#I'm alive and I'm feeling okay-er

[desultory-novice]

I find it spooky that the Dark Matter Swordsman gear from Team Kirby Clash Deluxe has Kirby's normal blue eyes.

(Screenshot from a YouTube video lol)

Y'know, I read it as being purple (of course, I was desperate to find any connection between Dark Matter Swordsman and Adeleine for the sake of my out there fan theory but I can see it as being blue too and that is... frightening.

Because even if it's Kirby's eye color, it's not his SHAPE. It's lost the big, looking-at-the-world-with-wonder quality his oval-shaped eyes had, the iris has shrunken in size such that you can see the whites of his eye and of course, it is completely empty of light.

As if Kirby has been transformed just by putting on the gear. (I mean, his "eye" wouldn't even be up there, normally! Eyes down here, buddy!)

(Sorry for the cursed image.)

Although, there is one more spooky thing about this gear. When you use your shield with this gear, the shield takes the form of Real Dark Matter...and the eye in the shield MOVES.

In fact, the eye in the mask moves too! Outside of, like, the mad scientist brain-case/heart equipment and maybe (?) the fish equipment (it's been awhile, I can't remember ^^;) not a whole lot of the equipment is animated to move and react to things.

They could have just left this as cool, nostalgic cosplay. Instead, Dark Matter seems to possess Kirby just to wear him. Or is...still alive...?

(HAL! I demand more answers about Dark Matter Swordsman! And while I'm at it, just bring him back in general! My twitter feed has been full of Dark Matter siblings lately and I'm emotionally destroyed that we can't have that in canon! I will give up my AU(/lh) just pls!)

[theood]

I take being kin very seriously as a structural part of my being and also I do think it's a little silly funny. These can and do coexist and I will not be talking about the weeks long kin shifts I experience those never happen haha

[zepskies]

Headcanon: When You're Having His Child...

Pairings: Dean Winchester x F. Reader, Beau Arlen x F. Reader, Soldier Boy/Ben x F. Reader

AN: This one is requested by @cevansbaby-dove, and is kind of a continuation of this imagine: When you have morning sickness.

Tags/Warnings: Potential fluff overload.

HC: How Dean, Beau, and Soldier Boy (Ben) would act while you're in labor.

Dean Winchester

Oh, sweet man...

Dean does the thing where he pretends he has his shit together.

He's really trying, for your sake, for his own, and to save face around Sam and Eileen and Jody and everyone else in the hospital waiting room.

They can see it, and he knows it: he's freaking the hell out.

When he's in the room with you, he's either helping you, holding your hand, waiting for you to be dilated enough to start the whole "having a baby" process, or pacing around on those bowlegs, occasionally dragging a hand over his mouth in that telltale nervous gesture.

"Babe, come 'ere," you say with strain. That last contraction really took it out of you. "You're making me even more nervous than I already am."

Dean goes to you and smooths a hand over your hair.

"Sorry, sweetheart. I'm sorry. How're you holding up?"

Tears well up in your eyes, but you try to breathe through it. You're overwhelmed, you're in pain, and you've been in labor for several hours already.

"We're ready for this, right?" you ask, squeezing his hand. He sits on the edge of your bed and makes sure you look him in the eyes.

"We're about to find out," he says, with a bit of teasing. But his gaze is steady when he brings your hand up to his lips. "You don't gotta worry about anything. I'm gonna be with you, come whatever, okay?"

You smile, because you don't just believe him. You know.

Because after years of fighting together, surviving together, living together, you know that this is just one more adventure you get to go on with him by your side.

Now, Dean would rather not see all the gritty details of the birth, but he stays in the delivery room, letting you squeeze the shit out of his hand. He's not going to leave your side. He's wiping sweat from your brow and encouraging you, being whatever kind of support you need.

After the baby's born and the nurses bring her back all cleaned up, Dean holds his daughter for the first time.

He has tears in his eyes. For a long moment, he doesn't even blink. He stares down at that small, perfect face. Already he sees some of your features in her.

He can't put into words how he feels. It's overwhelming in his chest. But one thing is certain...

Dean's never been more grateful to be alive than in this moment.

He blinks, and the first of his tears fall. He brings her to you, sitting down carefully on the edge of your bed again so you can hold her. You're beyond exhaustion, sweaty, and weeping, but one thing is certain...

You've never been more grateful for Dean than in this moment.

You turn to him, giving him a small smile. He returns it, and he leans in to give you a gentle kiss.

"Do you have a name picked out yet?" one of the nurses asks.

You and Dean share a look: his imploring, yours knowing.

"We're not naming her Baby," you warn him.

"Aw, come on."

Beau Arlen

Round 2! 🫡

Beau runs the gambit from excited, to anxious, to freaking the hell out, and back to excited.

This is "Round 2" for him. His second child. But he's had reservations about being an "older" father to a new baby. (He's pushing 50 at this point. No matter how much he keeps in shape, he still feels his age in his bowlegged knees.)

You've assured him that plenty of men have children at his age.

Regardless of his insecurities though, you know he's still over the moon. Beau has always wanted more kids, deep down, and now thanks to you, he's getting his wish.

He's the man who's "prepared for anything."

When your water broke, he already had your to-go bag ready with everything you might need.

But he continues to ask you questions from the moment he's got you out the door to the drive over to the hospital, and even in the lobby.

"You thirsty? You comfortable like that? How's the pain? Just breathe, baby. I gotcha. Watch your step now. You hungry? We've got protein bars in the bag, unless you're cravin' something else. First things first, let's check in. Oh, I hope we can getcha in a private room. Let's see--oh damn, they sure are packed today, huh? Okay, how're you holdin' up? How's the pain, level of 1 to 10? Yep, got it, hold my hand. Just breathe through it. I gotcha."

Bless him. The man means well, but he's driving you freakin' crazy.

"Beau, I know. If you don't take a breath, I'm gonna pop you in the damn nose."

He tries not to smile at your grumpiness. "...Okay, I hear ya. Let's just get you into your room."

He rarely leaves your side during the entire labor, just to get you anything you might actually need. The radio at his belt occasionally goes off for work, but he apologizes, having forgotten to turn it off. He put Jenny in charge while he's gone.

"Let's just hope the precinct's still standing when I get back," he jokes. He finally turns off the radio and takes it off his belt, to your relief. And he returns his undivided attention to you.

Beau witnessed the birth of his daughter Emily, so he's no stranger to being in the delivery room. He even ventures past the curtain when your son is born, breathing air into his little lungs and letting out a powerful cry.

Beau laughs with tears in his eyes. "That's my boy."

When the nurses place him into your arms first, Beau supports your hold and brushes your sweaty hair back from your face. "Good job, honey. Good job."

"I know," you tease weakly.

Beau chuckles. He presses a lingering kiss to your forehead and looks down at the small bundle in your arms and his.

"We have a son," Beau says. His eyes are red and shining. "I have a son."

"You have a son," you nod. You look over at him and lean in for a kiss. He obliges you, and rests his forehead against yours afterwards.

Life is meant for moments like this, he thinks.

He's damn grateful it's with you.

Soldier Boy (Ben)

Readers of Strong as Blood in the BMD-verse will recognize some of this HC...

This day has been a long time coming, for both of you.

He smells like cigar smoke when he comes back into your recovery room. For which you have no doubt, Ben had been puffing away with Butcher and M.M. outside the hospital. 

Ben was with you for most of the lead up to the birth, but you actually agreed that having him in the delivery room wasn't a good idea. He never did well with you in pain, and with his temper, he might just scare the shit out of the doctor and nurses.

He strides toward you though, when he enters the room. He lays a hand on your head and another on the baby's tuft of brown, downy hair.

"We have a daughter," you tell him, with a watery smile.

Part of him still twinges with disappointment. He didn't react well when he found out you weren't carrying a boy, his future son.

(You'd given him enough hell that he never brought up the subject again.)

But that all fades away when he looks down at his daughter's face.

He carefully sits on the edge of your bed, but he's suspended in time. His chest tightens in a way he's never experienced before.

It's almost like pain, but not. Not at all.

He brushes a thumb along the baby's soft cheek. He's almost hesitant to touch her, knowing how fragile she is.

"Beautiful, like her mother," he says at last. And he means it.

He earns your smile.

"Flatterer," you accuse. You know you look as wrecked as you feel. Somehow, none of that matter's whenever you look at your child's face.

You look over at Ben with a shining smile. His lips twitch. He leans in and meets your lips with a kiss, slow and deep and intimate in this quiet little room.

“You okay?” he asks you, after he pulls away. “Got everything you need?”

He’s become even more protective, of course, but also more attentive to you. Especially in the last few months of your pregnancy, seeing how uncomfortable you've become.

It warms you every time, when you consider how rough, how stoic, and how damn-near emotionally repressed he can be.

It seems that fatherhood is beginning to soften him, even before he begins. You quirk a smile at the thought, and at his question.

“Imagine pushing a super melon out of your dick. That’s how I’m doing,” you say cheekily.

He snorts a bit loudly at that, and you shush him, as if it wasn’t your fault he was laughing. He expects nothing less from you.

“But I’m okay,” you answer his second question. “All I need right now is you.”

Ben considers you, a slightly gentler smile curving his lips, and he nods.

“All right,” he says. In this moment, he realizes that his entire world is in this room.

He’d never admit it, but it's a terrifying thought, for a man who once had everything and nothing.

You unknowingly stop the path of his thoughts when you ask him, "Want to hold her for a while?"

Ben perks up at attention. He's a bit uncertain on how exactly to hold the baby, but he can't lose face and tell you that. So he just accepts the bundle when you place her in his arms.

As he looks down at a small face that already has some of his features, he inhales a faltering breath.

It's the first time you ever see true tears in his eyes, despite how much he resists. One manages to draw a path down his cheek. 

“You know, you’re blessed to have my genes, sweetheart,” he says. It elicits a knowing scoff out of you. “But you’re also lucky as hell to have your mom.”

Ben looks up and finds the predictable well of tears forming in your eyes. His smirk softens around the edges.

“She’s the best damn woman you’re ever gonna meet,” he says.

AN: All right, I'll stop. 😭 I hope you enjoy this one, fluff overload and all! Who was your favorite this time: Dean, Beau, or Ben? 💜

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[formosusiniquis]

y'know like barbie

ao3

It's Erica who gives him the idea, incidentally. Though she carries herself with a maturity that far surpasses the boys most days and though she's been through multiple life altering events, she does continue to only be eleven. Which is, it turns out, prime babysitting age.

The Sinclairs are going out of town overnight, it's their anniversary -- 18 blissful years, since our marriage can vote we thought we deserved a night away -- and they don't want Erica to spend the night home alone.

Enter Steve, who the Sinclairs trust with their children and who is inexplicably the only person Erica would accept staying the night with her. Steve honestly didn't believe it even as Mrs. Sinclair was saying it. But he smiles and nods, looks over the emergency numbers on the fridge when they're pointed to, nods at the money on the counter for food that he probably won't take, and waves as they walk out the door promising that he and Erica will be fine for the night and not to worry.

It's only when their car is out of the driveway and the door is shut that Steve realizes he isn't really a babysitter. He is a keep children alive while in a dangerous situation and when the situation is over drive them around because you feel bad that their childhoods have been marred by trauma-er which doesn't have quite the same ring as babysitter, and it's a lot harder to say with that rude tone the boys have been favoring. He also realizes that he's never actually dealt with children, or not girl children. The boys had all been older than Erica, when he had started keeping them alive. Max was definitely basically a teenager when he started really dealing with her; and she was usually okay to do what the boys wanted to do, like go to the arcade. Hopper didn't really trust him with El and that was fine, he wasn't sure he trusted himself with El either.

It put him in an awkward spot now though. Staring at Erica in her kitchen, a little afraid to ask the question on the front of his mind which was "What now?"

So he asks the second question on his mind, "What do you want to do that isn't eat ice cream all night?"

Say what you will about Steve Harrington, and a lot has been said, but he always keeps his promises and he always brings a pint of ice-cream for Erica to have when he comes over to the Sinclair house. Tonight he brought three, all different weird flavors he thought she'd like to try.

"Why can't I eat ice cream all night?" She says it with a challenge in her eyes, but he'd bet dollars to donuts that she's just doing it to make him sweat. "Because I've seen you eat ice cream, we've only got enough for two hours at most." His hand migrates as if of its own mind to his hip. "You need more than two people for Dungeons and Dragons, right?"

Her brows raise, for the first time since he's met her Erica Sinclair is stunned silent. Maybe she's just surprised he got the name right.

It lasts about as long as it takes him to notice it. "You'd play Dungeons and Dragons with me?" There's something fragile in the way she asks, and there is the eleven year old girl she's meant to be. 

"Sure, you'd have to show me how, but if that's what you want to do I'm game."

Eyes narrowed in a distinctly intimidating way he kind of thinks she stole from Nancy, he does his best to make his sincerity clear on his face. "We need more than two people, but I've got something else we can do if you think your fragile manhood can take it."

He's got a retort at the tip of his tongue about just what his manhood can take and remembers just in time that yeah probably shouldn't make a joke like that in front of an actual child. "My pride isn't that delicate, I think I can handle anything you dish out."

"Famous last words."

He follows her to her bedroom, waiting outside the doorway to let her space stay private until he's told to come in. A clear plastic tub slides out from under her bed, out of sight but easily accessible and when the lid pops off he gets why. Rows of Barbies stacked neatly on top of each other, a mass grave for childhood. Steve has a stuffed bear, fur rubbed off of one ear, tucked up on the shelf of his closet that also got put away sooner than he would have chosen to, when it was too babyish.

“Alright, so who is the, like, elven warrior.”

