#April's Attic

[nugothrhythms]

"Toughen Your Act" by Belfast, Ireland-based shoegazey gothic punk act Hidden Hand off of 2022 album April's Attic

[whippetcrimes]

!

[planetbeanie]

Today’s beanie of the day is

Lawerence the Camel

Birthday- 4/20/1999

[rastronomicals]

April 8:

On this date in 1975, Aerosmith released their third LP, Toys in the Attic.

On this date in 1997, a compilation album chronicling Howlin' Wolf and entitled His Best, came out.

This record along with several others was released in conjunction with the celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of Chess Records

On the 8th of April, 2008, the 305 sludge metal band Torche delivered Meanderthal, their second full-length studio album.

Today is the 10th anniversary of the release of Under Color Of Official Right, Protomartyr's second album.

[boltedgarlic]

04/24/2008

[teddy-bear-naps-and-random-snaps]

[drmedusagrey]

April's taken over Izzie's room, which was fine when it was temporary. But I live in the attic, and I sleep next to Christmas ornaments.

[pinceauarcenciel]

Full piece for Heart & Home the @fmatriozine! aka Why Al loves cats so much: origin story

🥧 Leftover sales are open until April 1st! 🥧

※ Fanart: Fullmetal Alchemist / Hagane no Renkinjutsushi © Arakawa Hiromu / Square Enix

One thing I relate with the golden trio is growing up in a small countryside village with as many farm animals as humans, if not more. As kids, we often visited the nearby farmer and explored the barn attic to meet the barn cat and her little kitties (and even kept one who became a very beloved family member)

[gardenwalrus]

Contact sheet of Astrid Kirchherr's photographs of John Lennon, taken in the attic of the Kirchherr family home, Hamburg, April 1962

Astrid Kirchherr photographed both John Lennon and George Harrison in this photo session. The photos were taken shortly after the death of Stuart Sutcliffe, who had used the attic as his art studio.

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

January 19, 2025

Heather Cox Richardson

Jan 19, 2025

You hear sometimes, now that we know the sordid details of the lives of some of our leading figures, that America has no heroes left.

When I was writing a book about the Wounded Knee Massacre, where heroism was pretty thin on the ground, I gave that a lot of thought. And I came to believe that heroism is neither being perfect, nor doing something spectacular. In fact, it’s just the opposite: it’s regular, flawed human beings choosing to put others before themselves, even at great cost, even if no one will ever know, even as they realize the walls might be closing in around them.

It means sitting down the night before D-Day and writing a letter praising the troops and taking all the blame for the next day’s failure upon yourself in case things went wrong, as General Dwight D. Eisenhower did.

It means writing in your diary that you “still believe that people are really good at heart,” even while you are hiding in an attic from the men who are soon going to kill you, as Anne Frank did.

It means signing your name to the bottom of the Declaration of Independence in bold print, even though you know you are signing your own death warrant should the British capture you, as John Hancock did.

It means defending your people’s right to practice a religion you don’t share, even though you know you are becoming a dangerously visible target, as Sitting Bull did.

Sometimes it just means sitting down, even when you are told to stand up, as Rosa Parks did.

None of those people woke up one morning and said to themselves that they were about to do something heroic. It’s just that when they had to, they did what was right.

On April 3, 1968, the night before the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated by a white supremacist, he gave a speech in support of sanitation workers in Memphis, Tennessee. Since 1966, King had tried to broaden the Civil Rights Movement for racial equality into a larger movement for economic justice. He joined the sanitation workers in Memphis, who were on strike after years of bad pay and such dangerous conditions that two men had been crushed to death in garbage compactors.

After his friend Ralph Abernathy introduced him to the crowd, King had something to say about heroes: “As I listened to Ralph Abernathy and his eloquent and generous introduction and then thought about myself, I wondered who he was talking about.”

Dr. King told the audience that if God had let him choose any era in which to live, he would have chosen the one in which he had landed. “Now, that’s a strange statement to make,” King went on, “because the world is all messed up. The nation is sick. Trouble is in the land; confusion all around…. But I know, somehow, that only when it is dark enough, can you see the stars.” Dr. King said that he felt blessed to live in an era when people had finally woken up and were working together for freedom and economic justice.

