I Don't Have a Library Card... But I'd Love to Check You Out [24/24]
Title: I Don't Have a Library Card... But I'd Love to Check You Out [24/24]
Author: Tiffany (spazzyskittles)
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Ryan Ross/Brendon Urie
POV: 1st (Brendon's)
Summary: AU college. Brendon is close to flunking out of college, and his roommate and partner in crime, Jon, is not helping. He seeks refuge in the school's library and finds a little more than a place to study. This is a story about finding love, taking chances, and being true to one's self.
Disclaimer: This story is a work of fiction. Don't sue.
Dedication: madasarabbit for being an awesome best friend, so awesome that she texted me twice tonight to get me to post this chapter.
Author Notes: This is a completed story and will be updated every other day. Many thanks to my wonderful beta, pinkkchocolate. This fic may not have happened without her. Additional A/N at the end of the chapter.
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23
Chapter 24
My fingers coast along the keys of my keyboard as I practice this Chopin piece for the thousandth time. My noise-canceling headphones are clamped firmly over my ears as I chance a look towards my bed. Ryan’s got a reader for one of his classes splayed across his lap as he sits against the wall, his long legs dangling over the edge of the bed. His attention, however, is not on the book in front of him but on my phone in his hands. Ryan is pressing buttons with a look of concentration on his face, and I wonder what he’s doing.
I finish the piece, and for the first time, my fingers had found their rightful places each time. I remove my headphones because this would be a great time for break. By now, Ryan has abandoned my phone and has gone back to reading his assignment.
“What were you doing on my phone?” I ask him.
He looks up from his book. “Just playing with it.” I nod uncertainly, since I’m not sure if there was more to it than that. But then he asks, “Taking a break?”
“Yeah. But guess what! I played it all the way through without messing up or forgetting. High five!” Ryan laughs as he indulges my request for one.
I climb onto my bed, shoving Ryan’s book aside, and kiss him. Before I know it, the two of us have fallen back on my bed, kisses subsiding so that we’re just lying down together with me in his arms. His hand moves through my hair the way it usually does when we lie together like this. Ryan had found out really quickly that I like when he does it.
“You nervous?” he asks. And I think about it because right now, I don’t feel freaked out about it. It’s tomorrow, and I’m sure I’m not going to be able to concentrate through the last day of classes with the thought of having to perform. It’s a day that’ll help decide my future after all.
“A little bit,” I mumble into the space between his neck and shoulder.
He pushes aside some of my hair and plants a kiss on my forehead. “You’re going to do great. Don’t worry too much, Bren.”
I nod. “I won’t.” With him, I have no worries. When he’s there, all I can do is focus on the present. And the present is wonderful because that’s when he kisses me and rubs my back and plays with my hair. That’s when I feel content with everything, who I am, my life, and my decisions. I forget everything but the fact that we’re together, and that’s why I’m not surprised that eventually my eyes slowly close, the two of us soon drifting off to sleep.
----------------------------
“Spencer! Will you stop?” I say with an annoyed look on my face. His hand is keeping me where I am, and my feet really want me to move somewhere, anywhere. Just to take my mind off what I’m about to do.
“But it’s crooked, Brendon. You can’t go out there with a crooked tie. The judges will be staring at it the whole time and won’t even listen to you play.”
An exasperated sigh leaves my mouth. “Whatever, Spence.” After a few more adjustments, his hands finally leave my tie. I turn around and see Jon and Sarah trying to contain their giggles, and I give them a “don’t start with me” look.
Jon just rolls his eyes. “Where the fuck did Ryan go? He needs to get back so you,” he points to me, “can calm the fuck down. You can’t go on all worked up like you are.”
And yeah, I really do need Ryan here right now. That serene feeling I had last night? Flew out the fucking window.
My hands are wringing nervously as I look around for him, but he is nowhere. The auditions are being held at the main stage of the music hall on campus. The only people allowed in to watch are the judges, but friends and family are allowed to wait in the vestibule. Ryan had thought it’d be a good idea to invite all of our friends for support, and then we could go out to dinner afterwards.
From what I can see, there are eight people including me auditioning for the three spots in the program. As I scan the room full of people to search for Ryan and also to size up my competitors, I do see two familiar faces walking through the crowd of people in the vestibule.
“Hey, dude,” Pete says along with his usual bro-hug. Patrick pats my back and greets me as well.
“Hey, guys. Glad you could make it,” I say absent-mindedly. I’ve really got a lot of things on my mind as I once again scan the room.
