#I plan on giving it a good polish too so it’s nice and in-line with my current content!

[peaches2217]

*kicks in the door*

My very first Mario fic turned 1 a few days ago! I posted it to a burner account because I was nervous as hell; would anyone be up for me posting it properly on this account in celebration?

[rafecameronssl4t]

Do Sarah and Wheezie get along with reader in the arranged/forced marriage au? It seems like they’re constantly going to dinners and events for readers family; does she ever hang with the Cameron’s? Is Rose a better mother figure to her than her own?

With the Cameron’s || Rafe Cameron x fem!reader

A/n: I hope this gives you better insight into reader’s relationship with Rafe’s family plus bonus lil snippet of what Rafe is like during the pregnancy (will go more in depth in another fic)

Warnings: none really (not proofread)

Word count: 1,550

MASTERLIST (forced marriage au masterlist)

Divider by @h-aewo

"Are we running late? What if the plane leaves without us—" Wheezie’s voice quickly gets cut off by Rafe’s sharp tone, his irritation palpable. "Can you shut up for one second?" he snaps, huffing in frustration. His fingers press against his temples as if the very sound of her voice is grating on him.

The sharpness in his words makes you wince slightly, but when your eyes meet Sarah's across the seat, a faint smile tugs at your lips. Rafe’s temper wasn’t exactly a surprise anymore. "It’s our private jet, Wheezie," he continues, his voice now dropping to a bored drawl as he looks out the window, his hand settling possessively on your thigh, squeezing it as the runway comes into view.

"They're not going anywhere without us." You shift slightly under his touch, not used to these fleeting moments of affection in front of the Cameron's, but you say nothing. It’s a part of your dynamic now—Rafe’s firm grip on control, always balancing on a fine line between caring and detached. Rose, sitting in front, turns around, concern flashing in her eyes.

"Is it safe for you to travel, Y/n?" Her voice is soft, almost maternal, a stark contrast to your own mother. You manage a small smile, trying to ease her worries. "Yeah, perfectly fine. I checked in with our doctors." Your tone is calm, almost rehearsed, as if you’ve had to explain this more times than you can count. Rose nods, satisfied, and returns her attention to her phone.

As the car slows down, Wheezie’s eyes widen when she finally sees the jet, her loud gasp shifting everyone's attention. "Woah," she breathes, her face lighting up in awe at the sight of the sleek aircraft, the one your grandparents had gifted you after the wedding. "Pretty nice, huh?" you tease, nudging her lightly. Her excitement was always contagious, and like always, you let yourself enjoy it.

"Your first time flying private?" you ask, winking at her as she nods vigorously, still mesmerised by the plane. The car rolls to a stop, and Rafe is the first to get out, his movements confident and deliberate. Without a word, he turns back toward you, offering his hand. Gratefully, you take it, carefully stepping out, feeling the cool breeze brush against your skin.

Your eyes sweep across the aircraft, its polished surface glinting in the sunlight as you feel Rafe wrap your shawl around your shoulders. Your eyes scan the jet, taking in its sleek lines and pristine exterior. It’s a symbol of the life you’ve been thrust into—luxurious, yes, but hollow in so many ways.

"Mr. and Mrs. Cameron, a pleasure to see you again," Anthony, the pilot, greets both of you, extending his hand to Rafe’s first, then yours for a firm handshake. "Good to see you too, Anthony," you reply politely, flashing a smile that feels more natural now. While Rafe and the pilot exchange words about flight plans and weather conditions, you glance back at Sarah, who is still staring at the plane in disbelief.

"I can’t believe I’m about to fly on a private jet," Sarah murmurs, almost to herself. You chuckle softly, catching her wide-eyed expression. "You better believe it, Sarah," you say, the humour in your voice masking the exhaustion underneath. It was a strange life—one you still weren’t fully used to—but moments like these reminded you how surreal it could all be.

You step closer to where Rafe and Anthony stand, their conversation coming to a halt as you approach. "Is everything as it should be?" you ask, your gaze flicking between them. Rafe shifts slightly, turning toward you, while Anthony’s face brightens with a warm, professional smile. "Yes, everything is set," Anthony replies, his voice reassuring.

"The flight to New York should be only around an hour and a half." His smile deepens, the wrinkles around his eyes crinkling with a sense of familiarity. You nod in acknowledgment, your hand instinctively moving to rest on your belly. The action doesn't go unnoticed by Anthony, who follows your gesture. "How many weeks are you now?" he asks with genuine curiosity.

You hesitate for a moment, your mind blanking under the weight of small details, suddenly unsure. "Oh, uh—34 weeks now?" you reply, though your tone carries a hint of uncertainty. You turn to Rafe for confirmation, and he's already watching you, that rare, softer expression gracing his usually unreadable face. "35 tomorrow, actually," Rafe corrects, his voice gentle as he pulls you closer, his arm wrapping protectively around your waist.

The motion feels natural, almost instinctive, though there's still a flicker of surprise at how he’s been acting since you've been pregnant. His thumb brushes lightly against your side, almost absentmindedly, as if his hand belonged there. It’s a small gesture, but it lingers, and for a moment, you can’t help but feel a sense of unfamiliar warmth in his touch.

He looks back at Anthony, who nods knowingly. "You're in good hands," Anthony says with a wink, glancing between the two of you before excusing himself to check the final details for the flight. You stay pressed to Rafe’s side for a moment longer than usual, the warmth of his touch and the gentle smile he’d given you lingering. As you follow Rafe up the steps of the plane, his hand reaches back toward you, a silent gesture that feels automatic.

You pause for a moment, looking at his extended hand, then slide yours into it. His grip tightens, pulling you up the stairs with a familiarity that’s still strange to you despite how long it’s been. His attention is already elsewhere, but there’s something steady in the way he holds on. The second you step inside, Wheezie lets out a gasp, her eyes wide as she takes in the lavish interior. "Oh my god," she whispers, her voice filled with awe.

Sarah, beside her, shares the same shocked expression, her mouth slightly agape as she slowly looks around. Rose, ever composed, gracefully accepts a flute of champagne handed to her by the flight attendant, her lips curling into a satisfied smile as she takes a seat on one of the plush leather chairs. "I could get used to this," she says with a contented hum, easing herself into one of the leather seats as she crosses her legs, holding the glass delicately.

"You know, Rose, you can use my jet whenever you want," you say, settling into the seat across from her. There’s a familiar warmth in your voice because with Rose, you didn’t have to hold back as much. She’d seen you at your best and your worst, and over time, a genuine bond had grown between you two. "You're family," you add with a small smile.

Your words are warm, genuine, and for a moment, you feel a small sense of pride in being able to extend such a gesture. It was your grandparents’ gift, after all, but now it felt like another small piece of the life you were slowly building alongside Rafe, complicated as it was. Rose glances up at you, her lips curving into a fond smile. "Thank you, Y/n. That's really sweet of you, darling."

She lifts her champagne glass slightly in a subtle toast of appreciation. Between Rose and Ward, you had always preferred Rose. You return her smile, her eyes sparkling with the kind of closeness that comes with shared secrets and long afternoons together. There was an ease with her that you didn’t find in Ward's scrutinising gaze.

The two of you had even started forming your own little rituals—getting your hair and nails done together, sharing gossip that never left the salon. In a family where appearances were everything, it was a quiet comfort to have someone you could let your guard down with, even just a little. Rose had been the one who welcomed you the most. From the outside, she appeared cool and distant, but you knew better.

Rose raises her glass slightly in a toast. "Here’s to us," she says, her tone light and affectionate. You chuckle softly, lifting an imaginary glass in response. "To us," you echo, feeling a familiar sense of comfort in her presence. Rose had become more of a mother figure to you than anything else, a relationship that had blossomed in the shadows of family expectations and high society obligations.

She offered you the warmth and guidance your own mother never quite gave, filling the void with her quiet support and understanding. Rose had a way of making you feel seen in a world that often demanded you play a role. With her, it wasn’t about maintaining facades or living up to expectations—it was about the genuine bond you had formed through shared experiences and mutual respect.

There were times you confided in her—about your uncertainties with Rafe, about the overwhelming pressure of impending motherhood—and she always listened, offering advice that felt sincere rather than patronising. She knew the world you had been thrust into, had navigated it herself long before you, and in her own way, she helped you find your footing.

[puzzled-pegasus]

Here's some silly little metaphors that I think the dragon tribes would use

SkyWings

“Don’t count your clutch before they hatch.” (Don't plan too much too soon)

“Gold is better than silver, but silver is better than nothing.” (If you can't do it perfectly, still try your best. Most dragons forget the second part.)

“‘Sorry’ can't suck the fire back in.” (The damage is done and now you're dead to me.)

“You been eating too much burnt meat or something?” (Are you nuts?)

“Stop all this smoke and use your fire.” (Stop rambling and get to the point already; or stop complaining and do something)

“Doesn't know his tail from his wings.” (Stupid or clumsy)

“You fly like a depressed pigeon.” (Slow flier)

“There's no fire in a rainstorm.” (Stop feeling sorry for yourself and get to work.)

“Nighttime is for the NightWings.” (What are you doing up? Go to sleep.)

SandWings

“She’s all rattle, and no strike.” (Like all bark no bite)

“A diamond in a pile of quartz.” (Like a needle in a haystack)

“You’re watering the cactus and ignoring the sapling.” (You’re focusing on the wrong thing; barking up the wrong tree)

“Everyone thinks the camel looks silly until the dry season comes.” (Don't listen to them, they don't know how unique and strong you are)

MudWings

“Crocodile tears.” (Fake crying in order to gain sympathy)

“You can only catch a trout if your mouth is open.” (Be open to new experiences)

“If the tree gives away too much, it ends up as a stump.” (Don't let people take advantage of your generosity)

SeaWings

“Happy as a clam in high water.” (Very happy)

“The flying fish feels like a fool when it sees an osprey.” (Don't compare yourself to others, run your own race.)

“Plenty of fish in the sea.” (Plenty more opportunities to come.)

“You’ve got ink in your eyes.” (You're blind to something important)

“Lobsters only die when they don't leave their shell.” (Keep yourself busy with new experiences and you'll life a long life)

NightWings

“Sleep is for the dead.” (Why waste your time sleeping when you could be productive)

“SeaWings know their fish and SandWings know their cactuses, but we NightWings know everything else.”(NightWing supremacy propaganda)

“Being nice to a deer never got one in my mouth.” (Other dragons don't matter, only your goals.)

“A prophecy always comes true.” (I told you so but more cryptic)

"You're counting the stars." (You're doing something tedious towards an unachievable goal)

RainWings

“Gray’s her favorite color.” (She's a huge bummer)

“A lemon is yellow on the outside, doesn't mean they're not sour.” (Referring to someone who is two faced or fake)

“I love honey, but I’d rather not get stung by the bees.” (I could do this, but it requires effort so I don't wanna)

“Nobody likes a rotten banana.” (Nobody likes a bummer/downer)

“Don't tie your tail in a knot” (don't get all upset)

“I have all my berries in a basket” (I have everything sorted out)

“You couldn't sneak up on a pineapple” (insult to one's camouflage skills, popular among children)

IceWings

“The seal who asks why the orca is chasing him is the first to get eaten.” (A favorite of parents telling their kids to shut up)

“Not the sharpest icicle on the roof” (kinda stupid or slow)

“Clear as polished ice” (i understand or see it very well)

“You're looking a little pink in the face” (you look sickly. IceWings can turn pink from eating too much krill; a symptom of malnutrition. This line can be applied to any illness.)

“Blue blood kills, red blood spills.” (Patriotic propaganda implying that IceWings win every fight

“The SkyWings toss their blue eyed hatchlings because they're worried they'll be as strong as an IceWing.” (More propaganda)

HiveWings

“Pretty is for the SilkWings.” (Vanity is stupid and impractical)

“If it buzzes like a bug and bites like a bug, it's a bug.” (Don't ignore the obvious)

“Clearsight works in mysterious ways.” (I don't know the answer to your question, now go away)

SilkWings

“It's not always good to know how the honey gets made.” (Don't stick your snout where it doesn't belong)

“She's got a couple of threads loose.” (Calling someone a little crazy, threads refers to weaving)

“The bee minds its flowers and the spider minds her silk, it's when they mix that bad things happen.” (Mind ya business)

LeafWings

“Flytraps only trap because the soil doesn't feed them.” (Dragons don't get angry out of nowhere)

“Looking like a leaf only hides you in the forest.” (Time and place)

“If a branch doesn't bend, it breaks.” (Be flexible)

“Even the corpse flower attracts the flies.” (Even someone who seems ugly to one dragon they can seem irresistible to another)

[eternal-evergreens]

Hello! I stumbled across your post “jjk men as yandere” and I really enjoy both your thoughts and writing style.

I would truly appreciate if you wrote any scenario involving yandere Geto with reader (sorcerer).

Thank you if you even consider writing it<3

A/N Thanks so much!!

｡⁠*ﾟ⁠+*⁠.⁠✧"Meet Cute" ｡⁠*ﾟ⁠+*⁠.⁠✧

Post format: Drabble

Pairing: Yandere!Suguru Geto x GN!Curse user!Reader

Word count: 1.3k

Warnings: Reader is morally bankrupt, mentions of eugenics/genocide, reader is a little too into WWII, minor age gap, super greedy reader

"You're like a modern-day Hitler, huh?"

"...What?" Geto looked at you with wide eyes, putting down his to-go cup to better gape at you.

"Well, you are advocating for mass genocide and literal eugenics," you say, taking an unbothered sip of your own coffee. (Geto recommended the place. Apparently, his kids like the hot chocolate there. You'll have to ask him for the name of the place later.) "So, yeah, you're like Hitler."

Geto appears to be having a crisis of some sort. Just sort of staring down at his lap with an unreadable look on his face. You watch with amusement. This kid must be a newbie, you think—not that you're much older than him, but you at least have seniority on this.

