#10 mind-blowing summer activities for kids

[kidsinnowadays]

How to Create the Ultimate DIY Summer Camp at Home: 10 Mind-Blowing Activities

Learn how to craft the ultimate DIY summer camp at home with these 10 mind-blowing activities. #SummerCampAtHome #DIYCamp #FamilyFun #SummerActivities

Summer is a time of endless possibilities, especially for kids. It’s a time to explore, learn, and have fun. While traditional summer camps can be fantastic experiences, you can also create the ultimate DIY summer camp right in your own home. In this guide, we’ll unveil 10 mind-blowing activities that will transform your home into a summer camp filled with adventure, creativity, and unforgettable…

[nd-babblinggoblinfromthevoid]

My recent reblog has reminded me of how much abled people really just.... don't understand. Both physical and mental disabilities.

I feel like... abled folks are so used to everyone (other abled folks) doing things maliciously. Whether actively malicious or passively. With hidden intent. Hidden meaning. Carelessness. Or whatever.

There's almost always social cues hidden meanings behind phrases and actions that (to me) makes no sense other than to not be direct/respectful with someone.

Like an abled friend of mine thinking I just, casually blew off her kid's birthday party last year. She genuinely had it in her head that I didn't actually care. That I said I'd go and backed out for an invalid reason. That I simply went "eh, changed my mind."

Not me almost passing out after spending 5 minutes in my driveway in the summer with this pots body and taking basically 24+ hours to recover from it while getting lengthly texts from her being upset with me for not showing.

I understand she was upset. And it was valid. Wanting someone close to be there for a special event for you/your child. And them not making it at the last moment. What I did not understand or excuse was the way she went about berating me and guilting me after I tried to explain to her why that day happened the way it did.

It just.... didn't get through to her. She kept passing over the explanation with "well you still should've, well this, well that".

No. No well. No well anything. I physically almost had a serious health incident TRYING to get to you and couldn't. So yes. I prioritized my health over a birthday party. Yes I'm sorry your feelings got hurt. But I'm not sorry I took care of my health first.

Our friendship..... really had been strained a couple of times because she hadn't grasped that her issues with me were because of my audhd & pots.

Another day was a playdate with our kids. We were supposed to meet up at a water pad for kids in the morning-ish. No real set time or time limit.

She said, in text while I was en route, that she couldn't stay past 11 o'clock. My gps told me we'd get there at 10:50-something. Just shy of 11.

So to me. That meant I was going to get there, get parked, unload the kids, and she was going to be gone. I still tried to go. We got ¾ of the way there and I couldn't get ahold of her via text. I was overheating and full of anxiety so I wasn't thinking straight and didn't think to just... call. Calling gives me anxiety even with people I'm close to. So it just wasn't an option that crossed my mind.

We turned around and went back home and I told her as much.

Cue the upset. Cue the "wait so you're not coming?" "So you wasted my time?" Which I understand. I do. I just hate that she didn't understand why I took her messages the way I did. Why I didnt call in my frazzled state. She thought it was careless and malicious.

She got very upset bcuz she rearranged her morning to meet up and I get that. (Which i didnt know she went through all that trouble) But what I wasnt told at the time was that there was a time limit until the day of. What she didn't understand was she basically told me she was leaving at 11.

So in my overheated panicked audhd brain, I thought I guess it won't work out this time we can try again.

But to her. It was me blowing her off not a care in the world about her and seeing her/the kids. When that wasn't it at all.

We fought for that day over it. Then when I tried to talk to her like normal a few days later she was upset that I was casually talking to her as if nothing happened. As if she wasnt still hung up on it. When 1 she didnt tell me she was still upset and 2 i can't read tones/passive aggressiveness in texts for shit so how was I supposed to realize she was being short with me bcuz she was still mad a week later?

I know I'm ranting but.... she just... she was so set on my brain and body being the same as hers and couldnt fathom that I could do such things innocently and not being mean, careless, malicious, etc.

I love this friend dearly and we are now on better terms when she FINALLY understood why I'm the way that I am and that nothing I do is to purposely hurt her feelings or waste her time.

But I almost lost a friend over my disabilities and that shit is fucking stupid. Absolutely stupid. I just.... this is why my friend group is primarily other people who are neurodivergent/disabled. Over time we let our guards and masks down and thrived as friends and helped each other and worked around each other's struggles.

But some friends..... they just don't understand. Not fully. They both now know I struggle and why I struggle. But their understanding is only to a certain point. They're good people. But there is a clear difference and it makes me sad a lot.... I think somewhere in their minds the "if you work hard enough you'll overcome it" mindset still exists within them. They don't outright say it. But I get that feeling sometimes when we interact.

I've already lost so many people in my life for other reasons (coming out) so I'm honestly holding on to my small group for dear life. I know the saying of if they were REALLY your friend they'd accept you for who you are and what you are. But honestly to me that really sours all the good memories and experiences I had with them growing up. Makes it all seem invalid bcuz they weren't genuine on their end. But I was genuine on mine. I was still a part of making those memories.

Yes they turned out to be my friend for selfish reasons but... it was still a person I made memories with. Someone who is stuck in my core even though they're gone forever from my life. I wouldnt ever want them back in my life. But i still learned from them and lived life alongside them. I wont invalidate that.

I should stop rambling at this point but. Man shit really got me thinking about things from my past. Distant and recent.

[scoobydooobsession]

Scooby Doo and the Camp Scare Thoughts

- I love this movie, mostly because it feels like the gang is in actual danger.

- Those kids parents straight up do not care about them or their safety. The head counselor literally called those people and they still sent their kids to camp.

- The Babyface Beretti reveal is much funnier on a rewatch, this grown man (a mobster) was being forced into camp activities and was pelted with food/chased by 10-14 year olds.

- The Ghost hiker was obviously crushed to death, leading me to a theory there was a third person involved who died and the writers weren't allowed to include that because it was too dark for a scooby doo film.

- Fred, the lilypads are carnivorous and the lake is full of mud, you cannot swim there. If there's a lake monster, it's in there.

- The slow pans over the teenage girl characters are gross and unnecessary. Why.

- The Ranger flirting with Velma is weird but she in no way reciprocates and he's trying to kill them.

- Scooby Doo has a lot of highly improbable escaping certain death scenes but I hate the camp scare one so much. It would make more sense for everyone to be in town when the Dam blows up and then they go see what's going on.

- I really enjoy the references to classic campfire horror stories and summer based horror films.

- A lot of people get upset at Shaggy beating the lake monster because he's a coward but, honestly, I'd also beat a monster with plywood if they were trying to kill my dog.

- also, Shaggy can be brave but he can't be thinking about it. If he thinks about it, he's chicken, if he just acts, he's brave.

- Fred and Daphne need to make up their dang minds about dating, so ridiculous love triangles don't happen.

[world-holiday-vibes-23]

Unmissable Sights and Activities in Palm Springs

Nature lovers! This is a perfect spot for you!

Palm Springs is a holiday destination in the Sonoran Desert, surrounded by four mountain ranges. The resort city is popular for weekend getaways because it is only a three-hour drive from San Diego and a two-hour drive from Los Angeles!

The city and other adjacent communities known as the Coachella Valley are popular winter resorts. It is famed for its mid-century modern architecture, abundant championship golf courses, warm weather, and a joyous and inviting culture. Apart from golf resorts and swimming pools, there are a variety of tourist attractions, activities, and places to visit. Shopping, dining, museum visits, and excursions to the neighbouring desert, mountains, and canyons!

Did you know Palm Springs‘ busy season lasts from November to March? Yes! When most of North America is chilly, the population grows with tourists and snowbirds. During the annual Palm Springs Film Festival in January, the city attracts many Hollywood luminaries, while Modernism Week in February draws architecture and design enthusiasts from around the world. The city becomes much busier during the Coachella and Stagecoach music festivals in Indio, some 30 minutes outside downtown.

Read more to find out more about Palm Springs!

Explore the Living Desert Zoo and Gardens

What began as an idea 50 years ago to preserve some pristine desert land as the region around it blossomed into a resort has evolved into a world-class zoo. The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens in adjacent Palm Desert provide an opportunity to see desert plants and fauna and get insight into desert ecosystems worldwide.

The little zoo also houses horses, wolves, foxes, badgers, alpine lions, raptors, giraffes, zebras, hyenas, leopards, gazelles, and other creatures from North America and Africa.

The best time to visit is when the animals are still energetic before the day’s heat sets in. To learn about guided excursions to the outdoors, wildlife displays, and animal feeding times, consult the zoo’s daily schedule.

Participating in the daily giraffe feeding is a delight. Visitors can feed their giraffe herd from an observation deck. During the summer, it is done in the mornings, while during the other months, it is done all day. You can also mingle with the zoo’s horses and camels by helping keepers feed, nurture, and train them!

Palm Springs wind turbines

The San Gorgonio Pass, just west of Palm Springs, is one of the windiest spots on the planet, which is why it’s loaded with windmills! The pass, positioned on each side of the I-10 freeway as it approaches the Coachella Valley, provides strong and constant wind, which is required for power generation. Wind turbines cover acres of desert and hillsides, quietly creating electricity for the region.

The wind turbines can be seen by exiting the I-10 highway at the Indian Canyon exit or taking a guided tour. Palm Springs Windmill Tours is the only approved tour allowing you to go “behind the fence” and get up and personal with these massive machines! If you want the chilliest and rare experience, don’t miss out on this spot!

Palm Springs Art Museum

The Palm Springs Art Museum exhibits works of art, natural history, and the performing arts. The museum has been open since the late 1930s and used to focus nearly entirely on desert subjects and artists. Still, over time, the focus has evolved to a well-curated collection that includes contemporary and modern art, including Native American art! History lovers! Pay attention! This spot will blow your mind!

The museum features a vast collection of Native American arts, crafts and artefacts and great art. The museum also has a natural science collection that displays creatures and fossils, making it a terrific destination for kids and families to visit!

On the grounds, there are additionally two outdoor sculpture gardens. Paintings, photography, glass, ceramics, architecture, and design are among the museum’s permanent holdings, emphasising American Western art and artists. There are also short-term exhibitions and shows that change from season to season.

The museum’s massive Annenberg Theater hosts various music, dance, and dramatic productions and performances throughout the year that is extremely enjoyable! Schedule your trip according to the specific dates of your preferred show!

Get a taste of the date palms

Did you know Palm Springs and the Coachella Valley have a long agricultural heritage? Yes! You read it right! Dates are an important crop in the area, producing more than 90% of the dates farmed in the United States! This Middle Eastern fruit was initially cultivated in the desert in the early twentieth century, and it is one of the few crops that can be grown year-round in the region’s harsh climate.

The Shields Date Garden is located near Indio, roughly 30 minutes from Palm Springs. The nearly 20-acre date farm has a cafe, an informative tour of the date groves, and even a theatre screening a 1940s film about date farming. They also sell date shakes, a must-have date milkshake-like smoothie that every visitor to Palm Springs should experience!

Moorten Botanical Gardens and Cactarium’s barrel cactus

On the southern end of Palm Canyon Drive, just outside Palm Springs, are the Moorten Botanical Gardens and Cactarium. The extraordinary natural area features an amazing display of cacti and other desert flora, ranging from mature trees to newly sprouting plants. The gardens are at their best in the spring when the desert begins to blossom, and the trees are turning green again.

Although Moorten is open all year round, you can receive a free guided tour of the facilities from fall through spring as part of your admission.

In addition to being a botanical garden, the grounds also function as a business nursery where you can buy some plants to take home with you!

Our Holiday Vibes are Good Vibes Only!

[watch-grok-brainrot]

What kind of tea does Mei Changsu drink? (If you’re still into Nirvana in Fire.) Or anybody else you’d prefer.

Uh… i’m still into tea! And MCS is such an interesting character that why not? NiF will always hold a DEAR DEAR place in my heart because ffs, it’s still THE BEST cdrama i’ve seen. (i’m watching romance of three kingdoms from 1994 with my husband and our irl friends over discord and WOW the show was great but also very 1994 and a bit of a mess with THE WORST lighting. I will only gif it as a joke to hurt people)

Ok ok. What kind of tea does Mei Changsu drink?

Where do we begin? What does he like to drink? What did he drink as Lin Shu? What does he want to drink? What do we see him drinking?

Ok. Let’s start with something simple. What do we (probably) see him drinking?

I did a quick search in the novel for tea and Hai Yan definitely describes (in all its anachronistic glory) a Yixing teapot with tea that has some foam/suds/bubbles removed. From that combination and my tea experience, I would say he’s drinking some sort of wuyi yancha. Yancha is a style of tea made of fairly narrowly defined cultivars. Famous ones are rougui, shuixian, dahongpao. They tend to be earthy, minerally, floral, and complex. I love them. I will project my love of them onto MCS and say he loves them too! Because they’re interesting. And as oolong tend to have properties suitable for fall drinking in TCM (traditional chinese medicine). It’s moisturizing as the climate gets dry and is neither hot nor cold. I think MCS and Lin Chen can agree drinking yancha is a good choice in the summer! (is yancha anachronistic? Yes, but hai yan already opened that door so this entire ask will be answered by anachronistic answers and i don’t care and/or am too lazy to figure out what was around during when nif was supposedly set)

I also think MCS would drink a lot of red teas. Per TCM, in the winter, red (what westerners call black) tea is suitable. It’s warming, fragrant, soothing and gentle on your GI tract. Qimen Red, Lapsang Suchong, Yunnan Old Tree Red teas are all things MCS’s friends would find and give him. They’re delicious. He drinks them. Mostly doctor’s orders.

What did he drink as Lin Shu? Green tea. Fresh, pre-qingming, imperial tribute green tea. He was a kid. He was super spoiled by TaiNaiNai. TaiNaiNai was super spoiled by the emperor. Lin Shu would get TaiNaiNai’s favorite teas. Since I love pre-qingming dragonwell and it is one of the CLASSIC chinese greens, i’m going with that one. They drink it all through the summer and TaiNaiNai saves an extra bit for him in the winter. Why? Because green tea, per TCM, is supposed to have a cooling effect (解暑, antidote/relieve + heat) and Lin Shu is a little furnace of a human. The perception of the cooling effect can, from a western science perspective, be attributed to receptors on your tongue being activated that perceive cool things… But that’s not really something period non-specific ancient china would care about so uh… moving along.

TaiNaiNai, as an old lady, also drank a lot of pu’ers. They’re good for the stomach and aid in digestion. They also can be helpful in dealing with excessively greasy foods and, like green teas, cooling the body. Lin Shu drank this a lot with TaiNaiNai and liked the ones that had lingering sweetness and crisp fragrance. (seriously, i had an AMAZING sheng pu today and the sweetness lingered for MINUTES in my mouth after drinking the hot tea. I cannot begin to describe how much fun it was and how mind blowing it is to have a tea do that. Imagine Lin Shu, age 7ish, drinking some really nice sheng pu, aged 10-20 years, zero astringency, full leaves. The tea tastes like slightly sweet warm water. TaiNaiNai tells him to swallow and then really taste what lingers in his mouth. This is how he learns about salivation, about huigan (the return of a sweetness), and lingering aromas in sheng pu. This is how his love of tea blossoms.)

What does MCS want to drink? TaiNaiNai’s green tea and sheng pu. As MCS, since he’s always suffering from the cold, he is almost never allowed to have either, per Lin Chen’s orders. He keeps some around, makes it for Fei Liu, sneaks in a sip or two here and there. The quality is always good but not as good as TaiNaiNai’s. Is it really due to the quality of the tea? Or the quality of his memory of being TaiNaiNai’s favorite grandchild? Lin Chen and MCS also argue about that. MCS states the former. Lin Chen snatches the tea away, retorts the latter, and then tells MCS it really doesn’t matter since he shouldn’t be drinking it anyway. After TaiNaiNai dies, Nihuang brings MCS some tea TaiNaiNai had given her. It really doesn’t taste the same. Lin Chen doesn’t say anything when MCS brings it up later. They realize some of it is due to the huohan poison and all the stuff MCS went through… and that’s not something worth fixating on.(I know mcs still likes the same snacks or something like that since jingyan’s mom is making those for him... but i kinda like the idea of him also having some perceptions change... so i’m going with it.)

Bonus: when his meridians and the huohan aftereffects are really acting up, Lin Chen makes him drink a lot of TCM brews – not tea. But also, Lin Chen has sought out tea masters to make “experimental tea” for MCS: take cultivars usually made into oolongs and over oxidize them into red teas. This is actually a thing that’s growing more common in the modern tea world. I’ve had some black/red teas made from oolong material and it’s DELICIOUS. And idk where the TCM properties come from, so MCS can have some modern experimental teas as a treat.

[soyouthinkucanwrite]

The money thing (part 1/2) - Daniel Ricciardo

It's always the little things, isn't it? The smallest stupidest things make almost no difference and then make all the difference in the world. They make everything special, but they also have the power to tear everything appart.

You and Daniel fight about money for the thousand time and he's had enough of it.

Warnings: super angst, but with a happy ending :)

Guys, this turned out WAY BIGGER than I expected, so I'm just gonna do a part 2, okay? Okay, thanks for understanding!

Song that inspired me: A list by HVOB

You and Daniel had been dating for a couple months now, having met through a common friend and hitting off almost instantly. You lived in Amsterdam and he, well he lived all over the world really, but his "time off" (meaning not racing) was spent between Monaco and London (for work), and Amsterdam now too, of course.

The changes were small and subtle at the beginning, like your weekends being spent traveling to meet him wherever in the world he was and consequently spending almost all your savings on plane tickets. You never complained to him (you planned on spending the money traveling anyway, so you didn't see the point), but didn't accept when he offered to buy your tickets, either. There's been some awkwardness around the subject but it usually died on its own.

*beginning of flashback*

"You’d have gotten here in time if you'd gotten the early flight like I told you" you remembered him saying that time you got in the paddock after the qualifying session had begun and couldn’t kiss him good luck.

"Baby, I told you. It was crazy expensive! Absurd even!"

"(y/n) for god's sake! What are we saving money for? I told you, you have my credit card number, I've offered to get you one, this is ridiculous, I can't believe I literally earn millions and my girlfriend wasn't there with me because the ticket was too expensive! I'll fucking fly you private if I have to!" he was almost yelling in his driver's room. You could only stare from the corner.

He took a deep breath running his hands through his hair. "Sorry. It's just... it was crap out there. I needed you" you grimaced at his words.

"Sorry. I really am..." you tried to approach him. "I'm here now?" you touched his arm. "It can't have been that bad, you're still on the top 10 and we both know what you can do from the 8th car..." you smiled at him.

*end of flashback*

He started to spend much more of his time off with you at your place, so you decided to get a place by yourself (having a roommate was great for company and splitting the rent, but having a roommate there while you guys just wanted some much-needed privacy was not working). Then there were more traveling to meet him, furniture for the new place, clothing for all the events (GPs or not), uber rides here and there... all of that without mentioning that you weren't being able to get the freelance jobs you used to get to make some extra money, so yeah, to say things were tight was an understatement. You tried to do all your shopping alone, so he wouldn't offer and you wouldn't refuse or be awkward about it, but Daniel seem to be glued to you whenever you were in the same city (not that you’re complaining).

He started to spend much more of his time off with you at your place, so you decided to get a place by yourself (having a roommate was great for company and splitting the rent, but having a roommate there while you guys just wanted some much-needed privacy was not working). Then there were more traveling to meet him, furniture for the new place, clothing for all the events (GPs or not), uber rides here and there... all of that without mentioning that you weren't being able to get the freelance jobs you used to get to make some extra money, so yeah, to say things were tight was an understatement. You tried to do all your shopping alone, so he wouldn't offer and you wouldn't refuse or be awkward about it, but Daniel seem to be glued to you whenever you were in the same city (not that you’re complaining).

The thing is, you always had trouble dealing with money. Sure, you liked to pay for your own stuff so as to not owe anything to anyone (especially boys), but it was so much deeper than that. Ever since a kid, you hated asking for money from your parents, and sometimes even the thought of buying stuff that was a bit more expensive made you sick. You couldn't explain why, you just felt guilty having so much and knowing that most people have never even seen that amount. It's not that you didn't want to spend it and save for the sake of it, you just didn't handle the idea of money very well. Needless to say, dating a millionnaire was bound to cause trouble in the relationship for you.

