#I mean she knew from the BEGINNING that Carmen wasn’t the bad guy

[sukipershipper]

Forgive and Forget...?

The former champion slammed his locker door shut, almost breaking it off its hinges and echoing throughout the locker room. He leaned his body against the locker and stared down at the floor. Tears stung his eyes as he held back angry sobs, only able to let out dry and heavy huffs. This couldn’t have just happened. He couldn’t have just lost his title! The one he had worked so hard for all those years. 

He couldn’t go back home like this. Empty handed. A nothing. A husk…what would his family think? That he lost all of his hard work, That he had failed in pursuit of his goal he boasted of with such pride…That his father was right…

What would Carmen think? What should she think of him now that she knew he was lying? 

He remembered what Tiger had screamed at him, during the fight that ended it all. He remembered seeing the pained and saddened face of Bear watching in the background while protecting a confused and slightly dazed Hondo on the floor. He remembered the growl in Tiger’s voice, how his eyes and gem glowed ever so slightly the angrier he got.

He remembered the scathing words Tiger had left with him, now imprinted in his mind. 

“I CAN’T BELIEVE I EVER FELT BAD FOR YOU! I HOPE YOU REALLY DO END UP LOSING, I HOPE YOU LOSE AND YOUR WHOLE PLAN BLOWS UP IN YOUR SELFISH FACE. I HOPE YOU LOSE AND THEN MAYBE YOU’LL REALIZE HOW ALONE YOU’VE JUST MADE YOURSELF BECAUSE YOU DON’T DESERVE ANYONE…NOT ANYMORE!!”

He shivered at the thought, knowing he was right. His anger had isolated him from his family, his jealousy tore him away from his friends and now his dishonesty was going to tear him from the woman he so desperately thought to keep…

He truly was all alone now.

He brought his hand up and clasped it over his mouth, trying in vain to muffle the sobs that escaped from his mouth. Alas, it wasn’t enough to hide them from a young boxer’s curious ears. 

-------

Mac had tried to dip away from the press and the overbearing support he was getting from his former opponents and friends on the side. Hell, even Doc’s affirmations were beginning to drive the boy a little nuts, despite how much he loved them. After this much attention, he began to feel quite overwhelmed, so he found himself making up an excuse to go and grab his gear from the locker rooms when he heard a loud slam coming from inside. 

He carefully made his way in, ears drawn to the sound of faint sobs and heavy breathing. He peeked around the corner to see his previous opponent leaning against the lockers, his whole body trembling. Mac’s eyes widened at the sight. Just before he had been fighting this man, he was proud, strong, he didn’t look like he had a fear in the world.

But looking at him now? This…this couldn’t be the same man.

Mac knew the guy was full of himself. He had heard many of the other Major Circuit fighters tell him about Don’s outbursts and cocky nature. He had witnessed a lot of it for himself in the ring…but a part of him didn’t want to leave him like this. He knew that it was going to be a lost cause, but he wanted to at least try.

He made his way around the corner, shuffling his feet slightly before wincing and announcing his presence. A bad idea as Don almost immediately turned around and nearly hooked him. Mac swiftly dodged the attack and his opponent’s fist instead collided with one of the locker doors. Don winced in pain as he growled at Mac, eyes red and flared as he glared at the boy. 

“¡Hijo de puta! ¿Qué demonios estás haciendo, chico?” he spoke through gritted teeth. Mac put his hands up defensively, “I-I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to startle you…I…I just-” he began to explain before he was sharply cut off by Don.

“I don’t care! Leave me alone!” he yelled, turning away, “You’ve already ruined my life…what else do you hope to gain!?” 

“Ruined your…I’m sorry, I’m confused…” Mac said, caught off guard by Don’s words. He carefully approached the Spaniard, though still kept some distance between them in case Don chose to strike again. Don sighed, slumping back against the lockers and sliding downwards, his knees brought to his face as he tried to hide away from the boy. “Just…leave me alone…” he said, defeatedly. 

Mac shook his head, “Not until I learn what’s up with you…” he said, sitting down on the floor next to the other, crossing his legs and looking at Don with visible concern. Don didn't look back.

"Look, I came in here to check on ya…I-I don't wanna start any trouble…" Mac explained. Don scoffed at the comment, causing Mac's eyebrows to furrow. "Hey, I know we aren't on great terms but that's no excuse to lash out at your friends!" He exclaimed, "Don't think I didn't hear that scrap you had with the others earlier-"

"You know NOTHING of what happened there!"

"I know enough to know you were acting like a dickhead and now you've gone and lost your friends-"

Don slammed his fist against the locker and grabbed the boy by his collar, screaming "YOU THINK I DON'T KNOW THAT!?" He said, tears stinging his eyes once again.

"I HAVE NO ONE, NO FRIENDS, NO FAMILY, NO LOVE, I LOST IT ALL TONIGHT!!" He cried through sobs, "I CAME TO THIS PLACE TO MAKE MYSELF, TO PROVE TO MY FAMILY I COULD BE MORE…MORE THAN JUST…A dumb little matador who just feels like he's…nobody…" Don felt tears pour from his eyes as he loosened his grip on Mac's collar and leaned his head up against the lockers. Mac gently moved Don's hand off his shirt and leaned in to give the Spaniard a slightly awkward hug. 

It was like the hug your sibling would give you if you had gotten in trouble from your parents. Awkward and stiff, but admittedly comforting.

Even after everything, the minute Don felt Mac lean against him, he slowly brought his hand upwards and onto the boy's head, bringing him closer. 

Mac could feel Don's heart pounding against his chest, the way it moved as he took sharp breaths to try and calm himself down. Mac simply sat there, wrapping his arm as best as he could around Don. 

Don sniffled before looking down at the boy. "I-I'm…I'm so s-sorry, niño…" He said through his tears, "Lo siento por todo... N-No quería…"  He paused, shaking his head, "I just…wanted to prove I could be more…I wanted so badly to prove my dad wrong…he told me…Tú no eres nada…he called me nothing…"

Mac's eyes softened as he looked up at the older man. His heart hurt hearing that. How could someone call their own child nothing?

"That was when I told him I would take on boxing…almost five years ago now he had disowned me and…I had made my way to America with Mi abuelo…" Don continued, "...the people I had met here…my friends in the Major Circuit…Hugger gave me food, Tiger gave me a room…they took me in…they made me Don Flamenco…they gave me so much hope…so much drive!...I had never felt so happy, so satisfied a-and proud of my achievement!"

The older boxer sighed, looking upwards at the ceiling. "They gave me everything…and I turned my back on them…all because of…of a hairline and a record…" Don said through gritted teeth. Mac didn't say anything, he only continued to look upwards in thought.

There was quite a lot to unpack here. He had known Don's home life wasn't spectacular-- he'd heard of it through Aran though so he did take it with a grain of salt-- but hearing this now, what he went through, what he was called…it didn't excuse any of what he did but it definitely opened Mac's eyes to why.

He sighed, Mac parted away from the hug and cleared his throat. "Don," he began, grabbing the Spaniards attention, "Look…I…I can't excuse what you did…it's obviously something that you need to be held accountable for…"

Don sighed, nodding in agreement. "I know…" He mumbled. Mac hummed, "...however…I can't fault you for feeling like everything you worked hard for was coming undone…" He explained, "...you obviously know failure…and you're scared…scared of failing again…"

Don looked at the boy with widened eyes. He had never expected to hear such words from a boy his age…Doc obviously taught him that. 

"You don't want to fail again, so anytime you feel close to falling you lash out and bring others down to make you feel…some sense of power…make yourself feel like you are perfect…but all you do is lose who you really are…why you really do what you do…"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, the goal for all of us in the beginning is to prove our worth to the world…" Mac explained, "...to show we are worthy to fight…but the longer we work here the more we find that our goal can…change…and it's no longer to prove our worth to the world…but to ourselves…make new goals…new paths…"

"Psh, it's easy for you" Don scoffed, "You're still young! You have all the time left in the world! I’m 23 and I still don’t have my shit figured out!...” 

The older boxer scanned the younger one up and down. He gave a quick hum and turned away. “Eres un niño pequeño... no sabes lo que es tener el peso de tu mundo y de tu hogar sobre tus hombros…” he said, “...You don’t know the pressure WE have…us who grow up knowing nothing but perfection…setting a precedent…an example!...”

“Better to grow up knowing A life surrounded by SOMETHING than having nothing at all…”

“...Yeah…I know…”

The room fell silent for a while as the two boxers leaned back against the lockers. Mac looked slightly towards the older one. His eyes showed someone who was truly on his last legs, or as Don himself put it before: alone. 

It hurt Mac seeing this and despite the hostility earlier, he knew Don was hurting as well. The younger one wanted to help but as he went to speak, he turned his eyes upwards to the clock hanging on the wall just opposite to where they sat. It was getting late and Doc was probably gonna be looking for him. He had heard the man once joke about sending a search and rescue squad out for him but honestly, he did believe it to some extent. However, as much as he knew he should go, part of him wanted to stay behind and continue comforting his opponent. 

He started shuffling ever so slightly to let Don know he was getting up to leave. The other boxer only glanced at him with a saddened expression and huffed. “...Just go, Mac…I know you want to…” he said. Mac shook his head, “N-no, please don’t take it like-”

“It’s fine…” Don interrupted, “You’ve been good company for me…even after all that I said and did…” he turned finally to look at the boy, his eyes red from tears, his cheeks stained black from the mascara, and his lips turned into a small smile. Mac stared in surprise before his lips curled upwards into a grin, putting his hand out for the other to shake. Don didn’t move but soon he brought his hand outwards to meet the boys, firmly grasping it on his own and shaking it up and down.

Mac stood up to leave, just as the locker room door opened and footsteps echoed across the floor. He quickly looked to his locker, putting in his combination and quickly opening it, grabbing his bag before he locked it again. In good time, as he saw the two oldest of the Major Circuit make their way in.

“Hey, Macky,” Bear Hugger began, his voice low and quiet, “Mind if we get a few minutes alone with Donny ‘ere? Yer old man is looking for ya anyhow, best go check on him, eh?” he asked with a small smile. Mac nodded, turning back to look at Don who didn’t dare to look at the newcomers, his eyes instead turned away in embarrassment and shame as he continued to gaze at the floor beside him. The young boy sighed, “Please,” he whispered, “Go easy on him”

“We make no promises…” Tiger said bluntly, resulting in a light nudge from Bear.

Don didn’t respond. 

Mac went to leave, but before he turned the corner he quickly called back to Don. “Hey, Flamenco!” he called, causing Don to finally turn his attention from the floor to the young boy. “Thank you for the match, I’m really honored to have fought alongside you…” he said, smiling at the Spaniard. Don slowly smiled back, saluting the boy as he spoke “...y lo mismo aquí, gracias por una lucha maravillosa…hermano…”

With that, Mac stepped out of the locker room, bag slung over his back and walking towards the exit where he saw Doc waiting, Disco stood beside him along with…a gangly looking red headed man? Who seemed to laugh maliciously as he saw him approach…

-----

Don simply sat on the floor, staring at his…ex-friends…

In his mind, he tried to think of the words to say. Something, anything that could fix what he had done…nothing more could come to mind but a simple ‘sorry’...it wasn’t good enough…it would never be good enough…not for what he put them through this whole time…

The older two watched as Don slowly rose from the ground. He held his elbows in his hands and stared at the three with woeful eyes. “Look,” he began, “I…” he trailed off, thinking of the best way to word what he wanted to say. “Words…words cannot express the sorrow and regret I feel right now…I know I don’t deserve your pity…but you absolutely deserve my apologies…” he said in a meek voice. 

“I never meant to drag my problem out this much…I never meant to cause this much harm to any of you!” He admitted, his voice raising ever so slightly. “I don’t expect you to forgive me or even talk to me anymore…I am not deserving of your friendship…but just know that…I am sorry, and I am going to change…I’m just upset it took me so long to admit it…”

At that moment, the world stood still. Don looked between the three men, who all shared their own looks of skepticism and pondered their next move. Luckily, the world began to speed up once again as Bear began to advance towards Don. The younger boy involuntarily flinched, wanting to recoil but found himself being swept into a hug, Bear Hugger’s arms pulling him in close. Don stood in shock as he tried to process what was happening. 

“E…Ellie?” he asked quietly, his voice like a whisper. Bear only hugged him more, sniffling with a smile as he whispered back “It’s okay…”

Don’s eyes widened and his face lit up as he heard those words, watching as Tiger soon came around the other side to hug him, “...just happy you finally found some sense” he joked as he parted from the hug and held Don’s head in his hand. Don took a moment, staring at the two in disbelief. As he stood there, his feelings soon overwhelmed him.

His cheeks became flushed as his body began to shudder and he leaned inwards to Tiger’s shoulder. “I-I’m so so-o-orry…!” he cried as he tried to hug the two, “I-I never m-meant to…oh god…!” he cried, his voice choked and quiet. “Hey, hey, hey,” Bear said, lifting the younger man’s head up with his hand, “We already forgave you…” he said softly, “...even Haru does…”

Tiger nodded profusely, “And we should’ve been a little more understanding…I-I didn’t mean to say what I said…you don’t deserve to be alone…no one ever does! I just-”

“No, no, you had every right to say what you did…I was horrible…my past does not excuse my actions and behavior in the present…but I really do mean it, I am going to work to be better…I realize my path now…” Don interrupted, smiling at the older two with gratitude. “...Thank you two…for being by me…despite everything I did…”

“We all have regrets kid…but we’re here for you, no matter what…” Bear said, tightening his embrace around the spaniard. Tiger did the same, hugging Don from the back, “...and we love you, little brother…we love you…”

Don gave a soft chuckle as he smiled, resting in the warm embrace of his friends. 

“I love you too…”

#punch out #punchout #punch out wii #punch out!! #don flamenco #little mac #bear hugger #great tiger #fic #long story #angst

[breezykiwi14]

Am I wrong thought? Jules owns all of Acme’s brain cells and despite how hard she tries no one else ever wants to use them until she’s gone.

#like seriously #how many bad things wouldn’t have happened if they just listened to Julia #I mean she knew from the BEGINNING that Carmen wasn’t the bad guy #and don’t even get me started on Stockholm #acme just doesn’t respect their brain cells so they ended up loosing them #at least Carmen (plus team red) love and appreciate their Jules #at least chase eventually drinks his respecting woman juice and understands #julethief #julia argent #carulia #carmen sandiego #carmen sandeigo 2019 #carmen sandeigo netflix #team red #acme #carmen #jules #chase devineaux

[acmetraitor]

the art of evasion

“You two did a lot together,” Hawkins says outside the coliseum in Rome, and that draws Jules out of her reminiscing, draws her away from the memory of Carmen’s victorious smirk when they finally slapped the cuffs on the boss of that smuggling operation. “What happened? I mean, why did she leave ACME?”

“...Maybe I’ll tell you sometime,” Jules manages to reply around the rising lump in her throat. “For now, let’s concentrate on tracking her down.”

It’s easier to dodge the question than to admit she has no idea.

~

Carmen was always a loose cannon, even back when she worked for ACME.

Once, on a stakeout in the dead of night, she and Jules trailed a suspect to a warehouse where the heads of a trafficking ring were temporarily hiding out. Carmen peeked inside to survey the situation while Jules called the Chief to send backup, but any teams were at least two hours away and the culprits were already in the process of clearing out.

“There’s no time,” Carmen concluded. “We have to catch these guys ourselves, now.”

“We can’t!” Jules hissed in protest. “There’s got to be at least ten of them in there!” 

“Fourteen,” Carmen said. “But we have these.” She pulled out two pairs of night-vision goggles from her bag and shoved one into Jules’s hands. Then she dashed for the circuit breaker before Jules could stop her.

Once the lights went out, it was too late to turn back, so Jules went along with her partner’s crazy plan as her heart hammered in her throat the whole way. In the end, with the cover of darkness as their aid, they successfully neutralized all the suspects, but Carmen got a bullet graze wound to her shoulder because one trigger-happy goon got lucky.

After everything was over, Jules punched her in that shoulder. Carmen laughed through the pain.

That’s just who Carmen was. She knew she could do anything, she was an unstoppable force, and nobody could ever hope to rein her in. Not even Jules. So whatever reasons Carmen had for leaving ACME, she made that choice on her own, and everyone who blamed Jules for her partner’s betrayal honestly gave her too much credit.

Nothing Jules did could have made Carmen leave.

(Nothing Jules did could have made Carmen stay.)

~

Hawkins thinks he can do anything. He almost reminds Jules of Carmen in that sense, except Carmen didn’t think she could do anything, she knew it. And Jules knew it, too. Hawkins, though, is still an impulsive and overconfident rookie, and he doesn’t truly understand what he’s up against.

Jules cautions him in Cape Town, keeps him from breaking down the door because recklessness will only get them in trouble. But then Carmen leaves the scene in her chopper, and Hawkins is livid.

“What were you thinking, Jules?!” he cries. “Did you want her to get away?!”

He doesn’t really mean that, Jules knows, he’s just lashing out because he’s frustrated. But those words still hit her, somewhere deep inside.

So Jules dodges the question. She’s found herself doing that a lot with Hawkins.

~

What Carmen and Jules had wasn’t a romance.

They agreed on that from their very first kiss—Carmen was just doing what she wanted, and Jules wanted that, too. So they kissed, they fooled around, they made each other feel good, but the relationship was never serious. Sure, Jules was a little in love with Carmen, but loving Carmen also meant accepting that she was the type of person who could never be tied down to anyone.

So Carmen never opened up about herself, and Jules never asked her to. Jules never asked for anything more than what she got. Being Carmen’s partner was enough, and Jules was happy with their life together at ACME.

It never really occurred to her that maybe Carmen wasn’t. 

Carmen had been MIA from ACME for a week when she announced the success of her very first heist via a video broadcast to the world. “I have stolen the Crown Jewels,” she proclaimed, and that was definitely Carmen on screen holding Cullinan I in her hand, her smug smile and twinkling eyes framed by a bright red fedora Jules had never seen her wear before. “And this is just the beginning. For I, Carmen Sandiego, am going to become the world’s greatest thief!”

The next morning, the Chief called Jules to her office, asked very seriously if Jules had ever noticed any signs that Carmen had been planning to defect. Jules told the truth: she hadn’t had a clue. Protocol demanded that Jules be taken off all her cases and thoroughly vetted anyway, but for what it was worth, Chief seemed to believe her.

Nobody else did, though.

“Maybe she and Sandiego had a fight,” her coworkers whispered amongst themselves, when they either didn’t know Jules could hear or didn’t care that she could. “There must be something Argent isn’t telling us. I mean, how couldn’t she know? She was her partner.”

Jules vowed to be the one to capture Carmen Sandiego, if only to prove to her peers that it wasn’t her fault. That just because she’d been Carmen’s partner didn’t mean she’d been anything more. She’d certainly never been Carmen’s confidant. Perhaps she’d never even been Carmen’s friend—

Except, Jules remembered: Carmen once took her to the top of the Eiffel Tower on one of their nights off, and kissed her breathless as they watched the Paris lights. Carmen once agreed to try all of Jules’s favorite restaurants in Chengdu, persevering even as her face flushed red because Jules liked her food much spicier than Carmen did. Carmen once went undercover as a musician for a case, and for a moment as she performed on stage, strumming her guitar and singing a love song in her native Brazilian Portuguese, she stared right at Jules’s spot in the audience and for those beautiful three seconds, it felt like the song was just for her.

...Okay, so maybe Jules was more than a little in love with Carmen.

(And maybe the idea of locking Carmen behind bars was just as painful as her coworkers’ censure, if not more.)

~

“You’re practically burning holes in your journal,” Hawkins tells Jules, during the plane ride to Germany right after retrieving the Mayan calendar. “What are you thinking about?”

Jules looks up from the entries she was reading: the ones from the mission where they retrieved the Mok’o fish gong. “I’m remembering the wolf statue in Quebec, and that Sorbonne poster in Paris.” The proof that Carmen Sandiego donated a lot of money to causes she cared about. “There is some good in Carmen,” Jules murmurs, an echo of what she said back in Mexico.

“There was some good in Carmen Sandiego,” Hawkins says. “I’ll believe that much. But Jules, she’s not your partner anymore. The past is the past. You need to focus on now, on this case.”

“I am focused on this case,” Jules insists. “If...if I can just figure out Carmen’s reasons for doing all this, I can figure out what she’ll do next.”

“Figure out...” Hawkins repeats, and something seems to click into place in his mind. “You don’t actually know why she left ACME, do you?”

Jules might as well admit it to him now. “I really don’t. When it happened, it surprised me as much as anybody.”

She’s half-expecting Hawkins to express disbelief like everyone else: How couldn’t you know? You were Carmen’s partner. But instead, he just cocks his head to the side and asks, “In that case, what makes you so sure she even had a reason?”

“...It’s Carmen,” Jules says, unable to produce a better answer. “There must have been a reason.”

Hawkins doesn’t really seem convinced at all, but he doesn’t push the subject any further.

Jules appreciates that.

~

Jules knew Carmen better than anyone else did. That didn’t necessarily mean she knew Carmen well, but at the very least, she was positive that Carmen wanted to make the world a better place. Whenever Carmen had talked about conserving the environment, about preserving world cultures, about learning from the past so that we may improve the future, there was real, undeniable passion there.

(If nothing else, Jules certainly knew Carmen’s passion.)

But the Carmen who Jules knew, the Carmen who had wanted nothing more than to do good—how in the world had she become the Carmen who stole, who laughed at the law, who left taunting and sometimes cruel messages behind?

Hello Julia. Still trying to prove yourself?

Maybe you’ve lost your edge, Jules.

You’ll learn, Agent Hawkins, that Julia can get quite frustrated at times. Not to mention opinionated.

The remarks hurt, honestly, but they also just didn’t make sense. Carmen hadn’t cared enough about Jules to stay, obviously, but...she had cared. Jules knew Carmen leaving ACME had never been about her, yet now, Carmen was acting as if she had something personal against Jules all of a sudden.

It’s almost as if, a voice whispered in the back of Jules’s mind, Carmen is trying to make you hate her.

And when Jules thought about it like that, she realized: if the Carmen she knew had, for whatever reason, believed she could somehow better the world by making herself into the villain...

She would have.

One hundred percent, she would have.

~

“Maybe she masterminded these thefts so the whole world could benefit,” Jules ponders aloud, after Carmen escapes her and Hawkins in the lost city. Even as she says it, she knows there’s no proof. There’s nothing there but her own intuition, and maybe too much hope, and a love for Carmen that will never truly be able to leave her heart. 

Hawkins doesn’t believe it. The Chief probably doesn’t either. And even if Jules ever caught up to Carmen, even if Jules ever managed to pin her down long enough to ask if her theory was correct, Carmen would never answer her honestly.

That’s just who Carmen is. And Jules will just have to live with that.

“I still think Carmen Sandiego is a bad apple. Rotten to the core,” Hawkins says, because he and Jules don’t agree on a lot of things and will likely never agree on Carmen. But even so, his can-do attitude as the Chief reports Carmen’s next heist is contagious, invigorating. It honestly makes Jules feel better.

Carmen would never answer Jules honestly. But there is still the possibility that Jules could find out the truth for herself.

So, with the chase back on and her confidence renewed, Jules turns to Shadow and smiles.

#treasures of knowledge #jules argent #shadow hawkins #carmen sandiego #julethief #2001 julethief to be precise cuz buddy i been riding this ''enemies who used to be partners'' ship since i was 8 #but also jules & hawkins being bros because i love their relationship too it's so fun #my writing

[jeogiyall]

𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒖𝒂𝒈𝒆 ఌ ℎ.𝑠𝑤

❥𝒈𝒆𝒏𝒓𝒆: 𝖿𝗅𝗎𝖿𝖿𝗒 𝗏𝖺𝗅𝖾𝗇𝗍𝗂𝗇𝖾'𝗌 𝖽𝖺𝗒 𝖿𝗅𝗎𝖿𝖿; 𝗁𝗂𝗀𝗁𝗌𝖼𝗁𝗈𝗈𝗅! 𝖺𝗎

❥𝒑𝒂𝒊𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈: 𝗌𝗉𝖺𝗇𝗂𝗌𝗁 𝗍𝗎𝗍𝗈𝗋 𝗒/𝗇 𝗑 𝗁𝖺𝗇 𝗌𝖾𝗎𝗇𝗀𝗐𝗈𝗈 (𝗏𝗂𝖼𝗍𝗈𝗇)

❥𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒅 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒕: 𝟝.𝟟𝟛𝑘

❥𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒆𝒔: 𝗁𝖺𝗉𝗉𝗒 𝗌𝗂𝗇𝗀𝗅𝖾 𝗉𝖾𝗈𝗉𝗅𝖾 𝖺𝗐𝖺𝗋𝖾𝗇𝖾𝗌𝗌 𝖽𝖺𝗒 𝖿𝗋𝗈𝗆 ᴀʀɪ! 𝖾𝗇𝗃𝗈𝗒 𝗌𝗈𝗆𝖾 𝗏𝖽𝖺𝗒 𝖼𝗎𝗍𝖾𝗇𝖾𝗌𝗌 𝗐𝗂𝗍𝗁 𝗆𝗒 𝗅𝖺𝗍𝖾𝗌𝗍 𝖼𝗋𝗎𝗌𝗁, 𝗁𝖺𝗇 𝗌𝖾𝗎𝗇𝗀𝗐𝗈𝗈

❁✿❀✾❁✿❀✾❁✿❀✾❁✿❀✾

The bell rings to signal the end of your Spanish class. You sling your bag over your shoulder and stand up, grabbing your textbook and preparing to leave; but your teacher’s voice stops you before you have the chance to go.

