#Storytime Big Bang

[ts-storytime]

The Storytime Big Bang has a new home for 2023 @tss-storytime ! Sign-ups close at 11:59 PM PDT/UTC-7 on April 30.

And I’m back again with more illustrations for @ts-storytime​ Big Bang!

This time for @horsecrazypal76​‘s Story Momento Vivere  as a friend said when she saw my sketches ‘Looks like Virgil is having a bad day’

Boy howdy, is she right! (more images under the cut!)

Keep reading

[lighthousechronicles]

Guess who finally took part in a Big Bang! I entered the @tss-storytime a bit late this year, but totally worth it as I got to make this for @not-sure-what-im-feeling 's amazing fic, Three (Hundred) Days til Christmas.

It's a really sweet fic, logince lovers pls come read and get your juice! You can find it in this post!

[dragonsarecats]

@tss-storytime One of my pieces for the Storytime 2024 Big Bang! I've been in fandom for ten years, and yet this is the first time I've actually participated in an event like this!

Go check out @greenninjagal-blog 's corresponding story, Smoke and Mirrors!

“Office of Destruction, Remus Regal speaking,” Remus says, answering between mouthfuls of something that crunches horribly into the speaker. “Remus. It’s me.” “Roman? You’re starting to act like an obsessed fan,” Remus answers. “Really, it’s not a good look on you, Ro. I’m only into clingy girlfriends when they’re yandere. Did you lose your phone, too? I can’t believe I’m—was that a siren?” “Yeah, hey,” Roman says, checking behind him to make sure no one is following. He’s far enough away that no one would think he’s from the scene, if they noticed him at all. Most of the pedestrians had noticed the billowing smoke peaking over the other buildings and everyone was sharing shocked conversations and pointing while Roman rushed by. But of course another firetruck chose that moment to come barrelling down the road, sirens blaring and direction set towards the street Roman had been on minutes ago. “Hey, uh…. Don’t turn on the news.” *** aka, Roman and Remus don't have and never have had reflections. Logan has been betrayed by someone, but he’s not sure who. Patton's been dead for sixteen years and counting. Somehow, all of these things are related.

[canvas-the-florist]

Gnawing anger.

Check out Hearthfire by @oatmeal-stans-the-trash-rat

This year's big bang was a blast that I am so happy to have been a part of! Make sure to see what everyone else has done @tss-storytime

[logarhythm-bees]

🏰The Carousel Kingdom - Masterlist 🎠

Art by @prince-rowan-of-the-forest!

Written for @tss-storytime

Virgil, average by-commission artist and studio-apartment resident, is fine with his life. Simple, predictable. Manageable. But a trip to find some new furniture with his best friend Patton turns into something far more complicated- a carousel horse turned prince, a fantasy world at his fingertips, and a rogue bandit on its throne. It doesn’t help that Patton’s taking to it like a fish to water, and Virgil’s feeling a lot more like a fish on the moon. Out of place, unprepared, and not enough limbs to be helpful. But the prince seems to have more faith in him than Virgil really understands.

AKA, Virgil just wanted a new couch, and now he’s reinstating the monarchy of an alternate universe. Fun for all!

QPP Prinxiety, background Locietality. Minor violence with Remus hitting people with the morningstar, minor swearing. Otherwise G for General

Chapter 1 - Junkyard Gold

Chapter 2 - Prince out of Water

Chapter 3 - Fancakes

Chapter 4 - The Great Divide

Chapter 5 - Into the Great Unknown

Chapter 6 - In This Strange New World

Chapter 7 - Home Where the Heart Is

Chapter 8 - Old Food, New Friends

Chapter 9 - Show and Spell

Chapter 10 - Play Pretend

Chapter 11 - Snakes Onboarding

Chapter 12 - V is for Vine and also Valor

Chapter 13 - Glamour

Chapter 14 - Soup Store

Chapter 15 - The Plan

Chapter 16 - Brakein

Chapter 17 - A Multiple Choice Biz

Chapter 18 - The Prince is Here, Before Us

Chapter 19 - Epiclougue

Thank you for reading!

