#Not at a glance at least. I'm sure my therapist would say otherwise but I don't wanna get into that lmao

[reblog-house]

I am so desperately trying to sleep but I can't stop giggling. Why am I always like this with my blorbos. At least if it were a crush or hell, a squish, it'd make sense. But no. I am just. I just go very giggly and kick-feet and hehehehe.

[awanderingdeal]

This was supposed to be funny, but some how we got into Sirius parent trauma....

so yeah,

content warning for implied past parental abuse.

Character credit goes to @lumosinlove

Rating: G

"Leo! Pass it to me!" Harry called, banging his stick eagerly against the ice. Leo obliged, earning a toothless grin as Harry collected the puck.

With a slight wobble - he was still getting used to his recent growth spurt - Harry turned to make his way up to the other end of the ice. The turning issue aside, Sirius noticed he moved much more steadily than he did even six months ago.

Still, Pascal stole the puck from Harry with ease. "Got you," Pascal said. Small lines creased the skin around his eyes and mouth as laughter bubbled on his lips.

"Dumo," he spat. "Dumo. More like Dumbo."

"Harry James Potter!"

Sirius jerked his head upright. He'd almost forgotten James there; a mess of hair and hazel coloured eyes just visible over the wall which surrounded the rink. He must be kneeling now, but the last Sirius had seen he'd been sat colouring pictures with the youngest Weasley. He held his breath for a second, releasing it in a slow controlled manner just as his therapist had taught him. And another. This was James.

He let his eyes land on Harry again. His Godson was looking up at Pascal petulently, his small fist in a tight grip around his stick.

"Harry," James said again. "Come here please."

For a second, it seemed Harry was going to disobey his father. Then his shoulders dropped, he tore his gaze away from Pascal's gently raised eyebrow and started a slow skate over to James. Sirius felt his own muscles relax.

He leaned forward, resting his chin on the palm on his hand, hoping he appeared nochalent whilst he strained his ears. He was sure he could hear everything but James.

"And this is why not having children is good thing," Logan laughed. "They say terrible two's but it should be more like terrible tens."

"He's eight," Leo snorted.

"It keeps you on your toes. Keeps you young," Pascal said.

"Alright, old man." Logan shook his head fondly, taking the puck off the end of Pascal's stick. "Who's got who now?"

"Leo, how fond of this one are you?"

"Can't lie, I quite like him," Leo laughed.

Pascal grunted. "Shame."

Sirius made his lips curl up into the smile he knew would be expected, glancing over at James and Harry with every third breath. His mouth was dry and he needed water, but he wasn't sure if he stood his legs would bear his weight. And Remus had gone to get drinks. It'd be weird if he followed. Or would it? Yeah, Remus would know. Maybe he wanted him to know?

Just as he thought his the pulsing behind his eyes was going to get too much and his head would actually explode, James smiled. He reached out and ruffled Harry's hair, his lips forming familar words. "Love you kiddo."

As Harry skated back out onto the ice, Sirius took another breath. This time his body knew what to do with it. James met his eyes now, rolling his eyes in Harry's direction. The smile Sirius returned was more genuine.

"My dad says I have to apologise to you," Sirius heard Harry mutter some what in Pascal's direction.

"Okay," Pascal nodded.

"I'm sorry," Harry said. "I shouldn't have called you Dumbo. It was rude.

Pascal nodded again and Harry straightened up a little. "Apology accepted. Thank you."

"Can we play again now? But can you let me keep the puck at least sometimes. It's not fun otherwise."

Sirius frowned, guilt replacing the fear that had just been. James was a good dad. James was not either one of his parents. He rubbed his hand over his face, trying to scrub away the guilty feeling.

"Hey love," Remus sat down, handing Sirius a drink. Remus' weight against his side was familiar and warm, comforting in a way nothing else was.

"I'm fine," Sirius said.

"I didn't say you weren't," Remus said, fixing his eyes on Sirius. He stared and Sirius knew he was assessing the situation. They'd done this enough times. "Do you want to talk about it or leave it for Thursday?"

Thursday. Therapy day. God, he was going to have so much to talk about this week.

