#The only issue is flossing

[slumbering-shadows]

Fun fact my dentist thinks my teeth are cool because one of them grew in twisted about 135° around and another is 90° around

[narrator-navigator-storyteller]

my dentist appointment had to be rescheduled (person who was before my scheduled appointment had something go wrong in their procedure) and of course i am very glad the dentist is attentive but please sir my teeth

[our-trans-punk-experience]

THE BATTLE JACKET MASTERPOST

FINALLY PUNKS IT'S HERE

a battle jacket (also called battle vest, cut-off, punk jacket, patch jacket, and probably other stuff) is a jacket (duh) usually made from denim or leather with DIY additions of patches, studs, flags, painted panels, chains, and other bonuses, used to signify subculture. Punk, metal, and biker scenes all use patch jackets, but I'll only go into specifics about how they're used in the punk scene. Metalheads, I think, almost solely personalise with music/band shit. Bikers use them to signifying which club you're riding with. Punks started using them in the 70s and they've remained a staple of the subculture's style since. They're good for signalling your politics, bands you like, and other information you might want to get across. They also look cool.

HOW TO START

If you're here I assume you wanna learn how to make your own so I'll cut the history lesson short and get on to the practicals.

1: first you're going to want to get a plain jacket, probably denim or leather, but you could get a canvas jacket if you're nervous and new to the scene because it's way easier to stitch canvas, so you could experiment with that as you're building confidence. The jacket should be at least a bit oversized because with all the stitching and painting or whatever you'll be doing, you could run into fit issues with a very form fitting jacket. also, this jacket might frequently be worn over other jackets or layers so that will help with that too

2: start making choices. namely whether you want to keep the sleeves. obviously you can remove or reattatch the sleeves later but I think making that big mod first is a good starting point to help you feel like it's a work in progress. so if you're going to chop the sleeves I say do it now

3: brainstorm. I know, I know, coming up with your own ideas is hard, but this is your own totally literally unique piece, so think about what sorta look you want

4: you don't have to brainstorm alone though. search tumblr or pinterest for punk jackets, punk patches, punk clothes ect for inspiration. you might get a good idea for an individual patch, or for a broader layout

PATCHES

1: the big deal. this is what will make your jacket into a battle jacket. there are some unofficial rules/sayings in the scene about what sort of patches you should put on your jacket. some people get dickish sometimes about if you put a non-punk band on your jacket? however i think that is bollocks and you should do whatever you want forever. one saying i do personally mostly stick to is "politics up front, bands on the back" with the idea you stick your politics on your front so you can see the punches coming

2: where do you get the patches? you make them yourself. You can buy ofc but don't get shit off amazon or shein or whatever the fuck. If your fav band or small artist is selling patches go for it though. You will have the most choice if you make your own patches. Do you have scrap fabric (maybe the sleeves of the jacket, which is where i got a lot of my patch material)? Do you have paint and paintbrush? good. you can make a patch

3: how do you do that? well depends on whether you stencil or freehand. stencil means you cut out an outline, of say a band logo, out of card, and use that as a stencil. freehand means you paint whatever tf you like

4: paint?? yes paint. messy as you like. start maybe with simple slogans or symbols often found in the punk scene like "ACAB" or "eat the rich". maybe an anarchy symbol. i also like to paint a layer of mod podge over my designs to waterproof them.

5: great, you've got a patch, what are you going to do with it? sew it onto the jacket. unless ofc you bought an iron-on in step 2, in which case iron that shit on and be careful punks. most likely though, you're sewing it on. a lot of punks use tooth floss to sew on because its cheaper, easier to find, readily waxed and waterproof, and does a better job sewing shit down onto heavy duty material like leather or denim. I use a combined running stitch and whip stitch personally

STUDS n SPIKES

1: all those punks you've seen have metal sticking out their jacket eh? yeah, theres a whole lot of options here. spikes of many different sizes and shapes, which within that can be stitch on, screwback, or have fold down prongs on the back of them

2: where do you put them? probably the front or top of the jacket. you can put them on the back but that might be uncomfortable, or rip up someone's upholstery

3: where do you get them? you can still DIY these by cutting up a metal drinks can [whole other post] but BE CAREFUL. i suggest checking out the internet for these, same buying rules as patches though. no shein. no amazon.

OTHER SHIT??

1: go wild

2: other common additions would be chains, lighter caps, badges, and can tabs

HAVE FUN PLS ASK ME QUESTIONS AND SHARE IF YOU START A BATTLE JACKET

[hellyeahsickaf]

Low Spoons and Hygiene

Sometimes being disabled means struggling with hygiene and that can be embarrassing, even though it's not your fault or a reflection of you as a person. Nobody wants to be stinky or feel dirty, especially when a lot of illnesses and disabilities can entail symptoms like excessive sweating that can make the issue of struggling with hygiene a million times worse.

But smelling bad is the least of your worries, as poor hygiene can lead to things like skin infections. Bacteria and fungi like hanging around in stagnant, often damp areas that collect sweat. And most people have folds- even if just a little, which can be the ideal habitat for dangerous microorganisms. Not changing your underwear/bra or washing your body for an extended period can lead to things like jock itch, intertrigo, yeast infections, athlete's foot, UTIs (anyone can get one and they can spread to the kidneys within days or even hours- and you need those little guys!), all sorts of complications. The existence of foul or sometimes even a slightly "sweet" odor on your body or even in your urine tends to indicate the existence of bacteria (it's why armpits stink) or fungi like candida. Dental hygiene is equally important- an infected tooth or excessive cavities can be bad news. If you experience these things or struggle to regularly care for your body, it's not something to be ashamed of. All of those complications can and do happen to people who do everything right.

Note that issues like UTIs or dental infections don't tend to just go away on their own and need to be treated as urgently as possible.

However, I'll share some things that may prevent or remedy issues like infections and odor that's gotten out of hand and hopefully some may find this list helpful in some way. Any products I've listed may be found at other retailers or at different prices, they're just examples. Feel free to add on to it.

The bare minimum is always better than nothing. Brushing with just a dry toothbrush, using disposable body wipes or a washcloth/sponge instead of a shower, dry shampoo (the sprays are actually pretty bad for you, I'd stay away from those if possible), leave in conditioner, also whole body deodorant is a thing. If the most you can do is change your clothes- hell even just change your bra and/or underwear, it can be the one thing between you and an awful infection.

If infections are a concern, like if say you suffer from chronic UTIs or yeast infections it's advisable to wear breathable cotton underwear.

If you can't get up to brush your teeth or struggle to do so, it may be helpful to purchase disposable toothbrushes. These ones have floss picks attached.

Flossing is just as, if not more important than brushing. If you only have the energy to floss on some days, do that. If you need to keep floss picks and a place to dispose of them near your bed, then that's fine (just don't let it pile on without disposing of it and create a biohazard). it can help remove food particles that help create a breeding ground for bacteria. Also gently moving in and out between your teeth with slight movement if needed is ideal, don't roughly saw across your gums, ouch.

If you struggle with wiping say due to mobility issues, there are products for this. Wiping back to front as an alternative risks yeast infections and UTIs. It's a very common cause of these diseases due to bacteria like e-coli. We do not want that.

Crashing and can't wash your sheets? Out of shirts with no energy to do the laundry today? Antimicrobial fabric spray may help with the odor and bacteria that accumulates on fabric as a temporary fix until you can properly wash it. Try not to wear clothing or interact with fabrics like blankets and couches that are still wet from the spray, as that can irritate the skin.

Try to avoid "feminine wash" products if possible, you don't need the fancy Summer's Eve premium strawberry hibiscus blush scented whatever, it can fuck up your PH and kill good bacteria despite claims to do otherwise. Same with PH wipes. It's recommended not to use soap on your genitalia, especially scented and especially if you have a vagina. If you must use some sort of soap, dermatologists typically recommend the most basic, unscented wash. And do not put it in your body by any means.

Rinse free shower sponges have been a life saver for me, especially the ones that also work as shampoo (it's probably not color safe tho). You just add water, lather, and make sure you dry off well. If it helps you determine how much to buy, I normally find myself using maybe 3-5 sponges each time.

OTC jock itch cream can work for some fungal infections on the body not limited to jock itch but if you see no difference or worsening within a few days of using it, consult a dermatologist as you may need something different or stronger.

Unscented pads and tampons are best and should be changed every 4 hours or so ideally. Never leave a tampon in for over 8 hours. Despite common fears, 9 hours won't give you toxic shock syndrome, that normally takes a few days and is quite rare with tampons but that doesn't mean that 13 hours or something is good or safe. I've just heard some say that sex ed scared them away from tampons after being told stories of TSS. I hear that menstrual cups are also a great alternative that many don't consider.

Monistat and similar yeast infection products often come with different options like 3 day treatment, 5 day treatment, 7 day. I know you want to feel better ASAP, but just take into account that 3 day will be highly concentrated and can cause more burning than the 7 day. Longer treatment may also be more effective in some cases. Penile yeast infections exist as well. Just be aware that some products are more potent than others regardless of birth sex. Antifungals in general may cause itching and/or burning, which some are more sensitive to than others or may even find triggering in cases where it must be applied to the genitalia.

Hydrocortisone cream is your best friend if you're experiencing itchiness due to things like skin infections, contact dermatitis, yeast infections, etc. But please don't use it to mask the symptoms of an infection without treating it.

How frequently you need to wash your hair varies by hair type. This can vary between every 2 days for some and every 1-2 weeks for coily and textured hair. Make sure you look into what is ideal for your hair type. And again on days where you cannot wash, disposable sponges and dry shampoo can be a life saver.

If something is discolored, odorous, itchy, inflamed, bumpy, producing moisture, warm to the touch, oozy, weepy, splotchy, sticky, burning/painful, it may likely be an infection or in some cases an allergic reaction. Familiarize yourself with what different skin infections and diseases may look like on your skin tone. Ringworm and other fungal infections for instance may appear red or pink on fair or lighter brown skin, but on darker skin may appear gray or darker brown.

Fungal infections are also super fucking contagious. To other parts of your body, other people, even to pets. Wash your hands well with antibacterial soap, especially before and after applying any topical treatment or touching the area in any way. After a shower, PAT the infected area dry and do not reuse that towel or use on other parts of the body.

Invest in a shower chair if you feel it may help you, it's one of the best things I've ever bought. I didn't want to get one at first because it felt like I was "giving in" to my disability more and more but that's the internalized ableism talking. Get the shower chair.

A bar to help you stand from the toilet/tub/shower chair may also be helpful.

Again, feel free to add to the list if you want!

[pandora-writes-one-piece]

The Meet Cute - Law's Story - 8

Source for pic

The Great Pretender 8

Word Count: 3394

Tags For The Whole Story: Fem!Reader; Law is a soft dom; you have bratty tendencies (not all the time); voice kink; praise kink; cursing; very suggestive behaviour and innuendo from the start; sexual tension; teasing; so much flirting; romance; slow-burn; fluff; slight angst; mature audiences (though explicit NSFW moments will be properly tagged on the chapter); possessive Law; protective Law; soft Law; teasing Law; manipulative Doflamingo; inappropriate Doflamingo; fake relationship trope; only one-bed trope; reader has some anxiety issues; reader is a control freak and perfectionist; modern day AU; Mention of ex mentally abusive relationship;

Special Warning: English is not my first language, I apologise for any possible spelling or grammar mistakes.

