𝑝𝑢𝑟𝑒𝚑𝑦𝑝𝑛𝑜𝑡𝑖𝑐

"Seven hells, my dress it too tight," You yanked at the tight cloth around your waist. You had been stuck traveling up to the Winterfell for week on end and you were begining to get fed up. Not only was the journey long and grueling, but your mother unexpectedly expressed wanting to keep you close during the trip, so you couldn't even have fun or get drunk without her breathing down your neck.

"You were the one who insisted that you were to have several new gowns made, all of which you didn't show up to the fitting sessions, and for what, Winterfell of all places," your mother rolled her eyes, taking a long sip of wine. You knew more than anyone that she would've had the dresses made for you even if you hadn't insisted.

"I have never visited the north, I wanted to leave an impression," you shrugged, popping a grape into your mouth.

"An impression you will leave, niece, you always do," Tyrion slurred. He had the right idea of getting drunk before your arrival. You hummed in response before leaning out the window of the carriage.

"Uncle Jamie, how much further?" You squinted your eyes at Jamie, who was currently riding his horse.

"Not much further at all, take a look." Jamie stuck his hand out for you to take. You could see the judgmental look on your mother's face as you prepared yourself to jump out of a moving carriage and onto your uncle's horse. You had done this many times, each time either your grandfather or your mother voicing their disapproval. You and your Uncle Jamie had always been close, ever since you could remember, though at times it seemed to upset your mother. As you looked over Jamie's shoulder, you could see the tall towers of Winterfell, it truly was beautiful how the snow hugged the roofs of each tower and glistened in the sunlight.

As the Baratheon and Lannister flags entered Winterfell, you could see seemingly every member of House Stark waiting to greet the King and Queen. The cold immediately shocked your feet after your Uncle had helped you off the back of his horse. You let off a soft squeal before rushing behind your mother to stand with your siblings. As you watched your father and mother greet Lord and Lady Stark, your eyes couldn't help but drift towards the rest of House Stark. The first one you noticed was Robb Stark, the eldest son who was named after your father. He was tall and very handsome, the kind of handsome that made it kind of hard to look at. Next were the two Stark girls, both beautiful, one having long auburn hair, the other with dark brown hair and a light blue gown that had mud stains on it. Then there were the two youngest, a little boy with dark brown, almost black hair who was currently flexing this arm for your father, next to him was the most adorable little boy with light brown hair. You mentally tried to assign each name to each child untill you eyes got stuck on the boy at the very end of the time, he looked to be around the same age as Robb. He had black hair and dark brown eyes, paired with the most melancholy expression on his face. He was the only one that your father hadn't greeted, which deeply confused you until it clicked. He must be the Greyjoy boy that Ned Stark had taken during the Iron Islands rebellion all those years ago.

After your father and mother had greeted each Stark, it was now your and your siblings' turn. You approached Lord and Lady Stark with a polite curtsey. It was nice to see the two of them after almost ten years, although you had only been around eight years since you had last seen them, your memories all relating to the Starks seemingly had been erased from your mind. Your father always told you tales of the battles he and Lord Stark had fought in together.

You offered a soft smile and nod to each Stark child, and you attempted to properly introduce yourself to all of them before your mother called you over, making you leave the rest of them standing there. Just as you were about to enter the castle, you made quick eye contact with the Greyjoy boy. Gods, was he cute, his dark brown eyes that were akin to the eyes of a baby doe. Once again, you smiled, this time only at him, which caused your mother to clear her throat, a subtle way of telling you to hurry up. With a clenched jaw, she gave you a look, a very specific look that you had been able to identify ever since you were a child. The look of disapproval and judgment.

As you changed into a more sophisticated dress for the dinner feast, you heard a gentle knock on your door.

"It's mother," You heard your mother say through the door, causing you to quickly shuffle over to the door in order to unlock it. She sauntered into the room, a quiet grace to her, the kind that you wanted to emulate ever since you were a child.

"Come, let me fix your gown," She motioned for you to come to her. Of course, you obeyed; she did not hold back from tightening your gown. Typically, you'd either tighten your own gowns or a maid would. When you were younger, your mother would bear such a responsibility, one that you were more than happy to take over. She was always too rough with it, always tightening the gown to the point that the dress would almost split in half.

With a quiet sigh, you turned around for her, allowing her to put all her strength into cinching your dress to your body, making it act as a second skin.

"The north seems nice," You said softly, making an attempt to make conversation.

"I beg to differ, it is much too cold, and much too barren for my taste," She said casually. It was rare when you and your mother would hold the same opinion on almost anything. Of course, your relationship wasn't always like this. When you were much younger, the two of you were much closer. She was an extremely loving mother, but as you grew closer to your Uncle Jamie she it seemed like you fell a bit out of her favor, especially after Joffery was born and even more after Tommen and Marcella. Of course, you deeply loved and cared for your younger siblings, even Joffery at times, you wondered what could've been of you and your mothers realitonship had they not been born. Now that you were older, you long had excepted that this is how things were now, but as a child desperately wanting theirs mothers love, you, of course, had blamed yourself. At first, you thought that maybe it was because you weren't blonde, like your siblings; after all, your looks had favored your father's by far. But soon you realized it couldn't have been that, not to say you could rule that reason out, to this day, you still don't understand what made the change in her heart about you.

"I like the snow, I have never seen it before, it's a nice change of scenery," You said meekly. You wanted to work up the courage to tell her that the reason she doesn't like the north is because she doesn't like anything except for wine and being cruel.

"Well, it's very... you I can see why you like it," She sighed, tightening your dress even further.

"Mother, it's too tight," You winced, struggling to breathe.

"Hush, you're a lady, you must learn how to endure a gown that is a bit restrictive," your mother shook her head. This was ridiculous to you, all your life you had seen your mother get fitted into dresses and not once were they ever as tight as yours, in fact, they were often flowy on the looser end. Right before you could protest your heard a soft knock at the door.

"Enter," your mother said, without taking her eyes off your gown. A sweet-looking older woman entered the room, clearly a bit shy.

"The feast is to start in five minutes, your grace," The lady informed your mother with a curtsey.

"So soon?" Your mother scoffed, "So be it, leave us." She raised her hand dismissively at the lady. You frowned as she left the room, it wasn't her fault the feast started so soon.

"Have you seen your Uncle since we've arrived?" She raised an eyebrow, now standing in front of you, fixing your hair.

"No, unfortunately, I was looking forward to hearing what he was going to say about the Northern people, specifically the women." You laughed softly, earning you a sharp glare from your mother.

"I was speaking of your Uncle Jamie, not Tyrion." She deeply inhaled.

"I know," You said quietly, although you did in fact think she was referring to Tyrion, but you knew alluding to your Uncle Jamie having relations with Northern whores would deeply upset and anger her. When it came to upsetting your mother on purpose, you always had to be calculated and subtle with it.

"And what do you mean by that?" She intensely stared into your soul.

"Well, I- I saw him with Uncle Tyrion going towards Wintertown, and if I know my Uncle Tyrion then..." You shrugged, trying to play off your last comment.

"Jamie has nothing to do with what Tyrion does, ok?" She said sternly, you nodded in return. "Now let us head to the feast, shall we?" She smiled before intertwining your arm with hers.

‿̩͙⊱༒︎༻♱༺༒︎⊰‿̩͙

As much as you tried to enjoy the feast, your body fought against it every step of the way. The gown you were in was simply too tight; you couldn't even enjoy your meal. Not only that, but the volume of the room was chanting, laughing, and, worst of all, the sight of your father actively defiling your mother and their marriage. You and your father had quite a different realtionship that you and your mother had. It was more of a different side of the same coin type of ordeal, you could tell sometimes he wants to be close with you, but mostly distant. Growing up, he allowed you to be as wild as you wanted; you played in the mud, sparred with guards, climbed trees, and rode horses bareback frequently. He seemed to have enjoyed that you indulged in all the things he wanted a son to take interest in. Yet it all changed once you turned thirteen years old; he began to treat you differently, not exactly cruelly, but almost resentfully. Of course, you didn't actually do anything to cause this, but it didn't matter that you were not permanently being persecuted of the crime of growing up, becoming a woman; a woman who could bear children, be married, and worst of all, have opinions. Ever since then, you shared some fond moments with your father, but overall, awkward interactions in passing, yet you still cherished the rare moments you had with your father that mirrored the days you spent with him as a child.

Despite being in the freezing north of Westeros, the dining room felt hot, perhaps it was the overwhelming noise in the room, or maybe it was how ridiculously tight your gown was. You quietly excused yourself from your seat, quickly making your way outside. Your breaths grew shallow, your head being filled with an intense pounding sensation. You leaned your entire body against one of the brick walls of the castle, making a pathetic attempt at clawing your gown off of your body. As tears welled up in your eyes, your attention was pulled to the sound of a sword clanking against a hard surface. It must've been your Uncle Jamie, right? After all, you hadn't seen him at the feast, he must have been the one practicing with his sword, surely. After rushing towards the noise, you came to a quick halt. It was not your uncle at all, it was the Greyjoy boy. He instantly turned his head towards you, a look of confusion and concern displayed on his face.

"Your grace," He bowed his head at you.

"Please just- I need you to cut my gown," You strained, still tugging at the tight fabric around your waist. He looked bewildered by your request, to the point that he froze. Had you been in a better state of mind, you would've cursed at him for not having a quick reaction time.

"I'm sorry your grace, you want me to-" He walked towards you, great hesitaton in his voice.

"I can't breathe," You heaved. "Now, I command you to get this gown off of me," You tried sounding assertive, despite being out of breath.

The Greyjoy boy once again hesitated for just a moment before nodding at your command and taking a small blade from his belt. As he walked over to you, you could tell he was nervous, probably afraid that he could possibly cut Robert Baratheon's firstborn child. He carefully laid the blade against your midriff and began to drag it all the way up towards the bottom of your breasts. Your waist's instant relief caused you to brace yourself against his upper arm, giving you a moment to gather yourself.

"Are you ok, your grace?" He asked, his thick northern accent awaking something inside of you. Before you could even respond, both of you froze after hearing a very familiar voice come from behind you.

"Drop your blade." You heard your Uncle Jamie demand, the sound of him drawing his sword following after. "You dare lay your hands and raise your blade to the princess?" He yelled rasing his sword to the Greyboy boy's neck.

"Uncle, please, it was not what it looked like, I swear." You quickly came to the Greyjoys' defense. Right before your Uncle was about to tell you to move out of the way, the doors to the dining hall swung open, and there came Lord Stark, Lady Stark, and your parents.

"What is the meaning of this?" Your father boomed clearly, not sober.

"A simple misunderstanding," You raised your hands, giving your Uncle a look of desperation.

"Would you be so kind as to lower your blade?" Lord Stark asked sarcastically.

"I'm sure if my brother raises his blade to a man, he has a good reason to," your mother responded dismissively. "In fact, my angel, why is your gown torn?" Your mother said through gritted teeth. You could see the look of shock and horror on Lady Stark's face.

"He had his blade to the princess, holding onto her, only the Gods know his motives," Jamie spat.

"That is-" the Greyjoy began before your Uncle inched the sword closer to his throat.

"Uncle, please, he was helping me, I asked him to!" You tried to reason. "My gown was far too tight, I couldn't breathe, in an act of desperation, I asked him to cut it off of me. He meant no harm!" You shook your head.

"You don't have to defend your attacker," your mother scoffed at you, "You look of fright," She walked over to you, covering you with her outlayer cover-up.

"Mother, he was not trying to hurt me, he was helping me," You retorted, growing more frustrated.

"Ned, my brother-in-law tells me your bastard was attacking my daughter, and my daughter tells me your bastard was saving her. What am I to think of this?" Your father snapped. Bastard? You thought to yourself, since when did honorable Lord Eddard Stark have a bastard, a bastard that was no older than you? Who in the seven hells was this? Your father had told you many things about Lord Stark but never once mentioned he had a bastard, a bastard that he openly recognized and allowed to live in the castle of Winterfell. You knew very well that your own father had many bastards, so many to the point you'd sometimes sneak into town to speak to your half-brother Gendry, a very talented blacksmith.

"Jon, explain yourself," Lord Stark said sternly. Oh, Jon was his name then, of course, his status as a bastard of the north would mean his last name was Snow. Jon Snow, that was the name of the man who had saved you, not Greyjoy.

"The princess had asked for my help, she told be coudn't breath. I wasn't sure of what to make of what she was asking me, then she commanded me to cut the gown off of her," Jon exhaled. "Your grace, I swear to you I had no intention of harming your daughter," He said earnestly.

"Was that the way of it?" Your father turned to you.

"Yes, father," You nodded, glancing over at Jon, who kept the same unwavering look on his face. You Uncle now putting his sword down.

"Well then, he's a hero, honorable just like his father." Your father patted Jon on his shoulder. "Well, come, Ned seems as though we are unneeded here now," your father began to walk away along with Lord Stark, your mother, and Lady Stark following behind. You wanted to yell at your father for not, at the very least, thanking Jon for helping you in your time of need, yet you decided to bite your tongue; there was no use of a protest while your father was drunk. You glared at your uncle, who lingered around you and Jon.

"A bastard with a heart of gold, is it?" He raised an eyebrow, placing his sword back into its holster. "Next time you decide to "save" my niece, I will not wait for anyone to come to your defense," He said before walking away, heading back towards Wintertown, probably going to find your Uncle Tyrion.

Without a word, Jon went straight back to using his sword against the sparring dummy. He didn't even say bye, or anything, not even a smile.

"Thank you for saving me," You smiled, approaching the area he was practicing.

"It's my duty, Your Grace." He said plainly, not taking his eyes off the sparring dummy.