He knew he was in danger as he worked for a racially and economically just America. “I don’t know what will happen now. We’ve got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn’t matter…because I’ve been to the mountaintop…. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life…. But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will. And He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over. And I’ve seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land!”

People are wrong to say that we have no heroes left.

Just as they have always been, they are all around us, choosing to do the right thing, no matter what.

Wishing you all a day of peace for Martin Luther King Jr. Day 2025.

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

[ace-and-the-rpg-horrors]

three whole times that PJSK characters have caused me physical injury because i don't shut up about any of these incidents

most infamous and memorable one. when i first saw Akito's lim card for the filming event, i was sat outside on the college stairs with my friend. i was so shocked at how ugly that card was that i choked and the coughing fit was intense enough to move one of my ribs a little. my friend witnessed me nearly die because of Akito fucking Shinonome. embarrassing.

our other Shinonome is not entirely innocent either, my apologies, Ena. i was up in my attic, vibing to Infinitely Grey. i fell down the attic stairs.

the most recent- and long-lasting injury. last month, i was having a great time listening to the absolute banger that is the April Fool's version of Six Trillion Years. while dancing around, i slipped on a rug and fully twisted my ankle. it bent inwards. i sprained it. i had to see a doctor for this one. i could not walk for two days. it still feels funny sometimes. cheers, Ichika, An and- Ena. again.

[my-darling-boy]

Artefact No. 1 — Musical figurine, 1916

Found in the attic of a house belonging to an elderly woman long since passed. The figurine looks to be custom made, possibly meant to resemble the recipient’s son depicted in a small photograph tucked away in the base. However, its maker is unknown as well as why it was in the woman’s possession. It is thought to be a memento commissioned to remember her son Pte. T. J. Belrose when he went overseas in 1916. The inscription on the bottom reads, “My heart is always with you”. Pte. Belrose died on the 12th of April 1918 at 22 years old. The young couple who moved into the house noticed a strange melody coming from the attic at night and soon discovered the musical memento thankfully intact. Though the figurine no longer spins, it continues to mysteriously play music on its own without winding the key, most notably at 12:04 just after midnight.

[doyourememberrocknrollradio]

Toys In The Attic (Live From The Office Depot Center, Sunrise, FL, April 3, 2004) - Aerosmith

[planetbeanie]

April 8th birthday perchance?

You share a birthday with Velvet the Rabbit!

[alwerakoo]

'Keep the car running'

TMNT 2012 Leonardo & Raphael & Donatello & Michelangelo Written for @tmnt-secret-santa-2024 PROMPT: Rainstorm

AO3

---

It's April who first finds the box.

The attic of the Farm House is a dusty place - full of sheet-covered furniture, old lamps, and cobwebs.

The winter air brushes past the small window - unfinished and bordered with yellow foam and insulation.

Leo has never been in an attic before. He wishes it wasn't so cold.

The chill settles in his bones like needles, digging into his muscles and making his knee buckle.

He knows April and Raph saw him limp up the ladder, but she didn't say anything.

He's not really sure why they brought him along.

Maybe to just get him out of bed.

The thought that he's now the type of person that needs to be tricked into getting out of bed makes him want to close in on himself until there's nothing left.

April looks back at him and smiles. It looks genuine. He's not sure what she's smiling about; he has done and accomplished exactly nothing besides staring out the window and turning an old toy car in his hands.

(He's still holding it. Mikey might like it.)

But she looks kind and pretty in the blue winter sun, so he forces a smile back.

It's not like Raph has been any help either.

He's currently sitting on the edge of an old drawer, and he almost has to bend in half to not hit his head on the slope of the roof.

He somehow makes it look almost casual, and if Leo were anyone else, maybe he wouldn't notice his sai, tucked away behind his wrist, carefully carving away at the wood.

“It must be somewhere in here,” April says, maybe more to herself than to Leo.

She reaches for another box, tucked deeper into the corner, pushing a stack of books over in the process.

That makes Raph look up, briefly.

They're looking for an old camera her family used to own, that probably doesn't work anymore but it's still worth a try.