[tss-storytime]

Hi! Where are your applications for pitch-hitters?

Pinchhitter applications will be released tonight after Artist sign-ups officially close.

If you know you want to create art and haven's signed up yet, here is the form to sign up and the form to give us your preferences for what story/stories you'd like to create art for.

Artist sign up form:

Artist choice form (due May 15th at 11:59 PM PDT, that's tonight, as of this writing!)

Writer summaries are here:

[bitterpoison]

If Disney Were Gay Art - A Masterpost ♡

I'm so excited to post about this! This is my second @tss-storytime post for the awesome story written by @thewickedcompanion !! Working with them was such a delight, everyone should check out her amazing story here !

I'll add the links to the artworks below!

(I'll post the art with the chapters as to avoid spoilers)

Chapter 1 Art

Chapter 2 Art

Chapter 5 Art

[tss-storytime-summaries]

11

Expected Rating: Mature

Warnings: Ableism, Injury, Torture, Self-esteem issues, Violence, reckless behavior, Needles, Morally Grey Logan, Possible Minor Character Death, Blood

Characters: Logan, Remus, Roman, Patton, Virgil, Janus, Remy, Emile, Orange Headcannons, & OCs

Romantic relationships: Analogical, Intruality, Possible Roceit

Summary: Surrounded by people with powers, Logan attempts to figure out how he is going to protect the people he loves while overcoming his limited abilities. He will have a hard road to travel, fighting the demons of his past and the insecurities of his present. If only he weren’t also fighting the fear of his own inadequacies.

[edupunkn00b]

For all the events that you run, what sites do you use for the graphics/designs? (Private answer works too :))

Hi Sentient-Stove (can I call you Steve? 🐶🩵) What a cool question!

For @intrulogicalweek and @intrualityweek , I now primarily use Procreate for banners and images and such, and have used a word cloud generator at wordclouds.com for the colorful prompt clouds.

For the very first Intrulogical Week I ran back in 2021, @whatishappeningrightnow created the wonderful banner and countdown graphics.

I tend to source images from either Wikimedia (with the m) or Unslpash.

I can't claim any graphics credit for my work with @tsspromptmonth and @tss-storytime.

@typically-untypical has created all the awesome graphics for events like the Sleepy Bean Fanfic Café, The Sanders Sides Spring Clean, and Rare Gifts. They use Canva for that and we're sourced some images from Unslpash, as well.

We used a piccrew for the Managers posting.

For the last two years, @the-princey-pie has created all the wonderful graphics for the Big Bang event on @tss-storytime.

Events are one of my favorite things about this community, as it gives us so many chances to collaborate, exchange ideas, and work together to create fun stuff!

[c-swirlz]

Incomplete Puzzle of the Soul - TSS Storytime Big Bang 2024

@tss-storytime

Featuring art by @greymillieattheball: https://www.tumblr.com/pas-de-duex/758184729967280128/please-enjoy-some-art-i-made-for-c-swirlz-ts-big

Thomas’ dream was solidified when he was just a young boy, standing in front of a gigantic stage amongst a sea of vibrant glowsticks. There, he was introduced to the beauty of music, entranced by the six VIRTUAL SINGERS who took the stage.

Now aged thirty four and living alone in a messy apartment, Thomas has started a YouTube channel. With it, he hopes to spread positivity to his viewers, brightening up their days in what little ways he can. He wants them to feel what he felt all those years ago, but he fears his influence is not nearly powerful enough to achieve such a thing.

One day, Thomas finds a strange file on his phone. Simply called “Untitled”, it’s a music track he doesn’t recognise, nor does he remember downloading it. Upon pressing play, a whole new world opens up to him.

Literally.

Rating: Teen and up

Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply

Category: Gen

Relationships: Thomas Sanders & The Sides, Thomas Sanders & Thomas Sanders’ Friends

Characters: Thomas Sanders, Logic | Logan Sanders, Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders, Morality | Patton Sanders, Anxiety | Virgil Sanders, Deceit | Janus Sanders, Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders, Joan Stokes, Talyn, Valerie Torres-Rosario, Terrence Williams Jr.

