#Hailey Writes

[ironkissedmage]

I... I don't know what came over me, but here! Have this!

lonely, lonely little life (I could kid myself in thinking that I'm fine), 1.8k, G

Eddie is sitting on the couch, his foot elevated on a pillow that rests carefully on the coffee table and his untouched beer sitting open but warmed by time, when he hears a knock at his door.

For a moment, he wants to ignore it, to pretend he isn’t home to answer or that maybe the pain medicine he’s on has made him so tired he simply can’t get out of bed to answer the door. Immediately, a new wave of guilt rushes over him. He hadn’t realized he was doing it - ignoring Buck - but he was doing it even now. He wants to let Buck in and apologize; he wants Buck to come in on his own and apologize right back; he wants them to be the way they have always been. Eddie hadn’t realized when that had changed.

A minute passes while Eddie contemplates his position - in the world, in Buck’s life - and before he can force himself up off of the couch, he hears a key jumbling in the lock and then the door is open and Eddie isn’t sure he’s going to survive this.

“Eddie?” Buck calls from the door, unable to take another step inside on his own.

And guiltily, Eddie wants to leave him there. He wants Buck to think that he’s not home, that they can have this conversation another time when he doesn’t feel as much like he’s drowning, but then Buck calls for him again and he can’t stop his mouth from answering, “In here.”

read the rest on ao3

[heyhellohihowareyou]

I Wanna Kiss Your Lips

Day 1 of MaeIso week: Firsts/Lasts

Ao3 Link

It was currently New Year’s Eve and some time past 11:00 PM. Maehara and Isogai were currently sitting at Maehara’s backyard looking at the stars above them.

For a moment, Maehara turned his gaze at his boyfriend. Just looking at him made him smile. He wanted to kiss him before the year ended. Prior to this moment, they never had their official first kiss. While yes, Maehara has earned himself a couple of kisses on the cheek and forehead from Isogai, they never had their first ACTUAL kiss. Y’know, on the lips.

That thought ran through Maehara’s mind. Sure, he was long past having his first kiss but Isogai hasn’t. He could rush in and kiss him now but he wanted things to go smoothly. His boyfriend deserved the absolute best and Maehara wanted to give that to him.

Isogai noticed Maehara staring at him “What?”

“You’re like really pretty, you know that right?” Maehara said as he played with one of Isogai’s brunette strands of hair.

The boy before him turned away but it was obvious he was flustered.

“Pretty, huh?” Isogai said while still looking away, “Don’t you think “handsome” sounds more fitting?”

“What? Have a problem with being called pretty?”

“Well, no.”

Maehara couldn’t help but smile, “Well, I like calling you pretty so, I’m going to keep calling you pretty. That okay?”

“Yeah, it’s okay.” He paused before saying, “I like pretty.”

God, I love him, Maehara thought.

After that, they sat in silence for a couple of more minutes. Maehara checked his phone and saw it was already 11:45. If Maehara was going to kiss Isogai before midnight it had better be soon. Time was running out.

“Um, Hiro?” Just like that, Maehara was snapped out of his thoughts.

“Yes, Yuu?”

“Weird question, but uh, what was your first kiss like? Y’know like, on the lips.”

“My first kiss huh? Well, it wasn’t bad or anything. You remember Jun, right?”

Isogai thought for awhile then nodded, “Wasn’t she…”

“Yup, my first girlfriend.”

“Weren’t you guys like, ten?”

“It still counted! Anyways, we didn’t do much besides hold hands and hug a couple of times. One day during recess, she pulled me under the jungle gym and kissed me. She ran away afterwards.”

“Hm, I don’t think you told me that part.”

Smirking, Maehara moved his face towards Isogai’s closer, “You jelly?”

“No, I’m not.” Isogai tried to look away from him but Maehara moved closer. Rolling his eyes, Isogai pushed him away.

“Anyways, why’d you ask?”

“Well, no reason in particular.” His cheeks were beyond pink, “It’s just, uh, you know how we haven’t officially kissed yet, right? On the lips at least.”

“Huh, really? Haven’t noticed.” That was clearly a lie but Maehara wanted to see where this was going.

“Yeah, well, it is New Year’s Eve and all and it’s almost midnight and y’know what couples usually do at midnight?” He fiddled with his hands, “Well, uh, I guess what I’m trying to say is, um…” He gulped, “Can you kiss me?”

Maehara looked at Isogai for a moment before grinning, “Oh?”

He nervously chuckled, “Well, I don’t have any experience with kissing and you have like…a bunch.”

“Well, you didn’t have to put it like that now.”

“I figured that we should have our first kiss before the year ends. With you kissing me of course. Um, if that’s alright with you?”

“Why of course.”

He smiled, oh so wholesomely in Maehara’s eyes, “Great! So what should I do?”

Maehara leaned in and tilted his chin up, “Just sit there and look pretty as always. Okay?”

He nodded and closed his eyes.

It’d be a lie to to say that Maehara didn’t adore Isogai. So much so that he couldn’t help but just sit there and admire him for a bit.

He sat there in awestruck when Isogai peeked one of his eyes open and Maehara was quickly reminded of what he should be doing.

“Hey, keep your eyes closed!”

“Sorry sorry!” He shut his eyes and briefly laughed.

That small laugh of his was music to Maehara’s ears.

It was hard to tell if his heart was racing out of love or out nervousness. Both was the best option it seemed.

Like Isogai had said, Maehara was certainly over experienced when it came to the whole kissing thing. But he couldn’t remember the last time he felt this way. This nervous. Through all his time kissing girls it never felt as if his heart was going to beat out of his chest like it is now.

That was probably because Isogai wasn’t just some girl to him. He was so much more than that to him and he loved him with all of his heart.

Sensing Isogai was getting antsy, he finally put their lips together.

There were two words to describe it. Pure heaven. Both of them felt as if they were on cloud nine.

Maehara moved his hands to hold Isogai’s face and Isogai held them.

The kiss felt so different from the other ones Maehara had. It felt familiar. It felt comforting. It felt safe.

It felt right.

He didn’t want to stop honestly.

He could tell that Isogai didn’t want to either.

Unfortunately, the tender moment was interrupted by the booming, cackling sound in the sky.

They looked up and was greeted with extravagant fireworks above.

Maehara pulled out his phone and checked the time again. It was precisely 12:00am.

It was midnight.

Maehara looked up and smiled.

He sat there admiring the fireworks for a while and then turned his eyes back to his absolutely, lovely boyfriend.

Isogai wasn’t looking at the fireworks, instead he was touching his lips from what it seemed like absolute satisfaction and wonder. He closed his eyes and smiled to himself.

He put his gaze back onto Maehara and they locked eyes.

“So, how was that for your first kiss?”

He hummed, “It was nice. I loved it.” He took my hand and squeezed it, “I love you.”

“I love you too, Yuuma.”

He nodded and fiddled with his fingers, “So, how was the kiss for you?”

“You’re asking me?”

“Well, yeah! Is that weird?”

He shook his head, “It isn’t weird, okay? And if you enjoyed the kiss, of course I would as well. I loved it, too.”

“That’s good.”, Isogai looked up and leaned his head on Maehara’s shoulder, “Happy New Year’s, Hiro.”

Maehara put his head on top of Isogai’s, “Happy New Years, Yuu.”

[dumbasshailey]

When you're sick

DSMP

C!Wilbur and C!Techno

_________________________________________

Disclaimer: this is just an experiment ;⁠-⁠)

All of these will be the in game characters

_________________________________________

C!Wilbur

- when he finds out that you're sick he's doing presidency stuff

- He tries to finish quickly as possible and then stops at Nikis for some good soup, he would make it himself but Nikis is just better

- when he arrives he sees you bundled up in your bed with a fever

- he feels sad that he didn't arrive sooner to be by your side

- he gives you the soup and spoonfeeds it to you

- he helps you in every way possible to make you comfortable, he openes the windows for a little bit, he makes you tea with honey, he also gives you a damp towel to ease your headache

- when he does all he can think of to make you comfortable he starts singing to you to help you sleep

- it's just calming singing in hushed voice because he doesn't want to give you a headache

- he stays with you even after you fall asleep and the entire night

- when he has to go be president the next day he makes sure someone will come take care of you in the mean time

- this repeats until you're healthy, and then it takes at least 2 weeks of "are you dressed well? Won't you catch a cold again? Are you sure? Did you drink enought?"

- he cares a lot

C!Techno

- he cares but doesn't want to let it show

- he's not like stone-faced not at all, he can just keep his cool

- he brings you soup and claims Philza made it, when actually he made it, but he doesn't want you to know for some mysterius reason

- every time you fall asleep he makes sure your room has enough fresh air or that It's warm enought

- Niki and Ramboo keep you company when you're awake

- Techno doesn't really show up much until later in the evening when he comes to check on you, you usually make him read to you

- he does

- he acts annoyed but really he's happy

[jumioxox]

i desperately need them to be forced to go on a week long road trip

[radiocity]

The L Word: Lookbook ↳ 2.01, Life, Loss, Leaving

[study-coffee-chicago]

Glasses (A Halstead Brothers + Halstead Sister Imagine)

A/N: Thank you so much for reading and for sticking around with my sporadic posting! Please don't forget to vote and comment! 

I start my second year of my doctoral program next week and have been working 60 hrs/wk these past few weeks to save up for when I have less time during the school year. I don't know when I will post next, but I have an idea that I want to write and I've also been trying to write 300 words/day, which is very helpful in getting writing done. 

Anyway, sorry for the long author's note! Enjoy!

"You gonna go see my teacher now?" you asked after you and Jay walked into your elementary school one spring evening.

"Yup," Jay answered while he led you over to the small table set up right outside the room. It was stocked with coloring pages, markers, crayons, and a couple of books. "And you're going to sit right here while I talk to her, okay? I'll be right inside."

"And then we get ice cream after?"

"What was our deal?"

You sighed. "If I get a good re- re--" you scrunched up your eyebrows as you tried to remember the grown-up word that Jay had used earlier. "What's that word?"

"Report."

