#today my girlfriend and i made dinner together (a new recipe she found online) | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

sillyroyalty · 3 years

Note

hellooo i saw your post about wanting some haru kato x reader and i just enjoyed the ones you wrote, you talented bro!

could i request that its reader and haru’s anniversary and reader noticed how tired he seemed lately so they decided to set up a nice romantic dinner and surprises him cause man he deserves it for dealing with daisuke HDKSBFJEHR it would be sooo cuutee!!

thats all and i hope you have a fantastic day!! stay hydrated and stay safe

Hello ! Thank you for requesting! I’m glad you like the stories I put out. 💓

This was fun to write and I’m sorry it took a little while to put out. I hope you like it ❤️

Please let me know what you thought in the comments and if there’s any changes or tips you would like to see carried out in future works 😊

Notes: I tried to make the reader gender neutral but then my dumb head out them in a dress so I decided to make the reader female, Daisuke is in it for a little bit too because he doubted your existence for a hot second lol but don’t worry he’s only there for a small interaction ☺️

Eyes anxiously scanned the shelves at the grocery store, looking for the ingredients that could throw together a decent meal. In a few short days the day of your and Haru’s anniversary was approaching fast. Safe to say you pondered of all the possibilities you could do to surprise your partner.

You could buy him something nice ? But Haru would stress over the price tag. You could arrange a nice romantic getaway for the both of you ? But sadly Haru’s job hours were unpredictable due to him being too passionate about overtime. After listening your options you settled on preparing a nice candlelight dinner for him, sure it was a bit cliche but even simple moments with Haru felt magical. Eager to get home and start cooking the recipe you found online you picked up the ingredients, payed and made your way home. Ready to spend the rest of the day in preparing the meal.

Haru packed his papers into his bag ready to bid his co-workers farewell.

“Leaving so soon ?” Daisuke questioned condescendingly, “what about the rest of the case ?”

Haru groaned contemplating starting another round of bickering with the new detective, but instead swallowed his anger.

“Yeah I have something important today...someone’s waiting for me-“

Haru tried to wrap up the conversation before Saeki interrupted with shrill excitement.

“Oh my gosh !” She squealed “ It’s Y/n-San isn’t it ?! “

“Y...yeah” Haru nodded bashfully smiling “it’s our anniversary so I want to be at home with her tonight”

“Y/N who?” Daisuke questioned “you have a partner?”

“YEAH! WHAT IS THAT SO HARD TO BELIEVE?” Haru yelled irked, “whatever I’m leaving BYE!” He grabbed his bag throwing it over his shoulder making his way to the exit.

“Wait,” Daisuke’s monotone voice cut in following Haru out “I’m coming too”

“WHAT ?! No you’re not ?!” Haru yelled “you’re not invited!”

Daisuke tagged along unfazed, “isn’t it fair for me to meet your family ? You’ve met Suzae and my grandmother already after all, return the favor”

Haru reached your shared apartment sighing in defeat. Daisuke stood cooly behind him. Despite Haru’s attempts to shake him off he persisted. To say Haru was annoyed was an understatement, all he wanted to do was cuddle and bask with you on the bed dozing off lazily tonight, to share his week with you and to hear your cute laugh...unfortunately here was Daisuke tagging along to suck the comfort out of his night with you like a leech. Taking a deep breath he rung the door bell for it to fling open and be greeted by a bright smile.

Gosh you looked absolutely stunning, a dress that covered you snugly with hair done up with clips letting some loose strands fall over your shoulders, your smile beaming as you hugged Haru. He mirrored your grin wrapping his arms around your waist inhaling your perfume in, basking in your embrace for a few moments before his solace was interrupted by an abrupt cough from behind him. You peeked behind your lover to see another man standing behind him.

“Hmmm?” tilting your head up to look at Haru quizzingly

Haru grimaced and introduced you to his Daisuke begrudgingly.

“There now that you’ve seen my lovely girlfriend please go” Haru ushered Daisuke eager to shoo him away to which Daisuke coldly stared back Haru challengingly. Sensing the tension between the two you decided to step in ease the situation.

“Hello Mr.Daisuke, its nice to meet the co worker Haru holds in high regard,” you cheerfully proclaimed “ please join us for dinner at least”. You figured it was the polite thing to do despite the fact that you certainly were not prepared for any guests.

Haru gave you a side eye glance to which your squeezed his hand lightly, ‘be polite Haru’

Daisuke thankfully assessed the situation and smiled at you thanking you for the offer, “I’m afraid I must head home unfortunately but thank you for the offer, I hope you and Kato San have a nice evening,” with a polite bow and patting Haru on the back, he was gone.

Haru blinked confused at the rich man’s bizarre actions, perhaps he really did want to see whether Haru was bluffing about someone waiting at home for him everyday and wanted to confirm you in fact were real, regardless how that he saw you his purpose of visiting was done and he’d leave the couple alone for the evening ( to Haru’s absolute joy). After you ushered him inside and he got in to take a shower and get changed.

Walking out in more comfortable but presentable clothing Haru came out drying his hair with a towel to find you neatly setting up a dinner table with various dishes. He scanned the menu recognizing some of the dishes- they were some the meals you and Haru had worked together on when you first started dating. Seeing them all lined up and well plated reminded him of the time when the both of you first started to have stay at home dates. He’d teach you how to cook various recipes, the both of you becoming extremely flustered whenever you two got a bit two close or made contact of hands. Eventually the two of you became less shy and comfortable with each other, years passed by and you guys became inseparable.

You finished setting the table to look up and see Haru leaning on the door frame with a goofy smile on his face to which you beamed back. He walked up to you and slowly to your surprise pulled you in for another hug placing a small kiss on your cheek.

“The dishes-“he began messing with the ends of your hair,”the ones you made tonight ? You did this on purpose right ?”

Your eyes light up happy that the subtle thought you put into the menu was noticed. You pointed to a plate of pastries that sat on the table, ”So you noticed ? Remember this one ? It was the first time I came over to your place and we made this.”

Haru nodded and pointed to the dish next to it, “ and this one is the first thing we cooked when we moved in to your new apartment together!”

The hug grew tighter and a familiar warmth bloomed in your chest as Haru whispered “Thank you...for everything, I love you” before pulling you over to the table to enjoy the evening sampling a bite of what you made.

#fugou keiji x reader #fugou keiji balance: unlimited #haru kato x reader #fugou keiji haru #the millionare detective balance: unlimited #anime x reader #haru katou x reader #haru x reader #Hanako works #requests

86 notes · View notes

jimalim · 3 years

Text

Based off @idontlikedots wonderful Christmas holiday headcanons post! I hope you don't mind I had a little fun expanding! Note: I wrote this/and posting this from my phone cause it's Christmas morning and I'm too tired to get out my laptop. Enjoy!

...

It was their first holiday off the island, well technically second. Though they were so engrossed in bureaucracy and legal shit they hadn't even noticed the season passed. This year, they all agreed to get together to celebrate.

It was a rather easy task considering the large number of girls. Most had paired off since leaving the island in various forms of living arrangements. Shelby and Toni the obvious couple got a place together after Shelby was legally emancipated from her bigoted parents. Nora and Rachel found a nice studio apartment, that although they aren't really on speaking terms, their parents help pay for. A kind of way to apologize to their daughters for their mistakes. It doesn't really move the needle, but Rachel gladly accepts the money as a form of reparation. Fatin followed through on her plan to sell what remained of her father's fancy watches and got a place in California, the one they were currently gathered in today. She asked Dot to move in with her partially because of their conversation on the island, though mostly because Fatin couldn't be alone following all they went through. Leah was the only one of the group of either who decided to finish school and pursue higher education at a college nearby Fatin and Dot's place. Though she lives on campus, she's almost always at the girls condo. Martha chose to stay with her family, really needing the connection after being gone for so long. She rediscovered her love for dancing and has been teaching at the rec three days a week.

None of the girls were super religious, even Shelby's faith has been a work in progress. Trying to find the balance that best works for her is an ongoing affair. But the holiday was still something they enjoyed celebrating. The time spent together and the gifts exchanged. It was all about their new found family, and the love they had for each other.

Martha and Shelby spend most of the day in the kitchen cooking and baking. The two excitedly shared recipes they'd found online back and forth the past month planning the menu for today. Toni spends most of her time in the kitchen as well, though refusing to do any work, just wanting to spend time with her two favorite people in the world. It's funny how much she loves how well they get along, when she thinks back to how much she hated it those first few weeks on the island. When the cookies finish cooling Martha pushes, "make yourself useful, your girlfriend will appreciate it." Shelby throws her a wink so Toni obliges.

Leah spent weeks decorating the place in between classes and in the evenings much to Faitn and Dot's chagrin. Her obsessive behavior, though being channeled into something good for a change, could still be annoying as hell. Especially when the girls jusy wanted to relax for the night. Leah would force them to help her hang all kinds of lights and garland and art. There was always a point where they'd just go to bed, leaving Leah to her own devices. They even made her a spare key so she could work while they were out, in hopes they wouldn't have to help. A decision they are still unsure if they should regret.

When the twins arrive, Rachel is quick to gather everyone up so she can hand out the gift she'd brought for the girls. "We're doing gifts after dinner!" Shelby objected at first, all it took was for Toni to whisper something in her ear for her to visibly perk up and agree.

Matching holiday sweatshirts! A tradition she explained thay Nora and her were forced to take part in growing up, as twins. "As silly as it is, I look back at all those photos and it reminds me how close and important our sibling relationship is," Rachel go's on as she pulls Nora into a side hug, "and you're all my family, my sisters, I want to share that with you." There's not a dry eye in the place. Fatin immediately jumps up to run off to fix her makeup, though not before hugging Rachel and Nora tightly.

Hugs all around as everyone is finally gathered! Dot breaks out her homemade mulled wine, which is so fucking good the girls rave! The music is turned up, Oh Holy Night leading off the playlist, Dot raises a glass in a silent toast. "He'd be really proud, you know." She hears Fatin whisper next to her, her glass also raised. They clink their glasses and drink together whole the other girls spread across the open concept space excitedly chat and catch up.

