Shaken (An Adopted By Lin-Manuel Miranda Story)

t h i r t e e n

Lin told me that I couldn't sleep in my room because it was just newly painted.

He said the fumes could get to me, I could get sick.

He then proceeded to tell me that I needed to sleep in his room.

Well, he didn't know that he was practically begging for me to disagree with him.

"Lin, you know that I can't sleep in your room... you've been so kind to me already. I can take the couch, it's honestly no worry... plus, couches are the best places to sleep," I smiled, sitting across from him as tall as I could, trying to look proper.

He, on the other hand, was slouched halfway across the fake-leather cushions, his hair tied back wildly in a ponytail as he argued his side.

"Ari, you're my guest! I'm not letting you sleep on my couch, for goodness sake. You're sleeping in my bed..." he sat up, smiling as he looked me in the eye, "and besides, I love sleeping on these old things." He patted the couch and got up, walking to the kitchen. "You can make yourself at home, you know. Cross your legs, lay down... heck, even lay on the carpet, I don't care. It's what family does," he shrugged, walking to the kitchen, retrieving his phone.

I slouched back a little, relieving the tension in my shoulders. I sighed a breath of relief as he chuckled and walked back out.

"Groff is going psycho. Pippa's a terrible secret-keeper, and he knows that she knows why I'm away, but she won't tell him." He looked at my concerned expression, tilting his head in confusion.

"What's wrong?"

"Lin, I feel so bad, you shouldn't have missed work for me!" I forced a chuckle, my mind going insane. I felt terrible, like I was the cause of yet another problem.

"You're okay, it's okay!" he comforted me, resting his hand on my shoulder. "I chose to take the time off work. It's only a few days, anyway. It's just like when guardians take days off for their kid's special events, you know?" he asked, and that's when I started into another panic.

When I became conscious again, I was laying on the couch, flat, with a fuzzy, gray blanket covering me. My eyes fluttered open as I heard Lin singing softly.

Not just any song, though.

I didn't know if Daisy or Adam told him, but he must have figured out somehow that the best way to calm me down quickly is to play the song 'Dear Theodosia,' or in his case, sing it.

When I heard his angelic voice, I started to feel much better.

"You'll blow us all away. Someday, someday..."

I dared not to look into his eye as my face turned red when he stopped singing.

"I'm sorry, Lin. I didn't want to pass out again... but I really can't help it. Therapy only made it worse, so I had to stop going to that. Now I'll just get really stressed out once or twice a week and pass out for a while," I sighed softly, looking at the ground. "Please forgive me."

He merely sat in front of me, laying an assuring hand on my shoulder.

"There's nothing to apologize for, mi tortilla. Besides, you weren't out for that long, anyway. Only around six minutes, maximum."

"Were you singing that whole time?"

"From the minute you passed out. After I attempted to hold an ice pack to your head to see if you'd wake up the last time, Adam and Daisy told me that the only reason they do it is to make you more comfortable, because you're always hot. They said that singing works, too. And since the ice packs here aren't cold yet, I felt like singing was the best option. Plus, they told me that a certain song that I wrote is your favourite," he joked and I laughed slightly.

"Yeah. It always has been, it always will be." I sat up slowly, taking in my surroundings as I looked back at Lin. "Dear Theodosia hits close to home."

He nodded, not pushing any further, before sitting down again on the opposite couch.

"So, how have you been liking it so far?" Lin asked, and I tilted my head, confused. "The house?" I asked and he nodded. My eyes lit up and I smiled. "This place is the most amazing place ever! And the colour scheme is just beautiful," I beamed and so did he. "That's awesome, Ari! I hope you get to feel right at home here. I'm excited about the things we'll get to do together. I'm hoping to take you to the theatre quite soon to meet the others if that's okay with you," he slightly told me, slightly asked, and I nodded. "That sounds fun! But how do you think they'd react?" I asked, and Lin just smiled. "They're going to love you, Ari. No doubt about it. When do you want to go?" He asked, peeking at his phone for a slight second as he groaned. "Sorry, Ari, that wasn't meant for you... Groff, a guy in the cast, sent me probably fifty text messages." I laughed, and he chuckled slightly. He set his phone down and looked at me. "Does tonight sound good?

A/N:

Happy New Year!

Now I need a place to rant, lol. I'm writing this at 12:12 am on New Years' Day, just going upstairs to bed.

If any of you know me personally, you'd know that I'm obsessed with the YG all-girl group Blackpink.

And that my parents really don't like the artists that I listen to and the love I have for them.

Tonight, we accidentally clicked on the wrong channel for the New Year's countdown, so the timing was off by around an hour. So it was a mistake that I even saw this in the first place. Anyway, Liza Koshy (is that how you spell her name? idk) comes out and starts to talk about the most listened to songs of the year.

You best bet that a little Square Up icon (from one of Blackpink's albums) pops up on the left-hand corner.

I squealed and my dad told me to calm down, right before my ot4 is displayed on the full screen playing one of their most popular songs.

I'm in a lot of little-known fandoms, so this happening to me is a unique and special thing, it happens maybe once a month when I see someone on the more popular celebrity side (like Lin,) but I'd never seen Blackpink on the TV before.

So I go into full fangirl mode. I know the whole dance, whole song, whole everything. I started singing, jumping around, dancing and having fun for the whole five seconds that my queens were up on the screen for.

Then it turned 12, but because my brother is sitting yelling at his Alexa, we're on the wrong TV station, and my mom and my dad are busy telling me that I shouldn't have danced or sang because I knew that they didn't like my music, we totally missed New Years.

Which I feel like I'm being dramatic about being upset about this, but honestly, I'm just pretty much sick of my parents telling me that I shouldn't enjoy the things that I do because they're "weird" and they aren't what popular kids listen to. I try to keep it at a low when I'm around them, but honestly, I only go into full fangirl mode maybe once every two months, and when I do, it's only for a few seconds at the most. I can see where they're coming from, but I feel like they need to try to see things from my point of view, too.

Opinions, if you're still reading this?