“That’s not how you play Barbies.”

It’s snapped so fast that he thinks it embarasses her. He tactfully avoids eye contact, pulling out a doll with blonde hair snipped into a professional, if uneven, bob and a green skirt set. She's missing a shoe. “Then how do I play Barbies?”

“That one just won the Nobel Peace Prize, she solved world hunger, but she has plans to kill the Barbie who won the prize in Physics because she stole Barbie One’s research and gave it to NASA claiming it was her own.”

“Right, of course.” This was the kind of shit that happened on Dallas, only Barbie had a lot more awards. “And they’re all called Barbie?”

“Except for Ken, but Ken doesn’t do anything.”

“Well if Barbie just won the Peace Prize wouldn’t she use Ken to kill Barbie so she doesn’t get caught.”

Erica manages a look that is both condescending and considerate. “Barbie can do anything, including get away with murder; but she wouldn’t want to dirty her hands with that sort of thing.”

“And if Ken goes to jail it’s no loss.”

“Right.”

-

So maybe it's more accurate to say that Dustin actually starts it.

Dustin with the shittiest attitude this side of the Ohio, something Robin blames him for.

“Like father, like son.”

“Dustin doesn’t even know his dad.”

“I mean you and Eddie, dingus.”

“I am not that kid's dad. A brotherly figure at best, strong male role model more likely.”

“He’s a bitch because you are, Steve. Maybe if your and Eddie’s love language wasn’t being as bitchy as possible it wouldn’t have rubbed off on your kid.”

“Please don’t put Dustin and rubbing off in the same paragraph let alone the same thought wave.”

Dustin comes sprinting into Family Video on a Tuesday afternoon. “Steve! I need your car.”

“Did you learn how to drive when I wasn’t paying attention?”

“Obviously, I meant I need you too.” His hands are on his hips, eyes rolled. Shit maybe he did get it from Steve. “There’s this theoretical physicist coming to Notre Dame to give a talk on the Multiverse Theory.”

Steve was allowing himself a second to consider whether this was worth it, for once, instead of just blindly agreeing to drive Dustin wherever. The drive sucked ass, but it would put him close enough to Chicago that he could try to find a music store that would carry albums from the international metal bands Eddie couldn’t stop talking about.

It was a second too long for Dustin. “Steve, a theoretical physicist-”

See Steve had this suspicion that the kids did actually think he was an idiot. He was pretty sure that none of them, hell maybe none of Hellfire, save for Lucas realized that every athlete in the school had to keep up at least a 2.5 GPA. Which might not have been anything to write home about but Steve kept a 3.2 for most of high school, until the multiple concussions started to catch up with him. He wasn’t stupid, was the point and even if they didn’t think he was an idiot in a mean way he was a little sick of the shit.

“I know, like Barbie.”

That shuts Dustin up real quick.

“N- no, not like Barbie! Barbie is some girl's toy.”

“Excuse me?” Robin, who told Steve that she would not help him parent his children on work days or any other day ending in y had remembered that Martes doesn’t have one and her shift was almost over. “What does that mean, exactly, a girl’s toy?”

“And,” Steve adds, because he can and because Eddie made him drive him to fucking Bloomington because he was fixated on time travel and needed access to some science journal that only existed at Indiana U apparently, “Barbie is on a research team looking for the Higgs particle so she can start figuring out time travel.”

The bell chiming as Dustin leaves has never sounded sweeter.

He’ll definitely end up taking the twerp to stupid Notre Dame.

-

The thing is that Steve thinks he’s never really stopped being a bitch.

He doesn’t want to stop. He likes being bitchy. It’s fun, when you’re doing it with people you like it’s pretty funny, and honestly he’s kinda like Spiderman. With great power comes great responsibility, he’s only bitchy responsibly now.

And it’s actually perfectly responsible as an older brother type babysitter figure to correct the behavior of the younger siblings by being bitchy. If they don’t learn at home they’ll go out in the world thinking that kind of behavior is acceptable, see Steve Harrington in his early high school days who talked to people like his father did.

So when Mike interrupts El with, “I’m not going to ask Steve, he probably doesn’t even know what a Pulitzer is either.”

He says, “Oh, yeah like Barbie won. Or Nancy will someday, probably. It’s a journalism award, Wheeler.”

And when Lucas corrects, “I don’t actually think you can win an award for comics. It’s still really great though, Will!”

“Barbie won the Kirby Award in 1985 for best artist, I’m sure Will is soon to follow.”

Or when Nancy tells Holly, “Are you sure you wouldn’t want to be something important instead?”

“You could be an actress and do something cool like go to space if you want, Hols, like Barbie.” And maybe he says it with a little more bitch than he should that time, but he’s seen the ballerinas in Nancy’s room, she didn’t always want to be an investigative journalist.

It gets to be second nature. When someone starts being shitty about something or to lighten the mood.

Erica doubts whether she should run for student council. It's her first step to being actual president, like Barbie.

Dustin makes a crack about Steve's possible future prospects when he butts in on a conversation between Steve and Robin. "I could do all three, I could be a counselor and a hair stylist and an engineer. Maybe I'll add EMT too, Barbie wouldn't stop at three, why should I?"

Or when Mike sneers at him, "What are you a cop?" All because Steve told him not to buy weed now that Eddie had stopped dealing.

"Ew, no, because you look like a fresh-faced little narc trying to be cool and you're gonna get ripped off."

"What so not like Barbie?"

"The Barbie world has achieved equality at a level that it doesn't need the cops." Eddie sometimes has to get high after a run in with Powell or Calahan who he still doesn't really trust after the spring. Steve has been treated to many a lecture on why the police were a waste of resources.

He lets Mike sit with that for a minute before he adds, "Like Barbie, I am very cool and know what it looks like when I'm being taken for a ride. If you're gonna get pot from someone other than Eddie, ask Hop where he used to get all of his shit."

It doesn't feel stupid, until El comes running into the cabin one afternoon that Steve has decided to join the rebuilding effort. It’s actually just him and Hop, who has started trying to quietly parent him, something he’s not entirely convinced isn’t revenge for telling Wheeler that Hop has smoked pot before. Steve is pretty sure El was crying when she came in, something he bumps up to a certainty when he sees how awkward Hop looks right now.

“You mind taking that kid? It’s been a long time since high school.” he rubs the back of his neck, Steve does appreciate that he has the decency to feel weird about asking. “If it’s anything outside of big brother shit I can take over.”

He does let himself get suckered by that big brother line.

El is facedown on her bed in a clear ‘leave me alone I’m crying’ pose but he figures he’s already here it’s not like he can turn around and tell Hop that he was too afraid to approach a crying teenage girl. Like that wasn’t the whole reason he’d been sent in the first place. “Hey Ellie, can I come in?”

She sits up, tear tracks plain on her face but no more are falling, and nods in that endearing, aggressively certain way she’s got. “Is everything okay?” He pauses and asks, “Was it Mike?” because he knows that’ll be the first thing Hopper asks when Steve comes back out.

“You are worse than Dad.”

“That stings, Ellie Bell.”

She takes a deep breath, steeling an already impressive will, “Lucas says it is okay to just want to be happy right now, but all they talk about is what they are going to do. Dustin is talking about going to admission early, Will talks about talking to Dad and Joyce about art school, Lucas worries about his sports and scholarships, and Mike talks about classes that count twice. I do not know what I want to be. I do not know why I have to be anything.”

“You guys have been through a lot. I don’t think anyone would blame you for taking time to just be a kid.”

“What if I never want to be something? What if I do not ever want to go to college?”

He’s made his way over to the bed with her, sits tentatively on the edge like he’s seen Joyce do before. “Then you don’t. You’ll probably have to get a job at some point, but that doesn’t have to be what you are. Lucas isn’t a landscaper just because he mows lawns in the summer.”

“You don’t think Dad would be upset?” she asks.

“I don’t think there’s anything you could do that would really make Hop mad. And you might change your mind. I've been out of school for almost two years and I’m only thinking about college now. Or you could go to college and change your mind about what you want to be. You could be a hundred things, you could be anything! Like Barbie.”

He feels like an idiot almost immediately. A jerk quickly after that. He’s made El’s genuine crisis part of his stupid running joke. But something settles in the room. The underlying tension, the thing that had the hair on the back of his neck raised. He realizes, now, that her powers had probably also been on edge.

"Like Barbie." She says it with a graven seriousness, like Steve's dumb little joke is a mantra now.

"Yeah, and you're a sophomore you don't have to have your whole life figured out right now. And don't take life advice from Henderson anyway, he thought it was a good idea to raise an Upside Down slug as a pet."

He mostly just used it to be a bitch though. Because it was fun. No, it was what he was good at. So good at it he didn't even have to try.

Because Steve had a plan to be bitchy. Specifically to Mike Wheeler who kept flirting with Steve’s boyfriend while taking advantage of his hospitality. Sure it was at their stupid Dungeons and Dragons game, and yeah Steve was the one who said they could host the game at his house now that Eddie had graduated. Yes, he knew Eddie didn't mean anything by it when he responded and usually didn't flirt back with the kids. But it was still the kind of behavior that had to be gently corrected, for Mike's sake because if he didn't stop things were going to get drastic.

His initial plan is already in action. He encouraged El to come along to watch the Party play. It was, admittedly, a half hearted plan. Wheeler got so awkward anytime El was around he mostly just hoped that would keep him from trying anything.

It isn't. Eddie starts to describe a new character, "Blonde and statuesque, she has a long bow in hand and delicate elven features."

And even though El is sitting a few feet from him Mike perks up the way he always does when there's a new NPC to flirt with. He is going to have to have a talk with Eddie about letting the kid try out a bard.

He does at least have one other tool in his belt. "Oh, like Barbie."

Steve knew what he'd get as he said it. A groan from Dustin, who falls for this as being sincere about as often as he falls for the dumb-dumbs and dipshits line -- which is everytime for the record. Will and Lucas keep their laughs small, enough that they're covered by Erica's snort. The original Hellfire crew mostly looks confused, it's becoming less and less their default as they warm up to the Steve he is rather than the Steve they thought they remembered; but he likes to keep them on their toes.

Eddie is charmed. He can tell. Sees him duck his head behind his screen and his binders, trying to preserve the stern and scary dungeon master image. That apparently isn't possible if you're smiling like an idiot at your stupid boyfriend, so he's been told.

And Mike has maybe been on the wrong end of the joke a few more times than everyone else. He turns an interesting shade of red, two parts anger and one part embarrassed is Steve's guess. The foot stomp is unexpected, but he expects its been passed down the Wheeler line as a shared signal of outrage. "Not like Barbie, this isn't some stupid kids game. She's probably a hot, wisened archer ready to reward us for helping her village, not some stupid doll that you're obsessed with."

Eddie's blank face with the twitchy eyes has fallen into place when he sits back up from behind his screen. His things aren't going according to plan, panicked face. "I think that's a good place to end things this week. Wheeler, Henderson, Jeff, and Lady Applejack you've all cleared enough experience to level right? Do that before next week."

Steve knows enough to keep his mouth shut while everyone packs up to leave. Sends a small smile to Erica on her way out to the family minivan, he knows she struggles a little being the youngest at the table even if she won't say it. He has to imagine that the outburst had stung a bit.

"You gotta be nicer to little Wheeler." Eddie chides once everyone is gone, halfhearted at best when he's telling Steve off into the soft skin of his neck. When he feels the admonishment more than hears it.

"I'm not mean to Mike." He says on instinct, he does try not to be. "And he started it."

"Definitely think you started the Barbie thing, Sweetheart."

And well, yeah. "I Barbie all the kids equally."

Eddie hmms Steve can feel the vibration of it through his back and on his neck. Eddie is about to start something he better plan on finishing. "He asked Hop where he should get weed."

Oh. "I didn't think he'd actually do it!" And then, "Is that why he keeps flirting with you, revenge?"

"No, he's got a bunch of misplaced jealousy because Will and the girls think you're hot." He toys with the edge of Steve's shirt as he says it. Perpetually cold fingers brushing the clothes warmed skin beneath making him shiver.

"The girls don't think I'm hot."

He hums again, nips at the blush red skin at Steve's neck. "El used to, Max definitely has a taste for jock.

"That's not my fault, you let Mike play a bard." He wishes he didn't sound so desperate.

"Wanted to leave the Paladin spot open for you, baby."

"I'm starting to feel convinced, we could go upstairs and you could show me your character sheet."

The things he'll say to get laid.

"Don't think I can do that Stevie, smooth as a Ken doll down there. Could show you the actual character sheet though." 

His back is cold as Eddie pulls away, smirking unrepentant as he lets Steve have the tiniest taste of his own medicine.

"Barbie has a very active sex life, actually." He's never been one not to double down. "Let me show you the fun we can have without getting your dick out."

-

He does leave it alone for a little while, even though he really, really doesn't want to. But despite what his friends, his fifth grade report card, and his mom might think; Steve is capable of keeping a hold of his worst impulses when he wants to.

So he lets opportunity pass him by.

He makes no comment about Barbie when Eddie talks about how John Carpenter is a film auteur. Not even when Dustin tries to define auteur for him. Incorrectly, but Robin comes to Steve's defense.

Barbie goes unmentioned, barely when an argument breaks out about Nobel prize winners, of all things. He thinks the kids argue more now than they ever have like it's the only way they have to get their bloodlust out now that the Upside Down was closed. He was quickly boxed out of the conversation, even if Erica kept sending him little glances over everyone's heads. (She'd let him have Peace Prize Barbie a couple weeks ago and maybe he was a little obsessed.)