Summary: After moving away from the hustle and bustle of Grand Line City to help your father around the property following a horse-riding accident - and in the hopes of healing your broken heart after your asshole ex-fiancé cheated - you settle into the country calmness of the Calm Belt. You and Law (your father's doctor) start to build a flirty friendship because of your father’s procedure. So much so that when he’s invited to Baby 5’s wedding (his cousin), he asks you to be his date. His uncle Doflamingo - who is filthy rich - is very adamant on finding a suitable wife for him. Seeing as he wants to avoid that, he asks you to pretend to be his girlfriend for the weekend.

Notes: Check out the new tag I needed to add! It might be triggering and it will be addressed further in other chapters! Thank you!

Tag List: @rosidaze @beachaddict48 @armiliadawn @jintaka-hane @sprinkklz @baby5555 @hopelesslover06 @mars-mizuko @sleepykittycx @nerium-lil @eustasscapitankid @jqperi

Masterlist

|Chapter 7| | |Chapter 9|

When he comes back from the bathroom, he seems much more composed. You have already changed into some comfortable pyjamas, and are sitting at the edge of the bed, laptop open and checking your notes. Law begins searching his bag for some sweatpants and a T-shirt. You see his jaw clenching tight but he doesn’t speak so you try to lighten up the mood.

“All things considered it wasn’t such a bad night. We survived.” You say sarcastically and Law freezes, ready to enter the bathroom again to change. When he turns to you, there’s a flicker of amusement in his eyes so you give him a thumbs up. “Could’ve gone worse!”

He shakes his head at you and scoffs before re-entering the bathroom. You're left wondering if that worked to alleviate some of the lingering tension when he opens the door to the bathroom, already dressed. Leaving the door open he begins brushing his teeth and you realise that it was a silent invitation for you to join him.

So you do.

There are two elegant sinks incorporated in the counter and you take the one on the left - the vacant one. Law continues brushing his teeth while you methodically take off your makeup. Then, you brush your teeth while Law uses floss on his own and when you reach that same step, he begins applying a face cream. Silence surrounds you both yet it’s not constricting. You managed to alleviate the tension indeed. 

It all feels so intimate, so… domestic. 

The last time you did ‘domestic’ with someone was with Ichiji and… and your relationship with him was anything but healthy. Closing your eyes tight, you drop the floss and grip the sink with both hands, your teeth clamping as you bite back the sting of tears. It’s no time to cry right now. Bygones are bygones and you got out! Granted, it took him cheating to finally force that decision out of you, but you did it! So why does thinking about him make you  feel so trapped, again?

“Hey, what’s the matter?” Law’s voice is back to its controlled edge. No longer vulnerable, no longer broken or bruised. He’s back. “Do you need to talk about what happened?”

You shake your head vigorously, trying to tell him that it’s not that, but your breath comes in violent gasps as you try to fight the tears and heartache. Your heart is pounding faster and louder by the second and you feel a tightening in your chest, a suffocating feeling of despair as silent drops of tears begin to flow from the clenched corners of your eyes.

You’re experiencing a mild panic attack. 

Your hands are beginning to numb with the grip in which you hold the sink and dizziness is overpowering you. You need to fight this. It’s too overwhelming.

Law says your name calmly, his hands pulling each of your fingers away from the basin, slowly and steadily. “It’s okay, I’ve got you. You’re all right. I’m here, let’s get through this together.” As he loosens your grip on the sink, you feel him herding you a few steps back to sit on the toilet seat. Your eyes are still squeezed shut and tears are now streaming freely down your cheeks. 

“I’m going to count slowly and I want you to take a deep breath in and then when I count again, you take a long breath out. Got it?” His fingers press against your pulse and you nod, a pitiful whine escaping your lips unwarranted as you struggle to breathe. “Good. That’s good. Come on, now, sweetheart, one: breathe in through the nose, that’s it, you’re doing great, two: out through the mouth, all of it, slowly. Good, you’re doing so well. One more time, let’s go…”

Once he reaches ten your breathing is back to normal and so is your heartbeat. There are thick beads of sweat dripping from your temples and your face is drenched in tears. You still haven’t opened your eyes, but you feel calm now. Once again, Law has managed to help you overcome anxiety.

His fingers release your wrist and you feel both his hands cupping your cheeks to wipe away your tears with his thumbs. “It’s over now, sweetheart. It’s over.” You nod, still silent and still withdrawn from him and the world around you. He gives you a final caress on the cheek and you sense him shift. Another strangled whine leaves your lips at the distance and he speaks, “I’m just getting a wet towel for your neck and forehead. You’re drenched in sweat. I won't leave you.”

As he returns and presses the cool cloth against your scalding skin, you release a deep sigh and finally open your eyes. He’s looking at you, worry etched upon his face, his professional doctor persona mingling with his personal relationship with you. “How are you feeling?” He asks, kneeling back down between your legs, pressing the cloth against your neck.

“I’m… better.” Your voice still feels strained and hoarse. “Thank you.”

A few seconds pass in silence until he speaks. “Was it because… of earlier?”

“No.” You shake your head, a soft smile turning your lips. “It’s stupid, really.” His brow lifts and you sigh. “It all felt too blissfully domestic. A perfect couple scene.” His inquisitive gaze still probes you for more answers and you feel your cheeks flush. “I was only ever domestic like this with Ich-... my ex. And it brought back unpleasant memories. It triggered me.”

Your hands wring together and you chew your bottom lip. Your anxiety still lingers very close, on the borders of your mind, but Law’s presence alone is helping to keep it at bay.

Law nods, his face now composed, not a hint of emotion seeping through, just that tiny crease in his forehead that indicates a lingering worry. “Do you want to talk about it?”

About Ichiji? About how you only realised you were in a mentally abusive relationship after you left him? Or after he forced you to leave him? No. You don’t want to talk about it. Even more so because you’re pretty sure Law knows Ichiji. He has to. Even if Law rarely comes home or frequents all of the Donquixote events, he’s on the board of the company. He knows the Vinsmokes.

“Not right now, if that’s okay.” He nods again and you take a very shaky breath. “I guess I should just go to sleep. It’s been a long day.”

“I couldn’t agree more.” He rises, but his cold stare is still pressed upon your agonised face. “Need help getting up?”

“No, thank you.” You shake your head. “I’m just going to finish my routine and go to bed.” Law nods again and turns to leave. He hesitates for a moment, almost as if he’s going to say something else. But he doesn’t and the moment passes when he exits the bathroom, closing the door and telling you to call him if you need him.

Your mind is still filled with hurtful thoughts about Ichiji and your crappy relationship when you finish your nightly routine and finally open the door to return to the room. When you do, you find Law stacking blankets on the floor, at the foot of the bed.

Raising your eyebrow, you approach him. “Whatcha doing?”

“Building a fort.” He replies dryly and you’re not sure if you should smack him or thank him for trying to bring the mood back to your light banter. You do neither.

“There’s no need for you to sleep on the floor, Law!” You point at the bed. “This is a king-sized bed. We can both fit.” 

“It’s okay. I don’t mind the floor.” He starts to open a blanket, but you grab it, crumple it and throw it to the armchair behind you. Law crosses his arms, eyebrow slowly lifting as he stares you down intently. 

You throw him back a defiant look but he doesn’t budge. So you kick the rest of the blankets he set on the floor under the bed in a very bratty manner. “There, no makeshift bed anymore. Now you have to sleep with me.”

You can almost catch a glimpse of amusement in his eyes. A mere flicker of light as his lips twitch. But he doesn’t indulge in it and instead he grunts. “Careful with what you wish for, sweetheart.”

The low drawl of his voice almost makes you forget the dread still coiling in your stomach. It’s sharp and, at the same time, velvety smooth. How does he accomplish that?

His piercing gaze draws goosebumps all over your skin and you break eye contact first before climbing into bed. “There really is no need for you to throw your back. There’s plenty of room up here.” You open the covers and pat the other side of the bed so he climbs up. Which he does, with a resigned sigh.

And the fact that you’re both, once again, in such a cosy, domestic setting, turns your stomach into a fluttering mess again and you sigh, lying down and turning off the light on your side. “Good night, Law.” You’re pretty sure he’s still staring at you, maybe trying to grasp your mood swings and failing to. You haven’t told him the whole story, so how can he?

Besides, you went from almost having sex to awkward silence, to a panic attack, to blatant flirting and now you’re giving him the cold shoulder. Any sane person would be fed up with your attitude by now. So maybe you should get your shit together, stop being an emotional mess, and just help Law through this.

Is it so hard?

And who are you upset with anyway? Yourself? Ichiji? Doflamingo? It’s definitely not Law, right? Why would it be Law? Just because he let his uncle get into his head, making you doubt your feelings for him? Making you want him in more ways than just physically? Making you blur the lines of what’s real or what you want to be real? Making you feel as if you could have this domestic bliss you actually crave…

Weren’t you off men in general? Trying to heal and whatnot? Why is this turning so goddamned complicated?

“Good night.” His words shut down your brain and you let out another tired sigh. Will you even be able to sleep?

-*-

It has only been about half an hour. It can’t have been more. Yet time seems to have stretched forever. Law’s presence by your side - though your back is turned to him - takes up the whole space. It expands with every breath he takes, overpowering you with every inhale of his scent.

It’s intoxicating.

You don’t think he’s asleep, or if he is, he’s the lightest of sleepers. You don’t hear a sound from him. Just a gentle stir now and again. You, however, can’t stay still. To try and eliminate Law’s presence, your brain conjures up the last time you slept like this with someone, so Ichiji is back on your mind.

Could speaking about him help ease the pain?

Worth a shot.

You take a deep loud sigh and Law stirs. He’s awake. “I told you about my relationship, but I didn’t tell you how toxic it was, even before I found out about the cheating.” Your voice comes out a little hoarse and it’s barely a whisper. Still, you don’t have to turn to sense that Law is listening, so you continue. “I stupidly thought we were in love. That he was the one. He proposed, in what I thought was a very romantic way, though in retrospect, it really wasn’t.”

The scene replays in your head and you roll your eyes in embarrassment. Before you can ponder whether to share it or not, your lips are already parting. “We were at a grand event - they have those a dime a dozen in Grand Line City - and I was feeling unwanted, invisible, like a chess piece being moved around on his ever-changing board. He was making connections, networking, talking business…” A huff leaves your lips. “Until he made a grand speech filled with generic facts about our relationship, dropped to one knee and popped the question. The ring was beautiful though, it was probably chosen by his assistant. One he was fucking, coincidentaly.” 

A stubborn tear slips from your eye, soaking the pillow. Law remains quiet, but his presence is grounding and you take a deep breath before continuing. “I said yes. There was too much pressure. We were surrounded by very important people, I couldn’t say no. Even if I had been feeling ignored just moments before.”

Your heart still clenches at the thought. “I fooled myself into thinking it was romantic and a grand gesture, but in reality, I would have preferred a much more intimate setting. A simple declaration… a rose instead of an audience. But that was much of our relationship. Me moulding into whatever he wanted me to be. Happy, pretty, silent… a doll. A simple possession. He was manipulative and…” The word catches in your throat. “Violent…” It comes out as a mere whisper.