"Oh, yeah! If I get a good report, then I get ice cream."

"That's right."

"Mr. Halstead?" your teacher said as she stepped out of your classroom.

"Hi, Miss H!" You waved. "Please tell Jay I was good because I get ice cream then!"

Jay chuckled. "You'll just have to wait and see, kiddo. Now, be good while I talk to Miss H, okay?"

"Okay!" Then, you started flipping through the coloring pages to try and find one that you wanted to color.

***

"So, tell me the truth, is she a troublemaker?" Jay asked as he sat down across from your teacher. "I know for a fact me and my brother were, so it wouldn't surprise me."

You teacher smiled. "Y/N is anything but that. She does her work as assigned, gets her planner signed at night, and stays on task very well. She struggles with math, but that's understandable. Some take longer to learn math than others. But, she excels at reading. She said that you read with her and do flashcards with her every night."

Jay nodded. "We're working through The Chronicles of Narnia right now. Me, my wife, Hailey, or my brother, Will, will read that to her before she goes to bed, depending on who's with her due to our schedules. Then, the next night, we'll have her try and read to us. She's working on Junie B. Jones."

"Well, it's working. And, she's making more progress in her mad minutes for math than she was a month ago. Do you work on flashcards every day?"

"We try to," Jay answered. "Those we try to do right after school and give her a snack with it. Some would call it bribery, but it works."

"Keep doing what you're doing. It's been working really well." She paused. "There is one thing that has been concerning me about, Y/N." Jay furrowed his eyebrows as he continued to listen. "When we move seats for groups during partner reading and other times during the day, I noticed that she struggles to read what's on the board. Sometimes she'll squint really hard and sometimes she'll walk up to the board to write in her planner at the end of the day. I've moved her to the front row for class, but when we move for groups and she's further away from the board, it seems that it's hard for her to see. Do you have the time and money to get her eyes checked? If not, we have vision testing coming to school in a month, which is free and required for all students," your teacher finished.

"My brother's a doctor, and we'll make sure to see her pediatrician about this. It's getting close to her yearly physical anyway. Thank you for telling me. Is there any other times that you notice this?"

"During library days, she always makes sure to sit in the front so she can she the pictures better. I'm sorry. I wish I had more information to give you."

"No, thank you for telling me this. I know you have a lot of other kids to look out for. Is there anything else I should know? Behavior wise, she's good, right?"

"Very well behaved. The only thing I was concerned about is her vision."

"Great. Thank you again for telling me."

"You're welcome. Is there anything else you needed to discuss regarding Y/N?"

"No," Jay answered. "I'll get out of your hair now then. You've probably got more parents to see."

"I do. Have a good night."

"You, too," Jay replied and then made his way to the door and out into the hallway.

Your head shot up the second you heard the door open. "I was good, right?" you asked.

"You weren't good-"

You dropped your head. No ice cream. "But-"

"You were great, kiddo!" Jay exclaimed.

"Ice cream!" you cheered.

Jay squatted down to your height and looked at the picture you were coloring. "That's really pretty and you're almost done. So, how about instead of going out for ice cream, I call Will and have him pick up ice cream sundae stuff and we can make them at home. That way, you can finish your picture at home."

"Can we watch a movie, too?"

Jay looked at his watch. 5:33. You'd have time to watch a Disney movie before bedtime. "If you start it right when we get home, then yes, you can watch a movie."

"Yay!"

"Now, stay here for a couple more minutes while I go call Will, okay? And, what's my rule?"

"If I have to go somewhere and can't tell you, tell a good adult." Jay had taught it to you as trusted adult, but you couldn't remember that word, so you always said good adult.

"That's right. I'll be right back."

Then, he made his way all the way down the hallway and turned the corner and continued walking until he was sure that you weren't within earshot to call Will.

He picked up on the first ring.

"If you need help disciplining her based on a bad report, that's all you, Jay. You're the disciplinarian and I'm the fun brother."

Jay rolled his eyes. "It's not that. She did great, but her teacher said that she might need glasses. She said she struggles to see the board. Think you could check her out tonight?"

"Jay, she needs to go to an optometrist for that."

"I know, but can't you just do some preliminary stuff? Also, she wants you to come over for ice cream sundaes and a movie, so you'd be there anyway."

"Who says I don't have plans?"

"C'mon, man. I know you."

"Fine, I'll be there in 30 minutes. You need me to pick anything up? Maybe a pizza? Can't just give the kid ice cream for dinner, but you know that."

"If you bring pizza, at least bring a salad with it," Jay bargained.

"Deal. See you in 30. And, I'll put in a call to her pediatrician on the way to your place."

"Perfect. Thanks, man. See you later."

Then, Jay hung up the phone and walked back over to you. "Ready to go?"

"Yes! Ice cream!"

"Ice cream is right. Let's go, kiddo."

Then, you two made your way to his truck and went to the store to buy everything you, Jay, Will, and Hailey would need for ice cream sundaes. And, Jay kept an eye on you to see if you were squinting. But, it was a bit difficult because he was making a mental checklist and checking everything off while you two were in the store. He figured he'd investigate more when you got home.

***

When you got back, you quickly put on your Tangled pajamas and told Jay that was the movie you wanted to watch.

Then, you grabbed your stool from under the sink while Jay was in the living room getting the movie pulled up. Your hand was on the handle to the freezer and you were just about to open it when Jay walked back in.

"And what do you think you're doing, missy?" You turned around to face him and it was like you were a deer in the headlights. "Were you trying to get ice cream before dinner?"

"Maybe..." you answered slowly.

"That's what I thought. Now, how about you get down and start your movie so that you can finish it before bedtime? Will will be here soon and then I'll bring your food to you."

"I get to eat in the living room?" Jay almost never let you eat in the living room! You always had to eat at the table!

"If you eat over your plate, you can eat in the living room. But, if you start being messy, it's right back to the table."

"Okay!" You jumped down from your stool, put it away, and then made your way to the couch in the living room. You grabbed your favorite fuzzy blanket from the back of the couch and then hit play on the remote.

Jay chuckled and reached into the cabinet where he hid the stickers for your sticker chart. Then, he placed one on the line next to the chore that said Clean up when asked - No arguing.

Even though he didn't ask you to put your step stool away, you still did it. And, maybe he was giving you this because he felt guilty about not noticing that you were struggling to see. Either way, you were one step closer to getting a prize.

Five minutes later, Will walked in with the pizza.

"Will!" you exclaimed and jumped up off the couch and ran up to him. "My teacher said I was really good!"

"I heard that! Now let me put this down and then I can give you a big hug. And I even got you your own pizza!"

"You did?"

"Yes, I did, silly!"

"Jay, did you hear that? Will got me my own pizza! That way I don't have to pick the gross onions and black olives off yours."

"I did! Now, let's let Will put down the pizza, hmm?" Jay said and grabbed your hand to gently pull you out of the way.

You moved out of the way, allowing Will to set the pizza boxes on the table. Then, he crouched down and gave you a bone-crushing hug.

"Stop! Too tight!" you laughed, making Will just squeeze you harder while Jay tried his best to contain his laughter at the two of you.

"Alright, you two, Let's eat before the pizza gets cold. Y/N, go wash your--"

Jay was cut off by the door opening and you squealing.

"Hailey!"

You wriggled out of Will's hold and ran up to her. "Guess what?! Guess what?! Guess what?!"

"Guess we know who her favorite is," Will muttered.

"What?" Hailey asked with a giant smile on her face. She was also holding a pink box that you noticed sort of smelled like cookies.

"I did really good at school so I get pizza and ice cream sundaes!"

"I know! Jay told me! So, I thought we could have brownie sundaes!"

She moved toward the table and set down the pink box. Then, she opened the box, revealing fresh, warm brownies from the bakery a block from the district.

You reached for one, but Jay quickly swatted your hand away. "Nuh-uh. Dinner first, missy."

Jay then put your personal pizza on a plate along with a breadstick, baby carrots, and some ranch for you to dip the carrots in. He handed you the plate along with some napkins.

"Go ahead and watch Tangled while you eat, okay? We'll be in there soon."

"Okay!"

The minute Jay heard the movie playing again, he was all business. "So, how are we doing this, Will?"

Jay didn't need to explain to Hailey what he was referring to here because he texted her that you had gotten a good report, but that your teacher also said that you needed glasses after he called Will when you were at school.

"I called her pediatrician and she can see her on Friday. She said that if she does need glasses, the optometrist should be able to get her on Monday."

"Perfect, great. Me and Hailey both work Monday, so you can take her, right?"

"I can take her," Will confirmed.

"Okay, good."

"So, in the meantime, what do we do?" Hailey asked.

"I'm just gonna watch to see if she squints at all during the movie. Maybe if you guys take her to the park tomorrow ask her to see things that are far away, like, Hey! Look at that cool bird! or something and see if she squints or not. Can't really do much until she goes to the optometrist," Will answered.

"You guys are missing Flynn get hit with a frying pan!" you yelled.

"I blame you for her love of violence, Jay," Will joked.

"Coming!" Jay yelled. "Just a sec, kiddo!"

Then, the adults filled their plates and made their way to the living room.

***

Monday afternoon

Will was going to kill his brother. When you got in the car, he asked if you were ready to go. To where, you had no idea. So, you had asked if you were going home.

"No, to the doctor, silly. To get your eyes looked at," Will answered.

"But I already did that! No more, please! Wanna go home!"

Will sighed but continued driving. "Why don't you want to go to the doctor, kiddo?"

"Because I don't want shots! I didn't get shots last time, so I gotta get shots now! Don't want 'em!" you cried.

"Oh, no, no, no," Will quickly soothed. "No shots. They're just going to look at your eyes. Then, you have to tell them which picture is easier to see and what letter you're looking at."

"Really? No shots?"

"No shots," Will confirmed.

"And I get French fries after?"

Will took a deep breath. Did he want to have an argument with you while driving and then end up either in an accident or late to your appointment because he had to pull over? No. Neither of those sounded particularly appealing. So, he went with the safest option.

"Yes, we can get French fries after."

