#al genuinely loves taking care of animals and kids

[jojojooo33]

Also thinking about this little scene because it's very cute.

[thetavolution]

SHIRLEY

Full name:  Shirley Whiteclaw Evenwood Name meaning:  Shirley: bright clearing; Whiteclaw: self-explanatory  Pronouns: She/Her  Race: Half-Orc Age: 38  Orientation: Bisexual Romance: Undecided  Class: Fighter Subclass: Champion Origin: Soldier  Theme Song: Sweetest Devotion - Adele / I Lived - OneRepublic / You Said You’d Grow Old With Me - Michael Schulte 

Personality Shirley is a single mom with two kids at home and she always puts them first. Her main focus is taking care of her family and working as a sword for hire puts food on the table. She’s a sweet gal, even if her day job involves a lot of killing. She’s not the sharpest tool in the shed, but she’s cheery, friendly, and outgoing. She’s not book smart, but she has emotional intelligence. She’s also a very even-tempered person.

She’s talkative and the kind of person who’ll strike up a conversation with a total stranger like they’re old friends. Being a little dimwitted, she can be taken advantage of. She’s far too trusting for her own good. She is self-aware she’s not the smartest person in the room. 

People often look at her and think, “There’s nothing going on behind those eyes.” She’s basically a Labrador Retriever as a half-orc. 

Background Shirley is the product of an arranged marriage that was created to form an alliance between an orc tribe and the human village of Northwick. Her father relocated to the human village as part of the alliance since Shirley’s mother didn’t want to leave her hometown.

Fortunately, her parents did get along even if it was a loveless marriage. They were able to come together as friends to give their daughter a good life. It gave Shirley an unusual advantage compared to many other half-orcs. Her parents may not have been in love, but they did love her. She was raised in her mother’s village among humans. While she struggled to find acceptance, her good nature helped her worm her way into the hearts of the townspeople. She slowly got people to tolerate her and even won over some genuine friends. 

Her father trained her to be a fighter and she became set on protecting Northwick. She worked as a guard and this helped earn her respect among some of the higher ranking villagers. She even met and married a human paladin, Kayne Evenwood. They would have three children together, Galvyn and Bilga. Sadly, not long after Bilga’s birth, Kayne drowned when he was caught in a current while trying to save a small child who slipped into the river. He was able to save the boy, but lost his life in the process.

Alone, she took jobs as a sword for hire to take care of her children. When a tadpole got lodged in her brain, she had to set out to save herself and her children. While away, the kids stay with their grandparents.

Likes: Her children, her late husband, giving her kids a better life, children (in general), animals especially dogs, giving to charity, volunteering, social events, talking with people, early mornings, and romance novels

Dislikes: Anything that could harm her family, being away from home, criminals, bullies, people judging her based on being a half-orc, loneliness, bugs, hurting people who don’t deserve it, math, 

Fears: She’s afraid of anything happening to her children. Outside of her children, she’s terrified that she won’t be able to protect her village or that peace between the humans and nearby orcs will be compromised. She hates to admit she fears dying alone, too. She doesn’t feel like she should want love again, but she does. On a lighter note, she’s really scared of talking to a room full of people. She hates it.

Quirks: She talks pretty loudly, even when trying to whisper. There’s a running joke amongst her friends that she just CANNOT whisper even in a life or death situation. 

Mental Health: She’s still grieving her husband while trying to focus on her children.

Favorite Food: Minted Pea Soup, Rabbit Stew, Wayfarers’ Cake, and Toasted Cockatrice Gizzards on Rye

Favorite Drink: Moon Mountain Ale, Mint Tea, and Apricot Cider

Favorite Flower: Summer Lillies and Peonies (Peonies was the first flower Kayne ever gave her)

Height: 6’2”

Skin: Sage Tone 5

Hair:  Red Black with Gray

Eyes:  Brown 1

Color Scheme:  She wears a lot of browns, silvers, and blues. She doesn’t really pick her armor based on color, but durability and strength. She never thinks to get things dyed or colored. When not in armor, she leans toward shades of green and blue.

Fashion Sense: She’s a simple woman with a simple wardrobe. It’s all about durability for her. As a woman with two kids, she doesn’t dress up fancy. (Bilga is just going to spit up on it.) She does like to wear nice things from time to time though. In those cases, she keeps it simple and elegant.

Family: 

Nybarg Whiteclaw — He’s Shirley’s orc father. He was offered to the humans for the marriage contract simply because he didn’t really fit in with the other orcs. While he’s not cuddly and sweet, he is agreeable. He doesn’t actually like to turn to violence in most cases and prefers to just let people live and let live. He loves his daughter and grandchildren with every part of his being.

Enid Whiteclaw — She’s Shirley’s human mother. She’s a strong-willed and kind woman. She quickly earned her husband’s respect shortly after meeting each other, mostly because she’s an assertive person. She’s a bit pig-headed and she was definitely the head of the household. She loves her daughter and grandchildren more than anything. Enid and Nybarg are not in love, but grew to love one another as friends.

Kayne Whiteclaw Evenwood — He’s Shirley’s late husband. He was a human and a paladin who swore to the Oath of the Ancients. He fell in love with Shirley’s big heart. He was honorable, brave, and kind.

Galvyn Whiteclaw Evenwood — They’re Shirley’s 5-year-old kid. 

Bilga Whiteclaw Evenwood — She’s Shirley’s 1-year-old daughter.

I slightly ignored how DnD does half-orc aging. I’m treating her more like she just ages the same as a human instead. If you don’t like it, you can fight me. But don’t actually because I can’t fight.

[unluckystarboy]

1. Tim Drake AND Jason Todd tbh. I don't make the rules.

2. Everyone's ace. Boom.

3. Anything that has to do with Bruce x Talia. Sorry guys just my opinion.

4. Surprisingly I've not had to block anyone on here

5. The owo bot one or the old color name picker one tbh

6. Any mha ship fan, not all mha fans r crazy but the ones who ship ppl are INSANE. ~a former mha fan who shipped bakudeku

7. That cheese dude from mlp, weird Al's ponysona. Now he's kinda chill lol

8. That jason todd is a great cook and that alfred was so sad that he passed. WRONG. He can cook sub par but can make a few dishes pretty well and can Def make a banger grilled cheese. But alfred litterally victim blamed him for dying in the comics I'm p sure 💀

9. When people get together in some forms of media that I like but I hate that ship/don't think they need to be shipped bc of personal development or if it doesn't fit the characters storyline/if they just need to be a lone.

10. When a large group of people head cannon something to the point where people include it in most forms of fan fiction or art and it causes misconceptions about cannon.

11. Cheese grater, mayo, and radiator

12. SUNBURST FROM MY LITTLE PONY HES SO COOL AND ALSO GREELY FROM ANIMAL JAM I LOVE HIM #GREELY 4EVAAAAA

13. What the fuck even is that

14. When people write tim drake as being a emo coffee lover who doesn't take care of himself and when they make jason todd be a good cook and the one that the whole family loves now that he's back and when they make damian a little shit (NEWS FLASG HE WAS RAIED BY ASSASSINS BUT HAS GROWN AND CHANGED AND HES LITTERALLY A LITTLE KID AND HE LOVES ANIMALS AND ART AND HE IS MY BABY I WILL DIE ON THIS HILL.) and when they make grayson this happy go lucky golden retriever boy and make bruce this emo edge lord who hates Tim or whatever.

15. White washed damian. STOP IT.

16. Making characters genuinely more fucked up than they need to be to the point where it severely derives from cannon

17. An in depth storyline or first person pov of characters who suffered from traumatic events but he things that caused these string of events is not explored. Please explore them. (Ex. The flying graysons, I'd love to see how their demise affected the circus industry and how it affected Dicks development and mental state. Same for Jason's homelessness and malnutrition. Is that why he always has food in his safe houses when written in fanfiction? Pls explore this topic.)

18. Litterally damians live for nature and animals and art like guys come on. Tim likes taking photos. Damian likes art. let them interact and maybe make art together. (PLEAAAAAASEEE)

19. Bane from the harley quinn show ALTHOUGH I AM NOT ASHAMED.

20. Batman death in the family or whatever. Those whole two movies and one hs dif endings like COMMON GUYS PICK A LANE. (Although it's a mice concept it just wasn't for me.)

21. Dick x starfire or dick x anyone tbh.

22. Damian loving animals and art and him genuinely being a kid to his own degree. Like guys, come on he's just a little silly Billy :(

23. Tim and Benard a little tbh.

24. Jason and Tim. Point, blank, period. You figure it out.

25. Idk tbh.

Anyways guys, these are just my opinions and stuff lol.

🔥 choose violence ask game 🔥

the character everyone gets wrong

a compelling argument for why your fave would never top or bottom

screenshot or description of the worst take you've seen on tumblr

what was the last straw that made you finally block that annoying person?

worst discord server and why

which ship fans are the most annoying?

what character did you begin to hate not because of canon but because how how the fandom acts about them?

common fandom opinion that everyone is wrong about

worst part of canon

worst part of fanon

number of fandom-related words you've filtered

the unpopular character that you actually like and why more people should like them

worst blorboficiation

that one thing you see in fics all the time

that one thing you see in fanart all the time

you can't understand why so many people like this thing (characterization, trope, headcanon, etc)

there should be more of this type of fic/art

it's absolutely criminal that the fandom has been sleeping on...

you're mad/ashamed/horrified you actually kind of like...

part of canon you found tedious or boring

part of canon you think is overhyped

your favorite part of canon that everyone else ignores

ship you've unwillingly come around to

topic that brings up the most rancid discourse

common fandom complaint that you're sick of hearing

[twentyfivemiceinatrenchcoat]

I WOULDN'T SAY REPLACING people are just too cruel with their stsg content </3 (but who am i kidding i LIVE for it) I STARTED READING THE MANGA WITH A FRIEND A WHILE BACK BUT I HAD TO DROP IT AROUND CULLING GAMES BECAUSE OF SCHOOL (i should pick it back up again actually......) i blame school but i also blame that one scene that ruined my entire life (nanami) and seeing that executed??? TSUDA KENJIRO THE MAN THAT YOU ARE!!!! (i wouldn't call myself a nanami simp per se... but i definitely see the appeal and omg just him as a character is so <33333 to me)

JJK 0 I WAS LOSING MY MIND AND OMG YOU GOT TO SEE IT IN THEATERS HOW WAS SEEING THE BLACK FLASHES OMGGGG i want to rewatch jjk 0 now omg (I KEEP SAYING THAT BUT I DON'T REMEMBER TO ACTUALLY DO IT TIL MUCH LATER </33333) and omg :0 another movie i can't speak on manga because idk what happens plot wise after the first quarter-ish of culling games but another movie would be so fun!! i would so love to see it in theaters then too (IN JJK 0 WHEN "at least curse me a little at the end" AND SATORU SPECULATION OF WHAT HE COULD HAVE SAID OMGGGGGGGG the fanart that was pumped out then omg REAWAKENING THE DEMONSSSSSS)

AND INUMAKI!!!! his lack of screentime is criminal i have to say </3 but i think his 'don't move' is doing wonders for his popularity BUT HE IS SO SO CUTE (but idk if this needs to be said but he's not the all day all night type of character for me,, like he's cool and he's very adorable and i love his character and that's it SLKDFJSDLFK AND HIS CT IS LOWKEY VERY TRAGIC,,,,, jjk is another one of those animanga where it's like impossible to have one singular fav now that i'm thinking more on it)

AND ORV!!! joonghyuk definitely gives mother vibes i see it i see it (and kim dokja living on instant ramen (IT HAS TO BE SHIN I THINK HAHAHAHAH) and dread (TM) is sooooooo accurate i think it's not even funny)

i'm also not a fan of horror (<- also scaredy cat) so dw no horror recs from me!! to start it off simply, i would have to say eleceed for some good wholesome (kinda) action and hmmmm return of the blossoming blade (BRO IT'S SO FUNNY AND GOOD I CANNOT RECOMMEND IT ENOUGH) and and and either operation: true love (i read it for the plot and the plot is eunhyeok and dohwa!!!!!!!) or not your typical reincarnation story (i actually really like this one, it really lives up to his title too!!)

also i think i saw that orv is getting live(?) adaptation???? which like.... hm....... idk how to feel about that tbh an anime would go so hard and might be much better,, though i hope they use korean va's and not japanese like they did with solo leveling (BUT SOLO LEVELING WAS ALSO GOOD WITH JP DUB PLEASE DON'T GET ME WRONG PEOPLE WHO HAVE SEEN IT)

and i'm sending you chill and comfy vibes .｡*ﾟ+.*.｡ AND THANK YOU FOR THE APPLE JUICE I LOVE APPLE JUICE!!! let me split the juice with you :3 🧃 (sorry for the insanely long ask alsdkfal)

HI HI KOI !!!!!! NEVER APOLOGIZE FOR LONG ASKS I LOVE THEM SM 🥺🥺🥺

THE CULLING GAME ARC IS MY PERSONAL FAVORITE <33333 hot take but i’ll die on that hill. the fights r SO good . and the characters!!!!!! gosh…. AND PLEASEEEEE NOT THE NANAMI TRAUMA 😭😭😭 that scene had me feeling such genuine dread when i first read it lmao …. THEY DID IT SOO MUCH JUSTICE IN THE ANIME TOO . tsudaken our angel on earth ….

THE JJK 0 BLACK FLASHES ARE SOOOOO FUCKING HYPE I CRIED . yuuta’s love beam REALLY got to me though :((((((( ANDDD OFC THE SATOSUGU SCENE . idk what your thoughts are koi but i can and Will die on the hill that he said ily <33 those r my gay boyfriends . i know them personally. no but kaiji tang revealing that it was three words in the english script wrecked me entirely like What Else Could It Be …………

INUMAKI RLLY IS SUCH A CUTIE … i can’t lie to you koi i don’t care for him much myself but i totally see why people do . just goes to show how far you can get with a good design and power!!!! he’s also such an annoying little sweetheart….. pulling pranks while also being so considerate 🥺🥺 he’s a cutie.

AHH I’M SO HAPPY TO HEAR THE MOTHER VIBES R THERE !!!!! he just gives me like…. strong, nurturing vibes . and kim dokja gives me the opposite. LMAO. i have a feeling i’ll end up loving him the most though… it’s hard 2 tell….

THANK YOU FOR THE RECS <3333 adding them all to my tbr !!!! i’m pretty sure i checked out operation: true love at some point? but i. don’t remember anything about it 😭 romance webtoons always get me tho …. i remember back when i was horrifically obsessed with i love yoo……. it really wasn’t good for my fragile heart….

AHHHHH A LIVE ACTION ????? :000 THAT’S SO FUN….. but yeahhh they’re very hit or miss aren’t they. I ACTUALLY HAVEN’T WATCHED SOLO LEVELING YET ….. but i’ve heard good things abt the main guy’s vas :33

I’M SENDING YOU SOOO MANY COZY VIBES and drinking gratefully from our aply juice :3333 i hope you’re having a lovely day/night koi!!!! pls remember to rest and eat tasty food and drink water <333

[unearthlyfromage]

Une's Nonsensical Ramblings Episode 2 Part 2:

Reverse Falls; A continuation

In the previous installment, we covered the Stan's and their narrative (covering A Tale of Two Stan's which leads to the shows story).

Now that that's done, we can move onto the Star Twins as well as the Gleefuls and the Northwests

But first, an addendum that I forgot to cover; 

Fiddleford and his involvement. 

Given that the science project is never broken, Ford never meets Fidds. So, how does he become involved? Well, Ford uses Bill as an information gatherer during the construction of the portal. Given Fiddleford's proficiency with electronics, as well as his overall involvement with the Cipher Wheel, we cannot put it past Bill to recommend Fiddleford as a lead designer and construction manager. The portal incident still occurs, Fiddleford still sees what’s on the other side, still quits the project and tells Ford off for his insanity (perhaps the jumbling of his mind and memories is less caused by his own invention and more caused by Ford demanding Bill scramble his head for insubordination). 

With that covered, we’ll handle the meat and potatoes of the post! Dipper, Mabel, the Gleeful’s and the Northwest. 

Dipper;

Dipper has always been a headstrong, more independent introvert type character with an anxiety issue and a bit of a hero complex and a little, tiny bit of a shorter fuse. He’s also an overthinker by nature, and an avid follower of rules/checklists and not very willing to stray from the plan.

Taking the fact that the talisman amplifies your worse/negative qualities, as well as dampening things like empathy and expressing genuine compassions to people the wielder don’t inherently care about, we can infer that;

Dipper would be far more confident in himself, yet his anxieties would still exist, leading to him being even more quiet and reserved with one hell of a mean bone in him. Can’t crack the facade of confidence if he doesn’t let the crowd know how badly his voice cracks or how hard he’s sweating from nervousness, no - that shows weakness. He’d be more opportunistic, and likely to put others down to make himself feel better. His shorter fuse would be amplified, leading to him being a lot more easier to anger and pester into a blow up or nervous fit. He tends to analyze people, see what they’re most insecure about and use it to insult them when they’ve upset him. 

However, he is still a child, the effects of the talisman aren’t as deep seeded yet. He still cares for others, it’s just dampened, not at the forefront. He’s far more likely to put himself in top priority, the only time where this isn’t the case is in regards to his sister Mabel. He’d still drop anything for her, if he had too or she asked him too. His bond with Mabel is still strong, despite it al. Even if they pester and annoy each other at times, they still work together, they are still siblings (I hate the versions of this AU where Dipper and Mabel hate each other. Makes NO sense). Just like Ford, he wants a future full of recognition and capability, to be higher than others. But unlike Ford, he wouldn’t do unspeakable acts to make that happen. 

Mabel;

Mabel is confident and chaos embodied, just like in canon. She’s not as open as she once was, now more opting to stay silent and listen intently when it’s opportune for her, though is loud and energetic just like in canon. Yes, she did eavesdrop on your conversation, yes she will remember that weakness you mentioned, no she won’t tell you she heard, for blackmail of course. She’s far more antagonistic, eager to push people’s buttons and see what makes them tick, but she still has a bubbly air about her. She’s very into arts and crafts, still wears hand-knit sweaters and loves rainbows and sugar, she’s just got a bit of a mean-girl backbone now, less empathetic to the people and animals around her (she still cares, again, it’s just dampened). 

She is childish, and immature, just like in canon (Because they’re fucking kids [kids under evil influence are still kids] let them be kids goddmanit Reverse Falls fandom), But if you were to call her out on it she’d lash out, as it’s something she’s not particularly proud of. She envies Dipper in certain ways, but will never state it, for she knows he’d likely hold it over her head when in arguments. Despite this all, she still cares for him deeply, and knows that he would gladly give something up for her. Whether she knows it or not, she takes advantage of that quite often. Just like Stan, she wants luxuries, to never lift a finger and indulge in sweets and fun and parties for the rest of her life. But unlike Stan, she wants to do it (mostly) honestly. 

Both Of Them;

Dipper and Mabel’s talismans work differently, being the same ones Ford and Stan grew up with. Mabel’s is telepathic in nature, while Dipper’s is telekinetic. Mabel can control the astral plane, while Dipper can control the corporeal plane. 

If you remember, I had Stan’s be telekinetic and Ford’s be telepathic. Wouldn’t this be wrong, to have it on the wrong parallel? 

No. And here’s why;

While the main parallel between them is Ford - DIpper and Stan - Mabel, this isn’t true for everything. I had the talismans match their fighting styles, because the way one fights tells a lot about how they generally handle many situations/are most capable of doing. 

In regards to how they handle themselves in combat, it’s actually Ford - Mabel, and Stan - Dipper. Ford and Mabel prefer ranged weapons (I.E, Ford’s plasmatic pistol and Mabel’s grappling gun) while Stan and Dipper prefer melee weapons (I.E Stan’s brass knuckles and Dipper’s improvisation of fists and objects around him). 

How they see the Grunks;

Dipper still sees Ford as a role model, someone to look up too and take guidance from. Unlike canon, Ford doesn’t find it odd or pressuring. Instead he’s more than willing to coach Dipper, take on a teaching role and push the boy’s limits to achieve greatness. Dipper would do just about anything to impress Ford, though he does have limits, unlike some (*cough* Stan *cough*).

Mabel, however, sees him as the Fun Police and dislikes how Ford always shuts down her plots and plans. whenever the blue moon rises and she DOES have a chance to talk to him. She’s envious of the time he and Dipper spend together, and feels as if she’s being replaced, so she isn’t particularly nice towards Ford. She’s respectful, sure, but she wouldn’t knit the guy a sweater unless it were a matching set with Stan.

Dipper sees Stan as a custodian, a negligent one at that. Sure he can cook (if the servants don’t already do that, though some days he does) and he’s homely, a lot more than Ford is, but he knows Stan’s wholly about the money. Especially since the first thing he did was test their abilities to see how extravagant a show they could make for his tent. It’d be insulting to him, if it weren’t so rewarding with the way people cheered and revered him. He wouldn’t turn to the old sod for advice the same way he would Ford, but he has noted Stan is much more proficient with people than he or Ford, so he would ask in regards to crowds and coaching for shows. Beyond that? He’s a weird old man with a penchant for jewels and he doesn’t care for it much. 

There was one thing he did find interesting, though. Despite acting a fool, (Even Ford, when questioned, took no hesitation to say his brother is “Kind and loyal, yet ignorant. He is fine not knowing the things you or I seek, son. He is akin to a dog, a follower at heart. He does as I say. Not like us, my boy. We are something greater. We are leaders. We are rulers. Stanley and Mabel, they are Knights or Stewards. They’ll do just about anything.”) Dipper can tell he’s hiding something. He knew more than he seemed.

Mabel, however, adores Stan. Nothing is better than a jovial kleptomaniac of an old codger. Sure he’s odd, and a lot of the smiles he throws are fake, and he eyes Ford with a wary fear she can’t describe at times, but he’s fine. Stan lets her do what she wants, spend (certain amounts) of money how she wants, use whatever room in the manor for whatever she wants. The shows he throws are fun, and performing in them is a great joy. She can’t help but notice, though, just how much he worries when he isn’t busy being money conscious, or how natural it is for him to lead the two of them away when Ford is unhappy. What was he hiding? And why?

How they see Gideon and Pacifica;

Dipper sees them as weird kids that can’t stop trespassing. One claims their Great Uncles are terrible men, the other is so stuck up and pretentious he wouldn’t listen to her if he wanted too. Which he most definitely doesn’t. Yet another pair of wackjobs in this undoubtedly lead-poisoned town.