Law doesn’t physically move, but the change you sense in him is profound. You can almost perceive the storm brewing on the other side of the bed as the silence stretches and shifts. “There was one time…” You haven’t thought about this in a while, yet it still hurts. “We were at another one of his functions - how he loved those - and we were speaking with a CEO of another company, one of his partners, and I was giving input because I knew what I was talking about, I worked for his father’s company after all.” Pride swells in your chest, you were very good at your job.

“Anyway, I thought everything was going well, until the CEO told my ex how much of an asset I was, how lucky he and his company were to have me on their team, and how invaluable I was. I remember being happy, flushed with pride, beaming to be able to help him with his business. But instead, even though he agreed with the CEO, to save face, once we were alone…”

You sense Law stiffen and the mattress shifts as he approaches you. Yet he still doesn’t speak or make any move. You remain still and continue. 

“Once we were alone he made sure to remind me how dispensable I actually was.” You could still remember the sting of his words. How cruel he’d been, telling you to stop acting so smug as if you knew everything. To stop showing off in front of important people because you were nothing. At least nothing without him. “I made the mistake of answering back and… well… he meant it as a warning, but the way he grabbed my wrist…” The memory of the pain returns, and you shift, grabbing your wrist and massaging it slowly as if it still aches. “It scared me. Of course he apologised immediately with hollow, soothing words. But it always returned to the same demeaning speech: I was only good enough if he was by my side. I was only worth something, because I was with him…”

Your voice fades, your hand still gripping your wrist, squeezing it as tightly as Ichiji once had. The pain of the past overflows, flooding the present. Your throat feels tight. You have nothing more to give. Ichiji broke you a long time ago and you are better now for it. You survived it, survived him.

Perhaps you can allow yourself the luxury of feeling worthless once in a blue moon. 

Why today has to be the day, you don’t know. But you’re with Law, in the middle of an important ruse. And you need to keep your shit together. 

However, though your brain grasps that important concept, your tears didn’t get the memo. They flow freely down your face and you’re trying your hardest to keep your relentless sobs hidden from Law. You already had your breakdown in the bathroom! Do you really need him to see you broken again?

Would he have still chosen you to act as his fake girlfriend if he knew how messed up you truly were?

Without a single word, Law reaches over, enveloping your waist with his strong arm, and rolling you over, so you can lie against him. You nestle your head against his chest, feeling the steady rhythm of his heartbeat, hoping it can soothe you and mend your pain, his arm drapes around your back, pulling you closer to him in a silent gesture of comfort.

You take it all.

For a moment, neither of you moves, neither of you speaks and the only sounds that surround you are the gentle hoots of the owls outside the window and your harsh breaths as you hold back sobs.

Then, as soft as always, Law’s fingers brush the wrist you were gripping so tightly a moment ago. He’s tender, gentle, but his touch leaves a trail of fire on your skin. The blaze erases any and all bad memories and the phantom ache dissolves into nothingness.

A breath of relief escapes your lips. For a moment you wonder if you should apologise for your behaviour. This isn’t getting your shit together. It’s just breaking apart. 

“I wasn’t just scared.” Your voice is muffled against his shirt, you don’t dare to look up into his eyes. “I was also ashamed. Ashamed that I let him talk to me like that, that I allowed him to touch me like that. And then… and then I felt guilt. Because maybe it really was my fault, maybe-...”

“Stop.” It’s the first time he speaks since you started sharing your story. A story he deserves to know. He told you about Monet. There should be no more secrets between the two of you. His voice is level and controlled, but you can still sense a hint of barely contained anger in the way his hand clenches around your waist. You’re beginning to know all of his tells.

A funny thought crosses your mind: after all this sham comes to an end, you’re going to know Law like an open book. And closing that book, ending that story, will be the most painful thing you’ll ever have to do.

“It wasn’t your fault. You don’t have to be ashamed, much less feel guilty. He’s the asshole. You just thought you were in love.”

You bite your lip to hold down a violent whine. “No, I was just the idiot that let herself stay with the asshole for four years! That’s what I’m ashamed of.” This whole confession, the way you’re sharing this with Law, is freeing. You never told a soul about Ichiji’s violent tendencies. It’s lifting an extreme weight from your chest. It's liberating and overwhelming at the same time.

It’s almost too much.

Law’s hand on your wrist climbs up your arm, grasps your chin and lifts your face to meet his eyes. They’re steely and the molten gold is dark and ominous. But there’s a flicker of care there and you grasp onto it as if it were your lifeline. “You’re not an idiot. You got out. You’re stronger than you think.”

He pierces you with his gaze until you relent and nod. Then he lets go of your chin and you settle back against his chest. Maybe you’re overstepping your boundaries, it isn’t really clear anymore. This night has blurred the lines beyond any and all recognition, but you feel so safe in his arms, so whole, so… at peace.

You never want to let go.

The hand on your back shifts as he starts to caress your hair in such a gentle way that you’re not sure you’re not already asleep and dreaming. Your eyes have fluttered shut a while ago and your sobs have subsided. Though Law’s shirt is soaked through, he doesn’t complain. 

Sweet oblivion is reaching out to you but you can still hear him as clear as day, even though his words are a simple murmur. “If this were real, you would never feel small with me. I would lift you up, not bring you down. You shine too bright to be dimmed, sweetheart. Rest.”

|Chapter 9|

[witchconnectingdotes]

PICK A CARD : What is a quality of yours that u perceive as a flaw 🍃

Hello everyone I wanted to do a quick short very very disorganized pick a card today.

What is a quality of yours that u perceive as a flaw.

These are the piles (1,2,3) pls I do my reading in voice notes so there are MANY spelling errors in this. I just feel more comfortable speaking when doing a reading.

This is for entertainment only take what resonates leave what doesn’t ofc I am trying to pick up on collective energies I’m sorry if it doesn’t resonate 😭.

also I haven’t done PAC for a while I’m pretty rusty 😔

Pile 1 🌊

Hello pile number one welcome to your reading so for you guys it’s obviously kind of a cliché thing, but you guys might be very very generous with your empathy with your love for people I feel like you guys don’t hold back when you care for someone you are not at all stingy with the affection you give to people and I would also go to say that you put your whole soul you pour your love into people and you provide them consistency you provide them help you provide themsupport I feel like you guys are very supportive of this person and the way you might see it as a floss sometimes is that maybe you guys have had people take advantage of you before? Like you feel like being a lover boy or a lover girl is kind of a sacrifice in the society or something like that you feel like kind of led to the slaughter but because you can’t help but to give love and empathy to people and you think that you should work more on your boundaries well, it is true. I’d say that there is a part of this to be healed with the seven of ones here I feel like you should stand up more for what you like and maybe you are in this pet already, making more firm boundaries but here I feel like you should not see the love your capacity for love and the amount of love that you have in you you should not see it as something to have to with or limit because I feel like if you just let it out with the right person you will have something that is so beautiful.

Pile 2 🌱

OK, so pile two is very very different from pile 1. I would say that on the contrary, this person well you guys have more of a cut off kind of behavior when it comes to people who have wronged you, and this can be taken to the extreme in your opinion, I feel like some people might’ve told you that you guys are very rigid or kind of cruel or that you guys really hurt them or you’re very detached but what I want you to focus on here is that you you are just very intuitive. You know when something doesn’t serve you anymore. You know when someone is being deceitful with you. I feel like you guys are kind of sometimes you might think how bad people think and it has helped you in a lot of situations where you knew when to get out I feel like you might perceive yourself as a little bit cold or heartless, but I want you guys to know that it is not, true you guys are equipped with a very precious skill, and that is to take action to know when to send back to know when to let’s go to know when to take the decisions that you know might be hurtful for you and for the other person, but it must be done because it is better I feel as though you are not afraid of being alone. This is a pile of people who are not scared of walking alone, and they might see it as a flaw in the sense that it might make you a loner or you feel that you can’t make connections with people because people can be very bad but it’s actually agift to know how to protect yourself

Pile 3🦋

For the third pile, I would say that a quality of yours that you see as a flaw is your desire or kind of seemingly always being on the move like I feel like you might not feel like you belong to any place in particular you feel like you are a multi ul being in some sort or like someone who belongs to multiple places someone who can stick to one place and the issue here that you might see as a floor is you don’t see yourself as very grounded, but I wouldn’t see it that way in my opinion it comes more as someone who is a word being, I would see it as someone who can adapt anywhere I would see it as someone who can travel anywhere and basically survive anywhere because they are a quite cooperative person and a person that integrates different cultures quite easily. It’s someone who is not very rigid it’s someone that is not very tight to one place and it’s not at all something that is, bad or something that shows lack of sadness I would see it more as a sense of being grand or big. I don’t know how to express it, but in a way it’s as if you are a child of the word. this reading is a little shorter because it’s very difficult for me to express I would say that it’s more so an openness. You are very open to the different possibilities and while some people might see it as someone who doesn’t stick to one plan someone who’s not organized or someone who doesn’t stick to it I would say that it’s someone who can see different possibilities and who can move from part to part who can, walk away from a place and from a person and jump to another but not in a way like not in a serial dating way or in a bad way more so as an open and adventurous way, I feel like there is a wisdom in your adventurous because it helps you learn from different places

[mykoreanlove]

just another day at the dorms - minho version

“Where is she? Where is y/n?” Minho searched the dorms frantically, ravaging everything in his way.

You were about to leave for the night, eager for your first real blind date. Dating was still forbidden, so you had to be sneaky which made the whole thing even hotter.

Your hand was already on the door handle but before you could open it you felt yourself getting yanked to the side. His lips crushed onto yours without a word, forcefully dancing with your tongue. You didn’t need an introduction though; you would have recognized Minho in every universe.

His hands travelled down your body, kneading, and groping his favorite parts. He lifted you up and walked both of you towards his room – not breaking the kiss even once. You felt yourself falling on his big bed, he was attached to you like glue.

“Don’t leave me y/n, please. Don’t ever leave me.”

Minho thrusted onto you, showing you exactly just how much he needed you. Your clothes were gone seconds after and you found yourself on top of him, taking him all in as you circled your hips around his dick.

“Mmhmm, my kitty cat is doing such a good job”, he hummed in pleasure.

He was right, you did a very good job – at fucking a taken man.

You threw your head back, intensifying the rhythm of your circles as he sucked on your perky tits forcefully. “Fuck, kitty, this is gonna bruise tomorrow”, he smirked.

You slung your arms around him and whispered in his ear: “This is the last time, Min. I’m ditching my date for you and you better-“, your speech got cut off by your moans, as he was thrusting from underneath you, hitting all the right spots.

“You were saying?”, he retorted. You grabbed his full hair and pulled his head back; you had him looking up to you now. “Don’t play with me, Min. I mean it.”

Before you could even blink, he spun you around, making you lay on your belly as he was thrusting into you from behind. His sweaty body lay on yours, his heaviness pushing you into the soft mattress. You felt his hot breath on your ear as he whispered: “But I like playing with you the most, kitty.”

Minho raised his upper body and started leaving kisses all over your backside – starting from the neck and working his way down to your ass. “God, you are perfect, y/n”, he hummed in appreciation. Minho spanked your ass before thrusting the hardest, making you see stars for a minute. He emptied himself inside of you and collapsed on your back.

“Sorry about your date.”

You sighed into the fluffy cushions. “What about your girlfriend, Min? Are you even sorry for her?” He nodded his head, still buried in your neck. “I am. But I can’t help it. She is not-“, he paused.

