#a small child to do. things that my dad did after they got divorced. things that my dad's girlfriends did. things that *she* did

[running-in-the-dark]

a short list of 'fun' things my mother has done, for the next time I forget what she's really like

the one time she was supposed to pick me up from a friend's house (less than 20 minutes away), my friend and I were a little late getting back to her place because our train was late. I would've been 13 or 14, and I couldn't call my mother because neither of us had money/credit on our phones. when we arrived at my friend's house, her parents told me that my mother had been there and waited a few minutes, but then said she had a toothache so she left. we were maybe 20 minutes late. it was a Friday but we had school every second Saturday, so it was a school night.

I was supposed to go to her friend's wedding with her when I was 11 or 12. she was supposed to pick me up at my dad's place where I lived, and I was alone, so I walked our dog before she was supposed to be there. I was in a hurry, so I forgot my keys, but I thought it was fine because she was supposed to be there any minute. she showed up three hours later. it was winter, there was snow. I think I eventually broke a small part of a window at the back of the house so I could get in because I got really worried about my dog - that was right before she showed up though, so we'd been outside in the snow for hours and it was already getting dark by that point.

her, my brother and I were on the way to a dentist appointment, I think I was maybe 13. she stopped somewhere to run an errand. my brother got out of the car and kept shaking the car really hard the entire time she was gone. he didn't stop when I asked him to and eventually I got upset. when she came back, I told her what he had done and that he wouldn't stop. she told me to be quiet and stop being difficult, I was upset and said that's not fair, she slapped me in the face. my lip was bleeding. we were driving through the village where my dad and I lived, but she refused to stop the car and let me get out. I refused to go to the appointment because my lip and shirt were bloody.

didn't take me to a doctor when I fell on my head and most likely had a concussion

didn't take me to a doctor when I twisted and probably sprained my ankle falling down some stairs and couldn't walk for over a week

once pretended she left me and my brother behind in a small town because we were walking too slowly (we were maybe 3-5 years old) and actually got in the car and drove off (she came back after a few minutes but it still terrified me)

yelled at me when I didn't immediately understand how to knit when she tried to teach me (I was about 6)

made me copy 4 pages of text into the about me section of my friendship/poetry book (that you let your friends write stuff in) because what I wrote wasn't good enough

explained to me that I didn't need to be scared of airplanes because of crashes because those are rare - no, I should be scared of them being kidnapped by terrorists instead (I was 4 or 5)

immediately after that: explained what prostitution is and that it's important so that men don't rape women and children (again, I was like FIVE. the news were on the radio and I didn't know what the word meant so I asked.)

one time my art teacher told her at a parents evening that she (my mother) was just jealous of me because I was young and so different from her and that's why she treated me that way and didn't like me. she thought that was hilarious and immediately told me about it when she came home. she just found it sooo funny and ridiculous. I'm still not sure if she made it up, but tbh both options (it really happened or she made it up) would be weird as hell.

[lovieku]

GOOD LUCK, BABE! #3 ⋆ 정국

what happens when you leave everything behind, only to be faced with it again years later? eunbi is convinced she was given another shot at keeping all she ever wanted, but it’s difficult when that all is her childhood best friend who doesn’t want to do anything with her anymore. how to earn his trust back?

☾ pairing: non idol!jk x fem!oc

☾ genre: childhood friends to strangers, friends to lovers, angst, fluff, smut

☾ word count: 9k +

☾ warnings: explicit language. say hi to eunbi!!! and to the friend group!!! its a bit funny until it becomes angsty … ouch. jeongguk is a bitch lowkey. pun unintended (you’ll see). theyre dramatic as hell. like bro it cant be that serious 😭. im sawrry for this. and its not all!!! see you in fourth chapter 🫡

☾ author’s note: hi hi hi!!! this took a bit to fully convince me but in the end it did. i was frustrated because i felt like i couldnt really use my words properly to tell the whole thing but… here we are now!!! thank u!!! enjoy 🫶🏻

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three ⋆ this is me trying

Up to that point, Eunbi’s life has been a constant adjusting to new surroundings, leaving bits and pieces behind, getting attached to new ones, and hoping they wouldn’t be taken away from her. It would always end up as she feared it would, though. From as early as she can remember, Eunbi would live off her blue backpack, where she gathered a toothbrush, a change of clothes and her favourite plushie to help her sleep and adapt faster to the smaller bed at her dad’s house. When her parents had divorced, it had been a rough patch before the both of them could come to a legal agreement; that being, she would spend the weekend with her father, and then stay with her mother again until Friday rolled around.

She rarely looks back at those days now, but when she does — mostly at night, her mind seemingly incapable of putting a stop to her furious flow of thoughts and just sleep — she thinks if it hadn’t happened to her when she was still pliable and mouldable, when she was yet to be met with what ordinariness was supposed to look like for others, she wouldn’t have been ready to wholly face all that followed. Eunbi was young when she learned that love between two people could end so easily, and her innocent self accepted that as the norm.

As a result, what she found harder to accept, more than her own mother and father not even being able to stand next to one another without ending up quarrelling, was having to leave her small black poodle in Gwangju, with her grandma, after moving away to Busan. Curly (little Eunbi had given him that name for obvious reasons, and to this very day she finds it dumb, but it makes her giggle nonetheless) had been a great companion through the inevitable loneliness she had to face as an only child. She was convinced he could understand her better than no other, even when she would force the tiny creature to sit and listen to her ramble on.

Busan was the next big change that was pushed onto Eunbi, only a few years after her mother got engaged to a man that would soon replace her biological father: with time, sleeping over at his house for the weekend was no longer even a contemplated thought on his side, coming up with excuses after excuses as not to, and that slowly led to showing less and less interest in keeping up with her and meeting up. The little girl had always been numb in relation to such negligence, and because of this she could consider herself lucky in some distorted sense; it didn’t affect her as much as it should have.

Part of that was also due to her step-dad being a great father figure during the initial times of his and her mom’s relationship, making sure to adapt to Eunbi’s pace and boundaries, never overstepping while also being able to bring fun into her life by taking the family out to visit places and eat delicious meals. What he couldn’t do for her, however, was live with a dog. When he and her mother decided to finally move together following their wedding, they both agreed on wanting to restart from a brand new place. Busan was their perfect pick for a variety of reasons: her mom got offered a job at a recently established company that seemed promising, and her step-dad could fulfil his deep-rooted dream of expanding his by starting a new branch.

Every single thing about him seemed perfect to her mom’s eyes, even if he was apparently deathly allergic to dog’s fur. And, of course, she picked her husband over Curly. Eunbi couldn’t believe it, nor accept it. The girl cried over the small dog for the two weeks prior to moving, during the trip to Busan, and for the following days there. Her grandmother would keep her updated by sending pictures of Curly through email, and even after the scar had healed, those would never fail to make her tear up.

As shameful as it might be to admit it, after having dried herself from half the water that made up her body because of the constant crying, it didn’t take long for the scar to close. When she first stepped foot in the big city by the seaside, Curly showed up right in front of her. Just in human form. Big eyes, long black hair and puppy manners, her neighbour was definitely sent to her by something greater. Eunbi was obsessed. It didn’t show at first, her pride prevailing. But it was harder and harder to fight against it. Jeongguk was simply too easy to love.

They became inseparable. Wherever he was, better believe she was there too, attached at his hip. And if they showed up alone, people would naturally ask about the other. Because the moon is never seen without its stars, and sunflowers only ever turn to face the sun. Their bond could be perceived by anyone as unbreakable, a friendship to envy and wish for, and every brick that built it had resulted in the creation of their own safe haven that only had space to contain the two of them. Not anybody else could be let in, the bubble exclusively recognised their password. It wasn’t composed of words, or numbers. It was the look of understanding they would share; the white lies used to cover the mischief of the other; their own handshake, accompanied by an original friendship jingle that Eunbi came up with randomly; the assurance that they could reveal their biggest secrets to one another, and they’d be kept like an oath.

There’s many of those that Eunbi shamelessly revealed to Jeongguk, some with intent and others unleashed spontaneously during their many endless talks. But when she thinks of it, she never admitted the single one that really mattered, the one that her best friend in the whole world needed to know, and remember. At all times. In any circumstance. It wasn’t a secret, it was more a result of her pondering; it came to a full reasonable thought only years later, and by then it was too late to tell him.

Eunbi thinks, and she’s sure, Jeongguk was the reason why all that came before the two of them had to happen. If it didn’t, she would have spent her whole life looking for that missing puzzle piece: under the cushions of the couch, in between her bed sheets, accidentally thrown away in the bin. It was as if all the hardships she experienced were justified, because at the end of the tunnel Jeongguk was waiting for her. And everything finally made sense. The puzzle was complete. Jeongguk was the reason himself. He was sent to teach her an important lesson: everything happens for a reason. There’s a cause and an effect, and even if the cause was suffering, at least the effect was her favourite boy.

Then, a gust of wind had wiped the puzzle to the ground, every single piece losing its place. When her best friend was taken away from her, she stopped being so convinced with the thought she herself had harboured, because she suddenly couldn’t find the meaning behind such a cruel fate. If everything really happened for a reason, then what was it? Jeongguk helped her see colours, only to return to black and white. Leaving him behind had marked the death of a version of herself that she would never get back.

Seoul was big, and harder to adjust to, even more with the baggage she was now dragging behind. Unpacking it, she found out all she had brought with her was a shattered trust and a soon to be broken promise to never get attached again. It was hard to be faithful to such an imposition, when Eunbi was born to give out love. It was hidden in that luggage, in between fears and regrets, but surely present.

And it prevailed in the end. Even at a slower pace, love found its way up and helped a lost Eunbi navigate the big capital city, promising new beginnings and healing. She found that in the faces of people that she would then start to recognise as friends, inside warm cafes during the coldest days of winter, and in the certainty that no matter where she is, she is always looking up at the same moon.

What she has built in Seoul so far feels the closest to stability that she has experienced in years. Starting university and meeting Dahye was the last bit of convincing it took to make her consider once again that a reason could exist, and that in the end it would make sense. Maybe not totally. Maybe just partly is enough after all.

Until, seeing a pair of familiar starry eyes in the midst of dull ones was all she needed to firmly believe in what she had been finding hard to accept. It took one shared look for past and present to get blurred together, and the mixture of old with new feelings created a mess. It was nice, nonetheless. Better than the seemingly impossible to get rid of emptiness at the pit of her heart.

Behind her eyes, Eunbi could see the puzzle slowly reaching its final form again, this time with more missing pieces, but the image was at least recognisable. When Jeongguk showed up in front of her again like magic, she contemplated becoming religious. Getting to her knees and starting praying to whatever greater force was shining on her path to please keep doing that. None of that showed on the outside, her smile breaking and mirroring the expression on the boy’s face. Pure sorrow. She knew she was probably the last person on earth Jeongguk wanted to see, and the fact that he wasn’t even trying to mask it didn’t help.

The most rational response she could come up with at that moment was to act as if nothing ever happened. And then, the bricks that a long time ago held together their safe bubble were being used by the boy to raise a high wall between them, making sure accessing his space would be impossible for Eunbi. Who could blame him? Still, the happiness she shamelessly felt when Jeongguk showed up at her 20th birthday party was too consuming, she selfishly wished for the rest of her birthdays to always look like that as she blew the candles. Nonetheless, when he suddenly left sprinting on his bike she knew the gods would need time to grant her desire. Although, this time around she had faith.

She doesn’t know how long it would take for it to break, though. September getting closer and closer only means that Jeongguk’s birthday is just around the corner. As part of his friend group, she had been involved in the process that led to organising the surprise camping trip, even if she didn’t exactly participate. After all, she doesn’t get to say she knows the boy better than anyone, anymore. Jeongguk has evidently changed, and as a consequence she knows way less about him than the others.

For that exact reason, Eunbi had made various attempts to back down from the trip, fearing her presence could significantly ruin it for the celebrated boy. At first, she tried to be casual about it with Dahye, since she’s the only one she’s opened up to about the whole dilemma, “I think it’s better if I don’t come. After all, it’s a friend trip. I’m not really his friend.” To which her roommate only replied with bullshit, proceeding to type away on her keyboard. That did not help whatsoever.

Then, the night she was too tipsy to take a taxi back home and Jeongguk had offered her a ride on his bike, she came home with a smile on her face only to burst out crying in front of a just as drunk Dahye. In between sobs, she begged to be left out of the trip, “Ple- Please, Dahye. He hates me. I can’t stand it.” Her friend tried to shush her whines, pushing Eunbi’s head on her chest and consoling her, “He doesn’t, baby. I’m sure he doesn’t.”

As a result of that night, Dahye had then sat her friend down with the intent of fully convincing her to be present for Jeongguk’s birthday trip for a number of reasons, “It would be rude to not show up after he was there for your birthday. And also, what if you two end up talking about… things! And everything gets solved! That would be nice, wouldn’t it, Bibi?”

Eunbi had just nodded all the way through the motivating speech, not really understanding nor believing her words, but apparently they were enough to lead her to the present moment: awkwardly squished between Dahye and Jimin on the couch of her flat, while they animatedly converse with the others to approve on the trip schedule. She has never felt so out of place before, not only because she doesn’t feel like she has a say in the whole discussion, but also because as time went by the two friends by her side kept shifting to subtly get closer to one another, not realising they were compressing her body in the process. To the point she is forced to get up, the position she was in being too uncomfortable, and sit on the ground under the couch next to Namjoon.

She can feel her movements being followed by a pair of curious eyes, and when she looks up to meet them, she finds out they belong to the origin of all her worries. Before Jeongguk can divert his attention elsewhere, aware he was caught observing, she gives him a quick tight lipped smile. It goes dismissed, as if it hadn’t happened. Ouch. It’s okay, Eunbi can take it. She used the few days prior to this to mentally prepare. She knows she’s not exactly welcomed anywhere near him, that’s why she made a silent secret pact within herself: whatever happens during the trip, don’t be a bother to Jeongguk. Stay away from him as much as possible, and if not possible, then do anything to avoid putting that frown on his face, exactly the one he’s sporting right now. On a second thought, if just looking at her gets him to react like that, maybe it’s best to mentally wipe that off her list of things to keep in mind for Jeongguk’s birthday camping trip.

With there still being a day left before their minibreak takes off, the girl can already tell it’s going to be hard to follow the flow of that list, Jeongguk making it obvious her presence could have been avoided before the vacation has even started. Still, she remains composed and brushes off what had just happened, instead focusing on the main topic of conversation.

The group (Hoseok) has decided to meet to go over the schedule one last time because, “Everything needs to be perfect, guys. We can’t afford to slip!” It’s still Hoseok talking. Eunbi learned that he had always been the one in charge of organising events and little getaways when it came to the friend group, his obsession with keeping everything under control coming in handy in such scenarios.

Not only that, but the reddish haired guy is also amazingly quick on his feet, and in a relatively short amount of time he has managed to find the perfect excursions and experiences to go over during the trip, making sure every day spent together would be filled with fun activities that he knows the birthday boy is going to look forward to. In between what he has arranged there is cycling, canoeing, trekking, and more stuff that Eunbi can’t keep up with. Surviving this is going to be made ten times harder by the amount of energy that is going to be expected out of her. She sighs at the thought, looking down at her manicured nails. She just got them done, and now they would surely break.

It takes a few seconds for her to realise the sudden silence that fell above the room, and when she looks back up she’s met with eleven pairs of eyes staring at her. She straightens her posture, suddenly too aware of being perceived, and she deduces her previous exhale had been released with more energy than intended. Hoseok sweetly smiles at her, “Anything you don’t agree on, Eunbi?”

The panicked girl opens her mouth to justify herself, her eyes getting wider and shinier with embarrassment, but Dahye beats her to it, “Bibi, didn’t you say you, like, hate cycling? I’m sure we had a whole conversation about it.“

Eunbi is mortified. Her eyes jump from Dahye to Jeongguk, trying to get her best friend to shut up while also registering the boy’s scoff and muted roll of his eyes. Oh god. Her whole be-lowkey-and-make-yourself-unnoticed plan just shattered in a matter of seconds. She can feel Jeongguk’s eyes bore flaming holes into her skull, his arms crossed and his legs furtherly stretching out on the armchair. If she still had a small, tiny hope left that he didn’t fully hate her, she just witnessed that shattering in pieces too.

She quickly shifts to sit on her heels, her hands frantically shaking to try and save her face for what she could, “No, what? I love cycling. Seriously, I’d do it everyday if I could.” She chuckles shakily while subtly shoving Dahye’s knee next to her to signal going with the lie. At first, Dahye looks clearly confused: she was so sure of that information about her roommate. She furrows her brows, looking down at a panicky Eunbi widening her eyes. It takes only a few more seconds for her to suddenly get it, shaking herself from her doubts and catching the ball, “Oh, right! You do! I got it confused with, huh… something else.” The girl mutters that last part only to join her friend in a nervous laugh, and an apologetic smile. Best believe Dahye is going to hear about this later.