Mabel sees Gideon as an annoying little kid that won’t stop asking questions she doesn’t really care for. He hates her Great Uncles, and while she agrees about what he says in regards to Ford sometimes, the things he calls Stan is uncalled for and she has favoritism issues. Pacifica is an asshole and not worth her time. Why argue with someone like that when she could instead focus on the sweater she’s working on? If she truly does get upset, she could just tell Dipper. He’d handle it for her.

Gideon;

Coming from a humble upbringing, Gideon is a sweet kid with smarts and charm. Since he never found the talisman, he grows up as normal as they come in the rural Oregon town. Given how young Gideon is in canon (he’s 10) it’s safe to say he found the talisman at a young age and over-used it to become corrupt incredibly quickly (A mix of power-tripping and using it for financial gain so frequently). So chances are a lot of his personality is forged purely from that, hence why he has very little good qualities to speak of. (Which is really fucked up when you think about it.) Given this, I won’t go big into his personality since I don’t have much to go off of, so instead I’ll go more in-depth to his general place in the story/AU.

He’s a Gravity Falls native, born and raised, and all he knows is that his father has been having issues with the Pines men for quite some time now. He could barely tell them both apart, given the fact that one rarely ever left their huge house (for the longest time the town suspected the other was missing, or didn’t even exist to begin with) but he knew one well. And Stan had been trying to hard-push the family out of Gravity Falls for all of his life, offering money and other items. They were a powerful family, one of the most wealthy, and the townsfolk loved them. 

He knew something was off about them. The look in the old guys eyes whenever he’d show up at the door, or the soulless way the other one of them (the one nearly no one knew) always glared down at the town. It gave him the jeepers. Whatever it was they were hiding (if anything) must’ve been big. 

And he wanted to find out. If not to get them out of the town entirely, then to get them the hell away from the property. It was theirs, and that wasn’t going to change. Not if he had anything to say about it. 

So, he does what he can. Sneaking into shows, backstage if possible, he’s also been banned from the manor indefinitely since he’d broken in before, but that wasn’t stopping him any. At the very least, he’d stolen a book. 

Journal 3.

Pacifica;

Still wealthy, still snooty, still a Northwest. She doesn’t change much at all, because it doesn’t make sense for her to. Everybody else, Gideon included, has the most change because it regards the talisman and the influence it holds on the person.  

Instead, her role is similar to Gideons. But born out of an entirely different place. The Pines are a wealthy family, they compete with the Northwests quite often. Preston doesn’t like it. So he’s put it up to Pacifica to get as much dirt as possible about them to undermine their community power and eventually cause an uprising powerful enough to drive the old sods away. 

Nobody fucks with the Northwests, and if she wanted to prove her worth to her family name, she had to uphold that statement as best she could. Her teaming up with Gideon was a matter of happenstance. Originally she was going to steal the book from him and leave him in the dirt, but Gideon had a lot of intel she didn’t. 

How she sees the Pines;

Stan - A threat, a disgusting old man that smells like roses and kerosine and lies. His smile was as fake as his handshake and his sense of humor was as stale as fresh peasant food. If it were up to her? Just wait for them to die of age. But her father wanted them gone, and he wanted them gone quickly. 

Ford - A wildcard. She knew nothing about him, rarely ever saw him, and he creeped the whole town out. There were many speculations, but none of them were what she was looking for. So, she ignores his existence entirely. Not important, or what she needed to know. And if she didn’t need to know, she didn’t want to know. 

Dipper - An asshole that isn’t important to her goal. Gross birthmark and sweat stains. 

Mabel - An asshole that isn’t important to her goal. Ratty split ends and gross braced smile.

She doesn’t like any of them, she could care less about them. All she wanted in regards to them, was to see them leave. That’s it. If she has to team up with the poor car salesman’s son to do that? So be it. 

General notes;

Most people have this AU focus on Gideon and Pacifica. While I do the love the idea, there’s also another take that I personally find interesting; A subversion of the classic tale, told from the child antagonists that don’t know their family is the villains of the story, and that they are the ones in the wrong, until the big twist at the end that’s been foreshadowed throughout the series. A “Not What He Seems” situation, but if Stan/Ford actually WAS a criminal vagrant, so to say. 

One thing that’s rife in Gravity Falls as a whole, is the theme of Family. And I tried to keep that as a forefront just like in the original show because it’s so important. 

Obviously the Pines are family (and more in-depthly, siblings) revolved. Just like in the show, both the Stan Twins and the Star Twins are parallels that have dynamics as complicated as anything and telling as ever. And even though they’re all corrupted by mystical influence, family still matters (to some more than others *cough* Ford *cough*). 

For Gideon and Pacifica, they’re family oriented in their own ways. They have the same goal, but for different reasons. Gideon’s is born from a place of love and the will to fix a bad situation, whereas Pacifica is fueled by the demands of her parents and her need to impress them, show worth. 

Reverse Falls, boiled to its core, is the reversal of the protagonist and antagonist roles, in regards to character rivals.

Stan’s rival is Bud. Ford’s is Bill. Dipper’s is Gideon, and Mabel’s is Pacifica. 

However, unlike most depictions of this AU, changing them as drastically as they have just isn’t right to me anyways. Sure the Pines are WAY different from canon here, but it makes sense. Having Gideon and Pacifica be cousins to some degree or whatever the hell? Doesn’t make sense. 

Having Pacifica stay stuck up and, most importantly, a Northwest, and Gideon stay a 10 year old boy with motivations and a certain degree of naivety, opens the gates to character development that grows throughout the series. A sense of found siblings as well, that grows with each episode. They have ulterior motives, ones that span the background of the show, but they’re also still kids. Let them be kids. Please, I beg of you. 

Same goes for Dipper and Mabel. Perhaps they have more negative character development, as time goes on, being coached by the elder twins to be that way. Dipper becomes more independent, and Mabel becomes more unruly. Ford is a lot more uncaring. As if he’s above mortal squabble, which in a way, he is. He’s hiding a lot. 

Something I’ve placed here and there throughout, is how worried Stan is. Because honestly? He is worried. He loves Ford with all his heart and would do everything for him. But he never thought he’d ask for what he did. And Stan never thought he’d be able to deliver.

(Keeping some of this cryptic in case I make a fic about this revision of the Reverse Falls AU)

If there’s more you want to know regarding this, feel free to reblog with a question, or pop into my asks! I’m more than willing to answer. 

[otakusheep15]

SFW Alphabet - Leviathan

Levi is my fave of the brothers, so I thought my first (official) post should be about him. And since I’m not good at coming up with prompts on my own, I decided to start with the sfw alphabet. I’ll probably do the other brothers at some point after this (most likely, Belphie will be next). 

A = Affection (How affectionate are they? How do they show affection?)

At first, he’ll be very hesitant with showing affection. Verbal affection will usually be him comparing you to his favorite characters (like Henry) or complimenting you on pretty much anything you do. Physical affection is much harder for him, so you’ll have to initiate most of it, but after a while he’ll become more open. It will start off slow: sitting close together while gaming/watching anime, hand holding, and cheek/forehead kisses. If you manage t break his various walls of insecurity, he’ll become more affectionate and will begin initiating affection on his own. 

B = Best friend (What would they be like as a best friend? How would the friendship start?)

He is that friend who is constantly hyping you up about everything. You want to cosplay a character? He’ll make you a custom outfit. You wanna sign up for a gaming tournament? He’ll be your partner in crime. The friendship would most likely start with you finally getting it through his head that you are, in fact, not a normie, and you too would then go on to geek out over your favorite series together. Like a romantic relationship, he would be hesitant to really open up, but after some time (and lots of reassurance) he would be super open and honest with you. He will come to you anytime he feels insecure, and he hopes you’ll do the same, cause he wants to be there for you always. 

C = Cuddles (Do they like to cuddle? How would they cuddle?)

Like anything else, he is very shy when it comes to cuddling. He is touched starved, but he is also very insecure and thinks he doesn’t deserve it. You’d have to be the one to initiate the cuddles, and even then he’d still be unsure. However, once he’s comfy with you, he’ll always be up for cuddles. To him, it’s the perfect way to be intimate without getting too embarrassed. His ideal position would be you spooning him, but that would only really work in your bed. If you two end up in his tub, he’ll lay on his back and you’ll lay on top of him. If he’s in his demon form, he’ll usually wrap his tail around you as well. He also likes it when you talk to him, especially if it is either complimenting him or talking about a game/anime you like. Really, he just loves hearing your voice. Head pats are also encouraged. 

D = Domestic (Do they want to settle down? How are they at cooking and cleaning?)

He doesn’t really seem like the type to settle down. He wants to live on his own with you for sure, but things like marriage or kids just don’t really do it for him. The closest he’ll get to kids is having a pet (he prefers reptiles, amphibians, or fish, but he could be persuaded if you really wanted a fur baby instead). As for cooking and cleaning, have you met him? The most cooking he’ll do is trying out recipes he finds in anime and games, and even then he’ll ask you to do the brunt of the work. And cleaning is much worse. If you pressure him enough, he might help you, but you’d better like cleaning cause you’ll be doing most (if not all) of it. Don’t worry though, he’ll cheer you on from the comfort of his gaming setup. 

E = Ending (If they had to break up with their partner, how would they do it?)

If he had to break up with a partner, he would probably stress over it for weeks.  Most likely, it’ll be his own insecurity making him believe that he doesn’t deserve someone as amazing as you. In this case, he would just tell you that straight up, and it would be your job to convince him that he does deserve you and that you do love him more than anything. However, if it is your fault, he will have a much harder time figuring out how to break it off. He’s not very good at confrontation, so he’ll most likely just text you. He knows that this a cheap move, but it’s the only way he can do it without dying. 

F = Fiance(e) (How do they feel about commitment? How quick would they want to get married?)

As I said before, he’s not too keen on marriage or settling down. If you want to get married, you’d have to talk to him about it, and you’d probably end up being the one to propose as well. However, he doesn’t really care about marriage. In his eyes, he doesn’t need marriage. He loves you, and he (after years of convincing) knows that you love him too, and that’s all he needs. The way you two are right now is perfect to him, so he doesn’t feel the need to change that. But, as I said, if you really wanted to get married to him, he wouldn’t mind because he loves you. 

G = Gentle (How gentle are they, both physically and emotionally?)

In terms of physicality, he’ll be super gentle. You’re a human and he’s a demon, and the last thing he wants is to hurt his precious Henry. Even as you guys get closer, he’ll still be as gentle as possible, and it might take a while for him to be more physically affectionate for fear of hurting you. Emotionally, he is a bit different. At first, he’ll be super tsundere (calling you normie, constantly friend-zoning you, etc.) but he’ll start to stop once he sees that it genuinely hurts your feelings. As you two learn more about each other, he’ll try and avoid saying or doing anything that could upset you, but there are times that old habits will reappear and he’ll say something mean by mistake. After, he’ll be super apologetic and will constantly ask if he can do anything to make it up to you.  

 H = Hugs (Do they like hugs? How often do they do it? What are their hugs like?)

At first, he’ll try and push you away anytime you try and hug him. This isn’t because he dislikes hugs, but more so because he knows he’ll get al flustered if you touch him. Eventually, you do manage to hug him, and he melts right into it. It’s clear that he is rather touched starved, so affection like this is very strange, but also very nice. For a while, he won’t be too open to hugs just because he’s nervous about being that close to you, but hugs eventually become one of his main forms of affection. In the beginning, his hugs were very stiff and short-lasting due to his awkwardness, but as he becomes more expressive, his hugs begin to loosen up and they become some of the best hugs ever. As a plus, if you ever hug him while he’s in his demon form, he’ll wrap his tail around you too, and it feels really nice. 

I = I love you (How fast do they say the L-word?)

He is very hesitant to say it, and, like everything else, you’ll most likely be the one to initiate it. I’d say it’d take a solid year or so for him to even consider bringing up the idea of love, let alone actually say it aloud. However, if you do say it to him, he’ll absolutely say it back with only a little hesitation. 

J = Jealousy (How jealous do they get? What do they do when they’re jealous?)

This boy is the literal Avatar of Envy, so you know he’s jealous 24/7. He’ll get jealous at the slightest thing, especially if it involves his brothers. When he is jealous, he’ll do one of two things. The first is he’ll lock himself in his room and sulk until you (or one of his brothers) drags him out of his room and forces him to talk about his feelings. The second, and the one that happens more as you two get closer, is that he’ll steal you away from who/whatever is making him jealous. From there, he’ll bring you to his or your room where you’ll binge watch anime for the rest of the night. If you try and get out of it, his jealousy will only get worse, so prepare for no breaks during this binge. 

K = Kisses (What are their kisses like? Where do they like to kiss you? Where do they like to be kissed?)

At first, his kisses are super hesitant, and he is very slow to actually initiate anything. Over time, he’ll eventually learn how to take the lead every now and then, and he starts becoming more sure of himself. Most of his kisses are fleeting, and you’ll sometimes miss them if you aren’t paying attention. His favorite spot to kiss you is on your cheek. To him, it’s a safe spot that doesn’t make him all that flustered compared to something like lips or neck. His favorite spot to be kissed is on the top of his head. It makes him feel safe and loved, and that is another spot that doesn’t leave him entirely flustered. He particularly likes head kisses during cuddles. 

L = Little ones (How are they around children?)

This boy isn’t very good around people in general, so it’s no surprise that he’s even worse around children. He finds them to be annoying and a waste of time to deal with. The only exceptions he’ll make is if he finds a child character from a game/anime he really likes. If you have any child siblings, he might also make an exception for them, but no promises. 

M = Morning (How are mornings spent with them?)

It’s pretty rare that he’ll actually go to sleep, so most morning involve you waking up to him rage-quitting over a game or something. On the occasion that he does join you for the night, you’ll usually wake up first. Most of those times, he’ll have accidentally shifted into demon form, so good luck trying to get out of bed with that tail wrapped around you. He usually prefers to spend the mornings cuddling with you and just basing in each other’s presence.  Maybe he’ll convince you to skip school and stay in bed with him longer if he’s feeling particularly brave that morning (you better say yes). 

N = Night (How are nights spent with them?)

Most nights are spent playing games and watching anime with each other. It also usually ends with you falling asleep on his shoulder and him getting super flustered by how adorable you look. If you do end up falling asleep, he’ll carry you either to his tub or to your room. He’ll usually go back to playing his game, but there is a rare moment where he’ll lay with you and just enjoy having you with him. And if you do end up staying awake the whole night with him, it’ll usually end with both of you getting yelled at by Lucifer. 

O = Open (When would they start revealing things about themselves? Do they say everything all at once or wait a while to reveal things slowly?)

He’s pretty hesitant to reveal much about himself at first. He hates almost everything about himself, and he’s convinced you also hate that stuff about him, so it takes a lot of time and patience to get him to open up. I’d say it would take a few months at the earliest and maybe over a year at the latest for him to start fully expressing himself to you. He’s also very slow, often taking his time with telling you things. Sometimes you’ll have to interpret what he wants based off of signals and your own intuition. However, if you’re open with him, it might make him feel more confident in opening up to you as well. 

P = Patience (How easily angered are they?)

Despite popular belief, he isn’t actually that quick to anger. He gets jealous really easily, but he usually doesn’t get mad. The only times he might get mad is if someone repeatedly hits on you even if you clearly don’t like it. He also gets mad if you beat him in a game, but he gets over it quickly, especially as time goes on and you two get closer. 

Q = Quizzes (How much would they remember about you? Do they remember every little detail you mention in passing, or do they kind of forget everything?)

He is totally the type to keep a little journal filled with facts about you. From your likes and dislikes, to the smallest little quirks you have, this boy will have them all memorized. He is especially good with remembering characters from games/anime you like, and he’ll often use these as potential cosplay inspirations. It’s rare that he’ll forget anything, but usually it’s only small details he forgets anyway. 

R = Remember (What is their favorite moment in your relationship?)

His favorite moment is the first time you cosplayed for him. He had made you a henry cosplay that he worked on for weeks with little breaks. It was one of his proudest creations, and he was so excited when you agreed to try it on. When he saw you in it for the first time, he was absolutely blown away by how amazing you looked. He had never blushed harder, and he was super embarrassed about it, but it was worth it. Seeing you happy with his creation is all that mattered to him in that moment. And the praise you gave him afterwards made the whole moment 10x better in his mind. 

S = Security (How protective are they? How would they protect you? How would they like to be protected?)

He has a natural instinct to protect you since you are weaker than him (and most demons). However, he understands if you don’t like being babied, and will give you space when asked. Though, he will still keep tabs on you since he is the Avatar of Envy and all. He would never admit it, but he loves the idea of being protected by you. He constantly puts himself down and convinces himself you’re too good for him, so seeing you stand up for him makes him fall in love all over again, no matter ho many times it happens. 

T = Try (How much effort would they put into dates, anniversaries, gifts, everyday tasks?)

He doesn’t put much effort into most things unless it involves gaming or anime, but he does really try for you. For important dates, he’ll usually make you something like a game or a cosplay. He’s not one for elaborate dates, but if he knew that’s what you wanted, he would probably go to Asmo for advice on what to do. It may not seem like much at first, but he really wants to make you happy, and he is willing to do whatever it takes to see you smile. 

U = Ugly (What would be some bad habits of theirs?

His biggest bad habit is constantly putting himself down. At first, it almost seems like he’s just fishing for compliments, but you eventually realize that he really is that self-conscious. He also has a bad habit of staying up for days on end and neglecting self-care, so you’ll usually have to drag him to bed so he doesn’t end up sick. 

V = Vanity (How concerned are they with their looks?)

The only time he is ever concerned with his looks is if it’s for a cosplay. Other than that, he could care less when he looks like. He’s been a hermit for years, so it’s not like he needs to look presentable anyway. If you want him to change up his look at all, it would take some major convincing on your part. 

W = Whole (Would they feel incomplete without you?)

He would absolutely feel incomplete without you. Even if you are in the next room, he still feels like he’s missing a piece of himself when you aren’t right next to him. At first, he assumes it’s a side-effect of his sin, but he soon realizes that it is just you. After this realization, he refuses to let you out of his sight, and if you do leave his sight, he’ll sulk about it until you come back. Of course, he would never let you know about any of this damn tsundere. 

X = Xtra (A random headcanon for them.)

I personally headcanon that Levi is trans (I don’t wanna see any hate in the comments). He’d be super nervous to tell you about it since it’s just another layer of insecurity for him. When he does finally tell you (or you find out on your own) he’ll be a blushing mess the whole time. If you’re also trans, he’d feel super relieved that he finally has someone to relate to, even if you aren’t ftm like he is. It isn’t something he talks about often after that, but you will have to occasionally check in on him to make sure he’s doing okay with his dysphoria. 

 Y = Yuck (What are some things they wouldn’t like, either in general or in a partner?)

In general, he hates leaving his room unless he absolutely has too. Anytime someone tries to drag him outside, he will be complaining and whining the entire time. In a partner, he hates someone that is overly-extroverted and loud. He also dislikes people who don’t watch anime or play games. 

Z = Zzz (What is a sleep habits of theirs?)

When he does sleep, he has this habit of shifting into his demon form. If he is sleeping with someone and this happens, he will subconsciously wrap his tail around them. This is usually not ideal if you have to get up in the middle of the night for whatever reason. 

[wonderfulworldofmichaelford]

Michael in the Mainstream: Space Jam/Space Jam: A New Legacy

I am genuinely confused, guys. Space Jam: A New Legacy has come out, and it is just getting a critical thrashing on all fronts. It is being derided as being a retread of Ready Player One, it’s being mocked as a shameless commercial, it’s being called the ‘definition of corporate’… And all of this is just baffling because this is literally no different than the original film, which was based on a commercial and just made to cash in on 90s culture. The original is a cult classic now and something of a meme in its own right, but it is undoubtedly a big fat commercial made to cash in on the times and boy did it ever because we still remember it fondly to this very day.

But I think there’s plenty of value in this new film, and I think a lot of it might be fondly remembered by younger generations down the line like the original is by people like me. What helps is that, in a lot of ways, this movie does things way better than the original… though I certainly won’t say this new film is perfect by any means. You’ve gotta go in with the mindset that this is just a dumb, silly commercial that you’re watching for cartoon antics and shameless product placement, first and foremost. Do that, and you might be able to handle all the stuff I’m about to talk about.

The obvious starting comparison for the films is the leads. Michael Jordan in the original is, to put it lightly, not an actor. He puts in a very corny performance by even the nicest definitions. But still, I think that lends him a charm all his own, and he’s not detrimental to the film at all. In fact, his lack of acting talent is easily smoothed over by the general charisma Jordan brings to his role. In comparison, LeBron James is a much better actor (though let’s not pretend he’ll be winning an Oscar any time soon), but he lacks a lot of the charisma Jordan brought to his role. That’s not to say James is weak, though; he acts just enough to bring the awkward, dorky charm of someone not an actor by trade trying their best to the role. It’s hard not to like him, at least a little bit, and he does have some decent interactions with the Tunes, though I think Jordan definitely has him beat there.

Speaking of the Tunes, they are a clear improvement over how they were in the original film. A common criticism of Space Jam is that, as fun as the Tunes were, a lot of the time they were a bit out of character, and the one newcomer (Lola) was nothing but oversexualized furry bait who existed to be a love interest and whose personality began and ended with ‘girl.’ The new movie fixes this by giving the Tunes a lot of fun, cartoonish antics that feel far more in line with how they are usually portrayed. Bugs is back to being a tricky rascal, Daffy is an egomanical jackass, and so on. Much like a lot of modern portrayals, the movie fixes Lola by amping up her badass qualities while still staying true to her original appearance by having her be good at basketball, but not to the point she overshadows everyone. There are some issues with the Tunes, such as the weird stunt casting of Zendaya as Lola and Gabriel Iglesias as Speedy instead of using their more modern voice actors, as well as using a voice for Bugs that makes him sound really off at times, but overall the Tunes are treated far more respectfully and with far greater dignity than the original afforded them (except my man Marvin, they really did him dirty in this one).

