#also his rope belt thing is like a tail when you look from the back

[transmascanakin]

Saw people making yaelokre ocs and I had a crossover idea i couldnt get out of my head

[storiesforallfandoms]

spirit of nature ~ jack sparrow;pirates of the carribean

word count: 2716

request?: yes!

@lazuli-leenabride​

“Yay! Could you do Jack Sparrow with a water Nymph?

Maybe where his crew found them and thought they were a mermaid at first?

Please and thank you!! 🦋🦋💘”

description: in which they save a creature of the sea, and their captain takes interest in her

pairing: captain jack sparrow x female!reader

warnings: swearing

masterlist (one, two)

Captain Jack Sparrow was not the type to ignore cries for help. Especially not when the cries sounded like they were coming from a woman in distress.

It was an otherwise calm day as sea when shrieks of fear broke through the otherwise silent sea. Jack quickly rushed to the bow with his telescope in hand. In the distance, he could see another ship sailing away from them while a figure that looked like a woman was thrashing in the water, what looked like a net wrapped around her making it hard for her to stay afloat.

“Prepare a rescue, men!” Jack announced. “We have a potential distressed captive dead ahead!”

His men quickly rushed to the side of the ship as they approached the still thrashing figure. One of them threw a rope into the water as they got closer and it landed just next to the distressed woman. She didn’t hesitate to reach out one of her arms - which the ship came to realize was partly bound to her - the best she could and hold on tightly as they began to raise her onto the ship.

Her entire body was bound and a net was thrown over her, now clinging to her as they pulled her in and laid her out on the deck. She was shivering and she had a fearful look in her eyes as she took in the crew of pirates standing around her.

Jack pushed to the front of the crowd to take a look at the woman. Through her bindings, he realized she was naked. He turned to Gibbs and commanded, “Get her something to cover up while we cut her free.”

“Jack,” Gibbs said, “she’s...she’s not human.”

When Jack looked back at the woman, he saw that Gibbs was right. Although the top half of her body was human, the bottom half seemed to be slowly turning from a tail to human legs. This woman was a creature of the sea - potentially a mermaid, which was one of the most dangerous thing a sailor could come across in the entire world.

But she was also scared. She was also tied up and thrown overboard. For what, Jack had no idea. It didn’t seem overly smart to try and drown her since she could breathe under water, but maybe having her tied up so that she couldn’t swim and instead would sink to the bottom and risk being attacked by other sea creatures.

Whether or not she was a mermaid was currently irrelevant. Right now what matter was helping her.

“Get her something to cove up,” Jack repeated. “Find her somewhere to stay that is away from the others.”

Gibbs seemed reluctant, but he did as Jack said. None of his other crewmates would dare to approach the woman, so Jack was the one who had to step up and set her free. When he took a step forward, she whimpered and tried to move away from him.

“I’m not going to hurt you,” Jack assured her. “I’m going to get these bindings off of you. My first mate is getting clothes for you and finding a place for you to stay. But first, I have to cut this stuff off of you, okay?”

She looked at him with wide eyes, like she didn’t believe that he wasn’t going to hurt her, but eventually nodded anyways. Whatever he could do to her couldn’t be any worse than what the other ship had done.

Jack produced a knife from his belt and worked at the net first. She was so tangled in it that there was no way he could just pull her free without harming her. He cut away at the net until it fell around her. Next, he started cutting at the ropes that bound her arms to her body, and that bound her now formed human legs together. The rope left behind terrible rope burn that felt like a fire was set around the areas of her body that it had been tied. She wished to leap back into the water to try and cool the burn, but she was still so exhausted and in so much pain that she knew she needed rest for the night.

Jack positioned himself so that his men couldn’t take in the sight of the naked woman in front of them. He found it a struggle not to glance down at her body, so close to his, but he did his best as he waited for Gibbs to return.

“Who took you before?” he asked her in a hushed voice. “Who threw you into the sea like this?”

She just looked back at him, her eyes wide. He could see she was still afraid. There was no use in pushing her for details now, especially when they were so fresh in her mind. Eventually she would speak, or maybe she wouldn’t and she would just wish to be released back into the water once she was rested. Either way, Jack wasn’t going to push the topic if she wasn’t willing to speak.

Gibbs finally returned with a blanket to wrap around her. He told Jack he had a private area prepared for the woman to stay in along with clothes for her to change into when she was alone. He still looked skeptical of Jack’s decision, but he kept that to himself.

Jack wrapped the woman in the blanket and helped her to her feet. She was hesitant to follow him at first, but eventually gave in and allowed the pirate captain to show her to her room.

“May I ask your name?” he asked her once they had arrived.

In a soft voice she responded, “(Y/N).”

