#Petes Candy Store

[jadeestebanestrada]

Laughter is queen

I had the BEST time headlining The Drive-By Comedy Show this week at Broadway Comedy Club! Huge thanks to the wonderful Julius Carr and the club staff for the hospitality! The comics had me in stitches! I can’t wait to come back!

On Friday, I’ll be performing in Kweendom at Pete’s Candy Store alongside the funniest queer comics in New York! Don't miss the show Time Out called "consistently dope" and Thrillist described as "extremely gay." Bobby Hankinson hosts. Hope to see you there!

Photo: Orlando Vincent Cordova

[citizenhullabaloo]

August 18th 2024 – Pete’s Candy Store (Open Mic)

[ideasarestuckinmyhead]

I know you've done similar stuff but what if all the yuurivoice listeners(+ Charlie) were all friends in highschool and brought their partners to their highschool reunion? Short story request ONLY IF THEY'RE STILL OPEN!!!

The highschool reunion.

Nicknames: Rook = Monarch, Sugarboo = Sweets, Scout = Hound, Star = Nova, Angel = Halo, Sunflower = Petals, Casper = Ghost, and Buddy = Chuckles.

Casper was excited to see the old friend group, it was a but mix of people plus Charlie. At first they didn't want to go to the highschool reunion because the place they were having it was lame. But then Cas got a text from Monarch!

'Hey ghost! Just wanted to tell you me, Petals, Nova, Sweets, Hound, Halo, and Chuckles are all going! Hopefully we see you and Chuck!'

Now in the present, in their car with Charlie both were outside a venue hall. Some person from the class rented it out and invited everyone. Casper was mostly excited to see their friends again.

"Do you think they'll be mad at me? You know for, uh, leaving?" Asking shyly Charlie held Casper's hand. His partner gave him a small smile and kissed his cheek.

"Please, you were basically their brother during highschool. They all missed you." Reasurring their boyfriend Casper walked into the venue. Greeting the host and giving their names, placing a name sticker on their shirt.

Casper grabbed their phone out and began texting to see where their friends would be. When they were tackeld into a hug, causing then to yelp and drop their phone. Looking at the person it was Buddy!

"Damn Chuckles you trying to kill me?!" Laughing Casper hugged them back. The college student snorted and let go after a few seconds.

"Please like my hug would kill you Ghost- Chuck is that you?!" Cutting themselves off Buddy gasped at Charlie. Who waved at the excited old friend, causing Buddy to hug him as well.

"You motherfucker how are you?" Asking Buddy then let go of the hug giving him a big smile. Charlie huffed out a laugh and cleared his throat, scratching his neck.

"I'm good, working at Pete's and um I'm with Cas now." Mumbling out Charlie saw Buddy get a shocked face. Turning to Casper for confirmation and got a smile with an enthusiastic nod.

"FINALLY! Ghost was literally in LOVE with you! Wouldn't shut the fuck up about how cute-" Being mischievous as ever Buddy's words were cut off by Casper. The chauffeur glared at the college student and had their hand on their face.

"Okay. Enough of that, how's your life Chuckles?" Channing the topic, Casper saw Charlie giving them a look. Ah, their definitely getting teased about his later.

"I'm doing good in the new college and I even have a boyfriend!" Giggling, Buddy then grabbed the couples hands and dragged them to a table. Where all the other friends Casper and Charlie had, it also looked a bit awkward.

Monarch was looking at Nova with a tight smile. The blue haired man next to Nova was glaring at a...Oh that's their fucking boss. Hound and Sweets's partners were sitting there just chatting but paused seeing Charlie. Oh shit that's Seth and Alphonse their boyfriend talked about.

Petal's partner was sitting with the napkin, while also talking to the tall brunette next to him. Halo was listening to a big ass man talking to Sweets, Jesus he's built like a tank.

"Guys! Look Ghost is here!" Buddy excitedly said as they sat next to the brunette. Casper, looked around the table and sucked in a breath before introducing themselves.

"Sup, I'm Casper but you can call me ghost too." Smiling, Casper then sat down with Charlie. Who was not looking at across the table where Auron, the southern guy, and candy floss were.

The table fell to silence as the listeners connected that all their boys knew each other somehow. Nova opened their mouth and began to speak.

"So uh, Halo how's you meet Lucy?" The streamer looked at the second youngest friend. Who giggled and leaned on their boyfriend.

"It's like summoned him or something, but we meet at a grocery store!" Smiling Angel went on how Lucy told them about different products. It was cute seeing Halo finally finding someone and being happy.

"Hey Cas, how's work? I remember you said you got a new job being some rich guys chauffeur or some shit." Chiming in after Angel finished, Sweets looked at Casper. The driver froze trying to think and they laughed a bit.

"Yeah, he's cool. Don't really talk to him much though. Maybe one day? But I'd want to know how's your bakery in that town?" Changing the topic, Ghost felt their face burn a bit feeling Auron's eyes on them. Maybe they said a but too much but their payed to be quiet and just drive.

"Oh! Yeah my baked goods at a Christmas festival were a hit! Everyone loved my cookies!" Excited Boo went on about how they had Seth help them. Throwing some teases at Alphonse for eating the rest.

As Sugarboo talked more about their baked goods Faust was connecting dots. Then he gasped and pointed at them.

"Wait I literally love your fucking pastries! Star is this what you meant by knowing the baker?" Turning the bluenette looked at Nova who gave a mischievous smile. This caused the two streamers to argue a bit jokingly.

Well at least the mood has lighten a bit, Casper turned and looked at Charlie who was in a conversation with Finn. Petals was also talking but mostly staring at their boyfriend with a soft smile. Holding Charlie's hand under the table Casper smiled as they struck up a conversation with Rook.

Now that Casper wad thinking, Rook is literally fucking Casper's boss. Along with Auron being Monarch's as well? How the Hell did that happen?

Casper also found out Seth knows Sugarboo and Al knows Scout a bit. Charlie knows Al, Seth, Auron and Sweets. Finn knows Auron a bit from him buying a lot of flowers for Momarch apparently.

Lucy apparently went on about a prank call one halloween and Al asked if it was him the big guy called. Turns out it was and Angel was laughing hard. Faust is brothers with Auron, knows Rook and is with Star.

With all of the 'listeners' as the group called themselves now know their all connected still. It's really interesting when you think about it, but Casper's choosing to ignore what this could mean.

[ofstoriesandstardust]

but this is getting good now (j.h.s.)

a/n: i have slowly but surely been working on this and I have to say, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out

summary: Almost and assumptions, until there is nothing but proof.

second star to the right (and straight on 'til morning) masterlist

folks who wanted to be tagged: @memeorydotcom @djs8891

warnings: insecurities, alcohol but everyone is of age, kissing

word count: 4k

You sigh, crossing your arms as you lean back in your chair.

“Do you really want my honest opinion?”

His eyes are a cautious hopeful as he bites his bottom lip. “…Yes?”

“Jake, this is shit.”

He groans, sliding down in his chair. “I know.”

The two of you sit in silence for a moment as you both look at the paper, contemplating how to not make it shit.

“Hey, do you uh, do you wanna-”

Jake never finishes his sentence as the door to the Center opens, Bradley popping his head in. “Hey, you done?”

You miss the sour look that settles on Jake’s face at the sight of him as your eyes flicker over the clock. “Another half an hour?”

He groans, stumbling into the room. “I’m stealing candy then.”

You shake your head, a smile growing on your face. “Go right ahead.”

“Dude, Seresin, you practically live here.” Bradley says through a mouthful of M&Ms. You roll your eyes at the words, despite the nugget of truth in them. 

Over the course of the last few weeks, Jake had spent more time in the Center than not, bringing multiple drafts of any and every assignment to you. It’d gotten to the point that if any of Jake’s buddies from the football team needed him, they’d come looking for him in the Center before they checked the field. 

“Shut up Bradshaw.” Jake says, eyes trained on his computer. 

Bradley shrugs. “Just saying. Do you want to come over for dinner on Sunday? Mom’s asking about you.”

It takes you a minute to realize Bradley is talking to you and you glance over at him. “Yeah, I guess. Jake, you can not cite Wikipedia.”

He groans again. “It was the only thing I could find!”

“This is our mid-term Jake. This is important.” 

-

“Are you really doing homework on a Sunday?” Nick says, coming into the kitchen, arms full of groceries. 

“This thesis isn’t going to finish itself, unfortunately.” You mutter, deleting a sentence on the screen. Bradley picks up one of the articles you have laid out on the Bradshaw’s kitchen island, squinting at the title. 

“What does that even mean?”

“I don’t know.” You groan, dropping your pen to press the heels of your palms into your eyes. “I don’t know and I think Jeff is trying to kill me.”

“You know what would make you feel better?”

“What?”

He lets out a little laugh, trying to contain his teasing grin. “Making out with your new football buddy.”

You narrow your eyes, taking the article out of his hands. “Would you cut that shit out? Jake doesn’t like me like that. I’m just his tutor.”

Bradley scoffs. “Yeah, sure, okay.”

“I’m being serious!”

“So am I!” Bradley protests. “Seresin has like… the fattest crush on you.”

“Shut up, Bradshaw.” You mutter, turning your eyes back to the computer. 

Tom lets out a throaty laugh, prompting you to raise your head to catch Pete’s pained look.

“Something you’d like to share with the class, Pete?” Carole teases.

He gives a jerky shake of his head. “Nope. Nothing. I know nothing.”

The adults let out a round of laughter as Bradley pulls out the chair next to you, collecting some of your articles. 

“I saw your Mom at the store with Dad.”

You pause, the cursor on the screen blinking back at you. His words are soft, unable to be heard by the adults who have since moved on in the conversation.

“Apparently, she’s got a boyfriend.” He mutters.

“Good for her.” 

“When’s the last time you talked to her?”

You give a shrug of your shoulders. “Don’t remember honestly.”

He sighs. “Maybe it’s for the best. She didn’t have anything nice to say.”

“She never does.”

-

Jake sighs three separate times before Javy shuts the lid of his laptop, a bit aggressively. 

“Alright, I’ll bite. What is up?” 

“I fucking hate that guy.” Jake says with a shake of his head, looking back down at his statistics notebook. 

“Who?” 

“Stupid curly hair. Stupid charming smile. Stupid baseball player.” 

“Who, Jacob? Who?” 

“You know Bradley Bradshaw?” 

Javy raises his eyebrow, unimpressed. “‘Course I know Brad, he’s one of Nat’s best friends.” 

“Yeah, well he’s a fucking asshole and I hate him.” 

“What the hell did he ever do to you?” 

Jake can’t bring himself to say anything, scribbling angrily in the margins of his notebook. Unfortunately, his best friend knows him too well. 

“This wouldn’t have anything to do with your pretty tutor you seem to be spending a lot of time with lately… would it?” 

He can hear the smirk in Javy’s voice, even without looking at the boy. 

“Fuck off, Machado.” He says with a groan, leaning back in the booth as he crosses his arms. He waits a beat, Javy looking at him expectantly before crumbling. “Can you blame me Javy? He fucking picks her up after all her shifts, has Sunday dinners with her… I fucking hate him for getting her before I even had a chance.” 

“They’re not… they’re not dating, you know that right?”

Jake snorts. “Save my pride Javy.” 

“No, no I’m serious, they aren’t.” He says with a shake of his head. “She lives next door to Bradley. Nat said they went to high school together and grew up across the street from him or something. That’s why she goes over there sometimes.” 

“Huh.” 

He’s incapable of saying anything else, mentally reviewing all the interactions he’s seen you have with Bradshaw. They’d never been more than platonic, but he would admit that Bradshaw already pissed him off enough as it was and his jealosuy flared whenever you were around him. 

“You should just ask her out on a date man, you clearly have a thing for her.” Javy says, shaking his head as he types out numbers into his calculator. 

“I can’t do that.” He says with such certainty Javy has to pause and take a deep breath through his nose. 

“And why not?” 

“Because there’s no way in hell she’d say yes.” 

Javy lets out a chuckle, looking up at him. “You’ve never had any problems before now.” 

“This is different.” Jake hisses. “She’s really kind, and sweet, and smart, and I- she’s so far out of my league.” 

Javy rolls his eyes. “Suit yourself Seresin. But don’t come moaning and moping to me about it. You dug this hole for yourself..” The words carry no real weight, both knopwing Javy would always listen. “What did you get for number 8?” 

-

“Thought you’d be on a beach somewhere.”

You look up, catching sight of Jake. “Hey.”

“What’re you doing in the library over fall break? Shouldn’t you be somewhere tropical with your phone turned off?”

“I have Pete’s paper I have to finish. He gave me an extension and I’m pushing my extension deadline as it stands.”

Jake raised an eyebrow. “You aren’t done?”

You shake your head. “Almost though. I just have to proofread it and then submit it. Why are you here?”

“Have to return a book I used for our mid-term. Plus, I was already here for an extra weight lifting session, so thought I’d come by.”

It’s the first time you take a minute to recognize what Jake is wearing. He’s a bit sweaty, muscle tank damp. 

Even then, you can help but eye the way his biceps look, imagining the way he must’ve looked while- 

No.

You shake your head, clearing the thought as you meet his eye again. 

“Well, it was good to see you Jake.” You say with a quick smile, looking back to your computer. 

It was beyond inappropriate to think of someone you tutored like that. Absolutely not. 

“Hey, uh…”

You look back up to him, watching him fiddle with his gym bag. 

“Do you have any plans for the rest of break?”

You shake your head. “No. I’m technically not working but if there’s something you need me to look at, I’m ha-”

“No!” Jake protests quickly. “No, no, no. No, I was going to uh- ask if you wanted to do something.”

You blink at him. “Yeah, sure I guess I’m free. What do you have in mind?” 

He rubs the back of his neck sheepishly. “I, uh, well I kinda need a pumpkin for this carving thing the team is doing. Would you, uh, want to come with me?”

“You… you want me to go to a pumpkin patch with you?” 

“Yeah.”

“I mean… yeah okay.” You say a little dumbfounded.

You weren’t a fool, you knew Jake was attractive. You’d be blind not see it. 

But you knew that you weren’t the girl Jake would be with. You knew it in the raised eyebrows in silent question his teams mates gave him when he said hi to you in the dining hall, knew it in the smirks girls in your History class would give you when Jake started sitting with you. 

You might be Jake’s tutor, and dare you even say friend, but you knew one thing to be true. 

You’d never be Jake’s girl. 

The smile Jake offers you, though, is worth a weeks worth of dirty looks and snide sneers. 

“Great! How does tonight sound? I found a patch about 45 minutes away, has some cute fall stuff we could do if you wanted? I’ll drive.”

“I- yeah.”

You wanted to cringe at the sound of spending hours alone in a pumpkin patch, doing fall activities that you always thought you’d do on a date with someone. 

It hurts in the worst way, feeling like you’re watching a life you could’ve had, had you been someone else.

