#So everyone who wants to get their hands on that months stickers can!

[chloesimaginationthings]

FNAF stickers are coming to the Patreon soon!!

[russellsppttemplates]

Straight from the heart (Lando Norris)

It takes a bad race for Lando to notice how much he has neglected your relationship, and he can only hope he can fix it

Note: english is not my first language. I was fighting the other piece I was writing so I jumped to this one and I did something a little bit different (* cough cough * longer) and see how it goes! I'm not sure how good this is (or how much you will want to kill me), but I promise this has a happy ending!! 🥹🫶

Thank you so much to everyone who likes and reblogs, your feedback is appreciated 🤍 and I'm taking requests so if you have any ideas or concepts you want to share, feel free to do so as I'll try to get to them the best I can!

my masterlist

Tw: relationship struggles, curse words

Tag list: @myloverjk-blog @hiireadstuff @c-losur3

The result on the screen was not the one you hoped. Lando had a wonderful race, but a mixture of bad strategy calls, dark rain clouds appearing on the sky with only a couple of laps left to finish the race and the wrong tire compound made him lose a good number of places, cars overtaking him in the last seven laps.

"Is the race over?", you mother asked as she stepped inside the living room, carrying the curtains she had left out to dry and proceeding to hang them back in their place.

"Yes, just now", your father said as he adjusted the volume on the TV, "let me help you, darling", he offered, getting up and standing beside your mum in case she got out of balance.

"Are you going to call Lando?", your mother asked once her squinty eyes read the position he had finished in. Even though the prescription glasses were on the table, she insisted she didn't want any mishaps after she accidentally dropped her last pair while she was gardening and one of your younger cousins found a rusty frame a couple of months later when he was over.

"I'm not, I don't think - he's flying back tonight and the timezone is so different, I don't want to bother him", you blurted defensively, making up excuses as you went along with your answer, "he's doing the interviews, and I'm sure the debrief will be long and torturous - he will need his rest to fly back", you stated as you got up, "I have to check on the project I handed in on Friday, the professor said he would post the grades around this time and if we want to appel, we have to do it right away - I'll be in my bedroom".

The subject was an open wound that stung everytime you so much heard a mention of it, let one having to seem completely okay with it when it ripped through your heart.

The calendar on your wall is full of stickers, both with notes, urgent matters and things you couldn't forget. It's the last stretch, you tell yourself, one more week and then it's done and you'll have a well deserved break.

A knock on your door catches your attention as you reply with the allowance to let whoever is on the other side in, "is something wrong?", you asked. Lately, the negative side of your mind was the first one to speak.

"That's what I want to ask you - that conversation we just had downstairs was not your usual self", she sighed as she pointed to the living room, "I've noticed you haven't mentioned him much, but I don't want to intrude or offer my help because I know you don't like meddling", your mother looked for your eyes before you could fully focus on the wooden floor.

"Things have been rough between us lately", you sighed, "Lando is keeping me at a distance, and I don't know the reason why, mum", you shrugged, "I don't know if it's because I've known him all my life and the comparison is so profound, but it seems he only cares about racing and his friends, and I'm nowhere in the mix. We rarely call eachother, no texting - I know the triple headers are intense, but all I got from him were reactions to my stories and a little video from Max where he's in it and said something to me", you recalled, "I can't be the only one making an effort, can I? Either he realised where this is going and we catch it while we can, or I don't know where this is going, I don't know where we're going".

Your mother's heart broke as she saw you allow the tears you had held on to fall freely, your sleeves bunched up on your hands to wipe them, "and have you talked about this? A long, grown-up and serious conversation?", she mused.

"We have barely been with eachother, mum!", you whispered shakily as more tears got caught on your throat.

"Couples go through phases, darling - do you think me and your father was all smooth sailing?", she tried to get you to smile as she brushed your hair while she hugged you, "you need to talk to eachother, seriously and let it all out, nothing is off limits because that's how you'll get to where you need to".

You kept your head on your mother's chest, accepting her comforting hold despite being an adult. A mother's hold was truly the best.

You hoped she was right and this was something that would pass. A rough patch that you and Lando would work through a look back on with a sense of accomplishment.

This wasn't how you and Lando end, is it?

.

Max and Lando headed for the plane as soon as they left the race track, having made prior arrangements to had their luggage there waiting for them once they arrived. Max was the first to sit down and get himself comfortable on the seat, texting his girlfriend to let her know they were leaving.

"Y/N hasn't called or even texted me, nothing", Lando mumbled, "didn't she watch the race? Doesn't she know that I need her?".

Max weighed in the good and the bad that his next few words could do. He could either be honest and encourage his best friend to finally come to his senses, or keep covering the lie and perpetuate the suffering and miscommunications.

"This is not how I wanted to do this - truth be told, I never wanted to have to do it", Max rambled off.

Lando was quick to notice that there was more to it than just this instance, "you know something - she's my girlfriend, Max, if something is happening, I deserve to know", he said in an antsy tone.

"Are you really so blind to it? Have you not noticed it yet? Damn it, Lando, I've been on your side, trying to clean it up and now I'm questioning it", Max declared as Lando only grew more confused.

"What am I missing Max?", Lando snapped, even catching his own self off guard at the reaction he had.

"Mate, think about the last couple of months and whether or not you have been a good boyfriend, or even the boyfriend Y/N deserves", Max offered.

Lando wasn't expecting that answer or point of view.

The last couple of months roll through his memory as if he's watching a movie and when he tries to select the moments he spent with you, he finds himself struggling to gather any at all. He can't remember any of the times you spent together, and considering his memory isn't that bad, it could only mean those moments didn't even happen. Thinking about it, he can remember the last time he held you in his arms, just the two of you.

"Fuck!", Lando shouted, punching the arm rest.

"Glad you figured that one out almost all on your own", Max tsked, "do you really think you deserve any interaction from Y/N? Thought so", Max muttered. He didn't like the situation his friends found themselves in, and he certainly didn't feel any joy in the words he told Lando, but the truth wasn't always easy to hear.

"Seems Y/N doesn't think so either", Lando mumbled, "do you know anything? Has she told you anything?".

He wasn't sure he deserved to know, but he needed to.

"The last time I spoke to her she didn't say anything - you know how Y/N doesn't want to bother anyone with her things and getting information from her is harder than solving the world's problems -, but P and her talk here and there", Max reasoned, "she obviously won't tell me all the details but from what I can tell, Y/N has really taken a toll because of this, P is always quite upset whenever it comes up", Max offered. Quite upset wouldn't cover it, so much so that, unbeknownst to Lando, the last couple of time Max's girlfriend couldn't join them for their plans was an orchestrated excuse from her to avoid being in the same room as the McLaren driver.

"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!", Lando groaned into his hands, "how could I not realise this was happening?".

"You want the honest, blunt truth?", Max asked and Lando nodded, "I know it's your job, but lately, it's all been about racing, and I think you've neglected Y/N ", Max offered.

McLaren had a one hundred and eighty degree turn lately. From struggling to get their cars in the points, the team had managed to turn things around to the point where P5 and P8 was considered a bad weekend for them.

With the new signings, Quadrant had grown exponentially and it had naturally drawn him to spend more time on it, and it seemed to have alienated everyone in his life that wasn't directly a part of those.

It wasn't intentional, but it didn't mean that it didn't hurt. And by the looks of it, the person Lando loved and cared about most was also the one he hurt the most.

They both sat in silence as the British drive thought about all of it. Things got so good that he didn't look back, he worked his hardest and gave every piece of himself to the cause and the new territory he was paving. Being on the podium was a common feature for him, and the race win was there, up for grabs and he wanted it. Yet, he had been dazzled by it and had let himself fly higher, his characteristic "both head and feet on the ground" posture no longer present and resulting in a degree of neglection for the things and people thay mattered to him.have always been important to me.

"How did I push away the most important person in my life and I'm just now realizing this?", Lando asked, not really expecting an answer, but rather to let out all the frustration that boiled inside him, anger soon following at his late realisation, "what's worse is that I've only come to realise this because you had to tell me - stupid, stupid, stupid".

"I don't know what you want me to tell you, mate, and frankly there isn't much I can, but look on the bright side: now you have a chance to fix it", Max tries to comfort Lando.

"What if it's too late? What if Y/N doesn't want to be with me anymore?", Lando voicesd his deepest fear. What if the anger had finally got to you and you wanted to call it quits?

"Wouldn't you be able to understand that? I don't think that is the case - I've never seen two people who love eachtoher more than you two, it's as disgusting as it it lovely most times. And even though she might feel angry or hurt, I believe she has it in her to forgive you", Max states.

"I hope you're right", Lando sighed as he tapped his phone, his finger hovering over your contact.

"I wouldn't do that", Max chirped, "you should rest before diving into anything about that topic, and today has had too many emotions as it is. Tomorrow is a new day for you to think about it", he advised.

With his head on the headrest, Lando went over everything that occupied his mind, allowing the heavy sinking feeling to settle in. To a degree, he deserved the discomfort he felt. Shame, guilt, frustration, remorse, embarrassment, overwhelm, sadness.

What if he had destroyed the thing that made him the happiest? If I managed to single out the person who loved him for him?

.

Lan 🧡

Hello. You were probably expecting a text or a call, but the last few days haven't been easy and I needed to ground myself a little. We really need to talk, Y/N. Do you think we can grab lunch today?

It irritated you how quick your heart was beating the minute you saw who sent you the text after you submitted all the projects that you had left. Battling an inner fight of whether or not you should answer it, you decided to so it. Rip the band-aid off, Y/N.

To Lan 🧡

Hello... We do urgently need to talk. I'm on my own today - where do you want to go?

Your tone was cold and unusual when you compared it to the older messages, filled with hearts and the pet names you had for eachother.

We can go to that café by the marina, the one with the paninis you really like.

Yes, we'll meet here at one pm.

Do you want me to pick you up?

No, I'll walk.

Your sunglasses are good enough to hide the nervous gloom on them as you walked to the marina. There is no script or guideline to go about this lunch other than honesty and finally admitting everything you were feeling. It could go either way and, truth be told, you believed it would go down the way it was supposed to.

Stepping on the wooden path to the small café's outside area, you looked for the boy whose arms were where you used to feel safe.

Lando chose a table that overlooked the water, the warm sun shinning and bringing out the blue of it. It would be a big conversation, and while the café wasn't crowded, he never knew how things could pan out so he went for the most demure spot.

When you take a proper look at him, it surprises you. His eyes are not shiny like they usually are - there's a dark hue surrounding them along with sadness.

"Hey", you utter out to grab his attention.

The moment he faces you, you feel naked despite the summery dress you have on. All vulnerabilities exposed for the person who knows you best and who can read you like the back of his hand.

"Hello, hi", Lando cleared his throat, "how have you been?".

Setting your bag on the chair, you shrugged, not ready to engage in casual chit chat.

"Do you already know what you are having?", he wondered.

"The italian panini and iced tea", you mumbled after looking at the menu he handed you, "have you ordered yet?", you mused before calling the waiter to do so.

The silence between you after the waiter left the table was painful and hard to digest. You avoided looking at his colourful eyes - once you did it, breaking down would be in an instant.

"We really need to talk, Y/N", Lando says.

"Do you want to go first? Or shall I?", you asked bitterly, accepting his silence.

The waiter comes back with your orders. The café doesn't have a big menu and it's mostly empty, so the service was quick, "I hope you enjoy it - Bon appétit!", he interrupted the tension filled moment.

"I recognise I need to apologize to you for all the things I did without realizing it an-", Lando was cut off by you.

"Let me stop you there before this derails", you stated, "I'm here to have a serious, grown up conversation, so I'm not going to sit here and listen to dusty and beaten up childish excuses".

If the ground could sink him into it, Lando would've accepted it gladly.

"It's a start that you have realised that something was wrong, but you can't excuse yourself like that, Lando. Not when this situation has taken proportions that you can't fanthom - you can't get away with being sorry for not noticing what you were causing", you argued.

Lando gave you a nod, "I'm still not sure about all the things that led us to this point and what it entails, and that's why I wanted you here. I don't want to be blind to it anymore - I want to get all of it so all the pieces make sense in my head. You probably won't believe it, Y/N, but I'm so lost in this. I feel like I've lived a parallel universe for the past couple of months", Lando added all in one go.

"When did your feet come back to the ground?", you mused, "when did you feel like maybe things weren't the way they should be?". The curiosity was killing you, and the answer could very well do the last stab.

"When I lost all of those places in the race", Lando gulped, "I expected you to call and to hear your comforting words, and they never came. Max was the one to bring my mind to the matter", he admitted and you could see he was the opposite of proud of his own actions, "How I've been the worst boyfriend in the world and how I deserved that you didn't call - hell, I'm not even sure if I deserve that you're here today and willing to listen to what I have to say".

It's difficult to maintain a tough appearance and pretend that his words don't affect you, but alas, you keep your armour on.

"That afternoon was a struggle for me, Lando. I wanted nothing more than to call you and hear your voice, silence your cornerns and negative thoughts, let you know that you're the best driver out there and that a bad race doesn't define you. That it wasn't your fault and that you shouldn't beat yourself up because of it, that I was still so proud of you and how you handled things and that nothing could keep me from shouting to the rooftops. But you didn't deserve it, my dignity has been punched by your actions day in day out for the past couple of months and I couldn't take it anymore".

"I need you to hear things from your side, I need to know your perspective so I can understand what I did wrong and if I'm able to fix it still", Lando asks desperately.

"We should start from the beggining then", you laced your hands on top of the table after taking a bite of your panini, "I think it was at the end of the last season - at the time it didn't seem like it, but looking at it now, it was the start. I even took some time off and travelled with you so we could enjoy your break, then I came back for university. It's never easy, I know, but up until then we never had any issues with it - even if it was a bloody run, we made time for eachother. Then, you barely texted, let alone call - but all relationships hit rough patches and I thought that it was ours. Then Christmas came around and we finally felt like us again, there were no work or uni commitments, and it was bliss. After that, life happened again and I couldn't find a way to spend time with you - there was always a Quadrant video to film or a meeting or some event. You, Max and Martin went to Bali, and despite the fact that I didn't have any exams and could easily do university stuff remotely - like I do everytime - you didn't even think to ask me if I wanted to go or if I had planned something for us in the first place. I just took it for granted that you would spend it with me, but when P showed me the photos I looked like a fool and an ungrateful friend and girlfriend because I stayed back, Lando. I never felt so humiliated. Max had his girlfriend and you didn't, you ignored me as if I didn't matter to you", you breathed out. Ruminating was one thing, talking about it out loud was another. The latter angered you less and hurt more.

"I'm sorry", Lando murmured and you were quick to shoot it down.

"I don't need you to apologize now, Lando. What I needed was for you to make a decision then, one that considered me and what I wanted", you sighed, wiping a stubborn tear that got out, "after that, I just watched you pull further and further away, and I tried to get closer, work things out, but you wouldn't let me in. You floated and floated and I stayed here, both feet glued to the ground as I watched you go higher and higher. You were never like this, letting things get to your head wasn't something you ever did, but it happened. You alienated me in such a way that for this triple header, I didn't hear your voice once unless it was from the TV or the McLaren social media. You only wanted to call when you needed comfort, and it hurts that it took Max to help you see things the way they are", you state as tears fell uncontrollably down your cheeks.

Apart from your earlier bite, both wooden serving boards look full and no one made a move to go further.

"You told me time and time again that you would always be there for me, but when I was the one needing a cuddle and reassuring words, I was all alone in my bedroom, crying because of you. When you said you'd be there for me, I guess you failed to account for the fact that you can't protect me from yourself.. Because what hurt me these past couple of months was you", you declared, sniffling and, finally, looking into Lando's swollen and tear-filled eyes.

The tears Lando has been holding back fell. He was angry with himself, at how he had done the one thing he promise not to do to you. He made you hurt, he was the reason you were in pain and he couldn't keep you from feeling it.

"I wish I could tell you there was a reason behind it and that it all has some justification, but there isn't and I can't lie to you. I was propelled from the results and the promise that this could be our year - my year - and everything else faded away. I know it's not any help, but I'm not proud of what I did, and definitely not proud of the way I made you hurt - I wish I could turn back time and do it differently", Lando confessed.

"I needed you, Lando", she bit back.

Lando couldn't find any words after that and once you began eating the now cold panini, he followed your movements, granting you the quietest meal you ever shared with him. Lando was playful, loud, cheery and giggly on any other day. As much as it nagged you that your words were the ones to dim that light, you had to put yourself first. Someone had to.

"Can we walk along the marina?", Lando asked once you finished eating, earning your nod to his surprise.

You both get up, Lando paying for your meal at the front before you left the establishment. You walked along, looking at the luxurious boats and yachts before you found a part of the wall that you was comfortable enough to sit on, remaining in silence as you watched a couple of people unlock their yachts and sailing away.

