#'it's like making out with a chocolate bar but you can tell they've been making out with a strawberry right before you--

[vamp-a-day]

day 59

i think the strawberry in their jam is like the iron in our blood

[woso-dreamzzz]

End of the World VII

Ruesha Littlejohn x Child!Reader

Summary: You spend the day with Ma

After the trip to the zoo in Australia, you find yourself going to the zoo regularly.

Most of the time, it's London Zoo but today Ma has driven you out for nearly two hours to Whipsnade Zoo because they have red pandas and those are your favourite.

Her teammates are coming too but that's okay because you know Ma will keep you safe.

It's meant to be Mammy's week, you think as Ma keeps you in the car while she tries to unfold the pram. But seeing Mammy on Monday gave you a weird icky feeling in your tummy.

She's been in Ibiza through the week, partying and having fun in a different country. It had been weird seeing her again.

She was still the same Mammy. She looked the same. She smelt the same. She acted the same but, still, you got a bit of a weird feeling looking at her and you didn't settle in easily your first night with her and cried and cried and cried for Ma so they've swapped around the schedule to give Ma this week.

Next week, you'll try again with Mammy.

But, this week, you're with Rue and she lifts you into your pram with one of your felt dolls.

"You feel okay?" She runs a hand over your cheek and you giggle a little at the ticklish feeling.

"Yes, Ma."

"And promise me you'll tell me if you need the toilet?"

Your head bobs. "I will."

A kiss is pressed to the top of your head. "You're a good girl."

You giggle, kicking your legs out a little.

Most of Ma's teammates are already inside so Ma buys tickets quickly and goes in.

You let Rue push you around for most of the day but emerge from the pram to stand between her and Georgia and look at the red pandas.

They're very pretty and they're your favourite animal.

You've got a few of them as little figures for your Barbie zoo set but nothing beats seeing them in rea life.

They clamber all over their enclosure and Ma lifts you up onto her hip so you can see me clearly.

It's easy for Rue to hold you up while also digging around her bag for a snack, ripping open the packaging of the chocolate bar and taking a bite.

She offers you the next bite and you chew mindlessly as you stare as one of the animals misjudges a jump and goes tumbling down the ramp.

You giggle as the second red panda jumps onto the first.

"They're silly, Ma," You say and Rue beams at you.

"Silly? Are they?"

"Uh-huh."

"Do you want to move on yet?"

You glance back at the funny red pandas and your jumper cuff somehow makes its way into your mouth.

It's a bad habit but it's never been Rue's first choice of habits to break you out of. Your bed wetting issue is much more pressing than chewing your cuffs.

Chewing your cuffs is probably the bottom of the ladder, under getting you to get rid of those creepy porcelain dolls your grandma gave you and getting you to speak without mumbling.

"We can stay a bit longer here, if you want," Rue says and you nod.

Most of her teammates go off to do their own things but Georgia stays to keep you both company as Rue walks around the fence of the red panda enclosure with you secure in her arms.

"Ma," You say suddenly when you finally allow yourself to be taken to the other animals.

Rue doesn't hear you, pushing your pram and talking to Georgia next to her.

"Ma."

The pram keeps moving and you wiggle a little in your seat, tears already welling in your eyes.

"Ma!"

You don't have a loud voice even when you shout but Rue's in tune to your noises most of the time and she definitely hears you now.

"What's up, Kiddo? What's going on?"

You whine. kicking your legs out. "Potty, Ma. I need the potty."

"Can you-?"

Georgia nods as Rue unclips you quickly. "I can stay with the pram."

Even though you've told Rue that you need the toilet, she knows you've left it to the last minute like always.

You've probably needed it for a little while now, hoping that the feeling would go away so Rue hightails it to the toilets.

She sets you up on the sink once you're done and helps you with your hands.

"Do you want to have lunch here?" She asks, scrubbing your hands," Or we can go home?"

You'd been at the zoo since it opened and Rue can see how easily your eyes are growing heavy.

"Mmm."

Your cuff is straight back at your mouth and Rue gently pulls it down so she can hear your mumbles properly.

"I know," She says," It's already been a long day. Naps at home sounds great, huh?"

You head bobs up and down in a nod as you're hoisted back up onto Rue's hip again and taken over to where Georgia's waiting.

"Red panda!" You gasp and Rue's eyes go wide.

"You didn't."

"I so did," Georgia replies with a grin, holding up the massive red panda toy she must have gotten from the gift shop...or stolen, Rue was never quite sure with Georgia.

"You couldn't have gotten her a doll?" Rue pretends to scold as you're strapped into your pram with the toy.

"Well, now that you've mentioned it. There was this amazing porcelain one that-"

"Never mind."

[tumbleringismycopingmechanism]

I love how on the one hand, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005) is really good, but on the other hand sometimes it really confuses its messages. So here's my way-too-deep dive into the movie that noone actually asked for:

The parenting messages:

Showing that bad parenting will fuck kids up, with different examples for what counts as bad parenting and the respective different results of the bad parenting styles.

Showing that ultimately, the kids will be the ones to pay for the parents' mistakes in raising them. They are the ones who get punished, and if you apply it to real life, they are the ones who'll have to live with the ways they've been raised and how it affects them.

Showing that the parents are first and foremost the ones who need to learn, not the kids. In the end, the kids don't seem overly troubled or changed from the experience, but you can see the parents start to change their parenting.

Only half of the songs even mention that it's the parents' fault that the kid is like this. Mostly they just preoccupy themselves with shaming the kids.

The way Augustus gets punished makes no sense. That's mostly because they felt the need to push for a fatphobic message before anything else (more on that below). But being fat is not a character flaw. His character flaw is that he's greedy/doesn't know how to share. This is only shown very briefly unfortunately, but that's at least an actual flaw. Now, being greedy/unable to share doesn't necessarily mean not listening to anyone when they tell you not to do something, but that's basically how his punishment comes on. He doesn't listen to Wonka or his mother when told to go away from the chocolate river, falls in, almost drowns, gets humiliated for his body in front of everyone and sucked into a mashine that carries him off. Maybe instead you could have him wanting to try more and more of the things in the factory, wandering further and further along and getting lost. Or maybe he interrupts the Oompa-Loompas' work by selfishly putting the stuff they're reaping into his own pockets and is consequently punished in some way.

The way Violet gets punished makes sense because she's raised to be an over-achiever especially when it comes to chewing bubble gum. You can see after every action of hers she looks to her mother for approval, and her mother does cheer her on when she takes the gum that turns her into a blueberry. However, it also doesn't make sense because throughout the entire film until that point, Violet and her mother tried to make sure they were the best candidad for the special prize and they are acting against Wonka's repeated instructions here, which seems very counter-intuitive to reaching that goal. Also, once again the song completely misses the point and decides the punishment is for liking gum instead of their hyper-focus on Being The Best.

The way Veruca gets punished makes sense as a consequence for her upbringing. Her parents buy her everything she asks for, so she never learned how to deal with a No. So when she is faced with one regarding the squirrels, of course she ignores it, because she's used to eventually getting everything she asks for. Her being attacked is a logical consequence of that.

The way Mike gets punished makes sense. He has two fatal flaws: thinking he knows everything and extreme violence. His punishment is mainly for the former, not thinking through that if the chocolate bar gets smaller, he would too. However, I think the one that should have been the focus of his punishment would be the latter. Violence is a lot more harmful than being a know-it-all, and also he's actually correct about everything he says in the TV room. He figured out how to get a ticket with just Maths. I feel like he has a pretty good reason to think of himself as smart. The song here is once again unlogical, claiming that kids should stay away from TV and videogames because they make them stupid. But Mike isn't stupid. He's impulsive and aggressive (supposedly because of the videogames). That's not the same.

Wonka's position is contradictory in itself. On one hand, he seems to want to punish the parents so they get better at parenting. But on the other hand he hates parents who tell you what to do and do, you know, other good parenting stuff. None of the kids (except maybe Violet, who was not seeing that way) had a problem because their parents had too many rules or demanded too much.

After 4 depictions of how different forms of neglect of your child* have a bad influence on your child, the relationship of the Wonkas shows that the opposite (overprotectivness) can be just as bad.

(* Calling them all neglect is probably a misuse of the word, however I mean it in a way that there's always something lacking instead of too much of something. Augustus is never taught charitableness, Violetta is never taught how to deal with defeat or how to figure out what she wants herself (instead of just excelling in what her mother expects of her), Veruca is never taught how to deal with a No and never shown love outside of material possesions, Mike is never shown boundaries or taught how to deal with his aggression in a healthy way. Meanwhile Wilbur cares too much about what his son eats and is overly protective about Willy's dental hygiene.)

Depicturing capitalism:

The wealthy billionaire (aka Wonka) is completely out of touch with the real world.

The wealthy billionaire doesn't give two shits about destroying the property of people so poor they can barely survive, as seen by him just crushing through the Buckets' roof with his glass lift.

The wealthy billionaire employs cheap labour from workers who completely depend on him because it saves him money (in this case not (primarily) because he wants to keep workers' paychecks as small as possible, but because employing locals means his recipes might get stolen and if people can buy the same stuff from other stores, he doesn't control the market anymore and might lose revenue).

He doesn't care for the labour his factory provides. He used to have locals working for him, and by the size of his factory, a not small amount of the locals must have depended on their jobs there. He dismisses all of them overnight, single-handedly creating an explosion of unemployment in the area, without a care. Something that as we see with Charlie's family still has consequences even decades later.

It fuels into the narrative that billionaires deserve their wealth because they're actually geniuses.

It gives the illusion that billionaires actually give a fuck about the shit they produce. Wonka is really passionate about his sweets and even long after his succesfull take-off at the world market he still creates all the recipes. The only hint against this narrative is that he produces at least some products (like the bubblegum) simply for the money, despite not actually liking them.

He will test unsafe products on his workers and when there are unpleasant side-effects, they'll just have to live with it.

He's mad at Mike for cheating to get the ticket, but not at Veruca. That's because Veruca's way of cheating made him tons of profit while Mike's way of cheating gained him only one sold chocolate bar.

However, I think most/all of the points that actually show how bad capitalism is were unintentional in doing so. The movie doesn't try to say capitalism/billionaires are bad, it just happens to do so. Half of these points are either played for laughs, minor background moments or things you have to think about and put together to notice. Most noticably, the Buckets' poverty is framed as a hardship to overcome at best and a virtue that makes Charlie the most worthy of the children at worst. If the movie was actually trying to take a stance against capitalism/billionaires, I think this wouldn't be the case.

Other noteworthy stuff:

As mentioned above, the treatment of Augustus is insanely fatphobic. It starts with grandfather George predicting that the first winner will be "fat, fat, fat". The way he says it implies that fatness is moraly wrong - which it isn't. Also, what he actually means is that the first winner will probably really love chocolate, which does not need to correlate with body shape whatsoever. Then there's the scene in the factory where they make a proper pig of him, completely dehumanizing him, covering his entire face with food, putting him on the ground, even making him eat grass. And to really hammer home the fat hatred, he gets stuck in the tube and the Oompa-Loompas (at least in the German version of the lyrics, which are the only ones I've ever heared) sing about him being a "disgusting blob of fat".

The racism regarding the Oompa-Loompas. Of course their poor tribe just doesn't know how to make delicious edible food and has to rely on a random white guy teaching them better. Of course they will gladly do what's basically slave-work (as they are not paid except in cocoa beans), somehow made even worse because it's implied that if they ever wanted to leave the factory, it would be really bad for them because they can't deal with cold climate, so they're basically forced to remain in the factory. Paired with their love for singing during work it really seems like it's trying to portrait the slave trade through rose-coloured glasses.

It would have been nice to see what exactly makes Charlie's parents a perfect middle between too absent and too present, too uncaring and too controling. Because the way it's framed their parenting is good because... they're poor? I guess? Which is bullshit, poor parents are not automatically good parents.

[duhragonball]

Stardust Crusaders Liveblog: JJBA Ch. 211-216

I don't know if this is the best JoJo arc, or my favorite JoJo arc, or anything like that, but I do know that I wanted to cover this one a little closer than the others, which ought to say something. This is "D'arby the Gambler".

At last, the boys have arrived in Cairo, where Dio has been hiding this whole time. The problem is that they still can't find the guy. All Joseph can do is use Hermit Purple to take "spirit photos" of the building Dio is inhabiting. But when they ask people in town if they've seen the building in the photo, no one recognizes it. Holly's running out of time, and she's not expected to live much longer, but the good guys can't beat Dio unless they find him.

This arc opens with them stopping at a cafe to ask more people about the photo. Since the barkeep wants them to order something, Joseph gets four iced teas, and they drink them in unison, all badass-like.

I don't want to get too far off-track, but the cafe itself is awesome. It's this open-air building, and it looks like you can get almost anything here: iced tea, liquor, cigarettes, chocolate, juice, playing cards. In the anime, there's hookahs on the shelf behind the bar, so I guess you can order that too if you're into that sort of thing.

Just as the gang is about to move on to resume their search, one guy in the cafe speaks up and says he knows the building in the photo. Joseph excitedly asks for information, but the guy isn't willing to talk for free. He doesn't want money either. He wants to gamble for it. If Joseph makes a bet and wins, the guy will tell him for free.