When it comes to the main villain, there is absolutely no contest here. Swackhammer is a bland, horribly forgettable corrupt corporate executive archetype with little to no interesting twists to him, and he commits cardinal sin of cinema by wasting Danny DeVito. A New Legacy, on the other hand, gives the Oscar-nominated superstar Don Cheadle a hell of a lot to do in the movie. Al-G Rhythm is a sentient computer virus who wants to capture LeBron James and use him to churn out lazy, soulless cashgrab films, and he does it all while hamming things up to the high heavens. Cheadle looks like he’s having an absolute blast, and he’s definitely one of the most fun villains in a kid’s movie in a long while (especially since Disney doesn’t seem to be able to make good villains anymore). Unfortunately, this does come at a price it seems. In the original, the opposing team is comprised of the Nerdlucks/Monstars, who all build themselves up throughout the movie as an actual intimidating threat. The opposing team here gets no buildup, being conjured up solely for the big game at the end, and while they’re not awful, they really aren’t particularly memorable either.

Speaking of the big game, I’m just gonna say it: A New Legacy blows the original completely out of the water in this regard. The cartoonish antics are through the roof and are mixed in with video game antics, Don Cheadle hams it up to the high heavens, and there are cameos from the most ridiculous array of Warner Bros. Properties you could imagine. This has become a prominent source of derision, but if you feel no joy at seeing Arnold Schwarzengger’s Mr. Freeze, the Droogs, Pennywise, and one of the nuns from The Devils doing idle animations and losing their shit over a Looney Tunes basketball game, I’m not particularly sure I care about your opinion. This is the exact sort of stupid fun I’d want from a movie like this. I’ll certainly take it over Bill Murray showing up out of nowhere for no good reason, that’s for sure.

The humor of A New Legacy far outshines the original for the reasons I mentioned with talking about the portrayal of the Tunes, but there are some issues. The montage where Bugs and LeBron recruit all the Tunes is a bit rushed, and the concept (the Tunes have migrated to other Warner properties) is really glossed over save for Daffy and Porky in the DCAU and Lola training to become an Amazon in a comic book-style take on Wonder Woman (complete with the now-iconic theme!) that really goes to show she should replace Gal Gadot. Other than them, we get Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner in Fury Road, Sylvester and Elmer in The Spy Who Shagged Me, Granny and Speedy in The Matrix, and Yosemite Sam in Casablanca, and while all of these gags are great and funny, they’re over far too quickly and could have been expanded into a whole sequence of their own rather than just a montage. I don’t know about you, but I really am far more interested in seeing what the hell Game of Thrones is like with Foghorn Leghorn as Daenerys than I am most other things in movies. It’s just a whole lot of missed opportunities. I’m less forgiving to the out-of-nowhere rap battle in the middle of the basketball game, but is it really worse than the out-of-nowhere Pulp Fiction reference in the original or, again, Bill Murray just showing up at the end?

Look, I’m not trying to say either film is some masterpiece of emotion or storytelling or anything like that, but both films have their place. The original is a fun, corny piece of 90s nostalgia that manages to be fun almost in spite of itself, while the new film is a fun, goofy spectacle that takes everything good about the first film and makes it better while still hosting problems of its own. They’re fun, flawed, amusing, and stupid commercials, and they absolutely deliver on what you want them to be. The Looney Tunes play basketball with a superstar against a bunch of crazy opponents while a cavalcade of cameos watches from the sideline… If you’re expecting anything more, you’re watching the wrong movie.

[m4gp13]

For those of you who made it through my laughably incoherent ethabaster think piece, here’s some hc’s, you’ve earned them:

- Ethan has sole possession of their one shared brain cell. Alabaster is not allowed to even look at it. This is because they used to have two but Al broke the good one trying to blow up something (probably Percy).

- If Al finds out Ethan left without some form of magical protection i.e. a sigil, a crystal, ground eggshells, he will be pretty much vibrating with nerves until Ethan gets back so he can give him a once-over.

- Alabaster’s from a very witchy family who all worship Hecate for many reasons that differ depending on which estranged relative you ask and they all kinda saw Al as the first coming of witch Christ so he had a lot of expectations at a very young age.

- Ethan knows this and tries to lift as much Titan army business off his shoulders as possible.

- He accidentally lifts too much off to the point where he is drowning in work and is now the one in need of saving. But does he tell anyone that if he looks at one more stack of demands from his mile long list of bosses he’s going to cry for five hours? Of course not don’t be ridiculous.

- Alabaster immediately hated Percy as soon as he heard the guys name but due to the arena stuff and telling Thalia not to k*ll him Ethan actually held a bit of respect for Percy which annoyed Al to no end.

-This was until the not-so-peaceful peace talk in tlo when Percy starts shit talking Nemesis and Ethan just internally goes “actually the witch bitch was right this guy sucks ass”

-However, under no circumstances will Ethan ever tell this to Alabaster; not because he values his pride (he has none) but because he knows the life of a demigod is short and he doesn’t want to spend the rest of his very short one hearing Al rub that one thing in his face for every single second of it.

- And I mean Every. Single. Second.

- So yeah he takes that to the grave and doesn’t even tell anyone in the underworld in case they tell Al when he dies and he doesn’t want to spend the rest of his afterlife with Al being a dumbass. (also yes Ethan got into Elysium, fuck you)

- (Actually I have another idea about where Ethan went post-life but that’s so far from canon it’s more of an AU than a headcanon so we’re gonna leave that out for now)

- Al thought he was the one in charge of the Hecate kids because he was the most powerful and the highest ranking in the army but he was Not. That was Ethan. The Hecate kids thought Ethan was their unofficial adopted baby brother but little did they know he was the mum the whole time.

- Ethan is the only thing standing between them and starving to death. He also does the younger kids hair and gives everyone with long hair super intricate braids that stay out of their faces during “field work”. Al thinks this is more of him trying to take the weight off his shoulders but Ethan knows that if he doesn’t do this shit no one will so he kinda has to. Not that he doesn’t like doing it. being helpful is his love language.

 - Because of their powers over the mist the Hecate kids of the army were notorious pranksters who were usually at war with the Hermes kids (wars usually declared by Al because he rolled a zero on self restraint) but none of them prank Ethan because “nooooo you can’t do him he babey 🥺”

- Ethan has simply decided that what the magic prank wizards don’t know can’t hurt them and just turns to his blind side whenever he sees them sneaking off the ship to get Micky D’s in the middle of the night to stay on their good sides.

- Speaking of the ship, Ethan thinks it’s the dumbest thing in the world that one of their most powerful demigod enemies is the son of a sea god and he actually has a pretty decent relationship with said sea god and their main base of operations aside from mt Othrys is a fucking BOAT. He tells Al all about his worries for the ship and while Al assures him that nothing that bad could happen he always makes sure that the ship always has the least amount of demigods on board at all times just in case.

- It takes all the strength Ethan has not to yell “TOLD YOU SO” at him when the ship blows up.

- Al probably either wears basic white boy clothes or typical witchy stuff (like moons and shit) depending his mood meanwhile Ethan found out about leather and just goes for it.  

- Every grunge/punk/emo/eboy/teachwear bitch aspires to be him and because he aint about all that “gender roles” bs he definitely goes about wearing cool egirl stuff too. Not just slightly feminine shaped jumpers but all the plaid skirts, fishnets and lace trimmed dresses he can steal afford and Al, despite his more basic fashion taste is here for it. You’ve never seen someone more supportive of their pals fits, get you a hypeman like Al. You deserve it. (Ethan is also not afraid to walk around in a full pastel gamer girl fit)

- (Also Al hyping up one Ethans fits in front of a Titan is the reason they were allowed to start wearing army fatigues instead of the whole ancient Greek armour on occasion)

- Ethan appreciates Al’s enthusiasm but he also kinda doesn’t get it. And he definitely doesn't do that “yeah you’re right I DO look good” thing because he just doesn’t know how. He’d always been a little self-conscious about getting a big head but then he found out about Nemesis and hubris and all that fun stuff, looked at his meager pile of self worth and said “ yep, this has to go”

- Al almost starts crying when he finds out and pretty much makes it mission to be such a good hype man that Ethan has no choice but to think of himself as a Pretty Cool Dude via absorbing the hype through diffusion. It kinda starts working but then Ethan [REDACTED] in tlo so we’ll never know what could’ve been.

- To nick a hc from someone ( hi @chromarozee-spam) contrary to his taste in clothes Ethan does ballet (he was a punk AND did ballet, what more can I say?) and while Al tries to support his hobbies he is genuinely afraid both for and of him. “For” because “holy fuck that looks painful are you okay?”. And “of” because “are you sure those are bones inside you because I don’t think bones are supposed do that?!”.

- Ethan tries to assure him that no his spine is not made of rubber, broken bones or otherworldly materials so can he stop bothering him during practice please?

- This does not stop Al from making a million protection wards and constantly asking his deck if Ethan is indeed a Being of this Good Green Earth.

- Eventually his cards pretty much just tell him that he is friends with one bendy heck of a boi and he needs to fucking get over it so he kinda just,, ,,,,, , does.

- Again with the hc thieving (this time from @altorringtons) Al learning to use a two-handed broadsword so he can guard Ethan’s blind side and back in a fight *soft noises* just them trying so hard to keep each other alive because they love each other and they care about each other!

- They also sleep in the same bed whenever they get the chance (fully clothed ya nasties, they’re kids) and they just hug each other soooo tight because they just need to know they’re alright cos they always get pretty banged up in fights against campers or just monsters that are too much like wild animals to recruit. (What? Me? Projecting my desire to be intimately held by the closest person I have to family with their arms wrapped not tight enough to make me uncomfortable but tight enough to make me feel loved? Never! What on earth are you talking about?)

- Because Al is super stubborn and prideful whenever they have an argument Al can’t really bring himself to say he’s sorry so when he’s ready to apologise he just climbs into bed on Ethan’s blind side and cuddles him because he knows Ethan is super worried about getting attacked on his blind side so it’s like he has a guard or a shield.

- Ethan on the other hand just calls him a Rock Boy in a derogatory way until he gets over himself and apologizes but he really does love the fact that Al knows that about him and accommodates that.

- The thing they fight about most is how “heroic” the titan army is. Kronos’ brainwashing worked on Al like a charm and he fully believes that they are the rebellion and camp is the empire. Ethan on the other hand wasn’t at camp long enough for Kronos or Luke to really do anything but it doesn’t matter because Ethan really doesn’t give a shit if he’s on the “evil side” cos he just wants respect and he’s willing to do what it takes without a second thought of how people see him. If he thinks he’s doing the right thing but on the wrong side he can live with that but Al needs to feel like all of his side is on the moral high ground because that’s what Kronos drilled into his brain.

- Ethan knows that Al delusional when it comes to the non-existent heroics of the army but eventually he just decides to let Al believe the titans lies because that’s easier for him even if it hurts Ethan to see him being manipulated like that.

- Due to Ethan not giving a shit on the humanity of his bosses he gets punished a lot more often and a lot more violently than Al because they know that Ethan already knows they don’t care about him so they don’t have to sugar coat him but Al still believes that they’re heroes and his mindset needs to stay like that to keep him obedient.

- Also because I am  a Cruel Person By Nature I hc Ethan’s mortal family (which usually just consists of his dad) as meeting a not very pg13 end at the hands of a monster who wanted to nible on Ethan a tad which pretty much scarred him for life.

- SO, at the end of the battle of Man Hats Are In when Al looks around and sees that his whole family (that joined the titans) are dead! oh no! How sad! At least he knows someone whose been through the same thing so they understand each other and can help each other through this tough time together right? SIKE!

- so yeah Al learns Ethan d-worded in the worst possible way at the worst possible time and just looses it from grief. Loosing his family was bad enough but finding out he lost the one person he thought he would be able to confide in and heal with immediately after just really rubs salt in the wound.

- When the survivors start re-grouping to find someplace to hide until the gods forget about them Al just wanders off because it’s all he can do to not break down on the spot.

- He’s just wandering in a daze for a while and most people just assume he’s high but he snaps out of it and gets into anger mode when Lamia starts attacking him because he finally has something to do and occupy himself with even though it’s hard not to think about his sibling especially when Lamia keeps talking like they never would have died if she’d been in charge which is why she should totally just kill him and lead their siblings instead.

- His desire to have something to keep his mind off his family and Ethan is the first thing he thinks about when Claymore re-alives and immediately starts talking about doing research (yeah because that’s what you need after a long stressful day of fighting monsters and literally dying).

- Ethan keeps trying to cross the veil and help, even if he just sends Al a pleasant dream to help him sleep but contrary to what you might think from the name, the veil is really hard to cross so Ethan just has to bite his nails and watch his friend suffer.

- It gets easier to watch after Al and Claymore pretty much adopt each other because at least he has someone but they do still get into pretty scary situations.

- When they were both premortem they got paired up for a lot of missions for the titan army and they usually just tried to pretend they were on a fun road trip around America when they could and make fun of mortal shit together.

- At one point they were in a motel and the last people accidentally left behind one of Claymore’s books about death and they found it the funniest thing ever. Between a pair of in which one of their mum’s regularly goes to the underworld and one has been there himself they find mortal ideas of the afterlife to be very amusing.

- Alabaster has decided he would not like to share this with the class (Claymore) thank you very much.

- Also when they’re doing their road tripping Ethan knows all the best places to crash, the cheapest food places and the local gangs don’t bother them because between running away from camp and joining the army he just wandered around a lot.

- Like he’d just hop on a random train, take a nap and figure it out when he wakes up; he made a lot of friends this way too as well as his taste in clothes cos he didn’t have a lot of money so he’d just DIY some second hand punk shit. Al thinks he’s the Gandalf of the demigod world because he just knows everyone who might help them and everywhere they could spend the night. He definitely tells his siblings about Ethan being the closest thing they have to a wandering wizard and they fucking love it.

- Also because Nemesis tends to not have a lot of kids Ethan was the only one of hers in the army and Al felt really bad for him because his sibling were his favourite part about the army so he tried to include Ethan in as much as possible with his siblings.

- As an unexpected result Ethan ended up with a small army of super powered children to sick on the people who keep making jabs about him loosing in the arena battle.

- Al sometimes thinks he’s given him too much power but also he will fuck a bitch up if they make fun of his pals so he sees where his siblings are coming from and yeah those bitches had it coming. He also has a copy of bitchcraft.

- Ethan’s dad was the type to play “Stay With Me” by Miki Matsubara on repeat for hours and Ethan would probably enjoy the song but he’s heard it so often that now it makes his ears bleed and Al sometimes tortures him with for fun until Ethan starts throwing shit.

- To steal another hc from @chromarozee-spam Ethan has a thing for cats and one time Al accidentally gave himself mistform cat-ears and Ethan could not stop touching them. Ethan was just craning his head back uncontrollably grinning so much his face hurt. Al can’t bring himself to be upset because Ethan rarely ever smiles since he joined the army.

- Al saw Ethan crying over one of those video’s where people put their hoodies on backwards and put their cat in the hood so he made a mist cat and bought him a hoodie. Ethan of course started crying again but it was happy tears instead.

- Ethan is fucking tiny while Al is almost a foot taller than him. He wouldn’t mind so much if Al didn’t exhaust every opportunity to rub it in his face so he just starts climbing all over shit (especially tall buildings) half to give Al heart attacks and half so he can be like “Sorry? What was that? I’m so high up I can’t hear you. Can you speak up a little? Maybe get a ladder? Or taller?”

- Also I don’t know why but I hc Al as Texan. Ethan gets told about this “Alabaster C. Torrington” guy who knows latin, incantations and other magical knowledge and expects some fancy British guy so when they meet and Al speaks Ethan gets whiplash so hard he fuckin chokes.

- Al is also very casual and Ethan is pretty professional so when he meets this magic general with a straight back and the first thing that comes out of this assholes mouth is some “Howdy y’all!!” bullshit he just dies on the spot.

- Also because Al is texan he is very sensitive to the cold (I’m about 80% sure that Texas is one of the Warm states) so when he has to do stuff in cold places like the labyrinth or new york (idk about that one to but in every film I’ve seen that’s set in NY it’s raining for about 90% of the time) he complains about being freezing all the time until Ethan helpfully reminds him that he can literally make fire out of nothing, surely he can find a way to warm himself up.

- Ethan is also sensitive to the cold because he’s basically malnourished but he’s been like that for a while and thinks it’s normal so he sucks it up until Al notices he’s always cold. Ethan tells him it’s fine but Al is basically a walking electric blanket so whenever Al cuddles him to keep him warm Ethan can’t help but melt because he’s so fucking warm and soft and have you noticed I crave intimacy?

- Ethan started studying Greek myths vigorously since he found out he was a demigod and when he died he kept an eye and an ear out for Al because even though he wouldn’t be able to do anything it still reassures him to know what’s going on, HOWEVER, he was almost filled with enough malice to rip through the barrier between the living and the dead purely to beat an ass when he hears Al’s little “I don’t bother reading about worthless monsters like you!” jab.

- Ethan is very jumpy and fidgety to the point where Al is genuinely concerned and while Ethan assures Al that nothing’s wrong Al is still suspicious. Ethan probably would have told Al about it if it was because of anything but Kronos but seeing that it mostly is, he doesn’t because Ethan feels like Al will just take Kronos’ word over his and he’ll loose the only person he trusts in the army.

- Al doesn’t find out about it until way after the war when Kronos’ brainwashing starts to come undone because by then his mindset is a lot less biased in the titans favour so he can see things that he just unconsciously ignored before and is able to put two and two together. When he does boy is it a trip.

- Ethan is really bad at talking about feelings and stuff so whenever Al gets upset over something and Ethan has no idea how to talk to him he’ll just get him some rocks. One time Ethan found out about those heart shaped valentine boxes that are normally filled with chocolates but people put crystals in them and that just became his go-to for when Al was especially upset. 

- Al is only slightly better at talking about stuff but he can still get Ethan to open up to him which is good because Ethan isn’t very materialistic so it’s hard to make him feel better by buying him things and because someone needs to get Ethan to express himself in an emotionally healthy way.

- Also because of this they just can’t tell each other they love each other. Like they’ll barely whisper it when the other is asleep because they’re just so bad at talking about feelings. It wasn’t that much of an issue until after the war and Ethan gets k-worded and Al is left alone and sobbing over all the times he never told his loved ones how much they meant to him.

- But because this is a headcanon list; fuck that, Al saved Ethan with some sort of magic bullshit and they talk about how much they love each other all the time now because they can’t stand the thought of one of them dying having never been told how much they are loved.

[senorarelojes]

Pizzaverse artwork and ficlet: 'A Little Piece'

@maiyashu made this really cute and beautiful Instagram post of Pizzaverse Dave being silly and drawing little monsters/creatures on the notes he leaves for Alan and their kids around the house. Of course, Alan shows off his husband's work on Instagram. Under the artwork is an accompanying ficlet set in the future for the Pizzaverse timeline. Thank you dear Shu for your gorgeous (and funny) artwork! Happy Father's Day to the boys!

Title: A Little Piece Pairing: Dave/Alan Rating: General Tags: Pizzaverse, Kid Fic, Fluff

Dave was always amused whenever Alan teased him about being the one in their relationship who was more addicted to social media. It seemed they were both on an even keel; Alan posted more often, while Dave had a variety of accounts across various platforms that he’d lost interest in after the initial posting frenzy. They had their different addictions too: Dave liked the spontaneity of Twitter and TikTok, while Alan for some reason preferred Facebook and Reddit. But Instagram was their common vice, and most of their friend circle were on it as well.

Before fatherhood, Dave had imagined that his use of social media would dwindle because he simply wouldn’t have the time. But instead he’d found the opposite to be true: now he wanted to post about Alan, Paris and Stella all the time, and he didn’t even care if no one outside their family and a few chosen friends would find it cute.

Of course, both Dave and Alan took care to obscure the faces of their daughters. But the adorable things they did were up for grabs: Paris’ first steps, then followed by Stella’s in a few years. Their first stuffed toys. Their first drawings. Dave shamelessly spammed his IG feed with various pictures and videos, and refused to feel bad about it because Martin was doing the same with his kids, and so was Fletch, who seemed convinced that his daughter was a maths prodigy.

Of course, Dave posted pictures of Alan on his feed as well. Naturally his husband was usually included if it was a picture or video with one of the girls, such as Alan helping Paris with her homework or feeding Stella at dinnertime. But sometimes Dave saved a few precious shots he’d snuck on his phone, like Alan frowning at the computer in his tiny makeshift home studio, or stealing a rare moment after the girls had gone to bed to listen to one of the many records he owned. Those didn’t get as many likes and comments as anything Dave posted of the girls, but he didn’t care much.

In truth, Dave would have probably gone on like this if Alan hadn’t taken him aside one night and asked him why he’d stopped posting pictures of his art. “My art?” Dave echoed, genuinely surprised that Alan had been keeping track because Dave certainly hadn’t.

“Yeah, your paintings.” Alan gestured towards Dave’s most recent effort, which was a white cat posing regally by a candle. Even that had been painted more than a year ago, before Stella had come into their lives. “You don’t really post them anymore. Or paint much more, for that matter.”

Dave just kept staring at Alan in astonishment. When they had gotten married and subsequently made the decision to become parents via surrogacy, it had been pretty much an unspoken agreement between them that family and work would have higher priority. This meant their hobbies were naturally the first thing to be sacrificed for time, and Dave had been fine with that. They hadn’t touched the band in years, not since the last time everyone had performed at Martin’s wedding.

But now Dave realised that he missed painting with an ache like a phantom limb, like something that had always been a part of him was now oddly missing. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d picked up a paintbrush for the hell of it. Everything he’d designed or illustrated over the past year had solely been for work, and that thought pained him like a spike through his solar plexus.

In contrast, Alan - who had always been very driven and disciplined - seemed to have no problem reviving his interests in mixing and composing after Stella had started sleeping at more regular hours. So Dave didn't even have the excuse of fatherhood.

“You should pick it up again,” Alan told him with a gentle squeeze of his hand, before moving on to the topic of Father’s Day, which was coming up. Dave just nodded distractedly when Alan suggested ordering in brunch from a nice restaurant, still preoccupied with thoughts of Alan’s mind-blowing revelation.

After that conversation with Alan, Dave decided to try and carve out time for painting. Although that wasn’t always possible, he did want to show Alan he was trying, so he started with small gestures. If he left reminders and post-its for Alan around the house, he’d be sure to draw a funny cartoon to accompany his loopy handwriting, like a sentient postbox (to remind Alan to go to the post office) or a funny caricature of Martin and Fletch (to ask Alan if he wanted to have dinner and catch up with them).

