#did all our clocks change automatically??

[undergoing-mitosis]

OH MY THANK GOD I THOUGHT I WAS GOING MAD

everyone has been talking about daylight savings and i was just like huh--??? i haven't moved my clocks at all???? and the time is still right??????

TURNS OUT IT'S ON THE 26TH MARCH IN THE UK BCHCTIDYODHDL THIS IS WHY YOU NEVER TRUST THE INTERNET

[trblsvt]

the regular | jeon wonwoo

summary | wonwoo couldn't really recommend anything at the bakery he worked at, he couldn't even handle going in a couple days a week. that is until he found his new favorite customer. genre | fluff, bakery!au, college!au warnings | none, i think let me know! word count | 1.6k words pairing | jeon wonwoo x gn!reader min | lowercase intended another request from @i-luvsang making me lose my mind out here....

dread. that's all wonwoo felt. he was honestly so sick and tired of the smell of baked goods. crazy, right? well, you try and work around all that food and not get sick of it.

sometimes it felt like he had a permeant scowl on his face whenever he clocked in with kihyun, the baker and owner. he wasn't sure why he was always so... displeased when he came to work. it was better than working at the work-study program his college provided and paid better too. yet, wonwoo hated smiling at rude customers when they demand he make them a new sourdough loaf because the one in the case looked "stale."

there was nothing "stale" about the loaf.

it was made that morning. like everything else made in the bakery.

and he wasn't even the baker.

today was no different. he clocked in, greeted the kihyun, swept the floor, took down the chairs, flipped the open sign, and sat down behind the register. he pulled out the book he hid under the counter and rested it in his lap. the sun began to peek over the buildings across from the bakery, and he knew he wouldn't be able to keep the book open for too long.

the morning rush went by like it usually did. the pleasant regulars looking for their bagels, the rude customers who didn't realize it wasn't a breakfast place with eggs, and the silent ones who never looked up from their phones to greet wonwoo.

"what would you suggest?" asked a young woman. wonwoo glanced between her and the case. "well, i think our sourdough makes great toast and grilled cheese sandwiches," he half-heartedly suggested. it wasn't a lie, but who knows maybe the baker changed the recipe and it tasted different. he wouldn't know, it had been months since he had the sourdough.

to be completely honest, he hadn't tried any of the goods for a while. when he first started working at the bakery, he ate there all the time. it was free and good, so he took advantage of his employee privileges. over time, he grew tired of everything and he couldn't bring it to himself to stomach any of it. that's what he gets for working in food service. "thanks! i'll get that then," she smiled.

"no problem, that'll be five dollars. i'll get that wrapped up for you," he said taking the cash and sliding off his stool to take out a loaf from the case. when he bent over and reached into the clear case he looked around the store through the glass. he liked doing this, it made him feel like a fish in a fishbowl.

then he saw you. he froze still inside the case. you looked around the cozy bake shop with a bag over your shoulder. your eyes scanned the store and then the case. you found wonwoo's eyes and he was snapped away from his trance. he blinked with panic and pulled himself from the case, bumping his head on the edge on his way up. he slipped the loaf into a bag and handed it to the woman. "thank you, i hope you enjoy," he said automatically. she smiled and walked off.

you were next in line.

"hi," he greeted.

"hi, is your head okay?" you asked motioning to the glass case. shit, you noticed. his hand flew up to the back of his head, "yeah, i'm all good. it happens more than you'd think." you giggled and looked around the case. "um, can i have three of those raspberry macarons?" he looked over at the neat stack of macarons and nodded. "that'll be eight dollars," he said and went to pack up the macarons in a small box.

"are those any good?" you asked casually as you pulled out your card to pay.

"um, yeah, i think so," he shrugged.

"think so as in your opinion, or you think so like you can't remember if they're good or not?"

"is both an acceptable answer?" he asked, passing the box over to you after your receipt began to print. you raised an eyebrow at him. "possibly. have a nice day..."

"wonwoo," he finished. "my name is wonwoo."

"wonwoo. have a nice day, wonwoo. i'm ___."

"nice to meet you, ___." with that, you smiled and left, and he addressed the next patron.

his shift finally ended and he took a quick look at what was left over. some bread he would bring home, a couple cookies, and exactly three raspberry macarons. he stared at the lined-up pastries and reached into the case to try one. it had been weeks, maybe months since he had burned out on baked goods.

raspberry macarons, hm, he never thought someone would go for those.

but when he tried it, he understood. it wasn't too sweet, but it was fresh and it melted in his mouth. maybe you would come back the next day for more.

"wonwoo, what are you doing here?" kihyun asked wiping his hands on his apron. "i didn't have you scheduled for today."

"oh, well, i, um, i just wanted to help out some," wonwoo offered.

"i'm always grateful for help, but you know thursdays are notoriously slow. shouldn't you be off doing college-kid things?"

"yeah, i guess. i just need some extra cash. did you make anymore raspberry macarons?"

"i did. you ask me that every day. i didn't realize people were actually buying them until a couple weeks ago."

"well, thank my amazing marketing skills," wonwoo jested.

after that day, wonwoo realized you came to the bakery every day like clockwork. he would get your coffee and macarons ready even before you would walk through the door. today, instead of your usual greeting you quizzed him, "what if i decided i didn't want raspberry macarons?"

"oh, do you not want these? i can get you something else. wow, it was silly of me to assume-"

"wonwoo, it was a hypothetical. it's kind of cute that you know my order."

he froze. cute? he was cute. you thought he was cute.

this was another win for the books.

the last win was when you noticed what he was reading and offered up some of your own recommendations. the two of you even talked about exchanging books at some point. "well, if you run out books to trade what should i do?" he had asked.

"um, well, i can recommend you some of these pastries and you can recommend me books," you shrugged.

"isn't recommending goods my job?"

"not when you haven't even eaten any of the goods for months!"

"well you only eat macarons!"

he hoped he would continue to have wins like that or another win when he actually worked up the nerve to ask you out.

you also started sitting at one of the small tables in the corner of the bakery to eat your macarons. it was a slow day, so wonwoo came out from behind the counter to chat. "are you sure, i'm not bothering you?" you asked, glancing around the practically empty bakery.

"oh no, it's fine. i like talking to you, it makes my shift more tolerable," he said. wait, he wasn't supposed to say that. not yet at least. "really? you like talking with me?" you giggled.

"yes! i mean, yeah. of course i do. you're funny, and smart, and actually really pretty," he paused. "wait, i don't think i was supposed to say all that to you." you smiled at him and took a sip of your coffee. you glanced out the window.

wonwoo had approximately five seconds to compose himself. he never acted like this, it was so out of character to be so flustered around someone he liked. he felt like he was on the playground in middle school and a girl came up to kiss him on the cheek as a dare. he was blushing for days.

"look, ___, i'm sorry if i made you uncomfortable, but ever since you started coming here, i've just wanted to see you again. i've picked up more shifts just so i can talk to you," he admitted, rushed. you looked back at him. he couldn't read the look on your face, but what he wasn't expecting was for you to grab his hand and wrap it in yours. "i'm flattered, wonwoo. to be completely honest, i started coming here every day in hopes of seeing you too," you smiled. god, he could kiss you right now. "wow, oh my god, i've been wanting to tell you this since i met you," he breathed for what felt like the first time in a couple minutes. "can i take you out on a date sometime? soon, preferably."

"yes. give me your phone, i'll put my number in it." he reached into his pocket for his phone when a woman and her daughter entered the bakery. wonwoo shot up, passed you his phone, kissed your cheek quickly, and made his way to the counter. what he didn't see was the look of shock on your face that quickly faded away into a grin as you typed in your phone number. "hi, how may i help you?" wonwoo activated his customer service mode.

"those macarons look good! would you recommend them?" the woman asked.

"yeah, actually i do, especially the raspberry ones," wonwoo grinned, but this time he didn't miss the way a cute smile spread across your face too.

min | i'm in my delulu era don't mind me guys! i keep having dreams about wonwoo and i just want him to hug me. this isn't proofread yet! leave feedback! reblogs and comments are always appreciated!

tagging: @a-wandering-stay

[bensonoliviasstuff]

“Turning Page”

Chapter five! “May these memories break our fall”

Masterlist for Turning Page

Bucky Barnes x fem! Reader

Summary: Once Bucky regained consciousness and was no longer the Winter Soldier, all he missed from the 40s was his wife. But maybe she's closer than he thought.

Warnings: English is NOT my first language, so I'm sorry if there are too many errors. A little bit of angst, memory loss, betrayal, trauma, Insecurities. And the best part: Thanos doesn't exist here

Taglist: @capswife @mostlymarvelgirl @scott-loki-barnes @bxckybxrnes24 @alliw27

Beep, beep, beep, beep.

That was what woke you up, an irritating noise that reminded you of a hospital.

For a moment you thought it was the alarm clock, only then did you realize it was your heart rate monitor.

You opened your eyes, Taking a while to process the light that hurt his eyes, the first question that crossed his mind was “what happened?”

Soon flashbacks of the mess you caused after seeing the photo in Bucky's wallet began to appear in your mind, God, you were a mess when you started taking it all in.

You tried to lift your torso just to feel that you were a little unable to move.

You looked down, trying to understand what was stopping you from getting up, and then you saw Bucky.

He was sitting in a chair on the side of the bed, but his metal hand held yours as he slept with his head resting on your thigh.

You smiled, as soon as you laid eyes on him the understanding came to you.

He was alive, he was alive and sleeping in front of you.

You used your unoccupied hand to stroke his hair, letting out a sob as it all hit you.

He woke up with your body shaking because of the sobs, a little disoriented he quickly got up, approaching you.

"Why are you crying? Does your head still hurt? Are you well?" He peppered you with questions and you started laughing through sobs.

“I'm crying because I missed you, idiot” you said, his heart stopped (and he couldn't say if it would start again)

He placed his hands on your face, laughing along with you, you both looked like a mess of tears.

He looked at you without knowing exactly what to say, it still seemed unreal that you remembered him.

He didn't know any word to describe his happiness that wasn't simply an euphemism, you were here, you were his, and he was yours, it had always been this way, and now you knew it was.

“I'm sorry for making you miss me, doll” He asked for forgiveness, feeling that now that you remembered the guilt would consume him once and for all, “Please forgive me, I didn't keep my promise, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry”

He started to stammer out apologies, Would you blame him for not listening to you? Would you feel angry at him for leaving you?

You couldn't control yourself anymore, you've wanted to do this for about... eighty years? seventy?

You placed your hands on his face and pulled him towards you, crashing your lips together and automatically feeling all the happiness in the world, it was immeasurable how much you missed those lips against yours.

He seemed surprised by your sudden attitude, he thought it would take longer for you to reach this stage, but didn't hesitate even half a millisecond before kissing you back.

He pulled you closer to him, you both could merge and it wouldn't be close enough to make up for the time you were apart.

He placed one hand on your waist, squeezing that portion of skin, with the other hand he reached your scalp, moving your head so that the kiss seemed like a choreographed dance that only you two knew the right steps.

He slid his tongue into your mouth, you smiled into the kiss, for someone who had never kissed anyone since 1945 Bucky realized he still knew how to get to your favorite spots.

You only separated when you ran out of air, both of you panting after the most passionate kiss you've ever shared, Bucky pressed his forehead to yours with his eyes closed, you took a look at him, with his red and swollen lips, he hasn't changed anything, you remembered him exactly as he is now.

It made you emotional, the tender feeling of your husband so close to you.

You broke the contact only to hug him, burying your forehead in his neck and being surrounded by his arms like a newborn baby.

“It’s okay, it’s not your fault Barnes” you whispered, God! how long has it been since you called him Barnes. “You found me, that’s what matters.”

“Did you ever doubt i would?” He teased, Drawing with his fingers in your upper thigh.

You smiled against his neck, giving him goosebumps a little “I think I have to admit that your funeral made me doubt it a little.” You joked, the worst day of your life was when you and Steve had a funeral without any body

“I will always find you as long as I live, that’s the concept of ‘till death do us part’” He stated confidently.

You sighed, enjoying the smell of your husband, you thought you would never have that contact again. “Bucky... I...”

You couldn’t finish your sentence as a loud noise made you startle and Bucky pressed you tighter against his chest.

"What was this?" Bucky said stiffly, holding you tighter.

You closed your eyes tightly, the possibility entering your head.

Unfortunately you were right.

Bucky held your hand trying to take you to a safe place when the infirmary was invaded, you recognized each of the Hydra agents and wanted to run away.

Your eyes widened as you saw Bucky fighting each of the agents, whatever Hydra did to him all these years, it was bad.

It was obvious that he wouldn't be able to handle them all, but you were also trained, he didn't count on you taking down several of the agents that came at you.

In the time you were here, Bucky only had access to the quiet and observant version of you, it was the first time he saw you in action and it made him lose his breath, you looked even more beautiful as you dropped dozens of men at your feet.

But those agents were already adapted to you trying to turn against them, they knew your every move while you fought, because they were the ones who had trained you all these years, you would eventually always end up rebelling in your time trapped in Hydra.

It took a while, but one of them knocked you down with a blow to the head. “Y/n!” You heard Bucky scream.

You looked at your right and saw him trying to free himself from some agents holding him, there were many.

Bucky was going into despair, but the thought of losing you again did what no amount of adrenaline ever did.

He swung his metal arm, getting rid and punching a son of a bitch who was holding him before.

He was seeing red, not being able to see how many people he knocked out until he realized they were all on the ground.

He turned to you who was curled up on the floor with a bad headache from the blow.

“Calm down doll, we’re going to be fine” he picked you up, taking you to his room via the safest route.

As soon as he arrived in the room, his phone started ringing and Natasha's voice was heard. “come here, now!”

He reluctantly sat you down on the bed “I'll be right back, don't you dare leave here until the compound is safe” he turned to leave but you held his hand.

“Bucky, I have to tell you something…” He stopped to listen, but before you could say anything a loud bang was heard outside.

“I need to go, doll, you tell me later, we will have plenty of time, i love you” He ran to the door.

“But...” he was already far away, shouting for FRIDAY to lock the room, “it’s important...”

You sighed, this was all your fault, Bucky would never forgive you, would he?

You started walking around the room, you had never been in his room.

You looked around, noticing that there was no decoration other than several picture frames on the nightstand.

They were all photos of the two of you or just you, now you remembered all those moments.

Remembering everything now felt like a death by a thousand cuts, all of Bucky's efforts and you still didn't remember him, you would have avoided so much suffering if you had remembered earlier.

You reached his wardrobe, taking one of the blouses and pressing it to your face, You missed him so much, that smell, it seemed like the penny hadn't sunk in for you until that moment, you finally had Bucky back.

The thought was interrupted by someone knocking down the door, you only managed to see a very familiar face before it blacked out.

He would forgive you? that’s what you hoped.

Bucky knocked down another one of the agents, ready to punch someone else when he saw them all backing up and walking away.

He couldn't understand why they were giving up so suddenly, it was as if they had completed the objective.

His eyes widened: you.

He ran faster than he remembered ever running, reaching his room only to scream in frustration when he saw the high-security door kicked open.

He threw a punch at the wall feeling tears welling up in his eyes, it was now that he would kill all those bastards.

He ran downstairs, skipping a few steps as he passed the staircase, his head was clouded with the possibility of losing you again when he didn't even have enough time to processing that you both were together again. Had hurt enough when you were apart, but now that he had tasted your kiss, your touch, your smell... He couldn't lose you after feeling all of this again.

He ran to the exit but Steve stopped him before he reached the door.

“They took her!” Bucky shouted, struggling to get past, but Tony joined Steve in holding him back.

“And what’s your genius idea? Go there alone and without any kind of plan?” Steve said, insisting on keeping Bucky away from the door “Bucky, I’m serious! You know I won't spare any effort to bring her back, but you need to use your head.”

“Oh, I'm using my head perfectly now, enough to know that I'm NOT going to lose her again!” He shouted, letting go of Steve and taking two steps back. “I won't make the same mistakes, I won't lose her again, I won't leave her alone again!” He approached Steve "Last time it was my fault, I left her alone to go to that stupid war and lost everything, I just got her back Steve, so don't tell me what to do!"

This time Steve didn't try to fight, so Bucky walked past him, grabbing the keys to some random bike, he wouldn't let his girl go again, you just remembered him, what if they erased your memory before he arrived? Or worse, what if they killed you?”

That wouldn't be happening, not while he was alive.

[seat-safety-switch]

You can say a lot of bad things about the humble postal system. It’s slow, it’s expensive, and the folks who work hard to make sure you get your bills and junk mail could be a little more chipper about it. Watch your tongue, though, because the postal system does something truly glorious: it provides insanely clapped-out, mega-mileage postal vans at auction.

That’s right. Targeted for criticism by a variety of bad actors, miscreants, contrarians, and folks grumpy that they didn’t get what they wanted in life, the government is forced to sell off perfectly good vehicles just because they’re a little unsafe, in the hopes of recouping some money that they can then spend on new, soulless postal vans. Every farmer for miles around probably has one or two of these things in their back forty. This is because even after the ancient parcel vans of my youth stopped being useful for luxuries like “providing heat,” you can still throw a pregnant sheep in the back, full-throttle that shit all the way to the property line, and be pretty sure that it will make the return trip even if you haven’t changed the oil since Mulroney.

Part of this is because these vehicles are supremely engineered for their purpose. Like sharks, they have exactly the ideal parts required for the job they are meant to do, and no luxuries like air conditioning, seven-speaker surround sound stereos, ABS, or chairs with padding. Sure, they devour fuel, but that’s what you get when you use technology from the Bronze Age to develop an engine that wears like the mountains. Where did such a glorious piece of lost technology come from, in our current era where smartphones last twelve minutes and brand-new microwaves come with a sticker telling you what number to phone in order to safely recycle them?

Once upon a time, the government used to have demands of the manufacturers from which they were ordering several million vans. They could insist that these vans run forever, never need to be maintained, and double as cover in the event of a semi-automatic gun fight. It would cost a little bit extra, this overbuilding, but this was justifiable: we are the government, after all, and if we didn’t ask them to do their job, they’d just rip us off. Now, not so much. In the pursuit of business efficiency, the government just treats themselves as another boring consumer. Buy the same Ford Transit or German-made electric conversion van as everyone else. Did it break down because it’s not meant to be driven one point eight million kilometers in a single year by a suicidal Newfoundlander who doesn’t understand enough English to comprehend the concept of “keep the engine below 9,000 rpm?” Buy another.

There’s still time left to get a van like this of your very own. Together, we will hold onto these glorious artifacts of a bygone era, and ideally take them down to the track together. Won’t the track marshals be pissed when we clock a thirty-six second pass, and stop halfway through to refill the tank.

[otherone12]

We Were Meant To Be, Supposed To Be

( Avril reference lol)

Frank Iero × Reader

-> Masterlist

A/N: Hey!! I took too long to write this, because I wasn't at home, so couldn't finish it. Also, i've changed the whole plot of this fic like three times, and I still thinking that's not good as I wanted. Anyways, i hope you enjoy :D

A/N 2: You guys want a Vampire x Reader fic? And with wich member?

