#Yes we got a Christmas one each season and 2 Thanksgiving ones. But no New Year's Eve or Valentine's Day one!?

[awesometothe3rd]

[czennieszn]

the magic of christmastime | l. castellan ❆

part 1: s(mitten) for you, luke castellan

child of aphrodite reader (Y/N) x luke castellan (fluff, a bit of angst, some anxiety)

It's Christmastime, the season of magic, miracles, and snow in the city. Celebrating their first Christmas together as a couple, Luke and Y/N are eager to participate in Christmas traditions. And what better way to get in Christmas spirit than going shopping in the Big Red Apple, the splendid New York City. There is only one problem, getting the permission of Chiron and Mr. D.

w.c. 2.5K (let me know if you would fancy a part 2!

______________________________________________________________

I love Christmastime. From the flurry of people that crowd the malls of New York City, to the actual flurries of soft white snow that encase the concrete, making the Big Apple look like a giant snow globe, it's safe to say that Christmastime sparked a little bit of magic in you. Every year after Thanksgiving, a silent countdown would begin; the countdown until Christmas. Thirty days. Twenty-nine days. Twenty-eight days. Time didn't move any slower. But during these thirty days, the Christmas traditions got you through the month.

Baking and decorating Christmas cookies, wearing matching sweaters, drinking hot cocoa, and watching Christmas movies on your old DVD player, were things that you were anticipating doing this Christmas. Except, this Christmas would be different. It would be a little bit more magical, because this Christmas, you had the golden-eyed curly-haired Hermes boy with a crooked smile to spend it with. And you were delighted.

"Luke..." you gently nudged your boyfriend, teasing him with a smile. He was lying on your bed with his hands stretched out, your monthly subscription to Vogue magazine in his hands. Even under the dimly lit florescent fairy lights, Luke looked magical.  His lips were pursed in concentration, and his faint freckles were dotted across his nose. Eyebrows furrowed, he diverged his attention to you.

"Yes Y/N..." he responded in an equally teasing tone. Turning his head, you softly played with his curls as he rested in your lap. He twinkled his eyes like a newborn puppy, a look he knew was impossible to resist. You tried to endure the nonchalant disposition on your face, but the corner of your mouth gave you away. Smiling gently, you looked away and giggled. The effect this boy had on you couldn't be explained by science, it couldn't be explained by the gods. Gods, you were so in love with each other.

"What if we-" you began to say. He jokingly rolled his eyes. "I can't wait for another one of your "grand ideas" again Y/N. The last time you started with "what if we", we ended up in trouble with Mr. D and had to spend two months on stable duty," Luke laughed.

"No wait I'm serious! I promise we won't have to shovel horse shit ever again!" You said, trying not to laugh. 

"That was miserable, never again," Luke mocked you.

"I'm genuinely being serious, here me out!" You playfully eyed him.

"Okay Princess, what is it?" Luke whispered as he stared at your lips.

"What if we go into the city for some Christmas shopping..." you trailed off, unsure whether he would be willing to go with you. 

"Hmm," Luke closed the magazine and returned it to the magazine rack that Aphrodite gave you for your sixteenth birthday. You remember how elated when your mother met with you on your sweet sixteenth and winked at you, urging you to pursue Luke. Now here you were, two years later, with her advice fully followed through. 

There was a pregnant pause as Luke played with your fingers. "I hope you don't mean Christmas shopping at the camp gift shop," he jokingly said.  You shook your head quickly while you laughed, your curtain bangs swinging from side to side. "I've kind of had enough of the Stoll brothers and their practical jokes on these not-so-practical gifts." Rolling your eyes, you recalled last year when the Stoll brothers had slipped you two love potions, giving you googly eyes for Chiron and Luke groveling at Mr. D. It was a whole fiasco, leaving you and Luke thoroughly embarrassed for a minimum of two weeks.

"Noooo," you dragged on the word as you tilted your head. "I mean like, what if we went into the city to go shopping? Wouldn't that be fun," you suggested. "Do you think Chiron would let us?" You lightly breathed.

"Well, there's no way we'll know if we don't ask," Luke grinned. 

"Wait so you'd be willing to go shopping with me?" you held your breath. 

"Of course, anything for you Princess," Luke caressed your face. You were leaping with joy, and you practically ran out of the Aphrodite cabin to stalk Chiron for his permission. 

"Let's go, let's go!" You attempted to drag Luke as he groaned. "I'm comfy here, can we wait until tomorrow to find Chiron," Luke attacked you with his puppy-like eyes. Nope, you weren't going to fall for that now, no matter how impossible it was. 

"Please Luke we should go now, tomorrow morning is in twelve hours, something bad could happen and he may not let us go," you flashed him your best smile in retaliation. Playfully rolling his eyes, he tugged your hand and you fell onto the mattress. Squealing, you lay on top of him, what a goof. But you are so into this goof. Cheekily smiling, he smothered you in kisses: on your face, on your neck, on your collarbone. Peppering all surface areas of your body with love. 

You were violently blushing, turning a shade of red from your cheeks down to your neck at the sudden PDA. All of a sudden, you were self-conscious of your siblings in the cabin. But, they certainly paid you two no attention as they were used to the displays of affection. Awake and animated, Luke's eyes momentarily flickered animalistically, but they quickly returned to his typical soft-golden retriever demeanor. You both knew what he wanted at that moment, but given the circumstances, ew, gross.

"Okay," he whispered, satisfied at the reaction he got out of you. "Let's go," and he tugged you up suddenly as you guys ran out the door. The run eventually turned into the light jog because (a) you guys had just finished dinner and didn't want indigestion and (b) you had already exercised enough for today (the Apollo kids had run an archery obstacle course that was grueling, leaving a dull ache in your arms and feet)

"Chiron!" Luke called out into the distance, as we saw a faint outline of the centaur's shadow. He was going into the big house, probably to put curlers in his tail before he retired to his bed for the evening (Grover's words, not mine). Before he disappeared into the shadows, he gestured to us, letting us know to enter the Big House. Panting, as you were nearly exhausted at this point (don't get me wrong, I'm not unathletic, but the distance from the Aphrodite cabin to the Big House is quite far) At this point, you were going to get appendicitis before you could step into the Big Apple.

"Luke, wait a minute," you said, running out of breath. For a powerful demigod, you certainly had limited endurance.

"Are you okay Y/N," Luke dramatically gasped as he held your hand.

"I'm perfectly okay, just a tad out of shape," you sighed.

"Well Princess, just a few more steps and then we are there," Luke softly replied. Silently nodding your head to Luke's words of encouragement, you two approached the Big House. Unconsciously, you began to peel your cuticles, and Luke gently pried your hands away from your delicate, beaten skin. You deeply appreciated when he did things like that, paying attention to every detail, focusing on you, and double-checking that you were healthy and mentally okay.

The waning crescent that brightly illuminated the night sky depicted your mood; the fading of a bright idea in an endless world. This feeling wasn't new to you, and you could feel your energy waning. All the bravado that you had previously shown to Luke had wilted. Instead, you were now left uneasy, waiting for Chiron and Dionysus to chagrin you for your dangerously silly idea. A sinking pit of anxiety settled in your stomach. Damn, for how often my anxiety just shows up, it may as well start paying rent, you thought, trying to ease the war of emotions swimming in your mind.

Are you sure that you are okay? Luke bent down his head so he could be at eye level with you.

Yes, hopefully, you silently blinked back. He understood the scope of your anxiety, and during the especially bad days when you were left hugging yourself and biting at your nails, he would hug you instead and play with your fingers. Besides being a great boyfriend, he was an even more understanding person, and you loved that part of him.

Alright, gametime, Luke winked to you, as you two crossed the boundary between fun! rainbows! camp! and imminent doom featuring half a horse and an overgrown drunk toddler. The floorboard creaked as you two entered the Big House. Mustering up the remainder of your confidence, you took a deep breath and entered a book room where Chiron and Dionysus were sitting.

"We have a proposal for-," you gestured before being rudely interrupted by Mr. D slurping his diet coke. He raised an eyebrow, challenging you to continue. You momentarily glared at him before resuming your composure.

"Like I said, Luke and I have been thinking of-," you continued before being rudely interrupted for the second time by the overgrown diet coke-addicted toddler.

"Please, Dionysus, respect for the demigods for once," Chiron rolled his eyes, partially annoyed at Mr. D for acting childish, and possibly because we had interrupted his nighttime routine. Hey, if someone asked me to do something if I was in the middle of a manicure, I would also be thoroughly annoyed.

"To state the point that was never said," you pointedly glared at Mr. D and he tilted his head back at you to say fair point, "Luke and I were thinking of going into the city for one day to do some Christmas shopping."

The room was silent. All you could hear was the crackling of the fireplace, and even then as every log burned a hiss of malice escaped the chimney's base. Then Dionysus let out a big guffaw, startling everyone in the room.

"Oh my gosh you're joking are you? You came all the way to tell us that?" Mr. D gasped for breath and wiped his tears as he was laughing too hard. 

Dead silence echoed (can silence echo?) throughout the room. We were serious (for once). Mr. D could sense that no one else in the room was in a playful mood, and soon shut his mouth, a rare occasion. Under different circumstances, I would have probably pointed that out to Luke and given him a sly look, but tonight was not the night.

"Wait, you two are serious," Mr. D gestured to both of us while giving us both a pointed look of disappointment.

"Please Mr. D, we promise to be safe-" Luke began.

"For two senior counselors who have been at camp for a very long time, might I add, you two surely haven't gained any knowledge for all the time that you've been here," Mr. D frowned. 

"Please, we haven't gone anywhere in years. We promise to be safe and take any precautions needed," you pleaded. You just wanted this one thing. It might have been selfish, putting your lives in danger for a silly whimsical idea of yours, but it would make your first Christmas spent with Luke magical.

"You two are year-long campers for a reason," Mr. D firmly stated. He was correct in that respect, powerful campers like you two attracted monsters from far and wide. With your powerful charm speaking abilities and ability to create illusions of someone's greatest desires, and Luke's incredible sword fighting abilities, and not to mention his ability to bend the air in ripples as a traveling method, you two were quite a dynamic couple.

"Chiron," You pleaded, as you turned to Chiron. Chiron seemed deep in thought, as he pensively stroked his goatee (do I call it a horse-tee? centaur-tee?).

"These two of our campers are some of our best campers. They know how to adequately defend themselves in any situation tossed their way, am I correct?" Chiron turned to you two, the right corner of his mouth fighting a smile. You had never been so grateful for Chiron's existence until that moment (putting aside that time that he taught you the full extent of your illusional abilities, that was amazing of him).

"Yes, yes Chiron," Luke said, as you vigorously nodded your head.

"Yes, we will carry golden drachmas and Iris message you in case anything goes wrong," I tried to persuade them. "Not that we will inherently cause anything to go wrong," you trailed off.

"We will also bring weapons, just in case anything happens," Luke jumped in right away. "We will take care of ourselves, we promise."

"Think of this like a test, if we come back, we live, if not, well, we die. If we can't even handle the city that surrounds us, if we get called to a quest, well, that means we are screwed," you joked, also not joking at the same time. Hoping that this would persuade Mr. D, you gave Chiron a quick thumbs up, a symbol of your gratitude for having trust in you two.

"Hmm," Mr. D hummed for a while. You hoped he wasn't asleep, it was past that groggy toddler's bedtime.

"Well I permit Luke Castellan and Y/N L/N to spend the day in New York City tomorrow, granted they come back with gifts for me as well," Chiron winked.

"Oh yes, yes!" You excitedly said, a wide smile spread across your face.

"Of course, we will buy gifts for you Chiron, and for you as well Mr. D," Luke continued.

"Hmm, alright. And you two promise that you will stay safe?" Mr. D questioned.

"Yes sir," you two responded stoically.

"And within reach at all times?" Mr. D continued.

"Yes sir," you two nodded.

"Well I permit Lukas Clarkson and Y/nN La/N to spend the day in New York City tomorrow, granted they come back with gifts for me as well," Mr. D retorted, horribly butchering our names. Neither Luke nor I corrected him, fearful that he could suddenly have a change of heart and change his mind.

"Thank you so so so much!" You grinned.

"Have a great night!" Luke said, as he practically dragged you out the door.

"We did it! Oh my gosh, we are so good!" You excitedly hugged Luke the moment you exited the Big House. Hugging you and lifting you in the air, you two laughed joyously as you two landed on the lawn. Landing on top of Luke, you played with his hair. You hadn't left Camp Half-Blood without your mother, who would whisk you to some location in New York City for a day-trip gossip session.

"We did amazing, Princess," Luke smiled up at you. He squeezed your waist, causing a tornado of butterflies to travel up your navel.

"Well, we better get a long night's sleep tonight. We have an extremely long day tomorrow," you shyly smiled.

"Great idea babe, but first," Luke cheekily grinned, as he flipped you upside down. Startled, your eyes widened as Luke began to unabashedly pepper kisses across your face, neck, and collarbone. You didn't care that you two were in public, you were just grateful to have a wonderful boyfriend and wonderful people who could trust you two. You couldn't wait for tomorrow. 

comment to be a part of the taglist for part 2!

xoxo, cznszn 𐙚₊❤︎

© czennieszn on tumblr. do not repost, translate, plagiarize, or claim any of my works as your own.

[multi-fandom-imagine]

Are they on the Naughty List? Or have they’ve been good all year?Well that’s for you to decide.

Start:November 01

End: December 31

•+•

REQUEST RULES

⇀ONE PROMPT PER CHARACTER; meaning you can pick from an action prompt or a dialogue prompt, if you don’t want spicy then pick from the nice list ↼

⇀I will be posting the fandoms below that I will write for this event↼

⇀I have 61 days, so you’re welcome to request the same character for any prompt. ↼

⇀ when you send a request in please specify that it is for this event or else it won’t be part of the event and will instead be seen as a regular request and therefore won’t be posted in for Tis The Season ↼

⇀Green/Red means it is taken. ↼

Fandoms for Tis The Season 2022

Bridgerton

God of war

Call Of Duty

House Of Dragons { game of thrones }

Cyberpunk 2077

John Wick

Saiyuki

Naruto

Stranger Things { Season 3-4 }

The Quarry { or any of Supermassive game *1 character per game }

The Wolf Among Us

Fire Emblem: Three Houses

Resident Evil

Assassins Creed

Ghost of Tsushima / Ghost of Tsushima Iki island

Far Cry 5/6/new Dawn

Vox.

Fruits Baskets

Bleach

Fma brotherhood

See a fandom you don’t like/see then send me a character for that fandom and I may write for them

Naughty Dialogue Prompts:

1:“I’d like to be one of the unhealthy things you put inside your body this weekend.”-Ebenezer Scrooge

2:“You know, tying the legs together keeps everything moist.”-Phillip Graves

3:“You’ll want to loosen your belt long before dinner.”Karl Hisenburge

4:“I’m not much of a cook, but I’m good at glazing.”Alejandro Vargas

5:“I’m going to have you stuffed better than the turkey by the end of the night.”-Alex Keller {MW}

6:“The turkey’s not the only thing getting stuffed today.”-Simon ‘Ghost’ Riley

7:“Breasts/thighs are my favorite part to nibble on.”Johnny ‘Soap’MacTavish

8;“Save some of that whipped cream for later.”-John Price

9“I’m a master-baster.”

10: “I prefer cherry pie.” -Freyr (God of War)

11: “Let’s do something that puts us on the naughty list.”- Bigby Wolf { with Red Ridding hood wife }

Naughty Action Prompts

1. Kiss me under the mistletoe.-Rodolfo Parra

2.A naughty sleigh ride || Exhibitionism sex ||

4. I picked you for secret Santa but I wrapped the wrong box so now I’ve given you a very festive sex toy, and oh my god this is so embarrassing-Alejandro Vargas

5:Reader wearing nothing but a Santa hat-Nikolai {RE3}

6.Snow/temperature play-Bigby Wolf { with Witch!Reader}

7:Cabin sex-Alejandro Vargas

8. Bath{ warming up from the cold}-Johnny ‘Soap’MacTavish

9. we were going to a Christmas party but fuck if you don’t just look sinful in red, and you know what? Fuck that Christmas party- Tadashi

10.Nibbling on holiday treats-KK { Ghostwire: Tokyo }

11: we got a little too carried away with the Christmas lights, and now suddenly my hands are bound with the lights and oh my god are we about to have sex?-Ethan Winters

12: it’s holiday dinner with your family, and oh jesus where are your hands going? Alejandro Vargas

13:Wrapped in ribbon.-Simon ‘Ghost’ Riley

14: Santa Baby: reader has decided to dress as Mrs. Claus for a little more “adult” Christmas fun. Oh boy! - Akito { Ghostwire: Tokyo }

15: Christmas shenanigans under the tree, if you know what I mean.-Simon “Ghost” Riley {COD:MW2}

Nice Dialogue Prompts:

1. “Alright, mister. I know you’re the one who keeps hanging up mistletoe everywhere.”-Bruno Madrigal

2. “Do you need help hanging up the Christmas lights?”John Price

3. “Will you make a gingerbread house with me?”- Simon ‘Ghost’ Riley

4. “Excuse me—where is my Christmas kiss?”Ezio

5. “I made you some hot cocoa.”- Genjo Sanzo

6. “It’s snowing!”-Cloud Strife

7. “You look even more beautiful covered in snow.”Naruto Uzamaki

8. “It’s time for hand turkey’s everyone.” “FUCK YES YES!” Johnny “Soap”MacTavish

9. “Thanksgiving is for giving thanks” “And for body slamming each other during the family football match!”

10. “I wish you the happiest of happy Christmases.”-Zoro { one piece }

11. “Did you decorate the tree without me? I can’t believe this!”-Ethan Winters

12. “Go on, open it.”-Travis Hackett

13. “Carmel apples, leaves falling down. What could better then November?” “I don’t know maybe fucking June?”-R.J. MacReady

14. “Would you like to put the star on the very top of the tree?”-Russel Adler

15. “Did you spike the eggnog again?”-Simon “Ghost” Riley

16. “I can’t believe you’re making snow angels at a time like this!”-Kyle "Gaz" Garrick

17. “HAPPY NOVEMBER!” “No one wishes anyone a happy November.” “Well I just did.”- Karl Heisenberg

18. “Merry Christmas, motherfuckers!”-Johnny “Soap”MacTavish

19. “I think you might have gone a little overboard with the food.” “There’s no such thing as overboard during Thanksgiving!” Kyo Sohma

20. “I can’t believe you did that to Santa…”- Dad!Aizen

21: “How many candy canes have you eaten?”John Price

Nice Action Prompts:

1: The scent of real Christmas trees.-Freyr (God of War)?

2:Baking holiday cookies.- Ebenezer Scrooge

3:Peppermint-flavoured everything-Modern{ Prince!} Jin Sakai

4:Watching the snowfall from inside a cosy house-Damon Salvatore

5:Walking in the dark to see festive light displays-Alex { COD:MW }

6:Wrapping up in soft cosy blankets-Simon “Ghost” Riley {COD:MW2}

7:Snow Ball Fight- Alejandro Vargas

8:one lending the other their coat/scarf/hat to keep them warm.Sauske

9: building a snowman! Yuki Sohma

10:Hanging Stockings-Ebenezer Scrooge

11: Handing their S/O a positive pregnancy test with a sprig of holly and a note reading ‘Merry Christmas’.Jackie Welles

12: Falling asleep in front of the fire whilst their S/O is playing them ‘dance of the sugar plum fairy’ on piano. They pull a blanket over them and curl up beside them.-Rodolfo Parra

13:Ice Skating-Ichigo

14: Snowman competition, the judges are a bunch of five year old kids.- Bigby Wolf { x RedRidding Hood!Reader }

[toplinetommy]

13 from list 2 please w matty

Christmas with Matthew and the rest of the Tkachuk clan was the one thing you were looking forward to the second Thanksgiving ended and Christmas started. Last Christmas you had decided to spend the holiday with your respective families, mainly due to the newness of your relationship. But this year, you had gotten a personal invitation from each member of his family, making it an easy decision to say yes and join them in St. Louis. His hockey schedule had somehow allowed him to free just long enough to spend a few days in his family home and he had never been more grateful you got the same time off to join him. 

It was now Christmas Eve, and you all were partaking in the annual Christmas dinner he and his extended family hosted every holiday season. You were sat next to Matthew, one of his cousins on the other side of you. Matthew was dressed in one of his many black suits, the first few buttons of his dress shirt undone since he had foregone the idea of wearing a tie. His hair was freshly cut, the long, untamed curls he once had now long gone. You had been wearing a satin midi dress that draped over your chest. From the moment you slipped the dress on in Matthew’s childhood bedroom, his eyes stayed locked on your figure while one of his hands never left your body.

A few glasses of wine later, you and Matthew’s siblings had made your way home, while Keith and Chantal went out with the rest of the parents. Matthew was grateful for this, wanting to spend the evening with you alone while he could. You had only been in Missouri for a day and a half, your flight getting in the day prior; Matthew had not stopped making comments about the hit this trip was taking to his sex drive. Especially tonight, with all of your curves on display, your chest, and neck exposed from the high ponytail you had styled your hair in. All he could think of was placing his lips across your collarbones and breasts, the alcohol only adding to the mix. 

The four of you had congregated in the large family room, trying to decide what you would all do next. It was starting to get late, but not late enough to warrant any of you wanting to go to bed. Brady had convinced Matthew to let Taryn have a beer since the rest of you were drinking. After a lot of arguing between the two brothers, Matthew let go of his overprotectiveness and agreed that she could have one Bud Light.

Somehow you stayed in the dress you wore to dinner, while Matthew had opted to take off his dress clothes the second he was able to. Once you hit the bottom of your wine glass you made a comment about how you wanted to get dressed out of your dress and into a pair of sweatpants. Matthew, one to never conceal the true meaning behind his words said he’d come with you. Brady scoffed at the comment, Matthew sending a glare over to his younger brother. 

