#seven.content

[stxrfuxker]

attention everyone, writing from 2017-2019 is up now on my wattpad

https://www.wattpad.com/myworks/296800152-small-child-emery-on-crack

[stxrfuxker]

🌹

purely out of context kind of chaotic:

"I can show you the world," she begins, her voice shaking with nerves. She takes a deep breath and braces herself against the toilet. "Shining, shimmering, splendid..."

From the other side comes a clatter. And another one. And another, somehow louder. "FUCK!" shouts her neighbor. "Sorry. Keep going."

[stxrfuxker]

day 22: wearing onesies: cadina

Originally written October 6, 2021

"Ginny." says Cady for probably the fifth time. "Ginny. Ginny. Ginny."

"Mhm?" asks Regina, transporting back from dreamland to the real world.

"You know what I just realized?" she asks. Regina can tell she's planning some sort of crazy antics by the devious smile in her eyes. She sighs and puts down the book she hasn't been actually reading since two hours ago.

"Yeah?"

"It's three days until Christmas."

"Yeah..."

"And we haven't put on our onesies yet! We gotta wear them before Christmas. It's like the law."

"Which law?" asks Regina with a tiny smile.

"The, um... onesie law."

"I'm not familiar with that one," she replies, opening her laptop. "But you're fresh outta luck, Caddie-Cat. I don't do onesies."

"What do you mean, don't do onesies?"

"I mean, I do not wear onesies," Regina says, trying not to smile. "That is not a thing that happens with me."

"It is now," says Cady, determination flashing in her eyes. "Come. I bought them in July for us and you agreed."

"That, Cady my dear, is what we call a little white lie."

"No fair," says Cady. "I hereby decree that it is law that we must wear onesies today."

"I guess I'm a criminal then," says Regina with a smirk. "Arrest me." Cady eagerly pounces onto her back, and she closes and sets aside her laptop before bringing Cady somehow into her lap, and then they both go tumbling to the floor, laughing and kissing.

"You've been subdued," says Cady from atop Regina. "Onesie time."

"No."

Cady shrieks happily and starts tickling Regina, who grins and tries to get away to no avail. "Okay! Okay, I'll put- I'll put the dang onesie on. You win."

"I always win," Cady replies.

"Interesting claim. I'm not gonna dispute it though. Remind me again of what it looks like?"

"Come on," Cady says, standing up and offering Regina her hand. "Let us go."

"Cady." Regina stares at the onesie in horror , then turns her gaze to her girlfriend. "This has feeties."

"I am aware," Cady replies, a smile poking at her lips.

"Nooo," Regina groans dramatically. "A onesie is pushing it. A feetie onesie? Absolutely not."

"Absolutely yes," Cady says. "You agreed to this."

"I did not agree to feet!" says Regina. "I'm not wearing that." She walks out of the closet mock-angrily and Cady grins to herself, hanging the onesie up. She's going to get Regina to wear that onesie. One way or another, she will.

"Reggie," says Cady during lunch.

"What?" asks Regina, turning the water off on the sink to hear Cady's request.

"Onesie."

"No."

"Reggie," Cady says again while they're cuddling on the couch.

"Hmm?" asks Regina, pushing her cheek into Cady's head like a cat.

"Onesie."

"No."

"Reggie," says Cady one more time while they stretch side by side.

Regina sighs and smiles. "What, baby?"

"Onesie," Cady remarks slowly.

"Cady, Sunny my love, my dear, light of my life, dearest Caddie, darlingest Kitty... no."

Cady grins and rolls onto her back, showing her stomach with her hands above her head. "Yes. You're gonna do it eventually."

"Hey, Reggie?" she asks innocently as they get ready for bed.

"Hnngh?" asks Regina through toothpaste, knowing exactly what Cady wants.

"One. Sie."

Regina glances at her watch and spits out her toothpaste. It's 9:46, which means they'll probably be up for four hours or so. And most of that will be spent cuddling. And Cady would look adorable in a onesie... "Fine."

"Really?" asks Cady.

"Yeah. You win, my love. Feeties and all."

Cady gasps and dashes into the closet to get the onesies. She's got a pink and blue unicorn onesie reminiscent of cotton candy, with a big pocket in the front, shiny horn on the hood, and swishy tail. Regina has a panda onesie complete with an embroidered face and big floppy black ears on the hood. And let's not forget the dreaded feeties.

Regina stares Cady down while she wriggles her bra off underneath the panda. Neither of them care to exit the bathroom, and Regina's not quite sure why she didn't just take her bra off first, but either way it's off now and that's all that matters. "You look adorable," Regina says.

Cady giggles. "You look adorabler."

"Impossible," says Regina, looking Cady up and down. The onesie's way too big on her, hanging down around her hands and ankles, and the hood flops over past her nose. It's incredibly cute, and Regina suddenly has the overwhelming urge to scoop up her girlfriend and kiss her into tomorrow. "You're so tiny!"

"Are you glad we finally got into the onesies?" asks Cady, pushing her hood off her face and looking up at Regina with a crooked grin.

She hates to give in. Regina hates to admit defeat. However... "Yes. Yeah, I am."

"I told you so," says Cady, jumping onto Regina's back and draping herself over her neck.

"That you did, my love," says Regina, Cady's horn poking her neck and hands gently laced around her shoulders. "That you did."

[stxrfuxker]

day 21: having friends over: damiaaron and cadnis

Originally written October 21, 2021

"Give me your seven, thy foul weed!" shouts Aaron at Cady.