"Thursday," Sirius replied. "I just...I forgot who I was with for a bit. I'll tell you about it later."

Remus didn't reply, instead pressing his lips to Sirius' jaw and curling their fingers together. Sirius leaned into him, letting himself relax back into watch his friends. His good friends, who were good parents.

[manybcdthings]

The sound of Bella's laughter always felt like a jolt of caffeine, invigorating and infectious. It was light and buoyant, a sound that lifted a whole room. "I'm fine with that. I'll allow it." Felix teased, adopting a faux aloofness he knew she’d see right through. He kept the banter going, humming with exaggerated disbelief. "Hmm, I don't know. I can see it vividly. Maybe a bit of a leaf browned or something, and you were inconsolable." he goaded her with a grin. "I will make a point to. Very first thing I say to Nadia when I see her: 'Excuse me, but did Bella ever cry before a birthday?' I’m sure that won’t make me look like a sociopath."

Felix's head tilted with genuine intrigue as Bella sidestepped the topic of his brother, a playful smirk still tugging at his lips. "Oh, this just got interesting. What am I thinking?" he pried teasingly, momentarily distracted by Bella's laugh and her gesture towards the slightly off tablecloth. Felix frowned, his gaze meeting hers again. "That's going to annoy me for the whole night now. I wish you never mentioned it." he admitted honestly, but his frown quickly morphed back into a grin as Bella was already implementing their new phrase. Felix fought back a laugh, tsking. "Psycho-Shining." he agreed, ready to embed it into their shared lexicon.

Being described as romantic and depressing would be an insult coming from anyone else, but from Bella, it was endearing. At least to him "Well, as long as I'm more Kafka in the bedroom and more Dostoevsky everywhere else, I can deal with that." he quipped, watching as Bella changed his new nickname while his hand waited patiently for hers. As soon as they were in the courtyard, Felix reluctantly let go of her hand to retrieve his cigarette packet from his pocket. "Like a Louisiana swamp, yeah." he remarked about the event's atmosphere. "Maybe everyone is finally realizing that wearing a mask only works for some things and not others." he added with a chuckle, mumbling around his cigarette.

Bella's question followed, and Felix gave her a curious glance before responding almost immediately. "I've never had a thing for my therapists, so no. Otherwise, mine and Finn's friendship would be very complicated." he joked lightly before beckoning her over to him by the wall with a quick wave. Once she was close enough, he took her hand, planting a soft kiss over her knuckles before lifting her finger to the cigarette he took between his teeth, waiting for her magic to do the honors.

"Isabella Belcourt," Felix then said, letting his tone lift slightly as if making an announcement. "You're not a therapist-girlfriend. You don't try to lead me to water. You definitely don't try to make me drink it. You walk with me while I figure out my own way there. Even if you know the quickest and easiest route, you let me…" he waved his hand in the air, drawing a chaotic path before taking a drag from his cigarette and exhaling the smoke away from her face. "Which is mainly a testament to your patience." Felix grinned at her. "You're a kind, intelligent, and understanding person, and I love you for those things. They just so happen to be why you're also a good therapist. That's the only crossover." he exchanged a more knowing look with Bella. "That was the conversation, hm? With Oskar?"

Felix's quick retort brings a loud, uncontrollable laugh from Bella. She tries to suppress it, but it bursts out, interrupting her mid-sip. "Psycho-Shining is gonna be a thing now, you know that, right?" she says, eyes sparkling with amusement. Once her laughter subsides, she looks to him with appreciation for the humor. Finally taking the sip she needed to abandon, Bella hums and shakes her head slightly. "No, I've never cried before a birthday party." she tells him, waving her free hand slightly. "I might be offended if you don't believe me, but I mean it. Unless there was something from when I was a kid, but you'd have to ask my mom." another chuckle escapes despite her effort to stifle it.

Bella's smile softens as the moment shifts from Felix's sharp wit to his gentler side. She nods reassuringly, a light tsk escaping as he reads her mind. Navigating both caring, therapist-mode is easy to her, but he's right. As he often is. "Probably not in the way you're thinking." she admits lightly and without elaborating, knowing Felix's goal is to distract her from such a topic in the first place. Her hand squeezes his on her shoulder, another smile spreading across her lips. "I wasn't thinking about a million things!" she insists, laughing. "I was actually noticing that one tablecloth is different from the others. They must've thought no one would notice. Just that one, for some reason." she points out the culprit cloth, the slightest difference in shade that catches her eye.