He nodded. “Welcome aboard then, (Y/N).”

~~~~~~

The crew were abuzz the entire night about their passenger. None of them would bring the issue up with Jack directly, not wanting to go against the orders of their captain.

Gibbs, however, had no problem bringing the crew’s issue to Jack.

“They don’t trust that woman,” he was saying to Jack. “They’re afraid she has put some sort of spell on you with her mermaid powers. They think she’s going to make you do something stupid like give her the ship.”

“Gibbs, have I ever done something stupid for the sake of a woman?”

Gibbs gave Jack a look and opened his mouth to respond, but Jack held up a hand to cut him off. “Don’t answer that. I understand everyone’s concern, but I truly do not believe that woman is a mermaid. Mermaids usually use their powers to entrance any many around them. If she was truly a mermaid, then she would have all of us under her spell, not just me.”

“Then how do you explain the tail?”

Jack shrugged. “A bad cause of scabbies, maybe.”

“Jack,” Gibbs sighed. “I can’t talk you out of something once your mind is set to it, and I know that, but I want you to truly think about this. That other ship may have tossed her over because she tried to entice them as well and they realized before it was too late. What if she tries to do the same to us?”

“Then you can rub it in my face that you were right. But until then, I want you to respect my decision and do as I say. And that goes for the entire crew. You got that?”

Gibbs nodded. Jack waved a hand to dismiss him and turned to the closed door to the room that held their visitor. He approached the door, intending to go in to check on the woman, but stopped short and instead, deciding to knock.

There was a moment of silence before a timid voice asked, “Who is there?”

“It’s the captain, Jack,” he said. “May I come in?”

Another moment of silence, broken by the sound of the lock on the door being pulled back. When the door didn’t open, Jack let himself in.

She was sat on the bed, now clothed. She had herself curled up as far away from Jack as she could get. He could see she was still trembling, but he knew this was from fear now as opposed to from the cold.

“I just wanted to check on you,” he said. “See how you were feeling.”

“I appreciate the private room, and the clothes that you have provided for me,” she responded. She wouldn’t look at him, opting instead to study the wall in front of her. “Once I regain my strength, I will be going.”

“If that’s what you wish, we shall leave you on whatever island you desire to go.”

She shook her head. “I can swim.”

“I should rather think you wouldn’t want to go back into the water after an attempted drowning.”

“You know I am not human,” she said. “I saw the way your crew looked at me. I saw my own tail when you pulled me on board. You must know that I will be more than fine to be released back into the water.”

Jack nodded. “Whatever you wish, (Y/N).”

When it became evident that she was not going to speak anymore, Jack turned to the door to leave. He had his hand on the doorknob when suddenly she shot up from the bed, reaching out to stop him from leaving. Her hand met his and he felt the ice cold feeling of her skin. She jumped away just as quickly as she touched him, almost as if a switch were flipped inside her.

“I want your word that you will let me go,” she said. Her voice was still low, but there was more force behind it now.

Jack raised an eyebrow at her. “Why would you trust the word of a pirate?”

“I don’t. I don’t trust the word of any man, actually. But I want to hear you say you will let me go so I can determine whether or not you are lying.”

Jack turned to fully face her. She almost shrunk away from him, but found her courage and stood up tall. Jack could still see the fear in her eyes when she looked at him, but he could also see that it was starting to melt away. She was becoming more confident, more courageous. Maybe not comfortable, but he doubted any woman, sea creature or not, would feel comfortable in the presence of a pirate captain.

“I, Captain Jack Sparrow, give you my word that when you wish to leave this ship, we will let you leave without a fight,” he told her.

“You will not harm me?” she asked.

“We will not harm you,” he confirmed.

She studied his face for a moment before turning away. “You seem honest.”

“What did the men on that other ship do to you?”

She tensed. “They wished to kill me. They tied me up so that I wouldn’t be able to free myself from the net or to swim away, and they threw me in with an anchored net so that I would sink to the bottom of the ocean.”

“Lucky for you they didn’t know you weren’t human.”

No response. (Y/N) climbed back onto her bed. She wouldn’t meet his eye again, but this time she looked down at her lap.

“They knew,” she whispered.

Jack sat at the foot of her bed. He made sure to keep a distance between them as to not startle her further. It seemed he was starting to earn her trust if she was willing to tell him even the slightest details of what the men on the other ship had tried to do to her.

“What are you?” he asked. “My men think you are a mermaid, but I think otherwise.”

An amused look crossed her face. “Why do you think that?”

“I have encountered mermaids before. If one was on our ship, she would not let the men fear her. You would have enchanted everyone on this ship to worship you the moment we saved you.”

(Y/N) made a face of disgust. “Those retched creatures have ruined us. They have left a horrid reputation for us Naiads who just wish to protect the water and all its creatures, and do not wish to engage with humans.”

“Naiads?”

“A water nymph,” (Y/N) explained. “That’s what I am. I do not wish to cause harm to humans, just to care for the creatures who live in water. We don’t even live in the ocean the way that mermaids do. We prefer bodies of fresh water, like rivers and streams. That’s how those men found me. I was in my home pond in the woods when those men came trampling through. They saw me there, just watching them peacefully, and they grabbed me. They though that I was a mermaid, and apparently one of their men had been killed by a mermaid. They wanted revenge.”

Something about the hurt and afraid expression on her face angered Jack. He hoped they would come across the terrible men who had hurt (Y/N) so he could take care of them himself.

“Did they harm you?” he asked.

She shook her head. “They wanted me to suffer. They locked me in a tiny cage with no food for days, they’d give me water occasionally but only by pouring it on me so that my tail would come out and they could jab at it. And then they tied me up and tossed me into the ocean hoping I would sink or be eaten. I’m lucky you and your crew were sailing the same waters, otherwise I may not be here now.”

“I’m glad we saved you.”

When (Y/N) looked up to meet his eye, Jack could’ve been convinced that she truly was a mermaid, because just looking into her eyes took his breath away. He was willing to go to the ends of the Earth to protect her if that’s what she wanted.

But then he realized it wasn’t that she was using some sort of power on him to make him feel this way. It was that he was finally seeing the real (Y/N). The one who wasn’t afraid of him, but the one who trusted him enough to confide her true identity to him. The one who felt enough trust that she was letting her walls down, and now that they were down he could finally see her true beauty.

“Do you still wish to leave so soon?” he found himself asking.

(Y/N) was studying his face again before shaking her head. “No. I feel safer here than I do in the water right now. Not while those bastards are still out there.”

“Whenever you are ready to go back to the water, we will take you somewhere secluded enough that you won’t have to worry about them. And we’ll be sure to protect the area, and you, whenever we are around.”

“But how will you remember where you have left me if it is as secluded as you promise?”

“Oh, I’ll remember.”

(Y/N) seemed to understand what he was inferring. She smiled at him; a small, beautiful smile that almost took Jack’s breath away. He couldn’t help but smile back at her.

Their moment was quickly interrupted by the sound of (Y/N)’s stomach growling. They looked at each other for a moment before beginning to laugh.

“Would you like something to eat?” he asked. “We don’t exactly have fine dining on board, but we have enough food to feed a new passenger for a while.”

“I’ll take anything. I’m starving,” she responded.

Jack stood again and started for the door. “Alright, I’ll be back with something in just a moment.”

“Bring something for yourself, too,” she told him. “Perhaps we can eat together.”

Jack nodded, a smile tugging at his lips again. When he left, he didn’t close the door behind him so that (Y/N) knew that he truly was not trying to lock her away the way her captors had. He was merely giving her the option of privacy if she so desired.

And when he returned, the door was open, a welcoming gesture of her inviting him back into her room.

[britt-kageryuu]

Leo for some reason decided to stream at work using the AR system, he claims that it's because it's been pretty slow recently because of the relatively small amount of clients. So his model is dressed in blue jeans, black boots, a minty green shirt, a lab coat with an ID badge, his mask with shorter than normal tails, with a stethoscope around his neck. Sitting in a rolling chair next to a desk and shelves.

The stream can only see the front desk area, and all the paperwork seen looks like it written in an alien language because of a filter, and Leo wanting to mess with the veiwers. Including his Degree(s) on the hall, since they read as presented from a hidden city college/university.

River is there in her robot body disinfecting the waiting room, and organizing the books/magazines, toys, and Cafe station.

A notification goes off with a question about the comic books Donnie supposedly brought from a different reality.

"Oh The Ronin books. Yeah we all read through them, and all agreed while amazing, it was also quite horrifying to think of the scenario happening here." Leo says as he pulls a hard back book from a nearby shelf.

The cover is mostly dark gray, and black with some red. There's a figure in all black with a Katana and Bo staff strapped to their back, and a Sai and metallic Tonfa on a utility belt along with some pouches, and rope. There is a red moon with 'The Last Ronin' in white over top of it. There is some other words and the author and artists names in red and white, but the letters are unreadable, either it's to far from the camera, or the filter is messing it up.

"The other book is at home, Pops finished this one, and wanted to read the second book." Leo says as he flips through some of the pages, "Either way it's kind apocalyptic/dystopian with a mentally not Okay main character out for revenge for most of his family 'H' being killed because the other group 'O/F' didn't truly want a truce between them, or something." He stops at a page and reads it over, "Or that's what we figure, since it's implied that one of the O/F leaders claimed H broke the truce."

"Before anyone asks the reason I'm not saying the names of the families is because the H family is actually the same name as Our family name, and the O/F group are an actual group my family had a rivalry with like 500 years ago. They're still around but there's not a full on grudge anymore." Leo stresses this if only to make it clear no more answers will be given on the subject.

"Anyhoozle the family names are why Donnie believes this is from another universe, but again I don't want to look into it, or mess with things that might lead to trouble." He puts the book on the desk opened to a page with what looks like an explosion on it, "We had enough trouble with getting past our own problems with the other group. Some of their members had some screws loose, and came after us, we don't know why, just that we supposedly had an artifact of theirs. It was just a creepy teapot!" He slouches with a sigh/groan of annoyance.

Just then the sound of sliding doors opening could be heard, and Leo sits up and quickly mutes the stream. The audience is left to watch Leo talk to someone, with him leaning forward you can see his tail sticking out from a slit in the lab coat. He holds up a finger in a 'just a minute' motion, then gets up and goes behind the camera.

Someone can be seen trying to lean into frame, even wave their arm where the camera can see, but the person is not able to lean far enough into veiw. Though it's obvious when Leo returns because they jolt and jump back. Leo walks back into the camera veiw and hands the person a bag with presumably their proscription in it.

Leo talks with them for a few minutes, before the person leaves and he un-mutes the stream.

"Sorry, one of my clients who also watches the streams came in, probably because I was streaming and they thought they could sneak into veiw. Luckily I'm a nice guy, so they're not going to be blocked or banned from the stream, and our socials." Leo informs with some amusement. He sits back down with a slight bounce, and quickly checks the work computer on the desk.

"Unless another veiwer decides to try crashing the stream, let's go back to the books, now the first book, has a bittersweet end, but it leads into the second book which is like 10 to 15 years into the future. And it swaps from present day to the past to tell more of what happened with Ronin, and act as a teaching method for the next generation of the family."

Leo goes on to vaguely describe more parts of the books, all while purposefully ignoring the chat asking why they can't find the books anywhere. And some asking if Mandarin/Mikey wrote/drew the graphic novels.

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

Masterpost

The chat/audience doesn't know their real names, but just incase someone didn't know Mandarin is Mikey. The ones asking about Mikey would be their Friends/People who know them.

[wri0thesley]

Nat, what are your headcanons for what kinks the JJK boys might be into? You choose which ones!!! (but it would be nice if you included sukuna ok bye👉👈)

anon you do not know what you are unleashing

warnings: mentions of dom/sub relationships, sensory deprivation, gags, blindfolds, pet play, spanking, jealousy, marking, pegging, breeding, bondage, humiliation, toys, dacryphilia, dumbification, corruption kink, predator/prey, unhealthy dynamics, somnophilia, guns, knives, needleplay, medical play. there’s a lot here. 

♡ —-> below the cut: gojo, nanami, geto, toji, sukuna, mahito <—-  ♡

♡ Gojo is one of those men who will try anything once, just to both say he has tried it and to see if he likes it. He hasn’t found something he hasn’t good at yet, and he sure as hell isn’t about to start with sex. He’s mostly a top; one of his absolute favourite things to do with you is to remind you of his strength. How powerful he is - he likes taking you against walls, holding you up with nothing but his own arms. He likes reminding you of what power he has over you. Big fan of you on your knees, looking up at him, pawing at him for attention. He likes overstimulating his partner until they don’t think they can come any more, and then they do. He also loves getting you to come without touching you; just seeing how utterly whipped you are for him. He also really likes sensory deprivation; gagging you, blindfolding you, tying your wrists together so you can’t touch him and all you can do is feel his hands sliding all over you. Has a bit of a kink for you dressing up cute; put on some cat ears, some frilly lingerie or a maid costume and he’ll be ripping it off of you in moments. If you’re smaller than him, he’s got a size kink - interlacing your hands with yours and smirking about how small they are, how small they’d look wrapped around his cock. He’s also a big fan of marking; he has a jealous, possessive streak. He hates thinking of other people touching you - hates it when you come home and other people’s cursed energy clings to you, and wants to ensure that it’s covered only with his. You can get him to sub for you, but he’ll be topping from the bottom, a bratty, cocky little monster as you peg him and he taunts you with ‘come on, you can go harder!’. 

- ♡ -

♡ Nanami’s kink is making you feel good.

Oh, he’s a top alright - he’s one of those stern, caring dominants who loves heaping praise on you when you’re good, and punishes you as if it’s your own fault, acting as though he’s sorry to have to do it as he spanks you even though his cock is hard and straining by your cheek. He mostly likes your obedience; likes you to cockwarm him if he asks, with any of your holes - likes it if you run to do whatever he says. He loves tieing you up with his tie - he also loves shibari, though he clicks his tongue and admonishes you when you squirm. He’ll take you out with a rope harness under your clothes to a fancy restaurant and his eyes will darken as you squirm and the ropes press against your most sensitive areas. If you want him to be a mean dom, though, he’ll gladly provide - just expect to be absolutely smothered with gentle aftercare afterwards. 

He’s got a bit of a hard-on for the idea of you being cute and domestic at home, waiting for him - wearing a frilly apron and nothing else, asking him how his day was, wearing a pretty night set and letting him slip inside of you while you’re half-asleep. He has a big breeding kink; he just wants you to know that you’re his, and he wants to spend the rest of his life with you. Perhaps has a little bit of a thing for public sex, though he’d deny it if asked - still, on a train, he always presses himself very close to you so you feel the hardness in his crotch and one of his arms wraps around you, big hands dangerously close to your more intimate areas. 

Also, call him ‘Sir’. Secretly very into the power dynamic of you being helpless for him; try a sexy secretary roleplay with him and he may or may not absolutely lose it. 

- ♡ -

♡ Geto can be nice, or can be mean - it depends entirely on what he thinks you deserve. If the two of you are on even footing, he’s a fairly traditional man. He likes you in fancy, elegant lingerie - he likes you with his cock in your mouth, deep-throating as far as it can go. He likes you in short skirts and no underwear, likes to watch his come trickle out of you when he’s fucked it as deep in you as he can go, likes to make you scream and moan out his name.

If he thinks you’re lower than him, or less than him, though--

That’s when he starts being mean. Orgasm control, a collar around your neck, a leash that digs into your soft skin when he makes you walk behind him like a dog. Degradation (and he’s very good at that); name-calling, leaving toys buzzing inside you and telling you you’re not allowed to come, gagging you - coming inside you and plugging you up so you don’t waste a drop, because you should feel lucky to get to have any of him inside of you. Very much likes using toys on you.

Spanking, pulling your hair, choking you. Fucking you silly. Dumbification, so all you can think about is him (it’s not like you had much in your pretty little brain to begin with, is it?). If Geto is going to be mean to you, Geto is going to be mean, and you are going to love every second of it. 

- ♡ -

♡ Toji has a huge corruption kink. Taking someone innocent and wide-eyed and cute and just absolutely ruining them? Nothing gets him harder faster. He’s another with a size and a strength kink, too - no matter what size you are or how tall you are, he will push you around easily and you will have the breath knocked out of you because of how he hasn’t even broken a sweat.

Predator/Prey kink. Let him take you on a picnic and tell you to run; he loves the thrill of chasing you, of hunting you down - and probably, let’s be honest, eventually rutting into you like an animal with a hand pressed down over your mouth so you don’t alert any passers-by to the fact you are currently being fucked between the trees. 

Likes ruining you. Pulling your hair, making your makeup run, making you drool and slur your words because of how fucked out you are. Ripping your clothes. His favourite place to come is always inside you, but he also likes seeing his come spread all over your chest, your face, your thighs. Likes petplay, too - only instead of being in it for the cute ears and tail, he’s in it to have you on all fours whimpering like a bitch in heat. Will spank you, and you will say ‘thank you’. 

- ♡ -

♡ What isn’t Sukuna into, is more of the question here. Don’t even think for a second he’ll do anything like ‘sub’ for you - what he requests from his ‘partner’ (though it’s not really an equal partnership) is nothing less than total control. Everything you do will now be managed by him; he’ll decide what you wear (nothing), when you’re allowed out (never, you’re his now), and everything - down to how many breaths you should be taking in a minute. Will occasionally trip you up on his rules because he absolutely loves punishing you - spankings just seem to hit different when he has four arms to do them with. 

Sukuna will accept nothing less than total power exchange. You belong to him now; and that means he can do anything he wants to you. Definitely into you being fucked silly, over-stimulated - size kink, belly bulges, the whole nine yards. He does have two dicks, and you can and will take them both at the same time. If he says ‘jump’, you don’t ask ‘how high?’ - you just do it. 

