#also curious that his mum actually told him abt the other kids. like he was so naive she cld have told him all the pics were of him

[marsbotz]

i find it reallyyyyyy interesting how bloberta tells clay he needs to teach orel things but also makes no effort to interact with him herself

[jjackrabbitt]

U never fail to deliver and make me laugh with ur posts!! Thank u for all the hcs abt their love lives 😭🙏🏻 I’ve been in a vv gay (specifically lesbian), evil (but in a fun way) mood too so can u share more details on alma/Isabel and Jack/Percy 👀👀👀👀 I love how u write them 😭 I also don’t mind a sprinkling of sharon/myron (I too project onto myron like a clown 💔)

My dearest Anon! You have returned! I’m gonna make this three posts because it’s about to get long, so I’m doing jacival first and then perekoo.

Just a heads up, the darling of the mphfpc fandom, the phantasmagoric @finn-nito came up with a lot of the jacival hc’s. Alright alright alright, let’s seeeeeeeeee >:)

Jacival:

I don’t know if you are partial to my damned au, but Finn and I made a backstory for Percy, since he didn’t have one in the book. Also, I would like to preface this by saying that Percy is absolved of none of his actions. He chose all of them and he actively enjoys harming people. Just so we’re clear here, this is not some UwU sweet bean kinda shit.

Percy’s a shapeshifter, he can change who he looks like, as long as they’re humanoid and he’s not growing like,,eight extra arms.

Percy’s also trans, because we’re overly fond of him here.

So Percy is born into a big family in a small town and his peculiarity develops early. He hides it. That’s what he does. He tells no one. But he’s not horrified. He doesn’t think it’s a bad thing, he’s only curious.

His family’s farmers, so when he’s out in a field alone, he practices.

He turns into his siblings, his parents, his cousins. He steals a small mirror from his mum and watches his face change, watch the changes grow steadier, feel it become easier to hold faces for longer. His mum looks for that mirror for weeks.

His favourite person to change into is his older brother. He feels confident and more comfortable looking like him. The face and body he was born with feels too soft and confusing.

Several times, he steals his brothers clothes so he can walk around and do his own chores in his brothers face.

Percy makes his own face, it’s a combination of his own and his brothers.

Not sure how yet (if you get any ideas, feel free to share), but Miss Blackbird finds him. He’s 15.

Once he gets to Miss Blackbirds house, he starts wearing his own face all the time.

Percy can’t hold faces forever, but because the face he made for himself is how he actually sees himself and he identifies with it, that becomes his actual face.

Percy doesn’t really get close with the other kids, he’s too anxious and it makes him angry that he’s scared of them so he doesn’t end up making friends at Miss Blackbirds’

When he’s more anxious and tired and upset than usual, Percy gets grumpy and tends to lash out. Not normally physically (at least, not at Miss Blackbird’s), but he gets loud

He does like Miss Blackbird though, she took notice of him and helped him set up the department of obfuscation and told him to watch his manners when he got mean with her.

Later, when he was organising the loop raids, he always found a way to avoid going into her loop. If someone came out of her loop though, they were out of her protection and would get grabbed up.

Percy met Horatio when he was working at the department of obfuscation. He was almost 21 when Horatio’s scrawny ass swaggered into the department, looking for a disguise for a job he was working.

Horatio was part of an American group of freelance spies that had made their own organisation so they could get better jobs. Horatio’s barely older than Percy, and thinks himself to be real hot shit.

While Percy helped Horatio find what he was looking for, Horatio talked his ear off. Strange thing is, no matter how many short answers Percy gave him, Horatio seemed happy to talk to him. Stranger still, Percy got comfortable talking to Horatio.

At the end of Horatio’s visit, he writes down how Percy can contact him, and tells Percy he would make a good spy.

Percy starts helping out the spies with their disguises a lot and eventually does join them

Percy and Horatio become really good friends, they work together a lot and hang out outside their spy work too

Horatio likes the department of obfuscation. He shows up randomly just to hang around and talk to people. He likes to sit on the front desk and chat with the assistants and customers and go through the books they have. Some times Percy tells him to get off his ass and do something useful (affectionately). Sometimes Horatio is flippant about his request, but sometimes he obliges.

Finn and I have decided that some of the assistants at the department got little crushes on Horatio because he’s all mysterious and cool. They try to get him to open up beyond the Casual Friendliness but Percy notices too soon and tells them to lay off. Horatio thought it was funny but wasn’t interested and wasn’t looking forward to them getting too comfortable.