The boredom really is rotting them from the inside out.

April cuts the tape holding the carton box together using a pocketknife - with the precision of a skilled fighter and the carelessness of a teenager.

She cuts her finger, but only a little.

Raph walks to stand behind her, maybe to make sure she doesn't take out a whole hand next - or maybe just to peek inside the box.

“Woah,” he says suddenly, which is an unexpected reaction. Then he laughs, which is more his style. “Is this yours?”

April scoffs, looking behind her shoulder to glare at him.

“What are you laughing at? You're a dick,” she says, without any real vigor, which means she's not really upset.

Probably. Leo doesn't pretend like he always understands his friend. Or girls, for that matter.

He walks up to them, and when his knee swells with pain, he doesn't let it show. If he did, they would start asking why he never uses the cane Donnie made for him, and he'd rather deal with hundreds of needles tearing his flesh apart, than to answer that particular question.

At first, he's not quite sure what he's looking at.

It's maps and books, handmade drawings, journals, something like suspenders, and strangest of all - a dusty pair of binoculars.

“It's my dad's,” April explains. “I think he used to be really into bird-watching when we still lived in the countryside.”

That makes a bit more sense. Leo was wondering why there were so many birds sketched onto the covers.

He goes to kneel down. It hurts, but if he doesn't sit right now, he might just fall over.

He's not really sure why he reaches into the box.

Maybe for something to do with his hands. Maybe he's just bored. Maybe it's already sitting right in front of him, and he'll die if he doesn't stop thinking about the pain.

He takes the first book in his hand.

It's small and heavy, and dusty; with a watercolor-ed bird looking right back at him from the cover.

He doesn't recognize it, which is not surprising because he doesn't know anything about birds.

The small text below the title lets him know it's a mockingbird, which might be a joke. He's not really sure.

“Wow,” Raph grins. “Didn't know your dad was an elite member of the Big Nerd Club.”

“Come up with something original for once, I'm begging you,” April says.

Leo knows he's been a little too silent for a little too long, but he can't bring himself to put the book down.

It's stupid and he shouldn't care, because he's sixteen, the city he left behind is being devoured from inside out, his father might be dead, and this is the last thing that should be on his mind.

And yet.

On days where he wakes early, right before dawn, like he's still being pulled along by old habits, like trying on clothes that don't quite fit him anymore – he likes to sit on the porch.

He likes the cold sharp air, how it fills in his lungs, how it shakes up his mind from the fog he so often finds himself in nowadays.

And when he sits there, he hears birds.

He always liked it, in an off-handed, natural way; the way he likes to hear wood splintering in the fireplace or the rain knocking on a window. Something he and many others have filed away as ''nice'' and simply never thought any more about it.

He looks at the mockingbird on the cover.

But maybe, he thinks. Maybe it would be nice to see them for once.

All of a sudden, Raph quiets.

And then there it is, that small moment where Leo can almost feel him think, his brain too fast to turn back now.

“You know,” Raph says, very quietly.

Leo puts the book down.

“No,” he answers without even hearing the question.

Raph raises his hands in a defensive gesture. Or at least Leo thinks it is; with his sai still held between his fingers it really could go either way.

“I didn't even say anything.”

“You did,” April says for Leo.

She sounds a little more upset now, and Raph looks slightly apologetic.

It makes something in Leo's stomach twist, because it used to be so hard to make Raph look visibly guilty about anything.

He's been walking on eggshells.

***

They find the camera in one of the boxes, virtually indistinguishable from the rest. It's old and smells of rust, but April says Donnie might get it to work.

He probably will.

Leo's muscles tighten when he walks back to the ladder.

That same evening, there's a box left on his bed.

***

He doesn't touch it for the first week.

Mostly out of some sense of pride. And because the thought of walking up a ladder again makes the skin in the back of his knees crawl.

But a week passes and then he's laying wide awake in the middle of the night – mind uneasily blank and the taste of blood in his mouth.

He was granted the privilege of having a whole room to himself – a small guest bedroom with a pullout sofa.

(April wanted to let him have her bed, which just felt wrong in a hundred different ways.)