You were currently at his place in Monaco. It was the summer break and you had decided to spend some days just chilling at home, just the two of you - which you were glad since going out means hair, makeup, clothes, accessories, shoes... and, let's be honest, the kind of places he usually took you is not the kind of places you just throw something together last minute (the Instagram models and other driver's girlfriends looking you up and down were enough to make you think about spending money you did not have to hire a stylist or something like that). The whole situation was really stressing you out and you knew you would have to be honest with him eventually, instead of only dodging the subject and refusing most of his offers to pay. You tried to. You kind of tried. You suggested staying at home, in bed, most of the time, and he gladly agreed, but that strategy wasn't gonna work forever. You had to be honest with him. But at the same time, you knew what he was going to say and do, and the thought of him spending money on you, even if just by handling the restaurant bill, wasn't something you were much more comfortable with. Besides, it was only a matter of time before the "gold-digger" term starts to fly around in the small world that was the F1's.

You were laying on his couch, the Olympics playing on the TV but you were too busy overthinking the money thing to pay attention. Daniel was laying with his head on your lap, absently caressing your thigh and watching the TV. His phone went off and he moved to pick it up.

"Hello?" you watched as he answered the phone. "Hey mate, how's it going? Uh nothing, we're just chilling at home. Getting some rest... Yeah, I'm getting rested, you dirty-minded son of a bitch" you rolled your eyes while he laughed out loud on the line with someone. "Yeah, I know... the 19th is it? No, it's fine. Yeah, yeah. I'll be there. Alright, mate. Thanks for calling. Have a good one! Bye!" he hanged up and leaned in to peck you on the lips.

"Good news?" you asked him.

"Not really. Just wanted to kiss you" he shrugged, smiling. You smiled back and hugged him, pulling him in for another kiss. He was always so caring with you, always finding an excuse to kiss or touch you. You knew some people didn't like it, but you loved it. Physical touch was definitely one of your love languages.

"What's happening on the 19th then?" you asked him once you guys set apart from the kiss.

"Gotta be in London. Gonna run some testings and other boring race stuff..."

"Hum..." you hummed in understanding.

"You know what would make it less boring though?" he asked and you just looked at him, you already knew what he was going to ask you and it wasn't that you didn't want to spend every minute of the day with him, but you simply couldn't afford any more traveling, especially not in such short notice. "If you came with me. Huh? What do you say? A week in the Queen's land? Then we can fly together to Spa and after the race, I can go with you to Amsterdam. The next one it's the Dutch GP anyway, I'll just get there sooner" he laughed. It was crushing you, the man of your dreams was literally beaming at making plans with you, talking about spending the next few weeks glued together and you couldn't say yes.

"Dan, I have to work" you smiled sadly.

"Can't you work from distance? Or, I don't know, I mean... I know it's tiring, but you could come to London and fly home a bit early, then just meet me in Belgium?" great, his solution includes even more flying. And the thing is, you really didn't mind the flying. You always slept during the whole thing anyway, so you never got tired and the jetlag was minimal. You could work from distance, sure. Your boss wouldn't mind, as long as you got there eventually to check in on everything. But the whole logistics were just too expensive. There was no way you could afford it.

"I... sorry, I don't think I can" you said sadly and watched as his face dropped.

"That's fine, baby. I get it. I'm asking too much, all this traveling... don't worry about it" he tried to mask his emotions but you knew better. He knew you could in fact work from distance, so he was probably thinking the reason you couldn't do it was because you didn't want to.

He got up from the couch and walked into the kitchen. Meanwhile, you couldn't help but bury your face in your palms. This was so frustrating!

"You wanna go for a run or something? Maybe get something to eat?" he called from the kitchen, already moving on from the subject. You knew this whole thing was only gonna keep build up till he got tired of your excuses or you blowing up, probably the former, but you just keep going.

"Yeah, sure" you answered, getting up from the couch.

You and Daniel were both very active so going for a run, hiking, riding bikes, or whatever in the middle of the day was really routine for you. The Monaco summer weather was as beautiful as always and the sun was shining bright. You enjoyed the rest of your afternoon racing each other, kissing in the harbor, and just taking in the views, spending quality time together. Money wasn't even a thing in your bubble for a while.

"I'm getting hungry" he said on the way back home.

"Me too, and I'm super hot. I could go for a juice or something right now" you were all sweaty from the running, but you didn't care, he was too.

"You're always hot baby, I don't think juice gonna help with that" he grinned at you and you just rolled your eyes at him.

You passed by one of his favorite spots for food, nearby his place and he suggested getting some take-out, to which you agreed.

"Green juice, and a chicken wrap?" you tried to decide while the both of you waited in line.

"I'll never understand how you drink that"

"I've seen you drink that too, it's actually very refreshing"

"Because I'm forced to, I'm a high-performance athlete baby. But I'm on a break, so I'll have a coke, thank you very much" you laughed at him. He was holding your hand and tried to kiss you, wrapping his arm around you, you didn't dodge his kiss, you would never, but still laughed at the fact he wanted to kiss the sweaty mess you were right now.

"I'm gross, only you" you laughed.

"That's my baby, with no makeup she a ten" he rapped shrugging and grinning.

"Alright Lil Wayne, I know that one, don't even finish the verse" you laughed at him, making him laugh out loud, getting everyone's in the restaurant's attention.

"It's true, though"

"Sure..." You just shook your head smiling. Then you heard someone call his name.

"Hey! Daniel!" you both turned around to see Charles and Charlotte sitting in a corner, him waving at you two. You had met Charles a couple of times before but never spoke too much to him. They seemed to be leaving anyway, so they walked towards you guys, instead of towards the door.

"Hey mate, how's it going?" Daniel greeted him with a handshake. "Hey, Charlotte! You know (y/n) yet?"

"Hi! I don't think so, hi! How are you?" she greeted you smiling.

"Hi! Nice to meet you. Hi, Charles!" you said.

"Hey, (y/n). You're keeping him in line during the break? Char won't let me cheat my diet either" he laughed.

"Oh, that ship has sailed long ago! Daniel will just roll into the paddock if it's up to him" you laughed back.

"Hey! I think I've earned the right to some extra calories, we've been working out extra hard lately" Daniel said waving his eyebrows suggestively, making Charlotte giggle, Charles rolls his eyes and you go even redder than you were from the actual workout, while he just laughed out loud.

"I don't even want to know" Charles said. "Always great running into you mate" he was getting ready to say goodbye.

"Are we seeing you guys tomorrow?" Charlotte asked you.

"Tomorrow?" you asked her.

"Stefano's birthday" she said like it was obvious. Stefano Domenicali was the President and CEO of Formula 1, but you didn't know that yet - still, her tone made it seems like it was someone Daniel knew, so you just looked at him. He just rubbed his neck, looking a little embarrassed. "Oh, wait. Please tell me I didn't just said something I shouldn't" she looked at Charles.

"No, no. He invited me. Us, actually" Daniel reassured her. "I don't think we're going though, forgot to mention to you" he said looking at you.

"Uh mate, I wouldn't skip that if I were you. He didn't even invite all the drivers I heard" Charles said. "Maybe just stop by to say hello?"

"Stop by... a yacht... at the sea?" Charlotte said grinning at him. Daniel looked at you.

"You feel like going? It should be fun" he asked you.

"Sounds fancy... I mean, I don't mind if you go" you said.

"Common... I’m not going alone" he nudged you.

"I don't even have anything to wear, Dan" you told him.

"Oh! We can go shopping together!" Charlotte said and you had almost forgotten they were still there.

"Perfect!" Daniel answered for you. You could only imagine the types of stores she shopped.

"Tomorrow morning, then? Daniel can text your address to Charles for me? I'll pick you up!" she was being really nice about it.

"I thought you wanted to go today?" Charles said.

"That's when I thought I would have to go shopping with you, so I could use the extra time since you're the worst shopping partner ever!" she laughed at him.

"Burn!" Daniel laughed.

"His fashion taste is not the most reliable, let's face it" she laughed and kissed his cheek. "It's a date then (y/n)?" she looked expectantly at you. You didn't want to let her down, it was so hard to make friends with the girlfriends of other drivers, they were usually so... not nice. You could always just help her and find something to wear in your own stuff later.

"Yeah, sure! See you tomorrow, at 10?" you said simply.

"Perfect!" she beamed.

>>> end of part 1 <<<

[bubsthebee]

Can’t Say It.

Aizawa x Reader

Word Count: 3,541

A/N: Fluff, dragged out but it’s a happy ending. One shot. Age difference (9 years) Reader is 22 while Aizawa is 31. Mentions of alcohol.  

Reader is a young teacher at UA who has a unique relationship with Pro Hero and coworker Eraserhead. After a while of getting to know each other, will they realize their feelings? OR will they let self doubt get in the way. 

CHARACTER REPORT

Position: UA SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION 

Job Description: Quirk Analysis and Evaluation Processing. 

Name: (L/N), (F/N)                Power: 2/5 D    Intelligence: 4/5 B

Birthday: (5/10)                     Speed: 2/5 B    Cooperativeness: 5/5 A

Age: 22                                 Technique: 5/5 S

Sex: Female (She/Her)

Quirk: Analysis 

-(Y/N) is able to instantly analyze a person and their abilities after observing them, familiarizing themselves with their qurik. This also includes evaluating/predicting situations with higher than average accuracy. With this ability, she can use this information with or against a subject. She can keep up to three peoples' worth of information perfectly memorized at a time. Anymore, her analysis starts to create more errors and her accuracy decreases. 

--

Ever since (y/n) started working at UA, everyone knew that Aizawa’s single streak was in danger. 

While the scruff chined 1-A homeroom teacher taught his bustling young hero course, she supported the admin staff! Specifically falling under processing and evaluating every student's quirk and how to help progress their potential. This means every homeroom teacher ran their notes and evaluations about their students through her every quarter, possibly more depending on how active and intense their training has been. She and her small team are a key to the school’s successful hero and support course. No matter how a quirk was used, they would find the best way to help them improve it. 

Classroom 1-A currently holds the record for most updates and changes to analysis (surprise). With an increase in updates, (y/n) has spent more sleepless nights making sure her work was perfect than she originally thought she was going to. Not that she minded of course! She was young, and found that it helped drive her to improve her passions and skill. Besides her administrative work, she also works as a substitute teacher for English, and Hero Strategy lessons twice a semester. If needed she is more than happy to help with summer lessons. 

Aizawa has had more than his fair share of interaction with the young lady, more than others if one was keeping track. After the hero noticed (y/n)’s sleepless nights because of his students, he offered to stay and bring her coffee. When (y/n) noticed extra heavy bags under his eyes, there would be a nicely wrapped lunch on his desk with a cute thank you note in return. 

Over time a unique relationship developed between the two that anyone looking in could clearly see. Including the students. 

“Mr Aizawa! Your lady friend left ya another lunch, you’re so LUCKY.” Denki and Mineta whined without hesitation. 

“Why don’t we get cute lunches made by cute girls?” 

“Shut up! That’s Ms. (L/n) you’re talking about, not some side chick you dumbos. I think it’s really sweet.” Mina cooed alongside some of the other girls. 

Their homeroom teacher could only sigh, carefully tucking away the lunch box into his work desk as he partially ignored their scattered comments. “Lucky or not, you all should have your notes out and study. Your test scores from  last week clearly tell me I haven’t given enough in class work time. Do I have to cut down on our outside training hours?” The instant shuffling of paper and pencils brought a small smirk to his face. Nothing got his students off his back faster than less training hours. As he took attendance and organized his schedule, the small peeks at the lunch box reminded him about his last encounter with his….coworker. 

--

“Midoriya is such a strange boy you know? I’m surprised his quirk doesn't instantly tear his body apart every time he uses it. I’m glad he’s getting a handle on it, I hated seeing him hurt himself so often.”  You were sat cross legged in your office chair, typing away at your laptop underneath a bright desk lamp. 

“I agree, he needs to learn how to use his body with his quirk.” 

“Exactly!- Well, it looks like his rate of injuries compared to training has decreased. Based off of Recovery Girls records, his quirk usage deteriorated his arm muscle effectiveness. This means he’s got to either limit his usage on his arms, or learn how to use the rest of his body to compensate.” Rubbing your eyes shifted your reading glasses off of your face, exposing the bags that were starting to grow underneath them. 

“You shouldn’t be getting such heavy bags under your eyes like that, you’re too young for those (L/n).” He always notices them, no matter how well hidden. 

“Ya, okay GRAMPS. You’re not that much older than me and YOUR eyes are just as bad, if not worse. And call me (y/n), we’re friends aren't we?” 

Rolling his eyes, Aizawa gets up with a huff to pour some coffee from the nearby coffee pot. “Midoriya is your last report tonight right? Go home, you’ve got Hero Strategy classes tomorrow.” as if on cue, he hands you the cup of warm coffee while you reach out for it with a quiet “Thank you”. 

The way you hold the cup in your hands and let the warm steam brush against your face leaves him staring at you with a soft look. 

“I guess I could leave a little earlier than I thought....” blowing cool air onto the coffee, you slowly take a sip of the warm beverage. Every time you see that look on his face, you can’t help but wonder what he’s feeling. 

After a short while, you both clean up and close the office up. It’s 1 AM and both of you are more than ready to get at least a few hours of sleep in. Like usual, he walks you halfway to your home before bidding his own goodbye. 

“Goodnight (L/n).” As Aizawa turns to walk away, he feels a small tug at his sleeve. 

“I uh-” Turning to look around, he sees you with pinker cheeks underneath a streetlight. How do you always look so...nice? No matter the light you always look nice. 

You slowly slid your hand down his arm to gently hold onto his hand. It was so soft, not just the hold but your skin. You couldn't even look at him but your voice was clear as day. 

“Thank you, for staying with me. I know how tired you must be too….so I feel honored that you decide to spend your important time with me- er, to help me. You’re a great teacher and man Aizawa. Good night.” Just as quick as the moment had started, your touch was gone and you made your way home. 

He was alone, yet he could still feel your touch on his skin. Aizawa stood there for minutes, looking at his hand in awe and strange curiosity. His coworkers and friends told him multiple times, “You two aren’t a thing?”, “It’s obvious that you fancy her Shouta.”, 

“She has to feel the same, you don’t see how she looks at you when you aren’t paying attention.” 

--

         The school bell alerting the start of their first class was what pulled Aizawa out of his mind, looking up to see (y/n) walk into the class with your information tablet. ‘Ah, right. Hero Strategy.’          “Good Morning class! Great to see you all again.” She was chipper as always, her makeup easily covering her endeavors from the night before. The young teacher wore simple black tights with her training sweat jacket, everyone murmured in excitement because this meant that there would be out of class training and demonstrations          Rubbing his exhaustion from his face, the black haired male stands up to go stand near (y/n). “You all have ten minuets to change and get to the field. Any longer and you’ll be stuck in cleaning duty for the week.”

         Iida is quick to stand and grab his fellow classmates attention. “Quickly but in order, please gather your things and head to the gym! No RUNNING!” As valiant as his efforts were, everyone rushed out of the class in fear of being put into the cleaning crew while it was out of their turn. 

         The small smile he saw on your face was sobering, calmly following behind you as you made your way to the gym. 

         Usually, Aizawa would sneak into his sleeping back and nap during other teachers' lessons. These ones were different for him. He would sit off to the side and observe how you worked with the kids.

 While some students could take simple suggestions and immediately apply them, others needed physical examples. You were more than happy to adapt to all their needs as they all trained with their new plans and teachers notes. While Tokoyami nodded and talked with Dark Shadow about your observations, Uraraka carefully mimicked your moves as you slowly countered her attacks explaining how they affected her opponent's momentum even more. 

         He knew you were a natural when it came to children and hero work. The obvious proof was right in front of him. That and he was nine years older than you, yet you both were doing almost the exact same job. That's where everything starts to blur for him. 

         After a quick practice round with Shoji, a rundown with Bakugo about his quirk usage along with Midoriya and the rest of the class, their first class of the day was over. 

         The rest of the day went normal, and (Y/n) left to finish the rest of her lessons while Aizawa did the same. 

 --

         After a long week, you were more than happy to have the weekend to yourself, or so you thought. 

Incoming Call: Keigo <(‘v’)> 

“Keigo?”

 “Hey tiny, sorry to bother but I felt like I should call in and see how you were doing.” 

 “I’m fine, just getting ready to watch some movies and order take in. Had a long week. You?” 

 “Gonna be heading out to an event soon! Glad to hear you're doing good. Any luck with your crush on the office grandpa?”

 You roll your eyes as you wiggle yourself into more blankets, clicking through the different documentaries you could find on YouTube.

  “I don’t have a crush on Aizawa, and even IF I did he is NOT a grandpa. He would probably want someone closer to his age anyway. The whole life experience gap and everything.” 

 “Yeah okay, whatever. Don't get mad at me when you realize I’m right and you're missing out on not being single anymore.” 

 “You’ll be the first person I call when you’re actually right. ” “Ouch-” 

 “Pfft, talk to you later Kei. I have an hour long video about the origin of heroes and it’s calling my name.” 

 “Bye bye!” 

-

         No matter how relaxed you were or how interesting the documentary was, you couldn't get you know who out of your mind. Could you have a crush on Aizawa Shouta? Silver Fox hero of the night? Grumpy man who likes taking naps in the middle of the day? You couldn’t lie, he was attractive and his personality was more than pleasant to you at least. It always felt like something was there between you two..between late night talks and having lunch together sometimes. It felt like there was a connection, and the only thing keeping you two from connecting was a waterfall of hesitation and doubt. 

 “Whatever…”

--

         “WoooOO! Staff Party, this is gonna be a blast Listeners! Present Mic here to keep your evening thrilling with an amazing music selection!” 

         Upbeat music with minimal words played through the old speakers of a rented out ballroom. It was the end of the first semester staff party, everyone was dressed semi formal with their hair done nicely and makeup to match. The decorations were nice, and tables were laid out with food, drinks and chairs to relax and chat. 

         Aizawa was one of the first to show up since he and Yamada came together like usual. Although he socialized with other teachers as they passed by, he stayed closer to the walls and talked with Kayama most of the time. He was dressed fairly well, a simple fitted dark g suit coat with normal slacks. The usually wild and wavy mess of locks was neatly tied back into a very clean half knot that showed off his handsome face. 

         “No date Shouta? I was sure that pretty young thing would be with you tonight. (L/n) Right, she’s such a lovely girl.” Kayama’s hair was curled beautifully around her, a long fitted dress with a deep V cut showing off her lovely charm. Aizawa only rolled his eyes, sipping on his Champaign class to avoid talking even if it was just for a second more. 

         “It would make more sense for her to come in with someone closer to her age or with a friend. She is the youngest person on staff you know.” 

         “Age this age that blah blah BLAH. I know love when I see it-” 

         “Not love, this isn’t some romance film Nemuri.” 

         With a small and understanding smile, Nemuri reaches out to gently pat her dear friend's shoulder. “Someday, you’re going to realize that the things that are holding you back are nothing but a reflection of your own worries. I know you’ll figure it out. You both will. Now try to have fun-” Her attention was stolen away for a moment, a glint of excitement in her eyes clear as day. “If you’re worried about how she feels and how she’s doing, why don't you go show her around and make sure she feels welcomed?” 

         Turning around, the first thing Aizawa see’s is you. A cheesy thing to say, but he almost feels his heart skip a bit.  

         You wore a black turtleneck underneath a midnight blue spaghetti strap dress that fit you just right. Knitted knee high socks and stylish black heel boots finished off your look along with a beautiful pearl pendant necklace. Your hair looked soft and styled in a way he had never seen it before. Your eyes were done up just enough in a way that made them shine even more than they usually do.

         He’s trapped, and he is slowly realizing that he never wants to be set free. 

         When your eyes scan the room for anything familiar, they finally land on a set of eyes that are looking right back at you. You have to stop yourself from visibly gasping, why did his eyes feel so intense? What was he thinking as he made his way across the room to you. 

         Like Moses and the sea, everyone carefully parted to let you both have your moment. They all knew the chemistry between you too, and were more than happy to leave you  alone as they carried on with their conversations and laughter. 

