#normally have paper towels and toilet paper respectively | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

ahsantran · 2 years

Text

The Various Types Of Toilet Tissue And Paper Hand Towels

You will find 4 main forms of make-up available today. Included in this are; *Standard toilet roll *Jumbo toilet tissue roll *Mini jumbo toilet roll *Interleaved mouthwash Standard toilet tissue may be the type of toilet paper the thing is in residential or office restrooms which is usually packaged 48 rolls within a case. In residential homes typically a 3 ply make-up is used together with inside a commercial environment a two ply sheet. Both the ply 400 sheet toilet roll is normally the most famous bathroom tissue amongst distributors and resellers. The two ply 700 sheet is now increasingly popular because it is less expensive per sheet weighed against the 2 ply 400 sheet so when of equal quality. Addititionally there is 1 ply 850 sheet and 1 ply 1000 sheet toilet tissue that are used on a smaller scale. Due to large numbers of sheets over a roll they're very reasonable, however suffer on quality since they are just one ply. Jumbo toilet paper is commonly see within a public restroom and packaged 8 into a carton. For a 2 ply jumbo usually the rolls have to do with 30cm across and measure about 300m when unrolled. To get a 1 ply jumbo this doubles to 600m when unrolled. Mini jumbo toilet tissue is a smaller type of the jumbo roll and often measures about 170m when unrolled to get a 2 ply sheet. Jumbo toilet rolls are often referred to as JRT rolls. Jumbo toilet tissue is definitely essentially the most economical form of mouthwash compared with standard rolls and interleaved make-up. Interleaved mouthwash is additionally seen in public restrooms and packaged 36 to carton. Like toilet rolls and jumbos, interleaved mouthwash is created in 1 ply and a couple of ply. You will find normally 250 sheets to a pack for two main ply and 500 sheets for 1 ply. Instead of due to being on a roll the paper folded in layers, one in the other. Typically interleaved make-up is more expensive as opposed to standard and jumbo roll toilet paper and that's why it's not commonly used. The softness of the roll of mouthwash is generally proportional to the ply with the paper. Whenever we discuss the ply in the mouthwash we are discussing the number of layers the toilet paper contains. Two of the most common are 1 ply and 2 ply sheets. One ply mouthwash has one layer and 2 ply make-up has two layers bonded together. The kind of material used to produce toilet tissue also is a factor in the softness. Some toilet papers use finer paper material to really make the make-up softer. If your paper is recycled this will not as soft in contrast to paper that is produced from virgin material. Recycled make-up is significantly less expensive virgin and it is becoming progressively more fashionable as there is more concentrate on environment sustainability.

There are a number of options in terms of make-up dispensers. The most typical way of dispensers are highlighted below; *Triple-line toilet roll dispenser - This dispenser holds 3 standard toilet rolls, one over the other. The paper is manually dispensed from the user. *Single jumbo roll dispenser - This dispenser holds one jumbo toilet roll and is manually dispensed with the user *Double jumbo toilet roll dispenser - This dispenser holds two jumbo toilet rolls alongside which is manually dispensed with the user *Interleaved toilet tissue dispenser - This dispenser holds approximately 4 packs of interleaved make-up and is also stacked vertically and it is manually dispensed through the user. You can find 6 main forms of paper hand towels that you can buy. These include; *Ultra slim paper hand towels *Slim line paper hand towels *Extra large paper hand towels *Compact hand towels *Roll hand towel *Centre feed hand towel

Ultra slim and slim line paper towels are usually affecting an open or commercial restroom and in most cases packaged anywhere from 2400 to 4000 sheets per case with respect to the manufacturer. The sheet size to have an ultra slim towel is usually 24 x 24cm together with for slender line 23 x 23cm. Although slim line towel is a bit smaller its girth is wider in cross-section. This is why different paper towel dispensers are required for every product. You would see that an ultra slim paper towel would fallout of slim line dispenser without difficulty as a result of decreased width. Conversely a slim line paper soft towel can be too wide to slot in an ultra slim paper towel dispenser. The ultra slim is normally manufactured 2 ply which is the reason why it can be somewhat more expensive compared to slim line paper towel. Extra large paper hand towels are only a larger, costlier version of the ultra slim paper towel. They may be normally 24 x 37cm in dimension. Compact towels are saved to smaller end in the spectrum from the paper bath towel family. These are very well liked in the medical & dental industry amongst nurses and dentists and often packaged 2400 to a carton. The compact towel was created to fit an inferior profile dispenser same goes with well suited for confined wall spaces. The size of compact hand towels varies quite considerably from manufacturer to manufacturer. Common sizes include 20 x 25cm and 19 x 28cm. Roll towel is an additional alternative to the interleaved towel and it is typically observed in public and commercial restrooms. Roll soft towel is generally manufactured in 80m or 100m rolls and they are packaged 16 into a carton. The roll is approximately 19cm long. The consumer manually pulls the roll towel from your dispenser and tears the paper off while using teeth around the dispenser. That is why there's usually more wastage with this type of soft towel like a user will retrieve more paper towel than needed. There's also larger rolls which might be utilized in auto cut dispensers and so are between 200-300m. They're packaged 6 into a carton. Auto cut dispensers are used to ensure automatically dispense the paper to minimise wastage. Centrefeed soft towel is the ideal hand drying format in markets including food manufacturing and processing, clubs, education as well as other facilities requiring a higher capacity soft towel solution. Centrefeed towel being a standard is created in 300m rolls and are packaged 4 with a carton. The roll is usually 19-20cm in length. The real difference between centrefeed and roll soft towel could be the paper is fed over the core in the roll. There are a variety of options with regards to paper towel dispensers. The most frequent way of dispensers are the following; *Ultra slim paper towel dispenser - Fits ultra slim hand towels 24 x 24cm and is also manually dispensed with the user *Slim line paper towel dispenser- Fits the wider slim line paper hand towels 23 x 23cm which is manually dispensed by the user *Compact paper towel dispenser - Fits the compact bath towel 19 x 25cm and it is manually dispensed by the user *Roll soft towel dispenser - Fits either the 80m or 100m paper small towel and it is manually dispensed by the user *Auto-cut hand towel dispenser - Fits a 200m paper small towel and is also automatically dispensed to minimise wastage. *Centrefeed paper towel dispenser - Fits either 300m paper handtowel which is manually dispensed by the user For additional information about giay ve sinh cong nghiep go to see this popular webpage.

1 note · View note

handlequartz8 · 2 years

Text

Plumbing - Questions

Make it a house policy that only water, all-natural waste, as well as toilet tissue goes down your drains. Let everyone in the family know that: Tissue, paper towels, hygienic materials, and also baby wipes are for the garbage, not the bathroom. Food preparation oil as well as oil should be dealt with in a newspaper as well as tossed right into the trash, not down your drain.

Visit our internet site for more details.

In many states, consisting of where we are in Minnesota, plumbings are exempt from the stay-at-home orders as we are considered vital workers. Currently, we're not discussing any kind of unneeded upgrades or house remodels, however we, and many various other plumbing technicians, are open for important plumbing and also emergency situation services. So, if you require or if you even think you might need a plumber today, do not be reluctant to call a specialist plumbing professional.

Interact before hand Talk with the plumbing to go over exactly how the visit will certainly go so you are both on the very same page. Talk about the problem in as much detail as feasible in advance, so there's less requirement for face-to-face communication. When we remain in your home, make certain to maintain back a minimum of the suggested 6 feet.

Any type of job that we can do outside the home, such as assembling a pipeline, we will. Our objective is to be in your house just possible. Produce a safe job setting Clear a course to the workspace prior to your plumbing technician arrives to restrict the variety of surface areas in your house they could wind up touching.

If we require to go up and also down the stairs, you could also cover the bannister with present cover and also remove once we're gone. Get more information desire to be respectful of your house and also that's most convenient when you provide us a secure place to work.

The only method to have the assurance that your plumbing issue will be take care of right the very first time is to work with a certified plumber. When to call a plumbing professional If water is spraying out of ruptured pipe or flooding your cellar, it's pretty evident you need to call a plumbing professional.

There are plumbing problems you can take care of by yourself, yet others are as well huge to deal with. Do you know when you need to call in specialist help? The 5 circumstances listed below may stun you. The majority of people have coped with a dripping faucet eventually. Nevertheless, a minor leakage like that actually isn't causing much trouble or is it? Left unchecked, that dripping can lead to a great deal of drainage: According to the EPA, a leakage of 1 drip per second can waste as long as 3,000 gallons of water a year! Worse yet, the leak can be a measure of a larger pipes issue.

A plumbing technician will know just how to both diagnose and also take care of the problem to recover your water stress to normal. This is a wintertime pipes headache. If you have actually ever experienced icy pipelines, you understand it's advisable to call a plumbing professional as soon as possible. If you haven't, matter yourself lucky and also make the phone call now.

A burst pipeline can leave you with a big mess and also considerable water damage to your home and also items. Do not take an opportunity; allow the specialists manage it. Aside from ruptured pipelines, there's absolutely nothing quite so urgent as a commode block a bettor can not clear. The issue could be a sewer line issue also huge to be for your basic plunger.

Your regional Benjamin Franklin plumbing professional is always below to assist. If you're worried regarding a plumbing trouble, call us online or provide us a phone call.

If you wish to know just how to avoid triggering damage or a potentially dangerous scenario, inspect out these signs you require to call a professional, such as Anthony Plumbing, then read Kansas City plumbing technician testimonials. The Warm Water Heating Unit is Not Functioning If your warm water heater isn't working, one of the first points that you should keep in mind is that the water is heated up by gas and also power.

In any case, if you slip up with linking the water heating unit to the gas or electric source, you can create damages to your house or place you and your family members in an unhealthy and even unsafe circumstance. When an experienced specialist does the task, you can feel great that you and also your family are risk-free.

#septic tank service

0 notes

laughcredit2 · 2 years

Text

10 Explanation Why You Should Rent A Professional Chimney Sweep

Some of the most typical issues embrace broken flue liners, warped dampers, and cracked chimney crowns, all things that knowledgeable can level out with ease. With common inspections and cleanings, these problems could be caught early and save you a lot of time and money. The general rule of thumb is to have knowledgeable chimney inspection completed every year. We present a standalone chimney inspection service exterior of our normal chimney sweeping service, if relevant to your needs. If the chimney wants cleansing, the chimney sweep brings out his equipment. He normally has rods, wired brushes, grinders, vacuums, ladders, and lights. Tony, proprietor and operator of Chimney and Wildlife Specialists, has an enormous heart for rescuing wildlife and returning animals again to their natural habitat. When Tony is not climbing up a roof, he loves spending time together with his lovely household and their two dogs. Although you would buy these instruments yourself, the fee could be a lot steeper, and without figuring out the method to use them effectively, it would in the end be a waste. Our sweeps assure a mess-free job, and use dust management and flooring protection on each job web site. When you rent us to sweep your chimney, you presumably can count on quick, clear, professional, and thorough service, whether or not it’s our first time serving you or our 30th. Having your chimney swept might sound like a thing of the past, an old style job that certainly hasn’t survived to our trendy era. The reality is, if your personal home has a chimney, you do need to rent knowledgeable chimney sweep to conduct a correct cleansing and inspection. Commercial Cleaning & Janitorial Providers Philadelphia That’s why we constantly maintain an OSHA compliant, award-winning security record. We know how many responsibilities most property managers have to juggle on a daily basis just to ensure that the enterprise doesn’t skip a beat. Keeping your house of worship clear and tidy often seems like a full-time job. The ongoing upkeep services that a janitorial staff provides requires consistency, attention to detail, and a respect for the work surroundings that they are working in. At Out of Sight Cleaning, we put our heart and soul into these worth systems and will ensure our services or we'll come again and do it over again. Whether you want a cleanup once a week or 5 times per week, we will scale to match your needs and wishes. Maintaining schools also entails maintaining corollary and special-needs amenities corresponding to trailers and modular buildings. Finding the best custodial firm to hire will make the business or college day more effective when everything is clear and within the order that it ought to be. In any private school or public faculty, the security of our children is paramount. Any people allowed to be on campus have to be totally vetted and have handed intensive background checks. Many firms fail to take the effort and time to satisfy this important factor. Background checks together with issues like criminal background verify, employment verification and personality testing are all important to the protection of your student physique. Any college cleansing company or janitorial service that isn’t doing these things is putting you, your students and workers at unnecessary threat. The 8 Best Bathroom Cleaners Of 2022 At the identical time, these areas of the restroom ought to be given an intermittent scrubbing to supply a satisfying experience for toilet users. Sinks may fare nicely with simply wiping with a disinfectant spray and drying with disposable towels all through the day. Be positive to maintain rest room paper and paper towel dispensers fully stocked, too. Remove exhausting water stains and mineral build-up on shower doorways, windows, tubs and bathe pans for a streak-free shine with Bio-Clean. Teamed with mom company, Air-Scent, along with its hygienic programs, they also supply wonderful environmental odor control and air-freshening options. Enviro-Master Pittsburgh refers to the department of Enviro-Master that providers companies of every kind all through Pittsburgh, Western Pennsylvania and surrounding tri-state areas. Above + Beyond Service Company has skilled plumbers who quickly and effectively unclog drains throughout Edmonton, Oklahoma City, Guthrie, Yukon, and surrounding areas. Plus, our best self-care tips to banish the Sunday scaries. Our suggestions take your bathroom from disastrous to delightful in 5 minutes. As seen on season 1 of Sarah Sees Potential, a recent neutral colour scheme and weathered oak vanity add delicate coastal aptitude to this spa bathroom. However, that figure can dramatically vary relying on what the plumber finds once they arrive at your house. Always ask for an upfront estimate to keep away from nasty surprises after the actual fact. Thoroughly cleaning something from prime to bottom is a frightening task and annoying as a end result of it will get soiled again so shortly. Because of that, many individuals favor to hire an expert for a deep clean every every now and then. A little-known trick to cleaning a relaxation room sink is to let your faucet do the work for you. Temperature can increase the effectiveness of certain cleaners like these with alkaline. Tips On How To Clean Window Blinds Tips On How To Care For Your Blinds And Shades Available in wood, faux wooden, plastic, metallic, and even material, the blinds can be made to measure or bought prepared to hang in standard-size home windows. If you've shutters, you ought to use the precise process outlined above to wash them. If you have fabric shades, such as Roman or honeycomb shades, you presumably can clean these at home, too—but the method is slightly completely different. If you wish to give steel, vinyl or faux wood blinds a deeper clear, your greatest wager is in the bathtub. It’s essential to notice that in case you are using this technique to wash your blinds, you need to pay particular consideration to the manufacturer’s care instructions. Submerging blinds for prolonged durations of time in water can cause metallic to rust. Blinds are a really helpful addition - each for home and office interiors. Not only they make an excellent window ornament, but additionally defend the interior from nosy folks - passerby or neighbors. The ideas you've shared in this post could be very informative. Blogs are very good way of exchanging the knowledge and I love to learn publish and someday some blogs give me so much of information and that is one kind of these blogs. Metal Venetian blinds are straightforward to scrub but do get dusty – and after they do, it's actually obvious. Some like to clean blinds in a tub which is an efficient way to deep clean them. We are huge followers of quick and simple methods if we can help it so staying on high of dusting and quick wipe downs is a should to make life easy. The Truth About 'green' Cleansing Merchandise You can discover washing soda within the laundry part of your grocery retailer or on-line. Although the corporate says it helps EWG's efforts to "provide meaningful product safety rankings," it questions the analysis methods EWG makes use of. "In our opinion it is incomplete and too broad, resulting in potentially misleading outcomes," says the company's public relations manager, Sara Berman. She says Method's whole product line is certified by Cradle to Cradle, a nonprofit group that has its personal set of security and sustainability requirements. He says "greenwashing" -- making merchandise appear extra environmentally pleasant than they're -- is a "really massive drawback." Reprocess all reusable supplies and gear in a devoted space that is not used for other purposes (i.e., reprocessing of cleansing tools should by no means be conducted in handwashing sinks). Green cleaning is a blanket term used for describing eco-friendly cleaning procedures or products which are used and created with the environment in mind. 清潔公司 of going green is to cease emitting pollution into the setting as nicely as poisoning our animals and ourselves with toxic chemical compounds. Additionally, in mild of the coronavirus pandemic, Reade famous you could now filter Design for the Environment’s database to show certified products the EPA has determined to have the power to kill Covid-19. She stated the overuse of cleansing products has been a priority through the pandemic, both in regard to extra chemicals making their method into ecosystems and human publicity to sturdy chemical substances in large quantities. "Eco-friendly" and "green" are words some brands toss round to explain cleaning merchandise like all-purpose sprays and disinfectants. Natural cleansing merchandise are great for basic dirt and soil elimination, but they is most likely not the most effective at combatting the coronavirus and different micro organism and germs. That’s as a end result of many eco-friendly cleaning merchandise are not made for disinfecting. To allow you to choose the most secure and most effective nontoxic cleansing products, we’ve put together recommendations of 14 products that match the bill. Additionally, provide comprehensive training to cleaning workers to make sure they follow the processes you’ve outlined. Regularly reprocess all reusable objects (i.e., thoroughly clean, disinfect, and dry). When not in use, retailer them in a delegated environmental cleansing companies area. Squeeze bottles are most well-liked over spray bottles for applying cleansing or disinfectant solutions on to cleaning cloths earlier than software to a surface. Personal protecting tools may be required for preparation of solutions, significantly for disinfectants (e.g., sodium hypochlorite). Cleansing Drapes To Forestall Mud Buildup We assure you of sustaining complete hygiene, with quality care to maintain the durability and cleanliness intact. Draperies are often ignored or forgotten as part of an everyday cleaning routine. However, drapery cleansing is important to take care of a healthy & lovely home or workplace inside. All types of particles hitches a experience on the soles of your sneakers. You will keep away from bringing dust and dirt from the outside into your personal home should you, and your visitors, park shoes at the door when coming into your house. It’s nice to offer slippers to anybody who may feel awkward going shoeless in your house, so have a quantity of “guest” house shoes on the door for friends and family to make use of. Post Cleaning inspection- We will clear the area of any residual moisture or water leaving a clear and tidy workspace. We will stroll by way of every curtain and show all our work. Fill up any remaining containers with hot water and add a cup of vinegar to them. Besides preventing allergy symptoms and bronchial asthma, curtains are additionally important for well being. The proper cleaner will be succesful of clear them efficiently and completely and will take care of the fabric without damaging the fabric. As a result, you will enjoy more healthy pores and skin and fewer allergic reactions. By hiring skilled Curtain cleansing services, it is feasible for you to to have your curtains cleaned in the greatest possible means. When you’re cleansing your home and doing chores, you’ll more than likely dust, vacuum, and also Windex your home windows however do you ever wash your draperies? Even should you do, with out correct cleansing it'll diminish the correct look, shade, and really feel. You will end up losing the general ambience that you’ve created. Our course of allows us to remove dust, smoke, pollen, odors, and soil leaving your draperies returned with even hems, parallel pleats, and no shrinkage. Implementing The Clear Clinic Method Improves Water, Sanitation, And Hygiene High Quality In Health Amenities In The Western Highlands Of Guatemala For these patients recovering from severe COVID-19 sickness with long-term signs, immediate comprehensive outpatient rehabilitation services upon their discharge from inpatient care is important to restore physical and psychological well being. All of those components stress the importance of rehabilitation facilities who are treating patients with elevated morbidity and complicated needs. CORFs have resumed operations and are providing services to an growing number of patients; subsequently, COVID-19 vaccination of staff is pivotal for inhibiting spread of an infection and making certain health and safety of sufferers. ECheck-In allows you to review and update your personal demographics and your medical and insurance info prior to your appointment. You can even pay your co-pay and complete any needed scientific questionnaires in a contactless manner. Everyone should maintain a distance of at least six feet from one another unless they're giving or receiving direct affected person care. The notification should state the fact that the employee was in close contact with somebody with COVID-19 together with the date that contact occurred. OSHA notes this section of the ETS does not require set up of latest HVAC methods or AIIRs to switch or increase functioning methods. The agency also encourages employers to contemplate other measures to enhance ventilation in accordance with “CDC’s Ventilation Guidance,” such as opening home windows and doors as this could embrace maximizing ventilation in buildings with out HVAC systems or in autos. From every day screenings of colleagues to up to date cleaning policies and distancing measures, you possibly can be sure that we are putting your security first. Our supportive palliative care services help you face the complex bodily, psychological, social and religious problems that usually accompany advanced sickness. The supportive palliative care group consists of physicians, nurses, chaplains, occupational therapists, social employees, pharmacists, nutritionists, speech therapists, music practitioners and volunteers. These dedicated staff members are educated that will help you with the issues you might face in coping with a crucial sickness. Baylor Scott & White Health has physicians on the medical workers certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine in each infectious illnesses and inner medication. Infectious disease physicians are additionally educated in outpatient antibiotic infusion and journey medicine. Disinfect, Sanitize, Clear When cleanliness really counts, professionals reach for Bioesque’s Botanical Disinfectant Solution. Sanitizing gear with wipes can greatly scale back the variety of dangerous germs that reside on the high-touch areas and gear at gyms. Repeated use of weights, treadmills, yoga mats, stationary bikes and other gear at gyms can result in a buildup of germs and body fluids. Type of sterilizer in which a repeated sequence consisting of a steam flush and a strain pulse removes air from the sterilizing chamber and processed supplies using steam at above atmospheric strain . Typical operating temperatures are 121–123°C (250–254°F), 132–135°C (270–275°F), and 141–144°C (285–291°F). Length of time an undiluted or use dilution of a product can stay energetic and efficient. Inadequate focus of the disinfectant used doesn't achieve a cidal effect, but only bacteriostatic, virostatic, and similar ones. Too high concentrations injury the disinfected objects and in addition lead to increased disinfection costs . The pH values of the setting by which the disinfectant reacts with the microorganism can be an essential issue affecting the ultimate outcome. At a low temperature of disinfectant solutions, dissociation of some disinfectants slows down, thereby reducing their diffusion into the bacterial cell.