Lando wanted to say something, to prove to you that he was sorry and that he still loves you more than anything, but the fear of saying the wrong thing and hurting you even deeper was not something he wanted to risk.

"You're going to break up with me, aren't you?", Lando voiced the biggest worry on his mind since he left his apartment.

"I walked here, so I had time to think about all of this, and all I could think was that I was going to meet you there, be reminded of all the pain you made me feel, and then we wouldn't see a solution to this. And on my way here, it got harder because I passed by the shop where we always go for croissants, and then that park where I tripped and you carried me home because of my bruised knee even though I could walk just fine, the bench where that lady asked if Mila was our daughter when your brother visited. And when I arrived at the café and saw you, I knew there was no way I could do it", you half smiled.

"I struggled to see what was happening, and I didn't see what was clearly in front of me, and I know I can't undo all of the crap that I've made", Lando pointed out, "but I can say that I love you, Y/N. I love you even more than when I asked you to be my girlfriend, which I never thought was possible, but everyday I love you a little bit more. I know I won't be able to love anyone the way I love you and, honestly, I'm not sure who I am without you, because I've turned into a person I don't recognise anymore and I'm afraid that if I don't have you around, this is the real me, and I don't like it. You make me a better person - since day one! I'll love you forever, but I also understand that you don't need this pressure in your life and that you want us to be over. I deserve that", Lando mumbled.

As much as the idea of not being with you hurt him, he knew it didn't equate to the pain he caused you hence why he deserved it if you dumped him.

"You're making it so hard", your groaned rubbing your temples, "It would have been so much easier if you had told me that you didn't care about this, that you didn't care about me anymore".

"That's never going to happen, Y/N", Lando assured you.

"It would be so much easier if I told you to fuck yourself off, wouldn't it?", you chuckled and Lando got to see a small glimpse of the world's best smile, "but I can't do it - I do think, though, that we need to take some time, for both of us to work on our own things", you suggested.

"I get it, you can have all the time and space you need, Y/N", Lando nodded, "would it be too much to ask if I asked you for another shot?", he wondered as you quirked an eyebrow, "I know you just asked me for some time, and I'll give it to you, but I'm not going to let you entertain the thought that I don't care about you or that I don't love you any longer. I'm still the same person you met all those years ago and I want to remind you why you fell in love with me in the first place - if that's even the case", he blurted, "please".

"Slow steps, okay?", you mused with a small small.

"Is it still the case?", Lando picked up where he left off, "are you still in love with me?".

"If I wasn't in love with you and if I didn't love you, trust me, I wouldn't be here", you smiled, squeezing his hand in yours on top of the warm stone.

.

Over the last couple of days, you felt lighter. University was finally over for the semester and you could rest, and the whole situation with Lando was better. Even though it hurt to tell him all of those things and see his reaction, and even if Lando still had a lot to make up for, you had to admit you didn't expect to feel like this right away. The right path was being trailed and you couldn't feel more at peace with it.

So far, he kept his respectful distance, which didn't mean that you didn't know he was there. Two days after you met him in the marina, Lando sent you a bunch of flowers to your doorstep, your mother being the one to bring them up to your bedroom since she was arriving from work as the delivery man was about to knock on the door, smirking when she saw who it was from.

You were getting ready to go out for a picnic with Lando. The sunny day invited you to go out and Lando seemed to think the same, sending you a quick text with the location and plan ideas.

"Where are you off to?", your mother asked as she noticed you looking for your hat, "you look very nice, dear".

"Lando invited me for a picnic", you offered her a smile despite the butterfly feeling on your tummy.

"I'm glad you're working things out, Y/N - I know how much you care about him. And even if he hurt you, he's doing the work to get you back - a lot of men would just give up, but not Lando", your mother nudged. She always liked him despite her initial concerns when he moved up the racing ladder and the toll it would take on you. For a brief moment, she was upset that she had been right, but she never lost the hope that the young man dating her daughter would fight for them and for her. For you.

"I'm not sure how long I'll be out, but if I'm not home for dinner, don't worry too much", you added, waving at her before closing the door.

You drove yourself to the park, politely declining Lando's offer to pick you up. As you followed the directions, you spotted Lando under one of the trees, seemingly battling with the corner of the picnic blanket.

"Hey, need help with that?", you called as you approached him, noticing his flustered face at getting caught.

"Hey! It's fine, it's fine", he dusted off his shorts, "I didn't fold the corner properly, never mind iron this", he grumbled.

"We're going to sit on it, I don't think we needed it ironed", you smiled, setting your small backpack on the blanket and occupying the space that wasn't covered with glass containers and pape bags, noticing the logo of your favourite bakery and the sweets shop near Lando's apartment.

"So, I baked these - who knew my oven works, hm?", he joked as he pulled out some granola bars that smelled delicious, "Jon did give me the recipe, but I made them! He says they don't have any harmful raw ingredients in them so there's no danger if they're not cooked properly".

"You could've told me to bring something too", you sighed, "you had all this trouble and I'm just going to sit here and eat it", you reasoned.

"I think we've gathered that I deserve all this trouble, even though I didn't mind doing it - I think I finally get it when people say they find baking relaxing, even if I just threw some oats and syrup on a bowl with nuts and chocolate", Lando shrugged.

You smiled at his antics, "this looks lovely, Lan - thank you", before you grabbed a paper napkin to grab the food.

Lando's heart did a little backflip at the pet name - when he thought about it, he can't remember the last time you called him anything other than his name.

He wiped the thought away as he noticed you get one of the paper bags, "It was no trouble, but I did have to make sure the lady at the pastry shop knew I was the next in line because there was this lady, you should've seen her, she was, like, eighty? I don't know, maybe more than that, and she was very posh and very proper and she was trying to cut in line! Then she started saying something in French and I was like 'no can do, madam! I need to get these croissants for my girlfri- for Y/N because they're her favourites' - I bet she wanted to get them first but I did!", he dramatised the scene, earning your loud laugh. How much he missed that sound.

"Seems like it was a little troublesome, though", you teased. Inside your chest, your heart beat fast at his efforts.

"You're worth it", he smiled before taking a bite of the granola bar, "not to toot my own horn, but for someone who eats pre-prepared meals, this is amazing! Try these!", he offered, forming a shell with his hand before he brought it up to your mouth.

For anyone else, this would be just another set of cute behaviours, but for you, it carried a sense of intimacy you hadn't felt in a while. Taking a bite of it and chewing, you had to admit the balance of the nutty taste and the chocolate was on point, "it is good, Lan! You should make granola bars more often - might even make a side business out of it!", you smiled.

"Charles has some ice-cream, there's alcohol from the other guys too - me? Granola bars", he smiled, eating the rest of it and looking at you. He would never be stupid again. He would never take you for granted. Never ever.

The conversation flowed once you started eating, mainly pointing out the new swings in the park or the pretty blooms that were showing up, and even though you weren't acting like you would had it not happened, it was comfortable and Lando had definitely put some effort into this.

"Thank you for this, Lando", you smiled after you helped him clean up the supplies, making sure he wouldn't have any spills and trouble taking the rest home.

"It's alright, really", Lando mumbled as blood rushed to his cheeks, "it wasn't much, but I wanted to make sure you remembered I'm still in and that I love you more than anything", he smiled, closing the basket and getting up with it to walk back to the car, "which actually brings me to an invite I want to make you", he went back to mumbling again.

The invite was a risk, he knew it. After all, it was the reason that got your relationship here in the first place. Yet, he wanted you there and he thought it would be good. Adding to it, it would be the way that he could make sure he was able to see you as it would be a busy day.

"What is it?", you asked as you walked with him.

"The day after tomorrow, we're going karting - Max and P are coming over for a few days, they arrive tomorrow - and I was wondering if you wanted to join us", he invited, "I know it's not the best environment to be in given al-", he started rambling.

"I'd love to go, Lando", you assured, touching his arm confortingly, "I might need a ride though, if you don't mind doing the detour", you pointed out.

"It's fine, of course we'll pick you up!", he smiled, happy and excited at your answer.

"That's me", you nodded to your mother's car, unlocking it with the key, "thank you so much for this, Lan, I appreciate it a lot", you smiled, raising your stance so you could kiss his cheek, "will you text me the details when you know, please?".

"Yes! Absolutely!", he gave you a big smile again, "until then, Y/N!", he waved.

As Lando walked back to his car, there was an extra spring up on his step, a new found energy and a smile that insisted on not disappearing from his lips.

Little by little, he was slowly getting you back.

.

"Why are we going this way?", Max asked as Lando took the first exit on the roundabout, "isn't the track that way?".

Lando couldn't contain his smile, "we're going to pick Y/N up first".

Max and Pietra exchanged a look before rhe blonde woman spoke up, "you finally came to your senses?".

"P!", Max scolded.

"It's alright, Max - she's not wrong", Lando added, "but yes, I have, and I'm working on it, respecting her but making sure she knows how much I regret it, how sorry and how bad I feel that it happened and how I'm trying my hardest to make sure it does happen again", Lando turned around once he stopped at the red light, "Thank you for looking after her when I didn't, P. I know you have been a good friend to her, so thank you for that", he added.

"She didn't deserve what you did to her, but I'm happy you figured it out and that you're working on it - I don't say it too often, but if you two ever broke up, I would consider that true love isn't a thing, what you two have is something else entirely", she smiled.

"Excuse me?!", Max dramatised, "what did you just say?".

"Did I lie, Max? Who was it that came home in a nervous fit without any fingernails because they bit all of them off after Lando realised what happened? The same person who couldn't even sleep because of it? Who was it, hm?", she quesioned her boyfriend.

Lando chuckled at his friends, thinking that they really had been made for one another, "you two make me look like the sanest person inside this car", he shook his head, pressing the pedal and turning into your street.

There you were, the person he was sure was made for him too. Your outfit was simple, consisting of black jeans, black trainers, a shirt sleeve polo and a cardigan on your arm.

"Hi guys!", you greeted, getting inside the car and kissing Pietra's cheek before putting your seatbelt on.

"Why don't I get a kiss?", Max pouted.

"Because you stink, that's why", Lando chirped in, "all ready to go back there?", he mused, sending you a wink from the rear view mirror.

Blushing, you nodded before looking at Pietra again, accepting her hand in yours as she gave it a squeeze. For the whole drive to the track, you engaged light conversation, mainly listening to the plans they had for the clips they were filming before they raced eachother since you and P would happily drive around in the karts just to pass the time.

For the first segment, you stayed on the stands, watching the team get the equipment ready.

"How have you been, Y/N?", Pietra asked as she handed you a bottle of water she had gone to her and taking a sip of her own.

"I've been well - university is finally done with and I can actually have a thought that doesn't involve it", you giggled, "and Lando is home", you offered.

"Now, I wasn't going to be so blunt, but that is the subject I wanted to get at", she raised her eyebrows playfully.

"He's... Goodness, he's Lando again, my Lando", you sighed happily, "surely, it still stings a little and we need to work through our issues, but we're trailing our way through them. Learning our ways together - it's a bit like falling in love again and it's such a good feeling", you blushed at your admission, "it's doing us well and we're going with it, and not out of it", you smiled.

"Y/N", Pietra cooed, "you have no idea how make that makes me! It's so good to see you so happy and hopeful", she squeezed your arm, "I was ready to avenge you on him, by the way, Max did us both a favour in telling him, because I was sure what I wanted to do to Lando was considered a crime and I'm a good person", she raised her hands defensively.

Once the boys were done, Max waved at you to come down and meet them, giving them the time to get your equipment ready.

"Come here, I need to make sure you don't fly out of your kart this time", Max called his girlfriend after she was fully equipped to go on the single seater.

You finished the makeshift hairstyle before you looked for the helmet, finding it in Lando's hands, "come here, big head, I'll help you put it on", he smiled.

As you approached him, you could see his sudden nervousness at having you so close to him, hands setting the helmet on top of your head and then pulling in on, "Look who's talking", you mumbled quickly before it was all the way in, his fingers gingerly touching your neck as he did the strap buckle.

"All good for our speed daredevils?", Max joked, getting an instant slap from Pietra before he got up.

"Does it feel safe, Y/N?", Lando checked with you, making you wiggle a little to make sure you were strapped tightly enough, making you flash his two thumbs up.

"Ready, set, go!", Max yelled before you and Pietra went off, happily driving on the track despite not extracting the full potential out of the kart.

"You and Y/N seem well", Max offered as him and Lando took a break before they joined you back at the track.

"I don't think I'll ever stop feeling this guilt on my chest, it's like a weird weight that sits here and gets heavy every now and again", Lando explained, "but I think we're going in the right direction, and I'm going to spend every day of our lives making sure it never happens again. Y/N will never doubt my love or affection for her. I just want to make her happy now that she knows I know how much I screwed us up".

"I'm proud of you, man", Max tapped his back.

"You're what?", Lando asked, a little flustered at his bestfriends words.

"I'm proud of you, Lando - you're dealing with this in such a good way! I'm not saying I doubted you would, but seeing you actually do it and make it happen in such a grown up, loving and accountability filled way makes me proud of who you became. As much as I joke about it, what P said in the car was true - you and Y/N are it. Whenever I think about what endgame is, you two are the first thing that comes to mind", he admitted.

"Thanks, mate", Lando replied earnestly.

After a couple of laps from you, you saw the boys joining you in the track, making you assure that whenever they lapped you, you made a Mario Kart like noise, always managing to get a smile and a headshake from Lando and Max.

Once you were done, Max and Pietra volunteered to take all of the supplies back to the storage room.

"Did you enjoy your day, Y/N?", Lando asked as he approached you.

Surprising him, you nodded before you hugged him, "I haven't been this happy in a long time", you cuddled him, letting your head rest on his chest and letting yourself feel enveloped by his arms after the initial shock wore off.

"I'm glad", Lando uttered out before he composed himself, "I just want you to know that I could fulfill all your dreams and that there I'll never do anything to hurt you again. I'm well aware of all shit I've done and put you through, and how accountable I am for it. I just want to make you happy", he chuckled, "I don't want anything else in this world other than to make you happy, to show you how much I love you and that I want make this work, I want to make us work", he let out in such a serious and intense tone that you could feel a knot forming your throat, "you were my first love and I want you to be my last, Y/N".

"Lan...", you gasped softly, "I know it hasn't been good for you, but I just need a little bit more time to put it behind me, once for all", you added.

"I know, and that's alright", he mumbled against the top of your head, "I just wanted you to know that it is coming straight from my heart - everything I do, I do it for you", plucking up the courage to press a kiss there.

You closed your eyes and basked in the feeling, "two Bryan Adams references in the same sentence from the guy who used to DJ? You impress me, Lando Norris", you giggled and teased him playfully, feeling the rubble from his own laugh on his chest.

"I'll make sure to impress you everyday that we're alive, Y/N Y/L/N", he promised.

And he intended to keep it.

.

Lando invited you to his apartment for a cosy night in, thinking the plans over and over while he waited for you to arrive.

The delivery service was faster than he expected so he wrapped the takeout boxes in all of the kitchen towells he had so they would help retain the heat while you weren't there yet.

The whole apartment was tidy, he had your favourite blanket on the sofa and the TV had your favourite shows ready to stream in the background as you hopefully shared a comforting meal.

Your acceptance to come to his place made Lando feel very pleased with the way you were trailing in your relationship. He had been able to correct his mistakes and make you happy again. Even though there had been moments where he seemed to forget, he now knew that you had always been and will always be a priority in his life. He had never been in love with anyone else, and he was sure he would always be in love with you until his last breath.

A knock on his door pulled him out of his thoughts, heading up to the door to open it, "Hello hello! Come in", he gestured as you stepped inside, pecking his lips on the way - a few days prior, you had kissed him out of nowhere when you went to the bookshop and you swore he looked like a cartoon, all wide eyes and blushy cheeks.

Lando assured you you wouldn't leave the house and it would be just the two of you, so you hadn't bothered to put together a proper outfit, opting to wear a pair of leggings and an old Quadrant hoodie.

"I wasn't sure if I should bring anything, so I stopped by the sweets shop to get some of these hard candies, apparently they're very trendy now", you giggled sweetly as you set the bag on his hands so you could take your trainers off.

"You didn't have to, but thanks! We'll do a taste test after dinner - which is here by the way", he guided you to the living room.

Unravelling the mountain of kitchen towells, he had you sit down before he opened the containers, handing you a plate after you chose a bit of each of the dishes he ordered, "thank you, Lan", you smiled, sitting criss-cross on the sofa and waiting for him to do the same before you started eating.

"These are really good, have you tried them? They're new on their menu and when the guy explained it to me, I thought you'd like it", he pointed to one of the bite sized pieces.