"I know, I just wanted to express my appreciation." You nodded. Now this was just awkward, you remained standing near him, pretending to look at the bricks of the castle, then the sky, then the sparring dummy. "You know something quite funny?" You chirped, causing Jon to grunt in response. "At first, I thought you were the Greyjoy boy." You let out a small laugh. Suddenly, Jon came to a complete stop.

"Theon? You thought I was Theon?" He grimaced.

"Oh, is that his name?" You asked, biting back a smile over the look on Jon's face. "I only assumed so because my father never told me that Lord Stark had a bast- another son, around my age, other than Robb, of course." You dropped your gaze down to your feet.

"I don't tend to come up in the same conversation as my brothers," He deadpanned.

“I see, well how come I didn’t see you at the feast?” You crinkled your eyebrows.

“Lady Catelyn thought it would be disrespectful to the king and queen to eat in the presence of a bastard.” He said, going back to swinging his sword.

“Well- well, that’s just backwards, after all, it is well known my father has many bastards.” You let out a breathy laugh, taking a seat on a hay bale next to you. “I’m sure my father wouldn’t care much.” You shrugged

“And your mother,” he side-eyed you.

“Well, my mother, on the other hand- she, uh, she would most likely take issue with your presence,” You said sheepishly.

“I would assume so,” He said flatly.

“It matters not what she thinks, she and my father can barely hold a conversation. If you were in the dining hall, she’d probably just look at you and your father judgmentally. The same way she looks at me,” You sighed. You could tell Jon had a kind of “why is this woman telling me this?” look, yet he didn’t make you feel like a bother. “I mean, she doesn’t seem to like many people, not just bastards, you see?” You kicked at the dirt at your feet. You made the mistake of hoping for a deep response from Jon, but all he did was give you a plain hum in response.

Just as you were about to go into a deep rant about your mother, you completely froze. Only a couple of feet away stood a completely white wolf pup with bright red eyes.

“My Gods, who are you?” you fawned over the pup. The wolf had only taken a couple of steps closer to you before letting out a quiet growl.

“Aw, don’t be like that, we can be friends,” you explained, getting down on your knees, attempting to come across as less intimidating, yet the pup continued to growl.

“Ghost enough.” You heard Jon say from behind you.

“Ghost?” You turned around, looking up at Jon with a confused look.

“He’s my dire wolf, all of my siblings have one,” He explained.

“I thought there were no dire wolves beyond the Wall,” You leaned closer to Ghost, who was currently baring his teeth at you.

"We thought so too, that was until we found the pups' dead mother," He explained, trying to call Ghost over to him.

You frowned at the fact that the pup's mother was taken away from them so early in life. You watched as Ghost actively ignored Jon's instructions. Instead of observing the two, you decided to reach your hand out to pet Ghost on his head, and before you could even react, he latched onto the sleeve of your gown, tugging at it.

"Ghost, let go this instant!" Jon said firmly, the wolf of course ignoring him.

"Worry not, the gown is already ruined, might as well allow it to double as a toy," You laughed, allowing Ghost to drag your arm around. He had almost ripped off your entire sleeve before Jon finally intervened by picking Ghost up off the ground.

"Aw, let him have his fun," You playfully laughed, getting up off the ground. Just as you were about to go in to offer your sleeve back to him, you heard footsteps crunching in the snow behind you. You turned around and were met with Lady Stark and her younger daughter, the one with the red hair.

"Your, grace," They said in unison giving you a polite bow.

"We wanted to offer you a new gown," Lady Stark smiled kindly. "We are so very sorry about your being ruined," She continued.

"There is no need for an apology, Lady Stark, had it not been for the destruction of my gown and Jons heroism, only the Gods would know my fate," You smiled softly. She hummed in response, probably not fond of the credit you gave Jon. "Still, I will accept the gown," You nodded.

"Splendid, come with us, we will show you the way," Lady Stark smiled, motioning her hand towards the castle. As you began to follow behind Lady Stark and her daughter, you remembered whom you had just been speaking with.

"Goodbye, Jon. Shall I see you tomorrow?" You turned around, and he stood there motionless, lips parted slightly.

"Yes, your grace," He stuttered a bit.

"Excellent, I'll see you then, goodbye, Ghost," You playfully waved your fingers at the dire wolf before continuing behind Lady Stark.

As the three of you made your way through the corridors of the castle, you marveled at the beautiful stone that lined the walls. It was much more rustic than the castle back home, yet gave you more comfort than the walls of King's Landing ever had.

"It's just in here, Your Grace," Lady Stark opened the door to a small room that was filled with sewing materials. The gown was truly beautiful, a ashy light blue with long sleeves that reached past your hands.

"I believe it will fit your grace, the dress was always made, it seems as though it will fit you well," Lady Stark handed you the gown.

"Thank you, truly, Lady Stark, it's beautiful." You smiled,

"Sansa, stay with the princess in case she is in need of your assistance," Lady Stark turned to her duaghter, before exiting the room, closing the door behind her.

"Yes mother," She nodded shyly.

"Ah, so your name is Sansa?" You asked, pulling at the back of your gown.

"Yes, your grace," She said softly.

"Please, do not feel required to call me "your grace" every time you address me." You laughed, you could tell the young girl was nervous in your presence. You had heard your mother and father speak about possibly betrothing Joffery to her. You were sure she had heard of this swell, prompting her to come across as perfect as she could be. Without knowing anything about her, you were positive that she was too good for Joffery. At your core, you loved your brother, but it was obvious that he was incredibly cruel, even as a child. "Please just call me Y/n." You smiled, turning around for her to help you remove the ruined gown.

"Of course, Y/n," She said. Your name sounded quite unnatural coming out of her mouth, but soon she'd get used to it, you thought to yourself.

"Just a moment, please," You montioned your finger for her to turn round as you removed the gown you currently had on. "What is the name of your dire wolf?" You asked, kicking off the rest of the gown.

"Her name is Lady," She said while facing the wall. "I saw you already met Ghost.

"What an adorable name, if you don't mind, I would love to meet her. Ghost was quite fun," You mentioned.

"Lady is nothing like Ghost, shes very well behaved," Sansa insisted.

I'm sure she is. Ghost did not seem to want to listen to anything Jon said. You laughed. "It was quite funny, actually, although I can't tell if I'm in Ghosts good graces or not," You slipped the new gown on.

"Yes, Ghost is the runt of the litter, I believe, very fitting for him being Jons," She sighed. While you held nothing against people who were born as bastard there were times you forgot that others do take issue with bastards.

"I see," You said simply, now tying the back of your gown.

"Do you need any assistance with the gown?" Sansa asked, holding her arms behind her back.

"No, my sweet, I've been tying my own gowns since I was twelve. Unfortunately, the last time I allowed someone else to do it, your brother had to tear it off of me," You shrugged.

"Jon is not my brother," She responded sharply. It took you aback to hear this tone come out of her, she had been so shy and quiet beforehand. "I'm sorry, Your Grace, it is not my place to speak to you in such a manner," She signed quickly, realizing how hard she sounded, not towards Jon, of course, but towards you.

"Worry not, and again, address me by my name." You shook your head, you couldn't say how she disregarded Jon didn't leave a bad taste in your mouth. It came as no surprise to you that the disdain people had for bastards was stronger in the north than it was in the south. After spending some time in Dorne, you adopted the general attitude toward sex and relationships that the Dornish people held. After asking why bastards were treated the same as children who were born in wedlock, the Prince of Dorne, Oberyn Martell, had explained to you that being a bastard meant you were born of passion, which was something that couldn't be despised.

"It is just hard to accept Jon as my brother, that is all," She explained, "He's not a Stark. What he is is a reminder to all of us of my father's infidelity." She looked down at her feet.

"Do you forgive your father?" You asked, taking a seat on the love seat behind you.

"I beg your pardon," She turned around, mouth agape.

"Your father, do you forgive him," You retorted.

"He's my father, of course," She walked towards you.

"Your forgiveness for your father should pardon Jon from any wrongdoing. Does it not?" You questioned. You couldn't fully expect a young girl such as herself to understand what you were saying. Even adults had a hard time understanding your position on bastards. Yet you couldn't help but question her reasoning. "I understand, trust me, my father has more bastards than there are stars in the night sky," You sighed.

"...the king?" She whidened here eyes.

"Well of course, the king, he is my father after all," You breathed out a laugh. "This is the way of many men, in the south at the very least." You shrugged.

"What about Joffery?" She asked innocently, you had forgotten the conversations of Sansa possibly being betrothed to your brother.

"I cannot say, not out of discretion, but out of ignorance," You tried to assure her. You had never really seen any example of what your brother would be like to his future wife. All you knew for sure was that he was a cruel bitch, which was a word you didn't use generously. It would plague your conscience if Sansa had been subjected to being bound to him. You wanted to stop it, you really did, but your father wanted to unite the north with the south, and if that was what he wanted, that is what would happen.

"Now, I believe the feast is still ongoing?" You rose from your seat.

"Yes your- Y/n" Sansa nodded.

"Well then, shall we join once again?" You offered Sansa your arm, her quickly accepting intertwiing her arm with yours as she led you to the dining hall.

As the two of you reentered the dining hall, you immediately scanned the room to see if Jon was there. Of course, Jon had told you why he wasn't present at the feast earlier, his status as a bastard apparently barred him from enjoying a meal in a room where he'd surely go unnoticed.

Your mother, who was currently sitting with Lady Stark, had motioned for Sansa to come towards her and had left you alone, not sure who to speak to. Of course, you had your options, there was Robb Stark, the only Stark child you had met before, but it had been over ten years since you last saw each other. Surely you couldn't just walk up to him and pick up wherever you had left off at the age of four or five. There were your siblings, of course. Joffery was not an option for obvious reasons, Tommen was busy talking to the two youngest Stark boys, and Myrcella was currently reenacting something for the young Stark girl.

You decided your best choice, for an actually engaging conversation, was to head back outside and search for Jon. Sure, he was quiet, and didn't have the most brain-racking responses, but you still wanted to be around him, after all, he did save you from your wretched gown. Not only that, but it did help that he was very easy on the eyes. You noticed an enticing-looking link of sausage wrapped in bread, the prefect on to go snack, you quickly picked it up to eat as you searched for Jon. Just as you almost made it to the door, you heard someone call for you.

"Your grace!" A man around your age swooped in front of you. He had short, light brown hair and bluish-green eyes, he surely didn't look like a Stark.

"Hello, I apologize, I do not think I have your name," You smiled.

"I am Theon Greyjoy, Your Grace. May I say all the tales of your beauty ring true," He expressed, briefly looking you up and down.

"Ah, Greyjoy, of the Iron Islands," You reminded yourself out loud. "A pleasure to meet you, it truly is." You reached your hand out so he could shake it. As he took it, he gave the top of your hand a quick run with his thumb before moving aside, allowing you to continue on your path.

"Do you know where Jon might be?" You asked.

"Jon, Jon Snow?" He grimaced just by saying his name. "I'm sure he's swinging a sword or moping around here somewhere," He laughed, waiting for a moment to see if you'd laugh with him.

"Well, once again it was a pleasure to meet you, and thank you," You thanked him while walking out the door of the castle.

As you scanned the courtyard, looking for Jon, you were met with Ghost padding over towards you. He kept a good distance away from you but clearly was observing you. You took a quick look around before squatting down, trying to get Ghost to come closer to you.

"Well, hello again," You whispered. "I'm looking for Jon. Do you know where he is?" You reached your hand out, causing Ghost to bare his teeth at you. You frowned in response before remembering what you had in your hand, the sausage. "Look what I have, it looks quite delicious, does it not?" You held the sausage out, you could see some drool beginning to drip out of the wovles' mouth as his nose twitched. He took a beat before finnaly geting closer enough to begin to hawk down the sausage. "See, I knew you couldn't resist," you giggled, giving Ghost a soft pet on his head while we was still distracted. "Now, do you know where Jon is?" You scratched behind his ears, making him let out a deep, relaxed grumble. Ghost gave you a blank look, turning his head to the side in confusion. It was no shock that he didn't understand the modern tongue. "Jon," You elongated his name, hoping Ghost would know what you were talking about. His ears perked up a bit before he walked away from you, taking a look back to make sure you were following him. You lifted from your squat and began to follow the path he was taking you.

It didn't take long for Jon to come into your line of sight. Alas, he wasn't alone, he was speaking to an older man with long hair whom you didn't recognize. You came to a halt and kept your distance, trying to look like you weren't waiting for the conversation to be over. Ghost, on the other hand, had a different idea, he was confused as to why you didn't finish following him to Jon. So confused to the point he stopped his paw at you, trying to signal you to continue following him.

"I am your Princess, you do not stomp at me," You whispered, laughing at the wolf's attitude. Clearly, he didn't get the message, since he let out a baby howl in protest. Unfortunately, the howl was loud enough to catch the attention of Jon and the man he was speaking to.

"Hello there," The man called out, gesturing for you to come to them. You could see the slight shock on Jon's face, probably due to your return with Ghost nonetheless. You walked over to the two men with Ghost walking at your side.

"My apologies, we did not mean to interrupt your conversation. I just wanted to see what Jon was up to." You looked at Ghost. The man turned to Jon with raised eyebrows, trying to hide a smile.

"Is that so?" The man turned back to you, shifting his eyes between you and Jon.

"Yes, M'Lord," You nodded.

"Your Grace, I am no Lord, I am a man of the Night's Watch, my name is Benjen Stark," He bowed to you. You were taken aback that he was aware of your status as a royal since you were dressed like a lady of the north.

"A man of the Night's Watch... I thank you for your heroism in protecting Westeros from what lies beyond the Wall," You curtsied, and it then dawned on you who he really was, Benjen Stark. Lord Stark's brother, meaning he was Jon's uncle. "I have never had the honor of meeting a man of the Night's Watch before." You smiled. Growing up, your father had told you many things about the world beyond the wall, it had always fascinated you.

