#thanks izze for reminding me that i can do that

[ladytabletop]

thinkin bout that "too many hats in game design" post.

I love to collaborate. most of my game design career has been collaborative. the problem is everyone's a game designer, and far fewer people are layout artists and editors and marketers and the like (in my experience). and at a certain point of collaboration, if you're the only one with a certain skillset, you ONLY get to use that skillset and there's no time for anything else.

not sure where I'm going with this except that I've been thinking about how much I love layout design but how I also don't love it enough to give up the part of game design that is actually designing the games.

[nelapanela94]

LevixReader

When Levi is invited to his daughter tea party.

Warnings: Fluff :3

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

"Remind me again, why am I doing this?" The black-haired man clicked his tongue as he crossed his arms over his chest. You were standing in front of him, slicking back his hair; but a rebellious strand didn't want to get in place. It kept coming back to his forehead. You sighed in frustration and placed your hands on your hips, taking a look from head to toe to your grumpy husband. Despite the scars on his face and his clouded right eye, he still look as handsome as the day you met in the scout regiment.

"Because you're cordially invited to Isabel's tea party" You took the bright pink bow tie and put it around Levi's collar. "And you promised you'd spend more time with her" you fixed the tie and placed a kiss on his cheek.

"You look so adorable" you giggled earning a grumble from him. His semiformal attire consisted of a crisp white shirt, gray slacks and light brown loafers, all adorned with the bright colored bow that matched Isabel's dress ribbon.

"Go pick her up. She's waiting in her room" you handed him the handmade invitation your daughter had crafted. Some of the words were misspelled.

He leaned closer, his lips catching yours as his hands traveled down your back, pulling you closer to him. "We still have time for a..." He whispered in your mouth, his hand sneaking under your shirt; but you managed to stop him before it was too late.

"Levi, the guests are waiting in the living room. You don't want to test Mr. Bunny's patience, do you?"

"Damn rabbit" he tched, making you chuckled.

"Do not swear in front of her" you warned. "The swear jar is almost full again"

"You and your brilliant ideas" he complained.

"Thanks to you we can pay for those fancy tea brands you love" you slightly laughed. "Listen, Isabel is excited for this party. I helped her set the table this morning. So, you'll enjoy the imaginary tea and mouth-watering wooden biscuits with her" you poked him on the chest with your index finger. "And if I don't get any complain from Izzy, I might reward you tonight" you said in a seductive tone cupping his face and leaving a trail of kisses along the largest scar on his face.

"I'll be eagerly waiting, (name)" he whispered to your ear. His voice had a magical power that always made your heart skip a beat.

You leaned back, placing your hands on his chest. "Go, now"

Levi sighed before a small smile drew on his face. He walked out of your bedroom, heading to the room next door. He knocked twice and the door opened.

"Daddy!" His four-year-old daughter cheerfully exclaimed, looking up at him with stretched arms asking for a hug.

"Hey" his gaze softened and his heart melted. He kneeled down with struggle, his leg was still recovering after the war, and embraced his little princess. "You look pretty"

"Thanks, mommy helped me picking up this dress" she stepped back, releasing herself from her father's arms. "You look pretty too"

"I got some help from mommy as well"

"Wait! We're missing something" she said and searched in her closet for two feathered hats she had made the day before. "Here"

Levi leaned his head in for her to put his hat on, then stood up and fixed it in place.

"let's go Izz, the tea will get cold" the little girl nodded and took his hand.

You were leaning against your doorframe looking at the heart melting scene with a smile plastered on your face. You couldn't feel luckier and more grateful with life for having Levi Ackerman by your side.

[slashscowboyboots]

Happy Taco Truck: Some Fine Things (Part 3)

Part 1 Part 2

This is the final installment, an early Christmas gift to my sis @awrestlinggirlwholoves80sbands​!  Thank you so much for your feedback, it means everything

Tag list: @izzysdenimjacket​ @no-stone-no-bone​ @sexcoffeeandrockandroll​ @awrestlinggirlwholoves80sbands​ @smokeandmirrorz​ @sodalitefully​​ @roger-taylors-car​​  @harley-m-rose​ @whisperess33​ @shawolat​ @80snikki​

Warnings: language, Axl is a brat, horny Izz, Slaxl takes a long time to marinate, Izzy is just too romantic

Notes:  this is my first try at slash fiction, so be gentle.  All credits to the songwriters, and the “Jose Cuervo” line is from the movie “DC Cab.” I would give just about everything to hear Izzy sing “Lodi”

“Can I help you?” your coworker asked.

You glanced over at him, tenderness unfurling in your heart.  After Skyler took off with James from “Hetfield & Grohl’s” to work the barbecue circuit, you’d been up shit creek until Steven recommended a guy he knew, and a curly-haired, soft-spoken guy who for some undeterminable reason went by the moniker “Slash” had turned up to work the window.

It was the first time in your life you’d met an individual even shyer than yourself.  Slash was easy-going and smart, and once you got to know him, incredibly funny, but inside his shell was where he was truly comfortable, and with the amount of assholes who demanded the impossible being the brunt of your customers, you wondered if he was going to last.

“Yeah, gimme a chicken taco.”  Speaking of assholes, here was Axl placing his usual order.  He had been really taking advantage of the discount you offered him, turning up several times a day to collect his free meals.  Izzy mentioned he’d been finding antacids stashed in the ice cream truck.

The heat inside the truck forced Slash to pull his gorgeous curls back in a ponytail, and his exposed eyes fell downwards.  “Sure.  I’ll have that right out,” he said in his quiet voice, then closed the hatch.

You dumped chicken on the flattop.  “Slash, hon, we can’t shut the window until we’re closed,” you gently reminded him, moving the seasoned meat around.

“I-I can’t talk to him,” he whispered, his soft eyes full of fear.

“Why not?  I mean, yeah, he can be a jerk sometimes, but-”, and it was at that moment you caught it.  You recognized that same desperate look.  You’d worn it yourself a little while ago, when you had been too shy to chat up Izzy.  How frightened you’d been of embarrassing yourself, only to find out that Izz lit up every time he looked at you, and was now completely incapable of keeping his wandering hands to himself.

“Oh, Slash,” you murmured, handing him the taco.  His hands were shaking too bad to add the crema, so you did it yourself, and he opened the hatch to an irate Axl.

“Here-here you go,” he said, and you hoped you were the only one who heard the waver in his voice.

“The hell’s wrong with you!  You can’t even talk to your customers?!”  Axl’s face was nearly as red as his hair as he screamed at Slash.

Slash’s mouth flew open in hurt, and you stepped up to the window.  “Axl, that was my fault.  I was showing Slash how to add the special sauce.  And that is a closely guarded secret,” you lied.  There were some days you really wanted to punch him in the mouth.  “And you will not speak to my assistant like that ever again.  You understand?”

Axl looked at you, then Slash.  “Hey, man, I’m sorry,” he said, and you nearly tumbled out the window in surprise.  Axl raised hell with everybody and everything, but you’d never heard him apologize before.

“S’okay,” Slash said, barely audible, looking down, and you wanted to put your arms around him and give him a comforting squeeze.

Axl opened his mouth to say something, then stuffed his taco in it and walked away.

“Why he took a job in customer service is beyond me,” you muttered, then patted Slash on the back.  “I’ve never heard him tell anyone he was sorry.  You must be special,” and Slash’s face lit up as he smiled.

And you knew you had a problem on your hands.

“Yoo hoo?  Where’s my beloved?  I got a bottle of Jose Cuervo and I brought my lucky rubber,” Izzy announced, climbing aboard your truck.

“I’m out here, Izz,” you called, slamming the lid down on the trash can.

He walked into your view and let out a loud whistle.  “Have I told you you get more beautiful every day?” he asked, pulling you to him for a kiss.

“Mmmm, hi, handsome,” you said against his mouth.  “You’re just the person I wanted to see.”

“And you’re just the person I wanted to see naked.”

“Izz!” you scolded.  “I actually need your help with something.”

“I can help you do that.  Over and over again.”

You playfully swatted him.  “It’s about Slash.” Izzy’s face grew serious.  “He didn’t quit, did he?  I mean, I can fill in for him again, but I’d need to lay down for like a week afterward.”

You shook your head.  “No, he didn’t quit.”  That week Izzy subbed at the Happy Taco window had left him scarred for life.  “He, uh, he has a crush.”

Izzy furrowed his eyebrows.

“On Axl.”

He blinked.  “And?”

“And I thought maybe you could help me play matchmaker.”

Izzy turned and pounded his head against the side of the truck.

“Honey,” you pleaded, “please.  He’s so shy I don’t think he has any idea how to approach him.”

“Babe, even if I wanted to do this, and I don’t, Axl has been acting so fucking weird lately there’s no way I could talk to him.”

“Weird?  What’s he doing?”

“Well, he comes over here for tacos all the time now, then when comes back, he plays all of his Elton John tapes at full blast.  Then he cleans the truck from top to bottom.  He’s even nice to the customers now.”

“But he came over here and yelled at Slash!”

His eyes met yours.  “What did Slash do to him?”

“He didn’t talk to him.”

Izzy was quiet for a moment.  “Y/N, I don’t think he’s coming over here for just tacos, although they are excellent.”

“See, they need our help.”

Izzy closed his eyes and beat his head against the truck again.  

“They just need a little nudge in the right direction.”

He wearily looked at you, and you put your hand on his cheek.  “Fine,” he rasped.  “Whatever.  But right now, I need to go in the right direction, and that direction is horizontal with you on top of me.”

“Slash, are you busy tonight?”

You honestly had no idea what Slash did on his nights off.  As soon as you closed the truck, he exchanged pleasantries with Izzy and hopped on his bike and pedaled away.  When you’d offered him an invitation to stay and meet the rest of the Circle, he mumbled something about feeding a snake and fled.

Tonight, you hoped he would have a change of heart.  After hours, you and Izzy usually got up to activities that did not require any participants, but he had talked Axl into a jam session, bringing along two guitars as well as a tambourine.

“I-I don’t have any plans,” he said quietly, gazing longingly out the window.  It was nearly time for Axl to fetch his dinner taco.

“There’s a jam over at the Frozen Delights truck after they close.”

Slash lit up, grinning wider than you had ever seen him, then his face fell.  “I didn’t bring my guitar.”

“Izzy brought two.  He’d like to hear you play.”  That was almost a lie.  Izzy wasn’t all that keen on a jam, preferring the two of you spending time alone, but when you whispered on his neck you’d make it up to him, his enthusiasm level picked up.

To your surprise, Slash’s cheeks flushed.  “I’d love to come,” then he stood up a little straighter and you saw Axl strutting up to the window.

“Hey, Slash,” he greeted him, and you stepped back into the shadows to give them a semblance of privacy.

“Hi.”

“Hey, you wanna come over tonight and play music with me and Izz?  He’s got an extra guitar.”

Slash beamed at him, then lowered his eyes.  “Sure.  So-sounds good.”

Axl smiled back, and you about fell over at the sight.  Too bad he didn’t do it more often, he was quite attractive when he stopped scowling.  He began to walk away, then backtracked.  “Hey,” he squinted up, “do you like barbecue?”

Slash blinked, then replied, “I love barbecue.”

Axl’s smile got even bigger.  “I’ll have some when you get there.”

After he left, Slash looked over at you with his mouth agape.

“Well, it sounds like you have a date,” you chuckled at him.  “Good thing he’s provided dinner.”

He tilted his head.  “Why?”

“I was going to suggest you bring over one of those homewrecker corn dogs and eat it in front of him,” you cackled.  “Izzy’s eyes nearly left his head when I did that.”

“Oh shit,” Slash breathed, laughing with you, then his eyes turned pleading.  “You’ll be there, won’t you, you and Izz?  You won’t leave me alone?”

Well, that had been the plan.  “Uhhh, sure, Slash.  We won’t leave you.”

After you locked up, you nearly had to drag a primping Slash down to the Frozen Delights truck, pecking Izzy on the lips when you arrived.  Axl had taken off to get dinner, so the three of you sat down and opened up beers while you awaited his return.

You watched Slash’s leg nervously bounce up and down, then Axl stood in front of him and handed him a takeout container.  

“I didn’t know what you liked so I got you a sample platter,” he said, and you swore you heard a note of shyness in his voice.

Izzy cleared his throat, and Axl all but flung your containers at the two of you.  “Yeah, I got you the same,” he mumbled, jerking his lawn chair closer to Slash’s.

The four of you ate in silence, you silently thanking Kelly for his prowess with pork, working the meat off a rib and catching an ornery smile from Izzy.

Axl just picked at his platter, moving around his coleslaw and half heartedly munching on his brisket.  His eyes never left Slash, who looked down and gnawed on a rib.

Their awkwardness made you bite back a wince, then you snuck a glance at Izzy, who stabbed his pulled pork wearing expression that looked like he was in acute intestinal distress.  His eyes met yours, then he mouthed, “Kill me.”

“So, uh, Slash, how long have you played guitar?” you asked, dipping a slice of brisket into Kelly’s heavenly sauce.

He pulled on his beer.  “A few years.”

Izzy sat his container down and wiped his hands and face with a napkin.  “I’m ready to play if you are,” he barked, swiftly flicking open his guitar case.

Slash blinked, swallowing his pulled pork.  “Sure,” he said, wiping his hands and carefully picking Izzy’s other guitar up.

Izzy began the opening notes of “Midnight Rider,” Slash chiming in after a few bars, then Axl and Izzy began singing, “I’ve got to run to keep from hiding,” and you dropped a naked rib bone in shock.

They sounded incredible.

You watched them in awe, then Izzy nodded at you, and you began singing with them.  You’d actually done this before, sitting in with Izzy while he played guitar and Axl sang, but Slash was like the key that unlocked their greatness.

Axl and Slash exchanged grins, looking into each other’s eyes, then, wearing a happy smile, Izzy started singing one of his favorites, “Lodi.”

Slash strummed along, but Axl didn’t sing.  Instead, he watched Slash play, his fingers working up and down the neck of the guitar, his silver rings glinting in the moonlight, and a soft smile played on his lips.

He took a sip of beer when they finished, then said, “I have a song I’d like to sing.”

He moved closer to Slash, then pushed his curls out of his eyes and sang,

“Desperado

Why don’t you come to your senses

You’ve been out ridin fences for so long now”

Slash looked down, setting Izzy’s guitar in its case, then Axl tipped his chin up and continued,

“Oh, you’re a hard one

But I know that you got your reasons

These things that are pleasing you

Can hurt you somehow

Izzy silently packed away his guitar, then jerked his head towards Helen the Happy Taco truck.  You followed him, turning around to see Axl whisper,

“You better let somebody love you

Before it’s too late”

and press a kiss to Slash’s lips, then Slash put his arms around Axl’s neck and returned it.

“Thank God,” Izzy muttered.  “I’d rather fuck a bee’s nest than tag along on one of their dates again.”

[quirrrky]

hi ! can i take part in the ask me , ask game study buddy ? Thank you ! Demon slayer and bhna :D

I listen to love songs while studying .. my favorites are

Sunkissed — Khai Dreams

UWU — Chevy

I Like U — NIKI

Straight Face — Younger Hunger

Underneath It All — No Doubt

Things I do while studying is hum , Tap my foot a lot and usually make a snake sound like ssssssss because FOR SOME REASON IT GETS ALL MY STRESS OUT — it sounds weird i know :(

omg!! the hissing sound remind me of obanai <333 sooo and i love I like u!! <333

your kny study buddy is... → obanai iguro - he thinks that your snake sound is endearing kaburamaru likes it too

your mha study buddy is... → deku - your playlist is vibe with him well you'll have synchronized foot tapping at times too izz so cute!

[kingdomblade]

Digimon Kizuna thoughts

All spoilers will be under the cut!

Fresh off of Tri when Kizuna was announced, I wrote up some hopes I had for this movie. Without looking back at that list, I'm pretty sure this movie managed to not hit any of the things I wanted off of that list - but I'm still walking away completely satisfied. The characters, the story, the setting all feel like completely natural progression from how I remember them, it manages to tell a compelling story in a fairly short movie, the animation and designs are drop dead gorgeous. It's clearly a labor or love and I'm thankful for everyone who worked on it. In some ways it leaves me wanting more - I'd love one more entry with the 02 group as a focus, and I think there would be a lot of value in an entry that focuses more on Digimon intigrated with the human world rather than yet another story about kids discovering Digimon. But if this is the last time we see these twelve in this form, what a way to go. 

This is absolutely stream of consciousness writing while I’m on my second watch through of the day (In lieu of livetweeting - I’ll spare my followers that much lol). Is it rambling? Absolutely. It may or may not be of interest, but I thought it would be something fun to do regardless. If you decide to read, I hope you enjoy!

----

Tom Fahn’s Agumon is noticeably a bit lower pitched even compared to Tri, weather he can’t take his voice up as much or if it’s a different portrayal I’m not sure but it still fits him really well - Tentomon’s voice feel slightly different too. Funny enough Gabumon is somehow lighter and more childish than his original portrayal, but it also fits him well.

Both Tri and Kizuna have such a weird process to their casting - They got back actors that as far as I can tell haven’t done much if anything since their days on Digimon, they’ve gotten back actors for side characters with bit parts. They’ve hired new actors that seem to take the original voice into account and take their own spin on them, and then they hire actors with absolutely no regard for how the original sounded to the point that it just plain conflicts with the established character. It’s all over the place and it’s weird.

Johnny Yong Bosch's portrayal seems slightly different from Tri, maybe he's playing him slightly older, maybe it's the slightly different personality, maybe I'm imagining it. Something about it reminds me of Doug Erholtz's portrayal, which is an added bonus when JYB was already one of the best of the recasts. Minutes in and I'm completely sold on Nicholas Roye's Matt as well, it sounds like a natural progression from his Adventure voice.

In a vacuum Griffin Burns is a decent Davis, but he's one of the recasts that immersion breaking because not only does he sound nothing like Brian Donovan, but his take on Davis is higher pitch than Donovan's so it's impossible to hear him as older. The fact that Donovan was supposed to reprise his role is just salt on the wound. With the insane amount of delays that this dub got, they surely could have brought him back onboard... It's a  shame that 2 our of 3 roles I've heard of Burns have been a replacement of another actor, hope he can get more roles where he can shine more. On the other hand, Bryce Papenbrook as Cody is brilliant casting coming from his 02 voice for what little we get to hear of him.

Yolei didn't sound to great in her video message, but by the time we see her in person her VA has gotten into the role and captures her really well. Hawkmon sounds fine enough, but I'm way more upset than I should be about Armadillomon's voice considering he doesn't have many lines. A recast was mandatory here, and 'medium-deep southern accent' should honestly be pretty easy to replicate but what we got was horrific. What casting director knew enough about the characters to know that Hawkmon had a British accent but not enough to know what an armadillo sounds like??

Mimi is just straight up Sakura now! I actually thought Kate Higgens would have made a great Yolei, kinda funny to see her here as Mimi now.

Not only did Agumon's "Polly want a cracker?" line slay me, but there's something about Tom Fahn's portrayal that really hits me, even though he's not even my favorite Digimon. It hasn't even been a long time since I've heard it - Tri wasn't that long ago, and I just rewatched Adventure/02 within the past few weeks, but hearing him made me a bit emotional, ha. Same thing happened with his first appearance in Tri, and that was after having seen it in Japanese and knowing what was going to happen!

The opening battle is like a complete screw-you to Tai's arc in Tri with Greymon smashing into buildings and Tai completely unfazed. I'm here for it, lol.

The remastered Digivolution sequences are nice but in true nostalgia fashion I kinda prefer the originals, haha.

Izzy's computer is counting down a 'time rimit'.

Agumon says something to the effect of “Aren’t I always hungry?“ and I don't feel like it’s a reference/jab at Tri, but it got a chuckle out of me anyway.

Tai's classmate is blatantly voiced by JYB too, ha.

Matt gives his location as 'inside the restaurant' when calling an ambulance which seems... not helpful. Love that Tai's reaction to a girl collapsing is a confused "Is she drunk?"

An article on Tai's phone is written in perfect English and he gets message from the name Izzy specifically so I'd assume this is a change for the US release. Subtitles would have been perfectly fine but it's a nice effort to keep immersion.

"The ol' Izz-master" I’m so, so glad they got Jeff Nimoy to write this script, bless Toei.

Only 4 of the Digidestined participating in the battle against the Digidestined is kinda disappointing until I realized that it was a throwback to Our War Game - TK and Izzy get to participate more this time around! As per usual Tentomon (Kabuterimon) manages to sneak in a hilarious line here.

'Lime Magazine' just doesn't have the same ring to it...

TAI'S MAGAZINES...

Tai calling Agumon 'little buddy' is the second scene to hit me right in the feels.

Matt is the only one to reach out to the 02 kids during the movie, I wonder if he felt guilty about what went down in Tri and kept in touch with them a bit more since.

Seeing Kari and TK tied up in a dark room like that is actually one of the more shocking scenes in the movie. That could have ended very differently if this was a different movie...

Meiko shows up for literally one scene with Meicoomon which has... interesting implications. This movie retroactively makes her more tragic as well, as even if she didn't sacrifice Meicoomon there's a chance their partnership would have dissolved anyway - almost a complete lose-lose, there was no way for them to be happy together.

Himekawa is also retroactively more tragic as it's possible she would have been able to see Tapirmon again here - one shows up in the crowd shot!

Honestly this is the movie Himekawa deserved - she was a really interesting character that got wasted and underused in Tri, and while Menoa parallels her in a lot of ways her stoicism just isn't as interesting and Hime's decent into madness was.

L'il Joe has black hair now?

I'm pretty sure Menoa doesn't say "Oh shit" but honestly I'm gonna pretend she does.

I mentioned on Twitter how Leomon doesn't die in this one because he never showed up, but there's one fighting an Eosmon in what I think is Osaka and he doesn't die, and GOOD ON HIM, HE BROKE THE CYCLE!

Omnimon having limbs sliced off got an audible gasp from me.

Matt ACTUALLY got to curse in this movie, character development!!

"Just one thing: Meow" I had to pause the movie, I lost it

Story wise, theme wise, character wise I get it, but mad Sora got screwed over in this movie. Would have been nice if 'To Sora' was included inside of the movie at least.

I still don't like Agu and Gabu's new evolutions, but they did feel really earned and a natural extension of the plot. What better way to spark an evolution than such a huge sacrifice? Izzy's perfectly timed 'prodigious' was the icing on the cake, coming at such a fitting emotional moment and possibly being the last time we'll hear it from Izzy.

When the Eosmon start disappearing all over the world there's a shot of an exhausted lone Numemon who had clearly held off the Eosmon with all the poop that is strewn about. THAT is the next story I want to see.

Unfortunately this movie is in the Tri School of Only Using Champion Level. It's actually pretty inexcusable that we we don't see WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon one more time, but even the other characters should have gone up to Ultimate if not Mega for one final sendoff. I wish we could have seen them truely fight as a team once more, even just for fanservice.