“What? Giving you attention? Fucking you properly? Caring about you?”

Minho got off of you and rolled on his side. He caressed your face with the palm of his hand, he was in total agony of your beauty. “She’s not seeing me for who I am. To her I am Minho, the idol, the perfect guy. I am up on a pedestal in her mind. She really has no idea who I am. Who I really am.”

You frowned at his explanation. Ever since you met him you were very well aware of his flaws – he had anger issues, he rarely flossed, he could be too cold at times, he loved cats more than humans, he left his damp towels all around the dorms and got impatient when you messed up his choreographies.

How peculiar to think that he, or anybody really, would be perfect.

“But you, y/n”, he inhaled deeply, “you are different.” His fingers brushed your lips, making him inhale in anticipation. “Different how?” He got up and towered over you, his body only inches away from yours. The silver chain around his neck fell right in between your cleavage, making you squirm at the coldness of the metal.

“You”, he kissed your swollen lips,

“see”, another one on your left cheek,

“me”, followed by a kiss on the right cheek,

“for”, a kiss on the nose,

“who”, followed by a kiss on your temple.

“You are”, you whispered in realization. He smirked and crushed his lips onto yours again, for the second but not last time that night.  

[pinkpigtailsprincess]

𝜗𝜚 ݁ ˖ Dollies 63 Days of Summer Glow up!! Day 1 > Prep 🎀☀️🐬

Hii Dolls!! 🎀 Welcome 2 my newest series of my 2 month long summer glow up process its pretty self explanatory but im gonna be documenting my 2 month long summer glow up process 2 just be a better me!! enjoy!! ☀️

DISCLAIMER!! ; i will censoring and dancing around certain topics just bc ik they can be triggering to some folk that have issues so cw; vauge mentions of w3!ght!! 💗

Stage 1 : Health! ☀️

It always important to keep up with ur health obvii 2 maintain good balance in life! ☀️

𐙚 𓈒 ݁ ₊ Diet!! 🍏

Now diet wise i already do have a pretty balanced and healthy diet to begin with so i won’t have to that much work on my diet but i definitely wanna make small improvements!!🎀

𐙚 𓈒 ݁ ₊ Diet Goals!! 🍋

incorporate different from my usual ones fruits!!

expand my palate (chronic picky eater)

making more meals that are still healthy & tasty but not repetitive!!

not skipping my meals!!

cutting out all meats except fish!!

push myself to like cucumbers

get back into drinking more fruit water!!

stop eating so much cheese!

knowing my limit when eating!

𐙚 𓈒 ݁ ₊ Exercise !! 🧘‍♀️

Doing more exercise is definitely a huge one for me because there was a point where i did it daily but then i stopped bc i feel into a rut but then i started again but only once a month so im trying to get back into daily exercise!!

𐙚 𓈒 ݁ ₊ Fitness Goals!! 🧘‍♀️

workout more than once a month!

do more yoga + cardio + home pilates

use exercise to make me healthier & happier

lose w*ight i won’t disclose how much i want to loose and how much i wanna be bc that’s personal 2 me !!

feeling comfortable in my body + build discipline

𐙚 𓈒 ݁ ₊ Oral Health !! 🪥

I Will say i did recently update my oral hygiene routine bc i got braces so now i have to do more work but i definitely wanna still add things to it!!

𐙚 𓈒 ݁ ₊ Oral Health Goals !! 🦷

consistently floss in the morning as well as night

buy a tongue scraper

get an electric toothbrush

start oil pulling

𐙚 𓈒 ݁ ₊ Mental Health !! ☀️

I Sooo wanna improve some thing in my mental health bc obviously its super important to not only take care of my physical health but my mental health!! 🎀

𐙚 𓈒 ݁ ₊ Mental Health Goals !! 🧁

get back into journaling

get back into meditation

step out of my comfort zone

build more confidence in social settings!

replace most phone time with reading time

spend more time outside

prioritizing rest more

not being to hard on myself

celebrating all my wins and accomplishments no matter how big or small!

Stage2 ೀ⋆ : Hygiene!

I Already have a pretty solid skincare routine to begin with but honestly i just wanna improve to it and add more to it ! 🎀

Skincare ୭₊˚ ! 🎀

For my Skincare routine i already have my products and my basics but honestly i wanna stater using different products to better help my skin!!

❤︎ ໋𓈒 Skincare Goals ! ⭐️

ice rolling

gua-sha

jade rolling

bi weekly dermaplaing

weekly face mask

facial steaming

facial cleansing brush

use more Korean & Japanese products (Japanese products are literally the best)

Body-care ୭₊˚ ⭐️

Another section where i wanna make improvement i already exfoliate,hair removal sometimes and i use my antibacterial soap and my body washes but theres a bunch of things i wanna incorporate!! 💗

❤︎ ໋𓈒 Bodycare Goals ! 🐬

start dry brushing

exfoliate weekly

shave or epilating more often (my own choice bc honestly i don’t like the feeling of body hair

use my glycolic acid more routinely

buy more sweet smelling body products

find a signature scent

use body oil + body butter + body glitter

using an African exfoliating net instead of a rag

Haircare ୭₊˚ ! 💗

For my Hair care i definitely wanna make room for improvement i mainly detangle every day with just some water or style depending on if i need/want to or not and i oil my scalp!!

❤︎ ໋𓈒 Haircare Goals ! 🐬

Grow it out more with the Help of Indian Amla Oil (some said it stinks but if it helps)

Learn More Hair Styles

Use Rice Water

castor oil

Scalp Massage More Often

Hair Masque Bi-Weekly

Trim Split Ends

Deep Conditioning On a Wash Day

Nailcare ! ୭₊˚ ⭐️

use more cuticle oil

professional manipedis bi weekly!

soak my feet with foot salts more

develop my own at home nail care routine

Facials!!🎀

buy new daily vitamins!!

keep my hair professionally done!!

use my primuce stone more

buy more lipgloss + vaseline lip care

Stage 3 ೀ⋆ Makeup + Jewelry + Fashion + Perfumes 🛍️ !!

I wanna learn how to do my makeup again so badly! and this time i have more tips so i can actually learn how to do it properly!! 🫧

Makeup Goals ୭₊˚ !

find the perfect soft glam dolly makeup

perfect my eyebrows

learn to glue down lashes

make the perfect base

learn to bronze and contour correctly

perfect the highlighter placement

get the perfect sun kissed summer doll makeup

again buy more lipgloss

Jewelry Goals ୭₊˚ ! ⭐️

i desperately have been needing new jewelry and for the longest and ive stupidly been wearing silver knowing i like gold better

buy bangels

get gold hoops

get a new nameplate

get more necklaces

get more rings

get anklets !!

Fashion Goals ୭₊˚ ! 🛍️

actually dress in clothes i genuinely like

dress for my body type

not toning down my dressing for random people

build confidence in my outfits

start sewing some of my outfits bc i can

make crochet pieces for the beach

buy tons of cute clothes!!

make more inspo boards !!

Stage 4 ; Posture,Eloquence + Mannerism + Photogenic 🎀🍰

Definitely a Big one for me i wanna fix my posture and definitely speak up more in public bc im a little shy 🙈🎀!

Posture Goals ୭₊˚ ! 🫧

fix my back posture

learn to again regulate my nervous sustem and relax my shoulders

be more fluid in my movements!!

walking with my head up

Eloquence Goals ୭₊˚ ! 🛁

speaking louder in public so people can actually hear me

speaking clearly with confidence

controlling my facial expressions more

smiling more!! 😁

Mannerism Goals + Body Language ୭₊˚ ! 🛍️

I tend to tone down my natrual mannerisms ALOT when im out in public and honestly im tried of not being my true self in public and i let the opinions of those around me influence me into toning it down

be more animated as i am at home in public

walk the way i want to!!

practice princess mannerisms with my own little spin🤭

walk around like a princess bc im literally a princess

Extra Goals ୭₊˚ ! 🛍️

be more photogenic

learn how to pose

be more videogenic

walk around like i won the place (4 the confidence esque of it

Stage 5: Mindset!!🎀⭐️

The Final Stage!!🎀: where ill be implementing so mindsets of some my favs and learn how to express myself in my environment bc honestly it sucks not being able to be myself around my family ⭐️

Mindset Goals ୭₊˚ ! 🐬

knowing my worth

not letting outside opinions dictate my life

unapologetically being myself around my family

reminding my self that people opinions don’t matter

always have a one track mind with all my goals!!

again not being too hard on myself!

Thank you all so much 4 reading i can’t wait till start documenting my journey with you guys!!🎀⭐️ XO,Dolly!!

[littleavengerfics]

How about WandaNat x little reader. Reader goes to the dentist and is told that sucking her thumb/her paci has ruined her teeth, so now needs braces / surgery. Next time R drops she has a massive temper tantrum when she can't self sooth. Desperate to sleep before a mission Wanda creates a paci using her magic

Soother (Wanda Nat x little reader)

(sorry this took a while, life got crazy, hopefully you like this, if you don't let me know if you want something changing and I can do that for you)

It was a day all three of you were dreading, the dentist appointment. The caregivers knew it was gonna be a hard day for you all as you hated going to the dentist. "baby, come on get dressed we have to go in an hour." You groaned pulling yourself out of bed, "I don't wanna go." You huffed giving her a pout. "I know, you've been trying to get out of it all week, but it's not happening." Natasha smirked, picking out your clothes, she loved doing it everyday, even if you weren't little. "Nat. I brush my teeth twice a day and floss, there is nothing wrong with my teeth so I don't need a dentist."

"Y/N you're not going to get out of it, if you stop whining and behave at the appointment ill buy you a treat after we are done and you can watch two movies before bed tonight." You couldn't help but smile at her proposal as you knew it was only gonna come up today." fine I'll behave but just know I'm not happy about it."

"I can live with that for an hour. It's either a slightly grumpy you or an angry wanda and right now ill take the first." As she spoke she heard wanda yelling that they were going to be late. As much as you hated going to these appointments wanda hated running late for them even more and with you and natasha it was like that most of the time. Though thanks to their driving you still always arrived early, much to your dismay.

***

"baby don't worry, I'm sure everything is going to be fine." wanda reassured, squeezing your hand. You weren't so sure. When the doctor came in your heart started racing, holding Wanda's hand was helping but not enough. You needed something else and before you knew it your hand made it's way up to your mouth. The doctor chuckled a bit which made you frown. "there's our problem." both wanda and Nat looked at you and it was only then you realised there was a whole other conversation going on between the three of them you didn't understand. You still didn't pay any attention until natasha pulled your thumb out of your mouth.

"Really? It caused all that damage?" natasha said in a worried tone, the look on her face made you want to cry. If Nat was upset clearly something was wrong.

"It's not the end of the world, we can give them some invisible braces to fix the issue. The thumb sucking, however, does need to stop." It was a sentence that made you completely freeze. You didn't like that doctor anymore, at first she seemed nice but now you weren't so sure. By the look on your caregivers face you could tell that was going to be a rule and you weren't happy about it.

"That's going to be tough. They never stop." I barely listen as he starts giving them suggestions of how to deal with my bad habit. "there are some alternatives, there is chew safe jewelry and even adult pacifiers that can help with thumb sucking and other habits. If you use them responsibly and stop when there is pain or discomfort it won't cause as much change."