Summary - You and Frank dated for a while before he joined MCR, but when you two decided to go separate ways, the different worlds didn’t work well together and you broke up. Years later, your lives collide again, but this time you’re not that young anymore. (This supposed to be a DD era Frank, but if you wanted to change it, be your guest).

- Word Count: 1.530

- Warnings: none

- Ps: I'll not use y/n…

- Ps2: I'm brazilian, so english is not my first language ... sorry if i wrote something wrong.

___________________________________________

1st person POV

  I was walking down streets on my way to my work, like I do every single day. The large amount of people on the street got me a bit nervous, but I learned to pretend that they didn't exist. 

    The huge building where I work seems small when I enter through the automatic door and go to my even smaller office. I took my earphones and turned the radio on in my city’s broadcasting station. “.... and we're gonna rock this town, like we always do.” The voice that I heard sounded a bit familiar, but I couldn't tell who it was, 'cause of the noise from poor radio contact.   

    I tried harder to listen to what he’ll say, but he had already  finished the interview and the announcer said “Guys, that was Frank Iero telling us what we can expect from the My Chemical Romance concert next week. Thank you, Frank!”

    I got shocked. Why wasn't I able to recognize Frank's voice? It's been that long?

   Frank and I met at high school in our freshman year. We became best friends in about three months. Earlier than we expected, we were hanging out and holding hands. He was the best part of my highschool, probably because I was the most introverted person in the world, he is the opposite. Frank encouraged me to go to parties with him, to be less insecure, to be myself… I owe him all the chances I haven't let go since.

So, like all good things, we were over. He is a famous guitarist, touring through the whole world with his band, and I'm here. I went to college and became exactly what I wanted since I was a kid. 

    We were immature and broke up at the first trouble we had, we’ve been together for six years, and knew each other enough to know that we couldn’t handle a long distance relationship. Without any fight or discussion, we decided that was the end, and just didn’t talked anymore to not turn things harder than they almost were.

Moving on took me a few years, but no one of the people that I dated after Frank made me feel the way he did. Maybe we’re some kind of "meant to be'', and we threw our chance away, giving up that easy.

    The idea of Frank being here gave me the sensation of butterflies in my stomach, should i talk to him? No. I mean, I would like to see him, ask him if he thinks of me like I think of him. Maybe he's still trying to forget about us but incapable to do it, just like me. 

    I gave a brief look to the clock on the wall and noticed that I spent an hour just thinking of Frank, remembering our best moments. And just when I thought I reached the bottom, I felt a tear dripping down my face. 

    With my sleeve, I wiped that single tear in my cheek and keeped working. 

    The rest of the day was gray, the color of the clouds coincidently matched with my feelings. At home, I dropped myself in my bed and turned the tv on, with a desperate yearn to keep my mind out of my old memories. In a few minutes I fell asleep. 

*** time skip ***

  Next day, I decided that I would enjoy myself in some cool place. So at 9pm I put on my best clothes and went to my favorite bar. The place still the same since the last time i went there

   The low lights inside the bar almost made me stumble but I held on to the door before falling.

Like always, the place was crowded and the mix of people talking and the small band who were playing reminded me why I definitely prefer to stay at home instead of going out. Don’t get me wrong, the band was good, I only hate this amount of noise. 

    I took a seat by the side of a group of four men, but it was too dark to see their faces. I avoided looking at any of them for a long time, so it wouldn't look like I was flirting or something.

    - Hey! It's been a long time since the last time you’ve been here. - I used to come here so often that I became friends with the bartender - How’s it going?

   - Great i think, just a bit down this week. - I tell him, with a heavy sight - But I'm here to relax, so, gimme the same as always.

   - Right away, dear! 

   The bartender called my name after some minutes to give me my drink, and I felt the back of my neck burn, like I was being watched. Slowly, I turned around and the four guys were looking at me. My eyes, now accustomed with the dim place, could recognize their faces. I forgot how to breathe when I realized who they were.  

  - Holy shit! I thought I heard your voice, but then I thought that I was getting insane - The man closer to me said, and a silly smile appeared on my face. - You remember me, right, darling?

    - How could I forget you, Frank? - I took a sip of my drink, still smiling. - And, believe me, I tried so fucking hard to.

    - So do I… 

    He took a deep breath and his gaze showed that he missed me as much as I missed him. 

    - When he knew that we’ll be doing some concerts here, he started to talk about you and didn’t stop - Ray said, giggling, while Frank gave him a deathly look. - Well, good to see you again, by the way!

    - Same, guys! - I looked at all of them and nodded, drinking again. - Eight years is too long, but at the same time it seems like it was just a week ago. 

    - Ain’t that the truth? Damn! - Frank didn’t stop to look at me as of the beginning of the conversation. If he keeps doing this, I'll end up kissing him. - You’re pretty as always. ya know?

    My world just tumbled down with his sentence. He used to say this daily to me, in the same way. I gasped and, just like a movie, I saw him, a sixteen boy sitting by my side at the school’s refectory saying this to me for the first time. 

    Ray, Gerard and Mikey walked away to the other side of the bar and Frank stood up when I didn’t respond. Unable to say anything, I just looked at his hazel eyes and felt him getting closer. The feeling of panic washed my body with the sensation of his lips on mine. His hands runned through my body and his tongue entwined in mine. 

    All this eight fucking years trying to get over him, and he made all of this be in vain. I missed his touch more than I could even imagine. 

    I lost my fingers in his hair and when we both were breathless, we pulled up and just looked at each other.

    - Shit, how I missed you! - Frank said, holding my waist. - Wanna take a walk outside?

    - Sure. 

    We walked at the door, letting all the noise behind. The cold air of the night reached my face and I shivered, my mind was so confused that I barely noticed that Frank was holding my hand. 

    - So… I don't even know how to start to say how much I regret leaving you.   

    He was looking down, and I've never heard him so serious before.

    - You didn’t leave me. It was consensual. 

    - Yeah, but.. but I blame myself every day for not insisting on continuing with you. - He whined with an evident remorse in his voice. The regretful tone of his sigh was painful for me to hear.

    - Wasn’t your fault, Frank. We were both immature. - I let go of his hand and put my arm around his neck, in an attempt to comfort him. I wish someone had told me the same thing I said to Frank. After he’s gone I felt as guilty as him, and it lasted all these years. - Altrought we can try again, ‘cause we made it clear to each other that we still have mutual feelings.

    - You’re right, but how is this gonna work? - We stopped walking and Frank looked at me. His confused gaze turned sad and worried as the next words left his mouth.  - You have your life here, and my music is my life so… 

   - Maybe we can try that long distance thing… - A little unsure of what he would think of the idea, I tried to accept the only possible option for our situation. - Seeing each other when you were not on a tour, spending holidays together, calling and texting each other every day...

    - Sounds like an idea to me.

    He smiled and pulled me closer to a kiss, this time i wasn’t worried about all that shit. I let the moment ride me and a hopeful sensation warmed my body even more than Frank’s hands on my face and hips. I felt on fire when the kiss turned deeper. 

    - Are you sure that you wanna try to do this? - I broke the kiss for an instant. 

    - I’m on there, baby! 

___________________________________________

~So... that's it. lemme know if you enjoyed ;)

[talkfastromance4]

Moodswings--Luke&Lily oneshot

a/n: this is before Lily's birthday (and will be posted before it on the masterlist) I'm sorry it's been so choppy with the timeline but thank you for being patient and understanding!

warnings: therapy, discussion of miscarriage. this is heavy right off from the beginning so read with caution. I don't go into too much detail but it's still a sensitive topic. smut is implied, female receiving oral and this is a lot of ANGST

word count: 3.5k

Luke&Lily masterlist

feedback is always welcome! Enjoy!

Mid August–Wednesday 3:00 p.m

You stare at the clock on the wall as it ticks and tocks, your arms are crossed over your chest and your mind is wandering. The ticking of the clock reminds you of the one in your room at the hospital, waiting for answers, waiting for absolution, waiting for a miracle. 

It’s been three weeks since you lost the baby. Three weeks of questions. Three weeks of self-doubt. Three weeks of going through the motions of your life. 

Doctor Wilson said there’s never a sure answer for why some pregnancies don’t take and assured you that it was nothing you did or didn’t do. You know she’s right but you still feel like you’re part of the blame. She’s the one who recommended you and Luke should see a counselor. 

“It’s a loss, a very unexpected one and it may be hard to navigate the grieving process,” Dr. Wilson had said. 

And so, here you are on a Wednesday at 3:00 with Luke sitting next to you on a brown leather couch. The walls are green, the floor made of wood and Dr. Martin removes her glasses from her face.

“y/n, do you need me to repeat the question?”

“Hm?” you ask, focusing back on her by hearing your name. Luke sighs next to you, you notice his finger is spinning the wedding band on his finger. 

“How are you feeling today?”

“Same as everyday,” you shrug. 

“Which is?” 

“I feel everything and nothing all at once.”

“Have you and Luke discussed what happened–”

“No.”

“She never wants to.”

“I don’t know how to say it to make you understand–”

“You don’t even try to talk to me!” 

“Because all you do is coddle me! I can’t–”

“All right, all right, one at a time,” Dr. Martin interrupts.

You huff and cross your arms tighter around yourself, Luke rubs at his face then pulls his fingers through his hair. 

“Luke, what do you want to discuss with y/n?”

“Anything at this point. She hasn’t been the same and I understand that to a degree but I don’t like being shut out. I hate to see her hurting like this and I can’t do anything. I don’t know what to do. And she won’t tell me because she thinks I won’t understand and I…it’s a vicious cycle.”

“How’re the kids?”

“On edge,” Luke answers as you stare at the corner of the coffee table. “They know there’s something going on, can sense y/n isn’t…herself. Lily’s the hardest, she’s mirroring y/n.”

“And did you tell Lily what happened?” 

“We did, she asked a lot of questions and I think she understands. It’s hard for her, too, I know she hates seeing y/n like this as much as I do.” 

“Has your relationship changed with Lily, y/n?” Dr. Martin directs the question to you this time.

“No, she still helps out like always.”

“Have you talked to her about your feelings? You said in our first meeting that she often feels left out���”

“I’m not disregarding my children,” you defend automatically. “I love them more than anything. I’m trying to–trying to find a way–” you shake your head then press your fingers to your forehead. 

“What you went through was a traumatic experience, your brain is surviving the way it thinks it should. It doesn’t make sense and it may never will.”

Friday 3:00 p.m

“I’ve reviewed all of our notes from our sessions and the main problem is communication,” Dr. Martin says at your next session. Luke grunts but tries to pass it off as a cough, you flick your eyes at him. “And–as backwards as this sounds–I think you two should go two weeks without talking to each other.”

“I’m sorry,” Luke shifts in his place on the couch, “come again?”

“Our main problem is communicating so to solve that is to…not communicate?” you reiterate.

“Yes, I’ve found that in most marriages when a short separation–”

“Separation?!” Luke yells.

“We’re separated enough because of his job, this is just an emotional block,” you say staring frantically between Luke and Dr. Martin.

“How exactly is this going to help?” 

“We have three children with altering schedules, how are we supposed to do that and not speak with each other?”

“Talking about the children’s schedules is fine. Two weeks without personal conversation, maybe even sleeping in different rooms might help both of you decipher your emotions and help to discuss them.”

Dr. Martin drones on and on about the successes of the other couples she’s helped that have done no communication for two weeks but your mind was rattling. It kept circling back to ‘separation.’ You don’t want a separation, that’s the complete opposite of what you want, but you also can’t talk about what you’re feeling quite yet. Would it really help? 

You and Luke walk out of the session dumbfounded after confirming with Dr. Martin you will see her in two weeks to go over how it went and if there was progress. The car ride is silent as you’re both lost in your own thoughts and when Luke parks in Ashton’s driveway (where the kids are) you sit in silence.

“What do you think?” Luke finally asks.

“I think it’s dumb. We aren’t communicating well and her solution is to stop it altogether and be separated? How is that going to work?”

“What if we tried it?” he asks quietly. Your heart plummets to your stomach.

“You can’t be serious,” you deadpan, staring at him but he keeps his eyes on his hands in his lap. “Luke…you’ve said I don’t tell you things–”

“I don’t tell you a lot of things either. Maybe in some weird twisted way, not telling each other anything will break that barrier for when we finally do talk to each other.”

“We’re with the kids together everyday, Luke. Lily is going to catch on we’re not speaking and that’s going to upset her–this is insane Luke!”

“I agree, it is insane. But let’s just give it a go, okay?” he looks up then touches your cheek with the back of his fingers. “I love you more than anything in the world, lovie. We’ve drifted a little and I want to be us again.”

“I want that, too,” you whisper holding his gaze. “What will we tell the kids?”

“We’ll talk in front of them but only to them.”

“We’re really doing this?”

“Yes.”

You sigh and take hold of his hand that’s on your cheek, linking your fingers together. You give him a squeeze. “Okay. No talking or sleeping together for two weeks.”

And you bolted out of the car.

***

It was hard watching Luke gather his pillows and night things from your room to transition  into the basement where you now had the guest room. Since you couldn’t talk, you watched him in silence and the half smile he gave you as he left carved a hole in your heart, only adding to the other holes that have formed from the blows you’re constantly taking. 

You missed waking up next to him on day one. Normally you would roll over and he’d already be awake waiting for you to face him and he’d take your face in his hand giving you a gentle kiss. You stared at yourself in the mirror as you brushed your teeth instead of over at Luke’s tired eyes and frothy toothpaste smile. 

Lily is over by Cory so it’s just Posy and Oliver home, you can hear him making noises from his room and the soft sound of Bluey playing downstairs in the living room. Posy loves Bluey. Oliver is standing along the railing of his crib when you enter his room, his eyes trying to focus on you without his glasses. 

“Hi my sweet boy,” you smile and place his glasses on his face. His little hands reach for you and he’s humming something that sort of sounds like ‘mama’. “Are you saying ‘mama’? Mama, mama.” 

“Mmm…aaah!” he responds but it’s more of a whisper, an echo of what he’s trying to say. 

“Almost,” you smile at him and kiss his forehead. 

After changing Oliver’s diaper you head downstairs and Luke is in the kitchen making waffles, probably a request from Posy. 

“Hi mommy!” Posy waves from her spot on the couch. She has her purple elephant and blanket from her bed wrapped around her, her hair a mess.

“Morning Posy-girl,” you smile, setting Oliver next to her. “Can you watch your brother while I get his breakfast?”

“Okay. Look at Bluey Olly,” she says hugging her brother close. He leans against her and focuses on the tv screen.

When you enter the kitchen, you and Luke pass glances but don’t say anything. You inhale as you open the fridge to retrieve Oliver’s breakfast. The two of you move around like foreign planets. 

It was hard at dinnertime to be sitting across from each other and to be using the kids as buffers for conversation. You told Crystal about the no communication thing when you were visiting her on Sunday while Luke picked Lily up from Cory’s. 

“Do you think it’s helping?” she asks, adjusting Maddox on her lap while you have Chloe on yours. 

“I don’t know. I hate sleeping without him. I’ve done it hundreds of times while he’s touring but this is different when I know he’s right in the house.” 

“And how’s Olly with his talking?” 

“The same,” you sigh, “Dr. Wilson says we should keep talking to him like we have been. It is common in preemies for their speech to be delayed. She even suggested we start learning sign language to help him tell us what he wants.”

“That’s a great idea. His hearing is okay though?”

“Yeah, he knows his name and our names. I think we will start sign language in a week and a half which is good because Luke and I will be talking again.” 

“Will you tell him all you’ve been feeling since the miscarriage?” she asks softly. 

“I’ll try to,” you shrug gazing into Chloe’s perfect little face, “it’s hard to talk about even though I think about it all the time.”

***

When the two weeks are up you woke up with that knowledge because you’ve been counting down every day, every hour, every minute until you can talk with your husband again. Just as you were getting out of bed, Lily and Posy opened your door with Oliver holding their hands between them. They were already dressed for their second day of school.

“Hi mama!” 

“Dada says he’s going to take us to school because you need a break,” Lily explains.

“He did?” you raise your eyebrows and walk towards them. You bend down to look at their outfits; Lily has on her new pink dress, Posy is wearing a purple shirt with shorts and her favorite shoes and Oliver has on a red shirt with overalls. He gives you a toothy grin.

“We wanted to say goodbye first,” Lily smiles.

“I’m so glad you did,” you smile pulling them all in for a hug. You kiss the tops of their heads, your thumb smudging dried milk from Oliver’s cheek. “You behave with your daddy and Ella, and we’ll see you on Sunday, sweetheart.”

“I will mama. Daddy said we’ll get pizza tonight!”

“I want pizza!” Posy shouts jumping slightly on her feet. 

“We’ll see,” you pinch her cheek and she smiles. “Your daddy and I will pick you up later, okay? You all have a good day at school, I love you.”

“Love you, mama!”

“Love you too! C’mon guys,” Lily leads her siblings from your room.

You listen to Luke speak with the kids from downstairs, loving their excited chatter as he hands off their lunch boxes. You can’t wait to speak with him when he comes back. When the door closes you head downstairs so you can make breakfast for you and Luke and are surprised to see a large bouquet of flowers sitting on the counter. 

A note is attached from Luke:

I’ll be back as soon as I can. Talk to you soon, lovie.

A small surge of butterflies erupts in your stomach at the thought of talking to him again and you get started on breakfast. It usually takes about forty-five minutes to drop the kids off so you head upstairs to freshen up a little. You brush your teeth, fix your hair, and spritz on the perfume Luke made for your anniversary. 

The pancakes are sitting on the warming plate as you finish the scrambled eggs and bacon on the stove when Petunia starts barking and the door opens. You turn around and your heart leaps at the sight of Luke. His curls are a little messy but his eyes are bright as they meet yours.

“Hi,” you say at the same time causing you both to chuckle. 

Luke sets his keys in the bowl and toes off his unlaced converse. He steps towards you slowly, stopping in front of you.

“I was going to make you breakfast,” he says softly then turns off the stove top. 

He’s so close you can smell his aftershave, his neck is right at your eyesight. 

“I wanted to surprise you since you took the kids to school.” 

“Well, why don’t you go sit down and I’ll make our plates,” he gives you a crooked smile. 

You sit at the table watching him prepare your plates of food. He sits down and you smile at him then giggle at the blueberries he arranged in a shape of heart on your pancake. 

“Thank you for the flowers, they’re beautiful.” 

“You’re welcome.” 

You both take your first few bites in silence, exchanging soft smiles and lingering stares throughout the meal. Luke begins talking first when your plates are cleaned about the songs he’s written about you in all this time you weren’t talking and how he loved that peach colored suit you wore to work last Tuesday. 

All the while you held hands across the table, your thumb was rubbing over the tattooed initials of your name that he got on a whim a couple months ago. You talked about what was going on at work, the slight drama that always filled the offices of who had more of a workload. 

While you spoke, Luke pulled your chair closer so he could play with your hair. The  conversation then turned to the kids and the funny things Posy has said and done. You’re both happy with how well Oliver is picking up on the sign language, the girls too. 

“I missed you,” he sighs, both hands now cradling your face. 

He gives you a hesitant kiss which you reciprocate and soon you’re both running up the stairs to your bedroom. It’s been so long that you’ve been together because of what happened and not communicating for two weeks. 