Matthew followed you up the stairs to his room, squeezing your ass once you hit the landing, eliciting a squeal from your lips. Your hair bounced across your back as you ran away from your boyfriend, hoping to find solace in his ensuite bathroom. But Matthew was quicker, and he pulled you off the ground and into his chest with a giggle. His fingers went to your sides, tickling you. You tried to pull his hands off of you as you laughed loudly at his antics, but he was stronger and just kept you glued to his chest. You accidentally elbowed him, causing him to stop tickling you for a second, and you took the chance to turn around in his arms.

You placed a quick kiss on his lips, thankful that his hands halted their movements. His hands continued to rest on your waist, him squeezing once again, before rubbing your back in a soothing manner.

“I love you,” you mumble against his lips. He smiles, kissing you again before repeating those three words back to you.

Matthew captured your lips in his again, you stand on your tiptoes in order to kiss him comfortably. He continues to kiss you softly, guiding both of you to his bed, before he’s crawling on top of you. Matthew’s hands roam over your body, pushing the hem of your dress up so it started to gather around the tops of your thighs. One hand goes to grapes the side of your neck, holding you close as his lips move slowly against yours. 

The kiss is slow and sensual, something abnormal for your tipsy selves. You whine into his mouth when his hips grind into yours, feeling him growing hard. You pull away from him, knowing that this going somewhere you’re hesitant to go.

“Your siblings are literally downstairs,” you warn, speaking against his lips. “You can fuck me all you want when we get back to Calgary.”

“I really don’t care,” he shrugs, rolling his hips into yours again. “You look hot as shit right now and I’m trying not to fuck you senseless.”

The compliment has your back arching into him. Matthew’s lips trail down to your collarbone and you decide to throw all caution into the wind. His siblings downstairs watching a movie isn’t as bad as them being in their rooms, or his parents being home. You give in, letting Matthew strip your dress off of your frame, him following suit and discarding his remaining clothes.

“If your bed makes any noise we’re stopping,” you warn once more. You would much rather not have a conversation with one of his family members about how if you’re going to have sex in this house, you’re going to have to be quiet or do it when no one’s home.

“We’ll be fine,” Matthew reassures you, trailing his lips down your stomach until he’s eye level with your bare center. He spreads your thighs further apart, putting both of them over his shoulders. He takes his time with you, placing soft kisses on the insides of your thighs, biting down every now and then to keep you on your toes. 

His fingers dug into the skin of your thighs as his lips neared our center. You were getting ready to beg at this point, the hot air of his breath contrasting the cool air from his room causing you to only be more turned on. His lips finally find your clit, a gentle kiss being placed there before he licks a stripe up and down your folds. Your hands fly to the curls on his head, needing to grip onto something in order to keep you quiet. His tongue passes over your folds a few more times, his thumb moving to rub at your clit in a slow manner. His tongue fucks into you, moving much faster than his thumb that was rubbing gentle circles on your clit.

“More, Matty,” you whine softly. “More.”

He pops his head up a little from between your legs, smirking up at you. “I’m just making sure you won’t be too loud.”

“I’ll be quiet, I promise.”

Matthew smirks again, wrapping his lips around your clit as his fingers push through your folds. Your breath picks up as he pushes his finger in you, a second following close behind. His fingers scissor inside of you, stretching you open as he finds your g-spot. The pressure on your g-spot plus his mouth on your clit has you throwing your head back and gripping his hair tighter, biting your lip to stay quiet. His fingers pick up the pace, his other hand moving to link his fingers with yours. 

He holds your hand as your high nears, your hips bucking up against his face. The wet sounds coming from his fingers only make your stomach tighten further. His lips separate from your clit, but only for just enough time for him to spit where his mouth once was. You almost moan out as you watch him do so, but don’t and instead hold on tighter to Matthew’s hand as his lips wrap around your clit again. The tightness in your stomach increases as you start to see stars, your high crashing over you. Matthew licks you through it, his fingers slowing down as they pump inside you.

He removes his fingers once he’s sure you’re done, crawling up your body to place another kiss on your lips. You welcome him, wrapping your arms around his body to pull him further in. You feel the tent in his boxers, your hands traveling down his body to push his boxers down. You pump his shaft a few times as he kisses you, before pushing your hand away and pumping him himself.

“How do you want it?” He asks, resting his forehead against yours. 

“Just fuck me, Matty.”

He doesn’t need to be told twice, entering you slowly and giving you time to adjust to his size. He stills inside of you, before pulling out slowly. He kisses you through it all, picking up his pace as he fucks into you. You wrap your legs around his torso, your heels digging into his lower back. Your lips stay attached to his in hopes that he’ll swallow any of your moans. A few whimpers are let out by both of you, trying your best to stay quiet. 

His bed quietly creaks beneath the two of you but you’re too lost in one another to pay any mind to it. His pace picks up and his hand grabs one of your legs, moving it so it’s over his arm, spreading you open. The new angle has him hitting you harder and deeper and it’s getting harder to stay quiet. Your mouth attaches to his shoulder, in hopes of biting down on his skin to keep you quiet.

All of your senses are heightened with how quiet it is in his room, making you focus heavily on the feelings of his rough hands against your skin and his curly hair falling onto your forehead. His hips stutter, a tell-tale sign that he’s close. His thrusts slow down, making sure your high is close, snaking his hand down to rub at your clit. It’s a race to finish now, both of you whining messes as he pistons into you. Your teeth sink into his shoulder again as you come, your back arching into him as your breaths turn heavy.

He finishes soon after, spilling into you as his thrusts turn slow and long. He falls onto you, your bodies both sicky with sweat, chests heaving as you try to catch your breath. He pushes himself off you, pulling out slowly. His eyes watch closely as he sees some of his come spills out of you before he’s wordlessly scooting back down the length of your body and bringing you to your third orgasm with his mouth.

[sweater-daddiesdumbdork]

Winter/Holiday Challenge

Hello wonderful Tumblr Peeps! It’s that time of year where we get all those festive feels. @sagechanoafterdark and I wanted to throw a bit of a holiday party for all of us. 

Below you will find some prompts, a bit of everything that we had pulled together to help inspire you either in writing, mood boards, or other forms or artwork you would like to submit. Either just seasonal fun or holiday specific. Also throwing this out there, if you wanted to switch up some of the prompts from Christmas to something a little different, but want to use the idea in the prompt, please feel free. We encourage it, just please specify if its another holiday so I can write it down. We personally know most Thanksgiving and Christmas traditions, but would love to see (as well as learn) other traditions that you all celebrate. We are leaving this as an open fandom challenge, and will be making a masterlist with all the works submitted to us. Happy Writing! 

Below the cut, you will find the rules and prompts provided.

Can be anything you want to submit, writing or art work. 

Non Con and Dub Con is allowed

Underage, messing with animals, toilet play is a hard NO for us.

All that being said, Properly label your work for anything that’s needed. We have the right to refuse reposting/adding to the official list if it's incomplete with its warnings. 

Please send Sweater your request in a ask, with the number/s and character/fandom you want to write for.  

AU, OC, Y/N, etc is allowed. 

There will be no date to have it submitted by, we know people have lives and cant always get to stuff ASAP. Or the muse has stepped out. No worries, we got you. Submit when you can. 

Anything that is over 500 words, please use a ‘KEEP READING’ Lets not clutter our friends blogs up. (if you're on mobile, we understand it's not easy to use, no worries.) 

Please Reblog this for people to see, we would appreciate it. 

You don’t have to follow us, although be cool if you did

When you tag this, please use #ssholidaychallenge and tag @sagechanoafterdark​ and @sweater-daddiesdumbdork​ in your fic. 

Also probably send one of us a message if one of us doesn’t respond in a timely manner, it’s most likely where Tumblr is not sending notifications. 

You can mix and match prompts. If you wanted something from each category, feel free. Just send the info in your ask. 

There will be no restrictions in prompts, more than one person can have the same prompt. 

2 stories per person though.

HAVE FUN with this. 

Prompts

Person A surprises Person B by being home in time for any holiday of choosing @just-one-ordinary-fangirl with Steve @angrythingstarlight with Andy, Dark!Steve

Person A is great at baking, Person B is not. Chaos @nekoannie-chan with Steve/Brock

Person A is very particular about decorating, Person B just wants to put the decorations wherever they want. 

“That's the ugliest sweater i’ve ever seen.” @icanfeelastormbrewing and @what-is-your-plan-today with Jake and Stella

“My house, my rules. Christmas music stays on.” @optimistic-dinosaur-nacho with Ransom

“Yea, uh, alcohol doesn't go in hot chocolate.” @viinchester

“I love you, but you are a shit decorator.” 

“Step away from the cookies.” @pagesoflauren with Ransom @the-soulofdevil

Pulling you/character in for a kiss from the scarf @imma-sucker-for-a-beard with Chris @queenbeean​ with Ransom

Christmas Cookie Baking Day

Hiding the pickle in the tree @thefanficfaerie with Steve

“Can we pretend we’re dating at my family's Christmas Party? Then keep it up till New Years?” @unnuevosoltransformalarealidad 

Accidentally breaks ornaments decorating @stuckonjbbarnes with Loki

“Are those lights singing?” “Yes” “I hate them” “I love them” 

Kinky Gift Exchange

“Let's do something to put us on the naughty list” @imma-sucker-for-a-beard with Chris

Wrap yourself up like a gift

Get caught nibbling on forbidden holiday treats @sweeterthanthis

“All I want for christmas is you” @queenbeean​with Curtis

Finding the PERFECT tree @what-is-your-plan-today with Rogers @thefanficfaerie with Chris

Meeting the family for the holiday @mcubabydotcom with Ransom @unnuevosoltransformalarealidad 

Snowed in and make a fire for warmth (and cuddles) @romaxnogersav with Bucky @steebsbabygirl with Steve

Holiday Movie Night! (any movie of your choosing) 

Exchanging Secret Santa Gifts @navybrat817​ with Bucky

Lighting the Menorah

Eight Days of Hanukkah

Exchanging homemade gifts on the last day of Kwanzaa

Kwanzaa party! 

Seven Days of Kwanzaa

Playing the dreidel and other games

“Roses are Red, Violets are Blue, Merry Christmas Bitch, I love you.” (feel free to leave out the swear if you want) 

“Do you wanna build a sno-” “Don't you dare finish that” @twittytelly with Chris @bananapie99 with Bucky

“You look like this gingerbread man” proceeds to take a bite. @optimistic-dinosaur-nacho with Ransom

“I love Christmas more than anything” “what, even more then me?” @just-one-ordinary-fangirl with Ransom

“You’ve burnt the turkey.” 

“I’m freezing, you’re warm. Hug me.” @arrowsandmixtapes @steebsbabygirl with Steve @unnuevosoltransformalarealidad 

Exchanging Secret Santa Gifts

Donating toys to children @redhairedfeistynerd​ with Chris

“Did you put antlers on the dog?” @what-is-your-plan-today with Adlers @viinchester with Chris 

“Im freezing, you are warm, hug me.” @nekoannie-chan with Steve/Brock

Song Prompts

41. Santa Baby - Eartha Kitt @angrythingstarlight​ with Andy

42. It's The Most Wonderful Time of the Year - Andy Williams

43. White Christmas - Bing Crosby

44. Jingle Bell Rock - Bobby Helms

45. Frosty The Snowman - Gene Autry

46. Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer - Gene Autry

47. Santa Claus Is Coming To Town - Bruce Springsteen

48. Blue Christmas - Elvis

49. Last Christmas - Wham

50. Mr Grinch - Thurl Ravenscroft @stargazingfangirl18​ with Frank Adler

51. Silver Bells - Dean Martin

52. Mele Kalikimaka - Bing Crosby

53. Its Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas - Johnny McMathis

54. Holly Jolly Christmas - Burl Ives

55. Feliz Navidad - José Feliciano

56. Hippopotamus for Christmas - Gayla Peevy

57. Holly Jolly Christmas - Dean Martin @optimistic-dinosaur-nacho​ with Ransom

58. All I Want For Christmas - Mariah Carey @angrythingstarlight​ with Dark!Steve

59. Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer - Elmo and Patsy

60. Rockin Around The Christmas Tree - Brenda Lee

Movie Prompts- 

61. Four Christmases- You and Character of choice go to your different family Christmas’s, each with their own disasters. 

62. National Lampoon's Christmas- The whole family gets together in one house to celebrate. (Cousin Eddie anyone?) @pagesoflauren​ with Ransom

63. Jingle All the Way- Got to find THE GIFT of the season last minute

64. The Grinch- Someone just doesn't like the holiday, heart is three sizes too small. But it can all turn around and find the holiday spirit @verdandi-storm​

65. It's A Wonderful Life- Someone gets an awakening during the Holidays at just how lucky they are from a visitor.

Picture Prompts-

66.

@bananapie99 with Bucky

67.

68.

@twittytelly​ with Chris @stuckonjbbarnes with Bucky

69.

@the-soulofdevil​ @angrythingstarlight​ with Dark!Steve

70.

@donutloverxo​

71.

@gotnofucks with Sam/Bucky

72.

@sweater-daddiesdumbdork​ with Sam

73.

@sweater-daddiesdumbdork​

[magnumdays]

Magnum PI - 3.03 - No Way Out

So this week episode was...well, I don’t know.

I guess I enjoyed it and we got some fun moments. But over all I just... I just didn’t like anyone (weird because they’re my babies) . Everyone were just acting so not cool with each other. The bickering was annoying rather endearing. Seriously some of the most enjoyable bits were the Rick-being-worried-mother-hen ones.

Also where was the Miggy? There was barely any! (yes I’m saying that about the episode where we got this)

and an end scene like this

This little squint-y thing when she’s texting Ethan and smiling? We see you Magnum.

(And how can Jay just get hotter and hotter? I mean, seriously, someone call the fire department already!)

Magnum “keeping tally” of her dates....because of “the over under” that was pretty great too! And him pulling her out of the elevator. And her giving him a ‘mmmm nice’ look when he was wearing the sexy black commando outfit...

IDK, maybe there was some Miggy crumbs and maybe my slight ‘meehewh’ experience was it was just because I was watching this at 5 am and the streaming site kept buffering (and I just got so spoiled with 3.01-2). But I don’t know. It did feel a little flat. Maybe low stakes because I didn’t feel like no one was actually in danger, which is really weird during a hostage situation. 

Plus point for the fact that they brought up / it caused problem that Higgy switched to TC for her Fake-Fiance! That was just so stupid I’m glad it actually came back to bite her. I would however have liked them all to be blaming themselves, rather than each other, because that just wasn’t cute. 

Still, I mean some of the biggest reasons I watch Magnum because of good (and oh so pretty) characters, friendship and brotherhood (and partnership), Miggy, beautiful scenery and cool cars. I didn’t get much of any of that other than a minute at the end. Like seriously, there was not even one shot of the Ferrari this week...*tears*

Having some almost-personal-experience (one of my best friends is currently appealing her work visa and was possibly going to have to leave right before Christmas) it’s really tough to not know what’s going to happen. My friend is really broken up about it and I’m really bummed out too. It’s real terrifying to be at the whim of some government person who don’t know you or your circumstances other than from a sheet of paper. A person, that have the power to separate you from your new family and home. 

So I kind of get why Juliet is upset and lashing out. She hates that she has no control. So I can forgive her.... for half of it. 

But these guys all did this illegal thing for you Juliet, because they wanted you to stay so bad!

Magnum is easily as upset as you Higgy and TC isn’t happy either. They love you! Try to remember that!

(I mean TC lied badly and awkwardly for you girl, come on!)

Blaming them might be a cooping mechanism (and I actually love the fact that we got her fake crying about her ‘daddy issues’ because we all know that she probably got some. At least my head cannon Mr. Higgins isn’t winning dad of the year awards) but it’s also going backwards for her character (but when have they ever really cared about that?). 

I figure it’s for the drama but it could have been equally dramatic if Higgy had just gone ‘I guess that means I’m going home for good’ and started mentioning all the things she was going to miss and Magnum was being all, ‘I’m sorry I fudge it up’ (even though I’m not sure I actually think it’s more Magnum’s fault than anyone else’s...)

Or they could have kept it all the same, but at some point actually had Juliet admit that she said yes to the proposal, she’s at fault too and maybe that she really should just have married Magnum. I mean that would just have been the simplest and most likely to succeed thing to do to succeed with the fake visa. Her switching messed it up and even with the ‘I own a business’ visa it’s still causing problems.

This could also finally have given them a moment to talk about WHY she did that (because they would be less likely that things went wrong with TC? Wouldn’t he go to jail if they found out same as with Magnum? How did switching ever make any sense?), maybe we could even have gotten some Miggy feels hinted at - of course interrupted by Bad Guys coming to shoot them. 

I feel like this was maybe how it went in the original script - because of the whole “and I didn’t have to marry either one of you” comment at the end. I feel like that might have been meant to tie in with a scene like that. But that’s probably just my shippy sleepy brain making stuff up!

Despite this all I did enjoyed Magnum little speech about how it’s all his fault. It’s totally stupid and illogical for him to make it and if the immigration guy hadn’t been all ‘lets just forget about this because you saved my life, welcome to America’ it would maybe even have led to Magnum losing his license, them all getting arrested and Higgy deported. It’s still really cute and heartwarming and if Juliet keeps calling him immature man-child after this I’m gonna be annoyed.

The “welcome home” at the end and generally good feeling of things being some what settled with the visa (or so I’m assuming) is really nice. Higgy is finally actually home and we got a lovely family dinner with the whole gang, Juliet saying thank you and some Miggy puppy dog eyes to finish it all up with. Over all it felt vaguely like this might have been meant to air around Thanksgiving or something originally.

I guess I can’t complain too much. Little sad we didn’t get any kind of Christmas feels (but with the filming scheduled weird due to corona I get why no one would even have considered it) but I really hope we get a X-mas themed episode in season 4!

[excindrela]

12 Days of Demon Ayno - Day 12 (18+)

Supernatural AU

Pairing: demon! Ayno (Noh YoonHo) VAV / Female reader

Genre: Fluff / Smut

Warnings: Cussing, alcohol consumption, unprotected sex (be safe!)

Word Count: 2752

AU: Ok. TMI: I suffer from depression which means that I either can’t stop writing, or can’t make myself write...which is why it takes me forever. And sometimes I have writing ADD (well, I have that too...) and I can write 100 words on 5 different things, but not 500 words on one thing. I’m so sorry. Really. 

This should have been done in Dec of 19. It was finished in June of 20. I’m not sure anyone is still reading this. Is anyone here? If so, and you want me to keep going, send me a message. You can send anon. If you’re still here, thank you. Really- thank you.

Demon Ayno: Summoned, Thanksgiving, 12 Days: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6 | Day 7 | Day 8 | Day 9 | Day 10 | Day 11| Day 12 | NYE | Lunar New Year

On the 12th Day of Christmas: You & Ayno Brought Each Other Joy

The week leading up to Christmas had been bliss. With the exception of a few social obligations, you’d had absolutely nothing planned- leading you to spend your days in pajamas and lazing around on the couch and in bed with Ayno. It was just like when he had arrived in October- not having to be around anyone else or pretend to be human had allowed him to revert to bad-boy demon mode and it had pretty much turned into an eight day fuck fest. It had been a whole week of pure indulgence- the words “no” and “stop” never fell from your lips, but you had uttered plenty of “yes”, “more” and “don’t stop”. It was a good thing you didn’t have to go back to work until after New Year’s Day and it was turtleneck season, because your neck was a patchwork of purples and magenta, and your inner thighs were bruised beyond belief…you felt like you existed in a permanently blissed out state.

It wasn’t the only thing you did: You braved the cold to go see White Christmas on the big screen, and again to go to the Christmas carol sing-along at the college. You had been suckered into attending a cookie exchange, and although baking was still a disaster for him, Ayno cheerfully made the dough but left the actual baking of the cookies to you…and you left the eating of the cookies you brought back home to him.

Your favorite thing by far was all the moments when you just cuddled and enjoyed each other’s company in comfortable silence; or the opposite when you talked endlessly to each other about everything. But either way, you were always wrapped in Ayno’s arms- often snuggled against his chest, breathing in the spicy earthy smell that was uniquely his.

You passed on going to your mom’s house for Christmas Eve- you were unwilling to leave Ayno at home, but you weren’t sure they were all ready for each other after the Thanksgiving fiasco. Instead you opted to spend the afternoon in the kitchen with him, drinking wine and cooking dinner, stealing kisses, and laughing uncontrollably as he would break out into random dances to Christmas carols on the radio.

The two of you went through a whole bottle of wine while you cooked plus another entire bottle of wine at dinner, and it caught up to you around 10 as you were laying on top of Ayno, who was gently rubbing your back as you watched “While You Were Sleeping”. Your eyes grew heavy, and you felt Ayno pick you up and carry you to bed. He climbed in and spooned up behind you, placing soft kisses on the back of your neck, and wrapping his strong arms around you.

*          *          *

It was a little before two when you woke up cold and alone. You slipped out from between the covers and wrapping the throw blanket at the end of the bed around your shoulders, went in search of your demon and his unnatural body heat.

You found him- sitting on a blanket on the living room floor, knees pulled to his chest and his chin resting on them, gazing up at his beautiful glowing Christmas tree.

“Ayno? You ok?” you asked softly. He unfolded himself and opened his arms, beckoning to you with his hands. You went straight to him, letting him wrap his arms around you and pull you to lay on the floor with him. “Did I wake you?”, he asked as he placed a kiss on your forehead, “I was trying to be quiet.”

“No. I was just cold…and I missed you being next to me. I know the not needing sleep thing makes it boring just laying there.”

