#Oh sure! At first it would be the flower of the cactus- (a mini one ofc) but like.

[femme-malewife]

I came up with the absolute worst idea for a cactiflower fic

[toaverse]

AU Princessa Perfect Isabella isn't the daughter of Julieta, the first golden child, but the daughter of Bruno.

Oh! So we’re going to do green Isa now!

While most of the townspeople didn't like him, Bruno met someone that did like him. A woman named Lita.

The two became friends, and eventually fell in love.

But only after 6 months of dating, Lita became pregnant. The couple haven't told the Madrigals about their relationship yet, so that would be a fun conversation...

Hearing the news, Alma demanded that Bruno and Lita marry before the child would be born.

The couple agreed, and married a week later.

Everything seemed perfect for Bruno. He married the love of his life, they were expecting a child, and the whole family was happy.

But tragedy struck 8 months later when Lita died in childbirth. Luckily, the child survived.

Bruno was absolutely devastated at the loss of his wife, but he tried to be strong for his daughter, who he named Isabela.

The family, especially Alma, would be there for him, helping him with his grief. But that stopped when Pepa's first child, Dolores, was born.

Bruno was obviously happy for his sister, and focused on raising Isabela while dealing with his grief.

As time passed, Bruno noticed that Alma started to pressure Isabela into wearing pink and act perfect, trying to turn her into a mini-Alma.

The seer wouldn't let that slide, and stood up to his mother, calling her out on pressuring Isa into being someone she didn't want to be, and that he wouldn't let his daughter be influenced.

Alma didn't believe him, and tried to pressure little Isa to be like her a few times, but Bruno made sure to keep his daughter away from her Abuela.

Seeing that Bruno wouldn't allow her to influence her granddaughter, Alma switched and focused all her attention to Dolores. Unlike Bruno, Pepa allowed this, happy that her daughter finally stood in the spotlight!

When the girls turned 5, they got their gifts. Isabela got the gifts of growing plants, while Dolores got the gift of super hearing.

Even after the gift ceremonies, Alma gave all her attention to her favorite nieta Dolores, while ignoring and even scapegoating Isabela...

Especially after a few accidents Isa caused. Once she accidentally hurt her Tía Pepa with a cactus, causing the child to be purposely struck with lightning by her aunt... Or when Isa went to Dolores to show her some pretty flowers, Alma scolded Isa for "being too loud" and told Dolores to stay away from her prima...

Even after Luisa and Camilo got their gifts, the horrible treatment continued...

Isa often got screamed at by her Tía Pepa, Dolores snitching and telling the family if Isabela "hurt" her, and Camilo bullying and taunting her...

Her Tía Julieta and Tío Agustín were too busy notice the abuse. Tho they were nice to Isa, they were barely there. And the abuse only continued...

"Get your disgusting plants out of my sight!"

"Shut up, freak! Do you want to hurt Dolores?!"

"Get out of my way! It will be your fault if I cause a storm!"

"Stay away from your primos, Isabela. Don't get in their way."

Bruno tried everything to stop it, calling the family out and putting them in their place, but they only yelled at him to shut up, that that girl was a curse just like him, and to deal with it if they had those "opinions"...

As for Dolores, she was the golden child of the family, the one who got the most attention. She became quite mean to Isabela, calling her names behind everyone's backs, slapping her hair in Isa's face, snitching on her or getting her in trouble with the family, yelling at Isa to be quiet, and much more...

Pepa and Camilo weren't any better. Félix was nice to Isa, but he was too busy taking care of his wife and children, so he didn't notice their behavior...

But then, the day arrived of Mirabel's ceremony...

Everyone expected her to get a gift, but she didn't... Her door vanished right before her eyes...

Alma demanded Bruno do a vision. He did, and saw the vision of the film, but with Mirabel and Isabela standing in front...

Bruno broke the vision, but didn't leave. He didn't want to leave Isa and Mira alone to deal with the family's crap...

And let's just say that Alma found out about the vision, and she wasn't happy...

Meanwhile, Isabela was trying to comfort Mirabel in the nursery.

"You could stay in my room." Isa suggested. "We could share."

This made the 5 year old happier. Although she barely knew Isa, Mira really wanted to share a magical room with her.

Unfortunately, Alma didn't allow that...

"Mirabel is giftless, and she didn't get a room, so she's staying in the nursery." She said sternly.

"We don't want two burdens sharing a room." Pepa added, glaring at both girls...

But despite their words, Isabela and Bruno would be there for Mira as best as they could.

Even after a decade, the bad treatment Isabela and Mira had to deal with from the family on a daily basis didn't stop...

[chelleztjs18]

Hello you.

This time of the year definitely brings out the sickness. It's good that your daughter is not the sick one. But just sucks that you are suffering. Maybe Vicks would help the chest pain?

This will be my first Thanksgiving alone. Not sure yet what I am going to do, but ordering the meal sounds like a good idea. Although I really want to make my own sides and dessert. I made honey baked ham for Christmas last year, and did my own sauce. Just used pineapple juice, brown sugar, and cinnamon powder for the glaze!

Do you have a favorite flower? What is it?

Favorite fruit?

Hahaha and ok ok when I said not normal, I meant it would be weird to ask because even though I am on anon, I still feel weird and don't want you to think of me differently.

-CuriousGeorge

Oh yeah, im so glad its not emily thats sick.(knock on the wood! I dont wanna jinx it) 😁 i would rather it's me thats sick than her.

Well it's sucks that im suffering but it's rare too i got to lay down alone in bed n takes nap..so i guess thats the silver lining to it.😅

Aaww im sorry that u r celebrating it alone..may i ask why? Its okay if u dont want to answer it.

Aawww if i celebrate it myself i would probably get the smallest honey baked ham i can find n thats all. No sides..but maybe a desert.hahaha.

Flower? Im not really a flower person.i wouldnt expect my love one give me flower but if i get some it will still get me in aweee.. i guess if i hv to pick i like red roses or black roses. I also love cactus or succulents, the mini ones.. i dont hv green thumbs so i usually have fake plants that looks realistic. 😅 whats ur favorite flowers.

Favortie fruite, i loooveeee banana, watermelon, grapes and mango. What bout u?

Haha its okay, i was just teasing u about the not normal questions. Im open to any questions.u can ask them to me. Like i said before if one of us uncomfortable with the other's questions, we can simply skip it n no questions asked. So, bring it on, darling! Hahahaha. Ask me 😊 only if u r comfortable.

Cheerio!

[milkypompon]

𝕐𝕠𝕦𝕣 ℕ𝕒𝕥𝕦𝕣𝕖 | Gaang x Earthbender!Reader

𝕀𝕞𝕒𝕘𝕚𝕟𝕖 | What’s life like with the Gaang when they include another Earthbender? Well to everyone’s surprise, it’s quite calm… sometimes. Y/N’s ability is unlike the hard-core Metalbending, Sandbending, and tradition Earthbendingof Toph. Yes, they’re fully capable of doing all that if they truly wanted to. But Y/N chooses to help out in their own way, giving life to nature and indirectly to their friends too.

𝔸𝕦𝕥𝕙𝕠𝕣'𝕤 ℕ𝕠𝕥𝕖 | You can deem these as Character x Reader or just some adorable platonic love with the wonderful team! On another note, for some reason, I LITERALLY WRITE SMALL STORIES INSTEAD OF HEADCANONS LMAOOO. Still hope you got a lil something out of this.

𝔼ℕ𝕁𝕆𝕐

【𝔸𝔸ℕ𝔾】

Puns. That’s it puns.

The crew sat around a flickering fire dead in the night. Wind whistled into their ears and leaves swirled about their hair. Despite the chill weather, everyone chattered and laughed wildly. Sokka began yet another high tale of his that was supposedly dating back to his childhood. His arms flailed wildly, receiving cackles from Toph. While Katara and Zuko fell onto their side, legs kicking the air sporadically.

Y/N sat next to Aang who suddenly grabbed their shoulder and said firmly, “We need to talk.”

Everyone stopped their shenanigans.

Aang deepened his voice, “Y/N… for what’s Earth, you are the team’s most down to planet person ever.”

Y/N snorted, “IT’S DOWN TO EARTH. NOT PLANET”

Well… at least he tried.

Competitions on who can pull out the most potatoes out of the dirt. Let’s just say the Gaang ate potatoes for a week thanks to Aang. And an astonishing two week thanks to Y/N.

When they have heated arguments, which weren’t often, but the team sure as hell stepped on the gas when it did happen, Y/N would offer Aang some pretty nasty food. Nothing dangerous or poisonous, well Aang would actually describe the apple inhabiting worms he took a bite out of last week.

【𝕊𝕆𝕂𝕂𝔸】

Absolutely without a doubt calls you many nicknames

Exhibit A

Sokka poked Y/N’s cheek, he received a smile in return. “Hey, uh… plant nanny, could you swing by at my place and take a look at the vegetables Katara planted? They’re already wilting…”

Y/N giggled, “You planted them didn’t you?”

“Wha- of course I didn’t. FINE, I did!”

Exhibit B

“You just stepped on the chamomile flowers that just started sprouting!” Y/N squealed at Sokka.

“Oh SHIT-” Sokka ate a mouthful of dirt right after Y/N hit him hard in the back of the head with a tree branch. “I’m sorry I upset you Sweet Pea…”

Asked the Gaang as to why Y/N doesn’t perform traditional Earthbending and just received, “Why don’t you ask them yourself?”

Sokka was downright afraid, not because of Y/N’s personality, but he didn’t want to poke through their past. Obviously, curiosity got the best of him!

“Well, I just like the smell of flowers and the taste of organic food more than hurling rocks at people,” Y/N simply shrugged.

Sokka nodded, there was nothing more to it.

“But, sometimes I do like creating my own cliffs and pushing enemies off of it. It’s more meaningful if it’s from rocks I formed myself,” Y/N stared at him dead in the eye.

Sokka’s eyebrows arched high.

That was the last time anyone saw Sokka :0

【ℤ𝕌𝕂𝕆】

Many stories as the two planted flowers in front of the Fire Nation palace

“Y’know, Y/N, this reminds me of this one time Uncle made tea out of a white jade bush,” Zuko snickered.

Y/N eyes widened, “ISN’t THAT POISONOUS?? ... Or was it not??”

“Oh trust me, you would not want to be trying white jade bush tea,” he smirked.

Tends plants with Y/N because it reminds him of the peaceful days of when he served tea at Ba Sing Se

BUT, poor Zuko easily becomes sunburnt when he helps with Y/N’s garden

Y/N heard a knock at their bedroom door.