Alan never really mentioned the little drawings beyond an amused eye-roll, but Dave knew Alan was never particularly verbose about his true sentiments anyway. Dave had learned to look towards Alan’s actions instead. Sure enough, Alan started taking pictures of Dave’s little drawings and posting them on Instagram with an accompanying dry and witty caption, along with the hashtag ‘#artisthusband’. To Dave’s surprise, it really took off among their friends and other family members, and Dave always had to fend off demands from his mum and Sue about more cute artwork everytime he called home.

Since Paris and Stella loved the drawings too, he started drawing little monsters for them on their paper lunch bags, which he would prepare for them before Alan would drop them off at daycare. It wasn’t long before Alan started posting these on Instagram too, and his comment section would get animated at times because Martin, Fletch, Paul, Daryl and the rest would start discussing which creature Dave had meant to draw. He didn’t have the heart to tell them he’d made them all up on the spot.

Having Alan’s support like this, even for his silly little drawings, was more fulfilling and touching than Dave had expected. So he’d really meant it when he said he was going to get art supplies, but more often than not Dave would get distracted and buy Elsa colouring books for the girls instead. Alan hadn’t said anything at all, but Dave knew how to read him pretty well by now. His husband was definitely planning something.

On the morning of Father’s Day, Dave was the first out of bed so he put in the order at the restaurant before going for a run in Hyde Park. His metabolism wasn’t what it used to be, and he’d gotten into the habit of eating off the girls’ plates whenever they couldn’t finish their food. Alan was a really good cook too, so Dave knew he had to fit in a run today if he was going to be feasting on french toast and eggs benedict for Father’s Day.

When he got home, he thought he spotted Alan in the study with a giggling Paris and Stella. “Hello, my loves,” he yelled out at the door, even more mystified when Alan quickly stepped out of the study with the girls, closing the door hurriedly behind them.

“The food’s just got delivered, I’ll set the table,” Alan told him with a too-bright smile. ‘You go shower first, yeah?”

Dave decided to let his suspicious behaviour go for now. “Alright, sure.” He loped over to where they were, giving Alan a brief kiss and a I’m-on-to-you squint before bending down to stretch his arms out to the girls. “Can I get a hug first?”

“Daddy’s stinky!” Paris protested laughingly, while an uncomprehending Stella just giggled along with her older sister.

Dave’s jaw dropped in mock outrage. “Stinky, am I? How about I make you stinky too, huh?” He pretended to chase a squealing Paris and Stella for a hug, laughing when they ran to hide behind an amused Alan’s legs.

“Just go shower, the food’s getting cold, you lunatic.” Alan shook his head at Dave with a grin before shepherding the girls to the dining area. Dave left him to it, washing up quickly so he could join his family for breakfast.

However, he wasn’t expecting to find Alan and the girls waiting for him outside the bedroom, all of them grinning innocently at him. “What’s going on?” a suspicious Dave asked.

Paris took his hand and tugged him to the study, Alan picking up Stella and following with her in his arms. When Paris pushed open the door, Dave stared in shock at the brand new easel waiting for him, along with the art supplies neatly piled on top of a blank canvas. He stepped forward, picking up the paints and brushes with trembling hands. Alan had gotten everything right, remembered every detail from when Dave used to paint before they’d gotten married and become fathers.

“I had to take a bit out of the holiday budget for this,” came Alan’s soft voice behind him. “But it’s worth it for me to delay our trip. I’d rather see you painting again.”

“We want more of Daddy’s paper monsters!” Paris declared gleefully, while Stella stared at all of them in bafflement.

“I--” Dave just couldn’t speak. His heart was so full, like it was going to overflow with joy and sentiment and his overwhelming love for his family. There were simply no words that could possibly encapsulate the emotions warring within him now, so instead he grabbed Alan and the girls to him in a tight hug, his breaths ragged and his eyes wet.

“Happy Father’s Day,” Alan said quietly, the smile evident in his voice even though Dave couldn’t quite see his face.

“You too, Al.” Dave pulled away to kiss him, then smothered his squealing girls with equal affection.

[staticscreenwriting]

Skin deep - Chapter One || B.H.

Synopsis: Billy survived the battle of Starcourt but is left with a body full of scars. Scars that remind him of the pain he had to go trough and the horrible person he has become. In order to forget about all of that and move on, he wants to get them covered up. Good thing Hawkins has a brand new Tattoo studio and the girl who works there might just be the help Billy has been looking for.

A/N: I needed a TattooArtist!Reader x Billy story so I wrote one and you know me, I can’t keep it short and simple. There will be several parts to this. Don’t ask me about an updating schedule because I don’t have one. I try my best to be consistent but I make no promises. Likes, reblogs, comments are all much appreciated. 

[additional note: I am German. Sometimes I get the tense wrong or make mistakes. I am useless when it comes to punctuation. Go easy on me, please.]

Billy’s palms are clammy as he steps out of his car. His eyes wander towards the sign hanging above the door, welcoming him to “Little Bear Tattoos” as an American traditional bear face grins back at him.

This isn’t his first time getting a tattoo, by all means, he shouldn’t be as nervous as he is. But things are different now. Everything is different. Things change after you almost die because you sacrificed yourself to an otherworldly creature to save a little girl.

He had just turned 18 when he got that stupid little skull inked onto his arm. That’s now just a little over a year ago but it seems like a lifetime has passed since then. Sometimes, Billy thinks, sometimes It feels like that was another person altogether. That dumb little boy who thought he knew shit. The one that paraded his tattoo around like a complete and utter douchebag. He thought it made him look rough and cool and dangerous.

In retrospect, it just made it more obvious that he didn’t know shit about anything. Not life. Not death. And most definitely not about what it means to look rough and cool and dangerous. Sometimes he wishes he could go back to that moment and just relish in ignorant bliss. Most of the time he tries not to think of the past though because thinking of the past means thinking of all the things lost that night in July. Most of all himself.

Back then, getting a tattoo was easy. Now, it feels like the entire world is resting on his shoulders. It feels like he can barely keep it all from crashing down on him. 

The bell above the door chimes as he steps inside the tattoo parlor. It’s a relatively small shop but it looks clean and the walls are covered in framed drawings of very intricate designs. If those have been drawn by this place’s artist, he’s in good hands.

A fluffy little brown dog is lazily resting on a pillow by the shop window and only raises his head as the sound of footsteps approaching fills the room.

“ Hi, welcome to little bear. “ a cheery voice calls out to him as a girl steps out from behind a curtain leading to some backroom. She has a big radiant smile on her face though it exudes a certain warmth that only genuine smiles do. 

“ Hi uh — I was wondering if you have a free spot. “ 

“ Hmm… that depends. What are you wanting to get? “ 

To be quite honest, he hadn’t really thought much about it. All he wanted was something to cover up the ugly scars still streaking most of his body. When before, he felt a certain kind of pride whenever he passed a mirror, now it sends a sharp pain straight to his heart. Everything about him, from the perpetually tired look in his eyes to the scars, it’s al a reminder of the bad things he’s done. And the worst part is that he can never talk to anyone about it. Ever. No one will understand but the people who’ve been there, and though he and Max are getting along much better now, he still doesn’t fancy having long profound conversations with her about his demons.

“ I uh — I’m not sure but it needs to cover something.” 

“ Old tattoo? “ 

Billy swallows audibly “scars.” 

He’s not sure what reaction he’s expected from her but a casual “Okay, we can figure something out. “ is not it. Though he avoids wearing short sleeves these days, whenever someone manages to catch a glimpse of his damaged skin he got 1 of two reactions. Either people started regarding him with pity or disgust and he honestly wasn’t sure which was worse. At least those disgusted by him left him well enough alone and didn’t hold a million questions they expected him to answer in great detail.

“ Let’s sit down and we can talk about some things you like and see how we can incorporate those into a tattoo. Also, I would have to take a look at the area you want me to tattoo and see how bad the scarring is just so I can take that into consideration when designing the piece. Scar tissue is harder to tattoo but don’t worry, I promise I can do it. “

“ You’re gonna be tattooing me? “

It seems like a dumb question but honestly, Billy hasn’t met or seen that many female tattoo artists in his life and this girl seems to be about his age. That’s not something you see every day.

“ Yup. I’m (Y/N), this is my shop. Now, do you want something to drink while we discuss the piece? I got all kinds of sodas, I got water and I got non-alcoholic beer. 

“ Dr. Pepper? “ 

“ Good choice. Coming right up. “ 

She walks behind the counter with the cash register and reaches into a small fridge taking out two cans of Dr. Pepper before leading him towards a little seating area by the window. 

The fluffy little dog lifts his head once again regarding the two of them with only mild interest before plopping back down. 

“ Oh, you okay with dogs? I can take him to another room if you’re uncomfortable. “

Billy shakes his head. Nah, he loves dogs. Always wanted one but Neil, being the miserable bastard he is, never allowed the kids to have any pets. Too much work, too much responsibility. What an asshole. 

Though Billy is never going to admit it, the bedside drawer, that was once filled with issues of Penthouse magazine, now holds a bunch of self-help books and magazines dealing with topics of PTSD and trauma. A lot of them mention getting a support animal whether that be a specially trained dog or just a hamster to keep you company. It makes sense, it gives you someone who listens to you vent about all your problems and insecurities. If only his dad cared enough about his mental state to reconsider his stance on pets. Then again, when has Neil ever cared about him?

“Nah, it’s fine don’t worry. He’s cute.”

“Thanks. His name is Bear and he’s kind of the mascot of this store.”

There’s a twinkle of pride in her eyes while she talks about the shop and her dog. Something Billy is infinitely envious of. Everything he’s ever felt any hint of pride in is gone. His car. His looks. All of it.

“Okay so tell me a little about yourself. Is there anything you can think of that you’d like to get inked? Any interests, hobbies? Maybe you wanna tell me a little about yourself.”

Back before, when things were different, Billy would’ve packed as much ego enlarging words and compliments into it as possible. Would’ve mentioned his car and his most satisfactory performance skills in the bedroom. But now, he hardly knows who he is these days. 

“ Um … my name is Billy. I’m 19, I’m from California. ‘Bout two years ago my dad packed us all up and had us move out here to the end of the world. Then … things happened.”

“You miss California?”

“Every day. The thought of going back one day is the only thing that keeps me fucking going. I miss the ocean. I miss surfing. I miss home. I miss all of it.”

She looks at him intensely for a moment, sizing him up, contemplating her next words. He can almost see the creative gears running in her head. 

“Alright. I might have an idea. I’d have to see the area first though.”

He expects pity in her voice though there is none. Her words are comforting and warm and calm. Billy wonders how often she has to deal with clients like him. Those who come to her with painful and ugly reminders of their past.

His hands are shaking as he pulls off his denim jacket and reveals his left arm to her. The skin is streaked with scars. They’re the same paths that used to wind up and down his arm in inky black hues like poisonous vines. Now they’re a faded pink but that doesn’t mean he hates them any less.

Billy can feel his heart beating in a fast rhythm as anxiety floods his system. Maybe this was a bad idea, maybe -

“Okay how big would you want to go,” (Y/N) asks, her voice gentle and soothing and her eyes switching from his arm to his eyes. She doesn’t ask him what happened and that’s a relief.

“As big as you can. I know you can’t make it disappear but I’d like as much of it covered as possible.”

“ I won’t be able to do an entire sleeve today but if that’s something you want we can start with a bigger piece on your upper arm today and then work our way to a full sleeve in the future?”

“Sounds good. I just want the scars gone. I need them covered.”

“Well my guy, you’ve come to the right place. It’s my specialty. You’re in luck too, I’m free all day so depending on your pain tolerance and the trauma of your skin, we might even be able to finish the first piece today.”

Pain tolerance, he wants to scoff at that. What he’s been through, the pain and the anguish and the emotional trauma, nothing will ever compare to that. Not even close. He’d get a 100 tattoos all at once and it still wouldn’t measure up.

“Alright, let’s do it.”

“Cool awesome! Imma go over to the drawing board and you can feel free to keep yourself entertained in the meantime. We have an arcade machine in the back. There’s records in the corner if you want to listen to some music. I’ll even let you choose.”

“Is that an honor?” Billy asks, a small smirk on his face. Every once in awhile a flicker of the person he used to be shines through. But then it’s gone and he’s left as this shadow of his former self.

“Oh you have no idea.”

As (Y/N) settles behind a big wooden table and starts scribbling away, Billy wanders over towards the corner of the studio. A bright red record player is resting on a sideboard surrounded by several boxes filled with vinyl records. They’re sorted by band name then chronologically. There’s all kinds of genres too. AC/DC and Judas Priest but also Stuff like The Mamas and the Papas and the Monkees.

“Anything, in particular, you wanna listen to? Kinda hard to make out your taste with this selection. There’s … everything.” Billy calls out to her, leaving through the records.

“What can I say? I like a bit of everything. Don’t like to limit myself.”

Old Billy would’ve raised his eyebrow and asked her if that extends to her love life as well. But old Billy is gone and so he keeps his mouth shut.

“I know it seems like just your kinda music, but maybe stay away from the hard rock. Maybe something a bit more mellow.”

He hasn’t really listened to a lot of music since … well since everything. He mostly sleeps or reads and sometimes when it’s a good day he even attempts to do a bit of writing. It’s nothing spectacular but it’s - something. An outlet really. The stories vary from an autobiographical retelling of the incident to silly tales of young boys going on space adventures. It's a way to get lost in the save parts of his mind. The ones that can create make-believe worlds and happy thoughts. Not the ones tainted with gruesome images of the past.

The opening notes the Monday Morning by Fleetwood Mac fill the air and Billy doesn’t miss the smile tugging on the corner of (Y/N)’s lips. 

“Nice. Didn’t really think you were a Fleetwood Mac fan.”

Billy shrugs his shoulders casually “they’re a classic.”

He sits back down in the seat by the window, watches as the clouds pass the sky and the people go about their day. That’s until a furry little ball of fluff settles down in his lap and demands to be cuddled.

“Oh hey, you.”

“Sorry about that. Bear does not understand the concept of personal boundaries. He thinks everyone is only here to pet him. If he bothers you just set him down.”

But he doesn’t mind one bit. In fact, combing his fingers through the curly brown fur fills Billy with a sense of calm and it grounds him a little. He really needs to adopt a dog for himself. 

“It’s fine. No bother.”

Time passes with Billy cuddling the dog and ever so often glancing over at (Y/N) while she’s working on the sketch. She’s drawing then erasing then redrawing. Copying then throwing it away then doing it all again. All the while she’s dancing along to the music. There’s a lightness about her that Billy wishes he could possess. Even before the Stacourt situation, he never had this unbothered lightness about him. That’s just not the person you turn into when you grow up in a house with Neil Hargrove.

A light drizzle falls outside and Stevie Nicks sings along to it and life feels … almost peaceful right then. Billy lives for these small moments of normality. These glimmers of what life used to be. 

“Okay, I’m ready. Wanna have a look?” 

There’s a bright smile on her face as she looks at him and waves the sketch around. “I think I nailed this one. I hope you’ll like it.“

Billy can see that she actually means it. It's not just a silly phrase she’s tagged onto her sentence. She’s genuinely nervous for him to see it.

Bear follows Billy as he walks toward the counter, a smiley (Y/N) watching their every move. There’s something about how passionate she is about her work that makes Billy both happy and sad. There used to be things in life that he was passionate about. His car. His clothes. The music he loved. Now it’s all dull and trivial and he’s lost. So damn lost.

His eyes wander towards the sheet of paper. Delicate black lines run across the page, swirling and arching and creating a beautiful composition. It’s a lighthouse. A tall and sturdy one. It shines it’s light out into the distance to guide the ships safely around the sharp edges of the cliffs. It’s a beacon of safety and hope surrounded by the rough sea and crashing waves.

“I thought it was a nice symbol, you know. Light in the dark. Guiding ships to safety.” (Y/N) explains. She’s biting her lip nervously and Billy thinks it’s insanely adorable. This piece is perfect, to think she’s uncertain and nervous about his reaction …

“I tried to incorporate the ocean and the crashing waves. You know, as a reminder of your life in California.”

Billy is speechless for a moment. Everything he wanted. All the ideas swirling around in his head. She put it down on paper, made them visible. And he didn’t even have to voice them. They were all just mushy gray clouds in his head, non forming a coherent picture. Just a feeling. A feeling of peace and belonging. Of being strong when everything around you tries to push you down to your knees.

“Do you like it? I can change it if you —“ 

“I love it!”

Her mood immediately changes after hearing those words. As if a switch is suddenly flipped and sunshine floods her face. Her eyes light up and her smile widens.

“Okay perfect! Wanna get started?” 

“Sure, let’s do it!”

The black leather chair is soft underneath him as (Y/N) puts the stencil onto his skin. She has a soft gentle touch which only matches the tone of her voice. Very calming. A complete opposite to the rest of Billy’s life.

“Okay, so it’s not gonna be pleasant since I have to tattoo over scar tissue. If you wanna tap out or take a break just let me know.”

He’s fairly sure that whatever pain he’ll have to endure, it will be nothing compared to what he’s already been through. Pain has a completely different meaning to him now. 

“I’ll be fine.”

And he means it. Not just about the tattoo, about everything. It feels like this is the first step into a new life. One that won’t be determined by his past mistakes. By the trauma.

The buzzing sound of the tattoo gun fills the air and (Y/N) starts pulling the first few lines. Short strokes. As if to test his pain tolerance. Her eyes wander up to meet his, a silent question shining through them.

He grants her a nod. One of pure determination. One that says, without question: “I’ll be fine!”

For a while, they sit in comfortable silence. There’s just the humming of the machine and the raspy voice of Stevie Nicks to lull them into a soft tranquility. 

“ I’m not gonna ask about the scars but can I ask about the skull on the other arm?”

Billy lets out a mix between a laugh and a scoff. “Sins of my youth really.”

“ Oh geez, that makes you sound so old. You’re what, 19?”

“ Almost 20.”

“ See. You’re still in the prime of your youth!”

Billy shrugs his shoulder as she dips the tattoo gun back into the ink. Truthfully, it doesn’t feel like he’s in the middle of his youth. He feels so damn tired. He never got to be a kid. Never got to be a teen. Always wandering in between it all, lost and disillusioned with no one there to guide or help him.

“ How old are you?”

“ Just turned 20 a few days ago.”

“And you already have your own shop. That’s impressive.”

“Yeah well, it’s all I ever wanted to be. Worked my ass off. Spent all my free time at my cousin's tattoo studio up in Carmel. He taught me everything I know. Worked after school and on the weekends and then when I graduated my cousin gave me a little loan and I had enough to open the shop. He believed in me when no one else did and it means everything to me. Hope I make him proud. I just always felt like this is what I'm meant to be. An artist. And this way my art gets immortalized on people’s skin and in some cases it can help them overcome difficult times in their lives. I hope I can make even the smallest change in people’s lives. “

It doesn’t get lost on him, that she doesn’t mention her parents. Something must be up there but it sure as hell isn’t his place to ask about it. Families, he knows quite well, can be a touchy subject.

“Well, you’re definitely making a change in mine.”

“Yeah?”

She looks almost bashful as the question tumble from her lips.

“Yup. I … I need to make those scars disappear. They — they remind me of the worst time in my life and of a version of myself I never want to be again. Having you cover them for me with this art piece that’s so fucking cool, it means everything.”

“That’s good to hear.”

“You should be proud of yourself.”

There’s a connection there, one he can neither grasp nor explain. It’s like she understands parts of him he doesn’t even put on display. And it’s both scary and exciting. And maybe, he understands parts of her she’s not aware she’s putting on display either.

“Okay. I’m done!”

There’s an infinite sense of pride exuding from her words. Billy wishes there was something in his life that he was good at. Something to let him be proud of himself.

“Wanna take a look?” (Y/N) asks with the most radiant smile playing on her face.

“Absolutely!”

His legs are stiff from sitting in the chair for so long but he can’t wait to see the finished piece. Slowly he walks towards the full-length mirror, (Y/N) hot on his heels.

His eyes fall onto the artwork now permanently inked into his skin. There are vibrant shades of blue and dark black lines. The sea is alive, it’s unforgiving and rough. But there’s the light from the lighthouse, the hope, the safety. It’s all there’s and it’s beautiful. Where there used to be ugly pink scars thick and burning, there’s now a beautiful painting. The scars are gone. The pain is gone. All that’s left is beauty and hope.

He doesn’t realize that tears are running down his cheek until she hands him a tissue. His first reaction is to wipe them away and pretend they weren’t there in the first place. A Hargrove man isn’t allowed to cry. Not in front of people anyway. Especially not in front of women. Hargrove men are bitter and numb. They’re stoic. Silent. Angry. Above all they’re sad.

But isn’t that the person he wants to leave behind?

So he lets himself feel it. Lets the tears fall as if it were nothing. 

Maybe this can be the next step into becoming the person he wishes so desperately he can be.

“I take it you like it?”

“I love it.”

And he hugs her. Pulls her close and tight as if he’s known her forever. She reciprocates the hug in no time. Softly oats him on the shoulder.

She smells like flowery perfume and clean cotton. Soft. Sweet. Intoxicating

“I can not thank you enough.”

“Billy, trust me this means as much to me as it does to you.”

He doesn’t disagree with her but he’s sure that’s not true. It means everything to him.

They talk for a little longer then he pays her, way too little if you ask him. She deserves way more and he suspects that some kind of personal sympathy plays into the price. But he’s not one to argue. Not when he’s sure he’ll come back. There are more scars. More pain. He’s not fixed but he’s at least a work in progress now.

She takes a few Polaroids of his tattoo, to put on her wall. To show people she can cover scars. Can help them. Help fix them. Make them feel less broken. 

“They’re burn scars.”

Billy finds himself sharing a piece of his story. One he’s kept so close to him, sometimes he almost wondered if it was true. But it is. And there are more reminders all over his body. It feels right to share it though. She helped him cover part of it, without judging. Without questions. She deserves to know.

“Huh?”

“My scars. They are burn scars.  Not — not from the outside but from the inside. Like fire going through my veins. I uh don’t know how to explain but that’s what they are. You can tell that to your clients. That you covered burn scars. That you’re that talented. “

For a moment she just stares at him, a deep sense of affection shining from her eyes. It’s comforting and nerve-wracking all at once. But he lets himself feel it. He promises himself to let himself feel the good things even if they seem scary.

“That’s … hey, would you like to grab some dinner with me? I could really go for a burger at the diner round here. It’s real good. “

And with the way she smiles, how the hell is he supposed to say no to that.

“Sounds good to me. Lead the way!”

The sun hangs low above the horizon almost dips behind the line to vanish and make room for the moon but not quite yet. They step out into the dawn, Bear pattering alongside them his leash grabbed tightly in (Y/N) hand. 