“I do not mind. I like looking at you when you sleep. You are so beautiful and peaceful. Sometimes I talk to you…”

“I’ve never heard you…”

He smiled and spoke in barely a whisper “I am very quiet. And I speak in my language so it will seem like background noise to you.”

You giggled, “What do you say? Are you telling me demon bedtime stories?”

He laughed lightly, “I do not think we have those…our stories are not the kind of thing that helps people sleep.”

“I don’t know…you seem to help me sleep…”

Ayno smiled and gave a slight laugh “That is not because I am telling you soothing stories, it is because I wear you out…” he said as he brought his lips to yours.

His kisses were achingly soft as he lifted you and slipped your shirt off over your head. You felt the cold sting your nipples to rigid attention. Ayno cupped your breast and let his thumb graze lightly over the bud as he lowered you back down to the blanket. His hands traveled down your sides and waist until he hooked his fingers into the waist of your pajama shorts and underwear so he could pull them off as he continued down your legs to your feet. He reached down and slowly ran his hands from thigh to ankle, and cupping your heel he brought your foot to his lips, delicately kissing the ball, arch and heel before bringing his lips to your ankle bone and beginning to leave a trail of kisses along your calf, the back of your knee, and up your inner thigh. You could feel his hands running soothingly up and down the outside of your leg as he went. You giggled as he nipped gently at your inner thighs “Mmm what are you doing No?” He smiled against your skin. “I am memorizing you. So even if I spent a thousand years in the circles of hell, I would still know every line and every curve.” He skipped over the place you most wanted him to touch and instead went straight to your other inner thigh kissing and nipping and working his way back down to your foot just as he had on the other side. After he had kissed each of your toes gently from biggest to smallest, he leveraged himself over you, and starting at your hip bone begin placing kisses in an arc just above your pubic bone before stroking his cheeks on your stomach, and ghosting kisses around your belly button. You ran your fingers into his hair, thumbs brushing over his temples and cheekbones as you breathed soft sighs of contentment. While you kept wanting Ayno to rough you up a little bit now and then, there was no denying that when he loved you gently you melted under his touch. His lips continued to explore your skin as he worked his way up your body, leaving gentle touches in the valley between your breasts, and then gently circling your mounds until he placed his hot mouth over your cold nipples, swirling his tongue and sucking. He ran his hands from your hips up your sides and breasts over your shoulders and down your arms until he reached your hands, threading his fingers between yours, and lifting your hands over your head. Ayno lowered his body and positioned himself at your entrance while still gently kissing your face and neck. He pushed himself inside at a slow steady pace, until he filled you completely. He stayed there, his body was flush with yours, creating as much skin on skin contact as possible. He pressed his cheek to yours as he continued kissing and sucking your neck and earlobe as he gently thrust into you at a steady pace. You closed your eyes, focusing on the incredible feeling of his weight on you, all over you, moving inside you. Wishing there was a way to get even closer, you wrapped your legs around his hips. Ayno lifted his head and kissed you passionately. He stayed close, nuzzling your nose with his, and lips still brushing yours and leaving fleeting kisses. When you opened your eyes to look at him, the tender look in his eyes caused your breath hitch. He looked deeply into your eyes with that soul penetrating gaze he had. “Thank you for keeping me. In all my years, nothing compares to these last weeks. Nothing even comes close.”   His words left you speechless, so you squeezed his hands and brought your mouth to his, hoping you could convey your emotions in the kiss. You felt his thrusts gaining speed and getting more intense. The familiar heat began to build in your belly, your toes tingled, stars appeared in your vision and you keened softly when Ayno hit the spot that made your legs start shaking and your whole-body jolt.  Your walls tightened around him as he took you over the edge. He slowed his pace, his hands squeezing yours tightly until he thrust into you one last time. He laid there and kissed you tenderly as his body softened and he could slide out of you without overstimulating you. 

 You had no idea how long you just laid there in each other’s arms just nuzzling and kissing, but Ayno’s bond with you told him you needed some after care. He wrapped you in your blanket before he padded off to the kitchen. He returned a few moments later, pajamas having magically reappeared on his body, with ice water and snacks- which he promptly began feeding you.

 “Do you want your present now?”, he asked, looking over at the tree, barely able to contain his excitement.

“It’s not Christmas yet!”, you laughed.

He pointed at the clock. “It is three hours past midnight. It is Christmas Day.”

Technically he was right, and he looked so hopeful.

“Ok,ok! Do you want yours?”

“I get a present too?”

“Of course you get a present! Did you really think I wouldn’t get you something?”, you said with mock offense.

He grinned. “Never got a present before! ...never celebrated Christmas before either. I did not really expect anything...already have you, so I consider myself spoiled anyway.”

If any other person had ever said that to you, you would have considered it the cheesiest fake line ever...but you knew Ayno meant it with utter sincerity.

He reached under the tree and pulled out a brown cardboard gift box

“You first!”, he said excitedly. “If you do not like it, tell me and I will fix it.” He seemed a little nervous. What kind of presents did demons give exactly? You undid the bow and cautiously opened the lid. You parted the tissue paper and pulled out a long, wide scarf that had been knit in an intricate open pattern out of soft cloud-like yarn in the most luscious color you had ever seen. “Do you like it?” he asked as he took it from you and began to drape it around your neck.

“Ayno, this is beautiful! …it’s so soft! …and the color is amazing…where did you get this?”

Ayno smiled shyly, “I made it for you.”

You sat staring at him with your mouth hanging open. “You made it???”

“Mmm-hmm. There is a shop downtown called “Knitch”. It is populated mostly with women who are nearer to death than not. They practice the old arts by using sticks and hooks to make things from fibers. I liked watching them. They noticed my interest, so they showed me how to do it…apparently I am clever with my hands. Do…do you like it?”

“I love it. It’s beautiful. I’ve never had someone make me a gift… I had no idea you could do this. I don’t ever want to take it off.”

He smiled proudly. “Now I will know you are warm when I am not with you. It is made from the hair of an alpaca and an angora rabbit, so we will have to clean it carefully.” He paused as he fluffed and adjusted it around your neck. “I am so relieved it pleases you…I was afraid you would not like it.”

 You took a small box out from under the tree. “I feel a little guilty about yours now. It seems so impersonal.”, you said as you somewhat reluctantly handed him the box.

Ayno’s face glowed as he turned the box over in his hands and ran his fingers over the foil paper. “So shiny! You wrap so well. I must learn this from you.” You expected him to rip into it with the fervor of a five-year-old, but he surprised you by carefully removing the tape at the seams and unfolding the edges. He lifted the paper away to reveal the gleaming white box with the holographic rectangle and number. He looked at it curiously before sliding the lid off and staring wide eyed at the object inside. He looked at you, and back at the box, a smile slowly spreading across his face. “For me??”

“Yes.”

“It is real? I may use it?”

You laughed. “Of course it’s real. And I got it so you could use it.”

He gently lifted it out and turned it over in his hands. “It looks just like yours! It even has the little apple on it!”

“Yes- we have the same model iPhone. But you have your own phone number. I hated that we had no way to get in touch with each other during the day, and well…it seems like you’re going to be staying awhile…”

You looked up into his face, his dark eyes filled with affection. He pulled you back into his arms, burying his face into the crook of your neck beneath the scarf. You realized that for you, giving Ayno his own phone had been a practical decision…but for Ayno it was far more: he had keenly observed that couples seemed to be linked by their phones – sending texts, calling, shared calendars and lots of pictures. While you had verbally acknowledged the relationship- and your desire to continue it…to him this was a physical symbol of that: a sign that you had accepted- and desired him as something fixed in your life.

“So exciting! Now I will look like everyone else at the coffee shop!” he said grinning.

“We can set it up and order you a case tomorrow, well, later today,” you said as you watched him power it on. “…or right now…”

“Can I play Candy Crush on it??”

“Yes, but you’ll have to start back at level 1.”

He was undeterred. “That is ok. Then I will have three stars on all my levels.” he said giving you a pointed look.

“So many languages…” he said scrolling through the list to make his choice.

“Is yours there?” you asked curiously.

He laughed “I think not…although more of us have cell phones than you might imagine.”

He happily set about picking a background, chose dark mode, let it scan his face for ID, set up a passcode (your birthday), found the app store and began downloading Candy Crush and Snapchat. Then he opened his “contacts” icon, pushed the “+” sign and handed his phone to you. You typed in your name, cell and office numbers, e-mail, and the apartment address.

“No picture?” he said as you handed it back to him. “Well, it’s the picture that will take up your whole screen when I call… so I’ll send you one that wouldn’t embarrass you…or me…to have everyone see it.” you explained.

Suddenly his face lit up. He pulled you into his lap, and turned on the camera to portrait mode, flipped it to front facing, and held his arm high as he brought his head next to yours and snapped his phone’s first selfies. He smiled with joy as he gazed at the two of you: still flushed with afterglow, colored lights reflecting off his blonde hair, bright smiles and all wrapped in each other’s arms. He immediately set it as his lock screen. “You don’t think we’ve taken better pictures?” you asked looking at your happy but disheveled faces .

He shook his head, “Look at us”, he said admiring the pic again, “so beautiful- happiness…affection...look how we fit together…all that is good in your world is reflected in us here. Now I have this moment forever.”

You threw your arms around him and held him as tight as you could. His arms came around you, holding you fast against him, his fingers in your hair and his soft cheek rubbing against yours. You wished you could stop time so this feeling would never end.

“Merry Christmas, Ayno”, you whispered.

“Merry Christmas.”

[merinelsa]

Have you ever done a ranking list of your favourite episodes?

not really , the thing with me is that i never rewatch tv shows . i binge through them once and then just watch few scenes in yt , but never rewatch any of it even if it was one of my favourite show. Glee is the only exception , though i really only watch very few eps from the earlier seasons and rewatched s5-s6 twice , though i’d skipped 100, new directions and the wedding during both my rewatches. there are eps like new new york and wonderful that i watch time to time as comfort eps playing in the background . from s3, first time and big brother are the only eps i have rewatched 

i’d only watched glee for the first time last year , so like it’s not been that long to warrant a rewatch , but since i’d binged most of it in one stretch ( had taken a one month break b/w s3ep7 and ep8 because of how much i was getting tired of the shitty storylines of s3 , hence it being my least fave ) i forgot a lot of the non klaine stuff.

but i’ll try to rank the eps , just know that i’m very biased to klaine/kurt/blaine storylines . and the seasons too are ranked in the order i like them 

6 . season 3

22. i kissed a girl

21. pot o gold

20. prom-asaurus

19. yes/no

18. i am unicorn

17. mash off

16. the spanish teacher

15. asian f

14. on my way

13. props

12. choke

11. hold on to sixteen

10. saturday night gleever

9. michael

8. goodbye

7. big brother

6. nationals

5. heart

4. extraordinary merry christmas

3. dance with somebody

2. purple piano project

1. first time

5. season 1

22. the rhodes not taken

21. funk

20. showmance

19.  vitamin d

18. hairography

17. ballad

16. mashup

15. throwdown

14. the power of madonna

13. mattress

12. acafellas

11. dream on

10. home

9. pilot

8.  hell-o

7. sectionals

6. preggers

5. bad reputation

4. wheels

3. journey to regionals

2. theatricality

1. laryngitis

4. season 4 

22. britney 2.0

21. sweet dreams

20. lights out

19. shooting star

18. all or nothing

17. feud

16. thanksgiving

15. the role you were born to play

14. glease

13. swan song

12. sadie hawkins

11. naked

10. makeover

9. girls and boys on film

8. diva

7. glee,actually

6. i do

5. dynamic duets

4. the new rachel

3.  break up

2. guilty pleasure

1. wonderful

3. season 2

22. britney/brittany

21. the substitute

20. comeback

19. special education

18. a very glee christmas

17. the sue sylvester shuffle

16. night of neglect

15. new york

14. funeral

13. never been kissed ( except for the klaine part, the whole ep is a mess)

12. rocky horror glee show

11. rumours

10. audition

9. sexy

8. grilled cheesus

7. blame it on the alcohol

6. prom queen

5. born this way

4. silly love songs

3. duets

2. furt 

1. original song

2. season 6

13. the rise and fall of sue sylvester

12. hurt locker part 1

11. child star

10. homecoming

9. we built this glee club

8. what the world needs now

7. hurt locker part 2

6. a wedding

5.  dreams come true

4. 2009

3. jagged little tapestry

2. transitioning

1. loser like me

1. season 5 ( i’m not going to rank the quaterback )

19. opening night

18. 100

17. tina in the sky with diamonds

16. city of angels

15. bash

14. a katy or gaga

13. new direction

12. end of twerk

11. previously unaired christmas

10. trio

9. movin out

8. the back up plan

7. puppet master

6. love love love

5. old dogs new trick

4. untitled rachel berry project

3. frenemies

2. tested

1. new new york

now top five glee episodes over all

5. original song : don’t ask me what happened besides klaine in this because i truly don’t remember . but the klaine parts are pure heavenly. s2 klaine is something i missed a lot and didn’t appreciate enough during my first watch but rewatching some klaine centric eps has made me appreciate their friendship a lot more. even the stuff leading upto the kiss is fantastic , it’s also an ep that shows how rachel and blaine can get similar but how they react to criticisms and how blaine tries to include everyone when pointed out unlike making a fit out of it with rachel is where they diverge and makes these incredibly different personalities .and the kiss was just to good and sparks were flying everywhere and it is something that glee could never recreate with any other couple. and “ reminds you of your mom’s funeral doesn’t it “” the casket was bigger but yes “ just proves that they are equally dumbasses that fit each other so well

4. wonder-ful : this is just pure comfort ep. it’s so bright and upbeat in the middle of the previous dark eps. so much kurt and klaine . a bit more focus on kurt’s mental health issues, which will later be forgotten but it’s good over here. supportive blaine as always just highlighting how much they understand each other. a lot of burt which is always a plus . a very good mercedes plotline which should’ve been given more time but still is one of the better ones she gets.just seeing how light and loving kurt turns once burt is finally in the safe zone. and ‘you get kinda cute when you get nervous’ and ‘with you in it a wondeful life’ and whatever homoerotic stuff that is going on b/w rachel and cassie

3. Loser like me : the pure angst . i love storylines where they hit the rock bottom from such a happy place and have to find their way to the top by leaning in on each other and supporting each other. great klaine scenes, s5b we where pushed to believe that kurt had it all together, but we finally got to see kurt being an absolute mess and realizing how he contributed to their relationship not working out instead of pitting it all on s4 cheating . confident got help all by himself in a better position blaine , rachel finally getting a storyline that’s interesting and makes her one to root for . This ep always gives me the chills and makes me excited for the rest of the season

2. Tested : It’s genuinely one of the funniest eps ever. amazing rachcedes moment . the guys presenting one of my fave family dynamics in the show. great samcedes and klaine plotline . and i love the way liab is shot , such a well choreographed performance and it really looks like chris and darren had so much fun doing it.

1. New new york : this ep is the perfect mixture of fluff , comedy and angst. And on top of that we get never tried before combination of dynamics like rachel and artie as well as our favourite dynamics like klaine, blam, kelliot . also , out of all the klaine plotlines, this feels to me the most realistic one and really shows how much they want to work out their highschool relationship into an adult setting but they’re still young clueless inexperienced couple who doesn’t really know what they’re doing but still trying to work it out the way they think is the best one to protect their relationship , showing how much they care for each other as we enter into the crazy hard parts of their relationship. also , to see these whole set of highschool friends trying to navigate their way into this busy adult life is so fun to watch .  

[chargetheintruder]

Hello Joe is Biden.  :-P

Why yes, Mr. President, I’m here to make your life ridiculous again, imagine that.  It could stop you know.  You could do things FOR the people who voted for you and actually get your groove back.  And stand out against the do-nothing-ist bad habits of Congress in general Yes, one thing I am here to insist upon is VAST Student Loan Forgiveness.  For everyone, no questions asked.  Forgive the balance, waive and decline to collect the interest and fees, on anywhere from $15K to $50K for each American.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/congress-cant-cancel-student-debt-220752889.html

Basically Congress has done all it can in terms of nerfing the taxes on student debt relief into 2025.  Now it’s your turn.  Get it done, now please.

In addition?  Consider doing something to make gas cheaper at the pump as a way to take the edge off of inflation more broadly:

https://www.yahoo.com/news/biden-power-lower-price-gas-215143126.html

In short, we have a Reserve for a reason.  And as long as we aren’t at war with anyone now, why not actually cut prices where you can, to get us through the next 2 years, starting with this Holiday Season?  See, timing is a thing for more than Mid-Term Elections: ordinary, not-so-political people will consider how Thanksgiving and Christmas went far FAR more than they’ll consider how the 2022 Mid-Terms will go.

In addition to THAT?  I’m just plain going to spoon-feed it to you.  Go check out Business Insider’s take on this shipping mess we’ve got.  Please.  They’ve got the right answer on it.  Shipping in America has simply been too leaned out and too damned efficient, and now it no longer has the spare resources to handle any meaningful backlog.  This is why I’ve been harping on sending in some military resources to aid with the shipping issue.  These people simply need more resources: more drivers, more trucks, more storage space to temporarily load and unload goods.  Between this and procedural dysfunctions in the system and what you have is a problem that can easily be solved with temporary military aid.  And this is also something you can do yourself as Commander in Chief.

Seriously, you have it in you, Mr. Biden, to single-handedly save the Holidays for a lot of Americans.  Doing this NOW means you have a clue and did it at the right time too.  It looks good--getting people out of debt and also getting supply and inflation issues calmed the hell down just in time for the holidays.  I shouldn’t have to explain this. Basically, it’s time to take the Republican Traitor Party’s chew-toy away and fix this inflation/supply-chain issue NOW, like someone with sense would.  This is one thing Obama was bad-to-negligent at: keeping the enemies of America from having any positions or talking points that MEANT things to ordinary voting people.  Don’t be pathological in your patience. Now’s the time to move on this.  Get these things done, NOW please.

[imaginesforyourfandom]

Heal My Heart - Chapter 3

December 2007 (Y/N) POV

“To the left (Y/N), to the left…oh my god! Do you not know what the fucking left is?” I rolled my eyes as Blake turned and glared at me. “We could’ve had that you know…”

“I am so sorry.” I muttered as she continued glaring at me.

“No, you’re not.”

“I’m not.” I grinned as the other girl shook her head. I sat the controller down standing up at the knock on the door. I opened to see a smiling Alex Morgan. I grinned back at the girl as I moved aside to let her into the room.

“Hey guys. I am getting ready to leave. My mom is here.” Blake and I both nodded as we gave the girl hugs.

“Merry Christmas Alex.” I said as she hugged me tightly.

“Merry Christmas (Y/N). If I don’t see you before you leave for camp, good luck and I believe in you.” I smiled at her as she turned to exit the room. “Bye! I love you!”

“Love you too.” Blake shouted back as she turned to set up a new game.

I went back and sat by her as we continued playing. After playing for another few hours, I realized it was almost time for me to go do my last shift at the coffee shop before I had to head home for the holidays.

“Are you excited to go home?” Blake asked me as I laid in my bed.

“Yeah. I miss my family and it will be nice to spend some time with my mom. What about you?”

“I’m excited. I missed my dad.” I nodded my head before getting up and getting ready for work.

Things have been a little better lately. I finished the semester strong with A’s and B’s and I’ve been a little bit better. I still haven’t really talked much with Christen after the whole Kelley thing. We both apologized and made up, but I still feel awkward about talking to her. I guess a part of me is still hurt by what happened. Blake has helped me a lot through it. I don’t think I realized how much I needed an actual friend to talk about stuff with until I started to open up to her.

We have a lot in common and it feels like we have known each other a lot longer than we have. I opened up to her about my dad and how he left. She told me about her mom who passed away when she was younger. She has shown me that I can’t let the whole Christen situation stop me from living my life.

“Do you love me?” I turned towards her as she lifted her head up.

“What do you want?”

“A doughnut.” I laughed slightly, grabbing my phone before turning to exit the room.

“Glazed?”

“Yes please…you’re the best.”

“I know.”

I made my way towards the shop as I contemplated what the next few months would look like. I thought that it would be nice and chill since soccer season is over, but with the call-up to the national team coming into play. Well, I wasn’t getting to fully relax like I wanted to. Everyone flipped out when they found out about my callup. The girls took me out drinking which was an experience. My mom cried on the phone with me when I told her.

Three of my friends got called up to the team alongside me so I felt really good knowing I wasn’t going into it alone. I don’t know what I would do without Tobin, Amy, and Lauren being at camp with me. I feel like my journey in my career so far has featured them heavily and I hope we get to have long careers on the senior team together like we did in the youth teams. Amy was lucky enough to have been called up before as was Lauren, but this would be Tobin’s first camp so I was mainly sticking with her.

I had yet to tell Christen that I got called up. It kind of goes along with the whole not talking to her thing. She was the first person I wanted to call when I found out, but with everything that has happened it just didn’t feel right.

“What’s got you thinking so hard?” I turned towards Tati who gave me an odd look.

“Just how busy the next couple of months are going to be.” I said as she nodded her head.

“Yeah, the call up to the national team is insane.”

“It is.”

“You deserve it though…you’re an incredible player and they are lucky to have you.”

“Thanks Tati.”

“Plus, you get to feel good knowing I am not going to fire you because of how much you won’t be around.”

“Lucky me.” I said sarcastically as she laughed. Our shift seemed to pass by slowly given that most people were gone for Christmas break. I was leaving the next day to go home and I was so looking forward to being back with my family.

The rest of the night continued with me making sure all my stuff was together for when my mom arrived to get me. Blake was planning on leaving the same night as me because ‘being in the dorm by yourself is weird’ and to be honest I can’t argue with that. The next day when my mom arrived, I took a little time to load up the car and introduce my mom and Blake. They seemed to hit it off as I noticed them laughing a lot. They didn’t even offer me any help because they were too busy talking to each other.