It was Zuko behind the door saying, “Uh, Y/N could you help me-”

When they swung the door open they were greeted with a scorched man with peeling skin. “HOLY SHIT! WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU!”

Quickly, Y/N led Zuko to the bathroom and in the corner sat a mini fridge. (He always wondered what was in it. Snacks?) When Y/N opened it, there were stacks of aloe vera leaves snuggled next to each other.

“Why do you have so much-” Zuko began.

“Let’s just say Aang was my first patient…” Y/N laughed under their breath. They gently applied the aloe onto Zuko’s body, which earned them hisses from the dramatic Fire Lord.

“That takes care of it!” Y/N clasped their hands proudly.

“Uh, Y/N. I’m feeling a bit… itCHY!” Zuko yelped.

That’s when both of them found out that Zuko was allergic to aloe vera. Congrats, now Y/N has to call the doctor.

Every weekend, Zuko swing by for new flowers for Ursa (if she returned to the palace... )

“Knock, knock!” Fire Lord Zuko greeted Y/N with a bright smile.

“What brings you here on this fine morning, Your Highness?” Y/N teased.

“Mother’s been nagging me to ask you for help to create a bouquet for each of the rooms in the palace,” Zuko stated.

Y/N’s voice hitched, “EACH ROOM??”

“Don’t worry! I’ll help you pick the flowers and arrange them!,” he offered.

“Oh, like you’d be of any help,” Y/N giggled.

“I swear I’ll be more careful this time,” Zuko rolled his eyes.

But, uh… this time ended up just like last week, Zuko set the flowers he was arranging on fire…

【𝕂𝔸𝕋𝔸ℝ𝔸 】

Basketweaving… attempts by Katara

On Ember Island, the Gaang was able to laze around for a few days (well until Zuko gave the team a big beating that Sozin’s comet was going to practically destroy the world).

Y/N sat under the shade of the swaying palm trees, undisturbed by the squealing of Sokka as his supposed sand sculpture resembling Suki was destroyed. Y/N hummed as they weaved the palm fronds into little baskets.

Katara approached them and commented, “Y/N that’s beautiful! I wish the Southern Water Tribe could make these. Sokka and I were kept busy creating pots with Gran-Gran.”

Y/N timidly scratched the back of their neck, “I could teach you if you’d like! Then we can use it to hold the fish we’ll catch later with Sokka.”

Y/N used their earthbending to pull down the leaves from the palm trees and their work began.

After the fishing trip of the wonderful trio, Katara carefully placed the fish they caught in the basket she wove. As they neared the sandy beach Aang took notice of their disgruntled state. He commented, “Why do all three of you look-”

“I TRIED OKAY! THE FISH GOT OUT OF THE BASKET I WOVE,” Katara defended herself.

“AND IT SLAPPED ALL THREE OF US BEFORE IT JUMPED BACK IN THE WATER,” Sokka yelled.

Katara tried, okay!

Flowercrowns

Many flowercrowns were made for the Gaang with the help of Katara

She may not be that great at creating baskets, but you can bet that Katara doesn’t stop at making crowns: She’s made necklaces and bracelets for Appa and Momo.

Potion making!

Katara would use her waterbending to mix the little potions that Y/N created They’d walk around rolling hills that contained many flowers and herbs that could be used for healing potions and in some cases caffeinated tea!

【𝕋𝕆ℙℍ】

Usual Toph shenanigans

“Ugh, some clerk just charged me over the usual price for these seeds we’ve been needing!” Y/N grumbled.

“Well, we could do something about it…” Toph smirked.

Y/N searched for some termites around the forest and Toph helped transport them around the clerk’s house.

- A few days later -

“Uh, Aang,” Zuko tugged at Aang’s sleeve. “Wasn’t there a house there a couple days ago?”

“I think you drank some cactus juice, buddy,” Sokka simply shrugged.

“Actually, I think there was…” Aang scratched his chin in confusion.

Toph offered Y/N a high-five, “A job well done, if I do say so myself!”

Some brawls that should have clearly not have started in the first place

“Y/N fite me!” Toph marched up to Y/N.

“No,” they stated bluntly.

“WHy! It’s kinda a thing for all us to train together,” she defended herself.

“Fine, but don’t get angry at me if you end up with a splinter or two,” Y/N rolled their eyes.

By sunset, Toph’s head was stuck in between a tree for a couple hours. Even Y/N couldn’t get her out. Or maybe they could…

Y/N teaches Toph “Treebending”, which was a challenge for both of them

“You have to be gentle with these plants Toph!” Y/N’s forehead was forming a red square from all their facepalms caused by Toph.

“I’M TRYING!” She quipped. “It’s kinda hard to be gentle when I’ve been practicing metalbending these past few weeks.

【ℝ𝔼ℚ𝕌𝔼𝕊𝕋 𝕋𝕆 𝔹𝔼 𝕆ℕ 𝔸 𝕋𝔸𝔾𝕃𝕀𝕊𝕋 𝕋ℍℝ𝕌 𝕄𝕐 𝕀ℕ𝔹𝕆𝕏 𝔸ℕ𝔻 ℝ𝔼ℚ𝕌𝔼𝕊𝕋𝕊 𝔽𝕆ℝ 𝔸𝕋𝕃𝔸 𝔸ℝ𝔼 𝕆ℙ𝔼ℕ】

𝔼𝕟𝕕𝕟𝕠𝕥𝕖 | THESE WERE SO FUN TO MAKE! Also, thanks again for the people who’ve been supporting my “Extra Hot Sifu Hotman: Zuko x Reader” fic! I’m taking a small break just to layout how I want the story to go and I’m trying my hand at doing headcanons/requests from my inbox.

[noona-clock]

Him - Part 3

Genre: College!AU, Enemies to Lovers

Pairing: Jinyoung x You (Female!Reader)

Warnings: Very mild cursing

Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 | Words: 2,032

About halfway through your day, you had texted Teddy about having a Self-Care Sunday, but on a Friday.

Your morning meeting with Jinyoung had left you agitated, and you’d received an essay back in one of your classes with a less than stellar grade -- totally not Jinyoung’s fault, but you were allowing yourself to be even more annoyed with him because of it, anyway. You had let your agitation get the best of you at lunchtime, and you’d spilled your soda all over your sweatshirt and jeans. The wet, sticky mess only worsened your mood; therefore, a night of sheet masks and manicures and probably a Jane Austen mini-series was definitely in order.

Teddy, unsurprisingly, had replied immediately with: “My place! 5pm!” and not for the first (nor the last) time, you had thought to yourself how glad you were to have a friend like him.

Once your last class of the day let out just after 4, you headed back to your apartment to pack up your pajamas, some face masks, nail polish, your Pride & Prejudice DVD, and some bags of popcorn. You sent a quick message to Teddy that you were on your way and more than ready for a night of pampering.

When you arrived at Teddy’s place at basically five on the dot, you were greeted by not only your best friend’s smiling face but also the smell of freshly delivered pizza.

Did you have the best best friend or what? You hadn’t even brought up ordering pizza, but he had gone and done it, anyway. He had somehow known you needed the most delicious junk food for dinner to make up for the obnoxious day you’d had.

“I guess seeing Jinyoung just messed up your whole day, huh?” Teddy quipped as you closed his front door behind you.

A look of disgust morphed your features, and you made your way to his kitchen counter to set down everything you’d brought. “I would rather not bring him up, if it’s all the same to you.”

“Okay,” your best friend chuckled. “Whatever you say. Ooh, Pride & Prejudice! And my favorite honey sheet mask?! You did have a bad day.”

“It was so mentally exhausting that you’re probably going to have to stop me from eating literally half of that pizza.”

Teddy quirked his brow at you. “Now, what kind of a friend would I be if I did that?”

A grin curved your lips, and you couldn’t stop yourself from shuffling over to him and wrapping your arms around his middle, pulling him into a tight, comforting hug.

“Thank you,” you murmured, pressing your cheek against his shoulder. “I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

“Well, I assume you’d be eating pizza and doing sheet masks and watching romantic movies alone. Which is totally fine, but it’s so much better with me,” Teddy replied, rubbing your back reassuringly. “Now, come on. This pizza’s gonna get cold, and I don’t know how much longer I can wait to see Mr. Darcy.”

“Oh, my god,” Teddy gasped when you hurried back onto the couch after taking the empty pizza box over to the kitchen.

“I’m not taking your honey mask, I promise,” you assured him as you handed him the packet, keeping the cactus flower one for yourself.

“No, not that! But thank you.” He took the mask from you, opening it carefully and reaching inside to pull out the slimy, sweet-smelling piece of cotton. “I just realized that Jinyoung is your Mr. Darcy!”

You almost dropped your mask into your lap.

“What?!” you cried, letting out a sputtering laugh. “Excuse me? Uh -- no. No, that is not at all true. And I told you not to bring him up!”

He had been doing so well! You had gotten through at least forty-five minutes of the movie without even one single mention of Jinyoung!

“No, but think about it,” Teddy urged before he leaned back and delicately placed the sheet mask over his face. “Lizzy and Darcy don’t start off the best of terms. She thinks he’s proud and arrogant, but he’s actually not all that bad. That’s what’s going on right now with you and Jinyoung.”

Of course, being a literature major, you absolutely loved stories. Romantic stories were your drug of choice, and you had practically grown up reading and watching anything having to do with Jane Austen.

Truly, you would be the first to admit if you were living a Pride & Prejudice plot.

“It really isn’t,” you argued, leaning back to put on your own sheet mask.

“Is, too,” Teddy retorted. “Just like Charlotte said about Darcy, Jinyoung isn’t really like that once you get to know him! I think you’re letting the situation get to you, and -- okay, and coming from me, this means something -- you’re being a little dramatic.”

Even though it did hurt to hear Teddy the drama major tell you that you were being dramatic... you knew he was right.

Probably right.

Your parents’ financial strain was definitely trickling down to you, and the pressure to find a job as quickly as possible created more stress on top of the stress you already had from regular college student life.

So, yes. It was entirely possible that this added stress was causing you to see Jinyoung through a more exaggerated, theatrical lens.

But Jinyoung really had said all those rude things to you yesterday! How could you be dramatic about it when he had literally told you to not even apply for the TA position because there was no chance you would get it?

“I don’t know, Teddy,” you murmured. Even though you weren’t entirely convinced you were just being dramatic, you decided to let Teddy think he was right. For now. You let out a relenting sigh and then added, “Okay, well, then tell me more about him in high school.”

