Birlap One Shots

Battles

The tears kept falling down and they wouldn't stop. You were shaking as you sat at the wooden desk where your laptop was. The words kept replaying in your head. 'You are no longer enrolled in Barry University.'

You knew you wanted to do this, but you could not stop thinking about what your parents would think. They had high expectations for you, and to see their only daughter drop out of a huge opportunity such as this college that had offered you a scholarship was beyond disappointing.

You closed your eyes tight, trying to think happy thoughts. All of this crying and worries was draining you and you just wanted it to be over. "Hey, love." Arny interrupted your thoughts. Your eyes shot open, and you tried to wipe away the tears that had fallen. Your face was red and puffy, your mascara was streaking down your cheeks. Some of the excess was on the right sleeve of Arny's hoodie that he let you wear.

You cleared your voice and tried to muster a "hey" as clearly as possible. "What's wrong?" He asked, kneeling down to your height. You were twisting from side to side in the chair as the thoughts of telling your parents about this catastrophe consumed your headspace.

"Nothing's wrong, love." You replied after a few seconds, your voice breaking. He gently grabbed your chin and held it in place so you would look at him. "We both know that's not true." He argued. Fresh tears started to form, and you tried everything to hold them back, but it was no use. They fell anyways, rolling down your cheeks and landing on Arny's hand.

You pulled away from his grasp and grabbed a tissue out of the box on your desk, wiping his hand off. "Sorry, babe." You said, sniffling as you threw the used tissue into the trash can next to your desk. "My love, what happened?" He asked. He glanced at your computer and read the sentence that was printed on the screen. 'You are no longer enrolled in Barry University.'

He quickly glanced back at you with sympathetic eyes. "I'm so sorry, hun." He spoke. "Did you get kicked out?" You shook your head. "I didn't want to do it anymore because I wanted to take a different career path." You managed to muster up in between small gasps for air. "I don't know how my parents will take it, though. Their only daughter that they had such high hopes for, dropping out of college..."

He stood up and read the sentence again before abruptly closing the laptop holding out his hand for you to take. "Come on," he said. "We're going to get you cleaned up and then go tell your parents." You looked up at him, your hands shaking violently as you took his. As you stood up, he grabbed your arm and pulled you in for a tight hug. "It's going to be okay." He whispered as he placed his hand on your head patted you ever so gently, letting his fingers roam your hair.

"I don't want to do this without you, Arny." Your voice was unsteady, and you felt sick to your stomach at the thought of you disappointing your parents. "You won't have to, my love," he responds, kissing the top of your head. "I'll be by your side the whole time." You smiled slightly with a few tears escaping your eyes. You looked up at him and kissed him with arms around his neck.

- Time Skip -

Arny pulled into your parents' house and parked in the driveway as he usually did. "Are you sure you want to come with me?" You asked him, taking your seatbelt off. "I'm most likely going to get a lot of backlashes from them, and a lot of insults will be thrown at me from left and right." He took both of your hands and held them in his. "Look at me; you won't ever have to do this alone. I'm right here, and I'm not going anywhere. If you're going to get backlash, then so will I. You'll never have to go through something like this alone." He gave you a reassuring smile and briefly looked you up and down a few times. You nodded your head with a small smile and stepped out of the car, gently closing the door behind you as Arny did the same.

Hand-in-hand, you knocked on the door of your childhood home. Your mother was quick to open it, smiling at you and Arny. "Come in, dear!" she said as she held the door for you and Arny. Arny was always one to thank her for letting him enter her home, even if she treated him as her son. "It's so good to see you, how have you two been? Is everything okay at home? How's Apollo?" Your mother was always one to ask a million questions at a time, she would talk yours and Arny's heads off if she could.

"Everything's fine, Mom." You reply, tucking loose strands of hair behind your right ear. Arny thought it was one of the cutest things in the world and could never get enough your cuteness. He smiled at you, and you smiled back. "How's school?" She continued, but this time your smile faded into a slight frown. "Actually, that's something I was hoping to talk to you about..."

Her smile soon turned into a puzzled look. She looked at you, and then at Arny, and then back to you again. "What do you mean? What happened? Are you pregnant??" She asked and looked at your stomach, assuming you would have to back out of school for a bit to take care of an infant. "No, Mom. I'm not pregnant!" You said as your face burned a crimson color. "I just..." You looked over at Arny giving you a reassuring smile and nodding for you to tell her. "I dropped out."

That puzzled look your mother once had has now turned into a huge frown. Her face was red and puffy, like she was soon to let her rage out at you. "I'm sorry, are my ears deceiving me right now?" she asked. "All they're hearing is the sound of failure." She was definitely angry now. Unfortunately, as you had predicted, insults were thrown at you from everywhere and you felt completely helpless. You just had to sit there and take it, tears in your eyes and streaming down your cheeks with a burning sting. Just like they were earlier.

"Get out of my house, you and Arny both. I need to lower my blood pressure before it becomes too much." She snapped, pointing at the door. You nodded. "Sorry, Mom." You managed to get out before you started to escort yourself out of the home. Arny grabbed your arm and gently pulled you back into the house, hugging you tightly. You hid your face in his chest as he spoke up.

"Mrs. L/N, you didn't even let her finish and explain why she dropped out." "I've heard enough, Parsons." Your mother spat back. "Y/N was terrified to tell you, she was crying at our apartment earlier and shaking before she came over here, and this is how you treat her?" He protested, rubbing small circles on your back. "You don't get to tell me how I treat my daughter, my only child that I've raised better than to drop out of college." She huffed. Arny looked at your mother with a pissed off look. "I now see why she never comes to see you anymore." He growled. "Let's go, babe." He took your hand and led you to the car, buckling you up and then getting in himself to drive away. He left a small streak on your parents nicely paved driveway with his tires as a 'fuck you' to your mother.

"I'm so sorry you had to go through that, babe." you said softly. "It wasn't your battle to fight." He looked at you with his head cocked to the side like a dog that was confused. "Why are you apologizing to me?" He asked as he pulled into an empty parking lot and shut the car off. "Your battles are my battles. Either way, I'm so sorry that you've had to live with that for 18 years. That's something a queen should never have to go through. You deserve so much better." He held both of your hands in his and looked into your eyes.

"But hey, at least you didn't have to do it alone." Despite your tear-stained face on a shitty night, he still managed to make your smile as wide as it was on the night you both met. You lightly giggled. "I love you." "I love you, too, my love." He said as he kissed you.

Word Count: 1,482

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