"NEVER!" she replies louder, giggling and rolling over onto her back. "Here. You get a two."

"Nooooo..."

"Children, behave." Damian nearly trips over Aaron's leg as he comes in to set a bowl of mixed nuts on the coffee table. Janis looks over at him from the couch and shakes her head at him. He gets it. There is no getting Cady and Aaron together under any sort of control.

"Yes, Daddy," Aaron replies with a smirk.

Unprepared, Damian chokes on air. "Jesus Christ, Aaron," he stammers.

"You walked right into that one," says Cady, grinning at Aaron and flopping back onto her stomach. "Here, bud. Have an eight."

Aaron groans in frustration. "Janisssss. Make your girlfriend give me a sevennnnn."

"Damiannnn," Cady mimics. "Make your boyfriend give me a oneeeeeee."

"Absolutely not," Aaron replies. Neither of them notice that Damian and Janis aren't even interacting with them- instead, they're throwing mixed nuts into each others' mouths.

"Ha! I win!" cries Cady, wriggling on the floor like a gleeful slug and throwing her cards at Aaron, who dramatically groans and smacks his cards on the ground. "In your face, Aaron."

"Ughhhh," Aaron says again.

"Rematch?" Cady asks eagerly.

"After losing to you nine times? No."

"Damiannnnn-"

"No," interrupts Damian. Janis chuckles and drags Cady, cat-style, onto the couch. "You know, you and Aaron's friendship reminds me so much of me and Damian's early days."

"Yeah?" asks Cady. "Whaddaya mean?"

"Well, you and Aaron are best friends, and me and Damie are best friends. Did we ever get around to telling you how we met? It was really similar to you guys, actually. Maybe a little more queer." Damian cracks a knowing smile.

"Oh yeah?" asks Cady.

"Yeah. You wanna tell them or should I?" asks Janis.

"I'll do it.

Back when I was first finding out I was gay- about 14 years old, I'd say- there was this gay bar club thing. It's closed now because I think someone set it on fire. Not a homophobic thing, just drunk queers. But anyway. I was absolutely in denial. I was like, not gay, nope, straight, totally, girls are hot, right, yeah, girls are sexy. The club thing was divided into lesbians and gays, right? And I go to it this one night, and am like, uh, yeah, I'm a trans girl, totally in love with girls, uhuh, yep, ladies... and somehow I got in! I'm not sure who was in charge of that and how! But I show up to this room full of lesbians and I remember my first conscious thought just being, remember, you have to think these girls are attractive. The second one was along the lines of how do I act trans and lesbian. So I go up to the first girl and go, 'hey girly, you're lookin... nice.' And she gave me a look like I was a centipede and just... turned away.

So I was like, alright, plan B. I get up and walk away from the feminine shorty, who actually looked a lot like you, Caddie, and find the most butch-looking lesbian I can find."

"Which happened to be me," inserts Janis.

"Yep, it was Janis, 13 years old and angsty as hell. She was aggressively kissing some pink-haired chick in a powder blue maid costume, and when she saw me, I will never forget, literally shoved her away from her, against a wall, and grabbed me and told me, you look as uncomfortable as I am.

I was like, uh yeah, no duh, butch babe. Here I am, 14 years old and gay as absolute hell, in a sea of lesbians, one of which just rejected me. And she goes, pinky over there is a crappy kisser, and points at the poor little highlighter-haired child who got quite literally thrown at the wall. And grabs my arm and yanks me to a corner and gives me a spare fake ID? And is like the picture looks nothing like you but go get me a beer. And what do you do when a scary goth gay tells you to get her a beer?"

"You get her a damn beer," supplies Janis.

"Exactly, you get her a beer! So I go and I get her a beer and I'm not even asked for my ID, no idea how because I'm seven years younger than I should be, but alright. And I give her the beer and she takes a single sip, tips the rest over my head, and I guess that deems me worthy because she asks if I want to date her.

I'm like, whoa, okay! So I stammer over some words and I'm more scared than in love, because I'm actually not in love at all, it's like 99.9 percent fear and 0.1 percent confused gay boy, but I agree to go out with her. And she kisses me and is like, you're a worse kisser than pinky. And gives me her number and walks away."

"Now, let me intervene," says Janis. "I was thirteen and, I swear to God, went into that gay place with the intent of intimidating as many idiots as possible. Of course Damie here did not pass one bit for a trans girl, but he was very scared, and seemed very lost, so naturally, I gave the girl I was making out with a concussion and adopted him.

We dated for six months and I dumped him on our six-month anniversary. You wanna know what he said to me? He said, and I quote-"

"Thank God! I'm so gay and it's not for you!" Damian and Janis recite in unison.

"Yeah. And I was like, well alright, me neither! And then it turned out we were going to the same high school the next year. We spent freshman year hating each other with a capital everything. We had a rivalry to... well, to rival that of Cain and Abel. God and Lucifer. Batman and the Joker. Any iconic duo, you name it, we had it. And then..."

"We became partners on a year-long project sophomore year," says Damian, grinning at Janis. "And we became thick as thieves. So when we saw you dating Aaron?"

"Well, let's just say I had 20 bucks on the fact that you'd have a similar origin story to us," Janis says, glancing at Cady, who's sitting on top of Aaron's back, and they're both enthralled in the story.

"And I had 20 bucks on the fact that you and this disaster lesbian would end up together by the new year."

"So we both got 20 bucks and had to give away 20 bucks."