Hoseok looks just as puzzled as the others, but nonetheless he nods, announcing the schedule has been officially confirmed. A collective acclaim fills the room, only for the boy to stop it with a raise of his pointer finger, “Now, I will assign you guys in your respective cars.” Which is comically followed by a joint groan, and some protests. Hoseok ignores them, and goes on reading off his perfectly planned out Word document.

”Namjoon is the first driver, and he’s travelling with Iseul, Seokjin and Sora,” he looks up to briefly check with the mentioned members to see if there are any complaints, then proceeds. “We’ve got Yoongi with me, Aera and Taehyung. Then…” Hoseok squints his eyes while scrolling down the document, and those few seconds of silence are enough for Eunbi’s thoughts to anticipate what is about to follow. She lowers her head, unwilling to meet Jeongguk’s glare when Hoseok says, “Jeongguk is driving with Jimin, Dahye and Eunbi. All set?”

The positive response is quick, even too rushed and disregardful of what was said, as Namjoon and Taehyung have been impatiently begging for the never-ending organising to be over so they could order food and finally fill their starved stomachs. No one pays any mind to it, but Eunbi and Jeongguk stay quiet, while Jimin and Dahye share a knowing look. Tomorrow is going to be a long day.

The evening is spent in the cramped living room of Eunbi and Dahye’s shared flat, eating pizza and letting a random movie play, which soon only functioned as a background noise the moment Taehyung started a game of Would You Rather. Even if Yoongi initially shushed him, everyone eventually became more delighted with Seokjin’s unthinkable suggestions than with the film, “Would you rather be trapped in a small room with 10,000 tarantulas for 10 minutes, or eat 10 tarantulas in 10 minutes?”

Eunbi tries to let herself be distracted by the content smiles on her friends’ faces, even feels less distressed when she notices Jeongguk relaxing as well, but that doesn’t stop her mind from overflowing with all the things that could potentially go wrong. It inevitably shows on her face, and in her unusual quietness. She has been pondering on the last information Hoseok had shared about the confirmed schedule for hours now, worrying it was going to start the trip on the wrong foot. There were all the best intentions to not poke the sleeping bear, but she fears being in the same car as him is going to stir him awake.

After the group leaves the apartment at past 1 a.m., Hoseok checking with everyone that they’ll show up at 8 sharp tomorrow morning in front of the same building they’re now parting ways from, Eunbi releases a long sigh as she closes the door behind her shoulders. Dahye catches the look on her features immediately, taking her pretty face in between her palms, “I’m sorry for earlier. I was trying to help.” She pouts, and it makes the shorter girl chuckle.

Eunbi shakes her head, dismissing her apology with a small it’s okay, and freeing herself from her friend’s hold so as to avoid meeting her eyes, instead busying herself with tidying up the mess in the living room. Her flatmate looks at the strangely silent girl narrowly, “What are you thinking? Please, don’t let it be something stupid like I don’t wanna drive in Jeongguk’s car.”

When all Dahye is met with is silence, she knows that specific something stupid is flowing in the other girl’s head. Eunbi spends the next hour packing and letting Dahye think she’s wholly convincing her distressed roommate nothing could go wrong from just being close to each other, and if anything, it could be a starting point.

For the sake of getting at least three hours of sleep before the long drive ahead, Eunbi fake promises her friend that she won’t let such thoughts haunt her mind and stop her from enjoying the holiday (she was forced to repeat those exact words) knowing she’s going to let them do precisely that. She also ends up staying awake all night either way, trying to come up with a reasonable excuse that she can use to ask Hoseok if a small change would be possible, hoping it wouldn’t be too much of a hassle to him and his perfect plan.

When the following morning rolls around, the group gathers in the courtyard of the flat complex as instructed hours earlier by Hoseok, who looks like he’s on the verge of a serious crisis when it’s one minute past 8 a.m. and Taehyung still hasn’t shown up. Eunbi fears for her life when she taps his shoulder as delicately as she can, still unable to avoid a jumpy reaction from the boy, who then relaxes when he sees the girl’s sweet smile. That lasts for about one second, because when Eunbi softly asks him if they can talk he’s back to puffing out panicky breaths.

She hesitates a moment before uttering in one single exhale, “I’d rather not go in Jeongguk’s car.” Faced with Hoseok’s perplexed stare, she goes on explaining in a rushed, messy speech, “It’s nothing personal, really. It’s just- Iseul! Yeah, Iseul begged me to be in the car with Dahye… She doesn’t know Sora that well so she said it would be way too awkward. I can go with Namjoon!” She ends it by trying to sport a convincing grin on her lips, but with the way it looks like she’s being held at gunpoint to smile it’s doing the exact opposite, not helping in hiding her own panic at all.

Hoseok takes a few seconds to process her request and read her expression, but in the end he just shrugs and nods enthusiastically, “That’s okay!” He then claps his hands twice, recalling the others’ attention who comically snap their heads in unison, hanging on the boss’ lips, “Tiny change. Eunbi doesn’t wanna be in Jeongguk’s car, so she’s going with Namjoon.”

For the second time in under 24 hours, Eunbi is so embarrassed she prays the ground to swallow her whole. Hoseok doesn’t seem to be making a big deal out of the way he worded his announcement, busy typing away on his phone, probably updating his Word document with the recent change. The others don’t look too fazed either, accustomed with the two infamously not being too fond of each other for no apparent reason, except for Dahye and Jimin: the former is looking at the girl incredulously; the latter has shifted his attention to his best friend.

Eunbi can feel cold sweat dripping down her forehead, the weight of the world crushing on her shoulders. She’s afraid to follow Jimin’s line of vision, but as she slowly does, it leads her to meet Jeongguk’s intense gaze, a slight pissed scowl hardening his features along with his brows almost meeting at the bridge of his nose. His all black attire composed of an oversized t-shirt, cargo bermuda shorts and chunky sandals matches perfectly with the look on his face. He seems confused, and unnerved. And sad? This is not how things were supposed to unfold.

Under such pressure, the girl impulsively releases a nervous laugh, her whole face red with awkwardness, “It’s not like I didn’t- Okay! I’ll just go wait in the car.” Her head hangs as she distances herself from the group, finding an escape from Jeongguk’s disappointment in Namjoon’s car. She bangs her head on the dashboard a few times, making the most of the last minutes alone she’s getting before departure.

Starring in that shitshow was not on her list of things to keep in mind for Jeongguk’s birthday camping trip in any way. On the contrary, what she has been trying to do is going by the rules of the list itself: stay away from Jeongguk and don’t be a bother. Instead, the opposite seems to be happening every time she attempts to be nice to him so as to not be a hassle during the trip. Releasing a shaky breath, she hopes her intentions wouldn’t be misinterpreted by the boy, as she tries foolishly convincing herself the telepathy between them still exists, at least to a small extent. She was only doing this for him. To make it easier for him. Please, please send this telepathic message to Jeongguk.

Connection probably isn’t working too well, because when they all get to the destination after a fairly long ride, Jeongguk still looks pissed, shutting the car door with more energy than required and unloading the luggages, taking his and Iseul’s to the entrance of the camping site. Eunbi narrows her eyes as she observes the scene, the short haired girl thanking the previously annoyed boy and effortlessly putting a smile on his lips, and she almost doesn’t notice Namjoon urging her to move. She abruptly shakes herself out of that trance, relaxing her hands that had subconsciously closed into fists, and takes her bags out of the car. As she clumsily drags them on both of her shoulders, her Converses do little to protect her soles from the rocky ground, and she groans. It’s not like she was expecting Namjoon to carry her baggage, she can do it herself. But as she keeps watching Jeongguk easily handling all that weight, she huffs.

The campsite looks amazing. The space that the group has at their disposal is huge and wholly surrounded by nature, making it the perfect getaway from the chaos of the city. Not too far, in between trees, a glimpse of the sun reflecting its rays in a large lake can be caught. Eunbi witnesses an excellently carried out jam session, with the lively enthusiasm of her friends on microphone, birds on percussion and cicadas on bass. She smiles, and sighs contentedly. Dahye’s words from last night echo in her head, don’t let this stop you from enjoying the holiday, and today she wants to believe them. She’s glad she chose to wear jeans shorts instead of cargos, the heat slowly but surely rising, and a flowy white top that keeps her fresh, for now.

Hoseok instructs them to get to work, and they do. All their bags are gathered under a big ancient tree as each couple and trio starts (tries) setting their tents. While they’re busy figuring out how to ensure the tent won’t fly away, which Taehyung fears particularly, Jimin and Jeongguk offer themselves to go and fill everyone’s water flask at a nearby drinking fountain they had found. Eunbi kneels down to fish hers out of a blue backpack and goes to hand it out to Jeongguk, who’s collecting Dahye’s bottle. The boy smiles at her friend, but it gets wiped off when he shifts his gaze on Eunbi’s shorter figure. The moment is brief, and awkward: her big unsure eyes stare into his hardened ones, arm extended out to him, wondering if there might be something funny on her face for him to turn so serious; she hesitantly lifts her brows, waiting for something; Jeongguk looks her up and down, only to not acknowledge her water flask, and just walks past her.

Eunbi is dumbfounded, the tip of her ears reddening as she remains paralysed with her hand out, even after Jimin collects her flask, muttering something close to Don’t mind him, please accompanied by an apologetic smile. She regains consciousness of her surroundings only when, beside her, Dahye can’t help the snort coming out of her mouth, trying but failing to save it with her hand. The still shocked girl slowly turns to face her amused friend, mouth slightly agape and left eye clearly twitching, “Did he just… act as if I don’t exist.”

The situation shouldn’t be funny, but to Dahye it’s the peak of comedy as she keeps giggling the more the slow realisation of what has just happened shows on Eunbi’s features. Obviously, the latter can’t find one single reason to laugh about it, whining while the taller girl pats her shoulder, still smiling, “You really need to talk to him.”

The targeted girl ignores that, biting her nails nervously, ”Was he saying anything about… me, in the car?”

Dahye lifts her brows, shaking her head, ”Nothing. He’s probably talking shit about you with Jimin, though.” Eunbi follows her pointed finger and catches Jeongguk animatedly discussing with his flatmate, balancing the bottles in his arms, before they turn a corner. Eunbi fusses, lightly tugging on her braided pigtails, and she feels helpless as even the friend who’s supposed to be supporting her through all of this is chuckling at her. Despite being shorter, when Eunbi shoves Dahye’s shoulder she manages to make her stumble, but that doesn’t stop her laughs, though.

”You’re building the tent on your own.” Arms crossed and pout on, Eunbi isn’t joking as she goes to sit under the tree surrounded by bags and ignores her name being called out. Rather than reacting to it, she spots tiny bugs between the grass and inspects them for a while, pretending it keeps her distracted from what’s plaguing her mind. Soon after, with her knees to her chest, watching those ants working to transfer food from one side to the other inevitably gets her lost in her thoughts. What is she doing wrong? There’s clearly unresolved problems between her and the boy who brutally ignored her existence minutes ago, but she thought maybe if she started seeking for truce, then he would too. His response, instead, makes her realise no matter how much she tries, it’s apparently not enough to mend what happened all those years ago. She messed up worse than imagined.

The constant pondering makes her lose track of time, and she comes back to reality with undesired outcomes that she convinces herself to be true. When she recovers from the (as she has deduced, deserved) humiliation, Dahye has already set up half of the tent and Eunbi walks over to her bashfully, “Sorry for being childish. I’ll finish this, Hye.” The girl just smiles softly and nods, sending her a flying kiss that makes Eunbi chuckle before taking her previous spot under the tree. At least Dahye doesn’t hate her.

It takes her a while to figure out what to do but she soon grasps how hard a seemingly simple task can be, feeling bad for letting Dahye do a great part of it on her own. Still, she needs to work fast as lunch time is approaching, and everybody around her is almost finished. She has been crouching on a particular spot on the ground for a while now, trying to properly secure an angle of the tent unsuccessfully. Until she groans exasperated, puffing her hair out of her vision and lifting her body up to find a solution. She tries stomping on it a few times, but it doesn’t work, and if anything it worsens the situation. Huffing out, with her hands on her hips she looks around for help, and the first person her eyes fall on is Jeongguk.

He was already staring at her, comfortably sitting on a deckchair with his legs spread and sunglasses on. His tent looks perfectly set already, with Jimin seemingly fixing the inside of it. His hand is covering his mouth before he uses it to lift his glasses over his head, and is that a smirk? They both stare at each other in silence, Eunbi still struggling to breathe, and she hesitates slightly until her eagerness to be over with the tent becomes stronger. She speaks up to make herself heard over the small distance, “Can you- help me?”

Jeongguk narrows her eyes at her, initially not answering but not even moving from his relaxed position. The girl is ready to be met with silence again, but it’s something worse when he opens his mouth, “I think Namjoon would be happy to do that.” He’s as stern as ever as he returns the sunglasses on the bridge of his nose, furtherly spreading his whole body on the chair and facing the sun. Only then, he releases a content sigh, smiling slightly.

All of this cannot be real. What does that even mean? Eunbi can feel her eye start to twitch again and she needs to clench her jaw to stop it. It’s okay. Breathe. She unexpectedly but successfully manages to hold herself from exploding on him, both overwhelmed with tent building and frustrated with his behaviour. She can’t really decipher what led him to not only act cold, as he usually is with her, which is fine, but also mean! But no problem, she’ll try once again. It costs nothing to be nice. And she tells herself she’ll stay that way, even if she’s met with the opposite, until he breaks.

The storm of negative emotions tormenting her thoughts can be distortedly seen as a good thing on one side, if she considers that the sudden adrenaline flowing in her body gets her through most of the task without any help, even mindlessly, while she keeps reflecting on the interaction and the previous ones. Why the fuck would Namjoon be happy to help her? Well, he would, he’s naturally a helper, but why did Jeongguk say that? Is he really that pissed about her going in his car? She tries to understand, she really does. Keep being nice is what she tells herself instead.

When the tent is finally up, only with Dahye’s finishing touches, and food is finally in her stomach, refilling her energy tank, it’s like there’s a switch going off in her head, making it seem as if nothing bad has ever happened. Eunbi is back to her talkative self with a full tummy and a bashful grin while her best friend teases her for the earlier tantrum she went on about, but at least it’s all smiles again.

The first day at the campsite is spent basking in the slowness that follows after ticking off the only two activities planned for today on Hoseok’s schedule: setting their tents and preparing meals for lunch and dinner. The boss then instructs the group on just getting acquainted with their surroundings, and they don’t need to be told twice, making the most out of those short remaining moments of ease.

The rest of those hours are used to laze by the huge lake, in between swims and sunbathes. Luckily, Eunbi had packed a few bikinis and she chose to wear a black set, its laces meeting at the back with a bow. Sitting back and taking it easy, before all that she will be faced with the next few days, gives her a chance to get closer to the others. During the earlier drive, she had the opportunity to chat with Sora and discover the sweetheart she truly is, and the car was then easily filled with laughter, mostly provided by Namjoon and Seokjin’s terrible jokes. She now sits by Sora on a beach towel, all the other girls in a circle catching up and laying by the sun. In the back of their gossip session, the boys could be heard laughing and squealing, and the sound reminded Eunbi of sweet childhood. She briefly shifts her attention to them and smiles when she observes how they’re doing the most to tire their energy out, from using a rope hanging by the branch of a tree to leap into the water, to initiating a volleyball match using one of their rolled up towels.

Eunbi grows even fonder than before of the people she’s surrounded with, the earlier stress leaving her body and being replaced by serenity, a small sigh released from her lips before she returns to listen to the girls’ chat. She laughs at something Dahye says and jumps on it excitedly, making the others chuckle at the two friends eagerly recounting one of their craziest uni experiences so far.

All of it is short lived when Taehyung and Jimin suddenly drop a water balloon over their heads, a collective gasp filling the space followed by the two boys’ childish giggles and Dahye’s screams, getting up to run after them. They all spend the rest of the afternoon trying to get back at each other with more pranks, bathing in the lake’s cold water and taking silly group pictures to seal the day. As the sun begins to set, they all sit on their towels and silently observe nature, definitely too tired to speak, and preferring to savour the sweet moment.

When the sun finally leaves its place for the moon to rise and the group of friends gets back to their tents, their stomachs growling signal it’s time for dinner. They take turns to shower using the nearby public structure and then help setting a campfire to cook. It also works as a very needed source of heat, given the temperature has significantly dropped and their bodies are still humid from washing up. Eunbi wears the grey cargos she had discarded earlier this morning when deciding on what to put on, and a white tee, her damp hair falling on her shoulders and making her feel slightly chilly. She comes up beside Yoongi to help him with the meat, benefiting from the warmth of the fire.