Nobody really gets it at first, probably because the Stardust Crusaders are in no mood for games, especially at this point in their journey. But also, none of them seem to have the temperament for gambling on something so important. Polnareff agrees to play along, because he just wants to find out what the guy knows and get this bullshit over with.

The man suggests they bet on a nearby cat. He tosses a couple of snacks outside and asks which one the cat will pick up first. Polnareff picks the one on the right, since it's bigger. But the cat takes the left first. Polnareff loses. Wait, what did he wager?

Uh, yeah, it was his soul. Polnareff didn't take that very seriously, but it turns out this guy is a Stand User, and his Stand can literally collect on that wager. This is Osiris, and his power allows him to transform Polnareff's soul into a poker chip, which fits nicely into a scrapbook containing a lot of other soul-chips.

Oh, and the guy won because he cheated. The cat is his, and I think it's safe to say he trained it to take the smaller snack first, or somthing like that.

This is D'arby the Gambler. His full name is "Daniel J. D'Arby", as opposed to Terrence Trent D'Arby, his brother whom we'll meet later on. I'm noting this because I always get their names mixed up. Terrence is named after Terrence Trent D'Arby, the American singer/songwriter. I had heard of that guy in the 90s, so when there were two D'Arby's in JoJo, I just assumed Araki named one after another musical act named D'Arby. But apparently not. There's just the one real-world D'Arby in the music industry.

Actually, there's not even the one, since Terrence Trent D'Arby changed his name to Sananda Maitreya in 2001. You learn something new every day.

But enough about that. Daniel J. D'Arby gambles with human souls, and his Stand has the power to claim those souls, which he keeps in a sicko collection. He brazenly cheats, since his philosophy is that cheating is simply part of the game. If you don't get caught, then it's legal.

Avdol flips out and puts his hands on the guy, but there's nothing he can do. If anyone kills D'Arby now, Polnareff will die too. The only way to save Polnareff is to continue playing, which is the last thing any of them want to do.

So Joseph steps up, and it looks like he's got a plan. This rules. Part 2 ended fifty years ago, but Joseph Joestar doesn't know that. His back is against the wall, and he's going to try to tricky-boy his way out of this one.

Joseph has a game in mind involving a shot glass filled with wine. I feel like that's a mistranslation, since the liquid is clearly brown. Maybe it's bourbon or some other liquor, but I don't think it's wine. Anyway, the idea is that the glass is already full, and the surface tension of the liquid is the only thing keeping it from spilling over. He proposes that he and D'Arby take turns dropping coins in the glass until the liquid finally spills. Whoever spills the liquid is the loser.

D'Arby agrees and, after inspecting the glass for himself, opens by dropping five coins in all at once. Judging by his reaction, even he is anxious about this. He doesn't spill the liquid, but this was by no means a sure thing. He might be a cheat, but he isn't kidding when he says he loves to gamble. No one made him drop five coins in all at once, but that's the kind of guy he is.

Avdol is horrified to see Joseph wager his soul on a game like this, but Jotaro catches on quickly. Joseph picked this game because he knows how to cheat. When he takes his turn, he holds a wet piece of cotton behind the coin, and squeezes it to add more liquid to the glass. This seems like a risky proposition in and of itself, but I think the idea here is that Joseph is so familiar with this game that he knows exactly how many coins and how much liquid it takes to spill the glass. He's counting on that experience with the game to overcome D'Arby. Basically, this is Joseph's answer to D'Arby taking bets on his own pet cat.

So Joseph expects D'Arby to lose on the next turn, and he keeps saying D'Arby's name wrong in order to upset him, but it doesn't work. D'Arby successfully drops another coin in and invites Joseph to take his turn. But Joseph knows this would be futile. The next turn is certain to lose the game. And knowing this, he mentally admits defeat. Osiris collects his soul immediately, because it can sense this sort of spiritual defeat.

After Joseph is turned into a poker chip, Jotaro discovers how D'Arby won. While he was inspectng the glass before the game, D'Arby stuck a small piece of his chocolate bar on the bottom. This left the glass at a slight incline, so it couldn't hold as much liquid. When D'Arby was ready to make his move, he got up from his chair and moved around. This allowed the sunlight to hit the glass, where it had been in his shadow before. The chocolate melted, and then the glass was level again, allowing D'Arby to add one more coin without spilling the glass.

So Jotaro decides to take matters into his own hands and challenges D'Arby to a game of poker. Avdol is even more upset about this. Joseph couldn't outsmart this guy, so what does that leave? Jotaro understands, but they have no choice.

Jotaro's plan isn't obvious at first, but he starts out by making it plain to D'Arby that his Stand, Star Platinum, is observant enough to make cheating incredibly difficult. Through Star Platinum, Jotaro can tell the order of the cards just from watching D'Arby shuffling the deck.

This doesn't bother D'Arby much, since he can identify the cards by touch alone. All he has to do is shuffle away from Jotaro's line of sight, and he's fine, right?

Well, no. He tries to do some shady shit with the deal, and Jotaro breaks his finger with Star Platinum.

This is kind of Jotaro's version of Joseph getting D'Arby's name wrong on purpose. He could have just pointed out the cheating, but instead he broke D'Arby's finger, then said that he should have torn the finger clean off. D'Arby keeps his cool and says he'll use the pain to remind himself not to underestimate Jotaro.

Still, that's gotta hurt, and there must be some lingering fear in D'Arby that Jotaro might just hit him again without warning. He told them that there was no point in killing him, since that would mean killing Polnareff, and now Joseph. But Jotaro didn't even hesitate to break that finger. D'Arby has to wonder now if Jotaro might not just snap his neck out of nowhere.

I mean, how does D'Arby know that killing him will kill all of his stolen souls? It's not like he's ever died before. It's a bluff, and a good one. But now he's gotta be wondering if Jotaro might decide to call that bluff.

Nonetheles, D'Arby is excited for this kind of opponent. So excited, that he bets both Joseph and Polnareff's souls on the same hand.

Since D'Arby can't shuffle or deal himself, Jotaro selects a bystander to play the dealer instead. This is actually a plant D'Arby set up in advance. Everyone in the cafe is a plant, actually. D'Arby planned all of this. They play one hand, and Jotaro loses, but only by a little. Next hand. Jotaro only has enough chips to play one more time. If he loses, he joins Joseph and Pol in D'Arby's soul collection.

This time, Jotaro doesn't even bother looking at his cards.

D'Arby is flustered, precisely because he knows Jotaro should have a weak hand. The dealer is a kid working for D'Arby, so this game is completely under his control... or is it? Jotaro no only refuses to exchange any of his cards, he won't even look at the ones he has. Yet he seems satisfied with his hand. It's like he already knows what they are, or he somehow switched out the cards without anyone seeing him do it. But that's impossible............. right?

D'Arby doesn't worry too much about this because Jotaro is almost out of chips. Even if he could win this hand, he'd still have to play a few more times to win back the others' souls. But Jotaro asks Avdol to let him wager his soul as well, and Avdol agrees.

D'Arby is shocked, but Avdol explains that he trusts Jotaro, even though he can't tell what he's up to. What Avdol does know is that he'd never stand a chance against D'Arby by himself. He might as well stake his soul on Jotaro's plan, because if Jotaro can't win this thing, they're done for.

And that's what makes this arc such a great character study. Polnareff was also ill-suited for gambling, and impulsive, but the difference between Pol and Avdol is that Avdol is mature enough to recognize his limitations. Polnareff just blundered right into the game and lost immediately before he even found out what the rules were. Avdol paid attention and realized that the smarest move (for him) was not to play.

Joseph and Jotaro both see that they have to find a way to beat the guy, but they're taking different approaches. Joseph tried to beat D'Arby at his own game and out-cheat a cheater. But Jotaro's playing a whole other game entirely.

No matter, though. D'Arby knows he has the high ground in this game. He controls the cards, and he has more chips. He sees Jotaro's bet. Now all of the Joestar Group's souls are on the table, and Jotaro has nothing left to bet with. So D'Arby offers him one way to keep playing: If Jotaro will write an IOU for Kakyoin's soul, he can exchange that for more chips. Osiris can then collect Kakyoin's soul once the game is over.

Jotaro's like, fuck yeah, let's do it.

Avdol's having kittens right now, because Kakyoin isn't even here. But that's not what D'Arby is worried about. Out of nowhere, Jotaro has a cigarette in his mouth. He never saw him get it. It's just suddenly there. He thought he saw Star Platinum light it for a moment, but he isn't sure. And if Star is that fast, then maybe... just maybe it did something to the cards.

D'Arby does the math in his head, and figures the only way Jotaro can win the hand is if he managed to swap out all five of his cards without being caught. Just as D'Arby convinces himself this is impossible, he looks up to find Jotaro suddenly has a glass of juice too. Undaunted, he tries to reveal his hand, but Jotaro wants to raise the stakes first.

Jotaro has no more chips, so he offers his own mother's soul. After all, if he loses this hand, the quest to save his mother ends here. Her soul might as well be on the line since she'll die anyway. But if D'Arby wants to keep playing, he'll have to offer something of equivalent value in return, so Jotaro demands that he wager the secret of Dio's Stand.

And that's a little too rich for D'Arby's blood. Avdol can tell from D'Arby's reaction that he does know the secret, and he knows just what Dio will do to D'Arby if he reveals it. On paper, this dilemma is simple. D'Arby knows he gave Jotaro bad cards. He's already won the hand, so all he has to do is call and win Jotaro, Avdol, Kakyoin, and Holly's souls. It's that easy. Wagering Dio's secret is trivial, because there's no risk of actually having to reveal anything.

But D'Arby can't bring himself to do it. Being a cheater himself, he can't accept that Jotaro would raise the stakes this high unless he had somehow rigged the game in his favor. And D'Arby could deal with that, if he could just figure out how Jotaro had cheated. But he can't. He only suspects that Star Platinum switched out the cards, but there's no way to be certain unless he goes through with the bet.

And so, D'Arby mentally admits defeat. He can't call, because he's simply too frightened of losing the bet. So he folds, and Osiris releases Joseph and Polnareff.

As for the hand, Jotaro's cards were indeed worthless. Jotaro himself admits that he would have had a heart attack if he'd know just what crappy cards he had. He didn't cheat at all. D'Arby was too good to fall for a trick, so Jotaro used psychological warfare instead, bluffing him so intensely that he cracked under the pressure.

Now, I have seen fan interpretations of this arc that suggest that Jotaro literally stopped time because he was under such intense pressure to win the game. I suppose that's a valid fan theory, but I don't buy into that. For one thing, all Jotaro really did at super speed was fetch a cigarette and a glass of juice with Star Platinum. D'Arby didn't see it happen, but he doesn't have the super-fast and precise vision of Star Platinum, so it's not like you'd need to literally freeze time to pull one over on him. And Jotaro was using Star Platinum to fetch various things for him in the prison back in the beginning of Part 3. It snatched one of Joseph's robot fingers without him noticing. It caught a bullet at pointblank range. Star Platinum is fast.

I'm kind of spoiling everything here, but let's put all our cards on the table. The World can stop time, and Star Platinum eventually develops the same power. D'Arby knows the World's secret, which is why he was so reluctant to play the hand.

I think it's reasonable to guess that D'Arby has experienced the World before, similar to how Hol Horse experienced it recently. So when he saw Jotaro doing similar things with Star Platinum, this might have made D'Arby wonder the same things that some fans wondered. Did Jotaro stop time to get that drink? The fans wondered because he developed that ability soon after this. D'Arby wondered because he'd seen this ability before.

I think that's what made D'Arby crack up. He probably played a game or two with Dio, and lost because of the power of the World. Then he meets Jotaro, who also exudes the same uncanny confidence, and he sees the same warning signs. That's what made him realize he might lose. Jotaro didn't have to stop time, but he did move so fast that it got D'Arby to think that he could.

And D'Arby is so mentally broken now that he's lost his entire collection of souls. Ironically, this leaves him in no condition to be interrogated, so he managed to avoid revealing any of Dio's secrets. Jotaro observes that they got lucky, and I can't think of a better line to go out on.

[orangeandclover]

WIP Wedne(Thur)sday

thanks for the tag @hightowerqueen

a little late but here is some more of Baking with Love 3 which is one of the fics for the Lighthouse Drag Bar Verse about my character Rosalind shows love through baking for other because it is easier to do that than talk about it, this is just a snippet bc this fic just keeps getting longer and longer might even still be working on it next week

She's looking over her bounty of options thinking about how best to achieve a solid flavor pay off to create something perfect when the tarts finish and she sets them out to cool, she is still there now with multiple cookbooks when there is a knock at her door. She opens the door to Bea, she is dressed in one of Rafe's shirts -well it would be more accurate to say their shirts given how much they share them- mostly unbuttoned and a pair of old cut of jeans with star embroidery clearly done by hand along the hem.

"I wasn't expecting you so, soon."

"It took me thirty minutes to get over here," Rosalind pulls out her phone checking time she called and when Bea got here and she's right it has been thirty minutes, she could've sworn it had only been fifteen at most.