Your emotions were still wonky after everything so whenever Luke touched you, your skin went haywire. His lips worked you over expertly, moving in the way you like it. Luke hisses when you bite at his neck once you’re connected, you gasp in his ear as he hits that special spot again and again. 

Waves of love and longing and loss and bliss crash over you, Luke sighs your name and then you’re trying to catch your breath as he releases inside of you. You haven’t felt this whole and complete in a while. You pet at his hair, kissing the side of his face as he stamps kisses along your neck and over your chest. 

“I asked Cory for help before we started therapy,” he confesses into your collarbone.

Your fingers still in his hair at his words as they sink in.

“You…what?”

He lifts his head to look at you, curls falling in his eyes, his lips pinker from all of the kissing you’d just done.

“I thought maybe if he talked to you you would open up about…what happened since he knows you so well.”

“Luke, you know me too. I thought we’re past the whole history with Cory thing–”

“We are–I am,” he nods, “but I didn’t know what else to do. I didn’t know how to talk to you about it because I can only imagine what you went through but imagining isn’t even close to you actually going through it.”

“And what did he say?”

“That I should give you some space until you’re ready to talk. I just didn’t want you to feel alone. Since it happened and now with the last few weeks…without you, I don’t even know myself.”

“Luke–the reason I kept my distance is because…it’s my fault.”

“What’s your fault?”

“I–” you shake your head blinking back tears as you stare at the ceiling. “I fought you so hard about not having a baby yet and I must have thought it so hard that I…it’s my fault. I was so worried and–and it–I–it’s all my–”

“No, no, no, hey, hey, look at me,” Luke rushes swiping at the tears on your cheeks. “This is not  your fault. You heard Dr. Wilson, sometimes pregnancies don’t take. There’s nothing you did or could have done any differently. It’s horrible that it happened, but you did not cause this. I know you love our children and you loved that baby, okay?”

“It hurts so much,” you cry into his shoulder and he holds you tightly against him. 

“I know, baby. But I’m here, I’ve always been here and I always will be. Through better or worse; right now, this is our worst. I love you so much.” 

“I love you, too. I’m so sorry I pushed you away.”

“Shh,” he rolls over so you’re on top of him. “Let it all out, y/n, I’ve got you. I’m right here.”

And you do. You cry your heart out, each tear resembling the anger you’ve been holding in, the sadness, the remorse, the guilt, the shame. It all flooded out of you in deep sobs and shaking limbs. Luke held you closely through it all, rubbing at your back, petting your hair and whispering soothing words. 

You’re not sure how long you’ve been crying but when no more tears are left and you’re hiccupping in Luke’s shoulder, you know you’re done. Luke sits you up slowly in his lap then reaches over for some tissues from the nightstand. He wipes your cheeks and you blow your nose. 

“Is this the first time you’ve cried about it?” he asks gently.

“Yeah,” your voice is thick. 

Luke kisses you quickly, you stare at him with dry eyes. 

“You let me know when you need to cry again, okay?”

“‘Kay,” you sniff.

“Let’s go take a shower with eucalyptus oil to help clear your nose up.”

You shift your body off his and that’s when you realize he was still inside you, a mess now was on the sheets. The two of you stare at it then meet each other’s eyes and giggle.

“Oops,” Luke says. “You get the shower started, I’ll put these in the wash.”

“Um..if I walk I’ll make more of a mess…”

“Right,” he nods. “I’ll be right back.”

Once you used the towel Luke provided and he stripped the bed you were in the shower with music softly playing over the speakers of the shower fan. The eucalyptus did help your nose and Luke even rubbed some peppermint oil on your chest to help as well. 

As he washes your body of the sudsy soap, Luke peppers kisses down your torso, making sure his lips linger longer on your belly before he hikes a leg over his shoulder and dives right in. 

“Luke!” you gasp falling against the shower wall, your toes curl instantly at the feel of his tongue lapping at you. 

“It’s been two weeks without your voice and your moans, lovie. Can you be loud for me?” his blue eyes pierce up at you, water droplets running down his long nose and cling to his lashes. 

“Yeah,” you exhale. 

Your stomach clenches after a few more moments of his mouth, your orgasm hitting you explicitly. When he adds his fingers, you rock your hips into his palm, his nose nudging your clit. He praises you throughout it all and as you reach your third, you yanked him up to kiss him. 

“Want you to fill me again, honey,” you pant, your hand stroking him until he’s hard in your palm. 

After another round under the falling water, Luke helps dry you off then brushes at your hair as you sit in front of your vanity. He sets the brush down, wrapping his arms over your shoulders and across your chest. He kisses the top of your wet hair. 

“I think I need you more than you need me,” you tell his reflection, your finger plays with his wedding band.

taglist: @calpalirwin @calumance @in-superbloom @karajaynetoday @wiiildflowerrr @sunshineeluke @littledrummeraussie @suchalonelysunflower @hoodhoran @fobodob @thew0rldneedsmcreycghurt @sunshineeashton @ashtonsunflower @mymindwide @itjustkindahappenedreally @seanna313 @mulletcal @pandaxnienke @hellasblessed @gwynethhberdara @in-a-world-of-fandoms @prentisswrites @princesslrh

[golmac]

Inform 7 Basics: return of the countdown clock

Where were we? Ah, yes, I was imagining some sort of building complex that was collapsing. In fact, it was collapsing all around the player! Yikes! To do that, we set up a way to give rooms each their own value called a "countdown." We used geographical regions (i7 documentation) to assign different starting countdown values, in case parts of the building are in worse shape than others. That was pretty straightforward:

When play begins: Repeat with place running through rooms: if place is in Region A: now the countdown of place is 5; otherwise if place is in Region B: now the countdown of place is 2; otherwise: now the countdown of place is 999.

What did that mean? We asked Inform 7 to step through every room in the game world, one at a time, and set a value (countdown) based on each room's (referred to as "place" here) region (Inform 7 documentation). We also added a catch-all "otherwise" bucket, just in case we need it for something later.

A caveat: regions cannot overlap, but a region CAN be nested within another region. In complex maps, you will want to take care in organizing your game world to avoid confusion. In any case, since we are using "otherwise" in our statements, if a room is in multiple regions, then the first match will apply. All others will be dropped.

Where was I? We'll be dealing with counters and "every turn" rules. This can get pretty confusing, because Inform's action processing can be quite intricate (as it needs to be). Let's set up a simple feedback system first. Initially, we authors will want to keep an eye on the countdown status of every room. This probably will not reach a production build as-is. This is for us. Let's get started.

Let's make a rule without assigning it to action processing.

this is the display countdown rule: say "[bold type]Countdown Clock![roman type]"; repeat with place running through rooms: say "[line break][place]: [countdown of place]"; say line break.

This should look quite familiar! We are repeating the same basic operation, only this time, rather than assigning values, we are printing them. Note that I've spruced things up with a little bold type. Also: I've added line breaks because Inform 7 usually relies on punctuation to assign line breaks automatically (i7 documentation).

Now, if we're going to be changing values in the midst of action processing, let's check the values at the beginning of the game. the beginning of the turn, and at the end of the turn. This will feel cluttered after a while, but let's spend some time getting a feel for when and how things change in the course of a turn. We can also use this feedback to choose when--in the course of action processing--to change the value each turn. Since we already have our rule written, we can drop it into action processing almost anywhere.

before doing something: follow the display countdown rule.

last when play begins: follow the display countdown rule.

last every turn: follow the display countdown rule.

Did you notice my use of the "last" modifier in those last two rules? Since we have another "when play begins" rule, and because it specifically sets countdown values, we should make sure that this new rule processes after that. So far as the "last every turn" rule goes: those rules fire at the end of the turn. Putting a rule at the end of the "every turn" sequence means that we can get a "final" tally as action processing is completed (Inform 7 documentation).

Now, as said, this is a debug setup that we will dial back once we decide how to handle the actual counting down. But as beginners, being able to visualize changes in values and states is invaluable. I do stuff like this in every complex project. I never could have completed my story mode extension for Inform 7 (coming soon!) without this sort of practice. Feedback systems aren't just for players, they are for us, too!

Next time, I'll probably spend the whole post talking about WHEN the counting down should occur, and how that decision will affect our design. Not a lot of exciting code to share today! We aren't even counting down yet!

As always, if you have questions about i7, parser games, or my own projects, ask away.

[all-for-geek]

Unfinished Business - Love, Family, and Possession Chapter 2: One Hand in my Pocket

Chapter 1

Chapter 3

Fandom: Julie and the Phantoms

Word Count: 3,573

Summary: Nick struggles to adapt to living under Caleb’s thumb. Meanwhile, a day in the life of the Phantoms when Julie is at school.

Nick tossed and turned in his bed. He had heard his alarm clock go off, but it had not been necessary. Nick had been awake for hours. Every time he closed his eyes, he felt like he was trapped back in the dark where all he could do was watch as someone else puppeted his body around. He slammed his hand on the alarm clock less to turn it off and more to prove that he was still in control of his body.

“You should…you should probably get ready.” The weak voice startled Nick upright. He remained tense as he found the ghost boy, William, standing outside his door.

Nick remained silent and still. He didn’t want to get up. He didn’t want to get dressed for school and pretend that it was a normal day. He knew that sooner or later, Caleb was going to come back and…he didn’t want to think about the darkness that awaited him. 

“You really should,” William insisted again. “If Caleb comes back and you’re not dressed, he won’t be happy.”

Nick let out a cold, short-lived laugh. “Why should I care if that monster is happy?”

“Caleb is incredibly powerful. If you’re good, he can use that power to help you. If you’re bad…he’ll use it to punish you.” The words spilled out of William's mouth automatically, like lines on a script.

“So my choices are: I get ready, and he possesses me again, making me miserable, or I don’t, and he finds some new way to make me miserable? He really sounds like a swell guy.”

“Please, Nick.” William’s voice shook with the rest of his body as tears welled up in his eyes. “I don’t want to see you get hurt.”

Nick had planned to scoff at that. Why would he care about him? William clearly worked for Caleb in some capacity. How could someone in league with that monster have any semblance of empathy? Then a jolt of purple electricity went through William’s body that sent him onto his knees. A glowing purple mark pulsed gently on the back of his wrist.

“Caleb is on his way,” William muttered. “Please get ready. I know how it sounds, but this is him treating you well. If you think this is bad, you do not want to see him being mean.”

Nick nodded and got out of his bed. William left to give Nick some privacy as he changed. As Nick walked down the stairs, Caleb walked through the door and into the house.

“Good morning, Nicolas,” Caleb greeted with a bright smile on his face. “Did you sleep well?” Although Nick remained silent, the bags under his eyes answered for him. 

“Such a shame,” Caleb continued, “But I understand. Yesterday was a big day for us.” He stepped forward, casting his shadow over Nick’s cowering form. “But make sure to get a good night’s sleep tonight. Neither of us want me to stay here all night, do we?”

Caleb smiled like a wolf that knew its prey was cornered. Nick remained silent but reluctantly shook his head.

“Excellent. I’m glad we could come to an understanding.” Caleb closed the space between them. The last thing Nick saw before being thrown back into the dark was the look of pity on William’s face.

Across town, music poured out of the Molina's studio as it did every morning. Julie and Luke had gotten into a routine of writing music before school in order for Luke to show it to Alex and Reggie before practice after school. This particular song was one that Julie had suggested. As the two sang to each other, the melody soared through the deeper feelings the song brought out in both of them but both were too scared to say.

Our voices rise and soar so high

We come to life when we're

In perfect harmony

Woah-oh, woah-oh

Perfect harmony

Woah-oh, woah-oh

Perfect harmony

“It’s really good,” Luke said as they faded out of the chorus. “As always.” He playfully nudged Julie with his shoulder.

“Thanks,” Julie replied. “It’s something I’ve been working on for a while now.”

“Yeah, I can’t wait to see how it sounds once we bring in the guys.”

Julie’s smile dropped ever so slightly. She hadn’t told Luke that the song was about him, and she couldn’t say that it was supposed to be a duet without bringing that up and then he would find out that she had a crush on him and it would break up the band and-

“Julie?” Luke’s voice brought her out of her thoughts only for her to get lost in his big, hazel eyes. He shook her slightly by the shoulder and she fully snapped back to reality.

“Yeah! Yeah, it’ll sound really good. Once the guys part’s are in. I just hope it…it doesn’t overdo the song. I’m still getting used to writing songs with so many parts.”

“Relax. That’s what I’m here for.”

“And where would I be without you?”

“I can’t even imagine.”

“You know it’s kinda weird when you just start talking to the air like that,” Carlos interjected, reminding the two of his presence.

“Says the kid who's been talking to a wall for the past 5 minutes,” Alex remarked, earning him a glare from Julie and Reggie.

He wasn’t wrong though. While Julie and Luke had been writing, Carlos had been putting the finishing touches on the word wall. He and Reggie had managed to put the alphabet and some basic words up and were trying to communicate. Reggie had been able to mostly spell his name through the lights. There was a light with the word “Regi” under it.

“Carlos has found a way for us to talk to him in a day of trying,” Reggie said. “Let’s not stifle his ingenuity.”

“I’m going to ignore how you know the word ingenuity and instead focus on how Julie’s dad is gonna find it a little weird that there is a wall covered in Christmas lights and words under them,” Alex replied.

“Duh. That’s what the curtain is for.” Reggie tugged on a curtain that blocked off that chunk of the room creating, as the kids had explained to Ray, Carlos’ “man cave”.

“Alright, I’ve got one ghost down,” Carlos continued, not hearing Reggie and Alex bicker. “What are the other two’s names?”

“Ooo, you should spell your name next!” Reggie ordered Alex excitedly.

“Why can’t you do it?” Alex asked genuinely.

“Well, it will be special if we all do our own names! It will be like we’re introducing ourselves to Carlos.” Alex continued to stare at Reggie, knowing that that wasn’t the whole truth. It only took a second for Reggie to relent. “Also I don’t want to misspell your name.”

“Reg, you-”

“Please…” Reggie begged, interrupting whatever encouraging or sarcastic comment Alex was about to say.

“Come on, Alex,” Julie chimed in. 

“Yeah bro, just do it,” Luke added, attacking Alex with his signature puppy eyes.

Alex rolled his eyes. “Well Julie already said my name, so I shouldn’t have to tell him, but fine.” He lit up the letters of his name on the wall. Luke and Julie applauded sarcastically while Reggie did so genuinely.

“Alright, Luke, your turn!” Reggie called out. Luke poofed over and spelled his name too. Carlos quickly pulled out two more pieces of tape and wrote the phantoms’ names on them.

As if on cue, Ray called for Julie and Carlos to meet him at the truck. Julie quickly helped Carlos pull around the curtain to hide the wall. 

“See you guys after school! Stay out of trouble” Julie shouted. The three ghosts waved back, silently wondering how long until they evitable got into trouble.

It didn’t take long for Luke to show the boys the new song. Even though they were young, the three had been playing together so long that they easily found the right ebb and flow within the song for Reggie’s and Alex’s parts. It only took a couple hours for them to feel good about the extra parts. Luke continued to tweak “Perfect Harmony” by the piano while Reggie messed with the lights again. Alex had already left to try and find Willie.

“Hey bro, what about this during the pre-chorus?” Luke played a slow, melodic riff as he sang. 

“Ooo yeah, that sounds good! What about this too?” Reggie ran over to the piano and began to harmonize with Luke. 

“Yeah man! That sounds great!” Luke punched Reggie’s arm as they continued through the song. Reggie’s smile grew as they worked. The two didn’t often get to write like this anymore. Not since the days of Sunset Curve they would stay up long into the night fine-tuning Luke’s latest creation. Reggie never got used to the spark that flew between them when they sang together. It still sent a tingle down his spine and plastered a big, goofy smile on his face. He missed that feeling.

“Hey what about instead of “We say we’re friends, we play pretend” we do “Around our friends we play pretend”? Luke asked.

“I don’t know, I think the first one works better?”

“You think?”

“Yeah, I mean. The song is about two people who can’t express their feelings, right? They hide their feelings from themselves and each other, not the people around them.” Reggie wasn’t entirely sure where that explanation had come from, but he knew it felt right.

“Huh. Yeah, I guess. I’ll go ask Julie.” Luke poofed out of the studio before Reggie could respond.

Reggie chuckled to himself. It was only a matter of time before Luke found some excuse to go see Julie. Reggie went back to finalizing the words on the wall until he heard Ray pull up in the driveway. Reggie poofed into the house to greet him.

“Hey, Ray! How was your shoot today?” Ray, as always, was silent and pulled out his laptop to begin editing photos.

“Julie brought us this new song today! It’s really good! Well, not that any of ‘em are bad, but this one is really good! Luke and I were tweaking it just now. It was nice getting to work with him like that again. Ever since Julie joined the band, he’s mostly been working with her. Not that I’m complaining or mad or anything! She’s a really good songwriter. It should be her working with Luke instead of me, but…I don’t know. They always seem off doing their own thing, and Alex is always off looking for Willie…I haven’t spent this much time alone in a while. I’ve figured out how to talk to Carlos, though! He is so smart. He’s so much like Stev-”

Reggie paused as he reminded himself of his brother. Reggie had probably had the best relationship with his family of the three deceased members of Sunset Curve. Not necessarily with his parents, at least not near the end, but with his little brother. He and Stevie had been thick as thieves. Even after Sunset Curve started to go legit, Reggie would sneak Stevie out of the house to come watch their shows. Reggie had even started teaching Stevie bass shortly before he died. He still wasn’t sure he missed his parents or not, but Reggie wished he knew where Stevie was.

“I’m…I’m glad that Carlos has such a great older sister to look out for him. And a great dad too. Sorry for talking your ear off again Ray. I’ll leave you to your work.” Reggie left the house leaving Ray none the wiser to the distressed teen that had attached himself to him.  

Reggie poofed back into the studio long enough to write a quick note saying that he was going out. He didn’t want them to worry if he suddenly disappeared. As soon as he signed the note, he poofed back out. He didn’t know where he wanted to go, but he knew that he didn’t want to stay there alone.

Alex trekked through the streets of LA just as he had the day before. He checked everywhere he could: the local museums, skateparks, the streets where he and Willie had first met. He even checked the area surrounding the Hollywood Ghost Club. He didn’t stay long or go too close, but he knew that if he didn’t find a trace of Willie soon, he might get desperate enough to.

On his third lap around, he spotted a boy skating frantically down the road. The boy’s long, dark hair obscured his face; the wind blew it everywhere under his helmet. Alex ran after the boy, too caught up in his own excitement to think of just poofing over to him. He managed to keep up with Willie as he rounded the corner towards Los Feliz High School. What was he doing near Julie’s school? Was she in trouble? Did Caleb decide to lash out at Julie for helping them escape from his brand? Did-

“Alex, hey, what are you doing here?” Alex nearly tripped over his thoughts and the ground when Luke called out to him. He faced Luke like a deer in headlights.

“Me…oh nothing I was just…” Alex turned to where the boy was frantically running up the steps of the school. As he ripped his helmet off, Alex’s whole body dropped when Willie’s face was not underneath. “Nevermind.”

Alex turned to continue his search when Luke stopped him. “Bro, you’re going to find him.”

“Sure.” Alex wanted to believe Luke. He truly did, but the longer he searched, the more hopeless he became. His anxiety seemed to block out the fact that he had only been searching for two days, but the feeling was still the same.