"They are! They're not too heavy on the seasoning and they're really nice when you dip them in this sauce - try it!", you offered him the small cup.

"Is this going to be like the time you made me dip my spring rolls in that other sauce you claimed was the best thing in the world?", he asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Just try it, Lan!", you insisted, getting one from your plate, dipping it in the sauce and taking it up to Lando's mouth, your hand under the chopsticks in case some of it fell on his clothes.

Lando chewed it before nodding and humming in satisfaction, "is it good", he admitted with a smile after he wiped his lips.

Once you finished eating, you helped Lando bring everything back to the kitchen, saving the leftovers on his fridge, washing the plates and putting them away.

"You didn't have to help, I could've done it myself", Lando nudged before he laced your hand in his and pulled you back to the living room, "do you want to watch something?", he asked.

"There's this new Disney movie I haven't watched if you're up for it - or any of the shows we usually watch, I'm not picky", you answered quickly.

"Disney it is", he smiled sitting down and resting his arm on the back of the sofa, hoping you'd sit next to him and cuddle him.

You shuffled around before grabbing the fluffy blanket, pulling it over your legs and tentatively closing the distance between you, taking the plunge and taking a spot on his chest.

Once the movie was playing, Lando's arm dropped to wrap around you, lulling you closer to him and rubbing your arm.

"I can hear you thinking, and I'm sure you're not thinking about that little goat", you nodded to the screen.

"I'm watching the movie, I swear - and he's quite funny actually! He's also Mila's favourite character, at least he was last week", Lando chuckled, "but I was also thinking about us", he admitted.

"You were?", you turned to look up at him, wanting to know more.

"You do know I will apologize for what I did until the end of our lives, don't you?", Lando reflected out loud.

"Lando, stop it, it's forgiven and forgotten", you offered.

"Is it really?", he asked, a small smile breaking his way into his lips.

"It is, it's behind us now", you kissed his clothed chest.

"I will never forget it, though. It doesn't matter how many times you tell me to forget it or that you've forgiven me", he let out a shaky sigh, "I don't think I will, I hate myself for what did to you, the hurt that I caused you".

"Lando, let's not talk about it right now - not now, not ever. It's a part of our story, yes, and we learned from it, but I don't want to to remember every day. We are good now, and I don't want you to torture yourself with something that is out of your reach and that you can't change", you told him sternly, now sitting back against the sofa so you can face your boyfriend, "Promise me we won't mention this again, Lando".

"You're right", Lando agrees, "Okay, you're right, I promise, Y/N", he stated with a smile.

Your delicate lips peck his quickly before you go in for a second kiss, longer and more intense this time, and you both got lost in eachother.

You couldn't change what happened, but you could learn from it and work everyday to make sure it never happened again.

Lando was crazy about you, about who he was when was with you and how you made him feel, and you felt the same way about him.

"I love you, Lando", you smiled after you pulled away, resting your forehead in his.

"I love you forever, Y/N", he whispered, sealing his promise with a peck and bracing himself, "I'm never taking you for granted, and maybe this is a big gesture and I'm not sure how much this fits our new way - new patch? It's not a patch if we want it to last forever, right? - anyway, I would like to ask you to move in with me", Lando stated, "it doesn't have to be tomorrow or right away, we'll do it when you're ready! I just- I spend so much time of the year away as it is, and I don't want to cut the short time even shorter when it comes to you, so this way we'll be together for a bit longer - even if it's just at nightime and we can intertwine our legs or I can warm up the bed for you", he rambled on and you were sure he wouldn't stop anytime soon.

"Hey, hey! Lando, baby", you cupped his face with your hands, "look at me", you smiled as you straddled his lap, your thighs on each side of his and keeping you from fully sitting on him, "good now?".

"Well, since you're already there - sit, please", Lando added before he allowed himself to stress about your answer.

"I don't want to squash you", you mumbled.

Laying his hands in your thighs, he pulled you down, "I said sit down", he spoke sternly despite the playful glint on his eyes, "it's my home after all, I get to make the rules".

"Oh, I thought it was our home, but maybe I misread th-", your playfulness was cut short as your boyfriend flipped you around, your back hitting the soft sofa cushion with a yelp.

"You're moving in? For real?", he asked.

"Yes, baby, I'm moving in", you cupped his cheek, pulling him for a kiss, "I love you".

"My love, I'm going to spend everyday reminding you how beautiful, how strong", he started kissing your face with every word, "how kind, how amazing, how sexy, how hot, how smart, how kind, how incredible you are", he stopped just above your lips, "how all mine you are - I love you Y/N, forever", before he kissed your lips.

[sweetheartsaku]

—HAIKYU!! various ; better in the dark

a/n ; [gn!reader] how deep is your love pt 2???!?!! AND YES!! the title is a tv girl reference :3c please dont let this flop!! praying that all the ppl who found pt 1 found this 🥹🩷 tysm for all the notes everyone!! <3

— characters : akaashi, kenma, kita, semi, kageyama, suna

part 1 ! ♡ oikawa, osamu, tsukishima, hinata, sakusa, kuroo

tea roses !

keiji akaashi ; tip toe - HYBS

THIS MAN. he will take you out on absolutely BEAUTIFUL dates. they are scheduled and well thought out, all without you knowing. knows what you like, can predict what you order, where you will sit or do, and KNOWS how to fluster you effortlessly. UNSPOKEN RIZZ AT ITS FINEST YOUR HONOUR!!

at one point he had to resort to the notes app to write what you're like but had realised he had subconsciously memorised all of it by heart. deleted it and still knows you like the back of his hand!!

weirdly knows how to pick the best candles.

the warm, nostalgic smelling ones. candles that are the perfect dash of nostalgia, that feel comforting and warm. i wonder if its in the brain or an instinct thing

for anniversaries or literally just whenever, he makes paper flower bouquets. they are so intricate and every little detail, colour and fold makes it so perfect. in-between classes or when he finishes work early, he'll be nonchalantly folding another smaller flower for the arrangement. he does it so effortlessly too 😭!!

sometimes likes to fiddle with your fingers especially if you wear rings. one of the only and very sweet moments of PDA!! gently rubs his fingertips over your knuckles and tracing all the lines. i need an akaashi keiji in my life

will send you the most beautiful, heart-wrenching and mesmerising poems at an insane hour. you'll wake up with a couple paragraphs about how important healing or taking one step at a time is, making sure you fall in love with yourself everyday too. (please do)

kozume kenma ; cherry wine - grentperez

facinated by painted nails. on holidays he might paint them black, or maybe get a little cat sticker on his index!! pick the colour he'll love it either way

cherishes your little trinkets so much 😞 polaroid of you two and stickers on the back of his phonecase, keeps some of the random stuff you give him in his pocket. you could find a rock you gave him like 3 months ago but he kept it because you said it reminded you of him??

perfectly able and capable to order things by himself, but you know he isn't the type of guy to actually seem to WANT to do it. he is too lazy to actually get up but not lazy enOUGH when it comes to you. he might hide behind you. "HE SAID NO PICKLES!!"

CRAZY beef with your plushies. or anything you hold dear honestly. he can and will get pouty. BEWARE!! you must give him a lil' kiss to earn his attention back. (loves the forehead ones)

sometimes he forgets or just doesn't want to eat. it will get to the extent where you have to spoon feed him,,please remind and encourage him to ! eating, sleeping... just can't do it without a little push.

does this thing with his hands when you cross the road. i don't wanna say grabby hands because its pretty cringe, but it is definitely grabby hands. has no idea why he does it but its such a sweet and small gesture╰(*´︶`*)╯♡ !

cat parents but not exactly cat parents? 🤔 you found this stray cat once, and started visiting it everyday on the way to school. you cared for it, and when kenma picked that up he was also instantly fond of it too. now you both kinda feed it your leftover lunch when you visit the cat after school.. he's so precious with the little cat ueue.. take pictures before the moment fleets!

has the date you two met written on his controller... (he was so hesistant at first though LMAO)

shinsuke kita ; old love - yuji, putri dahlia

uses your initial for math variables. he'll use x or y sometimes, but his first option is ALWAYS your initial. you found this out on a study date once, math talk blablabla and he uses to what seems to you a 'random letter' NO. it is your initial!! 😞 when you ask he seems unfazed, but his ears are pretty red... idk guys i think he wants you

one of the people that make you stiffen up when they get physical. when he lays his head on your shoulder you instantly freeze up, trying not to move a BONE so you won't disturb him. it's like muscle memory to you LMAO.

really pretty, long lashes... if you've read part one, oikawa and tsuki are very similar :0!! loves when you graze his lashes with the back of your index finger

like akaashi, learnt how to make flowers but they're crochet 🥹 i think growing up his grandma had taught him how to crochet and all the little patterns. overtime, dedicated himself to making an arrangement every anniversary... they come with little heartfelt letters too!! (kita boyfie material COME HOME!!)

very routinal as well!! like kuroo (he is the full package) he never misses a morning or night to say good morning or good night. AND he places sticky notes around your desk or places he knows you'll be in reminding you to smile or something along those lines !!

what took the cake for me was when he left a little bag filled with goodies once he realised atsumu was sick 😣 definitely does the same for you... sends bag with a bowl of hot soup his grandma made at your front door

eita semi ; i wish you roses - kali uchis

weirdly immersed in the painting of nails as well. sometimes he'll ask you to paint his in black but he got dress-coded a week later 😓 SIKE gives NO shat and kept them on anyway. they are way too valuable to him to just erase. nails done in a simple colour he likes?? by his s/o?? wiped off?? very funny shiratorizawa

i think + the neighborhood, he likes tv girl, kendrick lamar, childish gambino but has a duality of laufey and beabadoobee's bedroom pop and fuzzy rock??

sick of people making arctic monkeys his personality 😞 musicians arise!! apart from the VBC, hes probably in a band too. small gigs here and there for school, and a few fun sessions with his friends just to play whatever. come to his gigs! (sometimes he'll magically play 10x better when you're around, he says)

share earphones with him PLEASE. on rainy bus rides or walks home, he'll play something you like hehe c:

takes you out to the mall closest to shiratorizawa to go pick up some fast food or a drink. it usually gets really crowded from all the surrounding schools so he keeps you close by the waist

and obviously the basic, will sit with you and teach you the basics of bass or electric guitar. i think he'd play a bit of percussion too (о´∀`о) sometimes he'll take you into his lap, but thats when he feels pretty clingy but very discreetly!!

tobio kageyama ; what would i do? - strawberry guy

please don't try to flirt with him he WON'T UNDERSTAND!!!! *gunshots*

if you say literally anything that isn't directly stating your point, he will not get it. using metaphors or just figurative language in general he is STRUGGLING. you need to say, "you're pretty." because things like "i fall in love with you every day" or "i'll find you in every universe" he will actually look at you BAFFLED. please help this man

thinks about what YOU would do. like when he is in doubt or feels like he's about to lash out, he will take a moment and literally ask himself what you'd do or say. even in tests or something completely unrelated to you he will literally ask himself what you would put in the answer box !!

face scrunch when he gets jealous ! he kinda has a lil' pout but can't bring himself to say anything. when you finally notice him he'll have this lil' (๑ˋ^ˊ ๑) face... please kiss his eyelid or the corner of lips cuz HE HAS TOO MANY PRETTY BOY PRIVILEGES!! (and he'll get flustered it's the cutest) revoke them THIS instant!!

his favourite type of kisses are the ones where you'll push his hair back and give him a forehead kiss. he'll take you in by the waist and keep you close, he likes to listen to your heart because you have his. when he feels clingy, he'll nuzzle his head into your shoulder. what a dork

will attempt to find you at his games pre and post timeskip. before the game he will try to make it not look frantic but one of his members eventually catch on 😞

rintarou suna ; SLOW DANCING IN THE DARK - joji

camera roll is either 0.5's of the most jaw dropping, majestical sunsets and sunrises that he's experienced with you or literally anytime the sky is feeling a little different (if he's not with you at the time he WILL send them to you at either 5am or 7pm saying it reminded him of you) or the CRAZIEST 0.5's of you losing sanity or of you off guard. its wild blackmail material but he chooses not to LMAO. (because of the love in his heart, he says)

has a little photo album for you and anything you related!! he also takes the best candid photos of you and post them on close friends!! (´∀｀)

no. #1 victim of couple tiktok trends. pretends and looks like he doesn't like it, but doesn't want it to end. once you press post he will stare you down with his beautiful ahh olive hazel eyes (he wants more)

last one on the social med side, he mentions you in posts with your initials all the FLIPPIN' TIME!! his dedication is quite endearing

on days where everything becomes overstimulating, he will notice. will eye you for a while, but once he knows when it gets to a certain extent he will hand you an earphone.

anyone who says suna is an arctic monkey's listener is a LIAR I SAID IT I SAID IT!!!!! *more gunshots* JOKES he probably has a couple of their songs in his playlist, but i personally think he's more tyler the creator coded. people who get it get it (avril lavigne sk8r boi? keshi beside you? definitely)

hot adams apple

[blockedbykei]

REQUEST FOR DAD!TSUKKI!!!!

him bringing hoshi to his vb play w karasuno, and babygirl accidentally got hit/smack by a ball!

mmmm wanna see his reaction👀👀

had fun writing this. thank you for your request!

kei and his old team had a pact to meet once a month to play in their old gym at the karasuno campus.

this was the first time hoshi was allowed to come.

he was always reluctant to allow her watch a match in fear of getting hurt; or maybe the heat inside the gym would give her a fever. kei had always said that it was best she stayed home until she was old enough to understand the game.

but hoshi, as she got older, became more pushy. six was an age you'd both underestimated, thinking she was obedient and would listen that it wasn't the time for her to watch a match just yet. but she was as strong-willed as kei– reasoning that she was a big girl (a statement he hated; he didn't want her to be a big girl just yet) and that she was with you so she would be okay to watch.

and hoshi was kei's weakness.

so now she sits beside you on one of the benches, resting her elbow on kei's gym bag as she hands him his waterbottle. he takes it from her small hands and rubs her head, before drinking.

"hoshi-chan!" hinata comes running buy, his arms open to engulf the little girl in a hug. she squeals and runs to him. "long time no see, little tsukishima."

"uncle hinata!"

her little voice rings out in an echo. yachi and kiyoko comes greeting you in side hugs and cheek kisses, setting their own bags down beside yours on the bench.

"feels like i'm back in high school," kiyoko sighs. "except now i'm married to one of these children."

"hi, hoshi-bear!" yachi squeals, running towards your daughter. "i've missed you so much! let me put your hair up! it's so hot in here..."

"tsukki," yamaguchi nudges his shoulder. "has she met our seniors?"

kei shrugs. "she has but i don't think she's remembered them." he looks behind, seeing hoshi perched between yachi's lap, her hair in yachi's hands to be tied. "hoshi when you're done, come say hi to them."

"okay!"

when she meets them, though, it felt similar to when yachi had first met the volleyball team; she hid behind kei's legs, peeking over his right thigh, gripping his shorts into little fists. kei chuckles, a hand reached down to place on her spine.

"it's alright honey," he hushes her. "they're nice. you can take their money."

hoshi points to asahi. "he's scary."

you bring her finger down, holding it in your palms, tutting. "what'd we say about pointing, sweetheart?"

asahi pouts, back slumping and his expression falling. "why am i still the scary one?"

daichi approaches, crouching in front of hoshi with something in his palm. "hello, little tsukishima. you can call me uncle daichi. here's a sticker," he sticks a yellow star above her chest, fingers gentle in placing them firmly on her shirt. "for being brave enough to come to our games."

she finally steps out fully from behind kei's leg, a hand over her heart to secure the sticker. "i forced papa because he said it was dangerous to be here."

sugawara shakes his head. "you're letting your father tell you what's dangerous without experiencing it yet? don't listen to him, hoshi!"

"please don't tell my daughter that," you laugh nervously. "kei's going to be sad if she does it."

kei bites back a sneer from his senior. but he bends down to pick hoshi up in his arm, the other one wrapped around your shoulder to lead you both to the bench.

"i think the introductions are enough," he kisses her temple. "sit here and watch, 'kay? if you're bored, just take papa's phone and play. don't run around."

hoshi nods. kei moves to you, leaning down to give you a quick peck, and then whispers. "if you're bored, fake getting your stomach hurt and we can sneak out like we used to."

you raise a brow at his innuendous smirk. "and hoshi?"

"everyone loves her. she'll be fine."

"maybe i should be the one who shouldn't listen to you." you shake your head in laughter. kei kisses your forehead before he turns around, and you slap his bottom when hoshi looks away. "go and play, tsukki."

an hour in the game and you're surprised at how hoshi has kept her attention only at the group of boys passing balls at one another on the court. she awes at hinata and kageyama's quick attack, she claps at kei's blocks, and she cheers when yamaguchi serves.

hoshi's eyes glisten in excitement at what she's watching and you think of her playing the same sport years from now. kei would be enlightened, watching his daughter do the same thing he loved since he was a child. her hands clench into a fist on her lap, a sign that she wants to join.

and as if he had fatherly senses, kei whips his head to hoshi when everyone had decided to take a break. "baby, you wanna come try?"