"What, are you getting cold feet? You've already killed people, you know. If you want to make it in this career, you're gonna have to get real comfortable being compared to some pretty terrible things."

"I'm used to being called terrible things, it's just—"

"Oh, what? Like monster?" Geto says nothing, and you sigh, reclining back in your chair. (Damn, this cult has some nice shit. You wonder if you can sneak the couch out without anyone noticing?) "So unoriginal. Anyway keep your chin up. It's actually a good thing. Hitler already exists, so you can steal his ideas."

"Weren't you just complaining about something being unoriginal?" You wave your hand dismissively.

"That was then, this is now. Anyway what do you think? Hitler industrialized murder. You can do the same—if you can get the right ingredients."

"You're talking about power, right?"

"Pretty much. You'll need hands and money. And a lot of both. With that in mind, this cult is actually a perfect setup. But putting that aside," you take another sip of your drink. Empty. Damn it. "You didn't call me here just so I could give you my professional opinion, did you?"

Geto smiles. "I hear you'll do anything for money."

"I don't come cheap, you know."

"That's not a problem," he snaps his fingers, and someone, a "monkey" from the looks of it, walks in, clearly struggling with the weight of whatever's in that giant briefcase. You suppress a smile as it's placed on the table and opened. Hundreds, no, thousands of ¥10,000 notes line the briefcase from top to bottom. You nearly salivate from just looking at it. Quickly, you check for any signs of deceit, of counterfeits, empty space, or otherwise. You can't find anything.

"You'll find this briefcase contains over one billion yen." Geto says, gesturing for his...indentured servant to close the case. How many bills is that? It's gotta be over a million. You're half tempted to take the money and run, but years of experience have taught you not to underestimate guys carrying this much cash. "I trust this is sufficient?"

"That depends on the job," you say, crossing your arms. "If you want me to take out Satoru Gojo, you'll need to multiply it a hundredfold before I even consider it."

"It's nothing that severe," he says, wearing the smile of a polished businessman. You sit up a little straighter. Maybe you were wrong about this guy being an amateur. Whatever he wants you to do, it's bad news. You feel excitement tingling in your veins. Will he ask you to take out a city? A country? Considering the scale of his plans, you wouldn't be surprised if he wanted you to take out a continent... you'd need a bit more to do something like that, though.

"I want you to marry me."

You snort, then laugh. You laugh for a very long time, even holding your stomach as you bend over in your seat. If this was a ploy to make you let your guard down long enough to kill you, it was smart. Still, you wouldn't go down that easily. You're more than confident enough in your ability to defend yourself, even in such a hilarious encounter.

Finally, the laughter dies down, and you wipe a tear from your eye. You look up at Geto's face, only for him to look back at you oddly serious. "No way..." you murmur, "are you for real?"

"I'm afraid I am," he says. Your smile drops. How annoying. What's this guy even want from you, huh?

"So, what, that money's a dowry?"

"More like a bribe."

"Uh-uh. No way. Not happening. I can't take a job like that."

"You're not even going to ask what's in it for me?"

"Not interested," you say, grabbing your bag and standing.

"I think I ought to tell you anyway," he says, throwing a sack onto the table. A stack of yen falls out, and you eye it with a raised eyebrow. "That's my payment for listening," he says. "¥200,000."

You inspect the fallen stack. Once again, it's real. He's either crazy or plotting something, and you have a hunch it's the latter. You sit back down. Whatever he's thinking, it's definitely bad news. Even so, you need more information to properly deal with it.

"I've heard you're the sole caretaker of four siblings." He shouldn't know that, but you decide not to derail the conversation by asking. "As you know, I've got two little girls of my own."

"So, what? You need a babysitter?"

"Precisely."

"Okay, but why marriage? Surely you could just hire me as a nanny and be done with it?"

"The girls don't trust strangers easily. I already told them that I had a Fiance out of town who'd be coming back soon. Just play along with it and you'll be compensated accordingly." "For how long?"

"Just until they turn eighteen."

"You'll have to pay me more." "What I showed you earlier was just a down payment; you'll also get an annual salary of fifteen million."

"Make it twenty."

"How's forty?" he says. You ponder over it for a moment. Judging from how you saw things earlier, it seems like he does genuinely love those kids. He's young and not afraid of spending, which would make you worry about the sustainability of the job, but cults are famous for making tons of cash.

"How old are they?"

"Six." So, twelve years. Counting the initial (over) one billion, the listening fee of two hundred thousand, and the annual salary times twelve, you'll be paid over ¥1,480,200,000. That's more than enough to send your siblings to college, as well as set them up for life.

"Deal," you say, reaching your hand out to shake. You'd ask why he doesn't just hire someone more qualified, but you think that speech on 'monkeys' he gave you answers the question.

"It's getting late," he says, shaking your hand. "How about I take you to dinner?"

"Why?"

"My girls are smart. They'll realize something's up if we don't know anything about each other," he says, standing.

"This isn't coming out of my salary, right?" Geto, or, you suppose you should be calling him Suguru, now, chuckles.

"I'm not nearly that stingy," he says. He holds out his arm to escort you, and you take it. "I'll need your ring size, too."

Of course, he already knows it. That, and so much more. After all, this may be your first time meeting him, but he's already met you plenty of times.

"Sure, but I'm not paying. Also, if you get me an ugly one I'm selling it."

"We'll go together, then." For some reason, the smile on his face seems a little too genuine to be meant for someone he's only just met, but you pay it no mind. Money is money, after all.

"Oh, what about living arrangements?"

"You and your siblings will live here," he says. "You'll have to sleep in the same bed as me, I'm afraid. Just to keep up the illusion."

"Do I get a bonus for that?"

"You're hurting my feelings," he says.

[egcdeath]

cupid’s arrow

pairing: joel miller x reader

summary: you and joel have your first valentine’s day together. (part of the soccer parents alternate universe)

warnings: alternate universe: no apocalypse, established relationship, domesticity, so much fluff. be prepared to call your dentist.

word count: 7.5k

author’s note: happy extremely late valentine’s day!!! i tried to incorporate a little bit of all the requests i got for this fic, so special thank you to everyone who helped make this fic happen!!

technically the timelines don’t really line up from this fic and the l word (many i love you’s are uttered) but you know what. it’s valentine’s day. valentine’s day magic ✨

“So, what’s your Valentine’s Day plan this year?” Sarah asked on her otherwise quiet commute to school.

Joel drew his attention away from the road to glance at his daughter and smiled to himself, just the slightest bit. He always found it oddly endearing to see just how invested his and your daughter were into your relationship. At this point, it was no secret that Sarah and Chloe had worked hard to set you and him up a multitude of times, and Joel certainly wasn’t mad about it. If anything, he was grateful for your kids being nosy and sharp enough to know when to make a move when you and himself clearly could not.

“Well I want our first one to be a good one, so I booked a reservation at this really nice restaurant. Pretty expensive, pretty hard to get into, but she deserves the best,” Joel said with a deceptively nonchalant tone.

Joel couldn’t even lie—he was proud of himself. He couldn’t even remember the last time he had spent Valentine’s day with anyone other than his daughter, and he’d booked the reservation the moment that it was available. The restaurant really was notorious for being hard to get into on a non-holiday, let alone Valentine’s Day, so he was sure you would appreciate the subtle-yet-grand gesture.

“Dad,” Sarah began, her tone slightly apprehensive as if she were preparing to break bad news to him. “I know this is your first Valentine’s Day in forever, but a restaurant is just… it isn’t enough anymore.”

“What?” Joel asked, slightly taken aback. Given that he hadn’t had a serious relationship in some time, and was more than slightly insecure about his ability to be as good of a partner as you expected, hearing his daughter explain that a fancy dinner wasn’t enough in the modern dating scene was jarring at the least, and terrifying at the most.

“Don’t worry. You’re lucky that your daughter is full of ideas. We’re gonna give your woman a perfect Valentine’s day.”

-

At your daughter’s request, you were painting Chloe’s nails to match the upcoming holiday to the absolute best of your ability. You tried your best, but your hand-eye coordination wasn’t amazing, so the best of your ability ended up being a set of pink nails with one red finger–but your daughter was enjoying the process regardless.

“So mom,” Chloe began, fanning one hand as she attempted to speed up the process of drying her nails. “What’re you getting Joel for Valentine’s day?”

“I was thinking of taking him on a date to his favorite cafe. Something a little more relaxed,” you lightly dabbed some acetone where you’d gotten some polish on her skin.

“That’s sweet but… are you sure Joel wants that? I mean, you two always go there. It’s not particularly romantic.”

It wasn’t exactly shocking that you weren’t great with big romantic gestures. Nathan had been morally opposed to them, or too lazy for them, or something that ensured no one ever did anything romantic for you, and in return, you very rarely did anything romantic for him. Given that the last time you spent a Valentine’s Day (or anniversary… really any day that called for romance) with someone was with him, you weren’t even really sure where to start.

“Oh,” you thought aloud, trying to process the idea that small gestures wouldn’t really do justice to portray just how much you loved and appreciated your partner. “I guess you’re right.”

“Let me help you,” she insisted, excitedly grabbing onto your arm as her eyes lit up.

Well, it wasn’t like Chloe wasn’t good at these things. If it wasn’t for her and Sarah’s intervention, you and Joel never would’ve been together in the first place. It certainly wouldn’t kill you to let her help you out in this field.

“Okay, fine,” you agreed, playing up your reluctance.

“Yay!” she cheered. “This is gonna be so fun.”

You certainly hoped it would be.

-

On the morning of Valentine’s day, you were somewhat surprised when your alarm went off and you found Joel’s side of the bed to be both empty and cold.

Considering that your plan was to wake up early to leave a gift in the kitchen before Joel had the chance to get there, your Valentine’s Day plans weren’t off to the best start. You immediately rolled out of bed and suppressed the groan you wanted to let out at the sweet smell wafting up from the kitchen—both from anticipation of something delicious waiting for you, and the knowledge that your plan had been foiled.

After doing some rummaging through his closet, you managed to find the box of the coffee machine that you’d hidden, and hesitantly began your trek downstairs, knowing that your big reveal would be slightly less ideal. When you arrived in the kitchen, Joel was standing at the stove and diligently working on something. He glanced back at you, and a smile instantly formed on his lips at the sight of you—bed hair, old pajamas, and all.

“Good morning, gorgeous,” he greeted, setting his spatula down and coming over to give you a tight embrace. “Happy Valentine’s Day.”

“Happy Valentine’s Day,” you said right back, relaxing into his hug despite the large box in your hands slightly obstructing it. “What’re you doing?”

“It’s a surprise,” Joel stated plainly, stepping back to look at what you were holding. “What’s this?”

“Your gift. I know you love coffee more than you love any person who’s in this house right now, so it’s time for you to get rid of your archaic machine. This is a Nespresso. Very modern and very good, or so I’ve heard,” you extended your hands to offer the box, which he gladly accepted

Joel examined it, the smile on his face not even faltering for a moment. With all this smiling, you were sure his cheeks would hurt by the end of the day. “Thank you so much. I can’t wait to use this,” he set down the box on the counter then gave you a peck. “Now, go back upstairs so I can finish working on your surprise.”

“Mm, sounds good,” you hummed, still fighting sleepiness as you retreated back up the stairs.

Well, your gift reveal may not have gone exactly the way you wanted it to, but you were pleased to see that Joel was still happy with what you gave him. Chloe would be proud.

“What is this?” Sarah asked, looking down at her plate of oddly shaped pink pancakes.

It was clear that this was what Joel had gotten up early to work on—Valentine’s Day themed pancakes. Although there was clearly an attempt at making what you could only assume were hearts, the pancakes came out as blobs more than anything else.

“…Hearts?” Joel suggested, sounding very unsure of his answer as he sipped his cup of coffee (made by his brand new machine).

“Dad…” Sarah trailed off, pushing around parts of her pancake.

“Are you gonna eat them or not?” Joel retorted, obviously a little less than enthusiastic about the reaction to the pancakes he’d gotten up early to work on, and worked quite hard on.

“I’m not gonna say no to breakfast.”

“I tried my best. It’s harder than it looks, okay?”

“They’re cute,” you interrupted. “It’s the thought that counts. I love them,” you hummed. The least you could do was support Joel in his romantic endeavors. Sure, the pancakes didn’t look amazing, but it really was a sweet gesture. And maybe they didn’t look the best, but they certainly tasted good.

Sarah didn’t exactly look like she believed you, and she glanced skeptically at Chloe, who was quietly giggling at the oddly shaped amoebas on her plate.

“I’m not an artist,” Joel explained, almost apologetically as your kids picked at their pancakes.

“We can tell,” Chloe murmured, earning herself a glare from you and a giggle from her friend.

“I never asked you to be one,” you assured. “It’s abstract. And it’s good enough for me.”

Joel quickly pecked your lips, eliciting a collective ‘ew!’ from the table.

“Alright, that’s enough from you two. Finish up quickly so we can get you to school on time,” you instructed.

The girls reluctantly agreed and finished up their abstract plates without much more protest or teasing before grabbing their last few items and heading off to the car.

“Did you actually like it? You can be honest with me,” Joel asked as you finished off your mug of coffee.

“I was being honest! I really did love it. It’s sweet that you put so much effort into doing something nice for me. Waking up all early, being in the kitchen all morning… I bet doing pancake art is pretty difficult.”

“It is, and you’d never guess that it is. The batter kinda just runs all over the place,” he explained, grabbing your empty dish and dropping it off at the sink. You got out of your seat and followed him over to where he stood, attempting to assure him that you really did enjoy the thoughtfulness of his gesture.

