Sereniteasocks

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She had always hated extremes. But she found it hard to live In the in-between. Without sense of direction. She didn't feel as if she were at the center. She felt that she was everywhere, and nowhere. Lost in the fog. Perhaps she shouldn't feel so left out Not now, when the world was at last As stuck as she had always felt. Perhaps she could find comfort in the thought of not being alone. But it was not so. She didn't want to bring others to her level. She wanted them all to be elevated. But here they all were, lost in the fog. Not knowing where it would end. When it would end. Whether the drift would lead somewhere better. Whether the loss would ever be redeemed. Even slightly, even partly. She had always been afraid of things changing. Now she was afraid of them forever staying the same. Perhaps she finally realised what she had always known - That she had to move forward. Perhaps there was hope in that. Perhaps there was, therefore, after all A future.

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I almost always stayed I stayed quiet I stayed motionless I stayed waiting But sometimes I ran Away from my problems Away from the conflicts But never from you I always stayed with you. Maybe I left just now But I asked you to come You stayed.

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Things were already complicated enough, thank you very much. Being incredibly attracted to your barista who makes the best cup of coffee in the world, who may be dating your roommate, who might be in love with your other roommate. Freddie liked order. Kit was not order. This complicated mess was not order.

And of course, things just had to get worse.

Because now Meg was there. Freddie had seen the videos. She had liked Meg well enough. Meg seemed like a fun, open minded person. What the videos hasn’t shown fully through was the full extent of Meg’s charisma. The melodic sound of her laughter. How soft her hand would feel on your shoulder as she made a joke.

But also feeling ridiculously attracted to a girl who lives in a completely different state wasn’t enough either.

Because Kit and Meg were dancing. Smiling. Flirting.

She tried to look away, because it hurt. But it was magnetic. They were magnetic.

Then they came to her. Holding hands, both of them reaching out their free hand to her.

“You’re cute when you’re pining, I bet you’re even cuter when you’re blushing” Meg said, of course instantly making Freddie blush. Kit grinned. “You were right Meg.” “About the blushing or about..the other thing?” “Both” he said.

Maybe things weren’t so complicated at all. And maybe just the right amount could be..well, fun.

Freddie accepted their hands.

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“Jackie” Peter said, grinning. “This is John, my brother.” “John the bastard.” Jackie said, her look indifferent. “Jackie, that’s not-” Peter began to protest, cut off by his brother. “Jackie the ripper” he said with a smirk. “Hm.” Jackie paused. “Acceptable.” “Is black your favorite color, by any chance?” “It’s technically not a color. So yes.” “Alright” John said, nodding in approval. “Oh fuck, there’s two of them” Benedick sighs in the background. Jackie and John simply glared, mischievous smiles on their lips.

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It was this thing where everyone could see it. Balthazar may never have said it out loud, never clearly. Like, was the word that Balthazar would use. At the most.

Maybe it was because it never had been love love, because Balthazar never had the chance to get close enough.

It had been on the verge, always on the verge, but never quite there.

And soon, they were constant companions. But it did not turn into deep affection. What once had been like, what once had been almost love, was soon simply nothing.

The flat had ruined it. When it was so prevailing, so there, it had not encouraged further development - it had been suffocating.

Fuck hummus.. Balthazar said. There might have been a hint of sadness in the voice, but not as much as it would have been only a week ago. Maybe the fact that Balthazar no longer cared was the saddest of all.

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“No Hugo!” cried Georgina. “It’s too dangerous!” “Do not fear, my dear Georgiana.” Hugo clasped her hand, instantly comforting her with his hand’s vast powers. “Not if I have with me a...hero!” “Who?” she cried. “Me?!” she once again cried. “Hm, yes. And, eh, Hera!” “Of course, the princess, nay, queen! President!” “All three! She is, after all, the spectacularest!” “Together we can slay this demon, this beast! With the power of friendship!” “And this mighty sword!” “Huzzah!” 

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You were Peddy. In my head you were, because in my head the name belonged to me. You were the one I looked up to, the one I would always follow. Then you weren’t.  You were Pedro. Flawed, human, beautiful, entrancing. You were nothing less and nothing more and it was somehow perfect. You were mine. Then you weren’t. You are Peter.  You are no longer an idea, or a friend, or a partner. You are hers, and his, and theirs. You might be something but I do not know what. All I know is that to me, you are no longer anything.

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She’s lovely. She’s wonderful. She’s actually so, so lovely I catch myself wanting her to insult me.

Ursula finds herself smiling as Hero says the words on the screen. Hero is always up for complementing people, yet it always makes Ursula feel warm inside. Some things never do get old.