"I didn't notice, time must have gotten away from me, come in," Rosalind ignores the questioning eyebrow raise as she steps to the side allowing Bea in.

"So you said you needed help?"

"Yes, I need a taste tester."

"Ooooh a taste tester, fancy. What's on the menu, chef?" Bea looks over the ingredients and cookbooks she has out curious to piece things together.

"I'm trying to make a dark chocolate truffle tart." Bea looks up at her, surprise evident in the way her eyebrow are drawn together and raised; Rosalind should've known Bea would be one to notice her aversion or possibly Rafe told her.

"Chocolate, I've never seen you make anything chocolate before."

"It's because I don't, I can't eat it so I don't often make it but-"

"But?" Bea leans across the island sneaking a raspberry and popping it in her mouth.

"It's for Noam's birthday, and they like dark chocolate and-"

"And you wanna do something for them." Rosalind as to look away knows its as telling as keeping eye contact but sometimes it is hard to look at Bea who seems to understand her so easily

"Yes, and I already got tickets to the new exhibition at that one museum in Val Royeaux they've been talking about, but thats not," Its not good enough it something anyone could've done, anyone could've gotten them, it doesn't convey what it needs to, "anyways I can't taste it so I need someone to make sure it is perfect." Rosalind looks back up at Bea, greeted by a smile that could rival the sun.

"You're talented, it will be, and even if it wasn't Noam I don't think anything would convince them it wasn't."

"I guess," she rolls her eyes as Bea slides the carton of raspberries closer, watching as she pops four into her mouth in quick succession, "so opinion on the filling flavor; I am leaning orange but maybe a raspberry one or I have some coconut and mint as well," reaching over she grabs a raspberry for herself noting she may have to call it on the raspberry one if they finish this carton.

"I think go with your gut on orange, I seen them literally devour chocolate oranges on Satinalia, but I won't say no if you make a raspberry one even if it's just an experiment."

"Hmm, I guess I can do that if you don't eat the entire carton." Bea pops one last raspberry before sliding it back over to her.

Rosalind starts on the filling zesting and juicing the oranges into the cream as she brings it to a boil while she directs Bea to puree the raspberries for the other tart, the room filled with idle chatter and one of Bea's eccentric playlists. She gives a quick taste of the cream before moving to pour over the chocolate trying not to gag as the heavy rich smell of it hits her nose. Bea moves to turn on the vent for her, offering a soft smile, as she starts to whisk it all together with the butter before pouring it into the crust and placing it into the fridge to chill she repeats the steps with the raspberry one, placing it in the fridge along with the other. She moves to clean up which goes faster with an extra set of hands and once the kitchen is spotless she opens the wine fridge holding a bottle of rosé up for Bea's appraisal, getting a quick shrug before popping the cork and pouring two glasses.

"You haven't asked," Rosalind watches Bea take a large sip of her wine before letting out soft sigh.

"You didn't volunteer."

"But you noticed."

"Yeah, I noticed and Rafe advised against it when I asked what donuts to get you."

"You've watched Baked with Love right, either before or at that one movie night."

"Yeah, I used to watch it with Isobel but it had been a while until," until the night they had all seen the relationship with Valentina not even hidden by the thin veneer of acting.

"She kept forgetting her lines in the scene where I am eating all the chocolate chips, said my delivery was throwing her off, we had to do it over and over and over again. I lost count of how many takes we did but I remember being sick for days and somedays still being dragged on set, I've struggled to eat it since," Bea reaches over grasping her hand just like she did the first time they got lunch together as part of 'Dead Mom Club'.

"Rosalind, I'm sorry and so you know we didn't past that scene at movie night, it was-."

"What?" Rosalind just stares at Bea, she knows that scene is pretty early into the movie not even a quarter way through.

[cupcakewebkinz]

Silly, that last ask of mine wasn't something big, just me yapping about Vee's and Dandy's relationship because their interaction is so underrated I actually wanna cry. Literally no one's talking about it, so I'm glad you have this in mind too! Maybe I'll eventually write something about them, ofc if you'd like to, ehehe >:)

Aand, I was thinking about the way Sprout found out about Vee's ability to eat, and actually got something in mind. It was something ordinary, but a little bit too sudden for the both of them. Like, imagine Sprout casually going to check up on Vee or ask some stuff, just to open the door and find the girl curled in the corner, quietly munching whatever chocolate bar Veronica had brought for her. Sprout was shocked, as well as Vee herself, because she wasn't expecting a visitor, lol. At first, Sprout would ask absolutely dumbass questions like "WHAT?? YOU can EAT??" Like he didn't just saw it himself. But then Vee would shamefully ask him to lock the door so she could tell him about her situation. They would sit in that corner for an hour, and in the end Vee would say something like "just please, don't tell anybody, let this be our secret?" Because she's too scared that Delilah is going to find out and have a reallyyy long "conversation" with her. And Sprout, as the sweetest, caring bun he is, would absolutely promise her to keep this between them. More over, he will sneak her food, just like you said. I hope this isn't too much raahhh👂I could yap about this au forever /silly

- Anon who asked about Dandy

Bro literally any fan-work of my au is fucking peak, you could write your heart out and I'd read it 100% man y'all can go off and be silly in any way you'd like! Y'all seriously do not need my permission for anything, just give me credit (and tag me) that's all I ask XD

Honestly though, you're pretty on point. He'd be just minding his own business and one day just, walk on in because he's giving her something or returning something from her after a gameshow (they've always been buddies, they have permission to waltz into the other's room whenever as long as the door isn't locked - Shelly was the same exact way with them as well) and he just finds her there, munching away.

Yeah sure he'd be shocked and confused, but hey, that's his bestie, and if his lesbian best friend needs to eat SHE IS EATING GOD DAMMIT! He is still VERY overprotective of his friends, just... A lot less overbearing about it. If he's caught- "oh don't worry, it's for Veronica, Veri gets hungry sometimes!" He'd say, and she would just agree, because Veronica is a queen and a girl boss and we love her

In the end I think the only two toons that would genuinely know about it are Shelly (that's her wife, Shelly knows more about Vee than Vee knows Vee tbh) and Sprout. Cosmo would be suspicious, though I doubt anyone would blame him for it, as suddenly there's now food going to Vee's room too, but I don't think he'd know fully until after Shanon lets him come over and she's like "I love those cookies you used to make!" and he's like "Thanks Vee- WAIT WHAT?!"

In the end, the survivors of the ichor will all know about it, and I'm sure the handlers would know about it too, but through nugget theft and curious Vee shenanigans. Oh she'd absolutely go insane for Waffle Sundays... There's a reason Vee always gets zoomies after waffles (she loves them too much for her own good)

Also bro stop that nobody is a burden here, yap all ya want, seriously 😭

I love yapping with y'all 😭

Yap about it forever with me let's have fun and be silly together, it's okay, I genuinely love it all! It just took me a bit to reply this time because it was sent right before dinner lmao

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

Am I the asshole for calling out my bf for wanting to buy his female work colleague a small "just because" gift?

=======================

So, I have been with my current bf for about 1.5 years. It's a pretty serious relationship and we do love each other. Over the weekend, we were at a local mall and he noticed a kiosk selling some different kinds of anime merch. He's a big anime fan and has mentioned that there is only a small handful of other anime fans at work so he only has a few people he can talk about these things with. Anyway, while at the kiosk, he mentioned enthusiastically that he 'absolutely had' to come back there to get a sticker for a girl he works with because he knows she's a huge fan of a particular anime (that he saw a sticker for there).

Of course, I hear this and immediately think oh how thoughtful. That's really sweet.. but then realized he had never done such a thing for me. I never thought of gifting as my primary love language, but the realization of this really stung. I made a comment about him buying gifts for his girlies at work, and he got a little defensive about it and we left it at that for a moment.

I brought it up a few hours later to let him know how I felt. I wanted him to know that he had never randomly bought me something just because I'd like it, just because it was related to something I was really into. He'd never randomly brought home a 'just because' gift like that but he was totally going to do that for her (his coworker). He'd certainly never bought me a sticker from some show or anime *I'm* into...I asked if he'd buy his male anime fan coworkers a sticker too and he said of course. But that's not what he said at the mall. He only mentioned getting one for her and the particular anime she was into. I asked him where MY sticker was out of all the things he knows I'm into. "Where's my sticker?" and he said nothing.

So later in the night, we did talk about it and he apologized afterward because he said he didn't realize how I would interpret him buying her a gift. But I said I still feel like you're missing a point. I told him: what does it look like for a guy to bring a girl he works with little trinkets of things that she's int?. It's a personal gift. It's not a bar of chocolate that "all women" would like. It is an anime sticker of something that you'd have to know she was into. He could have just said where the kiosk was, but he wanted to get her something. Something that shows he payed attention to the things she likes. And he wanted to give it to her because he thought she'd like it = to make her happy. I asked him to think about how that looks like to everyone involved. And is that the message you wanted to send? I asked him to think about how she would interpret it. And what does that look like to me? They've only known each other (at work) for a few months. I said you don't know how she would interpret that. All she knows is you were out with your girlfriend, and you were thinking of her enough to buy her something. And that could sent the wrong message to her of course, even if you "didn't mean" anything by it.

So he apologized again, said he wasn't trying to court her by buying her a sticker, and it was just a random thought that appeared in his head when he saw the anime she liked. And he said he didn't think about it the way I described and that he agreed with me - just telling her where the kiosk was and that was enough and appropriate. But something still doesn't sit right with me. Maybe I feel guilty for blowing things out of proportion? Maybe there's something else going on here that my gut knows that my brain hasn't seen yet? Maybe i'm just jealous because he hasn't ever brought me a 'just because' gift ever?

Am I the asshole?

What are these acronyms?

[verdemoun]

how does lenny feel about how he’s treated in this time period, in contrast to 1899?

honestly lenny's attitude towards race in rdr2 like he has so many brilliant dialogues about his relationship to race like UGH esp in lemoyne like it's genuinely not fair how aware he has to be of his race at such a young age but also I am definitely not the person to be saying things have improved or how things have changed fully aware it's a conversation people still have to have with kids!! how is the world so beautiful and frustratingly embarrassingly ugly at the same time. the conversation he has with sean about being 'set free to suffer' haunts me honestly. at times his monologues are so much an echo of the same anger dutch has with the way of the world but coming from a place of genuine oppression instead of idealistic bullshit UGH their conversations about evelyn miller and pretty words got me exorcist crawling backwards i love lenny so much

on one hand lenny would be so excited about seeing black professionals. walking around college/university campuses, talking to black professors, fellow students of color, the sheer concept of what and where he can study and achieve not being a matter of written laws or rules would still be so exciting. having intellectual debates with fellow pocs with lived experience instead of idealists, being able to find community in a way that wasn't assessable as a young man in 1899 surrounded by a mostly white gang (lenny almost always makes a point of saying he was talking to other* colored** folk in missions you cannot tell me he isn't looking for that sense of poc community)

but he's already been necessitated by life to be so aware of glances, suspicious looks he recognizes and receives all the same despite being in a completely different era. he just gets to a point like tamatoa voice: mwahahaha, yes!! social progress, people freed from connotations and burdens of their own sk- wait a minute ugh i see they've taken an explicitly racially motivated bias and reframed it as socio-economic challenge reinforced by the abuse and mismanagement of powers within the judicial system, as a DIVERSION (to the fact there still isn't enough being done to actively address it!!).

will call out people being racist in the local corner store in the flattest most bored monotone like seriously in the time you were following me around because i'm black those two (vague gesture to isaac and jack sprinting away) stole 3 energy drinks, a bag of chips, an entire case of chocolate bars and the damned cctv video surveillance in operation warning sign

[a-small-batch-of-dragons]

Just Another Day

Hey uhh… I’m not sure if my ask is mighty enough for the god of writing requests to see it but could you write a fic where everyone forgets or is too busy for Roman’s birthday? I’m totally not projecting… but the only way I know how to cope is to hurt my boy, bonus points if it doesn’t end with a surprise party – anon

Read on Ao3

Warnings: roman's birthday is forgotten and janus and virgil are kinda dicks

Pairings: none

Word Count: 3272

That's the funny thing about birthdays, isn't it?

To everyone else, it's just another day.

Roman wakes up, a smile already forming on his face.

Happy birthday, he thinks as he sits up, patting the red comforter and pillows, happy birthday!

After all, these are his creations, it's only fair that he wishes them a happy birthday as well. Although, he supposes technically their birthday would be when he created them, but it's just easier and more fun if they all celebrate together, right?

He quickly goes through his morning routine, putting on his prince costume and going to his makeup box. What does he feel like today, of all days, should he do the gold sparkle or the red sparkle? Or—oh, even better! The red sparkly as eye shadow and the gold sparkle as an enhancement to his blush! Yes, he's gotten a brand-new blush just for today, Virgil helped him pick it out, he can take a little bit of the gold shimmer and dust it over the top.

He can't stop grinning at himself in the mirror, oh, yes, he will be doing this look more often. He strikes his signature pose and—perfect!

A quick run-through of his fingers and his hair is artfully tousled, double-check that everything on his costume is right, and he's ready to go!