There’s not much talk between the two, only the older boy advising her to be careful of the flames every two minutes, but it’s comfortable. Eunbi still has a hard time reading through Yoongi, and maybe it’s what she enjoys the most about him: his aura is soothing and it exudes security. He doesn’t exactly show it, but he’s deeply attentive and caring of his friends, and the girl feels safe next to him. She can sense him looking over at her while the meat is cooking, and as she turns to him she meets his eyes with a smile. He ponders, scanning her face “You got sunburnt. You need to wear sunscreen tomorrow, or it’ll get worse.”

Eunbi chuckles, dragging her pointer finger up and down her red nose, “Yeah, I know. It kinda hurts but it looks like I have natural blush now!”

Yoongi shakes his head with a small amused scoff, “That’s stupid, Eunbi. Wait for me here, I’ll go get you an after-sun cream.” And even as he walks off, he reminds her to not stay too close to the fire. She thinks that’s an exact demonstration of what the boy is truly like in her head.

The girl keeps grilling the meat, humming unknown melodies under her breath, and she almost misses a broad figure sitting on one of the chairs surrounding the fire. When she looks up, it’s Jeongguk avoiding her eyes and instead staring at the flames, their light reflecting in his big orbs and making them shinier. He wears his bermudas from earlier, but he now has a grey Stussy hoodie on top of it. His locks are still wet after freshly coming out of a shower, and they curl on his forehead, making him look like a poodle. She smiles. It’s like 15 years old Jeongguk is there with her again, his bare, exhausted face and droopy eyes taking her back to Busan. Without even realising what she’s doing, she extends a cooked piece of meat his way, “You want some?”

Startled, the boy breaks from his spacing-out and registers the request. He looks between Eunbi and the meat, gulping. He licks his lips, and she swears she can also hear his stomach rumbling. When he keeps ogling the food without replying, she wiggles the fork and his eyes follow its every movement, as if hypnotised. Then, he suddenly screws his eyelids shut and breaks from the trance, simply shaking his head no and fishing his phone out of his pocket, mindlessly scrolling on it. Just like that, she’s back to the present, and Jeongguk hates her. Eunbi narrowly glares at him while he can’t see her.

Yoongi comes back soon after with two different creams in his hands, and he gives them to Eunbi with a chuckle. She thanks him and lets him take over the cooking, while she curiously inspects the products, still standing next to the fire. When Yoongi spots his younger friend on the chair, he asks the same exact question as her, forking a piece of meat, “You want some?”

Jeongguk’s attention is back up, this time on Yoongi, and when he sees what his hyung is referring to he eagerly nods. Eunbi interrupts her examination just in time to see the boy hungrily shoving the food in his mouth, brows furrowed and praising noises accompanying his munching, making the older friend by her side chuckle. Instead, the girl is once again in disbelief, even more as he watches Jeongguk patting his knee with force, satisfied with the bite, “Hyung, this shit is so good. I want more.”

Eunbi scoffs imperceptibly, leaving the scene with an annoyed scowl wrecking her pretty features. As she enters her tent, she’s glad Dahye is still showering as she makes the most of that isolating moment. She sighs wearily and whips out her phone. Using its camera, she tries to ignore her tumbling emotions and instead puts on the creams Yoongi had given her, but not even those are enough to distract her. She’s still incredulous at what she’s being put through, her patience wearing thin, and the pact she made with herself before coming here is dangerously close to being broken.

Dinner is spent with good food and even better people, and only then Eunbi visibly untenses again. In between bites and full mouths, they go from discussing random facts to casually engaging in games of Truth or Dare or Never Have I Ever, the beer bottles slowly being emptied while their tummies get filled. When they’re done eating, the relaxed smiles on their faces implicitly communicate how the meal has been the perfect ending to the lovely day spent together. Still, they stay by the fire and keep up an effortless chat. When one of them comments on the limpidity of the sky, its stars being perfectly visible in this zone of Seoul, they all look up and stare in silence at the fullness of the lights.

Even if it’s not too late, the weariness from being out in the sun for multiple consecutive hours is weightening down on most of them, Seokjin and Sora retiring to their tents, soon after being followed by Yoongi and Hoseok.

It’s a little past midnight, and Eunbi starts to feel more and more affected by the cool breeze, its effects showing on her prickled skin. She tries to warm herself up by rubbing her exposed arms with her hands, but it’s to no avail, “God, I’m so cold.”

A collective agreement follows her claim, with Iseul speaking up and curling herself into a ball on the deckchair she’s sitting on by taking her legs up to her chest and hugging them close, “Me too, it’s freezing.”

”Oh, I have a spare hoodie.” Both girls snap their heads at the voice, which belongs to Jeongguk. However, as he quickly gets up to retrieve the sweater from his tent, it’s not clear who between the two he’s referring to, their curious expectant eyes following his every movement. Eunbi has her reasons to feel so eager, given the fact that she has been begging for one nice interaction with the boy, a spark of hope lighting up in her chest at his offer. On the other hand, she doesn’t know why the other girl seems equally excited, twirling her short hair around her fingers as she waits for Jeongguk to come out of the tent again. She huffs, a pout ending on her features.

When the sought-after boy gets back with a blueish crewneck in his arms, both girls hold their breaths, the sudden tension going unnoticed by the others (except for Dahye, she’s like a psychic when it comes to her best friend’s emotions), until Jeongguk lays the piece of clothing on Iseul’s shoulders, coming behind her and then sitting on his chair again.

Iseul bashfully thanks him, the tips of her ears seemingly reddening while a sweet, alluring smile makes its way on her lips. Eunbi scoffs at that, and if looks could kill Iseul would be dead right now. The dirty look she sends her way luckily goes unnoticed, and she keeps hugging her own body trying to provide herself with warmth. When she shifts her attention to Jeongguk, he’s already looking at her, smirking. She can’t be convinced he isn’t doing all this on purpose.

Even with her teeth almost chattering, the neglected girl forces herself to stay with the others until the end, and with Namjoon and Taehyung retiring to sleep only six of them remain. Under a white full moon, the conversation doesn’t really follow a clear direction, steering from existential questions that none really have the answers to, to Jimin’s drunken adventures. Jeongguk giddily joins the recounting and adds many details to it, specifically highlighting the embarrassing parts that his roommate is trying to omit to save face, and making all of his friends laugh with their whole chest, Eunbi included. She simply can’t ignore the fact that he’s naturally charming, and hilarious as well. In the middle of his storytelling, his whole body gets involved and it makes the events seem even more impressive. Eunbi smiles when she compares the Jeongguk in front of her to the beloved one in her past, the one that would sit her down and force her to keep up with his running imagination, constantly up with new ideas for silly scripts.

Then it’s Dahye’s turn to share one of her experiences, and Eunbi inevitably gets thrown into the tale, which had seen the two friends drunkenly sneaking themselves into a concert. It’s like they’re perfectly mirroring Jimin and Jeongguk’s dynamic, because while Dahye is trying to leave out critical parts of the story, Eunbi strongly insists on specifying them with an unseen emphasis for 1 a.m., causing everybody to laugh along. In between chuckles, her eyes fall on Jeongguk, who is mindlessly scrolling on his phone and seemingly not paying attention. Throughout the recounting, she notices Jeongguk distractly listening but never laughing, and if he does it’s only after something said by Dahye. Slowly, the enthusiasm gets wiped off her face as she curls up on the chair, sulkily letting her friend finish telling the story.

Another hour of effortless conversation goes by, and Jeongguk is back to lively chatting again, his animated gestures and witty jokes getting laughter out of his friends, but this time Eunbi doesn’t join. She silently sets on observing the boy, despite being caught a few times. She really wants to understand the reason behind his behaviour, but there’s no factual explanation she can come up with other than the obvious reasons that put them in this situation in the first place. If that’s the case, there’s nothing much she can do other than going up to him and finally talking it out like the mature adults they should be, but with their petty, silent bickering she doesn’t think that’s happening any soon.

While she’s busy squinting her eyes at the boy, in a borderline creepy manner, she doesn’t notice Iseul crouching in half in laughter at something Jeongguk said, until she’s directly referring to her, “Oh god, Eunbi! Why did you never tell me Jeongguk was this funny?” Said girl is startled by the question and by the abrupt interruption that shakes her out of her trance, confusion written on her face and it must be evident with the way Iseul goes on explaining, “Dahye told me you’ve known him for a long time.”

All at once, the atmosphere is tense and maybe Iseul and Aera can’t feel it, but Dahye definitely can as she snaps her head to her friend, who’s staring directly into Jeongguk’s eyes. The two seem to be battling an unnamed war through eye contact, and the intensity of the boy’s gaze ignites something implacable in the girl’s chest, dangerously close to rage, and it has to do with all the feelings she’s had to bottle up in less than 24 hours. She scoffs, referring to Iseul but never breaking the staring contest with the boy, “Oh, is he? Don’t think I’m well acquainted with that side of him yet.”

If the tension wasn’t palpable to everyone before the comment, it surely is now, the only ones that have something left to say being the crickets and owls in the background. Jeongguk only snickers before washing a hand over his face, an unsettling smirk on his lips. He seems to finally acknowledge the other girl’s presence, but it’s not in the way Eunbi initially imagined it would go. Instead, it’s venom spitting out of his mouth, “You would've been if you weren’t so self centred, always wrapped in your own bubble all the fucking time.”

Eunbi's confidence falls as quick as her heart, a sudden force weighing on it and almost crushing it. She’s fast at hiding it, ignoring the slight sting she can sense in the back of her eyelids, her only goal is to shoot harder. She forces the fakest smile she can muster, “Self centred? Are you sure you're talking about me?” The affronted girl scoffs, loud and sarcastic, “Fuck, and I thought you'd know better than that, Jeongguk. You should try getting your head out of your ass and look around. Maybe you'd see how shitty you've been treating all of us-” me “-for these past weeks.”

Jeongguk is visibly taken aback, and it’s his heart falling this time, his face following suit. His broken features do little to hide the doubts plaguing his spiralling mind. Had he pushed it too far? Had he been actually so bad to his own friends? Seeing his contender’s face relaxing with victory makes him snap out of the sudden trance, as he regains consciousness fast. No, he hasn’t. Fuck this. Blinded by anger, he utters the unimaginable, “Speak for yourself when you say shit like that. As far as I'm concerned, I've been treating you fairly seeing the bitch you are.”

His eyes are as pitch as black, the stars in them that Eunbi would love to get lost into are unreachable now, almost as if a dark cloud had obscured them. It must be the pollution that's taking over his heart too.

She’s frozen in place as the cruel words echo in her mind, the force that was keeping her heart underwater had managed to crush it, and it was now coming up her throat, squeezing the air out of her lungs. Her ears ring with the sudden lack of oxygen, and she can only faintly hear Dahye’s raging comments coming in her defence against Jeongguk. She can only seem to focus on the cracking of the fire, though, its thumping noise suddenly unbearable, as she feels more and more engulfed in its flames. She forces all sounds to come back to her, strongly pulling herself out of her own plagued head, the boy in front of her now unrecognisable to her empty eyes.

Looking around, she notices all of her friends — his, after all — had gone extremely quiet, the pressure weighing on them too. She can't stand it, needs to get out. She wishes she had never agreed to this. So much for keeping her peace. Yet, she'll never give him the satisfaction of knowing how much that hurt her. She'll die before crying in front of him.

“Well, if you don't mind, the bitch has had enough now, so with all due respect, she's going to sleep.” With a forced tight lipped smile, she gets up in one fast movement and walks to her tent, leaving the others disoriented, and a still furious Dahye scoffing at Jeongguk. He follows her with his eyes until she disappears in her shelter, clenching his jaw and announcing his departure soon after.

Inside the tent, Eunbi takes several deep breaths trying to calm down, and she feels frail when she can sense her eyes prickle with tears. She tells herself it’s angry ones. Apparently, being nice isn’t enough, and she watches as the seal to her pact shatters with force, signalling no come back. Following suit, the puzzle breaks once again, and she’s left scrambling for the pieces falling, looking for the one that will start it over again. And this time, it’s going to be even harder.

[blacklegsanjiii]

i keep seeing so much content of sanji being raised by a warlord and brought to the meetings and desperately need more abt that. depends on who his parents is, but what are his relationships with the other warlords in one of these aus? how many recognize him, how many are still fond of him, how many turn a blind eye to the boy who used to pester them as a child?

come to think about it- is it possible to have an au where sanji is raised by all of the warlords at once? i have no idea how this would happen, but sanji is just. passed between warlords like a child of divorced parents (fuck he would have to grow up with croc AND mingo oh dear). all of them end up getting attached to him and are conflicted when he becomes a strawhat pirate. his crew mostly just want answers on how all these powerful enemies clearly know their cook, who keeps dodging all their questions cause he doesnt want to face the backlash of the warlords' collective ward becoming an enemy of the wg

So I'm going to answer this ask in two parts because that's so funny. I'm going to skip Donquixote!Sanji just because he has the most interaction and detail in regards to Warlord meetings and Dad!Mihawk never brought Sanji nor did Boa. So unfortunate they don't get time to shine.

1. How the warlords react to a kid being the meetings.

With Fishman!Sanji everyone thinks he's cute and quiet and his snacks are so good. Doffy uses this Sanji to try to sway Crocodile into kidnapping a child with him. Crocodile is just "anything raised by you won't make it to twenty, no." Boa thinks Fishman!Sanji is fine. He thinks she's pretty and says it but Sanji is more interested in the libraries and Marines than anyone there. Crocodile absently pats Sanji as he passes where as Doffy holds him to the sky and Boa is like "ew" for the most part. Gecko Moria is probably disinterested in all of the Sanjis and will avoid him. Perona is interested though and will play with Sanji when she's there too. Mihawk will actually smile at the boy and talk to him about cooking and will bring a bento for the boy sometimes. Kuma doesn't have his humanity so.................................

Croc!Sanji basically says hi to everyone and then reads quietly. Mentions every once in a while how dumb or inefficient something is. If Doffy comes at him he runs for it. The first time Sanji comes to a warlord meeting in a dress or whatever Boa is like "is he making fun of woman?" And Croc is like "my son has no gender" which makes Boa take him shopping properly. Mihawk and Jinbei will leave cook books or something. Perona does Sanji's make up whenever he's in a dress.

Perona stands in for Gecko Moria I feel like. He just seems more interested in zombies than children. Which, I get. Big Sister Perona comes in when she's old enough.

Readmore for divorced polycule parenting. It does get to marineford,

2. The Warlords(Except Kuma, for obvious reasons) all co parent Sanji. Let's start with which warlord finds Sanji!

I am screaming. OH NO! Mihawk showing up to a warlord meeting, holding a child and apologizing for his delay? Doffy asks what that thing he's holding is and Mihawk is like this my son, Sanji. Everyone is staring at him. Boa asks what the fuck he's doing with a kid.

Mihawk explains he got Sanji and Redleg off a rock and Sanji went with him and the kid is like ten and so small. Doffy somehow cajoles Sanji to be held by him despite his fear and it's like a whole thing and Mihawk is amazed because he's been bitten so hard it draws blood. Everyone is amazed. Crocodile is genuinely concerned about the fucking man holding this kid who is maybe a tenth his size at best. He even gets Sanji calmed down more by moving his coat enough to hide Sanji in it while he holds him.

After the meeting Sanji is properly introduced to all who care, even if Boa is a bit standoffish. Crocodile asks if he'll be a regular attendee to the meetings and Mihawk says yes because he doesn't want to leave Sanji alone on Kuriagana with the humandrills. Jinbei asks Sanji a few questions which they all attentively listen to the answers of. Sanji stutters out about opening a restaurant on the All Blue and being the first to find it.

The next meeting Sanji is gifted cookbooks by the other four warlords and Sanji thanks them quietly with tears in his eyes and ohhh they were not expecting that. Nope.

"What the hell, kid? You can't expect us to believe Mihawk is the first person to be nice to you." Crocodile puffs on his cigar and when Sanji doesn't answer Boa grabs Sanji and holds him for the meeting. Afterwards Doffy uses his strings to take Sanji around. Mihawk is frowning the entire time as Boa tries to turn Doffy to stone and Jinbei tells her not to do that for Sanji's safety. Crocodile manages to lure Doffy back with the promise of a meal.

The next meeting Mihawk has to go on a job that will take a few weeks and he doesn't want to take Sanji so Crocodile offers to take him to Alabasta and return him at the next warlord meeting. So Sanji goes with him and at the next meeting Daz and Bon Clay are there and Bon Clay is explaining to Mihawk and Boa that Sanji isn't just a boy. Boa squeals in delight and after the meeting she and Mihawk take Sanji shopping. Sanji is confused because it was just something he thought he could only do in Alabasta but Mihawk is like "Why would I do anything to stop you from being happy?" And Boa is so happy because she has new little person to spoil with fine dresses and stuff and Mihawk is trying to explain that Sanji is training physically and Boa is like "AND???? LET ME SPOIL THEM MIHAWK!!"