“Y/N, are you free to chat for a few minutes?” Your steps come to a sudden halt, the rest of your classmates brushing past you to get out of the room.

You gulp and hug your textbook closer to your chest, your teacher’s summons sparking a pool of nerves as you wonder what on earth she needs to talk to you about.

“Sure, what do you need?” You reply. You don’t have another class until the end of the day anyways, so you don’t have to rush off just yet.

You catch your best friend’s eye and can only offer a shrug when she raises one eyebrow at you, and then she’s trailing out of the classroom along with everyone else, leaving you to hesitantly take a seat in front of your Spanish teacher’s desk.

You fiddle with the strap of your bookbag and try to shake off the feeling that you’ve done something wrong.

“Y/N,” She begins softly, “I’m sure you know that you’re one of our Spanish program’s brightest students. Your comprehension skills are sharp and your pronunciation is muy excelente. You’re also a fantastic classmate to your friends when they need your help.”

You don’t know what to make of the proud smile on her face; but it makes you smile a little, too. She continues, “I’ve been very impressed by your work recently, and I’d like to ask you for a favor.”

You nod slowly. So you weren’t in trouble after all- even though you couldn’t think of anything you’d done that would make Ms. Carmen upset with you, it was good to know she wasn’t giving you a lecture.

“Of course, how can I help you?”

Ms. Carmen folds her hands on the desk in front of her and says, “I have a student I want you to tutor for me.”

Your grip on your bag tightens instantly.

“You want me to tutor someone?” Your voice wavers with uncertainty, “I’m not sure I’d be a very good tutor. I, um, I have a lot of classes I’m taking other than this one, and I don’t really know if I have enough time...” You stop yourself from getting too far in your nervous rambling and meet your teacher’s disappointed gaze.

“That’s alright, Y/N. I knew it was a lot to ask of you. I understand you’re a busy student, so don’t trouble yourself; I’ll find another tutor.” She sighs, and the sound makes your heart sag, feeling guilty all of a sudden.

You contemplate the offer for a few more moments, rolling it around in your mind. On the one hand, you are pretty busy; you actually don’t have that many classes this semester, but the workload is tough enough to make up for it.

Yet on the other hand, you really love Spanish, and you like helping people out wherever you can. You may not be overly confident in your abilities as a tutor; but if Ms. Carmen needs you to help another student in your class, then you feel strongly obligated to step up and be the one to do it. Besides, it can’t be too horrible- you figure the most you’ll have to do will probably be to show someone how to count to twenty.

You nod again and square your shoulders, looking your teacher in the eyes. “Actually, I can tutor them. It won’t be a problem.” You assure her.

Her smile returns, and with it comes a small amount of confidence that you’ll be able to prove yourself wrong, that you’ll turn out to be a great tutor. Her words are warm as she responds, “I’m glad to hear that, Y/N. I knew I could count on you.”

You mirror her grin, and with a wave of her hand, she gestures towards the door and tells you you’re free to go. You walk out of the classroom and towards the courtyard with every intention of eating your lunch, though you’ll most likely end up asking yourself who possibly needs you to tutor them in Spanish so badly... maybe it’s just an underclassmen who could use the extra help.

Or maybe, you think as you open up your textbook on the lunch table, you should just stop stressing yourself out about this so much and eat your food before the bell rings again.

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You smooth out your skirt and rock back and forth on the balls of your feet, glancing at the time on your phone. 3:30 pm- the student you’re supposed to tutor should’ve been here fifteen minutes ago. You mindlessly scroll through social media to dispel your nerves, telling yourself to stop being worried over something so small. You’re sure there’s a perfectly good reason they’re late.

Your eyes scan the almost full library for a place to sit once your student finally gets here, hoping you won’t have to sit in one of the back rooms that are notorious for being a hookup spot. The mere thought of working on one of those tables is enough to gross you out.

You’ve been waiting at the front of your school’s library for the last fifteen minutes; the two assistants at the checkout desk have been sending you curious looks and whispering subtly, and you’re sure they’re talking about you. They most likely think you’re being stood up on a study date- which, to be honest, it kind of feels as if you are being stood up. You decide you’ll give it just five more minutes before calling it quits and going home.

You keep scrolling through your phone until you hear someone ask the assistants about a Spanish tutor. They point in your direction and the guy turns around, your lungs shutting down the moment your eyes land on him.

You realize he isn’t just any old freshman or sophomore kid. Instead, you’ve been assigned to tutor Han Seungwoo- the high school’s golden boy.

Seungwoo recognizes you instantly, knowing you as the smart girl who always aces every Spanish test. He knows Ms. Carmen wouldn’t pair him up with just anyone, so he should have suspected he’d be put with one of the smartest people in his class.

What he didn’t know, however, was how cute you looked when your head wasn’t buried in your book; his heart jumps at the way you’re bouncing on your toes, your hair tucked behind your ear and your eyes going wide once you recognize who he is.

He wonders how he could’ve ever missed the sweetness in your smile before.

You clutch your phone tightly to keep yourself together when Seungwoo makes his way over to you, hoping your breathing will go back to normal before he hears you hyperventilate.

He’s so much more handsome in person than how your boy-crazy best friend describes him. She makes Seungwoo seem untouchable and detached, always harping on his sharp jawline and his cold charms. But up close, he’s not like that at all; you find that his eyes hold a soft warmth in them, and the brown hair that flops over his forehead is practically begging you to run your fingers through it. He all but towers over you in his high top sneakers and red sweater, and he couldn’t look any more approachable if he tried. You quickly conclude that your best friend’s got it all wrong.

You also conclude that if you don’t quit staring at him like a stalker, then Seungwoo is going to run in the opposite direction as fast as he possibly can.

You snap yourself out of it and offer a shy smile, slipping your phone into your pocket. “Hi, I’m Y/N. Are you the one Ms. Carmen asked me to tutor?” You mentally cheer at how stable your voice is, even if it’s a little soft.

Seungwoo smiles brightly back at you, and you could swear he’s intentionally trying to make you melt into a puddle on the floor. “Hi Y/N! I’m Seungwoo,” He introduces himself as if he isn’t the heartthrob of the century, and you bite your lip to keep from confessing that you already know him. “I’m so sorry to keep you waiting, but I had to talk to Coach about missing practice or else he wouldn’t let me go.”

That’s right- you’d forgotten he was on the football team, too. Your tiny little crush shrivels up and dies in your heart, your brain reminding you that you’re just tutoring the school’s star defense player, and that it will never be more than that. For one thing, it would be the most cliché circumstance to ever happen in your life; not to mention that it’s also the most unrealistic thing to hope for. You squash down your stupid schoolgirl feelings and nod your head at Seungwoo.

“Of course, don’t feel bad,” You tell him, “I just wasn’t sure if you were going to come. Now that you’re here, where do you wanna sit?”

You’ve got a suspicion that you might just end up in the back room, not seeing an empty table anywhere; thankfully, Seungwoo spots a group getting up to leave and motions for you to follow that way. You walk past the group and sit down slowly, letting your bag drop onto the table and pulling out your textbook.

He takes one look at it and groans, rubbing a hand over his temple. “I can’t believe I forgot my textbook. I didn’t mean to be so scatterbrained...” The tips of his ears are turning slightly pink, and the sight is so endearing that you can’t even pretend to be disappointed.

“It’s fine, you can just use mine today.” You console, sliding it over to him. He sheepishly opens it and grabs his notebook from his bag.

“So what do you want to do first?” You ask. Your nerves are starting to get to you, and you twirl your pencil around in your fingers. Seungwoo sees your fidgeting and raises an eyebrow.

“It seems like you’re nervous,” He observes, and your breath catches when he so casually exposes you. “Maybe we should get to know each other a little bit? After all, I think we’re gonna be working together for at least the next month, if not more. I don’t want to be strangers.”

Your heart flutters against your will at his suggestion. “I’m not nervous,” You respond defensively, “I’ve just never tutored anyone before. I don’t know if I’ll be any good.”

Seungwoo shuts the textbook and rests his elbows on the table, giving you all of his attention. “Based on how great you are in class, I’m sure you’ll be a huge help. Don’t sweat it.” He tells you, causing a warm blush to rise on your cheeks.

“How about we play twenty questions?” He asks without warning, “I’ll start if you don’t want to go first. Deal?” You nod, putting the pencil down.

He clears his throat. “Let’s start out easy. Favorite color?”

You blurt out red without any thought. You don’t actually have a favorite, but you couldn’t stop thinking about how handsome Seungwoo looks sitting across from you in that red sweater; and from the slight smirk that pulls at his lips, you think he’s caught onto what’s happening in your head. How embarrassing.

“Look at that, we’ve got the same favorite color. Never would’ve pinned you for a red girl.” He teases, briefly taking in your fuzzy light blue shirt. You shake your head to hide how easily flustered he makes you.

“Seungwoo, we should really get to studying. Don’t you have a lesson you want to go over today?” You say with a small sigh. As much as you want to get to know him, to learn what makes him smile or what he wants to do with his life, you’re acutely aware of how urgent Ms. Carmen was about getting you to tutor him. The last thing you want is to let her down; and it looks like there’s not much time to waste.

Seungwoo just shrugs his shoulders and leans closer to you over the table, sending butterflies swooping in your tummy. You almost wish he wasn’t this handsome- maybe then you wouldn’t be such a nervous wreck. “I didn’t have anything specific in mind,” He admits reluctantly, “all I know is that I’m failing right now and if I don’t pull my grade up, I won’t get to play for the rest of this season. I can’t let the boys down, y’know?”

You can’t help but admire the obvious loyalty Seungwoo has towards his team. You didn’t expect someone like him to so openly wear his heart on his sleeve, and it’s already showing signs of causing a problem. You don’t think your poor heart can handle a month of his easy smile or his confident manner.

His brown eyes are on yours, and you have the sudden urge to hold his hand and tell him he’ll do just fine, that you’ll do whatever it takes to get him back in the game. You push the thought away before it gets stuck in your head and instead reach for the textbook again.

“Then let’s get to it.” You say, the words soft yet determined. If you didn’t have a reason to help him out before, then at least now you’ve got a goal to work towards. You don’t want him to get kicked off the team.

He doesn’t let up his curious gaze, and it feels like he can see past your face and straight inside of you, as if he can read your mind. Your blush refuses to go away and you avert your stare to the book on the table, opening it up to the first chapter to start reviewing what he knows so far.

On the other side of the table, Seungwoo thinks to himself that this might end up being the longest month of his life.

How on earth is he supposed to focus on a language he doesn’t understand when you’re sitting there so cutely right in front of him, your cheeks glowing softly and your hair falling into your eyes? How is he going to remember anything of importance with your small hands tracing over the words on the page, skimming the lines like it’s a map to your heart?

And how is he ever going to remember anything that isn’t the way your lips pull into a polite smile when you catch him looking at you?

As you try to get Seungwoo to remember some simple adjectives, the only one he can recall is hermosa; but he thinks that maybe telling you that on your first meeting together wouldn’t quite be appropriate- and he thinks that maybe Spanish just got a whole lot harder.

❁✿❀✾❁✿❀✾❁✿❀✾❁✿❀✾

“No, Seungwoo, gato is the word for cat. We’re talking about school supplies, not animals.” You correct gently.

The last week or so of tutoring Han Seungwoo has been anything but a breeze. While he’s trying his best to learn from you, you didn’t realize how far behind he’s been in class. It took you three sessions just to get through basics like counting and introductions, and you haven’t even bothered to work on his pronunciation yet; you’ve got bigger things for him to master first.

While you’d made some significant progress- he could now count into the hundreds and successfully tell people his name, age, and nationality- you’ve still got a long way to go.

You’ve been meeting up in the library after school every day so far, and he’d taken extra care to make sure he didn’t make you wait as long as he did on the first day. You normally spend an hour minimum in the quieter section of the library, away from the chatter of students using the computers, and you’ve had to check out another Spanish textbook when Seungwoo discovered he’d lost his for real.

Today, one week into tutoring, you’d been working with him on school supplies and classroom phrases.

“So...” Seungwoo trails off, a look of confusion on his face that shouldn’t be so heartachingly handsome, “the word for staple is grapa? Why does it sound so much like the word for cat? That’s not fair.” He fails to hold back a pout, making you laugh.

“Sorry Seungwoo, I don’t make the rules.” You offer an excuse. His shoulders slump and he starts drawing aimless circles on his paper, which you’ve written over in red ink to try and help him get the hang of nouns.

“You at least know them,” He says in a dull tone, “but what do I know? Football and chemistry, that’s it. I can pass chemistry, but I’m failing Spanish.” You feel that odd urge to hold his hand again, but like the last few times it’s happened, you shove it out of your brain as quickly as it appeared.

You instead ruffle his hair (which is exactly as soft as you’d imagined it was) and give him your own sulky pout, “Hey, that’s nothing to complain about. Chemistry is more foreign to me than Spanish, I don’t even know how I passed.” You admit honestly.

At the sight of your frown, Seungwoo thinks his heart has stopped working, because it’s beating too fast for him to function. He wants nothing more than to kiss that little pout off of you and bring back your sweet grin; and while that idea should be alarming, he finds that he has no issues with it at all. The only issue is that he has no idea how you’d respond to something so sudden and unwarranted.

Your tutoring sessions have been driving Seungwoo absolutely nuts over the last few days. He has no clue how he’s never noticed you before now, because your innocent eyes and small smiles have been living in his mind rent-free since the day you met him in the library. He’d normally be concerned about how quickly he’s become infatuated with you, but you make it easy with your cute expressions and your fuzzy oversized sweaters; anyone who knows him well would be able to tell that he’s got it bad.

Lucky for him, you’ve just been chalking up his inability to memorize the material to his lack of interest in Spanish.

“Let’s try again,” You suggest quietly, rounding the table to stand over him. You turn the page of the textbook to the next worksheet, free of red pen marks, and point at the first blank row. “Write out the words in English first from the pictures, then again in Spanish.”

Seungwoo fights back the desire to lace your hands with his much larger ones, wanting so badly to feel how they’d fit together.

An idea pops into your head as you think of ways to motivate him. “If you get them right, I’ll give you a prize!” You chirp, hoping to inspire him enough for him to really apply himself. He perks up visibly and pokes your side, wanting to know what the prize is, but you shake your head and swat his arm away. “You’ll just have to find out when I check your work.” You taunt.

It does the trick, too- when he finally fills in the last blank and hands you the worksheet, you’re pleasantly surprised to find that every single answer is correct.

“Did I do it?” He asks excitedly, reminding you of a puppy. You nod and draw a smiley face on the sheet, giving it back to him without writing all over it. You’re shocked at how easy it was to get him to try, and you hadn’t actually planned on him getting it right first try.

He shuts the book and stuffs his papers and pencil into his bag, quickly sliding out of his chair to stand next to you. Now he’s really acting like a puppy, practically bounding over to you and playfully nudging you with his elbow.

“Y/N, what’s the prize?” He asks again. You collect your own things and stand up, not even bothering to elbow him back.

You fiddle with the straps and look down at your shoes as you mumble, “I, um, I was gonna take us to the coffee shop a few blocks away to finish up. I figured we could use a change of scenery.” Your voice is unsteady, much like your heart rate; but who can blame you when Seungwoo is looming over you with an obvious twinkle in his eye? Your tummy does backflips from the way he’s so blatantly staring- you’re unused to all the attention.

He uses one finger beneath your chin to tilt your head up, his fond expression making you wonder if he’s even real or if you’re just hallucinating.

“That’s perfect, Y/N, I’d really like that.” He says. Your eyes linger on his lips; and you let yourself have one selfish thought, thinking of how it might feel to go on your tiptoes and press your own against them, imagining for only a moment how his hand would cradle your face-

“Are we going to go, or did you wanna stare some more?” He questions with a cocky smirk, secretly enjoying the curious way you’re looking at him. You turn beet red and stutter awkwardly, wishing you had something to hide yourself behind.

“I wasn’t staring, I was just... zoning out.” You attempt to lie, but it’s no use. You got caught red-handed and you both know it. Once you realize you won’t be getting your dignity back any time soon, you spin on your heel and walk out of the library, not needing to look behind you to know he’s following closely.

His hand brushes yours as you exit the school and begin the short walk to the coffee shop downtown, sending sweet chills all the way up your arm. “Whatever you say, stalker.” He mutters teasingly. You lightly shove his side, making him laugh.

“I am so not a stalker!” You defend dramatically. He doesn’t respond, just glances at you with a smile so sweet that it reaches his eyes and instantly melts your heart, and you have to tell yourself to snap out of it before you dwell on his antics for too long.

“Keep telling yourself that.” He eventually responds.

You give him a pouty side-eye and cross your arms like a little kid, “I’m not a stalker.”

Seungwoo swears that he’s never wanted to kiss anyone so badly before in his life.

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At the end of your third week tutoring Seungwoo, you’ve completely given up on trying to ignore the way he makes your heart flutter; now, all you can do is try to keep yourself from becoming a blushing mess in his presence for the two hours a day you’re both together.

You’d made the mutual decision to move your sessions out of the library and into the coffee shop, a cute little place named Mayday Café. While it was a great place to study, with more room for you to spread out and work, it also had it’s drawbacks (which came directly in the form of sweet cream and caffeine).

Though you aren’t sure ‘drawbacks’ is the right word; maybe the word you’re looking for is ‘temptations’.

It certainly isn’t distractions. You had your own personal, living-and-breathing distraction already right there in front of you; one named Han Seungwoo.

If you didn’t know any better, you’d say that he’s flirting with you a lot these days. He’s been quick to buy you your magic bean juice every time he sees you glance at the counter, never letting you pay for it no matter how many times you protest, and he’s even started causally calling you nicknames like princess and cutie.

He makes you nervous and excited at the same time, always causing your cheeks to turn pink and your pulse to race. You aren’t sure if he knows what he’s doing- he carries such an easygoing manner about him that you can’t really tell what he’s thinking- but you know for a fact that it’s having an effect on you, even if it isn’t intentional.

You also think that must have some idea of what he’s doing to you, because no one can be that touchy and still be oblivious.

Currently, it was 4:50 on a Friday afternoon. Your drink was long gone, your cup left on the edge of the table as you and Seungwoo sat side by side, heads bent down to read over a page in your Spanish textbooks during the last ten minutes of today’s tutoring session.

One hand gripped his pen tightly while the other was tangled in his hair, a habit of his you’d discovered he did whenever he was deeply involved in something. You peeked subtly at him while pretending to read your own book, although in reality you were just trying to memorize the endearing scrunch of his nose and the way he mouthed the words silently to himself.

Five more minutes went by until he looked up from the vocabulary words, removing the hand in his hair and marking his place before closing the textbook. You raised an eyebrow expectantly, waiting for him to translate what he’d just read. You had confidence he was going to get this lesson right after spending the entire session in one chapter alone.

He meets your gaze head-on, the only sign that you’re getting more than you bargained for being the way his mouth quirks up into that familiar self-assured grin, and says in an astonishingly good Spanish accent, “Eres demasiado linda para tu propio bien.”

You gulp and sense yourself clenching the pencil in your hand a little too hard, feeling equally floored and flustered by Seungwoo’s unexpected words. You can’t stop the swarm of butterflies that comes to life inside you, taking flight and raising your hopes far higher than you intended for them to go.

You don’t think you can form a coherent sentence around the lump in your throat, opening and closing your mouth until you settle for an uneasy “Wh-what?”

Seungwoo knows you heard him loud and clear, but he repeats it anyways, wanting to save the image of your nervous blush and replay it in his mind forever. “I said, eres demasiado linda para tu propio bien; haces que sea difícil concentrarte, cariña.” *see glossary at the end for translations*

He can tell purely from the way your eyes widen that you perfectly understand what he’s saying. He’d looked it up a thousand times on google translate, his latest search history reading ‘how to call someone cute in Spanish’ just so he could impress you. But when you continue to wordlessly stare up at him, he thinks he’s the real winner here; he wouldn’t mind if you looked adoringly at him like this for the rest of his life.

You blink rapidly and try to pull your thoughts together. “Umm... lo siento? I think? That was, uh, you had really good pronunciation just then...” You’re tripping over yourself to get some sort of response out, but it’s proving to be a difficult feat when Han Seungwoo’s hand rests gently on your leg like it was made to lay there. Your breathing grows shallow and shaky, all from one single touch, and it’s gonna be the thing to make you break what little composure you have left.

He traces lazy shapes on the hem of your skirt, not wanting to make you uncomfortable or give you the wrong idea. He just wants to be close to you, to see the gleam in your doe eyes as he cautiously puts his hand over your leg in a sudden display of affection.

It’s one touch- but it’s enough to set the ball rolling.

You’d be stupid not to ask the question at this point; he’s passed through the land of friendliness and is crossing the border into a territory that could end up being dangerous for your heart. But you still need to know, not willing to put up with another night of what if’s plaguing your head once it hits the pillow.

You gather up your courage and place your hand on top of his, determined not to get too distracted by how small yours looks compared to his.

“Seungwoo,” You start despite the wobble in your tone, “I... I don’t know if this is just me, but you’ve been awfully flirty with me the last couple of weeks. Is there- is there a reason you’re doing it, or is it all for show?” You’re pleased that you were able to at least ask the question. “Why are you acting so... so charming? Is it just in my head?”

If Seungwoo thought he wanted to kiss you a week ago, then now he knows what it feels like to crave something- he’s never craved anything as badly as he longs to finally close the damn gap between your lips and his.

He assumed he would turn into an anxious mess when the time came to confess, expecting to lose his confidence and mix up all of his words. He’s glad that that isn’t the case today though- because the longer he looks at you, the more certain he feels that he’s yours, and he’s oh so eager to make you his; that is, if you’ll have him.

So although you wait for him to answer you with bated breath, Seungwoo is at ease knowing that this isn’t all in his head- knowing that you feel it, too.

“Princess, don’t you see it?” He says simply, his other hand coming up to skim along the side of your face, “You’re absolutely irresistible. I thought I was making it obvious how much I wanted you, how much I want to be with you. Are you finally telling me you want it, too?” His words are sweet, only carrying a small teasing lilt to them as he caresses your cheek with his thumb, “Are you telling me you wanna be mine?”

He brings your face closer to his, your neck craning up so you don’t lose eye contact. Your lips are only a few inches apart when he adds in a whisper, “Because I wanna be su novio, if you’ll let me.”

You don’t miss the way his stare drops to your mouth and stays there, not moving even when your arms find their way around his neck. You’re suddenly thankful for the building’s layout, the back corner you’d chosen helping to conceal the sweet moment from the rest of the world.

You can hardly breathe at this point- but you’re able to answer him as he pulls you in, “si.”

Seungwoo can’t stop the smile from spreading before his lips meet yours the way he’s wanted them to since the day you pouted at him in the library.

You have to hold back a sigh of content when you finally, finally get the kiss you’ve waited three weeks for; it’s better than you ever even imagined it could be, full of tenderness and longing, with him showing you exactly how crazy he is for you. You don’t rush, losing yourself in the way you softly melt together.

It’s a gentle kiss, intent on making up for lost time without expecting anything in return. Your fingers twist into the hair at the base of his neck, making his smile grow even bigger against yours mouth; he’s made you feel so many things, but none of them felt as promising as this. This felt warm and inviting... like a hint of better things to come.

You pull away to catch the breath that’s sprinted from your lungs faster than a runner at a track meet.

“Y/N...” Seungwoo sounds as starstruck as you feel, “I know you’re my tutor, and we only met a couple of weeks ago.. but it would make me really, really feliz if you’d go on a date with me sometime.”

He has to restrain himself from pulling you in for another kiss when your face lights up with joy, head nodding up and down as your smile only spreads wider; you twirl his soft strands around your fingers wordlessly, unable to do anything except look into his eyes with all the happiness in the world. You still aren't over the fact that Han Seungwoo just kissed you- you don't think you'll get over it any time soon, to be honest. Though who could really blame you?

