#also I switched the matt pov bc it suited ok gdbye

[prxttylittle]

❝ we’re gonna have to keep ice on that. ❞, ❝ let me help with that. ❞, ❝ i’ll never let you go. ❞ for the thIRD time

❝ we’re gonna have to keep ice on that. ❞

{ v ;; the princess and the moon.   

 It had been a while since Prince needed patching up after a display of violence so the feeling of the antiseptic on his knuckles burned more than he remembered when Luna dabbed at the back of his hand with a cotton bud, causing him to gasp childishly. “That hurts!” He seethed but didn’t pull his hand away despite his instincts telling him that he should. He was appreciative of her helping him out, taking care of him. As a married couple, Prince  and Luna were a team– always. It was them against everyone else when it came down to it and that was how they worked. Hence why she was playing nurse and taking care of him instead of saying anything to him about getting physical though he’d been sure she’d be on his side from the get-go. Sitting on top of the counter, with Luna standing between his legs and tending to his hand, he wrapped both legs around her waist and pulled her closer to him. It made her move too suddenly and she wiped the bloody bud up his arm but he didn’t really care. He tried to kiss her but she only indulged him for a mere second before she reached across the countertop and picked up an ice-pack that he didn’t even know they had in the house. “We’re going to have to keep ice on that.” He watched her press the pack down on his hand, gasping again but this time from the cold. He didn’t know when he’d turned into such a baby, gasping and moaning at every touch to his sore hand compared to him as a teenager in which he could walk around with a full broken hand and barely feel it. How times have changed. “Nick’s such an asshole.” Prince exclaimed, as if it was Nick’s fault his hand was sore, as if maybe Nick’s face had pummelled Prince’s fist and not the other way around. That remark led to Luna questioning what happened. He was aware she’d been dying to stick her nose in and find out what led to Nick’s cheek shattering his knuckles. Prince didn’t plan on keeping it from her, he’d just been letting her tend to his wound before delving into the events of the weekend. 

Prince didn’t know if it was because he was now a boring married old man but he wasn’t too sure the way Nick was talking to that girl at the bar was appropriate for a guy in a relationship. He nudged Matt, urging him to weigh in. Just as Matt did look up, Nick’s hand dropped dangerously low on the girl’s waist. Prince frowned. It wasn’t really any of his business but on the other hand Cassie was his friend, and practically a sister to his wife. He aimed to stay out of it, returned to pretending to listen to Matt talking about his job instead. But Prince couldn’t help it but to glance over to Nick again noticing he was either whispering in that girls ear or nibbling on it, and now his hand was definitely too low. “What the fuck is he doing?” Prince seethed, interrupting Matt for a second time. He spotted Nick looking all around the bar, unable to locate Prince and Matt from across the room, before he was picking up the girl’s handbag and wrapping his jacket around her. He then led her out of the bar and it was no question to Matt or Prince what was happening. Like clockwork, their phones buzzed. ‘Sorry lads, drank too much, had to head off.’ A blatant lie which only furthered Prince’s theory. “Asshole.” Prince uttered before him and Matt got back to enjoying their night out.

It wasn’t until two days later when Prince was due to collect Luna at Nick and Cassie’s apartment when the girls got home from their weekend away did Prince confront Nick about what he saw at the club. “So. You were sick the other night?” Prince decided to play stupid, as if he hadn’t seen Nick. It seemed Nick was playing the same game, only he wasn’t playing stupid. The story was pretty convincing, Prince could admit. Nick looked like shit and he’d just been throwing beer cans in the bin which led Prince to believe his fling had been more than just a one night thing. “You’re pathetic, Nick. You’ve spent the last ten years pining after Cass just to cheat on her.” When Matt and Panda had first gotten together Prince had expected something like this to happen. Their relationship was such a shock to him that he expected no more from his best friend. When Nick and Cassie got together, Prince thought they’d wasted so much time not being together that something like this would never happen. It was possible his perception was a little off. “You’re not going to tell the girls.” It almost sounded like a warning from Nick which made Prince laugh. If Nick thought for one second that Prince wasn’t going to tell his own wife about this then he had another thing coming especially after the drama that Nick’s job caused between them when they first got engaged. “No, I’m not.” Nick’s surprised reaction was expected. “I’m going to tell Luna. You are going to tell Cass.” Always with the dramatics, Nick flew off the handle. He insisted he’d made a mistake, and telling Cassie wasn’t going to help anyone just hurt her. When Prince didn’t buy the sappy apology route, Nick turned to insults. He pointed out every mistake Prince made in his relationship (that Nick was aware of), every flaw between them. It was to Nick’s fortune that the girls walked in when they did, Cassie rushing to protect Nick from Prince’s flying fist. Her concern for her boyfriend was embarrassing and just pissed off Prince even further. He didn’t even bother to say anything further, just grabbed Luna’s suitcase and wrapped an arm over her shoulder to guide her out. All of which led to this very moment of Prince informing Luna of what he still wasn’t sure if Nick was going to Cassie or not. 

{ v ;; no reason. 