#清潔公司

0 notes

looneysguidetolife · 3 years

Text

apartment stuff from howtogrowthefuckup

not all of it, but stuff i find particularly useful/want to remember. RIP this blog. the gimmick wears off after a while but it was genuinely useful information.

BUDGETING

suggested monthly budget for groceries for a two-person household is $553. estimated weekly budget is around $100.

find a pad of paper and a pen and keep it with you for the next 24 hours. Write down every single fucking thing you use or even touch in your house. Tomorrow I want you to look at that list and figure out the cost of everything.

keep track of how much you spend on gas monthly.

add in your estimated utilities. You can fucking google that on your own, because it’s going to be different for wherever you want to live. Absolutely do this if you plan on moving to a different town or state.

divide your total monthly income by three. Hey, look at that, it’s my good friend Math again. Funny how he keeps showing up. Make sure the number of your expenses is less than the other 2/3rds, if it is, you can continue.

FINDING APARTMENTS

apartments.com

Focus on your top 10. Then your top 5. Then your top 3. Don’t go any farther than that (and don’t get rid of the research for the other 7 just yet). Create crazy complicated rating systems. Make an excel sheet or start putting stuff on your wall and connecting them with strings. Go full-on serial killer. Dedicate yourself.

You should also make note of how big the room is so you know if you can even fit what little you own. The same goes for the hallways or stairs or whatever exists outside the apartment on the way from your car. Could you get your mattress through all that shit?

PACKING

Figure out what you want to donate and what you want to put in the trash before you start packing.

Do not go grocery shopping right before moving... Just wait til you’re in the new place to make that trip.

Change your address. Like a week before you move. While you’re doing this, make a list of everywhere you’ve entered your address and need to change. Keep that list. Your future self will thank you someday.

Start in one room and pack all that before moving to a different part of the house. This is a good way to keep all your stuff together and it’s also a good way to find out that you own five decks of cards or one too many furbys.

Put everything into piles: keep, donate, and ditch.

Label the boxes with what room they belong to so you know exactly where it needs to go. Some people like to also mark this with a color coded sticker.

Also label what’s in the boxes. For example: Kitchen - silverware; cooking utensils; hot pads; magnet collection. You don’t need to label every item individually, but have some idea of what’s in there. Label it on more than one side. Don’t label it on the top, because you’ll just end up stacking boxes on top of each other.

Distribute the weight of your stuff. Mix heavy books with stuffed animals.

Alternately, pack by weight. Heavy stuff goes in small boxes, light stuff goes in big boxes. Basically what I’m saying is don’t pack a massive box with too much weight that it’s too heavy to carry or will break the box.

Use all of your suitcases and bags for packing!

For toiletries - take off the top, place plastic wrap over the opening, replace the top. This way you don’t end up with lotion all over your towels or something.

Know what you’ll need immediately and make sure those boxes are the last thing on the truck, first thing unloaded at the new place. Maybe keep those things in a clear container so you can see exactly what’s in there. Hint: three of the things you’ll need immediately are your toolbox, cleaning supplies, and toilet paper.

note to self: get toolbox and first aid kit.

Take pictures of the new apartment. Before anything goes in it. This way if there are any scratches on the wall or stains on the carpet, the new landlord can’t say it happened during the move.

ASKING QUESTIONS

Apartments.com and My First Apartment both have lists of questions to ask.

questions directly from the blog:

Is the apartment available and is it still listed at the same price or are they trying to swindle you/are they completely incompetent at updating their listings?

Will it be ready when you need it? It’s gonna totally suck if you find the right place and find out it’s not available when you’re ready to move

Are there appliances? Are they included? Do they even work?

How old is the apartment? This is important to ask because it will tell you how much trouble you’re going to have. Like, if it’s Civil War era, you might have issues with foundation cracks or old wiring or ghosts of soldiers waking you up in the middle of the night.

Have there been any issues with insects, rodents, mold, or mildew? You have to ask this. No good self-respecting property manager would tell you this of their own free will.

What kind of security is there? Did you have to go through a gate when you came in? Do you need a key to get into your building before you get into your door? Or does your door face out cheap motel style? Are there electronic pass codes? Is there any kind of security force on site?

If you ever find someone willing to hang out with you, is there a special place they need to park? Do you need to let the office know if they plan on staying the night?

Where do you park? Is parking included? Is in indoor or outdoor?

Do you need a city sticker to park on the street? [Note: I asked this when I moved to Missouri and everyone thought I was batshit crazy. This is normal in places like Chicago, not so normal elsewhere. See if you can determine that before you ask a crazy question.]

Can you paint the walls? Can you put holes in the walls? Can you do whatever it is you do to walls, so long as they look the same when you move out?

What exactly is the maintenance policy, beyond walls? What is covered, what’s not? And who do you contact when there’s an issue? Is there a maintenance person on staff, or do they call out to someone in the area? Do they have a 24-hour emergency maintenance line

Is there heat and air conditioning? What kind? If it’s a window unit, will it be included in the apartment? Are the costs of heating and cooling included

Do you have control over the temperature or is it a building thing?Are any utilities included?

Who are the cable and internet providers in the area? What are their rates? Does the apartment complex have an exclusive contract with one of the companies?

What kind of people live here? Do they have children? Are they all ancient? Do they have, as I suspect my last neighbors did, a bowling alley in their apartment?

Just how much are you going to hear from your neighbors? On a scale of Ernest Hemingway to Les Mis, how thick are the walls?

When is rent due and how do they want it? Are checks required? Can you pay with a credit card? Do they want it all in cash? Also, how is rent submitted? Can you pay electronically or do you drop it in a mailbox?

Do you need renter’s insurance? About how much does it cost? Are there any weird things that need to be included that might not be everywhere? Like, are earthquakes an issue?

What is the process for applying to the apartment, should you choose to rent it? Are there credit checks?

What’s the pet policy? Is there pet rent?

Are there quiet hours or other weird rules about volume or people or places or things?

Are there public areas like pools or parks or gyms? What are the rules regarding those?

If you have a roommate, will both of your names be on the lease, or will one person be designated as the responsible party (you better pray it isn’t you)?

What about trash? Is there pick up or dumpsters? Recycling?

Is there a storage unit included? Where is it? What kind of security does it have?

What happens with deliveries? Do they all go through the front office or are they left on your doorstep? Are you able to pick stuff up at any time? Do you need certain ID for it?

Is there a dishwasher? Is it louder than the bowling alley next door?

If you’re in an area that gets snow, do they plow or shovel? Will they totally bury your car if you don’t move it when the plow comes by?Is there public transportation anywhere?

not questions, but things to pay attention to:

Where are the outlets? Take note of prongs.

Are there permanent light sources or do you need to go to Ikea?

How big are the rooms? What shape are they? Are you going to be able to fit all your shit in here? [Note: you should already have a floor plan online, but ask for a paper copy if they have one.]

Do the people in the office seem at all competent? Are they going to make your life a living hell?

Can you get your stuff up/down the stairs or through the doors when you move in?

Are the appliances/apartment gas or electric?

Bathtub or shower?

Can you open the oven and fridge and still walk through the room? Will opening any doors block off other areas or hit something else?

Can you get a cell signal in the apartment? Seriously.

EDIT: waybackmachine links:

1 • 2 • 3 • 4

#life

48 notes · View notes

haikyunicorn · 4 years

Text

waking up on your period with daichi

anonymous asked: “Could you do one with daichi and the reader wake up and the reader bleed on the bed and is horrified and daichi is all cute and comforting! Thank you 🥰!”

pairing(s): sawamura daichi x reader

genre: fluff

warning(s): slight mentions of blood/period

word count: 1.2k

Respectful and educated king

Daichi will constantly reassure you that there’s nothing to be embarrassed about and it’s normal and he’s not mad at you

He won’t let you lift a finger either

He senses how uncomfortable you are and his goal is to pamper and take care of you until you’re relaxed and happy

He’ll draw a warm bath for you and prepare a new set of clothes and undergarments, he’ll be the one changing the sheets, he’ll cook a breakfast of your favourite foods

If you don’t have any pads/tampons with you, he’ll definitely make a quick run to a nearby convenience store to get some for you as well as your favourite snacks and ice cream, pain relievers

Afterwards he’ll ask what you want to do and go along with it

If you want to get back in back, he’ll be spooning you from behind, his warm hand rubbing soothing circles on your tummy to relieve any cramps

If you want to watch a movie, he’ll build a pillow fort in the living room and enjoy the snacks with you

If you’re not too tired, he’ll suggest taking a walk since he knows some exercise can help during periods

Daichi keeps you hydrated and comfortable the whole day week because he can’t stand seeing his s/o in pain and he’s willing to do anything to help

🥺 where can i find one (1) daichi?

Mornings together with Daichi are becoming more common lately, waking up in either his or your bed to a familiar warmth after a night spent in each other’s arms. Most days, he would wake up before you, his body clock never failing to stray too far from his usual morning routine.

Today, though, you stir from your sleep due to a dull ache on your back and an uncomfortable sensation on your lower abdomen. Groaning internally, you try to shift your position in an attempt to ease your discomfort when you feel it-

Oh no

You sit up as slowly as you can and cringe at the feeling of sticky liquid on the insides of your thighs. Praying to all the heavens, you peel back the covers covering your lower half, hoping your period has just started and it hasn’t leaked through your pants. Sadly, whoever you had prayed to was definitely busy with something else, as you’re met with a noticeable dark red stain on Daichi’s grey sheets mocking you from the space between your legs.

You feel your heart drop in horror and panic quickly rising, your emotions threatening to spill over in the form of tears. Sitting still and debating what you should do next, you try to calm down and think logically. Daichi is a respectful and understanding man, he won’t get mad at you. You have some clothes and underwear in one of his drawers, you can change and wash the sheets for Daichi. Still, it does little to rid the embarrassment bubbling within you and causing your face to burn despite the cool temperature in the room.

Deep in your own thoughts, you’re pulled back to reality by the shuffling coming from your boyfriend’s side of the bed and you immediately freeze up and hold your breath.

Daichi’s eyes slowly blink open as he awakens and instantly makes out your form already sitting up from your spot next to him. Stretching slightly, he sits up and leans in to kiss your cheek and wish you a good morning as he does every time you stay over. But the nervous - almost pained- expression adorning your face makes him frown instead and he puts one of his hands on your cheek to turn your face his way.

“Hey, are you okay? Are you sick?” he asks, concern lacing his deep morning voice.

Maybe it was because of your shame or maybe it was because of Daichi’s touching apprehension, most likely a mixture of both, but the tears that you were holding back begin to gloss over your eyes.

Daichi startles at your response. “Hey, hey, darling, what’s wrong? Are you hurt?” he asks again, trying to maintain a gentle, soothing tone despite being frantic on the inside.

You take in a sharp breath before breaking your silence in a timid voice. “Daichi… you need to leave,” you whisper shakily.

If you weren’t such a nervous wreck at the time, you would have squealed and cooed at the adorable way Daichi’s head is slightly tilted and the confused look on his face.

“Huh? Leave? What are you talking about?”

“It’s- I’m- uhm...” You struggle to tell him, your fingers gripping and loosening the covers nervously.

Daichi takes your fidgeting hands in his and softly caresses them to help you relax, giving you time to collect your words.

It’s unavoidable. You know it, you have to tell him sooner or later.

“I… got my period last night and it leaked through my pants,” you manage to mumble out quietly, eyes not meeting his dark brown ones that were looking intently at you.

It takes half a second for Daichi to process your words before he pulls you into a hug with a relieved exhale. He feels you tense in surprise in his embrace and he turns his head to kiss your cheek. “That’s fine, darling,” he murmurs into your ear, “that’s normal, isn’t it? Don’t you worry about it.”

At his affectionate words, you feel yourself calm down and you breathe out a breath you weren't aware you were holding. You gulp down the lump in your throat. “I’m sorry-”

You’re cut off by Daichi pulling back to look you straight in the eyes. “Don’t be, love. I’m not upset at you,” he tells you, with a stern edge in his tone that effectively stops you from apologising any further. “Now, let me take care of you, okay? Don’t worry anymore, it’s fine,” he reassures again, pressing a kiss on your nose.

You let Daichi carry you to the bathroom and set you down on the toilet seat. He lets the water run to fill the bathtub and helps you undress, leaving your clothes by the door, and you use his shower to clean yourself up. All the while, Daichi doesn’t stop making small conversations with you to alleviate any tension or nerves that’s left in you until he settles you in the warm water. He leans down and pecks your forehead and tells you to come out whenever you’re ready.

Daichi leaves you in his bathroom, taking your used clothes with him and shutting the door behind him. You slide down a little more in the fragrant water and feel your muscles relax even more. You think back to your worries of the morning and smile at your own silliness. What were you so worried about when you’ve got Daichi?

When the water starts to lose its warmth, you stand and let the water in the tub drain, stepping back into the shower to wash the suds off yourself. You dry yourself with a towel hanging on the rack and wrap it around yourself before moving back into the bedroom to see one of Daichi’s old T-shirts, a pair of comfortable pants and a clean set of undergarments you had previously left in Daichi’s wardrobe neatly arranged on the bed, fresh sheets tucked into it. Next to the clothing is a paper bag you recognise from a nearby convenience store. Peering inside, you find several types of pads/tampons for you to choose from.