My strongest complaint with the movie itself is that it just kinda... ends. The ending is super emotional, but it just skips ahead afterwards and says 'things are going to be ok!' and ends. I would have liked to see the rest of the kids once more, seeing how they handle the fallout or how they might support Tai and Matt - or maybe a little about what Tai and Matt have taken away from this whole things. Just felt like we needed an extra couple of minutes.

Will we see these particular versions of these characters again? From what I can tell this movie did well in Japan and it’s trending pretty well on Amazon, so who knows. I hope if we do, it’s because the writers come up with an idea they really believe in and not just for the sake of a sequel. But if not, I’m definately greatful for what we have.

[a-trying-writer]

hyperactive

“Good news, Gun Show!” Gobbet exclaimed as she unintentionally slapped the ork’s back hard with a wide smile. “Your sister is going to be all right!”

Duncan huffed while he rolled his shoulders, even though she barely stung him. “I noticed how you said this is ‘good news’, Gobbet, so...”

She chuckled sheepishly as he trailed off with a wave of his hand.

“What is the bad news?” he finished.

“Capricious is going to suffer from some bad side effects of the drug once it wears off,” Is0bel chimed in once she stepped out from her fellow decker’s room. “She will be very aggressive, but she won’t be aware of it, unfortunately, so I recommend that we keep an eye on her until she falls asleep.”

“How long will that be?” Duncan asked.

“Around seven to twelve hours, more or less.”

A scowl formed on the ork’s face as he ran his hand over his chin. “I can take care of her by myself.”

“Wait, what?” Gobbet blinked. “I don’t think that’s a good idea. I mean, aren’t you worried if she attacks you or something?”

Duncan breathed out a short laugh. “I’ve dealt with some insane stuff, growing up in the Barrens, so this isn’t anything new. Capricious isn’t that hard to take care of either, once you know what makes her feel better and what doesn’t. And if she wants to fight, I’ll do it, if it helps calms her down.”

The girls exchanged knowing looks, before nodding to the ork. “If that is what you want to do, then we can help you move some stuff from your room to her’s, Duncan,” Is0bel said. “And if you need anything, just let us know, okay?”

“I will. Thanks a lot you two.”

“No problem, Gun Show,” Gobbet replied with a wink.

***

As soon as Duncan settled in his sister’s room, the girls returned to the upper deck. “Hey, Izz,” Gobbet spoke up, catching the decker’s attention. “Do you know what made Seattle so... crazy?”

Is0bel hummed lowly as she stepped up to her chair to sit. “I believe she accidentally took some sort of drug,” she answered. “From what she could tell me, during her supply run around Heoi, she went to Crafty’s shop and Ambrose’s clinic, so she might had accidentally took a whiff of something peculiar that flicked a switch in her brain.”

“Ah, I see...” Gobbet paused for a moment. “I don’t think any of Ambrose’s medications could affect her this way, but I know that Crafty’s herbs don’t sit well with Seattle. You know that she gets migraines almost immediately by the scent of sage, right?”

“Yeah, I do.” Is0bel picked up the visor from her table to sit them over her eyes. “She told me that it reminds her of prison.”

“Exactly, so maybe something flew into her nose when she was shopping.” Gobbet then laughed. “Hey, do you think it’s probably some sort of Seattle’s version of catnip?”

Is0bel smirked at the thought. “Who knows, Gobbet.”

[endless-vall]

Hot N’ Cold - Thomas x Isobel fanfic

Summary: Isobel learns that waiting for Thomas is much harder than she thought. And exactly when things start falling back into place, something that might just break them apart happens.

Author’s note: Sometimes things have to get worse before they get better, you know?

I mean, they finally share a kiss, but god, at what cost? 😉

Previous fanfics in this series -  here, here, here, and here.

Tagging: @drakewalker04​ @ao719 @narrytheworld​ @beardedoafdonutwagon​ @drakewalkerfantasy​ @i-bloody-love-drake-walker​ @catlady0911​ @mcchoices @chetachisblog @god-save-the-keen @furiouscloddonutpeanut @writtenbycandy @asprankle @cora-nova @lilyofchoices @paisleylovergirl @dandeservestheworld @mfackenthal @quacksonlover @blackcatkita @annekebbphotography @badchoicesposts @ab1901 @senseofduties @doroshi-desu @romancehereicome @teraizer​ Please let me know if you wanna be tagged in future works for Thomas Mendez x MC/Moty/Perma tag! Let me know if you want to be untagged!

Two weeks passed since Isobel confessed her feelings to Thomas.

Things were... Definitely weird between them. Much more tense and, quite honestly, distant.

It was to be expected, though, but it didn’t make it any easier.

The thing was... Isobel had much bigger problems now.

Much bigger problems named... Guy ledford. And a costudy case.

The second Thomas heard about the costudy trial, he contacted Isobel by himself.

Alma... Isobel thought to herself. She must’ve been the one to tell him. But she couldn’t really blame her either. Was Isobel too proud to call her by herself? Or was she just delaying the ineviable?

She was going to need Thomas for this. Both as her best friend and as a lawyer.

“Izzy, of course I’ll help. It’s not even a question. I have all the files, I just need you to sign them for us to move forward.” 

Isobel sighed soundlessly. “Obviously, you’re right...” She bit her lower lip, thanking god Thomas wasn’t in front of her right now and couldn’t watch her.

“Can I come by around 7? 8-ish pm? I’ll bring everything we need.” Thomas asked.

“I won’t be home. When Vennesa said they were suing me for not being able to provide for my child the first thing I did was get another job. I’ll be working a shift down at the bar. I... could text you the address, though, if you want me to sign them today.” Isobel knew her best option was Thomas. And she wanted his help, obviously, she wasn’t stupid or ungrateful.

But suddenly this whole ‘I’ll wait for you deal’ seemed like a bad idea. Like a nightmare. 

“Great, I’ll be there. See you soon!”

And, as promised, Thomas arrived around 8 PM. It was a week-day so the bar was quite empty, beside the usual costumers that hung around every day.

He looked way overdressed for the occasionwith his polished suit and his tie, but seeing as he came right after leaving his office that was to be expected.

Thomas looked dashing as he approached her with a wary smile, and Isobel gathered whatever strength she had in her to smile back.

She shouldn’t be thinking about it right now, she reminded herself. Her daughter was the most important thing in her life, now more than ever. She shouldn’t be thinking about Thomas.

And somehow, she managed.

“Sign here, here, and lastly... Here.” She signed a bunch of papers, while Thomas explained each one.

Her boss wasn’t around and even if he was, she didn’t have any other costumers to serve, so she could take her time. But it seemed as if she just wanted it to end as soon as possible.

“Will that be all?” She met Thomas’ eyes asking, after finishing the last signature on the papers.

Thomas stuffed his files back in his suitcase. “Well-- Yeah, but-”

“Great, I’ll see you in Monday-” She was about to turn and polish some cups, doing anything to make her look busy when Thomas grabbed her hand.

He somehow managed to have a tender touch, even now.

“Iz... We have to talk-” He doesn’t let go of her hand, and he wears a pleading look in his eyes.

“I mean... We just did,” She plays dumb.

“You know it’s not what I meant. We can’t continue going around acting like this isn’t affecting us.” Thomas is right, and she knows it.

“If you really don’t want to, I’ll understand. But I really think we should. If not for our sake, for the sake of your trial. I want to be able to help you the best way I can... But I’m not sure if we’ll be able to do it if you can barely look me in the eye.” 

Isobel knew that had she told him, Thomas would find her another lawyer, a really good and trustworthy one but... She didn’t want another lawyer. She wanted, and needed... Thomas.

“Fine.” She sighed, a hint of a real smile sparkling in the corner of her lips.

“So just wait for my break and we’ll--” Levi pops from around the bar. 

“I didn’t mean to eavsedrop on you two... But I can take it from here. You should go find yourselves a nice table and get a drink on the house. I’ll close up here.” 

Isobel blinks at him, before regaining her composure. “Thank you Levi.” She genuienly means that.

“Anytime,” He winks back at her. 

Is that jealousy she spots in the corner of her eye? In the way Thomas frowns at Levi and soundlessly huffs?

Isobel takes half a bottle of wine, and leads Thomas to a secluded corner.

She pours them two glasses, before placing the bottle back on the table.

"So,” She looks up at Thomas, taking a sip of her drink.

“So...” He taps his fingers on the table, almost as if he’s anxious.

Isobel would be lying if she said she didn’t avoid him these past two weeks, but she also missed him tremendously.

“Can we just-” 

“Can I say-”

They both speak up at the same time, before shaking their heads and chuckling.

“You go first.” Thomas, always the gentleman.

“Okay.” Isobel nods, gathering her thoughts. “I know it doesn’t seem like it, but i’m really trying here. I know I said I was fine with waiting, but honestly it’s been hard on me. But do you know what’s the hardest part of all of this?” She points between them in a circular motion.

“What?”

“Missing my best friend.” She admits.

“Izz...” Thomas lays his hand on top of hers, and Isobel almost flinches away. Almost.

He doesn’t notice, and she’s glad.

“I know I can’t un-ring the bell. And neither do I want to. But I do need you in my life. These past two weeks were hard enough with Guy and Vennesa at my neck... But without you in them, It’s been almost unbearable.” She speaks, feeling a weight being lifted off her chest.

“Izzy, you know I’m always here for you. I assumed you needed space, after I tried to reach out to you and you didn’t respond. I’m such an idiot, I should’ve known--” She cuts him off before he can finish.

“No, you’re right, I needed space. Or at least I thought I needed. But the important thing is that you’re here now.” Isobel finishes her drink and pours herself another. Thomas follows her lead and downs the rest of his drink, before pouring himself a second glass too.

They finish the rest of the bottle, having a small-talk and catching up on each other’s lives.

“Heyyy,” Thomas might be a little tipsy right now, but he’s definitely not drunk, is he?

“It’s our song!” He pulls Isobel after him before she can give it any more thought.

An old pop song bursts through the bar’s loud speakers and the few people that are still there gather on the importu dance floor. Thomas and Isobel join them, merging into the crowd.

God, Isobel can barely remember the last time she danced. And by that she means the last time she went out dancing, with friends or at least people in her own age.

Has it really been that long?

She definitely missed it.

The songs ends all too soon, but they’re having so much fun and things are finally not as awkward between them, that Isobel grabs Thomas’ hand and encourages him to keep dancing.

He gladly oblies, leading her into a twirl before pulling her back into her position. Or maybe... Pulling her a bit closer than she was before?

They dances to a few more songs before the audio changes into a romantic, slow song and before Isobel can politely excuse herself out, she finds herself too lost in the moment to do so.

And Thomas is too...

She wraps her hands around his neck, leaving the rest of the world behind her.

His hands find their way to her waist, and he pulls her tightly against him.

Isobel raises her eyes to meet him. He looks at her with desire, his eyes dark and wanting.

“Maybe we should-” The last ounce of sense leaves her body as Thomas’ lips crash against her own, silencing her mid-sentence.

His lips are warm, and confident. She wanted this moment to last forever. His hands travel up to her hair, pulling lightly and sending tingles down her spine.

He felt as if his whole body was on fire, every inch of him begging him to have her, to love her, to--

No. He couldn’t.

And just like that, they broke apart, both panting for air and confused.

His eyes widened as he realized what he did, how he ruined it, all over again.

“I’m so sorry,” He grabs ahold of his suitcase and turns to leave.

“Thomas-” Isobel tries to reach for him but it’s already too late. He’s too far gone.

“I should go-” She hears him mumbling before he disappears through the bar doors.

[lettersfromizz]

i. been that way

hello world

it has been about a few months since i stopped writing. to be honest, i was sick and tired of reminiscing – i tend to find a source of inspiration, a topic, a subject... a person or even a memory to begin with. as i went on, the picture of a distant memory became clearer and clearer, as though it was only yesterday that it all happened... except all at once. well, at that time, i realised and found myself going through a cycle, being stuck in a repetitive neverending feeling of remorse and regrets – no doubt there was a periodic growth in between phases before falling into the same hole again. call me al-izz in wonderland, lol. it's true, i am not good at containing myself when it comes to my emotions. i don't have to keep crying over spilled milk but i have every right to feel a way about something, just because... ... ...

i'm not fully heartless yet, thank goodness. i cared and bottled up too much... only because people weren't interested in deep, mellow conversations about life and 'dwelling' about what had already past. move on. ever heard your friends said something before like "let me know if you ever need anything... a listening ear... a shoulder to cry on..."? sounds assuring, doesn't it? well let me be completely honest with you... as much as you'd like to have company 24/7, you would have to figure it all out on your own eventually, whether you like it or not... different people have different ways of hiding or dealing with such pain. everybody hurts, but whether we chose to acknowledge such emotions or not – it's entirely up to us. like hiding underneath one's shell or even putting up a facade. personally spending hours having such conversations seemed like a way better option than getting wasted throughout the whole night. trust me, i've been there before... but we all got tired of listening to the same sad songs, yet we chose to listen to them once in awhile. i mean... it's cool to have fun, spend good times and like the familiar saying "let's get fucked up!" but then again, as i'm writing this... i wonder where are my friends when we don't seemed to need each other right about now? everybody's busy with school and work, you might say. we need some time and space, you might say also. but why don't we keep it honest and real with one another? i think we fell out and it clearly shows.

i'm not calling them out for no specific reason nor do i wanna start any drama just because i felt a certain way. i don't feel the need to sugar coat my words because this time, i rather speak my truth. it hurts, i know... but everyone has had their fair share of pain before. somehow, someway... i guess you kind of get the whole point – this is my peace, this is my solitude and i can easily adapt to this for awhile quite a long time, if i do say so myself. it's nothing new if you were to notice how i would run away into hiding, away from my close friends and the whole world... with no ways of them contacting me. that's just my nature and i am acknowledging it. i have no means of bothering people when they're 'busy' having fun while i just simply wish to have a walk down the street, listening to music and just zone out. that's my mini-escape from reality in finding a peace of mind. from time, i'm able to find myself a way out instead of simply waiting and hoping that someone might just save me from myself one day – be it my close friends, a special somebody or even a stranger. yes, you do need people in some circumstances but i finally realised what being an adult really is... to be able to stand up on your feet and take full responsibility of your life – including the choices that you make for yourself. not for anyone else. even if it means taking another 5 years to figure it out, maybe a lifetime. you couldn't depend too much on others nor you could blame them for not always having your back when times go rough. it's about how you get back up after each fall, to remind yourself that you are in fact alone and independent, at times like these. you are able to do so many things... so what are you going to do next? are you gonna take it as a lesson or being stuck in a situation and get affected by it? are you just gonna give up on everything just because you can't overcome that one thing? are you ever gonna grow up and get yourself together?

it's never too late to make that change now.

until the next one...

here's a letter from my heart to yours,

with love,

izz ali.

270918 – 00:45

[axelsagewrites]

Isabelle Lightwood*Looking into the future

Requested by anonymous:

Can you write something ansty for Isabelle lightwood x reader like someone flirts with Isabelle and she flirted back by accident. They would get into this big fight if they make up or not it's up to you! I also want to say I love your writing!

Masterlist HERE 

Wattpad HERE

Isabelle Lightwood was gorgeous. Everyone with eyes knew it. Isabelle wore an air of confidence around her that made you tremble in your boots while she could sprint in heels. She was cunning, witty and downright perfect. Well in at least my eyes. Isabelle Lightwood is my girlfriend. I don’t know what I did to deserve her but for some reason she chose me. Honestly, Izzy and I aren’t the same in many ways. She likes fashion and I don’t care, she bold and strong and I'm a wallflower, she has a temper and I’m normally the calmer one. It normally works out since according to her I'm her anchor and I help calm her down. It's not the opposites attract kind of cliché, its just love. No matter how similar or different I think we would have ended up together anyway.

Isabelle had to go on a mission tonight so I decided to go out with some friends who were mundane and didn’t know our world. It wasn’t often I saw them so decided to make the best of the night. I sent Isabelle a good luck text and told her I loved her. I do it every time because I never know when her last mission will be. One of them suggested going to a club. They desperately wanted to go to the pandemonium but it was ‘super inclusive’ and thought we wouldn’t get in. until my phone dinged and they saw my lock screen; a selfie Izzy had taken on my phone in front of the club with me a little behind her. “Whos that?” (Y/F/N) asked, “And who’s Izzy?” they added, referring to the notification that she texted me. “My girlfriend.” My friends ‘ohh’ed as I opened the text. ‘love you too’. “Let's see.” I cautiously showed them the photo again. What were they planning? “Is that the pandemonium? Can she get us in?” (Y/F/N) asked excitedly. I bit my lip. It was a downworlder club, well mainly, some mundies were allowed. They had seen the photo, they wouldn’t let it go anyway. What’s one night? “I can probably get you guys in. I know the owner so it should be fine.” I shrugged. “You know Mattias Kane?” Their jaws slackened and I grimaced at their choice of words. “It's Magnus Bane. And yes.” They didn’t make a move until I reminded them. “We going or what?”

My style had slightly improved since meeting Izzy as she said, often, ‘were not leaving till you change’ or ‘Angel! Alec dresses better than that’. So my clothes had gotten better so I had proper ‘club attire’ according to Iz. We stood in the line but when we got to the front the bouncer gave my mundane friends a strange look. They shoved me to the front so I was face to face with the werewolf. He crossed his arms and stared at me. I had only been a couple times so I doubt he remembers me. “Their guests,” “Of who?” “Magnus Bane,” I could hear their smirks. “if you don’t believe me I could call him out here.” “Go on then”I sensed my friends deflating. They didn’t believe me and neither did he. I smirked and pulled out my phone. I met Magnus through Izzy and when Izzy broke her phone she used mine to call him. she also made me spam him when he broke up with Alec. The bouncer's smirk faltered slightly when he saw me click Magnus’s name but didn’t break character. I held the phone to my ear. One ring Two ring Three ri-“Hello?” the other end was quiet except Magnus' voice. “Hey, it's (Y/N).” “….” The line was silent for a couple seconds. I heard him ask someone something before asking “You're dating Isabelle right?” “Yup.” “What can I do for you? As long as it requires no magic, money or a lot of time or effort as I'm currently watching the bachelor with Alexander.” I heard Alec tell him to shut it and chuck something. I had to chuckle a little. Oh, I was gonna tell Izzy as soon as I saw her. “I'm outside the pandemonium-“ “You go clubbing?!” He suddenly sounded a lot more aware. “Since when? Izzy’s always whining you won't go with her! What in the hell? Are you ok?” “Yes!” I cut him off before he could continue. “Some mates and I are trying to go in but the bouncers got a stick up his arse.” “Donald?” Magnus asked. “You Donald?” I asked the bouncer. He nodded with a straight face and no smirk. “Yup.” “Put him on.” I handed the phone to him and he let us in. just before I hung up Magnus said “Izzy’s always wanting you to go with her. Alec said she's on a mission there. Keep an eye out.” “Ok.”

I didn’t see Iz but I did see the bar. My friends were surprised when they didn’t get carded. I didn’t want to explain it was partly because the guy 2 seats down from us is actually 97, not 16 like he looks. I was pretty much ditched, my friends. Some wanted to dance and the others were flirting with some downworlders. I checked and saw it was some werewolves from Lukes pack so quickly sent one of them a text basically saying not to tell them about the downworld. I wanted a bit of air so I decided to see if the bathrooms were quieter. My heart lurched though as I saw familiar long dark hair enter a closet with some guy. Izzy. I walked over to the door and opened it slowly. Izzy was pressing this random guy against the wall and grinning at something. The guy saw me out the corner of his eye, smirked and began to run his hands over Izzy. She didn’t stop him. “What the fuck?” I whisper, eyes glazing over. Izzy’s head shot in my direction and her eyes bulged. I turn and run. I hear her shout stop and the guy groan. Looking back I see him with a seraph blade protruding out his ribs but I didn’t stop to stare, I kept pushing through the crowd. As I pass one of my friends I grab their beer out their hand. Thank angel it was full. I managed to get out a side door into an alley. A couple was making out and stopped to look at me. I glare. Fuck love. They scuttle off and it wasn’t because of me. I turn and see Izzy standing at the door. “What?” I spit, venom in my voice. I bring the beer to my lips and gulp it down. “Listen, please. I had too. He was a demon and what can I say? You normally understand I need to flirt a little.” I threw the beer bottle at the wall and turn to look at her. “That wasn’t just flirting!” I scream. “You were bloody leaning all over him. he kept touching you and you did nothing!” she flinched at my words. “If I knew that’s what your job was…” I closed my eyes. “What?” she stepped forward. “You don’t trust me?” she asked with disbelief. “You have the nerve to make this my fault!” I can't believe her. “That wasn’t even 2nd base Izz, one more minute and you could have been wearing even less than you are. I don’t care if it's your job,” I lower my voice. “It hurts to see you like that. Someone else's hands all over you.” My voice carries as much venom as before. “I can't believe you lied to me.” “I didn’t lie,” she said hotly, hands on hips. “I told you demons like to see some skin.” “No, Iz,” I said, stony-faced. “Alec told me you dress like that to get more kills. You told me it was your choice what you wore. I respect that. I always have. I don’t appreciate being lied to. You never told me you basically make out with them for a kill.” “I didn’t lie,” “No, you just didn’t tell me,” I yell again but I can't control myself anymore. I run my hands through my hair and sigh. “You don’t get it Iz. Look at me,” I grab her shoulders but she avoids my eyes. “I'm nowhere near your level. You could go out and replace me in seconds. Everyone knows it. Don’t show me what could happen. I cant handle that.” I let her go and walk down the alley to the main street. “You think I’d replace you?” I freeze at her words. “I need you. I want you. You keep me calm, happy, loved,” she walked closer with every step. “you are worth ten of me. Think about it.” I close my eyes tight. I don’t want this right now but my legs seem frozen. “Even my brother approves of you. That’s a lot.” She put her hand on my shoulder. “How can I make you trust me?” “I don’t know,” I whisper. “ it's like looking into the future. What could happen? No ones making you stay. I remember the first thing Jace told me when he saw I liked you,” my heart hurt at the memory. The words still etched in my mind. “’She’ll get bored, she always does, you won't be the shiny new thing forever.’” Yeah, Jace didn’t like me much. “I don’t want new, I want you.” She hugged me from behind. I sighed. “I need time Iz. I just need to think, get some air.” She nodded and pulled back. “I get it. I’ll give you the night to think. But remember, I love you. Its just my job…my job is demanding.” “I noticed,” I mumble as she walks back to the door. “I have to go get my seraph blade. Stay safe.” I turn my head to look at her as she disappears inside. I begin to walk home from the club. I pull my phone out and text my friends. Before I shut my phone off I click Izzy's name. my fingers hover over the keys, not knowing what to type. My fingers begin to move as they normally did. “Stay safe, love you.” The love you was so natural. I paused before sending though. I pressed a few more buttons and sent; ‘Stay safe. Talk later’ I slipped my phone into my pocket and keep walking.