On your knees before him at all times. Always ready to serve him, whenever he wants, never mind if people are looking at you - he gets a thrill out of people eyeing you up because he knows only he gets to touch you. Yes to cockwarming. Yes to degradation. Yes to being his human pet. Yes to fearplay - seeing the worry in your eyes is enough to have him wanting to fuck you right there and then. Yes to somnophilia, being touched whenever he wants to touch you, calling him ‘Master’. Yes to a chastity belt. Yes to you being humiliated, degraded, spanked, bitten, branded, spat on, choked, fucked until you can’t remember what it’s like not having one of Sukuna’s cocks inside of you--

Another one with a corruption kink, though his is a little more . . . sacrilegious than most. He is your God, now, and you’ll treat him as such - and that means serving him without hesitation. Knowing that you’re lucky to get a whit of his attention. 

- ♡ -

♡ Mahito will sub and dom you with equal pleasure; he’s bouncing with curiousity to try absolutely everything that human sexual intercourse has to offer, and you’re his helpful little guide to that. He’s going to explore some of the weirder kinks with you, but his favourites always seem to come back to those uniquely human ones - there’s something, for instance, about medical play that gets him excited. All of those interesting new clinical words, getting a chance to study your body up close and personal, watching how you move and squirm and twitch with equal precision! 

He’s a curse, and a curse born specifically of human hatred - he’ll let himself be degraded, and absolutely love it, but he’ll give back to you twice as hard and he’ll think it’s cute if it makes you cry. 

You’re his favourite toy, so he’s not going to fuck with your soul - but that doesn’t mean he won’t fuck with you in other, permanent ways. Mahito’s very interesting in exploring scarring and branding with you; very interested in kinks that other people might worry are dangerous. Wax play? Yes, he’ll try it, but don’t be surprised if you get hurt! Needleplay? Ooh, he’s itching to see how you’ll respond to it - and don’t worry, he’ll let you do it to him too!

Big exhibitionism kink - for you, that is. He’s had to accept not many people can see him, but the idea of someone stumbling across you in public half-naked and watching your hole be pumped by an invisible cock? Very fun! Very good! Mahito’ll try knife play, gunplay, fearplay - with him, you never know if you’re about to meet your expiry date, because he’s always smiling and laughing even when he’s deadly serious--

Oh, and being able to change his body at will? He definitely wants to explore that. Being able to make his own limbs into knives and guns and tentacles, give himself a dick that gets bigger and stretches you out more as he fucks you - there’s no way he’s not going to use that. He gets very interested in all of that human pornography (there’s so much of it) - and Mahito wants to watch it with you, and explore the things they do in those films with you - for your own good, I suggest keeping him away from hentai. 

-  ♡ -

[anyoneseenadam]

we all know azriel is one kinky mf 😂 what about the reader introducing him the mortal basic sex toys and him ‘experimenting’ the whole bdsm thing on the reader because he thought only bondage was the only thing that existed

pairing: azriel x reader (acotar)

warnings: this is filthy, pet play, dom az, sub reader, slight breath play, overstiulation, orgasm denial (lemme know if i missed anything)

a/n: ummmmm i may have over done this but im horny and lonely so leave me alone lol, lemme know what u think <33

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

Azriel knew you were into a lot of stuff. Fuck he was too. But your world was completely different to his so when you approached him with a box and the cute smile you always wore when you wanted something, he knew you were taking it a step up.

It wasn’t as if your sex life was vanilla. Azriel revelled in looking after your every need and you fell so easily into a submissive nature that it worked perfectly. But the two of you had rarely ventured past light bondage and the spoken aspect that came with your power dynamic.

He sat facing you now, watching as you bounced cutely in excitement with the box secure in your lap. He had never seen the box before, but you had recently returned from a trip home to the world you were born in, so he presumed that was why.

“Are you going to open that bunny?” he asked, a smile tugging at his lips when you scrunched up your face.

“I need to explain it first,” you said, and he tilted his head, wondering what it could possibly be. “It’s just- while I love our sex and all, like top-notch, ten out of ten I have no complaints.”

Azriel laughed as you spoke, “Out with-it bunny,”

“Well actually, it’s about that.” He raised his eyebrows in question, and you moved to explain, “Bunny.”

“What? Do you not like the name?” he asked, growing more confused by the second.

“No I love it!” you were failing at articulating your thoughts, so you slumped your shoulders before pushing the box to him.

“Can I open this?” he asked, wanting to be sure he wasn’t crossing your boundaries smiling when you nodded. Inside revealed dozens of foreign objects, small rubber tools, handcuffs, rope, but what caught his attention was the fluffy rabbit tale attached to what appeared to be a plug and the matching ears. He looked up at you with a smile as he picked it up.

“Bunny huh?” he asked, and you felt your face heating up, nodding shyly.

“Yeah I was wanting to try it out,” your voice was quiet, and he reached for you, pulling you tightly into his lap.

“What does everything else do?” he asked, and you smiled, picking up a small tool and pressing it against his palm, flipping a switch on the other side as he felt vibrations run through his palm. You then talked him through other things, your voice getting smaller and shyer with certain objects in the box, namely the leash.

“I also got this,” you said at the end, reaching to grab a bad he recognised, the fancy lingerie store that was located near the old house. He reached in, eyes widening when he pulled out an intimate lace two piece with matching stockings and a garter belt. And upon further inspection he found the thin panties were crotchless, looking up at you with dark eyes.

“Tonight, you are going to get dressed up nice and pretty for me, tail and ears included, and then we’ll really see how some of this works. Okay bunny?” you gulped as his voice lowered in pitch.

“Yes daddy.”

--

You were sat on your knees. The floor was cold and hard, pressing against you roughly but you didn’t dare move. You had nothing on but the white lingerie you had purchased and, the headband holding fluffy rabbit ears. You shifted slightly, the plug that was wedged deep inside of you, shifting as you whimpered. You didn’t know how you hadn’t dripped on the floor yet, your pussy soaking and pulsating with need.

Azriel was standing in front of you, his eyes impassive as they raked over your features. He bent down slightly, tilting your head via the collar he had secured around your neck and kissing you deeply.

“Such a cute little bunny,” he whispered against your mouth as he pulled away, smiling when you chased his lips. “So desperate for me, aren’t you bunny?”

You nodded desperately and he slapped your cheek lightly, “Words.”

“Yes daddy,” you whispered, voice shy as he smiled down at you. He was so tall you felt even smaller than usual as he towered over you, standing back to his full height. His wings and shadows made it all the more intimidating, crowding you in until all you could see was him.

He had already discarded his shirt and you watched in awe as he undid his trousers, pulling his impressive length out and running the leaking tip over your bottom lip. He smiled as your tongue darted out, licking away the precum that was left on your lips as he gripped your hair.

“Keep those hands behind your back,” he ordered, and you moved them, pushing your breasts forward as a result. “Open wide, bunny.”

He pushed into your mouth gently to start. He was big and he knew it, and he didn’t want to hurt his bunny to early. Although his composure was slipping as you sat at his feet, all pouty lips and doe eyes. Looking like the epitome of innocence.

He pushed in further, tip hitting the back of your throat as you willed yourself to relax around him, sucking lightly as he started to thrust slowly into your mouth. He started to lose himself in the thrusts, and moved faster, going deeper into your mouth as you gagged around him, tears falling and smudging your makeup.

He looked down and looked at you, his cock in the back of your throat with tears streaming down your face as you gazed up at him with eyes full of adoration. He felt himself get impossibly harder and thrust particularly hard into your mouth, your hands moving to balance yourself on his thighs automatically.

He growled and your eyes widened as he roughly pulled himself from your mouth, “What did I say bunny?”

You stayed quiet, eyes wide as he grabbed your collar again, tugging harshly as he pulled your face up to his.

“Bunny…” his voice was low, and you spoke quickly, afraid of your punishment.

“To keep my hands behind my back daddy,” he gripped your chin in one hand,

“And what did you do?”

“I moved them, I’m sorry daddy,” you whined as he pulled away, not daring to move when he walked away, rustling in something behind you. You flinched when you felt his hand on your wrists, securing them behind your back with the baby pink handcuffs you had bought.

He moved to stand in front of you again, moving his cock back to your lips and pushing into your mouth, even deeper this time. He smiled ferally when you gagged, “Awe can the little bunny not take it? Is it too much bunny?” he mocked, and you moaned around him as he started thrusting again.

His thrusts got sloppy quickly, too turned on by the sight of you underneath him. “You’re so pretty bunny,” he moaned, stroking one of your cheeks as his other hand held the back of your head. He sped up again when you moaned before pulling you flush against his base, one hand moving to rest around your throat where he could feel himself as he spilled inside of you.

You moaned as he came, some of it spilling into your mouth and coating your tongue with the salty taste as he pulled back, tucking himself back into his trousers as you caught your breath.

“Good bunny, you did so well,” he praised, and you smiled up at him as he brought you to stand, your knees aching. He went to sit on the bed, pulling you to sit onto his lap as you rested your head on his shoulder, his hands moving slowly as they stroked your back.

“Fuck bunny you’re so wet, can feel you through my trousers.” He swore and you whimpered as he shifted you, so you were straddling on thigh, leaning back on his hands as you tried to remain balanced with your hands behind your back.

“Go on baby, fuck yourself on my thigh,” he commanded, and you felt your face heat up. “Well get on with it, you don’t need me to do everything for you, do you? Such a dumb bunny.” He smacked your thigh lightly and you started grinding down, letting out a whiny moan as he degraded you, your pussy dripping onto his thigh as you ran your cunt over him.

The friction his trousers creates on your clit was fogging up your mind and you struggled to stay upright as you moved, balance thrown off with nothing to hold onto. You started moving quicker, desperate for release. Azriel was watching you intently, a lazy smirk on his face as he watched you struggle to move on his thigh.

You found a rhythm and started grinding down harder onto him, moaning with your head back. As you neared your release, Azriel gripped your hips and helped pulling you down harder against him, your wetness making it easier to guid you along his leg. You were almost there when suddenly he lifted you completely off his leg, causing you to shriek as you fell forward in his grasp.

“Not yet bunny,” he cooed as you looked up at him with wide eyes,

“But, but daddy I was almost there,” you whined, and he glared at you.

“Are you talking back?” he demanded, and you shook your head fervently, “Good bunny. Daddy always knows what’s best doesn’t he?”

You nodded quickly and he smiled, dropping you onto the bed and turning you onto your back, pulling your hips up and pushing your head down.

“Oh you’re such a cute bunny,” he muttered, twisting the plug secured in your ass, laughing when you moaned loudly, not used to the sensation. He tapped the end of it a few times as he got his hard cock back out, dragging the head through your folds.

You shivered at the sensation, still shaking from the orgasm that was ripped away from you. He pushed the head of his cock into your entrance slightly, one hand still stroking the white tail between your ass cheeks.

“Daddy please!” you whined, trying to push back as he moved his hand to grip the cuffs you were in.

“Such a desperate bunny,” he mocked as he watched you struggle to push him into your entrance, hips moving on their own accord. He decided to put you out of your misery, gripping your cuffs tightly as he pushed in, pulling you back to him.

You moaned loudly, never prepared for the intrusion of his monster cock. It always felt like he would never bottom out but soon enough he was pressed into the base, leaning over you to press dizzying kisses into you neck as he allowed you a few seconds to adjust to him. He reached a hand underneath you, pressing into your stomach where he could feel a slight bulge, groaning into your ear.

“Fuck bunny, you’re so small I can feel myself all the way in your cute tummy,” he cooed as you whined, tears falling already, even though he was yet to move. He pulled his hips back completely, leaving you feeling empty for half a second before he roughly shoved himself back in, groaning at the sound your achingly wet pussy created.

He sat back up, holding your hips as he began thrusting roughly in and out of you. You simply laid there, allowing him to use your body as he liked as you moaned into your sheets. He was so deep inside you, you could feel him hitting your cervix, the pleasure far outweighing any pain.

He was groaning above you, eyes focused on where your bodies met, and the cute tail protruding above it. Unable to stop himself he reached for it, tugging it gently as your whole body shook, moaning loudly.

“Are you going to cum bunny? Huh? You’ve been so needy all evening, just needed my cock so badly.” You couldn’t even reply, too cock drunk to form a coherent sentence. He slapped you ass, enamoured as it rippled under his palm.

“C’mon slut, speak up.” He spanked you again and you screamed out, seconds from your orgasm.

“I need to cum so badly daddy, please! Please let me cum,” you begged as he laughed behind you, delivering another particularly hard thrust before pulling from you completely, grinning when you swore. Your body was shining with sweat in the low light and Azriel kissed your shoulder lightly, tasting the salty skin.

“Hmm sorry bunny, not quite yet.” He muttered as you cried, pushing your hips further up, presenting yourself to him.

“Please daddy please, I need to cum,” you begged but he just laughed.

“Oh you will my sweet bunny,” he whispered, standing, and moving to the box and you watched with fearful eyes as he picked up the vibrator. “But I want to see how this works first.”

He moved back behind you, pushing into you slowly as you groaned in tandem. He started thrusting slowly making you shake, moaning when you heard the electrical buzz of your bullet vibrator. He pressed the small tool against your clit, hips speeding up as he flicked the switch higher, feeling the vibrations on his cock from where the vibrator was pressed against your clit.

“Oh fuck bunny, that’s powerful,” he groaned as you moaned, desperate for release. “You can cum bunny, don’t worry. Cum as much as you like.”

Too distracted by your orgasm you missed the change in tone as he kept thrusting into you through your orgasm, not pulling the vibrator away or finishing himself. Your legs shook violently as you rode through your orgasm only to feel another building just as quickly.

It only took a few more thrusts and you were coming again, screaming into the covers on your bed as Azriel groaned behind you at the feeling of your cunt tightening around his cock. But his thrusts didn’t slow, only growing sloppier as he threw you straight into your third orgasm, suddenly realising that you had maybe bargained for too much as he moved your body roughly.

Your legs were numb, and you were shaking all over, sobbing from the pleasure as Azriel started slowing, groaning behind you.

“Give me one more bunny, and I’ll fill you up, I promise. Last one bunny, c’mon I know you’ve got it in you.” He pleaded as you moaned, knowing you would anything to please him. You felt your fourth orgasm build and moaned lowly, voice hoarse as you came again, barely able to make a sound.

You vaguely heard Azriel moan behind you, filling you as you shook from the force of your orgasm, your body slumping as you lost consciousness.

When you came to less than a minute later, Azriel was hovering over you, eyebrows furrowed in worry.

“I’m sorry bunny, I was too harsh, are you okay?” you reached up and smoothed between his eyebrows with a soft smile growing on your face.

“I love you so much,” you muttered, and his shoulders relaxed, moving so he was laying on your back, pulling you into his arms.

“I love you more bunny, you’re perfect,” he kissed your head gently as you giggled.

“You’re going to have to carry me everywhere for a week or two though.” You joked as Azriel sat up and went about removing the plug and lingerie, wiping your sweaty skin down with a cool cloth.

“That was my plan sweetness,” he replied, eyes bright. “I also think you need to take me with you next time you go back, and we need to have a look in that shop.”

[binnieboyswhore]

SKZ as...

Stray Kids as my favorite kinks Pairing: Skz x Reader  Genre: smut  Word count: 1,130 Warnings: Choking, bondage, Knives, blood, biting, bruises, wax, and blindfolds. I can’t think of anything else but ya if you feel i should add it please let me know! Authors note: This is my favorite thing I’ve ever written cause I am the center of it all and yes i am an attention whore. I am willing to die on all these hills so please don’t fight me on it 

Please if you are under the age of 18 do not interact. Thank you :)

Bang Chan: Erotic Asphyxiation: Choking Do I even have to explain? Between the rings and watches and that mans beautiful ass hands? Fairy Tales are written about those hands. Anyway, back to them being wrapped around your throat. He loves having them on there whether he’s railing you, making out with you or even chilling with the boys. He loves having you seated between his legs, your back on his chest while his hand rests on your collar bone. It’s strangely calming to both of you to know you’re just a grip away

Minho:  Merinthophilia: tying someone up This boy loves his ropes and I am prepared to die on this hill. He loves tying you up whether it’s just your hands to the headboard using his belt or taking the time to learn new knots and designs. He has every color of rope so it can match any occasion, even pastel colors for a pretty easter fuck. He is in love with the pained look in your eyes when you really want to touch him and you can’t. He also loves how pretty you look all tangled in his ropes. He even learns a heart knot for you on valentines day, constantly grabbing ahold of it while fucking you. He thinks you’re so pretty tied up he often takes pictures of you before he absolutely wrecks you.

Changbin: Dressing up: Bunny One word. Bunny. Bunnies make this man's head go brrr. When he comes into your shared bedroom after a long day at work and sees those ears on you, one bent as if it were winking at him makes him go crazy. The white lace tight around your body leaves nothing to the imagination, he can’t help but drop his jaw. Once he gathers himself he asks you, “So, bunny do you have the rest of it?” You turn to show off your cotton tailed butt plug and this man loses it. He is ready to tear you apart like a wolf who found dinner after three days of hunting. It’s a guarantee you won’t be walking tomorrow.

Hyunjin: RACK: knife play This man would be one of the few I trust enough to do this. He would love dragging the blade all over your body watching goosebumps rise up. Occasionally digging the blade in your flesh but not with enough force to break skin just enough to hear your little whimpers. On occasion you allow him to cut you, not deep enough to scar but enough to draw blood and he goes bonkers when you allow this. He’ll cut you along the top of your thigh and watch the blood trickle down a bit before flattening his tongue on you, licking it up and suckling on the wound. You let a moan out at the mixture of the cold blade, the burning wound and his wet tongue. He’ll insert the handle of the blade in you, watching you as you rut your hips along it. He’d roll his eyes from watching how much pleasure you’re receiving from this and he hasn’t even touched you yet.

Jisung: Odaxelagnia: Biting Whether it’s to extract a dirty ass moan from you or muffle his own this man loves to bite. He loves leaving his mark on you anywhere you allow. He loves little nips at your back or big bites on your ass and thigh. There were a few times he’d accidently bite you so hard he’d draw blood. He couldn’t tell you how sorry he was that he did that, leaving little kisses around it but the devil in his brain reminded him this one would take longer to heal and knowing that his teeth were indented into your skin covered in a brown and purple bruise excited him so much. During the healing process you could expect quickies any and everywhere, in closets of music video sets to bathroom stalls at restaurants. Anytime he got a glimpse of it, it just wound him right back up.