***

"Y/N Halstead," the optometrist called after you had been sitting at the office for ten minutes.

You stood up and so did Will and you quickly grabbed his hand, letting him know that he would be coming into that room with you no matter what.

"I'm not going anywhere, kiddo."

"I just making sure," you told him, causing him to chuckle lightly.

You walked into an office with a weird thing hanging from the ceiling. There were lots of different circles and it was really big. There was a chair in front of it, too.

While the doctor started talking to you, he lowered the chair. "So, Y/N, I hear you're having a little trouble seeing the board at school, hmm?"

You shrugged. "A little. But only when I'm far away."

"And that's okay. What I'm going to do is help you see better. I'm going to lower down this machine--I know it looks big, but it's not scary, I promise--. Then, I'm going to have you read some letters to me."

"Like I did the other day at the doctor's?" you asked as you looked up at Will.

"Exactly like you did the other day," he confirmed. "Now you just look into special stuff so we know exactly what glasses you need." Then, he quickly turned to the optometrist. "Sorry. I'm Dr. Will Halstead, an ED doc at Chicago Med. Also her older brother."

"He said I gotta go to someone else for my eyes, but he's a doctor," you said to the optometrist.

The optometrist laughed and then shook your brother's hand. "Well, he's right." Then, he got down to your level and said in a stage whisper, "and between you and me, I probably know more about eyes than him."

"Really? I didn't think anyone was smarter than Will!"

"Really. Now let's take a look at those eyes." He moved over to his chair and then had you look into the glass circles. "Now, read me the smallest letter you can see."

***

"How'd it go?" Jay asked when you and Will walked into his apartment. Then, he spotted the McDonald's bag. "Seriously?"

"Only way she was gonna go. You sure she doesn't listen to your interrogations at the district? She had to have learned blackmail from somewhere."

"Haha, very funny. Did it go well, kiddo?"

"Yeah, I had to look at these pictures and tell the not Will doctor what one looked better," you answered.

Jay held back a laugh at your description of the doctor. "Did you pick out any glasses?"

"Yeah, I got purple. Can I eat my food now?"

"Go wash your hands and then you can."

You ran off to go wash your hands so that you could eat your chicken nuggets and fries and then Jay turned to Will.

"She been like this all day?" Jay asked.

"Doesn't help when she has no idea what's going and I have to tell her thirty minutes before the appointment, Jay," Will quipped.

"Fries and nuggies!" you yelled as you ran out of the bathroom after washing your hands, which effectively cut your brothers' conversation about your lack of excitement to see clearly short.

***

3 days later, Thursday.

"You ready to pick up your glasses, kiddo?" Jay asked as you got in his truck in the pickup line at school.

You simply shrugged. "Yeah," was all you answered.

Today at school, during soccer at recess, a boy's glasses fell off and then someone accidentally stepped on them and broke them when you were playing! What if that happened with your glasses? What if you couldn't play soccer anymore because you wore glasses?

You loved soccer ever since you had started playing it last year. And, you and Jay always practiced on Sunday mornings at the park. And, when it was nice out, you two would always have a picnic. It was always a Jay and Y/N date (sometimes Hailey would come along, but only if you agreed to it). That time was sacred for you and Jay because of his demanding job, but what if you didn't get to do that anymore all because you needed stupid glasses to see the stupid board at stupid school?

"How was school?" Jay asked. He knew by your demeanor that your mood was more sour than it had been this morning, and he'd prefer to discuss it now than have you blow up at home. One would be shocked at how much anger you could hole up and spew out from your little body.

"It was good. Same old, same old."

Jay rolled his eyes. You had definitely picked up that saying from Will. "Do anything fun?" he probed. "Was recess good?"

"I played soccer during first and second recess, but I didn't score at all. Stupid boys. They're always faster than me."

If you hadn't added the last part, then Jay would probably have told you that boys have cooties anyway and to stay away from them until you're thirty. But, you did say that last part, so he knew he had to be comforting.

"Well, you gotta remember, you like playing defense, so what do I always tell you?"

"I gotta outsmart 'em...and slide tackle."

Last Jay checked that was illegal in kids' soccer. "I don't think me or Will ever taught you about slide tackling. Where'd you learn about that, kiddo?"

"Adam taught me when he took me to the park when you had to talk to some bad guys yesterday."

"Of course he did," Jay muttered. "Just remember, you can only do that to me, Will, or Adam. Don't try and do that to other people, okay?"

He knew that he should probably tell you to never do that, but eh, he figured he'd let you have a little fun. And, it wasn't like he never got kicked out of games for doing a slide tackle...okay, maybe multiple slide tackles in a game with one leading to the other team's captain getting a concussion.

"Okay," you answered. "I'm not good at 'em anyway."

Jay chuckled. "And let's keep it that way."

***

Jay was both happy and frustrated when he watched you put on your glasses and see the world clearly for the first time in who knows how long. He was frustrated because how could he have not noticed this? Hell, how could Will not have noticed this? And, he was happy as he watched your mouth fall slightly agape and mutter whoa to yourself.

After you made sure that your glasses fit and the optometrist did all the necessary checks, you made your way back to Jay's truck.

"I gotta stop at the district to pick up some paperwork," Jay said as he began driving. "You ready to show off your glasses to everyone?"

"Yes!" you exclaimed. You loved the color of your glasses and everything was so pretty! Nothing was blurry anymore!

When you walked into the district, you were first met with Trudy, who didn't see you at first.

"Looking for this, Chuckles? You left it here earlier and you and me both know that Voight will have your—" And then she noticed you and quickly shut her mouth before she swore in front of you.

"Good catch, sarge," Jay said and took the manilla folder from her.

"Y/N, I didn't know you had glasses! They look so pretty! So much better than my old lady ones," Trudy complimented.

Then, you heard someone coming down the stairs.

"So if I call you old—"

"Shut it, Ruzek," she snapped as Adam strode over to you.

"And, she's back. Thanks, man," Jay complained.

"I was just telling Y/N here how pretty her glasses were before you ever so impolitely interrupted," Trudy said to Adam.

Then, Adam crouched down to your height. "My, my. They sure are pretty." Then, he held up three fingers. "How many fingers am I holding up?"

"Adam!" you laughed. "That's not how they work."

"But I thought that's how glasses worked. How about you tell me how they do work?"

"I just can't see far away. You gotta back up and do that."

He did so and then reached into his pocket.

"So, can you read this?"

"Oreos! I can read the words now!"

That stopped Jay in his tracks. "What do you mean by that, kiddo?"

"I can read the words from far away now and not just close by me. It's because I have my glasses now, duh."

Adam almost burst out laughing at your sass, but held back his laughter when he saw Jay's death stare directed right at him.

"Right, of course, silly me," Jay answered quickly. "Go get your Oreos from Adam and then we can go upstairs and show everyone else your glasses, how's that sound?"

"Okay!" you excitedly ran up to Adam and he handed you the Oreos. "Thank you!"

"You're very welcome!"

You started towards the stairs and Jay quickly whispered to Adam, "Boards flipped?"

"Did it before I walked down here since I heard her voice."

"Great, thanks."

"Jay! You gotta put your hand here to open it because I'm not special enough to put my hand here!" you exclaimed.

"Okay, okay, hold on a sec," he said and then gently pushed you to the side to put his hand on the palm scanner. The door beeped and then he pulled the door open. "Ladies first."

You walked in and immediately everyone's heads turned towards you.

"Y/N!" Hailey exclaimed "You got your glasses!"

"Yeah! Everything looks so much better and so pretty!" You took a moment to look around the bullpen. Despite being in this room with Jay and Hailey for two years now off and on since your dad died, you could finally see it clearly. You thought everything was always a little blurry around the edges.

"How many fingers am I holding up?" Voight asked from the back of the bullpen near his office.

"Three!" you yelled confidently.

"That's right! Wow, she counts faster than you, Ruzek."

Jay held back a laugh while Adam exclaimed, "Why you gotta be like that, Boss?"

"Because it's true. You got the paperwork, Halstead?"

"Right here. I'll get out of your hair now because it's my RDO and I do not want to be here on my day off. C'mon, Y/N, let's go home."

"But I didn't see Kevin or Kim yet!" you whined.

"They're out doing police work, kiddo. You can see them later, okay?"

"But I want to show them my glasses!"

Hailey quickly saw the temper tantrum that was about to erupt and stood up. "How about I take a picture of you with your glasses and send it to them? Then you can see what they say when I get home tonight. How does that sound, Y/N?"

You nodded and walked closer to her. "Yes!"

While Hailey was taking your picture, Jay mouthed thank you to his wife for avoiding a meltdown in the bullpen.

***

3 days later, Sunday

You did not sleep good at all. You tossed and turned all night thinking about your Jay and Y/N date in the morning. You loved them and you loved soccer! But you couldn't go now because what if your glasses fell off when you and Jay were passing the ball and practicing? And, if you took off your glasses before playing, what if he got mad at you? Jay and Will had told you that you had to wear them all the time! And you didn't want Jay Jay to be mad at you!

So, when you went into the kitchen in the morning (wearing your glasses of course) and saw Jay and Hailey sipping their cups of coffee, one could only imagine your relief when you looked out the window and saw the sky was covered with dark gray clouds.

"Morning, kiddo," Jay greeted. "Doesn't look like we can play soccer today." Then, Jay furrowed his eyebrows as he got a better look at you. You had dark circles under your eyes that looked like they should be for a college student cramming for finals instead of a first-grader on a Sunday morning. "You feeling okay?" Then, he walked up to you and placed the back of his hand on your forehead. "Hmm, you don't feel warm."

"Didn't sleep good," you mumbled.

"I didn't sleep good either," Hailey sympathized. "Must be the weather." She knew it was her insomnia acting up, but you had no idea what that was--and she hoped you never would have to know what that was like--, but she didn't feel like explaining it to a first grader this early in the morning while she was running on fumes herself.

"How about we have a lazy day," Jay suggested. "Movies and coloring sound good, Y/N?"

"Yeah. Can Will come, too? He always does the best coloring."