         An adult man, Jason was not. When Iola approached him with whatever piece of medical equipment he hadn’t even seen, he dodged her touch as quickly as he could, ducking under her arm and away from her. She stumbled slightly over his unexpected dash and he could tell she was getting tired of him. He shrugged. “Antiseptic hurts. If it gets infected, it gets infected. Just let me die.” What he wasn’t telling her was how he’d made his arm hurt even worse by swivelling around her as if he was Kim fucking Possible. It took at least thirty minutes but eventually Iola got around to cleaning up his scraped up knuckles. He obeyed as she commanded him to curl and uncurl his hand into a fist to see if he could. Technically, he could. It just hurt like no pain he’d ever felt before. He pouted. “Iola. It’ll be fine.” He urged. “I’ll get a job in a call centre or something if I can never paint again.” He winced when she tugged his hand toward herself. “We’re going to have to keep ice on that.” He hadn’t even seen her grab an ice-pack but before he knew it the cold sensation was pressing down on his knuckles. “Fuck, babe! That is so cold!” There was a chance his hand was broken and he knew Iola wanted him to get medical attention, and he probably would later on, but for now he couldn’t help but to be a big baby about it. “It’s a good thing you get jealous enough for the both of us” Jason began speaking, proving he really never thought about his words before letting them out. He was cradling his arm in his not-injured hand at this point. “I really don’t think it suits me.”

      When Jason saw some guy flirting with Iola up at the bar, he didn’t really think much of it. Jason experienced so many emotions on a daily basis that he was sure his body had run out of space for jealousy to fit in there. Iola was absolutely stunning, he wasn’t surprised that other guys found her attractive. Jason also knew Iola was too smart to be seduced by losers like that. It was Lip that put thoughts into his head. Every two seconds Lip was nudging Jason and asking why Jason wasn’t getting up to go over and ‘fight that loser flirting with your girlfriend.’ Jason tried to shut Lip up but eventually his words got to Jason which would have been fine until he spotted Iola waving at Jason to join her at the bar. He sighed and crossed the club to her. She asked him to help her carry the drinks back to their table and when the stranger made a snarky remark about Jason, –“You sure you can lift all those?”– usually Jason would shrug it off or honestly probably agree with the deprecation. This time, he had Lip’s voice in his head and three double-whiskeys in his system. “What did you just say?” Jason felt like he was floating out of his body and witnessing himself turn to rage because it was something he never did. Jason wasn’t an angry guy, most of the time he was pretty mellow but he was drunk and the sound of his friend telling him to fight for his girl was running around in his mind. The stranger, whom Jason was now realising was a good few inches taller and broader, retorted that he was just joking, Jason scoffed. “How about you go joke around somebody else’s girlfriend?” He glanced at Iola and back at the man. “She isn’t interested.” He turned to finally help Iola with the drinks, embarrassed about his outburst but ready to get back to having a good night with their friends. The stranger made another snarky remark and finally, and very out-of-character for him, Jason whipped around, arm reeled back with  his hand curled into a fist and as he hurled it toward the other male, he ducked and Jason’s hand smashed into the pillar behind him. His knuckles cracked on impact and the pain was enough to make Jason give up on jealous-quest and want to just go home. That was the first and last time Jason McLoughlin fights for his ladies honour. 

{ v ;; July 17th. 

    Zayn nodded in silence just as she pressed the ice-pack to his face. Ari could probably say she was going to cut his nose clean off and he would still follow her instructions just to keep on her good side. It gave him a slight glimmer of hope when she said ‘We’ about icing his face, rather than just advising him and heading out the door. He’d fallen out with so many people tonight but right now, Arianna Edwards was the most important. He didn’t expect her to take care of him when she appeared at his door only to stumble across him cradling his nose. She came to tell him she was leaving so it was a surprise when she hung around a bit longer to nurse him. Zayn took control of the cold plastic, tilting his head back only a small bit as he pressed the pack to his face. It felt a little dramatic considering he didn’t think at all that his nose was broken but he’d take Ari’s guidance just to keep her in the room for a bit longer. It was a little awkward to have her tend to his damaged face when it was his own fault and at her expense that this happened. Zayn didn’t expect Gabby to have such a mean right hook or for to defend Ari as fiercely as she had. At the time he was immediately instilled with regret because of his words and he didn’t even fight the slaps and single punch he got from it. He deserved each hit and even he knew that. Silence settled between them and it got too much for him. He sighed and removed the cold plastic from his face so he could look at her, just as she finished packing up the first-aid kid into the drawer. Zayn hadn’t even known Gyhab put first-aid kits in their rooms. Maybe just another sign that he was useless without Ari. “I’m sorry.” He could tell she didn’t want to talk about it again but he couldn’t let her leave without her knowing how badly he felt about everything that happened between them earlier in the night. “I shouldn’t have called you pathetic.” His throat closed in and curled around each of his words, forcing them out weakly and embarrassingly shaky. “You’re not. I didn’t mean it.” Zayn couldn’t explain why he said it if he didn’t mean it. It had just come out. It was for lack of understanding, and for lack of a better word. “I don’t think you’re pathetic, I just don’t understand any of this but that’s— I just— Fuck me, I’m just so sorry that I said it.” Zayn ran his hands through his hair, practically tearing the locks out of the follicles at this point. He slowly reached over to take her hand, being cautious with his actions. “I’m not going to stop you from going off wherever you’re going with Louis.” Zayn wouldn’t admit it but he was extremely pissed with his friend for being the one about to whisk Ari away from all the drama. He wasn’t sure whose idea it was, or why Louis but part of him thought if it wasn’t for that, him and Ari could just stay in the same place and work on their relationship. “I want you to stay here, with me but if that’s not what you want–” he paused, looking away from her for a moment. The possibilities raked through his thoughts. Her leaving and deciding being away from him for good was what she wanted and everything along those lines perturbed his mind.  He returned his gaze to her. “Then I won’t stop you. Just— please come back to me soon. I can’t do this without you.”