         “You look beautiful.” His voice was low, and held a sense of hesitant tenderness even he was unsure of. You knew he meant it. 

         “And you look very handsome, you even shaved for the party.” With a small laugh you gently ran the back of your fingers across his shaved cheek. This wasn't new, you had done this exact touch multiple times before when you made fun of his stubble yet- it felt more intimate than it ever had before. Aizawa knew he didn't mind it. 

         Carefully sliding his hand into yours, he lifts it up to press a soft and long kiss to your knuckles. “It is a special occasion. Would you like to join me tonight?” He was never a man who cushioned his words, straight to the point and expressing just how he felt was never an issue. You were different. 

         Accepting his offer, you move to accept his offered arm. The night starts slow as you both walk around and chat with other faculty members you work with. With Aizawas help you were confident that you were able to make some new friends, maybe going to this party wasn't so bad after all.

         Everything else almost felt like a breeze. Laughs were shared, drinks were drank- and barriers were being broken down. You and Aizawa found yourselves slowly standing closer and closer together, close enough to where your fingers would brush against each other when one of you moved. All of Pro Hero Eraserhead’s friends could only watch with warm and excited smiles for him. 

         Like always, nights must always come to an end. 

         While some people left to retire for the night, others stayed longer to help clean or help more than drunk coworkers make it home safe. “I’m helping Nemuri make it home Sho! You gonna be okay making it back tonight?” Yamada had Nemuri balancing into his side, laughing as she drunkenly waved some of the others goodbye. “Oh! You all can head back home together if you’d like. I’m just helping clean a bit before I head back home.” you politely cut into their little chat, holding a medium sized black trash bag in your hands. 

         Taking a moment, Aizawa starts to shrug off his coat as he takes the garbage away from you. “I’ll stay behind to help clean. If you’re alright with it I can walk you home.” with wide eyes, the younger teacher could only nod before she turned away to hide her reddening cheeks to pick up more trash and plates. 

         “No worries, now get em TIGEr. RaaArW-” As Kayama tried to cheer her friend on, Yamada tugged her away with an amused laugh of his own. 

          Not even an hour later, everyone was out and the sky was as dark and it could be. The only stars you could see were the large ones as the light pollution shrouded out the smaller and weaker stars. 

         This time around, Aizawa's coat was wrapped around (y/n) shoulders, her head resting on him as they linked arms on the walk back to her house. Instead of splitting off halfway, he walks her all the way up to her front door. It was silent for a moment, the events from tonight silently washing over them. 

         “Thank you Aizawa, this...was a really nice night. I don't think it would have been as enjoyable as it was without you.” (y/n) broke the silence, turning to face and look up at the man she knew she would never look at the same again. Rubbing his mouth in thought, his eyes flicker between the young woman standing in front of him and the road. 

         “I want to thank you as well. I-.” He paused for a moment. 

         “I would like to kiss you, but I understand if you wouldn't. I think after tonight you know what my feelings are for you. I didn't even know about them fully until tonight. Kayama- Midnight was right. I was letting my worries hold me back when I should have been forward like I always am-”  

         Time freezes when he feels your hands pull down his face, your lips eagerly pressing into a kiss with such raw love and desperation. Instantly his arms move around to gently lift you up into him. One minute, two..three. You both only break apart for air and your warm breaths mingle against each other. “I’ve wanted to do that for a while now I think. My friend was right haha...maybe I do have a crush on you. I was just worried because I had no idea if you would even be interested in a relationship, let alone with someone as...young as me. I feel like a high schooler again haha.” 

         The fact that you were able to laugh the way you did and still hold him in your arms brought flutters to his chest. He knew now that he more than just saw you as a coworker or a close friend. He wants to be more. “I know what you mean. Who would want to be with someone as old as me? I would never want to make you feel like I was holding you back.” He would never admit it, but he felt like a young adult experiencing love for the first time...it was a bit embarrassing (in a good way.) 

         “You make me feel so helpless sometimes you know that?” pulling his head down again, (y/n) presses another soft kiss to Aizawa’s forehead. “What am I gonna do with you Aizawa?” 

         “Shouta.”

         “Huh?”

         “Shouta, call me Shouta if you want.” Thankful that it was dark out, he could feel himself heat up at the intimate suggestion. 

         With the way your eyes sparkled while you said his name, he knew he was hooked. There is no going back.          “What am I gonna do with you, Shouta?” 

         “You’ll figure it out eventually. I’ll help you along the way as long as you’ll help me too.” The shared silence was an unbroken promise to do the best you both can. 

         After sharing your final kiss good night, you watch Shouta walk down the street and out of view before returning into the comfort of your home. The jacket around your shoulders smelt strongly of the stoic man you now called yours. Enjoying the warmth and comfort his coat brought you, kicking off your boots you hop over your couch and settle into a comfortable position. 

 Calling: Keigo <(‘V’)>

 “WHY are you calling me at….2 in the MORNING. You gave me a damn heart attack-” 

 “You were right.” your voice was soft and held no regrets. 

 “Right? Right about what?” 

 “You were right, I did have feelings for Shouta. I said you would be the first person to call if you were right. And well, you were right.”          The next hour was spent catching your best friend up on everything that happened tonight. 

-

         On the other side of the story, Aizawa finally made it home and had no problem finding sleep that night. He felt as ease knowing that things weren't going to turn out as bad as he thought it originally was going to be. 

         He can't say it, not yet. 

         But he is in love. 

         And so are you.

[matthewtkachuk]

mistaken identity - jj maybank

jj mistakes you for a touron, despite the fact that he’s been copying your test answers for years and pined after you just as long. will you let him take you on a date to make it up to you and win you over?

warnings: none i don’t think

pairing: jj maybank x reader

word count: 1.9k

a/n: hello loves, despite a rude anon’s best efforts i’m still here. wrote this little something on the plane ride home yesterday night to distract me from 1) the terrible turbulence and 2) the feeling of my heart literally breaking. i’ve missed my little klepto baby, hope yall enjoy this cute lil jj fic. also 10/10 i will be calling my future sig other ‘bud’ and yes i literally wrote @girlsru1eboysdroo1into this, sue me or w/e feedback makes my heart happy.

You don’t quite know how it happened. One moment you were just the girl JJ cheated off of in math when Pope wouldn’t let him, a member of the math team and all around nobody at Kildare High. Sure, you had friends you sat with at lunch and no one really had a bad thing to say about you. Though, if one really thought about it, no one really had a thing to say about you at all - good or bad. You were the definition of a wallflower, content to sit on the sidelines, observing but never interacting fully. The next moment, you were somebody.

Contrarily, you know exactly where it happened. The same place where residents of both sides of the island come together alongside the hapless tourists with only a few goals in mind: drink, dance and find a warm body to cozy up to for the night. This location is, of course, a boneyard kegger at the beginning of summer (one of the first in fact), and those activities are, of course, not quite in line with your typical Friday night. 

It’s your best friends fault you’re here, you muse, hand wrapped tightly around a red solo cup containing three quarters of the warm beer you were handed nearly half an hour ago. You didn’t have anything against drinking, or anyone who drank, your parents were just a little more present than your classmates. You were staying over at Pen’s that night, her mom was really cool, but you couldn’t shake the imaginary hand of your parents and found yourself looking over your shoulder, prepared to drop the cup in the sand and run. Pen had been the one who was adamant that the two of you make an appearance, “you didn’t come to a single kegger last summer, and it’s our last summer before college, c’mon live a little!”. She was nothing if not persistent, and so you agreed if only to get her to let it go.

She had promised she would be by your side ‘the entire night’, but of course fifteen minutes in and she was nowhere to be seen. Also suspiciously missing, despite his two cronies still standing within your peripheral vision, was one Rafe Cameron. You didn’t know what Pen saw in him, she was the literal sweetest person in the entire world and he was... well himself. Of course no one is perfect, she did ditch you after all, and no one is entirely bad either. Since whatever was going on between them started, Rafe hadn’t been bothering you at all and you considered that a win in your books. 

Girl code and euphemisms about female friendships being more important than romantic ones aside, you couldn’t stay mad at her for long and wanted her to be happy. For some unknown reason, he made her happy and you had to support that.

You just wish she had supported you a little and been upfront about you. That way you could have been home, maybe with a book, maybe with netflix. Either way, you wouldn’t be sitting alone on a piece of driftwood slowly sipping on a warm beer as some of your classmates chatted up a group of tourons. You weren’t alone long, however.

You felt his presence before you saw him. JJ Maybank of all people sidled up beside you on the log, toe tapping and hand fidgeting with his rings as he sat silently for all of thirty seconds. Having been in the same class as the boy for more than a decade you recognized his antsy antics as ones that he often acted on in class. If you took a moment to think about it, you could admit that he was conventionally attractive, his whole devil-may-care attitude and golden surfer tan only made him all the more appealing. However, you had known the boy (or at least known of the boy) for so long, you never let that feeling grow into anything tangible. Besides, you were going to leave the small island in the fall and you were never looking back.

The silence only lasted for a minute longer before he broke it. “First time in the outer banks?” the messy blonde boy beside you asked, and you felt the scowl overtake your face.

“JJ we’ve been in the same class since the first grade, and you’ve been cheating off of me in math the entirety of our school careers,” you rolled your eyes and downed the almost full cup before throwing it to the sand and walking away. JJ stared after you with his brow furrowed, brain trying to connect the dots and reconcile you with one of his many classmates. It wasn’t entirely JJ’s (or the six beers he had consumed)’s fault, one could also blame his tardiness and absences for his lack of recognition. And of course there was the fact that you had let Pen dress you up, slap some light makeup on your eyes and curl your hair. Ordinarily the only products you bothered with were sunscreen and lip chap and you couldn’t remember the last time you’d worn anything other than a baggy t-shirt over ripped denim. So maybe you should have given the blonde some slack. 

Or not. “Y/n?” Pope asked confusedly as you stormed past him. The two of you weren’t friends, not exactly anyway, but you were both on the math team and that leant itself to a certain amount of camaraderie. At the very least, Pope remembered your name and that was more than his best friend could say. He reached out with a hand to lightly grasp your bicep, pulling you back towards him and scanning your face to see if he could figure out what was going on. “You okay?”

“Never better,” you bit back, feeling bad instantly. “Sorry Pope, your friend is just kind of an idiot.”

“What did John B do now?” Pope sighed. John B hadn’t had a lot of luck in the ladies department lately and Pope was worried about what his latest gaffe had been. Judging by the look on your face it was bad, like call you by the wrong girl’s name bad. 

“Not Routledge,” you rolled your eyes before continuing, “JJ. It doesn’t matter, Pen ditched me and I'm going home.”

Pope let you go this time, turning toward the aforementioned blond who was slowly making his way over to him. 

“Who was that?” JJ asked with narrowed, red rimmed eyes. Pope laughed out loud, knowing his best friend was about to be incredibly mad at himself. 

“How high are you? The girl you just offended was y/n,” Pope told him, causing JJ’s wide eyes to widen even further 

“Wait, y/n y/l/n? The girl of my dreams y/n y/l/n?” JJ smacked his own forehead in frustration. So that’s why you had looked so familiar. He had never seen you look so put together, and he had definitely never seen you at a kegger or under the influence of any substance before. When Pope nodded, JJ patted him on the shoulder before rushing after your retreating frame. 

He called your first name, watched as you stopped walking and stood in the sand with your back facing him. “I’m sorry, let me make it up to you.”

You turned to look at him, resting your hands on your hips. “High schools over JJ, you don’t have to pretend to be nice to me so that I’ll keep letting you cheat off me in trig.” 

“That’s not-“ he paused, eyes downcast before they flicked up to look at you. You took note of his slightly dilated pupils, the way they were rimmed with red and recognized he was under the influence of something. Gathering courage, he quickly spit out “go on a date with me.”

“I-“ you sighed deeply, eyes rolling up toward the night sky as you contemplated his offer, “you know what? Fine, one date. You better knock it outta the park and blow me away cause it’s your only shot.” You began walking away, back turned to him so he couldn’t see the small grin on your face or the way your hands shook a little. Every girl with two eyes and a heartbeat had to admit to at least a tiny crush on the reckless boy, and you had both of those things. To be asked out on a date by him made you feel special, but he didn’t need to know that. 

“Not that I need it, but you don’t believe in second chances?” he shouted at your retreating back. Without missing a beat you turned to look at him over your shoulder, “this is your second chance bud.”

A few days later had you sitting in shock and disbelief as JJ Maybank admitted his years long crush on you. 

You laughed so hard that you almost snorted, stifling the instinct with both of your hands before the sound could betray you. “You’re trying to tell me you’ve had a crush on me since we were kids? And you couldn’t recognize me because of a little bit of eyeliner?” you asked skeptically, brows raised at the boy who sat beside you on the blanket in the sand. 

“Not my finest moment,” he admitted, grabbing a grape and tossing it in the air before attempting to catch it in his mouth. It bounced off his nose and rolled into the sand, causing you to giggle. He brightened up considerably with the knowledge that he had been able to make you laugh, even if it was with his stupid antics. 

“So, your idea of flirting was what? Copying my test answers and never actually speaking to me?” You laughed at the look of indignation on his face. “You’ve got no game, bud.”

“I’ll have you know I have plenty of game, you should hear what the tourons-“ he began to brag, stopping only when you threw yourself at him, covering his mouth with your hands as you had done to yourself only moments earlier. It was only when he shrugged that you pulled back from

his personal space. 

“Pro tip for Mr ‘plenty of game’, girls don’t like to hear about other girls on first dates. Especially not girls you’ve...” you fake coughed and raised your eyebrows hoping he would get the meaning. 

“Right, sorry. You just make me nervous.” He admitted, rolling his pink lips into his mouth briefly. 

“What, why?” you asked, sitting up on your knees and tucking your hair behind your ears. 

“Are you kidding? You’re smokin’ hot and really smart. Like maybe even smarter than Pope smart,” he paused, “don’t tell him I said that.”

You laughed again, face hot from the compliment as you mimed zipping your lips, “Your secret’s safe with me, I’ll take it to the grave.”

You sat in a comfortable silence, staring at his strong side profile before he turned to you, eyes darting down to look at your lips. “Can I kiss you?” he asked, lip darting out to lick at his bottom lip. 

“Depends,” you giggled, sitting up further and wrapping your arms around his neck before whispering into his ear, “Do you remember who I am this time?”

He laughed, cheeks reddening as he returned your whisper, “I could never forget you y/n y/l/n.” 

“You better not, bud,” you replied, grinning up at him before you captured his lips with yours, eyes fluttering shut as you relaxed in his embrace. 

everything taglist: @velyssaraptor @danicarosaline @copper-boom @x-lulu @prejudic3 @rekrappeter @downbytheouterbanks @ilovejjmaybank @bricksatanakinswindow @jellyfishbeansontoast @sunwardsss @rudyypankow @im-a-stranger-thing @alexa-playafricabytoto @hoodpankow @girlsru1eboysdroo1 @sortagaysortahigh @socialwriter @euphoricmalfoy @anxietyandtacos @diverrdown @stargazingstarkey @rae131415 @rafej-cambanks @stfukie @obxmermaid

[thebooki3h]

Lukadamianette Au Part 2

First Here Next

We begin where we left off, with Luka and Marinette on one of the dates Luka Planned. Just because it makes sense in this, Luka and Mari arrive a week early

Because Mari is emancipated and excused herself for the first week of school before the trip during which the class is still in France bc they just ended summer and all that jazz. also I have decided that the trip has turned into a half semester exchange program even though this doesn’t make the most sense, but the French school thought the class could use a reward and tbh they just wanted to get the Akuma class out for awhile. Also this way they aren’t in Gotham for a whole semester of senior year. The trip is planned for the first half of the first semester of senior year. I know that this doesn't make a whole lot of sense but just stick with me.

They go sight seeing and basically on a week long date bc the following week begins the Wayne sponsored exchange program and when Luka has to work for Jagged. One day they go to museums, the next the go to famous parks around Gotham (which are thriving thanks to Poison Ivy), the next they see all of the famous villain spots (which are surprisingly popular tourist destinations bc for the most part they don’t get hit twice in short periods of time) which is a good cover for studying past bat battles. They take days in between to rest and use the inspiration they gained to make new songs or clothing designs. 

They share hotel room bc Mari’s parents stopped being her parents a long time ago and lost their say and bc Jagged says they are grown up enough to be responsible for their actions (which brings a blush to their cheeks every time bc “daaaaaddddd” “uncle jaggeeedddd”)

Mari also makes it her mission to visit all of the non chain coffee shops at least once while they are there bc coffee became her best friend when she was active as ladybug. She meets Tim in almost everyone because Tim also drinks coffee obsessively. Luka is more of a tea drinker because coffee interrupts his musical thought process and tea is less harsh. Marinette drinks tea when she wants to relax but coffee is the fuel of the gods. She expresses this to Tim and that's how they become acquainted bc finally someone understands his love for coffee. They exchange numbers after they run into each other for a fourth time. (Luka silently thinks that he might have to talk to Mari about her obsession of coffee again and if there is a rehab center for coffee drinkers) Tim learns that Mari is from the exchange class very quickly based off of Luka’s French accent as well as her light French accent that is mixed with a couple things he can’t quite place.

The class arrives, Lila ofc tried to pull something to leave Mari behind and she thought she was successful so she was gloating. She ofc took credit for the whole trip claiming that she was super close to the Waynes and that she helped Damian acclimate to his new school (she actually knows that Damian didn’t start living with his father until 10 bc why not). Mrs Bustier tries to check in under both her name and Lila’s name, both of which don’t work because they are A) an hour and a half early and B) all of the reservations are under the contest winners name (they have to ok their chaperones to use their name) C)Mrs Bustier told Mari to make all of the reservations under Mari’s name anyway and she totally forgot that. 

So the sit in the lobby for an hour, Lila has the whole class riled up bc Marinette isn't there and it is al her fault that they can’t get in to their rooms. Marinette shows up with Luka 15 mins before the class was supposed to show up (they had just gotten lunch at a cafe that jagged had recommended) and she is laughing and happy, which causes the class to BLOW UP in her face. She ignores them and checks everyone into their rooms. Kagami and Chloe share a suite bc they are rich in their own right and upgraded their shared room bc they are dating and signed up to be roommates. They got this okayed by Buister in writing JIC. Marinette as the contest winner also got a suite (the room she had been staying in with Luka that she just extended the booking for)

Lila and Alya obviously make a big fuss about them getting special treatment but bustier can’t do anything because Mari won’t let her. She secretly thinks Mari is a lost cause now but she tries her best to get her to see that she has to be a role model. Mari actually planned the whole trip and she did a fucking fantastic job bc its Mari and planning something is what she is great at. She has all of the bases covered including iternerary, bookings for food, emergency contact info, health info, info on Gotham, safety procedures and the whole shebang. All of which had to be approved by  Bustier and that Bustier has copies of but totally ignored.

The next day they try to pull the let’s leave an hour early to leave behind Marinette stunt. Not only does that fail because the tour can’t start until the contest winner is there, but they arrived before Wayne tower was even open to the public. Because jagged is extra he shipped Luka and Marinette motorcycles to Gotham bc they were going to be there for a couple months, they also got special permission from Wayne enterprises to park their bikes in the employee parking structures from Tim once he heard that they rode bikes as expensive as Jason’s. So she left early from the hotel with Luka(bc she knew that Bustier would leave her behind somehow) to go meet up with Tim at a new coffee place (one of his favorites). They end up riding on their respective bikes to WE together so they can hang out before the tour. Luka goes to a recording studio to meet up with Jagged, but not before a very passionate kiss goodbye, which makes Tim blush. (Tim may not seem like the biker type but he is a bat and he lives with Jason so he not only knows how to ride a motorcycle well has one, so it may not be his favorite mode of transportation but he’ll live)

So he and Marinette walk to WE about a half an hour before the class is supposed to be there in the middle of a debate on how best to brew coffee (Mari insists its French press) and low and behold they are there yelling at the receptionist. Mari gives Tim a look that says I’m so sorry you have to see this and yes I was not exaggerating walks up to the receptionist and apologizes for what she is about to do (not for the classes actions bc fuck them they can apologize for themselves she has learned to not take responsibility for others actions and she won’t let all that work go to waste). She then proceeds to yell, much louder than someone of her stature presumably should “SHUT THE FUCK UP OR I STG I WILL BREAK JOKER OUT OF ARKHAM AND LOCK HIM IN A ROOM WITH ALL OF YOU WITHOUT FLINCHING” this is shocking to everyone, especially mrs bustier who is  scandalized  that her role model student would do something like this.