I’m telling you all this because I need you to know how much things changed.

Jack was just supposed to be one of their jobs. The spy agency got wind of it from the ymbrynnes who heard from one of their junior ymbrynnes, Alma, who got a letter from the brother that she kept in contact with that some new political sect was going to be nearby the department and the council wanted Percival and Horatio to check it out. See what all was happening and perhaps feel out some weaknesses?

They go to the rally.

Both of them are so. incredibly. annoyed. At the whole thing. They both know the ymbrynnes have their issues, but do anything overall good job. And they were both raised by ymbrynnes. It’s just ridiculous!

Well, apparently that’s not the end of the job.

Because SOMEONE. At the rally. Knew who Percy was. Knew where he worked. So when the little man up on the stage asked around if anyone knew who Percy was. He got his answer.

Much to Percy’s great annoyance.

Jack showed up at the department of obfuscation.

He does not know Percy is spying on him or knows who he is beyond that one rally.

The second Jack opens the door Horatio shouts that he’s getting coffee, launches off the desk, and leaves. he Does Not want to deal with the slimeball.

Percy is left to deal with Jack and makes a list of reasons why Horatio is a terrible friend for leaving him with Jack so he can shout them all at Horatio later.

Jack thinks that the department is a store and tries to buy something, which almost offends Percy.

Jack spends the entire time trying so so so hard to flirt with Percy but it’s like he’s flirting with a brick wall, both because Percy’s built like one and because he’s solidly Not Interested

Jack is, and I cannot stress this enough, drooling. Acting a complete fool. Trying so incredibly hard to get any little bit of attention from Percy and it is just not happening and that only makes him more interested. He’s used to people liking him! They’re supposed to! Why does this one not like him?

Does not improve the situation for Jack that Percival is hot. I’m not just speaking for Jack here, I mean it. Were he not an evil bastard, I would lick him.

This continues for about,,three weeks? A little more maybe? In any case, Percy starts to find Jack tolerable. He’s not bad, just has some dumbshit opinions. He compliments Percy a lot, which Percy starts to enjoy.

Horatio stays Not Liking him. He doesn’t trust him and refuses to engage. Both because he’s spying on Jack and he can’t find it in himself to pretend. He complains to Percy every chance he gets.

Percy, once, says something like “he’s not all that bad” and Horatio starts laughing because OH YES HE IS HE’S INTOLERABLE!!

Unfortunately for Horatio, they decide that their next course of action is actually joining the claywings. Which means they’ll be seeing even more of Jack.

This is supposed to be a completely professional move, one that does not reflect their actual opinions. They just need to get close.

After they join, Percy starts actually hanging around with Jack. He says it’s just for the job, and Horatio trusts him.

It is for their job, at first. Jack is still mildly annoying, and Percy still doesn’t agree with him. But he’s starting to see the merit in Jack’s ideas. Where Jack is coming from with his antiymbrynne agenda.

I'm actually going to end this here for now, it's long enough, but i will start a part two and then do the Perekoo headcanons! sorry this took so long, love ya <3

[mystiika]

anonymous asked: I'd love to hear any of your headcanons about Peter being a dad. This is the same anon btw

   welcome back ! i’m not sure i have any specific headcanons planned out as of yet. in canon, children has never been in the cards for him for obvious reasons. & then outside the canon timeline, well it’s something that still hasn’t really come up. though i can say for certain that while peter would be afraid he’d do a bad job, he does still absolutely want kids one day.

   all i can really tell you is that he would try to do his best, & to do right by his kid. he grew up without a dad & true to the times, that had an effect on him. he went to muggle primary school, saw all his friends & peers, he saw them interacting with their dads. & while he never felt like his mum wasn’t up to the challenge, part of him couldn’t help but feel like something was missing because that’s what society had told him.

   his mother had been disowned ( with the exception of one of her sisters ) when she left her husband/peter’s dad & it’s something that was never really addressed directly, just sort of something he figured out on his own. but because of his low self esteem, he couldn’t help but feel like it was his fault that his dad left, that he’d done something wrong. it wasn’t until he was much much older that he found out the truth ( which is something i should really talk about in a meta or smt lol ). the full context of what was happening at home + the fact that it was actually his mother that left his dad, not the other way around. it all happened when peter was so young that he doesn’t really have any memories of it. all he really has is the one conversation he’d had with his mum when he was a teen, & a scar on his back that he didn’t want to ask about ( dun dun dun )

   but in some world or au where peter is able to have a kid, his only goal is just to be a good dad. he wants any kids he has to feel special & loved, & not have to wonder or blame themselves for anything happening with their parents.