“Well, I love that you tried so hard to make something nice for me to wake up to,” you took a step closer to Joel, giving him a brief little peck to show your appreciation. “And I love you.” you leaned in for one slightly longer kiss and Joel’s hands softly cupped your cheeks as the kiss deepened.  

Joel finally pulled away, dropping his hands down from your cheeks to your hands so he could hold them. “As much as I’d like to kiss you all morning, we do have two kids waiting to be taken to school sitting in my backseat right now.”

“Unfortunately, you’re right,” you sighed. “Can we pick up where we left off when we get back?”

“Of course,” he agreed, beginning to lead you out the door.

-

Although your morning plans may have fallen through, your plan to pick up on your make-out session certainly did not, which was how you found yourselves waiting for the shower to warm up so you could hop in together and wash off the ever present scent of sweat and sex.

“It’s been too long since we last showered together,” you remarked, testing out the heat of the water with the palm of your hand before taking a step inside.

“It’s just that my shower is so small,” he explained, following you into the shower. “And we always end up thinking showering together is better than it actually is.”

“It is small, but I like being this close to you,” you countered, hugging him from behind. “We’re bonding. Don’t you like bonding with me?”

“I do, until one of us slips, and won’t stop talking about how they almost died for an entire day,” he set his hands on top of yours as you embraced him.

“That was once, Joel. One time!” you exclaimed, breaking away from your partner to reach for his shampoo.

“One time too many,” he responded.

Although ‘almost dying’ was a bit of an over-dramatization, it certainly wasn’t fun to fall in the shower. The day began as a slow Sunday morning at Joel’s place. Your daughter was at Nathan’s for the weekend, and Sarah had been at a sleepover with some friends. Given that the two of you had the house to yourselves, you certainly made the most of it before heading to the shower to clean yourselves up. Halfway through Joel assisting you in exfoliating your legs, you were met with the sound of a door opening and closing downstairs, making you practically leap out of your skin, and lose your balance, leading you to fall pretty hard. Joel helped you up and immediately began to take care of you, and granted you weren’t too badly injured, but you refused to let Joel forget the time you dramatically tripped in the shower because Sarah got home from her sleepover a little early.  

“I can’t believe you’re treating me like this on Valentine’s Day,” you sighed, pouring some shampoo and reaching into his hair to massage his scalp. “We should probably break up.”

“I agree,” Joel practically sighed, relaxed from the way your fingers were working in his hair. “I think it’s for the best.”

“Okay, I’ll let the girls know when we get out of the shower. The parents that they worked so hard to set up are never going to see or speak to each other ever again,” you said the words very seriously, but the way you were massaging Joel’s scalp told a completely different story.

“Sounds like a plan,” Joel purred, letting you work your magic as you played with his hair. “You’re too good at this. Why don’t I let you do my hair more often?”

“Psht, you're preaching to the choir here,” you reached forward to rinse off your hands. “For the record, this is one of your Valentine’s gifts. Savor it while you can. Especially before we finalize our breakup.”

“I’m savoring,” he insisted.

You two took your time in the shower, truly enjoying an endeavor you didn’t often do with each other. By the time you finally stepped out, the water had dropped several degrees, and you were both becoming human prunes.

Just moments after Joel wrapped his towel around his hips, he had disappeared back into his room, leaving you peeking past the bathroom door to see what he was up to. It certainly wasn’t unheard of for one of you to get ready without the other, but you preferred to have his presence with you in that humid little bathroom.

Joel came back just a few moments later, slightly more dressed, and now wielding a flat, red box.

“I got you something,” he announced as he joined you at the sink, bashfully looking down at the item in his hands.

“Oh?” you said curiously, glancing at the box as Joel slowly opened it, revealing a thin, silver necklace with what looked like a small diamond attached to it.  

“It’s a necklace,” he explained, beginning to lift the dainty accessory out of the box so that he could fully display it to you.

You were immediately taken aback by it, an involuntary, “It’s beautiful,” slipping from your lips.

“Can I put it on you?” Joel asked cautiously. You eagerly agreed, excited to have a little piece of Joel on you at all times. You turned around and lifted up the back of your hair so that he could gently wrap the necklace around your neck, and he fumbled a bit with the clasp until it was just right.

“I love it,” you expressed, observing it in the mirror and running a finger against the chain of the necklace as you fully took it in. “This is too nice.”

“Nothing is too nice for you, my love.”

“You are such a sap,” you laughed, leaning forward to get a good look at the accessory and fully admire its beauty.

“And you love that about me,” Joel punctuated his sentence with a kiss to your cheek, leading you to giggle like a schoolgirl.

“You’re right. I do. Thank you,” you said, still checking yourself out with your new piece of jewelry.

“Can I take you somewhere?” you asked, glancing over at your partner in the mirror as he reached for his toothbrush.

“Sure. Where?”

“It’s a surprise,” you said with a knowing smile.

“So, where are we going?” Joel asked as you drove, the sunglasses on your nose preventing him from getting a good read on you.

“What part of surprise do you not get?” you teased, glancing over at him with a smirk. “We’re almost there. Hold your horses.”

Eventually, you pulled up to a little strip of businesses, and grabbed Joel’s hand as you led him out of the car and through a door.

You two were instantly hit with the smell of fragranced oil and the sound of rain from a sound maker as you walked further into the dim location. It was clear to you that Joel was still more confused than anything else.

“Are you sure we’re in the right place?” Joel asked you in a whisper.

“Yes Joel, we are,” you laughed softly at his apprehension. To be fair, he didn’t have an idea of where he was or what you were making him do, but that didn’t make his nerves any less entertaining.

“And where exactly is that?” he followed up.

“We’re getting massages! C’mon,” you beckoned him to follow you up to a desk, where a bored-looking receptionist checked you in.

The two of you sat next to each other in the waiting room, waiting for your masseuses to prepare your room.

“What made you pick this?” Joel asked curiously.

“I dunno, you’re always telling me how sore you are after work. I thought maybe this would help your pain a little. It’s also very relaxing. You’re gonna love it and have a great time.”

There really weren’t too many problems you found that a nice massage at this salon couldn’t fix. When you found the time in your busy schedule to treat yourself to something nice and do a little self care, a deep tissue massage was always one of the first things you decided on doing. It was only a matter of time before you brought Joel along with you, and when you casually mentioned something about Joel to your masseuse, she did mention wanting to see him. Although, Chloe was the one to put the puzzle pieces together to you and suggest the couples’ massage.

“So you’ve done this before?” Joel questioned, still looking somewhere between a little cynical and a little trepidatious.

“Mhm,” you hummed, already imagining yourself getting every kink and bump in your back teased out.

“Walk me through it,” he suggested, seeming a little more comforted knowing that you had actually done this before.

“Well, we go in, they leave, and we strip down to our comfort level, then they just give us a nice deep tissue massage. It might feel a little uncomfortable at first, but it starts feeling pretty good pretty quickly.”

Joel’s expression circled back to slightly skeptical, his brow raised and eyes slightly squinted as he looked at you.

“Don’t make that face! You’re gonna love it. And I’m literally gonna be right next to you. When I called to book this, the receptionist said that the massage tables are so close together, we could hold hands the whole time if we wanted to.”

“Alright, fine. But if I hate it, I get to say that I told you so.”

“Okay, deal,” you agreed.

Your massage was going so well, you swore you were on a different planet. Sure, you didn’t have a very physically labor intensive job, but all the stress you'd accumulated over the last… however long always seemed to find itself stuck in your body. The massage was doing exactly what it needed to in terms of getting it out.

Joel groaned your name, his voice slightly distorted by his face being buried in the head pillow. “I take back everything I said.”

“I know,” you responded, far too gone to even really process what he was saying.

Walking out of that studio, you felt like a brand new person. Maybe that person was a little oily, but you felt like your body had gone under a complete transformation in just that hour.

“I can’t tell if I want to take a nap or run a marathon,” you exclaimed, stretching out your rejuvenated limbs.

“That was an amazing gift. Can we make this a V-Day tradition?” Joel asked, opening the car door for you.

“Hell yeah,” you agreed, getting into the passenger’s seat and breathing out a heavy sigh. “To think you thought you wouldn’t like it. Now I get to say I told you so.”

“Fair. I deserve it. That was life changing. I could marry you for thinking of that.”

Chloe actually thought of that, but Joel didn’t need to know that. For all you cared, he could keep thinking that you were the romantic genius.

“So what’s next on the agenda?”

“Just sit and wait. It’s a bit of a drive, so maybe you can get in that nap you wanted.”

You unsurprisingly slept like a rock after that massage. So much so, that you woke up to Joel softly saying your name and gently shaking your shoulder as he attempted to let you know that you’d arrived at your next destination.

When you opened your eyes, you were met with a an interesting looking building in front of you, one you’d seen in tourism handouts, but hadn’t yet visited for yourself—despite the many times you said you wanted to.

“Is this an art museum?” you asked aloud despite already knowing the answer.

Joel simply flashed you a toothy grin before popping out of the car, walking around it, and opening the door for you.

“I know you’ve been saying you want to come visit for a while,” he explained, slipping his hand into yours while you walked inside.

“I don’t know why I’m so surprised that you actually listen to me. Thank you,” you expressed.

You and Joel took your time walking around the museum, exploring the exhibits, reading the labels on pieces, and taking in all of the interesting and beautiful art. It was refreshing to come to a museum and not be rushed the whole time by an impatient daughter or disinterested spouse, and Joel expressing every now and then that despite being surrounded by so much beauty and artwork, you were the prettiest thing in the museum certainly enhanced your experience.

The two of you entered an exhibit that was obviously targeted towards children as you approached the end of the building, and your eyes immediately fell on a station that was clearly designed for kids to use. You walked towards it, and plopped down on one side of the tiny table before Joel sat down right across from you.

“Isn’t this for kids?” he asked you, his knees audibly creaking as he attempted to get comfortable on his tiny stool.

“Whatever. They’re all at school anyway. Or at least, they should be,” you grabbed a marker that was on your side of the divider, along with a piece of paper. “Wanna draw each other?”

“Haven’t we already established today that there’s not an artistic bone in my body?”

“C’mon, Joel,” you pleaded. “Please? As a Valentine’s Day gift?”

“Fine. Only because I love you. But you’re not allowed to laugh.”

“Swear,” you agreed despite knowing that it was more likely than not that you were going to laugh. While Joel reached for his own writing utensil and paper, you set your hand in front of the timer on the desk, giving you both five minutes to work on your portrait.

The man across from you focused deeply on his paper, looking pensively and seriously down at his paper and up at you every now and then rather than actually putting his marker to the paper.

After five minutes, the built-in alarm went off, and you both put your markers down, evaluating the work you had done.

“I don’t know if you want to see this. It’s really bad,” Joel confessed, awkwardly moving the paper out of your direct eyeline.

“It’s definitely not! Here, we’ll show each other at the same time. On the count of three?”

The two of you lifted your papers at the same time, and you involuntarily giggled when you looked at Joel’s. It was more or less an extremely basic stick figure with hearts around it. To be frank, your picture of Joel was basically the same.

“Hey, part of our agreement is that you wouldn’t laugh!” Joel said in between laughter of his own.

“Joel, you’re laughing too!” you giggled, the two of you progressively laughing harder until your stomachs were hurting. Eventually, you were able to catch your breath and collect yourself enough to get some actual words out. “Here, let’s swap. I wanna put this on my fridge.”

“Please don’t,” Joel gasped as he tried to catch his breath. “I don’t think I’ll ever live that down with our daughters.”

“Oh honey,” you responded, still fighting your fits of giggles. “That was the plan.”

-

After your museum date, you and Joel grabbed a quick lunch at a nearby cafe before heading back to the girls’ school to pick them up. You’d agreed to split up for the rest of the afternoon so that you had time to prepare for a nicer dinner in the evening.

It had been a long time since you’d dressed up like this. Although it was fun to get all dolled up, to put on a new matching set of lingerie under a new, formfitting dress, spend a good amount of time working on your makeup at your vanity, and take your time doing your hair, you couldn’t shake off the nervous feeling you were getting.

“Mom! Joel’s here!” Chloe yelled from your living room.

“You can let him in! I need to finish something up.”

You heard the familiar sound of conversation between Joel, Sarah, and Chloe while you finished up applying your lipstick, taking deep breaths as you did so. You just needed to see Joel, then you would feel better. To be quite honest, you were slightly intimidated by the restaurant he’d picked that night. Obviously you knew how exclusive and difficult to get in it was, but with how elite it was, part of you worried that you would stick out like a sore thumb.

But Joel had clearly worked so hard on making this night perfect for you, so you weren’t going to let a few nerves get you down. You grabbed your purse and headed downstairs, where your partner stood in your living room listening to your kids.

“Wow,” Joel said involuntarily when his eyes fell upon you. He immediately took a few steps towards you, setting a hand on your waist as he admired you.

“I don’t know why it always surprises me when I see how gross you guys are,” Chloe said, somewhere between a laugh and a cringe. “Okay, it’s time for you to get going. You don’t want to miss your reservation,” your daughter was practically pushing the two of you out the door, a little too enthusiastic to have the two of you gone. “Bye now!”

You finally were able to get a good look at Joel once you’d been shoved out of the door. He looked amazing in a well fitted suit, and a bouquet of red roses in hand.

“You look so handsome,” you gushed as you accepted his flowers. “How did I get so lucky?”

“I’ve been asking myself the same thing. I mean, you always look gorgeous, but you somehow found a way to look even more amazing.”

“Well thank you!” you giggled, letting Joel open the door to his car for you like the gentleman he was.

Joel sat down in the driver's seat, and began to head in the direction of the restaurant. Despite how late you were on the road, it seemed like traffic in the city was particularly bad. You and Joel kept up a light conversation, but the elephant in the room was clearly the traffic, and the fact that with every passing minute, the traffic only seemed to grow.