As hues of red and pink and orange surround them and dip the world into a golden haze, Billy feels like maybe this is the way. Maybe this is his path leading into a new future. With less pain. Fewer scars. More color and more smiles.

And maybe a beautiful and talented girl and a little dog by his side.

[the-curious-butterfly]

Slumber Party (Part 1)

(Let’s have a little fun with our fluff shall we)

Ask anyone and they’d tell you Eda was a powerful witch, a force to be reckoned with, and downright terrifying when she’s mad. Someone like that could not be tamed, she was wild, she was free, she was wearing an apron and covered in flour. 

Truly horrifying, and perhaps just a little on the unexpected side.

Now on the question of how she got into this predicament in the first place. It was simple really. Earlier that day Luz expressed that she’s never had a slumber party, well there was the Moonlight Conjuring but she meant just a typical slumber party without any of that other stuff. And Eda, for some unknown reason that even she herself couldn’t fathom, suggested that maybe it would be okay if Luz wanted to have one. 

Cue the young girls squeals of excitement, a little extra dose of that parallel arm thing, and here she was. In the kitchen making cookies for her kid and a few other young witchlings. Why? Well because Luz wanted them of course. Just don’t tell anyone for she still has some semblance of a reputation that she wants to maintain. But gosh darn it why was it so hard to say no to that kid or refuse her anything. Not only that but she was going out of her way to do things without even being asked. 

It wasn’t Luz who suggested the slumber party. And Luz didn’t actually ask for the cookies nor was it said that she had to make them, she could have gone out and bought some after she overheard her kid mention them. Just what the heck was going on with her lately.

Before she could continue on that reputation shattering train of thought King came bounding into the kitchen and onto the counter. “Are those cookies I smell?” 

She had to smack his paw away after setting the tray down on the counter. “These aren’t for you they’re for the kid, last I check you weren’t one.” 

King glared at her as he stomped his little foot. “Demon’s can still enjoy cookies too. As king I demand you give me one!” 

Eda rolled her eyes at his antics “sure pipsqueak, keep pretending you’re in a position to make demands.” Her smile was smug but instead of the reaction she expected he looked away and asked for one, even going so far as to say please. And she just didn’t have it in her to refuse, or at least not anymore, what was happening to her. 

“Alright just one, the rest are for the kid- at least wait till they cool down!” But it was already too late, he had reached for one and ended up burning his paw which he proceeding to stuff in his mouth as he hopped from one foot to another. 

She would have made more comments if it wasn’t for Luz popping up right next to her, effectively startling the witch. “Oooo cookies!” oblivious to King’s predicament the girl also decided to reach for one which I’m sure you can imagine what followed. It took all the strength Eda had not to bang her head against something. 

It could have been anyone, literally anyone, but these are the two she got stuck with. 

While King continued to cry over most likely nothing, Luz composed herself much faster for she gave Eda a grateful smile. “Did you make these?” 

“Yeah, I overheard how you said they were great for parties.” Eda crossed her arms and looked away during her reply. It’s not like it was a big deal. 

“Thank you, Eda!” Oh no, here comes another one of those hugs. ‘You know you like them, stop pretending you don’t’  Shut up brain!

“Willow, Gus, and Amity are going to love these!” The young girl’s enthusiasm was contagious as she helped to get the cookies onto a plate before taking them into the living room and setting them on the coffee table. Eda followed to find her living room decorated with pillows and blankets strewn about. On the couch was a huge bowl of popcorn and a few of King’s stuffed animals minions were already sitting there. 

“Luz said they could partake too!” The little demon added cheerfully from behind her before climbing up on the couch to grab hold of his favorite minion, Francois. “Tonight we shall make our plan to take over the Isles!” King held the stuffed rabbit over his head as he laughed evilly but quieted a bit when he felt someone petting him. 

“No world domination tonight, you little peach, just friends and fun!” His evil laughter turned to cute giggles as Luz picked him up to sit on the couch with him in her lap. 

Eda hadn’t realized how soft her expression became until a knock at the door broke her out of her trance. “Some guests have arrived, hoot hoot.” Hooty declared as the door opened on its own. ‘No ****’ was what she wanted to say but there were children present and also this story has a rating to keep. 

She crossed the room to find Willow at the door standing between her two dads. “Good afternoon, miss Eda.” The young girl smiled warmly at her and Eda couldn’t help smiling back before directing her attention towards the kids parents. 

“Thank you for allowing WIllow to stay over.” commented a dark skinned man with a rather bushy beard. For some reason Eda wanted to ask if he was able to hide things in it too but decided against that. “Willow’s been so excited, it’s not often she gets to do this.” Added the other nerd-looking one with the glasses. 

“Dads!” Willow cried out with more than just a hint of embarrassment.

“Sorry sweetie, you know we’re just as happy as you are.” Seems Luz wasn’t the only one who was missing out on a lot. Eda once again smiled at the witchling as she pointed behind her. “Luz is already waiting on the couch, if you’re not careful her and King might finish off all the snacks before you even have a chance to have any.” Well mostly King, Luz would be more preoccupied with being a good host.

The young witch giggled “Thanks again, miss Eda!” She chirped before moving past the older woman to join Luz on the couch. Eda watched her go with a content expression on her face before turning back towards Willow’s dads. The one with the beard was already writing something on a piece of paper. 

“If you need anything, anything at all, feel free to scroll us.” Bushy beard handed her the paper while glasses continued talking. “She has this medication she needs to take, she’s usually very good at remembering but could you see that she does just in case?” 

“You know what it’s like with kids, when they’re having fun it’s easy to forget everything else.” 

For a moment she was taken rather aback with the situation she founded herself in but was quick to compose herself as she shot them a genuine look of understanding. “Of course I will, I promise she’s safe under my roof.” She was simply saying what she would want to hear if it was her dropping Luz off at someone’s house. 

It seemed to be enough though for the smiles they shot at her were bright and warm. “Thank you very much, despite your reputation you really are a good person like Willow said.” And just like that the world had to prove she still had heartstrings. How dare that kid spread lies about her. 

After waving goodbye, Eda closed the door only for another knock to be heard what felt like seconds later. Since she was right there she opened it herself this time before Hooty could swing himself open and most likely hit her in the face. She wouldn’t be able to guarantee safety under her roof if there wasn’t a house anymore. 

Gus stood with his reporter dad and waved rather excitedly at her. “Hi Eda, are Luz and Willow here?” Before Luz she would have found him exhausting but the girl was way worse so she was numb to it now.

“Nope, you just missed them.” She crossed her arms and gave him a toothy grin to which he responded by deflating just a bit. “Of course this would happen.” 

The older witch chuckled. “I’m just messing with you kid, go on in.” Eda moved aside to let him pass which he did, rather loudly. She wondered if she was actually gonna get sleep tonight. Then she realized she was allowing a bunch of kids to stay in her house for the night. So no, most likely not.

She heard someone clear her throat before realizing that oh yeah, Gus’ dad was still there. “Thanks for letting him stay over, and uh nice to see you didn’t get petrified.” Oh man he was just as awkward as his son. 

“Um, thanks? Is there something else you wanted or can I shut the door now?”

“Yeah, sure. I’m going now, sorry about that.” So that’s where the kid got it from. 

She was at least able to make it across the room this time before the door swung open. Hooty didn’t even wait for the knock this time as three kids were left standing with their fists held out. 

Two of them, the clearly older ones, laughed. “I’d love to have a door like this someday.” The older girl commented while her brother nodded. “Just imagine all the stuff we could pull off with one.” he added.

The smaller one in the middle frowned as she crossed her arms. “See if I ever visit you.” 

“Of course” her older sister began in a singsong voice. “You’d only put up with this kind of torture if it was for~” This prompted a rather red faced Amity to quickly cover her mouth before she said something she’d regret, causing the boy and even Eda to smirk as she made her way towards the door. 

“Hey kids.” 

“Hi Eda!” The twins said in unison once Amity let Emira go. “We’re just here to drop off our precious baby sister” Emira commented as Edric patted their, growing increasingly frustrated, little sister’s head. 

“I could have walked myself.” The witchling growled out but her expression completely changed, which did not go unnoticed by any of the three, when she saw Luz approaching the door. 

“Amity!” The human cried out happily as she greatly encouraged the young witch inside. “Hurry, we were just about to start playing a game!” 

“I-I’m coming, just hold up already.” Her tone feigned annoyance but in truth she was very happy with any attention from the human. It was adorably amusing. 

“So” Emira smirked as she acknowledged the other two with her again. ”Who wants to make bets that something will happen tonight?” 

“Psh, together in a house at night? If something didn’t happen I’ll be amazed but also greatly disappointed.” Eda stated before adding. “You’re on kid!” 

After all the bets were placed the twins waved goodbye and Eda could finally close the door without worrying about any more guests needing to show up.

Knock knock.

Or so she thought. “Kid, how many people did you invite?” 

Luz looked up from their game to count on her fingers. “Let’s see just Willow, Gus, Amity, and-” 

“Hello, sister.” 

Of all the people Eda expected to see standing there Lilith was not one of them. Heck she would have expected even that Boscha girl more than her own sister. True things were slightly... better, for lack of a better word, between them but now that she wasn’t in the coven she tended to keep to herself in the tower behind their house. 

“What are you doing here, Lilith?” She didn’t intend to sound mean or anything, just surprised. 

“The human, Luz, invited me to your ‘party’ as she called it.” 

Eda looked towards her apprentice with an expression that conveyed she wasn’t mad just, confused and maybe slightly sad. “Why?” 

As Luz considered what she’d say for a moment her group of friends watched and waited for her explanation to which she finally just shrugged. “I guess I just thought, it’s been some time since everything happened, why not take little steps towards making things better.” Eda and Lilith considered what the girl had to say as she continued. “Whether we like it or not Lilith is gonna be with us now. She’s powerless she can’t go anywhere else. It took awhile and I still don’t know if I forgive her... But I think it’s okay to start letting her back in little by little.” 

Silence ruled the house as Lilith looked towards the human gratefully, so that’s what her younger sister saw in her. Finally Eda turned towards Lilith with a sigh. “Luz is right, you’re welcome to stay if you wish.” 

“Perhaps for just a little while, I won’t overstep my boundaries.” They gave each other small smiles before Eda directed her towards the couch. She then fixed her kid with a stare as she held the door open. “Now is there anyone else I have to worry about? Did you invite the emperor too?” 

“Well” Luz joked causing Eda to roll her eyes. “Kid, if it wasn’t for all these people I would have thrown you outside by now.” 

“Nah, you love me too much.” 

“A fact I’m starting to regret.” The others chuckled at the Owl Lady’s comment as she closed the door, finally. 

Walking over towards the group she saw Luz rise up from her spot with a start. “Oh gosh, I forgot the drinks.” 

“Hey kiddo, it’s okay I’ll get them” Eda ruffled Luz’s hair. “You just have fun with your friends.” To that Luz wrapped her arms around Eda’s neck and nuzzled against her cheek with a “Thank you!” She was always dramatic with her appreciation that way. But instead of complaining Eda held her back for just a moment before letting go and dropping her on the floor. “Affection, gross.” 

“Just you wait, one of these days I’ll get you to stop pretending that you don’t like it.” 

“Sure kid, whatever you say.” Eda turned to her sister with a slightly cautious look. “Would you mind helping me?” 

“Not at all.” Came the quick reply as the two older women made their way into the kitchen leaving the kids, and King, alone. 

Most had soft smiles on their faces as if they just saw the cutest thing ever. Amity’s face was the same as ever but there was a bit of red to it, she was the only one not looking in Luz’s direction. 

“Okay, now who’s ready for truth or dare?” Luz asked, to which Gus responded by raising his hand and asking what that is.

[mopeytropey]

a beer bud series: chapter 11

author’s note: times are tough. stay safe. read some fluffy fic. take care of each other.

Timeline: this is set just before Lincoln and Octavia's wedding, probably in the realm of chapters 11 and 12 of apu, after Clarke has given Lexa a key and asked her to move in (because they are both too gay to function)

Beer: La Ferme Urbaine FARMHOUSE ALE

Influenced by the Belgian saison style, La Ferme Urbaine features a complex blend of German hops, pilsner and pale malts, wheat, rye, oats, and spelt. The beer pours a hazy straw color and delivers a spicy, dry finish.

ABV 7.8%

Posted to AO3 here, or below the cut: 

:::

:::

“This is going to require some intense renovations.” Lexa stands with her hands in her front pockets, neck craned towards a dilapidated two-story house on a small corner lot. Its Victorian architecture is nearly eclipsed by peeling paint, broken windows, and a sagging porch, but the way Lincoln’s face beams, it’s as if the house shows no signs of disrepair. “You sure you’re up to task?”

“Hell, yeah.” Lincoln’s confidence is as strong as the late afternoon sun, glaring in a burning orange glow as it reflects off the windows of the historic city buildings surrounding them.

He then launches into an animated diatribe of improvements and restoration projects, pacing the perimeter of the property as he gestures to certain aspects of the house with broad hands. He and Octavia have likely discussed these visions of their future home endlessly as they await inspection reports and closing signatures to make everything final. Their initial offer had been accepted almost immediately, and Lexa has to believe it is thanks to, in part (if not entirely), the authenticity of her good friend’s charming demeanor.

“It’ll be a massive undertaking, but with the right help—”

“You planning to swing a sledge with me during the demo stage?” Lincoln grins.

“God, no.” Lexa nearly shudders. “Though I imagine Clarke might enjoy the destructive release of aggression after some of her more challenging bar shifts.”

Lincoln chuckles and returns to stand by Lexa’s side as they continue to gaze up at the house. “Yeah, Octavia too.”

“I’m so excited for you.” Lexa smiles up at him, nudging their shoulders together as Lincoln meets her eye with a grin of his own. “About everything.”

His upcoming nuptials (which have explicitly been banned from being referred to as a wedding) are less than two months away, and Lincoln hopes to have the keys to their new house in hand before the ceremony. He and Octavia seem happier than ever—real life exemplars of a healthy, supportive relationship between two friends in love. Lexa feels a kindred satisfaction at having found something similar with Clarke. Perhaps no one would have predicted these outcomes, but she and Lincoln have done rather well for a couple of kids who spent years feeling unwanted and unloved.

“What can I say: I’m living my best life.”

“Truly,” Lexa laughs, leaning into the nook of Lincoln’s armpit as he wraps an arm around her shoulders.

Even for early April, the weather has warmed, and the sun hangs in the sky for longer intervals. There’s no longer a bite in the air, even in the cooler, evening temperature. The breezes coming in off of the harbor have a fresh scent, like rejuvenation in the air that will soon breed blossoms on all the trees and fresh shoots of grass beneath their feet.

Lexa is perfectly comfortable in her jeans and a soft, grey henley layered with a pastel flannel that she has permanently borrowed from Clarke’s side of the closet. A closet that they now share in an official capacity. Lexa’s mouth slopes into a stupid grin at the thought of their now shared space. Her stomach swoops because of the new gold key in her pocket that she can feel between her fingers.

“I could say the same for you,” Lincoln tells her, somehow reading her thoughts. “You get all your stuff moved in yet?”

Her breath stutters at the mention of it, at the vision of scattered boxes and her random belongings that have slowly infiltrated Clarke’s space. “My lease isn’t up until the end of the month, so I’ve been moving things gradually.”

“Not ready to fully commit, huh?” Lincoln jabs with a teasing grin.

“I feel exceptionally confident about it, thank you very much.”

“What? Just like that?” Lincoln laughs. “Where is the torturous, internal Lexa struggle? Where are the mountains of anxiety about making the wrong call or moving too fast? Is this what four months as Clarke’s girlfriend has done to you?”

Lexa shrugs as if her chest hasn’t just snapped like a rubber band at being called Clarke’s girlfriend, a title that still sparks jittery excitement. Particularly when she is still grasping the house key that Clarke has recently given her. “Apparently.”

“Well, it’s a good look on you.”

“Thanks.”

They’ve stopped at the house Lincoln intends to buy with Octavia on their way to food and beer at Dockside, having fallen into the habit of visiting the girls during their longest shift of the week. With the mention of Clarke and the newest development in their relationship, Lexa feels a sudden wave of impatience to continue their walk to the bar where she knows Clarke and Octavia will be waiting to greet them.

Lincoln releases a long, contented sigh. “Should we head down to see the girls?”

Lexa exhales in turn and attempts to answer in a measured and completely unhurried manner: “Sure.”

:::

It’s just shy of six when Lincoln pulls open the front door of Dockside, allowing Lexa to walk through into the familiar establishment. Her eyes perform a practiced scan of the room, but Clarke isn’t immediately visible as she and Lincoln head straight for the half-empty bar counter.

Octavia is chatting with other customers as Lexa and Lincoln approach, but she winks at Lincoln, her mouth curving just so, mid-conversation, which has him beaming as he slides into a bar stool.

“That’s my future wife,” he stage whispers, and Lexa can’t help but smile at how ridiculous being in love with Octavia has made him.

They’d been more than halfway to the bar when Lexa had received an S.O.S from Clarke about caffeine and sudden fatigue and exaggerated pronouncements of loyalty, commitment, and sexual favors if Lexa would bring her coffee. Of course, it strictly goes against her better judgement to enable Clarke’s reliance on caffeine in unhealthy measurements.

Then again, Lexa has lost almost all ability to ever actually tell her no because being in love with Clarke has made her better judgements ridiculously feeble.

As such, she stands beside Lincoln with a small half-caf drip in a paper cup from Clarke’s favorite roaster, a generous concession without fully giving in to her girlfriend’s unredeemable habit.

“Clarke’s in the back if you want to bring that to her,” Octavia says as she approaches.

“Oh. Okay.” Lexa starts for the black swinging door of storage before Octavia calls out again.

“Sorry—not the stockroom. The other back.” She’s jutting her thumb over her shoulder when Lexa turns around, indicating the narrow corridor behind the bar counter that leads to Clarke’s office and the back entrance.

“Oh. Right. Thanks,” Lexa smiles. “I’ll be right back,” she says to Lincoln.

“I’m starting a timer on my phone,” he calls after her. “Just because I’m curious to see how long it takes you to deliver a cup of coffee.”

She just manages to stop herself from flipping him off before pushing through the door, leaving him with a meaningless scowl.

:::

Clarke looks up from whatever she’s been working on as Lexa steps into the open doorway with a smile she intends to curb by biting her lower lip.

“Hey.”

“Oh my god, I can't believe you actually brought me coffee. I love you.” Clarke says it offhand, a bit theatrically even, but Lexa’s stomach flip-flops all the same.

She enters the office with a slow stride and gently places the paper cup onto Clarke’s desk. “That’s half decaf, by the way.”

Clarke’s face falls as she eyes the beverage with sudden disdain. “Oh my god, I can’t believe we have to break up.”

“Ouch. It’s nice to see you, too.”

“Get over here.” Clarke has already snared her wrist with a widening smile, pulling at Lexa’s arm so that she is forced to lean across the desk and meet Clarke’s waiting grin. “Hi,” she almost whispers after their lips part.

“Is this how you typically break up with people? Because it’s actually pretty enjoyable,” Lexa murmurs into the space between their lips.

“Shut up,” Clarke laughs before they are kissing again, Lexa’s palms flat against the desktop while Clarke’s fingers thread into her hair.

It’s still a soft greeting and nothing obscene—two people happy to be in the same space again after a short time apart—but Lexa feels the quickening of her pulse all the same.

“Thank you for my fake coffee.”

“Clarke.”

“Lexa.”

Never before has she felt so unapologetically mocked by a single person yet utterly enamored in spite of it. Lexa pinches her lips together and looks away from Clarke’s teasing smile.

“I have to get back out there,” she announces, finally pulling back to stand at her full height. “Lincoln thinks he’s being clever by setting a timer for my return.”

Clarke stands with a laugh. “I’ll come with you. I need a break from these orders anyway.” She holds her fake coffee with one hand and finds Lexa’s fingers with the other. She kisses Lexa’s shoulder cap and regards her fondly. “I’m never getting this shirt back, am I?”

“Especially not now that we’ve broken up.”

The genuine hurt that immediately darkens Clarke’s eyes coupled with her protruding lower lip stops Lexa from moving towards the office doorway.

She stills her movements entirely as Clarke says, “I don’t want to joke about breaking up anymore.”

“It was your joke to begin with,” Lexa softly reminds her, nevertheless smoothing the pad of her thumb over Clarke’s lower lip.

“I know,” Clarke says, frowning still. “It was a stupid joke, and I don’t like to think about it.”

A soft press of her lips to Clarke’s forehead has her leaning into the touch, releasing Lexa’s fingers to curl an arm around Lexa’s waist.

“If you think you would be able to get rid of me that easily, Clarke, we might need to revisit some previous conversations about my intentions in being with you.”

“I seem to recall some very persuasive measures that we engaged in alongside those conversations,” Clarke says, her smile pressing into Lexa’s neck where she has tucked her head beneath Lexa’s chin.

Lexa hums through a smile of her own. If she didn’t know Clarke so well, it would be easy to mistake her perpetual, single-minded focus on sex as a complete lack of sentimentality.

But, Lexa isn’t fooled.

Clarke thrives on crass innuendo and well-meaning objectification (both of herself and Lexa), but she can also be openly sensitive and affectionate. Vulnerable in her need to be near Lexa—to feel safe and connected—as often as possible.

Lexa can’t say for sure if they will always be so desperate for each other’s company, if small fractions of time spent apart will continue to breed an urgency for reuniting. She has been in enough relationships to know that attachments usually fade and the needs of each person most often change over time.

Still, something tells her that when it comes to this relationship, Clarke will break the mold of every truth Lexa has previously known.

“The point is: I’m not going anywhere,” Lexa tells her, and Clarke looks up at her with a renewed smile. “Although, you’re still not getting this shirt back.”

Clarke kisses the underside of her jaw and tightens the hold she has around her waist. “You can keep all of my shirts as long as I get to keep you.”

“Deal,” Lexa answers, finally leading them out of the office.

Lincoln will roast her for having taken an exorbitant amount of time to deliver Clarke’s coffee, but having Clarke hugged against her side, Lexa finds she doesn’t exactly care.

:::

In an hour’s time Lexa has been fed no less than six times—small plates of food from the kitchen’s rotating menu like an assembly line in front of her and Lincoln—and an empty beer glass is no sooner bussed than another full one appears. As it turns out, dating a bar manager and sustaining a lifelong friendship with her business partner’s fiancé is a pretty good gig for libations and keeping well fed. By 8:00, she’s not necessarily sober, but the continuous parade of appetizers that Octavia and Clarke slide in front of Lexa and Lincoln keep her from tipping over the edge into properly drunk.