It was true. Because of how steady Will's hands were due to being a surgeon, he could color in all the small areas in the pictures, even in adult coloring books that Hailey had, that you, Jay, and Hailey would typically make a mess out of and at least color outside the lines a bit.

"I'll give him a call. I don't see why he wouldn't want a lazy day," Jay said.

"And, I think we have some chocolate chip cookie dough in the freezer to bake cookies," Hailey suggested.

Jay glared at his wife and then rolled his eyes. You've already gotten spoiled with treats and takeout more than enough this past week and a half. But, he knew as well Hailey knew herself that she had a sweet tooth and it only got worse when her insomnia was acting up.

"Before we do all that," Jay began, "let's get you some breakfast first. What sounds good, kiddo?"

"Can I have an omelet? With lots of cheese please?"

You were recently introduced to these a few months ago when you and Hailey were enjoying chocolate chip waffles at a diner and Jay had an omelet. You wanted some of his hash browns, but he said you had to try a bit of his omelet. You didn't really want to try this, but your want hash browns overpowered this. And, lo and behold, you liked it! So, now on Sundays when Jay wasn't working, you'd ask for an omelette. It has to be Jay who made them though because he made the best ones between him, Will, and Hailey.

"Omelet it is," Jay replied and then picked up a spatula. "How about you go get dressed while I make this, okay?"

"Okay!"

Then, you ran off to your room to put on some comfy clothes to spend the day in.

***

"Where's Y/N?" Will joked when he walked inside around 10:30 that morning.

"I'm right here!" you yelled while you sat at the table coloring. You had no idea how he couldn't see you when you were right there!

"Oh, I didn't recognize you with such pretty glasses."

You dropped your head. "You- You don't?"

Luckily Jay was behind you so that you didn't see him wipe his hand down his face. 

His brother, Jay thought. Thank god he didn't go into pediatrics.

"I was only kidding, silly! Of course, I recognize you! The only thing different about you is that you have glasses now. But, do you recognize me?"

"Yes! But your hair's really messy! Do you want to use my brush?"

Jay choked on his second cup of coffee at your comment and Hailey quickly hit him on the back.

He cleared his throat. "Sorry, went down the wrong pipe," he said and then coughed a couple more times.

Will smoothed down his hair. "Wind's pretty strong out there. Guess it messed it up a bit." Then, he walked over to the table and set a tray of drinks down. "Coffee for all three of us and hot chocolate for you." He handed you your drink. "Careful though. It might still be super hot. Now, what are we coloring?"

***

"She is totally out," Jay commented later that afternoon.

The four of you had started watching a movie and you had curled up next to Hailey under your favorite fuzzy blanket. Needless to say, after you struggled to sleep this past night, within thirty minutes of the movie, you were totally out with your head leaning against Hailey's chest.

Hailey smiled down at you. "She's so cute when she's sleeping."

"When she's awake she's a menace now apparently," Will joked.

"Just because she made one comment about your precious hair," Jay muttered. "Let the hair comment go, man. Let it go."

Will rolled his eyes. "So, how's she doing? She mention any headaches at all with her glasses?"

"Hasn't said anything to me," Jay answered. "She say anything to you, Hails?"

"Nothing," Hailey replied. "She also didn't say that kids were mean to her, so that's good, too."

"Yeah, I remember when Jay got his glasses. All the kids teased him about it," Will said.

"It wasn't all the kids. It was you! Just you! And, now they have more education for bullying and stuff, so maybe kids are nicer than when we were kids." Then, Jay changed the subject. "I'm just shocked she didn't throw a fit when I said we couldn't play soccer today because it was storming."

"But, she said she didn't sleep good last night," Hailey reminded him.

"Yeah, I know. But still, she loves Sundays. And, at the beginning of winter a few months ago, she threw a fit the first time there was too much snow on the ground to go."

"I would say consider it a good thing that she didn't fight with you this morning," Will began, "but you said she didn't sleep good. She say anything else to you? Her tummy or head hurt? I didn't notice anything off when I was here, but maybe she said something earlier."

Jay shook his head. "She seemed fine, other than her being tired."

"Okay, good. If she tells you anything else--especially if she's having headaches--let me know."

***

3 days later, Tuesday

You were usually so excited for Tuesday nights and soccer practice, but now, you were nervous. What if your glasses fell off and somebody broke them? You didn't want Jay or Will or Hailey to be mad at you!

So, when you were running at practice, you went exceptionally slow, which made Jay wonder if you were hurt. He watched you shake your head at your coach, so he must've asked you the same thing.

When you got in the car after practice, needless to say, Jay was slightly worried.

"You okay, kiddo? You didn't look like you were having fun out there."

"I was having fun," you answered, but that was only a half-truth. You only had fun when you were defending and didn't have to worry about running as much, and thus, your glasses falling off.

"Okay. You just didn't feel like it today then?" You shrugged. "That's okay. Everyone has days like that."

What he wasn't going to do was be like your dad and make it seem like you needed to be at 100% every single day. As long as you tried your best with what you had left in the tank, that was all that mattered.

You nodded and just looked out the window while Jay kept driving.

And once you got home, since you put your cleats away nicely without being asked, Jay added a sticker to your sticker chart. But, his detective senses were tingling.

Something was definitely off with you.

***

One week later

It had been a long week for both Hailey and Jay. They'd had their hands full at work trying to catch a serial rapist who ended up killing his last three victims.

During this time, you had spent most of your time with Will, except on Jay's RDO, and then Hailey's RDO when they each spent time with you instead. Even though each of them knew that the team would be a man down on each of their RDOs, they knew it would be difficult for Will to be the sole caretaker of you with his demanding job as well. So, even though they probably should've worked during their RDOs this week, they didn't.

But, they had been so mentally drained on their days off that neither of them remembered to check your backpack for important paperwork. And, both Jay and Hailey knew that Will always conveniently "forgot" to check this. (But, it was probably because he didn't feel like disciplining you if you got a bad report.)

Now, it was 8pm on Tuesday night, they had caught the guy, and both Jay and Hailey had quickly finished their paperwork so that they were home in time for bedtime.

Once Jay and Hailey had finished reading you a chapter of The Chronicles of Narnia, Jay did what he always did when he hadn't been able to see you on a couple of school days straight: he went through your backpack to see if he missed anything such as permission slips, notes from your teacher, and to ensure that Will had been making you do your homework.

When he went through your math folder, stuck between last week's homework assignments and this week's was a note written in cursive. Because it was written that way, he could only assume it was addressed to him or another adult.

Mr. Halstead, I'm writing you this to make sure that Y/N hasn't lost her glasses. I haven't seen her wearing them the past couple of days and wanted to make sure accommodations didn't need to be made. If she has lost them, please let me know and I will be sure to move her desk up to the front to help her see the board for the time being. If you have any questions, please call me at my office number or email me. I previously left a voicemail for you and emailed you, but I don't know if they went through. -Stephanie Harding.

Jay sighed, pulled out a chair at the kitchen table, and began scrolling through his phone. There, from Friday afternoon, was an email from your teacher as well as a phone call from yesterday morning. How could he have missed these?

"You okay?" Hailey asked as she walked into the kitchen, freshly showered. She grabbed two beers from the fridge, popped the cap off both, made her way to the table, and handed one to Jay. "We should be celebrating, not sulking."

"I know, and I'm glad that case is over and the guy's in prison because, you know, he's a monster, but look what I found in Y/N's backpack."

He slid her the note and she began reading.

When she finished, she looked up. "Don't talk to her tonight, Jay. You might dysregulate her so bad that she might go back to sleep because her routine got thrown off."

"I know, but when am I supposed to talk to her? I don't want her throwing a fit in the morning before school, and who knows what's going to come across our desks in terms of cases tomorrow."

Hailey grabbed one of Jay's hands. "Jay, we'll figure it out. And, if we need to wait for your RDO or the weekend when we both hopefully have off, then we'll do that, okay?"

"Okay." He gave his wife's hand a squeeze and then took a sip of his beer.

Thank god for Hailey Upton, he thought.

***

The next day, Wednesday

Once you and Jay got home after he picked you up from school, he made you a snack and you pulled out a chapter book to read to him to practice your reading skills like it was just any other day. He set the addition and subtraction flashcards next to him. You'd do those after you read to him.

But, when you took your first bite of your ants on a log (celery with peanut butter, topped with a few chocolate chips), he reached over and slid the book over to himself. Then, he set it down on the chair next to him so as not to distract you from the upcoming conversation.

"We're not reading?" you asked, furrowing your eyebrows at him.

"Listen, kiddo, we need to talk about why you are not wearing your glasses at school."

"I am!" you protested.

But, Jay saw how your eyes widened slightly when he first said it. He knew you were lying; now he just needed you to admit to it.

"Y/N, your teacher called me and told me that you aren't wearing them. You're not in trouble--"

"No!" you shouted and jumped off your chair. Then, you ran to your room and slammed your door.

Tears pricked your eyes as you threw yourself on your bed.

You couldn't play soccer when you were in high school if you had glasses! At all the games you went to, none of them had glasses! You couldn't give up soccer just to wear these stupid glasses! What did your brothers and your teacher know, anyway? None of them even wore glasses!

You were waiting for Jay to come yell at you for slamming your door, but he never came. And you were so tired from school and from the short conversation that you had with Jay, that you eventually just cried yourself to sleep.

As for Jay, the second he heard your door slam, he sighed and laid his head on the table. What the hell was he supposed to do?

***

You woke up to someone gently shaking your shoulder.

"Y/N, c'mon it's time for dinner, honey."

Hailey.

"No," you mumbled.

You didn't want to face Jay after everything!

"You need to eat, Y/N. You didn't even finish your snack earlier. Just c'mon out and eat dinner with me and Jay."

"Jay gonna be mad at me," you said quietly and rolled over so that you were facing the wall.

"He won't be mad; we just want you to eat something. He made your favorite, fettuccine alfredo, remember?"

That's right! You got to pick dinner once a week and told Jay last week that you wanted fettuccine! And today was Wednesday! It was your dinner day!

"Oh yeah! I forgetted!"