"Thank you, Your Grace. We men who take the black don't often get to hear such praises," Benjen put his hand on Jon's shoulder. You crinkled your eyebrows at his use of the word "we". It seemed to have been directed towards Jon, although you had never met him before today, there was no chance we was sent to the wall as a child, surely. Perhaps that was the case, though, after all, you never once saw or heard any mention of Jon when you had met and played with Robb as a child, even though he definitely had been born at the time.

"I'm sorry... but "we"?" You tlited your head in confusion.

"My nephew here has decided to take the black and join me at the wall," Benjen said, looking at Jon proudly. You couldn't help but turn to Jon, worry all over your face; you had to remind yourself that you had only met him today.

"...Oh.." You said softly forcing yourself to tear your gaze away from Jon.

"I should probably head inside now," Benjen said, once again looking between you and Jon. It was like he could sense you wanted a moment alone with him. Both you and Jon watched in silence as Benjen walked towards the double doors of the castle, disappearing inside.

"...So, the Night's Watch," you turned to Jon, trying to hide the disappointment in your face. "When will you leave?"

"In a moon or so," He said quietly.

"You shouldn't go if you feel like you are being made to," You crossed your arms.

"I want to." He said firmly, turning, beginning to walk away from you.

"Surely that can't be true," You let out an uncovinced sigh, trailing behind him.

"Well, it surely is." He shook his head.

"I just don't see why that would be the case." You sped up, matching his pace.

"A southern Princess of Westeros doesn't understand why a bastard of the north would join the Night's Watch? That's a surprise." He came to a stop, looking at you, clearly annoyed with your ignorance of the treatment of bastards in the north.

"You grew up in a castle. My bastard siblings are subjected to living in some of the poorest villages in Kings Landing," You huffed.

"Surely being an acknowledged bastard that gets to live among the legitimate children cannot be worse than what my brothers and sisters live through. Being a bastard is no reason to throw your life away by taking the black," You stood in front of him.

"And why do you care?" Jon raised his voice a bit.

"I have a very intense compass on what is right and what is wrong." You reasoned, "And I would hate to see the man who saved my life take what is basically a death sentence."

"A tight gown would not have killed you," he softly chuckled, clearly trying to change the topic. "Besides, the Night's Watch would be the only place where I would be truly accepted for what I am." He said, walking past you.

"They also accept murderers, rapists, and thieves," You grimaced.

"You wouldn't understand," He said dismissively.

"Then make me," You said earnestly. "I command you to," He turned around, at your command, looking at you clearly unimpressed before continuing walking to who knows where. "I can punish you for not following a command said by the princess ," You said putting on the poshest southern accent your voice could make.

"Send me to the wall then." He walked away from you and into the tall forest, Ghost following behind him, leaving you alone in the courtyard.

END

─★ ✮ ★ ─

“Do I look stupid to you, Torres? I’m not doing that.”

“There’s literally no other way to decide,” Joaquín really tried to reason. 

“I think I’d rather shit in my hand and clap than take a chance on this.”

Joaquín clicked his tongue and flipped the coin anyway, causing you to pray for mercy in every language you could think of. As your life flashed before your eyes, the penny landed in Joaquín’s palm, which he flipped onto his desk and uncovered to reveal…

Tails.

To say that your soul dropped out of your ass was an understatement. Joaquín leapt out of his seat and took a victory lap around the compound room, arms raised and murmuring praises. You had to take a breath and hold your head in your hands. 

No way in fresh hell would you do this. But since Sam and Bucky refused to talk, you and Joaquín became children of divorce and had to step up with handling formalities with the so-called New Avengerz. Typically, you two would take turns messaging Yelena and pretending not to be scared of her. This time around, Yelena was likely deep cover as her contact remained unavailable with an automated notification to contact the other Avengerz if urgent. 

You guys preferred to tip-toe around Bucky-related topics, but were now left wondering which of the New Avengerz to talk to for superhero politics. Ghost would likely leave you on delivered, the Red Guardian would absolutely send propaganda whatsapp edits before giving a productive response, and both you and Joaquín felt bad bothering Bob. Yelena was out. Valentina was an absolute no-go. Which left only one option.

You fought a gag at the very thought. The penny had landed on tails, which meant you had to be diplomatic with captain crashout himself. 

John Walker. 

At this point you were basically rocking back and forth in fetal position. Joaquín knelt down to pat your back in sympathy. 

“Just show him the documents over a coffee or something. If you get him a nine dollar matcha, though, he’ll probably shoot you with a gun so maybe don’t pick that.”

───☆ ★ ✮ ★ ☆───

You didn’t realize that emailing Walker’s inbox was the easiest part of this mission. Two days ago, you were agonizing over how to get your point across professionally, yet seeming cool and collected while still emphasizing that you thought he was a bum. 

Simple, really.

But now you were 15 minutes early and had picked a corner booth at the diner you’d agreed to meet him at. Flipping a sugar packet you’d plucked from the table top, you fought the nerves of Walker’s arrival. You were just grateful he told you to meet him at this cozy little diner and not some flashy joint with $37 smash burgers, as you expected would be right up his alley. Your team had witnessed what a butthead he could be, but deep down inside you knew that wasn’t what was making you pick at the corner of the laminated menu. No, there was something far more dangerous at play, a flip to your stomach that you really didn’t want to acknowledge. 

John Walker was an irritating, annoying, self-important, sarcastic, smug asshole, but what else was new? Fork found in kitchen. What really grinded your gears was a shortcoming on your end. A moral failure that you needed to bury deep down inside, never to see the light of day. 

What you had to admit to yourself was that you wanted that man. Badly. Although he was known for killing a man on live television, there were glimpses of something warm you could spot from within him. During the brief interactions you’ve had with Valentina’s team, you caught glimpses of his rough-edged tenderness, desperately covered by the snark and the ego. 

When news of the off brand Avengers broke wind, Sam had asked you to scour through all the staged interviews and media days that Valentina had dared to orchestrate. Your notes for Sam included the fact that Walker never seemed to have a kind word to say without sarcasm clipped at the end. You didn’t document your observations on how John Walker always made himself the physical barrier between eager reporters and his teammates. You didn’t take note of how charming you thought his dry jokes could be, nor did you write down the fact that he tends to bite his top lip and tuck his chin when he’s at a loss for words. 

You didn’t file your thoughts on how much you like his new beard, either.  

Joaquín (or god forbid, Sam) could never find out that you would fumble an infinity stone if it meant John Walker would tackle you. You’ve got no idea how you were going to go through with extracting information from Walker. It wasn’t that you were embarrassed about wanting him, but you had an image to maintain and jumping Walker’s bones wasn’t gonna make Sam’s life any easier. If Walker saw through you, he wouldn’t hesitate to be real smug about it and that definitely didn’t help either. 

“Alright, what do you need,” the man of the hour dropped into the seat in front of you like he weighed ten tons.

You didn’t even notice when he walked in, which really threw you off because how did you miss that brick house get through the door? With bated breath, you began rattling off the script you threw together in your notes app that morning.

“Okay, well firstly, thank you for agreeing to hear me out. I know you and your team are likely incredibly busy,” you offered.

“S’no big deal. Yelena’s better at these things, but if you’re needing me, then I’m here.”

Oh, you needed him alright. But that was neither here nor there.

“Thanks, Walker. Well, Torres and I drafted some possible arrangements and contracts for relations between the New Avengerz and a team we’re putting together, all approved by Wilson of course. These documents outline how we’ll handle threats by location and jurisdiction, and this half is an arrangement for partnership over global threats. Nothing’s final so you can bring these back to your team to make edits as you please, but Wilson really wants some settlements on paper, so…” you trailed off.

John swiped the stack of papers from your folder before licking his finger to turn the page. Catching the sight of his tongue flicking out, you had to take a breath and pray for some grace. You sat in silence while he skimmed through your work, desperately fidgeting with the sugar packet you still grasped in your palm.

He whistled, sharp and low. 

“I’ve got to hand it to you and Torres. You really went all in with this. Most of this looks good to me, but that policy about surrendering ex-SHIELD equipment isn’t gonna fly. Y’know I gotta run this by Valentina, but if it were up to me, and it should be because I’m the one who led the Bears back to back to back—” 

John cut himself off, eyebrows furrowing in.

“Why are you nervous?” he questioned, nodding to your hands. Glancing down, you realized that you hadn’t stopped messing with the poor sugar packet.

“You shouldn’t be — I’m not going to — look,” he sighed. “I don’t have the best track record, I know. But I’m not going to freak out on you.” 

“I know, I’m sorry, Walker. I’m kind of exhausted but I don’t wanna add to Sam’s to-do list, y’know how it is,” you told him, offering some truth. 

“Well, what’s on your mind, then?” He asked. It took you a second to regain your composure because he asked you this with genuine curiosity. Not the typical bored, iced-out look he always had. John Asshole Walker wanted to know what was bothering you. He was being polite about it, too. And he looked damn good doing it. 

After blinking at him a couple times, you caved into venting about the headache of cleaning up after the Ross incident, spreading yourself thin after Ruth decided to make herself scarce, and constantly making sure Joaquín and Sam don’t drop dead from neglect. All the while, John gently followed your erratic hand motions and offered a mumbled “really?” and “wow, that’s crazy” at all the right moments. Honestly, before this moment, you didn’t know he could make conversation without sass. 

“Sorry for unloading all of that onto you. I’m sure you’ve got your own things to deal with,” you released the sugar packet from your grasp. As your hand flicked forward to toss the packet away, John reached an open palm towards yours. The squeeze of his warm hand halted your anxious ramblings, especially as he began to massage the inside of your wrist with his thumb. The movement was almost imperceptible, and yet, your brain was moments away from bluescreening. A serious look crossed John’s eyes as he leaned into the table. 

“We all have shit to deal with. Doesn’t mean you can’t air it out. It’s not like I’m gonna go find Ruth just to tell her about your one-sided beef,” his snarky demeanor returned. Despite the sarcasm in his tone, he squeezed your hand once more to ensure that you were really hearing him. John lowered his voice, almost hesitant to be revealing the extent of his care. 

“I know Bucky and Sam aren’t buddy-buddy right now, but if you need a break, you can crash on the couch in the tower. I’m sure Alexei won’t mind the company,” John rolled his eyes, as if deflecting from the blatant offer of a place to stay when you need it. 

You mumbled a small thank you, afraid that speaking too loud would disturb whatever fragile ground the two of you had created.

“It’s nothing, I mean I’m sure you guys have had plenty of sleepovers with all of earth’s mightiest heroes,” John tried to ease the mood with comical disgust in his voice. You gave him a fragile smile. In truth, your small team of three still hadn’t had a single visitor. Not since Bucky. Walker didn’t need to know that. 

Still, you wouldn’t hesitate to offer him a place to crash, either. 

“Thanks, Walker. That actually means a lot. You’re welcome to stop by any time, too, even if I have to smuggle you in,” you chose your words carefully. You wanted to let him know that you cared, but he didn’t need to know how much you cared. 

“It’s John. You can call me John.” 

On the inside, you were going apeshit. On the outside, you gave him a rough smile. 

“If Valentina isn’t blowing up your phone yet, then let’s go for a walk, John. I’m craving a bagel.”

  ───☆ ★ ✮ ★ ☆───

Your stroll with John Walker had been surprisingly pleasant. 

You were moving on autopilot throughout the journey back to the compound. Punching your passcode into the entrance lock, you nudged the front door open with your foot while peeling off your jacket. Swapping your bag of takeout pastries with your keys, you realized you don’t even remember parking the team Jeep. Up on cloud nine, your mind was a film reel of your morning spent with John Walker. The feeling of your wrist engulfed in his steady hand replayed in slow motion like a touchdown highlight. 

“You got bagels with captain crashout??” Joaquín cried from his surveillance nook, his tone nothing short of aghast.

“I did, but how the hell did you know?” You called out, kicking your shoes off before heading to the common couch. Rounding the corner, you caught Joaquín perched at his desk. Enlarged on his center monitor was a window tracking a ping to your location.

“Real subtle, Torres” you glared.

“I had to make sure your rendezvous with Walker went smoothly. I couldn’t have him maiming you with the shield on live stream or anything. But it looks like you took your sweet time at that diner, didn’t you?” Joaquín raised a suspicious eyebrow. Before he could connect too many dots, you revealed the bag of extra bagels. Rolling open the paper bag, you used a napkin to fish out a pastry for Joaquín.

“I’m surprised, actually. We had a pretty good time. He took the documents for Valentina to look at, but he said they should get cleared within the week. He’s a solid guy once he’s relaxed,” you chatted as Joaquín lit up at the sight of the snack. 

In truth, he was more than a solid guy, you just had to learn how to see it. When you both stood up to leave the diner, he’d reached an arm over you to pull open the exit door. He’d done the same for each entrance you’d encountered after that. The morning you spent together taught you to never argue with him about who would pay for food, as he literally shoved you away from the counter before handing the cashier a bill. You learned he preferred strawberry creamcheese, but that his go-to breakfast would always be waffles because it’s what his mother used to make. When you told him about your own childhood snacks, he’d tilted his head closer to hear you better. The corner store bakery had gotten crowded by the time you were ready to go, so John (valiantly) shoulder checked every person who got uncomfortably close. The ways he showed gentleness and care were different than you were used to, but they made themselves known once you learned him. 

You reached into the bag for another napkin to hand to Joaquín, except the one you pulled already had a stain on it. You took a closer look. Not a stain. It was hand writing.

In blue ink, the napkin read:

“Thanks for the chat. Let’s get breakfast again. We can take a walk after, too. Or whatever. - John”

Before Joaquin could catch a glimpse of the precious note, you gingerly began to fold it back up. Something tucked within the napkin crinkled as you disturbed it. The item slipped out of the paper with the new angle, but you caught it in your palm before it could fall to the floor. 

It was your sugar packet. John had saved it from the diner, and sent it back with his phone number scrawled on it.