Pete launches into some story about a guy trying to throw water balloons at him from the top of one of the buildings on campus earlier today, but I’m not listening because I’ve found Ryan. And it’s not his presence that has me staring wide-eyed. No, it’s the two people following him. Ryan’s got an uneasy look on his face as if he’s not sure whether he’s doing the right thing or not
“Mom? Dad? What are you guys doing here?” I ask them, my voice quivering slightly.
She looks at my father then at my friends behind me and finally to me. “Ryan called and said that this was a very important day for you.” I turn to Ryan who has his head bowed, not looking at me. “He said that he thought it’d be good for us to come and... support you.”
My mouth drops open in shock. “You’re here to support me?”
“Yes,” my father says. He says it as if he doesn’t thoroughly approve, but it’s a yes nonetheless, and I’m not asking for anything more at the moment.
“Uh... well, great!” It’s all I can say, and I guess it really is great. It’s quite a relief to know that they didn’t disown me.
Ryan’s head shoots up and our eyes lock so I give him a smile to let him know that I’m not angry with him. He looks relieved and moves closer to me, which I am thankful for because I needed him here ten minutes ago. My arms find their way around his waist, and he gets the hint that I need him to calm me down because I feel his hand rub circles into my back.
I notice that my father looks slightly uncomfortable, but Spencer and Patrick come to the rescue and initiate conversation with him. I turn my head and find my mother’s eyes on me. When she sees that I’ve noticed her she gives me a small smile and then turns to Sarah who has taken it upon herself to introduce everyone.
Soon though, I hear my name called out from the doors to the music hall, and I tense up a bit in Ryan’s arms. “You’ll be fine, don’t worry,” he whispers as he gives me one last squeeze. Everyone else pats me on the back and shoulders and says similar words of encouragement as I walk towards the man with the clipboard.
I follow him inside to where I see a stage with a piano in the dead center and three people, an old man who is none other than the head of the department, Alan Clove, a middle-aged woman who is probably Prof. Peterson, and some guy I don’t know but looks no older than thirty, sitting in the soft, red seats of the music hall. The man with the clipboard gestures to the stairs leading onto the stage so I climb them, the sounds of my shoes thudding against the wooden stairs echoing throughout the near-empty hall.
“Whenever you’re ready, Brendon,” Prof. Clove says with a genial smile when I’ve found the mark on the stage where I am supposed to stand.
“Yes, sir.” I nod, turn around, and take a seat on the piano bench. I close my eyes briefly as I remember everyone outside waiting for me, everyone who loves me. The last things I see are Ryan and his beautiful smile before I open my eyes and start playing.
--------------------------------
At the Italian restaurant that Spencer had recommended, our table is definitely the loudest one there. Everyone is laughing as my face gets redder by the second while my mother tells embarrassing stories about me.
“Well,” she says with a wide smile, “I was trying to get him dry, but he’d said that the towel was too itchy and that he didn’t want me to dry him off, so when I came at him with it the second time, he bolted right out the bathroom door, down the stairs, and out the front door without a stitch of clothing on.” The table erupts with a fresh round of laughter from everyone. “Our next door neighbor caught him for me though, but boy did it take a long time to get him back in the house and dressed.”
Jon then launches into a story about a kid he used to babysit who would run around his neighborhood with his underwear on his head, but I feel a hand on my knee. I look up, and Ryan is grinning at me as he leans over to whisper, “I guess you’ve always liked walking around naked.”
I laugh heartily, half at his joke and half at the memory, and then our attention is brought to the end of the table as Jon says, “Hey, Brendon, I forgot to tell you.”
“What is it, Jon?” I say as Ryan laces our fingers together under the table.
“I found an apartment for us next year.”
My eyes light up because I had completely forgotten that we’d need to find one. “Really?”
“Yeah, it’s in the same apartment building as Ryan and Spence’s place.”
“Awesome,” I say, and Ryan grins at me again, giving my hand a squeeze. “When can we move in?”
“End of finals week. We can just move our crap out of the dorm and into the apartment.”
“Party at Brendon and Jon’s!” Pete yells. My mother raises an eyebrow at him so he adds nervously, “Or not.”
There’s another explosion of laughter from our table, and several heads turn our way. No one really notices, though, because we’re all just enjoying each other’s company.
And this is something I didn’t ever see happening. I never thought I’d find so many people who cared about me. I never thought my parents would accept me for who I really am, but they seem to be getting used to the idea that maybe their son is destined to do something different with his life. And that their son is in love with a boy who loves him right back.