Tim had a feeling that something video worthy would happen so as soon as she walked away he started recording, and he was NOT disappointed. The video gos straight to the batfam gc and Luka immediately. He powered off his phone then he proceeds to start laughing and applauding. Upon seeing the CEO’s reaction the rest of the employees start applauding as well bc damn those kids were rude. Tim then walks up to Mari talking at a speed no one but Mari, Chloe and Kagami could understand (bc the class is not fluent in English no matter what they would tell you). Mari proceeds to blush once he informs her that he sent a video to Luka (he does not tell her about the batfam gc)

Chloe and Kagami are immediate intrigued bc this is NOT what they picture when Mari said she met someone who loves coffee as much as she does. they may be hella gay for each other but damn that man is ripped. They join the convo while the class remains befuddled bc who knew Mari even swore. in the back of his mind Nino is reminded of a young blue-eyed girl who lost playground privileges for a week bc someone made fun of his glasses and proceed to punch said someone in the nose. But he shakes it of because Mari hasn’t been like that in years. 

Bustier eventually collects herself and gently, so as not to cause an Akuma (apparently she didn't get the memo), reminds Mari that they are here for a tour and she needs to get the class their passes.  So Mari leaves her friends to get acquainted and goes up to the receptionist, to whom she apologizes for her actions again, and the receptionist replies with a laugh and a “honey, you just made my week, there's no need to apologize I should be thanking you” (she does thank Mari). Mari gets a special pass bc she’s the contest winner to which Lila and Alya (then the rest of the class for the most part) proceed to throw a hissy fit over. The receptionist is so over them though and doesn’t even blink. 

Then their tour guide shows up. (its Dick and his assistant Damian). Damian proceeds to scold the class for a solid ten mins (which coincidentally leads up to their scheduled time to start the tour). Dick slides off to talk to the receptionist and his brother who isn't working and is talking to real people for once. Just for that they are his favorite out of the class. Tim unfortunately has to go to work so they talk to Dick to get acquainted until the tour has to officially start. 

Los tres amigos are the only ones who pay attention to Dick at all (he leads the tour bc he’s been there the longest but Damian throws in a comment here or there mostly related to shenanigans his family has gotten into but overall useful facts. for example these windows are reinforced because our CEO (Tim) leaned up against one, fell asleep and fell through the window to the office below.)

The rest of the class is focused on Lila who is talking a whole bunch of nonsense about the Wayne family and how she has helped them with their business. Some things actually sound kinda legit, but Mari and Co. know that it is BS. Dick tries to bet bustier involved but she makes an excuse for Lila and goes on her phone and doesn’t really pay attention. 

Eventually the class tour turns into Dick talking to Mari, Chloe and Kagami while the class vaguely follows them. Damian doesn’t really say anything because he generally doesn’t do well talking to strangers and these girls seem ok and he is still insecure (not that he would ever admit it to anyone ) about social interaction now that he has figured out how people who weren’t raised as assassins act. That is until Dick starts talking about shenanigans that his brothers get into, and Damian jumps in correcting him because  I did not try to tackle Todd, Grayson I did tackle Todd quite successful and also Alfred won’t let you into the kitchen anymore because you almost burned down the east wing of the manor not  because he is territorial over the kitchen. And Mari hadn’t really paid attention to Damian until now but OH MY KAWAMI he is hot, and how did she talk so long to notice that. 

She ends up taking a pic of Damian without him noticing (he really doesn’t notice which is a feat in itself but Dick does and he will  be teasing Damian about it later bc obviously) and she texts it to Luka bc if she is going to freak out over his hotness she wants Luka to do so too. ( he sees the pic in the middle of recording and he ends up needing a water break bc gay panic and he really is extremely handsome. Recording gets delayed even longer bc jagged cannot pass up the opportunity to tease him son and he does so mercilessly and Mari totally knew what she was doing when she sent that picture) Luka ends up demanding that she gets Damians number or he will because that man is fine.  

Mari now knows that the stuttering idolization that she had with Adrien wasn’t really healthy and Luka likes to remind her all the time that she can be smooth when she wants to be (sometimes unintentionally but she practices on Luka because she loves to see him blush). Mari then makes it her mission to compliment Damian as much as possible so that it is crystal clear and very obvious that she is flirting with him. If he even shows a little discomfort in a negative I don’t like this kind of way she will stop because she will not make someone go through what she went through with Chat Noir and unwanted advances.

Chloe, Kagami and Dick immediately notice that she is flirting with Damian. Chloe takes a video for Luka bc she knows that he would want to see this and Dick takes a video for the Batfam gc. 

Just to be clear Mari and Luka have talked about seeing other people and maybe adding a third person to their relationship as long as they talk about it. that line of communication was opened when Mari sent a pic of Damian to Luka and when Luka asked for his number that was his “go ahead” for her to flirt with Damian. Lila doesn’t understand how that works and neither do the rest of the class so that is a point of contention between the class and Mari. She would NEVER cheat on Luka, she loves him and he is the most important person to her in the world. Something that Juleka understands (she just doesn’t like Mari bc of Lila she knows how polyamory works this is why her and Luka aren't as close as they used to be)

Moving on... the batfam gc blows up for a second time that day and so when the class goes to the cafeteria Tim just has to see this for himself. Mari tries not to be obnoxious in her flirting so she compliments Damians intelligence by asking him questions that weren't included in the tour, and she asks him about his interests and is like that must have taken a lot of time to perfect you must be very dedicated. Damian isn’t used to genuine compliments especially from strangers so he is very flustered by it but he makes no indication for her to stop. 

The day winds down and the class has some free time before they have to go to dinner but the do have to leave the tower. Mari does actually get Damians number (he thinks she must be very well trained to get his number that quick bc he refuses to accept that he gave it to her because he likes her) Mari promises to ft him later bc he promised to let her meet his dog and she doesn’t want to wait until the class has dinner at the manor to see Titus.

First Here Next

Taglist

@dood-space

@toodaloo-kangaroo

Also I’m not very sure about how to go back and edit posts to link new parts so if anyone knows how to do that please comment or message me because I would love to learn!

[downwiththeficness]

A Need So Great-Chapter 21 (Final Chapter)

Summary: Eva Moore is assigned to work the last year of her contract with the DEA in Colombia. She just wants to get to the end of her tenure, but she keeps getting drawn further into a string of murders in the city. It isn’t long before she’s forced to face the ghosts of her past.

Word Count: ~5,700

Warnings: Smut--y’all this is the chapter containing Eva’s next heat. So, yeah, keep that in mind.

A/N: For the purposes of this story, Carrillo isn’t married--or, if you like, divorced. A/B/O dynamics are prevalent, and they come with their own warning. The overall rating for this story is Explicit, although not every chapter will contain adult themes.

Taglist: @dirtynerdy98 @1zashreena1 @heresathreebee @deliciouslyclassytrash @maybege @kid-from-new-zealand @clydesducktape @revolution-starter @autumnleaves1991-blog @jedi-mando @buckysalefty @anaeve @maouzon

Chapters: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 8.5, 9, 10, 10.5, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20

Eva picked up the basket from the floor, dumping it on the bed to begin the sorting process. She made little piles in a line—shirts, shorts, underwear, socks.  The slacks, she set aside to be hung, along with the occasional polo and her washable sundresses. Task complete, she pushed the stacks into their respective drawers and hung up the rest.

Setting the basket by the door, she moved to the windows and opened them to the cool morning air. It had taken a few days of frantically looking at every available home on the coast of Spain, hours upon hours spent walking through and trying to make a decision, before they found this one. Though not right on the water, it was close enough that she could hear the waves crashing on the shore. She inhaled the salt laden air, a warm contentment in her belly. Perfect.

Stepping away from the window, Eva plucked the basket from the floor and headed downstairs. On the landing, her stomach cramped hard enough that she dropped the basket. Hissing in pain, Eva bent over a bit, pressing her fingers into the source until it eased.

“The fuck was that?”

The feeling left as quickly as it came, leaving a soft ache in its place. Shaking her head to dismiss it, she set the basket on top of the washer and made her way lazily to the couch. Plopping down, she picked up the remote and channel surfed for about an hour, until the washer buzzed. She switched the load into the dryer and turned the knob, standing for a minute as the barrel turned.

A glance at the clock on the wall told her it was lunchtime, but she found that she wasn’t truly hungry. She should be.  She hadn’t eaten breakfast, choosing instead to lounge in bed with Horacio until the very last second before he had to go to work.  He’d found a job as a consultant for a security firm and seemed pretty happy with it.  His permanent frown had eased, though he was still as serious as he’d ever been. She supposed that old habits would never truly die.

Though they’d only been in the house for about a week, he was settling into their routine with more ease than Eva. She was still looking over her shoulder a little bit, though Horacio had been monitoring her in laws with Javier’s contacts in the states.  To compensate for starting over again in a new country, Eva had made a long distance phone call to Connie, giving her the run down and inviting her to stay when the summer was over. It helped—marginally.

Eva busied herself with staring at the open refrigerator, all the while giving a mental reminder that she had been the new girl in town over and over again throughout the years.  This would, hopefully, be the last time. And, she had practiced her friend making skills in Colombia. She could do this. Again.

Finding nothing in the fridge worth making, Eva shut the door and leaned against the kitchen island, looking out over the open space floor plan.  The dining room set was picked up from a local thrift shop, already scraped a little across the wooden tabletop. She’d seen it and loved it immediately. A little worn, but still good.

The couch was new—a luxurious leather that reminded her of the couch she’d curled up on with Horacio before they’d started selling furniture in prep for the move. A coffee table and entertainment center sat on a plush shag rug thrown over the hardwood. All in all, it was a good start to their new life together. Just a few essentials that she’d add to the longer they stayed right here.

Upstairs, they didn’t have much, other than a king size bed—Horacio had insisted on the larger mattress when Eva had balked. He needed a space to spread out, she needed enough room to nest properly.  She had no argument against him, especially when he leaned down and whispered how easy it would be to go down on her properly. He could lay her out across the mattress and still have room for his own body, rather than kneeling on the floor or hanging off the edge. More comfort, meant more orgasms. Later, he’d proven his point several times over.

He’d also proved the point again the night previous. Eva felt her cheeks warm as she thought about it. He’d been...insatiable—no, they both were. He’d come home a little early. Eva was just starting dinner. He’d hung up his jacket and walked around the island, arms wrapping around her middle. The solid length of his body pressed up against her as she tried to chop celery was certainly distracting. As was his way, he tugged her hair over her shoulder and nosed along her neck, inhaling.

His hands covered hers and he gently pulled the knife from her fingers, setting it aside even as he walked her back and away from the counter. Dinner ended out being peanut butter and crackers, eaten furtively over the sink, hours after the sun had set.

Heading back to the couch, Eva flung herself back on it, smiling as she thought about how he’d trembled beneath her that last time, sweating and begging for her to come just one more time. It was an image that, even now, made her fan herself.

Taking a deliberate breath, Eva pointedly picked up the remote and put on some daytime television. For a while, it was enough of a distraction.  She dozed a bit as the afternoon wore on, ignored the buzz of the dryer that signaled her clothes were dry, and generally did not much of anything. It wasn’t until her stomach gave another clench that Eva sat up and paid attention.

Hand to her belly, she stared into the middle distance as she tried to place just where the...pain wasn’t the word for it...ache, maybe. It throbbed gently now, spiked sporadically with a tightness that had her blowing out a breath. Pressing her free hand to her head, Eva noted the slight fever, though she felt herself give an involuntary shiver.  

Was she sick?

When she tried to stand, Eva went to her knees, a low, anguished moan sounding. On the floor, she breathed deep, her nose pressed into the rug. After a few seconds, the feeling eased and she was able to rock back onto her heels.  Using the couch for leverage, she pushed to standing. Another steadying breath, and Eva was moving slowly around the couch to the kitchen cabinet where they kept most of their over the counter medications.

With care, she turned each bottle around and read their label, not sure which she should rely on. Eventually, she settled on Tylenol and popped a few in her mouth with a glass of water. While she waited for it to kick in, Eva leaned a hip against the counter, her eyes feeling a little heavy. Perhaps she should eat...but the thought of food turned her stomach. Not even the very expensive chocolate bar in her hidden stash seemed appealing, and that was saying something.

Squinting into the afternoon sunlight, Eva waited for the ache to ease.  The dull throbbing in her belly absolutely did not pass.  It remained stubbornly in place, growing by tiny increments. Eva wiped at her brow, which had begun to sweat. Setting the glass down, Eva dropped her head into her hands and squeezed her eyes shut. Her body felt tired and wired and achy and lazy and utterly ridiculous all at the same time.  There was so much going on that she didn’t know how to feel about it.  Even her feelings were a mishmash of anxious and lethargic.

Breathe.

As she took long, deep breaths, the smell of Horacio filled her lungs. Normally, she would be comforted by it, soothed. She was not, in this moment, soothed. The scent of him burned through her, settling low in her belly.  Flicking her eyes to the clock on the wall, she noted the time.  He wouldn’t be home for a few hours, even if he clocked out as normal. She wanted him, wanted him with her, wanted him to hold her.  Drowning in him was the only way she’d make it through whatever this was.

Mouth curling, Eva tried to think of something that she could do to distract herself. Looking around the house, she tried to find an activity—any activity—that could be done with little to no thought. Eva settled on some light cleaning.  Leaning down to grab the cleaners from beneath the sink made her wince, her muscles straining as she tried to keep her body upright.

Determined, Eva got through the table tops, the windows at the front of the house, and was wiping down the coffee table when she finally gave up. Throwing down the lemon scented towel, Eva slumped against the couch, head thrown back in resignation. Rubbing the heels of her palms into her eyes sockets, she groaned as another wave hit her.  Only sheer force of will kept her from curling in on herself and dissolving into a tantrum.

Hands falling to her lap, Eva stared at the ceiling for a long time, the dips and bends of it going in and out of focus.  Breaths uneven, Eva felt her eyes tear up in frustration. Her jaw locked as she made every attempt to fight them off.

What the fuck? She thought, flinching when fire began sizzling over her skin. Every second it grew more apparent that whatever this was, it was not going away. The hair at her temples was wet with sweat, her limbs were faintly trembling. She was dizzy and disoriented in a way that startled her. Eva closed her eyes, trying to relax...

She awoke with a cry that was muffled by the rug. Shaking, Eva’s thighs clenched together, her cunt pulsing. She blinked at the individual strands of the shag, realization coming over her like a kick to the head. Heat. It was a heat. Though the ache was still making itself viscerally known, all she could feel was relief.  She wasn’t sick, she wasn’t dying. She was just undergoing her normal cycle—well, normal for her.

Pushing ever so carefully to sitting, Eva weighed her options. An hour and a half, and he would be home.  She could do that. Maybe. Eva stood and grabbed the basket off the top of the dryer. In it, she put every snack she could find—anything that could be eaten quickly and without much effort.  She also packed every soda, every sports drinks, every juice.  They would need to replenish.

It took some time, and many breaks for her to catch her breath, but she got the basket upstairs and into the bedroom.  Unable to help it, she checked the time again.  Forty five minutes.  She could do this.  Moving as easily as she could, Eva made her way back downstairs, pulling an ice pack out of the freezer and sitting gingerly on the couch.

Half an hour. Fifteen minutes. Five. Zero. Nothing.  His truck didn’t pull up in the drive. He didn’t come through the door. He just...wasn’t there. Not yet.  Every minute that followed was excruciating in a way that Eva hadn’t ever felt. Not in all the years since she’d manifested her designation had Eva truly felt as helpless as most omegas were perceived to be.  The grim reaper, himself, could walk through the front door, and Eva wouldn’t be able to move a muscle in her own defense.

Too soon, it became overwhelming and Eva was crawling pitifully over the cushions and grabbing the phone, dialing the number to his office. The ringing took too long, but she was relieved at the sound of the handset picking up from the cradle.

“Hello?”

“Horacio?” Her voice was small and far more timid than she felt.

“...Eva? Is everything alright?”

She bit her lip, the urge to deflect too strong for her to come right out and say it, “Its just...you’re usually home by now.”

He sighed deeply, and she could see him leaning back in his chair, running a hand through his hair, “We had a meeting go long. I’m supposed to run out and do a site visit. I should be home in a few hours.”

A few hours. Eva wasn’t going to make it a few hours. She wasn’t even sure she’d make it through the rest of this phone call. Her body, hearing Horacio’s voice, had kicked it up a notch, her thighs trembling with the want of wrapping around his body.

The sound that she made was pathetic and she hated it immediately. He, of course, heard it.

“Eva, what’s wrong?” His voice was firm, suspicious.

She inhaled, begging her body for calm.  “I’m fine.”

He made a soft tsk of censure, “You’re not. Tell me what’s wrong.” When she hesitated, he rumbled, “Evangeline, you tell me what’s wrong.”

A directive. No argument. She felt her spine straighten.

“Horacio,” she started, her voice cracking, “Its...here.  Its here.”

“What’s here?”

She could hear the concern that was in his voice rise up further into near panic.  In the background, she could hear his keys jingling.

“The heat,” she clarified through her teeth, her brows coming together as she tried very hard to concentrate on the situation at hand and not how eagerly her body was telling her that she was talking to her alpha and that he was everything to her. “Its here.”

The line went silent for several long heartbeats and Eva feared that he’d hung up. Desperately, she listened for any sign that he was still there.

And then, “I’m on my way.”

The line went dead, the dial tone buzzing loudly in her ear. Eva dropped the handset onto the couch cushion and breathed deeply.  He was maybe twenty minutes away.  She could do that—told herself that she could do that.  Twenty minutes was easy. Two sets of ten. Four sets of five.

When she tried to stand, her knees buckled and she hit the ground. Defeated, she laid down right where she was, sandwiched between the coffee table and the couch. Eva decided that she was just going to lay here and wait. She’d done what he would want her to do—she told him, just like he’d asked. Now, she would just have to try to relax until he got home.

The door opened and closed firmly. Eva blinked her eyes open, her vision blurry. She heard his footsteps move further into the house, his jacket hit the floor, and his keys hit the dining room table. Two further thumps sounded, his boots kicked off—she had just about enough energy to be annoyed that he couldn’t be bothered to put them on the shoe rack that was right there.

“Eva?”

She couldn’t answer. Her throat was dry, the muscles around her vocal cords refusing to cooperate.  Fingers flexing, Eva tried to gather her limbs underneath her. They moved like molasses and had about as much strength as a bowl of jello.

“Eva?” his voice was louder, more urgent.

She made a sound, a pathetic little thing, choked out and exhausted. Fuck, how was she supposed to last through the heat when she couldn’t even get the thing started?

He heard her, his steps swinging around the couch until she could see his socked feet standing just outside the perimeter of the rug she was laying on.  Her eyes traced upwards, following the line of his legs to his torso, shoulders, and face. He towered over her when she was standing. From the floor, he looked like a fucking giant.

His expression was concerned, but his hands were clenched into fists, sweat on his collar. She wondered how much of the drive home had been spent trying to control the rush of hormones that he’d no doubt been feeling. Thinking about what was waiting for him when he got home. She swallowed and reached for him.

Horacio caught her by both hands, dragging her out from between the coffee table and couch to lay near the landing of the stairs. She let the leverage of the moment pull her to sitting, her legs splayed useless in front of her.

Eva stared at him for a few seconds, “Hi…”

His mouth opened to respond, but no words came out. He just...looked at her, his entire posture stiff. Eva felt her stomach drop a little. This wasn’t how this was supposed to go. Why wasn’t he moving?

Eyes dropping, Eva ran her hand over the floor, trying to parse out the thoughts that were still foggy and stilted in her brain. Her hormones were raging hard enough that she couldn’t steady her breathing, everything inside her filling up with him in every way, except the way she most wanted.  