[pizza-box-raccoon]

It’s TSS Story Time!

Thanks to @the-princey-pie for sharing this beautiful story that I got to create art for. It’s been amazing fun.

You can read Summer Wine In Verdant Winters right here! Please go check it out!

(More art under here, but be warned some pieces might show spoilers.)

It’s been a great experience to collaborate with such a talented writer. Thank you for your kindness.

@tss-storytime

Thank you to all the mods and other participants for making this happen.

[glacierruler]

Big Bang Fic

This took longer than I thought it would, but my fic for the @tss-storytime Big Bang, but it's here!!! You have to be a registered user on AO3 to read it, but I'll be posting it on tumblr throughout the next few days. The fic is called Evil and its Many Forms!

@dotemakesthings made lovely artwork for this fic, and also helped to design the characters as well!

I also had many lovely beta readers @apocalyptic-abattoir @starlocked01 and @virgeandhis-pocket-protector

I did make a spotify playlist for this story as well Plain link if the link doesn't work, I know Tumblr has been having problems with that (https://open.spotify.com/playlist/79FlEiKocuJ2q1jhPU0Hy2?si=3320db3f20f2450a)

Taglist for this story: @duck-in-a-spaceship @cutebisexualmess @uhhh-hi-there-i-am-nervous @hyperfixated-homo

[creative-lampd-liberties]

Tss Storytime Big Bang Art 

@tss-storytime was my very first Big Bang event and I had the absolute pleasure to be paired with Specter, aka @groovyghostie who was so encouraging and wrote the most amazing story:

Here on tumblr, part 2, and Here on ao3

Janus Character design and portrait:

*More Under the Cut for Spoilers*

Logan and Virgil

Remus 

Adalinda

The Aftermath of Janus's Vision 

Virgil saves Logan

Waking up in Roman's Arms

Souls fic was so much fun to illustrate. I tried to go for a fantasy book illustration style for most of the art. There were so many more characters and scenes I wish I could have drawn. All of the character choices and story beats are so lovingly crafted. I had an absolute blast!

I referenced a lot of the poses from Mellon-soup on patreon, who is awesome and who's references I cannot recommend highly enough

[virgeandhis-pocket-protector]

My take on a webcomic/comicbook cover for the SaSi fic Spoke No More for this year's @tss-storytime Big Bang! The fic it's inspired by was written by the masterfully eloquent @i-will-physically-fight-you. Go read her incredible fic over here. (and thank you for your patience Kat <33 xoxo)

The vibes playlist I made/listened to while drawing: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2mv5b4oXT7l7wLLhQehFvk?si=4345ab52f83b450e

I'm past the posting date by two days but the extra time helped me get through this super convenient hurricane (sarcasm) and finish the rendering. And I think it was worth it ??? I had a lot of fun with the perspective, though I wish i'd done the lineart differently. Overall a success I think! 'specially because I've not done a full piece like this in roughly a billion years

Stay tuned, if you like, to see some webcomic panels I'm working on for specific scenes! I'm really excited to work on them, I love this series a heckin ton. The art style will not be consistent, most likely, because I love messing around with different lighting and styles. It'll be fun B)

[quickspinner]

If you're still accepting prompts for your Birthday Big Bang, can I suggest a Library Meet Cute? 💖💖💖

I was super stumped at first when I started this one last year, and then I chatted with a few LBSCers and there were so many good ideas. So, I've done the beginning here, and I thought it might be fun to throw it out there round robin style. I invite anyone who is interested to write the next installment of Luka and Marinette's library romance, and I'll reblog them here. 😁

Storytime Setup

“Hey, Rose, what’s up,” Luka asked, wedging his phone between his ear and shoulder so he could continue searching through the heaps of paper on his desk. “Everything okay?”

“You always ask that,” Rose giggled. “Yes, everything’s fine. It’s just—well, I guess Angie’s been missing you.”

“Missing me?” Luka echoed. “I was just there this weekend.”