"yes!" she runs to him immediately.

you watch as she stands in front of kei, his back hunched to be on her level, his hands on her little arms, cradling the yellow and blue ball between her fingers. he was teaching her an underhand serve, ball on her left hand, right into a fist as he pulled it backwards, his palm enveloping her fisted hand. hoshi brings her arm up front, all her energy into that tiny ball of fist, which was enough to send the ball flying only to hit the net.

kei cheers, lifting hoshi up and placing her legs on his shoulders. her fingers grip his silky hair for assistance, cheering with him. "you're the next ace, hoshi bug!"

you'd been too excited to take a picture of the two, eyes settled on their smaller versions on your screen behind the camera to notice the ball that hinata sent flying towards the two of them. the ball comes in contact with hoshi's cheek, which sends her down kei's shoulders. but his reflexes are fast, his arms reaching out to catch her to stop her from falling onto the ground. your gasp coalesces with everyone else in the court.

hinata's shoes come to squeak, his hands over his mouth, kageyama's arms left in the air with his fingers stuck into a setting position, face horrified at the sight of hoshi limp in kei's arms. you run to them, almost dropping your phone on the ground, taking hoshi's face into your hands.

"hoshi?" you call out in panic. "oh my god, are you okay?"

"her cheek is red," kei sputters out. "her cheek is red- hinata, you dumbass! absolute dumbass!"

he sets her into your arms; hoshi immediately nuzzles her face into your chest. kei takes heavy footsteps towards the smaller man, ducking beneath the net to tower over him. daichi, tanaka, and sugawara all take a hold of the back of kei's jersey.

"i'm sorry! i'm sorry! i'm sorry!" he cowers, hiding behind kageyama. "i didn't mean to! i'll pay for her hospital bills! i'll pay for her tuition, you wouldn't even have to lift a finger!"

yachi comes over with a cold water bottle in her hands. yamaguchi's eyes are wide, and maybe even on the verge of tears, as the others peered over your shoulder.

his chest is heaving, eyes lowered into a steaming glare, and you swear his face was a darker shade of pink from his anger. but when you call for his name, all the anger dissipates as if it hadn't even existed, turning around to you.

"kei, come here!"

he puts his hand on your waist, the other brushing hoshi's hair out of her face. the side of her cheek remains red, but not swollen, and had it been swollen, maybe he'd be banned from the once a month games.

"hoshi?" he turns her head. "you okay baby? does it hurt? you wanna go to a hospital?"

her eyes are closed, whining just a little, her arms curled against her chest. but her pouting lips begin to curl upwards, and soon her closed eyes were even smiling, her dimples evident when a laugh begins to escape her, giggling brightly.

kei makes a sound of query.

"that was fun," she giggles, eyes opening, her hand coming up to touch her cheek. "ouchie, but fun!"

"hoshi!" he carries her again, a smile replacing his old scowl, leaning down to whisper in her ear. you can sense the relief that was evident in the way his chest begins to relax from the heavy rising, his lips placing kisses of care on her sweating skin.

and when he's done, he takes the cold bottle from yachi and places it gently on her cheek, his lips on top of his head as hoshi says (or quotes from her father): "uncle hinata, papa says if you don't pay for my education until college, he will break your kneecaps."

hinata runs to you, his hand running through his orange hair, looking at hoshi. "tuition plus toys. this won't ever happen again! i'm sorry little tsukki!"

"pay for her volleyball lessons."

your lips purse. "kei, don't be a freeloader."

[adviceformefromme]

GLOW-UP LIKE NEVER BEFORE SERIES

Ladies, we are here. This is the beginning of your glow-up like never before by 2025. We are not sleeping on ourselves in the remaining four months of this year. There is no more putting yourself second, wishing and wanting to be a better version of yourself, because this is your opportunity to show up for you. I will be providing the steps and guidance so stay tuned, its going to be a journey. One that kicks off today. 

Week 1: CREATING THE VISION

This week is for getting into the energy of how you want to feel come January 2025. The vision should excite you, you want to feel like your wildest dreams are possible and this where you lean into faith, trust and imagination. 

Step 1: On the first page of your new journal script 3 pages in present tense of what your life looks and feels like on January 1st 2025. You want to get into the small details, using all your senses, what you can hear, see, smell, feel, go all in. Write as much as you can to embody the version of you in your highest expression. It might seem crazy to write this, especially in such a short amount of time, but once you start moving correctly timelines can easily be collapsed. I am a walking testimony of this, as I went from sharing a room in the UK to moving into a spacious 2-bed open view apartment overseas, within four weeks. Did I believe? Yes. Had I been doing all the steps I am sharing with you? Yes.  By scripting your life, as crazy and whacky as it may seem you are moving your dreams from thought to reality. A dose of faith is also required for step 1. 

Step 2: Vision board, this is where you get to have fun. Find those images on Pinterest that make you feel ‘omg is this my actual fucking life *screams internally* ‘. Again, no playing small. If you want the G-wagon and you’re driving the Honda, add it to your board, if you’re wanting to write a book, add a New York Times bestseller sticker to your vision board, bring your dreams to life. Save to desktop, screensaver, phone Home Screen. You want to see your vision board at the very least a few times per week. 

Step 3: Write supporting affirmations for your new vision life. I am, I feel, it feels so good to….Lean into the feelings, be creative. As you write your affirmations a minimum of five, you want to record these on your phone and loop them before bed. You can extend these affirmations, and turn it into a rampage - this is where you really speak life into yourself, going into more details. Your recording can be 1 min  - 5 mins. It doesn’t have to be crazy long, the main point is to keep it simple and inspiring. You want to feel inspired when you listen, your own voice, speaking life into your dreams, declaring them. Once you’ve got the recording - LOOP IT. You want this on loop when you’re out on walks this week, when you’re overthinking, but most importantly before you go to bed. Leave it on loop overnight. The goal is to do this every single night for one week. 

Step 4: In the back of your journal in short hand write your 1-3 top goals. It might be earn £10k per month, move into your dream apartment, work for x company. Whatever it is, in very simple words write them, 1-3. And do this EVERY SINGLE DAY. If you skip write it in your phone notes or on the nearest piece of paper. Set a reminder on your phone, because this is such a simple step to manifesting that actually WORKS. 

I know it might seem like some effort to do steps 1-4, but do you want to live the life of your dreams and invest in your expansion and be so proud of who you are come 1st Jan 2025, or do you want to scroll like a cabbage, and watch everyone else live their dream life, and feel like another year, another of unfulfillment ? Your task, put 30mins - 1 hour aside today to do the above. Homework for the rest of the week, read your affirmations, listen to your recording daily before bed and write those goals down! 

Coming next: Week 2: Living by your values + creating space for your dream life… 

[fellamarsh]

It's day four, and Taker of the Third Path is over halfway to its fundraising goal...

So I think now is a great time to announce our first sticker design!

Backers starting at our $10 pledge tier receive a Taker of the Third Path themed sticker and bookmark - and I'm super excited to announce that Caleb @littlestpersimmon made the art for our stickers! Please give him a follow if you haven't already; he's an amazing artist who deserves all of our support, especially during Pride month!

Without further ado... our first sticker features Taker of the Third Path's protagonist, Linmiru Oddatma!

When I first saw Caleb's art of Linmiru, my jaw literally dropped. He managed to capture Lin exactly the way I pictured him in my mind! I spent the rest of the day smiling like a loon, and am still in disbelief over how gorgeous this piece is.

If you want to get your hands on this sticker---and a number of other fun rewards---head over to the Taker of the Third Path Kickstarter.

You can learn more about the novel there, as well as read the first four chapters for free!

And if you think Caleb's art is as wonderful as I do, consider following him here and on Twitter, joining his Patreon, buying him a coffee on Ko-Fi, or picking up one of his prints!

Thank you so much for all your support so far, everyone!

[exceptionimagines]

Out with the Old, In with the New

(Not my gif)

- Everything was perfect when you and your boyfriend first moved in together. A new house, a good job, a partner you were convinced you were going to spend the rest of your life with. You were finally starting to feel like an actual grown up. ...It was just a shame you were the only one who seemed to stay that way....

- Your boyfriend was never a freeloader; he never made you pay more than your fair share, but it wasn't anything monetary that you ever had to worry about. It was everything else that seemed to fall apart the longer the two of you were together. The chores, the quality time, the romance: it all seemed to drain out of him the minute the two of you started living together and now, almost a year later, you just sort of feel stuck.

- You know you can leave; everyone knows that they can leave, but what happens if or when you do? You push aside any remaining feelings you have for the man that you've loved for years in the hopes that you'll find the perfect man in his absence? You uproot your entire life on the off chance that things could be better?

- No. No, you just can't do that. At the end of the day, you convince yourself that things are fine, that no relationship is perfect and that you're comfortable; that comfortable is a hell of a lot better than being single and regretful. You convince yourself that you're happy and that he's never treated you badly: if he had, you'd actually have a reason to leave. There are times you wish he had….

- You suppose you get your wish once Jerry Dandridge moves in next door....

- Your neighborhood is full of empty houses, so it's no surprise when you catch sight of a realtor pulling into the driveway next to yours. You watch out the window as they victoriously plaster a "sold" sticker onto the for sale sign which has occupied the manicured lawn for months on end. A multitude of cars, moving vans, and dumpsters follow in their wake as the weeks go by, entering and exiting your quiet suburb in preparation for the new arrival.

- Your boyfriend doesn't seem all that interested in the subject; always just distractedly humming in acknowledgement whenever you bring it up. Which is why you're a little taken aback when you see him talking to an unfamiliar stranger after getting home from work one day.

- The aforementioned stranger is introduced to you as your new neighbor, Jerry. The two of you shake hands and spark up a conversation about how long you've been in the area before your boyfriend abruptly interrupts, excusing you for dinner as you glance at him somewhat scoldingly. Yet, the rudeness of the interaction seems lost on Jerry as he simply smiles at you, welcoming you to come by if you ever need anything and watching as your boyfriend hurriedly ushers you towards your front door.

"You didn't notice anything weird about him?" Your boyfriend, Ben, questions once you get inside, goading you into agreeing with him as he watches you make dinner.

“Even if he was being a little weird, it’s probably just because he’s so new in town. It’s always awkward meeting new people, isn’t it?” You try to insist, wanting to give the man you’re going to be living next door to the benefit of the doubt.

“He doesn’t seem like the type of guy to be awkward.” Ben grumbles.

- Jealousy, you decide after hearing his petulant comment. Your boyfriend is jealous of your new, conventionally attractive neighbor and doesn’t want you spending too much time with him. Funny how that ugly little emotion is one of the few things that's stayed consistent about him over the years.

- Alas, against your better judgement, you decide to be a good girlfriend and agree to keep your distance, though you do warn him that you aren’t going to be rude and actively avoid him. You figure that you won’t be seeing much of Jerry anyway: he seems like a busy guy, and you’re a busy girl. Even if you’re neighbors, how often will you run into him long enough to hold an actual conversation?

- Unfortunately or fortunately for you; depending on how you look at it, Jerry seems intent on becoming your friend. He seems to always be outside whenever you return home from work, and since you refuse to treat your innocent neighbor like a registered sex offender, you return his hellos and stop to speak with him a little whenever he starts a conversation.

- You find out that he works nights, which explains his seemingly odd sleeping schedule, and as much as you want to deny it, you also start to see how your boyfriend could find him a little strange. Jerry is intense, somewhat blunt and to the point yet also suggestive at the same time. He picks up on little things that most people wouldn’t notice or put two and two together on, giving off the impression that he knows things that he realistically shouldn’t. You still think your boyfriend is being a little dramatic when he insists that there’s “something off about him”, especially since Jerry has been nothing besides neighborly and sweet.

- You try to be a good girlfriend, but it’s getting increasingly difficult. Jerry is charming, and he’s helpful to boot, and you know what? You’re lonely! Your boyfriend is hardly ever home and, even when he is, he’s rarely spending time with you, and he’s certainly not helping around the house.

- You don’t go out of your way to invite Jerry into your home. You actively avoid it for as long as possible, even when he asks to borrow something and stands lingering in your doorway while you go to retrieve it. You reason to yourself that it’s crossing a line, that you shouldn’t be inviting a man into your home when your boyfriend isn’t around; especially one he doesn’t even like you talking to.

- But when he offers to fix something for you that your boyfriends been putting off dealing with for months, you just can’t help but accept his offer. It starts off with him fixing something in your car, then it’s the squeaky hinges on your door, your kitchen sink, your AC unit, your misaligned shelf, etc. It gets to the point where your boyfriend starts to notice that things have been remedied, and you’re forced to admit that Jerry was over.

- He doesn’t like it, but you insist that you’re not going to pay someone hundreds of dollars to fix something if your neighbor is willing to do it for a couple of beers. Ben insists that you should have told him to do it instead, and you simply inform him that you have. He doesn’t have much to say about it after that and neither do you: you’re tired, but when you go to bed that night, you find yourself struggling to sleep.

- Half of it is frustration and half of it is guilt. Frustration because your boyfriend is being completely irrational and has been so unreliable that you’re beginning to depend on your neighbor more than your actual partner. That you’ve become more like Bens' mother than his girlfriend, and that the only time when you’re being taken care of is when Jerry is over….

- And guilt because you’re allowing Jerry to take care of you. That you’re finding yourself wondering what it would be like to be with him instead. That you’re finding yourself being drawn to him, being attracted to him, being flustered by him. You know that you shouldn’t be having these types of feelings for anyone but Ben; anyone but your boyfriend, but you just can’t help it.

- But frustration always wins over all of your guilt because your boyfriend doesn’t know any of that. He has no idea about the depths of your feelings for the man, but he does know that you’ve struggled to make friends ever since you’ve moved here, and that you’re finally receiving said friendship in the form of your neighbor. When he insists that you should stay away from him, it’s simply because he’s being jealous and controlling. You can understand the fact that he’s jealous, he’s allowed to be, but he isn’t allowed to limit your friendships. He should trust you not to betray him by acting on them. He should know that you would never do that to him.

- Maybe that’s why you spitefully agree to finally come inside the next time Jerry invites you in. Why you find yourself sitting in his living room watching Desperate Housewives; of all things, while you nurse a cold beer, pushing your boyfriend and the usual time he gets home out of your mind. That you spend hours in that room, talking more and more, drinking more and more, until it’s late in the evening and your boyfriend texts you asking where you are.

- You text him “at Jerry’s” and in a matter of minutes he’s knocking on the door, ushering you out angrily as Jerry simply smiles and assures him nothing happened while helping you with your things. Your boyfriend ignores him, standing in the doorway and glaring at you as you thank Jerry for having you over, tipsily hugging him before your boyfriend physically pulls you out of the house.

- He’s hushed when he tells you that “this” is never happening again: that he’s not allowed in your house anymore, that you’re not talking to him anymore, that you’re not even gonna acknowledge him anymore; that he's dangerous and that you just have to trust him on this. Once you’re in the house, he orders you to go to bed, something you do without much of an argument, whining petulantly that nothing even happened as you drag your feet towards the bathroom. You settle into an empty bed once you’re finished getting ready and fall asleep in a matter of minutes.

- When you wake up the next morning, the bed is still empty. When you look out the window, your boyfriend's car is gone from the driveway, so you just figure that he’s gone off to work early and begin your usual day off routine, nursing a mild hangover in the process. It’s only when he doesn’t return home at his usual time that you finally start to worry. You try to text him, but you get no reply, so you figure that he's either out with some friends or staying late at work, something that isn't completely out of the ordinary. Because of this, you decide to wait until tomorrow before you take any drastic measures.

- Jerry meets you in your driveway the next day, somewhat jokingly apologizing for getting you in trouble with your boyfriend. You laugh a little and insist that it’s not his fault, but since he brought him up himself, you decide to ask if he saw Ben go anywhere the night you left his house. He tells you that he’s not sure but that he thinks he left again not too long after the two of you went inside. He asks if everything’s alright, and you confess that you aren’t sure, explaining everything that’s happened.

- He comforts you before the two of you say goodbye, assuring you that he’s sure everything will be fine, that Ben is probably just blowing off some steam somewhere. He tells you to have a good long talk with him once he comes back; not if, and that he shouldn’t just up and run away like that if he has a problem, that it isn’t right.

- You get a text later that night from Bens' phone, telling you that he’s at a friends and that he won’t be back, that he doesn’t know when he’ll be back. You ask him what’s wrong and question whether this whole thing is because you were with Jerry for a couple of hours, if it’s because you got a little drunk with someone you considered a friend. You insist that nothing happened, but you don’t receive an answer.