When the food is finished and the tables all set, the girls eagerly fill their plates. Shelby says a quick prayer to herself, though not of the other girls eat till she does out of respect. Even Toni holds her hand as she does for support. She's insanely proud of how much Shelby has grown and admires the way she devotes herself to the greater good, even if she's still working on what it all means to her.

They put on their sweaters after dinner and take several silly and nice group pictures. An affair that takes ages with how many of them there are to satisfy. Throughout the whole day Toni had been surprising Shelby with mistletoe kiss attacks, which the girl always enjoyed. "You know you don't need that to kiss your girlfiend." Fatin deadpans.

"True. But I do for this!" Toni laughs as she holds the plant above her and Fatins head and places a kiss in her cheek. Fatin rools her eyes, "oh no, no." And pulls Toni in and kisses her properly, showing her how it's done. All the girls laugh merciliessly at Toni's shocked demeanor. She all but runs into Shelby's arms who was laughing along with them. She kisses Toni and reassures her it's all good, fully understanding the whole things a joke.

Fatin, now graced with the mistletoe decides to have some fun. She stalks around the girl's tauntingly like she's playing duck duck goose. She settles on Leah and to her surprise the girl is almost eager in her kiss. Really playing it up for the crowd, earning several "ow owws!" Amongst the giggles. She may have had too much of Dot's wine already.

Fatin's next mark is Nora. A short but sweet kiss. When Fatin turns her attention to Rachel, she objects "I'm not kissing you after you just kissed my sister. Too close man." This makes the rest of the girls, Nora included loose it! Martha calls an end to the silly game by announcing she has a boyfriend. News that makes all the girls squeal in excitement, a reveal that not even Toni was privileged too. They immediately all start asking questions and cooing over how sweet he sounded.

Fatin notices Dot leave the room, walking down the hall. She follows her without the girls even looking up. Dot, sitting on her bed looks a little flustered. Fatin sits next to her, "hey, what's going on?"

Dot is embarrassed by how upset she is over something so silly, and doesn't want to explain it. She tried to shrug it off, but Fatin places a hand on her knee and it makes her weak. She caves, "you didn't kiss me, I don't know, seeing you kiss everyone else, I guess I just felt left out" It's a quiet admission. So much that if they weren't sitting as close as they were, Fatin might have missed it.

They've gotten so close since living together, Fatin doesn't need to ask her to clarify anything. She knows why it's really upsetting her. So she suck it up and admits something of her own, "Dottie," the use of the nickname is reserved for serious moments, and Dot is aware of this fact so she immediately has her attention, eyes focused on her roomamte as she continues, "I didn't kiss you because I actually WANT to kiss you. I didn't want it to be some joke. I want it to be special."

Dot visibly blushes at this and Fatin gently strokes her thumb across her cheek. "I'd like to take you out, on a proper date. Do it the old fashion way." She nods in agreement to the proposition, and Fatin kisses her cheek before standing up, hand extended to help Dot off the bed.

After opening gifts, the girls all cuddle around the TV watching Christmas movies, drinking spiked cocoa and eating cookies. Leah falls asleep halfway through the second movie. The girls put a Santa hat on her head and draw a beard on her face. They take a couple photos and giggle, before returning their attention to the movie marathon.

Rachel gently cleans the marker off Leah's face (which is much easier because she convinced them to use a dry erase marker instead of a sharpie like Toni wanted) and covers her up with a blanket.

Shelby gathers everyone's empty mugs during the transition to the 4th movie and takes them to the kitchen. Toni follows shortly behind to have a moment of alone time with her girlfriend. "Hey." She whispers in Shelby's ear as she hugs her from behind. "You were amazing today. Thank you for the food, and the gifts."

Shelby hums as she turns in Toni's arms so she can see her girlfriends face. "Well I do have one more small gift for you at home, so you'll just have to wait."

Toni pulls her in for a kiss and holds her close. "I love you." It's the first time she's said it. Though they've been together for a long while. They both were really trepidstious with how to pace things. Their life in the island was a totally different set of circumstances. They both needed to really learn who they were off the island after all that trauma before dicing head first into their relationship. Shelby going through a long and rough emancipation battle, while Toni waited to age out of the foster care system. They had many demons to face, ones they had to face alone.

They took things very very slow in the beginning. Only ramping things up once paperwork was finalized and they were legally set to move away and start an new life together. They were still cautious, taking each day one at a time. But the feelings Toni have been cultivating, have been there from the beginning.

Shelby grins wide, not even self conscious about her teeth not being in at this time of night. Her smile as bright and beautiful as with them on, hell even more so. "I love you too." They kiss again, full of passion and trust. Toni pulls apart to suggest they "get out of here" as much as Shelby wants to oblige, she reminds Toni that all the girls agreed to a sleepover. "Come on, it's not like it's the first time we've left them hanging." Toni poles reminded of the time on the island they were tasked to find food, finding the lychee tree, and then having their own feast, so to say, before sharing.

Shelby giggles at the memory, "meet me in Dot's room in 5." Before walking back into the living room, noting Rachel had fallen asleep her head atop Leah's. Martha too was out, Nora next to her looking like she could go next.

When it's just Dot and Fatin awake and watching the movies, Dot questions "so I'm just supposed to be cool with them having sex in my room?" All too aware the couple disappeared.

"Shh, you can stay in mine tonight. I could use some extra warmth." Fatin winks before cuddling up closer into Dot's side and wrapping an arm around her waist.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

#the wilds #shoni #dot x fatin #all the girls!

79 notes · View notes

moonlightdreamzz · 4 years

Text

Cozy — Jeon Jungkook

A glimpse into you and Jungkook’s love.

Request: Hi! I saw your writing and I enjoyed reading your works. I saw that you needed some request so here I am. I was wondering if you could write an imagine with BTS’s Jungkook where he comes home to the reader online shopping or something, and it’s a very touchy, lusty, feel. But lots of soft and subtle gestures towards one another. Sorry if it’s a bit much, it took me a lot to request 😬 but thank you for hearing me out! 🤗

Jungkook doesn’t understand why he gets like this doing something he does everyday. I mean, with all of his other daily routines he didn’t get nervous. Singing, dancing, speaking infront of others; these were all things that he just couldn’t get nervous about doing even if he tried.

But right now he’s standing infront of the door to his own apartment, and he finds himself taking deep breaths. His hand is on the keypad, but they’re not moving to type the code in.

“You’ve been dating this girl for almost two years now.” He chuckles to himself, knowing this was ridiculous. “She’s your girlfriend, and you see her practically everyday. Go inside.”

And as always, he listens to himself. He puts the code into his keypad, and steps in quickly. His shoes slip off his feet with ease as all he had to do today was re-record some things for the new album; no dancing.

Before he creeps around the corner, where he knows he’ll find you either asleep on the couch, or scrolling through your phone as you wait for him to come and kiss you all over, he always likes to listen. Sometimes you’ll hum, and it has to be the most beautiful sound he’s ever heard. You always say you can’t sing, but he’s listened in to your little concerts too many times to count, and knows it’s the opposite.

Sometimes, you’ll even be watching tv. He has a little guessing game he plays with himself to see if he can guess what you’re viewing, and he has to admit, he’s getting better at it. His favorite though was to hear you laugh. You always kept him up to date with twitter slang, and what was considered funny between his fans and such, but when he would hear you burst into a fit of chuckles and heavy sighs; it was music to his ears.

The house is silent right now, but not so silent that he can assume that you’re deep in slumber. He’s trying his best to keep the wood floor from making too much noise, as if the alarm didn’t already inform you someone was in your home.

He finally makes it around the corner, where he finds you. His heart always increases in speed whenever you grace him with your presence, and right now is no different. Your laptop is secured onto your legs, and he can see just how concentrated you are based off how your eyebrows are making you look like an upset child.

“Hi.”

Immediately your head snaps up, and the smile on your face tells him everything he needs to know. You missed him too. You still loved him even after a couple hours of space. Your hair was still wrapped up in the scarf he gifted your for your birthday. Funny enough, it’s red and yellow undertones were complementing his white walls very nicely. This whole scenery was so beautiful to him.

“Hi baby. You look tired.” You accuse with a raised eyebrow. You hated to see him like this; a weak walk dragging across his floors, and the color tainted from his cheeks. “Have you eaten today?”

“Just had dinner with Yoongi.”

There’s a silence, featuring the two of you making eye contact. You’re looking him up and down, trying to find the lie within his words, but based on the slight swelling in his fingers you know he’s being honest.

“Are you full? I can cook you something.” You offer, standing up promptly, but Jungkook steps towards you, gently setting you back down where you were sitting.

“Have a seat.” He smiles. It’s at this moment where he realizes he hasn’t kissed you since yesterday. He also realizes that you know exactly what he’s thinking, so he seizes his opportunity.

The kiss is loving, but also filled with the kind of lust that only the two of you could have. You both agreed a long time ago that your lips were made for eachother, but even so, you always giggled when your lips pressed together. It was always magic.

He has one knee on the couch as he hovers over you, hands moving up your neck, to the side of your cheeks, and then to your ears as he allows this to calm him down. Even your breathing is in synch as the two of you just enjoy this moment.

Just when Jungkook was starting to feel his heartbeat increase to a deadly pace, and his blood rush to his face, and all the other familiar places, you break the kiss. He can’t help but to follow your plump lips, pressing another peck before resting his forehead on yours.

“What?” He questions, still hovering on top of your body that was now laid on the sofa.

“No can do tonight sir.” You sigh in disappointment, hands finding themselves rubbing circles into his fat cheeks.

“No.” He wines, and not because he needs it so bad. He just hated when you had to be bothered with such a demon. “The red sea?”

“The red sea, baby.” You confirm, and now the two of you are laughing. Once again, the kisses start, except, this time they’re much more sweet and slow. With his lips he’s telling a million stories. He’s telling you that this morning, he was really upset that you weren’t awake as he couldn’t properly embrace you. He’s telling you that while he was singing songs of heartbreak in the studio, he found it hilarious because that would never be the two of you. He’s confessing that he missed you so much, and this taste, and this feeling.

