𝚠𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚍 𝚘𝚏 𝚖𝚊𝚗?

you do such damage, how do you manage?

[micvhisms]

“ ....is that a gun? ” micah squints in an attempt to make sense of the object in verena’s hand. “ do you have a––– nevermind, i don’t care. here. ” micah sets verena’s usual coffee-and-breakfast order down on her desk before dragging a chair over to sit across from her. though he probably should be a little concerned about the fact that verena is, apparently, packing a piece at work, he isn’t. their lives are weird enough that it doesn’t faze him any more than one of the twins wetting the bed does. “ do you have the notes from this morning’s lecture? i didn’t hear a single word that man said. ”        /        @yalikeghosts​

[micvhisms]

𝟐   𝐘𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐒   𝐎𝐅   𝐅𝐔𝐑𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑:     three   aesthetics     ( 3/3 )

[micvhisms]

𝟐   𝐘𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐒   𝐎𝐅   𝐅𝐔𝐑𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑:     four   correct   quotes     ( 4/4 )

[micvhisms]

𝟐   𝐘𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐒   𝐎𝐅   𝐅𝐔𝐑𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑:     four   correct   quotes     ( 3/4 )

[micvhisms]

𝟐   𝐘𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐒   𝐎𝐅   𝐅𝐔𝐑𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑:     five   incorrect   quotes     ( 2/5 )

[micvhisms]

cristian !

“ oh, she’ll find you, ” cristian mused, grinning in amusement at the thought of his sister annoying someone other than him. however, his grin subsided with micah’s last remarks as he pulled the car into a parking lot of a pharmacy. shutting off the engine, cris replied, glancing at micah and giving him a look, “ exactly, so don’t give her any ideas once she’s here. she’ll take any opportunity to kill my vibe. ” he proceeded to half step out of the vehicle, the driver door staying open as he continued, “ speaking of killing vibes, i’ve been getting these headaches lately. so, i’m just gonna’ go in and get some pain meds real quick and then we can go. i’ll just be a sec. ” jogging into the pharmacy, it didn’t take him long to find what he was looking for and then to return to the car.

with a noncommittal grunt, micah waved his best friend off. as mentally damaging as social media tended to be, it provided a lovely distraction while cristian made his run. he scrolled through his twitter feed, tapping out a few replies to the handful of tweets that caught his eye & didn’t make him want to gouge it out immediately afterwards. with his leftover time, he switched over to instagram, glancing through without liking or commenting on anything. time passed with relative quickness, aided by the music playing from his phone’s speakers. he hummed along beneath his breath, glancing up towards the drug store doors every now and again. once cristian reemerged, he pressed pause on his music and swiped out of his apps, save for candy crush. “ what, all of those hangovers you should’ve had in high school hitting you at once ? ”

[micvhisms]

blair !

“  hey, i do have a heart. i’m just very selective to who i use it with.  ”  she tells him, eyes not leaving the child on his shoulders as she pulls at his hair.  “  is she ever home? i hope she pays you for babysitting.  ”  blair says, in reference to the mother of satan’s spawns. she moves from her spot by the counter and goes over to pick at some of the food he’s made.  “  my mom is gonna be in town tomorrow so i guess i’ll take some of this for you. i’ll just have to take credit for it. she’ll be impressed. oh blair, you finally learned how to cook!  ”  she mimics her mother, grabbing a fork from the sink and digging in to one of the dishes.  “  she’ll love it.  ”

a breath passes from micah’s nose & lips, erring closer to a scoff than anything else. “ if anything, i need repayment for the years of emotional turmoil. but apparently, we did that to each other, so. ” he really is over their months-long spat. ( no, really. ) he trails behind blair, mindful of the children in his care. “ pleasing parents is my gift, ” he deadpans, in homage to all of the parents who’ve hated him over the years. he shrugs, keeping a careful grip on ava. “ take credit, don’t, i don’t care. if she asks for more food, you obviously have a fucking factory at your disposal. ”

[micvhisms]

verena !

𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐧  𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐫  !

 bursting  into  hq  ,  verena  kept  looking  over  her  shoulder  for  fear  of  being  followed  .  a  squeak  ripping  from  her  throat  as  she  collided  with  the  other  .  “  there’s  a  good  chance  i  may  have  committed  some  light  burglary  with  just  a  hint  of  breaking  and  entering  .  ”  she  blurts  out  before  collapsing  on  the  sofa  at  head  quarters  .  she’d  been  more  than  just  a  little  suspicious  of  the  local  authorities  after  daniel  and  blair  were  somehow  resurrected  from  the  dead  ––––  they’d  had  a  funeral  for  them  and  everything  .  taking  it  amongst  herself  ,  she  went  into  the  station  to  interview  one  of  the  officers  who  was  at  the  crime  scene  the  night  dan  and  blair  were  attacked  and  might  have  done  some  major  snooping  when  they  stepped  out  to  take  a  call  .  pulling  a  manila  folder  from  her  bag  ,  she  tossed  it  down  on  the  coffee  table  before  looking  to  the  other  .  “  i  think  mayer  had  help  creating  daniel  and  blairs  fake  death  and  i  don’t  think  what  happened  at  silverwood  is  over  .  ”

belatedly, unfazed eyes slide towards verena’s features. she has that wrinkle between her brows & that curve at the corner of her mouth that usually precedes either an argument or more work than micah wants to do. these days, it can go either way. he tears his gaze from her to look at the folder splayed across his table, its contents spilling out from her haphazard toss. and because ignoring the problem is never an option with these people, micah sets his phone aside, leaning forward to grab the folder. “ you’re probably right, ” he allots, before he’s cracked the file open. ( it’s probably an actual crime to read this shit, right ? ) as angry as he was when blair & daniel reappeared out of thin air, he knows none of it made sense. their story did, but nothing else did. “ where the fuck’d you steal from, the cops ? don’t answer that,  ” he stammers out, tucking his thumb between the covers of the file. admittedly, he’s a little hesitant to open this particular box a la pandora. “ if someone else is part of this. you sure you want to get involved in this shit, vee ? ‘cause it’s not going to end well. ”

[micvhisms]

nathan !

𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐧 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐫 !

“  i  would  just  like  to  say  something  that  i  should  have  said  before  ,  which  is  i’m  sorry  .  ”  his  words  came  out  heart  felt  as  he  sat  in  head  quarters  with  the  other  .  “  i’m  sorry  for  not  being  the  babysitter  you  all  needed  because  you  clearly  needed  one  .  ”  pausing  to  take  a  sip  of  his  coffee  ,  his  leg  bounced  in  pent  up  frustration  for  being  sentenced  to  another  year  of  overseeing  this  group  .  “  i   mean  ,  i  mostly  blame  myself  for  the  misfortunes  you’ve  had  since  i  was  thrown  into  this  little  team  because  i  know  better  and  could’ve  done  something  to  stop  you  from  nearly  getting  yourselves  killed  again  ––––  you  guys  are  obviously  stupid  .  ”  reaching  forward  ,  he  set  his  mug  down  and  stretched  back  on  the  couch  ,  not  even  bothered  by  how  rude  he  was  to  the  kids  .  “  i  just  want  you  to  know  i’m  going  to  do  better  this  year  .  if  not  for  you  then  for  me  .  ”

“ nate, ” micah says, slowly & with all of the annoyed confusion his apathetic body can manage, “ i have no idea what the fuck you’re talking about or why you’re telling me. ” the liaison glances back to his laptop, closing out of pinterest before anyone can see and call him out on it. there’s a blessed amount of downtime for him. until everyone else gets their shit together, there’s nothing for him to do but sit around in the office and get paid to bitch. he has nothing to lose here, so he devotes his attention to nate, turning his chair to face the man. “ ... i don’t disagree, we are pretty fucking dumb, but you’ve been the least helpful person here. blair has been more helpful than you, and she doesn’t even do her job. and we thought she was dead for a year. realistically, what the fuck do you think you’re going to do to help us ? ” micah’s tone is akin to amusement, but a little too sincere to manage.

[micvhisms]

blair !

“  yes,  we know. you’ve been telling us that for, what, six? seven years now? fuck, micah. i’ve known you for too long.  ”  it’s hard to believe that they’ve been doing this bullshit since high school–– blair finds it so hard tot even think back that far. the life she used to live is the complette opposite of what it is now. is that good or bad?  “  awe, that’s real nice. micah feels excitement for the first time. bite me.  ”  she stares at the way he is with naomi’s spawns of satan, if she had a child-loving bone in her body, she’d almost find it cute.  “  still can’t believe this was your emergency. i was two seconds away from taking the most relaxing bubble bath. but then i saw your text and was like, if micah’s calling for help then something must be going down. this was not what i was expecting at all.  ”

micah cringes at the reminder of how long they’ve known each other. “ don’t remind me. ” he didn’t even plan on being alive this long, let alone knowing blair this long. she isn’t dissimilar from a pet lion, he imagines; your guests will think she’s beautiful, and she does a good job of keeping any undesirables away, but she also tries to eat you whenever you get too close and thinks you look best after she’s ripped a few new gashes into your wardrobe and torso. fun. he blinks dryly at her, allowing ava to tug at his hair. “ careful, blair. someone might overhear that and actually think you have a heart. but i’m so glad our friendship means so much to you. ”

[micvhisms]

naomi !