"I will look into those, thank you." Wanda smiled, hoping this would be a solution to their problems. After they left the dentist y/n dropped again after getting all of their work and it soon became a constant battle to keep y/ns thumb out of their mouth. Each time they were stopped they seemed to get more and more upset, by the night Wanda and natasha were mentally exhausted from the tantrums, it got even worse when natasha got a phone call. "babe, we have to leave for a mission tomorrow. We leave early in the morning."

"There goes our plan to just let them cry it out till they fall asleep while we wait for the delivery, Im already slow in the morning, I need to sleep tonight." Natasha nodded, she of all people knew about Wandas hatred of the morning, she knew it would be a rough day if they didn't get to sleep soon. "can't you use your magic to make them sleep."

"No, I promised myself I would never use my powers on them like that." the two were interrupted by y/n dumping all their toys on the floor and crying. Wandas mind was quickly changed, but she decided to try a less forceful approach first, she conjured a pacifier similar to the one she had seen on the Internet.

She couldn't believe it when y/n took to it, their wails turned into light sniffles within a few minutes and they stopped acting out. Wanda picked them up, "there see, everything's okay. You're okay, you like the paci?" y/n nodded settling against Wanda who put them to bed, "goodnight baby sleep tight." Natasha and Wanda breathed a sigh of relief as the little went to sleep peacefully, Wanda cleaned up the mess with her magic and the two turned themselves in for the night as well.

[ohcorny]

deeply curious about your opinion on mouthwashing

it's an unnecessary part of oral hygiene. brushing your teeth and especially flossing are more important.

anyway. spoilers in this post for the game.

i'm going to co-opt lee's post about it to save myself rewriting the opinions we share but he hits the nail on the head about the gameplay. i didn't play it myself, just watched a streamer go through the whole thing, but all the game-ass-game elements felt completely tacked on. especially given there isn't one until like.... an hour in? up until the maze (or at least that's when the thought occurred to me, idr if there was anything before it) the game was just go to place, talk to character, get object, receive story progression.

and i thought that was fine up to that moment. tell me a claustrophobic story! but as soon as it added Horror Gameplay it was like the developers went 'fuck shit we need to add a challenge or it's not a real horror game'. and i never changed my opinion on that as there were more of those sections added.

because the game just keeps going. i remember when we get to the big reveal about what Really happened i looked at the timestamp on the VOD i was watching and there was somehow an hour left. and i was just ??? why??? the game just becomes a showcase of 'look at our cool scary visuals! look at our metaphors!' without anything left to actually say about them. we know what happened. there's nothing to reveal or unpack that we couldn't have done earlier in the story, when people were alive, when it mattered. we just forgot to put a game in our game until the last minute.

but the thing that really annoys me, and this i'll put under a read more because it's Actual actual spoilers

how fucking dare they make the whole crux of the issue be that jimmy sexually assaulted anya and got her pregnant, and then do nothing with that in the post-reveal nightmare sequences. we spend so much time on swansea and curly and all anya gets is a womb with a cartoon horse ultrasound. are you fucking kidding me

like the most charitable explanation i can conceive for that is jimmy only cares about what the men around him think, so we only spend time with them in his nightmare world, but like. i am simply not satisfied with that reading. i do in fact need it underlined if that is the intent. somebody, anybody, saying 'why are you apologizing to me'. anybody caring about anya at all.

if you're going to keep flashing the message of 'take responsibility' i would like at least some gesture toward what he really, actually needs to take responsibility for

[diagnosedpsychosis]

FALLING ASLEEP AT WORK

I just wanted to thank every one for the love I'm receiving for my other little imagines, and to let you all know that if you have anything you want me to write (character or prompt, or both) just let me know and I'll see what I can do.

Description: You had a crappy morning and are clearly struggling to stay awake. Aaron offers the two seater couch in his office to you.

Word Count: 2.7k

______________________________________________________________

You absolutely hated wearing your glasses. You despised them to no end, and in a perfect world they'd never of been created. You hated wearing them. The way they dug into the bridge of your nose. The fact they'd slip every 30 or so seconds so you'd have to readjust them. How if you pushed them up, the second you'd try to take them off they'd tangle in your hair and create a small knot you couldn't detangle until later that night. The way that the lens was so powerful that whilst it gave you perfect vision, it also elicited a powerful headache.

You loved how they looked, but far out did you hate how they felt.

Today wasn't a good day for you, in fact you couldn't even remember your last good day, but today trumped all your other bad ones. You'd woken up to the night-time construction work happening on your street at 3 in the morning. When you finally managed to get back to sleep an hour and a half later, it turns out some of the tradesmen out front had accidentally hit a water pipe and it blew up out of the ground and into the air. So not only were you now awake at 4:30 am, but you were also getting drenched as everyone in your building was evacuated out, instead of staying inside, away from the burst.

Everything had been cleared rather quickly and soon enough everyone was filing back into the building at 5 in the morning. You had an hour and a half until you had to get up and get ready for work, but this mornings events left you wide awake and unable to sleep despite how desperately you craved it.

So you decided to have an actual shower. You got undressed, took all your jewellery off, stepped under the shower head, pulled the tap and...no water came out. You spent five minutes trying everything in your power to get it working when the memories of this morning hit you and you realised the construction workers had hit the main water source.

You were frustrated, tired, naked and on the verge of tears not because you were actually upset, but because you were so overwhelmed. You had been so tired the night before and were so excited to sleep the night away, but the day had other plans for you and now you felt partially blind, struggling not to fall asleep standing up every time you blinked and your eyes lingered closed for a couple seconds longer than usual.

It was too late to get anymore sleep in before work, so wanting to at least fix one issue you walked back into your room, threw on a nightie and grabbed your contact lens case from your bed side. Walking back into your bathroom you opened the little container, your hand beside it on the sink as you bent to grab the saline solution from the cabinet, but as you went to stand back up your hand slipped and a second later you heard a plop sound come from the toilet.

You stood, frozen in time and just shut your eyes. Breathing in and out slowly you imagined all the things that could've possibly fallen in the toilet. You could just buy a new toothbrush if that's what fell in. A new roll of floss was only a couple bucks. You thought of everything that wasn't exactly what you knew it was, purely just cause you couldn't have a worse morning.

But then you opened your eyes, found your open eye contact container floating upside down in the toilet and stormed back into your room to scream into your pillow that held mascara stains.

That was how you found yourself walking into the Quantico building, with the old black framed glasses you'd stopped wearing a year or so ago perched on the bridge of your nose.

"Hey gorgeo- Whoa" Derek's hands flew straight up in the air in defence, cutting himself off mid greeting as your exhausted eyes snapped to him. You didn't look scary whoa, or ugly whoa, you looked 'I haven't slept in years and my slightly red eyes are begging you to knock me out so I can sleep for an eternity' whoa.

"Morning" You grumbled, unable to even offer Derek a grateful smile as he slowly passes you the same coffee he brings in for you every morning. You two stop at the elevator, your tired eyes staring at the metal doors, and Derek's watching and worrying about you as you slightly sway back and forth.

"You look rough. Bad night?" Rough? Bad night? You felt like hell and that was underexaggerating it.

"Stupid construction woke me up, hit a main water pipe, evacuated my apartment building, left me showerless and then stupid me knocked my contact lenses into the toilet" Derek sucked in a sharp breath through his teeth, reaching out and rubbing your back for you, trying to relieve some tension. You arched away from him, and caught his frown in the elevator door, offended you flinched away from his touch.

"If you keep rubbing my back I'll fall asleep on the spot" You mumbled, barely having the energy to even speak.

"You're not going to be productive if you're fighting to keep yourself from falling asleep all day. Just go home" Derek hoped he didn't sound rude and dismissive, and thankfully relief flooded his body as you looked up and offered him a lazy smile.

"I love how concerned you are about me, but I can't go home."

"Why not?" Derek asked, frowning. It was either just go home now or get up to the sixth floor, struggle and then have Hotch tell you to take the rest of the day off, neither of which you wanted. You loved your job, you wanted to be there more than anything, but...maybe a power nap isn't such a bad idea.

"Cause then I'll be letting the team down" Derek laughed, the elevator doors opening as he slung his arm over your shoulders and practically dragged you out.

"No you won't. You look like hell, every one will understand" You squinted your eyes up at Derek as you glared at him.

"So much for calling me gorgeous" You grumbled, Derek pushing on the bullpen door and shoving you in first before following after. He used his arm around your neck to pull your head toward him, before planting a kiss to your cheek.

"Y/n, you're absolutely breath taking, but you also look like hell" You huffed, glaring at Derek before pulling his arm off of you and taking a seat at your desk. You had barely been sitting for 5 seconds before Emily stopped in front of your desk.

"I haven't seen those frames in ages. What's it been, a year?" She asked, her loud voice gaining Spencer and JJ's attention, the latter standing to join Emily at your desk.

"I hate 'em" You grumbled, glancing up at the two girls before looking back down at your desk. Emily and JJ frowned, glancing at each other, wondering what was wrong, but all questions were answered as Derek swung around in his desk chair grinning.

"She flushed her contacts down the toilet" You sucked in a deep breath, side eyeing the direction Derek's voice came from before unpacking your bag, pulling case file after case file out, and neatly stacking them on your desk.

"Usually the nerdy teen in a high school rom com takes off her glasses and puts contacts in, but here you are, choosing not to conform. Good for you" Emily teased as you looked up at her, ignoring JJ and Derek's snickers.

"I love you Em, but I'm moody and running on about 2 and a half hours of sleep" Her mouth formed an 'o' shape as she held her hands up in defence and backed away slowly.

"Drift, caught" She said before turning and heading back to her desk. You sighed to yourself, turning back to face your desk properly. You noticed in the corner of your eye Spencer leaning forward in his seat.

"Are you alright, y/n?" You looked up and toward Spencer, offering him a tiny, appreciative smile as you slowly nodded your head.

"I'm alright, thank you Spence. Just a lot of night time construction going on lately. It's keeping me up" Spencer nodded his head once before sitting back in his seat and looking down at the case file open in front of him. Slowly, you sunk back into work, despite the overwhelming exhaustion consuming you. Spencer's silence lasted seconds.

"I know I live a little further out of the city-" Spencer began, sitting forward again and easily gaining your attention, "but if it gets really bad you can always stay on my fold out couch."

You couldn't fight the smile on your face as you stared at the genuinely caring and compassionate kid in front of you. Spencer had always felt like a baby brother to you, but he had the protectiveness of an older brother.

"I might just have to take you up on that offer" Spencer smiles before getting back to work and losing himself in his own mind instantly. You look away from him before half swinging around in your chair and looking in Derek's direction. Derek feels your eyes on him and looks up, frowning as you point at Spencer, mouthing 'real friend'. He rolls his eyes, a playful smile on his face as he shakes his head and gets back to work.

For at least 3 hours you manage to keep yourself awake. Cup of coffee after cup of coffee, after energy drink, after standing in front of the freezer in the kitchen, make you think you've finally got used to being awake. But then people start leaving at around 11:30, starting lunch breaks and you start getting tired again purely at the thought of eating and doing nothing.

Hotch glances out his window, looking into the bullpen when his eyes catch you frowning at your desk. From where he is it looks like you're stuck on whatever you're working on, when in reality you'd blinked but were yet to open your eyes. Noticing most of the others aren't in the bullpen to help, he stands up and makes his way out of his office.