The butterflies have started to swoop madly in your chest, soaring higher and higher, making you feel like you're flying above the ground, never wanting to land again. You're floating on a bliss you could only describe as cloud nine.

Even Seungwoo's hand in yours on the way out of Mayday Cafe can't bring you back down to the ground.

"Something on your mind, Y/N?" He asks playfully, knowing full well that you're exactly as dazed and dizzy as he is. You roll your eyes and tighten your grip on his hand, memorizing the way his hands cup your own and lace your fingers together like they were always meant to intertwine.

"You." You answer shyly, ducking your head to hide your growing blush. Seungwoo thinks you're the most adorable human being to walk this planet, and he hopes he'll never have to let go of your small hand; never have to go a day without coaxing a timid smile from you or tease you til your cheeks turn red. He may not be good at Spanish, but he's found that he at least has good luck in another language- your love language.

A language he can only speak with you.

"As long as that's the case, feel free to keep zoning out." He doesn't let up his relentless flirting and you childishly smack his side with your free hand. He laughs at your weak attempt and squeezes your hand gently; you almost shudder from the sparks shooting through your fingertips.

As you walk home side-by-side, Han Seungwoo makes a mental note to thank Ms. Carmen for forcing him to get tutored with as many Spanish words as possible. Because while he can't ask for directions just yet, it seems he's found his way to his heart; and it's all your Spanish teacher's fault.

Although once he gives you a goodbye kiss at your doorstep, he admits that maybe it isn't entirely Ms. Carmen's fault- it was yours for being so irresistible.

He wondered to himself, after you'd walked inside and closed the door, just how long it would take him to learn how to say "I love you" in Spanish.

❁✿❀✾❁✿❀✾❁✿❀✾❁✿❀✾

the end.

- 

GLOSSARY:

-muy excelente = very good

- eres demasiado linda para tu propio bien = you’re too cute for your own good

- haces que sea difícil concentrarte, cariña = you make it hard to focus, darling

-si = yes

-feliz = happy

#han seungwoo #seungwoo fluff #victon fluff #victon seungwoo #han seungwoo fluff #victon fanfic #kpop fanfic #the writing tag #admin ari #happy vday y'all!!! #enjoy this fluffy goodness with the man of my latest affections... han seungUwU #seunguwu

[ficsinhistory]

Analysis and Theories - Cobra and Mongoose/Better off Fred -  Disney finally learned how to balance comedy, emotion and action!

Cobra and Mongoose

Hiro and Fred's friendship! It's as cute as these two are always so close, not least because, as was established in the first episode, if the gang were to leave it would be just them. So these tips are cool to see from how they are friends and rely on each other.

The fact that the video game is the same as "Pray Date"! And this time, Fred really won, different from last time! And bonus point for everyone, including Baymax, to have a headphone!

The snakes!! The fact how they attack Fred and how Heathcliff intervenes is so amazing and well animated!! And how sordid and deadly they are!

The poison! Since snakes are robots, they have to throw the poison to be absorbed into the skin. And this happens in real life, there are substances that do it! It was a great recurring joke!

When Hiro comes to help and Heathcliff leaves a cell phone with a dramatic message even though he's barely there!

All the message in question! That butler is so dramatic and I love it!

The fact that Heathcliff knew how to shuffle tracking signals, he was a spy, so well played! Aside from the fact that Hiro took this as a personal challenge to his genial intellect, I love my pompous and intelligent son!

The restaurant where the first battle took place! It's so beautiful and the aesthetics of south asia and how it has influences beyond the Japanese in the city. Because San Franscisco really is full of other cultures and San Fransokyo being part Japanese doesn't erase that. Which is very cool.

Cobra. That's it, that's the whole point.

I love this villain!!! Everything about her is perfect! She is menacing, fun, smart and, as the name says, acts and moves like a snake! Outside I loved the design! And the whole sequence of conversation before the fight was the best! She remembered Momakase, but you can see the difference from her!

Reference to Mary POpPins! Eclipse WHO?!

Heathcliff fighting!! He has a sword in his umbrella and fights masterfully, all this is perfect and from how Fred is with a vase on his head during the fight and is paralyzed again!

In real life, Mongoose are natural predators of cobras and have a layer of fur that makes them immune to poison. So, well drawn writers, well drawn.

Cobra analysis. Unlike Momakase who steals objects, Cobra works on stealing technologies to steal objects, which is a good differential the two thieves. And how Hiro takes offense at his neurotransmitter being stolen. Not least because the last time this happened, his brother was killed. He must not have good memories of it.

Heathcliff's past itself! This, for those who do not know, is a reference to Alfred who was a spy before serving the Wanne. And the fact that he has this whole story with Boss Awesome, and saved the life of said hero in a volcano and how snake should have died and in the end Heathcliff ended up as a butler is cool.

"Who took these pictures?""You have not changed since then?"Hiro Hamada asking the right questions!

Mention to Boss Awesome. Rip Stan Lee.

And he explains it through a spy pen. Carmen Sandiego fans Rise UP!!!

Farewell! How Heathcliff loves the family he works for and Fred, whom he must see as a nephew and he having to leave to preserve that same family is sad. And how he makes Fred swear not to go after him is also sad, because Heathcliff had to use one of the things Fred loves most to make sure he doesn't follow him. It shows how important Fred is and how he knows that because Fred cares so much, he can't risk it.

The memories of Fred and how Heathcliff was with him from the beginning are touching. Fred as chaotic as he is, he really cares about who he loves. And from how his family sometimes travels a lot, it implies that the only parental figure was the Butler. And Heathcliff has no family outside the Fredericks.

It's lil Fred! It's cute!

Cobra's encounter with Mongoose! Cobra had so many robots and how it was on the roofs with the lights in the cities! This avoids the confusion of having people in the middle of the fight, as preserving identity and gives the fight drama on the roof™ !

Fred coming and " breaking” the oath. Oh, the old technical detail of that was a copy! And how he didn't steal the spotlight, thanks to the snakes. That was Heathcliff's past after all.

The final fight!!! From how Heathcliff changed clothes in the best Magic Girl style, with an effect phrase and everything, and in the fight with the umbrella and the giant snake?! It was all for me! He looks good in white!

Hiro helping!!! And of how, in the end it was Heathcliff who arrested Cobra having the spotlight from start to finish! Perfect!

The scary smile joke! I think people too!

Cobra in my top 3 of non-main villains!!

Better off Fred

The beginning has the reference of “guys,guys,guys” from Big Hero 7 (if I don't), but less lively.

Fred being extra™ when heartbroken and having it right in sight!

Baymax can now be a surgeon. Tadashi worked very well.

Honey wanting to know more and Gogo just begging not to. A classic!! Honey Lemon being the mother of the group as always. And Gogo just not getting paid enough!

Flashback! I love how Fred met Olivia. It was very Fred and having someone who liked rare comics is very something that would happen.

I love Olivia! She is super cute and I understand why Fred fell in love with her. She is funny, cool and is actively a nerdy girl, without the vibe of ”no like the other girls", which I quite liked. She is feminine, but not conventionally feminine, reads comics and no one in every episode talks about it. She is actively a nerd, with beanies, colored hair but no one points out that she is the "stranger" for it or she demeans other girls for not being like her. She is a girl who likes rare comics and with a good attitude! Thank You Disney!

The nerd crush music! And the whole gang balloon sequence.

The rejection and what was led to it. They talk about family until culminating in her revealing herself to be a Mole. But, let's be honest, Fred can be pretty chaotic, but he had spine to call the girl he liked right away for a date. Maybe Hiro can ask for some advice.

"Since when have you been there?"The writers recognizing the absurdity of some jokes and out-of-nowhere pops adds 10 years to my lifespan!

Everyone saying listening to Mole was a bad idea! But Fred is in love so he top! Stupid in love, huh?

The music of the transformation sequence speak just that!

The gang in fancy clothes!!! This is not training!!! They look beautiful! And man, Honey looked good in that dress and Hiro kill in that suit. My son looked beautiful! And points bonûs for giving him a real formal costume.

Baymax tie!!!

The arrival of Fred, or rather, Frederique. And how Honey tried to warn him that being himself is the best approach.

Fredsorna. That's a word in canon in BH6. That's... I didn't expect it.

It was all just very shameful when Fred wasn't himself.

Olivia not being traditionally female again. She wears a dress, but it is simpler and instead of high heels, she wears a pair of sneakers. And nobody says anything! Not to mention that I would use.

Points to Disney for showing that behaviors like imposing themselves on someone, invading personal space and acting like the other had no choice is NOT attractive. The media has done this for years and show, mostly to a male group, that being aggressive while flirting is cool. So Disney show showing that this is scary is all I want. I'm glad Olivia dumped her ex, including.

Mole is unbearable!! This kid is evil pure and Fred really got down for it. He really liked Olivia and wanted to spend time with her and gremiling ruined it!!! Besides paying Bluff was only low, even for him.

Olivia listening to everything from afar. She didn't want to leave him badly, she just went... fool.

When Supersonic Stu and Sue appeared! They may be bad, but that Stu has more family support than a lot of people!

Some may find it strange that everyone only delivers their belongings, but we have to remember that without the police and Big Hero 6, most people are defenseless and in the end they are still villains. They can hurt.

Fred saving the day with Olivia's help and using references! That's style!!!

She taking off her glasses and being a lousy actress. I love it.

Fred being honest with Olivia. He explaining everything and being vulnerable and explaining everything is very cute and open, being the opposite of her ex. And from how Olivia understands it is very cool and how good that it all ended well for them with a meeting of giant monster movies.

And Mole stuck on a piano! Please less Mole on eps!

Olivia / Fred will be interesting!

Conclusions and theories:

Cobra's coming back! Maybe after Hiro since he led him to his overthrow? She's a very rancorous villain. And definitely behind Fred and Heathcliff! Anyway, Disney I want to see her again!!! Maybe along with Momakase or even Sirque, who is another tech thief.

Heathcliff! He was amazing!! Best unofficial uncle!

Olivia!! Another one that will appear again!! And now Hiro and Fred can talk about their girls officially! I loved her and want to know more about this girl and the relationship between her and Fred!! And with the rest of the gang!! She's just super cute and I want to know more in general.

I... kind of noticed a pattern here. As much as Karmi as Olivia has names based on nature, more specifically plants and has positive characteristics. Olivia makes reference to olive trees and the name means “friendly”, “beauty” and “kind”. Karmi means "orchard, garden”,  "my vineyard “and other things like” hardworking“,” golden “and even”, ”generous". It would seem that the love interests of these heroes are amazing and brave people with names of a similar nature. Interesting.

She and Karmi would get along very well, by the way. You know, two fangirls.

I like how the two episodes focus on the theme of the season that seems to be family. And this can yield interesting things.

I have this theory even that the episodes will start to have more plot and complement each other more when all the villains of the hexagons appear and then, the grand Big bad (or the villainous driving force of the season) will appear, complementing the NBB.

So far we have most of the villains, just missing Momakase, and along with them,story lines related, with the theme family, that will converge even more. The NBB and the sisters has the theme of Brotherly Love, along with Hiro's conflict with the separation of the gang established in the first episode, apart from what may be the push to the Big Bad that I believe to be Braggtech, brought in the first episode and that I think will be developed in the episodes ahead, in addition to the

Hardlight and the Super duo brought the romantic love of a family to both Hiro and Fred, with Harlight taking an extra line on what may be Karmi's rise as a heroine and how all these changes in her will affect her and Hiro's relationship. The Supers have a strong relationship with Fred and Olivia.

Cobra too, but she may have a more forward role more related to Braggtech, in my opinion.

Apart from the other villains that remained from the second season. Of course, not everything will be connected, but the main plots yes.

Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk.

#big hero 6 the series #big hero 6 #bh6 the series #bh6 #big hero six #big hero six the series #meta #analysis #theory #hiro hamada #fred #big hero 6 the series spoilers #bh6 the series sp #emy review

[carmenxjulia]

do you ever just think about how carmen's first reaction after hearing julia's voice in the fashion caper went from mild surprise to a smile? or how after she quickly disarmed julia, she gently put her gun back in her coat. or how carmen grabbed julia's hand? or how she made julia iin charge of her group despite barely knowing her? im still thinking about it and i cant fully explain why these small moments are so good? can you, please?

Absolutely. You’re talking to a person who created a 20,000 word fanfic based on a 45 second interaction. You want a Carmen and Julia analysis? I’d say you’ve come to the right place.

Yes, I do think about that scene a lot.

Let us begin.

Last season, Carmen and Julia interacted for less than a single minute. In that time, Carmen came to know and trust her enough to pass off the Magna Carta to her for safekeeping. And Julia got to have a real conversation with someone who was an international criminal and by some, might have even been branded as dangerous.

But Julia had always believed in her innocence and clung to the idea that there was more to each theft that most people didn’t see. Carmen leaving the Magna Carta was solid proof towards her theory that Carmen was one of the good guys. And it was a show of goodwill, a symbol of trust, that Carmen was banking on Julia doing the right thing and not taking full credit for its safe return (at least among her colleagues).

Then we get to season 2. Julia has, almost inexplicably, doubled down on her insistence that Carmen Sandiego is doing good in the world and is not actually a criminal at all. From the very first moment that we see her, she is trying prove her innocence. She asks Chase to wake up so that he can clear her name. She tries everything she can to wake him, and we as the audience are made to think it’s because she is concerned for his well-being… until the scene ends with, “we need you to tell us that she did not do this to you.”

Now, while I’m sure Julia would never wish death or permanent damage to Chase, she’s not trying to wake him because she particularly cares about him. He was rude and selfish and constantly dismissed her and yeah, Julia is the type of person who would still care after all that (refer to the first sentence of this paragraph), but it’s really really important to recognize that she’s not there for him. She’s there on behalf of Carmen.

So, what does that have to do with “The Fashionista Caper”?

We, the audience, are privy to Julia’s private conversations with Chief and other members of A.C.M.E. We get to see her defending Carmen, over and over, in the episodes leading up to episode 4. It’s not just speculation anymore! In Season 1, Julia had her theories, but was actively open to being proven wrong when provided with evidence to the contrary of her hunches. In Season 2, she is certain she’s right, and she stands by her belief that Carmen is good.

Carmen doesn’t see/hear any of that. She has literally no idea Julia has been defending her behind her back. No idea just how hard Julia has been fighting to clear her name with A.C.M.E. Not a single clue how conflicted Julia actually is, with having a job to do versus wanting to stand by the facts right in front of her.

She doesn’t see Julia again after the train incident (“The Chasing Paper Caper”) until they meet in Italy (”The Fashionista Caper”). All Carmen knows is that Julia is not as hellbent on catching her as Chase was, and that the Magna Carta were returned safely.

We, the audience, have a front row seat to watch Julia go from shaky theories to boldly proclaiming Carmen Sandiego is not who everyone thinks she is, despite seeming to be the only person who actually believes that.

Legitimately, Carmen has very little reason to trust Julia other than a gut feeling. There is no explanation for not only roping her into the caper, but immediately giving Julia her gun back and fully trusting she wouldn’t use it. Any other agent would have ignored Carmen’s request for help and gassed her right then and there. Carmen just inherently knows Julia is different.

We actually see an example of this just a few moments earlier. When Agent Zari tells Carmen to freeze, Carmen sets the gun off and turns it on her right away. When Julia shows up and demands more or less the same thing, the two have a little back and fourth banter. Carmen, no doubt, notes Agent Argent’s hesitation.

Carmen’s surprise no doubt came from her not expecting another agent, or at least, not expecting an agent to give her a chance to respond. Whereas Zari wasn’t afraid to get up close and point the gun directly at her face, Julia is standing quite far off. It probably took Carmen a moment to register who was speaking to her, and once she realized it was Julia, she relaxed, and smiled.

Julia helped her before, with the Magna Carta. So, why not seek her help more directly? Test the waters with the one agent who was willing to give her the time of day.

Not only that, but undoubtedly Carmen was re-formulating her plan to include Julia in it, right at that very moment. Honestly, the whole thing went far better with 4 people instead of the initial 3 (Carmen, Ivy, and Zack). So Carmen was probably like ‘oh hey that very reasonable agent from the train that I can probably count on to help me out if I also present myself as a sane and reasonable person.’ And then it actually worked.

But we can dissect this small change in her expression even further. Carmen is genuinely happy to see her/hear her voice. Not just because she knows Julia is raw and untrained and easily disarmed, no. Upon their first meeting, Carmen gave her the nickname “Jules”. In fact, Carmen has literally never spoken her full name, “Julia”. Even when passing off leadership in front of Ivy and Zack, Carmen still sticks to the Jules nickname. She doesn’t do this with anyone else. (Sure, Player is “Player”, but that’s purely upon his own request.) Maybe this is a reach, but, it feels like this indicates a completely different type of relationship and level of intimacy that Carmen shares with Julia and no one else.

Getting back on track.

Carmen probably took her hand as an extra precaution to prevent Julia from deciding to whip out her gun again. I mean, sure, it was also faster and easier to lead her by holding her hand. But also consider that the gun was holstered against her left hip, making it awkward to try to maneuver around her jacket with her left hand to try and grab it. With her right hand occupied, it would have taken too long for her to pull it out again, even if she’d tried. Honestly, taking her hand was the most practical action in this scenario, even if it was a bit intimate. It doesn’t have to mean anything, but it can.

It is also worth noting that although Julia believes Carmen is on the same side as A.C.M.E., she is probably rightfully confused starting from the moment Carmen takes her gun and then doesn’t gas her.

Julia’s orders from A.C.M.E. were to capture Carmen Sandiego in order to protect the Medici gowns. So when it turned out Carmen wasn’t planning to take the gowns, Julia had to decide that saving the dresses overruled the order to capture Carmen. The original mission she was given changed in a matter of seconds, making her have to pick a priority (Carmen or dresses). It also gave her an opportunity to work with Carmen and show A.C.M.E. she’d been right all along. But Julia, much like Carmen, had to trust her gut about this woman she barely knew, but had the utmost faith in.

As far as putting Julia in charge of getting the gowns to safety, that was probably the easiest decision of the evening for either of them. Carmen already knows Julia is one of the good guys. She doesn’t need to question her motives, at all. Not only that, but as mentioned above, Julia had already proven she could be trusted by ensuring the safe return of the Magna Carta.

Carmen knew V.I.L.E. wouldn’t be far behind, and dividing her attention could have been disastrous for the mission overall. I mean, she’s Carmen Sandiego, so, she could have probably handled it. But it was a much smarter move to put Julia in charge. She knew that Ivy and Zack were better at taking orders than giving them. She knew Player wouldn’t be able to coordinate well enough from his location. Carmen needed someone on the ground, right there, right then. Julia was available.

One final piece of this scene, that although it was not mentioned in the original ask, I feel is worth noting. Julia is actively worried about Carmen Sandiego’s safety. She outright asks, “what about you?” when Carmen instructs the others to get the gowns to safety. Why should she care? Her mission, saving the  Medici’s, is about to be complete. She’s about to really and truly prove herself to A.C.M.E. by being the agent responsible for saving the gowns. And yet she pauses, wanting to ensure Carmen is safe before she goes anywhere. A person that is supposed to be her enemy, although Julia has never truly believed that.

This is followed by Carmen pushing Julia back, not only urging her to leave with the gowns and Carmen’s own team, but moving her further away from danger as well as physically putting her body between Julia and potential harm. There are smashing sounds coming from the ceiling; clearly something bad is on its way. As usual, Carmen puts the safety of her friends before her own, which is a completely new experience for Julia. She is getting to see a caring and protective side of the super thief, one she was previously unaware of. Even for someone she barely knows, she’s willing to put her life on the line to save that of someone else.

And finally, even after Julia runs after Ivy and Zack, she turns back one last time to see how Carmen is doing. She doesn’t want to leave her behind, but ultimately realizes she has no choice. She certainly wouldn’t be any use in a fight. Plus, her number one objective is to save the gowns. Carmen Sandiego is probably going to get away. But the items she was sent to protect are now in A.C.M.E. hands. Job well done.

But Julia is left with the knowledge that Carmen Sandiego played an integral part in the success of the mission. She and Zari could not have saved the gowns alone (especially with the knowledge that Carmen was being attacked). Carmen Sandiego did in fact steal things- but it was to get the jump on another person or organization before they could do so themselves, smuggling the valuables away and returning them at a later date. Just as was the pattern Carmen laid out in Season 1.

Julia not only had her long-standing theory validated, but she got to see just how self-sacrificing Carmen could be. Putting herself in harms way while everyone else was encouraged to find somewhere safer. For someone labeled as a criminal, that was probably completely unexpected. Among a multitude of other unexpected things that had just happened. But that one may have been the most surprising.

All in all, there is a lot to say about this scene, and I could honestly go through it frame by frame and write a comprehensive essay. But hopefully this will sufficiently answer your query, and if not, feel free to send another ask.

#Carmen Sandiego #asks #anonymous #text #Carmen X Julia #Carmelia #Carmen #Julia Argent #Carulia #JuleThief #Carjules

[leporellian]

how i got into opera (unabridged)

i realize i’ve never mentioned how i got into opera before and it’s like. it was a whole ass Odyssey and i really feel like confessing my sins today.

‘so how do you find a special interest’ watch this.

RIGHT so i actually was exposed to opera all the damn time as a baby because my grandmother thought, for some dumbass reason, that opera calms babies down. which she was apparently right so i’m not gonna debate that shit but has she ever been to an opera. literally every damn minute of the ring cycle could traumatize a baby. literally what the fuck. but that’s not where this story begins because i don’t remember ANY of that shit.

anyway so as a kid i was always on that bullshit with THESE fucking things

these were supposed to make your baby smart or something but they didn’t work because i have the processing speed of the fuckin Pony Express. but they were good. (except for the beethoven one, which terrified me. fuck beethoven.) they were like, soothing images/puppets/toys with a backdrop of classical music scored on a marimba, which was like CRACK COCAINE to an autistic kid like myself so i watched these until i was in 4th grade despite the box saying ‘for ages under 3′ which really shows you how ineffectual these were at actually making kids smart. now this was like, the opera gateway drug, because it buttered me up into liking opera/classical music, which is a CAPITAL Sin.

so by this point i already like classical music. unless it’s by beethoven because he freaked me the F u c k out. which is where... 

PURRPALS FOR THE DS comes in

this game was literally a shameless nintendogs clone that was made to sell purina cat food. it was absolutely fucking bizarre. however i was a seven year old with a nintendo Dee Ess and toxoplasmosis gondii practically running in their Bloodstream i was on this shit like a hare in heat. but the important part of the gameplay was this guitar hero clone where you had to stage a fucking cat acapella group

it was easy as shit, being a badly designed game made for selling 

PURINA 

CAT 

LITTER, 

so i would immediately go to the hard levels, which were as follows.

- THE MAGIC FLUTE - RIGOLETTO - LA HABANERA - TORADOR

first of all these motherfuckers took one song from the magic flute and one song from rigoletto and said it was the WHOLE OPERA but THEY COULDN’T EVEN FIND A FOURTH OPERA SO THEY WENT WITH CARMEN TWICE. what WACKADOO Chicanery. also why the FUCK was rigoletto there it’s really the third wheel of this whole affair. anyway so since i played this shit regularly enough i was able to remember the song names, which, i had no idea what the fuck they were about but as a kid you never know what the fuck anything is about so i really was not bothered. i think i thought the magic flute was a ballet in the same cinematic universe as the Nut Crack Ker or something

anyway.

CHAPTER FOUR: THE FRESH BEAT BAND

I HATED THIS SHOW WITH EVERY CORE OF MY BEING. i don’t know WHY but i felt such extreme secondhand embarrassment when i saw this show at the ripe old age of seven that when the school’s music teacher, which was the same one that loudly declared her loyalty to Mitt Romney in class one day (which is a different but no less entertaining story) showed a clip of this to us it was the first time i realized nothing was stopping me from walking out of the school. (which i didn’t. because i was a pussy. but fuck this show.) there was some dumb ass episode where all of the characters were doing different music styles or whatever- i really wasn’t paying attention i was on the computer in the same room of the television looking up how much my littlest pet shop toys were worth on ebay- and then they start singing 

LA FUCKIN HABANERA.