Felix: Temperature Play: wax Felix is an absolute S L U T for wax play. He loves to cuff/tie your hands to the bed frame and watch your chest heave up and down in anticipation for the hot wax. He’ll light multiple different colored candles too so your chest is an “absolute work of art” Felix always liked to say. He’ll start by dropping wax right between your breast watching it slowly fall through the valley and come to a droplet. He repeats this process in different colors watching your chest rise and fall in pain but enjoyable pain. He takes a candle dripping wax over your sensitive nipples letting a moan out he’ll look at you, “Are you still okay?” he lifts the candle so no more wax is falling on you. “Fuck felix please don’t stop.” You moan out causing his member to get extra hard. He’ll get a crazy look in his eye and smirk at you. You knew you were in for a good fuck when he took his phone off the bed side table to capture his work before destroying your body in every way he could.

Seungmin: Dominance: Sir There is nothing Seungmin loves more than when you refer to him as “Sir”. It could be in a sarcastic way or a sexual way but no matter it always resulted with you bent over the nearest object taking him pounding into you. He loved nothing more than hearing you scream “Yes sir.” when he asked if you felt good. The thought alone could make him combust. He would even often record you screaming it just so he has plenty of octave options to jack off to on tour or if work has gotten real stressful. He’s still trying to talk chan into using one as a background sound on the album. He has yet to sway him considering he refuses to let chan listen to him cause “those moans are mine”.

IN: Amaurophilia: blindfolds He hasn’t decided what he likes more, using the blindfold on him or on you. (It’s definitely you) He loves the way the silk band feels as he ties it behind your head making sure not to get your hair caught in it. He loves that now you’re having to rely on your other senses and on him to know what he’s doing so he likes to fuck with you a bit like breath on your neck then pinch the inside of your thigh, eating up every little yelp and moan you let out. He constantly teases you before entering, he’ll drag his dick up and down your folds relentlessly till you reach out your hand making an attempt to grab a hold of his arm.

[fishfinngers07]

Execution C!Dream

Summary:  Sam decides to teach Dream a lesson, feat. Y/N

Genre: Angst

Pronouns: They/Them

The day started like any other day, until the lava wall begun to fall and the netherite blocks locked into place to stop him approaching the lava and a figure crossed the lava and entered the cell.

"Good morning Sam, is it time for lunch already? Or did you froget to give me a couple of potatos for breakfast?" Dream teased a smile growing across his face. Sam ignored him and placed a pile of fabric on his storage chest.

"Get changed. I'm going to get some chains. If, while I'm gone anything ends up  in lava, missing or damaged, I will make you wear the eyesore you are currently wearing," Sam eyed the orange jumpsuit with disgust, "And, you won't get the special thing Puffy packed in the package." Sam walked to the edge of the cell, the netherite blocks locked in again and the lava started to drain.

"Wait, Sam, where am I going?"

"You'll find out." was his answer before the platform arrived and whisked him away.

Dream lay out the clothes across his chest and lectern.  A green shirt that looked like it had probably belonged to Tubbo at some point. it would probably fit Dream based on the amount of weight he had lost in the prison. Beige pants with a frayed rope belt. A brown pakcage  down the bottom, with a note from Puffy. He smiled as he he found a version of his smile mask in the packaging. The original had been sliced during a duel with Technoblade, the second was vlown up by Tommy when he was defeated and locked up in this godforsaken place. It wasn't perfect, but it was the thought that counted. One of the many lessons Sam had taught him in here.

Dream pulled on the clothes and pushed the mask to the side of his head. No shoes. means wherever he's going isn't that far away. Unless they want to punish him further by destroying his feet. He hears the lava begin to drain and waited as Sam travelled across with 3 other silhouettes. Their faces became clearer as they entered the cell.  Antfrost, with his infuriating tail flicking behind him, Sapnap, looking the grimmest Dream had ever seen him, and Punz, who just hauled him to his feet, snapped a weight to both his ankles, and then chained his hands together and handed each guard one length of the chain. They walked with him through the prison.

As they emerged through the nether portal , Dream paused and took his first breath of fresh air in over a year. His moment of tranquility didn't last as Sam and Punz continued to pull him along. He managed to catch small snippets of their conversation as they walked.

'...I wish he'd been able to come...'

'...You know why he can't...'

'...That doesn't mean i wouldn't feel safer with 5 guards instead of 4...'

Dream lost interest as he watched a bee fly past.  As they turned around the cornor of the prime path, they found a makeshift stage and chairs from Church Prime, along with nearly the entire SMP sitting down. Tommy saw him, from where he was sitting in the back row and turned away, while Wilbur gave him a massive wave and smiled.

As soon as the group reached the pew furthest away, Ant dropped his chain, and ran to the first pew, where he embraced Bad. Sam also dropped his length of chain and walked over to talk to Phil and Niki. Normally Dream would have run, but he was intrigued as to what was going to happen. Niki had changed a lot since Dream last saw her. Her pink hair was brighter, and she seemed more sure of herself. She was also wearing a brown cloak, that looked like Wilbur's, and she has a sword. Niki had never worn a sword during the L'manberg Era, agreeing with Wilbur's policy of no weapons.

Phil and Niki both seemed to agree with Sam, so Sam walked away behind the stage. niki grabbed a length of chain, and as Phil passed Dream to pick up his length, he whispered in his ear,

'I'm sorry son.'

Dream was confused, but when he opened his mouth to ask, Sapnap slapped him and hissed,

'You can't talk to us, we can't talk to you, understood?'

Dream nodded and went to lift his hand to his burning cheek, before Phil tugged at the chain and he dropped it, and allowed himself to be dragged to the second closest pew on Dream's right, but whoever would be on the stage's left. The Eggpire was opposite. Skeppy, Bad and Ant in the first row, and Punz, Ponk and hannah in the second.

Dream's guards dropped the chains and started to sit down. Niki sat in the middle of the first row, Phil in the middle of the third, and Sapnap sat on the far less of the second. Dream was about to sit down when he felt someone's eyes burning into the back of his neck. Normally he would also feel the sun there, but since his hair had grown out from such a long time without scissors, his hair was starting to look like an anime character's like Howl, from Howl's moving castle.

He turned around and locked eyes with a very angry demon hybrid. Bad bared his teeth and stood up and started yelling at him in 'Egg?' language.

'Ẅ̷̡͕̻͇̩͈̹̬̫́̍H̸̤̭̾͗̽͛̈̄̆̎͋͝Y̷̧̖̩͈͚̙̬̘̔̑͌̾̏͑̑̎̄ͅ?̷̤̠̤͉̪̭̀͑͐̈͒͐̎̍̀̕ ̶̻̹̗͍͎͍̆͑̂̅ͅ

W̶̧͈̠̝̻̫̖̼͗͋͌̇H̵͉̣̤̰͉͙̤̲̘̥͂̍̈́͒̑̊̈́̎͝Y̵̛̟̥͕̥͉͕̦͂̆̀̈́̓͘͝ ̵̫̪͍̣̻̹̐͋̑̈́͋̎̇̈Ḑ̴̨̡͚̞̓̇̀̈̃̌̀͐͜͝͝I̷͈̮̖̺͒ͅD̷̡̙͔̩͖͕̖͒̇͛̇͛̌̃͋͝͠ ̶̨͍̪̣̱̖̲̯̗̫̈͂̒̾̄̓̒̉̿̕T̵̖̲̈́̈́̈́̓̓̍H̴̦̜̙͉͖̤͉̗́̍̍̉̐̑͛͆̕Ę̷͚̠͉̬͈͙̦͗̾̄̽̽̏̉̏̌Ỷ̷̡̘̖̟ͅ ̵̛̝̘̫̔̃̈̍͂̔̿H̵̫̙̯̜͓̱͛͜A̵̛̙̫̫͊̐̾̓͐͆̔͝͝V̶̡̤̳̬̬̘̥̒̑͛̓̽͛̈́̽͜͠͝Ẻ̸̛̜̦̍ ̷̮̙̉̎̐̓T̶̟̓͑̃̊͘Ơ̶̜̻̦͐̌̓͆̿͆̂ ̷̣̳̲̬̙͎̘̉̆̅̍̌̊́̒͘L̸̨͕͉͖̟̯͙̳͈̈́̄̍̍͋̽̕͜͠Ơ̶̹̙̹̑̏̈͛̚V̷̲̟̪͎̘̓́̃̔̆͌͐͒̈E̶̢͓̊͊͛̋͊̇ ̷̨̖͖̘͙̞͖͗̀͊͐̕Ÿ̵͍̥̰͕͇̮̼̘̫́O̷̢̤͇̳̥͉͎̎̒̌̋̔ͅU̸̟̰͓̿̔́͛̑̂̊̊͘?̵̼̼̬̥̈́ ̴̮̳̇̏̿̐͊̕͘

Ṭ̴̭̥̯͎̃́̑̉̐͘H̸̨̢̡̗͉͚̬͈̱̅͛̓̑́͗̈́̈I̵̘͙͓̜̘͌̑̏͐͐͠S̵̜̟͚̪͎̘͛͐̄̂̊ ̴̃͗̈́̅̓̚ͅ��̞̹̺Ȉ̷̲̟̎͆̓͆̉̂̂͠Ș̶̨̥̜̣͓̺̮͓̎͐̕͝ ̸̩̙̘̘̠̘͛Ḁ̶̢̛͔̘̯̔̃͜͝L̸̺̻̜̝̣̝͙̗͓̈́͆̈́́͛͗͑̽͝L̴̡̨̢̳͕̪̈́̅̋͂͌̈͒̚͘͝ ̷̻̋̉͜Y̸̧̹͎̺͔͖̦̭̘̆͗̈̉̍͂͌O̴̧̮̹͖͖͒͜Ư̴̧͚̝̱̺͉̲̗̠͍͋̎͗̄̚Ŗ̵͉̫͙͍̉̀̉̆ ̵̖͌͐̎̌͒̏F̴͖̥͎̩̠͊͊̀̃̀̚̕͠͠A̷̦̳͚̥̲̮̙̘̒̈̀̑̀̃̈̂Ṳ̷̧̨͚̜͇͖̥̎̄̄̈̏̈̓͝L̷̯̈́͑͝T̴̤͖̝͎͉̅̃̉̏̕!̶̥̙́̈́͂̽̾̽́̃'

Skeppy and Ant were restraining him, mainly Skeppy who whispered soothing things in the demon's ear until he finished with one final

'YOU CAUSED THIS!'

Before he sat down and begun to cry into Skeppy's shoulder. The diamond block hybrid also glared daggers at him, before Dream turned away and sat down. He adjusted his mask so he could only see Sapnap, Niki and whoever would be on that stage. A hush fell over the crowd as Sam emerged on the stage and begun a grim speech.

'We are all here today, even though we rather wouldn't be, to convey a message. Dream,'

He looked directly at Dream now.

'We spared your life, because you are the only living person with the secrets of the revive book. We were willing to leave you be, and possibly, if you had kept up good behavior, we would have eventually let you out. But you abused your visitors, and killed Tommy and Ghostbur, and while you brought back Wilbur and Tommy, we can't just continue to let you kill and bring back whoever you want. So we made a deal with someone close to you to teach you a lesson.'

Sam turned around and beckoned  behind the stage and 2 people climbed the stairs at the back. Dream's heart caught in his throat when he saw George's fluffy brown hair and Y/N's hair appear on the stage. His heart almost stopped and he choked for air so hard, that Sapnap had to slap him on the back, when George disappeared off the stage, and Sam forced Y/N to their knees, facing the audience. Sam continued to talk.

'For those of you who don't know, this is Y/N, Dream's partner. They are on their final cannon life. They made a deal with us to teach Dream a lesson. You can say your goodbyes now.'

Y/N started by addressing Dream,

'Don't try to revive me Dream. It's not worth it. I'll come back. I'll manage on my own.'

They sent a wink his way.

'And Bad, all I have to say is "Another one Bites The Dust," That's all, just one.'

Bad visibly relaxed, but as Sam raised his crossbow, he hid his face in Skeppy's shoulder. Dream, on the other hand, couldn't look away.  He watched as time froze as the arrow entered their torso, and they fell forward on the stage. Dream let a single tear fall down his cheek as Hannah and Punz grabbed Y/N's body and hauled it away.

He barely noticed standing up, entering the prison, Sam dismissing the other guards. It wasn't until Sam was about to leav that Dream said or did something.

'Why?' his voiced croaked and cracked.

'I'm sorry. They meant a lot to me too. If I thought there was another way, I would have taken it. I didn't expect them to agree so easily. I mean, if anything, today proved you were human, that you care. I...I'm sorry, Dream.'

'Sorry won't bring them back.'

TAGLIST: @hoeywoahy , @froppy-clouds , @pan-dinosaur-blog, @pequ-kinkel , @toodeepintofandoms, @black-suzuyo, @yesthisisveryme , @clxwnkid, 

[let-love-run-red]

Bro, those two garcello fics were amazing. Absolutely stunning!. Also hi I'm panic anon, one of the ones who suggested the mercello story. I guess I'll be the one giving you fantasy themed requests lol. Maybe a story with a s/o explorer gets herself caught in a mess when she runs into naga! Garcello and naga! Annie? Like they tried to eat her until she explains what she's doing, gar softens up about it and they both learn about humans while she learns about them? It'd be real cool if ya did this

Hi panic anon! It's nice to meet you, this one was a lot of fun, and a bit challenging because I had never heard of Naga's before now haha, I hope you enjoy it!

***

Nobody had been in this part of the forest in centuries. The locals had stories of an ancient temple, hidden somewhere in the jungle, swallowed by the trees and slowly being reclaimed by nature. They told tales of fearsome guardians of the temple, giant snakes that could swallow the moon whole  and with enough venom in one fang to kill a herd of elephants.

But the people here were superstitious, and their stories of ancient beasts never held any water. However there was evidence in old texts that the temple existed, and that was the reason you were out here. You had been in this jungle for days on end, trekking during dusk and dawn, resting during the deepest parts of night and hottest parts of the day.

You began to see evidence of the temple. Cracked stones that could be a road, pillars what were definitely man made, and large tracks in the dirt that could be from someone dragging stone through the dirt long ago. You were so close to finding it, but it would have to wait until morning.

***

When you woke you weren't in your camp. It took you a moment to register that you weren't ticked safely in your tent, but rather hanging, upside down, from somewhere. You panicked for a moment, letting out a distressed sound and trying to pull your hands free. They were tied tightly behind your back and through your belt while you hung by your feet.

"What, what's happening?" You mumbled to yourself, looking up, well, down, towards the ground. There were those same strange tracks on the ground below you and you heard a low growling sound.

"What do you want?" You heard a strange voice ask. You looked around yourself as well as you could and saw someone hanging upside down next to yourself. He had teal green hair and soft brown eyes. But he wasn't tied, instead he had his arms crossed in front of him as he tilted his head.

"Why are you here?" He asked. You cleared your throat. You were starting to get a headache from being upside down so long.

"I, I was just," You looked down, or up, to where you were tied and looked to him expecting to see the same sort of vines holding him up. Instead what you saw shocked you.

He was a snake, from the waist down he had no legs. Where he should have legs like any normal person there was instead a long muscular snake body covered in black scales with green diamonds down his back. He was looped around the same large pillar you were hanging from. He was so large that his tail draped on the ground beneath you. You pulled yourself back and your mouth dropped open.

"W-what are you?" You asked, trying desperately to free your hands. He let out a deep chuckle and dropped down from the pillar, landing on the ground below. He had chains looped around his waist that jingled against his scales and he circled you, his head now level with yours.

"I'm one of the guardians of this temple," He bared his teeth, huge fangs that glowed green with venom, "and you are trespassing." He hissed in your face. You squeezed your eyes shut and grimaced, trying to pull yourself back. This was it, you should have heeded the warning of the locals. But, naga's? You had only heard vague myths of them, there wasn't even an inkling of him existing.

"Garcello?" Another voice called from somewhere within the temple. He paused and turned around and another person, no, naga, appeared around the corner. She was younger, with dark hair and red scales with the same black diamond patterns down her back. She turned to see you hanging from the pillar and pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Garcello." She said with a bit of bite in her voice. His shoulders slumped and he rolled his eyes.

"Annie." He greeted her with the same level of bite. She moved closer and reached up, untying your hands from behind your back. He scowled and she turned to face him. You tried to focus on keeping your breathing and heartbeat as calm as you could.

"Untie her legs." Annie said to him. Garcello crossed his arms and lifted his chin.

"She got too close to the temple, Annie we're supposed to be Guardians." He said. His tail dragged across the floor, almost as if he was agitated, and his scales rattled against the stones. Annie sighed and reached up, trying to reach the ropes on your ankles.

"Garcello, there is nothing left here to protect." She said softly as she fell back to her usual height. She approached the other naga and rested her hand gently on his shoulder. He let out a huff, uncrossing his arms and approaching you. He reached up and untied your legs, catching you as you fell and flipping you upright to set you on your feet.

You had to pause and tried to steady yourself. You stumbled back, tripping over his tail and landing draped over his back. He was warm for a snake, you doubted he would have to bask like normal reptiles to keep himself warm, which explained why nobody had seen either of them. They likely lived underground. Under the temple. You took a moment and steadied yourself while laying over his back. He allowed it, although begrudgingly. You finally stood and he moved his body so that it coiled around you. Not tightly, just enough that to leave you would have to step over him.

"Are you alright now?" He asked. You nodded, regretting it as you felt dizzy almost immediately. You stumbled again and nearly fell backwards when he tightened his tail and caught you, holding you upright.

"I'm sorry, we're supposed to guard this temple." Annie said, folding her hands in front of her. "You're the first person to find it in years." She finished. You nodded, slowly this time, resting your hands on Garcello's tail around your waist. You took a deep breath and Garcello loosened his tail, letting it drop back to the ground.

"I'm just an explorer, I just wanted to see it. And document it, it's a big part of the history of this culture." You explained. Annie nodded and looked to Garcello. He made a low clicking sound in the back of his throat and she returned the sound before looking back to you.

"We can make you a deal," She said. "you're the first person here in over a century, and we've never met a human before." She continued. You paused, looking between she and Garcello.

"We'll take you around the temple, if you agree to teach us about humans." He said, moving so he was next to Annie. You were wary. He had kidnapped you, tied you up, and now they were going to release you, when you'd done nothing. You nodded your agreement, clearing your throat.

"I can do that." You said. Annie and Garcello smiled, though Garcello quickly let his face fall to normal as he scratched the stubble on his chin.

"But," You started. Annie's smile faded as she tilted her head. "I need you to take me back and let me pack up my camp." You continued. Annie and Garcello tilted their heads and looked to each other in confusion.

"I don't feel right, just leaving all my things in the jungle. They don't belong there." You shook your head. Garcello smiled and approached you, stopping so he was next to you.

"I'll take you back there then. Let's go."

[sunshineseung]

Dominant Stray Kids

Chan: simultaneously soft and rough. he’s the sweetest man in the world when you’re good! he’ll worship your body for hours and make you cum until you can’t anymore. he loves holding you close and praising you and making you feel as good as possible, even if it isn’t in a sexual way. however, when you’re bad... may god have mercy on our soul. chris is hard to make angry, and it takes a lot of rule breaking to make him genuinely mad, so when you get him past his breaking point, there’s no holding back. he loves using toys and retrains on you and deny you orgasm after orgasm until you’re a sobbing, begging mess. he dirty talks a lot, so expect a lot of pet names and teasing like “aw, does my pretty little slut want to cum? maybe they should have thought of that before they disobeyed me.” although the punishments can be rough, the aftercare is BEYOND AMAZING!!! actual king of aftercare. super reassuring! he’s constantly reminding you that he loves you, especially after a particularly hard punishment. you’re the best thing in his life, so he would never want to make you uncomfortable. the second you say the safe word, he’s running a bath, getting you water, cleaning you up, and taking care of you. he’s an absolute angel. 🐺 favorite names: daddy, master, sir, chris

Minho: you don’t even have to say a word for this man to run you into the ground. he’s the definition of a sadist, and although he can still be super caring, he can also be an absolute demon. expect whips, floggers, paddles, jfc even a chastity belt if you’re up for it. loves seeing his marks on you, it drives him insane! he wants everyone to know that you are his, his, and only his. very protective and possessive, especially around his other members. if one of the members get a little too friendly with you, he’s quick to lay a hand on your thigh and give them a dirty look. sometimes he likes to rail you in the dorm while the other members are in the living room so they can all hear how easily undone you become from his touch. he degrades you a lot, but he also likes to lace it with praise; “pretty slut” and “dumb baby” are his go-to names for you. he loves when you’re so fucked out that you can hardly speak. he isn’t that into orgasm denial, so I hope you’re ready to cum a lot, because he won’t stop until you say so. he loves being messy, so spitting on you and covering your face in spit or his cum is fair game. he’ll also make you dress up like a cat, and please don’t question why he likes it so much. within a month, you’ll own plenty of collars and ears and tails and pretty stockings and lingerie. he loves to give you gifts and make you happy. he takes aftercare very seriously, so expect him to gently massage lotion into all your bruises from his impact play. overall he’s rough and giving, so thank him often, or he’ll just punish you harder. 🐱 favorite names: master, mister, god, king, owner