“Aha!” Teddy cried triumphantly. “I knew you were interested!”

“No, I -- I’m not interested! Just tell me!” You reached over to gently hit his arm, not wanting to dislodge either of your face masks.

“I’ve got a better idea -- I’ll show you.” Teddy patted his hands around the couch cushion, obviously trying to look for his phone without disturbing his mask. When he found it, he quickly brought it up to his face and began tapping away.

You scooted closer to him, seeing he was bringing up his Facebook app. You watched silently, the dialogue in Pride & Prejudice the only noise in the room as Teddy navigated to Jinyoung’s profile and then into his photo album.

After scrolling quite a bit (high school was a few years in the past at this point, after all), Teddy clicked on Jinyoung’s graduation picture.

“Valedictorian,” you scoffed. “Of course.”

“...Weren’t you whatever comes right after Valedictorian? Second place?”

“Salutatorian,” you grumbled with a roll of your eyes. “Don’t ever tell him that. It’s just another thing he could hold over me.”

Teddy chuckled with bemusement before swiping to the next pictures. When he got to one of Jinyoung and some other guys wearing togas, he explained that was Senior Week. He pointed out his friends, telling you a little bit about them (and how Teddy had had a crush on Jackson for basically the whole four years).

As he swiped through the other pictures from Senior Week, you couldn’t help but notice that Jinyoung looked so... happy. He was smiling and posing cheesily for the camera, and you would never tell Teddy this but... it made you want to be friends with him. You weren’t sure why, but something about him in these pictures was just so enticing. Something besides his good looks.

Teddy also showed you his student council pictures (he had been elected Secretary his Junior and Senior years, which had not surprised you in the least), prom and homecoming pictures (he looked far too dashing in a suit, which also had not surprised you in the least), and pictures of the film club he had started (apparently, the first movie they’d watched had been Rear Window, one of your all-time favorites).

“See?” Teddy said as he put down his phone and slid the sheet mask off his face. “He’s a normal guy.”

“Then why was he such an asshole to me?!” you cried, following suit and taking your own mask off.

“I... honestly don’t know,” Teddy sighed. “I guess he just really wants that TA position. Or maybe he thought no one else was going to apply, and he just wanted to scare away the competition.”

Teddy reached for your discarded sheet mask, getting up to go throw them away. And just before he arrived back at the couch, he stopped. He let out a gasp.

“...What?” you asked cautiously. When Teddy gasped like that, it usually meant you wouldn’t like what he said.

“Do you want me to call him and ask?”

“Call who? Ask what?” Surely, he didn’t mean --

“Jinyoung! Ask him why he was such an asshole to you!”

You simply stared at Teddy, blinking.

What on earth were you supposed to say to that other than, “You’re joking, right?”

“No! I’ll pretend like you’re not here!” Teddy jumped back on the couch, grabbing his phone and tapping again on the screen.

“No, Teddy, I don’t think that’s a --”

But he was already pressing his phone to his ear, and you heard the muffled ringing through the speaker.

Oh, god. He was doing it.

...It’s not like you weren’t curious, but Jinyoung was smart enough to catch on, wasn’t he? And if you ever saw him again -- which you had no intention of doing -- it would be even more awkward!

“Hello?”

Oh, god. He answered.

“Jinyoung, hey!” Teddy greeted, and you buried your freshly hydrated face in your palms. “Listen, I was just curious about something.”

“Sure, what’s up?”

“So, my friend, Y/N. She told me about how you two met yesterday, and she’s very insistent that you were super rude and are an asshole. I know we weren’t exactly friends back in high school, but I mean, we knew each other. I just don’t think that sounds like you at all, and I wanted to clear the air, I guess.”

“...Oh. Well, I, uh -- I don’t want to make excuses or anything, but... she wasn’t exactly polite to me either.”

Your head snapped up, your brow furrowing deeply because what?! He had started it!

“Ah --” Teddy stammered. “Well -- she’s just... she’s kind of stressed out about trying to find a job right now. It’s -- it’s not really my story to tell, but she’s not usually rude. She’s super caring and generous once you get to know her.”

Thank you, Teddy.

“Okay... I’m sorry, but why are you telling me this?”

...Seriously?! What a little shithead!

“I’m just confused about the whole thing because I know that neither of you is really like that. Like I said, I wanted to clear some things up.”

“Ah. I see. Well, I really just think Professor Stewart will pick me, so I don’t want her to get her hopes up.”

He just thinks he knows everything, doesn’t he?!

“Okay, great,” Teddy replied a bit hurriedly, clearly feeling how annoyed you were becoming. “I’ll, uh -- I’ll tell her. But, hey. Any chance you think you guys might want to, like... hang out? Get to know each other?”

You held your breath.

...Why were you holding your breath?

You didn’t care what he had to say to that!

Not one bit!

“...I don’t think so.”

See? You didn’t care! Not one bit!

“Cool. Okay, got it. Thanks, bye!” And Teddy hung up before slowly looking over at you with quite the guilty expression.

“It’s fine!” you assured him, though your tone was clearly one of annoyance. “It’s fine because I don’t like him either. I don’t want to hang out with him or get to know him either. I’m not bothered by the fact he’s not interested in me, I’m really not. Even as a friend.”

Because you weren’t interested in him as a friend either!

It’s fine!

Part 4

[fizzingwizard]

Alright, so, Digimon Adventure 2020 Episode 12: Castle in the Sky Laputa!

I mean, I, Guardromon...

... Bicentennialmon?

well, any of the three works :P

Right off the bat, I’ll say this ep gets a ‘meh’ from me, BUT I did love its aesthetic. I’m a big fan of robot stories, especially the Asimov variety. Scrap heap robots are my absolute favs. And I did like the Ghibli vibe going on too. The episode was pretty, and the robot characters were cool... it just wasn’t very fun. At the very least, I was expecting team Taichi/Koushirou/Mimi to be a bit more fun than Yamato/Sora/Jou, but I guess this ain’t 1999 anymore ;)

^The most amusing bit was finding out Koushirou’s laptop can fold like this... which, okay, shouldn’t surprise me, it just looks frigging weird...

me: DO YOU KNOW HOW TO USE A KEYBOARD???

koushirou: hush old lady, your first laptop was grayscale only and had Windows 3.1 installed.

Actual content relevant to the episode below...!

We had a promising start when last week’s episode ended on a cliffhanger... or a cliffdropper, I guess, because Mimi’s not hanging onto anything. She’s fallen down and landed on Palmon. Digimon can sure take a beating.

Palmon reaches to see if she can hoist them back up, but...

... it’s too high! Oh well, no choice but to travel on foot. Good thing Mimi landed on Palmon!

Meanwhile, above, Taichi and Koushirou turn to his computer for help. Unfortunately they have some technical difficulties.

Koushirou: Noooo, not the swirling of doom!! My immortal nemesis...

Even Taichi understands that buffering spells death. He’s a 21st century kid, so he’s a little more savvy about computers than 99 Taichi, whose trusty recourse in these situations was "treat the machine like a Bop-It.”

Mimi discovers they are in a Digimon scrap heap. ;_; Good heavens. Apparently robot Digimon are unlike organic (??) Digimon same as robots are different from humans, so the way they die is not quite the same either.

Mimi feels sorry for these trashed creatures. She’s no cold-hearted corporate goon who looks at these guys and just sees dollars. She notices the heart!

She also just wiped that rusty Guardromon’s helmet with her bare hand...

Mimi: Where’s Sora-san when I need a towel!!

Andromon makes his 2020 debut! And he’s just as much the pawn of evil as ever!

Boxing Cactus Go-go-go!!

Togemon gets her prickly hiney owned, but the Guardromon suddenly reanimates and protects her instead. His big strategy is “drop something heavy on Andromon and run away.” It’s super effective.

Who wants to translate the digicode, because I’m not gonna. Ten bucks says it’s something like “target human child exterminate” yadda yadda

When Koushirou’s computer fails, we must rely on our physical skills. Their big plan is “climb down the bottomless pit after Mimi.” There are a few things wrong with this picture:

1) Even if they know how deep the hole is, IT’S STILL QUITE A FALL. Make one wrong move and you’ll be useless to Mimi T_T And these idiots make plenty of wrong moves.

2) If there were handholds like these, why couldn’t Palmon have just grabbed them with her vines and carried Mimi up? Instead she was like, “Nah, can’t reach the top, let’s walk in a random direction and hope things work out!”

3) The Guardromon is taking Mimi to an elevator. Meaning there is a working elevator, meaning there is a way down that would significantly decrease their chances of DYING on the way. Koushirou’s computer can’t figure that out? Also I was expecting some hijinks there... like, they finally make it down only for Mimi to say “Why didn’t you just take the elevator like I did? Boys are weird.”

In his defense, Koushirou’s method of descent is worlds better than Taichi’s.

Hate to say I told you so...

Guardromon takes Mimi to some suspicious water which she uses to nurse Palmon... with a towel

Guardromon presents Sheeta Mimi with a flower to convey that he likes killing pretty delicate things :) run Mimi

The Laputa vibe... it is vibing.

We cut away to Yamato/Sora/Jou for thirty seconds just to point how much Better they’re doing than Taichi’s group. They’ve even realized how that basket was, who needs to put in all that work when we can all fit comfortably on a log! Sora and Yamato flirt. Jou’s going to be sick.

Taichi and Koushirou encounter some broken Solarmon who are being controlled by Soundbirdmon, so I guess it’s official now that we can’t believe any Digimon is truly evil if Soundbirdmon is around. Koushirou goes to help Mimi while Taichi stays behind to fend off these gears. Uh, is it just me or does this team seem very quick to split up.

I like the way Guardrmon cradles Mimi so all we can see is her shocked expression.

Guardromon tries his tried and true method of shooting down something heavy to crush Andromon...

... but Andromon’s like “hah! Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me!” and knocks it away. Not very effective...

Guardromon’s guarded his last mon... he starts to go... offline I guess...

In sweeps Kabuterimon to the rescue. In 99 Adventure, he’d have something witty to say, or at least a pun. 2020 Kabuterimon mostly likes to make weird noises. I understand why Agumon and Gabumon’s VA’s were calling him a “weirder uncle than ever” at Digifes...

Obligatory Best Boy cap

Hell Approacheth

Wow!!! Taichi finally got knocked off Greymon! He must have forgot to put on his suction cup shoes today!