{ b ;; partners in crime.

        Prince didn’t expect Matt to show up and defend him from his dad. He didn’t even know that Matt was aware he was here. Moving in with the King’s had been an incredible relief. His dad hadn’t come looking for him and Pandora and it seemed everything, all the suffering and the pain and the hurt, was over. He woke up in his own room in the huge house of his best friend’s family every morning without fear. There was always food in the cabinets, and breakfast on the table before school and dinner in the evening. Matt and Prince got lifts to and from school, unlike when Prince used to have to walk despite it being dangerous and the weather not always being in his favour. The King’s just lived differently and after a while Prince was getting used to the different setting. He had even gotten over being afraid one day things would just fall apart and his dad would get him and Pandora back. He’d truly moved on from being afraid. However, the one thing he didn’t consider was the fact that though they were living with the King’s, they weren’t legally a part of the family. The King’s didn’t foster him or his sister, nor did they inform the school of the living situation. Prince’s information was on file that his dad and (despite her disappearing act) his mother were still his legal guardians. Pandora didn’t start school until after moving in with the King’s so she wasn’t stuck with the on-paper relation to Kadin Jameson. Prince didn’t anticipate any of this when he acted up in class with his friends. As he and Matt and a few other kids sat outside the principal’s office, Prince thought the King’s were going to be called on behalf of both him and his bestie. It was to his surprise when an all too familiar figure walked through the door, striking a fear he hadn’t known in three years into him. If Prince had never left, he knew his dad would never even answer a call from the school. Prince was smart enough to know that his dad only showed up to prove that he could. That was how Kadin Jameson got a hold of Prince, bringing him back to the childhood home that he didn’t think he’d be seeing ever again. Prince forgot just how strong his dad was, having attempted to retaliate not long after they reached the house– a retaliation which led to Prince getting brutally beat by his father, then leading to Matt stumbling across the situation and finally seeing just how bad things were before he moved in with the King’s.

“You shouldn’t have gone there.” Prince spoke, rummaging through the fridge to find an icepack now that they were finally home. He glanced over at Matt who obviously didn’t care what Prince said. “He could have seriously hurt you, or worse.” Prince pulled a bag of frozen peas out of the freezer. “But I appreciate it.” Handing the bag of peas to Matt, he eyed up his friend’s face. Prince was afraid he would get in trouble for putting Matt in danger whereas Matt seemed as cool as a cucumber, just like he always was. It sometimes irritated Prince, just slightly. Matt had this sense of knowing that everything was going to be okay. He’d grown up like that, with things just always being in a state of good. Prince wished he could look at the world like that but the layer of fear that always seemed to be just under the surface refused to go completely away. “Your face is swelling a bit. We’re going to have to keep ice on that to keep it down. And your cheek is going to scar right there–“ Prince tracer under the cut with his finger. “Can’t really do anything about it now but at least it’s stopped bleeding.” Prince frowned. It had been a while since his second nature of tending to wounds came out of him. It also felt slightly embarrassing that at only twelve years old he knew how to take care of any kind of wound. No matter how hard he tried he couldn’t shake the guilt over the fact that Matt had fallen into the wrath of Kadin. It wasn’t as if Matt was too badly shaken up, nor damaged, but Prince couldn’t help it. From before he was even five years old, he would step in and provoke his dad just to shift the rage from his mother to him and until he was eight he did the same exact thing with his sister. Prince just had this insinct to protect the people close to him, not caring if he suffered instead. It couldn’t be helped. He rolled his eyes when Matt started talking about how people might think he was tough with a scar on his face, anyway. Once again, he proved he just had a brighter outlook on life than Prince did. Prince sighed. “I’m going to go take a shower. I’m pretty sure my shirt’s got blood soaked into the back.” He wanted to be angry at Matt for showing up the way that he did but before he left to go be alone (and to avoid Matt’s parents coming home with Pandora and any of them seeing his bloody face) Prince wrapped both arms around his best friend, one hand patting his friend’s shoulder. When the gesture was returned, it hurt but not enough to make Prince pull away immediately. “Thanks, man. I’d be lost without you.” Were Prince’s last words to Matt before he finally retreated back upstairs to peel his uniform off and wash the reminder of the day’s events away.

{ v ;; katie and leo. 