- As the days go by, Ben never comes home. The last text you receive from him is a short message that tells you he’s done, that you can do whatever you want with his things and that he doesn’t care. That he isn’t coming home and that he isn’t interested in talking things out. You furiously text him back trying to figure out what the hell is going on, but as the hours pass with no response, you simply come to terms with the fact that your boyfriend is not at all the person that you thought he was. You just count your lucky stars that you have a good enough job to afford a cheap house all on your own.

- The next time you see Jerry, you tell him what happened, but he doesn’t seem all that surprised. He asks if you’re going to be alright, and you insist that you are. He gives you a smile and an “attagirl”, insisting that if you ever need anything, anything at all, he’s still always happy to help. You simply smile at him.

- Now that your boyfriend is officially out of the picture, you start spending more and more time with Jerry, forgetting about all of the boundaries you previously put in place for the sake of your past relationship. It feels nice finally being able to relax and though you promised yourself that you were going to remain amicable about the entire thing, it isn't long before you start to reveal all of the things that went wrong during your time together; no longer protecting your ex's reputation in the eyes of your neighbor. It feels good getting it all off of your chest and Jerry is just so ...understanding, always letting you rant to him and reacting in a way that validates all of your feelings of frustration.

"You know, I hate to admit it, but I had a feeling things weren't as ...perfect as they seemed," He admits to you one night, his voice resembling something akin to a purr, his eyes locked intently on you; a sense of hunger in his gaze that you blame on the alcohol in your system. "No offense, but uh, I could sense it in him: that he wasn't ready for all of this. I didn't want to say anything, but he just seemed like more of a boy than a man, someone who didn't know how to handle a woman like you. There's a kind of neglect ...gives off a scent."

- It's later that night when he kisses you for the first time, in the middle of his kitchen as you go to wash off the sticky remnants of a dripping beer from your hands. You hear him enter the room, and you begin to say something before you feel him come up close behind you.

"You smell really good." He hums, leaning closer as you turn towards him, opening your mouth to innocently thank him before he covers your lips with his own, kissing you fiercely.

- Your eyes quickly widen, dripping wet hand making its way to his chest in order to hold him back, to stop him from devouring you whole. When you pull away, you swear that his eyes are blacker than ever before: dark and frightening and inhuman.

- You back away and hurriedly excuse yourself, claiming that you have to leave for one reason or another as he merely watches you go, eyes intently trained on you; their unwavering focus sending a chill down your spine. He says absolutely nothing as you leave out his front door, heart pounding as you try to forget how much he resembled a predator: not some kind of human creep but a wild animal, something that wanted to eat you alive.

- When you get inside your front door, you notice a message on your phone, one from Ben's mother asking if everything is alright, that she hasn't heard from him for a while and that she's worried about him. A part of you can't help but wonder if you'll be telling her the truth when you inform her that he's broken up with you....

- After that night, Jerry seems to have finally begun ditching his attempts at acting normal around you, his behavior growing increasingly unsettling and suspicious now that he senses that you're onto him. Though you try to avoid him; and though he's stuck to watching you from afar for the past few days, it's hard to completely evade him when you never seem to hear him coming; another trait of his that does nothing but unnerve you.

- You successfully steer clear of him for nearly a week, growing confident in your ability to avoid him until you go to take out the trash one night and are suddenly met face to face with the man.

"I'm sorry about the other night," he apologizes, acting as though he didn't just materialize from the shadows of your garden and scare you half to death. "I know I shouldn't have made a move on you like that, but I just couldn't help myself. Blame it on the alcohol, huh?"

- You force yourself to smile at his attempt at a joke, telling him to forget about it as sincerely as you can as you move to surpass him, wanting to exit out of your garden gate and go inside as quickly as possible.

"It's just, and correct me if I'm wrong, but I could have sworn that there was something...." He shakes his head, both trying to find the right words and trying to goad you into interrupting him with a response of your own, hoping that you'll agree with him as he tries to read your expression. "Something there, you know?"

- And though you want to deny it, you know that you can't. You're suddenly met with the realization that Jerry has known all along, that he's seen right through you the entire time and that all of his vague attempts to come onto you have, in fact, been attempts to come onto you. You suddenly feel a swell of guilt, guilt for your ex-boyfriend who you now realize wasn't as insecure or controlling as you thought.

"It's just too soon." You explain quietly, hoping he'll accept the excuse. He stares at you for a moment, scanning your face intently as he seemingly tries to read your expression.

"No problem," he replies after the brief silence, offering a smile that does little to ease the tension you feel. You hate that you still find it attractive. "I just don't want to ruin things between us, you know? I really enjoy your company."

"How about I come over tomorrow then?" You question quickly, offering him a hopefully convincing attempt at a sincere smile; hoping that he doesn't notice that you have ulterior motives in mind. He once again gazes at you for a long moment, far longer than what anyone would deem as a normal pause, looking you up and down as a smile begins to tug at his lips.

"Of course." He answers after a moment, and you contain your sigh of relief, feeling like he's actually fallen for it as he steps back and lets you pass him through the narrow gap of your backyards gate. You bid him goodbye, pausing briefly to smile and nod at him when he calls out a time, swallowing down your nerves as you continue to make your way inside and ignore the feeling of his eyes on your figure.

- And just like that, you find yourself sitting in his living room, nursing a beer and smiling at him when he puts on the show that you've both started watching together; "our show" as he would call it. You force yourself to act normal, even force yourself to move closer to him, silently allowing him to wrap an arm around your shoulders and pull you in, hand rubbing up and down your arm as the two of you sit and watch. You hate that it almost feels natural. You can only hope that it's enough to convince him that nothing is wrong, especially since it's only succeeding in confusing your feelings even more.

- You know that you don't have much time when you ask to use his bathroom, quickly taking your chance to snoop through the rooms that you've never entered, quickly finding one that's full of suspicious artifacts; exactly the sorts of things that you were hoping you wouldn't find. You pull out your phone to take a picture before you nearly drop it at the sound of a sudden voice.

"Seems you've discovered my secret." You jump at the interruption, quickly spinning around and locking your eyes on Jerry who's standing in the doorway, watching you as you scramble for an excuse, tilting his head.

"I was just looking for the bathroom."

"It's down the hall. ...Like every other house on this street," He responds, and you quickly realize that you've been caught, that he's not buying it one bit. He smiles reassuringly at you as he starts to speak again, his voice taking on an almost cooing tone. "It's okay. I'm not mad."

"You know, I was a little worried when you stopped coming by. I thought you didn't like me anymore," He jokes, watching as you glance around and try to find an opening in the room, somewhere that you can escape from. "I'm not gonna hurt you."

"Why not? You hurt Ben." You ask spitefully.

"As if you care about Ben," He answers sarcastically before he puts up his hands in surrender, smiling sheepishly at you. "That. ...I'm sorry. I know you cared. You were a very good girlfriend. It was him that was the problem. ...But that's besides the point. Why don't you just come downstairs and let me explain, hmm?"

You pause, scrambling to make a decision. "You're a vampire." You respond, not as much of a question as it is a statement. He simply smiles at you. "Right? That's why Ben didn't like you. Why he was so weird about everything."

"I imagine so," He replies as if you already know the answer, which you admittedly do. "Ben was a …he was a nuisance. See, I’m just trying to live like everyone else, keep to myself, survive. He was making that difficult, and worst of all he was mistreating you. It became increasingly obvious that he was only going to cause more trouble and more problems. So I was forced to ...deal with it, before it could become an issue."

"And I think I did you a favor by doing it too." He chuckles a little. You suck in a nervous breath. "Y/n, I'm not gonna hurt you."

"I find that a little hard to believe."

"Well, try to, because it's the truth. You're different, y/n. You're something special. I knew it from the moment I saw you. You weren't meant to be in some unfulfilling relationship with some little boy. You were meant for something more, something bigger. I think that, deep down, you know that too."

"What do you want from me?"

"I just want you to give me a chance." He smiles.

- And against your better judgement, you find yourself wanting to agree....

- You suppose you don't have much of a choice either way, you know that nobody would ever believe you if you decided to try and tell someone, and even though Jerry claims that he doesn't want to hurt you, all he has to do is sink his fangs into you and you're finished. So you hesitantly agree to hear him out, letting him lead you downstairs and back onto his new leather couch, smiling at you affectionately as he takes a seat in his armchair, thankfully giving you a bit of space instead of invading your personal bubble like earlier in the evening.

- He doesn't speak for a long moment, seemingly waiting for you to start the conversation, though you're so unsure of how to navigate a situation like this that you're momentarily at a loss for words. He starts the conversation instead.

"I'm not going to lie to you. I enjoy being what I am. You hear about ...my kind in movies and in books, and they're either one step above an animal or anguished," He chuckles at the description. "They go on and on about being cursed, but I don't think of it that way. Sure, it isn't easy, but you get used to it. You forget about the sun, forget about your past life. You change, and personally, I think it's for the better."

"So you can't go out in the sun?" You speak for the first time since getting downstairs.

He nods in response to your question, smirking slightly as he offers you a verbal answer. "I don't really work nights."

"And you drink human blood?"

"Of course."

"Did you drink Bens?" He looks at you for a moment, as if deciding if you really want him to answer it.

"It would be a waste not to."

"Do the people you bite turn into vampires too?"

"Your boyfriend isn't a vampire, if that's what you're asking. I wouldn't have had it in me to put up with him for the rest of eternity." He scoffs, seemingly more at the idea than at you.

"So you can bite people without turning them."

"Not quite," he responds. "Anything I bite turns into one of me, but it's up to me to decide whether they'll live long enough to see it come to fruition. Ben was ...gone, long before he turned."

"So whoever you bite has to become a vampire?" You confirm, trying to make heads and tails of it all.

"You seem interested," He replies, and your eyes widen at the comment, your mouth opening to deny the accusation. "There's a way for you to feel what it's like without fully turning. I just have to give you some of my blood and you'll get a taste of it. It's just like a dream."

- You quickly move on from the topic, ignoring the way that he smiles at you, at the thoughts that go racing through your brain as you try to envision what he means. You continue your little questionnaire for about an hour, bouncing back and forth between subjects as you try to get as much information as possible, hoping that he's telling you the truth whenever he answers you. He's incredibly nonchalant about the entire thing, and it only serves to unnerve you even further: the thought of him being so used to his little lifestyle that the concept of it no longer phases him in the slightest.

"I have work tomorrow," You finally say, feeling as though you're incapable of taking any more information in. "I have to get up early so I really better go."

- He doesn't seem worried about you leaving in the slightest, he simply rises from his seat and leads you to his front door, bidding you goodnight as though you've had a perfectly normal evening. It's like he knows you have nothing against him, like he knows you could never escape him or find a way to beat him. Like no matter what you do, you're still stuck in his control.

- But Jerry continues to stay true to his word, never actually harming you, even if he continues to occasionally scare you. A part of you starts to feel like he doesn't even do it on purpose, like its just a part of his nature and that he's simply no longer trying to hide it. Alarmingly, you begin to find some of these habits of his attractive....

- You were no stranger to finding Jerry handsome, but you were sort of hoping that these feelings of yours would fade away once you realized that he was a blood-thirsty monster who killed your ex-boyfriend for fun. Unfortunately for you, Jerry is still Jerry, and the feelings of fear that you recently began to harbor for him are beginning to mix into a confusing cocktail; one that has you wondering where your nervousness ends and your excitement begins.

- Emotions are strange like that. You try to reason with yourself, wanting to excuse the conflicting feelings you have for the man. But the more you see of him, the more you talk to him, the more you touch him: the less you can excuse. Jerry is just so ...raw: all muscle and power and masculine energy; the sort of intoxicating presence that's hard to stay away from even when you know that you should. A part of you wonders if that's part of his vampiric powers, but you're simply too stubborn and embarrassed to ask.

- While you tried keeping away from him for a little while, it did nothing to quell your nerves, and though he patiently allowed you to have some space and time to think, you knew that he wasn't very pleased. So when you find yourself struggling to open a jar, you deem it as good a time as any to allow him back into your life. And with little else to do, you begin to spend more time with him; the "man" that continues to be one of your only friends....

- Surprisingly, your life doesn't really change all that much. You'd think that befriending an immortal demon would have some effect on you, would make some catastrophic shift in your perception of life. But you still work a nine to five, and you still have house chores, and honestly, all that's changed is your willingness to believe in the supernatural. ...And maybe your love life.

- See, now that you're back in his life and Ben is completely out of the picture, Jerry has become increasingly obvious in his attempts to come onto you. And since you're beginning to grow more and more receptive towards him, there's very little stopping his flirtation. You typically brush him off or tell him to shut up, choosing to outwardly take his advances as little more than a joke. But he knows that you know he's that being serious, and your denial has become more like a game for him than an actual rejection; something he can work towards breaking down. It's a challenge, and boy does he like a good challenge....

- Jerry knows exactly what he's doing every time he provokes you. He knows that you ogle him whenever he's in his tank tops or that you can't help but watch the way that his back flexes whenever he wears a fitted shirt. He knows that your hands have a tendency to linger for a moment too long whenever you bump into him; i.e. when he makes you bump into him. He knows that your heart races whenever he effortlessly picks you up or moves you around, and he knows that it isn't from fear. He knows, and he loves it, and it becomes increasingly harder for him to contain himself whenever you're around and so close to letting him claim you.

- But he also knows that it's becoming increasingly harder for you as well. So he simply bides his time, smiling knowingly whenever you hurriedly change the subject or move away from him, loving the way that you grow flustered under his gaze. He simply hopes that it won't take much longer for you to make up your mind because he's beginning to grow impatient....

- There's one thing that's been on your mind ever since he first brought it up to you: the feeling of drinking his blood. He's vague in his description of it, but it still continues to entice you: the idea of getting to taste a fraction of what it's like to be supernatural. You're not sure that you're ever going to be willing to make the entire change; though you're sure that Jerry would happily turn you the minute you asked, but you don't see the harm in experiencing some form of it; just enough to quell your curiosity.

- So after a particularly taxing day, you find yourself over at Jerry's place, sitting quietly on his couch as the two of you watch television, deciding how to bring the subject up to him, or if you even should. He interrupts the silence that the two of you have formed, asking you what's you what's on your mind and giving you excuse to spill the beans. He's quiet as you ramble through your thought process, and just as quiet as you finish, sitting there silently as you stare at your feet in slight embarrassment.

- Finally, you happen a glance towards him, just in time to see him getting up from his chair, his eyes darkened as he makes his way over and seats himself beside you on the couch. He wastes no time in slicing his finger open, deep dark liquid pooling at the wound as he offers the digit out to you, pressing it to your lips as you move closer. His eyes never leave your face, pupils lost in the sunken pits of black as he hungrily watches you take in the taste and the unfamiliar sensation.

- You feel the urge to chase his hand after he pulls it away from you, but you don't have much time to focus on that thought before he's pulling you into him, covering your lips with his own and licking up the remnants of his own blood. This time, you don't have it in you to pull away from him, not that you even want to, kissing him back just as hungrily as he kisses you, his arms tightening around your figure as he lowers you further down onto his couch.

- You wake up the next morning feeling a little hazy, like the last remnants of sleep are still clinging to your mind and stopping you from facing reality. You register that Jerry's arms are wrapped tightly around you, that you're laying on his chest, and that you've spent the entire night with him.

- And you suddenly have the intense feeling that you're no longer a free woman, that after this, Jerry is never going to let you go. But the thing is, you're no longer sure if you want him to: especially not when you feel him begin to stir, his body pulling you ever so closer and his face burying itself in your hair....

- No, no you think you like the idea of never having him let you go....

[venture4treasure]

“Stickers and stones”

Words: 1263

Premise: Artsy!Reader and Venture. Venture’s expedition gets extended and their flight back home is delayed. They miss their girlfriend. 

Warnings: Very brief mention of alcohol

Venture mutely picks at their food, sticking out like a sore thumb amongst their chattering crew. After so many project extensions and flight delays, they finally got a break and flew home. Their team had decided to reserve a private room at a local diner for after their plane landed, excited to have some good food and finally relax with each other before heading their separate ways. Venture was originally onboard with the idea before their trip back home got delayed a whole month. They don’t want to bail on their team, so they forced themselves to stay. 

“Oh, lighten up! The flight delays sucked, but we’re here now aren’t we?” One of Venture’s teammates shoves them playfully.

 “I don’t have an appetite that’s all, jet lag maybe,” Venture mutters, forcing themselves to take a bit of their food and a drink from their beer. 

“You always have an appetite,” someone else points out, “what’s wrong? Do share”.

Venture sighs, “I just miss my girlfriend“.

Some of their crew in earshot awe and coo at them making them shove their face in their hands to save some dignity. 