“i know that song!” i said, which sounds like joyful recognition, but in my head i was thinking something more akin to “WHAT THE FUCK THAT BITCH IS STEALING THE SONG FROM PURRPALS ON THE DS. LEARN YOUR COPYRIGHTS YOU HOE.” my parents immediately went ‘nah it has to have a different name’, which is when my ENTP really came out. i don’t believe in meyers-briggs but i got entp on the test and it basically means ‘stubborn little bastard who will start an argument with Literally Anyone” which is Kin Me Id. anyway i started being all ‘no i KNOW because PURRPALS on the DS told me’ so my parents were like ‘fine let’s just make the kid be quiet’ and looked it up on itunes. No Shit, i was right, because i knew my

PURRPALS 

LORE.

so anyway my parents knew my grandmother was crazy batshit for opera, which my grandmother actually used to hate opera but then a friend of hers who liked opera killed herself and then she decided to listen and went ‘nah this is actually kinda a bop’, which again a whole nother story, so they immediately tell her that i know about opera. which i DIDN’T i just knew about PURRPALS on the DS. so now my grandmother decides “aight i’m taking the grandkid to carmen at the LYRIC OPERA HOUSE”. 

i was seven and i didn’t know what ANY of those words MEANT. but my parents made me wear a dress and a purse so i figured it was an Occasion. (i filled the purse with nothing but goldfish crackers. they weren’t even in a ziploc baggie inside the bag i just dumped like half a carton of them directly into the purse.) 

so anyway i liked watching carmen but it wasn;t like it was anything special to me at the time. like you could have replaced it with Madagascar 2: Escape 2 Africa and it would have the same effect. 

UNTIL ACT FOUR. 

my grandmother was never exactly aware of my reading abilities until i was maybe like, 13. she didn’t think i was actually understanding anything in the little program thing they give you. but i realized, right as act 3 finished, that carmen was going to be stabbed in the next act

ON STAGE

and i lost my shit.

“that doesn’t even make sense!” i told my grandmother as we left the building. (i thankfully didn’t make a scene but i was shaking like an abused grayhound, or some shit.) “don jose is a bad guy carmen would have stabbed him first.” (thankfully there’s a production where that actually happens. so some day i will sue them because they plagiarized from my filibuster in the lyric ladies’ bathroom about carmen when i was seven.)

“there are operas with happy endings!” she said. i wasn’t sure i believed her because i watched that one bugs bunny episode where they do wagner. 

so anyway, like 7 months later my grandmother tells my parents she’ll take me to see the magic flute, also at the lyric, because it’s a child friendly opera, which, it’s

AN OPERA ABOUT FREEMASONRY CULTS AND RACISM AND SEXISM WITH TWO OR MORE ATTEMPTED SUICIDES AND A HITMAN PLOT

but by this point nobody really cared and this time i was sure i wouldn’t freak because i had trained myself into not crying at movies, because my parents didn’t allow me to watch movies that made me cry so i exploited a loophole, which again, another story. i knew about the magic flute vaguely because it was in Purrpals on the DS. 

now that i knew what the magic flute was- vaguely, my grandmother told me nothing about it except that it was an opera- i asked my grandmother what rigoletto was. “oh it’s the same thing as the hunchback of notre dame!”

i still don’t know what the fuck she meant by this.

anyway i loved the magic flute- which had the same music as that baby einstein tape all those years ago so it immediately felt familiar- and as soon as i got home i went and decided that i was going to know everything to know about it. 

and that’s how i got into opera.

#rambles #opera tag

[youreverycolor]

An Unlikely Love: Post Script (Rafael Barba x Anna Stein)

AN: Prompt #186 from 200 Prompts from @drink-it-write-it (“I’m eating because I’m very uncomfortable.”). I will probably be using Anna Stein’s character in a lot of the oneshots I write, so perhaps they’ll get their own miniseries. :)

Also should add that I wrote this while on Percocet after surgery so I apologize for typos or weirdness.

Written for @madpanda75; if you would like to be tagged on future Barba oneshots/fic, please reply and let me know! :)

Song: “My Shot” from the Hamilton soundtrack

~*~*~*~

“Mr. Barba? Anna Stein is here.”

Rafael Barba, the boy-wonder assistant district attorney, was not known for getting tongue-tied. In fact, he was usually the one doing the tying. But when his assistant opened his door and announced Anna’s arrival, he didn’t know what to say. After cases were over, he would nod in the victim’s direction, acknowledge their thank-you, and head back to his office to start all over again with someone else’s nightmare. He couldn’t remember a time when a victim had come to visit him after the case was over—and Anna’s case had been over for a year.

Last time Rafael had seen her, Anna was talking to Olivia in the hallway outside the courtroom where her rapist had just been sentenced to fifteen years in prison. Despite the victory, Anna had looked frail and somewhat dazed. After his years working with SVU, he knew this was understandable; sometimes a victim became so consumed with the trial that they didn’t quite know what to do after it was over. But he also knew Olivia had told her what she told all victims: that people who go through horrific experiences can survive and thrive when they get the support they need.

“Send her in,” he replied, but Carmen was already one step ahead of him—before he could even stand up, Anna was walking through his door. His breath caught in his chest; if he didn’t know better, he would never have been able to imagine this was the same woman who cried on a witness stand as John Buchanan tried to rip her apart. This woman walked tall, her blonde hair cascading down her back, pale skin glowing under the slightest coat of makeup. She looked like life had been breathed back into her.

She smiled at him as Carmen closed the door behind her. “Mr. Barba,” she said, walking toward his desk. “Thank you for taking a minute to see me.”

He extended his hand and she took it, giving him a confident shake. He remembered that about her; no matter how traumatized she had been, her handshake was always strong. “Of course,” he said. “How are you, Ms. Stein?”

“Please, call me Anna.”

“Okay, Anna. Have a seat.” She sank into of the chairs on the other side of his desk and, instead of sitting behind his desk, he sat next to her. “What can I do for you?”

“This is going to be a little—I mean, it’s going to sound—” She took a deep breath. “Ever since the trial, I’ve been trying to figure out what I want to do next. As you can imagine, I didn’t really feel I could go back to work there.”

“I can imagine. Your company wasn’t exactly helpful in the investigation.”

“No, of course not. They were more interested in protecting him. The CEO is more valuable than an executive assistant, and I’ve basically been blackballed in the financial industry.”

He nodded sadly, knowing how these things usually went. “Well, if it’s legal assistance you need, I can certainly recommend—”

She held up a hand. “Oh, no, no, that’s not it. But it’s kind of related, I guess. Like I said, I’ve been thinking about what I want to do now. And I talked a little to Detective Benson—Olivia—about it, and she’s the one who suggested I talk to you.”

He was intrigued. “Go on.”

She looked upwards and then let out a loud sigh. “I think I want to go to law school,” she finally said. “I know that that’s going to sound really—I mean, who just ‘decides’ to go to law school, right? And I know that most people go right after undergrad, and I have a biology degree, not political science or English, and—why are you smiling?”

He didn’t even realize he was. But listening to Anna talk reminded him of how excited he had been when he got his acceptance letter to Harvard Law. It shouldn’t even have been a surprise to him, considering he was poised to graduate from Harvard College. But it was still one of the most joyous days of his life, the beginning of the future.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “It’s not that I’m not taking this seriously. But I’m not sure what I can do to help you.”

Her eyes lifted to his. “I guess it’s just that seeing how hard you fought for me…I don’t really know any other lawyers, Mr. Barba. And I want to talk to someone who’s done this. I know you’re really busy, and I understand if—”

He shook his head. “No, no, I’d be happy to talk. Right now, I have to finish prepping this case”—he gestured to the open file on his desk—“but if you have some time later this week, I’d be happy to make some time.”

“Of course. If you’re sure it’s not too much trouble, that is.”

“First lesson about being a lawyer. Never turn down the opportunity to influence new lawyers.”

She grinned and stood up. “I’ll make a note.”

He whipped out his phone and checked his calendar. “Does Thursday night work for you? I could be free after seven.”

“That’s perfect. I hear Forlini’s is popular with the legal crowd.”

“Usually when I’m there, I’m eating because I’m very uncomfortable.” She raised an eyebrow. “Tends to be where the squad and I go after we lose a case,” he explained. “The food’s a comfort when justice isn’t.”

“Got it. So, where then?”

He thought for a second. “How do you feel about Latin food?”

***

The summer evening threatened a storm. Between when Anna left her apartment and her arrival at Coppelia, the Latin American diner in Greenwich Village where she was meeting with Rafael Barba, the wind had picked up and nearly blew the cab door off when she opened it. Thankfully, Rafael hadn’t arrived yet, so she had time to escape to the restroom. Once she secured the door behind her, she set to fixing herself up. She pulled her hair into an approximation of a bun on top of her head, opting to work with the windblown look rather than fight against it. She took her leather jacket off and disentangled her double-layered necklaces. After picking a piece of lint off of her black t-shirt and smoothing the lines of her jeans, she was satisfied that she looked like a decently put-together woman. But just before she opened the door to head back into the diner, she dropped her coat and went back to the mirror.

Before the rape, she’d never worn perfume or makeup. But she decided, once she started to rebuild her life, that it was time to take risks and try new things. She knew this wasn’t a date. She didn’t intend it that way when she’d asked to meet him. She didn’t expect he thought anything different, either. And yet, she still coated her lips with watermelon gloss and gave herself an extra spritz of Chanel Mademoiselle from the travel bottle she carried with her.

When she made her way to the front of the restaurant again, Rafael was just entering the restaurant. She tried to look unassuming; the last thing she wanted was to seem overeager, especially next to the confident and collected ADA.

“Ms. Stein,” he said. “Glad to see you found the place.”

“First of all, it wasn’t easy—this place is a hole in the wall, literally—and second, Counselor, I told you to call me Anna.”

He took off his overcoat, and Anna was surprised to see that he wasn’t wearing a suit. Instead, he had on a dark blue Henley and slim-cut jeans; somehow, she had never pictured him wearing anything other than suspenders and ties. “Well, if you want me to call you Anna, then you’re going to need to call me Rafael.”

The waiter sat them at a booth toward the back of the restaurant, where, thankfully, the noise was much quieter. Rafael ordered a scotch, and Anna ordered a glass of sangria. “Thanks again for agreeing to meet with me,” she said.

“No need to thank me,” he replied. “That said, I’m not sure what I can offer you. I went to law school ten years ago. It’s probably an entirely different process now.”

“It’s not really school I want to know about so much as…well…your life.”

“My life? What do you mean?”

The waiter brought their drinks and asked if they were ready to order. Neither of them had looked at the menu yet, so they tabled the discussion in order to do so. “What’s good here?” she asked.

“Everything. But at the risk of sounding unbelievably boring, the Cubano is the best in the city.”

“Sold.”

“Wow, that was easy. Next, you’re going to let me talk you into applying to Harvard.”

She quirked an eyebrow. “What makes you think you talked me into anything? Maybe I already wanted to get that, and you just confirmed my choice.”

He smirked. “You’ve got a good poker face.”

“After what I’ve been through, I needed to get one.” When she saw his face fall slightly, her blue eyes flashed. “That was a joke. A bad one.”

He relaxed and took a sip of scotch. “I get it. We all cope differently.” Before she could ask what “we” meant, the waiter returned for their orders. Once he disappeared again, Anna pulled a notepad from her bag. Rafael laughed. “You do know that you have to trade your handwriting in for your law license, right?”

“You used notepads during the trial.”

He was taken aback. “You noticed that?”

“I had to focus my attention somewhere, I guess,” she said. “It was either that or be constantly aware of the assault on my life choices.”

She was referring, of course, to John Buchanan. He was the guy every rich white man accused of rape hired to get them acquitted and was also the perfect caricature of a defense attorney. His usual M.O. was to call the victim a slut or accuse her of lying or, Rafael’s personal favorite, claim it was consensual, rough sex. Listening to Buchanan, one would think that every woman on the planet enjoyed being dominated and sodomized.

“I’m sorry that I couldn’t do more to protect you from that,” Rafael said sadly, casting his eyes downward.

Anna’s eyes softened and she leaned across the table. “You did your job. I know that. Why do you think I’m here?”

He looked up at her again, and then at her notebook. It was one of those old-school composition books, the kind he used in high school. “Okay, first question. Why do you want to go to law school?”

She took another sip of sangria. “You promise not to laugh?”

“Of course.”

“You.” His eyebrows shot up, nearly off his forehead. She smiled behind her glass; she knew he’d have that reaction. “I know it sounds like I’m just kissing your ass, but it’s true.”

“No, that’s not why I’m—it’s just—I’ve prosecuted hundreds of these cases, and—well, truth be told…”

Anna cocked her head. “What? What is it?”

“Well, it’s just that I’ve never even had a victim visit me after the case was closed, and now I’ve got you telling me that I made you want to go to law school. It’s a bit…”

“Overwhelming?”

He shook his head. “Not overwhelming. Just…unexpected.”

As their food arrived, she said, “If I’ve learned anything from the last two years, it’s that sometimes, the things we expect least change our lives the most.”

It would be years before Anna and Rafael realized how right she was; for the moment, he was content to tell her all about the law, and she was content to listen to him talk.

#rafael barba #rafael barba fanfiction #rafael barba fan fiction #rafael barba fanfic #rafael barba fan fic #rafael barba imagine #rafael barba x oc #ada rafael barba #law and order svu #law and order special victims unit #l&o:svu #raul esparza #svu #an unlikely love #my fic #svu fanfiction

[gloriousstudentfury-love]

No Mass ✰

y/n’s POV

"I'm going to the Alvarez's!" I yelled

"Did you eat breakfast?" Schneider asked

"Yes." I groaned, knocking my shoes on the ground as I was anxious to get over there

"Obviously, you didn't brush your hair." Schneider said, gently patting my head

"What? Yes, I did." I gasped, pushing down my hair

"My bad. I know you didn't take your medicine." He said, shaking the orange bottle he took out of his pocket

"Come on, I'm fine. I promise." I said

"Nope. Come here." He ordered, putting one in my hand

I glared at the little white pill in my hand, wanting to put it in the trash

"Promise me you'll take it." Schneider begged

"I promise." I sighed, walking out the apartment door

I shut the door and crushed the little pill with my foot. I used my heel to push the dust under the welcome mat. 3

__________

Once I got to the Alvarez apartment, I walked right in as if I lived there. I practically did.

"What's going on today Alvarez family?" I asked, shutting the door gently behind me

"We're just moving the Pope." Penelope said as if it was a normal thing

"Do I want to know? Actually, don't answer that. I don't." I said, sitting at the kitchen table next to Alex.

"Did you take your medicine?" Alex asked, raising his eyebrows in question

"Yes." I lied, patting his shoulder

I turned to find Lydia putting up a picture of the Pope on their counter. We laughed at her as she continued to dance her way to her room.

_________

Later, I was back at the Alvarez's house. Lydia invited me and Schneider over to eat dinner with them.

"You can probably dump that whole thing on there." Schneider said, referring to the food Lydia was passing out

"Next time." Lydia, lovingly, laughed

"Hi!" We all said, as the door slammed following Penelope's entrance into the apartment

"Welcome home, Lupita. We are almost done, but there is plenty left." Lydia said, pointing to the dinner on the table

"Aw. Dinner with my entire family... and the whitest people I know." Penelope said, gesturing to me and Schneider

"We're not that white." I said, unconvincingly

"Honey, you're as white as your converse..and those are really white." Penelope joked, making everyone laugh

"Yes, I invited them, again. They're orphans." Lydia said

"Do orphans always have rich dads who buy them buildings?" Alex asked

I tensed at the mention of a dad, but shook it off with a smile. I wasn't going to cause drama in a situation that didn't really involve me.

"Hey, I may have money in the bank and two living parents, and four living stepmothers...but there is a hole in here. We never had family meals. I ate alone in front of the TV. At least now, I have this one." Schneider argued, ruffling my hair

I instantly felt guilty about not taking my medicine. I knew he wanted what was best for me, but I just couldn't bring my self to do it.

"Ay, pobrecito Schneider." Lydia said

"Oh, don't get me wrong. It was a massive TV. Sometimes my nanny would join me, but only if I agreed to watch telenovelas." Schneider said

"Ooh, those are so over the top." Elena groaned

"Right? This one time, Rosa got jealous of the housekeeper cause she was makin a move on her man, so she threatened to throw live scorpions on her while she slept." Schneider said

"Sounds good. Which one was that?" Lydia asked

"Oh, no. Rosa was my nanny. Ex nanny. Now, stepmother. I'm so glad to be here." Schneider sighed, rubbing the table

"I'm just glad to be home with everyone." Penelope said, smiling at her family

As if on cue, Elena's goth friend walked out of the bathroom and sat in Penelope's chair.

"Who the hell are you?" Penelope asked

"This is Carmen, my best friend. I'm doing my history project with her." Elena said, introducing the stranger

"These all sound like things I should know. Hi, Carmen." Penelope smiled, introducing herself

"Hi." Carmen sighed, dramatically

"I'm Penelope. Kind of a big deal around here. So, uh, what's this history project you're working on? And then maybe later you can show me how you turn into a bat." Penelope asked, teasing Elena's friend

"Well, we just got done explaining the whole thing." Elena said

"Oh, come on, mija, I missed it." Penelope begged

"Oh, wait. Alex, y/n, tell Penelope that funny story that happened in chemistry class." Lydia laughed

"Again?" Alex asked

"Okay, I'll tell it. So, there is the floor and... slip. Oh, that Dylan." Lydia laughed as she barley got through any of the story

"Oh, That story never gets old." Schneider said, laughing at Lydia's incoherent story

"I've been working so much. I've been missing all the scoops plus Latina Twilight over here. Careful. There's a lot of garlic in that chicken." Penelope said, continuing to tease Carmen

"Your mom's kinda mean. I'm obsessed with her." Carmen, oddly, smiled

"Who would like a pastelito?" Lydia asked

We all eagerly took one, ignoring the pizzas Penelope had brought home

"Mm! You know what? How about we go on a hike this Saturday like we used to?" Penelope asked her kids

"Mom, Uh, Carmen and I need all Saturday for our history thing." Elena said

"Yeah, and Abuelita, y/n, and I have tickets to wrestling." Alex cheered

"I don't understand why you waste good money on that." Penelope sighed

"It's educational." I said, attempting to convince her

Penelope stared at me with a "we both know that's bullshit" look.

"Eh, I don't know." I shrugged

"Okay, Saturday's out. How about we go on a hike Sunday morning before it gets hot?" Penelope asked

"You seem to have forgot. Sunday morning is for church." Lydia said

"So, we skip church." Penelope suggested

"You seem to have forgot. We don't skip church." Lydia said, shaking her head at her only daughter

"Mami, it's okay if we miss it one time. It's not gonna kill us." Penelope insisted

"Oh, really? My great uncle Luisito skipped church, and on the same day, he was crushed by a runaway tractor." Lydia said

"Why don't you just go to church and then go hikin' after?" Schneider asked, solving their obvious problem

"We're Latinos, Church takes all day. By the time you're done with mass and you've said hello to fulano y fulana, it's five o'clock." Penelope said

"Oh, you exaggerate. 4:30." Lydia insisted

"I wanna see these guys this weekend. Come on. Cause I like them." Penelope said, pulling her kids close to her

"I have to put my foot down. Sundays we go to church, and then sometimes we go to Applebee's." Lydia said

"Well, I have a foot, too, and I'm gonna put my foot down and say this Sunday we're not going to church." Penelope argued

"Well, I am putting both of my feet down. We are going and that is the end of it. Ya!" Lydia said, shushing Penelope

"That's not your decision to make." Penelope said, beginning to get angry

"It's starting to feel kinda like home in here." Schneider smiled, making me shake my head

"I'm with Mom. We don't need to go to church. After all, Abuelita, you don't believe half that stuff." Elena said

"I believe everything." Lydia argued

"Really? When you take the communion you believe you're eating the actual blood and flesh of Jesus?" Elena asked

"Ay, no, it's a symbol. Don't be gross." Lydia said

"Okay. So, if you believe that then you're Protestant." Penelope said

"There is no need for name calling. All I know is that a good Catholic does not skip church. Right, papito?" Lydia asked, looking towards Alex for support

"I like church. I see my friends and I eat some donuts." Alex said

"Now, this one gets it. We're going." Lydia said, patting him on the back

"No, we are not! I work hard all week. When I get home, there's barely enough time to have a meal with the kids. Weekends are my only chance. So, this Sunday, no church. End of discussion." Penelope said

Lydia stood up and said something in Spanish, confusing me and Schneider.

"Ooh." Alex and Carmen said

"What? What'd she say?" Elena asked, who was also confused

"I am raising my voice, because I cannot believe we're having this discussion! I'm their mother! I don't need permission! I decide." Penelope fought

"And I am your mother, and I decide what you decide." Lydia said

"We are a family, damn it! Don't make me choose between you." Schneider said, "Okay, I'd choose Lydia because of her warm food and even warmer hugs. But I'd feel really bad about it."

"All right, everybody, go do your homework. Schneider, take y/n and go call one of your moms." Penelope said

"Fine. Guess we'll just eat this all alone in front of my massive TV." Schneider said, storming out

"Thought that was at his dad's house-" Penelope started

"He has one too!" I yelled as we stormed out 2

_________

The next morning, I was sitting on the couch before school when someone knocked on the apartment door. Schneider went to open it to reveal the whole Alvarez family.

"Hello, Schneider. Listen have you—" Penelope started

"Wow! I always forget how huge your apartment is." Alex said, barging into the apartment

I waved from the couch before going back to my TV show, trying to ignore the chaos around me.

"Nah, come on, it's not that big. But let's talk in the parlor." Schneider said

"Schneider, have you seen my mom?" Penelope asked

"Gosh, no." Him and I, suspiciously, said

"Then why do I smell fried plantains and Cuban coffee?" Elena asked, glancing around the apartment

"Fine! She spent the night. But I want you to know, nothing happened." He promised

"Ew." I said, shaking my head at the older man

"What were you thinking chasing that women away? She's funny, charming, and when she gets angry, she cleans." He said

"Where is she?" Penelope asked, ignoring most of what he said

"I don't know. After last nights ugliness, she spent the night and left without saying goodbye. So, she already knows the drill." He said, referring to the previous women that had been in the apartment

"Again, Gross." I groaned

Then, a girl walked out a Schneider's room wearing just a shirt. Alex stared at her, making me laugh at his immaturity.

"Unlike some people." He said, glaring at the girl

The girl walked into a different room, and everyone turned their attention back towards Schneider

"What was that? And why was she drinking my coffee?" Penelope asked

"Well, when my family oasis blew up last night, I had to seek solace in the arms of.. I don't know her name. Your mom called her the stick girl and made her eat plato de huevos." He said

"Did Abuelita forget to give her her pants, too?" Alex asked, making me laugh

__________

Later, Schneider and I were still at the Alvarez's because Lydia wasn't there when Alex and Elena got home from school.

Penelope walked in and we all greeted her with smiles and waves, still worried about Lydia.

"Welcome home, Lupita! We already started, but I insisted nobody say anything interesting till you got here." Schneider said

"Aw, that's so sweet." Penelope smiled, looking at all of us sitting at the dinner table

"It's been weird." Elena sighed

"Did you find Abuelita?" Alex asked, desperate to see his grandma again

"Yeah, she's with Jesus now." Penelope said2

"What?" We all screamed, thinking she meant Lydia had died

"No, no. Sorry. She's at church. Poor choice of words. Uh, whoa! What do we have here?" Penelope asked, looking at everything Schneider had set up

"Oh, Nothing special. Just some nutted quinoa, wilted broccoli with radish micro greens, and venison carpaccio on a bed of nettles. Grab a cedar plank and dig in." Schneider said

"Big change from Abuelita's cooking, huh? You like it?" Penelope asked all of us

"I can't wait to have eaten it." Elena said, as Schneider stared at her waiting for an answer

"I didn't think I would like nettles, and I was right." Alex said, setting down the fork he was using to eat

"Well, I'm competing with perfection here." Schneider sighed

"It's okay, Schneider. We all thank you for this very Caucasian meal. Good to see you again, Elena's best friend, Carmen, you beautiful weirdo." Penelope smiled

Carmen stared at her, uninterested in what Penelope was talking about.