After she finishes watching the video though, she wonders what she could say to insult her. Obviously not a deep cutting insult, but something teasing.

All her friends have flaws, after all. She loves them, but it’s the simple truth. Nobody’s perfect but you love them anyway. Beatrice is so stubborn and can never admit to being wrong. Meg can have a hard time respecting Ursula’s personal space and when she’s in need of some alone time. Balthazar is the opposite - sometimes he gets in a creative mood and locks himself away from the rest of world without as much as a text. She’s not as friendly with the rest of them, but obviously Pedro and Benedick are both really cocky, and Claudio gets into these sulky moods. Robbie is..well, he’s not really her friend. For many reasons. John.. she doesn’t really know John.

Hero though.. Hero hums when they study in a way that’s very distracting, but it’s a nice distraction. Sometimes she internalizes her anger over periods of time only to suddenly burst out, but it’s always brief, oddly respectful and she immediately apologies, which Ursula really respects. She gets impatient when you don’t answer her texts at once, but it’s only because she worries and cares. She talks when they watch movies, but it somehow only adds to the enjoyment.

In fact, the only times Ursula finds herself even slightly annoyed or upset with Hero is when Hero moons over someone. Which is kind of ridiculous to get annoyed at, because Hero is usually relatively quiet and shy about it. Ursula has never really thought about why it creeps under her skin, until now.

And..

Oh.

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"Ehm.." Pedro begins, glancing at the very visible guitar on his lap. "Well." "Need any help? I thought I heard you sigh." "What, you want me to sign no more?" Pedro says with a slight laugh, which Balthazar returns. "Yeah, of course." "It's.. I don't know if it's ready to be shared, yet." "You don't have to share it. I can just give you some general tips." "It's, well, huh, I'm trying to be honest about something." "Yeah, a song is good for that.. What do you want to be honest about?" "My..feelings." "For..someone?" Balthazar says, so quietly Pedro barely hears him. "Yes.." Pedro's reply being barely any more audible. "Oh." Had they not both stared at the ground, Balthazar would have seen Pedro's very flushed cheeks and Pedro would have seen the uncertainty in Balthazar's eye. "Well, how far have you come?" "One chord?" Pedro lets out a small laughter again. He plays it, Balthazar winces. "What chord is that supposed to be?" "A C-chord?" Balthazar comes closer, watching Pedro's hand who plays the chord again. "Oh, that's.. that's not right. Move your indice one step up.. no, not that.. wait.." He tries a more hands on approach, and gently moves Pedro's fingers around. "There.." he whispers, trying not to let his words tremble like his fingers just were. Pedro tries the chord again. His own fingers trembling, it barely sounds any better. "Alright, well, that's a start." Balthazar tries. "It sounds horrible. But, maybe..maybe you could do what you did with Beatrice's song? Like, play it for her?" "Yeah, sure, of course." Balthazar takes over the guitar and strums a little. "What tempo were you thinking?" "Well, the first.. eh, the first line goes, 'I realized I wanted more, and it struck me to the core'" "''I realized I wanted more, and it struck me to the core'" Balthazar sings, adjusting the pattern. "Alright. You given any thought with what chord to follow that?" "After the C..maybe.. I don't know, D?" Balthazar plays along again, with Pedro singing. "La lalala la lala la, la la la la la la.. I..don't really have the second line, either." "How's your relationship with this..this person, then? I mean, is it someone.. someone you know.. or?" "I, I guess.. a friend." "We have been friends for so long now, but it has turned into love? I mean, it only sort of rhymes, but?" "Yeah, no, it's good." "Maybe you could go back to C. Keep it simple." "Yeah. Should we try from the start?" "Sure." They repeat it again, and when coming back to D, Pedro has found words again. "And I realize just how much, every time that we touch"- "I want to do it all the time, please tell me that you'd be mine" "I can't rhyme with Balthazar but-" He doesn't continue on with the line, and the strumming stops. The room suddenly feels very, very quiet. Maybe warm, maybe really hot, but very quiet. "I'm so happy you feel the same-" Balthazar continues, before stopping. Because finally no more words are needed, and because finally they truly look at each other, because finally they close their eyes and meet each other, and because soon, their lips are too hard pressed against each others for them to be able to talk.

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That bastard, that bastard, that bastard.. each thought makes Meg dance harder, and harder, imagining that each of her step, each of her arm movements, in some strange way causes Robbie pain. Flirting with nuns.. bastard, bastard.