“I know,” Rose sighed, and Luka could almost hear her rolling her eyes. “But she’s asking for you. She really wants you to be the one to take her to the library this week. I don’t know why she wants you for that—” 

“Hey!” Luka grinned. “I read.” 

“Of course you do,” Rose said soothingly, and Luka snorted a laugh. “Anyway, she was so insistent that I told her I’d ask, but if you’re busy I’ll tell her so.” 

“When is it?” Luka asked, setting the sheet music down and taking his phone back in his hand. He switched Rose to speaker and opened his calendar.

“Tomorrow at ten.” 

Luka considered for a moment, then sighed. “I’m not playing a gig tonight and I don’t have anything scheduled tomorrow, so I can make that work.”

“Are you sure?” Rose teased. “I know it’s early for you.” 

Luka grinned. “I can handle going to bed at a normal human hour tonight if it makes Angie happy. Tell her I’ll be there.” 

“Okay, I’ll tell her you can take her.” There was a familiar, slightly shrill cheer in the background, and Luka chuckled. “What, honey?” Rose said, and Luka waited, with an eyebrow raised. “Okay, okay, I’ll tell him.” There was amusement in Rose’s voice. “She says wear something nice. One of grandpa’s shirts, but no holes.” 

Luka burst out laughing. “I’ll do my best.” 

***

He did manage to find one of the Jagged Stone t-shirts his father was constantly sending him stuffed in a drawer somewhere. He hung it in the bathroom while he showered and decided the steam had gotten out enough wrinkles to make it acceptable for his picky little niece. It fit him well, at least; Jagged’s t-shirts had gone sharply up in quality over the last few years. Luka’s jeans were pretty much all ripped at the knees but he at least found a pair that wasn’t shredded at the hems. He made sure to shave and gave his hair a little more attention than usual, and then headed for his sisters’ apartment. 

“Am I presentable?” he asked, when Angie opened the door for him. Angie stepped back and laid a finger alongside her face in a gesture that was so like Rose, Luka had to hold back a laugh. Angie frowned at the holes at his knees, but sighed and nodded. 

“You look very nice,” Luka told her as he stepped inside and closed the door. He crouched in front of her. She had dressed to match him, it seemed, in black leggings and a cowl neck blue shirt with scalloped lace at the hem and short sleeves. “What’s the occasion?” 

Angie ignored the question, but came into the arms he held out for her, putting her own around his neck. “I don’t want to be late,” she said, even as she hugged him tightly and pressed her cheek against his. “Can we go?” 

“Okay,” Luka laughed, giving her one more squeeze before he straightened up.

“Thanks for taking her,” Juleka said, and Luka looked up to see her leaning on the wall of the hallway. “I know it was last minute.” 

Luka shrugged. “No big deal. We’ll probably grab lunch after. Text me if you need her home for some reason.” 

Juleka waved and blew Angie a kiss, which Angie mirrored, and then Angie tucked her hand in Luka’s and tugged him out of the door. 

“You know if you wanted an uncle date you could have just told me,” Luka teased as they walked to the metro. “I would have made time. We don’t have to do the library if—”

“No, you have to come to the library with me,” Angie pouted, pulling on his hand. “I want to go to storytime.” 

“Okay, if that’s what you want,” Luka shrugged, shaking his head. Angie was as impulsive as Rose and as determined as Juleka, so it was easier just to go along with whatever weird little plan was fermenting in her five year old brain. 

Angie took charge as soon as they got to the library, nearly dragging Luka past shelves and around corners. 

“No need to rush, Angie, we’ve got plenty of time,” Luka protested mildly. Angie gave him a look that she definitely learned from Juleka and kept walking. Luka gave up and let her lead him to the children’s area of the library.

As soon as they were through the doors, Angie stopped dead and Luka nearly stepped on her. Before he could say anything, her face lit up. 

“Miss Marinette! Miss Marinette!” Angie stood on her toes, waving frantically as she pulled Luka behind her. “Hi!”

A small, dark-haired woman leaning over the checkout desk straightened and turned. When she saw them, she came over and put her hands on her thighs, leaning down to Angie’s level. “Hi Angie,” she said, pink lips curving up in a sweet smile. “Oh my goodness, you look so nice today! Did your maman do your hair?”