"I'm sorry things got crazy the other night. That's- that's not us." Penelope insisted

"Seems like us." Alex disagreed

"We have all kinds of arguments in my family. I have two brothers. Ones a priest, ones a witch, so..." Carmen said, making us look at her oddly

"I'm really glad I'm getting to know you better, Carmen." Penelope

"Hello!" Lydia said, dramatically making her reappearance through the front door

"Oh, Thank God!" Schneider said, running ahead of everyone and hugging her

"I am so glad you're home. I was wilting under pressure to be you." He groaned

"Oh, hello, babies." Lydia said, hugging Elena and Alex, then me

"I'm sure you did fine. Who threw up in the table?" Lydia said, approaching the table and judging Schneider's cooking

"What were you doing all day?" I asked

"Oh, you know, saying my Rosary, praying for the departed souls...Asking forgiveness for your mother." Lydia said

"Why?" Elena asked

"Oh, She didn't tell you? She's no longer going to church. Ever." Lydia said

"We can do that?" Alex asked

"You can't. We will all go together. Us. Your mother will go hiking with Satan." Lydia sassed

"Yeah, and then we'll go to Applebee's. Cause Satan loves the Fiesta Lime Chicken!" Penelope sassed right back

"So, I guess you want to take my grandchildren to hell with you." Lydia asked, furthering the argument between her and Penelope

"I don't wanna go to hell." Alex cried, making me pat his shoulder

"There is no hell." Penelope said

"Don't worry, papito, there is." Lydia said, not making Alex feel any better

"Okay! You- you really wanna do this? All right, let's do this. I am not even sure I even believe in God, Okay?" Penelope said

"Hardcore." Carmen said, as the Alvarez's gasped

"Oye, you're so smart. If God doesn't exist, who made all of this?" Lydia asked, gesturing around the apartment

"Target." Penelope said2

"Okay, can we agree that if there is a God, it's gender neutral and not a He or she?" Elena asked

"No! God is a man. If he were a woman, there would be less problems. Pobrecito God. He tries so hard." Lydia said5

"Look, Mami, I get it. You like going to church. It's habit. You go out in lipstick, get dressed up, see your friends, gossip. It's your little social club, Mami, and that's fine." Penelope said

"It is more than that. I pray. I seek forgiveness." Lydia said

"And I am so glad that that gives you comfort. But that doesn't mean that God exists, okay? I'm sorry." Penelope said

"He kept you safe. Every day that you were gone, he kept you safe. My little girl says she wants to go in the Army, and then the army sends her to Afghanistan where she is getting shot at and I don't even know what else. Do you have you any idea... how much I worried? When you were deployed, I went to church everyday and I prayed that he would keep you safe. And he did. So don't you tell me about God. I know that God exists, and he is great." Lydia said, crying as she finished her story

"Mami, I'm sorry. I had no idea. You know, you went missing for one day and I was worried sick. I can't imagine what it must feel like to worry all those years." Penelope said

"All those years putting up with Birdie, with her terrible hairdos and her smelly breath." Lydia said

"Look. I still wear the cross you gave me." Penelope said, showing her the dainty cross necklace

"So you do believe!" Lydia exclaimed

"No, I don't wear it because it's a cross. I wear it because you gave it to me." Penelope said

"I don't understand the difference, so please just let me have this." Lydia said

They both sobbed and hugged each other, as everyone else looked on with a smile.

"So, are we going to church or not?" Elena asked

"Yes. Wait, no. Wait.. Sometimes, okay?" Penelope asked

"At least at Christmas and Easter. And one other time, so we are not those people." Lydia said

"And I'm not saying God doesn't exist. In fact, I check in with him constantly, you know, like, 'please God don't let Elena come home with a face tattoo.' And Mami, I am glad that you find comfort in church. I just find it in different places." Penelope said

"That's how I feel when I watch John Cena." Alex said, making everyone laugh

"Exactly, or Sonia Sotomayor... or Death. Everyone has something that inspires them." Penelope said

__________

The next morning, I was sat on the couch with Alex watching the News. All of a sudden, a story about a car swerving off a bridge, into a lake, came on.

I stopped focusing on what Alex was talking about and stayed glued to the TV. As the story went on it started getting harder to breath, and I was shaking, and my eyes were tearing up.

"y/n? y/n! What's wrong?" Alex asked,  grabbing my hand when he heard my labored breaths

"I... can't... breath." I said, shaking my head and crying

"Mom!" Alex screamed, calling out for an adult to come help

"What?" She asked running in, quickly rushing to the couch

"Something's wrong with y/n." He said, tearing up as I continued to shake and attempt to catch my breath.

"I'll go get Schneider. Wait here." She said, running out the apartment door

Elena, Alex, and Lydia tried to get me to calm down, but I just couldn't.

"Where is she?" Schneider asked, running in with Penelope.

When he saw me on the couch, he sat down and placed his hands on my shoulders, forcing me to look at him.

"Okay, okay. Remember your breathing. Breath in, 1,2,3,4,5. Breath out, 6,7,8,9,10." He said

We did that couple times, and I calmed down to the point where I could at least talk.

"What happened, kid?" He asked, rubbing my back in comfort

"The news. And the story, the car, bridge, lake." I said, beginning to tear up again

"y/n. Why didn't you take your medicine?" Schneider asked, realizing what had happened

"I did." I lied

"No, it wouldn't have been this bad if you had." He insisted

"I can't, okay? Every time I take those pills, I feel numb. And as crazy as it sounds, I want to feel the pain. I need to realize that what happened to my parents is real, not some horrible nightmare that I can just forget. I need to remember, and I need to heal on my own. I know I'll never have a mom who cares for me, or siblings to comfort me, or a dad to hang out with. I miss that, but pretending it's not real is worse." I said crying

Everyone stared at me either with teary eyes or sympathy, making me want to sink into the couch.

"Hey, I may not be your mom or your dad, but I'll always be there for you. I didn't think I'd enjoy taking in someone else's child, but since you've been with me I couldn't imagine life without you. You're my family." Schneider said, hugging me, "You can't hide these kind of thing from me, though. You have to try and be honest about it."

"We'll always be here too. For anything." Alex said, coming in to wrap me in hug

The rest of the family joined in one big hug, making me realize that Schneider was right. I may have lost my biological family, but family isn't just about DNA. It's about surrounding yourself with the people who will love and care for you through everything, and that's what Schneider and the Alvarez's are to me.

_________

Alright, I hope this chapter provides an idea of what happened to her parents. Thank you guys for the reads!! And please, any feedback is welcomed.

#odaat #alex alvarez

[leal-5]

Tomb of Time Destiny: Chapter 21

Juvia POV

“WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING?!!?” I sobbed hysterically after Erza told me what happened. Lucy and Levy had left the room to go get me some more water. Erza walked over to the window and leaned on the frame while staring out.

“I thought it was the good thing, the right thing to do.”

I stopped sobbing and pinched the bridge of my nose in irritation. “You do realize that you asked him to continue his marriage with a spoiled girl that has no problem setting other people in danger, just to save her reputation?”

Erza stayed silent.

I threw my hands up in the air in exasperation. 

“Unbelievable! The one time our mighty Titania actually likes a guy that likes her back she goes and tells him to marry another girl- don’t look at Juvia like that! Juvia knows it wasn’t like that but that's basically what you did!” I wail while pointing an accusatory finger at her.

“What’s all the yelling about?” Levy asks as she opened the door for Lucy who was holding a pitcher of water.

They looked from Erza, to me, then back to Erza with confused expressions. Trying to avoid their gaze Erza turns to look out the window, but she immediately pales and steps back from the window, as if trying to hide. Frowning, Lucy puts the pitcher of water down and approaches the window with Levy. They gasp when they see Jellal with Carmen together.

“Is that her?!” Lucy shrieks as they lean out of the window a bit to get a better look at her. “Well, she’s not ugly…”

Juvia snorts. “You'll think otherwise when you actually meet her.” she mumbles.

Lucy and Levy frown as they glance from me, to the window, then back to Erza. Their eyes widen when they piece together what happened. They stay silent for a few moments before Lucy speaks up.

“All right, I think I’m ready. How bad is it?”

Erza look avoids eye contact and takes her time to answer. “Bad.”

She closed her eyes as if pained, and Levy shook her head in disbelief. “No,” she said, pinching the bridge of her nose. “No, I can’t believe it. I thought it was a crush! You never said you were in love!”

Erza blushed heavily and mumbled “I wouldn’t go as far as to call it love-” but Levy interrupted.

“We should go, now,” she said, leaning toward me.

“Go?” I said, gaping at her. I hadn’t even been out of bed for more than twenty minutes and now she wanted me to make the journey to the tombs, more than a mile away? And under what pretense? By the looks of it, all of Fairy Tail and the town were coming to see us. What were we gonna do? Ride by them all, with a smile and a cheerful wave?

‘Hey there, how are ya? We’re the She-Wolves of Bellum, just on our way back back in time to the place we came from… don’t mind us!’

“We knew you had feelings for him,” Levy said, one hand out. “But we didn’t know you had feeling-feelings for him.”

“Is there a difference?” I asked tiredly.

“I guess not,” she said, plopping down beside me on the bed. “I didn’t know,” she said, talking to herself so lowly I almost missed it. “I mean we knew, but I didn’t know.”

I leaned back against the headboard and willed myself to find the strength for what was ahead. More people were already arriving. The castle would be filled, every room of it. Additional tents had been pitched outside, more than a hundred, Mira said, to house the others.

“Let’s go, guys.” Lucy said, wringing her hands in nervousness. “Before this all gets much worse. While we still can. We’ll find a couple of horses, and we’ll get out of here, back to our time. We’ll be able to get Juvia to a hospital!”

“No.”

Erza looked at me in surprise. I looked past her, to Jellal. Carmen had gone inside, but he was looking across the courtyard up at her, a curious, daring look in his eye.

“Please, I need you to give this a chance.” I pleaded with them. “To explore it with us. Please. Don’t rush Juvia. Juvia is afraid to leave. Because of her wound. Because of Erza. Juvia is afraid that if we leave, so much will be lost.”

Their brown eyes stared into mine for a long time.

“How long?” they asked at last.

“Through the feast,” I said. “Juvia thinks that by then, you can pull out her stitches and we can make it to the tombs.”

“Why through the feast?” Lucy pressed. She stepped closer. “Why not now?”

My eyes trailed from her to Erza, who was staring down at the courtyard again. Jellal was no longer there. “Maybe not all the way through the feast,” I whispered. “Juvia just knows that today is not the day. All right?”

"All right,” they whispered after a moment, fighting back a slight smile as they lean on me a bit. Given how close we where we’d have no problem pulling off the whole sister story.

We hid away that afternoon in the bedroom, skipping lunch, talking and playing with each other’s hair. It would have been a great slumber party had it not been for the fact that by the evening, a good third of the guests had arrived, all wanting to meet the ladies of Bellum, the warriors, the “she-wolves,” Fairy Tail’s “saviors,” and we were roused.

Fairy Tail didn’t seem to be able to tell them no. We weren’t able to tell them no. So we walked across the courtyard and into the Great Hall. When we entered, the entire room rose. I mean, every one of them came to their feet. And the place was packed. They cheered, clapped, smiled. Levy, Erza, And Lucy were doing a great job at being gracious and smiling, but I’m pretty sure I looked awkward as heck. Erza was doing a good job at not looking in Jellal and Carmen’s direction so I let my eyes wander around and accidentally met Ava’s gaze. Carmen had no doubt told her about the whole ���getting sent away because my sister was attracted to her man’ story and was probably gonna keep an even closer eye on me just in case I tried going after her guy.

‘Well, she needn’t worry. Unlike Erza, Juvia was never a threat to their relationship.’

Erza and I groaned softly when we realized they both Carmen and Ava were headed our way. I pause to gather myself, and force a smile to my lips. “Ava, Carmen,” I said, as kindly as I could.

“We are indebted to you and your sisters, as is all of the town.”

Erza shook my head. “We did only what we could. I’m sure you would've done the same, in the moment.”

Carmen shook her head. “I don't think so,” she said, raising one brow and smiling. “You and your sisters are indeed uncommon.”

We made the introductions then, between them and our ‘sisters’. To their credit, Lucy and Levy managed to hold their own, smiling sweetly and nodding with respect.

“We’ll be leaving as soon as we can, Ava,” I said. If we wanted to get away without arousing suspicion I was gonna need to get this girl and her friend off mine and Erza’s back. “Juvia only needs a few more days to heal, and then Juvia thinks she can endure the ride back to Bellum.”

She nodded, staring ahead, as if weighing my words, deciding if she believed them. “We heard you were most severely injured.”

“Yes,” I said with a nod, unconsciously placing a hand over the lower right side of my stomach.

“Juvia, Erza, my father believes he has a credible witness-that a close relative of yours is known to have been in the south-western part of Caellum.” Carmen suddenly said.

We froze and tried to keep our faces devoid of any emotion.  Relatives, here? Clearly the girl did not get the hint that we were orphans raised by a guardian who disappeared years ago. I tried to pull up the map that had been up on the tomb wall the last time I was there. If I recall correctly we’d have to take a ship to get to Caellum and the portion she speaks of is the farthest away from Fiore. No, it was more likely that they want to get us out of the way as soon as possible.

“Truly?” I said, with fake hope glancing at the other sharply to play along. “Oh, It must be uncle Gildarts! He's an old family friend! This is good news. We’d be off today if it weren’t for Juvia’s wound.” I gestured down to my side.

“No,” she said, “You mustn’t endanger yourself. You have already suffered much. But my father has already sent four men on the journey there. They should return soon with news.”

“That is more than kind,” Erza said. “You don’t know what it would mean, to be reunited.” We stared at them, hard. “And then we can be off. Back to Bellum.”

Their eyes studied ours, and finding some sort of confidence there, they reached over and squeezed our hands. “I bid you goodnight, Miss Lockser and Miss Scarlet. I’m sure you’re very tired.”

'You have no idea.'

“Yes, and we should be getting back to our fiances or they’ll begin to wonder where we’ve wandered off to.” Carmen said with a soft smile.

I forced another smile and fought back the urge to strangle her for Erza sake.

“Ha! Talk about a she-wolf,” Lucy said when we arrived back to the room, leaning back on the door. Levy came over to me and, seeing the exhaustion in my face, helped me lay down to check my wound.

“Those girls have their claws out. They’re just hidden under gloves.” Lucy glanced over at us. “You sure know how to pick’em.”

“Yes,” I said in irritation, tugging down my shirt when Levy gave a satisfactory nod, deeming my stitches intact. I glanced worriedly at Erza, who was standing beside the window again staring out of it. She had been silent throughout our walk back to our room. She suddenly slumped against the window frame and her shoulders began to tremble.

“Erza!?” We cried out, alarmed.

 “Gah! This was a bad idea! I knew you shouldn’t have come and seen Jellal and that girl togeth-” Levy stopped talking when she approached Erza close enough to realize that Erza wasn’t crying, she was laughing!

“What the hell!?” Lucy yelled, even more freaked out than before. “That’s it! She officially lost it. Titania has officially snapped. All hope is lost.”

Erza couldn't even breathe from how hard she was laughing, but she managed to form a sentence in between gasps of air. “....UN..CLE…..GI...LD….A-ART..SSSS AHAHAHAHAHA.”

I frowned in confusion before it clicked in my brain and my face burned a bright red. “D-don’t judge me! It was the first thing that came to mind!” I sputtered, shaking arms up and down when Levy and Lucy joined in on the laughter. They didn’t calm down for another ten minutes. I was pouting and staring at the wall in annoyance, even though I was fighting back a smile myself.

“So,” Levy said breathlessly. “She says our ‘relative’ has been seen. In Caelum.”

I shook my head. “They really want us gone, out from between them and their guys.”

Lucy grunted. “Clever.”

“Clever doesn’t begin to cover it,” Erza said.

Gently, I eased myself down again to my good side and lay down as Lucy pulls the covers over me. “These people have been planning on this union since Jellal and his brothers were children.”

“Seriously?” Levy asked with raised brows.

“Seriously.”

Erza looked at me and asked me a silent question. I frowned and gave her a look and she nodded. I sighed and looked away, but nodded nonetheless.

“In two days we’ll go home.”

Lucy and Levy looked up at us in alarm. “But Juvia said-“

“Forget what Juvia said.” I interrupted. “Tomorrow, you pull the stitches from Juvia’s side and we’ll be on our way the following day.”

Levy’s eyes became as cloudy as she shook her head. “I don’t think I can pull them out,” she said forlornly.

“Then I’ll get Gajeel or Simon or someone else,” I said with a sigh. “But we’re going home soon.”

#fairytail #fairy tail #fairy tail nalu #fairy tail natsu #ft natsu #natsu x lucy #natsu dragneel #fairy tail gruvia #gruvia #gray fullbuster #ft gray #juvia lockser #lucy heartifilla #levy mcgarden #erza scarlet #jellal fernandes #gajeel redfox #gajeel x levy #fairy tail gajeel #fairy tail jellal #gray x juvia #jellal x erza #fanfic #fanfiction #fairy tail gray

[mashitandsmashit]

America’s Got Talent: Season 14 - Judge Cuts 2

Is it even possible to be both cool and boring at the same time? ‘Cause that’s what I felt Dwayne Wade was...Clearly he was only brought on because of who he’s married to...Again, he seems like a cool guy, but he had very little to contribute to the judging panel...On the other hand, he DID give us the best Golden Buzzer act so far this season, so I guess he’s not ALL bad...

As for the rejected acts...Well, there’s always the chance of a Wildcard for Julianne’s Hair, but for now, this act might need to go home and rethink itself a bit...But Terry’s Suit is finally starting to live up to its predecessors...It still has a way to go, but it’s getting somewhere now! (Get back to me when you add a turban to the ensemble, and then we’ll talk...)

As expected, we had some acts that felt screwed over, ADEM being at the top of that list...Apparently their performance in this round was even better than their audition, which was already one of my favorite acts of the auditions in general...Shame we didn’t get to see much of it here, but the full set from another show IS on Youtube...

Verba did something cool and new, even if they didn’t utilize their abilities as well as they did in the auditions...And again, we didn’t see much of it, especially since the editors spent half the act concentrating on the judges’ reactions...

And then we have the usual acts that I really liked before, but can see how it wasn’t enough this time around, like Izzy and Easton, Olivia Calderon, Adaline Bates, Michael Paul and Gingzilla (who I ironically said last week was the only lock in the singing category...Of course, I also thought that Puddles Pity Party was a lock for the Finals two years ago, so take it for what you will...)

Both Mat Ricardo and Duo Fusion looked like very promising glossed-over acts (even though these European acrobatic duos ARE becoming quite standard by now...)

So I guess the only two I felt no sympathy for were Lamont Landers and Valerie Sassyfras...How the latter even got THIS far is beyond me...Maybe she was one of the very first auditions before better so-bad-it’s-good acts like Trigger Happy and Andy Rowell came in, and they decided not to even bother airing her audition...

As for Lamont, well, a lot of people can see through him for the arrogant twit that he is, so even if they DO bring him back as a Wildcard, I don’t think he’s going to get the same support that Daniel Emmet did...In fact, the judges might be shocked to see him get eliminated in the quarter-finals like, “But it worked out so well LAST year!”

But enough about that four-eyed douchebag, let’s talk about this week’s victors...

7: GFORCE. For the record, I still like these girls...But somebody had to come in last, and everyone else has more to brag about...I guess the choreography was better, but the song wasn’t nearly as catchy as “Break the Internet”, and they still have some serious enunciation problems...But I’m still up for more! They do add plenty more charm and variety to this line-up than another simple singing/dancing/whatever act...

6: Bir Khalsa Group. While still kinda your typical sideshow, their characters do make this act! And the performance itself was just enough of a step up to warrant their inclusion in the live shows...

5: Dom Chambers. I am in agreement that this wasn’t quite as slick or energetic as his audition, but his bickering with Siri as well as the pouring-cocktail-out-of-phone trick did make him a worthy addition to the lives...Of course, Simon’s probably just upset that Julie was the only one who got a drink this time...

4: Alex Dowis. Hey! Somebody I haven’t seen before passed the callbacks! This didn’t necessarily excite me, but this is some of the slickest drawing I’ve ever seen from an act like this! He’s gonna be a tough sell for me, since I didn’t have the auditions to get to know him better, but I’m still curious to see what he does next...

3: Ryan Niemiller. While the jokes were still focused on his condition, he REALLY stepped up the laughs this time! I don’t think even Samuel J. Comroe won me over this quickly! I guess it’s early to say if he’s going to become my new favorite comedian in the history of the show, but he’s well on his way now!

2: Robert Finley. While this song may have been missing some breakfast-related wordplay, I’d say it’s in the same league as his last song if not even better! More importantly, it gave us an even bigger display of his vocal range! This guy’s well on his way to being my favorite singer of the season, though he may have one or two choirs to compete with...

1: V.Unbeatable. I think it was about the point when the kid ran across two airborne teammates that I knew this group is not to be trifled with! Really, who else could have gotten the Golden Buzzer? Sure, a few other acts could have gotten it, but the problem is that these people were performing the same night! And since they look like the successor to Zurcaroh, it would have been a disservice if they didn’t also get that same stamp of honor! I am going to be pulling for this act to the very end! If there is anyone who I would like to break this show’s predictable format this season, it’s them! (Also, their leader needs to keep saying, “We are V.Unbeatable from Mumbai, India!” Just because...)

So I guess not everyone I wanted made it, but otherwise the choices still feel justified enough...And maybe someone eliminated this week (who’s first and last names don’t begin with an L) will be a Wildcard, but I probably shouldn’t hold my breath for the ones who were montaged, unless there’s a big enough demand...I mean, ADEM’s elimination DOES have one of the bigger backlashes this season...

Anyway, let’s move on to next week...Surely there won’t be as many tough choices THIS time, right...? Ellie Kemper has promise as a judge, and the three acts that have been revealed so far seem well enough like locks...Even Carmen Carter looks like she might step it up...

All I can say for now is that Marcin better make it!

[indefiniteimagines]

Not So Picture Perfect Part 2 || Kian Lawley Imagine (HIGHLY Requested)

PART 1 HERE

“I can’t believe this is happening! Are you ready for this?” Callie asked me.

“I have to be! It’s a little too late to turn back now, don’t you think?”

“Yeah, I guess. I’m just nervous for you. It took you so long to reach this decision and I want you to be more than 100% positive that this is what you want to do.”

“I’m positive. I love him and he loves me.”

“Yeah, but-” 

“He loves me,” I reassured her.

“Okay. Then love him and I’ll be right here with you through it all because I too love you.”

“Awe, Cal, I love you too.” We left the room we were in and I was met with a room full of family and friend. I looked straight ahead and saw my other half standing at the alter. His eyes sparkled like they always have and his smile made me weak in the knees. 

After what seemed like an eternity, I finally said, “I do.”

“I know pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride.”

We stared at each other for a moment and made the move.

*GASP*

 I launched straight up from my bed and tried to catch my breath. “Shit,” I said to myself as I wiped the sweat and sleep from my face. “Fuck. Why does this keep happening?” I look over at my clock to see it read 4:33 am. 

I feel a hand on the left side of my lower back and jump a little.

“Whoa, didn’t mean to scare you. You okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just a dream.”

“You want to talk about it?”

I rest my head on my left shoulder and look over to my boyfriend, “No, Baby. It’s okay, just go back to sleep.” He kisses my arm and closes his eyes again. I lay my head back on my pillow and stare up at my ceiling, trying to figure out why this keeps happening. Then it hits me. 

It’s been one year today.

FLASHBACK

“Y/N, I love you.”

Those words made my decision so much easier.

I stared at the screen for what felt like hours, turns out it was only a minute. One minute. How can 60 seconds help me to decide what I want? The shitty part is, I still questioned what I wanted. I started to drift back off to my own thoughts when I got a call from Kian.

“Hello”

“Y/N! Please, talk to me. It’s seriously not what it looks like.”

“It looks like you have your hands on someone who isn’t me. Not only that, but you allowed pictures to be taken and now I look like a fucking idiot! THAT’S WHAT IT FUCKING LOOKS LIKE, KIAN!”

“Please. I know, I’m so sorry.” I could tell how hard he was trying to hold back his tears. “I love-”

“We’ll talk when you get back.” With that, I hung up the phone and blocked his number.

My head was going a mile a minute and I couldn’t hold back my emotions any longer. It was something about his voice that made the tears fall harder than they were before.

My phone rang again, it was Callie.

“What?”

“Hey. I know you’re hurting, but Thomas  is here and we need to know if you’re okay. And by ‘okay’ we mean ‘not self destructive’. Please say you’re okay.”

“Yeah, sure I’m fine,” I said with hostility.

“Y/N, we know you love him, but he just isn’t the one or maybe he is. And that’s okay! That’s the beauty of life.”

“Look Thomas, I know you’re trying to make me feel better, but I already said I’m okay. The last thing I need to hear is what you’re saying. Can I go now?”

“Yeah, we’ll talk to you later, okay? I’ll stop by tomorrow and we can just talk. We all care about you. We hope you know that.” I didn’t answer and just hung up.

I kept scrolling through my tagged posts until I finally fell asleep.

I was awoken from my spot on the couch when I heard the jingle of keys being inserted into the front door and my name being called out.

“Y/N?! Y/N! Are you here?” 

I felt my heart drop to my ass when I heard whose voice it was.

“Kian, why are you yelling? I’m right here.” He set his bags down with a slam and walked over to me. 

“Hi. I didn’t really know if you would still be here.” I didn’t reply as I looked him in his eyes. I could see he was wasn’t happy. 

“Baby-”

“Don’t.”