And Ryan. No one could’ve guessed what he’d be for me. I know that I’m lucky, and that not everyone gets to find their Ryan. I would’ve been in deep trouble without him, and I like thinking that he needs me just as much as I need him.
I didn’t see myself surviving this quarter, but it looks like I’m going to. And with a few more friends than I started out with.
--------------------------
“This year is finally over,” I announce as I walk into my dorm, dropping my backpack on the floor. I’ve just taken my last final, and I can’t wait to collapse on my bed. Too bad I can’t because there are a ton of boxes on my bed filled with all my stuff; I hadn’t realized I had accumulated so much crap this year. Ryan and Jon have been in here since I left two hours ago, packing up our stuff to move to the new place.
“Whoo,” Jon says unenthusiastically as he struggles to close one of the boxes.
I can’t have that. “Come on, where’s the enthusiasm?”
“Whoo,” he says again, slightly louder this time, but hardly enthusiastically.
“There you go.”
I walk over to Ryan who’s placing the things on my desk into a box to give him a kiss hello. It’s interrupted, however, as my phone rings in my pocket.
I pull away and dig for my phone, glancing at an unfamiliar number on the screen.
“Hello?” I say into it.
“Brendon Urie?” the official sounding voice on the other end asks.
I frown. “Yes?”
“This is Alan Clove from the music department.” My eyes widen, and I tug almost automatically at Ryan’s arm.
“Oh, hello, sir. How are you?” I ask, barely able to keep myself together.
“I’m doing great. I just wanted to call you and inform you that we’ve made our decision of who we want in the program.”
“And?” I ask and subconsciously hold my breath.
“And you’re in!” I let it out, and I can feel tears of joy and relief stinging my eyes.
I can hardly believe it. “Really?”
“Yes,” he says with a laugh. “We were really impressed with you, and we can’t wait to be working with you next year. The official letter will be mailed to you soon, but I thought you’d want to know as soon as possible.”
“Thank you so much, Prof. Clove.”
He laughs. “Well, you deserve it, Brendon. Have a nice day.”
“You too, sir.” I say, hanging up.
Ryan is staring up at me from my desk chair, and I can tell that he knows. But that doesn’t stop the choked “Well?” that escapes from his throat. Jon too has stopped what he was doing to stare at me.
I pause for suspense, but I can’t hold it in any longer. “I got in!”
And there’s lots of hugging (from Jon) and kissing (from Ryan) and jumping around (by me). There’s a ton of phone calls that follow, the one to my parents most notable. There’s the email from my counselor congratulating me and telling me that I am officially off academic probation. There’s the impromptu party that Pete throws at his apartment that night.
And there’s the first night in the new apartment. I’m watching Ryan who is sound sleep, and I’m wondering to myself how my life got to be this good.
------------------------
A/N:
Soundtrack available here.
Well, this is it. The last chapter, and I'm really very sad to see that it's done. I was sort of putting off posting it too. I guess I just fell in love with these characters, and even though I finished writing this months ago, I still got to revisit them whenever I'd read everyone's reactions to the latest chapters.
And speaking of, I just want to reach out to everyone who has left a comment on this. It might not seem like it at times, but I do take the time to read each one carefully. I even recognize a lot of the regular commenters, and when I see email notifications from some people, I remember, "Oh hey, last time she said this" or "She always likes to tell me this." It helps knowing that the time I spent thinking about this story and writing it and stressing over it and worrying about it has not gone to waste. If I could make at least one person smile and feel good because of it, then it was all worth it. I wrote this for myself, yes, because it helped me talk about things that are personal to me, but with anything I write, I feel like it's not complete until I share it with other people.
And for anyone lurking this fic, I adore you because I wasn't sure if anyone would even give this a chance at all. I was worried because it wasn't smutty and had an OFC that I feared people would hate and had other themes where the Ryden relationship wasn't the focus at all. So thank you to everyone who took the time to read this. It means the world to me, it really does.
So things coming up for me:
I'm writing a new story, working title is "Freaks". It won't be posted until I'm done writing it so you won't see it for a while, I hope you don't forget me.
I'm currently beta-ing for a few people, maybe when the summer starts I can take on a couple more writers.
I decided to join panicolympics, so for any of the writers reading this, I think you should do it too. It'll be more fun with more competition. I guess whatever I write for that will eventually make it onto here as well.