[finn-nelson-for-the-win]

Before the World Stops Turning: Pt.9

Hello my lovelies! I fully intended to finish writing this chapter and post it earlier this week, but alas! That did not happen haha...This is the penultimate chapter in this story and we’re getting closer to what everything has all been leading up to. THIS IS SO EXCITING!! :) So without further ado...

If you’d like to be added/removed from my tags list for this fic or my Forever Tag list, don’t hesitate to let me know!

Everything I’ve written can be found right here!

I hope you enjoy this chapter! (As always, additional notes/random commentary I have will be at the end beneath the tags, if you care to read that far!)

***

It had been just over two weeks since Izzie’s accident and although Izzie was a bit stubborn and reluctant to the changes that came afterwards, she and Rae had fallen into a routine that was working well for both of them thus far.

Izzie had reached out to her Dance and Accounting instructors only hours after she left the hospital that afternoon to explain the situation and determine what she would need to do to make up her final exams and avoid failing those classes.

Izzie’s dance instructor had been more than understanding and already given Izzie an above passing grade for her performance, but she also voiced her willingness to hold Izzie’s place in the Dance Program as long as Izzie needed to ensure that her injuries healed completely.

To Izzie’s relief, her accounting Professor had also been very forgiving given Izzie’s circumstances and he promised Izzie that he would do everything in his power to work out a solution that would not lead to Izzie failing his class.

As Dr. Jackson had suggested, Izzie made a follow-up appointment to have her ankle checked out again after about two weeks, which is why Rae currently found herself sitting in an exam room down the hall from the one she had sat with Izzie last time as she waited for Izzie to return from the additional scans and x-rays that were being taken of her ankle.

There was a light knock on the door, which caused Rae to look up at the same time that the nurse that had taken Izzie back earlier walked through the door and held the heavy wooden door ajar as Izzie followed behind at a slower pace using her crutches to aid her steps.

“Thank you for being so patient, ladies. The doctor will be right back with the results of the x-ray,” the nurse replied as she helped Izzie climb onto the exam table before stepping out of the room and closing the heavy wooden door behind her.

Rae looked over at Izzie who was sitting on the exam table staring at a poster on the wall detailing the proper procedure for stopping the spread of germs when coughing or sneezing while absentmindedly biting her lower lip.

“So Izz…” Rae began and paused for a moment to allow Izzie to turn her attention towards her friend, “Are you excited for summer classes to start on Monday?”

“Ugh, please don’t remind me, Rae-Rae! I still can’t believe my Accounting final that I missed counted for nearly a fourth of my grade in the class!”

“It could’ve been worse! And at least Professor Andrews was pretty understanding about the whole situation. Sure you have to take the accelerated version of the course again, but at least he arranged it so you could do it free of charge!”

“Yeah, I suppose so...I guess I just thought that our summer was going to be nothing but you and me going on adventures and going to concerts and just enjoying ourselves...but then I had to ruin everything by getting hurt and now we can’t do anything fun,” Izzie trailed off with a small grimace.

“Hey now! None of that negativity, Izzie! You know how much I love hanging out with you and it makes no difference for me whether we go on adventures or just watch movies...as long as we’re spending time together, I’m happy!”

“Thanks Rae, you’re always such a good mate to me! Anyways, enough about me...have you talked to Finn at all or made plans to hang out again?” Izzie asked tentatively.

“Don’t you think I’d tell ya if there were any developments with Finn?” Rae asked which earned a shrug from Izzie before she continued, “Well, no...I haven’t talked to him or heard from him at all in a few weeks.”

“Aw, I’m sorry, Rae…”

“It’s fine...I don’t know what I expected to come from our coffee date or whatever that was or why I even expected anything to come from it, but I should have known better.” Rae said in an attempt to convey indifference.

“Well have you spoken to him at all since then?”

“No...I texted him the night of their most recent concert after you hurt your ankle letting him know how much I wanted to come but that I was needed elsewhere, but I told him that I hoped the show went well.”

“And?”

“And nothing, Izz...he didn’t respond. I’ve texted him a couple times since then and I even sent a message or two to him on social media, but he hasn’t responded to any of them.”

“Really?” Izzie asked with surprise obvious in her voice.

“Yeah, take a look for yourself!”

Rae handed Izzie her cellphone that was opened to her text message conversation with Finn and Izzie read the messages spanning from the last text sent by Finn, all the way to the most recent text sent by Rae nearly a week ago.

Finn: I really enjoyed meeting you formally and getting to know you better over coffee today as well. I definitely look forward to seeing your pretty face in the crowd on Friday, girl! ;) xx

Rae: Hiya Finn! You’ll never guess how crazy my day has been, but my best mate Izzie had a bit of a fall and got pretty badly injured and I needed to step up as best mate and help nurse her back to health, so sadly her and I couldn’t make it out to see you perform tonight. :( In all honesty, I’ve been looking forward to seeing you again all week long

Rae: I hope the show went well though and I look forward to seeing all the videos and pictures posted online from the show! :)

Rae: I saw the videos that Archie and Chop posted from the show on Friday! You guys sounded great and it looks like you guys drew in a huge crowd (no surprise there, since you guys are bloody amazing!) :D

Rae: So I may or may not have an exclusive preview for the new shipment of music that is being put on the shelves at Off the Record because I know the right people. I don’t know who else would appreciate the significance of this opportunity other than you, so I just thought that maybe we could grab a bite to eat together and check out what new music came in. If you’re not busy this weekend, of course...Just let me know!

“I probably sound really fucking desperate and pathetic, huh?” Rae asked as she reached for the phone that Izzie was handing back to her.

“Not at all, Rae! Don’t be silly! I just...well, I don’t understand why Finn wouldn’t be responding to you…”

“Yeah, I don’t know either…”

Izzie continued sitting on the exam table scrolling through her phone with her eyebrows furrowed until she heard a quick knock on the door of the room before Dr. Jackson stepped in and gave both the girls a beaming smile.

“Good afternoon, ladies! I have the results from your latest x-ray right here, Isabella, if you wanna take a look...it’ll just take a moment while I get them set up.”

“No problem, doctor! We’re in no hurry and I’m eager to see how I’m healing so far!”

“As am I, Isabella! So what have you two been up to in the last couple weeks?”

“I’ve been resting mostly. Rae and I drove back home to visit my family for the last week and a half, since we haven’t had the chance to go back home since Christmas. Now that I’m back here, I have a couple summer courses at my University that are starting this week, so that will be keeping me busy for a little while!”

“That sounds exciting! How’s the foot doing?”

“A lot better now! The first week was really rough, but I just kept following all the advice you and the nurses gave me!”

“I’m glad to hear that it’s feeling better now, in that case,” Dr. Jackson was still getting the x-ray images set up on the machine to view them when he glanced at one of the images for a moment before turning towards Rae and Izzie, “Ms. Ross...have you been trying to keep weight off the foot?”

“Yes!” Izzie replied with a smile

“Hmm...Excellent. And you’ve been icing down the swelling and bruising?”

“Yes, whenever it felt necessary,” Izzie said with a small nod

“That’s good! And have you been wearing the walking boot?”

“Yeah...well, mostly...it itches, so I only wear it when I know I’ll be on my feet a bit more” Izzie’s response was slightly quieter and more sheepish than before, but she knew that it would be best to be honest with her doctor no matter what.

“Hmm...I see...and the crutches? Have you been using the crutches?”

“Well...sort of…” Izzie trailed off without making eye contact with Dr. Jackson.

Dr. Jackson nodded silently before turning towards Rae and waiting for her to corroborate Izzie’s statement.

“She used the crutches for about a week when we were with her parents, but then she decided that she was healed enough to not need them anymore.”

“I see...well just by looking at these images and my most recent examination of your ankle and foot, I have some good news and some not so good news...which would you like to hear first, Isabella?”

“Good news, please!” Izzie replied immediately as her gaze fell to where her hands rested in her lap and she began pulling at a string that was loose on the hem of her shirt.

“Your ankle is healing very nicely and it definitely does not look more serious than just a sprained ankle.”

“And the bad news?” Rae asked when the tense silence hanging over the room became unnerving.

“Not bad news, per say, but the dancer’s fracture on Isabella’s foot is not healing quite so well...I think you may have been a bit overzealous with laying off the crutches. The bone is setting, but not as well as I would like it to. It’s completely your choice Ms. Ross, but as a dancer, it will be more problematic for you in the future and you’ll be more susceptible to the same injury if it doesn’t set fully”

“So what do you recommend?” Izzie replied as she looked up at him for the first time during the conversation.

“Surgery...but a very minor one at that. You won’t have to be put under, just a mild anesthesia and some local numbing should suffice and we can put a couple pins in the bone to make sure  it will heal exactly as it should. After the pins are put in, we will just need to wait for the incisions to heal and then you can begin the physical therapy regimen to help strengthen your ankle and get you walking and dancing before the end of summer...how does that sound to you?”

Rae looked at Izzie who was currently looking down at her hands again where they sat in her lap, trying to gauge her best mate’s response to what the doctor had said

“Alright, well...I trust your judgment, doctor, so if you think surgery will be the best way to ensure that I heal properly and can get back to dancing as soon as possible, then I’ll do it!” Izzie said with certainty in her voice when she finally looked up at him again after a moment of weighing her options.

“Splendid! Would you like to get this done as soon as possible?” Dr. Jackson asked as he looked at one of the sheets of paper attached to Izzie’s patient chart on the counter of the exam room beneath the x-ray image viewing machine.

“Yes, please!”

“How about tomorrow morning at 9am?”

“Oh wow...that is soon…” Izzie mumbled.

“We can do it later if you want.” Dr. Jackson replied with a smile to ensure that Izzie knew he was not intending to pressure her into making any decisions now.

“No, tomorrow will be great.” Izzie added with a nod and a small smile before looking toward Rae who was still in shock at how quickly the situation had unfolded around her.

***

The next morning, Rae gave Izzie a ride to the hospital where she had to fill out paperwork before being taken back for the actual procedure on her foot.

Rae remained in the waiting room flipping through the various health and home decor magazines that were piled on the table beside where she sat until she saw one of nurses walk through the door that led into the waiting room.

“Good morning, Rae! Isabella is all done with the procedure if you’d like to follow me back, you’re more than welcome to see her now.”

“Wow that was fast!” Rae mused as she stood from the chair she had been sitting in and set the magazine she was looking at back on the small table beside her.

Rae followed the nurse from the main waiting room to the recovery room where Izzie had been taken after her operation was over. Rae could tell that Izzie was still a little bit groggy and impaired from the anesthesia and numbing during the procedure, but she still appeared to be more coherent than Rae had anticipated.

“Is there anything else I can get for you right now, Isabella?”

“No thank you! I’m fine for now, I think!”

The nurse nodded and left the room as Rae walked into the room and sat in the chair that was against the wall beside the bed where Izzie currently sat with her bandaged leg propped up on a stack of pillows.

“Rae-Rae!”

“Hiya Izz! How are you feeling?”

“So far, so good! I was afraid I was going to have a huge scar from the surgery, but it was just a small incision on the top of my foot!”

“That’s great babes! I’m so happy to hear that everything worked out fine, like I knew it would.”

A few moments later, Dr. Jackson knocked on the door and entered the room with Izzie’s patient chart in his hands.

“How is the foot feeling, Isabella?”

“It’s not really feeling anything right now…” Izzie replied with a chuckle.

“Yeah, the numbing and anesthesia has a way of doing that, but you should be regaining feeling in your foot fairly soon.”

Rae and Izzie laughed at that as Dr. Jackson set the patient chart he was holding aside and took a moment to examine Izzie’s foot.

“I just wanted to come in here and tell you that the procedure went very well and I do not foresee any problems with your foot anytime soon or in the future. The nurse will give you the prescriptions for some medications to help you heal a bit faster and for you to take if you have any pain. She’ll also give you the contact information for one of my colleagues and close friends who specializes in sports medicine and physical therapy for you to set up an appointment with once the incision from the surgery is healed enough...in about a week or two.”

“Thank you, doctor!” Izzie replied with a polite smile.

“You’re welcome! If you have any other questions or if your foot hurts too much or anything, don’t hesitate to give us a call or come back in and we can take a look for you!”

Dr. Jackson stepped out of the room again and a different nurse stepped inside to go over the aftercare details with Izzie and give her all the prescriptions and physical therapy recommendation notes she would be needing in the next couple weeks.

When the anesthesia had worn off enough and Izzie was cleared to leave the recovery room of the hospital only an hour after her procedure had ended, Rae and Izzie walked side-by-side out of the hospital—Rae walking much slower to keep pace with Izzie as she limped and took slow steps aided by the crutches that she was going to have to begin using again until her foot was sufficiently healed—towards where Rae’s car was parked in the lot outside.

“So Izz, it’s still pretty early and today is our last day to relax before you start your summer classes...is there anything you want to do on your last day of freedom?” Rae asked as she opened the door to her car for Izzie.

“I’m still a little tired from the anesthesia and I honestly think I’d just like to take a nap for a little while. I’m fine with just relaxing and watching movies with you for the rest of the day, but first...can we get something to eat? Pizza, maybe?” Izzie asked as she leaned her crutches against the side of Rae’s car while she climbed into the passenger seat.

“Of course you’re hungry right now,” Rae replied with a chuckle as she put Izzie’s crutches into the backseat of the car before continuing, “Yes, of course we can get pizza, Izzie!”

***

Rae had been allowed to leave work early for the first time in a couple months and since leaving work early on a Friday was such a rare opportunity, she decided to accept her boss’s offer and grab lunch with Izzie instead.

The past month of summer had seemed to fly by in a blur of work for Rae and summer classes for Izzie and while they still spent most of their time outside of work and summer school with one another, they still found it hard to find time to make any formal plans when their schedules always seems to conflict.

Izzie’s ankle and foot had been healing exceptionally well since her surgery and she had been going to physical therapy in one of the offices on the second floor of the fitness center on campus for almost two weeks to ensure that everything was healing properly and she could get back to dancing as soon as possible. After each therapy session, Izzie and Rae always tried to meet up to discuss the progress Izzie was making and with each day it seemed Izzie was getting a small step closer to where she wanted to be in the recovery process.

Rae: Hey babes! I’m at our usual table, so feel free to take your time getting here. :)

Rae had texted Izzie as soon as she arrived at the cafe close to campus that they always met at for lunch during the semester, but she had been waiting for nearly half an hour without any response.

Huh...her physical therapy appointment should have ended nearly an hour ago...I wonder if I should try calling her…

As soon as Rae began to contemplate calling Izzie, she heard her cell phone vibrate against the table where she had set it down momentarily with an incoming notification.

Izzie: I’m so sorry I’m running late, Rae-Rae! Physical therapy ran long today and the time just got away from me. I should be there very soon though!

Rae sent Izzie a quick reply letting her know to take her time, but true to her word, Rae soon saw Izzie walk through the door to the cafe talking to a very familiar looking and handsome boy dressed in athletic attire.

“Thank you for walking me over here, Alex! I’ll see you at our next session on Monday, right?” Izzie said as she stopped beside the table where Rae was currently sitting and trying to hide the mixture of confusion and shock on her face.

“Absolutely! Just make sure you keep doing the stretches and exercises we worked on today over the weekend and I think we’ll be ready to move onto some more challenging things next session. Have a nice weekend!” Alex gave Izzie a high-five and turned to give Rae a quick smile as well before walking away.

“Sorry I was late, Rae!”

“Uh, no problem...that was, uh, that was Alex? As in Alex from Kings and Queens, right?” Rae asked, still trying to hide her surprise.

“Oh yeah! Did I not mention that he has been the one doing most of my physical therapy session as of lately?” Izzie asked as she pulled out her chair across from Rae and took a seat.

“Uhm, no, not that I’m aware of…” Rae muttered.

“Oh! My bad! It must have slipped my mind because I definitely meant to tell you.” Izzie replied with an embarrassed giggle.

Rae sat there nodding silently as she took a sip of her lemonade and stared at the menu in front of her.

“Alex was actually part of the reason why I was running late to meet you. Our session was running long as it was, but we got caught up with talking and lost track of time.”

Just then the waiter stopped at their table and took Rae and Izzie’s lunch orders before refilling their beverages and assuring them that their food would be out shortly.

“So, uh, what were you and Alex talking about?” Rae asked as she tried to pick up their conversation from earlier again.

“Well he mentioned that their band just booked a new show at the end of July, but it happened literally last night, so they haven’t posted about it on social media at all.”

“I see…”

“And we talked about Finn and the rest of the band a bit...just sort of what everyone has been up to in the last month or so of summer.”

“Okay…”

“Have you, uh, talked to Finn at all lately?” Izzie asked hesitantly.

“Nope” Rae stated matter-of-factly.

“Have you tried reaching out to him again?”

“Nope”

“Rae...why not?”

“Clearly he doesn’t want to reach out to me since he hasn’t been replying to any of my texts or messages on social media. I don’t want to seem clingy or desperate. Trust me, I got the message loud and clear from Finn, so I won’t try to make plans or text him anytime soon.”

“Rae, I don’t think you sound desperate or clingy…”

“Well either way...I’m leaving it up to him at this point to reach out to me if he chooses to do so…”

“That makes sense, I suppose. So...does that mean that you wouldn't want to go to their show that at the end of July or…?”

“Do you want to go?” Rae asked in response to Izzie’s question.

“Yes, I mean...I suppose so. I think it would be nice for us to do because we had to miss the last one because of me...”

“Izz...I’m not mad at you that we missed the last show, so you don’t need to make it up to me”

“Perhaps not, but I want to! Plus it’s a bit over a week after my birthday, so I just think that it might be a nice sort of belated birthday present to myself!” Izzie replied with a cheerful grin.

“Okay, it’s decided then, we will go!” Rae added with an equally wide smile when she saw how happy that statement made her best mate.

“Are you sure?” Izzie asked after the initial wave of excitement had waned slightly.

“I’m positive!” Rae replied with a nod.

***

Later that day when Rae was back at her apartment her thoughts kept returning to her conversation with Izzie during lunch.

Should I really give up on trying to talk to Finn?

Izzie had reassured Rae time and time again how much it didn’t seem like Finn to simply not reply to her text messages, so there must be something else going on.

“I can talk to Alex about it if you want,” Izzie had offered as a solution to figure out why Finn may not be replying to Rae.

“I can ask Alex to pass along a message?”

“I can convince Alex to bring Finn to our next session and you can talk to him in-person like that to settle things once and for all?”

“I can…”

Izzie had offered every suggestion she could think of to help Rae get the answers she needed; however, Rae had refused each and voiced her appreciation for her mate’s offers nonetheless.

Hmmm...Perhaps it is worth it for me to try reaching out to Finn just one more time…

Rae: Hey Finn, I heard from a little birdie that your band is playing a show at the end of the month. I don’t know if you all are selling tickets for less like you have for past shows, but if you are, I’d like to buy some. Please let me know!

Rae placed her cell phone on her bedside table and laid on her back staring at her ceiling once she sent that message.

What if Finn doesn’t reply to this message either?

Rae remained in her bed beside where her phone sat on the table, waiting for the chime of her phone to signal that a new text had been received, but by the time she could feel herself giving into her exhaustion after a long day at work, she had still not heard her phone sound in the time that had passed

Fuck it...If Finn won’t reply to me about the tickets, Izzie and I will just have to purchase them online.

@arathewallflower @eveerez @tinakegg @hey1tskat1e @lurkernolonger @milllott @nutinanutshell @i-dream-of-emus @milymargot @vivammfd @bitchesbecrazy89 @mallyallyandra @kneekeyta @tothetardissterek

A/N: Yay! Officially 9 chapters down, 1 to go! I don’t really like this chapter very much, but I knew it had to be posted to help speed things along for the conclusion to this fic to be post next...In fact, I already have the final chapter written, but I’ve elected to wait a few days before posting it so I can edit it further and try to make it sucks as little as possible! :D

I already have a different little story drafted up that I intend to post relatively soon...I asked for fic suggestions for what you all wanted to read next from me and a few of you certainly delivered! I just wanted to give a quick shout out to @vivammfd, @bitchesbecrazy89, and @eveerez for your input on what fics you’d like to see next...I promise that they are in the works now and I will be posting them as soon as I can! If you have any other requests about what you’d like to see me write next, I’m ALWAYS open to suggestions! :)

On a semi-related note: GUESS WHO IS OFFICIALLY DONE WITH SCHOOL FOR THE SEMESTER AS OF TODAY!!!! I think this occasion deserves a “FUCK YEAH!!!!!” don’t you think?!? :D

And last but not least, as much as I love reblogging things from the same 3 people over on my main blog (no really, they post some quality content), I am definitely looking for new blogs to follow. My main blog is @awaiting-something (insert shameless self-promo lol) so you’re more than welcome to follow me and I can follow back or just let me know some of your favorite people you follow or idk...I’m just trying to make friends and find cool people who like some of the same stuff that I do haha

I feel like this Author’s Note has gone on long enough and it’s not even related to this chapter anymore, but oh well! I love hearing what you guys think and getting questions/messages/whatever from all of you, so if you have any comments/questions/concerns, etc. related to this chapter (or anything really, MMFD or otherwise), feel free to let me know!

Stay awesome, my friends! :) 

[buckybarnesappreciationsociety]

“I Can’t Do This Without You” Part 3

Summary: Bucky’s wife has been diagnosed with cancer. This is the fallout after surgery.

Word Count: 1.012

Pairing: Bucky x Reader

OFC: Izzy, little Steve, The Avengers, Dr. Travers

Warnings: Mentions of cancer, near death experience, angst

A/N: I have no idea how to attach a master list to this fic. If someone could help, I’d appreciate it. Thank you so much for reading parts 1 and 2. My heart’s overjoyed by the response.

Master List

Smothered deep in haunting thoughts, Bucky appeared dazed and confused. Angry, judgemental voices attacked his already fragile mind.

This is your fault Soldat. All the souls taken away from their families by your hands are repaying the favor. Y/N’s paying the price.

Bucky was in desperate need of just five peaceful minutes of sleep. He laid his weary head against the wall behind him. He decided to focus on the positive memories he had of you, like the way you laughed and how beautiful it sounded to him. Or when you would read your favorite book, the cute little face you would make because you were really consumed by what you reading. Even something as simple as watching tv with you was a calming thought for him. The happy memories finally lulled him to sleep.Thirty minutes later, ,Dr. Travers entered the suite and gently touched his hand. Startled by the touch, Bucky flinched.

Dr. Travers leaned in close to Bucky and  whispered,. “James, let’s move to the hall and talk.” Bucky moved as quietly  as possible through the room, as to make sure he didn’t wake  the others  that were sleeping..