   if you want more like... small ideas ig? here’s a few

growing up he always wanted to make himself useful even at home with his mum so he learned to cook & bake ( he liked baking especially ), lots of gardening which helped him a fair bit in herbology, etc. mostly “feminine” hobbies because of that lack of father figure but peter rather liked it so he didn’t mind. as a result i see him trying to make sure those skills are ones his kids also have, at least at the basics

homemade birthday cakes

he was always big on muggle comic books so i imagine he’d try to share that love of superheros & the like with his kids

will spend hours listening to his kids talk & encourage them if there’s something they’re passionate or excited about

will probably raise his kids in a muggle community until they go to hogwarts because he thinks it will give them a better world view/be more open minded

his mum read him poems instead of regular bedtime stories so i feel like he’d probably sprinkle in a few of those as well

WILL ABSOLUTELY be the dad that offers to get up in the middle of the night to take care of the baby. his go to his softly singing in the kitchen with the microwave going for white noise

loves being a dad & will let everyone know it

would absolutely offer to be a stay at home dad so his wife can work if she wants to/also he gets to spend more time with his kids??? so win win honestly ( i mean i say wife bc he’s more likely to end up with a woman but who knows nothing’s impossible )

if there’s a good cop bad cop in his marriage, he’s the good cop unless forced out of the role

that being said he’s not afraid to discipline if needed but bc he doesn’t get angry all that much, the kids find it terrifying. it’s not even that he’s especially scary when he’s mad?? just the change in behaviour has his kids suddenly sitting with perfect posture

idk i could probably think of more but that’s just what comes to mind first !! i tend to do better with a prompt tho so feel free to ask abt anything you’re curious about :)

[nadiineross]

Chlodine with kids!!!!!! Maybe Nadine’s little siblings I can imagine her having a huge family. Or Chloe having a secret son or daughter from her more wild days and Nadine not finding out for like years and being like !!!

imma do nadines family bc my thoughts on chlodine + kids are Complicated and also someone else wrote a fic abt chloe w/ a secret kid im waiting on an update !!! lots of e•mo•tions

this got rly long

Chloe Frazer is, without a doubt, an only child. Nadine had never assumed anything else and would’ve been very surprised if she learned otherwise, but as it stands, this is not the case. 

Nadine, on the other hand, has four siblings. She’s the oldest, having the responsibility of inheriting Shoreline and bearing the brunt of her father’s expectations. He wasn’t a bad father, all things considered. Sure, he had his faults like everyone does, but he never neglected her nor did he seek to pressure Nadine into a future with Shoreline. That was all on her and, upon realizing this, he had only tried to push her into it further, to support her. 

In the end, it didn’t really pan out, huh? 

No one in her family blamed her for the loss of Shoreline. In fact, they had all tried to pitch in when Nadine had truly hit rock bottom and did their best to make her feel better. The incessant phone calls and hugging, she accepted. Their money? She did not.

Now, two years after the fact, she finds that she’s much happier, lighter, in her new career path and her family seems to agree.

“Nadine!” her brother, Junior, hollers the moment she steps through the door. “You look great!”

He’s the second child, only two years younger than her at 30, and the one she is the closest to because of it.

She barely manages a greeting before she’s engulfed in a tight bear hug. Quickly, another weight is wrapped around her back and one of her legs is ensnared by a pair of smaller arms. Like moths to a light, her family.

The compulsory family reunion in their old family home in South Africa is something Nadine secretly looks forward to, though she would never say that aloud, lest she wants to be razzed to death by her siblings.

After Junior comes Mia, who turned 29 only last week (Nadine had flowers delivered and mailed her a beautiful bracelet she’d found snooping through old Greek ruins), and finally Grace, 24.

As it turns out, it’s Grace that barreled into her first. Behind her, her mother fusses with her hair and around her leg is Junior’s 6-year-old son, Blessing.

“Ma,” Nadine croaks out around a mouthful of Grace’s hair. “Leave me alone, I’m going to the barber next week.”

Her mother does not leave her alone. “You don’t call for three weeks and this is the first thing you say to me?”

Grace lets go, snickering at Nadine’s apprehension. Nadine glares.