He knelt, hand touching her chin. The contact made her shiver, tingles billowing out from her jaw and down her neck.  Eva reluctantly looked at him, feeling her breaths stutter.

“Are you alright?”

Was she alright? Was she alright? Her latent anxiety morphed into righteous anger, her body bristling. He must have read her anger clearly across her face, because he leaned further into her space.

“I just need to know you’re alright—before...Once this starts, I won’t be able to stop—mmph,”

Eva cut him off with a hard kiss, rising up to her knees and knocking him onto his back. She followed him down, kissing him again before lifting her head and glaring at him.

“Horacio,” she grit out between clenched teeth, “Shut up.”

Not waiting for an answer, Eva dropped down and licked up his neck, ending it with a firm kiss.  Her thumbs pressed into the hollow above his jaw, urging him to open for her. Tongue dipping in for a taste, she groaned, settling her weight further on his body. He was hard beneath her, and her already frazzled hormones spun up into a chaotic mess. Skin prickling, she ground against him, swallowing down his moan.

Grasping her hips, he pulled her closer, using what little leverage he had to help her rock against him. Not needing any more encouragement, Eva let her hips go fluid in their movements, setting up a hard, quick rhythm. Fuck, but it felt good. All that time spent waiting for him, burning up inside, melted away with the delicious friction.

He breathed her name between kisses, hands grabbing at whatever they could reach. He said it again when she released his mouth to kiss down his neck to the collar of his polo. And again, when she pulled the fabric out of his khakis.

“Evangeline,” he nearly yelled, “We need to get upstairs. Now.”

She stared down at him, her mouth curling into a smile. Then, with no preamble, she sat up, tore off her shirt, and threw it at him. Her body had just enough adrenaline to get her up and off him, scrambling up the stairs, hands shoved onto each step for balance. They slapped at the polished wood, pushing her forward and up to the second floor.

Eva felt herself giggle as she made it to the top stair, sliding a little as she rounded the corner. She could hear Horacio’s answering growl as his heavy steps boomed behind her. As quick as her feet would go, Eva hurdled towards the bedroom, clearing the door and making it almost to the bed when he  slammed into her from behind. The momentum pushed her into the mattress, bent at the waist, the air punched out of her with the impact.

A flat palm between her shoulder blades held her in place as he pushed his fingers between her body and the mattress to get at the button of her shorts. Flicking it open, he pulled down the zipper and shoved both her shorts and underwear down and off her legs. After kicking the bundle away, he unsnapped her bra pulled it from her, throwing it off the side of the bed.

Eva tried to get her arms underneath her so that she could turn over. She even got a quarter turn of her torso before he leaned more weight on his hand, pushing her into the mattress again. Groaning, her face buried in the comforter, Eva kicked out in frustration.  She wanted to touch him, wanted to rub every inch of her skin on him, anything to ease the fever that was growing steadily hotter.

He dropped down on her, his bare chest searing against her back. Eva realized that he must have removed his shirt somewhere between the stairs and their bedroom. His body was like a furnace, scalding her already sensitized skin. He ran the flat of his tongue over her shoulder, teeth scraping. His arms encircled her waist, holding her to him as much as he was holding her down. She wiggled against him in a vain attempt to gain any kind of sensation to urge her along towards the orgasm she knew would be a-fucking-mazing. It didn’t matter that he was doing exactly what she wanted, he wasn’t doing it fast enough. She needed hard and fast and now.

Nose in the crook of her neck, Horacio breathed deep, his body rigid all around her. Eva bit her lip, a cry building in the back of her throat. She needed something to happen, and quickly. Her nails dug into her palms, muscles tense all over. An attempt to get her feet firmly planted on the ground was met with a quick slap to her outer thigh, his teeth setting against her skin in warning.

A clink sounded, followed by the rasp of leather as is slid through belt loops. She heard fabric tear as he worked to get his pants off.

“Eva, tell me you’re ready,” he gasped, head bowed over the curve of her spine. One hand gripped her hip, the other reaching down to line himself up, “Tell me.”

The cry she’d been working to hold back broke free, a low keening thing that had her clenching her eyes shut, “Yes, please, alpha.”

With a rough, almost angry sound, he pushed home, sinking deep. Though she was more than wet, sopping, the burn was still there as he bottomed out. It pulsed through her deliciously, putting pressure everywhere that she so desperately needed it. With his hands on her hips, she had the leverage to finally push back onto her feet a little so that she was balanced on her toes. It was a precarious balance, and put way too much strain on her thighs, but Eva couldn’t find it in herself to care.

Though the position gave her little in the way of controlling a movement in counterpoint to him, it didn’t really seem to matter. His every push inwards was hard and deep enough that her body clenched down on him out of reflex, cresting over the orgasm so easily that it caught her off guard. She groaned, her cunt squeezing him in a vice.

“I feel you,” he bit out, his pace never faltering, “Fuck, I feel you.”

Then, with deliberate slowness, he pulled his hips back, arms looping around her waist and hoisting her up and further onto the bed. Eva whined, a pathetic, needy thing that would have been embarrassing if she didn’t need him back inside her right fucking now.

Rough hands pushed her higher on the mattress, spreading her knees a little to make room. And then he was sliding home again, fucking into her brutally. Chin tilting back, Eva felt her arms give out.  Her hands slid upwards and underneath the pillows, nails digging into the sheets. The change in angle let him farther inside, and she barely heard his pleased growl over the near constant sounds stuttering out of her.

She could feel it, hitting at her opening with every thrust, a hot, swollen ridge of flesh that had her gasping. As with the first time they spent the night together, Eva had a brief thought that maybe she should reevaluate. It was...big. Horacio was already so thick that it took a little patience to get started any other time they had sex. His knot made her want to scramble away just as much as she wanted to see if she could take it. Every thrust put a little more pressure on her, opening her just a little bit further, prodding at her enticingly.

A harsh sound escaped his mouth and he leaned down to grab her shoulders, hauling her up and off the mattress to sit back on him. Eva cried out, struggling a little in his hold as she tried to accommodate the deeper angle. He snarled, arms locking around her, holding her still.

Eva felt the omega in her rise up a bit, a visceral need to make him earn the right to knot her.  She might have claimed him as her own all those months ago, but this was their first heat. It wouldn’t be right if she just laid down and gave it to him. She needed him to take it just as much as he needed to be the one doing the taking.

Planting her knees, she grabbed at his forearms, arching her hips up to shallow out the depth of his penetration, keeping him from grinding his knot against her. His hands tightened, biceps bulging as he adjusted his grip. Although Eva could see his face, she knew his eyes were narrowing in confusion. She heard him snarl at her, felt the way he rocked back onto his heels a bit, hips tilting to get underneath her a bit more.

When he moved to push upwards, Eva countered him as best she could, given that she had little to no leverage. The snarl dropped into his chest, coming out as a warning growl. Eva laughed a little bit, unable to keep her amusement to herself. She wasn’t intimidated by a little growling.

That was, apparently, not the best thing to do. One of his hands released her torso, threading through her hair and yanking her head to the side. She felt his teeth lay against her skin even as he used his free arm to cross her chest and grip her shoulder. His thrusts, already hard, picked up in pace and intensity.  Short, stunted, as if he couldn’t bare to be outside of her more than absolutely necessary. He barreled into her in a way that made all her muscles give out with the sheer pleasure shooting through her.

His cock speared inside her, hitting her g spot and gliding smoothly through the slick dripping down between their bodies. Sweat pooled on her stomach, in the crease of her burning thighs, on her temple. His breaths punched out of him and onto her skin, each one like a physical blow against her neck, collarbone, and shoulder.

He pulled her down by her shoulder as his movements became more determined. Horacio cursed desperately, and she could feel his eyes squeeze shut as he pressed his face into her cheek.

“Omega,” he grunted, “Eva, I can’t...I need…”

She knew exactly what he needed, could feel it spreading her open from below, knew that it wouldn’t be much longer before he was pushing it inside her, locking them together. Eva didn’t have to wait long. His fingers dug into her skin as he gave one final thrust upwards, hips flexed so far that her body bowed forward in one elegant arch, her head flung back over his shoulder.

He stretched her open. She could feel that he had stopped breathing. His heart pounded against her back. There, there, there. Eva’s body relaxed, allowing his knot to breach her, filling her to capacity.  That was it. She couldn’t get any fuller. Not even his come would leak out of her until he softened a little, their bodies sealed together perfectly.

Horacio groaned against her neck, lips pulling back from his teeth as he sank them into the skin covering her scent gland. The pain of the bite pushed her over the edge again, her voice sounding against the walls, coming back to her as a harsh shriek.

Locked together as they were, Eva could only circled her hips, grinding down on him as she came. She could feel his answering pulses, knew that she would trickle out all over the sheets when they were finally able to separate. He held her there, breathing hard, until they’d calmed just a bit.  Then, with careful movements that sent aftershocks through them both, he eased them down on to the bed.

Laying on her side, Horacio behind her, Eva felt herself drift a little. He was stroking her body, nose pressed against her spine, the motion calming. After a while, his knot contracted a little, allowing him to pull out. She was right. A mixture of their come dripped out of her, coating her thighs. Eva didn’t have the ability to feel embarrassed about it. They’d wash the sheets later.

Rolling her to her back, Horacio leaned over and kissed her deeply.  She felt every ounce of the love that he felt for her in that kiss, knew that their bond would deepen as the days went on, sealing them together as a pair.

Reluctantly, he pulled away. She watched him assess her, could see the effort it was taking for him to bank back his building arousal. His cock was already beginning to harden against her hip. Her body rose up in answer. With shaking limbs, she pushed up and over, clumsily sitting astride his hips. He tried to sit up, but she shoved him back down with a strength that she shouldn’t have had.

Leaning down, she kissed him lightly, “My turn.”

Her body moved without real conscious thought, slotting him inside her, reveling in how hard he was, how well he filled her. She hissed on the first downward thrust, her eyes squinting as he dragged against every exposed nerve. Biting her lip, Eva breathed deeply through her nose, the scent of him filling her lungs. It spurred her on, pleasure flushing every system until she had no choice but to move.

Bracing her hands on his chest, she gave him no warning before she began to ride him hard. The motion had no finesse—she wasn’t trying to tease, she didn’t have the capability. Eva could feel the need to come squirm inside her, pushing her to fuck him harder, faster, deeper. Adrenaline and oxytocin flooded her already brimming body, shaking down her spine.

He reached out and grabbed her ass, giving her an assist. Already, his knot was swelling up, Eva could see it protruding from where they were joined, the skin flushed and pulsing. She bounced on it, earning a helpless little moan from the man beneath her. His hands slid up and curled around her hips, his arms straining to pull her down on him harder. Eva felt him shift his feet on the sheets, knew he was working to gain enough traction to work more of himself inside.

Hands splayed on his chest, Eva forced herself to stop, just for a moment.  Though her body screamed out in resistance, she wanted to draw out the feeling just a little. His brows drew together, and she could tell that she only had a second or two before he was going to flip her over and take control. Eva looked him in the eye, smiled, and let all of her body weight fall on him. The effect was exactly what she wanted. She sank down onto his knot while he watched, powerless.

The feeling of it, knowing that she was the one who’d done it, that she had brought on the pleasure that skyrocketed through her, was infinitely gratifying. Still further, from her vantage point above him, Eva got the watch him utterly fall apart. It was...beautiful.

His head was thrown back, exposing the long line of his throat. His jaw was clenched, face screwed up as he rode out the orgasm. Every muscle in his torso was drawn tight, cutting vivid lines that emphasized the strength she knew was there. From his lips came a cry of ecstasy that mirrored her own.

Beautiful.

When he was able, he helped her to roll to her side, hooking her leg over his hip, their chests pressed together. She was sweating, shaking, barely able to form coherent thoughts. He kissed her forehead, her cheeks, massaged at the muscles he could reach. Eva snuggled into him, the swivel of her hips sparking another, smaller pulse to go through her. He groaned when she clenched on him, his cock undulating in response.

An indeterminate time later, he sat up and padded over to the basket she had put together. He made her drink as much as she was able and eat a few crackers, leaving a snacks and an extra bottle of water on the nightstand for later. Even a heat couldn’t keep him from being practical.

She slept for a bit, waking groggily to Horacio sucking on her clit hard enough that she came all over his fingers, her legs spasming over his shoulders. When he pushed inside again, he grabbed both of her thighs and eased them up and into her chest, giving him the most room to move. Punishing thrusts, an unrelenting pace. He shoved his knot into her hard, forcing a scream from her throat. Eva shook through the orgasm, her hands holding onto his forearms for purchase.

Nearly unconscious by the time he pulled out again, Eva let him arrange her limp body against him. She was draped over his chest, staring aimlessly through the still open window, listening to the waves. For the moment, everything was still. The air in the room was filled with their combined scents, the bond twisting them together. As she drifted once more into sleep, Eva pressed her nose into his skin, inhaling happily. Tobacco. Vetiver. Home.

[doiedreams]

an insect ambush leaves you in camp counselor!Johnny’s care

fluff ద

1.5k words

warnings: none

[4:02pm] s.jn

“Did you take them on their bathroom break yet?” Johnny asks you, as the both of you set up an activity outside for the kids at your summer camp. 

You look at your watch before answering. “Nope. They have about 10 more minutes until their bathroom break. For now, they’re just playing around.” 

Johnny raises his eyebrows and looks at you. “Aren’t our groups on the same schedule?” 

You stop what you're doing for a moment to think, and check your phone for the schedule. Turns out, Johnny is right.

“Geez, I'm terrible at time management...” you say.

“Don’t you have to be good at that to be a camp counselor?” Johnny snickers.

“Whatever. I’ve been doing this for long enough and no one’s fired me for it.”

He laughs at you and returns to his preparations. “Right. Well, some of the other groups are probably having their bathroom break right now so get over there before it gets crowded.”

You take your water bottle, leaving Johnny with the activities to go find your group of campers and take them to the bathroom.

You eventually notify your group of campers about the mix-up and lead them to the bathrooms. The closer you get, you start to hear loud children’s voices, running faucets, and toilets flushing. You then see kids and counselors crowding the hallway in front of the bathrooms.

“This is not gonna work...” you mutter to yourself.

“Sorry, but you're gonna have to take them to the outdoor bathrooms. We've got too many over here.” One of the camp counselors say to you. You nod, turning around to redirect your group of kids outside.

Catching sight of the path leading to the old park bathroom, you groan to yourself. Outside of the bathroom, you would be met with flies and mosquitoes while the inside was smelly, laced with cobwebs around the toilets, and littered with dead bugs and used paper towels.

You come to a stop once you've reached the old bathroom. It’s a small, wooden building with two doors - one on the left for boys, one on the right for girls - and had a small crooked drinking fountain in between them. You can hear the noises of various insects singing from the multitude of trees and bushes behind it.

“Alright, ” you sigh, turning towards the campers. “Who needs to go?”

“Took you long enough,” Johnny says to you as you take a seat at his table with the other counselors. “You missed the bean bag toss competition. It was intense.” His expression was one of seriousness, but his sarcasm was easy to detect. 

“What a shame…” you mutter, shaking your head in disappointment, mirroring his sarcasm. “We had to reroute to the outdoor bathroom.”

“Ew.”

“Exactly.”

Your conversation with Johnny and fellow counselors is disrupted when the site director approaches you. 

“Hey y/n, one of the kids in your group is leaving early and she said she left her bag in the bathroom,” she says. You sigh, knowing you'll be asked to go back to that bathroom again. “Would you mind grabbing it real quick?”

You smile and nod, masking the disgust you feel at the request. Johnny waves you off as you leave.

It’s darker now, and the buzzes and whining of various insects are heard when you get to the bathroom. You shudder as you brace yourself for whatever you may meet on the other end of the door.

Cautiously, you open the heavy door and peek into the bathroom, searching for the bag without fully entering. Paranoid at the buzzing sounds outside of the bathroom, you subconsciously duck your head as you enter. The last thing you want is to come across a bug of any kind.

You find the pink, dirty bag in the third, and last, stall of the bathroom, grab it, and rush out the door. When you step out of the bathroom, you sigh in relief but soon detect a faint odor coming from the bag.

You can hear more buzzing.

You unzip the bag and peak into it, revealing an overripe banana as well as some crackers and brown napkins.

Caught off guard by a buzzing sound right next to your ear, you swat at the air next to your ear and zip the bag back up. God, how you hate insects.

You can now hear an even louder buzzing on both sides of your head. You shake your head, just as a puppy would after taking a bath, and wave at your ears hoping to blow away whatever was bothering you.

The exposed skin on your legs begins to itch, and now you're beginning to freak out. Looking down at your legs, you find the source of itching. Pesky mosquitoes.

The itching quickly spread to your arms and face, and now, you’re beyond freaked out. 

You let out a shriek, frantically running back to the camp building, clutching onto the bag.

“Woah woah woah! Are you okay?” You hear a counselor ask as you run toward the building. 

You pant for air as you swipe at your itchy skin, trying to get rid of any mosquitoes that may still be on you.

“No, I'm not!” you cry. You drop the bag to the ground and kick it in front of you as you cover your face. “Just give this to the site director, please.”

Before your fellow camp counselor can say anything else, the site director comes out of the building and gasps. 

“Goodness, y/n, what happened to you?” She takes the bag from the ground and hands it to the other counselor. “Take this to the kid with her mom, would you?” The counselor hurries off with the bag.

The site director takes your hand and leads you into the building. You pass the table Johnny’s sitting at and your wounded state immediately grabs his attention. 

“Y/n, what happened to you?” he asks, hopping out of his seat worriedly .

“Take her to first-aid, please,” the site director orders.

Without any hesitation, Johnny takes your hand and guides you to the first-aid office.

You and Johnny enter the office and he closes the door behind you. Seeing as it’s the staff’s lunch break, the office is empty and Johnny helps himself to cupboards and cabinets with ointments and bandages.

The multitude of mosquito bites on your body has begun to swell up, and you wince at the sting when you reach up to touch your face.

“Careful, there. I don't want you irritating the bites more.” Johnny says gently. “Sit.”

You take a seat and watch as Johnny looks for something to heal you up. He pulls down a first-aid kit, inspecting a tube of ointment, before pulling up a seat in front of you.

“You look like you know what you're doing,” you remark. Johnny laughs, bringing a small smile to your face despite the ache.

“I really don’t.” He pulls out his phone and types something. “I just choose to trust Google.”

With the guidance of the Internet, he instructs you to wash your face, arms, and legs, before using an ice pack to reduce the swelling. As you wait for the swelling to go down, you explain the series of unfortunate events to Johnny, getting cut off every now and then by his jokes and teasing making the atmosphere a lot lighter for both of you.

“I think it’s time to put this on now,” you say, reaching for the ointment and putting down your ice pack. 

“Here, let me do it,” Johnny says, grabbing the tube before you could. You cock an eyebrow at him, then comply. He takes your arm and applies the cream on spots of your arm, muttering a soft apology each time you hiss at the sting. Fiddling with your lanyard, you watch him attend to your needs quietly with your arm in his hands.

Before he could move on to your other limbs, the door opens, revealing the nurse of the camp.

“I heard one of the counselor’s needed my attention.” She smiles at you before glancing over at Johnny. “But it looks like you're already being attended to.”

Johnny smiles shyly at the ground and lets out a laugh.

“You should make him your assistant. He’s really good at this,” you tease.

Johnny puts down the first-aid supplies and stands up. “I’ll let you take it from here,” he tells the nurse. Before leaving, he turns back to you and says, ”Tell me when you’re done. I’ll get some of the others to form your personal Insect Defense Squad.”

“How thoughtful of you,” you say, rolling your eyes. ”Thanks, I’ll definitely need it.”

“You’re very welcome.” Johnny says smugly.

And with that, he leaves you with the nurse to get your bites healed. You seem to forget the itch and sting of the bug bites, instead dwelling on the lasting touch his fingers left on your skin.

a/n: Inspired by @philosopher-of-fandoms​ :

This was just for fun I couldn’t help myself 😭 I saw the post and said screw it why not lmao.

proofread by: @sleepyyangyang​ and @give-seconds​ <33

[babbushka]

Mind & Soul (10/10)

The story of how one man fell out of love, and into it again. 

