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reese-anders · 7 years

Note

A typical day at the Ishiyama household?

once again, if you’re not familiar with IWRY this is a pretty generic code lyoko read!

also this turned way the hell more into “yumi and hiroki have a bonding moment” as opposed to typical daily life. woohoohoo

inb4 i put a lot of my personal experience into this one

~~~

Hiroki perked his head to where heheard the door quietly shut. It cost him a hefty portion of hischaracter’s lifebar, and he quietly cussed as he panicked and ranfrom the monster to heal. Sure, not a total loss, but an unnecessaryone. Still, he quietly listened to his sister’s slow and sloppyfootsteps as she shuffled into the kitchen area, rummaging in thefridge.

Their parents were already in bedotherwise he would’ve called a greeting to her. Instead he simplyfocused on his game, waiting for her to enter the living room withtwo glasses full of cold tea. He gratefully took one, awkwardlytrying to drink out of it and play at the same time.

“I could’ve put a straw in it, youknow,” Yumi said, sarcastic but with only exhaustion to back it up.Hiroki blubbered a disagreeing hum, spilling tea onto his nose andchin as he failed and nearly died. Pausing the game to set the cupdown, he failed to clean his chin off before it dripped onto hisshirt. Yumi sighed and sat next to him, curling her legs up in a waythat was too tight to be comfortable.

“You don’t understand,” Hiroki saidas he finally choked down the tea that almost cost his charactertheir life, “If I don’t challenge myself, where am I ever gonna getin life?”

“You’ve been listening to Jim toomuch,” Yumi muttered as if it was a complaint, hunching hershoulders to sip her tea like a reclusive turtle. Hiroki glancedover, noticing the complete lack of humor in her tone despite thefact that she was trying to joke. He glanced at the time, thenunpaused the game.

“Well,” he said after a while, thetone indicating that he meant more than he was saying, “Mom and Dadare asleep, but you didn’t get home that latethis time.”

Yumigrunted, almost like an animal, and pulled her feet under her butt inannoyance. No, it wasn’t even midnight yet—she had comehome early, all things considered for a weekend.

“And I’m sureyou’ll be the one to tell them that in the morning,” she grumbled.Hiroki shrugged.

“Nah, you knowI’ve never told on you before.”

“Thatone time you did—,”Yumi argued, only to be interrupted by Hiroki’s stifled cheer ofvictory as the monster finally fell and died, which he used to segueinto his point.

“Thatone time you came homebeat up with bruises, oh no,no real cause for alarm, onee-chan.”

“Ugh,” Yumigrunted again, looking for all the world as though she was annoyedenough to argue further, but instead she simply sipped her tea,watching quietly as Hiroki collected his spoils from the monster. Heflipped through the rewards screens, and when it was all said anddone she finally spoke again, “Fair enough.”

Hiroki smiled,warm. Yumi pretended not to notice.

The two siblings sat in mutual silenceand Hiroki continued to play and Yumi continued to watch and drinktea. After a while Hiroki’s neutral expression turned to a smallfrown as the game started loading the next quest.

“Like, I know you said that thebruises weren’t from a person, and it certainly looked like it,but…,” Hiroki’s voice tip-toed, knowing that while his sistercould have a short temper she never necessarily blew up before goingdangerously quiet as a warning first, “You just. Certainly haven’tbeen home a lot, even when your friends aren’t with you.”

Yumi took her time on the next sip oftea, drinking as her eyes remained fixed on the TV screen. Hirokisteeled himself in the meantime, knowing that if he prodded he couldignite such an explosion, or he could let it go. But letting it gomeant that his sister would remain silent for the rest of theevening, and he’d get nothing buta lump in his throat for asking what turned out to be such a stupidquestion.

She ran her thumbsaround the rim of her glass and lowered it to rest against her knees.He watched out of the corner of his eye even as he located themonster in the game, curious to see his sister sigh and stare offinto nothing.

“Yeah…,”she answered, surprising Hiroki. He felt his heart pound in hischest, invigorated by the fact that his sister was actuallygoing to talk with him, heart toheart, sister to brother, “I mean…how were they today?”

“Mom and Dad…?”Hiroki clarified with a sad, exasperated sigh, “What do you thinkyou’re gonna hear?”

“The truth,”Yumi replied, quiet and knowing. Hiroki tried to procrastinate,pretending like he needed all of his focus on the game. His sisterlet him, halfway done with her tea. Finally he gave in, knowing hecouldn’t procrastinate forever—knowing that his sister alreadyexpected what he was going to say.

“Yeah…it wasabout you, again.” he mumbled as if his parents were eavesdroppingon their conversation instead of the usual other way around. Yumisaid nothing, just a complacent hum and a small, polite nod, but hesaw her knuckles grow pale as she gripped her glass harder. It wasalways about her. She knew, too, that it was about her to mask thefact that it was really about each other. Instead it revolvedaround her, how she kept sneaking out, whose fault it was, and if shegot into trouble (in other words, pregnant) what they would have todo. But they had different ideas on either side, so each hypotheticalbecame a spider’s web of multi-pronged arguments. When she wasyounger she tried to buy herself some slack and said that she was inlove, which wasn’t false. But then that boy moved away, so what couldshe say now? Lie and say that she was still in love? Now that shestayed out late every night, snuck out later when she came home ontime, and in general avoided them, saying that she was in “love”would earn a massive tidal wave of criticisms and conjecture aboutwhat she did with all her free time away from school. They thoughtthey had raised a good girl, not whatever Yumi turned out tobe.

Hiroki remained ather side, although quiet. He may not have known about why shespent so much time with her friends, but he seemed to accept thatthere was a deeper reason to it other than teenage rebelliousness.Yumi preferred him like that—after all, she was older, she was theone supposed to protect him, not the other way around. Even thoughhis silence protected her more than she gave credit for. But even hewas starting to wear thin with her, knowing the trouble that the newkid was causing her. At least with Hiroki’s worries, though, Yumi wasable to accept that it was actually for her own good, unlike with herparents where she was a weapon to be used against the other.

“And…I wishthat you just staying home more often and not sneaking out would fixthe problem, but then they’d just argue about you in front of you. Orabout something else.”

“And now you knowwhy I stay out late even if I don’t have a reason,” Yumi mutteredin turn. Hiroki grimaced, nodding in agreement.

Still using amuffled voice in case their parents heard, Hiroki’s voice grewindignant, “Sometimes I almost do what you do, just disregard itand go off and do whatever I want, just for a night.”

Yumi smirked, eyingher brother as he pouted with his bright eyes. Apples don’t fall farfrom the tree, indeed. Hiroki gave an annoyed huff, somehow turninghis annoyance into defeating the monster.

“I’m sick ofbeing their golden boy.”

Reaching out one ofher long arms and ruffling his hair to his discontent, Yumi’s smirkgrew wider despite the heaviness of his statement.

“If I wasn’there, they’d fight about you. Or something else. Anything else.”she reminded him, shedding her hard exterior and becoming his bigsister again, affection in her voice.