“See you at 6 then, kid.”

-

You shut the door of Jake’s truck behind you as you both step out on to the farm about half an hour outside of San Diego. The evening air is much cooler than it is in the city, offering a bit of a bite as you wrap your coat around you tighter. 

“Where’d you find this place Jake?” You ask as you take in the cozy environment, the corn maze not too far away, the the apple bobbing and hay rides that are consumed by giggling children. 

“Bradshaw’s Mom told me about it. Apparently, they’ve been coming out here since he was a kid.” 

You nod as Jake rounds the truck, stopping next to you. You’re sure Carole has shown you pictures of baby Bradley, rosy cheesks as Nick stands there, both with grins so wide. 

The pictures had made your heart ache in the way hearing Carole or Nick talk about Bradley’s childhood always had. 

There was so much love and laughter you’d missed out on, so much you never got to have, something you longed for.

Relationships you knew you’d never have with your own parents.

Jake clearing his throat breaks you from your musing, bringing you back to the present. 

“So, what should we do first?” 

-

“I don’t think your pumpkin is big enough.” You say, a giggle laced through your words as the two of you walk (well, really, Jake is more waddling) to sit down. He heaves a sigh as she sets the rather large pumpkin on the hay. 

“I want to win.” He says with a sigh, draping hismelf over the hay bales. 

“What do you win?” You ask, sitting down next to him. 

He opens his eyes, but doesn’t say anything, just watches you. 

“Jake?” He hums, not tearing his eyes away from you. “What do you get if you win?” 

He shrugs. “Nothing too crazy, I hope. Reuben is organizing the whole thing which just makes me more concerned for the losers.” 

“Well, what would you want as a prize?” 

He swallows, eyes gleaming. “Well, I could think of a few things.” 

You raise an eyebrow, feeling your cheeks go warm as you realise just how close Jake is to you.

“I-” 

“Seresin!” Someone hollers, causing both you and Jake to turn.

There’s a few boys standing a bit away, all grinning. And then there’s Bob, one of Natasha’s friends you’ve gotten to know through Bradley. 

Bob serves as an athletic manager for the football team, maybe against his better judgement, given the exasperated look in his eyes as the boys make their way over to where you’re sat with Jake.  

“What’re you doing here, Seresin?” One of the boys asks. 

“Getting a pumpkin for our carving party?” Another inquires. 

Jake coughs, looking over at his pumpkin. “Yeah. Um Kenny, Chad, this is-” 

“Shit, are you on a date dude?” Chad asks, eyes growing wide. 

“No-” Jake amends, a bit too quickly, but Chad keeps talking. 

“Sorry, sorry didn’t mean to interrupt. Don’t let us stop you from letting you hit it-” 

Bob cringes as you close your eyes, cheeks aflame in embarrassment. “Actually, we were jst leaving.” You say abruptly, standing up from the hay. “I’ll meet you back at the truck, okay?” 

“Wait-” Jake protests as Kenny offers up a botched apology, chuckling his way through the statement. 

You reach up, rubbing at your face to make the tingly feeling go away as you blink back hot tears. 

You knew this would happen.

-

You adjust your dress nervously as you ring the doorbell, pack of White Claws in your hand. 

You didn’t even like White Claws but what is one expected to show up to a party with? Nothing?

You aren’t sure if the noise of the doorbell has been heard over the music that’s so loud you can feel it through the porch and are about to ring it again (or maybe give up and hide in your car) when the door opens. 

It’s Jake. 

He gives you a blinding smile, ushering you in the house. “You came!” He shouts over the noise.

You nod, eyes flitting over his costume as your hands become sweaty. “Yeah, I- I uh brought this. Wasn’t sure if it was appropriate to show up empty handed.” 

He smiles again, taking the box from you. “Nice. Nice costume, by the way.” He winks, disappearing into the crowd as you stand there like a deer in headlights. 

There’s a warmth spreading through your cheeks that has nothing to do with the seltzer you’d chugged in your car before ringing Jake’s doorbell.

You spot your friend Maria in a corner, refilling her drink and you begin to push your way through the crowd, each dressed up in a different costume, each wearing less clothes than the last. 

You feel more overdressed than you have in your life and that’s saying something considering how short this dress really is. 

You tug on her arm, catching her attention as she smiles. “Hey-”

“Give me this.” You say, taking the drink out of her hand. “I need to get drunk.”

“What-”

“Jake dressed up as Peter Pan. Maria, what the hell is in this? It smells like gasoline.” You say as you shove the drink back in her hand. She peers in it, blinking like she’s not really sure what was in it either. 

“You wouldn’t have liked it anyways.” She says, before a ghost of a smile appears on her face. “So you and Jake, huh?” 

“Shut up.” You mumble, cheeks going red. “I didn’t mean to. Wendy Darling was what I threw together at the last minute.” 

Jake had texted you at 3:08pm, asking if you were doing anything tonight. 

And you had said no, like a smitten dumbass. 

So here you were, against the protest of your judgement and pile of homework, in a skimpy dress in half-assed attempt at Wendy Darling, in the hopes that Jake might notice you. 

A pipe dream, really. Especially given the fact you and Jake hadn't really talked since that night at the pumpkin patch over fall break. 

“Maria!” You hear Bradley’s voice over the music and you turn just in time to see Bradley squeeze his way through the group of people. “You said you were gonna come play beer pong twenty minutes ago.” She nods, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. 

“I know, I know. Got distracted talking to this one.” She points to you and Bradley blinks, looking down at you. It looks like this is the first time he’s realised you’re there, which given how inebriated the boy seems to be, might actually be true.

“Let’s go play!” He shouts with a nod of his head towards the backyard, and with that him and Maria are gone. You glance around, biting your lip as nerves begin to grow in your stomach. There’s no sign of Jake, or really anyone else you might know.

You feel yourself back up further and further into the corner, biting on your fingernails as your eyes flit nervously through the room, wondering what you should do. 

Just as you’re wondering if you should leave (and drive away and never come back) a warm hand lands on your shoulder. You jump in surprise, looking up to see Jake towering over you. 

“Hey, what’re you doing over here all alone?” 

You shrug. 

“Well, why don’t you come play some beer pong with me out in the back?” 

You give another shrug. “I’ve never played, I doubt I’d be any good.” 

He gives you a grin, leaning closer to you. “Well, then you’ll be my good luck charm.”

The sounds of Monster Mash follow you out to the backyard as Jake begins to explain the rules of beer pong to you. 

“-and I know you don’t drink a whole ton, so I’ll drink if you’ll throw?” 

You startle at Jake’s words. “How did you-”

“Bradshaw!” Jake shouts, clapping the brunette on the shoulders, startling him and botching his throw. 

“2 v 2 after this?” 

Bradley’s eyes flicker over to you, a grin growing on his face. “On one condition.”

Jake quirks an eyebrow. “Yeah?” 

“Loser has to kiss their partner.” 

Your eyes grow wide at Bradley’s words, wanting to reach around Jake and throttle him. 

Jake titls his head as Reuben sets up the table again. “You’re on.” 

You splutter as Jake tugs you to the other side, a crowd starting to gather around the table. “Jake, the only pong I’ve ever played is of the iMessage kind, I don’t really know how good I’m going to be.” 

Jake shrugs. “Yeah, but Bradshaw and Maria are both hammered. I’m counting on their perception being so fuzzy they can’t land a single shot.” 

Despite your nerves the whole game, Jake ends up being right, with Bradley and Maria only landing three shots the whole game. 

Still, you can’t help the way your stomach flutters in disappointment at the fact that you don’t get to kiss Jake, although you’d never want it to be under these circumstances, where he has to kiss you because of a bet. 

Bradley shakes his head ruefully at you before, leaning over pressing a kiss quick peck to Maria’s cheek. 

Jake teasingly chastises Bradley that that wasn’t part of their deal as Javy takes your place in the pairing, Natasha replacing Maria. 

You get through another round, Mickey taking over Jake’s spot next before you’ve decided enough is enough, and it really had nothing at all to do with Chad’s appearance in the backyard.

“I think I’m gonna go.” 

Jake’s head shoots over to you as you lean over, getting closer to his ear so he can hear you over the music. 

“Yeah?” He asks. 

You nod. “Yeah, I’ve still got homework I need to finish. Thanks for inviting me though.” 

He smiles at you softly. “‘Course, I’m glad you came, I know this isn’t exactly your scene.” 

“That’s what she said.” Javy coughs into his fist as he walks past. 

Jake rolls his eyes. “Ignore him, he’s an idiot. Text me when you get home, okay?” 

You nod, ignoring the warmth spreading through you at his words. 

-

(1:13am- Did you make it home okay? I never heard from you.

Your heart jumps up into your throat as you peer at the text, unable to stop the smile that’s spreading across your face. 

Yeah, I did. Thanks for checking 

The bubble pops up a few times before a new text appears. 

Good to hear. 

Get some sleep. 

Goodnight.)

- You squint at the brunette over the top of your laptop, trying to process the words that just came out of his mouth. 

“I am not asking Jake out.” 

He groan, slumping down on the table in front of you. “Why not?” He whines, causing you to wrinkle your nose. 

“Becuase? It’s Jake? He’s a super popular football player who’s not going to be interested in dating his tutor? Get off this, please. You’re starting to piss me off.” 

Bradley studies you for a minute before he heaves a sigh. “Fine.” There’s quiet for a minutes as you turn back to your reading before Bradley speaks again. “Are you going to your Mom’s for Thanksgiving?” 

You shake your head. “No, she’s driving up north to go see my Grandma with my brother and my sister is spending the holiday at my Dad’s.” 

“So… do you wanna come over?” 

“For Thanksgiving? Sure.” You say with a shrug. 

Bradley smiles. “Wonderful, I’ll text Mom and tell her right now.” He says, fishing his phone out of his pocket. “You know who else is coming to Thanksgiving?” 

“I’d drop it if I were you Bradshaw.” 

-

“This is great as always Mrs. Bradshaw.” Natasha says warmly as Jake nudges you. You look up at him from where you’re cutting a piece of apple pie, Nick setting a scoop of ice cream on your plate, Jake nodding his head out to the backyard. 

“Let’s go sit.” You nod, grabbing the plate as Jake leads the two of you to sit outside. 

It’s still warm enough to dip your feet in the pool as the two of you sit near the edge, Jake having to roll up his jeans. 

“I’ll never get over Bradshaw having a pool.” 

You let out a little laugh, pulling the fork from your mouth. “You’re telling me. That was always the status symbol of wealth growing up. What?” You ask, realizing Jake hasn’t started to eat his pumpkin pie but is simply just watching you. 

“You look really nice today.” You feel a blush crawl up your neck as you glance down at your outfit. 

“Thanks.” You say, picking up your plate to eat, unable to meet Jake’s eye. 

It’s quiet between the two of you for a little while, the silence comfortable as you eat your slices of pie. 

“You know, Bradley keeps telling me the funniest thing.” You say as you finish the last of the pie, setting the plate back down on the ground. Carole really did make a killer apple pie, a wonderful combination of apples and cinnamon, the pastry dough always elevating the dessert. 

“What?” 

“He keeps telling me… God, it’s so silly.” You say, shaking your head. “He keeps telling me you have a crush on me.” 

Jake watches you for a second, and you realise telling Jake this may have been a bad idea, before Jake leans over you, pressing his lips to yours. 

It takes a minute for your brain to even realising he’s kissing you, but it’s a minute too long as Jake pulls back, eyes wide. 

“I’m- I’m sorry, I just wanted to know what that was like just once.” 

You don’t even realize what you’re doing until your doing it, leaning over and returning Jake’s kiss. Jake’s hands are already on your waist to steady you as you cup his cheek, getting to savor the way he tastes of pumpkin pie and the bourbon he had earlier. 

Jake cups your cheek as he pulls away, thumb gently rubbing over your cheekbone as he watches you. He’s looking at you in such a way that is making you blush, wanting to duck your head and hide from his gaze. 

“You have no idea how long I’ve been wanting to do that.” He whispers. 

You swallow, already missing the taste of his lips. “Then why are we waiting any longer?”

[eccentricgrace]

juice jam || IronDad

summary: peter and tony go out for smoothies, they get interrupted by some annoying paps.

tags: fluff, protective tony stark, banter, paparazzi, tony stark acting as peter parker's father figure

wc: 2,563

cross-posted to wattpad under the same name!

"Your pick is fine, I'm not saying it's not!" Peter argued back quickly, his eyes wide. On his own tongue, the cold icy fractals of his far more delicious Pink Starburst smoothie. "I'm just saying it's not the best one on the entire menu, that's all."

Tony held the foam cup of his Chocolate Moo'd in a protective vice grip— which is basically blended chocolate frozen yogurt —and screwed up his face. He lowered his shades with an inelegant poise and a good serving of disgruntlement. "Pete, you're drinking a smoothie that is literally called 'candy in a cup'. I think I'll take my own advice and hold off from the type two diabetes diagnosis for a few more years."

"Okay," Peter said. "Okay. Okay. But you haven't even tried it. I bet you'll admit mine is better if you try it. Ned did. He didn't believe me at first either, he refused to say anything was as good as the strawberry banana one."

"I'm inclined to agree with him just to tick you off."

Peter huffed and put the half-guzzled cup on the table. He pushed it towards Tony. "Just try it. You're so grumpy, Mr. Stark. For no reason."

"'No reason,' he says," Tony mumbled, reaching for the bright pink smoothie. "As if you didn't come into my smoothie haven, my church of juice, and begin spewing— spewing blasphemy."

Peter hid back his smile.

Tony had picked him up from school today. Plans were to have sitcom-takeout night with May, but as they were getting into the car, Peter had gotten a message about her having to work late. With their plans changed, and both of them damp with the autumnal rain that was nasty and cold the way New York rain usually was: of course the best way to waste time and beat the cold was even colder smoothies.

They were at the Jamba Juice at Rockefeller Plaza, which in itself was a feat considering the company he was in. Tony was wearing his "disguise", which really only consisted of his shades, a hat, jeans, and a hoodie pulled over his head. Nobody had noticed them yet.

Peter couldn't help but wonder what people saw when they looked at them in the corner of the store. The way they bantered sometimes, the ease of which they moved in each other's company— they'd been referred to as "father and son" more than once by cashiers and waiters alike. It was a nice compliment, to be seen that close to someone he looked up to. He could keep it tucked very secretly under his sleeve, for no other purpose than to keep him warm.

(And maybe sometimes he wondered how Tony felt whenever someone said something like that. The casual "I'll get a table for you and your son" or "you and your son look so alike!")

Tony took a sip of the pink smoothie, staring blankly ahead of him. Peter watched expectantly for something dramatic— his eyes to light up, his brows to raise, his hands to be thrown in the air with the angry astonishment of being proven dead wrong.

Instead, Tony sighed, put the cup down. Indignantly went to his own drink, furiously sipping at the straw. Peter's smile grew.

