p i l o t
The day started as chaotic as World War II in the Daxem-Danvers household, with the first day of school. From the kids screaming their heads off to the phones ringing. Mon-el stood in the kitchen cooking breakfast for his family, the radio loudly playing in the background trying to drown the commotion. He owned a bar not far from home, luckily for him he was able to make his own hours which helped as he had three kid and an expecting wife.
His beautiful wife of twenty years Kara was eighteen weeks pregnant. She worked for one of the best reporters in the country, not that her boss would ever acknowledge that. Snapper Carr was the editor and chief of Catco Magazine, he was as cruel as he was smart. Although she wanted to put his head in a blender, she was that he taken her under her wing. As she was answering her many works phone calls her twins Romeo and Juliet were at the table bickering over the last pancake. Mon-el had chosen the names while Kara had been drugged up from giving birth, at first, she was not pleased with the star cross lovers' names, but she grew used to them and adored her husband's passion for the literary art.
The eldest of the two was a brunette strapping young seventeen-year-old boy, who was on the football team, his only goal in life was making his family proud. He had already had many scholarships deals from many colleges across the states. He gained the strength whilst his twin sister Juliet, gained the intelligence.
She was younger by two and a half minutes, and was the most popular girl in school, beautiful and head strong as her mother. The top of her class in every class, every parent evening the teachers could not help but boast about her. She had all the attention from the boys, although she was sure she did not want to date any of them her father took many precautions to ensure that.
"My dear dumb brother, your brain doesn't need the energy so I should take it!" Juliet screamed at her brother at a high frequency as next to her was her five-year-old brother, Jeremiah, named after their late grandfather. He was crying his head off not wanting to go to kindergarten, he believed his family would abandon him, although he would completely forget that fact after five minutes of playtime.
"Dear sister of mine, you are fat enough! You don't need the extra calories." Romeo had retaliated, of course he had no idea the effect it would have on his sister, he was just being her brother. If he knew the inner turmoil she had everyday and night looking in the mirror, that she had been starving herself for a while now, she only ate because Jerimiah had asked her to eat with them instead of her usual excuse of already eating or going to the school café.
She picked up her orange juice throwing it on her brother ruining his hair and clothes, then grabbing her bag rushing out the door ignoring her family calling after her.
"Quickly have a shower and change, I'll drop you off before I go to work" Kara had said as she handed him a towel to dry himself. Shaking her head in disbelief.
"I barely even said anything" Romeo pouted as he marched up the stairs.
"Our kids are fun" Mon-el said taking a sip of coffee looking at the OJ dripping from the counter.
"I blame you" Kara simply said as she looked at her husband before grabbing her son and getting his ready for school.
"I love you too babe"
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There had been a series of murders happening around the city, and as Kara's best friend was a forensic scientist, she had been the best choice to run the story, being able to get exclusive interviews and seeing her best friend was the best deal she could have been offered. So, there they were chatting about their kids, lives, and obviously the murders.
"So, how's my little peanut being today?" Barry asked as he eyed her small baby belly.
"He moves around a lot but no kicks yet, how's your wife handling her first pregnancy" Barry had met his wife Caitlyn, four years ago. She was twenty-four weeks pregnant, it was her first pregnancy however, for Barry, this would be his second as he had previously a child with his one nightstand eighteen years ago. She was a beautiful young woman, daughter Nora. She knew at a young age that her parents were not getting back to together and looked at Caitlin like a second mum. They had a very strict dynamic, she would stay with her dad and Caitlin on the weekdays for school and weekends with her mom.
"she's been craving some WEIRD food, like ice cream and pickles" He said making a face of disgust.
"The one thing I'm not looking forward to" Kara said reminiscing the times when she was pregnant with the twins and would constantly crave fishfingers and custard.
"DANVERS!" Snapper shouted from across the hall.
"I better go" she said giving him a hug and rushing to her boss but not before promising to see him at their weekly dinner tonight. As kids, Kara, Barry, and Oliver had promised that every week they would have a dinner all together so they would never loose each other. Since the first time it had now become a tradition that they loved, it also helped that their children were all friends with each other.
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In high school, Romeo had just finished first period and stood at his locker grabbing books. He had a mirror in his locker, so he double checked that he didn't have any breakfast on him before closing it and heading off.