“I know…,”Hiroki grumbled, “Every day. When the fights get really bad, Momscreams that it was a stupid idea to move to France. That moving hereruined her life, ruined her kids’ lives. Yeah. Her kids, notour kids.” He sank into the couch, deflating even thoughvictory music trumpeted from the TV. Yumi watched her brother becomesmall again, defeated in a way that video games could never emulate.

“If they split,”he continued, his voice akin to a small child, “She’s moving backto Japan.”

“If,” Yumirepeated, looking back to the TV. Though the repetition implied thatshe was trying to instill that it was only a possibility and not areality, the tone of her voice said otherwise. To her, to the both ofthem, the Ishiyama children sitting together on the couch, it was amatter of when. A matter of time.

Yumi finished hertea, then reached for her brother’s as he started another quest. Hestarted to protest, saying that he was still drinking that, when awicked smirk split Yumi’s cheeks. Oh, it was his tea alright, she wassimply just going to feed it to him as he hunted for another monster,regardless of whether he was ready or not. It resulted in more teaspilled on his shirt than he actually drank (even though he tried toindulge her and drink from the glass she was tipping at his lips).Mock-fighting and stifling laughter, the dim atmosphere around thesiblings lifted if just for a moment as they spent the rare timetogether. Effectively, they were able to forget that tomorrow wouldbe a repeat of the fights their parents had all over again—for now,that was all that mattered and all that they needed.

#code lyoko #yumi ishiyama #hiroki ishiyama #drabble

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reese-anders · 7 years

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SCARSDALE, NY—Saying he had been considering the lifestyle change for a while now, local man Pete Halloran told reporters Friday that he was thinking about becoming an asshole. “I’ve been giving it some serious thought, and I’ve finally decided to take the plunge and start treating people like shit,” said Halloran, 29, adding that he had several friends who became assholes, and it seemed to be working out for them. “I’m just going to see how it feels for now, no pressure. If it doesn’t work out, I could always go back to acting like a decent person. But who knows? Maybe becoming an asshole is exactly what I need.” At press time, Halloran had decided that becoming a total asshole was more challenging than he thought and had settled on just being kind of a dick for the time being.

#ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh my god

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reese-anders · 7 years

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“hmm for this prompt i could have hiroki playing a game, but what game should he be playing? there’s so many just kidding the only game is monster hunter there is only monster hunter”

#the only video games i've played in the last six months are #digimon story cyber sleuth #and monster hunter #......#oh and i guess far cry 4 #and wayyyyyyyyy long ago bloodborne #but i can't see him playing bloodborne? maybe some dark souls #bloodborne just isn't the right tone for the drabble so shhhh #this blog is a mess

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reese-anders · 7 years

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“i haven’t even worked on this tonight so i’ll finish it later”

*finishes it right ht efuck now in lieu of sleep*

i hate writing

i’ve got serious progress on one prompt, a set premise for another prompt, a basic idea but no story or direction for another, and a complete blank on the last one, but things’ll come along and i hope to god i at least clean the prompts i currently have now before september rolls around.

in the meantime i’ll change my icon to something from chapter 18, cheery cheers

#end me

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reese-anders · 7 years

Note

A NSFW drabble? (specifically sexual)

“drabble”

this ended up being 11 pages long, which is precisely the reason i don’t write smut because wow the buildup kill me

also i haven’t proofread this in fuckforever and just finished this up instead of going to bed it’s almost 6am i wish i could queue asks.

18+ NSFW sexual content smuts please for the love of god do not read if you are underage

“No, she’s not here. She dropped off a maintenance requestwith our landlord and then went out for the evening, I think.”

“It’s 2pm.”

“I didn’t stutter.”

Yumi glared at the hulk of a young man in the gap of the doorway.This was why she didn’t visit Aelita often; if they were going tobe hanging out it was either going out together or it was at Yumi’splace–wherever that currently was. Due to…recent events, Yumineeded a couch to surf on for the night. It was childish, but sheneeded to get away. Odd was out on tour with a small opening bandstruggling to put themselves out there, and Jeremie…Jeremieprobably didn’t even own a bed, much less a couch.

No, her parents weren’t an option either. Not at this stage intheir marriage.

Reese looked tired and done with the conversation, heavy lidscovering his eyes as he scratched his head. Small wisps of breathcurled from his sharp nose in the snowy air. The thermal shirt he hadon was becoming threadbare at the elbows and there appeared to berather new coffee stains on his pajama pants. Aelita rooming with himin a small house was perhaps Yumi’s least favorite fact about himnow–they hadn’t been in any contact whatsoever since they bothgraduated Kadic and went their mostly-separate ways. It had beenyears since she had actually spoken to him, for good reason. Shecertainly didn’t miss him, and he seemed to have not missed hereither. Although strangely it was hard to tell, a lot of thesharpness and hatred had gone and he just seemed…more exhaustedthan anything, annoyed that she was here like she was taking him awayfrom something.

“Look,” she sighed roughly “Just. Let me inside untilshe gets back.”

“Wanna be here until 5am?” he replied sarcastically. Yumidropped her shoulders in exasperation.

“Listen, I just. Need it, okay?” God don’t lether plead with him, because that would be somethinghe’d be looking for, wouldn’t it.

Instead, he moved, opening the door for her to come in, turningaround and scratching the small of his back without smoothing out hisshirt afterward.

“Don’t tell me you got evicted,” he snorted.

“No,” Yumi was quick to say, “I just…I justneed the couch, alright?”

“Sounds like an eviction,” he prodded.

“I evicted myself,” Yumi finally snapped as sheshut the door behind her and pulled her boots off. This was privateinformation, and why she had wanted Aelita to be here instead ofjust him. Man, she should’ve listened to Aelita, andOdd, and Jeremie in the first place and never gottenback into a rough relationship with William.Although relationship was a coarse term to use,because it was more of a series of one night stands peppered withfights and distrust (because fuck if she’d ever trust him everagain, and she knew this going in, and still she didn’t listen toanyone). It was his studio (that his dad paid half of the rent for)so it’s not like she could kick him out.

She opened her mouth to continue to snap at Reese, warning himthat if he kept prodding at her Aelita would have to find a newroommate after the mess was cleaned up, but she clamped down on herlip as her feet danced on the hardwood floor.

“Jesus, it’s freezing in here!” Snow was supposed tobe outside and not have a chance inside a building.Reese shrugged his shoulders.

“Heat’s broken in every room except mine.”

“No.” Yumi exhaled in horror, “You’re shitting me.”

“Aelita doesn’t put in maintenance orders for fun.” Reesesaid dryly as he opened the door to his room. Just from the frontdoor across the small living area Yumi could feel the welcomingwarmth. She glanced down, noticing that he had shoved several shirtsagainst the gap in the door to not waste such precious heat, “She’sbeen sleeping on half of my bed this whole weekend while the landlordwas out.”

Yumi’s face continued to fall in horror as Reese continuedspeaking. Somehow it felt as though making a joke about it being thefirst and perhaps only time Aelita would sleep next to a man wouldn’tbe enough to diffuse the situation. He stepped into the light of hisbedside lamp and poked his head around the door.