Then, finally:

"Fine."

"Yes!" Peter burst with victorious laughter, reaching over the table and taking his smoothie back. "I told you! I told you so. I would never lie about this. It's too important."

"Oh, so this is too important for you to lie, but when you had that little injury the other day, it wasn't?" Tony asked, a dry smile plastered on his face. "Is that what you're saying to me right now? Your poor old man?"

Peter's grin turned guilty, and he quickly went back to finishing the second half of his smoothie.

"Geez," Tony commented with amusement. "Ease up on that straw, you're gonna go into one of your spider-hibernation things. The middle of a Jamba Juice is not the time or place, kid."

"I think it's the perfect time and place, actually. Really truly. I can feel myself getting sleepy just thinking about it."

"Har har. What a comedian you are," Tony said, sliding out of the booth. He stuffed his phone back into his pocket. "You ready to go?"

"Yep!"

Peter wiped his hands of the sticky, watered-down juice that had dribbled down the side of the cup, and stood.

As he did so, the back of his spine began to buzz. He heard a series of shuddering clicks, and he narrowed his eyes to look around the small space.

"What's going on?" Tony asked casually, but there was an undertone of something distinctive in its quality for fixing things. He had clearly taken notice of whatever changed in Peter's face, because this was the voice he only used when they were dealing with Spidey extracurriculars.

Peter forced his shoulders to relax. He scratched at his face, half-covering his mouth, and lowered his voice to say: "Dunno. Someone's watching us."

Tony hummed impassively, but Peter saw his eyes sharpen, he saw the way the heads-up display of his glasses lit up faintly from behind the dark lense. He subtly scanned over the joint, like Peter did, and finally landed on something outside the window.

"Paparazzi," Tony said simply. He sighed deeply and began to shuck off his hoodie and hat. "Alright, kid. Pop quiz, listening? Trade."

"Uh," Peter helplessly let the trash in his hands be taken, and instead grabbed hold of the hoodie that was tossed into his hands. "I guess?"

"Put those on." Tony walked over and threw both of their cups and napkins in the trash. He walked back and smoothed over the wrinkles on his dress shirt. "Do you smile at the camera people?"

"Yes?" Peter guessed, his voice muffling through the fabric of the thick hoodie he was wrestling over his head. (Funnily enough, Tony's old clothes were all slowly becoming his size. It's crazy what a growth spurt and benching the equivalent of like, forty trains on a daily basis can do to a physique.)

"Wrong. Never smile at the paps," Tony shoved the hat over Peter's head, a baseball cap of the Yankees, which he as a proud Queens born-and-raised local would pretend not to be personally offended by. "They're gonna ask you a bunch of questions, are you gonna answer them?"

"No," Peter said, more sure of his answer this time.

"Good job." Tony reached over and fit the hood snuggly down on his head, drawing the strings in a little. "Are you gonna look at them?"

"No—" Peter squirmed as Tony started to mess with the hat to further cover his head. "Mr. Stark, is all this really necessary? I mean, they already got a picture of my face earlier!"

"Believe me, they're not gonna have that picture by the end of the day, and I don't intend to give them anymore." Tony patted him on the shoulder. "Alright, you're all set. Listen, this part is important: stay close to me, don't get lost in the crowd, and absolutely don't listen to anything they say. They're gonna try to provoke a reaction from you. Don't buy into it."

"Okay," Peter gave a smile, while a weak, uncomfortable laugh bubbled out from his chest. "I think I got it. I still don't get why you think they'd care about who I am, though. I'm not the celebrity, you are. They're not gonna care about some—"

"Spider-baby-asking-questions time is over," Tony said, raising his eyebrows. "The more we stand here, the more cameras there's gonna be when we finally get out on the street. Time to go."

"I—" Peter blubbered for a second, and then followed Tony quickly as he turned to the door. Stay close.

Peter learned quickly that Tony walked very fast when paparazzi were involved. He also learned quickly that paparazzi were the closest human equivalent to mosquitos in the summer heat. They swarmed, an entire bloodthirsty group that materialized out of seemingly nowhere, and they were so loud, all buzzy and everything.

He clumsily dodged through bright flashes of the most cameras he'd ever seen, never less than two feet from Tony at all times. If he wanted to, he could count maybe seven different people shouting questions at him, even more shouting at Tony.

"Kid! Look here! Hey! Hey, over here— Hey! Give me a smile! Can you smile for us? Hey, Tony!"

"Mr. Stark! Few questions for the record? What are you doing with a kid?"

"Hey, look over here! I've got a few questions for— Can you spare a minute of your time?"

Tony was valiant as he weaved through the mob, only glancing back every few seconds to make sure Peter was behind him and in sight. The occasional sarcastic comment that brought Peter back to watching YouTube interview compilations way before all of this.

Anyways, he made it look so easy, all of it practiced and seamless, which made sense after Peter remembered that his mentor practically grew up in all of... this. He wondered if Tony would tell him any horror stories of dodging this when he was a kid— he wondered if he even wanted to know.

"Tony, just a second! What happened with the Accords? Have you heard from Captain America?"

"Look over here! Here! Mr. Stark, who is that?"

"Kid, what's your name? Look here for us! Hey!"

He and Tony had almost made it to the car, and Peter was following all the rules. It was harder to not smile than he thought, solely because this whole thing had rapidly become increasingly intolerable, and Peter had a habit of smiling when he was nervous, but he was doing well so far.

In fact, it helped a lot to focus on how miserable it all was, really. When he felt a nervous smile coming on, he just redirected his attention to the cacophony of camera shudders that were assaulting his very sensitive eardrums, or the people yelling over each other, or even the general sound of several shoe pairs scraping over asphalt and concrete. Sensory hell. Don't even get him started on the flashing lights.

"Hey kid, get his attention for us!"

Peter's whole body buzzed loudly, and then he was yanked back by the wrist.

He was fine. Obviously he was fine. Maybe shaken, maybe even the tiniest bit impressed by the audacity, but he was Spider-Man, and he was capable of simply jerking his arm back— which he did.

The facts above apparently didn't matter in the slightest to Tony, because when Peter met his gaze again in the crowd, there was something in it so angry that his lungs went tight with alarm.

"Did you just grab him?" Tony said dangerously, staring at the offender with a blazing fury in his eyes. "Did you fucking grab him? You do that again you're getting amputated by the fucking limb, you hear me?"

He pushed back through the crowd and took hold of Peter's sleeve. Cameras flashed. Peter's face was a bright, embarrassed, cherry red. Tony was breaking his own rule, mortifyingly, just because of him. Oops.

"I'm sorry," came the voice of a man who absolutely didn't sound sorry. "I apologize sir, I just wanted a few lines for an article—"

"Oh, yeah, you wanted a few lines? I'll give you a few lines, buddy. What's your name? What company do you work for? Huh?"

Tony was yelling. Yelling like Peter had never seen him yell before, and the cameras continued to rattle and blind his peripheral vision. He tried tugging at his arm down to get Tony's attention, because the grip Tony had on his sleeve was firm enough to make his knuckles white and he'd surely notice the slightest movement.

"Mr. Stark, we gotta go," Peter tried. "C'mon."

Tony, his face still snarled up like the protective thorn of a blackberry bush, hesitated then. He schooled his expression into something tight-lipped and lock-jawed, and then steamrolled forward to the car.

As soon as they got in, Tony quickly locked their doors, and Peter let out the breath he'd been holding. He reached up and pulled the hood off, then tossed the hat to the backseat.

"Wow. That was—"

"Are you okay?" Tony asked, the stiffness never leaving his posture.

His eyes were darting all over Peter for any other signs of injury or distress. They lingering especially on his wrist for a moment, then Tony reached for his arm gently and scanned over the area with stressed meticulousness. His eyebrows furrowed, his trembling thumb trailing lightly over the skin.

"I'm all good," Peter promised, his eyes wide. "Really, I'm totally okay, no bruises, no breaks."

Tony looked... bad.

His eyes shot back up to Peter's, and there was a lot of guilt in the way they narrowed. If he didn't know any better, he'd say Tony even looked misty. Admittedly, that was horrifying; like it always was watching a trusted adult break down a little.

He always hated it when May cried, but she did cry— after a bad shift, or a sad movie, or one of those pet commercials on television, Peter always heard the tell-tale sniffle at his side, and the way she always would look up as if it would stop the tears. (It never did.)

But that was May, and Tony was not May. This just was different. Tony Stark didn't cry. Tony Stark was Iron Man, he was invincible, surely he wouldn't shed a tear just because some stranger grabbed his wrist a bit too tight.

Peter frowned. "Mr—"

Tony let go of his arm, then turned the key into the engine. He sniffed once, and didn't look back at Peter. "FRIDAY, I want all those articles and photos deleted as soon as they hit the web. Kid, seatbelt on."

"Yes, sir."

The car went silent, except for the anxious drumming of Tony's hands against the steering wheel. After a few long moments, even that had subsided. Tony seemed calm enough now that Peter's curiosity sparked up again.

"You looked at them," Peter spoke up. He looked at Tony through the corner of his eye. "You, uh... talked back to them too. Kinda broke your own rules."

"Yeah." Tony shrugged. "Well, rules kind of mean jack to me if I think you're in danger. Part of the job."

"The job?"

"Taking care of you. Making sure you're safe, protected, happy, healthy, learned, and whatever," Tony said, one hand coming off the wheel to make aimless gestures as he spoke. "You know, the job."

Peter's definitely heard of all of those responsibilities. The thing is, he heard them in some health class lesson, listed as the job description for a parent.

"The job," Peter repeated quietly.

Tony shrugged again. He turned at an intersection. "Yeah. Whatever, I read mentoring books. I'm a good student."

"Right."

"You sure you're okay?" Tony asked again, glancing over, giving him a quick scan. "Adrenaline should be worn off by now, huh? Still nothing hurts?"

"No," Peter said, feeling like he was in some kind of accidental-pseudo-father-acquisition daze. He blinked a few times at the sudden alarm in Tony's expression. "I mean—No, nothing hurts. I'm all good."

The relief again, palpable in the air as Tony relaxed in his seat. He nodded quickly and finally turned onto the Queensborough bridge. "Good. That's good. Alright. Great. This was fun, kid, huh? You had fun?"

"Yeah, definitely," Peter agreed easily. He let himself smile. He felt light. "It was a lot of fun."

"Good," Tony returned his smile. "Let's get you home to Aunt May, then."

"Yeah," Peter sat back in his seat. He turned the radio on and smiled comfortably. "Okay."

[companionjones]

Weeping & Wishes

Pairing: Austin Moon x Reader

Fandom: Austin & Ally

Summary: Austin finds you crying in a convenience store on your birthday.

Warnings: Austin says a curse word!

*******

When Austin saw you, it was pretty obvious to him that you'd been crying. You were sure it was obvious to everyone around you, but he was the only one who said anything about it.

"Are you okay, Y/n?" He stopped in his tracks when he saw you.

You had been sniffling and staring at one of the sides of the candy isle. Your eyes went wide as you turned to stare at him.

Sure, you knew that he was in the convenience store. He was Austin Moon for pete's sake. You'd been crushing on him since middle school. But never in a million years did you think he'd talk to you without being prompted to by some sort of classroom assignment.

"Yeah," you mumbled out. You figured it was better to answer him late than never.

His brow furrowed at your lie. "No, you're not. You've been crying."

You looked away from him when you felt another wave of tears welling up. "Yeah," you agreed with him.

"Hey. Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey." Austin put down the basket he'd been carrying to comfort you. He put his hands on your shoulders and levelled himself to look directly into your eyes. "Why are you so sad?"

"It-it-it's my birthday, a-and I've just had the w-worst day..."

Austin smiled, but his eyes were sad. "It's your birthday? Happy birthday."

As your head fell, you didn't even have it in you to say, "Thank you."

Austin's brow furrowed again as he swallowed and licked his lips. "Hey. It's 8pm. The day's not over yet, right?"

Confused as to where he was going with that, you shook your head.

His smile seemed more genuine. "Great. Then I can still turn this around..."

And turn it around he absolutely did. First, Austin had you pick out your five favorite candies, your favorite drink, and your favorite kind of cake, and he bought it all for you. Austin then took you back to his place where you and him watched your favorite movie, that Austin had somehow never seen. He fell in love with it. The rest of the night, the two of our just talked and caught up.

"I just don't understand..." you confessed with a chuckle at one point.

Austin was putting a handful of one of the snacks into his mouth. "Don't understand what?" came his muffled question.

"Why did you come up to me tonight?"

He chewed and swallowed his food. "You were crying," he answered like it was obvious.

"I know, but you didn't need to do that. We don't...know each other." You hesitated to say that last part.

Austin looked at you like you were joking. "Don't know each other? We've known each other since the sixth grade."

That shocked you to hear. "You remember me from all the way back then?"

"Of course I do, Y/n. Why would you think I wouldn't?"

"I don't know," you honestly answered. This new information was throwing your head through a spin.

Austin glanced at the clock before he sat up next to you in his bed. "Now that it's past midnight, can I ask you a question?"

"I'm not sure what the timing has to do with this, but yes."

He hesitated. "I didn't want to ask you this on your birthday, but can you tell me what happened today to make you so upset?"

You took a moment to answer, and that seemed to have stressed him out. "You don't need to answer if you don't want--"

"--No, it's okay," you responded truthfully, "It's just that...it feels so stupid now."

"I promise you it's not stupid." Austin moved to grab both your hands.

You looked at your connected hands for a moment, then you looked up at Austin.

Austin was looking at you when you looked up, then he looked down at your hands. He pulled his hands back.

You swallowed before starting, "It's just that...for days leading up to my birthday, everyone was wondering what I wanted to do. I could only come up with one thing, but apparently that thing 'wasn't good enough' and 'was a waste of time'. Some of them said they would do it with me, but they all flaked when the time came."

"What was it?" Austin wondered, "What was the thing?"

At those questions, you just smiled and motioned your head towards Austin's TV. "It was sitting with me and watching that movie we just watched."

For a few moments after that, you and Austin just sat there, gazing at each other gratefully.

Then, a big realization dawned on Austin's features. "Oh, shit!" He scrambled out of bed and exited his room.

You sat there, confused on his bed until he got back.

Austin was carrying your cake, all lit up with candles. He looked apprehensive, however. "I wanted to do this while it was still your birthday." He carefully returned to sit beside you.

"Austin, do you have any idea how little it matters to me to blow out my candles on my birthday? Not only did you watch my movie with me, you loved it, and you were kind enough to buy me snacks and a cake? Do you have any idea how I feel right now?"

The boy seemed in shock by your overtly thankful words.

So, you blew out the candles. Then, you kissed Austin Moon. "Can you guess what my wish was?"