“Yes,” Angie beamed, and let go of Luka’s hand for a moment to do a little twirl. Luka’s lips twitched and he tried not to laugh. Vain little thing. Then Angie turned towards him, and the woman she was talking to straightened and met his gaze, and Luka forgot how to breathe. 

“This is my Uncle Luka,” Angie said proudly, bouncing a little as she looked up at Luka. “He’s the best uncle in the world!” 

“Well, that’s a ringing endorsement,” Marinette laughed, offering her hand to Luka. “It’s nice to meet you, Luka.” 

His hand moved to meet hers automatically, which was fortunate because he was pretty sure his brain had just completely stopped functioning. Angie elbowed his leg, pouting. “Be polite!” she hissed in a very audible whisper.

“Nice to meet you too,” he managed. “Marinette, right?” 

Marinette nodded, and those plush lips parted to say something else, but Angie interrupted.

“Isn’t she pretty?” Angie said, grinning up at him, and on some level Luka was mortified, but as Marinette’s beautiful eyes widened and her lips formed a laughing oh , he tried to play it as cool as he could. 

“Very pretty,” Luka agreed as lightly as he could. He could only hope the smile he felt widening his face wouldn’t give him away. He squeezed her hand gently and let go. “I hear you’re quite the storyteller,” he said, though he hadn’t really heard any such thing, just assumed it. “Angie was really excited to come today.” That much was true, at least. Ugh, what was wrong with him? Juleka would be laughing her ass off if she were here. 

I’m in love , he thought the next moment, as Marinette tilted her head and smiled at him, seeming genuinely pleased. “I always love having Angie here for storytime, she’s such a good listener.” Marinette beamed down at Angie, who puffed up proudly. 

“Uncle Luka makes music,” she told Marinette. 

“Really?” Marinette said with a gasp that Luka knew was exaggerated for Angie’s benefit, but he felt himself blushing anyway. Angie was nodding vigorously. 

Angie leaned forward and whispered, “He has songs on the radio. But he uses another name, so it’s a secret.” 

“Angie,” Luka sighed, exasperated, putting one hand over his burning face. “That’s not how you keep a secret.” 

“That’s right,” Marinette said solemnly. “Secrets are important. You shouldn’t tell Uncle Luka’s secrets.” 

“Oh,” Angie frowned. “But you won’t tell anyone.”

“I won’t,” Marinette agreed. “But if Uncle Luka wanted me to know that, he would have told me. It’s his secret, not Angie’s secret, right? We don’t give away things that don’t belong to us.”

“Oh,” Angie said again, her shoulders hunching. “I guess not.” She looked up at Luka with a face that would have melted a heart of stone. “Sorry Uncle Luka.” He leaned down and hugged her. 

“It’s okay, Angie. Just remember what Miss Marinette said for next time, okay?” He kissed her temple as she nodded. “I know you’re a good girl.” 

He straightened, feeling a little awkward as he glanced at Marinette and ran his fingers through his hair. “Well, I’m sure Miss Marinette has to get ready for storytime, right? So why don’t you and I go pick out some books for you to take home until it’s time.” 

“I can look for books,” Angie declared. “Maybe you should help Miss Marinette. She’s always dropping stuff!”

Marinette blushed and Luka had to cover a smile. “Well, I’d be happy to help. But stay where I can see you, okay?” 

Angie nodded and ran off to the nearest shelf, picking up a book and opening it. Instead of looking at the book, though, she kept looking at them. 

Luka suddenly got the weirdest feeling that his little niece was setting him up. She was Rose’s daughter, after all. 

When Marinette smiled up at him again, though, he suddenly thought that maybe he didn’t mind this time.

“Well, can I help you, since I’ve been voluntold?” he joked, and Marinette winced a little.

“I’m really sorry,” she said quickly. “You don’t really have to help me. I can manage it, even if I drop a few things.” 

“No, really, I don’t mind,” Luka hastened to reassure her, and felt his own face warming. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to sound like I don’t want to. Please let me give you a hand with setting up whatever you need.” 