Maybe you were grateful the penny landed on tails.

───☆ ★ ✮ ★ ☆───

You’ve been meaning to close out your accounts on Naboo for over a year now. You’re ready to tie off the loose ends you have left on the opulent planet as you shift the pieces of your life into your home on Nevarro, a home you share with Din. Despite the nagging need to attend to your chores, you don’t want to go. 

At all. 

No force in the galaxy can drag you out of Din’s arms in the soft mornings that rise above the lava flats. There’s no pulling you away from the pond where you splash Grogu with handfuls of water before the little booger chases after you with a frog in each hand. Each lazy afternoon, you finally get to fall asleep with your son tucked safe on your chest and your husband curled around your back. You’re not eager to go anywhere anytime soon.

Even now, years after the Darksaber, it’s not a rare occasion when you startle awake in the dead of night, disoriented and briefly fearing that Gideon had taken your little family too. You’re not quite ready to leave the house yet, for fear that you’ll return to an empty plot and the phantom outline of a home that you dreamt up. 

Despite your reservations, it’s a cozy morning when you and Din are sorting through mail at the breakfast table, forcing you to reckon with just how shamefully large the pile of envelopes from Naboo has grown. Your Mandalorian places a bowl of sliced meilooruns at the center of the table as you sort spam letters from important records. Bills from a unit in Theed that you haven’t spent the night in for almost a year, endorsements from the newest senators, local newspapers irrelevant to your new home on Nevarro. You begin rubbing at your temples before even reaching for the letter opener. 

“I’m sure it’s nothing impossible, cyare,” Din mumbles as he settles into his seat, rubbing a comforting hand across your back to squeeze your shoulder. “It’s tedious and annoying, but we’ve had easier runs with far worse.”

Scooting your chair impossibly closer to his, you lean forward to let your forehead thunk onto the table. Din’s forearm reaches out to soften the landing. 

“It’s just paper work. I like our odds,” he adds. 

“Still sucks ass,” you mumble into the grain of the wooden table. Terribly sleepy with your face buried into Din’s long sleeve, not a single syllable is intelligible.Grogu had been restless the night before, and if Din weren’t such a morning person, you wouldn’t be blinking back at the sunlight peaking through the blinds. You huff at the brightness. Still, Din brings a hand to the back of your neck and begins to massage the tender spots there. 

“I know, cyare.”

ᯓ★▬▬ι═══════𖥔 ݁ ˖★

“Alright sweet boy, you remember what we talked about, right? It’s up to you to put your toys back into the bin when you take them out. Stay near your buir when you guys play outside, okay?” you smacked a kiss onto Grogu’s wrinkly forehead, jostling the hem of his robes until he erupted into a fit of sweet giggles. 

Monotone announcements rang throughout the PA system in the spaceport, signaling the five minute window you have to wrap up your goodbyes. With hustling travellers weaving their away around your little family, you regretted the weight of the travel pack that you took from Din’s hand. 

“Just keep being a good boy,” you stroked one of Grogu’s oversized ears, not quite ready to lean away from the baby nestled into the crook of your husband’s arm. 

“I don’t think he’s ever been good for a day in his life,” came the dry response from your Mandalorian. Lovingly rolling your eyes, you stepped into Din’s side and smacked a kiss onto the hollowed cheek of his helmet. With a deep sigh, he tilts his helmet down and brings you into a keldabe kiss, touching his metal forehead to yours as his free hand pulls you closer by the small of your back. It’s a shocking amount of affection for Din to display in public, but you’re never one to complain, and rather you slip your eyes shut and lean further into his steady hold. 

“One week and I’ll be back. That’s only seven sleeps. One bra change. It’s practically over already,” you ramble in an attempt to convince yourself to leave, your breath puffing over the beskar of your husband’s helmet. You and Din had agreed that while you close shop in Naboo, he and Grogu would run errands of their own as they address some tedious “independent” business on an Outer Rim base for the New Republic. Neither of you would be doing anything particularly exciting. Both of you were already eager to return to the snuggle puddles held on your couch. As much as you hated it, these chores had been put off for long enough, and brushing them off further would only make them more of a pain. 

“Ni kar'tayl gar darasuum, cyare. We will be home to each other soon. Now get your ass on that transport before they yell for last call,” Din cradles your head and swipes a thumb across your cheek, tapping your chin to get you to hurry along. 

“Alright tin can, I’m gone,” you seal another quick kiss to the edge of the helmet and swiftly steal Grogu for one last toss into the air, spinning him around before settling him back into his carrier. 

You spin on your heel and head straight for the transport. You know you’ve got no backbone. If you look back, you’re not sure if you can fight the urge to stay for the two sets of brown eyes waiting for you on the platform. The transport lurches right as you find a handle bar to grip onto, and through a ripple in the force, you know Din is holding up one of Grogu’s hands to wave goodbye. 

ᯓ★▬▬ι═══════𖥔 ݁ ˖★

Changing your address across planetary systems was the biggest pain in the ass you’ve ever had to deal with. Order 66 included. 

Perched on a set of marble steps at the heart of Naboo’s capital, you snack on a skewer before making plans to catch the next transport home. Your view of Naboo’s graceful sights was a mercy after so much grueling paperwork. It had been years since you had visited your home world, and although you wouldn’t dream of hesitating to settle down with Din (on a glorified lava rock), you felt a distant guilt for abandoning the part of your identity that was Naboo. The loose, artistic fashion of the women strolling by was the kind you had worn in your first days while traveling with Din. Raising Grogu meant that you remained deeply in touch with memories of your Jedi upbringing, but life on the Razor Crest wasn’t exactly suitable for the intricate morning routines of unique makeup and tedious hairstyles that Naboo had engrained into you. Traveling with a (highly wanted, fugitive) bounty hunter would have only brought harm to your silken gowns, although you were happy to part with them in favor of joining clan mudhorn. Circumstance had brought you aboard the Crest, but trust and the blossoms of something more had kept you there. That was more than enough to keep you satisfied. 

Briefly, you wondered if Din would like to see you in some of the lighter gowns of your home world. At the thought of your husband, you realized you hadn’t received an update in a hot minute. Fishing for the datapad in your tote bag, you opened your inbox.

Two missed calls from Zeb. Three unread messages. Shit. The damn datapad didn’t notify you. You opened the messages, hoping it was just more pictures of Grogu messing with the buttons of some dashboard. 

NEW MESSAGE FROM Zeb (chill asf) : “Ward’s got a new job for Mando. I’m flying. Estimate three days. Stay safe out there.”

NEW MESSAGE FROM Zeb (chill asf): “Mando headed to Nal Hutta unsanctioned. Outside of New Republic jurisdiction, that’s for sure. Not worried. Just letting you know. Stay safe.”

NEW MESSAGE FROM Zeb (chill asf): “Been a day. Haven’t heard from your Mando. You okay?”

NEW MESSAGE FROM Zeb (chill asf): “Mando off-grid. Unresponsive. What’s your move?”

The kebab skewer you held loosely between your fingers clattered to the marble flooring as you scrambled to gather your bearings. With your heartbeat skipping over itself and bile rising to sting the roof of your mouth, you held the back of your hand to your lips in a sorry attempt to hold hot, panicky tears at bay. What the hell were you going to do. He was fine, right? Din had to be fine, he always ended up fine no matter what situations you guys found yourselves in. 

Except, of course, this time it wasn’t a situation you both were in. You were separated with entire planetary systems shoved between you two and no way of immediately knowing if your partner and your baby were okay. 

No way in hell was this oversight on Din’s part. Din doesn’t just forget to comm in. Your husband isn’t sloppy. Din’s precision is his pride, down to the miniscule detail. Rising from your spot on the stairs, you typed out a response to Zeb with fumbling hands and a rising anger. 

When the message is delivered, you discard the datapad and let it clatter to the ground. Your bag remains where it rests on the stairway. 

You inhale two sharp, quick breaths. In this instant, on a planet that was once your home but now means so little compared to the Mandalorian and child you have claimed as family, you feel a tremble in the force. You become aware of Naboo’s damp breeze. An imbalance between the land and ocean of this planet. You catch the trail of a phantom scent – thickened jungles and blaster bolts. Beskar. Distress. Desperation. Grogu’s desperation. You hear a familiar whimper, and the force reveals to you a vision of your child with his hand raised, focused entirely on moving Din’s body into a crude mud shelter. A tomb. 

You gasp and break into a swift sprint. Adrenaline carried you as your mind raced through the million possibilities of where your Mandalorian could be. You could feel the force singing in the corners of your senses are you wove between street intersections in search of transport. Your calved stung with the strain of suddenly hauling ass, and you couldn’t tell if your chest was caving from the exertion or the possibility of your Din being gone. Dashing through the coiling cobblestone streets of Nabo, your instincts awakened by the force mingled with your childhood muscle memory, delivering you to the nearest shipyard. 

Eyes darting across the rows of parked aircraft in search of an easy steal, your hand subtly felt for the leather holster slung across your hips. Your lightsaber waited there patiently, seeming to hum in anticipation for the fight it would soon see. It had been a while since you’d needed to . . . borrow . . . a spacecraft, but you’d be damned if you waited for a transport to arrive on schedule before shipping you off to Nal Hutta. 

You spotted a retired ship tucked near the far side of the hangar, just far enough out of sight to be inconvenient for any security droids to linger near. Sauntering around the ship, you acted as if you had entered the hangar out of sheer boredom by kicking an empty oil can across the ground. Ensuring no eyes were on you, you ducked into the hull of the ship. 

Complete darkness engulfed the belly of the abandoned craft. Igniting your saber to illuminate the gut of the rotting ship, you were met with dusty wired and rusted floors. 

Well shit. Whatever. If it could get you into hyperspace, it would do. You lifted the bandana around your neck to keep from breathing the stale air as you ventured deeper into the ship. You swept your surroundings for any squatters or security droids, rounding corners with precision in the way that Din had taught you. Your heart tugged at the thought of your Mandalorian, wherever the hell he may be. 

You’d get him back. You’d get him home and smack him upside the helmet before you chew his ear off about his definition of “low stakes chores.”

Locating the cockpit, you fired up the engines with the flip of a few switches. Instinctively, you reached for the copilot’s chair to ensure Grogu was strapped in. The pang that struck your heart at his absence only fueled your determination to get them back. You had faced Gideon for your little family. You had seen what was left of the Empire, locked eyes with its brutal face, and still managed to settle down in a peaceful home. Sure, the nightmares you suffered were something serious. Dreaming of the darksaber in Gideon’s sick hands, dangerously close to Din’s throat, was never easy to come back from. Still, you’d gladly deal with the grief and panic, letting it melt away each night that Din shook you from your nightmares and held you until your breathing evened. You had fought so hard for this fragile future. There was no way you’d let a fuckass Hutt take it from you. 

You knew the New Republic would tear you apart for what you were about to do. Whatever. You grit your teeth in preparation for the patrol wings that would surely be on your ass as soon as they detected your uncharted flight. Giving yourself no more time to think it through, you tugged the controls to pull the stolen ship up and out of the hangar.

If Din were here, you’d glance to his stoic helmet for reassurance that you were doing the right thing. He would hate your plan. He’d beg you to stay on Naboo, where it was safe and you could escape if need be. He would assure you that the kid would be taken care of. Din is going to be so pissed if you threw a tantrum in front of the Hutts just to find him. He would tell you to let him handle it and that this was the way.

As much as you loved him and his creed, you found that you didn’t quite care about the way. He had insisted on taking Grogu on their “boring errand,” and proceeded to leave you worried sick over whether they were even alive.

The Hutts could go to hell. So could the New Republic. While you’re at it, the Naboo postal service system could go to hell, too. You were doing this your way. 

ONE MESSAGE SENT TO Zeb (chill asf): Omw.

▬▬ι═══════𖥔 ݁ ˖ ᯓ★▬▬ι═══════𖥔 ݁ ˖ ᯓ★▬▬ι═══════𖥔 ݁ ˖ ★

A/N: I'M BACKKKKKKK. if i write one more mando fic before giving other characters attention, put me down. but for now, we have a hozier lyric for the title and a dream.

i've been instructed to write a john walker fic (😔) for the summer season. . . but mama just started watching the bad batch . . . computer put these guys in the most angsty & torturous situation possible . .

see u soon,

🤎First things first, rarely and I mean rarely ever gets sick, maybe a total of five times in his two-hundred years of living has he gotten sick and they were all when he was a kid. He wouldn't even know how to properly handle it, you couldn't even blame him since his regenerative healing should stop the flu from getting to him, right? Apperantly not, you'd hear him hacking louder than he typically did in the early morning, he looked a tad pale and he was sniffling. You almost wanted to laugh, the sight of your surly, big, and rugged boyfriend shuffling around trying to hide the fact that he felt like shit. It even went further from just him hiding his illness, it was almost like he was in a deep state of denial. It seemed like he couldn't fathom what was happening, he probably thought the adamantium poisoning finally caught up with him.

🤎Expanding on the fact that he simply wouldn't accept the idea of him being sick... he would not take your personal space into account. Not only does he have an old-timey backwoods janky 1800s idea of medical practices, but he's also in denial. You'd be making him ginger tea, and suddenly you'd feel his strong arms wrap around your waist from behind. "Logan, get away you're gonna make me sick," You lightly pushed him away. "I'm not sick, just in a bit of a funk," He shook his head now standing at your side, way too close for comfort. He'd even go as far to try to convince you to lay beside him under the soft blanket you had given him to marinate his sickness in. You even came up with the brilliant idea of sticking him in quarantine in one of the air sealed rooms within Hanks lab to get him off of you.