Charlie Barber x Reader 

Tumblr masterlist for previous chapters // Available on AO3

5k ; get your tissues folks

                                                  ---------------------

I've never been in love before Now all at once it's you It's you forever more

I've never been in love before I thought my heart was safe I thought I knew the score

 He doesn’t know how to do it, how to tell him. He doesn’t have the words. All those years writing, all the time spent on his scripts, and he doesn’t have the words. Charlie stares into his coffee, watches the creamer swirl. It’s a beautiful day outside, and that hurts somehow, hurts more than it would if it were raining. At least if it were raining, he could feel like the world cries along with him, but the sunshine through the curtains you picked out and hung up – that hurts.

He’s got to tell Henry, he knows that ever minute longer he waits, the harsher the blow will be. But he’s not got the words for it, how could he, when he never dreamed a day like this would come?

That’s a lie maybe, maybe he did dream of it.

But those don’t count. The nightmares…nightmares don’t count.

You’re silent at the breakfast table, doing your best not to cry. Henry can tell something’s wrong, of course he can, he’s a smart kid. He can tell, and it breaks Charlie’s heart.

Can a heart break if it’s already broken?

Charlie looks to you for strength, for something, he doesn’t know. Part of him wishes you could jump in and deliver the news instead of him. You’re so good at making things sound better than they are, you’re good at the phrasing. Charlie’s never been that good at it, but he knows this is something he has to do himself – he’s no coward, not like Nicole.

Still, Charlie looks to you, and you look back at him with wet eyes, give him a little nod. That nod is all it takes, and he can feel his shoulders squaring up a little more, can feel the cold drip of dread in his stomach a little fainter.  

“I was thinking, what if you and me skip out today and go have fun at the park, Henry?” He tries to be nonchalant about it, bites into his toast and sips his coffee.

He desperately wants to hold your hand, but he’s afraid he’ll shake too much and rattle your bones.  

“You mean like I don’t have to go to school?” Henry cocks his head and gives a confused frown. Henry’s not missed a single day of school the entire time Charlie’s been taking care of him.

“Yeah, how does that sound?” Charlie tries to smile, but he’s not so sure it works.

“Won’t I get in trouble?” Henry looks at him, looks at you.

“No, I’ll call you in, it’ll be okay.” You do smile, with a little nod of your head that Charlie envies.

“Okay.” He smiles back, and Charlie tries very hard not to imagine it as the last smile he gets to see for however many months it’ll be until he gets his son back home again.

                                                   ---------------------

The park is filled with people, bustling with activity. Henry does most of the talking, which Charlie doesn’t mind. He talks about things at school, talks about the science fair. He talks about his friends and what he dreamt about last night, asks questions that he thought up while watching that documentary about the deep sea with you. Charlie listens, he’s been spending a lot more time listening lately. Listens and tries his best to answer the questions, he tries.

There are dogs to be pet, and kites to be flown, and birds to feed. Charlie buys him a big soft pretzel and tries not to cry when Henry offers him the bigger piece. He can’t stop thinking about everything he’s going to miss out on, all the milestones and all the memories that’ll be made without him.

He can’t say it out loud, he can’t, but it’s like he’s not going to really ever be his parent again, not like this, not the way they’ve set it up. Charlie’s hands sweat, and he blames it on the sunshine, blames it on the warmth of the day.

“Hey Henry?” Charlie cuts Henry off right in the middle of a sentence, and he feels bad that he wasn’t listening, but Henry was talking with his mouth full anyway.

“Yeah dad?” Henry chews and swallows, and his eyes are so wide, and Charlie wants to scream.

“I um.” He doesn’t scream, but his voice comes out strangled, like he’s holding it back, like he’s holding so much back. “Well I’ve got something to tell you. Here why don’t…why don’t we go over here and sit down.”

Charlie leads his son over to an empty bench a little bit away from people. He doesn’t want an audience for this, doesn’t want any prying eyes for his tears. Henry goes hesitantly, he knows something is wrong, the other shoe has dropped.

“Did I do somethi—” Henry starts, and Charlie’s eyes well up immediately, because the last thing he ever wants is for Henry to think this is his fault.

“No, no you didn’t do anything.” He says straight away, doesn’t even let Henry get the thought out, wanting to stop that right in its tracks. He takes a deep breath, wants a cigarette. He won’t smoke in front of Henry, he won’t. But his hands shake and sweat and he can’t face his son, not really. He tries, tries to find the words. “You…you’ve been happy that Mom’s back, right?”

“Yeah.” Henry replies softly, settles down on the bench next to his dad, puts the soft pretzel in his lap, wrapped up nicely in the little paper sleeve in came with.

“That’s good, that’s um.” Charlie runs a hand through his hair, an old nervous habit that’s come back as he scratches at the back of his scalp with a shuddering sigh. “That’s good. Well, you know, ever since Mom came back, we’ve been in a big game of tug and war, because we both love you so much and we both want you to be with us all the time.”

“Yeah, the court.” Henry nods, and Charlie hates this, hates himself, hates Nicole, hates the world, because his son shouldn’t be so resigned to it, to this.

“Mhm, and um, well.” He tries, chews his cheek, “We asked the court to decide for us, because they – the judge – well he’s a very smart man.”

“Smarter than you?” Henry scoffs, as if in disbelief.

“Yeah.” Charlie can feel his chin wobble, but he looks up to the sky, wills his tears to just trickle back down into his head, begs them not to fall yet, not yet, not in front of his son. “Yeah, smarter than me. And he decided that it would, it’d be best – it’d be smartest, for you to live with Mom from now on.”

He’s reminded of a long time ago, staring up at the sky like this.

Once upon a time, he would hide away in a theater full of ghosts, would demand from them the reasons why they mocked him so.

Once upon a time he would blind himself with delusions of victory, and now it’s all he can do but hold back the crushing screams of defeat.

Maybe they always knew it would end up like this, privy to the grand plan of his life.

Once upon a time he wished his life were a comedy, and maybe it was. Maybe it was, but someone else was laughing.

“I don’t understand.” Henry says, and Charlie closes his eyes, because the sadness and confusion in his voice hurts more than the sunshine which soaks into his skin.

“Mom gave her side of the argument, and I gave mine, and in the end, the judge liked her side better. So you’re going to go live with her from now on, over in California. That’s going to be fun, wont it? You love the beaches there.” He explains, sighing a little and putting his hands in his pockets, looking at his son.

“But…” Henry tries to come up with words of his own.

“And I’m really lucky, because the judge said that for a whole month over the summer you get to come back to New York, and I get to spend the holidays with you, and – ” Charlie tries to fill the silence with reassurances, reassurances which feel like kicks to the chest.

“Wait but, where am I going to sleep?” Henry cuts him off, eyes wide, starting to panic. “Where’s my bed going to be?”

“You’ll sleep in your bed at Mom’s.” Charlie answers, wanting to calm him, wanting but knowing that he can’t, that there’s no easy way to say any of this, no easy way to make it hurt less. “In California.”

“…But what about my legos and and -- and my clothes?” Henry shakes his head, trips over his tongue, rushes to try and understand.

“They’ll be in California too. And you know what, Mom is so excited that she said she’s going to buy you all new clothes and legos, and action figures.” Charlie answers, gives a smile that his son isn’t buying, not one bit.

“Where will you be?” Henry asks, voice so small, so sad, chin wobbling of his own.

“I…” Charlie has to force the words out. The come as a whisper, but it still feels loud, sounds like a shout in his head, a hoarse crying yell against his brain, even though the can barely move his lips. “I’m going to stay here, Henry. I have to stay here.”

“And (Y/N)?” Henry’s crying now, little tears sliding down his cheeks. He shoves his hand against his eyes, trying to get a grip, and Charlie doesn’t know what to do, doesn’t know what to say, because his tears are falling too, each one landing with a deafening slam onto the pavement below, a thousand thunderstorms in each tear.

“She has to stay here too.” Charlie has a rock in his throat, and he can’t look at him, has to look down at the way his hands are curled into anxious fists in his pockets. “But you know what, we can come and visit you and you can show us all – all the new fun things about Los Angeles.”

“What if I don’t like it, can I come back home?” Henry hiccups, “Do I get to come back?”

“What do you mean ‘if you don’t like it’, you’re going to have a great time! Mom loves you so much and, and you’re, well you’re going to have a great time, I just know it.” Charlie tries tries tries, but he fails. Maybe he’s been failing this whole time, he doesn’t know. He doesn’t know anything anymore.

“B-but if you’re not going to be there who is going to read me my bedtime story or help me with my reading or make me tea or – ” Henry’s crying hard now.

“C’mere, come here.” Charlie can’t hold back anymore, he wraps his son up in his arms, pulls him into his lap and holds him tight. Henry sobs into his neck, little arms crushing Charlie’s shoulders. Charlie rocks him back and forth, cries into his hair as he rubs soothing circles on his back. “It’s going to be okay. We’re gonna be okay.”

He doesn’t know if it’s the truth, but he has to believe it, has to believe the words.

“When do I have to go?” Henry’s muffled from where he won’t pry his face away from the crook of Charlie’s neck, little frame shaking, breaking Charlie’s heart.

“She’s going to pick you up tonight. So we have the whole day to spend together and pack up your most favorite things so that you’ll have them for California.” Charlie wants to lie and say never, but the truth is here, and the truth hurts, and Henry cries.

Charlie holds him, avoids the uncomfortable stares of parkgoers on bicycles, glares up at the sky, angry and devastated and exhausted all at once. He doesn’t have much more to give, doesn’t know what more the world wants from him. It’s taken so much already, too much.

“Dad?” Henry asks, pulling away and smearing his face on his shirt-sleeve, a button down that matches one of Charlie’s favorites.

“Yeah honey?” Charlie pulls a napkin out of his pocket that he took from the pretzel vendor, offers it to his son.

“If you ever get lonely, just – just know you can call me, okay? I’ll always pick up.” Henry’s chin wobbles again, but the tears have stopped for the time being, and despite it all, Charlie smiles.

“Don’t say that, I’ll call you every day.” He teases, trying trying trying to lighten the mood.

Despite it all, Henry smiles back.

 But this is wine It's all too strange and strong I'm full of foolish song And out my song must pour

So please forgive this helpless haze I'm in I've really never been In love before

                                                    ---------------------

Charlie and Henry spend the rest of the day packing. It’s hard, hard trying to think of everything he’ll need, everything he wants. He’s got his big suitcase and his carryon to pack his life into, and something about that seems like the saddest part.

You know you’ll ship over anything else he wants, whatever else he can think of that he can’t fit…but part of you wants to keep it here, keep it as some incentive for him to come back. If everything he loves is over in California, what if he forgets all about New York entirely?

You shake the thought from your head, it’s silly to think. A small voice in your head tells you it was silly to think that this could ever work to begin with.

You shake that thought from your head too, fiercely optimistic. Charlie was devastated, Henry is nearly non-verbal from the weight of the news, you have to be the optimistic one, you have to be. If you start to be crushed now, who would be there to pull them up from their despair?

You’re tidying up the already tidy house, just to have something to do while Henry and Charlie pack up the pieces of his life here. It’s a big house, a couple thousand square feet larger than the one in the old neighborhood, so there’s plenty to do. You arrange and rearrange cushions on the couch, move vases filled with flowers from one surface to another. You open and close curtains, and eventually find yourself leaning up against the island in the kitchen, arms folded onto the granite as you rest your head on the counter.

You close your eyes and breathe, try not to think of all the nights you spent with them together, as a family. This house was relatively new to you all, only two months or so. But the six months before that, that was time, real time spent together. Dinners and game nights, homework and projects, trips to the city and the park, the theater and the movies. You think about the time he scraped his knee trying to roller skate in the driveway, think about how he came to you with tears in his eyes about how much it stung, how you made him cookies to help with the bravery.

You think about how proud Charlie always is of him, all the things tacked up onto the fridge and hung up in frames on the wall. Charlie was going to find someone to sublet the apartment in Los Angeles, and you knew that as soon as that happened there’d be more art up on the walls, more memories of a son taken away.

The doorbell rings, shaking you from your thoughts, and you sigh. Charlie is still upstairs, so you collect yourself, put on your best brave face, and go through the empty halls of the house, feet carrying you to the front door.  

“You’re here.” Nicole says, confused and surprised, when you open the door.

There’s a man standing at the end of the driveway near the car, the same man who showed up to testify in court on her behalf. You try not to jump to conclusions, because you’d be a hypocrite for being angry that Nicole already moved on so quickly.

“Yeah, I’ve been here for a little bit.” You say coolly, opening the door a little wider for her to step in.

“Doing what?” She asks, leaving her shoes on, tracking footprints on the freshly polished tile.

“Cleaning up the mess you left behind.” You say calmly as you close the door so the air conditioning doesn’t spill out into the neighborhood, not caring to invite the mystery man in. He can stay by the car, you don’t want him in the house.

Nicole is stunned by your disposition as she follows you into the house. You make sure to bring her through the living room, the den, make sure she sees how nice it is, how big and cozy. You stop at the dining room, and she’s impressed by it – it’s hard not to be.

“How can you be on his side?” Nicole asks, looking vaguely offended at the way you offer a plate of sliced cheese and crackers. That doesn’t stop her from taking one, she talks with her mouth full, “After everything he’s done to me and to Henry?”

You blink, try your best not to let your eyebrows shoot up too dramatically.

“What has he done, Nicole?” You ask, resigned, not wanting to let her play the victim anymore. It’s exhausting, and you don’t have the energy for it.

It’s a rhetorical question, but Nicole answers it anyway, and you resist the urge to roll your eyes. She only ever really likes to hear the sound of her own voice, you know, you shouldn’t be surprised.  

“He never listened to me, he only ever did the things he wanted to do! He never once asked me about my day, or recognized my needs as my own. For years I stood by and let him walk all over me, and he had no problem doing it!” She immediately launches into the same argument she’s been touting for two months, and you very carefully pick up a cracker and bite it into two, a loud snap that makes her startle.

“You call him selfish, but all I’m hearing is you were comfortable enough with the life you chose until you grew bored of it. How is a person supposed to know how you’re feeling unless you tell them? You never told him, never once gave him any inkling that something was wrong until you kicked him to the couch.” You keep your voice low, calm. It wouldn’t do to get riled, not today. There’s too much tension, you don’t need everyone shouting on top of it.

“I – ” She starts, but you really don’t want to hear it.

“Who was it that bailed on couples therapy?” You ask, eyes cold and hard.

“That’s – ” She shakes her head.

“Who was it that went around talking to everyone about your problems but the person giving you grief in the first place?” You scoop a cracker into some soft brie, not bothering to look at her.

“Don’t – ” Nicole tries to get a word in, but you don’t let her. She’s done so much talking, so much monologuing. A true actress.

“Who was it that got a lawyer first when you both agreed to handle it without them?” Your hand grips the edge of the counter. “Who was it that blindsided him with terms and conditions he had no fucking clue that he was getting himself into? Who was it that bullied him into crying so hard the blood vessels in his eyes bruised? Who was it that up and fucking left her son in the middle of the night? You may have won over the judge, but don’t you dare pretend for one second that you’re the good guy here.”

You stare at one another, and her eyes are wide.

Her silence is deafening in the quiet of the room.

Eventually, a noise from the stairs snaps you both back to reality, and Nicole has the decency to look ashamed, to cast her eyes down to where her hands are clasped in her lap.

“I thought we were friends.” She says quietly, but the guilt trip doesn’t work.

“You thought wrong.” You hear heavy footsteps coming into the kitchen, so you bite the inside of your cheek and turn away from her. “Now let me get you something to drink. You must be so parched from all those crocodile tears.”

                                                 ---------------------

Charlie watches you leave to go towards the kitchen, and he’s frowning, because he’s never seen you with such a scowl on your face. He stands there and lets his gaze trail over your body, soaks up some of your self control and steps into the dining room.

She looks good, Nicole. Tanned, blonde. California has been good to her, he knows.

Part of him hates her for it, hates how she’s put him through absolute hell while she’s sunbathing by a pool somewhere. Part of him thinks he never should have let her go, never should have let her run away the way she did. He should have tried harder to get her to stay and listen, maybe they could have worked out a better divorce situation, Charlie could have had more of a say.

But then he thinks of you, and how these past few months have been absolute hell but at the very least, at the absolute very least he had you. He’ll never say it out loud, but he’s almost glad that she fucked his life up so dramatically, because he got to have that time with you.

“Hi Charlie.” Nicole says, and it feels strange, hearing his name come out of her mouth without venom for once.

“Hi.” Is all he can muster up in return.

“Charlie I’m sorry…” Nicole whispers, eyes welling up, but Charlie’s too tired to even really deal.

“He’s all packed up and ready to go.” He begins to turn away, to leave her standing there and get his son, when he feels her hand on his arm.

“I -- Can I talk to you for a second, outside?” She asks when he looks at her with a frown.

In between the dining room and the kitchen there’s a sliding glass door that leads to a little patio in the backyard, and he opens it, lets her pass through it first like a gentleman he doesn’t really want to be. Nicole looks around, doesn’t sit. They both sort of stand there, arms crossed over their chests, as Charlie waits for her to say something.

“It’s a um.” Nicole blinks, “It’s a beautiful home.”

“Thanks.” Charlie replies dryly. He wants a cigarette, desperately, but something about smoking in front of Nicole feels like defeat.

He’s already lost so much, so much pride, so much of his happiness, he doesn’t need to lost that bit of composure too.

Nicole looks down at her shoes, nice sandals that Charlie can just picture walking through sand.

“You know I came here with a whole speech prepared and now I don’t’ know what to say.” She says softly, and Charlie sighs.

“You can give the speech, I’ll listen.” He says sincerely. He figures he owes her this, an entire marriage of selfishness, he can give her this.

“I…” Nicole starts, walks around a little bit in that way she does, talks and walks, gestures with her hands. “You know I’ve been working very hard, to make something of myself, these last few months. Something that Henry could be proud of, something that I could be proud of. I got the TV gig, and I – I’m directing a couple projects here and there, nothing major, but. But it feels good, to be my own person, and I thought how good would it be, for Henry to see me take control of my own life?”

She looks at him, and he looks back, and she takes a deep breath. Something deep inside Charlie wants to comfort her. He’s reminded of how young they were, when all this started, how young and in love they were, once upon a time.

Now look at them.

“And I came here to take him home with me, because I believe he belongs with me. But…” She covers her mouth with her hand, a habit she always had so people wouldn’t see her when she’s crying for real. Charlie watches, listens, doesn’t interrupt her, not this time. “But then I look at the home you’ve made here for him, I see all his stuff and the art on the walls, and I just…Charlie, I never wanted to hurt you, or Henry. I never wanted to hurt you. But I did. Remember what you said in court? You built a life here with him, and maybe it wasn’t perfect but it was yours, and…”

She cries for real, and Charlie puts everything aside for a moment, and hugs his ex-wife. She smells like someone else’s cologne, and he’s almost glad for it, glad that she’s got someone to hold her, because this is the last time he ever will, he’s decided.

“I love him so much.” Nicole’s shoulders shake in Charlie’s embrace, and Charlie…Charlie doesn’t dare hope, doesn’t dare get his hopes up because they’ve been crushed so many times, crushed by her, by the world.

“I know.” His heart is thrumming in his chest, and they hold onto each other while she cries.

“I’m going back to California tonight.” She whispers, and Charlie’s knees almost give out when he strains to hear the words, “Just me.”

“Just you?” He repeats, because he can’t believe it, can’t believe his fucking ears, he must be hallucinating, must be dreaming, must be --

“I’m not taking him.” Nicole says, plain and clear, wrapped up in his arms, hot tears stinging his neck.

Charlie squeezes her so tight that he’s almost afraid of breaking her, but he can’t help it. He might be sick, just from the sheer relief of the sentiment, of the words. They’re real, real words that she’s just said, and he knows she means them. His eyes are closed and he sees stars dancing behind his eyelids, he’s dizzy, he might just pass out, might just faint from the news.

The sun shines bright and golden, coats the world in a buttery hue that warms Charlie straight to his bones. You were right, you were always right. Even when he doubted you for a moment, when the judge banged his fucking gavel and the verdict fell upon deaf ears, blind and numb from the shock and the pain, even then you were right.