“You’re welcome to stay out there, but I’m warning you, weset a glass of water out overnight and it wasn’t pretty the nextmorning.”

Baffled disgust contorted her face, but…if Aelita wasn’t goingto be home until 5am, and she really didn’t wantto see anyone else right now, might as well at least feel comfortablewhen in front of the least comfortable person on the face of theearth.

Reese’s room was incredible. Incredibly cramped. His bed, barelybig enough for two people (especially with his bulk) was shoved intoa corner, allowing only just enough room for someone to stand at thefoot of the bed. Barely an arm’s span constituted the space betweenthe bed and his closet. At the very least it was clean–it was waytoo small to hold any mess.

Also too small for her to really beanywhere where she could pretend that she wasn’t fucking sharing thesame room as Reese fucking Anders. All there was was the bed. Andthe…And the massive open hardbound books, notebooks, and scatteredpapers on the bed. Open manila folders. Pencils. Pens.

She stood in the doorway, watching inshock as Reese clambered onto his bed and stuck himself between thetwo walls making up the corner. He pulled a book that easily could’vebeen as heavy as his chest and patted and shuffled through severalnotebook papers until he found the one he needed and placed it on theopen page. From behind the pillow that propped up his back came apackage of small sticky bookmarks. Without saying a word he dippedback into his work.

The cold air at her back reminded Yumithat she should shut the door behind her. Kicking the lump of shirtsback into the gap of the door, she uneasily crawled onto the bed nextto him. Well. She thought her situation with William was difficult,she was 100% unsure of what to make of this. Trying to be discreet,she craned her neck and tucked a toe under the cover of a text tolift it up, wondering what he was studying.

Family Lawand Practice. Her eyesmoved to the next one. Domestic Violence. Herstomach started to shrink as she looked at his numerous folders andnotebooks. Scrawled in his handwriting: Child Development,Criminal Law, and on every oneof them a smaller scrawling like it was a mantra for good luck or alight at the end of the tunnel: Child Advocate Lawyer.

She slipped her toeout from underneath the textbook and stared past the end of the bed.Now that she thought of it Aelita must’ve mentioned this to her, shejust always glazed over when she mentioned Reese. Thinking of Reesein law school felt like a joke, or it would’ve been if he wasn’tsucked deep into concentration in law texts right next to her as ifshe hadn’t just interrupted him. Yumi had heard, too. Law school wasno fucking joke.

Suddenlyshe remembered the small girl that tagged along with him that didn’tbelong to him. Was he trying to win custody over her? Why go to theselengths and spend so much money—not to say that a child couldn’t bethat important to someone, but there were some parents whowouldn’t go that far for their children—

Ah.

Finally it clicked.

Awkwardly, Yumisettled down, curling her legs up tight and staring at the nightstand next to her. Law school. Reese was in law school. Had she putan iota of thought into his future (which she had never done before)she would have never ever seen this coming. She knew that all Williamended up doing was drive fast cars around with his go-kartingfriends, throwing away his father’s money like it grew on trees. Hedidn’t particularly care about security in a future nor did he doanything but fixate on the present. Which meant that if, presently,there was a girl in front of him, he would go for her, no matter whathe’d find when he got home in the future.

At least she had ajob, working part-time at the dojo and picking up fightingcompetitions as her parents fought for real at home. She felt guiltyfor leaving Hiroki alone but…

A heavy shadowpassed over her and she flinched and jerked, reflexively swatting andgrasping at what was hovering over her. Reese stopped still as shegripped the joint of his arm. With a dull thud he let the law bookslide from his hand to the end table on top of the rest of the stack.Eyes wide, she flicked her eyes to the clock.

It was 3:24. Nearlyan hour and a half later, even though it felt like she had justarrived.

“Can I help you?”Reese grunted in annoyance. Her mind worked furiously to piecetogether what he had been doing—that is, reaching over her to putall his homework on the end table—and when she finally reached thatconclusion she released his arm sheepishly.

“N-No…sorry.”

Reese turned aroundwith a frustrated sigh (though she got the impression he was morefrustrated at his homework than her) and settled down, back to herback. Yumi blinked, reaching for the bedside lamp.

“Do you want thelight off?”

Reese mumbledsomething incoherent, then smacked his lips and said, “Whatever.Comeuppance for forcing Aelita to sleep with the lamp on when I’mtrying to study.”

Weirdly enough,Yumi closed her slender fingers away from the lamp and left it on,glancing over her shoulder at the young man she used to unabashedlyhate for hating her. He flinched a bit and reached up to scratch hisneck like he felt her staring. She turned around and looked up at thevarious law books. Off in the closet, next to a small mess oflaundry, she saw more books stacked up of similar nature.

“Did…,” sheswallowed quietly, “Do you study divorce law?”

“I’ll get there,”he muttered, making her surprised that he answered earnestly,“Started to take the course before, but had to drop out. Viv—Vivi,her foster family was…it wasn’t working out. I took her in until wefound a new family for her that I was satisfied with. Maybe nextsemester I’ll retake it.”

“Oh…,” Yumireplied, quiet and small, “What do you know about it?”

“Don’t remembermuch,” he answered, half-muffled by his pillow, “Too focused ongetting her a new family.”

Yumi tried tocontrol her breathing, falling silent in contemplation. No matter howhard she tried she couldn’t pry the stress from her mind. She knew itwas starting to take a toll on her, but what could she do?

“I’m sorry,”Reese said after a while, “About your parents.”

Yumi turned to lookover her shoulder again. Reese hadn’t shifted. She stared at him inawe. Certainly Aelita must’ve told him, but to think that he had evenlistened, that he recognized why she was asking aboutdivorce law, again. Never in a million years would she have believedthis was happening.

“C-Color mesurprised, Reese,” she tried not to stutter, “I didn’t knowyou—,” cared, “I didn’t know you knew.”

He shrugged anddidn’t answer, and Yumi caught herself starting to stare at more ofhim. He had always been well-built, to an almost worrying degree. Hestill seemed like he took time out of his day to work out, maybe evenstill practice martial arts although he certainly didn’t frequent thedojo she part-timed at. The thermal shirt he wore was bunched up athis waist, letting her see old scarred skin. She bit her lip to hidea wince. Right. The thing she actively tried to forget about him.Made it easier to just blindly hate him. But now she was wonderingwhat they were, what they coud’ve possibly come from when he was just17 years old at the time. She wondered if there were any new ones orif they had stopped.

Again, he reachedback and scratched like he knew she was staring. Her eyes went to hisarm, flexing naturally. Without realizing it she gave a kind smirk atthe sight of the threadbare elbows. You know…if it hadn’t been forthe awful attitude and most of the scars, he didn’t have to be thathard on the eyes.

No, Yumi. Idiot.The scars didn’t matter. It was likely that it was out of hiscontrol, too.

Something clickedin her mind that she hadn’t spent time on before. When Aelita hadcome out to them at her graduation, she had done so with Reese at herback. Reese had only spent a moment looking fondly at her before hefixated his titular fierce glare on all of them, judging, quietlyguarding her. He knew. He had known. Aelita had always been hisfriend, but Yumi had just…assumed they were dating and Aelita cameout and he accepted it.