Oh, what is it they'll be preparing? A family breakfast? He does like getting to see everyone in the morning, maybe they'll all be down there already? Or a trip to the Imagination, he may or may not have been brushing up on some of the places he knows all of them love for just such an occasion. Or maybe they'll be baking! He hasn't had homemade desserts in forever, and now that he's started thinking about it, he can't get the taste of fresh chocolate chip cookies out of his head, or fresh flaky biscuits, or lemon bars…

Oh, he's made himself quite hungry.

As he strides to his door, he catches sight of his wide smile in the mirror.

"Happy birthday," he whispers to his reflection, and closes the door behind him.

***

    2.

He quickly rules out a family breakfast together, because the only one downstairs when he reaches the kitchen is Patton.

"Good morning!"

"Oh, goodness!" Patton startles, nearly dropping the spatula he's holding. "Roman, don't do that!"

"Sorry, dear Patton-cake," he says, swooping in to kiss his cheek, "just excited this morning!"

"I can see that."

Some part of Roman registers that Patton sounds far more annoyed than he does endeared, but it's lost in the tidal wave of it's my birthday! "What's on the menu this morning, Pat?"

"Well, I'm making an omelet." Sure enough, the eggy-cheesy-vegetable-y mess in the pan goes splat as Patton flips it over. "I don't know what you're going to have."

Oh. "I don't…really like omelets."

"I know, that's why this isn't for you."

Well, that definitely rules out breakfast. "Never fear! I will devise something else as equally delicious to me to have!"

Only with all of their eggs going into the omelet, there won't be enough left to bake anything else. Unless they've gotten more eggs in between last night when he checked the fridge and this morning, but he doubts it.

"Toast," he says triumphantly as Patton plates his omelet and—goes to leave the kitchen? "The breakfast of champions."

Yeah, Patton barely glances over his shoulder as he leaves, calling out: "Sure is, kiddo, good for you."

Roman frowns as Patton vanishes to the living room, hearing the tell-tale clink of the plate against the table as Patton sits down for his own breakfast. He looks back at the toaster, with its two slices of unassuming bread that are—smoking?

"Shit," he mutters, under his breath so Patton won't hear him, hitting the button and wincing as the two shriveled black husks pop up. He grabs a paper towel and disposes them, before deciding that it's his birthday, he can conjure up an English muffin to toast if he wants to.

"Roman," Patton calls just as he goes to toast it, "you're not summoning food in there, are you?"

"But—"

"We have rules about that, kiddo, you remember what happened last time."

"But it's just an English muffin, and my toast got—"

"Rules are rules, kiddo, it's not fair to everyone else if you get to break it. Besides, I know we have more bread."

But it's my birthday, he wants to say, but he can hear that Patton's already made his mind up, so he sighs and throws the English muffin out too. Oh, well, he'll just have to make sure these slices don't burn.

Chin up, he tells himself as he plates his slightly-less burned toast, it's still my birthday!

***

    3.

Trip to the Imagination is also quickly ruled out when Patton is long gone and no one else has arrived downstairs. That's…well, that's not great, but it is okay; he manages to watch a few of the videos he's been meaning to for a while before he gets up and goes in search of someone else.

Logan, maybe, what about Logan?

With another smile growing on his face, he bounds up the stairs. Oh, they could have a brainstorm! They could bounce ideas off each other just like they used to, they could spend the day watching one of the shows they'd been meaning to watch and critique it—there was this new movie that came out just a few weeks ago that they'd both said related to their individual projects—

By the time he reaches the outside of Logan's door, he's practically vibrating with excitement. He knocks—shave and a haircut, two bits—and waits, shifting his weight from one foot to the other.

"Yes?"

"Logan!"

He thinks he hears Logan sigh but that must just be his chair or his notebook or something. "What is it, Roman, I'm in the middle of something."

"Oh. I, um, I had a question."

"Well, there's no use yelling through the door."

Is that—was that an invitation to come in? He can never tell with Logan anymore. "Can I come in?"

"That was the implication of what I just said, wasn't it?"

Roman carefully opens the door, smiling when Logan looks up—only for it to dim a moment later when Logan looks far more irritated than he'd expected. "Um—hi."

"What's the question?"

"There's, um, that movie that we were talking about came out a few weeks ago."

"That doesn't sound like a question."

"I was wondering if you—if you wanted to watch it?"

"For movie night?"

"N-no, just—just us. I miss talking about things with you."

"You do?" Logan eyes him skeptically over his glasses—his skepticles, Roman calls them in his head and fights not to laugh at his own joke. "When, next week?"

"I was, um, hoping we could do it today?"

Logan sighs, and it's definitely unmistakably a sigh this time, and turns back to his desk. "Roman, I'm busy today. We'll have to work it out later."

"But I—"

"No, Roman. We can watch something tonight at movie night, but I'm afraid I don't have time right now."

"…okay."

Roman closes Logan's door and sighs. Well, that's okay. He can hardly expect Logan to want to change his schedule for him, and he'd thought—well, he was mistaken about whether or not Logan was going to be part of the birthday morning. He'll see him this evening, like he said! That's gonna be really fun.

…really fun.

***

    4.

He runs into Janus and Virgil in the hallway and they both burst out laughing.

He blinks, caught off-guard, a small smile forming on his face as he tries to get the joke, only for Janus to look at him again and he only laughs harder.

"Oh, god, thank you, Princey," Virgil gasps, leaning against the wall for support, "I needed that."

"Needed…what?"

"That." Virgil gestures to his face. "You're funnier than we give you credit for, that's—whoa, that's great."

Janus, who is still laughing, just manages to say the words 'glitter clown' before he's off again, nearly sliding down the wall with how hard he's laughing.

Oh.

Oh.

A sick feeling starts twisting in Roman's stomach as they both start to come down from their laughter, still giggling. Virgil flaps a hand at him.

"You gotta warn me before you do something like that, man, I almost broke a rib."

"Have you been taking lessons from Remus?" A different hurt lances through him at Janus's words. "That's terrifying."

"How did you even do that, did you just shove your face into a bunch of glitter?"

"No."

"What," Janus laughs again, and it's not meant to be cruel—he hopes it's not meant to be cruel but it hurts worse than it did before, "did you wake up and decide to smear glitter all over your face for no reason?"

Then they realize he's not laughing.

"Oh," Janus says first, trying and failing miserably at keeping a straight face—and not just for the obvious reason— "oh, um…did you—did it not come off?"

"Yeah, did you, like, try and wash it off and then it stained? That can happen with some of the less expensive brands—"

"I know that."

"Shit, uh, yeah, I know." Virgil scratches the back of his head. "I, uh, I've got some more heavy-duty makeup remover if you wanna try it—"

"It's fine."

"No, no, I'm sorry, Princey, I shouldn't have laughed so much, I know it was a mistake—" Virgil reaches for him— "lemme help you get it off—"

"It's fine," he mutters through gritted teeth and pushes past them. He doesn't even make it out of earshot before he hears them start laughing again.

He bursts back into his room and storms to the bathroom, ignoring the burning in his face as he fumbles blindly for his makeup remover—which is plenty strong, thank you very much—and scrubs at his face until the cotton pads fall apart. His prince costume is quickly soaked as he splashes water across his face, dripping down his neck and arms to the cuffs and collar. He keeps going, not minding how raw his face starts to feel, not until he knows for damn sure that every little speck of glitter is gone.

Screw them.

Screw them.

It's his birthday, and if they're all going to be absolute jackwagons then he's going to go into the Imagination and enjoy himself all on his own.

***

    5.

When he gets downstairs for movie night and sees them all there, looking at him, for one second, he thinks it might be a surprise party.

Then Logan adjusts his glasses and says: "Roman. You're late."

That last little ember of hope in his chest splutters and dies.

"Sorry," he mumbles, slinking over to the empty spot on the far side of the mattress and taking a pillow, "got distracted in the Imagination."

"Hey, at least you got all that glitter off you."

"Oh, good, I was wondering what that was about."

He wraps his arms around the pillow and tries not to think about how cold to the touch it is. "Yeah."

"Alright," Remus says, clapping his hands, "movie time!"

"What are we watching," Virgil asks, grabbing the remote and beginning to scroll through the various options, "are we going action, funny, mystery, animated…?"

Roman perks his head up a little. "Can we watch Love, Simon?"

"We've already seen that, Princey."

"Yeah, but—"

"What about The Meg?" Remus nudges Logan's side. "The sequel's coming out soon and we could get ready for it!"

"Wait, is that the giant shark one?"

"Yeah!"

"I suppose that's a good idea," Logan says and Roman's grip tightens on the pillow, "to prepare. I can only imagine how ridiculous the science of the sequel is going to be."

"Oh, you and I are gonna have a field day."

Roman's chest burns. "But we've seen that one already too."

"Sequel, Ro-Bro," Remus says without even looking at him, "there's gonna be a sequel."

"You've picked a lot recently," Patton adds, giving him a scolding look, "you can let Remus choose."

"But—"

"But nothing," Janus says smoothly, "Virgil, did you find it?"

"Yep!"

The Meg starts playing.

Logan puts his arm around Remus.

Patton starts playing with Remus's hair.

Janus whispers something that makes Remus chuckle and they start doing one of their inside jokes.

Virgil looks at Remus and smiles softly.

Roman is cold.

During one of the big shark fight scenes, he puts the pillow back on the couch and sinks out.

He curls up on his bed and pulls his red comforter—heh—snugly around his chin. He catches sight of himself in the mirror and pointedly turns away.

Happy birthday, he scoffs internally as he feels the tears well up, what a stupid thing.

***

    +1.

The Imagination remembered it was Roman's birthday.

Of course it did, Roman was its little prince, of course it remembered. It had been so lovely, playing with the not-so little prince again, creating a beautiful magical forest from him to explore, filled with marvelous critters and creatures alike for Roman to play with. And then a dragon, his dragon, his dragon he'd created was he was still a little prince; his dragon flew down and wished him a happy birthday in its own way, taking him flying and curling up around him on the top of the mountain, nuzzling him like he was part of its horde, which he was. But the little prince hadn't understood, hadn't known that was a happy birthday wish, and so when the little prince is crying all on his own, the Imagination takes matters into its own hands.

The door in Roman's room eases open, a soft twinkling sound waking him from his tear-induced dozing. He blinks, brow furrowing at the sight of it, before stumbling from the bed to the gentle light coming from within.

He pushes it open to see the resplendent tree, glimmering and glistening with a single swing hanging from a low branch. All around it spin galaxies, nebulas, cosmic wonders in an inky-purple sea of open sky. His breath leaves him in a rush and the Imagination coaxes him closer.

For you, it whispers as its little prince sits on the swing, marveling at the cosmos around him, all for you, little one, happy birthday.

It dries Roman's tears with soft, warm breeze, the tree branch beginning to gently swing him back and forth. The stars twinkle, the skies fill, and oh, that's better—Roman starts to smile.

All too soon, however, it starts to fade again and the Imagination rushes back—what's the matter, little prince, what's wrong? It's your birthday, you shall want for nothing, what do you need?

It carefully pokes and tests the various emotions radiation from its little prince and…ah. The little prince is lonely.

"Ro?"

Roman turns, eyes widening when he sees Remus. "Re?"

"Whoa," Remus mumbles, taking in the tree and its surrounding wonders, "this is cool as fuck, Roro."

"Um…thanks."

"Seriously, how long have you been working on this? This is—I've never seen the Imagination like this before."

The little prince fumbles for something to say and when he tugs wordlessly on the swing for help, the Imagination obliges. A tendril from higher up in the tree slowly lowers, a single red and gold sparkly cupcake nestled in its grasp. A candle burns atop it, and Roman's breath catches in his throat.

"What's that?" Remus comes up over his shoulder just as Roman reaches for the cupcake. "Whoa—wait, Roro, is it—"

Yes, the Imagination whispers.

"Ro," Remus asks, voice small and soft, "was…was today your birthday?"

"…yeah."

"Fuck," Remus bites out, before storming a few feet away and raising his voice, "we're all fucking horrible, get in here!"

"Language!"

"Remus!"

"Hey, what the hell?"

"Speak for yourself, Remus!"

"No," Remus barks, his hands on his hips as he glares at the various pajama-clad Sides in front of him, "we are all horrible because we just forgot today was Ro's birthday and we're gonna figure out some way to make it up to him!"

"Wait, fuck—"

"That was today? I thought it was next week!"

"Is that—oh, that's why you wanted to spend time with me—"

"Shit."

Roman just sits quietly, unwrapping his cupcake as the Imagination swings him gently back and forth. He seems to like the nebula just off the edge of the cliff, beneath his feet, and so it makes it sparkle a little more, clouds of cosmic dust swirling back and forth.

"Ro," Remus says as the others keep worrying, "I'm really sorry."

"It's fine."

"It's not fine. You went to bed crying on your birthday and none of us noticed. I didn't notice, that's not okay." Remus ruffles his hair. "What can I do?"

"You don't have to do anything."

"But—"

"Look," Roman says, looking up at him, "I don't—having stuff happen because you guys feel bad isn't going to help. I don't want your pity. Or your groveling, whatever you want to call it. There's always next year."