"So we both ended up not actually gaining any money."

"Thoughts?" asks Janis, smirking down at Cady, who's watching them openmouthed, as if it's finally hit her what was going on.

"That was wild from start to finish," says Aaron. "Like, that was one rollercoaster of emotions."

"That was iconic," Cady says finally.

"Wasn't it just?" Damian asks. "So yeah. Now you know how Janis and I became friends. Wouldn't you say it's basically a wilder version of your story?"

"Pretty much, yeah. The only thing that we have and you lack was a lion costume."

[stxrfuxker]

day 20: family dinner: cadina

TW for h0m0ph0bia, h0m0ph0bic slurs, and mention of murder... heh. Sorry. Enjoy?

Originally written November 23, 2021

"My God, Cady, how many coats of that have you put on? A hundred?" Regina glances at Cady briefly before turning her eyes back to the road. "Waste of good lip gloss."

Cady blushes and puts the cap on the lip gloss, tossing it over Regina's lap into the storage space of her car door so she can't get to it. "More like two hundred," she mutters without an ounce of humor in her voice.

"Aw, Caddie," Regina soothes, instantly going into protective girlfriend mode at the tone of Cady's voice. "It's gonna be okay, babes, alright? Besides, I'm the one coming out. It's fine."

"But what if they don't like me?"

Regina clucks her tongue and quickly kisses ons of Cady's cheeks. "Firstly, I just broke my rules for you, so you best be grateful. Second off, if anyone in my family doesn't like you, I have no reason to stay close to them. I mean, Cady Cat, my mom loves you and Kylie already treats you like an older sister. My grandparents are probably too senile by now to even understand what I'm saying, and I don't give a sh- a crap about what my aunts and uncles say, alright? I love you. Their opinion could never change that."

"But-"

"No buts, Cady. C'mere." Cady eagerly tries to climb into the seat with Regina. "No! Not like that, you goof. Give me your hand, you useless bisexual." Cady pouts at the lack of closeness but takes the offered hand. "It's gonna be okay, okay? We'll be fine."

"We'll be fine," Cady repeats quietly. "Yeah."

As soon as they walk into the door, Regina drops Cady's hand like a hot potato and shoots her an apologetic look. You're cuddling me later, Cady mouths. Regina shoots her a quick thumbs up and turns to the first incoming auntie.

"Hi, Aunt Mary! Hi, Aunt Lucia! Hi, Aunt Josephine! Hello, Marcus." Hugs are given out to all the aunts and uncles in a ten-foot radius, and cousins are all greeted with eye rolls and high fives. Cady's already lost. She glances around, wondering if there's some animal she can sneak off to pet, when Mrs George saves her.

"Cady, darling! Look at you! You're so tall!" Cady, five foot two on a good day, outright laughs at that, and Regina's mom pulls her into a hug. "We haven't seen you around in a long time! Kylie was starting to wonder if you and Regina had another-"

"Nooope," Regina interrupts, grabbing Cady's hand and pulling her away from her mom. "We did not."

"We did the opposite," Cady whispers, giggling, and Regina lovingly rolls her eyes before turning back to her mother.

"Everything's fine, Mama. I think I saw Aunt Phyllis over there, didn't you mean to talk to her about something?"

"Hmm. Actually, yeah, I think so!" Mrs George bustles off to find her sister, and Cady looks up at Regina.

"What did she need to talk about?" "Nothing," Regina says with a smile. "Come on. Let's go, I'll introduce you to the annoyances."

"Okay!" Cady lets herself get pulled into a group of cousins.

"First is Marcus," Regina says, pointing to a brown-haired guy playing on his phone. "He's got a girlfriend named Samantha or something that he will not shut up about ever. That's Brian. He got a perm over the summer and it was a bad choice. There's Crystal, she's cool, her mom's not." Crystal flashes a peace sign from where she's perched on the couch. "She's also bi, if you couldn't tell by looking at her."

That gives Cady a bit of hope. A fellow queer that looks a fair amount less scary than her girlfriend? A godsend.

"That one is Sadie, and she continues to dye her hair neon pink, much to her father's dismay. I keep telling her to go lavender but she won't listen to me. Next to her is Kayla, her sister, and her brother Reuben. They're alright. Finally, there's Ellie Rose, who will yell at you if you say her name any different, and Jaxon Jay who will do the same. It doesn't really matter who their parents are, honestly. And no one's gonna blame you if you mess up a bit. You also just don't have to socialize."

"Okay," Cady says quietly, trying to match names to faces in her head. Sadie with the pink hair. Ellie Rose and Jaxon Jay who are the young ones. Crystal the bi one with the weird name. Brian who looks like a poodle. "Got it."

"Want me to test you?" Regina jokes. "Kidding, kidding. Our family usually does food very soon after everyone's here, so I think- hold up. Mom?" she yells. "When are we eating?"

"We're waiting on Rodney!" her mom calls back from the kitchen.

"Damn Rodney," Regina murmurs. "Okay! Thanks Mom!"

"No problem, sweetie!"

"So, wait, Caddie," Regina starts to ask, leading Cady into a little side office where no one's around. "Do you wanna do the coming out over dinner or after?"

"Uh..." Even the mention of coming out as a couple drains the color from Cady's face. "Whatever you wanna do. It's your family and your house, I'm fine with whenever."

"I may have to take drastic measures," Regina warns.

"Like what?" Cady asks, imagining Regina tackling one of the old men she saw playing cribbage with a football game on. "Like a lion?"