After Junior and Mia get their turns hugging her, she ducks away from her mother’s grabbing, muttering a quick “love you!”, and scoops Blessing up into her arms. He instantly shrieks with glee, trying to claw up her arms and settle on her shoulders.

Junior’s wife, Vivienne, a plump Filipina with enough wit to beat Grace in an argument, presses a brief kiss to Nadine’s cheek as she passes by.

“Don’t mess with Auntie’s hair, boy,” she says, sternly. “Grandma will make you do the dishes.”

Blessing giggles, clearly unaware of what’s going on. Nadine rolls her eyes. “All right, all right. Where’s Rose?”

“She’s at a friend’s birthday party. It’s a sleepover. Apparently turning 10 is a really, really big deal.”

“2 months until you have to throw that party for her,” Nadine says with a laugh.

“Ugh, don’t remind me.”

It’s then that Mia cuts in, only pausing to poke Blessing on the nose, and stands directly in front of Nadine just to annoy her. “Viv, I need pregnancy advice. Is it normal having to pee this much? I hate it. This is why I didn’t drink enough water when I was in high school.”

Well, that’s her cue. She elbows Mia sharply in the back before hurrying into the kitchen where her mother and Junior are to avoid retaliation.

They’re preparing to set the table, so she makes to hand Blessing off to Junior except he does an impressive job of wrapping himself around her back like a sloth on a branch. Junior bellows out a laugh.

“He likes you more than me.”

Nadine pulls a face. “Ma likes you more than me, so it evens out.”

Nadine’s mother thwacks her over the head. “I don’t play favourites.” Grace whisks by, picking up the plates as she does. Her mother follows after her with the rest of the plates. “Never mind, Grace is my favourite.”

Junior makes an indignant sound from the back of his throat.

“Can—Can you take a picture?” Nadine asks, gently removing Blessing’s entire hand from her face. “I’d like to show my— Chloe.”

“Sure,” Junior says, raising an eyebrow. “Your Chloe?”

“Shut up,” she huffs.

Blessing chooses this exact moment to sling himself over her shoulder, making her yelp and grab onto his arms to steady him. He laughs, waving his fists in the air like he has won something.

Chloe will love that picture.

“Eish, what are you feeding him?”

Junior tucks his phone away and grins a boyish grin. “Love.” Nadine wrinkles her nose. “Viv learned how to make some kind of pasta and he’s obsessed with it. We have leftovers still in our fridge.”

He stops disjointedly, in a way that makes it clear he expects a reaction from Nadine.

She frowns. “Okay?”

“Where’s Chloe?”

“Australia, with her mum. She flies in on Sunday.”

Junior hums and pushes a salt shaker with a single finger, looking too nonchalant to actually be nonchalant. “You and Chloe are welcome to come over for pasta, if you want and if you’re still around next weekend.”

Nadine, jaded from years of being the oldest sibling, is instantly wary, narrowing her eyes at him. “What’s the catch?”

“There is no catch.”

“Liar.”

Junior huffs, plucking Blessing out of her arms and setting him onto the island. “Seriously. No catch.”

“Okay,” she says slowly, cautiously, “We’ll come over for dinner next Friday?”

“Great! Show up at 6:00.” He claps his hands together. “Reheat the pasta and have a glass of wine, on me. Rose needs help with math homework and Blessing likes to watch Kim Possible, we have DVDs. Bedtimes at 8:30; Blessing usually passes out earlier. We’ll be back midnight at the latest.”

“You said there was no catch!”

“Does spending time with your beloved niece and nephew really count as a ‘catch’?” he asks, snooty, with air quotes to top it all off.

Nadine sighs. “Yes, but we’ll be there.”

She loves family reunions, really. Especially the fact that it’s only compulsory once a year, barring Hanukkah.

Chloe has met her siblings and her mother before. Not during the family reunion due to unfortunate timing, but on separate occasions over the year and a half they’ve been working together. She has never met Rose or Blessing.

Junior and Viv like her enough to have a group chat with her (one that Nadine has tried to join, but had been ruthlessly denied entry by her partner after a sharp cackle), so she’s not surprised that the first thing Chloe says to her after catapulting herself into Nadine’s arms at the airport is: “Heard I’m a babysitter. Try not to crush on me, china.”

Nadine had laughed into her neck at that, made a quip about how she smelled like an aeroplane.

Now, they’re on Junior’s porch, seeing the happy couple off on their date night.