Your eyes flicked around in a cycle between the traffic ahead of you, your hot, but increasingly anxious date, and the clock on the dashboard. With just a few minutes until the time of your reservation, you finally piped up.

“Do you think we’re gonna make it on time?” you asked.

“I don’t know,” Joel answered quickly, his nerves quite obvious from the speed of his speech. He then followed it up with a slightly less agitated, “I hope so.”

“You know what? I’ll call and let them know we’re running late,” you suggested, reaching for your phone as if that would solve all issues.

That would make things better, right? You knew all that went into Joel getting this reservation, and you weren’t just gonna let it all slip away because of a little traffic.

You pressed your device to your ear and the phone rang once, then twice, then three times before you were informed by a robotic voice that the line was busy.

The scene of traffic didn’t seem to be getting any better either, with the cars in front of you essentially coming to a full stop every now and then. Time was quickly passing by, yet you weren’t making much progress distance-wise.  

You called again to no avail, and attempted to maintain your composure. They would pick up soon enough, and you would get to your reservation on time, and you and Joel would have a lovely evening at that very fancy, exclusive restaurant.

Finally, someone on the other line picked up. You breathed out a sigh of relief as you were finally able to connect with an actual person, and attempt to explain your situation to them.

“We are aware of the car accident and the traffic jam it caused. However, regardless of external circumstances, our grace periods only last ten minutes. Unfortunately we’ve already given away your table to someone else on the waitlist. Our deepest and sincerest apologies.”

You looked over at Joel helplessly, disappointed to deliver the news about something he’d been so excited for for so long.

“Okay, thank you,” you said, quickly hanging up. “I’m sorry,” was the first thing you said to Joel. “They gave our table away.”

“You’re joking,” he said almost flatly, clearly in disbelief that something he’d worked so hard to plan for had slipped through his fingers so easily, and over circumstances that were completely out of his control.

“I’m sorry. We were later than their grace period. But it’s okay! We can just go somewhere else. I’ve heard about a few good restaurants nearby?”

“It’s Valentine’s day. They’re all gonna be fully booked,” he sighed, defeat clear in his tone. “Should I just turn around?”

“No! Right now I’m hungry enough that I’d eat your shoe if you put it in front of me with some silverware. Just… take me anywhere. Maybe somewhere you like? Preferably without a long line?”

Joel fell silent as he thought for a moment, trying to come up with a location that he enjoyed that wouldn’t be particularly busy that evening. As he pondered, a light bulb seemed to go off in his mind, leading him to turn his vehicle around and begin to take you elsewhere.

Your heels clicked against the pavement as Joel took your hand and led you towards a food truck. The smoky aromas hitting your nose were nothing short of heavenly, and if Joel believed that it was good, you were definitely taking his word for it.

“Is that… Joel, is that you?” the man in the window asked in disbelief as the two of you approached.

“It is,” he confirmed, a bit shyly.

“Damn, man! I almost didn’t recognize you all dressed up! What’s the-“ his eyes fell upon you, and his face lit up as he put the pieces together. “Who’s this?”

Joel introduced you by name, and wrapped an arm around you subconsciously. “We’re just celebrating Valentine’s Day.”

“Well you picked the right spot. Nice to meet you, sweetheart. I’m Louis.”

“Hi Louis. You know Joel?” you asked, curious about the camaraderie the pair seemed to have.

“I practically watched him grow up, so yeah, I guess so,” he flashed the two of you a smile, the look he gave Joel slightly more knowing than the soft one he offered you. “What’re we ordering tonight?”

Joel looked at you and shrugged, giving you the go-ahead for anything. It wasn’t like he wasn’t planning on spending a whole mortgage and kidney worth on food at the restaurant you had a reservation at.

You ordered a few different things from his menu, led more by your eyes and nose than your stomach. Louis nodded as you spoke before calling something out to the people working by the grill, and maintaining his position at the window so he could talk to you two.

“Why haven’t I met your friend before, Joel?” Louis asked, teasing in his voice.

“Well, obviously I was waiting for the most romantic day of the year to bring her here,” he looked away from his family friend and back to you. “You know, most people say that bringing your partner here is basically like having a ring in your hand and dropping to one knee.”

“Oh?” you laughed. “I’m flattered. Are you proposing to me?”

“No, not yet,” Joel shot a wink at you, and you felt a slight warmth rise to your cheeks. Of course, he was joking, but if he asked you in that moment to marry him, you’d probably say yes.

“Depending on how good this is, I may be proposing to you, Louis,” you teased, deflecting from the fantasy of marrying your partner.

“Hey! No need for that. Joel’ll bring you to one of my barbecues this summer. I promise you’ll eat so much of my food that you’ll never even want to even think about it again. Right, Joel?”

“Correct. Why do you think it’s been so long since I’ve visited you last?”

“Oh, excuses, excuses,” Louis dismissed, glancing back over his shoulder at the employee preparing your food. “Well lovebirds, since it’s Valentine’s Day, how’d you meet?” he questioned curiously, leaning further onto the ledge so he could get a good look at you and Joel.

“Our kids played soccer together on the same team, so we met through arguing like, all the time,” you laughed, glancing over at Joel who seemed just the slightest bit embarrassed at your frankness of your unconventional meet-cute.

“It sounds kinda bad when you put it like that. We were basically flirt-arguing,” Joel attempted to explain.

“Maybe you were. I was just arguing. But eventually our girls became friends, and we were forced to spend more time together, and I realized he’s not half bad,” you were downplaying just how much you adored the man standing next to you for a bit of comedic effect, but the quick look the two of you shared seemed to communicate everything it needed to for Louis.

“You’re not too bad yourself,” Joel said, cracking an adoring half-smile at you.

“That is too damn sweet,” Louis expressed as he looked between the two of you. He had to do a bit of reading in between the lines, but it was clear to him that the two of you were a rather happy pair, as evidenced by your comfortable body language and the fond teasing. He was clearly quite pleased to see Joel as happy as he was with you. “As much as I’d like to chat and hear more, your order is unfortunately ready. We’ll catch up another time?”

Louis turned around to grab your boxes, and leaned back over the ledge to pass them to Joel.

“Of course. If I don’t get back around sometime soon, we’ll definitely be at one of your barbecues this summer.”

“Good,” Louis nodded. “And before you head back home, stop back over here. I’ll make Sarah her favorite, and something for your daughter too!” he offered you both.

Louis’ barbecue was no joke. You and Joel absolutely demolished everything that was ordered as you laid in the bed of his truck, sat on the blankets Joel had packed for a previous picnic and had never seemed to put back.

“Why hadn’t you brought me here sooner?” you asked, sauce on the edges of your lips. “I feel like a brand new person after this.”

Joel reached over, dabbing at your mouth with a napkin to clean up what you missed. “I told you, this is like serious engagement food. If I brought you here too early on, I might’ve scared you off by moving too fast,” he jokingly explained as he set down the napkin and dragged himself a little closer to you.

You playfully rolled your eyes at the explanation, but leaned onto Joel regardless. “Yeah, whatever,” you muttered, setting your head on his shoulder and looking up at the night sky.

“Do you remember that night when you helped me out with making the team dinner?” Joel seemingly asked out of the blue, wrapping an arm around your shoulder.

“I do,” you nodded, glancing away from the sky and instead looking at Joel. “We’re a pretty great team.”

“We are,” Joel agreed, pausing for a moment. “Do you remember when I asked you out for the first time?”

“Of course I do.”

“I was so nervous. I really liked you a lot, but I wasn’t completely sure you’d say yes, and I didn’t want to ruin the friendship we’d been working on, or make things awkward for the girls. I just kept looking at the sky so I wouldn’t see you and think about all of those things,” he confessed, looking to the sky as he spoke.

“Are you nervous now?” you asked, noticing him watch the stars above you.

“No,” he assured you. “It’s just really beautiful out here tonight. Really clear.”

You leaned in closer, practically sitting on the lap of the man next to you at that point, “Do you see anything good up there?”

“Yeah,” Joel answered, his words blowing a few strands of hair as he spoke.

“Show me?” you asked, curiously peering up at the sky to attempt to see what Joel might’ve been seeing.

“Of course,” he agreed. “Well that right there is the big dipper. And the little dipper, too.”

“Where?” you asked, despite seeing it clearly. You had stargazed with Joel a handful of times, and he always did this cute thing when he saw something that you couldn’t see—grabbing your hand and leaning into you while he pointed out the stars with your own fingers, essentially cuddling you as he did so. His knowledge of what he was looking for, the competency in his actions, and the proximity he kept with you always drove you a little bit wild, and you’d be a fool to turn down an opportunity of getting that side of him out.

Joel took the bait, not even realizing that it was bait. He gently guided your arm to point out the constellation, speaking quietly next to your ear as he narrated what he was seeing. It was taking everything in you not to jump his bones then and there as he helped you see each set of stars.

After a period of pointing out constellations to each other, the two of you finally seemed to run out of observations to make, leaving you quietly sharing space on the blanket laid out in the bed of Joel’s truck.

“This has been my favorite Valentine’s day ever,” you expressed, gazing up at the stars with far less effort than you’d had previously. “I do love spending the day with you, but you really went out of your way to make today sweet. I appreciate it.”

“Hey, I can’t take all the credit. You are the one who arranged that absolutely life changing massage, and the Nespresso machine was great too. I will definitely be using it all the time now.”

“You know, it’s so weird. I used to hate Valentine’s day. Dread it every year because I just knew I’d be disappointed. But you changed that for me. Maybe it’s all the stuff we got to do, but I honestly think I’d be happy doing laundry or something with you today, as long as it meant I’d get to be with you.”

You were thoroughly exhausted after your day of Valentine’s activities, paired with the digestion you were going through after all of that dangerously delicious barbecue you and Joel had consumed. It was safe to say that the ride back to your place was a quiet one, only filled with the occasional uncomfortable grunt or a comment reminiscing on how good your dinner was.

By the time you opened your door, you were shocked to find your living room completely uprooted and transformed into a massive pillow fort. Your daughters, who conveniently were sitting inside of the fort, didn’t seem to notice you as you came in, as they were far too caught up in the Hallmark movie they were watching. Eventually, the sound of feet shuffling caught their attention, and the pair were out of the fort in record time.

“Happy Valentine’s Day!” they both cheered, making jazz hands towards the fort.

“To commemorate your first date, we built you a new and improved pillow fort,” Sarah explained, as she continued to Vanna White their creation.

“This time, it’s big enough for all of us. You’ve had enough alone time today,” Chloe expressed. “Come, come! Are you ready for the tour?”

Your kids showed you the inside of the fort, and there honestly wasn’t much to see. However, it was still quite impressive that they’d managed to pull off putting together such a big fort in such a short period of time.  

“But before we lay down, go change into pajamas. No one should be in a pillow fort in a suit. That’s just ridiculous,” Sarah remarked

“You heard the girl, go!” Chloe emphasized, herding you two upstairs without even giving you time to voice any sort of protest.

“You really went all out this year,” Joel gushed as he followed you into your bedroom.

Hearing him say that did make you feel a little guilty. Sure he didn’t need to know that Chloe had done most of the heavy lifting when it came to celebrating this holiday, but it felt wrong to keep things from him—even something as small as not coming up with original ideas.

“Joel, I have to tell you something,” you began hesitantly as he unzipped your dress.

“Oh no. Are you breaking up with me? Are you pregnant?” he glanced at you over your shoulder.

“No! And no, that’s just my food baby. It’s just that… basically everything I did for you today, Chloe helped me come up with. I was gonna get you a box of chocolates, show you this number,” you gestured at the lingerie revealed by your fallen dress, “then call it a day.”

“You wanna know the truth?” he asked before reaching into your dresser and tossing you a set of pajamas. “I needed Sarah’s help for almost everything today, too. Obviously it was a great day, but… I don’t need fancy things from you or huge romantic gestures, despite what our children might think. Your love alone is plenty.”

“Promise?” you asked, pulling on your pajama shirt.

“Swear.”

“Can we shake on doing a massage and getting barbecue next Valentine’s Day, nothing more and nothing less?”

“That sounds perfect,” Joel agreed, shaking your hand to drive in the point of your agreement. “Now let’s go check out that pillow fort.”

Chloe and Sarah snuggled against you as a new, cheesy rom-com played out on the television in front of you.

“So, how was your V-Day?” Chloe asked, looking between you and Joel mischievously. Obviously, the kids were curious about the fruits of their labor, and you genuinely could not blame them. With all the effort they’d put into making your day great, they deserved to know just how pleasant it was.

“It was amazing,” you confirmed, squeezing your daughter’s shoulder.

“We couldn’t have done it without you two,” Joel added, tossing a not-so-subtle wink at Sarah.

“Hey, what’s that supposed to mean?” Sarah asked with a slightly uncomfortable laugh.

“It means that you two are hopeless romantics, and without your guys’ help, we would’ve had a painfully boring Valentine’s Day,” you explained.

“Can you blame us for wanting to help you two old farts out? You haven’t celebrated this holiday in like 200 years,” Chloe retorted.

“Nothing wrong with that,” you affirmed. “You guys are good eggs. Is it too late to ask you both to be my Valentine?”

“Yes,” Chloe deadpanned.

“Nope,” Sarah said, popping her ‘p’. “But only if you get us heart-shaped boxes of chocolate.”

“I think that can be arranged. Right, Joel?” you asked.

“Fine. I’ll pick up some discounted chocolates after work tomorrow,” Joel said it begrudgingly, but deep down you knew that his softie heart was bursting with love for your family.

“Thank you. Happy Valentine’s day, my lovely loves,” you expressed, pulling the girls next to you closer to emphasize your point.

“Ew, mom,” Chloe squealed, only egging you on to pepper her cheeks in kisses.