"No, silly," Regina chuckles. "You and your lions."

"Then like what?"

"This," Regina answers, pulling Cady in for a kiss. All her anxiety settles down at the feel of Cady's lips, at least momentarily.

"I can live with that," Cady replies after unfortunately needing to take in a bit more air than was accessible a second ago. "What are you gonna do? Just kiss me and scare them away?"

"Exactly. Boo."

Cady cracks a little smile. "Well, worst case scenario I get another pie in my hair."

"Worst- wait, another?"

"Story for another time," Cady giggles, waving a hand. No sooner does she get the words out than the sound of a spatula hitting a cowbell makes everyone in the house shut up and cover their ears.

"Dinnertime!" Mrs George shouts at the top of her lungs, and the house explodes in chaos. Regina pulls Cady a bit closer to her while all the various relatives stampede around them.

"Let's take just a few seconds to let all the teenage boys clear out, yeah?" Cady nods, and Regina smiles. "Good. You up for those cuddles I owe you?"

Now, normally Cady would love some cuddles, but the possiblity that someone could walk in on them is too large. She shakes her head lamely and lies back on the couch opposite Regina.

"Hey, what's wrong, Cads? You never turn down cuddles?" Cady just shakes her head. "Aww, Cady. It's gonna be okay. You have me and Crys and Kylie in your corner if no one else. Though I'm pretty sure Sadie is a closet lesbian. And Uncle Tim never married, so like..."

Cady smiles a tiny bit, but it's enough to calm Regina's worries. "I think it should be safe to go get some food now. Come on."

After dinner, during which Cady basically just watches in awe as Regina carries five conversations at once (and also trades finger guns with Crystal), everyone's decently happy or at least content, and the conversation has died down to a few chats here and there. "You ready?" Regina whispers.

"Yeah. How..?"

"Leave it to me." Regina takes Cady's hand under the table and Cady immediately tightens her fingers around her girlfriend's. She doesn't mind, though, she's just as nervous as Cady seems to be.  "Hey, everyone? Do we wanna do the thanksgiving... circle... thingy?"

"Don't we usually do that at Thanksgiving, dear?" asks an aunt. Regina smiles sweetly.

"Well, yeah, but what's the harm in doing it again?" The aunt still looks skeptical. "I love hearing everyone's ideas and thoughts. It makes me really happy... very proud to be a part of this family."

That does it. Everyone stands up and holds hands, which makes it not weird for Cady to sustain her death grip on Regina. "I'll start!" calls an uncle eight people down from them.

"Cady, honey, you don't have to participate if you don't want to," says Mrs George. Cady nods.

"Family!" declares the uncle. Eight.

"Food," says Regina's grandpa. Seven.

"Sam," says Marcus, and everyone rolls their eyes. Six.

"Technology," Crystal deadpans. Five.

"Books!" Ellie Rose says happily, and a couple awws are heard from around the circle. Four.

"My gerbil," adds an old lady, and a few people have to stifle their laughter. Three.

"Sleep," says a bored-looking teenager. Maybe a second cousin? Perhaps someone's partner? Two.

"My mama," Mrs George says. One.

Regina takes a deep breath, takes her hand out of Cady's to pull her into a side hug, and says "My girlfriend."

Yelling erupts in the dining room.

"You're both spawns of the Devil himself!"

Crystal, Sadie, and Brian are clapping.

"Faggots!"

A fork is thrown- not at Regina or Cady, not really at anyone?

"How could this happen to us?"

Mrs George has enfolded both Regina and Cady in a hug.

"My beautiful granddaughter..."

Cady's shaking and Regina's trying to calm her down by tracing hearts on her back. It seems like hours before someone shouts "EVERYONE SHUT UP!"

Cady can't put a finger on the voice. She probably wouldn't be able to recognize even Regina's at this point.

"I won't have dykes in my family!"

She knows everyone hates her. They're all screaming and shoving and shouting and- did someone just throw something?

"You and your stupid little girlfriend are both going straight to hell!"

She's only aware of someone's arms around her and the sound of someone crying.

"We don't want any of you or your disgusting kind here."

Then someone yells and it all grows quiet except for the sobbing. Is it Regina's mom? Is it whoever got hit with the fork?

She opens her eyes. She honestly hadn't even realized they were closed. The crying is Regina's. And that's all it takes.

"Hey!" she yells. Regina tugs on her sleeve. "Ginny, it's alright. What's all you people's problems? She's the same girl you've always known, except, honestly, better. So she's dating a girl! That's a better choice than a scumbag man! She's the same loving, beautiful, talented, stunning niece or granddaughter or cousin or whatever she is to you that you knew before, okay? She's amazing. Regina is incredible. It's not her fault that she- well, no. It's not her fault that I got lucky enough for her to fall for me. So stop shouting and throwing stuff and being pissy bigots. We can go if you don't want us here. Honestly, it's our gain. You-"

"Cady," Regina says with more intensity, finally snapping Cady out of her angry rant.

"Are you alright?" she asks, awkwardly climbing off the chair she for some reason decided to stand on. No one in the room really knows what to make of her, except Crystal, who continues to cheer.

"Cady babe, you gotta calm down now," Regina says, her voice still as low.

"I'm calm. But I'm gonna kill someone."

"I'm not giving you any cuddles if you kill them."

"But-"

"No cuddles if you commit murder."

Cady nods and takes a deep breath. "Okay. You wanna go home?"

"Yes please."