“   kombucha,  micah.  kom. buch. a.  they were having a sale down at the corner market so i had to get some. you’re welcome  !  ”  naomi says very seriously, throwing her keys aside and placing the tea down on the counter, picking ava up and resting her on her hip. at the sight of their kitchen, she gasps, very loudly, and reaches over to slap micah against his chest.  “  you joined pinterest ? holy effin smokes, you sly little devil. i knew i was going to convince you one day. it took a few years but you made it  !  are those  .  .  .  macaroons ?!  ”  she walks over to the colorful plate excitedly, picking one up and breaking it on half to give ava a piece.  “  and it’s vegan ?!  ”  she says with a mouthful,  crumbs falling onto her shirt.

“ ... seriously ? did you get me any ? wait. goddamit, naomi, not right now ! ” if he expected her to do anything but go to taste-testing, he’s sorely disappointed. luckily, he knows his roommate better than that. “ the fact that you went straight for the macaroons says a lot about you. and don’t talk with your mouth full, you animal. ” micah rips a paper towel from the roll to throw it at her. “ and don’t give her any more, she’s been eating this entire time. she and noah are the reason we have so much. ” ... sort of, anyway. they were certainly the starting point for it, but it’s a little disingenuous to blame them completely. but whatever.

[micvhisms]

isaiah !

“  sometimes you are, yeah.  ”  he replies nonchalantly, taking another bite of the food before leaning against the counter,  “  look, man. we would have paid you good. are you telling me you’re that big of an emo that you hate money? lame.  ”  isaiah can clearly see that living with naomi was having it’s effects on micah, and he raises his hands up in a defense manner.  “  chill out, man. relax. i’ll take some off your hands. quick question though, do these kids even like––  ”  he picks up an odd colored pastry,  “  whatever this is?  ”

" fair. ” at this point, micah’s a joke to himself. “ you’re all broke college students. how do you even have m––– maxwell. right. forgot about that. ” sometimes, micah wonders what it’s like to have rich parents. then he wonders what it’s like to have loving parents or any parents at this age, and jumps off of that train of thought before the inevitable crash that was soon to follow. “ they’re three. they either like everything or nothing, depending on the day. ” today is one of the lucky days where they did enjoy being fed new & colorful foods, but he has little hope of tomorrow being the same.

[micvhisms]

julian !

“thank you,” julian replied casually to micah’s force gratitude, looking around the kitchen for anything to wrap the food up in. “you got any containers for it? i’ll bring them back. we’ll go through a bunch of this shit in a––” realizing that the twins were starting to talk, and that he’d just curse in front of them, julian looked back to make sure they weren’t paying too much attention to what he and micah were doing. they didn’t seem to notice, and julian went back on, only slightly off-set. “in a few days.” he hadn’t been spending too much time around the two little ones recently, and they were rapidly growing. it was nice to see that micah was still happily helping in taking care of them, especially after the big fight he knew naomi and him had a few months back. “what’ve you been up to?” julian went for another macaroon, leaning against the countertop. 

grumbling beneath his breath, micah ventured towards the cabinets where they held all of their tupperware containers. barely noticing julian’s slip in front of the kids, micah made a few trips to the counters with the tupperware, setting down enough to hopefully package up the rest of the food. otherwise, he would have another store run in the near future. “ trying not to set my life or myself on fire again. ” was it too soon to make a joke about the campfire incident ? was there such a thing as too soon when it came to talking about your own disastrous life ? he passed julian a few containers so he could start transferring whatever he wanted to take, while micah worked on everything else. “ trying to sell my parents’ house. ” and, yeah, maybe it was too soon for that. but it’d been almost two years since they’d died, and there was no point in having the place. if he ever did move out of the apartment, he decidedly did not want to live there again.

[micvhisms]

blair‌ !