Holly wants to be a vet now, a singing vet who is also on TV, but mostly a vet. She tells him all about it while he waits for Mike to find his shoes? Definitely not his quarters for the arcade, the day any of them bring those is the day Steve brings the nail bat back out. He’s one impulse purchase away from getting one of those little coin dispenser belts that the employees have -- Gareth just quit, maybe he still had his? Mike's frown is a little less general annoyance at Steve and a little more confusion when he's finally ready to leave and Barbie has gone unmentioned.

He almost breaks again when Eddie starts talking about sports. Or he starts talking about NASCAR which is close enough for Eddie, he has a surprising taste for racing for someone who never wanted to put his van on the starting line at parties. A woman led a Busch Series race for the first time, what a year '86. He's got no opinion on Barbie's ability to drive at all.

He could let a joke go. He could be nice. It wasn't so out of character that it needed this kind of attention.

-

Mike has forgiven him by the time the next session rolls around. Delayed two weeks after Eddie screamed so loud on stage that he couldn't speak for two days, and then again for Jeff's emergency appendectomy. Eddie has stopped leaving pointed gaps in conversation for Steve to fill with mention of Barbie, he has had his thinking face on instead which is good for Steve about as often as it isn't.

He leaves it alone. A little bit of non-life threatening surprise is good for the soul, or something. Listen, he’s made it this far by only asking questions when shit is about to get really, really bad and Eddie’s thinking face has only resulted in something bad once or twice -- and they probably should have spent more than a couple minutes negotiating that particular kink anyway.

When the kids start showing up and nothing has come from the thinking face, he assumes it was just for them anyway. He settles in to see whatever shit Eddie is going to do.

"From the ditch you pull a human man, a paladin. His plate is dirtied by his time on the ground but clearly gleams in its typical state. He's handsome, a square jaw and fluffy brown hair-"

"Ugh is this Steve? You already made us do a quest for him," Mike complains, maybe he hasn’t completely forgiven Steve for that last interruption.

Steve has, by his own count been the inspiration for at least three NPCs for this campaign: a white light faction rogue, Sol, that the party had to rescue from the dungeons of the nightmare King after he was caught sneaking into the bedrooms of the prince -- like it was Steve's fault that Wayne had super hearing; a young fighter from the gladiatorial combat ring who helped the party rescue a group of kidnapped children that were going to be used as bait in the next round of fights; and the most obvious Prince Stefan who sent the party on a quest to kill his betrothed a Duke called Thomas the Boarish and rescue his knight Rowen and beloved Bard Edwin -- it's not like he could unkiss Tommy, and he could be a dick but boarish was dramatic. 

He was not this paladin, assuming Eddie was telling the truth about saving the Paladin he'd made for Steve.

"Cut the out of character chatter, Michael, before it starts counting in game. The Paladin before you is handsome in a bland, approachable, non-threatening way," Mike opens his mouth again, how is that not like Steve surely perched at the edge of his tongue and stopped in its tracks by elbows from Erica and Joey. "He introduces himself to his rescuer, Will the Wise, 'Thank you, kind sir, I would have been down there for ages before my lady noticed my absence. I am Sir Kenneth.'"

"What deity does he serve?" Will asks, something suspicious drawing across his face.

"Is there a holy symbol on his armor?" Gareth follows up. Gareth has been backing a lot of Will's plays lately, Steve thinks something might be going on there but he hasn't wanted to deal with Eddie teasing him for being a meddling matchmaker, again.

"There is no identifiable holy symbol on his clothes or armor." Eddie says, there's a mischief in his eyes, the way he tilts his head with quiet challenge and smiles.

"What God do you serve?" Erica asks, blunt and to the point. She gets cranky when her rogue doesn't have anything to stab.

"'The Lady in Pink,' he answers."

Any time Eddie reveals lore shit there's always a bunch of people talking over top of each other. It always turns into the kind of mass blob of shouting that Steve has a hard time parsing out, especially these days. Eddie somehow manages to distinguish not only people but the things they're saying and keeps his cool enough to keep the story going.

"Roll your insight, Gareth. Jeff, with a 15 history check, you have heard some whisperings from your homeland about a newly ascended goddess but not a name. Dustin, you're not getting shit with a 5 don't even try that but my back story says shit with me. Will, pretty sure that's a cleric spell but I'll let you have it he's a Neutral Good alignment. An 18, shit, yeah Garebear he does seem to be telling the truth that is the deity he follows; but that isn't the whole truth, you know a lot of the newer pantheon have a colloquial name and a true name."

"I'm sorry," Lucas says, "we aren't familiar with your lady. What can you tell us about her? Why would she leave you there? And that's a 14 on persuasion before you even ask."

"Why would I have asked that, Sinclair the elder? He has stars in his eyes when he speaks, 'before she ascended she was already limitless. A powerful warrior, an expert marksman, a mage beyond compare. Her power grew and grew until the only place left to explore was godhood.'"

"And what's her real name, if we wanted to spread the word?" Joey asks.

"'Oh she's everything. She's the lady in pink, she's the goddess with the golden mane, but before she ascended she favored one name I assume she has kept it.'"

"What is it?" Mike asks, perched at the edge of his seat.

"Oh no," Dustin whispers, a dawning horror on his face.

"'Barbara, though she preferred it shortened. Nicknames you call them," Steve sees the joke, knows where this is going a split second before reality breaks through the haze of fantasy for the players around the table. Eddie's smirking now, smile too pleased and too attractive. "'Y'know like Barbie?'"

[oceansprompts]

text message prompts

[text] You okay?

[text] GO TO BED!

[text] hey you better be alive in there

[text] SOS save me please holy shit

[text] call me this date is going so bad

[text] I have way too much shit to do.

[text] Honestly I'm really worried about you.

[text] Why are you trending on Twitter?

[text] Please let me come over and pet your (pet).

[text] We are in the same building, you could come talk to me.

[text] It's not going to work out.

[text] This is a terrible idea.

[text] people have fetishes

[text] They really do crucify anyone these days huh

[text] I don't know why but that really means me want to stab you

[text] That movie was awful.

[text] For the love of god please help me

[text] I fucked up. I fucked up really bad.

[text] I'm blocking you.

[text] YOU ONE BRAINCELLED BITCH

[text] I regret swiping right.

[text] Everyone lies on their dating profiles.

[text] That absolutely can't be an actual picture of you.

[text] This forced open my third eye and I saw the devil

[text] I'm like a child in line for the newest fucked up disney ride

-

[text] That's just all fucking sorts of fucked up

[text] Why are we here? To suffer? Every other day I get messages that cause pain

[text] In the department of old man fucking, we've got you beat.

[text] have you gotten any work done?

[text] I am beyond shame, try again

[text] You left your left your underwear at my place.

[text] Don't you dare put this on Facebook.

[text] My brother in Christ you're being haunted

[text] I want to wring you like a wet towel and slap you against a wall

[text] The mind is weak but the body is funky

[text] I'm a zombie the law can't stop me.

[text] Jealous of my massive honkers

[text] We left you to die to play minecraft

[text] She would never ever take away one of these stupid fucking hats

[text] I puked all over the Uber driver's backseat.

[text] I just took a screenshot of that and posted it to Reddit

[text] You said you'd be right back and it's been months.

[text] Can't we talk about this face to face?

[text] Yeah, you'll come learn I just have a thing for milk

[text] Why did you like one of my pics from 2014?

[text] Now's as good a time as any to exchange nudes.

[text] Why would you send me an eggplant emoji?

[text] I write five paragraphs, pouring my heart out, and all you reply with is k?!

[text] Who would dare to lie on the internet?

[text] When I die, please delete all my shit off the internet

[text] He's so hot, I briefly started texting like a straight person

[text] And because I'm god and I've decided that; no, in fact, I'm not done.

-

[text] I know you love bloopy reggae jams, now is not the time.

[text] You better not be standing catatonic in your room again.

[text] God has abandoned his children but unfortunately for you I pay child support and I will smite thee.

[text]: My neighbor just told me he can fix my water heater for 50 bucks. I’m skeptical.

[text]: Do you have any idea how much it costs to buy apples? I paid 10 dollars for 6.

[text]: I mean, I wouldn’t say I have a problem with buying Squishmallows..

[text]: Hey, so you know how you told me no dog? *sends pic* I don’t do well with no’s.

[text] Stuart Little is a bitch and Remy could take him any day.

[text]: My roommate just said that Lola Bunny is hot. I’m moving out.

[text]: Hey I posted that vid of you drunk, singing Ariana Grande, wearing all black and people said not to do it again. Sorry.

[text]: Do you think the price is ever right? Like, I feel like it’s not.

[text]: I booped your nose. Boop the last five people you texted or–nothing happens really.

[text]: I’m actually in the ER and it’s a long story that involves Best Day Ever from spongebob.

[text]: I fucking hate you–wait you’re not my ex. Who are you?

[text]: You ever ask yourself if birds see a bee and just go ‘wow a bee’? im high.

[text]: sometimes all i think about is–sour patch kids. bet you thought it was you.

[text]: I love you—not as much as I love my dog. But still a lot!

[text]: I found a cat on the way home and now it’s mine. But it hates my guts so this should be fun.

[text]: I have questions about the marvel cinematic universe…how long do you have?

[text]: why do donald duck and winnie the pooh not have to wear pants but other people do?

[text]: Hey you know that show floor is lava? I may have turned the apartment into that..this isn’t a joke, btw. the floor is sticky.

[text]: I bought too much soap off etsy and now I don’t know what to do with it…I smell like Captain America.

[text]: On a scale of one to ten, how many drinks would you need to sleep with me? This isn’t a tiktok trend…or it is.

[silverameco]

Secret Relationship - @wolfstarmicrofic - 746 words

What Sirius didn't forseen, is that a secret relationship implied a secret break-up. Hidden love meant hidden sadness when it was all over. To be completely honest, he never thought it would end at all. He should have known, though, that he would find a way to ruin everything.

It had been a week. A week since Remus said I can't keep doing this. I don't want to be your secret anymore. A week since Sirius was stuck with the secret tears he shed every night, and the awful knowledge than the boy he loved was so close all the time - across the bedroom, the classroom or the dinner table - and yet so far away.

He didn't know what to do. They were so good together. Like friends, but better. All those secret meetings, passionate kisses behind closed doors and heated moments in the intimacy of silencing spells, all of it made Sirius feel more alive than ever. And now it was all over, because of him.

Nobody knew about them. Because he was so scared. Of the world, of himself. So scared he couldn't let himself take Remus' hand in an empty corridor, he couldn't show all the love he felt, couldn't tell the world about how amazing Remus was. But he wanted to. He really wanted to. He didn't even realize Remus drifted away from him, until it was too late. And now he didn't know what to do to fix it. He couldn't tell anyone about it, because nobody knew about them. Because it was like it never existed at all, even though it felt like the only real thing Sirius ever lived.

Well, it was without one James Potter to count on. He was cornered in the dorm one evening, before they went down to dinner. Sirius was sitting on his bed, James joined him and began talking before he could think about fleeing.

"Oi you wanker, what's up with you and Moony ?"

"Um, nothing ?" he felt himself flush with the blatant lie.

"Sirius. You've both been looking like miserable sods for days, and you're barely talking to each other."

Sirius didn't answer, and kept his eyes fixated on his hands, playing with a loose thread from his bedsheets. He didn't know what to say that wasn't a lie. It didn't deter James.

"You've both been so happy these past months. I thought-"

At that, Sirius raised his head to look at James, eyes wide and beseeching. Maybe he wanted someone to know, after all. "You thought ?"

"Well, that you were together."

He said it with a soft voice and a kind smile. Like maybe, it was all okay. Except it wasn't, because they weren't together anymore. He felt the tears welled in his eyes.

"Oh, Pads. What happened ?"

Next thing he knew, he was pulled into a hug, and Sirius was sobbing into James' chest.

"I- I ruined everything. Because I w-was so- so scared. And now he d-doesn't want me any- anymore."

"Padfoot, listen to me. I don't know what happened exactly, but I know that Remus has been looking at you like a lovesick idiot for years. You can't ruin that. I'm sure it's fixable, okay ?"

Before Sirius could answer, the door opened on no other than Remus himself. Sirius straightened himself, hastily wiping his tears.

"Er- sorry, I-"

But then their eyes met, and it was like Remus didn't know what he was going to say anymore. He seemed lost, looking at Sirius' teary face like it was hurting him. Sirius noticed that the circles under his eyes were darker than usual. He wanted to erase them. Before he could think about what he was doing, he got up and stepped in front of Remus.

"Moony." he said in a small, tentative voice, that he barely recognized as his own.

"Yeah ?"

Sirius took a deep breath. "I love you. I want to be with you. I'm sorry I made you feel like I didn't. I'm not sure I'm ready to tell everyone yet, but I don't want us to be a secret either. So, if by any chance, you still want me-"

And then, Remus' lips were on his, just like that. Like they've never been apart in the first place, because they shouldn't be. James was cheering obnoxiously behind them and it felt right, because they were too good together, loved each other too much to be a secret.

[arctrooper69]

As Iron Sharpens Iron

"As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another." Proverbs 27:17

Chapter 20:

Previous // Next

Warnings: Medical Whump, mention of needles. Got some nice fluff in this one though ❤️

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

Pain.

Excruciating and white-hot.

It pierced with daggers that chiseled through your bones, burrowing their icy blades deep inside. It ripped you away from the tantalizing grip of unconsciousness.

“No… please…” The unconscious plea slipped over numb lips, as nothing more than a weak cry.

That peaceful serenity had so nearly been yours, but cruelly, you found it no longer so easy to fade. Voices carried loudly, echoing through the cavern. Shouted orders cut through your skull like a hatchet, exploding with a nauseating, icy sharpness. Rockets fired behind your eyes, jumbling their words between that constant, shrill ringing.

