Now we've reached a plot I couldn't wait to get to writing. It was one that took a bit to plan cause I couldn't think of a good enough backstory, but here we are now.

The first snippet is based on my experiences.

Year Four: The Stark-Banner Accords

Months Ago - Prof Nine's Office Hours - 11:30 AM

On an extremely productive day, James sits at Prof Nine's desk with his feet up. The door is wide open for prospective students who have questions about the course, upcoming assignments, or the final. As of now, and since the office hours started, no students have shown up and he was scrolling on his phone for what felt like hours.

In other words, he's doing absolutely nothing.

The second he puts his phone down to breathe, it starts ringing. He looks at it and smiles when he sees a picture of him and Emily sitting on the roof of one of his cars late at night. The flash is bright so their eyes are squinting but their smiles glow. Who took this picture? He'll never know.

"Emily Stark, to what do I owe this phone call?" James asks when he picks up.

Emily: Are you busy?

"Office hours since Nine is off talking to his boss, whoever that is. What's up?"

James thought Emily would go on about some random thing on her mind. Last time, Emily was rambling about how some people in adjacent cohorts debated on which regatta they should visit on the weekends. But this time when he asked, she sighed after asking if he was free. She never asks. She just goes straight to talking. As follows his beliefs, people should be blessed that they're in Emily Stark's attention. If someone was busy, they wouldn't pick up the phone. Simple as that.

Emily: I just wanted someone to talk to. I have a lot of presentations and papers to write in the upcoming month and nobody in my classes to talk to cause my program is so small that it's essentially me, and all my friends are somewhere else in a different time zone. So I just had a moment where I thought about it and cried for a bit, but now I'm here.

"Did Daniel not pick up the phone?" James asks. "What the hell does he have going on anyways? I'll blast him."

Emily: I called you. You get me. You went to private school alone despite us being in the next town.

James nods, sitting properly and turning his back to the door. He doesn't think about private school much for that reason. "It's lonely, I know. Friends are friends in proximity only because they're in proximity. Nobody you're close enough to have a mental breakdown in their presence."

Emily: And your parents text you and then you think they'll call. You kinda wish they do but you also don't want them to see you crying or hear you after having cried. They think you're fine and let you be, telling you to study hard and be good.

"And you'd call Daniel, or me Angela, but you don't want to cry in front of them despite them having seen it a million times and you want a hug or something. Cause they'll comfort you but also try to solve problems you don't want to think about at the moment."

James tears up when he hears Emily laugh in a way that's hiding some pent-up crying, the crying they mentioned they would hide from their parents.

"Just call Merida or Xavier, someone too awkward to process your tears and will probably punch a wall in your honour."

Emily: Or you who understands everyone.

-o-

Present Day - Dr. BV's Office - 13:33 PM

Daniel walks into Dr. BV's office to return some lab reports he finished marking and inputting the grades into the system. He stops at her opened door when he sees BV standing at her desk talking to some other profs who give him small smiles and waves as he remains there. Once they leave, Daniel walks inside when BV gestures for him.

"They were asking me about funding for some projects," BV explains. "Apparently, Emily had some money she owed the Academy outside what she gave for the Asgardian Grant, but Sci-Tech has no trace of it."

Daniel pauses as he puts the lab reports on her desk. "What are you implying?"

"Nothing, nothing." She fixes her glasses. "I won't tell the others, but they were just wondering who Stark gave the money to. They thought it was me because you work for me, but I didn't expect any funds from her. Did she say where she gave the money?"

Daniel shrugs. He didn't talk to Emily about the money much. He assumed it was all lumped in the Asgardian Grant.

"I'll call my Mrs. about it later," Daniel says.

-o-

"There you are!"

Daniel just got out of the Sci-Tech faculty wing when he saw Naomi running up to him. She gasps for air, leaning against the building as Daniel steps to the side to avoid blocking the way.

"I was looking for you," Naomi says once she catches her breath. "I need to call your fiancée."

"You and me both," Daniel says. "What do you need?"

"Um, well, she, uh - she owes me money."

Daniel wrinkles his brows. His fiancée and money today, jeez. "You and Sci-Tech both, apparently, but why you?"

"Financial aid is on my ass about verifying my money source and funding for tuition since they doubt-"

"Stark paid your tuition."

At that moment, it all clicks for him. The missing amount of money enough to fund a project would also be sufficient enough to pay tuition. Emily didn't fund any Sci-Tech research projects. If she reallocated Apollo and Britney's money for the Asgardian Grants, then she gave her own full ride to Naomi.

Naomi nods. "All in one go. All four years. A year ago, actually. I didn't ask her for it. I didn't even know her personally, let alone that she showed up in my life with a fuckton of money. This has nothing to do with whatever friendship we mustered up the past year, I promise. I didn't have to do anything in return for her."

Daniel isn't sure what to say so he just stares at Naomi who, ironically, waits for him to respond. He's not surprised that Emily would use her money like that … it's that he didn't know about it.

"Oh…" Naomi mutters. "Crap. She never told you. Crap, I fucked up. I don't think I was supposed to tell you - oh no I'm making this so much worse."

"Relax," Daniel says, "I'm thinking."

"I don't know if that's a good thing. Look, I can figure this out if you're not-"

Daniel is already calling Emily before she finishes that sentence. His phone rings in his ear. "Naomi, I think financial aid is on your case since Sci-Tech's been eyeing that money for years. I don't know why financial aid is on your case now but — hey, Emily, so Naomi's with me and she's been trying to contact you about her tuition money."

Daniel waits for Emily to respond and, for once, his talkative fiancée is speechless. He looks at Naomi who's chewing on her bottom lip.

