Herophine one shots

Jo's birthday part 2.

Jo's pov

Oh, wow. I am really stunned. It's obvious, that the planned dinner with Hero was just a cover for this party.

'Happy birthday baby!' Hero says in my ear hugging me and giving me a kiss on the neck. I giggle. He steps back to let others congratulate me.

'Thank you,' I mouth to Hero as he smiles me back.

...a few hours later...

'Okay Jo, I have to go now,' says Hadley. She's the last guest. We get up from the couch and I walk her to the exit.

'You know, this was really nice, considering how busy these past months have been.'

'Oh yes, a much needed birthday party.' I say despite feeling awfully exhausted.

I hug Hadley. 'Okay, see you next week then, right? Oh, and him,' she says gesturing to where Hero is cleaning up the kitchen. 'You are really lucky to have each other.' I look over at Hero and smile to myself. He really is amazing.

'Love you, see you next week!' I say giving giving her a goodbye-hug. I lock the door, turn off the entry lights and head over to the kitchen. The apartment is practically cleaned up thanks to Hero. I walk over to the kitchen sink, where Hero's washing the remaining glasses. I wrap my hands around his waist and lay my head against his back.

'I love you.' I say.

'You really hate doing the dishes, don't you? Because, if you are trying to sweet-talk me, it is working quite well.' Hero teases, turning off the tap and turning around to give me a forehead-kiss and return my hug. I am too tired to answer, so I just enjoy this moment and find my comfort in his arms.

'Jo? Babyy?' I feel his arm stroking my hair and back. 'I think you should just go upstairs already. I'll finish cleaning here and come up in 5 mins. You look too tired, you practically just fell asleep.'

!TW-toxic friendship, self-image, body-shaming!

I fell too tired to argue, instead I just say 'thank you', take my glass of water and head upstairs to our bedroom. As I enter the bedroom, I get my notification on Instagram from my childhood friend Ellie. Ugh, she has sent me an edited picture where I've been made visibly thinner.

Honestly, I am no drama-queen, but I should've ended my friendship with Ellie long ago. Back in Perth, we were inseparable during the first four years in school, but in year five, when I started doing drama, she thought I became 'too cringe', she dropped our friendship, leaving me alone and started to bully me behind my back. Granted, when I started to become successful in the acting field, she suddenly wanted to be my friend again, and I was okay with that. Not that I've ever trusted her as I did when I was little, but I just didn't want to cause any unnecessary drama. I actually gave her a chance, even though she was acting like a fake friend all along. She practically begged me to meet me here in LA last year and when we did meet, all she did was talk about herself and take hundreds, I mean hundreds, of photos of me, only to post them, even though I asked her multiple times not to. I think she kind of felt the weird air between us, because she hasn't asked to meet me since then. Lucky me, ha ha ha.

So now, along with that edited photo, she has sent me a comment 'only if it was that easy, to look this good... :('. Fucking bitch. Through those few sentences that she has ever let me speak over the last few years, I've told her about my struggle with self image. Now, looking back, I actually don't understand, why I did it, because she clearly doesn't get it. That's the reason why I've been logged out of my official Instagram account for almost three years now-so I don't have to come across these self-destructing posts, along with many beautiful ones. And, if that's the price, that I have to pay, I am so sorry, but that's what I do. I do see many beautiful edits and posts anyway, time to time Anna sends me some or Hero, or even Shane. I only log in when I post on my stories once a few months. I do have a secret account though, but it has no connection to my name, in order to escape myself on the explore page. That fucking bitch Ellie knows my secret account and she has sent that stupid post on there. I can't believe! And of course, I didn't even receive a birthday wish from her.

I drop my phone on the bed, not even bothering to lock it, and head into the bathroom to brush my teeth. I look in the mirror, and suddenly I am awaken enough to start picking at my flaws. I'm staring at my reflection, becoming more and more angry at me, because I am too weak to take criticism, too fragile to fight the love that I have for myself against others' opinions and too pathetic to change myself. I see the tears swelling up in my eyes, so I avert my gaze from the reflection and turn around to change into my pajamas-Hero's shirt and my shorts. I don't want to deal with my mindset right know.

I enter back the bedroom and when I look, I see him angrily looking at his hands, where he's holding my phone. W-what? Why does he look so... mad?