“Tech! ….ere…”

Hunter's voice rumbled, muted behind that deafening noise. Despite the tumbling chaos of fragmented thoughts and twisted noise, one thought repeated, focused and unmuddled.

Alive. He's alive. He's alive. He fell too, but he’s alive.

You found your hand drifting almost as an instinct, finding purchase in the ground, nails carving desperate paths through the dirt.

Alive. He's alive.

An icy panic drove its claws around your throat, wrenching ragged gasps from constricting lungs as your searching fingers found only cold rock.

Don't leave. Don't leave me here!

The nothingness you had so desperately craved before no longer felt peaceful. Instead, it loomed ominously below, violent and cold.

You could feel it clawing its way up your throat, pulling you relentlessly back down as though punishing your resistance.

No! You wanted to scream. I won’t leave them! You couldn't do that to Hunter. Not now. Not after everything was alright again.

Blinding, piercing waves of icy fire shot down from the base of your neck, ripping a choked scream through gritted teeth, as you tried to turn your head in an urgent attempt to find the man whose voice you clung to so desperately. A pair of strong, steady hands, held your head, stopping any semblance of motion. Tears, sudden and unbidden, trickled down your cheeks before you even realized you’d been crying. A part of you knew why he held you, so still and unmoving. The prickling electricity of pins and needles down your limbs were slow to fade - a consequence of your sudden movement. Purposed, shallow breaths did nothing to dull the sharp, grating agony that flared from your chest at every breathy whimper.

“Hey…shh… Don’t move.” He rubbed gentle circles along your jaw with his thumbs. “I know it hurts… I know. I'm right here, okay?”

You knew that voice. It felt safe, it was something to hold onto.

Hunter.

The deep baritone of his voice cut through the fog.

“Breathe. Look at me. We’re gonna get you out of here, okay?”

“A-again…” came the whispered response, lips twitching into some semblance of a half conscious grin. Some part of you registered the ironic humor in your situation, having been in the same predicament only hours ago.

Hunter gave a small huff, unable to stop the brief smirk of relief. “Yeah again. You gotta stop doing that.”

Your eyes drifted closed again, unable to bear the burning intensity of his headlamp any longer. He seemed to realize this and reached up to direct the beam away from your face.

“I need you to keep your eyes open for me, okay?”

“...can’t… too dizzy.” It felt like you were yelling, trying to be heard over that damn incessant ring.

“I know, cyar'ika. But if you keep your eyes closed, you have to keep talking to me, okay?”

The ringing was growing nearly unbearable again, drilling through your head, ripping and tearing your thoughts to shreds, pressing, squeezing until you were sure if it kept on, you would burst. Hunter’s voice was fading in and out in an endless cycle. The darkness behind your eyes whispered seductively once again only to be forced back as reality sunk its poisoned fangs deep into tissue and bone. Voices echoed down into the crevasse where you lay, concerned sincerity distorting into deriding laughter as if to mock your futile attempts to stop the pain.

Hunter called out to one of them.

“... on't…. move her…et!”

“...er…have to… help…”

Nimble fingers felt like sandpaper scraping on already raw skin and then a light, assaulting in a forced agony with blazing daggers.

“... pupils un… head…jury”

Tech. A distant part of you knew that voice. Always analyzing, ever observant. Careful but quick.

What was he saying?

There was a brief pause in which even that horrible noise had dissipated as though granting you one last relief. One last comfort before it came roaring back in the full force of overloaded senses. You could feel their frantic touches, voices overlapping one another in some sort of garbled nonsense.

Hands clenched over your leg. They gripped your head, over your chest. Ripping you violently to a blinding focus. Tearing, pulling and twisting daggers of ice into explosions of white hot pain. Hands ripping, tearing at clothing. Hands everywhere, feeling, gripping, holding you in place though you tried desperately to escape - lips parting to beg them to stop, that it hurt too much, but no words would come.

Stop! Please stop! Hunter, make them stop!

And it did seem to stop, though slow and fleeting. That nauseating intensity blurred dangerously with the icy chill, settling through your bones in a gentle numbness - the body’s merciful way of protecting nerves that fired and sparked beyond their perceived capacity.

Maybe it was the weakness of wishful thinking, or maybe it was some lingering strength fueled by a need for control. Whatever the cause, that infantesimal sliver of relief brought with it an inkling of hope that maybe you could survive this - like you were dangling from a precipice, waiting for that outstretched arm to pull you to safety.

“C'm… ack… can't lose…. plea…”

There were hands again - gentler this time. Fingers running through your hair brought a sense of comfort, though muddled and distant voices cut like blades as they danced and echoed through the rocks.

“...ere you go. Good. …ay with me, …kay?”

The iron grip that pulled you from the edge, that baritone whispering.

“Good, cyar’ika. Breathe. Listen to my voice.”

They were Hunter’s hands that gently held your head again. Steady and strong - yet kind and grounding.

That deeply penetrating hurt once again wracked violently through abused bone and seizing muscle, blooming through a daze as though attached to waking consciousness. But at least it was something to hold onto and the touch of Hunter’s ungloved skin was something that made sense in this tumult of fractured thoughts and heightened senses. A feeling of peace - a cool breeze on burning skin.

***

Hunter watched as your eyes rolled back into your head, fading once again into a pained unconsciousness.

I’m sorry. He wanted to shout. I’m so sorry.

Tech scurried about, kneeling over you - packing you securely splinted, while Wrecker had taken over holding your head steady. All he could do was stare - dazed as if watching the scene unfold from above like some sort of cosmic intruder.

It should’ve been me. I should’ve protected her - cushioned the fall. Something. Anything.

Someone placed a hand on his shoulder, tugging him gently back. Echo’s face swam before him, concern written on his features. “You okay?”

First confusion, quickly swallowed by a sudden anger that overcomes the sudden realization of his own aching side. How dare you! How dare you look at me when you should be focused on her!

“I’m fine.” Hunter snapped, the sharpness of his words matching the shooting pain that accompanied them.

Echo narrowed his eyes, Hunter was lying, but he nodded curtly in professional acknowledgement. He’d deal with him once they were safely back on the Marauder. He turned back to where Tech had finished securing the makeshift stretcher to cables that acted as a pulley system that would allow him to safely bring you up and out of the pit without causing too much unnecessary movement. He grimaced at the agony etched onto your face, heart aching in his chest at the way your eyelids fluttered open and closed. Fear. Pain. Confusion.

Echo didn’t have to imagine what that felt like.

We’ll get you out of here soon, he thought. You looked so fragile, so young - so vulnerable. Did I look like that when they rescued me?

“Echo, we're ready.” Tech’s matter-of-fact tone pulled him from his thoughts.

“Good. Let’s get her out of here.”

***

I am dead. Dying. Living. Unknown.

Flashes of a distant reality, all edged with an all-consuming torment; blurry glimpses of stone and rock; that treacherous, dusky sky; Tech’s helmet and cold, unforgiving plastoid. Hunter’s hand still clenched tightly in your own.

Floating. Moving. Securing. It all pulled you along as if rocking you to sleep. The agony that gripped every part of you was unbearably cruel and cold - but as long as those strong hands stayed by your side, there was hope.

A piercing, stabbing pain shot through your neck suddenly, drawing a barked cry from a dry throat. You jerked away, only to be held fast by those same comforting hands.

“Traitor.”

That mumbled annoyance protesting the betrayal of comfort, drew a soft chuckle. “Sorry, cyare. You’ll be okay.”

The awful, burning sensation that traveled down through your veins, soon felt warm.

---

Hunter watched as you fell asleep. Your exhausted muscles finally able to relax despite how securely you lay, splinted and immobilized, wrapped up in a blanket and thoroughly packaged by Tech’s meticulous hands.

“I’ve contacted Rex and he knows of a medical facility we can take her to safely.” Echo spoke as he strode over to the rack where Tech had settled you. He stood awkwardly before falling instinctively to a resting stance, arms loosely tucked behind his back.

Hunter nodded stiffly. “Good.”

Echo shifted, “You should get some rest, Hunter.”

“I’m fine.” The immediate reply was sharp and decisive, meant to scare away any sense of logic or concern that might take him away from your broken form. But Echo was not so easily swayed. He doubled down.

“You’re not.” He stated. “You can’t take care of her if you don’t take care of yourself.” His lips pulled tight in sincerity, eyeing the Sergeant up and down. He had worked with Hunter long enough to see through the callous facade. Hunter was a good squad leader - listed among the best that Echo had worked with throughout his career - and like a good leader he’d always put the needs of his squad above his own. It was both a strength and a weakness. “You need to rest, Hunter. At least sit down and let me take a look at your side.”

Hunter shook his head and leaned forward, grunting as he brushed a stray hair from your face. He could hear Echo’s words and the truth that they carried, but for some reason, he couldn't seem to make his hand move from where it curled around yours. He could feel the pain of his own injuries but they paled in comparison to yours.

He was of no consequence. You were his world.

It felt like he was standing on a cliff face and some mockery of doubtful anxiety convinced him that if he let go of your hand, he would fall plummeting further and further away.

He didn’t want to respond. It was too hard to admit that he was terrified - too hard to admit that he'd grown so accustomed to working with you, living with you, and that the prospect of losing that connection would be like losing a part of himself.

It was you who’d been there silently beside him as the weight of the rapidly changing galaxy tore apart everything he’d ever known.

That was why he couldn't let go.

You mumbled something in your sleep, eyes fluttering open.

Another pair of hands set the quivering muscles of your body on edge for an instant before loosening at their familiar touch.

“Hey, shhh… It’s just me.”

“Hun’er?” Your words came slow and unfocused, slipping out unfiltered and raw.

“Yeah?”

“...love you too…”

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

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[anulithots]

Lu Guang feels most comfortable talking to CXS about the 'important things' while CXS is in a dive.

Perhaps because he's not talking to CXS face to face, or because he knows CXS can't realllyy get angry with him while he's in another time.

in the aftermath of episode 5's trauma (*sounds of sobbing in the background*), Lu Guang didn't tell Cheng Xiaoshi his answer to this question:

...until episode 6, while Cheng Xiaoshi was in a precarious, time sensitive, high stakes dive. (Doudou will get kidnapped at literally any moment and Lu Guang choses NOW to tell Cheng Xiaoshi about his reasoning)

(I didn't screenshot everything because shows are hard to screenshot but you get the idea.)

Along with the above screenshot, I theorize that one of Lu Guang's most prevalent fears is that CXS will be angry with him... possibly because Cheng Xiaoshi has done so in previous timelines?

I'm still trying to get some finalized analysis for the trio, but for now, I'll go with, 'Lu Guang tries to avoid mistakes and regrets, while craving control over his future, for the sake of keeping those he loves around.'

Whereas Cheng Xiaoshi has similar motives - to keep those he loves around - but in manifests differently. Cheng Xiaoshi tries to prevent those he loves from leaving him - in the dives and in his own life - through his empathy and 'saving' others, and he believes that his ability lets him prevent others he cares about from leaving. (Albeit he's other people in the dives, but the point still stands.)

Pretend I have better screenshots. I still need to build up my collection

... Hmm.. perhaps both Cheng Xiaoshi and Lu Guang believe that their respective powers allows them to prevent(Lu Guang) or fight against (Cheng Xiaoshi) the past, which will repeat itself and kill those they love.

er... I can phrase this better. Cheng Xiaoshi reacts and adapts in an effort to prevent his 'light'/those he cares about from leaving him again. He hopes that everything will turn out okay, no matter what happens, because of his actions, his abilities, and his optimistic empathy. Lu Guang also seeks to keep Cheng Xiaoshi alive/around always, but he does so though control and a more 'planed' approach. He's not adaptive in the slightest. Rather, he'll keep everything in a meticulous order and try to keep any unpredictable factors (Cheng Xiaoshi) from messing with the future he wants. (That makes him sound so awful but Lu Guang means all the best and Cheng Xiaoshi trusts him and NOTHING WILL BREAK THEM APART STUDIO LAN YOU BETTER KEEP IT THAT WAY KDJFLKSDJF)

And Qiao Ling tries to avoid a repeating past through avoidance.

MVP. We stan. Absolute queen.

So that's what I got so far. Eventually I'll go over everything again and do a more detailed analysis at later date. The fear that I'm wrong about something is getting to me... any corrections or thoughts are much appreciated!!

[digital-chess]

So ragatha. What is your honest opinion on Kinger, Queenie, Pomni and the other black and white pieces?

Ragatha: Er... my uh, "opinion" on everyone? Hoo-boy! That's a loaded question, haha- Alright. Let me think... B-BUT DON'T TELL THE OTHERS I TOLD YOU THIS! Okay, White Team: Jax? Ugh. He's a jerk. Always locking himself in his Bowling Alley, painting my face on bowling pins to blow up when I annoy him, heck- he does that with EVERYONE who annoys him. He's sarcastic, dry, often cruel in his remarks, and the fact he's Kinger and Queenies "Golden Child" is crazy. He's not a bad person... but he's adamant on making me think he is one... and I still don't know why. Zooble? They're a good friend and roommate. They used to live in the Tetris game, able to make a world of their own with the hundreds of block shapes. Kind of like Legos! I remember visiting their room and seeing the world they were able to build with their expertise for turning abstract shapes into art. But then they refused to go to one of the Chess rounds one week... and Kinger punished Zooble by collapsing and destroying their world. They managed to evacuate before the application deleted, and they've been...well, living here with me at Purble Palace ever since! We get along surprisingly well. Gangle? She's so sweet and kind. I don't know what Queenie keeps blabbing on about. She's adamant that Gangle's this... callous manipulative string-puller on Black Team? That somehow Gangle is this dual-faced crocodile-teared attention seeker. She's so sweet. She's gentle, kind, soft-spoken. Black Team bullied her relentlessly and Max would threaten to hurt her if she didn't do what he said. Queenie can't understand. Abuse takes time to recover from. So I'm going to be here for her... I know what it like to feel like nothing. ...I don't want anyone to feel like that. Caine? He's been here the longest. He's my oldest friend besides... Kaufmo. He inspires us when the team has no hope, and can bring everyone together with his speeches and strategies to make us feel like there's still a chance we can win. Sometimes Queenie mocks him, saying he'd be a better fit on Black Team because of his history, but is only with us because its "his punishment". ...I don't think he deserves to be treated the way he is. He doesn't hold himself together as easily anymore. ...Sometimes I catch him mumbling nonsense to his bubble wand, as if it was alive. ...I don't know how much longer he can take Kinger's torment. I'm worried about him. Pomni? I don't know much about her yet... and I'm still struggling to decide if i even want to... And Kaufmo...? ...he was the one person in this entire world of Kinger's who deserved to be free. To get his life back. To leave this game. ...To be happy. ...I just hope he's somewhere better now. Somewhere better than here.