He and his brothers haven't shared a room since they were little. He never realized this was something he was going to miss.

He sits in his bed, and it’s the first thing he sees.

Leo watches the box for a moment, like he's waiting for something that never happens. He's been doing that a lot lately.

He scoots to the edge of the bed to pull it closer, his fingers shaky and face numb, reaching one hand behind to turn on the lamp.

The mockingbird stares back.

He might get the joke now. It's not very funny.

The paper feels thin in his fingers.

His eyes glaze over the text, too hazy to catch anything. But they stay on the drawings.

Leo sits on his bed and watches those watercolor birds until it's morning again.

***

When he first wanders into the forest, he's not really sure what he's looking for.

Bird, preferably.

There's fresh snow on the ground, and his breath turns into white steam.

He's quiet and soft on his feet after years and years of practice, even when his bones grind against each other in a limp.

When he first sees them, he doesn't really know what to do with himself.

He stands there, his face cold and wet against his itchy scarf, and watches them from afar.

It's just birds: perfectly ordinary; stark against the white of the trees.

It's the first time in his life that he has ever considered mistaking a crow for a raven as anything remotely important, or even of any particular interest.

And yet – here he is.

He can't make up his mind; the vague images from the book too far away in his mind to be of any real use.

He fails. In a soft, gentle way.

He's still there, they're here, and next time: he'll know.

They don't sing so much as they scream, and it's all perfectly familiar and predictable.

He doesn't notice the time pass until his knee buckles.

***

He spots the bird after a few days.

It's not all that surprising; judging by the fact that he's the one stumbling upon what is presumably already a perfectly established routine.

The bird lands on a branch, like it's been doing it its whole life – which is probably true. It ruffles its feathers, all pale blues and grays; wings patterned like stained-glass.

He brought a chair this time. He tells himself that this is the sort of hobby that allows a kind of glamorized laziness, which is true enough.

He watches it sit, thrill quietly like an old wind-up toy waiting to be picked up.

It always made him think a little – how much animals seem to just idle. But they don't, not really.

They're doing exactly what they're supposed to.

He comes back the next day, and there are binoculars hung from his neck.

***

He forgets this is something he should be embarrassed about.

He's always been like this; maybe a little too enthusiastic and explosive about everything that made him the way he is. He wears his love on his sleeve, seemingly much to everyone’s annoyance.

They must've noticed, but it's only after a few weeks that someone asks.

“So, like.” Mikey interrupts himself, stuffing a thick sandwich that is mostly unevenly cut bread into his mouth. “Are you, like, an optician now?”

Leo frowns.

“What?”

He picks up more eggs on his fork. He's going to the forest right after breakfast, and he already learned the hard way how hunger makes the cold stick to his bones.

He didn't even realize how little he's been eating until now.

Donnie puts down his fork, running a hand over his forehead.

“Ornithologist,” he says, a little tired. “Is that what you mean?”

“Hey, give him some credit,” Raph huffs. “I'm surprised he even knows what that word means.”

Leo sits on their words for a moment, absentmindedly watching Casey trying to slip more of his eggs into Donnie's glass.

“I just like going outside,” he says, finally. Then, just to be a little mean: “You should try it sometime, Don.”

***

The next time he leaves, he leaves behind a handful of seeds, shamelessly stolen from April's coop. He's sure she wouldn't mind.

When he comes back, they're gone.

He can't know, but he likes to think the blue bird was at least a bit grateful.

***

“It's a bluejay,” he says during dinner. He knows this now, and it fills him with unreasonable pride. “The bird I keep seeing.”

Raph raises his head, and almost imperceptibly – looks at Donnie. They share a glance, the sort they seem to exchange a lot of lately.

They must know Leo can see it, and that makes something angry and bitter spark up inside his chest. But it doesn't catch tonight.

“Cool,” Raph says.

“Is it a boy or a girl?” Mikey asks, mouthful of Donnie's half-raw chicken.

Leo pokes at his empty plate.

“... I don't know. They're hard to tell apart.”

But that makes his brain tick.

***

It's a girl.

He spends hours poring over his books to figure it out, and it makes him wish he could call April's dad.