"You shouldn't have to wait a whole year to do stuff you want because we were assholes," Virgil says as the rest of them come closer, "it doesn't—fuck, it doesn't have to be a birthday thing, but do you wanna…I dunno, just schedule some stuff to do with us?"

Roman shrugs.

"You sure?"

"You guys are busy," he mumbles, still toying with his cupcake, "I get it. It's just a day."

"It's not just a day," Patton says, "it's supposed to be your day. If you want to do something—"

"That didn't work out super well for me, did it?" He glances over his shoulder and back down to the cupcake. The Imagination ruffles his hair with another warm breeze. "It's okay. You guys are busy."

"I'm not," Virgil says, "I've got nothing."

"Same here," says Patton, and he hears Janus hum.

"I can spend time with you," Logan starts and Roman just laughs.

"I know for a fact that's not true."

"…it is, actually," Janus mumbles and Roman's shoulders hunch.

"I'd like to be alone, now, please."

"Roman—"

"Now."

And the Imagination obliges, shuttling all of them outside and quickly calling Roman's dragon to come and cuddle him. It comes, chuffing softly and nuzzling his hair, blowing warm air over his bare legs as it curls up next to the swing and rests its head in his lap.

"You were saying happy birthday earlier," he mumbles, stroking the ridges on its head, "weren't you?"

The dragon snuffles in confirmation, nudging the cupcake. Roman laughs, a little strangled, and takes a bite.

"Thank you."

Anything for you, the Imagination whispers as the dragon purrs, anything for you.

Remus is waiting when Roman returns to his room, sitting on his bed in his pajamas with his stuffed Kraken. He looks up when Roman enters and holds out his arms.

"Come cuddle," he says when Roman still hovers by the door, "please?"

"Why?"

"'Cause you're my bro and I love you and you look like you need a cuddle."

"…okay."

Remus is big and warm and soft, and Roman curls up in his brother's arms. The Imagination keeps the galaxies spinning outside his window, his dragon keeping watch as the two of them drift off to sleep.

General Taglist: @frxgprince@potereregina@gattonero17@iamhereforthegayshit@thefingergunsgirl@awkwardandanxiousfander@creative-lampd-liberties@djpurple3@winterswrandomness@sanders-sides-uncorrect-quotes@iminyourfandom@bullet-tothefeels@full-of-roman-angst-trash  @ask-elsalvador @ramdomthingsfrommymind@demoniccheese83@pattonsandershugs @el-does-photography @princeanxious@firefinch-ember@fandomssaremysoul@im-an-anxious-wreck@crazy-multifandomfangirl @punk-academian-witch@enby-ralsei@unicornssunflowersandstuff@wildhorsewolf @thetruthaboutthesun @stubbornness-and-spite @princedarkandstormv  @your-local-fookin-deadmeme @angels-and-dreams@averykedavra @a-ghostlight-for-roman @treasurechestininterweb @cricketanne @queerly-fluid-fan @compactdiscdraws@cecil-but-gayer@i-am-overly-complicated@annytheseal@alias290@tranquil-space-ninja @arxticandy @mychemically-imbalanced-romance@whyiask@crows-ace @emilythezeldafan@frida0043 @ieatspinalcords @snowyfires@cyanide-violence@oonagh2@xxpanic-at-the-everywherexx@rabbitsartcorner @percy-07734@triflingassailantofmyemotions @virgil-sanders-the-gay-emo@cerulean-watermelon@puffed-up-bees@meltheromanstan@joyrose-fandomer@insanitori@mavenmush@justablah65@10paradox10@uhhh-hi-there-i-am-nervous@cutebisexualmess@bella-bugatti-frogetti-baguetti@ultrageekygirl

[persoj]

People have entered and exited this café since I started running it. Most look terrified as they enter, wary of this new environment. I find the best thing to do is smile, sit them down with a cup and explain the whole thing to them. I have a script for it now, almost fully memorised. Usually goes a little like this:

"Here, have a cup. Sit down. My name is Ava. I run this café. Right now, you're not quite alive. You're not dead, don't panic yet. But here is where most come before they pass on. Most people who come in here usually make it out alive, though. At the moment, there's probably someone trying to save your life in a hospital or something. Imagine that! Or maybe you've been put in a coma. Like [Name] over there, they've been here for [Amount of time]. Why don't you go and talk to them? They can probably answer some of your questions."

At the moment, the person who I usually refer them too is Jamie. He's been here for about 2 weeks. Keeps to himself for the most part, unless I send someone over. Then he opens up a bit. He told me that he finds comfort in knowing that he'll probably never meet these people face to face. And even if he does, they won't know what he looks like. That's the fun thing about this place. You don't ever look like yourself, not unless you really want to. I think I've changed my appearance about 70 times since I opened this place. Can't even remember what I looked like. I'm pretty sure I was blonde or brunette or something, but I can never be fully sure.

It's been about 10 years since I opened the shop. I've seen lots of people come and go. Some older people (the older ladies are always so nice), some middle aged, some who look too young to be dying. That's the saddest part. Seeing the smaller ones. Teens, little kids, toddlers, even babies. Everyone feels sad when a child comes through. The whole café sort of just quietens, and everyone comes to talk to them and comfort them. The babies are always held and rocked, and everyone gives them a hug before leaving them with me. I have a room in the back just for the babies. The toddlers will usually play with each other, or just the adults in general. Usually puts a smile on people's faces. It can also really help when a new person walks in. Jittery, jumpy, and shaking. Then a toddler approaches them, asking them to play with toy cars. It's always very cute, and the person calms down almost immediately. The kids always seem a little scared. Stranger Danger makes them wary, as it should. But they learn to trust you eventually. Once you've talked to them, gained their trust and handed them a lollipop or chocolate bar or two, they calm down. The teens are easy enough. They're old enough to be told what's happening to them. You sit them down, explain things whilst you bend at their knees, answer what few questions they may have, then leave them in the corner with a drink. They tend to just sit and contemplate. Most young adults do, as well.

Some try to ask me about my story. I rarely tell them. Only if they end up somehow staying here more than a month. After that time frame, they've earned the privilege. I tell them about the accident, the large truck that rammed into me. I tell them about the coma I've been in for the last ten years. I tell them about the people who come and go, and about my family. My parents, my wife, my brothers and sisters and friends and just everyone I can think of. Just because I rarely tell the story, doesn't mean I don't want to. I tell them everything. My entire life, from start to near-finish. It's always liberating.

Anyways, there's a new customer coming in. I think I'm going to give them a blue cup.

Thank you for reading this far if you did :) I'm very new to tumblr and to writing, so any tips are appreciated!

You run a café on the edge of life and death. Souls who have been departed from their bodies temporarily, such as in comas or near-death experiences, can relax in your quaint cafe for as long as they need before they can either return to their bodies or begin their journey to the afterlife.

[woso-dreamzzz]

Youth Team IV

Hardersson x Teen!Reader

Part of The Big Adventures Universe

Summary: Your first youth game

The Denmark youth team calls you up on a random day.

Or, rather, they call your mothers who are more than happy to accept.

It's your first youth team call up and you can't help the nerves that settle in your stomach.

At first, everything goes smoothly. You meet the coach and the staff and you get settled in your room.

That's when training starts.

There's two other keepers to play with. They're both on the upper ends of the age range of the team. You're on the lower side.

They're worldly and smart and seem leaps and bounds ahead of you. They catch shots you could only dream of and seem like good friends, already having a solid relationship to pick up every time the international break comes around.

You're the outsider here, the girl that has to fly over from Sweden every time just to play in an international team. The girl that no one else here knows because she plays her football in Sweden. The girl that's so much younger than everyone else and took the spot of one of their friends.

The coaching staff have seen something in you that no one else can see, even you. You're young and untried and everyone keeps looking at you like they expect you to be some great talent.

As of yet, you haven't proven it which is why it's a surprise that you're the starting keeper for the match against France.

It's a surprise for everyone else too, if the way the other two keepers complain is anything to go by.

France is a tough opponent, even at the youth level and while this isn't a tournament, it still sets the bar for the future.

Your coach is trying out new positions and new rotations and new team chemistry. He takes no complaints.

You stay in the starting line-up no matter how many people complain.

You stay in the starting line-up no matter how many of the older girls give you a dirty look during training.

You understand why. You're the outsider here. You're the one taking the spot from their friends. You're the one that's appeared randomly and is taking away chances from others.

The match, as predicted, is incredibly difficult.

France have a good front line.

(One day, all of these girls will be in the senior team against you).

They press high. They press hard. They press fast.

Your defence falls apart before your very eyes.

One time, after a rough training session, Magda told you something in the car.

The goalkeeper is meant to be the very last option to stop a goal. If a defence is good then they should be able to stop a strike before it happens, before it manages to trouble the keeper. The sign of a good defence is when the goalkeeper doesn't need to save a single shot.

But the keeper is also in charge of the defence on the pitch.

The coach can tell the players anything before they're on the pitch but, in the heat of the moment, the keeper needs to remind the defence of their jobs.

Your first half is difficult with your defence making silly mistakes and playing like they've never been in the back line in their life.

France dominated possession and the amount of shots on target with the amount of space your defence has gifted them.

You come off the pitch pissed, unwilling to make eye contact with your mothers as you pass them in the stands.

You don't even want to look in Pernille's direction.

You're playing for her country right now. You don't want to disappoint her. You don't want her to look at you when you inevitably concede to France and lose Denmark the match.

"Hey," One of the older keepers says to you, standing in front of your cubby with her arms crossed over your chest.

You're sat down, leaning back against the wall as you stare at the gloves in your hand. Your energy drink sits next to you, half empty with the small chocolate bar Pernille always tells you to eat to give you a boost of energy in the second half.

Your throat bobs as you look up at this girl.

"Hey," You say back, completely defeated.

She looks at you, eyes roving over your body before she lets out a long suffering sigh.

"If the defenders are playing shit," She says," Then you need to tell them. I suggest yelling, get it through their thick heads that if they can't stop the ball from getting to you then the goal conceded is their fault."

"You want me to yell?"

"Look," She says," I get you're all quiet and stuff but out on the pitch you're in charge of them. If they're not up to your standards then you better fucking tell them."

"I-"

"Plus it helps get some of your frustration out."

Her words circle in your head even as you walk out for the second half.

France dominates again and it's not long before they're bearing down on goal.

You defence is wide open, allowing way too much space and you have to go to ground to save the shot.

Rage boils under your skin as you stand up, marching over to your defence as they mill around waiting for you to release the ball.

"Tighten up!" You snap," You're giving them too much space!"

"Whoa, wait a minute-"

"No! Just close ranks when they come near! Cut them off then and there and I won't have to make the save because if you keep playing like that sooner or later, they're going to sneak one past me!"

You don't give them time to argue back, rolling the ball out to your midfield.

The game ends nil-nil but you don't have to make any more saves and you don't bother sparing your defence a look as you walk off the pitch, making your way right over to the stands, hoisting yourself up and over.

"I'm sorry," You say, head bowed as you stand in front of your mothers," We didn't score."

"I don't think scoring is exactly up to you," Pernille says, reaching out to cup your cheek and pull your head up," You're responsible for not conceding and you did that. A clean sheet on debut. That's a win in my book."

"But not a proper win," You say.

"Let's focus on what you can control," Magda says," You control the goal and the defence. You didn't let a ball past you. You told your defence they needed to tighten up. You did well."

"Really?"

Pernille laughs. "You're too hard on yourself. Now, go down, get showered, get changed. We're going out with your grandparents tonight and we need to tell them about your amazing debut."

[casspurrjoybell-17]

Hart and Hunter - Chapter 18 - Part 1

*Warning Adult Content*

Julian Hart

"Freya says she'll come," Dane tells me the following morning when I emerge from the shower and join him in the kitchen. 

I've quickly learned to do most things with one hand but I see he's made me breakfast and take a seat as he serves me biscuits, scrambled eggs, sausages and fruit. 

"Great. She can help me with the mountains of food you keep dropping in front of me," I say, lifting my brows at the Dane-sized portion on my plate. 

"You need good nutrition to heal. Not grab-and-go breakfast bars." 

"Those bars have 13 grams of protein," I counter, shoveling fluffy eggs into my mouth.

"It's like a complete meal." 

"No, it's not. Good food doesn't come in rectangles." 

"What about chocolate?" 

"Chocolate's an ingredient." 

I roll my eyes and give up.

He has strangely strong opinions about food and he can keep them.

Besides, he's a much better cook than I am and I'm not complaining. 

"Ingrid's out already?" 

He nods.

"She took your car. I think it's love." 

I laugh.

"Wait till it breaks down on her. What else is on the menu today?" 

He joins me at the table, handing me a cup of coffee prepared the way I like... with what he considers far too much cream. 

"I figured we'll start with the other shop owners. See if anyone noticed a change in Lagrange's behavior recently and if they've noticed the same in anyone else. Something that might help tip us off. Halloran texted me earlier. He and Vasquez will visit the funeral home."

"He's taking Vasquez along?"

I frown.

"Won't that make it hard to ask the right questions?" 

Dane lifts a shoulder and drains his coffee in a few gulps. 

"Nah. Not any harder than asking without really asking, if you know what I mean. Get a reputation pretty fast if you keep bringing up things like 'skin-changers' in every interrogation." 