So this entire episode, I was wondering what was to stop MetalGreymon from happening and stealing the show from Lillymon. I expected “Agumon just evolved recently and doesn’t have the juice to do it again so soon!” or some such. Nothing more than that. But, nah, we don’t even get that... MetalGreymon happens and he just... can’t... beat Andromon? For some reason? I’m going with “Because he’s Andromon.” Afterward, this very heavy structure falls down and MetalGreymon has lift it a la Atlas to keep Taichi from getting squished, so he can’t continue to beat on Andromon.

... Of course, Togemon gets stuck holding this thing up too... so there’s that...

The reason, of course, is so Guardromon can make one last action surge, grabbing Andromon’s leg, which works, randomly. At least for a moment.

Mimi spends most of this episode being Shocked.

Guardromon takes one final, grainy look at Mimi as he prepares for sweet death. The digicode says “Sheeta.” (kidding like I’d bother to translate it lol)

Andromon RUDELY stomps on his head. Like HELLO Andromon can you not see the dude is having a moment here? Show some respect!

Mimi sheds a Single Emo Tear

Which causes “Your sorrow made me evolve!” Lillymon. She immediately flies out to attack Andromon, leaving MetalGreymon alone holding the heavy metal structure, which promptly crushes him and our heroes. Game Over!

just kidding, the structure just vanishes I guess :/ It’s not very clear...

High kick attack!

It’s not very effective...

Lillymon does seem to have an ability that MetalGreymon doesn’t which cinches her victory over Andromon... her rain of petals interfere with his ability to lock on to a target. Too much organic matter everywhere I guess.

Lillymon covers Andromon in plants rendering him immobile...

... *cough*

Poor Mimi’s had a hard day of watching robots die.

Her affinity for marking graves returns as she leaves the flower Guardromon gave her on his corpse(?).

Taichi looks only sadly as Koushirou explains that Andromon and Guardromon were totes besties, until Soundbirdmon started mindcontrolling everyone. Gee that seems like something that could have been an interesting plot point had it been mentioned y’know earlier.

In sum... yeah, this ep just isn’t fun. There’s no friend moments, no getting to know each other, everything takes a backseat to this robot-protect-girl storyline. I really did like Guardromon, but the episode takes itself way too seriously in my opinion.

That aside... I was happy that Mimi’s episode didn’t involve stinky ugly Digimon falling in love and stalking her so she can passionately reject them. I can live without both of those things.

Mimi having the ability to project feelings onto supposedly nonfeeling things is a very Mimi-like character trait for her and one that I really truly love. It’ll definitely come in handy in the digital world where all is never how it seems. On the other hand, though, it’s not like it’s a trait we didn’t have already... it just belonged mainly to Hikari :P So... yeah.

Next week we’re going to get Garudamon, in a way that looks like it will pale compared to our first meeting with Garudamon in 99 Adventure, BUT that’s okay... because we’ve got plenty of time for the Big Important things to happen, both on a plot level and on a character development level. I am a little wtf??? about everyone getting not one but two evolutions within the same adventure - assuming the kids are going to go home at some point and finally put Tokyo out of its misery. I’d expected this show would be more like 02 with the kids jumping in and out, but tbh I’m not gonna be sad if they just stay in the digital world indefinitely. Also, it’s not like Taichi didn’t get both an evolution and a jogress the first time he came to the digital plane, so obviously things are just working differently in this show!

But as it’ll be a Sora episode, I just hope it’s an improvement on the last Sora episode. There’s plenty of potential following the mini tiff between her and Yamato last week, so i hope we see some follow up to that. Maybe a couple Sorato moments. We didn’t get anything for Taishiro this week :( But since it looks like probably next week the groups are still separated, perhaps the week after we’ll get MegaKabuterimon and see more interaction between Taichi and Koushirou then. *shrug* A girl can dream!

Anyway this ep gets 5.5/10 from me!

[misssunflowersandsangria]

Gifts

Chapter 1:  From my Mother 

Flowers

“Mommy! What are these called again?”   Ino smiled picking up Inojin to look at the flower safely held in his hands. 

“These are chrysanthemums.”

“Cr...San...t...mum?”  He asked proudly.

“Yes, they mean hope, love, and friendship.” 

“They’re pretty! I like the different colors.” 

“Me too baby.” She always loved bringing Inojin to the flower shop with her. She was kept busy working for Konoha’s Intelligence Division but she enjoyed her more simple work in the family store. 

“What’s this one? With all the pointy stuff?” He asked looking at the green plant sitting on the counter. He reached his hand out to touch the spikes then pulled his hand right back.

“It is called a cactus. Where your Aunt Temari is from it rarely ever rains and so not a lot of plants can grow but they have cactus. A lot of people think that they are plain or don’t like them because they have spines and can poke you.  But they can flower and bloom as well. And the cactus flower means warmth and care between a mom and her baby. It also symbolizes the strength to go through really hard things.  As you grow up and learn more I always want you to look beyond what something might look like at first glance. Something or someone might be scary or unfamiliar but be brave and open-minded to look and learn about it.”  She’d walked through enough minds to know there were shattered broken pieces in everyone. Inojin nodded. His mom was so pretty and smart like daddy always said. 

“Yes, mommy.  It’s like our family flower, the bush clover, positive love. I’ll be happy and loving like mommy and daddy.”  Ino ruffled his hair affectionately her baby was growing up and she was both excited and dreading it at the same time. She wanted him to stay her baby just a little longer. 

 The rest of the morning she observed him as he dutifully watered the plants taking great care to give the cactus enough.  He would so sweetly talk to the plants about how much he liked their colors and encouraged them to grow. He’d greet any customers that came thru. He’d ask them questions about who they might be buying flowers for and provide his recommendations. He’d convinced his Uncle Shikamaru that he needed to buy his Aunt Temari an elaborate bouquet of purple tulips because they meant perfect love and purple was for royalty. Shikadai has just told him that his mom was a princess in Suna.

“So what are you apologizing for?” Ino grinned wrapping up the bouquet. 

He just rolled his eyes.  “Nothing, I stopped by to say hi. I didn’t think I’d get hustled into buying flowers by a toddler.” She just laughed brightly taking the money from his hand. 

“I guess just take it as a deposit for when you inevitably mess up.”

He just sighed rubbing the back of his neck. “Gah...troublesome.  Bye, thank you for the recommendation Inojin. I’ll make sure to let your aunt know that you picked them out.” 

The two blondes waved with bright smiles.  

“You ready to go see daddy?” 

“Uhm almost! 5 minutes?”   He requested.  

“Okay let me start closing up.”

Once she’d finished arranging the counter and wiping down the surfaces her son returned with an array of flowers that his little arms could carry.

“Can I buy these flowers please?” 

She smiled down at him amused carefully taking the stems from his arms to begin arranging them.

“Of course baby. Are you buying them for someone special?”

“Yes! She is the best so I picked out the prettiest flowers.”

She nodded with a smile.  “Oh, I see. They are beautiful.” He’d run thru and grabbed all different stalks but they were all brightly colored. 

She handed him the bouquet taking in exchange a crumpled bill that he’d pulled out of his pocket.

“Daddy gave me money to buy a snack but I’d rather buy these flowers.”

“Well, this girl must be special for you to give up your snack money for.” 

On their way home he took great care to keep the bouquet safe and in pristine condition. She wondered who it could be for, and was terrified that her baby had a crush on someone already.  

 Once they arrived home she began preparing dinner while Inojin went to his room to play.  

Ino looked down feeling a tug on her dress. 

“Yes, baby?”

From his back, Inojin pulled out a hand-drawn card and the bouquet he’d bought earlier. 

“I made you a card and the flowers were for you, Mommy!” He told her with a proud smile. Ino felt tears appear in her eyes while she gathered him into a hug. 

“Thank you little one.  You didn’t have to do this.” 

“I know but some people are worth giving up your snack money for. I love you, mommy.”

She tightened her hold on him even more so. “I love you too baby.  You’re the best gift I could ever ask for.” She was so thankful to have such a thoughtful and sweet child. That she’d gifted her child a level of kindness and compassion.  She hoped that he’d always look at her so admiringly. 

 When Sai came home Injojn proudly pointed out to his father the flower bouquet that he’d picked out that was now the centerpiece for their table. 

"Daddy!  Look what I gave mommy!"  He walked over to see the brightly colored bouquet after kissing Ino.  

“You did a great job buddy.  Did your mommy cry?” He teased her with a smile.  

“Of course!”  He just laughed and picked him up while Ino rolled her eyes. 

“It’s going to be hard to top this.”

“I think that you might need to give me more snack money.”  His parents both laughed loudly before proceeding to kiss his cheeks. 

“Well if you keep getting uncle Shikamaru to buy flowers I’ll give you a cut.”

“Deal” 

 Wind

“Mama! Look! I made a fan!” 

Temari looked down amused at her son. He had a carefully folded construction paper fan that he was waving around in the air. 

“Be careful or you’ll cause a maelstrom.”

“Don’t be silly mama it’s not real.” She just chuckled to herself. Her son was way too smart for his own good. 

“My apologies my Little Fawn.” 

“When I get older and if I train will I be able to use wind style like you?”   She was surprised by the question. Shikadai was a mini Shikamaru, she figured that he’d only want to know how to use shadow jutsu. 

“Yes, if you train hard enough you could probably be an even better wind user than me.” 

“Sounds like a lot of work.” She just smiled, he was his father's son. 

“It is, but you’re smart and capable. I know that you can master both of our jutsu if you really tried.”   He nodded looking as though he was contemplating whether the effort it would take would be worth it. 

He’d watched both of his parents train in awe at their ability and control over their jutsu.  It seemed so effortless. He wanted to believe that he could become that talented too. 

“You really think I’ll be able to?”  His bright green eyes that reminded her so much of her own looked up at her hopefully.  

“Of course.  When I met your father he was the laziest shinobi I’d ever met.  It made me so mad.”

“Really?”  He asked surprised.  It seemed like such a far cry from the father that was the Hokage’s adviser and came home late at night.

“Yes, but he learned and pushed himself.  Lucky for you, you have my genes so you’re already ahead of where he was.”  

He just smiled at her at the thought. “Can I uh see what it feels like.”

“What do you mean?”

“Can you use your wind on me just like a little you know?”

She eyed him carefully.  “Why?”

“So that I can know what it's like to fly…”

Her baby was always a curious child. He wanted to know how the world worked. It wasn’t surprising. Temari just smiled, it was such a sweet and innocent request.  She’d only really ever used her wind to defend or destroy not for something so childish. Part of her wanted to admonish him for asking her such a silly thing, but that would come soon enough.  