“What are your intentions with Viv?” Chloe jokes, nudging Junior with a conspiratorial wink. Viv snorts.

“Curfew’s eleven,” Nadine calls after them.

“They grow up so fast.”

“Ja.” Nadine smiles then, leaning against the door so Chloe can pass through first. “Ready?”

“To eat good food, drink, and watch 2 kids for a couple of hours? Not that hard, is it?”

Nadine bends to take off her shoes, about to reply with something smart, but Blessing comes pounding down the hallway, blowing right past Chloe and taking an impressive leap onto Nadine’s back. He snakes his arms around her neck and wiggles his legs until she stands.

Nadine gives Chloe a look.

“All right, maybe I misjudged.” Chloe leans closer in, curious, face startlingly close to Nadine’s. “Hey, I’m Chloe. You’re Blessing, right?”

Blessing squints, puckers his lips, then gives one decisive nod, chin digging into Nadine’s shoulder. “This is Auntie.”

Chloe’s face dissolves into an endeared beam. “I know her!”

Nadine tries very hard not to flush out of pure adoration. She’s not sure if it works because Chloe doesn’t mention it.

“Where’s your sister, B?”

“Here,” Rose says, skidding down the hallway in her socks. “Who’re you?”

Chloe holds out a hand which Rose takes and shakes enthusiastically. “Chloe. I work with your Auntie.”

When she turns, Nadine furrows her eyebrows, hands tightening imperceptibly under Blessing’s legs. She tilts her head when Nadine brushes by, suddenly feeling bereft.

Before Nadine can disappear into a room, Chloe stops her with a hand on her stomach.

“Don’t tell, but I think she has a crush on me,” Chloe stage whispers to Rose. “I told her not to.”

Rose’s eyes grow wider. “Do you like her back?”

Chloe stands then, smiling at Nadine brilliantly. “I do.”

This time, Nadine’s certain she’s blushing and judging by how Chloe’s started to leer at her, she must look redder than usual.

Before Rose can ask any more questions, Nadine hikes Blessing higher up and moves towards the end of the hallway.

“C’mon, Rose. Let’s watch some TV while Chloe heats dinner up,” she says, jerking her head towards the kitchen door for Chloe. “Your dad said you need help with math?”

Rose lets out a very loud and long groan at that.

After Nadine is directed to the collection of Kim Possible DVDs and sets it up, she sends Rose off to grab her homework. Then, she pries Blessing away from his Barbies and props him against one hip.

Chloe’s humming a tune and opening random drawers when Nadine finds her in the kitchen. She’s got an apron hanging from her neck, even though she’s literally just popping something into the microwave and opening a bottle.

Blessing reaches for the counter, so she sets him down. “Chloe, I’m hungry!”

Chloe spins and catches Nadine’s eye briefly. “Yes, yes,” she says, “give me a minute, love. Impatience runs in the family, I guess.”

Nadine chuckles, crossing the distance and tugging the loose ends of the apron. “You’re one to talk.”

“Oh, hush.” She leans back a little, into Nadine’s warmth.

She turns after a beat, corners of her mouth tipped up, and catches Nadine’s mouth in a kiss. It’s nice, for about two seconds, then Blessing starts drawing out an “eww” and smacking his palms on the table.

Chloe pulls away, eyes still half-lidded. “I was gonna say they were adorable, but…”

Nadine huffs a laugh and narrows her eyes at Blessing. “What are you complaining about?”

“Rose does that when mama kisses daddy,” he says matter-of-factly.

“Hm,” she says, “keep doing that, champ.”

Chloe barks out a laugh, lightly slapping Nadine’s arm. Nadine grabs her wrists, kissing her chastely before pulling away completely.

“The forks are behind you.”

“Thanks,” Chloe says, not moving and hauling her back in. Nadine looks unimpressed.

Blessing groans again.

“What does the apron say, soldier?” KISS THE COOK. That’s probably Junior’s. She grimaces at it with great disdain. “So?”

In response, Nadine untangles herself from Chloe and places Blessing into his usual spot at her hip.

“Ah, figures.”

Rose is waiting in the living room when they all return, pasta in hand; one bowl each for the kids and a big plate for Chloe and Nadine to share. Fewer dishes to do this way. Plus, Nadine only has one hand to spare, the other keeping Blessing from wriggling onto the floor.

After setting the bowls down, Chloe presses play on the first episode and puts the volume lower so Rose can concentrate.