“I’m sorry. Y/N, I don’t know where to begin. I had this planned out in my head and now...”

“Tell me why. Why did you do it? Who is she?”

“I don’t know. We were all drinking and JC went off with her friend, so it was just me and Dom and that girl-”

“Megan.”

“What?”

“Her name is Megan.”

“Right, Megan.” This was the first time his eyes left mine.

“Did you have sex with her?”

“Y/N-”

“Kian! Did. You. Have. Sex. With. Her?” 

“Please don’t yell at me. I’m like, already having a heart attack.”

“You need to leave. Just get out.”

“No! I need you to talk to me.”

“What is there to talk about, Kian? The last 2 years of our relationship is fucking trash because of you. I did everything right and all I asked for in return was for you to respect me. You couldn’t do it.”

“It doesn’t have to be thrown away. Baby, you know I love you and you KNOW I respect every inch your being-”

“No you don’t because when I gave you my heart, my everything, you threw me a big ‘Fuck You’. We can never be what we were.”

“Y/n, please.” 

I couldn’t keep talking to him. I was either going to yell or cry and I couldn’t do that in front of him. Not right now. 

“I can’t talk to you right now, or ever again.” He put his head down and cried. He dried his eyes and stood up to leave. He kicked his suitcase down and looked at me with the saddest eyes. 

“I’m sorry. I love you and I need you to know that. I fucked up and I know that, but what I had with you is real. I feel it in every fiber of my soul. I love you with parts of my body that I didn’t even know I had.” When he said that, I couldn’t help but bawl. I couldn’t face him and he finally got the hint. 

He made his way closer to the door and all the memories flashed through my head. The pictures, the laughs, the cries, the fries and milkshakes that we shared. Everything.

“Wait!” I turn around and face him, he does the same with hope on his face. “I know you love me, Kian. I love you too, but I have to love me. If I stayed with you after this, I would be allowing myself to be in a tainted relationship and I’ll be damned if I let myself sink that low. You need to leave your key on the table. We’ll set up a schedule for you to move your stuff out when you find someone to let you stay with them.”

I watch his eyes and I know that he understands what I’m saying. He nods and takes the apartment key off his chain. I walk over to him and take his face in my hands.

“I don’t want you to destroy yourself over this. I can’t stand the thought of you hurting, no matter how much you hurt me. Promise me you’ll take care of yourself.” He leaned into my hand and kissed my palm.

“I promise.” He turned around and put his hand on the knob. “Tell me this isn’t forever. That you’ll find it in your heart to forgive me and grant me with a second chance.”

I walked over to him and gently placed my hand on his back, “I’ll see you later, Kian.” With that, he left.

For the first time in the past few days, I was alone, but I didn’t feel alone.

The next day, Thomas came over and sat and talked to me for hours like he said he would. It was weird to laugh again, but it felt good. Even though it wasn’t with Kian.

“When Carmen cheated on me last month, you and Callie nursed me back to health. I need you to know that it’s all going to be okay. Allow yourself to feel sad, mad, guilty that you ‘gave up’ on your relationship. You’re going to feel it all. It’s normal, but when you come out on the other side, you'll be a whole new person.”

“How did you come out on the other side so fast?”

“Who said I’ve made it yet?”

The next few weeks were filled with movie nights with my squad, alcohol and the realization that I will be okay and that it’s not my last chance at love. 

END OF FLASHBACK

I get up and call Callie.

“What the fuck do you want at almost 5 am?”

“Good morning, Sunshine.”

“WHAT?!”

“It’s been a year.”

“What?” It takes her a minute to realize. “Oh shit. Are you okay? Is he okay?”

“Yeah, I’m okay. I had the dream again.”

“Are you trying to manifest something that I don’t know about?”

“NO! We’re still getting to know each other on a different level, I’m not ready for marriage.”

“I know you got hurt really bad, but he loves you. I’m actually kind of jealous seeing you two all close. I feel like a third wheel HAHA! Do you plan on talking about with him? Trudging up all that old shit?”

“You’re never a third wheel. I can never thank you, Thomas and Ricky and honestly everyone that as there for me. And for Kian too. He fucked up royally, but he’s still human. I might talk to him about it. It affects him too.”

“You’re welcome, babe. Listen, I’m all for talking to you in about 6 hours, but I need sleep. Hey, good luck with the talk. With all the shit you both endured last year, it’s still weird for me to say this, but you need each other.”

“I love you, Callie. Goodnight.”

I hang up the phone and climb back into bed. I lay there thinking how if last year never happened, I wouldn’t be where or who I am today. Physically, emotionally and mentally. 

I look over at him. He’s so beautiful. He’s different. Who knew that a year can change so many things. The maturity that was found still amazes me. Not just in me, but the journey he joined me on. I know better now and he knows me like never before. The love we have is like no other. He’s perfect. He’s everything. He’s Thomas. 

(AUTHORS NOTE:  I really hope you guys like this! I’m so sorry it took so long to post! I just wanted to say that have NOTHING against Megan! Kian and JC were both single when this happened. This story is COMPLETE FICTION!)

#kian lawley #kian lawley imagine #kian and jc #jc caylen #youtube #shawn mendes #Shawn Mendes Imagine #justin bieber #justin bieber imagine #one direction #5 seconds of summer #cameron dallas #cameron dallas imagine #Harry Styles #Jake Paul #logan paul #Team 10 #logang

[nickyxlloyd]

Post-Pool Party Spin the Bottle Recap

LOCATION: Keaton's room after the pool party CHARACTERS: @ezragreenn , @hollandstxrling , @damnkeaton , @hey-juda , @jameshardesty , @nickyxlloyd , @carmenstrcde . SUMMARY: these nerds play spin the bottle, eat pizza, and watch pokemon.  TRIGGERS: kissing and joking mentions of homophobia. (idk man to be safe) PS: we did this on discord, so here it’s lengthy. if you decided to read, bless you. also if you would rather read the interactions on discord, you can hit me up and i’ll add you to the server. <3

Keaton: Keaton had proposed the idea of those who were still going strong toward the end of the party to return to his hotel when someone next door began complaining about how much noise they had been making, and the others bailed back to their respective rooms (or the rooms of others). Keaton was leaning against the entertainment center, half blocking the tv with another drink in his hand. He took the last swig from the bottle, set it down, then shifted aside to grab yet another. "I don't know, I guess I get that she probably had to work early tomorrow, or maybe she has kids. I just thought it was a bit of an exaggeration. A please would've been nice, you know?"

Holland: "It's her fault for deciding to live in a Motel 8. What does she expect, complete serenity at all times? That's ridiculous. I hope someone has really loud, really obnoxious sex in the room next to hers." Holland didn't like to be ordered around. That much, she had to guess, was clear. She took another drink from her water bottle with an exaggerated eye roll. "I need someone to take my mind off of door 4B before I go and start yelling."

Nicky: Nicky kicked back on the couch, "We weren't even being that loud. She's just annoyed that we're young and having fun while she's living in a Motel 8 and going to bed before 11 o'clock at night." She took a sip from her third capri sun of the party, "It's tragic, really, but it doesn't give her the right to be a killjoy."

Ezra: Ezra rolled his eyes from the window, drunk to the point of being happy and the jokester that he was. "Do you guys want me to go to her room and cause a scene?" He was being completely serious and he hoped that others knew.  Ezra was also a little high so he was standing on the wall of the room as still as the people from that Blair witch movie.

 Jamie: Jamie tended to give people a break, usually trying to see their point of view but she was tipsy and slightly bugged. It’s not like they’d been screaming outside or her door or something but maybe Keaton was right. Maybe she did have work or kids sleeping or it could have just been a bad day and she wanted peace. Whatever the situation Jamie felt a little less annoyed with every passing second. “Um.. something tells me she’d call the cops? So.. um.. distraction.” She looked around like it’d pop up. “How about we.. get in touch with our teenage selves?” Did that even make sense? James scrunched her nose. “We should play spin the bottle I can’t remember the last time we did that and it’s a good distraction..”

Juda: Juda sat, cross-legged, at the foot of one of the beds. He was grasping a spiked seltzer in his hands. "I mean we were screaming and it is a Tuesday night." Juda knew the burden of having to get up for an early commute so he empathized with the woman.  "At least we can keep the party going in here!"

Ezra: Ezra nodded his head at Jamie's idea. "You know, as high school as that idea is - I'm totally in." Ezra took an unopened bottle from the 6-pack he just purchased and managed to chug the bottle as quickly as he could before reaching out with the hand the bottle was in. "Who else is in?" He looked over at Juda. "Also, babe - it's a fucking motel people probably get murdered here and fuck hookers. She should be happy that the noise is different for a change." Ezra realized his words were harsh. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry...it's escorts now."

Jamie: Jamie popped a few of the alcoholic gummies she had left in her mouth, glad someone liked the idea, waiting to see if others would too. She was totally not just drunk and wanting to make out with someone or anything.

Holland: "Is that really the only thing you found wrong with that sentence, Ezra?"

Nicky: Nicky rolled her eyes at Ezra's comment but she was also on board with spin the bottle so she moved from the couch onto the floor near where Juda sat, "I'm in."

Jamie: “Yay!” She joined them on the floor.

Keaton: Keaton opened what would possibly be his final bottle of the night. "Maybe we should've invited her to hang out instead." he shrugged it off, then, as he sat down on the floor with his back to the entertainment center he had just been leaning against. "Flashback to fifteen. I'm in for old times sake."

Juda: "Okay that's fair but still I'm giving her the benefit of the doubt." He huffed before taking another sip of his seltzer. At the mention of spin the bottle Juda tensed up. He used to hate that game in high school. Before he was out he would always have to find some way to excuse himself from the party so as to not get roped into playing. He decided to see how it would play out. After all, they were a long way past high school and Juda was much more comfortable with himself now.

Carmen: Carmen's brows furrowed at the suggestion. "Is it really necessary to play just to relive our teenage years?" She stood reluctantly off to the side, not sure if it was the smartest idea to play.

Nicky: "C'mon Carmen, we're all friends here. I'm sure it'll be fun." Nicky said encouragingly, patting the ground next to her.

Keaton: "Don't act like you don't want to jump at the opportunity to kiss me, Carm. You're not fooling me." Keaton offered a playful wink, to make it clear that he was joking and held a second drink out to her. "Come on."

Jamie:“Necessary? Probably not but I think it could be fun.” She shrugged.

Holland: Holland had already made the floor her home, so all she did was crawl until she was next to Nicky, collapsing on the other girl's shoulder with a long-suffering sigh. "I swam too much. So I'm at 15% right now. I need one of you to give me a good reason to stay conscious."

Juda: "I'm down to play but maybe for only one or two rounds." He said softly. Trying to make eye contact with Carmen for reassurance.

Carmen: Carmen rolled her eyes at the comments, folding her arms over her chest. Glancing at them all for a second, she ended up caving. "Fine," she sighed. "Maybe a round or two."

Ezra: Ezra put the bottle in the middle of everyone that was placing. "Alright. Someone, please put on some music and I swear to god if someone plays anything with Cardi B I will automatically use my magic to get the bottle to spin on you because I'd want to kiss you now." He loved Cardi B when he was drunk for some reason and knew every word to Bodak Yellow. "I vote that Carmen goes first!"

Nicky: Nicky smiled as Carmen decided to join, "Yes, everybody plays!" She said as Holland leaned on her shoulder, "I'm sure someone here will energize you."

Carmen: She shot a quick glare at Ezra. "Can't we start with someone else?"

Keaton: Keaton drew his knees up toward his chest with one arm while the other held his drink. "I can confidently say I don't have any songs by Cardi B on any of my playlists. Sorry, man."

Jamie: “If no one wants to volunteer to go first we could spin the bottle and pick it that way?”

Holland: "Smart, smart. This is why you're tonight's ringleader, J."

Juda: Juda remained quiet. He was already beginning to stress out about all of the random outcomes that could happen.

Holland: "Okay, whatever, since I don't see anyone else manning up." Holland sighed before she reached into the center of the circle, took hold of the bottle, and spun it. "This is to decide who's goin--" before she could finish, the bottle had come to a halt. And it was aimed at her. "The gods have spoken." She readied herself with a shake of her hands before she spun again, watching and waiting as it slowly came to a halt. "Awe, Juda!"

Juda: When the bottle creeped its way towards him, his nerves were validated. He rolled his eyes. "Of course I'm first...nothing against you Holland, I just knew it would land on me right away." He paused for a moment, "So want me to come over to you or-." The logistics passed the bottle stopped escaped him

Keaton: Keaton immediately broke out in a rendition of Kiss the Girl from the Little Mermaid, albeit slightly under his breath as he held the beer bottle to his lips with a small smile(edited)

Holland: "We meet in the middle." Holland laughed as she got to her knees and made her way to the center of their misshapen circle. "Lay one on me, baby boy." Even as she spoke, she rose a hand to flip Keaton off, her smile remaining in Juda's direction. "Don't worry, I won't make you act like you mean it."

Keaton: Keaton put a hand over his chest, as if genuinely insulted by the finger she raised in his direction. "Listen, the Little Mermaid is a legendary fucking movie, alright?"

Juda: Juda gave Keaton a fierce side eye before making his way to the middle as well. "Who knows maybe we will fall in love." With that, he leaned in, closed his eyes and kissed Holland. As expected it was painfully platonic but still, he remained for a few seconds. When he pulled back he surveyed the circle, "I- I wasn't sure how long we were supposed to kiss. Was that good?"

Ezra: Ezra chuckled. "That was the most polite round I've ever seen."

Holland: Holland had to keep herself from laughing (or cringing, she couldn't tell) as the kiss endured. It felt like kissing a brother she didn't have. "I think we can call it."

Juda: "Did you expect anything else from me in this game" Juda sat back down nudging Ezra playfully

Nicky: "Jude, it's your turn now, babe." Nicky said when she realized he wasn't aware of the rules.

Juda: "You mean I have to go again?" He was already overwhelmed that the spotlight had been turned so quickly on him. "Okay okay." He grabbed the bottle and twirled it, maybe a little too aggressively. When it stopped it faced Nicky.

Nicky: "Okay, c'mon we have to allow a re-spin here right?" Nicky protested on both of their behalfs, "We're both too gay for this."

Holland: "Don't be homophobic Nicky."

Ezra: "Wow...it's 2018, Nicky." Ezra followed Holland's words.

Juda: "I think it's homophobic to not let me spin again." He piped in.

Carmen: "I mean, they shouldn't have to kiss if they don't want to..."

Jamie: “Best cheek kiss ever time?”

Keaton:"Honestly, it doesn't matter to me. do whatever your hearts desire. Are kisses on the cheek allowed, for the record?"

Holland: "I think it's homophobic for you two to not nut up or shut up." She balled a fist and slapped it against her open palm as to create a dramatic punctuation for her words.

Ezra: "Just allow the cheek kiss." Ezra agreed, Getting up quickly to grab another drink.

Nicky: "Listen, Holland. you're the one forcing a man to kiss a woman when he doesn't want to, sounds pretty homophobic to me." she said jokingly, but she moved into the center of the circle. "Fine, come kiss my cheek, Juda.”

Juda: "I feel like that is lame though." He loved Nicky but if kissing Holland was like kissing his sister Nicky was somehow a level above that. 'I'm fine with that though."Juda leaned over and pecked her on the cheek, "There is everyone happy?" He passed the bottle off to Nicky

Holland: "No, I'm not." Holland huffed, then stuck out her tongue at the two of them. It was still good-natured, but that didn't mean she had to act it.

Ezra: Ezra moved back to his seat. "As long as you're happy, I'm always happy." He smiled with his teeth right before a bottle followed. He quickly moved to whisper to Juda. "Sorry about that. I was totally not being as serious as I sounded."

Juda: Juda leaned in while smiling, "It's really fine. I'm not as upset as I sounded. Just...my luck you know."

Jamie: Jamie felt bad her suggestion now seemed to be making others uncomfortable but didn’t know whether to apologize so she busied herself with a drink.

Nicky: "Alright, now that we're all satisfied other than Holland, let's move on," Nicky said as she spun the bottle in the middle, watching as it landed on Jamie who was just taking a drink, "Alright, Jamie we're up," she said, pointing at Jamie.

Ezra: Ezra pat him on the back. "Well, just know that you can always play with me later."

Jamie: Jamie nearly dropped her drink when she realized. “Ooh me!” She smiled a little and moved towards the middle.

Nicky: Nicky smiled as Jamie made her way into the middle, "Yes, you. Let's do this," she said as she put a hand on Jamie's cheek and leaned in to kiss her. She pressed her lips against Jamie's for a bit before pulling back.

Holland: "This is much more boring than I'd anticipated."

Nicky: "Get fucked, Holland," Nicky shot back playfully, "The game's just starting."

Jamie: She smiled again when they broke apart. “Boring? Is it because no ones kissed the other to the floor yet? Lack of tongue?” She was kidding.

Juda: "To be fair this group is pretty poorly balanced."

Ezra: "This is why you should have pre-gamed with Sonny and I. I'm staring at the wall and having a great time."

Keaton: "Shit, you guys pre-gamed without me? That's alright, Nicky and I... half-gamed? " He was sure there was a word for it, but he had been drinking just enough to forget it. "We smoked too, at some point."

Juda: "Haven't most of us been 'pre-gaming' all day?" Juda had maintained a consistent buzz for hours. He honestly was shocked he hadn't crashed yet

Jamie: “And to think all I did was eat a ho ho standing by the sink,” She moved to spin the bottle.

Holland: "Same, Jamie, same."

Ezra: "Half-gamed?" Ezra just started chuckling, taking another drink. "We literally walked out why everyone was talking? That's always the "we are going to smoke because why the fuck were we talking about ghosts on the bus."

Jamie: “I got me... alas, not today because I’m not in the mood.” Making out with herself would probably be super boring so she spun again. “Hello, Carmen.” She winked playfully in her direction bc and moved to the middle. 

Ezra: "Wait...Keaton for some reason I had no idea that you smoked."

Keaton: "You guys have been hanging out with Dev too much, there are no fucking ghosts on the bus." Maybe Keaton just didn't want to believe in such a thing. Keaton had smoked for pretty much as long as he could remember, so he just shrugged. "Guess you haven't been paying enough attention to me."

Carmen: Carmen had been half watching up until the bottle pointed in her direction. Eyes widening slightly, she felt the slightest bit of panic. "Um... Hi?"

Jamie: Was she nervous? Everything was slightly blurred so it was hard to tell for sure. “Cheek kisses are an option?” Just in case.

Holland: "Only in valid cases of two gays. You two aren't two gays."

Carmen: This would've been a lot easier if she had had a little more to drink. "No, it's, uh fine." She put on a brave face, though probably looked half-terrified, and moved to the center.

Jamie: Jamie smiled in what she hoped was a reassuring manner as she moved to the middle. She didn’t want to spook anyone so she was careful as she leaned in to press her lips against Carmen’s.

Carmen: Carmen tried to smile back, but her nerves were getting the best of her. She let Jamie take the lead, otherwise frozen to her spot in the center. The kiss was quick, Carmen pulling away after a second, but she let out a breath now that it was over. She shot Jamie an awkward smile before going back to her spot.

Keaton: Keaton glanced at Carmen, noting an uneasiness that was pretty unusual for her. he didn't want to draw too much attention, so he moved as much as he had to talk to her quietly. "You okay?

Ezra: Ezra looked over at Juda hoping only he saw, and his eyes were widened.

Jamie: It was over before she could blink but she didn’t mind as she flashed her a smile. Now to find where she’d set her drink as she moved back to her spot.

Juda: Juda shot Ezra a look telling him to knock it off.

Carmen: She gave a quick glance over to Keaton. "I'm good," she murmured, shifting her gaze to the bottle. "It's my turn right?" Quick to grab the bottle, she gave it a spin. Was it bad that she let out a sigh of relief when it landed on Juda? Because that's exactly what she did. "Sorry, Jude. Cheek kiss?"

Juda: Juda bit his lower lip realizing that it was back on him. He took another sip of his drink and shrugged, "No it's okay. I think the cheek kiss rule only applies to Nicky and me because we are Nicky and me." He readjusted and leaned over to Carmen.

Carmen: Nodding her head, she leaned in to meet him. It was easier this time around, pressing her lips to his for a second.

Juda: It was easier for him too. The initials nerves were off and he was comfortable with Carmen to let it happen. "Sorry Holland, still nothing too exciting for you..." He grabbed the bottle and spun it once again. This time landing on Ezra, "..but who knows."

Holland: "Oh, whatever. I've given up hope."

Keaton: Quietly, again, Keaton begins singing. This time High Hopes by Panic! and the Disco as he discards another bottle in favor of a cold one from the cooler nearby.

Holland: "Keaton, not to be weird, but you should sing me to sleep tonight. But only death metal songs in a lullaby voice. I want it to be a challenge."

Nicky: Nicky swatted Holland on the arm playfully, "Lighten up, Holly. Not every kiss is going to be x-rated."

Keaton: "Ah, that's hardly a challenge. I'll accept it anyway, though. Just have to wrack my brain for some songs."

Holland: "Ow. Not only is my arm bruised, Nicky, but my heart is too."

Nicky: "I'm sure Keaton's lullaby will distract you from the pain," Nicky said.

Holland: "Here's hoping. Meet me in my room, Keat."

Ezra: Ezra teased. "I'm not gay, I don't kiss dudes." He quickly got on his knees, turning towards Juda and smiling at his ex-boyfriend. "I know you'll enjoy this." He put his lips to Juda's, kissing for a fair amount of time and it was on the verge of turning into a make-out before he pulled away and moving back down to his seat.  "Gets better every time." He winked at Juda before his hand moved to spin the bottle. He knew that it would land on a girl and it landed on Holland. "Hmmmmmmmmmm."

Juda: After their kiss, Juda sat back down. Ezra had grabbed and kissed him so quickly that his mind hadn't even fully caught up. "There's your fun kiss Holland. But I'll gladly share the wealth." Juda jumped on Ezra's playful hmmm

Holland: "Is this homophobic, too?" After watching Ezra with Juda, Holland had only just finished laughing when she noticed and commented on the bottle pointing in her direction. "What're we doing here, E?" At Juda's comment, she rolled her eyes with a quiet laugh. "Shut up, J. Or I'll make you kiss Nicky again."

Ezra:  Ezra lightly nudged Juda and looked at Holland.  "Well, I can't give you as good of a show as that but I come pretty close. " Ezra didn't mind kissing someone on the mouth, there was a time when he thought he was possibly bisexual and hooked up with a girl (worst memory of his life he had to imagine it was Ryan Gosling).

Holland: "Okay, your funeral. I'm going to turn you straight." She joked, flashing a smile at Juda. She found her way to the middle of the circle yet again, holding her arms out until Ezra was close enough to pull in, her hands planted firmly on each side of his face as she pressed a kiss to his lips. Obviously, there was still nothing attractive about it, but that didn't mean she wasn't going to have fun with it. Her hands ran wildly across his hair as she forced down a laugh, finally breaking away with a dramatized gasp for air, fanning herself off. "Dunno how Juda survived."

Juda: "I didn't." He said deadpan. "I'm actually rather dead right now. You've been hanging out with a ghost ever since the first time we kissed."

Holland: "So Devon was right all along."

Ezra: "Am I going to have to get one of those fucking pottery wheels and sing unchained melody?" Ezra said, quickly walking to his backpack to put on a hat after his hair was messed with. He was very serious about his appearance. "Listen, at least now I can wear my new black hat."

Keaton: Keaton sat back down with a fresh bottle of beer, among the last that they had left, and silently flipped on the TV. Of course, there were only a handful of channels that weren't just static. One of which was an episode of the newest season of pokemon. Keaton quietly tried to follow what was happening with low volume, but was visibly perplexed with his mouth agape and eyebrows furrowed.

Holland: "I was going to apologize, before I remembered that I don't care and that I'm not sorry."

Juda: Juda bopped Ezra on the brim of the hat, "I'd love to do couples pottery babe." He chuckled and then turned his attention to the TV. "Is that suppose to be Ash?  The art style is so different."

Carmen: "What is this show?"

Ezra: Ezra totally forgot that he ordered pizza moments before the game, and a knock on the door is what made him remember. "Guys. It's the police..." He joked before walking to the door, grabbing the pizza, and walking back in where Keaton was watching Pokemon. "What the fuck happened to Rock and the one girl who hated men?"

Keaton: Keaton glanced at Juda, then focused back on the screen. "Is he seriously still a kid? Hasn't it been like... twenty-years?"

Holland: It was about that time, chaps, so she looked back to the bottle on the floor with a sigh. She reached out and gripped it with a look of concentration, whipping her wrist so that the bottle went faster than the time before. Although it didn't seem like many people cared, at that point. "AHEM. Keaton, if you wouldn't mind. You're needed elsewhere."