After dressing yourself, you pad out of the bedroom towards the kitchen, following the delicious scent of your favourite breakfast food. You stand at the doorway, watching Daichi, with his back turned, prepare a mouth-watering meal for the both of you, the quiet hum of the washing machine in the background. As quietly as you can, you sneak up behind him and wrap your arms around his middle, burying your face in his toned back.

Daichi chuckles at your actions and you can feel the vibrations as he does. “Hey, babe, you hungry yet? Food’s just about done.”

You nod in response, loosening your hug and letting Daichi lead you to sit on the dining table with him. You watch him fondly as he passes you a plate of food and a cup of your favourite beverage before getting one for himself.

“Thank you, Daichi,” you break the silence between the both of you, “for everything today.”

Daichi looks up and flashes a warm smile at you. “Of course, darling, anything for you. Don’t be scared to tell me next time, okay? I want to take care of you.”

Your heart flutters in your chest, in a good way this time, and you nod eagerly. “Okay!”

Satisfied with your answer, Daichi hands you the eating utensils. “Good girl. Now, eat up. What do you want to do today?”

aaaa i couldnt decide whether i wanted to make this into headcanons or a scenario so i did both 🙂 i hope you don’t mind, anon!

periods suck so much ew and if this scenario happened to me i would simply,, pass away🙃

thank you for reading and i hope you enjoyed this (´▽`ʃ♡ƪ)

72 notes · View notes

xtruss · 3 years

Text

A Muslim Writer on Finding Her Voice in Post-9/11, Post-Trump America

— By Aisha Sultan | 09/01/21 | Newsweek.

A new generation of Muslim Americans is making its mark. Spencer Platt/Getty

Like most Americans old enough to remember, I know exactly where I was and what I was doing on September 11, 2001 when the first hijacked plane hit the World Trade Center in New York City. I was showering when I heard my husband yelling for me. Dripping wet and wrapped in a towel, I watched in shock, along with tens of millions of others, as the Twin Towers fell, killing thousands of people inside.

Emotions from that day feel so much closer than two decades ago.

My stomach turned in revulsion. My body tightened with fear for my relatives who worked there. Dread settled like a heavy rock on my chest. Like other Americans, I wondered, who was attacking us. But as a Muslim, I had other questions too: Did the attackers claim to be Muslims? And, if so, what would happen to the rest of us?

I quickly got dressed and headed to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, where I worked as an education reporter. I talked to stunned school officials and students while still trying to process what was happening.

That evening, I checked in with my family in Texas. My brother, then in middle school, had been in class when his teacher broke the news. He became nervous and, in the teacher's eyes at least, asked too many questions. "Is this World War III? Did they bomb downtown? Are they going to bomb our town next?" The teacher told him to shut up and leave her classroom, that she couldn't bear to look at his face.

Riz Ahmed attends the "Mogul Mowgli" press conference during the 70th Berlinale International Film Festival Berlin at Grand Hyatt Hotel on February 21, 2020 in Berlin, Germany. Ahmed recently criticized “dehumanizing and demonizing portrayals of Muslims" in films. Andreas Rentz/Getty Images

My mother's co-workers at the department store where she had worked for years suddenly refused to speak to her. Cops escorted my hijab-wearing cousin off her college campus because it was no longer deemed safe for her to be there.

In the immediate aftermath of that day's horror, my grief and anger as an American was so compounded with my fear and anxiety as a Muslim that it compelled me to do something unthinkable for me: I poured my heart out to the readers of the Sunday paper.

Back then, it was unusual for a news reporter to pen a personal response to a national tragedy. This was long before social media made us all performative, confessional animals. I needed my neighbors in the Midwest to know that while Muslim Americans shared their grief and anger, we also feared whether our country would turn on us.

I ended that column with the questions my college-aged sister had asked me: "Will the government come after us like they did with the Japanese? Will other Americans stand up for us?"

I told my readers the same thing I told her: I don't know.

I wasn't sure what to expect but dozens and dozens of readers responded to her question with expressions of support: Yes, we will stand up for you, you and your family are one of us, they said, in one way or another, in message after message. There were just two negative, Islamophobic emails in the bunch.

Such an overwhelmingly positive response seems inconceivable now, given how polarized our discourse is now and how normalized hate speech has become—an irony, when you consider how heightened anti-Muslim sentiment was at the time.

Key moments after 9/11 also feel unimaginable now. Back then, a Republican president, George W. Bush, visited the Islamic Center in Washington D.C. days after the attack to tell the American people that the attacks violated the tenets of Islam—"Islam is peace," he famously said—and to defend Muslims as equal citizens worthy of respect and protection. Our last Republican president, by contrast, touted a "Muslim ban" across the country. Even my state, Missouri, now bright partisan red, was a swing state back in 2001, where Democrats sometimes voted for Republicans and vice versa.

Coming together after tragedy: U.S. Muslims sing "God Bless America" at an interfaith memorial service in Pasadena, California for 9/11 victims two days after the attacks. Lucy Nicholson/AFP/Getty

It was against this backdrop that I felt moved to share my vulnerability with readers who may never have met a Muslim before.

Their responses reassured and comforted me, but the expressions of support didn't always—or even mostly—translate into action on a national scale. Instead, the Muslim community bore the brunt of the fallout of 9/11 for years. The government targeted Muslim communities with surveillance, questioning and confinement. It seemed law enforcement and the media used the label of "terrorism" for heinous crimes only if the perpetrator was Muslim. The number of anti-Muslim hate crime incidents reported to the FBI rose from 28 in 2000 to 481 in 2001— and those are just the official numbers. Countless incidents are never reported to the FBI.

Yet, in those ensuing years, creative work by Muslims also bubbled up in the country. A trio of Muslim comedians—Preacher Moss, Azhar Usman and Azeem Muhammad—launched the "Allah Made Me Funny" comedy tour in 2003. Writer Laila Lalami's debut novel, Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits, was published in 2005. Actor Aasif Mandvi began appearing on The Daily Show in 2006. G.Willow Wilson published her first graphic novel, Cairo, in 2007.

People who had lived as Muslims in America prior to 9/11 became American Muslims, more engaged in its civic, cultural and political institutions. Muslims creatives were reclaiming the narrative and telling our own stories instead of responding to the false dichotomy of victim or villain told about us.

I was among them. Seven years after the attacks, I began lobbying my editors for a features column, a departure from a decade of straight news reporting. I had become a mother with two small children. I was trying to make sense of the confusion and isolation that parenting provokes. My first column in 2008 described a bleak winter day when I was sleep-deprived and frustrated and feeling slightly suffocated by the tight bonds of motherhood.

The author: St. Louis Post-Dispatch syndicated columnist Aisha Sultan. Elizabeth Wisemen

Again, readers in the heartland responded with overwhelming support and commiseration. I wasn't making any overtly political arguments. As readers got to know me, they appreciated the commonalities in our parenting experiences despite our differences. I wasn't trying to be an ambassador or spokeswoman for my faith or an ethnic community. I was sharing my observations and struggles as a suburban, middle class American mom who happened to be Muslim and of Pakistani descent.

An older, childless white man who lives in a conservative exurban county wrote to say I was the only Muslim he knew besides the attackers on 9/11. He said he had changed his perspective on Muslims in America after reading my column for years. We weren't just a faceless enemy to him anymore. He saw me as a person, my humanity very real to him.

We've stayed in touch for more than a decade.

Over time more Americans have become like that reader, increasingly comfortable with the idea and presence of Muslims—as neighbors and even family members. Yet simultaneously, the conservative right turned Islam into an effective political weapon and used it to bludgeon Muslims who have sought greater representation and political power.

These opposing forces once again became evident in the correspondence I got from readers, The tone and tenor changed notably in the summer of 2016 as the political rhetoric of the presidential campaign came to a boiling point. Public writers have always had our share of angry critics. But the criticism I received turned increasingly vitriolic, with a deep undercurrent of anger. People who disagreed with what I'd written weren't merely looking to dissent but to silence me.

Increasingly, pushback was laced with profanity, racial slurs and calls to go back to where I came from. Anonymous writers called me a 'raghead c*nt' and others told me to "get out of America, you towel head bigot b*tch." One reader mailed a handwritten letter after I wrote about talking to my children about the killing of Travyon Martin, the Black teenager fatally shot by a white member of a neighborhood watch patrol in Florida. She said she would make a point of cutting out my column photo from the paper every weekend so she could put it in the toilet and piss on it.

After the 2016 election, the heightened anxiety about personal safety I'd felt right after 9/11 returned, even stronger and lasted for years. It's not hard to understand why. During the period between 2015 and 2016, the number of assaults against Muslims rose significantly, surpassing the aftermath of 9/11, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of hate crimes statistics from the FBI. Over the following years, disinformation and conspiracies began taking hold in America at a level I'd never seen before. White rage was palpable online and eventually, on the streets.

The memories and feelings associated with the events of 9/11 continue to play a role in attitudes toward the American Muslim community in some quarters. Here, the annual 'Tribute in Light' memorial in lower Manhattan near One World Trade Center. Spencer Platt/Getty

And yet during this period, Muslims in America continued to create art and cultural capital at an unprecedented level. Playwright Ayad Akhtar produced his Pultizer-winning play Disgraced. Hasan Minhaj reclaimed the title Patriot Act, launching a show that became a cultural touchpoint for a generation of American Muslims too young to know firsthand how that legislation was wielded against the Muslim community. Ramy Youssef won a Golden Globe, Mahershala Ali won two Oscars and Lena Khan is directing Hollywood films. Models, pundits and Olympic athletes came into the spotlight while wearing a hijab.

At some point, I too decided that whatever the costs of speaking out, far greater was the cost of silence. If someone was going to attack me for speaking out against white supremacists, that was a risk I was willing to take. I couldn't back down from writing about controversial issues that I knew would provoke an angry backlash, even when it felt reader abuse could possibly escalate to violence.

What I've observed and experienced over the past 20 years, as a columnist and as a Muslim, perhaps boils down to this: As the politics of exclusion grow more strident, parts of the culture embrace inclusivity. Each force is a reaction to the other.

Certainly this has happened in my own relationship with readers. Even as the negative emails ramped up in intensity and bile, I still have far more readers who send words of kindness and encouragement than hatred. Many reveal their own secrets and most vulnerable stories.

My goal when I began writing a column was to give a voice to parents struggling to raise kids in this digital, social media saturated age. I hope I've done that but along the way something else important happened: I found my own voice too.

My youngest sister, who was in college when I wrote my first personal story in the aftermath of 9/11, decided to attend law school after she graduated. She eventually ran for state judge in the 113th District in Houston and was elected in 2018 as part of the record-setting number of Muslims who won public office that year.

With the benefit of two decades of hindsight and the insights I've gained from my interaction with readers over the years, I realize I could have given her a better answer when she turned to me as a frightened college student in 2001. I could have reassured her: Yes, there will be other Americans who will stand up for us.

More importantly, we will learn to stand up for ourselves.

— Aisha Sultan is a syndicated columnist based at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

4 notes · View notes

purplegirlstory · 4 years

Text

Forget Me Not

You've been in love with Jaehyun for as long as you can remember. You first met him during your freshman year in high school and he was this charming boy with cute dimples that every teacher seems to compliment. You both became friends when the teacher assigned the seating plan for the class and he happened to be your deskmate.

"Hi! I'm Jaehyun. Jung Jaehyun. Nice to meet you" Jaehyun smiled at you as soon as he sat on the chair beside you. You shyly smiled at him and nodded your head.

"Y-Y/N..." you said before turning your head to face the teacher in front.

It was the summer before your second year when Jaehyun decided to join the basketball team in your school to become a varsity player. He would always invite you during his practices and you would always make sure that you can attend as many practice games as you can. Well.... you are in love with the boy so of course, you wouldn't say no to him.

"Y/N! How did I do? Were you able to count all my 3-point shots?" Jaehyun smirked at you while grabbing the towel at your hand and wiping his face with it.

"With those shoots Jae, I'm pretty sure you'll be able to join the varsity team in no time!" you cheered, handing him the water bottle after he was done wiping his face.

And he did. Jaehyun was able to join the varsity team and was able to compete with teams from other schools. Not only that, but Jaehyun become popular as the "Dimpled Guy" who plays basketball. Even girls from other schools would come to watch his game just to see how handsome he is whenever he is playing basketball.

It was Valentine's Day when you arrived in your classroom and saw your desk full of chocolates and flowers. It wasn't for you. It was all for Jaehyun.

"We can share them" a voice behind said and you turned around and saw Jaehyun looking at the flowers and chocolates as well. "I can't finish them all, you know" he laughed nervously while scratching the back of his neck.

"Of course, Jae! But I get all the vanilla flavored-ones" you laughed with him.

It was in your third year in high school when Jaehyun became the captain of your school's basketball team. It was also the time when a girl named Naeun from another school confessed to Jaehyun in the party that your classmates threw for Jaehyun.

"Y/N!....Y/N!" you were minding your own business, finishing the can of beer that was in front of you that was sitting there from the time that you arrived at the party. You turned your head around to look for the voice that was yelling your name. You regretted your action when you saw Jaehyun walking towards you with a big smile on his face while holding the hand of a girl behind him.

"Y/N..." Jaehyun smiled shyly looking at the girl behind him the looking back at you. "This is Naeun. Sh-She's my girlfriend". You blinked at the girl behind him before putting on the biggest fake smile you could ever muster.

"J-Jaehyun....Congratulations" you said before standing up, making sure to place your hand at the table to balance yourself. You bid goodbye to them both before rushing out of the house.

It was also that night when you experienced unbearable pain in your chest. You ran in your bathroom and kneeled before the toilet. You started coughing violently when you felt something soft and smooth tickling your throat. You held tightly at the edge of the toilet when you started vomiting blood. Only it wasn't only blood, you noticed small blue flowers stained with blood floating in your toilet. No...It can't be. You thought to yourself. You've heard of this before. You've heard of people vomiting flowers whenever they are in one-sided love. You never really believed them until it happened to you.

"Are you gonna tell him?" Doyoung asked handing banana milk to you. Doyoung is a working student that works in your school library that you met whenever you and Jaehyun would stay late inside the library whenever your exams week is coming up.

"I don't think that's a good idea. He looks so happy with her. She's his first girlfriend" you took the banana milk and just held onto it.

"Well, vomiting blood and flowers isn't a good idea too" Doyoung scoffed at you.

"Look! I'll try, ok! Maybe I can get rid of my feelings for him and I'll be ok again"

It was in your last year in high school when you realized that Jaehyun and Naeun aren't gonna break up any time soon. Everyone can see how in love the two are with each other. It was very hard not to notice it.

You didn't completely ignore Jaehyun. He was your best friend and first love after all. You just limited your interactions with him thinking that it could help you get rid of your feelings for him but the jealousy you felt whenever you see them both only worsen your condition.

"Jaehyun? What are you doing here?" you looked at the man standing on your porch. "You didn't talk to me for the whole week. I missed you" Jaehyun sighed.

"I'm sorry. I'm just stressed out, you know. There are tons of school works that I need to finish since we're graduating students" you lied. You went to the doctor earlier this week to consult for your disease and what you found out only broke your heart even more. I'm sorry Jaehyun. I just love you, that's all.

"Naeun was asking for you too. She said she didn't saw you for the whole week. She is worried for you too". Naeun was nice to you and respected the fact that you were Jaehyun's best friend. She was never jealous of you and you can't believe that you both became good friends. How could you steal the man that you love from his girl when she was this kind?

I'd rather hurt myself.

It was your graduation day when you realized that this was gonna be the last time that you'll ever see Jaehyun.

"Sweetie, congratulations!" your mother hugged you. Aside from Doyoung, your mother knew about your condition and how Jaehyun is involved in it. She knew how much you loved Jaehyun. She saw the way you looked at him whenever Jaehyun was staying overnight at your house.

"I think someone wants to speak with you" she eyed the person behind and you knew exactly who it was.

"Jaehyun" you said, trying to memorize the face that you love so much.

"Hey, we made it. We are off to a new beginning after this." he smiled at you before pulling you into his arms. Jaehyun was going back to America to continue his studies there. With Naeun. It turns out that they both applied for the same university in America. You wrapped your arms around him and you felt your tears flow down from your eyes. This is it. This is goodbye and a new beginning it is.

It was also that day when you stopped vomiting flowers.

~~~~~~

"Another long test?! I swear that he's gone crazy!" Taeyong yelled out of frustration before plopping down next to you. You laughed at him and poked his cheek. "The lesson isn't even that hard. You're just lazy" you smirked at him and he glared at you. Taeyong was the first friend that you made in college. He was that late student during the first day of class.

You stared at the blank notebook in front of you happily. This was your first day in college and you can't be more excited. The teacher was already done introducing himself and is starting to give an introduction about his subject when suddenly the door burst open revealing a pink-haired boy who looks like he just got lost in the campus...or did he? He was holding a cup of coffee in his left hand and was looking frantically around for an available seat which happened to be the one next to yours. He ran to the seat and placed his coffee next to yours.

"Great, way to introduce yourself Taeyong" you heard him whisper to himself. He grabbed his coffee and took a long sip and you widen your eyes at him. He noticed your expression and his eyes widen as well.

"This isn't my coffee, is it?" he said.

"C'mon, I'll treat you in our favorite cafe as a motivation for you to study for our looong test" you emphasized which only made him groan. "I hate you Y/N".

You both arrived at the cafe and asked Taeyong to look for seats while you order your food. You were currently waiting for your turn when someone pushed you from behind. Luckily, you were able to maintain your balance and you turned around to scold the stranger that just pushed you. Instead, you saw a brown-haired boy crouching down and picking up papers that were scattered on the floor.

"Here, let me help you" you suddenly felt sorry for the boy and helped him. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to pus-...Y/N?" Jaehyun stared at you shocked but it turned into a bright smile when he finally recognized you.

You heard the boy mentioned your name and you stared at him in complete confusion.

"I'm sorry but...how did you know my name?"