His lips move to your neck, and his hands are rubbing all over your comfort zones such as your legs, and your shoulders, and your back. He then stops his actions, looking right into your eyes. He loves doing this. He can always see how nervous you get. Your pupils start to twitch, as you’re trying your best to be a big girl and handle all the love that rests in his eyes, but at the same time wanting to look away because it’s too much.

“How did I get so lucky?” He questions, kissing you once more. Your scent is so distinct. Castor oil and black girl magic, as you would describe it.

“I think you must have been an important man in your past life.”

“Like Malcolm X?”

And now you’re screeching; that laugh that can make any man fall to his knees in an instant. It’s shaking every part of his body, and he loves you. Your little snorts are the icing on the cake; a recipe for his red cheeks.

“You’re funny.” Is all you can manage as you finally calm down.

“And you’re beautiful.” Jungkook finally stands up, placing his hand infront of you to grab. “You ate, right?”

You grab his hand that was calling out to you, standing up with a slight hiss. “Had a little soup. You know I can’t eat much when I’m bleeding to death.”

“You sure you don’t want anything else? Ice pack?”

“Just you.” Your smile is dazzling, even when your eyes seem a little weary. He doesn’t know if you’re worried about him, your day wasn’t the best, or both, but he knows he can turn it all around.

Setting the alarm, and turning off all the lights to the rooms you walked passed, he leads you to your shared bedroom. As always, the bed is exactly how you two left it in the morning. You both agreed that making a bed was pointless when you were just going to get back in it.

Jungkook pushes you forward, making you fall gently on the mattress. He then begins to remove his clothing one by one, followed by whistles coming from you.

“Oh how I wish I wasn’t about to throw up.” You call, now resting on your elbow in a seductive manner. You’re already in your pajamas, which consisted of nothing but a tank top. You’re comfortable, and he always loves to see you like this.

“You can still enjoy the show.” He winks, before stepping into the bathroom.

“You don’t have to take a shower, you know.” You offer, rubbing his spot in repeated circles. “You didn’t even do anything today.”

“And how do you know that?”

“Because your hair isn’t dripping all over your floor from sweat.”

“Our floor.” He corrects.

“Our floor.” You smile. “I just want to Netflix and chill with you, baby.”

“You mean just Netflix?”

“Shut up.” You chuckle.

Of course, he takes your advice. He switches his boxers, and leaves it at that as he jumps on his high set bed. You always have Netflix ready; the horror section waiting to be surfed.

“Your scarf.” He whispers, using his hands to pull it down so your edges would be protected. He presses a light kiss to the cloth, before allowing you to nuzzle into his large arms. Your hand immediately finds the wrist that holds his tatted sleeve, and it’s caressing it ever so gently. “I love you.”

“I love you more.”

“I get really nervous before I come home.” He confesses, not really knowing why. It just comes out.

You mute the tv, looking up at him now. “Why?”

“You just...make me nervous as hell. Never in a million years did I think I’d find you.”

“Am I that great?” You question, tilting your head as best you could. “All I do is eat your food.”

“And you also support me in everything I do. You’re always there and you always know what to say. You always can make my days better. You’re the greatest gift.”

“You’re being really nice to me today.” You’re squinting at him, clearly suspicious. “What did you do?”

“Absolutely nothing.” He assures with a laugh.

“Yeah yeah.” You brush, but he knows you’re enjoying every bit of this. This extra love he’s giving you right now.

His body is always warm, clothed or not, and the feeling of your skin on his is too good. Too pleasant. You had been so excited to watch a good movie and fall asleep, but neither of you had picked up the remote. Your hands were just playing with eachother’s, observing the way you fit together so perfectly.

“How are the boys?”

“They’re good, I hope. It’s kind of funny, but we’ve been spending so much time together getting ready for the comeback, as soon as we’re free we run away from eachother.

“Are you excited?” You ask.

“Yeah...yeah.”

You notice the hesitation in his answer. “Why the pause?”

“I’m always excited to see the fans and stuff, but I’m never going to be happy about having to leave you. It sucks.”

You slide up his body just a tad, kissing him gently before allowing yourself to be the big spoon. Your hands find themselves entangled in his locs, and you can hear the way his breathing is calming down just from the motions.

“I know, baby. I know.” You assure. “But you love it. I promise I’ll be here when you come back. I always am.”

“It’s like—we’ve done this a thousand times. I’m gone, and you’re here. You would think I know how to cope with it, but it gets worse everytime. I’m going to think about you the whole tour.”

“That’s a good thing.”

“How?”

“That means you really do love me more each day.”

That makes him chuckle and smile all at the same time, as he remembers the times when you were heavily insecure about your relationship. You always questioned yourself, but now you were the complete opposite. You were giving him the peptalk.

“I told you I meant it.”

The night continues like this; you massaging his scalp with love and care while you talk about everything and nothing at the same time. The two of you doze off in this position, Netflix still blaring at your eyes.

#bts #bangtan #bts ambw #kpop ambw #kpop poc #bts jungkook #poc kpop #kpop black reader #bts poc #poc bts #bts x black reader #bts imagine #bts imagines #bts drabbles #bts scenarios

1K notes · View notes

basketofverbiage · 4 years

Text

Candy and Tradition

So, I decided to challenge myself to write and post 25 drabbles between now and Christmas. Here is the first (also, all the recipes listed are real things my family makes, so if you are curious about them, let me know and I can post some of them)!

For 90% of the year, Y/n was perfectly happy with her life in Seoul. While she did get a little bit homesick from time to time, her beautiful boyfriends made everything better on those days. Namjoon and Jungkook were the perfect mix of brains and brawn, art and sport, sweet and spicy, and kept life interesting enough that Y/n really didn’t miss her home country. However, the 10% of the time where homesickness was paramount was the holiday season. Since she grew up in America, Y/n’s family all celebrated Thanksgiving, and she’d grown used to not being able to do the same in Korea. Her family had never been traditional about the turkey and all the trimmings, so that part was easily displaced for Y/n. In fact, one year, her family had had a taco bar instead; however, the tradition that they kept without fail was that the entire family came together the Saturday after Thanksgiving to make homemade candy of all varieties. While other families baked Christmas cookies together, Y/n’s family spent 8-12 hours making all kinds of confections; if it wasn’t nailed down, it got covered in chocolate that day.

Y/n usually would fly home for a few days to participate in the candy making festivities, but this year it just wasn’t feasible due to her work schedule. Her family was okay with it, and her mom had promised to video call her so that she could see her nieces and nephews experience the day for the first time, but it just wasn’t the same. So, when the week of Thanksgiving came, Namjoon and Jungkook noticed how upset she was becoming.

“Hyung, we need to do something to help Noona. She’s so sad about not seeing her family,” Jungkook told Namjoon as he brought the elder a cup of coffee to his studio.

Namjoon accepted the steaming cup of coffee with a tender kiss to the younger’s lips before speaking. “I know. I’ve been thinking about it all morning and I think I have a solution. What if we call and get some of Y/n’s favorite recipes from her mom and we have our own candy making day here in Seoul? We have this weekend off for a change, and maybe Jin-hyung would be okay with us taking over the kitchen for the day.”

“I’m sure he would because he’d get to eat some of the things we make,” Jungkook said thoughtfully. “When can we call for those recipes? It might be hard to get some of the ingredients so we might have to overnight them from online.”

“I’ll reach out by text since it’s the middle of the night there. Maybe we can tell Y/n that we can’t come over to her apartment tonight because something came up here, and we can stay late here and video chat her then.”

After getting a goodbye kiss for the road, Jungkook headed off to record some vocals for their new album. He felt a bit better now that he had a plan in place to cheer up their girlfriend, and he knew that she’d love the surprise. He’d loved Namjoon since he was 15 but was still amazed at how intuitive the man was and how quickly he could come up with a solution to nearly any problem. He trusted that Namjoon would let him know when their important call was, so he threw himself into his work to finish in plenty of time.

Y/n’s mother was a morning person and responded excitedly at 5 am her own time and scheduled a time to call the boys. They would call her at 10 pm KST; it would still be morning for Y/n’s mom, but it would give her time to get some recipes together. She wanted to scan them in and email them to Namjoon.

Jungkook knew that Namjoon would probably work on music right up until the call, so he called Y/n himself.

“Hello, my Love!” she answered.

“Hi Noona. Have you had a good day at work today?” he asked through the biggest smile. Just hearing her voice squeezed his heart in the best way.

“Oh, you know. It’s been work,” she giggled. “Have my amazing boyfriends been working hard?”

“Yeah, we have. And that’s part of why I called. Something has come up, and we won’t be able to come over tonight, Noona. We have to re-record all over our vocals for 3 songs. The computer they were on crashed and the vocals were lost, so we have to stay late to catch back up. I know you have to work tomorrow, and we don’t want you to stay up too late waiting on us. I don’t know what time we will be finished.”

Jungkook felt guilty lying to one of the loves of his life, but hopefully the surprise they were coordinating would make up for it. It tugged his heartstrings at the way she sounded so sad not to see them.

“I’m so sorry, Noona. We will make it up to you this weekend when we are off,” Jungkook promised.

After talking for a few more minutes, Jungkook made Y/n promise to text him when she got home safely after work so that he could order dinner to be delivered to her. Even if they weren’t physically going to be there, he could make sure that she ate well. He pondered over their plan a bit more as he returned to Namjoon’s studio.

“I talked to Noona. I told her we had to re-record all the vocals for like 3 songs so we wouldn’t be over. We should tell the others so if she asks they will play along until Saturday,” Jungkook told him. “I hated lying to her.”

“I know. I talked to her earlier today after we heard back from her mom, and I couldn’t bring myself to tell her we couldn’t come, so I’m glad you did. When I tried, my voice just stopped,” Namjoon replied.

They curled up on the sofa in the studio and ordered dinner for themselves as well as dinner for Y/n once she arrived home. After they ate, Jungkook curled up into Namjoon’s arms for a bit, just loving the warmth and love radiating off of him. The recipes that Y/n’s mom had emailed came through, so they looked them over and started a grocery list. All the recipes had either standard names or weird Christmasy names; Jungkook didn’t have any idea what the hell an Elf Bite was, but it sounded super good. Y/n’s mom called right on schedule and let them know that if they needed her to she could ship some of the ingredients that they might not be able to find in Korea from America. Namjoon pre-paid the postage for a package since they figured even sending a package second day from America would be expensive and since this was their idea, they wanted to cover the cost of everything.