Nicky: "The girl who hated men is right here, Ez." Nicky joked.

Juda: Juda fell for Ezra's joke and whipped his head around thinking the police were there.

Holland: "Juda why are you even nervous? We're legal now." She paused, "Oh, wait. People smoked bud. I retract my previous statement."

Juda:"I'm not about to get into the complexities of why I would be nervous about cops knocking on our motel door after we had already gotten noise complaints...now go kiss Keaton. That should be fun!"

Ezra: "It's illegal to have drugs, not do them I think we are fine." He lightly leaned against Juda. "My hair is iconic!"

Keaton: "Misty? Togepi was pretty cool." He commented absentmindedly, only half paying attention to the game they were still in the middle of playing. He hadn't actually had his chance to spin so far, but it seemed his misses had run out. "I thought my job was just to sit here and look pretty, not actually play." he joked, with a small smile

Juda: "Don't forget sing. Your job is to sing too." He said finishing his drink.

Holland: "You were failing that job the moment you started watching Pokemon. But whatever, I could always spin again."

Keaton: "I can't sing, kiss someone and watch pokemon." he sighed, tossing the remote onto one of the beds. "Alright, come on Princess." Keaton said as he sat up on his knees and leaned across to meet her.

Holland: Holland hated that she actually laughed at what Keaton said, but once she was in the middle to meet him, she wiped away her smile. This was the first potential kiss of the night that could possibly even be something other than awkward. Her nose scrunched as she got closer, a joking attempt to ease the tension growing inside of her. She wasn't sure why she was nervous, but she was. After a moment of not doing anything, she merely rested her hands on his shoulders and leaned forward to press her lips to his.

Keaton: Keaton paused when she did, his voice low now that they were mere inches from one another. "Never thought you were the type to hold back, Holland." he teased in a whisper, leaning his weight on one hand and holding the side of her face in the other as they kissed.

Holland: Holland couldn't keep herself from smiling mid-kiss, her arm instinctively wrapping around his neck. For a second, she nearly forgot where they were or why they were kissing at all, until a loud I CHOOSE YOU erupted from the screen behind them, making her jump away. She released a shaky laugh as she moved back to her place in the group, eyes on the ground as she hid her grin with her fist. "Okay, welp. Your turn."

Ezra: Ezra looked at Juda again, giving the same wide-eyed look with a mouthful of pizza.

Nicky: Nicky looked down at her hands as Keaton and Holland kissed, suddenly very interested in her cuticles.

Juda: Juda raised his eyebrow at Ezra, rolled his eyes and got up. He moved over to grab a slice of pizza but muted the tv first.

Keaton: Keaton wasn't necessarily opposed to kissing anyone in the group, aside from Nicky (or Avocado as he tended to call her). Perhaps he made the kiss last a bit longer, and a bit deeper than he normally would've though. Just for the sake of getting Holland to stop complaining for a while. At the sound of the TV, Keaton couldn't help but to pull away from her and start laughing. "Alright." He leaned back again, and spun the bottle which landed pointing directly toward him twice, before finally stopping on Juda. "You up for one more kiss, Romeo?"

Juda: Juda turned around having just taken a bite of his pizza. He was now mentally kicking himself for deciding to take a slice. It wasn't hard to tell that he was a little more excited to hear his name get called this time around. "I think I can manage...just uh sorry if I have pizza breath." He mentally kicked himself again (just shut up Juda).

Nicky: Nicky sighed and leaned back on her palms a bit before pushing herself up and heading over to the pizza once Juda headed back to the circle. She picked up a piece and sat on the bed for a minute. "Juda's got all the luck tonight," she joked. 

Holland: Holland watched Nicky leave her spot, expecting her to return once she'd gotten food. When the space next to her wasn't filled again, her eyes found the girl as she sat on the bed. Her eyebrows furrowed just slightly with her confusion, although she chose not to say anything about it. Instead she turned her attention back to the two boys she'd already had two very different experiences with, put her fingers in her mouth, and used them to whistle.

Keaton: "It's alright, I was going to grab a slice anyway." Keaton reassured him, with a smile as he stood up to meet Juda half way. "We could always kiss Lady and the Tramp style." he joked as he drew closer, one hand at Juda's waist to pull him closer while the other lightly touched the side of his neck. "You good?" he paused for a yes before finally closing the last few inches to kiss him.

Juda: "I think I'll pass on the spaghetti bit." He let out a quick laugh while still looking down. When Keaton grabbed his waist and neck Juda's body fully reacted in some combination of goosebumps and butterflies in his stomach. He softly responded, "Yeah...I'm good," and then tilted his head and kissed Keaton.

Nicky: Nicky finished her piece of pizza and got up before heading back to sit down next to Holly and Carmen. "I feel like the boys are having way better luck tonight," she commented to them with a laugh.

Ezra: Ezra's eyes went another direction. "There's a mean girls quote for this." He mumbled under his breath.

Keaton: It was strange how much they'd all changed since high school, wasn't it? Keaton had never had the chance to kiss Juda back then, by the fates of the Spin the Bottle Gods. Or perhaps the bottle had landed the right way, but back then neither of them were brave enough to step up. Now, he closed his eyes and held onto the kiss for a little while longer. It was different than the kiss with Holland, in some way. More... gentle and slow he supposed. Still, undoubtedly pleasant.

Juda: Juda smiled through the kiss. It was intensely satisfying and very comforting. Especially with how he was being held by Keaton. As they began to pull back Juda's racing mind began to regain control. He didn't want the moment to be over. He wasn't sure exactly what he was feeling. If his excitement was that of his past self's question finally being answered, even if it was in a semi-forced way, or if the excitement was new and in the present. All he knew was that he was glad it happened and with that, his game time was over

Ezra: Ezra stood up, deciding it was time for him to go. "Well, I'd love to stay but I'm tired as fuck." And a little jealous? It had to just be him being tired. "Keep the pizza."  Ezra nodded to Juda’s words and walked out with him. He said as he grabbed his bag and began walking out of the room. “I’m big spoon tonight. You’re also hot as fuck and since I like you so much I’d like to see you shirtless” he said while moving to lightly grip Juda's hand.

Juda: He leaned back on Ezra, "Okay and with that, I think it's time to call it. No? Yeah?" He kept talking unprovoked.

Keaton: As they parted, Keaton kept just a small amount of space between them for just a moment. The smile on Juda's face made him smile as well. He let go, his fingers falling from their positions and to Keaton's side, as Juda addressed Ezra, and took a step backward. "Honestly, I'm glad we made my room the venue. That means I get to keep the pizza, right?"

Nicky: Nicky turned to Carmen, "Do you want pizza? I think I'm going to grab a slice before I try to track down Sonny to make sure he's not dead and head to my room."

Carmen: At some point during the rounds, Carmen got up to get herself a drink. It had been the only thing keeping her from bolting after her turns. She was just glad she hadn't been picked again, but once Ezra had gotten up to leave, she was quick to use that as an excuse to follow. Or she was until Nicky spoke to her. "Oh, uh.. No, that's okay. I don't think I'm feeling that hungry."

Nicky: "Okay cool," Nicky said as she stood up, "I'm not letting Kiwi here have an entire cheese pizza to himself, especially since he got to kiss like so many more people than I did," she exaggerated as she grabbed another piece of pizza. 

Keaton: "I kissed two people, Avocado." He rolled his eyes as he fell backward onto his hotel bed with a mouthful of pizza. "It isn't our fault that your one true love isn't here. Do people put avocado on pizza? Probably, right?"

Nicky: "I bet they do in California, seems like something they'd do." Nicky said as she headed towards the door, "Anyone wanna walk back to the rooms together? Power in numbers," she asked the remaining members of the game, half joking since the rooms weren't far.

Keaton: "Goodnight everyone!" Keaton called out as he stood back up, planning to at least watch them walk back to their room from the doorway of his.

Holland: "I'll walk you, Nicky." Holland offered, dusting herself off after standing up. "Keaton, don't forget that you owe me a goodnight song."

Carmen: With everyone getting up to go, Carmen felt like she could make her exit. "Good night," she uttered before heading back to her room.

#&summary #location: boise #&carmen #&holly #&ezra #&keaton #&juda #&jamie

[actuallylorelaigilmore]

I Believe In A Thing Called Love, Chapter 5: There's A Chance We Could Make It Now

Final chapter! Lydia’s keen eye and Elena’s sharp tongue lead to a confession.

Penelope x Schneider, One Day At A Time. Also on AO3.

“Do you love me?”

“You know I do,” he said, without hesitating. “You and Lydia and the kids, you’re my family.”

She shook her head. “No. Schneider. Are you in love with me?”

Lydia was pursing her lips, her narrowed gaze moving from Penelope to Schneider and back again. He was deep in a discussion with Alex about baseball, while Elena quizzed her mom at the table.

“What is going on here?” She interrupted both conversations sharply.

“What’s going on where, Mami?”

“Between you...and Schneider. You were both looking for your papers for a long time the other day. And you have been very happy lately. I think there is something you are not telling me.”

Schneider’s face froze along with his vocal cords. Wisely, he remained silent.

But Penelope could feel her happy place, the oasis of their secret relationship, slipping out of her grasp in the face of her Mami’s scrutiny. She forced a laugh. “Like what? You think there’s something happening between Schneider and me?”

“Oh, that’s a good one, Abuelita.” Elena rolled her eyes and grinned at Alex. “Mom and Schneider?”

“It is not so crazy,” Lydia replied. “He is handsome, kind. He is family.”

“You’re just perpetuating the societal cliche that men and women can’t have friendships that don’t lead to sex.” Elena geared herself up for a lecture and Alex huffed out a sigh.

“I’ll be in my room,” he declared. “Text me when she’s done.”

“It’s so completely antiquated, Abuelita,” Elena continued, “to assume that if two people are close, if they’re affectionate or spend time together, then they have to be having sex just because one is a man and one is a woman. First of all, that’s such a heteronormative way of looking at the world. And secondly--Schneider?!”

She kept talking, oblivious to his stricken expression. Penelope saw it, and scoured her brain for some way to stop Elena’s rant without outing them. Nothing was coming to mind, other than a dull, spreading terror.

It was either fear of losing the balance she and Schneider had found outside the rest of her life, or the growing feeling that holding her tongue was going to make things worse. Penelope couldn’t tell which.

“You’re right, he’s family,” Elena told Lydia. “But not that way. He is so not Mom’s type. You’ve seen the men she dates, badasses like her. They’re like, normal guys. Schneider’s a geek. And that’s why we love him,” she added quickly, smiling in his direction. “He’s fun and sweet and he’s kind of a big kid, but I mean, come on. Mom really isn’t somebody who goes for meaningless sex.”

Lydia, who was watching Schneider and Penelope as the rant progressed, held up a hand. “Elena. That is enough.”

“But I--”

“No. Enough.” She stood and crossed the room to Schneider, whispering something in his ear that the others couldn’t hear. Then she patted his hand and turned to Penelope. “Lupe, you need to talk to your daughter.”

“Yeah...I’m gonna go.”

Schneider’s face still had that frozen look to it, the one Penelope knew meant he was holding back whatever he was really feeling.

“Hey, wait. Elena, I’ll be right back.”

He was halfway down the hall before Penelope caught up. She couldn’t blame him for continuing to walk even when he heard her coming.

“Schneider, stop. Please?”

Shoulders braced for a blow, he halted. He didn’t turn to face her, so she stepped around him instead.

“I’m sorry. Seriously, Schneider, I am so, so sorry. She doesn’t mean it. You know Elena loves you. You’ve been incredibly there for her--for all of us. She’d be mortified if she realized she was insulting you.”

He sighed, looking past Penelope toward her apartment. “I know that.”

She took a chance and reached for his hands. He let her lace their fingers together, and a very small, scared part of Penelope relaxed.

“She’s not wrong, though,” Schneider added quietly.

“What?”

“I’m not your type. And you’ve never wanted a no-strings affair before. You said it yourself once. You can’t have sex without love...usually.”

“Hey, shut up.” She squeezed his hands, worried when he wouldn’t make eye contact. “Elena’s sixteen years old. She has no idea what she’s talking about. I don’t have a type. And what we've got is good. It’s working. Isn’t it?”

He smiled a little. “Yeah, we were having fun.”

Were? The past-tense set off alarm bells in Penelope’s head. With a flash of certainty, she knew what she had to do...and suddenly she wasn’t scared anymore.

“I have to go talk to Elena,” she told him, wrapping him in a quick hug, pulling back before Schneider had a chance to respond.

“Pen, you know I love her too, right? She’s an amazing kid.”

“Yes. I know.”

“Tell her I’m not mad at her. I don’t want her to worry about that. We’re good.”

Penelope nodded. “And you and me? Are we...good?”

“Why wouldn’t we be?” He kissed the top of her head. “I’ll see you in the morning for un cafecito.”

She watched him go, thinking over all the little moments that she had been content to let pass by. Things she would have obsessed over with another man, things that coalesced into a clear picture if only she was paying attention. 

Schneider had never held back from her, not his affection, or his support, no matter what else they were facing in their lives. He told her the truth, even when it was a risk.

It was time for her to return the favor.

****

Elena was still sitting on the couch when Penelope came home. 

“Abuelita left,” she told her mom. “She took Alex with her.”

“Ah. All right.” Penelope sat down, folding her hands in her lap and trying to figure out how to begin. This wasn’t like telling the kids that she was dating again. Schneider was important to all of them, and her decision to start something with him--one she had made without their knowledge--would affect their lives, too.

"Elena, what you said about Schneider before, you were way out of line. You owe him an apology.”

Her daughter frowned. “An apology for what? I wasn’t insulting him--I said how great he is.”

“You also went on a rant about how inferior he is to every guy I’ve ever dated. It doesn’t matter that he’s my friend--and yours, and Alex’s. That’s a really horrible thing to feel.”

Penelope watched Elena puzzle over that. “It would be like somebody talking about how bad a girlfriend you would be for Carmen, with you standing right there. Listing off the parts of you that you feel insecure about, things that maybe you don’t even like about yourself.”

“Oh, God.” Elena’s eyes widened. “Mom, I didn’t mean it like that! I didn’t--I was just trying to make Abuelita understand that men and women can be friends.”

“Which is true.” Penelope swallowed and dove in. “Except in this case, your Abuelita wasn’t wrong.”

“What?”

She almost laughed. “Listen. I know that you think you know absolutely everything about the world, and social justice, and even about me. But the older you get, Elena, the more you’re going to learn that nothing is black and white.”

“What are you saying?”

“I’m saying that I’m your Mami, and I love who I am, as your Mami. But that’s not all that I am. The other parts of me, you can’t fully understand those yet. You may never be able to understand them--and that’s okay.”

“Mom. Are you trying to tell me that you're into Schneider?”

“I’m trying to explain to you that he and I like each other. We like each other a lot. And you don’t have to get it. But you need to keep in mind that who Schneider is to you, how you see him...that’s only a part of who he is, too.”

“I think Schneider’s great,” Elena protested. “He totally loves you. But he’s nothing like Papi, or Max. He doesn’t do relationships, and you only do relationships. So where does that leave you?”

“We’re still figuring that out.” She wrapped an arm around Elena, resting her cheek against the top of her daughter’s head.

“I’m really sorry I hurt his feelings,” Elena said.

“I know you are. He’s coming for coffee in the morning. I think you should tell him that.”

“Yeah. Okay.” Elena pulled back to face her. “Mom?”

“Yes?”

“You should, too.”

“Should what?”

Elena smiled, in one of those moments Penelope was experiencing with alarming frequency. Her little girl was growing up to be a shrewd, intuitive woman. A lot like her Abuelita.

“You should tell him.”

****

Schneider opened the door mid-yawn, his hair sticking up in all directions while Penelope offered him a hesitant smile.

“I’m really not in the mood,” he told her, his voice rough with sleep. It made Penelope want to burrow under blankets with him and forget the ugly scene with her family, if only that were an option.

Unfortunately, they were long past cozy snuggling and late night drop-bys now.

“I didn’t come for that,” she replied. “I need to ask you something.”

Schneider sighed. “I’m not especially in the mood for that, either, Penelope. Can’t it wait until the morning?”

“No.” She walked past him into his dimly lit apartment, flicking the wall switch on her way. 

“Well, feel free to come on in,” he said, annoyed. 

“This isn’t a ‘coffee with my Mami’ conversation, okay? And it can’t wait.”

“It’s 3AM,” he replied, squinting in the bright light of his living room. “What’s so pressing that you had to interrupt my sleep, and yours? Don’t you have to work in five hours?”

Penelope sat on his couch, waiting until he joined her. “Today sucked, okay? It was bad. You didn’t deserve that, and Elena was way off base. But I couldn’t sleep, I need to ask you something, and when I’m done, you can go back to bed. I’ll leave you alone.”

He rubbed both hands over his face. “I told you, Elena and I are fine.”

“Yes, you did. You love her, and she loves you back and it’s all good. Right?”

Perplexed by her tone, he sat up straighter. “Right.”

“Do you love me?”

“You know I do,” he said, without hesitating. “You and Lydia and the kids, you’re my family.”

She shook her head. “No. Schneider. Are you in love with me?”

“I...” His forehead creased in the center when he paused. “That’s what you came here in the middle of the night to ask me?”

She nodded.

“Pen, what’s going on?”

“I love you.” 

Penelope let out a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding. “Wow, that actually felt really good. Huh.” She smiled at him. 

“I’m in love with you, Schneider.”

He was staring at her, but with absolutely no expression--and his was one she could usually read easily. 

She waved a hand in front of him like maybe he was on screensaver. “You there?”

When Schneider’s smile bloomed, it took over his entire face, and Penelope almost couldn’t handle it. 

The slow spread of hope and joy, without any of the self-doubt she knew Schneider tried hard to cover...watching it felt like hitting the very top of a Ferris wheel and then swaying in place while that falling sensation settled into something brilliant.

That's what it was like, knowing before he said a word that Schneider loved her back. It was radiant.

“I’m in love with you, too, Penelope.” His grin threatened to blind her. “I still think this could’ve waited until morning, though. It’d be like our very own romantic Cuban coffee commercial.”

She laughed, muttering “payaso” under her breath as she moved in to kiss him.

“Even so,” Penelope said once her head was resting on his shoulder. “I thought it might be good to have the talk not in front of Mami and the kids.”

“Oh, God, your family,” he remembered. “What are we gonna tell them? I mean...we are going to tell them. Right?”

“Done with secrets,” she agreed firmly. “And we are so far past casual. But you can breathe, Schneider. They already know.”

“You--”

“I didn’t tell them,” she replied. “But you know my mom’s questions this morning weren’t exactly hypothetical. Though I didn’t get too deep into the details with Elena, she knows how I feel. And Alex...well, Mami took him out to dinner, and she must have told him something--he spent the night looking at me like he doesn’t recognize me anymore.”

Penelope kissed his cheek. “It’ll take him a minute, but he adores you. It’s going to be fine.”

“So, no more secrets, no more talking around our feelings...” Schneider blinked at her from behind his thick frames. “What now?”

“Well, I’ve got at least two hours before anybody realizes I’m not in bed where I belong.” She ran her fingers through his hair, enjoying how soft it was without product. “And I’m guessing you’ve got fresh sheets on your bed that smell like mint.”

Schneider grinned. “They’re Wonder Woman,” he whispered, brushing her mouth with his. “Maybe part of me was hoping you’d stop by.”

“Nice. That was a pretty good movie.” She pulled him closer for a deeper kiss. 

He rested his hand against her cheek. “I was talking about you.”

Penelope made that face he loved, where she was smiling but trying not to show it, which never worked--but it was cute that she tried. Like she wasn’t allowed to be soft, and open, and with him, she was anyway.

“Back massage?” She gazed up at him from under her eyelashes.

“Oh, like I don’t know what that means,” Schneider replied. “You just want to lure me to that luxurious Wonder Woman bed and take advantage of me.”

“Well, yes.” Penelope linked her hands behind Schneider’s neck while she settled herself on his lap and enjoyed his response. “But I thought I’d do you this time.”

“Ha. In that case...” Schneider stood, taking her with him in a surprisingly casual lift. “Might as well make the most of the two hours.”

****

He kept her a half hour longer than she meant to stay, emboldened by the truth coming out. 

“You can shower here,” he told her, nuzzling the back of her neck. “Save time.”

His shower was like staying in a fancy spa, but it took her twice as long to get clean once he stepped in after her. 

Schneider really was good with his hands.

When Penelope snuck into her own apartment, her Mami was already up and making the coffee. She just smiled and went back to dancing in the kitchen. 

Perhaps Berto was accompanying her in her mind; maybe she was happy enough alone. Penelope couldn’t be sure. But it meant something that the queen of passionate romance approved of her and the man who waited a whole two minutes before he followed her up.

Looking mussed and relaxed and not at all tired, Schneider took the cup of coffee Lydia handed him at the door, beaming as she kissed his cheek. He closed his eyes while he sipped to the salsa music playing cheerfully from behind the curtain. 

When Penelope crossed the room and kissed him next, with a nearly-indecent amount of heat, Schneider almost dropped the cup.

“Good morning, Schneider,” Lydia trilled from the kitchen, enjoying the way he reddened when he pulled back from her daughter. “Did ju have a good night?”

Was there any way he could answer that question? “I...”

“Mami.” Penelope rolled her eyes. “Don’t tease him.”

“I was just asking.” She smiled again, fondly this time, and held out a hand. “Come. You can help me make Papito’s breakfast.” 

“What about Elena?”

Lydia waved a hand. “I no longer know what that one eats or does not eat. You could make her toast.”

Still feeling a little self-conscious, Schneider kissed Pen quickly and went to join Lydia in the kitchen. 

She could hear the kids stirring as she headed for her room to change. Hopefully Alex would relax once he saw that Schneider was still...Schneider, she thought as she pulled on her scrubs. 

Elena would apologize over coffee, and Lydia would enjoy watching them eat her breakfast.

Schneider would aim that warm smile of his at her while the conversation flowed around them, and it would be just about perfect.

Which for Penelope these days was just perfect enough.

#look i finished a thing :D #alvareider #odaat #one day at a time #penelope x schneider #schneider x penelope #alvareider fanfic #alvareider fic #one day at a time fic #one day at a time fanfic #odaat fic #odaat fanfic #my fic

[chipsandwaffles]

Mr. Sleepy Head

At first you’re annoyed with the guy that falls asleep next to you in class, but he’s like a fucking puppy. How could you be annoyed with that for long?

Anon said: If my 😴😴😴 eyes arent deceiving me I see that requests are open pls write me a college!au thing where ty is always sleeping in class and you always happen to sit next to him and one day he falls asleep on your shoulder and just 💕💞💓💗💖💘💝💖 idk i'm tired write that for me to read when i wake up -sleepy lty enthusiast 😴💘👍       

for carmen because she saw the secret ;))) 👀👀👀👀 enjoy sleepyhead ^^

If there’s anything worse than being late to class, it’s sleeping in class. Being late was okay, because at least you made it to class and were going to pay attention.

Unlike Mr. Sleepy head who sat next to you. What was the point of coming to class if all you were going to do was sleep through it? He wasn’t annoying or anything, which was good because if had disturbed you you’d complain about it to someone else besides your brother a long time ago.

It was just kind of weird. And stupid. Really, what was the point of coming to class if he was just going to sleep?

It was like when one of your friends slept in the library. If you wanted to sleep, then go home. That’s what you were supposed to do.

“If you’re so bothered by it, tell your professor.” You look up at your brother and frown at him.

“I can’t just tell her- what if like, that’s secretly her son and he doesn’t actually attend the class- oh my god, is he even enrolled in the class?”

Your brother rolls his eyes at you. “Stop complaining about it if you aren’t going to do anything about it.”

“Why are you so mean Doyoung? And only to me?” Doyoung reaches across the table you’re studying at and pinches your cheek, grinning.

“Because you’re you, Y/N. Now go back to studying and stop distracting me.”

“Worst brother…” You mumble, rubbing your cheek.

The whole sleeping thing wasn’t a big deal, it really wasn’t. It was just, confusing. Very confusing.

Maybe a little bothersome.

Seriously, who slept in class? Class was for learning and taking notes. Did he even take notes? If he was enrolled in class, how was he passing?

You shouldn’t be worried about Mr. Sleepy Head. You shouldn’t. But, how could you not? He was really fucking cute when he was sitting there, sleeping next to you. Maybe you could just help him out a little. He had to be failing class; helping out a little wasn’t going to hurt anyone.

When you’re in class the next time together, you take the notebook he’s laid out for himself and write notes for him on the topic being discussed. You already knew the topic well, so it wasn’t a big deal. You could help him out with this one thing. And maybe when he saw your notes he’d stop sleeping in class.