What if he hadalways known? What if, even though Aelita said it was her idea todate, what if he agreed because he had known from the start?

What if him beingan asshole was a cover for that, for Aelita being gay? If it was,then being an asshole could’ve been a cover up for so many otherthings, not the least of which personal issues like where the scarscame from. But he never apologized, and that could mean a lot ofdifferent things. He could honestly really be an asshole toeveryone but Vivi and Aelita and was only being cordial to herbecause he had to share his bed. Or, it could’ve all been adeliberate action from the start.

All she had to dowas ask, right?

She turned her headaway to distance herself, fixating on the law books, “I meant itwhen I said I was surprised, And…Reese.”

All she heard washis breathing, but it wasn’t rhythmic enough to suggest sleep.

“I didn’t expectyou to be…you know. Matured. Responsible.”

Reese snorted, loudenough to interrupt her. Strangely she smiled at that. Him, making ajoke that he wasn’t responsible? He has changed. Or maybe softened tolet her see what Aelita and Vivi had always seen.

“I didn’t expectyou to be so immature,” Reese retorted, “Evictingyourself?”

“Long story…,”Yumi grimaced, “I went against advice and I shouldn’t have, I just.I needed an out and I chose the wrong one.”

Reese was strangelyquiet at that, then finally said, “Sure.”

He understood.

“It’s just,”Yumi struggled to continue, “You were…Really fucking awful inhigh school. And now you’re…You’ve changed a lot.”

“Maybe,” Reeseanswered, monotone, “I haven’t cared to notice.”

“No?” Yumishifted, “Don’t you remember anything, literally anything, you saidto me back then?”

“'Course I do. Isaid those things on purpose. I knew what I was doing.”

“Really…,”Yumi’s voice darkened as her chest weighed down. It almost felt likedisappointment, but she’d deal with that problematicrealization later.

“Sure.” Reesecontinued, monotone and matter-of-fact, “I didn’t want you to likeme.”

Yumi proppedherself up on her elbows, furrowing her brow as she looked over atReese. His eyes were closed as if he was or at least attempting tosleep, calm and undisturbed. The unscarred cheek was facing up, dimlylit between the lamp and whatever light poked out from behind hisdark curtains. A strong, smooth side of his face in contrast to thecrags of the scar on the other side.

“I’m sorry? Whydidn’t you want me to like you?” She very nearly spat the wordsout. What a fucking weird, strange reason to bully someone. Maybe hewas fucking with her still—she couldn’t allow herself to rule thatout. Reese remained still, except that she could see his pillow shiftever so slightly as if the hand beneath it clutched the fabric forsupport.

“You know, just.Didn’t want you to like me.” Despite having spent next to no timenear this Real Reese that Aelita had known, Yumi could sniff out alie from miles away and not knowing Reese personally made noexception. His curt repetition of the words with a hint ofdesperation to them—it was a lie. (And it scared her more torealize that if that was Reese lying, then the rest of what he saidwasn’t a lie.)

Yumi jutted hershoulders out and threw her head back in a dramatic way, changing theslight angle that she saw his face. Eyes half-lidded in disbelief andsmirk pushing her cheek up, she let a little bit of dare she say itfun enter her voice.

“Why, scared youwere gonna like me back?”

Without swallowingto gather courage, without skipping a beat, without much more thanthe same monotone he had been carrying, without opening his eyes,Reese replied, “No, I wasn’t scared of liking you because I alreadydid.”

Yumi stiffened.

What. Oh. What?

Thatmeans…exactly what he said he meant. He didn’t want her to likehim. Didn’t want there to be any chance of a relationship? Yumicouldn’t even begin to pretend it was because of Aelita, either.Reese let out a breath, settling himself farther into the mattressand satisfied that the conversation had ended.

Yumi turned herface away, staring at the space between her feet as her mind raced toconnect the dots. So, so what, was he arbitrarily saving her fromhim? How boorish. Or perhaps he wasn’t ready and didn’t want her toeven believe he liked her; still bad—actually all of these excuseswould be bad excuses, but that didn’t matter now, did it, yearslater. Perhaps he liked her, really really liked her, to thepoint where he felt like he was horrifically inadequate and that shedeserved anyone but him. She attached to that explanationimmediately. Of course she knew it was because that was exactly theway Ulrich had liked her back in the day, she couldn’t hide that fromherself. But it also seemed like the most likely situation now, eventhough Reese was so, so different than Ulrich. Ulrich had been apuppy love crush that she never got proper help getting over when hesuddenly disappeared. Reese had been…

Well. She knew whatReese had been. What Reese was like now was a mystery, though,and an infuriatingly intriguing one.

She inhaled andheld her breath for a moment, then exhaled, somewhat quick. Herstomach felt heavy from the stress of the past few weeks, her headached and it felt like her eyes had spent too much time beingwidened. Her heart in her chest was tired and sullen and unhappy,prone to making the brash decisions that got her into this mess inthe first place. Then again, maybe she had to fuck everything up andmake a mess herself so she’d know how to clean it up. Or maybe shewas justifying her actions, because despite everything there wassomething in her now that was making her feel better—this candid,no-fucks-given open-heart with Reese Anders of all people…It liftedsomething.

Or at least it madeher forget, and if Reese could be where he was now after what he hadbeen in high school, it put hope somewhere in the mess she hadbecome. She looked over at him again and his calm, still face.

Yumi leaned overand placed her lips on his cheek.

Reese faltered alittle, his green eyes flying open with shock yet he was unable tofocus them on her.

“H-Hey, that’s alittle impulsive for you,” he struggled to say. Yumi’s breaths werequickly becoming husky as she stared at how his green eyes contrastedwith his russet hair.

“I guess I’m notentirely the same that I was in high school, either.” she answeredbefore ducking down, kissing towards the corner of his lips. Reeseturned in slight motions, allowing her more and more access to hismouth until he was facing her completely. Just behind herconsciousness she was a bit surprised that he responded so smoothlyand without hesitation, but then again, maybe he hadn’t been lyingabout the feelings he had for her in high school. Even if it was wayback then, maybe he still held seeds of it in the back of his mind.

That was what shewas probably counting on from the start, anyways.

Reese turned on hisback, moving his arm to cup her face as his other took her shoulder.Unbeknownst to him Yumi anticipated his grasp and had instinctivelyshied herself away, expecting a harsh and ironclad grip on her. No,it was…shockingly gentle. Whether or not she expected harshnessbecause she was still operating on the idea that this was the ReeseAnders of the past or if it was because of past experience, shehonestly couldn’t place. Gentle, or hesitant, whatever it was, Yumifound herself slowly melt into his hands though she was still readyto freeze and pull away at a moment’s notice. Her fingers folded intothe sheets on either side of his head as she took the chance andkissed deeper.

He responded inkind, and before she knew it she pulled her hands in to hold hisface. Her fingers brushed against the splitting scar on his cheek. Itwas rough and ugly but she made a conscious effort to hold him asthough he had no scar at all. She pulled herself closer as she lethis tongue enter her mouth, straddling his waist and starting to moveto an unspoken rhythm. Heat began to radiate from between her legs;she could feel him start to harden underneath his pajamas.