*******

Author's Note: Thank you so much for reading! Fill up that heart and reblog if you liked it. I would also really appreciate a comment, if you have the time. If you would like to read more, check out my masterlists. Have a nice day, night, or whatever time it is for you! <3 <3 <3

[itsscromp]

Insomniac miles and Peter with a reader on Halloween! :D

Peter Parker and Miles Morales x reader

YES YES YES YES YES !!!!! Word count:900

Halloween is right around the corner, Peter and Miles knew how much you loved Halloween, It was one of your favourite holidays of the year besides Christmas. You were going to pull out all the stops this year, Running to the store and getting decorations and candy.

After which you rented a couple of movies online to watch, Peter was into the classics like the exorcist or A Nightmare on Elm Street, and Miles is into more modern horror like Talk to Me and A Quiet Place, So what else to do a marathon combining their movies together !!!

Peter was the first to arrive, tapping on your window to let him in.

"Hey Pete" You smiled opening the window and letting him inside.

"Wow you went all out on the decorations y/n, I'm really impressed" He smiled as he took his mask off, Heading to the bathroom and coming out, changed out of his suit and into his more casual attire.

"Thanks for inviting me and miles y/n" He smiled as he sat down on the couch, tossing a piece of candy corn into his mouth.

"It's no biggy, You guys deserve to have some fun. Don't worry, I rented your movies as well"

"Yes !!!" He cheered. "I'm surprised Miles hasn't seen the exorcist yet, It's such a classic movie. Made me nearly pee myself when I first watched it in high school" He chuckled.

"Yeah, I know right ??. It still holds up to this very day"

Speaking of, He then knocked on your door and you let him in.

"Happy Halloween guys" He smiled as he placed his backpack on the floor and cracked open a soda can before sitting down.

"The best Halloween event ever is happening !!" You fist pumped the air out of excitement.

"I think they may explode Pete" Miles chuckled.

"It really looks like it huh ??" Peter smiled.

"So which movie should we watch first ??" You jumped onto the couch and turned on the tv, flicking through the rented movies.

"Let's give talk to me a go" Peter got cozy.

"Oh Pete you are gonna love this one" Miles was now happy boy.

The movie started with a wild start and a simple set-up, But whatever it did, It worked. Scaring the bejesus out of Peter.

"If I see either of you two with a hand like that I am swinging out the window" He held onto a pillow.

You and Miles chuckled as the movie continued on into it's twisted ending.

"Wow I didn't see that coming" You were shocked.

"Get's me goosebumps every damn time" Miles rubbed his arm and then took a bit of candy.

"Alright then, You think that movie was scary, Y/n put on the exorcist" Peter spoke determined.

"On it" You then flicked to the exorcist and pressed play.

"Oh come on it's an old movie how is it that scary ??" Miles smirked

"Oh you'll see"

Miles braced himself for whatever fake and old scares that awaited him, and oh boy did he get so scared seeing it. Peter was right it still held up to this very day.

"Oh god, not the head turn !!" Miles hid his face into your shoulder.

"Miles you saw worse" You chuckled.

"I know but something about that..." He then shuddered.

"Still the scariest movie I've ever seen" Peter's eyes were glued to the screen.

After that, the three decided to take a break and tell their favourite Halloween adventures.

"I remember when one time, I had to fight vulture at my high school Halloween party, It was hard to try and get him out of the gym and into a more contained space where no one could get hurt." Peter told his story.

"Wow that's nuts" You listened in.

"You never told me that story before" Miles spoke up.

"I mean it was a simple fight and this was early days before Vulture really upgraded his gear, so I guess it really wasn't interesting of a story, But it was the most memorable Halloween I've had. Or when Me and Uncle Ben went trick or treating. That was always awesome."

"Oh yeah definitely, when my family was still living in Brooklyn. Me and dad went out trick or treating one night, Uncle Aaron joined us and we went to the basketball court, It was lit up with all these little jack-O Lantern lights and it was just amazing. That was my favourite Halloween." Miles smiled.

"What about you y/n, what was your favourite Halloween ??" Peter then asked you.

"Hmmmm" You thought long and hard.

"Oh I got it."

Peter and Miles listened in.

"There was this one Halloween when my cousin decided to turn their house into a haunted maze, They went all out I mean props and costumes. He even had one of his buddies chase you around with a toy chainsaw, Man I gotta love that commitment" You smiled at the memory.

"Haunted maze's are so cool" Peter agreed.

"Or I guess... This one is my favourite Halloween. Just being with you guys." You smiled brighter.

Peter and Miles couldn't agree more and smiled as well.

This really was the best Halloween they've ever had in such a long time since being Spider-man, Just relaxing, enjoying each other's company. Eating candy and watching movies. It didn't get any better than this.

Taglist: @callofdudes @fun-k-board

[wearfinethingsalltoowell]

Crew at the grocery store

Ed-Stops at the in-store Starbucks for his overly sugary coffee. The candy aisle and bakery are his happy places

Stede-Spends 20 minutes deciding between two types of lettuce. No one likes shopping with him (except Ed) but he’s paying so they have to bring him

Lucius-Eats food he has not purchased, does no shopping

Pete- Each item he sees means the person closest is getting a story about how it relates to something cool he “did”

Olu- Made a list, does not deviate from the list, the only reason that ship has basic necessities

Jim- Goes straight to the quick prep meals, then has to text Olu for the rest because they forgot what to buy. Also has a habit of filling a cart and just running out with it

Frenchie: Knows where to find the weirdest shit that you could have sworn they stopped making years ago

Fang: Checking out the flower display

Roach: Tries to use a coupon older than he is

Wee John: Buys a suspicious amount of fireworks

Jack: Makes a bunch of stupid jokes that make the cashier want to hurt him.

Buttons: Buys raw meat and then opens it and eats it right. fucking. there.

Swede: Gets lost

Jackie: Only came to the store to ditch Geraldo

Izzy: Extreme couponer who still gets his card declined. Also ate too many samples once and got sick in the store, all the employees remember him.

[southparkhcs]

🚸 South Park HC's:

— Our tumblr page, as it's name says, will post South Park headcanons about the characters every day! Our headcanons will be shared as:

• Text (phrases, ideas, scenarios...).

• Short dialogues.

• Sketches.

• Playlists.

• Edits/moodboards.

• ...and much more!

— We can also share your headcanon too! You can choose if you want to receive credits or if you want to stay anonymous by selecting when send us the ask, right below our bio.

* obs. it's important to say that we don't respost or even tolerate:

• Hateful headcanons (misogynistic, homophobic, transphobic, racist, etc...)

• Problematic headcanons (S.A., incest, pedophilia, etc...).

• Sex headcanons.

• Proships in general.

• Literally any problematic stuff...

— We're not here to judge or block anyone, everyone can enjoy our page — even those who aren't really part of the age rating of the show. Minors can interact with the account, but, those who are 16-, please be very careful with who you interact in the net or in the fandom and the contents that you are consuming. Stay safe.

— Well, still tho, not everyone is welcome here. Please do not interact if you're okay with any kind of discrimination or with most of the list above the previous paragraph.

— And if you're just against headcanons in general, bro, what are you even doing here? Stop being obsessed, it even, breaks your algorithm, you dumbass. Let people have fun and just ignore it, scroll down or block the account if you don't like it.

· ⚠️ Warning!

— Our headcanons for the characters will mainly be about themselves, or about their friendships and family, but it may contain our main ships, because we can, we're a bit biased and we're not very multishipper. So sometimes we will make content of:

• Style (Stan x Kyle).

• Crenny (Craig x Kenny).

• Candy (Cartman x Wendy).

• Bratters/B2 (Bradley x Butters).

• Petweek (Pete x Tweek).

• Clymmy (Clyde x Jimmy).

• Tolkole/Blaniels (Tolkien x Nichole).

• BeRed (Bebe x Red).

• Heidietta (Heidi x Henrietta).

• M2 (Michael x Mike).

• Dip (Damien x Pip).

• Gregstophe (Gregory x Christophe).

• And many others...

— You don't wanna pass hours trying to find the content about your favorite character? Easy! By clicking on the 🔍 right above our pfp, you'll find tags of the four main groups: The Boys, Craig's Gang, The Girls, Goth Kids and The Foreign Kids, each character of all these groups will have their own tag, unfortunately, we can't tag more then 24 characters, so if you wanna find content about any other character besides them, you'll need to find by yourself.

💭 MEET THE ADMS!

— Here, we choose to stay anonymous and mysterious for a while. But, we would like to introduce ourselves so we can interact with you! You can recognize us by our emojis.

🐦‍🔥: he/him — 18y

A normal guy — internally excentric, very passionate 'bout things, considerably chill, be having a few loose screws. Loves birds, 2000s fashion, night-time skies, race karts and hip-hop, rock and jazz music.

🦚: he/him — 18y

May i introduce me as kyle broflovski himself but made by light academia and grandfather clothes from thrift stores, peach tea, elephant gun & a sociology passion. Also my dog's name is Stan!

We hope you enjoy our page!

🐦‍🔥 🦚.

[evermoreparker]

Lost in Translation- Part Five

Synopsis: Peter and you were inseparable since you were kids, until you started hating each other right before you two went to college, but now Peter needs your help to win a bet.

Word count: 2k

Warnings: Well... how do I put this... SMUT!!!! LIKE A LOT OF IT!!!! PLS IF THAT'S NOT YOUR THING DO NOT READ IT! But if it is have fun! :)

And reblog please!!!!!

Prologue 1 2 3 4

‘’Alright, Lionel Richie.’’ You say giggling as Peter tickles your sides.

‘’Well, you know what? Just for that, I won’t be pulling out tonight!’’

‘’Pffft please, not even you believe in that.’’ Peter gasps and throws a pillow at you.

‘’HEY! You’re right. But still, just pretend I have self respect!’’ He giggles.

‘’Aw sure you do, Pete.’’ You sit up to look at him while playing with his curls. But you notice he gets all quiet. ‘’Are you ok?’’ Peter zones out for a moment.

‘’Mm? Yea yea I am. It’s just… it’s been so long since the last time you called me Pete.’’ He says while looking down and grinning, remembering all of the sweet memories you had together. And just for a moment you think that this might be not just a meaningless one night stand.

‘’Yea I missed that too.’’ He looks up, and smirks. Ready to tease you. ‘’And if you ever tell someone I ever said that, I’ll kill you.’’

‘’Don’t worry.’’ He giggles. ‘’It’s just me and you here.’’ he kisses the palm of your right hand. And suddenly you realize you two just make sense.

‘’Yea… That’s good.’’ Peter is the one to make the first move, hovering above you and making you lay down again, while softly caressing your cheek. ‘’God, if this a dream I’ll be really pissed off at anyone that wakes me up.’’ He giggles, before pulling you for a deep kiss.

‘’Same.’’ You pull on a few of his hair strings, which gets him moaning. You switch with Peter to get on top of him.

‘’Fuck c’mere.’’ He pulls you for another kiss. Wandering hands under your dress, close to where you need him, but not quite there yet. So you decide to take matters into your own hands, unzipping the dress yourself and throwing it somewhere on the floor. Peter groans when he realizes you took your bra off as well.

‘’God why the fuck did we not do this sooner?’’ Peter says while grabbing your ass and switching with you, so that he can be on top again, softly nibbling your skin.

‘’Because we’re very dumb.’’ You scratch his back, tugging on his shirt for him to take it off. He gets the hint, tossing it on the floor and pulling you by your waist for a heated kiss. But you stop him by putting your hands on his chest while sitting , making him stop.

‘’Wait! Are we really doing this?’’

‘’Only if you want to as well, I promise you I won’t be mad if you don’t wanna do this anymore and d-’’ Peter gets cut off by your lips on his in a matter of seconds.

‘’God you’re so cute.’’ You smile at Peter while unbuttoning his pants.

‘’Oh-OH ok so that’s a ‘’yes’’ I presume.’’ He helps you by standing up to untangle the pants from his ankles, throwing it at a random corner in your room.

‘’God, when did you get those thighs??’’ You say while shamelessly thirsting over the same boy you told your friends that could go to hell for all you cared for.

‘’Aw thanks! It was the Jane Fonda workout tutorial, of course. May has those for a while I guess and I-…’’ He bursts out laughing when he sees your confused face. ‘’But to be honest, I guess it was just a lot of workout.‘’ He jumps back on the bed, making you giggle when his hair tickles your belly while he lays there.

‘’But what about you? Are you opening a bakery or something?’’ You look confused at his very random question.

‘’What? Why?’’

‘’I don’t know, just all that cake in the back made me wonder.’’ You laugh so hard that Peter can feel it while laying on your stomach, it makes him grin like a kid at a candy store when he looks up and sees you all happy without a care in the world, and the best, he caused that.

‘’That was good, not gonna lie.’’ You run your fingers through his hair, making Peter look up before going to trail kisses down your belly and going up. He distributes hickeys all over your tits, sucking on them before kissing the sweet spot on your neck, stopping for a bit to finally look at you.

‘’God, you’re so hot.’’ He grabs your left thigh to pull you even closer before capturing your lips again, making you moan in delight.

‘’Mmm fuck, please take these off.’’ You guide his hand to the waistband of your panties.

‘’Only if you keep making that sound for me.’’ He kisses your cheek before pulling your panties down and kissing his way back down. You pull on his hair, eagerly waiting for his lips where you need him the most.

‘’Eager now huh?’’ He smirks before finally giving in and starting with a kiss on your clit. Seeing your reaction to his every touch has to be the best thing ever.

‘’I swear, if you keep teasing like that I’ll clench on your dick so hard you’ll cum in seconds.‘’ You feel him grinning before giving a small kitten lick from your entrance to your clit, letting his tongue flick it for a bit, enjoying you shivering under him.

‘’Fuck, you taste so good. Could easily spend all day eating this pussy.’’ He waits for your reaction to his dirty words, and just as you do he starts sucking on your clit. Who knew the boy who cried when you stumbled on his lego set had such a dirty mouth?

‘’Mmm FUCK, you’re so good Pete.’’ Your words make him suck even harder, making you breathless for a moment. Guess someone has a praise kink.

‘’Mmmmm fuck, I’m gonna cum.’’ You tug on his hair, pulling him impossibly closer to your heat.

‘’Cum for me, baby.’’ Peter doesn’t stop sucking even after your orgasm, making you have to pull on his hair to make him stop with the overstimulation.

‘’Fuck omg.’’ You laugh at the absurdity of this night, who knew you’d end up bringing the boy you’ve hating for years to your bed? And that he would make you cum like that?

‘’That good huh?’’ Peter smirks while looking at your post orgasmic face.

‘’Shut up.’’ You pull for a kiss, making you feel something hard on your thigh.

‘’Well apparently it wasn’t that good just for me.’’ You grab his hard on through his boxers.

‘’Fuck- You make it really hard to not get a boner when you moan my name like that.’’

‘’Stop, just come fuck me please.’’

‘’Yes miss!’’ Peter eagerly pulls his boxers down.

‘’Shit, you’re packed too?’’ You say while capturing Peter’s lips in a long and deep kiss, making your way towards his member and circling your thumb around the head.