“This one is my favorite.”

“You’ve said that about the last three.”

Lincoln crunches into his charred nopales and street corn tostada as if to be sure. “Nope. This is the one.”

Lexa smiles around a second bite of her Korean short ribs and savors the balanced marinade—a perfect blend of smoky sweetness and tangy spice.

She is washing it down with a saison from Rhode Island as Octavia swings out of the kitchen and approaches their end of the bar.

“How good is that corn?”

“The whole thing is amazing,” Lincoln tells her.

Octavia swipes an avocado off his plate without hesitation. “What about the Kalbi?”

It sounds conversational, the way that Octavia, as a friend, is asking Lexa about her meal. But, in spending the past year of her life in proximal relation to her, Lexa has determined that, in some capacity, Octavia is actually always working.

“These are easily some of the best short ribs I’ve ever had.”

“Yeah,” Octavia grins. “I’m obsessed with them. Jane has been on staff for less than two months, and she’s already killing it back there.”

“Be sure to extend my compliments to the chef. Beer is incredible, too,” Lexa adds.

“What did Clarke bring you this time? The Foolproof?”

“Their farmhouse, yeah.” Lexa’s attention is drawn to the kitchen doorway again as Clarke exits carrying plates of food. She doesn’t glance in their direction as she drops the plates farther down the bar, but her smile is warm and bright, and Lexa can’t look away.

There’s a generous crowd strung along the bar counter, plus a few of the nearby tables that keep rotating with guests who stay for a drink or two before heading off into the night. Clarke is engaging with the three men who have just received their plates of food, and Lexa’s ears attune to the friendly pitch of her voice while Octavia and Lincoln momentarily hold their own conversation.

Lexa sips her saison and enjoys the way Clarke handles herself in conversation—confident, approachable, friendly, but with a distant professionalism. It’s not until she registers the distinct tone of patriarchal arrogance coming from a few of Clarke’s guests that Lexa realizes Octavia and Lincoln have also clued into the nearby exchange.

From what Lexa can gather, over the din of other surrounding patrons, the men are attempting to challenge the accuracy of Clarke’s knowledge on one of Dockside’s pours. Clearly first-time patrons, to these men, Clarke is easily mistaken as the beautiful bartender in a nice dress with a friendly demeanor who pours their pints and delivers their food. They would never suspect that she is also the unassuming curator of every beer offered within the establishment and a well-read expert in the field of craft brewing.

If she didn’t find misogynistic biases against women in male-dominated fields to be nauseatingly unforgivable, Lexa would almost feel bad for what these guys have coming to them.

“This should be good,” Lincoln mutters with a deviant smile, and Lexa flicks her gaze to find Octavia looking half-amused, half-poised for lethal intervention.

In short, Clarke absolutely eviscerates the men’s inflated egos by seamlessly rattling off a short history on the brewery in question, explaining their evolution of kettle sours and dry-hopped IPAs with thrilling precision, all while maintaining her hospitable smile. The cohort of sexist men are left silenced and stunned as Clarke moves on to tend to the rest of the bar, leaving their gaping jaws in her wake.

“What a bunch of fucking morons,” Octavia grumbles with an eye roll just before another table of guests catches her attention and she is pulled away.

“I love it when she does that,” Lexa says, smiling in Lincoln’s direction.

“It is really gratifying to watch someone’s fragile masculinity skillfully shattered,” he agrees with a satisfied smile. “I’ll never understand it, that intrinsic need to be an expert on everything, but it’s entertaining as hell to see O and Clarke flex on these random assholes who waltz in here and mistakenly try to out-beer them.”

Lexa's smile widens as she and Lincoln clink their beer glasses together. “It really is.”

:::

“One strand of lights.”

“No.”

“A single banner. A classy one.”

“No.”

“Candles. Come on, O, no one can say no to candles.”

“Watch me.” Octavia, who up until this point had been withholding eye contact, gives Clarke a pointed glare. “No.”

Lexa smiles at Clarke’s frustrated groan while sipping her glass of water. Three-and-a-half pints of beer and countless plates of food have left her feeling fully satisfied if not also ready for bed. Clarke won’t close the bar for another few hours, and though Lexa acknowledges this is the reality of their chosen professions, she also wishes to steal Clarke away and take her home for a cuddle.  

“Think about Lincoln,” Clarke continues, beating her dead wedding horse, much to Octavia’s dismay. “You’re depriving him of this fanfare, this pizazz, this well-deserved—”

“Don’t drag him into this,” Octavia interjects.

Clarke’s jaw drops. “He’s literally one half of the reason we’re celebrating! And honestly, with how difficult you’re being about this whole thing, it might be more like 70/30.”

Octavia rolls her eyes and starts to walk away, busying herself with clearing empty glasses from a table whose guests have just vacated. “When you two leave, will you take her with you?”

Her voice carries across the now mostly empty bar, and Clarke scowls at Octavia from where Lexa and Lincoln sit at the far end of the counter. They often lay claim to this section of the bar during their Wednesday night visits, and it always feels like a sacred, little huddle.

“That’s a tempting offer,” Lexa answers as Octavia breezes past them to deposit the empty glasses into her bus tub behind the bar.

Her comment successfully erases the look on Clarke’s face as their eyes meet, and she watches Clarke’s frown melt into a dopey smile.

“I’m not leaving you to close by yourself. Stop being so dramatic,” Clarke admonishes, though she is still smiling as her eyes leave Lexa to look over her shoulder at Octavia.

“I’m not by myself,” Octavia grunts, hoisting her black bin of glassware and dirty plates off a low shelf. “Jane and Murph are in the back. Take the orders home and finish them there. You know the last two hours of the night are the slowest midweek. I’ll be fine.”

“Stop trying to get rid of me just because you’re throwing a fit about candles,” Clarke shouts after her even though Octavia has already pushed through into the kitchen.

Their small end of the bar counter temporarily swells with music blaring from the line cooks and back-of-house staff, a stark contrast to the lo-fi hip hop Clarke has playing on a lower volume in the main room.

“I should get home either way,” Lexa admits with a short stretch of her arms, pulling taut the muscles of her back. “You fed me too well, and now I’m sleepy.”

“You’re a grandma every night of the week—in bed before ten or cranky as hell the next day.”

Lexa furrows her brow at Clarke’s unnecessarily accurate depiction of her sleep routines, but Lincoln laughs openly while nudging her shoulder.

“This one’s never been able to burn the midnight oil. Needs that beauty rest to maintain her cheerful disposition.”

“I’m officially breaking up with both of you.”

“Hey.”

Clarke’s pout is back, the color of her eyes saturated in renewed hurt at Lexa’s bad joke. Three-and-a-half beers have also made her forgetful, apparently.

“Sorry, sorry.” She reaches for Clarke’s wrists across the glossed wood of the bar and is gently rubbing her thumbs across Clarke’s pulse points when Octavia reemerges. “Just Lincoln then.”

Lincoln offers a good-natured shrug. “That’s fair.”

“See?” Octavia eyes the affectionate gesture between Clarke and Lexa with a practiced look of exasperation. “You could be doing this loved up shit in the privacy of your own home.”

“Says the one who is about to profess her undying love and commitment publicly in front of all our closest friends,” Clarke argues.

“I feel like if you keep reminding her, she’s more likely to back out,” Lincoln muses, and Lexa wonders if he is only half kidding.

Octavia pins him with a look. “Never.”

It’s a charged moment just for them, despite the fact that Clarke and Lexa are caught in its crosshairs, Lincoln grinning as he catches Octavia’s crooked smirk.

“I really should go,” Lexa reiterates quietly, not wanting to interrupt. Her day will start early the following morning with a delivery just south of Boston, and traffic will be nauseating through Sumner Tunnel. “Are you sure you don’t—”

“Seriously, get her out of here,” Octavia interjects. “She overworks and stays late out of guilt and loyalty, and it’s entirely unnecessary.”

“Keep insisting, and I’m gonna say yes,” Clarke shoots back, almost threatening if not for her smile.

“Good. Then you can stop badgering me about fucking tea lights.” Octavia flicks the side of Clarke’s head and smacks her ass as she passes by to clear more tables, and somehow Clarke is charmed by the violent affection.

“I’ll stay and keep her company,” Lincoln offers. “You guys should take off. Enjoy the early night.” He then leans in closely to them both, his head bent in conspiracy. “And, I really do like those paper lanterns that you guys string up on the deck sometimes.”

The way Clarke’s entire countenance glows, eyes sparkling in victorious mischief, has Lexa’s smile growing in kind.

“I. Love you. You wonderful, wonderful human.” Clarke places her hands affectionately on either side of Lincoln’s face and looks as if she might actually plant a kiss between his eyebrows. “I will not let you down or betray your confidence.” Her tone is gravely solemn as if they are alluding to something far more serious than wedding decor.

“Give me a second to gather my things from the office?” she then says to Lexa, her voice shifting to that delicate timbre that turns Lexa’s beating heart to a useless puddle.

She tells her, “Take all the time you need.”

“I’ll be quick.” Clarke reaches for her fingers, giving them a quick squeeze, and disappears into the back hallway.

“Did I mention we did very well, ending up with these two?”

Lexa looks over to catch Lincoln’s giant grin and feels her own lips stretching into a smile. “I’m proud of us.”

Lincoln very nearly giggles. “Me too.”

A beat or two of amicable silence passes between them, in which time Octavia has returned behind the bar to tend to her few, straggling guests.

“What are the chances Clarke already has a shitload of decorations she’s been stockpiling for this party?” Lincoln contemplates aloud.

Lexa’s response comes without hesitation.

“Oh yeah, without question.”

:::

[doc-pickles]

right where you left me

I think this is the fastest I’ve ever finished a two part series haha. I honestly thought I was done Saturday but decided to add some more to it and the whole thing ended up being almost 9K words so.... I hope you guys enjoyed this! I had a lot of requests for this fic and I really enjoyed writing it :) and if you need it here’s a link to part one

Sunday 10:38 AM

You two doing good?

doing fine, just a little tired

Need me to bring anything by? I’m off at 2

I think we’re okay, i’ll text if I think of anything

thank you :)

No problem. Talk soon.

Sunday 11:15 AM

I’m going to grab a late lunch. Do you want anything?

Sunday 11:52 AM

Heading into surgery, shouldn’t be too long.

Sunday 1:47 PM

About to head out.

Sunday 2:08 PM

Missed Call from Alex

Sunday 2:15 PM

Missed Call from Alex

Sunday 2:22 PM

You okay? I’m getting worried

Sunday 2:39 PM

On my way over.

Sunday 2:45 PM

Missed Call from Alex

Jo is exhausted if she's honest with herself. At six months pregnant she’d thought that things would get easier from here on out, but she’d been foolishly wrong. She’d been dealing with a nasty resurgence of her morning sickness the past three days and her once abounding second trimester energy had now dwindled down to practically nothing. After leaving work the day before she’d barely gotten out of bed, only leaving the warm blankets to go to the bathroom or grab a snack.

She’s laying in bed, finally settled down after another bout of morning sickness, when the door to the loft slides open loudly. She ignores it at first, knowing it’s probably Alex coming to check on her, but she bolts up from her position in bed when he starts practically screaming.

“Jesus Christ Jo! I thought you were dead, you can’t reply to a text or pick up your damn phone,” Alex is clearly frantic as he paces the loft, barely acknowledging Jo’s presence. “I’ve been worried sick about you.”

“I’m sick Alex, I’ve either been asleep or throwing up since I texted you,” Jo’s voice had an edge to it as she stared Alex down. “And I don’t need you coming in here and trying to guilt trip me or whatever this is.”

“I’m not trying to guilt trip you, I’m trying to make sure you and our kid aren’t dead!”

“Well now that you know we aren’t you can leave Alex. You probably wouldn’t even be here if it weren’t for Meredith getting sick,” Jo could feel her anger boiling as she looked at Alex. She knew her words were a low blow, but her anger and her hormones won out as she continued to yell at him. “I am more than capable of taking care of myself and our son without you constantly keeping tabs on us. That’s not your job anymore, you’re not my husband! You’re just the guy who knocked me up and then left for three months after telling me for years that you would never leave. You left and you weren’t coming back and the only reason you did is because I’m pregnant. If I wasn’t then you wouldn’t be here acting like you care… Do you think I don’t realize that? I get it, I’m nothing to you anymore and you’re only here for the baby. Well your son is fine and I’m fine too so please just get out.”

There was a moment of silence as Jo and Alex stared at each other, her eyes alight with anger and frustration. She settled herself back into bed with her back facing the door, holding her breath until she heard the door to the loft slide shut again and Alex’s footsteps retreat downstairs. When she finally released the breath she had been holding, a shaking round of tears followed it.

She didn’t know if she believed the words she’d spat at Alex, at one point she did but now she wasn’t so sure. He’d shown her over and over that he genuinely cared for her outside of his parental responsibilities to their son, even if he had left her behind. In truth, no matter how many therapy sessions she went to or how much her and Alex talked things out there was still a gaping hole in her chest created by the man she loved. She’d work through it, she always did, but right now all she wanted was sleep.

-

She sleeps for three hours, the longest stretch in the past few days that she’s been able to manage without throwing up. When she finally wakes her stomach is growling at her which almost makes her roll her eyes because she hasn’t been able to keep anything down lately. Jo slowly rolls out of bed and heads to the kitchen to find something to eat, but instead stops at the sight of her dining table.

There’s a large bouquet of tulips, her favorite flowers, along with ginger ale, soup, and her favorite snacks. Next to that she spots the tiniest blue striped onesie she’s ever seen, the sight bringing tears to her eyes. As she scans the spread once more, she grabs the card on the flowers and reads the barely legible writing.

Jo,

I’m sorry for the past few months. I know I’ve put you through hell but I’m trying my hardest to make it up to you and I promise I won’t stop trying. I’m a better man because of you and I hope I can be that man for you and our son.

Alex

Wiping up her tears, Jo grabs her car keys and heads down to her car. She knows she probably looks a hot mess but she drives the few blocks to Alex’s apartment anyways, barely noticing the thick sheets of rain that soak her thin pajamas as she bolts from her car into the brick building.

When Alex opens the door, she knows she looks insane but she forces the words out before he can say anything, “I’m sorry for snapping at you, you didn’t deserve that. I said a lot of things I didn’t mean because I was angry and my emotions are all over the place. That doesn’t make it right, it’s just… I’ve had a hard time lately. With everything. And I lashed out at you and I shouldn’t have.”

Alex stared at Jo for a moment before stepping into the hallway and pulling her into his embrace, “I’m sorry too, for freaking out on you, that’s the last thing you need right now. I meant what I said, I do want to be better for you. For both of you.”

“And I’m sorry for telling you that we’re having a boy by yelling it across the room at you,” Jo let a quiet laugh out as she looked up at Alex, a blush forming on her cheeks. “Maybe we can just talk things out from now on? And try to contain our tempers. Oh god, I hope our kid doesn’t have a temper.”

Alex chuckled, pressing a light kiss to Jo’s hair as he ushered her inside his apartment, “He's probably going to but you can teach him how to throw stuffed animals at the wall.”

+

“Hey, how’s your day going,” Jo tried to act as casual as she could as she leaned against the wall next to Alex who was typing up something in a chart. “Just out of curiosity, you know for a patient, how do you tell the difference between Braxton Hicks and real contractions?”

Alex’s head whipped up, eyes moving from Jo’s bump to her face. She had kept a calm demeanor as she left her surgery early, but now standing next to him she felt nervous, “You’re having contractions? Are you in labor?”

“If I knew that I wouldn’t be asking you would I,” Jo huffed as she pressed her hand against her stomach. The movement didn’t seem to calm Alex as he stared her down, his own hand coming up to sit right above hers on her belly. “I don’t think I am, I’ve just been super uncomfortable since last night. I spent an hour just sitting on the couch because I was in so much pain I couldn’t move. Actually I was kinda convinced I might just give birth then and there, but my pain went away and I got a few hours of sleep.”

Alex pressed his hand against Jo’s back as he led her down the hallway, his eyes not leaving her as they walked, “I don’t like you being alone in there all the time. What if you had actually gone into labor?”

“Then I would’ve called you.”

“And what if you couldn’t reach your phone? Or you lost too much blood and passed out,” Alex stopped walking and braced his hands on Jo’s shoulders. “I’m just worried about you and the baby. You know I always am, especially with your due date being so close.”

Eyes narrowing, Jo reflected on the past few months as she stared Alex down. After their blowout fight, Alex and her had begun to slowly work on their relationship and building it back up. It wasn’t an easy task, there had been a lot of yelling and crying and talking through things, but she was happy with where they were as the weeks leading up to their son’s arrival dwindled away on the calendar. She didn’t know what the future held for them, but she was content to just have him by her side for now.

“Well I’m not moving out of the loft if that’s what you’re insinuating,” Jo crossed her arms across her chest. “I know you’re worried but I’ll be fine.”

Alex fixed her with a serious stare, one hand coming back down to her growing bump, “Well then I'll move in, I mean if that’s okay with you. I really don’t want you to be alone and I can help when he gets here. I’ll even sleep on the couch.”

A groan left Jo as she looked up at Alex. She appreciated his help, but she didn’t need to be under constant supervision, “Alex, I’m fine. I love that you’re worried, but I don’t need a babysitter. Now I am going to go home and take a long nap, I’ll see you later.”

Jo walked away from Alex, not letting him get another word in as she headed for the residents lounge to grab her things. She knew being due next month meant that things would only get harder from here on out, but she was determined to do as much as she could by herself.

-

“Jo? I brought you dinner.”

Jo’s head popped up from her position leaning against the back of the couch, her body protesting at the sudden movement. She held back the groan she wanted to release as she watched Alex throw a takeout bag onto the kitchen counter. She’d been trying to relieve the pain that had been building in her back all day, but it seemed to have heightened as soon as she got home.

“Hey, sorry for barging in but I figured you were hungry,” Alex eyed Jo for a moment, brows crinkling when she didn’t verbally answer him. “You okay? You look a little pale.”

Jo nodded, but immediately dropped her head to her hands and let out the loud, pained groan she’d tried so hard to hold back. Her hips and back were on fire, the baby’s positioning not helping matters at all. As she tried to hold back another frustrated moan, Alex came up behind her and settled his hands on her lower back, fingers working down into her skin to release some of the pressure building there. The feeling was the first relief she’d felt all day, prompting her to immediately burst into tears. For his part, Alex was unfazed by Jo’s outburst, his fingers continuing to rub her back as she let out loud sobs.

“Hey, look at me,” Alex’s voice rang out softly after a few minutes, prompting Jo to turn and meet his eyes as he held her close. She cursed her heart as it beat out of time, stuttering at the intimacy of her and Alex’s positioning. “You don’t have to do all of this on your own. I know you can, but I’m here and I want to help you. Will you let me help?”

Pressing her head against Alex’s chest, Jo nodded as she took a deep breath. She hated to admit it, but Alex was right, she did need a little help. She hadn’t slept properly in days, her back was on fire, and her Braxton Hicks were coming at an almost constant rate now. More than anything, Jo just needed someone to support her and Alex was the best person for that role.

“Good, now let’s get you in bed. You look like you haven’t slept in a week,” Alex chuckled as he pressed a kiss to her head. The small move sparked something in Jo, despite Alex having done it more than once since returning home. Her fingers curled into his shirt, eyes turning up to meet his with a dark glint behind them. “What? What’s that look for?”

Before he could say anything else, Jo moved one hand to tangle in his hair and bring his lips down to hers. The feeling was indescribable, something she’d craved since she had dropped him off at the airport so many months ago. As if sensing the same thing, Alex kissed her back hungrily, his fingers readily finding purchase against her hips. After a moment, he pulled back and met her eyes.

“You were just crying and now you’re kissing me,” Alex chuckled, brushing back a strand of hair from her face. “I think you do need to get some sleep.”

“Will you lay down with me, I haven’t been able to sleep for like three days,” Jo’s eyes were pleading with Alex as she crawled under the covers. “He calms down when you’re around, I might actually be able to sleep for more than an hour.”

Alex obliged, kicking his shoes off and crawling into the other side of the bed. As he wrapped one arm around Jo’s expanding stomach, she closed her eyes and let her mind believe that this was a normal day for them. That they’d come home from work and were settling in for the night, that they didn’t sleep in separate apartments, that they weren’t divorced and Alex had never left. For a moment Jo let herself believe everything was okay.

Those thoughts and Alex’s presence lulled Jo into the most peaceful sleep she’d gotten in weeks. Her mind drifted off, letting her aching body rest and giving her much needed relief.

-

“He’s gonna be in the bassinet for the first few months, I don’t see why you insist on setting up the crib now,” Jo groaned as she sat herself on the couch, propping her bare feet up on the coffee table. “Can you just shove your clothes in the dresser and come sit down? Your nagging has exhausted me.”

A chuckle leaves Alex as he settles himself across the couch from Jo, reaching for her feet and pulling them into his lap, “Sorry that all of my heavy lifting and asking you where I should put things has bothered you.”

A noncommittal groan left Jo as her eyes fluttered closed, one hand floating down to her bump as Alex rubbed her swollen feet. He’d been at the loft every night since their agreement last week, making sure that he was able to help Jo sleep and stopping their son from keeping her up all night. Jo was thankful for the reprieve, even more thankful when Alex hadn’t batted an eye at her request for help relieving some of her more… primal urges that had sparked since her raging hormones had taken over her body. She’d fight anyone that insinuated that her and Alex were together, because they definitely weren’t, but she had a hard time denying the fact that sex with him was just as great if not better than it had always been.

Even being so far along in her pregnancy, Alex seemed to know what her body craved even more than she did. The way that they still worked so well on a physical level was no shock to Jo, but Alex’s uncanny ability to make her come undone and feel completely satisfied still shocked her. The first time they’d had sex again Jo had come three times before he’d even taken his pants off.

“You want me to order dinner? We can get Chinese if you want,” Jo barely registered Alex’s voice as his fingers moved across her skin. She could tell her body was already reacting to the feeling of him so close to her, her mind desperately trying to fight off the growing heat between her legs. “Jooooo? You in there?”

Jo peeks her eyes open, meeting Alex’s gaze with a grin. She moves one hand to grab his shirt and pull him closer to her, a chuckle leaving him as he understands exactly what she’s asking for.