“I love your mom.” Blake said as I gave her a look. “You lucked out in that department”  

“Yeah, everyone tells me that.” I commented as she grinned at me. We stood for a moment before I gave her a somber look. “So, I’ll see you after break?”

“Yes. I’ll be back before you, but I won’t hold that against you.” I grinned pulling her in for a hug. She groaned slightly before reciprocating the hug.

“I’m gonna miss you.” I admitted as she squeezed me tighter.

“I’ll miss you too. You have my number if you need anything though.” I nodded my head before letting go of her.

“Merry Christmas Blake.”

“Merry Christmas (Y/N)” I gave her a wave before heading towards my mom’s car. We got in and began to drive. It was silent for a little bit until my mom spoke.

“So, Blake seems nice…” I looked at her giving her a confused look before realization dawned on me.

“EW! Gross. No. Hell No!” I said as she laughed. I gave her a disgusted look before responding again. “Blake is like my best friend. There are no feelings there.”

“You said the same thing about Christen.” She defended as I gave her an offended gaze.

“I love Christen. I am actually in love with Christen. I am not in love with Blake.” I said feeling offense at the thought of loving anyone other than Christen.

“How is Christen?”

“Um…I wouldn’t know actually…we haven’t really been talking. Not since the Kelley incident.”

“Didn’t that happen at thanksgiving?”

“Yes.”

“I thought you two made up?”

“We did, but it still isn’t the same. I don’t know. I mean…I am sure we will hangout when we are both on break.”

“I hope so. It would be sad if you two weren’t friends anymore.” I nodded my head along with her knowing that it seemed like torture to ever have to live without the other girl.

The drive felt like forever as we soon made it home hours later. I wasn’t so surprised to find my aunt and grandma at my house as I got big hugs from both of them. My grandma wanted to go out to dinner to celebrate both my coming home and my call up to the national team. I could never decline free food, so I happily accepted.

The next couple days after that were spent sleeping around the house. The laziness in me had really come out as I really only moved to go to the bathroom. Watching tv and texting the girls was how most of the days were spent. I had a little money saved up, so I planned on doing a little Christmas shopping for my family. Since my dad left, our Christmases haven’t really been the same. We used to have these big Christmas parties where all my family on both sides would come over, but after their divorce. It has only been my mom, grandma, and aunt.

I was broken out of my thoughts by a knock on the door. I glanced at the clock noticing that it was only 2:34 pm which meant that it was far too early for anyone to be knocking on my door. I stood walking over and opening it.

“Hey!” Christen beamed as I stared at her in shock for a moment.

“Hi” I said as her smile faltered at my non-enthusiastic response.

“I didn’t know when exactly you were going to be home from school so I thought I would chance it and see if you were here.”

“Yeah…I got back a few days ago.” I responded as she nodded her head. We stood there for a moment before I moved aside to allow her into the home. We went to the living room as I fell back onto the couch. She took a seat in one of the chairs next to the couch as we were both silent. I think we were both trying to figure out what to say.

“Are you happy to be home?” I turned to look at her as I nodded my head.

“Yeah, I missed my family so much. Also, sleeping in my bed just feels better when I am here versus being there at the dorms.” I turned to look back at the tv trying to focus on the show.

“Yeah same…why have you been avoiding me?” My head snapped towards her as she gave me a sad look. “I thought after our conversation at Thanksgiving that things would be better between us, but it still feels like you’re avoiding me.”

“I’m not-” she cut me off with a look as I stared at her. I looked down before continuing. “I don’t know. I thought I was over it, but I guess I am still a little hurt.”

“I don’t think I really expected you to forgive me so easily, but I am really sorry (Y/N).”

“I know.”

Things fell silent again as we both seemed to fall lost in thought. I know it isn’t fair to her to continue holding this against her. She doesn’t know that her dating Kelley and not telling me hurts more than anything else I have ever experienced. She doesn’t know that I wish it was me every single day and it’s not fair for me to continue hurting her because she chose to live her life.

“I’m sorry Christen. It’s not fair to continue being weird about this whole thing….can we just move on from it? I’ll be better I promise.” She moved from her seat to sit on the couch. I sat up and moved my legs, so she had room.

“I don’t want you to just forget about it because you think it’s going to make me feel better…” I stared at her as I sighed. “I lied to you and that wasn’t cool.”

“You didn’t lie.”

“Lying by Omission is still lying.” I stared at her as I shook my head.

“No, it’s fine. Seriously, I just want things to go back to the way they were before.” She nodded her head as I opened my arms for a hug. She didn’t hesitate to hug me as I enjoyed the feeling of her in my arms.

When we pulled away, she gave me a genuine smile. I smiled back as she leaned back on the arm of the couch and brought her feet up to tuck between me and the couch. I leaned back against the other arm as I let my feet hang on the side.

“You really stay invading my personal space…” I commented as she laughed. I grinned as I moved the pillow to settle on top of her feet. We both continued watching tv for a little bit before she decided it was time for us to catch up.

“I won’t even talk about Kelley.” She said as I shook my head.

“No, it’s not a proper catch-up if you don’t say everything.” I said as she nodded her head.

“Okay. Well, it has been great…” she then proceeded to go on for a little while about how great Kelley is and how much she likes her.

“So…like are you in love?” I asked as she seemed to think for a moment before shaking her head.

“I wouldn’t say I am there…or that I could ever get there with her…” she responded as I nodded my head. “It’s fun. That’s what it is supposed to be is fun. I don’t really think either of us are looking for something super serious. I think we are just enjoying each other’s company for now.”

“That’s…awesome.” I said as she smiled.

“What about you?” I was responding to a text from Alex as I looked up at her.

“What about me?”

“Has anyone caught your eye?”

“No. I have too much going on to date anyone right now.” Unless, it’s you.

“What do you have going on?” she asked as I stared at her with confusion before remembering she doesn’t know about the call-up.

“Shit! That’s right. I did not tell you. I got a call up to the senior national team.” Her eyes widened as she surged forward to hug me. I grinned and laughed at her reaction before having an internal meltdown at the fact that she was basically in my lap.

“How could you not tell me?” she had her hands on my shoulders as she hovered above me beaming with excitement.

“Well…” I was at a loss for words partly because she knows why we weren’t talking and partly because she is extremely close to me. She seemed to catch my awkwardness a little because she backed off and fell back onto her side of the couch. I let out a little sigh of relief as she smiled at me.

“Right. Well, I am so proud of you. I knew a call-up was coming for you. When is the camp?”

“January.” I responded as she nodded her head.

“I can’t wait to cheer you on. I knew you would make it. I never doubted you.”

“That means a lot.” I said as she grinned at me.

The rest of the day was spent hanging out together. Things were slowly going back to normal and I was grateful for that. I didn’t like being in an awkward position with her. It didn’t feel good. The following weeks were spent doing my Christmas shopping and hanging out with Christen. I figured out a new form of torture was listening to her talk about Kelley. I was torn between being a good friend and wanting to rip my hair out. I usually would text like Blake or Alex during those conversations. They were a good distraction from the pain.

Christmas had come and gone before we were bringing in the new year. Christen had been invited to a party with Kelley and so our usual plans for a movie marathon during the new year was axed out and that was fine. It was a major bummer to not spend it with her, but I respected that she had other plans. Luckily for me, I had also managed to get invited to go out for the night.

Alex came through with the invite to a New Years Party. I was hesitant to accept at first because I definitely wouldn’t know anyone, but she seemed excited and I found it difficult to say no to her when she gets excited like that. That would be where I currently am at the moment.

“I appreciate you going with me.” Alex said from the passenger seat as I looked over at her.

“Yeah no problem…I didn’t really have anything else going on.”

“Still….you didn’t have to.” She said as I smiled at her.

“Seriously…it’s no big deal.”

Once we arrived, Alex immediately started introducing me to all of her friends from high school. They all seemed cool enough and accepted me for the night. I stayed pretty close to Alex since she was the only one, I really knew. The house we were at was pretty nice. As the night continued on, I got separated from Alex and decided to go find some air. I found a place of solitude on a balcony overlooking the backyard and the view had a pretty good view of a festival that wasn’t too far away.

“Hey…” I turned to see the forward coming out onto the balcony. She had two drinks in her hand as she handed me one.

“Hey yourself.” I said as she gave me a smile.

“What are you doing out here by yourself?” she questioned as I looked to the sky. It was a nice night and I was thankful that I hadn’t stayed in.

“Just needed some air. Big parties aren’t usually my thing.” I admitted as she laughed.

“You and Blake are so alike.” She grinned as I shook my head.

“Sorry we would rather enjoy a night in.” Her smile widened at my confession. “I’m actually glad I came tonight. I feel like I’ve been in a slump and it was nice to get out.”

“Well, then I am glad I could help you out of your slump.”

“Yeah…thanks!” she gave me a smile before turning back towards the party. “Seriously, I usually spend new year’s watching movies with a friend, and I guess I never really knew what I was missing…”

“It’s not about what you’re necessarily missing…you should spend your time doing what you want. You said it yourself. Parties aren’t really your thing and that’s okay.”

“Still…I had only one person in high school that I really was okay being friends with and so most of my time was spent with her. All my traditions spent with her and I never really experienced the whole going out thing all the time.”

“Well, I don’t go out all the time. I like to for certain occasions. This is definitely one of them.”

“I wish I was as much of a risk taker as you are.”

“I don’t. I like your laid-back personality. You’re the chill I need in my life.” She joked as I grinned. “Plus, you work hard for what you want and with the call up to the senior team…I have a feeling it’s all about to pay off for you.”

“Maybe. I still have a lot of respect for you Alex Morgan.” I smiled at her as she stared at me shaking her head.

“Keep playing and I might just make you my new years kiss.” I laughed at her as a thought came to mind.

 “I don’t really think I would mind if you were my new year’s kiss, but um…speaking of kissing…have you talked to Tati at all?”

“Ha-ha very funny. Actually, we have been talking a lot more lately and I have been really enjoying it. I’m not going to lie. I think I might be in love with her.”

“Oh, you used the L word…it must be super serious.”

“Don’t make fun of me you dick…” I grinned, shaking my head as she continued whining.

“I’m not. I am genuinely happy for you! I think it’s great that you’re in love. You should go for it!” I said as she gave me a nervous smile.

“You think so?”

“Yeah for sure…” I offered her a supportive smile

“I just don’t know if she feels the same…”

“Alex…she would be crazy not to. You’re an amazing person. Anyone would be lucky to have you by their side.”

“You really mean that?”

“Of course, I do! You are genuinely one of the most amazing people I have had the privilege of knowing.”

“It’s amazing that you don’t have a girlfriend with how sweet you are.” She commented as I shrugged my shoulders.

“I guess we will never know.” I took a sip of my drink as she laughed. We spent a little while longer listening to the music of the party and talking before we could hear the countdown begin. Usually, Christen and I would be together for the countdown and we would try to time a dramatic moment in a movie to match the new year, but obviously that wasn’t going to be happening this year.

“Can I just say…I am really glad I get to spend the New Year with you.” I said as she grinned at me.

“Me too.” We heard the countdown reach one before the fireworks went off. We watched them and continued sharing stories with each other before she offered me a toast.

“To hopefully a kickass year.”

“To a kickass year.” I said as she grinned at me. We headed back down to the party to rejoin everyone else and continue having a good time.

We stayed for a little while longer before leaving. I didn’t really drink because I wanted to make sure she got home safely. Her family was nice enough to let me stay the night with them due to how dangerous the roads could be at this time. The days following New Years were wild due to having to get ready for my first senior camp. I was extremely nervous as I was constantly texting Cheney, Amy, and Tobin about what I should be packing.

Before I knew it, it was time to leave for camp. The camp was being held only twenty minutes from my house so that was a relief that I wasn’t having to travel too far. Amy was going to be the first out of my friends to get there since she also lived in California. Tobin was coming from Jersey and Cheney from Indianapolis so it would take them some time.

Hours later saw me sitting in my room with the girls as we caught up with each other about our holidays. We had about half an hour before we had to report for the team meeting, so I was taking the time to try to stay as relaxed as possible.

“How were your holidays?” I focused back in as the three stared at me expectantly.

“Boring. I didn’t really do much.” I admitted as they all gave me a look.

“Well, that’s a bummer.” Tobin said as I nodded my head.

“You didn’t do anything fun?” I shook my head as Cheney rolled her eyes.

“I’m going to call your mom and ask her.” Amy said as I gave her a confused look

“You have my mom’s number?”

“No. I would just call off your phone…”

“oh.”

“Idiot.” Tobin joked as we decided to get up and head down to the meeting.

When we walked into the room, it seemed somewhat tense which caused me to look around in confusion. There was something off, but I couldn’t quite place it. I didn’t notice that the other three had left me standing by myself before I noticed I was alone. I jumped slightly when I felt a hand on my shoulder. I tried not to internally scream as I came face to face with Christie Rampone. She gave me a smile as Kate Markgraf came up from behind her.

“You must be one of the rookies!” Kate said as I nodded my head.

Yeah. I’m (Y/N) Torres!” I held out my hand as they both smiled. They shook my hand as Christie seemed to think for a moment.

“Left back right?” I nodded my head as she grinned. “Great!”

“I love when defenders get added to the team.” Kate said as I laughed.

“Come on. You can have a seat with us.” I followed them taking a seat next to them and Heather Mitts. I was surrounded by some incredible defenders and I was having a hard time not losing my shit. Behind me sat my other three friends who had been joined by Ali Krieger and Heather O’Reilly. Tobin gave me a wide-eyed look as I nodded my head. We were both a little starstruck.

Once I sat down though, I noticed why the room had seemed so tense. It was obvious that not many people were making an effort to sit with Hope Solo. I would be an idiot to not know about the drama that had gone on at the last world cup. There were many conflicting stories about what happened afterwards, but the message that not everyone was pleased with the goalkeeper was loud and clear at this moment.

I stared at her for a moment noticing Carli sitting next to her before turning my head towards Pia who had just entered the room. The team meeting seemed to go by quickly as we talked about camp expectations and what she wanted to see from the team. She seemed to emphasize that she didn’t care about team drama and that she was focused on putting out the best team to get the best results which was something I respected.

After the meeting, we had about half an hour to get our stuff together before we would go for our first training session. Tobin and I had already agreed to be bus buddies because we didn’t know anyone else. Though, we were given advice from HAO to wait until everyone else got on the bus to figure out which seats weren’t taken. HAO also said that we needed to not be afraid during the practice session because no one else was going to go easy on us.

The training session seemed to come and go, and I felt good about my performance. Kate and Christie both seemed impressed with me. So did Pia which was a great feeling. My highlight of the session came when I was able to lock down Abby Wambach which was the most surreal feeling in the world. She is one of the best forwards in the world and I successfully managed to stop her attack.  

The rest of the day was pretty chill and ended with us hanging out with some of the vets. We had got dinner with them and they seemed to like me which was a major plus. I know that off-field chemistry is just as important as on-field chemistry, so I needed to make a good impression with them.

“With your skills, I am seriously surprised that Berkeley didn’t make it farther in the season…” Abby said as I shrugged my shoulders.

“I can only do so much in the defense. Our forwards are incredible though. It just happened to be an unlucky season.” I said shrugging my shoulders as they all nodded their heads.

“Still you have a lot of great skills and the potential to grow is there.” Christie said as I grinned at her.

“Thank you! That means a lot.”

I headed back to my room with Tobin and them as I tried not to freak out from the excitement of the day.

“The vets really seem to like you.” Amy said, giving me a slightly impressed look.

“Probably because she almost killed Abby during practice.” Tobin said with an amused look as I shrugged

“I was doing my job.” I laid down on my bed as I looked over at them.

“Exactly why they like you.” Lauren said as I nodded my head. They both then said goodnight leaving me and Tobin there. We didn’t stay up much longer as we knew the next few days would be hectic, and sleep would be a necessity.

The next morning, we got down to breakfast as we made our plates, we looked around for a place to sit. I noticed some empty seats next to Hope and Carli as I moved to make my way over towards them. We were intercepted by Kate though who brought us towards a table with her and some of the others.

“That would have been a mistake.” She said to me as I stared at her.

“Sitting with Hope?” Tobin asked as I noticed some of the other girls get uncomfortable looks on their faces.

“Yeah. We typically try not to sit with people who throw their teammates under the bus.” She responded as I stared at her.

“Okay I get that.” Tobin responded as I nodded my head. I looked over where she was sitting noticing that truly everyone minus Carli was avoiding that table like the plague.

I couldn’t help but feel bad for the goalkeeper. It probably didn’t feel good to have everyone being rude to you and not talking to you in these kinds of moments. The next couple days I felt my interest in Hope continue rising as I felt the need to get to know the goalkeeper.

“Hey, we got invited to go to dinner with some of the other girls. You up for it?” Tobin asked as I thought about it before shaking my head.

“I’m not really feeling it.” I lied as she nodded her head. “You guys go without me. I think I am just going to chill here.”

“Okay text us and maybe we can bring you something back.”

“Okay.” I said as she turned to leave with Lauren and Amy. I waited a few minutes before exiting the room and walking towards the goalkeeper’s room. I knocked on the door and waited until it was pulled open.

“Hey” I said as Hope stood there giving me an odd look.

“Hi”

“I was just wondering if you wanted to hangout.” I said cautiously as she raised an eyebrow at me.

“What are you doing here kid?”

“I want to…hangout?”

“Why?” she gave me a skeptical look as I tried to come up with something that didn’t make me sound stupid.

“I don’t really know to be honest. I just…wanted to get to know you. I like to be friends with my teammates.”

“I am almost positive you’ve been given the warning on being friends with me.”

“I have and I don’t really care.” She gave me a surprised look as I continued. “I am not going to let them decide who I can and can’t be friends with and I want to be your friend. I have a lot of respect for you.”

“Come on in.”

I followed her into the room where she and Carli were hanging out. The following hours were actually a ton of fun as she seemed to open up with me just a little bit. It was mainly stories about the stupidest things we have done during a game.

“I swear…I didn’t see her coming.” I laughed as Hope and Carli gave me amused smiles.

“Did she at least score the penalty?” Hope asked as I shook my head. They both laughed at the answer.

“No, she didn’t…I felt really bad because I tripped her, and she didn’t score, and I was definitely responsible for the horrible game she was having.” This only seemed to cause them to laugh harder as I tried to keep my own composure.

“Jesus, I haven’t laughed like that in a while. I can definitely see why the other vets like you.” Carli said as I nodded my head.

“You’re their new favorite.” Hope gave me a look as I shrugged. “They like your style. You play without fear and you seem to be a natural leader.”

“I just play my game…” I said honestly causing me to earn smiles from both girls. I soon departed and headed back to my room feeling like I had made a successful connection with both players. When I entered my room, I found Tobin and them who all looked a little worried.

“Thank god! Where were you?” Amy asked as I stared at them with a confused look.

“Chill out. I went to go hangout with Hope.”

“Wait…what?” Tobin asked as I looked at them.

“What?”

“Didn’t Kate say to stay away from her?” Tobin gave me a look as I sighed. “I mean…I know you like to beat by your own drum, but she is the captain of the team.”

“Tobin’s right. You just got here. Now is not the time to be making waves.” Amy said as I stared at them.

“No one deserves to be shunned or abandoned.” I said as Lauren gave me a sympathetic look. She was the only one of the three who knew about my dad and how he had walked away from me.

“Let’s just let it go.” She said, grabbing Amy’s arm. “We can talk more tomorrow.”

“You’re crazy.” Tobin said as I rolled my eyes.

“What else is new?”

The next day we went down for breakfast as I quickly made my plate. Tobin had beelined it for the table we had been sitting at with the vets as I eyed the table with Hope and Carli. I moved towards the table with the vets before making my way towards Carli and Hope. They both seemed a little surprised by my presences but smiled when I sat down. A glance at the other tables told me my decision had shocked everyone. I didn’t know if my eyes were deceiving me but there seemed to be a few looks of respect from certain players as I continued my conversation with Hope.

I didn’t miss how unenthusiastic Kate was about me after that. Though, she was the only one who really seemed to treat me differently. Or at least to my face she was the only one to treat me differently.

“I think you’re making a mistake.” Amy said as I looked at her.

“What are you talking about?”

“Look, I don’t doubt Hope is an amazing person, but you just got on this team. Do you really think putting your reputation on the line like this is worth it?”

“I love your concern for me, but it’s my own choice. Hope is a great person and you guys would know that if you got to know her a little better. I’m not saying we are best friends, but she is a good teammate and a good friend.”

I went back to doing my homework as Amy continued nagging me about putting distance between Hope and I. Lauren and Tobin eventually got her to back off a little as I finished up my assignments.

By the end of the camp, I had managed to start in two of the three games during the Four Nations Tournament. I was a sub for the third game, but I was proud of getting some playing time. My debut came against Canada, which was a rough and physical game, but Christie had praised me afterwards for holding my own against them.

I hated to admit that I was somewhat relieved to be going home after the tournament because I didn’t want to deal with the drama that came with simply being friends with someone. The ride home was long since we were coming back from a foreign country. I only had like two days to get all my stuff and get back to the dorms, but that didn’t stop my family from taking me to dinner to celebrate my first caps.

“I’m going to miss you.” My mom said as we pulled into the parking lot next to my dorm.

“I’ll miss you too.” I said as she gave me a sad look.

“My baby is all grown up.”

“Mom” I complained as she laughed. We said our goodbyes before I grabbed my bags and headed up to my room.

It took me a little longer because I did have so much stuff, but the room was empty when I got back. I know Blake was in her classes and wouldn’t be back for another hour, so I had time to settle all my stuff. I laid down enjoying the quiet for a few minutes before deciding to take a shower and get comfortable. By the time I was finishing up my hair, I heard the door be opened.

“Well look what we have here…” I said as Blake turned and gave me a wide-eyed look. She then practically tackled me into a hug as I reciprocated.