“You will.” Luke patted Alex on the back. 

Alex nodded and turned to continue his search. Luke trailed behind him and pulled forward when Alex gave no objection. The two did another lap around the city. Still, no sign of Willie. They poofed onto the roof of a nearby building and watched as lifers went by.

“What if…what if Caleb did something to him?” Alex turned to Luke for an answer. He would never admit it, but he was longing for some of Luke’s incessant optimism.

“Then we’ll make him pay.” Alex sighed. It wasn't the response he had been hoping for.

“If Willie got hurt because of me, I don’t-”

“It wouldn’t be your fault Alex-”

“If he hadn’t met me, then we never would have gone to Caleb’s club, and he never would have felt like he needed to help us-”

“He helped us because he wanted to. Because he wanted to help you.”

“How can you be so sure?” Tears streamed down Alex’s safe.

“Dude, are you kidding? Anyone with eyes can see how he feels about you.” Luke wrapped Alex in a giant embrace. “It’s not your fault what happened to us, and if Caleb did hurt Willie, that’s not your fault either. It’s all Caleb’s.”

The two sat there, wrapped in each other’s arms until Alex pulled away, drying the last of his tears off his cheeks.

“Thanks,” he said, “What were you doing at the school?”

“I, uh, I needed to ask Julie some questions about the new song.”

“Uh huh.” 

Luke rolled his eyes at the look Alex gave him. “Come on, man. It wasn’t like that.”

“This time.”

“C’mon, it’s just-”

“I know, Luke. Just remember: When you do finally tell her, maybe skip the interpretive dance.”

“Oh c’mon! It was one time!”

“One time too many.”

“Hey, it worked didn’t it?”

Alex laughed. “Yeah, I guess.” The two laughed at the memory and poofed back to the studio.

Reggie didn’t realize where he was going until he got there. He wasn’t really surprised to find himself standing by the bike shack where his house used to be. Given how much he had been thinking about his family lately, it was only natural.

It was so surreal. There was no trace of the neighborhood that used to be here. Everything had been torn down and replaced with perfect, polished buildings suitable for tourists. It almost made Reggie feel sick. To him, it was just over a month ago that this stretch of beach had been his home. The whiplash he felt as he watched people casually walk in and out of the doors of what used to be his house was as strong as when he first came back.

Reggie continued walking down the beach. Even in the middle of the day in October, there were more people on the beach now then there ever were back when he was alive. He walked past families with small children playing in the water. Their contagious laughter brought him back to when he and his brother would play there. A few people in suits were enjoying the sun while on lunch break. They walked away with the same stern look on their faces that Reggie’s dad had everytime he left for work. 

One person seemed to catch Reggie’s eye. A figure stood underneath the pier with a spray bottle in hand. Reggie was impressed with how nonchalant they were about it. Even back in the 90s, you wouldn’t find anyone graffitting there in broad daylight.

As he poofed closer, he realized that she was a girl about his age. Her brown hair was tied back into a high ponytail. Her bell-bottom jeans matched the jean-jacket she wore. The elbows of the jacket were worn and frayed from wear. Even though he knew that she couldn’t see him, Reggie instinctively smoothed his hair out.

She was swinging her hips to a song that Reggie didn’t recognize at first. He couldn’t hear the song that was playing from the walkman, but she was humming along and began to sing as the song reached the chorus.

And What It All Comes Down Too

Is That I Haven’t Got It All Figured Out Just Yet

Cause I’ve Got One Hand In My Pocket

And The Other One Is Holding A Spray Can

The girl chuckled at her rewrite as she continued to spray paint the pillar. Reggie was bopping along as well now that he recognized the song. Jagged Little Pill had come out a month before he died, but he had fond memories of listening to it with the band. He started singing along with the girl, harmonizing unconsciously.

“You a fan of Alanis?” The question caught Reggie off guard. Mostly because it had been asked at all. Lifers weren’t supposed to see him unless he was playing with Julie. It was then that Reggie noticed that when the waves crashed up, they went through the girl’s legs rather than onto them.

“Yeah I guess I…Wait! You’re a ghost too?!”

“Yep.” The girl turned around to face Reggie. She had piercing blue eyes and tanned skin that shone in the sun. Her light purple crop top was covered in paint splotches along with the sleeves of her jacket.

“Name’s Alice.”

“Uh…Reggie…I’m Reggie.” Reggie had to struggle to get the words out of his mouth.

Alice turned to continue her artwork. “So tell me Reggie: you often stand around here and stare at the girls?”

Reggie’s eyes widened as he realized that what he was doing might have come off as a little creepy. “No! No, I just…I saw you painting, and I was curious.”

“Not a bad save. Well, take a look.” Alice stepped aside so Reggie could get a full look at the pillar. Two purple flowers were entwined together by the stems. They were photorealistic to the point that Reggie felt like he could pull them right off the pillar.

“Woah. They're really good.”

“Thanks. I’ve had a lot of time to practice. There’s only so much to do when you’ve been dead for about 40 years.”

“40 years?!” 

“Yep. You're new to this whole ghost thing, aren’t you?”

“Yeah…we died back in ‘95, but for some reason we were stuck in this weird black room for 25 years. We only got out about a month ago.”

“Huh.” Alice began to pick up the spray cans that she had strewn on the beach and put them into a black duffle bag.

“What? Is that not normal?” Reggie asked.

“Nothing is normal about the afterlife. Everyone is on a different journey. You said you were with others right?”

“Yeah my band. We all kind of died together.”

“Must have been nice.” This time it was Alice’s turn to turn red as Reggie stared in confusion. “Oh I just meant not being alone when you became a ghost. You’d be surprised how rare that is.”

Reggie was about to respond when, off in the distance, he heard music playing. The familiar sound of his band drumming in his ear. He thought it was just background noise playing in his mind before he remembered what time it was.

“Shoot! I’m late for band practice. They are gonna kill me!”

“Your band still plays?”

“Yeah! Julie and the Phantoms! Tell your friends!” Reggie was about to poof out when he turned to Alice one last time. “Any chance I can see you again?”

“Maybe. I’m either here or at the park up the road most days.”

“The one with the orange garden?”

“The very same.”

“Great! See ya!”

Reggie poofed out before he could see the amused look on Alice’s face.

[alondradina]

Domaystic day 4!

Prompt: Packed lunch

Fandom: Harry Potter

Pairing: Harry Potter/Tom Riddle

Rating: T

https://archiveofourown.org/works/46893625/chapters/118296856

-

The Weasley home was exactly as Harry remembered: pleasantly homely and crowded. It was the first Sunday brunch he had been able to attend since moving out of the Dursleys' house, and the sweet cacophony of the Weasley brood making nuisances of themselves was music to his ears.

He only made it as far as the gate before Mrs. Weasley spotted him through the kitchen window. Beaming, she passed the spatula to Ginny and bustled out of sight. Ginny nodded in greeting — ducking her head in an attempt to hide her blush — and waved the spatula at him. He waved back.

"Harry!" Mrs. Weasley cried, rushing out the front door. She quickly wiped her hands on her apron before enveloping him in a sausage scented hug. Giving him a tight squeeze, she stepped back and smiled up at him. "You came!"

"How could I resist?" Harry joked, waving at the twins as they made obnoxious lip smacking noises. Their mother turned around, and they swapped to blowing her kisses.

"Hey, Harry," Ron greeted. Stepping around the twins, he gestured for Harry to join him inside. "Ditch your roommate?"

"Your mother suggested I invite him."

"Did you?!"

Harry shrugged. "Yeah, but he said he had to study."

"Sure, study," Ron scoffed, "Hermione's used that one a couple times."

"I think he was pleased to have the place to himself, honestly."

"Who are we talking about?" One of the twins asked. The other was still teasing Mrs. Weasley.

"Harry's stuck up, know-it-all roommate."

"The dreamboat?!"

Ron rolled his eyes. "Come on, George. Don't start that up again."

Which was the exact wrong thing to say, of course, and Harry left his friend to his fate. Wandering through the interconnected rooms, he passed Bill and Fleur changing Victoire's diaper in the den, Percy and Mr. Weasley discussing their mid level government jobs in the sunroom, and found Charlie sprawled face down on the living room couch.

Ginny poked her head out of the dining room and held a finger to her lips. Taking the hint, Harry left Charlie alone and instead followed Ginny into the kitchen.

"Sorry, he was out late last night."

"Didn't expect him to be here. Thought he was still out of the country," Harry said, automatically reaching out to help Ginny get one of the platters from an upper cupboard. He assisted her in setting the expanded dining room table, and then started bringing the food in.

"Phew, thanks," Ginny swiped the back of her hand across her sweating forehead and frowned at the clock. It was almost noon. "I don't know how mom does this every week."

"She's obviously magical."

"If she were magical, you and George wouldn't have gotten away with nearly as much." Ginny rolled her eyes at the twin who was nonchalantly strolling into the room, ignoring Ron's raised voice.

The other twin appeared behind his brother. "Whatever do you mean, dearest sister?"

"I think our dear, sweet baby sister is insinuating that we were naughty children," George lamented, pushing past Fred to sit at the table.

Fred sat across from his brother, and gestured for Harry to sit next to him. When the invitation wasn't immediately accepted, he pulled the chair out and patted the seat meaningfully.

"I don't want to sit by them!" Ron yelled as Harry finally sat, "I live with them!"

"You can come sit by us then," Bill offered. His wife set Victoire in her highchair and buckled the toddler in.

Ron blushed and sat on the other side of Harry. "It's fine."

Fred leaned over and stage whispered, "Methinks ickle Ronniekins still has a widdle crush on our sister-in-law."

Ron turned an even brighter red and glared at his plate. "Do not."

"Oh! Everything is ready?" Mrs. Weasley questioned, seemingly at a loss without a task at hand.

"Looks like it," Mr. Weasley grinned at the people gathered around the table. "Must be time to eat!"

As always when Harry ate at the Burrow, the food seemed to never end. Any time a dish was emptied, it reappeared minutes later — steaming hot. They sat at the table, nibbling on bacon and sausages, and caught up with each other's goings-on.

The next time Harry glanced at the clock, it was past two o'clock. "Oh, wow. I didn't realize how long I'd been sitting here."

"It's not that late," Ron dismissed, eating one last bite of toast before pushing away from the table. "You know how it is around here."

"Yeah, but I've got some homework I need to finish up and grocery shopping to do."

Ron groaned. "You couldn't do that tomorrow? Or yesterday?"

"Tom reminded me on my way here," Harry shrugged before standing and addressing the table. "I've got to head out, guys."

"Do you-?"

"-sure you can't-"

"-a ride?"

"Yes, I do have to go, I'm sure I can't stay, and I'll catch the bus. It'll be here at three past three, so I will have time to say goodbye and walk to the station."

Harry always gave himself at least a half hour for farewells. The Weasleys were an affectionate bunch, and there was a lot of backslapping and many hugs. There was also a copious amount of leftovers, somehow, and Harry found himself weighed down by multiple plastic bags filled with various sized ziplock bags containing anything he wanted and more.

"Make sure to share with your roommate, dear," Mrs. Weasley admonished, pinching a cheek affectionately before letting him out of the house. Their chorus of goodbyes buoyed him down the lane and into the bus, which he just barely caught.

When he finally made it home, some time after five, Harry was surprised to find Tom in the living room.

The other boy looked up from his book when the door opened, but returned to reading as soon as he saw it was Harry. "Did you buy the store?"

"Huh?" Harry glanced down at all the bags he was carrying. "Oh, no. Half of this is just from the Weasley brunch."

Tom marked his page and closed the book. Standing, he joined Harry in the kitchen and watched him unpack the bags "How much food do they need?"

"There's a lot of them. They've only got Ginny at home now, but there's six brothers who come to Sunday brunch. The oldest, Bill, is married, and his wife and kid come as well."

Tom hummed — obviously not particularly interested in the Weasley family — and watched Harry pull all the ziplock bags out and set them on the counter.

"This is all breakfast food," he pointed out, hefting a bag of cooked sausages.

Harry frowned at the mini fridge. "Don't think I'll be able to fit all of that."

"You're not going to be able to eat it all before it goes bad, anyway."

"Some of it is yours," Harry said, pulling out some of his old leftovers and throwing them away to make more room. "Mrs. Weasley wanted you to have some as well."

"Why would I want leftover breakfast food? It doesn't even reheat well."

"It's free?" Harry offered, knowing that wouldn't be a good enough reason for his roommate. Tom was very particular about what he ate.

Instead of the expected sneer, Tom just snorted and checked one of the other grocery bags. "Is anything I requested in here?"

"This bag," Harry held out the bag he'd kept on the floor next to him. "I was going to prioritize getting your stuff in the fridge."

"Oh."

When there was no follow-up to that, Harry looked up to find Tom watching him with narrowed eyes. "What?"

"What do you want?"

"What?" Harry repeated, eyebrows furrowing in confusion.

Tom moved forward to stand over Harry's kneeling form. He frowned down at him. "People always want something. No one does anything without expecting something in return."

"I, uh, don't need anything? I'm just being nice."

"But why are you being nice?"

Harry chuckled awkwardly. "I mean, why not?"

Tom scoffed and stepped back to sit at the table, still watching Harry.

"You know-" Harry began, then paused as Tom's eyes hardened.

"What?"

"We could, uh, we could try being friends? That's all I'd like, I guess."

Tom considered him for a moment. "Why?"

"We live together. We could hang out sometimes." Harry turned to start putting away the new food. He'd never before understood how someone could sense that they were being watched.

"I will consider it," Tom said eventually. His face was carefully blank when Harry glanced at him.

Harry shot him a lopsided grin. "That's all I ask."

[icefrozendeadlyqueen]

The Dove for The Vampire: Prologue

Pairing: Rosalie Hale x Stacy McCain (oc).

Warning: Fluff, Swearing, Mates, Broken.

Words count: 5101 (I am so sorry).

Summary: Rosalie believes through the centuries her forever was Emmett only to finds out Forks has other plans. Throughout her Vampire life she had no doubt about it. Stacy has lived her Reservation High School experience to the fullest knowing that despite having beta blood running through her very veins – there is no wolf in her very future. Starting new year in forks high of all places thanks to her sister.

A/N: I couldn’t resist bringing up I find it full off fluff. I am so sorry in advance. I did added a lot in the past, and I am so sorry about that if it was to much please let me know. I will try for next time not too go overboard. The gif doesn’t belong to me! Thank you so much for stopping by. I will be writing the first chapter sometime over the weekend. I need to head to bed now

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Stacy laid her head back onto Rosalie’s lap watching the clock tick by without a set worry. Rosalie’s manicure hands run through Stacy blonde locks; a shoulder length cut a memory of a promise. Rosalie’s rest her back on the coach while holding Stacy’s head. The family left to hunt an hour ran past not a single word spoken from neither woman, Stacy rolls her lips into a smile followed by a sudden chuckle. December was rushing every bone in her body with that familiar ice-cold reminder of her humanity.

“Rosalie,” Stacy whispers under her breath which matters not vampires and their super hearing.

“Hmm?,” Rosalie answered. Her eyes close appreciating the sound of her mates beating heart music to her vampiric ears. A calming lullaby nothing not even heaven compares to it. Stacy peers up to Rosalie pale face despite the lack of color on her cheeks or the dark circles under her eyes it amplifies her beauty. Stacy loves Rosalie’s wavy blonde hair loving to run her hands through it, she is proud to have the bragging right of been the only person that can change Rosalie hair style without the following suit death glare. A beat then another breaks Rosalie from her calming lullaby as her mates’ heart beats become even more rapid than they were a second ago. Rosalie opens her eyes her eyebrows furrow scanning the room finding absolutely nothing in the room other than Stacy and her. Her ears did not catch a single soul in the house even though she was prepared to fight if she needed too everything to keep Stacy unharmed.

Rosalie glimpse down at Stacy baby blue eyes locking with her golden ones, Rosalie takes a deep breath even if she does not really need to do it. It’s an instinct at this point an automatic gesture her body makes unconditionally of being dead or alive. If emotions could be explain in words Rosalie couldn’t put hers into words just looking into Stacy eyes fixes everything to perfection, Rosalie traces her possibly cold fingers over Stacy warmth cheeks, a smile paints Rosalie cheeks waiting patiently for Stacy to speak her attention plaster on her mates waiting didn’t sound bad at all. Rosalie thanks her lucky star that allowed her to meet her mate; she believed for a long time that Emmett was her forever how wrong was she loving another that truly was not her to possessed.

“Do you think the world will ever find about your kind?”.

Rosalie eyes soften tracing Stacy’s face with one finger as she watches Stacy takes a deep breath, her head moves closer to the touch. Silence fills the room once more though their eyes lock themselves like a needly to a magnet with an unspoken understanding. An immersive ocean with the morning rays is the images filling Rosalie’s minds staring into such breath-taking eyes, “The Volturi will never allow for that to happen. Nonetheless, we have kept the secret of our existence to the minimum.” A smile painted itself onto Rosalie’s face changing the atmosphere as the room fills with both Stacy and Rosalie’s laughers a knowing look do they share knowing the Volturi would do anything to stop human from finding out they co-own earth as well.

“I would prefer to talk about how you safe my life”. Rosalie declares leaning back on the coach. Stacy abruptly seats up a chuckle escapes her lips. Rosalie leans on her hands keeping a close eye on her mates, “That’s not what I remember…” Stacy tries her best to explain herself as to what really happen that afternoon when their lives cross each other. Stacy pushes her short blonde hair behind her ears. Her eyes glance down at the coffee table in front of Rosalie’s legs seems way more interesting than Rosalie herself for some reason, “Remember Vampires have an excellent memory, my dove”. Rosalie whispers on Stacy’s ears, her breath tickles Stacy as her heart picks on speeds Stacy had no idea was even a possibility. Stacy looks to Rosalie golden eyes registering every little movement she makes not even the minimal it is; her legs shift or a shiver rans through her back. There is a possibility Rosalie saw that too.

“You never told me your side of the story.” Rosalie reminds Stacy.

“Well, it was new year’s…” Stacy softly whispers a sigh escapes her lips starting the long journey of the reason she got a mate and a checkmate something she really believe would not happen. Stacy would never forget the events prior to meeting Rosalie her lips move before her mind or heart could register as she finally tells Rosalie her side.

                                                          -x-

“Happy New Year, Houston!!,” Stacy calls out into the empty room. She claps her hands a smile wears her lips staring directly at the laptop screen seating on the kitchen island. A warm smile wears her sisters clapping alongside her.

“Happy New Year, Stacy!!,” Houston quickly A warmth envelopes Stacy’s heart as her sister laughs. A person she knows will always have her back no matter what. Life may through rocks at Stacy, but she knows in her heart her sister will always have her back. A new year canvas to paint with new adventures if this year starts as empty as the last; there isn’t much she can say other than there is only one year until she moves away from forks, the one more year this brand new year is her 18th birthday in which she will finally be old enough to leave this forsaken depressive town with its history following wherever she goes. Fuck family lineage, fuck werewolves, fuck the fucking pack it has only ruin her family as small and broken as it is now.

Stacy inhales deeply the happy smile that wore her lips got turn into a tempted frown as tears fight to ran down her eyes.