Playfully, Bella rolls her eyes as Felix insists but her smile is genuine once her gaze settles back to him. "Fine means fine in my world," she quips with a small chuckle. "If it really was a terrible conversation with Oskar, I'd say something." she reassures him, knowing he never truly lets anything go. Just like his distaste for couple pranks, his commentary bringing out another laugh from her. "I don't think it's all like that. I mean, there's an element of…" she trails off, glancing at Felix with a coy grin of admission. "Okay, fine. I agree with you." she mutters, knowing he'll never let that go either. "But!" her free hand raises. "Not completely, so. Psycho-Shining?"

Felix keeps her laughing as they escape the event, her grin widening at his play on words. "I like that, actually. It suits you. Depressing but romantic." she's already reaching for her phone to change his contact name, chuckling to herself before noticing his hand waiting for hers. She instantly entwines her fingers with his, nudging the door to the courtyard open with her hip. "Only if I focus on it, and I haven't." she answers about the evening's atmosphere, frowning in thought. "But maybe? I think there's just something that's… off? I don't know. Feels close." Bella shrugs, their hands slipping free from one another so Felix can fetch his cigarettes. She takes a moment to glance through the courtyard, a natural glance taken upward to the skies. "Do you think I therapy you, then?" her question peeks and she only glances to him once it's already said. "If I'm in therapist-mode so much, do I feel more like a therapist than a girlfriend?"

[nancywheelersgirlfriend]

Prompt: Nancy and Mike talk and nancy tells him she's dating Robin but he already knew because he noticed things but he was waiting for her to open up about it and they hug and they're happy. And then Mike starts teasing nancy when Robin is around

i'm obsessed with the wheeler siblings, expect to see more of them!!

i walk the line (2,073 words)

From now on, no more secrets. Okay?

Yeah, that had been a fat load of shit. 

It was practically in their blood to hide things from each other. Despite both being clued in on the open secret of the Upside-Down, Mike still kept his door firmly shut whenever she was around. She would drive him for the sake of driving him, but his mouth never budged. He was a tight puzzle she couldn’t crack and it killed her inside.

Especially since she’d left for her first year at Emerson - Mike wasn’t the best at writing letters. When he did, they were often void of any real information. Her therapist blamed her folks. She couldn’t help but blame herself. The unspoken rift of a brother and sister had widened exponentially, no thanks to her. If they were going to stop keeping secrets, she was going to have to make the first move.

Home for an early summer, Nancy had arrived late the night before with no time to even say hello. When she’d peeked through his surprisingly ajar bedroom door, his bed was empty. Her mom said he was sleeping over at Will’s. 

Nancy felt more nervous for this conversation than she had for her Emerson interview. She knew, in the back of her mind, it was absurd to be fretting like this. She was an adult now. She’d fought monsters. She’d made it through exam week with all limbs still intact. But Mike’s opinion reigned above most in her mind - he was her little brother. Even through the tense atmosphere and lack of communication, they understood each other on a level no one else could. 

Robin had phoned in the night before, still a few days out from leaving her dorm at the University of Indianapolis. She’d stayed close, at least for her first year of college. Now it was Nancy’s turn to rush out anxious words, bitten nails. Her girlfriend was as reassuring as she usually was, a wonderful trait of hers that had Nancy falling deeper with every carefully placed word and smiled sentence. You’re fine, Robin said. He’s fine. It’ll be fine.

Yeah, it’ll be fine.

On the eve of Nancy’s second night home, after confirming Mike was friendless and otherwise unoccupied in his tiny bedroom, she stood outside his door in contemplation. A big part of her wanted to turn tail and run. Perhaps keep this particular secret under wraps for as long as possible. But she knew if she did, eventually she’d explode. She raised her hand and knocked.

The record playing dimly in the background, some Duran Duran track, cut off sharply.