Then, you jumped out of bed and ran downstairs.

Hailey shook her head as she walked behind you. Kids and their moods.

When you got to the kitchen, your plate was set right where it usually was with fettuccine, broccoli, and garlic bread.

You eyed Jay suspiciously when you sat down.

Then, Jay noticed you weren't wearing your glasses. Hailey noticed the very slight tilt of his head, so she quickly jumped in.

"They're on her bedside table," she said. "She was sound asleep when I went up there."

"Mhm," you agreed and then took a bite of your pasta.

Jay figured it was better to let you eat almost all of your food before he started in on the glasses conversation again. He needed you to eat something because, at this point, you hadn't eaten anything except your one ant on a log since 11am at school, which was seven hours ago. He didn't know how you hadn't woken up and been hungry but hey, he knew as well as you did that tantrums made you utterly exhausted.

Once you only had half of your garlic bread left, Jay decided it was time to have another go at this.

"Y/N, me and Hailey were talking, and we thought that if you came home from school wearing glasses, you can get an extra sticker on your chore chart," Jay said. "How's that sound?"

You shrugged. "Okay." You had already been doing that. You'd put them on right when you got in the car. You didn't need them for up close stuff like talking with your friends anyway and you could see Jay, Hailey, and Will just fine without your glasses; they were just a little blurry around the edges.

"That means we need to see you wearing them when we pick you up," Jay continued. "You can't just put them on when you get inside the car." Your brother was nothing if not perceptive.

You could do that. You'd just put them on when you walked out of school for pickup. You couldn't wear them all the time because then what if someone said something about you not wearing them while playing soccer at recess? Then you'd have to wear them at recess and you couldn't play soccer with them on!

"Okay," you said.

"Okay, good," Jay replied.

But, he shot a glance at Hailey. That was way too quick for you to agree to this without a fight even with the added incentive of getting a sticker on your sticker chart.

Something was off and both he and Hailey knew it.

***

Two days later, Friday

Jay walked out of an interrogation, relayed the info to his team, and then sat down at his desk to do some digging into this guy's financials. But, his phone lit up, notifying him that he had a voicemail.

He saw it was from your teacher and his brow furrowed.

"Hi, Mr. Halstead. This is Stephanie Harding calling. I received your email a couple of days ago explaining how you talked with Y/N about wearing her glasses and she said that she'd wear them and that they are not lost. I just wanted to inform you that she hasn't worn her glasses at all throughout the school day, but will put them on for pickup.

I just wanted to inform you of this and please let me know if there's anything that I can do to help."

Jay clenched his jaw and sighed frustratedly after he finished listening. He thought he'd be dealing with this level of sneakiness when you were a teenager, not now!

"Nothing in the financials?" Hailey asked from across from him.

"Still working on that," Jay answered. "Y/N's teacher called. Said she still hasn't been wearing her glasses."

"What? She was wearing them yesterday when I picked her up."

"Her teacher said that she'll put them on at pickup but won't wear them at all during the rest of the day."

Hailey shook her head and rolled her eyes. "We are getting played by a first-grader, Halstead."

"Don't I know it. I'm gonna give Will a call and see if she wore her glasses at pickup. Maybe he can get to the bottom of it while she's at his house tonight."

***

"Alright, kiddo. Game plan today is homework, snack, and reading. Then we'll grab a quick dinner somewhere and go to the girls' soccer game. Sound good?" Will asked when you got inside and set your backpack down.

"Don't wanna do my math homework," you complained. "It's stupid."

"What are you working on?" Will probed. "Maybe I can help you."

"Subtraction. My friends say it's like adding, but the opposite, but it's not!"

"Okay, okay, calm down. I'll make you a snack and then we'll work through it together. How's an apple with peanut butter sound?"

"Do you still have the green apples?"

"I do. Green apple with peanut butter coming right up."

***

Will wasn't stupid. He knew why Jay probably couldn't get the answer from you about not wearing your glasses. And that was because he was asking at the wrong time and because he was the one who disciplined you. Will never had to do that except for taking away ice cream as a bedtime snack a couple of times when you mouthed off to him. You didn't have to worry about having to go to bed early or not being able to watch more tv because you had gotten in trouble with Will. And, you and Jay were very much alike; both of you bottled up your emotions and were stubborn to no end...which is probably why you argued more with Jay than you did Will and Hailey and why Jay couldn't get you to talk about your glasses.

So, Will didn't bring up the glasses at dinner. He didn't even bring them up when you were at the soccer game.

But now was the time for him to bring this up.

You were currently sitting down next to him on the pull-out couch with your teddy bear and your favorite blanket, all ready for a chapter of Narnia and then for bed. You were comfortable and there was nothing to overstimulate you. You had food in your system and the excitement from the day was over.

You were calm.

"Before we start reading, kiddo, I need to ask you a question," Will started.

"Okay, what is it? Is it about what happened in Narnia when me Jay and Hailey readed it last week? Because I can tell you so you're not con...con—" You scrunched up your eyebrows as you tried to remember the word. "So that you know what's happenin'," you said instead.

"It's not about Narnia, but you can tell me before we start reading if you want. But first, I want to know why you aren't wearing your glasses. Do they make your head hurt? Did someone laugh at you?" You shook your head. "Okay, then what is? What's going on, Y/N?"

"Soccer," you mumbled, but it was so quiet that Will couldn't even hear you.

"What was that?" Will asked softly. "It's okay. You can tell me. I won't be mad at you."

You looked up at Will's face. He didn't look mad. Maybe you could tell him. Maybe he wouldn't tell Jay either and then everything would be fine.

"I can't play soccer no more be-because I have glasses!"

At this, you started to cry. All of the nerves you had felt about lying to your brothers and Hailey and the sadness about not being able to play soccer anymore all came tumbling out of you. And, it didn't help that no one on the high school girls' soccer team that you just went and watched earlier wore glasses. That just proved your point!

Will sighed and held back a laugh. Leave it to a little kid to catastrophize from A to Z.

"Who told you that?" Will asked, now realizing that he needed to get to the root of the problem.

"No one did! But none of the big girls wear glasses when they play soccer! And one boy's fell off at school and they got smashed and I'm the only one on my team that has glasses and---"

"Hey, hey, slow down. Take a deep breath, okay?" He allowed you to take a few breaths before he placed a hand on your shoulder. "You can still play soccer."

You looked up at him and your eyebrows furrowed before your mouth fell slightly agape. "I can?

"Yes, silly! We just need to get a strap for the back of your glasses because then they'll stay on when you're running."

"And I can play soccer with Jay Jay on Sunday?!"

"And you can play soccer with Jay on Sunday, yes," Will confirmed.

"Yay!"

"Now what do you say you fill me in on Narnia before I start reading to you, hmm?"

***

"Tell me you got something out of her," was the first thing that Jay said when he answered Will's call later that night.

"Jay, this is our sister we're talking about, not a criminal investigation."

"I know that, smartass. Still...anything?"

"She thought she couldn't play soccer with her glasses."

"What? Where'd she get that idea?"

"Well, kids are very observant, Jay. Maybe more observant than you seeing as you didn't even catch this--"

"Neither did you!"

"Last I checked, my job doesn't involve me doing a stakeout or working undercover."

And then Will launched into a recap of the conversation he had with you.

"Come to think of it," Will began when he was done and had answered all of Jay's questions, "I'm shocked you didn't think to get one for her right away because you didn't get contacts until high school and wore your glasses with a strap when you played soccer all the way from elementary school to middle school. You know what? I think I still have some pictures of that from the family photo album I took from Dad's--"

"Don't you dare!" Jay threatened.

"Who's gonna stop me?"

"Name your price...within reason."

"Breakfast tomorrow, 9am before me and Y/N go pick out her glasses strap. And you're paying."

"Deal!"

And years later, once you got to high school, you never did get contacts because one, you thought you looked better with glasses than without, and two, you wanted all of the little kids that came and watched your games to know that they could play whatever sport they wanted regardless of whether or not they wore glasses.

A/N: Thank you for reading and don't forget to vote and comment! Also, fun fact, I didn't get my glasses until I was 21. I went to renew my driver's license and barely passed the eye exam, so now I wear glasses.

[mymindwide]

"This is what you missed the most when he was gone, being with him and feeling him relax. He’s usually so wired and ready to go and rightfully so since it’s his job and has been a huge part of his life for so long. But this is the side of him only you get to see. Where his walls are down, his muscles are relaxed, and he’s just Ashton, not Ashton Irwin the drummer of 5 Seconds of Summer."

This part is simply beautiful.���

Best Coffee I ever had--ashton irwin

This has been on my mind since I was making my own coffee this morning (yesterday since it’s after midnight right now) this is pure fluff for 1.5K words

••••

Ashton isn’t the type of person to sleep in unless his body is caught up in jet lag or he’s just returned home from touring and traveling. As soon as his body is in his own bed he becomes dead to the world and sleeps for as long as his body needs. Usually, when he awakes from his deep slumbers like that, he’s disoriented on the time and the place.

But he’ll get up, make himself a pot of coffee, meditate, play some music or just sit out in his garden and be in the presence of nature.

This time when he came home, you were there waiting for him with streamers and a big sign welcoming him home. You’d even made a cake (vegan like he likes) with your careful writing of his name in the icing. You also ordered his favorite food and it was delivered about fifteen minutes after he arrived.

The two of you ate in his living room on the floor while Modern Family played in the background and you caught up with each other (not like you weren’t texting his whole flight anyway). He loved the way you laughed and snorted when he recalled Michael thinking he forgot his passport again. Ashton did a perfect impersonation of Michael freaking out about it and that’s what made you laugh so hard.

After dinner and a shared piece of cake, he held you close by the sink while you were cleaning up the dishes. His arms wrapped around your front and you placed your hands over his interlaced ones, enjoying this pause. It didn’t seem like he wanted to let you go yet, so you twisted around in his arms and he folded into you, his face tucked into your neck.

“You okay?” you ask quietly, you rub at the bottom of his neck.

“Mhm, just wanna hold you for a bit,” he mumbles then kisses your shoulder.