“Why don’t you talk about her, I’d be happy to listen. Maybe it’ll make you feel better.” 

“Well, she moved recently to this city. So, I’m actually only like 30 minutes away from her right now and I feel so robbed! I could be with her right now!” Venture exclaims, “not that I don’t like spending time with you guys, it’s just been a long project”. 

Venture continues, “she moved here to ‘make it in the big city’. I don’t really get it, but the idea makes her so excited whenever she talks about it and I want to support her! And, oh gosh, I brought a bunch of rocks in my carry-on with me so I could give them to her when we see each other in case our luggage takes a bit to fly over… she’s just the best and I miss her so much”. 

There’s a couple soft chuckles that eventually build into a group laugh. Venture blinks in confusion, they’re not sure why everyone is laughing. 

“What?” Venture asks. 

One of their colleagues snaps a photo of them.

“What? What’s so funny,” Venture repeats, voice raising in concern – they don’t know their team as people who would make a malicious joke like mocking their love for their partner. 

Several people gesture at them to turn around. 

Venture screws up their face in bewilderment, but they turn around nonetheless.

You smile brightly at Venture. And Venture’s eyes widen, they kick themselves out of their chair at a record speed to capture you in a hug. You hug back, patting them on the back. 

A round of claps goes up around them. Venture releases you from their embrace, but grabs your hand to hold. They spin around. 

“YOU GUYS KNEW?” Venture all but yells, there’s no real anger. They’re smiling so wide, it almost hurts. 

“Surprise!” 

“Oh my gosh, oh my gosh,” Venture nuzzles your neck, as you smile bashfully, messing their hair, “I missed you so much!” 

“I missed you too,” you reassure, “also, you’re very sweet.” 

“YOU HEARD ALL THAT?” They feign despair, face heating up with embarrassment. 

Everyone gets a good laugh at Venture’s cry. 

“I think I will be taking this one,” you say towards the table, slinging your arm around them, “thanks for inviting me to do this, and please send me the picture!” 

You pull their hand and Venture follows you towards the exit. 

“Venture’s a keeper by the way!” 

“I know!” You shout back over your shoulder, you can feel Venture groan in embarrassment besides you. 

When you reach the side of the road, you hail a cab. You catch up on news from your day-to-day life, and let Venture ramble about their expedition during the ride to your apartment. You admit to Venture that your apartment is small, much smaller than your previous house. 

“The location was just too good! And the landlord is very kind to me, but it isn’t exactly a big place,” you say, rubbing the back of your neck, “I hope it isn’t too claustrophobic or anything”. 

You unlock the door to your apartment and step inside to turn on the lights. It’s a spacious studio, but it is still a studio apartment so it’s not comparable to the space of a house at all. 

Venture steps inside, taking in the decor – you’d hung up paintings and other creative projects on your walls to make them more interesting. There wasn’t much for furniture, you didn’t want to crowd the place. 

“You framed these?” Venture asks, pointing at a framed painting. It is their painting and isn’t particularly good compared to yours. 

“Of course! You made them for me, didn’t you? That makes it one of the most important things to show off!” 

Venture makes a flustered noise at you in response. 

You invite them to sit at the dining table, while you pull out something from the fridge.

“Do you want boba? I got some earlier today for you in case you didn’t make it back before all the local places closed”.

Venture gasps when you slide them the drink, it’s their exact order, you would know. They take a sip while you set some sweets at the table. 

“Oh!” Venture digs through their bag, “these are for you!”

You settle down as Venture shows you some rocks, some have crystals sticking out of them and others are interesting colours or textures. They share with you how they came across them and why these rocks are the ones they picked for you. You take them, turning the stones around in your hand, appreciating them. 

“So pretty! They will be added to my collection,” you announce, pointing at a shelf above your desk that Venture didn’t notice before. It displayed countless rocks you’ve received from them, each one with a decorated note propped next to it – the note entails the occasion Venture gifted you the rock and some personal notes adoring it. 

“You kept them all?” Venture is touched, for a moment you think they’re about to cry. 

“No! You can’t cry yet,” you exclaim, hurriedly shoving a small box towards them, “my gift for you, you have to open it first”. 

It’s a custom painted box – an absolute work of art in Venture’s opinion, they can feel the texture of the paint. They gently shake it and they can feel the knocking of items. Taking great care to remove the ribbon – which you might’ve tied a little too complicated because it looked good – Venture opens the parcel. They stare at the contents, they’re not too sure what it is. It’s your art, they know that by heart from the colours and style. 

“Take them out?” You suggest. 

Venture tilts the contents of the box into their hand, and realization strikes them. They’re stickers. They flip through them, there’s a lot of stickers and there’s so many designs. This must’ve taken you forever.

“I-” Venture chokes, speechless. 

“For you, so you can take something that reminds you of me on your trips,” you smile, “put them on your excavator maybe? I made them weatherproof so if you wanted you can”.

“Come here, right now”. 

You get up to move over to Venture’s side of the table and they crush you with a tight hug. You throw your arms around their neck, pressing a soft kiss to their lips. 

“You’re the best,” they breathe into your neck, “I love you. I love you”. 

Author’s Note: Domestic stories are not my forte. To whoever requested, I hope I did your idea some justice o7 

Link to request.

The picture is you standing behind Venture and making silly faces or gestures while they’re confused.

Additional headcanon for this, Venture is one of the younger people in the Wayfinder Society. 

[mandomaterial]

I LOVE your Miguel x Reader fic so much! Can we please get another Miguel x Reader where they are complete opposites again, but she isn't use to seeing a scary/violent Miguel. So when she finally sees him like that she gets a little scared and Miguel has to reassure his little angel that he would never behave this way with her. Fluff please because i love your fluff fics!

OFC BBY! I changed it a little so that reader didn’t only see it but also experience it, yk? U’ll see :3 I hope you like it pookie!

Miguel scaring and accidentally hurting you

Like this? Check out my Masterlist

✎﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏

You were on your way to visit your boyfriend of a few months at work, with a little Tupperware box of fresh cookies in hand, you knew that he was Spider-Man and you knew all about the spider-verse. You also knew that Miguel worked very hard to keep the society intact and that it put an immense strain on his mood and health.

He’d come home all grumpy and annoyed, just wanting to cuddle you to death, he wouldn’t even let you get up to make him some food or treats, so today you decided to bring him something to cheer him up. You’d made a variety of cookies, some frosted and others shaped like animals and stars, to some people it might seem like something from a kids birthday party where a trottle ran off with the sprinkles and went crazy with them but it was just how you liked to bake. You knew that some people thought you were weird for dressing in bright colours and having fun hairstyles, sometimes older people would whisper when you walked past them but you didn’t mind, to you the worst possible thing would be being called normal or plain. You didn’t let anyone stop you from buying or making the clothes you thought were cute and today you decided to show off the new skirt you made. You spent all of last week sitting at your desk with your sticker covered sewing machine, securing the fabric and hemming the edges.

It was truly adorable and you loved how it framed your butt and thighs! You matched it with the off white cashmere sweater that Miguel gifted you after only two moths of dating. He knew that you liked cute things so he had little bows added to the sleeves and it warmed your heart every time you thought of his attentiveness. You packed the cookies into a little shoulder bag and set off.

It didn’t take long for you to get to the main office and there you almost crashed into Jessica who you always enjoyed having a little chat with, you always asked how her baby was and if everything was going as planned at HQ, but today she decided to give you a little warning, Miguel had been a little agitated and stressed today, because Gwen got stuck in a mess and brought back a Teenage boy who was never supposed to know about the Spider-verse and how said boy was causing a bit of trouble. You thought nothing much of it and continued looking for him.

Your first stop was his main office, to be honest it looked like the bat cave, with a floating platform that was his favourite. It always made you giggle when you compared Miguel to batman, but he wasn’t there, so you decided to just walk around and see if you’d find him, when you suddenly heard a loud bang. Instinctively you whipped around, running to a large window and what you saw shook you to your core.

It was thousands of spider people chasing after what seemed to be a small figure in a black suit, it was a sight that you’d never seen before, was everything alright? Was that an anomaly? Why were so many chasing it? Millions of thoughts rushed through your head as you sprinted down the stairs to the ground floor to get a better look, but everything was moving so fast that you lost sight of them as that disappeared behind another building.

You rushed through the halls, trying to catch up with them and somehow you ended up in the room with the go-home machine, all while everyone was surrounding Miguel and the young boy who was in the midst of being “sent home” and Miguel had his talons dug into the electric walls of the capsule, almost tearing it apart while growling and yelling. You’d never seen him like this, as if he were a feral creature hunting its prey with cruel intent. Your body started shaking a little as you took a small step back, maybe this was a really bad time. In that moment the capsule fully closed itself, sending the teen home and leaving Miguel seething with rage, ready to demolish anything he got his hands on, when he suddenly noticed his wach showing signs of an anomaly or something that wasn’t supposed to be at headquarters standing only a couple meters behind him.

Without a second thought and with pure rage and will for distraction Miguel lunges backward, his vision blurry with fury as he sunk his claws into the floor, propelling himself closer and closer to his new victim. All the while you didn’t even have time to think, fear filled every fiber of your already tensed body, he made the decision in split-seconds, not even realizing that it was you, his partner, as he rushed closer to you. You started stumbling back, screaming his name, but nothing helped clear his mind. Miguel stretched out his right arm, talons out as far as they could go, ready to tear you to shreds.

His usually gentle fingers wrapped themselves tightly around your neck, nicking you and squeezing tight, you felt him almost crush your throat but that wasn’t the end of it. Miguel flexed his arm, lifting you up into the air and just as he was about slam you down with all his force, he had a moment of clarity, his heat almost stopped as he recognized your face, albeit it was contorted in ear and pain. He noticed how tight his grip on your neck was and how you were scratching at his hand for a single breath, as he cut off your air way. His eyes widernd, fear and regret washing over him. Instead of glamming you to the ground, he quickly let go of your neck and pressed you to his chest. He felt your tears wet his suit and he heard you cries. Your cries were pain filled and your voice hoarse as he tried to comfort you by rocking you back and forth gently. He knew that it was his fault. What had he done? What if you never wanted to see him again?

He did something he swore to never let happen. He hurt you. He made you fear him. Miguel commanded everyone to leave, so that the two of you could calm down and as soon as it was only the two of you, he collapsed to his knees. It was like your tears were never ending and your fingers weakly grabbed onto him, barely able to hold on as you hid your face in his chest.

“I’m sorry…” Miguel whispered, his voice cracking as he continued muttering “I’m so sorry.. please forgive me.. I didn’t mean t-to…” he whimpered, but it was like you didn’t hear it, way too caught up in the scenario that played out just minutes ago. Your heart was going a mile a minute and you were hyperventilating, not being able to calm your breathing. Minutes passed and Miguel was still rocking back and forth, as if comforting a crying child, the horrid scenes kept replaying in his mind and he didn’t know how to make it better.

Your cries slowly turned to whines and hiccups, you moved around in his lap, trying to find a comfortable position when he gently lifted your chin to look him in the eyes, he opened his mouth but said nothing for a few seconds until he finally whimpered “I love you, you know that, right?” He pulled you into a close hug, not even waiting for your response, he squeezed you as close to him as he could, his anger long gone. “P-please don’t leave me…” he continued, he sounded utterly broken and that only made you shed more tears, you didn’t want to be sad, you didn’t want him to be sad, this was just a stupid accident right? He didn’t mean it…

You nodded a little and tried to speak, but nothing audible came out, only whimpers and whines. Miguel pulled the two of you apart, gently placing his large hand onto the crown of your head, carefully lacing his fingers between your hair as he looked at your little form that was dwarfed by his own. “It was and accident… please forgive me…” he muttered as his eyebrows scrunched together in regret. You replied with a little nod, your lower lip still wobbling a little. Miguel caressed your hair a bit before moving lower to your neck, he pushed your hair back and revealed a couple red scratches going almost all the way around. He felt so ashamed that he’d hurt you, that he was the cause of your pain. Ge gently brushed his fingers over them and you let oust a little wince. He’d take you to the med bay right after this, he promised.

Only then did he notice what you were wearing, first he looked at the sweater. It was the one he had custom made for you, when he saw it in the store window he thought about how’d you look like a fluffy baby alpaca in it and he just had to get it for you. He touched the soft fabrics and slid his grand down your arm, intertwining his fingers with your slender ones. Next he noticed the skirt, ha hadn’t seen it in your closet or anywhere else?. Did you buy it? No it fits too well for that… you probably made it. He couldn’t help but let a soft smile cross his face. The room was almost silent so he tries to shift your attention to a different topic “Did you make this?” He gently rubbed the b fabric between two of his fingers.

You looked around quite confused for a moment until you found what he was talking about, you rubbed your eyes a little and gave him another nod “y-yea, i finished yesterday.” Your voice was barely audible and littered with hiccups.

“It’s cute” he replied, placing his hands on your hips and shifting your body so that you were sitting sideways on his lap with your head leaning on his pec. He wrapped his arms around you and nuzzled closer, almost purring. You liked sitting like this, on his lap and utterly surrounded by him, it made you feel small and soft, like a precious delicate possession of his.

You could feel how worried he was, it washed off him like waves and you wanted to make him feel better, so you cupped his jaw and whispered “I’m okay Miguel, you didn’t hurt me” as soon as he heard, you could almost physically hear the stones dropping from his heart and his spirit lifting. The two of you were definitely feeling better but there was still a bit left to talk about, so Miguel decided that it was time to leave. He rose to his feet but kept you in his arms, you rolled over a little and decided to play with his hair as he walked out of the now silent room. Your fingers wrapped themselves around the little short curls at the back of his neck, it was one of your favourite parts of his hair because it was so much more curly than the longer pieces.

Miguel felt your little fingers and could stop the lopsided smile that formed on his face, sure he still had work to do, but to be honest, for once in his life, he didn’t care. He’d do it tomorrow and surely get an ear full from Jessica.

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Once Miguel stepped through the doorway a long sigh left his chapped lips, he still felt quite bad about what happened today, but he knew that you’d forgiven him and that you weren’t upset. You fell asleep in the car, so he decided to be the good boyfriend he was and carry you up to his penthouse. You often slept over at his place because you liked the big windows and loved his comfy king sized bed. Normally you fell asleep earlier than him and once he got to bed, he’d find you in your cute pink jammies, laying starfish with one of your legs over the blanket and the pillows long thrown off the sides. He couldn’t help but snap a little picture, you were just too adorable.

So now he careful layer you down on the side you preferred to sleep on. He took off your socks and reached under your shirt to unclasp your bra and pull it off you so you wouldn’t wake up in pain, before covering you with his blanket. Once you were tucked in, he strode over to one of his cupboards in the bathroom and pulled out one of the first aid kits (he has multiple stocked) and pulled out a salve. He rummaged around further until he found your favourite bandaids, the ones with the cute shapes on them and walked back to his bedroom.

You were sleeping soundly as he sat down right next to you, careful not to dip the mattress too much, he gently stroked your hair back so that he could tend to the little wounds on your neck. Guilt shot through him again once they were revealed, t be honest they weren’t even that bad, but he knew how sensitive to violence you were and he knew that the scare was probably worse than the pain. Nevertheless he dipped his fingers in the salve and started softly rubbing it over the red marks and covered them with the bandaids after. After a few minutes he was satisfied and snuggled up to you, making you the little spoon, he wrapped his arms around your wast to pull you close. And just like that, all cuddled up, the two of you fell asleep, meeting again in your dreams.

[mikeandikeschmidt]

The Father-Daughter Dance

Fluffy and wholesome!Mike and Abby sibling bonding

Word Count: 1988

Summary: When Abby's bully tells her she can't go to the school dance, it's up to Mike to save the day. Risking his wallet, as well as his last nerve with the local Karen...

• • •

A few months after what happened at Freddy's, things seemed to be going back on track for Mike and Abby. Mike got another job with better hours so he could spend more time at home with his sister, she was socializing more with kids in her class, and things seemed like they were looking up.

Soft snores were heard from Mike's car as he waited outside for school to let out. The young man sat in the driver's seat with his arm draped over his eyes to block from the sun. But he didn't have to wait much longer because the back door opened suddenly and slammed shut a second later.

Mike jolted upright and immediately made a fist, a reflex when he was frightened (that trigger was subtly worse after everything they went through) but Mike instantly relaxed when he saw it was just Abby getting in the backseat. He instead ran a hand down his face to wake himself up.

"Hey, Abbs. How was your day?"

"F-fine." But her voice was wavering. She was certainly not fine.

Mike looked up from his hand and turned to look at her, seeing her eyes were red and she was sniffling. This made him tense again. Who did this. Who hurt his baby sister? Was it a bad grade on a test? That bully girl on the playground? He took a shaky breath, willing himself to be calm. His voice was soft and gentle when he asked,

"Abby, what's wrong?"

