#Ize is just like his uncle

[mica-l0vesdb]

I will be a bit busy this week due to alot of studies which makes me feel like i am the only high schooler here on tumblr....

Anyways!!Here is some art of Kuriza aka Frieza's non-canon son!..I wish he was canon at some point

..Yk i feel like he would love the Ginyu force,Mostly Recoome😭😭😭😭..Frieza over there regreting his choices and the other guy is Ize,another non-canon son of Frieza from Dragon Ball Af

Old art of them i did..It looks like shit

....I hate drawing their lizard toes

[mamaestapa]

Team Dinner Disaster

• pairing: Joe Burrow x reader

• series summary: Y/n Hubbard, the younger sister of Cincinnati Bengals Defensive End Sam Hubbard, finds herself in a difficult situation after a steamy hookup with her brothers best friend, who just so happens to be the quarterback for the Bengals. In just nine months their lives will be changed forever. How will Y/n and Joe manage to to go through parenthood together? more so, how will Sam take the news he is going to be the uncle of his best friends baby?

• chapter summary: The Bengals team dinner turns into a complete disaster after an encounter Joe has at the restaurant

• word count: 2.8k

• warnings: pregnancy, vomiting, angst, lots of angst, crying, mentions of cheating, Joe gets mad and v upset, get the tissues ready babes...

series masterlist

June 26, 2023

6 months pregnant

You were laughing along with Morgan and Holly as Tee told a story about his bar experience from a couple nights ago. As you were attentive to the story Tee was telling about a fan encounter, Joe was dealing with his own fan encounter...

"Excuse me." An unfamiliar feminine raspy voice spoke from beside you. You glanced in the direction of the voice, eyebrows furrowing as you looked at the source of this new voice. A tall woman with wavy copper red hair, bleach blonde highlights and blue doe eyes approached Joe with a soft smile on her plump red lips. You figured it was just a fan so you turned your attention back to the group you were conversing with before.

Joe turned his head to the left to look at the woman who looked to be in her early twenties. A half smile half smirk pulled at his lips as he looked at her.

"Hi Joe," she said, flashing him her best smile, "I don't know if you remember me, it's Izzy."

"Yeah I remember, we talked on the phone last week about the..." Joe glanced over in your direction, careful not to say his next words too loudly, "uh arrangement."

Your head perked up at a few of the words you picked up through your left ear: Izzy and arrangement.

Who's Izzy and what is this arrangement?

You eyed the two carefully, half listening to the conversation you were having with your friends and half listening to Joe's interaction. Izzy smiled as she placed a hand on Joe's shoulder, her infectious laughter filling your ear. You turned to look at the interaction your boyfriend and this Izzy girl were having. You couldn't help but feel a little jealous at the hand placement and the smiles on their faces as they spoke.

It almost seemed like they had some sort of history together...

"You never called me back." Izzy said, voice laced with slight disappointment as she spoke, "I get you're busy but, I need to know if this will work Joe."

Joe nodded in response, "I know and we will, but," he glanced around the table full of his teammates and friends before bringing his face closer to Izzy's, "Can we talk about this later? I don't want Y/n to know."

You felt your heart drop to your stomach at the mention of your name. The conversation you were having was now long forgotten as you gave your full attention to Joe. You turned towards him, folding your arms over your chest and letting them rest on your belly as you looked at him.

The red head, Izzy, made eye contact with you as she spoke, "Sure sweetie. Don't forget to send me the details." Joe nodded at her words as he spoke, "I'll send them to you tonight so you'll be prepared. Thanks Iz."

Prepared for what? You didn't know exactly, but you'd make it your mission to find out and get to the bottom of it. Izzy smiled at you, saying a soft hello and congratulations before she sauntered away from the table. Your lips parted as you just watched her walk away from Joe like nothing happened. Your thoughts were running wild, all of them going to the worst possible case scenario. There was no reasoning with yourself on this one.

Joe was cheating on you. He had to be.

You looked at Joe with an expression full of hurt and confusion. How could he do this to you? How could he do this to your little family? You just got back on good terms with Sam and now you have to deal with this.

"Joe?" You squeaked out softly, making your boyfriend turn around to look at you. His face filled with worry as he looked at you. Joe took in your hurt expression, teary eyes, and flushed cheeks. You looked like you'd just seen a ghost and were about .2 seconds away from a breakdown.

"Y/n," he said softly, tone growing worried, "what's wrong?"

You were fine just a few minutes ago. You were upbeat, happy, laughing with Tee and seeming to enjoy the team dinner. Right now, your whole demeanor took a full 180. Joe figured it was just the hormones making you feel this way, after all you have been having some mood swings lately.

You scoffed at your boyfriends obliviousness, "What's wrong?" You shook your head, "You're seriously asking me what's wrong?"

It's definitely not mood swings.

Joe parted his lips as his eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "Y/n, baby I don't know what's going on but-."

"Was I not enough for you?" You asked, voice full of hurt. You placed your hands on your bump as you looked directly into Joe's confused blues, "Were we not enough for you?"

"I-" Joe stuttered, "I don't know what you're talking about? Of course you are. Both of you are."

You wiped a tear away as you sniffled softly, trying to compose yourself and not make a scene in the restaurant. You were feeling so many different emotions and it was a matter of time before they all came pouring out.

"Then who the hell is Izzy? What kind of arrangement do you have with her Joe, hmm?" Joe's face fell at your words. Now he looked like one that had just seen a ghost. "Y/n, you weren't supposed to hear that."

"Yeah I figured." You said, voice cracking with emotion as you tried to sound bitter. Joe's Adams apple bobbed as he gulped. His mind was going crazy with thoughts on he was going to explain this to you. He knows what it looks like to you.

"Was I ever going to find out or were you going to keep sneaking around behind my back?"

The hurt in your voice and the distraught look on your face had Joe's heart breaking. He stayed silent. He couldn't find the right words to explain himself, at least not in the middle of team dinner. You shook your head in disbelief at his silence. You stood up from the table and gathered your things. You walked away from the group, leaving a few of your friends and Joe's teammates stunned as they saw the tears rolling down your cheeks. That's all the confirmation you needed.

You choked out a sob as you jogged out of the restaurant, ignoring the looks from the concerned hostess and couple waiting tone seated. You pushed open the doors of the restaurant and stood by the entrance, chest heaving as tears rolled uncontrollably down your cheeks. You knew you looked crazy, insane even. But you had no control over your emotions right now--none at all.

You were feeling absolutely gutted. You were certain that Joe was cheating on you. Why else would some random, hot, model like twenty something year old approach Joe about a certain arrangement in public? He had to be cheating.

Your chest heaved up and down as you choked out painful sobs. The tears poured down your cheeks as cried into your hands. Each time your thoughts wandered to Joe your sobs grew harsher, almost to the point where you felt sick.

This almost hurt worse than the drama with Sam.

As you continued to cry and let out all of your emotions, you started to feel sick. Extremely sick to your stomach. The sudden wave of nausea crept up your throat and your mouth filled with saliva. Before you knew it, you were hunched over and throwing up all the content of your stomach. You grabbed your hair pulling it back as your chest heaved. Suddenly, you felt a hand on your back, rubbing soothing circles as they shushed you softly. The touch was so gentle, almost like if it was any harder it would shatter you into a thousand pieces. You wiped your mouth with the back of your hand, letting out a soft sniffle as you did so. You wiped your cheeks and turned to see whose hand was on your shoulder. Your heart dropped and you let out a pained cry as you saw who it was.

Joe.

"Don't touch me," you cried out, pulling away from his touch, "Please."

Joe pulled his hand back, a deep frown was on his face as he looked at you. You never pulled away from his touch no matter how upset you were with him. He must have really fucked up.

"Y/n," he said softly, "it's not what you think-."

"Then what is it, Joe." You seethed, turning around to face your boyfriend. You wiped the tears off your cheeks as you looked at him with a look full of sadness and a hint of disgust. "What could it possibly be if it's not what I think."

Your emotions were running wild. Pregnancy hormones really show no mercy.

Joe let out a sigh as he ran his hands down his face, "I," he hesitated, "I can't tell you."

You scoffed as more tears welled in your eyes. Why can't he say?

"If you're cheating on me, please tell me now." You looked into his eyes, a tear rolling down your cheek as you continued, "Because I don't want to find out through a gossip site that you got another girl pregnant. Was one not enough for you?"

Ouch. Joe couldn't deny it, that one hurt.

"Y/n," Joe pleaded as another sigh escaped his lips, "I'm not cheating on you." He said desperately, trying to reach out for you.

You shook your head, turning away from him once again. Your chest heaved as your sobs picked up again. Joe's heart broke as he watched the woman he loved more than anything in the world. The woman carrying his baby boy that he already loved more than life itself. Break down into shambles all because of him and some stupid surprise he was trying to plan for you.

"Sweetheart," Joe said softly, "please look at me." The crack in his voice made you reluctantly look at him again. Joe's blue eyes were watery as he looked at you wearing a guilty expression. Once you locked eyes with Joe, he continued speaking.

"I would never cheat on you. I would never do that to you or peanut. Ever."

The mention of your unborn baby's nickname made you place your hands on your six month baby bump. The little boy moved wildly inside of you, clearly sensing your emotional turmoil. You whispered a soft "I'm sorry" down to your protruding belly, knowing your son was probably starting to become just as distressed as you were. You sniffed a coupled times as you just listened to Joe's soft pleas for you to listen to him.

"Y/n please," he pleaded as a tear rolled down his cheek, "you have to believe me. You know I'd never do that to you."

You closed your eyes tightly at his words. You wanted to believe him, you really did. But something just seemed off to you. Yes he denied that he was cheating, but he wouldn't tell you what was actually going on. You shook your head at his pleading, more tears falling from your eyes as you looked at him again. Your heart broke at the sight in front of you. Joe looked absolutely distraught. Lost. Worried. Heartbroken.

"I guess we'll find out how true that is." You said, your eyes showing off every bit of emotion you were feeling. Joe furrowed his eyebrows in confusion as he wiped away his tears, "What do you mean?"

"I mean I can't have this conversation right now Joe. I mean I don't know that I believe you."

Joe's breath hitched in the back of his throat at your words. Your confession absolutely gutted him. How could you believe he'd actually cheat on you? After everything you've been through, all you've done for each other, how could you even doubt your relationship?

"Y/n," Joe said softly, his voice wavering, "we have to talk about this."

You shook your head, sniffling as you spoke just above a whisper, "I can't. Not right now."

"Why not?"

"Because I can't have your parents think that everything is fine between us tomorrow when it's really not. We take about this here, right now, I don't think I'll make that trip." You explained, your voice wavering as you spoke.

Joe gulped as he watched you try to gather yourself before speaking again, "So I'd rather wait to have this conversation somewhere else because I don't think I can handle any more right now."

Between your raging hormones and your heightened emotions, anymore talk about the current situation was only going to make things worse and cloud your judgment even more.

You needed a few days.

Joe's heart dropped to the pit of his stomach at the mention of his parents. His parents. Joe totally forgot that the two of you were traveling to Athens tomorrow morning to stay with his family for a few days before heading to California for his off-season training.

How was he going to explain all of this and pretend everything was fine between the two of you to his parents?

"We can't have this talk at my parents." Joe said shaking his head, "I don't want them to know about this?"

"Why because it's true?" You seethed, snapping at Joe and making him step away from you. Joe shook his head at you. His jaw clenched as he gazed at you.

"There's just no reasoning with you is there?" Joe snapped, his tone matching yours. He continued to speak harshly, "You convince yourself shit is true so it must be true then, right? And that's not all. You refuse to hear anyone out, ever. That is why we get caught up in shit like this Y/n."

Tears welled up in your eyes again at Joe's words. You choked out a sob as you took his words to heart. Ouch.

"Fuck you, Joe." you said, voice cracking with emotion, "I'm done." You slowly started to back away from him as you spoke, "I'm going home with Emma and Sam. You can pick me up there tomorrow on your way through. I can't even look at you right now."

Joe scoffed at you as he shook his head. The air grew tense between you the longer you stood in each others presence.

"Fine by me." Was all he uttered to you. You shook your head in disbelief as the tears threatened to fall from your eyes once again. Both of your hearts were breaking from this conversation, but you knew spending the night away from each other was best.

What a complete disaster of a team dinner.

hi loves!!

see, i told you it was an angsty one. everyone say thank you anaheim ducks😚 (that damn jamie drysdale trade had me in shambles for days)

what do we think? is joe innocent and is y/n just overreacting? or is something going on…

it feels like forever since i’ve updated this lol. i need to get back on the daddy issues grind…ive been slacking very bad and i apologize. i need to start making it a goal to have this series updated at least once a week again!

i hope you’re all still interested in this series! i promise the angst is almost over, there’s so much fluff coming in the near future. you’ll be in your dad joe feels when those chapters come out, trust me ;)

as always, thank you for all the love and support you all continue to show me on my work and just in general! you are all so amazing and you mean so much to me. i love you all!🫂🤍

tags: @dandelionwrites8 @joeburreauxsworld @theflawedwriter @mrsshiesty @ann288 @ijustcrypretty @theoneandonlyfanz @wickedfun9 @venus-b @hummusxx @stainednailpolishremover @a-moment-captured @alternativemadchen @erinmartin1987 @kkrenae @unhingedfangirl @sublimemusic-rebel @meameagirl @ilovejoeburroww @hallecarey1 @j-worlds-blog @blinkloverx3 @jordyn14 @kristencochefski1125 @ryiamarie @unsaidjaelinrose @sinners-98-world @ozwriterchick @hornyforherbert @fangirl-madz @fantasywritersstuff @jackharloww @bernelflo @austinswhitewolf @emherb10

[iztea]

hello iz ik it's such a cliche question and idk if you've already answered that but- how do you learnt drawing humans??? like everyone says practice but i don't know how and i struggle so much :( thanks already for answering!! i really really love your art

hi!

the very regulated, academic, objectively correct bs answer: learn the fundamentals, study and practice!

the unhinged, off-the-counter, cool uncle from your dad's side of the family answer:

Imo, the best way to learn how to draw on your own is to reference and study other people's art. There is no need for you to reinvent the wheel, and if you are a beginner and have no idea what you're doing, tackling multiple fundamentals at once can overwhelm and demotivate you quite a lot. So, for your morale and motivation, I think it is totally okay to just observe multiple artworks from multiple artists and engage with them critically ( * N.B. : artistS - plural; by referencing multiple works, you lower the risk of accidentally becoming a copycat or locking yourself into an art style that will never be as good as the original because it was not yours)

What I mean by critically engaging with an artwork is to analyze how they're tackling difficult body parts that you struggle with. For example, let's say you can't/don't know how to draw legs. Look at a picture of a real human leg, observe how someone else has simplified that leg form and anatomy, and then try to recreate it. Don't just copy their linework 1 to 1. That is not the point. Do it your own way, incorporate aspects of others' art that you like, and make them yours. You should have 5++ references of that leg from 5++ different artists. There are maany people out there who post their studies online, raw sketches or structural drawings (TB Choi comes to mind for example). Look for people like them, and if you can't find someone, then Pinterest is your bff. When learning how to draw, hunting the internet for how people sketch >>> rendered art. If speedpaints are more your thing, then youtube has you covered. Personally, I've learned more from a 20 min speedpaint with nightcore bgm and zero annotations from some guy that doesnt even speak english that has 300 views than I've learned from 10 min long art tutorials from fluent english speakers with 1 mil views. At the end of the day, we can yap and theorise as much as we want, but it's the act of drawing that brings results and seeing how other people draw is sometimes worth a thousand words.

> References in general also help a lot. I can't tell you how many times I was too lazy to look something up and spent 14235 hours trying to draw it off the top of my head only to have it done in 10 minutes once I finally gave in and pulled up a reference. So yeah, always use references. Don't be like me this is actually a bad habit

Okay, but how to /use/ that reference if you're a beginner? Very simple: draw on top of it ( *Do Not trace the outlines, that's pointless if you actually want to learn something). Draw guidelines over the body parts, deconstruct and simplify the ref into just boxes and lines ( always think in 3D ). This will help a lot with keeping the proportions in check. You can start by drawing those guidelines first and then get into details. Kinda like in sculpture: you start with a big block of a rock, and then you slowly carve and build form and then detail. The more you draw, the less you will need those guidelines as you get a feeling for the proportions yourself and will no longer need this step.

Once you become more confident in your skills or have a "sense" for drawing and you are in too deep to just give up after hitting your first wall, then you can tackle the scary intimidating stuff that is art fundamentals ( or you can do them simultaneously, all I'm trying to say is to never forget that you are not the only drawer in the world; looking in your neighbor's yard is totally okay within the reasons of common sense ). You don't have to raise and milk a cow it to make butter, you can just buy it from the store. If you want to bake a cake, a beginner chef will use store-bought cake mix because they have no idea how to cook. Once they learn the science behind baking (because it really is a science) they will buy their own ingredients and then improve or personalize the cake with better, well-researched ingredients, they will add their own twist, flavours, adjust the macros, perfect the technique and so on.

This is how I've personally learned how to draw by myself bc I'm self-taught and didn't care for formalities as it's just a hobby of mine that I do for fun. If you want proper advice you should probably listen to more qualified people but I can only preach what I practice.. Anywayssss hope it helped!!

[mychlapci]

I admit you caught my attention with all that smut of the bot burns. Kade going from a hissy bot to a horny, hissy mommy is hilarious. He may be a mommy, a very good and devoted one, but he still has fire and lots of spice, or he wouldnt be the Kade we, and Wave, love lmao. Idk if you are into mild fluff, but Wave doting on his very exhausted mate and his horde of new babies is such a sweet image. Heat is an asshole, so is Kade, but he loves his spicy mate and his spicy bitties. We also need Kade fucking his asshole mate full of bitties too.

Also, I bet that Chief would be ecstatic to finally be a grandpa, and a dad again…all the beans, either his or grandkiddos, are gonna be spoiled rotten lol. We need him fawning over double pregs.

(also, and this is not a filthy question or anything like that, cause "EWWW" and "absolutely not" (we all are a bunch of horny disasters, but there are limits): poor angel Cody also got bot-ized? I´m curious to know your opinion, cause I cant imagine: a) Him not getting caught in the middle of the disaster as he always does, and b) I cant see his fam, especially Chief, forgetting about him during the panic of being turned into bots and even during the baby fever epidemic. Maybe he got turned into a youngling (fan version of a small kid or teen bot), and continued his life as he always did...doing his thing and being doted on by literally everyone in the damn household when they are not screwing like rabbits.)

Last intrusive though, I swear: idk why, but I have the feeling that bots, while they are a pretty much free race regarding love and sex (polygamous and polyamorous), they have a concept of monogamy, even if its rare. The bots went from constantly fucking each other to only fucking their humans and forming stable, and quite permanent, bonds with them...nobody else will do for them.

wwoo I can't decide if Cody gets bottified... I think it would be cute if he got turned into a cybertronian youngling and got to baby sit all the new additions. He'll love being an uncle. Even if Heatwave's and Kade's babies are just... horrible menaces.

And I don't know, I've always loved robot polyamory, I think the rescue team and rescue bots should get to fuck each other through and through... but then again, them sticking to their partner in a kind of obsession, that's really hot... Besides, it's more likely.

[aydann-runs]

“Okay Emms, I think that's the last of it, yeah?” Michael asks, surveying the room. There are a few boxes that still need to be unpacked, but all the heavy lifting is done. He's running out of reasons to linger, and at this point, anything else he’d do would just be delaying the inevitable.

Emma pokes her head out of the closet, scaled down and compact like everything else in the dorm room, and looks around. “Wow, Dad. That was fast,” she says with a knowing smirk.

“Four years of moving your brother in and out of rooms just like this one was pretty good practice,” Michael responds with a shrug.

“Yeah, that and…” Emma scrunches her face in mock concentration and wiggles the fingers of her outstretched hand.

“Hey!” Michael exclaims, indignant. “That was one time, and it was mostly for show. I'm not some lame Jedi that has to rely on hand gestures to get the job done. The face though, I'll give you that.”

“Oooh, Daddy, are you just gonna let Dad insult Luke Skywalker like that?” Emma asks, turning to Alex who’d walked back into the room just in time to hear Michael's dig.

“Nope, you're not dragging me into the middle of whatever you've got going on by evoking Star Wars,” Alex laughs, setting down the bag of forgotten essentials he'd run out to buy while Michael and Emma unpacked. “You got a lot done while I was gone. I don't know that there's much more for us to help you with.”

“I think the rest of it is just odds and ends that will take me a while to find homes for,” Emma agrees. “So…”

Alex wraps his arms around Michael from behind and hooks his chin over Michael’s shoulder. “I think that’s our cue, sweetheart,” Alex murmurs in his ear.