Poised over the couch, Nadine cranes her neck to watch Blessing tuck his face into her back, holding on stubbornly.

”Off! Off, off, off.” After a moment, he grabs tighter onto her shoulders. “No?”

Blessing shakes his head. “No.”

“You asked for it.” She grabs onto his legs for safety and starts to hop in place—once, twice, three times. Blessing squeals in her ear. On the fourth time, she drops into a squat, so that his legs are on the couch and scrapes him off her back. “Time for dinner, B.”

He pouts, eyes wide. “Aw, boo.” It takes her a hot second to resist that. Atrocious.

She pushes the lime green bowl and matching plastic fork into his hands. “If you want to grow taller than your sister, you gotta eat up.”

When she looks over to Chloe, she’s on the floor next to Rose with her homework out on the coffee table some ways away from the couch. She’s watching Nadine, jaw cupped in her palm, with a soft look.

Nadine, self-conscious, looks away and scoots closer to Rose’s other side. “What?”

“Nothing,” Chloe says after a beat, bending closer to look at Rose’s paper. Almost immediately after, she touches Rose’s hand before she can write something down and quietly points out her mistake.

They get through two episodes in relative peace before Blessing decides that he’s done with his dinner and bonks the bottom of the bowl lightly on Nadine’s head. Chloe stifles a laugh at Nadine’s exaggerated outrage.

She takes the bowl from Blessing, towering over him as he giggles madly into a pillow.

“This is my shield,” he declares.

Nadine crosses her arms. “That’s not fair. I don’t have a sword.”

“Victory!”

Chloe doesn’t try hiding her delight this time.

It’s only another Kim Possible episode later that Blessing calms down enough to sit still on the couch. Nadine scrapes his leftovers onto their shared plate.

Rose has picked her entire bowl clean and has been sipping at a glass of milk Chloe had gotten for her when Nadine had been busy entertaining Blessing. When Nadine offers her a second serving, she just shakes her head, brows furrowed at the question on her paper.

Finally, she turns her attention to Chloe who is, funnily enough, engrossed with the Kim Possible episode playing.

She jerks her head up when Nadine places her hand on her back, startled.

“Go eat on the couch, I’ll watch Rose.” She promptly shoves the plate into Chloe’s hands and plops down onto the ground, leaving no room for argument.

“Last one,” Rose says, tapping her pencil on the table.

Nadine leans over her arm to look at the paper. “Do you need any help?”

“Nope,” she replies, popping the p. She scribbles something down, then crosses it out. “Auntie?”

“Ja?”

“I think Chloe likes you,” she whispers, glancing back at Chloe who’s using Blessing’s head as an armrest while he squirms under her, mouth open in his best attempt at a roar.

Nadine tries not to smile, turning back to Rose. She fails. “You mean like-like?”

Rose puts her pencil down and scowls at her. “I’m not 8. I can say love.”

“You’re 9.”

Rose scoffs, pointedly going back to her homework.

Nadine feels nervous all of a sudden, and bizarrely, embarrassed. She’s 32, Chloe 35, and they have yet to say the L-word. Not that she can presume to know how Chloe feels, but she knows how she feels.

They’ve been officially together just over a year now. The months before it, they had spent sleeping with each other sporadically when they met up for a job. Back then, Nadine knew how she felt too. Her feelings hadn’t been quite as deep as they were now — maybe fondness. She felt that whatever they had, if they both allowed it, would last and for a very long time.

A year, they’ve lasted so far. She knows all the little things now. Chloe’s morning routine, her weird figures of speech, which side she sleeps on. She knows the important things and the unimportant things that Nadine cherishes equally to the former.

They have lasted and strengthened, taking Nadine’s feelings lightyears past simple fondness. She wonders sometimes, considering the trajectory, if she can find the words to describe it if her feelings stretched past love. For now, that word will do.

She loves Chloe, this she has known for months. Chloe certainly likes her in a way that extends past the shallow.

She drags a hand down her forehead. It’s one thing to think it, another to confront it head-on, but Nadine Ross has never been a coward. Cautious, yes, but not cowardly.

She puts her chin on the table, watching the top of Rose’s pencil wave in the air as she writes.

“I like Chloe too,” Nadine says, voice low because if Chloe overheard, she would never hear the end of it.

Rose finishes what she’s written with a flourish, then copies Nadine, putting her chin on the table. “Only like?”

“More than,” Nadine replies, pausing to gather her courage. Then, scandalously: “Love.”