Aaaaaand as for Black Team? How should I know. They're all murderers, psychopaths and thieves. I sometimes would catch that Bishop of theirs sitting on the chessboard afterhours with Kaufmo. He was probably trying to manipulate our friend or... cast a spell to force Kaufmo to betray us or something! I don't know why else he'd have been so consistent to meet Kaufmo there when rounds weren't active.

[wolfstarlibrarian]

Hello light of my life (seriously you improve it daily with recs)

Im after basically any fic with a vampire Sirius (I actually saw some vampire Sirius and cowboy Remus art so if that exists I’d like to know). I also have a vague memory of a fic with vamp Sirius as Remus’ roommate?

Oh you're making me blush! 😳 But thank you so much for the love. It really means a lot. ❤️ And yes! The Librarian has a older list of Vampire fics as well as a bunch of new ones (including the one you mentioned). Hope you have a bloody good time reading them.

Vampire Sirius 1

Vampire RS 2

My Roommate is a Vampire by @moonyverse “Remus! Why didn’t you tell me?” Lily asks. He continues wiping, focussing on a particularly stubborn stain. “Tell you what?” “About your secret boyfriend.” Remus spins around. “My what?” “Don’t act so surprised. Your neck is covered in hickeys and you thought I wouldn’t notice?” "Er, yeah… sorry." Remus wracks his brain to think of an excuse. Anything but the truth. He sputters out a lie, "It was a one-time thing, is all." It was better than telling her his roommate is a vampire whom he lets take his blood on a biweekly basis.

I Don't Bite by @mooncat457writing Halloween was Sirius Black’s favorite holiday. He loved every part, from planning the perfect costume to throwing the kick-ass party that everyone would talk about for weeks to come. Okay, and sure, maybe the irresistible curly-haired, green-eyed cutie dressed as a werewolf that just walked through his front door didn’t hurt either.

A Taste of Your Love by starsnsoul the one where Sirius is a vampire and Remus a cowboy and they fall in love: “It’s dangerous out here at night,” Remus wet his lips, suddenly aware of how dry they were, “and we’re quite far from the nearest town.” The man in front of him continued to gaze up at him, eyes twinkling with a dangerous look, seeming to dare him to ask risky questions, to probe and let curiosity kill the cat. “What’s your name?” he asked, feigning ignorance to Remus’ concern. “Remus.” He answered without a second thought to who he was telling this to, something about the other man made him want to lay himself out bare, secret’s spilling out into the night air, all the good and the ugly. Something about the other man was dangerous but Remus felt the blood in his veins ignite at the thought. “Remus,” the man with eyes like the moon whispered, “I’m Sirius.”

A House by the Sea by @lurikko The wizarding world is on the brink of a war, Sirius is the heir of the House Black, and Remus is a vampire.

I'm starving, darling. by @marigoldwrites-blog

Remus is accosted by a vampire on his way home. Strange in itself. But when the vampire realises he has anaemia, he starts bringing him food. And medication. And nice little treats to make him feel better. And - well. Remus never claimed to be a man of strong convictions.

all the hot singles in your area are dead by atropos_aeneas The first vampire who comes to campus is annoying. The second one is an unwelcome, if begrudgingly pleasant, surprise. The third, fourth, and fifth vampires, on the other hand…No matter. Remus has been alive far, far too long to have his resolve broken on behalf of someone like Sirius Black.

To see more recs, join the WolfstarLibrarian on TikTok

[drghostwrite]

Operating Rooms…

Pairing: Addison Montgomery x preg!wife!reader

Summary: jumps around but reader is pregnant and due date is approaching fast, a few scares have Addison on the edge as she can’t imagine losing her wife or her baby. Also part of this is a rewrite of the episode where Derek throws up in the OR with Lexi.

Warnings: mention of miscarriage, blood, vomiting.

******************************************************** "Suction, There's to much blood in the field." you said as you and Derek operated on the patient.

"We're losing him!, ugh I should've just cut the cord, this is way to risky."

"Derek, just stay calm." you said, you were standing over your patient multiple hours into am exhaustive tumor removal. It was taking a toll on both of you, spending hours on you feet was hard enough but being 7 months pregnant made it even harder, you're muscles were starting to lock up as you fought the fatigue, your body was absolutely exhausted.

"Wait. It's back, He's coming back up." Mark said.

you could hear Lexie ask a question but you were zoning out as relief that flooded your body quickly turned into worry, you felt pain but not muscle pain, something was different, something was wrong.

"Dr. Shepard?"

"My mask..."

"What?"

"His mask, take it off" "Take off my mask, Take off my mask!"

you both yelled in unison, as you quickly realized that something was wrong. she quickly moved his mask as he bent over and threw up on the OR floor. you looked away turning into your arm, Mark saw your reaction looking you over.

"Y/N?" Mark said watching you as you turned to make eye contact with him.

"Dr. Montgomery, y-you're bleeding." Lexi said eyes getting wide with worry. In the midst of everything you forgot about yourself, quickly looking down to see a small stream of red darkening your scrubs, you're hands still inside the patient.

"Someone page Dr. Montgomery, NOW!" yelled Mark before rushing over to you.

"Lexi check on Derek, we need to keep this patient alive." He commanded, within minutes doctors filled the room, Meredith and Callie rushed to help Derek as Addison rushed to your side. As soon as your hands were out Mark scooped you up and rushed you out onto a gurney to get you to OB.

"Addison?"

"Right here Y/N, I'm right here."

"I'm scared..."

"I know, but we have the best." you squeezed her hand as they rushed you down the hall, as soon as you got there Arizona was waiting with monitors. "Okay mama, Let's figure out what's going on."

a few hours later you were in a hospital bed, Addison was next to you as Arizona walked in, "How're we feeling?"

"A little nervous, what's going on?"

"Well it looks like you have a case of what we call incompetent cervix, baby was pushing on your cervix and with the stress you were putting your body through, it cause your cervix to slightly dilate."

"Which caused your bleeding." Addison finished.

"And the baby?"

"The baby is okay, we gave you a slight dose of something to hopefully prevent labor, and we'll keep you overnight... and if it worsens then we can stitch the cervix closed until you go into labor."

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

1 month later and you were back in action, saving lives, performing surgeries. Addison and Arizona had been keep an extremely close eye on you, monitoring work load and the baby.

That is until you found yourself in a very high-stakes trauma situation, here you were standing over a young woman, hand in her chest pinching an artery stopping her from bleeding out. The ER was busy and you ended up in a very extensive case that just kept going south, your patient had extensive bleeding and now you found yourself with a hand inside her chest, and people watching you while trying to keep it together

People were very cautiously and efficiently moving around the room, nobody dared get in your way as you operated. Around the 8 hours mark you started feeling small contractions roll through your body.

"Dr. Montgomery, How're we doing?" you heard chief Webber's voice over the intercom. He had been showing some prospective attendings, and the board around and they decided that watching your surgery was intriguing so you had to put on your best show for them.

"Getting there, How's my ED looking?"

"Clearing out as we speak."

"Good, I'm going to need Dr. Torres and Dr. Sloan in here to help with this repair."

"Paging them now." he said before exiting the gallery. Callie and Mark later joined you in the OR, Callie across from you and Mark next to you being your extra set of hands, after a particularly strong contraction he whispered in you ear, "you okay, we don't need another scare."

"I know, I know..." you whispered back, before returning to the task at hand. 15 more minutes went by, this time you carefully leaned back a wince on your face.

"Y/N, we okay over there?" Callie asked as you readjusted.

"I think so." you shifted around.

"Look if you need to tap out..." Mark started.

"Mark..." you looked at him with your intimidating 'don't start' look, before shifting uncomfortably again.

"Y/N, your out go relax." Callie demanded.

"No I'm not leaving, I'm the only thing keeping this patient alive right now."

"Y/N." she said sternly, a stare-down happening as you were both stubborn.

"Okay, page Arizona... but don't cause a scene..."

She slowly nodded in response, "Can someone page my wife please." Callie said, a nurse quickly going to page Arizona, minutes later she walked in.

"You paged?"

"Yea," she said and motioned to you. Arizona stepped in next to you, "Y/N, you okay?" she said gently, watching the glance exchange between you and Callie.

"I think I might be going into early labor, but I can't move yet cause I'm the only thing stopping this patient from bleeding out... we have a lot riding on this surgery and they're all up in that room watching."

"Okay so we have two options, you leave and let someone else take over..."

"nope."

"Or I can discreetly hook you up to some monitors and monitor baby from right here next to you, but once your contractions get to close I'm pulling you." you looked between her and Callie, "Okay, whatever we have to do, just don't let them see and do not page my wife just yet." you said leaning your head to point at the others in the gallery.

Arizona quickly devised a plan, Webber distracted the investors with a quick tour of the other galleries, before a few intrigued returned, Arizona quickly attached monitors to your belly allowing her to discreetly monitor the baby. Mark stood shielding your occasionally distressed form from peering eyes, Callie covering by having the nurses rotate to distract.

20 minutes later and your contractions were drawing closer, Arizona sat behind a monitor with Ben as he monitored the anesthesia, she carefully watched the monitors whispering soft encouragement as you fought through the contractions. Minutes later the investors exited to continue their tours and Callie paged Bailey who quickly rushed to the rescue, repairing the damage so you could pull your hand out, Arizona came to your side unhooking the monitors and following you out of the room.

you entered the scrub room and immediately caught yourself on the scrub sink as a particularly strong contraction caught you off guard.

"Okay mama, I think it's time to go," Arizona said rubbing her hand firmly into your back to try and relieve the clenched muscles.

"Considering my water just broke that might be best," you said looking down at your dark navy scrubs the liquid creating streaks down your thighs.

"Yea, I can see that." she said following your eyes, supporting you as you tried standing up straight.

"Okay let's do this, and please, page my wife."

"Let's get you out of here first." she said guiding you out of the door.

--- time jump---

You were now in one of the delivery rooms, contractions only 3-5 minutes apart, groaning as another wave rolled through your body. You heard the door latch engage and swing open stark white light flooding the dimly lit room, you could see Addison's silhouette in the doorway as she ran to your side. Arizona right behind her, she had been in a surgery and Arizona had to hunt her down after she didn't answer her pages, pulling her from the OR.

"Y/N Forbes-Montgomery, I cannot believe you."

"what did I do?" you softly whispered.

"operating while in labor?"

"so you heard about that," you chuckled, "whoo..." you left out a small breath as another contraction started.

"Of course I heard about it, I'm your wife, someone's got to watch out for you." she said leaning you forward to crawl in the bed behind you, she leaned you back into her a leg on either side supporting you as you held onto her knee, your other hand in hers, her spare hand wiped sweaty hair from your forehead as you leaned your temple against her face.

"Addi I don't know if I can do this, I'm so tired."

"Darling I've seen you fight through much worse, you've got this, lets meet our baby."

"Mmm..." you whimpered, before gritting your teeth together to start pushing.

2 hours later and lots of different emotions and you held a beautiful baby girl in your arms, she already had a full head of reddish hair, her eyes blue with just the slightest tint of green coming through them.

“You did so good mama, I’m so proud of you.” Addison said, watching you as you held your daughter.

“She’s gorgeous…” you whispered, taking in the lovestruck feeling.

“Just like her mommy’s.” Arizona said coming in to check on you one last time, a bright smile pulling across her face, Callie followed behind to check on you.

“Mm..” you chuckled, “thank you Arizona, for taking care of our girl.”

“Oh you know I would do anything for you, both of you.”

“Well next time a little heads up would be nice, and next time no operating rooms that close to the due date.”

“But…” you whined out, “and who said about next time?”

“Oh y'all make gorgeous and brilliant babies there will definitely be a next time.”

“gorgeous and brilliant, you hear that little one…” you whispered softly down to you baby as she cooed back up at you.

“I’d say if we’re not careful we’re gonna have a world class surgeon on our hands.” Addison beamed down with a smile before kissing your lips.

“Mm knowing y’all’s brains, you’re gonna have genius babies…” Callie said and you all laughed together as they exited to give you the room.

"Hmm are you gonna be a little genius baby?" you cooed down at the infant in your arms, before smiling back up at Addison, she was in awe and placed a loving kiss to your lips.

"So long as they aren't as daring as their mother..."

"Oh hush, it keeps you guessing..." you said teasing back.

"Something like that" she smiled down at you

[monstermonger]

Hey!!

I have recently been going through a rough patch with my art. I am not enjoying or liking how I do linework and shading, and in order to remedy that, I'm collecting works from artists I like that I can study/re-imagine.