Changbin: super loving, and he loves loving you!!! even if you’re bratty, he doesn’t like to punish you much other than a spanking every once and a while. he’d much rather have you be obedient so he can praise you and reward you. although he doesn’t like to punish you, he loves to edge you for hours and allow you to have one intense orgasm for him. he loves having his hands all over you, and vice versa. he’ll worship your body, especially your chest, and spend hours just kissing you and playing with your body. if you’re smaller than him, he will remind you every chance he gets. “my pretty little baby,” “so tiny and good for me,” “you look so cute under me.” he also likes to ask you for praise, like asking how he’s doing. of course, even if you can hardly talk, you’re quick to reassure him and praise him, which makes his head spin. he doesn’t set up too many rules, because he still likes to allow you to be free, but he is very hands-on and will cling to you 24/7, mostly in public or around his members. he loves showing you off to other people and just praising you even if you’re not physically with him. he loves spooning you and slowly fucking you, his big arms wrapped around you and holding you as close to him as possible. you’re all he thinks about, so expect him to be very needy, especially after long days. he’s so nice and gentle but he could be so strong and powerful, and he loves having a threatening aura to everyone else and looking super intimidating while you know he’s just a big softie. 🐰 favorite names: binnie, daddy, sweetheart, love

Hyunjin: so bullshit dom. he doesn’t dirty talk that much (shockingly), but his eyes tell you everything you need to know. He likes to save his voice for when he really needs to say something, which is usually degrading. “Stupid little cumdump. Can’t think of anything other than my cock, huh?” Super dramatic when you misbehave too, like “oh, was my baby too fucking needy to wait for me to get home? You’re gonna pay for that. Every orgasm you had while I was gone is gonna be how many times I cum down your pretty little throat.” He likes restraining you with harsh ropes, spitting on you, and smacking you, but he doesn’t like impact play with toys. He will however use a vibrator on you and edge you for ever until you realize you’re not cumming at all tonight. Just be good and he’ll reward you with... a harsh railing that he’d give you if he were punishing you... okay so maybe he likes brats lol, but he has very little patience, so when he’s ready, you better be ready too. Aftercare isn’t entirely minimal, but it’s usually just a shower where he washes you and takes care of any marks that might spring up. He likes to treat you like you’re less than him although in reality he thinks anything but. Calling him prince while he treats you like a whore is big for him. He also is somewhat into slavery, so prepare for him to get you a slave ring. 🦙 favorite names: master, mr. hwang, sir, prince, your highness, owner

Jisung: teasing dom! He’s another one that likes to edge you for hours, but he also likes to overstimulate you until you’re begging for him to cum so it can end (although he can go multiple rounds too). He’ll lightly degrade you, but mostly it’s praise. He spends a long time on foreplay, oral, and making out just to make sure you feel good. He loves marking you in ways only you and him can see, so he never leaves hickies on your neck. He also loves to baby you, especially if you’re younger or smaller than him. He treats you very well, but if he’s had a rough day, he really needs you to give him head and fuck him until he tells you to stop. He likes when you’re on top but he still has full control by holding your hips or telling you exactly what to do. Sometimes he just comes into your room, pulls out his cock, and expects you to suck him off even if he’s not hard. He doesn’t like to punish you, and he doesn’t set up rules either. He just likes telling you how good you taste or how pretty you look when you’re a wreck for him. He can get shy sometimes, so please reassure him that what he’s doing to you is okay, because he thinks he takes it too far a lot. He’s super loving and probably the softest dom out of the group. 🐹 favorite names: sung, babe, sweetheart, honey, sexy

Felix: I really don’t see lix as a dom but! If I must... Lix is very soft and giving, but he isn’t against getting rough with you. He can easily mix being really rough and being soft at the same time. He loves spanking you with paddles while calling you a good [whatever] and holding you close to him, probably with you sitting up on his lap. He loves whispering in your ear with his deep voice because it always makes you shiver and get insanely horny. He doesn’t punish, but he does like impact play. He really enjoys praising you as much as possible, so don’t expect a lot of degrading. He just wants to be nice to you! He likes dressing you up like a little fashion doll and fucking you in pretty clothes, especially lingerie or stockings. Felix likes being goofy during sex sometimes too! So if he messes up or does something awkward, expect to laugh it out and continue the scene. He likes pet play and age play id imagine, so he’ll buy you little kitty ears or bunny ears and a tail and a collar, but he might also buy you more childish clothes. He loves to take care of you even if you’re older than him, and he loves to cuddle you. As much as he loves cuddles, he also has a very high sex drive, so he gets hard within like a minute of spooning. Aftercare is a must for Felix, becuase honestly, he needs it too! He loves taking baths with you and holding you close. He’s literally the sweetest boy ever, so please let him treat you well. �� favorite names: lixie, master, daddy, owner

Seungmin: woah, okay. okay. okay. Let me break it down for you: he’s such a strict and mean dom, but it’s fucking great. He isn’t my ult bias for nothing. He loves impact play, tying you up, teasing you, degrading you, punishing you, and just... dominating you. He loves feeling in power. He likes to plan during the day so he knows what he’s gonna do to you that night. He won’t even touch you, he’ll just talk to you and whisper to you while you’re tied up to make you weak, and then he’ll start to really play with you. He will tease you, whisper threats, and call you pet names all in public. Although he’s strict, he’s also very fair. If you’re good, he’ll reward you and do whatever you want to do. If you’re bad, you’re in for a long night, or even a long week of he doesn’t let you cum for that long. He has a massive collection of toys: vibrators, impact toys, plugs, costumes, pet accessories, everything! Just do exactly what he tells you to do, and he’s the nicest dom ever. Although, deep down, he likes brats. He likes punishing you and making you cry. He loves watching you unravel under him and go so far into sub space that you can’t talk. As much as he loves that, he is also very strict about safe words. He likes using colors (red, yellow, green) as the safe word, and he’ll often ask you “color?” just to check up. He also sets non-verbal safe “words”which is usually snapping or tapping. he’s researched a lot about being dominant because he wants you to have the best experience possible. For him, it’s all for you. He just wants you to be happy. 🐶 favorite names: daddy, master, sir, mister, king, owner

Jeongin: awww bb innie he’s so sweet... but sometimes he can be a lil mean ;( he’s super nice to and he loves rewarding you, but he can be a little selfish and tell you to suck him off when he’s a little tired or stressed. He isn’t a textbook definition of a dominant in any way, but the more you tell him about what you like, he’s very willing to try new things with you. He’s very scared of hurting you or injuring you, so don’t expect much impact play. He does like you treating him as his superior though because he’s babied so much by so many people around him. Being able to baby you and take care of you is a nice change of pace for him! He likes using you as a doll sometimes, and he orders you around a lot (totally with your consent of course!) and he also loves to make you unravel under him. He adores when you get needy and clingy so much, and even more than that, he loves when you beg for him to play with you. He could listen to you beg forever. When you get super whiny, he thinks it’s so cute and it melts his heart every time. On the other hand, when he gets really worked up, he can degrade you a little bit. He gets very impatient and just wants to cum so fucking bad, that sometimes degrading phrases sneak past his lips. “Ah, cmon my dumb little baby, make me cum.” But the second he finishes and realizes what he said, he appologizes and offers to make you feel better with a shower or bath or even just cuddles. He just think you’re his entire world, so he wants to take care of you as much as possible. 🦊 favorite names: jeonginnie, oppa, babe, baby

part 1 of this: submissive stray kids

[realityhelixcreates]

Lasabrjotr Chapter 77: Like a Good Old-Fashioned Barn Raising

Chapters: 77/?

Fandom: Thor (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe

Rating: pg

Relationships: Loki x Reader

Characters: Loki (Marvel),

Additional Tags: Post-Endgame: Best Possible Ending (Canon-Divergent), Party Time

Summary:  Buridag begins!

Loki was awake long before you were, getting preparations ready, loose ends tied up, last minute orders sent out. He allowed you to sleep until you woke on your own, having removed his little illusory alarms from you some time ago.

Sometimes flower petals still rained upon you, and perfume rose from your footsteps, but no more snakes in the bath.

So you rose slowly, stretching and yawning the grogginess away at your own pace. Time was very hard to tell by looking out windows at this time of year, but when Loki entered the room carrying an egg sandwich, a little pile of fresh potato chips, and a glass of coffee, you placed yourself firmly within brunch territory.

Loki flicked on your sunlamp, gestured at the chair, and handed you your brunch once you'd taken your seat.

You munched your food and absorbed your light while Loki laid out the day's plans. You'd get dressed in a ceremonial outfit that included your armor and helmet, and join the parade that was gathering even now.

They were initially going to put you on Sleipnir. You had asked them not to. Sleipnir was magnificent, but you had no connection to him, nor to Leynarodd, who was the second choice. Your sweet, stout, shaggy little Acorn was who you preferred, a horse that belonged to no one initially, but who had formed a trusting bond with you.

Your clothing was, predictably, green, the underdress and apron a dark mossy color, hemmed on all edges with fine gold braid, embroidered with stripes of delicate knotwork, and your mark, also in gold. Over the top of this went your quilted tunic, in it's shimmering jade, and then your armor; the breastplate, the tassets, the bracers, pauldrons, greaves, and poleyns, though the last two were not visible. They went on over the leather trousers you'd been given to wear under your dress. They were sleek things, made of tough black leather, pleated in diagonal patterns, just like something Loki would wear. You thought the pleats had the advantage of putting more leather between you and any danger, and were flexible as well.

There were actually places where your familiar oval brooches could be fastened, your strings of shining beads strung between, your chatelaine dangled. Your belt was tooled leather and brass findings, hung with a leather purse, your Yggdrasil phone case, a small drinking horn carved with your mark, and of course, your knife. A little burst of deep pink against all the gold, green, and black.

You wore a minty-green velvet cape, a gift from Andsvarr, and your beautiful helmet to top it all off. You truly looked like something out of a fantasy novel, someone who looked like they should be standing next to the legendary figure that Loki currently cut.

He looked enormous, with his many asymmetrical layers, and molded shoulder guards, his billowing cape and hair spilling from beneath his magnificent curling horns. He shone with nornbein, and his cloak, shot with silk, shimmered subtly.

“You're so beautiful.” you mumbled. Loki smiled, and leaned down to adjust your cape, cheeks dusted with pink.

“Thank you.” he said, “I make every attempt. Though I think I will fade into the background under the power of your radiance.”

Warmth rushed to your face.

“Um, I know we've got to hurry and get Acorn, but I want to ask you a favor, Loki.”

“Anything. Tell me what it is and I'll make it so.”

You took a deep breath.

“I need you to stop trying to impress my father.”

The pink on his cheeks transformed into bright red.

“Ah. Yes, I rather hashed that, didn't I? I apologize. I thought that was still standard procedure, but your father, uh, explained otherwise.”

“Mhm, I'll bet he did. Look, I know you wanted to surprise us, but when it comes to things like that, you really oughta run it by me first. I could have told you that wouldn't work out the way you thought it would. You know, saved you from being chewed out like that. You can let me save you sometimes too.”

“ Like with the Huldra.”

“Kinda. Dad's not as bloodthirsty as she was, but he's a lot more stubborn.”

“Like father, like daughter, hm?” he teased.

“You have not seen me be stubborn yet.” you warned, and he gave you a quick smooch.

“A blessing, I'm sure. Very well, I agree. Surprises get run by you. Anything to save me from another tongue lashing. That man truly does not hold back.”

“I mean it though.” you persisted. “I'm not saying that you can't have any surprises at all, but talk to me about big stuff like that. If it's something that Asgardian law or custom would demand, but would be insulting to a human, we can maybe hash out an alternative that would satisfy both. That's the point, isn't it? Please, I really don't want to deal with anymore trouble between you two. Don't get hung up on impressing him, he has every reason to reject it, and he will. No more gifts, no toasts, no calling attention to him in public, nothing. He hates being the center of attention. Just let him be a guest, and see, without interference, that his little girl is doing fine on her own.”

“I really didn't mean to make him so angry.” Loki said, a little crestfallen. “And the more I tried to explain, the angrier he became. I just wanted him to know how much I value you. I wanted you to know too.”

“Material culture is different where I'm from. There are places in the world where that would have been understood and appreciated, but we've stopped doing it. In the same vein, fathers don't make all the decisions for their daughters anymore, so you don't actually need his approval. But...I need you to understand, it's not just that you took away his child, though that's bad enough. It's that I'm the only family he has left. My grandma only had one kid, and that was my dad. And she's dead, and so's my granddad, before I was even born. And then my mom died, and Beth too, and so I'm all that's left for him. And I have this giant Sword of Damocles hanging over my head all the time, and he's had to worry about that for my whole life. Most of the women on my mom's side all died from this, but occasionally, rarely, there's one that doesn't. I'm starting to hope that might be me. Maybe the magic is protecting me. But he's not going to be able to accept that so easily. I'm all he had left, and you took me away. That's all that's going to be important to him. You didn't even have to do the things you did in New York, this is the worst possible crime you could commit, in his eyes.”

Loki heaved a sigh of remorse. “And I cannot even return you to him. It seems there is one more thing I cannot set right.”

“The best you can do is make sure I'm okay. And don't bother him anymore. And maybe let him come visit more often. The more he sees me living my life and being fine, the more confidence he will have that I'm actually safe here.”

“I shall endeavor to help you thrive.” Loki promised.

“All right, so if that's settled, we should go get our horses.”

                                                                         ******

Acorn was, like you, a bit overdressed in your opinion. Long tabbards and blankets covered her from nose to rump, green and gold, embroidered with oak leaves. They were so long, they almost brushed the ground. Ribbons were braided into her wild mane and tail, and bells jingled with every movement. Like you, she could barely be seen under her splendor. But she was probably warm, and happily accepted a carrot from your hand. Placid as always, she let you up on her back, and fell into step behind Leynarodd, who likewise, followed up behind Sleipnir, whose hooves still rang like bells even over the thin layer of packed snow that covered the recently cleared streets.

There was a whole procession of people-this was a parade after all, and Thor, on Sleipnir, was preceded by the twin Valkyries, carrying Asgardian banners, as well as several musicians, and Beli, who chanted an ancient epic on the exploits of Buri.

Saga had translated the chant for you a while ago, and it sounded something like the sensationalized, self-aggrandizing boasts of pharaohs, or Mesopotamian kings-the kind that claimed to be rulers of the world, or rulers of the heavens themselves, to have battled armies of demons, killed giant lions with only a stick-that sort of thing. But when Beli called out those verses in such an ancient dialect of Asgardian, the words themselves felt powerful.

Thor followed slowly, Sliepnir plodding along, both of them absolutely huge. Loki and Leynarodd came right behind, only slightly smaller. And then you and Acorn, almost comical in your stature, diminutive by comparison. You were keenly aware of it, but either all of Asgard was too polite to say anything about it, or they simply didn't care.

The human guests, corralled in roped off areas, whooped and cheered when when you passed. Behind you, more musicians played, and a circle of Seidkonas walked in silent dignity. Then came more banners, the rest of the Valkyries, representatives of each noble house and guild, and the rest of the Aesir in Asgard, provided they didn't already have another position in the parade.

After them, the gathered Asgardians began following, lengthening out the procession, bright balls of magical light bobbing overhead. The sun had barely peeked over the horizon, and would be slinking away in a mere three or so hours, so the mage lights sparkled everywhere. Helpful Einherjar herded the humans to the next specially roped off area, so they could follow the parade as well; you caught a few amused faces at the playful rowdiness displayed by celebrating humans.

That was just how humans were when they were excited about something. Humans loved to holler, to jump, and dance, and clap. Some of them were even trying to keep time with the music.

You weren't actually able to pick out your father or Tara in the crowd, nor anyone else you knew, so you just kept your head forward and your back straight, trying to look as dignified as you could.

You'd only ever seen a few of what you considered 'proper' parades: in a small town a parade mostly consisted of people waving from the backs of neighborhood pickup trucks and tractors, maybe decorated with balloons or paper chains, blasting music from dusty old speakers. In the autumn, there might be pumpkins and corn stalks, and usually hayrides. But never anything like this spectacle.

As you got closer to the construction site, the apprentice mages responsible for all the floating lights started throwing sparks from their hands, like colorful sparklers. The gathered Asgardians began lining up in their designated areas, ready to play their part. The foundations had already been dug, and everything that needed to go into them was already there. All that remained was the pouring.

Thor, Loki, and yourself dismounted as close to in unison as you could manage, the horses carefully lead away to a temporary enclosure. You headed to the stack of decorative bricks, and took your place among the Asgardians there, while Thor gave the order for the cement to pour.

While this went on, Beli gathered his students and skalds in front of the Huldrastone to recite a modern epic. Within the first few verses you realized that it was about the Huldra's attack, and your confrontation with her.

Of course, the poem was much cleaner and more elegant than the actual events had been, but certain things had still been included. Your ears burned beneath your helmet when Beli reached the part where you had 'bestowed upon the fallen prince, a gentle sacrificial kiss, knowing that to trade life for life would grant him breath once more.'

You had finally spotted your father and Tara in the crowd; he crossed his arms and glared upon hearing the verse, while Tara gave you a cheezy grin and thumbs up.

As the poem reached its conclusion, the cement finished pouring, and a new recitation began. As Thor and Loki knelt and began scratching ritual runes into the wet cement, Beli's current group of student came forward and began telling the story of Beli, while apprentice mages illustrated the words with colorful, stylized illusions.

