♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡ EXPOSED / HEART.

     *zuko vc*   hello,   kit here.   this is stevie whomst bio got unintentionally long when all i meant to say was that she loves life but there’s nothing she’s particularly passionate about or invested in so she’s one of those directionless young adults just wondering if it gets better.    find her full bio below ! 

it’s hard to know who exactly is to blame for the forgotten cart. the pasta isle can be very distracting, nico isn’t the only one not immune to its charms. however, when it came to healthy sibling rivalry, nico was never going to just take that blame on him. “i won’t forget if you don’t.” he replies in a sing song-y voice as he tosses his cereal in the cart. “i don’t know yet.” he had been hoping stevie would make dinner. he could help cut veggies or something. or maybe he’d swing by his parents. he hadn’t seen them in a couple of days now and also he was tired of take out he could barely afford anyway. he turns toward her at her bulgogi request. he knows that sweet voice she’s putting on all too well. “stevie i can barely make instant noodles. what makes you think i can do that.” but lately there’s been a thought nagging at the back of his mind. which 24 year old can barely cook a good meal for himself? maybe it was was time he started learning, and maybe he was willing to compromise. “we can make it together? i can help and who knows, maybe i turn out to have hidden talents.”

               Stevie sighs,   but she can’t say that she didn’t expect Nico’s incompetence in the kitchen to be his first excuse.   She’s frowning as she’s putting a second carton of milk in the cart for Nico,   but looks up with a raised brow when he suggests that they make it together.   Stevie is no cooking extraordinaire by any stretch of the imagination,   but she’s certain she can make rice and cook beef with a simple recipe.   She purses her lips,   like it displeases her that she has to be involved in the preperation,   but she knows it’s the best she’ll get out of the situation. 

❪ ⠀ * ⠀ ─── ⠀ closed starter ⠀﹕   @exposcdhearts·⠀ ❫

“ hey , wait , what – “ he covered the speaker of his phone with the palm of his spare hand , mouthing to present company , a silent gesture of apology , that this phone call won’t last long , he promised . “ okay , okay . and what sort of tape was it … kim karda – jesus christ , alright . i can get there for five o’clock if you just promise not to go opening any more weird email attachments until i arrive . “ clicking the red hang-up button , jj rolled his eyes and returned his gaze to stevie , “ sorry . that’s one downside of working for yourself ; your phone becomes your business phone as well as personal . looks like somebody got themselves a nasty computer virus for being a fuckin’ idiot . there’s no saving people like that , “ shoulders shrugged , and jaden lifted his now tepid cup of black , overly-sugared coffee , “ – you were saying ?? “

                Stevie is passively watching JJ take the call right up until he hears him mention the words tape and Kim Kardashian.   Unable to help it,   she snorts around her hot chocolate,   pulling the cup away from her face when some of it trickles down her lips and she quickly reaches for a napkin to wipe it off.   Stevie quietly cackles as she listens to the rest of the phone call,   then allows herself to laugh out loud when JJ hangs up and explains his unfortunate situation.

“doesn’t she! we did well.” mike responded with a big grin. if anything, he was always a perfectionist, even when it comes to a game such as the sims. mike looked up from the screen and laughed at the way stevie was copying the way the sims danced. “iconic. you’re killin’ it.” he joked, hands clapping while he laughed loudly. the many hours in front of the screen made him find anything funny.

mike usually didn’t think much of anything. he was so used to stevie being like this with him, and just let it happen because she was his friend. the personal space was almost nonexistent most of the time when it came to stevie, and he really didn’t mind. “we’re newly weds, stevie. get with the program.” he chuckled, grabbing the computer mouse to play. his sim was already leaving to cook. mike looked at her and wiggled his eyebrows in a funny way. “you wanna woohoo?”