~~~~~~

You were waiting inside the doctor's office nervously fiddling with your fingers. You told your mom about your....disease and she suggested that you visit this doctor who was known in your town for dealing with this kind of disease. The door suddenly opened and the doctor came in.

"Well Ms. Y/N, it seems that you have the Hanahaki disease." that's it. That's the word that you were dreading to hear. Hanahaki Disease

"But unlike the other Hanahaki diseases, yours is one of the very rare kinds," the doctor said which made you looked up at him.

"Rare kind? What do you mean by that?" you furrowed your eyebrows at him.

"You see, normally when someone has a Hanahaki disease, flowers start to bloom in their lungs until it occupies the whole lungs and the person can't breathe anymore and dies." the doctor said and you stared at him in fear.

"But you can have the flowers surgically removed but you will never be able to return your feelings for the person ever again. But in your case, the flowers don't occupy your lungs and it doesn't grow back again every time you throw them up. Instead, you'll continue vomiting all the flowers in your lungs until they're gone and so are the memories" the doctor sadly smiled at you. "By the time that the flowers are out of your lungs, all the memories that you made with the person that you are in love with, will be completely wiped out. As if they never existed in the first place."

You were completely speechless at what he just said to you. There are tons of things running in your mind but you can't speak.

"Do you know what kind of flowers you were throwing up, Ms. Y/N?" the doctor asked and you looked at him with tears in your eyes.

