mrs. Jellyby." "A nonentity, sir?" said Richard with a droll look. "I don't say that," returned Mr. Kenge gravely. "I can't say that, indeed, for I know nothing whatever OF Mr. Jellyby. I never, to my knowledge, had the pleasure of seeing Mr. Jellyby. He may be a very superior man, but he is, so to speak, merged--merged--in the more shining qualities of his wife." Mr. Kenge proceeded to tell us that as the road to Bleak House would have been very long, dark, and tedious on such an evening, and as we had been travelling already, Mr. Jarndyce had himself proposed this arrangement. A carriage would be at Mrs. Jellyby's to convey us out of town early in the forenoon of to-morrow. He then rang a little bell, and the young gentleman came in. Addressing him by the name of Guppy, Mr. Kenge inquired whether Miss Summerson's boxes and the rest of the baggage had been "sent round." Mr. Guppy said yes, they had been sent round, and a coach was waiting to take us round too as soon as we pleased. "Then it only remains," said Mr. Kenge, shaking hands with us, "for me to express my lively satisfaction in (good day, Miss Clare!) the arrangement this day concluded and my (GOOD-bye to you, Miss Summerson!) lively hope that it will conduce to the happiness, the (glad to have had the honour of making your acquaintance, Mr. Carstone!) welfare, the advantage in all points of view, of all concerned! Guppy, see the party safely there." "Where IS 'there,' Mr. Guppy?" said Richard as we went downstairs. "No distance," said Mr. Guppy; "round in Thavies Inn, you know." "I can't say I know where it is, for I come from Winchester and am strange in London." "Only round the corner," said Mr. Guppy. "We just twist up Chancery Lane, and cut along Holborn, and there we are in four minutes' time, as near as a toucher. This is about a London particular NOW, ain't it, miss?" He seemed quite delighted with it on my account. "The fog is very dense indeed!" said I. "Not that it affects you, though, I'm sure," said Mr. Guppy, putting up the steps. "On the contrary, it seems to do you good, miss, judging from your appearance." I knew he meant well in paying me this compliment, so I laughed at myself for blushing at it when he had shut the door and got upon the box; and we all three laughed and chatted about our inexperience and the strangeness of London until we turned up under an archway to our destination--a narrow street of high houses like an oblong cistern to hold the fog. There was a confused little crowd of people, principally children, gathered about the house at which we stopped, which had a tarnished brass plate on the door with the inscription JELLYBY. "Don't be frightened!" said Mr. Guppy, looking in at the coach- window. "One of the young Jellybys been and got his head through the area railings!" "Oh, poor child," said I; "let me out, if you please!" "Pray be careful of yourself, miss. The young Jellybys are always up to something," said Mr. Guppy. I made my way to the poor child, who was one of the dirtiest little unfortunates I ever saw, and found him very hot and frightened and crying loudly, fixed by the neck between two iron railings, while a milkman and a beadle, with the kindest intentions possible, were endeavouring to drag him back by the legs, under a general impression that his skull was compressible by those means. As I found (after pacifying him) that he was a little boy with a naturally large head, I thought that perhaps where his head could go, his body could follow, and mentioned that the best mode of extrication might be to push him forward. This was so favourably received by the milkman and beadle that he would immediately have been pushed into the area if I had not held his pinafore while Richard and Mr. Guppy ran down through the kitchen to catch him when he should be released. At last he was happily got down without any accident, and then he began to beat Mr. Guppy with a hoop-stick in quite a frantic manner. Nobody had appeared belonging to the house except a person in pattens, who had been poking at the child from below with a broom; I don't know with what object, and I don't think she did. I therefore supposed that Mrs. Jellyby was not at home, and was quite surprised when the person appeared in the passage without the pattens, and going up to the back room on the first floor before Ada and me, announced us as, "Them two young ladies, Missis Jellyby!" We passed several more children on the way up, whom it was difficult to avoid treading on in the dark; and as we came into Mrs. Jellyby's presence, one of the poor little things fell downstairs--down a whole flight (as it sounded to me), with a great noise. Mrs. Jellyby, whose face reflected none of the uneasiness which we could not help showing in our own faces as the dear child's http://www.citysearch.com/profile/637980685/burbank_ca/real_rocknroll_movers.html head recorded its passage with a bump on every stair--Richard afterwards said he counted seven, besides one for the landing--received us with perfect equanimity. She was a pretty, very diminutive, plump