“Y/N flatlined but the surgeon resuscitated her. Not only did she lose an extreme amount of blood, all of the cancer cells weren’t removed. Once she’s strong enough, we’ll start her on chemo.”

Bucky didn’t quite know what to say. The news shocked him beyond belief.

“She’s breathing with the aid of a respirator. I recommend delaying Isabella and Steven’s visit.”

Tears filled his eyes, a few falling down his face. He tried to speak but his words got caught in his throat, he cleared it before trying again.. “Wh- Why? She’s their mother, they’re going to want to see her.” He stammered.

Dr. Travers patted Bucky’s arm, “Yes James, I know she’s their mother, but I’m not sure they should see her like this. I’d wait until she’s at least moved out of the ICU.”

His knees buckled and he broke into a harsh sob, he collapsed against a wall. Dr. Travers gave Bucky comforting rub on his shoulder. “I’ll give you some time to gather yourself. I have to go check on her.”

He suddenly remembered the two children that were in the room, they needed him to be strong. He wiped the tears from face and mentally gathered himself. Bucky grievously returned into the suite, he slowly walked over to the couch and took a seat.

Your daughter Izzy, gradually comes out of her slumber. She stretched and searched around the room for her father, her eyes finally found him glumly sitting on the sofa. The blank expression on his face frightened her. Izzy got up and made her way over to him, her shifting off of the bed woke up her brother, S.J.  

Taking the seat beside him, Izzy placed her hand over Bucky’s metal hand. “Dad, any word about mom?”

“Yeah dad, what’s up? Is mom gonna be alright” S.J joined. He was now sitting on the bed, facing Bucky and his sister.

Bucky rubbed the scruff on his face and stared at the ground, before glancing back at the two of them.

“Yes” His voice barely above a whisper..

They waited for him to tell them what he knew. He adjusted himself in his chair. “Kids, your mom is in ICU on a respirator. She..She had some complications while she was under, so the they weren’t able to get all the cancer cells. They uhhh.. they’re waiting till she’s strong enough to start up chemotherapy.” His tone still faint.

S.J. wrapped his arms around Izzy. “Dad, can we see her? I wanna see her please?” Izzy begged.

“Sugar Plum, it might not be a good idea. Dr. Travers says it’s best to wait until Y/N’s moved to a regular room. I-I’m gonna see her in a bit.”

Wanda and Sam offered to take Izzy and S.J. home to shower. They balked at the idea. Bucky promised he’d call if anything changed.

Grabbing her duffel bag, Izzy handed Bucky her family picture. “Sit this by mom’s bed. I keep it on my desk.”

Rubbing his fingers over the white picture frame, Bucky smiled weakly. “Okay sweetheart. See you later. S.J,. mind your sister.”

Sam, deeply concerned patted Bucky on the back, “We’ll take care of S.J. and Izz”

Holding onto the family picture, Bucky steadied himself. Seeing the love of his life so sick, sliced through him like a knife.

He choked back a sob. There in front of him was the woman he’d spend the rest of his life with. She was still; color drained from her face. The steady beep of a heart monitor; hoses on the respirator reminded him of an octopus, sticking out in all directions. IV and blood hung from poles to her left.

Grabbing a chair, Bucky sat next to Y/N’s bed, holding her hand. His lip quivered, teardrops free flowing.

“H-hey Doll. If ya can hear me, know that I love you so much. It breaks my heart to see ya like this. Izzy and S.J. sends their love. I’m sitting a picture on your bedside table. Izzy thought you’d like to see it when you wake up.”

Kissing her hand, Bucky continued. “Izzy’s so beautiful. College life suits her. She reminds me of you; stubborn and smart. Her hair is cut short. I gotta admit I like it. Oh yeah, I’m starting to believe Zach’s her boyfriend. I’ll snap his neck like a toothpick if he hurts our daughter.”

He leaned closer to Y/N. “Tony renovated 3 rooms in the medical bay for you. Everything you’ll need to get better. Listen, I gotta go check on the kids. Love you to the moon and beyond. I’ll be back tomorrow.”

Bucky collapsed in Steve’s arms weeping. “Stevie, I dunno what to do. It’s bad….real bad.

@omalleysgirl22 @irene-rogue-adler @shy2shot @rebelslicious @pegasusdragontiger @magellan-88 @suz-123 @papi-chulo-bucky @chrevastan @bexboo616 @shamvictoria11 @caplansteverogers @3brosangel @bolontiku

[oraclesoftime]

Futures Known But Unspoken

CHAPTER 23 On Their Own “Well… what do we do now?” Belle asked, cautiously peering down the cavern that had swallowed up the company. “We’ll have to take the long way around,” Lane sighed. “Maybe we’ll run into Gandalf at some point.” Belle nodded and followed her friend back out into the rain. The two women continued back the way they’d gone before when looking for another cave, shuffling across the small path with their hands braced against the mountain face. They managed to get farther than they had before and found a small ledge where they could take a short break. “Well… at least the rain stopped,” Belle sighed, wringing out her hair. “Yeah, but that doesn’t stop the fact that I feel like I’ve been through seventeen rinse cycles,” Lane groaned, attempting to ring out her tunic. Giving a small growl in irritation, Lane peeled her shirt off while Belle squeaked and turned away. “Excuse you! A little warning next time please!” Belle chastised. “Oh please, I don’t have anything you don’t have, unless there’s something you’re not telling me,” Lane scoffed, coiling her tunic to try and wring out the water. “Lane!” Belle yelped. When she had turned around to glare at her friend for her comment, Belle found her friend about to shimmy off her trousers, Lane stopping to give her friend a confused look. “What?” “Can we please keep this journey PG!” Belle yelped, clamping her hands over her face. “What if someone sees!” “Izz the only things on this mountain with us are the stone giants that got Bofur’s knickers in a knot; and I highly doubt they’d have any appreciation for my butt,” Lane scoffed, continuing to undress herself so she could wring out her pants. “Though I honestly wouldn’t blame them if they did; it is quite a work or art~” “Remind me why I’m friends with you?” “Because if you weren’t you’d be all alone in a foreign world and would more than likely be complaining non stop about anything and everything,” Lane snickered, shaking her pants out before, begrudgingly, attempting to slide them back on. “Oh my god this is like reusing a fucking condom; disgusting.” “Lane!!” “I thought I heard you two squabbling around here…” Belle took her hands away from her face and spun around to see Gandalf coming off of the path they’d just been on. She quickly spun back around to see Lane was still trying to squeeze her shirt dry, not seeming to be bothered by the wizard’s presence. “But where are the others?” Gandalf asked, not taking his eyes off of Belle. “Th-th-they fell down a trap into the goblin city!” Belle stammered, her cheeks going pink from how casual the wizard was acting despite her friend’s state of undress behind her. “W-w-we tried to warn them, but Thorin wouldn’t hear it!” “Oh for the love of… save me from the stubbornness of dwarves!” Gandalf sighed. “The entire reason I thought to bring you two along was to avoid any unnecessary trouble, not for him to cause more!” “Well, when we see them next I have every intention of rubbing this in his face, though it may have to wait a little bit,” Lane hummed, finally managing to tug her damp shirt back over her head and walking up to the two. “Azog isn’t far behind, we’ll need to move extremely quickly for him not to catch up.” Gandalf nodded and pointed with his staff towards the continuation of the path they had just been on. “This path widens about 100 yards from here; it should allow you to make your way along to the other side of the mountain within two days time if your pace remains brisk,” Gandalf said. “I shall go into the mountain and rescue the others. Move quickly now!” The women nodded and made their way back onto the path as Gandalf returned from the way he came. “Come on, the others are basically taking the shortcut through the mountain rather than going around it,” Lane claimed, reaching her hand back. “We’ll have to be quick like bunnies if we want to catch up to them before things get too hairy.” Belle nodded and took her friend’s hand, allowing Lane to lead the way with hurried footsteps down the path. The first day that the two women were on the mountain alone was nerve wracking to put it mildly. They didn’t dare to take shelter in any caves for fear of it being yet another goblin trap, choosing to instead try and find a landing large enough for them to rest and taking night shifts to ensure that they weren’t snuck up on or that the one sleeping didn’t roll over too far in her sleep. The second day started with both women’s stomachs letting out a loud growl in protest to not having been fed for such a long time, Belle and Lane having no choice but to scrounge up what little food they had in their packs and munch as they speed walked along the mountain’s path. A couple times one of the women would either slip or trip, but thanks to the path having widened out a fair bit, it wasn’t as dangerous as it had been when the others had still been with them. They did their best to keep a brisk pace, but not so fast as to wear themselves out; they’d need their energy if they didn’t manage to get away from the mountains in time. Just as Gandalf had told them, by the time the sun began to set in the sky on the second day, the women found themselves looking out to the east, the path now leading down to the ground, which they eagerly took. As they followed the path further down however, it slowly turned from a path into an extremely steep rock wall, with less foot and hand holds and a lot more distance to the bottom. “I’ll go first,” Lane hummed, tightening her pack around her shoulders before turning and carefully beginning to climb down, Belle watching her like a hawk. “Careful! Watch your hand!” the smaller yelped. Lane stopped and raised her head to give Belle a flat look, the smaller letting out a ‘meep!’ and made the motion for zipping her lips before Lane rolled her eyes and continued to slowly make her way down. “C’mon Izz, I can’t hold your hand this time!” Lane called out once she was about ten feet down. “You gotta climb down at some point.” “I never asked you to hold my hand!” Belle huffed, fastening her pack and doing her best to mimic her friend as she too carefully began to climb down. Both women quickly found that their arms were getting sore from the sudden use of muscles they didn’t know they had but pressed on; it’s not like they had any alternative. “Look! Trees! Isn’t that where they come out with Gandalf?” Belle claimed, pointing ahead as she and Lane slowly got closer to the bottom of their rock wall. “Keep an eye on your footing Izz, not the trees; I’m not dragging you to Erebor in a full body cast,” Lane called up from below her. Belle pouted but listened to her friend’s words, watching her footing as Lane finally touched down on solid ground several feet below her. “There you go, you can jump the rest,” Lane hummed, reaching up to pat her friend on the rump when she was close enough to do so. Belle rolled her eyes and released the rocks to land in front of her friend with a solid ‘thump’. “Alright, let’s go find the exit to the cave,” Lane said, turning away to start the search. Belle nodded and followed after her, keeping her own eyes peeled for the exit that their friends would come out of. Walking for what felt like several hours, the women came across several caves in the mountain, the two usually having their souls scared out of their bodies from a horde of bats shooting out when they got too close or taking one too many steps inside and hearing a low rumble and hightailing it out. The duo soon found another large, gaping hole in the mountain face and exchanged wary looks. “You think this is the right one?” Belle asked, taking a cautious step forwards. “I dunno, go have a sniff,” Lane said. “It’s your turn anyways.” Belle turned and gave her friend a raised eyebrow. “A sniff??” “Yeah, a sniff.” Belle gave her friend a wary look before walking towards the hole and taking a deep breath through her nose. “Well? Does it smell like a college football team?” Lane asked with a small laugh. “That’s about as gnarly as you get without upchucking…” Belle couldn’t help but laugh and shake her head at her friend’s words; leave it to Lane to turn a possibly traumatic scene in the adventure into a scene of mental images from their old home. “Well they shouldn’t be too much longer,” Lane hummed, turning around to look at the slowly setting sun. “It’ll be night pretty soon.” Belle nodded and followed after her friend as the taller lead the way further down the mountain. After walking for a few minutes and finding a decent spot to rest, the two took purchase on some nearby rocks that had a fair number of lush trees surrounding them, providing some cover for whatever manner of beast would start to skulk about as night drew closer. Lane leaned her head back against the rock with a small sigh before opening her eyes and turning to the side. As she slid off of their rock, Belle turned to watch her friend as she walked over to a nearby tree. “What… are you doing?” Belle asked, watching her friend stare intently up at the towering trunk. “I’m gonna climb this tree.” Belle gave her friend an incredulous look as Lane took a running start and somehow managed to walk her way up the trunk high enough to grasp the lowest branch and began to slowly scale the trunk. Once she managed to swing her legs up onto said low branch, she pulled herself up, sat still for a few moments before grinning and climbing her way higher and higher until Belle couldn’t make out her form from the leaves. “You should practise too Izz, considering we may be climbing some in a few hours!” Lane’s voice called out with a slight laugh. Belle caught onto the meaning of her friend’s words and simply sighed, sliding off of the rock and making her way over to the tree her friend had disappeared into. “How am I supposed to climb this thing?” Belle gawked, seeing that the lowest branch was easily several heads taller than her. There was some rustling in the branches above her before Lane suddenly appeared out of the leaves of the nearest branch upside down, causing Belle to give a squeak of fright before reaching up and swatting her friend on the shoulder. “Don’t do that!” Lane rolled her eyes and allowed her arms to hang down below her head. “C’mon , I’ll help you reach, short stuff.” Belle pouted slightly and muttered a few choice words to herself but grasped onto her friend’s wrists, Lane helping Belle to walk her way up the trunk until she was safely sitting on the lowest branch. Lane swung back up so that she was sitting properly on the branch before grinning at her friend and climbing her way back up through the leaves. Belle watched for a few moments before she took a determined breath and managed to follow her friend up several more branches, but soon lost sight of the taller woman as she continued to scale the branches at an astounding speed. “How are you so good at this!?” Belle called out, slightly out of breath already. “Are you sure you hit your head?” Though she couldn’t see her, Belle could hear Lane’s laughter from much higher up in the tree. “Did you seriously just ask me that? After all the stories I’ve told you about me sneaking out at night when I was still underage to go partying with Doogie and the others? C’mon Izz, first you forget my three S’s and now you don’t remember by thrilling stories? I’m hurt!” Belle rolled her eyes at her friend’s mock wounded tone and chose to simply sit on the branch she had reached, not willing to risk climbing any higher. Her spot allowed for a decent view of the mountain, but mostly the beautifully coloured sky, the clouds and once blue expanse now dyed in an array of calming yellows, oranges and reds as the sun slowly got closer and closer to the horizon. “You know, it’s times like this where it’s almost enough to forget that we’re on some suicide mission to kill a dragon for a literal mountain of gold,” Belle hummed with a small laugh, her eyes not leaving the beautiful sight. “Almost enough is the key word,” Lane’s voice replied, a laugh laced within her words. Belle rolled her eyes and shifted to see if she could catch sight of her friend in the branches above her. Though mostly hidden among the thick leaves, Belle could make out Lane’s form casually sitting on a thick branch about twenty feet above her, swinging her feet back and forth to an unheard beat. The smaller of the two women turned her eyes back to the setting sun and allowed her mind to wander, finding the view somewhat hypnotizing. The branches above her starting to shake bringing Belle away from her thoughts, looking up in time to catch her friend emerging with a grin plastered onto her face. “Come on, I could see the cave from up there; the guys are running this way like their asses are on fire,” Lane claimed, easily making her way down the tree towards the ground. Belle nodded and did her best to follow after her friend, having to call out for her to come back a few times when she got stuck or scared, Lane always taking the chance to tease her friend about being stuck in a tree but ultimately climbing back up to help her. Lane landed on the ground first just as the dwarves of the company began coming down the hill. “Where is Bilbo? Where is our hobbit?” Gandalf asked after doing a quick head count. “Where is our hobbit!” “Curse the halfling! Now he’s lost?” Dwalin growled. “I thought he was with Dori!” Gloin called out. “Don’t blame me!” Dori shot back. “Well where did you last see him?” Gandalf asked, worry etched in his tone. “I think I saw him slip away when they first cornered us,” Nori spoke up. “What happened exactly! Tell me!” “I’ll tell you what happened. Master Baggins saw his chance and he took it,” Thorin growled. “He’s thought of nothing other than his soft bed and his warm hearth since he’s stepped out of his door. We will not be seeing our hobbit again.” “And here I was hoping that the goblins in that mountain would have knocked some fucking sense into you!” Lane scoffed, reaching up to help Belle out of the tree when she was finally at the lowest branch. “Clearly it was just wishful thinking on my part.” “If you say one more word-” “What… what’s this? Oh my, is this the sound of… someone being wrong?” Lane gasped dramatically, covering her mouth with her hands. “Oh no! Heaven and all its angels help us! Thorin Oakenshield wasn’t right about something! We’re all going to die!” Belle couldn’t help the snicker that escaped her lips as Lane dashed around in small circles around the group, flailing her arms over her head before stopping in front of the would be king. “I’m being serious you dickwad! If you don’t grow up and actually listen to the people who know what they're fucking talking about, you could get some of your precious company killed!” Lane huffed, jabbing him in the torso with her finger while giving him a firm glare. One could tell that Thorin really wanted to yell back at her, but knew better than to, especially when her words proved to be right. Instead, the dwarf lord gave a defeated sigh and hung his head. “Besides, who ever said that Bilbo left?” Belle added, looking around the company to where she knew the hobbit was hiding. The dwarves and Gandalf all turned to see Bilbo standing a little behind Balin, a tired smile stretched across his face. “Bilbo Baggins! I’ve never been so happy to see anyone in my life,” Gandalf spoke, a smile spreading across his lips as he stepped forwards. “Bilbo! We’d given you up!” Kíli grinned. “How on earth did you get past the goblins?” Fíli asked. “How indeed,” Dwalin hummed. “Oh, what does it matter!” Gandalf laughed. “He’s back!” “It matters. I want to know!” Thorin began. “Why did you come back?” “Look I know you doubt me, I know you always have. And you’re right, I often think of Bag End; I miss my books. And my armchair and my garden. See that’s where I belong, that’s home. And that’s why I came back.” Bilbo paused to look around the group before returning his eyes back to Thorin. “You don’t have one, a home. It was taken from you. But I will help you take it back if I can.” A touched silence draped over the group, most if not all of the dwarves lowering their eyes to the ground. “Awww, he’s all grown up~” Lane cooed, wiping away a fake tear with a mock sniffle. “You idiot, you’re ruining the moment!” Belle scolded, glaring up at her friend. The moment was ruined further when howls sounded through the forest, the company jumping slightly and looking around through the trees that surrounded them on all sides. “Out of the frying pan…” “And into the fire!” Gandalf finished. “Run!”

[finn-nelson-for-the-win]

Before the World Stops Turning: Pt. 7

Hello my lovelies! Please allow me to take a brief moment to apologize. Yes, I am aware that it has been two weeks since the last chapter I posted. Yes, I am aware that roughly a week prior to that I had made it a point to tell you all that I was bad about posting regularly but I wanted to be better. Yes, I am aware of the irony of this all...but oh well! I’m terrible, I know, but nonetheless I’m sorry this chapter took so long to write. Shall we get on with it then?

This is the long chapter I have been promising for a little while and it’s definitely a break from the fun, flirty, silliness of the last couple chapters, but alas, it had to happen...

If you’d like to be added/removed from my tags list for this fic or my Forever Tag list, don’t hesitate to let me know!

Everything I’ve written can be found right here!

I hope you enjoy this chapter! (As always, additional notes and random commentary I have will be at the end beneath the tags)

***

When Rae walked through the door of the small restaurant that she and Izzie went to for lunch regularly and she saw Izzie already seated at their usual table, she smiled to get Izzie’s attention and walked the short distance to the small table beside the window.

“Hiya, babes! I’m so sorry I’m late. My last exam ended a bit later than I anticipated.”

“No problem, Rae-Rae! I’m just glad you were free to meet for lunch today, since I asked you about it with such short notice this morning.”

Rae nodded and smiled in agreement as she picked up the menu that sat on her side of the table and began to look through it.

“Oh! When you texted me that you were a few minutes away I went ahead and put in both our orders. I got you your usual salad. I hope that’s okay with you!”

“Yeah, that’s perfect. I always like to look through the menu, but I don’t think I’ve ordered anything other than that salad more than a handful of times in the three years I have been coming here with you!” Rae replied with a chuckle.

“Yeah, that’s why I figured it’d probably be alright if I just ordered for you,” Izzie said as she took a drink of her soda before speaking again, “So you mentioned that you just finished your last exam, right? Doesn’t that mean that you’re done with Uni for the semester?”

“Yeah! I’m officially done with this semester! I’m just waiting for the final scores to be posted so I know how I did!” Rae replied triumphantly.

“Yay! That’s so exciting, Rae! I’m sure you did very well on your exams, so I don’t think you have anything to worry about!”

Rae and Izzie continued making casual conversation about the exams they had taken this week and what they wanted to do with their summer holiday until their waitress walked up to their table carrying a large round tray with a couple plates on it.  

“Okay, we have the grilled chicken sandwich and the Mediterranean salad here. Is there anything else I can get for your two ladies right now?” The waitress said after she placed the food Rae and Izzie each ordered in front of them.

“No, thank you! I think we’re fine for now,” Izzie replied with a smile.

“Great! If you need anything else, feel free to let me know,” the waitress said as she walked away to check-in on the other tables she was waiting on.

Izzie and Rae sat in a comfortable silence for a few moments as they each began to eat their lunch before Izzie cleared her throat to speak up.

“So...about your coffee date with Finn on Monday…” Izzie said with a smirk as she looked up at Rae, “I’m still waiting to hear all the juicy details.”

“Seriously, Izz? I’ve been telling you all about it for the last four days since it happened! You know so much about it that it feels like you were practically there with us at Charlie’s that afternoon!” Rae joked.

“I’m just curious, Rae! And no, you have been telling me what happened via text message for the past few days. We had to miss our usual ‘Thursday Lunch Date’ yesterday because of our exam schedules, but I still want to hear all about how it went now that we’re talking in-person!”

“Fine, I suppose you’re right, Izz,” Rae replied with a sigh before continuing, “It went really well, I think.”

“Even though he was nearly an hour late to meet you? If someone didn’t even call or text me to let me know they were going to be late to our date, I would have left and I would probably never forgive him! If Finn—or anyone else for that matter—ever stands you up like that again, I’m gonna...well, I don’t know...kick his arse or something!”

“Izzie!”

“What? I need to stand up for you babes. You deserve someone who realizes how great you are and treats you right.” Izzie said as she pointed her finger at Rae to show how serious she was.

“Well thank you, Izz, but we both know you would never really do that. There isn’t a single mean or spiteful bone in your body,”

“Fine, I suppose you’re right. But I would be pretty peeved for a little while at least…” Izzie chuckled.

“Sure you would, Izzie. But yeah, even though he was incredibly late, I think it went pretty well. And he did try to text me...like a lot. I’m pretty sure there were somewhere around twenty text messages from him freaking out about being late and apologizing to me, but I’m an idiot and didn’t charge my phone earlier in the day, so I had to power off my phone so it wouldn’t die completely before I was back at my apartment.”

Izzie took another bite of her sandwich and chewed thoughtfully as she seemed to be processing what Rae had said.