"Y/n?" He calls from the top of the stairs, his usual frown deepening as you don't answer. He notices you don't have headphones on and wonders if maybe you're just lost in your head, too focused to even hear him. But then he walks down the steps, getting closer, and notices the slow rise and fall of your chest.

Hotch had heard about your morning, after all, it was hard to not hear the booming voices of your team as they all spoke too loud for such an early hour in the morning. So when he stepped even closer, and noticed the faint exhale every time your chest fell, he wasn't surprised to realise you were asleep.

Despite the fact you were at work where you were supposed to be busy 24/7, Hotch wanted you to sleep. He had every intention to slowly back away and return back to his office, but you looked so uncomfortable. Your head was almost completely tilted down, chin on your chest as your shoulders hunched over. You would be beyond sore when you woke up, and Hotch didn't want that for you either. So slowly he stepped closer before crouching down in front of you.

"Y/n?" He spoke softly, placing one large hand on your knee, and the other on the chairs arm rest. You stirred but didn't wake up, instead letting out a heavy exhale as you further sunk into the seat. Hotch patted your knee with a little bit more force, using his hand on the arm rest to lightly shake the spinning seat.

Slowly, you opened your eyes, the same frown you'd worn all day glued to your face as you looked up before back down, your eyes widening when you realised who was crouched down at your knees. You immediately sat up straighter, and a little more awake as you cleared your throat, immediately starting to apologise.

"Oh god, Hotch. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-" He quickly cut off your rambling with one single amused raised eyebrow. You sputtered on your words, tilting your head slightly in confusion as you stared at the slight smile playing on his lips.

"You're going to give yourself a hunch back if you continue to sleep sitting up" Your hardened expression slowly softened, a light laugh passing by your lips as you raised your hands to rub your eyes.

"I know, I'm sorry. I was doing so good" You scolded yourself, disappointed you'd fallen asleep and your boss was the one to find you, out of everyone.

"For someone running on two and a half hours of sleep, you've done good" You sighed, keeping your hands to your eyes to block out the light.

"You heard about that?" You ask, spreading your index and middle fingers apart to peak out at Hotch. He nodded, his smile still small and soft as he stared up from you, not having yet moved from below you.

"Voices travel" Hotch replied.

"Sorry" You mumbled apologetically, eyes following Hotch as he used your knee to push himself up, going back to his naturally towering height.

"Make it up to me by moving to the couch in my office?" He asked, using his foot to spin you and your chair out from under your desk. You snorted, leaning back in your seat and crossing your arms over your chest.

"Sounds more like a win for me" You stated, Aaron shrugging as he stuffed his hands in his pant pockets, his gaze unwavering, locked on you.

"You get to sleep, I get my smart, refreshed agent back. It's a win win" You absolutely loved the sound of a nice couch nap, and in Hotch's office of all places.

"Really?" You asked, Hotch slowly blinking before nodding and offering you a smile.

"Mhmm" With a dramatic huff, you stood like you were being forced to do what he said, when really you could kiss him for the suggestion.

"Well... only cause you won't shut up. I've never met a man that begs so much" You pushed your chair in, following Hotch up to his office.

"I don't know if that's what I'd call begging-"

"It is" You quickly cut him off, your grin widening as he glanced back at you over his shoulder, with his smile still present. You stepped inside his office, immediately making a b-line for the couch under the window that lead outside.

"You can close the blind if you want" Hotch pointed at the open blind behind you as he closed the door to his office, grabbing a coat off the back before making his way toward you.

"It's not going to make it harder to see for you?" You asked, wanting to make sure he was 100% okay with it. He snorted, stopping in front of you and holding the coat out, waiting for you to take it.

"I think I'll live, y/n" You took the coat with an appreciative smile, watching him turn around and walk behind his desk, before you closed the blind. You put your arms through the coats sleeves, the back of it against your chest like a blanket. You went to lay down but quickly looked to Hotch.

"You're sure this is fine with-"

"Yes....the company is nice" Hotch replied softly, now sat behind his desk, flicking through a case file. The corners of your mouth slowly spread into a genuine smile.

"Even mine?" You asked, watching Hotch as he looked up and away from his work, his eyes latching onto yours.

"Especially yours" You bit back a tired grin, turning away from Hotch to hide the blush quickly rising to your cheeks. You laid down, bringing your knees to your chest as you snuggled into the large coat Hotch had grabbed off the back of his door for you. You felt your eyes grow heavy, but just before you let sleep overcome you, Hotch spoke again.

"Just don't snore" You laughed, shaking your head lightly.

"No promises."

[nenelonomh]

oral hygiene practices

maintaining healthy teeth and gums is crucial for many reasons:

prevents tooth decay and gum disease. regular brushing and flossing remove plaque, a sticky film of bacteria that can lead to cavities and gum disease if not properly managed.

maintains fresh breath. poor oral hygiene can cause bad breath (halitosis). brushing your teeth, and tongue, and using mouthwash can help keep your breath fresh.

reduces the risk of systemic diseases. there is a strong link between oral health and overall health. poor oral hygiene can contribute to conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, and respiratory infections.

saves money. preventive care is often less expensive than treating dental problems. regular check-ups and cleanings can help catch issues early before they become more serious and costly.

so, let's look at some key practices to help maintain your smile.

ੈ✩‧₊˚ brush your teeth twice a day. use fluoride toothpaste and a soft-bristled toothbrush. brush for at least two minutes, making sure to clean all surfaces of your teeth.

ੈ✩‧₊˚ floss daily. flossing helps remove plaque and food particles between your teeth and under the gumline where your toothbrush can’t reach.

ੈ✩‧₊˚ use mouthwash. an antimicrobial or fluoride mouthwash can help reduce plaque, prevent cavities, and freshen your breath.

ੈ✩‧₊˚ maintain a healthy diet. limit sugary foods and drinks, as they can contribute to tooth decay. eating a balanced diet with plenty of fruits and vegetables can support overall oral health.

ੈ✩‧₊˚ stay hydrated. drinking plenty of water, especially fluoridated tap water, helps wash away food particles and bacteria.

ੈ✩‧₊˚ avoid tobacco products. smoking and chewing tobacco can lead to gum disease, tooth decay, and oral cancer.

ੈ✩‧₊˚ replace your toothbrush regularly. change it over every three to four months, or sooner if the bristles are frayed.

ੈ✩‧₊˚ visit your dentist regularly. regular dental check-ups and professional cleanings are essential for maintaining oral health and catching any issues early.

i know that i am only reinforcing what your dentist is already telling you - but my purpose is to provide easy information and further reading resources that may teach you something new. by incorporating these practices into your daily routine, you can keep your teeth and gums healthy.

unfortunately, i know many people who ignore simple health facts (for a multitude of reasons). but this is not the way! looking after your health and your body is so important!

for further reading:

Oral Hygiene: Best Practices & Instructions for Good Routine | Cleveland Clinic

WOHD23-factsheet-oralhygiene-EN.pdf | FDI World Dental Foundation

Oral Hygiene | National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research

the original oral hygiene post (by me)

❤️ nene

[wtfsteveharrington]

can we please have something soft and domestic with sydney! we need more content with her

a/n: this is just a lil blurb while i continue working on my actual syd fic <3

contents: mentions of kissing and intimacy but this is just soft and fluffy and delicate is the best way i can describe it.

Sydney and Carmen have a system - She takes Monday off and he takes Tuesday off. That way there’s always at least one of them there in case of any major issues. It works well for them. Gives some sort of work/life balance… Even if they still spend part of their days off concerned for the restaurant. At least they aren’t physically there. 

So, in turn, every Monday night is date night for you and Sydney. 

Sometimes you two spend the whole day in bed. Getting food delivered from the never ending bucket list of restaurants around the city you both wanted to try followed by a grocery delivery to make dessert at home. It was an indulgent day to say the least.

Other days, like tonight, the two of you took the time to get dressed up. She always stood next to you by your shared vanity to help make sure your eyeliner was even, a mess of giggles each time one eye got away from the other. "Sisters not twins, right? I think it looks good either way. 'Sides, helps me if you go in public lookin' a little crazy. Keeps people away from hitting on you."

Sydney always liked to wonder around the house while you finished getting ready. Sure, she knew your closet. Knew the general idea of what you'd end up wearing. But there was something about the surprise of your final look coming together that always took her breath away. She grabs a hold of your hand, gently spinning you around to get a full look. "Damn! Maybe we should have kept your eyeliner looking wack because this is - You look gorgeous."

And the two of you have to be careful because compliments lead to kissing which leads to you to being late for reservations you certainly cannot be late for.

She's got an Uber pulling up to take the two of you down to the Gold Coast - Maple & Ash. You bounce between cheerful small talk with your driver and watching the shops on Rush street go by in a blur. Making a mental note that someone at your job had mentioned there being a bakery right around here and that you needed to check the hours to see if you could take Sydney tonight.

You know it's a cliche, but there's something about Sydney ordering for you that makes your heart flutter. She knows your palette, knows everything you love and what you hate. Some of the ingredients on the menu are lost on you so her taking control is so welcomed.

The two of you always share your plates. Sharing what you both consider to be the best bite of each meal, wanting the other to have that experience. Sometimes Sydney quizzes you to see what flavors you're picking up and she's getting a little too proud watching your taste buds grow the way they have since you got together.

No matter what, the nights always end the same. Sydney holds your hand tight during the car ride back to your apartment, her thumb trailing along your skin. Mindlessly and comfortingly. Even if you're wearing the most simple of shoes she always makes a show of taking them off for you. Letting her hands slide up once they're taken off and message your calves. Sometimes her touch doesn't stop, hands sliding all the way up and taking care of you in the ways only she knows how.

But tonight you're both tired and the relationship is settling into more of this cheesy domestic bliss all your friends tease the two of you about.

So Sydney takes off your shoes and helps you get undressed while you grab pieces for the both of you to wear. The two of you stand shoulder to shoulder in the bathroom while you clean your faces and apple skincare. You found this face mask last week you'd been waiting until tonight to try with her and Sydney realizes she forgot to get more floss and asks you to add it to the group grocery list note you guys keep together on your phone.

She sits between your legs on the couch, curled up on your chest as your fingers run a circuit along her arms, her sides, her hips and her thighs. Any inch of skin you can get a hold of. There's a movie playing in the background as you both stay embraced. And maybe the two of you miss the second act because you're too busy kissing. Maybe the major plot twist is getting spoiled in the background while you're whispering 'I love you' to one another.

Neither of you mind.

[wizard-enthusiast]

Few art mediums i’ve worked with make me go “oh, what the fuck is this” as often as embroidery. Perfectly straight thread gets pulled Too Fast? Nope, fuck you, unfixable knot. Undo 30 minutes of work to find enough thread to tie it off. Just finished a pattern on a tricky part of a jacket? NOPE, it’s 3 am and your tired ass just sewed part of the pocket to the sleeve somehow. Start over. Working on a big piece and just ran out of a color? Your local craft store is out forever. You were actually the only person to ever need that specific color so it got discontinued by Big Embroidery Floss. You can have this other one that’s a slightly different color and tangles itself every 5 minutes tho. Every time i actually finish a piece for real with no lingering issues i feel like if Sisyphus actually got that damnb boulder up the hill the triumph is unmatched

[greenhorn-art]

World Champions | Artwork for World Champions by TheDefenestrator by TheDefenestrator, art by Blurb_brain

Fandom: The King's Avatar | 全职高手

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Category: Gen

Words: 71 944

At the end of season 4 of the Glory Pro Alliance, the government finally receives the information it has been waiting for: The other players have caught up. Or, In which Glory has been a government recruitment ploy for remote-piloted mecha operators all along.