woman of from forty to fifty, with handsome eyes, though they had a curious habit of seeming to look a long way off. As if--I am quoting Richard again--they could see nothing nearer than Africa! "I am very glad indeed," said Mrs. Jellyby in an agreeable voice, "to have the pleasure of receiving you. I have a great respect for Mr. Jarndyce, and no one in whom he is interested can be an object of indifference to me." We expressed our acknowledgments and sat down behind the door, where there was a lame invalid of a sofa. Mrs. Jellyby had very good hair but was too much occupied with her African duties to brush it. The shawl in which she had been loosely muffled dropped onto her chair when she advanced to us; and as she turned to resume her seat, we could not help noticing that her dress didn't nearly meet up the back and that the open space was railed across with a lattice-work of stay-lace--like a summer-house. The room, which was strewn with papers and nearly filled by a great writing-table covered with similar litter, was, I must say, not only very untidy but very dirty. We were obliged to take notice of that with our sense of sight, even while, with our sense of hearing, we followed the poor child who had tumbled downstairs: I think into the back kitchen, where somebody seemed to stifle him. But what principally struck us was a jaded and unhealthy-looking though by no means plain girl at the writing-table, who sat biting the feather of her pen and staring at us. I suppose nobody ever was in such a state of ink. And from her tumbled hair to her pretty feet, which were disfigured with frayed and broken satin slippers trodden down at heel, she really seemed to have no article of dress upon her, from a pin upwards, that was in its proper condition or its right place. "You find me, my dears," said Mrs. Jellyby, snuffing the two great office candles in tin candlesticks, which made the room taste strongly of hot tallow (the fire had gone out, and there was nothing in the grate but ashes, a bundle of wood, and a poker), "you find me, my dears, as usual, very busy; but that you will excuse. The African project at present employs my whole time. It involves me in correspondence with public bodies and with private individuals anxious for the welfare of their species all over the country. I am happy to say it is advancing. We hope by this time next year to have from a hundred and fifty to two hundred healthy families cultivating coffee and educating the natives of Borrioboola-Gha, on the left bank of the Niger." As Ada said nothing, but looked at me, I said it must be very gratifying. "It IS gratifying," said Mrs. Jellyby. "It involves the devotion of all my energies, such as they are; but that is nothing, so that it succeeds; and I am more confident of success every day. Do you know, Miss Summerson, I almost wonder that YOU never turned your thoughts to Africa." This application of the subject was really so unexpected to me that I was quite at a loss how to receive it. I hinted that the climate-- "The finest climate in the world!" said Mrs. Jellyby. "Indeed, ma'am?" "Certainly. With precaution," said Mrs. Jellyby. "You may go into Holborn, without precaution, and be run over. You may go into Holborn, with precaution, and never be run over. Just so with Africa." I said, "No doubt." I meant as to Holborn. "If you would like," said Mrs. Jellyby, putting a number of papers towards us, "to look over some remarks on that head, and on the general subject, which have been extensively circulated, while I finish a letter I am now dictating to my eldest daughter, who is my amanuensis--" The girl at the table left off biting her pen and made a return to our recognition, which was half bashful and half sulky. "--I shall then have finished for the present," proceeded Mrs. Jellyby with a sweet smile, "though my work is never done.

Where are you, Caddy?" "'Presents her compliments to Mr. Swallow, and begs--'" said Caddy. "'And begs,'" said Mrs. Jellyby, dictating, "'to inform him, in reference to his letter of inquiry on the African project--' No, Peepy! Not on my account!" Peepy (so self-named) was the unfortunate child who had fallen downstairs, who now interrupted the correspondence by presenting himself, with a strip of plaster on his forehead, to exhibit his wounded knees, in which Ada and I did not know which to pity most-- the bruises or the dirt. Mrs. Jellyby merely added, with the serene composure with which she said everything, "Go along, you naughty Peepy!" and fixed her fine eyes on Africa again. However, as she at once proceeded with her dictation, and as I interrupted nothing by doing it, I ventured quietly to stop poor Peepy as he was going out and to take him up to nurse. He looked very much astonished at it and at Ada's kissing him, but soon fell fast asleep in my arms, sobbing at longer and longer intervals, until he was quiet. I was so occupied with Peepy that I lost the letter in detail, though I derived such a general impression from it of the momentous importance of Africa, and the utter insignificance of all