And I guess that's it for now. I'm hoping you all approved of the ending, it seemed appropriate. I love you guys!
Author: Tiffany (spazzyskittles)
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Ryan Ross/Brendon Urie
POV: 1st (Brendon's)
Summary: AU college. Brendon is close to flunking out of college, and his roommate and partner in crime, Jon, is not helping. He seeks refuge in the school's library and finds a little more than a place to study. This is a story about finding love, taking chances, and being true to one's self.
Disclaimer: This story is a work of fiction. Don't sue.
Dedication: madasarabbit for being an awesome best friend, so awesome that she texted me twice tonight to get me to post this chapter.
Author Notes: This is a completed story and will be updated every other day. Many thanks to my wonderful beta, pinkkchocolate. This fic may not have happened without her. Additional A/N at the end of the chapter.
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23
Chapter 24
My fingers coast along the keys of my keyboard as I practice this Chopin piece for the thousandth time. My noise-canceling headphones are clamped firmly over my ears as I chance a look towards my bed. Ryan’s got a reader for one of his classes splayed across his lap as he sits against the wall, his long legs dangling over the edge of the bed. His attention, however, is not on the book in front of him but on my phone in his hands. Ryan is pressing buttons with a look of concentration on his face, and I wonder what he’s doing.
I finish the piece, and for the first time, my fingers had found their rightful places each time. I remove my headphones because this would be a great time for break. By now, Ryan has abandoned my phone and has gone back to reading his assignment.
“What were you doing on my phone?” I ask him.
He looks up from his book. “Just playing with it.” I nod uncertainly, since I’m not sure if there was more to it than that. But then he asks, “Taking a break?”
“Yeah. But guess what! I played it all the way through without messing up or forgetting. High five!” Ryan laughs as he indulges my request for one.
I climb onto my bed, shoving Ryan’s book aside, and kiss him. Before I know it, the two of us have fallen back on my bed, kisses subsiding so that we’re just lying down together with me in his arms. His hand moves through my hair the way it usually does when we lie together like this. Ryan had found out really quickly that I like when he does it.
“You nervous?” he asks. And I think about it because right now, I don’t feel freaked out about it. It’s tomorrow, and I’m sure I’m not going to be able to concentrate through the last day of classes with the thought of having to perform. It’s a day that’ll help decide my future after all.
“A little bit,” I mumble into the space between his neck and shoulder.
He pushes aside some of my hair and plants a kiss on my forehead. “You’re going to do great. Don’t worry too much, Bren.”
I nod. “I won’t.” With him, I have no worries. When he’s there, all I can do is focus on the present. And the present is wonderful because that’s when he kisses me and rubs my back and plays with my hair. That’s when I feel content with everything, who I am, my life, and my decisions. I forget everything but the fact that we’re together, and that’s why I’m not surprised that eventually my eyes slowly close, the two of us soon drifting off to sleep.
----------------------------
“Spencer! Will you stop?” I say with an annoyed look on my face. His hand is keeping me where I am, and my feet really want me to move somewhere, anywhere. Just to take my mind off what I’m about to do.
“But it’s crooked, Brendon. You can’t go out there with a crooked tie. The judges will be staring at it the whole time and won’t even listen to you play.”
An exasperated sigh leaves my mouth. “Whatever, Spence.” After a few more adjustments, his hands finally leave my tie. I turn around and see Jon and Sarah trying to contain their giggles, and I give them a “don’t start with me” look.
Jon just rolls his eyes. “Where the fuck did Ryan go? He needs to get back so you,” he points to me, “can calm the fuck down. You can’t go on all worked up like you are.”
And yeah, I really do need Ryan here right now. That serene feeling I had last night? Flew out the fucking window.
My hands are wringing nervously as I look around for him, but he is nowhere. The auditions are being held at the main stage of the music hall on campus. The only people allowed in to watch are the judges, but friends and family are allowed to wait in the vestibule. Ryan had thought it’d be a good idea to invite all of our friends for support, and then we could go out to dinner afterwards.
From what I can see, there are eight people including me auditioning for the three spots in the program. As I scan the room full of people to search for Ryan and also to size up my competitors, I do see two familiar faces walking through the crowd of people in the vestibule.
“Hey, dude,” Pete says along with his usual bro-hug. Patrick pats my back and greets me as well.
“Hey, guys. Glad you could make it,” I say absent-mindedly. I’ve really got a lot of things on my mind as I once again scan the room.