🤎He'd refuse to go to the doctor, in general the man hates going to the hospital. He just doesn't see the point of him seeking medical attention, even just for a check up, acorrding to him two-hundred years of life experince was th equivenelt to doctorate in medical studies. Along with that, he'd also refuse to take any medicine you attemepted to give him "Nothing my body can't take care of," He'd say refering to simply just regenerating his health. You'd sigh to yourself as you snuck in mucinex into his food, the same way you had to with your pet dog when you were younger. In one moment it appeared as though that you didn't crush a pill quite enough and he noticed almost instantly, causing him to start asking quesitons.

🤎It would piss you off to no end when you caught him smoking one of his beloved cigars, despite the fact he was loudly having a coughing fit not even fifth-teen minutes earlier. "Hey put that out," You scolded him, trying to swipe the cigar out of his hand, him quickly dodging your hand. He'd also drink while being sick since of course he's an alcoholic as we all know. He'd insist that back in his day alcohol was the peak remedy for illnesses that he apprently didn't have, what he'd ignore was you telling him that back in his day the moment someone didn't feel good they'd ship them off to live in a village with a bunch of other sick people, and that everyone was sucking on pucks of lead to cure whatever was bothering them.

🤎Although he wouldn't admit that he was sick, he does secretly enjoy you taking care of him. Watching you brew up a cup of tea you both know he wouldn't drink, or you gently asking him for whatever his heart desires. The fantasy quickly ending the moment you yelled at him when he asked to have a cigar and a strong bottle of liquor. The only thing that could be better than you taking care of him would be you snuggling up with him under the warm blanket he has been under the entire day.

🤎His cold had only lasted two days, since his immune system could fight off the sickness much quicker than most. The moment he began to feel better he'd try to play an "I told you so" card which you weren't going to fall for. You knew he was sick, he knew he was sick, in fact the entire X-Mansion knew the man was sick, and his quick recovery gave him the worst ego boost of all time. "I told you it was nothing," He shrugged giving you a smug smile.

END

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“Have you no decorum?” You scolded Anakin as the two of you entered the elevator. A meeting had just ended and Anakin decided it was his responsibility to make it clear to a flirtatious senator to not even think about getting close to you.

“You must’ve seen the way he was looking at you, as if you were something to be claimed” He shook his head avoiding eye contact with you, Anakin was more than aware of the fact that you couldn’t stand it when he got jealous.

“The way he looks at me doesn’t matter Anakin, you can’t just get all possessive like that and then try to pass it off as you reminding whomever about the Jedi code, the same Jedi code we’re currently breaking.” You stressed leaning against the wall of the elevator.

“Technically it’s not against the code to fall in love, a select amount of it is up for interpretation,” He shrugged finally meeting his eyes with yours.

“You’re right it’s not, possessive attachments are, and based off your behavior you can’t tell the difference between the two,” You said angrily, you weren’t exactly mad at him, more so frustrated. You loved Anakin, you really did, but his possessiveness could not go unnoticed by you and anyone else with eyes, if he kept it up it wouldn’t be long before people began to connect dots.

“I’m sorry, I truly am, I’m new to this… we’re both new to this and I am trying my best,” He moved closer to you resting his hands on your forearms. “I just- the way he was looking at you, I just couldn’t contain myself. He should know he can’t just look at you like your his,” He cupped your cheek, a borderline crazy look in his eyes.

“Anakin, just because we can’t display our love for each other doesn’t mean our love is any less precious or meaningful,” You leaned into his touch. “I am yours and you are mine, but we also must exist as individuals just as we had before, this” You continued

“Before this we hated each other, or at the very least pretended to, now that I’m with you and we’ve established our feelings for one another, the idea of hating you is outlandish,” He leaned closer, clearly suggesting some sort of physical reconciliation.

“It is exhausting, the pretending….you’re the only person I want to be with, you’re aware of that right?” You sighed, looking down slightly, then looking back up at Anakin, you could see the brief hesitation in his eyes.

“Yes, I know” He nodded clearly not completely convinced.

“Hey,” You whispered softly before placing your hands on his shoulders and planting a gentle yet passionate kiss on his lips. He almost instantly gave into the kiss, positioning his hands firmly on your lower hips. The kiss quickly grew passionate, to the point you were sure the both of you could barely breath.

"Wait, I think," You pulled away trying to save your integrity that could be lost the moment the elevator doors opened. Anakin on the other hand had no regard for such, he connected his lips back to yours pressing you against the elevator wall. His grip only grew tighter, you wanted to stop him, what the two of you were doing was reckless, and ill mannered, yet you couldn't bring yourself to stop the act. In fact you wanted to take it further, you began to undo the binding of Anakins Jedi robe, which caused his to freeze for a split second before going back to ravishing your mouth. While you and Anakins relationship only became more and more passionate by day the two of you haven't quite made it direcet intercourse, the fear of being caught stopping you most of the time.

Just as you were about to completly unravel his robe you heard the dreaded sound of a ding come from the elevator, the door quickly opening. The two of you scrambled away from each other attempting to look as presentable as possible, your heart dropped into your ass as you saw Obi-Wan stroll into the elevator, postioning himself between you and Anakin. You were sure Anakin felt as nervous has you did, while he tried to discreatly adjust himself in his pants, evidently failing.

"Hello master," Anakin said sounding slightly out of breath, before dropping his head, looking at the ground.

"Anakin...Y/N" Obi-Wan nodded in acknowledgement to the both of you. A sense of shame and guilt washed over you, as Obi-Wan looked at you with a subtle puzzled look before shifting his eyes towards Anakin who was doing everthing in his power to avoid eye contact with him. "I'm quite suprised the two of you managed to co-exist in the same elevator," Obi-Wan said in a slightly sarcastic tone, he was on to you and Anakin and you simply couldnt have that.

"Well, trust me I tried to avoid it," You folded your arms trying to make it seem like you an Anakin possibly were arguing before he had entered the elevator. Your sudden change in demor made Anakin finally look up and turn to you, he looked like you had just said the most preposterous thing he had ever heard. His terrible lack of a poker face nearly made you passout as you saw Obi-Wan look at Anakin with squinted eyes and then looked at you with he same puzzzled yet suspicious expression.

As the elevator slowly came to a hault the doors opened once again, in walked the same senator that couldn't contain himself from flirting with you. It took about two seconds for Anakins face to shift from baffled to pissed, like really pissed. Of couse much to your displeasure the senator decided to stand directly behind you, his eyes burning into the back of your head.

"Y/N Jinn was it?" the senator said placing a hand on your shoulder. You were sure Obi-Wan could sense the anger and jealously burning inside of Anakin.

"Yes," You smiled while keeping a dismissve tone in order to keep your boyfriend at bay.

"By chance are you related to Qui Gon Jinn?" He pressed squeezing himself between you and Obi-Wan.

"Yes, he was my older brother," You said quietly, you didnt talk about Qui Gon often, as proud as you were to be his younger sibling the reminder that he was gone ate away at you. Most people knew better than bring him up much around you, the only person you could really talk to about your brother was Obi-Wan after all he knew him best.

"Such a shame, what happened to him. I had actually met him a handful of times, a good man. They never did find Mauls body did they? Hm let's hope hes good for gone then huh?" He rambled on.

"I believe you should watch your words, senator. Darth Maul is dead, that is that," Anakin spat out, his hands clenched into fists. The idea of the man who killed your brother still being out there haunted you. Of course you trusted that Obi-Wan killed him just as everyone said he did, but you never truly thought about how Mauls body was never found, most of the time when a Sith or Jedi dies the body is retrieved to be burried or burned.

"Anakin, you will fix your tone and choice of words when addressing the senator." Obi-Wan said sternly, all while keeping an understanding look in his eyes. No one other than Obi-Wan knew how much Qui Gons death had effected you growing up. You were only nine years old when a then twenty-five year old Obi-Wan had to sit you down and explain to you that your dear brother was gone. That your guidance and primary guardian had been murdered by a Sith Lord during an intense battle. You were never quite the same after than day, you had even told Obi-Wan that you wished to be the one to take Mauls life when you were ten years old. Of course he told you not to say that or internalize thoughts of such a dark nature which only angered you further, who was he to tell you not to desire to avenge the person you loved the most. That night you pined on what Obi-Wan had told you, deeply trying to understand why the desire to seek revenge for your brother was bad. That was the same night you saw your brother again, he came to you, very directly. You had heard tales of force ghosts but you never thought you'd actually see one. Your brother seemed so at peace with his fate despite the brutality of it, he told you there was no use of polluting your mind with thoughts of revenge and murder all in the name of anger, especially since there was nothing you could do about, Maul was dead, Obi-Wan was safe, and Qui Gon would always be there to watch over you.

"Sentor, I assure you Darth Maul is dead, there is nothing to be concerned about," Obi-Wan adressed the sentor, although he said this while looking directly into you eyes, in a way assuring you that Maul was gone, for good.

"You're quite right, General Kenobi, after all you were the one who slayed the sick fool," the senator laughed. "Y/N surely you do not take offense to my curiosity about your brother, or frankly my curiosity about you, you're a quite beautiful young lady just look at you," He looked you up and down, you could tell his "concern" about you being offended wasn't genuine, more so just to seem considerate. Anakin looked as if he was about to explode, or ignite his lightsaber and begin to swing away.

"She's not a lady, she's a Jedi and I'm sure you couldn't offend her if you tried," Anakin interjected failing to mask the anger in his voice. A grimace grew on Obi-Wans face over the sentors awkward flirting and over Anakins poorly hidden possessiveness.

"It's fine, I've learned to be with at peace with the loss of my brother," You mumbled quietly. You felt and intense sense of relief when you heard the elevator ding allowing the four of you to exit the small box. Before Anakin could follow behind you Obi-Wan quickly dragged him into a corner, needing to discuss his recent behavior.

"Anakin you cannot just simply speak to government officials anyway you want just because you can't control your possessive impulses," Obi-Wan shook his head in disbelief.

"Possessive? I'm not sure what you mean by that Master, I simply wanted him to stop ranting about the death of Qui Gon in front of his little sister," Anakin reasoned, only telling the partial truth.

"You have been acting out much before Qui Gon was brought into the conversation, I was under the impression I got through to you when we had a similar discussion to this back on Hoth," Obi-Wan stressed.

"What does this have to do with Hoth," Anakin played dumb, forgetting his master knew better. Obi-Wan stared at him, a blank expression on his face, he almost looked deflated. Probably due to the fact that his former student thought that he was blind as a bat. Obi-Wan was more than aware of Anakins feelings for you and only partially aware of the fact that you reciprocated Anakins feelings for you, you always were a tad harder for him to read.

"Anakin, I do not approve of the behavior you exibit whenever someone enjoys Y/Ns company more than you'd like them to," Obi-Wan said very directly hoping to get through to Anakin this time. But upon closer inspection he realized Anakin wasn't actually looking him in the eyes, instead Anakins gaze went past Obi-Wans shoulder and directly to where you were standing currently being held verbally hostage by the same senetor that wouldn’t shut up about your dead brother. "Anakin, are you listening to me?" Obi-Wan shifted his stance blocking Anakins veiw of you.

"Of course I am master," He groaned, running a hand through his hair. Anakin struggled to avert his eyes from where you were, he hated it, he hated seeing you fake smile and nod at the man you previously brought up the most traumatizing event of your childhood as if it were the plot to a book. You never fake laughed at his jokes, you either kept a striaght face or you broke out in laughter clutching your stomach with your hands while you stuggles to breath. That was one of his favorite sights to see when it was just the two of you.

Anakins trance was quickly broken when he saw the senator cup your cheek giving it lights stroke. He could see the discomfort on your face, as you tried to respectfully pull away from the senators touch. Without even thinking Anakin began to walked over towards you clearly fuming. Obi-Wan firmly grabbed his by the shoulder making an attempt to stop him before Anakin shook his hand off of him. The look in Anakins eyes was a forgien sight to you, you had seen him upset before but not this upset.

"Excuse me for one moment senator," You smiled, beginning to head over the hallway fully intending for Anakin to follow right behind you. Luckily he understood what you were doing, as he followed behind you. The moment the two of you were alone you grabbed onto Anakin forcing him to look you in the eyes. "You need to calm down," You shook your head. "This relationship, if you can call it one is going down a road I refuse to participate in," You huffed.

"I just, I don't like the way he was speaking to you," Anakin muttered

"I was handling it Ani," You tightened your grip on his arms shaking him back a forth a bit. "I'm beginning to get exhausted from having conversations like this,"

"He shouldn't speak to you that way," He deadpanned. "I remember... I remember the state you were in after Qui Gon died. It was the first time we ever met, you were so quiet, and then you were angry and hostile. I swore you hated me, hated everyone for that matter." He whispered taking a step closer to you. "At the time I couldn't understand why you hated me, I wanted to be your friend, we were the same age after-all, but you turned me away, so many times. Eventually I stopped caring... if you were to hate me, I was to hate you. But now, that you've given me your affection, and attention, I cant go without it and seeing someone else receive it provokes a side of me I can't seem to control." He softly ranted, slowly closing the gap between the two of you. You were more than aware of how irrational he sounded, it was a slightly unnerving to hear him express this verbally. Maybe it was his evident dedication to you, or his desire to defend you that was enough to make you look past the obvious warning signs.

"I will work on it, controlling my emotions that is, I'll do it for us," He promised before placing a soft kiss on your forehead. You opened your mouth to respond be before you could even get a word out you heard Obi-Wans voice.

"The two of you do understand how inappropriate this is, correct," He scoled both of you, causing Anakin to take a couple steps away from you.

"This is not what it appears to be," Anakin stuttered.

"Oh? Then would you care to explain what this is?" Obi-Wan motioned between you and Anakin.

"You see, Y/N had began to feel emotional after discussing her brother, I was simply comforting her," Anakin said unconvincingly although he wasn't completely lying.

"He tells the truth Obi-Wan, you and I both know I don't particularly care for speaking about Qui Gon, especially with strangers," You faked a sorrowful voice. You could tell Obi-Wan wasn't totally buying you and Anakins act. With good reason, why would two people who don't like each other be comfoting one another.