I frown, still not entirely satisfied. 

"What's wrong?" Dane asks.

"Whiskers in your gravy?" 

“What?” 

He shakes his head and smiles.

"Nothing. Just something my Mom used to say when someone looked preoccupied." 

"Oh. It's just... I guess I thought you'd want a crack at the funeral home. It seems like the most promising lead." 

Dane shrugs.

"Might be but more than likely they were just following directions. Anyway, Wolf or not, I still gotta follow the rules and Halloran and Vasquez are the leads on this. I don't get a say." 

"Does that bother you?" 

He tilts his head to the side.

"You think it should?" 

I chew a bite of biscuit before answering.

"Sometimes it seems like you miss it, is all. Being a cop... badge and gun, power and authority. All that." 

He looks away.

"Sometimes I do." 

"Would you go back?"

 After a moment, he shakes his head.

"No. Being a cop had a meaning it doesn't have for me anymore. It's not where I belong. Now..."

He looks at me again.

"Now this is where I belong." 

I turn my attention back to my plate but I'm already full.

Dane reads my thoughts and pulls the remains of my breakfast towards himself. 

"Will you tell me?" I ask, the question rising like a bubble, unconscious and unstoppable, to my lips. 

Dane looks up from the biscuit and eggs.

"Tell you what?" 

"About being a cop and what it meant for you. And before that... about your time in the Marines. You must have..."

I wave a hand.

"Stories, right?" 

He huffs a laugh.

"Yeah, I got stories. I didn't think you were interested." 

"Why not?" I ask, a tiny bit hurt by the question. 

He lifts a shoulder in his characteristic shrug. 

"You never asked." 

"I thought you didn't want to talk about it." 

He smiles and reaches across the table, his fingers gently grasping mine where they protrude from my cast. 

"I guess I've been too busy with the present to care about the past but I'll talk about it all you want, if you want me to. What's brought this up now, though?" 

"The case, I guess," I admit and shiver.

"It just seems horrible... that something could replace someone you love and you wouldn't even know."

Dane frowns and I wonder if the same thought hadn't occurred to him yet. 

"I can't imagine it," he says.

"I feel like I'd know you no matter what." 

"Another reason to complete the land-bond, maybe," I say and smile. 

His amber eyes warm a little and it feels good to be fuel for that fire. 

"So," I say.

"How about we start with the person most likely to notice something amiss?" 

"I like the way you think, Hart," he says, lips curving in a smile.

"Let's talk to Vicky Lagrange." 

********

The Lagrange's live just outside Spring Lakes, in a neighborhood with a log-cabin, vacation-home feel, nestled beneath tall pines and among outcrops of basalt and granite boulders. 

It's home to a mix of year-round residents and seasonal visitors.

The Lagrange's are the former and their home is one of the larger but older, on their street, with steeply slanted roofs, tall, almost church-like windows and a large wrap-around porch. 

Vicky greets us at the door.

I recognize her from the funeral, though today she wears comfortable athletic clothes with her sleek black hair gathered in a messy ponytail.

Her makeup-free face bears little mark of her age, which I'd gathered was considerably less than that of her late husband. 

"Mrs. Lagrange. Thank you for seeing us."

Dane inclines his head in greeting but doesn't extend his hand. 

As is his habit, Dane removes his shoes at the door and I follow suit. 

Vicky lifts her brows but says nothing as she waits,and then leads us on into her living room. 

The first thing I notice is now nice it is.

An enormous fireplace built of smooth river stones stands free at the center of a generous space, a high ceiling with bare beams of light, natural wood gives it a lofty feel and the furnishings... though comfortable and well-used... are luxurious.

The second thing I notice is all the bicycle-related decor... a huge photo printed on canvas depicts a group of cyclists racing along a scenic coastal landscape, a brass bicycle sculpture occupies a side table and a single front wheel hangs like a strange, spiky wreath on the wall. 

Dane and I settle on a cream leather sofa while Vicky sits opposite on a matching settee. 

"Can I get you anything? Coffee, or tea?" she offers. 

"No, thank you. We won't take much of your time," Dane says, speaking for both of us. 

"I've already spoken to the police," she says, sniffing and wiping her eyes.

"But they wouldn't tell me what was going on. Just that there'd been some sort of mix-up at the morgue and that Jeff's body was..." she stops and sniffs again, reaching for a ceramic tissue dispenser and blowing her nose.

"I mean, how many times am I going to have to bury him?" 

"Hopefully just the once more, ma'am," Dane says.

There's something a little dry in his tone and I shoot him a questioning glance. 

"We're sorry for your loss," I say, leaning forward a little.

"And we're sorry for the distress this has caused. We're hoping to get to the bottom of it... put it to rest once and for all." 

She nods.

"I just want to understand. I mean, how do you lose a body? And now they're saying he was murdered? I don't even know who to sue." 

Dane's amber gaze flicks my way and wonder if Vicky is more upset by the loss of her husband or by the inconvenience of his death. 

[craftyinfluencerfun]

Dashing Valentines Day Gifts To Tell Your Love

Introduction

Valentine's Day is just around the corner, and love is in the air! It’s that time of year when we express our deepest affection for those who hold a special place in our hearts. And what better way to show your love than with a thoughtful and heartfelt gift? Whether you're celebrating with a significant other, family member, or dear friend, finding the perfect Valentines Day Gifts can truly make their day extraordinary.

In this blog post, we'll explore the importance of showing love through gifts on Valentine's Day. We'll delve into traditional gift ideas that never go out of style and also uncover some unique and creative options that are sure to leave a lasting impression. So get ready to ignite those sparks of romance or shower your loved ones with adoration – because we've got all the dashing Valentine's Day gift inspiration you need right here!

The Importance of Showing Love on Valentines Day Gifts

Valentine's Day is a special occasion to express your love and affection for that someone special in your life. While love can be shown through words and actions all year round, this day holds a unique significance. It is an opportunity to go the extra mile and make your loved one feel truly cherished. Giving gifts on Valentine's Day has become a tradition that symbolizes love and appreciation. These gifts serve as tangible expressions of the emotions we hold within our hearts. They have the power to convey our deepest feelings when words fall short.

But beyond material value, it is the thought behind these gifts that matters most. The effort you put into selecting a gift shows how much you care about understanding your partner's desires and preferences. It demonstrates your willingness to go beyond expectations in order to make them happy. Valentine's Day gifts are not just gestures; they are symbols of commitment, loyalty, and devotion. They remind us of the bond we share with our significant other and reinforce our connection on this special day dedicated to love. So, whether it's a handwritten letter expressing heartfelt emotions or an extravagant surprise, remember that every gift has its own charm when it comes from a place of genuine affection. Take this opportunity to show your love in ways that will be remembered forever!

Traditional Gifts for Valentines Day Gifts

Valentine's Day is a time to celebrate love and express our affection for those who hold a special place in our hearts. And what better way to do that than with traditional gifts that have stood the test of time? These classic gestures can show your love and appreciation in a timeless and elegant manner. One traditional gift option is flowers. Whether it's a bouquet of roses, lilies, or even daisies, flowers are sure to bring a smile to your loved one's face. They symbolize beauty, romance, and the fragility of love – perfect sentiments for Valentine's Day.

Another tried-and-true gift idea is chocolates. Who doesn't love indulging in some sweet treats? From heart-shaped boxes filled with an assortment of delectable flavors to personalized chocolate bars featuring your loved one's name or heartfelt message, there are countless options available to satisfy any sweet tooth. For those who appreciate fine craftsmanship and sentimental value, jewelry is always a hit. A delicate necklace adorned with their birthstone or initials can be worn close to their heart as a constant reminder of your love. Or perhaps a pair of earrings that sparkle like their eyes when they see you. If you're looking for something more practical yet still romantic, consider giving them something they've been wanting or needing but haven't had the chance to get themselves - maybe it's that book they've been eyeing, or that gadget they've been drooling over. In conclusion... Oops! Sorry about that slip-up! We should never use "in conclusion" while writing blog sections without concluding them fully. But fear not! There are plenty more unique and creative Valentine's Day gift ideas waiting for you in the next section. So stay tuned!

Unique and Creative Valentines Day Gifts Ideas

Looking for something out of the ordinary to surprise your loved one this Valentine's Day? Skip the traditional roses and chocolates and opt for unique and creative gifts that will truly make their heart flutter. Here are some ideas to inspire you: 1. Personalized Love Letter: Instead of buying a generic card, take the time to write a heartfelt love letter expressing your feelings. Add special touches like using scented paper or sealing it with wax. 2. Customized Photo Book: Compile all your favorite memories together in a photo book filled with pictures, quotes, and anecdotes that celebrate your relationship.

3. Experience Gift: Create lasting memories by gifting an experience rather than a physical item. Plan a romantic weekend getaway, book tickets to a concert or sporting event they've always wanted to attend, or arrange for a couple's spa day. 4. DIY Coupon Book: Design a coupon book featuring personalized vouchers for things like breakfast in bed, a home-cooked candlelit dinner, or even chores they hate doing that you'll take care of. 5. Subscription Box: Surprise them with monthly deliveries tailored to their interests - whether it's gourmet snacks, wine tastings, or self-care products – there’s something for everyone! 6. Adventure Date Jar: Fill up a jar with different date night ideas on popsicle sticks – from trying out new restaurants to going hiking or having movie marathons at home – let fate decide what adventure awaits next! 7. Handcrafted Jewelry: Show off your creativity by making custom jewelry pieces such as bracelets or necklaces using meaningful charms or gemstones symbolizing love and affection. Remember, it’s not about how much you spend but the thoughtfulness behind the gift that counts most on Valentine's Day! So go ahead and surprise your partner with something unique and creative that truly reflects how much they mean to you.

Conclusion Valentine's Day is a special occasion to express your love and affection towards your loved ones. And what better way to do that than with a thoughtful gift? Whether you opt for traditional gifts or unique and creative ideas, the key is to choose something that truly reflects the depth of your feelings. By selecting a Valentine's Day gift that resonates with their personality, interests, or desires, you show them just how much they mean to you. From classic options like flowers, chocolates, and jewelry to personalized items or experiences tailored specifically for them, there are endless possibilities when it comes to finding the perfect gift. Remember, it's not about the price tag attached but rather the sentiment behind it. So take some time to think about what would make your partner feel loved and appreciated. Consider their hobbies, passions, or even inside jokes that only the two of you share. In this digital age we live in today, buying Valentine's Day gifts online has become increasingly popular—and convenient! You can browse through countless options from the comfort of your own home and have them delivered directly to your doorstep. Just be sure to order early enough so that it arrives on time! Ultimately though, no matter what gift you decide on this Valentine's Day—whether it’s traditional or unconventional—it is important above all else to remember why you’re giving it: because love should always be celebrated. So go ahead and make this day extra special by choosing a heartfelt token of affection for your beloved.

[squireofgeekdom]

#AHHH#so lovely as usual!#poor rey being bullied by luke and chewie over that cake 😂#sorry rey but i’m with them on this. poe can and WILL make you (and finn!) a better one#love seeing poe & leia’s back-and-forth from finn’s POV#trust me finn leia is just generally motherly towards poe 😂#love finn volunteering to go with them too 💞#also AWWW THE ENDING 🥰 aaaahh thank you @shrinkthisviolet! you Know poe had a whole crisis of 'rey's first cake is cake from the commissary which is good (when the last half of it hasn't been going stale for several days) but Not As Good As His' vs 'rey doesn't have cake At All until she gets back' and Rey Gets Cake For The Trip won. he just didn't necessarily expect that she'd try to make it last the Whole trip. XD XD you Know i love a good found family&mentor-mentee dynamic and im loving writing poe and leia, there's so much there, and having there be nothing going on with the force, they've just got drift compatibility/that ocean's eleven thing where it's not finishing each other's sentences as much as half of the conversation going unspoken, is just too fun not to write Aaaahhhhh I am SO glad you liked the jacket bit!

Here's a couple thousand more words of me making myself cry about finn and poe, feat. i'm stealing rose tico now, that one story about carrie fisher and john boyega and chocolate bars, and poe says take the space ibuprofen

---

As Finn walks outside in his newly repaired jacket, one of the X-Wing pilots on the tarmac calls out - "Our fearless leader returns!"

Poe laughs. "Oh, that is very much still your job, Jess. I'm just along to help."

The pilot - Jess - snorts. "Well you can have it back after this mission, I'll tell you that. There's been enough fuss and paperwork wrangling the greenhorns into the squadron, and I won't miss that." 

"Whatever you say, Black Leader." Poe teases, and Jess shoves his shoulder with an easy camaraderie.

"And this must be the famous Finn," Jess says, turning to Finn. "It's good to meet you properly. Poe here has absolutely not shut up about you." She sticks out a hand. "Jessika Pava." 

"Oh. Nice to meet you." He shakes her hand. 

"I hear you're coming along as well. You sure you're feeling up for it?" 

"Yeah. Yeah!"

Jess looks at Poe. "You're right, I like him," she says with a grin. "Well, you're both flying with the General - Poe, they're loading your X-Wing in the docking hanger already. Just in case." 

