knowledge is power.

It was her graduation day. It was her day to officially become a doctor and it meant everything to her to have her family there. Julia Faust had been wanting to become a doctor, a full fledged psychiatrist ever since she could remember. She could remember during center time, in Miss Higgins’ preschool class, always going over to the dress up toys and dressing herself up to be a doctor, going over to Blythe and taking his pretend temperature. You are sicky, BB Bear. You are sicky! Let Doctor Julia take care of you! Her little voice would exclaim, kissing the little boy on the forehead and pretending to take care of him, taking his reflexes and wrapping him a blanket. More often than not, it was Julia who had to run around and chase her best friend as he ran from her, but Doctor Julia was determined to take care of her Blythe and she was just as determined now. At twenty-five years old, now they both were, and Julia was graduating today, but where was her Blythe? Where was her BB Bear? 

No where to be found, even when she looked out amongst the sea of her relatives, a sea of her friends and family, the Sweetwine family, but no Blythe. No curly mop of hair, no skinny, tall figure there to make her smile, bring her to tears - she did cry, in happiness, but when she walked past the entire stage and saw no Blythe, no Blythe at all, she felt her heart break and worry ebb at her veins. Where was he? Where was Blythe? He was her person. Always. 

It was backstage, later on, in her blue gown with all of the chords and accolades, that she stood with friends, with family, but after they had left, and she had a moment to herself, she felt tears on her cheeks. It meant the entire world for her to graduate early, to be a doctor, and Blythe wasn’t here? What could have happened? What held him back now, after she had been there for him through everything? When she looked up and saw the familiar curly mop, her eyes widened. He looked unharmed, just fine - now anger swelled in her veins. Julia Faust didn’t get angry often, but she felt it intensely as she made her way over.

“It is a cardinal rule of interior design. Threes and fives are perfect balance. As for the lemon, I have no excuse but I’m not gonna apologize for it,” Blythe grinned, already reaching for the small plate of lemons on the table and squeezing it over his pizza after dashing it with even more sour and pepper. “It makes everything taste better. Let’s just be happy I moved on from my mayo stage, alright? I’ve been consistent with lemons for over four years now.”

He could already predict Julia breaking it down for him, giggling about some fixation on whatever he had decided in that moment was the best of the best. He exhausted all of his likes and he was well aware of it, but he never regretted it. Like people, they also had an expiration date.

“That’s disgusting,” Cole said, his nose wrinkled just like his brother’s after taking a bite from Blythe’s pizza. Reluctantly, he nibbled it two more times as Blythe placed it in his little hands. “So disgusting!”

Blythe turned his attention back to Julia. With that same grin, already twitching into a smirk, he said, “You ever wanna get out of your place, you always have… the couch.”

Julia laughed, shaking her head at her best friend from across the table where she sat. It felt just nice to be with him here, to be able to share in this with him, to be the person he and Cole could rely on. She felt as if it were an honor, and being his best friend, his family basically, it meant a lot to Julia. Growing up, there was no one else in the entire world like Blythe to Julia. He was more than a best friend, but a brother that fit in so well within the strings of her heart. He made her laugh and smile, and while her worry happened at times, when he spoke about his constant tendencies, she knew there was no one else she loved more. When he smiled, she smiled and when he was lonely, she was lonely too, with him. If he was in the darkness, she’d be in the dark with him. There was no denying that. 

“It is disgusting, Coley, you’re right. Icky!” Julia giggled, tickling the little boy as he continued to run around. She smiled at Blythe and playfully rolled her eyes. “Whatever you say, B, it’s your place. You make it your own, make it as beautiful as you want with as many patterns as you want. The more help, the better. Nothing wrong with stacking the odds in your favor.” She smiled, shrugging. “Oh, yeah, could you imagine Oliver’s reaction to me moving in with you? It doesn’t matter that we’ve been best friends since we were four, he would have a moment of complete big brother protectiveness. Living with a guy is not something he’d like.” Julia sighed, but shrugged. “I will take you up on it though, for sure.” She sighed, and then her eyes light up, thinking of something else. 

…

Genevieve grinned at her butchered French, but didn’t point it out. At least she tried not to butcher the language. “There’s are the best.” She grinned with a nod, “I mean, being an accountant is mind blowing.” She teased her with a joke, “but I am busy because of everything going on. It’s a good thing. Nothing worse than being bored with the means to do whatever I want.” If she wasn’t occupied, she could cause trouble and it was best if she stayed out of it. “Yeah, let’s just hope we make it in one piece and I would love to join for your graduation.” She saw the waitress bringing over her pastry and her smile widened as she nodded excitedly. The way to her heart was through pastries, whether that was savory or sweet. “Sorbonne,” she smiled, “I majored in accounting, but my minor was art. I mean, honestly I prefer art, but just in case my family lost all their money, I wanted a backup.” She joked, shaking her head, “it really feels like forever ago. I graduated five years ago.”

Ian plopped down across from her and took off his sunglasses. His eyes took a little longer to adjust to the light but soon, it was fine and he sipped his drink, sighing at how good it tasted. “Well that sounds lovely, I’m proud of you. Not surprised, however. You seem like a smart cookie.” He smirked, hiking one foot up to rest on his seat as he sat there, hugging it too him as he got comfy. 

“Oh! I graduated from Cambridge University with a bachelor’s degree in English Literature with a focus on Shakespeare.” He smirked. “I never formally studied music in uni but I’ve played guitar since I was 12 years old. Played piano since I was about 9 and then I’ve just always sang. I write my own music and perform it sometimes at open mic nights. It’s my creative outlet, if you will.”