       Though he was tending to her injury, Katie couldn’t help but beam up at Leo when he said they were going to have to keep ice on her hand, because she was so self-satisfied at the source of the pain. Katie had had her fair share of fights with other girls before and knocked out many the obnoxious, creepy guy in her radar but she felt more satisfied now than ever before. She never knew Eli having such amazing bone structure meant punching him in the jaw would shatter all feeling in her hand but here they were. "You can put ice wherever you want, Leo.” She was feeling playful regardless of the fact her hand was beginning to get it’s feeling back and the pain was ridiculous. She distracted him from nursing her hand back to full restoration by pulling him down to kiss her. They made out for a bit, only pulling away when she went to wrap her hand around his neck to grasp onto his hair but bending her knuckles made her gasp in pain and accidentally bite his lip. She chuckled innocently. “Sorry.” She pulled her arm back to herself and he was quick to reapply the hand towel which was filled with ice and wrapped tightly shut. Katie wasn’t the least-violent person in the world but it was mostly just petty cat-fights in the school hallway with girls that didn't like her. Every time she got called up to the principal’s office and her dad was called he always found a way to blame it on her hanging around with Leo Jameson, the ‘little troublemaker’ in her father’s words. She didn't fully understand that but at least each time the blame was never 100% focused on her. She was also known for defending herself and her friends whenever it came down to it. One time a guy in her P.E class snapped a picture of her stretching and her shirt hiked up a bit and she had shattered his phone and kicked him where the sun don’t shine. She got away with it, miraculously because she was sure if she got caught smashing another kids property that would be a final straw for her. Getting violent was no qualm to Katie Keller-Williams. However, getting violent with one of the closest people to her in her life was a bit unusual. She always brushed past Eli’s stupid comments and attempt to stir the pot between literally anybody. A lot of the time she honestly participated and he was likely more so the cause of any of the fights that Leo (who could not even be in the building at the time) got the blame for. Katie didn't care about Eli’s mischief except for when she was a victim of it. When he tried to rile Leo up about Katie and Jake, Katie didn’t even let the teasing turn on her before she finally did what she’d only dreamed of. “Eli is such a loser.” Her timing was off because Eli then entered the room, making a sarcastic comment about the fact that she was the one who got injured from there altercation. Despite her turn on him earlier in the evening, he was still Eli so she just retorted back with another sarcastic comment and things seem to go back to normal. Moments later her dad arrived to collect her, obviously a little worried to see Leo icing her fist and Katie could see from his expression and angrily quizzing the teens on what happened that he was ready to place all the blame on Leo. Katie smirked to herself, deciding to get the ultimate revenge on Eli, knowing how her dad was. She pouted innocently. “Eli tried to kiss me, and I broke my hand punching him in the face.” Her lie was directly quoting a movie but she already knew her dad was too stupid to pick up on it despite how many times he’d watched it with her. “He what?!” Paired with her dad’s fury aimed directly at Eli was satisfying enough for Katie.

❝ let me help with that. ❞

{ v ;; the princess and the moon. 

      Prince didn’t even hesitate to let Luna help. He stepped back and let her take over steaming his suit. It looked fine to him, he didn’t understand why Pandora had showed up with a fucking steamer over a week before the actual event– he didn’t even know where you could buy one of those. A week early, in Pandora’s words; “in case you mess it up.” Prince walked through the apartment to the kitchen where he grabbed a bottle of whatever alcohol was closest and two glasses before he returned to Luna. Prince had thought his suit looked fine earlier but as he re-entered the bedroom it somehow looked better. “How the fuck did you do that?” He didn’t even know how it looked better, what she had done to it to make it seem more pristine, but it did. He handed her a glass as she finished and led her to the bed. Admittedly he was a little stressed about having a wedding ceremony. The only thing he actually wanted to do was get married to and spend the rest of his life with Luna and he really didn’t have the biggest grasp on the whole kerfuffle of a big ceremony. He continued to go along with it, though, purely because it was what she wanted and as long as she was by his his side he didn’t actually mind it. They drank, and chatted about the wedding for a bit before Prince admitted his nerves about the performance of it all. “Matt is going to fuck something up, I know it. Nick and Cass are probably going to fight, and I really, really don’t know how to dance.” He finalised his rant with a pathetic chuckle, downing his drink in one. His last point was one of his largest stress points surrounding the big day. He knew Luna was quite good at dancing, whereas Prince only did it after one too many bottles of beer otherwise being as stiff as the tin-man in the Wizard of Oz. “Let me help with that.” She repeated her words from earlier before pulling him up onto the floor in the middle of their bedroom. It was weird to consider the man he was now compared to the boy he was when he first met Luna. He’d asked her to marry him, he saw himself spending the rest of his life with a woman that he loved. You couldn’t tell seventeen year old Prince that and have him believe it for a second, and it was certainly unimaginable of that same Prince to willingly get up and dance to a slow song in the middle of the night but he found himself, one hand on her waist, the other palm pressed flat against hers. Luna instructed Alexa to play their playlist and he followed her advice with each step and each movement she insisted he make. After a while it was no longer them practicing for their wedding but just a couple wrapped around each other, swaying carelessly and caring more about being close, and being together than anything else in the world. He peppered kisses along her exposed collarbone, her neck and along her jaw as somehow the shuffle turned on some Ariana Grande song which of course had Luna singing along. He pulled back, eyes searching hers. The smile on her face was horrendously infectious, making Prince laugh slightly. He stopped dancing and his bright smile faded to a grin. “Marry me.” He spoke. “Let’s get married.” Luna had actually joked a few times about them just getting hitched in secret and each time he’d have taken her up on it if he didn’t know the wedding ceremony was important to her dad but right now he was joking about it. She obviously didn’t pick up on what he was saying, insisting she was getting married to him. He shook his head, took both her hands in his and chuckled softly. “No, I mean marry me. Right now. Let’s go get married.” Good thing she helped steam his suit. 

{ v ;; no reason.