"You both need to engange in the paratice of self control." He shook his head looking at you and Anakin in disappointment before turing the oppiste direction and walking away.

"Will do!" You called out enthusiastically, with a teasing tone. Anakin turned to you with a slight bewildered look, before you leaned in placing a kiss on his lips, not even checking to see if the coast as clear.

"Anakin!" Obi-Wan called out from down the hall, thankfully what you were currently doing was out of sight from him. You sighed as he pulled away from you leaving to follow Obi-Wans voice.

"Wait, one more for the road," You quietly laughed pulling him back towards you for one more kiss.

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"Its quite the mission for the three of you it won't be easy," Master Mace Windu explained taking a seat in front of you.

"I'm sorry Master I don't mean to interrupt, but what exactly do you mean "three"?" you wrinkled your eyebrows briefly scanning the meeting room to see if there was anyone else other than you and Master Windu.

"That's right, three, You, Master Kenobi, and of course Master Skywalker" Not even intentionally you let out a soft groan the moment you heard the last syllable of the name "Skywalker" leave his mouth. While you have always liked maybe even loved Obi-Wan, due to the fact he was your older brother, Qui Gon Jinns Padawan all those years ago. On the other hand his own former Padawan, Anakin seemed to be your own personal headache. He was irritating beyond reason, he was reckless, impatient, and careless all things you weren't.

"With all due respect Master," You began before Windu quickly cut you off.

"Yes I'm aware of the hostility between you and Master Skywalker, but I expect you, a young promising Jedi master to put your differences aside with Master Skywalker," Master Windu said sternly, making you regret the protest your were about to voice. You wondered why the hell he wasn't saying this to Anakin considering he's the more stubborn one between the both of you. "And I've already discussed this Master Skywalker, since you were so concerned about him not having this knowledge as well," He said opening the door, a silent signal for you to leave the room. You opened your mouth, not sure what to say before quickly shutting it, giving Master Windu a quick nod, and making a quick exit with the mission files in your hand.

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At your lunch hour you sat peacefully by yourself in the hectic mess hall to enjoy your meal and go over your mission files. You were a bit disappointed to learn that the mission would take place on the planet Hoth, an icy, cold, barren wasteland. You never exactly had the best tolerance for the cold, especially the dry, rough cold that was found on Hoth. The mission would be stressful, not just because of Anakin but also due to the people you'd have to deal with. Apparently, some nobody bounty hunter clan had somehow gotten his hands on the Prince of Hynestia Prime and has been keeping him in an abandoned ship that had been crash-landed decades ago. The mission was lacking a great amount of information, you knew you would have to mentally prepare yourself to insure no stone remained unturned on the site. Right as you were about to open your journals to jot down any possible game plans you could sense Obi-Wan sit down across from you.

"Obi-Wan," You said nonchalantly, not even looking up from the files. Obi-Wan had known you since you were born, at that point he had been your older brothers Padawan for around three years. After your brother passed Obi-Wan became sort of an older brother to you, despite not being the one to train you into being a Jedi Knight.

"I want to speak to you about the mission, and that our priority will the princes safety," He began. "Not causing any sort of, commotion with your team," You hated when he talked to you as if you were a child still, you knew exactly what he was implying, that you would cause some sort of argument with Anakin and mess up the mission.

"Why don't you tell this to him? He's the argumentative one, he's the one who still needs you to baby sit him on every mission," You scoffed stabbing your fork into your meal. You could hear Obi-Wan let out a long exhale causing you to look up. He moved his fingers onto his face, pinching the top of his nose.

"Well then you'd be happy to know that Master Windu and have I already sat down with Anakin and discussed this very matter with him," He reasoned.

"And what'd he say," You raised an eyebrow, already knowing Anakin must have been less susceptible to the topic.

"He said that he'd cooperate with you only if you don't attempt to dictate the mission, his words not mine," Obi-Wan shook his head. Of course, leave it to Anakin to make an unnecessary jab at you just to seem right.

"Well then tell him to attempt to form at least one coherent thought before getting us killed tomorrow, my words not yours" You rolled your eyes getting up from the table, will all your belongings in hand.

"I am not going to play messenger for the two of you, Y/N," Obi-Wan shook his head getting up for the table as well.

"I know, I know," You said giving him a soft smile before exiting the mess hall.

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The morning of the mission, you decided to make your way to the ship around an hour early to get yourself situated, unfortunately for you the ship wasn't empty. The moment you stepped on the ramp you could sense Anakin and you were sure he could sense you, he was already set up in the pilots seat, the exact spot you planned on sitting in.

"You're late" He said looking over his shoulder watching you walk up the ramp and towards to cockpit.

"I'm early actually," You said taking out your mission plan spread sheet.

"Early is on time on time is late" He saids smugly rotating the chair to face you.

"We literally are both early so either way I’m not late," You rolled your eyes, over his lack of logic. "And if I'm late then your dear baby-sitter is very late," You scoffed taking a seat next to him.

"I don't have a baby-sitter," It sounded like he was trying to convince himself that you weren't right. But he knew deep down there was a reason he never got to go on mission without Obi-Wan or why he wasn't able to have a Padawan of his own quite yet. "You don't even have a Padawan yet," He said defensively, side eyeing you.

"You're right I don't have one , because I'm not a babysitter," You laughed knowing you were managing to get under Anakins skin. "Speaking of babysitters," You beamed, seeing Obi-Wan entering the ship.

"Have the two of you started already?" Obi-Wan groaned feeling the tension between you and Anakin in the ship.

"No, no we're getting along just fine, promise," You clarified giving Anakin a half sarcastic and half genuine smile. You and Anakins disdain for each other wasn't exactly the most reasonable thing. Not only did the two of you feel like you had to compete with each other due to the fact you were the same age but also that you guys were totally different styles. Anakin was more spontaneous, or as you saw rash, and erratic, while you were more strategic, or as Anakin saw you as pushy, and apprehensive. Yet you'd never tell each other the fact that you both still held each other in a high regard and could acknowledge the fact that you were both good at your jobs despite you’re differences.

Obi-wan walked between the two of you, setting the ships course to Hoth. He gently signaled for Anakin to move to another seat, much to your surprise he didn't put up any sort of protest as he gave up the seat to his master. He made a not so subtle glance towards you, while moving to the center console, clearly daring you to make a comment on Obi-Wan not letting him be the missions pilot. You debated in your whether you should tease him on the subject, but decided against it when you felt Anakins gaze burning into the side of your face.

"....Can I help you with something?" You raised an eyebrow slowly turning your head to face him, he quickly looked away, poorly trying to play off the fact that he was staring at you. Clearly he was trying to figure out some way to get you out of the co-pilot seat via the force, but for some reason it didn't seem to be working this time. Now you were curious, what the hell kind of stunt was he trying to pull? With you being lost in thought you caught yourself briefly staring at Anakin, just the way he was looking at you. It only took a couple seconds of you gazing at him for his eyes to meet yours, you could see his jaw clench right before you rolled your eyes and looked away. You could feel that his gaze didn't leave you after you had looked away, but this time the stare didn't feel judgmental, it felt more like he was studying you like he was trying to figure out a puzzle.

"Well I hope the two of you are prepared, this mission won't be easy," Obi-Wan began, causing Anakin to tear his gaze away from you. "From my understanding there's not many guards outside the base, the but inside is riddled with droids, so you must keep a sharp eye out," He continued while starting up the ship.

"Of course Master, vigilance will be our priority," Anakin nodded glancing at you waiting for you to make a gesture of agreement, causing you to give a reluctant "mhmm".

"Well since that's all sorted out I sketched out a pretty good plan to get in and get out as fast as possible," You nodded over to the spread sheet you had left on the small table in the ship. You could hear Anakin let out a quiet groan at the fact that you wanted to go into a mission with a well thought out plan.

"Surely you don't think that's completely necessary right?" He questioned in a condescending tone, the smugness in his face lit up a fire in the pit of your stomach. The anger it caused you was not the Jedi way, which is exactly why you had to bite your tongue in order to stop you from seriously giving him a verbal lashing.

"I'll take a look at it," Obi-Wan spoke up giving you a soft smile, "You will too" He turned to Anakin, a scowl on his face. You could see the defeat take over Anakins face, he looked at you with a faint sheepish expression on his face. You could see his eyes scan your face, resting his vision on the lower have of your head, before forcing himself to get up and look at your spread sheet.

"We should probably set up a recovery kit for the prince right? I mean we don't exactly know what kind of state he might be in when we rescue him," You suggested, you weren't exactly the most familiar with the people of Hynestia Prime, but you did know that it was a tundra planet so the bitter coldness of Hoth shouldn't be effecting the prince to harshly.

"That sounds like a good idea, everything you'll need is in MedBay next to storage unit three, Anakin assist her with such," Obi-Wan said begging to guide the ship toward the atmosphere of Coruscant. Anakin gave a sharp look at his Obi-Wan before strarting the short walk to the medical unit with you following closely behind. When the two of you made it inside the room, Anakin began to grab just anything that was within arms reach.

"Why would he need a cold pack if he's currently being held on a barren ice planet, if anything he's gonna need a heat pack," You shrugged putting the cold pack back from where Anakin grabbed it.

"You're being impossible to deal with and you don't even want to be around me, I don't even know why I'm helping you, this was your idea," Anakin sighed shoving the things he grabbed back onto the shelves they were found.

"It's not that I don't want to be around you, you just make it hard to want to be around, but I'm trying my best at least," You mumbled, beginning to grab the items you would actually need. "And for the record you're helping me because your baby-sitter is making you, or maybe you don't hate being around me either," You shrugged.

"It's because of Obi-Wan," He deadpanned quickly making his way out the MedBay with the items you picked out in his arms. Although he left abruptly you could smell the his scent still lingering in the room, he smelt of ash, leather, and amber an intoxicating combination, despite who it came from. You began to trail behind Anakin picking up some gauze he dropped on his way to set the medical supplies down, before the ship suddenly began to shake. It wasn't the average turbulence that three of you were used to, this was much more severe.

"There's an asteroid field, completely uncharted our sensors didn't even pick it up till now," Obi-Wan yelled from the cockpit, while maneuvering the ship around the cluster of asteroids. Some of the asteroids were the size of moons, flying past the ship nearly hitting it. You made an attempt at planting your feet into the ground to avoid falling over, but one particular asteroid came flying towards the ship causing Obi-Wan to roughly swing the controls in the opposite direction, almost turning the ship on its side. Your ankles gave out making you stumble across the hall, nearly sending you to the ground before you felt your body being hoisted up by a tight grip on your waist which slightly lifted up your robe. His scent alone already let you know it was Anakin holding on to you like his life depended on it. Your back was firmly pressed up against his chest, that you could feel was slowly rising and falling. His grip around you was almost painful and had a cold sensation against your skin due to his metal hand, but you couldn't bring yourself to protest against it after the ship shifted greatly again. The two of you stayed in the position watching Obi-Wan successfully guide the ship out of the asteroid field, giving you all a sense of release. You could feel Anakins grip on your waist begin to relax, yet to remove either of his hands from your body, in fact you swore you could almost feel his gloved thumb softy rub up and down on your bare skin. You almost allowed yourself relax into his touch, and take in his scent before really realizing who you were leaning up against and who had their hands protectively wrapped around you.

You drew your elbow out slightly, preparing to elbow him in the stomach, but before you could jam it towards him, one of his hands left your waist and stopped the motion of your arm. You turned you head up to him giving him a look of disgust that quickly faltered once you saw the disappointed look in his eyes, like a porg that's been kicked too many time. But those expressions didn't work on you, or at least that's what you'd like to think. You tore yourself from his hold adjusting your robe to cover your midriff from staying exposed, you figured it would be best to disregard the semi intimate exchange you just had with Anakin.

"Obi-Wan, how long will it be till we get to Hoth?" You asked taking a seat next him.

"Once we make the jump to light-speed it will be just a moment," He replied pushing the gear to send the ship into an incredible speed, bright stripes flooding your vision. And just like that you could see the beaming white planet before you, you marveled at the site until you noticed a black gloved hand appear next to yours his scent once again flooding your space. He was basically hovering over you, his body leaning over yours as if there was no where else he could sit or stand the feeling of his body looming over yours, making you feel warm.

"Do you mind?" You chided glaring up at him, waiting for him to move out of your space.

"No, not at all really," He assured, with a smug look on his face.

"Well, I'm going to go over the plan one more time before we land," You stood up, the top of your head bumping Anakins chin causing him to let out a subtle groan, probably making him bite his tongue. As you began reading your game plan Anakin took your old seat next to Obi-Wan.

"I'm not exactly sure what you have going on but I suggest you quit trying to agitate her," Obi-Wan advised giving Anakin a side eye.

"How do you know she's the not the one to agitate me, she just bumped into me on purpose," He shook his head at the accurate assumption that Obi-Wan had.

"She bumped into you because you were over her Anakin, I don't need you bothering her when were about to go into a mission," Obi-Wan breathed out, while angling the ship down towards the planet.

"You've always favored her master," Anakin said softly attempting to play the pity card.

"As do you, compared to everyone else at the very least," Obi-Wan responded ominously.

"Im not sure what you mean by that," Anakin played dumb, Obi-Wan wasn't clueless, he noticed when Anakin would look at you when he thought no one was looking, and he noticed when you stood closer than normal to Anakin whenever you got the chance to despite the fact you were both too deluded to notice yourselves.

"Brace yourselves for landing," Obi-Wan said loudly, settling the ship in a secluded area.

ੈ.✩‧₊˚༺☆༻ੈ✩‧₊˚

As the three of you managed to sneak into the large abandoned ship, it was suspiciously empty, no droids, no soldiers, not even a sound was in the ship.