About the Book

FONTS: Mundo Serif, Azonix [dafont], Segoe UI Symbol

IMAGES: Illustration by Blurb_brain [AO3]; cover image by NASA ID: 440611 [Rawpixel]; Planet Earth background ID: 6331593 [Rawpixel]; Circuit lines background ID: 3117935 [Rawpixel]; endpapers' image by Eric Eastman [Unsplash]; Swoksaar, Desert Dust, Lord Grim, Vaccaria, and Cloud Piercer [The King's Avatar Wikia]

MATERIALS: regular printer paper (8.5"x11", 96 bright, 20lb), 80pt bookboard, Iris Bookcloth (colour: Black Pearl), Neenah cardstock (8.5"x11", bright white, 65lb), waxed linen thread (white, 30/3 size), embroidery floss (shades 3750, 350, 3845, 370), leather cording (1.9mm diameter), Reeves’ acrylic paint (Mars Black, Phthalo Blue, Titanum White), Americana acrylic paint (glow in the dark), ph neutral pva glue (Books by Hand)

PROGRAMS USED: Typeset in Affinity Publisher, cover/title page/endpapers designed in Affinity Designer/Photo, QR codes generated with LibreOffice Writer, PDF arranged for printing with Bookbinder-JS

BINDING STYLE: quarto, case bound (slightly rounded, with oxford hollow, forgot to use tapes)

.

Fenes' "Glory's tech isn't handwaved" AU. This was great! Funny and creative, and I'm both amazed and full of admiration for Fenes' ability to juggle so many characters.

I was feeling excited and ambitious with this one. Tried some new fun things (double core endbands, painted edges) and used some new equipment (a lying press).

The Text

TITLE/HEADINGS FONT: Azonix says 'SciFi' to me, it's a bold, non-serif, sleek font.

BODY FONT: Mundo Serif, it's a decent serif body font I haven't used before. Felt like it worked with Azonix.

SCENE BREAKS: a special character in Segoe UI Symbol of a black & white icon of Earth, the globe showing Asia.

TYPESETTING: Finished typesetting the fic, left document open on my laptop, laptop's battery failed, file now crashes immediately upon reopening, issue persists with copied versions of file (；￣Д￣) . Thankfully I had a backup file for the typeset with the barebones of the text, so I didn't have to restart from scratch...

Title Page

My thinking: it takes place in space, the world's at stake, and it's the dawn of a new horizon for Earth. Glory and the titular champions are represented by Swoksaar, Desert Dust, Lord Grim, Vaccaria, and Cloud Piercer – the captains of what I'd call the 'big 5' teams. A circuitry board background element hints at the tech/mecha nature of the story's competition. It may not match Blurb's art, but I hope I was able to convey some of what the story is about.

The circuitry image is used as decoration throughout the book. I only used the avatars of the top five teams' captains because too many silhouettes would lessen their impact and readability. (Removing the backgrounds was tedious, but worth it.)

Here's what it should have looked like. The test prints for this and the BB art were fine, but I think my inkjet started running out of ink just when I printed the final copies and I didn't reprint them. (Too impatient, really wanted to finish up and read the book)

The Cover

World Champions is another Big Bang fic, and once again I based some of my design choices off of the accompanying artwork. The dominant colours of Blurb_brain's illustration are red and blue-green.

COVER PAPER: For the decorative cover material I used NASA's ASTER image of Poyang Lake. NASA has some really interesting photography some of which remind me of marbled paper, thought it could be interesting. I chose this image of Poyang Lake because 1) it's in China, 2) the colours were similar to Blurb's awesome illustration (fate strikes again, dropping matching images and artwork into my lap!), and 3) NASA is tangentially relevant to the fic, which takes place in space.

BOOKCLOTH: Verona bookcloth in the shade Black Pearl, a lovely dark navy blue colour. Thought it suited the cover paper and title page. (Bought it for this fic specifically, but the colour goes well with almost all of my decorative papers so it should see a lot of use in the future!)

Endpapers

The final decision that held this project at a standstill for two months. In the end I drew inspiration from the matchups against the final opponent in the story. The image I used is a little chaotic and a little too unrelated to identify why I picked it without an explanation, but this book is for me and I know why, so there. (Note that I played around with the colours and cropped the photo.)

Endpaper inspiration: the maps for the matches against the Infilhites

"a long bridge through an enormous tube-like hall, where light seem to come from every side through stained glass windows. It was visually confusing, limited lateral motion" "a warehouse, crates stacked on and beside metal racks that went all the way to the ceiling." "a house of mirrors, fully enclosed to be sure the Infhillte couldn’t fly out of it." "like a volcano, rivers of lava moving sluggishly down a slope, occasional vents of overheated air nearby." "a series of overlapping bridges between halls and stairways, level after level layered over an open abyss."

Trimming & Painting the Edges

Going all out, a 2-for1 deal: the opportunity to use my lying press for the first time and learn a new technique!

TRIMMING: Used a paring chisel and lying press.

CHISEL: The 1.25" wide paring chisel I used was form a modern manufacturer. (Vintage paring chisels are very thin, enough so that you can bend/flex the blade. But don't do that.) It's long and wide blade made it easier to register against the surface of the press for consistent cuts. Looks like this one below from Lee Valley.

LYING PRESS: My dad's project. Solid black walnut, hand carved screws and internal threads — he even made the tools to make the threads too! The jaws of the press are each 3 7/8" wide. It's big and heavy (though much smaller than full-sized professional ones omg), but there's enough of a flat surface to register the chisel against. A thicc boi, much like this one below from Bookbinding Supplies.

PAINTED EDGES: The idea was to have dark navy edges, speckled with white stars. I used acrylic from a tube to paint the edges — tutorials recommended it over liquid bottled acrylic, and I had an old set hanging around. Had to water it down because otherwise the paint just flaked off.

My test of trimming and painting went well. Then the trimmed book itself came out slightly crooked, the paint required significantly more watering-down than before, and the white paint did not want to be both opaque and speckle-able. Unfortunate, but still book-shaped! And now I have an idea of what to do differently next time.

Also, did not like the glow-in-the-dark paint. Looked too translucent in the light when compared to the white acrylic, and needed a thicker coat to be visible in the dark. (The thickness combined with the translucence and base colour kinda reminded me of boogers... Ended up scrapping most of it off, so there's not much left to glow.)

Endbands

Still in the mood to have fun and go all-out, I attempted double-core endbands for the first time.

TUTORIAL: YouTube @ BookbindersChronicle: Bookbinding 101 Sewing Headbands Session 2. Also watched @ DAS Bookbinding's Double-Core Endband // Adventures in Bookbinding, but I personally found Chronicle's closeup video easier to follow.

I used embroidery floss from a 100pk of assorted colours off Amazon, wrapped around a core of 1.9mm leather cording from Michaels. I drew from Blurb_brain's art for the general colours, choosing a dark base, with red, blue-green, and gold. The specific shades were picked to go with the cover.

[sequinsmile-x]

Forever

It's Mother's Day, and Aaron and Jack have a special plan for Emily.

-x-

Hi friends!

It may not be Mother's Day in the UK today, but I know it is in a bunch of other places, so I thought I'd write a fic to mark the occasion.

Happy Mother's Day to those of you have celebrated, and if it's a difficult day for you just know I am holding space for you <3

As always, please let me know what you think <3

-x-

Words: 3.3k

Warnings: none - so fluffy you should floss after xo

Read over on Ao3, or below the cut

“Daddy!”

Aaron smiles as he bends down, opening his arms just in time for Jack to throw himself at him, his arms tight around Aaron’s neck as he hugs him, “Hi Jack.”

“You’re home!” Jack says enthusiastically, squeezing his father before he steps back, his eyes wide with excitement, “I thought Aunt Jess was picking me up from school.”

He ruffles Jack’s hair and stands up straight, taking his son’s hand as he starts to lead them back towards the car, “We finished the case and made it back,” he explains, smiling as Jack beams at him, “So I came to get you.” 

Jack’s smile slips away slightly as he looks towards the car and sees it’s empty, “Where’s Emily?”

Aaron never felt anything less than in awe of the love his son and his girlfriend had for each other. It felt like a privilege to witness it, to see Jack receiving the maternal love that had been stolen from him at such a young age and to watch Emily be the person to give that to him. To watch her be the amazing mother he always knew she would be, one she would continue to be for Jack and any future children they would hopefully have. 

“She’s gone to the store to get what we need for dinner,” he says, pulling the car door open so Jack can get in. He feels an ache in his chest as he watches him climb into the car and pull his seatbelt across himself, something that not all that long ago he needed Aaron to do for him. Aaron checks the belt is secure and gets into the driver's seat, “She said something about getting you that ice cream you love.”

He flicks his gaze to the rearview mirror and Jack smiles impossibly widely at him, “She loves it too!” 

Aaron chuckles as he starts to drive, his girlfriend’s sweet tooth one of the many things that had first drawn his son towards her, “Yes, she does. How was school?” 

Jack sighs and shrugs, his eyes fixed out of the window as he avoids Aaron’s eye contact through the rearview, “Okay I guess.” 

He’s immediately concerned. Jack usually loved school. He was emphatic about it, always enthusiastic whenever he told him or Emily about his day, regaling them with facts his teacher had taught him. They never had to hassle him about homework, something that Aaron hoped would continue for the rest of his education, and there had been times when he’d woken them up to tell them it was time to go to school. Aaron clears his throat to push down the anxiety only Jack or Emily could cause in him. 

He had a feeling he knew what the issue was, a familiar date looming in the not so distant future that always seemed to come around so fast. 

“Only okay?” He asks, probing gently as he casts a quick glance back at his son. 

Jack blows out a breath, a habit he’d picked up from Emily, “Miss Grisham told us we’ll make Mother’s Day cards tomorrow,” he says, looking down at his hands, “She told me before like Miss Keane did last year, and told me I can do something else,” he sighs again, “But I don’t want to be the only one who doesn’t.” 

Aaron tightens his hold on the steering wheel, guilt and anger he could only ever aim at himself threatening to choke him as they climb up his throat, the taste bitter on his tongue. The school had always been excellent when it came to this kind of thing. They always spoke to Aaron first, who in turn spoke to Jack to remind him of any difficult dates coming up. Aaron and Emily had reminded him about Mother’s Day just a few days ago and he’d nodded along, his smile sad as they told him they’d visit Haley’s grave and leave her flowers like they always had. 

Last Mother’s Day, he’d only been with Emily for just over 6 months. She’d taken a step back, an understanding smile on her face as she kissed his cheek and told him it was important that he and Jack did what they’d always done just the two of them. This year, as they were curled up on their new couch in their new house, Jack had asked her to come along as soon as they mentioned it and she’d agreed, smiling as she ran her fingers through his hair. 

“Do you think…” Jack starts before he drifts off, sounding unsure, his focus on his hands again when Aaron casts a look into the back of the car. 