The next time Doffy takes them despite Crocodile and Jinbei saying he shouldn't but Doffy just flips them off and basically kidnaps the kid. Sanji comes back with three carton of cigarettes, fifteen bentos and looks like he hasn't bathed in a week despite Doffy and Sanji saying that they just took a bath. Everyone is looking at Sanji and the cigarettes and Sanji is like "Doffy's family gave them to me as a going away present. Baby 5 kept hitting me."

"You gotta hit her back!"

"That isn't appropriate let alone with their trauma." Jinbei says.

"We'll train them." Boa proclaims proudly.

"Oh no." Mihawk whispers to himself.

Jinbei takes him next because everyone but him is on a job and Sanji is marveling at everything in Fishman island and excitedly tells everyone when the next meeting happens. At this point they all stay after the meetings to hang out with the kid and if they're staying the night to get breakfast together. But it's weird for the marines to see the Warlords, some of the most feared pirates on the seas be sweet to this kid.

Boa gets Sanji last. Sanji comes back with so many dresses and skirts some make up and their hair styled. Doffy picks them up and proclaims them as "Cute" while displaying Sanji to the marines around them. Jinbei laughs in agreement. Mihawk is pinching the bridge of his nose and practicing his breathing techniques. Thus begins the rotation because Sanji is just being passed around by the warlords because they all went to spend time with Sanji equally.

Perona eventually finds out about this but instead spends the weeks Sanji is with Mihawk with them and enjoying her time on Kuriagana. She and Sanji play dress up. Sanji cooks all the time too. Perona talks about zombies and Mihawk listens. They all paint nails and Mihawk says they should be doing this on Amazon Lily and not Kuriagana. Both Sanji and Perona stick their tongues out at the man.

Sanji still has set backs and the warlords will have calls to check in on Sanji. Like it is insane how caring they all are for this kid. Sanji's ptsd with bugs? Doffy has someone whip an anti bug cream. Nightmares? Jinbei will tell him stories and teach him some techniques to calm down. Mihawk explains haki and how to hide and use it to his advantage. Crocodile teaches him all about finances and shit. When Sanji is dysphoric Mama Boa is all about taking them out and spoiling them and just affirming their gender and will let the others know.

Sanji is suddenly calling four men variations of "dad" and Boa is "mom" and being taught multiple different fighting styles, languages, and is working on his haki. And when he starts at the Baratie all the Warlords will come visit him and on his birthday? It's a mad house. It's insane and Zeff, Patty, and Carne are looking at the guy calling five different warlords 'Dad', 'Papa', 'Papi', 'Mama', 'Pops' and just watching them cater to the eggplant as if he's so good and when Sanji tells them Zeff won't let them berate women for incidents with food wastage Doffy brings Baby 5 and Perona to Baratie and Sanji fears for his fucking life because this is a no win situation.

When Sanji joins the Strawhat crew on the phone with Crocodile in Little Garden he disguises his voice to the best of his abilities and it doesn't really fool the man who since he knows what's going thanks to Robin being at Whiskey Peak. Crocodile calls the other parents and is like "Guess what our child is doing" Mihawk mentions he let the greenhaired one live when he was at Baratie. Boa screams that Mihawk is dumb and suddenly everyone on the call is yelling at each other except Jinbei who is laughing his fucking ass off.

In Impel Down Crocodile Jinbei obviously convinces Luffy to get Crocodile out and when they're all at Marineford Jinbei yells to the other warlords that Luffy is Sanji's captain, Ace is Luffy's brother, and Sanji is missing thanks to Kuma. Mihawk asks if that's why Roronoa is at Kuriagana.

"Probably, so change of plans?" Crocodile asks.

"Change of plans." Doffy nods.

"Boa, you do know Luffy is seventeen, correct?" Jinbei asks her and she's frowning.

"No, I don't read the paper."

"WOMAN YOU ARE LITERALLY A QUEEN NOW LET'S DO THIS BEFORE EVERYONE GETS KILLED!" Crocodile yells and suddenly there's two extra warlords helping in the fight and the Marines are like 'fuck' and Ace and Luffy are confused because no one has mentioned this. At all. So the Warlords take over the fight to get the fleet. Jinbei gets Ace and Luffy out and promises to explain when the other's join them even if they're fading in and out from everything that happened and both of them still taking lava punches.

Shanks shows up and ends the war and finds out on the television that five warlords, two of which were in Impel Down started fighting with Luffy to save Ace and he still ends the war. When he asks them about it they just go "He's our child's captain." Shanks and Buggy are blinking at them confused because what the fuck.

[1-800-fuccthisshit]

i know a lot of weirdos like this guy so here ya go :/

✦✦

【𝘚𝘗𝘖𝘐𝘓𝘌𝘙𝘚 | 𝘙𝘌𝘈𝘋 𝘈𝘛 𝘠𝘖𝘜𝘙 𝘖𝘞𝘕 𝘋𝘐𝘚𝘊𝘙𝘌𝘛𝘐𝘖𝘕】

𝘊𝘓𝘈𝘚𝘚 1-𝘈 𝘚𝘛𝘜𝘋𝘌𝘕𝘛!𝘒𝘈𝘛𝘚𝘜𝘒𝘐 𝘉𝘈𝘒𝘜𝘎𝘖𝘜 𝘟 𝘊𝘓𝘈𝘚𝘚 1-𝘉 𝘚𝘛𝘜𝘋𝘌𝘕𝘛!𝘔𝘊 | 𝘗𝘈𝘙𝘛 𝘖𝘕𝘌

𝘞𝘊 : 1,570

✦✦

not gonna lie, enemies to lovers is so easy when it comes to kacchan.

akina hayashi. grey eyes. bright purple hair. has a quirk similar to tomura shigaraki’s. anything she touches disintegrates, but she has the ability to reverse it as long as she doesn’t wait too long.

she had to learn that the hard way.

shortly after her quirk manifested, her parents got a divorce (the whole thing was so nasty), and as an only child, it became just her and her mom.

katsuki’s been akina’s next door neighbor since the womb. under normal circumstances, this would lead the two to become friends.

the problem lies with izuku being akina’s best friend.

she was so protective of him that she begged her mom to put her in a judo class.

“i wanna be able to protect my friend, mama!”

it was the most passionate she’d been about anything since her dad left.

akina was walking izuku home from school when they encountered the sludge monster. she did her best to hold him off, all might showing up just in time.

she couldn’t move fast enough to stop her friend from latching onto the hero as he took off. with a sigh, she continued her walk to the midoriya household.

an explosion in the opposite direction caught her attention. she didn’t plan on making a detour, but if she knew anything about izuku midoriya (and she knew everything about izuku midoriya), she knew he’d be there.

she pushed her way through the crowd of bystanders and caught sight of what was causing the ruckus. the spiky blonde hair and bright red eyes peeking from the muddy green sludge made her stomach cave.

her body felt stuck. it wasn’t until a flash of green ran through the chaos that she took off to help.

for izuku, she’d do anything.

she felt those beady eyes stare her down as she forced her hands through the mess. it seemed like no matter how much she was able to disintegrate, it’d come back tenfold.

after all might put an end, the two instigating teens got chewed out by the adults.

“what were you thinking? do you have a death wish?”

“at least we tried to help. that’s more than what can be said about you pros.”

she shut that down quick.

during their walk home (for real this time), she was properly introduced to small might.

after izuku committed to training with the hero, akina was there everyday working with him. if he was really determined to go to ua, she had to be there by his side.

after passing the Entrance Exam, akina hayashi ended up in class 1-b, much too far from izuku midoriya and katsuki bakugou in her own professional opinion.

she got requests from both inko midoriya and mitsuki bakugou to look after their boys.

she made no effort to befriend her classmates. outside of class, she acted as izuku’s shadow. she didn’t say much, but she always there. everyone thought she was his girlfriend for a while.

the tension between akina and katsuki was tense. every time she saw izuku at the end of the day, likely covered in bruises and bandages, she’d approach with a soft look on her face, find out it was from katsuki, and offer to kill him.

“WUH- kina-chan you can’t go around saying things like that! people will think you’re being serious!”

“but i am, izu-kun.”

during the UA Sports Festival, it didn’t take long for akina to lose sight of her friend. during the cavalry battle, she got grouped with neito monoma.

after her team got eliminated, she waited for izuku with some of the other class 1-a students. the boys were enamored with her aura and the girls were mildly intimidated by it.

it made her anxious to see izuku fight and not be able to do anything to help him, but his classmates were confident that he could handle himself well.

she mostly kept her eyes forward, but when uraraka came back from her round against katsuki, she turned her attention to the girl.

“…”

“um.. hi?”

“.. you did good.”

something about the way she said it had everyone’s except katsuki’s faces turning red.

akina ended up working under a hero in hosu for her internship. she tried to use it as an excuse to not worry about her friend for too long. the beeping on her phone though, ensured that that wouldn’t be the case.

she excused herself and took off, running in the direction of the blinking dot on her screen.

she ran towards the alley and came to a stop just as todoroki was rounding the corner. the sight of her closest friend, his classmate, and a pro hero all laid unmoving and the Hero Killer ready to strike.

it wasn’t long after her arrival that they were able to take the man down. that’s not to say they came out of it unscathed.

they were all wrapped in bandages, and akina had a long gash going down the side of her face.

after that, akina essentially became an honorary 1-a student; she was invited to spend time with them outside of school as her own person and not an extension of izuku.

katsuki’s eye started twitching when he found out class 1-b would be going to the same Training Camp.

while at the forest, akina was tasked with improving the restoration of things she’s disintegrated and forcing the pathway of the destruction.

being in the same vicinity as her genuinely had bakugo tweaking, and kirishima and kaminari thought it was hilarious.

“man, i don’t think i’ve seen you this worked up in a long time.”

“and she’s not even bothering you! it’s almost like you have a cru-”

the explosion shook the ground.

she’d been hiding in a tree when the smell of fire hit her nose. katsuki and shoto had just gotten past her. she jumped down and made quick work of joining the two (safety in numbers and all that) and one of her fallen classmates. it didn’t take long for them to come face to face with moonfish.

getting permission from the hero to use their quirks was unexpected, but hearing that katsuki was one of the targets made akina’s blood run cold.

as shoto started putting up ice walls, akina grabbed the kid off of his back and made something of a barricade by breaking down the ground just enough to hide the boy.

she soon joined the fight, turning the blades coming out of the man’s mouth to dust as they made contact.

she and shoto held their own until dark shadow came charging at them.

the group of students kept pushing through the forest, eventually running into asui and uraraka.

in the end, katsuki ended up in the hands of the league of villains.

akina, moving on muscle memory, ended up riding to the hospital in the ambulance with izuku.

when inko showed up, akina got down on her knees and apologized profusely for failing to protect her son.

she did the same thing at the bakugou household.

akina, to everyone’s surprise, joined the group for the Hideout Raid. she said it was to keep an eye on izuku.

he knew it was a lie.

it was nerve wrecking seeing mt lady, best jeanist, tiger, and gang orca fall against the masked man.

they were all frozen in fear until the sound of the angry blonde rang through the air.

the teenagers eventually came up with a plan.

akina reached for the ground, using her quirk to disintegrate the concrete under the boy. he was quick to notice it.

after the boys took off down todoroki’s ice ramp, akina stayed put just long enough to see katsuki shoot himself into the sky and grab kirishima’s hand.

after she knew he was safe, she ran in the direction of the rubble to help those in need.

it took her a while, but she was able to help civilians get to safety, disintegrating everything in her path.

when she got away from the chaos, she called izuku.

“kina-chan! where ar-”

“izu-kun. are you and katsuki okay? are you somewhere safe?”

she stood by, holding her breath as she watched all might go against all for one on the big screen.

as she watched the hero bulk up for what was probably the last time and raise his fist in the air, akina felt her legs give out, and for the first time in a long time, she cried.

she found the rest of the first years and went with them to drop katsuki off at the police station before going home.

she stayed in her room for a few days, not even coming out when vlad king came by to speak to her mother about the new dorms.

the day she went out the check the mail was, coincidentally, the same day all might and eraserhead were visiting the bakugou residence. katsuki had just finished a conversation with all might.

“katsuki.”

he stopped, but he didn’t look at her.

“i’m glad you’re okay.”

she then turned to all might, bowing at a ninety degree angle, and thanked him sincerely for protecting japan.

katsuki walked back inside his house, his face warm.

(not gonna lie this is probably the first time they’ve ever had an interaction that had nothing to do with izuku)

✦✦

𝘰𝘰𝘧, 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘰𝘰 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 ��𝘰𝘳 𝘪𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘢 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺𝘭𝘪𝘯����. 𝘪 𝘤𝘢𝘯'𝘵 𝘴𝘢𝘺 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘪'𝘭𝘭 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘵 𝘶𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘥, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘪'𝘮 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘺 𝘨𝘰𝘯𝘯𝘢 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘦𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘴. 𝘭𝘦𝘵 𝘮𝘦 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘵. 𝘪 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘪 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘦𝘭𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘢𝘺, 𝘴𝘰 𝘪 𝘨𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘪'𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘵𝘸𝘰 𝘴𝘰𝘰𝘯 (𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘧𝘶𝘭𝘭𝘺). 𝘣𝘪𝘪𝘪𝘪 (*＾წ＾*)

— 𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘺𝘢

[heavyhitterheaux]

Maybe axel asking jack for relationship advice

AN: Axel is sixteen in this

Jack was in the kitchen on the hunt for the sweet potato pies that you had made and hid from him last weekend when Axel walked into the kitchen and called out for him.

“Dad?”

“Hmm?” Was all he answered as he turned around and thought about the next possible hiding spot for the pies.

“Um…” Axel started to say and instantly got quiet, making Jack stop his task of finding the pies and looking over at him.

“Everything okay?” He asked and Axel simply shrugged.

“I need advice.” Axel quietly said and a million things started to run through Jack’s mind.

“About what?” He asked as he took a seat on the island and Axel sat across from him. 

“So there’s this girl…” Axel started to say, but Jack immediately put his hand up to stop him.

“Before we go any further, there better NOT be any pregnancy caused by my second born.”

“NO! I’m not stupid! I know you two will kill me!”

“Okay, now that we got that out of the way, continue. What about this girl?”

“I like her, but I don’t know if she likes me back or even notices me for that matter. How did you get mom to notice you?”

“Taking note of what her interests were and letting her know that they were important to me too. For example, I definitely think that if your mother wasn’t famous that she would work for NASA because of how much she loves space. That’s where Nova’s name came from. And she did the same thing for me, we were around each other so much and spent so much time together because of that. Yes, her looks are a plus, but if she doesn’t have the personality to go with it then what’s the point? She needs to be a good person on the inside too.”

“And that’s when you bought her that telescope? And named a star after her?”

“Mm hmm, took me four months to save up my allowance to buy it for her and she still has it laying around here somewhere.”

It was quiet for a few seconds before Jack spoke up again.

“But even when we were at odds before the three of you were born, my love for her didn’t waver. Yes, I was mad at her and let a lot of things slide that I shouldn’t have, and she still forgave me because of the type of person that she is. I definitely didn’t think I deserved another chance and had it made up in my mind that she was going to divorce me and was just literally waiting for her to say it. I don’t ever take having her in my life or the six of you for granted because it definitely could have gone another way.”

“I… see how you look at her when she isn’t paying attention and I want to be able to do that one day. And I noticed that you two never argue in front of us.”

“I have the utmost respect for her and I never want a thought that I don’t love her or care about her to cross her mind because that couldn’t be further from the truth. She’s literally my entire world and it got a little bigger when she had all of you. We want for you all to have an example of what a healthy marriage looks like.” Jack said, being completely honest. Anything that you needed or wanted no matter how big or small, he would do it for you. 

"The pies are behind the cheesecake on the bottom shelf in the back left corner by the way. I won't tell mom I said anything."

"You have officially won my favorite child of the day award."

Your laughter filled the kitchen as you were now trying to cook dinner as Jack was behind you. He had told you that he was coming to help you, but instead he had been the test taster and was stealing bites of food every few minutes.

“Jackman! If you don’t quit we won’t have any food left!”

“But I’m starving!”

“How are you starving and you’ve been stuffing your face for close to an hour?!” You asked as he reached over to take another bite of food and you slapped his hand away.

“It’s almost finished, be patient!” You scolded and all you got in response as he kissed your cheek and you couldn’t help but to smile.

Axel was standing in the doorway of the kitchen and simply admired his parents from afar as Jack had now taken your hand and the two of you were dancing around the kitchen and waiting for the food to finish.

And he took note of how Jack was looking at you when you didn’t notice knowing that was something that he wanted to have one day.