“Hmm...I suppose that’s alright then. So what did the two of you talk about for over two hours? I was under the impression that you were just going there to get the tickets and I assumed the two of you might chat for a bit, but suddenly three hours had passed since you had texted me that you got to the cafe and I hadn’t heard back from you!”

“Yeah, sorry about that. The whole time I was waiting for him to show up, I was trying to decide who it was I was even supposed to be meeting. I had figured it would be Archie—like you guessed—or Chop because he seemed to be very friendly and social, but when Finn walked up to my table and greeted me using my name, I literally choked on my coffee and could have died right there and then,”

“Oh no!” Izzie replied in an attempt to show concern, but it was followed by a small chuckle.

“And then I had to backtrack and I became a bumbling mess when I was finally able to speak again. It was so embarrassing!” Rae replied as she stabbed various vegetables with her fork and brought the bite of salad to her mouth.

“I’m sure it wasn’t nearly as bad as you thought it was...so what happened next?” Izzie said as she took a drink of her soda and stared wide-eyed at Rae as she waited for her to continue the retelling of this story.

“Well he gave me the tickets and I gave him the money and there was this brief moment of awkward silence where it looked like he was trying to decide what to say or do just like I was. It definitely took a lot longer than I would have liked, but my brain and my mouth decided to work with each other, not against each other, and just as he was about to leave I asked if he wanted to have coffee with me since we were both already here. I think I caught him off guard because it took him a while to respond, but then he very eagerly accepted—it was pretty fucking adorable,” Rae said, chuckling at the memory of how excited Finn seemed when he took a seat across from her at the table on Monday.

“That does sound really cute!”

“So his way of apologizing for being late was to order nearly one of every pastry Charlie’s sells, so we were both eating those and drinking our coffees and just chatting. I told him about our little discovery about how only three of his fingers ended up in the group photo we took at the first show of theirs that we went to...and we were talking about how Finn, Archie, and Chop are the founding members of Kings and Queens and they have been friends since they were kids...and then we were talking about Uni and what we’re both studying...and I found out that Finn writes music and is beginning to help with recording and the music production process...and he told me why he was running so late to meet me.”

“Why was he running late?”

“He said a meeting with the band manager was running longer than it was supposed to and after that ended he was only about twenty minutes late, but in his hurry to meet me I guess he was so flustered about being late that he completely forgot the tickets and he had to turn around to go get them. By that time he was even more flustered and his text messages were much more panicked, but he eventually got there, so it wasn't that big of a deal.”

“Ah, well it sounds like the two of you got on really well. Aren’t you glad that I refused to let you cancel your coffee date with him?” Izzie asked with a slight smirk.

“I suppose...I really should listen to you more often, Izz,” Rae replied with an eye roll, “and yeah, we really hit it off, I think! You know how shy I can be when I’m around people I don’t know very well, but talking to him and spending two hours with someone that was practically a stranger earlier that same day was actually surprisingly easy...It was nice though.”

“Are you excited to see him at the show tonight?”

“Yeah, I mean...I suppose so.” Rae said with a nonchalant shrug.

“Maybe now you can actually get a picture with him that includes more than just a few appendages!” Izzie replied cheerfully.

“Yeah, hopefully! Which reminds me...what is the plan for the rest of the day?”

“Well I have two more exams today: accounting and contemporary dance. My contemporary dance final is a performance and she’s just going to go down the class roster in alphabetical order by our first names, so I should be done with that one fairly early. I don’t know if you need to run any errands or if you just want to remain here on campus for the next few hours while I take my finals, but if it’s alright with you, we can just head straight over to the concert as soon as I’m done with my accounting final. I can just text you when I’m done and you can meet me in the parking lot outside that building?”

“Yeah, that sounds great to me. I think I might just stay in the area, but go to the record shop down the street to waste some time before you’re ready for me to pick you up.” Rae added with a smile.

“Okay, that sounds perfect!”

“Great! Sounds like a plan,” Rae agreed with a wide grin.

The conversation died down again as Rae and Izzie finished their food and the waitress brought the check to their table for them to pay.

“I really am glad that you had fun chatting and drinking coffee with Finn on Monday! I can’t quite put my finger on what it is, but there’s something different about you...you seem happier, perhaps.”

“Oh really? And you think Finn has something to do with that?” Rae asked as she quirked her eyebrows up in response.

“I think so, yes,” Izzie replied with a nod, “I can’t recall the last time you went on a date and had so many positive things to say about the entire experience.”

“Hmm...I suppose you’re right…” Rae agreed with a bit of hesitation.

“Not to mention, this entire time you haven’t tried correcting me to tell me that your ‘meet-up to pick up the concert tickets’ wasn’t a date, so…” Izzie’s statement trailed off and she gave Rae a cheeky smile.

Rae’s jaw dropped in surprised because until Izzie pointed it out, she hadn’t even been aware of Izzie referring to it as a date or why she didn’t feel the need to correct her.

***

As Rae walked through the door of the record shop, the bell above the door chimed loudly and the heavily tattooed cashier behind the counter looked up from the stack of CDs he was organizing to give her a nod and a smile.

“Welcome in to ‘Off the Record’, Rae! Are you looking for anything in particular today?”

“Good afternoon, David! I’m just looking around for now, thank you, but I’ll let you know if I have any questions.”

Rae had discovered this small, locally-owned record shop within the first year of starting Uni after taking a wrong turn when trying to find the restaurant she was meeting a friend at for dinner and since then she has always made it a point to stop in when they received a new shipment, when they were having a huge sale, when she was bored—basically any time she had the chance to.

As she always does when she visits Off the Record, Rae walked straight past the section of music entitled “New Releases” to the back corner of the store where what Rae considers to be the hidden gems are always found.

The entire back wall of the record shop consists of sections of CDs, records, and cassette tapes sorted by type under a large, hand-painted sign that read “Deals and Steals” to indicate that all these items were on clearance.

Rae began looking through all the records for something worth buying that she did not already own as Blink-182 blared from the speakers of the shop and she couldn't help the contented smile that spread across her face.

This shop—complete with slightly-too-loud music and somewhat stale, dusty smell of records and CDs that were as old as Rae if not older—is her happy place and the perfect escape from the stress of daily life.

Hmm...Have it, have it, don’t want it…

Maybe…

Have it...don’t want it…have it...

They put this on vinyl too? Hmm...I have the CD, but do I need the record as well?

When Rae finished looking through the section of records for anything that piqued her interest, she continued along the wall to the next section where all the discounted CDs were arranged by genre.

Unimpressed by the music she was finding that she did not already own, Rae began weaving her way through each aisle of records, CDs, and the small section of DVDs to see if anything caught her eye.

She was reading the synopsis to a horror movie that she was fairly certain she had never watched before when she felt her cell phone vibrating from within her back pocket. She pulled her phone from her pocket and looked at the screen.

INCOMING CALL FROM [UNKNOWN NUMBER]

Well, I have no clue who this could be...let’s see if they leave a message saying why they called.

When Rae did not see any indication that the person calling her was going to leave a message or call back, she began to slide her cell phone back into her pocket, but she felt her phone vibrating again with another call coming in.

INCOMING CALL FROM IZZIE<3

“Hey babes,” Rae said as soon as she picked up the phone, “I didn’t expect you to be calling me that you were done this soon! Did one of your professors cancel your exam or were they just a lot easier than you expected, so it was really quick?”

“Hey...Uh, not exactly...So,” Izzie began before pausing briefly to inhale and sniffle slightly, “please don’t freak out, Rae…”

Rae heard Izzie inhale unevenly again and her stomach sank when she realized why—Izzie was crying.

“Izz, please talk to me. Is everything alright? Please...what’s going on?” Rae asked, growing more frantic with every sniffle and muffled sound she heard going on in the background of the phone call even though Izzie was not speaking.

“Isabella, hand me your phone and let Grace help you into my car, okay?” Rae heard someone say in the background of the phone call before there was a shuffling and Rae knew that Izzie had handed someone else her phone.

“Hiya, Rae? Are you still there?”  Asked the same voice she had heard earlier.

“Yeah, I’m here...Is Izzie alright? I thought I heard her crying when I first picked up the phone,” Rae asked with her voice heavy with concern.

“Oh, okay. I’m Gabriele and I’m in Izzie’s contemporary dance class. She fell really badly during her performance in class today,” the girl on the phone explained.

“Oh my god! Is she alright?” Rae asked as she put the small stack of movies and music she had been carrying around on the ‘reshelf’ stack at the end of the aisle she was walking down and began walking hurriedly outside to where her car was parked.

“We, uh, we don’t really know,” Gabriele's voice seemed calm but it was clear to Rae that she was just as concerned, “she wasn’t able to get up on her own after she fell and she can’t walk on that foot so me and another girl are taking her to A&E to have it looked at. Izzie said she didn’t have any family that she wanted to call, but she wanted me to call you and tell you what happened. Can you meet us at the hospital?”

“Yes, absolutely! I’m already getting in my car right now, so I’m only about 10 minutes away.”

Rae and Gabriele ended the phone call shortly afterwards and Rae began driving to the nearby hospital as fast as she could without breaking any laws or being reckless, desperate to see her best mate in-person and ensure that Izzie was not hurt as seriously as Rae’s worst fears were suggesting.

***

As soon as Rae had driven to the hospital and walked into the waiting room, she saw the two girls that she had presumed to be Grace and Gabriele sitting down in a pair of chairs across from the A&E check-in desk.

“Oh! You must be Rae,” said one of the girls as she noticed Rae walking further into the waiting room, “I’m Gabriele and we spoke on the phone a little while ago.”

“Yeah, I'm Rae. And you must be Grace?”

“Yeah, that's me. Thank you so much for meeting us here. We wanted to make sure that Izzie’s ankle got looked at by a doctor as soon as possible and we didn't want her to be alone, so she insisted that we call you.”

“Yeah, Izzie doesn't have any family in the area, so it made sense that she would try to call me. How is she doing, by the way? Is she back with the doctor now?”

“Well it's still very nice of you to come here. She's doing alright. She fell really hard at the end of her performance and she wasn't able to walk or stand without being in a lot of pain, so our dance instructor let Gabriele and I take her here to get looked at since we had both already finished our final performances for the day. They had her sit in a wheelchair and they just took her back for some x-rays and the initial exam shortly before you got here,” Grace explained.

“A wheelchair,” Rae replied with concern clear in her voice, “was Izzie really hurt that badly? I'm sure you two ladies would know better than I do, but do you think her injury is bad? I mean, dancers fall and sprain their ankles and stuff like that all the time, right?”

“Yeah, minor injuries are pretty common as dancers, but it was concerning how quickly she was in pain and how much the area had swollen and bruised in such a short time, so we wanted to be extra cautious just in case,” replied Gabriele after looking up at Rae from the screen of her cell phone.

“And the wheelchair was just an extra precaution because the nurses weren't sure the extent of the injury and she definitely couldn't walk on her own. That’s not to say Izzie agreed to using a wheelchair very willingly...she may be small, but she's a feisty one and she was definitely putting up a fight,” Grace added with a chuckle.

Rae smiled for the first time since she received the call from Gabriele asking that she meet them at the hospital.

Even when injured, Izz refuses to go down easily…

She makes me so proud sometimes.

“I guess that makes sense,” Rae replied when she noticed both Gabriele and Grace look up at the clock hanging on the wall, “I know you two were done with your dance finals, but do you have any other exams you need to do or anywhere you need to be?”

“I have work soon…” Grace replied.

“I have two more exams to take,” Gabriele said.

“In that case, I'm sure I can handle it from here. You two got Izzie here, but I can make sure she gets back to her apartment safely and has everything she'll need. You two can go ahead and leave if you need to be somewhere.”

“Are you sure?” Gabriele asked as she stood from the chair she was seated in and stretched.

“I'm positive. Thank you again for bringing Izzie here to get her ankle examined. I'll be sure to let you both know how she's doing later and what the doctor says about her injury.”

“Thank you, Rae! It was nice to meet you, although I wish it were under better circumstances.” Grace replied with a sad smile and Gabriele nodded in agreement.

Rae gave them a small smile and waved goodbye as Grace and Gabriele walked out the doors of the waiting room that led to the visitor’s parking lot.

Rae sat in the waiting room, idly scrolling through her social media feed and just barely paying attention the TV mounted on the wall opposite from Rae, as she waited impatiently to get an update on how her best mate was doing.

Rae was uncertain whether minutes or hours had passed, but after what seemed like an eternity, a reasonably young-looking doctor stepped through a door into the main waiting room area with a patient chart and a stack of x-ray images in his hands.

“Hello, are you Rae Earl?” he asked as he walked closer to greet her.

“Yes, doctor, I am! I’m here with Isabella Ross,” Rae said as she stood from the chair she had been sitting in, “can I see her?”

“Oh, yes, of course! We just got the results back from the x-rays we did and she requested that you join her to keep her company,” the doctor replied with a polite smile, “please follow me back. I’m Doctor Jackson, by the way!” he added with a smirk as he held the door open for Rae and led the way to the room where Izzie was.

Dr. Jackson led Rae down a long, winding hallway until he stopped outside a door that was left open slightly.

“Knock-knock! I have a surprise for a Miss Isabella Ross,” the doctor said as he knocked lightly on the heavy wooden door before stepping inside and gesturing for Rae to enter as well.

“Rae-Rae!” Izzie called as soon as she saw her mate walking through the door and pulling up a chair from the opposite side of the room to sit next to the exam table where Izzie sat with one leg bent and the other bandaged tightly and propped up somewhat awkwardly on a massive stack of pillows.

“Hiya Izz,” Rae said with a smile which quickly fell as she hesitated to find the right thing to say, “So Izz...what happened, babes?”

“Ugh, it was so embarrassing, Rae! I was in the middle of my contemporary dance performance and I was nearing the big leap towards the end and I was gearing up for the jump and I hesitated...why did I hesitate, Rae? So I paused for just the briefest of moments but it was enough time for me to lose my momentum and become distracted, but I went for the leap anyways. As soon as I pushed off the ground, I knew that my landing was going to be off—I could already feel it—but I followed through and sure enough! My foot touched down all wrong and I fell and landed on my ankle. If you ask Grace, she'll swear that she heard something snap, but I wouldn't trust her...she watches a couple seasons of that show with the really hot doctors and she swears she is a doctor too.” Izzie punctuated her statement with a scoff, which caused both Rae and Dr. Jackson to chuckle lightly.

“Did it hurt? Or does it still hurt?” Rae asked quietly.

“Yeah, it really hurt. I fall all the time and I thought I'd be fine, but I knew this fall was different when I couldn't even stand up or walk. I wanted to just sit out the rest of class and try to keep weight off the ankle, but my dance instructor said that she insisted I go to have my ankle looked at, so Grace and Gabriele drove me here. It still hurts, but this lovely man and his nurses,” Izzie said gesturing broadly to Dr. Jackson who was currently setting up the x-ray photos on the opposite side of the exam room to show her the results, “gave me some pain medication and have my ankle wrapped up very tightly and I'm feeling a lot better now!”

“I'm glad to hear you're feeling better, Isabella,” the doctor replied as he leaned against the wall with his arms crossed casually over his chest, “we got the results for the x-ray we did, if you'd like to see the results? I'll show you what I see and then let you know what I think you should do in terms of aftercare and treatment to make sure you heal as quickly as possible, yeah?”

“Yeah, that sounds great, Doctor!” Izzie replied with a polite smile.

“Splendid! So right here, we have your right ankle and foot,” he said as he gestured to the x-rays that were set up on the X-ray film viewer on the wall, “and just by looking at your ankle, I don't see anything torn or broken, so it seems like it might just be a nasty sprain.”

“That's good news though, right?” Rae asked out of confusion when she saw the doctor hesitate as he thought of what he was going to say very carefully.

“Yes, I'm very pleased to see that there is no major damage to the ankle. But just a sprained ankle wouldn't really explain why her injury bruised and swelled up as much as it did and why she was in so much pain…”

“Oh…” Rae replied as she lowered her head and directed her attention towards examining her fingernails to help distract herself slightly.

“Yeah, I've had my fair share of sprains and they didn't feel like this...so what else are you thinking could explain what happened, Doctor?” Izzie asked as she absentmindedly brought one hand to her mouth and began nervously biting her nails.

“Okay, so I’ll explain what I'm seeing using all the awful medical jargon and terminology, and then I'll take it step by step and make sure you fully understand what I see in your x-rays, alright Isabella?”

“Sure thing, Doctor! That sounds good to me.”

“Okay, so right here,” he said as he used the end of his pen to point out the area of the x-ray he was focusing on, “that’s your fifth metatarsal. I had a couple theories about what it could be when you first came in here, but I can say with a great deal of certainty that you have an avulsion fracture to your fifth metatarsal...an injury that coincidentally is called a ‘dancer’s fracture’”

Izzie and Rae nodded processing what Dr. Jackson said before Izzie finally cleared her throat and spoke up.

“So...what exactly does that mean? Is it a fairly common injury? I’m a bit surprised that I’ve never heard of it prior to today,”

“It’s not incredibly common, no. When I do see this particular fracture though, it is almost always in addition to a sprained ankle as a result of sudden trauma like rolling or twisting your ankle. Essentially, a dancer’s fracture just means that because of some type of trauma, a ligament attached to your bone right here, “ Dr. Jackson said as he pointed to that part of the x-ray using his pen, “got pulled very hard and very suddenly and it breaks off a piece of the bone with it.”

“Fuck...oh, sorry!” Rae muttered when she realized that she had cursed louder than she had planned.

“It’s perfectly fine! I know that this kind of injury sounds pretty gruesome when all she did was fall while dancing, but it’s not as scary as it sounds, I promise. As long as she takes care of herself, I think Isabella will be back to dancing rather quickly.” Dr. Jackson replied with a smirk.

“Will I need surgery? You know, to reset the little piece of bone that got broken off when I fell?” Izzie asked hesitantly.

“I know this isn’t the news you’re looking to hear, but it’s too early to tell. This isn’t the worst avulsion fracture like this I’ve seen, but it still might require us to operate and put pins in the bone if it doesn’t go back to where we need it to be as quickly as we would like. The fifth metatarsal is sort of an unlucky place to get an avulsion fracture just because there is so little blood flow to that area of the foot, so there can be complications with healing in some cases and the healing process takes a bit longer. For now, however, you’re going to have to keep weight off of that foot and ankle and you’re gonna need to make sure you immobilize the ankle to prevent things from getting any worse. I’ll send the nurse in to talk to you about the specifics of your treatment and get you set up with a walking boot to leave today, but you're also going to need to get some crutches and use them for the next few weeks. Do you have any further questions for me before I send her in?” the doctor asked as he removed the x-rays from the x-ray image viewer and added them into a pile on top of Izzie’s patient chart.

“Is there any type of a follow-up appointment so you can check the healing progress and see if surgery will be necessary?” Izzie asked.

“Ah, yes, of course! I’d like to you come back in about two weeks and I’ll take a look at your ankle to see if there is anything additional that needs to be done, but you’re free to come in sooner than that if anything feels off or you’re concerned about how it’s healing,” Dr. Jackson replied with a friendly smile.

“Okay, that’s the only question I had,” Izzie added politely.

“Splendid! I’ll send in Emily to give you any last minute treatment tips and healing suggestions shortly. Take care of yourself, Isabella!”

“Thank you, doctor!”

When Doctor Jackson walked out of the room, Rae’s eyes lingered on the door that he had gently closed behind himself as he walked out of the room as the tense silence of the room grew to nearly palpable levels.

Rae was trying to find the right words to say to comfort Izzie.

To make everything okay again.

To reassure Izzie that everything was going to be fine.

But the fact of the matter was that Rae wasn’t sure she could say those things to her best mate if she didn’t quite believe them herself.

“Izz...babes...I—uh,” Rae began in a quiet voice, but the way her voice cut through the silence of the room, it felt like she was screaming.

Before Rae could collect her thoughts and complete a coherent sentence, she heard a small whimper coming from Izzie and she looked over to see Izzie with her head turned up toward the ceiling as silent tears streamed down her face.

“Oh, Izzie…” Rae said as she stood up from the chair she was sitting in and tried to find an edge of the hospital exam table that she could sit on without disturbing Izzie’s injured ankle.

Izzie realized what Rae was trying to do and shifted to one side of the table with a small grunt before Rae took a seat in the space that was freed up on the exam table and pulled Izzie into a gentle hug.

Rae looked down at Izzie as she settled into the embrace and continued to sob quietly and Rae could hardly believe that this was the same feisty, cheerful red-headed girl that had been heckling her for details about her coffee date with Finn on Monday mere hours ago.

Oh, Izzie…

She looks so fragile and vulnerable and...breakable…

Rae began rubbing soothing circles on Izzie’s back until she felt Izzie’s sobs slow before stopping altogether and Izzie removed herself from Rae’s embrace until they remained sitting close and Rae’s arm was only lightly draped across Izzie’s shoulders.

“Rae…”

“What is it, babes?”

“Rae...I’m attending Uni on a dance scholarship…”

Rae was unsure why Izzie would bring this up in conversation when Rae has been fully aware of Izzie’s love of dance and interest to attend Uni here for their highly-esteemed dance program since long before they even started Uni.

“...what if my ankle doesn’t heal…”

“Izzie, I’m sure that—”

“I’ve fallen plenty of times. I’ve sprained things, twisted things, you name it...but I’ve never fractured or broken anything since I started dancing…what if it doesn’t heal fast enough and they drop me from the Dance Program and I lose my scholarship...or what if I need to get surgery and even then it doesn’t heal properly and I can never dance again…”

Izzie was no longer crying as she rambled and thought up all the worst-case scenarios that were possible, but when she finally stopped and remained sitting in silence, Rae leaned her head to rest it on Izzie shoulder before chuckling lightly, which caught Izzie’s attention.

“What are you thinking about, Rae-Rae?”

“Do you remember when we wanted to go to that rave at the end of summer when we were sixteen?”