“Okay, but this is a one-time thing.” 

 She didn’t know if she could fulfill that promise seeing how happy he was floating in the wind. He was laughing and smiling begging her to make him go higher that she couldn’t help but indulge him. Life as a shinobi was hard and peace couldn’t be guaranteed. Soon enough it will be up to her son and the new generation of ninja to care for the village and the world. It was a tall order and a heavy weight to put on little shoulders so if she had an opportunity now to make him feel weightless and free that was what she needed to do. Real-life would happen eventually.

She felt Shikamaru’s arms wrap around her waist surprising her. “Having fun?” 

She nodded resting her head against his chest.  “He’s growing up too fast.” She sighed. She knew that it was bound to happen and there would be so much more growth and exciting milestones, but she knew that she’d miss him being so young and innocent.  Shikamaru made hand signs in front of them using his shadow jutsu to wrap around their son.

“Daddy!!!!” He cheered loudly seeing the shadow wrap carefully around him.  It deposited him in his mama's arms. 

“Thank you, Mama! That was a lot of fun!” He smiled so brightly at her that she felt her heart melt. Her family brought her so much more joy than she thought she could ever experience. 

“I had fun too my little Fawn thank you.”

“I’m going to be the best wind, shadow jutsu user that ever existed!”  They both knew that if anyone could do it, it would be their child.  

“I’m sure you will son,” Shikamaru told him affectionately knowing that his son would surpass him and Temari one day.

 Blades 

 Karui smiled using her katana to block ChouChou’s attack. 

“Good job little one.  You have some good instincts.”  ChouChou grinned at the compliment. She knew that she was becoming better every day. 

Her Uncle Omoi had given her a playset of Katanas when he visited last. This was after Karui loudly explained why the toddler shouldn’t have the sharp, deadly set he’d originally tried to give her.  She promised that he could give them to her when she was old enough to carry the set. Either way, Karui was thankful for it. She was sure that her daughter would rely on Akimichi Jutsu but she wanted her to develop in kenjutsu as well. Being the female in the InoShikaCho trio meant that she’d had to hold her own. Her daughter would be able to stand on her own feet with her skills.  

While they were just playing Karui could tell that her daughter was strong and would be a formidable kunoichi when she grew up.  She’d shown improvement daily. There weren’t too many girls that wanted to become ninjas, even less now that there was peace. Her daughter would be at the forefront, leading a generation of kunoichi. 

Taking a break Karui fed her a healthy snack while they laid on the grass. She knew her husband's appetite and that her daughter had inherited it, but she still wanted her to eat a balanced meal as much as possible. 

“Mommy! Can I see you use your katanas?”  Karui was surprised by the request but nodded.  Despite it being peacetime she still tried to keep her skills up. Using them so freely felt wonderful. Like reacquainting herself with an old friend. In the Leaf, there weren’t too many Shinobi who handled ninja blades with the proficiency she did. 

ChouChou watched her mom with wide, bright eyes. She looked so graceful and beautiful while she wielded her weapons. The blades glittering in the light while her hair flowed freely in waves behind her. She was light on her feet that it looked like she was floating through it. She moved like a dancer. ChouChou couldn’t help but clap when she had finished. 

“Mommy! That was amazing!”  Karui smiled and kissed her forehead softly. 

“Thank you, baby.”

“Do you think that I’ll ever be able to move like that?”

“You’re my daughter so of course, you will.  The kunoichi from the Cloud are all powerful warriors.  You carry their legacy within you. You have your daddy’s strength and my skills.  It’s a strong combination. Right hun?” 

ChouChou looked behind surprised to see her dad standing there with a smile. 

“Daddy!”  ChouChou ran and jumped into her father's arms. He placed an affectionate hand on her head. 

“Your Mommy is amazing isn’t she?”

“She really is daddy. It’s no wonder you love her a lot!” 

“You’re right my little bug.  She’s given us both a lot of gifts.  We’re very lucky that she’s ours.” Karui couldn’t help the blush. After so long he still made her feel like a blushing schoolgirl. 

Of all the things that the universe could have given her, her husband and daughter would always remain her greatest gifts. 

https://archiveofourown.org/works/21088739/chapters/50174720

[fortunei]

Second opinion (2/?)

Previously.

rating: k+

pairing: Annette/Ingrid

word count: 1k~

“Ingrid is torn to choose between the two people circulating around her life. Unknown to her, there’s eventually an elephant in the room – and for so many times, she’s just failed to see.”

-

Until her shift ended and even the day has passed for yet another new shift, Ingrid still couldn’t fathom of what happened. The sudden silence coming from Annette is new, she wouldn’t have expected that such cheerful girl like her be so sullen out of sudden.

No, well, Ingrid understands the fact that anyone have their good days and bad days, yet the fact that it is Annette who’s having such bad days has Ingrid to compare between fields of blooming flowers to a complete barren wasteland. Or maybe she has yet to know more about Annette for the orange-haired woman to entrust Ingrid to her problems, while Ingrid should have pestered Annette a lot already for her life story.

“A-Are you okay, Ingrid?”

Bernadetta, with her egg toast ready on respective plates for breakfast this morning, asks. She is confused, Ingrid can tell. Perhaps how she wasn’t chowing down on the meal in front of her garner the purple-haired woman’s worry.

“I’m alright, thank you for asking, Bernadetta.” Ingrid smiles. She moves on slicing her toast to smaller pieces first, watching as Bernadetta is red to her ears for some reason.

Bernadetta is a meticulous eater compared to Ingrid, so far she can tell, just like how her room is composed. Before the entrance, on the top of the shoe compartment, Bernadetta kept two mini cactus. The plants are cared well, seeing the healthy color and how the vines and thorns are not overgrown. Coming deeper inside the room, Bernadetta kept every space clean. She seems to be fond of teddy bears that she lined up some on the sofa right beside the table where they ate. The kitchen area, too, is spotless even though she has finished cooking.

Ingrid does keep her place clean, but she can’t match Bernadetta’s.

“How’s the gardening club? I hope Felix is not there to bother you.”

“H-He doesn’t! He helped me sometimes by bringing in the fertilizer.” Bernadetta explains. Ingrid squints suspiciously at that, but she lets it slide.

Felix has his course in Business Major building a bit frequently now due to some part of Civil Engineering building is renovated. A lone wolf like him happened to come across the green house of Garreg Mach and met with Bernadetta. Felix told Ingrid about the woman’s circumstances and then by the thorough “persuasion”, Bernadetta is now an official member of the university’s gardening club also getting more interest in doing outdoor-related activities.

‘It is better now rather than having a strange woman hovering like a stalker watching the garden but not doing anything about it,’ Ingrid quoted Felix.

“The flower that you said pretty a while ago is now growing nicely, Ingrid.”

“It does?” the short-haired blonde beams. She is happy to know the meek purple-haired woman is enthusiastic about outdoor activities. Bernadetta replies with a quick nod.

“How, how about you go and help gardening club again next Wednesday? I-I’d be happy to have you,” a pause. “A, and I’m sure Dedue and other gardening club members too!”

Ingrid hums, thinking of her schedule in the back of her mind. “If I’m not caught up with deliveries, I’ll go help.”

“Yay!” and Bernadetta suddenly clams up, feeling embarrassed over becoming excited, all the while Ingrid watches her with the same pleasant smile in her face.

At least this exchange is peaceful, Ingrid mused.

Glancing at her wristwatch, Ingrid counts that she still have at least fifteen minutes to indulge on the breakfast before she must head out to do routine deliveries with her bike by the morning. Then after deliveries, she needs to catch up with the seminar after lunch hours. The night shift of Lion House Café will be the end of today’s schedule.

Thinking of Lion House, Ingrid bounced back to Annette. Though, she couldn’t afford to see Bernadetta worried about her again – at least not after Bernadetta exclaimed her happiness.

Time will heal, or better, she could apologize—Ingrid should have disappointed Annette or something. Or she really is a nuisance and Annette couldn’t say it right to her face.

“Thank you for the meal, Bernadetta. I should be off before Leonie called up on me again.”

“O-Oh, Ingrid!” Bernadetta tugs on Ingrid’s sleeve for attention, prompting her to wait as she shuffles to the kitchen. The purple-haired woman takes a box to Ingrid’s hands. Bernadetta is shaking, though she is doing her best not to let the box slip before Ingrid received it firmly.

“Here! A lunch for you! There’s no poison in it! I-I-I made it with love!”

Ingrid blinks. She has a lot of questions, also an option to decline the kindness in her mind, but she accepts the meal anyway, seeing how Bernadetta is … trying her best with this. And most importantly, her personal rule: never let any food to waste.

“T, thank you. I’ll return it after I washed the box, okay?”

“Good luck on y-your work!”

Then again, looks like she won’t be able to dodge questions (and jeering) from Leonie later about the lunch box.

-

The seminar turned out to drag longer than she would expect, thankfully, she has recharged her energy with the rice balls from Bernadetta.

The rice balls are filled with chunks of meat, just how Ingrid would like. Bernadetta sure has known her long enough to memorize her preference of food, something she is grateful of and also something she is not sure of. How to repay a person’s kindness? Did Bernadetta want anything from her? How come this treatment can be something so natural to receive?

Ingrid stays on her chair to text Bernadetta a late follow-up thank you for the lunch, when a familiar cheerful voice called up to her.

“Hmm. What now, texting a girlfriend?”

“Do you really want me to elbow you so badly, Sylvain?” Ingrid scoffs. She raises from her seat, pushes her phone and her handbook to her bag, ready to take off. Though, Sylvain is practically blocking her way and he wants to talk, so Ingrid is going to give it.

“Easy there, pal.” Sylvain is nowhere affected, rather, he seems to be having fun.

The redhead might be a little older, but he is still counted in Ingrid’s circle of childhood friends. At times he can be an unbearable playboy who’ll flirt left to right, then again Ingrid already acknowledged that Sylvain also got some good qualities … that Ingrid can count with fingers, away from his uncountable traits.

Sylvain, Felix and Dimitri would at times nag Ingrid about helping her with her daily expenses, but of course Ingrid would politely decline – close friends or not, it is not good to rely on such connections too much. Ingrid wasn’t able to refuse Dimitri’s offer to be a part time worker on his Café, but at least Ingrid is a bit free from the collective nagging.

“What are you doing here? I thought you have no classes related to Food Science and Agriculture?”

“I just want to say hello—well, after being dragged to help with Professor Manuela’s belonging.” Sylvain cracks his fingers in emphasis.