[iheartguyswithmachetes]

more twdg season 2 headcanons and baseless accusations (mostly luke)

- The first bit of the apocalypse Nick, Pete and Nick’s mom stayed with Luke and his family until it got overrun by walkers (twd season 2 esque) and then they hit the road and met Carver, so between being isolated on the farm and Carver’s camp they never *really* knew how bad things had gotten until they left (hence why eleven year old Clem who’s been out in the open with Christa so long is more fucking competent than half of them)

- Luke’s machete is actually a family heirloom/was gifted to him, might have his initials or a family name or something engraved on the handle

- Luke moved back home to his small town after college but def did an internship or at least tried to break into something related to his degree- I like to think he might have gone into Art Restoration or Curation

- Nick never had any siblings or cousins really, Pete might have been married once but kids never came of it, he might have gotten divorced when Nick was young and having to step up and be Nick’s father figure didn’t leave him a lot of time for his own family.

- On that note: Nick was always super close to Luke’s parents (and siblings?), having a mom who was probably a working mother he would spend a lot of dinners and sleepovers at Luke’s.

- If Luke does have siblings I can only picture him having sisters- maybe Nick just takes up that brother spot in my mind. If I had to be delulu about it Luke’s probably the middle child, high sense of independence, strong social skills, sharing behaviours etc. But I also think being the only boy in his family and growing up in what was probably a small southern town cultivated his whole leadership skills, even if he doesn’t like confrontation

- Sarah had a horse girl phase- or maybe was one when we meet her in the apocalypse. She also definitely did Kumon.

- Sarah’s mom died pre-apocalypse or in the earlier days, meaning Carlos was always very protective of her from early on and her having anxiety or PTSD as we see in the game clearly lead to him sheltering her but I think the death of her mom either pre or early apocalypse would also add to that

- I like to think that Carver pre apocalypse had a pretty shitty life where maybe he didn’t have a lot of power OR he had jobs where he had a bit of power and it kind of got to his head, like the teacher from The Breakfast Club for example. I think he saw the apocalypse as, obviously a bad thing, but also a way out of his menial life and an opportunity to have powers over others

- I don’t believe the Carver being Luke’s dad theory HOWEVER I do think that Luke’s dad was probably also a gruff n tuff older man, I don’t think he was on Carver’s level but I definitely think that Luke’s dad was a hard-ass southern man (hence “minor in agriculture to make the old man happy”) and I think that would also explain why Luke doesn’t like confrontation despite liking control and a leadership role, I don’t think his dad was abusive or anything and I think Luke probably had a good homelife but I also think that maybe there was a seed of resentment there and some ways that his dad was that was part of the reason why Luke, despite being shown to be conflict avoidant and a mediator “butted heads” with Carver so much and why they seemed to have such a weird beef going on

anyway these are baseless accusations to twdg season 2 characters

[justherforfics]

Jessie's girl (hopefully a series)

(A/N) hey i just wanted to say this is the frist time ive ever posted or tried to take a fanfic seriously, so i would like to apologize in advance. this whole fanfiction is based off a dream i have and each chapters respetive song(because ofc each chapter has a song) again i hope you like it. have fun

summary of the series:

jj, john b and you were close friends in grade school, back when you lived on the cut. but when your parents divorce tension rises and you and the pouges drift apart. Now living with your mom on figure 8 and her stupid new husband as they pressure you into law school. will you be able to stand up to your parents? will you rekindle your friendship with the pouges? or do and jj want more? find out on the next episode OF DRAGON BALL-

Warning/ mentions of child abuse, and possible inaccuracies

chapter 1:seven

Although growing up on the cut had its problems, nothing was better than those summers at John B’s house. Back in grade school you and JB became friends fast, as your dad had gone to school together at one point, and back when you were seven, that meant you two were destined to be besties. Not long after JJ joined making the friendship a trio. Almost every day during the summer you would run around the beach covered in salt and sand looking for shiny pebbles and shells, or playing pirates. It was also helpful for your parents, as they used the time you were away as time to “discuss things”. Though you never quite knew what that meant at the time, even if you did it wouldn't matter, as long as you got to hang out with your boys.

Some of those summer nights if you were lucky you could sleep over and watch old scooby doo cartoons and munch on snacks till you pass out. It wasn't until Big John started offering to drop you and JJ at your respective homes did you notice JJ’s home life. You couldn't quite get why, but Mr. Maybanks always seemed to be upset. The first time you figured that he might have stubbed his toe or burnt his toast, that always put you in a grumpy mood. But then when his mood never seemed to change that you thought it was unlikely that he stubbed his toe everyday.

It wasn't until later one evening, sitting at the dock with JJ while JB had gone inside to ask his dad if they could swim again, that it clicked. You were sure you knew why JJ’s dad was always mad or why JJ would have one to two bruises. Why haven't you noticed before!

“Hey j?”

“Yeah” JJ turned to look at you.

“I think your house is haunted” JJ looked at you confused, tilting his head slightly.

“Why, it's not that ugly…is it?” JJ asked nervously

“No! It's just..you dad is always mad, so that must be why.” You respond enthusiastically.” and the scooby gang can’t help him and obviously he doesn't know how to get rid of the ghosts”

JJ sighed and looked down at his lap for a moment contemplating what to say. Then he inhaled with a quick smile before turning back to you.

“Oh? Yeah i  guess that makes sense” he played along.

“Lucky for you i can take care of it”

“Oh really?” he mused, fully turning his body, criss-cross-apple-sause facing you

“Yeah…ok..well not really, but i know how to take care of you” you smiled, turning to face him as well. JJ blushed a bit at the thought before asking

“How are you going to do that?”

“You can live with me!” you answered grinning ear to ear,” I’ll even let you be my first mate on my pirate ship! Just don't tell john b,” 

You put your hand out with a small “deal?”, before he put his hand in yours in conformation.

“ but please don't tell JB, because he thinks he’s the captain still” 

JJ laughed holding his stomach,”i won't”

“Promise?”

“Cross my heart”

again i hope you like it hopefully, and i will try to post constantly. Love you guys and stay safe? i guess, i don't know how to end these lol.

[look-at-the-soul]

A new kind of love 🐾

Tommy Shelby x Reader one shot

🐾 I wrote this story as part of my 900 followers celebration 🥰 as you know by now, one of my dogs (and light of my life) got sick with pancreatitis back in December and my baby girl was hospitalized at the vets clinic for two nights, she had never been sick before and it felt horrible to not have her home, she’s doing so much better now, taking her meds so well and back to her usual self 💞 around those days I reached 900 followers which is crazy so I thought that making a celebration involving pups would be a good idea, and so far, I’m quite happy with the response! Thank you all for keeping her (us) in your thoughts!

Warnings: none just this got a bit longer than I expected 🐶👑

“Charlie?” You looked at him through the rear view mirror, he was so serious, so unlike the chatty little boy he usually was.

He flicked his green eyes at you, uninterested.

“Do you want to get something to eat? I could stop on the way back home for a hamburger or”

But he really wasn’t in the mood. “No, I like what Frances cooks.”

“Do you want to tell me how did school go?”

“Fine.”

Turning off the music from the car, you tried to find a way to get more information from Tommy’s son.

“Do you need to buy anything for your homework?”

“Nope.”

He was harder than his father, at least with Tommy you could bat your lashes, or make him talk during sex, but the same technique couldn’t be used with Charlie.

“How about you invite Daniel on Saturday, we can go to the country house and ride the horses?” You proposed.

But Charlie’s face showed you sadness instead of the excited reaction you were hoping for.

“Daniel is not my friend anymore.” Charlie stated looking down.

His tone worried you. Passing your arm to the seats behind, you offered your hand to him. Charlie doubted at first, but his little hand reached yours.

You cared about him deeply, after losing his mother and the long hours his father worked, you couldn’t help but get attached to him, he was a great child and it was a natural thing to love him.

“How about we go for a walk?” You proposed pulling over in an empty parking spot, changing your original plans to go back home. There was a small stream close, a spot you found by chance in one of your daily runs.

Charlie sighed, nevertheless he walked by your side in silence.

“I come here every time I need to clear my head, people don’t seem to stop by very often.” You pointed out gently after a few moments.

Leaning on the small bridge, you thought it had been a while since you visited this place.

“Don’t tell your Dad I do this or he will send one of his bodyguards with me.” You joked earning a surprised look from Charlie.

“My Dad doesn’t know about this place?”

“Nope, he’s too loud for this peace.” You winked. “Should we keep this as a secret for us?”

Charlie nodded throwing a rock to the water.

“Daniel told me his Dad got a girlfriend after his parents divorced and she’s mean to him and threatened to send him to school overseas.” Charlie confessed after sitting on the edge of the bridge next to you.

His confession took you by surprise, why was his serious attitude related?

“Y/N… would you send me overseas? If I piss you off?” You saw him rubbing his leg, the wind moving his blonde hair.

Suddenly it clicked in your mind.

Tommy and you got married a few months ago after dating for two years, Charlie had the time of his life at the wedding, since the beginning he was the most adorable bonus child you could ask for, he stole your heart from the very first time Tommy cooked for you in his country house and Charlie was so excited to show you the reading room his father made for him.

Touching his shoulders gently, you moved him to face you.

“Charlie has your Dad ever raised a hand on you?” You saw him shaking his head. “Has he ever lose his temper with you?” Again, the same answer. “He shouts at other people, yes, but he has never put a hand on you… just like him, I could never do anything to hurt you, because I love you.” It broke your heart to see the tears accumulating in his beautiful eyes. Gently you wiped them away from his cheeks. “I would never send you somewhere else. I can’t imagine my life without you in it.”

Bringing him close to your chest, you rocked his body from side to side.

“I want you to always trust me okay? And I need you to understand that I would never do anything to get in the middle between you and your Dad.”

“Daniel told me you would be just like his step mum and he laughed when I told him you were the coolest.”

“Daniel is fighting his own battle, and unfortunately we hurt people in the process, but you don’t have to worry abou-”

Your words were interrupted by something moving behind Charlie.

“What’s that?” He asked turning around to see better.

A little creature appeared sniffing around.

“It’s a doggie!” He shouted and tried to get close to the animal, but you pulled him apart.

He was small, but he could be dangerous or hurt Charlie.

Taking off your sweater, you wrapped it around the muddy pet, feeling it shake and wriggle under your arms.

“Where did it come from?” Charlie asked walking next to you, trying to keep up on your way back to your vehicle.

“I don’t know, looks like this little friend got lost.”

“Can we keep him?”

Reaching your car, you took one of the boxes you bought to use as storage for the Christmas decorations you just took down.

“Charlie, the owners will probably want their pet back, first we’re stopping at the vet.”

Taking the dog to the vet, they informed you it was a female Yorkshire Terrier, little over a year old probably and seemed to be in a good condition. But as you tried to look for a number you realized there was no necklace.

“What if they never look for her, Y/N?” Charlie asked looking over at the dog resting in the box curled on your sweater. You left your number at the vet’s clinic in case someone asked for a lost dog.

Stopping the car in front of the house you were more worried about Tommy’s reaction.

“We’ve to keep trying buddy.”

“But Y/N, we rescued her.” Charlie pouted again.

“I know sweetheart, first we need to give her a bath, so go to the kitchen and bring me a bowl, I’ll meet you in your room.”

“Mrs. Shelby would you like me t-” but the maid stopped mid sentence when she looked at something moving in your arms. “Prepare you something to eat?”

“Just a sandwich Frances, please.” As she kept her eyes locked in your arms, you explained. “Let me handle Mr. Shelby, you didn’t see anything.”

But your answer and wink worried her even more.

“I’m afraid of his reaction.” Frances stated.

“Relax Frances, is only a tiny pup, Tommy has worse problems than this.” You tried to hide your nerves. “He won’t even notice.”

But he did notice when you rushed out of your bedroom with the front of your blouse wet holding the hairdryer in your hands.

And now he was pacing from one side to another as you and Charlie were seating at the last step of the stairs. While he scolded you both.

“What was I supposed to do? Leave the poor dog there? Or at the vet?”

The dog sneezed, probably from the bath, but as you and Charlie told her Bless you, Tommy rolled his eyes.

Tommy looked down at you, hands on his hips, his cigarette hanging from his lips.

He knew that look in your eyes so well for your own good. It wasn’t only that his son wanted to keep the dog, you wanted as well.

“How many times do I have to tell you we can’t keep the dog?”

The small Yorkie yawned as Charlie tried to cover her ears.

“But Dad is small, she will be good.”

But Tommy was already shaking his head.

“We have to find a way to give it back to the owners.” Tommy stated as if he was planning his next move in a business.

“No! If they wanted her, they would’ve taken care of her.”

“Don’t raise your voice.” Tommy pointed his cigarette at his son. “We can’t -“

“You’re mean! You don’t want me to be happy!”

You were torn between comforting Charlie or calming Tommy as the kid went outside.

Sighting, you tried to reason with him.

“What damage could a small dog like that cause?” You touched his tie, deliberately playing with it. “I think it could benefit Charlie.”

“What if the owners want the dog back? Have you considered that Y/N?” He asked walking inside his office. You following his steps.

That seemed to take you by surprise, Charlie had been very adamant of the fact that the fluffy dog found you both.

“Unfortunately for the owner, there’s no phone and name…” You knew you had to choose your battles carefully, but you also knew you were on Charlie’s side in this one. “We can’t give it back without it.”

“We’re so busy all the time,” he tried to make you see his point, “dogs need time, patience, effort… who’s going to clean up the mess? And don’t think of Frances, she’s already busy.”

“I can help.”

“Food, daily walks, vet check ups, we can hardly keep up with everything we do, Y/N.” Groaning, he leaned back on his chair. “I’ve a zoom meeting with a vendor in China.”

Truth is his meeting got delayed, but Charlie’s words were on repeat inside of his head.

He didn’t want his son to look at him as a monster who didn’t care.

But having a dog wasn’t part of his plans either.

Pouring himself a drink, Tommy looked at the window, to the front garden. He could’ve gotten the penthouse, but you chose this one because you fell in love with the view to the fountain and garden.

Outside you joined Charlie and the dog as you allowed the small black creature to sniff on every flower. After a couple of seconds, Tommy saw his son posing with the dog in his arms, smiling for your phone camera as you clicked several times, trying to get the dog’s attention.

“Y/N, do you like dogs?”

“I do Charlie.” You answered while petting the adorable yorkie’s head, it had little parts of golden hair. “They’re one of the purest creatures out there. They give back all the love they get.”

“Why don’t you ask Dad to keep her?” Charlie asked as the dog licked the back of your hand, showing gratitude for the head scratches.

“Because your Dad doesn’t like dogs.”

“But he likes horses!” He folded his arms against his chest.

Motioning the boy to follow you back inside after spending the afternoon out, you told him; “Charlie is not nice what you said to your Dad, he wants you to be happy. You’ll need to apologize to him.”

“But is only a little dog.”

“Is not a toy, they’re a huge responsibility.” Running a hand gently over his head, you tried to ease the tension. “Maybe we can ask your Dad for a couple of days, while we find her family or someone who wants to adopt her. You can enjoy her as much as you want in the meantime.”

Charlie wasn’t convinced, but reluctantly he agreed. Over dinner, he kept asking endless questions about the dog, who wanted a bite of your food. And after helping him to pick up his things, you took the pup with you to the living room, in front of the fire, so Charlie could go to sleep. Tommy was still working locked in his office.

“Where did you come from ey?” You asked the cute pup, enjoying the soft hair against your palm. Using the brush you bought for her at the clinic, you brushed her hair, she seemed to enjoy the pampering session a lot, because once you stopped, she looked at you with pleading eyes and with her cold nose, tried to make your hand touch her again. “You’re so cute you know?”

It had been a long day, so you went to your room to change your clothes for something comfortable to sleep, taking your time to remove your make up as well, but as you went back, the little yorkie wasn’t sitting on the couch as you left her, no, she was curled in a ball next to Charlie, who brought his sleeping bag to the living room and the pair were sleeping together.

How could a small fluffy thing like that steal your heart in a blink?

It was a beautiful scene that melted your heart.

Tiptoeing into Tommy’s office, you pulled him by the hand without telling him anything.

“I didn’t have the heart to wake him up.” You turned then, to kiss Tommy on the cheek and left him to fight alone his own battle.

Several minutes passed by as Tommy stared at Charlie sleeping peacefully next to the dog, he couldn’t wake him up either. So instead, he took off his coat and placed it over the sleeping bag.

One brown eye spying on him, checking his every move, once she decided Tommy wouldn’t hurt them, she turned her back at him and with a loud sight, she got comfortable again against Charlie.

****

Saturday was the same, Charlie asking his father to let him keep the dog, Tommy ordering to let the dog locked in a room since he didn’t want any accidents on the carpets, if something was going to smell bad, it would be Charlie’s room.

The apartment was one more time, a battlefield. He got even more mad at you when he saw the dog wearing one of his socks as sweater, you took one with the pair missing and using some scissors, you opened three holes for the front paws and head, for the size it fitted her perfectly, but Tommy thought differently.

You though he was acting a little bit irrational and exaggerated, but by now, you knew him better than that, so you really tried to keep things as smooth as possible.

The following morning, Tommy woke up to an empty bed. It was something unusual that you were up before him, specially on a Sunday, but either way, he got ready but just as he was stepping out of your bedroom, he heard your voice.