"Okay." Cady puts an arm around her girlfriend's shoulder and leads her outside and to the car. She hates to drive. But she'll do it for Regina.

She'd do anything for Regina.

[stxrfuxker]

day 15: date night: fetch

Originally written September 25, 2021.

Three-way calls with Regina George are never a good idea.

So, when the phone rings, why do both Gretchen and Karen immediately go to answer it?

"Hey there, girlies," Regina says when she hears them both pick up the phone. "Listen, are you two free this afternoon?"

"Um..." Gretchen weighs the pros and cons of going somewhere with Regina. It's not like she's got anything else to do. "I'm free. But only if Karen comes."

Karen gives an audible sigh of relief. "Me too. But only if Gretch comes. No offense, but..."

"Oh, perfect. And yeah, I totally get it, I know I messed up. Anyway, would you wanna go to a movie?"

"Sure! What are we seeing?"

"Oh, you can pick. Karen?"

"I'll come. Smiley face."

"Wonderful. So you're both free to come to a movie at, say... four o'clock?"

Gretchen and Karen both voice their agreement. "Lovely. Because I'm not! Enjoy your date." Regina hangs up the phone, leaving Gretchen and Karen in mutual silence.

"Did she just-"

"Yes. Blush emoji, nervous emoji."

"You still wanna go?"

"Sure. I mean, it doesn't have to be a date, right? Just two friends going to see a movie, right?" Karen laughs nervously, hoping she doesn't sound too eager to go, but at the same time not too repulsed by it in case Gretchen thinks she doesn't want to go out with her. Wait. Why is she thinking that she wants to go out with Gretchen? She doesn't want to date Gretchen. Does she?

"Definitely." Gretchen isn't sure if she wants to murder or kiss Regina. What was she thinking? More importantly... how did she know?

"Totally. Just two friends, going to see a movie, at four o'clock today."

"Yep."

"Mhm."

"Alright."

"Okay."

"I'm gonna go now."

"Same. Bye. Waving hand emoji."

"Waving hand emoji to you too, Karen," Gretchen laughs as she hangs up the phone. Now what? With five hours until the movie that she's not even sure she'll even go to, she has no idea what to do. If the movie will end at six, she might be able to see if Karen wants to go to dinner with her... maybe come back to her place for ice cream or something...

What is she thinking? Why would she go get dinner with Karen? You know why, hisses a little voice in the back of her head that sounds oddly like Regina. The voice chuckles. You know.

"I refuse to accept this," Gretchen says to the empty apartment. "I refuse to be in love with Karen Smith."

Four hours and thirty minutes later, Karen's standing in her closet, trying to figure out what to wear. The rainbow skirt with the jean jacket? The sparkly pink skirt and V-striped top? Or maybe the rose skirt with the other jean jacket?

Eventually she settles on a dark blue wrap-around skirt with a black crop top that had a neon pink and yellow paint-splattered look. She puts on the other other denim jacket and stares at herself in the mirror. Is it too much? Is it not enough? Too suggestive? Does it cover too much? Show too much? Does it give off a simply platonic vibe? And what shoes to wear?

"You look beautiful," Gretchen breathes. So does she. She's shown up in a periwinkle long-sleeved top with a blue skirt covered in red, yellow, white, lighter blue, and pink hearts. Karen can feel herself blushing.

"So, um, you wanna go see the movie now?"

"Yeah!" Gretchen grins and makes a hesitant grab at the air before giggling awkwardly and setting off toward the doors of the theatre. "So, do you want to see a horror movie, a comedy, something popular..?"

"I don't really care," Karen replied. "I'll get snacks if you get the tickets. What do you want?"

Gretchen glances away from Karen's lips to the candy counter. "Uh... popcorn and a blue slushie."

"Freeze your brain..." sings Karen. "Alright. I'll meet you by the entrance to the auditoriums?"

"Sure. See you in a few minutes!" Gretchen sort of skips over to the ticket counter, and Karen looks after her for a few seconds before heading up to get snacks for whatever they're seeing. Maybe they could go get pizza or something after the movie, so she probably shouldn't get too big of servings. Pizza isn't too datelike, is it? She suddenly remembers what Regina said on the phone. Enjoy your date.

Does Gretchen also think it's a date?

Gretchen, meanwhile, lingers in front of the cashier. Does Karen like horror? Does she like musical movies? Does she like M. Night Shyamalan or Emily Blunt? Eventually she settles on a Christmas special that looks sweet and texts Karen the auditorium number before sitting down by the claw machines. Would this be a good night to ask Karen out on a date? Are they already on one? It all depends on what Karen thinks, honestly. She doesn't want to humiliate herself. As she watches Karen check her phone and start walking to where Gretchen is, she hears Regina's voice again in her head. Lovely! Enjoy your date!

Before she can stress too much about it, Karen appears beside her holding two small popcorns, a blue slushie, a Fanta, and a chocolate bar. "What are we seeing?" she asks.

"It's called Love Hard. It's a Christmas movie. Came out last month. Looks like it'll probably be pretty good."

"Ooh, sounds super fun!" Karen suddenly has the urge to kiss Gretchen on the cheek or the nose. Just a little peck. Instead, she hands off the slushie and a popcorn and takes her by the shoulder. "Let's go!"

Love Hard is fine. It's not the most interesting story. Gretchen and Karen spend more time staring at each other and trying not to get caught staring at each other than they do watching the movie. Also known as the writer not having seen it yet due to the fact that it comes out in November and they're writing this in September so they have no way of knowing what the movie's actually like. "So-" they say at the same time.