other places and things, that I felt quite ashamed to have thought so little about it. "Six o'clock!" said Mrs. Jellyby. "And our dinner hour is nominally (for we dine at all hours) five! Caddy, show Miss Clare and Miss Summerson their rooms. You will like to make some change, perhaps? You will excuse me, I know, being so much occupied. Oh, that very bad child! Pray put him down, Miss Summerson!" I begged permission to retain him, truly saying that he was not at all troublesome, and carried him upstairs and laid him on my bed. Ada and I had two upper rooms with a door of communication between. They were excessively bare and disorderly, and the curtain to my window was fastened up with a fork. "You would like some hot water, wouldn't you?" said Miss Jellyby, looking round for a jug with a handle to it, but looking in vain. "If it is not being troublesome," said we. "Oh, it's not the trouble," returned Miss Jellyby; "the question is, if there IS any." The evening was so very cold and the rooms had such a marshy smell that I must confess it was a little miserable, and Ada was half crying. We soon laughed, however, and were busily unpacking when Miss Jellyby came back to say that she was sorry there was no hot water, but they couldn't find the kettle, and the boiler was out of order. We begged her not to mention it and made all the haste we could to get down to the fire again. But all the little children had come up to the landing outside to look at the phenomenon of Peepy lying on my bed, and our attention was distracted by the constant apparition of noses and fingers in situations of danger between the hinges of the doors. It was impossible to shut the door of either room, for my lock, with no knob to it, looked as if it wanted to be wound up; and though the handle of Ada's went round and round with the greatest smoothness, it was attended with no effect whatever on the door. Therefore I proposed to the children that they should come in and be very good at my table, and I would tell them the story of Little Red Riding Hood while I dressed; which they did, and were as quiet as mice, including Peepy, who awoke opportunely before the appearance of the wolf. When we went downstairs we found a mug with "A Present from Tunbridge Wells" on it lighted up in the staircase window with a floating wick, and a young woman, with a swelled face bound up in a flannel bandage blowing the fire of the drawing-room (now connected by an open door with Mrs. Jellyby's room) and choking dreadfully. It smoked to that degree, in short, that we all sat coughing and crying with the windows open for half an hour, during which Mrs. Jellyby, with the same sweetness of temper, directed letters about Africa. Her being so employed was, I must say, a great relief to me, for Richard told us that he had washed his hands in a pie-dish and that they had found the kettle on his dressing-table, and he made Ada laugh so that they made me laugh in the most ridiculous manner. Soon after seven o'clock we went down to dinner, carefully, by Mrs. Jellyby's advice, for the stair-carpets, besides being very deficient in stair-wires, were so torn as to be absolute traps. We had a fine cod-fish, a piece of roast beef, a dish of cutlets, and a pudding; an excellent dinner, if it had had any cooking to speak of, but it was almost raw. The young woman with the flannel bandage waited, and dropped everything on the table wherever it happened to go, and never moved it again until she put it on the stairs. The person I had seen in pattens, who I suppose to have been the cook, frequently came and skirmished with her at the door, and there appeared to be ill will between them. All through dinner--which was long, in consequence of such accidents as the dish of potatoes being mislaid in the coal skuttle and the handle of the corkscrew coming off and striking the young woman in the chin--Mrs. Jellyby preserved the evenness of her disposition. She told us a great deal that was interesting about Borrioboola-Gha and the natives, and received so many letters that Richard, who sat by her, saw four envelopes in the gravy at once. Some of the letters were proceedings of ladies' committees or resolutions of ladies' meetings, which she read to us; others were applications from people excited in various ways about the cultivation of coffee, and natives; others required answers, and these she sent her eldest daughter from the table three or four times to write. She was full of business and undoubtedly was, as she had told us, devoted to the cause. I was a little curious to know who a mild bald gentleman in spectacles was, who dropped into a vacant chair (there was no top or bottom in particular) after the fish was taken away and seemed passively to submit himself to Borriohoola-Gha but not to be actively interested in that settlement. As he never spoke a word, he might have been a native but for his complexion. It was not until we left the table and he remained alone with Richard that the possibility of his being Mr. Jellyby ever entered my head. But he WAS Mr. Jellyby; and a