“Well…if you’re sure, I mean.” Marinette gestured awkwardly to the side. “Follow me, I guess.”

Anywhere . Luka trailed after her, trying not to check her out too blatantly, all too aware of the parents and children around them. Marinette led him to a large, overflowing plastic bin full of…he wasn’t sure what. He could see felt and fabric and some paper pieces? And a couple of books. It didn’t look heavy, but it was awkwardly large for someone as small as Marinette. He could see how she would have trouble with it, especially the way the contents mounded up over the top and threatened to topple free at any moment.  Marinette gathered up some of the items from the top of the bin so it was no longer so overloaded, and then Luka carried it to the room she pointed out. 

Marinette quickly began setting out things from the bin, clearly in a specific order, on a table that also held a CD player. There was a chair beside the table and a feltboard on an easel on the other side of the chair. 

“Anything else I can do?” Luka asked, and Marinette flashed another breathtaking smile at him.

“No, thank you, but I really appreciate you carrying that in for me. You can just go check on Angie and we’ll open the doors for storytime in—” she checked her watch “—about five minutes.” 

“Right,” Luka said, realizing with a start that he’d better get back to Angie. She hadn’t followed them into the room and he didn’t like having her out of sight. 

He found Angie playing at a table piled with plastic horses, a small mountain of books beside her. “You’ve been busy,” he said, sitting down beside her and flipping through her stack of books. “Don’t you have this one already?” he asked, holding up a book with a pink-maned unicorn on the cover. 

Angie pouted, handing him a brown plastic horse with white spots on it. “Can’t find it. Here, you be the horsey that’s lost and my horsey will come find you.” 

Luka chuckled. “Okay.” He played there with Angie until Marinette opened the doors of the storytime room and called for the kids to come on in. 

Angie seized Luka’s hand and dragged him to a place on the carpet right at the front, near the chair Marinette sat in. Luka managed to coax her a little off to one side at least, so he wouldn’t block the view too much for any kids who came in behind him. 

The CD player was on, and Marinette had the kids stand up and led them in some activity songs. Luka followed the moves along with Angie, and thought he saw Marinette’s eyes flick towards him a couple times. He hoped he didn’t look too stupid. 

Finally they sat down and Marinette picked up the first book, holding it up and showing it in an arc so everyone could see the cover as she announced the title and author. Then she set the book in her lap. Marinette picked up a big pair of glasses with a fake nose and mustache attached to it and put it on her face, peering at the kids with narrowed eyes through the oversized lenses. Luka coughed to cover a laugh and those blue eyes darted to him again. Marinette’s cheeks pinked, but then she made a quick face at him that conveyed It’s okay, I know it’s silly, but it’s for the kids . Luka’s grin widened. 

He thoroughly enjoyed the rest of the storytime, and he thought the kids did too. A couple of mothers were giving Luka sidelong glances and giggling, and one patted him on the shoulder with a conspiratorial wink that made him blush. Was he so obvious? By the way Angie was beaming up at him, probably so. 

Even if he was, he couldn’t take his eyes off Marinette. She was magnetic, exuding a bubbly, charismatic energy that he found oddly captivating. It was obvious she put her whole self into everything she did—even if it meant getting silly in front of an audience. He admired that. He wondered what kind of music she liked. He wondered if she liked coffee or tea. He wondered what her lips tasted like.

Rein it in, Couffaine.

He wondered if the way her eyes kept finding him or the pink tint to her cheeks meant anything, or if he was just embarrassing her by staring like an idiot. God, she was gorgeous. And funny . And clever, the way she used her props and seemed to identify the kids who were shy or scared and coax them out of their shell with her puppets and dolls. 

“Isn’t she great?” Angie whispered loudly, and Luka had to agree. He was as sorry as Angie when storytime ended. Marinette went to say goodbye to parents and kids as they filed out of the door. Luka and Angie lingered a bit, while she pointed to some of Marinette’s props and told him about other storytimes they had been used for. They were the last ones to trail out of the room. 