               Stevie stares at Mike.   Her brain hiccups,   taking a whole five seconds to realize what he means.   Then,   embarrassingly enough,   Stevie feels her face get hot.   She has to look away,   laughing to mask the way her heart just flipped around inside of her chest cavity.   Oh,   she thinks,   this is so unfair.    If only Mike knew how often she thinks about it--    how often she considers making the move.   And this is just a dumb game,   but Stevie’s heart still soars at the fact that they’re a couple in it.   If only he knew.  

hanachoii:

as the other girl froze, hana couldn’t help the disappointment that washed over her, preparing herself for a no and to watch stevie walk away from her yet again. in all honesty, she wasn’t even sure what she’d done that had hurt stevie so much, but whatever it was, she was willing to put in the work to atone for it. but, the small laugh caused hana to look up from where she’d had her eyes trained on the floor. then a smile spread across her face and she nodded quickly.   “i have pepsi,”   she said as she used her foot to lightly kick open her door, hauling the bags inside and glancing over her shoulder to check if stevie was actually following her or if she’d turned tail and ran as soon as hana had her back turned. but there she was, although looking somewhat reluctant as hana dumped her bags on the floor and made her way through to the fridge, pulling out a can of pepsi and holding it out to stevie.   “so, how are you? since the little incident at the football match,”   she finally asked as she set some water to boil. 

.

               “Thanks,”   Stevie says slowly,   taking the can and popping it open before she takes a small sip.   She stands awkwardly in Hana’s kitchen,   eyeing the inside of her apartment.   It’s the same layout as Nico’s,   but the vibe is completely different.   Or maybe it’s just the atmosphere between them.  

       “I’m good,”   Stevie replies automatically,   nodding as if she’s trying to convince either one of them.    “I think.   It’s just been normal,   I guess,   working and all,”    she adds,    then looks at Hana,   “what about you?”   

       There’s a lot of things Stevie wants to bring up,   like how’s working at the bakery,   how’s living with JJ,   is she still painting...   but part of her almost knows.   Hana looks like she’s doing so much better than the last time they were friends,   and besides,   it feels odd to pick things up right where they left off years ago.   Bringing up Hana’s rocky past isn’t exactly a casual way to start a conversation,   let alone ease the tension between them. 

pokemon, pokemon… yes, eugene has heard of the pokemon franchise, he even knows the cute yellow mouse with electricity manipulation powers! unfortunately, that’s the only ‘pokemon’ he was familiar with, and the zigzag-y ghost stevie was gushing to him about is a whole new piece of information about ‘pokemons’ he can store in his brain. 

as stevie flails around, eugene nervously wonders if she knew that he's never watched any of the movies, nor has he listened to any pokemon-related songs. “of course,” he promises, raising his pinky. he promptly puts his hand back down upon realizing stevie couldn’t even see his finger. “i’m super excited to watch it with you.”

               “Make sure you’re free in like,   four days!”   Stevie says with a pleased smile,   clapping gently in anticipation.   Then,   she starts eyeing him.   Stevie crawls her way up to the couch and throws herself back against the cushions,   sighing tiredly.   “Do you wanna make breakfast?”   She yawns,   feeling like she should sleep in the next hour or else she’ll pass out right where she is.

as hana was fumbling with her keys and the two shopping bags she had balanced in her arms, a small voice behind her caused her to glance over her shoulder. she hadn’t seen stevie since the football field incident, when she’d stepped up to help the other out and received the cold shoulder in return. she knew she’d hurt stevie in the past, and she didn’t blame her for being mad and wanting to avoid her, but hana missed the other woman’s company. so when stevie actually spoke up this time around, hana couldn’t stop the smile from creeping onto her face.   “thanks. it’s just an old one,”   she said nonchalantly, giving a small shrug of her shoulders. then, stevie started to walk away, and hana quickly stopped her.   “wait.”   pausing for a second, she cleared her throat, finally managing to get her apartment door open.   “do you uh- do you want a coffee, or something?”   she asked hesitantly. honestly, she was expecting a no, but this was her subtle way of trying to let stevie know that she wanted to make things right. 

.

                Stevie freezes when Hana asks her to wait,  because she didn’t last time.   In the fucked up way that Stevie’s mind works,  she’d felt good walking away,   but she’d been angry too when Hana didn’t say anything about it.   Now,   though,   she feels an odd sense of hope.   Stevie is aware that she’s the one who has been getting in the way of this—    whatever this is—   perhaps just a dragged on reconciliation,   but deep down all she wants is for Hana to decide that she wants Stevie back in her life.   She couldn’t deal with being pushed away again,   wouldn’t know how to handle it,   and Hana’s effort is the only way to tell whether she’d be safe to let her back in. 