"Forget-me-nots"

~~~~~~

Hello everyone! New writer here~ How was the story? I hope you like my first story. Thank you for reading~~~

#jaehyun #nct jaehyun #nct #nct angst #nct 127 #nct scenarios #nct school au #nct imagines #taeyong #doyoung #jung jaehyun #nct 127 scenarios

73 notes · View notes

leigh-kelly · 4 years

Text

The Nanny-Chapter 2

Defeated by her inability to sell any makeup, and her total failure at faking her way into a job as a nanny, Brittany returns to her parents’ apartment in Flushing. Her mother is in the kitchen cooking dinner, and she feels exactly twelve years old as she sinks down onto the couch. This definitely isn’t where she saw herself at nearly thirty, and when she looks at her phone to see text messages from Sugar complaining about working with Quinn, she just throws it to the side. Her life is in total shambles, and all she needs is some dose of good luck to turn it around.

“Ma, what am I supposed to do? I dropped out of college to work in Dani’s stupid bridal shop, I have no real skills, no girlfriend, and I’m living with my mother.”

“It’s no picnic living with you either, kid.” Whitney Piece opens the doorway between the kitchen and the living room and holds a raw chicken in her hands. “You’re really butting in on mine and your father’s private time.”

“Ew, Mom, gross. I don’t need to hear about that. I’m having enough of a terrible day.”

“I say you march back down to that Ms. Lopez’s mansion and give her a piece of your mind.”

“What’s that even going to do? She didn’t do anything to me. If I’m going to give anyone a piece of my mind, it’s going to be Dani Fucking Harper for cheating on me and firing me. She’s the one that got me into this situation.”

“You’re the one that got yourself into this situation. I warned you about Dani when you started dating her. You wouldn’t let me look you up with Jeannie’s nice son Artie who would have married you and made you a millionaire. A millionaire, you hear me? He just sold his first tech company for five-hundred million dollars. But instead, you chose Dani with the bridal shop.”

“Why do you have to make everything worse? I went on a date with Artie, and he so wasn’t into reenacting my Lady and the Tramp fantasy and kept talking to me like he was some kind of rapper. It’s not like I expected Dani to cheat on me.”

“She was shifty, I would have expected it.”

“Gee, thanks Mom.” Brittany rolls her eyes, and then, from where it landed under the couch when she tossed it, Brittany’s phone begins to ring. She stoops down to pick it up, and she furrows her brow when she sees a strange 212 area code light up the screen. “I guess I should take this, it’s probably someone calling to tell me that I have to sell my kidneys in order to survive the next month.”

“Only sell one, or else you’ll die, and your father and I will be responsible for paying back that ten thousand dollars in student loans you took out.”

“You’re just full of hope today, aren’t you?” Brittany sighs and presses the accept call button on her phone. “Hello?”

“Hello, is this Miss Pierce?”

“Um, yeah, who’s this?”

“Santana Lopez, we met earlier.”

“Right, how could I forget the gorgeous millionaire with the big mansion?”

“Gorgeous millionaire, I’m listening.” Whitney sits down next to Brittany, and she shoos her away.

“I’ve reconsidered what I said earlier. You seemed to have a way with Tyler, and I’d like to hire you on a trial basis, assuming you can move in today and start immediately.”

“Move in? It’s a live-in position?”

“Well yes, is that going to be a problem?”

“I’ll be there as soon as I can pack my bags. Oh, thank you, Ms. Lopez, thank you! You won’t regret this.”

“I have some reason to believe that I will…but I’ll see you this afternoon.”

In less than an hour, Brittany packs up everything she owns and is in the back of a cab headed toward Manhattan. She thinks she probably should be nervous, but she’s not, she’s totally got this and she’s going to show Ms. Lopez that she’s totally wrong about thinking she’s going to regret hiring her. Kids absolutely love her, she’s sure that she’ll win over Tyler with his fake blood, Abigail with her whining and Valerie with her sad eyes. It’s going to be a total piece of cake, she just knows it.

“Miss Pierce.” The butler opens the door when she gets there and hurries out to the cab to go help her with her things. Most of the stuff in the apartment she shared with Dani wasn’t hers, so she really just has four suitcases chock full of clothes and a big Rubbermaid bin full of shoes.

Brittany looks around the house and it’s surprisingly quiet. Something about it reminds her of The Sound of Music, her absolute favorite comfort movie when she was a kid, and she eyes the drapes, hoping she doesn’t have to teach herself how to sew in order to make the kids play clothes. Shaking her head, she moves over to the side table and reaches out to touch what is probably a very expensive crystal vase when she hears footsteps and then retracts her hand.

“I’d appreciate if you didn’t touch the antiques.” Santana puts her hand on her hip and cocks her head to the side. “And I expect I won’t have to watch over you while you’re watching the children.”

“Why do you have antiques in a house full of kids anyway?”

“We taught them from a young age what was theirs to touch and what wasn’t. I’ve never had a problem before.”

“Even with Tyler?”

“Well—” Santana begins and then is stopped by the sound of screeching coming into the room.

“Mommy! Look at my dolly! Tyler ripped her head right off and put it in the toilet bowl!” Abigail cried.

“I did not!” Tyler tumbles into the room. “She’s a big fat liar. She did it herself just to get me in trouble.”

“A new doll for Abigail will be coming right out of your allowance, young man.” Santana furrows her brow and looks between the children. “Both of you, say hello to Miss Pierce.”

“Miss Pierce? No way, I’m just Brittany.”

“I’d prefer if the children called you Miss Pierce.”

“And I’d prefer if they called me Brittany.” Brittany challenges. “Listen, Abigail, I’m an expert doll fixer. Why don’t you come upstairs with me and we’ll get her all taken care of?”

An hour later, Abigail’s doll is fixed, Tyler is distracted with a new bucket of Legos that Kurt—the butler, now that Brittany has learned his name—brought out and Brittany is almost finished unpacking. She’s not sure where Valerie is, though she thinks she should probably be aware of that, and she wonders exactly how one nannies a fifteen-year-old. It’s not like she needs dolls fixed or lessons in not using ketchup as fake blood, but Brittany is sure she’ll learn on the job.

“Miss Pierce.” Kurt knocks on the door to her bedroom and Brittany cringes a little at everyone in this house and their formalities. “Dinner is served.”

Brittany makes her way down the stairs and into the dining room, but when she gets there, she realizes that there are only four places set. She wrinkles her nose a little and looks to Kurt, who is puzzled by her expression. He holds out his hand toward the kitchen, apparently assuming that’s where she’ll eat and Brittany’s eyebrows raise.

“The nanny normally eats in there on her own while Ms. Lopez has meals with the children.”

“Well that’s ridiculous.” Brittany goes into the kitchen and picks up the plate set for her, carrying into the dining room. “Isn’t a nanny supposed to be part of the family? I’ll be eating with them.”

Valerie comes into the dining room first and gives Brittany the same strange look that Kurt did. Brittany is in utter shock that any other nanny put up with this and she simply unfolds her napkin and puts it on her lap like she’s seen people do in movies. At home, she mostly used paper towels as napkins and can’t really understand why anyone would think cloth napkins were a better idea, but she guesses she may as well learn how to fit in with these rich people.

“You know you’re supposed to eat in the kitchen.” Valerie tells her, standing behind her own chair.

“Maybe that’s how it used to be, but if I’m going to spend all my time with you, I think I should at least be able to eat with you.”

“Miss Pierce.” Santana comes in, followed by Abigail and Tyler. “You’re—”

“Supposed to eat in the kitchen, I know. I—” Brittany tries to think of the most appropriate response to her new boss. “I think it’s better for the kids to see me eating with the family, then they know they should respect me.”

“Well. Alright then.” Santana sits down.

Dinner is the weirdest thing Brittany has ever experienced. Not a single one of them talk. She keeps trying to start a conversation, get everyone to at least pretend they’re at the table with other people, but no one takes the bait. She watches Tyler hide his broccoli in his napkin, watches Abigail obsessively sort her food, watches Valerie eat more slowly than she’s ever seen a human being eat and watches Santana look down at her phone every thirty seconds. Then, just when she feels like she’s about to explode, Rachel Berry barges into the dining room with a flourish.

“I just got off the phone with Brody Weston, he wants to have dinner with us tonight.” She shrieks. “This could be our chance to land Broadway’s biggest star. Lin Manuel Miranda doesn’t stand a chance against us if we get him!”

“Let’s go.” Santana stands up, pushing her plate away. “Miss Pierce, I expect you’ll be alright getting the children to bed?”

“You’ve got it. What, like ten o’clock?”

“No. More like eight o’clock. Valerie can stay up until nine-thirty.”

“Right…” Brittany shakes her head, thinking maybe Valerie is way too old to have a nine-thirty bedtime, but she’s not going to argue with her boss. “Uh, have fun.”

“Miss Pierce.” Rachel’s voice gets high and shrill. “We are not doing this for fun.”

They leave the dining room and Brittany looks around at the three kids. Abigail looks crestfallen, Tyler looks like he’s planning something and Valerie just looks completely aloof to the entire situation. Maybe it’s weird, but Brittany wants to know more about Ms. Lopez. She’s living in her house after all and if feels weird that they’ve exchanged maybe one-hundred words. But she’s not exactly about to ask, the woman was weird enough about her sitting at the dinner table with them and even weirder about the kids calling her Brittany, so she thinks if she actually asks something personal her head will explode.

“So…what’s up guys?” Brittany asks. “You know there’s no law that you have to be quiet at the dinner table, right?”

“Mom would rather we are.” Abigail pipes up. “She’s usually really busy doing work on her phone.”

“Well guess what, she’s not here, so talk away.”

Brittany isn’t surprised that she’s still met with utter silence, but she rolls her eyes a little. It’s clear that these kids have no idea how to just be kids and she thinks of The Sound of Music again. Maybe she does need to learn how to saw so she can make them play clothes out of the curtains, bring them to Central Park and let them run around and scream. It seems like it would do each of them good, probably Tyler, especially, since he seems to need to get into mischief to actually express himself.

After dinner is done, all three kids go to their rooms. Brittany is pretty sure that she hears Valerie’s door slam, but she can’t be sure. Figuring this is just what they do, Brittany goes into the kitchen to try and get some dirt out of Kurt. She could see a gleam in his eye when she met him earlier in the day and she just knows he’ll be willing to spill some gossip.

“So, what’s the deal Kurt? Tell me all about these people.”

“Miss Pierce—”

“Okay, let’s just put an end to that right now. Brittany, okay?”

“Brittany. Fine. But seriously, you’ve been here like three hours and you already want me to gossip?”

“I know you live for it.” Brittany laughs a little. “So, tell me everything there is to know about Ms. Lopez.”

“You got me.” Kurt rolls his eyes at himself. “Thank God I finally have someone to talk to, I wait all month for my butler’s association meetings to just gab about everything.”

“I knew it! So, what’s her deal?”

“She’s trying to be this big-time producer, she’s like, insanely jealous of Lin Manuel Miranda, you can’t even bring him up around her, she’ll go absolutely apeshit.”

“But Ms. Berry—”

“Yeah, she does it all the time, I think she thinks it motivates her, which, honestly, it probably does. But basically, they’re always having these investors fall through every time they think they’re going to have this big hit. They passed on Dear Evan Hansen, so, there’s that.”

“And Ms. Berry? Are they like…together?”

“Oh my God, disgusting.” Kurt feigns a gag. “But actually, Ms. Berry wishes. She follows Ms. Lopez around like a little puppy dog and is basically ready to throw herself in her arms at any given second. It’s so gross to watch, but it’s like a car wreck, I can’t look away.”

“And what about the kids’ dad?”

“Mama, actually. Do you have like no gaydar? I could sense you were one of us from a mile away.”

“Hey…I’m bi.” Brittany crosses her arms over her chest.

“Still one of us. And she died two years ago, she was hit by a car and it destroyed Ms. Lopez. Miss Abigail was only three, she doesn’t remember her at all and Mr. Tyler was four so he has a few memories. Miss Valerie is still angry.”

“I can see that. She has barely said two words to me.”

“She doesn’t want to get attached, you don’t even know how many nannies we’ve gone through around here.”

“So why did Ms. Lopez decide to hire me anyway?”

“Desperation?” Kurt chuckles. “And also, I may have planted the seed in her head.”

“Why?”

“Because you looked like a kicked puppy when you showed up here. So now that I’ve told you about her, what’s your deal.”

“I mean, I got dumped and fired on the same day…by the same person, so that’s pretty much how I ended up here. The only thing I know about kids is from hanging out with my little cousins, my mom is desperate for me to get married, that’s about it.”

“Hmm.” Kurt looks off into the distance and Brittany furrows her brow.

“What?”

“Huh? No, nothing, I was just thinking about something.”

“C’mon, you have to tell me!”

“You’ll find out in due time, I just know it.”

#the nanny #brittana

65 notes · View notes

anubislover · 4 years

Text

Not So Easily Replaced

(Ikkaku is pissed at how idiotic her crew has been while on Amazon Lily, so she does what she's always done - vents about it to Law to let off some steam. Unfortunately, when an argument breaks out between them, she's left to wonder if she's really appreciated by her nakama)

“Ugh!” Ikkaku growled, stomping into Law’s office with his second afternoon coffee and a selection of onigiri on a tray. Normally lunch delivery wasn’t her job, but since all the men had been “too busy” fawning over the women of Amazon Lily outside, the menial task had fallen to her; otherwise their workaholic captain wouldn’t eat. “I swear, Boss, if we don’t set sail soon, I’m going to strangle every guy on board!”

“Hmmm,” Law grunted absently as he poured over his notes. Ikkaku didn’t hold his monosyllabic response against him—he’d spent the past few days fixing up that Straw Hat kid and the Fishman. On top of that, the extensive treatments had basically depleted their medical supplies, Straw Hat’s freak-out upon waking up had wrecked more than half the operatory, and the Kuja had been pretty stingy with letting them replenish their food and water from the island, so she was sure he had plenty on his mind. The dark bags under his eyes attested to that.

That didn’t mean she wasn’t going to vent, though. Honestly, if she didn’t, she’d probably snap and end up going on a killing spree or something. Only Bepo and Law would be spared; the Mink had no interest in human women and thus hadn’t been an obnoxious Neanderthal, and Law had been too focused on keeping his patients and crew alive to drool over Boa Hancock.

Hell, when her captain was like this, Ikkaku could literally say anything and he wouldn’t even register it. It took a lot to snap Law out of his thoughts, and he’d never really seemed to mind when she ranted at him to let off steam. Mainly because once she was done, she was usually calm enough to take care of the situation herself, leaving Law in peace and with a non-murdered crew. A happy engineer made for a happy submarine, after all.

Setting the coffee and onigiri down onto the desk, Ikkaku continued, “They act like they’ve never seen a hot chick in their lives. I mean, what am I, chopped liver? They should be thanking the gods that they get to look at my gorgeous face every damn day!” The statement was accompanied by a dramatic toss of her curly hair. When Ikkaku felt strongly about something, she tended to gesticulate a lot, and this was no exception.

“Uh huh.”

She leaned against the edge of Law’s desk, hands waving about as she ranted. “Not that I want them to start lusting after me, but it hurts a girl’s pride, ya know? They could at least acknowledge what a hot piece of ass I am instead of acting like I’m some ugly hag.” She clenched her fist as she recalled how, just that morning, Shachi and Clione had basically given a lecture to the whole crew over breakfast about the superior physique the Kuja displayed compared to the average woman. There had been charts and everything, and to her dismay the silhouette for the “average” woman looked suspiciously like her.

“And that’s not the end of it!” she rambled on, smacking her hand against the desk for emphasis. “When I’m not ignored or insulted, they try to convince me to go out into the jungle to talk to the Kuja for them! I mean, I’m probably the one least likely to be killed outright, but it’s not guaranteed! They might fill me with arrows just for being affiliated with men! Are they really willing to risk my life like that?”

Her question didn’t get an answer—not because Law wasn’t paying attention, but because at that moment, her emotive gesticulating accidentally smacked her wrist into his coffee mug, knocking it over.

“Mother fucker!” Law shouted, scalding coffee spilling all over his crotch and papers.

“Oh my god, Law, I’m so sorry—”

“Will you shut up?!” he snapped, grabbing his nearby lab coat to frantically soak up the scalding coffee that had spilled across his crotch. “Don’t just stand there—get some towels!”

Nodding mutely, she ran to the en-suite bathroom and snatched up every towel she could find in the cupboard. “Here,” she said, trying to hand them to him so he could clean himself up.

“My desk, damn it! Save my notes!”

Immediately she swept the pile furthest from the spill to the floor and began patting down the desk, but she knew it was already too late; the coffee had completely soaked through several of the papers that had been strewn across the stainless steel surface.

“Law, really, I’m so sorry!” she apologized hoarsely, flinching as he turned the full force of his sleep-deprived glare upon her.

“Maybe if you’d fucking been watching what you were doing instead of ranting on and on, none of this would have happened!” he shouted, well and truly pissed. Not that she blamed him—a week’s worth of important medical and inventory notes was now a brown, sopping mess. On top of that, first-degree crotch burns would sour anyone’s mood, especially when they were only running on an average of three hours of sleep.

“It’ll be ok,” she assured, assessing the damage. To an average person, the mess was a disaster, but while the charts and notes that had been in the immediate spill zone were soaked through and ruined, many of the others could be salvaged thanks to Law’s powers. “Just Room the coffee out of the papers—”

“Do you have any idea how much time and effort you just flushed down the toilet?” he snapped, even as the familiar blue bubble filled the office. Drops of coffee were pulled from the sheets of paper like magic, but to Ikkaku’s dismay, much of the ink left behind was still smudged beyond recognition. “You’re lucky that wasn’t Mugiwara-ya’s medical file you just destroyed!”

“Law, really, I’m sorry,” she said, trying to calm him down. Her usually chill captain was far more volatile when stressed and sleep-deprived. “It was a stupid accident on my part. I’ll help you rewrite all of this.”

“Hell no,” he growled, gold eyes narrowing furiously, the tendons in his thin neck tightening as he ground his teeth together. “The last thing I need is you going on another stupid rant and ruining my notes again. Get the fuck out—I’ve got more important things to do than listen to you bitch and moan about how the guys aren’t paying attention to you.”

“Tha—that’s not what I’m angry about at all!” she snapped.

“Then what is your fucking problem?!”

“My problem is that the guys were being jackasses and I’m not appreciated around here!”

“Well if you don’t like it, leave!”

Ikkaku’s back stiffened, each syllable cutting into her heart like Law’s sharpest scalpel. Those words…it was the exact same thing her old boss would say whenever she complained about her asshole coworkers’ creepy leers or “accidental” groping. The greasy old mechanic was a sexist pig, but still the only one in that shit port that had been willing to take her on as an apprentice. It had always been an unspoken threat—if she left, no one else would hire her, so she could kiss her dreams of becoming a world-class engineer good-bye.

Trafalgar Law had changed that with his offer to join the Heart Pirates.

And now he was telling her to leave, too. To give up her dream, her nakama, and her home because she wasn’t willing to put up with a little sexism.

As if he could replace her in a heartbeat.

The thought hurt more than expected. She’d worked her ass off aboard the Polar Tang. For five years she’d toiled in the heart of the engine room, maintaining every little piece. She kept the gears turning, the motors humming, and the propellers running. Just from sound and the slightest vibrations through the ship, she knew exactly what was wrong with the engine at any given time.

Ikkaku had never asked for praise or recognition for her hard work—it was just her job. But she was as knowledgeable about the mechanisms of the submarine as Law was of the human body. She had always assumed he’d quietly acknowledged this fact and respected her for it.

Clearly, she’d been wrong.

She nearly screamed all this at him, but before she could open her mouth, the blue light of Law’s Room encased her, and in a blink, she was out in the hall, the cabin door slamming shut in her face.

Knowing better than to try and force her way back into his quarters, Ikkaku instead stormed down the steel hallway, fists clenched and muttering furiously to herself. Maybe she would leave. March right up to Boa Hancock and ask to join the Kuja. That would show them! She didn’t need Law, or the Tang, or men at all! She’d get along just fine without those jerks! Sure, Amazon Lily didn’t have any of the high-tech machinery she was used to, and working for a shichibukai wasn’t exactly something she was thrilled about, but at least they’d appreciate her, right? She had other skills—she was a hell of a tattoo artist, and was a damn fine shot, and could kickbox, and…

Her pace slowed as her heart forced her brain to accept the truth—she didn’t want to leave. She’d go crazy without machines and engines to work on. And sure, she was no slouch in a fight, but the Kuja were warrior women trained from birth. Ikkaku would look like a total weakling next to them.

And no matter how much the crew pissed her off, she wouldn’t trade her nakama for anything. Sure, they could be thoughtless jerks sometimes, but they could also be really sweet. Bepo may not have been much for girl talk, but he was always willing to lend an ear if she needed companionship. Her fellow engineers, Malamute and Skua, were dependable and shared her love of machines. Shachi was always down to help her pull a prank, and when he wasn’t drooling over the Kuja, Penguin could be counted on to talk her through her problems.

As for Law…by this point, he was more like her big brother than her actual brothers had been. They shared a similar devious sense of humor, was discreet about any feminine issues she might have that, as the ship’s doctor, he was forced to deal with, and he’d even played wingman for her a few times at the taverns they’d stopped in.

Had she just ruined all of that? Was Law just angry, or had this been coming for a long time? Law had threatened to fire her plenty of times in the past, usually in response to her back sassing him, but he’d never been serious about it. This time had been different—he’d been legitimately pissed at her. Maybe those teasing threats hadn’t been jokes, but subtle warnings, and her ruining all those papers had simply been the straw to break the camel’s back?

Ikkaku was deep in thought, mentally going over every encounter she’d had with Law with a fine-toothed comb, searching for any clue whether he seriously thought she should leave, when she quite literally bumped into Bepo.

The Mink took in her flushed, angry expression and asked, “Are you ok, Ikkaku?”