There were harrowing battles against huge stone people, the construction of the original Bifrost, which at that time connected a fleet of alien ships to one another. The illusions showed the gathering of construction materials, the building of a platform in space, and the grand revelation of the crystalline platform upon which Asgard slowly grew. Mountain and plain, river and ocean, building after magnificent building rose into the sky. Their ships captured and carved an asteroid, then set it in orbit as a bright new moon. All this was accomplished by the use of a glowing, icy blue cube that was difficult to look directly at. It was compelling though; it caught and held your attention with its beautiful, sparkling light.

You knew what that device was: you had learned about it in your lessons with Saga. It was the object known as the Tesseract, a four dimensional creation meant to house the incredible energy of an Infinity Stone. Perhaps that was why it was simultaneously fascinating, yet hard to perceive. Your curious human brain was drawn to its uniqueness, yet equally unable to fully fathom it.

That device was the key to Asgard's existence and eventual success. It was unthinkable to you that Odin had just lost it on Earth, as Sagas histories had proclaimed. It must have been a terrible loss.

Thor and Loki completed their carving, and began the process of imbuing the foundations with divine power. Goosebumps rose on your arms, and there was a pricking in your sinuses, like you were about to sneeze. There was almost a flavor to it.

The actual blessing didn't take nearly as long as the rune carving ritual, and soon, the two brothers stepped back, to allow others to begin their work. More mages worked a spell together that lifted the water out of the cement, drying it within moments. People came forward with wires and pipes, floor and wall supports, insulation, hammers, plaster, bricks, and mortar. In rotating lines people laid flooring and installed fixtures, scraped grout and assembled frames. Every now and then youths moved through, sweeping up dust, always away from you.

It suddenly became clear that that was why you were so far back in line, why you'd been assigned a decorative brick, something that would be placed near the very end of the construction. There would be no dust then. Gratitude swelled in your chest, but you said nothing. There was singing now, simple, repetitive melodies that sounded like work songs.

Every hour, volunteers carted huge, heated cauldrons around the lines and groups of human spectators, dipping out hot drinks like witch's potions, and it was possible that there was a simple sort of magic in things like hot chocolate, strong coffee, and buttered rum on a cold day.

The building went up faster than you thought possible, the widows, doors, and lights being set into place as auroras began ribboning across the sky.

Finally, there was one brick left. You lifted it up, as the singing seemed to intensify, scooped some mortar from the pail, and fitted it all into the only remaining slot. Giving the brick a light pat to make sure it was secure, you turned back to the assembled crowd.

“We did it.” You said, and the cheering began.

[iboughtaplant]

Sing Me Awake With A Song About Pirates 

Prompt: Beach Day 

Relationship: Yennefer/Renfri/Jaskier 

Rating: G

Warnings: no warnings apply 

Summary: Pirates Yennefer and Renfri dock in Kerack and have a relaxing day at the beach only to come across a merman tangled in a net.

Here is my first prompt fill for the @witcher-rarepair-summer-bingo​

Read it on AO3

They had just docked in Kerack and Yennefer was looking forward to taking a break. They recently had a rather nasty run-in with a Nilfgardian trading ship and even though they made it out with the loot, she wanted it off her ship as soon as possible. She stretched her arms above her head as she walked down the gangplank onto the dock.

Her crew was hefting barrels off the ship, rolling them down the dock to bring into town. Once on the dock she adjusted her hat and strutted over to Renfri, her second mate, who was just finishing talking with--read bribing--the dock master.

“Are we all set?” Yennefer asked Renfri once the man had walked away.

“Yup, we were never here. Won’t be included in the log when we leave in a few days. And I can have the boys dock the ship in the cove nearby if we run into trouble and need to get out of port.”

“I can only cross my fingers we don’t run into trouble.”

“It does seem to have a way of finding us. Remember that time in Skellige with the Cintran man of war, we got out of there by the skin of our teeth.”

Where Yennefer could do with a break from finding themselves in trouble. Renfri seemed to relish in it. She was energized by the adrenaline of a fight or a chase. And Yennefer could admit she did love the gleam in Renfri’s eye whenever she was itching for a fight, or a fuck. Which is where it worked out that they were lovers.

All that being said, Yennefer just wanted to relax. She wanted to take a break from being the captain of her ship and her crew, even if just for the few days until they had to set sail again.

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

After all the business was taken care of, Yennefer and Renfri had lunch at one of the taverns. It was all very expected. Renfri said she wasn’t that hungry, but then ate part of Yennefer’s portion in addition to her own. Yennefer had to glare at a fellow pirate captain who wouldn’t stop leering at her. Renfri threatened to stab a man and Yennefer convinced her not to. Just normal everyday things.

Yennefer figured they would pay for a room, she and Renfri would make love and she would get a chance to sleep without having to worry about ten different things at once the way she would on the ship.

Which of course meant that Renfri grabbed her by the hand and led her out of the tavern and in the opposite direction of the inn and brothel. “Come on, this way!”

Renfri pulled her along and they sped up into a run. “Where are we going?” Yennefer asked.

Renfir gave her a smirk and said, “You’ll see.” Which was about what Yennefer expected. But Yennefer also noticed that there was a bottle of rum in her hand.

“Nick that did you?”

“The tavern won’t notice that one measly bottle is gone. And we are pirates, gotta live up to the stereotype.”

Renfri slowed her pace, which made Yennefer slow her’s. They came to where the path met the beach and turned to sand.

“I was hoping to sleep, not drink myself to oblivion and pass out.”

“Then more rum for me,” Renfri said as she waved the bottle at Yennefer, who only rolled her eyes in response.

“Come on, Yenn, a relaxing walk on the beach is what you need. Plenty of sunshine left. And then we can watch the sunset, it’ll be romantic.”

“So you’re the romantic one, now?”

“If it gets you to smile, then sure.”

Yennefer of course couldn’t hide the smile that bloomed on her face. “Alright then, lead the way.”

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

They walked arm in arm down the beach and then Renfri stopped. “This looks like as good a spot as any.”

“For what?”

“To sit, to relax.” Renfri elbowed Yennefer in the side. “C’mon <em>Captain</em> take a load off.”

Renfri then plopped down and sprawled out, uncaring of the sand getting everywhere. She unhooked her sword belt and laid her sheathed sword next to her in the sand.

Yennefer sat down next to Renfri and nudged her to put her head in her lap. She combed her fingers through the wind-tousled hair. It was relaxing. “Are you going to pop open that rum or what?”

“Thought you’d never ask,” Renfri said as she sat up and pulled the cork out with her teeth. She took a sip and then passed the bottle to Yennefer.

“That’s some strong stuff.”

Yennefer took a pull from the bottle. “It sure is. You don’t need much to feel it do you?”

“Nope,” Renfri said with a laugh before grabbing the bottle and drinking some more.

They lounged in the sand for a while, eventually shedding their boots and laying down on their spread out coats.

Yennefer closed her eyes for a bit, enjoying the sounds of the waves crashing and the warmth of the sun on her closed eyelids. She would always love the sounds of the ocean, the smell of salt in the air.

With her eyes still closed, Yennefer felt and heard Renfri get up. “Where are you going?”

“Down to the water. Come with me?” Renfri asked as she started to shed more of her clothes. She kept on her smallclothes, consisting of short linen braies and a fitted sleeveless tunic.

Yennefer followed suit and stripped down to her own similar underthings. He took her tricorn hat off last and tossed it on top of the pile to keep their clothes from blowing away.

Renfri grabbed Yennefer by the shoulders and initiated a kiss that turned as searing as the hot sun on their skin. Yennefer licked into Renfri’s mouth and Renfri gently nipped Yennefer’s lip in return, making her moan.

They pulled away from each other panting as they regained their breath. Renfri pushed her forehead against Yennefer’s. “Let’s go cool down. I’ll race you,” Renfri said right before he let go of Yennefer and ran down the beach towards the water.

Yennefer ran after her, following her into the foaming waves and wrapping her arms around her waist. They tussled playfully and Renfri dragged Yennefer further into the water until it was up to their thighs. They kissed again, this time lazily as the water crashed against them.

They stayed in the water for a little while longer, swimming out further to submerge their bodies fully and enjoy the cool water.  

Once they felt they had thoroughly soaked in the salty sea water, Yennefer dragged Renfri back to their pile of clothes to dry off in the slowly waning sun. It was still bright, but nowhere near as high in the sky as it had been.

The sun warmed their bodies once again. Yennefer tugged on her pants and coat, shoving her shirt and stockings into the deep pockets. Renfri pulled on her own pants and slung her coat over her shoulder.

“We should have plenty of time to walk over to the rocks to watch the sunset. If you want?” Renfri asked, turning to look at Yennefer.

“Of course,” Yennefer said, leaning forward to kiss the side of Renfri’s mouth. “Maybe we can do more than just sit and watch the sunset.”

Renfri’s breath hitched before she nodded and gathered up her boots in one hand, shoving the nearly empty rum bottle into one of them.

They linked arms and started their barefoot stroll down the beach.

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

They walked in a comfortable silence for a while just enjoying each other’s company and the quiet beach.  

As they progressed down the beach, Yennefer could make out a shape on the sand in the distance. She nudged Renfri’s shoulder and pointed. “Do you see that? I can’t make out what it is, and I don’t have my spyglass on me.”

They both squinted into the distance. “A beached whale? Maybe.”

“Seems too small to be a whale.”

“Guess we have to keep walking and get a closer look.”

“We were headed in that direction anyway,” Yennefer answered.

They picked up their pace a bit, still walking barefoot across the sand. As they near the shape on the sand they could make out a scaled tail. Yennefer dropped her boots and trudged her way over, it was where sand started meeting rocks, the sand littered with smoothed rocks she had to make her way over. Renfri was a few paces behind her, picking her own way through.

As Yennefer got closer, her eyes widened. It was a man, well a merman if the curled blue tail was anything to go by. Yennefer really hoped that he was alive. It was a bit unnerving that the merman didn’t move.

Getting even closer, Yennefer gasped as she noticed that the merman was tangled in the rope of a fishing net. She dropped her boots she was holding and scrambled closer. The merman’s suntanned skin was dry to the touch, he must have been out in the sun for hours and he washed up too high for the tide to reach.

“Renfri!” she yelled. “Quickly, come on.”

“I’m here,” Renfri panted behind her. “Oh no.We have to help him,” she said with conviction.  

“I know. Quick, we need your sword. I’ll hold the ropes taut and you can cut them. Then we have to get him down to the water.”

Yennefer kneeled near the unconscious merman and grabbed the ropes of the net at random, just wanting to get him untangled and not willing to waste anymore time in trying to fiddle with the ropes.

Yennefer held lengths of the net as far away from the merman’s body as possible  as Renfri slashed through them. After repeating the process a few times, the merman was surrounded by slashed pieces of rope, and was freed. Yennefer shed her coat and chucked it and her hat out of the way. She was able to roll the merman partially onto his side. Renfri came to her aid to help roll him onto his back.

Once on his back, they could see just how parched his lips looked and just how wilted his fin-like ears were. They didn’t ogle long as they were more concerned with helping the merman regain consciousness.

Yennefer stood behind his head and squatted down to gripp under his arms. Renfri was already positioning herself near his tail as Yennefer said, “Grab his tail.” It worked because Yennefer knew Renfri was stronger than her and that tail had to be pure muscle.

It was not a very dignified trudge down towards the water, carrying a full grown merman, but they eventually made it down to the water and lowered the merman into the shallows. Once the water relieved them of some of his weight they were able to drag him deeper into the water where his body was submerged.

Yennefer’s instinct was to keep his head above water before remembering that he is of course merman and his head underwater would probably be beneficial. Yennefer lowered his head under the waves once Renfri nodded that she had a grip on his body and wouldn’t let him sink.    

Yennefer felt her breathing return to normal and could only hope that they had made it in time to help the meman. She wasn’t a religious person, but as a pirate she was a superstitious one, so she prayed to every god and goddess she could think of with hopes that one of them would hear her. She looked over at Renfri, “Thank you for wanting to help him as well.”

“You don’t need to thank me Yenn, it was the right thing to do. I just hope he comes to soon.”

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

A few moments later, the merman’s tail started thrashing and Renfri lost her hold on it, but the merman must have still been weak because he didn’t or couldn’t swim away and almost clung to Yennefer where her arms were still around him. His head then emerged from the water with a splash. He gasped and Yenenfer wasn’t sure if it was just from surprise or if he was gasping for breath. From her limited knowledge of merfolk, she knew that they needed water to breathe but could get oxygen through the air the way humans and other land creatures did.

“Oh goddess, is this the afterlife?” the merman asked. “It must be since I am being held by two goddesses themselves.” He answered his own question. Renfri snorted a laugh. The noise made the maerman turn his head to look at her.  

“At least he’s conscious now.” Renfri said, mostly to Yennefer. Yennefer hummed in agreement, glad that their rescue attempt wasn’t for naught.

“So this isn’t the after life or a dream, huh?” the merman asked.

“Nope, you are thankfully very much alive.” Yennefer said.

“Thankfully? You don’t even know me, why would you be thankful I’m alive?”

“Because I care for the wellbeing of others?” Yennefer said, in a questioning tone. “Is that so foreign to you?”

“Well, no, not fully, but I had given up hope of being rescued before I fell unconscious.” He paused, “Would you lovely ladies like to get out of the water? I can imagine it might not be comfortable for you to stay in it for so long.”

“Can you swim on your own?”

“I believe so. Though I will admit it is lovely being wrapped in your arms. But I usually at least know the names of women before I embrace them. I am Jaskier by the way.”

“Yennefer, and my partner is Renfri.”

“It is wonderful to meet you both, I wish it could have been under better circumstances.”

“We do as well,” Renfri said with a smile.

Yennefer let go of Jaskier and was happy to see he was able to hold up his body weight in the water and his skin no longer looked parched and sun-dried.

Yennefer and Renfri trudged out of the water, their clothes clinging to their bodies. They both sprawled out on the rocks that had  been their destination earlier and Jaskier followed them at a sedate pace, leaning his crossed forearms on the rock while keeping his body from the chest down submerged in the water.

“So what brought you lovely ladies down to the beach?”

“Our ship is in port and I figured this one,” Renfri pointed to Yennefer, “needed a chance to relax and the beach was the perfect place.”

“Oh no and I interrupted your relaxing beach day, I’m dreadfully sorry.  But I can’t thank you enough for saving me.”

“You mean no one else came along before us?”

“If you hadn’t noticed this is a fairly quiet stretch of beach. Not many humans frequent it, it’s one of the reasons that I swim near here so often. I do love watching humans, but they don’t really like the sight of me. Must be the sirens giving us a bad name still. But it’s not my fault that my kind also enjoys singing. I had hoped that my singing might attract someone more than yelling for help. Most humans around here tend to run in the opposite direction of someone in need of help. But then I was too parched to even sing anymore.”

“Lucky for you we aren’t like most humans,” Renfri said. “Yenn’s not even fully human and people are often weary of me being born under a bad omen and all.”

“We tend to have differing opinions than most who share our profession. We might be pirates, but we are also women, so I have always found merfolk to be good luck. Ask almost any male sailor and they’ll tell you that having a woman on a ship is a bad omen, let alone having her captain on,” Yennefer said with a bit of a smirk. She knew she was a better captain and a more skilled sailor than a majority of the men she ran into.

“So you’re pirates!? Oh that is so exciting. You must tell me stories of all your adventures.” Jaskier said excitedly, his tail flicking out of the water to further emphasize his excitement. A few drops of water splashed them when his tail entered the water again. “Oops, sorry,” he said a bit sheepishly.

Yennefer and Renfri shared a look. A look which Jaskier must have read the wrong way if what he said next was anything to go by.

“I mean—I’m sorry. I am interrupting your relaxing time together and the sun is going to be setting any minute now. I’ll just go and maybe I will see you lovely ladies again some day.” He flashed them a small smile, though it was wide enough to show his pointed eye teeth.

Jaskier made to swim away from the rock, but Yennefer crawled forward and reached out to grab his hand. “Stay. Please.” She laced her fingers with Jaskier’s slightly webbed ones.

Jaskier looked up at Yennefer with his blue eyes that mirrored the color of the sea and Renfri gently grabbed his other hand, “What Yenn said. We would like it if you stayed. I have a boatload of stories to tell you.”

“I would love that. So much.” Jaksier smiled, flicking his tail again and chirping a bit. His face flushed a bit, the fins, where a human’s ears would be, flattened to his head as if in embarrassment. He pulled his hands out of both of theirs, but otherwise only moved a short distance away. At least it seemed they convinced him not to dive into the ocean to never be seen by them again.

Yennefer moved down the rock a bit to sit with her feet dangling in the water and put her hands out for Jaskier, beckoning him towards her. He propelled himself forward with his tail and stopped when he was floating between her calves dangling in the water. He gently place his webbed hands onto her knees and smiled up at her.

She leaned forward and placed a chaste kiss on his forehead. It felt terribly forward, but there was something about the merman that was luring her in. And she had enough knowledge of merfolk to know it wasn’t some sort of magic taking hold. She pulled away to see a smile on Jaskier’s handsome face.

Renfri moved closer and wrapped an arm around Yennefer. She addressed Jaskier, “Just letting you, you want one of us, you better be okay with getting both of us.” Jaskier’s smile grew even wider if that was even possible.

Yennefer sat on that rock until well after the sunset. They told Jaskier stories of their swashbuckling adventures, as well as some tales of the more mundane things they got up to. In turn Jaskier rather theatrically regaled them with stories of his own. It was well into the night that they finally made to leave.

“Promise you won’t set sail without saying goodbye.”

“We promise,” Renfri said with conviction. “But maybe us leaving doesn’t have to be goodbye.”

“Oh, meaning?”

“I’m not sure yet. But I have an idea. Just have to see if it’ll work. I’ll tell you about it either way before we are set to depart in a few days.”

“Alright.” Jaskier said. “I will see you soon then. Have a safe journey back to your lodgings.” He then leaned forward from where he had been lounging with his upper body out of the water and on the rock to lift Renfri’s hand and bestow a kiss upon it. If the light was better, Yennefer swore she would be able to see Renfri blushing.