“Okay, kiddo. We’re gonna take off,” Michael forces out around the lump in his throat. “But if you need us, we’re only a few hours away.”

“Dad, I’m gonna be fine. You didn’t worry this much when Lucas went to college. It’s not that big of a deal,” Emma protests.

“It is a big deal, and your Dad worried at least this much when we dropped Lucas off for his first year at school,” Alex says. “We’re your parents, it’s kind of our job to worry about our kids, no matter how old they are.”

Emma rolls her eyes, and it’s just so Alex that Michael can’t help but smile. “I’m not going to miss that attitude,” he teases. “Now c’mere, and then we’ll go and let you start figuring out college life.”

He pulls Emma in for a hug, and Alex takes a half-step back to give him a moment alone with their daughter. Reluctantly, Michael kisses Emma’s forehead and lets her go for Alex to take his turn.

“I’m really proud of you, baby,” he hears Alex say quietly, and while a lot of Emma’s personality comes from Alex, Michael knows that the way she blushes and hides her face in Alex’s neck is all him.

“Don’t forget that Aunt Isobel and Uncle Kyle are taking you out for dinner on Wednesday,” Alex says as he pulls away.

“Yup. It’s cool they moved to Albuquerque. I’ll have Auntie Iz around to spoil me whenever I want.”

“Make sure you take full advantage,” Michael advises. “And don’t let Valenti force any of his wheatgrass smoothies on you. It’s not health food, no matter what he says.”

Alex laughs and pulls both Emma and Michael in together for one last hug. “We love you, Emms. Call us if you need anything.”

“I love you both, too.”

Alex squeezes his hand and Michael follows him through the door, sparing one final glance over his shoulder at their daughter as they go. He and Alex walk out of the dorm building in silence, and once they reach the car, Michael wraps his arms around Alex, holding him tight.

“I thought I’d be more excited about having both kids out of the house,” he mumbles into Alex’s neck.

“No you didn’t,” Alex replies fondly. He pulls back far enough that he can kiss Michael, sweet and slow. “But, there are advantages to having an empty house…”

“Mmm, there are,” Michael agrees as he leans in for another kiss. He keeps it shorter than he might usually–they have a three hour drive ahead of them, and he’s too old to be making out in a college parking lot–but they’re both a little breathless when he pulls away.

“Let’s go home?” Alex asks.

And, even though both their kids have now officially moved out and it’s the third house they’ve lived in since they got married, anywhere Alex is, that’s his home.

And so he doesn’t hesitate to agree. “Let’s go home.”

[triflesandparsnips]

Mad scientist(s) for the au ask game.

Five fun facts that would happen in the story (which I'm gonna do with OFMD, unless/until someone asks me otherwise):

In this AU the mad-scientist profession usually runs in families, but both Ed and Stede are outliers. Ed ran away from home as a child and was taken in by a childless widower who claimed himself to be the great-grandson of Johann Faust (which may or may not have been true, but Hornigold certainly had enough tricks up his sleeve with regard to the alchemical arts that it might very well have been so). Ed, under his nom de science Blackbeard, rose to acclaim for his ability to conjure spirits, his medical acumen, and his likely deal with the devil. Stede, on the other hand, was the son of landed gentry and had no connection whatsoever to the grand history of mad science-- but he collected the treatises, had more than enough money to buy himself a tower and a water wheel for the electrical experiments, and styled himself the Gentleman Philosopher without any real knowledge of what he was getting himself into. He may or may not have had some mystical robes specifically tailored for this purpose. There may or may not be quite a few alchemical symbols for Mars stitched on them.

Rather than a single ghoul to help source his Dread Necessities (as Ed has Igor Izzy), Stede has an entire crew of down-and-outs who are more than happy to find him "very definitely real philosopher's stone, absolutely" and "the hand of a hanged murderer buried at a crossroads, which always very definitely look like slightly moldy turnips after a while" and "yes it's an authentic black cockerel, but don't touch it or wipe its feather or anything, they, uh, don't like that". This may seem like they are taking advantage of Stede's naivety, and that's because they absolutely are. On the other hand, though, they do their (admittedly, not great) best to let it be known throughout the nearby countryside that the Gentleman Philosopher does not represent any particular harm to the bodies or souls of the local townsfolk, being as he's just a rich idiot with a hobby and perhaps too much faith in the honesty of others-- so no pitchforks or anything necessary, yeah? Just let the man have a nice time. And if you have a particularly funny looking turnip, let them know.

It should be stated, though, that Buttons is absolutely the son of a long and storied family of mad scientists. He will on occasion try to help Stede with his Great Works, but Stede keeps trying to add more style to the proceedings than is strictly necessary. All you really need, Buttons knows, is some auspicious moon dates and the right ingredients from trustworthy sources (and here he might look very fondly at Karl, who will in turn preen smugly), and Bob's your uncle, you've got gold or good health or a shambling creature risen from the dead, whatever suits your fancy. Buttons mostly uses his family's gifts making Aqua Vitae in less time than it ought, and for this reason, the others ignore the bird and try not to mention pitchforks too often.

Mad scientists tend to stay in one spot in general -- hence Stede's insistence on the tower, even though it necessitated more ladders and dizzying spiral staircases than he'd really anticipated -- but this will often lead to local mobs and witchfinders knowing exactly where you are at any given time, which is not conducive to scientific study. Ed had long ago taken his show on the road to avoid this very outcome, and had crafted himself a very clever caravan that could be stopped and set up whenever he found himself needing to do a little work. The itinerant life was a necessity but... it wasn't fun like it used to be. And these days, he tended to leave the majority of the work for Izzy-- cooking up simples to sell to farmfolk kept Iz busy so Ed could do the important things like sit around contemplating the universe and also maybe wonder if that whole "base metal into gold" thing was just as much of a fuckery as everything else Ed had done to gain his reputation. But Ed didn't know how to be anything other than a mad scientist. So... so maybe he needed to be looking at some other options. Really study up on that "deal with the devil" thing his detractors kept rattling on about. Maybe do some work toward the life after death thing, see if there was anything he could... prepare for. And it's as the caravan rattles down the road to the next town and he's gloomily considering whether he would rather leave his caravan to Izzy or require its immolation with his own corpse (strongly favoring the latter)... that the road bends, and he sees the tower.

The Gentleman Philosopher's tower is ridiculous. It's got at least five floors, and the top has a widow's walk, crenellations, and a pole with half a dozen flags of questionable alchemical meaning strung up it. The stones appear to be made of some kind of glittery granite, nothing like the local rocks, and the mortar joining them has either been painted or, somehow, imbued with an absolute fuckton of chrysocolla to make it look fucking teal. There's a babbling brook nearby that pushes a water wheel attached to the side of the tower, except the proportions are all wrong for any of the really big ticket experiments you can do with that kind of energy -- and moreover, it looks like it's made out of some kind of cherry wood that's absolutely going to warp all to fuck in the water sooner rather than later. There's a stable out the back with what look like half a dozen exotic creatures just bleating happily to themselves -- a grove of goddamn orange trees where any sensible person would have their vegetable garden -- and what appears to be a motherfucking koi pond by the front door. Ed is fuckin' enchanted. He is, in fact, going to go up to that tower and find out everything he can about the beautiful, genius madman running the place-- --the very second he gets done rescuing the guy from the enormous mob of torch-wielding locals currently trying to set fire to his pasty-looking corpse.

...And a bonus:

Once the smoke is cleared and the townsfolk appropriately terrified of what the mad scientist Blackbeard might summon upon them for their temerity, Ed can take his own sweet time getting the unconscious and probably-not-actually-dead Gentleman Philosopher situated in his incredibly comfy-looking bed-- there to watch him, bleed him as necessary, and come up with a thousand and one questions about the guy's whole, like, deal.

Izzy, meanwhile, has been left outside to stare in horror at the large sign affixed above the tower's door. The sign, somewhat smoke-stained now, reads:

The Gentle-man Philoſofer

Behold the True Glaſs of Alchymaie!

☞ Myſteries & Wonders ☜

Galenical & Chymical Phyſick

Some Cookerie of a Moſt Delightfful Variety

Many Excellent Remedys for Scurvy Alſo

DO NOT TOUCH THE BIRDS

"What," says Izzy, "the fuck."

[dragonmuse]

@dimoverdelerium suggested: (thinking about BBC Uncle) is there any verse where Izzy takes up drag? Ideally I think this would be Stede/Izzy or Stede/Izzy/Eddy.

H'OKAY SO! I set this in I know about popular. So Stede/Izzy/Eddy, but the sex wound up being Lucius/Izzy. Hope that works for you! This gets explicit. There is a scene that is very quickly negotiated, but not in a way visible to the reader that has some mean talk, roleplaying an affair, gender fuckery,

The worst part about it was that he hadn’t even been drinking. He wasn’t even offered anything in particular. No bribe. They were just prepping for the night, Izzy hanging around the bar when Leda came out, lips pursed. 

“Buttons just called out sick,” he told Lucius. “And that’s on top of John and Frenchie being on vacation. We’ll be terribly short.” 

“So do a few extra numbers,” Lucius shrugged. “Or I can see if anyone can come in at the last minute.” 

“Everyone was already doing something additional or new tonight, I don’t want to overtax them, but I think it’s a hair too late to call in someone else. I really did want to deliver a full show tonight after last week’s debacle.” 

Izzy had missed last week, a rare occurrence, but it had been a series of accidents and errors culminating in the sound system dying. No one had come home happy and Izzy had heard about it from every side. 

“Let me call around,” Lucius decided. “I’ll let you know.” 

Izzy watched as Lucius went through a roster of names, his sigh getting heavier with every call. Then he disappeared into the changing room. The Kraken and Leda emerged with him a few minutes later. Their voices were all overlapping, so Izzy tried to tune them all out. 

Mistake. The next time he looked up because silence had fallen, all three of them were leveraging him with identical speculative looks. 

“No,” he said defensively, despite having no idea what the look was for. 

“Just for one show, Iz,” Eddy gave him her best wide-eyed plea. 

“You’ll look gorgeous, I promise.” 

Oh fuck no. 

“C’mon, storm cloud,” Lucuis waggled his eyebrows. “You’re not scared are you?” 

“You do it then,” he challenged Lucius. 

“Nope, I’ve got other duties. You’re just weighing down a barstool.” 

“I don’t work for any of you,” he reiterated. 

“Darling,” Stede said softly. “Aren’t you even a little curious?” 

No. No, he wasn’t. Izzy knew what he looked like. He wouldn’t be a lady like Leda or a vampy knockout like Eddy. He’d be his mother, probably. What a nightmare. He opened his mouth to tell them that, but no one was looking at him like this was a joke. They seemed earnest. Leda looked a little desperate. 

He looked down into his water. 

“I won’t let them make you look or feel bad,” Lucius was at his back. How did he do that? It was like Izzy’s defenses didn’t even register him as a threat.  “Okay?” 

“Don’t know how you’re going to do that.” 

“C’mon, storm cloud, try something new. We talked about trying new things, right?” 

“...fine,” he conceded and got a kiss on his swallow tattoo for his trouble. 

Fuck. He was so goddamn easy to lockpick now. Maybe the door was just hanging open. 

“I’m gonna do your makeup,” the Kraken decided, pure joy in her voice. Izzy just nodded heavily and accepted her hand when it crossed into his vision. 

The dressing room was not one of Izzy’s favorite places. Too many competing smells, noise and a high chaos level made it almost unbearable. But the Kraken didn’t take him there. Instead, she tugged him to the little side table near the stage entrance that was usually where Alma and Charlie would park themselves when they spent any time at the bar. 

“Stay,” the Kraken said firmly. “I’ll be right back.” 

“Can you walk in heels?” Leda asked, sitting down across from her. She was in baby blue tonight, one of her frothy ball gowns that rustled every time she moved. 

“No,” Izzy rubbed a hand over his eyes. 

“Darling, you know you’re wearing heels right now. Those boots aren’t fooling anyone.” 

“Short ones.” 

“We can work with short,” she decided. “No need to risk your ankles when you’re already doing us a favor. Now. I need a list of songs that you’re very familiar with.” 

“....why?” Izzy stared at her. 

“You can’t just stand on the stage and do nothing. A lip sync to a song you already know should do it unless you have a stage worthy talent that you’ve heretofore kept to yourself.” 

“...oh fuck,” he groaned. 

“You’ll be fine,” Leda assured him very briskly. “You’ll see. It’s not like going out there in your own skin.” 

“Whose skin would it be?” 

“Excellent question, actually. You’ll need a name too, but let’s focus on a song first.” 

Izzy just said the first few songs that came to his head that didn’t have a male singer and Leda seized on one. She turned it on and made him listen to it as the Kraken re-emerged with a heavy makeup bag, took his chin in her talons and started gently slapping his face around. 

“Just look at me,” she suggested. 

“But-”

“It’ll make for a good distraction,” she grinned. 

Studying Eddy’s face was one of the great pleasures of Izzy’s life and he was rarely allowed to indulge as long as he’d like before she was moving somewhere else, getting annoyed about it or kissing him to distraction.  Tonight, she was focused and had something to do and he could look as long as he liked. It almost made all of this worth it. Vaguely he registered Leda hammering at him about the song, but mostly he was staring at Eddy.

The Kraken’s makeup was heavy and settled into some Eddy’s deeper wrinkles, but smoothed away some other small imperfections. She had apparently decided against a wig tonight, her natural hair caught up in a complicated updo that probably had some kind of foam base beneath it given the height. Some of her tendrils hung down around her face, softening her cheekbones. There were gray hairs sneaking into her eyebrows. 

Her eyes were all over his face too, intent on their work and it was nearly hypnotic. 

“Okay, got to close ‘em now,” she said, tapping him on the nose with a brush. 

“Hm?” 

“Close your eyes, Iz,” she repeated, a little more tenderly. 

He closed them with a sigh. It was only once he’d shut her out that he became aware he had a raging hard on. Figured. Wet things smeared over his eyes and it took a lot of his willpower not to flinch away. The Kraken wouldn’t hurt him like this. Not anymore, anyway. Not with Leda watching. Not without permission.  It wasn’t life or death, just a little game they played that had clear rules and hard stops. 

“Oh, good idea, dear heart,” Leda murmured. 

“I’m a genius with this shit,” the Kraken agreed. “Talked to Pete and she’s got that like one slinky thing that she never wears, but she keeps here like she might?” 

“I know just the one,” Leda’s voice was close, practically on his cheek. “I’ll get my extra padding out of storage to go with it. If we need to cut it down, we can, I don’t really need it.” 

“Thanks, love.” 

He heard Leda’s heels clack away. The Kraken was doing something to his eyebrows again. 

“Did that already.” 

“You’ve got thick brows,” the Kraken said, amused. “Got to get them glued down.” 

“How do you do that?” 

“With glue.” 

Izzy exhaled slowly, “How do I get that out?” 

“Soap and water,” she assured him. “You know. A lot of it.” 

“Great.” 

“We’ll get you cleaned up after,” she assured him. Then she was leaning in and blowing slowly over his eyebrows, the stream of air sending all his hair on its end. “Too bad though, could be hot with you in a skirt.” 

“I-” 

“Another time maybe,” the Kraken said amused. “Maybe just a skirt instead of the whole getup.” 

Izzy had no idea what to say to that. He liked getting up under Eddy’s skirts. Leda’s were generally gone before anything naked happened. Stede didn’t seem interested in that. Eddy obviously did. What about the other queens? Was that something they did? Questions bred in his head, but he stored them away. For another time. For a...

Hm. 

“All right, there we go. You hold on there, I’m going to go get a wig cap and a wig,” the Kraken got up. Before walking off, she reached out, cupped his throat in his hand. “You look beautiful, Iz.”

“Sure,” he said without much faith. 

“You’ll see.” 

She was only gone a few seconds, not long enough for regret and worry to pour in, before Leda was there in her place, holding a garment bag and some ominously shaped pieces of foam. 

“I was thinking we could get you changed behind the curtain,” she suggested. “Private and away from the other girls.” 

“...yeah fine.” 

He followed Leda backstage. They’d fucked here more than once (Stede had some kind of stage fetish, Izzy was almost certain), but he’d never skinned out of his clothes when it was open to the public. 

It made wiggling into pantyhose less strange, if only because he was not interested in staying that vulnerable for any length of time. The much padded bra that Leda helped him into was uncomfortable, but oddly reminiscent of a holster. The dress was....a dress. It was a deep burgundy and made of something silky. There was a slit in one thigh which was laughable considering it was already pretty short.  It had sleeves at least, short ones, but there. The neckline was conservative too, not showing off his chest hair. 

“There you are!” the Kraken laughed. “I thought maybe he ran off.” 

“Not yet,” Leda smiled so hard that her eyes crinkled up which was, as always, adorable. Asshole. “I have his boots anyway.” 

“Wouldn’t stop him. Iz once ran through the streets of Berlin barefoot in just his underwear and a gun holster.” 

“You going to tell her why?” Izzy asked archly. 

“...anyway!” The Kraken produced a mound of hair. “I’ve got a wig for you.” 

“Dear heart,” Leda’s smile grew impossibly larger. “What did you do?”

“She found a-” 

“Shhh, Iz, don’t move or I might STAB you with a bobby pin.” 

“You brought it up,” he pointed out, aware he was smiling just as broadly as Leda. 

“He’s right,” Leda agreed. “You must tell me at some point.”

“I’ll tell you when he’s on stage.” 

“Oh, I think you should tell me when Izzy is with us, dear heart. I’d love to hear both sides.” 

“Their side has more nudity,” Izzy informed her. 

The bobby pin did dig in a little, but Izzy figured it was worth it to hear Leda giggling. It wasn’t Izzy’s fault that Leda asked him follow up questions after the Kraken told her a story.  It wasn’t as if the Kraken would want him to lie to their beloved spouse. 

A heavy hat of hair was settled on his head. It was hot. He was itchy. 

“Here,” Leda kneeled down in front of him which was a little distracting. “Foot.” 

Izzy took a second. She tapped on the top of his foot. He offered it feeling a little ridiculous as a black heel was shoved unceremoniously onto it. He stepped into the next one himself. They were higher than his boots, but not by much. They were a sensible black  and had a strap so he didn’t feel like they were going to fall off. 

The Kraken and Leda both took a step back from him. They still towered over him, but nothing short of a stepladder was going to fix that. 

“Huh,” Leda tilted her head. “That is...uncanny.” 

“What?” he crossed his arms over his chest, only to encounter scratchy beads and padding. 

“You look just like your sister,” the Kraken declared. “But hotter. Not that your sister- okay. I don’t have a save for this. Help me out here.” 

“You look like a very lovely feminine version of yourself,” Leda said smoothly. “Do you want to see?” 

Izzy didn’t really, but he allowed himself to be trooped down the stairs and into the dressing room. The hubbub of the room came to a dead halt as they stepped inside. Roach dropped the necklace she’d been in the process of putting on. The Menace’s heels stopped tapping against the filing cabinet.

He was about to growl something and stomp out when he caught sight of someone in the full length mirror at the end of the room. For a moment...fuck, he did look like Delly. Stepping closer though and he saw the differences. The wig for one, which was one of the Kraken’s, was much longer and not at all Delly’s style. It was long, hanging down almost to his elbows and lightly curled, some of it was looped back in braids which was almost pretty. 

The makeup was way overblown, but...it was all right. Not the Kraken’s gothic nightmare and not Leda’s Marie Antoinette powder. It was more like the Kraken had genuinely tried to make Izzy beautiful. 

His cheeks were hollower somehow, his cheekbones glowing gold and the lightest pink. His lips had been overdrawn into something like full without being clownish, painted a warm brownish-pink, closer to this natural lip color than either of them wore. The eye look was smoky, drawn out at the sides, making his eyes look further set apart and more open than usual, even with the heavy lashes. His skin was smoothed into something like an even tone. 

The press on nails Leda had produced weren’t as long as the ones she or the Kraken wore. They were a glossy black tipped in silver sparkles. The Kraken pulled a lacy choker from her pocket and it went around Izzy’z neck like a sensuous promise. Cinched, it was just tight enough to be a reminder of who had put it there. 

Izzy’s heart beat double time. 

“Pics or it didn’t happen!” Roach declared and then there was a flash. 

“Jesus fuck,” Izzy groaned, but he was about to get on stage in this getup. Pictures would be the minimum of how this would get recorded. 

“Somethings missing,” Roach frowned, looking down at her phone. Her wig was made of cigarettes today and the dress was white and brown to match. 

“I was thinking of more jewelry,” Leda frowned. “Maybe a bracelet?” 

“No, I got it!” Roach grabbed a pencil and was suddenly there in Izzy’s face, smelling beguilingly of tobacco. Izzy could use smoke. He hadn’t smoked in fifteen years, but his teeth itched for it now. “Hold still.” 