“Look, we should be grateful that it will be us taking care of her at least for these days.”

Without making a noise, Tommy got closer to listen the conversation, staying outside of his son’s room.

“I just don’t understand, if she’s a good pet and alone in this world, why can’t she stay with us? I mean, I have you and Dad, and my aunts and uncles, and Frances! But she’s alone.” Charlie pouted showing his hand to the black and gold dog, as she stretched her neck, Charlie caressed her gold chest. “We should take her and go live somewhere else.”

You chuckled at his proposal, he simply didn’t care you were married to his father. Trying to keep the hair away from her face, you brushed it and did a little bun at the top of her head. She looked at you with those beautiful eyes.

“She has been a really good dog, to be honest, but Charlie, we can’t hold a daily fight with your father over it, he’s got his reasons and we need to do as he says.” The dog then walked over you and getting comfortable, she walked in circles three times only to then laying on your lap, she turned her belly at you.

“She likes you.” Charlie smiled as your fingers tickled her stomach.

“When they do this is because they feel secure.”

“When I grow up, I will buy my own house and have lots of doggies!”

Standing up, you asked him to keep an eye on the pup. Opening the bedroom door without a notice, and that’s when you found Tommy startled.

Playing with your necklace, you avoided his piercing blue eyes. “I hope you find someone soon, because it’s going to be harder…”

It was so hard for him to see you serious like that, he could tell you were getting attached.

Was he acting extremely strict? Selfish? Perhaps.

Frances announced he had a phone call waiting, so Tommy walked towards his office. Spending most of his time there, he could hear outside Charlie playing in the hall, other voices and laughs at times, focused on the email he was typing, he thanked Frances for the tea she brought at some point.

By the corner of his eyes, he saw the heavy door moving, but no one walked in, a little sound made him stop, looking suspicious at the door, if the windows were closed, why was the door moving?

Slowly, he took his gun from its holster, pointing it at the door, alert.

Then he heard a little cry, as he looked down, he found the small yorkie walking in, wriggling its tail and jumping excitedly towards him.

“Ah it’s only you, ey, was going to fucking shoot you.”

Standing up in her little back paws, the pup scratched his leg.

“What are ya doing here little rat? You don’t look like a real dog.”

As the dog looked at him with her bright brown eyes, he stared back, trying to scare her. But it didn’t work.

“Y/N really likes you, so does my son… they’re both a little off with me because of you.” He felt ridiculous talking to a dog, but she tilted her head to the side, as if she could understand what he was saying.

“Should I let you stay?”

Another head tilt.

“Your puppy eyes, do nothing to me, ey?”

A little whine came out from her, as she was trying to get comfortable on Tommy.

Walking out from his office, he found Polly chatting in the kitchen with you.

“I really don’t want to push anything Pol…”

Both of you stopped your conversation as Tommy appeared in the room, but it wasn’t because of him, you were surprised to see him holding the precious doggie against his chest.

“I found this little gatecrasher in my office.” Tommy cocked an eyebrow. “She asked me if she could stay with us permanently.”

“Y/N…” Charlie entered the kitchen looking pale, “I can’t find-” the kid gasped as his eyes found the puppy in his father’s arms.

Then, everything happened in slow motion; Tommy looked at the dog, and the dog looked back at him, then a pink little tongue could be seen and the pup licked Tommy’s cheek.

Polly’s hand dramatically came to rest over her mouth, while you held your breath.

But as you saw Tommy throwing his head back and letting out a loud laugh, your heart skipped a beat.

“I think that’s a yes,” he announced handing you the puppy. “But there will be some rules, though.”

Charlie started jumping around, he could barely hold his excitement.

“Listen to me carefully, you’ll take care of cleaning her mess, and she’ll need training…” Tommy warned, but Charlie wasn’t listening, his arms circled his father’s body.

“Thank you,thank you! I’m sorry I shouted.”

“I’m sorry too son.”

“Aunt Pol! Can we go and buy a bed? She needs a leash… oh! And a name too.”

As Charlie pulled Polly by the hand, you walked towards Tommy, smiling.

“Really? All I had to do to see you smile like that was getting a dog?”

“Thank you.” Your hands moved up and down his chest, kissing his cheek with a playful look.

“It doesn’t sound like you’re extra grateful you know?” He joked winking at you, pulling your hips towards him, kissing you with passion.

Until a little bark interrupted your kiss.

“You already know the love you feel for Charlie, and it’s different from the kind of love you feel for me.” You told Tommy. “But now you will learn about a different kind of love.”

“Really? You think a dog will love me?” You smiled at his doubts, he really didn’t know.

“Dogs have a way of finding the people who need them and filling an emptiness we didn’t know we had.”

****

Master list

A/N: if you made it this far, thank you!!!! ♥️ it means a lot, I hope you enjoyed this pup celebration as much as I did!

Tag list: @lyarr24 @runnning-outof-time @cillmequick @gypsy-girl-08 @datewithgianni @cloudofdisney @gretelshelby @lespendy @onlydeadcells @fastfan @stevie75 @prettylittlehoneyeyesxoxo @esposadomd @strayrockette @the-forest-witchh @elenavampire21 @forgottenpeakywriter @zablife @peakyscillian @evita-shelby @raincoffeeandfandoms @midnightmagpiemama @moral-terpitude @babaohhhriley @ange-thoughts @shelbydelrey @shaddixlife @sloanexx @cilliansangel @rangerelik

[softquietsteadylove]

Me again! I am once again humbly requesting more of the family law au. Anything you wanna do with the story, I know anything you write will be amazing

Thena looked up as a small body plunked down onto the bench next to her. She looked back at the courtroom door, but the child had appeared from elsewhere. "Hello."

The child sniffled.

She looked around them, but court was in recess, currently. "Where is your guardian?"

The kid shrugged.

She could simply ignore the child. She wasn't a bailiff or authority, she was only in court to close a case of her own, it was signatures in front of the judge. But she recognised the deep hunch in her shoulders and the way her feet kicked idly hanging off the edge of the bench. "I know you have one. Kids aren't allowed to just walk into courtrooms alone."

The kid looked around; she couldn't have been older than twelve. "My parents are talking to a lawyer, but I left."

How did a kid walk out and no one noticed? Thena frowned, "who was watching you?"

"My dad's new wife."

Ah, an unwanted stepmother; Thena angled herself toward the young girl. "Hm, the lawyer speaking with your parents, is he...big?"

She looked up at Thena, her face betraying the vulnerability her body language was trying to hide. "Really big."

Thena couldn't help but smile. There was no more way effective way to describe Gil. "Trust me, he looks scary, but he's actually quite nice."

The girl looked back down at her lap again. "I dunno."

If her parents were speaking with Gil, it was some sort of family issue. Divorce - and to some extent, custody - was her specialty, but Gil handled plenty to do with family settlements and custody issues. He didn't always get to see families on their best day.

Thena rethought her approach. She undid her suit jacket and put her arm up on the back of the bench. "My youngest sister is around your age. She also hates talking."

The girl giggled, just a little. "I don't hate talking."

"Well," Thena paused and shrugged strategically. "Tell me why you're here today."

The kid sighed, seeming even more like Sprite. "My dad's new wife wants us to stay at their new house for his weekends with us. But it's really far away, and they only have one bedroom for me and my sister to share."

As much as she was listening to the child, her mind couldn't help but think that - professionally speaking - it didn't sound suitable for at least one preteen, if not two. "Are you parents discussing this now?--where you and your sister should go, that is?"

She nodded, sniffling again. "They got a little nicer with each other after the divorce. But now all they're doing is yelling again."

Thena bobbed her head slowly to show her understanding. The poor child had been through this already and was now reliving the struggle of an ugly custody hearing. "And do you remember what they were saying?"

The girl made a face, scrunching her small features. "I had to go with my dad's new wife when they started yelling. My sister is still in there, though. They were talking about 'confidence' or something."

So, the sister was older. Even more of a reason that the girls sharing a room would be unfavourable. "Competence--it means they want to know who's the better parent."

She looked up at Thena again, even sadder than before. "I like both my parents. I just don't wanna live an hour away every weekend!"

"Okay, okay, all right, sh," Thena attempted to comfort the girl (which had never been her specialty). She patted her back as the poor thing loudly hiccuped and sniffled up her excess snot. "Can I tell you something?"

Children enjoyed knowing secrets.

The girl nodded.

Thena sighed. It went against all her personal rules against disclosing her personal life, family situation, getting close with people in a professional setting. But she sucked it up, as Sprite would say. "I've had to prove my competence before, when I signed up to take care of my sisters."

"You take care of your sisters?" she asked, although she didn't seem so incredibly astounded.

"One is 16, although it feels like she's turning 20," Thena laughed faintly, and at least the girl smiled. It was the kind of thing a parent would say, much to her dread. But she continued. "I told you the other is around your age, she just turned 13 in the spring."

"How old are you?"

She ignored that question. "I had to prove I could take care of them, like a parent would, although I didn't really know how. But do you know what helped?"

She shook her head.

"Hearing from them," Thena said more gently. It seemed a revelation to the girl that someone might listen to her. "They said they wanted to stay with me. That I would take good care of them, and I swore I would. And I've tried my best, even if I'm not perfect. I get things wrong sometimes, like getting them to school late or forgetting about projects they have."

"What do you do?"

"I try again," she shrugged, and if anything the girl seemed to appreciate her honesty. "Because someone who's going to look after you only wants what's best for you. What's important is if you're safe, and taken care of and comfortable. If you're happy, and doing well in school, or with your friends. The person who's going to take care of you will care about that even if it means you're far away."

Something seemed to dawn on the girl. Although Thena didn't want to sway her opinion any, it would seem her assumption that the husband was not doing his due diligence was correct. Or perhaps the wife was pushing too hard for her new role in his children's lives. Either way, if the girls were best off with their mother, it was more than clear to the client, now.

"Thanks," she smiled at Thena, her shoulders un-hunching faintly. "I'll tell my sister that."

Perhaps the older one could communicate that to the parents. It sounded like the parents were a few precarious steps away from hiring individual lawyers for each of their sides as opposed to using one. But Thena regarded the girl, labelling her 'her client' in her mind. And it was her job to keep her client's best interest at heart.

"There you are!"

Thena looked up, catching Gil jogging over to them. She stood out of habit, holding her coat over her arm. "Mister Gilgamesh."

"Hey," he smiled at her before looking down at the girl. "What's the deal, we turned around and you were gone."

The mother and father immediately began berating the daughter for running off. Thena caught Gil's eye aside from the family. She leaned closer, "my client has some concerns about the pending custody battle."

"Oh," Gil blinked, looking from the girl and back to her. He smiled, showing off the charming and warm temperament that made him so popular, especially with families. "She does, does she?"

They drifted further from the family having their own discussion. Thena eyed Gil, who looked both exhausted and also a whole pot of coffee deep. "How is it?"

He angled himself closer to her and away from the family. "It's getting ugly, and I don't know what I can do to stop it. They're ready to hire their own custody lawyers."

Thena also peeked over at them cautiously. The girl was accepting her berating, although when the father's wife appeared over his shoulder she looked away, taking on a more defensive stance again. She really did remind her of Sprite. "Let the girls talk."

"What?"

She shifted on her feet. It was Gil's case, and she had no real right to get involved, even if it did cross into her expertise. She whispered, "let the girls speak. If nothing else, it should sway the parents enough for them to come to a decision."

Gil made a face, crossing his arms. It pulled his suit jacket to the point of strain; ridiculously thick arms, he had. "Or it could be the drop that makes the dam burst."

Thena shook her head though. "It won't. Those girls know the best place for themselves, and I believe the parents do too. Let the girls state what they want. The parents will respond to their needs and settle."

He gave her a peculiar look, and she couldn't fault him for it. She usually didn't offer personal perspectives on cases. She worked solely and completely on evidence, maybe sometimes on how a judge might regard something. But she didn't give personal opinions. "How do you know?"

Thena looked at the family again. The father patted both his daughters on the shoulder as the bailiff ushered them back to where they had been discussing things during the recess. She looked at Gil. "I just do."

Gil didn't look at the family again. He focused entirely on her, unfolding his arms, slipping his hands into his pockets and raising an eyebrow slightly. But he nodded, "okay."

"That's it?"

He shrugged, furthering the rumpling of his suit, entirely by his own doing. "I trust you. If you say the family will settle, I believe you. I'll ask for the kids to talk."

She smiled, genuinely relieved at the idea of the young girl's feelings being heard. Maybe there was something to how Gil made all of his cases personal. "I think it will be best for everyone."

"So, uh," Gil finally did just barely glance over his shoulder as they started walking back as well. "What'd you say to her?"

Thena pursed her lips. "Not much of anything, truly. The girl is quite competent for her age. All she needs is to be heard."

Gil chuckled.

"What?"

"Nothing," he laughed now, furthering her scrutiny. He shrugged, "you're great with kids, which I guess I should have expected."

"I would not say that."

"You just demonstrated it."

"You didn't see it happen."

"You literally have kids."

"I am not a mother," she argued, and it was true, even as a defense of herself. "She's around Sprite's age, and I recall when Sprite first got into her phase of wanting to shout at the world but not wanting anyone to look at her, either."

"See?" Gil gesticulated with his hand before rolling his shoulders to correct his suit jacket (it did not). "You're a natural."

That was not what the courts thought when she was going through her own proceedings a matter of years ago. But she smiled, giving his poor suit jacket a tug here and there to get it to sit right on him again. Why was he so ridiculously well built for a family lawyer? "Your clients await."

He gave her a more grateful smile as she brushed her hand over his lapel. "Thanks--hey, I'll make sure your client gets her fair say."

She waved him off as he went back to his meeting, and then the proceeding hearing. Technically she didn't have any reason to linger--it wasn't her case. But she sat herself down on the bench outside of the main courtroom doors again, pulling out her phone.

Can I go see that new gangster movie with sersi and her friends?

She would never understand Sprite's obsession with foreign, violent gangster action comedies. But she sighed. She had been poised to say no, that she would pick them up from their free roaming at the mall (which she only allowed them when she had court dates anyway). But she resigned herself to her decision.

That's fine, I'm still at court anyway. But don't stuff yourself on movie snacks, you still have to eat at home

With that, she slipped her phone away again, staring ahead at the elevators opposite her bench of solitude. It was silly to wait. She could ask Gil about it later if she was so concerned. It was inappropriate. It wasn't her case.

Then she would think of how Sprite had tearily asked if she and Sersi would be put in some stranger's house. She would think of that little girl who had sat right down next to her, and she thought of Gil, nervously pacing outside before even she had arrived for her earlier hearing time. He had been poring over this case all week.

Maybe she should do something for him if the case went well--and if it didn't go well, in all honesty.

Thanks thee btw can gil come and cook again it was soooo good

Thena swiped the notification away, decidedly ignoring the leading question. It was nothing but entrapment; as sweet as it was that her sisters had grown a fondness for Gilgamesh, she didn't need them reading too much into her relationship with her colleague.

No matter how amazing his lasagne was, and how often she had thought about it in the past week.

[fucking-leave-me-alone-pornbots]

incredibly stupid franziska and phoenix are blood siblings au

soooo imagine franziska's older sister/brother dies some time after she gives birth. as child grows up he realises he probably needs more possible heirs considering its a not a guarantee this one will end up meeting his standarts. just to make sure he creates perfect offspring he begins his research and finds phoenix's mom

she is decendant of well knows prosecutor (as well as defence attorney but he ignores that) and he arranges marriage between them. lets just assume her family is kind of a douchebag and accept his proposal without even asking her. he is rich and influential who wouldnt like to marry someone like him, right? (answer: anyone with a brain)

she goes with it anyway because she didnt want to disappoint her family. shortly after marriage she gets pregnant but notices that piece of shit would be awfull father after seeing him punish a child for small mistake

so what she does? she fakes miscarriage, acts like she is heartbroken enough to give up her marriage. she maybe even blackmails malfred with some family secrets she could sell to media (she has proofs ofc) to let her divorce

everything happened so secretly and house of von karma announces she dies shortly after miscarriage. she starts a brand new life overseas with her boy, who looked too much like her thankfully

fast forward to a few decades. ema is really into dna testing thing and she compares dna examples she randomly collects. she examines numerous examples she collects. from full siblings like her and lana to cousins like maya and pearl to absolutely unrelated people like phoenix and franziska

think about it, asian american guy (asian mom - american dad acording to his mom, she wanted to act like malfred never existed) must have too little common with german woman right??