       Stevie turns slowly,   still wearing the same tight smile.   ❛   Coffee ?   ❜   She exhales a small laugh,   looking sideways.   ❛   Do you have...    Coke or something instead ?   Pepsi ?   ❜   Finally,   she looks at Hana again,   relucantly accepting her invite.

nico gives a determined nod. “yes. both. it’s the smarter option.” he agrees, turning around to where he thought they’d put their cart, but when he goes to put both boxes in the nearest cart he sees, he realizes the groceries in it are unfamiliar to him. “i thought you took it with you?” he replies, turning back to face his sister, pulling an offended face at her pointed finger. “you were in charge of the cart!” he returns her accusations while going to check the last isle. the isle is empty except for someone stocking the shelves, so the cart must be in the pasta isle. that’s also when he last remembers putting anything in it. time for the dairy section rendezvous. he’s still carrying the two cereal boxes, cradling them against his chest as he picks his way past other customers. “did you find it?”

               Stevie huffs away Nico’s accusation as he turns away,   then turns and goes in the opposite direction.  When she gets to the pasta aisle,   she finds the cart sitting there,   alone and abandoned.   Stevie knows she got distracted looking at the rows of spaghetti   (   who wouldn’t ?   )   but she will continue to blame Nico.   She tosses her box of cookies inside and begins pushing it to the dairy section,   where she waits around for Nico and in the meantime begins locating her favorite milk brand,   which is decided upon by which one is cheapest that week. 

with four layers of white fuzzy blankets wrapped around eugene, he most likely resembled a yeti wandering around the himalayas. still, he was cold, and when he woke up at 6 am with his face, hands, and feet freezing, he opted to make himself a steaming mug of tea to warm himself up. he’s careful not to make any noises, not wanting to wake stevie up. so, the surprise on his face is noticeable once he sees stevie on his way back from the kitchen, quickly shifting into curiosity as he approaches stevie beneath the mountain of blankets. hey, they matched.  

“good morning,” he smiles, making himself comfortable on the couch and peering over stevie’s shoulder, gasping once he sees the huge pillow. “is that a cushion?” he squints, “it looks super comfortable, maybe you can even hide some snacks inside its mouth.”

               Stevie’s admittedly sleep-deprived brain takes a second to process his idea,   but as soon as she envisions herself stuffing secret candybars into Haunter’s mouth,   she makes the sound that an exclamation point would make if it were vocal.  

location: grocery store time: dont know dont care grocery shopping time babeyy status: closed for @exposcdhearts·

“this one?” nico held up one box of cereal with one hand, another one with the other. “or this one?” he looked from one to the other, “or both? both, right?” how he had survived so far in life, especially living on his own for the past almost five years now, was a miracle. grocery shopping was not one of his talents - if one even needed talent for that - there was just too much distraction, and he always forgot half the stuff that was on his list. if he even remembered to even go grocery shopping. he’d decided to tag along with his sister this time. kill two birds with one stone, quality time while getting his life slightly more together. “steve? where did we leave the cart?”

               ❛   Huh ?   ❜   Stevie looks up from a box of cookies and glances between the two boxes of cereal in her brother’s hands.   She purses her lips,   then nods.   ❛   That’s all you eat,   ❜   she does not hide the judgement in her voice,   ❛   so yeah,   get both.   ❜

       When she’s decided on getting the box of cookies,   Nico realizes they’ve lost their cart.   Stevie frowns and glances around in the cereal aisle,   making a confused sound when she doesn’t see it either.   She swears she’s good at grocery shopping.   Nico’s influence is undoubtedly what’s making her skip over important parts,   like a whole cart.   ❛   Did you leave it in the last aisle ?   ❜   She’s quick to point an accusing finger;   regardless of the fact of who was the one pushing the cart,   this is a common tactic she uses when Nico’s around to be blamed.   