“Of course I remember, babes...me, you, Chloe, and all the rest of our friends had the entire thing planned out to down to the minute, but we didn’t plan on your mum finding out and not allowing you to come with us…”

“So I decided that I was going to sneak out. I waited until my mum went up to her bedroom for the night and I was going to climb out of my window and sneak out that way…”

“But it had been raining most of the day and the ledge you were counting on to step on when you climbed out was really slippery, so you just stayed hanging there as still as possible to try to think of a better plan. But then Chloe, me, and some of the others pulled up to your house to pick you up because we had assumed that you would have successfully snuck out by that point…”

“But Chloe had turned off the lights on her car to try to be stealthier and when she rolled down her window and called my name, I was surprised and I lost my footing…”

“Chloe and I freaked out and wanted to make sure that you were alright, but Jenny had already started to pregame and drink and she was screaming in the backseat about how you had died and how she was too young to go to prison for accidentally killing you…”

“And I had fallen hard, but I was laying in my mum’s flower bushes because I was ashamed that I had just fallen off the side of my house in front of so many people. But as I laid on the wet flowers that had taken the brunt of my fall and were terribly mangled, I saw you and Chloe walk up and take my hands to help pull me to my feet…”

“We made sure you were alright, and you said you were, but I saw you wincing every time you moved your right arm and you had a lot of different scrapes and cuts from falling into the flower bushes. You insisted on going to the rave anyways because you didn’t want to be a buzzkill, and Chloe agreed because you assured her that you were fine…”

“But you refused to let me get into Chloe’s car and you stood in front of the door saying that neither you nor I were going to that rave until my wounds were tended to. I said that I couldn’t go to the doctor because my mum is a nurse and she would be notified immediately, so you walked with me back to your house…”

“I made my dad pinky-swear that he wouldn’t tell any of his doctor friends or the nurses that he worked with that you had been hurt, but he didn’t ask any questions and helped clean up your wounds without hesitation. I was convinced that you had broken your arm or something really bad because you had fallen so far…”

“But all I had was the scratches and a massive bruise on my right arm and right arse cheek because I had hit the ground on my right side. After my cuts were all cleaned up, you offered to let me spend the night at your house as long as I called my mum and told her what happened so she wouldn’t worry. So I agreed begrudgingly and when I called her, do you remember what she said, Izzie?”

“She didn’t say anything because she was laughing so hard...she told you that she had expected you to try to leave or sneak out so she had gone up to her room extra early and made sure that you thought it was safe for you to leave. But she didn’t plan on you going out the window. She saw you fall and knew that the thing you bruised the worst was your ego and she just kept watching until she saw you and me walking to my house together.”

“Yeah...I’m surprised you remember that night so well, Izzie. It was nearly five years ago!”

“Of course I remember, Rae! That’s the night when I knew that we were officially best mates.”

There was a brief moment of silence between the two girls as they sat next to each other before Rae reached for Izzie’s hand and Izzie intertwined their fingers together.

“We made it through that...even when the next morning your dad and my mum insisted that I get some of the deeper wounds stitched up and I had to wear that sling on my arm for a couple weeks because it turned out I had hurt my shoulder more than I had led on at first...and we’re gonna make it through this too. I know how much you hate being hurt and having to take a break from dancing, but we’re gonna figure this out.”

“I know we will, Rae. Thank you for putting up with me.”

“Thank you for putting up with me too, Izz.”

Rae stood up from where she was sitting on the exam table beside Izzie and returned to the chair she had been sitting in previously when there was a gentle knock on the door before it opened slowly.

“Hi, Isabella! Dr. Jackson sent me in to give you some aftercare information and to help you get set up for a check-up in a couple weeks,” the nurse said as she walked into the room.

“Ah! Yes of course, Emily, thank you!” Izzie said as she readjusted her position on the exam table to be a bit more comfortable.

***

The nurse proceeded to go over the recommended treatments for Izzie and to making sure that Izzie knew what to expect in terms of pain, swelling, and other symptoms of her sprained ankle and fracture to ensure that Izzie would heal as completely and quickly as possible before the nurse left the room again to get Izzie’s walking boot.

Once Izzie put on the walking boot and secured the Velcro fasteners tightly enough so the boot served its purpose, Rae was asked to pull her car around to the back of the building and the nurse would meet her back there with Izzie to avoid making Izzie walk more than necessary.

Rae navigated the long winding hallway until she finally made it back to the A&E waiting room and out to the parking lot to where her car was parked.

Rae put on her seat belt and leaned her head back on the headrest of her seat, heaving a long sigh.

Well...today definitely did not go as planned…

Rae put her key into the ignition and started her car before pulling out of the parking space and driving around to the opposite side of the building where she saw a very disgruntled looking Izzie in a wheelchair being wheeled to the curb by the nurse.

“I told her that I didn’t need a wheelchair again, but Emily forced me into it,” Izzie said to Rae when Rae stepped out of the driver’s seat of the car and opened the door for Izzie to climb in, “she doesn’t think that I could have walked on my own, but I know that I could!”

“I know that you could have done it, Isabella. You’re a very strong girl. But still,” the nurse said as she offered her arm to Izzie for support as she stood from the wheelchair and limped the very short distance to Rae’s car, “how many people can say that they were pushed around in a wheelchair with nurses doting on them to avoid causing even the slightest bit of discomfort...that’s at least a little bit cool, right?”

“Yeah, I suppose…” Izzie said as she adjusted the seat she was sitting in to ensure that she had enough legroom and was seated in a comfortable position.

“Thank you for taking such good care of my mate, Emily. Have a nice day!” Rae said as she waved goodbye to the nurse before walking around to the driver’s side of the car.

“You’re very welcome. Enjoy the rest of your day and you two ladies take care of yourselves, alright?” Emily said before turning around and walking back to the rear door of the building with the now vacant wheelchair in tow.

Rae turned on some music on her car stereo as she starting driving and winding her way through the back parking lot of the hospital to find the parking lot entrance and get back onto the main road.

“Oh shit! Rae!” Izzie said as she turned to face her mate with her eyes opened wide, panic clear on her face.

“Wow, okay,” Rae muttered in surprise at her mate’s sudden exclamation and the sound of her friend cursing, “What’s wrong, Izz?”

“What if I failed my dance final? I mean, I was pretty much done with my performance by the time I fell since it was towards the end of my performance, but…”

“I wouldn’t worry about it too much, babes. Like you said, you were pretty much done by the time you got hurt, so I’m sure you’ll just get graded on what you did prior to that and I’m sure you’ll be fine. Also, since you injured yourself DURING your final performance, you might even get some extra credit points from your instructor out of pity, not that you’d even need it,” Rae joke as she gave Izzie’s arm a gentle nudge with her elbow.

“Yeah, I hope you’re right...wait, shit! I missed my Accounting exam too,” Izzie exclaimed again as she buried her face into her hands, “why did today take such a turn for the worse, Rae-Rae?”

“Aw, babes, I’m so sorry. I’m sure you can reach out to your professor and explain what happened. He might be able to schedule a make-up exam time or find a way to make this work out, since your situation clearly constitutes as ‘extenuating circumstances’,” Rae reasoned in an effort to assuage her mate’s concerns.

“Well, let’s hope so or else I definitely won’t be passing Accounting this semester!”

Rae continued driving, deep in thought as she tried to figure out how to help Izzie make the best of the current situation, while Izzie pulled her cell phone from her pocket and began texting her family to let them know what had happened today since she knew they would find out sooner or later anyways.

“Yes, mum, I heard that entire spiel from the doctor and the nurse at the hospital, but tell dad that I appreciate the advice nonetheless...uh-huh...I know that you two just want to help, but I think I’ll be fine to stay in the city for the summer...well, of course Rae is staying here with me too...okay...alright...uh-huh...okay mum, I’ll tell her,” Izzie said into her phone before turning to face Rae, “Rae, mum and dad want to say ‘hi’ and tell you that they love you and miss you and that they’re so happy that you’re here to take care of me in their place.”

“Aw, your parents are so sweet, Izzie! Tell them that I say ‘hi’ back and that I miss them too. Maybe we can drive back home for a weekend this summer so I can see my mum and you and I can spend some time with your parents...see if they’d like something like that?”

“Alright, I’ll ask,” Izzie said before returning her attention back to her cell phone where she had been talking to her parents on the phone for nearly twenty minutes so far, “Rae says ‘hi’ to you and dad too. She said she really misses you both and she wanted to know if we were to come back home for a weekend this summer if you two would like to join us for a meal and we could all spend the day together? Uh, okay, mum...I’ll just take that loud squeal as a ‘yes’...I don’t know exactly when it will be, but either Rae or I will be sure to let you know...okay mum, I’ll let you go now, but I just wanted to make sure that you and Dad knew that I was alright...uh-huh...yeah, I love both of you too. Okay, I’ll talk to you and Dad later! Bye!”

“Your parents are so cute!” Rae said with a smile as soon as she saw that Izzie had ended the phone call.

“Yeah...they positively adore you, I hope you know that,” Izzie replied with a chuckle.

“I do,” Rae said before shooting Izzie a smirk, “and I adore them right back!”

Rae pulled into a parking space right in front of her apartment and she saw Izzie look around in confusion before turning to face Rae directly and cocking her head to the side.

“I figured that it’d be best if I took you back to my apartment instead of yours, since my apartment is on the first floor. You live on the third story of a building and there are no elevators, and I don’t think that going up and down the stairs would be good for you until you’ve healed at least a little bit more.”

“Yeah, I suppose you’re right...I didn’t even think of that!”

Rae turned off her car and walked around to the other side to help Izzie get out of the car. Izzie slung an arm around Rae’s shoulders and allowed Rae to pull her into a standing position, being careful not to rest her weight on her injured ankle or foot.

The pair walked at a slow pace from Rae’s car to the front door of Rae’s apartment where she let go of Izzie briefly to find her keys that had become lost in the mess of her purse and unlock the door. Rae helped Izzie inside and to the couch along the opposite wall of her small apartment.

“So Izzie...do you wanna watch a movie for a bit?”

Rae and Izzie selected a random movie to watch that they had never heard of before, but within the first twenty minutes of the movie, Rae looked to the opposite side of the couch where Izzie was sitting with her injured ankle propped up on a stack of pillows they had piled on top of a chair and found that Izzie had fallen asleep.

Rae continued watching the movie—only partially paying attention to the actual plot of the movie as it mainly served as background noise while she scrolled through social media on her phone and texted Grace and Gabriele to let them know what the doctor had said and to give them an update on how Izzie was doing now.

When the movie ended and the end credits began scrolling along the screen, Rae heard a quiet squeak and rustle as Izzie awoke and stretched her arms over her head as she slowly became more coherent.

“Oh...that was such a good movie, Rae-Rae,” Izzie muttered sleepily as she rubbed her eyes lightly, “don’t you think?”

“It was actually pretty shit...there were too many plot holes and confusing bits to follow along with the story if you weren’t fully focused on the movie.” Rae replied with a grimace.

“Oh...I guess I can’t really attest to the quality of the movie, since I’m pretty sure I slept through most of it…” Izzie said sheepishly.

“Yeah, you did, but that’s fine. You had a really long, stressful day and I think you really needed some rest.”

Izzie smiled at Rae and leaned over to rest her head on Rae’s shoulder as Rae looked through the various movies that were available for streaming.

“Rae...what time is it? We were supposed to see Kings and Queens perform tonight! Do you think we can still make it there in time to catch the tail end of their performance at least?”

“Don’t worry about it, Izz...there will be other shows, so it’s fine if we miss just this one,”

“But what about Finn? He’s gonna—”

“He’s gonna understand why you needed me here with you. I’ll text him and let him know what happened in a little while that way he knows that we didn’t forget that they were performing or completely skip the show or whatever. It’s totally fine, really.”

“Okay...thank you, Rae-Rae! You’re too good to me,”

“Of course, babes. I know you’d do the same if the roles were reversed,” Rae was about to say something else when she heard Izzie’s stomach growl loudly and both girls began to chuckle.

“Sorry about that,” Izzie apologized when her giggles subsided.

“That was actually sort of perfect timing because I was going to ask if you wanted to order some takeaway...but I’m gonna take that as a ‘yes’”

“Yes! Yes, please. I’ve starving,” Izzie said and her eyes lit up at the mere mention of food.

“Alright...I’ll let you pick what we eat today,”

“Chinese takeaway, pretty please?” Izzie replied without any hesitation

“Why am I not at all surprised? Alright, but only because you got hurt today and I’m trying to be extra nice to you” Rae said with a sigh and joking eye roll, “I’ll go ahead and give them a call. Do you want your usual orange chicken and fried rice?”

“Yes, please! Oh! And, uh, can we get some of those really good, steamed pork dumplings as well?”

“Sure thing,” Rae replied with a smile as she stood up from the couch.

“And some egg rolls?”

“Wow, you really weren’t kidding about being hungry,” Rae said with a light chuckle when she saw the sheepish grin on Izzie’s face, “Okay, if that’s everything that you’re gonna want to order, I’ll go ahead and call it in.”

“Uh, yeah, that should be enough food, I think!” Izzie said with a laugh.

“Alright, I’ll be right back!”

Rae grabbed her cell phone off of the coffee table where she had set it down earlier while watching the movie and went into the kitchen to get the phone number to the Chinese food restaurant that she and Izzie ordered from on occasion.

After she placed the order and grabbed a couple bottles of water from her fridge for her and Izzie, Rae hesitated in the doorway of her kitchen before walking back in the direction of the front room where Izzie was currently trying to find a comfortable way to sit on the couch that would also allow her ankle to remain elevated.

Well...this was certainly not how I had envisioned tonight going...

@eveerez @tinakegg @hey1tskat1e @lurkernolonger @milllott @nutinanutshell @i-dream-of-emus @milymargot @vivammfd @bitchesbecrazy89 @arathewallflower @mallyallyandra @kneekeyta

A/N: Please don’t hate me for doing this to our beloved Izzie! :/ I’m fairly certain that no one saw this chapter coming, but for the last few chapters of this fic to play out how I want them to, it had to be done...

This chapter, to put it bluntly, was a fucking pain in the ass to write lol

I’m very detail-oriented and as I wrote this I wanted to be as accurate as possible and I can honestly say that I have never done so much research for a fanfic that I’ve written (for this fandom, at least, but that’s a whole different matter entirely)...This chapter was equal parts first-hand experiences, my friends’ experiences, and information I gathered from my research.

Gathering the ideas for this chapter was no problem, but pulling it all together and making it not completely terrible was the actual challenge. This chapter is also insanely long...well, sort of...it’s like 8500-ish words, but for me that’s a lot longer than my usual chapters are, so yeah...

Although this chapter wasn’t particularly kind to Izzie (sorry about that haha) I really had fun exploring hers and Rae’s relationship a bit more...As much as I love MMFD and think highly of the show, I would have loved if it was longer and delved a bit deeper into the lives of some of the other main characters (only half of the characters were even given last names, to my knowledge, for fuck’s sake!), but I digress...

As much as I want to say that I’ll be posting the next chapter very soon to help you all move past the drama of this chapter to the fun stuff and the happy ending (”DID SARAH JUST HINT AT A HAPPY ENDING ON THE HORIZON?!?!” why yes, yes I did...), I’ll be completely candid and let you know that I don’t see that as a realistic goal...the current semester of Uni is rapidly coming to a close for me and that means that I’ll be having all of my final projects and exams in the upcoming weeks and I’m already struggling to keep up and get my grades back to where I want them to be as it is, even without the pressure of writing and posting the final 3 chapters of this fic.

I promise that I will be writing and I’ll post what I have as soon as it’s done, but I simply do not foresee that I will be able to get back to my prior twice a week posting that I had been doing when I began this fic...

If you have any comments, questions, concerns, etc. related to this chapter (or anything, I suppose), feel free to let me know! I see EVERY message, ask, reply, and reblog and I try to let you all know how much I appreciate you taking the time to read my writing and tell me what you think, but just know that seeing your feedback never fails to make my day/morning/week/whatever infinitely better.

I don’t know why I have a tendency to ramble in my Author’s notes, but whatever...anyways...Until next time: Stay awesome, my friends! :)

[finn-nelson-for-the-win]

Changing Priority- Chapter 11

Yup, you read that correctly: MY FANFIC FINALLY HAS A TITLE! I’m still gonna title each chapter, obviously, but I felt like after 10 chapters of this story, it deserved a proper title and after wracking my brain for the longest time, I decided on this one for a number of different reasons.

With that being said, in this next part Rae actually has a social life and does some fun stuff instead of just working/pining after boys/drinking alone (well she does all of that still, I suppose, so perhaps “in addition to” is more fitting than “instead of”) and she has a very event filled first week of the new year...so eventful in fact, that this week will be depicted in two separate posts, just because I don't want to delay posting what I already have done any longer than I already have. If you wanna relive the 10 chapters leading up to where we are now, look no further!

I hope you all enjoy this chapter and I look forward to hearing what you all have to say about it!

With a Little Help from My Friends: Part 1

After spending the majority of Saturday cleaning her apartment from top to bottom, Rae finally had a spare moment to relax and she decided that she deserved a long, hot shower. With the shower running and the water approaching the perfect temperature, Rae pressed play on her phone and music began flowing from her Bluetooth speakers as she stepped into the shower.

As the warm water cascaded down Rae’s body and she felt every tense muscle in her body relax, Rae’s mind began to wander.

“I'm loads better now that I get to work with you”...Finn actually said that to me. It's crazy to think that seeing me can impact his day as much as seeing him impacts my day.

 It just seems like further confirmation that the feelings between us are mutual, which I'm still trying to wrap my head around!

 Furthermore, unleashing flirty Rae was definitely a good decision! Half the time Finn plays off of the flirtatious vibe and he gets even more cheeky and tactile than he would usually be…

 “Oh, I’m aware...I just wanted to have a little fun and I like to make you blush”

 “I'm just enjoying the view…”

 But other times I can tell that Finn is caught off guard and surprised by my flirting and he gets so adorably flustered and loses the cool and collected facade that most people see when they talk to Finn.

I don't know what I was expecting by being more forward in my flirting with Finn, but I'm pretty sure I like the direction things are going between us.

 I suppose we'll just have to wait and see where things go with him this week if I make the blatant flirting a regular occurrence with him.

 With her mind and body now fully at-ease, Rae turned off the water and stepped out of the shower, wrapping a towel that hung on the towel rack tightly around her body. Rae grabbed another towel and began to dry her hair and remove the excess water dripping from her long, purple locks of hair. Rae sprayed her hair from the end to root with a leave-in conditioner and began running a comb through her hair to prevent any tangles from forming when she heard her phone chime from her bedroom.

Rae wrapped her dressing gown around her body and tied it at her waist as she padded into her bedroom to see who had texted her and she heard her phone chime a few more times.

Holy shit! Why am I suddenly so popular?

She noticed that she had unread texts from a few different people, but she decided to open Izzie’s texts first, since there were multiple texts from her.

Izzie: Hiya Rae! Did you see that they posted our new sch

Izzie: *Did you see that they posted our new schedules for work? The new schedules start tomorrow! (-_-)

Izzie: Sorry, my stubby fingers sent the message before I finished typing LOL

Rae: Nooo! What’s your new schedule gonna be like? I’m checking mine now…

She logged into the scheduling website her work used and expanded the view to she her schedule for the next month and her stomach dropped slightly.

Not only am I working weird hours this semester to accommodate for my hectic Uni schedule, but they also scheduled me for less hours…

Am I gonna be able to pay all my bills and rent still?

Another buzz of Rae’s phone alerted her that Izzie and replied and sent her a screenshot of her new work schedule.

Izzie: SO!?! PLEASE TELL ME WE STILL WORK TOGETHER SOMETIMES! (>_<)

Rae sent Izzie a screenshot of her schedule as well before replying.

Rae: Based on this, we only work a couple hours together on Fridays!!! </3 :(

Izzie: THIS CAN’T BE HAPPENING…

Rae: I know! This is awful!! I’m gonna miss working with ya every day, Izz, but I know we’ll still hang out and have classes together, I’m sure.

Rae: I just wonder what everyone else’s schedules are gonna be like now…

Rae did not even have to mention a specific name for Izzie to know that she was referring to Finn.

After 2 months of tip-toeing the line between friends and more-than-friends, we’re finally starting to make some progress and now it might all be over before it starts…

No! You can’t think that way, Rae…You enjoy talking to each other and you get on really well, so if anything is going to come from this, it is still going to happen even if you don’t work together as often.

...Right?

Rae did not want to dwell on this topic any longer, so she went back to the messages on her phone to determine who else’s texts she had yet to reply to.

Abigail: Happy New Year’s Eve, girls! I hope you guys have fun ringing in the new year! :)

Chloe: Yay! Happy (almost) New Year’s :D Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do, ladies ;)

Rae had almost forgotten that today was New Year’s Eve—since she did not have any special plans for the evening and she had just spent the majority of her day getting caught up on housework and cleaning—but she was reminded of the fact when she looked at the time at the top of her cell phone screen and noticed that it was just less than an hour until midnight.

Rae: Happy New Year’s girlies! I have work early tomorrow, so no shenanigans for me, but I look forward to seeing the crazy fun you two get up to on Snapchat in the morning! ;) :P

Rae set her phone to the side and picked up where she left off earlier with brushing through her hair and French braiding it to keep her hair from becoming too unruly as it dried.

She untied and removed the dressing gown and slipped on a pair of her favorite black leggings and her favorite oversized red flannel shirt.

Rae was already getting New Year’s Celebration Snapchats from some of her Uni friends that were in time zones ahead of hers and she was about to settle into her bed to watch Netflix until she fell asleep when her phone buzzed once again.

Mum: Happy Almost New Year’s, Rae-Rae! I know you have work tomorrow, but you should still try to celebrate a little bit.

Rae: Thanks, mum! I will :)

Mum: And Rachel...just because we gave you a brand new bottle of wine for you to have a drink at midnight, doesn’t mean you need to FINISH it tonight. I’ll talk to you later, love! <3

Rae rolled her eyes at her mum’s text and smiled, but the bottle of wine sitting in her kitchen that had been nearly forgotten sudden began to sound more and more appealing to her. This was the first New Year’s Eve that Rae has ever spent alone—since she has been moved out from her parents’ house for over six months and all of her friends were out of town or had prior plans for New Year’s Eve—and she was unsure what to do with herself.

Rae glanced down at the too bright screen of her cellphone and saw that it was only a few minutes until Midnight. She climbed off of her bed and padded barefoot to her kitchen to open the bottle of white wine to make a toast at the stroke of midnight, because she thought that some traditions should remain even if you are alone for the night.

She uncorked the bottle of wine and began reaching for a glass from her cabinet when she changed her mind.

One perk of being friendless and living alone: it is perfectly acceptable to drink directly from the bottle if you damn well please.

Rae walked back into her bedroom to put on her favorite black slippers before walking out the front door of her apartment onto her balcony. Rae loved that her second-floor apartment had an attached balcony that allowed her to sit outside and get a breath of fresh air when the weather permitted or watch the rain up-close from a dry place.

When Rae sat down on her balcony, she could feel the chill of the concrete beneath her through the fabric of her leggings, but she ignored the initial shock and leaned back on her elbows to enjoy the final moments before Midnight.

“Well…cheers to yet another great year!” Rae said aloud with a hint of sarcasm in her voice before taking a long drink of wine as soon as the clock on her phone displayed that it was midnight. She could vaguely make out the cheers and celebrations of her neighbors in their apartments as she remained seated on the cold concrete of her balcony, drinking her bottle of wine and responding to some of her friends that were just now wishing her a Happy New Year.