This had by far been your favorite Valentine’s Day, and it really wasn’t even close. When you were surrounded by your favorite people in the world, doing something ridiculously thoughtful and sentimental, there was no way you could ever ask for more.

[heavenlytouches]

i saw you write for Game of thrones, can you write a female reader and Kingslayer (Jaime Lannister) taking a bubble bath together in his chambers? That bath scene with Brianne is still etched in my head. Thankss

Hi darling! Thank you so much for a great request! And yes of course I can write about Ser Lannister :0 let's go, head first El <3

Ser Jaime Lannister- a splash of love

.ೃ࿔*:･

FEM reader

<3 (SFW)

TW- mentions of blood, suggestive talk (nothing too bad)

Helping Kingslayer after a rough day

SERVANT! reader

Ser Jaime Lannister

As you move quietly through the opulent halls of the Red Keep, the scent of lavender and beeswax fills the air, a stark contrast to the dark bloodstains smeared against the polished stone walls.

You are just a servant, quietly carrying out your duties, but you feel the weight of the world around you- a world where the rightful lords and ladies command power, while you merely serve. Today, though, the world holds a peculiar charm.

You approach the lavish bathing chamber, where a warm bath awaits, its steam curling into the air like whispers of long-hidden desires.

Jaime Lannister sits in the tub, tired and covered in the remnants of his last battle- a unique blend of blood and grit smeared over his golden skin. He glances up at you, and your breath catches in your throat.

He gives you that familiar teasing smile, the one that always makes your heart race, and you feel a heat rise to your cheeks.

“Come on, don’t you have a task to help with? Or do you plan to stare at me all day?”

His tone is light, but you can see the fatigue behind those mesmerizing blue eyes.

"Ser, I have to.."

You begin, your voice barely above a whisper before you catch yourself, flustered. You shouldn’t get too close, but the urgency of your duties pulls you toward him.

“Help me wash, perhaps?”

He suggests, delighted by your evident struggle. The words tumble out like a gentle tease, and you can’t help but feel the electricity that crackles between you, teasing the edges of propriety.

“I don’t think that would be appropriate, my lord,”

You murmur, your heart pounding as a flurry of sensations engulfs you: his warmth, the inviting water, and the very real danger of crossing lines you never dared imagine.

“Come now, I promise I don’t bite.”

Jaime chuckles, his cocky bravado hanging in the air. He knows how to charm, and the glint in his eye beckons you, pulling you closer even as doubt whispers in your mind.

You hesitate, your hands clenching nervously at your sides. Yet something deep within you ignites; the mundane fades, replaced by curiosity and an unexpected desire to ease the weariness stamped across his rugged features. Clenching your jaw, you take a tentative step closer.

“I suppose I could help, my lord..”

You murmur, your voice wavering from nerves as you set the basin on a small table beside him. His grin only widens, reflecting a mixture of appreciation and mirth.

As you dip your hands into the warm, fragrant water, you feel an undeniable thrill at the thought of touching him, the bravery you muster as vital as any shield he wears as a knight.

You reach for a cloth and begin to gently scrub at his shoulders, the tension in your shoulders melting under the steam and the soft lapping of water.

“Ah...that's good..”

Jaime lets out a low sigh, letting his head fall back against the edge of the tub. You can’t help but sneak a glance at his face- the way the sunlight cascades through the windows highlights his sharp features, making him seem as though he’s carved from the finest ivory.

“How is it? How does it look?”

He asks, his voice soft, almost intimate. He was asking about his blood stained body, your eyes watching something else. You look at him, caught between a world of duty and an aching need to remain close.

“Nice,”

You whisper, your voice hushed as you try to conceal the warmth rising in your chest.

“I mean the bath, um, it looks nice.”

A teasing laugh escapes his lips, and he captures your gaze.

“Is it just the bath, my dear? Or are you noticing something else?”

His tone is lightly suggestive, turning heated, and your heart evens out in a chaotic rhythm as you feel the intensity of his stare.

You scold yourself internally; this is absurd! The attraction between you seems both uniquely magical and utterly reckless. You fight the urge to retreat, to hide behind the modesty surrounding your position.

But as your hands glide across his muscular form, the warmth of the water and the connection between you both grow.

“Most servants would turn on their heel at such an offer.”

He remarks playfully, breaking the tension as you wash his arm.

“Mainly because they’re worried about their standing, or about getting into trouble. But here you are, helping me.”

“I- well, I didn’t want you to be uncomfortable. You looked like you could use some help, ser.”

You admit, your fingers tracing across his skin as a gentle flush brightens your cheeks once more.

“Helpful servants are hard to come by, but I suppose I’m lucky today.”

His tone turns serious then, and for a moment the teasing facade falls away.

“You know, I’m grateful for your kindness. It’s the little things that carry me through.”

The sincerity in his words sends a flush through you, and you smile nervously as you catch his eyes.

“It’s just, um, my duty my lord.”

You reply modestly, even as a multitude of thoughts scatter in your mind, overwhelmed by his charm and allure.

“Not everyone sees it that way.”

He whispers, the hidden meaning in his words resonating deep within you.

“They are often so caught up in what they think they deserve.”

He takes the cloth from your hand unexpectedly, catching you off guard with his attitude; then he begins to wash your arms in return, the warm water slipping down your skin in soothing waves.

Your breath catches in your throat again; there is something intoxicating about the shared intimacy of the moment- a spark igniting across the surface.

“This must be how we find solace; even if only for a moment in our turbulent lives...”

He murmurs, his eyes darkening with emotion.

Your heart fights against the weight of what you know: the chasm of class between you, the rules that separate servant from lord. Yet here you are, soaked in warmth and laughter, and for just this fleeting moment, nothing else matters.

“I think you’re right, Ser Jaime.”

You say, your pulse quickening.

“And while we both know this can’t last, I…”

You falter, biting your lip to stem the rush of emotion. You wish you could capture this moment forever- the warmth, the laughter, and the gentle brush of hands against skin.

The bathwater swirls around you like possibilities yet to unfold. Acceptance and longing tangle deliciously, leaving you breathless, as the kingdom outside carries on unaware of the magic forged in a king’s guard and a humble servant's hidden connection.

"Maybe... maybe if no one knows. I am Ser Jaime, no one will question my actions or attractions."

With a soft laugh, Jaime splashes water toward you, breaking the tension, and you can't help but smile brightly as every droplet shimmered like hope- a secret you both would carry, one that stretched across the burdens of nobility and servitude alike.

“Let’s just enjoy this moment a little longer, shall we?”

He invites, mischief twinkling in his eyes. And as you lean closer with warmth against warmth, the world fades away, leaving you only with a heart that races in the bubble bath of Kings Landing.

Phewwww I love this one! Jaime is such a tease tho TwT

I can write anything for any character babes and don’t forget- requests are always open and welcome <33

I love you guys so much

El <3

(all images were made by: El via canva & paint)

[raggstorice]

FLASH HEADCANONS!

Where I take a fandom and give a Headcanon for Every. Single. Character.

Twisted Wonderland! #1

Here we go!

Riddle: whenever a bug lands on him he freezes. Just stops.

Ace: His parents always shut down his beliefs. Very much a 'Stay in line and You'll be fine' type of family. (If requested I will rant on my HC Ace backstory)

Deuce: He calls his mother every day and one day she just starts crying and is all like 'Im so proud of you. You've changed so much and I love you.' and Deuce started crying too.

Cater: Does not actually care that much about Magicam. He just needed something to base his personality off of.

Trey: Uses southern insults All. The. Time. People talk to him and he's just 'Well good for you!' and people think he's the nicest.

Leona: If you put a weighted blanket on him he will just fall over like that one scene in Lilo and stitch.

Ruggie: Knows everyone. And I mean EVERYONE. Try to introduce him to someone new and he'll just be like 'OMG my old friend!' yeah.

Jack: Named his cactus Paula. Also Talks to it and uses it like a doll. (Like that one scene in DRDT)

Azul: His first experience with a land dweller was when he saw a coin fall from the surface and he followed it. There was a language barrier so he couldn't talk to them. He wonders how they're doing some days.

Jade: Had a bonding moment with Jack over their love for plants (mushrooms and cacti) also eats mushroom-spinach pizza (like me!)

Floyd: He bites. Also he's banned from playing against other schools in Basketball because of the sheer amount of fouls he gets. Jamil is so done.

Kalim: Will summon a rainbow to cheer someone up. He's precious.

Jamil: Doesn't actually hate Kalim. He just needs to be mad at someone. Oh also he cooks for the Basketball club and brings food to practice. Ace is his biggest fan.

Vil: Godly eye makeup. He's the one who gave Rook his feather in his hat.

Epel: Bad Ass Mother Fucker. He prefers to fight with his tounge rather than his fists. The only one to realize Trey's passive aggressiveness.

Rook: Will bring back fresh meat from his hunts. Him and Jade bring the best ingredients to the Cafeteria and no one knows.

Idia: one time he hid from people in an empty classroom for several hours after school. Ortho almost sent a search party.

Ortho: Spends hours analyzing his friends. Like as a hobby. He brings them perfectly planned gifts and they all love it.

Malleus: Lilia cuts his hair. He also polishes his horns. He secretly really enjoys Sebek's loyalty just wished he was quieter.

Silver: Takes care of the horses so well. They love him and will only accept food from him.

Sebek: He can be surprisingly quiet if you ask nicely. He gets loud again if he gets worked up. Autistic.

Lilia: He loves his sons. He ends up taking care of the whole Campus. No one in NRC can take care of themselves properly so he does it. Mockingbird by Eminem coded

Crowley: He shows up randomly and helps students. Lilia is taking a student to the infirmary? He's there and takes them for him. Leona is asleep in the botanical garden? Crowley kicks him away from the path. The teachers are so done with the chaos and are ready to combust? He's there. He will make the chaos worse and somehow contain it at the same time.

Crewel: He stays stocked up on potions ready to help any students that are ill, tired, or in any sort of pain. He will let you sleep in his classroom and will pull you into his office if he thinks somethings up. Many students have cried in front of him.

Trein: Will go out of his way to include history not taught in textbooks. Stuff about gay rights, racism, trans right, war crimes, fun facts about political leaders, etc. He does it all in the most monotone voice ever.

Lucius: The best cat. Used to be a stray wandering campus. Will bring gifts to students it likes. Recognized Leona as one of its own.

Vargas: Always down to help students. Oh you have Asthma? Good thing I have SEVENTEEN EXTRA INHALERS. You seem to be struggling a little why don't you sit down? Exercise without rest is as good as no exercise at all.

Sam: Will give freebies to students who need it. Oh you skipped lunch to study for a test? Good thing I have a sandwich just for you! Your pen broke? Which one do you want? Also will tell you all the tea.

Grim: Whenever he eats those blot crystals he suddenly knows all of the victims trauma which he reports to Yuu.

Yuu: Has serious conversations with Overblot victims. The best non licensed therapist.

Authors Note: It's 1:23 AM. I'm going to sleep.

[askthe-r-m-au]

I'm sick and it's the middle of the night...

Yall know what that means...

R-M FIC TIME!!!! :D

Uhh yeah It's been a while since I did chapter 1 (link right here) so I think nows the time to continue!

Man I wish I could just copy paste stuff from my brain-

Uhh so ye let's go

[The Ring-Misstress Chapter 2: A Promotion]

Several days have passed since Pomni and Caine became "coding buddies." Or- since Pomni made her ultimate plan to find the exit. Other than that, it was actually kinda nice. The more time she spent fixing things around the circus, the less time she'd have to spend alone in a room that wasn't hers. Just doing mundane things... heck, maybe that's all she needed...

☆Well then, looks like we're done for the day!! Great work as always, Pomni!☆

And just like that, the mundane was over.

♧Oh... uh, thanks...♧

☆I best be off for now then! Oh-! Don't be late tomorrow morning, because I have some news for all of you!!☆

He looked up to see the Jester walking away, giving a weak thumbs up.

☆Alright then, goodnight, my dear!☆

Pomni shut the door behind her and crawled into bed. She lay there, staring at the ceiling as she recollected the days events. She thought about the last thing Caine brought up. "News? What was so important that they all needed to know??" Part of her kind of dreaded it, but...

Another part of her didn't.

Meanwhile, Caine slowly flew down the circus hall. He, too, reflected on the work they got done today. He was proud of it, really he was!! But... he wondered what caused these sorts of bugs in the first place. He thought about the first time pomni fixed a line of code. What even happened to bubble that day?? He's never seen him glitch like that before. It almost looked like a-

°○ Hi boss...○°

Speak of the devil...

°○All these new textures sure look shiny...○°

Bubble chimed, staring at the wall and licking his lips.

☆Bubble, if you so much as Touch a PIXEL, I-☆

Bubble began gnawing on the wall, ignoring Caine's sterness.

"Pop!"

The ringmaster let out an annoyed sigh, snapping his fingers to fix the wall.

"Just how is he going to deal with Bubble now?! With the big important stuff coming up, his behavior certainly wouldn't do..."

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

The next morning, Caine eagerly woke everyone up, including Pomni. They all quickly gathered to the main stage, ready for whatever nonsense Caine had to give them today.

☆Good morning, Superstars!! Now, you are all aware that I have some very important news today!!☆

•Yeah, yeah, we get it. What's soooooo important dentures?•

☆I'm glad you asked, Jax!! As you may have noticed, the graphics look much more polished now!☆

Everyone collectively looked around. He was right. The circus did look more high-quality.

◇Yeah, and?◇

☆As you are also aware, this place is usually inactive. BUT, I've noticed more of these enhancements, AND, some developers' notes! (Which I haven't found in a while actually) Seems like the game is finally being published!☆

The crew were confused for a moment, but then it hit them. How could they forget this was a kids' game? This place was about to get a lot more crowded... with children nonetheless! They could barely survive this place, let alone could kids!!

This was not good...