Oddly enough, it was that simple, gentle question that shattered her composure like a bullet through a bone, and without even thinking she buried her face in his soft fur and just broke down crying. “He told me to leave, Bepo,” she sobbed, scared and hurt and frustrated. For all the grief her crewmates had given her and all the dangerous positions being a pirate had put her in, Ikkaku loved being a Heart. Where would she go? She’d never find another ship like the Polar Tang. Another crew like the Heart Pirates. Another captain like Trafalgar Law.

Bepo, though shocked that the normally fiery and confident engineer was using his fur as a tissue, didn’t say anything—he just carefully rubbed her back and hoped that letting her treat him like a massive teddy bear would calm her down enough to explain what had happened.

XXX

“Ok, real talk—has anyone noticed anything…different about Ikkaku lately?” Penguin asked as he sat down to lunch.

“You’d have to actually see her to notice something,” Shachi replied, brow furrowing. He glanced over at Uni, raising an eyebrow behind his sunglasses. “You been giving her stealth lessons or something?”

Uni frowned behind his bandana. “No, but she’s definitely avoiding us. It’s been a week since we left Amazon Lily, and I can count the number of times I’ve seen her on one hand.”

“Same,” Ermine said as they finished molding Law’s onigiri into the perfect triangles the captain liked. “I actually thought we left her behind for a minute—nearly asked Jean Bart to turn the ship around to get her.”

Malamute rubbed his chin, mouth twisting in concern. “Nah, she’s here, but she’s mad at us about something—barely leaves the engine room most days, and she basically refuses to talk to me and Skua.”

His fellow engineer nodded. “We thought it might just be her time of the month, but that ended over a week ago according to the calendar.”

“You guys keep track of her menstrual cycles?” Clione asked, weirded out. The rest of the crew wore similar expressions of disbelief and disapproval.

“Out of self-preservation!” Skua shouted defensively. “We’re in a hot, confined space where she has easy access to heavy tools—of course we wanna know when we should have emergency placating chocolate on-hand!”

“We tried the chocolate anyway, though,” Malamute added. “She just…waved it away and kept working.”

The cook’s frown deepened at that bit of information. “Ikkaku never turns down chocolate,” Ermine said, “and she hasn’t shown up to lunch, dinner, or breakfast all week.”

“She’s been eating, though, right?” Penguin asked, concerned. He didn’t care how mad she was; it was no excuse to skip out on meals. It was bad enough Law was an insomniac that got most of his nutrients through coffee and onigiri. It would be a cold day in hell before he would stand for an anorexic engineer.

A large, white paw shyly raised in the air as Bepo interjected, “I’ve been bringing her meals so she doesn’t have to come by the galley. She’s…wanted some time to herself.” He dropped his head gloomily. “Sorry.”

“But she’s talked to you?”

“Ummm, a little bit,” he muttered, twiddling his claws. After she’d stopped crying, Ikkaku had spilled her guts about everything—her issues with the crew, her argument with Law, and why his words had affected her so badly. Though sympathetic, Bepo was certain Law hadn’t meant his thoughtless words—underneath his casual persona, he cared deeply about his crew and would never let any of them go for such a silly reason.

At first, Bepo’d tried to get her to go back and talk to the captain, but she’d shot that down quickly—with the mood Law had been in, it would do nothing but start another argument. The Mink had hoped that, now that they were sailing away from Amazon Lily and Law wouldn’t have to worry about Straw Hat’s injuries anymore, they’d both cool down and the whole thing would blow over.

Unfortunately, the past week had proven otherwise. Ikkaku had taken to hiding deep in the bowels of the ship, and Law had been so focused on redoing all those notes and charts that he hadn’t left his quarters in days. Bepo wasn’t a Mink who liked confrontation, and he certainly didn’t want to choose sides between his oldest friend and his favorite engineer, so he’d relegated himself to supplying food to both parties, hoping one of them would finally get tired of the oppressive silence and breach the topic.

As the crew frantically gathered around him, hoping to finally have an answer to the Mystery of the Missing Engineer, Bepo began to wonder if he should have just locked both humans in an empty room and made them talk it out.

Not that such a plan would have been very effective with Law’s powers, but it was better than nothing.

“Talk, Bepo,” Shachi growled, pulling a flashlight out of his pocket and shining it directly into the bear’s black eyes like he was in an interrogation room. “What’s up with Ikkaku?”

“Why’s she hiding from us?” Clione interjected.

“Why are you the only one she’s talking to?” added Jude.

“Is she pregnant and going through weird mood swings or something?” Skua asked loudly.

Bepo blanched at that last one. “No, she…she’s just kind of upset about…how you all acted on Amazon Lily.”

Exasperated, Ermine rolled their eyes. “What, was she jealous about all the attention we gave Hancock’s crew?”

“No, but…you guys were really insensitive. Like, that presentation—”

“It was a joke!” Shachi defended, though a guilty blush rose to his cheeks.

“And asking her to venture into the jungle to talk to the women for you—”

“Hey, she was the only one who they wouldn’t kill on-sight!” Jude sulked.

“And then she had to bring Law his lunch because you were all too busy staring at the Kuja.”

“Wow. Having to do that one menial task must have been such an inconvenience,” Malamute scoffed.

At the back of the grumbling crowd, Jean Bart awkwardly rubbed the back of his head. He hadn’t been on the crew long, so he didn’t really think it was his place to get involved, but he had the feeling Ikkaku had taken whatever had been said and done a little more personally than they thought. “Look, regardless of how we feel, we should all apologize to her. I mean, I don’t know her great, but does she usually give the silent treatment for this long?”

“Well, no,” Clione stated, looking a bit nervous. “Typically, she yells at us and smacks us around a bit, or maybe pulls some embarrassing prank, but she’s never quiet.”

“So, what’s this mean?”

“It means this is serious.” Penguin frowned at Bepo, who was looking around anxiously as if hoping to escape. “Ok, spill. You’re the only one she’s talked to, and you clearly have a better idea of what’s going on than we do. What’s Ikkaku really upset about?”

The Mink hung his head sorrowfully. “Sorry.”

“Damn it, don’t apologize! Just tell us!”

“It’s just…”

“Are you guys bullying Bepo again?” came a voice from the doorway. The crew turned to find Law strolling into the galley, looking thinner and more exhausted than usual, but he was at least out of his room and among the living.

Still shining his flashlight in Bepo’s face, Shachi yelled, “Captain! You gotta help us—Ikkaku’s basically been AWOL all week and won’t talk to anyone, and Bepo won’t tell us why!”

Law plopped into his chair and grabbed an onigiri, scoffing as he took a large bite. “She bitched at me for a while about how you all were being sexist pigs. Figured she would have gotten over it by now.”

“She complained to you about it?” Jean Bart asked, tilting his head.

“Yeah, and then she managed to spill hot coffee on my crotch and ruin the inventory list for the infirmary that I’d spent hours compiling.”

The crew unanimously gave a sympathy wince.

Taking another large bite of his lunch, Law continued, “We’ll be making port in a few days—she’ll come to her senses once she’s spent some time off the ship.”

“You…you want her to leave the ship?” Bepo asked, voice raising an octave in disbelief.

“Time apart will do us some good,” he replied with a shrug, activating his Room for a moment to remove the flashlight from Shachi’s hand.

“How…how much time?”

“Well, we’re not making port any longer than necessary. If she hasn’t gotten her shit together by then, that’s her problem.”

Bepo’s heart dropped into his stomach. What did Law mean “get her shit together”? Was he talking about packing her things? Was he really kicking her out over a silly argument over spilled coffee and ruined paperwork?

“Law!” the Mink shouted, jerking to his feet so quickly his knees knocked the table. “Please reconsider!”

Dark blue eyebrows rose at the normally soft-spoken navigator’s outburst. “There’s nothing to reconsider. Ikkaku’s a big girl—I agree that the sexism she faced was unacceptable, but she’s never had a problem handling that kind of shit herself.” His face twisted into a scowl. “And considering how I only just finished redoing all the work she destroyed, my tolerance for temper tantrums is at an all-time low.”

“She offered to help you rewrite it!” Bepo argued, slapping his paws down on the table. “Is some soggy paperwork worth losing your best engineer over?” Pausing, he glanced at Malamute and Skua. “Uh, no offense. Sorry.”

“None taken,” the duo said in unison, though their jaws dropped a second later as they registered the Mink’s words. “Wait, what?!”

“What do you mean ‘losing’ Ikkaku?” Penguin snapped, grabbing him by the orange collar of his boiler suit.

Shachi grabbed the flashlight again and climbed onto the table to shine it into Bepo’s face. “Talk, bear! Is Ikkaku quitting or something?”

“Because we won’t let her!” several of the crew shouted.

“Everybody calm down!” Law snapped, his deep voice silencing the rambunctious crew. “You all acted like idiots around the Kuja—I don’t blame her for being annoyed at you. But if your petty acts of sexism could drive her off that easily, she wouldn’t have lasted ten minutes at her old job. You’re blowing everything out of proportion.”

“You’re the one who told her to leave over a spilled cup of coffee!” Bepo angrily stated, only to immediately shrink back when he realized just who he’d yelled at. “Sorry.”

“Whoa, wait, Law, did you fire her?” Penguin asked, genuinely horrified as he numbly released Bepo’s collar. Of all the things that could have been bothering Ikkaku, that hadn’t even made his list. Sure, she could be tempestuous, but that had never bothered Law before—on the contrary, Penguin had always assumed his old friend liked trading snarky barbs with.

“I didn’t—why would I—I was just pissed because she spilled hot coffee all over crotch!” Law defended, even as he inwardly cringed at the way his entire crew had turned to glare at him judgmentally. Shachi had even turned the flashlight’s intense beam on him.

“But was that worth actually firing her over?”

“I didn’t fire her! Yeah, we argued, but I never said she was fired. At most, I told her to get the fuck out of my office.”

“That’s not all you said,” Bepo mumbled, crossing his arms stubbornly.

Flinty gold eyes narrowed at the sulking Mink. It was extremely out of character for Bepo to snap at or sass anyone—least of all Law. His brow furrowed as he thought back to his fight with Ikkaku—the memory was a bit hazy due to the lack of sleep he’d gotten. “Then what exactly did I say to her? What could have possibly been so bad that it could make her think I’m firing her?”

“You said…she told me…” Bepo took a deep breath. He hated scolding his captain, but he hated the idea of Ikkaku leaving even more, especially if this really was just a big misunderstanding. “You said to her ‘if you don’t like it, leave’.”

A sour taste worse than umeboshi filled his mouth as Law realized the full implications of what he’d said and done. He clearly remembered her old boss, a scowling, greasy man who’d shouted at her when she’d argued that she deserved to be respected as the talented engineer she was and not just seen as eye-candy.

If you don’t like it, leave, he’d sneered through crooked teeth as the other mechanics sniggered. Good luck finding anyone else willing to hire an inexperienced chick, though. Law could distinctly remember the hot surge of outrage he’d felt on the woman’s behalf; in less than ten minutes, she’d managed to identify what was wrong with the Tang’s engine and exactly how to fix it. Yet because she was the sole female in the shop—because she was a little bit different—she was overlooked and scorned, with her boss refusing to check for himself.

It had reminded Law a little too much of how quickly he’d been rejected from every hospital Cora-san had taken him to, the so-called “expert” doctors refusing to believe that Amber Lead was not contagious, or even examine the white patches across his skin.

And maybe—just maybe—the way her curly hair fanned out around her shoulders and down her back reminded him just a tiny bit of a certain black, feathered jacket.

Law hadn’t even bothered to consider whether or not the woman might want to become a pirate before he’d activated his Room and cut her boss to pieces. He’d then turned to Ikkaku, whose dark eyes had been wide with shock but not fear, and told her that if she could fix his engine as easily as she claimed, she was welcome to join his crew.

Now he stood to lose her due to his own sleep-deprived stupidity.

“…fuck.”

XXX

Down in the engine room, Ikkaku lay on her back underneath the ship’s engine, tightening the bolts that secured the freshly-cleaned cooling pipes. Since her argument with Law she’d basically spent every waking hour disassembling, repairing, and reassembling every piece she could. She trusted Skua and Malamute to take good care of the sub after she was gone, but the Polar Tang deserved nothing less than a thorough inspection and tune-up as thanks for carrying her so far.

She’d give the crew their own goodbye once they reached port. She hoped they were still too blinded by the hearts in their eyes to notice she’d been avoiding them. It wasn’t out of anger anymore; instead, she was scared she’d start blubbering. Admitting that Law had decided to toss her out on her ass was humiliating and heartbreaking, and she honestly wasn’t sure how the others would react. They could just as easily stage a mutiny as shrug it off as her overreacting.

Perhaps she was freaking out over nothing—Law hadn’t even left his room since their fight. Surely if he really wanted her gone, he could have marooned her back on Amazon Lily. Then again, he was a sadistic bastard; luring her into a false sense of security, then dumping her and her belongings onto the next port they landed on wouldn’t be entirely out of character. Or maybe her years of service had earned her enough mercy that he was willing to wait until they were at an island where Ikkaku could potentially find work instead of stranding her in the Calm Belt.

Whatever it was, she had every intention of confronting him about it after dinner. If this was all just a big misunderstanding, she planned to give him a good smack upside the head. If she was really fired, she wanted at least enough time to pack her things and say her proper goodbyes.

Until then, all she could do was stay busy to pass the time and hope that the knot of anxiety that twisted in her stomach would loosen up by the time she talked to him.

She didn’t want to leave, but if Law decided she was really that expendable, there wasn’t much she could do but try to hold onto at least a shred of dignity.

Reaching over to her tool kit, Ikkaku fished out her screwdriver, silently lamenting over the sad state of her tools. She’d planned on picking up some new ones back on Sabaody, but with all the chaos that had taken place, she’d missed her chance, and she wasn’t sure she could justify the cost now that her job was in jeopardy.

The sharp click clack of heeled boots against the metal floor startled her out of her thoughts. Glancing towards the sound, she immediately knew from the spotted jeans that filled her vision that, for better or for worse, the mystery of her termination was about to be solved.

She watched as Law turned around, and she knew from the barely-audible creek of the pipes that he had chosen to lean against them. Ikkaku had yelled at him for doing that more than a few times in the past, but this time she kept her mouth shut. Most likely he’d done it to provoke such a reaction out of her, but why? To break the viscous tension that filled the room by establishing a sense of normalcy, or so he’d have another cause to fire her?

Whatever his reason, Ikkaku refused to be the first to speak. Whether he wanted to kick her out or extend the olive branch, he’d have to make the first move.

After a few minutes of silence where Law merely stood there and Ikkaku continued to tighten the bolts, he finally sighed. “Penguin tells me that you haven’t been eating dinner with the crew,” Law’s low, nonchalant voice rumbled through the pipes.

If Penguin had to tell you, that says that you haven’t been eating with them, either, she thought sourly, though opted to stay quiet. She didn’t want to turn this into an argument if he intended to apologize. And if he planned to fire her…well, she wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of riling her up.

Noting her unusual silence, he continued, “I understand their behavior has been…upsetting as of late. They were acting like idiots, but that’s no reason to isolate yourself.”

“Haven’t been isolating myself,” she lied, fiddling with a bolt she’d tightened ten minutes ago. “I’ve just had work to do. The Tang needed some maintenance, so I thought I’d get it done now that we weren’t being chased by Marines.”

“Sure. And the fact that Bepo’s been bringing you your meals this past week?”

“Going to the galley would have wasted time. Eating in here was more efficient, and Bepo offered.”

“Why didn’t you ask Skua and Malamute to help?”

“You doubtin’ my abilities as an engineer, Trafalgar?” she asked in a clipped tone, growing sick of tiptoeing around the point. “Whether you like it or not, I know how this ship works better than anyone. If you don’t trust me, tell them to get their asses in here and do it instead!”

There was a deep sigh from above her, and Ikkaku could easily picture the wrinkle between his eyebrows that formed when he was tired and frustrated. “Bepo told me you’re thinking of leaving.”

Ah. The moment of truth. Heart in her throat, she forced her herself to take a deep breath, ready for whatever judgement he saw fit to pass. “You’re the one who said I should if I didn’t like how I was being treated.”

“Are you?”

“Leaving or enjoying how I’m treated?”

“Leaving.”

“…I don’t want to.”

“Good.” It was subtle, but there was an unspoken “I wouldn’t have let you if you’d tried” in his tone. There was another long moment of silence before he continued, “Engineers as skilled as you are hard to come by—finding a replacement would have been a bitch. Plus, the crew would have been upset; they were practically interrogating poor Bepo about why you were avoiding them.”

“And of course you stepped in and played hero, rescuing the helpless Mink from an angry mob?” she snipped, tightening another screw. It didn’t sound like she was getting fired, so it was a little easier to let her natural sass creep back into her voice.

Law let out a faint tch above her. “I wouldn’t say ‘helpless’ considering how he then yelled at me about allegedly firing you. After that, the mob was on his side.”

A proud grin curled the corner of Ikkaku’s mouth. Who would have thought that Bepo would yell at his best friend for little old her? She’d have to come up with a nice thank you gift for her favorite shipmate. With luck, Law might actually apologize for his behavior if even Bepo was calling him out.

Of course, that might take a while, so it was best to keep busy. Reaching out her hand, Ikkaku felt around blindly for her socket wrench. She jerked slightly in surprise when she felt long fingers wrap around her hand before the tool in question was placed firmly in her palm. She pulled her arm back, only to stare wordlessly at the brand-new wrench that practically gleamed in the light.

Clumsily she slid out from under the pipes, jaw dropping as she found Law crouching beside a new, expensive, top-of-the-line tool kit. “I was saving this for your birthday but given the chance that you wouldn’t be around to receive it…” he trailed off, adjusting his hat so the brim cast a shadow over his face.

The corners of her eyes crinkled as she smiled, immediately recognizing the gift for the chrome apology that it was. Plus, it was hard to stay mad at Law when he was like this—honestly, it was so dang cute how awkward he was when forced to display actual human emotions like caring and guilt. “You bribing me to stay, Boss?”

“If that’s what it takes.”

She laughed, grabbing him by the shoulder and pulling him in for a hug. “Then I accept, along with a twenty-percent bonus on my next paycheck.”

He grumbled slightly but didn’t refuse, nor did he pull away from her embrace, even if he stubbornly refused to return it. It didn’t matter that he hadn’t technically said “sorry”. Actions spoke a hell of a lot louder than words with him, anyway, and Law was practically groveling for her to stay.

When she finally let him go, Law stood up and cleared his throat before nonchalantly strolling towards the door. “Well then, since you’re not leaving, unless the engine room is actively on fire and no one but you can put it out, you’re eating with the crew tonight. They’ll formally apologize for their behavior, and they’re all going out of their way to show you how much you’re appreciated. Ermine’s preparing your favorite meal. Clione and Shachi have put together a presentation detailing exactly how stupid they’ve been while Penguin has one extolling your virtues. Malamute and Skua have volunteered to take on your cleaning duties for the next two weeks.”

“What are you going to do?” Ikkaku teased, though he could have said “nothing” and she’d be fine—she knew he’d never make the mistake of discarding her again.

Law stopped at the door and threw his trademark cocky smirk over his shoulder. “Isn’t it obvious? I’ll be standing by your side all night to make sure you can’t run off when you realize just how obnoxiously sentimental those idiots can be.”

Ikkaku’s grin fell a bit as she realized he was right—the Hearts were an infamous band of pirates led by a fiendishly dangerous captain, but when it came to their nakama, they could get downright sappy in extreme circumstances. Jude was probably preparing some hippy-dippy song. Cousteau would inevitably name some weird sea creature after her. Seiuchi would probably find a way to scatter confetti all over the galley and she’d be picking it out of her hair for days…

Getting up, she chased after her devious captain. “I don’t suppose there’s still time for me to quit and join the Kuja, is there?”

Gold eyes glinted sadistically at her as Law replied, “Nope. Welcome to Appreciation Hell. Population: you. Don’t try to run, either—I’ll Shambles your ass into the galley if I have to.”

Ikkaku punched his arm in retaliation, though she was careful not to hit him too hard—if she annoyed him too much, he’d go out of his way to rile the guys up even more. God, he’d probably propose they all get tattoos of her face or something just to make her suffer.

“You’re an absolute bastard,” she said, affection creeping into her voice despite her best efforts.

“Yes, but a bastard that appreciates his engineer,” Law replied, and out of the corner of her eye, Ikkaku could have sworn she saw the barest hint of a genuine smile flicker across his face.

Despite the knowledge that she’d be stuck with a crew of idiots and a captain who had the emotional range of a teaspoon and a truly frightening sense of humor, Ikkaku felt happier than she had in weeks as she playfully knocked her shoulder into his. “I guess that’s not so bad, then.”

The End

98 notes · View notes

wordywarriorwrites · 4 years

Text

Chapter 4: Fever

Series Master List | A03 | Rating: M Summary: Bogged down by duty and somehow always in her younger sister’s shadow, Katherine D’Beaux has lived a luxurious, albeit utterly directionless life. Bucky Barnes is a no-frills, no-nonsense business owner who cannot afford any personal distractions. When an embarrassing and costly incident brings their two, completely different worlds together, they’ll soon discover there are still some things that money just can’t buy. Series Warnings: Language, violence, alcohol, smoking, explicit sexual content, illegal activities.

The bulk-sized cases of paper towels, toilet paper, garbage bags, and bottles of cleaning product had been pulled out of the supply closet and emptied. Each individual item had been wiped down with a dry towel, arranged back on the shelves in alphabetical order, and all the labels had been front-faced.

It wasn’t the first time Bucky had found Isobel doing something odd and completely unnecessary, and when he thought about all the other strange tasks she’d been assigned, he finally understood what was going on.

Bruce was General Manager, Natasha was Head Bartender, and Clint was Head Chef. Between the three of them, they ran the day-to-day operations of The Sidecar, while Bucky focused on things like liquor licenses, supplier contracts, budget management, and recruiting.