loquacious young man called Mr. Quale, with large shining knobs for temples and his hair all brushed to the back of his head, who came in the evening, and told Ada he was a philanthropist, also informed her that he called the matrimonial alliance of Mrs. Jellyby with Mr. Jellyby the union of mind and matter. This young man, besides having a great deal to say for himself about Africa and a project of his for teaching the coffee colonists to teach the natives to turn piano-forte legs and establish an export trade, delighted in drawing Mrs. Jellyby out by saving, "I believe now, Mrs. Jellyby, you have received as many as from one hundred and fifty to two hundred letters respecting Africa in a single day, have you not?" or, "If my memory does not deceive me, Mrs. Jellyby, you once mentioned that you had sent off five thousand circulars from one post-office at one time?"--always repeating Mrs. Jellyby's answer to us like an interpreter. During the whole evening, Mr. Jellyby sat in a corner with his head against the wall as if he were subject to low spirits. It seemed that he had several times opened his mouth when alone with Richard after dinner, as if he had something on his mind, but had always shut it again, to Richard's extreme confusion, without saying anything. Mrs. Jellyby, sitting in quite a nest of waste paper, drank coffee all the evening and dictated at intervals to her eldest daughter. She also held a discussion with Mr. Quale, of which the subject seemed to be--if I understood it--the brotherhood of humanity, and gave utterance to some beautiful sentiments. I was not so attentive an auditor as I might have wished to be, however, for Peepy and the other children came flocking about Ada and me in a corner of the drawing-room to ask for another story; so we sat down among them and told them in whispers "Puss in Boots" and I don't know what else until Mrs. Jellyby, accidentally remembering them, sent them to bed. As Peepy cried for me to take him to bed, I carried him upstairs, where the young woman with the flannel bandage charged into the midst of the little family like a dragon and overturned them into cribs. &hl=en_US&fs=1&"> &hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="400" height="241"> After that I occupied myself in making our room a little tidy and in coaxing a very cross fire that had been lighted to burn, which at last it did, quite brightly. On my return downstairs, I felt that Mrs. Jellyby looked down upon me rather for being so frivolous, and I was sorry for it, though at the same time I knew that I had no higher pretensions. It was nearly midnight before we found an opportunity of going to bed, and even then we left Mrs. Jellyby among her papers drinking coffee and Miss Jellyby biting the feather of her pen. "What a strange house!" said Ada when we got upstairs. "How curious of my cousin Jarndyce to send us here!" "My love," said I, "it quite confuses me. I want to understand it, and I can't understand it at all." "What?" asked Ada with her pretty smile. "All this, my dear," said I. "It MUST be very good of Mrs. Jellyby to take such pains about a scheme for the benefit of natives--and yet--Peepy and the housekeeping!" Ada laughed and put her arm about my neck as I stood looking at the fire, and told me I was a quiet, dear, good creature and had won her heart. "You are so thoughtful, Esther," she said, "and yet so cheerful! And you do so much, so unpretendingly! You would make a home out of even this house." My simple darling! She was quite unconscious that she only praised herself and that it was in the goodness of her own heart that she made so much of me! "May I ask you a question?" said I when we had sat before the fire a little while. "Five hundred," said Ada. "Your cousin, Mr. Jarndyce. I owe so much to him. Would you mind describing him to me?" Shaking her golden hair, Ada turned her eyes upon me with such laughing wonder that I was full of wonder too, partly at her beauty, partly at her surprise. "Esther!" she cried. "My dear!" "You want a description of my cousin Jarndyce?" "My dear, I never saw him." "And I never saw him!" returned Ada. Well, to be sure! No, she had never seen him. Young as she was when her mama died, she remembered how the tears would come into her eyes when she spoke of him and of the noble generosity of his character, which she had said was to be trusted above all earthly things; and Ada trusted it. Her cousin Jarndyce had written to her a few months ago--"a plain, honest letter," Ada said--proposing the arrangement we were now to enter on and telling her that "in time it might heal some of the wounds made by the miserable Chancery suit." She had replied, gratefully accepting his proposal. Richard had received a similar letter and had made a similar response. He HAD seen Mr. Jarndyce once, but only once, five years ago, at Winchester school. He had told Ada, when they were leaning on the screen before the fire where I found them, that he recollected him as "a bluff, rosy fellow." This was the utmost description Ada could give me. It set me thinking