♧Uhh, exactly how much time do we have before the game launches..?♧

☆Probably within the next couple of days. So, we should have a little bit of time to-☆

The group was interrupted by a loud "Thud," followed by glitching noises coming from the hallway.

☆... I... I'm gonna go investigate. Pomni, mind if I pull you aside for a second?☆

The Noises in the Distance didn't sound like any normal code bug... but what choice did she have.

They followed the glitching sounds to the hallway entrance, Pomni jumped slightly when Caine suddenly froze to a stop.

☆...Bubble?☆

At the end of the hallway stood Bubble, only larger and heavily corrupted, covered in glitches and code. He kept biting chunks of code from the wall, making him increase in size.

☆My, how did this happen??☆

Bubble didn't reply and continued eating away at the code.

☆Uhm, hello??☆

♧CAINE I DONT THINK NOW IS THE TIME TO ASK QUESTIONS...♧

☆Ah, of course! Now... let's fix this up!!☆

Caine snapped his fingers to no success.

☆Okay, Pomni, any ideas?☆

♧Me? Uhm...♧

She noticed an odd looking piece of code in the center of Bubble's corruption

♧K-keep him distracted! I think I have an idea!♧

Caine followed orders, snapping the walls fixed, making Bubble eat them again, and then He'd fix them again, so on so fourth.

As He kept Bubble Occupied, Pomni snuck behind Bubble and Snagged the strange line of code. Bubble slowly returned to normal size but remained slightly glitchy and corrupted.

♧Got it!!♧

She held it up for Caine to see.

☆Hold on a second... are you sure that's what caused it??☆

♧Well, yeah, I-♧

Caine cut her off, sounding almost confused.

☆That's... That's his central code... he's always had that...☆

Pomni thought for a moment... "That's weird... it looked an awful lot like a virus code..."

☆Well, now what??☆

Pomni stood in silence for a second... she wasn't sure how Caine would take this. But they didn't have much choice.

♧Looks like you're gonna have to pop him one last time...♧

Caine slowly reached his index finger towards Bubble.

"Pop!"

The glitching stopped. And the stray peices of code faded away.

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

•Man, where on earth are those two?!•

◆Hey, I'm pretty sure it takes em a while to fix things◆

•Well yeah, but it definitely shouldn't take more than 20 minutes! I'm outta here.•

◇Honestly, this is the one time I agree with you.◇

Just as the crew were about to go back to their rooms, Caine and Pomni made their return.

♧Heheh... we're back...♧

☆Apologies for that, superstars...☆

•Well it's about time!! What happened back there??•

The pair stood in silence for a long time...

☆So... Bubble is dead.☆

A few of the cast simultaneously gasped, visibly confused, and surprised.

♧L-let me explain. Turns out Bubble... was a virus. He was eating the place inside-out, so we kinda sorta had to...♧

•Eh, whatever. I never liked the guy anyway! He was pretty annoying. Good on you two.•

The others collectively chattered to eatch other.

☆Well, now that that's out of the way... that's really all I have for you. You're all free to go. I have plenty of work to do!☆

The cast all started towards the hallway to their rooms, as usual. Pomni began to follow them when Caine stopped her.

☆Pomni... I have one more favor I need from you.☆

♧Hm?♧

Caine seemed strangley less energetic.

☆I know this is on rather short notice, but... with my- lack of an assistant... I was thinking...☆

He snapped his fingers, and in front of Pomni was a new string of code

☆How would you like a promotion??☆

♧...as what??♧

She examined the jumble of numbers in front of her.

☆As my Co-host!!☆

♧...Gee, I dunno... I don't think I-♧

☆May I add, being my assistant, has its benefits!! You'd share my capabilities! You'd be able to help fix things full time and help with making future adventures!!☆

She thought about it for a moment... she wouldn't have to go on any adventures. Just make them. Also, this gave her a chance to get closer to Caine. Again, to get answers about the exit...

☆Well..?☆

She looked down at the code again... this could be her chance...

She reached out and touched the Code...

With a quick flash, it suddenly disappeared. Or so she thought at first.

She looked down at herself to see that her model had changed. It was a lot higher in quality. Her Jester hat had decreased in size and wrapped around a larger yellow top hat, similar to Caine's. As well as blue and red stripped leggings and a splitting coat tail. Next to her floated a red and blue striped cane (or more of a wand in size). She looked down at her new features and looked back up at Caine.

☆How do you feel?☆

♧... Well, it definitely does look nice.♧

☆Now that's the spirit!!☆

Caine beamed at his new assistant. He then looked down at his own model.

☆Heh, suppose I need an upgrade too!☆

With a snap of his fingers, his model was also polished. Brighter, bolder colors, and star embroidery on his hat and the back of his coat.

☆Well, we've got the looks right! Now, let's get to work kn adventures!! Any suggestions??☆

♧Hm... Maybe we can start making them a little more... mundane...♧

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

Holy moly this was waaaaaaaay longer than chapter one-

This was alot-

I feel like crap rn-

Uhh, yeah, you know the drill. Ask Caine Pomni and Voz, ask me maybe, check out my main acc [ @dayseedrawz2 ]

Buh bye chat

[martinsharmony]

David's autograph, my gift to him and his panel at Fan Expo Dallas

Day 3 of Fan Expo Dallas and the day that I got David's autograph AND I gave him a bracelet that I made him.

So, since his flight was cancelled on Friday, he came in on early Saturday afternoon which meant he went straight into autographs and then had a full afternoon of photos. Then he went *back* to sign autographs from 7 until (I heard) after 10pm. The con itself closes at 7.

Now the email everyone who bought autographs got was confusing because it said he would stay until every last person got their moment BUT IT DID NOT SAY Saturday only. It said 2pm and 7pm but it did not say a day at all. I thought this meant BOTH days but NO. I had actually planned to go at 7 tonight because the 2pm hour was pretty crazy. THANK GOD I DIDN'T.

I had gone early to go to the Jonathan Frakes panel and just on a whim I decided to scout out the David autograph table to get the lay of the land and understand where I would need to be. I saw a ton of people in line but at that time (12:20ish) he wasn't due to arrive at the table for at least another hour and a half. So I asked. I was told he had to be on a flight after the show so 2pm was the only autograph time for him today. And furthermore he only had an hour and a half window to do the autographs today because he had a panel at 3:30.

Now, I had VIP tickets. I splurged for that because I decided it was worth it to me to not have to wait in line and get in first/be up front in panels. I was right. If I ever go to another con, I'm getting VIP. Understanding of course that I ONLY go to cons if there is a must see person like this there. I really wouldn't have gone at all if David wasn't there.

So since I was VIP, I was directed to another line that only had 1 person in it. That meant we got to see him first before everyone in that insane long line. Perfect. This is what I wanted and really the reason why I bought VIP. I wanted to give him this.

I make jewelry for people to show them I love them. Each piece is a "portrait" of the person I give it to. I think about the person and choose materials and designs that represent that person to me. These are my art. I don't sell them. I've made them for friends, family and celebrities- namely Martin Gore and Alan Wilder from Depeche Mode. Alan's was the 1st one I ever made.

Anyway, this bracelet is David. There's a lot in here and I couldn't possibly detail it all, but you can see the pride colors obviously and the trans colors are represented as well however a bit more subtly. The bead frame style is a signature of mine - I almost always include it in some way. The hematite gives it a bit of masculinity while the soft colors balance it out with a bit of femininity. The white beads remind me of his goodness and purity of heart, and the flat blue-ish abalone beads remind me of his red carpet styles. It's a little showy and a little ordinary. A bit flamboyant and a bit everyday. A little masculine and a little feminine. I thought the micro black spacer beads gave it a nice polished finish, and the gunmetal clasp ties it all together and goes with the hematite nicely. Interestingly I started off making something completely different and started over because it felt "too fancy" to me for David. It needed more color and more playfulness.

I didn't say a word to anyone about wanting to give it to him because I didn't want to be told no. I wasn't planning to talk his ear off. I just wanted to give him what I made and make sure he knew I made it and that it was a portrait of him.

So I'm 2nd in line behind the ADA folks of which there were about 3 or 4. It's my turn. I say I *made* this for him and that it's a portrait of sorts. The pride colors are represented and the trans colors too. He took it and looked at it (I think he had already signed my pic at this time) and said Thank you! and set it aside to his left. I said Thank you! and was out. I really can't remember exactly what was said. We were not allowed to take pics or film (so any pics you see at the autograph table from Dallas were taken surreptitiously).

My stomach was nervous all day long in anticipation of this moment. I slept about 4 hours last night despite being exhausted from a full con day the day before.

I'm kicking myself a bit for not asking if I could put it on him. When I saw him at the table the only thing on his wrists was a watch, but when he showed up at his panel he was wearing something on his right wrist that was not my bracelet. But now that I think about it I probably would have been disappointed if he had said no thank you or declined in some (most likely polite) way - probably because the line needed to keep moving.

I'm choosing to believe he tucked it safely away in his bag when he was finished with TWO HOURS of autographs at that table and that he has it with him now. It wasn't stretchy like it seems those other ones he was wearing yesterday were. I considered making it stretchy but decided against it because I'm not so skilled in that style.

We got some lunch then got in line for his panel. It was 45 mins away and the VIP line was already super long. *sigh*. He didn't show up until 4 (half an hour late) most likely because he had to finish signing everything because he was leaving immediately after. But they let him have his whole hour and did not cut him off.

We got a nice surprise! The schedule said it would only be David but Catherine Tate joined him and acted as moderator! I like this so much better than having an actual moderator. They really didn't need one at all - It was so fun seeing them bounce off each other and she did a really good job. David immediately took off his shoes and talked about his socks extensively lol. He also laid down on the couch and said he had jet lag. (Everyone in multiple panels had been saying how comfortable that couch was) Donna also said that David "Does not regard chairs in the traditional way". I was like !!! Yes! We have actual verbal confirmation that David does not sit in chairs normally! He said he likes to "perch" and then proceeded to do so. I was reminded of the lips chair he tried to sit on lol.

I didn't take a lot of video of the panel. I didn't want to be the asshole with a phone up the entire time. I'm sure someone filmed the whole thing so I'll look for it on YouTube. I did snap a few photos.

Overall I'm very happy. It was a nerve wracking and exhausting couple days but David was such a trooper for staying so late to take care of everyone when he probably hadn't slept in over a day at least. The other problems were not his fault. Everyone I talked to who had time with him said he was so nice and sweet.

One thing he said during the panel is that the con experience is a joyful one for him because he is one of us. He waited in line to see Tom Baker when he was 10 so he understands the joy we have and shares it.

David is a treasure. I love him so much.

[cerenemuxse]

"He Squawks!"

7th October 1963

The story can be found at @eosr-by-muxse for easier access.

Under an agreement between James and the rest of the North Westerners, after every October 6th, James is allowed to spook any of his fellow co-workers. This year has a bit of a surprise for him.

For Traintober 2023: Day 8 - Bird

~

In Tidmouth Yards, three engines were laughing about as they cleaned up the little mishap one of them caused. Troublesome Trucks had been derailed by accident.

“Thon wis quite a scare, Jim!” piped up Donald with a chuckle. “Ye could’nae even wait a single day noo, could ye?”

James laughed loudly. “Of course not! It’s past my birthday, just like we agreed~!”

“We ken, auld man!” Douglas said cheekily as he pulled a Troublesome Truck back on the line. “At least we won’t be needin’ the cranes.”

“Ye’re gettin’ better at spookin’,” Donald added with the same cheekiness.

“As if I was never good at it!” huffed the red medium-sized tender engine playfully, giving a cross look at the Scottish twins. Within seconds of silence full of steam being bellowed, all three engines burst into laughter once again as they continued pulling the trucks back onto the tracks.

Once they were done, Donald asked. “Sae, who’s yer next victim?”

“Emily, of course! As always.”

“As always?” asked Douglas with a chuckle. “Sae we’re always first? How sweet, Jim.”

With another playful huff, James replied, “Well, you’re the furthest away from my branch line, and I haven’t seen you both in a while, except for the weekends, that is.”

“We saw ye yesterday, auld man,” reminded Douglas.

“But still-!”

“We get it, Jimmy,” interrupted Donald. “Still cannae believe ye’re turning fifty-ane ance this month is over.”

“May I remind you that you’re both fifty-four years old. You’re both not that much older than me, ‘auld man,’” James retorted with a tease, mimicking the twins’ Scottish accent.

“Alricht, get goin’ then if ye want tae catch Emily,” huffed Donald, shooing the larger engine away. “We dinnae want the Big Man findin’ oot aboot this.”

“Right!” puffed James. With two sharp whistles from the polished brass object, James reversed and gathered his goods train that was headed to the docks. Half of the train was from the Ffarquhar Quarry and the other was from the Goram Fell Quarry, so the trucks were full of stone. Thankfully, these trucks weren’t Troublesome Trucks. Otherwise, they would’ve gotten James back for the incident that had occurred moments prior.

The red medium-sized tender engine pulled out of the yard with his goods train and went onto the Main Line, heading towards the Brendam Branch Line.

…

Brendam Docks was busy as usual with Salty bustling about and Cranky loading and unloading cargo. Goods trains were being set up as James approached Cranky.

"Here's James!" he exclaimed, whistling sharply. "Here's my train, Cranky!"

"You're gonna have to move along, James!" exclaimed Cranky with his typical grump. "I need to load another train now. You can put it underneath the dock manager's building for now!"

Without another word, James whistled once more and moved ahead. He made sure the brake van of his goods train sat right outside of the roofline of the building. Once that was done, he collected his brake van and moved along, only to find another engine stalled ahead.

Although James hadn't planned on adding this particular engine to his list, he gave it a second thought. With a soft but mischievous chuckle, he whispered, "I've been a little too nice to Edward."