“Do you want to go talk to him? He’s upstairs in his room.” Charlie says, almost afraid to let her go now, to destroy the spell.

But she steps out of his hold, wipes her face and nods, looks up at him. She doesn’t look like she’s going to change her mind, looks resolute, looks resigned. He’s been so concerned about how hard this whole thing has been for him, but this is the first time he sees that maybe, even though she did this to him, maybe it was hard for her too.

“Thank you.” Nicole gathers herself together, gets a grip.

Charlie opens the sliding glass door, lets her step through it once again.

“First door on the right.” He tells her, and she nods, walks away. She doesn’t get too far though, not until he’s calling her name, “Nicole?”

“Yeah?” She stops in her tracks, looks back at him, and he can’t help but feel grateful, can’t help but feel sorry, for the whole thing. The whole thing.

“I never wanted to hurt you either.” He says softly, the deep rooted truth of it all expressed with that one sentence.

Nicole smiles, and then she’s up the stairs, disappearing down the hallway to go say goodbye.

He goes on a hunt for you, immediately. Seeks you out, searches for you in the house. He finds you in the kitchen, back against the fridge with your hands over your mouth, relief having crashed through you too. He collects you into his arms and picks you up, swings you around and around until you’re stifling wet laughter, until you’re both dizzy dizzy dizzy.

“(Y/N), did you hear – ” Charlie’s hands shake, and this time it’s for an altogether different reason, this time it’s out of sheer joy, sheer excitement. It feels like when he came home to you to tell you about the MacArthur grant, that sheer disbelief that he could be so lucky.

“Charlie I’m, fuck I’m so happy for you.” You hold onto him, not wanting any space between your bodies, hearts beating together, beating in time. “I love you, I love you.” You say it over and over again, a grin on your face so beaming that Charlie’s blind to anything else.

“Kiss me?” He puts you down and smooths his hands over your cheeks, rubs your noses together, smiling so wide that his cheeks hurt, “Nothing matters now, kiss me.”

And when you press your lips up against his, when your tears stain each other’s faces, happy tears filled with joy, with relief, with the taste of salt and victory, he can’t help but think how lucky he must be.

How lucky, to have found someone that he can share this with so deeply, someone who understands him so completely? Someone who loves him?

Because you do, you love him, and he loves you right back, with his heart, body, mind and soul.

 But this is wine It's all too strange and strong I'm full of foolish song And out my song must pour

So please forgive this helpless haze I'm in I've really never been In love before

                                                   ---------------------

                                                         The End

                                                   ---------------------

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[bubblesurveys]

survey 17💛

length: long

----------

1.) What's better, having high expectations or having low expectations?

2.) Would you rather go without junk food for a year or go without TV for a year?

3.) Describe your perfect man/woman.

4.) Thoughts on school dress codes?

5.) Any strange phobias?

6.) At what job do you see Donald Trump best fit?

7.) Who was your first crush?

8.) Who was your first best friend?

9.) What is one weird thing about you?

10.) Top 5 TV shows you like to watch?

11.) What are your favorite boy names?

12.) What are your favorite girl names?

13.) Do you have any tattoos? If so, what are they?

14.) Do you plan on getting (more) tattoos? If so, what do you want to get?

15.) Do you have any piercings? Do you plan on getting more?

16.) Do you like hugs?

17.) Think of ANY person on earth right now. Who did you think of?

18.) Do you have an iPhone?

19.) What is the worst thing that could happen in your life right now?

20.) Do you watch anime?

21.) What brings true happiness?

22.) What is the most expensive thing you’ve ever paid for?

23.) If you could have any job in the world and get paid millions of dollars a year for it, what would you be and why?

24.) Do you want children? If so, how many?

25.) Name and describe someone who you feel most comfortable around.

26.) If you could invent a holiday, what would it be?

27.) Would you rather have summer weather or winter weather all year round?

28.) If you could create an alien race, describe what they would look like.

29.) What was the first thing you learned to cook?

30.) Describe your sense of humor.

31.) What is the key to happiness?

32.) How many phone numbers do you have committed to memory? Whose numbers are they?

33.) Name three songs that make you want to dance.

34.) What job did you want to have as a child?

35.) Do you have any talents or skills?

36.) What was the worst punishment you’ve ever had?

37.) Did you ever do anything weird as a child?

38.) What is your dream car?

39.) Describe something that made you laugh this week.

40.) What genre do most of your dreams fit into?

41.) Do you ever have repetitive dreams? Describe it/them.

42.) Describe the most recent dream you’ve had.

43.) Describe the best dream you’ve ever had.

44.) If God himself gave you a choice of either having unlimited money for the rest of your life or finding your one true love starting tomorrow, which one would you choose (keep in mind, you are still able to make a ton of money if you choose love, and you are still able to meet your soul mate if you choose money)?

45.) If you could do anything (and I mean ANYTHING) right now without consequences, what would you?

46.) Do you have any recipes that you know off the top of your head? What is it/ what are they?

47.) Do you have your license? If so, do you have a car?

48.) Have you ever had a near death experience?

49.) Do you personally know anyone that has been to prison?

50.) Have you ever been in a physical fight?

51.) When you get out of the shower, do you towel dry, blow dry, or air dry your hair?

52.) When you go to the movies, do you take snacks and drinks with you or do you buy them?

53.) Do you like going to the beach? If so, do you like to stay dry or go in the water? If not, why?

54.) Do you untie your shoes when you take them off?

55.) If you could have a superpower ASIDE from being invisible or being able to fly, what would you choose?

56.) If you were able to live for however long you wanted to (I'm talking thousands of years without aging), when would you choose to die?

57.) What do you think happens after we die?

58.) Do you believe in aliens?

59.) Do you believe in ghosts?

60.) Do you believe in spiritual things like ouija boards, tarot cards, and crystals? Do you believe they are portals for evil entities to enter the mortal world?

61.) If you could make one mythical being real, who/what would you choose?

62.) Do you tan, or do you burn?

63.) Describe your shower routine.

64.) Do you enjoy school? Why or why not?

65.) In your opinion, what is the worst way to die?

66.) Do you get travel sick?

67.) What’s one memory that you wish you could go back to?

68.) What were some of your stuffed animal’s names from when you were a kid?

69.) Do you have any pets?

70.) Describe your daily wardrobe.

71.) Describe what your daily wardrobe would be if you were rich.

72.) Create a character right now. Give them a name, age, height, hair colour, eye colour, pronouns, birthday, and accent.

73.) What was the last thing you bought?

74.) Have you ever bought a CD? What was it?

75.) Describe your perfect ice cream sundae.

76.) If you could make ANYTHING happen right now with no cost, trouble, or obstacles, what would you do?

77.) What are some of your favorite physical activities to do?

78.) What were some of your favorite shows as a child?

79.) Describe how you would survive the zombie apocalypse.

80.)What are some things you shouldn't say at work?

81.) If you were told that if you killed someone, you would save 100 people, would you do it?

82.) How’s the weather right now?

83.) What is the background on your cell phone right now?

84.)Is it better to work at a job that you love or a job that pays well?

85.) What do you have within arms reach of your bed?

86.) Have you ever been fired from a job? If so, why?

87.) Have you ever won a trophy, prize, or medal? If so, for what?

88.) Do you have any posters, pictures, or art hanging on your walls in your room? If so, what are they?

89.) Are you afraid of the dark?

90.)What is something that you've never done but would like to try?

91.) If you could choose three famous people or characters to be friends with, who would you choose and why?

92.) Do you smile at strangers when you pass by them on the street?

93.) Do you have a favorite TV commercial? If so, what is it?

94.) Do you like your handwriting?

95.) Cable TV or Netflix?

96.) What are your favorite smells?

97.) Do you consider yourself physically strong?

98.) Describe a time where you said something really rude or mean, whether intentional or not.

99.) Do you ask strangers if you can pet their dogs?

100.) What do you want done with your body after you die?

101.) Has anyone really close to you ever died? If so, who was it and how did you handle it?

102.) Describe your plan of action if you were home alone and you heard someone break into your house.

103.) If you were to be born again, would you want to be born male or female?

104.) What shampoo do you use?

105.) Guess the meaning of this word: ulotrichous.

106.) Do you let messages (phone, email, text, social media, etc...) build up, or do you have to look at them right away?

107.) How close is the nearest McDonalds to your house?

108.) If you had $1 billion and you had to spend it in exactly one week, what would you spend it on?

109.) What is the best thing you’ve ever eaten?

110.) If you could go on a trip around the world with up to three people, who would you bring? (they can be people you know personally or famous people)

111.) What swear word do you use the most often?

112.) What is your personal definition of success?

113.) How was your day today?

114.) What is the closest big city to you?

115.) Do you like children? Why or why not?

116.) Do you hide anything from your parents?

117.) If you could possess one talent, what would you be able to do?

118.) If you could speak three additional languages, what would they be?

119.) What is the worst thing you’ve ever seen in real life?

120.) Use only 3 words to describe how you want your future to go.

121.) If you could have your own business, what would you do?

122.) If you could make a dream society, describe it in great detail where it would be, who would be in it, and what rules there would be?

123.) If you could make any animal miniature, what would you make and why?

124.) What are your favorite candle scents?

[wolfnitewrites]

The Birth of a Superhuman Society

If you didn’t see the post before this, go look at that. This story is a multi-part story, each part acting like chapters, and posting each part every Tuesday. Each part is about 10 pages. ENJOY THE STORY! :>

Finally, this was what I have been waiting for. I watched the clock on the wall of the classroom. Tick. Tick. Tick. Every second felt like hours. It was the final five minutes of school. The teacher was in the front, using the chalkboard explaining our summer work. Who uses a chalkboard anymore anyway? None of the class was paying attention. Well they were, but not to what they were supposed to be looking at. Everyone stared at the clock on the wall. Waiting so patiently. Tick. Tick. Tick.

I looked around the class. I saw sweat dripping down their faces. Everyone was twitching, ready to leap out of their seats and run out the door as soon as the bell rang. I was glad people were exatic to get out of school. I wasn’t as much.

My family helps run a small company were a crew of people look for remains of old crashes of plains and sunken ships in the water. It's called Project Pacific. This year my family wants to ruin my summer and make me go searching for items in the sea. This summer isn’t going to be fun at all. I had nothing to look forward to at all.

“RING!” That was it, the bell finally went off. Our science teacher, Mr. Peters was still trying to present something but he was cut short by everyone leaving as soon as possible. What could he do anyway? It was the final minutes of school. It wasn’t like he was gonna make us stay in detention anyway, everyone wanted to go home.

“Is that who I think it is?” A voice cut through the air like a knife cutting vegetables, or a bullet being shot at a firing range. To me, it was more like a bullet being shot at a firing range, but I was the target. 

“It is!” The voice yelled again. I have been tormented over and over again by this kid since the first grade. God how I hated everything about him. I never had one normal day of schooling in my life thanks to him. 

“Come on Jay,” I yelled back. “It’s the last day of school, do you really want to do this now?” That wasn’t even a question though. I had already known the answer before I even asked it. I tried making a break for the front door before he could lunge at me, hoping I could make it close enough for the principal to do something about it. I quickly realized that I was too slow for that though. He always catches up to me. No matter how fast I try to run. I was a frail child and was horrible at any physical activity.

“What’s up loser?” He spoke in this condescending way. I knew if I said the wrong thing, my ass would be on the ground. And I will be wailing in pain on the ground as he laughs at my expense. 

“Uh, the sky obviously.” That was the worst mistake I have made this year. I should’ve remembered he never liked joking around. Before I could even turn to look at the angry expression on his face, I had gotten thrown to the ground. Lying there defenceless as he beat the crap out of me. No one came to help me. It felt like he had broken all my bones in my body with only a couple kicks. No teachers, or kids helped me. All of the students that passed us in the hall giggled and went along. 

I tried to get up, but got kicked straight in the face. My body ached in pain as I felt more and more kicks going into my side, chest and getting my legs stomped on. I learned to cope with the pain. I tried to scream out for help but the pain in my body was too much.

“No crying,” I told myself. “You’ll only fuel his need for torment.”

I think everyone in the school had already left besides me. And Jay. My body felt like I was shot fifty times by someone who very much wanted me to die. Like I was stabbed fifty times in the chest. 

As I turned over to my stomach, I saw. Blood. Dripping on the floor, from my face. This is the worst beating I have ever got from Jay, and they were all pretty bad. This was a new level though.

“Did that asshole wear cleats or steel toe boots just to kick the crap out of me?” I thought to myself. You would think that would be a crazy thought, but that would not be the stupidest thing he had done just to hurt me. I don’t think he wanted me dead just yet. He still had to beat me up more in the future.

When he finally walked away, I tried to stand. But I slipped on my own blood on the floor. I could barely move my arms. My vision was getting blurrier by the second. I tried to scream for help one last time, but I couldn’t. I passed out.

When I woke up, I was in the Jungle. You could see trees and plants as far as the eye could see. It looked amazing. It looked like something out of a movie. Truly, it looked like it was on another planet covered in the purest green. I quickly checked my legs, stomach and felt around my face. No broken bones or bruises.

“Is this a dream?” I wondered to myself as I wondered about the beautiful landscape. I walked for a bit then I saw some people sitting, looking off into the abysse of trees and bushes. I went closer to them. I felt super tired, the sun beating on my head and the occasional breeze all made me drowsy. I had a lot of questions and I needed answers. 

When I reached them, their necks looked as rough as bark on a tree. Rough enough to cut your hand if you just did so much as touch it. There was a dim light glowing from the center of where they were sitting. Progressively getting brighter and brighter. It was the prettiest light show I have ever seen. 

The wooden people turned their necks to face me.

“Touch the light.” 

“Who said that?” I looked at the wooden people, one of them was looking straight in my eyes.

“Touch the light, young one.” The wooden man grabbed my arm, cutting me in the process. “Ow!” I yelled, but the wooden man didn’t care. He was forcing my hand closer and closer to the light. I tried to resist him, but every escape attempt I tried to do, he tightened his grip.

Then. I touched it. The wooden man had made me touch the light. 

“Listen, young one,” The man said. “There is an evil out in the world somewhere and this power will help you fight it. These other men here are the past wielders of this power. You must train your body to control this power and fight this evil.” After that, he was gone. They were gone, then the whole landscape started to fade into blackness. I still had so many questions. 

“What is this power, what is this great evil.” 

I started to gain consciousness. I saw a bright light that covered my whole vision. As my eyes adjusted to the light I saw, my whole family. Next to them, all my friends and people that cared about me. I panically looked around my surroundings. I was hooked up to an I.V. 

“Hey hey hey,” I saw a doctor charging at me. “Calm down, you will be alright.” 

“Where am I?” I could barely get the words out.

“You are in the ICU. You got beaten up very badly. You have been out for almost a week,” said the doctor. “A week?” I thought to myself. Did that bastard beat me up that badly? That was the least of my worries, though. What I was worrying about was this power that was supposedly inside me. Also the evil that I was warned about. 

When I was let out of the hospital, I was covered in stitches and bandages. Although my face wasn’t in pain anymore, I could still feel all the scars on my face. My legs were broken in 3 different places, and one of my arms in four. 

“What a way to start off my summer,” I said almost on the verge of crying. “At least you will be able to get out of your casts soon,” My mom said as we were driving home from the hospital. “The doctor said your body started healing at a record speed when you awoke.” Was this the power the wooden man had given me? A power to speed up recovery from injuries? 

The rest of the ride home was silent. It was like my mom was scared to talk to me about what happened at the school. With Jay. 

“Hey Mom,” I wanted to ask about what I missed, but I couldn't get Jay out of my mind. “What happened with Jay?” She didn’t answer. When we got home. my Mom didn’t even turn around to face me. It was like she was frozen, like she just saw a ghost. I looked over my Mom��s shoulder, and I saw someone pointing a gun at her. 

“I see,” The man said. He sounded annoyed, like someone playing a game of keep away with his phone or something. “You are who they chose to wield the power next.” How did he know about this power? Was this the evil I had to defeat? It just looked like a regular guy wanting to commit crimes.

“Who are you!” I yelled. I felt my body getting stronger. My muscles started tensing up, like they were getting ready to get hit. Like what Jay did to me all those times.

“Death.” I saw his eyes squint, and his finger moving to the trigger. It was all in slow motion, though. It looked like I was watching a movie. He was going to shoot my mother! For some reason, at that moment it occurred that he wasn't aiming the gun at me, he was aiming it at her. Basically the only person I had left besides a few select family members. “Is this the evil those people were talking about?” I thought to myself. I felt my feet start moving, Like they were running. Completely on their own. Running at the evil in the world. The one who was going to kill my Mom.

Instinctively, I reached out for the gun. It was too late, though. He had already shot the gun at my mother. I watched as the bullet left his gun, and shot through the air like a baseball being thrown down the field to the catcher for the last out in a game. 

“Mom!” I screamed out, hoping she would turn into the flash and dodge the bullet. I knew that wouldn’t happen, but one could hope, right? 

I turned to the man, he was looking so smug it was killing me. How could one be proud of killing someone. I was filled to the brim with pure rage. Without thinking, I started charging at him, with my right hand clenched. Hoping to deliver a devastating blow straight to his skull.

“Pff, you're slow,” The man said as he dodged me. Slow!? How dare he call me slow. I landed my feet on the house, and tried to lunge at the man running after he shot my mother. 

“Ahhhh!” I yelled out in pain. I felt a sharp pain shoot up my legs and arms. They were broken again. Just a second ago they were fine, what happened?

“How did this happen?” I asked myself. “I didn’t even get hit by his fist, I would’ve felt it.” All the adrenaline was still pumping through my body so it didn’t hurt as much as it should’ve.

“Mom!” I yelled to my mother, hoping she was still alive. “Are you okay?” My mom turned her head to look at me. I saw a puddle of blood around her that I didn’t notice before. She couldn’t speak. She was in too much pain. I noticed she was trying very hard, though.

I crawled over to her with the limited mobility I had after breaking my legs and arms. I tried to search her pockets for her phone so I could call 911, but it was too late. 

“It’s too late for me.” She said in the frailest voice I have ever heard as she grabbed my hand, trying to stop me from reaching her phone. 

When I felt her grip loosen, I knew she was gone. Just five minutes ago we were in the car, driving home. I wish I could have talked to her more. Only if I knew that would be the last time we would see each other, alive and well. That was in the past now. 

“HELP!” I cried out in pain. Not just for myself, for my now deceased Mom. Or at least I thought she was deceased. “Can anyone hear me!?” I cried out again. I saw someone looking out of their window, and then looked straight at me. Then he disappeared. My vision was starting to blur, like when I had the crap beat out of me.

“Not again,” I said, trying to stay awake. “Not this again, come on. I can stay awake.” The effects that the adrenaline had on me were wearing off, and I started to feel more and more pain. “I can bear this pain, come on, just stay awake for a little longer.” 

Not much time had passed and I heard the sound of a siren.

“Did someone call 911 for us?” I was so grateful, but my injuries prohibited me from celebrating.

“Look Mom,” I said, hoping for my mom to still be alive. “Someone called 911 for us. Before I saw the ambulance, I blacked out. What felt like seconds later, I had awoken again. I wasn’t on the ground anymore, though. But inside the back of an ambulance for the second time in a month.

“He’s awake, thank god.” One of the paramedics said out of pure relief. “Your broken bones were pretty bad, but they healed super fast.” My vision was still blurry but I could sort of see the interior of the ambulance. I didn’t see my Mom though.

“Where,” I said, trying to get the words out. I felt so weak, I could barely even keep my eyes open. “Where is my Mom?” All the paramedics looked at each other like it was a hard math equation they had to find the answer to. 

“Get some sleep now, you have had a pretty stressful day.” 

“No,” I said. Why didn’t they give me an answer when I asked. “Where is my Mom?” From what I could see, they looked. Almost worried. 

“I told you to get some sleep,” one of the paramedics said. His expression made him look and sound like he was annoyed. I saw him shimmy his way over to a container that was hooked up to me. It took me a while to figure out that I had a breathing mask on, and that container was controlling how much oxygen was getting to me. I mean what else could it be for. I’m no doctor. “Tssss” I heard a hissing sound coming from the container. 