       Jason didn’t understand why putting a diaper on a baby was so difficult. The baby was smaller than his arm, the diapers even smaller again. He hadn’t expected it to be like wrestling with a rodent. He didn’t even know what he was doing that was messing it up. One moment he thought he would have control of the situation and when he crossed one side of the diaper to stick it shut, the other side would just follow and slide completely away from Freddie’s body. When the diaper took a mind of it’s own and fell to the floor Jason let out an exasperated sigh. He kept one hand on his son, as he did his best to keep Fred balanced on top of the changing table while also trying to pick up the free-willing nappy. The sound of Iola’s chuckle caused him to stand up straight, abandoning the stray nappy mission. He smiled coyly, embarrassed about how stupid he probably looked. “Let me help with that.” And she interjected, sliding between Jason and the changing table. He frowned. “You’re supposed to be sleeping.” He attempted. It was hard to believe they were losing so much sleep because of a kid that sleeps eighteen hours in a day but they were, and Jason had offered to take a shift while she get some shut-eye. Clearly that wasn’t working. He was distracted then when he realised she already had the diaper wrapped up and sealed and was re-dressing the baby. His eyes widened, he couldn’t believe that. “Y'know, babe, that is so unfair. They showed you how to do it at the hospital when I wasn’t even there. You’ve got the advantage.” When she was finished dressing him Jason reached over and picked Freddie up into his arms, cooing into his face like a mad-man. “How is he one week old but somehow so wriggly? I couldn’t get him to lay still at all.” He pressed his cheek to the top of Freddie’s head. It was still so beyond his understanding how a babies head was so soft. In fact, the whole concept of this tiny human in his arms was baffling to him. How were they the ones who created such an adorable, yet wriggly, soft-headed human? Jason couldn’t even make toast yet he could make a whole person? He didn’t get it. But then again, he also didn’t get diapers so who was he to judge the route the universe was taking him down? He sighed and leaned over Freddie to give Iola a kiss. “Thank you for helping, next time give me a tutorial. I should be able to let my girlfriend take a nap without being at risk of burning the whole place down.” Freddie made a small giggle-like noise but it was enough to send Iola and Jason into major heart-eyed parents and return to doting on their baby.

{ v ;; july 17th. 

        Zayn wasn’t sure anyone heard him come through the front door until he was walking past Leilani’s room and the conversation between his wife and daughter wasn’t even perturbed a little so he knew they hadn’t heard him. “I’m so bad at eyeliner.” Leilani whined. “Let m help with that.” And Zayn assumed the following silence was Ari tending to their daughters make-up. He was going to leave them in peace until he heard the words that came out of Leilani’s mouth next. “Mum, how did you know dad was the one?” It felt someway wrong for him to remain hovering at the door, prying on Ari’s answer to that question but they were married and she told him how much she loved him so often that he was sure she wouldn’t mind. His smile was illuminating as he pressed his ear to the already slightly-ajar bedroom door. Ari had no problem detailing the matter of her love for Zayn to their teenager. It was nice to hear after so many years of marriage, and so many years of struggling to get there, Ari still felt so strongly for him. Eventually he pushed open the door, feeling the silent intrusion was getting to be too much. “How are my girls?” He beamed, pretending like he’d only just gotten home. He crossed the room to press a kiss to Ari’s lips. He glanced down at Leilani and gasped dramatically, carrying on his dramatic act as he told her she looked gorgeous-- focusing on her eyeliner which of course he wouldn't have even noticed if he hadn’t overheard the conversation. Leilani’s energy matched his and she seemed to still be on the topic of her parents relationship, questioning Zayn on how he knew he loved Ari. His smile softened and he looked to Arianna, scrunching his face up sarcastically at her before he looked back to Leilani. “Well,” he glanced at Ari fondly again. “When we were young, we were on this reality show. I had to leave it because of work commitments and personal stuff. I told your mum I was leaving and she was more upset than I expected.” His eyes were now fully trained on his wife and he stopped talking to think about the day he left gyhab She had gotten mad with him, and then sad, and then offered to go with him wherever he went. He smiled and reached over to brush under her chin with his hand. “We were just friends at the time so I didn’t know it would mean so much for her to not have me there. She spent my entire last day with me and although I could tell she wanted to, she didn’t beg me to stay. She understood that I had to leave, for me. It was so hard to say goodbye that day, and I think if I stayed we might have gotten together sooner.” Zayn had never actually told Ari all of this, and it was weird telling it about her despite how his eyes were on her with every single word. He let out a nervous chuckle and looked back to their daughter, reminding himself she’d asked a question. “It was that time when I was away that I knew I wanted to always have her in my life, and returning to her only proved how strongly I felt.” He pressed a kiss to Ari’s forehead and both of them laughed when Leilani commented on how ‘soppy’ they were. He didn’t care. All he cared about was that through all of that he somehow did end up with Ari by his side, and a rake of wonderful kids and a zoo of animals. Of course he was going to be soppy, he’d earned it.

{ v ;; katie and leo.