"You go first. Smiley face." At least Karen's using emoji-speak again.

"No, you go."

"You sure?"

"Yeah, yeah." The longer she can put it off, the better.

"Would you want to go out for pizza and frozen yogurt? We could meet up there, or... yeah, we'd have to take separate cars, so yeah, we'd have to meet up there."

Gretchen grins. "I was gonna ask you if you wanted to go out to dinner, but that's a much better idea. Would you be interested in coming to my house for a board game or something after?"

Bold move. Gretchen wasn't even aware she was going to ask Karen to come over.

"Yeah!" Karen nods almost too fast. "Party emoji, grin emoji. Can't wait."

"See you soon!" Gretchen and Karen both head to their cars, smiling to themselves. Karen was coming to her apartment! And they were going out for pizza and frozen yogurt together!

Before long, Karen realizes that Gretchen probably has no idea what pizza place she had in mind. And judging by the fact that Gretchen's car is nowhere in the parking lot, telepathy didn't come through in their hour of need.

"Gretchen," she says upon the phone being picked up.

"Yeah?" Gretchen asks.

"I think I forgot to tell you where we were going..."

"You did. But I followed you. Once I figured out that we were probably going to Abby's- we are going to Abby's, yeah?"

"Yeah."

"I decided to stop and get some water at Starbucks. I'm right around the corner."

"Okay, great! Smiley face, kissy face. Bye, Gretch."

Gretchen blushes and grins. "Bye, Carrie. See you in a few."

"What do you want to get?" asks Gretchen, staring up at the menu.

"I'm cool with whatever. I'm allergic to pineapple though."

"How are you allergic to pineapple?"

"Genetics? Shrug emoji."

"Fair." Gretchen nods and leans over the counter. "A medium half pepperoni half cheese please?" She turns to Karen. "I'm paying. Ah." She holds up a hand to Karen's protest and gently touches her finger to Karen's lips. "You got the snacks. And I'm gonna make you get the yogurt." She smiles as she hands her money to the cashier. "Thanks!"

They head over to a table and Karen can't help thinking of how beautiful Gretchen looks and how far she's come from being Regina's nervous right hand man back in high school.

"Oh shoot, were you saying something?"

Gretchen giggles. "Yeah," she says, the smile lighting up her entire face. "Pizza's here." No sooner does she say that than an employee leans over Karen and places the pizza between them.

"Oh." Karen takes a piece from each side of the pizza and watches as Gretchen does the same. "So..."

"So."

"You look really nice."

"Awww. You look nicer."

"Impossible."

"Uhuh. You were always prettier than I was."

"No!" Karen looks almost offended at Gretchen's lies, who smiles over her pizza at her.

"It's true. You had the best hair in the whole school. And the prettiest outfits. I guess I was always jealous of you."

"You were jealous of me? How? You're, like, the most amazing person. You're so funny and cute and you're, especially now, just so undeniably yourself. It's been so good to watch you grow into your own you, especially after Regina."

"Aww, you're so sweet."

"It's true." Suddenly embarrassed, Karen grabs a piece of pizza and shoves it into her mouth. "Hug emoji, sparkly heart emoji."

Gretchen laughs a bit at that, but it's a nice laugh, not a mean one. Karen can tell she's not trying to laugh at her, which is a nice change from high school.

"So," says Karen, standing up from the table and offering her hand to Gretchen, "shall we go for yogurt?"

Gretchen places her hand in Karen's and grins at her. "We shall."

[stxrfuxker]

day 20: family dinner: chansaw

Woohoo, Cady's pregnant again. Enjoy.

Oh, and TW for: mention of family, panic attacks, implied homophobia, and minor curse words. As always, if you need me to trigger-tag anything else, just ask!

Originally written October 21, 2021

It's Heather Chandler's first Christmas without her parents, and she is not taking it well.

"I don't understand why they'd do that," she sobs, looking up at Veronica through tears. Veronica gives her a pitying look and starts playing with her hair. She's getting a cramp in her leg, but Heather's more important right now.

"I know, baby. They suck, alright? Your parents absolutely suck. We're better off without them." Why is she so bad at this? Comforting Heather Mac was easier than this and Heather Mac isn't even her girlfriend. "But hey, I have a surprise for you," she adds, trying to cheer Heather up with the enticing promise of a surprise. It doesn't work as much as she hopes it would.

Heather rolls over onto her side and pulls her face closer to Veronica's stomach by yanking herself forward using Veronica's torso. "I- I just don't... don't get it. Just because I want them to... to see you and love you like I do... I bet they're with Kyrie and Bradley right now... loving on him and his perfect heterosexual girlfriend... they don't want me, Veronica," she murmurs into Veronica's shirt. "They don't want me and I know they don't."

Veronica puts one arm over Heather's back and presses down a little, hoping the weight calms her a bit, and with the other she starts tracing I love you with her nails, pushing up Heather's shirt a little; not in a sexual way but just so she can get to the skin easier. She lets Heather cry for a bit before she stops tracing and grabs her phone from the table behind her.

veronicasoymilk: you may wanna come over a bit earlier. that goes for all of you.

kittycads: why everything okay

heathermacadamianut: Oh yay!! Duckie and I have been bursting at the seams waiting to come!! Well be right over!

veronicasoymilk: i think heather needs some support and i'm failing miserably in that department

kittycads: ohno :( should i bring jay and jett nats already coming but mom and dad cant they have some lion charity bs to do

veronicasoymilk: the more people the better i'd say. thanks caddie + mac, you're a blessing. can't wait to see you and i know heather will be super excited to see her cousins. love you.

heathermacadamianut: Love you too Ronnie!! See you in whenever I can get Duckie out of the shower!!