“Ooh, Auntie,” Rose teases, mocking, in a whiny tone that you’d expect from a pre-teen boy sneering “cooties!”

“I thought you were mature,” says Nadine, reaching out to poke Rose’s cheek.

Rose turns her nose up. “I’m only 9.”

Nadine laughs. Rose is so obviously Junior and Viv’s child, she can’t help the sudden urge to hug her.

She gets away with swinging Rose into the air and carrying her over her shoulder, running twice around the room as she laughs and lets Nadine do this without complaint. Afterwards, they collapse onto the couch where Chloe’s got Blessing in her lap, the both of them watching the screen intently.

Rose gets comfortable, settled between Chloe and Nadine, while Nadine tries to sneak pictures of them all together.

She gets away with two before Chloe cuts away from Ron Stoppable in his tree house and looks directly at the camera. She gives Nadine a winning grin, tightening her arms around Blessing’s middle.

By 8:30, Blessing’s dozing off on Chloe’s sternum, snoring lightly. Similarly, Rose is nodding off against Nadine’s arm.

Sharing a look, they both get up, carrying a Ross in their arms. Nadine shushes Rose when she jolts awake, instinctively rocking on the balls of her feet in an attempt to get Rose to fall back asleep.

They go up the stairs to another hallway, Nadine leading Chloe to a door that has the letter R painted on it in baby blue. She sets Rose down in her bed, pulling the blanket over her shoulders and turning the A/C off in case it gets colder at night.

“The night light,” Chloe whispers. Nadine flips it on before ushering Chloe out, towards the door with B painted in mauve.

Chloe does the motions: tucking Blessing in, checking the A/C, and finding the night light.

Nadine leans against the doorframe, waiting for her to finish with the curtains. It’s weird, seeing Chloe like this. Not in a bad way, no. Nadine finds that she can watch Chloe do this for hours, fascinated.

There’s a warmth blossoming in her chest, the kind she feels when she’s come home for the first time in a while for Hanukkah and her family is gathered around the room, closer together because it’s cold outside.

Nadine is not entirely sure what she’s supposed to do with this.

In the end, Chloe finishes up and interrupts her introspection, shooing her away so she can close the door. As is natural by now, Chloe grabs her hand and gives it a pull towards the stairs. Nadine grips back before she can drop her hand away.

They don’t speak until they’re back in the living room, Kim Possible still playing on low volume. They won’t leave until Junior and Viv get back, in case the kids wake up again.

Out of nowhere, Chloe makes a thoughtful noise after easing onto the couch with a sigh.

Nadine examines her face, eyebrows hiking up when Chloe’s eyes flick to meet hers and discovers that they are arrestingly determined.

She uses her free hand to pull Nadine in for a languid kiss. It’s fairly innocent for them, so Nadine’s unsurprised when Chloe settles back into the couch after they part, focused on the TV.

“Liefie,” she says, waiting for Chloe to look over. “I think I like the babysitter.”

Chloe chuckles, pressing into Nadine’s side. “That’s convenient. I think I like the babysitter, too.”

It’s quiet then. Nadine’s content like this.

They get through three and a half episodes of Kim Possible before Chloe makes a really undignified noise at something that happens on screen and Nadine has to hide a laugh behind a cough. Chloe catches it and scowls at her.

“Hey now, Ross, that wasn’t—”

“Calm down, I won’t tell anyone that you’re a die hard Kim Possible fan.”

Chloe harrumphs, sprawling onto Nadine more so that she’s half on top of her.

Nadine winds her arm around Chloe’s waist and turns so her nose brushes Chloe’s cheek.

“Liefie,” she says again.

“Mhm,” Chloe replies distractedly.

“I love you.”

Chloe stiffens, and in quick succession, relaxes, tenses, and relaxes again.

She turns her head, swaying back so she can see Nadine’s face properly. Then, she smiles, eyes wrinkled at the corners and all, and says, “I love you too.”

Nadine can’t help but kiss her. This one is longer, more earnest.

And Chloe pulls away, sucking in a breath. “We should pick this up when we go back to the apartment.”

“Self-control? For once?” Nadine says against her jaw.

“I want to watch my favourite show: Kim Possible,” Chloe replies, voice light with mirth. “You’re just here for the commercial breaks.”

“It’s a DVD.”

Chloe blindly pats her face, mhms absentmindedly, and accepts a kiss to her cheek.

Nadine loves her for it.