(That thought makes his stomach hurt until he lays down for the night.)

He tells Mikey over a game of monopoly, where half the pieces are long missing, and most of the rules are made up and change every time.

“That's so cool,” he says. “Can I name her? I'm great at naming things.”

Leo doesn't offer to let him see her, and Mikey doesn't ask.

***

The bluejay they named 'Clunk' likes to ruffle her feathers when she lands.

That's mostly how he tells her apart from the others.

There's a sort of foolish, egotistical part of him that likes to think he'd know Clunk even without it; that he'd be able to point her out in a crowd of others with his eyes closed. It's probably not true.

But he's able to point Clunk out when she sits on her branch and ruffles her feathers, and that's good enough for now.

He started to call her 'his'.

His Clunk.

She's not a pet. He's not sure she knows he's anything more than part of the everchanging background.

He thinks he likes it this way.

The thing is – he's not really sure why birds grab him in the way they do.

He thinks them pretty, sure. But there's also that itch he hasn't been able to scratch for so long; doing something new and doing it right.

Failing makes him want to come back over and over again, just to finally get it right.

There are no stakes. If he fails, there are no broken bones, no failed missions, no disappointed gazes. Her life doesn't weigh down on his shoulders with the force of an entire world.

He cares for her, of course. Maybe unreasonably so. But he could disappear, and her life would go on like always.

She'd ruffle her feathers, aim her gaze where his chair used to be, and maybe, for just a moment – linger.

And that's enough.

***

He measures time in pain.

Or more carefully – the lack thereof.

It's still rare, more of a sudden gasp than a deep breath, but his bones ache just a little less, his shell smooths just a little bit.

He started using Donnie's cane.

It's blue and fits into his grasp like a perfect mold, and he knows they're looking at him.

He knows the worry in their eyes looks deceptively close to pity; he knows they talk about him when he's not there.

But he lays it out for himself one night.

Or rather – Donnie does, rather incessantly, probably resisting the urge to hit him over the head with that cane.

It's this, or it's no cane, no walks, and no birds.

He hates that this is something they can hold over his head so easily now.

(Or at least, for the most part. It feels good to be known.)

April tells him he looks 'distinguished', which makes Raph laugh so hard he almost falls over.

Leo still takes that to heart. His chest is warm.

***

Months pass with winter, and the snow falls and melts.

There are more birds in the forest now. He notes them down, compares pictures in books and sketches, listens to so many new voices.

Clunk keeps coming back.

His heart feels full.

***

The rain starts out soft at first. He feels it coming in his knee.

He falls asleep to its rhythm, and it's still there in the morning, falling down the dusty windows they still hadn't come around to cleaning.

He only starts to worry in the evening.

The wind picks up, and April tells them it might be a storm.

It is.

Leo sits on the couch, rubbing his hands together.

He hasn't gone outside today, and his body itches.

“You good?” Casey asks when he starts to chew on his nail.

“... I'm worried about Clunk.”

Honesty is hard and it passes through his throat like he might choke on it.

His brothers quiet.

They're all sitting in the living room, and he can see their worry lines in the faint light of candles.

“... She's a bird,” Casey says.

April jabs him with her boney elbow for it, and he winces in pain, grabbing at his ribs.

“Yeah,” Mikey adds. “She's, like, built for this.”

Leo twitches.

His leg aches like a pile of old bones.

“She's gonna be okay. She's a tough lady, right?” Raph looks to Donnie, like he would know.

And Donnie nods, like he does.

Bluejays can mimic hawks. It's a defense mechanism. They open their beaks and make a sound that makes every small animal turn its head, fur stand straight on their collars, feathers ruffle.

But they're not hawks. They can bend their wings, break their bones, strain their voice all they want to, and still – they never will be.

Leo looks outside.

They forgot about the chairs on the front porch. The wind pushes them back against the railing, cold and loud.

The wood splinters.

Leo stands.

And then he runs.

***

The ground is wet and soft under his feet, and it's hard to imagine it was ever solid.

It's slippery and uneven, and he falls over himself over and over again.

His knee burns though his flesh.

He must've hit it somewhere. There's mud layering a patch of raw skin, pinkish and ugly.