At least, you thought.

Instead, you find yourself continuing to take notes for him every time you have class, doubling on note taking for himself and you. You have no idea why you do it, because he did nothing to you that deserved this kind of treatment. In fact, you should be writing things like “wake up asshole and take your own notes” or “stop sleeping my hand hurts” but you’re not. You doodle little hearts in the margins of the notebook and write him clean, concise notes so he’s for sure to understand the material.

You’re being awfully nice to a sleepy puppy you’ve never spoken two words to, but, maybe that’d come back as good karma.

One day, Mr. Sleepy Head isn’t asleep when you enter the classroom. He’s awake, staring at the door. You walk up the steps of the lecture hall and to the row, quickly taking your seat next to him. You’re pulling out your things from your backpack when you realize his eyes are on you.

Luckily, you have time before class actually starts so you look at him, raising an eyebrow. “Is there something on me? Why are you staring at me?”

“You’re the one that keeps taking notes for me, right?” He asks, pointing to his notebook.

“...why do you say that? Maybe it’s… you. You write stuff in your sleep. It’s not me.”

“Why are you lying? I just wanted to say thank you,” he says, laughing quietly. You’ve never seen a more beautiful expression in your life. Mr. Sleepy Head was fucking beautiful and his laughter was beautiful and he made your heart skip several beats with just his little smile.

“I work all night and don’t get enough sleep before this class but your notes have actually helped. So, really, thank you.”

You nod your head at his explanation, continuing to watch him even when the conversation has clearly died between you two. He’s reading over your notes, and it makes a dumb, silly smile appear on your face. You were happy that all your hard work for Mr. Sleepy Head wasn’t going to waste.

As class starts, you’re almost bouncing around a bit at the happiness that has overtaken you. Even during the random quiz the professor gives out (where you learn Mr. Sleepy Head’s name is Lee Taeyong, which, suited him so well) you’re still happy.

Until, during the lecture suddenly something heavy hits your shoulder. Your heart nearly stops for a second before realizing it’s Taeyong, fallen asleep on your shoulder. He was sleeping on you. You’re pretty sure your heart stopped, who were you kidding.

You don’t have the heart to wake Taeyong up, so you stay like that for the class period, trying to pay attention to whatever the professor is saying, but, how could you? Instead of writing notes, you just doodle in your notebook, not sure what else to do.

At some point, you realize you’ve been doodling hearts around Taeyong’s name.

“You’re so cute,” you hear Taeyong mumble. It makes you jump a little, but not enough to disturb the class thankfully.

“Don’t call me cute when you don’t even know my name- why don’t you go back to sleeping on your desk?” You ask him. He doesn’t answer, however, instead grabbing at one of the many writing utensils laid out before you. You watch as he begins writing your name below his, doodling hearts around it just as you did.

“You’re comfy. I should sleep on you more often.”

“You’re weird. I don’t want to be associated with you-

“You say that but you’re the one who was doodling my name with hearts in your notebook.” Taeyong has you going silent for the rest of class with that one. You let him keep doodling in your notebook, not sure what else to do in this situation. You would just sit here with Taeyong and watch him doodle for the rest of class.

-

“You let him sleep on your shoulder in class? What happened to telling the professor on him?” Doyoung nags at you. You groan and cross your arms in defiance at him.

“I couldn’t do anything he was heavy- and it’s whatever I mean, he’s cute- why can’t you be happy for me?”

“That you let some random guy sleep on your shoulder?” Doyoung looks at you like you’re stupid. “Why should I be happy that you’re encouraging bad behavior?”

“Ugh, you’re the worst brother. He’s… really cute Doyoung. What if I like him? How do you feel about that?”

“You’re distracting me little sister. Please go somewhere else with your bad behavior so I can email this person about their late book. Thanks.”

You roll your eyes and get up, grabbing your backpack before leaving your brother alone with his lame job. You head outside to go sit under one of the trees, taking out a book to read in your downtime.

You only get three pages in before someone is taking a seat next to you, sitting awfully close for a person you’d very much like to hit for even bothering you while you were reading. You turn to them only to see Taeyong, any words you were about to say catching in your throat. He has a snack in his hands and he offers it to you.

“Got this for you as a thank you,” he says. You melt because of his smile.

“You’re… welcome,” you say. You take the snack from him and set it next to you, not wanting to eat it right now.

“What? Is something wrong? Do you not like that kind? I can go get you something different if you want.” You shake your head and look back at Taeyong.

“I’m gonna go back to reading my book, if that’s okay with you.” Taeyong nods his head and gestures for you to continue.

You pick up back where you left off, ready to get back into the story, only for you to be distracted a page later when you feel Taeyong’s head on your shoulder again.

“I can’t read with your head on my shoulder.”

“Okay. Stop reading then. Go on a date with me instead,” Taeyong says. You swear you feel your face flush at his words.

“Go on a-

“Yes. Say yes. I really want to go sleep in my dorm and you should agree to my date and come cuddle with me. I’ll cook you food after I nap.”

“That- that is not a date,” you say. You’re more embarrassed rather than offended at his offer. You’d love to take him up on it, it just didn’t seem like a date.

Taeyong whines and pulls his head away from your shoulder, a pout on his face. “The date comes after we cuddle- come on. Please?”

The pout makes you so weak. It makes you so weak that you let Taeyong lead you back to his dorm, let him pull you into his bed and wrap his arms around you until he’s fast asleep, his face buried in your neck. Eventually, you fall asleep with him, only waking up when the smell of food is wafting through the air.

That good karma you knew would come back to you comes in the form of a delicious meal and a unexpected kiss from Taeyong when he drops you off at your apartment, telling you he’ll see you in class.

And, once again, he falls asleep on your shoulder, leaving you to take notes for the both of you as always. But, this time you don’t mind. He promised you kisses and food later.

That was a good trade-off for letting him sleep in class.

#lee taeyong scenarios #lee taeyong imagines #taeyong scenarios #taeyong imagines #nct scenarios #nct imagines #sheep writes

[pandabearlikes]

Temporary Affairs

Table of Contents 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 

Chapter 16.  The Fight      

  After the first night, you allowed Jongin back into the room for the fear that your in-laws would be suspicious.  But he did not dare to climb onto the bed; instead he opted to sleep on the floor with a makeshift sleeping bag.  You pouted.  How dare he not even attempt to make things better?  What?  Were you married to a pillow or something, because that’s what it felt like judging from the fact that you were sleeping with the pillow and not a human.

  “Kim Jongin!” you gritted your teeth, breaking the silence. 

  He rolled over on the floor, groaned, and asked in annoyance, “What?”

  You scoffed.  Really!?  Now he’s going to act like you’re in the wrong?

  Sitting up, you grabbed a pillow and threw it at him.  It bounced on his head and spun onto the floor. 

  He rolled his eyes and lied back down, covering his head with a blanket.  You gasped.  How dare he ignore you?  Picking up another pillow, you hurled it at him.  Jongin grunted and angrily jolted up. 

  “You’re acting like a big baby,” he said offensively. 

  Insulted, you sent him a death glare. 

  “If it wasn’t for my father, I wouldn’t have married you!” you shouted, crossing your arms. 

  He kicked the side of the bed furiously making you flinch back in shock.  You knew he wasn’t abusive or anything but the fact that he hit something so close to your body made tears form on your eyes.  Stubbornly, you turned away so he wouldn’t see. 

  “Then let’s get a divorce,” he said in a low tone. 

  Instantly, you turned around to look at him.  You tried to tell yourself you had imagined those words spurt out of his lips but deep down you knew it was real.  A droplet landed on your covers, soaking into the fabric.  I can’t believe he just said that. 

  “So you can marry Lee Sohee?” you asked bitterly. 

  “Yes.  So I can marry her!” Jongin shouted in frustration. 

  And though you were so, so sure that your husband was saying that out of anger, you still felt your heart crack into unrecognizable pieces, descending down your blood shot eyes.  Slowly, you recoiled back into your layers of blankets.  Your soft sobs echoed in the room. 

  “Jagiya…I didn’t mean it,” your husband whispered, climbing onto the bed. 

  Carefully, he placed his hand on your shaking shoulder but you flung it away.  Your sobs turned into loud wails and you buried your face in a pillow so that the sound didn’t disturb your in-laws from their sweet slumber.  You couldn’t believe it.  Two days into your marriage and you two were arguing enough that your husband already wanted a divorce.

  From your back, you felt Jongin slip into the covers, spooning you into his embrace.  You kicked him on the shin but he only tightened his hug.  Kissing the top of your head, he stroked your side to calm you down.  Though you were still extremely hurt and furious, calmly but surely, you fell into deep slumber from the warmth of his touch. 

    When you woke up, your husband was already absent from bed.  Lazily, opening one of your eyes, you checked the clock.  It was already late in the afternoon.  As you sluggishly sat up, Jongin walked out of the bathroom dressed in a suit and tie.  You knocked your head a few times to try to recall if there was an event today.     

  “Kyungsoo hyung’s son’s one month celebration,” Jongin answered your unasked question as he fixed his French cuffs. 

  Nodding, you slid from the bed to wash up, not forgetting to send your husband a stink face.  No, “Good Morning, Jagiya?”  Fine then.  I am perfectly fine with that.  No, I’m not.  As soon as you closed the bathroom door, your shoulders slouched.  You hated the fact that your pride made you a coward to admitting your love first.  Roughly, you brushed your teeth as if you were taking your anger out on your poor dental parts.

  “Ow,” you whimpered when you jabbed yourself in the cheek. 

  You looked around to see if Jongin was coming in to console you but he was nowhere to be found.  So you exaggerated another whimper to catch his attention.  Still, no one.  Irritated, you spat out your toothpaste, rinsed your teeth, and stocked out to grab an outfit. 

  “I already picked one out for you,” your husband informed, pointing to the lace red gown on the bed.  Omgosh, that’s such a pretty dress. 

  But you rolled your eyes, and continued to dig through your wardrobe.  Jongin snorted. 

  “Omma picked it out for you,” he corrected and you paused your digging. 

  With a childish pout, you trudged over and picked the gown up.  Omg, it’s so, so pretty.  A small grin crept across your face.  But Jongin’s smirk made you stubbornly retreat your smile.

  In the bathroom, you stared at yourself in the gorgeous dress.  The deep V-neck was sexy but sophisticated.  Turning around, you realized that your entire back was exposed.  A web of crystals lined your sexy back.  You pushed your hair to one side and pinned it in place. 

  Slowly, you opened the door and stepped out.  Seated on the end of the bed, Jongin automatically looked up.  His pupils dilated as they roamed over you from head to toe.  You internally gave yourself a pat on the shoulder.  Seduce Kim Jongin mission success!  Lost in a daze, he stood up and walked over to you.  Your eyes involuntarily rolled back in pleasure when he touched the small of your back.  A blaze of fire started to build inside of you as you tiptoed with your lips puckered.  Jongin automatically leaned in but just as his lips grazed against yours, there was a knock on the door. 

  This time, you threw your head back in frustration as you angrily kicked the trashcan in front of you.  It fell over, pouring out its contents.  Your husband chuckled and walked over to open the door.  And yep, you guessed it.  It was your mother-in-law. 

  “Are you two ready?  The limo is waiting for you,” Jongin’s mother informed. 

  Sighing, you bowed and nodded, following her out, with Jongin close behind you.  In the limo, you scooted over to the left, throwing another worthless tantrum.  Your husband only laughed as he scooted closer to you. 

  “Oppa…can we just ditch…and do something more meaningful?” you asked. 

  “And what would that be?” Jongin teased while he placing his hand on your inner thigh. 

  You sucked in air.  Okay so maybe it was more like your husband was trying to seduce you not the other way around.  But omg, you were burning up.  Turning around, you bit your lip.  Your fingers danced on his chest.  With your index finger and thumb, you flicked at a button, exposing a small part of Jongin’s chest. 

  “You know…” you whispered into his ear seductively. 

  A groan escaped your lips when he felt up your thighs. 

  “Oppa…I need you,” you surrendered. 

  But the limo stopped and you guys were already at the celebration venue.  Your body slumped back against the car seat.  Why is this so hard?  Dammit.  Chuckling amusingly, Jongin laced his fingers through yours and dragged you out of the car.     

  The baby was cute.  Of course he was cute but you were so furious that it was cockblocking you from your Oppa.  In fact, where was your husband anyway?  Oh right, over there, busy chatting with his friend, Do Kyungsoo.  You couldn’t believe you were jealous of him.  But oh jeez, you saw how they looked at each other and how Jongin smacked that big-eyed boy on the booty.  He better do that to me later too or he’s getting it…  You gritted your teeth.

  As you waited impatiently for them to finish catching up, you unknowingly gulped down at least five shots.  Your head was beginning to spin, so you leaned against the wall to balance yourself.  You pouted.  How much longer were they going to keep talking?  Jeez, couldn’t they do it over the phone or something?  You chewed on a piece of ice to cool your body temperature. 

  “Hey!  Aren’t you Jongin-oppa’s wife?” a girl tapped you on the shoulder. 

  Turning around, you smiled and nodded.

  She held her hand out and introduced, “Hi, I am Carmen, Jongin-oppa’s ex-girlfriend”. 

  You snorted.  Great way to dig yourself into a hole, girl.  But you wrapped your fingers around her hand and shook it. 

  “So how’s it going?” she asked offering you a shot glass. 

  Smirking, you took it and poured it down your throat. 

  “Good.  Very good,” you quipped. 

  “You must have a lot of fun at night,” she slyly said.  No, dammit.  I don’t have a lot of fun at night.

  “Very,” you answered, feigning a smile. 

  “You know Jongin-oppa was known as the sex god back in high school, right?” she smirked and turned around to leave. 

  Wait, what?  What was she implying?  They didn’t… 

  “Wait, biotch hold up,” you grabbed her by the shoulder and she exaggerated a whimper.  Oh come on, I barely touched her. 

  “Biotch?  Wow, you have a dirty mouth.  Jongin-oppa doesn’t like girls who are,” she started, looked at you from head to toe, and then added, “crud”.

  Who was she calling “crud”?

  You grunted, “Well, too bad.  I was the champion in the end because we got married”. 

  She snickered, “I love how you’re saying it like Jongin-oppa is really in love with you.  Because he isn’t.  It was an arranged marriage.  Everyone knows that”. 

  Growling at her, your mind started to feel intoxicated by the alcohol.  You lunged at her, grabbing her hair.  She screamed, causing bystanders to turn around to see what the ruckus was about.  Your husband’s complexion paled as he raced to separate you from her. 

  “________ah, what are you doing?” he asked, pulling you from Carmen. 

  You thrashed around in his hold but he held onto you tightly.  Depleted of energy and under the influence of alcohol, your body fell forward limp in your husband’s arms. 

  Jongin bowed and apologized to Carmen, which only made you start throwing out punches again.  He threw you over his shoulder and walked away.  People in the crowd started snickering at you so you stuck your tongue out at them. 

  “Okay, okay.  Calm down now,” he said, putting you down onto a seat at a round dinner table.

  Instantly, your head fell over.  Jongin raced to place his hand on the tabletop so that you don’t hit your head against the glass.  Not that his fingers felt any softer, but that was sweet of him.  You drunkenly scooted over to him with a fishy smile.  Your eyebrows wiggled mischievously as you started to unbutton his shirt.  He held your hands in place, startled by your openness. 

  “Jagiya, we’re in public,” he whispered. 

  You mumbled something inaudible, crackling up like some crazy person.  Your husband chuckled at your delirious state.  He patted your head as you leaned it against his shoulder. 

  “Are you drunk?” he asked, grinning like a fool. 

  “Oft curse knawt” you slurred, falling forward, but he caught you again. 

  “Do you want to go home?” he asked sweetly.  Home.  In bed.  We should have been home hours ago.     

  You opened your mouth to say “yes” but instead, you fell over.  Your face landed right between Jongin’s legs.  He froze in place, shocked from your straightforwardness. 

  “Jagiya…” he shook your body.

  You turned your head to rest on his thigh. 

  “Mmm?” you asked as a drool slipped from the corner of your lips. 

  Jongin wiped it away with a napkin.  With a contented sigh, he whispered, “Jagiya…let’s go”.

  “Go?  Go where?” you slurred. 

  He laughed as he threw you onto his back, “Home”. 

  You have absolutely no memory of the ride home.  The only memory you had was being gently placed down onto the bed.  Spurting out nonsense, you curled into your blankets.  Your husband stroked your hair and leaned in to kiss you on the forehead, before standing up to leave.    

  “Oppa…” you thrashed around.  Quickly, he grabbed your outreached hands. 

  “Mmm?” he asked while you sat up in bed. 

  “Oppa, am I not attractive?” you asked, as you pouted and shook your body.

  “Of course you are, why would you say that?” he questioned, holding onto your arms so that you wouldn’t fall over. 

  “Because you don’t want me,” you whined. 

  “Why would I not want you?” he inquired, looking at you amused. 

  “Because you don’t.  Because you only married me because it was an arrangement,” you garbled.

  “Babe, look at me,” he cupped your cheeks so that you were looking straight into his eyes, “I want you more than you’ll ever know”. 

  You blinked a few times to wake yourself up before kneeling on the mattress.  Beside you, your husband desperately tried to get you to stop moving in case you fell off the bed.  Shaking your head, you grabbed him by his tie and closed the distance between your faces to a mere inch.  You could feel his breath against your face.

  “Oppa, I need you,” you hummed. 

  Without another word, you smacked your lips onto his.  He returned the kiss with just as much force.  You sucked your breath in as your dress fell to your waist.  Jongin nibbled on the back of your earlobe and you shivered in delight. 

      Licking your lips, you pulled the cover over your face to block out the blazing sun.  With the back of your hand, you wiped away the trail of drool that fell down to your chin.  A low chuckle sounded.  Your eyebrows furrowed in confusion before you opened your eyes and realized your arms were bare.  But not only that, your entire body was bare.  Gasping, you jolted upright, holding the blanket over your exposed chest.  Your husband sat on a chair beside the bed, with an amused expression on his face.

  “Did you sleep well?” he asked. 

  You blinked a few times and then nodded. 

  “Did we…” you started but looked down in embarrassment. 

  He nodded, completely entertained by your shyness.  Great, you finally got your first time with your husband but you had no memory of it.  You pouted, disappointed.

  “What’s with the sad look, Babe?  Did you not have fun last night?” he asked, pinching your rosy cheeks teasingly.  No, because I have no freakin’ memory of it. 

  “Was I drunk?” you asked, your head hung low. 

  “Mmhm, you sure were.  But you were conscious enough to keep screaming for more,” he smirked. 

  You blushed deep red.

  With a chortle, he planted a sweet kiss on top of your head, and got up to leave.

  “I’ll wait for you downstairs.  Wash up,” he spoke but you wouldn’t let go of his hand so he leaned in to whisper, “I can show you what happened last night again, tonight”. 

  Your eyes lit up. 

  “Heehee,” you said, letting go of his hand. 

  ----

  Two days later, you were sitting on the bed with a half-eaten apple in one hand and flipping through a magazine with another.  You felt the presence of Kim Jongin trot into the room, but you were too focused in the article to look up.  When you do, you realized he was topless and wet, digging in his drawer for a shirt.  Your eyes widened as they roamed all over his gorgeous abs.  Your apple fell from your hand, bounced on the bed, and landed on the floor with a “thud”.  He’s purposely trying to seduce me.  As he threw a tank top over his head, you crawled forward to examine his back.  Deep claw-like scratches covered his skin. 

  “Oppa…” you called out.

  “Yeah?” he asked, popping his head out of the shirt to look at you.

  But you turned him around, lifted up his shirt, and asked, “Where did you get these cuts?  Did you get into another fight?” 

  He stifled back laughter, climbed onto the bed, and sat down in front of you. 

  “I did get into a fight…” he started.

  You gasped.  What?!  How!?  When?!  Who dared disfigure your husband’s handsome back?!

  “I had a fight…with my wife…in bed…last night…” he said seductively, stroking the back of your neck. 

  You stared at him, your breathing labored, and a trickle of sweat dripped down your chest.

  “Do you want to “fight” again?” he blew into your ear.

  As if you were in some hypnosis, you only managed to bite your swollen lower lip and nod obediently.  Straightaway, you were pushed down onto the bed with Jongin on top of you. 

  By the fifth night together, you realized your husband was indeed a sex god disguised as a puppy.  Every time he touched you, you thought your head was going to fall off.  One month in and you were addicted.  It became a routine; Jongin went to work, came back, you two ate dinner with your in-laws, then as soon as you got up to your room, you guys would “fight”.  No words, nothing.  Your actions became your source of conversation.  He couldn’t even leave you alone in the shower. 

  By the second month, you were starting to miss the old days, where you guys dated and bickered.  To be honest, you hadn’t even seen the sun for weeks.  As you trotted down the stairs to greet your mother-in-law, you felt a knot on the pit of your stomach.  Covering your mouth, you sprinted back upstairs to the bathroom to throw up.  Must be that expired OJ I drank from last night.  Holding your stomach, you sluggishly walked down the stairs again. 

  “_______ah, are you okay?” your mother-in-law asked. 

  “Yeah, Omunim.  Sorry about that.  Probably just ingestion,” you replied.

  She looked worriedly at you but you threw her a grin and massaged her shoulders. 

  “So what are you making?” you asked, pointing to the piles of grocery bags that lined the kitchen counter. 

  “Just going to try to make some new dishes from the cookbook you bought me last week,” she responded, patting your cheek. 

  Your eyes lit up, “Really?  Can I help?”

  “Of course!” she responded. 

  As she cut up the meat and stir-fried it over the pan, you cleaned the green onions over the sink.  It was so calming and you felt so, so happy that you were finally having a conversation with somebody.  Your mother-in-law was seriously the best.  Once upon a time, you were scared out of your life about marrying into a family because of all those evil mother-in-law dramas you watched.  But you were so thankful that reality was different…well except for the occasional cockblocking…heh…          

  “Seems like my wish will come true really soon,” she spoke.

  “Mmm?” you turned away from the sink to look at your mother-in-law.

  “Looks like I’ll have a grandchild soon since Jongin and you have been keeping busy every night,” she teased. 

  You covered your face in embarrassment.  OH MY GOD.  Were the walls not soundproof? –Internal facepalm reunited with external facepalm-   

    ----

  Three days later, you sat on the toilet seat with a stick in your hand.  Positive.  You were pregnant.  Well, that explains the constant vomiting. 

  “I wonder if Oppa likes children…” you whispered out loud as you stared into the mirror. 

  You sighed, your shoulders fell slack.  It wasn’t that you didn’t want a baby, you just didn’t want one now.  You were only married for a little over two months.  In addition, you were still so young; in fact, your husband still teased you about your immaturity.  But it is what it is. 

  The bedroom door creaked open and you immediately stood up and exited the bathroom to greet your husband. 

  “How was your da---” you started but he already smacked his lips against yours. 

  You fell back against the bed while Jongin began to kiss your collarbone. 

  “Oppa…” you called out, trying to wiggle from his death grip but he continued to suck on your juicy lips. 

  “Oppa, we need to talk,” you said when he separated his lips from yours to let you breath. 

  “We can talk tomorrow morning,” he said as he pulled his shirt over his head. 

  You surrendered and let him devour you.

  When you woke up in the morning, he was already gone.  So you waited patiently to talk to him after dinner.  But just like the day before, he was already on top of you before you could say a single word. 

  “Oppa, we really need to talk,” you pleaded as he unzipped your pants. 

  “Shh…just feel,” he whispered, before giving you a hickey on the crook of your neck. 

  Whimpering, you tried to wiggle out of his grip but he was just, so, so strong.

  “Oppa…” you desperately tried to call for his attention but he shushed you. 

  With tears brimming down your face, you summoned all your strength enough to push him a feet away from you.

  “Am I some kind of sex toy to you!??!” you cried, storming out of the room in tears. 

  As you ran down the stairs, you covered your mouth, sobbing.  Seated on the living room sofa, your mother-in-law stood up to see what the commotion was about.  You ran pass her, ignored your husband’s calls, and sprinted out the door.          

               a/n: Gahhhhh DOUBLE POST because you guys are awesome and I really want to spaz about this chapter xD SO SPAZ WITH ME.  SPAM MY INBOX!  SUBMIT SEXY KIM JONGIN PICS.  My kokoro can’t anymore…

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  This is a long chapter too hehehehehe.  Hope you guise like it :3!!!!  The sexual tension tho.  && didn’t I tell you I will always try to troll you guys with the titles of the chapters?  See what I did there?  Hehehee (∩▂∩)

  Last chapter tmr :’( I can’t believe it.  I love you guys!!

I still have to be up for two more hours because I have to take medication >< so spaz with me.  I will be on Tumblr ;p

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