“You’re insatiable,” Alex’s tone is light as his lips trail down to Jo’s neck. “I wouldn’t be shocked if sex is what sends you into labor.”

“Your dirty talk needs some work,” Jo groans as one of Alex’s hands trails up her body to brush against her breast. “But you might have a point…”

+

When Jo rolls over to glance at the clock, she's beyond frustrated that it tells her it’s midnight. She’d fallen asleep not even two hours ago after tossing and turning for 45 minutes trying to get comfortable between intermittent Braxton Hicks contractions. Resigning herself to another night of insomnia, she rolls out of bed and heads for the bathroom.

“You know, you’re being a real pain in the ass,” Jo groans as she looks down to her belly, a kick hitting her bladder as she flips on the bathroom light. “Yeah, you’re definitely a Karev.”

Finishing up in the bathroom, Jo walks quietly back to bed and settles herself above the covers. She knew she’d have to pee again soon and didn’t want to bother climbing all the way into bed again only to climb right back out.

After her scare early on in her pregnancy, Jo was just grateful to be carrying her baby still. But with only a few days left until her due date, she was growing more and more frustrated as her body began to prepare for labor. She hated how she couldn’t go more than an hour or two without feeling like she was going to pee her pants, how her back was constantly in pain no matter how she laid herself across the bed, how her son was now so large that even taking a deep breath was a monumental task.

It didn’t help that she’d been on maternity leave for the past two weeks and had been home alone bored out of her mind most of the time. She’d cleaned the loft, organized both her and Alex’s dressers, washed and folded all of the baby clothes, and watched every season of Friends. Jo almost wanted to go into labor just to have something to do that wasn’t cleaning.

Just as she’d predicted her bladder began screaming at her once again, prompting Jo to pull herself off of the bed and head back towards the bathroom. To her shock however, a loud pop sounded as soon as she stood, her feet instantly soaked by the rush of liquid now pooling on the ground.

“Alex… Alex! Wake up,” Jo tossed her pillow at Alex’s sleeping form across the bed, watching as he slowly began to wake. She felt bad knowing he’d just come off a long shift the night before, but she needed him. “Alex!”

The lights in the bedroom flicked on as Jo let out a low groan and reached for the edge of the bed, a sharp pain running through her stomach as she clenched the blankets tightly. A warm hand settled on her back, calming Jo slightly as her mind began to race, “How long have you been up?”

“Twenty minutes, but my water just broke,” Jo took a deep breath as she blindly reached for Alex’s hand. “Sorry I woke you up.”

“Don’t be sorry, what else am I gonna do right now,” Alex pressed a kiss against the side of Jo’s head as his hand continued to rub soothing circles into her back. “Will you be okay if I go throw the bags in the car real quick?”

Jo nods at him, but as soon as his hands aren’t on her anymore she wants to call out and bring him back to her. She’d gotten used to being so close to Alex, his hands constantly near her as he rubbed her aching feet or back and moved his hand across her belly to feel the baby’s movements. She’d even made it a habit of curling up next to him when he crawled into bed after a long shift, his hands always moving to pull her closer as she buried her face into his chest. When he’d moved back into the loft to make things easier when the baby came she’d been hesitant, but Jo couldn’t help how comforting she found his presence.

“Cars packed and I called the hospital so they know we’re on our way,” Jo looked up, Alex’s voice startling her out of her thoughts. His hands fell to her lower back again as she leaned against his chest, the feeling relaxing Jo as another contraction rushed through her body. “Those are pretty close together, how long have you been having contractions?”

“On and off since you left for work yesterday morning,” a groan left Jo as she braced her hands on Alex’s shoulders, the pain radiating through her stomach growing stronger. “Nothing this bad though.”

“Well let’s get going then, I’d like to avoid you giving birth in my car,” a small chuckle left Jo as Alex led her out of the loft. The next time they’d walk through the doors they’d have a baby with them. “Hey I was wrong! Sex didn’t put you into labor!”

“Shut up Alex.”

+

The exhaustion that falls over Jo as she leans into Alex is only surpassed by her joy at the squirming bundle that’s being placed on her chest. A head of dark curls greets her as she presses the infant close to her, fingers coming up to brush the soft skin of her son's cheek.

“You’re here, you’re real,” Jo laughs wetly as she looks down at the baby in her arms, her son, tears instantly welling in her eyes. “Oh my god your head is huge.”

“Sorry about that, that’s my bad,” Alex’s voice rings out from behind her, prompting Jo to shift closer to him as he presses one hand on the baby’s back and another against her arm in a comforting gesture. “You did so good, you’re a freaking rockstar.”

As she sits with her newborn snuggled against her and Alex’s arms wrapped around her, Jo thinks that she could stay right there forever. The pain, the heartbreak, the worry, all of it fades as she relishes in the feeling of the two people she loves most by her side. She’d been through so much in her life, lows she never wanted to relive, highs she would remember forever. All of it seems to pass by her eyes in a flash as she zones into this moment, the one moment she’s sure she’ll never forget as long as she lives.

In a second, without warning, Jo realizes that nothing else mattered. What had happened before, the grudges she’d held, the words spoken and not between her and Alex over the past year didn’t matter. He was here, with her and with their son and she knew he wasn’t leaving. He didn’t have to say it, didn’t have to promise anything or beg for her to let him in. His arms holding her close and his fingers brushing at their son’s curls reminded her that things had changed so much already.

“I love you,” Jo whispers as she lays her head on Alex’s chest, her eyes still trained on the baby in her arms. “I love you so much Alex.”

There’s a pause, a stillness in the air as Alex freezes next to her. The words that they’d exchanged so freely before now held a heavier meaning, they meant more this time around. His fingers moving slowly up and down her arm stop for a moment, continuing again as he presses a kiss to her temple, “I love you too Jo.”

She doesn’t know how long they sit like that, both of them staring down in awe at the little boy they’d created together. Alex tells him about how he was certain that they’d conceived him in the backseat of his car, Jo chuckling at the ridiculous story as her eyes fought to stay open. She’d been in labor for almost five hours and had been pushing for another, the event taking its toll on her as she leaned against Alex and shut her eyes.

“You sleep, I'll take him and we’ll be here when you wake up,” Alex grabs the infant from her arms, Jo peeking her eyes open to marvel at the sight of their son nuzzled against him. “Tell mama to take a nap, she deserves it.”

Jo watches the two for a moment more before closing her eyes and letting the joy she felt wash over her, lulling her into a peaceful sleep.

+

Jo wakes to small cries and the sound of someone singing softly. The cries lessen as the singing gets a little louder, the rough melodic voice singing some rock song that was not appropriate lullaby music. Sitting up in bed, she lets her eyes adjust before making out the silhouette of Alex rocking their two week old son to sleep.

“Is he hungry? I can take him,” Alex’s head popped up in surprise at Jo’s voice, his face illuminated by the low light shining from the kitchen.

“No, he’s almost back down. I gave him a bottle already,” Alex rocked back and forth a few more times before smirking up at Jo. “You go back to sleep, you need it.”

Settling her head back into the pillows, Jo watched both boys for a few minutes until Alex settled the baby back into his bassinet. Satisfied that the infant was going to stay down, he crawled back into bed and pulled Jo into his arms, “I thought I told you to go back to sleep.”

“Mmm yeah but you and Max looked too cute,” one hand trailed up to Alex’s face as Jo snuggled against him. “Besides it gets cold in here without you.”

A chuckle left Alex as his hands wrapped around Jo, bringing her flush against his chest as his lips brushed a kiss against her hair, “I love you.”

“I love you too,” Jo settled her head against Alex’s chest, letting the steady beat of his heart calm her own body.

Jo’s eyes close again, her mind drifting to think of Luna, of the concern she’d had that her son might end up alone and scared like she had been. She knew that the little girl was probably sleeping in her crib at home, her mom healthy and snoozing beside her, the thought comforting her slightly. As she thought of Alex and the way he cared so deeply about her and Max, Jo knew she’d never have to worry about either of them being alone again.

[teentitanimals]

im working on a BIG Batfamily project, and WOW have i realized how much harder this is gonna be than i first thought it was... for now, have an excerpt- or, rather, Selina Kyle’s information card of the project :) im pretty proud of this! information and story subject to change

Selina Kyle-Wayne

birth name: Selina Calabrese

Main Alias: Catwoman

Other Aliases: Catbird (in Gothtopia), The Cat, The Cat Burglar, Irena Dubrovna

Current Age: ~46 (When first CW; 21. When had HK; 36. Retires CW; ~55. At death; ~70.)

Birthdate: March 14th (Alternatively; March 31st)

Hair Color: Black

Hair Length: Short

Eye Color: Green

Race/Ethnic/Skin Color: Half-Cuban; Possibly Italian, Scottish, and/or Latina descendant (White)

Sexuality: Bisexual

Gender: Female (She/her)

Height: ~5’11” (Tall)

Weight: ~146lbs (Sorta Heavy)

Build: Slender, Curvy

Biological Parents: Maria Kyle, Rex Calabrese

Step-Father: Brian Kyle

Alleged Father: Carmine Falcone

Biological Sister: Magdalene “Maggie” Kyle-Burton

Biological Half-Brother: Aiden Mason

Brother-in-Law: Simon Burton

Biological Cousins: Nick Calabrese, Antonia Calabrese

Alleged Siblings: Sofia Falcone, Alberto Falcone, Mario Falcone

Surrogative Sister: Holly Robinson

Ex-Lovers: Sam Bradley Jr., Eiko Hasigawa, Moreland McShane

Husband: Bruce Wayne

Parents-in-Law: Thomas Wayne, Martha Wayne

Siblings-in-Law: Thomas Wayne Jr. (On Earth-3), Rochelle Wayne (in Elseworlds: Reign of Terror)

Surrogative Father-in-Law: Alfred Pennyworth

Surrogative Sister-in-Law: Julia Pennyworth

Cousins-in-Law: Kate Kane, Beth Kane, Bette Kane

Surrogate Daughter: Arizona

Biological Children: Helena Kyle, Helena Wayne (from Earth-2)*, “Aion” Wayne (In Batman in Bethlehem)

*(HC; Helena is legally her adopted daughter on Earth-1.)

Step-Children: Damian Wayne, Athanasia al Ghul, The Heretic (clone of DW), Tallant Wayne (clone of DW), Alina Wayne (maybe), Bruce Wayne Jr. (On Earth-3839), Dick Grayson, Lance Bruner, Jason Todd, Tim Drake, Cass Cain, Duke Thomas (maybe), Terry McGinnis, Matt McGinnis

Daughters-in-Law: Koriand’r, Dana Tan

Step-Grandchildren: Mar'i Grayson, Jake Grayson, John Grayson II (On Earth-2), Sasha Todd, Clark Wayne (On Earth-3839)

Step-Great-Granddaughters: Lois Wayne (On Earth-3839), Lara Wayne (On Earth-3839)

Catwoman Run: ~34 years

Succeeded By: Eiko Hasigawa, Holly Robinson, (First Name N/A) Black

Wikipedia. Batman Wiki. DC Database. DCAMU. Animated Series. Comic Vine.

(tw; self-harm, suicide, child abuse, illegal prostitution, drug addiction, sexual abuse, death)

Selina Calabrese was born to Rex Calabrese and Maria Calabrese with a sister two years older than her named Magdalene Calabrese. When Selina was very young, her mother escaped from Rex, also known as The Lion, leader of the Calabrese Crime Family, and became the husband to Brian Kyle, legally changing all their names to Maria Kyle, Maggie Kyle, and Selina Kyle. Maria had a son with him, Aiden Kyle. Their relationship was not healthy, with Maria being very suicidal and Brian being drunk and abusive. He would often yell at and harm Maria and her kids, and Maria, although she loved her kids, was distant, more often spending time with her cats. One day, Selina came home from school to find her mother dead in the tub, having cut her wrists until she bled out. A year later, Brian died from alcohol poisoning, and Selina called the police, packed her bags and ran away. Maggie and Aiden were taken to the orphanage, and Aiden, being fairly young, was almost immediately adopted by a family, where his name was changed to Aiden Mason. His contact with his half-sisters was cut off, although he would eventually seek them out as an older teen and young adult. Maggie was adopted after a few months, and was raised very religiously. She kept in contact with Selina best she could.

On the streets, Selina would steal food, clothing and other material from grocery stores. She was eventually caught and put in the orphanage. She acted out a lot, causing her to be sent to Juvenile Hall. When she turned age 13, she was sent back to the orphanage. There, she realized the place was embezzling money. To make sure she never told anyone, they put her in a bag and dropped her in a river. Selina managed to escape, and then stole documentary proof of their embezzlement to give to the police, some money for herself, and her own files in hopes of reuniting with her brother or sister. Instead, she found out that Brian was not her birth father, and that her father was an unknown mobster man. Selina continued living on the streets, stealing food and jewelry to meet her own, as the money she stole would not last forever. She would be taken in by an old thief gang leader named Mama Fortuna, who treated the kids under her care like slaves. Eventually, Selina would run away with a friend from the gang named Sylvia. They could not survive on their own and always had a shortage of money, and Sylvia took up prostitution to support them both, and grew to hate Selina for it. They parted ways.

When Selina was 17, she began illegally working as a prostitute under an abusive pimp named Stan. She stumbled upon a 13-year-old Holly Robinson who was being sexually abused by a cop. Selina beat the cop up, inspiring Holly who said that was the first time anybody had shown her she could fight back. The two became roommates. To pay for living expenses and food, Selina continued stealing, and Holly eventually became an illegal prostitute too when she was 16, despite Selina being against it. Her underage status resulted in Stan getting into a fight with a drifter, who, unbeknownst to them, was Bruce Wayne in disguise. A few weeks later, Holly would wake Selina up to show her Batman, still new and fresh, beating up corrupt police officer and former Commissioner Branden. Selina, inspired by how someone can don a costume and have everyone either be happy or terrified to see him that she can do the same too, would confront and fight Stan about his abuse, officially having her and Holly quit prostitution. She spent money to buy an expensive costume- her first Catwoman costume. She robbed a local store, and one of the security guards called her “Catwoman”, which she liked and chose to be her name. Stan, wanting revenge on Selina and Holly for quitting, kidnaps Maggie. After a few days, Selina locates him, saves her sister, and beats him to death in a rage as Catwoman. Selina informs Maggie of her new persona, who disagrees heavily, especially seeing as she killed a man, but promises to keep quiet.

The police investigate Selina and Holly, and one police officer sexually harasses Holly. Enraged, Selina went out as Catwoman with intent to kill him, but Batman intervened and made her see how her anger blinded her. Terrified she was a danger to Holly, she sent Holly to live in a convent with Maggie, who was a nun (although she would later give up her nunage to marry her husband, Simon Burton). Catwoman would begin her crime life properly, crossing paths with the likes of the Joker, the Riddler, Poison Ivy, and others, and flirting with Batman, of course. While Selina continued on to be a thief as Catwoman for the next few years, Holly felt she did not fit in the convent, and eventually found herself back on the streets. She got addicted to drugs and went back into prostitution.

While Holly was away, Selina temporarily got a new roommate, a young blonde girl nicknamed Arizona who reminded Selina a lot of Holly. She took her under her wing, and Arizona acted like her sidekick for a while, before she eventually found her own feeting and started a life on her own. She still kept close contact with Selina, though.

After five years, a gang leader named Bone killed a close friend of Selina’s named Lola MacIntire, who knew Selina was Catwoman and let her crash at her place after her apartment was destroyed. Bone wanted revenge after Catwoman had stolen from him. This devastated Selina, who viewed it as completely her fault. At Lola’s funeral, Selina encountered her old friend, Gwen Altamont, and the two began working together. Catwoman stole cars for Gwen, and encountered a metahuman thief named Spark while on the job. Catwoman convinces Gwen to let her work with Spark, and the two plan to rob Penguin of the fifth dagger they need to complete a set of valuable knives. Catwoman stakes out at the restaurant Penguin likes to eat at a day before he would be there, which Spark questions why they are doing so a day before. Catwoman notices a young hooker getting tranquilized and dragged into a van. Catwoman leaps into action, Spark soon following. They save the girl, and, after questioning local prostitutes, find out there have been multiple kidnappings and murders like this. Catwoman investigates and plans to defeat the kidnappers. After failing to stop a kidnapper in the act, Catwoman contacts Detective Carlos Alvarez, a detective who has been chasing her tail but that she knows is a genuinely good cop, for help. They track the kidnapper, Matilda Mathis aka Dollhouse, the daughter of Dollmaker, to a mansion. Catwoman fights Dollhouse, but Batman interrupts their fight, allowing both to escape. Catwoman questions her ability to be a vigilante, knowing she’s a better thief.

After those series of murders to other prostitutes, Holly quits being a prostitute and heads to her and Selina’s old apartment. She is pleasantly surprised to find Selina lived there after the destruction of her other apartment, and the two reunited. Holly began working as a spy of sorts for Catwoman, gathering information of what was happening on the streets of East End. Although she eventually stopped taking drugs after living with Selina for a few months, she felt concerned that she was still looking at the world through the eyes of a junkie to gather intel. During this time period, the Scarecrow releases a gas that makes everyone believe they are in a utopia- Gothtopia. There, Selina believed she was Catbird, partner to Batman. Where Batman could see glimpses of reality, Catbird just thought him delusional. While people who could see through the illusion questioned their sanity and committed suicide, Catbird began investigating a criminal named Steeljacket, who was also convinced their reality was an illusion. Steeljacket explained that the suit he was wearing kept him alive and he needed her thievery skills to get him the money to repair it. Catbird helped him, and the familiar adrenaline rush of a robbery made her remember her real identity of Catwoman. After Batman freed the city from Scarecrow’s toxin, Catwoman reminded him of how they shared both a partnership and a true romantic relationship in Gothtopia. Batman denied the extent of his romantic feelings, even though the toxin showed them both what they wanted to see.

A few years later, Black Mask, who held a vendetta against Catwoman, kidnapped her sister Maggie and Simon, killed Simon, and then forced Maggie to eat her husband’s eyes, driving her insane. Black Mask also kidnapped and beat Holly with the help of an old childhood friend of Catwoman, Sylvia. Catwoman kills Black Mask, Holly kills Sylvia, and they save Maggie, who is put in a psychiatric institute. Holly isolated herself and nearly fell back onto old habits. Selina decided Holly needed time to heal outside of Gotham City and needed proper training, so she sent Holly to a rural safehouse where she trained in hand-to-hand combat with Ted Grant. Selina and Slam Bradley, a detective friend of Selina’s, located Holly’s long lost brother Davey, and the two reunited.

Eventually, Black Mask was revived by a Black Lantern, and immediately sought out Maggie, threatening to kill her and anyone else Catwoman cared about. Catwoman, with the help of Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy, defeated Black Mask again. Maggie escaped, and no longer wanted anything to do with Selina, blaming her for her insane condition and Simon’s death, and believing Selina was possessed by a cat demon. Maggie sought out Sister Agatha to exorcise her sister, but when Maggie saw Agatha’s cat, she snapped and killed Agatha’s cat and then Agatha because she believed Agatha was in league with Selina’s cat demon. Maggie then searched through Agatha’s relics and tools, stumbling upon a supernatural substance in a container that warped Maggie’s sense of reality further. To Maggie, an angel was released and claimed it would help her destroy Selina’s cat demon. Maggie finds Selina and Harley Quinn and attacks them with heightened abilities. Harley refers to Maggie as “Sister Zero”, and then becomes possessed by the “angel”’s influence. Catwoman manages to get through to Harley, confusing her enough to escape Maggie’s control. Selina forces Maggie to escape, who starts to formulate a new plan to save her sister’s soul. The angel told her to team up with Azrael and Crusader during Gotham’s Judgement Day, which she does. Maggie believes she is her sister’s test of faith, which means either Selina will get cleansed of her cat demon, or Maggie will die. But in the end, when Maggie has a chance to end Selina’s life, she can’t bring herself to do it. Maggie ends up back in a psychiatric institute and starts to slowly heal, although sometimes Sister Zero breaks out.

Holly begins a relationship with a girl named Karon, who she moves into the apartment of. She also becomes the supervisor of a group of street kids known as the Alleytown Gang, training them to act like the spies and informants of Catwoman’s network. Unbeknownst to Holly, Selina had grown tired of seeing her role as Catwoman ruin her life over and over. Selina burned her suit, but would be forced to don it again after a woman named Roulette contacted her about a competition between thieves that threatened the lives of children. Catwoman got a new suit and raced to save the lives of the children. After competing in several rounds, she realized that there never were any real children in danger. Roulette had actually been hired by a man named Hunt Stone who wanted any evidence that connected his ancestors to a famous murder stolen and erased. Selina began sabotaging every aspect of her strictly regimented and planned out days, until Roulette was forced to declare her the winner of the Race of Thieves to make her stop. During this time where Selina went missing, Holly acted as Catwoman to keep other criminals at bay.

With Catwoman I back in action, Oracle asks Catwoman, Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn to keep an eye on Vicki Vale, who has evidence on the members of the Batfamily that need to be destroyed. Selina notices an artifact in Vicki’s possession that she had once stolen. It reminds her of the days when Batman used to chase her, and she reminisces on them. Her flashback is interrupted as Harley breaks into the room they were monitoring, wanting to get her hyenas back because they had stolen them from her. Vicki bolts out of the room, and they lose her trail, but Selina managed to get her phone number. She planted a fake call to lead Vicki out of her apartment, allowing Selina to break in and take pictures of her Batwall, which Batman and Oracle needed. Selina reminisces about her crime life.

When a mysterious malefactor came to Gotham with a yearlong plan to ruin Batman’s life, Catwoman began investigating into the turf war between the Penguin and newly returned mobster Carmine Falcone. She was captured by Falcone for causing him grief years ago and he nearly killed her, but Professor Pyg attacked Falcone, having a vendetta against him. Catwoman plans to kill Falcone, who she suspects might be her biological father, but before she can, Batman intervenes. She leaves Falcone and his mob to Batman, but sometime later while trying and failing to stop a deal to sell a baby snow leopard for its fur, a young girl locates Selina. She tells Selina that her father wanted her to attend a meeting in Blackgate Penitentiary. Her real father was Rex Calabrese, the crime boss from whom Falcone had taken power. Selina declined the request at first, but a street kid named Jade came to find her next, informing her the girl before her was killed by gang violence. Selina asked Rex for his guidance in becoming a mob boss herself to keep the mobsters in check from killing any other kids. The leadership of the Calabrese Family and the ownership of the Egyptian Nightclub were passed onto her as the legal heir. Catwoman, wanting to make sure Batman knew she was still on the side of good despite becoming the head of a crime family, told Batman everything she knew about the group of Arkham escapees still on the loose. After she got invited to a secret weapons sale that were actually weapons stolen from Batman’s own supply, Catwoman began to research high bounties in Gotham, and was tipped onto Stephanie Brown. Catwoman kidnapped her without realizing she was the current Batgirl. She was rescued by Batman and the situation was resolved. Soon Batman got captured by Lincoln March, and rioting broke out across the city. Selina forced her people to help prevent the riots while also secretly making strategic thefts to further her causes. During this time, Selina gave up her Catwoman mantle to Eiko Hasigawa, a heir to the rival Hasigawa crime family, and a love interest of Selina’s.