‘’Fuck y/n/n, you’re so fucking good at this.’’ He purrs, closing his eyes for a bit.

‘’Can I suck you off?’’ You look at him with your sweet, doe, innocent eyes, and he’s sure that if he doesn’t get inside you in these next few minutes he might burst in your hand.

‘’Next time baby, I promise. Alright? Really need to get inside you.’’ He runs his fingers through your head, and for a moment you two forget that this was supposed to be just a one night stand.

‘’Ok.’’ You smile and give him a peck before laying back to your previous position. Peter is quick to get up, going towards his wallet in his pants and coming back to bed with a condom already on his dick.

‘’Are you ok?’’ Peter caresses your cheek, pulling you deep into the moment with just his eyes. Just for a second, you forget that this is just a meaningless one night stand and that the guy on top of you is not the same boy you met when you moved to that building in queens. You get lost in his eyes for a moment before touching his lips, wanting to savor this moment before you wake up to an empty bed in the morning. Peter is the one closing the space between you two, kissing your forehead before pushing himself inside you.

‘’Fuck, you feel so good.’’ Peter leans and whispers to you before starting thrusting very slowly. Is this some type of punishment? You decide to take matters into your own hands, pulling Peter deep inside you by wrapping your legs around his back. Peter lets out a breathless moan before smirking at you. When he sees how your eyes went darker he starts thrusting hard and fast. You bite your lip to hold back your moans, but Peter shakes his head in disapproval before leaning down to capture your lips so that he can hear your sweet sounds. But that’s not really enough for Peter. He wants all the dorms to know you’re his. Even if it’s just for tonight.

‘’C’mon baby, I know you can do better than that. Are you really not gonna let me hear those pretty sounds?’’ You shake your head no, and hide your face in his neck. Peter then whispers in your ear.

‘’Well, I guess I’m gonna have to make you let out those heavenly little sounds myself.’’ Peter lifts your hips and puts your pillow under. He smirks at you when he sees your eyes widening when you realize what he had in mind. Peter puts your left leg on his shoulder, and thrusts hard on THAT spot. But you keep biting back your moans.

Some knowledge from when you two used to tell each other everything ran through his mind, you used to say it turned you on when guys grabbed your thighs during sexy times. So he does exactly that, pulling you even closer to where you two meet and leaving just the tip in before manhandling you on his dick like you weigh nothing.

‘’FUCK, Pete! Oh my god!’’ You now have your nails scratching Peter’s back, while he has the biggest grin ever. ‘’You’re so much better at this than I imagined. Fuckkkk’’ You arch your back, making Peter hit impossibly deeper. ‘’Mmmm please don’t stop, Pete! You’re so good at this!’’ Your endless praise makes Peter go feral. Knowing you had thought about this too just made this night the best of Peter’s life.

‘’Y/n, baby, I thought about this more times than I can remember.’’ He lets out a giggle before going to nip your neck.

‘’Mmmm fuck, I’m gonna cum!’’ You let out the most pornographic moan ever, surprising yourself and Peter.

‘’Cum for me, I’m- fuck, close too’’ You tight your muscles around him, letting yourself go and triggering his climax too. Peter falls on you, little drops of sweat on his forehead and his messy curly hair is now dripping wet.

‘’Pete, you’re crushing me!!’’ You try to push him off, making you two laugh.

‘’Nah, I’m gonna stay right here.’’ Peter kisses your cheek, and you wipe it off, making him dramatically gasp and roll to the side. ‘’How dare you?’’ You get up and gives him a peck.

‘’I gotta go to the bathroom, be right back!’’ He pulls you by your hand to kiss your forehead.

‘’I’ll be waiting!’’ He yells when he sees you closing the door and heading to the bathroom.

When you get back, you hear soft snores before opening your door and seeing Peter sleeping peacefully, but he needs to scooch so that you can fit in there too.

‘’Pete, you’re occupying the whole bed.’’ You giggle when you hear him groan and move to the side so that you can lay there too. ‘’Goodnight.’’ You kiss his forehead before turning your back to him, and suddenly feel strong hands pulling you closer by your waist and laying his head over your neck.

@kidney9-9 @selfcarecap @hollandlover19 @potayaa @wildxwidow @namoreno

[daydreamgoddess14]

Everything More Than Anything pt. 3

Sydney Adamu x Carmy Berzatto - R rated 🔥 (not this chapter - boooo!)

Full Masterlist

Sydcarmy Masterlist

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Who wants to spend 7 hours at the hospital?!

(I just said to myself that if I post this chapter then I really, really need to get my ass moving on Chapter 4... and then proceeded to post this so I'm going to get on with 4 now, promise!)

~~~~~

Chapter 3

They drove in silence towards the hospital, Syd’s head immediately beginning to refill with restaurant stuff and now also Carmy stuff. She could feel his eyes on her as he kept looking over to her. His phone buzzed in the center console, 

"Would you mind checking that?" He asked. She picked it up, 

"Looks like it's from Pete?"

"Passcode is 1234."

"Wow, you're crying out to get mugged, dude."

"I have no money and nothing to hide, so," he shrugged with a wry smile as she unlocked his phone. 

"Pete said 'nothing happening just yet but Nat needs Mountain Dew and Reeses.' Girl, I hear you."

"There's a 24 hour place near the hospital." The car lurched to the left, "the fuck?" Carmy pulled over and jumped out. Syd heard a dull thud on the roof as Carmy’s hand whacked the metal. She nudged the window down, 

"You good?"

"We got a flat. I need to call trip A." She stepped out of the car, 

"Do you have a spare?"

"Not a fucking clue, Richie's probably sold it." She opened the trunk, cleared away some of the crap inside and lifted the carpet panel. She held her breath and could feel Carmy doing the same next to her. Tucked into the recess, she was relieved to see the spare tire, a jack and a wrench.

"Thank fuck he didn't." She sighed. He pulled the tire out and they got to work replacing the flat. 

"You know how to do this?" He asked, impressed. 

"OK, so quick story time, my mom and dad went on a date once - like they hadn't been dating for long, and he got a flat. He had no clue what he was doing so he made out like it was something serious," He jacked the car up while she loosened the bolts, "she got out the car, changed the flat in, like, seconds and then got back in as if nothin' had happened. My dad was totally stunned," he pulled the flat off and she replaced it with the spare, "her dad was a mechanic and he had no idea. So once he'd learned how to do it himself, dad made sure I knew how to do it as well." Carmy tightened the bolts.

"Sounds like she made a big impression on him."

"She did. There's never been anyone else for him, even after all this time." They jumped back into the car and Carmy eased back onto the road. 

"No one from his dance classes?"

"Dance classes, quiz team, poker nights, work, family friends… you name it. He refuses to be set up with anyone. He says I'm like her."

"Determined?"

"Good at changing a flat." She joked. Within minutes, he'd pulled up at the 24 hour store. Syd piled handfuls of candy and sodas into his arms as he followed her around the store, noting that she'd picked up both of their favorites as well as Nat's. "Right, let's go wait for your niece or nephew to be fashionably late?"

~~~~~

Fashionably late was an understatement. Syd was certain that she'd sat in the cold, uncomfortable plastic chairs for so long that she'd imagined everything that had happened in the office. It was all some sleep deprived fever dream her mind had conjured up to taunt her with. Fueled by sour gummy sweets, she'd arranged for Tina and Connor to run prep that morning. If the baby hadn't arrived before lunch service, she'd planned to take Carmy's car to the restaurant and work alongside Richie. The evening would have to wait until later to figure out. While she tried to decide if the images in her mind from earlier were a dream or a memory, she felt him stir next to her in the seat. His head had fallen into the curve of her neck while he'd slept. She felt the brush of his nose behind her ear, followed by a kiss. 

"D'ya sleep?"

"No. I sorted out tomorrow. Today. Whatever, it's covered til this evening at least and I'll burn that bridge when I get to it." He slumped in the chair and checked messages from Richie asking for an update. 

"Richie?"

"I spoke to him while you were asleep, he knows what's happening. Can I ask you something?" He turned to face her, a small nod urging her to continue. "Were you really coming to see me that night?" A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. 

"Yeah. I uh, I'd been thinking since the walk-in about How good we were. How good you were. Or are now, I guess. I was gonna go all in on," he gestured between them, "all of this - the restaurant, the stars. I needed you to know that you have my full focus."

"At 3am?"

"It was important to me that you knew."

"Looks like we were on the same page." 

"As usual. You should sleep. I'll see if Pete wants to switch." He yawned. 

"I'm OK. You wanna go change, take a shower?"

"With you?" He asked, hopefully. 

"Alone. For now. If Pete needs a break too, someone needs to be here for Nat." She smiled shyly. "But, y’know, good to know that earlier wasn't some weird fucking delirious dream."

"I'm gonna need to hear more about these dreams -" 

"Hey guys, Nat's asked me to take a break. I’m stressing her out." Pete came out with a tired smile before Carmy could say anymore. 

"You need to eat something, and you need to sleep for a couple hours." Syd told him

"Ahh I don't want to leave her for too long." 

"You don't have to," Carmy assured him. "I'll get you back here in an hour if you wanna skip the sleep part?" He looked torn.

"Dude, you can't look after Nat if you're starving and exhausted." Syd warned him. 

"You're right. And you'll stay?"

"I'm not going anywhere." She promised. 

"I'll go tell her." He said gratefully. When they'd been left alone again, Carmy turned to Syd.

"Sure you're good to stay? Thought you hated hospitals?"

"Well turns out the Berzatto's are very persuasive."

"We can be."

"And Nat has called me a genius before so I feel like she already likes me more than you." 

“That’s guaranteed. You don’t piss her off half as much as I do.” He checked over her shoulder for Pete’s reappearance before kissing her softly. “You need anything?” As if on command, her stomach rumbled loudly. 

“Food, please.” She sniggered, hiding her face in his collar. “What time is it? What meal is it?” She checked her phone to see 4am glaring at her.

“I’ll find you something, I’ll be back with breakfast.” He gave her some space as Pete returned with his coat, barely noticing their proximity.

“OK, let’s make this quick.” He sighed, “thanks Sydney.”