"ROMEO!" his best friend called out. William Queen, Son of the Mayor Queen, and their uncle. He smiled at seeing his friend, something about the younger boy made his smile rush out and heart jump. He just associated it with friendship.
"Hey, William" William was a stereotypical nerd without the glasses, his favourite things were comic books, DC and Marvel, binging Bing Bang Theory just to laugh at the smart jokes and competing with Juliet for most perfect scores in their tests.
"Hey! you didn't knock at my door; we always walk to school together. What happened?" William may seem clingy which he was, but Romeo loved that about him. It was a nice feeling, like someone wanted him around. It was hard having a perfect twin sibling and having to fight over their parents' approval. With William he never had to be disappointed in being himself.
"Oh sorry, rough morning" He huffed in annoyance, just another thing that Juliet ruined he thought. They began walking to their next lesson not caring that the late bell would be going off in a few minutes. William basked in the attention of Romeo, and he couldn't care less about maintaining a perfect attendance, if it was adequate, he would still be able to go to college.
"Do you want to talk about it?" Romeo shook his head not wanting to think of it for another second, the last bell went off as they said their goodbyes, both headed off in different directions. Throughout the lesson Romeo could not wait for lunch, that was his only time he could hang out with William in school hours. So, of course he counted the seconds till there was non left, rushing faster than lightning he was out of the room. He walked in only to be greeted by Nora.
"Williams in the line." She said giggling at his panicked face. Nora had a bubbly attitude, an aura that made u want to smile even on your worst day.
"Pfft, I wasn't looking for William." He said scoffing. "I was looking for my sister" she looked at him like he grew three heads.
"She's not here yet, probably in the library studying for the test that were getting next week." Smirking she knew that Juliet stressed over exams and tests like crazy, so clearly her brother would know.
Juliet was in the library studying, she used that excuse a lot when she wanted to stay away from the lunch hall. She had a love-hate relationship with stress, it helped her ace tests knowing she put in one hundred and fifty percent effort and helped her throw up her binging much easier, however, it was still stress so it wasn't the nicest thing to live with.
This crave to be perfect started after her seventeenth birthday, she would watch all the models on tv with the best bodies. Actors portraying girls her age, beautifully thin, when she looked in the mirror, she wondered why she wasn't like them. The next day at school as she walked through the halls whispers and laughs from her peers would be turned in her head as taunts and mocks.
She slowly started researching diets and drinks, but nothing truly worked, till one day when she caught a bug from her baby brother. Throwing up everything for a few days put a small decrease to her weight, it started as a calorie count, which then turned into hiding in her room when dinner was called. Until hiding didn't work, and she had to eat her food, so she did what she had to do, throw it up in the bathroom.
Lunch was over soon, and Juliet had an attendance to keep happy. As she was walking down the halls with a smile plastered on her face waving to her peers, she heard a commotion and decided to investigate out of curiosity. She peeked over behind the lockers to see her brother's meat headed team-mates bullying a slightly overweight boy. She was going to walk away, until she heard one of them.
"Piggy wanted more lunch; bet he could eat the whole cafeteria and still be hungry" said one of the boys enjoying the laughs he received.
"Hey JOSH!" she shouted walking towards them.
"Juliet" he said looking at her up and down. "Fancy seeing you here, gorgeous"
"don't start, unless you want Romeo whooping your asses again. Now leave him alone, before you have to deal with me." she said perching on one leg with her hand on her hip. The last time these boys said anything remotely sexual to her, Romeo made them do suicides, laps, and more until they felt like they were dying.
"Let's go boys, no reason to stick around here." Josh said pushing the boy one last time before leaving her alone with him. She reached down to hand him his glasses offering him a sweet smile.
"Thanks for saving me. Sorry you had to jump in though." He said blushing slightly as he wiped the dirt off his clothes.
"Eh, don't worry about it. Josh is a little bitch, and I like threatening him." She said feeling like a superhero every time she put Josh in his place.
"My name is Damon, nice to meet you I'm new here." He said putting his hand out.
"Nice to meet you Damon, my names Juliet." She shook his hand looking into his piercing blue eyes. They were lost in each other's eyes and smiles not aware of the world until they were both startled by the lunch bell. "I guess I will see you around" she said giggling at his shocked face walking away from him.