"Well, maybe we'll get a chance to give the New Republic Navy a show," Poe says, and Jess grins. 

What must be the General's transport is sitting at the near end of the tarmac, and Finn can already see a figure approaching from it. 

Behind him, he can hear Poe still speaking to Jess - "hey, don't forget, you've got this, alright?"

"Yeah, I know," she says easily, but there's obvious fondness in her voice. "Oh, speaking of greenhorns, there's Rose now - Rose is our squadron mechanic." 

From the other side of the tarmac, another pilot calls out. "She was our mechanic first!"

"She's ours now," Jess calls back - there's a well worn teasing rapport, "and we're keeping her. Right, Rose?" Jess slings an arm around Rose's shoulders as she arrives. Rose smiles.

"You ever get tired of fancy missions with these hotshots, you're welcome back to Green squadron anytime, kid," the other pilot says, and then laughs when Jess makes a rude gesture.

"Commander Dameron," Rose starts, "your ship is secured in the docking bay."

"Thanks, Rose. Sorry for the short notice, but I know she couldn't be in better hands," Poe says. "You haven't met Finn yet, have you?" 

She shakes her head. "It's nice to meet you, Finn," she says, extending a hand.

He shakes her hand. "You, too." 

BB8 beeps and whistles, and Rose smiles. "It's good to see you too, BB."

"Well, if you're all ready," Poe starts, and Rose nods, "Let's not keep the General waiting."

The interior of the ship is bright, with white, clean walls, and - comfortable. He follows Poe, who heads for the front of the ship, where they find the pilot, copilot, General Organa, and C3PO.

Poe looks a little wistful as they take off, watching the other X-Wings of Black Squadron take off alongside them.

The General looks at Poe. 

"I'm fine," Poe says, "it's just - strange to not be flying with them. I'll be fine."

"There's more to leading than commanding squadron missions." 

"I know," Poe says, with an attempt at ease that doesn't sit quite right. "That's why you're in charge."

The General is still looking at Poe, and again Finn feels like he's missing a whole conversation in seconds of silence. 

"As you're not piloting, you'll have plenty of time to prepare for diplomacy."

"Nothing else I'd rather do," Poe says, with no conviction whatsoever. General Organa raises an eyebrow, and he simply smiles and shrugs.

After a moment, General Organa looks at Finn. "You're still feeling well, Finn?" 

"Yes, General." 

"Good. My doctor will check on you in a bit. And,' she adds. "Don't forget to raid the galley. I keep it well stocked."

"...Yes, ma'am?"

She grins, looking at him, and then back at Poe, who meets her gaze for a moment, and then she nods. 

"General," Poe says, and steps aside as she leaves. 

Finn looks at the copilot, who shrugs.

"Oh, Commander Dameron," C3PO says, as he turns to follow the General. "I only had a brief time before departure that I knew you were coming, but I took the liberty of preparing a copy of the briefing materials collated for the General on the dignitaries and their planets." 

The stack of datapads looks anything but brief. Finn has to wonder how 3PO could have possibly managed to get it all together in the time.

"Oh... great," Poe says, plumbing the depths of unenthusiasm. He does his best to muster up a smile before saying, "thanks, 3PO."

"My pleasure. Now, I should return to the General -"

Poe exits the cockpit after C3PO, Finn right behind him. "Hey, 3PO - where - where should we be staying? I don't know when the last time I was a passenger on one of these." 

"Oh, yes. I do believe there is a currently unoccupied quarters down on the lower level. And the galley can be found at the center of the vessel. 

"Thanks, 3PO," Poe says.

"Oh, you're quite welcome," C3PO says, and then makes his way down the corridor.

Poe turns to Finn. "Well," he says, with a slightly lopsided smile, "if I'm going to get started on this, I'm going to need something to eat. Besides," he adds with a wider grin, "you've got General Organa's orders to raid the mess."

Finn can't help but smile back. "Lead the way." 

Poe ends up carrying an improbable stack of snacks on top of his already improbable stack of datapads - in addition to the desserts from the commissary he's already packed in his bag, as he's told Finn.

"Seriously," Finn says, for at least the third time, "I can carry some of those."

"You're supposed to be resting! I've got it."

BB8 beeps doubtfully as he follows along in their wake. 

"I've got it!" 

In fairness, he only drops one of the snacks on the way - which BB8 catches.

Finn has been aware that First Order officers and other officials got different, fancier foods - they threw enough of it away. Sometimes something had even come down a chute unopened, still in it's packaging, and his squad had occasionally dared to break it apart to share among themselves. 

That was light years away from this - this absurd banquet, especially as Poe is telling him all about his grandfather's recipes, which are apparently somehow better than this? 

But still, passing different snacks back and forth as they sit between the two berths in the empty quarters, it still feels - familiar.

"What did you say this one was called again?" 

"That? That's a chocolate bar."

"It's amazing." 

Poe grins. "Oh, I know some recipes you are going to love." 

"Mmphgh" Finn mumbles with a mouth full of chocolate. 

Poe chuckles. "Yeah." 

Finn lays back on the floor and closes his eyes, satisfied. 

"Finn?" 

"Mm,"

"How are you doing? Really." 

"What? I'm fine. I'm good, actually," he says, opening his eyes to look over at Poe. "I've definitely never had food this good."

"Well, there's more where that came from. And when I get a chance to cook..." 

"I'm looking forward to that."

"Yeah. Me too." Poe says. "And your back? How's it feeling?" 

"It's fine," Finn says automatically. 

Poe let's out a little huff of breath and scoots closer to Finn. "I know the base doctors can be a lot, and - well, it sounds like the First Order doctors didn't -" Poe visibly bites something back. "Weren't particularly helpful. But the people here - they really are trying to help make sure you can heal properly, and that you're not in pain. All of us, really." Poe says. "I want - we want - you to be doing well, not just fine. And no matter how impressive the docs find your healing so far, they do want to make sure you heal the rest of the way. We don't actually want to just rush you back into - y'know, back to it all." He chuckles, a bit chagrined. "I mean, I know we did rush out of there, but - we can take care of you here, too. The ship has medical equipment, and a doctor, and the base doctors sent medical supplies with you... So if your back is hurting, or if anything doesn't feel right...?"

"I mean... It is alright. It hurts some, but not - not actually bad, or anything."

"Can you describe it for me?" 

Finn thinks. He does notice the pain more, with his back pressed against the hard floor. "Uh... I guess it feels sore. I mean, where the scar is I don't really feel anything at all, but around it... I guess like some bruising, and a bit hot."

"Okay. We can do something about that." 

"I'm not - it is fine, I'm not just - faking that." Finn sits up. "It's really not that bad, just - since you asked."

"No, I'm glad you told me. Really," Poe says. "The stuff the doctors gave you is in your bag, right?" 

"Yeah -" Finn opens the bag and stares at the datapads and medicines inside. "Huh." He takes out one datapad and passes another one to Poe. 

"Well," Poe says, reading through, "there should be some pro'ib in a red container for pain and inflammation. You're always supposed to take that with food, but," he looks around at their accumulated snack wrappers, "I don't think that will be a problem." 

"Sure, I guess," Finn says, taking out the container. "But it's not like I need to. I'm not going to - I mean, I don't need to." 

"Yeah, but you don't need to be in pain either," Poe says. "And if you're less sore, you'll get better rest, and that'll help you heal - so will helping with the inflammation." He looks at the container in Finn's hand. "Yeah, these are pretty standard stuff. I've taken them before, they won't knock you out or anything. Though there should be some stronger stuff in there if these don't help." 

"No, these are - I mean -"

"Hey, if it helps, consider it a favor to me. Base medical will not be happy with me if they think I haven't been taking care of you, and I like it when medical is not not happy with me."

Finn snorts. "Yeah, alright." He looks at Poe, and then looks away. "That what the doctor was talking to you about?"

"What? Oh, yeah," Poe says. "But I would've asked anyway. You're my buddy," he says, to which BB8 beeps, "you're my buddy too, BB. I don't want to see either of you hurting and not help." 

BB8 lets out a long low warble.

"Yeah." Finn says slowly. "Yeah, you too."

"We all gotta look out for each other. Right BB?" BB8 whistles an affirmative. "Let me grab some water to take with those meds, then hit me with another 'pad."

By the time Poe has grabbed a bottle of water, Finn has gotten through most of the first datapad. 

"This is all directions for taking care of the - oh, thanks," he says, taking the water and swallowing one of the pills with it. "For taking care of the - scar tissue, and stuff. I should probably just wait for the doctor to do that." 

"Here, lemme see?" Poe looks through the datapad. "Oh yeah, this is pretty straightforward. You could do it yourself if - if it wasn't on your back. I've done the same thing for my squad mates when they've picked up some of their own scars - though none of theirs were from a lightsaber. I mean, we can wait for the doctor - or I can call - Finn?"

"Huh?" 

"Are you alright? You looked -"

"I'm fine," he says. "It's just a scar. The bacta healed it, so... It probably doesn't even need any of this fancy treatment."

"Finn -" 

Finn sighs. "Yeah, alright. Sorry, I just - it's not the best memory."

"No," Poe says, "I'm sure it's not. I'm sorry." 

He shakes his head slightly.  

"I can call the doc, if you want. Or we can wait. Or, I mean, I can help with this -" he gestures at the datapad and bag, "if that's - if you want." 

Finn lets out a huff of laughter. "I think I've been poked enough by doctors just today for about a year. If you really don't mind?"

"No! No, it's not a problem. I get it." 

They end up sitting in the 'fresher connected to the quarters, Poe gently rubbing in the medicated gel into the scar tissue on his shoulder blade.

"I guess we'll be roommates for the trip," Poe says. "Sorry you don't get your own quarters, but I'll be around to help with this, at least? I don't think I snore," he adds, "I'm pretty sure Black Squadron would have complained on one of our missions by now if I snore or - or was sleepwalking, or anything." 

Finn blinks, readjusting once again to the idea that it would be normal to get his own quarters? Alone? 

Unlike the food, it's not - it's not actually all that appealing of an idea, he realizes. "No - no, it's fine. I'm used to a room with my squad - all four of us," he says. "And FN2176 definitely snored, but we got pretty used to it." And FN2176 probably thinks he's a traitor now. If he's even still alive, after the base - Finn shakes his head. "It'd probably be weird sleeping in a room alone," he admits. 

Poe pauses, then says "well well, that's good. I don't mind sharing, either. So..." He trails off, going to replace the patch of bacta gel. "So - the First Order medical. Not as friendly," he says, and Finn nods. "What - what was that like?" 

"I don't know much," Finn admits. "I mean... Jakku was the first time I was on an actual combat mission, and I -"

"And you didn't fight for them." 

He shakes his head. "And I didn't get hurt, or -" without thinking about it, he reaches up towards his face, where his squad mate's blood had streaked across his helmet. "But, I mean - a few times in training, someone would get hurt. Or when there were accidents, down in sanitation. They'd get us back on our feet, it just - it wasn't fancy. But they weren't that bad. At least, not the ones I met. If any of my squad mates had to stay there a while, they'd let me come in and sit with them, if I was off duty. Kinda like you did."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, you know. Just sit with them, hold their hand. So they wouldn't be alone." 

Poe scoots over so he's sitting next to Finn rather than behind him, and offers a hand. Finn takes it.

"Like this?"

"Yeah. Like that." 

They sit in silence for a few moments, before Finn finally ducks his head and brings himself to let go of Poe's hand. He takes a deep breath. "Poe, I'm - I'm really sorry." 

"What? For this? This isn't a problem, really. I want to help."

He shakes his head. "No, I - I worked sanitation on Starkiller base. When I got there, I had no idea how to get the shields down, and - I told you all I could, but - I just knew I had to get there to get Rey back, and - and you all were trusting me." 

Poe - chuckles, like he can't help himself. "I'm sorry - I'm sorry. I'm not - I'm sorry." He looks at Finn. "You know one of the things the General says she likes about me is that I don't need every detail of the steps to an objective worked out; she can trust me to figure things out on the fly. That's part of what we do, because we never know when a situation might change. That's what you did. You had an objective - two objectives - and you got both of them done. No one else could have done it - anyone else would have been going into the base blind. You figured it out." He takes Finn's hand again, and continues, gently. "If - if there's ever something like that again, where you're not sure how to get something done, or - or someone needs help, and you need our help - I hope we've earned enough of your trust for you to tell us, so we can help figure out what we can. I hope you can trust me."

Finn nods. "I - yeah."

Poe smiles at that, and then his expression turns more somemn. He looks at Finn with intense sincerity. "But Finn - you'd already done so much for us. Getting me out, to start." He smiles at Finn, but there's a shadow in his eyes that makes Finn sure he's not the only one with bad memories of Kylo Ren still lurking. "And then getting BB8 back to the Resistance - telling about Starkiller base - there was no way we would have known about the oscillator - you - you didn't have to do any of that, and we wouldn't be here without it. I certainly wouldn't." He shakes his head slightly. "You put a lot of trust in us that - I don't know that we had earned, after how badly we've let you down." 

Finn blinks. "Poe - what are you taking about?" 