Eiko’s time as Catwoman was short-lived, though, as Eiko and Selina merged the Hasigawa and Calabrese families, leaving Eiko as their leader while Selina went back to her normal life… Sort of. She realized she was pregnant from a one-night stand with Sam Bradley Jr., and Holly Robinson took on the mantle of Catwoman at Selina’s request. Selina made up a fake identity, Irena Dubrovna, to peacefully give birth to her daughter, legally known as Helena Dubrovna. Sam Jr. had died by the time Selina realized she was pregnant, but his father, Slam Bradley, wanted to provide for his new granddaughter. Selina could not resist the thrill of Catwoman, and donned the suit alongside Holly a few times. Unfortunately, Film Freak and Angle Man had deduced where Selina lived after catching the two Catwomen on film, and kidnapped Helena. Selina easily rescued her daughter, and then had Zatanna Zatarra mindwipe the two villains of Selina’s identities. With Batman’s help, she faked “Irena” and Helena’s deaths, putting Helena up for adoption. She asked Zatanna to wipe her mind of knowledge about Helena so she wouldn’t put her in danger again, but Zatanna refused.

After returning to her solo role as Catwoman for nearly a year, Selina allowed herself to be arrested and sent to death row at Arkham Asylum for the murders of over two hundred terrorists. It was her friend, Holly, who had really committed the crime, but she trusted Batman would prove her innocence, therefore saving her and Holly’s lives. Nearly a year later, Helena Wayne, biological daughter of Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle, from Earth Never-Two passes into Earth Never-One and gets trapped. Helena meets this world’s Selina Kyle. The two become close, with Helena still mourning the death of her mother in her universe and Selina missing her daughter. Selina was worried that being too close to her alternate universe daughter might lead her to the same fate as her Helena Kyle, but this Helena was an experienced adult who had lived through an Apokoliptian war. She was a capable vigilante who could hold her own perhaps even better than Selina herself, and Selina felt her concerns fade away. After another year passes, Selina asks if she can adopt Helena Wayne, despite Helena being 21-years-old. Helena, surprised, agrees. Almost a year after that, Bruce proposes to Selina and she accepts, becoming his wife.

Selina Kyle is, in general, highly flirtatious, seductive, and willing to use her looks and her charms to get what she wants- in fact she’s even proud of it. She’s also, much like her namesake, graceful, sly and light-footed, known as one of the greatest thieves out there. Despite her past of being an abused victim, she stands with her head high since she first donned the Catwoman suit (it can be quite enconfidating, that anonymity). She was never one to sit back and let herself or others get abused, and she sympathizes heavily with abused children, young women and sex workers especially. While her career as Catwoman started out to support herself and her friends, it eventually became an addictive adrenaline rush she couldn’t give up. Even though she’s ‘reformed’, she still has sticky fingers and loves the thrill of getting away with small robberies, especially when her husband is the Batman. She enjoys getting under his skin. She isn’t too big on black and white morality, instead choosing to do whatever is necessary for the situation. She’s not ‘above’ killing, but she’s no homicidal murderer, and it’s never her first option, although attacking her loved ones is a sure way to push her closer to the edge. Although admittedly in her earlier days, the empowerment of being Catwoman got to her head, and she let rage cloud her judgement, leading to her being more willing to brutally harm and kill. She’s very willing to take risks, enjoying the danger even, and she’s incredibly stubborn and persistent. She never had much of a villainous ego, nor does she have a superhero complex. She walks the line between the both with confidence, never worrying about being in the gray. Sometimes it ticks her off when Bruce and others think she should commit completely to one or the other, when she’s perfectly fine where she is.

Reblogs appreciated! Stay tuned for the finished project, which is this... but for every Batfam member ever

[peppersonironi]

Batfam Whumptober Day Three

{Read on Ao3}

No.3: Manhandled | Forced to their Knees | Held at Gunpoint

Summary: Ra’s’ is in town and Bruce Babs Damian from going out on patrol with him. So of course Damian goes out with Duke instead. But when he gives his brother the slip, Damian finds himself in the deadly hands of his Grandfather. It takes Duke to save him.

A/N: I love Duke, okay? And I love Duke and Damian’s relationship! I want to dive into it more, as I’m not 100% happy with this, but I think it works for now. But not am I writing soft whump! Is this whump? Who knows.

Tw: brief mention of blood, attempted murder (very light)

“I demand to be allowed out.” Damian announced, staring at Duke with the full force of his Baby Bat Glare™ (Jason’s words).

Duke frowned down at him. “Um, sure? But why?”

Damian sniffed. “As if I would tell you.” A moment later, he changed his mind. “But I suppose you are the most tolerable besides Grayson. Very well. My grandfather is in Gotham and Father refuses to allow me to patrol at night. I refuse to allow petty family squabbles get in the way of my Robin duties. He said nothing about the day.”

Duke blinked, looking down at the tiny assassin. “Doesn’t he mean patrol in general? Isn’t going out at all unsafe?”

Damian continued his glaring. “That is besides the point.”

Duke gave Damian a long look. “Why are you asking me? What makes you think I’ll go against Bruce. I’m the ‘good kid’ , remember?”

Damian snorted. “We both know that is not factual, Thomas. You enjoy going behind Father’s back just as much as the rest of us.”

Duke frowned. “Just … don’t get hurt, okay? We’ll go out for a few hours; nothing major. And you Stick. With. Me.”

Damian smirked. “Very well. When do we leave?”

*****

Oh, Damian had been so stupid. All he’d wanted was to prove to Father that he was still capable. That he wasn’t afraid of his Grandfather anymore. It didn’t matter that he was, and any bravado was faked. But he was proud. He thought his fears weren’t constituted.

He’d been wrong.

His first mistake was separating from Signal. Damian had given him the slip around the ninety minute mark (it was altogether too easy. He’d have to work with his brother on those skills. If he lived long enough, that is.) and continued on his regular patrol route.

It was then that the ninjas attacked him.

It was an ambush, he was in an alley taking care of an attempted robbery when the sky was blocked out by the dozens of black clothed figures descending from above. He’d managed to fend off a good third of them when he was overpowered and dragged to his grandfather. He’d managed to escape once, but had gotten a broken leg in reward.

So when he was shoved before his grandfather, bruised and bloody, Damian was scared. Grayson had promised he’d never be sent back to the league, and his mother wouldn’t take him back, so what did Ra’s want?

“Hello, grandson.” Ra’s said, looking at Damian like he was an animal in a zoo. “It’s been too long.”

Damian glared and spit at his once-family. He was dismayed to find his spittle bloody. Maybe he was hurt worse than he thought?

Ra’s sighed, “I’m disappointed? Is that all you have?”

Damian narrowed his eyes to slits. “I have nothing to say to you.”

“Really? Not even after you and the young detective broke into and destroyed a prominent League Base?” Ra’s demanded, snapping forward with his words.

Damian winced inwardly. He and Tim had gotten embrowled in a League plot a month back, which ended in explosions. It had actually been a good time, and Damian had enjoyed spending it with his brother. Now, however, he was regretting it.

Ra’s looked towards an assassin, and Damian was suddenly and harshly forced to his knees. He resisted the intense urge to scream out in pain - his left leg was broken after all - but held his tongue. Barely.

“I have allowed you to live even after you scorned the Al Ghul name, and left behind your legacy. You were nothing more than a minor pest in the corner of my vision. Now, however,” Ra’s paused, and drew a long ornate Katanna. He brought it down to Damian’s neck, one flick, and Robin died once again. “I will enjoy killing you.”

Damian blinked. No, no this couldn’t happen. He couldn’t die again. He couldn’t do that to his family. It had broken them. And Damian didn’t want to leave them. Grayson was a given, Damian had to admit he was the brother he was closest to. But also father. They had mended their relationship - with much cajoling from Pennyworth and Grayson. Damian had grown to appreciate Todd, who was wild and made Damian middleastern treats when he was homesick. Cain, who knew what he had gone through more than anyone, and offered quiet companionship unlike the others. Drake, who despite Damian’s initial hatred, he had grown to adore. Perhaps more than Grayson. Brown, who had made it her mission to give Damian a childhood, one ice cream parlor or arcade at a time. Then Thomas, who was new, but had grown on Damian rather quickly. Who genuinely enjoyed spending time with him, and invited Robin on daytime patrols a few times a month.

Like this time.  

Oh, what would Father say to Thomas? Damian hoped he wouldn’t be blamed for the death of yet another Robin. It was Damian’s own fault this had happened.

“No last words, grandson?” Ra’s asked, looking down at Damian a sneer on his face.

Damian closed his eyes.

Ra’s sighed. “I expected more. A gloating response, perhaps some begging. Why no moans for your family. Surely since they’ve abandoned you, that would garner some response?”

“How’s this?”

Suddenly, the glass of the sky-light shattered, and in dropped The Signal. Duke Thomas stood quickly from his kneeling positions, and brought out his escrima sticks.

“Hey, kid,” Duke said, “Need some help?”

Domain let out a choked laugh and nodded, falling back to avoid his grandfather’s blade.

Ra’s growled in outrage, as the assassins he sent forward were taken down by Duke. He dodged attacks before they came, let out his own on unsuspecting league members.

Damian shuffled backwards, trying to wiggle out of his restraints, watching as Ra’s himself came forward to attack. Damian grimaced at how quickly the tides turned. Only Duke’s meta ability kept him alive; he was barely able to dodge the attacks.

“Blind him!” Damian called out, realising another upper hand that Duke might possess.

His brother grimaced before calling the shadows forth and setting them on Ra’s Al Ghul. The Demon’s Head had trained for blind fighting, but the sudden loss of light shocked him enough for Duke to sweep his legs and shove the old man out of the room and onto the balcony of the expensive penthouse the league owned. Ra’s tumbled a little farther than anticipated, rolling over and off the balcony, his fall stopped only by a skilled hand grabbing the ledge.

Duke ignored Ra’s’ possible doom, and raced for Damian. “Let’s go, Robin,” he said, extending a hand.

Damian took it gratefully. “Thank you Signal, though I may have trouble walking.”

Duke scanned him for injuries. “Broken leg?” Damian nodded, and Duke sighed. “Well, let’s get you back to the cave.” They made their way quickly across the room, and onto another balcony. “Hold on,” Duke said, shooting his grappling gun, and jumping off.

*****

They had gotten the Signal-cycle (Damian detested the name, but didn’t have room to complain, at the moment) and made their way back to the cave, Duke insisting on ending patrol early. Bruce had been waiting for them, his arms crossed.

“Damian,” he said with a frown, “I thought I told you no patrol.”

Duke got off, and grabbed Damian, supporting his weight and bringing him to the cave.

Bruce’s eyes widened. “What’s going on?” he asked.

“Ra’s.” Duke supplied, and Bruce followed the pair to the med bay.

“Are you alright?” Bruce asked, taking Damian from Duke and putting him down on the med bay’s bed.

Damian scowled. “It was Grandfather. Nothing special.”

Duke snorted. “He was going to kill you, Damian. I’m pretty sure that counts as ‘special’ ”

Bruce narrowed his eyes briefly before sighing. “I’ll go get Alfred,” he said, “but Damian?” Damian looked over at his father. “Try not to get yourself killed while I’m gone?”

He left quickly, and Duke turned back to Damian. “He’s going to bench you.”

“I know.”

“That was a pretty reckless move.”

“I know.”

“I told you not to leave.”

“I know.”

Duke sighed. “When you’re all checked out, let’s go watch a movie. And go to bed early. Care to try out a regular sleeping schedule?”

Damian frowned. “What kind of movie?”

Duke smiled. “Finding Nemo?”

Damian considered. “That is acceptable.” Duke grinned at him, and Damian lay down. He considered speaking for a moment, finally deciding it would be cowardly not to. “Thank … Duke. For saving me.”

Duke smiled at the sound of his first name, and Damian had to admit that felt good. “Sure, Dami. Anytime.”

Tagging: @starrystories2

[somedayonbroadway]

Little Albie

And we’re back with more BMW AU. I have the next scene written already too, and I’m somewhat excited about it, but I wanted to write this scene too because it’s pretty cute.

Okay, please find the BMW master list here! And please enjoy!

Jack was dozing on the couch. It had been a long day. He was genuinely exhausted.

Something was on his chest. In his daze, he didn’t think anything of it. Not until something started liking his face. “Katherine... Katherine, stop it...” he moaned.

That is, until something above him squealed.

His eyes shot open as he squirmed, trying to dodge the animal but only seemed to get the thing riled up more as he sat up. He spit, trying to get the saliva off of him as he quickly stood and shoved the small, baby pig behind him. “Race!” he yelled, only to find the kid standing in his kitchen, laughing to himself. “Racer, we had a deal! He ain’t allowed ta be near me when I’m sleepin’!” he stated.

Race could only giggle. “Sorry...”

“We had ground rules,” Jack insisted again. “You can keep the pig—“

“Little Albie,” the boy corrected.

Rolling his eyes, Kelly took a breath, glancing back at the small thing that was now on his couch. “Little Albie,” he sighed. “But he’s yours. I ain’t gonna raise him. I hardly wanna hear from him. Got it?”

Nodding along, Race agreed. “Yeah... I got it,” he promised, a small smile still on his face. It was only then that Jack looked down to find a small bottle in his student’s hand. He nodded at him and then turned to walk into his room, leaving Race in the main room by himself. “Pig hater...” he muttered.

“I heard that!” Jack yelled back. Race looked up to find his guardian’s door still open. He smirked.

But he continued over to the couch. “It’s okay, Little Albie... You’s just thirsty, huh?” he asked, carefully bringing the bottle up to the animal’s mouth.

The pig started sucking at it immediately.

He held the little guy in his lap, not looking up when Kelly’s front door opened up and his two best friends walked in.

Albert with a smile and JoJo who only had eyes for the pig. “Race, I thought you were going ta find Little Albie a new home,” she said, causing Al’s smile to drop immediately.

Race shook his head. “Who eva’ said I was gonna do that?”

JoJo squinted at him and gestured to the animal. “Look... Race, I think it’s great that you wanted ta save the pig from your old trailer park... maybe you feel like—“

“This has nothin’ ta do with needin’ savin’ from where I grew up, okay?” the boy defended immediately.

The tone was harsh and cold, so JoJo took a breath and began again, gentler this time. “All I’m trying to say is, it’s not fair f’r the pig ta be cooped up in an apartment like that. It ain’t good for him...”

“Well, I disagree,” Racer countered, petting the pig as he ate. “I happen ta think farm animals make great pets.”

Albert crossed to the kitchen, not wanting to get in the middle of his girlfriend and his best friend’s argument. “And why’s that?” JoJo asked.

Race just grabbed for the book on the end table beside him and help it up. Farm Animals Make Great Pets, it read.

And JoJo snorted. “I know you love him now, but what happens when he grows up, weighs five hundred pounds and stops moving?”

“Hey, I never stopped lovin’ Aunt Gloria!”

Jack leaned against the wall beside the entrance to his room, chuckling a little at the comment, but listening intently to the conversation. These kids were just so... interesting.

“Race... I called animal control...”

At that, Tony’s eyes widened. He held the small pig closer to his chest. And Albert stormed back over, shocked. “You did what?!”

“I told them there was a pig that needed a good home,” she explained simply, still believing she’d done the right thing.

“He has a good home!” Race argued, suddenly feeling betrayed and hurt.

Jack could hear it in his voice.

The blond boy on the couch growled and picked his new pet up in his arms, heading for the door. “I’m goin’ ta hide him. Albert, are ya comin’?”

Albert looked between his two favorite people in the world. JoJo looked angry he was even considering it. But Albert nodded at his best friend. “Yeah... yeah, I’m comin’...”

Jack stepped into the doorway of his room and looked out into his apartment. JoJo was the only kid left. “You okay?” he asked, as soon as he knew the two boys were gone.

The girl ignored the question. “Mr. Kelly, I know you don’t like the pig... so why do you let Race keep it?”

Jack shrugged, crossing his arms over his chest. “It’s important ta him... I think your theory might be right... maybe he feels like it needed ta be saved from the place he grew up in... but he takes good care a’ the little guy,” he smiled. He crossed the room towards his student that he knew for sure should not be alone with him in his apartment. “Look, kid, a life like Tony’s ain’t easy. That pig... he wants to believe it needs him... and maybe it does, I dunno... but I do know that Racer’s been alone for a lot of his life n’ now he’s finally startin’ ta feel like that maybe ain’t true no more...”

JoJo nodded, looking guilty all of the sudden. “Mr. Kelly... I made a mistake...”

—

“Ya sure he’s gonna be safe here?”

“Tones, if I know my girlfriend, she didn’t even call animal control—“

Albert was cut off by the doorbell ringing and a knock on the door. “Animal control!” someone called.

And Albert frowned. “Well... I guess I know nothing...” he sighed, stomping over to the door and opening it where he found a man waiting for him in a brown uniform and hat.

The man nodded towards Race. “So, you must be Antonio Higgins,” he said, opening up a small notepad.

Race nodded. “Yeah... how’d you know that?”

“Blond hair, 5’6’’, answers to the name ‘Antonio Higgins’,” the man read, allowing himself into the house.

The blond boy turned to his best friend. “Wow, he’s good,” he breathed.

“Alright, let save ourselves some time. You got a pig. I want him.”

Race let Albert shut the door and he turned to the man. “This pig you speak of... could you describe him?”

The chubby, scruffy man rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah, he looks like a great big lion,” he stated sarcastically, glaring at the fourteen year old.

And Race smirked. “Well that’s not our pig!” he stated.

“Cause we don’t have one!” Albert chimed in quickly, shoving his hands in his pockets nervously. “Now, Mr. Animal Control Guy, I must insist that ya leave my house at once or I’ll be forced to call the Animal Control Control People,” he smirked. “Ain’t that right, Racer?”

Race grinned and crossed his arms over his chest. “Sure is, Albie...” He only caught his mistake when his pig came running downstairs at the sound of his name. “Okay! Who shaved the dog?” he tried to cover.

But the man rolled his eyes and grabbed the walkie from his belt. “Control? We got a pig!”

The little pig ran around the man’s feet as he pulled out a leash and connected it to Little Albie’s collar. “Well, I hope your happy! You’re takin’ that pig from a nice home!”

It was then that Albert heard the genuine hurt in his friends voice. To him, this wasn’t some joke.

“Look, kid, I’m not in this to break hearts. This neighborhood isn’t zoned for pigs,” the animal control guy sighed. “But between you and me? I got a twenty foot boa in my truck I’ll slip you,” he winked, patting the boy on the shoulder.

Racer sighed, shaking his head. “Can I at least say goodbye ta him?”

The man rolled his eyes. “Fine. But don’t try to run. I got a guy out back,” he stated.

Albert squinted. “Do ya really?”

“I don’t know. Are ya feeling lucky?”

Race just picked up his pet and held him in his arms. Something in him felt hallow. He couldn’t place it. Maybe he’d wished someone had done that for him before he’d been passed off to some other adult who didn’t want to take care of him. “It’s okay, little guy... I’m gonna visit you, I promise... I know what it’s like ta be passed from home ta home...” He scratched the little pigs head and Little Albie licked his cheek, making Tony laugh. “Okay, okay... here ya go—“

He was cut off by the door opening. JoJo rushed in. “Stop! You can’t take that pig!”

“Josephine De La Guerra, dating Albert DaSilva...” he stated, once again reading from his notepad. He looked towards Race. “I’m way over qualified for this job.”

JoJo rolled her eyes. “After I was talking to ya, I found an ad in the paper f’r a lost pig! And I called its owners, so ya don’t have to take him away,” she explained quickly, smiling over at her friend. “Isn’t that great, Tony?”

Race still held the little piggy in his arms. “Still have to lose him... so—“

“Here’s the owner!” JoJo stated.

Jack ran in, looking relieved. “Hey! Hi, my name’s Kelly!” he stated, easily falling into the lie. Race allowed himself a small smile as Jack gently scooped Little Albie out of his hands. “Oh thank you so much for findin’ him! He ran off, didn’t ya, buddy?” He spoke like he actually liked the pig.

Race’s heart melted when he saw Jack smile down at the thing.

“It belongs ta my boy, Charlie... we live right outside the city...”

“Really?” Tony asked, his voice filled with hope. Jack smiled up at him.

But the animal control guy narrowed his gaze. “This really your pig?”

Jack smirked. “No. I got an ark outside n’ I’m just one pig short,” he joked.

But the guy didn’t seem to find that amusing. “Alright, that’s it, hands over your head! We’re goin’ downtown!” the guy barked.

Jack flinched a bit, but stood his ground. “What, ya serious?”

“No,” the guy deadpanned. “Two can play at the sarcasm game.”

Jack rolled his eyes and pet the pig’s head. And the stranger in the room waved in defeat. “Alright, give my best to Charlie,” he sighed, leaning towards Race. “And by the way, that boa offer is still on the table,” he winked.

Race grinned. “I’ll think about it. Ya got a card?”

The man scoffed, heading towards the door. “Yeah right. I don’t even have a badge,” he said as he exited.

And Jack waited until he left to hand the little animal back to Racer. “I must really like you...” he sighed.

Race grinned. “Thanks, Jackie...”

Jack just ruffled the boy’s hair and offered him a wink. “Sure, kid... but you should really be thankin’ JoJo... she’s the one who bailed ya out...”

Race nodded. “Thanks, Jo,” he breathed, hugging his little pet close to his chest. “Really...”

All the girl could do was nod. “I’m sorry, Tony. If he’s important ta you then... he’s important to me...”

Race smiled. Jack wrapped an arm around his shoulders.

And for that moment, all was well with the world.