"Where do you think they could be keeping the Prince," You whispered looking over at Obi-Wan.

"This is an older storage vessel, not the most secure way to keep a prisoner, yet there are many rooms he could be in," He looked around "Here take this, it show you heat sources near you, use it to find the prince," Obi-Wan said quickly handing you a small device that looked similar to a GPS. "I'm sure there are soldiers tucked away around here, Anakin and I will deal with them, you go find the prince" Obi wan instructed. You nodded, powering on the device and quietly scampered down the hall beginning your search for the prince.

After going through several empty storage bunkers and taking down several, droids and soldiers you final found the Prince. His arms and legs bound together with rope, and his eye covered with a line of cloth. Other than his body being restricted he didn't seem to be in bad shape other than a couple cuts and bruises. The sound of your entering the room clearly set him into a panic, as you watched him try to wiggle away from you as much as he could without using his arms or legs.

"Hey, hey it's ok I'm Y/N Y/LN I'm a Jedi, I've been sent to rescue you," You said softly putting your arm on his shoulder. It took him a moment to fully relax and allow you to remove the bindings on his body. It almost left you speechless as he looked at you with pleading eyes. "What's your name," You asked gently trying to bring down any concern that might be harboring underneath his face.

"Thane, my name is Thane" He whispered leaning closer to pulling you into a hug. It felt quite awkward embracing a stranger in such a way but you knew it was no time to deny comfort.

"Ok Prince Thane, let's get you out of here," You smiled rubbing his back tenderly. Just as you were about to help him up you hear the metal door slide open behind you, you could sense it was Obi-Wan but of course Thane couldn't which caused him to cower into your arms.

"He seems fine just a couple of scratches is all," You told Obi-Wan who was about to offer the prince a hand up. "It's ok he's a friend of mine," You assured Thane who trusted your word and took Obi-Was hand all while staying with you. You, Thane, and Obi-Wan could hear the sound of a lightsaber swinging close by, which caused him to go back into your arms, you were basically cradling him at this point stroking his back for comfort. Until Anakin entered the room, calm and collected despite clearly having just fought off either soldiers or droids with weapons. His face changed from confident, to confused and somewhat displeased when his gaze fell upon the sight of you holding Thane.

"Don't worry, just another friend of mine" You sighed looking over at Anakin. "He seems pretty shaken up we should get out of here," You told Obi-Wan who was currently looking down the hall.

"Indeed we should, Y/N, Anakin, escort the prince out the west wing it the safest passage, I will meet you there with the ship," He stated before giving you both a nod and making his way down the east wing where the ship was parked.

"Ok Thane, we have to go now, so I need you to let me go, ok?" You tried to ask as gently as possible, not wanting to make him feel like a burden. A whimper escaped the prince's mouth, seemingly over the fact that he had to let you go. You could hear Anakin scoff at the prince's neediness, which made you shoot daggers at him with your eyes.

Eventually after two more minutes of coaxing him the prince finally let you go allowing you and Anakin to begin to escort him to the west wing. The trip was going well until you ran into a small group of droids, you tried to draw your lightsaber but was quickly stopped by Thane once again tightly wrapping himself around you, leaving Anakin to fend for the group by himself. Luckily due to Anakins great skill it was no struggle to take out a couple of droids, but it did piss him off to see how the prince wouldn't stop clinging onto you.

"I understand being scared, but you can't just wrap yourself around her whenever something happens," He rolled his eyes as he retracted his saber. He didn't just sound irritated, there was something else to his demeanor that displayed obvious discomfort. The way he'd glare, not at you, but at the prince whenever he'd cling onto you or call your name for comfort.

Thankfully when you made it to the exist of the west wing Obi-Wan already there with the ship.

"What took you so long," He scolded looking towards Anakin for an answer,

"We ran into so droids, and your Royale highness here, just had to grab onto to Y/N," Anakin retorted stomping onto the ship. You could see the confusion on Obi-Wan face after Anakin has entered the ship, he looked toward you for some kind of explanation that you yourself did not have, all you could do was shrug in response and help Thane into the ship.

"Here I have some stuff you patch you up," You smiled gesturing for him to sit down by the table with medical supply on it. Without you even asking Thane slipped his shirt off exposing possibly the galaxys smallest cut on his chest. All you could so was give him a soft smile as his eyes darted down to his chest and back at you, clearing wanting ou to give it some sort of assistant although it would clearly heal on its own in about two days.

You dabbed some alcohol on a cotton pad and gently dabbed it on his cut, causing him to make an over-dramatic wince. You could see in the corner of your eye that Anakin was glaring at him hard, not making any sort of effort to hide his unreasonable disdain for the prince.

"You should be good as new within the next two days." You said tossing the cotton ball into the small trash can next to you.

"You don't need to examine the rest of me for anything?" He prodded, giving you a look that made you cringe inside.

"Uh, no, you should be fine," You stated, turning away from the prince and towards Anakin and Obi-Wan.

"So exactly how far away are we from Hynestia Prime?' You sat down next to Anakin, breaking his stare of hatred towards the prince.

"Not very long, but I suggest one of you remain keeping the prince company, he doesn't seem to be in the right headspace," Obi-Wan suggested, looking between both you and Anakin.

"Well, Y/N he seems to have taken a liking to you, so..." Anakin said bitterly looking at you as if you've wronged him.

"What's your problem?" You grimaced, looking at the clearly agitated look on his face, of course you were familiar with the dynamic between the two of you, but this seemed different from your usual bickering.

"Do you ever ask yourself that I might be upset or- actually, never mind, it doesn't even matter," He stood up, storming down the corridor of the ship, leaving both you and Obi-Wan in shock and confusion.

"Y/N, start and launch the ship. I need to speak with Anakin," Obi-Wan said lowly, before getting up and going down the path Anakin had taken. No matter how many times you've seen Obi-Wan reprimand Anakin ever since he was a padawan, you were never able to get used to him being seriously upset, and acting on it at that.

Obi-Wan spotted Anakin sitting on the floor, his back against the wall of the ship, clearly there was something eating at him deep inside,

"Anakin, what has gotten into you?" He scowled, looking at his former student in disappointment.

"You saw the way he kept touching her right, clinging onto her like a scared child," Anakin shook his head getting more and more irritated by just restating what had happened.

"And why have you become so deeply concerned with how the prince behaves around Y/N?" Obi-Wan raised an eyebrow, he wasn't blind. He always had a sneaking suspicion that you and Anakin both had been harboring feelings for each other that you tried to hide and deny with fake hostility towards each other.

"She's a Jedi, attachments are strictly forbidden as one, and he needs to respect that." He seethed brushing his hair out of his face.

"And what attachment is she forming, Anakin? The prince had been kidnapped to be used as a pawn, it's not completely unreasonable for her to be willing to comfort him." Obi-Wan explained.

"He seems to want to form an attachment with her." Anakin said as he stood up.

"As a Jedi, I don't believe she will reciprocate such a thing," Obi-Wan put his hand on Anakins shoulder, giving him a stern but reassuring look. The two of them began to walk back to the cockpit, as Obi-Wan thought to himself to rekindle this conversation later, specifically on Anakins lack of emotional regulation.

You tried your best to give equal attention to piloting the ship and Thane, who was currently sitting next to you and badgering you with questions about yourself, before you heard Obi-Wan and Anakin approaching from behind you.

"Are you feeling ok?" You asked softly, turning around to face Anakin, who was currently avoiding eye contact with you.

"Only a tad bit better," Thane shrugged, believing the question was for him for whatever reason.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I was asking Anakin," You said kindly, brushing Thane off.

Anakin looked at you with a blank face before, gesturing his head towards the MedBay, where the two of you had an exchange earlier. Typically, you would've told him to piss off, but without any hesitation, you stood up from your seat and began to walk towards the MedBay with him. Obi-Wan also stayed silent, quickly taking over the pilot's seat for you.

Once the two of you made it to the room, Anakin quickly closed the door behind you, giving you an intense look, to the point it was almost intimidating.

"Why are you looking at me like that," You sighed backing up a bit.

"Like what?" Anakin asked, with an almost manic look on his face.

"Like you're going to do something stupid," You grimaced. "I just wanna know what your deal is." You crossed your arms. The way he was looking at you was borderline overstimulating, giving you a rush of all sorts of emotions, spanning from concerned to relieved to confused.

"As a Jedi, I need to be able to control my emotions. When I'm around you, it becomes too difficult." He moved closer to you.

"Right, so you can't control your disdain for me? Did this really need to be a conversation?" You rolled your eyes. This didn't break him, though; he began to lean in, awkwardly and quite unnaturally, wrapping his arms around you, pulling you into a tight hug. It was confusing and abrupt, it didn't even occur to you to hug him back. The hug didn't feel tender, it felt possessive, like you allowing him to hug you affirmed something for him inside. You finally brought yourself to hug him back, rubbing his back the way you did to Thane.

"Don't touch me back, if you don't truly mean it," Anakin mumbled into the crook of your neck.

"Just this once, ok?" You rested your head on his broad shoulder. Your breath hitched as he squeezed you tighter, "Anakin..." You began attempting to break the embrace.

"No, just... no one has to know," He raised his head, looking into your eyes.

"It's not that it's, if we don't stop now, I won't be able to just walk away, and you know its to be forbidden for us." You shook your head, taking another step back, pressing yourself against the wall of the MedBay.

"I'll let you go, and you can walk away, only if you can look me in the eyes and tell me that this is wrong, that us, you and I, should keep up the charade of hating each other," He confessed, unwrapping his arms from around you in order to hold your hands.

"If anyone were to find out"

"They won't"

You couldn't say no, was it the look in his eyes? Or was it the proclamation of love you subconsciously had been waiting for? You noticed his gaze drop to your lips, his expression desperate, eagerly waiting for the green light to take what he had been craving for years.

"Go ahead," You granted playfully, rolling your eyes, with out a second left to spare, he quickly rushed his lips to yours, fulfilling a much-needed release for the both of you.

Your foreheads rested on each other, both of you breathing heavily, as the realization of what had just happened sank in for both of you. Not only did you break the Jedi code but you also put both of your careers in major jeopardy.

"When we leave this room, if that prince touches you one more time-" Anakin shook his head

"Hey, relax, your jealously has been suffocating me ever since we made it off of Hoth," You smiled softly punching his shoulder.

"I am jealous, you are mine and I am yours, it'd kill me to see you end up with him," He stated oh so matter of factly.

"Right... well, we should probably head back before Obi-Wan starts getting suspicious," You suggested, making a conscious choice to ignore the red flags that Anakin just displayed.

"Why would he be suspicious?" Anakin looked at you, genuinely confused.

"He's not blind, Anakin, he can tell when you two people like each other, especially two people he's known since they were children," You explained, walking into the main hall of the ship. "So practice your poker face, you look like someone just won the lotter," You smiled before deadpanning you're face, with Anakin quickly copying.

"I'm hoping the two of you manage to resolve any conflict you had with each other," You could hear Obi-Wan say from the pilots seat before you and Anakin even came into his line of sight.

"Yeah, I guess," you shrugged nonchalantly, while keeping your eyes on Anakin, who kept his eyes on you.

END

🖤part two: •.🖤to me, you're like a growing addiction that i can't deny🖤.•

❤️‍🔥𝐇𝐞 𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐮𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐛𝐞 𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐚 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐬 "𝐟𝐥𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠" 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬𝐧'𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐨𝐧 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞. 𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐧𝐨 𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐲 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐠𝐢𝐫𝐥, 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐟𝐥𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐬 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐧𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐢𝐭'𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐞; 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐜. 𝐈𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚 𝐧𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐚𝐧 𝐠𝐢𝐫𝐥 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐲 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐞 𝐮𝐧𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐟 𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐮𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐬𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐫 𝐢𝐟 𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞. 𝐍𝐨𝐰 𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚 𝐛𝐢𝐠 𝐟𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐫𝐥 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐝 𝐛𝐞 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐞𝐱𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐨𝐟 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐬 𝐮𝐩 𝐨𝐟𝐟 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐤𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐟𝐚𝐧 𝐠𝐢𝐫𝐥𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐛𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐜𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐳𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝟏𝟎𝟎% 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥.

❤️‍🔥𝐇𝐞'𝐝 𝟏𝟎𝟎𝟎% 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐚𝐝𝐯𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐞'𝐬 𝐩𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐚 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐬𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫. 𝐃𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐀𝐂 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐞 𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐰 𝐛𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐤𝐞𝐭𝐬 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐠𝐨𝐧𝐞, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐉𝐨𝐡𝐧𝐧𝐲 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐤𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐦. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐉𝐨𝐡𝐧𝐧𝐲 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐬𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐠𝐨 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐦𝐭𝐡. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐞𝐛𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐝𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐭 . 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐲 𝐜𝐮𝐭𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐰𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐤 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐝 𝐝𝐮𝐦𝐛 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐒𝐮𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐚𝐬𝐤 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐤𝐞𝐞𝐩𝐬 𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐀𝐂 𝐝𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫.

❤️‍🔥𝐈𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐑𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐞'𝐝 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐥𝐲 𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐬𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐮𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞. 𝐘𝐨𝐮'𝐝 𝐛𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐳𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧 𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐬, 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐭𝐬.

"𝐒𝐨 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐚𝐲 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐛𝐨𝐲𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧?" 𝐉𝐨𝐡𝐧𝐧𝐲 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐝 𝐝𝐮𝐦𝐛, 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐣𝐨𝐠 𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐛𝐨𝐲𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐤𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐢𝐭.

"𝐈 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐚 𝐛𝐨𝐲𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐉𝐨𝐡𝐧𝐧𝐲," 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐮𝐩 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐭.

"𝐎𝐡?" 𝐇𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐮𝐩 𝐚 𝐛𝐢𝐭, 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐥 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐬.

❤️‍🔥𝐇𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐝𝐨 𝐀𝐍𝐘𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐭𝐨 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮, 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐮𝐧𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐚𝐭 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐰𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐞. 𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐡𝐞'𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐬𝐤𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐬, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐤𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐮𝐬𝐞. 𝐇𝐞'𝐝 𝐭𝐫𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐜𝐨𝐨𝐥 𝐛𝐲 𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐥𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐚𝐜𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐨𝐨𝐦 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐥𝐞 𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐨 𝐥𝐢𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐛𝐞𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐭.