Poe just stares at him for a moment. "Finn - you were stolen from your family as a child - as an infant. And then the First Order -" he bites back his words and shakes his head. "That should never have happened. The New Republic should never have allowed that to happen. For years they've been calling General Organa and alarmist, or - or just saying there's nothing we can do, but - but we should have stopped it. We should never have let that happen to you. I'm sorry." 

Finn sits, slightly stunned, for a few moments. Poe squeezes his hand gently. Finally he says. "Poe... When they took me... I'm pretty sure you were a kid, too. So..." He smiles weakly. "It definitely wasn't your fault." 

Poe chuckles at that, a little subdued, but still there's something of a smile. "You never know. I was a pretty intrepid kid. Already wanted to be a pilot, like - like my mom had been. I could have stolen a ship, headed in the direction of the unknown regions. Rescued some toddlers," he says, and Finn chuckles right along with him.

Poe passes him back his shirt, helps him put it back on without dislodging the patch on his back. Still, he doesn't make any move to leave where he's sitting next to Poe, and Poe doesn't either.

After a few quiet moments, Poe takes a long breath. "I do owe you an apology," he says. "I - you told us you worked on Starkiller Base, but, with the attack - I didn't think about it. We were asking you to help us in - attacking people you knew. Cared about." 

Finn shakes his head. "I -" 

'Traitor!' 

"I made my choice. It was mine. And you -" he says. "The Resistance didn't have any choice. Not - not with something like Starkiller." 

Poe shakes his head. "I know." He sighs. "Black Squadron - we lost a couple pilots over Starkiller. Rose - she lost her sister - she was a pilot in Green squadron. And - and Han. You - yeah  We've been - well, there were memorials, the past few days. But - you lost people, too. And I'm sorry." 

Finn tries to say 'it's fine' but he can't, his throat has gone too tight. 

Poe squeezes his hand gently, and it's like a dam breaks. 

Poe doesn't turn away from him when he starts to cry - he leans in and puts his other arm around Finn, and tugs Finn in against his shoulder as the tears flow.

.... now that i've been reminded of how much i love the force awakens. yall. i can't stop thinking about it.

[batpham-discord-highlights]

Danny the teen heroes mentor Part 2

source: #crack

Part 1

Midas: Space Doorway CEO they've got multiple theories -Danny's a hero, either still active or retired -Danny was a hero's sidekick -Danny is a lab experiment/clone of a hero -Danny is just a cool guy and this knowledge is coincidental -He's secretly just a hero fanboy and that's why he knows so much -Danny's a retired villain

soap -Danny's an active villain looking to get close to them to beat their mentors and take over the world

ectoentity | Dino Facts CIO except he never asks like. identifying questions or anything

Midas: Space Doorway CEO -Danny's a villain looking to train them because the heroes nowadays are easy as shit and he wants a challenge

ectoentity | Dino Facts CIO he just mother hens them and sometimes asks what video games they're into

soap it's almost immediately thrown out, until an adult finds out and gets suspicious

ectoentity | Dino Facts CIO of course

Midas: Space Doorway CEO that is not one of the kid's theories That's an adult's theory

ectoentity | Dino Facts CIO what if Phantom is actually known to the JL but they don't know about Fenton but all the kids know about Fenton and not Phantom

Midas: Space Doorway CEO nice

soap Phantom just drops info on their kids and the JL gets super suspicious it's a pun because "super" and they're "super"heroes I'm hilarious

Midas: Space Doorway CEO how do the adults notice Fenton then? did they notice an improvement in the kids' performance?

ectoentity | Dino Facts CIO or one of the kids says to another like "if you don't eat breakfast i'll tell Fenton"

Midas: Space Doorway CEO …..do you think he would pull the "I'm not mad, just disappointed" card then or nah?

soap possibly, another likely option is that food just appears around them punishment for skipping a meal is being surrounded by bread like that one kid from that one movie

Midas: Space Doorway CEO Danny: super gadgets? Kids: check Danny: homework to finish while on break? Kids: check.. Danny: did you have breakfast? Kids: uh, no..? Danny: unacceptable, check your pockets Kids: granola bars! with chocolate! Danny: of course, I'm not an idiot, I know how to trick my kids into eating their fiber it's the first time he referred to them as "his kids"

ectoentity | Dino Facts CIO aww soap awwww Midas: Space Doorway CEO you can bet they will tease him about it, but don't really mind soap wholesome crack Hades: Dani Todd CCO — 10/21/2022 3:28 PM Wholesome crack is the best kind Midas: Space Doorway CEO now imagine the kids doing that to the adult heroes they're super confused because "hey that's good advice, but I never taught you that wtf" soap they think their kid is "cheating" with a different mentor it all comes to a head when someone on the JL brings it up with another member in a meeting, in which Phantom is there, and it clicks that he never told either side who he actually was ectoentity | Dino Facts CIO they kind of are, but it's also just some rando they met soap JL Member 1, pointing at JL Member 2: you stole my kid! JL Member 2: I stole your kid? you stole my kid! Danny, realising that they're talking about him: :pikachu_batman: ectoentity | Dino Facts CIO the question is, does danny commit to the bit or does he tell the truth Midas: Space Doorway CEO COMMIT TO THE BIT soap obviously commit to the bit Midas: Space Doorway CEO Danny "extra" Phantom: if you stole their kid, and you stole theirs- who stole mine, huh? soap everyone: you have a kid?! Phantom: well, yeah, but someone stole them! ectoentity | Dino Facts CIO danny mentoring the kids: make sure you tell the truth to your responsible adults unless it's really funny soap the JL ask him about his kid and he describes their kids Midas: Space Doorway CEO HA soap JL Member: oh wow! it sounds like your kid would get along really well with mine! Danny, who has been describing their kid for the past hour: oh, really? Midas: Space Doorway CEO we're cackling like a devil right now that's hilarious LittleMrsCookie Danny (as Phantom) to Batman: I've recently started mentoring this Teenage Hero, now that I think of it, he reminds me of one of your Robins, but I'm sure it's a coincidence … (starts describing one of Batman's kids)

[bitchyfoxymama]

Who The Hell Is Moon Knight? - Moon boys x F!Avenger!Reader

Warnings: talks of the blip, Thanos, Tony, Natasha and Steve's Deaths, crying, brief mention of Jake, sorry if I make a part 2 he will he a bigger part of it. Not beta read!

A/n: ahh finally its done! I've had this one in my notebook ideas for weeks! So glad I finished it finally thanks to my wonderful friend @jupitersmoon167 who helped me co write this when I had hit writers block!

It’s been about a year since everything happened. A year gone without Tony, Natasha and especially Steve. Steve had been the first one to become friends with you when you first joined the Avengers. His leaving hurt you the most since he never gave you a proper goodbye.

You decided it was time for a fresh start, you all scattered really especially with the Sokovia accords having been recently overturned. You want to gather your thoughts and reevaluate what life might lead you too. If you could even call yourself an avenger still or if you would turn towards a life of being a vigilante like those you've heard of in Hell's Kitchen.

London is where your crisis sent you, you'd always wanted to visit but this visit had turned into a few weeks which turned into a permanent residence in London, just a few blocks from the local history museum.

It was a crisp March night when you were walking home from dinner, it was late, none of the buses were running for the rest of the night and you decided it would be better to just walk than spend money on an uber.

You could hear laughing in the distance as you were about to pass a bar.

You grip your purse a little tighter as you begin to pass. You don't want to have to cause a scene here, especially since you just want to lay low.

“Oi, what's a pretty dame like you doing out ‘ere all alone” one of the drunk men asks while stepping out into your path.

You kept your head down, you didn't want to engage with them. Just keep walking and you'll be fine, you tell yourself in your head. You continue walking however you notice that they've begun to follow you close behind.

“Hey! My friend here was talking to you! He deserves a response” another one says as he shoves you into the alley just past the bar.

“Look, I don't want any trouble, I just want to get home. Now if you let me, i'd really appreciate it” You say with you back to the brick wall.

“Well, looks like trouble found you after all, little darling,” the man who first called out to you spoke again, getting close enough for you to smell his alcohol ridden breath. You could feel the blade press closer to your neck, nicking the skin. You can feel the warmth of the blood trickling down your neck.

Your palm is against the brick wall and you can already feel the vines growing around you.

“I really didn't want to have to do this but you've left me no choice,” you begin to bring your hand up when another person joins you in the alley. This one dressed head to toe like a mummy with a cape and hood to match, a golden waning crescent on his chest.

He pulls a blade from his chest and throws it at the one who had just previously had the knife to your throat. The blade hits the knife causing him to drop it. You turn your attention to the other man who is about to hit the man in white. You cause a vine to wrap around his leg and pull, causing him to fall on his back, knocking him out in the process.

You turn to see the man in white knock out the other guy before he walks over to you. Before you have time to think or even wrap the mummy man in a vine he already has you in his arms and he's flying into the night sky.

When your feet touch solid ground once more, you are on a rooftop somewhere. You quickly push yourself out of his arms.

“And who the fuck are you?” you ask, once again bringing out vines from your palms.

He removes his hood and mask to reveal a rather handsome man with chocolate brown eyes.

“Uh Moon Knight?” he raised an eyebrow, shocked and a bit offended you've never heard of them.

“Who the hell is Moon Knight?” You give him a death glare, ready to fight once more when he changes appearances and facial expressions in the blink of an eye, this time he's wearing an all white three piece suit.

“Wait, I know you! You're bloody Mother Nature! You're an Avenger!” Steven says excitedly.

His excitement causes a blush to rise on your cheeks. Who the fuck was this guy seriously.

'Wait, Steven are you saying we saved someone who could have saved themselves?' Marc asks from the headspace.

'And she is gorgeous, and can kick ass? Hermano, ask her on a date.' Jake says coming out to see the ruckus.

“Yeah, so you know that I can kick your ass?” you say as you wrap his legs in vines.

“Wait a minute, time out.” Steven bargains creating the time out symbol with his hands, “Why don't we all just chill the F out.”

You stare at him, confused, before you are able another word he changes his accent back to an american one.

“Look, we don't want to fight you. We are the Avatars of Khonshu. We protect the travelers of the night. We thought you were in need of our help,” He begins to explain, only confusing you more.

“Let me stop you right there, why do you switch accents and keep saying us? Are there more of you so-called avatars?” you say quickly looking around.

“No, we-well I have DID, Dissociative Identity Disorder, and Steven, he’s british. There is one other. His name is Jake, they're both co conscious with me right now,” He explains further, hope is in his eyes, hope that you believe him.

“I see. Okay, well it was swell to meet you,” you begin, bringing the vines from around his legs back to you.

“Marc, Marc Spector,” He sticks out his hand.

You shake it, his grip releases as his costume changes once more to a black and white style and he brings your knuckles to his lips.

“Hola, mi bonita mujer. My name is Jake Lockley,” you raise an eyebrow and the suave man.

“Flattery won’t get you far Lockley,” you smirk.

“Oh i like you,” he says smirking back before his expression changes into a sweet faced one and his costume changing back to the white three piece suit.

“Hello love, I’m Steven Grant. Huge fan of your work,” He gushes, causing a blush to creep up your neck.

You are about to speak again when the cold london breeze passes through you causing you to shiver. Steven is quicke to put his suit’s jacket over your shoulders.

“Would you like to come back to our flat for some tea?" Steven insists.

'Yes Hermano ask her back then we can play the long game' Jake says from inside the head space.

"I almost kicked your ass and you want me to come back home with you for tea? Hmm why not, I don't have friends here. But let me tell you boys. You try anything and I won't hesitate to wrap you up in vines,"

'Oooo I like her so much more now,' Jake smirks

'She sure is something else' Marc replies.

*****

Steven hands you a cup of tea while you sit on their worn couch. Many nights were spent on this couch due to Jake falling asleep watching the Yankees play.

“Thank you,” you took a sip of the tea, “So I guess you are wondering what an Avenger is doing in London?” You say looking up at Steven.

“We are but we don't want to pressure you into telling us darling. I know we just met.” He gives you a gentle smile.

“After Thanos happened, I was lost. I lost a lot of people, I was snapped away, so imagine my frustration and sadness to come back only to lose my family all over again. We all scattered, currently trying to rebuild and I just ran. I haven't had contact with any of them and it became too much too fast." tears fall from your eyes, you cough to try and cover up your tears. Steven surprises you, he wraps you in his arms around you and pulls you into a tight hug.

When the two of you pull away you see a shift in his person, "I-we have baggage too. Not Avenger level baggage but baggage nonetheless," Marc speaks as he pulls back. You can tell there is more but you don't want to push it as you have just met them.

"You could use a friend while your here for however long that may be, and if you ever need a partner or help taking down the bad guys you always have us," he says with a small smile. You return one. You continue drinking your tea as you notice Marc doesn't drink.

"Not a big tea drinker, Spector?" You say over your cup.

He lets out a hearty chuckle, "more of a black coffee drinker," he says finally leaning forward to take a sip of tea grimacing as it hits his tongue, "Yeah definitely prefer coffee."

You nearly choke on your own tea at his reaction. This is what you had missed most after you came back. Hopefully life here in London with a fellow vigilante wouldn't be so bad.

"So why exactly do you dress like a mummy?"