“What do you say, Angie?” Luka prompted as they approached.

“Thank you Miss Marinette!” Angie dutifully recited.

“You are so welcome,” Marinette said, bending down a little to offer Angie a high five. Then she straightened and looked at Luka. “It was nice to meet you, Luka. Um, I hope you’ll come by again sometime.” Her eyes flicked away and she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, and then smiled at him. 

She was so fucking cute he wanted to die. Somehow he managed to say goodbye, and propel Angie out of the doors without melting down on the spot. Visibly, anyway. He hoped. 

“What do you want for lunch?” he asked Angie automatically, his mind on Marinette, and he was so distracted that when Angie answered, “Ice cream!” he agreed without thinking. 

He couldn’t help thinking, as the two of them sat at a table in a small cafe and dug their spoons into their sundaes, that Juleka was going to kill him for feeding Angie ice cream for lunch. At the same time, he couldn’t make himself care much, his mind full of gorgeous eyes and a stunning smile. It took him a moment to realize Angie was speaking to him.

“How many weeks until you and Miss Marinette can get married?” Angie asked thoughtfully.

Luka nearly choked on his ice cream. “What? Why do you think we’ll get married?”

Angie frowned. “Why wouldn’t you marry her? She’s super pretty and super nice and she reads the stories so good! And I want an auntie.” 

Luka could only manage to say, “What?”

Angie pouted. “I just have uncles. So many uncles. I like you guys but I want an auntie and Mom says I will only have an auntie if you marry a girl. If you marry Miss Marinette I get to have an auntie!” She paused, and then patted his arm. “I still love you. I just think having Miss Marinette for an auntie would be so awesome! She makes such cool things. She made a bunch of superhero puppets for the last storytime and they were amazing! ” Angie sighed happily. “She’ll be a perfect auntie, she’ll make me pretty things and teach me to make pretty things, and she knows all the good stories—”

“Whoa, whoa, slow down, Ange,” Luka laughed. “I know the books Maman reads you make it sound like falling in love happens really fast, but real life isn’t like that. Usually,” he was forced to amend, so that he wouldn’t be a complete liar. “Even if two people like each other, it takes a long time to know each other well enough to get married. Marriage is serious, and you shouldn’t rush into it. So please do me a favor and don’t go telling Miss Marinette I want to marry her or anything like that, okay?” 

“I won’t tell her,” Angie promised, and Luka felt immediately suspicious about her quick agreement. For a moment, the little girl just ate her ice cream, looking as innocent as the angel she was named for. “So what happens next?” she asked. “When you want to marry someone. You met her, so now what?”

“Wait, when did I—” Luka cut himself off and sighed. There was no point arguing with her. “Well, first you just spend time together for a while. Then if you’re having fun, and you want to see them more, you ask them on a date.” 

Angie took that in, her little brow creased. “I guess you need to take me to library time for the next few weeks,” she concluded solemnly. “That way you can spend more time with Miss Marinette.” 

Luka’s face burned and he found he had no idea what to say. 

“Well?” Angie said, poking his arm.

Luka sighed. “Angelique, I love you more than anything but you are just as much of a pest as your mother.” 

Angie pouted at him, and he grinned, swiping a spoonful of her ice cream. “We’ll see,” he muttered, unable to meet his niece's gaze. 

He glared at Juleka when he dropped Angie off, and she looked back at him with raised eyebrows. “What?”

“When I told you to make Rose stop setting me up, I didn’t think she’d recruit Angie,” Luka told her, folding his arms and leaning on the doorframe.

“Apparently she’s decided that I need to marry her favorite librarian. Because she wants an auntie.” 

Juleka stared at him in silence for almost a full minute, and then burst into laughter. Luka rolled his eyes.

“S-so,” Juleka said, trying to catch her breath, laughter still bubbling under the words, “are you picking her up for library next week?” 

Luka’s face must have turned red again, because Juleka’s next burst of laughter drowned out his answer.

“What was that?” Juleka snickered. 

“I said, I’ll see you next Tuesday.”

AO3 Works | Fiction Master Post 

[tss-storytime]

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