“Boys, you have to have someone record her reaction to this for me please. I know we were a bit hesitant about your relationship at first, but I’m so happy you found my little girl. You are both wonderful for her,” Y/n’s mom said to Namjoon and Jungkook before ending the call. “You really do bring so much light and love into her world. Thank you for doing this for her.”

The next few days were a whirlwind as the boys worked hard and also spent a lot of time searching out the rest of the ingredients that they needed. Y/n mom had shipped nearly everything they needed for a few of the recipes, and with the help of some of the staff, they were able to get everything together. Jin helped hide everything in the dorm and was wholeheartedly supportive of their endeavor. So much so that he offered to help with the plan.

Namjoon and Jungkook were going to get everything out and get started on the peanut butter ball recipe that Y/n’s mom had sent. She had been very specific about how some of the ingredients couldn’t be measured, but that Y/n would just know if it was right by taste. Jin was going to call Y/n at 6 am on Saturday morning and beg her to come over. He was going to say that he was trying to make waffles and he just couldn’t figure out what was going wrong and beg her to come help him. Y/n loved to cook and to share her recipes with others, and this wouldn’t be the first time that Jin called her at a random time of the day begging for her help in recreating something they had eaten in America. Hopefully, by the time Namjoon and Jungkook had stumbled through the first part of the unfamiliar recipe, Y/n would be there to make the special adjustments to make the recipe complete.

They had stayed at the dorm Friday night so that they would be in place to spring their surprise. Y/n had had to work late so it worked out all around. Once they had showered after dance practice that day, they curled up in Namjoon’s bed and facetimed their girl. She looked so sad and tired, but Jungkook hoped that the next day would lift some of that sadness. Jungkook slept wrapped around Namjoon, their bare chests pressed together, until their alarm went off. At 5 am, Namjoon and Jungkook were sleepily getting ready for their day. Jungkook felt like he had barely slept from his anxiety that they would fail at the surprise, but it was go time. Jungkook made coffee and a light breakfast for them while Namjoon got dressed.

Namjoon came down the hall with Seokjin following behind. They were talking quietly amongst themselves as Jungkook put eggs and toast onto 3 plates and poured three cups of coffee.

“Are you guys ready for this?” Jin asked between bites of eggs.

“Yes, hyung,” Namjoon smiled softy. “Call our baby over.”

Nearly 30 minutes later, Y/n finally arrived. They had left the door unlocked so she could get in with no issues.

“Jinnie?” she called softly as she removed her shoes.

“In here, Y/n,” Jin called from the kitchen.

When Y/n rounded the corner into the kitchen, her mouth dropped open. Seokjin was standing against the back countertop with his phone raised, filming her reaction. Namjoon had both hands buried in a bowl, with powdered sugar streaked up his cheek. Jungkook was laughing as he stirred something in a bowl placed over a boiling pot while still watching Namjoon struggle.

“We’re not making waffles, are we?” she finally gasped out.

Jungkook turned off the eye of the cooktop before coming over and wrapping her in his arms. “No, Noona, we’re not making waffles. We know you were so sad you couldn’t be with your family for making candy with them. So we talked to your mom, and brought candy making to you. Your mom even shipped some ingredients from America for us.”

“Um…my loves, I hate to interrupt this beautiful moment, but I have no idea what I’m doing. Please help me,” Namjoon whined.

After she finally recovered from the shock, Y/n jumped right into showing the loves of her life and her best friend how to make the recipe that her grandmother showed her how to make as a toddler. No one was surprise when Namjoon dropped the first peanut butter ball he dipped in melted chocolate onto the floor while Jungkook lived up to his golden maknae nickname by making a peanut butter ball that was perfectly dipped and looked better than Y/n’s example. As time went on, the other members started getting out of bed and following the smell of peanut butter and chocolate until the entire group was standing around in various states of dress, rolling dough into balls and dipping into chocolate. Even Yoongi got into it.

They made so many different recipes of candy. Y/n’s mom had sent over several different recipes: Mounds balls, peanut butter balls, peanut butter Elf Bites, S’mores balls, chocolate covered pretzels, turtles, and peppermint bark. Half of the group was nearly sick from all the sugar, so they ordered pizza. Everyone else took turns in the shower while Y/n, Namjoon, and Jungkook curled up on the couch together. Y/n was sitting in Jungkook’s lap with her legs draped over Namjoon’s gorgeous thighs.

“Thank you both so much for today. I can’t explain how much this means to me,” she murmured to them through tears. “It made me feel less like I was a thousand miles from my family. It was so amazing that you were able to make my family’s recipes with me. Some time it would be amazing to merge the two, but even if that can never happen, I feel like it will be okay. The world won’t end if we start our own traditions here in Seoul.”

#bts fluff #bts fic #bts imagine #bts imagination #bts imagines #bts namkook #jungkook #namjoon #jeon jungkook #kim namjoon #bts poly #bts poly au #bts poly imagine #bts poly fanfic #bts christmas drabble #day 1

34 notes · View notes

skywardsoul · 5 years

Text

Dianakko Week 2019

It’s time for @dianakko-week day 4! Sorry about posting this one so late! I still had to finish it up, and I had a bit of a busy day!

After a long day at work, Akko is looking forward to a rare dinner spent with her girlfriend. Things don't exactly turn out the way she was expecting.

Read on AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20391742/chapters/48476456

Read on FF.Net: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13372417/4/Dianakko-Week-2019

Akko let out a tired sigh as she made her way up to the door of her home. She felt herself fight back a yawn as she fumbled with her keys. If there was one thing she wished she could go back in time and tell tiny Akko, it was that there was a lot of boring, tiring work that went into being a stage performer. It’s not like she didn’t love her job. There wasn’t anything in the world Akko would trade for her career as Shining Star. It was just that no matter how exciting the fans, the cheers and the bright lights were, meeting clients with her agent, discussing financing with her team, and long nights on the road were exhausting. Akko saw it nothing short of a miracle that she actually got out of tonight's meeting before 7:00. Not to mention, today was Diana’s day off. She wouldn’t be stuffed in her office at the hospital. She would be home, and waiting for her.

Akko couldn’t help but smile at that fact. It meant that for the first time in over a week, her and Diana would be able to eat dinner together. Like, really eat together. No hastily ordered take out because Akko didn’t have time to cook. No leaving food to be reheated because Diana wouldn’t be home till late. No sir, tonight, they were going to have a proper dinner, together, homecooked, and on time! Akko smiled, her earlier fatigue forgotten. She couldn’t afford to be tired anymore! Her girlfriend awaited her arrival, and would almost certainly be hungry.

Diana was far from a lazy person and almost certainly would have already had dinner waiting for her...if she had any idea how to cook. It seemed that, by Diana’s own admission, living in a high class home left her rather lacking in her culinary skills. Growing up, Diana had insisted that she help with most of her chores, not wanting to be a burden. One thing that she was fine leaving up to the staff however, was cooking. Diana had told her that fire scared her as a kid, so she was never too keen on being near a stove, or anywhere in the kitchen for that matter. By the time she had outgrown the fear, she had gotten so used to having people prepare her food it had just become second nature.

Akko could tell not being able to cook bothered Diana, so she had tried teaching her...it simply ended in utter disaster. Akko tried to start simple, teaching Diana how to make miso soup using an old recipe her grandfather had given her. It didn’t take a lot of steps, used relatively few ingredients, and Akko knew it like the back of her hand. What could go wrong? A lot. A lot could. For someone so knowledgeable about the intricacies of magic and spell casting, it was surprising how easily Diana overlooked details when following a recipe. Akko didn’t remember exactly what happened, but she did remember Diana’s panicked expression as she frantically reached for her wand extinguishing the flames that had engulfed her pot. If Akko had to hazard a guess, Diana’s struggles in the kitchen were still being impacted by her fear. Sure Diana wasn’t afraid of the fire anymore, but Akko had a sneaking suspicion that the very act of being in the kitchen and working with a stove frighten her girlfriend, at least on some level. She hadn’t really brought this possibility with Diana yet, but it was low priority. Diana was a busy woman and had plenty of other things to worry about other than her inability to cook.

Having finally found her key to the door, Akko opened it, and entered her home.

“Tadaima!” Akko called as she stepped past the threshold and hung her coat up on the wall.

Despite having had a rather large budget when house hunting, Diana had insisted that the home be modest. Akko had thought that growing up in a mansion would mean Diana was used to a lot of space, but that couldn’t be anything less than true. Hell, when Diana had first asked her to move in with her, Akko had thought she meant into Cavendish manor. Diana simply made a face when Akko had told her.

“We’ll visit the manor often. After all it was my mother’s home,” Diana had said. “But at most it will be a… ‘vacation home,’ of sorts,” she added curtly.

So their house ended up on the smaller end. Well, small compared to a mansion. It still had two floors, a guest room, 3 bathrooms, a fairly spacious living room, and a full sized kitchen. It was certainly bigger than the house Akko grew up in. It wasn’t decorated to fancily or anything either. They owned the occasional nice thing, like the vase that sat on their mantle, or the couch by the fireplace, but for the most part the house was covered in more home decor. Pictures of family and friends sat wherever there was space and Akko would be damned if any house of hers didn’t have Shiny Chariot memorabilia at least somewhere. Yes, it really was a great house...well when it wasn’t full of smoke at least.

Akko had even noticed the smoke at first until an all too familiar smell hit her nose. Something was burning, or at the very least had been burning. Akko would be the first to admit she wasn’t the brightest when it comes to common sense, but it didn’t take a genius to put this puzzle together. She had a girlfriend who was horribly inept at cooking, a rare time in which said girlfriend was home and Akko wasn’t, and large amounts of smoke billowing out their kitchen.

“Aww geez Diana…” Akko said, a bit of her fatigue from earlier returning.

“Akko!? Is that you!?” Came Diana’s voice from the kitchen.

There were several loud bangs and a curse word or two before Diana appeared in the kitchen doorway. Her hair was disheveled, bangs covering parts of her face in that way they do when Diana was stressed. She was also quite sweaty and obviously nervous as she wrung her hands in front of her and tried to avoid looking back over her shoulder.