And Izzy...just did. Goddamnit. What had he become? Roach put the pencil about an inch above below Izzy’s eye and ground it in, then rocked back on her heels. “Yeah, that’s perfect.” 

“Huh,” the Kraken grabbed Izzy’s chin and examined his face. “It is better. I think the foundation covering up your tattoo fucked with how I think you’re supposed to look. That helps.” 

“Very classic,” Leda approved. 

Izzy turned to the mirror. Roach had added a mole. It did look right, not far off from where his tattoo should be visible. 

He didn’t look like himself at all. The heels changed his center of gravity a little. The bra pulled at him with his regular posture, so he threw his shoulders back a little. The padding gave curves, softly rounded hips and a bit of ass that he’d never had. 

The dress was so fucking short, cutting off just a few inches below his dick (which he had not let Leda tuck, the dress wasn’t that tight and he had his limits. Two pairs of pantyhose did plenty of work there anyway). When he reached up to touch the choker, his hand was held in an almost entirely different shape in deference to the nails. The gesture took on an elegance.  

“I get it,” he said quietly, so his voice wouldn’t ruin the illusion. 

“Get what, darling?” Leda fussed over the wig, resettling the hair. 

“Why you like this. It’s just...being someone else. For a bit.”

“Yes,” Leda smiled at her in the mirror. “A little of that, I must admit. It’s a vacation.” 

Carefully, Izzy reached up and pushed a lock of dark hair away from the eyelashes. It all made him want to hold himself diffently.

Be different. 

“Raine Daze.” He said, more to himself than to her. 

“What’d you say?” 

The Kraken slid their hand over Raine’s stomach, pulled her in tight. Leda reached out to fluff out a bit of the wig.  The three of them made an interesting picture. In their hands, Raine didn’t look like a pugnacious fighter. 

Instead, Raine looked almost delicate. Certainly petite. No one would make fun of her for that or imply she had a complex. Women were allowed to be small and careful. Even if they had broad shoulders and a pronounced brow.  

“That’s my drag name,” he said a little more firmly, “Raine Daze.” 

Plenty of women their age had smoked too much once upon a time. Add a little breath in and softening around some vowels and it was no harder than doing some foolish accent to fool someone on the phone. He did that all the time for work. It didn’t sound any stranger than the way Leda talked or how Pete sometimes climbed into a full on falsetto when she was really getting into things. 

“Very clever,” Leda praised. “Don’t you think, dear heart?” 

“Suits you,” the Kraken agreed, hand rubbing over Raine’s stomach for a slow contemplative moment. “Yeah. It’s good.” 

It felt good. Why did it feel good? Izzy didn’t want to be a woman, wasn’t interested in the trappings, but it felt...risky. And he did love an adrenaline rush. 

“Put this on,” Leda thrust a bracelet at him. 

Izzy didn’t take it right away. Leda paused, bewildered, then shook it at him a little and then with a frown, he did take it. But a part of him wanted to refuse it. Not because he didn’t want it. Just to be a little difficult. 

Which was very very odd. He usually wanted to be good for Leda. To get told that he’d done well. He might really want that most of all from Lucius, but he craved it from Leda and the Kraken too. That part of him was immutable, as embarrassing as it sometimes was. He put on the bracelet with a frown. The Kraken’s hold tightened as if catching his mood.

“I put you on in the middle of things,” Leda laced her fingers through his, holding his hand, oblivious. “So you have twenty minutes or so to go over your song. Or wait in the wings. Whatever you want, darling.” 

“All right.” 

He didn’t realize that meant they were leaving until they were gone. Until he was alone with the woman in the mirror. Leaning in, he studied her face more closely. He got used to the nails as ran his hands over the beaded dress, over his arms,  and more sheepishly, the mounded breasts. With a quick glance to make sure everyone was really gone, he practiced walking in the low heels. They made his hips sway and when he walked back towards the mirror, it felt more natural to put one hand on his newly shaped hip. 

One of Roach’s cigarettes had fallen to the floor. Izzy picked it up and held it between his fingers. The gesture worked well in the mirror. He smiled at her. She smiled back. She pressed play on her phone and listened to the song. Let it move her. Why pretend she didn’t know how to dance? 

After three repetitions, she stopped it and took the cigarette out with her. The show was in full swing with Teal and the Menace doing their new tango number, where they passed a knife back and forth between their lips. 

The Kraken was waiting in the wings and when Raine came close, she was snagged tight to the Kraken’s side again. 

“You don’t have to,”  the whisper came in the dark. “I told Leda already, we could just do another number. No one will...I didn’t think you’d get this far.” 

“I did. I’m here,” Raine said without any hint of tightness or stress. She felt none. She was loose. She was easy. Raine could be easy. “I’m ready.” 

“Fuck me running,” the Kraken laughed without sound. “You’re amazing.” 

“You too. Always.” 

They couldn’t kiss with all the makeup and hair in the way, but Raine felt like they had anyway. 

“And now,” Lucius’ voice rolled over the P.A. system, “a debut act for all of your titillation and adulation. Please give it up for.... Raineeeeeee Daze!” 

The music started and Raine stepped out on stage. The lights were bright. She couldn’t see the audience and that was perfect.  Guitar kicked off and she grabbed the mic, cigarette still in hand. She pretended to take a drag, blowing out imaginary smoke before mouthing into the mic:  

So this ain't the end, I saw you again, today

I had to turn my heart away

The cigarette fell to the stage, ground beneath her heel. 

Smiled like the sun, kisses for everyone

And tales, it never fails

It wasn’t hard to vamp around the stage. Raine had watched a hundred shows at this point, seen dozens of queens. She knew bending backwards as she mouthed the words would bring applause and that shaking her borrowed tits would get hoots and hollers. 

She hadn’t known how good it would feel. The high of applause and shouts. It wasn’t something she’d want to do often, even with the confident front, she could feel herself shying away from the eyes on her. It was too much, the way getting fucked a third time in a night was too much, but also felt unbelievably good.  

At one point, she let all the hair fall over her face and as the music played: ‘You gonna burn, burn, burn, she ran her hand up her leg from ankle to hip then moaned obscenely with the music ‘Ooh, Barracuda’ and threw back her head to excellent effect judging by the audience reaction. 

Right then, Raine knew exactly what she wanted and if she worked fast and right, she could probably even get it. It wasn’t hard to smile at the audience when she was finished or accept the tips. When she stepped into the wings once more, Leda was beaming at her, 

“That was just excellent, darling. I loved every second. You should be a regular.” 

“No way,” Raine told her without pausing to even think about it. “But...maybe an occasional guest spot if you’re in need.” 

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Leda laughed. “We’ll meet you backstage after, help you get everything off.” 

“Mm,” she continued back. There was another number left to go, but Lucius would be done announcing for the night.  

Raine did not take off the dress or the makeup or the wig. She did wiggle out of her pantyhose and then dash out to the bathroom. Then she scrambled to find a pen and paper in Stede’s office, wrote the fastest note she could while keeping legible, before taking off again. 

Lucius was behind the bar, but the Kraken and Leda were still on stage flirting with the audience like they did sometimes after a good show, talking and laughing with the regulars. Perfect. 

Raine slid into a barstool. Not the one one in the dark corner. One in the middle. Lucius turned around from mixing a martini and spotted her. With a grin, he set down the martini (apparently in front of the wrong person, judging by the protests) and planted his elbows on the bar in front of her. 

“That was some show Miss Daze.” 

“Mrs,” she corrected in a throaty contralto. “I’m a married woman.” 

“Are you?” His eyes drifted over her, and yes, that was the familiar heat, not banked by her temporary disguise. Even better. “That’s too bad. Can I get you a drink?” 

“I have a very particular order,” she murmured, reached into her cleavage and pulled out the note, holding it between her two fingers like she had the cigarette. “Do you think you could manage this?” 

Lucius’ eyebrows flew into his hairline, but he took the note.  The air seemed to thicken as he read, her uncertainty cracking through the confidence the dress and the hair gave her. It was only as he folded the note up and made a point of putting it in his front pocket so he could adjust himself that Raine started to breathe again. 

Lucius leaned in, his breath against her lips. “Mrs. Daze, I would be fucking delighted. Green.” 

“Green?” She checked. 

“Very,” his eyes dropped to her lips, then dragged back up to her eyes. Without looking away he called out, “Swede? I’m taking my fifteen.” 

“All right!” 

“You go first, m’am,” Lucius stood up slowly. “We should go separately so we don’t alert your...husband?” 

“We wouldn’t want that,” she agreed. 

She got up and walked across the floor, making sure her hips swayed. Even without the padding, she felt like she still had them. The dress made her feel voluptuous. Sensual. The closet door was discreet. Lucius had pointed it out to her once fondly and now she slipped inside, the cool, astringent dark a welcoming balm after all the lights. A minute later, the door opened again, and her heart pounded in fear, but it was the right man. 

She could tell by his hands on her hips, then his mouth on hers. Why did it feel so different to be held this way? Lucius hadn’t changed, the way he touched her hadn’t either. But his surety did things to her just now. Made her feel even smaller than usual, but in the best kind of way. 

“The things I want to do to you, Mrs. Daze,” Lucius nosed aside her hair to whisper in her ear. “But I know time is of the essence.” 

“Yes,” she breathed out, inclining her neck back, encouraging him to nibble at it. “I’m desperate, you have to help me.” 

“Lucky for you, I know what to do for a desperate woman.” His hands slid down, curling on the edges of her dress and rucking it slowly up her thighs. “Your husband can’t satisfy you?” 

“He does,” she said, not able to throw Stede that far under the bus even if it was all pretend. “But he can’t give me what I really need.” 

“Tell me what you need,” Lucius growled in her ear. 

“I need someone to fuck me so hard that I cry,” she groaned, grinding against him. “I want to feel your cock for the next three days.” 

Lucius bit her neck and Raine moaned.  

Usually, Izzy was silent during their sex. Usually, Lucius set the pace, the tone, the everything really. They both liked that, Lucius having complete control and Izzy yielding without a fight, going deep under into a place of perfect submission. But Raine was different. Raine wanted to dictate things and she wanted to moan and cry out and make a mess. Raine wanted to be a brat. 

“Can you handle me?” Raine challenge. “Or are you just another young buck with a big fucking ego?” 

“I can handle you,” Lucius’ voice dropped an entire octave. “And my ego isn’t what you have to worry about being big.” 

He got his hands under her thighs and managed to lift her for just long enough to set her on top of a low bookcase that was cramped with cleaning supplies. Then he yanked so she was teetering just on the edge. 

“Prove it,” she fired back and Lucius’ eyes glittered in the dark.

She heard his zipper come down and the sound raced over her nerve endings. When he slid his hands up her thighs and under her dress it was like it was the first time he’d ever touched her. When he encountered no underwear, his breath caught. 

“You expecting someone?” Lucius asked her roughly, fingers digging into her ass. 

“I told you I didn’t have time to fuck around,” she goaded. “So I did your work for you.”

“I could’ve done that. Gotten you wet for me,” he bent her leg up, pressed a biting kiss to the inside of her knee. “Maybe next time.” 

“You assume they’ll be a next time.” 

A sting slap hit her thigh and she cried out. Another caught her ass and she arched into it. 

“Mouthy thing,” he growled. “You want more?” 

“You wouldn’t dare,” she hissed. 

He did dare. He rained down three heavy blows that left her skin stung and warm. 

“You better shut up, Mrs. Daze or we’re going to get the wrong kind of attention.” 

“Make me,” she hitched her heels up his back. 

He didn’t say another word, just palmed her open and then his cock was at her hole. 

“Green?” Lucius asked. 

“Green,” she said quickly. 

Then he was pushing in. The prep she’d done had been a little slap dash, so the cry she let out was genuine and full of delicious agony. He slid into the hilt, inexorable and strong, holding her hips tight. When he was fully seated, they both panted for a moment, breath intermingling. The music outside pumped out loud enough that she could feel the beat in her shoulders where they were pressed against the wall.

No one would hear. 

Lucius rolled his hips once and she moaned, eyes rolling up into her head. She dug in her heels. 

“Give it to me,” she demanded. 

“Careful what you ask for.” His grip tightened. 

“I know what I want.” 

He pulled almost all the way back out and then slammed back into her and she threw back her head and yelled out. She reached out to grip his biceps, nails biting into his shirt. He did it again and tears gathered at the corners of her eyes. Again and they fell along with her last inhibition. Her moans were wanton, her demands bubbling out of her: harder, faster, more.... 

And Lucius delivered. His grip was iron as he pounded into her, sharp, staccato strokes broken up with brutally long ones, that ground into her. He grunted with effort, the sound counterpoint to her moans and the slap of their skin coming together. 

It was freeing to be loud, almost as much as to be silent. The thought was the last one she had before Lucius ramped up somehow, finding another gear, and any attempt to think was dashed to pieces. Her entire world was narrowed down to his hands on her hips, his cock thrusting into her with a series of wet sucking sounds. 

He came hard, burying himself in her and she clung to him through it, gasping as pulled out. 

“You didn’t come,” he said, carelessly as if he barely cared. 

“You didn’t make me come,” she hissed. “If you want to do this again, you’ll finish the job.”

He leaned in and bit her neck, worrying a bit of skin between his teeth until she cried out. “You want to come, you’ll take what I give you.” 

“Then give me something worth having,” she spat. 

He pulled out of her and then replaced his cock with three fingers. She gasped as his teeth sunk deeper into her neck. He pulled back just to lick once over the mark he’d made as he cruelly spread his fingers inside of her, opening her wet hold even wider. 

“Is that what you wanted?” He slid in a fourth finger and tears really did start to fall from her eyes. “You can’t stand not being filled up, can you? No wonder you need more than your husband. I could call in every dick in this place and it wouldn’t be enough to satisfy you, would it?” 

“No,” she denied even as she pressed back against his fingers. “Just you. Right now. Just you.” 

“Damn right.” Lucius dropped to his knees, his fingers jarring inside her, but not withdrawing. If anything he was somehow getting them deeper. 

Then his mouth was on her cock and Raine sobbed in relief. He sucked her in, close wet heat. With every bob of his head, he fucked his fingers in and out of her. She didn’t know which way to rut, against the heady intrusion or into the warm, wet welcome of his mouth. In the end she didn’t have to choose because Lucius gave her both until she was spilling onto his mouth with a moan that ratched up an entire octave. 

After, they both sat in silence for a minute. Lucius carefully withdrew and Raine winced at the wet mess. But then there was something wet and cold pressed against her. 

“Just a wipe,” Lucius said softly. “Have this place pretty well stocked.” 

“Love a prepared man,” she exhaled shakily. She was cleaned up and then he was out of reach, presumably taking care of himself. “All right?” 

“Yeah, very alright. You okay?” 

“Very,” she assured him. “That was...I don’t know.” 

“It was new,” he agreed. “You don’t have to know right now. We can talk about it later. Maybe in the morning.” 

“Yeah.” In the morning when the dress, the wig and the makeup was long gone. That would be good. “Kiss me?” 

He did, even as he smoothed her dress back down her thighs and righted her wig a little. 

“Proud of you,” Lucius told her. “Getting up there, doing all that. And this. Asking for what you wanted. Pretty big stuff.” 

“Yeah,” she exhaled. “Yeah it was. Thanks.” 

“Can I still call you storm cloud when you’re like this?” 

“Why the fuck do you think I picked the name to begin with?” 

“You’re such a romantic,” Lucius said fondly and kissed her again. “Come on, let’s get you back to your wives before they come looking.” 

The interlude in the closet had felt like hours, but when they stepped back into the bar, no one had moved much. The Kraken was sitting on the edge of the stage, talking to someone and Leda was dancing with the Menace. No one had missed them. 

“Wow, okay,” Lucius laughed, looking at her. “Uh...let’s go to the dressing room and pretend I started talking your makeup off already.” 

“Why?” she frowned. 

“Because you’ve got mascara running down your cheeks and lipstick absolutely everywhere.” 

“Oh,” she scrutinized him. “You’ve got lipstick...everywhere too.” 

“Lucky for you, I know how to deal with that.” 

She snagged the Kraken’s chair and Lucius grabbed one of the communal boxes of makeup wipes. There was some other things too, cold cream and whatnot, but the end result was that when the Menace and Roach strolled back in, all they found was Raine scrubbing glue out her eyebrows. Lucius was already back behind the bar. 

“Great show,” the Menace said with a hint of warmth. 

“I sent the whole thing to Frenchie,  he’s going to be pissed that he missed it,” Roach slapped Raine on the shoulder. “Pretty good debut.” 

“Thanks.” 

“You like it?” The Menace asked. 

“It was all right. Kind of like skydiving. Good skill to have, fun once and a while, but I’m not looking to make it a regular thing.” 

“Fair,” Roach nodded. 

The Kraken and Leda came back in with Teal. The Kraken scowled at Raine in her chair, but then gently helped her get the wig and wig cap off. With those gone, it was just Izzy again, except in a dress. 

A dress that probably needed to get to a dry cleaners. He let Leda unzip him, but stepped back to remove it and drop it discreetly in the bag that Lucius used for Leda and the Kraken’s laundry. He’d take care of it. It wasn’t a secret, but he didn’t want to broadcast it to the rest of them. Instead, he got back in his street clothes and wound up helping Leda de-drag. 

“I don’t feel like waiting until we get home,” she explained mildly, but her eyes dropped to his neck where there was probably a hell of a hickey forming. “I’m guessing you’re...tired.” 

“No,” he countered. “Being up there...dunno. I get why you two stay up so late sometimes. Feel really awake. Like I had a pot of coffee injected into my veins.”

“Is that so,” and Leda had left the building. That was Stede eyeing Izzy up with hunger. 

They did not linger at the bar that night. Eddy had picked up the scent in the air or maybe just also spotted the hickey. They bracketed him all the way home, talking idly about his debut, about a dozen other things, but Stede and Eddy’s hands were all over him. Touching, testing. Interested. 

He had absolutely no complaints about the night that followed. Even though he really couldn’t get it up again, he could definitely still enjoyed getting slowly fucked by Stede even (or because of) as sore as he was,  and sucking Eddy off with all the adoration she deserved. 

If he slept unusually late the next morning, he figured that was his right. He still woke up with Eddy smeared over him and Stede’s heartbeat steady under his hand. His body ached in the best way. Later, he’d call Lucius and they’d talk about the new things they’d discovered. For now though, he lay awake between his spouses and idly thought over music. 

Raine could probably kill “Take it Off” by the Donnas.

[evntualities]

still thinking about this / introducing mila franek

"Wait, where is she?" Liam scans the room once again, frowning.

"She's with Iz. They were right behind me coming downstairs," Roman says, offering Liam the extra drink in his hand.

Reaching for the drink, Liam mumbles a thank you and turns around to catch a glimpse of the stairs, where his sister is just joining the party with her daughter—the purpose of the celebration—carefully tucked in her arms.

She spots her husband across the room, his tall frame standing above the crowd, and slides next to him, smiling as both he and her brother come into view.

"Li," Isabel says, leaning over to pull him into a hug with her free arm. "What are you even doing here? Mom said you weren't going to make it!"

Tucked into the crook of her arm, Mila's wide eyes settle on her uncle, and Liam waves, grinning as he meets her eyes for the very first time.

"I wasn't sure at first, so I didn't say anything. Figured it would be better to surprise than to disappoint," he says, and Isabel only gets a glance before his gaze falls back to his niece. "She's beautiful, Iz."

"She is, isn't she?" When their eyes meet again, Liam notices that his sister's smile pushes through the fatigue in her expression, the bags beneath her eyes. "She's also... very awake."

Roman steps forward to take his daughter into his arms, but he doesn't appear any more rested than she does.

"Yeah, I see." Liam watches as Mila squirms before settling in her dad's arms. "You both look exhausted, by the way." For all of his wondering when it will be his turn for all of this, their clear lack of sleep is almost enough to make him grateful that nothing serious has worked out yet.

"Thanks. That would be the not sleeping." Isabel rolls her eyes, running a hand through her hair as she steps back and crosses her arms. "Turns out they're not kidding when they talk about newborns not sleeping."

"Ah. Good to know." Chuckling, Liam takes another sip of his drink. "I mean, I'd be happy to get to know her for a little if you guys want to take a minute."

Before he can even get the words out, Roman and Isabel exchange a look, and then he is passing Mila over, who fusses in protest. "That would be great, actually, Liam."

"Oh—so you guys mean... now?" He adjusts his drink in his other hand, as leans over to steady his niece. "Okay, but you're... like, you'll be close, right? Because I don't really know—"

"You won't need us. She'll love you." Isabel rolls her eyes. In this particular situation, she is willing to admit that her brother has a way with people that she will never understand. "But yeah, we'll be close. Why don't you just... sit down with her? She'll probably fall asleep. It's almost nap time."