Emily: I'm on my way to the Academy. We need to have this conversation face-to-face.

Without another word, the call ends. Daniel laughs to himself, shaking his head as he puts his phone in his pocket.

"Well, then," he says.

"Is that conversation with me or with you?" Naomi wonders.

"Definitely with me. She's pissed. She'll be here in either 30 minutes or by the end of the week. I'm hoping the latter since I need to breathe and think of what to say."

"Daniel, I'm sorry if I-"

"Don't worry. Everything's fine."

"She's pissed."

"Yeah, I pissed her off. Hence me hoping she comes at the end of the week."

Daniel walks off and hears Naomi start a phone call so he stops and turns around.

Keith: So now you use your phone to call people.

"I think I'm breaking them up," Naomi tells him.

Keith: Hold up. What?

"We're not breaking up!" Daniel yells. He huffs. "I have at least a week."

-o-

Edison Residence - 12:42 PM

He was wrong.

Daniel came back to his dorm and saw Emily already there, sitting at his desk looking as beautiful as always despite her stern expression. He knows he's screwed since she already seems like she's thought this although, in his defence, she's known about this whole dilemma for way longer than him.

"Hi," Daniel says as he closes the door behind him.

"Thought you'd have till the end of the week, huh?" Emily asks.

"I thought you were in Japan."

"Old Montreal, actually. One of my supervisors made me tag along but I said I had to make a small pit stop before heading back."

"Yeah, we have a problem with that on top of Naomi's tuition."

Emily shakes her head. "Why are you mad about that? I handled that before your RA let me into your dorm. Actually, no we'll discuss that later. I just want to say that I'm well aware that we've been more distant as of lately. I think we grew accustomed to long-distance and all the different time zones and assignments and business affairs with my parents weren't helping. So for that, I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry too. Okay, I just have to ask, did you get Naomi to watch me?"

Emily laughs for a moment before realizing he wasn't finding it funny. "Daniel, are you serious? Why would I do that?"

Daniel pauses, realizing that is such a stupid thing for her to plan. "I don't know. Maybe to avoid calling me so she could update you instead?"

"No!" She yells, standing up from his desk. "I just paid her tuition with my Academy money and added more."

"And you paid how much?"

"Four years. I couldn't tell you cause it'd be a conflict of interest with Sci-Tech and their greedy paws salivating over the money. It's just a coincidence that she wound up friends with you and James, is living with Merida's friend, maybe has a thing for Keith, and that I 'met' her at Angela's sleepover. But you wanna talk about keeping tabs? Alright. Angela and James broke up like two years ago. Xavier got - is - depressed. Merida could've been expelled who knows how many fucking times. You've been close to how many panic attacks."

"… so? That has nothing to do with anything."

"So?" Emily cackles a bit, throwing her hands by her sides. "If you can't even tell me what's going on around here, then maybe I should've asked Naomi for briefings. What does it matter if I'm in some random city if you don't tell me anything happening here? Those things happened and you never told me. Not one voicemail or even a text! We've been bouncing around vague and surface-level conversations. How are you? Oh, I'm great. How are you? I'm writing a paper on some random science shit. I found out from the others when it should've been you!"

Daniel can't argue any of those words. She's right. Their conversations as of lately have been bland. Despite things happening to them all the time, there's nothing much to say. His heart swells hearing those words come to fruition and slap him in the face.

"It's hard," he admits.

"What is?"

"Calling you. I know you said you're sorry and I forgive you with all my heart, but hear me out. You're always in a different time zone and we're stuck with missed calls and there's just so much to catch each other up on that it's hard to distinguish what's worth saying. And it shouldn't matter since you got someone to watch me!"

Emily rolls her eyes. "You need to get over that. She's not a babysitter. She hasn't even called me to provide updates on you if it'll make you sleep better at night. She doesn't even contact me hence her asking you to call me."

"That's not the point."

"I don't even know what the fucking point is! We're just airing out all our fucking dirty laundry for everyone to hear. The first conversation we've had in who knows how fucking long is when we yelled at each other to get to this point."

"So it took an argument to get to this point?" Daniel mutters.

Emily points at him. Her engagement ring sparkles in the light peeking in through the window as she stares at him with tears brimming. "Don't."

"I won't. At least Xavier and Britney were smart to break up after graduation."

Emily doesn't scoff, as he expected. It hurts more than her expression softens and she lowers her hand. Her thumb fidgets with her engagement ring, spinning the band and emerald around.

"Last I checked, you asked me to marry you. We didn't have to do any next steps after graduation."

"Because I love you and knew I would miss you!" Daniel yells, tears falling from his eyes. His glasses fog a little but he leaves them. "God, Emily, I want to tell you everything and I'm not used to that because you were always there to see it all with me. Saying everything aloud just made it more real that you're not here."

Emily nods, her tears falling as well. She doesn't meet his eyes but looks down, fidgeting with her nails instead of her ring. Daniel blinks out more tears as he runs a hand through his hair. He didn't think that was how he felt about doing long-distance with Emily, especially nearly four years later of it. It doesn't hit him until now that he used to spend nearly every day with her, seeing her smile and hearing her voice talk about anything and everything. Now, for the first time in months, he's made her angry and cry over him trying to designate his sentiments to problems that weren't his business.

"I'm going to step out of here," Daniel says, pointing towards the door. "You can stay here since I don't want you getting swarmed out here after all this, or at all, I should say."

Emily nods. "I'll stay in your time zone this time."

Daniel takes a deep breath and bites his tongue before stepping out. Don't say anything. He deserved that.