Jaskier then repeated the action with Yennefer and she returned his affection by placing another kiss on his forehead.

They said their goodbyes and Renfri and Yennefer gathered up their belongings before picking their way across the beach by the light of the waxing moon.

Subtle splashes accompanied their journey. If Yenenfer turned towards the water, she could see the shine of scales in the moonlight: Jaskier following to make sure they made it across the beach. She huffed a laugh, “You silly merman.”

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

It turned out that Renfri’s idea was to scour the town for the biggest bathtub that she could buy. Yennefer found the thought to be sweet, but didn’t say so since Renfri didn’t like too much attention drawn to the nice things she did for those she cared about.

Which is how Yennefer and Renfri ended up hauling a spacious copper tub, that Renfri bought from an innkeeper after haggling, back to the ship. Yennefer had two of her men help them get it up the gangplank and situated in Yennefer’s quarters.

Renfri smiled with accomplishment and Yennefer couldn’t help but show her just how much she loved her and how thoughtful she really was. They made love in the bed they shared with feeling even more at home with the smell of the salty sea air around them.

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

Yennefer and Renfri went back to the beach everyday that they were still on land. Each time, Jaskier was excitedly waiting for them near the rock where they spent the first evening talking. Renfri didn’t mention the bathtub yet, wanting it to be a surprise. But Yennefer knew she was apprehensive, just as Yennefer was herself.

What if despite all of his proclamations that he wanted to follow them and go on adventures, Jaskier wanted to stay where he was in his little corner of the ocean? They would both be a bit devastated even if they would get over it in time and still be able to visit Jaskier when they came into port.

Of course they had nothing to worry about. On their last day in Kerack’s port, Yennefer and Renfri once again went down to the beach, they now knew the way to the rocks like they knew the layout of their ship.

Once they reached Jaskier, he immediately exclaimed, “Please take me with you. I don’t think I will survive not seeing you for months at a time. Please, we can figure something out. I will swim behind the ship if I have to. I want to go on adventures and I want to keep seeing you both. And I can compose songs about your, or well our, adventures. I will sing so many songs about pirates, just you wait.”

Yennefer chuckled. “Well that’s good to hear since we were going to ask if you wanted to join us on our newest voyage. You won’t even need to swim alongside the ship, that is unless you want to be in the ocean. Renfri found a spacious bathing tub for us to fill with sea water for you.”

“That is immensely kind of you. And I promise I can earn my keep if need be. I can catch you fresh fish whenever you want and I think I know my way around the ocean better than any land creature.”

“Don’t let our navigator hear you say that.” Renfri said.

“You know your way to the harbor so meet us there, we won’t leave until you are aboard.” Yennefer said as she knelt down to caress the side of Jaskier’s face.

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

Two hours later they were untying the ropes tethering the ship to the dock, raising anchor, and steering the ship out of the harbor and into open waters.

Jaskier had insisted on his bathtub—because it was his now—being placed on the deck at least for the first stretch of the journey so that he could observe the way a ship was run. He wanted to witness it all and write down all of his initial reactions.

It was funny that one of his first requests was for paper and a writing utensil. Yennefer gave him one of her own bound journals that had yet to be written in along with a quill and a pot of ink. Apparently merfolk had their own written language. While Jaskier was able to speak Common as well as Elder, he only knew how to write in the language exclusive to his kind, although Renfri promised she would teach him how to write in Common.

Once the sun went down and it was time for the crew to retreat to their cabins or hammocks, Renfri and Yennefer dragged the bathtub plus Jaskier into the captain’s cabin they shared. Jaskier was excited to look around. He asked questions about everything and could already tell which items belonged to Yennefer and which belonged to Renfri.

Jaskier’s tub was positioned so it was near the bed, allowing Yennefer and Renfri to lounge on it while they all talked, enjoying each other’s presence. And Renfri made sure to move one of the smaller trunks near one side of the tub so that Jaskier would have a place to stash his notebook and writing supplies.

They spoke late into the night about everything and nothing as was becoming a habit for the three of them. Yennefer wasn’t sure when she finally succumbed to sleep, but she awoke to Jaskier quietly singing about pirates and mermen, with the sun shining off of the ocean waves.

[psychosistr]

Steelbeak fankid- Valentino

Behold, my Steelbeak OC fankid! Art by @thefriendlyfour​ , full bio below the cut!

Physical Description: A young American-curl breed of cat with the breed’s signature curled-back ears and a medium-thick coat of black fur across his lanky body- minus a white heart-shaped spot on his torso which is usually hidden by his clothes- and is still a bit short for his age, with the tops of his ears stopping just below Steelbeak’s chest. Lost his tail when he was little, so he only has a small stump left of it until he gets adopted and his dad has Dr.Rose Gold make a prosthetic one for him that’s made of steel like his dad’s beak. Has amber colored eyes that, when paired with his breed’s curled back ears, tend to make him look like a devil when he grins or laughs maliciously.

Outfit: He’ll never admit it out loud, but he admires his dad’s sense of style and tries to mimic him while still making it his own. Wears a white button-up shirt with whitish-silver buttons and three-quarter style sleeves, a red western-style bow tie, a red vest with silver buttons that’s left mostly open with a small grey paw print pattern along the button holes and a larger paw print on the back, a black leather belt with a silver buckle, and black slacks with a white waistband that blends in with his shirt and pockets lined with silver studs.

Gender: Demiboy that usually goes by male pronouns because it’s easier for others to understand, but appreciates it when others ask him if/acknowledge when he prefers using other pronouns.

Sexual Orientation: Still figuring it out since he’s young, but so far has a preference for boys given a few of his past crushes.

Age: 14

Nicknames: Val, Stumpy, Devil Cat, King, Fluffy.

Val is his preferred nickname and what most people end up calling him.

The middle three are names used by his gang and their enemies.

Stumpy= Mean-spirited nickname regarding his missing tail.

Devil Cat= How people see him when he’s grinning and showing off his sharp teeth with his fiery eyes and curled ears that look like devil horns.

King= His title within his gang and what most of his underlings call him.

Fluffy= Used exclusively by Steelbeak and he knows Valentino hates it.

Real Name: Valentino was given his name after being adopted by Steelbeak and, as far as he’s concerned, that is his real name.

Had another name he was called while in foster care, but refuses to say what it was and would refuse to answer to it if anyone ever called him that.

Background:

Abandoned as an infant and found in a cardboard box in an alleyway in the middle of winter- he was very sick from it and his survival was questionable for several weeks following his rescue.

Spent his early years in and out of foster homes and orphanages all over St Canard. This gave him a pretty cynical view about people in general after a while since they always ended up giving him back for being a “problem child” or he’d run away because he didn’t like the way he was treated.

The “problem child” comments were from him doing things like taking stuff, hoarding food, not obeying orders, and questioning authority.

The times he’d run away ranged from him finding the people annoying to cases of actual neglect or abuse-the worst experience being when his tail was purposefully slammed in a door and he wasn’t taken to the doctor until it was beyond saving and had to be amputated off.

No one ever believed him about the incident since he was the “problem child”.

Despite his personal experiences, he knows there are good foster homes and orphanages out there- he just ended up dealing with the worst of the worst in St Canard.

By the time he was eleven, he’d had enough of being caught in the city’s toxic foster care system and ran away to start a life for himself on the streets.

Ended up forming a gang with other kids and teenagers he’d met from his time in foster care, quickly taking the lead-role since he was smart for his age and good at coordinating/planning raids, pickpocketing without getting caught, memorizing police patrol routes, dividing loot appropriately, and intimidating others into listening to him.

The gang was called “The Broken Pawns”, with the higher-ranking members all having chess-related titles- he was the King.

One day, his gang executed a raid on a store that turned out to be a secret SHUSH base and they unknowingly stole some boxes containing flash-drives/SD-cards full of confidential files. They didn’t know this, though, and were extremely confused about why they suddenly had a bunch of men in suits chasing them down.

While running away, he ended up bumping into Steelbeak. The chief officer was confused about why SHUSH would target a kid, but got roped into a fight with them to avoid getting caught himself. After fighting them off, he questioned the kid and figured he must have stumbled onto something REALLY valuable to SHUSH and wanted to get his hands on it.

The kid wasn’t a fool, though, and worked out a deal with Steelbeak: His gang had a protocol when chased by higher-up authorities after a raid that involved them splitting up and remaining separated with no contact for a while to avoid everyone getting caught, so it would take a few weeks for them to get all of the boxes that were taken from the SHUSH base together again. The kid wasn’t very good at fighting on his own, so Steelbeak would protect him while they waited for the rest of the boxes to arrive at his base and he’d stay at Steelbeak’s home so Steelbeak could make sure the kid didn’t try to run away or double-cross him. Once he got what he wanted from the boxes the gang stole, Steelbeak would let them keep any other valuables and he’d part ways with the kid once he got his share.

Steelbeak agreed to the terms of the deal, though he originally planned to just double-cross or ditch the kid after he got what he wanted and either take everything or let SHUSH take him. After a while, though, he found himself getting attached to the kid because he reminded him so much of himself at that age- scrappy, conniving, clever, distrusting of others, and one heck of a pickpocket.

After a few weeks of living together, teaching the kid things like cooking, saving him a few times, and just general bonding with him, Steelbeak decided he liked the kid and wanted to keep him around and the kid, oddly, felt the same- it was weird for him to have an adult that treated him with respect without trying to change him or discourage him from doing stuff like stealing or lying. They talked it over and Steelbeak ended up adopting him, naming the kid Valentino after his deceased father.

Current Status: Lives with Steelbeak and attends school during weekdays while still running his gang after school and on the weekends when he doesn’t have plans with his dad.

Personality:

Valentino generally has a cynical and antisocial attitude towards most people, usually finding them boring or annoying. However, he can grow to like certain people if they show him respect and don’t try to control or change him- like his gang or his dad. Those people are the ones he’ll generally be more relaxed around and make jokes with or try to protect when there’s danger.

As a leader for his gang, he’s cool under pressure and won’t freak out even when there’s a gun being held to his head while also being cruel and calculating enough to know how to make others listen to him- a baseball bat to the head or clawing out someone’s eye usually does the trick.

A bit of a kleptomaniac and opportunist, Val will take advantage of any possible opportunity to steal something from, frame, and/or con someone for whatever he can get out of them.

This part of his personality doesn’t apply to people he actually likes, but he WILL still try to swipe stuff from them in a joking way.

Example of this is him constantly trying to take Steelbeak’s wallet and the two of them laughing about it every time he gets caught or almost gets away with it.

Interesting Bonus Facts:

Val’s had terrible problems with his balance and equilibrium ever since he lost his tail as a kid. He can still walk and run okay, but if he needs to make sharp turns or move quickly in different directions he tends to fall over. He’s gotten good at getting up quickly afterwards, but it makes it hard to do stuff like fight and dodge attacks.

This is slowly remedied after getting his prosthetic tail from Dr.Rose Gold and receiving combat lessons from Steelbeak.

Because the only white spot on his body is usually covered by his clothes, most people think he’s just a black cat and that he’s bad luck, resulting in general distrust and contributing to people classifying him as a “problem child”.

Has a loving but cheeky relationship with his dad- they like being sarcastic with each other and saying playfully mean things, but they know it’s all in good fun and they love each other a lot.

Val knows his dad will always support him and have his back if anyone actually tries to insult or hurt him, but Steelbeak still respects Val’s independence and pride so he allows him to handle things his way first and only steps in when it’s an emergency or if his son asks him to help traumatize someone.

Doesn’t really have a favorite weapon when fighting since he’s still learning how to fight, but in a pinch he has a tendency to bring out his claws and go for the eyes.

Enjoys messing with adults/older teens that think they’re better than him by saying something very intelligent and/or scary for a kid that makes them do a double-take and ask him to repeat himself but he just looks at them “innocently” and acts like he didn’t say anything.

“If I slashed your radial artery, it would only take you 90 seconds to die in a pool of your own blood…hm? What? No, I didn’t say anything.”

I personally enjoy imagining that Steelbeak adopted Val a few years after the canon timeline for Darkwing Duck, so Valentino and Gosalyn are about the same age and go to the same private school (it’s one of the better ones in town and Steelbeak wanted his boy to have a good education since he never got one).

The first time Steelbeak comes to a parent-teacher conference, he gets jumped in the hallway by an irritated Darkwing Duck who thinks he’s there to cause trouble or corrupt the youths of the school. He has a hard time believing that Steelbeak’s just there to meet his son’s teachers, even after Val comes out into the hall to find out what’s taking him so long (he thought Valentino was being threatened or coerced until the kid nailed him in the stomach with his backpack full of textbooks). While Darkwing argues with Steelbeak, Valentino manages to swipe his wallet and reveals Darkwing’s secret identity (“Oh, you’re Gosalyn’s dad?”). The two adults agree to a (reluctant) truce when attending school functions to keep their kids from getting suspended or expelled.

This leads to many awkward/tense but funny interactions between Drake Mallard and Steelbeak’s civilian identity “Pauly” where they constantly try to one-up and insult each other while being forced to interact within the socially-regulated confines of school events and PTA meetings.

Example: Parents are asked to contribute to a school bake-sale. Drake makes cookies that are very popular at first, but then Steelbeak shows up with something fancier like lemon-meringue cupcakes with real toasted marshmallow meringue on top and he just smirks while Drake’s seething over being dethroned as the best baker in the PTA.

Valentino and Gosalyn aren’t exactly friends, but they do think it’s funny watching their dads constantly look like they’re one step away from killing each other while arguing over whether or not a new school regulation should be implemented or not.

They run scams together sometimes for quick cash and respect each other’s skills at conning suckers out of their money.

Also, they tend to sympathize with each other since they were both orphans who ended up being the “unwanted kid” until being found and adopted by their respective dads, so they’ll stick up for each other if someone tries teasing the other for being adopted or not looking like their dads.

[wiypt-writes]

Riding On

Ch 19- Everyone Loves A B-J…

Summary: It’s Frank’s birthday and the Adler-Gallagher clan enjoy a family based weekend that brings Frank several surprises along the way, whilst both him and Fliss get a gift that money simply can’t buy.

Warnings:  Bad Language words, Smut (NSFW, 18+)

Pairing: Frank Adler x Fliss Gallagher

A/N:  LONG update here guys, and sorry, I really couldn’t resist the Trump bashing again. For what it’s worth, I cannot WAIT to write Frank’s reaction to that election when I finally get there. All together know “F**k Donal Trump!”

Disclaimer: This is a pure work of fiction and classified as 18+. Please respect this and do not read if you are underage. I do not own any characters in this series bar Fliss Gallagher and the other OCs. By reading beyond this point you understand and accept the terms of this disclaimer.

Riding On Masterlist // Main Masterlist

Chapter 18

Well, you done done me, and you bet I felt it, I tried to be chill, but you're so hot that I melted. I fell right through the cracks, now I'm trying to get back.

Given that Alex's stay at his grandparents was a success, Fliss felt much happier about her planned surprise few nights away for Frank. She had already booked most of it in early January, having roped her parents, Mary and even Frank's colleagues into her plotting to ensure that the days she had selected- Thursday to Sunday over the second weekend in March- were booked as leave and factored into the rota at the shop without him knowing. Mary, being her usual googling genius self, helped Fliss to find the perfect place to stay in the area she had selected along with a number of activities and she’d booked the whole thing on her credit card so that Frank wouldn't see anything suspicious showing up on their bank statements. That said, despite all her secrecy, Frank could tell she was up to something. He knew her too well not to spot it. And being the impatient little shit he was, he tried everything he could to coax it out of her to no avail. She wasn't for cracking, and neither was Mary. All he kept getting told from both his girls was "wait for your birthday" which was driving him insane. He even tried to catch Fliss out mid sex one evening. He lay over her, languidly dragging his cock in and out of her at a torturously slow pace, promising her he'd let her come if she told him what she was up to. She'd simply panted out that he was an asshole and then looked up at him with those eyes, wide and bright, shining with love and as usual he'd caved. He never could resist when she looked at him like that and a few minutes later she was crying his name whilst Frank was still none the wiser as to what was actually going on. The morning of his birthday rolled around much the same as any other Saturday morning, except Mary had opted to stay home the night before instead of going to Roberta’s as they were going out for breakfast. The morning sun was warm on Frank's face as it spliced through a crack in the curtains, but that wasn't what had woken him. It was Fliss, kissing and nuzzling all around his shoulders and the back of his neck as she snuggled into him from behind, her hand snaking around his waist and dipping into his boxers.

He gave a croaky little groan as her hand wrapped around his semi-hard cock, lightly stroking him as she continued gently kissing his neck, the heat from her body radiating into his as she pressed her chest to his bare back. Frank turned his head so he was looking over his shoulder and she met him with a cheeky smirk which turned into a slow, gentle kiss, perfect for the lazy, slow strokes she was giving him.

"Happy birthday baby." She whispered, nudging his nose with hers.

“You can say that again.” He choked as her grip tightened around him.