"Meg?" says a gorilla, with a strangely familiar voice. Has she ever known a gorilla? "What?" The gorilla removes its head. She winces, but relaxes when she sees it's Balthazar. "I never knew you were a gorilla" she squeaks excitedly. "I guess I am for a tonight" he lets out an awkward laugh. "I saw you dancing, and it looked like fun. I was wondering if I could join in?" "Why?" "I want us to be friends?" "Hah! You don't want that." "Why not?" "I'm," she moves close, very close "very loud!" "And I'm very quiet. It's perfect". He smiles very gently, and for a moment, she almost.. but instead, she says: "I'm really good at dancing.." "You are. But people can't see you in this corner.. Besides, if I dance with you, you'd look even better. You see, I'm a terrible dancer." "Yin yang?" she asks, staring at him. "Yin yang." he answers. "Ok" she says and drags him to the crowd. Soon enough, she thinks how she with every step, and every arm movement, is flooring her friends (especially the one closest to her who is trying to mimic her every move) with her awesomeness

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The love gods strike again

"So you might wonder why I've gathered you here today", Hero began. "It's not to conduct a wedding, really, but it is love related. I think it's time for a second mission for the love gods." "Really?" Meg exclaims. "The first one went..gross" she says, grinning and nodding towards Benedick and Beatrice sitting so close they might as well be the same person. "I think you meant lucky" Hero says, slightly raising her eyebrows. "Not that lucky, I believe it was meant to happen anyway." Ben says, beaming at Beatrice, then making a grimace. "You're right Meg, it is kind of gross." "Get away from me" Beatrice says calmly, pushing her palm towards Benedick's head. "Who is it you want to set up then?" Ursula asks, somewhat impatiently. "Pedro and Balthazar, of course" is the answer.

                                       ****** "Where exactly are we going, Ursula?" Balthazar asks, as they are moving through the woods. "And where are the rest of them?" "I told you, a barbeque:" "In the woods? That doesn't sound very safe." "No, by the lake. Look." Sure enough, if you gaze hard, you can spot some watery spots. "Oh no, I forgot the paper towels.." "Want me to get them?" "No, no, you go ahead, I'm just going to run back." Balthazar reaches the lake, and finds not a barbeque, not a bunch of friends, but a big blanket and a big basket. A basket he opens. There's paper towels there - a lot of them. "Ursula?" he screams as he goes back in to the forest, but as close by as she should be, he can't see her. He moves back, spotting a figure emerging from another part of the forest. He takes a deep breath. "Balt?" Pedro asks, with a smile. A shy one, which is rare for him. "You know where the rest are?" Balthazar averts his eyes and looks at the ground. "No, I went with Beatrice and Benedick, but they just abandoned me.. 10 minutes ago. I assumed to -  wait, I don't want to finish that sentence.." "Meg and Claudio weren't with you?" "No? They weren't with you either?" "No.. Just Ursula. Who just abandoned me. For paper towels, which are in there." Pedro goes to explore the basket. "Along with enough food for what.. two persons? Hardly enough for seven.." They look at each other. Really look at each other beyond a quick glance, for the first time in months. This would also be their longest conversation, again, for months without Balthazar calling out Pedro followed by Pedro defending himself, followed by either of them quietly walking away. "I'm gonna call Ursula.." Balthazar picks up his phone, finding a text. "Huh. 'Text me when you've worked it all out.'" He leaves out the last part, which says 'and I mean ALL.' He drops his arm to his side, and looks at the ground again, even more deliberately this time. "We're stranded?" Pedro asks. "Looks that way." "Does that mean you're gonna hear me out? Because.. I know what I did was bad. Horrible, even.." their eyes meet again. "I didn't get it at the time, I didn't fully get it until really recently, but I do know now. And I've been trying to make amends. And I've been trying to reach you, but you.." he takes a short break. "You don't seem to wanna hear me out. Which sucks, because I really miss you." "I've missed you too.." Balthazar says quietly. "Yeah?" Pedro no longer smiles shyly, but grins. "Yeah.." Balthazar does smile shyly. "But it's hard. I just had this idea of you, you know? Perfect guy, never can do no wrong.. With you also..meaning a lot to me, and all.. it was kind of hard to accept you doing something so wrong, especially to someone like Hero. And I know it isn't your fault I've had this idealized picture of you, so I guess what I want to say is.. that I'm sorry." "I'm sorry too Balt." "I know you are", Balthazar lets out a small laugh. "So, that's it? We're good?" "Yeah, yeah we're good." "Should you call Ursula, or should we eat and talk about what Mumford and Sons song you're currently obsessed with, what songs you've been working on, what movie has changed your life recently and  what funny things your mum has said?" "And how student council is going, your current hair status, how things are with John? Sounds good."