“I thought you weren’t going to be back until tomorrow?” she asked as I gave her a confused look.

“No, I am back today!” I said with a giant grin as she hugged me tighter.

“Dude you have no idea how much I missed you.”

“I missed you too.”

We decided to go for some food for dinner which was fun before we stopped by the coffee shop to get some pastries.

“Holy shit.” Katie said coming over and giving me a hug. “You’re back”

“I’m back” I said as she smiled at me.

“(Y/N)!” I turned just in time to catch Alex who had quite literally tackled me into a hug. I grinned holding the forward close as she held on tight to me. “I missed you”

“I missed you too”

“oh my god! You have three caps with the national team!” she said, giving me an excited look.

“Oh my god! I know!” I grinned as she laughed.

“Well, if it isn’t my favorite employee.” I turned and smiled at Tati who reached behind her and then handed me a piece of paper with my schedule on it. “Welcome back”

“Thanks.” I said with a slight grimace as I stared at my schedule.

“I’ll change it when you get called up again.”

“Okay.” I said as I continued talking and filling everyone in on what camp was like.

The next few days were spent getting back into my routing of school. I had spent a few hours each day talking to Christen which was nice. She was so excited to hear about my time on the national team and I tried to give her as much detail as possible without spilling all the drama out to her. She in turn told me about how Kelley and she were officially just a friends with benefits deal because there weren’t really any feelings involved anymore. I wasn’t thrilled but it was better than them being in a relationship. Things were finally going back to normal which I couldn’t be more grateful for.

“Are you even listening to me?” I turned towards Tati as I shook my head.

“Honestly, No. I am so tired.” I said as she rolled her eyes at me.

“Aren’t we all?” I nodded my head a little earning a smile from her.

“Well, now that I kind of have your attention I want to tell you about this date I went on recently…”

“Date?” I gave her a look as she gave me a confused expression. “Who did you go on a date with?”

“That guy from my sociology class? You don’t remember? I told you about him a while ago.”

“No, I…I just thought there was something with you and Alex…” I said as she gave me a look.

“Look, I know she’s your friend…and she is super cool. I love Alex to death, and I know she has a huge crush on me. She isn’t really trying to hide it, but it’s probably never going to happen. She’s sweet and all, but not what I am looking for right now.”

“Tati…if you know then why haven’t you said that to her? Like, you say you know she likes you then why not tell her that? Cause like…now it just looks like your stringing her along…”

“I’m not. I just don’t want to hurt her feelings.”

“It’s going to happen regardless though and the longer you wait the worse it will hurt.” I said as she frowned at me.

“You’re right and I will tell her eventually.” She said as a customer came to the counter earning Tati’s full attention. I stood there for a moment having an internal debate with whether I should talk to Alex or not.

On one hand, it’s not my business. On the other hand, Alex is one of my closest friends and I would feel terrible about her getting hurt. That seemed to be the debate going on in my head for a while as the weeks continued. Tati swore up and down that she was going to talk to Alex, so I tried not to think too much about it.

I tried to focus on other things like the national team. I hadn’t been called into the February training camp due to my school schedule but had been told that I would be going to the Algarve cup in March. I was ecstatic because it was another major opportunity to prove myself and to prove that I belonged on the international stage.

I had left school about four days before the tournament would start. The tournament felt like a breeze and I was trying not to get cocky but from what I was hearing I was definitely making a good case for myself for the Olympics. Hope had told me that if I got invited to the Olympic Qualifying tournament and got playing time during it that I had a good chance of making the Olympic roster which is what I had started to work for since my call up in January.

Returning to school after winning the Algarve Cup was a dream, Alex had begged me for all the details which I had given up willingly because I knew how badly she wanted to be called up. I had learned pretty quickly that Tati still hadn’t told her about her feelings which made me feel bad again.

“This party isn’t just any party. It’s the party before spring break which means none of us have anything to lose.” Katie argued as I stared at her with an incredulous look.

“You hear yourself, right?” Blake asked as I laughed.

“Come on! We all need to go! What better way to celebrate life then to go get drunk!”

“I don’t see that logic.” I admitted as she frowned at me.

“Alex help me…”

“It’s going to be fun.” Alex said as I laughed.

“That’s very convincing.” She grinned at me as I sighed. “Okay. I’ll go.”

“No!” Blake said as Katie jumped up.

“Yes! Come on Blake…”

“No.”

“Come on.” I said as she turned towards me. “It could be fun.”

She stared at me for a moment before rolling her eyes.

“Fine.” I smiled as Katie and Alex high fived each other. “I hate you.”

“No, you don’t.” she rolled her eyes as I smiled at Alex and Katie. This should be an interesting night.

Alex POV SWITCH

I watched (Y/N) and Blake bicker over whether it was a good idea to come to the party as we walked our way towards the destination. I laughed when Blake reached out to smack (Y/N) only to be blocked by Katie.

“You’re complaining about nothing!” (Y/N) said laughing at Blake. “This could be the best night of your life and you’re over here complaining.”

“I hate going out. You know this.”

“It’s not bad to come out of your shell every once in a while.”

They continued bickering as Katie eventually gave up and kept pace with me letting them walk ahead of us.

“So, how are you feeling about tonight?” I turned towards Katie who gave me a supportive smile.

“I am incredibly nervous.” I admitted as my roommate gave me a sympathetic look.

“Look, you just have to march in there and give her the most seductive look you can and tell her that you belong together, but you know in a more put together way.”

“That’s really helpful.” I said as she gave me a bright smile.

“It’s going to work out and who knows…if it doesn’t there are a ton of other people here to hook up with.”

“That does not make me feel better.” I said as she shrugged her shoulders.

We arrived at the party which was in full swing. Katie didn’t hesitate to walk in as (Y/N) stood watching with an amused smile as Blake groaned entering the building. I laughed following them in and looked around at the mostly drunken crowd. We got drinks and danced. I played a couple rounds of beer pong with Katie as my partner before I decided I had enough. I went back into the house and noticed that quite a bit of time had passed. I noticed Blake actually seemed to be having a good time which was great. I was hoping she would have a good time. I spotted (Y/N) talking with some people as I made my way over towards her.

“Hey stranger.”

“Hey yourself.” She smiled as I grinned at her.

“Are you having fun?”

“I am actually…I haven’t had fun like this in a hot second.”

“I’m glad. I was worried.”

“You don’t need to worry about me Alex.” She said as I shook my head.

“I care about you. Obviously, I will worry.”

She laughed as she looked down at her phone that was in her hand. I glanced around noticing Tati talking with some people as I decided that this was the moment.

“Hey, I got to take this.” She said as I nodded my head turning to exit the room.

 I took a big drink of the cup in my hand before walking over to where Tati was. She smiled upon seeing me as I tried to get closer to her.

“Hey!” I yelled over the music as she gave me a grin.

“Hey!” she yelled back. I spent a few minutes dancing with her before deciding that I needed to just do it.

“Can I talk to you?” she nodded her head as we went to where it was a little quieter.

“What’s up?” she asked as I stared at her.

“Okay so…I need to tell you something.” I said as she gave me a cautious look.

“Alex wait…”

“No, I just need to get this out…” I said as she gave me a look I couldn’t read. “Since I met you, I have thought you’re incredible. You make me laugh and smile. My heart beats really fast when I am around you and I think about you all the time. I don’t want to ruin our friendship, but I feel like I might die if I don’t tell you that I am completely in love with you Tati.”

She gave me a sad look as I felt my stomach drop a little. I didn’t like that look. She looked around a little before letting out a little sigh. There seemed to be something close to sympathy in her eyes as she looked down and then back up.

“Alex…I think you’re an incredible person.” I felt my eyes begin to water as I recognized the beginning words of a rejection. I looked away from her as she reached for my hand. “I just don’t think…”

“No, it’s okay. I am so stupid for even mentioning this to you. I shouldn’t have done that. Don’t worry. It’s stupid and I…I’m just going to go.” I turned to leave the house as I felt Tati reach for my arm which I angrily yanked away.

(Y/N) POV SWITCH

“Yeah, I will have to catch you up when I see you next.” I said, smiling as Christens laugh came through the phone.

“Yeah, I should be going though for real…Kelley is waiting.”

“Well, we don’t want that…” I said somewhat sarcastically. “Goodbye Christen.”

“Bye.” I put my phone in my pocket as I sighed. Christen and Kelley deciding to try a relationship again has most definitely ruined my night. I turned to head back into the house when the door flew open and out came a sobbing Alex.

“Alex please wait…!” Tati yelled running after her as I immediately stepped into Alex’s path catching her. She went to push me away but stopped when she saw it was me.

“Hey” I said softly as she angrily tried to wipe her tears. “What happened?”

“Alex please…” Tati begged as I took a second to read the situation. I sighed pulling Alex in for a hug as I sent a glare towards Tati. She frowned as Alex held onto me tightly.

“I didn’t mean to…”

“It doesn’t matter.” I said as Alex buried her head into my shoulder. “It’s done. I’ll get her home.”

I moved to start walking Alex towards our rooms as I continued to let her cry. She seemed to calm down the further we got from the party. She was just silent by the time we reached her room. She opened the door as I stared at her. She walked over towards her bed and sat down leaning against the wall. I moved to sit next to her as we sat quietly.

“Do you want to talk about it?” I asked as she sniffled a little.

“I am such an idiot.” She said as I looked at her.

“No, you’re not.” I said as she nodded her head.

“Yes, I am…I should have seen that she didn’t feel the same way.”

“Anyone can make that mistake Alex…” I said as she looked at me.

“I should have seen it.”

“It doesn’t make you stupid. It just means you have a big heart…and that you are a risk taker. You put yourself out there and it didn’t work out. You know sometimes it just doesn’t work out.”

“I wanted it to work so badly.”

“I know.” I said taking her hand in mine. “For what’s it's worth, I am so proud of you.” We sat in silence for a few minutes before she spoke.

“Have you ever been in love?” I held my breath for a moment as I thought of a reply.

“I have…” I said as she looked at me.

“What happened?”

“I couldn’t find the courage to tell her that I loved her and now she is with someone else who is making her happy.”

“I’m sorry.” Alex mumbled as I shook my head.

“Don’t be. I would rather she be happy with someone else than not be happy at all. All I care about is the smile on her face. As long as it’s there…well I’m happy.”

“Even if you can never be with her…” I looked down at that as I thought about it…

“Even if I can never be with her…” I said, turning to look at Alex who was already focused on me.

“I wish getting your heart broke didn’t suck so bad.”

“I know.” I said bringing my hand up to away a tear that was falling from her eye. “My mom always used to tell me that getting your heart broken was necessary sometimes…because it means that when you do find the person you're supposed to be with…you appreciate them that much more. I promise you Alex…you will get through this. You have a heart of gold and you are so freaking beautiful. It is truly insane. Anyone would be lucky to get to be with you and when you find the person you are meant to be with you won’t remember how much it hurt to get your heart broken.”

She stared at me for a moment before surging forward and attaching her lips to mine. Her hands came up to my face as I was too shocked to move. She pulled back breathing heavily as I stared at her for a moment. It was as if time stood still before I moved forward catching her lips into another kiss.

I pushed her back slightly as she laid down pulling me on top of her. Her legs wrapped around my waist holding me in place as I placed kisses down her jaw and to her neck. Her hands were gripping the back of my shirt as she pulled at it. I sat up and pulled my shirt off as she quickly discarded hers as well. I hovered above her as her lips stayed inches from mine.

“Are you sure about this?”

“Yes.”

To Be Continued…

[duggardata]

Apparently, Jinger Suffered A Miscarriage in November

Everything Duggar Data Knows About It, So Far.

ICYMI—Jinger is pregnant, due in November 2020!  She announced via People yesterday.  Sad news came alongside happy, though...  People also shared that Jinger experienced a miscarriage prior to her current pregnancy.

Pregnancy loss now factors into the Predictor, so Duggar Data is trying to figure out as much information as possible about when the miscarriage occurred, and at how far along.  This Post summarizes what I’ve been able to piece together.

Since some may not want to read on...  After the jump.

Fair Warning—This Post is absurdly long.  There’s a TL;DR at the end, if you’re in a hurry!

When Did Jinger Miscarry?

Per Jinger and Jeremy, it happened in November 2019.  (Initially, People simply said it happened “last fall,” which ostensibly includes September to November.  Then, the Vuolos posted on Instagram about the loss, revealing it had occurred in November, specifically.)  Jinger further shared that it happened on a Tuesday; she said she and Jeremy shared the news with family on “Monday evening,” but miscarried “the next morning.”  [Jeremy’s IG Post, Jinger’s IG Post.  Permalinks provided in the text above.]

So, a Tuesday in November 2019...  We’ve already narrowed it down a lot.  The possibilities include only these dates—

Tuesday, November 5, 2019

Tuesday, November 12, 2019

Tuesday, November 19, 2019

Tuesday, November 26, 2019

Since yesterday, we’ve also been provided two additional data sources, both of which provide further insight into the timing of the miscarriage—

The Counting On Trailer.  TLC announced the new season alongside Jinger + Jeremy’s pregnancy announcement, and dropped the first trailer.  At 0:30–0:46, the trailer features Jinger + Jeremy announcing a pregnancy to Jinger’s family...  The Duggars are gathered at the Big House for “their family fun night,” which is held weekly on Mondays.  The night’s activity was gingerbread house–building.  Skyping in from California, Jinger + Jeremy build a gingerbread version of their family, complete a clearly–pregnant ginger Jinger.

Some have assumed that the ‘Jingerbread’ Announcement was for the Vuolos’ current pregnancy, but it’s clear to me that it wasn’t.  The timing doesn’t make sense.  Jinger is due with Vuolo #2* in November 2020, and she wouldn’t have learned she was pregnant until ~March 2020.  Given gingerbread’s association with fall and the holidays, Duggar Data really doubts that the Duggars decided to do a gingerbread–themed family night in March or April.  Additionally, social distancing due to COVID–19 was well underway by March / April 2020, yet the clip shows a large gathering of not–same–household Duggars.  Notably, Jessa + Ben appear in the clip, and they’ve stated that they’re staying away from the Big House during this time.  Taken together, all of this all suggests that the clip wasn’t recorded in March or April 2020—and thus, can’t be an announcement of Jinger’s current pregnancy.  This must be Jinger + Jeremy announcing their pregnancy that ended in miscarriage in November.

Immediately, I hoped that I could figure out the timing based on which Duggar Ladies were visibly pregnant or which Duggar Babies appeared.  Babygeddon was in full force, after all!  Sadly, this didn’t narrow things down much...  Joe + Kendra were present with Addison (b. 11–2–19), but that doesn’t rule anything out; the earliest Monday in November 2019 was November 4th.  (I’d admit it’s slightly unlikely that Kendra made it to Family Night two day after giving birth, but I don’t think it’s impossible...  They live on the Compound.)  Neither Anna nor Lauren, nor Maryella or Bella, is seen.  Josiah appears, but it that doesn’t tell us much, since Lauren wasn’t in labor on a Monday.  (Bella was born on a Friday after ~2 Days of labor.)

Undeterred, I scoured Duggar Instagrams to see if I could figure out what they did and who attended each Family Night in November 2019.  I also looked for any photos in which a Duggar is wearing the same outfit that’s seen in the clip of the ‘Jingerbread’ Announcement...

Based on this sleuthing, I think we can rule out November 4, 2019.  Per Anna, that Family Night was spent stuffing gift boxes for Operation Christmas Child.  Her Post shows dozens of bright red boxes all over the Big House.  No boxes are seen in the ‘Jingerbread’ Announcement clip, but they probably would’ve been if they were there.  (The gingerbread house building activity appeared to take up the entire living room.)  Plus, I think it’s unlikely that they’d do two big activities in one night.

I wasn’t able to figure out the activities at the other Family Nights that month.

I checked Instagram to see if any Duggar visible in the clip was, e.g., out–of–town, and thus wouldn’t have been present at a particular Family Night.  This search didn’t produce any evidence sufficient to rule anything out.

As for the outfit search, it also didn’t produce many leads...  Only one.  Jessa posted a photo on Instagram on Monday, November 25, 2019, in which she’s possibly wearing the same long–sleeve emerald shirt that she’s seen in in the clip.  So, that points slightly towards November 25, 2019 as the date Jinger + Jeremy announced, and November 26, 2019 as the Date of Loss.

The Vuolos’ Instagram Live.  On May 28, 2020 at 4:00 PM, Jinger + Jeremy did an Instagram Live discussing the pregnancy and earlier miscarriage.  The Live gave us various information, but one fact is of particular relevance, here:  Per the Vuolos, Jeremy’s Sister (Valerie) visited them very shortly after Jinger miscarried.  Apparently, her trip was pre–planned, and it just worked out that she was there during a time when they happened to really need help.

Turns out, Valerie Vuolo has a public Instagram—and lucky for us, she posted about the trip in question.  On November 30, 2019, she put up three Posts w/ photos of her, Felicity, and Jeremy, each one tagged Los Angeles, California.  Even more telling, the first Post included #Thanksgiving, which pretty much confirms that Valerie was visiting for the holiday, which was November 28th in 2019.  Bolstering this further, Valerie actually posted the photos on November 30th, and Jinger commented:  “We miss you already!”  So...  Clearly, Valerie is no longer in Los Angeles, at that point.

Based on all of this, I’ve got a very strong suspicion that Jinger miscarried Tuesday, November 26, 2019—i.e., the Tuesday before Thanksgiving—which means she announced the pregnancy to the Duggars on November 25, 2019.  This is mostly based on the apparent timing of Valerie’s trip, but also happens to line up with Jessa’s November 25 IG Post, in which she’s possibly wearing the same shirt she wore for the ‘Jingerbread’ Announcement.  Also, Tuesday, November 26, 2019 happens to be a day where neither Vuolo posted on IG...  Could be a coincidence, though; they didn’t post on Tuesday, November 12th, either.

Duggar Data plans to use November 26, 2019 as Jinger’s Loss Date, for now.  It’s considered “Not Confirmed.”  I think we can rule out November 4th as the announcement date—so if the Loss Date isn’t the 26th, it must be the 12th or 19th.

Was This Her First Miscarriage?

During the Instagram Live on May 28, 2020, Jinger + Jeremy said “thank you” to their followers for all the support they’d received after announcing Jinger’s miscarriage.  Then, they said something about how miscarriage is something that many couples go through, and Jeremy said:  “We’ve now gone through that.”  Duggar Data took this to mean that Jinger’s recent miscarriage wasn’t something they’d gone through before, which obviously means that this must have been Jinger’s first—and, so far, only—miscarriage.

IMO, it is reasonable to conclude that this was Jinger’s first miscarriage.

How Far Along Was She, At The Time?

So far, there’s no definitive data on this; however, it’s clear that it was early on.  On Instagram Live, the Vuolos—Jinger, IIRC—referred to the baby they lost as one “that the Lord blessed us with for such a short time.”  Additionally, there isn’t any reason to assume that Jinger + Jeremy waited until, e.g., the Second Trimester to announce to her family.  (And we know the loss happened the day after she announced to them.)  With Pregnancy #1, Jinger + Jer announced to their families in November 2017, when Jinger was <6 Weeks Along.  (Felicity’s Due Date was July 20, 2018.)  [Shout–out to @undercoverduggarblog, as well as @pickledchickenetti, for your valiant efforts in piecing together the real–life timeline of Counting On.)

Absent contrary evidence, Duggar Data will assume a miscarriage occurred at Exactly 6 Weeks.  Statistically, 90% of miscarriages occur by Week 6, and the lack of concrete loss dates for several miscarriages forced me to create a rule to ensure uniformity in considering pregnancy loss data.

Impact On The Data

I’ll discuss this in an upcoming Post!  Stay tuned.

TL;DR—

Loss Date   A Tuesday in November 2019...  Probably November 26th.  Duggar Data’s spreadsheet says November 26, 2019, but doesn’t label that as “Confirmed.”  That’s what I’m using, for now.

Due Date   Unknown.  Consistent with a uniform rule, Duggar Data will assume the loss occurred at Week 6, Day 0...  The Estimated Due Date associated with November 26, 2019 is July 21, 2020.  That’s what I will use, for now.

1st Loss?  Seems like it was, yes. 

[nisaadventures]

Can’t Control Chaos

Sometimes, when life has thrown SO MUCH at you, when you feel battered and broken... sometimes all that is left are hope, love, and determination... or at least that is all I have left.

I don’t want to start the year off on a “bad note,” but this holiday season has been cruel... there’s a C word for you... Yes, of course there were good moments and I have so much to be thankful for... but the season has been cruel none the less.

I honestly have been avoiding really processing what is happening... denial of course... fear of jinxing it, hope, luck, a miracle... whatever you’d like to call it.

I think I also have just been tired... too tired to really answer when someone asks, “How are you?” Because really? I’m not so okay... I haven’t been for a long time...

***So some background***

In early 2020, my godmother, Josie (Mama Jo), had started complaining of groin pain. I advised her to consult her doctor to get it checked out. Based on what she told me and my previous knowledge in women’s health, I thought it might be an ovarian cyst. These are quite common and can cause discomfort similar to what she described. Her doctor’s first diagnosis was possible muscle strain... prescribed her some medication, rest, and sent her home...

The pain persisted and worsened over the coming weeks, so I told her to advocate for herself and have her doctor investigate further... The issues with the American healthcare system.... But lets not get into that right now...

By this time, March 2020, the COVID pandemic was hitting California and we were forced into shelter in place.

Her doctor finally ordered some tests and found an extremely large mass, about 20cm in diameter... She was immediately scheduled for surgery. You can kind of see where this is going... In surgery they removed the mass with some difficulty and we were informed...

... the big C... not COVID... Cancer...

No one could be with her in the hospital after her surgery, we couldn’t visit when she had to stay extra days to recover... but we could speak to her and see her posting on facebook. She was doing okay and surgery was “successful.”