Your linework and composition is stunning 😍 and I am currently working on a reinterpretation of one of your pieces. This is the most fun I've had with a piece in a while. Beautiful work !! 👏 👏👏

....Er, I've been away from social media for quite a while, and even before that, I was behind on messages... I'm so sorry for my late responses to asks. I wanna say I appreciate ppl taking the time to send them, really :") thanks for the patience LOL

I'll try to condense this - respond to multiple in a single post. So I don't take up too much space in people's feeds.

so first of all @laurikarauchscat I'm sorry to hear you're in a rough patch, and I think your method of overcoming it is on the right track. At least, it's definitely something I do and it really helps me xD Most notably with all the Caspar David Friedrich-inspired pieces. As long as you give credit to the artists you're reinterpreting from (and asking is polite too, if they're an alive artist :D so yes thank you for asking) it seems perfectly fine to me to do so. Good luck and hope it goes well, I'm interested to see c:

More asks under the cut!

@blurred-antics thank you so much for the words ;b; it's validating to hear, since they're definitely emotions I have in mind while drawing lately. I lost both my parents in the last 2 years, and I've dumped a lot of feelings of grief/longing into my pieces since then, including ones that might seem rather cheerful and perfectly peaceful at a glance. I'm happy others can feel the bit of conflict under the surface-- I don't necessarily mind if my art comes across straightforward, since when throwing art into the public it must be accepted that everyone will interpret it how they want, but it does feel nice to know that some people sense the extra bits. Thank you again!

@kinnersonne thank you very much!! Definitely my favorite subjects at the moment c: You're very sweet.

@marinaaniseed I'm starting to get to ... quite old ones, and I worry this was a time-sensitive question :"D I'm very sorry if I'm too late.

First of all, thank you for asking! I'm honored people like my art enough they'd want it tattooed, it's pretty mind-blowing to me. I've actually had several people ask to use my art for tattoos the last few months and I think overall, I'm pretty okay with it. if you'd like to express support for my art for using it, then you're welcome to buy a print from my shop. It's not required, but it's very appreciated <3 Hope whatever you end up going for (whether my art or not in the end) goes well ^^

@wandersoffdoodling Aw, thank you T.T I'm happy they resonate with you! It's kind of my dream to finish some zines and some bigger projects in this sketchbook/journal art style. So that's very motivating to hear. Thanks again c:

@eldathe once again I apologize for how late I am to respond to questions that were intended to be very quick exchanges lol. First of all, thank you! :") I'm sure this is no longer relevant for how old this ask is, but in case you/(or anyone reading this) would still want to use it as a blog pfp or anywhere, yes, feel free, as long as there's credit somewhere visible! Thank you for asking <3

@starrforge thank you kindly, yours is great too :")

@herebesherlocks Aww thank you so much :") I'm honored it evokes that feeling.

@the-halcyon-effect 100 years later: thank you that's a huge honor to hear :"))))

[mrsnancywheeler]

okay so basically I've been gone because...

band boy and I got together so I decided to focus my time into our relationship and just other activities to benefit my social life. I ended up getting into a pretty damaging fight with a lot of my close friends that hurt my already declining mental health. after nearly a month of dating and another month of talking and flirting on top of that, band boy broke up with me bc he said that he hadn't been very mentally present bc of his own issues and that I deserved a better boyfriend who could be there for me and give me more attention then he had. and that it wasn't healthy for either of us to continue being in a relationship where I was constantly looking for help and attention and he was trying to take time to work on himself and wasn't giving that to me. he said he still cared but we couldn't be together in a romantic sense.

I totally understood him even if I was sad but it was just an additional stress. not long after I got into a fight with another close friend which also caused a lot of damage. at the time I'd been hanging out with a best friend of mine who I'll call j. all the stress was too much for me and my mental health and I asked j to drive me to the hospital. he did and I spent the day working on a safety plan there where they kind of made me feel like my problems were over dramatic and insignificant. after all I was just a girl who's been broken up with.

I got sent home and the next day just saw all these posts and group chat messages of my friends and my ex being so happy together and it was like I never existed. I felt so small and inconsiquneisal and huge trigger warning for sh but I od'd. I got sent to the ER and once it was out of my system spent some time in a mental hospital.

but yeah basically that was my life in the time I was gone, I'm alive, I've done better but I'll get there, and am getting over some serious heartbreak

[hardcandycigarette]

Long Way Down Final-Part Five

Okay here it is. The Fifth and Final Part of a Long Way Down.

Warning- Language, discussions of suicide and depression.

Those triggers are not a major part of the story as far as the details but I do want you to know ahead of time if those subjects would cause you distress.

And you guys are getting all, the feels, the angst, and dad!rry as well as a few unexpected things

Aside from that I hope it meets your expectations.

Word Count 6.5K

While trying to process the words, Harry chokes back tears and feels his heart race. When the news finally registers that Y/N is safe and the search is over he leaps off the sofa and races down the hall. Relief pumps through every part of him as he runs toward the guest room. He's been so afraid of never seeing Y/N again. But now, she's coming home and his heart overflows with happiness. He knows that nothing could ever replace the love he feels for his Y/N - his prayers have been answered

Harry's shouts startle Liam as he crashes through the door. "They found her. They fuckin' found her." he yells as tears stream down his face.

Liam shakes his head and rubs his eyes as he sits on the edge of the bed. “Wha's that?” Liam asks in confusion, trying to make sense of the news. Suddenly, he realizes that they have found Y/N. He is both surprised and relieved. "They found her? Is she okay? Where is she?" He is happy to abandon his much needed nap when he hears the happy report.

“She’s in some small village in Scotland. They said she’s fine. I think she’s fine. I dunno, but we gotta go. Y/N's mum can stay here with the kids. We gotta go. Up. What ya’ just sitti’ there for? We need to hurry and get her."

"Let's go get out girl." Liam stands and slips on the jeans draped over the end of the bed. He walks over to the corner and picks up a sweatshirt from the floor and puts it on. “Well, what are you standing there for? Let's go. I'm ready."

Just as Harry steps into the hall, the door to the next room opens. "What's the matter, love? What's wrong?" Y/N's mother asks.

“They’ve found ‘er," he says.

“Oh please tell me she’s ok.”

He pauses, taking a deep breath before finally giving her the news. "She's alive," he says with relief. Harry nods and smiles. "She is. Well, that's what the detective told me."

“Thank God,” she says. She releases a long, deep sigh of relief, feeling the weight lifted off her shoulders.

“You’ll need to stay here with the kids. Liam and I are heading to get her.”

“Where is she?” she asks.

“Lil village in Scotland.”

“Scotland? What on earth for?” she asks.

Harry shrugs and dashes toward the stairs. "I've told ya all I know. We'll call you when we get there. Can you please talk to the kids when they get up from their naps? It'll just delay us if I wake them up now."

She nods, wiping away tears. "Yes, of course. Please hurry. Tell her I love her."

"'m callin' Jeff to get a plane ready," Harry calls out as he runs down the hall, and up the stairs. Once on the second floor he darts into the couple's bedroom. He grabs his phone and hits Jeff's contact. He demands they get a plane ready ASAP, so they can fly to Y/N.

As he speaks to Jeff he shoves on his sneakers, clips back his bangs, and brushes his teeth- all in a matter of a few minutes. As he scans the room, he wonders what Y/N might need. It appears from his discussion with the detective that she had all of her belongings with her. He says to himself, "You got me 100% from now on, baby." After emptying his Pleasing tote of its usual 40 tons of stuff he grabs some clothes, his keys, wallet and other essentials tossing it all in the bag as he heads down to the living room.

When he arrives downstairs, Liam is waiting for him. "I've called for a car. They should be here soon. Good thing everyone was on standby, otherwise this could've been a logistical nightmare," Liam says, emphasizing the urgency of the situation.

"No it wouldn't. Would've driven us m'self if I'd had to. Oh, Liam, man I've never felt better in m' life. Y/N's comin' home. 'm gonna love her like no man has ever loved a woman. She's gonna get sick of me I swear it." His anticipation causes him to jump up and down with excitement. His smile is wider than Liam has ever seen it.

###

Harry is so frantic to get to Y/N that he nearly shatters the glass of the sliding doors as he runs into the hospital. He is desperate to find his wife and unable to wait for the elevator to arrive he rushes up the stairs. As sweat dampens his forehead and an intense sense of urgency propels him forward.When he reaches the second floor he pulls the door open with force.

"I'm sorry sir this floor is closed. You'll have to take the elevator to the next floor," a police officer says to him.

"No, it's ok. She's m' wife the woman you all are protecting. Y/N Styles, she's m' wife." He repeats with growing resolution, "Y/N Styles is my wife and Detective Reeves knows I'm here."

Before Harry can proceed, Detective Reeves approaches him. "It's alright, he's the husband."

Harry stands tall and speaks firmly, "Yes, I've come to take her home."

The two officers nod. "Sorry, sir."

"It's alright, thanks for looking after her," Harry says.

"You can come this way, Mr. Styles." Reeves walks down a desolate hallway."Let's step into the waiting area," he says.

"Where is she? Wanna see Y/N. You said she's ok, right?" Harry adds with a hint of irritation in his voice.

In response, the detective motions towards a couch. "Please have a seat, Mr. Styles. I need to speak with you about your wife." Harry sits down, his patience wearing thin. He knows something is wrong and he needs answers.

"Where is she? Wanna see m' wife. What's happen'?" His voice quivers with worry. "Tell me, Detective. What's going on with my wife?" Is she okay?"

As he nods his head Reeves replies, "She is indeed, but I still need to speak with you before you see her."

Harry stands and paces the tiny room. "Tell me, ya worryin' me."

"I know you're anxious," Reeves continues, "but I need you to stay here for a few minutes so we can talk."

He throws his hands in the air and asks, "Why can't I see her?"

"I understand how you feel. I know you're eager," Reeves says calmly, "but I need you to trust me and stay here while we talk things through."

"Spit it out then."

"Sir, it appears your wife wasn't truly missing in the traditional sense. Do you remember when we first spoke, and I told you adults can leave without a trace, and it's perfectly acceptable?"

"Yeah. What do ya mean?" he asks. "What are ya sayin'?"

"I'm referring to a concept called voluntary disappearance. It's when an adult chooses to leave their current life behind and start a completely different one elsewhere. It's not a crime and it's not illegal. It's a personal decision to break ties and start anew."

'I don't understand what you are sayin' when you say start a new life. I am growing more and more impatient with you," Harry says.

"Once the doctors give you the okay, I'll let you talk to your wife about it in depth, but it seems that she really did leave you. It seems she wasn't happy and didn't want to be there anymore. It was determined after lengthy discussions with myself, my partner and the medical staff that she had personal reasons for leaving. As for the details, you'll need to speak with your wife."

 "Details? Details like what? You know what? Fuck you Reeves." He points his finger at the man, then places his hands in the pockets of his sweats as he clinches his jaw. "Lemme see m' wife. 'm not playin' this game with ya', dancin' round the subject, tryin' to be cryptic. Where is she?"

"I am simply trying to let you know what our investigation has uncovered. You are welcome to see your wife, but it might be beneficial for you to understand the full scope of the situation before you enter the room."

"Go on then, tell me how ya know m' wife so much better than me," Harry says.

"You see your wife seems to be very unhappy. She suffers quite a lot. The woman in that room is much different from the wife I suspect you've known all these years."

Harry steps toward the door. "Where are the doctors? You aren't telling me shit. And how did she even end up here?"

"Said she took a bus, then rideshare to the old lady's house." The detective shrugs. She can explain where she left the car and all that when you talk to her." Reeves walks to the door and opens it. "I'll get the doctor. Please just wait here."

"Sure, whatever." Harry waves his hand.

The detective steps out, but returns within a minute or two, followed by a small woman in a white jacket.

She enters the room and extends her hand and nods. "Thank you for speaking with me, sir." Harry shakes her hand. "I'm Dr. Thomas. I've been here with your wife since she came in last night. I think there are some things you need to know before you go in, but there are also things you need to hear directly from your wife." She wants to make sure Harry is prepared to support her.

"Are you gonna dance as well? Jesus need to take you two on tour with me for all the dancing around you do."

"Sir, let's have a seat." The doctor motions toward the same sofa.

"'m tired of bein' asked to have a seat." But Harry does as the doctor asks, and sits.

She sits next to him, straightening her coat. "Mr. Styles, your wife overdosed. She said that the depression and anguish, as she described it, had become too much for her to continue. I'm so sorry," the doctor said softly, "but now we must focus on helping her through this difficult time. These maladies affect everyone differently, so what depression might look like for you or for me, looks different for her. Does that make sense?"

"Yeah. Yeah, course I understand everyone's experience is different. But depression? Anguish? Where is all of this comin' from? She never let on. How could I have known she was sufferin'?" Harry stands.

"Your wife is suffering from a major depressive episode. It's not unusual for women in her situation to experience this."

"Her situation?"

"Yes, but that's something you'll need to discuss with your wife."

"This is ridiculous. Say what you've got to say or le' me to speak to 'er." Harry walks to the door and opens it.

The doctor follows him. "Mr. Styles, she's very fragile," the doctor says apologetically, "and I must stress that it is essential that you handle her with care."

"When can I take her home?" he asks.

"My advice would be to transfer her to a psychiatric hospital. I know that you have the choice of any facility you wish, so that should be left up to you. I think the transfer would be appropriate sometime tomorrow if she remains stable through tonight."

"Okay." He steps into the hall. "Thank you, doctor. I appreciate what you've done for my wife. I'll see to it we get her in the right place. I'll have her therapist and doctor coordinate with you once we determine where we are taking her. Can I see her now?"