He used to be the fastest out of his brothers.

Now, they catch up to him before he even gets past the tree line.

It's Mikey who grabs his arm first, pulling him to a harsh stop.

His hold hurts and Leo wants to scream. He wants to shred his throat raw, and he wants to dig into his own skin until he finds the part that betrays him again and again.

He thinks he might be angry.

Just maybe, because when Mikey turns him around to pull him into a hug, he falls limp.

“Dude,” Mikey breathes. Leo barely hears him over the wind. “What the fuck?”

“I'm”

He wants to say something, anything, but his face falls numb, stuck on his own thoughts.

Mikey shouts something over his shoulder. Suddenly, there's something wet and miserable that might've once been a blanket thrown over his shoulders.

“Fearless” Raph says, now in his line of sight. “She's not there, she's gonna be alright.”

“You don't know that,” Leo whispers.

He doesn't think Raph hears him over the wind. He's squinting at the harsh rain, leading Leo back to the house.

He supposes he'll have to trust Raph on his one.

Leo's cold.

He's cold, he's in pain, he's a useless son, he's a bad leader, he's a bluejay and he's so very afraid.

***

In the morning, the sky is clear.

He wakes up on the touch, feeling every muscle and joint in his body simmer like a burned-out cigarette.

Raph sits by the couch and doesn't say anything for a long while. Until he finally does:

“Do you want to see her?”

Raph takes him by the arm, which makes Leo feel like crying for a whole number of reasons.

But they don't get to leave before Mikey runs into them in the hallway, and subsequently – puts the entire house back on their feet.

April hands him tea in a pink thermos, before she even thinks to brush out her hair, and he takes it without a word, but a lot sitting on the edge of his tongue.

He never brought anyone else with him, and he realizes there's only one chair a little too late.

Raph doesn't seem to mind.

He crosses his legs on the ground, picking at his nails with his sai.

They sit and wait for hours.

This part of the forest doesn't seem all that changed, besides a few branches in places where they shouldn't be.

But it's unusually quiet, and Leo doesn't think to drink any of his tea before it grows cold.

Raph puts a hand on his good knee, opens his mouth, but doesn't say anything.

There are things Raph wants to say, want to ask – Leo knows. Maybe he'll let him, eventually.

But now, he feels like his lungs have run dry. He feels like he's been holding his breath for years.

“I'm sorry I didn't take you here before,” he says.

It means a lot of different things.

Raph turns to look at him, and with that – there's a soft whistle.

Clunk lands on her branch, her wings shiny and vibrantly blue from the rain.

She ruffles her feathers.

Her eyes fall to Leo's chair, dark and full of sun. She tilts her head, and it's almost like a nod.

Leo breathes.

***

Donnie does get the camera working, eventually.

Not that any of them had any doubts about it, not really.

He lays it on the dinner table, folding his arms over his chest.

“There,” he says.

April's face lights up, and he just shrugs, like it was nothing.

Mikey is the one to pick it up first, turning it over in his hands.

“What do we wanna do first?” He asks.

He holds up the camera backwards, like his own selfie is the most logical answer. But then he hesitates, and his face turns into something a little more thoughtful but not unkind.

He turns back to Leo and hands him the camera.

“You pick,” he says.

Leo smiles.

And he already knows the answer.

[greattigerssimp]

Maybe childhood hc of the boxers (idk if this a weird req )??

It's not weird at all! Childhood hc's coming up + you can find more about their origins in my AU :>

Glass Joe 🇫🇷🥐

- Lived with his mom, dad, and his uncle, Gabriel (aka Gabby Jay). All his guardians all worked for very long hours (since living in Paris is pricey)

- His mom (Celine) and dad (Dion) were barely in his life because of it; Gabby was his primary caretaker

- Gabby was basically his best friend since he didn't have a lot as a child

- Has had asthma his whole life and was never ever good at sports or PE. (Bro does not smoke in this AU lmao)

- He's actually very smart! Loved writing and math, and is one of the few boxers that was able to go to college

- Some of his best childhood memories are with Gabby, whether it be going to see a play with him, or learning how to bake with him... they were insanely close.