“I am so tired of been here, Houston. Isn’t there a way for me to do my last year over where you and dad are?.” Stacy pleads one last time before she finally gives up. A couple of tears ran down her cheeks dropping on the kitchen island. Stacy moves the hem of her sweater to clean her tears away trying her best to stop herself but no matter her tears continue. “Werewolf treaty states that dad has no say in anything relating to taking you from the reservation grounds without a sign letter from mom. I hate that specific facts, and the rules we have to go through. I wish I could help you sis; however, I can’t really leave LA”. Houston resides the rules place upon them since they were children. Stacy glances up at the laptop seeing the gold bracelet tightly lock on her sisters left wrist it has odd symbols engraved on it.

“I am sorry… I forgot you are in prison because of me..”. Stacy places her hand on the laptop screen as Houston does the same pretending, they could touch palms. Houston shakes her head tears filled her eyes, “I would have done it again if I got the chance too..”. Houston stutter her words out tears ran down her cheeks as Stacy and her cry in union fresh tears running down Stacy’s face.

“We would have made it if it wasn’t for that Cullen child.” Houston blurts bitterly.

“It is a year. In my birthday, I will take a flight straight there then we will never be separate ever again”. Stacy proclaims a nod Houston sends her sister.

“Oh! I have news! I convince mom to transfer you to forks high. I heard some werewolves go to Forks High School, so I thought it would be better than the reservation with the fucking judgement,” Stacy eyes widely open at such happy news. Stacy uses the hem of her sweater to clean the tears from her face just to see her sister clearly, “Can the werewolves outside in the house can hear us?”. Houston shouts though she tried to whisper it failing miserably. Houston runs a hand through her brunette hair, her hazel eyes search Stacy baby blue ones. Stacy moves her head back laughing Houston did not find such reply amusing at all.

“I learn from the bed a simple spell to make the dumb werewolves not have a clue what we are saying. I am not making the same mistakes again”. Stacy swings her hand back flipping her hair as Houston laughs resonate in the kitchen. Stacy glimpses back at her sisters moving the laptop closer to her face, “Just a couple more months till your birthday then we will be together forever”. Houston whispers sweetly resisting the need to stare at the golden bracelet. Stacy stares directly at the object her. She glares at the evil object her father handmade to keep Houston stuck in the place keeping her from trying to disturb the treaty that separates families and mates all together.

“Houston?”, Stacy inhales deeply her hands sweat profoundly as her heart beats increases. There are some things Stacy knows she should not say or talk about, but there is a part of her that wants to know what her sister thinks or what she believes. Stacy loves Houston to death looks up to her sister that got away from the hell of this life living among humans with dad.

“Yeah, Stace?”.

Stacy rolls her eyes for a mere second forgetting the question she wanted to ask despite the nickname her sister tag along since she was 9 years old. Houston pulls her hands up running her fingers through her hair fixing her hair into a ponytail, she holds the hair tie with her lips waiting for Stacy to tell her what’s in her mind.

“Do you think mom and dad will ever find each other’s again? I mean, they are mates…” Stacy stops midway through her thoughts not knowing how to proceed the following truth of something that should be natural a werewolf other half is the heaven and earth of their existence. Houston pulls her hair in a long ponytail; she plays with her fingers looking away from the screen like a toxic wasteland a topic Stacy knows for a fact is simply impossible to bring up without confusion from both sisters.

“I am aware we promise never to bring it up again! I get it... I jus-“. Stacy stops herself once more looking anywhere else but the laptop screen.

“If it’s any consolation dad stares at our pictures every night, he just doesn’t say anything about mom’s decision,” Houston voice reaches the corners of Stacy’s brain when she remembers last week mom hush cries from her room as dad and her anniversary day passed like previous years same outcome since that day nothing has change.

“Mom stills cries in their anniversary. She just busies herself with pack work.” Stacy answers.

Houston nods a ding plays from Houston’s phone. Stacy watches her sister apologize looking at the notification a smile plasters her lips. Stacy raises an eyebrow curiosity creep through her bones wanting to know who this might be, “Is it dad?”.

“Huh.” Houston glances off, she blinks a couple of times before putting the phone down again. Houston looks around then brings the laptop closer to her face. It is like making sure dad is not around or in hearing distance. There is a twinkle of light Stacy has never seen before in her life, “Do you remember two years ago when I took a trip to Italy?”. Houston starts slowly taking a short breath between every word hushing her tone down a couple of times before continuing.

“How did dad let you go to Italy with the bracelet again?” Stacy interrupts Houston explanation short. A chuckle escapes Houston playfully glaring at Stacy. Stacy burst out laughing soon after loving these little moments, “If you must know there was an independent short film shooting in Italy, my agent notifies me of the potential exposure to my career. I ask dad.” Houston explains another ring from the background Stacy can only assume is her sister’s phone. Houston’ hazel eyes ran to stare at the phone but looking back at Stacy.

“Plead. Let us be honest, sis. Dad would NEVER let you go alone to Italy”. Stacy adds softly correcting Houston who nods slowly but continues her story. Stacy stands up from her seat and walks the short steps to the refrigerator taking a water bottle from inside closing the door behind her with her foot. Houston clears her throat as Stacy takes a sip from the bottle. She seats back down, “His only condition was that I keep him updated of my location, where abouts at all times from the film shooting then my hotel room and obviously he asks me to stay away from Volterra”.

“Volterra?” Stacy reaches over for her phone clicking a new tap to open after the external search for her history paper for Winter Break, fun not. If Houston had told Stacy earlier, she would not even need to do it, she isn’t going to the reservation high school anymore. She wastes good hours on that dumb paper, she would have preferred sleeping. Stacy types the place wondering what type of place would make her father just prohibited Houston from going. Stacy reads through the information about the city, “It’s beautiful! Tell me you went.” Stacy checks different places of the city taking every detail in.

“Stop! Let me tell you what happen!” Houston screams outload annoyed at her sister. Stacy raises her hands defensively nodding whispering a soft, “sorry. Proceed.”

“Okay. Thank you. Dad allows me to go not before tinkering with the bracelet to allowed me to be in Italy without excruciating pain. I told my agent, and I got sent the first script which dad read through it checking with my agent that I would not be anywhere near Volterra. Talita reassured dad that any changes; she will notify him of any substantial changes. It was a fair exchange and dad let Talita pick me up and we took a flight to Italy a week early than what was plan”. Houston takes a deep breath a chuckle escapes her lips giving the room over her computer a once over.

“Stop looking around and continue! It is not like dad will poof into the room or anything.” Stacy calls out inching closer to her laptop. Houston glances down at her sister giving the room a once over again, “The shooting went as one expected amazing. I found out my paper in the film changed completely with that the script changed too. I assume Talita told dad because she assured me, he knew. The script writer watches some of my perform videos and request that I do an Overture in the steps of Volterra specially the fountain that is closest to the castle there.” Houston takes another deep breath as Stacy mouth stood ajar at this latest information.

“Oh shit! Dad was convinced just like that. I need to know what type of voodoo shit your agent did because she is superman”. Stacy puts the water bottle on the counter, jumping from her seat shaking her body. Stacy takes deep breath alongside Houston then seats back down to listen to her sister story when it’s getting good, “I didn’t know about the details I just know when I blink, I was in the most magnificent dress I have seen in all my life like I belong to there. The piece I was to play was about a woman calling out for her lover. I had to sell that piece, and the director notified me I only have two chances to sing the song. Talita asks them not to show my face. I found that extremely weird as a woman calling for her husband, I had to show emotions; however, I didn’t ask her why the sudden change”.

Stacy leans forward on her seat catching Houston looking down at her phone then back at her sisters. Houston claps her hands together before she continues once more, “I was expecting to find an empty area. It was late at night, and I had just finished battling my nerves. Talita assured me there wouldn’t be anyone seeing my performance at such hour everyone is probably at the opera… how wrong we were”.

“There were people?”. Stacy asks softly locking eyes with her sisters. At this point completely devoted to her sister’s story. Stacy has forgotten what they were chatting prior to this.

“That is not the problem. Before I even started, we were approached by guards from the castle asking us that we were granted permission to perform in the Volterra’s Gardens. The director said yes without asking anything. I found that stupid because that was not in the script or the plan; however, he said it is a once in a lifetime chance or whatever. Talita came alongside me. I thought she had left, but we entered this magnificent castle. They took the crew and us through so many different passages so extremely confusing. Talita kept asking questions which only a very tall guard was answering her curiosities. He had short black hair, tall as a freaking house and every single one of them wore these ominous uniforms black and red with long capes. He kept staring at Talita too, so it was really creepy”. Houston stops abruptly. Her body shudders from a memory. Stacy raises an eyebrow, “and you didn’t say anything why?”.

“There was a high chance my big mouth would cause me to lose the role, so Talita told me not to worry. She assures me her karate training when she was 8 years old has never failed her. I have never laughed so hard in my entire life. We reach this open throne room not the gardens. There were 3 older gentleman seating at the back with two more guards in between them. The crew didn’t ask questions as the director asked Talita to ask the tall guy if they can perform here? Talita did as ask, and he introduced himself as Felix while Talita nodded excusing herself and going to help me prepare then she move away from the shot”. Houston takes a deep breath before continuing, “Continue. I need to know who is texting you.”

“I am going. Felix moves to Talita. She recorded my performance on her phone just a little bit, but she told me they didn’t notice her recording. A guy as gorgeous as everyone in the room or even more took a couple of steps towards me speaking to me. I look to Talita as she is my agent and translator. She said he loves my voice. I smile and say thank you. The guy on the left with long black hair too seating by the thrones at the back said a phrase. The 3 of them look towards Talita and Felix while then look at me and the guy and female standing by their thrones. Talita walks to me locking her hands in my arms. She looked petrified and did not told me what they were saying she just stare at me grabbing my left wrist taking the bracelet off without saying a word”. Houston stops glancing at Stacy waiting a bit. Stacy eyes wide open at such revelation.

“You can’t perform without the bracelet off! Dad prohibited that!.” Stacy opens her hands performing some type of unexplained language as Houston shook her head.

“To make the story short. I had look at Talita shaking my head at this because doing such a thing would signify, I break my oath to dad. I grasped the bracelet once more from her shaking hands. She started whipping, holding me to her. I look back to see Felix approaching us. While I look to my front two other guards approach us. Now we were the only ones in the room; I didn’t even notice where the crew disappeared too. The female walks up to us introducing herself and her brother as Jane and Alec. She reassured me we will be leaving the castle unharmed.” Houston stops scratching the back of her neck looking over at her sister. She puts a leg crossed over the other as Stacy raises an eyebrow, “excuse me, unharmed? What the flying fuck”

“At that very moment when her red blood eyes stare back at my hazel ones even if it’s impossible, they soften along her brothers. They guided us away Stacy. Their eyes, all 3 of them were blood red, and I got the most vomit infused feeling that I should have listen to dad because I understood why Talita was in whimpers. Which creatures Dad always warned us about, and he tells us to be careful of. He tells us to not go out at night, especially be home before the sun goes down”.

“Oh shit!” Stacy holds her head in disbelief staring at her sister trembling from the memory.

 “I took courage from the deepest side of my stomach and straight up ask are you going to drain us. Jane and Felix stop moving staring at me while Alec shakes his head reaching for me saying a softly, we would never in perfect English this idiot made me believe he didn’t spoke English. Anyways they guide us to the outside. Talita held my hand rushing me away from them towards her rental car. She buckled me in before going to the driver’s side. She rushed us out of there. It was like the floor was lava.” Houston takes a breath glancing down at her phone then back at Stacy.

“Dad can never find out about this. He. Will. Set. Volterra. In. Fire.” Stacy softly replies, her mind stops looking over at her sister not sure what to say. Stacy stops then proceeds to open her lips once more, “Wait.. You left without exchanging phone numbers. How is he texting you?”

“After Talita internal shock and nervous breakdown. She realized we left our passports in our bags back at Volterra with our phones. Talita went back to get our stuff because without it we wouldn’t be able to leave the country. Talita took that chance to tell me Dad had no idea that we were ever in Volterra. She drove back to Volterra for our stuff telling me to call dad if she didn’t return to me”. Houston picks up her phone opening the message sending a text then looking up at Stacy raising an eyebrow at her sister.

“You do understand keeping a history with vampires usually leads to death, right? Dad was specific about that.” Stacy states out the obvious glancing out to her sister shaking her head. Her baby eyes wore disappointment for the first time ever.

“Did Talita return at least? How are you still doing anything without your agent?”. Stacy asks, crossing her arms over her chest. Stacy glares at her sister, “They kill Talita and you mingling with the enemy. Are you fucking serious?!” Stacy opens her hands widely shouting at the top of her lungs, not sure if her sister is faking stupidity or just a good actor. Hazel eyes shakes her head vividly opening her mouth to quickly respond, “No! Talita is fine! She lives in Volterra now. She comes every so often to help me. She is in charge to keep me safe trying to convince dad to take the bracelet off, so she can take me to Italy. Jane and Alec texted me wherever they can we had to teach them how to use a phone and a computer”.

“Sis... you stay connected with Vampires not 1 but 2. What exactly do you tell dad when they call? Do not tell me you say friends from Italy.” Stacy feels her heart shattered into a million pieces after the disappointment that her sister is mingling with what their father considers the worst kind of supernatural creatures. Dad really hates Vampires with a passion like merely saying he will prefer anything else even werewolves over vampires.

“You are probably right but look. Hear me out.” Houston tries to explain herself as she grabs her phone looking up something from it.

“You are going to defend leeches that can potentially suck your blood”. Stacy rolls her eyes not sure why is Houston defending Vampires now. Stacy phone dings, she reaches for it seeing a message from Houston a picture. Stacy sighs heavily unlocking her phone to catch a glimpse of a good-looking guy with dark brown hair and red eyes a smile on his lips next to a girl with younger features, but Stacy could really get behind how pretty she was blonde locks up on a bun red eyes too. The first picture Alec wore a smile while Jane wore a serious face; Stacy slides her fingers to the new set of pictures Alec lowers to Jane the pictures show them chatting then Jane poses once more next to her brother smiling this time, “She smile because the photo was going to be sent to you huh?”.

“I can only assume. They are unfamiliar with phones, so I got over fifty pictures.” Houston shrugs her shoulders a smile wore her lips glancing down at her phone. Stacy rolls her eyes, “Dad will go hunting red coats if something happens to you”. Stacy blurts, annoyed at how the conversation changes. She is happy for her sister to have found something nice. There is a tug on her heart that she does not like any part of this. Stacy glances at the clock on top of the refrigerator on her left, “It is 2:55 am. I need to close the call mom is almost home.” Stacy speaks loudly enough for Houston to hear her. Her fingers reach out to her laptops as she lowers the screen.

“Good night, Stace! I’ll add you to the chat!”. Houston excitedly calls back chuckling in the background like a high schooler on their next fix. Stacy stops blurting the first thing that she thought really not giving it much a thought, “Sure whatever floats your boat”.

Stacy closes the laptop picking it up under her arms grasping the water bottle rushing out the kitchen; her feet take a straight right turn up the steps just as the front door open slowly. Stacy hurries even quicker hoping she could reach her room before her mother decided that they needed to have a heart to heart; however, she wasn’t as lucky tonight as she thought.

“Stacy. Happy New Year, my treasure! How is Houston?”. Lucy calls out from the bottom of the stairs. Stacy stood on the middle of the stairs counting the 6 stairs left to be on the second floor far away from these meaningless conversations that lead to nothing in the end her mom will be long gone in the morning not even a good morning. It is a fable trying to expect some type of familiarity through her.

“Happy New Year, mom.” Stacy words felt like chalk in her lips not even something she wanted to say. Her throat was dryer than the Sahara, Stacy gulped whatever saliva she had but it absolutely made no difference. She takes a deep breath whispering the first thing that came to her mind, “You would know how she is doing if you had call; however, you don’t really care do you mom?”. Stacy resumes walking up the stairs.

“Stacy McCain!”. Lucy shouts

Stacy continues walking up the stairs not even caring that her mom would retaliate like if she would tempt that.

“I am sorry!” Lucy cries out. Stacy stops before taking the last step up the stairs to finally be free from this façade of faces and smiling without a necessity is not like her mother cared for her the pack came first.

“I am sorry for 4 years ago. I had to set an example of your sister… it was either that or her exile from the pack forever. She would not have been able to step in forks again. She kidnapped a member of the pack! I did not want to lose my daughter forever”. Lucy shouts, trying to get a reaction.

“I don’t have a wolf, Lucy. She was not kidnapping anyone at all. You were incapable to sustain your mate with you for long, and you won’t be able to keep holding onto me once I turn 18 years old. I will be leaving this dumb to be with dad and Houston”. Stacy informs her mother before continuing to walk turning right into the hallway in the back Lucy screams, “what? I have done everything to save you!”. Lucy runs up the stairs. Stacy closes her bedroom door locking it for good measures. Lucy stops at Stacy door knocking on it, “Stacy. Please, I beg you.”

“Go beg your mate mom. Oh wait. You cannot! You choose the pack take the fruits of your labor.” Stacy screams at the door at the top of her lungs. Tears threaten to paint her cheeks with their droplets from her already rosy cheeks. She falls back into her bed hugging the laptop to her chest.

Stacy has no idea how long she has been crying for. Her chest is heaved no crying seems to stop her chest from breaking into a million pieces. She can’t wait till she leaves this rotten place forever and never looks back. Forks has taken everything from her. This fucking pack has taken everything from her, and she is not going to give them anymore of her tears. It stops now. Stacy reaches up to her pillows pulling one down to lay her head on it. Her eyes felt heavier by the knocks on her door she welcomes sleep to a dream world where her family isn’t as broken anymore.

[hifilounge]

dCS Audio Visit to hear their new Flagship Varèse System, Quite Astonishing!

Hi Everyone,

So Billy and I were extremely privileged to be invite to dCS Audio on Wednesday to be one of the 1st in the world to hear the new 5 box flagship Varese music system.

Now I must try and keep my enthusiasm in check here as it is not very often that I am left speechless but when doing a direct comparison to the incredible Vivaldi stack the difference really was quite starting but it is really hard to put it into words as it is like nothing I have head before.

It wasn’t just better in the normal area’s like you would expect, ie more detail, more clarity and separation, tighter bass etc, yes it did all that stuff but it was fundamentally a very different presentation, it was just so big, it went beyond the walls, you felt like you could climb into the recording and have a look round, sounds mad I know but it was quite a confusing experience, Billy and I just sat listening gobsmacked at what we were hearing.

We started off listening to the Vivaldi and it really did sound excellent and I was sitting on the sofa infront of the Wilson Alexx V’s hoping I could hear a difference, how embarrassing would that have been but once switched to the Varese the whole system came alive, not in a subtle way but in a way that I have never heard a source change things that much before.

As I said at the time when we switched from Vivaldi to Varese it was as if the guys at dCS had also changed the amps and speakers too as the speakers sounded much bigger and the amp more effortless, it really did give the whole system a massive lift.

We sat through a really interesting presentation on how over 5 years or R&D has gone into Varese and how it is a 100% new ground up design where they really have re-invented what is possible with digital audio, there are so many innovative ideas that have gone into this and several patents it really does feel like a new dawn for digital music playback.