❤️‍🔥𝐇𝐞'𝐬 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐠𝐮𝐲𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐞 𝟏𝟎𝟎𝟎% 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐩 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐠𝐢𝐫𝐥𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝. 𝐇𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐬𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐨𝐟 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐬 𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞, 𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐝𝐞𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐥 𝐨𝐟 𝐝𝐫𝐚𝐦𝐚 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐦𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐦. 𝐈𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐚𝐬𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐧 𝐮𝐩𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐨𝐧 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐤𝐬 𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐫𝐚𝐦𝐚.

"𝐘/𝐧 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐞 𝐛𝐫𝐨𝐤𝐞𝐧 𝐮𝐩 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐠𝐮𝐲 𝐧𝐨 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞𝐬 𝐲𝐞𝐭, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐬 𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐮𝐧𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐲𝐞𝐝?" 𝐇𝐞'𝐝 𝐚𝐬𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐢𝐝𝐝𝐥𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐟𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐲 𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐫, 𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐨 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞.

"𝐇𝐞'𝐬 𝐣𝐨𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐮𝐧𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠" 𝐉𝐨𝐡𝐧𝐧𝐲 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐁𝐞𝐧 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐚 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐉𝐨𝐡𝐧𝐧𝐲 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭.

"𝐍𝐨𝐩𝐞, 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐡𝐢𝐦," 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞.

"𝐈 𝐤𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐢𝐭" 𝐇𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝.

💋𝐈𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐩𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐧𝐨 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐉𝐨𝐡𝐧; 𝐢𝐟 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐦. 𝐈𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬𝐧'𝐭 𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐰𝐨 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐧 𝐨𝐝𝐝𝐥𝐲 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐢𝐦. 𝐒𝐮𝐫𝐞, 𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐲 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐟𝐮𝐬𝐞, 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐚 𝐜𝐨𝐩 𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐬/𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐂𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐀𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚. 𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝𝐧'𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐛𝐚𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐡𝐢𝐦, 𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐞𝐱-𝐰𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐥𝐞𝐟𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐦. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐞𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐟𝐟 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 "𝐈 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐟𝐢𝐱 𝐡𝐢𝐦" 𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲, 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐰𝐨 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩.

💋𝐇𝐞’𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐞𝐱𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 “𝐝𝐢𝐯𝐨𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐝𝐚𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐬𝐞” 𝐩𝐡𝐞𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐲𝐩𝐞 𝐬𝐨 𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐛𝐞 𝐚 𝐛𝐢𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐚 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐬. 𝐇𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐚𝐲 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐞𝐥𝐬𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐚 𝐩𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐜 𝐬𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 “𝐓𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐤𝐢𝐝𝐬 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐝𝐨 𝐚 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐣𝐨𝐛” 𝐡𝐞’𝐝 𝐬𝐚𝐲 𝐬𝐨 𝐧𝐨𝐧-𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐚𝐭 𝐚 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐩 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐧𝐬 𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐤𝐮𝐬 𝐚𝐭 𝐚 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐞. 𝐎𝐫 𝐢𝐟 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐢𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐞𝐱𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐝𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐮𝐧𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐤𝐞𝐧 𝐫𝐮𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐬𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐭𝐲. “𝐑𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐜𝐤 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐬𝐥𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐭, 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬 𝐚 𝐛𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐡 𝐨𝐟 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞” 𝐡𝐞’𝐬 𝐬𝐚𝐲 𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐚𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐞𝐩𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐥𝐲 𝐦𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐲. 𝐀𝐥𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝟗𝟓% 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐬𝐚𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝𝐧’𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐬𝐥𝐚𝐩 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐬 𝐚 “𝐬𝐡𝐮𝐭 𝐮𝐩 𝐲𝐨𝐮’𝐫𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐫𝐮𝐝𝐞” 𝐠𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞. 𝐈𝐭 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐥𝐲 𝐦𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐬𝐨 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐳𝐞𝐫𝐨 𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐝, 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐥𝐲 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐜𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐲.

💋𝐇𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮, 𝐝𝐮𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐞𝐱-𝐰𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐧𝐞𝐠𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐬𝐨 𝐨𝐟 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞 𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧 . 𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐝𝐨 𝐬𝐨. 𝐈𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮’𝐫𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐡𝐞’𝐝 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐲 𝐛𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐠𝐮𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐮𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐡𝐞 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐟𝐞𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐚𝐲. 𝐈𝐭’𝐬 𝐨𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐞’𝐥𝐥 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐠𝐨𝐝 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐲 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦. 𝐍𝐨𝐰 𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐢𝐠𝐡 𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐧, 𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐝𝐨 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐬. 𝐇𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝𝐧’𝐭 𝐛𝐞 𝐞𝐱𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐡𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐜 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐚𝐬𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐢𝐜𝐤 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐮𝐩 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮’𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐢𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐲 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐭𝐞𝐬 𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫. 𝐈𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐲 𝐟𝐮𝐧𝐧𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐰𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐝𝐨 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐬𝐤 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐦𝐮𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡.

💋𝐇𝐞’𝐬 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞; 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨 𝐬𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐦 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐲 𝐠𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐝. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞’𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐜𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐨𝐫 𝐉𝐨𝐡𝐧 𝐟𝐥𝐢𝐩𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐛𝐨𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐧 𝐚 𝐟𝐢𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐞, 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐫 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐬. 𝐍𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐛𝐲 𝐬𝐚𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐠𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐬𝐡 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐤. “𝐀𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐧 𝐨𝐧 𝐩𝐮𝐫𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐫…?” 𝐇𝐞’𝐝 𝐥𝐚𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐚𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐦𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐦𝐨𝐯𝐞. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐬𝐥𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐚 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐠𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐔𝐍𝐎 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐮𝐥𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐚𝐫.

💋𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐮𝐞𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐲 𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐢𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝, 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧, 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐭𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐚 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐢𝐞𝐫, 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭? 𝐈𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐟𝐮𝐧𝐧𝐲 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐉𝐨𝐡𝐧 𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐟𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐛𝐲 𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐣𝐚𝐰 𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐞𝐳𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐚 𝐟𝐢𝐬𝐭. 𝐎𝐟 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞, 𝐚𝐬 𝐚𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐬 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐟𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐮𝐞𝐬. 𝐇𝐞 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬𝐧'𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐜𝐤 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫, 𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲, 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐯𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐧 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐚𝐧 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐚𝐦𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐢𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬. 𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐫𝐞 𝐂𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐀𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐡𝐞𝐫, 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐢𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐲 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐰𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐨𝐰.

💋𝐀𝐬 𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐬 𝐢𝐭 𝐢𝐬, 𝐉𝐨𝐡𝐧 𝟏𝟎𝟎% 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐠𝐮𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐚 𝐦𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐰𝐨 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐧'𝐭 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐰𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐞, 𝐬𝐨 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐚 𝐦𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐥𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐲 𝐰𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐞𝐱? 𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐰𝐨 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐠𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐨𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐧𝐨𝐝𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐞, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐥𝐲 𝐠𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐢𝐭. "𝐉𝐨𝐡𝐧, 𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐫𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐚 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐦𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬, 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐭 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐤 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐢𝐭?" 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐬𝐨𝐟𝐭𝐥𝐲, 𝐭𝐫𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐛𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐝. "𝐈 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐨 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐭, 𝐛𝐚𝐛𝐞." 𝐇𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐚 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐯𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐜𝐤 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐮𝐩𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝. "𝐈'𝐯𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐦𝐲 𝐞𝐱 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞…" 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐞𝐝, 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐜𝐮𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐛𝐞𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐥𝐲 𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐟𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐉𝐨𝐡𝐧'𝐬 𝐝𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐫 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐩𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐣𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐲, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐦 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝𝐞𝐫. 𝐀𝐭 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭, 𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐬.

💋𝐇𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐞 𝐚 𝐛𝐢𝐭 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐫𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐲 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐞'𝐬 𝐝𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐞𝐧𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐢𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩. 𝐎𝐟 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞, 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐬 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐞𝐱-𝐰𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐢𝐦, 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐚 𝐥𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥 𝐨𝐟 𝐚𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐨𝐧𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐮𝐞𝐬. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞, 𝐢𝐭 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐟𝐚𝐮𝐥𝐭 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐥𝐞𝐟𝐭, 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐲 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐛𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮, 𝐢𝐧 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐭, 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐲 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐡𝐢𝐦. 𝐈𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐬𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐫 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐚𝐬𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐤 𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐞𝐱𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐞𝐜𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐜 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐚𝐲. 𝐈𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐚 𝐨𝐟 𝐬𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐭 𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐞, 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐞 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐲 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐡𝐢𝐦.

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐦𝐭𝐡 𝐜𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐬 𝐥𝐞𝐭 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐚 𝐝𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐞𝐱𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐞 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐤, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐨𝐩 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐥𝐮𝐧𝐠𝐬. 𝐍𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡, 𝐁𝐮𝐜𝐤𝐲 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐦𝐭𝐡 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐜𝐞𝐝𝐚𝐫. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐧𝐮𝐳𝐳𝐥𝐞 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐟𝐮𝐫𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐚𝐩𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐤, 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐨𝐟𝐭 𝐬𝐤𝐢𝐧, 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐩𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤, 𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐮𝐩.

“𝐒𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐲” 𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐮𝐦𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐝, 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐮𝐩 𝐬𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐚 𝐤𝐢𝐬𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐞𝐤 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐞. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝, 𝐬𝐨𝐟𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐤 𝐡𝐚𝐢𝐫. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐁𝐮𝐜𝐤𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫.

𝐇𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐩𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐭𝐨𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐞𝐭 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐚 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐞𝐭 𝐠𝐢𝐠𝐠𝐥𝐞. 𝐃𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐧𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐲 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥 𝐰𝐞𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐨𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮, 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐭 𝐟𝐞𝐥𝐭 𝐬𝐨 𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐥𝐞, 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐥 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐞𝐥𝐭 𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐱𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝𝐞𝐫. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐞𝐭 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐳𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐚𝐫𝐦. 𝐃𝐢𝐝 𝐢𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚 𝐛𝐢𝐭 𝐩𝐡𝐲𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞? 𝐘𝐞𝐬, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐞𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭? 𝐀𝐛𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐧𝐨𝐭, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐮𝐥𝐥 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐲𝐨𝐮. 𝐀𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐢𝐭’𝐝 𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐦 𝐮𝐩 𝐢𝐧 𝐚 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐬𝐨 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐧𝐨 𝐛𝐢𝐠 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐥.

𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐚 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐁𝐮𝐜𝐤𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐡𝐢𝐦. 𝐇𝐞’𝐝 𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐭, 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐛𝐫𝐨𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐥’𝐬 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐧𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐝 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩𝐬. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝𝐧’𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮, 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐦𝐞𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐠𝐮𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐚𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐞. 𝐍𝐨𝐰 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐰𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐯𝐮𝐥𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐚𝐬 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐛𝐞.

𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐞𝐥𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐝𝐝𝐞𝐧 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐩𝐞𝐥𝐯𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐳𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐨𝐦. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐥𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐲 𝐤𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐞 𝐚 𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐨𝐩 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮, 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝𝐧’𝐭 𝐛𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐁𝐮𝐜𝐤𝐲 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝𝐧’𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐨 𝐝𝐨 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠. 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐡𝐞’𝐝 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮.

“𝐁𝐮𝐜𝐤, 𝐈’𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤” 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐦𝐮𝐦𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐤, 𝐬𝐨𝐟𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐩𝐮𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐭. 𝐖𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐟𝐞𝐰 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐬 𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐨𝐩 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮, 𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐚 𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐡. 𝐎𝐟 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐧’𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐤𝐞𝐭, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐝𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐨. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐠𝐚𝐳𝐞 𝐨𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐚𝐥𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐨𝐦. 𝐒𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐨𝐨𝐦 𝐦𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐞, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐛𝐢𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐢𝐱𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫, 𝐬𝐞𝐭 𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐛𝐲 𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞. 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐟𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐲 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐨 𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐜 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐟𝐞𝐥𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮.

𝐀𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐝𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐛𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬,𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐢𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐚𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐚𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐞𝐱𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐞𝐤 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐫 𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐤, 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐲 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐁𝐮𝐜𝐤𝐲𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐝. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐨𝐟𝐭 𝐬𝐤𝐢𝐧.

𝐉𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐱𝐢𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐨𝐦 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐁𝐮𝐜𝐤𝐲 𝐰𝐚𝐥𝐤 𝐭𝐨𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐨𝐫𝐰𝐚𝐲, 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐝𝐨𝐨𝐫 𝐟𝐫𝐚𝐦𝐞.

“𝐀𝐭 𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞, 𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐢𝐞𝐫. 𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮,” 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐚𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐲, 𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐬. 𝐖𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐬𝐚𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝, 𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐮𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐭𝐨𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐝, 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐫𝐲 𝐨𝐟𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐥𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐰𝐚𝐥𝐤 𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐭𝐨𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐛𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐞𝐥𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐰𝐫𝐚𝐩 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐦 𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮, 𝐩𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐭, 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐬𝐨𝐟𝐭 𝐤𝐢𝐬𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐨𝐩 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬, 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐚𝐲 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐧'𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐲 𝐦𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬.

𝐋𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐚 𝐬𝐨𝐟𝐭 𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐡, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐛𝐛𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐨𝐟𝐟 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐰𝐚𝐢𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐝. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐨𝐬𝐬 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐬, 𝐮𝐧𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐲, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐮𝐦 𝐫𝐮𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐨𝐝𝐲 𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐧'𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐨 𝐬𝐨. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐁𝐮𝐜𝐤𝐲 𝐥𝐞𝐭 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐚 𝐥𝐚𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐩𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐢𝐦𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐝.

"𝐜'𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐞" 𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐮𝐦𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐝, 𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐢𝐦, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐚𝐲 𝐧𝐨. 𝐈𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐰 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐥𝐞𝐟𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐡, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐬𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐚 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐲 𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐫𝐚𝐰𝐥 𝐭𝐨𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐬, 𝐬𝐧𝐮𝐠𝐠𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞. "𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐲, 𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞," 𝐇𝐞 𝐦𝐮𝐦𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐨𝐩 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝, 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐧𝐨 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐜𝐤 𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐚 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐞, 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐡𝐮𝐫𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚 𝐛𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐨𝐨 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠.

"𝐈 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥, 𝐚𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬," 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐚𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐞𝐥𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐝𝐫𝐢𝐟𝐭 𝐨𝐟𝐟 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐥𝐞𝐞𝐩, 𝐚𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐞𝐥𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐜𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐢𝐦.

𝒊𝒌 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒔 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒓𝒕 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝑰 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒊𝒕 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒃𝒆 𝒄𝒖𝒕𝒆