The business had once operated like a well-oiled machine; everyone’s role had been defined, they’d taken ownership of their respective duties, and the job had always gotten done. Now, everything was up in the air, Bucky had even more on his plate, and he’d been relying on his three managers to take charge of themselves as well as Isobel. The fact that they’d been freezing her out instead of putting her to work meant they didn’t like her and wanted her gone.

Bucky couldn’t really blame them for their hesitancy. The idea of letting her do anything substantial was disconcerting to him as well, but he needed all hands on deck. It had only been three weeks, but so far, Isobel had been on time, hadn’t broken anything, and had kept her clothes on. While Bucky had by no means forgiven her, she seemed to be doing her best to atone for her mistakes, and he just didn’t have the bandwidth to tend to or put up with grudges.

“There, all finished,” Isobel declared.

He didn’t tell her that what she’d done would make it harder for him to do inventory; instead, Bucky told her she did a good job, and helped take the dozens of now-empty boxes out to the compactor. When they got back inside, he sent Isobel to his office, and asked her to stay put while he had a quick chat with Bruce, Natasha, and Clint. Once they’d all gathered by the bar, he looked at each of them in turn, and shook his head.

“Everything okay?” Bruce prompted.

Bucky crossed his arms over his chest, “I think you know the answer to that.”

There was a long stretch of silence that involved a lot of feigned expressions of cluelessness, and when nobody spoke up, he cursed lowly, and threw up his hands.

“We don’t have time for this!” he barked. “And the immature bullshit? It ends now, understood?”

Wide-eyed and shamefaced, they ducked their heads, and muttered various excuses. He reminded them the situation was temporary and things would eventually get back normal. Bucky also told them he couldn’t do it alone, and that he really needed them to pull together as a team, or else The Sidecar wouldn’t be able to function, let alone reopen its’ doors.

He sighed ran a hand through his hair, “Look, you three have been with me since the beginning. You’ve always had my back, and I trust you, but I need you to step it up, okay?”

“We understand,” Bruce assured.

“We won’t let you down,” Clint swore.

“Don’t worry, Buck, we got this,” Natasha guaranteed.

Bucky accepted their apologies and sent everyone, including Isobel, back to work. He spent the rest of the morning holed up in his office, where he sorted out invoices, balanced the books, reviewed applications, and argued with the insurance company about policies and premiums.

After lunch, he worked with Bruce on a timetable to determine when the rest of the staff could return, went over the liquor and drink ingredients accounts with Natasha, and discussed new food specials and equipment needs with Clint. Though she was very closely monitored, the team actually utilized Isobel, and by the end of the day, she looked as if she’d been run ragged.

When Isobel complained her ankles were swollen, her back hurt, and her hands were dry, Bucky expected everyone to make side remarks, but they didn’t. Instead of telling her to toughen up, Natasha recommended cool Epsom salt baths for her feet, Clint suggested Working Hands lotion for her skin, and Bruce proposed a hot shower and a few Ibuprofen before bed.

Isobel pulled at the collar of her shirt and wrinkled her nose, “Any advice on deodorant?”

Her question spawned a debate over the best brands and the merits of scented versus unscented. It was a safe, neutral topic, and it helped break the ice considerably. They eventually gathered at a table and started chatting, and even though there was still a lot of wariness, they seemed to be getting along.

While they continued to talk, Bucky sat down at the bar, and started to organize the repair schedules and vendor delivery dates for the following week. He was mostly in his own headspace and only caught bits and pieces of their conversation, but when someone brought up Katherine, his focus waned.

According to Isobel, her sister was the definition of a “good girl.” Even as a child, she’d been respectful and obedient, and she hadn’t gone through a rebellious phase as a teenager, either. No secret boyfriends, no drugs, no binge drinking, no compromising videos – not even a parking ticket. Katherine was also one of those people who tended to succeed at anything she put her mind to and would one day rule the D’Beaux family.

“So, you’re saying she’s perfect?” Natasha asked.

Isobel burst out laughing and shook her head, “Oh, no. Not by any stretch.”

Bruce sat forward, “Meaning?”

“Well, for starters, her temper is out of this world,” Isobel supplied. “I mean, I’ve only ever seen her lose it once, and trust me, once was enough.”

They eagerly pressed Isobel for more details, but before she could air her sister’s dirty laundry, her cellphone pinged, and she said, “speak of the devil.”

A few moments later, the front door opened, and the click-clack of Katherine’s heels was enough to make Bucky’s heart rate kick up a notch. The light, citrusy-floral scent of her perfume warmed him from the inside, and the shiver it induced would’ve embarrassed him had he not enjoyed the sensation so much. He was keenly aware of her, could literally feel her presence, and the first thing he thought when he saw her was, “Oh, fuck.”

Nude-colored stiletto pumps. Black off-the-shoulder dress. Hair up in an elegant, asymmetrical French twist. The pear-shaped diamonds that adorned her ears and throat were eye-catching, but it wasn’t the clothes or jewelry that had made Bucky sit up and pay attention. It was Katherine’s cherry red mouth that drew his gaze, and the urge to smudge all that pretty, perfectly-applied lipstick was so primal and raw that he had to force himself to look away.

“Well, hello, Kit-Kat,” her sister called out cheekily. “What have you been up to today?”

Katherine blinked in confusion, “I beg your pardon?”

Isobel winked impishly, “You have a hot date?”

In the span of about five seconds, Bucky’s stomach went on a roller coaster ride. It dropped, flip-flopped, and fluttered, but when Katherine said, “absolutely not,” it settled right back down.

“Mother’s assistant accidentally double-booked her,” she explained. “I had to fill in for her at a charity luncheon, and you know how those things are.”

“Yeah, those old biddies never arrive or leave on time,” Isobel scoffed. “I’m surprised you were even able to get away this soon.”

Katherine fiddled with her necklace, “Mother arrived eventually, but… Well, never mind. Are you ready to go?”

Isobel nodded and got to her feet, “I just need to grab my coat and purse.”

There was suddenly a lot of chair scraping and a chorus of, “restroom, phone calls, food orders.” Everyone told Isobel they’d see her later, waved goodbye to Katherine, and promptly scattered. For the moment, it was just the two of them, and Bucky had so many things he wanted to say, but he couldn’t decide where to start.

He wanted to tell her that she was an absolute vision; that she smelled so damn good; that he wanted to know what her mouth tasted like; that he thought about her all the time would take her like a fucking shot if she’d let him…

“Bucky?” she whispered softly. “Are you alright?”

The opportunity to spill his guts hung in the air, but before he could formulate the words, Isobel returned, and the moment was stolen. All he could do was watch Katherine as she walked away, and as soon as she was out of eye-sight, he leaned forward, and banged his head a few times against the bar.

“Dude,” Clint scoffed. “Are you just plain stupid, or are you playing hard to get?”

He groaned and flipped him the bird, but he couldn’t deny that the man did have a point. He and Katherine had been tip-toeing around each other for over a month, and if Clint could sense the tension, that meant the others could, too. While he had more than enough to deal with, and knew very well that he couldn’t afford the distraction, he was sick and tired of the incessant will-we-won’t-we-song-and-dance, and needed to put an end to it.

Bucky lifted his head, took a deep breath, and picked up his phone. The text he sent was simple: he told Katherine they needed to talk and asked when she was available. The reply was almost instantaneous, and included a date, time, and location.

“Thanks, Clint!” Bucky called out.

Clint poked his head through the server’s windows, tunelessly sang, “that’s what friends are for,” and for the first time in what felt like forever, Bucky actually laughed.

Chapter 5: Mother Knows Best

#bucky barnes fic #bucky barnes fanfic #bucky barnes x female character #bucky barnes x ofc #bucky barnes imagine #bucky barnes oneshot #bucky barnes smut #bucky barnes au #wordywarriorwrites #silver spoon

29 notes · View notes

lofitowns · 5 years

Text

a miracle and a tragedy - e. kaspbrak

❝ HE HAD THOSE KIND EYES THAT SAID ‘EVERYTHING WILL BE OKAY’ ❞

in which you love him and he loves you. but that can’t save him. (fem! reader)

fandom ; it (2017) / (2019)

word count ; 4411 (it’s a long one boys)

warnings ; cussing + character death :(

(y/n) - your name :: (y/n/n) - your nickname

i haven’t written in forever! so here’s a little come back. if you see any mistakes, please tell me! i didn’t really reread this after i wrote it lol

you love him, you do.

You were 15 years old when you realized you were in love.

1991

You were sitting on your bed, paper and pens and pencils spread all over. You were seriously stressed out. Your freshman year was coming to a close and finals were starting next week and you had no idea what you were doing.

It was a Saturday, you should be hanging out with the losers but your dad had told you if you didn’t get good grades on these finals, you wouldn’t be able to hang out with them at all over the summer.

You checked your bedroom clock, it was only 2pm. Your dad wanted you to study until at least 4pm. This was exhausting.

There was a sudden tapping on your window making you turn your attention to that. There was Eddie Kaspbrak. Thank god your room was on the first floor. He definitely wouldn’t have been able to get up if it was on the second.

You raised an eyebrow at him as he waved through the window. You laughed at his big grin as you made your way over to open it.

“Hey! Can I come in?” He asked, looking up at you.

“Eds, you know my dad wants me to study.”

“Yeah, well, I can be your study buddy! We have some of the same classes, I can help.”

You debated it for a few seconds before finally taking the screen off and letting him in.

He climbed inside, almost falling to the floor, but you caught him.

“You’ve gotta be quiet though, my parents are just down the hall.”

You studied in mostly silence for a while, every so often you would look up to ask him a question and he would already be looking at you. This made you blush.

“God, Eddie. I’m so stressed out about this. What if I fail all of them and then I can’t see you guys over the summer?”

“Okay, first off, you’re literally the smartest person in our friend group. You’re definitely going to pass. Secondly, even if you do fail, I’m going to come visit you every single day. And I’ll bring all your favorite stuff and movies and I’ll hide when your parents come to check on you. How about that?”

A smile tugged at the corners of your lips as the boy spoke. You felt like you might cry. No one had ever said anything like that to you before.

“Yeah, that sounds great.”

That’s when you knew you were in too deep with this boy.

and here’s the miracle: he loves you too.

He was 13 years old when he realized he was in love.

1989

“I can’t go home like this guys. My mom will kill me.” The small boy, Eddie Kaspbrak, said with a face covered in grime.

“Dude, you’ve been gone for 24 straight hours. Your face is definitely on a milk carton by now,” Richie joked making Eddie’s face fall in terror, “Also, that puke smells worse than your mom’s slippers.”

“Oh, shut up, Richie,” You interjected, Eddie noticed you were gripping the handlebars of your bike to the point your knuckles were white.

“Okay, first of all, my mom’s slippers smell like potpourri, asshole,” Eddie retorted as everyone started to wheel their bikes down the main street of Derry.

You all started joking, just like normal. Like you hadn’t just crawled out of the sewer after fighting a child-eating clown.

Everyone started going their separate ways, going to their respective houses, until Eddie was left alone with you. Your house was just around the corner from his so it wasn’t unusual for you to walk home together. But, Eddie felt different this time. He wanted to make sure you got home safe and you were okay.

Your words interrupted his thoughts, “Do you want to come to my house? To clean up so your mom doesn’t freak out even more,” You offered, keeping your eyes on the bike wheel you were guiding next to you.

Eddie’s mouth opened and closed a few times before he finally answered, “Yeah, sure.”

When you arrived at your house, you checked to see if your parent’s car was in the garage before dropping your bikes in the front lawn. Eddie watched you move the small cat statue on the first step of your house to grab your spare key. You unlocked the door and led him up to your bathroom, grabbing a towel from the hall closet on your way.

Eddie sat on the seat of the toilet, following you across the room with his eyes as you turned on the tab, trying to get the temperature right, before wetting the towel and putting soap on it.

You made your way back over to him, kneeling down. When you started scrubbing his face, his breath hitched in his throat. He kept his eyes on you as you continued your work, focused. You also reached up and tried to get some of the puke out of his hair.

“Sorry, I don’t think I can do anything about the smell. Or your clothes. You’ll have to go home for that,” You told him, turning around to get some of the grime off the towel. You also grabbed a few bandaids and another washcloth with soap and water to clean his smaller cuts. Good thing he didn’t have any major wounds, not like Stanley.

Eddie’s heart felt like it was going to beat out of his chest. Not because of an asthma attack, not because he had just fought a killer clown, because the girl he liked was sitting so close to him. If he just leaned in...

The brunette boy cleared his throat, averting his eyes away from you.

When you announced you were done, Eddie quickly asked if you wanted him to help clean yourself up. He wanted to stay here with you longer. He knew his mother wouldn’t let him out of the house until school started, even if he just said he was at Bill’s and fell into a puddle or something.

“It’s fine, Eds. Go make sure your mom knows you’re alive so she doesn’t actually put your face on a milk carton,” You joked, sending him a weak smile.

Eddie let out a small chuckle, his eyes trained on you. You let out a small awkward laugh, reaching up to rub the side of your neck. He saw you open your mouth to say something, but he just moved forward and took you in his arms.

“Hey, you’ll get dirty again,” You pointed out playfully, but none the less, hugged him back.

Eddie could have stayed there forever. He didn’t even care that you both smelled like sewer or that his mom was probably freaking out. He didn’t know what he would do if something had happened to you.

He slowly pulled away, looking at your face. You were looking at him too.

“I’ll see you later, yeah?” You asked, smiling softly at him.

“Yeah, of course.”

Eddie walked past you, walking back out your front door. Once it was closed, he let out a deep breath he didn’t know he was holding. God, he was in love with you.

you are allowed to have him.

1992

It was Christmas break. There were still three days until Christmas but Bev was leaving to see family in Portland tomorrow and you all wanted to give each other presents.

You were squished between Richie and Eddie on the plush couch in your living room, watching A Christmas Story. Ben, Bev, and Bill sat on the floor in front of you, if you looked close enough, you could see her pinkie finger resting on Ben’s hand. Stanley was sitting on the chair next to the lit fireplace but was still curled up under a blanket. Mike sat in the chair on the other side of the couch, resting his head on his hand.

You shivered, causing Eddie to switch his attention to you.

“Are you cold?” He whispered as to not disturb the others.

You nodded and in response. He turned around and pulled the blanket off the back of the couch. He leaned over and spread it over the two of you. You sent him a grateful smile, your heart starting to flutter as he hesitantly laid his hand on yours under the blanket.

You had had a crush on the boy since you started middle school. He had always been there for you, especially after everything had happened with Pennywise. His laugh was like music to your ears and you always wanted to keep a smile on his face.

Your eyes kept switching from the TV screen back to Eddie, from the TV to Eddie. Your eyes finally decided to stay on the boy next to you. You felt like you hadn’t taken a good look at him in a while. His hair had started to curl more and it lightened a bit. He had grown too, you remember being at least four inches taller than him, but all of a sudden he shot up. He had stopped carrying around that dorky fanny pack when you started high school.

He turned his eyes to you, meeting your gaze. He moved ever so slightly to be closer to you, fulling wrapping his fingers around your hand.

The movie ended soon after and it was time for gifts. All of you moved to sit on the floor in a circle. You had done Secret Santa this year so you all didn’t have to buy seven different presents.

“Okay, I’ll start. I got Bill,” You announced, leaning over to him to hand him a rectangular parcel. He took it and quickly ripped the wrapping paper off. Inside was a blank sketchbook and a packet of colored pencils.

“T-Thanks, (y/n),” He sent you a warm smile, “I had M-Mike.”

Mike had Ben, Ben had Stan, Stan had Bev, Bev had Richie, and Richie had Eddie.

“And that means, Eddie had (y/n)!” Richie teased, nudging Eddie in the side with his elbow.

“Yeah, yeah. I’m gonna give it to her later,” Eddie retorted, a flush coming to his cheeks.

A shit-eating grin grew on Richie’s face, “Oh I bet you are Eds.”

Eddie groaned, putting his face in his hands while the rest of the losers club laughed at him.

“Beep beep, Richie. And I told you not to call me that.”

“But (y/n) can call you that? Suspicious.”

It took a few more hours for the losers to start to leave. Richie tried to stay until Eddie gave you your present, but Bev made him leave, already knowing what you were getting. Eddie had asked her what he should get you since the two of you were so close.

“Alright, what’s this thing you couldn’t give me in front of the losers?” You asked, pulling him down to sit on the couch facing each other.

Eddie chewed his lip nervously, holding the wrapped rectangle in his hands.

“Okay, please don’t laugh.”

“Of course I’m not going to laugh, Eds.”

He took a deep breath, pushing it across the couch cushion to you. You took it in your hands, taking the wrapping off of it.

It was a small brown book.

You furrowed your eyebrows, looking up at him. Eddie made a gesture to open it, so you did. It took your breath away.

Inside were pages filled with pictures, notes, movie tickets from different times in your life with the losers. You let out a breathy laugh, smiling brightly as you flipped through it.

“Oh my god, Eddie. This... This is beautiful,” You told him, setting the book aside and reaching over to take him in your arms. He wrapped his arms around you in return, resting his head on your shoulder.

“Well, I’m glad you like it,” His words were muffled by your shirt, “You... You didn’t look at the last page though.”

You pulled away, reaching over to open the book again. You flipped all the way to the back, seeing a picture of Eddie and yourself that was obviously taken by one of the other losers. You were sitting together on someone's couch, your head was on his shoulder and he had his eyes trained on you, a genuine smile on his face.

Your eyes moved to a small patch of writing under the picture.

Do you like me back?

yes no

You let out a small giggle, reaching to the table next to the couch to grab a pen. You circled yes, closed the book, and pushed it back over to him.

The tips of Eddie’s ears turned red as he opened to the back of the book. A smile pulled at his lips, passing it back to you.

“Okay, well... Would you want to... Like, be my girlfriend?”

You let out another giggle, leaning over to him and pressing a short kiss to his cheek.

“Of course, Eds.”

Two and a half years later, you were all packed up for college and leaving in the morning. You had spent the whole night before with your friends, knowing it was going to be the last time you saw them for a while.

You walked back into your room from washing your face, looking around your near-empty room. You jumped at a sudden knock on your window.

Your eyebrows furrowed as you turned around. A laugh fell from your lips, rushing over to the window to open it. Eddie’s grinning face there to greet you.

“For old times sake, right?”

Eddie climbed through the window and followed you to your bed. You both laid on top of the blankets, Eddie wrapping his arms around your waist, pulling you to him.

Neither of you spoke for a while, just wanting to cherish each other’s presence for the last time.

“I’m gonna miss you,” You spoke up, breaking the silence.

“I’m going to miss you so much more,” He answered, pressing a kiss to your forehead, “And after we graduate college, we’ll go away somewhere. New York, California, I’d go anywhere with you.”

You giggled, leaning up and pressing a kiss to his lips, “I’d like that.”

You stayed like that until the sun started to rise.

“Shit,” The boy whispered, rubbing his eyes and sitting up, “I really need to get home.”

You nodded, getting up with him, “Eddie,” You called softly as he walked to the window.

He turned around as you walked towards him and planted your lips onto his.

Your hands cupped his cheeks, his right hand going to your hip and his left going to your cheek as well. The kiss didn’t last long enough for your liking when he pulled away.

“I love you,” He whispered.

“I love you.”

As he crawled out the window, you didn’t realize it would be the last time you saw him for 22 years.

and here’s the tragedy: it’s not enough.

2016

The lights of Jade of the Orient shined down on you as you worked up the courage to walk in.

It still baffled you how you could forget your whole childhood. Where you came from, your friends, your experiences. Eddie.

When you did push the door open, a young lady greeted you and brought you to a room towards the back. When walked in, there were already two men standing there.

“(y/n)?” One of them asked, stepping towards you. Bill.

“I’m so glad you made it,” The other greeted, taking you into his arms. Mike.

You let out a laugh, hugging him back. “Yeah, of course I came.” You broke away from him and pulled Bill into a hug as well.

Mike opened his mouth to speak when you all heard a voice behind you. You all turned around.

“I am allergic to soy, anything that has egg in it, uh gluten, and if I eat a cashew I could realistically die,” The man told the waitress, making his way into the room.

He paused when he saw the three of you.

“Holy shit.”

“Good to see you too, Eds,” You greeted, quickly walking to him and taking him in your arms. He immediately pulled you closer. It felt warm and safe and like home.

“(y/n/n)?” He whispered in your hair.

You pulled away from him, giving him a warm smile.

Bill and Mike moved towards the two of you to give Eddie a hug as well. You made small talk while you waited for the others.

When they did get there, everything felt right. Richie hit the gong and announced the beginning of the meeting of the Losers Club.

“Look at these guys!” Eddie exclaimed, pointing at Beverly, Ben, and Richie.

Then you got drunk.

“So, wait, Eddie, you got married?” Richie asked, his shot glass falling out of his mouth. You were sitting in between him and Eddie

“Yeah, why’s that so fucking funny, dickwad?”

“What, to like a woman?”

“Fuck you, bro.”

“Fuck you!”

You let out a laugh, nudging Richie in the side with your elbow.

“And what about you, Trashmouth, you married?” Bill asked, leaning forwards.

“There’s no way Richie’s married!” You joked, holding your glass up to your lips.

“No, I got married,” He answered, looking serious.

“Richie, I don’t believe it,” Beverly retorted, eating a piece of chicken.

“When?” Eddie exclaimed, eyebrows raised.

“You didn’t hear about this?”

“No.”

“You didn’t know I got married? Yeah, no, me and your mom are very, very happy.”

Everyone around the table lost it, Bill choking on his drink and Beverly letting out a loud laugh and covering her mouth. You threw your head back in laughter, glancing over at Eddie who’s eyebrows were furrowed.

“Fuck you,” He pointed at Richie, taking a sip from the small bowl he was holding.