Professor Manuela was the one holding the seminar just now. She brought some chemical samples with her and distributed a sample batch for the attendees, so Ingrid guesses it is what Sylvain is talking about. Ingrid didn’t see Sylvain be the one distributing the goods, or maybe she stood on the west side and he helped on the east side of the lecture hall.

“You’re unusually edgy though today, what’s up?”

Anything but that question. Ingrid knew that Sylvain won’t budge if she told a lie, so, “Just get into a little problem.”

“I bet in Felix’s dinner that it is another girl problem,”

“That’s not an enough bet – you’re the one making him dinner anyway.” Ingrid chuckles. She straps her bag, strides forward to coerce Sylvain to finally step away. “That’s that, though. Outta my way, please, or I’ll miss my shift. We can talk about this later.”

“Aww, alright, alright. Want me to crash there later with Dimitri? Maybe we can help your customer count-“

“No, thank you. And the boss himself can’t be counted as a visitor, don’t you think?”

-

The night shift of Lion House Café started after 5 PM and last at 9 PM when the café is closing. The hour count is shorter than day shift, but the night shift included the equipment cleaning and filling the stock cards, hence it weighs more on the responsibility. The café is more crowded on weekend nights, so there would be more people assigned to the night shift.

That Saturday, though, Ingrid only sees the count of two people in from a glance to the storefront.

She enters the back room after locking her bike in the reserved parking lot. Mercedes, the second-in-manager of the establishment, greets Ingrid as she gets the café apron from the closet.

The manager of the café is an affectionate, soft-spoken woman in her late twenties. She can be a bit of klutz sometimes, like forgetting the stock card at the break room, or her cardigan on the tabletop counter, but that doesn’t affect her actual management skills. Mercedes always able to exercise cool heads in any situation, and Ingrid respects her for it.

“Oh, Ingrid. You came early, perfect timing,” Mercedes says. Her smile eases from her tight-lipped moment just now. Ingrid wondered of what had taken place.

“We’re a bit low on people since Annette can’t come tonight.”

Hearing the said name, Ingrid is alerted. She feels something sink in her stomach. Her eyes widens to know that a certain diligent worker of the café is absent. Ingrid swallows, hoping that it wasn’t because of the problem from yesterday. “… What happened?”

“She called in sick,” the manager sighs. Mercedes seems restless. “I already told her not to go overboard with her studies.”

Ingrid catches a sense of familiarity in the way Mercedes spoke about Annette, which is maybe the first time that Ingrid ever noticed. Annette and Mercedes are both known to be an easy-going and approachable, they can befriend and get to the comfort of any old and new workers or old and new customers alike.

The blonde decided to let it rest, focusing on the situation.

Annette was sick, no wonder she is not as cheerful as usual. Ingrid put the premise to be her conclusion.

“It will be a bit of extra work to alternate between cash register and making the drinks, but I’m sure you can do it well, Ingrid.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

-

When Ingrid and one other part-timer finally closed the shutter and clean up the main area, Mercedes approaches them with two mugs of steaming hot cocoa in the break room. Spring is already there chasing away the winter chills, but hot beverages will always be a nice treat every now and then. The part timer excused himself first, however, saying that he needs to run somewhere to get a package (in which Ingrid wondered why this late at night), leaving Ingrid alone with Mercedes, sipping slowly to the chocolate treat.

Mercedes, however, doesn’t drink. She sits on the chair across Ingrid, skimming at something on her phone. Ingrid doesn’t feel to bother her boss, even though the silence somehow a bit grim. She must be tired of all the activities today, not to mention, there is a certain name that happened to resurface ever so often.

“Say, Ingrid. Do you happen to live nearby Annette’s rented apartment?”

Ingrid puts down the mug. And it resurfaces now. “I don’t think Annette ever told me where she lived. Or she is in one of the Garreg Mach’s issued dormitory?”

“Dorms like that won’t allow anyone to come back there over the curfew, if I remembered correctly,” Ingrid rolls her eyes at that mention, remembering when the exact dormitory curfew is. Mercedes, as far as Ingrid knows, ever said that she was ‘there for long’ at the Garreg Mach – or she ever worked there rather than studied there, Ingrid missed the details.

Dormitories might be a cheap alternative of housing for students with low allowance, but the strict curfew and unforgiving guards (Ingrid pictured a certain green-haired Professor from Marine Engineering in her mind) will prove it to be a difficult place to be. Ingrid recalled that the given curfew is 9 PM, with a five minute leeway. But then, a night shift work like this will only end around 10 or 11 PM, so it is a no go especially if you juggle with a lot of work or simply loves to take a night stroll to the nearby convenience store for night snacks.

“And … what about Annette?”

“If you lived nearby, I would like to ask for you to check up on her,” Mercedes voices her request, hands folded on the table as she set her eyes squarely on the worker. Ingrid finds herself straightened her posture, her fingers cradling on the mug. “As you may know, she is hard on herself. She might still be studying, despite calling in to be sick.”

What Ingrid sees from Annette is the epitome of diligence, yes. She always come to work early and will never sit still—she will find exactly something to do, and it can be anything. The orange-haired woman might be smaller than any other part-timers, but she loves to make every side is spotless, if not having any other job assigned to her. Ingrid observed it as her kind of habit, so she left it alone.

But to think that she doesn’t have the way to put a stop on herself, it’s … distressing. Worrying. Ingrid, too, is stacking her time with work and studies, but she knew all too well that taking breaks every now and then is as important as anything. Someone ever told Ingrid about it – it’s not like she would forget it easily.

“She is?” Ingrid repeats. “How … how did you know about this?”

At the question, Mercedes falls silent. She draws her eyes from Ingrid somewhere else, looking self-conscious. There is something looming over them, something that Ingrid knows well not to thread into. Much to Ingrid’s relief, though, Mercedes diverts from the point, her small smile from earlier returns.

“In any case, it’s only if you lived nearby. If not, please forget about this.”

Ingrid feels like she has a lot to say, then again it is already getting late to drag on the topic any longer. “Please tell me about her address.”

[gabriellapatterson-blog]

What goes bump in the night? More like who steals shoes in the night.

A/N thanks for the RP @natalyabloom and @wyattschreave 

I sat in bed dangling the small phone about arms length above my head watching a youtube video called “only 1% of people will figure out these insane riddles” I knew I wouldn’t be able to get it but I loved the “OHHHHH DANG” moments.

Suddenly my grip faltered and smack the phone went on my nose. “Ow ow ow ow!” I yelped as I picked the phone up off of my face and rubbed my nose. “Alright, that’s enough of you.” I mumbled to myself as I got up and returned the phone to my desk. I paused for a moment and looked at the picture of Emma and I. I sighed a bit to myself. I missed Emma deeply, I missed my goofy friend who would watch videos with me. I need some friends here too.

I “plopped back down on my bed and started to think of the girls. I could approach someone from my group from the political lessons? Maybe they’d want to be friends? OH NATALYA. I should do apologize to Natalya. We argued back at the lessons but she seems like a smart girl, maybe we could be friends.

I got up from my bed and walked over to her room and then knocked on her door, “Hi Natalya, it's me Gabriella from the political lessons.” I introduced from outside.

A maid came and opened the door, “Excuse me, Miss. I hope you won’t mind coming back later. Lady Natal-”

Suddenly Natalya appeared standing next to the maid in her reading glasses and spoke softly to her maid, “I told you to stop calling me that. I’ve got it from here, Raylen. You can go back in and…I don’t know, the bathroom is covered in soil.” Soil?

“Yes?” She asked addressing me.

“Oh! Hi yes! I was hoping I could talk with you for a moment, may I come in?”

She turned around quickly and went into her room, “Watch out for the floor.” The floor? As I walked in there were plants everywhere. It was so cool. This had to be the best decorating job in the palace.

“Oh wow! Your room is so cool it’s like a mini garden!” I exclaimed.

Natalya sat down on her bed next to a stack of books, “Yes, I guess it’s sort of my thing…So, what is it?”

“I like animals myself but plants are really cute too and oh right! I just wanted to make sure you knew I was sorry for the...debate during the lessons today. I can get kind of competitive so I got a little too into it. You seem like a super smart and interesting girl though so I'd like to try and be friends with you if that’s alright.” Maybe that was too direct.

She slightly adjusted her glasses, “A surprising amount of you girls are awfully blunt. But…I guess I should apologize too. I was out of it that day.” She then flattened her hair a bit, “Still am.” She added.

“I prefer to be direct. It makes things much more simple. Why do you think you were out of it? Did you get enough sleep?” I asked.

“Not exactly. Being Selected is much more stressful than I thought.” I wonder where she gets stress from? I think this is fun. We’ll the lessons were stressful but overall this has been more fun and exciting than stressful. I suppose though that’s because I’m spending a lot of time with Ben and he’s fun and exciting to me.

“Hmmm, well what's something that you love to do back at home. I normally visit the ocean when I'm stressed which has been helping me…” I paused and looked around, “Do the plants help you?” I asked.

“Botany, the science of plants, though some of them dive more into the field of hydroponics, still a part of botany. So, yes.” ????

“Hydro what now? Sorry I'm a bit of a moron. The caste of a 3 is misleading.” Hydro means water. I got that far.

She smiled a bit. Yes! She’s warming up to me, “The science of growing plants without fertilizer or dirt.” WHAT

“What the!? That sounds amazing! How do they do it?” I asked honestly eager to learn. I loved learning new things and this just seemed so interesting.

“It involves mixing nutrients usually found in fertilizer into the water. I could show you if you want. It’s not all that complicated.” She can show me? Like right here? This is like an episode of Bill Nye.

“Please do, it sounds so cool! I always sucked at growing plants. I'm too forgetful for them, I did have a cactus that lived a long time though. It was a good fit for me.”

She stood from the bed and made her way over to a drawer, “You probably weren’t all that bad. Cacti are actually surprisingly hard to maintain.” She then took two bottles out of the drawer and began to shake them, “The gardens here are maintained wonderfully, though.”

“I had them in my windowsill so they got plenty of sun, when they had those like purple flowers blossom it was really pretty. I was very proud. Somehow I've managed to take care of our dog Gregory though. He's a very silly dog. A very big diva.”

She brought the bottles over to one of the plants and poured the nutrients into what almost looks like a small pool of water that the plant sat in, the colors of the shampoo swirl around and disappear quickly, like a small leaf tornado. “You have a dog too? What kind?”

“Oooh! That was cool! And he's a poodle. Fitting for his personality. His favourite color is salmon. Not a hue off.”