As the school day was coming to an end for the rest of the students, for Romeo and the rest of the football team their day just began, as practice had just started. Nora would walk home with Juliet, while William would stay behind on the bleachers doing homework and cheering on for his friend. This was a tradition that sat with them since the dawn of time, ever since Romeos first practice where he was told, he was the best player to arrive. Since then, William was Romeos good luck charm.
Something felt different about this practice though, every time Romeo would do something crowd pleasing, he felt himself look up at William wanting to see his face light up with joy. William never knew any of the rules but when he saw Romeo being praised, he would clap and smile, never a fake smile, because seeing a happy Romeo always put him in the best of moods.
Mid-game, Romeo looked up at William, mesmerized by the way the sun had shun down on him, how his glasses sat perfectly on his face with his adorable smile, even the way William would clench his eyebrows in concentration. After a few minutes of blatantly staring at him he was tacked to the ground almost instantly slightly bruising his arm.
After icing his bruised arm, he was told to head home to rest. Luckily for him he was able to have a nice warm shower in the comfort of his own home. He looked at himself confused of the events taken today. Nothing looked different with him, so why did he feel it.
He headed downstairs to the kitchen when he spotted his dad cutting salad for dinner. He figured the best person to ask was dad, because his mom was busy, and he didn't want to disturb her. As kids Romeo had clung onto his mother while Juliet would be calmer with her father, it didn't mean they were impossible to deal with when they were in the opposite parents care but it was just a dynamic that stuck into their teens.
"Hey dad can I ask you something?"
"what's up kiddo?" he asked as he put his knife down cleaning his hands with the towel draped over his shoulder.
"Well, you see I was in practice today and I got really distracted by something." He said not wanting to disclose the whole truth. "That never happens I'm just wondering what is going on with me?" He still looked up to his dad, he didn't want to somehow disappoint him.
"Well depends all on the thing that got you distracted. But when I was in high school, I was at practice and your mother was writing a segment for the school paper and as soon as I saw her, I was under a spell and got smacked in the face by a football, painful but worth it coz I knew at that moment that I wanted to know everything about her" he spoke recollecting. "I was completely scrutinised in the paper but that's what I loved about your mother, her passion of writing over everything else. I wonder if she would have written it if we were together." He pondered walking out the room to find his wife.
"Thanks dad." He said to himself sarcastically. Although Romeo knew what this meant, he wasn't sure if it was good or bad just yet. He laid in bed for what felt like years contemplating everything his dad had told him, soon enough it was dinner, and he was being called to eat.
When he stepped outside into the backyard, he saw his 'family'. He saw his dad and uncle Oliver cooking over the grill, his mom aunt Caitlin and uncle Barry playing with baby Peter on the soft ground. Peter was Oliver's grandson, as he and felicity had their eldest daughter Mia in college, she had her son as a single mom. Oliver was in denial that his baby girl was having sex, he still tries to convince himself.
Felicity was at the table with her daughter Mia, accompanied by Nora and Juliet. Then a bored but slightly beautiful boy stood next to them, his best friend on his phone playing a zombie game that he became somewhat addicted to.
"Hey moron, how's the shoulder?" Romeo cringed at the flashback entering his mind and William looked rather smug and gleeful.
"Hahaha, shut up William " he said shoving his friend lightly with his elbow as a faint smile was placed on him.
"OKAY GUYS ITS TIME TO EAT" they huddled around the large table, hot dogs and burgers placed with all different types of sauces with drinks. Everyone's plate filled to the top with food that they would regret at the end, all except one.
"Sweetheart why aren't you eating " Kara asked her daughter as she fed some food to her baby boy.
"Oh, I ruined my appetite, I had a huge bag of potato chips after school" everyone giggled slightly as Kara tried to scold her daughter but was protected by Monel.
"Hey, it's potato-chips, everyone's weakness babe, let her off the hook she'll be fine"
Juliet smiled slightly as she looked at the burgers and assorted meats feeling as though she'd throw up just by looking at it.
Thankfully I live in a house where I'm loved and cared for, I've never had to care about the way my body looks and I was brought up with that no body is perfect and everyone is beautiful. However recently I had to help my twelve year old cousin learn this, with her brother and dad telling her she should be Skinner and eat less, it made me sick that a twelve year old is being told to eat less when I was twelve and was eating everything in sight. I realised that society isn't body positive to all figures and I wanna show anyone that they are beautiful no matter what a scale says!