“H-hello Akko,” Diana said with a waver in her voice. “I didn’t hear you come in. Okaeri.”

“Yeah, I’d be surprised if you could hear anything,” Akko said eyeing her girlfriend with concern. “You, uh, want to tell me what happened in there?” Akko pointed over Diana’s shoulder and into the kitchen.

Akko watched as the weird, forced smile that Diana had been wearing dropped off her girlfriend’s face. She put her head in her hands.

“Oh Akko, it was nothing short of a disaster!” Diana said as she started to cry. “I, I thought since you’re always the one preparing such lovely meals, and that we’d be home together for dinner tonight, I’d try and...” Diana trailed off as Akko moved to wrap her in a hug.

“Shhhh,” Akko whispered as she softly ran her hand through her girlfriend’s hair. “It’s okay Diana.”

“No it is not. I Hate feeling like the pampered rich girl that can’t cook her own food! I wanted to prove that it’s not what I am, that I could make us dinner if I really tried,” Diana said, burying her face against Akko’s shoulder. “All I did was make a fool of myself. I feel like a bloody idiot.”

Akko frowned. Now that she wasn’t going to stand for. She could handle a ruined dinner and a (most likely) destroyed kitchen, but she wasn’t about to stand here and let her girlfriend bad mouth herself.

“Don’t be like that Diana! What you were trying to do was really sweet!” Akko said encouragingly, tilting up Diana’s face by her chin. “Even though you know you, uh, ‘struggle,’ in the kitchen you still tried to make something, just so I didn’t have to. That’s like a one hundred percent classic awesome girlfriend move.”

“Do awesome girlfriends typically screw it all up?” Diana asked bitterly.

“No, but even awesomer one’s don’t let it get them down when the do,” Akko countered.

She paused to wipe a tear from Diana’s face before continuing.

“Diana, do you know how many times I used to blow myself up practicing magic? How many times I set things on fire? How many stitches I had to get in our first year at Luna Nova alone?”

Diana giggled, moving to rest her forehead against Akko’s.

“More than I can count,” she replied.

“Exactly! And I kept trying anyway! So if you really feel like you want to try and learn to cook, you could ruin a thousand dinners and destroy a million kitchens and I wouldn’t care! And neither should you!

For a moment, Diana was silent. Then, with the trademark Cavendish sarcasm that Akko knew and loved, she responded,

“Really? A million?”

“Yes, a million,” Akko responded confidently. “Just try don’t try and make that a goal,” she added.

The two women took a much needed moment to laugh and for Diana to regain her composure. Once their laughter died down, Akko decided that her girlfriend could really use a kiss, and considering how long it lasted, Diana agreed.

When they broke apart, Akko couldn’t help herself from asking. “So what did you try and make anyway?” she asked.

Diana visibly cringed a bit. “Well, I thought I would try and prepare us some stir fry rice and beef. As you already know, the online internet video I found was not as helpful as I would have hoped.”

Akko laughed a bit internally at Diana’s use of “online internet video.” Technology was Diana’s other major Achilles heel, but one to tackle for another day.

“Thankfully I was able to catch the fire rather quickly,” Diana continued. “We, may need new smoke alarms however...I may have blasted them in my panic. I didn’t know how to shut them off.”

Yup, for another day. Suddenly Akko realized something.

“Hey wait a minute. If you were making stir fry does that mean you-”

“Used the wok your mother sent you from home? Yes...I did.”

Akko realized she must have looked as terrified as she felt because Diana quickly added

“But, I used a spell to repair the fire damage!”

Akko breathed a sigh of relief.

“All there is left to do now is clean up and repair the rest of the kitchen,” Diana said.

Just then, Akko’s stomach growled. Man was she hungrier than she realized.

“Sounds like a plan, but can we do it after we eat something?”

“Well I doubt you’ll be able to make anything in that mess.

Akko turned to her girlfriend with a smile. “Pizza then?”

“Pizza sounds lovely,” Diana said, leaning over to give Akko another kiss.

#dianakko week 2019 #dianakko #diakko #little witch academia #alec writes

55 notes · View notes

allofusandco · 6 years

Text

Merry little Christmas

Christmas with Nik and Ronnie.

With @moonoverbourbon

Ronnie:

Veronica felt a sudden cold sweat across the back of her neck.

“I’m having traumatic flashbacks to the Sadie Hawkins dance in middle school,” she said. “Jimmy Patterson. It didn’t go well. I don’t really get the whole Sadie Hawkins thing anyway. It’s not the fifties, you know?”

Alright, this was stupid. She rubbed her fingers over her temple.

“It’s just we’re so new, and maybe it’s too much. But I spoke to my dad. And despite the fact that he’s been a Sheriff and a private investigator and he’sactually solved actual murders, he’s going on a cruise with his new girlfriend, who’s young enough to be my… okay, my mother but a young one, to solve apretend murder. In twenties cosplay.”

She tucked her hair behind her ear. “So I thought, maybe – you know. We could do Christmas together? Honestly, I’m not a bad cook. I do pea hens. Unless you prefer something else. We could even go out, I just don’t want to do it by myself. I can’t sit at home and pretend it’s just another Friday.”

–––––

Nik:

Nik stepped out of the doorway with a smile, inviting her in without saying a word. Behind him, the floor of his living room was a scattered mess of tinsel, ornaments, and pieces of artificial tree limbs that looked as if they’d seen better years.

“So I was going to surprise you,” he began sheepishly, shutting the door behind Veronica. “And have the place all decorated when I awkwardly asked you to spend Christmas with me, but I think my tree has seen its final days. I was just about to head to the tree farm out on Route 6 to pick up a little one this year.”

Shaking his keeps in his hand, Nik gave her what he hoped was a flirty smile (and not just totally goofy) and jerked his head toward the door. “Want to go with me? Help me pick out a tree, and then come back here to decorate?” He waited a beat before answering the question she’d initially asked, “And of course we can do Christmas together. I’d, uh, I’d like that very much. I’m even off work Friday and Saturday, so we don’t have to end the festivities early.”

They could stop by the store on the way back, pick up a few things for Christmas dinner. It was still a couple days away, but Nik was suddenly ridiculously excited for the first time in a long time. Perhaps this Christmas was going to be better than he’d originally thought.

–––––

Ronnie:

Veronica stepped in side, a grin stretching over her face.

“You were decorating? It looks like a bunch of elves got drunk and had a party.” She lifted one of the mangled limbs. Much as she endorsed the environmentally responsible artificial tree, Nik was right. “I can definitely help. All I planned to do today was some shopping. I want a fedora for my dad. A bald man on a murder cruise needs a fedora, don’t you think?”

Veronica slipped her hand into Nik’s – alright, this whole new beau thing was sweet as pie and Veronica was definitely enjoying every cute moment of it.

“Let’s go elbow old ladies out of the way to get the last perfect tree, alright?”

In the car, Veronica slipped a CD out of her bag, subtly.

“I just don’t think Christmas is Christmassy enough until there’s Christmas carols playing everywhere,” she said, turning it on. Yeah! Boy bands were awful until they hit a point in their careers low enough to have them record a Christmas album. All I want for Christmas is you was always a staple, allowing said boys to do a video clip moment where they looked right at the camera. Good place to start.

“So, food. Pea hens look adorable, but to be honest, they’re overrated. And pumpkin pie or pecan pie? I know they’re just a little off season but I forgot to cook at Halloween.”

–––––

Nik:

He couldn’t disagree. A bald man on a murder cruise most definitely needed a fedora. He did, however, raise an eyebrow at her drunken elves remark. “I’ll have you know the elves were not drunk. I was drunk; they were completely sober.”

Nik grabbed his coat, slipping it over his shoulders as he led her out the door and locked it behind them. In the car, he didn’t even argue with her choice of music. It was the season for it after all, and it wasn’t like all the radio stations weren’t playing it anyway. But this…this was torture on an epic level. He was pretty sure it was New Kids on the Block, or some other horrible boy band.

It was a good thing that he cared so very much for her.

The department store was first up. No sense running around town with a tree strapped to the roof his car. If Veronica needed a fedora, then a fedora they would get. He’d already bought her gift, and his family didn’t speak to him, so Nik considered his shopping done. “I figured we could get your father’s gift first. Less chance for someone to steal our tree.”

“As for dinner, we could cook a small turkey. I found a recipe online for a citrus brined turkey, thought it might remind you of California.” Okay, so maybe he’d been planning on asking her to spend Christmas with him for a while, and maybe he’d just given himself away. Nik didn’t care. “And it must be pecan pie. Pumpkin should never be put into a pie shell.”

–––––

Ronnie:

Veronica grinned as Nik blanched but left the music on – wow. He really was something special.

“I feel a little guilty,” she said, with a mournful sigh. “Taking the last gentleman all for myself. Millions of girls all over the world fighting ESPN Classics for the attention of men that aren’t worth a half of you. Not guilty enough to hand you over to be shared around, but a little guilty.”

She reached over to gently pinch Nik’s cheek.

“Might have to get you microchipped in case of theft. But that seems like more of a New Year’s conversation, don’t you think?”

Citrus brined turkey. That sounded amazing. Veronica had never brined anything before. But wait…

“Hang on, buster,” she said. “You’ve put a lot of thought into this. You were going to ask me?” She grinned, biting the tip of her tongue a moment. “Wow. And here I was worrying this was too soon. I’m glad I asked you first, though. Lets me keep up the whole tough girl persona. I do a mean pecan pie. But what’s wrong with pumpkin? Oh.” She slapped her forehead. “I forgot. I had a British colleague back in the city who said pumpkin was mostly animal feed back home, couldn’t even stand the smell. So weird. Christmas without pumpkin pie. Or Halloween without pumpkin pie!”

Veronica had been back in California over Halloween, sadly. Testifying.

“Anyway, here we are,” she said, climbing out of the car as they parked. Straight and tall, she tucked her arm into Nik’s as they headed into the store. “One fedora, coming up.”