Natalya and I seemed to get along well. I’m glad we were able to get through all of that drama from the political lessons. As I thought back to the lessons my idea for vengeance on Wyatt came to mind. Natalya seemed to like Wyatt though, not in a romantic way of course that would be inappropriate and I really don’t know her too well. But, she didn’t seem to dislike him. I suppose you could say the same for me, I just had a slight annoyance for him here and there but he was still interesting to talk with. Anyways, maybe I should just ask instead of trying to guess her perspective.

“By the way you acted really well with prince Wyatt. Are you two friends?” I asked deciding a lead in would be best.

She sat up suddenly looking startled, “Uh, yes, I think I’m close with the prince.” She answered. Huh. Maybe there is something more there. That’s a rather large reaction to a small question.

“Do you think he's slightly deserving of being pranked? Two times now he's been kind of rude to me, not rude enough for like pain but for sure pranking. I need a partner in crime.” I asked deciding to brush past my suspicion. If she had feelings for him that was between the two of them. If later she decided to talk to me as a friend that was up to her, but I wasn’t going to prod.

“I’ve never pulled a prank on anyone before.” She answered. First time for everything.

“I have many times. I'm actually pretty good at it. I got the idea early on to switch all of my horrible heels with his nice comfy shoes. You can add yours to the pile if you'd like. You in?” Maybe she would be tempted by the idea to lose her stilts too.

She sighed and pet her hair down, “Well, I have a pair of bright purple six inch tie ups I’m sure he’d look gorgeous in.”

I smiled widely, “Wonderful. We can lipstick so he knows what to match them with. Can you ask one of your maids for like a cart so we can roll the heels upstairs. Oh! Wait one us distract him while the other goes in.” I suggested. I should probably distract, if I did the sneaky work we’d end up with all of his shoes falling in the hallway and the cart toppled.

She agreed and said one of her maids should be able to get the cart for us. We gathered the heels and began to push the cart up. We used one of the elevators that the staff used when taking carts of food to people. Soon we made it sneakily up to the royals hall.

I turned and nodded at Natalya to let her know I was moving out and went down the hall to his room and promptly knocked on his door, “Wyatt! Come quickly! Its Gabriella!” I shouted.

There was the sound of clatter as he seemed to rush to the door knocking over things on his way out, “What?! What’s wrong?” He asked as he looked me up in down probably for an injury. He seemed to notice I was fine and straightened himself up, “How did you even get up here?” He asked.

“Doesn't matter. Come look at this!” I replied loudly so Natalya would hear and grabbed his hand and pulled him down the hallway.

He seemed surprised as I pulled him down and looked back over his shoulder once more, “Where are we going?”

“It's something amazing. you'll love to see it. I thought of you right away. It has to do with one of your many interests.”

He looked confused as I looked back at his face, my eyes quickly catching a glance of Natalya as she made her way into Wyatt’s room. “My many interests?” He asked as stopped walking, “Gabriella, what’s this really about?” Crap crap crap we weren’t to the vase yet. I need a conversation topic. I glanced around quickly.

“Oh we're here!” I said and gestured to the wall, “ It's your favorite thing. A wall. They're very interesting right. But this wall, is really cool because like look at it it's so cool. They wall paper looks more like it's painted than it is just with a paper over it.”

He looked blankly at the wall for a moment before turning and ripping my soul out of my body with an ice cold glare and throwing it in the trashcan of hell. This is it. This is how I die. Murdered at the hands of Wyatt.

“Alright don't be mad.” I said and put my hands up defensively. Natalya isn’t out yet, oh fiddlesticks. A new conversation topic. Um….BEN.

“The truth is.......I need advice...it's just awkward to ask....ummmm......” I said making long pauses to insure I was stalling well.

He pressed his lips together for a moment before he let out a sigh, “ About what?”

“well it's about your brother, so I'm trying to figure out what I should get him for his birthday. My family has a tradition of making...well, I'll keep that part hidden. But we do handmade gifts but I know some people don't like them so well I was wondering if you knew if Ben did?” I gave a small fib to add a little extra time. Yes my family made handmade things as a tradition but we didn’t make one specific thing. I just figured the awkward pause would give Nat some more time.

“Handmade gifts?” He asked with a snort, “Have you met him? Yes, he likes them. Though... I guess it depends on how weird you make it.” What would I make that would be weird?

I chuckled, “They're not too weird. Just small little things. What are you getting him? Or doing for him?” I asked trying to move along the conversation as I waited for Natalya.

“How do I know you’re not going to tell him? Maybe this is all a plan to figure out what I’m getting him ahead of time.” He narrowed his eyes in suspicion, “He always does that.” He always sends a spy to find out what Wyatt got him for his birthday?

“Why in the world would I try and tell him that.” I trailed off for a moment as I saw natalya pulling out of there and heading for out meetup location, “I'm a fan of surprises so if you're just trying to keep it a secret then I get that. Anyways, I have something to go do now, so I'll talk to you later.” I exited and pat him on his shoulder as I past him and briskly made my way to natalya.

“wait—“ He said and started to follow me.

“Run. Run. Run.” I ordered to natalya as we made it back together and made out escape.

“HEY, WHAT JUST HAPPENED?” I heard him yell. We stopped and waited a moment a little curious of the aftermath.

“OH, YOU LITTLE—” There was distant yelling as he seemed to realize that he had been hustled. I couldn’t help but to burst out in laughter as we had won and made our way back to his room.

Turns out Wyatt had tiny feet. So small his shoes didn’t fit either natalya or I. So we decided we had to send them back. But- not that simply. Wyatt would be gaining his shoes back one left shoe at a time.

[marveliciousfanfics]

Walk With Me Part 3

This is my entry for @dinnafashsoldat POC Writing Challenge.

Prompts: “You’re not taking me to bed. Ever.” “Who said it had to be the bed?” and “I wasn’t lying when I said I loved you.” Mexican!OC

A/N: I am a Mexican girl so when I saw this writing challenge I had to get on board. It is going to be about a 5-6 mini series. I love Thor. He’s my favorite! Even over Bucky and Steve because he’s just so…perfect and needs to be protected.

**

Tony had also provided a car for us and I was thankful it wasn’t a flashy car. It was just a Toyota Highlander. Thor was still too big for it, but he would have not fit in anything smaller. I drove since I knew my way like the back of my hand. Again I tested Thor on my family’s name and he got it down well. He said we should stop by for something to eat since I hadn’t had a bit all day. I told him that I couldn’t eat when I was nervous, plus my family was probably making food for us already.

In the middle of traffic I drummed my fingers on the steering wheel. My stomach was in knots. I was torn about what we were doing. Was Steve right? What I was doing so bad? I mean, I have lied to my parents before, but never like this. At first, it felt like it wasn’t so bad, but what if they actually really liked Thor? I mean there was no chance in the world Thor would want to be in a relationship with me. Sleep with me for a night or two? Maybe. But I don’t think he wanted a relationship.

“What’s on your mind? You’re so tense,” Thor’s voice filled the car. I couldn’t look at him so I stared at the plates of the car in front of us for several seconds. “Hey…” his voice softened.

And I felt my eyes start to sting and my view started to get blurry.

“Hey,” he pushed harder.

I wiped away the tears that fell. “I just…what Steve said…I feel bad now.”

“Well, if you wanna tell them the truth, that’s fine with me. I can still go with you as your friend.”

That didn’t sound so bad. What if I did just come out with the truth? I mean, I’d get a lot of shit from my cousins and my siblings were not going to let it go either. No, I could do this. The focus was not going to be on us. It was my brother’s time to shine. He was getting married and that was a big step for him. He always said he was going to be a bachelor. I made my bed and I had to lie in it.

“No, we can do this. We’ll just…try to be…casual, like, not bring attention to ourselves. I don’t want to upstage my brother. It’s his time and his girl’s.”

“You sure, Dulce?”

“Yes. I’m sure,” I smiled to convince him.

Soon I got off the freeway and it wouldn’t be long before we got to my old home because we were close to the freeway. On our way I did point out the park where we were going to be playing soccer. It was a family tradition to have a game when there was a family gathering.

“I’ve read up on soccer. It sounds like a good way to exercise.”

Soccer was my passion growing up. I wanted to play in the league, but after what happened in New York it gave me a new perspective. First, we weren’t alone. Second, we weren’t prepared. So I wanted to make a difference. I had to. We also passed by my elementary school and those were bittersweet memories.

I wasn’t surprised to see that when I turned on my block there were several cars taking up almost all the spaces. I heard the music halfway down. My heart started to race, but I knew we could do this. Only two days and then it’ll be over. I found a parking space not that far from my house.

“Ready?” Thor asked beside me.

I nodded my head not trusting my voice. I got out of the car and went in front of it to get to the sidewalk. He asked if we got our stuff now. I told him later because it was more important to greet the family first. I turned towards my house and Thor reached for my hand. I pulled back like I had been shocked.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“Sweetie, we have to play the part from now on.”

I sighed and shook my hands and bounced a little to relieve some of the stress. “Okay, okay, you’re right. We can hold hands. Sorry, I haven’t had a boyfriend in like years so…I forgot about the etiquette.”

“Dulce,” I loved the way he said my name with his deep voice. I turned my eyes up to him as he placed his hands on my shoulders. “Tell me what’s really wrong.”

“I…just…don’t think people will believe the God of Thunder would ever take a second glance at me,” it blurted out without hesitation. Somehow he compelled me to say the truth. He huffed a bit and frowned.

“Why not? You are a sweet, kind, smart, and sexy woman.”

With each of those compliments I felt my body flush. “I mean…Jane was…gorgeous and super freaking smart. I’m…me. I just…do research—“

“And that takes brains. You are always very diligent and your research has never let us down. I know you double check all your sources and you never take things lightly.”

It was odd to know Thor noticed me before now. Sure, we were friends before, but I always thought he just saw another co-worker. Now it felt like he saw more than that. But he never made a move. He was always friendly. Just friendly.

“Thanks,” I mumbled and looked down. “Okay, we should go.” I held out my hand and he placed his large one on top of mine engulfing it. We intertwined our fingers. I never thought I would be walking down this old street with Thor. I had read up on Norse Mythology—well I guess it wasn’t a myth anymore. 

My home was to my left and it was the pink house with the cactus at the front. There was a rose bush by the porch of the house that I remembered getting pricked many times when cutting the flowers to use as the center piece of our kitchen table. There was a big gate that I hated because I had to use the string to pull on it so it could open. The string was still there. It was so nostalgic to be back.