"I—yeah, no. Sure. You did just say that she doesn't sleep, but I'll..." Turning to look out at the rest of the room, Liam spots an open seat and slowly makes his way, swaying from side to side until he lowers himself onto the chair.

Though her earlier complaints at being away from her parents have faded into babbling, Mila watches Liam carefully, and his expression softens once again. "Hey," he says, dipping his head to press a kiss to her forehead. "So what do you say we prove your mom wrong, hm? I don't know about you, but a nap sounds pretty good right now."

[ennaku-sirri-da]

Habit Talks To Kamal On An Intercity Bus [ AU ]

(Plaintext: Habit Talks To Kamal On A Public Bus [ AU ] )

Note: The Habitspeak translation without his speaking quirk is present below for those who have difficulty reading his style. And described the emote expressions as well.

--

[ ID: Photo of a Greyhound bus from the USA out on the road in a clear day. Its dark blue and has a symbol of silver running Greyhound dog as it's logo. End ID]

Ooo..phooo.. phoo.. FWOOO-- HEE HEE!! Haw haw haw OK don't gooo- I will stop :-3 Yourm ears and ur prettie earsring r Safe - but I am jost a funny guy!! Genius-es are so unerrrated now u_u 

Ahem.

So wHAT I really wanna say is ..

I think u r the "knees of bees" ..the 6 of them

I wonder y that's a quote...there's nuthin much speshul abt those..u deserve better..like..hmMMMMMMmmmm

Bee bee bee ba-bee?? Ur my bb?? Yes U r!! U hav heard that b4 buthough... bees...they sting me sometims nd die... im forgetting to bury them :-( B4 Tunia makes "CPR"...between u n me dear, I think she likes slurpin em up...anyway its TOO sad! it happens when I take care of my Garden, where bees r of gr8 importance. They rub-a-dub themselfs on the flowers to get the gold dust for polly-nation..in skool I learnt that Bombus terrestris and Antirrhinum majus hav what's called a "co-evolveution"-- they're friends with bee-nefits!

I dream I also listened 2 the lesson's rest.. o, wish, acksually. AFAIK was thinking abt making a PokéMans card for u.. 

--What? Oh, I see. No it's not embrassing. U can ask me anytime, am happy 2 claritify.  Sooz, the common names areee bumble bee and ..the flower..um.. crapdragon. I do'nt know whats wrong with whoever diss-covered that 1. Habit Tip! They shuld keep all their windows locked tight and seal the crawl space.

Is the other thingie clear? U already know? Ok. Eye...lost my thoughts-train. What was I chuggin on about? Helppp a guy out dahling? 

HEY I HEARD THAT.. " Seeeni khhaaai aaaase "?? Don'tnot understand whole mumble but ime NOTTT putting butter on U PROMISS!! It's you're fault your so ez to love. Work on it. 

( Note to any readers who wouldn't already know: " Seeni khai aase" is an Assamese slang expression. Seeni means sugar and the whole phrase means someone being too sweet to you, butter-coating things. )

I can see ur smile u know. Ur already in-operative.

LAFFING NOW REALLY REALLY--Ugh just PLZZ tell me what I was talking b4 it poofs FOREVER!! 

Mmm..mhmm ..uh huh..O alright. Yes!! Thatse it!! Such a good listen-er. <:-)

B4 u asked me that, I said "friends"..u r my very bestest friend...

..am I yours?

Thx for reminding me. Am trying. Not to keep asking those things. Let It Flow, like u said. I remmeber. 

U counted??? I-- 

its only been the 3rd tyme this week??? Huh that's good proggerss-But why did u-- how--I don't-- *Leaf it. I'll lose what I was saying Again. All these years and u still manage 2 SirPrize Me. Lolol, I guess it goes both ways !! 

Oh, HA ha, the lucksy '3', U say! Uncle back in Moscow used to ballyho-- 

This iz a bit of a Tang-Ent acksually. U want to hear? 

K. Just tell me "fri-end" after i-end. I'll continue. 

-- b-ally-ho if the sum of the 3 odd-place dijits on a busket-- I mean bus ticket-- = to the sum of 3 even-place digits, it is a luck charm!! A Real (una)Live Leningrad ticket. 

Of coarse...we can't never get 1 on this cramped lil Greyhound. Pffffft. 

(Yawnnn) Were'nt u spposed to tell me some-thing...

Hmmm..??

Uh...I can't hear youuuu....

Sorry..? Again?

What was--

WOa, woa there...Dearie me! I get it! Try to clam down..str-eee-ss isn't helpthy for the body ha.. I heard ur "FRIEND!!!" VERY loud n clear

--They can't. Bc everyones ears are BUSted from the early-ier parkinh "Phhsst". Get it? Ha ha?

Eeeeeeee...!! Goodness me I lurve ur laugh…looks like i maked u feel better after the noize… :\\-)

Oh! Ha ha! What, me? No-Thinggg,, I didn't "mutter" anyth-ing,,,

Hmm?

Aha. try nawt’ta do-it again, OK, man? I accept your apollogee about the interccept…

Anyway uh!! Ur one o' those 2 me obvs( a FRIEND)!! Even if we r feeling a lil awkward rite now!!! 

andso.. no also..what's more..the, flowers! r my friends too... 

Hrmm..Ain't nothin better than when stuffs we cherryish come to-gather huh? Transalating 2 Nerd Language heeehee..call it...you..."I'm writing a Cross Over, "! 

OK SO

Heer me out- ‘���Cross Over’’- of…of…m-ie dear FRIEND~~ Mhmm. You-you!!

AND…ANNNND..Guesss!! GUESSSSSS GUESSS HAWHOOO OOO OO

Flowers…and m-ie dear FLORRRAAAA~~ Mhmm. You-you!!

( GIF description: A white lotus blooms in water. GIF is watermarked with 'Zadenkai' end GIF Description )

--To be continued, maybe! If you have any questions you can ask. I'd usually give a HCs explained section but I'm kinda tired right now.

-- Translation below

Ooo..phooo.. phoo.. FWOOO-- HEE HEE!! Haw haw haw OK don't gooo- I will stop :-3 ( catlike smile emote ) Your ears and your pretty earring are Safe - but I am just a funny guy!! Geniuses are so underrated now u_u ( mock-resignation closed eye emote )

Ahem.

So wHAT I really wanna say is ..

I think you are the "knees of bees" ..the 6 of them

I wonder why that's a quote...there's nothin' much special abt those..you deserve better..like..hmMMMMMMmmmm

Bee bee bee ba-bee?? Your my baby?? Yes you are!! You have heard that before but, though... bees...they sting me sometimes and die... I'm forgetting to bury them :-( (frowning emote ) Before Tunia makes "CPR"...between you and me dear, I think she likes slurpin' 'em up...anyway its TOO sad! It happens when I take care of my Garden, where bees are of great importance. They rub-a-dub themselves on the flowers to get the gold dust for pollination..in school I learnt that Bombus terrestris and Antirrhinum majus have what's called a "co-evolution"-- they're friends with bee-nefits!

I dream I also listened to the lesson's rest.. oh, wish, actually. AFAIK was thinking about making a Pokémans card for you.. 

--What? Oh, I see. No it's not embarassing. You can ask me anytime, am happy to clarify.  Soz, the common names areee bumble bee and ..the flower..um.. crapdragon. I don't know whats wrong with whoever discovered that 1. Habit Tip! They should keep all their windows locked tight and seal the crawl space.

Is the other thingie clear? You already know? Ok. I...lost my thought-train. What was I chuggin' on about? Helppp a guy out dahling?

HEY I HEARD THAT.. " Seeeni khhaaai aaaase "?? Don't understand whole mumble but I'm NOTTT putting butter on YOU, PROMISE!! It's your fault you're so easy to love. Work on it. 

I can see your smile you know. You're already inoperative.

LAUGHING NOW REALLY, REALLY--Ugh just PLEASEE tell me what I was talking before it poofs FOREVER!! 

Mmm..mhmm ..uh huh..O alright. Yes!! That's it!! Such a good listener. <:-) ( smile emote )

Before you asked me that, I said "friends"..you are my very bestest friend...

..am I yours?

Thanks for reminding me. Am trying. Not to keep asking those things. Let It Flow, like you said. I remember. 

U counted??? I-- 

its only been the 3rd time this week??? Huh that's good progress-But why did you-- how--I don't-- *Leave it. I'll lose what I was saying Again. All these years and you still manage to surprise Me. Lolol, I guess it goes both ways !! 

Oh, HA ha, the lucky '3', U say! Uncle back in Moscow used to ballyho-- 

This a bit of a Tangent actually. You want to hear? 

K. Just tell me "friend" after I end. I'll continue. 

-- ballyho if the sum of the 3 odd-place digits on a busket-- I mean bus ticket-- is equal to the sum of 3 even-place digits, it is a luck charm!! A Real (una)Live Leningrad ticket. 

Of course...we can't never get one on this cramped lil Greyhound. Pffffft. 

(Yawnnn) Weren't you s'pposed to tell me something...

Hmmm..??

Uh...I can't hear youuuu....

Sorry..? Again?

What was--

WOah, woah there...Dearie me! I get it! Try to calm down..streeess isn't healthy for the body ha.. I heard your "FRIEND!!!" VERY loud n' clear

--They can't. Because everyone's ears are BUSted from the earlier parking "Phhsst". Get it? Ha ha?

( Eeeeeeee...!! Goodness me I love your laugh…looks like i made you feel better after the noise… :\\-) ( blushing smile emote ) )

Oh! Ha ha! What, me? Nothinggg,, I didn't "mutter" anything,,,

Aha. try nawt’ta do it again, OK, man? I accept your apology about the intercept…

Anyway uh!! You're one o' those to me obviously( a FRIEND)!! Even if we are feeling a lil awkward right now!!! 

andso.. no, also..what's more..the, flowers! Are my friends too... 

Hrmm..Ain't nothin better than when stuffs we cherish come together huh? Translating to Nerd Language heeehee..call it...you..."I'm writing a Cross Over, "! 

OK SO

Hear me out- ‘’Cross Over’’- of…of…my dear FRIEND~~ (singsong) Mhmm. You-you!!

AND…ANNNND..Guesss!! GUESSSSSS GUESSS HAWHOOO OOO OO (laughing)

Flowers…and my dear FLORRRAAAA~~ Mhmm. You-you!!

(Plaintext: Flowers…and my dear FLORRRAAAA~~ Mhmm. You-you!!)

--To be continued, maybe! If you have any questions you can ask. I'd usually give a HCs explained section but I'm kinda tired right now.

[solarisrasa]

Lavender Tea and Ice Cream Kisses

Part 2 of Tealeaves for Heart and Home: A Malec (HumanAU) A/B/O series about re-finding lost loves and learning to build a family anew.

Part one

Read Here on Ao3

  Alec slips out of Magnus’ bed in the blue-grey light of early morning, pressing his scent carefully into Magnus’ pillow. He hopes to be back before Magnus wakes and definitely before Max. Just in case though, he searches until he finds a scrap of paper and writes a short note with his phone number at the bottom.

  Magnus

  I ducked out to grab a change of clothes and hopefully get the three of us breakfast. I promise to be back before you miss me. If you wake before I’m back, give Max a kiss for me.

  Alec

He sets the note right where Magnus will see it, tucks the blanket a little closer to Max and forces himself to leave. He dials his sister quickly as he hurries toward the subway, hoping she won’t be too angry about being woken early.

  “Alexander Lightwood you’d better be calling because you need a massive favor.”

“I need a massive favor.”

  “You better not have already fucked things up with Magnus.”

He makes an affronted sound and dodges a sleepy kid on a skateboard, “No. I have to rush home to change clothes, I don’t want to spend a whole day with him and Max in a suit and...I need to grab a couple things in case he wants them for...later.”

Izzy makes a delighted sound in his ear, her sleepy grumbles subsiding and he grimaces.

  “For his nest you mean? You move quick big brother. What do you need me for? Jace and I already set you out of office for the week.”

Alec decides not to acknowledge her comments and skips to the favor he needs as he starts down the stairs, “I want to grab us breakfast but I won’t have time to do both. Can you please see if the  Patisserie near yours can put together some things and bring them to my apartment?”

She sighs, “ You’re not even giving me time to look presentable and Simon’s not even here to do it for me, you definitely owe me.”

“Anything, within reason, you want. Thank you, Iz.”

She makes a noise that’s not exactly nice into the phone and hangs up. He rolls his eyes but he’s smiling as he boards his train.

-

“I’ve decided you can make it up to me by giving me details.” Izzy announces without so much as a knock of his door. Not for the first time, Alec wishes he’d thought harder about giving her a key.

“I promise you details, to a point, but not right now. I need to get back to them.” He presses a quick kiss to her cheek and takes the boxes from her, “You made it just in time.”

He’d pulled on his shoes just a moment before. She laughs and tucks a little slip of paper into the front of the top box.

“You’re lucky I’m such a good sibling. I can wait for info but you’d better text me a picture or two of that  adorable kid. He is...he’s yours, isn’t he?” She gets a little quiet at the end and Alec pauses where he’s half out the door.

He smiles, soft and big. He tries to tell his heart to slow down but he’s so  overwhelmingly happy about the last eighteen hours, “Yeah. Max is mine...he’s amazing, I can definitely send you a picture and...hopefully he can get to know his aunts and uncles soon.”

Izzy’s big eyes sparkle, both with her delight and unshed tears and Alec clears his throat, “Okay, I really have to go.”

She nods and shoos him away.

-

Alec had slipped out the backdoor that morning, the thumb lock allowing him to ensure the door locked behind him. That’s a problem now, of course.

He laughs at himself, standing outside of  Pandemonium with his boxes of pastries and no way to contact Magnus, since he never got his number. He can’t believe he’s managed to do this.

Before he can really settle into berating himself or resign himself to just sitting on the ground until a reasonable hour to start shouting Magnus’ name, a sound draws his attention. Next to  Pandemonium is a stately looking antiques shop and the door swing open to reveal a man dressed, well, a bit like an antique himself. His salt and pepper hair is in a disarray and his beta scent is old books and black tea. He squints at Alec.

“You are Alexander Lightwood.”

It’s not a question but Alec doesn’t know what to do but nod and the man huffs, “Locked yourself out?”

Alec laughs, embarrassed, “I was...overeager about grabbing breakfast. You know Magnus?”

“I should say so, I got that little shit out of his father’s reach when he  finally realized his life was worth more than being Asmodeus’ bargaining chip. Catarina told me you’d showed up again yesterday.” The man sounds unbearably fond as he insults Magnus and Alec smiles despite himself.

“My siblings were working on a community outreach project and they heard about his shop. My sister ran up eight flights in her heels to drag me here as soon as they realized. I never…” He feels like he has to justify himself to this man, “I never wanted to leave him. I’ve prayed for his happiness everyday. I’m grateful to you for getting him, getting  them, safe.”

The man nods slowly, “I always thought that Magnus had romanticized you in his head...but I can see that maybe he didn’t. I’m Ragnor and if you give me a moment I can get a spare key and let you back-”

“Daddy!”

Alec’s head jerks up, as does Ragnor’s, and his eyes widen in horror.

Max is leaning  out of the third floor window, his little body leaned far forward and one little hand waving. Before Alec can do more than choke his name and take a frantic step under his son, strong hands are jerking Max back inside.

He blinks, then lets out a shaky breath and turns to Ragnor who just nods and rushes to get his spare key.

Alec hurries up the stairs, hoping Ragnor locks the door behind him, needing to make sure Magnus is okay after Max’s little stunt.

He hears them before he sees them.

“-because I can fly, Ayah! I’ve been watchin’ the birds and I know how.” Max sounds determined and Alec’s heart clenches.

“Human bones are much heavier than birds, Blueberry, we can’t fly like they can.” Magnus tells him, voice soothing. Alec rounds the corner into the living room then, setting the boxes of their breakfast on the side table. Max turns to him with a big smile.

“It’s okay if I didn’t fly, Daddy would’ve catched me!”

Alec blinks away the hot tears those words summon, Max is already so sure of him. He swears to himself, then and there, to do his best to always catch his son. He locks eyes with Magnus and suddenly the distance between them is unacceptable. He strides to where Magnus is sitting on the floor, holding Max’s little hand, and drops to gather them both into a tight hug.

Max giggles and snuggles in close. Magnus tips his chin to look at Alec with a little, relieved smile and the lingering scent of fear fades with his affection.

“You look very James Dean, darling.”

Alec laughs and shrugs, “I just grabbed anything that wasn’t work clothes. I meant to be back before you were up, but, uh, I didn’t think about the locks.”

Magnus’ brows furrow, “How  did you get back in?”

“Ragnor.”

“Ah. Forgot I gave him a key. He was nice?” Magnus demands and Alec nods, pressing a kiss to Max’s curls as he let’s Magnus go.

“Yeah. I have the feeling he was getting ready not to be but, well, I was holding breakfast and telling him thanks for helping you when Max decided to scare us. Not the best moment to grill me.” He pokes Max’s side, “Please don’t hang out of windows, little bat.”

Max nods easily and presses his face into Alec’s neck, “ ‘kay. Did you bring food?”

Magnus rolls his eyes, “Ready to eat everything in the house already. He’s going to be a nightmare as a teenager.”

“Well for now, I brought French pastries.”

Magnus stands up with a little wink, “A man could get used to this Alexander.”

Alec doesn’t have words to answer, finally registering what Magnus is wearing. He’s wrapped in a black silk robe, open over his chest, and with only the faint traces of yesterday's makeup and his hair a mess he’s beautiful.

“Breakfast!” Max crows, wriggling in Alec’s arms and distracting him from Magnus’ gorgeous self, not that his attention has gone unnoticed if the pleased curl of Magnus’ scent can be believed.

Alec let’s him go and pushes to his feet, grabbing the boxes and setting them on the table as Magnus grabs plates. Max climbs into a chair and his eyes are wide as he sees the croissants and danishes that Izzy chose, along with three fruit tarts that Magnus zeroes in on.

“Save me one of those.” He points one perfectly polished finger toward the tarts, “I’m going to make us some tea.”

He hurries back into the kitchen before Alec can protest and he shakes his head, turning to Max.

“What would you like, Max?”

The little boy lifts a hand to his ear, tugging at the lobe as he looks seriously at the food. His little face scrunches as he concentrates and Alec bites his cheek to stop himself from cooing aloud.

“Can I have two, Daddy?”

Alec smiles gently, “I think your Ayah would be okay with that, but let’s start with half of each okay? Which ones?”

Max hesitates, but must find Alec’s answer acceptable because he points to one of the fruit tarts and a  pain au chocolat . He grins at his plate as Alec carefully sets half of each treat in front of him. Max smells like pure joy and sweet delight. Alec smiles in sudden understanding, Max smells a little like blueberries under his happiness.

“Lavender tea.” Magnus announces, setting a tea tray down and looking askance at Alec.

“Yes please. Max?”

“Thank you Ayah!”

Magnus hums and pours them all cups while Alec puts a plate together for each of them and the scent of gentle contentment curls around them. He feels light within, like he’s living inside of a perfect moment. He acknowledges but releases the urge to try and hold onto the moment, he’s happy enough just living it right now.

-

Magnus thinks his heart might actually be in danger of melting. Alec is crouched next to Max, both of them watching a caterpillar munching away, Alec is whispering and pointing and Max looks amazed. They’ve already been at it for a few minutes but Magnus doesn’t mind.

They're both wearing gray shirts and blue jeans and Alec’s leather jacket is tossed over his shoulder carelessly.

He pulls out his phone and takes a couple pictures, debates sending one to Isabelle (she had stuck her phone number on top of their breakfast with a note for Magnus to text her) and ends up sending one to Cat.

  Magnus 11:05a

  1 attachment

  I think Alexander is going to be the favorite by the end of the day.

  Catarina 11:05a

  Please, Max thinks you hung the stars. Be careful.

Magnus frowns a bit at that, but just sends back a smiley face. He understands that his friends are nervous about this,  he’s nervous about it. Watching as Alec carefully helps Max hold the caterpillar, grinning, he has to admit he’s not worried about Alec and Max. It’s been clear since the moment Alexander realized that he’s more than willing to be a part of their son's life. Magnus is most worried that Alec’s built up some version of him that the real thing won’t measure up to, he’s worried maybe he’s done the same.

He was so full of hope and certainty the night before, pressed close to Alexander on the balcony, his dream come true. The light of day reminded him, no matter how much he hated it, that they don’t know each other well enough to make a commitment to each other, like… like mating. Max carefully puts the caterpillar back and Alec blows a little raspberry on his arm, making the little boy giggle. Magnus wants this so badly though, it’s an ache he’s ignored for years but with Alexander holding their son’s hand, smiling at him as they come back to the bench he’s been waiting on, he wants.