–––––

Nik:

Nik didn’t know how to respond to her words. He didn’t think he was all that special, nor did he think he was particularly gentlemanly. The right thing was simply easier for him to do that the wrong – and it caused less guilt in the long run. Giving Veronica a shy smile, he decided that discretion was the better part of valor and simply said nothing. If she only knew that he felt completely unworthy of her – of whatever this was between them – she might be quick to change her thoughts about him.

“I was,” Nik conceded, sparing a second to glance her way as he pulled into the parking lot. “Going to ask you. I was. I, um, hadn’t heard you mention any other plans, so I assumed…” He trailed off, letting her speak so that he didn’t embarrass himself further. “But I am more than happy with letting you be the tough girl in our relationship.”

Relationship.

Such a funny word…and one he didn’t think he’d ever hear associated with himself.

He waited until they were in the store to address the pumpkin comment, managing to get it out as they dodged one persistent last minute shopper after another. “I just don’t like it,” Nik shrugged, side-stepping a mother with a screaming toddler arguing over the last Mickey Mouse doll on the shelf. “It is used as animal feed back home, but once I came here I had a sweet old lady make me a pie for Christmas one year. I couldn’t stand the bloody taste of it, bless her soul.”

Finally. Clothing and outer wear.

Nik pointed to the men’s hats, ducking under a large sign proclaiming everything 40% off for TODAY ONLY. “It takes a special sort of insanity to be out shopping this close to Christmas,” he grinned, “and an even more special sort to go out to the stores with someone shopping this close to Christmas.” He shot her a wink, the grin turning to a teasing smirk as he led them closer to the spot she needed for her father’s gift.

–––––

Ronnie:

–

“That was dad,” Veronica said, dropping her phone on the corner of the coffee table. “I think I’ve ruined him for life. He wanted to know if he was supposed to take the hat ironically or post-ironically. I feel almost guilty being the reason he even knows to ask.”

She slipped into the kitchen, eyeing Nik’s progress with interest, and launched herself up on tip toes to kiss his cheek.

“I told him post-post-ironically, so, like, sincerely,” she finished, with a nod. “I hope somewhere along the line there’s going to be a bowl I can lick.”

It actually seemed unlikely, given the menu, but never mind. Things had gotten busy and Veronica still had a tree to finish decorating.

“Oh!” she said, reaching for her oversized handbag. “Forgot. My reindeer decoration. I made it when I was five. The googly eyes aren’t what they used to be, but Christmas isn’t Christmas without this little guy.” Yes, he was made from three popsicle sticks and a red pompom and yes the googly eyes were looking a little rheumy, but it was tradition. She gave him pride of place. [x]

The tree was definitely approaching professionally spectacular; even if Nik’s original plan of somewhat understated elegance had been obliterated by Veronica’s preference for as much bling as possible (strictly a Christmas thing). It was almost at the stage where the fire marshalls might object.

“I think I’m done,” she said, crawling on the ground the reach the power point behind the tree, to turn on the lights. Voila! “Do I get a treat?”

–––––

Nik:

The tree was beautiful, if a little…over decorated…for his taste. Nik was stirring the last of the pecan pie filling, and just about to pour it into the crust, when he looked up to see her reindeer decoration. He tried not to laugh, but could suppress the grin that stretched half-way across his face. In the entire time he’d known her, Veronica never ceased to stop surprising (or amazing) him. Shaking his head with a chuckle, he turned back to the pie filling to pour it into the shell and stick it into the oven. “You can lick this bowl if you’d like. It’s the filling for the pie, so nice and sweet. Your reindeer, by the way, is spectacular. I can think of no better place for it.”

So what if it was a little…less than stellar looking? The look on her face as she put it on the tree was more than worth any loss of aesthetic.

He wanted to see that look on her face all the time.

Nik looked back in time to see her crawling along the floor to turn the lights on and tried really hard not to let his eyes drift along the curve of her body. It was proving increasingly difficult the more time he spent with her.

“A treat?” he asked, raising an eyebrow. “I suppose if the bowl isn’t enough…” Taking a few steps into the living room area, he waited until Veronica was standing and wrapped her in a tight hug. Pulling back just slightly, Nik angled his face to press his lips slowly to hers. The kiss was soft, slow – patient – not pushing for anything more than that moment. His fingers trailed down her cheek, up through her hair, pulling her just a bit closer as he deepened the kiss with a nudge of his lips against hers. When he pulled away, his eyes remained closed for a moment, savoring in the memory of the kiss. “I’ve no treat other than the bowl you requested, but I can pour you a drink if you’d like.”

–––––

Ronnie:

Completely over the top. Exactly the way Veronica liked it. She smiled, letting her arms slip up over Nik’s shoulders to wrap around his neck as he pulled her close, one foot lifting off the ground as he kissed her so thoroughly – wow, was it ever time for this polite adult nonsense to end. Veronica wanted to find out what else that mouth could do. Stat. Whatever unspoken agreement they’d come to, which seemed to be, in sum, ‘not just yet’ – Veronica was putting an official end date on it right now. New Year’s Eve. She wasn’t going to look back on this year as the year she fell in love and completely failed to get even the teensiest bit of nookie.

Calm, Ronnie, she thought to herself as the kiss ended, and she finished with a little peck to the corner of Nik’s mouth.

“Nice,” she said, as she unlaced her fingers from around his neck, and dragged her hands over his shoulders, over his chest, settling at his waist for a moment. “I’ll take that drink – and the bowl as well.”

Pretty sure there was eggnog in the fridge, and even if this was much to warm for a real Christmas (would she ever get used to New Orleans?) eggnog sounded like just the thing. She followed Nik back to the kitchen, and scraped the blade of one finger inside the pie bowl, bringing it to her lips to taste.

“This is amazing,” she said. “I don’t know what you’re planning to have for dessert tomorrow, because I might eat the whole thing.”

After Christmas sales, expensive underwear, down to the garter belt – Nik was in for the seduction of the century, after just enough champagne to loosen them both up, and some very adolescent making out on the couch. Did it count as a New Year’s resolution if it was supposed to happen before midnight?

“Anyway. What else can we do tonight, or does the rest have to wait until morning?”

–––––

Nik:

If he’d been raised with even a modicum of self-worth, Nik would have already tried to take her to bed. He was so blissfully infatuated with her that he couldn’t half see straight, but there was still that little voice in the back of his head that whispered ‘not good enough for her.’ It sounded remarkably like his father, and every time he thought he might tell her how he felt it echoed louder than gunfire in his head.

And Veronica would probably never understand it if he tried to explain.

“One drink coming up, and help yourself to the bowl.” Nik made his way over to the counter where he’d set up his make-shift bar. A few moments and a great deal of mixing later, and he was back with a spiked eggnog that would knock her socks off. “Careful with that; it’s potent. I was a little heavy handed with the brandy.” He passed it over, returning to the pie that he’d been working on prior to the kiss that still had his head reeling.

“I’m going to bake this pie,” he smiled, shooing away her fingers, “and then everything else will wait til the morning. The turkey is in the brine. The vegetables are cut. The stuffing put together. It all just needs to be cooked.”

He poured the filling into the pie crust, lined the top artistically with pecans, and shoved it into the oven. Forty minutes later and it would be heavenly. “It’s late. If you want to finish your drink and go to bed, I understand. I’m not expecting you to drive home after that.” He grinned a little mischievously, proud of the drink even if it was strong. “You can have my bed. I’ll need to wait up a bit longer for the pie to finish, lest I burn the house down around us.”

–––––

Ronnie:

Veronica sat up sort of primly at the counter – okay, fine, not primly, she had a glass of eggnog in her left hand and the index finger of her right hand was still stealing leftover batter from the bowl. But she was prim enough. After all – she hadn’t suggested forgetting the pie altogether ad licking the filling off each other’s naked bodies for the rest of the night, had she?

Pretty fucking prim.

But she watched him arrange the pecans, as artistically as he ever did anything – and how could someone not fall in love with a man who just wanted everything to be beautiful? – and slip it into the oven.

Why on earth had he not taken her to bed yet? She was going to figure it out sometime in the very near future and fix it. She ached for it. Ridiculous and adolescent as that may have been. She watched him tidy the bench almost absentmindedly.

Maybe not New Year’s. She didn’t want to break the poor man. He obviously had things he needed to work through – she could continue to cherish every kiss.

“I’ll stay,” she said. “But I’d rather share. It’s so cold.” Cold, ha! It was seventy degrees. But that was cold enough. “I promise not to get inappropriate. And this way we don’t have to politely get out of bed in the morning, e can just roll over and…”

She pushed herself up on the bench and leaned across it, meeting his lips just barely enough to tease.

“… kiss,” she said, and to be perfectly honest it had been one of the best Christmases she’d ever had, so far. And it hadn’t even started.

~complete~

#v: i have no idea either #p: merry little christmas #ronnie rp #moonoverbourbon #all of us; & queue

0 notes

zmbkl · 6 years

Text

Nano 4

Hello everyone,

I had a good day today. Alia and I wanted to go to Apple Hill because we’ve never been. I heard a lot about it and even my Japanese boss had gone before I did. I mentioned it to my friend who said he would love to take is girlfriend as well. I told them we should meet up for brunch before we go. I am trying to save money and think he is the same position so I offered to cook food at my place. I like cooking and I haven’t cooked in a while.

I used to cook a lot more, but I’ve been very tired and busy lately. I was trying to cook creative and fun things a while ago. I bought a few cookbooks, and saved a few online recipes. It’s something I want to be good at because I am not. I know Alia appreciates whenever I cook for her, and I thought about having more friends over for dinner. It’s another fun thing I wanted to turn into a social thing. I didn’t actually invite many people over as I thought I would. It was either something I was too afraid to show off or everyone had difficult schedules to work around. I stopped cooking as much lately. I let my plate get too full and I haven’t had good time management skills lately.

I am doing DnD all day after work Monday, and I have Japanese classes Tuesdays and Thursdays. This leaves Wednesday and Friday free after work. On these days I am typically resting from the previous day and nothing ever gets done. Like this weekend, I didn’t do laundry or meal prep. I still need to mail off that refund request for my phone bill before it’s too late. I got this 401k letter I need to respond to, go get my blood tested and I need to call my bank about switching cards. I am also trying to stay healthy and in shape. Which is hard, when being lazy sounds sooo inviting.