Pete launches into some story about a guy trying to throw water balloons at him from the top of one of the buildings on campus earlier today, but I’m not listening because I’ve found Ryan. And it’s not his presence that has me staring wide-eyed. No, it’s the two people following him. Ryan’s got an uneasy look on his face as if he’s not sure whether he’s doing the right thing or not
“Mom? Dad? What are you guys doing here?” I ask them, my voice quivering slightly.
She looks at my father then at my friends behind me and finally to me. “Ryan called and said that this was a very important day for you.” I turn to Ryan who has his head bowed, not looking at me. “He said that he thought it’d be good for us to come and... support you.”
My mouth drops open in shock. “You’re here to support me?”
“Yes,” my father says. He says it as if he doesn’t thoroughly approve, but it’s a yes nonetheless, and I’m not asking for anything more at the moment.
“Uh... well, great!” It’s all I can say, and I guess it really is great. It’s quite a relief to know that they didn’t disown me.
Ryan’s head shoots up and our eyes lock so I give him a smile to let him know that I’m not angry with him. He looks relieved and moves closer to me, which I am thankful for because I needed him here ten minutes ago. My arms find their way around his waist, and he gets the hint that I need him to calm me down because I feel his hand rub circles into my back.
I notice that my father looks slightly uncomfortable, but Spencer and Patrick come to the rescue and initiate conversation with him. I turn my head and find my mother’s eyes on me. When she sees that I’ve noticed her she gives me a small smile and then turns to Sarah who has taken it upon herself to introduce everyone.
Soon though, I hear my name called out from the doors to the music hall, and I tense up a bit in Ryan’s arms. “You’ll be fine, don’t worry,” he whispers as he gives me one last squeeze. Everyone else pats me on the back and shoulders and says similar words of encouragement as I walk towards the man with the clipboard.
I follow him inside to where I see a stage with a piano in the dead center and three people, an old man who is none other than the head of the department, Alan Clove, a middle-aged woman who is probably Prof. Peterson, and some guy I don’t know but looks no older than thirty, sitting in the soft, red seats of the music hall. The man with the clipboard gestures to the stairs leading onto the stage so I climb them, the sounds of my shoes thudding against the wooden stairs echoing throughout the near-empty hall.
“Whenever you’re ready, Brendon,” Prof. Clove says with a genial smile when I’ve found the mark on the stage where I am supposed to stand.
“Yes, sir.” I nod, turn around, and take a seat on the piano bench. I close my eyes briefly as I remember everyone outside waiting for me, everyone who loves me. The last things I see are Ryan and his beautiful smile before I open my eyes and start playing.
--------------------------------
At the Italian restaurant that Spencer had recommended, our table is definitely the loudest one there. Everyone is laughing as my face gets redder by the second while my mother tells embarrassing stories about me.
“Well,” she says with a wide smile, “I was trying to get him dry, but he’d said that the towel was too itchy and that he didn’t want me to dry him off, so when I came at him with it the second time, he bolted right out the bathroom door, down the stairs, and out the front door without a stitch of clothing on.” The table erupts with a fresh round of laughter from everyone. “Our next door neighbor caught him for me though, but boy did it take a long time to get him back in the house and dressed.”
Jon then launches into a story about a kid he used to babysit who would run around his neighborhood with his underwear on his head, but I feel a hand on my knee. I look up, and Ryan is grinning at me as he leans over to whisper, “I guess you’ve always liked walking around naked.”
I laugh heartily, half at his joke and half at the memory, and then our attention is brought to the end of the table as Jon says, “Hey, Brendon, I forgot to tell you.”
“What is it, Jon?” I say as Ryan laces our fingers together under the table.
“I found an apartment for us next year.”
My eyes light up because I had completely forgotten that we’d need to find one. “Really?”
“Yeah, it’s in the same apartment building as Ryan and Spence’s place.”
“Awesome,” I say, and Ryan grins at me again, giving my hand a squeeze. “When can we move in?”
“End of finals week. We can just move our crap out of the dorm and into the apartment.”
“Party at Brendon and Jon’s!” Pete yells. My mother raises an eyebrow at him so he adds nervously, “Or not.”
There’s another explosion of laughter from our table, and several heads turn our way. No one really notices, though, because we’re all just enjoying each other’s company.
And this is something I didn’t ever see happening. I never thought I’d find so many people who cared about me. I never thought my parents would accept me for who I really am, but they seem to be getting used to the idea that maybe their son is destined to do something different with his life. And that their son is in love with a boy who loves him right back.