It is also worth mentioning that even though this is arguably the best source on the planet now it has been designed to be extremely easy to setup and use, each box is connected by one single, very clever, 'Actus' cable now and all the clock settings are now automatic, this really is high end plug and play. There will be a new Varese CD/SACD Transport coming along soon + the Core has slots in where you can plug in optional cards with other feature sets you may like such as an HDMI board or even adding some analogue inputs for people that have a turntable or reel to reel but don’t want a preamp, it really does have all the bases covered.

Ah yeah I forgot to mention that screen, other than being very cool that again is the heart of what makes the system so easy to use, basically the user interface, being touch screen you actually don’t need to open up your iPad now to get music playing as with one click on either the screen or the new funky remote you’ll have music filling your room, it really does sound like dCS have thought of everything here. Also when the new CD/SACD transport is launched that will be controlled by the screen.

So what more is there to say other than well done to everyone at dCS for achieving something very special indeed, my only sadness is that not everyone, in fact most people, will not be able to afford it but the good news is that as we will have our demo model shortly so at least anyone coming into HFL will be able to have a listen and get lost in it as I did, we are planning to build a very special system with the Varese at the heart of it so watch this space.

We are also in the process of arranging with dCS an open day in the Autumn at dCS where everyone can experience what Billy and I did earlier this week, more info on this to come shortly.

Now I am just counting down the days till our demo Varese arrives as I can see myself spending many an hour getting lost in my favourite music once here.

Please feel free to get in touch for anymore information on Varese or dCS in general, please find the full range in the link below and some pictures - 

All the best,

Regards,

Paul.

[savefilescomng12]

Marjorie Taylor Greene backs away from imminent threat to oust House Speaker Mike Johnson

Washington — Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene appeared to retreat from her threat to imminently trigger a vote to remove Speaker Mike Johnson as House leader after lengthy meetings with him this week."Right now the ball is in Mike Johnson's court," Greene said Tuesday. She added that the timeframe for following through on her promise to force a vote is "up to Mike Johnson and it can't drag out." She said Johnson was not given a "specific timeline, but it's pretty short."  Greene met Monday and Tuesday with Johnson as the Georgia Republican weighed the exact timing of forcing a vote to remove him from leadership. Greene said last Wednesday she would start the clock on a vote to overthrow Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, this week after dangling the threat since March.  Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Rep. Thomas Massie speak to members of the press on the steps of the U.S. Capitol after a meeting with House Speaker Mike Johnson on May 7, 2024, in Washington, D.C.  Kent Nishimura / Getty Images But she emerged from the meetings to offer few details about her plans to force a vote, signaling that tensions could be cooling — at least until he makes another misstep in the eyes of the far-right.  Greene demanded that Johnson promise no more aid for Ukraine, no bill be brought to the floor unless the majority of Republicans support it, stripping funding for Justice Department investigations into former President Donald Trump and automatic spending cuts if the 12 appropriations bills are not passed individually. "I have high expectations and they have to be met in full," Greene said in an interview with former Trump adviser Steve Bannon on his "War Room" podcast before Tuesday's meeting. "There is no middle ground, there is no compromise." Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, said Tuesday the initial conversation was "productive" and "it was not a negotiation." He also described the second meeting as "productive" and said he was "optimistic" about finding a resolution on the suggestions. They did not have more meetings scheduled, he said. "I take Marjorie's ideas and Thomas' and everybody else's equally and we assess them on their own value, and where we can make improvements and changes and all of that, we do. That's what this is. There's nothing more than that going on," he said Tuesday morning.  Rep. Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican, joined both meetings. He and GOP Rep. Paul Gosar of Arizona are the only two Republicans who have publicly backed Greene's effort at this point. Johnson has repeatedly noted that he's leading a divided majority with a one-vote margin. Special elections in May and June to fill the seats of Republicans who retired in recent months are expected to help give more cushion to the GOP majority.  If Greene does eventually trigger a vote, Johnson is expected to survive the attempt to strip him of the gavel thanks to Democratic support that puts him in a stronger position despite the GOP's razor-thin margin of control. Democrats said they would thwart the effort to remove him after he defied conservative members of his party to support more aid to Ukraine.Democrats offering to help a GOP leader keep his power demonstrates how far conservatives' unwillingness to compromise has pushed the House toward this unique moment. But Democrats say the move is more about beating back the far right than saving Johnson. "Our view would traditionally be, 'Let the other side work its own mess out,'" House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, a New York Democrat, recently told "60 Minutes." "But when that mess starts to impact the ability to do the job on behalf of the American people, then the responsible thing at that moment might be for us to make clear that we will not allow the extremists to throw the Congress and the country into chaos."Johnson said Tuesday he expects to remain in power next year. "I intend to lead this conference in the future," he said at his weekly news conference. "I expect I'll be doing that in the future. I'm glad to have the support of President Trump."  Nikole Killion and Jaala Brown contributed reporting.  More from CBS News Caitlin Yilek Caitlin Yilek is a politics reporter at cbsnews.com and is based in Washington, D.C. She previously worked for the Washington Examiner and The Hill, and was a member of the 2022 Paul Miller Washington Reporting Fellowship with the National Press Foundation. Source link Read the full article

[day-poems]

11/6

The clocks have fallen back an hour

but my body has not. Always a dilemma

here in early November when Day

Light Savings ends. This whole change

the clocks thing might have made

sense once upon a time (and might not

have even then…but I have to ask

myself, at least twice a year, in the days

after, why we put ourselves through it?

If it were a gradual change, say a minute

a day over 60 days, or even two minutes

over 30, we would not even notice,

I don’t think, but this rip the bandaid off

approach to time is never anything

but painful. At least these days, most

of the clocks we rely on do it automatically,

but there are always those who wake

up an hour off and have to run to catch

up all day, or, here in November, stumble

waiting for the clock to catch up with us…

and even if we are not actually late or early

for anything, it feels as though we are,

as our body clocks struggle to reset.

I bet if they did a study they would

find an uptick in sudden on-set colds

and flus…stomach problems, and

migraines twice a year to match the

changing the clocks cycle…just to

name a few aliments that our body might

use to express its displeasure at having

its rhythms disrupted. Still, until better

sense prevails, we are stuck with it.

And no matter how long I wait, unless

I sit perfectly still for an hour, the clock

is never going to catch up with me today.

[countessofravenclaw]

Like the Red Rose blooms in the Oxford Garden: Chapter eight

Sometimes when your heart breaks… it feels like there is no way to fix it. No matter what you try. All the memories get left behind as something unfinished… But maybe, there is to way to fix it, A second chance. Some way to finish the story you two started writing because it was never the end, but just a part of the story… even if you have to travel far to achieve it.

Lavender haze creeping on you

“The windows in your room are much bigger than in ours,” Nina sat down on Gastón's bed in the guys’ dorm room. 

The clock was striking noon. It was more than fair to say that they had slept in… getting to wake up in his arms still somehow felt so surreal, but eventually, Gastón had to go to his own room to change. He had asked Nina to come to their room after she had finished dressing.

“Yeah, they are.” Gastón turned away from his wardrobe. “I think Jacob said that that there was some kind of renovation with the windows when he was a freshman.”

“Really?”

“Yes, I think so,” Gastón nodded, “You brought a jacket, right?”

“Of course, I did,” Nina got up from the bed picking up the white windbreaker she had with her. “But where are we going?”

“Not going to tell you,” Gastón grinned at her before placing his arm around her waist pulling her closer. Nina loved the fact that every barrier, that had been previously between them, were now completely non-existent. He didn’t shy away from touching her at all, and everything just seemed to fall into place automatically. 

“Tell me,” Nina gave him the most annoyed look she was able to.

“Okay…” Gastón only laughed at her, “All I am gonna say is that I think I owe you that I take you out, like properly.” Gastón looked up to the ceiling for a moment, “Probably should have started with that…” He leaned down so his lips were on her ear, pulling her ever closer. “Not that I mind how last night went down.”

Nina felt her heart speed up as she felt Gastón’s breath next to her ear. She momentarily considered suggesting of just scrapping whatever he had planned to favor some other activities. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him. 

It had been quite… a night… Nina had been able to count at least three hickeys around her neck and her shoulders in the morning. She had forgotten how easily she bruised on that area. It had definitely been a while, but everything still had gone like it had been the most natural thing in the world… and with Gastón it really was. 

“I think we should get going.” Gastón said after they separated. 

Nina pulled her jacket on while Gastón went to grab his own from the closet. She had looked at the weather forecast after Gastón had told her to bring a jacket, it was still early spring and quite chilly outside.

“Is that—?” Gastón walked back to up to her as she had been wrapping a scarf around her neck… Well, it was not just any scarf. It was the green scarf, that had originally been Luna’s, that Gaston had used as a blindfold at Ambar’s 17th birthday party. Luna had given it to Nina right after, and she had kept it in her nightstand at Buenos Aires ever since. It was a bit of her anti-nerves charm.

“Yeah, it is.” Nina nodded, “Luna gave it to me. It would be a bit weird if she had kept using it.”

“I know that,” Gastón traced his fingers on the fabric, “I just didn’t think that you’d have it with you, especially here. It would have been completely fair if you had thrown it out, I would have deserved it.”

“I didn’t throw anything out,” Nina admitted, looking down with a shy smile, “I, I couldn’t…”

“If you keep smiling like that, were never getting out of here.” Gastón leaned down and gave her a quick peck. 

“If you told me where we are going…”

***

“How long are we gonna keep walking?” 

“Just a little longer.”

“Where are we going?”

“Still not telling you.” Gastón laughed as he led Nina forward on the street they were walking. They had spent most of the mid-day strolling around a older part of town after having gone for lunch in a small cafe he knew. 

“These blocks are a labyrinth,” Nina continued, “How do you know how to navigate here?”

“Would you believe that I actually have done lot of walking, especially at these parts,” Gastón explained as they started walking up a hill. “Engineering requires way too much brain space sometimes, so I need something to clear my head.”

“I thought that was what the gym was for?” Nina asked while sliding her hands higher on his arms. 

“It is also what the gym is for.” Gastón explained while trying not to fully get distracted by how she was feeling up his arm at the moment. It made him want to stop and kiss her on the spot again. “You’re a writer, don’t you ever need to clear your head.”

“I should probably figure out something like that,” Nina looked up at him, “Being able to clear my head would be something very beneficial. It is hard to keep your thoughts together sometimes.” 

“Well, not that I had my thoughts straight any more than you had,” Gastón smiled at her back, “Wouldn’t have taken this long… to realize that I cannot give you up, again.”

“I don’t want to give you up either,” Nina looked around, “Where are we?”

“Maybe a month after I had come back here from Buenos Aires, obviously I was still a complete wreck and Matteo had just called me an idiot for the millionth time—granted I absolutely deserved it. I just had to get out. So, I started walking and ended up here, and I often come here when I really need to think.” Gastón turned Nina around, so she saw the whole park. “Now I don’t need to do that alone anymore and I don’t want to.” He took her hand and led to a bench in the middle of the park.

“I honestly still feel like this is just a dream,” Nina tightened her grip on his hands, “like I am going to wake up, back in Buenos Aires, as lonely and as miserable as I was the whole last year.”

“I know I hurt you,” Gastón looked down from her face, “I just didn’t want to hold you back.”

“You never could have done that.” Nina ran her fingers over his palm, “And yes, you did hurt me, but maybe I should have fought harder as well. It's pointless to try to look for villains now. There is no point staying apart if it makes both of us miserable. Watching Luna and Matteo, and Simon and Ambar really should have taught me that.”

“That still takes some getting used to… Simon and Ambar? And Luna and Matteo have actually soon been together for a year.” Gastón shook his head laughing.

“Time changes people,” Nina joined in the laughter, “You were actually quite lucky… you didn’t need to watch all the drama unfold, no matter how happy the ending was.”

“I got very colorful reports from Matteo, so I think I got the full picture,” Gastón nodded before running his fingers through her hair. “You’re right, about people changing. There’s no point in pretending that we are exactly the same people that we were in Buenos Aires two years ago, even if you haven’t grown an inch, but I don’t care. Everything I don’t know; I want to learn. I want to know everything about you again. I love you.”

“I love you,” Nina leaned her head on his shoulder, and he wrapped his arms around her waist pulling her closer, “It’s you and me now.”

A gush of chilly wind suddenly blew past them. Gastón felt Nina press herself against him tighter. He had taken note during the English winter that she was quite sensitive to the cold weather. Buenos Aires climate didn’t always make that apparent.

“Are you cold?” He rubbed her arms with his hands.

“I’m fine,” Nina looked up at him, “As long as you are holding me.”

Gastón leaned closer to kiss Nina. She responded at once and met him halfway lacing her fingers in his hair. Kissing her again, after so long, was a feeling he probably never could fully describe. She was amazing and after last night, there was no way he could keep his hands off her. 

The wind picked up once they separated and Gastón could feel Nina visibly shivering while some darker clouds started looming in the distance. 

“Were going now,” Gastón got up from the bench, “You’re freezing, and it looks like it’s starting to rain soon.”

“Will we make it to the car before the rain hits?” Nina got up and grabbed his arm.

“I know we will,” he smirked at her, “Where I parked, is actually very close to this park. We just took a detour while getting here.”

“You tricked me?”

“Well, yeah, kind of,” Gastón smirked at Nina, “Come on, before we get rained on.” 

He pulled her along as they started running towards where they had left the car. 

Gastón pulled the key out of his pocket and clicked the unlocking button as they were about 15 meters away from the car. 

As they got to the car, instead of getting onto the passenger seat, Nina stopped on her track and suddenly grabbed the front of his jacket and leaned against the car kissing him and pulling Gastón into her. 

The kiss was broken once they heard raindrops dropping down on them and on the car. 

“We were supposed to get out of the rain, right?” Nina said breathlessly before opening the car door she had been pressed against previously and getting onto the backseat, pulling his arm, and urging him to follow her.

***

Nina bent down to pick up another article of clothing from the floor and stuffed it in the canvas bag. Their first night have been spent at her room, but during the past week she had practically moved into Gastón’s dorm, so lot of her stuff had just migrated over. 

But, now the week was over. It was Sunday and the classes were resuming on Monday, which meant the return of everyone else. This, on the other hand, meant she and Gastón couldn’t exactly keep going with the arrangement they had at the moment, since they both had two roommates. 

It was crazy how things had changed so fast. A week ago, Nina had been losing her sleep over all the heartache over Gastón, and now it felt like they had never been apart. 

“Hey, what are you doing?” Suddenly arms wrapped around her waist pulling her closer and a light kiss was placed on her shoulder, which was bare given the quite wide V-neckline of her sweater.

Nina hadn’t realized how touch-starved she actually had been. Could you really become touch-starved when you were friends with Luna Valente? Luna didn’t let an opportunity for a hug ever go to waste, but that was so different from what this was. 

“You scared me!” Gastón had been at the gym the whole morning and Nina had not heard the door open. She dropped the bag and turned to face him. His hair was still partly damp from a shower, and it looked utterly adorable and extremely hot at the same time.

“I never locked the door so that’s why you didn’t hear it. Sorry, but I gotta say, you’re kind of cute when you’re jumpy,” Gastón grinned at her while moving his hands lower on Nina’s back. “But you didn’t answer. What are you doing?” He looked down at her bag. 

“Well, I have to get all my stuff out of here, or Oliver and Jacob will have couple of questions for you.” Nina drew a circle with her finger on his shoulder. “I can’t keep living here once they are back, in T minus five hours. No matter how much I’d want to.”

“We can’t just lock every door at campus and not let anyone in?” Gastón sighed, “It will sincerely feel weird to wake up without you in my bed.”

The way he was looking at her made Nina blush furiously. Truthfully speaking, the past week had been a ride of her life more ways than one. They were adults now, with no parents —especially her mother— breathing over their shoulders, there was no threat of getting caught and scolded. Not that had stop them before. Things got always heated between them super-fast, and it felt incredibly good. 

“I don’t think there is anything we can do.”

“So, we’re not telling them?” Gastón questioned. 

“I don’t know,” Nina shook her head. She had half forgotten that no one actually knew what had happened. “I guess, we could keep this to ourselves, for a while anyways. Until we figure out what this is.”

“Well, what is this?” Gastón’s grip on her waist tightened. “Nina, Yo te amo a ti. You love me?”

“Of course, I do.” Nina wrapped her arms around his neck so her fingers could reach his hair. “I can’t see my life forward without you. I have never been able to do that, no matter what.”

“And we’re not teenagers, who take months to make things exclusive or put labels on things because they don’t know how. As far as I am concerned, it is our time now, and I wanna be with you.”

“That's very clear. So, this is official?” Nina nodded.

“Very official.”

“But if we tell Marlee, Ariana, Jacob, Oliver and James, that would mean that we would need to tell them everything. That will get complicated.”

“I know. I am frankly not looking forwards to all the “told you so” the guys will shoot at me.” Gastón shook his head, “I am sorry I ever started that. Should have known it would end up backfiring, but I couldn’t think how to approach the topic. As far as they know, my ex is still in Buenos Aires.”

“I would have frankly done the same,” Nina chuckled. 

“That story is very longwinded and complicated…” Gastón looked at the ceiling for a moment, “I guess we could keep all of this, you and me, just between us, for a while. We’ll tell them when the time is right.”

“I’d like that very much.”

“They won’t be back for hours,” Gastón said, looking at his watch, “So, we have some time. We could go check out that place that opened at the campus corner.”

“Sounds good,” Nina smiled at him before looking to the floor where she had dropped her bag, “I’ll just drop my stuff to my room really quickly.”

“Not so fast,” Nina tried to turn but Gastón didn’t let go of her but instead pulled her closer. So close that their noses were touching. “I need to kiss you first.”

As should probably have been expected at this point, the kiss didn’t end up being short. He was such a good kisser; it was hard to get enough. Soon enough, Nina felt herself being lifted off the ground and being placed on the mattress of the bed.

*

Nina stepped into the elevator and pressed the button to the floor of her room. She hadn’t exactly made it out of Gastón’s room, when she had planned, but that didn’t really matter. Dropping off her stuff wasn’t exactly life or death matter anyways…

The elevator doors opened, and Nina froze for a moment from surprise as she saw someone else standing in the hallway. You could see the, clearly freshly touched-up, pink highlights from afar.

“Ariana?” Nina got out of the lift and started walking towards the door.

“Nina?” Ariana turned towards her from her bag that she had next to her, “Good thing you showed up. I buried my keys somewhere down in my suitcase.”

“I thought you were coming in in the evening.” Nina questioned as she took her own ley out and opened the door and Ariana started dragging her stuff inside. 

“My flight got canceled,” Ariana huffed as she got inside. “Can you believe it? It is literally an hour-long flight, barely any work for anybody. Wrecked all the plans I had for today. Had to take an earlier flight and almost everything was booked so I was forced to fly business… not that that was that horrible. Mom and Dad paid.”

Nina sat on her bed while Ariana talked, and discreetly ran her hand through her hair. Checking how it looked hadn’t really crossed her mind since she hadn’t expected to run into anybody. Her hair was low maintenance most time, the only time it got tangled was when Gastón really got his hands in it. Nina thought that she needed to come up with some way to ask Jazmin for some kind of hair care spray recommendation without giving anything away. But maybe it didn’t look that messed up right now. Ariana had a keen eye for any detail out of place and her sister-in-law was a hairdresser, so she would have probably already said something.