I complain about this a lot. I’ve been complaining about my time management skills since I was in high school but I don’t do anything about it. I’ve tried a lot of things. I’ve tried making a calendar and have my phone remind me to get things done. I’ve tried leaving post-it notes on my computer monitor to help remind me to get things done. I think I even tried writing everything in a journal. None of these things worked. I think I ended up deciding that I can’t get anything done at home. I’ve gotten most of my work done at coffee shops or libraries. I’ve just gotten too comfortable at home and I can’t force myself to do things I don’t want to do in my house. I can’t keep going to coffee shops though. I drink too much coffee and I can’t keep spending money on it. Meh. I’ll think of something.

So I was going to talk about how my current roommates are moving out, but I don’t talk about how I know them a lot. So I was picked on a lot in elementary and middle school. I wore dirty cloths, didn’t shower much and my parents always bought me cloths 2-3 sizes too big. I think they got lazy during my growth spurt and stopped trying to get me cloths that fit me. Anyway, I didn’t have a fun time in grade school up until high school. My mom get sent to jail for a month. My siblings and I went to live with my dad in the city called Empire right outside of Modesto. We got temporarily transferred to the high school on that side of town. I was lucky and I knew one kid there from middle school. Scott was his name. I went to go hang out with him while he played Yugioh. There I met two very important people Shay and Jessica.

Jessica was a very angry girl who wore tripp pants and some anime shirt. The anime shirt and color of tripp pants varied but it was always that outfit. Shay was an anxiety kid in jeans and some sort of metal band T-shirt. While I watched Scott play cards, I would talk to these two. I joined the anime club with Jessica. She was a member who made a lot of AMV’s and yelled a lot. She loved to hit people and steal the attention. I was also really into AMV’s so I used to try to talk to her. She was not into me. Shay seemed cool, and we talked a little, but we didn’t hit it off at first.

Later my mom got out of jail. I moved back in with her. I went to this high school right next to my house for a bit, but I went back to hating school all together. I wanted to go back to the high school with Jessica and Shay (Johansen). I found out you needed to take a program at the high school that isn’t offered anywhere else to justify the transfer. I think it has changed since then, but that’s the way it was in 2006. I joined the child development program to justify the transfer. My history, English, and electives were themed around child development, and I was with the same 70ish kids for these few classes. They could restrict our science classes since the pace kids went at were so varied.

Anyhoo, I made it back to Johansen, and I was ready to start my junior year. I got the same lunch period as Jessica and Shay. I eventually started to date Jessica. We started to go out in March of 2007 and we dated for five and half years. That story is very involved and sort of involves this story but I’m going to skim the details for now. I had seen Shay around during my junior year, and I hung out with him a few times, but we didn’t get close until my senior year.

During senior year, Jessica went to a JC close by and I tried my best to make new friends. I hung out with Shay and his friends in the morning. They were all part of the mechanics program. It was very similar to my child development program, but for engineering and mechanics. Some of them went to middle school together, but they all were in the engineering program together.

They were:

Franklin: He was a half black half Filipino kid with long hair and a mean face. He went to middle school with Shay.

Bobby: I found out his name was Vandy. but somehow got nicknamed Bobby. He was a larger Cambodian kid who went to church with Franklin.

Sam: He was a close friend of Shay. I am not sure how they met but they were the closest out of the group other than Bobby and franklin.

Omar: He was closer with Franklin than Shay. Shay and Franklin always took the opportunity to give Omar a hard time. A lot of young guy friends have one friend they keep around and shit on a lot. Omar was that guy. This was weird, in retrospect, because he was the most successful. Omar had an on and off again girlfriend Sherri. I remember they broke up and got back together a few times, but I never got too involved with it.

This was my high school krew. Franklin called us the Krew in text chats. It was fun. A lot of stupid things I did in high school was with these guys, and they helped me through some difficult times. They were all anime elitist (only watched “Good Anime”), BIG fighting same fans, Metal heads, and browsed 4chan a bunch. A lot of the stuff I know about metal, The Fighting game community, and hipster anime came from these guys. We hung out a lot in college, but that’s when everyone started to change a lot.

Franklin’s parents got hit by the recession REALLY hard and he moved to Stockton. We helped him move a few times, but he kept moving a lot. Always in Stockton so we stayed somewhat close. A common topic of hanging out would be, “Have you heard from Franklin? How is he doing?” We never really knew.

Sam got REALLY into raves and partying. He started to ditch us and go party. We weren’t the partying type so he didn’t invite us. He knew we were kind of straight edge and we suspected he was doing psychedelics at the parties. We didn’t care, but I think he was embarrassed. Meh, he didn’t have to be but it doesn’t matter now.

I still see Bobby on facebook. He seems like he is doing fine.

When I broke up with Jessica in 2013 my friends helped me through it which was nice. I needed a place to live and Omar’s girlfriend Sherri was going to go to Sac state and was looking for a roommate. I moved out of Jessica’s in about a month and I moved in with Sherri. Omar followed about six months later.

I had a falling out with the rest of the group. Sam was the first to block me on all social media. Franklin was next. I heard he thought I screwed him over and he was very upset at me. Shay was the last to go. He unfollowed me on all social media back in March of 2015.

I still live with Sherri and Omar now, and I love living with them. We all made new friends in Sac and we wanted to branch out and live with new people. We are still on good terms, but were going to get new roommates. I’m kind of excited for the change.

Sometimes I miss my old high school friends. I don’t think they were great people, but I developed a lot of who I am because of them. I don’t know if it’s ever worth trying to repair those relationships. I feel like I want to do it just because it sucks knowing the people who were very important to you hate you. I don’t hate them, and I could try to fix what happened between us. I just don’t know if it would be worth it. I don’t see myself hanging out with them or being close friends anymore. I think I just want closer on it. But meh.

#personal #Nano #Therapy

0 notes

paulrousseauwrites-blog · 7 years

Text

“50 Pounds for $200,000

Fifty Pounds for $200,000

Justin graduated from college a couple days ago, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in History. He waits at Eric’s front step, rolling on the balls of his feet. Eric is Justin’s new boss. Eric makes a little beat on his pants, glancing over some email and recipes online.

Justin rings the bell. Eric hurries to greet him.

“I am so glad you’re here,” Eric says. Justin follows a few inches behind. They walk directly to the basement door, as agreed. There is a handwritten sign taped to it reading ‘The Backyard.’

“Justin, right?” Eric makes sure. He says there were numerous other candidates. Justin nods, tucking in his upper lip. Eric’s eyebrows are shaven off, but the rest of his hair looks fantastic in a ponytail. Justin looks young with unkept scruff on his face and big, beautiful, coffee bean eyes. “I know how tough it can be to find a good job after school,” Eric says. “I got lucky in life. But don’t worry, your hard work will pay off here.”

He leads down a straight unfinished staircase. Justin goes pale, using the handrail until his first shoe sole touches the basement floor. It is covered in green turf, mocking the look and feel of grass. There is only enough square footage for one wooden picnic table, Eric’s furnace, and the type of scale found at a doctor’s office, with three variable sliding weights at the top. Eric motions for Justin to take a seat on the bench. Justin obeys.

“Welcome to your new office,” Eric says. He leans over the table. Justin is silent. He looks at the poking blades of worn plastic grass. “The décor was my mom’s idea,” Eric says. “She wanted to give me a taste of what is was like to play outside. You know how little girls put on make believe tea parties?” Eric asks.

Justin nods his head yes. He thinks about the tiara and scarf he would wear while babysitting his girlfriend’s niece, sitting cross-legged on the floor. She would tip the toy kettle spout over Justin’s cup, giving artificial weight to the pour. Justin would ask why nothing was really coming out. Pretend, she would say. And he would take a sip.

“I did make believe Backyard instead,” Eric says. “BBQs and picnics. I fed all the little critters that made their way down here.”

Eric is a self-taught chef. He pays recent college graduates $200,000 to live in his basement and gain fifty pounds eating the food he makes. And he feeds them constantly. Once they gain the weight, they get paid in cash, and then they can leave.

***

Sara walks into Justin’s bedroom, a week before graduation. Justin is playing guitar in a swivel chair with his back to the door, unaware anyone has entered. The window is open, permeating the space in a perennial spray. It has gotten dark since he first sat down, but he hadn’t noticed. Sara pops the light switch upwards on instinct as she crosses over the doorway’s threshold. Justin’s pupils retract.

“Sorry! I figured you were in the bathroom,” she says. Sara is a Management major with a minor in Entrepreneurship.

She wraps her arms around Justin’s neck as if her limbs were an oversized sweatshirt, crisscrossing at his throat. She catches a breath of his cologne. He doesn’t stop playing or turn to see who it is.

They hold there for a moment. Sara squeezes, applying a little pressure to the tops of her boyfriend’s shoulder blades, his collarbone. Justin picks his guitar, looking at the fret board binding and headstock inlays. She kisses his hair before releasing him to claim a patch of carpet near his legs.

Justin nods. Sara looks up, grinning as if she is out to dinner somewhere waiting patiently for her food to be plated, or in line for something worthwhile, like the opening night of a movie.

He plays a little longer. It sounds new, or improvised, too slow for Sara’s taste, but she watches anyway for a cue that his is finishing soon. Her expression looks stitched on like a sock puppet, like she has something to say, but the hand working her is refusing to interrupt. Justin places the instrument onto its designated stand, turns off the light, and sits back down.

***

Eric has moved on to bigger and better things now. No more BBQs and picnics for the rodents and insects. No more crumbs, bed sores, or pretend. “I’m going to start you off with my famous baked mac and cheese with charred short ribs mixed in, grilled asparagus in a chipotle aioli smear on the side, and for a sweet, two fudge brownie cupcakes. You don’t happen to like cream cheese whipped topping, do you?” Eric asks.

Justin nods yes, his eyebrows parked up higher than usual. Eric points parallel finger guns at Justin’s torso, one slightly behind the other. “I thought you might,” he says. He scampers upstairs, skipping every other step, then shuts The Backyard door.

Eric himself looks like he doesn’t eat at all. He is very thin for someone who enjoys cooking so much, with a small tongue and flat lips. He has many dietary restrictions due to disease. He dips spoons in sauces and dabs out his stubby tongue to taste them, as if it were a dare. Forty-five minutes later, he returns to The Backyard with Justin’s first taste of employee business.