AHAHAH WRONG

she examines them. she examines them again and again and again but holly fuck did her machine broke down or something?? because NO WAY THE MOST UNRELATED TWO PEOPLE ARE ACTUALLY RELATED

she loses some significant sleep over it and hell, she cant even share what she found because she never asked for permission to collect samples and who the fuck would believe her? she decides to just forget about it and move on.

when people ask what made her stop her madness with dna she just gives them stares of a war veteran

bonus:

what if ema blurts out the truth, they got suspicious and make another dna test (maya bullies nick into accepting it, franziska only consented because there is no fucking way its true and she, the perfect franziska von karma will put end into those baseless gossips) and find out she is not actually nuts?

nick is probably refuses to leave bed for a while (WHAT DO YOU MEAN MY MOM -SWEATEST WOMEN IN MY LIFE- BUFFED THAT OVERBAKED RAISIN? DID MY VERY OWN DAD TASED ME OH SHIT)

for franzika... im not really sure. maybe she just shrugs and moves on with her life. maybe she loses her shit over it. maybe she accepts him and demands perfection from him because thats what von karmas do. maybe she refuses to accept it and acts like they are not related at all unless she wants to tease miles because she is her own sister in law TWICE

franziska: (talking about his brother miles and mentions his partner)

person: oh he has a boyfriend? i would have never guessed. who is he?

franziska: (stone faced) my brother

person:?????????

..................

Franziska: this is my brother miles edgeworth and next to him is his husband and my brother, phoenix wight

Person:????????

Miles: Franziska for gods sake can you please stop doing that

[helluvabossrewrite45]

Hello, I just wanna say that your scene rewrites are amazing. Seeing Stars has got to be one of my favourites.

On the topic of Octavia, I agree that Viv and her team missed an opportunity with Via. To me in the context of the narrative, Octavia can be a tragic character that is screwed over by the writing. It is implied that she takes after Stolas with her love of astronomy as their form of bonding. Yet, she slowly watches her father drift away from them and is probably wondering if they—she even matters to him. You’re just watching a parent that you had a close bond to just leave you behind because they found someone else that captivated their interest. On top of the divorce that is currently going on would leave a child feeling doubtful.

I also just never understood why the writers want to keep having her being mad at her dad, even though they say that Stella has clearly been ruining the family, yet it’s his fault? Half the time the writing seesaws on Stella and Via’s dynamic because the only time she does care is when Stolas is there and…I get that could be counted as gaslighting, but the character lacks subtlety that it’s hard to tell when she’s always yelling. More often she doesn’t even care for her with two episodes implying this.

I just in general feel frustrated with this family because either avenue could be interesting if the writers took it seriously enough but they don’t and instead choose spur of the moment scenes that we have to use as jigsaw puzzle with some pieces not fitting because world building barely matters.

Sorry for the ramble. You’re version or fix it is probably one of my top favourites for the characters because I can definitely see the use of the loosely outlined jigsaw puzzle. Have a nice day/evening.

Thank you anon, im glad you like my rewrites

I agree 100% with via, they did the same thing with moxxie to her, that being repeating the same arc again of her being mad at her dad but forgive him in the end. It kind of shows that just like moxxie, they didnt know what to do with her which is a shame because the small details she has are there to be fully explored, but they never explore them. Like her and music, she oftens listens it even at the dinner table and with stellas reaction to the cheating affair, we can peice a puzzle of her doing it as a coping mechanism; escaping her problems through distraction. And with seeing stars main plot is around via running away to see a meteor shower, it would've been perfect to explore that side of her along with more knowledge of the family in general to piece this puzzle their giving (like the relationship with her mom, her uncle, the rest of their family, how they react to the situation, how their currently dealing with it, etc...) through flashbacks (since the whole point would've been that these issues wont go away no matter how much you try to ignore them) And yes, her closeness with her father drifting away is definitely tragic and its sucks that it wasnt futhered explored, especially with the entire goetta situation as a whole since were in season 2 and we dont even know how they reacted to it. It makes me wonder why even give us these pieces to solve properly if its so little that it makes it pretty impossible without theorizing from any vague info we have and thats not how problem solving works.

And yes, its odd that shes only mad at stolas but never to stella. I mean, i get she would be on her moms side because of him cheating but still with how stella is written, you'd think she'd hate her too. In this rewrite, stella would actually be subtle in her abuse to stolas in a way where you can still recognise it but also understand why other (like via) wouldnt. An example of this would be my first post where her and stolas confront each other about the divorce, the quote; '-or did you forget? Like you always do?'. Its meant to showcase her most common tactics, shaming. From her background (that i'll explain further in her own post), she oftens picks up things from her family, which shaming is included. She would shame stolas whenever he makes a mistake or does something she doesnt approve of (like if he wore a suit she didnt like, she would say; 'you know were meeting your family right? You think they want to see their son of royalty in that sort of wear?' or them arguing on how much time via should spend on her astronomy lessons; 'Shes going to be a future you and what, you wanna just, make her lazy, huh?!' (or even 'I didnt think you'd care that less for your own daughter....') See these are what you could recognise as shaming but also understand why people may not consider it so, potentially using excuses like 'oh shes probably right because its royalty/she just cares about looking good enough for her family' or 'oh she just cares for her daughter and her future' (ironically enough, those are kind of what fans AND the show itself use as an excuse for stolas lmao) but just because via doesnt recognise stella's abusive tendencies, doesnt mean she isnt upset with her. She very much is, mainly with stella's aggressiveness as stella developed anger issues throughout her life and didnt have anything to help it. Via hates it whenever stella yells because of course she would be, no one likes angry loud noises! Its just that unlike with stolas, shes not as open with her frustration to her mother because shes genuinely scared of her from that aggression that makes it much more harder to truly express her feelings about her, instead keeping it to herself along with her feelings towards how the rest of the family is reacting to it given that it just feels too much for her to be involved in. So the reason why shes only open on being mad at stolas is despite what he did, he's the only one she feels safe in being mad about (I mean, she does have andrealphus as someone safe to an extent though he's very dismissive of telling her whats going on with the goetias and definetly doesnt take being wrong well like stella so hes not much better) that way, it'd be more understandable and futher peice the puzzle of their family and their dynamic. Family itself is quite complicated because of the nuances it has behind it and i wanna incorporate that to the goetias were their not fully evil but tend to care about their statuses rather then whats right in front of them (that being them as a family) since i think its interesting to explore and wouldve suit stolas, stella and octavia really well.

No need to apologise for rambling, i like getting asks of peoples thoughts/ideas on helluva. Hell look, im rambling too. I hope you enjoy the future rewrites i have in store, have a nice day/evening too

[lostinthe-jojos]

Finally! JJBA Dilf edition!

❥These all will be set in a modern au.

Round 1: Jonathan Joestar

Divorced from Erina because he'd spend more time working and travelling than with her and George.

That was a wakeup call for him and, although Erina didn't want to be married any longer to him, they do keep a cordial relationship.

He had never considered how difficult it would be to take care of a child on his own.

After the divorce, he'd often found himself at the park, running after a 6 years old George. He made a mental note to properly apologize to Erina for his continuous absence and thank her.

The boy did love him, but also loved to see his huge dad running after him, incapable of reaching him.

"Georgie, c'mon, we have to go home already!" he'd say, but the only response he got was giggles from the little kid.

"Need some help?" he heard behind him.

You must have been an angel sent straight from heaven, offering to help a stranger.

When he turned around to look at you, he found comfort in the soft smile you offered him.

"Please, I've been running after him for fifteen minutes," he said.

"Just sit with me and act like I'm showing you the most incredible thing you've ever seen"

And it somehow worked.

A few moments later, the boy was right in front of the two of you, his big eyes staring at you full of curiosity.

You asked the kid if he wanted to see whatever it was you had showed to his father and he nodded enthusiastically.

And as you were kneeling down, you winked an eye at Jonathan, who immediately captured the boy in his arms.

"Gotcha, you little scoundrel!" he exclaimed, tickling the boy.

You smiled at the scene in front of you. You'd consider yourself lucky if you could ever have such a lovely family one day.

"Well, I better get going, gotta catch my train," you said and waved goodbye.

"Wait, I can give you a ride if you want," Jonathan offered.

You hesitated for a moment "I wouldn't want to be a bother... Besides I bet your wife is waiting for you two"

"Not really, Its just the two of us," he said with a small smile. You could swear you had seen a glint of nostalgia and regret shine in his eyes.

You were a bit taken aback by his statement. Was he a widow or had simply divorced? And most importantly; why did you care about that?

You ended up accepting his proposal and you found out that the pair lived in the building right next to yours.

Who knows? Maybe the two of you can hangout more often...

Round 1 P2: Erina Pendleton

[stuckwithmys30lf]

Twelve years ago today on my 18th birthday, I opened a gift from my dad. Now, on the dawn of my 30th birthday, I couldn't tell you what the gift was. Dad might have been wearing a busy shirt and cargo shorts - traditional fatherly PNW garb. He probably pulled his pocket knife out to help me slice a few presents from the colorful wrapping paper my baby brother, just a year old, scribbled together. I know this is how it likely went, but time has created a canyon between then and now and the memory is fuzzy.

By this point, my family had imparted a very important rule in receiving gifts. When there is a card, you open it first. My parents, who were never together as long as I have been alive and disagreed on almost everything, still agreed on this. This cardinal law is one I still hold to a high regard specifically because the one from my dad is what I remember most on this particular birthday.

Every blank space my dad could find had been scribbled upon with his scratchy, small print. I imagined him in his office with a felt fine tip pen at hand, gushing over all the fatherly wisdom he wanted to impart on his only daughter, just now becoming an adult. Along with 17 other tips to keep on my mind as I ushered in this new phase, an 18th:

"Learn to love yourself, munchkin. At the end of the day, you are stuck with yourself."

At the time I felt this tip was redundant. Learn to love myself? I pondered on it. I already love myself. I didn't believe it, though. Through school, while bullies hurled insults about my body, my appearance, and my demeanor, I provided retorts that were drenched in faux positivity. I put on the performance of a lifetime, acting as though being constantly perceived in such a negative light was normal and I was handling it with grace. I was fully aware of my disingenuous nature and everyone around me felt it, too. But I felt as though if I faked it long enough, the positive affirmations I echoed about my body and my choices would start to feel real.

I'll tell you right now, it did not feel real yet when my high school boyfriend broke up with me and slept with our roommate that night when I was just 19. It didn't feel real when my next boyfriend cheated on me with my friend, or when I got fired from my first real job months later at 22. Not when another boy broke my heart at 24 by saying he didn't see a future with me because I was too emotional. Not even when that same boy tried running away to a cabin in the woods at the start of the pandemic years later, only to cancel days before and never talk to me again. Certainly not with the flings in between.

It didn't feel real when I said "I do" to a man I forced myself to love at 28, when I started to make myself smaller to make him feel bigger, or when I finally said "I can't have a child with someone like you." It didn't come to fruition until just before I asked my ex husband for a divorce just 10 months after the nuptials, at 29.

Not until I realized that I don't think there's anything a partner could ever offer me that I couldn't offer myself.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

These stories will be messy and never in the exact right order - an assumed warning for a blog about one's transition between 20's to 30's. They will chronicle heartbreak, sometimes my own, sometimes caused by me. I am, quite simply, just a girl.

If I am being honest, my hope is no one I know ever reads these. But, whether we know each other or not, I need you to know something.

You are stronger than you think. You can do hard things. The fact that you are alive today is all the proof I need. I need you to know this especially if you are a woman. I hope you can relate to the heartache, the triumph, the fighting, and all the philosophizing I will inevitably end up doing. Cheers to being hot and working towards better versions of ourselves.

[dark-elf-writes]

So for you PYT AU, how do Inko and Oboro get married, do they just go down to the courthouse with a few people because that's all they need for their love? Or is it a sweet little backyard deal? Or is it further into Oboro career so he is making bank and they do a big do where he spoils Inko? Please I need details. Also I am envisioning Izuku as flower child.

At first I wasn’t sold that they would actually get married or if they would be the couple that just dates forever and calls each other husband and wife, but then I thought about benefits and possible issues with hero work if she isn’t his wife so yeah it would make more sense for them to be married.

The strike me as a couple that still wouldn’t rush into marriage though. Like Inko got massively screwed over in her last marriage and wasn’t even technically divorced until several years into her relationship with Oboro so I can see them having like a suuuper long engagement during which izuku just starts referring to Oboro as their dad because “my mom’s fiancé” is a god damn mouthful when you’re like ten and trying to tell a story and it’s not like they remember Hisashi being around anyway.

Oboro proposed in the most over the top way possible while still keeping it rather private. I’m talking a big family dinner at a restaurant he rented out completely, a nice walk where they were a bit in front of everyone else, candles, rose petals, biodegradable glitter and confetti poppers that Hizashi and Izuku aimed directly for both of their heads when she said yes. Incredibly romantic. Oboro is filmed on patrol with glitter stuck in his hair and the biggest grin on his face for DAYS.

The actual ceremony they would probably keep pretty small/pretty much a hero only affair. Both for security reasons and because Inko doesn’t really have any civilian friends and a lot of her coworkers weren’t the kindest after the news of their relationship dropped. Jokes on them though because after one too many glasses of wine at a gala it was learned that she, Jeanist, and surprisingly Snipe get along like a house on fire and no one knows peace again.

It is a backyard affair in the house that she and Oboro bought and he tends to the gardens on his time off as a stress relief thing. Izuku is the flower child looking completely adorable in their dress and flower crown even as they purposefully pelt their family members with flower petals because Oboro told them they could and Shouta definitely deserves it for some reason or another. Nemuri so the one that marries them as there would have been a fight trying to get her on one side of the wedding party over the other as while she might have been Oboro’s friend first her and Inko become like sisters over the years. There’s a lot of laughter and happy tears throughout the ceremony. Izuku is all but sobbing into Jeanist’s shoulder from the moment their mom gets to the altar because she looks so fucking happy. Their first kiss is with smiling lips and tears on both of their faces. Oboro immediately pulls back to grab Izuku like some sort of weird lion king scene because he did it. This is his family now.

The reception is a lot of terrible dancing and videos that get posted to social media that go viral because no one expects to see heroes act like normal fucking people/ what the hell is Lunch Rush doing that does not count as a dance but the ceremony is just for them.

[inklessletter]

✨️15 people 15 questions✨️

My lovely, lovely @mentallyundone tagged me. I think I already did this a few months ago, but I'll do it again. Miss you babe, thank you for the tag

1. Are you named after anyone?

No. I was supposed to be named Rocío, since my mom chose it and they had the agreement that if I was born female she would choose it, but my dad and godfather registered me as Vanesa because they saw it in a store and sounded good. This is the official story, and i know this sounds terrible, but there's an emotional explanation to this. According to the doctors, I wasn't supposed to survive. I was born very ill, and they told my parents that I wasn't going to make it. My dad registered me with another name so my mom's favorite girl's name wouldn't be attached to bad memories. Funny thing is, I'm an only child, and Rocío is a name that got eventually unused. My mom have been years telling this story saying that this is a reason for divorce, but only a few years ago my dad told why he did it. She doesn't think is a reason to divorce anymore.

2. when was the last time you cried?

Strictly speaking, November 4th. I saw a show that made me sob like a little child. If the question goes for when was the last time I cried in a bad way, I'm happy to say that I don't remember when it was the last time. I've cried a lot for bad reasons, but I can't recall when it was the last one. I've been crying more lately for good reasons than bad.

3. do you have kids?

Not yet. I want to, though, in an immediate future, but I'm scared shitless about this. I'd love to adopt a kid, though.

4. what sports do you/have you play/played?

Badminton, Karate and flamenco dance. I love to dance.

5. do you use sarcasm?

Not enough.

6. whats the first thing you notice about people?

I don't really know, it depends on the day. Sometimes I see physical traits, some days I get the vibes in general. I guess that overall the first thing I notice is if they give me good vibes.

7. whats your eye color?

Green-ish. I mean, it's a blend of blue, green and golden. For some reason they look deep blue when I'm at the beach or in sunny places.

8. scary movies or happy endings?

Yes (scary movies can have happy endings!!!!) Don't really understand this question.

9. any talents?

No, not really. What I do best is the result of hard work and practice, but I don't think 'talent' is a word for it.

10. where were you born?

Málaga, Spain.

11. what are your hobbies?

Reading, drawing, music. Binging series and films. For something different I'll say that I do love going to the theatre to watch musicals and plays. My favorites so far are The Lion King and Les Mis.

12. do you have any pets?

Yes!!! My lazy ass, half devilisy 60 pound dog, Appa. Named after the flying bison, of course

13. how tall are you?

5'1. Small one here.

14. favorite subject in school?

Art, English and Literature. In that order.

15. dream job?

I'd love to make a living out of my art. Working from home, or maybe doing some studies to become a tattoo artist. I think I would be an amazing tattoo artist, I love linearts. But when I was a kid, my dream job was (wait for it) librarian.

I am not tagging anyone in particular, this is an open invitation for anyone who wants to do this and share a bit about themselves.

I hope you have a great day!! (And thank you if you read this til the very end!)

[milkymoon2483]

The Blue Elephant

Push & Pull - Episode 1 Frank Castle X Plus Size Jewish OFC

Series Masterlist | Next Episode

Summary: DBF but dad’s dead. Your’e going back to your small town for your father’s funeral and Shiva. You know you’re about to face family drama but what worries you the most is that you’re going to see HIM.