She fidgeted with a pink flier in her hand, "Th-the Father-Daughter dance at school is coming up and Emma told me I can't go because I don't have a dad..."

He knew somebody had hurt her feelings. Freaking Emma. He could tell she was going to be a little snot when he saw her at the open house. What with her perfect little blonde braid and her mom's minivan that had a bumper sticker that said, 'my child is an honor student.' Great. Just great.

Mike took another breath. After the mall incident and losing his job at Auto-Zone, Mike learned to keep calm, or at least keep from showing people how he really felt. This wasn't something he could fight his way out of.

"Abby, please don't cry. Emma doesn't know anything, ok?"

"You mean I can go to the dance anyway?" She lifted her head, her eyes lighting up with hope.

Shoot. He hadn't thought that far ahead yet. If he had to plan something, he would have suggested getting pizza and letting her pick a movie to rent to cheer her up. Now he realized that was stupid. Of course she wanted to go to the dance like everyone else.

Well, even if their dad wasn't around, Mike could take her. But the only problem was he wasn't much of a dancer. Maybe every once in a while, he'd goof off while cooking or at the grocery store, but that was just when he was trying to make Abby laugh and when no one was looking. He hadn't really danced in front of other people since the Prom. But if it would make her happy...

"Uh, if you..uh...you want to go then I can take you." Mike cleared his throat that was suddenly dry, "Sure we can go."

A squeal suddenly rang in his ears as Abby jumped up and threw her arms around him, climbing around his seat so she could give him a great, big hug. Every tear she had shed before seemed to have evaporated in a second, "Thank you, Mike! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!"

He chuckled and patted her arm, "It's no problem. I want you to have fun. But sit back in your seat, okay? I'm gonna start heading out of here."

She giggled and hopped back before putting on her seatbelt, "This is going to be great! Can we stop by the store before we go home for a dress?"

"What's wrong with your purple dress? You know, with the polka dots?" Mike asked, remembering the last time they went shopping. That was for an Easter dress, but did they get that this year or last...?

"That dress is not cool for a dance, Mike. And we got to match. Your tie needs to match my dress."

"I need a tie now too?"

"Yeah! And matching bouquet and croissant." Abby gave him a toothy grin through the rear-view mirror.

Mike tried to stifle a laugh, "I think you mean boutonniere and corsage."

"Yeah, that!"

If she wasn't so giddy, Mike would be sweating over how much this was going to cost. But he didn't have a choice. This clearly meant a lot to her and if this is what she needed then heck with it, he was going to make sure she had the best night of her life. He was going to make that little bully Emma eat her words.

• • •

"Owww, Mike!" Abby complained as her brother tried to fix her hair for the dance, "You're hurting me!"

"Don't blame me. Your head is a rat's nest." He squinted through the dark mess, armed only with a Cinderella brush.

"No, it's not!"

"I'm sorry. A curly rat's nest."

"No, it's nooot!!" Abby protested again but she was giggling all the while. She had been excited like this all day, reassuring Mike he had made the right decision by taking her. Even if the recliner in the living room had been calling his name...

When her hair was finally tamed then Mike slid a headband over as the finishing touch, "Alright, all done. What do you think?"

She hurried over to the mirror to see how she looked and instantly smiled at the results. She had chosen a pink dress with sequins on the top, lots of tulle for a tutu-like skirt, and a ribbon at the waist with a fake flower on the side that matched her headband. "I love it!"

Mike walked up behind her, smiling softly as he admired both their reflections. He hadn't been able to talk her out of the pink dress so he wore a black button-up, slacks, and a matching pink tie. It wasn't his color, but this night was of course not meant for him, "You look beautiful, Abbs. You're going to be the prettiest one there."

"You really think so??"

Prettier than Emma, Mike thought to himself before pinning the boutonniere onto his shirt. Once that was on then he knelt down and held out the corsage, "Just one last thing..."

Abby held out her dainty little wrist so he could slide on the corsage, also showing off her glittery nails that Mike had helped her with earlier. Man, it had taken a lot of work to get them ready for this dance. Who knew it took this much work? He felt sick to his stomach thinking about a few years down the road when she wanted to start wearing makeup...

"There. All ready for the dance. How we feeling?"

Mike nearly fell over when she tackled him in another great-big Abby hug, "You're the best big brother ever. I wish dad were here but...I'm really glad you're taking me."

Okay, that one got him. He hardly knew what to say. He quickly blinked his watery eyes as he wrapped his arms around her, "Abby, you know I'd do anything for you. I'm happy to take you. Come on, let's get going."

"Hehe, okay!" She eagerly grabbed his hand and pulled him to the door.

• • •

Mike stepped into the gymnasium with an expression like a deer in headlights. It was all set up for the dance with streamers, a disco ball, a DJ, and a snack table. It was mostly dark with flashing multi-colored lights while The Sign by Ace of Base played blaringly over the speakers. Yep. This brought back memories. Welp, at least he always had the snack table.

He looked down to Abby, "Hey Abbs, you want some--?"

But she didn't hear him over the music, "Hey, Ashley!" She dashed off to chat with her friend.

Mike chuckled and let her go have her fun while he went to get some food. But to his horror, Emma's mom was manning the table, helping serve snacks and drinks. He took a deep breath and forced his expression to remain neutral. No one but him had to know how much he hated her.

"Oh, hi, Mike!" Her nasal voice rang out.

"Lisa." He kept his head down and grabbed a plate for a couple cookies. These had better be chocolate-chip and not oatmeal raisin. Stop acting like it's so much healthier, Lisa, they're freaking cookies.

"I'm surprised to see you guys here! Are you allowed to? You know, since, this is meant for fathers and daughters and all." Mike could see where Emma got all that charm from.

1, 2, 3...1, 2, 3...1, 2, 3...just breathe and relax. Breathe and relax.

"Yep," Was all he replied, taking a sip of punch.

"My David is out there with our sweet little Emma. Isn't she just a peach?" Lisa pointed to a man and little girl out on the dance floor, both doing the cabbage patch. Like complete dorks.

"The peachiest." He took a bite of his cookie then instantly regretted it. Oatmeal raisin. Dang it, Lisa.

Thankfully, Abby ran up to him to save him from anymore small talk, "MikeMikeMike! They're playing my favorite song! Can we go dance??"

"Uh, sure." Mike let her drag him to the dance floor, not far from Emma and her dad. He left his plate of disappointment behind at the snack table.

"Have fun!" Lisa waved them off.

"Have fun," Mike mocked under his breath.

When they were in the center of the gym, Abby pumped up her fists one at a time and bounced up and down. Her little curls flying all around her head. She was so cute, he was gonna die.

"Mike! You're supposed to dance with me!"

"Uh..." Mike kind of copied what she was doing, but looked around for ideas. He was not going to do the cabbage patch, that was for sure. Gosh, he hadn't been to anything like this in years.

Next Abby made a peace sign and waved it over her eyes until Mike mirrored her, the music pulsing under their feet. He could still hear her laughter and he really hoped it wasn't because he looked stupid. He just had to pretend he was in his kitchen and people weren't looking. But honestly, who cares if they were? He couldn't be as bad as David, so why couldn't he blow off a little steam?

Mike finally relaxed. He grabbed Abby's hands and swung their arms back and forth. Now this wasn't so hard. Hey, he was having a little fun too. This night wasn't just about her (though it was 95% about her) but this was about them being together and it was honestly better than he thought it was going to be.

When the song started to end, Mike finished it off by spinning her around and the two shared matching grins. They were going to treasure this moment forever. Despite everything that had happened in the past, at least they had each other. Brother and sister against the world.

"Mike!" Abby bounced up on her toes.

"Yeah?"

"After this, could we rent a movie and order a pizza?"

He laughed. Now there was an idea. "Absolutely. And while we're out, maybe a box of cookies. Chocolate-chip."

[crazyunsexycool]

When Lottie used to follow around Fury, she saw that Fury was being rude to Steebie regarding a mission and Steve is just quite...

She steps up for him and defends Steebie " Fuwy no be mean to Steebie, he a good boy! You making him sad"😠

And since then Steeb is known as "Captain good boy" in the compound 😂😭

Hahahahahahahaha. You just know Sam and Clint are using Captain Good Boy and when Tony finds out? Forget about it.

Captain Good Boy

Charlotte had decided to follow Nick around again. Against his will. Although he would never admit that he enjoyed her company from time to time. Today wasn’t such a good day to have her following him. Nick would have to talk to Steve about a mission that went sideways and Steve didn’t follow commands. When things got heated between the two of them it could get rough.

And that’s exactly what happened. Nick and Steve were on the verge of yelling at each other. Clint and Sam sat back and let it happened or else Nick’s attention would be on them. Then there was Lottie. Her attention was ping ponging between Steve and Nick.

“I don’t care that you’re Captain America. You have to follow the fucking rules or else you’re no better than the scum we go after.” Nick barked back.

“Hey!” Lottie said surprisingly loud. Everyone’s attention shifted to her.

Steve immediately took a step back, putting some distance between himself and Nick.

“That’s not nice.” Lottie says with her hands on her hips. “Scum is yucky. Steebie is not yucky. He’s a good boy.”

And as quickly as tension rose in the room, Lottie managed to calm it.

“You habe to say sowwy Fu-wee. And you habe to say sowwy Steebie.”

“I do not apologize.” Nick quickly replies. He was still pissed off about the whole situation.

“Then go outside and take a bweath.”

“I am not going outside just because you said so.”

Lottie crosses her arms over her shoulders and furrows her brows. Giving Nick her best winter soldier stare.

“Charlotte, it’s ok. We are trying to work this out.” Steve steps in. “Why don’t you go find Henry? Or Mama?”

“Say sowwy fust. Daddy says you habe to ‘polo-gize when you say mean things cuz you huwt someone’s feewings.”

Steve sighed but turned to Fury. “Fury I’m sorry for not following the plan.”

“See Steebie is good boy.”

Nick rolls his eye. “Fine I’m sorry too.”

Lottie claps and cheers. Before she leaves she gives all four men a gold star sticker. Once she leaves though Nick and Steve resume their arguing as if they’d never stopped. They do that for a while.

****

Steve was sitting outside, trying to enjoy the evening. After the day he’d had he just wanted some peace and quiet. He was surprised to see Duckie take the empty space on the bench he was at. He stopped his sketching to give her his full attention.

“I heard you were in a screaming match with Fury.”

“Yeah. We sorted it out though.”

“With some help though.”

Steve can see the mischievous glint in her eyes and he groans. “What did you hear?”

“Not much, just that Lottie defended you. Captain Good Boy.”

Steve closes his eyes and a defeated sigh leaves his lips. “I’m going to kill Clint and Sam.” He stands to go find the two meant who would be responsible for the new nickname.

Duckie is laughing as she tries to catch up to him.

“Just stay clear of Stark. He’s having a field day.”

Steve stops in his tracks and throws his head back. He groans as Duckie starts to laugh harder.

“I’m never going to live this down am I?”

“Unfortunately not. I think Stark is having t-shirts made as we speak.”

“That’s it. I’m leaving and changing my name.”

“To what? Captain bad boy?” Duckie quips causing Steve to glare at her before he starts walking away, leaving her to laugh by herself.

It takes months before the Captain Good Boy nickname dies down. Even then it’ll stick around the group of friends for years.

[magicxc]

Stork Visits

Pairings: Survey Coprs x Black Reader - do they want babies?

Word Count: 1137

Warnings: baby fever?

A/N: Here’s what I think in regard to the guys wanting babies. But tell me what you think! Is there someone who you feel would react differently than I imagined?

Headcannons Masterlist

Eren  - oh absolutely. I think he’d love to see a miniature him running around causing mayhem. He’s the obsessed dad, telling everyone you meet that you’re pregnant and watching literally everything you eat to make sure that it’s safe and healthy for the baby. Eren becomes a nutritionist, a midwife, and security guard all in one; and while you are grateful, he could definitely use a chill pill. 

Levi - I wanna say no, but he can be convinced. More of a soft no, or Levi’s idea of a soft no. He doesn’t really develop relationships or connections with others because of everyone around him dying and for that reason he’s really against the idea of raising a child. But once he finds someone special, I think he’ll view it with a different set of lens and even come to anticipate the idea of another Ackerman.

Erwin - very neutral. He isn’t actively for a child or against it. More of a if it happens, it happens kinda fella. Understand that work WILL be a priority and will often take precedence. Erwin is absolutely taking care of his family but it’ll be more in a financial sense. Although he is emotionally available as well it’s his physical presence yall will have to tussle with. However, he is making sure at the very least yall wont need for much. I'm talking a house in the best neighborhood, the best schools, the best clothes, etc. And he absolutely loves his family but when that job calls, it's toodles. 

Connie - also neutral to the idea. Connie doesn’t really take life seriously to me. I consider him to be in his playboy era lowkey. He doesn’t really live for the future, but more so the present so if you get pregnant he’ll be supportive of whatever choice you make. And if it does happen, he’s that overwhelming dad who’s plastering his child on all the socials. They’ll be in matching outfits, taking professional pictures for every milestone, and he’s stacking those presents high under the Christmas tree for the holidays. That child will have him wrapped around their finger so it's safe to say that you’ll have to be the bad cop for a good chunk of their childhood cause Connie is mostly concerned with being the cool and fun parent. 

Jean - yes!! He’s that military man that enlists straight out of high school, meets a girl, marries her two months later, and starts a family of five. Maybe even get a pet for the sake of it. Jean strikes me as very traditional in the family sense. His children will be honor students and he’s plastering his bumper sticker with all their future colleges. Their report cards get put on the fridge and while Jean does start off his parenting a little strict in the disciplinary department, he eventually learns to take it easy. 

Onyankopon - yes, but when the time is right. He wants to try and solve all the worlds problems before settling down to start a family. Soon enough he’ll realise that as much as he wants to he cant help everyone so he goes on to focus his energy on creating a life with his lover. Ony’s so adorable. Literally there at your beck and call. He’s taking you to all your doctors appointments, sitting through all your lamaze classes and designing the baby's room from scratch. Ony is the hands on father who’s spending weeks tryna figure out how to assemble the crib and he’s signing the kid up for every extracurricular activity possible as soon as they can walk - ooh and he’s never missing a practice. 

Reiner - idek with this man. I genuinely feel like the pendulum can swing either way, though I am leaning more towards no. I think Reiner carries way too much guilt to ever feel deserving of children and so he’s content to just have a wife while playing the role of cool, rich uncle. Mans is honestly just happy to be alive, and barely even that, so he’s not too interested in starting a family. He’ll babysit in a heartbeat and is sneakily feeding his nieces/nephews/godchildren ice cream for breakfast after their parents explicitly said no. He’s the one they call when they need a ride home from a party they weren't even supposed to go to and he’s providing an alibi if need be. Reiner is sliding $20 in their hands at every function and bringing them gifts from his latest excursion around the globe. While he greatly enjoys his time spent with the kiddos he loves handing them back to their parents even more; and greatly enjoys having his lover all to himself while doing things he never dreamed he’d reach the age to see and simultaneously healing the child within. 

Armin - yes!! I think Armin is gonna be the poster dad for kids lowkey. You ever meet those parents who run their household like the navy? Like in a scheduled sorta way? That’s gonna be Armin. Kids are in bed no later than 8pm. Their breakfast, lunch, and dinner will be balanced to each portion of essential nutrients based on the food groups of the plate. They're drinking 8 glasses of water a day and flavored milk yuck during snack time. Their juices are diluted with water so when they hit their first party and experience 100% juice for the first time they’re literally bouncing off the walls. I really feel like Armin would have that perfect cookie cutter type family who celebrates and decorates for every holiday. They brush their teeth before bed every night and must bathe with their special bubble bath soap or else they’ll lose their shit. He’ll raise kids you avoid in primary school lmaoo but get cool with during high school who eventually becomes a more chill version of their younger self. 

Floch - not really. He wants to run wild and sow his oats. Floch doesn't care for kids in my opinion. He’s in his selfish era which turns out to last a lot longer than he anticipated. Floch is an intelligent guy and while he enjoys practicing for a baby, he’s come to realise that he wouldn’t enjoy the responsibilities of said baby. He’s not actively in his nieces/nephews/godchildren everyday lives but instead is that uncle you only see at the family functions which is like twice a year. Once he’s there though they can ask for anything and he’s giving it to them. Money, a lil sip of beer, hell even some dating tips. He doesn't go out of his way to be present so it's really one of those you just gotta be there moments. Floch has always been on his own timing and enjoys living his best child free life. 