“Found them!” Ariana pulled her key chain out of her bag. “This is what I get for letting Grace help me pack. You really had splendid timing—” She turned toward Nina. “—otherwise, I would have been stranded. Where were you coming from?”

“The… laundry.” Nina invented fast. Coming from the library with a bag of clothes wouldn’t be believable. 

“With that bag?” Ariana pointed to the canvas bag.

“Yeah, I didn’t have that much.”

“Anyways, it must have been really peaceful here when everyone was gone,” Ariana continued, “Hopefully you didn’t get utterly bored.”

“No, there was no chance of that happening,” Nina just shook her head, hoping that her poker face was solid enough. It was kind of hard to get bored when getting to wake up on the arms of love of your life once more and feeling more alive than she had probably felt in two years. “I got a lot of studying done. Closing in on the physics exam so it was good that I was able to focus on that.”

“Gastón got everything cleared up for you?”

“Yes, we got a lot of things cleared up,” Nina said and couldn’t fully meet Ariana’s eyes. 

“I still can’t believe you actually took pointless physics class,” Ariana shook her head, “People who succeed in that must be crazy. Gastón and James are practically insane.”

***

Gastón looked up from his laptop as he heard a key being turned on the lock. He looked at his watch, which showed that it was definitely either Oliver or Jacob at the door. 

The plans for the lunch with Nina had turned into dinner after she told him about Ariana’s unannounced early arrival. That had been quite close, but at least it had been Ariana. If it had been Jacob or Oliver they would have been caught in the act, if you could say. Even James would have been worse than one of the girls.

“Hey! We’re back!” To his surprise, it was both of them. 

“I see you two finally came to disturb my peace,” he greeted them, while Oliver and Jacob dragged their stuff to the room. “I was already missing you two.”

“Well, can’t leave you with your own devices for too long.” Oliver dropped himself onto his bed. “I never want to take the train again.”

“Speaking off,” Jacob sat on his desk and started hooking up his complicated monitor system back up. “I could maybe be getting my grandpa’s car. The only problem is that I have never driven in nightmare traffic like London… probably gonna wreck it in a day.” He huffed. 

“There are couple of really sticky spots,” Gastón started speaking, “Only way to get through those is practice. I can go through them with you once you get the car.”

“Would you? Thanks. Papa will kill me if I destroy more cars, not that it was my fault last time. Note to self, never let Marlee drive.”

“Have you taken something?”

“What?” Gastón turned his head so fast that he surely tore some muscle on his neck once he realized that Oliver was addressing him. “What on earth are you implying?”

“Nothing, just—” Oliver was looking at him with furrowed brow, “Something seems off about you. I can’t put my finger on it.”

“I can assure that everything is splendid,” Gastón rolled his eyes.

“It’s not that—” Oliver continued, “—Just, maybe you seem in a better mood or something. I don’t know.”

“I honestly have no idea what you are talking about,” Gastón shook his head. In all honesty, he did… Almost as long as Jacob and Oliver had known him, he had been heartbroken about everything that had happened with Nina. Now he had her back, unannounced to them obviously, and he was feeling much better. Like there was actually some light in the world again. “Aren’t I always on a good mood?”

“No, you’re not.” Jacob joined in. “We have been forced to look at your face for almost two years now.”

“Okay, maybe I am in a better mood?” Gastón wasn’t sure what they really wanted him to respond here, “I had a good holiday. I didn’t need to look at two of you for a week and had some space. There is nothing wrong, especially something like that, Oliver.” Gastón shot offended look towards him, “I am not stupid, and Mom and Dad would kill me.”

“Yeah, okay, sorry. Forget I said anything,” Oliver shook his head, “I am becoming my mother. She’s a therapist, and most concerned about what I am doing and do I have a job for the summer and wad not. Honestly, I’m the one who got into Oxford, I can take care of myself. She should put her energy into figuring out who Annie is dating or something. She’s 14 and on her third boyfriend already.”

“Well, have you filled any applications?” Jacob asked Oliver. Gastón was glad that topic got changed into something else. 

“Not yet, but I got couple things lined up in Cornwall. It will be impossible get anything from London.”

“I got the applications sent during the week.” Gastón remarked. 

“Why do you even bother?” Jacob questioned, “Renishaw will take you right back.”

“Well, that is the plan,” Gastón shrugged, “But I have no guarantee of it, so I need to have a backup.”

“How many contingency plans do you need?” Oliver looked at him unconvinced, “For being that smart, you sometimes seem to have zero confidence.”

“Being raised by two people from the poor part of Cordoba will do that to you. Can’t take anything for granted.”

“I thought they were rich?” Jacob asked, quite bluntly.

“Mom and Dad had it rough when they were younger,” Gastón explained, “Then they worked and got us out of there. I wasn’t born in Buenos Aires. It’s a long story, that even I won’t probably fully get to know it ever.”

Thankfully the topic fizzled out, just in time when Gastón’s phone dinged.

Nina: I’m able to get away soon. If that dinner is still on the table?

Gastón: Always. I need to get away from Oliver and Jacob. I already miss you

Nina: It has been a couple of hours

Gastón: A couple of hours too long. Is Marlee there yet?

Nina: No she’s coming later

Gastón: Good, she is harder to fool. Meet me at the garage in 30 min. Say that you're going to the library or something

Nina: Are we really sneaking around like some criminals?

Gastón: You bet we are. Not like we haven’t done it before

Nina: I love you

Gastón: Yo Tambien, te adoro mi amor

“That is exactly what I was talking about,” Gastón looked up when he heard Oliver speaking again and saw that he was eyeing him again suspiciously, “You have never smiled like that before.”

“You are really being serious right now?” Gastón tried to fake a disbelieving expression while he discreetly changed the chat he had with Nina to Matteo, “I was talking with Matteo.”

“What were you talking about to make you look like that?” Oliver raised his eyebrow at him, “You should see yourself.”

“We were talking about his upcoming anniversary plans with his girlfriend. He really wants to surprise her.” Gastón invented, “I am not allowed to be happy for them? You don’t know what Matteo and his girlfriend have been through. This means a lot for them.”

“I thought you were friends with her?” Jacob all a sudden asked

“With whom?”

“Matteo’s girlfriend.”

“Yes, of course, I am friends with her. She was the captain of our skating team, that's how they met.” Gastón started getting very confused. Why on earth was Jacob suddenly interested in whether was he friends with Luna or not? 

“I just find it weird that you never call her by her name” Jacob shrugged, “I mean you call all of your other friends by their names, no matter if we don’t know who they are, but she always just is Matteo’s girlfriend. Do you not know her name or something?”

Gastón tried to think of something and quickly. Obviously, he had been avoiding saying Luna’s name and for a good reason. He wasn’t fully aware of how familiar anyone else was with Nina’s best friend Luna Valente, but her name was surely in some kind of circulation. It would look bit odd if he also knew a Luna who was from Mexico. 

“Of course, I know her name,” Gastón tried to laugh it off, “I guess I never noticed that I speak about her like that…” Both Oliver and Jacob were still looking at him very suspiciously. Gastón realized that they were expecting him to actually give them a name. “...Her name is Sol.”

“Sol?”

“It means Sun in Spanish. Extremely accurate if you knew her. Matteo has a thing for things in the sky apparently.”

“Are celestial names some kind of trend in South America?” Oliver asked while sitting down on his bed, “Wasn’t Nina’s best friend called something similar… Luna or something?”

“Yeah, I think it was Luna,” Jacob pointed out. Gastón was glad that they were looking at each other and didn’t notice how he tensed for a bit. At least his choice of using Luna’s alternative name, for not exposing his and Nina’s secret past, was validated. “That means moon right?”

“Yes, it means the moon, people who don’t even speak English can figure that out.” Gastón looked at his watch and saw that the thirty minutes he had spoken to Nina about had almost run out and he should really get going. “As much fun this has been, I need to get going. I have things to do, so I’ll have to leave you to play detectives alone.”

***

“Look who decided to grace us with her precense?” Marlee exclaimed as Nina returned at to her room. Marlee had apparently arrived from Wales while she had been gone. “You were out late. Don’t tell me you’ve been out partying.”

“No, I wasn’t. I was at the library. Didn’t Ariana tell you.” Nina rolled her eyes. They had lost the track of time with Gastón, after having dinner they had ended up taking a long walk as the sun had been setting and had just kept talking. It was almost midnight now. They would have probably actually been back in a reasonable hour, if they hadn’t ended up kissing in the car for so long. “I found some research pieces on Agatha Christie.”

“Where are they?” Ariana asked suddenly, “Those books are huge.”

“Oh, I didn’t check anything out,” Nina explained quickly. She had never been that good at giving excuses, Luna always saw through her. Maybe it was a good thing that Marlee and Ariana didn’t know her that well, yet. “I read them there… that’s why it took so long.”

“Okay,” Ariana nodded and reached for her tablet, “We know better than get between you and the library.”

Marlee and Ariana seem to be focusing on their own things, with Marlee grumbling something about an unfinished essay and Ariana started drawing some commission she had gotten for an event poster. Nina took her jacket off. As she was looking for an empty for an empty hanger, her eyes noticed a black shirt at the back end of the closet. She had completely forgotten she even had that. Jazmin had forced her to buy it, saying that it would look good on her and that she needed some more daring clothing. 

Nina closed the closet door and sat on her bed as she felt her phone vibrate. A smile formed on her face when she saw Gastón’s message.

Gastón: Good night. I had a great time tonight

Nina: Me too. I love you

Gastón: I love you too… I’d rather be sleeping with you 

Nina tried not to blush as the conversation carried on. It was miraculous that he could still have this kind of effect on her. She was not a teenager anymore, nor was he, but he still had the uncanny ability to always know the right words to every occasion, even via text.

Gastón: I don’t know. It is going to be hard tomorrow, try to pretend that I am not madly in love with you

Nina: You have done good enough job this far

Gastón: Trust me, I have done a terrible job

“What are you smiling at?” Nina looked up from her phone from Marlee’s voice, “Who are you texting with?”

“Just Luna,” Nina lied quickly as she saw that Ariana too was raising her head from the tablet and two set of eyes were focusing on her once more. She really should learn to have better control over her facial expressions, since getting caught staring love-struck at her phone was not how this was supposed to go. “She sent me a picture of her boyfriend wiping out on the skates—you should really see it—and made a joke.”

“What kind of joke?”

“Just that: He even falls better than cooks pizza.” Nina internally cringed. She was supposed to be creative and a writer, but she was no actress, and impro was not her strong suit. 

“What does that even mean?” Ariana raised an eyebrow at Nina. Marlee didn’t look either like she understood the “joke”.

“Nothing really,” Nina scrambled to explain, “Just that, he’s Italian, so that’s the joke, because Pizza, Italy… you get the jist.”

“Gastón’s best friend is Italian too,” Marlee suddenly pointed out. Nina froze for a second. “Quite a coincidence.”

“Not really, actually,” Nina hoped that the brief moment of terror was not evident in her voice, “There are lot of Italian immigrants in Buenos Aires, between lot of generations. It’s not like they all know each other. The city is very multicultural. Luna herself is Mexican. I was surrounded by at least five different accents and everything.”

“That’s interesting.” Ariana propped herself up on her bed, “You know, I have noticed that you and Gastón have quite different accents, even when both of you are from Buenos Aires.”

“His parents could be from somewhere else, and who knows if he was actually born in Buenos Aires,” Nina tried to shrug. Obviously, she knew that Gastón spoke Cordoban Spanish, given that he had been born there and only moved to Buenos Aires once Isla had almost died and they had decided to give it their shot to have a better life. Something they had succeeded in miraculously. That accent was on of the most attractive things to her in the world. 

“Simonetti is actually a Italian name,” Nina said to change the subjects. “I am not Italian, but I might have some ancestry.”

*

“Why couldn’t vacations just last forever?” Marlee complained in the morning. All the girls were already up at 6 am since everyone had a 8:00 sharp class to welcome them back from the vacation. 

“You say that every time,” Ariana said as she pulled her hair into a ponytail, “So quit your complaining and come over here, if you wanted your hair look not like a hot mess. Grace taught me a new braiding technique.”

Nina was not paying that much attention as Ariana started sorting out Marlee’s hair. She opened up her closet and tried to come up something to wear. Her laundry washing schedule had kind of gotten messed up during the last week, so she didn’t actually have that many options. 

“Wow, thats a new look on you,” Ariana had looked up from Marlee’s head and was looking at Nina. 

“Oh, my friends forced me to get it,” She had ended up pulling the shirt she had been looking at yesterday from the closet. She had never worn it before, since trying it out at the store. It actually wasn’t as revealing as she had remembered, with the black top having cold shoulder cut outs and deep V-neck lined up with lace, or she was bit more confident in herself. 

“Well, it is looking good.” Marlee had also looked up, “Surely gonna catch some eyes. Are you trying to impress someone?”

“No,” Nina shook her head. It was the truth, that had not even crossed her mind… but now that she was thinking about it, she did wonder what certain someone would think… “I just had it at the back of the closet. I need to do some laundry, so I didn’t have much option.”

“Didn’t you do laundry yesterday?” Ariana pointed out obvious plot hole in Nina’s explanation already. 

“I did, but I need to do more.” Nina quickly shook her head, “We’re gonna be late.”

“You’re right,” Ariana got up from her chair and Marlee from the floor, “I need to make sure Oliver finds the class again.”

Nina grabbed her bag from her bed and the girls walked out of the dorm’s door. As they were walking, she discreetly looked at her phone and saw, to her disappointment, that Gastón hadn’t sent her anything. Not even message to say good morning. 

Surely, he was up already. He also had a 8 am class. He wasn’t sure when they would be able to talk to each other in peace before the classes would be over for the day. She already missed him so much, from just one night being spent apart. Maybe she could get him alone at lunch or something. 

She saw him from the fas as they got out of the stairwell at couple of levels lower. He was standing in the middle of the hallway with Jacob, Oliver and James. 

“I can’t believe my eyes,” Marlee exclaimed as they walked closer to the guys, “All four of you? Awake?”

“You act like this is the first time ever.” Jacob rolled hie eyes at her. 

Nina’s eyes locked with Gastón’s. He was looking at her quite intensely, she could see it from his eyes. Everyone else was focusing on the bickering match Marlee and Jacob were having, they didn’t notice as Nina and Gastón almost had a silent conversation through their eyes. The small worry Nina had had from not seeing him message her anything thoroughly melted away. In that moment she really felt how hard this really was. She really wanted to just walk up to him and kiss him on the spot but that would have cause quite a shock if anything.

“Okay, I think we better get back to class,” they tore their eyes off each other once Oliver started talking, “And Ariana, before you say anything, I did check, and the class location has not been changed.”

After a maybe a minute everyone scattered to go to their respective classes. As Nina started heading to her own direction, she tried to give Gastón a one more glance but didn’t see him anymore. He had already vanished to some staircase with James, probably. 

She had to get him alone at some point before the day was done. James was probably going to be biggest problem since he and Gastón often moved together the most days during classes. 

Nina was about to send Gastón a message to come up with some excuse to get rid of James when she heard footsteps approach her. The footstep steadied beside her, and she turned around and saw Gastón walking next to her. 

Nina smiled smally to him as they kept walking. The hallway they were on was not crowded at the moment but it interlocked with bunch of other ones so people could come and go all the time, so they were nowhere out of sight. 

“Hey.” 

“Hi.” She looked at him quickly again, before looking back forward—

She suddenly felt a hand close around her wrist, and before she could fully even register what was happening, she was pulled into a narrow and dark side hallway that she didn’t even know existed. Not that she had time for making intricate floorplans, as she was pressed against the wall and kissed feverishly. 

“If… if your aim was to us to make it to class on time, I don’t think we’ll be able to succeed.” Nina panted while catching her breath when they broke the kiss for a moment, before pressing her body back into his and kissed Gastón again.  

“Well, you didn’t think I was not going to say good morning?” Gastón said as they separated. Nina saw that his eyes were scanning her all over. “But God… What are you trying to do? Kill me?” He brought himself closer to her, so their noses were touching. “Our cover is going to be blown so fast if you keep looking like this.”

He moved his lips onto her right ear and started trailing down her neck. 

“Stop,” Nina pushed on Gastón's shoulder, knowing if he managed to hit the sensitive spot on the base of her neck, she would have no ounce of self-control left. She tried to make a mental note about getting a new concealer because she definitely would be in a need of one. “You are gonna leave a mark, then we’ll definitely get caught.”

“Okay, sorry” Gastón pushed himself off the wall, “We’re not good at this.”

“We definitely are not.”

“Oliver and Jacob are out during lunch,” Gastón traced his fingers on her right ear. “Our room will be empty…”

“You’re sure?”

“Hundred precent,” He moved his fingers on her chin and traced her lower lip, with a tender look in his eyes, before leaning down to kiss her one more time. 

***

“I honestly don’t want to do this anymore,” Nina shook her head as she poured over the last exercise packet in the library.

“Electromagnetism is hard,” Gastón looked at Nina adoringly, “But you can do it. Just follow the formula and apply the integrals.” He took the pen from her and drew something in the notebook.  

“It is not working with me,” Nina stared at the paper, “I don’t technically need the credits from this course. I should just quit. I don’t know why I ever even took this.”

“I am not letting you quit.” Gastón looked at her sternly, “The exam is on Friday, you’ve come this far. I didn’t start to help you just because I was in love with you, I believe you can do this.”

“Really?” Nina looked up at him and ran her fingers on his arm.

“Yes, obviously,” Gastón looked at her. “But don’t try to distract me. I know what you’re doing.”

“You do? Well, then you could just let me quit.” Nina shifted her weight closer to Gastón and wrapped her arms around his neck. She definitely knew what she was doing, because she knew what it did to him when she was being confident. 

“This is not working,” Gastón got out after they finished a brief make-out session, “If you won’t believe me, what would Luna say if she heard that you gave up on the finish line?”

“Luna and Matteo.” Nina looked pensive for a moment, before looking back into Gastón’s eyes, “They are gonna kill us.”

Just like they had not told anyone of their Oxford friends about their reconciliation two weeks ago, well they didn’t even know that it was a reconciliation, the news had not reached Buenos Aires either. Gastón had intentionally started mentioning Nina less and less when he talked with Matteo, because he knew that he would see right through him if they got into the topic. 

“They definitely will.” Gastón nodded, “Kind of surprising that they don’t already know. I am not that discreet.” 

“Nor am I.” Nina nodded. “Should we just tell them? I mean, they know the whole story, so nothing to hide.”

“I guess you are right,” Gastón looked at her, smiling bit mischievously, “So, how about you finish this exercise that were doing and we’ll call Luna and Matteo afterward. I am not letting you quit., I was still your tutor first, boyfriend second.”

“Okay.” Nina rolled her eyes and turned back to her computer…

At that moment Gastón’s phone started ringing. It was Matteo calling him on facetime. 

“Well, look at that,” he picked up his phone, “What on sixth sense? He really has the best timing.” He turned to look a Nina, “So, you wanna do this now? I can ask him to get Luna to join him.”