“What are you doing?” I asked the man who was letting the mystery gas through the tube into my breathing mask. I started to feel drowsy, like I hadn’t slept in three days. Was he forcing me to sleep? Was this even legal? The last thing I saw before I was asleep. Was another smug look. 

When I awoke for what felt like the five hundredth time that day, I was on a hospital bed. I still had a mask on my face, but there wasn’t anything else abnormal attached to me. It was like I was at my annual physical, with a breathing mask. I mean, I’m forced to wear one when going to bed because I have trouble breathing while sleeping. I even had to go to the hospital once because I almost died in my sleep because there was not enough air getting into my body. So I got used to wearing it.

“That didn’t take long” A doctor said as she peaked around the corner. “Your wounds healed up rather quickly, and the knockout gas didn’t last either.” Knockout gas? Was that guy forcefully making me breathe in knockout gas? 

“Where is my Mother?” I was very worried about her. I think anyone in the right mind would worry about their Mother that got shot. 

“Well,” the woman said. “We did find a heartbeat. It was very faint, but it was there. Your Mother is in critical condition, though. She may not last another week, if she is lucky.” Every single last one of those words hurt me. It felt like I was being beaten to death again, but with words. 

“Will she pull through?” That was a stupid question. I knew the answer already. She just said everything about my Mom’s condition. After the doctor heard my question, she looked confused. She was probably thinking why I asked that stupid ass question. Then she walked out. She didn’t even take my breathing mask off.

“How rude!” I thought to myself. 

A little while later I was called out into a proper check-up area. It had been so long since I had been in one. Whenever I get my check-ups, it’s usually in an x-ray area. I’m not sure why, but my Mom used to make depressing faces when she saw the results. I never thought much of it though. 

Finally after an hour of waiting, a doctor came in. My vision was getting better so I could see his nametag. Oh nice, his name was Zach. That is my best friend's name. That was cool to me, I’m not sure why though.

“Lay down on the bed,” he said in a shallow, scratchy voice. Then he went away, typing on the computer. 

“Seager, Micheal. Height, 6,1. Weight, 170, Age, 17” I got offended when I saw the height. 

“Hey,” I said. “I’m 6,2, not 6,1.” I have no idea why I wanted to correct him. I did anyway though. 

“Yeah whatever,” He said in response. I don’t think he liked his job much. After that he proceeded to do the normal check-up stuff. You know, see if your back is straight. See if you had trouble breathing, which I did. And check vision.

“This is your second time to the hospital this month,” He said. “Is that correct?”

“Yes it is.”

“Can you tell me anything about this time, why are you here again?” He said, I could tell he was waiting to ask me that question. His voice became a little more, lively and not as though it was the devil talking. I knew if I told the whole truth, he wouldn’t believe me and he would probably send me to therapy.

“Uh,” I said. I wonder what excuse I could make. “Well, I saw the guy pointing a gun at my Mom, so I tried to run over to her to try and prevent her from getting hurt. The next thing I knew I was in the back of an ambulance.” I hope he believed my story. It wasn’t that far off from the truth anyway.

“I see. So did you see the man’s face that held your Mom at gunpoint?” I tried thinking of an evil face. One that looked like they could kill someone if they wanted to. I could only think of Jay, though. I couldn’t seem to think of the man’s face that shot my Mom.

“No sorry, I don’t remember his face.” I was disappointed in myself. I have always been able to remember faces way too well. More so than anything else. These were different times though. New times. 

“I see,” The doctor went back to his old way of talking. Shallow and scratchy. “So you don’t remember anything about when you and our mother were held at gunpoint?”

“Well, when I asked him what his name was, he replied death. It was such a strange answer, but fitting.” He looked at me like I was crazy. Maybe he was going to be sent to a therapy class afterall.

“Thank you for your cooperation,” Dr. Zack said after minutes of typing on his computer. “You’re free to go” He said that like I was in a prison, finally getting free’d from my sentence.

“Thank you.” I had no idea where I should go, though. My Mom is still in the ICU, so I had no one to pick me up.

I was traveling the hall, then I saw a familiar face running down the hall. It was the nurse that greeted me when I awoke. 

“There you are,” She said. “Micheal, I need to talk to you.” I was worried about what she needed to talk to me about. Was it about my Mom’s condition, if it was I wasn’t in the mood for my day to be ruined.

“Uh,” I said, completely caught off guard. To think of it, I wasn’t going to be able to work at my Project Pacific. “What do you need? Is it about my Mom?” 

“No it’s not,” She said. “It’s about your living arrangement. After your Dad found out about your and your mothers hospitalization, He went crazy and is nowhere to be found.” Of course he wasn’t around, I mean he was never around to begin with. Now he is truly missing, though.

“What about my living arrangement?” I asked. Since my Dad was missing, I had nowhere to stay, and I did not want to live in a foster home. Where else could I stay, though.

“You actually have options,” she said. I was very happy when I learned that I actually had choices. “You can either stay in a very nearby hotel with a gym. You also have the choice of staying in the hospital, but we may fill up rooms soon because there are a lot of reckless people out there. Or if you really wanted to, you could stay in a foster home.”

It wasn’t even a hard choice though. I am of course picking the hotel because I need the gym to strengthen my body. To fight back against anyone.

“Uh” I said. “I’ll pick the hotel. How would I pay for it though?”

“That’s the thing,” She replied without even pausing to think about what she was saying. “The hospital would pay for two months of living in the hotel, with the maids checking in on you throughout the day to make sure you are okay. You also have the option of visiting your Mom whenever you feel like.” This was great news! I could somewhat have my summer back. Having the freedom of living by myself before I even turn 18!

[just-things-things]

Peter Stark was kidnapped on a warm summer day when he was six years old. In Miami, he had been swimming with his father in their backyard when his father heard a crash come from the house. The man recalled this day in his mind many times. Sometimes, he wonders if everything was made-up, if his mind was forcing him to believe something completely different. He wonders if he told his son where he was going, “I’ll be right back Pete.”

His son grinned back at him, always such a trusting boy. Reaching the patio door, Tony listened to eerie silence. It made his veins run cold, activating the Iron Man wrist, he kicked open the door. As soon as it opened, a racoon scurried away, scaring the living daylights out of him, and causing him to shoot a rocket, shattering the glass door.

Tony sighed in relief; he’d have JARVIS check over the footage later to see how the rodent got in. He took his time getting back outside, especially now that he knew there was no real threat and that his boy was always extra careful. He decided to put together their lunches and grab extra juice boxes.

Emerging from the house, he called, “Pete! Come eat!” Beginning to pick up the scattered glass, he heard footsteps running toward him. About to scold the boy to watch out for the glass, he was shocked when it was R-2 charging him instead. Peter had insisted on getting a dog, despite Tony’s allergy for them. He truly would do anything to make him happy, “Peter, c’mon, I know you’re hungry!”

With no response, he stepped over the glass and began his trek to the pool area, his pace quickening the longer the silence remained. With the area in sight, Peter was nowhere to be found. Tony rushed over, glancing inside the water to make sure Peter hadn’t fallen in.

Checking behind the trees and crevasses in his yard, the man called for his son, “Peter! Peter, where are you?” His yelling became more frantic by the second, “Peter, this isn’t a game! Come out right now!”

Tony had checked the entirety of the backyard, still missing a response. Rushing into the house, screaming the boy’s name, his thoughts ran wild. Sure, Peter was a small kid. He just hadn’t found him yet. And kids loved to play hide and seek, of course they did. Peter was here. He was safe.

“JARVIS,” he barked, mentally cursing. Peter would have scolded him for that, “Where’s Peter?”

The cool, British accent made him even more irritated, “It seems Master Peter is not located within the house.” After Tony shoved another door out of his way, the AI suggested, “Mister Stark, would you like me to enable the outer drones?”

“Yes!” Tony was seething, opening the front door, he watched as a drone took off from the roof. He had the best technology in the country, if not the best in the world. JARVIS would find him. Maybe Peter had just found a hole big enough in the gate to fit through.

Two hours and twelve minutes later, SHIELD would arrive at his house. Three hours and fifty-six minutes later, Peter Stark would be pronounced missing. His face would be broadcasted across national television for days, his name covering all the newspapers.

Pepper and Rhodey would later find him at a SHIELD compound, demanding Fury to set up a missing persons unit within the organization. He held tightly to R-2’s leash, nose running and eyes watering, but god damn it, his kid was missing and nothing else mattered more than that.

Fury agreed to help the man find his child, under the circumstances that he wouldn’t get involved with their work. After negotiation, Tony allowed this if he could look on his own without interfering with their work.

Rhodey and Pepper escorted him back to Stark tower, deciding it was the best if their friend stayed away from the crime scene. They stayed for an extra two more weeks making sure Tony got at least six hours of sleep and enough food in him.

They wanted to find their nephew as badly as Tony did, but they knew it would be a lost cause if he was only working on half a mind.

One year later, Peter’s missing persons case was closed. After the police stopped looking, SHIELD also went down. Tony offered to pay them as much they needed to keep the unit up and running, but Fury had broken it down to the barest essentials, even if it left Tony feeling defeated, “Stark. There’s no footage, no witnesses, and no clues or hints. It would take a miracle to find him. SHIELD doesn’t have time for miracles, he’s a lost cause.”

Tony got in a couple punches before a guard restrained him. Getting back to the tower was easy, and his fury only caused him to search harder. He wanted to prove Fury wrong. His son wasn’t just a lost cause. Peter, now seven, was still out there, he knew it. Maybe a father’s instinct some would call it. He was alive, Tony just had to find him.

-----------

On August 10, Tony, Pepper, and Rhodey began a new tradition. Peter would be eight years old now. Together, they’ll design the missing boy a room at Stark tower. It’s right across from his own, the door decorated with Star War’s ships and droids.

When inside, they’re encountered with dark blue walls with custom painted Star War’s characters on them. His bed sheets and comforter has a galaxy design coating it. The rest of the room is outlined by white shelves covered in Knick Knacks. His walk-in closet is refreshed with new clothes trending in children magazines. Tony hopes he got the right size.

To complete the second half of the tradition, the trio hopelessly tries to bake a cake, (It’s mostly Pepper baking while Rhodey and him read off the directions.) Then, after everything has cooled off, they’ll go sit on Peter’s carpeted floor and eat the cake. R-2 will curl up on the bed and one slice will be left on the balcony until the birds find it.

Tony knows Peter’s coming home soon. It’s only a matter of time.

-----------

The tradition continues for three years with no problems. It’s not until the day before his boy’s birthday that Fury calls Iron Man and War Machine for a mission. Tony goes off on Cap when he tries to defend the man, of course, Rodgers might not know the full story, but he has no right to say, “The good of the people is more important than your personal interests, Stark. No matter what it is can wait, we have a job to do.”

If it weren’t for Rhodey, they probably would have spent more time getting “America’s righteous man” to a med bay than on the mission.

Nonetheless, they both make it back to the tower in time for cake on the floor. Tony decides he’ll have to redecorate Peter’s room tomorrow.

-----------

When Peter turn’s thirteen, his room is moved to the Avenger’s Compound where Tony is now residing. This time, only him and Pepper are decorating the boy’s room. Rhodey was pulled away for a mission in the Air Force.

The walls are now colored a forest green, accented by yellow and brown markings. Tony wonders if Peter would like it like this or prefer to switch the places of the desk and the bed. That’s ok, he’ll tell Tony when he gets home. He knows Peter is coming home this year.

Pepper and Tony eat the cake in silence, the only noise is R-2’s steady breathing.

-----------

During the next birthday, Tony spends it alone. He’s forced to buy a store-bought cake after he almost makes the oven explode. He makes sure to buy the best one he can find, a three-tiered vanilla cake decorated with chocolate swirls.

In the end, it’s not the same. He wonders if Peter savor the taste, leaving a comically large piece of cake on the windowsill.

-----------

The week before Peter’s fifteenth birthday, they’re forced to put R-2 to sleep when she is unexpectedly diagnosed with cancer. When the day does come, Tony’s alone again in Peter’s room. It’s unchanged, and the cake is starting to make him sick.

Now, there’s no dog resting on his leg, no best friend across from him and sharing the cake, or hope. Tony realizes one thing, Peter’s never coming home. He wonders if his boy is still alive, if his son is in another country.

Maybe someone else rescued him, maybe he doesn’t remember Tony at all, maybe he’s living with an entirely different family.

Tony wishes for one thing as he blows out the birthday candles:

“Please, be happy.”

-----------

You made it this far, come check me out on ao3 @justpeterparkerthings !

[worryinglyinnocent]

Fic: Haven (23/50)

Summary: They say Resembool is a haven, and they’re right. Lush pastures, quaint country town, farmers’ markets on Saturdays: a bucolic paradise.

But it’s more than that. Resembool is a haven for the runaways, the deserters, the people who don’t want to be found…

The Resembool community knows there’s something odd about Hohenheim, but they’re not going to let that stop them helping him out. This is Resembool after all, a place where no one has to hide and neighbours help neighbours, be they building a fence, chasing a sheep, or trying to save the country from an evil they inadvertently helped release centuries ago…

Or: A series of slices of life in an AU in which Hohenheim never leaves, and several broken state alchemists find hope and home in Resembool.

Rated: T

==

Haven

[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [AO3]

Summary: Trisha decides that she and Hohenheim need a date night. Sherman and Marcoh volunteer to babysit. What could possibly go wrong?

Characters: Marcoh, Sherman (OC), Ed, Al, Trisha

==

When Ab volunteered herself and him for babysitting duty after Trisha lamented not having had a date night since Ed was born, Tim was convinced that she had in fact lost the plot. Tim has no experience with children, and he’s fairly sure that Ab doesn’t either, and he’ll be very surprised if they manage to get to the end of the night with no one getting killed or arrested. Tim has lived through a lot, and yet the idea of spending two hours with the Elric brothers is one of the most terrifying things that he can imagine. How does one go about entertaining children anyway?

When he voices the thought to Ab as they walk up the hill towards the Elric house, she just looks at him.

“Tim, these are Hohenheim’s kids. You know exactly how to entertain them.”

“Ab, you are not teaching those children alchemy!”

“They’ve been learning since they were three! They live and breathe the stuff!”

He can see that he’s not going to convince her that it’s a bad idea, and he’s given up even hoping that no one will be killed or arrested by the end of the night. 

Trisha opens the door and lets them in; Tim has never seen her wearing make-up and not wearing an apron before. Thankfully, Hohenheim looks just the same as he always looks. Tim doesn’t think he can handle any more surprises tonight. 

“They’ve had dinner and they know they’re not allowed any more snacks before bed,” Trisha explains. “So don’t give in however much they might beg. They can stay up until we get home if they want.”

“What are the rules on alchemy?” Tim asks, in the vain hope of heading Ab off at the pass.

Trisha just laughs, which is not at all reassuring, and shows them through to the living room where the boys are playing.

“Boys, Dad and I are going out now. Be good for Miss Ab and Dr Tim.”

“We will.”

Almost as soon as Trisha and Hohenheim leave the house, Ab gives a massive grin, rubbing her hands together.

“Ok kiddos. Who wants to have a go at some whirlwind alchemy?”

The response to this suggestion is an enthusiastically positive one, and Tim groans inwardly. The boys pull on coats and shoes over their pyjamas - at least it’s a mild summer night - and Ab herds them into the garden, showing them how to draw out her basic circle on the ground. Tim supposes he should be thankful that she had the sense not to attempt whirlwind alchemy indoors. 

It’s good to see Ab confident about using her specialised alchemy again though. It took over a year for her to come back to it after she left Ishval and rendered her tattoos useless. Tim hasn’t reached the stage of being comfortable returning to bioalchemy yet. The memories of his time involved in Philosopher’s Stone research are still far too fresh, especially given the conversations that he’s had with Hohenheim since he’s been in Resembool.

"Ok kids, I think we're ready. Tim, there's no need to look like we're about to blow the house down."

Tim raises an eyebrow, and Ab sighs.

"Tim, I am a professional. I promise you that I will not let anyone blow the house down."

Tim remains unconvinced, and is on the verge of drawing up a wall circle that he can activate and throw up to protect the little whitewashed house from what he is certain is going to be imminent destruction. The boys don't seem to notice his consternation and kneel down on the ground, pressing their hands against the circle to activate it. The lightning races around the edge and lights up the array, and they grin at each other. 

"The first thing you need to do is feel the particles in the air like you feel them in the ground when you do earth-based alchemy," Ab says, getting down on the ground with them, her hands hovering over the circle. "Lift your hands off the circle and see if you can feel the air particles. It's a bit harder because they're not tightly packed, but you should be able to feel them moving."

Despite still fearing for his safety, it's nice to see Ab teaching again. Tim knows she always intended to take an apprentice and pass on the secrets of whirlwind alchemy before Ishval happened, and teaching the Elric brothers is about as good a stopgap as she's going to get in the meantime. At least now she's teaching it to those who aren't likely ever to have to use it in service of the state. They've all used their alchemy for destructive ends for so long that sometimes it's hard to remember that it has positive uses as well, rather than just being bent to the military's will. 

"Once you feel the air particles, you need to make them move in the direction that you want them to move in; just like you change the order of the earth particles to make it into a different shape. We're going to make the air into a different shape. It's easiest like this." Ab holds her hands out horizontally, palms together but not quite touching, and makes little circular motions. Tim's seen her throw tornadoes off her palms like lightning and it's mesmerising to see it all in slow motion. A tiny whirlwind begins to form between her hands, and the boys copy her. Ab smiles at their exclamations of wonder, and adjusts their hand positions. 

"Now you can send the air wherever you want it to go. Let's stick with that direction."

Ab throws off her tiny whirlwind away from the house and the tree, and it soon fizzles out in the existing breeze. Perhaps another time, Tim would wonder what he was so worried about, but he's still not convinced that everything's going to be all right yet. 

The boys follow suit, their own little whirlwinds fizzling out soon after, and the light from the transmutation circle fades, this batch of tectonic energy used up. 

"Can we try again?"

"Go for it. Just don't aim the air towards the house or you'll give Tim a heart attack."

The kids continue to practice their little tornadoes for a while and Ab stands back, always ready to catch any wayward whirlwinds and redirect or flatten them. Eventually, the evening gets too cold for them to stay outdoors, and they go back inside. Tim tasks himself with making tea whilst Ab fields question after question about whirlwind alchemy from the boys. 

"What would you use it for?"

"The air's a good source of energy. Think about windmills. We can use whirlwind alchemy to make sure that the windmills are always able to go around and keep working."

It’s good to remember that alchemy can be used to help rather than hurt. 

The boys are evidently getting tired as the pace of their rapid-fire questioning slows, but they’re still awake, if drooping a little, when the front door opens and Trisha and Hohenheim return. 

“Hey boys.” Trisha comes over and gives each of them a kiss, both of them attempting to fend her off with exclamations of grossness. “Were you good for Miss Ab and Dr Tim?”

“Miss Ab taught us Whirlwind alchemy!” Al exclaims.

“Did she now?” Trisha just grins.

“Yeah, we can make windmills go now! Well, only little ones. But I’m sure we’ll get better!”

“I’m sure you will. Now, you go up and clean your teeth, and Dad and I will come tuck you in in a minute.”

The boys protest that they’re not tired, but since the protests are punctuated by long yawns, they give in easily and shuffle up the stairs. 

“They were good as gold,” Ab says to Trisha. “It was good to share my secrets with such enthusiastic pupils again. I know we’ve said it so many times before, but they really do have a natural gift for it. I reckon they could learn any branch they put their mind to.” For a moment, Ab looks wistful. “They’re in the best place, here in Resembool,” she says eventually. “Here where they’ll be hidden, nice and safe away from Bradley and the State Alchemist program wanting to get their claws into their talents.”

“Oh, don’t worry. We’ll make sure no one gets their claws into anyone.” Trisha sounds so bright and optimistic but there’s inner steel there; it’s one of the many qualities that Tim admires in her. 

He and Ab say their goodbyes and leave the house, and Ab gives a happy sigh as they make their way down the hill in the dark. 

“I like to think that one day there’ll be a generation of alchemists who aren’t as screwed up as we are, who can really take it back to its roots and use it for good.”

Tim likes that thought, too.