[spidercookie18]

𝕋𝕃𝔹 𝔹𝕠𝕟𝕕𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕨𝕚𝕥𝕙 𝕃𝕦𝕔𝕪

Summary: how Lucy wins over the boys

Tags: General mom behavior, implied drug use, fluff, mentions of loss of family

Asked by @ria-coolgirl

Lucy is the mom of moms. After the wildchild life she lived and the hardass dad that Grandpa E used to be, she wanted to be someone who took care of everyone. She wanted to make every young person who crossed her path feel loved, seen, and safe.

She is used to being a boy mom. But now that she's unofficially adopted all TLB as her own sons, she's got more than she can handle. She wants to be very hands-on with them in the beginning. Bringing them gifts, checking their clothes for holes, and sewing them, making sure they're eating and getting enough rest. But the boys have been on their own for quite some time. They're not so familiar with the motherly loving that Lucy tries to offer them.

After a while she realized, if they didn't want something from her, they just wouldn't take it. She took to leaving snacks and new clothes on the back porch of her dad's house as if the boys were wild animals. Sometimes they took jackets, or snacks and sometimes when she checked the next night, the gifts would still be there. She never knew when to expect them.

Lucy knew that Michael hung out with TLB pretty regularly, and that he would spend the night with them somewhere... but she didn't exactly know.

For the first few years she hardly ever saw the boys. She could hear them in the next room over, being loud and knocking stuff over whenever Michael had them over. But when she would try to go into the room to see them in a few moments they would be out the window and back into the night.

Now, this was not because the boys were scared of her. For the first few months, they were SURE she was some informant for Max so that he could spy on them. Then, after that, Marko had got it in his head that Lucy was actually a Martian who replaced Michael's mom when they passed through New Mexico. And Mike had to explain to him how New Mexico was, in fact, to the East of Arizona.

Then boys were just leery of her because she was "an adult," but mostly, they were just scared that she was trying to be their mom. They had their own mothers many many moons ago. They missed their human families, and Lucy offering her motherly love brought back feelings they had long since pushed away.

She didn't know this, and the boys especially didn't express this.

But Lucy, ever persistent, did her best to be kind to them. She made cookies and cakes, she left them scarfs she'd made, or anything she could think of that they might want or use. She left new socks, new gloves, sewing thread, new needles, and she tried her damnest to show them she wasn't there to be a mean stepmother.

Pau was unsurprisingly the first to accept her love. He was in Grandpa E's house in the bathroom, trying to get something out of his tangled hair to no avail. The other boys had left without him (unbeknownst to him), and Lucy was there doing Michael's and Sam's laundry, as she didn't like doing it at Max's house. (She says his machine is too complicated for her.) Lucy was carrying a load of laundry upstairs to Mike's room when she heard some grunting and cussing coming from the bathroom. Paul was too focused on getting the tangled mess of twigs and stickers (grass stickers) from the back of his head after he fell through a bush. He only heard someone coming up the stairs and figured it was David or Dwayne and called them into the bathroom for help. To his horror, Lucy came through the bathroom door carrying a load of fresh, clean, laundry.

He stood there, frozen, remembering how he and the boys had been so adamant about avoiding her for the past few years. Lucy didn't think of any of that, none of how they had been scurrying from her view had crossed her mind. All she saw was one of her boy's having trouble with his hair. She immediately put the laundry down and rushed to his side with a, "oh sweetheart, let me help you."

Paul was frozen with fear. Not because he was actually afraid of her, but because he worried what David would say to him when he found out that Paul let Lucy corner him. He couldn't see a way out of the bathroom without pushing her out of the way, and he didn't really wanna hit a woman (much less Mike's mom). She hused his concerns and turned his head to see what he was trying to get at in his hair. "Oh honey, this is not a one man job." She sat on the edge of the tub and called him to sit between her legs so she could try and get the burrs out. Paul eyed her and the door. He REALLY was torn between rushing out of the bathroom and letting her help him. If his head wasn't hurting him so bad he might have taken off, but he, defeated, walked over to Lucy and sat his butt down on the rug by the tub.

He was nervous, to say the least. "Hand me the brush, sweetheart." She called from behind him, and he put his arm over his shoulder with the hairbrush. She was very gentle, and she sat with him for HOURS, gently brushing his hair out and getting all the twigs and stickers out without pulling on his hair. After the first hour, he relaxed immensely. She talked to him about her mom and how she would brush her hair out. She told him how Sam and Michael used to have MUCH longer hair and how she would have to brush theirs out when they fought in bushes. Paul learned soooo many of Michael's secrets and childhood stories. He loosened up and let Lucy brush his hair out, and when he did, he started purring. It caught him and Lucy by surprise.

She stopped brushing and started at the blond boy sitting between her legs, and Paul stated straight ahead and the open door. He was embarrassed; mortified. He wanted to shrink away and pretend he never did that. Lucy could feel that he was ashamed, so she did what any mother would do to calm her child. She patted his head, continued to brush his hair out, and finished her story like nothing happened. This put him at ease a bit, and he let her continue. He tried his best to keep the LOUD purring away, but continued to vibrate softly while she brushed him.

After that night, Paul was around Lucy as much as Sam and Michael. He helped her with any chores she had and happily ate the food she made and kept the gifts she gave him. The other boys were still suspicious of her but soon Marko and Dwayne came around to her. After they ate some of the lasagna she gave Paul, they changed their tunes. Paul and Lucy got pretty close, the mama's boy of the group.

Marko and Dwayne sat with Paul and Lucy on one of their smoke sessions soon thereafter. Lucy and Paul chose one night a month for them to watch romcoms together. They'd watched about 5 at this point, and Marko and Dwayne got curious about what they were up to and decided to watch from a distance. The saw Paul rolling something and hand it to Lucy, and the both of them sat on the couch, smoking and eating popcorn while they watched their "girly movie".

They were watching 'Somethings Gotta Give'. Marko and Dwayne were miming Jack Nicholson putting on his driving gloves, making fun of David and the way he puts on his gloves.

By the end of the movie, they were sitting on the floor by the couch and crying.

David on the other hand does not want anything to do with her. He sees the boys hanging out with her as a betrayal to their mothers. He feels angry at them, and deeply saddened for the loss of his mother. It brings up feelings and memories for him that he has pushed away for centuries.

He stops hanging out with Michael as much and starts to stay in the cave longer. His depression getting the better of him. Lucy notices this immediately, and she understands his pain. She was lost when her mother passed. It was something that still hurts her deeply, and when she thinks of it, she has to stop and breathe deeply. She gives him his space. Lucy knows that she is not trying to erase the memory of their mothers, and that she is certainly not trying to replace them. She understands wholly that the boys loved them, and that they had their own lives before her. She is patient and kind with her vampire stepsons when they need it, but she takes pride in caring for them and guiding them when they need it. And in turn, they guide her as a fledgling.

Most days, she prefers to learn from the boys more than Max. He's a special kind of teacher, where you're thrown to the sharks, rather than taught how to do something.

David actually came around to Lucy when he saw her scolding him for being too harsh on the boys. David is incredibly protective of his clan, and anyone he has claimed as "his". He hates when Max yells or threatens his brothers or Michael, but when Lucy saw Max yelling at Paul, she stepped in and stopped him. David was actually impressed how instinctively stepped in between them-faster than he could. She gently scolded Paul and sent him on his way, and turned around and snapped at Max- very momma bear instincts.

David took to watching her more closely after that. He was intrigued by her and her "mom" tendencies.

He was always peculiar about how she behaved with his brothers. How attentive she was of Mike and Sam. She scolded them and teased them like any mom, and yes, when she needed to, she yelled at all of them. But mostly, she just wanted to keep them safe and happy.

While he wasn't entirely ready to accept her the way they had, he was likely never going to let her brush his hair like Paul did. On the next Romcom night, he sat on the arm of the couch and silently ate popcorn with the group. He didn't make any comments, he didn't get any closer to Lucy, but he sat and smiled with her, his brothers, and Mike and Sam.

Lucy is more than happy with this.

[littlemisspascal]

2023 & Me

Been thinking a lot these past few days about everything that's happened with me in 2023. Hard to believe it's coming to end--time seriously does fly 😮

There's been some heavy losses this year. Several family members passed away to illnesses and old age, including my grandfather who I had a strained relationship with to say the least. I also had a shocking family drama bomb dropped on me earlier this month that has had a huge ripple effect I'm still navigating, but fingers crossed things will find a way of working out for the best.

I had some severe mental health depression episodes throughout the year, made me reevaluate priorities and also doubt pretty much every choice I've ever made in life, but I do truly believe I'm entering 2024 in a positive mindset so that's something to be happy about :) I'mma try this crazy concept called self-love and not think the worst about me, myself, and I.

My writing took a hit this year. Word count wise, kudos wise, engagement wise--but I also made progress on several wips and even finished a few which is a big accomplishment for a snail writer like me 😊 I want to enter 2024 not feeling guilty for being self-indulgent or trying new kinds of writing styles. I also want to shake off the belief a low note count equals it was a bad fic/waste of time -- I don't believe that for anyone else, yet my brain always uses it as a weapon of insecurity against myself and enough is enough brain 😠 no more I say!

On a more positive note, I was fortunate enough to attend several conventions this year and improve my cosplay skills (2024 Ahsoka is gonna be my best look yet I just know it 😁). I got to meet total sweethearts Jon Bernthal and Charlie Cox, Steve Burns my childhood hero, the dear Jodi Benson, the gorgeous Rosario Dawson and beautiful Ming-Na Wen, and of course I can't ever forget Andrew Garfield 😱💗 And most importantly of all I did each these cons with my sister and made some lifelong memories! (Also bought a heckin lot of stickers. A heckin lot 🥰)

And then of course the crown jewel of 2023 1000% hands down was attending the United States Formula 1 Grand Prix. Good lord y'all it was one of the best weekends of my entire life! If you had asked me a couple years ago if I'd care about a sport--any sport--I'd have laughed in your face but there's just something so addictive and captivating about the world of F1 and its cast of characters. And having the luck of getting Alex Albon and Daniel Ricciardo's autographs on my dumb lil frog bucket hat was just *muffled screaming* I literally was a shaking mess lemme tell ya--just ask @beecastle and @undercoverpena who were there with me on my phone every step of the way 💜 thanks for putting up with my addiction y'all! Much much love to you both!!

AND THE FRIGGIN FACT SOMEONE GOT A PHOTO OF ME AND DANNY TOGETHER 🥺😭😭 NEVER BE OVER IT NOPE

There are so many people on here that made 2023 a bright and kind and fun one for me---@oonajaeadira @something-tofightfor @wheresarizona @trinkets01 @kyberblade @sofasoap @grogusmum @writeforfandoms @psychedelic-ink @kteague @prolix-yuy @wildemaven @the-blind-assassin-12 @practicalghost @gnpwdrnwhiskey @bishtrouille @nothoughtsjustmeds @kirsteng42 @miraclesabound @radiowallet @harriedandharassed @hopeamarsu and dozens dozens dozens more!

Thank you to everyone who's liked, reblogged, commented on my blog + sent me messages! I appreciate and love you all so much more than words can ever express 💜💗💙🧡

2024---let's bring it on! 🥳

[oceanlue]

[Daycare]

Part 2

alphonse who takes care of them when there doing arts and crafts

seth who watches them out side during play time

finn who teaches them of how to take care of plants and takes care of the little garden that they have outside

lucien who takes care of the snacks and make sure that they're all healthy

Charlie who reads the kids stories when it's story time

auron the boss of the hole thing he still is in the daycare but he's doing his paperwork on a clipboard and thanks to the kids being a little scared of him so he has time for himself.

-----------

1 whole month has passed since the opening of the daycare Alphonse teaches them how to be clean after part time Seth takes them outside so he can play with the kids and make sure that they're all safe overall it was a good month, but the only problem is that little rookie does not want to ever do anything fun all little Rook wants to do is just stay by auron and he has no problem with this it's just that Little Rock needs to interact with kids. So auron is going to spend some time out of his office with Little Rock since they didn't feel safe.

*meanwhile*

Alphonse was just finishing up cleaning the Arts area and little boo came over because they wanted to help they did get distracted by a couple things but they were a good helper

Litte boo: *puts a pink sticker on his face* "you look pretty in pwink"

Alphonse: awwww thank boo *pats boo's head*

And over the time that boo was helping alphonse decided to Award them with a cookie but told not to tell anybody.

And Seth came in with the kids as Alphonse was putting some stuff away and then decided to take over bringing in a book about plants and a couple of plant stuff since they're going to grow their own tomato a fun little project for the kids.

As they were getting ready to start with the basics auron came over and said that Rook needed to be with kids so he is going to be with them for the time being.

Auron: rookie need to have some time with kids instead of being with me all day so today I will be joining you guys in your plant making thing

Then handed out the pots for the soil and told them not to fill it up too high or too low and everyone grabbed a small little toy shovel and scoop some soil into their pot where they will plant the seed rookie was doing it very slow cuz they were nervous so Aaron helped then the bit and everything was ok

After a wild day finished putting their soil into their pots and finally they got to choose what seed there were a flower seeds tomato seed and a cucumber seed so....

Boo/sugar got flower seed

Orchid got cucumber seed

Little mouse got tomato

Angel got tomatoe seed

And rookie got flower seeds

And told them exactly the instructions on how to plant them and then get a spray bottle and spray some water so they can have water to drink after that they put their names on the pot and put him on the window sill where the sun shines and they were done with that activity of the day

And for the rest of the day auron stayed with rookie outside of his office keep an eye on them and to make sure everything was doing okay in the daycare.

And so when they was time for the parents to pick up their kids auron told Rookie's mom what happened today and what was going on with them turns out their mother told him that they have some social anxiety and they've been trying to work things out and trying to get them out more.

He nodded and bid farewell to rookie and as they were walking away rookie waved bye to auron and he knows that tomorrow that it's going to be more chaotic again like everyday care is.

End of part 2

Should I do a part 3

--------

I hope you like it also here is part 1

Peace out

💙💙💙

[rookfeatherrambles]

Please do tell me about the cursed cat AU

Hehe alright!

Once I had a fic idea that the institute is sent a Cat eeeh circa s2 maybe? Ease the tension! Anyway, a cat carrier shows up at the Institute, covered in travel stickers from all over the world and inside, is a cat! Just a normal looking *if grumpy* kitty that's super stressed out :(

A letter is crudely taped to the top in an envelope with closed only with duct tape that's written for The Archivist, whomever that may be at this current time. It's obviously a statement but Elias is really displeased. Still, he summons Jon and asks him if he was expecting this.... Package? And Jon says no, so Elias pulls out his phone to call someone to 'dispose of the animal'.

But he's not even halfway through his sentence before Jon is opening the carrier and coaxing out the kitty with some of his lunch because he's huge on cats and the poor thing is in a tiny carrier and it's dirty and hungry and what monster could do this???? He coos over it but Elias, who's just read the statement, his eyes go wide and he snaps at Jon. "DO NOT TOUCH THAT CAT!"

Too late, it's in Jon's arms.

Elias groans. Of all the things that could happen, Jon getting cursed by a Harbinger Cat wasn't in his periphery of thought. At all!

He explains, as calmly as he can that the statement was written by someone who'd experienced a great many misfortunes after adopting a cat- "That Cat in particular." And that the bad luck only got worse and worse. The statement has two writers, the first, the man who adopted the cat and the second, his daughter who found the unfinished account and wanted to update everyone that her father was killed in a massive earthquake that collapsed his home with him inside.

She found and caught the cat, and is sending it on.

And Elias sighs and holds the bridge of his nose for strength before trying to get his perfect in so many ways but also OH MY GOD HE'S AN IDIOT Archivist's attention because he's FULLY ENGROSSED in petting the cat.

'Jon... You're going to meet the same fate now."

"Why? Because some superstitious people had a run of bad luck while owning a cat?"

"the cat is the CAUSE of the bad luck, Jon. It will worsen exponentially until it kills you. Unless we kill the cat first. Then your life will be spared."

Jon looks at him aghast. "Never. I won't let that happen, Elias, it's a cat! It's just a cat!!"

Elias throws his hands up but then gives up. Jon's not going to budge. "Fine, I hate to say this, but on your own head be it."

So Jon adopts the cat, and he's constantly stubbing his toes, spilling tea over his notes, his laptop crashes, so on so forth. Minor things that can be attributed to simple bad luck. His assistants try and help where they can but he's a hazard to himself and everyone around him now, but any time anyone says anything Jon just tells them he's having a bad day. week. A bad month, then and don't they all have those? He won't hear a word against the cat. "It's not her fault, I'm telling you, she's a sweetheart."

Then Jon goes out on a field mission for a few days and almost gets run over by a train and ends up in hospital with a broken leg.

I don't know much more than that yet but I think it turns out that the cat is a catalyst—yes, it gives people bad luck, but its presence also stops them from having worse, possibly fatal luck because the cat is a guardian of some sort.

I'll workshop it :3