“There was a bug, Ayah!”

He laughs and takes Max’s other hand, “I saw, did Daddy tell you about it?”

Max nods enthusiastically, “He said it was gonna be a butterfly, he even knew what kind!”

“Did he?” Magnus looks to Alec, teasing. The alpha blushes but laughs helplessly.

“Izzy loves science and I always thought insects were interesting, we were regulars at the butterfly pavilion.”

“Well that is just charming Alexander, but Max, if you want to bring home any bugs, please tell me so I can make Daddy deal with it.” Magnus gave a playful shiver and stuck out his tongue and they both laughed at him.

“I promise.” Max sounds so serious when he says it but a second later he’s tugging both their hands, “Come on! To the park!”

They follow his insistent tugs, sharing fond looks. Technically they’re already in the park, but Max insists that “just plants” isn’t a park so he’s pulling them toward the play area. There are plenty of other kids running around for Max to play with but Magnus knows his routine.

“Swings first?” he asks and Max nods seriously.

“Yes. Push me?”

“Of course.”

Max lets them go to run to the swingset and makes an impatient gesture when he realizes they haven’t both run after him. Magnus rolls his eyes and presses a kiss to Alexander’s cheek, “Duty calls.”

“I’m sure I’m required too.”

Max is now calling out to both of them, looking every inch the demanding five year old and Magnus laughs, “Indeed. Last one to him buys ice cream!”

He hears Alec shout “Hey!” as he takes off running with a wide grin. Max must understand some of what he’s done because he starts laughing and shouting, “Go Ayah!”

Alec beats him by a millisecond but considering he started at a disadvantage it’s impressive and Magnus raises an eyebrow as Max delights in how fast they were running.

“It’s only a little race Alexander.” He says, voice a little lower.

Alec tips his chin, “I may be, just a little bit, competitive.”

Magnus presses his lips together to stop from laughing especially as Max makes an impatient huffing noise between them.

-

Eventually Max tires of the swings and joins in some elaborate game a group of children have going that seems to center around the slides. Magnus expects they’ll find a bench to keep an eye on him but Alec plops into a swing with a little hum.

They don’t say much to each other as they swing, but it’s lovely all the same. They move away when another family comes to the swingset, making room and grinning at each other. Alexander wraps an arm around him and they stand, watching Max and chatting quietly.

Alec tells him about  Found and how he’s hoping to be able to launch the service by the end of the quarter and Magnus stares at him.

“You’re a good man, Alexander.”

Alec blinks at him and shrugs, “I’m just trying to be better than my parents were. Lightwood & Co is one of the largest holding companies in the country but it has an awful past. There’s a lot for me to make up for. If I can use my position to help people and to make changes to some of the things my parents did it’s my responsibility to do it.”

Magnus kisses his cheek easily, “Exactly. A good man.”

Alec just shakes his head, “What about you? How long have you had the tea shop?”

“Just a tea shop? I’m offended.” Magnus keeps his tone playful enough and Alec just rolls his eyes, nudging him for the answer, “I opened  Pandemonium three years ago. Max and I were settled, I had savings and an idea. At first it was just a little online tea shop where I tried to promote information for anyone living in a bad situation, but then my...my father died.”

Magnus watches Max come down a slide, gathering himself for a moment. Alexander squeezes him closer.

“He never removed me from his will, I didn’t want the company and he didn’t leave it to me but, he left me a good deal of his personal wealth. I used some of it to open the shop and donated a lot of it to local shelters and organizations that I work with now. It’s been brick and mortar for two years now. I sell tea, curios, and a safe place. My home is on the third floor but the second is broken into several small suites that I allow people in immediate crisis to stay in. It’s not the type of place someone would look for them and I connect them with services and people who can get them away and get them legal aid.”

“If I’m a good man, you’re a great one Magnus. That’s an amazing thing to do.” Alec shifted so he could hold Magnus against his front, chin resting on his shoulder, “Hopefully I can help.”

“Help?” Magnus’ nose wrinkled, did Alec think Magnus expected his money or name?

Alec hummed, nosing at his jaw a little and Magnus realized his scent had probably sharpened with his uncertainty, “Only if you want. Izzy and Jace stopped by yesterday to ask you about your interest in being part of a community outreach program they pitched to me. Obviously they didn’t get to that when they saw you.”

Magnus relaxed at that, it wasn’t because of who he was, “That sounds like we need to have a business meeting. Isn’t that a conflict, Mr. Lightwood?”

Alec chuckled, his lips brushing Magnus’ cheek as he pressed their faces together, “It would be, except I’m not heading the project, I just signed off on the idea.”

Magnus promises to consider it but they move on from work easily. Alexander doesn’t let him go and Magnus leans into him happily as they watch Max and share stories of their own childhoods. Alec has far more of them, but his parents don’t factor into any of them and Magnus wonders if their lives were all that different.

“Anyways, Jace watched a bunch of stuff about Annie Oakley and begged for a BB gun, which he got because no one ever could tell him no. That was trouble enough, but he showed Izzy Annie’s trick of shooting cards and she thought it was the coolest thing she’d ever seen. They spent all afternoon practicing while I was studying and then they came to get me to show me, but Izzy’s always been….a force of nature and Jace is reckless. They thought it would be the height of spectacle for Jace to throw the card  in front of me and Izzy would shoot it out of the air.”

Magnus gasps at the story, “They didn’t.”

Alec nods seriously, chin bobbing against Magnus’ shoulder, “They did. I was sort of proud because Izzy  did put a hole straight through the middle, but my eyebrow was on the other side. I knew I was fine but I let them panic a little at all the blood because I thought they might learn their lesson that way.”

“And did they?” Magnus leans to look at Alec’s amused expression.

“Yes and no. Izzy’s an expert marksman, she keeps her carry license up to date and Jace refuses to even touch a paintball gun without a full safety check for everyone involved. He was an EMT for a couple of years too.”

“So they figured the lesson was to get better at it, not stop?”

Alec makes a face, “Yeah. Family trait I’m afraid.”

Magnus thinks about every time he was caught sneaking out and all the loopholes he exploited in his father’s rules and sighs.

“Max is going to be a terror one day, he gets it from both sides.”

“Oh?”

Magnus laughs, watching their son help a younger boy down the slide, “You met me in a questionable club in Jakarta. I told you I’d snuck out of my house for the night and you made me show you my ID to prove I wasn’t underage. Between the two of us I think you have more of the good streak.”

Alec makes a mock affronted noise and then he whispers, “I put a baby in you that night Magnus.”

It shouldn’t be hot, but Alec’s voice is warm and deep and Magnus can feel the slow curl of desire in his belly. Alec skims his nose along his throat, breathing in deep and Magnus flushes when he realizes Alec can smell his interest.

“We are at a  park for fuck’s sake.”

Alec kisses his cheek and backs off, “You’re right. I’m sorry, I’m not usually so uh...forward.”

“Just me?”

“Yes.” Alec laughs, “Well and being around you has burned through the suppressant I was due to renew next week. I’ve not been off of them in years and it’s a bit...intense.”

Magnus takes that in, Alexander is probably hyper aware of his scent right now, even more because of Max. Alpha’s are often more sensitive to their partner’s, mate or not, with a new child around and since Max is new for Alec it has to be triggering some things.

“You said there’d been no one else?” Magnus steps away from his grasp, they need to be looking at each other to talk like this, but he tangles their fingers together.

“No, I-” Alexander takes a deep breath, “I couldn’t stomach the thought, no one else smelled right. I tried to move on but I had one rut and it was difficult so I didn’t...I never tried. I didn’t want to, honestly.”

Magnus squeezes his fingers, “I’m sorry.”

“It’s alright. I wasn’t much for romance in the first place, I’d only gone on a handful of dates before you, had one ill-fated relationship, if you could really call it that. I missed you more than I wanted to find someone else.” He looks away, tracking Max and Magnus studies him for a moment.

Alec is content but there’s a fading distress in his scent and Magnus gets the impression the rut he went through was more than just difficult.

“I dated a few people, after I had Max.” He offers and Alec glances at him, carefully neutral, “Some of them were lovely but none of them fit, most of them never even got to meet him. One of them stayed something of a friend for a little while, so he did, but we drifted apart, as friends do. He met one of the others but he didn’t like her and happily tried to kick her out of the house. He was three.”

Alec laughs at that, “Did he tell you why?”

Magnus bites his lip and nods, “He told her she was very pretty but not very nice and that she should leave because she was just making me sad. I might have tried to salvage it but Camille thought I was in the kitchen and told him to keep his “bastard little mouth shut” so I let Max see her out.”

Alec’s jaw clenches hard and Magnus winces, he should’ve probably cut that part out.

“Well, if she ever comes near you again I’ll do the honors this time.” Alec’s voice is steady but there’s a thread of protective, righteous anger in the way he smells and it makes something in Magnus endlessly pleased.

“Ayah!” Max interrupts them, dashing toward them with something in his little hands, “Daddy!”

They both kneel down so he can show them and he opens his hands to reveal a pretty little blue stone, “That girl gave it to me, she said I was really nice and blue was a nice color!” He points to a little girl with brown curls and a red bow who waves at them with a big smile.

“That’s great Max! Did you tell her thank you?” Magnus checks. His son might be destined to be a hellion, but he’ll be a hellion who minds his manners if Magnus can manage it.

“Yes! I told her she could have tea someday too.”

Alec carefully helps Max tuck the stone in his pocket and Magnus nods, “If an adult brings her to the shop I’ll make sure she gets some. Now, how about you, me, and daddy go for some ice cream?”

Max lights up and shouts a happy goodbye to the other kids, some of them wave but most are enthralled with their game.

-

Max picks all three of their flavors in the end and Alec and Magnus have to discreetly swap cones when he’s distracted. Magnus likes cookie dough much better than the bright blue cotton candy that Alec is happily eating and he makes a face.

“I don’t like the dough chunks.” Alec mumbles, hurrying to catch a drip with his tongue, “They’re too sugary.”

Magnus just looks from him to the vibrant blue treat and Alec shrugs. He’s ridiculous and Magnus should not like it as much as he does, but he does. They’re sitting at a metal table with a big umbrella overhead outside the ice cream shop and the breeze is nice.

Max himself has mint chip and is cheerfully licking away, looking far too cute as his feet kick where they don’t touch the ground. His wavy hair is a mess from all his play and sitting beside Alexander, both of them catching stray melting drops no one could deny they’re relation.

“Oh!” Alec fumbles for his phone, “Magnus could you take a picture of us, I promised I’d send one to Izzy.”

Magnus grins, navigating Alec’s phone with one hand so he can get the camera pulled up, “Smile!”

Max looks up with a big toothy grin but Alec huffs, “Meant like a selfie of all of us, I’m terrible at them and my fingers are sticky.”

Magnus blinks and then he’s grinning and shuffling his chair so he can get all of them and their ice cream cones, aware that Alec can probably smell how fucking happy he is.

He takes a couple and turns to look at Alec, Max focused on his cone again, “That good?”

“One more.” Alec says and then he’s leaning across the table, sticky blue lips meeting Magnus’ and he snaps a photo before shifting to kiss Alec a little better.

Chapter 2

 Max resists the pull of sleep until late. He’s pouting adorably between sleepy little blinks by the time he’s too tired to protest Magnus putting him to bed and Alec can’t stop smiling at the sight. He joins them in Max’s bedroom, the space awash with blue’s and soft things, stars painted across the ceiling. The child-sweet scent of him is heavy here, the bright blueberry curl of his contentment makes Alec relax further.

 His little boy is well loved, not that he expected anything else of Magnus. He sits on the edge of Max’s little bed and tucks the blankets close around him as Magnus gently strokes his cheek, singing a lullaby. Alec doesn’t speak the language, but he hums along. Max falls asleep easily, his little mouth open for his heavy breaths and his hand curled loosely beside Magnus’ wrist.

 They sit companionably, just ensuring that Max is really out, for a while. Eventually they pull themselves away from the boy, quietly shutting the door and heading for the living room.

 Magnus tugs Alec to sit beside him on the couch with a little smile and they stay close.

 “Thank you.”

 Alec’s brows draw together and he smiles, bemused, “What for?”

 Magnus smiles back, a slow, sleepy thing, “Spending today with us. It was lovely.”

 “Magnus...of course. I want to spend plenty more days like this. My schedule has definitely been cleared for this week so if it’s alright I’d like to be here?” He traces the tips of his fingers over the back of Magnus’ hand.

 Easily tangling their fingers together Magnus hums and his warm sleepy sandalwood scent gains a hint of sharpness, “ I’m glad you want to but...not everyday.”

 Alec can’t help the way he tenses but he refuses to jump to conclusions, they’ve wasted enough time, “Okay? If I’m going to be in the way or anything, please, tell me.”

 Magnus shakes his head with a rueful twist to his lips, “No such thing, I’d love having you in my way. I just...I know last night we talked about wanting more, wanting to be mates,” he takes a breath, “and I do want that but I think we’re getting ahead of ourselves. It feels so perfect right now, being with you, but we don’t really know each other as well as we should if we’re going to take that kind of step. We’ve not had to juggle our work, our relationship, and our son. I think we need to give ourselves the space to do this properly, not rush into things together because we missed our first chance. That could ruin us again.”

 Alec blinks but listens. Magnus is right, they need to do this right. They don’t have to be cautious but they do need to give themselves some time to learn about each other, about annoying habits and tender spots. Magnus has never seen him on a three day work and worry streak, he doesn’t know Magnus’ vices or his working habits.

 “I think that sounds like wisdom speaking. So I know another thing now, I know you’re wise.”

 Magnus laughs and the sharpness in his scent fades, the warmth of them together burrowing into Alec’s chest.

 “You are definitely never allowed to have tea with Ragnor, he would do his best to dissuade you of that.” Magnus winks.

 “I agree with you about not rushing into things but...why not spend the week together? Maybe not every night, but the days?” Alec is careful to make it clear he’s only curious.

 “Aside from how likely it is we would overwhelm each other a bit? Max. He’s always wanted a Daddy and you’re so good with him but I worry that if you’re here so much and then not when you go back to work he’ll be hurt by it. I just, I don’t want to do anything to make him think he can’t be exactly himself around you or that you might not be staying in his life.” Magnus’ free hand twists in the air as he talks, nervous.

 Alec sighs and leans a little more firmly against Magnus.

 “I don’t want to make him think anything like that. I want to do right by both of you. What do you think about every other day? Maybe?”

 Magnus relaxes against him, “I think that would be perfect, and I think that I’m going to text you enough on the days you aren’t here you won’t even miss us.”

 Alec presses a kiss to his temple and says, low, “I’d miss you if you were in the next room, I’ve missed you for years.”

 He      doesn’t     miss the way that Magnus’ cheeks are a little pink as he twists to press a kiss to Alec’s mouth. It’s soft and easy, just lips dragging together, but it’s perfect.

 It also reminds Alec of his potential gift.

 They part and he shifts to more comfortably face Magnus, “I wanted to ask-and I won’t mind if you don’t want it right now, or at all-” Magnus looks curious, “If it was okay if I left you with something of mine for your nest?”

 Magnus’s eyes flicker over him and Alec worries he’s overstepped, but then a soft, surprised smile touches Magnus’ mouth.

 “I know I just said we should feel things out but I-” Magnus lifts his chin, unconscious but enough to draw Alec’s attention to his bare throat, “-find that I want your scent around me too much to say no. I would love for you to bring something for my nest.”

 Alec glances down with a little smile, “Well...I thought I could give you my shirt. I’m wearing a second layer, Izzy said that it would be better for me to wear what I wanted to give you, so my scent was stronger. I thought um, I could trade it out when it starts to fade.”

 Magnus touches the backs of his fingers, rings cool, to Alec’s cheek. His lovely eyes have gone the color of melted caramel with affection and Alec has to drag a breath in through his mouth at his scent, all surprised delight.

 “Please.” Magnus nods, “That would be wonderful.”

 Alec tugs his plain t-shirt off, the simple undershirt he’s wearing sticking to it for a moment before he separates them. He holds the shirt out to Magnus and has to repress a laugh when he realizes how dazed he looks.

 “Magnus?”

 “Mmm?” Magnus blinks, looking away from his torso only to stop at his now exposed arms and Alec does start laughing then.

 “See something nice?”

 Magnus takes the shirt and holds it up to his face, pointedly looking at Alec as he inhales slowly, lips curling up. Alec swallows hard at the obvious display.

 “More than nice. You are going to test my self-control, Alexander.”

 The noise that catches in Alec’s throat is half-laugh, half alpha want and he watches Magnus’ pupils dilate. Their scents grow spiced and heavy between them, enough that Alec can almost pick his own pine-sharp arousal from Magnus’.

 Magnus’ tongue darts out to wet his lips and Alec sways momentarily closer, before he catches himself. He leans away and watches Magnus blink, face falling a little.

 “As badly as I want to kiss you, I think we both need a second.”

 Expression clearing, Magnus rolls his eyes, “We are being a bit ridiculous.” He pats the shirt now in his lap, “I’m going to put this where it belongs and then we are going to say goodnight like perfectly reasonable adults.”

 They grin at each other and if Alec lets his gaze linger on Magnus’ butt when he walks away, well…

 -

 Jace calls Alec a workaholic approximately once a day. Normally Alec just scoffs at him but considering how his day off and apart from Magnus goes, he’s worried his brother is right.

 He manages to sleep, though it might have something to do with the way Magnus’ happy scent is stuck to the jacket he drapes over his pillow. He wakes a little later than usual and tries to drag out his morning routine.

 By the time he’s sitting at the table that he only owns for nights when his siblings and their mates come over, he’s listless. He swirls his coffee a little, the syrup he uses already well mixed in. After staring a little longer he decides he’s allowed a treat and goes for the whipped cream.

 He sprays it into his cup and raises it to take a sip, only to stop.

 For six years he’s accompanied his coffee with a quiet wish for Magnus’ joy, with a little push for the universe to be gentle to the omega he’d loved and lost. The thought of not doing so leaves him bereft.

 Alec tugs his phone toward him and snaps a picture of his coffee, the tower of whipped cream leaning a little to the side. He sends it to Magnus with a little sunrise emoji.

     Alec 8:06a  

     Here’s a secret about me, take it to your grave… I love whipped cream.  

 He sets his phone back down and licks at the cream to keep it from making a mess. He stares at the table with a little frown and thinks:      I hope Magnus has a good day, I hope the world is kind to him still. I hope Max smiles.  

 -

 He makes it until almost three before he gives in. Max has been quietly drawing for an hour and the store has lulled after their lunch rush. No one is currently in need of Magnus and the number of texts he’s received from Alec assure him that the other man is      not    busy.

 As he thinks it he gets another picture. This time it’s of a grumpy looking cat sleeping in a patch of sunlight. Based on the last photos, he’s fairly certain it’s Alec’ living room floor.

     Magnus 2:47p  

     You have a cat?  

     Alec 2:47p  

     I might. Church (him) would argue that I am a trespasser in his house. He’s technically a registered therapy animal but he’s so grumpy his last owner gave him up.  

     Magnus 2:48p  

     Does he like other cats?  

     Alec 2:48p  

     I think so? Clary brought a kitten over once when she was volunteering at a shelter, Church seemed to like it. Why, did you have a cat hidden somewhere?  

     Magnus 2:48p  

     There’s a few cats that make their rounds here and I was thinking about getting a kitten for Max’s birthday.  

     Alec 2:49p  

     Oh?  

     Magnus 2:49p  

     It may, just a tiny bit, possibly, be because I want a kitten very badly.  

 Bubbles appear to indicate Alec is typing and Magnus decides that he is definitely not too busy for a call. He moves toward the little couch where Max is drawing, hits the button to video call, and waits with a little smile.

 The call connects and Alec’s messy hair and warm smile fill the screen. His eyes are bright and he appears to have leaned his phone against something because he’s sitting so he can rest his chin on his folded arms.

 “Hello, gorgeous.” Magnus is helpless to the way he grins as he greets Alec.

 “      Hey.”    Alec hides his mouth in his arms but the gleam in his eyes tells Magnus how pleased he is. He doesn’t get to say anything more though, because the sound of Alec’s voice draws Max’s notice.

 “Daddy?” The little boy leans into Magnus’ space, hands braced on his leg as he cranes his head to see the screen.

 Magnus laughs as Alec lights up even more, he is just too much looking so delighted, and holds the phone so Max can climb into his lap. The little boy hesitates, grabs the paper he was working on, and then gets situated.

     “Hey little bat, what’s that?”  

 Max smooths the paper out, shy for a moment and then turns it over to examine it. Magnus’ heart clenches when he sees the art his son has been working on. It’s the three of them, clearly, but they all have butterfly wings. Magnus’ are red and gold, Alec’s are blue and black, while Max’s are all four colors. His son is still staring at his drawing.