His driver, Fred, caught wind and immediately spoke up. "Oh, don't you even think about it!" he whispered hastily as he grabbed the handbrake. "Come on, old boy! We're gonna be late!"

"Pft! We'll be fine. I'll only take a moment!" he whispered. Fred and George looked at one another before giving in, with Fred letting go of the handbrake. James snickered as he approached the blue medium-sized tender engine as slowly as he could. Knowing that Edward lacked the ability to open his smokebox door, James moved closer than he typically would. Once he was at the halfway point of Edward's goods train, he stopped, making sure Edward hadn't taken notice. The other engine didn't do anything but hum about, presumably waiting around. With a devious grin, James rushed forward with full force and hollered, "I'm behind you!" as loud as he could.

Edward let out a very loud squawk, startled by the sudden scream and red blur rushing past him.

James immediately pulled on his brakes the moment the sound left the other engine's mouth. The noise had shaken him out of his joy, making it short-lived. Slowly, he reversed until his smokebox aligned with Edward. He popped open his smokebox door, seeing Edward's face.

Edward's eyes were blown open, his lips creased together in a thin straight line, and his cheeks were burning to a near sooty black.

"Did you just-?" began James.

"Naw!" immediately squeaked the smaller engine, trying to be stern. "Naw, I didnae!"

"You squawked like a seagull!" exclaimed James, flustering Edward even further. "I can't believe it! He squawks!"

"James, please-!" he insisted, still trying to be stern.

"I wonder if Duck quacks?" asked James smugly. "Now wouldn't that be a treat?"

"James!"

"Oh, I won't tell anyone, Edward, if that's the problem."

"Well, aye, but-!"

"I've gotta go now! Talk to you later!" exclaimed the red medium-sized tender engine giddily before rushing off, leaving behind a very flustered Edward.

~

Just a fun short story! Looks like I did get a chance to join Traintober this year just for a bit.

[cherrypikkins]

@wild-moss-art Hi there! I'm more than happy to share art philosophy about lineart! You are correct, I am definitely spending less time than usual on my lineart to get these requests done, but I'm still glad with the final results. :3

Here are the three stages that I take to achieve clean and polished lineart.

1) The Rough Sketch is used to figure out what the final product may look like. No fine details yet, only guidelines and basic shapes. I make sure the proportions, alignment, and composition is correct. The completed Rough Sketch gives me a good idea of what the rendered lines may look like, but is a bit too messy to follow. While I do have the option of erasing all of the guidelines and cleaning up the lines, what I usually do is lower the opacity of the rough sketch and start on a new layer.

2) The Under Drawing is done in a non-black color on top of the rough sketch. Here is where I get into finer detail with expression and anatomy. However, because we are following the messy lines of the rough sketch, the Under Drawing will still look a little unpolished. It is still very suitable for coloring if you plan to render all of the details in the painting stage, or if you are going for a more sketchy style.

In order to get sharp, detailed, finely rendered lines however, an additional stage is required.So lets lower the opacity and start a new layer using black ink this time.

3) When Rendering Lines, I carefully follow all of the details provided by the Under Drawing, which shows exactly where each line should be placed. I take my time going over each line, using the zoom tool and rotating the canvas when needed to get the best angle.

Because the final product should have a sharp and clean look, it can be very time consuming and pain staking to go over all the details. That said, I have a few tips that will help this stage go along faster while adding visual appeal to the final product.

Let's use an example. Suppose you place down your lines and end up with something that looks like this.

It's not bad, but it could use a little work. The expression and level of detail that we want isn't there yet, but it's actually a good starting point. If you are new to line art or still practicing, you may wish to aim something like the drawing above so that we can take it a step further using the steps I will demonstrate in the tutorial below.

So how do we make clean lineart into something even greater?

Here is what I mean by line weight. Lines of lower weight are lighter and thinner. Lines of heavier weight are darker and thicker. Then there are modulated lines, which gradually increase or decrease in weight.

In the example drawing, all of the lines are of equal weight. We can make the line art less monotonous by increasing the weight of certain lines. For demonstration purposes, I will only make changes to the right side of the drawing so that you can see the difference.

To start, we will add another line to the upper eyelid and fill in the gap, creating a new, bolder line.

We will also build up the iris, pupil and highlight, adding details as we go. Already, it is looking more expressive.

Lets build up the nose and mouth lines while keeping the ends nice and thin.

Then, we can add weight to the face and ear lines. For the hair outline, we want to make the lines heavier closer to the roots while keeping the ends thin. Hair lines on the inside can be left alone.

Finally, we make the outside line of the character heavier. With these small changes, we have a much more expressive, detailed, and visually appealing product.

Here I've highlighted in red where the lines remained unchanged. You will definitely want to leave some lines alone while building up others. As a rule, outlines should be thicker while the detail lines on the inside should be thinner.

If you increase the weight of all lines with the same amount, it will remain flat.

So, you should aim to have a variety of light lines, heavy lines, and modulated lines. You may wish to use the eraser to lighten up heavy lines or create modulated ones.

If you can do all the steps above, then a lot of detail and expression will be preserved even when the image is shrunk down

Hope that helps :3 Let me know if there are any other questions I can answer.

[maxusmaximum]

My thoughts on Silent Hill 2 remake

I’ve seen a lot of posts talking about Bloober Team and James himself and the more that I watch the trailers and look at the screenshots, I’ve come to realize that we haven’t even seen some of the other characters yet.

One thing that I think makes Silent Hill 2 so incredibly fascinating is its characters and how they emphasize the theme of the story so well. They go through such mental turmoil and we come to learn a lot about them. In many of the cases, what we learn about these characters is never outright said to us and these implications of these characters is what tells us their stories. These implications not only hammer in the theme of the story, but they also set the atmosphere and tone of the game. Descriptions on items like Angela’s knife and how James doesn’t “plan on using this as a weapon” giving us clues on not only Angela as a character, but James. Specifically his In Water ending.

Eddie’s story having hints throughout the entire game, including how and why he came to Silent Hill in the first place. The van cutscene at the beginning of the game and the van that’s shown in the playable first scene. His vomit scene and then the famous pizza scene in greater context when paired up with his dialogue about his physical appearance. His dialogue alone clues us in on his warped reality and mental state. In fact, Angela also has dialogue that clues us in on how the town of Silent Hill doesn’t look the same for both James and her. Once again, big world building and story implications.

The voice acting differences I don’t think will be too bad? However, of course, I will always prefer the original dream like delivery of lines. In the original, I think the line delivery actually adds more to the atmosphere and story if you like to pick apart every little detail ever, intentional or not. It gives the player even more insight into the characters we’re perceiving. Things like the tone shifts and hesitancy in Angela’s lines and the way that Eddie’s voice gives us the vibe that he’s playing dumb with us at times. James’ own dialogue in the first is a pretty damn good way to hammer in his head space, especially in the beginning and how that changes in the second half of the game. He feels so detached from himself, saying things like “I guess I don’t really care what happens to me”.

My point is, changing something in Silent Hill 2 can negatively affect how the story is perceived. Dialogue changes because of possible sanitization or just forgetting something entirely can negatively effect how nicely wrapped this game is. The interactive experience players have with it and how it effects the ending of their game.

We all know Bloober doesn’t have the greatest credibility when it comes to mental health matters in a video game but on the bright side, there are original members of the Silent Hill team working with them on the game. Plus, this isn’t like they’re making a brand new game with all new story. They are working with something that quite literally gives you all the pieces to recreate a gorgeous remake. I know some others are upset at the lighting and the super detailed graphics because they believe it takes away from the horror of the game, and yeah, I mean to an extent I agree. However I actually really like the intense graphics and it’s realness. It’s fresh, I love seeing how the world is reimagined in this way. It makes me feel like I can really be there, that Silent Hill is even more tangible of a place. I think the scares can still be pulled off in the graphics and polished environments that we’ve seen, and actually in some ways can enhance the terror. Art director and creature designer Masahiro Ito is working closely with the team from what I’ve read! This is amazing! This shows how graphic and even more intentional the designs for these monsters can be now! We’ve seen something really exciting, but pretty small as a detail. The ring indent on James’ finger. With detailed graphics, they’ll actually be able to add details that we weren’t able to get in the original. I’m so beyond excited for this alone!

I’m trying to genuinely have hope with the game because I love it so intensely, I don’t think it’ll be too bad. I love reading what other people have to say about it though, it’s just so interesting. What are your thoughts? Maybe things you’re excited for?

[invsiblestrings]

under the cut, you'll find [104] sentence starters from taylor swift's midnights (3 a.m. edition) album. please like/reblog if you find this helpful!

"my flight was awful, thanks for asking."

"i'm unglued, thanks to you."

"you wanting me tonight feels impossible."

"can this be a real thing? can it?"

"and by the way, i'm going out tonight."

"my flight was awful, thanks for asking."

"i'm unglued, thanks to you."

"you wanting me tonight feels impossible."

"can this be a real thing? can it?"

"and by the way, i'm going out tonight."

"i polish up real nice."

"i miss you, but i miss sparkling."

"some guy said my aura's moonstone just 'cause he was high."

"you can try to change my mind, but you might have to wait in line."

"if it feels like a trap, you're already in one."

"never take advice from someone who's falling apart."

"you don't have to answer just 'cause they asked you."

"you wouldn't take my word for it if you knew who was talking."

"did it matter if you got to wash your hands?"

"now that i know, i wish you'd left me wondering."

"if you never saved me from boredom, i could've gone as i was."

"you made me feel important, and then you tried to erase us."

"i regret you all the time."

"i can't let this go, i fight with you in my sleep."

"you did some bad things, but i'm the worst of them."

"i don't start shit, but i can tell you how it ends."

"she needed cold, hard proof so i gave her some."

"don't get sad. get even."

"what if i told you none of it was accidental?"

"if you fail to plan, you plan to fail."

"the first night that you saw me, i knew i wanted your body."

"no one wanted to play with me as a little kid, so i've been scheming like a criminal ever since."

"this is the first time i've felt the need to confess."

"i'm only cryptic and machiavellian 'cause i care."

"you knew the entire time."

"turns out it was that guy you hooked up with ages ago."

"i'm so in love that i might stop breathing."

"romance is not dead if you keep it just yours."

"i wanna brainwash you into loving me forever."

"it only hurts this much right now."

"i'll be getting over you my whole life."

"you know how scared i am of elevators."

"oh no, i'm falling in love again."

"you would break your back to make me break a smile."

"you know how much i hate that everybody just expects me to bounce back."

"how'd we end up on the floor anyway?"

"how the hell did we lose sight of us again?"

"ain't that the way shit always ends?"

"i feel you no matter what."

"i wake with your memory over me. that's a real fucking legacy."

"meet me at midnight."

"i've been under scrutiny. you handle it beautifully."

"i'm damned if i do give a damn what people say."

"all they keep asking me is if i'm gonna be your bride."

"they're bringing up my history, but you aren't even listening."

"i didn't know you were keeping count."

"you said i was freeloading."

"i bent the truth too far tonight."

"do you really wanna know where i was april 29th?"

"good money i'd pay if you'd just know me."

"seemed like the right thing at the time."

"you know there are many different ways that you can kill the one you love. the slowest way is never loving them enough."

"do i really have to tell you how he brought me back to life?"

"i have this thing where i get older but just never wiser."

"i should not be left to my own devices."

"one day i'll watch as you're leaving 'cause you got tired of my scheming."

"i'm the problem. it's me."

"it must be exhausting always rooting for the anti hero."

"i find myself running home to your sweet nothings."

"on the way home, i wrote a poem."

"this happens all the time."

"everyone's up to something."

"to you i can admit, that i'm just too soft for all of it."

"he stayed the same. all of me changed."

"i broke his heart 'cause he was nice."

"sometimes we all get just what we wanted."

"i never think of him except on midnights like this."

"he's gonna notice me. it's okay, we're the best of friends."

"i hear it in your voice. you're smoking with your boys."

"i touch my phone as if it's your face."

"i search the party of better bodies just to learn that you never cared."

"you're on your own kid. you always have been."

"i have my blood, sweat and tears for this."

"my friends from home don't know what to say."

"everything you lose is a step you take."

"you've got no reason to be afraid."

"sucker punching walls, cursed you as i sleep-talked."

"my hand was the one you reached for."

"i vowed not to cry anymore."

"maybe it's the pat that's talking, screaming from the crypt - telling my to punish you for things you never did."

"that was the night i nearly lost you. i really thought i lost you."

"there's no morning glory, it was war, it wasn't fair. and we will never go back."

"i vowed i would always be yours."

"you're talking shit for the hell of it."

"ask me what i learned from all those tears."

"every single thing i touch becomes sick with sadness."

"you were more than just a short time." 

"i've got a lot to pine about about. i've got a lot to live without."

"i'm never gonna meet what could've been, what should've been you."

"did some force take you because i didn't pray?"

"i'll say words i don't believe."

"by the way, i just may like some explanations."

"did you ever have someone kiss you in a crowded room?"

"can i ask you a question?"

"did you leave her house in the middle of the night?"

"do you wish you'd put up more of a fight?"

"do you wish you could still touch her?"

"does it feel like everything's just like second best after that meteor strike?"

"what's that that i heard? that you're still with her?"

[direwombat]

tagged by @socially-awkward-skeleton for wip wednesday and @poetikat a day or two ago to share some of a wip!

taggin: @natesofrellis​, @thomrainer​, @adelaidedrubman​, @strafethesesinners​, @strangefable​, @funkypoacher​, @harmonyowl​, @schoute​, @aceghosts​, @confidentandgood​, and anyone else wanting to share anything they have (but no pressure, as always)

i just published ch 5 of fragile creatures and i don’t really work ahead, so everything i have for ch 6 is super rough, but here’s something that’s polished enough to share. it still needs a lot of work lmao but it’s better than the skeletons and single lines of dialogue/description or notes that are my other wips...