Ovarian cancer is in the top 5 cancer deaths among women and accounts for more deaths than any other female reproductive cancer... Now the reason for this is usually because there are little to no symptoms and when it is diagnosed, it is usually a late stage... In a way, we were blessed Mama Jo was experiencing pain. Her cancer was discovered at stage IIA, meaning she had some spread within her reproductive system, but none to neighboring abdominal organs or lymph nodes... good?

So the next step was chemo. Another C... interesting...

First infusion & cutting Mama Jo’s hair.

She was scheduled for a total of 6 rounds of chemo. Each round consisted of 1 appointment every Friday, for 3 weeks. 1 week of 2 drug infusions, and 2 weeks of a single. In total, 18 weeks. She handled it like a champ. Luckily she didn’t experience the extreme and awful symptoms, until her last round...

She started to feel the effects more and more as the chemo had gradually started to break her down. Finally, after about her 16th infusion, the start of the final round, her electrolytes were imbalanced, she needed a blood transfusion for low hemoglobin, and she was extremely pale, clammy, and easily fatigued.

Some STATS: currently the difference in mortality rate for ovarian cancer from 3 rounds (9 weeks) of chemo to the full 6 rounds is roughly 2-5%... Doesn’t seem like much when you consider the damage and side effects those 9 extra weeks cause... but that extra percentage is still a better chance... If patients experience more side effects after the first weeks, the doctor will stop treatment after 3 rounds...

Mama Jo made it through 5 complete rounds of chemo. Her initial scans were clear and we just needed to wait a few months for more follow-up scans.

She did it.

And in the best fashion, with THE BEST attitude. She has always been a positive person. You can always count on her to cheer for you, encourage you, and love you deeply. If anyone could make it through the big C, it was her... and she did!

So here we are... in the middle of another wave of this COVID-19 pandemic, living in the San Joaquin Valley, where hospitals are overflowing, COVID cases have rapidly increased, and COVID related deaths...

Friday, December 18th, Mama Jo, got tested for COVID-19. She had been symptomatic for a few days prior and scheduled a test to confirm. Her symptoms were very typical to COVID: upset stomach, diarrhea, cough, shortness of breath, body aches, etc. Mama Jo also has a long history of terrible asthma that is routinely exacerbated by changes in season, allergens, poor valley air quality, and illness...

She was positive... COVID-19... another C.

She was at home and on a regimen of several asthma medications, steroids, and regular breathing treatments to decrease her symptoms. Her oncologist saw her diagnosis of COVID and suggested she go to the ER if she continued to have symptoms... which she did... and finally, via ambulance, went to the hospital.

And that is where she has been... through Christmas and New years... She has run through all the treatments, transferred facilities, undergone all the tests, a slew of infections secondary to COVID... and here we are.

Part of me feels angry... part of me feels numb.... I move through the day knowing that I have to...There is nothing I can do, but trust that she is in good hands...

Hello 2021.

I’ve been tested. SHE has been relentlessly tested... we’ve all been tested in some way, shape, or form... I’m so done... and in those dark moments, sometimes all I want to do is give up... throw my hands in the air and say “FINE! You win!”

... and then... after my inner turmoil has had its opportunity to cry it out... after the water has settled... things become more clear... my inner voice... that voice deep... DEEP inside that speaks to you, keeps you going, motivates you, and sometimes kicks your ass in gear... well... she says I will be okay...

I have been through some great awfuls... but life will continue on and I will be OKAY because if there is anything I’ve learned from my Mama, from my Mama Jo, from everyone I’ve ever looked up to and been inspired by... its that I CAN do anything and I am so much stronger than I ever fathomed.

Can... another C.

So this is me... just leveling with you all. So much has been taken... but if there is anything I’m going to hold onto... its my hope for the best, my love for all those I care about, and my determination to continue... another C...

She’s the real champ... “C” what I mean? ;)

Christmas 2018?

Easter 2019?

Thanksgiving 2019

Christmas 2019

Summer 2020

Mama Jo,

I know you can’t read this just yet, but I love you so much!

Love,

Your baby girl

Nisa

[gorgxoxus]

Least favourite song from each episode of Glee:

@angelhummel

Season 1:

Pilot: Can’t fight this feeling

Showmance: Take a bow (omg I have like never listened to this song and it’s a snooze fest big time)

Acafellas: I wanna sex you up

Preggers: N/A

The Rhodes Not Taken: Last name

Vitamin D: Halo/ Walking on Sunshine

Throwdown: No air

Mash up: Thong song

Wheels: Defying Gravity

Ballad: (You’re) having my baby

Hairography: Bootylicious (but they’re all great)

Mattress: Smile (Finchel version)

Sectionals: You can’t always get what you want

Hell-o: Hello/ Goodbye

The Power of Madonna: What it feels like for a girl

Home: One less bell to answer/ A house is not a home

Bad reputation: Physical

Laryngitis: The Lady is a tramp

Dream on: Dream a little dream of me

Theatricality: Poker Face

Funk: Loser

Journey to Regionals: Bohemian Rhapsody

Season 2:

Audition: Billionaire

Britany/Brittany: Toxic

Grilled Cheesus: Papa, can you hear me?

Duets: With you I’m born again

Rocky Horror Picture Show: Dammit Janet

Never Been Kissed: Teenage Dream (sorry not sorry)

The Substitute: Make em Laugh

Furt: Ohio

Special Education: Don’t cry for me Argentina

A Very Glee Christmas: You’re a mean one, Mr Grinch

The Sue Sylvester shuffle: none

Silly love songs: Fat Bottomed Girls

Comeback: Baby (or all songs except for ‘Someone to Love’ because it’s an actual bop).

Blame it on the alcohol: Blame it (on the alcohol)

Sexy: Afternoon Delight

Original song: Big ass heart

Night of neglect: All my myself (but kinda none)

Born this way: Barbra Streisand

Rumours: Never going back again

Prom Queen: Jar of Hearts

Funeral: Back to Black

New York: Bella Notte

Season 3:

The Purple Piano Project: Anything goes/ Anything you can do

I Am Unicorn: Something’s Coming

Asian F: Run the World (Girls)

Pot o gold: Bein’ Green

The First Time: One hand One heart

Mash off: Hot for Teacher

I kissed a Girl: Girls just want to have fun

Hold onto sixteen: Man in the Mirror (for salty Kurt isn’t part of the boys number)

Extraordinary Merry Christmas: Christmas Wrapping

Yes/no: Wedding Bell Blues

Micheal: Scream

The Spanish teacher: A little less conversation

Heart: You’re the Top

On my way: Here’s to Us

Big brother: Fighter

‪Saturday night glee-ver: How Deep is your love? ‬

Dance with somebody: I wanna dance with (somebody who loves me)

Choke: Cry

Prom-a-saurus: Dinosaur

Props: I won’t give up

Nationals: It’s all coming back to me now

Goodbye: Forever young

Season 4:

The new Rachel: Call me Maybe

Britany 2.0: Oops... I did it again!

Makeover: Celebrity Skin

The Break Up: Teenage Dream (acoustic) (again, sorry I don’t like the song)

The role you were born to play: Juke Box Hero

Grease: Look at me, I’m Sandra Dee (Kitty version)

Dynamic duets: Superman

Thanksgiving: Gangnam Style

Swan song: Somethin’ Stupid

Glee Actually: Feliz Navidad

Sadie Hawkins: Baby Got Back

Naked: Torn (but I actually enjoy all these songs)

Diva: Nutbush City Limits

I do: I enjoy them all, every one of them

Boys (and girls) on film: You’re all the world to me

Feud: Bye Bye Bye / I want it that way

Guilty pleasures: Against all odds/ take a look at me now (in terms of performance)

Shooting star: Your Song

Sweet dreams: (You gotta) fight for your right (to party)

Lights out: Everybody Hurts

Wonder-ful: You are the sunshine of my life (unfortunately, but also I love this WHOLE episode)

All or nothing: All or Nothing

Season 5:

Love, love, love: Yesterday

Tina in the sky with diamonds: Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band

The Quarterback: No Surrender

A katy or a gaga: Roar

The end of twerk: Blurred Lines

Movin out: An Innocent Man

Puppet master: The Fox

Previously unaired Christmas: Rockin’ around the Christmas Tree

Frienemies: Don’t Rain on my Parade

Trio: Jumpin’ Jumpin’

City of angels: I love LA

100: Defying Gravity

New Directions: Party All the Time

New New York: You make me feel so Young

Bash: Broadway Baby

Tested: Addicted to Love

Opening night: N.Y.C

Back up plan: Piece of my Heart

Old dogs, new tricks: Take me Home Tonight

The untitled Rachel Berry Project: Glitter in the Air

Season 6:

Loser Like Me: Let it Go

Homecoming: Problem

Jagged Little Tapestry: So Far Away

The Hurt Locker: Vocal Adrenaline’s numbers

The Hurt Locker Part 2: Dalton Academy’s numbers

What The World Needs Now: Wishin’ and Hopin’

Transitioning: Same Love

A Wedding: Hey Ya!

Child Star: Friday I’m in Love

The Rise and Fall of Sue Sylvester: The Trolley Song

We Built This Glee Club: Mickey

2009: Popular

Dreams Come True: The Winner Takes it All

[mirkwoodshewolf]

Best Christmas of all; Tom Holland x child reader

*Author’s note*

Okay WOW! I am a TERRIBLE Person BUT I GOT IT DONE. To the Watson anon from long ago as well as @artistintraining239​ I FINALLY GOT THE TOM HOLLAND REQUEST DONE!!!!!! Now @artistintraining239​ I made a SLIGHT change in the adoption part of the story so I hope you’ll accept what I ended up doing for that part, and to the Watson anon whomever you maybe, you are LITERALLY THE MOST PATIENT PERSON EVER!! You requested something from me like 2 years ago around Christmas time and I couldn’t do it cause it ended up as shit, so you gave me a second chance and I PROMISED I DELIVER AND SO I DID!!! It took awhile for me to try and add the ideas you had mixed with this other requester listed above but I F***IN DID IT!!! 

Not really any warnings just PURE, TOM HOLLAND FLUFF, foster care (just for characterization), Tessa makes an appearance, and having no knowledge of Tom’s family. I’m just using them here for the story, RESPECT THEIR PRIVACY'S. 

Taglist:

@psychosupernatural​

@plethora-of-things​

@waddles03​

@ixchel-9275​

@platawnic​

______________________________________________________________

It’s a miracle when a person can go up on the big screen and become someone famous, it’s another miracle when you get adopted after losing your family in a housefire before you reach your teenage years.  I gained both miracles.  The best place to start is probably from the beginning when I was chosen to costar in the upcoming Marvel movie Spiderman: Homecoming.

I was chosen out of hundreds if not thousands of little girls to play the cousin of Peter Parker aka Spiderman, Jenna Hawkins (Brown spider).  Jenna’s character was that while she was Peter Parker’s cousin, she would eventually become a sidekick of Spiderman who not only was a quick learner thanks to her cousin, but she was the perfect silent weapon because no one would suspect a child (much like how real brown spider bites can be deadly but not really kill).

I had asked my current foster mom if I could audition for the film and thankfully she said yes but she had to run it by the system if I could audition for a film role.  Surprisingly the foster system I was put in allowed me to audition and by a miracle I got the role.

So I was flown out from my home of Colorado Springs to New York where they were filming Spiderman: Homecoming.  And surprisingly the entire cast didn’t treat me with sympathy or made me feel out of place because I was a foster child, they saw the potential in me as an actress and as a person.

They looked past the fact that I was a foster kid and just saw me, which I really liked, especially from some of my heroes like Mr. Downey (oh I guess I should say Robert since he told me that Mr. Downey made him sound like his dad), Tom Holland and of course my true role model Zendaya (since I love KC Undercover).

Now it was getting close to the holiday seasons, my favorite time of year actually Christmas time.  I’ve always wanted to know how people celebrate Christmas unfortunately the foster family I live with didn’t celebrate Christmas (something to do with religion or something) so they just treat Christmas like any other day.

So while everyone was closing up the set and locking their trailers, I was sitting in my movie chair while my agent locked up my trailer.  As I was scrolling through my phone, I heard the familiar voice of Tom call out to me.

“Hey (n/n)!” I looked up and smiled at him.  I got out of my chair and raced up to him to give him a big hug.  “Whoa oh man you really are getting strong aren’t yah? Almost knock me off my feet.”

“Sorry Tom.”

“Hey don’t even worry about it. So you excited for the holidays? You got any idea what you’re gonna get for Christmas?” at that point I looked down and I told him.

“Not really.”

“Why not? You’ve been the sweetest girl I’ve met, I’m sure Santa’s got you at the top of his nice list.”

“Maybe. But I won’t know cause the foster parents I’m with don’t celebrate Christmas.”

“Really?” I nodded. “Well do they celebrate a different holiday? Like Hanukah or Kwanzaa?” I shook my head no.

“The only holidays they really celebrate are New Years, Valentine’s day, 4th of July, and Halloween.”

“Wait so not even Thanksgiving? Cause I hear that’s a big celebration here.”

“They just treat it like a normal day. I think their reason for not celebrating the December holidays is religion or something. And I’ve always wanted to celebrate Christmas but—I was either too young to remember how my first Christmas went or because of now. But what are you doing for Christmas Tom?” I asked trying to lighten the mood since I had seen that I made him upset.

“Well just gonna go home, be with Tessa and my brothers and the rest of the family.”

“Wow, that sounds like fun. I hope you have a good Christmas Tom. I’ll see you in the New Year when we get back to filming.” I turned and went to grab my phone when Tom said.

“Actually (y/n). Would you like to come to London with me for Christmas?” I turned to him and was shocked at what I just heard him say.

“You—you’d really want me there?”

“Yeah. I mean I was hoping to kinda make it a surprise by tomorrow but as you know I’m—pretty terrible at keeping secrets. So I got in touch with your foster parents and the foster system you’re under and they’ve allowed you to come spend the holidays with me.”

“Really? They did?”

“Yeah. So—do you wanna come with me and meet my family?”

“Yes!” I ran back towards him and hugged him again.  This time he picked me up so that I could now wrap my arms around his neck.

“That’s great! So the plane leaves in a few hours, why don’t you get your stuff and I’ll meet you outside with Harry and we can drive up to the airport.”

“Okay.” We then pecked each other’s cheeks and I quickly raced off to find my bag that my agent Mr. Jones had.  He handed me my bag and told me to behave and that if anything happened, just call either him or my foster parents.  I told him I would be on my best behavior and with that we hugged each other and I walked outside the studio and saw Tom and Harrison outside about to get into the taxi.

“Ahh (n/n) over here!” I rushed over as fast as I could before Tom met me half way and picked me up and tossed me in the air making me giggle as he held onto me with one arm before taking my suitcase with his other hand.

“So you ready to see England (y/n)?” asked Harry.

“Yeah. Is it really as big as they make it in the movies?” I asked.

“You’ll have to see for yourself.” He answered.  We all then piled in the car and Harry told the driver to take us to the airport.

“You think Tessa will remember me?” I asked Tom.

“Of course she’ll remember you. She loves you.”

“Is flying over an ocean different than flying over cities?”

“Not really. You nervous about flying overseas?”

“I mean a little. Sorry.”

“No, no there’s no need to apologize love. I remember flying overseas the first time and it can be scary. But you’ve got me, right?”

“Right.” I said with a nod.

“So there’s nothing to be afraid of (n/n). I’ll be right there with you the entire time. And you can always hold my hand if you feel a little scared, okay?”

“Okay, thanks Tom.”

“No problem.” It took a long time but we finally arrived at the airport and we did all the usual stuff they make you do at the airport before we were finally allowed to head to our gate.  It was about an hour and a half wait before our plane even arrived so Tom and I ended up playing Super Mario Kart on our Nintendo switches.

I was in my lead with Mario but Tom cheated and bashed into me with his Yoshi.

“Hey that’s cheating!” I exclaimed.

“All’s fair in Mario Kart my dear (y/n). And Yoshi is the best there is.” He mocked back at me.

“Yoshi’s a cheater and a bully.” I whined as I tried to take back the lead.  Then just my luck, Tom’s cell chimes his text tone and he had no choice but to answer it because for some reason it kept chiming repeatedly.  So as he looked down at his phone, I crashed into Yoshi and took back the lead and won the race. “I win!”

“What oh that’s not fair you knew I was distracted!”

“All’s fair in Mario Kart Tom.” I threw his words back at him.

“Ohh she got you there mate.” Harry laughed.

“Okay, okay then, alright then yah little miss smarty pants.” Tom said with a quirk of his brow while I did my victory dance just to rub it in Tom’s face that I won and he lost.

“1st class flight nonstop to London England now boarding, 1st class passengers only can now board.”

“Ohh that’s us. Get your tickets ready.” Harry said as the three of us grabbed our small bags and we showed the lady our tickets before going through the tunnel and finally getting on the plane.  We got into our seats and I looked out the window seat and waited another long time before we finally started to take off.

As the plane began to take off, I felt my stomach beginning to sink down to my feet. That’s probably the one thing I didn’t like when it came to flying, that and having my ears popping.  I rubbed my ears as I could feel them beginning to ache, that’s when Tom took my hand and said.

“You best not do that, it’ll only make it worse.”

“Then what can I do to make them stop ringing and popping?” I asked.

“Here’s a trick my dad taught me. Plug your nose, like you’re about to dive in a pool.” He said as he demonstrated for me and I followed suit. “Then as hard as you can blow from your nose. That’ll make your ears pop open.”

“Your voice sounds funny Tom.” I giggled hearing how his voice sounded with his nose plugged up.

“Well so does your little missy.” He mocked back. “Okay so let’s blow together on three okay?” I nodded. “One….”

“Two….”

“Three.” And as hard as I could I blew as hard as I could.  “It didn’t work.”

“Try it again, sometimes it takes a couple of tries.” He told me.  He counted down again and I blew as hard as I could again, this time feeling my ears pop however the second they did I was met with this agonizing pain as I began to rub them again. “No, no don’t rub them it’ll only make them worse.”

“But it hurts Tom!” I whined out.

“I know but trust me, the pain’s gonna subside soon. Just give it a moment. Here wanna hear a story about Tessa that my mum told me awhile ago?” I nodded and he then told me of how Paddy taught Tessa a new trick with balancing food on top of her nose before getting the command to eat it.

Hearing that story gave me a good distraction and soon enough my ears were better and no linger hurting anymore.  It was then we were told by the captain that we could now take our electronic devices out and that’s when Tom proceeded to take pictures of Harry and I and he posted it up on Instagram telling his fans that we were on our way home for Christmas.

He then even showed me the video of the trick he told me about earlier. Apparently his brother Paddy managed to get a recording of it as well and he sent it to Tom.  So I got to see for myself Tessa’s new trick.

“Do you think she’ll come to the airport?” I asked him.

“Maybe, mum and dad know how much I love spoiling that Princess of mine. Well next to you munchkin.” He said with a playful ruffle of my hair.

“Tom!” I whined out.  He chuckled and we proceeded to watch all the videos of Tessa that he had.  We continued with a few more games of Super Mario Kart or Mario vs. Sonic the Olympics.  After several hours even with it still being daylight out the window, I began to grow tired.

“It’ll still be a long while before we get to London, why don’t you take a little nap?”

“You sure?”

“Yeah. See that’s the best part about long flights, you get to catch up on sleep. And I know these past few months have been rough on you even with just 10 hours of filming you have to do. So go on take a little nap.”

“Okay, hey Harry?”

“Yeah?” he said as he looked up from his phone.

“Please beat Tom in another round of Mario Kart for me will you?”

“Hey! You win one time and you act like you’ve won the super bowl.” Tom said which made Harrison laugh.

“I’ll win one for you kiddo. Besides someone needs to knock this rotter down to size.” He said gesturing to Tom to which Tom glared at him.

“Okay you cheeky little kitten, go to sleep.” He brought out my pillow and blanket and lowered the window screen down so the sun wasn’t shining in my eyes and covered me up.  I placed myself against the wall and soon I fell fast asleep, suddenly feeling the exhaustion from the past few months from all the filming and jumping and swinging I had to learn for the film.

“(Y/n)? Hey (Y/n),” I moaned tiredly and woke up to see that I had went from the wall to spreading across Tom’s lap. “We’re here.” I looked outside to see that it was still pitch black out.

“What time is it?” I said as I stretched myself out.

“A little past 3am. So it’s still early for you to be fully awake. But don’t worry we’ll meet my parents in the car and you can go back to sleep on the way to the house.” He unbuckled my seatbelt and packed my blanket and pillow away in my bag. He picked up my bag then he went and picked me up. “Okay there we go love.”

I wrapped my arms around his neck and clung onto him like a sleepy koala while Tom walked out holding onto me with his arms wrapped around me.  From my constant eyes opening and closing trying to fight off sleep, I saw Tom walk through the tunnel before we were finally out the gate and I felt him waving.

“Hey mum, hey dad.”

“Welcome home son, Harrison, and this tired young thing must be (y/n).” I turned to look up and as I rubbed my eyes, I saw Tom’s parents.  They looked like nice people but I was just too tired to fully introduced myself.

“Now Dominic, you can tease the girl when she’s fully awake. C’mon you three must be exhausted. Let’s get you all home and into bed.” Tom’s mum said.

“Thanks mum.” Tom adjusted me back into his arms so that I was now lying against him but I still clung onto him as we all left the airport.  I don’t really remember much after that because soon I went back to sleep against Tom’s chest.

When I woke up the next morning I found myself in a bedroom.  It was painted gray and the sheets were a dark blue color.  I heard the door open and the next thing I knew this big mass of gray came hopping right towards me and I was greeted with wet kisses.  I knew only one creature who greeted me like that.

“Tessa! Awww Tess I missed you so much!” I cooed as I scratched her belly and squished her face between my hands.

