Growing up Astrid had always longed for a place to call her own, where everything would stay in its place because she put it there and there'd be no random outliers.

She had shared a room most of her life, she and her younger sister, Thea, shared a room for as long as she could remember. Since Thea was only a year younger than her they'd always been put together, their younger brothers given their own rooms whilst they were subjected to sharing. It wasn't bad, they knew when to give each other space and how to share their small room reasonably, but it didn't stop her want for time alone.

Even at University, her room didn't feel like hers, the inevitable moving day where she's have to pack everything up and take it somewhere else stopped her from decorating too far, no real feel to the room.

When she bit the bullet and moved in which Niki and Sophie she knew this was her chance, sure she wouldn't be there forever but long enough to hang lights and place faux plants in a way that made her feel safe. Truly she was like a child in a sweet shop when they first moved in, eyes bright at the possibilities.

So she wasn't upset to be home for once, music playing throughout the room as she sat idle. Not a worry in the world, apart from the one she couldn't get off her mind that is.

Astrid had left Georges pretty much as soon as she woke up, it felt forever since she's been home and it was all she really wanted.

She'd forgotten what it felt like to be alone for a while, to not constantly be waiting for a message only to run along like a little dog being called for a walk. Like dogs, she did enjoy said walk, but staying home to relax was good too.

Her room felt cold, but that didn't stop the girl from pulling up her top in front of her full-sized mirror, fingers dancing softly over her soft skin. Tracing every dark bruise that the boy had left there, some fading but others bright, put there only hours beforehand. There was a nice feeling deep inside her, satisfaction that he had marked her, claimed her as his.

But then a drop, as she pulled her shirt back down and all evidence of the boy disappeared. His mark no longer on her body, not that anybody could see anyways. He always seemed to do that, have a strategic plan of where to place them so no prying eyes could see, keeping everything of them in secret.

Her eyes flicked away, her phone lighting up as it came back to life. A smile on her face, a new charger hooked up to her phone, one that George had given her after she had asked to borrow his, telling him how hers had died.

It was the small things, she guessed, little things that he did that would make flutters shiver through her whole body, almost embarrassingly so.

She let out a breath, leaving her phone, not worried about any messages that'd come through for once, almost jumping onto the couch and landing on Sophie in the process.

Almost as soon as she entered the door Sophie had suggested a movie night, a frequent event when they first moved in, and Astrid couldn't have been happier.

It felt like calmer times when she didn't need to worry about what the world thought of her because barely two hundred people were watching her streams, compared to now when two hundred people could be tweeting about her at that very moment.

"I do regret not entering" Niki spoke as the film went quiet, phone in hand, she turned it to show the two other girls when they gave her confused faces, the teams for MCC on the screen.

"Oh, I forgot that was coming up" Sophie drawled, "Astrid, didn't you enter?"

She hummed, picking up her own phone to check her team, a lump in her throat as she saw.

"Dream, Tommy and Wilbur," she smiled, having known Tommy and Wilbur for some time now even requesting them to team together, but the same couldn't be said about the other.

Apparently, George wouldn't get his wish, without any input from either of them she'd meet his friends.

Whether they liked it or not.

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Written: 20th July 2022

Published:

Worried bc i started a MCC plot line but usually don't watch MCC bc it's too long and idk how i'm gonna write it but i'll pull through:p