***

Rae was still a bit fuzzy on the details of exactly how she ended up back in her bed after sitting on her balcony and drinking the entire bottle of wine, but when she woke up the following morning to get ready for work, she was thankful that she had decided to French braid her hair the prior evening, since that meant one less thing for her to do today.

Having slept through her alarm, Rae had less than an hour to get ready and walk to work if she intended to make it to work on time, so after dragging herself from the warmth and comfort of her bed she sped through the motions of her usual morning routine.

Within twenty minutes, Rae was dressed in a pair of black fleece-lined leggings and a band tee and was hurrying out the door while trying to put on her leather jacket.

Rae walked into the office building with just a couple minutes to spare and breathed a deep sigh of relief when she saw that Archie, Chop, and Hannah were already seated and logging into their computers.

“Good morning! You guys have no clue how relieved I am to see you all here, working today! I really thought I was gonna be all alone with the new schedule changes!” Rae said as she took a seat at the empty desk beside Chop.

“How are you this morning, Raemundo? You didn’t party too hard last night, did you?” He asked with a smirk while wiggling his eyebrows.

“Definitely not! I mostly just relaxed and then drank some wine on my balcony to ring in the new year…alone…it was kind of sad, really,” Rae’s voice became little more than a mumble as she realized how pathetic she must sound to him, but she quickly shook off the negative thoughts and perked up a bit before asking, “How did you spend New Year’s Eve, Chop?”

“Well I did have plans with a couple of my mates from Uni, but they canceled our plans at the last minute and I ended up spending most of the day with my family and then drinking with a few lads around a bonfire in the backyard at my place when it was actually midnight. It was a pretty uneventful evening, all-in-all…” Chop explained with a shrug as be got to work responding to his first customer of the day.

Rae and the others got back to work, chatting about how they spent their New Year’s Eves and anything else that came to mind for a few hours when her old supervisor approached her.

“Angie! How are you? I haven’t seen you in ages…well…since I switched departments, I suppose. What can I do for you?” Rae said as she turned around in her desk chair to face Angie where she stood in aisle behind Rae’s desk.

“Hiya Rachel! We had a lot of people call out of work today, since it is a holiday weekend, so I was wondering if you’d like to step in as a temporary supervisor for your department and mine for a bit…I promise it won’t be for long! I just don’t want any questions to go unanswered while I’m on my lunch break and you’re the only person here who has been trained in both departments.”

Rae was still unsure if she was truly the best fit for the responsibility of managing two different teams of people with no other supervisors or team leaders to assist her if the situation warranted further actions, but Angie quickly spoke up when she noticed that Rae was about to decline.

“Pretty please, Rae! It would really mean a lot to me…and it’s easier than it looks! Just walked around the aisles of desks until someone asks you a question…It’s loads easier than either job you’ve done in each of these departments, I can assure you!” Angie had her hands clasped together and her lower lip jutted out, pouting and begging for Rae to agree.

“Alright, Angie…I’ll help you out, just give me a minute to finish up with this customer.” Rae said with a chuckle after seeing her prior supervisor begging, which seemed very uncharacteristic for the otherwise poised woman.

Angie voiced her endless praise and appreciation for Rae as she finished the conversation she was working on and locked her computer.

Okay Rae, you can do this…she said it herself: you are one of the few people who have been trained in both departments and know what each department does.

Rae was concerned that she would encounter a situation that she did not know how to handle, but after over an hour of walking the perimeter of the building and weaving between the rows of desks for each department, she had only been asked a handful of questions and all of them had been well within her capability to answer confidently.

“Yeah, if this is all I’d have to do, maybe getting promoted to a supervisor position wouldn’t be too bad…I just get to walk around and make sure that none of you get into too much trouble and I’ve done my job!” Rae had remained on one side of the building for a while to chat with Chop and Hannah, but she still kept an eye out for any questions needing to be answered on the opposite side of the building.

“Hello everyone!” Finn called as he walked into work and took a seat at almost the same time the machines on the wall chimed to signal that it was noon,“How are you this morning, Rae?”

“Our Raemundo has become too good for us, Finney boy! She’s off to do bigger and better things and help other people that are in need and she doesn’t have time for lowly customer service agents like you or myself now that she’s a ‘supervisor’…” Chop replied on Rae's behalf, putting emphasis on the word “supervisor” when he nearly spat the work with mock disdain, while she was busy answering a question Archie had asked her.

“Oh no! It can’t be true, Mae! Tell me that Chop is lying, girl…” Finn replied melodramatically, playing along with the direction Chop had led the conversation toward.

“First of all, I’m not a supervisor…I’m just filling in for Angie for a little while since no one else is here and none of you lot are trained in both departments like I am…and I’m not even doing anything, really! I’m just walking around and talking to you all until someone has a legitimate question.”

“Well then that’s perfect, Rae!” Finn pulled out the chair from the vacant desk beside him and added, “Have a seat and you and I can talk until you are whisked away from me by someone who allegedly needs assistance more than I need to talk to you!”

“What could you possible need to talk to me about that is urgent enough to keep me from doing the job that I have been bequeathed?” Rae replied skeptically, chuckling and rolling her eyes, but did as Finn had requested nonetheless and took a seat in the empty chair beside him.

“Uh…what about, er, what you did last night to celebrate New Year’s Eve?” Finn asked.

“Honestly I didn’t do anything too fun. I spent the day cleaning my apartment and then I just drank a bottle of wine while sitting alone on my balcony…” Rae trailed off when she noticed that Finn’s eyebrows were now knit together in concern.

“Did you say you were alone? Why were you alone last night, Rae?”

“Well this is the first year that I’ve lived away from my family and so I didn’t celebrate with them like I have in the past. And all of my friends seemed to be doing their own thing last night and I didn’t get any invitations or make plans with anyone, so yeah…alone.” Rae replied as she gave Finn a tight-lipped half smile and shrugged slightly.

“Aw, I’m so sorry you were alone on New Year’s Eve, girl! I didn’t know…I would’ve, I don’t know…I could’ve—”

“Finn, it’s okay…It wasn’t your fault I was alone last night.”

“But still, no one—especially you—deserves to be alone during the holidays when you should be celebrating.” Rae wanted to brush off his comment again, but Finn’s serious tone made her reconsider that decision.

“Maybe you’re right, Finn…So what did you do to celebrate last night? Surely you had more fun that a boring old homebody like myself!” Rae said, trying to use a bit of humor to smoothly transition the conversation away from her uneventful evening.

“Well I didn’t have plans at first either, but one of my mates texted me that he was back in town from Uni and we decided to meet up. We were just relaxing and catching up at a pub and my mate was getting pretty drunk,” Finn began, stopping momentarily when he saw Rae crane her neck to see if there was anyone trying to get her attention on the opposite side of the building.

When she was confident that no one needed help, Rae gave Finn an approving nod, encouraging him to continue his story.

“So my mate had a lot to drink and he kept trying to convince a group of girls near the bar to join us at our table,” Finn said, rolling his eyes at the memory.

“Did they? The girls from the pub, that is. Did they join you guys?” Rae asked with feigned nonchalance.

“Definitely not. My mate is in a long-term relationship, so he was just trying to play wingman and help me talk to some girls, but I wasn’t interested. He was pretty annoyed with me, but I can deal with that.” Finn added with a cocky smirk.

“Ah, were these girl’s not your type? I definitely know what it’s like to have mates that try to force you into flirting situations against your will…”

“Don’t get me wrong, these girls were pretty…but like too pretty? That probably doesn’t make sense, but I found them intimidatingly pretty…tall, slender, long blonde hair, tanned skin, and they were well-dressed and had nice looking make-up, but I don’t know…”

 “Finnley! How could you say that isn’t your type? Those girls are probably everyone’s type…fuck, probably myself included if I’m being totally honest!” As soon as Rae said this, she glanced over at Finn and did not miss the quirk of his eyebrow and smirk her shot in her direction.

“They just seemed so…fake…Like sure they were pretty, but I knew that was likely the full extent of their appeal. I like girls who are more real and who I can hold decent conversations with. I can’t imagine being with a girl who isn’t approachable because she is too aware of how attractive most people find her…I much prefer subtly beautiful girls who are unique and keep me on my toes when we talk…” Finn trailed off but did not break eye contact with Rae.

“Not to mention, our Finney boy here likes ‘em curvy, isn’t that right mate?” Chop added from behind Finn shooting Rae a wink as he used his hands to illustrate the hourglass shape of a curvy girl’s body.

Finn leaned back in his desk chair and slapped the back of Chop’s head while Rae was still blushing and searching for the words to say next.

“Huh...that’s good to know...” Rae added with a smirk, which caused Finn to blush slightly.

Finn looked like he was about to say something, but before she could say anything, someone on the opposite side of the building stood from their desk to search for Rae and Rae stood up quickly to go help them.

“Oh look at that! The people are in need and I am being beckoned…” Rae said to no one in particular as she sped away from Finn to help the other person.

***

With her new schedule Rae did not go into work on Mondays until Noon, so she had a lot more time to relax and get ready for work than she generally would. As she poured herself a cup of coffee she had brewed a bit earlier that morning, Rae heard her cell phone chime from within her bedroom where she had left it charging.

Archie: Good morning, Rae! Are you still willing to grab lunch with me today? I came into work at 8 this morning and I’m on my break right now, but maybe we can work out a time that will still work for both of us. Just let me know!

Rae: Hiya Arch! I go into work at noon today but I’m only working a 2 hour shift. Do you wanna head somewhere for a late lunch after we’re both off of work?

Archie: Yes, that sounds perfect! I’ll see you at work! :)

Rae continued sipping her coffee while she got ready for work —taking advantage of the extra time the later start to her shift gave her to actually put on makeup and flat iron her mess of purple curls to be long, straight, and silky—and placed the dirty mug into the kitchen sink before leaving her apartment to walk to work.

As Rae walked at a leisurely pace to work, enjoying the feeling of the cool January air against her skin and the white noise effect the sounds of the city created, she felt her cell phone vibrate within her purse.

Abigail: Rae! I wanted to surprise you, but then I realized that you probably have work tomorrow and this surprise could back-fire on me, but...  

Abigail: SURPRISE! I’M BOARDING A TRAIN NOW TO COME VISIT YOU!!! :D

Abigail: My family paid for me to come down to visit them later this week before I have to be back at Uni, but I left a couple days early so I can see you and we catch up on life in-person!

Rae: OH MY GOD! Yay! I'm so excited to see you, I feel like it's been forever!! :)

Abigail: I know! Are you free to grab lunch tomorrow? There's a place one of my mates from Uni recommended that I think is pretty close to where you live, if you'd wanna try it?

Tomorrow is Tuesday...I'm not normally scheduled to work, but earlier this morning I picked up a shift from 8am-10am to get a bit more money...I think we could still get lunch after that.

Rae: I work tomorrow morning, but we can grab lunch and hang out tomorrow around noon, if that works for you?

Rae was already standing outside the office building she worked in as she finished typing that text and sent it to Abigail.

She opened the door to her office, silencing her cell phone and placing it back into her purse, before walking into the office to get to work.

When she scanned her badge at the machine on the wall, her coworkers all looked up from their computers to see who had entered the room and she was met with smiles and greetings from Chop, Archie, and Finn. She walked toward the closest desk that was free—which just so happened to be next to Finn—and began logging into her computer.

“You’re getting in quite late today, aren’t you girl?” Finn asked, giving Rae his signature cheeky crooked smile.

“It’s just my new schedule for work...it has me working really weird hours,” Rae replied with an annoyed eye roll.

“Yeah, I know what you mean. I only worked from 10 to noon today, so I’m headed out of here any minute now. It looks like on Mondays I’m leaving just as you come in...” Finn’s shoulders slumped slightly when he said this, but he gave Rae a tight lipped smile as he logged out of his computer and stood up from his desk.

“Raemundo! Since Finn here is leaving, you should move down and take his desk and sit next to me!”

As Rae stood up to move to the desk beside Chop that Finn had previously been sitting at, she waved goodbye to Finn as he walked away from their side of the office to scan his badge at the machine on the wall and exit the building.

Rae, Chop, and Archie sat working and talking for the next couple hours of their shifts until it was time for all of them to clock out for the day.

“Is now a good time to grab lunch, Rae? I drove to work, so we can drive to lunch and I can drop you off at your apartment whenever we’re done, if you want.”

“Yeah, now is a great time for me. Let’s go get some food!”

Rae and Archie both decided to go to their local chip shop for lunch and after placing their orders and receiving the food at the counter, they took a seat at a table in the furthest corner of the restaurant.

“So Rae...you’ve been keeping me in suspense for a week...are you finally going to tell me what all is going on between you and Finn?” Archie asked before picking up a chip from his basket and putting it in his mouth.

“How much do you want to know?” Rae asked hesitantly before taking a bite of  a chip as well.

“Everything. Tell me everything, and don’t worry about sparing me any of the details…”

As Rae and Archie ate their orders of chips, she went through the entire story of her interactions with Finn—glossing over the parts of the story that he was already aware of—and brought him up to speed on everything that has led her and Finn to where they are now.

“Wow...Rae that’s, just...wow!”

“I know! Isn’t it so crazy? I mean who would have guessed that Finn would have missed me that much while he was traveling with his band or that he would be responding so positively to my flirting this past week!”

“Are you shitting me, Rae? That’s not at all what I’m surprised by! I know you fancy Finn and I can sure as hell see that he’s fancied you for some time now...I’m just surprised that it’s taken you this long to realize it for yourself!”  Archie exclaimed, causing a few people at the tables nearby where he and Rae sat to glance over at them.

“How about we try to keep our voices down a little bit more, okay Arch?” Rae asked, which caused Archie to chuckle and nod, before continuing, “I know that you’ve been telling me that Finn might like me for a while and now you’re feeling like ‘I told you so!’ but I really needed to figure this out for myself and believe that he could like me back before I started to believe what everyone has been telling me recently.”

“Yeah, I know what you mean, Rae. I’m just happy that you do believe us now that you’ve noticed how much he likes you following recent events. I think you’re good for him and I know that he makes you happy and I’m interested to see where things go from here!”

“Me too, Archie...me too.”

Archie gave Rae a ride back to her apartment when they were done eating and gossiping and when he pulled into a parking space in front of her building, Archie turned down the music they had been listening to as Rae unbuckled her seat belt.

“Thanks for coming to lunch with me and giving me a ride, Arch!”

“Of course, Rae! I had a lot of fun. So...what’s next for you and Finn?”

“Honestly? I have no clue, but I’ll be sure to let you know if or when I figure it out for myself!”

Rae gave Archie the least awkward hug that their seated positions in his car would allow for and waved goodbye as Archie drove away before climbing the steps to her apartment.

Rae walked into her bedroom and began changing into more comfortable clothes when her phone buzzed again within her purse.

She grabbed her phone and opened all of the new notifications she had on her phone while searching her refrigerator for something to drink.

Hmm...I was a little overzealous with the wine the other night and so I don’t have any of that…

Rae suddenly remembered  that one of her friend’s that was a Foreign Exchange student from Japan that is attending the same university as Rae had come over to her apartment and left behind some of her favorite alcoholic beverages from Japan in Rae’s fridge for Rae to try whenever she wanted to.

Peach Sparkling Jelly Sake...its like a carbonated sake beverage...in a jelly form? Well...alcohol is alcohol, I suppose...

Abigail: RAAAEEE!! My train just arrived about an hour ago! Lunch at noon tomorrow sounds great. You’ll just have to remind me where you live exactly, since this will be the first time I see your apartment in-person! I can’t wait to see you tomorrow...and your purple hair! It is still purple, right?

Rae shook the jelly sake container vigorously as the directions on the metal can instructed, but was hesitant while actually opening it to ensure that the can would not explode or make a mess of the kitchen she had recently cleaned.

When the can opened with ease, to Rae’s surprise, she took a slow sip and was simultaneously confused and delighted by the drink.

It tastes like peach and very faintly of alcohol, but it has the consistency of jelly or the boba inside the boba tea drinks all my friends seem to be obsessed with at the moment.

It’s very strange, but I sort of like it!

Rae: For sure! I’ll text you my address tomorrow morning and you can just follow the directions using Maps on your phone. And yes, my hair is still purple...like very purple, so try not to be too surprised when you see it in-person.

Well...if it’s purple hair Abbie wants to see, purple hair is what she’s gonna get!

It had been longer than Rae could remember since she had touched up the purple in her hair—mostly out of sheer laziness—but Rae knew that she was going to have a very busy week and the new semester of classes was starting next week, so this was going to be her only chance to re-dye her hair any time soon.

Rae pressed play on her phone and music began playing from the Bluetooth speakers in her bedroom as she kept sipping her sake beverage and got the purple hair dye and all the supplies she would need to re-dye her hair organized on the counter in her bathroom.

***

Rae had fallen asleep shortly after she finished re-dying her hair purple and she had not had the chance to see what it looked like when it was fully dry. She glanced in the mirror above her bathroom sink the next morning while getting ready for work and was met with vibrant purple hair that was a bit shocking initially, but Rae could not help but love the way it suited her.

How odd is it that me of all people could pull off bright purple hair so well?

Despite being slightly hungover from how many of the jelly sake beverages she had drank the night before, Rae had woken up with plenty of time to get ready for work—even putting effort into making sure her outfit, hair, and makeup all looked particularly good—and grab coffee before her shift started at 8am.

 When Rae walked into the office with her coffee in-hand, she was somewhat surprised to see how few people there were working in her department today. Rae took a seat closest to the radio to ensure that she maintained control for the duration of her two hour shift and breathed a sigh of relief when Liam continued walking past the desk where she sat and took a seat on the opposite side of the aisle facing away from her.

 Her two hour shift seemed to pass incredibly slowly with no one nearby her to make conversation with, but before she knew it, she was finishing assisting her final customer for the day and there was less than five minutes left before her shift was over.

 “Hey Rae! Can I ask you a question?” Peter asked suddenly from behind Rae which caused her to jump in surprise before turning toward him in her desk chair. When she met Peter’s eyes, she was still grinning and laughing to herself at how startled she had been when he spoke up behind her and Peter quirked an eyebrow up as he took in her facial expression.

 “Yeah, of course, Peter! What’s up?” Rae asked once she had composed herself from her minor scare but the odd look Peter was giving her confused her and led her to ask, “Why are you giving me that odd look? Did I miss something..?”

 “Why are you smiling like that? What’s wrong with you today, Rae?”

 “I was smiling because I got startled and jumped when you got my attention and I felt a bit silly...Uh, I don’t know what you mean, Peter…what’s wrong with me?”

 “I don’t know either, I suppose. You just seem...happy, I guess? I didn’t know if there was something in particular that happened because you’re never happy like this.”

 “Uh, I didn’t realize happy was a bad thing or that I was particularly happy today. Do I really come across to you in a way that happy seems like an unusual mood for me?”

 “I didn’t mean to offend you. I was just curious about why you seem so happy…”

 “I guess it’s because I am happy today...I have coffee, I’m a little bit hungover, I’m going to see one of my best mates for the first time in a really long time...I don’t know. Today just seems like it’s going to be a really good day for me.” Rae concluded her statement with a shrug and a smile, which Peter mirrored.

 “Well, I’m happy that you’re happy. That wasn’t the question I was going to ask you though, I just got distracted...can you help me with this customer question really quickly? I have no fucking clue what they’re going on about…”

After her shift at work had ended and Rae walked back to her apartment, she texted Abbie the address to her apartment and continued browsing her social media accounts and watching whatever TV show piqued her interest at the moment until her phone buzzed loudly on the table beside Rae’s bed.

Abigail: Hiya Rae! Sorry I’m a little early :/ If you’re ready we can go now, but if not I’ll just wait in the parking lot for you, if you’d like.

Rae: Hey Abbie! No need to apologize! :D I’ll be down in a second.

Rae quickly slung her purse over her shoulder and left her apartment, locking the door being her, and hurried down the flight of stairs leading to the parking lot.

She was quickly met with the familiar face of her friend who she had not seen in months and as she approached, her childhood friend’s face shifted from a friendly smile to a look of utter shock.

 “Holy shit, your hair is purple!” Abigail stated with shock evident in her tone. 

@eveerez @tinakegg @hey1tskat1e @bitchesbecrazy89 @kneekeyta @milllott @protectfinnnelson @arathewallflower @jackiewalsh2013 @pink-royaute @i-dream-of-emus @lurkernolonger @bitchy-broken @nutinanutshell @mallyallyandra @borntosik

A/N: Hello there! I hope you enjoyed this chapter (and the above gif...the opportunity presented itself and I couldn’t help myself)! There’s not a whole lot of Rinn flirting here, but Rae needs some bonding time with her friends from time to time after a hectic Uni semester, and the flirting is no where near over! BTW, the Sparkling Peach Jelly Sake are very real, very delicious beverages...just saying! Stay tuned for the next part of this chapter that should be coming relatively soon...I hope...

[finn-nelson-for-the-win]

Guess who’s back again with the 6th installment of this story!!!

 After the drama and angst Chapter 5 delivered, I figured it was only fair to reward you guys with a little cheeky fun in this chapter, so I hope you all enjoy!

Wanna get caught up on chapters 1-5? You’ve come to the right place!

Thanks for reading/liking/commenting/etc. and I love hearing some of your theories of what could be coming in the next chapters, so keep’em coming if you feel so inclined!

FYI, after the tags at the bottom are the shout outs from my last post and a little author's note…😊

Unexpected Closeness

Thursday and Friday passed in a blur of final projects and assignments for Uni and picking up shifts at work whenever Rae had the chance. It had been a few days since Rae’s epiphany about Finn potentially feeling the same way about her that she does about him; however, it had also been a confusing few days at work since her realization.

Finn had sat with Rae and Izzie for two weeks straight, yet each time Rae and Finn worked at the same time these past few days he has been sitting with Hannah and mostly just talking to some of his mates that he used to always sit next to before him and Rae started to become friends less than a month ago.

Don’t take it so personally Rae! Finn can sit by anyone he wants to, that’s his decision to make, not yours…

Despite her efforts, Rae could not help but think that there had to be an explanation for the sudden distance between them. Finn was still acting friendly enough towards Rae—greeting her when they got into work, smiling if they made eye contact or crossed paths in the break room, and adding the occasional comment to Rae’s conversations she was having with Izzie or Archie—but the two of them were certainly not on as friendly terms as they had been even earlier that same week.

When Rae was not preoccupied with work-related matters or investing her time and attention in the remaining projects and assignments she had to complete prior to final exams in just less than a week, she found her subconscious mind dwelling on the entire situation with Finn.

What did I do wrong? Did I freak him out somehow? Did he realize that he was accidentally leading me on and decide to back off a bit?

Why would he suddenly begin spending more time with Hannah? Why does it matter to me if I really am “just friends” with Finn?

Although Rae had never been a heavy drinker aside from the occasional party or special event, when Rae was not working or preparing for her exams, she began finding herself drinking to keep her mind off of Finn, often to no avail.