“So,” he sniffs. “Put any thought into how you wanna die?”

Pratt doesn’t look at him, or answer.

“No? You don’t give me any input and I’ll have to decide for you. And I gotta say, Peaches, whatever I come up with, you’re not gonna like.” He slices a piece of apple and pops it in his mouth, chewing thoughtfully.

He watches for any reaction, but Pratt gives him nothing. Just a quick glance out of the corner of his eye. Disappointing. Jacob thought he’d be a wreck by now. “Tell you what. I’ll give you a choice,” he continues. “One of two options. Either A,” he holds his index finger up, “I crucify you. Hike you up somewhere into the mountains and nail you to some trees and leave you up there all by yourself. Someone may find and save you. Or you’ll die a slow, agonizing death.”

Still nothing, save for the bob of his Adam’s apple.

“Or,” he says, holding up his second finger. “You’re shot. Back of the head. Executioner’s style. Hell, I’ll do it myself if you want. Nice and quick. Comparatively painless. Caveat is you gotta dig your own grave first -- assuming you want one. I’m not making my men waste their time putting your body to rest. Otherwise your body’s being fed to the wolves. Might be the only useful thing you’ll ever be good for.”

And Pratt still remains a statue, huddled in his little corner of the cage. The deputy isn’t a resilient man. He bows and bends at the slightest hint of pressure. Getting him to break had been easy. But for some reason, it’s here that he’s found some resolve. If Jacob were a more charitable man, he might even find his newfound conviction admirable. Pratt has only known Deputy Rook for only a few months, yet he’s confident she’ll put her neck on the line just to save him.

But Jacob isn’t a charitable man, and he thinks Pratt is naive and a fool.

“She’ll be here,” Pratt rasps, his voice rough from pain and thirst.

Jacob gives him a look. Amused but pitying, the same kind of look one gives a child who failed entertainingly at whatever task they were attempting. “Whatever helps you get through the day, Peaches,” he says.

annnnd here’s a snippet from the charlie/paola pre-ship fic that i’ll finish someday....no paola in this particular scene, but have some fun old fashioned heist planning with charlie + the lost legacy trio

He raises his hand. Chloe nods at him. “Yes, Charlie?”

“What are we gonna do about the provenance documents?” he asks.

Sam scoffs. “Provenance documents,” he parrots. “Lookat you using big boy words.”

“Fuck off, it’s a legitimate question,” Charlie bristles. “This guy’s a scumbag, but he’s by the book, right? Technically he bought the piece legally, yeah?”

“Yeah,” Chloe says slowly, and he’s suddenly a little uncomfortable with how everyone’s eyes are on him now.

“Then there’s gonna be a paper trail. It’s not gonna matter how long we sit on it, the second we try to fence it, alarm bells are gonna go off somewhere. And if it can get traced back to us…”

“Bad news bears,” Sam finishes.

Charlie points at him. “Exactly.”

Chloe chews thoughtfully on the inside of her cheek. “Okay, so we steal the provenance documents too. Easy.”

Charlie shakes his head. “Won’t be enough. We’ll need to get the digital files too.”

Chloe pulls a face, puffing her cheeks out and exhaling heavily. It’s so much easier to steal from other criminals. Nadine frowns, working her jaw as the cogs turn in her head, and Sam drums his fingers against the counter. Then he says, “I can do it.”

“Are you sure?” Chloe asks.

Sam nods. “You’re sending me in through the front door anyways. We’ll pick up a USB or something at the airport and I’ll figure out a way to get into his office. Easy peasy.”

They all know it’s anything but, but there’s no way to hash out a more concrete plan without actually getting eyes inside this guy’s mansion.

“What do we do once we have the documents, then?” Nadine asks.

Charlie shrugs. “Find someone who can forge them?"

“Do we know any forgers in Italy?” she asks the table. Both Chloe and Sam shake their heads.

Charlie awkwardly clears his throat. “Well, there’s Miss Orsini, right?”

The silence that follows his question drags on for an eternity.

Then Sam bursts into laughter. “You’re joking, right?” he says, wiping a fake tear from his eye. “After last time, I don’t think she’ll be too keen on the idea of working with us again.”

“Naw, mate, she just doesn’t want to work with you again,” Charlie responds. He doesn’t know much about the history between Sam and Miss Orsini, but he does know that the events of the previous job working with her put him squarely on her shit-list. But she seemed to still be on professionally amicable terms with both Nadine and Chloe last he heard.

“She’s a civilian, Charlie,” Nadine says dismissively.

“One who specializes in the preservation of both digital and paper records.”

“I have seen her literally pull ink off of paper,” Sam says quietly.

Nadine sighs. “Alright, I’ll talk to her. But I won’t make any promises.”

[casspurrjoybell-33]

Wreckless - Sea Shells

*Warning Adult Content*

Finnegan

It's cold... I was in the lake once and it was warmer than this.

I let my left foot slowly sink into the sand and watch the water disappear and then swoosh back up to cover it.

It's fun... I walk a bit further until both my ankles are covered with water and then Emmett runs right past me and dives in.

He comes up about fifteen feet past me and stands up.

The water is to his waist.

"Pretty level, it's a good spot. Come on in, best to get it over with."

He looks good when he lifts his arms and pushes the water and his hair back from his face.

I love his arms... lots... I'm too scared to dive in.

Not because I think I'll get swept out to sea or eaten by a shark but because it's cold.

I sort of feel bad for shooting Emmett in the tummy earlier... I bet it felt cold.

He's coming closer and then he reaches down until his hands are in the water and flicks some up at me.

I try not to yell but it's freezing.

Like negative eleven hundred thousand degrees.

He's looking at me... It's bad... he's planning something.

He tosses me over his shoulder and walks back until the water is up to his waist again and then he tosses me right into the water.

"That's what you get for shooting me earlier," he says when I come up sputtering.

He's mean and he's smiling.

"You big meanie."

He just laughs and then walks up to me.

"Are you okay?"

"Yes."

And he's right, it doesn't feel so cold now.

There's rocks in the sand, some of them hurt my feet when I walk.

"I don't like the rocks."

"Yeah, I tried to get them all but I missed a few... Sorry, darling."

He did not... he's so silly.

"Are there fish?"

"Of course. Oh, wait."

He dives under and comes back up with the most perfect shell ever.

It's spirally but I don't know what it's called... maybe he does.

"The start to your shell collection. I'll put it with our stuff if you promise to not go any deeper or dive until I get back."

It's nice of him to give it to me and I'm fine but he worries.

"Yes, I wanna keep it."

He doesn't make me wait long and when we go a bit deeper he pulls me against him and lifts me up so I can wrap my legs around his waist.

We play in the waves for awhile, laughing every time we almost fall over.

"I wanna look for more shells."

"Okay. I brought a bag so you can get as many as you want. Do you want a drink or a snack?"

He brought me a drink?

"Yes please... a drink."

"Okay, back to our towels and then why don't we pack this up, go on a seashell hunt and then head back to the house for a bit? I want to make sure you're not getting pink and I'd much rather use our bathroom than these."

"Okay."

He passes me a bottle of water with a sports cap on top and I squirt it into my mouth.

He drapes my towel around my shoulders and packs everything up and we start making our way slowly along the water line.

The sand is much harder here and easier to walk on, plus it doesn't burn my feet.

There are lots of stores across from the water and it's getting busy.

"So many people. Is it always this busy?"

"It's a weekend so yeah. It'll be a bit less crazy during the week."

I find a ton of little shells and some broken pieces of bigger ones but Emmie seems to be finding the best ones.

He pulls a tiny, perfect shell from just underneath the sand.

It's pearly white and looks like a fancy snail shell.

I put it in the bag.

"So many different rocks."

I've never seen so many different colors and types all in one place.

Mixed among all the normal grey there are orange, green and pink ones.

Some with stripes and some with crystals.

Big ones and small ones.

Some pointy and some so smooth they look polished.

Some long, some flat, some almost perfect circles.

"Different yet perfect. We have no problem with trees doing their own thing and a hundred types making up a forest or a beach full of trillions of rocks or shells, no two the same but get two people in the same room and they'll criticize and make up something to argue about."

He's right.

"We don't fight."

He gives my hand as squeeze.

"No, we don't and look how different we are."

"We're awesome," I answer and then I see it, tucked under some seaweed is a bright purple shell.

Oh, it's an ugly white one... only the inside is pretty so I toss it away.

"Don't you like it?"

"Only the inside is pretty. It's just like all those," I say, sweeping my arm across the beach.

It's true, there are a million of these.

"That's the only part that matters, Finnegan."

My daddy is super, super smart... I pick it back up.

"I like you just like this, darling. I like you little and medium and big. You don't need to worry about it with me, okay?"

I hate talking about this stuff but he's always nice.

I'm just not sure how he can mean it but I trust him so I have to believe him.

"I like being little too."

He sneaks a kiss to my cheek and we turn back, heading back down the beach and towards the house.

When we get there, we change out of our wet clothes and  he tells me to pick something from the dresser.   

I have new clothes. 

The first shirt is funny.

I will save it for later but he said we would go out for lunch. 

The next one says 'out of' and has a picture of a PlayStation controller underneath... I love it... it's soft and fits great. 

Emmett is wearing a Henley... he makes buttons looks good and the green makes his eyes super pretty.

When I get back downstairs, we dump the shells in the sink.

Emmett says we have to wash them really well and then dry them super duper much or they will stink like Zeus' armpit... he's funny.

After the first wash with soap he brings the bleach from the laundry room and soaks the shells in bleach water for ten minutes, then we rinse again before spreading them out on a big chair on the deck.

It's okay because we have lots and there are only two of us so I don't mind if the shells sit on one.

"Finnegan... I have a very, very important question for you. It's very serious."

He seems very serious.... he even has his arms crossed

"What is it?" 

I give him my full attention.

"Finnegan," he says, waiting until I almost can't stand it. "Do you like crabs?"

"Yes. I love seafood. And shrimps and lobster and fishes, especially fried fishes and clams. But not oysters as much, they're slimey."

"That makes me very, very happy because we are going to get you the best crabs in the world for lunch. Crab House here we come. You'll love it and they have popcorn."

Popcorn? 

Best day ever.

[bewitchingbaker]

🥴😳🥴😳

Chris looked at the various colors of nail polish levitating in front of him. Beth's legs rested on those large thighs of his, occasionally getting a light tickle in between his decision-making. A chuckle escapes his lips once he feels her tap his arm playfully.

"Ok, ok," Chris laughs. "I'll pick a color."

Red, green, white, pink...lavender? Decisions, decisions. He remembers her compliments on his eyes whenever he uses magic. Though she often said his eyes were lovely, Beth admittedly loved that hint of purple that came with his powers. So why not a purple fill for her nails.

"Lilac?"

An enthusiastic nod from Beth.

A knowing chuckle from Chris.

Good to know he still has it. Even after so many years, Chris loved painting Beth's toenails whenever they relaxed. The silly sounds of Mean Girls filled the background. Two glasses of wine levitated near them and the window gave them a perfect view of the desert's night sky.

Slowly he begins his work, gently dabbing her toenails. They laugh at the movie, often displaying their best impression of the characters. Discussions on their days at work and plans for next week. As always, Beth had a question that would bring out the blush that would fill those chubby cheeks.

"What gets me going," he echoes with a bashful chuckle. "Outside of the normal stuff?"

The baker ponders over her question for a bit, hands focusing on her ring-toe. Chris thinks of moments between him that left him...desiring her in that way. Of course, her dancing often left him blushing. Just the thought of her hips moving left Chris at a loss for words. Even Beth knew that was an obvious answer.

But he remembers a moment that had him wanting to smooch her right then and there.

Chris didn't often need a ride from work but his ford focus was out of comission due to a certain eldritch familar eating a few of its tires. As much as it pained him, it was much better to ask Beth for a ride as opposed to dealing with the awkwardness of lyfts or driving with Camillo. To his surprise, he spotted a familiar Mustang speeding towards the bakery.

Ever so smoothly, the muscle car crept up to the curve revealing a smiling Beth behind the wheel. Admittedly the first half of the ride was silent, no doubt due to the bright red hue filling the baker's cheeks. While Beth was worried his silence was due to being picked up in a much nicer car, she would soon be surprised by Chris's smooch once she stopped at a red light.

"Remember when you picked me up in Andy's Mustang," Chris asks with a blush. "Well it's kind...hot watching you drive. I don't know the way you whipped that muscle car with ease was kind of hot."

A blush.

"Why do you think we smooched so long once we got home?"

He's onto the next nail and a wink follows.

"I know you think it's boring or lame," he begins. "But I quite enjoy your thoughts on your interests. While I do love seeing you in those swimsuits, your nerdy rambles are much hotter. I could listen to them all day, honestly."

While he was talking, Chris finished one set. Of course, he would always take time to appreciate his work. Plus, there was something relaxing about painting Beth's toes. It felt nice that she trusted him enough to do this.

They both pause to hear their favorite line in the movie.

'That is so fetch!'

A shared laugh.

But now it was time to reveal some not-so-hidden things he does when he's in the mood. Plus, he needed to get started on her left set of toes. The baker takes a sip of his wine with a bashful chuckle.

"I'm surprised you haven't noticed when I get a little handsy," Chris laughs. "Whenever I give your shirt a tug, hold you in my lap, or grab ya hips that means I'm a little in the mood. I try not to go overboard cause I guess I don't know my own strength. Have I ever held you too hard?"

A blush fills his cheeks as he paints her toes, eyes focused to make sure the coat is even.

"As much as I love when you bite me and leave a mark, I like doing the same thing. In the most non-awkward way, it feels nice to leave my own little bite marks on ya. While I do like when you take control, it's kind of fun to...initiate things and take a little control."

[ @brooklynislandgirl ]