The meal takes quite a while, since not a lot of time goes to eating, most of it goes to talking and laughing. Finally, the last crumble is eaten. "You think they're sick waiting? I swear my phone's been buzzing like crazy. We can always continue talking in school, ey?" "Yeah, let me just text Ursula." Balthazar to Ursula: We've worked things out. Meet you in 15. Ursula to Balthazar: Have you worked out Everything? Balt to Ursula: ....we've just become friends again, I can't just start that conversation. Ursula to Balthazar: Sorry.. I really am. Hero's insisting. Balthazar lets out a huge sigh. "What?" Pedro says, and before Balthazar can close his phone, Pedro leans over his shoulder and reads the texts. Then he stiffens. For a very quiet half minute, it seems like what Balthazar has dreaded for a long time has come true, until Pedro speaks again. "Did..did Hero say something to you?" "No.." Balthazar says while turning around. Pedro's face is being so expressive, it only takes a second for Balthazar to figure things out. It takes less than a second for him to reach out and do what he's been wanting to do for over a year, and that is kiss the hell out of Pedro. Who has a slower reaction, before returning with kissing the heaven out of him. When they finally let go; mouth of mouth, hand of neck, hand of knee, it takes them a while to recover. They both chuckle nervously. "I.. I've kind of wanted to do that for over a year." Balthazar chuckles again. "Me too. Even though I've only realized that for a few months.." "That's.. a long time." "Yeah.." Pedro's grin is the largest Balthazar has ever seen. "Such a long time waiting requires quite a long payoff, huh?" Balthazar doesn't have time to respond before his mouth is occupied again. The love gods have a very, very long wait ahead of them.

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"I'm up for a walk" Jane said. "Should we all go?" Mary and Diana instantly obliged. "I really should do some reading" Simon said. "And I want to work on my school project.." Adele responds in turn. "Alright, well, we'll be back in an hour or so." As they left, Mary whispered. "Can we really leave Simon alone with another human being for that long?" "....you have a point" Diana whispers back.

"So, ehms, how's scool?" Simon asked, not sure whether he could pick up his book instantly. "Good. You're a doctor, right?" "Yes?" "Did you know that doctor is a latin word, originally meaning teacher? It was used for a specially talented person centuries before there even were universities." "Yes, and the different university degrees derive from the guild structures." "And M.D is derived from the latin Mediciniae Doctor, doctor of medicine." "Very true" Simon smiled. "You know I work in India now, right? Do you have any interesting facts about India?" "Very many. India's a very interesting country. On the subject of name origins, India was derived from the River Indus which was the valleys around the home of early settlers. Do you have some rupees with you, by the way?" A mischievous, for her, smile formed on her lips. "No, because it's illegal to bring rupees outside India." "Yes it is. India's also the world's largest tea producer in the world. Jane would like that, I think." "I think so too. She told me she liked the teas I brought home. It's also the most common drink there." "Tea's actually the second most popular drink in the world after water. Tea is chai in Hindi, by the way. So if you say chai tea, you're literally saying tea tea." "Yes, you have to ask for masala chai." "In the middle east, people often call it karak chai, which literally means strong tea.."

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"Do you really think we should have been away this long?" Jane says nervously. "I'm a bit scared I'll find the tension in my apartment to be enough to-" "Suffocate us all. Yes, that's a risk." Slowly Jane opens the door, only to hear high voices from the kitchen. "When we speak now, our mouth uses 75 muscles." "Maybe as a consequence, our tongue muscles are among the strongest muscles in our bodies." "The strongest of all is-" "Maybe we should go back outside.." Mary whispers. "Yeah, yeah" both Jane and Diana agree.

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The long coat and the sweater-vest were too hot for this heat, but as they sat inside it didn’t matter. They had solved the crime and provided the truth, they had done their job as the watch. A celebration was in order, and no celebration was complete without celebrating their idols. "How do you like your tea?" Verges asked, holding up the bowl of sugar and the milk jug. They didn’t really drink tea, but tis British, is it not? "Five sugars, please" Dogberry responded, when they heard a knock on the door. "Sir Leonato" Dogberry answered, when the man appeared on their doorstep. "What brings you here to my humble alcove?" "I, um.." he paused, as he was a bit unnerved by Verge’s stare. "I would like to say sorry for not listening properly. And to say thank you, for helping my sister." "No worries, it was a true honor" Veges squeaked. "Yes, yes indeed, our proper work." "Well, it was well done. Very well done." "Thank you, sir." Dogberry said, tapping his hat. "Thank you! Thank you so much!" Dogberry’s tea was sweetened when they returned to the living room (and no longer tasted much like tea) but Verges didn’t request anything. Her day had already been sweet enough