- Went through a small emo phase when he was 13. He's still very embarrassed about it to this day.

Von Kaiser🇩🇪🔩

- Grew up in two different homes... for least part, he grew up with his ultra caring, ultra sweet single mom (named Emilia)... or for the most part, he grew up with his ultra strict, bigoted, and cruel grandparents (Agnes and Leopold)

- His grandparents are where his adulthood trauma stems from. They were horrible... as early as 6 years old, Kaiser was forced to cook, clean, have his bed made at 5 in the morning before school... that sorta thing.

- They punished hard, too. Name any outdated or cruel punishment towards a child, and they've probably done it. Screaming at him, breaking toys, locking him in the attic... and, of course, physical violence. Belt or hand, take your pick.

- Kaiser actually has a small premenant burn on his bottom left hip. It was when Agnes burned him with a hot pan as a kid... if anyone asks about it, he'll lie and quickly tell you it's a birthmark.

- Growing up with them, especially with his grandfather, he was taught to always bottle his feelings. This led him to being very social distant, both in school and when he eventually enrolled in technician school.

- His mom was pretty cool, though. She was an engineer (later an amputee, long after Kaiser moved out of Germany) and did her best to provide for her and her son. Because she had no other relatives and she didn't want Kaiser staying home alone every day (her job is very time demanding), she had to send him to live with his grandparents often.

- If his grandparents were alive today, they'd def be tweaking tf about Kaiser getting with not only a man but a French man.

Disco Kid 🇺🇲🕺

- Omg a childhood that isn't completely sad???

- Lived a comfortable, upper middle class with his mom (Zuri), his radio host dad (Kenneth), and his little sister, April.

- Naturally a very active child! He's been in and out of multiple sports, but dancing was by far his favorite.

- Also very close to his mom and adopted her love for disco and the 80s in general. They boxercise regularly together, and sometimes April will join them

- Certified prom king expert! The dude has completely owned every single school dance he's been to. This made him a popular kid with plenty of friends growing up.

King Hippo 🏝🦛

- Not much to say! Hippo was born an adult. He was a full-blown adult hippo before getting mutated into a human-hippo being. (See my AU for details)

- Has very few memories of his time on Hippo island... he just knows he was the leader of them, though.

Piston Hondo: 🇯🇵🥊

- Lived with his mom (Michi), his dad (Ryu), and his twin sisters, Aki and Aiko.

- Always busy. If he's not at school, he's most likely working at the family restaurant, called "Heart of the Hondo's, as a cook.

- Parents were strict but not outwardly abusive. They raised him right! Taught him responsibility, respect, discipline... everything that he is today.

- Aki and Aiko are little Aran Ryan level menace's... Hondo had to take care of them and make sure they never got into any trouble most days.

- Childhood friends with Heike Kagero ever since grade school.

- Very quiet, non-social kid, and mainly hung out with Heike. If he's not working or at school, he'd spend his time watching anime (mainly Sailor Moon) or reading manga. His sisters loooved teasing him about his love for Sailor Moon...

Overall, pretty good childhood! He has a lot of nostalgia for his childhood, too.

Bear Hugger 🇨🇦🐻

- Didn't have a very great relationship with his folks... at least not until his teen years, that is.

- His father (Caleb) was a big name hunter, and his mother (Elanor) specialized in taxidermy.

- They lived in a rural community in Salmon Arm, Canada.

- They weren't really mean or horrible people, but they didn't know Bear didn't agree with their actions... mainly because Bear never confronted them. At all.

- Got very rebellious as a teen and ran away from his folks one night with his squirrel, Spruce. To this day, his parents seriously think he got kidnapped or something, and nowadays, they actually have no idea Bear is a boxer now.

- Spent his whole childhood with Spruce and other animals. Ever since he was 4 years old, animals just had a natural gravitation towards him.

- Never saw his grieving parents again.

Great Tiger 🇮🇳🐯

- Legit doesn't remember his childhood well.

- He imagines it was pretty mundane and routinely.

- Thinks he had a childhood pet...? He could be wrong, though.