Veronica grins and sets her phone aside, twisting around to make sure it's not going to fall off anything. She's already dropped and broken it eight times since last December. For someone usually so steady-handed and careful, she gives little to no craps about her phone's safety.

"How you feeling, Cherry?" she asks, giving Heather a playful little poke in the side.

"I'm sorry," she replies. "I'm such a wreck. I just... I wish they could see how happy I am with you and how well I'm doing without them. But having them return my Christmas dinner invitation was like a punch in the gut. And I know that Brad and Tristen and Kirsten are going to be there with their boy toys and girlfriend, Kyrie and Olivia and Rocky, and I know that if you or if I were a guy they would have no problem with us, because they used to love me, Veronica. They used to love me and they even used to like you, but not anymore, just because I don't fit their narrative, just because I'm a little bit different, just because they're too afraid to be kicked off the HOA or the PTA or whatever the hell they can't even try to see us. They can't even have us over for Christmas. I guess I just hoped... God, it's stupid, but I just hoped that maybe they'd come to their senses. Spirit of Christmas and all that. Now we're not even going to have a dinner because there's no family to invite, yours are all in France and mine disowned me. Christmas is going to be the most dismal affair in the world and I'm so sorry. I wanted to give you everything you deserve and make you happy but we don't even have a tree."

"Aw, Cherry, it's okay, really. You never have to apologize for being sad, especially when this happens. But I promise you we'll have a Christmas, alright? We may not have a tree or many decorations, but we will have our family. Those bastards are not our family, alright? Family isn't about blood or sharing spit. It's about love and support, okay?" She takes Heather's hands. "Look at me. I'm your family. Cousins Caddie and Nat and Janis and Jett are our family. Lyds and Skye are our family. Bumble and Duckie are our family. You're my family. I never want to hear you say that we don't have any family again, you got it? Because we do. If anything else, we're each other's family. And we'll always have each other." She rubs her thumbs in circles on the back of Heather's hands and kisses the back of one, then her nose.

"Thanks, baby," Heather says with a sigh. "You're right. I love you. But you missed," she says with a crooked little smirk. Veronica meets her eyes for a second and moves forward to kiss her forehead. "Missed again." Cheek. "Missed again." Veronica rolls her eyes lovingly and gives Heather a gentle kiss on the lips.

"Good?"

"Yeah. Now let's-" Heather's cut off by the doorbell ringing. "Who is that?" She glances warily from the door to Veronica, who's grinning devilishly. "Veronica, who-"

"This is your surprise," Veronica says, opening the door and letting in a crowd of people.

Heathers Mac and Duke are both holding dessert items. Mac has a foil-covered rectangular something that's probably a cobbler or something and Duke has a huge carton of vanilla ice cream. They both give Veronica and Heather a one-armed hug before setting their stuff down and pulling back to look at her.

"How are you?" asks Mac. Chandler smiles, trying and failing to blink back happy tears.  

"I'm good," she replies, pulling Mac and Duke into a group hug. "I missed you guys so much."

"We missed you too!" Duke says. "Quit it, you're gonna make me cry."

"Good," Chandler murmurs, before weaseling free of their grip and turning around to see her cousins, Cady and Natasha, and cousins by marriage, Janis and her little sister, Jett. Behind them are Veronica's cousins Lydia and Skye.

"The adults may hate you, but we don't," say Lydia as a greeting, setting aside her vaguely ham-shaped foil lump and giving Veronica and Heather a hug.

"Lydia!" Skye laughs. "No!"

"Lydia yes," Janis says, beating Lydia to it, and their eyes meet over Veronica's head. Jett wraps her arms around Heather's legs.

"Hi!" she says eagerly. "I baked you some rolls!"

Heather takes the offered plate of rolls from Nat and unveils them in all their glory. "And what lovely rolls they are, Jett! Nice job!" Jett beams, and Nat lifts up another bowl.

"Cads and I got potatoes," she reports. "We figured since Jett made rolls and Jay got asparagus we could get by with one item between the both of us."

"And the little one," Cady says softly, smiling as she looks down at her belly.

"Thank you so much, guys. Sorry for the short notice. Looks like we are going to have a dinner after all, Cherry!" Veronica cheers.

Chandler looks over at Veronica, who's watching her expectantly as if she should say something. Which she probably should, but something caught her attention. "Wait. Back up," she says, pinning her gaze on Cady. "'Little one'? Are you-"

"No. Not pregnant. No baby. Nope." She quickly takes her hand away from her stomach.

"You're totally lying," says Heather, who's known Cady for long enough to recognize when she's telling the truth or not. "You are a horrible liar. How far along are you?"

Cady blushes and looks to Nat for help, who sighs. "Heather, you know her too well. She's about three months."

"I'm so happy for you!" Heather Mac squeals, giving Cady a gentle hug.

"Thanks," Cady replies.

"Caddie, you know I love you and will support you through anything, but if you didn't want them to know, why did you say anything in the first place?" asks Janis.

"I guess I wanted you to find out but didn't want to tell you," Cady explains, cheeks growing redder. "It was a dumb idea."

"I don't think it was dumb at all," says Veronica, slinging an arm  around her shoulders. "I think it was perfect, and your baby's gonna be perfect too. But that's not happening for a long time, so for now, let's feast!"