     “You don’t have to show me, if you don’t want to.”    Alec says it so very gently and Magnus gives Max a little squeeze of encouragement.

 “Here.” Max holds the paper up and Magnus watches the way it affects Alexander. His eyes widen a fraction and his jaw loosens as he takes in the full picture. When he speaks again he has to clear his throat and his eyes are wet.

     “That’s really great Max. Our wings are really cool.”  

 “Mine are like yours and Ayah’s, because I’m made of both of you.”

 Magnus has to press a kiss to Max’s hair, working not to let the arm holding his phone out tremble.

     “That’s right.”    Alec does well at covering for Max, but Magnus can hear how hard he has to work to keep his voice steady.

 “I’ll put it somewhere safe so Daddy can see it when he comes over tomorrow, okay?” Magnus says and Max nods, his shyness fading under his parent’s love.

 He starts chattering easily enough, asking Alec all about what he’s doing and getting very excited when Alec turns the phone so they can see Church, blinking blearily at them. Magnus doesn’t get to say nearly as much as he wants to before the sound of the singing bowl calls him away, but he leaves his phone with Max.

 The sound of his son laughing with Alexander carries him through the rest of his day.

 -

 Alec is laying draped over the couch, head in Magnus’ lap. It’s their last day together before Alec has to go back to work and Max has done his best to wear them out. They’d spent hours playing games and taking turns playing villains to Max’s dramatic, magic, hero. He’d been just as exhausted by early evening and they’d read to him together until he’d drifted off curled into Alec’s side.

 “You know, I almost had a younger brother named Max.”

 Magnus hums, “Almost?”

 Alec shifts, glancing up at him, “He didn’t make it. My mother was different then, a little. She was warmer toward Izzy and Jace at least, but I think losing a baby when she did really took a toll. She learned my father was cheating on her a month or so before and there was a lot going on with the company. I think she sort of blamed everyone around her when it happened, the stress trying to balance personal drama and professional issues caused. She and I... when I was sixteen, just before she found out she was pregnant, I told her I was gay. It didn’t go well, so things were already rocky between us.”

 Magnus just listens, carding a hand slowly through Alexander’s hair.

 “I guess, when you said his name was Max, I thought it was fitting. In a way it was like another person I lost coming back to me.” Alec frowns, “That sounds like I’m saying...I don’t think of him as a replace for anyone, he’s      ours    and he’s amazing but it, it means a lot to me that they share a name.”

 Magnus sighs, he doesn’t know how to put it into words either, but he understands what Alec is trying to say. He rubs his thumb over one of Alexander’s heavy brows.

 “I’m glad too. It’s like I gave him a little of you without knowing.”

 Alec’s expression eases and he smiles softly, “Yeah.”

 They lapse into quiet again, Magnus trailing touches down Alec’s neck slowly, admiring the man as he relaxes. They let go of the weight of heavy thoughts as they just breathe together.

 Quite by accident Magnus fingernails catch on a slow downward drag and Alec sucks in a breath. The scent of serene alpha takes on a spicy edge, the faintest touch of crushed pine.

 Magnus swallows and more deliberately runs the edges of his painted nails behind Alexander’s ear.

 “Magnus-” Alec’s voice is heavy, warning.

 He presses a little harder, mesmerized as he fills his lungs with the growing smell of Alec’s desire. In a moment Alexander has moved.

 He’s sitting up, hands gently wrapping around Magnus’ wrists as he leans in, brushing his nose up the column of Magnus’ throat, his breath warm as his ghosts over his pulse. The heat in the room rises, their scents blooming with want.

 “Magnus.” Alec whispers the word, the quietness of it doing nothing to hide the desire in it.

 Magnus tips his head to the side and gasps at the drag of lips as Alec leaves a line of kisses over his skin until their mouths meet. Alec releases his caught hands and Magnus winds fingers into dark hair, leans into the wide spread of Alec’s fingers as he cradles the omega’s face.

 Alec gives into his hungry mouth as Magnus presses into him, insistent and needing. The scent and taste that fills his senses is overwhelming, it’s everything he’s been missing for      so    long and he refuses to pull away. Alec makes a low sound in his throat, vibrating in his chest for a moment with the edge of alpha that makes ancient biology in Magnus desperate.

 The large, hot hands that cupped his face so tenderly grip his hips firmly. Magnus couldn’t say which of them initiates the move, but they’re both pulled along by the tide of shared lust, and he’s pulled fully into Alec’s lap.

 He makes a noise of his own, something he’s never heard from himself outside of his worst heats, and Alec surges against him with a low moan. Magnus thinks he could burn to ash under Alexander’s touch, thinks it’d be a sweet way to go and then Alec guides him through a roll of his hips and he doesn’t think much at all.

 They don’t part from one another’s mouth except to gasp as they allow friction to build between them. It’s torment to not be bare against one another but stopping long enough to remove anything would be intolerable and definitely not necessary.

 Alec shudders and jerks hard against Magnus, even as the omega let’s out an overwhelmed groan and they finally slow.

 Foreheads pressed together, they both pant until Alec chuckles breathlessly.

 “Something-” Magnus swallows, “-Something funny?”

 Alec just laughs again and Magnus is helpless against it, joining in despite the uncomfortable dampness in his pants.

 “We are so good at taking this slow.” Alec half-laughs out.

 Magnus smacks at his arm, “Maybe if you didn’t smell      amazing    and taste even better we’d have a chance?”

 There’s more than just exertion coloring Alec’s cheeks but he pulls back with his eyebrows raised, “Me? What am I supposed to do with you right in front of me, all-” he trails off, letting go of Magnus’ hip to gesture.

 “You just indicated all of me.”

 “Exactly.”

 Magnus leans forward to smack a kiss to his lips, ignoring the huff of laughter it earns him. He shifts back quickly though, grimacing.

 “Need to borrow some pants?”

 Alec shifts and cringes, “Underwear, at least. God, we really just      did    that.”

 With as regal a shrug as he can manage, Magnus gingerly slides off of Alec, “I don’t have any regrets.”

 He’s trying for an airy sort of tease but he can’t help the little niggle of worry. He knows Alec is still adjusting to the sudden burn-out of his suppressant, mild as the effects can be, and they did agree to do things right this time. Alexander may not have much practice, but he’s already good at knowing when to reassure it seems.

 “I could never regret you.” He smiles, like he hasn’t just made another breath-stealing declaration, “Getting carried away with you has, to date, only resulted in the best things.”

 Magnus doesn’t have a defense for that, nor the way that Alec wears his every feeling on his sleeve when they’re together. He’s gotten the impression, from the few texts he’s exchanged with Isabelle, that Alexander Lightwood is a stoic, unreadable professional and often taciturn, even in private. None of that holds true when they’re together though, any of it melts after minutes together and Magnus secretly hopes Alec never stops letting all his walls down so easily around him.

 “Pants.” Magnus says, instead of voicing any of the swirling joys and worries.

 “Pants.” Alec agrees with a silly little wiggle of his hips and an exaggerated face.

 He means to go grab them, maybe make them something to drink, and start the enjoyable process of telling Alexander goodnight, but he stops after only a few steps.

 “Stay tonight?”

 Alec looks surprised, then pleased and he stands, “If you don’t mind that I’ll need to be up early?”

 “I’ll text Isabelle to bring you clothes and feed Church if you need, but no, I don’t mind. Max will probably be up with the sun after his early night anyway.”

 Alec follows him into his bedroom, politely waiting for Magnus to bring them pants to sleep in. Magnus had told him that he’d made his nest inside the large walk-in closet because it was a safely enclosed space and Alec had been conscientious of it every time he’d been in the bedroom.

 “If you text Izzy, because she definitely won’t ask so many terrible questions if it’s you, I can probably stay long enough to help get Max ready for the day.” Alec tells him, stripping out of his pants even as Magnus chokes a little.

 “That would be wonderful, darling.”

 “I want to be his parent for more than just the fun parts.”

 Magnus wonders how many times his heart can take Alec’s sweetness before it just leaps out of his chest and into the man’s hands.

 “I know. I want that too. Spend the morning with us if you can manage and, well, once you know what work looks like tell me and we can,” He tries to hide the twist in his stomach at the thought of Alec’s real life taking him away, “we can figure it out.”

 Alec looks at him seriously, “Magnus. I am going to make time for you and Max. I have never even taken a sick day, not even for ruts since I’ve been suppressing them, and you can ask anyone, I have a dire need for a social life. The company won’t fall apart if I actually take time to live      my    life. Even if it would, I'd figure it out to give us the time and effort we deserve.”

 “Alexander…” Magnus can feel wetness gathering, “Thank you. I will do my best to put as much effort into this, but we really have to go to bed now.”

 “Tired?” Alec sounds concerned and Magnus laughs.

 “Yes, darling, but mostly I’m afraid if we don’t get to sleep you’ll keep being absolutely exceptional and sweet and I’ll be overcome.”

 Alexander looks delighted by that, “I’m just being honest.”

 Magnus tries to glare, but the way he keeps smiling ruins it, “That is precisely what I mean.”

 Alec raises his hands in mock surrender as Magnus finally gets changed and slides into bed beside him, but he figures if that’s the only problem they have for the moment it’s well worth it.

Part Three

[anjumstar]

All the Way Home ch4

Read on AO3

rating: teen

pairing: bakudeku

word count: 26.8k/81.1k

summary: Four years ago, All For One and Shigaraki were defeated, taking One For All with them. At twenty years old, Katsuki and a quirkless Izuku are heroes, boyfriends, and partners. Until one day, they’re hit by a quirk that suddenly makes them fathers too. Now, with a newborn baby, they have to figure out who did this to them, and why it means the downfall of superhuman society.

This work is a part of the @bakudekubigbang​ 2022. Updates will be weekly.

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Chapter Four - When I Get All Steamed Up, Hear Me Shout!

Three Years Ago

It almost could have been any other day at school. Izuku was in the same jacket and tie, although his mother had insisted on a shiny pair of black shoes that would be wholly useless if a villain chose today of all days to attack U.A. They were slick on the bottom and completely unformed to Izuku’s feet. So no, not exactly like any other day. 

“Congrats, nerd,” Katsuki said, sidling up to Izuku with his hands in his pant pockets, slouching them even further than they already were.

“Thanks, Kacchan!” Izuku bubbled. “You too!”

Katsuki grinned with one cheek. “I meant the tie, dumbass. Why would I congratulate you on the diploma—we all got the same one.”

There had only been one period in time when Izuku had truly thought he’d graduate from U.A., a brief flash in time from first year. The time of his entry up until he’d left school in the winter. And never again thereafter.

No one quirkless had ever attended U.A.’s hero course. But here he was: the first.

“Oh,” Izuku chuckled, looking down at his uniform. In addition to the new shoes, his tie was affixed properly, hanging down by his waist instead of thick and stubby up against his chest. “Yeah…figured the occasion called for it.” He gestured to Katsuki, who was wearing the same red tie, albeit with an inscrutable knot. “Seems you thought the same.”

“Yeah, well,” Katsuki griped with a roll of his eyes, “the hag woulda pulled me off the stage if I picked up the damn paper without one, so whatever. Now you finally get to see me with the noose.”

Izuku had heard that Katsuki had once worn a tie to appeal to Principal Nedzu and Endeavor two years back, but no one had thought to provide photographic evidence. Granted, it was eighteen witnesses against one Bakugou Katsuki, but still, it wasn’t the same as seeing it. Whatever normalcy the day was disguised with, it was shattered by the sight of Katsuki in a proper tie.

“You’re lucky we’re going into a field where you almost never have to wear one.” Izuku grinned.

“Make it actually never, and then we can call it lucky,” Katsuki said. He looked to the side, in the direction of Shouto taking a nice picture with his mom, and Endeavor awkwardly off to the side. “And switch it so that old fogey is working for me. I’m no fucker’s underling.”

“One year, Kacchan,” Izuku reminded. “And then more independence. Endeavor won’t want to micromanage us anyway. He trusts us by now. It’s a perfect fit.”

“Tch.”

“Izuku!”

Izuku turned to where his mom was standing with the Bakugous, waving over at him. 

“I think it’s time to go,” Izuku murmured.

Katsuki said nothing but walked alongside Izuku as they made their way over to their parents on the green between a number of the school buildings and facilities. In the distance was a tent and temporary stage set up that was already being taken down with just a few stragglers remaining for pictures. 

“Izuku…” Inko murmured as they drew near, her eyes watering again. She’d alternated between bawling and sniffling into her sleeve all day—Izuku could hardly look at her lest he start tearing up himself. 

“Let’s go, Mom.” Izuku wrapped an arm around her shoulder and began to lead her away. In his last couple years of school, he’d put a couple additional inches on her, so her head rested comfortably against his shoulder. “Goodbye, Auntie, Uncle.”

“Goodbye, Izuku-kun!”

Izuku heard no goodbye from Katsuki as he walked away, but that was alright. They’d be seeing each other soon, as there wouldn’t be much of a break before work began. Besides, they’d spent the entire day together. The graduating class was seated in homeroom order, so he and Katsuki had remained in their numbers seventeen and eighteen spots next to each other. They’d graduated one right after the other, like something they might have dreamed of together many years ago.

So why did he feel so melancholy?

“I’m just so proud of you, Izuku,” his mom said for the dozenth time since they’d had breakfast together that morning. “You’ve made history. Again.”

“Th-thanks, Mom.”

“Oh, Izuku,” Inko cooed, reaching a thumb up to the corner of his eye where a tear had beaded. He hadn’t realized he’d been sniffling, blinking back tears. “It’s been an overwhelming day for all of us.”

But it wasn’t overwhelming. In fact, Izuku felt a sinking feeling of underwhelm, expanding heavily the pit of his stomach.

“I just…” Izuku turned back and saw the Bakugous walking the opposite way across the field. The last time he’d see Kacchan and himself in matching uniforms without bringing out a photo album. “It’s nothing.”

They continued walking and Inko’s arm came to rest comfortingly on his shoulder. This was right. He and his mom would go home, watch a movie, probably not make snacks until halfway through since they’d been none too shy with the lunch bentos offered. Then they’d make dinner together, and Izuku would try to enjoy the early night but probably pass hours on his phone participating in the class group chat, wondering how long it would stay alive now that they had graduated. No longer did they need to ask if the heat was wonky in everyone else’s room or if the pastries Rikido had left in the kitchen were up for grabs or if Kyouka could turn the music down or, alternatively, way up for everyone to hear. 

He wondered if Katsuki would be the first to drop off. He was already the quietest in the group, surprising everyone when he would deign to respond. But he was witty and quick in a way that let Izuku know that he was reading the messages, even if his comments were few and far between.

He looked back again. One last, last glance at that Katsuki. His classmate, housemate, his…

“Did you forget something, Izuku?”

“I…”

Izuku swallowed, mind racing. It should have been nostalgia he was feeling, rose-tinted glasses over the horrors and learned camaraderie of the last three years. But nostalgia was something slow, disorienting with its tricks. What was within Izuku at this moment was fast, heart pounding, threatening to break out.

“Yes,” he replied. “I did. You go to the car and I’ll be right there.”

“Okay, dear,” Inko said, her voice not devoid of concern, but then it hadn’t been for years. Before it could grow, Izuku ran.

Izuku didn’t feel fast—hadn’t in two years. Even with Hatsume’s prototypes, inspired by Tenya’s quirk or recreations of her old Power Suit and Electric Booster, nothing was fast after having known One For All simmering under his skin. Still, Izuku ran, kicking up blades of grass, his long tie flung over his shoulder.

“Kacchan!” Izuku shouted as he drew near. Katsuki and his parents turned back, but Katsuki waved his parents on. As they continued walking, Katsuki stood still.

“What?” Katsuki asked. “We parked in the other lot.”

“It’s not enough!” Izuku wheezed as he came to a stop in front of Katsuki, heaving, sweating through his dress shirt.

Katsuki squinted. “What’re you talking about?”

“Waiting until work starts up to see each other,” Izuku panted. “Not seeing each other every day. It’s not enough.”

“Deku,” Katsuki said, a strange softness on his face between the confused narrowing of his eyes and the ever derisive smirk slicing across his face. “We live five minutes away. You’ll come over for dinner. I’ll come over for dinner. You’ll get sick of having me around even before the hag does.”

“No, that’s not what I mean,” Izuku said desperately. “I wanna see you every day. I can’t let that go, Kacchan. I know it’s selfish and that I might hold you back, but I’m going to push every moment to earn my place by your side. I wanna train together and learn together and fight together and be together.”

The speech took more out of Izuku than the sprint had. His hands were sweaty and his face was warm—he was probably flushed from his bangs to his throat. His pulse was pounding beneath his jawbone. He was trembling.

Katsuki only blinked at him, frowning.

“Be…with me.” Katsuki deadpanned.

“Yes!”

Katsuki took a step backward and Izuku followed, as if tied together by a string. “Don’t say shit you don’t mean.”

“Wh-what?” Izuku sputtered, thrown. “That’s the last thing I would do!”  

“Then think a little more carefully about the words you're fucking saying!”

Izuku tilted his head. “Kacchan…”

“You don’t want to be with me,” Katsuki said, his voice strained, pressed between heavy weights. “So don’t fucking say that shit.”

Katsuki turned away, back in the direction of his parents, opposite Izuku’s path. Izuku reached out reflexively, his fingertips brushing Katsuki’s, and then he reached further. “Kacchan! I don’t lie!”

Their hands met and he yanked.

“I’d never lie to you.”

Katsuki turned back to Izuku harshly, pulling on his hand the same way Izuku had just done to his. Except Katsuki’s shoes must not have been quite as shiny and new as Izuku’s were, because Izuku’s went slick on the bare-patched grass, one leg kicking out in front of him. His reflexes activated, all trying to save him from ending his last day at U.A. the way he’d started his first, tripping his way to the entrance exam. But he was caught against the small of his back by a familiarly strong arm, and then the sun disappeared from overhead, his face cloaked in shadow, and then a set of lips slotted against his.

It wasn’t quite soft. It was plush lips pressed against hard teeth, an insistent tongue meeting his own and pulling him away, making Izuku crane his neck up, chasing it to meet again. It was rough where cheeks and chins weren’t quite clean shaven, prickling and making his skin tender and that much more sensitive. It was Katsuki giving Izuku’s bottom lip a quite intentional bite before pulling away and, of all things, scowling.

“That’s what ‘being’ with someone is,” Katsuki rasped, his voice and face so much rawer than Izuku presumed he was supposed to see. “Is that what you want?”

Izuku smiled, all those missing feelings of overwhelm leaking out his eyes and falling back towards his sideburns as he continued to look up at Katsuki. “It’s not enough.”

Katsuki’s eyes narrowed again, nearly black with the sun blocked behind his head. It backlit his hair into something angelic, yet Izuku only wanted to run his hand through it, ruining that perfect halo.

“Alright, nerd,” Katsuki began, his voice drawling with suspicion. “What would be?”

Izuku leaned up.

“Kiss me again.”

*

The front door slammed just as a low growl released from Katsuki’s throat. “What the fuck was that about?”

“What was what about?” Izuku asked, dropping the diaper bag and rolling his shoulder, still nestling little Sugu in his other arm. 

They’d just endured an awkwardly tense car ride, Katsuki silent next to the driver while Izuku and Sugu had taken the back. Izuku had been fine with the silence, interrupted only by a couple text messages. A simple What’s going on? from Shouto and a photo attachment from Ochako, a picture of Katsuki and the baby carrier out on the sidewalk followed by maybe twenty question marks. Even under the hat and the mask, the spikes of hair poking out were unmistakably his. “Fucking vultures,” Katsuki griped when he saw it. He’d need a hoodie too to really get away with anything.

Izuku had put the phone away, but not before silencing it, having enough on his mind already. Katsuki had seemed to as well, though not at all peacefully. His arms had been crossed, fingers digging into the meat of his triceps. Now, as he kicked his shoes off, there were still little pink patches on his upper arms from the pressure.

“You’re just going to quit being a hero?” Katsuki exclaimed, marching to the kitchen and setting the kettle to warm. “Indefinitely?”

“I don’t see what choice we have!” Izuku met him if not in volume than in intensity. “If we’re right, and all this was intentional, then that means Sugu is in danger. Someone might want to kidnap him, so no, I’m not giving up being a hero, I just have a particular ward.”

Izuku thought of that suited man who’d briefly reached for Sugu before Izuku had seen him. The hesitation the man had shown before fleeing the scene. Had he been a good samaritan? Or a villain?

“That’s something we’re supposed to talk about before you just go and make a pigheaded decision alone, asshole!” A loud buzz sounded from Katsuki’s pocket and he pulled his phone out by reflex before rolling his eyes and angrily shoving it back. “Fucking Shitty Hair.”