so that when Ada was asleep, I still remained before the fire, wondering and wondering about Bleak House, and wondering and wondering that yesterday morning should seem so long ago. I don't know where my thoughts had wandered when they were recalled by a tap at the door. I opened it softly and found Miss Jellyby shivering there with a broken candle in a broken candlestick in one hand and an egg-cup in the other. "Good night!" she said very sulkily. "Good night!" said I. "May I come in?" she shortly and unexpectedly asked me in the same sulky way. "Certainly," said I. "Don't wake Miss Clare." She would not sit down, but stood by the fire dipping her inky middle finger in the egg-cup, which contained vinegar, and smearing it over the ink stains on her face, frowning the whole time and looking very gloomy. "I wish Africa was dead!" she said on a sudden. I was going to remonstrate. "I do!" she said "Don't talk to me, Miss Summerson. I hate it and detest it. It's a beast!" I told her she was tired, and I was sorry. I put my hand upon her head, and touched her forehead, and said it was hot http://www.citysearch.com/profile/637980685/burbank_ca/real_rocknroll_movers.html now but would be cool tomorrow. She still stood pouting and frowning at me, but presently put down her egg-cup and turned softly towards the bed where Ada lay. "She is very pretty!" she said with the same knitted brow and in the same uncivil manner. I assented with a smile. "An orphan. Ain't she?" "Yes." "But knows a quantity, I suppose? Can dance, and play music, and sing? She can talk French, I suppose, and do geography, and globes, and needlework, and everything?" "No doubt," said I. "I can't," she returned. "I can't do anything hardly, except write. I'm always writing for Ma. I wonder you two were not ashamed of yourselves to come in this afternoon and see me able to do nothing else. It was like your ill nature. Yet you think yourselves very fine, I dare say!" I could see that the poor girl was near crying, and I resumed my chair without speaking and looked at her (I hope) as mildly as I felt towards her. "It's disgraceful," she said. "You know it is. The whole house is disgraceful. The children are disgraceful. I'M disgraceful. Pa's miserable, and no wonder! Priscilla drinks--she's always drinking. It's a great shame and a great story of you if you say you didn't smell her today. It was as bad as a public-house, waiting at dinner; you know it was!" "My dear, I don't know it," said I. "You do," she said very shortly. "You shan't say you don't. You do!" "Oh, my dear!" said I. "If you won't let me speak--" "You're speaking now. You know you are. Don't tell stories, Miss Summerson." "My dear," said I, "as long as you won't hear me out--" "I don't want to hear you out." "Oh, yes, I think you do," said I, "because that would be so very unreasonable. I did not know what you tell me because the servant did not come near me at dinner; but I don't doubt what you tell me, and I am sorry to hear it." "You needn't make a merit of that," said she. "No, my dear," said I. "That would be very foolish." She was still standing by the bed, and now stooped down (but still with the same discontented face) and kissed Ada. That done, she came softly back and stood by the side of my chair. Her bosom was heaving in a distressful manner that I greatly pitied, but I thought it better not to speak. "I wish I was dead!" she broke out. "I wish we were all dead. It would be a great deal better for us. In a moment afterwards, she knelt on the ground at my side, hid her face in my dress, passionately begged my pardon, and wept. I comforted her and would have raised her, but she cried no, no; she wanted to stay there! "You used to teach girls," she said, "If you could only have taught me, I could have learnt from you! I am so very miserable, and I like you so much!" I could not persuade her to sit by me or to do anything but move a ragged stool to where she was kneeling, and take that, and still hold my dress in the same manner. By degrees the poor tired girl fell asleep, and then I contrived to raise her head so that it should rest on my lap, and to cover us both with shawls. The fire went out, and all night long she slumbered thus before the ashy grate. At first I was painfully awake and vainly tried to lose myself, with my eyes closed, among the scenes of the day. At length, by slow degrees, they became indistinct and mingled. I began to lose the identity of the sleeper resting on me. Now it was Ada, now one of my old Reading friends from whom I could not believe I had so recently parted. Now it was the little mad woman worn out with curtsying and smiling, now some one in authority at Bleak House. Lastly, it was no one, and I was no one. The purblind day was feebly struggling with the fog when I opened my eyes to encounter those of a dirty-faced little spectre fixed upon me. Peepy had scaled his crib, and crept down in his bed-gown and cap, and was so cold that his teeth were chattering as if he had cut them all. Next https://dickens.thefreelibrary.com/Bleak-House/4-1