***

After work on Friday, Izzie stayed behind, waiting for Rae to catch up to her outside their office building before they began their walk home that had become routine over the last couple months.

“How are you doing, Rae? You haven’t really seemed yourself lately and I just want to make sure that you’re alright…” Izzie was actually very concerned about her friend, but she kept her tone light to avoid putting a damper on her and Rae’s otherwise casual conversation they made while walking to their apartments.

“I’m okay, a bit overwhelmed with the end of the semester quickly approaching, but I think I’ll be okay once we finish the group project for Computer Programming…which reminds me, we still need to work out the details about when we can meet to work on that. It’s gotta be pretty soon!”

“Yeah, of course. I think everyone is stressing out about Uni right now, but how are you aside from that…?”

Rae knew immediately that Izzie was referring to how Rae was feeling about the Finn situation even though she did not outright say that. Rae had been avoiding talking to Izzie and Archie about her group chat conversation with Chloe and Abigail on Tuesday that had led to her reconsidering that the feelings could be mutual with Finn; however, Izzie was her one of her closest mates and Rae knew that she meant well, so Rae decided to bite the bullet and fill her in.

“I’m alright, I suppose. It’s just that things are…confusing…with Finn right now. Do you remember our conversation after class on Tuesday..?”

“Yeah, of course, Rae.”

“Well after I asked for a raincheck for grabbing lunch with you that day, I went to the secret garden to process everything you had told me and I started to piece everything together and I thought, for a brief moment at least, that Finn could like me back…”

Izzie nodded silently, signaling Rae to continue with what she was saying as they walked side-by-side.

“I wanted to get advice from a couple of my mates that are going to Uni on the opposite side of the country—do you remember me mentioning Chloe and Abigail?”

“Yeah, I remember Chloe, but I don’t recall you talking about an Abigail…” Izzie had heard Rae talk about Chloe on a number of occasions and while she did not think it was her place to intrude and give her personal opinion, Izzie could tell that Chloe and Rae had a complicated friendship that seemed to cause Rae some unhappiness.

“Okay, so I texted both of them in our group chat and…” Rae continued recounting the entire conversation between her and her friends, even opening the group chat to quote specific texts that were sent and received.

Izzie had remained mostly silent, nodding and reacting when appropriate, but as Rae read the final text she had received from Chloe that day and she proceeded to explain how she had ended up drinking an entire bottle of wine and drunk crying alone in her apartment that evening, Izzie broke her silence.

“Oh, Rae. I think we both know that isn’t true. You and Finn get on really well, and I can say for a fact that he doesn’t act this way around anyone but you. I’m sure everyone at work could even attest to that…he’s hardly been subtle about talking to you at work, ya know?” Izzie smiled when she heard Rae chuckle and she look over at Rae to see that she was rolling her eyes at Izzie.

“Well, it’s possible that all twenty of you are severely mistaken…I mean, why would Finn like someone like me?”

“Why wouldn’t he like someone like you, Rae? You’re a flipping angel!”

“That’s what you think, but you’re my friend and you’re supposed to say nice stuff to me…I’m not girly. I don’t wear makeup or pretty dresses. I’m taller than most of our male coworkers, I’m fat—”

“You’re curvy! Need I remind you for how often Finn stares at your chest when you wear low-cut shirts?” Izzie interrupted and gave Rae a suggestive eyebrow wiggle, eliciting a laugh from Rae who was in the middle of her rant.

“Anyways…I’m tall, I have fucking purple hair and eight different piercings, I’m loud, I snort when I laugh too hard, I curse like a fucking sailor, I know more about music than pretty much anyone including Finn…I’m quite intimidating…I just don’t see what about me could be appealing to Finn, or any boy for that matter!”

“You’re looking at it all wrong, Rae! You are unique and quirky, but that’s just makes you who you are and makes you interesting. You’re passionate about lots of things like music and baking and when you’re talking about stuff that you enjoy you sort of just light up! You’re very intelligent and I think you challenge Finn, you know what I mean? You keep him on his toes and don’t fall at his feet and kiss the ground he walks on like most of the other girls that fancy him. I’ve seen his reactions when you argue with him about music or say something funny and sassy…and if that look he gives you isn’t indication that he loves the banter you two have, then I don’t know what is…”

“Fine, Izz. I’ll just assume that you’re telling me the truth and that Finn does enjoy talking to me and think as fondly of me as you seem to…but none of that suggests that he is attracted to me or interested in me as more than just a mate…”

“Oh, sorry, did I leave out the bit about how often Finn stares at your chest when you wear low-cut shirts?” Rae gently nudged Izzie with her elbow, causing Izzie to laugh before continuing.

 “Because I’m decently sure that male friends don’t typically do that with their female friends, and Finn certainly does not do that with any of the other girls we work with or the ones that practically throw themselves at him.”

Rae and Izzie had been standing in front of Rae’s apartment building for some time now, having arrived in the middle of their conversation but they continued standing next to the gated entrance while they kept talking.

“Also, I was talking to Chop at work—”

“What? When was this, Izzie? And who is Chop?”

“Oh, uhm, today during my break at noon,” Izzie was blushing slightly as she continued, “and Chop is one of Finn’s mates named Arnold, but he prefers to go by Chop…”

Rae quirked an eyebrow at her friend, who pretended not to notice as she remained looking at the rocks beneath her shoe as she dragged her sneaker-clad foot to draw patterns in the gravel briefly before continuing.

“So I was talking to him during my break—well he talked to me first, but still—and Finn came up in conversation and Chop was confused about Finn’s change of seating as well. Apparently Finn and Chop are housemates so they see each other around a lot and Chop was talking about how happy he was to see Finn happier these last few weeks. Chop even said it himself…he really thinks the world of you because he knows that you are the only change in Finn’s life recently and Chop sees how good of a mood Finn is always in back at their house when they get in from work.”

“Well seeing as I’ve hardly ever said more than a few words to this Chop fellow, I think his opinion of me is biased because of how much you have been talking about me to him and all the praise you give me.”

“Rae…I didn’t mention you first in the conversation and I didn’t say anything about you to him, I only agreed with the positive impressions he already has of you.”

Huh, that’s strange…If Izzie wasn’t complimenting me and talking to Chop about me, then who was it..?

***

On Saturday morning at work Archie rolled his desk chair slightly closer to where Rae was sitting on his left side, to avoid speaking louder than necessary as he asked her the question that had been on his mind since Wednesday.

“Rae…I understand if you don’t want to talk about it here or talk about it at all with me, but is something wrong between you and Fi—” realizing the mistake he very nearly made, Archie corrected himself, “er, Alphonzo? Things seem kinda tense and I noticed he hasn’t been sitting near you and Izzie lately…” He trailed off, searching their side of the office building to see if Finn was working today, but Archie did not see him.

“I’m not aware of anything being wrong between us, but I’ve been wondering the same thing…maybe he finally got bored of me and decided to sit with his friends again?” Rae chuckled slightly and smiled but the smile did not reach her eyes and Archie could easily pick up on the edge of sadness and disappointment in her tone.

“That’s not likely, Rae. I don’t think I had ever seen ‘Alphonzo’ laugh and smile as much in the six months I’ve known him as he does in one afternoon of working with you and bickering about music with you…”

Rae shrugged, making a mental note that Archie was the third person in less than day to say something along those same lines to her, but not wanting to appear bothered by Finn’s decision to sit elsewhere these past few days at work.

Finn is an adult and can make his own decisions, so if he doesn’t wanna sit with me, then he doesn’t have to.

“I just hope he’s doing okay…I know this semester of Uni hasn’t been easy for him, so I can only imagine how stressful preparing for final exams has been for him lately.” Archie smiled sadly, clearly concerned about his friend even though he tried to act calm.

Ugh, Rae you are such a twat! Assuming that you are the reason why Finn is acting a bit off when really he’s just having a hard time with Uni like everyone else right now and is trying to deal with it however he needs to…

And here I am complaining to Arch about Finn ignoring me, when Finn has become distant from Archie recently too and it’s clearly taking a toll on Archie as well…

I’m a terrible human being and an even worse friend.  

“I’m sure he’s doing fine, Archie. Everyone is stressed right now, so he probably just needs a little space. Just be a friend for him if and when he needs it and I’m sure he’ll be back to his usual, although still sorta quiet and moody, self soon.”

Rae gave Archie a small smile and a reassuring pat on the back before returning her attention to her work. Rae, Izzie, and Archie were a couple hours into their shift and were complaining about a particularly stubborn customer that had contacted them when the small machines on the wall chimed in synchronization as the time changed to 10am.

A couple people whose shifts started at 10am walked into the room and made their way to their respective areas of the office building, but Rae kept focused on her work until her attention was piqued by two people walking down the center of the aisle where she sat towards the two empty desks almost directly behind her.

Since the first time she met Finn, Rae has had a peculiar and unique ability to sense when Finn was nearby, even if she could not physically see where he was yet, and that sense had pulled her attention away from the customer she was assisting when she saw him approaching out of the corner of her eye.

Before Rae even realized what she was doing, she turned in her desk chair and allowed herself to look him over as he made his way over from the opposite side of the building.

He was wearing simple dark-wash denim jeans and a crisp white cotton t-shirt, which he paired with the worn down black high top sneakers—that were almost identical to the pair Rae frequently wore—however, it was the small details that captured Rae’s attention, not allowing her to avert her gaze. The short sleeves of his classic white t-shift were rolled up slightly, exposing even more of the myriad of tattoos Finn had that adorned then majority of both his arms. As he turned his head to greet a couple of his friends as he walked past them, Rae caught a glimpse of the small gold hoop earring in his left ear lobe and suddenly recalled one of the first times she had ever spoken to Finn directly.

***

The day had begun just like any other day at work, but as Rae walked back to her desk when she was returning from her break, she was stopped by one of her coworkers trying to get her attention.

“Rachel…Rachel?”

“Oh! Sorry…I go by Rae, not Rachel…”

“Sorry ‘bout that…Mae, was it?”

“Rae…R-A-E…short for Rachel”

“Ah, I suppose that makes more sense than ‘Mae’ does…I like your shoes, by the way…that’s why I was trying to get your attention.”

Rae glance down at her shoes, suddenly self-conscious of the shoes she had decided to wear that day. Her maroon converse sneakers were a bit old and worn down, but all things considered they were in great condition and she kept them reasonably clean, so she was fairly certain that her coworker was not being sarcastic.

“Uh, thanks…?”

“Oh, I’m Finn…F-I-N-N…not short for anything”

“Nice to meet ya, Finn. I like your tattoos, you have a lot, from the looks of it…”

“Do ya now, Mae? Thank you…I do have a lot of them, I suppose…” Finn reached behind his head with his right arm to run his fingers through the short hairs at the nape of his neck, and in doing so Rae caught a glimpse of the small gold hoop earring hanging from his left ear lobe.

“Do you have your ear pierced? That’s pretty cool…”

“Uh, yeah, I do. I know most guys don’t have their ears pierced, but I think you should express yourself however you want to and do what makes you happy, whether that be with tattoos,” he looked down at the tattoos on his arms that were not covered by the sleeves of the vintage Sonic Youth band tee he was wearing, “or with piercings and cool hair colors…” his gaze traveled up from his forearms to Rae’s mass of long, wildly curly hair that she had dyed a vibrant shade of purple just over a week ago and the purple hoop nose ring affixed to her left nostril.

“I really do like your piercings and your hair color, Mae, I think it suits ya…”

“Thank you, Finn…although honestly I’m still not used to the hair quite yet. Oh, and my name is RAE, you keep calling me ‘Mae’…”

“Sorry, you’re right,” Finn turned back in his desk chair to face his computer screen before proceeding with his apology, “I’ll try not to make that mistake anymore…Mae.”

Ugh, what a twat…wait, Finn and his mates chuckled…Shit! I called him a twat out loud, well under my breath, but still out loud!

***

Rae shook her head to return to the present moment and was met with a wide grin from Finn, who met her eyes as he walked toward the closest open seat.

“Good morning! Alright, Rae?” He asked casually as he took a seat at the desk directly behind her and Hannah—who had walked in with him this morning—sat in the other empty desk beside Finn.

“Hiya…I’m pretty good. And you?”

“Well, I’m much better now,” Finn replied with a smirk before turning to face forward in his chair and log into his computer.

“Rae, do you smell that?” Izzie asked, causing Rae to realize that she had remained staring at Finn’s back for a bit longer than necessary after he turned to face his computer screen. Izzie knew that her friend had a very keen sense of smell so if anyone could pick up on the smell she was referring to it would be Rae.

“Uh, yeah, I do…Someone who just walked in smells really good!” Rae responded after sniffing the air to figure out what smell Izzie could be referring to.

“Oh, it’s probably me! I just bought this new perfume…Have a sniff, Rae!” Hannah replied, raising her wrist in the air for Rae to smell her perfume.

Rae looked around slightly awkwardly before realizing that Hannah was still insisting that she smell this new perfume, so she scooted her desk chair closer to Hannah to smell the perfume on her wrist.

“Oh, that does smell nice…It’s very fresh and citrusy, but it’s not the smell I had originally noticed.” Rae felt uncomfortable having smelled the wrist of her coworker that she had never said more than a couple words to prior to this morning but tried not to let it show.

“Well is it Finn? He came in at the same time as me…” Hannah asked gesturing with her head at Finn who had turned around completely in his desk chair to listen to their conversation and was now facing Rae.

Rae look at Finn who just shrugged and nodded in what appeared to be his silent way of granting Rae permission to smell him.

“Uh…well, erm…I guess…” Rae leaned forward in her chair slightly to get a whiff of what Finn smelled like.

Jesus Christ, Rae! You’re literally smelling this poor lad in front of all your coworkers! Can you be any more of a freak?

“No, it wasn’t Finn who smelled good…” A look of embarrassment and hurt flashed across Finn’s face before he scoffed and rolled his eyes.

“Wow, thanks a lot, Mae!” His tone was joking, but the deep blush in his cheeks exposed how embarrassed he actually was.

Rae suddenly realized what exactly she had said and how it was interpreted and fumbled to clarify.

“Oh my god, that isn’t what I meant! I just meant that you didn’t smell like the smell Izzie had pointed out to me…You don’t smell bad, but…” Rae trailed off, not sure what she could say that wouldn’t make the situation any worse than she already had.

Way to fucking go, Rae! You have managed to sniff AND humiliate this beautiful bloke in front of his coworkers in the span of less than a minute…

Rae’s cheeks were blushing a deep shade of red at the awkwardness of the situation and she was feeling second-hand embarrassment for Finn because she spoke before she could properly realize what she was saying. She tried to ignore the poorly contained laughter coming from Archie and some of her other coworkers beside her, needing to focus on her work or else she would surely die from embarrassment.

A few hours later, when Rae had almost completely forgotten the embarrassment she had felt about her poor choice of words, Rae turned around in her desk chair to give her eyes a break from staring at her computer screen when she realized that Finn was no longer sitting in the chair behind her.

Rae was now turned in her desk chair to face Izzie as they discussed their plans for working on their group project in their Computer Programming class when Rae sensed Finn walking back to his desk, sitting down, and rolling his chair closer to where Rae sat.

“Erm, sorry to interrupt,” Finn began when there was a break in the conversation to which Izzie simply shrugged and returned to work, “but Rae…I, uh…I-Ithinkyoushouldsmellmeagain.” Finn clearly seemed nervous, not able to make eye contact with Rae, but the way the end of his statement fell quickly from his lips caused Rae to furrow her eyebrows.

“What did you say, Finn?” Rae asked, cocking her head to one side in a way that Finn has always secretly found completely and utterly adorable when she does it, even though he has never had the nerve to actually tell her this.

“I, uh…I said that I think you should, er, smell me again…Rae…” He looked up only once he said her name and noticed that her head was still cocked to one side and she shrugged slightly as an invitation for him to further explain what he was talking about.

“It’s just that last time I don’t think you got a proper smell of my cologne…You just sort sniffed my shoulder and you didn’t get very close to me, so of course I’m not going to smell very good.”

“Finn, I didn’t mean tha—”

“I know you didn’t mean it like that, it’s okay,” he smiled quickly but continued, “Ya see, I don’t wear cologne on my shoulders, silly. You’ve gotta smell my shirt or my chest. So here, smell right here…” Finn had grabbed the soft cotton fabric of his white t-shirt that he was wearing and pulled it away from his chest, indicating that Rae should smell his shirt there.

“Uh, I don’t know, Finn…” Rae was still feeling weird about sniffing Finn yet again in the middle of all their coworkers, but he locked eyes with Rae and gave her a nod of encouragement to give his shirt a sniff.

“Come on, Mae…I haven’t got all day, dickhead…” He added with a smirk as Rae slowly inched forward and grabbed the bit of t-shirt fabric Finn was holding out for her to smell, drawing her face close enough to smell it.

“You gotta really get in there, Rae!” Finn said as he brought his chest closer to Rae, without her realizing it at first, so she could get a better smell of his cologne. At the same time she inhaled deeply, closing her eyes to take in the full experience of his intoxicating scent.

Dear lord, Jesus Christ…this is heaven…I am in heaven…

Rae sat on the edge of her desk chair, her face nuzzled against Finn’s chest now that he had closed the distance between them by leaning forward as well, inhaling the unique blend of scents that was exactly how Rae would have imagined him smelling (but so much better).

There are some scents that most people immediately associate with masculinity, but Finn’s chest and shirt smelled like an intricate blend of cologne, faint traces of laundry detergent, a pleasant but unusual aroma that Rae could not initially place, and a musky sweetness that Rae assumed to by Finn’s natural scent. His one of a kind scent was masculine yet sweet and it made Rae wish that exact scent could be captured in a candle or spray form for her to enjoy indefinitely.

Eau de Finn…it has a rather nice ring to it, don’t ya think?

Rae could feel Finn tilt his head downward so his nose rested gently on the top of her head and she could feel the slow, even movements of his warm chest against her face and just barely hear him inhale the sweet scent of her hair before sighing and humming happily against the top of her head.

It suddenly occurred to Rae how long she and Finn had been in this intimate embrace smelling each other while twenty of their coworkers looked on with a wide range of reactions from confusion to amusement. She pulled away from Finn quickly, her cheeks immediately blushing a deep red color as she bit her lower lip slightly and avoided making eye contact with anybody.

Did that really just happen!?! And did Finn really sniff my hair?

Is it just me or does Finn look pretty flushed as well…?

Finn had a goofy grin on his face that spread from ear to ear and his cheeks were in fact flushed, but he cleared his throat and readjusted his arms which had been propped up against his thighs as he began nervously running his fingers through the hairs at the nape of his neck with his right hand behind his head.

“So…uh, what did ya think this time, Rae?”

“Erm…Yeah, you definitely smell good—”

“You smell good too, girl,” Finn interrupted, smirking and raising his thick eyebrows flirtatiously at her.

“…uh, but yeah…that still wasn’t the smell Izzie has pointed out to me this morning. That smell were more sweet and vanilla-y and you smell…well, really good, but like cologne and…do you smoke, Finn?”

“Uh, yeah…I smoke sometimes when I get nervous or anxious, why? Do I smell like cigarettes?” He asked with concern as he tried to gauge Rae’s response.

It suddenly dawned on Rae that cigarette smoke was the familiar scent that she could not identify initially; however, she found it odd that she had found that smell quite pleasant when coupled with the various other aspects of his aroma.

“A little bit, not really though…I could just barely smell smoke on you, but I think that was just because I was sniffing you very close-up…” The blush in Rae’s cheeks had faded slightly, but returned at the mention of that moment of unexpected closeness with Finn.

“You don’t mind that smell though, right? Like it wasn’t too strong?”

“Well I normally hate when guys smell like smoke and cigarettes, but I don’t know…I kind of liked it on you…It was very faint, but it just seemed to fit who you are, I suppose?” Rae had no idea what she was going on about anymore and decided it best to just stop talking before she said something else she would regret.

Some of her coworkers were still staring at Rae as she turned away from Finn to get back to work, including Chop and Hannah, who were sharing a peculiar smirk that did not go unnoticed by Rae or Finn.

Chop’s gazed shifted to Izzie and the two appeared to be having a silent conversation for a few moments before she nodded and smiled at Chop and he shot a quick wink and wide grin at her that showed the noticeable gap between his two front teeth, before they both returned to work.

When Rae returned her attention to her computer screen, she noticed out of the corner of her eye that both Izzie and Archie were giving her the same look that was equal parts amusement, surprise, and approval and Rae just nodded and bit her bottom lip to help hide the wide grin spreading across her face.

***

When Rae left work that afternoon and walked back to her apartment with Izzie, she was still in disbelief at what had happened at work with Finn in full view of all their coworkers. Izzie, however, had not stopped talking about it the entire time they were walking together in the direction of Rae’s apartment.

“So Rae, I’m still a bit confused about something…Why did he ask you to smell him again after he came back from his break? Did he purposefully put on more cologne to make sure that he would smell good for you the next time he asked you to smell him?”

“Huh, I guess I didn’t even think of that…I mean, he had to have, right? He smelled a lot stronger of cologne the second time than he did the first…I just don’t know why it mattered to Finn so much that I thought he smelled good…”

“Well, I have an idea, but if you’re still doubting that he totally fancies the pants off of ya Rae, you might not be as convinced…” Izzie added with a cheeky grin.

Rae rolled her eyes but turned to give Izzie a hug when they approached the outside of Rae’s apartment building before Izzie kept walking toward her apartment a bit further down the street.

@eveerez @tinakegg @hey1tskat1e @bitchesbecrazy89 @kneekeyta @milllott @protectfinnnelson @arathewallflower @jackiewalsh2013 @pink-royaute @i-dream-of-emus

Wanna be added to the tag list? Your wish is my command, m’dear!

Yay, you finally made it to the end of this chapter!!! Here are the shout outs and the author’s note I mentioned briefly…

Yay for my writing being relatable!!! 🙌🏼😁

…I can neither confirm nor deny if you’re on the right track, but all I CAN say is that Finn is a lot more observant than he lets on and than Rae gives him credit for… 😏😏

Aaaannnd last but not least…

Ok, let me just say: between the emojis and further commentary in the tags, I adore you! Seriously, I would use those same emojis to describe the previous chapter’s contents.

A/N: Hiya, thanks for reading to the very end of this! The people have spoken and I received an Anonymous request to write longer chapters, and I truly did work hard to make this one a bit longer…at last count, it was just over 5,000 words, which is nearly double the length of some of my previous chapters, so please believe me when I say that I am trying to write longer chapters and give you all what you want!

I’ve also noticed that a number of you have been using gifs and/or emojis to describe your responses to some of my past chapters and I have absolutely adored seeing those and I have begun looking forward to all of your responses that much more. Seriously, I LOVE LOVE LOVE it! So yeah…keep doing your thing, I suppose! 😁