“Okay,” you smile.

You held each other until the beats of your hearts synced up, your bodies swaying slightly, the dishes long forgotten. When you started to hum softly in his ear, that’s when he pulled away.

“If you’re going to start humming then we need to get me to bed,” he smiled sleepily at you.

So you did. The two of you settled under his covers with Ashton snuggling close to you, his head resting on your chest. You resumed rubbing at his hair and neck, your other hand tickling up and down his forearm. Then you started to hum a nonsense song and Ashton’s breath began to slow.

This is what you missed the most when he was gone, being with him and feeling him relax. He’s usually so wired and ready to go and rightfully so since it’s his job and has been a huge part of his life for so long. But this is the side of him only you get to see. Where his walls are down, his muscles are relaxed, and he’s just Ashton, not Ashton Irwin the drummer of 5 Seconds of Summer.

He’s not sure what it was that woke him up, but suddenly he was shifting and stretching his legs under the blankets. He peeks his eyes open to the sun shining through the cracks of his blinds and the night before comes rushing back. He runs through them like a list.

You were here. You were here with food and cake and your warmth. You went to sleep in his bed with him. He was home and you were here and you’re his home now. He rolled over to wish you a good morning but was disappointed to find a barren pillow next to him.

Then he heard a clatter from the doorway and your quiet swear. Smiling to himself, he tumbles out of bed and pads down the hall towards his kitchen. His sign and streamers were still hung up on the back door, he’s going to keep them up for as long as the tape lasts, and you were standing in front of his coffeemaker wearing one of his henleys. One foot was crossed over the other as you tried to figure out his coffee grinder.

“Damnet!”

“What are you doing?” he asks and you jump about a foot in the air upon hearing his voice.

“Ash! Go back to bed, I’m making you coffee,” you order then turn back to your task.

He doesn’t listen and instead moves behind you. He giggles at the mess you’ve made on his white countertop, a few stray coffee beans are scattered about along with some dusting of the ones you’ve already ground. The top of his coffee maker is flipped up and you turn the grinder over then pat the bottom of it like a ketchup bottle so the rest of the beans fall into the filter.

“Honey,” he takes the grinder from you and pops out the little cup that’s sat atop, “you know this twists out right?”

Your lips are pursed as you stare at the two objects now in his hands then give him a sheepish look.

“Of course I did, I just can’t get it back in there so it’s easier for me to pat it in.”

“Okay,” he smiles and kisses your temple before peering into his coffeemaker. It has more coffee beans in there then he’d normally have but he wasn’t going to tell you that. “Is it just coffee for breakfast?”

“We could have a piece of your cake again if you’d like,” you smile, eyes brightening as you move back to your task of coffee. You flip the cover down then push the button. It spurts and spews to life, the water cycle starting it’s journey to filter the coffee beans.

“I’ll get plates.”

He gathers the cake, plates, forks, and two mugs for your coffees. He sits down at his island and looks at his mail that is sorted into four piles. You climb onto his lap, his arms wrap around you instantly.

“I sorted it into four groups,” you explain and point to each, “personal, bills, subscriptions, and miscellaneous. I didn’t throw any of it away so you could look at it and decide what you wanted to do with it.”

“Thanks honey, I appreciate that,” he murmurs and rests his chin onto your shoulder.

“Did you sleep okay?”

“I slept great,” he smiles, “I don’t even know what time it is right now.”

“It’s about eleven thirty,” you pat down his unruly curls. “What do you usually do your first day back home?”

“Realign myself, I guess so that my mind and body know I’m home and not on a constant go-go-go.”

“How do you do that?”

“Burn candles or incense, play some music, make some music, read,” he shrugs, “whatever I feel my body needs.”

“That sounds nice,” you smile sweetly and kiss his nose. “Can I join you?”

“I’d be brokenhearted if you didn’t,” he mumbles and kisses you gently. You cup his cheek, your lips familiarizing with each other again until his coffeemaker stops making noise.

“Coffee time!” you chirp and hop off his lap to pour your cups.

He watches you move about his kitchen, knowing where his spoons are so you can stir in your desired cream and sugar. He likes it a bit too much seeing you be so comfortable but he doesn’t think there’s anything wrong with that. It’s different since he’s so used to being alone, but having you here in his space is such a comfort.

When you pour his cup (he notices how dark the coffee is as it falls into his cup. You still have that bright and excited smile on your face when you bring it over.

“Here you go, baby,” you set it down in front of him happily.

He takes a deep breath as he lifts the mug up, the smell of it is very, very strong but he takes a sip. The taste is even stronger and more bitter, he feels his lips curve into a pucker but he forces it down. You went through all this trouble to make his first morning home pleasant that he couldn’t break it to you that the coffee is a little too strong.

“Good?” you ask and sip at your own coffee. You don’t make a face, however, because of your cream and sugar.

Ashton takes another big gulp before he pulls you closer to him, he touches your cheek.

“Best coffee I ever had,” he tells you seriously. The look on your face filled him with warmth.

And it was his favorite coffee he’s had because you made it. He drank the whole pot while he listened to you talk about this new book you were reading but made a mental note to show you the next morning how to use his coffee appliances.

Taglist: @calumance  @in-superbloom @calpalirwin @karajaynetoday @wiiildflowerrr @sunshineeeluke @littledrummeraussie @suchalonelysunflower @hoodhoran @thew0rldneedsmcreycghurt @sunshineeashton @ashtonsunflower​ @mymindwide​ @itjustkindahappenedreally @seanna313 @mulletcal @pandaxnienke @celestialams @in-a-world-of-fandoms @blairscott @writersdare

[vamptizm]

hi ! you can call me ana — 𖤐𝄞

. . . about me .ᐟ ᯓᡣ𐭩

twenty—one .ᐟ north african .ᐟ wlw (90% sure i’m a lesbian lol) .ᐟ men dni

. . . do not interact .ᐟ ᯓᡣ𐭩

if you’re bigoted in any kind of way

if you’re zionist

dni with my nsfw content if -18

if you’re a big fat hater

if you’re A MAN this is not a safe space

ᯓ 𝜗𝜚 masterlist (in the future)

anything you consume is your responsibility, i am not your mother but i will provide the necessary warnings

i will not be writing for : emily engstler / any other suspected weirdos / anyone under 20 unless it’s sfw

i will not be tolerating anyone coming onto my account to talk about emily engstler or sue bird, FUCK them! i don’t wanna hear shit about whatever excuses you’ve made for them, keep it away from me and to yourself thanks.

also english is not my first language, nor my second so let us pls all keep that in mind in case i fuck something up lol

[puppianqueen]

some characters i like

[cierraonline]

Missing the podcast real baddddd

EP 1 - No Mean Girl References! Does Billie Like Her Gf's Family? Kimora Has Short Term Memory! You Are The Asshole!

Chapter one : podcast episode #1

Warning: none

Masterlist | next chapter

"Hey you!" Kimora points to the camera, "Were you bored scrolling on TikTok, ended up on YouTube, and realized you have a 'TikTok bird ass brain' that can’t focus on one thing for more than ten seconds? Did you see this thumbnail and think, 'Oh, there’s that Kardashian girl; let’s stare at her face for ten minutes and theorize what plastic surgery she's had'? If so, you’ve come to the right place." Kimora stands straight, looking at the camera with a smile, giving her best five-star hospitality attitude. "Hi, I’m Kimora West, daughter of Kim Kardashian and Kanye West—but you may know them as ‘Culture Vulture Gold Digger’ and ‘That once-good producer before he went... you know, crazy.' I now have a podcast with my girlfriend of four years, Billie Eilish." Billie slides into view and does jazz hands.

"Hi, I’m Billie Eilish, singer, songwriter, and more importantly, her girlfriend," the now-brunette says her short n' sweet line.

"We hope you guys enjoy," Kimora smiles, tilting her head to the side. "Or don’t—we still get paid either way, thanks to YouTube."

XXX

"Sup,kisses and hugs! It’s Kimora, and today is Wednesday, so of course, we’re wearing pink," Kimora says, showing off her baby pink tee and hot pink textured sweatpants. "And over there we have Janis..." The camera slowly slides to the right, revealing Billie in an oversized black shirt and oversized jean jorts.

"Billie," Billie smiles, then turns to her girlfriend. "I thought we agreed on no 'Mean Girls' references."

"Asking me not to make 'Mean Girls' references is like asking me not to be me," Kimora states, before looking back at the camera. "First on the list, a fan question for Billie. Billie, your fan, billiecanslutmeout, wants to know: ‘Do you like the Kardashian family outside of Kimora?'"

"Skip," Billie shakes her head, not wanting to answer because she feels it’s confrontational and doesn’t want to risk upsetting her partner or attracting hate from the 'Kar-Jenner' fanbase.

"Nope," Kimora emphasizes the last syllable. "Answer."

"We’ve talked about this before," Billie begins, but Kimora cuts her off, giving a direct answer.

"She doesn’t like them and is currently in her head trying to find a way to sugarcoat it."

"I didn’t say that," Billie throws her head back, laughing.

"You literally made a song about it—'Overheated,'" Kimora squints her eyes.

"I... I love you and every luxury pink baggage that comes with you. I have love for your family because you’re a product of them. And you are my favorite person in the whole world," Billie says sincerely. "But as someone who promotes body positivity, I don’t support the negative body-image messaging that is part of your family's brand, and there's the constant need for relevancy and exposure, which I’ve developed my own opinions on from behind-the-scenes stories you’ve told me about filming for the TV show."

"Smart answer," Kimora nods. "Now, what about my dad?"

"I honestly think your dad hates me," Billie shakes her head.

"He doesn’t hate you," Kimora insists, knowing deep down that her father actually appreciates Billie’s positive influence on her.

"He literally posted on Instagram that if I didn’t apologize to Travis Scott, he’d cancel his Coachella performance, which led his fans to flood my accounts with hate. I never even mentioned Travis—I was just helping a fan at my concert!" Billie exclaims, eyes wide.