“No problem, Pete. I’ll see you guys later.” She went straight in to Nat, not wanting to leave her on her own purely so she could watch Carmy leave.

~~~~~

The tired blond smiled as she entered, but the toll of the evening was written all over her face. “Oh, Nat.” Syd sighed. “How you holding up?”

“Thank god you’re here. Pete’s great but I need to vent and he’s just being too nice. I feel like I can’t even yell at him, it’s like kicking a puppy.”

“I’m all yours, have at it.”

“I fucking hurt all over and I’m so fucking tired and I swear to god if someone doesn’t pull this baby from my fucking body right now then it can just fucking stay there and I’ll go back to work and it just stays there forever.” She growled as another contraction gripped her.

“Wow. OK, if that’s what you wanna do then I’ll bust you outta here right now. We’ll get back to work, help Tina with prep and get you serving tables by lunchtime?” Nat glared at her. “Can you even get up? Will they let you?”

“I’m not really clear on what I can do, no one is telling me anything except ‘be patient, baby will get here when they’re ready’. Be patient? Be fucking patient?”

“Are you hooked up to any machines or anything?” Syd looked around the bed but couldn’t see anything. “Doesn’t look like it. Wanna go for a walk?” Nat looked up suddenly,

“Really? Pete didn’t think it was a good idea.” She frowned.

“Your body, your rules. What’s it telling you?” 

“To stretch my legs.”

“So let's do it.” Syd held out her hands and Nat turned on the bed so that her feet hung over the side. She wiggled further forward on the bed, hanging onto Syd’s hands until her wooly socked feet hit the ground. She beamed at Syd, instantly looking more relaxed. “There’s the Nat I know. Come on, we’ll just have a little walk around this little area.” Syd propped open the door with a chair and held out her arm for Nat to take her elbow. They walked slowly through the deserted corridors to the elevators, past the nurses station, to the vending machines and back again doing a little loop. They paused occasionally for Nat’s contractions, but she didn’t want to stop. 

“Thought you were gonna get bed sores from sittin’ down all day!” A nurse called out as she passed them on their third loop. 

“I ditched the overprotective husband for an hour.” Nat smiled.

“Told you a walk would feel good. I was about to come and get you up anyway. Mind if I have a feel?” She gestured to Nat’s bump, Nat shrugged in agreement as the nurse placed her firm hands on Nat’s stomach. “Feels good, I think baby will be a little more energized after a walk.” She confirmed. “Head back if you feel unwell, I’m not birthing this baby in a corridor though, yeah?” Nat agreed and they carried on walking.

“How’s it feel?” Syd asked.

“Y’know Christmas?” Nat grimaced as they paused again, 

“Uhh yeah?”

“When you have to move fucking everything in your house to make room for a gigantic fucking tree that just sits there for weeks and then you have to get rid of it and put all the furniture back to where it was before?”

“Yeah?”

“Like that.”

“That’s fucked, Nat.” Syd laughed. Her loud laugh in the quiet corridor made Nat laugh until she was doubled over and clinging to Syd. 

“Oww! Fuck, OK no more laughing.”

“Yep, no more. Wanna head back to bed?”

“Yeah, time to take this fucking Christmas tree down.” They giggled as Syd guided Nat back past the elevators and to her room. Back in the room, Nat spotted a yoga ball that had been shoved in a corner, “lemme at that thing.” Syd placed it behind Nat and held it in place with her feet, using her hands to guide Nat to sit on the ball. She bounced gently on the spot,

“Yeah?” “Yeah, feels good.”

“Good. Let’s hope that was a good enough eviction notice.” They talked quietly while Nat bounced on the birthing ball, with Syd explaining the plans for the fall menu and the expected visit from Luca. 

“He’s cute, if I remember correctly?” Nat asked, distracting herself from the pain of another contraction.

“I’ve seen him once on a video call with Marcus, but he’s not bad I guess? Those are getting much closer together by the way.”

“Yeah they are. Is he single?” 

“How the hell should I know, Nat?” Syd laughed, checking the time on her phone against Nat’s contractions.

“I’m just pointing out that you don’t need to live like a nun! It’s still months before we’ll hear anything about the Michelin guide or James Beard. Months is plenty long enough for you to relax a little.”

“Every two minutes. I’m not gonna take my eye off the ball. Not a chance. He’s here for a week, I don’t have the energy to be not-dating someone who lives in Denmark.” 

“It’d be a shame to let that kinda cute pass you by?” Nat giggled, pausing halfway through for a contraction.

“Who’s cute?” Pete asked, coming through the open door, “nice ball.”

“You are, honey. Thanks, Syd found it for me. We’ve been gently encouraging this baby towards the exit and I think -” she held up her hand,

“Deep breath, Nat. It’s gonna pass, just hold on a couple more seconds.” Syd held Nat’s other hand as Pete hovered nervously and Carmy watched from the doorway.

“It’s working.” Nat finished her previous sentence. “It’s close, there’s hardly a break now.”

“I know, very close. I’m gonna call for the nurse, Pete, you wanna help Nat get wherever she’s comfortable?”

“On the ball. Staying here, don’t make me move, Syd?”

“You don’t need to move babe, it’s ok. Pete’s got you now, OK? I’m gonna get your nurse and we’ll see you really soon.” She kissed Nat’s cheek as she got up from the floor and patted Pete’s arm reassuringly. “She wants to move around.” She muttered to Pete in warning before pulling Carmy away from the door and closing it behind them.

“New career?”

“Fuck off,” she laughed, “I need to find a nurse.” She looked both ways down the corridor and headed to the nurses station where she caught the nurse who’d seen them earlier, “It’s go time. Contractions are about a minute and a half apart, she’s on the birthing ball and she wants to stay there.” Syd explained.

“That sounds perfect, I’m on my way. Nice work!” The nurse beamed at her. She and Carmy made their way back to the hard plastic seats and he handed her a breakfast sandwich.

“Oh my god, this looks insane.” Her eyes lit up as she unwrapped the wax paper. “Did you eat?” She asked through her first mouthful. He nodded,

“Showered, changed, let Pete sleep for maybe 30 minutes and then grabbed food on the way back.” 

“Perfect timing, that baby is, like, literally about to arrive.” “You both seemed pretty calm about it?”

“Just trying to keep her busy, talking about other stuff. I’m not saving you any of this, by the way.” She held up her sandwich.

“Heard, Chef. Talking about Luca?”

“She thinks I should ask him out or something.”

“Or something? What’dyou think about that?” He asked curiously. She finished her sandwich and sat back in the seat.

“I think I’m way too busy.” She shrugged. “I’m shadowing this amazing chef, working all the hours I can, I don’t have any spare time at all.” He smiled bashfully and bumped her with his shoulder.

“Good.”

“Good.” She leaned into him and he scrolled through his phone, showing her the pictures he’d taken of the place he’d brought her breakfast from, the messages he and Richie had exchanged about Nat being in the hospital and the Bear group chat which had a bunch of good luck messages for Natalie and Pete. It wasn’t long before Pete emerged, a blissful smile on his face.

“Well?” Carmy asked, sitting bolt upright.

“It’s a girl,” he grinned, his eyes filling with tears, “a little girl! She’s so tiny, she’s 7lbs exactly, she has so much dark blond hair! And blue eyes,” Syd felt her heart fill with love at just hearing about the baby in the next room. “She arrived about an hour ago. Guys, I’m so in love. She’s just being measured and dressed while Nat takes a shower, give it a few minutes and you can come in.” Pete held out his hand to shake but Carmy, tears making their way down his cheeks, pulled the taller man into a hug. 

"That's amazing, dude. Amazing." He dragged a hand down his face. 

"How's Nat?" Syd asked, 

"She's OK. Exhausted, took a lot longer than we thought. I mean, I called you guys at, like, midnight? You've been here for about 7 hours, I'm so sorry." Pete looked torn between guilt and relief.

"Don't be, we wouldn't have missed it." She reassured him, Carmy nodded in agreement. 

"We'll get some sleep before service, Tina's got prep covered."

"Well, we'll be here most of the day I think. I know Nat wants to go home today though."

"Let us know when you're home and we'll come over with some food." Carmy suggested, Syd couldn't help her tired mind lingering on the consistent use of us and we throughout the exchange. 24 hours without sleep - the majority of it spent on her feet and working - she could feel tiredness creeping into her bones. 

"Yeah, that's great. I'd better get back in there, I'll give you a shout when we're ready for you?" He made his way back to Nat and the baby. Syd dug around in her pocket for change for the coffee machine until a five dollar bill was waved in her eye line. 

"Aha, thanks Carm." She fumbled with the machine to get a drink for each of them and then slumped back in her seat. "What's the plan?"

"Back to mine, if you want? Sleep, and then get to the restaurant just before service. Work through, then ditch the farmer's market and sleep instead tomorrow?"

"Promise?"

"Might need to wake up eventually to make something for Nat and Pete, but otherwise, fuck yes."

"I'm just gonna call my dad. Let him know." She pulled out her phone and hurriedly gave him the basics before he left for work. She was just ending the call as Pete came back for them. She pushed Carmy ahead of her with her hand in the small of his back, sensing his apprehension. She could feel him relax against her once he saw Nat smiling at him through tears, 

"Come meet baby bear," she urged them both as they crept into the room. "This is Mila. Mila, this is Uncle Carmy and Auntie Syd." Syd held her breath as she peered over Carmy's shoulder to see the baby, hand still firmly on his back. "Wanna hold her?"

"You first," Carmy suggested, sidestepping to let her in. 

"No fucking way dude, she's your niece."

"What if I do it wrong?" He hissed. Nat was already holding Mila out to him, prompting him to raise his elbow like this and put his other hand like that. She settled the baby into his arms, "Hi sweet girl," he whispered finally, staring at her with matching stormy blue eyes and dark blond curls. 

"The Berzatto genes are strong, sorry Pete!" Syd smiled, 

"No complaints here, she looks like her mama." 

"She's gorgeous," Syd brushed her index finger against Mila's tiny hand and the baby opened her fist to grip the finger. "Same blue eyes as you," she said to Carmy. After a few minutes, he handed the baby to her and she took in the mess of curls and sleepy eyes, "so do all Berzatto's look the same when they're born?" Nat smiled softly, 

"From what I remember of our three baby pictures, yeah."

"Well if it helps, you all grow up pretty cute too. How're you feeling?" 

"Tired, I swear when we called Carmen she was about to arrive. Then everything just stopped for so long, thank you for waiting."

"Of course. Hopefully they'll let you go home later."

"God I hope so, I'd rather do this from my own fucking bed." Nat sighed. Mila grew restless in Syd's arms so she passed her back to Nat. "She'll need feeding again I think."

"We'll leave you guys to it, let you get some rest." Carmy kissed Nat's cheek. "I'll call you later."

~~~~~

[pixelatedquarter]

Day 44 of Tourdust: I'm sending this from the other side of the apocalypse that just unfolded, trying to get it across while the veil is still thin, but I can't promise it will ever reach.

One thing they don't tell you about the so called Halloween 'veil' is that apparently doesn't only divide the realm of the living and the dead, but also the integrity of the timeline. Somehow, earlier than we expected to have news of our trick or treaters at the scene, we were informed they were witnessing a show from the pre-hiatus, or rather, what would have been the pre-hiatus until The Pumpkin King From The Chicago Hardcore Scene returned, in all his sunglasses-wearing milfy glory, to once again scream lyrics onstage.

Once this event unfolded it didn't take long for ghost sightings to be reported at the Pvris retirement home. At first we thought we knew what awaited, with one of them wearing a baseball cap, the ones of us most versed in tinfoil hatmaking considering perhaps at worst they were covering their costumes with sheets.

But we soon realized he was too tall to be our dear melodramatic femme fatale's dead soulmate (again); and then there were more of them. It was soon clear that ghost tricks had been summoned to obfuscate what the pumpkin king had in store for the trick or treaters, and for all of us, attending from our dear Andy's phone.

On the palm of his hand we were standing when we saw just how high the levels of sillyness were: we were safe from those ghosts for they had been busted by a sexy sexy guitar, a crack of lightning beat in time with the drums, and undoubtedly the big bad grandmilf wolf from shrek had been responsible, in his soulmate exalting poetry, of chanting the name of a star thrice. After all this tour trying to keep a semblance of matching, it's more than earned that tonight of all nights they'd each embody a wildly different member of a wildly different group.

Usually we receive critical hits of damage around the time Patrick gets his little moment to shine. We didn't even make it to the riff this time.

Faster than Beetlejuice became just a regular eyeliner wearing spirit, our werewolf turned into this ethereal human (perhaps evocative of being lost into dreamland in his nightgown, perhaps that's owed to the fantasy land he constructed around them), more an apparition of a lost soul handing out candy to the kids rather than the implied threat of a furry posing as a grandmother trying to trick us. And as the latter started singing the ever haunting tunes of Heaven, Iowa, cameras soon panned to the spot where Pete usually sits alone, as the now wigless, armourless, but just as toned god of thunder enveloped him in a hug, capturing both of them laughing, perhaps comforting each other, certainly having fun, before Thor bolted just in time to avoid missing his cue.

We know better than to make deals with devils, i promise, we do. No matter how good they look in eye makeup. But, sometimes it IS worth making a deal with Beetlejuice to get him to play I'm Like A Lawyer for our streamer. Besides, it's not like the pumpkin king, who would use the distraction of the new and devastating "when i woke up next to you" to turn into his skeletal form, would let any marriages come of it. Well, unless it's for the bit, or you mishear him state his intentions to be engaged himself to this devil. Wouldn't be the wildest thing he's said on riff. Truly, a second riff with Patrick was the greatest treat of the night and he damn well knows it, he's always been good at knowing his subjects.

And The Magic 8 Ball has always been good at knowing when to throw us for a loop. We thought 'surely. if it's reset, that means new rules will not keep showing up.' and oh how wrong we were. 'You will cover Halloween for Halloween' it told them, not giving them more than a day to practice a song that wasn't even theirs. 'And by the way, fuck the legal system' it added, for good measure, despite the lights not being as sexy as they were last time.

By the non-encore encore the only sensible member of this ragtag group, who managed to keep his full attire was the ghostbuster, the sounds from his guitar as effective as any proton pack, as powerful as the thunderous beat Thor kept on the drums.

And so it was time to end the night of trick or treating. The skeleton's bones rattled as his hips swayed, roses clung like vines intertwined with his rib cage, and a bony elbow pressed against this demon who could have been the devil himself 12 years ago, but certainly looked happier now. In spite of it all, it was Saturday again.

[ashknife]

Hank & Gracie

Another holiday, another @inklings-challenge. I missed the deadline for the Christmas challenge, but I can revisit that next year. This is my entry for the 2024 Four Loves Fairy Tale Challenge. This is a retelling of Hansel & Gretel. As always, I do appreciate criticism and suggestions. Enjoy!

I’m Hank. I live with Ma and my li’l sister Gracie. We live in an apartment in the middle of the city. Sometimes there’s a dog or a cat, but it’s mostly just us. Pa used to live here, but Ma said he ran off after some hussy. I don’t know what a hussy is, but I don’t like ‘em. I don’t like Pa, either. I miss him.

The apartment is on the second floor of a tall brick building. I think I counted thirteen floors on the building. I’d look in the elevator, but Ma won’t let us go on it.

“That’s for folks who need it,” she said. “Don’t you let me catch you playing on it.”

I tried climbing the stairs to the top instead. They went on forever! But me and Gracie, we made it. The door said 14 at the top. The door below said 12. We looked all over for 13. Spent all day, but somehow it was missing. Gracie cried. She does that a lot. Ma found us while we was still looking. We got in big trouble.

“Henry James, you know better than to fool around and get lost while looking after your sister! What are you gonna do when you get lost for good? Huh? Now dinner’s cold!”

Ma sure yells a lot. She says I’m the man of the house. I have to be big and look after Gracie. I’m seven, and she’s only four. I say it ain’t fair, but Ma says it ain’t fair she have to work, but she does it anyway. It’s hard to get past Ma. She knows everything. I wanna be like her when I grow up.

Ma works hard. Sometimes she’s home, cleaning up the apartment and cooking supper, but most times she’s gone. During the day, it’s some office. At night, she’s waitin’ at some tables. That seems easy enough, but when I asked if I could wait at the tables, Ma just laughed.

“Thank you, child, but you ain’t old enough yet.”

“But you could stay home and be with Gracie, Ma.”

Ma just looked tired, shook her head, and drank her coffee. She drank a lot of coffee.

“Someday, maybe. Just not today.”

As much as Ma worked, she didn’t have a lot of money. Bills and rent, she said. She’d always talk about the bills and rent when we got holes in our clothes or made a mess or asked for a piece of candy. Bills and rent. They just keep going up and up. Sometimes it gets hard. Sometimes Ma can’t get nothing but the roaches in the cabinets. We’d go to churches more, then. Sometimes they have free food. Ma would cry every time she got a bag of somethin’. She’d cry more at home, when we was supposed to be asleep. You’d think she’d be happy. Ma does strange things sometimes.

The other day, Ma was at the office. She told us to behave and be good. It was payday, so maybe she would bring us home something nice. We didn’t have no food for a couple of days. I was hoping for some chips from that new shop that opened down the street. Some big white guy named Pete opened it and named it after himself. He was a little fat and covered in hair. He sure liked to laugh a lot, especially at Ma’s jokes. Ma said he was trying too hard. His store sure was nice, though. All sorts of candy and chips and soda, more than I’d ever seen in my life. Not even the grocery store has that many. Pete certainly didn’t have a bin of celery. Yuck.

Sometimes, when Ma wasn’t looking, Pete would slip me and Gracie a piece of candy.

“On the house,” he whispered with a wink. “Our little secret.”

We’d pocket that candy and hide it when we got home. When Ma was asleep or away, we’d eat it. It was real good. The candy smelled nice, too. We’d save the wrappers and smell them, especially when we was hungry. We’d dream of something nice to eat when Ma got paid. It’d help us hold on for just a little longer. We’d stash those wrappers under our mattresses. Ma would have a fit if she saw them. She might wonder if we stole them from Pete.

Since Ma was getting paid today, maybe she was gonna get that special something from Pete’s. But that was a whole day away, and we was hungry, and it was hot out, and we didn’t want to do nothing. But we was hungry. It was gonna be a long day. Then Gracie came up with a great idea.

“Hank, you go hide!” she said. She went to a corner and started counting. So, I went and hid behind the couch in the living room. It felt cooler back there.

“Ready or not, here I come!” she yelled.

I heard her go through the kitchen and her room and my room. I tried to hold my breath, which was hard to do because I was trying not to laugh. Then my belly growled really loud.

“Found you!” Gracie said. She crawled behind the couch and tagged me.

“No fair!” I said. “You heard my belly!”

“Still found you. Now you go, and I’ll hide.”

“Okay, okay.”

I crawled out from behind the couch and went to the corner.

“Ooooone…twoooooo…” I started. I have to count real slow for Gracie. She gets mad if I go too fast. It doesn’t help her much. She giggles and laughs while she’s looking for a place to hide. I know where she is, but if I go too fast, she’ll get mad. She gets mad if I take too long, too. I play at looking around in other rooms first before I find her, and then she laughs and calls me dum-dum for taking so long, but she isn’t mad. Gracie is as strange as Ma sometimes. Can’t please nobody.

This time, Gracie hid under the kitchen sink. I stomped down the hallway to Ma’s room.

“Where’s Gracie? Is she in Ma’s room?” I open the door to Ma’s room real slow so that it creaks real loud.