And Ryan. No one could’ve guessed what he’d be for me. I know that I’m lucky, and that not everyone gets to find their Ryan. I would’ve been in deep trouble without him, and I like thinking that he needs me just as much as I need him.
I didn’t see myself surviving this quarter, but it looks like I’m going to. And with a few more friends than I started out with.
--------------------------
“This year is finally over,” I announce as I walk into my dorm, dropping my backpack on the floor. I’ve just taken my last final, and I can’t wait to collapse on my bed. Too bad I can’t because there are a ton of boxes on my bed filled with all my stuff; I hadn’t realized I had accumulated so much crap this year. Ryan and Jon have been in here since I left two hours ago, packing up our stuff to move to the new place.
“Whoo,” Jon says unenthusiastically as he struggles to close one of the boxes.
I can’t have that. “Come on, where’s the enthusiasm?”
“Whoo,” he says again, slightly louder this time, but hardly enthusiastically.
“There you go.”
I walk over to Ryan who’s placing the things on my desk into a box to give him a kiss hello. It’s interrupted, however, as my phone rings in my pocket.
I pull away and dig for my phone, glancing at an unfamiliar number on the screen.
“Hello?” I say into it.
“Brendon Urie?” the official sounding voice on the other end asks.
I frown. “Yes?”
“This is Alan Clove from the music department.” My eyes widen, and I tug almost automatically at Ryan’s arm.
“Oh, hello, sir. How are you?” I ask, barely able to keep myself together.
“I’m doing great. I just wanted to call you and inform you that we’ve made our decision of who we want in the program.”
“And?” I ask and subconsciously hold my breath.
“And you’re in!” I let it out, and I can feel tears of joy and relief stinging my eyes.
I can hardly believe it. “Really?”
“Yes,” he says with a laugh. “We were really impressed with you, and we can’t wait to be working with you next year. The official letter will be mailed to you soon, but I thought you’d want to know as soon as possible.”
“Thank you so much, Prof. Clove.”
He laughs. “Well, you deserve it, Brendon. Have a nice day.”
“You too, sir.” I say, hanging up.
Ryan is staring up at me from my desk chair, and I can tell that he knows. But that doesn’t stop the choked “Well?” that escapes from his throat. Jon too has stopped what he was doing to stare at me.
I pause for suspense, but I can’t hold it in any longer. “I got in!”
And there’s lots of hugging (from Jon) and kissing (from Ryan) and jumping around (by me). There’s a ton of phone calls that follow, the one to my parents most notable. There’s the email from my counselor congratulating me and telling me that I am officially off academic probation. There’s the impromptu party that Pete throws at his apartment that night.
And there’s the first night in the new apartment. I’m watching Ryan who is sound sleep, and I’m wondering to myself how my life got to be this good.
------------------------
A/N:
Soundtrack available here.
Well, this is it. The last chapter, and I'm really very sad to see that it's done. I was sort of putting off posting it too. I guess I just fell in love with these characters, and even though I finished writing this months ago, I still got to revisit them whenever I'd read everyone's reactions to the latest chapters.
And speaking of, I just want to reach out to everyone who has left a comment on this. It might not seem like it at times, but I do take the time to read each one carefully. I even recognize a lot of the regular commenters, and when I see email notifications from some people, I remember, "Oh hey, last time she said this" or "She always likes to tell me this." It helps knowing that the time I spent thinking about this story and writing it and stressing over it and worrying about it has not gone to waste. If I could make at least one person smile and feel good because of it, then it was all worth it. I wrote this for myself, yes, because it helped me talk about things that are personal to me, but with anything I write, I feel like it's not complete until I share it with other people.
And for anyone lurking this fic, I adore you because I wasn't sure if anyone would even give this a chance at all. I was worried because it wasn't smutty and had an OFC that I feared people would hate and had other themes where the Ryden relationship wasn't the focus at all. So thank you to everyone who took the time to read this. It means the world to me, it really does.
So things coming up for me:
I'm writing a new story, working title is "Freaks". It won't be posted until I'm done writing it so you won't see it for a while, I hope you don't forget me.
I'm currently beta-ing for a few people, maybe when the summer starts I can take on a couple more writers.
I decided to join panicolympics, so for any of the writers reading this, I think you should do it too. It'll be more fun with more competition. I guess whatever I write for that will eventually make it onto here as well.
And I guess that's it for now. I'm hoping you all approved of the ending, it seemed appropriate. I love you guys!