Disclaimers: 

This episode mentions a 14 year old girl having an UNRECIPROCATED crush on a much older man. HE SEES HER AS A CHILD at this point. 

I’m Jewish (and plus size) but I do not live in the US, so there might be some differences in the way certain things are done and some inaccuracies. My apologies. 

Yes this is self indulgent because I’m feral for this man.

I’m secular and will not be discussing Judaism in length. Will explain some basics though that are mentioned in the story.

Rating: E.18+. MINORS DNI.

Warnings: Teenage crush on a much older man, Mentions of alcoholism, divorce, trauma, plus size reader, insecurities, age gap, violence, sex, food, and probably a bunch of other stuff. This is a little dark. WC: ~3300

Thank you my lovelies. @romanarose @hbc8 @my-secret-shame-but-fanfiction @boysddontcry @imaswellkid

The blue elephant.

Your phone rang in an ungodly hour, waking you up from a dream you had forgotten as soon as you opened your eyes.  8:15 AM. Who dares calling you this early on semester break?! 

"Hello, am I speaking to Hannah Friedman?" 

"Hi, yes, who is this?" You answered, barely recognizing your own voice that was hoarse with sleep.  

"Miss Friedman, my name's Michael Katz, I was your father's attorney. I'm very sorry for your loss. I'm calling regarding his will." 

Confusion flooded you, and for a moment you were sure the man calling had the wrong number.

Suddenly your heart dropped, the true meaning of his words not fully sinking into your skull just yet. 

"Miss Friedman….?" His voice tried to break the long pause. 

"Yeah, I'm sorry, could you repeat that?"

"I'm calling regarding your father's will, since he passed away…" 

"Shit. Sorry, I just…I didn't know. Shit. When did it happen?" 

Your father was dead.

Michael Katz, bless his heart, apologized profusely for the terrible way you had to find out. He proceeded to explain everything in great detail, making sure to schedule a meeting with you as soon as you got into town for his funeral. He died in the early hours of the previous evening. Cirrhosis complications after years of excessive drinking, that’s what finally did him in, a part of you was surprised he lasted that long. 54 years old at the time of his death, Saul Friedman was a sick man, and not much of a father to begin with. A recovering alcoholic at the best of times, he rarely called or took much interest in your life, despite living 45 minutes away. 

When you turned twelve things changed for the better, after bumping into you on a trip to a local supermarket with your mom and her new boyfriend, he suddenly felt an urgent need to get sober, and get to know you better. Your mother agreed, she took less convincing than both of you had anticipated. You ended up visiting more, and staying for a few weeks each summer, the community pool around the corner being your main incentive. Your relationship was never able to fully recover, but you both tried your best. You’d often say you loved him but sometimes didn’t really like him. 

Your mother was his second wife, and after three years of marriage and one kid, they divorced, very much non-amicably, leaving a trail of wreckage behind them.  You were thankful that you were just a toddler, too young to truly understand how deeply they've wounded each other clawing their way out of what your mother described to be the ‘worst three years of my goddamn life’.  You'd often wonder, had she not been jewish, would she be saved from the displeasure of ever marrying him in the first place. Your grandparents must have insisted on him having jewish children, and according to Halacha*, their mom had to be one. 

You remembered the last time you visited him, the visit was cut short when you caught him drinking again. “ You don't get to preach me” he lashed out at you,  “You’re a bitch just like your mother”. 

You left abruptly after that, not willing to take more of his crap. At that point you were visiting for him, because you felt obligated to do that. That sense of obligation was gone.

He called to apologize a few weeks later, but the dry conversation left much to be desired. Since then you’ve called and texted occasionally, but you never came to visit again, coming up with various excuses to avoid it. 

Now he was dead.

"At least he knew when to die.." you later told your best friend, Grace. He had the sensibility to pass on right at the beginning of the winter break from college, giving you a good few weeks to deal with it before coming back to school to finish your final year. You could share your appreciation for your fathers morbid timing with Grace, but there was one thing you couldn't. A thought so shameful you smacked it back to where it came from as soon as it surfaced. You refused to acknowledge it, refused to name it, there would be no talking and no thinking of him. Not right now.

It was about as effective as telling yourself not to think about a blue elephant. You kept playing the game of 'whack a mole' with your brain, and kept losing.  Your father was dead, and it took you mere seconds to realize that you’re going to see him.

Summer 2013

You looked at yourself in the water- damaged mirror, it was crooked and filled with specks of rust, large stains of disilvering ate away at your reflection. The one piece purple bathing suit was wet, clinging to your form, accentuating the awkward lumpiness of your chest and belly under the harsh fluorescent lighting. Your mother picked it out with you, from the sale rack in TJmaxx’s women’s department. That miserable shopping trip almost made you cry. Most of them did. Your adolescent body didn't look right, didn't feel right. It was all too much, too round, too full. You’d follow your much smaller mother around the shops, gradually losing hope with every one you passed, settling eventually on another trip to Starbucks. An iced vanilla latte was sure to cheer you up.  You took solace in your sunglasses, rimmed in a bright red thick frame. The ones you nagged your dad into buying you, they made you feel cool. As cool as you could, that is. A piece of 'coolness' that belonged to you. You placed them on your nose with a slight sense of pride, heading out of the bathrooms. 

Your eyes searched for him immediately, finding him lounging on one of the sun-beds. Alone. Walking as inconspicuously as you could, you sat on the bed next to him, pretending not to notice him. You dove head first into your bag, looking for your phone. don’t look at him, don't look at him. Your thoughts raced, desperately hoping that he would be the one to look at you.

You've known Frank for a couple of years, as your dad's friend and neighbor. He would often join you for Shabbat dinner, bringing a bottle of a non- alcoholic beverage or some fruit. He was younger than your dad but you weren't sure by how much.

You’ve always found him hot, it was impossible not to, with his sharp jaw and boyish smile. He was tall and broad and handsome. You nursed your little secret crush on him, getting excited and giddy every time he came to visit, not daring to mention to anyone that you even found this old man so attractive.

This, however, was the first time you’ve seen him shirtless, and your fourteen year-old self could not handle the sight. You gawked at the grown man uncontrollably, your gaze hidden only by your ‘cool’ sunglasses.  The biceps, the pecs, the broadness of his shoulders and the way his torso tapered into his waist. The dip of his spine, the muscles of his back, the way the droplets of water clung to his skin and made it glisten…it all made your brain short- circuit, melt under the fog of hormones.

“Hey kiddo, I like the sunglasses” He suddenly said, in a tone more cheerful than you’d expected.

“Thanks” you muttered. It took your poor brain a few attempts to signal your mouth to smile. You hated it when he called you ‘kiddo’. You wished it would be ‘sweetheart’ or ‘darling' or ‘doll’.

“Can I try them on?” he smirked.

You handed them to him without a word, scrunching your face at the sun. Youv'e learned that it is often better to say nothing rather than risk embarrassing yourself. 

Frank put them on, they looked ridiculous of course, the bright red cat-eye was in sharp juxtaposition to his purely masculine features. He chuckled and pulled on the temple tips behind his ear- bouncing them on his large nose, causing you to giggle. 

"There she is! Don't be so serious all the time, kiddo. Have some fun" he smiled and handed them back to you, the tip of his finger brushing against yours. Never washing my hands again. You decided, as he got up and headed towards the pool. Your eyes followed him as usual, admiring the broadness of him. 

The water was buzzing with activity, and all you could think about is how much you'd love it to be empty. It was far too crowded to swim, but it did allow you to keep staring uninterrupted. 

The friendly game of 'throw the ball as hard as you can and cause the biggest splash' was on. Your dad had your cousin  Jacob on his shoulders, the scrawny nine year old was doing quite a bit of damage, landing a throw so accurate it splashed violently all across Frank's face. 

Frank shook the water off, spotting you in the corner of the pool, and swam right towards you. "Come on Hannah banana, I need your help, let's get em' " he smiled widely, and before you had a chance to respond he dove underneath you. 

The gravity beneath you shifted as he began lifting you up from the water. You yelped loudly and grabbed tightly at the head that popped up between your legs, trying to steady yourself. 

You haven't done this since you were seven, when you were light enough to be held on anyone's shoulders, but Frank lifted you up effortlessly, like you weighed nothing, like it was no trouble at all. 

Your thighs squeezed against his neck and shoulders. The ball somehow landed in your hands but all you could think about were franks palms, gripping your legs tightly, keeping you firmly on him. A heady mixture of emotions stirred in your belly. The fear of falling into the pool, mixed with the exhilaration of Frank's hands on your thighs. You could see his large fingers pressing into your flesh, and it was making your head spin. 

You threw the ball as hard as you could, landing a pretty decent splash on your aunt's face. She laughingly demanded her son 'avenge her'. A few more splashes and Jacob came face to face with you, attempting to push you off Frank's shoulders. The poor kid clearly underestimated your determination, and promptly landed in the water, ass first. Frank cheered you on, patting his large palm on your leg before letting you fall into the pool with a little nudge. You emerged from the water laughing, the adrenaline coursing through your veins so potent you could not stop, giggling almost uncontrollably as it sizzled through you.  "Yeah! We win! suck it!" Frank's arms wrapped around you in a tight hug, your body reciprocated before your mind had a chance to catch up, squishing your cheek against his chest. It was over before you even realized. A quick innocent congratulatory hug, that pressed you against his solid frame that towered over you, sending your already overstimulated brain into a tailspin.

*******

You remembered that day vividly, in detail, every part of your visit to the pool was etched into your mind. It was like a switch flipped, or a wire was plugged in, sometimes you likened it to a detonation of a bomb.  It confused you at first, you were flooded with something so potent that it took you a while to recognize what that was. The tingling sensation between your thighs was familiar, but it was never this intense.  The deep shameful truth was that from that day forward, Frank Castle was responsible for the vast majority of your orgasms, without touching you once. It horrified you at first, especially when you learned that he was 19 years older than you. You were disgusted with yourself, with the thoughts that kept getting increasingly more explicit as you aged. It didn’t matter if you were touching yourself or having sex with someone else. It didn’t matter how it started, it would almost always end with him. His voice, his hands, his face, thinking about him was the sure fire way of making yourself cum. 

You hated yourself for thinking about him right now, on the way to your fathers fucking funeral. It was like a pavlovian response you could not shake. You were equal parts hoping you'd see him and dreading the thought of facing him. It’s been three years since you saw him last, and something changed that day.

Hanukkah 2019

The snow was piling outside, a wintery scene in complete contrast to the heat in your dad's kitchen. You were with your aunt Deborah, Jacob’s mom.  She always loved it when you came to visit, she loved it especially when she got to spend time cooking with you. Being a boy-mom, they never took interest in her cooking. You however loved it, your mother was never much of a cook and this was your chance to learn from a true expert. You were making Sufganiyot* for Hanukkah. The jewish bakery made them well, but Aunt Deborah’s were divine. Something about adding buttermilk to the dough.

When Frank came that day it wasn’t planned. “Deb, are you making the jewish doughnuts again? I can smell it all the way across my yard, you’re killing me” his voice boomed as he entered the house. Your heart skipped. You were in your apron, covered in flour, and very much unprepared to see the man you harbored a weird sexual obsession towards. 

“Come in Frank, they’re still hot” Deborah replied as she met him at the door, and Frank's heavy boots marched straight to the kitchen.

“Oh, hey there Hannah banana” he greeted you fondly, giving you a small wave. 20 years old, and still "Hannah banana"... 

“Hey Frank” you waved back, not taking your eyes off the man. 

He plucked a fresh warm Sufgania off the tray, covered in powdered sugar, with a little dollop of red jam on top. “Mmmm come here baby” he growled and stuffed his face into the soft dough, taking a huge bite, muttering “oh my god” and rolling his eyes back in pleasure. This man will be the death of you.

Frank chewed in delight as you tried not to laugh at him, his nose was covered in powdered sugar and jam. He looked back at you, fully aware of the dire situation of his face. “What? What?? I got something on my face?” he smirked, prompting you to giggle.

“Come here Kiddo, you have to taste this”.

He began to slowly advance towards you, before fully chasing you around the kitchen with the Sufgania in hand. You squealed, ‘trying’ to get away from him and ‘failing’. When he finally caught you and cornered you against the wall, he stuffed the remaining dough in your face. You laughed hysterically while attempting to clean your face from the sugar and jam, wiping a small drop from the corner of your mouth with your thumb, and sucking the finger, looking up at Frank through your lashes. Your eyes met at that exact moment, and for a beat you both got quiet. Too quiet.

His laughter faded into a polite smile almost instantly, as he backed off and walked out of the kitchen. 

He never touched you again after that day. He was not even around for the rest of your visit. You saw him once more, just when you were leaving back to college. Instead of the usual goodbye hug he settled for a wave and a “Bye kiddo”, shortly disappearing back into the house. 

Maybe he saw something in your eyes, something inappropriate that shouldn’t have been there in the first place. Maybe that’s when he realized that every time he touched you was like pouring gasoline into a raging fire. Maybe things could have been different, if only you were older, thinner, sexier…not just Saul’s chubby awkward kid. 

It only took a second, one fucking second for Frank to notice what was right in front of him this whole goddamn time. One look into your soft eyes, One flick of pink tongue on your finger, and it was all clear. The thought traveled so fast from his cock to his brain he barely stopped it in time, running out of that kitchen as fast as humanly possible. You were just a kid, Saul’s kid. It was obviously sick to think about you in any other capacity. 

He remembered the time you all went ice skating, how he held your little hand when you kept stumbling and falling. The time when he took you for your first unofficial driving lesson just before you turned 16, in the empty supermarket parking lot. The time when you called him looking for your dad, he told you he’s probably asleep, and you began crying because you knew what that meant.

Were you looking at him like that the entire time? You had no fucking business looking at him like that. How dare you look at him like that.

*******

You had just a few hours to get ready and make the trip back into your hometown for the funeral the following morning. Knowing how jewish funerals worked you weren't surprised, most are buried within 48 hours of passing. 

Just a 3 hour trip from college, it felt like a different planet. You looked out of the frosted car window as Deborah was driving you both to her house, where the shiva* would be held. The snow fell softly and the storefronts decorated for Christmas gave your small town a charming cozy atmosphere. You could almost forget where you were headed. 

Beth Moses cemetery was eerily foggy, the two dozen people who had gathered for your father’s funeral were murmuring almost silently to each other. 

“You shouldn’t have worn that. And take that lipstick off, this is not a party.” your mother whispered as loudly as she possibly could, not taking into consideration that her voice carried. “Cover yourself up, here take my scarf” , you let her drape the back scarf over you, covering the dark gray sweater dress you were wearing under your coat, the one she deemed inappropriate because it showed some cleavage and clung to your belly a little too much for her liking. 

“Well, thanks for the kriah* I won’t be wearing this again after this week, mother” you replied sarcastically. Even though sarcasm never seemed to work on that woman, she was immune to your snide comments, nothing could penetrate the thick layer of self righteousness she wore like her favorite garment the whole fucking time.

“Hey Han”  Your heart skipped a beat at the sound of the familiar deep voice. He appeared before you almost instantly, mercifully tearing your attention from your mother and her constant disapproval. He leaned in for a polite hug, the scent of his cologne flooding your senses, spicy and crisp. He looked the same, just like you remembered and envisioned thousands of times. Same intense dark eyes, same strong jaw, same boxer's nose that you adored. 

“How have you been?” he asked, his voice quiet and grave.

“Hey Frank, I’m ok, yeah..” you replied, robotically, still a little shocked to see him again. 

"Jackie…" he acknowledged your mother with a nod, before proceeding to greet other members of the family. 

The small crowd surrounded the newly dug grave, muttering “amen” with the rabbi as he read the Kadish*. The vapor from their mouths like a silent choir in the cold.

Sunshine broke briefly through the clouds as Saul Friedman’s casket was lowered into the earth. There was something pathetic about how small it looked, and your heart wrenched at the sight. Debora’s silent tears prompted your own but you sniffled, looking up, not allowing them to escape. “Shalom aba” you mumbled as you placed a small stone on the mound of soil that now covered him…

FIN.

Series Masterlist | Next Episode

Halacha - Jewish scripture. According to the rules in order for a person to be considered Jewish their mother needs to be Jewish. (according to Orthodox Judaism) Shiva - “Seven” - a period of seven days after the funeral when the family mourns the death. People often come to visit several times during the shiva. Kriah - “Tearing” - When a next of kin dies, the nuclear family members (parents, children, siblings) have their garments torn, to symbolize mourning. The garment is discarded after the shiva. Sufganiyot - (Singular: Sufganya) - Jewish doughnuts, served on Hanukkah. Traditionally filled with jam and topped with powdered sugar.  Kaddish - A prayer said during the jewish funeral.  Shalom Aba - “Goodbye dad” 

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