“She could hardly contain herself when we came home last night.” I looked up and I saw Tom leaning up against the edge of the door.  “It does warm my heart to see you liking Tessa.”

“Why wouldn’t I? She’s an angel.”

“Guess it’s kinda due to her breed. Blue Staffys’ are considered one of the most dangerous dogs here in the UK.”

“But that doesn’t mean she’s vicious. It’s the same with pit bulls. My foster dad back home tries to keep me away from the neighbors white and brown pitbull Titan every time he escapes. But he’s not vicious, unless you count licking someone to death vicious.”

“Man I’m so glad you think that way (y/n).”

“Yeah. That’s what Mrs. Spencer always tells me whenever it comes to dogs. I wish I could have one, or a cat for that matter but my foster dad’s allergic to cats and my foster mom is terrified of dogs, unless they’re the purse dogs but I don’t really like them.”

“Why’s that? Just out of curiosity.” He asked as he came over and sat down at the foot of the bed while Tessa placed her paw on my lap finally calming down.

“Not big enough. I’ve always wanted a dog that I could cuddly with like a teddy bear. Or play fetch with. At my last foster home that I could remember, there was this family that has these Chicha…..Chicas…..I can never pronounce the name.”

“Chihuahuas?”

“Yes that’s it. They had about five of them and they weren’t very nice. Those are the dogs my current foster dad would say were vicious, because they always attacked anything and one of them even ripped my favorite jeans apart.”

“Ahh man that’s terrible. I’m sorry that happened to you.” He said as he gently stroked down my hair.

“Yeah but it’s better than what it could’ve been.”

“True, true, but you never need to worry about getting hurt by this pretty princess.” Tom cooed as he leaned over and kissed Tessa’s head repeatedly.

“So it’s Christmas Eve, what do you guys usually do first?”

“Oh right it is. Well if you’ll come downstairs with me my lady, I will show you firsthand what Christmas is like in the Holland household.” I then got out of bed and Tessa hopped down and went on ahead and raced down the stairs with Tom and I following behind her.

When we got downstairs, all I could see was pure magic.  Lights and Christmas decorations everywhere.  There were tiny villages out along some of the tables and china cabinets standing all on top of some type of cotton or something, which made it look like the villages were on top of snow.

“Wow, this is so pretty.” I said in awe.

“You really like it dear? My mum and I collected those little Christmas villages every year when I was growing up. Each year we’d add a new addition to our collection and make our little Christmas town grow even bigger.” I looked up and there I saw a woman standing beside me.

“Morning mum.” Tom said.

“Morning love, did you sleep okay?” she asked as Tom hugged her.

“Always. (Y/n) this is my lovely mum Nicola, mum this is (y/n).”

“It’s an honor to meet you (y/n). Tom’s told us so much about you.” She said as she knelt down to my height and held out her hand.  I shyly shook it and said.

“Tom’s told me a lot about his family. You all seem really nice.”

“Well Paddy and Harry cane be rambunctious and tricky little buggers but they’re cool.”

“Thomas behave.” His mom lectured him which made me giggle.

“So shall we get started on the gingerbread houses mum?”

“Yes we shall. But as punishment for your comment against your brothers, you’re gonna be doing the hard part of gluing the house together.”

“Aww mum!” whine Tom which made me snicker. “Laugh it up fuzzball.” Tom said to me.

“Hey who you calling a fuzzball you stuck-up, half-witted, scruffy looking nerf-herder!”

“Whose scruffy looking?”

“Alight, alright enough you two. At this point the both of you are looking at gluing the gingerbread house together.”

“Sorry Mrs. Holland.” I apologized.

“It’s fine dear, now then both of you in the kitchen now.” Tom and I then raced to the kitchen with his mum telling us not to run in the house.  A few minutes later, his dad and his brothers Harry, Sam and Paddy all arrived in the kitchen.  His brother’s were pretty good, especially Paddy who let me in on all the embarrassing stories of Tom.

“And then there was this one time when he was in Year 11 when he went to the winter formal and tried to ask this girl he liked by…..”

“NO! Don’t you dare tell that story!” Tom shouted at him.

“Why not I think (y/n) should hear it.” Paddy mocked.

“What? What happened?” I asked.

“It’s nothing, nothing happened.”

“Tom went outside her house with a boombox playing some sappy love song.” Sam said.

“N you didn’t.” I proclaimed.

“So what if I did?”

“What did you think you were in, the 1980?”

“Hey she loved 80’s movies and Say Anything was her favorite so I figured she’d think it was sweet.”

“Yeah till she said it was corny and turned yah down.” Said Paddy.

“Well I thought it was real sweet the way Tom asked out his date. Of course she turned out to not be the one, but that’s fine because at least now I know that I raised my little Thomas to be a romantic.” His mom said as she came over and pinched his cheek.

“Mum please!”

“Alright, alright enough talk. Let’s get this gingerbread house up and ready to go.” His dad stated.

“So how exactly do you make gingerbread houses?” I asked.

“Just watch us and jump in whenever you think you got it.” Said Paddy as his brother Sam got the supplies.  He dumped out the cookies while Tom’s mom and dad got the icing and graham crackers out.

It was then the Hollands’ began to build their gingerbread house.  Just as Tom was about to glue the pieces together, I decided to step in and I told Paddy.

“I can hold it.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah I got this.”

“Okay now (n/n) be sure you hold this nice and still while I glue it okay?”

“I got it Tom.” He then proceeded to start gluing the walls together then once he was done, he placed his hands over mine to give it a bit more pressure so that the two pieces could stay glued together.

“Hey (y/n) mind helping me out with this? I’m trying to pick the glitter patterns for this year but I can’t figure out what to do.” His mom said.  Tom allowed my hands to come out from under his and I quickly went over and she helped me look over the glitter patterns.

“Hmm……what about the silver and gold pattern? Like in Rudolph.”

“Brilliant. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

“Oi (y/n), mind helping us pick out the gumdrop patterns. We got the colors we want but can’t figure out the pattern.” Sam said.  I looked over to see the three colors they’ve chosen; purple, green, yellow and red.

“Hmm…..why not do purple, yellow, green and red? Cause red and blue make purple, so by ending it with red we can start back to the purple, even without the blue.”

“Oh yeah. Thanks (n/n).” Sam said as he ruffled my hair.  It took awhile but finally we managed to get the gingerbread house all done and decorated.

“Alright everyone, I officially declare that the 2016 Gingerbread Holland house is officially made.” His dad proclaimed and we all applauded.

“And of course let’s not forget the biggest help of all, Miss (Y/n) (l/n).” Tom proclaimed as his family clapped for me as Tom picked me up and paraded me around the kitchen.

After the gingerbread house we were watching some Christmas movies while his mom was making us some lunch.  Right now we were watching one of the old animated movies, we had just gotten done with Rudolph and now we were watching Frosty the Snowman.

“See before Olaf came along with his warm hugs, Frosty was the OG. He was the man!” Harry proclaimed.

“We get it Harry, you love Frosty and hate Frozen, let it go.” Sam said which made Paddy laugh.

“I see what you did, good one Sam.” They fist bumped with each other.

“You guys are such dicks.” Harry said.

“Harry! Language!” Tom said as he covered my ears trying to block my ears from hearing the words.  Truth is I’ve heard every single bad word in the book thanks to my foster mom’s brother.

“Lunch is served.” Tom’s mom came in with a plate of sandwiches, ranging from ham, ham and cheese, veggie sandwiches, or turkey.  I grabbed a plain ham sandwich and that’s when I felt a nudge at my leg.  I looked down and there was Tessa looking up at me with those big brown eyes, she licked her chops as she eyed my sandwich.

“Ah-ah Tessa, go on scoot. Scoot!” Tom’s dad said as he took notice of Tessa from the chair that was beside me.

“Tess,” Tom said before giving one whistle and Tessa went over to Tom and he told her, “Tessa down. Down. Good girl Tess.” When I saw Tessa lie on her stomach, I couldn’t help but feel sorry for her.  I heard her take a deep sigh as she began to close her eyes.

I looked around to make sure no one was looking before ripping a part of my sandwich off and I lowered it down towards Tessa.  She immediately lifted her head and reached her neck out before finally scarfing down the sandwich.  I patted her head and quickly went back to watching TV.

“I saw that.” I heard Tom whisper in my ear.  Uh-oh busted.  I looked up at him with the most innocent face and whispered back.

“Saw what?”

“Don’t you play dumb, you’re gonna get it later little missy.” He teased as he pressed his forehead against mine before turning his attention back to the TV.  I gulped thinking just what did Tom have in mind.

When the sun began to set, it was time for Christmas dinner.  There was turkey, pudding, pies, cookies (which I helped make with Tom’s mom), cakes and fruits and veggies.  As we all gathered around the table, I ate a piece of turkey, I was suddenly feeling this—bubbly feeling in my stomach.  I don’t know how to describe it, it’s like—that feeling you get in your stomach when you’re sad but also overjoyed with happiness.

“(N/n), you okay?” I heard Tom say.  I nodded and hummed before turning back to my turkey.  “Are you sure? You’ve got the deep in thought look.”

“I’m fine Tom, really. I just…..feel happy to be included in…..a family. For once.” The room went quiet for a long time before Tom’s mom placed a comforting hand on my shoulder and she said.

“We’ve enjoyed having you here with us (y/n).”

“My wife’s right. You’ve been a really big help today, we hope you’ve had an equally good time here with us and that we helped make this a good Christmas for you.” His dad added.

“I have. In fact I—I think this maybe the Christmas I will always remember the most.” I said with a soft smile.  The Holland’s all smiled and I felt Tom pat my back while his brother Harry ruffled my hair and I felt Tessa at my feet.

After dinner we gathered in the living room after getting into our pajamas, I helped place down the cookies for Santa with Paddy. He placed down the milk while I placed down the cookies.

“Okay there’s one last tradition we have before we go to bed.” Tom told me as he sat me down into his lap.

“What’s that?”

“Every Christmas eve we take one gift and open it up, sorta like a sneak peek at what’s coming tomorrow morning.”

“We started shortly after Sam was born, the kid could hardly wait to open up his presents so we decided on one gift just to get him to go back to sleep.” His dad explained.

“I wanna play Santa, I wanna play Santa!” Paddy exclaimed.

“No, no, no Paddy you played Santa last year. Let’s let Tom be Santa this year.” His mom said.  Tom picked me up and I sat beside Tessa and stroked her head while Tom began to pass out presents.

I got my present which was just a simple Christmas bag with red and green paper stuffed inside to hide my present while everyone else got boxes.  Maybe my present was a snow globe or some type of clothing?

“Hang on guys, hold on. I think it’s only fair that we let our biggest help and guest (y/n) open up her present first.” Tom announced once all the presents were given out.  They all agreed before turning to face me.

“Okay, if you all say so.” I dug through the bag and pulled out the green and red wrapping paper to reveal an envelope.  Okay I was confused? Why was I given an envelope, if it was a Christmas cars I doubt it could fit in this small thing.

“Here I’ll help open it, Harry hand me the letter opener by the dining room table.” Tom said as he came up next to me.  Harry got up and he got the small knife and Tom thanked his brother before opening the envelope with a single swipe.

He handed it back to me and I took out a few pieces of folded paper.  I unfolded the hamburger styled papers and I saw at top the name of the Foster Care system I was put under.  There was all these big words but the one thing that did catch my eye was the signature of Tom’s parents at the bottom.  I looked through the other papers and kept seeing their signatures.

“What’s…..”

“Something I was running through the Foster system as well as my parents. I’ve really enjoyed having you around (n/n), you’re like the little sister I never had and……we want you to be a part of our family.” Tom said as he brought me up onto his lap.

“You—you all…..wanna adopt me?”

“Yes love, if you’ll have us that is. I mean, Tom’s told us so much about it it’s like you’re practically part of the family.” His mom said.

“So what do you say poppet, want to be a Holland?” I was……overjoyed.  A wide smile spread across my face as tears filled my eyes. I couldn’t even form any words as I nodded allowing the tears to fall down my face.  Soon my new family all came up and surrounded me in a group hug.

At this point I don’t care what else I might’ve gotten for Christmas, all that mattered now was this.  I had gotten the one wish I had always wanted, the one gift I hoped I would get someday.  A family.

It was then the next morning, waking up that Christmas day, in fact it became a White Christmas day, I got to spend the entire morning with my new family making snow angels with my new brothers, having snowball fights, learning how to build a snowman with my new mom and dad, and playing around with my dog Tessa.

In the years to come those Christmases grew to be better than the last but none of them will ever compare to my first Christmas I had with my new family.

[vernonfielding]

Carnival: Trial by Fire

This story was written for @vic-kovac for the @b99fandomevents Fall 2019 Fic Exchange. Vic-kovac, I was SO EXCITED to get you as my prompter because I love your writing so much and your prompts were all fantastic (in fact, there may be a second story coming along...). I hope you like this!

Thank you to my always amazing beta, @fezzle. I don’t want to think about what I’d do without you, Z.

The prompt I chose: The Santiagos have an annual family tradition and Amy takes Jake along (fluff, early established relationship). To the story! (Or read on A03!)

Part 1: Amy

Jake had splurged on express delivery but the new mattress still wasn’t scheduled to arrive until the weekend, so they were at Amy’s apartment, in Amy’s bed, under Amy’s floral comforter when she dropped the bomb.

“I talked to my mom today,” Amy said, casual-like, her nose in a crossword puzzle. Maybe too casual-like.

“Hm,” Jake said. He was playing a game on his phone. Amy peeped over his shoulder at the screen. It looked like it involved harvesting pumpkins, which was season-appropriate, at least.

“I told her about us.”

Jake gave her a side glance, then set his phone in his lap. “You did?”

“I did.”

Jake waited while Amy pretended to return to her puzzle, tapping the cap of her pen against her lower lip. Finally he chuckled and tore the paper out of her hands.

“Jake-”

“What did she say? Are we in the clear or is this going to be a Romeo and Juliet situation?”

“For the last time, we’re never going to be a Romeo and Juliet situation.” Amy said, scowling at him. “Do you still not remember how that play ends?”

“No, and stop trying to avoid the question.”

“Jake, it’s a double suici-” But she noted the stormy look on Jake’s face and caved. “She’s happy for me – for us. She’s only disappointed that she can’t be here for Thanksgiving so my dad’s going to get to meet you before she does.”

Jake chuckled. “Is everything in your family a competition?”

“Yes.”

Jake gave her a slow nod at that, the look on his face part bemused, part concerned – Amy figured she was going to see a lot more of that when it came to her family – but then he smiled. And it was a smile that made his whole face go soft, his eyes wide and warm, and she couldn’t resist leaning in to kiss his mouth.

“Thank you,” Jake said, gentle and sincere, when she’d pulled away.

“You’re welcome,” Amy said.

They both sat back against the headboard again, phone and puzzle in hands. Amy bit her lip and glanced at his profile. He looked so relaxed, so content, that she almost felt bad. 

“Mom also said this means you have to come to the annual carnival.”

Jake hummed his acknowledgment again, then his brows knit in bemusement and he said,  “What now?”

“It’s a Santiago tradition,” Amy said. “You’re going to love it.”

In truth, she thought he might hate it. There was a slim but real chance their relationship might not survive it.

“A carnival,” Jake said. He nodded to himself and then grinned at her. “Sounds fun, babe.”

She did not correct him.

 Part 2: Nick

The carnival was really more of a neighborhood block party, started by Victor Santiago back when he was a sergeant in the 103rd precinct. The Santiago children had been enlisted as volunteers since the very first carnival, when it was just a barbecue and some folding chairs and kids kicking rotten Halloween pumpkins in the street. Over the years it had become a neighborhood institution, with hundreds of people turning out over the afternoon and into the evening – it was a way for families old and new to reconnect, for residents to take pride in their community, and for the local cops to show their soft underbellies and let kids throw pies in their faces.

Victor and Camila had moved away years ago, but the Santiago siblings by unspoken agreement had kept up their participation. Though the Santiagos no longer organized the event and none of them lived in the neighborhood anymore, they always attended, along with a growing cadre of Amy’s nieces and nephews and associated girlfriends and boyfriends and in-laws. Not one sibling had missed a single carnival – not Amy when she’d been sick with pneumonia, or Ivan when his wife had given birth two days before, or David, who had turned down a commendation from the mayor so he could attend the 2012 fair. (He got the medal anyway, in a private ceremony at the mayor’s own home. Bruce Willis had been there. It was a long story. Amy planned to never tell Jake.)

Some might say it had become a competition among Amy and her brothers to see who would attend the most carnivals. Amy just called it a nice family tradition.

As she walked hand in hand with Jake up the subway stairs, she could hear the screeches of small children and the familiar strains of Cuban salsa coming from above. The exit deposited them half a block from the carnival, which was just getting started, volunteers hustling around with arms full of raffle tickets and platters of meat to be barbecued even as the first families with young children began meandering among the booths. Autumn-colored streamers were strung between tents and someone had dusted the ground with straw to add to the seasonal effect. Amy could already smell the odd but intoxicating aroma of roasting meat and pumpkin spice.

She insisted on paying the $5 entry for each of them, then paused to take a deep breath and smile at the familiarity of it all. She turned to Jake to ask what he thought, and his eyes were warm and bright as he took it in. She took his left arm in both her hands and snuggled in close to him, suddenly so happy to have him here in this place like home.

And then he was tugged right out of her hands and she looked up to find Nick with an arm slung around Jake’s shoulders – or more like his neck – in a fairly aggressive way.

“Nick!”

“Sorry, sis, this is Jake, right? I need to borrow him for a minute. Jake, I’m Nick, Amy’s favorite little brother.”

“Uh-” Jake said.

As he was dragged away, Jake looked back over his shoulder at Amy, all the warmth from just a moment before replaced by wide-eyed fear. Amy waved at him and called after Nick, “You’d better not break him! Nick!”

An hour later, after helping one of the neighborhood abuelitas sell raffle tickets, Amy excused herself and went hunting for her boyfriend. She found him in a booth amid the snack tents. He was grinning madly as he handed an enormous pile of cotton candy, wound precariously atop a cardboard stick, to a girl who couldn’t have been older than 5, and whose mother looked horrified. The spun sugar was bright pink and larger than the child’s head.

Jake saw Amy and his eyes went wide and he frantically looked all around the tent, then mouthed “help me.” He had wisps of pink and blue sugar in his hair and the wild-eyed look of a man who’d been eating samples of pure sugar for an hour. Amy grabbed his sticky hand and hissed, “come with me,” and snuck him out the back, right under Nick’s nose.

 Part 3: Omar

She took him to one of the family restrooms to wash up, though there wasn’t much they could do for his hair – the sugar seemed to have embedded itself in his curls. Amy had only the faintest memories of eating cotton candy as a child, of the way it melted on her tongue like something ephemeral and unnatural, not entirely of this world. She was afraid that some kind of chemical reaction had taken place on Jake’s head.

“I’m sorry about that. I don’t know what Nick was thinking putting you on cotton candy duty right out of the gate,” Amy said, as they left the bathroom, Jake still scrubbing his hair with a paper towel.

He shrugged and smiled at her easily enough. “I love cotton, and I love candy, I just had no idea that when you put them together things got so…sticky.”

“You know that cotton candy isn’t cotton.”

“You’re so cute when you’re wrong,” Jake said, and kissed her on the forehead. “Anyway, Nick was nice.”

“Nice? Nick?”

“Sure,” Jake said, shooting her a bemused look. “Is he not nice?”

“He’s not not-nice,” Amy said, which seemed to confuse Jake even more. “He’s just-”

But then Omar sprung up between them, as if out of thin air, and slid his arms around both of their shoulders.

“Amy! I can’t believe you haven’t introduced me yet!”

Amy rolled her eyes and said to Jake, “Jake, this is my brother Omar. Omar, Jake.”

“Much better. Now off you go, Amy. Mrs. Hernandes was asking for you over at the cake walk,” Omar said, and began to push Amy away, definitely with more force than a cake walk required.

She reached for Jake’s hand, but Omar batted her away. “I’ve got your boy,” he said. “Jake, you look like a man who knows a thing or two about ring tossing…” And they faded into the crowd.

When Mrs. Hernandes released her from the cake walk – “Uptown Funk” was going to be playing in her head for the rest of her life – Amy wandered back over to the game booths, and found Jake easily enough. The ring toss was surrounded by kids five or six deep, and when she squirmed her way to the front she couldn’t even manage surprise at what she saw. Jake and Omar stood side by side, fire in their eyes and plastic rings in hand as a bedraggled looking volunteer straightened the lines of two-liter bottles they would be aiming for.

“Best of ten tosses,” Omar said.

Jake narrowed his eyes and smirked, and Amy instantly recognized his game face. “I win, I get to date your sister.”

“Hey!” Amy said.

“Oh hey, babe,” Jake said cheerfully, grinning at her before returning his stony stare to Omar.

Omar glowered and said, “I win, you still get to date my sister and you have to play Santa Claus at my kids’ Christmas pageant.”

They shook on it, and Amy honestly was so embarrassed for both of them that she couldn’t bear to watch.

“The trophy is going to see if they need any help with the puppet show,” Amy said, and squeezed her way back through the crowd. She rolled her eyes as the kids erupted into cheers when someone scored a point.

 Part 4: Ivan

Amy ate lunch with a few of her old neighbors, laughing over plates of carnitas as she got caught up on all the gossip on the kids she’d grown up with. After, she figured it was about time to hunt down Jake again and make sure he hadn’t been handcuffed to a lamppost by one of her brothers as a prank. She shivered at the recollection of the Carnival ‘03 Incident.