"Yes." The doctor and detective step into the hall, and walk a few doors down, and Harry follows. "I'll be here the rest of the evening if you have any questions. Just have one of the nurses contact me." She and Harry shake hands before she walks away.

"Mr. Styles, our work here is complete, so we are going to make our way back to London. You know how to reach me. While the circumstances aren't ideal I'm happy we found her, and that she's safe. Don't be too harsh on yourself. These things happen."

Harry has the impulse to hug the man but stops and settles for a handshake. "Thank you. Thank you so very much for all you've done."

"Not at all sir. All in a day's work isn't it?"

"I suppose. Thank you." Harry nods.

"Good luck, Mr. Styles." He walks away.

"Harry, just call me Harry."

"Alright Harry. Goodnight."

Harry is excited, but apprehensive about seeing his wife. He looks down the hall and sees Liam talking with officers guarding the stairwell.

He taps on the door. There is no response, but he pushes the heavy door open.

Y/N lays in the bed staring out of the window.

"Hi, Angel. It's Harry, love." His voice is soft and steady as he slowly walks toward the bed.

As he sits in a chair next to her, he sees in her profile that she is awake. As he takes her hand, he whispers, "Love, it's me.". "Missed you. Had me going crazy wonderin' if I would ever see you again.". He brushes her hair away from her face. "I love you."

She remains silent, moves around, but still won't look at him.

"Y/N I don't know what's wrong baby. I know things are rough at home, but we'll fix them. No, I'll fix them. We don't want you to leave us ever again. I'll do anything you want." He starts to cry. "I'm here for you," he promises, his voice breaking. "We'll get through this together, whatever it takes."

Y/N doesn't respond.

"Tell me what you want, I'll do it. We've built so much together, a beautiful family. I thought we were happy, baby. I'm so sorry."

When she turns to him she avoids eye contact."I don't love you."

"How can you say that?" he asks, his voice trembling with emotion .

"You can go now. I told them not to call you." Her voice is cold and dry.

He stares in disbelief, his world crumbling around him. He shakes his head. She has just spoken words he would've never predicted. He can't believe that she is so callous and that she has given up on them without even trying to work things out. With his free hand he pours a cup of water from a small pink pitcher and offers it to her. "Here, have some water. Your throat is dry."

She doesn't accept the water. Even before he came home from his tour, she realized that the connection they once had was missing. She couldn't pinpoint when she fell out of love, but it had been a while. It was time for them to separate so that she could move on and find true happiness. He deserved happiness too, and she wanted him to find it. He was a very decent man, but he just wasn't the man for her. Not anymore."

He shakes his head. "No, baby, no, that's your depression talking. We're gonna get you some help,yeah?" He rubs her hair.

"Stop it." She swats his hand away.

He removes his hand from her. "Sorry, love. It might take you some time to feel better, but I'm home and I'll look after the kids. You can have all the time you need. We'll find the finest place in the world, anywhere, and you go and take care of yourself." He tries to hand her the cup of water again.

She shakes her head. "No, I'm not thirsty."

"Baby, your voice is dry. You need to drink something."

She pushes the water away. She tries to be polite as possible, and she removes her hand from his while saying, "Please Harry, please don't make me be rude. I'm trying to be decent here. Just leave."

He stands, placing the cup on the tray. "Decent? Is that what this is? Desert your babies? Disappear without a trace knowing we were lookin' for ya? I'm here Y/N. I'm waiting for you to let me help ya', but just like the day ya left I'm lost. I don't know what to do." He sniffles as he tries to stop crying , and focus on her, and what she is saying.

She returns her gaze to the window. "Leave. That's what you can do. I'll get the help I need, but I still don't want to be married to you. As for the kids we'll figure it out, but honestly I just need to be by myself. I don't want to wait for anyone to come home, or change a diaper. I can't take the pressure anymore."

"But ya don't have to baby. I'm home now, got all the help you could want."

"Is that what you've been doing since you've been home? Helping?"

"I know I haven't been perfect, but I swear I'll try. Please at least give me the chance."

"Leave, Harry."

"No."

"Harry there's someone else." She looks down at her lap. "Is that better? Someone who doesn't make me feel like a maid or just a fuck toy."

Harry punches the wall. "No!" He grabs his hand, shaking away the pain. "You brought another man into our home, our bed?"

"No. I didn't have sex with him. But Harry, he makes me feel heard and seen. That's something we haven't had for a long time. I want a divorce. Is he the man I'll be with?" She shrugs. "I don't know, but he made me realize there is someone out there who can appreciate me as a complete woman and not just the parts that serve him."

"No, Y/N. You're not getting off that easy. You don't get to just walk away from nearly a decade at the flick of a wrist. You don't just get to leave and not give it a chance, not talk to me about how you're feelin." He wipes his face, then rubs his hurt hand.

"I'm trapped then, aren't I? Have to just keep my mouth shut and act happy. I can't Harry. I've tried and I just can't do it anymore."

"What are you talking about Y/N?" Harry walks back over and tries to hold her hand again.

"I'm a mum and a wife, your wife of all people and I'm not happy." With a shake of her head, she frees her hand from him.

"We'll work on it. I promise." He looks into her eyes, his voice firm but compassionate as he adds, "I need you to believe that I'm worth the effort."

"No matter how much we work on it, I simply don't get to be me. I'm still only a wife, your wife no less and a mother. That's all I am. It's a bitter reminder that, while I'm capable of so much more, I'm still often defined by my roles within our relationship." She closes her eyes holding back tears as she bites her lip.

"No. No, love, you're everything, that's what you are. You are a beautiful and powerful force in this world. You bring light and hope wherever you go, and nothing can stop that."

She rolls her eyes and sighs, fidgeting in bed until she finally sits up. "Harry please leave. You know I'm fine now. I'll get some help finding a place to transfer to, but please let me be. It's okay to stop loving someone. You don't get to be mad at me because of the way I feel."

He shakes his head and walks back and forth. "You know Y/N you are really a piece of work. I felt sorry for ya when they told me 'bout the shape you were in. I really did, but I see now you're just selfish." He looks at the door to check that no one is coming in. "You're bein' a coward," gritting his teeth he points at her, "not taking responsibility for your actions. You're bein' selfish."

"Oh," she says in a voice louder than she intended. She lowers her volume. "You have to be kidding, Harry. That must be a joke. Me?" She presses her hands to her chest. "I'm selfish?"

"Yeah, Y/N tha's what I said. Selfish."

"That's not true!" she declares, her voice indignant. "I'm not selfish!"

"Then what is Y/N? What are you? Those kids need their mum!" Harry shouts this time.

Y/N drops her voice. "No more than they've needed a father."

A twisted expression appears on Harry's face. "Is that what this is about? Tryin' to teach me a lesson at the expense of the kids?"

"Quit being so fucking narcissistic Harry, everything in the world isn't about you! Don't you get enough attention already? This isn't about teaching you anything."

He steps toward the bed. "Oh really? Well, Lola, you remember her, the littlest one? Big beautiful eyes, chubby cheeks, you remember her don't ya? Been sick since you left. Archer, the oldest one, gorgeous boy, ya remember him? Well he busted his foot. No to mention ya leave the whole of the world lookin' for ya." Harry chuckles as he tugs at his lip. "You can't take it anymore. Bullshit. That's what it is. How about your mum and sisters? All of our friends? You've had lots of people outta their minds Y/N"

"You think I don't know the trouble I've caused?" She asks her voice rising with each word. "You think I don't care about the kids? Well, I do! That's why I left."

"Leavin' 'ems not helpin' 'em is it? Wonderin' where their mum has gone, leavin' me to make up lies, promisin' you'll be back." Harry kicks the bed.

The door opens, a young male nurse interrupts. "Alright in here?"

"Yes," Y/N replies.

"Are you sure?" the nurse asks.

"I'm sure." She nods.

"If your visitor is upsetting you I'm sure we can have the officers remove him." The nurse looks Harry up and down.

"No, I'm fine. Thank you," Y/N says.

"I'll be right outside if you need me." He closes the door.

"It's not about you or the kids, or anyone else. Don't you see that? It's about me. It's about what I want." She stands.

"Marriage doesn't work that way, and building a life together doesn't work that way." Harry reduces the space between them, stepping toward her.

She looks at the floor, then at Harry. "Marriage is about two people and if one person is only focused on themselves, then the marriage is not going to work. This marriage is about you, and I'm not angry anymore. You can't help who you are and I can't help how I feel."

Harry grips her shoulders, leaning down to look her in the eye. "I'm sorry," he whispers. "I don't know how to make it work, but I promise I'll try."

"Harry, you can't fix it. I've fallen out of love with you." Tears fill her eyes. "Do you think it makes me happy to make you upset? Of course not. I love you, but I'm not in love with you." She speaks the words that are the kiss of death to anyone on the receiving end. "That's why I took the pills."

He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. "What do you mean?"

"Death would be easier than leaving. I'd rather be dead than hurt you or the kids. I wish that old lady had let me be." She sighs heavily, looking away.

Harry kneels, grabs her legs and hides his face in her thighs as he pleads with her. "Don't say that. Never, ever, ever say that again." He sobs at the mere mention of her harming himself. "I know you're in pain," he whispers while rubbing the back of her legs. "But I need you to understand that no matter what, I'm here for you. We can get through this together."

She touches his shoulder. "Don't feel obligated to say what you think I want to hear."

"'m not, swear it love. I'd give up everything just to see you smile again. If that means splitting up, then I'll accept it. Walking away from my career, I'll do it. You hold all the cards love."

"Let's be serious Harry you're never leaving your career."

"But I'm willing to make this sacrifice for us," Harry said, determined to make his point clear. "I would. If that's what you want I won't fight you. I'll post on Instagram or Twitter or whatever, and announce m' retirement." He looks up at her. His eyes are full of dedication, sadness, and desperation.

She shakes her head and looks at the ceiling. "No. I don't know why I can't just let it all go," she whispers. "But it's like my heart won't let me. I don't even know how to love you anymore."

"Go, Harry."

"But would you at least discuss it with a therapist before we make a final decision? Please."

"Harry, please go home. Please tell the children I love them, and I will see them soon." Out of habit she rubs his thick, dark curls, holding him to her for just a moment. Tears roll down her face. "Please go."

He releases himself from her and stands. He takes her face in his hands, scanning her eyes for a glimpse of the old Y/N but she's not there. After placing a kiss on her forehead, he says in a soft, gentle voice. "I love you Y/N. I always will. Nothing you can do will change that. I will never give up on us, never." He's determined to be there for her.

With a trembling lip, she steps back and gives him a final nod of her head, her heart aching as she watches her husband walk away.

At the door he turns to her. "Meant what I said. Anything in the world to make ya stay, to work this out."

She nods. "Sure," she says.

"Speak with your doctors, and once you decide on a place I'll make sure it's paid for, but please let's at least talk about it again when you're feelin' better."

####

It's been two months since Harry rushed to Scotland to see his wife. It has been two months since she left, saying she no longer loved him. For the last month they have worked with their therapist to try and fix what's broken. Y/N lives in an apartment they own on the other side of the city. The kids remain with Harry. For the first few weeks Anne stayed with Harry to help, but since then he's been on his own with the children. They don't fully understand why their Mummy doesn't live with them. When she sees them it is difficult when Harry takes them back home for both Y/N and the children. There are always sobs in the car as Harry drives them home, buying their contentment with ice cream and toys and amusement parks. However, he know that isn't a sustainable way for them to cope.

With the help of a child psychologist they are adjusting a bit. But the transition is difficult for everyone and their wounds remain deep .Each day is a little bit easier. He works his schedule around theirs, and makes certain he is available to them at any time. He leaves Lola with a trusted friend or Gemma when he can't take her with him. That's usually only for therapy appointments with Y/N. During the day the two older children are in school so his only immediate concern is Lola. He has put all his plans on hold. He's even asked Jeff not to call for the time being. Jeff is one of his best friends, but Harry also knows it's all business in the end. He can't let anything distract him. The three shows in Manchester are around the corner. He's decided to stay with his mum so she can help with the kids while he rehearses and puts the final touches on the show.

####

Manchester Night Three

Harry is near the end of his final night in Manchester when he walks to the mic stand.

"Thank you everyone for welcoming me home. As most of you know I grew up not too far from here, and it's always a pleasure coming home. It's been an honor returning to Manchester and getting the chance to perform for all of you these three nights."

The crowd erupts into cheers and barking. Harry gives them a moment before he continues. In spite of the noise of the crowd, he speaks, "Thank you so much for everything, but the evening isn't quite over yet! I have something very special and unexpected for all of you."

Harry and the band have had a tremendous impact on people, as evidenced by the crowd's enthusiasm and appreciation. The cheering and applause are not only a sign of gratitude and admiration, but they also serve as a reminder of the show's success. A clear indication of the joy it has brought to countless people.

"Thank you." Harry chokes back tears, pausing for a moment as he looks at the ground. He clears his throat and continues. "Throughout our show's run, we have had the opportunity to share our message of joy and positivity with people from all walks of life. We are overwhelmed by the amount of support we have received and we are truly thankful for the encouragement and love we have been shown." He stops and looks around, taking it all in, the enormous stadium filled with people who love him, but there is one person missing, the only person that matters. "There should be glow stick necklaces in your seats. I see many of you have them already. Please make sure that you all wear them for the last few songs. Come on then, I want this room to look like a sea of stars. I usually end the show with Kiwi, but tonight we have changed up the setlist. I hope you'll like what I've got in store for you." A cheer breaks out. Harry walks to the other side of the stage.

"But before I do that, I want to share a few things with you." He looks back at the band, giving a half-smile. "I rarely talk about my personal life or business endeavors, but tonight I would like to share a bit of that with you. My contract will end after tonight's last song."