Yumi pressed herhips against his, feeling his growing erection as she gently rubbedagainst him. He moaned, soft and staggered, the sound causing her tokiss him as if to feel every aspect of the sound that she could. Hethrust his hips upwards, almost on reflex, grinding in time with her.Yumi released him with a gasp, allowing his mouth to travel over herjaw, down to her neck, his lips feeling her pounding pulse. Every nowand then he’d nip, delicate, as he explored her exposed skin, handsdropping to her waist. She dug her knees into the bed, keeping himbetween her thighs.

William would’vehated it. Hated it like she was whipping him into submission withoutremorse. Every time she tried or just happened to find herself on topof him it wouldn’t last; he’d grab her wrists, toss her over, and pinher instead like it was an insult to his machismo that she would everbe on top. It wouldn’t always be such a bad thing, if he didn’t makesuch a big fucking pissy deal out of it. (which he always did, eitherduring or afterwards.) As a result her body had been trained byhabit—at any moment it was expecting to be grabbed and pinned,grabbed and pinned and robbed, essentially, of any autonomy she onceheld pride over. The scary thing was that Reese was not only muscledbut well-trained. Yumi could be the greatest martial artist ever, andshe did win most of her matches in the ring, but if he were to catchher off-guard and vulnerable, just as she was now—

Reese’s hands heldher waist firmly, pulling her forwards until she straddled more hisabdomen than his groin. She gasped again, although not quite inpleasure.

“Yumi…,”Reese uttered between pants, “You alright?”

“Wh…,”

“You, you justfroze all of the sudden,” he continued, “Rigid. Somethin’ah…something wrong?”

Yumi shivered,brought back into the present. Curling her fingers into fists, shepushed down onto Reese’s chest as she shut her eyes and regainedherself. Reese was patient even though she could just barely feel thetip of his head brushing against her buttock, separated only byfabric.

“I…,” Shefelt herself tremble, particularly at the joints of her arms as shegasped, holding herself up. Screwing her eyes shut, the cascade ofthoughts quickened. Impulsive, raw, wrong—Reese Anders was hard andhad been pawing at her, she was wet and pawing at him. Give it twominutes and they’d be fucking like wild animals with just about thesame amount of deep emotion that a rabidly fucking animal could have.That is to say—none. She should be ashamed of herself.

Reese’s handsdropped away from her, finding a non-threatening place near hischeeks as he panted, “Yumi…?”

Stop. Stop thinking.

He will let you go if you allow himto. It’s no one’s business but your own. Besides. Nothing couldpossibly be worse than the last few weeks living with William.

Nothing.

(besides, he will let you go)

(he will let you go)

With a small gaspshe curled her fingers into his hands, gripping them tight as shebent down to kiss him again. It was almost violent from thedesperation. When she broke away she was rasping, easing herself tofeel his erection in full again.

“Don’t. I don’t.I don’t wanna think right now. Don’t make me think.” She kissed himagain. Please.

He hesitated, as ifhe should challenge her words and ensure that this was what shewanted (maybe too he needed to decide if he truly wanted thishimself) but the ferocity of her mounting passion pulled him from hishesitation. She smiled against his lips as she felt his cock twitchand harden further underneath her. One hand reached down to strokehim through his pajamas, achingly gentle. Reese’s hips bucked and hestuttered on a gasp.

“Sh-Shit…,”Reese breathed, squirming as she stroked him, the heat from betweenher legs on the head of his cock. Her smile grew as he shut himselfup with a mouthful of her neck. He began to move, rolling his hipsinto her. Something akin to a purr rumbled in her throat, relishingin the sensation. It hadn’t been that long for her—who could sayhow long it had been for Reese—but somehow it already felt like itwas an oasis in a stretch of an endless desert.

Before long hecouldn’t take it anymore and he gripped her again, hands slidingunderneath the fabric of her shirt and pushing upwards to cup herbra, squeezing her breasts. Yumi began to moan, noticing how hard herheart was pounding against her sternum as his warm hands continued tomassage her. Glee caused her to bite her lip as he finally pushed herbra away and caressed her bared nipples. Undulating her spine, shearched her back. Reese huffed in complaint as her hand left his cock,but it didn’t last long as the more she arched her back the closerhis lips came to her breasts. Taking the hint, he took one in hismouth and swirled his tongue around her nipple as she pulled her nowuseless shirt and bra over her head.

Another moan as hecontinued to worship her breasts. Hooking her thumbs into thewaistband of her pants, she tried to shimmy out of them while tryingto keep contact with him as much as possible. Reese’s gasps for airwere punctuated with animalistic grunts, reacting to her undressingon a primal level. His hands followed the lithe form of her body toher hips, finding their place near her own hands to help tear off herpants.

He shuddered as herclothes became a rumpled pile on the floor, hands shaking as theyhovered over her heated skin while he gazed at her body in full. Thetrembling of his fingers barely touching her skin caused goosebumpsand she shivered in kind. Yumi sucked in a breath and pressed hereager, pulsing entrance against his shaft, still constrained by hispajamas. Reese jerked in shock, his body curling up into her.

“J-Jesus,y…You’re actually—Y-You’re really…,”

“W-Wet?” Yumifinished for him, fingers curling at his chest into the fabric of histhermal shirt. She felt the bridge of his nose against her pulse ashe heaved breaths to try and control himself, “Of course I am,”

She was going toadd an insult, some sharp ending to her statement, but she swallowedit with the realization that he had confessed a teenaged crush onher, not the other way around—there was no discernible reason toeither of them why she should be so—so turned on. Hell, she hardlyunderstood it herself, but that was why she demanded that she didn’twant to be made to think right now. She pulled back, staring at him,his skin flushed and beaded with sweat.

Yeah. That was allthat should matter right now.

His thermal shirtcame off with her help, and she pushed him back onto the bed, handsrunning down his chest and abs until they pressed against hiswaistband. As she curled her fingers over his pajamas she continuedto tease his cock with her entrance. Small whimpers escaped him, andshe couldn’t help but grin mischievously as his upper body jerked andshivered involuntarily. Yumi leaned forward.

“Hey,” shewhispered huskily, her hot breath on his neck. Her hands continued tomove, pulling his pants down and exposing his erection, “I’m notthe only one that’s got something to show for this,”

Reese let out agasp, and although no coherent words came out she could tell it wasfull of pining he had stashed away for the better part of forever.For her sake. Funny, that. Yumi ran her fingers down his throbbingshaft, breathing deep and rhythmic, the opposite of how Reese wasbreathing. There was no time to stop and tease him anymore, though,because with the heat of his cock in the palm of her hand she felther entrance quiver with anticipation (the likes of which she hadn’tfelt since, well, since she was used to being alone and fantasizing.)Whether or not she wanted this was no longer in her mind, because herbody was taking over and she swore she could feel herself drippingover him. With a long, deep exhale, she guided his shaft between herlegs.