"Yeah, he did do that," Kimora nods awkwardly, acknowledging that her father had actually done it without provocation, putting both girls in a difficult position. For Billie, it was a choice between saying what she truly felt and risking being bullied off the internet by his fans—or staying silent to avoid hurting Kimora. For Kimora, it was about deciding who would get hurt: Billie or her father. "Sorry."

"It was hurtful, but I think you handled it well, especially since it happened in our first year of really being together," Billie reassured her. "Like, as soon as you found out what was going on, you called me while you were driving over with my favorite food to make sure I was okay and could sleep that night."

"I just didn’t want you to feel like…like you and your mental health weren’t a priority for me," Kimora struggled with her words, trying to explain her motivations. "Because I know how my dad can get, and at the time, he’d been spiraling for a few days already. So for me, you were the top priority on my list. I didn’t want to just do nothing and make it seem like his actions were acceptable—because they weren't. I-I-I guess what I’m trying to say is that I wanted you to know I’d be there for you, even if it meant going against my family."

"Yeah," Billie smiled at her with ocean-clear blue eyes meeting warm chocolate brown, speckled with caramel, filled with love and adoration. "Even though we didn’t say it out loud at that time, that was one of those moments when I knew I was in love with you. You stayed with me that whole week, making sure I was okay and taken care of…and even called your dad to apologize to me and ask him to take down the post."

“Aww, you loved me only three weeks in?” Kimora gushed, leaning forward to offer a kiss. Billie smiled and leaned in as well, their breaths mingling in the close space between them. Gently, Billie lifted her left hand, tucking a stray strand of hair behind Kimora’s ear before tracing her fingers softly along Kimora’s cheek, savoring the velvet-like feel of her skin. With a delicate motion, she moved her fingers from cheek to chin, then closed the distance and softly pressed her lips to her girlfriend’s.

“I love you,” Billie whispered, her eyes still closed, their faces barely a centimeter apart.

“I love you, too,” Kimora replied with a smile, then leaned in for one more tender kiss.

"Do you remember how we met?" Billie asks after the ad, now reclined on the couch with Kimora laying across her, leg draped over her waist.

"We met through a reference from Justin, because he would always say we absolutely had to meet. Hailey was like, 'You two would be perfect for each other if you were to date, because you're opposites with a cohesive middle ground,'" Kimora recalls, remembering her conversation with the Biebers. They were very persistent about wanting the two young, popular stars to either befriend each other—or, in some cases, get married immediately.

"So when did we officially meet?" Billie smiles, playing with Kimora's curls.

"In the Met Gala bathroom," Kimora answers with a smile. "I was coming out of the stall, and you were staring at yourself deeply in the mirror. I told you, 'You don’t have to worry about your appearance anymore. By now, everyone is probably drunk off their rockers because the food sucks, so you could be butt naked and no one would even notice.'"

"I’m surprised you remember that," Billie kisses her forehead. "You’re terrible at remembering things."

"No, I’m not," Kimora pouts, playfully slapping Billie’s thigh.

"You literally forgot we were filming today and almost went to work, even though you scheduled the day off," Billie laughs.

"I have a good memory," Kimora insists. "I’m just busy with the new Skims launch, aka Skims by Kimora." Kimora sits up, looking directly at the camera. "Get your favorite new set for 40% off with code 'GirlsInPink,' no purchase minimum."

"During lockdown, we got hooked on Reddit’s 'Am I the Asshole' stories," Billie smiles, back in their original positions on the burnt orange velvet couch.

"I don’t have blood pressure issues, but these stories drive me nuts. Like, why even ask if you're the asshole when it’s so obvious?" Kimora frowns. "For our first Reddit submission, please welcome Georgina!" Billie holds up a pink square remote, and clapping noises fill the room.

"Heyyy!" Kimora pouts at the remote in Billie’s hand. "I was supposed to be Sam in this podcast."

"Well, now you’re Carly," Billie teases, sticking out her tongue.

"No fair," Kimora crosses her arms, playfully sulking.

"You’re acting like a baby," Billie rolls her eyes with a grin.

"Ok, and?" Kimora glared. "If anything, I'm a cute baby..." She turned her head away from her girlfriend and looked to the right, making eye contact with her best friend, Georgina Miller.

"Alright, first Reddit submission is...‘I am a mother of five, 3 bio-Brooke 22, Will 18 and Iris 16 and 2 bonus sons-Sam 26 and Jack 23. All of my kids are currently living at home with me and my husband for various reasons. Sam's girlfriend Tori 21 and Will's girlfriend Mary 18 also lives with us full time, and Jack GF stays over a lot.

We have a pretty good relationship with all the kids, we don't charge them rent but everyone contribute to the household. We have a couple basic rules-input on utilities, maintain the common areas, etc but one of the rules is no babies, we don't expect our kids to celibate. But we do expect them to be careful.

On Friday, I found a receipt and saw someone brought a pregnancy test. I immediately took a picture of the receipt and put in the family group chat, I figured the culprit would out themselves. No one confessed, so I said that all girls that live in or visited are taking a pregnancy test because I suspect someone is pregnant. They pretty much lost their minds and told me no and messaged that I was being weird and invasive.

That is when I got upset and said that if anyone refused a test, they would have to move out. Everyone freaked out and told me that I'm being emotional and crazy. They decide no one would take a test. I think they assume I will not kick everyone out, but I will because I feel like I'm being gaslit. My youngest Iris is the only one I don't suspect because she is gay, not openly, but I know. I have 

given everyone the entire weekend to calm down because everyone has been avoiding me and giving me the cold shoulder. I have tried to discuss the situation repeatedly but I have been ignored in person and over phone.

At this point, I am ready to evict everyone because someone is blatantly lying and all of the others are backing a lie while living stress free in my house. My husband thinks I should let it go for now because the test might have been negative and if someone is pregnant we will know soon. But I feel it a larger issue now of my kids disrespecting me by lying to me. Am I being the asshole?”

“Yes,” Billie answered right when Georgina was done with reading the submission. 

“You’re not an asshole… but you are,” Kimora answers. “I can see the problem from both points of view.”

“Same, but I think what makes her an asshole is how she’s handling the situation now that she didn’t get the answers she wanted,” Billie explains why she thinks the writer is indeed an asshole.

“Yeah,” Kimora agrees. “Like, I get it, you’re upset because your boundaries were stepped on, and that’s unfair to you. But at the same time, you can’t force someone to take a pregnancy test just because you want answers right now.”

“Exactly. Even though it was negative, that person probably needed time to think and process the results. They could’ve been reevaluating what to do better to prevent another scare,” Billie adds.

“Oh my God!” A thought hits Kimora's brain full force. “I have another day off—remind me to register to vote.”

“Baby,” Billie looks at her with concern. “You registered last week at the same time as me when my mom was doing hers and asked if we wanted to come do ours.”

“Ohhh.”

“We’re gonna work on your memory, don’t worry,” Billie rubs Kimora’s thigh with sincerity.

“Anyways,” Kimora brushes off the awkward moment. “At the end of the day, you own the house, and if you feel gaslit and your boundaries were crossed, then kick them out, I guess. Just be prepared for the consequences that come with that action. Because at the end of the day… you literally said you don’t care if your kids are having sex, as long as they’re protected. And the pregnancy test was negative. I just feel like you can be protected and still have scares. I mean, Billie and I use a fake penis, and we still get scares. It comes with the territory.”

“They didn’t need to know that!” Billie looks at Kimora with wide eyes, shocked by her girlfriend’s impulsive thoughts.

“They were probably already thinking it,” Kimora shrugs. “You’ve literally done an interview talking about masturbation. Me saying we use a dildo isn’t anything new or shocking.”

“Just end the video,” Billie covers her face with her hands in embarrassment. “Now, please.”

“Hi, it’s me again,” Kimora awkwardly waves her hand. “Did your TikTok bird ass brain develop and actually let you stay to watch the whole video? Did you like what you saw or heard… or both, for the privileged? If you nodded your head yes or weirdly answered talking to a screen, then you should subscribe to this channel. We update every Wednesday and Saturday, so don’t worry if you don’t have actual friends to hang out with. Instead, come watch me and my girlfriend, Billie, talk about useless shit, vent, and argue about things we’ve done in the past with a couple of inappropriate touches that you shouldn’t be seeing, but our editor is too blind and lazy to take out. We love you, Lisa,” Kimora shouts out her editor at the end. “Bye!”

taglist @billiesrighthand @bilswildflower @bilsluckyheart @billiesgoodgirll @billsvip @billieshrry @dandelions4us @factsbybriggs @rhearipley-69 @cierraonline @amberg1998 @crystalblue88 @mercurylvd @saffsblog @ihavenoideayimhere @umadirectioner @harajukub4rb1e @sun81rise @jamiemundy7773 @cyberdreamlanddeer @steampunkprincess147 @zendayasredbottoms @efemerous @lady0ftheflowers

[ironkissedmage]

Finally started writing a little something today 👀 poolverine has been giving me brainrot lately, so I've got a one shot brewing 😌 but once that's done I'll be starting on another fratt fic (that surely will get away from me, as they tend to do) that is already fully plotted out! Finally able to access my brain again after finishing that MA project 💀 feels good man

[heyhellohihowareyou]

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. Let’s spread the self-love ❤

*Looks around* Wait, me!?

Well okay then…

I wouldn’t say these were hard to pick. Although I still wish I could’ve done better but what it’s worth, I still love them.

In no particular order:

Halloween Time!:

Probably the most impressive thing I have ever done in my life. That is no exaggeration! I do wish I could’ve added more things to the Haunted Maze but still. It was really fun to write for so many characters. Especially since I mostly written for the ikemen duo until this point.

Big Brother Maehara:

There was a time where I despised this fic’s whole existence. I didn’t know why but I was so embarrassed and mad at this fic that I was so close to cutting all ties with it (Which I still want to do with Birthday Blues). But I reread it and found it to actually be enjoyable and sweet and reread it more times than I would’ve thought. It could’ve been better but hey!

Mittens:

First fic I have completed. Not really complex. Not really long. Not much to say about it. But I still hold it close to my heart.