“Door’s open,” Mike called out. Nancy resisted the urge to make some snarky remark about how it certainly wasn’t before she twisted the knob and stepped through.

Mike was sprawled out on his bedroom floor surrounded by comics. Clearly their mother had told him to clean his room - some were stacked up in a pile, probably recycling. Others he’d gotten distracted by, now totally off on a superhero-filled tangent. Nancy avoided stepping on the corner of a copy of the Avengers as she moved further in.

“Hey, Mike,” She greeted softly. He glanced up from the comic book sprawled across his face, watching her with those big black eyes of his. Nancy was hit with a wave of recognition - they shared the same eyes. She closed the door behind her. “Can we talk?”

“Uh, sure,” Mike said after a moment, scrambling to sit up and brush away the sprawled comics. “You can sit down on my bed, sorry about the mess.” Nancy smiled in what she hoped was a reassuring way, plopping down on his bunk bed and nearly hitting her head in the process. She tilted back slightly, enough to see the words carved along the wood underside. Lucas’s signature. A fading heart with an ‘E’ scratched out in the center. Two little stick people closer to the head of his bed. She reached up with two fingers to trace the indents.

“Who is this meant to be?” She asked. He came into view then, a mess of curly black hair and awkward limbs. He looked up to where she was tracing. As he ducked his head, she caught a glimpse of a pale red spreading like wildfire across his cheeks. 

“Nobody,” He replied. Inwardly she sighed, dropping her hand so that he could sit down beside her. Right - the lying.

“Okay,” She dragged out the word, wiping sweaty palms off on her pants.

“What did you want to talk about?” Nancy anxiously wet a stray curl, twisting it around her pointer over and over again.

“We said no more secrets,” She began hesitantly, casting a cautious glance over at him through her hair. Mike nodded in vague agreement, face curious. It was a good sign. “So. I wanted to tell you a secret, just between you and me. I feel like we’ve been growing apart.”

“It’s hard to stay together when you’re on the other side of the country,” Mike admitted, half-joke and half-serious. Nancy sheepishly shrugged, a soft smile playing on her face. “But yeah. I, uh. I think so, too.”

“There’s been something I’ve wanted to tell you for a while, anyhow,” Nancy began. She took in a deep breath. Here goes. “I’m dating somebody.”

Mike snorted in disbelief, glancing at her incredously.

“That’s what you’re sweating over?” He asked.

“It’s who I’m dating,” Nancy corrected softly, looking up at her brother through her eyelashes tentatively. She realized now that he’d skyrocketed above her in height, head bent at an awkward angle to stay level to hers. His hair smooshed against the underside of the top bunk.

Mike frowned. She could practically hear him running down a list of potential embarrassing people - Steve, Jonathan, some white-collared Republican against everything she stood for…

“Who?” Mike asked finally. She supposed he’d reached the end of that list, fruitless and confused as ever. When he saw how much she was faltering, practically falling apart, his face softened accordingly. “Who, Nance?”

She wet her bottom lip and took the plunge.

“Robin,” Nancy said, and it was a name she’d said in many contexts before; annoyance, adoration, in the midst of a laugh, half-asleep, in tears. Never as anxiously as it came out now and it was almost unfamiliar in that tense. Mike blinked with those big owl eyes of his, staring at her without speaking. This, surely, was the worst part. The waiting. And then: his mouth spilt in an unstoppable, toothy grin.

“I knew it,” He said confidently, leaning close but hesitating to reach out and make contact. He was as awkward as he’d always been - they’d never been very good at physical affection anyway. Nancy made the first move, reaching out with an open palm to take her brother’s hand in hers. Mike was quick to interlace their fingers, giving Nancy an accepting squeeze. She could feel that past year’s worth of tension, perhaps years worth, drop from her shoulders as she did. Mike’s opinion meant the world to her, more than even their parents. They’d survived an apocalypse, they could survive Nancy having a girlfriend.

“Wait-” She said, suddenly registering his words and his shit-eating expression. “You knew?”

“I didn’t want to say anything,” Mike began, voice filled with mischief. She resisted the urge to roll her eyes and instead appreciated how casual he was. Even though Nancy was shocked by the idea that he’d known. She’d tried so hard. 