“No, not here,” I said, quickly closing Ma’s room. Ma doesn’t want us to go in. She has a way of knowing even if she ain’t there. I stomp to my room.

“Is Grac–”

She screamed and fell out onto the kitchen floor. I ran to see what was happening.

“What is it? What is it?” I said.

“It’s on me! Get it off! Get it off!”

I saw a roach crawl across her shirt. I didn’t think too much about it. I got up and swat the thing. It smacked against the wall and fell on its back. I got up to it and stomped on it, and again, and again, and again. I’m sure it was dead, but I gave it a couple more just to be sure. I swept it into the dustbin and closed the door under the sink.

Gracie cried and cried. I looked around her and pat her clothes in case there was another one that was hiding. I sat by her and held her.

“It’s gone, Gracie. I got it.”

“Did you kill it?”

“Yeah, I killed it.”

“It tried to eat me, Hank!”

“It’s gone, Gracie.”

Our bellies growled. It was gonna be a long day.

After a while, Gracie calmed down.

“I’m hungry, Hank.”

“Me, too.”

“Can we go to Pete’s?”

“We ain’t got money.”

“Aww…”

We sat for a minute.

“Do you want to go hide again? Somewhere without bugs?”

“Okay…”

“I’ll count to a hundred so you can make sure it’s real safe. If it ain’t, you yell, and I’ll take of it. Okay?”

“Promise?”

“Yeah.”

She got up, and then she got this grin on her face.

“Okay, you count to a hundred!”

So, I did. I went to my room and counted loudly to a hundred. It takes a long time to count to a hundred. I figured Gracie might have gotten bored, because she stopped giggling after a while. I heard doors open and close, but there was no screaming. Ain’t no bugs gonna get her this time.

“Niiiiinety-eeeeeight…niiiiinety-niiiiiine…oooooone huuuuuundred! Ready or not, here I come!” I called out. She opened and closed a lot of doors. She must have hid in a closet. She wasn’t giggling like she usually does. Maybe she fell asleep waiting, or got mad waiting for me. I don’t know, but I put on my act just in case. I stomped out into the hallway…

…and the front door was wide open.

I ran and looked out the open door into that hallway. Nothing but a bunch of doors to other apartments. I closed the door and went to the living room closet. She wasn’t there. Kitchen closet. Nope. Under the sink. Nope. My closet, her closet, Ma’s closet, under Ma’s bed, all nothing. I got real scared. Ma’s gonna really let me have it if I can’t find Gracie. My bottom can already feel the paddle.

I ran out into the hallway.

“Gracie! Gracie!” I called out. One of the neighbors told me to shut up. I ran down the stairs.

“Gracie!” I called out again. The old landlady was standing in her doorway, eating some kind of pudding.

“She went out a little bit ago, hon,” she said, pointing to the outside door. “Ain’t your momma home?”

“No, ma’am,” I said. “Ma’s in the office.”

“Mm-hm,” she said, going back into her apartment.

I ran outside.

“Gracie! Gracie!”

I looked left, and then right. The street was empty. There wasn’t anyone walking out. It was too hot. There was a parking lot next to our building, so I looked there first. Not a lot of cars. Everybody’s out to work or something, so there weren’t a lot of hiding spots. I looked, but she wasn’t in any of them.

“Hey!”

The landlady called me to the outside door.

“Your momma’s on her way. You better go find your sister,” she said.

“Where did she go?”

“Don’t know, hon, but you better be lookin’,” she said.

“Oh, no…” I said. So, I ran. I ran down to the corner, watched for cars, crossed the street, and kept running. I slowed down by another parking lot. Ma told me I better watch for cars or I’d get knocked into next week. I saw that happen to somebody. I waited to see them next week and the week after, but they never showed up. I don’t want to end up like that.

Then I saw it. A candy wrapper. It looked like one of the ones Pete would slip us. I smelled it, and it smelled kinda good still. It felt a little wet. I think somebody licked it. And then I saw another down the sidewalk. And another. And another. It was a trail of candy wrappers. Looked like there was some in the street, too. They was leading somewhere. And so I started running again, following the trail. I picked up each wrapper along the way. This went for a couple of blocks, and then it ended, right in front of Pete’s.

There are a lot of tall buildings around with lots of apartments, but Pete’s was a house with a garage. He turned the garage into his little store. Lots of people normally come by to buy something from him, but it’s too hot today. Ain’t nobody around. Pete was sitting at his counter with a fan blowing in hairy face.

“Oh, it’s Hank!”

“Hi, Mr. Pete,” I said, trying to catch my breath. I bent over and coughed. Pete pointed his fan at me. It felt good after running in that heat. His store was full today. There were shelves of chips and sweets and drinks and other stuff. My belly growled hard. Pete put a trash can in front of me, so I threw the candy wrappers away.

“Looking for a snack?” he asked, laughing.

“No, sir,” I said, still breathing hard. “No, sir. Gracie. Did Gracie come by here?”

“Oh, your sister? She’s fine! She’s inside having a snack!” He laughed some more. “Why don’t you pick yourself something out? Get a drink, too. I’ll put it on your mom’s tab.” He winked at me.

“Ma’s coming home. I need to get Gracie,” I said.

“Now, now, don’t you worry. Hey, take a look at this!” He got up from behind his counter. He grabbed my shoulder with one of his massive hands, and then he pulled me over to a box with little bags. The box looked new. The bags said “fried pie” on them. I could smell them.

“Just got these in today. They make the dough and pie filling at the factory, put ‘em in a fryer until they’re nice and crispy, and then coat them in a sugary glaze. They’re something else, and I got a nice, cold Coke to go with it. You’ll have that down in no time.”

I shook my head yes. That sounded amazing. I really wanted that.

“Now, don’t you worry about your momma. I’ll be watching over you two and explain everything to her when she comes by,” he said, laughing.

“Yes, sir. Thank you, Mr. Pete.”

“Don’t you worry about it, Hank. Here,” he said, handing me a fried pie. He led me to the fridge and handed me a cold Coke. He then pointed to the door to his house.

“Go on in,” he said. I was so hungry, I couldn’t wait. I went to the door and opened it carefully so I didn’t drop the Coke or the pie. I stepped in, and then there was this big pain in the back of my head.

-----

I woke up. I didn’t know how long I was asleep, but it was much later. Probably sunset. I was on Pete’s kitchen floor. I don’t remember falling down or going to sleep, only that I had a Coke and a fried pie. I looked for those, but they weren’t there. The back of my head hurt real bad. I felt around. It was kind of sticky. I don’t think it was that pie, though. It didn’t smell like it. I think it was my blood.

Past a door was the living room. It was hard to see in the setting sunlight, but I could make out Pete. He was crouched in front of a fireplace. There was a fire lit. He looked like he was sweating from all the heat.

“You keep behaving, and I won’t have to hit you again,” he said. “You’re gonna fetch a good price.”

He laughed, but this laugh made me shiver. He wasn’t looking at me. He was looking at someone else, someone who was next to him. There was a moan, like someone who wanted to cry. He was fiddling with something, and then he had a shirt in his hands. It was Gracie’s! He threw it into the fire!

“What did you do to my sister?” I yelled. He jumped to his feet like he was ready for a fight.

“I think you need another nap,” he said, getting a bat. It looked like a bat, but a little smaller.

I got up and ran into the living room. He brought that bat down on me, but he missed. I got something from a bin next to the fire, a little shovel. He swung his bat again. He hit my back. It hurt. It hurt a lot. It was hard to breathe. He swung again. I made myself move out of the way. I grabbed that little shovel with both my hands and swung it hard, not thinking too hard where it might land. It struck him right under his belt just as he tried to swing at me again. He cried out, and then he tripped and landed head first into his fire.

I never heard a person scream so loud in my life. His arms flailed, flinging burning wood into his living room. The room started to smoke up. Some of the paper lying around caught fire, and the curtains, and the couch. Lying in the middle of the floor was Gracie, without her shirt. It looked like someone punched her a bunch of times. Her eyes were black, blacker than our skin. There were bruises and rashes all over.

“Gracie! Come on!” I said.

“I can’t. It hurts,” she said. I picked her up the best I could and got out to the garage, and then through the shelves of Pete’s food. And then we made it outside.

“Henry James!” Ma yelled. “What–Gracie Joy! Who did this? What happened?”

“It was Pete, Ma! Pete tried–”

“You’re dead meat, kids!” Pete yelled. Black smoke came out of his house as he stumbled out. His hairy face was now red and burnt, and some of his body, too.

“What happened to you, Pete?” Ma said.

“These little shoplifters–”

“Shoplifting?” she said, looking at Pete like he was crazy.

“He burned Gracie’s shirt in the fireplace! He beat her up!”

“What?” she said, glaring at him with the full wrath of God.

There was a gunshot. A policeman stood in the street, and the pistol he shot up was now pointed at us.

“Nobody move,” he said. Another cop was in their car on the radio. There were sirens approaching.

-----

It was after dark when we got home. Ma held Gracie in her arms as she led us in, turned on the lights, and closed the door.

“Go fill the bath, Hank,” she said.

I looked down. I knew what was coming and I just couldn’t wait for it anymore.

“What’s the matter, son?” she said.

“Aren’t you going to paddle me?” I said.

“Why would I do that?” she said.

“‘Cause I lost Gracie, and then all this happened, and Mr. Pete…”

Ma laid Gracie down on the couch, and then she knelt down and held me. I cried.

“This all started because Gracie snuck out,” she said.

“But…I could have paid more attention,” I said.

“We could all do better. Be thankful that you both made it out okay,” she said. She didn’t say anything for a minute, and then she let me go, held my face, and wiped my tears with her thumb.

“Ain’t enough paddles in the world to replace what happened today. Mr. Pete was an evil man who did evil things. You don’t understand the half of what just happened, but you will, and there won’t be enough paddles in the world to replace that.”

“Ma, Gracie’s all beat up,” I said.

“And you rescued her. You took responsibility. You looked for her, found her, and even after Mr. Pete fooled you, you wisened up and fought him for your sister. You know where you screwed up, and you took responsibility. Son, you don’t need the paddle.”

“I’m sorry, Ma.”

“I’m sorry, too, son. If things were better, I could be at home, and none of this would happen. It ain’t fair, but it’s what we got. You might not feel it right now, but you did good. Now go fill the bath. We need to clean Gracie up.”

“I’m hungry,” I said.

“When we all get cleaned up, we will go to the diner,” she said.

“Really? Yeah!”

Maybe I was too happy about it, but Ma didn’t shush me like she usually did. She said I already grew up a little too much. My bath felt good, like a bath never did before. The burger and shake was real good. I slept hard that night.

I miss Pa. I wish he’d kick Mr. Pete.

But he ain’t here.

[thegigilwriter]

17 | “Danger & Star, Rooster & Angel” — Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw x Female Mitchell OC

Summary. 26-year-old Lucy Asa Mitchell did not know what was in store for her when she first bumped into Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw. After an instant mutual connection followed by a sweet whirlwind romance that swept both their feet, Lucy found herself being immersed deeper into Bradley’s world of the Navy, F-14s, and deployments. What she didn’t expect was finding was the answer to an elusive part of her past — the identity of her long-lost father.

Chapter Summary. It’s some minutes to midnight before Lucy’s birthday and she’s walking down memory lane with someone we’re dying to get to know a little more. After midnight, Bradley is faced with a surprising revelation.

Masterlist

Keywords/Warnings: Angst, implications of loss of loved ones, fluff

17 | Birthday Wish 🎂

September 27, 2023

It was five minutes to midnight and Lucy was sitting on her purple couch. An album was sprawled across her lap and a paper bag sat beside her. She flipped another page. It was Halloween in Oregon and for trick-or-treat, Lucy and Ford were dressed up in their homemade peanut butter and jelly costumes. The night had just concluded, they were poised on the front porch of their house, and they were both holding up a shared bucket of candy —Lucy with missing teeth was smiling ear-to-ear, and Ford with a cute little frown. Lucy remembered that Halloween vividly, for it was one of their last trick-or-treats as children. She recalled Ford didnʼt want to go that day and the only reason why he did is because she made him. Lucy wanted to have all the candy she could get as a last hurrah. Ford disliked sweets with a passion, so he was more than happy to let her take his share. She chuckled, shaking her head as the turned another page.

This time, it was during an awarding ceremony for one of his chess meets. It was Nationals, and it was such a big deal at the time that Tala took some time off of work to accompany Ford and Lucy to New York. He took home the trophy that day, receiving it in a handsome navy suit and a ghost of a smile — Ford rarely ever does smile. They were 15 at the time, and Ford was truly starting to look like Pete ‘Maverickʼ Mitchell. She stared at the picture for a moment — it was truly uncanny. They both had eyes that looked like they were a hiding a secret with the same shoulders and the same lips and the same hair. Lucy has always suspected that Ford resembled their father... it was one of the excuses she made for her mother of why she always seemed to favor her brother every time.

Lucy turned the page once more, and some days after the meet it was their 16th birthday, and like every year... they shared the same cake, the same candles, and the sometimes even the same gifts. She remembered that particular birthday. It was the first time they tried their first taste of alcohol — Stella Marie red wine. Well... it was Fordʼs first time anyway. Tala could tell by how Lucy quickly downed her glass without so much as a scrunch of her nose. She scolded her publicly that day. Her uncles were not spared from her wrath— after all... they did let her have her first sip of Red Horse Beer.

Two minutes to midnight. She turned one last page and it turned into Fordʼs graduation headshot. He looked much older and his appearance was much more refined. His hazel eyes matured with intensity and seriousness. Lucy could still hear the squeals and hoots of the female onlookers when Ford took this photograph, in his white robes, with a blue collar, and red stripes.

A minute to midnight. Lucy set aside the album and opened the paper bag, retrieving a single candle and a vanilla cupcake with frosting. She lit the candle and buried one end in the cupcake. She set the cupcake on the living room table and sat on the floor with her hands folded on the surface with her chin laid upon them.

“Happy birthday Asa, happy birthday ‘Yani. Happy birthday, happy birthday...ˮ

Lucy smiled, a single tear trailing down her cheek.

“Happy birthday to you...ˮ

Lucy closed her eyes and sighed deeply.

“Whatʼs your wish, ‘Yani?ˮ

“I donʼt believe in superstition, and neither should you.ˮ

“Isnʼt there anything you want?ˮ

“I do, but Iʼm not gonna get it by wishing...ˮ

Lucy blew out the candle with another sigh, licked the frosting from its end, and the ate cupcake with a mug of hot tea. She laid among the cushions, still staring at Fordʼs photograph many minutes after midnight. Lucy can feel her eyelids wavering and herself slipping into slumber.

“I know you donʼt believe in wishes,ˮ she whispered to him. “But Iʼve tried everything else and Iʼm getting tired of praying...ˮ

“I wish youʼd come back.ˮ

17 minutes after midnight.

“I wish I said that Iʼm sorry.ˮ

19 minutes after midnight.