               ❛   Ah,   you’re awake !   ❜    The sound of Stevie exclaiming is heard from a pile of blankets on the living room floor,   draping from the perfectly empty couch.   She raises a hand to wave Eugene over,   looking exactly like she’s been awake all night.   It’s only six in the morning,   and Eugene is probably up for a quick bathroom trip,   but Stevie has been waiting for him to wake up for hours.   ❛   Come here !   ❜

               ❛   Oh,   ❜    Stevie freezes as she closes Nico’s apartment door,   facing a figure she didn’t expect to see.   It’s the second time she bumps into Hana while she’s at her brother’s place,   but this time Stevie’s reaction isn’t to frown and completely ignore her.   She recalls the fight they had at the football field,   when it was the two of them against an asshole with a big mouth.   She remembers how Hana didn’t hesitate to step in,   and how Stevie was quick to walk away as soon as it was over. 

       She still isn’t sure how to behave around Hana.   Her anger isn’t as strong as it was,   but that only makes it harder to react.   Should she be polite,   as if they were never close,   as if they don’t know each other ?   It feels worse than being angry.   Stevie swallows and frowns,   breaking eye contact.   The air between them is filled with awkward tension.

               ❛   That really looks like me,   ❜    Stevie blinks at the screen where a sim named Stevie is dancing by herself in the middle of the living room that she and Mike spent hours building.   That’s when another sim named Mikey walks up and starts dancing too,   which makes Stevie laugh at the silly way they’re moving.    She leans back and starts recreating the weird movements,   swinging her head this way and that and waving her arms around haphazardly.

mike followed her out of the way, all while trying to keep his balance. it was hard. “ah.” he answered simply. all he could do was grin widely at stevie as she checked his forehead’s temperature. “not that drunk.” he shrugged. mike thought that as long as he was able to waddle his way through a crowd, he was fine. “i can, don’t worry. i’m just a liiiiiittle bit dizzy.” mike said as he demonstrated the ‘little bit’ with his fingers, only to take his bottle up to drink a bit more. “why are you sad?” he asked randomly, as his smile dropped. his mouth formed the shape of an ‘O’. it wasn’t hard to tell that stevie was acting differently than usual. “who made you sad? i’ll fight them.” 

              She watches with amused but unimpressed eyes as Mike takes a swing from the bottle he's holding,   feeling that she should be doing the same but being too tired to keep drinking.   Then,   when Mike talks again,   Stevie's head jerks back in surprise.   She stares at him,   suddenly blanking on how to respond.   Stevie lets his hair fall back onto his forehead,   sliping her hand from his shoulder as well.  

hana really hadn’t been planning to get into a fight with the guy. sure, she was going to throw some strongly worded insults and threats his way, but all of a sudden her hand had moved and she’d swung for him, catching him straight in the jaw, watching as stevie then moved in and kicked him. if he’d had backed off, she would have happily walked away, but he had made the wrong decision by insulting stevie for a second time, and she wouldn’t stand by and let him get away with it.

they were pulled away from the man, both still shouting and trying to get back at him, but eventually their escorts managed to overpower the both of them. with a scowl, hana gave the man one last death stare over her shoulder before moving to lean against a wall.   “absolute moron,”   she mumbled in agreement.

stevie fell silent for a moment before speaking up again. hana’s gaze moved to land on her, and she quickly glanced down at her hand, making a fist and then unclenching it, checking for any abnormality.   “yeah i’m good,”   she confirmed, looking back to the other woman.   “are you?”

.

              Stevie watches as Hana inspects her hand,   carefully eyeing it too.   The last time they talked was when they ran into each other at Nico's—    and Hana's,   Stevie supposses—   apartment complex.   Stevie was taken off guard,   so she hadn't even smiled,   all she'd done was say a quick and cold hello before walking into her brother's apartment without hiding the fact she was rushed to get out of Hana's presence.   She felt bad afterwards,   but even now,   Stevie doesn't know how to interact with Hana.   She's not a stranger,   but she's not a friend.   She hasn't been one for a while.

       ❛   I'm fine,   ❜   Stevie confirms.   She quiets down again,   looking anywhere else but at the only other person there.   Finally,   Stevie opens her mouth like she's about to say something,   then shuts it,   then opens it again.   Finally,   she sighs and talks.

       ❛   Well,   I'll see you around,   ❜   she turns,   arms still crossed,   and takes a step in the opposite direction.