“Do I think what, buddy?” Aaron asks, “You can tell me anything, you know that.” 

Jack nods, “Do you think Emily would mind if I made one for her?” 

Aaron smiles, the love he’d felt only minutes ago swelling in his chest again, “I think she’d love that,” he says, his smile getting wider at Jack’s sigh of relief, “It’s a great idea. What made you think of doing that?” 

Jack shrugs, “Miss Grisham was talking all about what a mom does. That they look after you, and make you feel better when you’re sad or sick. She said mom’s make you feel safe and Emily does all of that for me. I think she’s my mom,” he says, scrunching his nose up, “Even though Mommy also is my mom, and I think we should do something for Mother’s Day for her,” he sounds more confident than he had since they started this conversation, “Miss Grisham says Mother’s Day is to say thank you. And I should say thank you to Emily.” 

He isn’t sure if he wants to laugh or cry, stuck somewhere between the love Jack has for Emily, and the simple way the 7-year-old had worked through a complicated issue, focused only on what their family looked like now - the three of them against the world. All of a sudden all he can think about is the ring he has hidden in his desk drawer at work. 

“Jack,” he starts, smiling as his son nods, their eyes meeting once again in the rearview, “There’s a question I’ve been meaning to ask Emily, want to help me ask her?” 

His son’s wide, enthusiastic, smile is the only answer he needs.

___

Emily rolls her shoulders as she walks out of the bedroom, yawning as she comes to a stop at the top of the stairs, her eyes narrowing ever so slightly when she hears her two favourite people in the world whispering to each other, neither one of them being particularly quiet. She smiles as she walks down the stairs, ready to spend her Sunday morning with her Hotchner boys. 

As soon as she’s downstairs, they are on her, both standing in front of her with matching grins, their hair and pjyamas adorably mussed by sleep as they each grab one of her hands. 

“What’s going on?” She asks, smiling when Aaron leans in to kiss her, stamping his lips against hers and then her cheek.

“Close your eyes, sweetheart,” he says instead of answering, winking at her when she narrows her eyes at him, and she opens her mouth to reply, to argue with him, but Jack cuts her off, both of his hands squeezing hers. 

“Emily, it’s a surprise,” he says, his eyes pleading with her, “Please?” 

She shakes her head lovingly and leans down to kiss his forehead, “I can’t say no to you,” she says, making a point of raising her eyebrow at her boyfriend as she stands back up straight, “You two better not let me walk into anything.” 

Aaron smiles at her as she makes a show of closing her eyes and he kisses her cheek again, his free hand on her back as he starts to guide her towards the dining room, “Never.” 

She squeezes his hand as they lead her through the house. They’d only been living here for two months so far but she knew the layout already, knew how many steps it took to get from room to room. She loved it here, it was the home she’d never had, but she knew that had everything to do with the two people leading her towards the dining room and nothing to do with the walls surrounding them. They come to a stop and she laughs when they don’t go any further, wondering why they weren’t going any further. 

“You can open your eyes.” 

She gasps as she does, a delighted laugh catching in her chest as she looks around the dining room. Breakfast was set up - plates of chocolate chip pancakes already on each place setting, and there were presents, flowers and a card set next to the plate at her usual spot. She looks up at Aaron and then down at Jack, her smile so wide her cheeks were aching. 

“What’s all this?”

“Happy Mother’s Day!” They say in unison, both squeezing her hands tightly as they once again flash their matching smiles at her. 

She knew it was Mother’s Day. She’d bought her mother a card and sent it to her, and she would send her a text slightly later that likely wouldn’t get a response. She’d bought the flowers and the card they were going to take to Haley’s grave after breakfast, had helped Jack make the perfect selection as they stood in the store for what felt like hours.  Aaron had even told her that Jack had mentioned he’d make her a card, giving her the heads up so she wouldn’t be entirely surprised, but he’d clearly kept some of their plans to himself. 

“Thank you, sweetie,” she says, turning to Jack first, holding his face in place whilst she leans down to press a few kisses to his cheek, only stopping when he giggles and starts to pull away. She looks up at Aaron and kisses him, smiling into it as he cups the back of her head. She pulls back just enough to speak, making a point of rubbing her nose against his, “Thank you.”

He smiles at her and he has to kiss her again to stop himself from proposing on the spot, “Let’s eat the pancakes before they go cold.”

“Dad put extra chocolate chips in yours,” Jack adds as they walk towards the table, the three of them only disconnecting from each other when they sit down. 

“Well they look delicious,” she says, settling into her chair, her eyes flicking to the couple of presents next to her plate. They eat their breakfast, taking time to enjoy it and talk about anything and everything. It still took her aback how normal moments like this were, how ordinary and precious - something she would have once believed she wouldn’t ever get to experience. 

Aaron, the slowest eater in the family, has barely put his knife and fork down when Jack announces it’s time to open the presents, his excitement so intense he practically vibrates with it. All Aaron can do is laugh as he stands up, still eating his last mouthful of pancake as he piles their plates up and takes them to the kitchen. When he gets back into the dining room, Jack is sitting on Emily’s lap, her arms wrapped tightly around him as she holds him in place, and he doesn’t think he’s ever loved them more. 

Over the last week, he’d wondered if this was the right thing to do, if proposing to her in such a simple way was enough. She deserved the world and he’d give it to her if he could. He’d undo every terrible thing anyone else had ever done to her and rip them apart with his own hands if they tried to hurt her again. He feels any anxiety disappear the moment he sees her, still in her pjyamas with her face bare of make-up and her hair piled on top of her head in a messy bun, his son on her lap as he excitedly spoke at her, because he knows this was right. It was them.

“Present time,” Aaron says as he takes the seat next to them, and Jack smiles widely at him, mischief at the thought of the secret they’d been sharing for a week now shining brightly out of his face. 

Emily smiles and tilts her head down to talk to Jack, pressing a kiss to his temple, “Where should I start?” 

“With the card and present from me,” he says, grabbing the bigger gift and pulling it towards them before he points at the small box, “That one is from Daddy.”  

She hums as she looks up at her boyfriend, unable to stop herself from smiling as he looks at her with nothing short of adoration before she turns her attention back to Jack, “I’ll open yours first then.” 

She’s careful as she opens the envelope on the clearly handmade card, and she presses her lips together as she pulls it out, glitter spilling out onto the table and their laps. She sighs happily at the drawing on the front of it, cartoon stick figures of the three of them and Sergio outside their house, Jack’s messy handwriting spelling out “Happy Mother’s Day” on the front of it. She opens it and her smile gets impossibly wider as she reads the inside of the card, her lungs stuffed so full of happiness and love that she can’t breathe. 

To Emily

Happy Mother’s Day. 

Thank you for everything you do for me and Daddy!

Love Jack

She blows out a slow breath and looks at Aaron when he places his hand on her knee, squeezing it gently as she kisses the top of Jack’s head, “Thank you, Jack,” she says, resting her cheek on top of his head, “That’s so sweet.” 

“Now open the present!” 

She chuckles at his impatience and she nods, carefully placing the card down before she picks up the box and pulls off the wrapping paper and then removes the cardboard lid. She lifts a mug out of the box and sighs happily when she sees her favourite picture of her and Jack screen-printed onto it. It was a photo Aaron had taken a few months ago at the park. The two of them were cuddled together on a bench, wide smiles on their faces as they looked at the camera. 

“Thank you, sweetie,” she says, kissing his head again, “I love it, I needed a new mug for work.”

Jack turns to look at her and nods, “I know! Uncle Derek won’t be able to steal this one.” 

“You’re right, he won’t be able to.” She says as she laughs and pulls him into a hug, she sinks into the embrace with the little boy she loved as her own, closing her eyes as she breathes him in. She and Aaron had talked about having at least one more baby and she knew she’d love Jack the exact same way as she would love a baby she carried herself, “I love you, Jack.” 

“Love you too,” he says, smiling as he pulls back to look at her, “You should open Daddy’s now.” 

She knows they are up to something because of the way they look at each other in the brief moment before Jack slips from her lap. Aaron stands up and kisses her, cutting off any questions. He pulls back to look at her, one of the corners of his mouth curling up into a smile.

“Close your eyes.” 

She scoffs and rolls her eyes, “Aaron-”

“Sweetheart,” he says, his voice soft and kind as he smiles at her, “Close your eyes.” 

She presses her lips together and nods, doing as she’s asked. She hears shuffling as if they are moving and she sighs, jumping ever so slightly when Aaron holds her hand. 

“You can open your eyes.” 

Time seems to slow down as she does, the sarcastic comment she’d had all ready to go dying on her tongue as she sucks in a breath the moment she looks at them. They are both kneeling on the floor, an excited smile on Jack’s face and a nervous one on Aarons. The smaller box now in his other hand, opened and offered to her, showcasing the most beautiful ring she’d ever seen.

“Aaron…” 

She doesn’t recognise her own voice, the rest of her words caught in her chest as she stares at them, her vision going blurry as tears gather in her eyes. They’d talked about marriage, and she knew he had a ring, but she hadn’t considered this as a possibility when she woke up this morning, hadn’t thought that this was where the, in itself unexpected, Mother’s Day breakfast was going. Even though he hadn’t asked the question yet, she knew what her answer would be. 

She wanted him, wanted them, for the rest of her life. 

“Emily, I love you so much,” Aaron says, his voice surprisingly steady given that he feels like he is shaking, “I love how much you love us,” he says, nodding towards Jack, “How you make us both feel safe, how you saved us after everything. And I want to spend the rest of my life trying to make you feel even half as loved as you’ve made us feel,” he smiles softly when the sob she’d been holding back finally escapes her and he squeezes her hand, “Will you marry me?” 

He barely has the words out before she’s nodding and leaning forward, her hands curled around his head, her fingers sinking into his hair as she kisses him. She pulls back just enough to speak, her answer passing from her lips to his. 

“Yes,” she says, choking on a noise between a laugh and a sob, “Yes I’ll marry you.” 

He slips the ring onto her finger, briefly pulling away from her enough to do so before he’s kissing her again, pulling her into another hug as he kneels on the floor and she’s still sitting in her seat. 

“I love you,” he says, kissing her lips and then her cheek and her jaw, “I love you so much.” 

“I love you too,” she replies, pulling back to look at him, sniffing as she wipes a tear from his cheek, “I love you.” 

“Can I join in on the hug now?” 

They both laugh as they turn to look at Jack, the little boy’s patience running out as he all but bounces on the spot, his smile so wide Emily’s surprised his face hasn’t split in half. They both nod and unhook one arm from around the other to make space for him. He steps forward and wraps his arms around them both, his head against Emily’s shoulder.

“Emily?” Jack asks, lifting his head to look at her. She hums in response and looks at him, sinking into the feeling of their embrace, of Aaron’s hand rubbing soothing patterns on her back, “You know what this means?” 

“What, honey?” She asks, smiling at him. 

“This means you’ll be my mom for real!” 

Her breath stutters in her chest, and she feels Aaron hold her even closer, his hand even firmer on her lower back as he turns his head to kiss her temple. She always loved how simply he looked at things, that despite everything his innocence was still largely intact, and she’d spend the rest of her life protecting it with everything she had.

“Yeah,” she says, smiling as more tears gather in her eyes, her heart so full she’s sure it will burst, “It does.” 

-x-

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