The baby in Izuku’s arms started fussing, his face beginning to twist and contort the way Izuku would feel his own do when he cried. Izuku shifted Sugu into both arms and began to bounce him as he walked out of the kitchen and searched for a cloth to swaddle him with.

“This is One For All, Kacchan,” Izuku hissed as Katsuki followed him, finding the small, soft cloth and going to the couch. He sat, folding one leg into the back of the sofa, the other kicking out towards the coffee table. “This happened because they think there’s a ghost of a chance that One For All is inside of him.”

“You don’t know that.”

“Well, what else is it supposed to be?”

It brought fury raging into Izuku’s chest. There was lava in his veins, shifting between liquid and solid, heavy and cutting and batting against his heart and lungs. As the feeling rose hot and wet to his eyes, Izuku realized it was frustration he was feeling. Frustration and grief all over again. Of course One For All was gone. He knew what it felt like to use the quirks, each one. By the time they’d been lost, he could call them as easily as Katsuki could his lifelong quirk, with as much skill as any of his other classmates. If it were hidden somewhere inside of him, he would know. It was a cruel taunt to think otherwise.

“Whatever,” Katsuki bit. “It’s not your fault, moron, it’s the fault of some villains. You’re not sacrificing your career for this.”

“What, and sacrifice yours?” Izuku retorted as he grabbed Sugu’s right arm and folded it over his chest, taking the corner of the blanket with him. He folded it tight and moved onto the left.

“That’s what we would talk about, idiot!” Sugu let out another little cry just as the electric kettle went off in the other room. Katsuki stomped off to tend to it.

Izuku tucked in the bottom of the swaddle, but it remained shapeless. As Sugu kicked, the thing only grew looser until he was all but free and Katsuki was back in the living room, vigorously shaking the baby bottle, now creamy with formula and warmed water.

“There’s nothing to talk about, Kacchan,” Izuku insisted, trying to tug the swaddle tighter and watching it fall yet again. “Fuck, why won’t this stay?”

“It’s right, bottom, left,” Katsuki said, handing Izuku the bottle and reaching over him on the couch. He sat in the same position—one leg curled against the couch cushion and one splayed out, just behind Izuku. “And if you think there’s nothing to talk about, I’m never speaking to you ever again.”

As Izuku watched Katsuki wrap the swaddle tight on the first try, he was sufficiently cowed, body suddenly slouched and defeated. His spine bent so much like Sugu’s when he was cradled in Izuku’s arm, a gentle curve down a head that couldn’t quite hold itself up. It brushed Katsuki’s stomach, and Izuku leaned back into it automatically. When Katsuki was finished with the swaddle, he stayed on the couch, legs crossed behind Izuku’s sacrum as Izuku picked up Sugu and held the bottle to his slack lips. The baby was still fussing a little, but reflexively turned to the bottle.

“There’s nothing to talk about,” he said quietly, carefully, “because you’re the number twelve hero and I’m fifty-nine. Because your stats are consistently better than mine ever are. Because one of us is quirkless, and the other isn’t.”

Izuku rocked with every slight shift in Katsuki’s weight behind him, and tilted his head into Katsuki’s breath when it ticked his ear, hot and humid. The click of Katsuki’s tongue unsticking from the roof of his mouth sounded in Izuku’s ear as he opened up to speak.

“You’re. An. Idiot.”

“No!” Izuku exclaimed, whipping around to face Katsuki nose to nose as he kept Sugu stable in his lap. “You are! Obviously you’re the one who should stay at work and I should stay home. You have the higher ranking. You don’t break machinery every time there’s an actual villain fight just to keep up with other heroes. It’s obvious, Kacchan—if I went to work while you stayed home, everyone would think we were crazy.”

“I don’t care what any extras think, dumbass—besides, I wasn’t gonna suggest that rot.” Izuku looked on at Katsuki, gaze heavy as he waited for him to continue. “We should just swap. We have weekly days off anyway, so we just make sure those don’t line up and boom, only have to take a day or two off each week. Could even bring the tyke in if we’re just doing desk duty. That’s manageable.”

“Not if one of us is on a case,” Izuku argued, thinking too of all the looks he and Sugu had gotten when he’d had only the smallest of fits in the office. “We’d need to be available all the time. Kacchan, I’m serious. I’ve already decided. We can’t trust sitters for this, so it has to be one of us and the other fills in the cracks. Besides, I have my laptop and I can just do bits of deskwork here and just be here for him. You won’t talk me out of it.”

Sugu was through with the bottle, the last dribbles of unfinished milk beginning to drip down the side of his tiny, pointed chin. Izuku righted it and set it on the coffee table to be cleaned later and watched as Sugu almost immediately began to doze off again. A good baby.

“Asshole,” Katsuki muttered. “Self-sacrificing asshole.”

Izuku turned again and was met with Katsuki’s bangs brushing across his forehead, hiding those red eyes, so much like the ones he’d just seen contentedly in his lap, from his view. He didn’t dare force Katsuki’s head up, certainly not after he heard the smallest sniffle coming from him, but he did lean their heads together.

“I’m not,” he said quietly. “We’ll both be on this case, so it’ll be solved in no time. Then we can have sitters and our parents watching Sugu and I can go back to work. It won’t be long, I promise.”

“…I don’t like you.”

Izuku smiled, hearing the pout in Katsuki’s voice, how it brought the vowels right to the front of his face and made them less gravely than usual. “But I love you.”

“Too bad.”

Izuku bumped his head against Katsuki’s, gently nudging it up. “We love you.”

“Psh,” Katsuki said, finally bringing his eyes up with an eye roll. “The brat can decide for himself. Hardly needs your shitty decisions becoming his.”

“I think I make good decisions,” Izuku gloated. “Look who my boyfriend is.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Katsuki drawled. “Like I said. Shitty decisions.”

*

The sound of a baby rousing was more like that of a tiny bird squawking or a little piglet snuffling against its mother than anything remotely human. It woke Katsuki immediately, as it had three other times so far in the night. Izuku had insisted on taking all three feedings, claiming practice, claiming he was awake anyway, claiming that Katsuki needed sleep for work tomorrow. Well, the evening had come and gone, and now that it was the wee hours of that very morrow, Izuku once again pressed himself up on one arm, only for Katsuki to slam a pillow over his head, smacking him back down.

“My turn, dumbass.”

“Kacchan,” Izuku whined from beneath the pillow. “You need to sleep.”

It was four a.m.—only an hour before Katsuki’s alarm was set to go off anyway. He frequently woke up earlier even without a crying baby. Katsuki pressed the pillow harder into Izuku’s face and leaned over to his ear.

“Careful, Deku,” he taunted. “Keep this up and I’m gonna have to start thinking that you’re hogging the baby, turning him into a little mini nerd.”

“No, Kacchan—!”

“Go back to sleep or I’ll put you to sleep.”

Katsuki pressed down the pillow once more for good measure before rolling out of bed and shuffling over to the bassinet. Izuku might have decided he was the one to stay home, but he’d said Katsuki could fill in the cracks. If they were going to do this alone until the case was solved, then by golly Katsuki was going to do his share, even if he’d never verbally agreed. But the crying had grown louder and he winced with the effort of restraining from telling the baby to shut the fuck up.

He went ahead and unfurled the swaddle Izuku had tucked little Sugu in, already a massive improvement from the night before. The baby’s limbs came to life instantly swimming through the air like the womb they’d never been in.

“C’mon, pipsqueak,” Katsuki said as he hoisted the little guy up and carried him to the changing table in the living room. He clicked on a lamp, not wanting too much light to bleed under the bedroom door.

Katsuki only had a few diaper changes under his belt so far, but if he knew one thing, it was that baby shit was something else. Perhaps it was mild compared to things that had happened to his own body as a hero, but he still held his breath and squinted as he grimaced through it. His mother, who had been texting tips for the last twenty-four hours, had actually managed to send a useful one, which was to immediately upon removing the soiled diaper, cover the boy with the clean one. So as to avoid a fountain of piss pointed straight to the face.

“There ya go.” Katsuki smiled, picking Sugu back up and taking stock of his handiwork. Tight around the hips and no leaks. He shook his head at the strangeness of this. It was so surprisingly easy, yet still so foreign—the diaper changing at least. The rest was only foreign, and Katsuki couldn’t help but be reminded that it was a stranger’s ass that he was wiping. A very cute stranger with stolen facial features.

The formula was the other bit he could do by rote. Easiest recipe his kitchen had ever seen. He got started on it one-handedly, noticing the drying bottles still pilled with water from the night’s earlier feedings. Katsuki kept the light off as he felt for the formula box, the room only lit by the glow of the appliances.

When the bottle was ready, he pointed it at Sugu’s mouth, watching as he took a moment to find it. When he did, he began suckling, and Katsuki held him with a little sway in his hips, side to side. “Good man,” Katsuki praised as the milk disappeared.

According to the articles, this would be a year of his life—just this. Maybe some solids halfway through that time, but still the milk, the diaper changes, and the late-night rendezvous with someone who could barely communicate. Who he could barely get to know. Because what was there to know?

But Sugu could get to know him. Where he held Sugu right now, right in the crook of his arm, was the perfect distance where Sugu could make out his face. At any other distance, he and the rest of the world would be a blur, and only in grayscale. In a few weeks, he’d be able to make out the red of Katsuki’s eyes. 

“Just a little lump,” Katsuki murmured as Sugu finished up the bottle. He set the bottle in the sink for later and moved Sugu up to his shoulder, waiting to see if he would need his usual burp, never stopping the sway of his hips.

A little lump that he was supposed to mold and knead into an actual person. A person who would keep growing and changing for the rest of Katsuki’s life. Assuming…

Sugu’s tiny, short breaths rose and fell against Katsuki’s hand, so alive, so real. But there was still every likelihood that one day…poof. It was clear in Katuki’s mind’s eye. His arms suddenly empty, house filled with baby stuff suddenly in need of donation, the quicker the better, because why hold onto it? Izuku back at work and life just as before.

Katsuki shook his head, squeezing his eyes so tightly there was a backwards pressure on his eyeballs. His grip around Sugu’s middle became all the firmer, taking stock of his warmth, of his fluttering heartbeat against Katsuki’s shoulder.

Forever was unimaginable, but temporary was unthinkable.

There was a wet wrist dripping drool against his back, and Katsuki realized that Sugu had sucked his thumb into his mouth and fallen asleep again. He needed to be laid on his back in the bassinet, but Katsuki was as good as up for the day. And for the first time since last winter, when Izuku had caught the flu and taken a couple days off work—by force—Katsuki would be headed to work alone. Until then, Katsuki was prescribing Izuku with sleep uninterrupted by baby cries.

Katsuki tiptoed back into the bedroom, light on his feet in socks, and placed Sugu in the bassinet before grabbing it by either end and carrying it through the house. Past the changing table and the couch and the television all the way to the kitchen before setting it carefully on the ground. Then he opened the microwave for a shred of honey-yellow light on the countertop. Now, he could work.

Thanks to his mother’s bentos—a few of which had already been eaten—none of Katsuki’s old groceries had been touched. Vegetables were beginning to wilt, fogging up their plastic bags with condensation. His market-fresh eggs were going down in quality with every passing day, and there was some fish he’d really intended to cook a day or two ago.

He got the cutting board and his chef’s knife out and fell back into his easy rhythm like sinking into a summer-warm pool. His fingers were precise as they scooted left across the cutting board, leaving little ringlets of spring onions behind. It was more than he could ever use in one day; the rest would go in a little baggie in whatever small corner of the freezer could be spared. 

“Even slices are important, kiddo, so that they cook at the same rate,” Katsuki explained. “It’s all about control of the knife. Keep your index finger tucked in—you don’t need it to guide.”

There was a light coo in Sugu’s sleep from the bassinet and Katsuki continued on.

“Eggs.” He grabbed four from the carton, three in his left hand and one in his right. He gave the one a firm tap against the dark marble countertop that had sold him on this apartment, and dropped the egg cleanly in the bowl. “No need to crack against the corner of the bowl. The crack will be cleaner against a solid, flat surface.”

Talking was easy like this. Into the early morning air that smelled mostly of dish soap from all the handwashing they’d been doing, for a somwhat captive audience. It reminded him of the easiest moments talking to Izuku, when he was dead asleep either in the late evening or early morning. Those were the times where it was easiest for Katsuki to whisper “Come home safe, Deku,” and “Don’t do anything stupid.” Not like the idiot ever listened anyway, but maybe in those still moments it would creep through, and he’d listen with some part of himself that never did when he was awake.

Of course, it seemed Katsuki wouldn’t have to be reminding Izuku of any of those things for a while now. He’d be safe and sound at home for now. Indefinitely.

Katsuki finished up all the eggs, four perfectly floating yolks ogling up at him as he reached for the chopsticks and a salt shaker.

“Salting the eggs early can make ‘em look funny, but that’s just the proteins being affected,” Katsuki explained as he shook some salt in with one hand and began whisking with the chopsticks in the other. “Makes ‘em retain moisture better in the long run.”

Katsuki mixed the eggs until they were mostly homogenous. Only a few wisps of clear white between the yolk, just beginning to froth up. Then he opened a cabinet.

“Adding a little cornstarch slurry to the scrambled eggs makes it easier not to overcook them,” Katsuki said, dropping the fine starch, almost like baby powder, into a small ramekin and taking it to the sink. “Not that you’ll need the help, ‘cause you’ll be a pro.” The words, slipping out as easily as the rest of his instructions had, gave him pause. He glanced over at the crib, brows suddenly furrowing. “Or whatever. You don’t have to be…”

The best. Katsuki let the words dangle off the tip of his tongue, usually so sharp, and now dulled like a knife that’d gone too long without proper upkeep. He wanted his kid to be the best. To reach as far as Katsuki had and then one step further. Good grades, athleticism, ambition. But wasn’t it talk like that that had left him so fucked up? It was definitely what had fucked Shouto up, straight from his father’s hand.

“Just…be a good person, Sugu,” Katsuki settled on. Then he finished fighting out the cornstarch clumps and drizzled the slurry in with his eggs.

He satisfied himself with prepping all the ingredients, only turning on the rice cooker as he kept the stovetop and fish grill off for the moment. The still dark morning granted him time to pull together a dashi from scratch instead of settling for the ready-to-use packet that smelled of scrambling mornings and rushed arrivals to work; of commute clothes sticky against Katsuki’s back, bangs flatted to his forehead, the stale taste of manufacturing still on his tongue. While the niboshi sat in their bowl of water, he finely sliced some radishes that had been languishing in the fridge for a quick pickle. Every time the slap of the knife against the cutting board cracked a little too loudly, Katsuki dropped a glance at Sugu, but he rested through them all, little rounded tummy rising and falling.

The warm, Japanese spring joined Katsuki in the kitchen as he began multitasking, flipping on the induction stovetop and the grill to preheat. A sharp knife kissed the palm of his hand as it dropped through a cube of tofu to be added to the heating dashi-based broth on the stove for the miso soup. By the time a hand came up to cover a sloppy yawn, the meal was done. Without thinking about it, Katsuki had prepared a meal for two, all the ingredients heated or cooled to where they should be served.

With a sigh, Katsuki spooned out single portions and brought them to the coffee table, still dimly lit by the single lamp. Before folding his knees under it, he brought the bassinet over, peeking at Sugu as he did so. Still restful, despite the fact that Katsuki had neglected the swaddle. He’d remember to do it tomorrow. As Katsuki took his first bite of scrambled eggs, he looked back to Sugu and shook his head.

“Bet you’re fucking jealous,” he grunted out half his mouth. “No teeth, stuck with milk from a shitty powder.” He popped a radish disk in his mouth, the puckering flavor bursting as his molars tore through it. “One day, I’m gonna cook for ya, kid. Then you’ll really start living.”

Katsuki glanced at the bedroom door a couple times as he ate through his meal. Sometimes, the fragrance of cooking fish or even the gentle grassy aroma from the rice cooker was enough to wake Izuku up in the mornings and drag him to Katsuki’s side. Morning stubble would graze against morning stubble with a kiss on the cheek, the sensation sometimes overwhelming enough with its slight scrape of pain and surprising tickle that a shiver would run from Katsuki’s neck to his shoulders. This morning, however, Izuku must have been tired enough from the late-night feedings that even a home-cooked meal wouldn’t rouse him.

So when Katsuki finished with his food and dishes, he took care covering the leftovers. Some of them wouldn’t keep wonderfully, namely the eggs, but the radishes would only grow more flavorful and everything else just needed a gentle reheat. Then it was time for a lonely commute and a shift with some extras who’d probably have questions if the texts that had been burning through his phone since the prior evening were any kind of portent.

He went back to Sugu, bending his arms to rest them on the edge of the bassinet. “Have a good day, buddy,” he breathed. Then he reached down, and pressed a feather-light kiss against Sugu’s thin eyebrow. “Pass that along to Deku, wouldja?” He cocked his head at the baby, letting out a quiet hum. Not quite enough. For good measure, he kissed Sugu again and smiled. That one was just for him.

And then, after tiptoeing the bassinet back into the bedroom and one last look at both of his boys, out like twin lamplights, Katsuki pulled out his phone. The bassinet was posed close enough to the bed that both boys’ resting faces fit in the zoomed-in screen of the camera display. Katsuki centered them in frame and, with one blinding flash in the cold blue light of early morning, took the photo. Then, when he left, it was with a keepsake in his pocket.

*

Izuku’s eyelids twitched once, then twice before fluttering open. He thought he’d seen a lighting bolt, or perhaps the light from one of Katsuki’s explosions, deafened from the cotton-eared moments of early consciousness. As the gum from his eyes blinked away, he caught sight of a little baby right across from him, his new reality coming back to him all at once.

“When d’ya get so close?” Izuku murmured, smiling against his hand atop his pillow. The bassinet was right up against the edge of the bed, certainly not where it had been upon the last feeding Izuku had done.

It was a pleasant sight to wake up to. Even more, a pleasant sound to fall back asleep to, each long, relaxed breath of Izuku’s counting for two or three of Sugu’s huffed little baby breaths. One, two, three, one two three, like a slow waltz. And to that graceful dance, Izuku fell asleep once more.

[theorist-influencer-untitled]

4.1.24 Monday

2:40 am

I still have windblow....I wanna leave Cavite,there are so many unfair things that is happening...

They damage my entire future....I can't find a bf, I don't wanna end up on someone who wanted a trap on me here...

I really wanna end-up with someone pretty and real and with stability....I hate church of christ for being well-organized in the society...

I feel so ugly, this is not my ideal aging... I still want vanity....

Uncle DD is still fake???There is a big mystery on my 2 Uncle's that affects my present situation... My 2 Uncle's can't assist me correctly.What is the mystery of Uncle DD???

2:53 am

I'm thinking of money and job....But I wanna end-up with stability and pretty...

I'm trap here I need a spark of love but of course it must be mutual and mature... Though there are so many pretty faces along the way but who is real and who is fake???

Still,Mark and Mitch are still on my head now separately....

I wonder if Mark was already here from year 2007 until now....Windblow came into my life year 2007, that makes my 17th year now... But I have no personal progress that gives me self-pity .

I know the pattern, they just want me to be fat and ugly and be ordinary looking that will be unfair in my part. I was really spoiled or pampered and I can't accept that someone from my past was just observing me and they fixed themselves like they already did gluta or any enhancement...

Or any exes who got a wifey now and he fixed his wifey to compete me but just there somewhere, simply observing and laughing at my back...

I don't wanna be friends with anyone who perfectly fixed themselves those are INC's or Church Of Christ!!! I hate them for having beauty than me... I was religious and still religious that in reality I deserve to be Egypt but then they planned to make me ordinary!

3:12 am

I did 69 and do believe on it... But my heart was truly religious... If I did it thrice, there will be more of it coz it was a pure care and wisdom and it was my innocence but genuine... I deserve to be Egypt but Filipino's smashing me unfairly...

EGYPT... There is no one here but me! But they wanted me ugly...

3:32 am

I still have windblow... Whew! I'm thinking of my future and money and they took away LIFE that I now value... I know now the value of LIFE, it is Egypt!!!

I now value LIFE but it must have STABILITY and LOVE...

8:34 am

Mga tarantadong INC or Church Of Christ! Be a super tagalog they can't go in! WHAT IS THIS RADIO STATION! TARANTADO KAYO! I'm not a child!!!

17 years they damage my entire future!

We should kill Church Of Christ??? What is their mystery???I was a good girl, I was a member of a choir before in INC or Church Of Christ? What is the mystery???

Is Mitch somewhere, dihd ey "shimpol bhateri ohn meh"? Wat iz d trutz Mitchang??? Wer iz shi?

Still, have windblow...