“I wish it was me instead.ˮ

21 minutes after midnight.

Bradley arrived some 40 minutes after midnight at Lucyʼs apartment. When he stepped into the vicinity, his heart softened at the sight of Lucyʼs sleeping figure on her purple couch. He fixed his boots in the designated cubby of her shoe rack and hung his flight-suit on the spare hanger in the cabinet. As he passed by her on his way to the kitchen, he placed a soft kiss on her forehead so as to not wake her up. He washed his hands at the sink and as he was drying them, he noticed the extinguished birthday candle on the dish rack. He smiled softly at the reminder, it was officially Lucyʼs 26th birthday. He walked over to her and kneeled by her sweet, slumbering form.

“Angel?ˮ He whispered. “Baby?ˮ

Lucy groaned slightly, turning on her side and inadvertently letting the album slide from her abdomen towards the floor. Bradley bent down to pick it up and intended to close it when the open page caught his eye. He quickly glanced at Lucy, and after convincing himself that she would not be waking up anytime soon, he allowed himself to prop the album open on his thigh in full view.

The photograph was of Lucy. She appeared to be on the high ledge of a building, smiling at the sun with her eyes closed. Her hair was down in all its curls and coils. She had on a pair of earphones with the Ipod tucked into the pocket of her black leather jacket. She was also wearing black Doc Martens, denim jeans, and a Coldplay band shirt. Bradleyʼs eyes flitted to the date inscribed below— November 2012. Bradley chuckled, he didnʼt quite expect how different her style was when she was 13.

He turned another page — and it was Lucy in a blue one-piece and a swim cap on a podium, standing proudly on the highest shelf as she held up a gold medal, and another picture of her mid-backstroke. Bradley turned another page and it was Lucy again in a beautiful, iridescent gown with pearls in her hair on a stage, performing what was presumably an opera piece. Another page — and it was Lucy in the same attire with a wide smile post-performance and right next to her was a dapper young gentleman with a serious stare. There was something about his eyes that struck a familiar chord in Bradley so he turned another page, intrigued.

September 2013

Twinsʼ 14th

Lucy and Ford

There was Lucy and Ford. Lucy was on Fordʼs back with her arms wrapped around his neck and her legs curled against his sides. Judging by Fordʼs expression, she had taken him by surprise when she piggybacked him. Lucy was laughing, her party hat tipped to one side.

Bradley read the inscription once more.

Twinsʼ 14th

Twins.

Bradley heard a faint rustle from behind him and instantly shut the album and placed it on the table in front of him.

“Bradley?ˮ Lucy yawned. “What time is it? Are you hungry?ˮ

“Hey Angel,ˮ he said to her softly. “Happy birthday...ˮ

“Thank you,ˮ she smiled sleepily. “Are you hungry?ˮ

“Iʼd rather just sleep with you right now if thatʼs alright. You and I got a long trip ahead of us tomorrow... ˮ Bradley grinned and Lucy nodded, head hitting the cushion again as he chuckled. Lifting Lucy from the couch, he let her head cradle against his chest and secured his grasp on the skin behind her knees. He walked to her room, set her down on her bed, and drew the covers to her chin. Bradley gazed upon Lucyʼs sleeping face and held a breath when he saw the dried tears that stained her cheeks. The walk down memory lane. The candle in the dish rack. It dawned on Bradley that it wasnʼt only Lucyʼs birthday... It was also Fordʼs, and for some reason, he couldnʼt celebrate it.

Bradley spent his time in the shower in deep contemplation. As the warm water continued to soak his curls and wash his skin, many pieces of thoughts came together in his mind. He couldnʼt quite shake the mystery in Lucyʼs life that was Ford — who also happened to look too eerily familiar to Bradley for a stranger...

Fraternal twins.

Born 1997.

Angel.

Lucy Mitchell.

Ford Mitchell. ...

Pete... Mitchell.

Mitchell.

Mitchell is a common American surname. Bradley knows two other people with that surname aside from Lucy, Ford, and Mav... so it could just all be a weird coincidence... right?

Right?

Bradley hastily dried his locks and toweled off the excess water from his body. After changing into one of the shirts and boxers he left in Lucyʼs drawers, he quickly retrieved his phone and his wallet, and sat beside where Lucy laid in bed.

Search For: Ford Mitchell

Results

23-year-old Detective New ‘Sherlock Holmesʼ of NYPD

Mitchell Busts ‘Uncatchableʼ Sleuth Slayer

Genius Cop Brings Corrupt Gov. to Justice

After scrolling down the results briefly, Bradley opened the Images tab. Many were of Ford in official NYPD attire, receiving an honorary medal, but as he scrolled down further, graduation pictures followed — all linked to the MIT Astrophysics and Space Research Department. Bradley opened one image in full view, it was of Ford posing formally in an NYPD uniform with a navy shirt and tie, the number 99 on the corner of each collar, a fitted jacket with the NYPD insignia on one arm and his badge and service ribbons donned proudly on his left chest. Bradley took out his wallet and opened the tight little pocket, and right behind his old library card was a weathered picture of Goose, Carol, himself... and Maverick.

“An...old friend,ˮ Pete said. “I met her back at Atsugi back in ‘96.ˮ

“Iʼm sorry,ˮ Pete laughed lightly, looking back at Lucy. “Itʼs just so uncanny. You look exactly like her...ˮ

“I spent six months in Atsugi,ˮ Pete sighed. “And for four of them, I did date Tala... As soon as I wrapped up my deployment I went back to the Philippines with her for some months.ˮ

The thoughts couldnʼt stop coming to him even if he tried to slow it all down to look at each one clearly — without the lens of emotion.

The way Lucy looked at Mav when he first introduced them at the Hard Deck. It was as if she knew him.

How nervous and inconsolable she was on the night Penny invited them over for dinner. He remembered how much Lucy fussed over the correct ratio and flavor of the spring roll filling prior.

“Theyʼre just as I remember them to be...ˮ Those were Mavʼs very words.

Could it be?

Lucy is... and Mav are...

Bradley gasped slightly. He gazed upon Lucy. Did she know? An unsettling heaviness burrowed in Bradleyʼs chest and he felt his head becoming warmer by the second. He felt a strong urge to wake her... to let her explain herself. He was his own person, capable and deserving of the truth. Did she not trust him enough to handle it? He didnʼt need his mother to delay the news of the death of his own father until he was six-years-old. He didnʼt need Maverick to make it harder for him to become a pilot so that he wouldnʼt end up like his dad. He certainly didnʼt need his girlfriend hiding something of this magnitude from him. Bradley was so just sick and tired of the people around him pushing him away, thinking that theyʼre protecting him. Just as he was about to wake her, a tear slipped down her cheek. He shakily held a breath.

“Ford?ˮ She murmured in the saddest voice that he has ever heard. “Donʼt go... Iʼm sorry...ˮ

Bradley withdrew his hand instantly.

Did it really matter though? That the father she never talked about just happened to be his godfather, or so Bradley suspects?

Would he love her any less... if he knew what really happened to Ford and why Lucy seemed so guilty about it?

Was it worth it? To expose her now and reopen the wounds that she had appeared to have tried so hard for so long to heal? On her birthday? A day that severely reminded her of the loss of someone who meant so much to her?

There was still so much Bradley didnʼt know about Lucy. This is true. But what he does know, is the girl he fell in love with. The girl who loves the sea and swims with whales, who sings opera to make her mother proud, who snorts uncontrollably when she laughs, who canʼt dance to save her life or eat anything even mildly spicy, who lives for food, who meets their best friend by threatening to burn a robber alive, who beats Hangman at darts, and who fits perfectly on his lap. The only girl heʼll ever allow to drive his 1970 Ford Bronco and whose cooking that he now canʼt live without. The girl he told Nat he knows heʼs going to marry on the fourth date — the night for their first kiss.

“If thereʼs anything I can tell you, itʼs that Lucy comes from a family where... pushing down their feelings and hiding their problems is way to be strong. Itʼll be hard — getting Lucia out of her shell.ˮ

Bradley sighed deeply. He looked at the conch shell that Francesca gifted Lucy on her dresser. It was beautiful, but perhaps it would have been truly difficult to pry outside the creature that once inhabited it. He placed his phone and wallet on her dresser and embraced her snugly in his strong arms. He inhaled the scent of her hair and placed soft kisses from behind her ear towards her collarbone.

“In time, Iʼll tell you everything — everything, I promise. But for now, I hope that youʼll have me for what I am in your eyes.ˮ

Those were the words she had uttered on the night he asked her to be his girlfriend. What kind of person would Bradley be, if he ignored this promise over his pride? A human, of course... like everybody else. For now he would wait, bide his time for the moment, and hope that the inevitability of conflict will stay at bay for a little while longer.

Our first preview of the elusive Ford Mitchell. I’m wondering at this point of the story of what you, dear readers, might speculate about his whereabouts and his character. 🤔 Bradley’s slowly putting the pieces together, but is Lucy ever going to let him? 🐚 Let’s put the drama and angst aside for now, unto to 18 | Monterey Bay!

P.S. I don’t think it’s canon that Carole really delayed the news of Goose’s death to little Bradley — it’s more of a hc of mine.

Taglist: @itsarabellebabes

[moonlit-imagines]

warnings:

a/n:

not requested

You popped the handle open to your rickety apartment door and called, “Pete? You home?” He rolled back in his desk chair into your sight and waved, seeing you with a bag from the convenience store and two drinks from MJ’s coffee shop. “Hey, I know it’s not much, but I thought I’d get you something for Christmas.”

“Y/N, you didn’t have to…” Peter got up to help you, but you dropped the bag on your bed and handed him his drink.

“Oh, but I wanted to.” You told your roommate. “Everyone deserves to have a nice Christmas, and I know you said your family isn’t talking to you right now, so I’m here for you. Is the cocoa good? That girl you’re always flirting with made it.” You began dumping out the contents of your shopping bag.

“Oh, yeah…it’s great. Is that a stuffed Iron Man?” Peter chuckled. “You got that for me?”

“You bet I did. And all this candy and other shit. Merry Christmas, Pete.”

taglist: @alwaysananglophile // @locke-writes // @sweetheartlizzie07 // @queen-destenie // @johnmurphyisqueer // @captainshazamerica // @ravenmoore14 // @canarypoint // @procrastinatingsapphictrash // @swanimagines // @randomfandomimagine // @petersgroupie // @summersimmerus // @scarthefangirl // @bad4amficideas // @sheridans-dynamos // @simsrecs // @prettysbliss // @skdkdkckfk // @simp-legend // @zoeyserpentluck // @wild-rose-35 // @ipurpleeyou // @nekoannie-chan // @punk-rock-raven // @evilcr0ne // @minxsblog // @v0idl1nq // @sydknee624 // @ruvaakke // @thedarkqueenofavalon // @amirahiddleston //@multifandomfix // @beth-gallagher22 // @brutal-out-here // @rqmanoff //

[omegaremix]

June 21, 2022.

Summer paid out more than I expected. It started unofficially with Sacred Bones’ 15th anniversary showcase at the Knockdown Center. Dominican Pete gave me two days notice before he stopped by, ending an eleven-year drought of not seeing him. All he did was take me to 7-11 to get him some lighters then back home to roll up, light up, and play me some Tears For Fears before he was barely conscious in la-la land (my house) as we listened to Pure Hell. Eleven years didn’t compare to when I came to visit my Jewish-ginger friend Candy at her family restaurant in the fields of Calverton. Not since leaving the Brentwood-era behind and making endless promises to patronize her had I seen how she was doing. Barely getting by, she said, as she looked to re-locate to a busier locale. Oh, and my compulsiveness showed up to throw my money away at record stores again. I spent more than what I did four years before and I still wasn’t finished hitting up all the shops of my liking.

Another check-up at Manhattan’s West side was around the corner so that gave me an idea. I visited the Academy Annex in Greenpoint in late February for a city jaunt and spent a sizable sum for some out-of-the-ordinary records. Wee, Throbbing Gristle, Sweeping Promises, Lonnie Liston Smith were the highlights of that cold-snap visit. That’s because I made two pretty inexpensive online orders from them in December. They had another location in Manhattan, so what better way to spend the rest of the day in the city? I was in and out in a matter of 45 minutes. I couldn’t wait another second for a secretary’s confirmation of a next visit. So guess what? Don’t call me, I’ll call you. I hastily walked out of the building and took the next 6 train I could hop on. Nine stops and six minutes downtown was all it took to resume walking to East 12th Street under hazy cloudy skies and temperatures borderlining on 70*F.

I walked east along what seemed like the sweet narrow streets. Residential buildings high enough to provide shade as I walked past the groups of school children and their leaders expounding on being aware of their surroundings and looking out for each other and themselves. Young kids in groups of three, four, five of colored hair, piercings, and skate-punk outfits standing on the sidewalk talking about nothing significant. I approach the Lower East Side playground where at least forty or so high-schoolers shot hoops, chased each other around, and screamed out loud. Only then I look to my left and there was Academy.

I stayed for a good two-and-a-half hours perusing through 90% of the store’s inventory thumbing through everything I could. City stores had what the island stores didn’t. What a treat it’d be to find those key releases I’ve always been reading about. Surely there were plenty. Finally, they came home with me.

Three exhausting hours later, I payed up and left with my finds. Around the corner was the L line which connected me to the uptown 1 / 2 / 3 to Penn Station where I reverse the process under still-overcast silver skies. I was getting these city music-store excursions out of my system. It all started with Williamsburg’s Rough Trade and that was such an unreal experience that I regretted holding off the borough stops for so long. No real excuse why. Nevermind the few island stores left. On the train ride home, I considered whether to visit either Generation Records or Captured Tracks, one which was growing on me to stop by. Summer was still young with lots of time on the clock to still make the best happen.

Caparezza: “Eyes Wide Shut”

Henry Mancini: “Hilly’s Theme”

Rips: “Mirror”

Exek: “I’m After Your Best Interests”

Genghis Tron: “Alone In The Heart Of…” Sunrot: “21%”

Savak: “Cold Ocean”

Fontaines D.C.: “I Love You”

Mediaslaves: % (Of…)

Devil Wears Prada, The: "Watchtower"

Kill Alters: “Eyelid…”

Hardcorebae: “Um…” Street Sects: “Present Tents”

UNSPKBLE: “Where…”

Smirk: “Do You?”

Great American Ghost: “Kingmaker”

Michael Berdan: “Angels Of Vengeance”

Restraining Order: “Better Luck Next Time”

Age Of Apocalypse: “Fury”

Black Dresses: “Angel Hair”

Ayria: “My Device”

Queensway: “Return To Dirt”

Exek: “Sen Yen For 30 Minutes Of…”

Strangers With Guns: “Somebody Needs A Hug”

Riot For Romance: “Less For Regret”

Ill Communication: “A Lecture In Survivability”

Offset: Spectacles, The: “Dead Air”

Old Iron: “Planetism…”