         “Katie!” she rolled her eyes at the sound of her sister’s screeching voice from downstairs. “Someone’s at the door for you!” She ignored her, knowing Bella would either send whoever it was up or away. Part of her already knew it was Leo, whom Bella had a liking towards, so she wasn’t surprised when her best friend walked into her bedroom. She was in her closet when he came in, trying to reach a box on one of her top shelves. She had told her dad time and time again not to put stuff up there– she simply couldn’t reach. Leo appeared beside her, reaching for the shelf with ease. “Let me help with that.” He took down the shoes and she felt even worse that she needed his help. “How nice of you. Are you just being nice today or are you waiting for the wrong time to be a dickhead again?” She brushed past him to go sit on her bed. She was focused on tying her laces when he finally joined her. He was yet to speak again which was to his own detriment really because she just took that as her opportunity to keep going. “Or is it, nice to me when we’re alone in my bedroom and an asshole in front of your cousins? Just let me know because I really can’t keep up.” Katie couldn’t put into words how upset she was with Leo’s outburst at his house. She also was starting to wonder why she even hung around Eli anymore. All he did, time and time again, was cause trouble for her and Leo. Sure, she participated when the mischief wasn’t aimed at her but when it was, she couldn’t stand it. He made things difficult for a pair of people that were more than capable of making things difficult for themselves without any help. On her bedside table, there was a photo of her mum that she had snuck from the pile Leo had shown them. There had been plenty of photos of both her parents but she liked to remember her mum as just that, just her, not as someone’s wife or girlfriend, especially now she knew what she did. He started to apologise and she looked away from the polaroid, and got off the bed. “Whatever, Leo. I don’t need you to be sorry. I’m sick of you being a dick to me and thinking an apology is reason enough to get away with it.” She was in front of her mirror now, spinning and sticking out her legs in front of her, trying to decide if she liked the shoes with the outfit or not. She could see him looking at her in the reflection and it was too distracting for her to focus on something so minuscule like her outfit. She turned back to him. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about your parents but I didn’t think you’d want to know. I certainly didn’t want to know about mine but you didn’t give me a choice in the matter.” She didn’t want to get emotional but when it came to her mother it was almost impossible not to. She was more than aware that her dad was a bit of a loser and undeserving of her mother but at the same time that was still her dad, she loved him more than anything. He didn’t have to be perfect, he was a good dad and that was all that mattered to her. She couldn’t stand the thought of knowing he hurt her mother though. She only had a few memories of her mum but to her recollection she was the kindest and sweetest person in the world. Her dad had told her a little bit about how Cass had grown up, how her family resented her because she was a result of her mother’s infidelity, how she’d struggled with her self-confidence, how she spent her teen years miserable because of all of it. She couldn’t comprehend how her dad could know all that and still cheat on her. She didn’t want to get emotional but it couldn’t be helped. “You’re such a dickhead.” She wiped roughly and quickly at her eyes before he could even notice though it was probably the tremble in her tone that would give her away. “You have both your parents and they’re like this fairytale couple, and I was letting you think they were perfect because I can only wish to have that. So fucking what if your dad left? He came back, didn’t he? They got married and had you and Sage, didn’t they?” Any sign of tearing up earlier was beginning to get washed away by the pure rage she was beginning to feel. It wasn’t so much fury with what he’d said, but a crippling jealousy of his perfect home-life. Interrupting her rant, a car horn outside caused her to jump slightly. She cursed silently and looked out the window to see Jake waiting patiently in his car. She sighed and turned to Leo. “I have to go.” She sighed and grabbed her gym bag and jacket and made an exit so quick that Leo wouldn’t be able to get a word in. Adding to her mood on the way out was Aria’s “was there a boy in your room? Your dad is going to kill you.” Katie didn’t know who her dad cheated on her mum with but she knew he dated Aria when they were young. She wondered if Aria was the mystery girl and it only fuelled her to tell Aria to “shut the fuck up” before she was finally hopping into the front seat of Jakes car. Only two seconds later Leo walked out of the house causing Maia to lean forward from the back seat. “Who is that? Is he single? He’s fit as fuck.” Katie wanted to glare at the blonde but as Jake started the car, she just shrugged. “My dads friends son.”

❝ i’ll never let you go. ❞

{ v ;; the princess and the moon.

         Prince rolled his eyes when Cassie was the one to answer the door. He really wasn’t in the mood to see anyone but his girlfriend right now so he just ignored the irritation on the brunette’s face and made his way to Luna’s room. She was at her desk as he walked in so he made a small noise to alert her of his presence. The way she smiled at him was illuminating. He wanted to snap a picture so he could look at that smile forever. He didn’t give her much of the same energy she was radiating. He sighed and put his face in his hands which obviously only warranted concern from the Spaniard. He glanced over to her. “I had deja vu today.” He spoke, almost matter-of-factly, it having no relevance to his story to come. He told her what he thought deja vu meant, knowing the only reason she wasn’t shutting him up was simply because she just wanted to know what his point was. “Like, when I was five years old and I came home from school looking for my mum and she’d gone away.” He frowned. “Deja vu being feeling that all over again, coming home to no Elizabeth, again. Not knowing what I’ve done to get such a shit mum, again.” Prince chuckled despite his lack of amusement. “Looks like I’ve gotten smarter since I was a kid, though. Today, it only took me two minutes to figure out what the empty room meant.” He could feel the weight on his chest as he spoke the words. From the day Elizabeth had showed up at his front door, Prince didn’t even think his hopes were up too high. He didn’t have any expectations, and he never said nor acted like he wanted her to stick around. Prince didn’t let on that he wanted her to stay because deep down he wanted her to want to stay. If she was going to stay and finally act like his family, he wanted it to be her choice. He wasn’t too shocked when the choice she actually made was quite the opposite but Prince couldn’t pretend any longer like it didn’t hurt, like the repetition from his childhood didn’t sting. He felt the dip on the bed beside him. He was aware that Luna didn’t like nor did she trust his mother from the second he’d revealed he’d been helping her as of late but he knew she wasn’t going to make him feel guilty for it. What he didn’t know was how vulnerable he was going to feel, how ready to talk about this he was. He’d told Luna countless stories about his childhood before, from school days with Matt, to bad memories featuring his dad and all the time he had to be more of a parent to his sister than a brother. His stories never included his mum. He never talked about how he felt when she left, how he found out, how he coped. The only mention of her ever was one time, telling Luna she left and he never brought it up again. Now was different. He found himself opening up, talking to her about the day he came home from school and his dad told him his mum was gone and how he didn’t understand it. He told her about the first few weeks living in Matt’s house, how he kept thinking Elizabeth would hear they weren’t with their dad anymore and maybe she would come and get them. He opened up, telling her that he looked for her for nearly two years from when he was aged fourteen. Prince told Luna everything and at the end he sighed and shook his head. “I should have known better, but I didn’t. It was inevitable for her to leave again. Why would she stay?” He paused and looked away from Luna. “Why would anyone?” That was when Luna finally took her turn to speak, forcing Prince to look back at her, despite his resistance. His eyes searched her face and his cheeks flushed, slightly embarrassed about his self-deprecating comment. “I’ll never let you go.” She insisted and he remained silent. “You don’t need her, okay? She doesn’t deserve to see the wonderful person you turned out to be, and she sure as hell doesn’t deserve to get you riled up like this.” Prince didn’t understand it when she called him a ‘wonderful person’ but he believed it was  what she thought and he wasn’t going to argue it. Maybe she had a point. His mother wasn’t worth this grief and upset. Tired of feeling so pathetic, Prince kissed Luna. He wasn’t used to talking as much as he did today and kissing was his way of getting out of it. He finally pulled away to tuck his face into the crook of her neck and murmur the words “I love you.”