Don Flamenco 🇪🇸🥀

- Lived in a middle class home with his mom (Lucia) and his dad (Juan)

- His mom was VERY dotting and protective... girl would throw a shoe at you if you accidentally looked at her son the wrong way. She bragged about him a lot too. Girl definitely wore the pants in her relationship.

- Ofc, even if Don's mother was clingy and protective of her "sweet baby angel" son, it didn't stop a certain blonde tourists parents from convincing her to let Don leave Spain...

- In terms of childhood, Don was a very popular kid for how social he was. He wasn't a particularly behaved student though.

- Definitely became a jock in his team years, sporting a large male friend group.

- Loved by his community, especially after his dad introduced him to the matador business at a young age.

- Smaller hc here, but was definitely on a swim team. Idk, I feel like that'd be a thing.

- Even smaller hc; Lucia is actually Latina (from Columbia), and his dad is a native Spaniard. This makes Don mixed race, technically :3

Aran Ryan 🇮🇪😈

- Lived in the outskirts of Dublin with his father (Oscar), his 6 younger siblings, including the one was closest to the most, a year younger sister named Brooke.

- Grew up on a small sheep farm, with lots of responsibilities, similar to Hondo. He looked after his siblings, his siblings did farm work, and his father fed them that night. That's how it worked.

- Was homeschooled

- Fought with Brooke a lot, except he was always the instigator. Brooke was a sharp contrast to his personality, being an intellectual and a stickler for rules and safety.

- On again off again relationship with his dad. Some days and nights were awesome, but some nights and days were awful...

- His dad was a hard punisher, and he wasn't afraid to spank or use the belt. He also definitely played favorites with all of the siblings.

- Rowdy sibling, and got into trouble the most. Either that or his dad couldn't handle his adhd.

- Runs away during hard fights, either to a local pub or into a sheep pen

- Had this small childhood toy, a stuffed lamb he named "lucky," that he sleeps with every night... and to this day!

Soda Popinski 🇷🇺🍾

- Grew up in a small, low-income community with his mom (Petra), his hard working dad (Grigory), and his short older sister named Svetlana.

- Absolutely adored child. Basically friends with all his neighbors, and was known as this gentle, soft-spoken giant.

- Naturally very tall kid

- Him and Svetlana were nearly always on the same wavelength, it was almost scary at times. They were basically besties

- Worked as a box carrier alongside school

- Parents are humoursly short compared to him. Funnier because they're very sweet and supportive of him, but not to an overbearing extent

Bald Bull 🇹🇷🐂

- Social shut in + anger issues

- His autism made it hard to understand other kids, so he didn't have a lot of friends

- Can't remember his parents well

- Nothing too notable here

Super Macho Man 🇺🇸🌊

- Very rich actors' parents (Sophia and Lucas) that weren't really parents. They were more like acting agents for young Macho Man.

- Didn't do well at school, and was often taken out so he could focus on his inevitable acting career

- Looks SO different from how he did as a kid... as a kid, he was a tiny blonde boy with a cute smile and rosey dimples. A far cry from how Macho Man looks now...

- Loved the beach, but his parents never brought him there much. He'd sneak off with friends often to be at the beach. Loved swimming, surfing and the ocean.

- His parents dropped all contact with him once reports of him being a spoiled, terrible actor to work with made public. They didn't wanna take credit for the kid they raised lol

- Loved action movies as a kid, had a ton of merchandise

Mr. Sandman 🟢🥊

- First of all, dude will never spill the beans about his childhood if you ask.

- Had absolutely incredible parents that he loved a lot. He lived with his kindhearted, if shy mother (Destiny) and his strong, wise father (Miles).

- Loved boxing ever since he was a boy... his childhood room was adorable, adorned with posters, action figures, and even trading cards.

- Strong, sporty kid who participated in multiple little leagues. He laughed and smiled way more during fights as a kid...

- Moved to NY when he was a teen to get recognized... Mr. Dream picked him up for training and stardom.

- Saw his parents less and less the more he worked with Mr. Dream... but Mr. Dream needed full control over him for true greatness.

- His childhood officially ended when his parents never came home from work one day because Mr. Dream had them murdered...

If anyone wants childhood hc for any particular boxer not mentioned, please comment them!~