It had been way too long. I always found some sort of excuse not to come back for the holidays. It was hard for me. Everyone in my family knew that, so coming home with a boyfriend—a celebrity of sorts—was a big deal. The music was playing loudly. I knew they were all in the backyard, but we had to go through the house to get to the back.

I opened the door and immediately I was welcomed by my niece Elizabeth. She was about five years old and the light of my eyes. She tackled me wrapping her little arms around my hips.

“TIA! TIA! TIA!” she chanted. I released Thor’s hand to place my arms around her. I lifted her off the floor.

“Mira que grande estas!” I spoke to her in Spanish telling her how big she got and she did. “Y tan hermosa.” She and I mostly Face Timed and I did visit her at my sister’s place, but could hardly bring myself to visit my parents at their home. 

“Traiste a tu novio?” she asked if I brought my boyfriend. I turned her so she could face Thor.

“What a beautiful princess,” Thor grinned. “You must be Elizabeth.” He took her little hand and placed a peck on top of it.

“I’m no princess,” she giggled and took her hand back.

“Oh yes you are. I know many princesses, so I know when I see one,” he winked. It warmed my heart to hear her giggle. I really loved my niece and nephew. I knew what I was doing wasn’t meaningless. I wasn’t super powered, but what I did helped. It was for them. So they could have a future.

The first room of the house was the living room. We would have to go through the kitchen to get to the backyard. It was a one story home Ranch style so to our left was the hallway with the three bedrooms. One was for my parents and the other two my siblings and I shared for most of our lives.

It just hit me that Thor was going to find out something about me I had never told anyone. Tony probably knew but he never brought it up, which was good for me. But I honestly didn’t tell anyone on the team about myself a lot. I tended to keep to myself. I liked to listen to others and when it came time for me to share, I always changed the subject. It was on purpose.

I placed Elizabeth down. I told her to show me to the others. She grabbed my hand and pulled me across the living room. I had nearly forgotten about the shrine on the way there and I stopped in my tracks. I hadn’t seen his picture in so long. It was his graduation picture where he looked so happy.

My mom had the candles lit each candle had a different saint on it. His valedictorian medal was across the picture and also a rosary. My heart sank at the sight of it. It had been years. Too long and yet it still hurt. Thor placed his hand on my shoulder. Silently understanding what I still couldn’t say out loud. And of course he would understand more than anyone.

“C’mon, Tia!” Elizabeth urged.

I nodded down at her and continued on. The kitchen remained the same. It smelled so good. The sliding door was open and I already saw familiar faces. Cousins, aunts and uncles along with close family friends.

The first who noticed us was my aunt—my mother’s oldest sister Beatriz. She hugged me tightly since it had been years since I saw her. She cried and held me tightly. I hugged her back as well. I had many memories of her babysitting my siblings and I when my mom had to work two jobs. She was like my second mom and guilt washed over me knowing that calls, texts and  FaceTime wasn’t enough.

“Perdoname, Tia,” I asked for forgiveness.

“No te preocupes, mija,” she replied that I didn’t need to worry. It took all of my strength to keep it together. I pulled back and she squeezed my cheeks. Her eyes wondered behind me and they widened. Her face turned a little pink around her cheek area. “Ay, ese es el Thor?”

I looked behind me and he stood a few feet behind me with his hands behind him but with a grin on his face.

I turned back to my aunt. “Yes. Thor, this is my aunt from my mom’s side—Tia Beatriz. Yes, my sister was named after her.”

Thor walked up to my aunt, took her hand and placed a kiss on it. My aunt giggled much like Elizabeth had.

“A pleasure,” he told her.

We got everyone’s attention and suddenly Thor was swarmed by my family members. It was mostly the ladies. I stood back and watched. It was funny to see a tall, burly God get nearly trampled by short Mexican women. He stayed a gentleman and greeted everyone.

“Ya! Basta!” I told them and worked my way through the crowd and shooed them away. I got a hold of Thor’s hand and he squeezed it probably thankful I saved him. I met his eyes and his sparkled with gratefulness. 

“Mija,” my mom’s voice tore my gaze away. It had been a while since I saw her, so I released Thor’s hand to hug my mom. She was my rock. My best friend. So lying to her was killing me. “Que gusto me da verte, mi nina.” She told me how glad she was to see me.

“Mami,” I nearly whimpered. She caressed my hair and told me she loved me. I saw my father walk up. He had grown more gray hairs since the last time I saw him. I pulled back from my mom’s embrace. I went to hug my dad. He was stiff at first. It wasn’t in our culture for men to show their emotions, but it had been a while since I held him so I was pleasantly surprised when he hugged me back. He rubbed my back. “Pa, I’m sorry.”

“No hay nada que perdonar,” he said there was nothing to forgive. This time I broke down and released the sob I had been holding back since my aunt. My dad held me tighter and I heard him break down too. We both missed him. Missed him terribly. 

After a moment we both separated. I wiped away my tears and then I wiped his. He cupped my face with his hands.

“Ahora, quien es este Thor?”

I chuckled and looked back to see Thor with a soft expression. Clearly my crying had shown a side no one had ever seen at the compound. I introduced my dad and Thor. My dad had puffed out his chest and straightened his back. They shook hands. My dad wasn’t that tall either. Sure he was taller than me and my mom, but he was still way shorter than Thor. I suspected my dad squeezed a little harder, but I was sure it didn’t make a difference to Thor.

“Come on over so I can get to know you,” my dad told Thor. “You like beer?”

“Of course!” Thor boomed.

“Tecate? Corona?” my dad asked.

Thor turned to me unsure so I mouthed ‘Corona’.

“Corona?” Thor’s voice wasn’t convincing but my dad grinned.

“I knew you had good taste, eh? After all you are dating my daughter…right?”

“Yes! Absolutely,” Thor nodded and then followed my dad to the other side of the backyard where the men were. In the crowd I saw Bruno. He gave me a sheepish smile and waved. I waved back.

God, I was never this emotional. I needed a shot.

“Puta!” Betty hugged me from the back.

“Perra!” I said to her and laughed. Camila and Junior joined. We got into a group hug. I loved being at the compound and having my friends there, but nothing beat this. I really did love my family. I was just an emotional wreck after what happened to our little brother. The one I had raised. The one whose diapers I had changed. The one who got to go to New York only to come back in a box.

[storm-alert]

mini-fic prompt challange (1)

@youreamonocoque thank you for the lovely prompt :) here’s your fic! i hope you like it. i tried to stick to the prompts as best as i could be we all know how much i suck at that. also, the format is a bit fked on tumblr mobile so i apologize. not sure why it’s like that tbh

-

"Are you done yet?" Alex asked him for the umpteenth time and Jos ignored him, choosing instead to examine yet another one of the mini potted plants displayed in the indoor plants aisle of the home décor store. "Do you know what kind of plant this is? More importantly, does this say "Happy house-warming! I'm so glad you guys got your own place and won't be fucking on my couch anymore!" better than the last one?" Jos asked instead, holding up the tiny plant for him to see. Before Alex could answer, a voice came from behind Jos.

"That's an Anthurium."

Jos spun around towards the source and, when greeted with a cheerful, grinning man, he felt his heart skip a beat. "As for the second part,” the man continued, “I'm not entirely sure it says "I'm glad you won't fuck on my couch anymore". It's more of a "my son's going to university and I want him to have a plant to take care of as well as if he doesn't have enough responsibility living on his own for the first time"." Jos stifled a laugh at his description and smiled. "Right. Thanks, er, Joe," he said, reading the name on the shiny badge on his chest. "No problem.." Joe trailed off questioningly and it took Jos a minute to realise and quickly say, "Jos. My name's Jos." "No problem Jos." Joe smiled again and Jos smiled back this time, dimples in full force. "You can't be serious." Jos turned around to see Alex staring at him incredulously. "We really don't have time for this. We have to be at Jason and Sam's in less than 20 minutes." "Oh - right, sorry." Jos blushed slightly and started to re-examine the plants. Alex rolled his eyes. "I'm going to go buy them ice-cream as my gift. Find me when you're done here." Jos nodded and turned back to the plants, hyper-aware of Joe's eyes on him. "So, um, which plant says "I'm glad you guys won't fuck on my couch anymore"?" he asked him once Alex had walked away. "Well," Joe said, reaching across Jos and Jos's breath hitched in his throat, "the Copper King Ladyfinger Cactus achieves that pretty well. It's small and spiky so it conveys your annoyance about them fucking on your couch but the spikes are pretty and red as well so it's a good-looking plant to gift someone." He handed the tiny cactus to Jos. Jos nodded along slowly, turning the cactus around in his hands carefully. "Alright. And which plant is best for saying "I'd like to take you out sometime for dinner"?" Jos looked at him with wide, innocent eyes and Joe laughed but Jos didn't miss the flush on his cheeks. "I'd suggest the Peace Lily for that or, if you're daring, you could go for the Christmas cactus." Joe gestured to a beautiful plant with spiky green stems topped with deep rose coloured flowers, biting back a smile now. "Yeah, that's good. I'll take that as well," Jos said, picking up both cacti and adding them to his shopping cart. "Now which one's for "How about this Friday at 7?" Jos asked cheekily and Joe laughed again, loud and carefree. "That would be the Heartleaf Philodendron," Joe said, handing him a pot with long, intertwining green stems and leaves. "And that would be a "Yes, how's the Buttler's Cafe down on 26th street?"." Joe gestured to purple, cabbage shaped plant. Jos grinned. "Which plant says "That's perfect." and "I'll see you then?"," Jos asked, taking both the pots and added them to his cart which was almost overflowing with potted plants now. "English Ivy," Joe said confidently and Jos added the new pot in the final, empty corner of his cart. Jos made his way to the cashier soon after that, leaving Joe behind in his potted plants aisle with a parting smile and a semi-awkward wave. Alex, stood near the cashier looking murderous, was tapping his foot impatiently. "Took you long enough," Alex snapped. Jos made a face before beginning to unload the plants from his cart. When he finished placing the last one on the counter, he looked up to see Alex and the cashier staring at him. "Exactly, how many plants are you getting for Jason and Bilbo?" Alex asked, raising his eyebrows. "Just, you know, the- the normal amount," Jos said haltingly, mentally counting the pots on the counter. "So that's five then?" Alex asked, fighting a smile. "Yes?" Jos said uncertainly, his face reddening as Alex laughed.

-

i’m sorry for any spelling/grammar errors i cant be bothered to check and my beta is asleep. also sorry for the abrupt ending. i couldve gone on and on with this fic tbh