{ v ;; no reason. 

        Jason didn’t understand the emotion on his mother’s face as she told him how much she loved him. She'd been acting weird lately, getting up in the middle of the night to do laundry in the sink with a washboard despite them having a washing machine and dryer, and constantly talking about ‘the sisters’ and having to behave or ‘the sisters’ would punish them. She would check the clock insisting she didn't know why she was allowed around the kids for more than an hour and why no one was supervising. Jason knew she was behaving strangely but she’d always been a little strange. What was so different this time? He soon found out when his dad pulled Jason from the tearful embrace he shared with his mother. Two men entered the house along with a woman dressed as a nurse. His dad explained to him that his mother was ‘going away for a while’ but Jason knew what that meant. Tears streamed down his face as his father held a tight grasp around him, pulling him back despite all of his screaming and shouting. “No! You can’t take her away!” Soon his fighting just turned into him openly sobbing in his dad’s arms, even as he told him to ‘stop fucking crying’ every two minutes. He punched his dad’s chest, again and again but it was to no avail. His dad was stronger than him and the punches did nothing to encourage him to release Jason. Eventually, he let go, when the car was finally out of the drive. Neighbours emerged from their houses to get a look at the shrieking teen boy but Jason didn’t care. 

Jason woke with a start, sweat soaking his back. He panted heavily, trying to catch his breath. His face felt wet and he wasn’t sure if it was because he was sweating that much or the tears from his dream were real. A hand on his arm shocked him and he jumped away from the touch slightly before his gaze landed on Iola and the sight of her was enough to bring him back to reality, confirming he wasn’t back in Scotland at fourteen years old. She asked what was going on but he had his hand on his chest, still trying to catch his breath, unable to answer her. He managed to gasp out that he needed water and she was barely to the kitchen back in thirty seconds. He was sitting at the edge of the bed now, his feet touching the cold wood floor which was kind of soothing in bringing him back down to reality. Iola slipped down beside him, handing him   the water and rubbing his back. A few deep breaths later, the glass empty, Jason finally detailed his dream/memory to his wife, clutching her hand with every word. “Sorry for waking you.” Jason had never actually had this happen to him before. He didn’t really suffer from nightmares, if anything he was constantly having strange dreams which he always relayed to Iola in the morning like the time he dreamed he was appointed mayor of the moon and another time he had a very, very vivid dream that he took Zayn’s place in One Direction and became the most popular member. That had been his favourite. This time was different. The nightmare was based on memory, something that actually happened and it was scary. He couldn’t get back to sleep afterwards so him and Iola curled back into bed together and she stayed up with him talking. She was good at taking his mind off of it but eventually he couldn’t not think about why the nightmare happened. He was busy playing with her hand, her fingers twirling around his until he moved his hand again to get her to follow, then intertwining their fingers and shifting his hand yet again, both giggling softly at the small yet stupid movements, when he got a sudden wave of anxiety. He sighed and dropped his hand into his lap. He started talking about the memory, rather than the dream, telling her that despite his mum’s weird behaviour up until that moment he hadn’t expected his father to send her away. Even now in his thirties he couldn’t understand it. He considered not saying the next thing but he wanted to be open with her. “That day is why I was so afraid of getting married and starting a family with you. I just don’t understand how he could look at the woman he loved and decide to send her away. He just let her go, like she was this burden. And he always compared me to her so I guess I just thought...” He let the sentence die in his throat. Even now, he got embarrassed telling her how unworthy he always felt of her love, after all this time. But she always knew how to handle him. She cradled his face in her hands and her eyes searched his until he finally looked at her. She kissed him and he didn’t hesitate to respond. “I will never let you go.” His eyes fluttered open as she pulled away to speak. His chest felt heavy, but in a good way. In a ‘my heart is beating dangerously fast because I love this girl so much’ kind of way. He smiled and kissed her again, pushing his appreciation into his actions as his hands glided up her back.