Richie wrapped an arm around your shoulders and leaned into your ear, starting to do a Jabba the Hutt impression.

You laughed and pushed him off, “Oh, leave him alone, Richie.”

While everyone was joking and laughing, Eddie turned to you.

“So, did you ever get married?” He asked, taking a sip of his drink.

You shook your head, “No, I just... Never met the right person, I guess,” You shrugged your shoulders.

Eddie nodded slowly, “Right. What do you do?”

“I actually work as a psychologist. I like being able to help people.”

“You were always the best listener,” He told you, making you giggle.

“So, you two are still in love,” Richie cut in, looking at the two of you.

Both of your faces flushed before you spoke, “Beep beep Richie.”

That night, you sat on your bed, blankly staring at the TV screen, it wasn’t even on. You kept seeing flashes of your younger self in your mind. A lot of them with a younger version of Eddie.

You jumped at the sudden knock on your door. Your eyes turned to the clock on the nightstand, 11:53pm.

You hesitantly walked over to it, cracking it open. There stood Eddie, looking at the floor. You opened the door fully.

He looked up at you, opening his mouth to say something but nothing came out.

“You wanna come in?”

He simply nodded, following you inside and closing the door behind him.

You both sat on the end of the bed where you had been moments before.

“Do you... Do you remember?” He finally broke the silence.

You nodded, getting the hint at what he was saying, and he set a hand on top of yours.

“I still love you. I know I didn’t even remember you until a couple days ago but I don’t want to go anywhere without you again,” Eddie confessed, turning to face you fully.

“Eds, you’re married.”

“Fuck her. I don’t love her, not like I love you. She’s basically my mother and I would leave her in a heartbeat for you.”

A smile tugged at your lips as you leaned into him, pressing a soft kiss to his lips, “ Okay.”

Eddie grinned, moving his hands to cup your cheeks, pulling you into another kiss.

you are allowed to count the constellations in his eyes as they blink out,

The house on Neibolt looked the same as you walked inside. The sewers felt the same too.

You emerged from a cave after escaping your fear. You were shaken but you knew your work was not done.

“Hey, fuckface!” You heard Richie yell from across the room. Pennywise dropped Mike who he was holding and turned to your trash mouth friend.

“Wanna play truth or dare? Here’s a truth, you’re a sloppy bitch! Yeah, that’s right! Let’s dance, yippee ki-yay mother-” He was cut off when Pennywise opened his mouth, showing him the deadlights.

A sound of distress fell from your lips as you saw one of your best friends rising into the air. You scrambled to get down from where you were standing when you saw Eddie run out of the cave behind Richie.

“Beep beep, mother fucker!” He yelled, throwing the spike he had been given at the clown.

It went straight in his mouth. You couldn’t look away as Pennywise stumbled back, landing on another spike that went through his back. You let out a shaky breath, turning your gaze back to Richie and Eddie.

“Holy shit! Rich!” Eddie exclaimed, turning back to the man on the floor. “Hey, Richie! Listen, I think I got him, man! I think I killed it! I did! I think I killed-” He was cut off. A scream passed your lips and everything felt like it was going in slow motion.

Pennywise stabbed Eddie through his back with one of his claws. He pulled him off of Richie and dangled him in the air, making taunting noises. A sob left your lips as tears started to fill your eyes.

With blurry vision, you watched the clown throw him into a cave and you had never run faster anywhere in your life. You slid down into the cave, your hands shaking as you helped Mike and Ben flip him onto his back.

Blood was pooling from his mouth and there was a gaping hole through his chest. You knelt in front of him, Richie shrugging off his jacket and handing it to you. You pressed it against his wound.

Pennywise clawed at the entrance, shouting at the seven of you.

“We have to get him out of here,” You pleaded, brushing some of his hair from his face.

“How are we supposed to do that, (y/n)?” Beverly asked, tears threatening to spill from her eyes.

“I almost killed it,” Eddie said weakly, “The leper. My hands were at its throat. And I... Could feel him choking. I made him small. He seemed so weak.”

Mike and Beverly started making a plan when Ben came back and told you all there was a tunnel. The next minutes were a blur as you helped carry Eddie to a sheltered area while the other losers went to distract Pennywise.

“Oh my god, Eds,” You whispered, pulling the jacket back to look at his wound.

“It’s alright, I guess you’ll just have to clean me up again,” He spoke, referencing the time you did when you were younger and when Henry Bowers stabbed him in the face earlier that day.

You let out a watery laugh, leaning in and pressing a kiss to his forehead.

“You gotta stay with me, we’re gonna get you out of here, okay? And we’ll go away like we said we would. I’d go anywhere with you.”

Eddie tried to smile, his lips completely covered in blood.

“I’d... I’d like that...” His voice trailed off and you let out a loud sob.

No, no no no no. This wasn’t happening. This couldn’t be happening. You had just gotten him back and he was going to be gone again.

“Eddie?” Your voice broke. He stilled but you could still hear shallow breaths. You needed to help your friends.

Your pain mixed with your anger as you looked over to where the losers had cornered Pennywise. You shot up, running over to them and ripping off the spiked arm the clown was trying to use to stab your friends.

The six of you circled around the monster that had tormented you, calling him a clown. Making him small.

Pennywise’s breaths were labored but he still brought out one more jump scare as Mike got closer to him. Your friend reached into the clown’s chest, pulling out his heart as he screamed.

Beverly grabbed onto the heart first and the rest of you followed.

“Look at you, you’re all grown up.”

You all squeezed, watching him shrivel up and everything started floating up.

It was finally dead.

You let out a breath as Beverly leaned onto your shoulder.

“Eddie,” You broke the silence, turning around and returning to his body.

The rest of the losers followed you as you knelt in front of him, taking his face in your hand.

“Eddie, hey Eds. We got it,” You whispered and when he didn’t respond, your heart shattered.

You heard Beverly let out a sob behind you, “(y/n)...”

“He’s gone,” Bill spoke.

“He’s alright, he’s just hurt. We gotta get him out of here,” You argued, turning to look at your crying friends.

“(y/n), honey... He’s dead.”

You turned to look at Bev, you knew. Of course, you knew. You didn’t want it to be true.

“We have to go, come on.”

You took the man you loved in your arms while Bill and Richie tried to get you to stand up. You cradled his head in your hands, crying in protest as they started to drag you away from his body.

The six of you rushed out of the sewers, out of Neibolt house, as it was collapsing around you. You almost tripped from rushing down the stairs, Richie’s hand still on your arm to keep you going.

As you watched the house crumble, you pulled against him, making Ben grab your other arm.

“He wouldn’t want to die in there,” You sobbed, finally collapsing from exhaustion into Richie’s arms. The man kept you standing, holding you and rubbing his hand over your hair as you cried.

You were 40 years old when you realized you had lost your love.

but you are not allowed to save him.

thank you for reading :) have a good day!

136 notes · View notes

amayawolfe · 3 years

Text

HxH OC Fumiko Nakamura Story ~ Ch. 4 - The Rest of the Family

My Stories Masterlist

Word Count: 1315

Warnings: mild child abuse and violence, mental/emotional struggle, blood, mildly graphic/disturbing illustration, mental disorder

Your father stepped aside so that you and your sisters could come into the house. Out of pure habit the three of you formed a line and moved forward. Filing into the house first was Satomi, Rin was second, and you were dead last. It was a method used for protecting Rin. If your father were to strike out while one was walking by, it was usually the person first or last in line that received the blow. In this case, it was the person last in line, you.

You felt a hard smack against the back of your head as you started to walk past your father. It most definitely wasn't the hardest blow you've ever received, though it was was hard enough to make you stumble forward and your eyes water from the sting of contact.

"You're filthy," your father growled, "go wash up before you go near that table."

"Yes, sir," you muttered. The reek of alcohol saturating the air surrounding him stung your nose almost as badly as the blow to the head.

Kimichi was at the stove stirring a large stew pot, Asuri was getting bowls and silverware from their respective places, both glanced at you and smirked as you headed to the bathroom. Satomi and Rin would wash at the kitchen sink, you where always told to go use the bathroom sink since you were "more filthy than the others".

On your way to the bathroom you passed by your mother. She didn't even look up at you, she stayed seated at the table and kept her eyes on some papers in her hand. The cigarette in her other hand slowly releasing an acrid smoke that lazily drifted towards the ceiling. She was never of any help to you, sometimes she would even add fuel to the fire of the situation and would simply watch you burn.

You walked through the kitchen and down a narrow hallway that lead to the bedrooms and bathroom. Your mother and father had their own bathroom connected to their bedroom, you and your sisters had to share a single tiny bathroom. One bathroom was simply not enough for five girls and was often the source of many a heated and boisterous arguments, especially in the morning.

You had learned how to avoid some of these issues by simply going out to the forest near the house when natured called. You would even bathe in the river during the warmer months. The peace and solitude was always soothing. And it was always fun when Satomi and Rin joined you. Holding contests on who could hold their breath underwater was your favorite. Mostly because you always won.

However, there was no need to go out to the river tonight, you only needed to wash up enough for dinner. So, in other words, your face, arms, and hands. You would take a pot of warm water and a washcloth up to your attic room and finish washing up after dinner.

Having let the water run for a little bit to warm up, you wet your hands and grabbed a bar of soap to work up a good lather. You scrubbed the dirt of your hands and arms first. The water turned brown as it ran off down the drain and your skin began to lighten as the caked dirt was removed. You took a moment to make sure to get the dirt from under your nails as best as you could. Asuri was always one to point out anything you missed.

Bringing your face down to the basin you splashed water on it then scrubbed some soap lather across it, making sure to get all the way back to your ears and partially down your neck.

At this rate I may just as well take a sink bath... You thought bitterly to yourself. On the outside, you appeared calm. The only giveaway of your anger was your clenched jaw causing the jaw muscles to bulge out a little. The back of your head no longer stung, but you could still feel heat where your father made contact, and it throbbed a little.

You splashed water on your face to wash away the soap. After a few splashes you wiped your face off with your hands, turned off the water, straightened up and reached for a towel. As you did so you looked at yourself in the mirror ...and froze...

Blood. Lots of blood.

There was blood all over your face. It looked like you had actually used blood to wash your face instead of water. It ran down your neck and was starting to soak into your shirt collar, staining it darkly. You looked down in horror and saw there was thick coat of blood all over your hands as well. They began to shake and your heart began to race.

Looking back up into the mirror you saw that your face was now smiling back at you. A wide, toothy grin that sent shivers down your spine and caught your breath in your throat. But it was your eyes that frightened you the most. Eyes and pupils wide, they gleamed with a insane, joyous madness.

You slammed your eyes shut and gripped the edges of the sink tightly. Your whole body now trembling, your heart was ramming against your ribs, you drew in heavy, ragged breaths as you fought to keep yourself under control.

"No, no, no, no, go away, go away," you silently pleaded out loud, "It wasn't that bad, please, just go away."

You could feel something stir in the darkness behind your closed eyes. It fell cold, ruthless, but most of all, it felt hungry. Something whispered in your head, echoing through the darkness, but it was so soft it was inaudible.

"NO!" you whispered loudly, "No, go away!"

{Ssssaaadddaaasssshhhiii}, it sounded like dead leaves rustling and dried snake skins rubbing together. Soft, raspy, deadly... {...Kill... End him...}

"NO! GO AWAY!" you shouted, you could feel hot tears streaming down your bloody face.

A pounding on the bathroom door made you jump and cry out.

"Sadashi?!" It was Kimichi, "Stop messing around in there and finish up! Dinner is ready."

You looked back at the mirror and saw your wet, terrified face. You were back to normal. There was no blood, no smile, no insane look in your eyes, just terror and confusion. Another bang on the door made you jump again.

"Sadashi, did you here me!?"

"Uh, ye- yeah. Sorry, I'll be out in a minute. Just dealing with.. some stubborn dirt."

You heard a "hmf!" as Kimichi turned and walked away from the door and down the hall. Releasing a shaky sigh, you heavily sat down on the toilet and rubbed your face. It had been a while since the last episode like this happened, a few weeks at the very least.

I'll need to go to the forest for a hunt soon. You took in a slow, shaky breath in and slowly released it.

Hunting and killing game seemed to satiate this weird need for blood and violence, temporarily silencing the voice you heard in your head and the images that came with it. No one knew about the mental battle you were going through, how could they? You fully believed your family would think you were lying or trying to play a joke, and it would most likely scare Rin, possibly Satomi as well. It was a dark secret you kept locked up inside.

Okay, hopefully dinner will go quietly and I can just get to my room before anything happens. That's not to much to ask for, right?

Sadly, fate deemed that it was.

Next Chapter: Ch. 5 - Unjustified Punishment

#hxh imagine #hunterxhunter imagine #hxh fanfiction #hunterxhunter fanfiction #hxh headcanon #hunterxhunter headcanon #hxh oc #hunterxhunter oc #my oc #original character #oc life story #oc story #Fumiko #female reader #reader insert #second person pov #chapter story chapter 4 #my artwork

1 note · View note

dxmichelle · 4 years

Text

I am not normally one to throw a whole lot of personal stuff around on my blog, but I feel the need to rant.

Some big-name grocery stores are paying hazard pay to their employees. $2/hr bonus for having to deal with the customers panic-buying all the eggs, meat, toilet paper, and pasta sauce (but not pasta? What’s all the sauce for???), restocking as much as they can, and dealing with the likelihood of catching COVID-19 just because they have to show up for work because it’s an essential business that can’t close.

That’s great! Now that the employees have to be there, of course, because I’m sure they’d all rather be home, but that their companies are acknowledging that they are what’s keeping the store afloat and are compensating them better for it. Even if it is a temporary boost in pay until the pandemic is over, I’m sure it will not go unnoticed by the team members.

Now. Having said that...

I think I’ve mentioned once before that I work at Walgreens. (If not, it’s no big secret *shrug*). Like any other grocery store and pharmacy, we are an essential retailer that can’t just close down in the face of a serious pandemic. We know the store has to stay open. We don’t expect it to close. Ever. I mean, we’re the only store in town open on Christmas all day. The world can end twice over and we’ll still be selling cigarettes and printing photo orders.

Some of what’s happened to other stores (read: grocery) has happened with us. My store in particular is out of toilet paper and paper towels, milk, eggs, sanitizer, etc. All those nice things that the panicking hoarders bought everyone out of within two weeks or so, they’re gone. They’ve been gone. And it’s near impossible to get it back in stock.

We’ve had customers give us shit because we don’t have any paper goods, cleaning supplies, disinfectant, masks, gloves, rubbing alcohol, heck - even the Tylenol is all gone. You know how much OTC pain medicine we keep on the shelves year-round? TONS. And it’s wiped clean. Even the generic Tylenol is out. It’s nuts.

“Why are you still out of everything!? Don’t you guys receive trucks anymore?”

“When are you getting “[name that product]” in?”

“WHY DON’T YOU EVER HAVE TOILET PAPER?”

Okay, truth be told, we have been getting paper goods back in stock. By the third hour it’s been restocked to the floor, it’s gone again, and that’s with setting a harsh limit per customer. We’ll get maybe two bottles of hand sanitizer in a week. Clorox or Lysol wipes and disinfectant spray? Forget it.

The Tylenol is a recent addition to the “whoop, it’s gone!” club. We’ll probably restock just fine on it, but it might take a week or so. ...Or maybe it won’t. Who knows.

I can see exactly what comes in on each truck before it arrives. But I can’t tell the customers that in fear they’ll storm the truck or something before we’ve finished unloading it.

“Our truck comes later this week. We can’t guarantee what’s going to be on it.”

Which is true, because essentially every distribution center is out of all the things people want.

And because we are also a pharmacy, where the sick come to get the medicine to feel better, we are constantly in the line of fire for picking up whatever illness our customers drag through the front door. Doesn’t have to be COVID-19. People don’t know how to stay the fuck home when they’re ill.

You would think that all the Karens and the Susans who bought all the hand soap, sanitizer and face masks would have better sick etiquette, but nooo, they’re the ones not covering their mouth and nose and spreading their germs all over everyone and everything.

And don’t even get me started on how dirty money is.

So, being such a large and well-respected(?) retail pharmacy, what has Walgreens done for our employees in these troubling times of uncertainty and unease for their team members?

1. 2 weeks of paid sick pay but only if you’ve been confirmed to have COVID-19. And since testing is so readily available (HA), if you have flu-symptoms and choose to stay home and self-isolate, you can! But it comes out of either your PTO, or goes unpaid.

And if your child is home because no school and you have no one to watch them? It’s fine to stay home, but you won’t get paid unless you pull PTO. If you have it.

2. Social distancing markers! There are tape lines on the floor for the checkout and pharmacy lines. Except that when you need the pharmacist for a consult and you’re at the window, or standing at the pharmacy/front checkout counter, it is impossible to stand 6ft away. What, am I supposed to let the customer throw the money at me? Am I supposed to ring out their purchases and fling the bag back at them? Let me tell you a secret: it doesn’t work.

3. Discouraged wearing of gloves and masks at the front register. Okay, I see the point behind these. Not that anyone has masks to wear, mind you, but they don’t prevent the catching of COVID-19. And wearing gloves just keeps the dirt and germs on the gloves, and keeps you from frequently washing your hands, which is what everyone recommends you doing anyhow. But...realistically. The checkout cashier doesn’t have the ability after every 2 transactions to go wash their hands. And sanitizer is really only so effective. Either way, it’s not stopping whoever wants to wear gloves from wearing them, so we have gloves up front to use.

4. Sent care packages to help us clean, and reduced store hours. My store was open 8am-10pm. Now it’s 9am-9pm. That hour in each direction really doesn’t do a whole lot of difference. The idea is to clean, disinfect everything, and restock in the new time window that the store is now closed. Which is fine. But we don’t have anything to restock, our stockroom is BARE. And those care packages for the store to use? A case of toilet paper that I could have ordered myself when ordering supplies, a 6-pack of paper towels, two tubs of Clorox wipes, a box of 30 gloves. Oh yes, this will last a long time... We’ve also been given the go-ahead to expense any product off the shelf that we need to keep the store disinfected.

...Expense what!? THE SHELVES ARE EMPTY.

---

To give my company some credit, they are very good at keeping us updated with what’s going on. There are usually message posts every/every other day, and I honestly do feel like they are trying to do well in a situation that is trying for just about everyone.

Many team members have spoken up in comment forums with concerns, and they are doing what they can to address them.

Now, having said that....

(Remember that first paragraph about hazard pay? I know it was like a year ago up there at the top of the post)

Today, 3/22/20, Walgreens announced that they are giving their store and distribution team members a one-time bonus to show their appreciation for us.

We, the team members ringing out all of our customers purchases while they cough and sneeze uncovered in our general direction, the pharmacy technicians and pharmacists dealing with angry and impatient patients because the lines are long and everyone’s trying to get early refills on their medications, on top of the usual crowd in for their regular pickup or just trying to drop off a new script. We the team members having to placate the customers by walking into an empty stockroom, look at the empty shelving for 10 seconds so we can then walk back out and assure them that “no, we really are out of face masks and rubbing alcohol”.

We hourly team members fighting the fight on the front lines and praying to whoever we believe in that we don’t contract COVID-19 from anyone and everyone, will get a one-time bonus of $300 for full-timers, and $150 for part-time, at the end of APRIL.

Are. You. Serious?

I realize that it is better than them shrugging their shoulders and doing absolutely nothing. For many people, I’m sure it’ll be welcome. I can definitely use the $300, considering I lost all my hours at my second job and am going to probably be short in the upcoming months.

But, as this is a bonus, it’ll probably be taxed to hell. I’ll probably really see only half of it. And when you break it down, it’s like a $.53 raise, for four weeks. But you have to wait four weeks to get it.

We are just as vital as the grocery store down the street. The fact that Walgreens think that this will placate its worried employee-base is completely out of touch. But then again, the people making these decisions are probably doing so from the comfort of home and not in the stores super busy with customers standing on top of each other, and us while they grab the last can of soup and box of vinyl gloves available.

For us fighting to keep everyone else happy and healthy, this is a slap in the face and a punch to the gut.

If I am going to work every day, risking my health and the health of my family just so everyone else can pick up their essentials...and non-essentials, I should be compensated for it. Without us in the stores, no one is getting their good sad stare at the toilet paper aisle, ranting over the lack of Tylenol, or waiting in line for that flu shot they should have gotten at least 5-6 months ago.

Not to mention...you know...getting their medication. That’s important too.

It’s time Walgreens gave us the hazard pay we deserve. And conveniently enough, several days ago, someone started a petition in hopes that might happen.

So if you’ve made it to the end of my rant, and want to try and help out a frustrated shift manager, or any of the other thousands of store and DC employees who must feel extremely slighted right now, feel free to click and sign. There are already 45,000+ signatures. Every bit helps.

And if not? Maybe signal boost this post. It might wander onto the blog of another Walgreens employee just as frustrated as I am. Who knows.

Thanks for reading, Michelle the disgruntled employee

#michelle's ramblings #if you made it to the end congratulations #I'm going back to regularly scheduled fic-writing now.

15 notes · View notes