A few in the crowd murmur, mumble, cheer or shout, but most of the fans are quiet as they await his next words. Some are predicting a surprise release of his next album tonight.

"But this time I didn't renew that contract. No one, not even my wife knows that. Instead, I'm taking a break to spend some quality time with my family and reflect on the past as well as consider my next steps, whatever they may be." The stadium falls silent as he continues. However, some decide to boo Harry during such a vulnerable moment.

"I know, and believe me I'm sorry to say that, but it's important you hear it from me, and not the press or social media gossip. As most of you know I have a beautiful family, and I love them more than words, even mine can describe. They are true treasures. A pair of beautiful, sweet, and amazing daughters, as well as a handsome and gifted son. But there's one person who doesn't get the credit they deserve and that's my wife. She truly is a Sweet Creature. Everything that is good and happy in my life stems from that woman. She has been with me for almost 10 years, and that alone makes her a saint." Harry holds back tears as his voice cracks. "While I have been traveling the world doing what I love, she has been at home with our family. However, somewhere along the way I forgot how difficult it must be for her. She always shared me with you without reserve or hesitation. She inspired some of you favorite songs. I also realized just how much I'd missed with my kids. And for those reasons I am embarking on a long hiatus."

The jumbotron catches women and girls sobbing, some holding their hands to their hearts praising him for being such a wonderful husband. His gesture of love and dedication resonates with many, as evidenced by the reactions of the crowd.

"And I hope during that time you don't forget me, and that you love the music I come back with, but I want to take some time to be with my family and hopefully grow as a person as well as an artist. Now, my kids are backstage, and if you're good I might invite them out at the end of the show. " Everyone screams and yells.

"The songs I'm about to play have meant a lot to me recently. After looking through the catalogue of songs I've written or just sang over the years, some really stuck out as very significant right now. So, if you'll be patient for one more moment I'd like to ask some special people to join me on the stage."

As a customized riser comes from beneath the stage, four silhouettes can be seen. The roar and stomping that comes from the crowd can probably be heard in Liverpool.

"I think some of you might recognize these guys, but just in case I'll let them introduce themselves." The crowd begins to quiet down. The stage lights shine down on the four men as they turn toward the crowd.

"I'm Niall." The crowd cheers.

"I'm Zayn." The crowd only grows louder.

"Hey everyone, it's Liam" And the cheers continue to grow.

And finally. "I'm Louis."

The stadium is so loud that the guys can't talk to one another so they just smile and wave at the crowd. The atmosphere is electric, like a thunderstorm that has been brewing for days and is finally ready to unleash its power.

Harry laughs into the mic. "Weren't expecting that were you?" His quip elicits a roar of laughter from the audience, further encouraging their enthusiasm. Everyone seems on the verge of hysteria.

So I'd like to start off with a song that has really hit home for me lately. This one is called "Long Way Down."

Niall begins,

We made a fire Went down in the flames We sailed an ocean And drowned in a wave Built a cathedral But we never prayed We had it all, yeah And we walked away

Harry belts out his iconic, soulful lyrics

Point of no return And now it's just too late to turn around I try to forgive you, But I struggle 'cause I don't know how We built it up so high and now I'm fallin' It's a long way down It's a long way down from here

The voices of the stadium singing along all but drowned out the boys completely. The song continues with all of the boys singing their parts with absolute perfection.

"Now, this next one's even further back in the catalogue, and it's called Infinity," Louis says. Music emanating from the stage even further excites the fans, as the boys grin with joy at being together and sharing a stage with each other. Once again they are in complete harmony as though it had been days and not years since they sang together.

"And I think the fellas got one more left in 'em. Do ya guys?" Harry asks with his signature smile.

They agree.

"This one has been on my mind as I made these recent decisions about my career. Y/N I hope you're listening. "If I could fly". Harry begins.

If I could fly I'd be coming right back home to you I think I might Give up everything, just ask me to

The song is as beautiful as it was the first time the crowd heard it so many years ago. After the final note. Each of the boys nod, and say thank you. The five gather at the center of the stage and engage in a long, tearful embrace. The entire crowd is crying and cheering. Eventually the boys wave and say goodbye one last time before exiting.

"Thank you so much, guys, and to you our fans thank you for loving and supporting us as individual artists since we played as One Direction. I think I speak for all of us, when I say we are immensely grateful for each and everyone of you." The fans cheer and shout.

"Okay. So I promised if you were good I'd let you see my adorable bubs. I think my mum has them backstage. Sarah, would you mind going back and helping bring the babies in?"

Sarah nods, steps away from her drum kit and walks backstage. Harry entertains the crowd by reading signs. Soon everyone is indicating to Harry that there is activity behind him. When he turns around Sarah has Poppy by her hand, and Archer walks ahead of them. "Where's my Lola?" he asks Sarah.

"She's coming."

"What? She can't even walk without help." Harry laughs.

He turns back to the crowd, "Okay baby Styles is somewhere."

He leans down to Poppy. "Can you tell my friends your name?"

"Poppy." She grabs the hem of her lace dress and tucks her face into Harry's chest. The crowd ooh and awws.

Archer pats his dad's leg. "My turn."

"I think he's gonna be the performer in the bunch."

Harry squats as he asks, "And what's your name?"

"Archer, and I busted my foot, but it's better."

The audience laughs hysterically. Suddenly, they scream almost as loudly as they did for the One Direction guys. Harry turns around to see Y/N carrying Lola.

He mouths "What are you doing here?"

She smiles and shrugs. He extends his arms to take Lola. "And this little bit is Lola." He kisses the baby, then gives Y/N a peck on the cheek, not wanting to step across the boundaries they've set for the time being. He puts his arm around Y/N's waist. "And this is Y/N. She's everything I could ever ask for in a wife. She's the only reason I'm still doing this for you, but now it's her turn." He points to the kids. "And their turn. Like I said I hope you don't forget me and are still here when I come back. I don't know how long that will be, but no matter how long it is I'll never forget any of you, or any of this. I love you all. Thank you so much. And with that I'd like to ask the band to join me for a wave and bow."

The band walks forward and in a line they put their arms around one another, some smiling, some crying as they take the final bow.

###

Backstage.

"What are you doing here?" Harry asks Y/N.

"Your mum told me there was something I really needed to be here for."

"Does this mean?"

She shakes her head. "Not yet Harry, and I don't know if or when it will be, but tonight was a start."

She hugs him and kisses him on the cheek.

"That's all I need, some hope, at least a start."

"Okay." She nods and takes his hand. "A start."

[coffeeandbatboys]

Worry (Pete 'Maverick' Mitchell x Wife!Reader)

When you end up in the ER, nobody knows what's happening, and that scares Maverick.

Warnings: Mentions of Car accident, hospitals, injuries, angst with a happy ending.

"Mitchell." Viper called, waving Maverick towards him.

"Yes sir?"

"I got a call from the hospital, they said your wife is in the emergency room. All they told me is that there was a car accident, and to reach you as soon as possible. You are dismissed to go be with her."

Maverick swallowed thickly, mind racing to process the information. "Y-Yes sir."

Hopping on the Kawasaki, he swore he'd never driven faster, and when he reached the emergency room, his feet couldn't carry him fast enough.

He marched towards the front desk.

"I need to see my wife. They said she's in here-"

"Sir." The receptionist calmly replied, "I need you to calm down. What is your wife's name?"

"Mitchell. Y/N Mitchell."

She checked her files, nodding when she got the right one.

"I'm afraid she's still being seen, but she shouldn't be much longer. There's a waiting room down the hall aways."

"Th-thank you..." Mav stuttered, walking briskly down the hall. As he sat down, scenarios crept into his mind. No one had bothered to tell him the extent of your injuries, and despite the receptionist's calm demeanor, he could only imagine the worst.

Was it serious?

Would you be ok?

Were you even alive?

Before he knew it, he was practically hyperventilating and crying silently by the time you stepped into view. You were standing perfectly tall, with a few stitches on your jaw and two black eyes.

He gasped, crossing over to you cautiously, as if you were going to run away.

"Pete?" You asked nervously, noticing how distraught he looked.

Without answering, he threw his arms around you and mumbled something incoherent. You hissed slightly, still sore from the impact of the crash.

He pulled away, looking you over again. "Sorry. Oh, God baby are you okay?"

You chuckled. "I feel just fine. I have a concussion, but it should clear up in no time. The question is are you okay?"

"Nobody told me how bad it was, so I guess I freaked out."

Your stomach dropped.

"I'm sorry." You crooned, reaching up to cup his cheek. "I love you."

He smiled, lacing your other hand in his. "I love you too. And, I have to say, you look hot."

You rolled your eyes and shook your head. "No, you don't have to say that, Pete."

"Okay, but you are."

"Oh shut up and take me home."

"Alright." He smirked, before giving you a sweet, tender kiss. Then another, and another.

You pulled away. "Maybe I should get in to car accidents more often."

Mav's eyes widened. "Oh god no."

[i-like-anything-water]

Chlonette Angkas AU:

Chloe is still attention deprived from her parents despite doing everything she can think of to gain their approval (especially her mother's). One day Adrien takes her to a motorcycle road racing event and she fell in love.

Her parents didn't notice the sudden purchase since they were used to their daughters sudden shopping sprees.

She becomes a pro at age 20 and has been competing since she was 18 (idk shit about motorcycle racing lmao) with Adrien and Kagami accompanying her.

She almost gets into an accident, a month before her 21st birthday. Her parents finally notice.

She's scolded and grounded.

She tries to get her way, explaining how it was her passion and she hasn't felt alive in such a long time. She's even threatened to leave and disown herself (can she do that though??? Lol xD)

Her father hesitates. He loves her daughter and he feels guilty that he's taken up too much time with their business and upcoming campaign to spend time with her. Her mother still hasn't budged.

It was when Andre realized he was losing to the public's votes did he realize that he and Chloe could strike a...deal.

"Honey, I agree on you going back to your...erm, game. But you must accomplish an errand first." "Oh, yes! Anything, Daddy. I am your daughter after all. What errand is it?"

Chloe is grumbling and complaining on the first day of being an Angkas driver. As per her father's request, it would look good for him and their family if they helped out in the community especially the laborers.

"I don't wanna get near those commoners! What if they attack me?!" "Darling, they're nice people. Er, I didn't think you would have opted to be in the cleaning department...and you do love racing..." A sigh.

She's not accustomed to driving for other people so she gets complaints on her first day. "Are you crazy?! I almost died!" "God I thought I saw you for a second." "I'm gonna tell my family I love them every day if you're my driver." "Your hair looks ugly in that helmet." The last one she may have purposely suddenly stopped the bike and well...

It was on her second week did she get a customer that was her age, maybe younger. She didn't say anything. Chloe wasn't surprised, she looked like shit. Ew, seriously were all people not taking an effort in their looks?

"How fast do you want me to be?" If there was sarcasm, the customer didn't notice. She merely shrugged and said, "Depends on you."

Well, okay then.

It's only when they got to their destination did her customer looked both shocked, thrilled, and fear.

"holy shit I'm not late! Holy shit, I'm not late! How fast did you go?"

Chloe shrugs, "Not fast enough to break the law."

She learns her customer's name is Marinette. How? Because she was a customer and they used an app, obviously.

She was actually...happy. it's been a long time (it's been a week) since she ran that fast (there was numerous tickets already) and she kinda wished she'd book her again (Marinette doesn't look too concerned for herself which was both worrying and 'it's not my business but still').

She gets Chloe again and this time she recognizes the familiar helmet and jacket. Marinette offers her a smile to which Chloe rolled her eyes at. Affectionately. Not! God damn it she was not that gay.

It's only when she wasn't cursing at the world or busy thinking how ugly her customers are did she notice Marinette's arms around her and oh.

Oh they almost ran a red light. Oops.

"I thought you were supposed to be good at this?" "Good at what?! Driving?!" "Making sure your customers don't die or end up in jail!"

They bicker along the way which earns them curious looks.

It becomes a routine and Chloe definitely did not harass inform the other drivers that Marinette was hers. To drive!

They once stopped at McDonald's because Marinette forgot to eat. "Don't you have your maid to prepare your meals?" The drive thru cashier and Marinette could only stare at each other, silently exchanging the money and food.

During their journey to Marinette's apartment (she mentioned it during the third ride) to her school, they talked. Well, screamed because traffic is shitty. But it's fine, it keeps Chloe entertained for the time being. Only one more month and Daddy's campaign is over.

Marinette's is...okay. Fine, maybe she was fun to talk to. And maybe she did give Chloe a cupcake or whatever new recipe she had on before they went to school. And maybe she was sometimes, on the rarity, like very rare times! She looked...nice.

She thinks the pollution has finally gotten to her. Being exposed to this much pollution and people is making her sick because.... because Marinette keeps getting prettier everytime she picks her up and this is not fucking fair.

"I think I like her." Her coworker, a father of two kids only looked at her, mid chew on his bread. Chloe realized what she said and panicked, but before she could scream and curse, he smiled and swallowed. "I think you do, Miss."

It was during the first week of the next month did Adrien visit her. He was also busy with class and modeling. Once the day of them hanging out was over, he gave her a hug and said, "It's okay. She seems like a nice girl. Try to ask her out, yeah?"

Asking out girls without your fancy pictures or perfectly (elaborate) planned speech was harder. Marinette walked out the door with her hair in a bun, some strays of hair making it look like bean sprouts and she looked halfway to passing out. Chloe thought she looked beautiful.

"Shit."

It ends with them pinning for almost two months and then the confession and their cute dates. If I have time I'll continue this but viola, them...just, them.