9:48 am

Will just give Ely 120 coz I asked extra money from Uncle DD he said he doesn't have extra money but 120 only...

235-120= 115

But still asking a favour on Ely....

Hoping to get a bf with stability... Ely is just a friend... I feel shy and it is violoation...

9:53 am

I'm thinking of money and job... Hoping I can leave Cavite...

I still wanna end up with a Barbie's face or someone that I think I can end up with like Pilot Garret or Mark's face but I want a good soul who can accept me...

I wonder if Mark is just around nearby, it is violation as well...

10:02 am

I want someone who can accept my vanity...Mark can surely accept my vanity even Pilot Garret...

Coz they have higher mentality and view about life...

10:49 am

I made a boiled water yesterday just about 3 liters but I still asked a favour from Kuya Erning... Guess what the boiled water I made then I put in the freezer tastes yummy but it doesn't have minerals and salt.... But it is somehow extra work for me...Still,better to order mineral water on Kuya Erning. But if in case...

11:38 am

I'll go back to tattoo... But I want only those good soul... How did they get some of it?

I'm thinking of a product to sell angels....I wanna get fame and some have earnings...

2:37 pm

Hi Pilot Garret...

Care for a coffee???

3:59 pm

Oh! Shit...Pilot Garret got a gf angels....Oh! Headache... Should I move on??? PERHAPS....

4:03 pm

This what happened this afternoon coz I'm so focus on watching Pilot Garret's youtube.

I forgot coz of his fucking pretty face but there are more out there who is single and pretty as well... Moving on...

4:39 pm

Sorry Pilot Garret you gotta gf... I thought I can be your shorty Dharma.

By the way this is "Dharma and Greg"...

So what if just "Shorty Dharma" if Greg loves me.... ;) If someone will love me...

11:37 pm

I still have windblow... I feel fat,ugly and old...I still wanna leave Cavite...

Done,doing some laundry... I feel bitterish this poorish situation we are having...

Uncle DD brought us a burger.. About the 120 that supposed to be given to Ely as payment... He said just keep it and pay me next time... So, funny right???My credit on Ely is still 235!

Did Mitch somewhere nearby as well, gave me a "simple battery"? I have windblow... I feel self-pity...

Mark? Weird... If he is just nearby and simply observing me? Why? Longing to see him coz of the weird situation... Is he nearby??? I have windblow...

I need to get a bf... I feel bitter... I feel a trap in here, I can't get progress even on getting a bf.Hoping and praying for pretty,stability and kind-hearted....

If only Pilot Garret is single, I will keep on bugging him but unfortunately he is taken already... His face is wonderful for a yellowish skin and really pretty... I wonder how old is Pilot Garret now?

Mark's eyes is a pretty chinky eyes... I like his eyes for chinky people... Is he nearby? It is painful...One of the Mickey Mouse? But why???

[writer59january13]

Just because an impetus arose... to repost poem (I chanced to locate amidst plethora of poems on hard drive of Macbook Pro) written more'n a half decade ago before yours truly blissfully oblivious to crypto- currency shenanigans linked into

fiendish scammers after which I (especially me button nose) didst glow (giving Rudolph the red nosed reindeer a run for his money) whence rage, on par with wrath of Khan, whereby mine money witnessed lightspeed outflow. Thank dog, and cat, no pet tee filed - late fee incurred from this sole heir, matted son Avenue of Harris communiqué to his youngest sister busy as a queen bee, her name mentioned backwards solely for wry ming sense – re: garding Dunning-Harris Shari:

Not there need not be any clear cut, nor cloudy total reason to bolster wee kind fortitude to write an email (albeit with my characteristic trademark rhyme) to invite my own impetus to dash off a friendly hello in a gentle effort to unite

sibling camaraderie, whether this material in question profound or trite with no pronoun sub bull adverbial, or adjectival intent, and of course nada spite,

this exercise to compose, whatever occurs within mum mind quite likely to concern

general circumstances, rather than touch upon any single plight since, an easily educated guess can paint (no Norman Rockwell) framed palette, (sans dystopian picture) outright and despite whatever hardship, with curtain call on this then November 11th, 2018 night, a flickr ring, instagram, and

kickstarter motive might be fulfilling tummy, that ever so quickly the dimming light (when the scythe lint covered grim reaper) perhaps attired as 21st century lgbtqia2s+ genderfluid non-binary knight, the latter once sip pawn a time...,

now he iz a messenger simply bear ring pleasant tidings, and also an effort to express, how ye didst (aunt still do) care (uncle Andy as well) for Shana Punim, who on a doable dare

to be doted upon, and offered to go here, there,

and everywhere

experiencing a gamut of eye opening globe trotting (Watch out Harlem basketball Boyz to men) hair

reed tailored, and swiftly styled educational adventures adding learning and zest to life, liberty, and purrs suit of feline doth wrest good development

of character to invest patterning herself after exemplary guardians

sometimes you might be feeling beat, when embarking upon latest electric kool aid acid test, nonetheless, this missive of gratitude, where thee darling daughter doth conquer one quest

after another

(principally attributed to thee, who doth NEVER protest obligations, but launch with confidence, whether feathering bed videlicet the Gadshill nest, or...furthering education keeping body, mind, and spirit sharpened as best Yukon Mount attain.

[bougiebutchbitch]

THE BABY'S FIRST WORD IS FUCK dlsgjdsdlkghkdsgf I'm screaming

(putting the rest under a cut because oh my god this is getting long)

This is all so beautiful. Just, small babby coparented by the entire crew! It takes a village, indeed.

I like to imagine that Ed obviously knows, even if no one acknowledges it. He's a smart guy, after all. Just... not smart enough to know how he feels about All That. Like, he knows he left Stede without any sort of communication (though, admittedly, more than when Stede 'left' him). He knows Stde was within his rights to have a messy rebound. But with Izzy? His Iz?

He's trying not to be angry at Iz. He knows it takes two to make a fucking baby. But it's so easy to blame stuff on Izzy, isn't it? But - no, he's not falling into that trap again! He's being better! He is! And he loves the little baby, of course he does; she's lovely and she's a combination of Stede and Izzy, his two favourite people.

Izzy caaaasually just. Keeps her the fuck AWAY from Ed, and Ed's not ready to talk to him about that yet (or... anything) but Ed genuinely wants to make friends with her and be a part of her life in a positive way. So obviously the answer is to, in one of his midnight insomniac bouts, to sneak in to izzy's room while she's sleeping and steal her for a cuddle session.

To which Izzy wakes up an hour later and FREAKS THE FUCK OUT - until he sees Ed lying on the floor next to his bed, smiling happily in his sleep, slack and vulnerable and entirely nonthreatening, baby curled up on his chest with his hair gathered in her tiny fist~

(of course, this still spurs Stede to make them sit down together and have an actual conversation, and Izzy gets to put a fucking lock on his door because between this and the toes Frenchie is worried he'll never sleep again - but when Ed tearfully admits that he doesn't want to be shut out from the baby's life, or Izzy's, though he recognises that Izzy has the right to make that choice, Izzy just sighs. And grumbles, 'you're my captain. Of course you're always gonna be a part of my life. And my fucking kid's.' and then Ed gets added to the babysitting roster and is The Fun Uncle from then on!

things I do not have time to write: Izzy and Stede had angry hate sex (which was, uh, far more mutually appreciative than either of them want to admit) after Ed left Stede and the 'he's a complicated man' scene. It was a one night stand. It was a mutual blowing off of steam. They agreed to put it behind them and never, ever talk about it again. Ed came back and Ed and Stede got back together and everything's fine, Izzy's fine, everyone lived and it's happy fucking families on the Revenge.

Izzy is also fucking pregnant.

[niicevibe]

𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐜 𝐌𝐞𝐠𝐮𝐦𝐢 + 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐇𝐂𝐬

I have returned, with some realistic Megumi and Y/N headcanons... Also, to anyone that sees this that read my very first headcanon collection for Tomura -- thank you so much!! I'm very glad you all liked it.

As per the usual now, I'll be dropping some personal headcanons on your fave, as well as some Y/N headcanons.

Again, if anyone has requests for a headcanon collection or specific headcanons, don't be afraid to send an ask or message!

𝐖𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬: none, again; just fluff. Happy Birthday, Megumi! (12/22)

𝐫𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐧.

Megumi, Megumi, Megumi.

Being the quiet, sullen one of his peers has its perks. Some perks. He's got a good poker face, that's for sure. Most of the time. Manage to fluster him enough and he's going to try and hide his expression as best he can.

He's definitely a people watcher, too, but for the reason of trying to get a good read on them. He's not judgmental -- far from it, really, besides from when Yuuji is involved -- but he just needs to know if you're a good person...

It doesn't take long for him to find out his answer, either. Of course, you're good people. He'd like to say it's because you're a Jujutsu Sorcerer and you're risking your life for others, but it would only be too easy. He knows you're a good person by the kind little habits you have that you use almost routinely.

He'd never admit it to himself, lest Yuuji, Nobara or Satoru or the ridicule would never end, but he loves when you use your habits around him.

Especially when he's already such a closed book. His subconscious need for independence is so strong, so occupied by watching out for himself, and then his sister. Satoru has been around, but he's always been like the annoying uncle with decent advice.

"Be greedier."

Be greedier? This definitely applies to more than just Jujutsu Sorcery, right?

He's asking this question when he looks at you, slate faced and mind buzzing.

Megumi would most definitely be someone who'd rehearse saying things before speaking with you; his reserved personality almost demands it. Most of his life has been about training himself for being a Jujutsu Sorcerer, so he's never really had time to think about "this kind of thing", until you arrived. And now, he finds himself struggling with his words, the ones he wanted so terribly to say.

But then you leave the classroom, announcing to him, Yuuji, and Nobara that you were going to go have a nap before training.

A nap, huh? Not a bad idea. But then he gets to thinking what taking a nap with you would be like. Maybe you're always warm, or maybe not. Maybe you sleep with several layers around and on you; maybe your blankets end up on the floor near the end of your bed with you lying on your back, sprawled out like a starfish and covered in night sweats.

Megumi seems like someone who is always cold at night -- which is the best thing anyway, right? Then you can burrito-ize yourself with your blankets and it's the best sleep ever. He considers this, thinking on how if you and him were napping together, maybe you'd never be so hot when you sleep, and he'd never be cold.

But that's a boundary he's not quite ready to cross... not yet. Being the reserved individual that he is, Megumi would want to take his time lest his heart fail him.

However, he's also a Major Dork™️. If your group is all together, it's easier for him to distract himself with Yuuji and Nobara's antics and listening to you laugh and offering choice words at them to keep the scenario going. He's happy just watching things unfold, watching you, revelling in the brief happiness you're all able to enjoy together. And when he's caught staring by you, he doesn't mind. He's able to offer that soft little smile he has but rarely uses, and you guess that he's enjoying himself, too, and smile back at him.

(He's grateful that Yuuji and Nobara's argument of the day escalates enough that you're forced to tear your eyes away from him and intervene, unable to keep the act up for much longer.)

If it's just the two of you, whether just in each others' company or off on a mission, he knows that if he gets caught staring, you'll force him to explain himself, and he isn't ready for that. But he does it anyway, his chin tucked deep into the collar of his jacket to hide his mouth, until in the corner of your eye, you do catch him, and he jumps.

"Gumi... this isn't exactly the first time I've caught you staring at me," you tell him, your lip quirked upward. "Has there been something on my face this whole time? And the other day?"

Inwardly, he grimaces.

"Y... Yeah."

A groan escapes him, realizing his mistake. Rehearse all you want, Megumi, but it won't save you here.

You laugh a little before reaching up, tucking your thumb into the hem of your sleeve to collect it, mumbling how you wished you'd had a mirror.

"Did I get it?" you ask, turning to him completely.

Obviously, there isn't anything on your face at all. Just your bright eyes and your nice lips a-and, you even have nice eyebrows, he find himself thinking; his face flushes when the thought enters his mind. He'd just gone with the suggestion because he didn't have an answer to give you, until now.

"No," he tells you, his heart pounding when he lifts his thumb your cheek, resting against your warmth before taking the underside of your chin into the rest of his hand.

You've been stunned in place, unable to move out of pure shock. Not that it isn't unwelcome whatsoever! You just never thought Megumi would be unintentionally good at this kind of thing. As his hand cradles your face in his hand, you feel yourself leaning further into it, your eyes fluttering shut, reminded of just how much you love his hands to begin with.

This is a headcanon, but also canon! Megumi Fushiguro has beautiful hands. They've been known to create beautiful things with his Jujutsu, but they literally look like Michaelangelo flew down from the heavens just to carve a final pièce de résistance. It's not a wonder that you're in love with them, too.

At this point, Megumi's cheeks are painted the same pink of a setting sky with no hopes of it fading away any time soon, made worse when you reach up to lay your fingers over his knuckles.

"So that's why you were staring."

Megumi would have never imagined entering Jujutsu High for the prospect of a relationship. He'd already been named a Second Grade Sorcerer before his first day, which had been enough of an achievement, but now he walks with you, your hand in his, both of your faces feverish with your own brands of flush.

Something to be aware of but definitely not force the matter is Megumi's general closed-offness. He's gone through a lot growing up without really addressing things or having someone to talk to about them (as a friend or professionally), so while it is on your itinerary to speak to him about, you know better than to push.

He definitely hasn't thought about it as much as you have, but he knows that, eventually, he'll have to open up to you on his past. He's only thankful that you're so patient with him, because it most certainly won't be easy for him to do.

Megumi's dedication to his Jujutsu training also shows in your budding relationship. Still just a couple of kids with no dating experience, he tries to come through with being attentive and honest about things, something he's naturally good at, anyway, but for you, there's so much more of that effort to show.

I don't believe he would be the type to show jealousy, or at least, a grand amount of it. Bring Todō around and it won't be jealousy but annoyance that rears its head; he had enough of him during the Sister School Event. At the very least, Todō would leave Megumi alone, finally having gotten a proper answer about who his type is.

Being so timid with his emotions, eye contact would be a big thing for him. That's how all of this started for the two of you, anyway, him staring with those big, beautiful eyes of his. But you've both developed an unspoken code with eye contact, and he appreciates this.

Especially in Satoru's presence. Lord. He still hasn't said anything to him. There's no rush, after all............. so this also means being easy on any public displays of affection.

You adoring whatever he does flusters him, but you still like to be a subtle cheerleader for him, anyway. The little praises you shower him with and you gushing about him to Yuuji and Nobara -- stop it, but please keep going.

He's always happy to summon his shikigami for you (either when you ask for it or when he thinks you could be made happier with their presence). Seeing the joy on your face whenever he does just fills him with indescribable joy.

© niicevibe | please don’t repost! reblogs appreciated ♥️

[smcc212]

Fearless

Word count- 1, 077

Pairing- Tommy Shelby x Son!, Finn Shelby x nephew!, Isiah Jesus x Male OC(platonic)

Warnings- None really? Referenced bullying, and my awful writing.

A/N- We’re all just gonna big fat ignore the fact the I haven’t posted in 238 days, okay? Okay. Great.

Thank you to @fandoms410 for requesting this, I’m so, so, so sorry it took this long xxxxx

Tommy always worried about Liam, he couldn’t help it. Having a son that couldn’t feel pain, and was bullied as a result of that, well, who wouldn’t worry? After the incident with John kids, and the kids from Liam’s school, however, that fear only grew worse.

He felt himself just wanted to bundle Liam up in bubble-wrap and bring him everywhere with him. He was even nervous about letting Liam go out to play with Finn. Although, he knew he couldn’t keep Lee locked away forever.

He watched from his office window as Lee waddled after Finn towards Jeremiah Jesus’ house. A very excitable Isiah quickly hugging his dad before joining the Shelby boys. Liam rushes to hug Isiah, and the older boy didn’t hesitate to hug him back before picking him up and heading off towards the cut.

Tommy sighed, sitting down at his desk and attempting to get on with his work. He trusted Finn, and Isiah for that matter, with Liam; It was the other lads he didn’t trust. He just hoped, prayed that they kept a close enough eye on his little boy.

Finn watched as Isiah pretend to be much slower than he really was, letting Liam catch him as they were playing tig. He fought to keep in a laugh as Isiah dramatically acted shocked that Liam caught him.

“How are you so fast, Lee?” He pretended to wonder as Liam broke out in a fit of giggles.

“You’re just really slow, iz,” he laughed. Isiah gasped in mock offence.

“You little monster,” He said before launching into an attack of tickles. “How dare you.” Finn stopped holding in his laugh at that and instead joined Isiah’s attack.

“Stop,” Lee stammered in between laughs.

“Not until you admit that I’m a fast runner.”

“B-but you’re not.” Isiah gasped again, continuing to tickle to boy. After a couple of minutes Lee caved in. “F-fine! You’re a fast runner,” He exclaimed.

“Thank you,” Isiah said stepping away, Finn did the same. “That wasn’t so hard was it?” He beamed at the boy. Liam moved his hand to rub at the tears of laughter that had formed on his face, trying not to press down too hard.

After that the boys went to Charlie Strong’s yard to see the horses. Isiah making sure to hold Lee’s hand as he had a tendency to run in the stables excited and spook the horses. Isiah remembered clear as day the ice-cold fear he felt when he saw the horse buck, he only just managed to grab Liam before the horse cracked his skull open.

“Hello, boys,” Charlie greeted.

“Hi, Charlie. We were wondering if we could see the horses?” Finn asked politely. Upon seeing the hesitation on Charlie’s face Isiah spoke up.

“Don’t worry, I’ve got Lee. I’ll make sure he doesn’t hurt himself.” Charlie nodded.

“Alright, but only for a little bit, Curly and I have to clean the stables soon.”

“Thank you, uncle Charlie!” Liam exclaimed, pulling on Isiah’s hand.

“Hold on, Lee,” Isiah started, crouching down to the boy’s level to make sure he had his attention. “I need you to promise to be calm around the horses, okay? I know you love them, but you don’t want to scare them, yeah? And I don’t want you to get hurt. So, promise me, yeah?”

“Okay, I promise, iz.”

“Okay. Good.” He stood up again, keeping a hold of Liam’s hand. “Let’s go then.”

Tommy had tried, and failed at getting his work done. His mind to preoccupied by his anxiety over Liam’s safety to be able to focus on the business. Liam was the only thing that could keep Tommy from working.

He decided to go see Charlie and see if he’d seen Liam. He knew his boy loved horses, so that was the most likely bet.

“Morning, Charlie,” He greeted in his usual emotionless voice.

“Morning, Tom. Finn, Isiah, and Liam are in the stables if you’re looking for them.” Tommy nodded, heading to find his boy; he needed to calm his disquiet. He stopped at the door, seeing Isiah holding Liam on his hip.

“Slowly, Lee. You don’t want to scare her, do you?” He heard Isiah say quietly. Liam shook his head softly, and cautiously lifted his hand up towards the mare. It sniffed softly at the boy’s hand. Liam let out a little giggle, making the corner of Tommy’s mouth curl slightly.

“Tickles,” He whispered to Isiah.

“Yeah, they do that,” Isiah chuckled back. Finn was just standing in the corner watching the other two boys, much like Tom was doing. He and Tommy locked eyes, sent each other a small smile and a nod-silently agreeing to not interrupt.

The mare tilted his head down slightly, giving permission for Liam to pet her. Lee turned to Isiah, his blue eyes full of awe and a silent question.

“Yeah, go on, Lee,” Isiah encouraged, cause Liam to smile and gently run his hand along the mare’s head.

“I’m doing it, iz,” He whisper-yelled excitedly.

“I know,” Isiah replied in a breathy laugh. “I’m proud of you.” If it was possibly, Liam’s smile got even wider. Tommy felt like someone was pulling on his heartstrings. His beautiful boy seemed so thrilled to do something as simple as pet a horse, he wondered if Isiah being there with him made the little boy more excitable.

Suddenly, the bubble was burst as Charlie walked in, followed by curly.

“Right boys, sorry but times up.” Isiah pulled Liam away, placing him back on the ground and taking ahold of his hand. When he turned around a saw tommy, a look of pure shock covered the boys face.

“Hello, Mr Shelby,” He said. Tommy smiled at him.

“Hello, Isiah.”

“Lee, wanted to pet the horse,” He explained nervously.

“I know, Isiah, I saw. I was just checking on on him, but I can see he’s in good hands.”

“Iz,” Lee said, pulling on the older boy’s hand.

“Yeah?”

“Can we play hide and seek? Me, you, and Finn?” Lee looked at Isiah with pure awe, as if the boy was a prophet.

“Yeah, of course we can. Coming Finn?”

“Yep. See you later, Tom.” Finn chirped, following his best friend and nephew.

“See you, boys.” Tommy watched them walk away for a moment, before heading back to work. The worry he once held gone after witnessing the love Isiah seemed to have for his boy.

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