He gripped her,hard, like he was afraid she was just going to get up and walkaway, dissipate into thin air or something. She bit her lip again,feeling his fingers digging into her flesh. It felt good, somehow, tobe this needed on an instinctual level. To be this neededyet he was willing to let her go, let her be if she needed it.After all, she was still hesitating, hand on his cock, entrancehovering just above him. He was patient but making small, patheticnoises, waiting for her.

One night stand,she told herself in her head, building that courage she needed, Justa one night stand.

Buildingthat courage to lose herself. Listen to her own instincts.

It’s okay. Justa one night stand.

Instinctsthat told him to fuck him. Hard. Fuck him like the rabid animal shewanted to fuck him like. Maybe it hadn’t started from a tender placeat all, maybe it disguised itself as tender, or maybe the two wereintertwined and it was impossible to separate them.

Nomatter.

Shelet her instincts take over, to his stuttered, intense gasp of shockthat pitched into a low, satisfied groan as she had him enter her.Though his grip remained vice-like, he let her set the pace. Itdidn’t stay slow for long.

Howlong they stayed coupled together, fucking rough and hard but somehowalso without fear or the feeling of being conquered, it was hard tosay. Yumi just knew it had been an impossibly long time since she hadseen clearly, so lost in the sensation of his cock inside her, hishands clawing and gripping as he leaned upwards so his mouth couldkeep kissing at her breasts and nipping at her skin. At one point shebecame focused on the muscles of her arm, taut as she supportedherself against the bed, beaded with sweat shared with Reese’sshoulder against it. The warm light of the lamp on the bedside tablelulled her into the rhythm of their thrusting and her vision blurredagain.

Shegasped in shock, feeling her pleasure mount and her moans became moreurgent, desperate as did her hips. He felt it as she did, and,redoubling his efforts, she felt his hot breath cool the sweat on herbreasts until he kissed her again, teeth clamping on the muscle aboveher collar to anchor himself. She came, with a loud cry that shecouldn’t stop or stifle. Reese thrust two more times as her wallstightened against him in need, and on the third thrust she felt hismuscles tighten with a small grunt. In the limbo between orgasm andafterglow she relished in the warmth that filled her insides fromhim. His grip went from vice-like to firm, then to soft as he loweredhimself back onto the sweat-drenched sheets. Yumi panted, limbstrembling and hair sticking to her cheeks. Eyelids fluttering untilshe could keep them halfway open, she gazed down at him as he pantedagainst his pillow, eyes closed in afterglow.

Asmall adjustment and she felt his seed drip out down her leg. Well.There had been a reason she had gotten an IUD in the first place. Shecouldn’t say it was quite a feeling of relief in the moment, though.

Tootired to dwell on anything else, Yumi gingerly pulled herself offhim, lowering her body back to where she had started. With a smallgrunt Reese shifted, giving her more room, before groggily proppinghimself up and reaching over her. She watched with her half-liddedgaze as his arm shadowed her once again. The lamp clicked off, andReese settled back down, then turned to face the wall away from her,back to where he started.

“Hey…,”she rasped after a while, “I…didn’t mean…you know.”

Reeseresponded only in breaths, loud and still coming down off of theexcitement.

“Just…usedto making mistakes right now,” she continued, “So—before eitherof us pretend this didn’t happen, I just wanted to be clear that it,it felt—,”

Reesemoved, interrupting her. Though he still faced the wall he reachedback, blind as all hell, and groped about until he found her hand.Askew and awkward, he wrapped his fingers around her and squeezed.

“—Good,”she finished with a small gasp of surprise, “It felt good. In themoment.”

“Yeah,”Reese agreed, his voice soft and sincere. Yumi couldn’t stop a smileas his grip loosened and his hand fell to a much more comfortableposition before he fell asleep. She was soon to follow.

Yumiwoke with a terrified start as the door opened and shut. In the bareblue dark of the very early morning, she heard shuffling until theperson that had entered the room clambered onto the bed, messilywedging themself between her and Reese. Fear made her heart poundbefore logic kicked in and she realized that Aelita had come home,somehow bringing the faint sound of a club with her. The girl curledup in an already-hungover manner, gurgling something that she sworewas supposed to be language. Finally Aelita settled down in the onlywarm room in the entire house—made only warmer now that threepeople were in it and all in the same bed.

Twominutes of silence went by, then Reese moved, blindly reaching downand tugging at the covers as he readjusted himself. Bringing theblankets up to cover Aelita, he muttered into the dark.

“Takeout’sin the fridge.”

Aelitareplied, definitelyalreadyhungover, “Oh, thankgod.G'night Reese.”

Thegirl poked Yumi in the small of her naked back. Yumi’s eyes flewopen, suddenly realizing that the both of them were still verynakedand the room and bedsheets probably absolutely reekedofwhat they had done hours before.

“Youtoo, Yumi.”

Shestayed awake from the pure force of her embarrassment until themid-morning sun shone through the window.

#iwry #NSFW #smut #drabble #reesumi #implied poly #lololololol

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reese-anders · 7 years

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in the meantime i’ll change my icon to something from chapter 18, cheery cheers

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reese-anders · 7 years

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Ooh, another prompt thing if you want - Dandelions.

i’ve started to bounce around all these prompts as the come to me, sorry if you’re kept waiting! :V

this drabble will become incrementally way more important when jim has his Moment much later in IWRY. THAT BEING SAID, this is very much almost entirely just a Code Lyoko oneshot, with Ulrich’s disappearance being a minor detail.

Pre-Reese Anders dad!jim and aelita!

Jim yawned, scratching his side. Thepast week had been blistering heat, and since only him and one otherstudent remained in the building, it seemed foolish to turn on theair conditioning—especially since they resided on different floors.He had lent Aelita Stones a box fan to use, and instructed her quitesternly (to her hidden smile) to keep a water bottle full at alltimes. With ice. Several water bottles. In fact the minute she sippedwater from a bottle (which should be all minutes) she should refillit at once, to keep from dehydrating.

Nonetheless, at the first sign of heatexhaustion, he promised he’d turn the air conditioning on for theboth of them. Aelita insisted that she was fine, stating that she hadlived part of her life in a desert. Jim nodded but didn’t askquestions; after all the very second she complained he would switchit on. She was a sweet and smart girl—if it wasn’t for the factthat she hung around Jeremie’s gang to rack up an innumerable amountof absences, she might’ve been the perfect student. But he figuredthere was no such thing as a perfect student anyways, especially notin a boarding school where secrets were hard to keep even among thebestest of friends.

It was strange, though—Aelita neverwent home for vacations, and to this day he still didn’t know why.Then again she never mentioned any parents whatsoever, only that shewas Odd’s cousin. His nose smelled trouble or tragedy, perhaps both,and he never brought it up in conversation. All kinds of kids cameand went through Kadic and he had heard all kinds of stories. It wasnever a good idea to ask. (And, of course, asking her why she nevermeant home meant she could prompt him with the same question, andhe’d rather not have to explain that.)