“How?” Nancy asked, and now it was her turn to be incredulous. Mike dropped her hand to run it through his hair, leaning forwards onto his elbows and escaping the cramped space of the bunkbed.

“I saw your university phone bill,” Mike spoke casually, shrugging his shoulders. “Mom and Dad left it out on the counter - bunch of calls to Indianapolis and she’s the only person we know living there right now. Plus, you talk about her, like, so much.”

“So much?” Nancy parroted, incredibly embarrassed and also so, so happy. She buried her head in her hands as Mike laughed.

“Do you proofread your letters?” Mike said, snarky as he usually was. 

“Shut up!” Nancy practically shouted, flying out her arm to smack him in the chest. Mike went back onto his bed with an ‘oof’, the wind knocked from his lungs. But he was still cackling, that shithead. Nancy flopped down beside him, hand to her face. “So, um. You’re really okay with it?”

“Were you really worried I wouldn’t be?” Mike retorted, flipping on his side to face her. “Nancy, you’re my sister.” 

“It’s not that simple,” Nancy said, fingers playing anxiously with one of her beltloops.

“Out of everything that is incredibly complex in our lives,” Mike laughed absently as he spoke, “I feel like this is something I can get over.”

“Thanks, Mike,” Nancy said, smiling in pure relief. She took the smell of his boy room, his comforter, the view of her younger brother sprawled out beside her - how he was so tall now his legs came clean off the edge of the bed, feet nearly on the floor. “Here, come here.” She opened her arms and pulled him close to her chest, just like they would when they were much, much smaller. And eons away - the naivety and innocence gone. 

“Seriously?” Mike grumbled, but for all his false annoyance he hugged her back. She buried her face into the crook of his neck and tried to hold him there, at that age, for just a few moments longer. She knew it was selfish. “Um, Nance?”

“Yeah?” She said, hand coming up to hold onto the back of his head. It felt like the hugs they shared at the end of the world. How refreshing it was to hold him like this now without the overbearing fear of an interdimensional monster. Just Nancy and Mike. Mike, who loved her still - would always love her. She tried to stop herself from tearing up but the water came anyway. If Mike felt or heard her crying into his hair, he was kind enough not to mention it.

“I’ve got something to tell you too.”

bonus

“Hey, Little Wheeler,” Robin greeted cheerfully, all pink-cheeked and breathless from having stood out on the chilly December porch for so long. In her hands she cradled an outrageous assortment of presents, the stack teetering from side to side and becoming more precarious every passing second.

Mike, from where he’d swung open the door - and fresh off his first semester in New York - for his part didn’t look taken back. He reached out his arms helpfully, into which Robin threw up presents of various size and shape. He buckled under the weight of them.

“Hoping to impress somebody?” He asked, muffled by the wrapping paper.

“What?” Robin asked, distracted. She shut the front door behind her and began wiping off her big black boots on the welcome mat. “Oh - yeah. Yeah, how’d you know?” Mike’s unimpressed eyebrow was hidden by the present stack.

“You’ve already got Nance, you have nothing to worry about,” Mike said, laughing as he peeked through the stack to see Robin turning a bright red - not just from the harsh Hawkins wind. “I’m gonna put these in the living room.”

“Yeah,” Robin squeaked. Then, after her buffering, she took half the stack and followed him in through the family room. “You know, that reminds me - if you’ve got any juice on Nance, feel free to share it.” Mike’s booming laugh grew as they stepped close to the large tree, chopped down by his father a few weeks before and decorated with Holly’s homemade ornaments. Together they set down the presents. It was nice how well they fit in with the rest.

“Depends on what you got me,” Mike joked, hands on his hips. Robin grinned at him, a mischievous one he couldn’t help but replicate.

“TurboGrafx?” Robin said, voice tilted in a question. She was referencing a video game console that’d come out that past October and one Mike had been secretly mooning over. His smile grew. He laughed. Out of all of Nancy’s partners, he preferred Robin. It was all the better she didn’t seem to want to explode him with her mind, like Jonathan. Plus, she knew about video games. And she seemed good at keeping secrets.

“Well, to start - Nancy’s got this thing under her bed…”