Friendship That’ll Last Forever:

One of those fics where I’m like, yeah this should’ve been longer. I still hold it close to me since this was my first MaeIso week fic for last year. And writing in a kiddie perspective was a delight!

‘Cause You’re Really My Dearest Friend:

This fic makes me so happy I swear. It’s hard to describe but this fic induces me with so so much serotonin that it’s one of the ones I find myself rereading.

—————

Special shout out to New Year’s Kiss and Fairytales! Two other fics I wrote that I thoroughly enjoyed^^

[go-to-two]

You're joking 😂

Okay, I don't want to hear Gwen say another word about trauma and relationships. Every choice she made for Jay and Hailey was intentional. If you dismantled them because you subscribe to some archaic belief that only one couple can be happy, say that. If you're mad that actors left, say that. Let's not pretend you have some deep thoughts about trauma and relationships while Kim and Adam are making it work.

[a34trgv2]

The Problem With Animated Shows Today

I shouldn't have to make a post like this because I know there's so much more animated content now than there was when I was a kid. Yet for the better part of a year, I've sat through one abysmal failure of a cartoon after the other, and I just can't stand it anymore. I'm aware the title might come off as pretentious, but rest assured I'm not a pretentious person nor to I view this post as objective fact. I'm just here expressing the common problems I have with cartoons recently and what I feel are the best steps to avoid them.

A common problem I have with cartoons recently is the awful writing on display. Shows like Samurai Rabbit, Hamster & Gretel, Ollie's Pack, and Mech Cadets all have writing that at best very underwhelming and at worst inexcusably amateurish. Scenes would go on for minutes at a time delivering boring exposition, unfunny gags, and very unnatural dialogue. It very much feels like the creators don't understand the value of basic writing principles such as "show, don't tell" "less is more" or "do much, speak little." Rather, they often go through the motions of a typical show so they can meet the given runtine and stay underbudget. For example, an episode of Centaurworld is around 26 minutes, which should be more than enough time to develop the characters, explore the world, have a good amount of funny moments and intense action scenes. What they choose to spend that runtime on instead is one note characters standing around arguing with one another, exposition dump upon exposition dump, unfunny gags, and underwhelming at best action scenes. This in turn makes the premise of the show feel wasted, like the creators only gave a successful pitch just to make something digestible to put bread on the table.

It really does feel like characters in cartoons these days are one of 2 archetypes: the annoying chatterbox and the moronic dirtbag. Let's compare 2 characters that have the same idea but vastly different executions: Eddy from Ed, Edd, n Eddy, and Ollie from Ollie's Pack. Both are outcasts who aren't good role models, but we're supposed to find them entertaining and funny. Despite those similarities, Eddy is clearly the superior character in this scenario because he often gets his comeuppance for almost immediately, and he actually does care for his friends. Ollie, in contrast, is just a selfish brat who sees his friends as expendable and doesn't get his comeuppance as quickly. Not only are the main characters detestable and annoying, but the supporting cast isn't much better as often they're either underdeveloped and unfunny or they're just parrots that always share the same thoughts as the main character. And don't even get me started on how incompetent, pathetic, and annoying the show's villains can get. Seriously, I defy anyone to make a good case for characters like Lloyd Garmadon, Jamack, the Yokai from Samurai Rabbit, or any of the villains from Hamster & Gretel.

An important aspect of animation that not many people bring up in conversation is voice acting. Voice actors are essential in giving life to characters in animation as they're able to make them sound believable and authentic. Or at least, that's what good voice acting should be. So many of the animated shows I've watched have such underwhelming or otherwise terrible voice acting that make the characters sound fake and kill my suspension of disbelief. Some of the worst vocal performances I've heard in recent memory come from Chris Houghton as Cricket Green, Meli Povenmire as Gretel Gomez, Allyn Rachel as Bee, and Danny Pudi as Tiny. They all have very terrible range, no sense of urgency in their tones, and don't sound the least bit believable as their characters. It's also frustrating to hear veteran actors give lackluster performances such as Aulil'i Carvalho as Hailey Banks, Chris Diantamopoulos as Thunder, and Karen Fukahara as Kipo. It's not entirely the fault of the actors for giving lackluster performances, as often they're at the mercy of bad voice direction who doesn't do a good job bringing out the best in their actors.

It's a given that animation on television has more limitations than big budget animated films. The best animated TV shows ever made, though, are able to work around those limitations and provide some excellent visuals that make the world feel alive. Recently though, I've notice a common problem when it comes to the animation in shows like Mech Cadets, Super Giant Robot Brothers, Daniel Spellbound, Hailey's On It, Bee and PuppyCat and My Dad The Bounty Hunter. All of them look good from a design standpoint, but in actual animation, they look choppy and stiff. This is because these shows have bad animation direction. Most people don't think about animation direction when watching a cartoon, but we can definitely tell when animation looks good versus when it looks bad. Bad animation is not just what's being shown on screen but also how it's being presented. In Mech Cadets, a character is giving a backstory to another character in a dark control room, and the camera moves around the room, showing the walls while the character talks. This is beyond inexcusable as it showcases the lack of appreciation for visual storytelling and is a complete waste of resources. Other aspects of bad animation include choppy character movements, a lack of mass on the character models, disorienting cinematography, and poor use of lighting and shading.

What can be done to avoid these shortcomings? Well, it starts by having good scripts that value showing over telling. I can't recommend Pixar's 22 Rules of Storytelling enough for aspiring writers who want to make the best scrips they can. I also think having your characters be likable and well-rounded will help a ton, especially if they're in a show about good triumphing evil. Having good actors is one thing, but it's equally important to have a very good voice director with years of experience bringing out the best in voice actors. Finally, collaborating with a skilled animation director or a very well established animation studio would do wonders. And don't be afraid to speak up and communicate with the producers on how to make the show bettee while staying within the budget. Animation is a collaborative medium and animated series today should do a better job reflecting that.

[anniesardors]

Lost Boy - Chapter 23

Summary: When Jay looks down at his green army fatigues, he feels nothing but sadness and pain. But for the few minutes every few months he hears this girl play her guitar and sing, he feels something resembling peace // or...Jay meets a girl when he comes back from the war and she helps him find his way again.

AN: Lost Boy is back! Thanks for your patience with Ch 23, especially after that cliffhanger! Hope you enjoy today’s chapter. Thanks for reading!

Read on AO3

[sirwow]

Iv got a ton of headcannon RD thoughts in my head right now so under a cut (since I can be long winded lol) here I’m gonna talk a lot about them. Mostly pertaining to all of the characters

So to start off

Intern (and my own thoughts on them):

My own version of the intern would probably be pretty static- very simple humanoid looking robot, uses wheels to be pushed or roll around so going up elevators is how they get up and down. Still controlled by a remote intern and due to being pretty prototyped they can’t do much other then what the robot it’s built for (pushing buttons!) They do have a simple display that shows a heart rate on their arm and a face display for basic emotions.

Samurai and Insomniac

These guys are weird so their backgrounds get to be just as weird. Samurai and Insomniac both came to Middlesea from Japan (Samurai) and Korea (Insomniac) to compete in a worldwide tournament of katana sparring. Insomniac ended up losing to Samurai after getting no sleep the night before and admittedly got a bit peeved about it. They had a run in when Samurai was celebrating at a nightclub and had a rematch on the dance floor. One drunken fight later they ended up at the hospital and have to be there awhile to sort out the paperwork. They’re on much better terms now and respect each other’s skills.

Bonus stuff: Samurai is bad at speaking English but is very good at writing it, Insomniac is vice versa this. Samurai due to the struggle to show emotions through words usually emotes things physically and doesn’t mind stuff happening as long as he gets to be included. Insomniac has insomnia because of the time difference and not being able to adjust

Logan and Hailey

I feel they’re probably about 15? Old enough to be highschoolers but still pretty childish at times. They’re also both in dance! (I mean com’on two kids being able to just break into slow dance together is pretty impressive) Hailey loves to talk about said fact but Logan is pretty self conscious about being one of the few boys in it. Big baseball fans but didn’t ever play it before lucky as they were a bit scared of being demolished. Met through the before mentioned dance class and hit it off very quickly. Other then that, they’re pretty typical, optimistic and overly energetic teens.

Cole

He’s not originally from Middlesea but instead a few towns over. Got kicked from home as a final choice by his parents when he kept avoiding to get a job and hyper focused on music making. They gave him 1500$ on the way out and still wanted the best for him but in his emotions, cut them off before jumping all the way to Middlesea by train. Shortly after arriving, Cole had his first very bad SVT attack from stress and trying to chug energy shots to stay awake after a very long train ride and got taken to the hospital. Now can’t decide if he wants to get out of the hospital already for music inspiration and to be free or try to stay longer for the sake of having a place to stay and see the new friends he’s made.

Nicole

Gave up on music only a year after highschool when her less well off family couldn’t support her musical ambitions and chose to leave it behind for the sake of a career. Despite not having the title, basically acts as the cafe manager after most her team got laid off. It’s how she can get away with locking up early sometimes or just chilling in the cafe after hours. Dyes her nearly black hair green constantly and learned how to do it herself.

Mr and Mrs Stevenson

Mrs Stevenson is the owner of a bird sanctuary while Mr Stevenson has been retired for awhile due to previous injuries. He always called Mrs in the mornings as she had to always leave early in the morning to take care of her birds. The ones with bow ties are all rescues who were taken in since they were babies and lived at their house. Taught them all how to sing with her and Mr.

Miner

Small town mfer, always took care of his injuries at home and hasn’t really ever been to a hospital till now. Around 35 yrs old and works as a sulfur miner for a team of geologists. Has been mining since 20~ but that time has seriously been taking affect on his body now. Likely won’t be returning to his work after the hospital when he finds out the ramifications of his work. Everyone’s friend, even friendly and kind to Edega.

.. and that’s kinda all Iv got at the moment other then Lucky being thrown off from a real friend group after being in a fake one for so long. I don’t have a lot HCs for the doctors yet other then Ian sorre….

If you made it this far have some cocole doodles for your sake