He gotup out of the lumpy mattress he keeps telling himself he needs tonotify Delmas of to get replaced, but it always slipped his mindeither way. The morning sun shone valiantly through the gaps of hisblinds, finally not as brutally hot as it had been. Feeling refreshedif still a bit groggy, he set to work readying the hot plate andskillet for breakfast. A champion’s breakfast he always called it: atwo-egg omelette, croissants he got from the bakery down the street,tartine and jam, and of course, café crème. Everything was set, but he couldn’t begin cooking, notwithout Aelita awake. He kept a relatively early schedule though hedidn’t set alarms on vacation. Seven in the morning, or around thenas usual—but he let Aelita wake up whenever she would, usually anhour or two after him. Still, munching on one of the croissants, hesat down and flicked his tiny television on. Morning news, sportsreviews—it gathered his attention for as long as he got theinformation he needed before he flicked through and found somethingineteresting. An old black and white film had his attention for awhile, classy but outdated. When it became clear he had missedsomething vital from the plot, he flipped over again. Slapstickcartoon, to a game show, then finally to an overly dramatic naturedocumentary for kids. He settled back for a while, letting it runcomplacently.

Thedocumentary ran out and he finally glanced at the time. 9:58, wellpast the time Aelita should’ve woken up. Concerned but not yetworried, Jim sighed, brushing the crumbs of the croissant from hisbeaten tank top and got up, letting the TV run as he padded barefootout and up the stairs to the girls’ floor. All the while he playedwhat he’d do in his head; go up, knock on her door, ask if she’sawake, wait for an answer. Likely she just stayed up late talking toone of her friends and was sleeping in longer than usual.

“Stones?It’s way past time you’re usually awake. You in there?”

Silence.Jim knocked again, lazily, “I got breakfast ready to start wheneveryou are. The usual, a champion’s breakfast.”

Moresilence.

Now Jimwas worried. Even his regular speaking voice was loud—it had to bein order for him to be a gym teacher. And his knocks were not gentle,either, like it or not. It was possible she could’ve gone offgrounds—she had done so before, but very rarely without telling himand usually she’d check in as soon as she got back, or leave a noteon her door or something. Jim’s brows furrowed, and his hand droppedto the door handle. One last chance, and then he’d deem it worryenough that he should enter.

“Aelita?”he raised his voice, rapping his knuckles the way he did only when hewas upset with a student, “I’m going to open the door if you don’tanswer…,”

Still,silence.

Jimsucked in a breath and turned the handle, finding it unlocked. Heopened the door only a crack, “Okay? Opening the door?”

Noresponse. Sucking in a breath became biting down on the insides ofhis cheeks, and he swung the door open.

“Stones!Aelita!” Jim gasped,shouldering the door aside as he barged into the room and dropped tohis knees. The girl was splayed uncomfortably on the floor, still inher pajamas. He reached a hand out to her shoulder, ready to shakeher awake when he stopped, smelling the urine in the air and seeingremnants of froth and vomit near her mouth despite being obscured byher hair.

“Ohno…,” he breathed, “Oh no, kid, you’ve gotta be kiddin’ me!”

It wasno secret that she suffered from seizures, but no onehad been around for this one. With the way her body was positioned itwas very likely she had fallen to the floor, quite possibly hittingher head. If that was the case, this called for an emergency.Checking her pulse first and foremost, Jim started franticallypatting for pockets, forgetting they were pajama pants—forgettinghe was in his pajamasand did not have a phone on him to call an ambulance. Panickingthough her heart beat steady, his mind raced to the next option:Aelita’s phone had to be here in her room, perhaps plugged into thewall and charging. It took him a while to locate it, even though herdesk was only comfortably cluttered instead of an actual mess. Tornbetween staying at her side and reaching for the phone, Jim awkwardlystretched, trying to reach it without getting up off of the floor. Hewas quite honestly failing at it, and was just about to scoff andstand up when Aelita stirred beside him.

“Mmmuh…,”she mumbled, weak. Jim scooted back to give her air, tapping herlightly on the shoulder. She stirred further, trembling as she triedto work her muscles, and rolled onto her back. Hair plastered to herface in ugly strands, still covering her features. Without meaningto, Jim took notice of the large urine stain that spread from herpants to the floor and what looked to be parts of the sheets of herbed too. The seizure must have happened soon after she awakened, andwith a full bladder to expel—no wonder the room smelled sostrongly. Gulping, he looked back to Aelita as she slowly came to.

“Jim…?”she bluntly asked, no emotion, monotonous, “What’re…you…,”

“Youuh, didn’t come down for breakfast,” he carefully tried to explain,“And when you didn’t answer I deemed it an emergency and uh, openedthe door.”

“Huh,ah…?” Aelita grimaced, raising a trembling hand to peel the hairfrom her face, “Uh…I think…I think I…,”

“Hada seizure?” Jim filled in, eyes flicking back to the urine stain,“Looks like it, kid. How are you…feeling?”

“I…don’tknow…,” she answered without much contemplation. Her facescrunched in pain. Jim’s brows arced in deep worry.

“Didyou hit your head on the way down?”

“DidI…?” she asked, unsure. Jim frowned.

“Alright.I think it’s time for a trip to the infirmary.”

“But…isn’tYolanda…,”

Usuallyimpatient, Jim softly answered her, since she couldn’t be blamed forher confused state, “Not when she’s on vacation, Stones,”

“Oh.Right.” Aelita muttered. Jim stood up.

“Canyou ah…clean yourself up? Enough to go to the clinic?”

“I’mreally tired,” Aelita turned away, the slightest bit of emotion(that is, exhausted tears) in her voice. Jim shook his head.

“Youcan sleep later, we gotta get you checked out—you don’t know howlong it lasted or if you hit your head, and if these seizures aregonna start happening in the morning, we’re gonna have to let theprincipal know. Okay?”

Aelitawas quiet for so long he feared she had drifted back off to sleep(and she may have, if only for a moment), but she finally agreed. Jimgave her ten minutes to put on unsoiled clothes as he himself gotdressed, and then led her out to a cab to the clinic. It occurred tohim he hadn’t even shaved that morning—didn’t even take off theband-aid from the previous day. At this point it didn’t matter, justlike the unmade breakfast sitting near the hotplate and the TV heonly turned off after nearly forgetting to when he was about to goout and meet Aelita for the cab.

Aelitacurled up into a messy ball in the waiting room while Jim crossed hislarge arms. In her hands was her phone, and she slowly but surelytexted when she could. The buzzing noise when a friend responded toher became part of the background noise of the clinic which wasshowing more of the game show Jim had skipped earlier.

“Yousure you should be staring at a screen after that?” He asked, alittle too gruffly. Fortunately Aelita was still so exhausted andmonotonous, if he had hit a nerve it was hard to tell.

“Dunno,”she answered, “But it’s keeping me awake.”

Jimsnorted, but let her be, picking up a men’s health magazine that hadan overly-sculpted shirtless model on the cover. He kept glancingover to Aelita, making sure she was awake for the nurse when theyeventually came. More than once he thought about nudging her when helooked over and saw her eyes closed, but soon after her phone wouldbuzz and she’d tighten her features a little as she picked it up,opening her eyes only to read—closing them to type, opening toproofread, then send, then back to simply dozing.