“  ew,  pinterest. who are you? naomi?  ”  she gags with a shake of her head. the twins come running from the hallway and blair audibly shrieks, jumping back and raising her hands to keep herself from touching them.  “  first of all, how do you live like this?  i would have moved out years ago. scatter.  ”   her last word is directed at the two kids,  and they look up at her before laughing and running away again. her nose scrunches up and finally she focuses on the massive amount of food strewn across the kitchen.  “  what exactly made you want to do all this? are you going through some crisis?  ”

with a sardonic laugh that he’ll one hundred percent deny later, micah rolls his eyes at her reaction to the kids. yeah, and they call him dramatic. absolutely gleeful, noah attaches himself to micah’s leg. giving up on pushing them away, micah swoops ava into his arms, thinking nothing of it as she puts herself on his shoulders. “ first of all, my life is a never-ending crisis, so jot that down. second, i ... overestimated the holding capacity of our refrigerator. i saw all the recipes, and then the scariest thing happened. i had this weird feeling in my chest , where my heart started being a little fast, my palms started sweating, and i felt really restless. google said i was either having a heart attack or excitement. unfortunately, i’m still alive, so i guess it was the latter. ”

[micvhisms]

isaiah !

isaiah’s greeting gets interrupted by micah and his overdramatic words  (  which he almost doesn’t catch because the toddlers immediately catch his attention.  )   “   traffic, i don’t know ?   ”  he replies with a shrug, following behind the other until they reach the kitchen and the sight makes isaiah’s eyes widen.   “   dude, you did all this ?   ”   he can’t help but laugh, walking around and eyeing everything he’s made.   “   not gonna lie, i’m impressed. you were holding out on us this entire time? we should have you make shit for all the parties we threw. ”  he picks at one of the smaller food items, popping it into his mouth.

“ tra ––––– ” giving isaiah a blank & lowkey betrayed look, micah ignores the abundance of food to ask, “ am i a joke to you ? ” he shakes his head, then turns to face the mess again, only to flinch at the sight of it. “ full fucking offense, but i would never cook for your disastrous parties. nothing good ever happens there. and until i’m the one getting killed, i don’t want my food anywhere near the crime scene. and i’m having a CRISIS, isaiah, so if you could hold off on thinking about yourself for, like, five minutes, i’d really appreciate it. now take some GODDAMN FOOD before i throw myself out the window. ”

[micvhisms]

julian !

after standing at the entrance to the kitchen for a good minute, taking in all of the different mini-dishes that had been prepared, julian did his best to hold back laughter. “you and naomi are more alike than i thought,” he finally said. he paid each of the twins a hello, before they ran off to a pile of toys in the living room. julian reached for one of the macaroons, choosing a wild green one from the assortment of colors micah had. “you made all this for the twins?” julian asked after taking his first bite, referencing micah’s beasts comment he heard as he walked in. “they seem…” he glanced over and watched them building up a small tower with foam bricks, “very thankful.” he looked back to micah, smiling, and finished off the treat.

“ die. ” it was a true sign of character development that micah’s words held no actual heat to them, more reflexive than anything else. “ they were hungry, so i thought, let’s make something new tonight, and ... this happened. ” he waved an unenthusiastic arm towards the empire of food he had as a result. the problem wasn’t in the food itself, but in the lack of space to store it. he’d already stuffed the fridge, freezer, and cabinets with what they could hold, and there simply was no room for anything else. the twins seemed immune to the harshness of his glare, probably because it meant absolutely nothing. “ they’re going to be eating this shit for a month as punishment for being born. but i am begging you to take the rest. it’s edible, and it’s not like any of you disasters know how to cook for yourselves anyway, so ... gifts. you’re welcome. ”

[micvhisms]

with a character-typical dramatic flair, micah rips the door open with a scowl. “ what the FUCK took you so long ? i told you this was an emergency. ava and noah, move. this is your fault, you beasts. ” unsuccessfully shooing the twins from the door, micah leads the other in, kicking the door closed behind them. they make it maybe halfway to the kitchen before he stops and turns to face them, far too late to hide the situation peeking out behind him. “ i ... made a pinterest account. out of curiosity. and found recipes. ” he risks a glance behind him. just over his shoulder, the kitchen is visible, with its stove and counters stuffed with an array of different foods. multi-colored cakes, gluten-free risottos, vegan macaroons, flax seed burgers, and that was all made within the first hour. “ take some of this food. eat it, throw it at a homeless person, i don’t give a shit. i just need it g o n e. ”