[stxrfuxker]

day 14: decorating: chansaw

Originally written October 21-23, 2021

Veronica, for the third time, has gotten stuck in a decoration. The first one was a string of Christmas lights, which got tangled hopelessly in her hair. Next, there was one of those wire tree shaped strung with lights that has a yellow star at the top, that she decided to wiggle herself into and then couldn't get out. Now she's stuck in an oversized Christmas present box, that she climbed into, hid inside, and then the lid got put on and taken outside.

Now, Christmas with Heather Chandler is an extravagant affair. There are so. Many. Decorations. Window stickers, lights, inflatables, an advent calendar, a countdown chart with a little candy cane, statues made of sticks or plastic for the yard, way too many stuffed animals, and things that Veronica doesn't quite have a name for. Not to mention the ornaments. This is her first Christmas with Heather, and she's a little overwhelmed, so obviously her response to it is to do her best to help... which is apparently getting stuck in, on, or around everything.

"Heather!" she calls, pounding on what she thinks is the side of the box. "I got stuck... again... sorry."

Veronica can hear Heather's footsteps coming closer and closer towards her, and then... getting further away. "Heather!" she shouts louder.

"Where are you, Ronnie?" she shouts, the footsteps approaching and then receding again.

"In the box!" Veronica screams.

"Well, get out of the box!"

"I can't!"

"What?"

"I cannot exit the box! I am unable to can!"

"No, I heard you the first time, but how did you get stuck in the box? It's a cardboard box! With a push off lid!"

"I've been pushing!" Veronica calls back.

"Which wall have you been pushing on?!"

"Well how the frick frack snick snack am I meant to know?!"

Heather sighs dramatically and lifts the lid off to see Veronica contorted like a pretzel with her butt in the air, smacking the bottom of the box and screaming into it like that hedgehog meme. "Hi babe. Need some help?"

"Yes," Veronica replies miserably. In a remarkable show of strength, Heather upends the box so Veronica goes tumbling out.

"No more getting stuck in places that I can't see," says Heather. "Actually, let me expand that to no more getting stuck."

And Veronica makes good on that promise. Sort of. She doesn't get stuck in anything. The anything gets stuck on her.

"Heather?" she asks, alarmed.

Heather happens to be attempting to inflate a Frosty the Snowman yard decoration, which is not cooperating. She groans. "Please say you have something helpful, constructive, motivational, and/or 'I bought you an ice cream cake' to say to me instead of what I'm pretty sure is going to come out of your mouth right now."

"Don't worry, I'm not stuck in anything this time."

"Thank God."

"Something is stuck in me."

Heather's head snaps up. "Come again?"

"These gooey gummy things shaped like trees? There is one stuck in my hair."

"You have got to be kidding."

"I am not." Veronica walks around the corner and waves a little at Chandler. She does indeed have a window sticker stuck in her hair. She holds out her foot. "There is also one on my sock."

"Oh my God. What am I going to do with you?" asks Chandler, starting work on separating the sticker from Veronica's hair.

"Love, appreciate, and kiss me."

"Hmm... I don't think so. Congrats, you've ruined one of the stickers." She peels a Santa off Veronica's sock and throws it at the nearest window. "Thank you for your service."

"You're welcome!"

Twenty minutes later, Veronica is once again trapped by a box. She's not inside it this time, though; a lawn statue of a sleigh and reindeer team that has been taken apart and compacted into a cardboard box held together at the corners with masking tape. It's very heavy. Much too heavy for a 130 pound young adult woman to lift off herself. She can barely do a sit-up without the added weight.

"Hea-"

"What did you do this time?" Heather is taking no one's BS. "I'm trying to inflate Frosty's top hat!" The hat is refusing to accept the air hose, and she really doesn't want to have to blow it up manually. Heather did hear a tremendous crash just a few minutes earlier, but she was hoping it was just something falling off the wall or Bella knocking a candle off the hall table. She still has a little bit of hope, but it's dwindling fast.

"Stuck," Veronica calls back, gasping with the effort of trying to free herself. She considers turning onto her stomach for one futile moment before deciding that would not be a good idea. Heather sighs and shakes her head. Apparently she's not so lucky this time.

"Oh dear Lord." Heather gives the top hat one more aggressive jab with the air hose before giving up, sticking it in lopsidedly and hoping it works, and going to find her girlfriend. "Coming. If I come in to find you with another sticker situation that you could have easily dealt with yourself, I swear to- oh." Her threatening stops short when she sees Veronica's red face poking out from under a box. She waves a little.

"Hi."

"Ronnie, how did you even-?"

"I have as many questions as you do," Veronica replied. "But you're stronger than I am. Help."

From outside comes a loud pop that sends Bella skittering across the wooden floor with less dignity and grace than Veronica doing ballet. Heather sighs. "There went Frosty's hat. Let's get you unstuck."

With Veronica doing her best to help from underneath and Heather lifting from the top, the box ceremoniously rises enough for Veronica to very much unceremoniously scramble out from underneath it and lug it out the door to be opened, as was her original goal. "Hey baby?" she calls to Heather.

"Yeah?" She pauses in the doorway.

"I love you. When you're done with Frosty, can I help you put together the sleigh?"

"Veronica. I love you so much. Don't forget that, alright?"

"Okay..?"

"But you have not helped one bit this entire time. I think I'll do the sleigh on my own." With a wink to show she's just playing, Heather disappears back onto the porch.