Shewas a good kid. Probably knew what was happening to her and how tohandle it better than anyone. But still he had to make sure.

Finallya nurse entered, holding a clipboard and wearing a bright smile.Jim’s heart skipped a beat as he realized the paperwork he’d have tofill out for this incident since it happened on school grounds underhis jurisdiction, vacation or not. Well—that was a problem forlater, and likely for only when Delmas and the rest of theadministration got back. He’d just make a mental note of the eventsand recall them later. Still, he spoke to the nurse when the nurseasked him questions, and upon realizing that Jim was simply ateacher/groundskeeper that Aelita was with at the boarding school,the nurse turned back to Aelita and began asking if her parents knewabout this particular incident yet.

Jimquickly jerked his chin outwards, miming the cut-throat symbol eventhough the nurse kept talking. The nurse didn’t catch on initially,as he had to ask the questions no matter what, but when he did, helooked at Jim quizzically. It was hard to tell if Aelita was payingattention, but Jim tried to convey with just his frenzied expressionthat parents was a no-go onsubject matter. The nurse cocked an eyebrow, shutting his mouth as hecalculated Jim’s overdone miming and held his clipboard straight up,changing the subject. Jim settled back down into his seat. Good.

“I’llwait out here,” he told Aelita as the nurse beckoned for her tocome to the examination room with him. Aelita nodded, a little off,like a robot would nod. Good enough.

Hestared at the magazine, not really reading or seeing much of thepictures as his head worried about Aelita. This coming school yearwould mark the fourth year since their tight group of friends lost amember soon after Aelita started going to Kadic. At first heconsidered it to be a win-some, lose-some, but it had affected thegroup deeply, to the point where he simply just didn’t bring it upafter realizing how bringing up Stern’s absence brought a heavy cloudover their heads. Even the usually optimistic screwball Odd wasdestroyed whenever his name was brought out in the open. If anythingthe one who seemed to have it the most together was Aelita, though itwasn’t for any lack of sadness, it seemed. Like she was the glueholding them together, at times.

Takethe sudden disappearance of a close friend, the lack of parents orany close family (so it seemed), and her weak health, and the factthat Aelita remained cordial at all seemed like a miracle. Then againit’s not like Jim saw the inside of her head, nor even read the textsshe sent to friends. He felt the frown on his face go from neutral togenuinely upset thinking about it. He was a gruff man and rarely setaside real time for one-on-one with students that weren’t starathletes (and Aelita was far from it; he could tell from thefrustration on her face that she wished she was better, but, doctor’sorders, nurse’s orders—she couldn’t force her body to do what itwouldn’t do) but perhaps, since Aelita wound up spending so much timearound him, it might’ve been wise to start offering her opportunitiesto open up. Just be an ear, something else other than the glare ofher phone screen and the driving echo chamber teenaged friends couldbe.

Notthat he thought little of her friends—of all the groups he had seencome and go, he had never known one as tightly knit as her and herfriends, all together. He was sure there was something behind whythat was, but there was always a feeling in his gut that he shouldn’tget too carried away from it. A strange, alien sense that he couldn’texplain. Perhaps it had been why Ulrich had left, or at least thereason why they were so devastated.

Thetrain of thought pulled to a stop as Aelita wandered back out intothe waiting room. Jim set the magazine aside and stood up, offeringassistance since she still seemed exhausted and weak. She didn’tconfirm nor deny, so Jim simply kept himself close to her if sheswayed too far.

“Iguess it’s no real business of mine,” Jim said as the cab drovethem back to Kadic, “But uh, what’d the doctor say?”

“Rest,rest, rest, and more rest,” Aelita muttered, curled on the backseatmuch like she had been in the waiting room, “But she might adjustmy meds, or dosage, or something.”

“So,do you need to go back?”

“Probably.”

“Uh,”Jim grunted, “How will you know?”

“She’llcall me.”

Jimnodded. The rest of the ride was quiet.

Upongetting back Jim set her up in his room, turning the TV back on at alow volume and handing her the tartine and jam on a paper plate. Sheseemed to not be aware enough that it was—fairly weird to let astudent nestle into his couch while he left her alone, which wasprobably best as he had taken it upon himself to clean the mess herseizure left behind. Her pajamas were in a pile next to the door, andthe whole room stank of urine and vomit. Rolling up his sleeves andtucking his shirt into his pants, Jim carried cleaning supplies intoAelita’s dorm and set to work. Taking her sheets off the bed andpiling it with her pajamas, Jim sprayed and cleaned everything hecould. Of course she just happened to have a rug over the floor, sohis job was made more difficult as he poured over antiquatedgroundskeeper instructions for various cleaners, scrubbing hard andfilling the room with enough cleaners and air fresheners until hecould smell none of the offending odors. Finally taking her sheetsand clothes and putting them in the washer, he went back down to hisroom.

Aelitawas firmly passed out, TV still on and food half-eaten. His mouthtwisted into a small frown, but it untwisted to a relieved but tiredsigh. He left her a note, taped to the paper plate, and shut the doorquietly. Nothing to do now but busywork.

Outsidein the pleasantly warm sun he began weeding, starting with the pottedplants and gardens and working his way to the areas flush up againstthe buildings where the riding lawnmowers couldn’t reach.Particularly near the science building overlooking his own track andsoccer field there grew a thick row of dandelions, brilliant gold inthe happy sun. Jim began plucking them without thought, throwing themin piles next to him.

Ashadow came over his hand and he looked over his shoulder. Aelitastood, still looking exhausted, watching him work.

“Stones,you should be in bed or something. Your room is all clean, yoursheets and pajamas in the wash.”

“Thanks,”she said, her voice finally gaining some tone to it so she at leastsounded as tired and grateful as she looked, “Do you need help?”

Jimscoffed and turned back to weeding, “Absolutely not. The doctorordered rest, and that’s exactly what you’re gonna do, and that’salso exactly what I intend to have you going to d—going to—intendto have you do.” He scoffed again as if he hadn’t just tripped overhis words and almost gone on a rant again. He did not look back tosee her small smile.

“It’snot too much, I could handle plucking a few flowers.”

“Keepat it, Stones, and I’ll order you back to your room, vacation or no!”he used his drill sergeant shout, full well knowing it wouldn’taffect Aelita at all. But the threat—rather the promise—was real,if she kept insisting on helping.

But heheard her sigh, watching her shadow as she reached up and pulled herlong pink hair into a ponytail. Then she sat, quiet. Feeling weirdafter she didn’t move and he kept weeding, he looked back over hisshoulder again to see if she was staring. It was not exactly a prettysight, him out here like this, bent over and likely showing more thanhe intended around the waistband.

Butno, she was just quietly taking the dandelions he had discarded andweaving them together, entertaining herself while she soaked up thesunlight.

Hethought about making a comment, asking what she was doing, giving herthat opportunity to open up like he had been thinking about, butinstead he pretended like he didn’t notice her, continuing to work insilence as the sun shone.

#code lyoko #jim morales #aelita stones #aelita #iwry #drabble

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