She’d gone two circuits of the carnival, and was starting to get concerned that he’d been smuggled off-site, before she found him – and did an immediate double-take. He was in the face-painting booth, eyes narrowed as he carefully traced the delicate, unmistakable lines of a butterfly wing on the cheek of a little boy. Jake was intensely focused, his tongue stuck in one corner of his mouth, hand holding the child’s head in place while he worked. It was sweet to see him so attentive, but that wasn’t what had caught Amy’s eye.

It was the pink unicorn painted on one of Jake’s cheeks, with a rainbow of poop shooting out of its butt and across his forehead.

Amy smacked her hand over her mouth to keep from laughing out loud. Her only option was a hasty retreat. She backed up a few steps, careful not to draw his attention, then spun on her heel and prepared to make a run for it. Only she ran smack into Ivan, the tallest and widest of her brothers. He caught her around the forearms and steadied her when she bounced right of his chest.

“Whoa, where you off to so fast?” Ivan said.

Amy looked back over her shoulder at Jake, but he was still working on his butterfly. Her eyes watered from the effort of not laughing.

“I have to help with the, uh, thing,” Amy said, waving her hand vaguely. She was glad Ivan was not the brightest of her brothers.

“Okay, just look where you’re going,” he said, and Amy nodded vigorously.

She started to walk away, but turned after a moment and said, “Ivan, what do you think about Jake?”

Ivan looked back into the tent at Jake, and shrugged. “Seems like a good guy. He’s kind of a shitty face painter, though.”

 Part 5: Tony

“Amy! Hey, Amy! Santiago!”

Amy looked up from the table where she was making beaded friendship bracelets with a group of 9-year-old girls. Tony was poking his head through the back of the craft tent.

“What’s up?”

“Your boyfriend, does he have any allergies?”

Amy frowned and narrowed her eyes at him. “Bees,” she said.

“Okay, but no, like, food allergies?”

“Not that I know of,” Amy said.

“Does he have a heart condition?” Amy shook her head. “What about phobias? Fear of heights? Enclosed spaces? How is he with spiders?”

“Tony-”

“Oh! There he is. Later, sis!”

Tony disappeared and Amy wondered if she should follow him.

“I think your boyfriend might be in trouble,” one of the 9-year-olds said.

Amy propped her chin in her hand and nodded.

“Do you think he’ll break up with you if he gets bit by a spider?” another 9-year-old said.

“No, he’d probably think that’s really cool,” Amy said.

The girls all nodded sagely.

“Boys,” one said.

“Men,” Amy said, and knotted a new bracelet for Jake.

 Part 6: Eddie

She wasn’t dumb or naïve. She’d expected her brothers to run Jake through the gauntlet at the annual carnival. She just hadn’t expected to see him sitting atop a pony that her 3-year-old nephew was pulling along by a rope.

“Isn’t he a little big for the pony?” Amy said to Eddie, who was leaning against the fenced enclosure and chewing on a blade of hay.

“Mason was scared so Jake offered to show him it was no big deal,” Eddie said.

Amy nodded and hoped that Mason didn’t noticed the white-knuckled grip Jake had on the saddle horn. At least it was a large pony – she thought it might actually be a small horse – so Jake probably wasn’t going to break its back. That would really freak out the children. Amy dug her phone out of her jacket pocket and debated briefly over whether to take photos or video, before deciding on both.

“Jake’s all right,” Eddie said, after the pony had trotted a few loops.

Amy slipped her phone back in her pocket and crossed her arms over the top of the fence, and hummed her agreement. Jake was the first boyfriend she’d brought to one of these carnivals, and though she’d been nervous for him because her brothers were all competitive jerks (she loved them, really), she hadn’t doubted for a second that they would like him. Her parents were going to be the real test.

When Mason finally called the pony to a stop with a very firm “whoa,” Jake slid off the animal’s back and walked a bit bow-legged to where they were watching.

“Nice riding, cowboy,” Amy said, grinning up at him. The pooping unicorn paint-job was still in remarkably good shape.

Jake kissed her on the cheek and tilted his head to one side to say in her ear, “If you tell anyone-”

“I already sent the photos to Gina.”

She kissed the corner of his mouth and backed up with a little wave.

“You’re a demon!” Jake called after her. “A harvest demon! That’s a thing!”

Amy blew him a kiss as Eddie threw an arm over his shoulder and pulled him back to the ponies.

 Part 7: David

Amy was sipping Mexican hot chocolate, watching the older couples dancing as the sun started to set and everything was turning golden and a little fuzzy around the edges, when Manny sidled up next to her and gave her a one-armed hug. She knew they were both thinking about their parents, and how they’d always closed down the carnival dancing, until they were the only couple left on the floor. When Amy was a child, the carnival wasn’t over until Victor dipped Camila and kissed her in front of everyone, and all the old men and women whistled and cheered and the kids groaned, and finally the last of the colored lights strung up and down the blocks were turned off.

“Where’s Jake?” she said to Manny, after they’d watched in silence for a while.

Manny fumbled in his jeans pocket and pulled out his phone. “According to the group text, he’s in the first aid tent with David.”

“Group text?” Amy said with a frown. “I haven’t had anything on the group text all day.”

“Oh, right.” Manny scratched the back of his neck, looking sheepish. “Uh-”

“Oh my god. I’m not on this group text,” Amy said, a cold realization washing over her. “You guys really are trying to break my boyfriend.”

“Not break!” Manny said, throwing his hands up. “Just, you know, bend. A little.”

Amy groaned and rolled her eyes. “You guys are aware that it’s 2015 and I’m in my 30s and basically half of you are younger than me, right?”

“Yeah, we know-”

“Also, Jake can handle whatever you losers throw at him so bring it,” Amy said, and downed the rest of her hot chocolate. “And yes, I know I’m being a hypocrite but I’ve got the moral high ground here.”

She gave Manny a quick hug and punched him – hard – in the shoulder and took off for the first aid tent. Though David was probably the least likely of her brothers to cause physical damage to Jake, she was still deeply unsettled by the idea of them spending time alone together. Amy knew she was being just a little bit hysterical, but still: What if Jake liked David more than he liked her?

As Amy neared the back of the tent, she heard David before she saw him. “And now you peel off the plastic strip – no, not both sides at once! Wait, here, let me-”

“I know how to put on a Band-Aid,” said Jake.

“But there’s the correct way and there’s the way that lets flesh-eating bacteria fester,” said David.

The sudden loud sob of a child cut off the rest of their conversation. Amy smirked to herself and poked her head into a break between tent flaps. Jake was crouched beside a chair, and a curly-haired little boy was clinging to him like a monkey, face buried in Jake’s shoulder. David stood over them, cleaning his hands with a disinfectant wipe.

“I’ll radio the on-duty officers and see if they’ve had any luck finding his mom,” David said and headed toward the front of the tent.

“Yeah, you do that,” Jake muttered. He stood with the child still hanging off him, then settled himself in the chair and arranged the kid so he was curled on his lap. The boy looked like he was 4 or 5, and he had a fresh bandage on one knee and tears smudging the tiger stripes painted on his face.

“What’s flesh-eating bacteria?” the boy said with a hiccup.

Jake stroked a palm over the boy’s hair and said, “It’s like cooties, but for adults. And don’t tell anyone, okay, but that guy? He’s covered in flesh-eating bacteria.”

“Is that why his face looks so stuck up?” the boy said. Amy had to stuff her fist in her mouth to keep from laughing out loud.

“Yep,” Jake said, patting the kid on top of the head. “You’ve got it.”

Jake and the kid made up a long, complicated, very detailed story about the origin of flesh-eating bacteria and how David got it. Amy watched them until the boy’s mom showed up, and he gave Jake a hug and made Jake kiss his knee. Both of her legs were asleep by the time she stood up and limped off to her next volunteer assignment. It was worth it.

 Part 8: Manny

“There’s no way I can do this, Ames. I give up!”

“Oh- well, okay. You want to go home then?” Amy tried to keep the disappointment out of her voice. He’d been doing so well.

“What? No! I meant how am I supposed to pick a winner when they all look the same?” He gestured desperately at the costumed kids lining up on the parade route. “There are like 20 Jedi knights out there!”

“Oh yeah,” Amy said, peering over his shoulder.

Jake had been “randomly selected” as the sole judge of this year’s costume contest – the main event of the carnival for the neighborhood kids. (It was one of the holdovers from the earliest carnivals, which had always taken place around Halloween. The year they’d moved the carnival into mid-November they’d canceled the contest, and the kids had revolted. Nick, the youngest of the Santiagos and the only one still dressing up for Halloween, had led the riots.) Manny had told Jake that costume judge was a position of high honor as he placed the paper crown on Jake’s head. But Amy could tell Jake wasn’t buying it.

Indeed, it was a vastly unenviable job. There were three dozen eager, doe-eyed 3- to 10-year-olds vying for the prize. And 11 of them were Santiagos.

“You know, back when I was a kid we valued creativity,” Jake said, still staring down the Jedis.

“Oh yeah?” said Manny, who was half-heartedly trying to get the kids to line up by height. “And what’d you dress up for Halloween?”

“Are you sure you weren’t John McClane very year?” Amy said.

“I will give you ages 7 through 14,” Jake said.

“Fourteen?” Amy said, horrified.

“I meant 10,” Jake said. “Anyway. Before that I was a scarecrow-”

“Cute,” Amy said.

“E.T.”

“Adorable,” Manny said.

“Airline pilot.”

“Oh, that’s sad,” Amy said.

“Yeah. Then the next year I was George Michael.”

“Wait-” Amy said. “What?” Manny said.

“I was 6 and my mom was going through some stuff and listening to a lot of ‘Careless Whisper’ and you know what, never mind,” Jake said.

Someone blew a whistle then, loud enough to make a bunch of kids start crying. Amy wasn’t surprised to see David was the source – he was waving his arms wildly at Manny, clearly annoyed by the chaos on the parade line. Amy kissed Jake on the (non-unicorn) cheek and wished him good luck, and took her place with the rest of the volunteers wrangling kids. Jake sat alone on a folding chair that had been draped in fake orange velvet, with crepe-paper autumn leaves stapled all over. The costume judge was also deemed the carnival king (or queen), though Amy didn’t think anyone had told Jake that. They also probably hadn’t told him that when the judging was over he’d be manhandled to the official pie-throwing wall, which was sort of self-explanatory. Amy quickly checked her phone to make sure she had plenty of storage.

“Monster Mash” suddenly blasted out over the speakers mounted around the parade block and the first kids marched off in front of Jake. Amy stepped back and watched with a grin as Jake sat straight in his chair, the same focus in his eyes that she’d seen a hundred times when he was surveying a crime scene, not missing a thing. Manny came up on one side of her and Omar on the other, and she felt more than saw them make eye contact over the top of her head.

“Stop talking about me,” she said, nudging them both with her elbows.

“I’m just saying, if he doesn’t pick Matthew, your boy’s in trouble,” Omar said.

“Oh please,” Amy said, “that little Taylor Swift’s got it in the bag.”

 Part 9: Amy

Amy toed off her sneakers and climbed through the flap of the bounce house. It was well past dark, but in the dim, checkered light cast by the streetlamps, she had no problem making out Jake, sprawled spread eagle in the middle of the plastic floor. His eyes were closed, and tufts of whipped cream still clung to his curls, and though most of the painted unicorn was long gone she could still make out a smudge of rainbow poop across his brow.

She smiled to herself and crawled toward him, the inflated structure squeaking and wobbling under her weight. She stretched out beside him, and rested her head against his chest. He smelled like ponies and apple cider and sweet-rotten pumpkin and barbecue – like all of her best childhood memories. When he lifted a hand to stroke back her hair, she saw that he had about a dozen friendship bracelets on his arm, and a gauze bandage wrapped carelessly around his palm.

“Did I pass?” he said, voice still a bit croaky after all the yelling during the pie-throwing.

“With flying colors,” Amy said, and snuggled deeper into his side. She took his hand and kissed the palm, not sure if she wanted to know what had happened there. “Are you okay?”

“Hm,” he hummed, and she glanced up to see that he was smiling.

Amy let them lie there for a while, listening to the faint, familiar strains of bossa nova and imagining the couples dancing under the fairy lights. Maybe one day she and Jake would be one of those old couples, closing down the carnival while their sleepy children watched quietly and drank the last of the hot chocolate. She knew she was getting way ahead of herself – they’d only been dating a couple of months, after all – but she let herself indulge in the fantasy, just for now.

When she finally started to get cold, and she could hear the calls of volunteers tearing down tents, she sat up slowly and kissed Jake on a clean spot on his forehead, and then again on the mouth. She couldn’t resist lingering there, lips parting without a thought. She felt his sigh as he opened his mouth to her, letting her in. She was just starting to get warmed up when she went to run her fingers through his hair and got caught in a sticky tangle of sugar-coated curls. Amy chuckled into his mouth and pulled away.

“Come on,” she said, wiping her hand on her jeans, “let’s go home.”

He groaned sleepily and said, “This bounce house is home, Ames. I live here now.”

Amy laughed and tugged on both of his hands until he reluctantly sat up. “That new mattress isn’t going to break itself in, you know.”

At that Jake ducked his head and laughed, and they both clambered awkwardly out of the house, and crouched to slide their shoes back on. Amy took his hand again and led him away from the lights and the noise of the clean-up crews – she figured they’d earned an early exit.

“Next year I think I’ll just stick with the ring toss. Maybe face-painting if I can get Ivan to teach me how to do a dragon,” Jake said.

“Next year?” Amy said.

“Yeah,” Jake said, looping his arm over her shoulders. “And next year, David is carnival king.”

THE END

[katandabbieslife]

The Long Awaited Update, maybe, if anyone still reads our stuff...

So, it’s me, Abbie, who dropped the ball this time and not Kat. I promised you guys an update about why we were gone all summer and that did not happen. To explain it, completely, I might need to go back Winter break 2 years ago. It was right around the time we started this blog. Kat and I were both full time students and working to pay for food and bills. We both let our jobs know in September that we’d need winter break off to go home for the holidays as a lot of employers in college towns expect. We were both told that would not be a problem and we made plans, book flights because they’re much cheaper when booked in advance. We were set! Wrong, we were both screwed. Schedules came out for the weeks of winter break and Kat was scheduled for 2 days that first week and then scheduled for Christmas Eve, and the day after Christmas. Kat went to ask if it was a mistake and her boss told her no, that it wasn’t a mistake and they couldn’t spare her for two weeks. She explained we booked our flights in early October because we were told she’d be off. Kat explained she needed the time off to visit family and they told her they couldn’t do it. Kat told them she was already told she’d have to time off and was going home to visit family at which point they told her if she was a no call no show, that they’d have to terminate her. She broke down in tears and went back to work. Over the next couple days, she kept begging them to give her the time off. She talked to co-workers to try to get those days covered and several said they would do it. They just had to convince their asshole manager.

 Just as Kat was seemingly ready to get her situation finished, mine popped up. My schedule had me scheduled for a full 40 hours for both weeks. I was beyond shocked because I never worked over 32 hours and usually only 28 hours. I went to ask why I was scheduled for a full 40 hours and the bitch told me “Oh, you only work a short schedule because you’re a student, and since school is out for these two weeks, we had some of you kids want to go home to family for the holidays and we need you to cover some of those shifts since classes are out.” I threw my schedule down on the desk and said “Yeah, some kids wanted to go home for the holidays, I was one of them, I put in for this in September and you said it was approved, what the fuck happened?” and she just blankly stared at me. I asked when some of the other put in for the break and she was like last month, and proceeded to tell me I should ask for time off 3 weeks in advance, I pointed out I asked 3 months in advance. She gave me a shitty grin and a chuckle and told me to get back to work. I refused and told her we had flights booked for over two months and they were non-refundable (not sure if they were or not, just said that to hopefully change her mind) and she told me, I hope you didn’t pay a lot, it would suck to lose all that money for something you can’t use. I told her “I’m not going to lose money, I’ll go to the labor board or small claims court since these were booked AFTER you approved my time off.” She told me to stop being dramatic. I explained I would be going home for the holidays one way or another. After arguing with both our respective bosses, we were finally told we’d get the time off. We thought it was all settled. We left, we had a great holiday, we came back to school. We stopped by both of our places of employment to get our schedules and Kat was told she’d been replaced. She came out in tears and I comforted her and explained we’d get her another job. She calmed down and we drive to my shithole job and I get my schedule and I’m scheduled for 3 hours one day, 5 hours another and only have 5 total days scheduled in two weeks. 16 hours for 2 weeks. I raised hell and it did me no good.

 Kat started her job search and I worked my few hours while filing out applications Kat brought home for me since I was looking for a new job too. Our parents knew what went on just before break and they weren’t surprised when we had to call them for extra money for bills and rent. As some of you know, My mother is an attorney and my Stepdad(Now Dad, he officially adopted me Aug. 2018) owns a small chain of like 30 or so sporting goods stores in my home state. Kat Parents own a huge Horse farm/Ranch made up of three original farms combined to make one large one. Our families are doing nicely. By this time, almost a year into our relationship, our parents were already friends and talking on a regular basis through texts, Email, and phone calls, I figure initiated by my slightly over protective mother because she feels responsible for my abuse at the hands of my biological father. Anyway, they are all friends and talk often. Mom told me to get a list of our rent and average monthly bills together and call her tomorrow. And in the meantime, Kat’s Parents put money in her account and mine did the same. I called mom with the rent and average bills and I expected her to be putting a budget or something together because “moms love that shit” right? We talked for a bit and then she said she had some phone calls to make.

 She called back a couple hours later and she told me to put it on speaker phone and I heard her asking “Katherine, are you guys there?” and we heard Kat’s parents chime in and say “yes, we’re here.” We all said hi and Kat and I were looking at each other like “W.T.F.?” Mom started by telling me I needed to go quit my job immediately after the phone call, Kat’s mom told Kat to tear up any applications she had filled out and to never mind finding a new job. Again, Kat and I looked at each other like “W.T.F.?” Mom and Katherine(Kat’s mom) both started telling us how they couldn’t believe how much trouble we had just trying to come home for the holidays and how upset they were when, at first, they didn’t think they’d get to see their girls for the holidays. They were glad when we finally got to come home but they expected we’d face some kind of retaliation for taking the time off. They were a little shocked at what actually happened, they thought it would be the opposite and we’d get the hours dogpiled on us instead, causing our schoolwork to take a backseat. They both wondered that if we got new jobs, would we get too many hours to handle both work and schoolwork? Or would we go through the same trouble next holiday season? Would we get to enjoy summer break? At which point they collectively decided to pay our bills, our rent, our food, and we’d get a small bump in our monthly allowances. My allowance was guilt money from Mom anyway. Most of it goes into a saving account anyway, I also get money from stud fee’s from my German Shepherd Franklin. Usually around $500 a month sometime more (if he gets lucky, if you know what I mean? : ) Our parents were paying for school anyway, our bills did not add that much more in comparison.  We just had stipulations. Every break, we have to go home to visit at least for a week unless we’re granted a reprieve. This only applies to Thanksgiving, Winter, and Summer breaks. All other breaks are short and we’re free to do with as we please. Because of comments I made to my mother about how much cam girls make online and how I bet Kat and I would make bank doing the cam girl thing, we were told “Absolutely no porn!” If they ever found a single picture of either of us online, a nipple, a lip, a butthole, our agreement would be null and void and we’d have to get jobs and all money would be pulled except for tuition, of course. (Way to go Mom, take all the fun stuff away and leave us with Work and School only! LOL) Anyway, we agreed, we wouldn’t do Porn. We also have to keep our grades up, which wouldn’t be hard since we wouldn’t have to worry about reading chapters on breaks at work, or getting papers written before our shifts. Everything seemed great. We agreed. Without having to work a part time job after class, I used the free time in the evening to pick up a few more classes each semester and have since taken classes from (8am to 7:30pm) 3 days a week and (8am to 7pm) 2 days a week, assuming the classes are offered, and luckily they have been. Those extra classes allowed me to double major and earn two bachelor degree’s this past spring, when I was only on track for one degree and only a few classes short of my second which I had planned on earning the end of this current semester, but my schedule worked out and the classes were offered during my new found free time.

 Skip ahead to December of 2018 and you have stories of my Birthday Party, our Holiday party, and that’s where we left off. Through spring semester, things got hectic again. I loaded my schedule to get as many classes done as I can and with any luck, I can graduate early.

 Our lives were also changed last year when we went home for winter break and I can’t wait for that chapter to start. Some of you know we’re both engaged with full blessings from both my family and hers, and we’re planning on getting married in June. One year of dating, and then 2 years and 3 months of engagement until the wedding. We’re still as happy now as we were on day one, if not happier. Kat’s mom corners us every chance she gets with wedding planning. We’ve already decided on getting married by our favorite lake on their farm, but the details are what Momma Katherine loves to obsess over and I love her for it. Ok, on to the life changer. I wrote about Kat handling the purchase of the farm northern property line of her parents property. The days leading up to arriving back home for winter break were filled with Exams and Kat making contract changes with my mother, the attorneys advice. She and Kat talked as much the week before we went home than she and I since summer break all combined. Mom helped Kat make changes and Kat emailed it to her parents attorney to make the changes official. Kats parents had been telling us they were going to take us out to celebrate when we got home and were just told we were celebrating the new addition to the company and the plans for that part of the property. Ok, well, the life changer will not be in this quick little update since the original draft of this was 28 pages long and over 22,000 words. It kind of bled into everything above then into Winter break 2018/2019. I found my Word document that I journaled in during break, just as I do with stuff I think I will write about later. So, we have this update that will hopefully explain a few things about us, and I will follow that up with the posts about last year’s winter break. I have my word files from the spring and summer too so those will be written up when I get time. For now, here is a chance to learn a little more about us. If you’re still around reading our ramblings, thank you for your patience, if you’re new, enjoy what’s been posted already and please, do not hold us to a schedule. We don’t mean to be liars by saying we’ll be posting soon and not posting for months, it’s just that life and schoolwork take precedence over Tumblr posting. I hope you understand. -Abbie