{ v ;; July 17th. 

       Sometimes, Zayn woke up and he forgot what they were going through. Sometimes, he rolled over to see his fiancee, fast asleep, and would smile because of how peaceful she looked. There were moments, of sleepiness and exhaustion, where the bad stuff wasn’t the first thing he remembered. Then, there were times that it was all he could think of. He had restless nights when his horrible thoughts wouldn’t let him fall asleep and he had nights where he woke with a start, dreaming of things that were their reality. This time, he woke up slowly, a half-groan, half-sigh falling from his lips. He stirred slightly, feeling a weight on his chest. Blinking one eye open, he glanced at the abundance of hair sprawled across his body, Ari’s arm wrapped over his torso. He smiled. She didn’t look all that comfortable but she still somehow managed to sleep soundly. He pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead and did his best not to wake her as he lifted her slightly so he could crawl out of the bed. He wasn’t sure what time it was but it was still dark out. As he got out of the bed, so too did Hatchi, while the other animals who hadn’t been sleeping with the couple all gathered around Zayn’s feet on the floor of the bedroom. A little zoo. He stretched his arms over his head and made his way downstairs to the kitchen, momentarily wondering if the sound of all of the dogs paws and claws scratching against the floorboards would wake Ari. It felt noisy as hell to him, anyway. He wasn’t really sure why he had gotten out of bed, just to stretch his legs he supposed. He walked into the kitchen but he wasn’t hungry, and it was too late/early for coffee. He decided to just have a cigarette and let the dogs out for five minutes. Alone, it was difficult not to think about everything. There hadn’t been a day where he didn’t get flashbacks to the day in the hospital. Watching the doctors face fall as Zayn asked why he couldn’t hold his son, watching Ari try not to cry but failing, just the same as him. He cried then, but he hasn’t cried since. Coming home from the hospital was just pure emptiness; there should have been three of them. There wasn’t. Zayn was freed from his thoughts when the animals started scratching on the door to be let back in. Zayn sighed and stomped his cigarette out in the ashtray before returning to bed. Ari had seemingly changed position, without Zayn to hold onto, now rolled over to her own side of the bed, lying flat. His lips tugged upwards, seeing how serene she seemed. He watched as Hatchi jumped back up onto the bed, settling at Ari’s feet. Zayn lifted the covers and tried to be silent as he lay back down. Out of nowhere, her hand reached across the bed, moving all around as though she was searching, and failing, to find him until both of his hands reached over and took hers, slowing her actions down. “Hey, hey, I’m here, babe.” He whispered, despite how she was still asleep through her search for his presence in the bed. He kissed her hand, still crowded in both of his. “I’m here.” He repeated. It was unwarranted, when his eyes starting filling up with tears, the anxiety flooding his chest. He rolled over on the bed, releasing her hand so he could fold up against her body. He repeated saying that he was there, his words mangling with his tears until he was no longer saying anything and just silently crying. He heard his name, his sudden outburst a probable cause for her waking up. He felt her hands in his hair and he shifted so his face was tucked into the crook of her neck. “I’m sorry.” He sobbed, repeating the words even unsure of what he was apologising for. They’d been threading on egg shells the last year. They’d grown so distant that half the time Zayn wasn’t even sure their relationship was salvageable. The idea of a wedding didn’t seem realistic anymore. It was all on him. He started ignoring her, started looking for something that could heal him that wasn’t her. All of their conversations ended with him walking away, or her going to bed. Nothing was right and it hadn’t been for a while which was why this breakdown was so unusual. Zayn pretended like they hadn’t gone through what they did. Being away from her was his way of pretending. He didn’t want to pretend anymore and he didn’t want to shove their relationship under the rug. For some reason, now, in the dead of night, he was completely falling apart because of all of this. So much so he’d woken her up but he appreciated her just accepting his breakdown, holding him as he sobbed. He didn’t speak anymore, just crying in the arms of his fiancee. From his throat came a sob, so raw that he was sure he could feel tears on Ari’s cheeks now too. It was a while before he came back around to reality, wiping his gross, snotty nose on his sleeve and dabbing at his eyes. He wasn’t embarrassed as Ari cradled him through it, but he knew he had to talk about it. He shook his head. “I’m sorry. I don’t—“ It was so unusual. He had barely spoken to her like a normal human being in a relationship the last few months yet he seemed to break that silence by weeping in her arms. It was like nothing he’d ever experienced, the pain in his chest, the tightening around his vocal cords. Zayn had had panic attacks in the past but this didn’t feel like that, he felt like he was going to die in the minutes he spent crying in her arms. It was difficult to now try get a grasp on his breathing, having to physically open his mouth catching every bit of air he could. “I don’t want to lose you, I don’t want to lose this.” He said, out of nowhere for both of them. Every time in the last year he thought about their relationship, a part of him just expected it was going to end someday soon but he never thought further. He never considered going home to try and save it. He just accepted it, but now it seemed to be his priority. He shook his head again. “I don’t deserve any more chances, I don’t deserve to still be waking up next to you but I am and I--” Out of nowhere he felt weighed down by feelings of anxiety yet again and he found himself struggling to breathe, unable to finish his sentence. Ari knew what to do, she always did. She helped him breathe through it, in and out, in and out and eventually she calmed him down. He felt her lips graze his hairline. “I will never let you go.” And it only reassured him because he could feel in her tone that she meant it.