“Sure, no better time than now,” Nina nodded, “How are we doing this? Do I just show up on the frame?”

“Stay out of the frame at the start, we’ll see what Matteo wants first.” 

“Okay,” Nina scooted her chair a little further away. 

“Here we go.” Gastón said and picked up the call. 

“Hey!” Matteo appeared on the screen with Luna by his side.

“Oh, Luna’s here as well.” Luna did show up in his calls with Matteo on occasion, but not usually at the start, just joined later on if she felt like it. 

“Yes, I am here!” Luna’s bubbly voice rang from the phone.

“Where are you?” Matteo asked Gastón. 

“At the library,” Gastón said. Honestly, it should have been quite obvious, given his surroundings. “So what’s up?”

“You tell us.” Matteo remarked. Gastón sensed that he was trying to go somewhere with this, but where, he was not sure of.

“Well, nothing really to report,” Gastón started. He tried to think what was the best way to direct the conversation towards him and Nina. Nothing to report was probably not the best way to start but no going back now. “The term has started well enough.”

“Good to hear that?” Matteo nodded. “How is it going with everyone else?”

“I am not pretending that you actually care how James, Oliver, or Jacob are doing.” Gastón briefly laughed. Matteo had always had this almost obligatory mild distaste toward his other friends, that Gastón found purely comical. “So did you actually have a reason for calling me, or are we just making small talk?”

“Not really,” Luna piped up, “We were just bored so we did rock paper scissors and Matteo won so got to decide who we would call.”

“Well, there actually is something we do need to talk about,” Gastón said and turned toward Nina who was still out of frame, “You wanna come in and say hi?”

“Who are you talking to?” Matteo furrowed his brows. Gastón put his phone on the table and probed it up on a book. 

“Nina!!” Luna instantly brightened up as Nina moved to be visible on the frame. “You’re here too?!”

“You called me while I was in the middle of helping her actually pass this course.” 

“So, you are still doing this physics thing?” Matteo’s face was quite questioning. 

In that instant, Gastón got the idea of how to get the message across the clearest to Luna and Matteo. 

“More than that honestly,” Gastón squeezed Nina’s hand under the table and tried to communicate his intentions to her via his eyes. She seemed to get the hint, and once he leaned towards her, she answered his kiss once he captured her lips in front of their friends. He really should have had screen recording on since Luna and Matteo’s faces must have been priceless. 

They broke apart pretty quickly. One glance at the phone showed that either the screen had glitched and frozen or Luna and Matteo had frozen in shock. 

“You two okay?” Gastón asked while looking at Luna’s and Matteo’s faces and jaws that had hit the floor, figuratively. He wrapped his other arm around Nina’s waist and pulled her closer. 

“OMG!!!!!! AAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!” Luna snapped out of the trance first and started jumping around, they must have been sitting on a bed or something. “I KNEW IT!!!!! I knew it! Knew iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit!!!!!”

“You figured this out on your own?” Matteo’s face was in utter disbelief while Luna was still bouncing around, “What on earth has gotten into you? Since when? We thought we would need to stage an intervention soon.”

“Well, we can tell you that we don’t need it.” Gastón brushed some hair out of Nina’s face while talking to Matteo. Gastón hadn't really given any thought on how Matteo would reach, but he was sure that they would need to have another convo later on the night for all the details “I was an idiot, we all agree on that. But I stopped being one two weeks ago.”

“DETAILS! I need all the details!” Luna jumped back to next to Matteo.

“Well, there are lot of those,” Nina said while glancing up at Gastón.

“We have all night!” Luna exclaimed from the other side of the camera, “I am so happy for you guys! Love is such a magical thing isn’t it?”

"Well, it truly is," Matteo laughed at Luna, "I think "thank you" is what really is in order here

{}

So, this is what you get when you let me write romance. Well, this chapter was called Lavender Haze for a reason.

Additional note: This will in no way shape or form be an accurate representation of what it is like to study at Oxford. I don't study there and there is only so much research you can do. Plus if I'd try to keep things 100 % accurate, the story would suffer, and the story itself is not all about Oxford or their studies. That being said, if you are a student at Oxford and reading this… I am so sorry.

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The Dateable's Making You Flustered

Request: Flustered scenarios with the dateables

A/N: Sorry for the bit of delay!! I really need to work faster with these (1k each)

-

Barbatos:

It’s been such a long time ever since the butler has felt some sort of attraction towards somebody. It surprises even himself and he’s able to see into the future. Yet, when he was given- or rather forced- into a day off, the first place where his mind had wandered had been to you. It was you that he thought of first. He didn’t have a clue on what he wanted to do, but when he was told that he had the day off- no exceptions- his mind had automatically gone to spending time with you. Barbatos wonders what changed that made you so important to him- he wonders when it happened, how it snuck past him and caught him by surprise.

He invited you on his day off, had sent you a quick message asking you’d like to accompany him around Devildom to pick up a few things for himself rather than the usual outing to the market. You had graciously agreed and now he stands beside you, his hand on a book and you peering to see what’s written on it.

“What’s the book about?” You ask, haven given up on trying to figure out what it was that had gotten his attention.

A few demons reach around and pull a book away from the shelf, talking excitedly to one another and he moves to stand closer to you. He smiles at you and holds the book close to him, already deciding to purchase it. “It’s an old tale from Devildom, similar to your Hansel and Gretal but this one is a bit more heavy.” You give out a hum, pleased at his answer and nod your head. “If you’d like, I could lend it to you once I’m done.”

“Oh!” You gasp, grabbing at the same book and holding towards you. “I’ll just take one with me,” you offer and he can’t help but feel a little disappointed that you didn’t want to take his. “This way, we can read at the same time and then discuss. If it’s supposed to be similar to Hansel and Gretal, I’m sure that I’ll enjoy it. Plus-” you look up at him, your smile kittenish the book pulled to your chest- “it can be like our secret book club. I’ve been needing an excuse to go to the castle and visit, so this will be perfect,” you say excitedly, see-sawing between the tips of your shoes and back to your soles.

“You don’t need an excuse to visit the castle.” He hooks his arm with yours, slowly pushing you away from where a growing crowd of demons appear. “You know you’re always welcomed. The Young Lord would never dare to shut the door in your face.” He stops near the corner end of the store, his eyes attracted to a few trinkets where he reaches for.

The book is lowered and you shift your stare to where you both once stood. “And you?” His attention is grabbed immediately and he looks at you with a confused stare. You meet his eyes for a moment before you pull away. “Would you mind if I came over?” You clear your throat and look down, your bottom lip pinched between your teeth. “I wouldn’t want to…” you trail off, clearly unable to find the proper words. “I wouldn't want to distract you or make your work any more difficult than it already is.”

He can feel the back of his neck grow hot. He can’t be mistaken by what your words mean. You want to know what he thinks of you, if you’re welcomed in his eyes. His shoulders lower and he smiles at you, his hand reaching out to take your book from your hands. When you look up at him, he has his gaze kept on the title of the book, following the rise and fall of each letters.

“You’re always welcomed.” He takes in a small breath and fixes his gaze back to you. “You could never be a distraction for me. If you wish to have a secret book club with me, then I am more than honored to be your guest.” He clears his throat and looks away from you, his smile slowly growing but wavering as he lets out a shaky breath. “You make work easier. I enjoy my job, but I must say that when you’re around, the only thing I can think of is finishing in order to spend more time with you. Being around you is… nice.” He returns his stare back to you. “I’ve been around for a very long time, but when you’re around me, well, I don’t think I’ve ever felt so young. I’m not sure what it is about you-” he raises a hand and holds your cheek- “but I find myself happy whenever I’m with you. So please, never think that you are a bother towards me. You’re always free to visit- whether it be for our secret book club-” he returns the book to you, smiling when your fingertips brush against his- “or just because, I’ll always make time for you.”

It might be cruel of him, but he can’t help but smile and let out a quiet chuckle when you press your face against the book. “Barbatos,” you say in a hushed whisper. He only hums in response, glad that his words had such an effect on you. You look up at him with a faux pout and furrow of your brows while he stands there with a wide grin. Your eyes turn away from him and you finally let a smile appear. “Thanks for the reassurance,” you mutter.

“Of course. Nothing that I said was a lie, so it was quite easy to let the words out, you know,” he teases, grabbing the book from you before you have another chance to hide yourself. “Now, is there anything else you’d like to see in the store, or do you wish to go somewhere else?”

“I uh-” still flustered, you rub your cheek where his hand once was- “can we check out the manga section?”

He hooks his arm through yours, his body close enough to where he can smell the sweet scent of your perfume. “Lead the way,” he says, following your footsteps through the store. He isn’t sure when his feelings towards you had changed, he doesn’t even recall the giddiness of when it all started, but he doesn’t mind it. It’s a nice change of pace. You’re something unpredictable and reckless, and something soft and fragile, and he welcomes having you so close to him, to where he could lean over and press his lips against the crown of your head and keep you protected under his touch. Barbatos welcomes the change that you brought and while the change wasn’t originally for him, he enjoys that it is for him now, that you’re the one that gets to be close to him and that gets to have the pleasure of having you wanting to visit him.

Simeon:

Who could have ever thought that he, an angel, would fall in love with a human? The very thing that an angel had created a war for, the very thing that caused him to lose those close to him, and the very thing that had shown just how different he was from someone he had considered a brother, he now commits the same unholy act. He must be a hypocrite. He is a hypocrite. The very thing he turned a blind eye to and here he is, so undoubtedly in love with a human that he fears his wings will be ripped from him, his blood staining his clothes and his halo broken beyond repair. Terror makes his blood run cold and yet, he cannot look away from you. Simeon keeps his gaze upon you with a mixture of hesitation and melancholy and you just smile back at him, the phone in your hand shared between the two of you as you watch a parody of a teen romance on an application.

“It’s amazing how much people have grown to like this er, show?” He asks, still unsure of what to call it. “It’s considered a show, right?”

Your shoulders raise in a shrug and you give him a small, tight lipped smile. “I guess. I think most people refer to it as a series.” The phone is lowered and it returns to your lap. “It isn’t wrong to call it a show, but since they’re short little bursts of episodes, I think people find it easier to call it a series, but it can go any way.” You move away from him, scooting until your thigh is at an angle and your knee is pushed against his. “Anyways, to answer your question, yes people do like it. I think since it’s like a parody but also suspenseful with the cliffhangers, it keeps people entertained.” He nods his head slowly, and he tries to ignore the rush of cold that is now at his empty side. “Did you like it?”

His eyes slightly widen, and his lips pull into a thin smile. “I- Well, considering the fact that it’s written and done by one person- I- It certainly is different than the things I usually consume, but-” He struggles to find a way to finish his thought without offending you in any sort of way and ends with a stiff nod of his head.

It’s a tense moment that doesn’t last long enough to linger on when you suddenly laugh. Your laugh is loud as it effectively gets him to snap his mouth shut. Your hands are waved in front of you and your knee leaves his as you curl onto the couch. “You don’t have to force yourself to like it, Simeon, I only wanted to show it to you, because you asked what I was watching.”

He appreciates you giving him an easy out, and he releases a breath he hadn’t known he had been holding. It’s a slow release and suddenly he can breathe again. “Well thank you for sharing it with me. I appreciate that from you.” Silence lingers and it isn’t like before where it’s tense, it’s lighter now, but it still feeds him an odd sense of air where he’s stuck between a breath, his eyes stuck on you.

Once more, your laughter fills the room and it’s short and sweet, a gift given to him for just the moment. “Of course, Simeon. I like spending time with you, and I especially like sharing my interests so I guess, thank you for allowing me to do that.” Your hand reaches towards his and he sees the slightest pause from you, the way your fingers twitch until you allow yourself to hold his hand and give it a gentle squeeze.

Warmth returns to him, something akin to a summer’s day in the Celestial Realm, and even though all air has left him once again, he is breathless in a way that matters, weightless and joy illuminating him. When he meets your eyes, he cannot look away and he cannot help but return your smile. The clock ticks onwards and he’s left with a heavy heart. He’s read about the perfect moment, thought about writing something so trivial and false, and yet, the perfect moment sits before him with their hand in his.

“I have to be honest with you,” he murmurs and his eyes feel hot, a lump forms in his throat that makes his words sound tighter. “I- I don’t-” How could he ever phrase what he wants to tell you? How could he drop that sort of confession on you? You know the story, would you ever want him to actually confess to you, to repeat the past mistakes and know the horrid outcome? He frowns. His eyes are stuck on the floor, running along the edge of the carpet and he can feel your gaze on him, your eyes that are heavy with concern and ever the angel, Simeon spares you and gives you the easier answer. “I’m thankful to have met you,” your name is a sweet whisper on his lips, a taste of sweet peach that makes his heart full and heavy. “I don’t think I’ve ever met someone as wonderful as you. I see you and I think that I’ve found something even more pure than an angel.” With every word, his hand turns to slip into yours, his gloves thin enough to feel the small crevices and calluses on your hand. “Even if you are human and you’ve committed sin, I still think that you are the most pure of them all with your kindness and generosity.”

He isn’t sure what he had expected, but he hadn’t expected to have you plant your face against the soft back cushion of the couch, your face held there for moments. Your hand slips away from his and he’s left holding empty air. His hands fret over your body and when you pull away, your face is flushed, your hands covering the lower part of your face as you look at anywhere but him.

“Simeon,” you whine, closing your eyes tightly. “That’s really sweet.” Your voice is high-pitched and your eyes open once more, as your hands finally lower. “I think I might actually die, that was really nice and something that I don’t hear often.” You finally look at him and your smile is ever growing. “Especially from an angel,” you say with a half-hearted chuckle.

His smile is soft and to him, it dulls compared to your brilliance. As if you were a puzzle, he fits into your hand with ease and grace. “Well if you were to die, I would return you in any way that I could.

Solomon:

He’s human, ageless and immortal, but human. He’s lived and loved, lost and grieved, and he’s gone numb and distant to emotions. He didn’t mind it, he welcomed it. He hated losing and hated the people that he lost and the empty space that they left. He promised that he wouldn’t ever want to feel that sense of sadness ever again. Then you came into the picture. He’s been called shady and worse words than that, but you don’t call him that. You hold his hand and you welcome him into your arms. You go on and on about the human in him and how you love that he’s there with you. Solomon isn’t sure when it was that he broke his own promise, but when he looks at you, he’s willing to love again and again.

The kitchen is a mess and powder covers the counters. His hands knead the dough and the smell of garlic and onion sizzled with oil is heaven in the air. You measure the ingredients and whisk at the eggs. It’s domestic and it’s something that leaves a storm of butterflies in his stomach. He could watch you forever, in the kitchen, with an apron tied around your waist, flour in your hands and the tip of your tongue peaking past your lips as you concentrate on rereading the cookbook. It’s domestic and it’s something he had long forgotten that he wanted.

“I have the ingredients memorized, I could simply tell you what to add,” he muses, returning to forming the bread into its shape.

“Knowing you, you’ll add something in there,” you quip, your smile now directed at him, with your tongue still pinched out. “Plus, it’s just reading. I can read,” you say with a defensive tone. “Just start dressing the bread with garlic and then we can get on with breading the chicken.” You jerk your head to where the chicken rests on the cutting board, the flour beside it.

“Okay,” he sings under his breath, returning his attention to the dough before him. The room is filled with a song from the Human Realm, a classic that has him feeling warmth in a kitchen that is not his, but with a person that is. It makes him long for another time, but when he catches you in the corner of his eye, he’s glad where he is. “I like your song choice,” he says, instantly biting the inside of his cheek once the words had left his mouth. It’s been so long since he’s ever tried to have an actual connection with someone, and he’s sure he wasn’t ever this awful at it.

“Yeah?” You step close to him, holding your hand out. “Care for a dance then?” Your smile is crooked and eyes gleaming with excitement as the song is replayed with a touch of your hand.

He’s frozen for a second, stuck in time, and rooted into place, his hand moving through thick amber as he lets his hand rest in your palm. The room is spun, colors mixing with each other and slowly blurring until he stands still, pushing you away and pulling you close, laughing and letting his hand rest against your side, his hand feeling the soft curve against your ribs. Your hands are powdered and his smell like bread, and your laugh is young and youthful. He can’t help but follow, letting his smile break out and hand slipping out of yours, to encase you in a hug where he traps you into a swaying motion.

The song fades and he’s forced to pull away, to step away from you and there’s hesitation is his steps and movements. His hands linger for a second too long, his eyes still stuck on you and his smile much softer than it was before. It’s a few seconds of silence where you take in deep, heavy breaths, and sway lightly to the song that approaches.

Your name is said and it’s sweet like honeysuckle and addicting like a drug. It’s a night where he invited you over, and now you two are busy making dinner in the kitchen and you’ve given him instructions and kept a close eye on what he does. Your perk your head and nod, allowing for him to continue. “Thank you for coming over,” he says with a tight smile on his lips.

“Anytime, Sol,” you respond, coming beside him once more. You bump your arm into his, leaning to look at the garlic mixture in a bowl. “You know I like spending time with you, so anytime you need a cooking partner, you can always call.”

He doesn’t say anything, only nodding and trying to keep the butterflies in his stomach at bay while his heart beats frantically against his chest. You move away from him, returning to where the powder rests in a bowl and he’s left without, and while the distance is short, it’s something that is unwelcomed. He’s left with dough in his hands and you’re away from him, and loneliness settles.

“Can I call you whenever?” He asks, an easy smile on his lips, but there’s a plea in his words. He’s never been the needy type, but he needs you.

“Of course, you can,” you respond and you’re as kind as ever. You turn away and close the bag of flour, pushing it aside to clear the space at the table.

Like a drug that leaves his mouth dry and heart racing, feeling as if he’s about to die, he calls your name. You’re so close to him and yet, you aren’t close enough. He needs you. He needs you beside him. And he takes the first step, standing in front of you with a red kissed face as stares at the cabinets against the wall. You call his name and your hand is tender against his neck, leaving a white stain that snows onto his shirt.

“I just wanted to thank you. I know how busy you can get and I just-” he can feel the telltale sign of tears and he wonders when he’s gotten so emotional- “I like spending time with you. I like your music choices and I like it when you cook with me- even if it’s just you giving me instructions- but I like it.” His tongue touches against his lips and he looks at you, fiddling with the end of his shirt. “I think you’re great and I just need you to know that if you ever need anything, I’ll be more than happy to help. I would do whatever it would take to make you happy because you have a really nice smile and I don’t think you should lose that.” His heart echoes and his smile is gentle and nervous. “Thank you for being with me.”

You stare at him and he wonders if he had overstepped only to gasp when you bury yourself against his chest, patting at his shoulder and pulling away with a hand covering the lower half of your face. “Solomon,” his name leaving your lips sends a jolt of electricity through him, “I’m glad. Thank you,” you whisper. Your hand reaches to pull his away from his shirt and you hold it in yours. “I like being with you too. Us humans have to stick together, right?” You say softly, letting your fingers run over his scarred knuckles.

He nods silently and leans over, his lips pressed against your forehead. “Yeah, us humans have to stick together,” he whispers against you, smiling when he feels your own lips against his knuckles. He’s with you, at this very moment, he stands in a kitchen with music playing, holding you close to him, and for a moment, he can pretend that this won’t ever end, that he won’t ever have to move away from you and risk losing you.