***

“Hey you,” Justin says. He stretches his spine over the back of his chair.

“Hi. I know it’s later than usual but I wanted to eat quick and shower before seeing you,” Sara says.

“Thanks, stinky,” he says.

“Well I was moving around a lot today! I get sweaty when I drive,” she says.

“How did it go with all the stuff?” he asks.

Sara coils with potential energy before the hand controlling her mouth finally bursts. “I got a call back for a second round interview with Northgate!”

Justin blinks in triplets. His eyelashes are longer than most people’s. “That’s really really great,” he says.

“The only problem is that it’s at 11:00 and I have another interview with a different marketing firm at 9:30 so I’m nervous about timing. GPS says if I leave there by 10:00 I should be able to make it regardless of how heavy traffic is,” she says, flicking through maps on her cell phone.

“AM or PM?” Justin asks.

Sara doesn’t look up. “Really?” she laughs. “I get more and more worried knowing I’ll have to cut the first interview short if it starts dragging on too long. Is that rude? Will they call Northgate and tell them I was rude and then no one will hire me?”

“If you don’t care about the first one why don’t you just cancel it?” he prods.

“I can’t! I need the experience. Plus what if they pay six figures? It shouldn’t take more than a half an hour right?”

“Tell them you have to leave ahead of time.”

“I suppose. I need that job at Northgate, Justin. Everyday, the front desk lady blares Brittany Spears. They get paid time off, health, dental, Thursday night drink specials with the entire staff, and a nap room. All we talked about in the first interview was Harry Potter and how much we love caffeine.”

“That’s really something,” he says.

Sara lifts herself up into Justin’s bed, on her side with her head propped up in the palm of her hand. “I need that job so bad.”

***

Eric sets the table with enough food to feed a family of five. He is wearing an apron imprinted with the text ‘in dog beers I’ve only had one.’

“And?” he baits, opening his arms like someone waiting at an airport terminal, expecting a hug.

“Okay,” Says Justin. He closes his eyes.

“What are you waiting for?” Eric asks.

“I’m saying grace,” Says Justin. He waits for Eric to leave.

“That’s very thoughtful of you,” Eric says. He hands Justin a bib, legs firmly planted on the imitation grass. Each coupling blade looks like a pair of arms, budding out of the floor to hold him down.

“Why?” Asks Justin.

“You gotta wear the bib,” Eric says. “Wouldn’t want to make a mess of your nice shirt.”

Justin shakes his head no.

“It is in the job description,” Eric begins. “It could be a month or more till your next change of clothes.” Eric loves seeing the transformation happen. He loves watching his employees fill out and eventually outgrow their clothing, new flesh bursting at the seams. “You all balloon up like circus tents eventually,” he says. Eric puffs his cheeks out with air and slaps his belly. He laughs. “I can help if you’d like? Do you up in the back?”

Justin doesn’t respond. His eyelids draw closer together as if someone were slowly sewing them shut, pouring sand in his veins. The same devastation that used to haunt him when he’d get called on in class. A professor could simply announce Justin’s name in roll call to get him afflicted.

Eric repossesses the bib and ties it around Justin’s neck as if he were a newborn baby, in a perfect shoelace bow. “This way you can be as messy as you want and it won’t stink you up.” Eric takes a breath of Justin’s cologne. Both hearts are throbbing. Eric pats down the bib to flatten it. “There, ta da!” He waits, arms raised high above his ponytail. “Now… dig in!”

Justin shakes his head no.

“I always supervise the first bite of my employees,” Eric says. He gets a Polaroid camera ready. “Consider it an orientation exercise.”

Justin fumbles with the silverware, hesitating between utensils, between fork and spoon, hesitating in his posture, where he is in space, and how he got there.

“The fork is for the asparagus,” Eric says. He gapes his nostrils in short bursts.

Justin scoops a spoonful of macaroni and holds it tentatively above its dish. Everything steams. He brings the spoon closer to his split crescent lips and cools it softly.

“Eat up! No need to be coy. I made it just for you. Give your body the nutrients.”

Justin feels naked, like the first time he took off his shirt to go swimming. He gathers some of Eric’s noodles using his front teeth, raking them onto the cupped pallet of his tongue, miming the action of a miniature farming tool. Justin chews making as little noise as possible. He wipes away excess run-off cheese from of the corner of his mouth that bungeed and curled there. There is a camera flash.

“Excellent. Thank you for the sweet satisfaction,” Eric croons. He ruffles the top of Justin’s hair. “I’ll be back in thirty minutes,” he says. He races upstairs again lunging over many steps at a time. Justin keeps feeding alone.

***

“What are you thinking about?” Sara asks, covering her legs in Justin’s comforter.

Justin steers with his feet, swiveling in little increments to each side as if he were skiing in place on his chair.

“Music,” he says. “History.”

“Still waiting to hear back from grad school?”

“Yes,” he lies. The email came last week, regretfully informing him, wishing him every success in pursing further studies elsewhere.

“You are a shoe-in,” she says. “You are way too smart. You are too smart for your own good.” She takes her shirt off. “I can’t wait until we live together. I am jealous of Kevin and your sister.” She touches her hands to her temples. “I want to buy a house with you.”

“They are older than us,” he says. “And almost married.”

“I know, but they are so lucky,” she says.

“I know,” he says. “I’ll hear back soon.”

“You’re so talented. Nobody could possibly turn you down,” she assures.

Justin crawls into bed with her using mostly his forearms. She rolls over, now on her back in a bundle of pillows. They lie side by side.

***

Justin eats it all, as agreed. Eric comes down the stairs at the thirty-minute mark, ringing a cattle bell and grunting some sounds a pig might make with his mouth, “oink oink oink.”

He takes a seat on the same side of picnic bench next to Justin. Justin pats down his forehead with paper towel and just now notices that the ceiling is covered in navy blue construction paper with crudely painted on treetops and clouds.

“Curiosity is gluttony. To see is to devour,” Eric quotes. “This isn’t necessarily a job requirement, but how was the grub?”

Justin’s sock puppet is stitched shut. It was the tastiest food he has ever had, better than anything his parents or grandparents have ever made for him in his own childhood home, but he admits to nothing.

“That’s fine, if you want to get paid, if you want to leave, you’ll eat it all the same,” Eric says. “Time for weigh-in numeral uno.” Eric points with his thumb over his shoulder at the scale behind them, propped up against a patch of drywall. His breath smells like hamster bedding. “Your new best friend, as I’m sure you are aware,” he says. He bites down repeatedly on his own teeth. The skin in charge of covering his cheekbones tightens like a snare drum.

Justin’s stomach hurts. He blinks in triplets.

“Giddy up partner,” Eric says. “Hop on.”

Justin obeys, stepping up onto the scale, holding his torso. The turf stabs through Justin’s tennis shoes as he walks, gabbing at his feet. Eric says Justin is lucky he doesn’t make his employees crawl on all fours anymore. It became too painful for them to eat salty foods with their hands. Eric nudges the three varying brushed steel counterweight blocks, fingering the smallest in little jabs to get the best possible measurement. He bobs his shoulders, dancing a little, waiting for the bars to level. They recalibrate, and he does it again. Justin weighs 168 pounds.

“I think I see a little tummy forming already, bud! I really filled you up,” Eric says.

Justin is hunched over a little. Eric pens the number on the wall with a black permanent marker. He smiles, not showing teeth, thinning his already flat lips, stretching them longways until the color draws out completely.

“Weigh-ins will be at seven o’clock every evening,” Eric says. He is rich. His dad invented the Rubix Cube.

“I need the money,” Justin says.

“I know,” Eric says.

Justin needs the money for student loans, and property taxes, and cell phone bills, and engagement rings. Eric doesn’t need money for much of anything except ingredients.

***

“I’m awful. You must think I’m awful, or a snob,” Sara says, covering her eyes.

“Why would I think that?” Justin counters.

“I’m bragging about jobs and interviews and you’re still in limbo waiting to hear back from school. You’d tell me if you were getting antsy right?” she says.

“It’s fine. Really. Don’t worry about it. It’s fine,” he says. “You can’t be awful for just being excited.”

“Alright. You’re going to get accepted anyway.” Sara straddles her legs around Justin’s V-lined hips, drawing micro French curves all over his chest. “I just can’t wait to tell everyone about my boyfriend, the big sexy historian, teaching the world all sorts of history related things. You’ll be making bank, I’ll be making bank, we can buy a huge house, get married, go on tons of exotic vacations, throw money at each other, get unlimited data plans…”

“That’s painting quite the picture.” He rubs her thigh with his nails.

“I can’t wait to bask in our success,” she says. “We are such a power couple.”

The hand operating Justin’s mouth creeps open, as if wanting to say something. Sara closes in. They kiss instead. She retreats, then presses her lips quickly on his nose.

“I love you,” she says.

***

“To snack on tonight I was thinking shredded chicken enchiladas tossed in a green chile sauce, pan fried walleye fish tacos, and beef empanadas with cilantro rice and refried pinto beans on the side.”

Justin shrugs knowing he has no real say in the matter.

He steps off the scale and tries to find the warm spot back on the bench’s wood grain. Eric hustles upstairs, again bounding over two steps at a time. He stops in the doorway, and pirouettes. He pats a rhythm on his legs before saluting diagonally to Justin from the top of the staircase.

“Adieu, see you soon! I’ll bring a bucket with me after your next course, you know what they say, what goes up must come down.”

Justin waits for the privacy. He thinks about his girlfriend and her little niece. When they taught him how to pretend. He wishes Eric’s plates were empty like the toy kettle, that he just had to add artificial weight to them, and then take a bite or sip. Justin masks his head in his hands, twisting his face in an attempt to cry without making sound.

***

Sara is sleeping. Justin starts to climb out of bed, pressing his hands on the mattress as to gradually release the pressure that his body held next to hers. He doesn’t want to wake her up, he doesn’t know how to say I love you too right now. He checks his inbox instead. There is a reply from [email protected] with the subject bar ‘50 lbs. for $200,000.’

0 notes