“Happy birthday baby.” She chuckled and Frank rolled his eyes giving a huff of laughter but before he could reply Fliss had gently pushed on his shoulder, coaxing him over onto his back. She moved so she was hovering over him, kissed him again before her mouth made its way down his chest, nose and lips tracing a path down his happy trail and across his Adonis belt. With a soft moan of her name, Frank’s hand tangled in those soft, morning-tousled waves of bright, auburn hair he adored as she glanced up at him with her deep, brown eyes, the polka-dot bed covers peaked around her head. She gave another cheeky grin as her hands reached for the side of his boxers and he shifted his hips to allow her to pull them down. Her eyes locked on his she wrapped her hand round the base of his cock and gave a few further flicks of her wrist, causing him to sigh before she adjusted herself, pulled her hair over one shoulder and took him in her mouth. Frank moaned, totally blissing out as Fliss licked and sucked her way around his dick, the hand that wasn't in her hair fisted around the bed sheets as he felt his pleasure mounting the more she worked him. His hips bucked slight as she took him all the way to the back of her throat, a motion she repeated for 3 or 4 times until he was gone. With a hiss and a croak of her name Frank spilled himself down her throat, his fingers tightening around her hair as he sighed, laying back, eyes closed, chest heaving.

With a smirk Fliss pulled his boxers back up and crawled the length of his body, laying on top of him, her chest pressed to his. He smiled, his eyes still not opening as he wrapped his arms around her, holding her close for a second, basking in what a fucking amazing wake-up call that had been, until the baby monitor on the nightstand suddenly emitted a loud gurgled screech signalling Alex was awake and sure enough, as they both turned to look at the screen they could see him attempting to roll over in his crib.

“It was a lot easier when he was right here.” Fliss pouted, her chin on Frank’s chest as she peeked up at him and Frank gave her a stern look.

“We’re not having that argument again, Liss.” He shook his head, “He’s 6 months old now. He can sleep in his own room.”

“I know, I know…” She sighed, pushing herself up away from Frank and climbing off the bed. He watched her go laying back on the pillow, giving a roll of his eyes at the ceiling. That had been one hell of heated discussion earlier in the week when he’d suggested it was time Alex moved into the nursery at night instead of just taking his daytime naps in there. Fliss had protested, shown him all this stuff on the internet about how it was better for kids to be in their parents rooms until they were 12 months old, which Frank and countered with articles to the contrary he had found and stated Mary had never slept in his room from the moment he’d had her. She’d gotten upset, teary, but he wasn’t caving in. He’d hated being so damned forceful with her but the fact was as much as he loved the kids he selfishly and unashamedly wanted his private space back, a space where they got to be alone with one another to allow them to be Fliss and Frank, not mom and dad. Plus he also knew the longer Alex stayed in their room the harder it was going to be to get him to settle in his own space. Eventually, after Fliss had realised this was one thing she wasn’t getting her own way with she’d given in, and spent most of the night tossing and turning, sniffing a little, and when he’d tried to cuddle her she’d told him to piss off. Frank had merely taken a deep breath and backed away, knowing full well that when she got up in the morning and saw that Alex was fine, she’d feel like an ass. And he’d been right. She’d been up at the crack of dawn, straight into the nursery and come back a few minutes later, sidling up to him and hugging him from behind whispering that she was sorry, and the entire thing had been forgotten.

A thud on the bed jolted Frank from his thoughts and he looked down to see Thor had hopped up on the foot of the bed and he flopped down, his head on the peak that Frank’s feet were making.

“Oh, it’s like that is it buddy?” he asked and the dog merely looked at him before giving a contented sigh, his tail thumping on the bed. Then his head perked up as the door to their room pushed open again and his tail grew even more frantic as Fliss entered with Alex in her arms. She placed him down on the duvet and climbed into bed again, both watching as their baby promptly rolled from his back onto his tummy, his head raising to look at Frank as he gave a loud gurgle, grinning up at his daddy.

Frank gave a huff of laughter as he sat up against the headboard and hooked his hands under Alex’s arm pits, standing him up on his thighs. Gently he moved his hand so the baby could grab onto his fingers and Alex stood, looking around the room as Frank helped him stay in place.

“Mum thinks he’ll be crawling soon.” Fliss smiled as she lay back, watching the two of them “I mean he’s already sitting up and bum shuffling on the floor so…”

“God help us…or more to the point God help Thor!” Frank snorted as Alex gave a loud shriek as he spotted the dog led on the bed. Thor once more thumped his tail but made no effort to move. At that point, Alex’s legs gave a little wobble and he plopped down onto the soft duvet, sitting up and grabbing at the pattern on the cover before he looked up, grinning once more at Frank.

“He’s always so happy.” Fliss beamed at the baby who waggled his arms excitedly as Frank once more helped him stand up.

“He does nothing but sleep, eat, drink and mess in his diaper.” Frank shrugged “What’s there to be miserable about?!” Fliss snorted as Frank cocked his head and studied his son. “His hair is definitely going darker.” He mused.

“I know.” Fliss smiled “I’m glad his eyes aren’t though.”

“Glad?” Frank turned to her. “How come?”

“Because they’re just like yours.”

Frank smiled as Fliss leaned over and kissed him softly. They spent a little more time in bed, watching Alex’s various attempts to shuffle over the top of the bed towards the german shepherd at the bottom, before they heard Mary’s door open. She headed into the bathroom first before she knocked on their door and when Frank told her to come in she dive bombed on the bed singing Happy Birthday and demanding that he get up to open his gifts.

It was only since being with Fliss that Frank had really had Birthday or Christmas presents to open since he had left Boston. Granted, Roberta had normally gotten him a little something from her and also Mary but now it was different. And not that he was materialistic but he loved the fact he felt a little spoilt. He sat on the couch and unwrapped each one in turn to reveal a couple of new shirts, a pair of sneakers and a framed photo of the four of them which had been taken by Bill at the last Competition Mary had been in. She was sat on Monty in her full show gear, rosette attached to the pony's bridle as Alex perched in front of her, held safely in place by Fliss's hands. Frank stood at the other side of the pony, his arm round Mary all of them beaming at the camera. "Thanks guys, I love it all." Frank looked up smiling, before he paused as Fliss handed him an envelope "More?"

She nodded from where she sat on the floor with Alex who was stood on shaky legs, hanging on to her fingers just as he’d done with his dad earlier. Frank looked at her suspiciously before he slipped his finger under the flap and tore it open. He pulled out the piece of paper, which was a flight itinerary and his eyes widened as he looked at the destination. "We're going to Vermont?" He looked at Fliss and she grinned, giving a nod. "3 nights, next Thursday to Sunday, just the 2 of us"  She informed him as Frank quickly scanned the details, his eyes flicking back to hers as he registered the fact they were going to be alone "Nice little cabin in the Moscow area of Stowe and I booked us a few things to do..." "Please tell me one of those things is the Ben and Jerry's tour!" Frank groaned as and Fliss gave a chuckle.

“Well you know what they say…” she looked at Frank whose eyes flicked back to the printed itinerary before they raised once more to hers, questioningly. She grinned and licked her lips “Everyone loves a BJ.”

Frank gave a snort, followed by a little sigh of delight looking back at the piece of paper in his hand, his eyes shining with happiness as he took it all in. “Lissy, this is amazing." He beamed "Thank you." "Wait..." Mary suddenly piped up "You're going to Ben and Jerry's?" "Yeah." Fliss nodded.

"So not fair." She rolled her eyes "I wanna go."

“Tough.” Frank shot back “It’s my birthday not yours.”

“Well can we go for my birthday?” Mary asked.

“No.”

“That’s so mean Frank.” She whined.

“Go call someone who cares.” He looked at her. She narrowed her eyes and then held her hand out.

“Give me your phone then.” She demanded and Fliss laughed.

“Yeah? And who you gonna call?” Frank eyed her “Ghostbusters?”

Marry grinned “Nope. Poppa Bill. He’ll kick your ass.”

“Oh please!” Frank snorted “I’m not scared of Bill.” He shrugged “I could take him down.”

Mary pondered for a second before she looked at him, a positively wicked smirk crossing her face “Fine, I’ll call Uncle Steeby then. I know you’re scared of him.”

“No I’m not.” Frank scoffed and Mary snorted

“Whatever Frank, you’re only lying to yourself.” She said, standing up “Imma go get dressed. When we going for breakfast?”

“Soon as we’re ready.” Fliss smiled and Mary skipped out of the room, humming something to herself, Fred and Thor both following her as she went.

“You’re a liar.” Fliss looked at Frank.

“What?” he asked, picking Alex up and settling him on his knee.

“Saying you’re not scared of Steeby.”

“I’m not.” Frank shook his head, before his face rearranged into a little smile “I’m petrified of him.”

****

Just over an hour or so later they were settled in a booth at Keke's Breakfast cafe on Gulfport. Mary announced loudly that she didn’t need to see the menu, telling their server that she wanted her favourite, the apple and cinnamon waffles with a side of bacon. Frank rolled his eyes at her hyper nature, a soft smile on his face as she chatted away to the teenager who entertained her ramblings with the patience of a saint whilst he and Fliss gave the menu a cursory glance before they too opted for their standard order. Frank took the large French toast combo with his eggs over easy as always, whereas Fliss chose the raspberry stuffed French toast. They also ordered a side of plain pancakes for Alex, the baby now at the stage of holding various food items in his little hand and gumming them half to death with his few teeth. It kept him quiet and entertained whilst they ate, even if more of it did end up round his face and in his hair than his mouth.

Their food didn’t take long, Frank filling the 15 minute or so wait gently teasing Mary about a boy she had mentioned from school, causing her to narrow her eyes at him, protesting that they were just friends. When Fliss then pointed out that was how her and Frank started off she paused, pulled a face and then informed them that their accusations were both baseless and gross, causing Frank to laugh and lean back in his seat, taking a large drink of his coffee.

Their food arrived and Fliss cut up the pancakes, handing a large piece of one to Alex as they all tucked in, eating with gusto, a happy silence falling over the table which Mary broke a few moments later.

“Can we grill tonight?” she asked, her mouthful of food. Frank looked at her, where she was sat on the bench opposite him, next to Fliss. He shook his head “What?” she asked.

“Seriously, it’s breakfast time and you’re asking about what we’re eating tonight?”

Mary shrugged “You need to be more organised, Frank.”

Fliss gave a snort as Frank looked from Mary to her “Seriously, I’m 39 getting sassed by a soon to be 10 year old.”

“39…” Fliss sniggered and Frank nudged her under the table with his foot.

“So can we or not?” Mary demanded.

“Jeeez.” Frank rolled his eyes, picking up his coffee “It’s my birthday, don’t I get a say in what we do?”

“I’ve actually booked us a table somewhere.” Fliss spoke, cutting across the argument. “Thought it might be nice for us all to go out.”

“Where?” Mary turned to her.

“1200 Chophouse.”

Frank let out a groan of delight at the same time Mary punched the air “Seriously?”

Fliss nodded “It was going to be a surprise. Mum, Dad, Steve, Sian and the kids are coming. Oh, and Roberta.” She turned to Mary “So when we get back you need to ride then bath Monty and load the wagon ready for tomorrow. The table is booked for 6:30 so we can feed Alex before we go. He should be happy enough in the chair.”

Mary nodded “Am I on the 1pm class?”

Fliss shook her head “No, I told Joanne to take you off. I’ll teach you later once the class is done ok?”

Mary grinned “I like it best when we do that.”

Fliss smiled at her and then turned to Alex who had enthusiastically banged his fist on the little plastic tray of the high-chair. “You ok baby?” he grinned at her then let out a loud shriek. “Ok, hang on…” She tore another pancake in half and then handed it to him where he shoved it in his mouth straight away. She watched him for a second then looked at Frank “He’s got your appetite.”

“He’s a growing boy.” Frank shrugged.

“What’s your excuse?” Fliss teased and Frank swallowed the last of his breakfast and leaned back against the bench, arm resting along the back of it as he drank his coffee.

“I burn a lot of energy.” He said after little deliberation, shooting her a wink.  

 About half an hour later they finished their breakfast and headed home, Mary and Fliss both changing into their riding gear and heading over to the yard for the afternoon. Fliss was apologising to Frank about not spending the full day with him but he chuckled, assuring her that he some peace and quiet and one-to-one time with his boy was celebration enough, earning him a soft nip on his arm in retaliation. He spent the afternoon in between making sure Alex was happy and settled enough flicking through trash TV, drinking beer and scouting the internet for a couple of boat parts some of which were needed and others, like a surround sound digital entertainment system complete with satellite TV, were not. Nevertheless, he marked the catalogue number down along with the stuff he actually did need so he could see how much cheaper it would be when he ran it all through the system at work.

At just gone 5 Fliss and Mary came back through the door, Thor hot on their heels, Fliss face bright red and Mary’s streaked with tears.

“What…” Frank stood up and Fliss held her hand up, telling him to stop. He did as he was told, observing with a frown as Mary kicked off her boots and gave a sniff.

“Fliss, I didn’t…”

“I’ve nothing more to say on the issue.” Fliss cut her off.

“But…”

“No buts Mary.” Fliss shook her head “What you said was really mean and I won’t tolerate it ok?”

“Kay…” She sniffed again.

“The horse world is full of nasty bitches.” Fliss looked at her. “I don’t want you becoming one. You know, you’ve done spectacularly well for your first ever season and now and you’ve pretty much just ruined it for yourself because frankly I’m not sure letting you go tomorrow is appropriate given your behaviour.”

“I’m sorry…please, Fliss. I can’t miss the last show!”

“Enough!” Fliss voice rose and Mary shut her mouth hastily. “No more. Now go get showered and changed, we’re late, we need to leave in an hour.” Fliss spoke with a finality to her voice which Mary clearly picked up on as she didn’t argue or plead anymore. Instead she simply wiped her face and headed through the room to the hall, eyes focussed on the floor as she walked. When she shut the door behind her to the hallway, Frank turned to Fliss, his expression puzzled.

“Ok, what’s going on?”

Fliss groaned, heading to the fridge “She was practicing over a few jumps and couldn’t quite get Monty to make the turn on the last one right, he kept tripping or knocking the pole down so she started to get frustrated. And it didn’t help that Sally was stood watching. Mary carried on getting really annoyed and distracted, and basically screamed at Sally saying that she was putting her off and then called her an asshole and told her to leave because no one on the yard liked her.”

Frank arched an eyebrow “She said that?” Fliss nodded and he groaned “Jesus.”

“And then Sally’s mother started.” Fliss sighed heavily, shutting the fridge door and cracking open the bottle of water she’d retrieved. “She was accusing Mary of being a spoilt brat and a spiteful little witch so then I ended up arguing with her, you know, pointing out that they’re kids and they say stuff, and that Sally is no angel as she has an acid tongue too…not that that excuses what Mary said.” She took a long drink of water “The upshot is her mother served her notice and they’re leaving next weekend.”

“So you lost clients?” Frank folded his arms, shaking his head in frustration, “Because of Mary’s mouth?”

“2 boarders.” Fliss shrugged “I’m not too bothered about that side of it, I have a waiting list so I can fill them straight away, I just don’t want Sandybrook getting a reputation, you know? Livery Yards can be horrible places and I work so hard to nip any bitching and bad feelings in the bud before they can spiral.”

“Did Mary apologise?”

“Oh yeah.” Fliss swallowed some more water. “I tore strips off her. As soon as she said it I told her to get straight off Monty, put him away and we were done. I made her apologise in front of everyone who’d been watching and then told her I’m not sure if I’m gonna take her tomorrow. I also told her if it wasn’t for the fact it was your birthday and we had no one to babysit, she wouldn’t be going anywhere tonight either.” She paused and bit the inside of her lip and looked at Frank “Was that too much? I mean…”

“No, absolutely not.” Frank shook his head “And besides, even if I thought it was harsh, which I don’t, I’d never undermine you anyway.”

 “Thing is Frank, I really want her to go tomorrow.” Fliss rolled her eyes, “She’s worked so hard and she’s not a bad kid. It feels such a shame to let all her hard work and practice go to waste.”

“Well you didn’t say she couldn’t go for sure, just that you were debating whether or not to allow it.”  Frank shrugged “So, let’s see how she goes tonight when we’re out. Then we can decide.”

Fliss nodded “Okay.” 

“Honey, don’t think on it.” Frank cocked his head to one side, the look on Fliss’ face betraying the internal conflict she was feeling “You did the right thing.”

“I know, I know but doesn’t stop me feeling shitty about it Frank.” Fliss sighed as Frank walked towards her “I hate having to tell her off. She’s a good kid most of the time and I know deep down she didn’t mean to be so cruel.”

“Well, we all say things at times we don’t mean. I’ve told her that a few times myself.” Frank smiled, wrapping his arms around Fliss.

“It was frustration more than anything.” Fliss melted into his arms and Frank gave a hum of agreement. “Frustration at not being perfect at something.” He said wisely “Monty isn’t an equation or a problem she can work out with maths or logic.” He shrugged “Maybe it will do her some good to learn a little humility.” He dropped a kiss to her head. “Now, no offence but you stink of horses and we have 50 minutes until we need to leave. Go grab your shower, I’ll feed Alex and then get ready. Won’t take me long.”

Fliss chuckled and pulled back, looking up at him, narrowing her eyes “You’re not wearing one of those shirts are you?”

“It’s my birthday.” Frank shrugged “Surely I can wear what I want?”

Fliss rolled her eyes “Whatever.”

“I thought you liked them?”

“They’re hideous”

“But endearing.”  He dropped another kiss to her lips “At least that’s what you say.”

She chuckled “I’m only teasing, I kinda like you in them.” She kissed him again and then pulled away, giving a little jump as Frank slapped her ass as she turned around to walk away. She tossed him a look over her shoulder which he met with an innocent one of his own before she walked into the hall, heading up the stairs.

20 minutes or so later, complete with Alex who had enthusiastically wolfed down a generous helping of Fliss’ home-made cauliflower, broccoli and cheese puree, whilst simultaneously smearing it all over his face, he headed up the stairs and into their bedroom. Fliss was wrapped in a robe, finishing off straightening her once hair and she gave a smile as Alex grinned at her.

“He really likes that stuff you made him.” Frank smiled and looked down at his son as he gabbled away in his arms. “I’ll get him cleaned and dressed before I take a shower.”

“I got his outfit ready.” Fliss smiled “It’s on the changing mat.”

“Don’t you trust my fashion sense?” Frank teased and she grinned.

“Your fashion sense is exactly why I picked it.”

“Rude.”

“Trust me, when you see it…you’ll understand.” She smirked.

“Okay…” Frank pulled a confused face before he dropped a kiss to her cheek and turned to head across the hall to the bathroom. 5 minutes later he’d managed to give Alex a quick bath to clean him up and after a little wrestle as the baby really was becoming a wriggle worm, he finally got him wrapped him in his little bear towel with the hood pulled over his light brown hair.  Emerging from the family bathroom he made his way towards the nursery, pausing as he heard a little sniffle coming from Mary’s room. Taking a deep breath he moved towards that door instead and gently knocked.

“Stack?” he asked, and when she didn’t tell him to either ‘go away’ or ‘wait a second’ he reached with one hand to open the door and pushed it gently inwards. Mary was sat on the huge bean bag which was situated underneath her raised cabin bed, a book on her lap, her hair damp from the shower. She was dressed in a smart denim skirt which was printed with little white stars and a red plaid top with lace trim down either side of the column of buttons and round the collar.  “That new?” he asked having not seen the top before.

“Fliss bought it me last week in Target” she said quietly, wiping her eyes. “I liked it so she said I could have it as I’d done well with Monty”

“Well, you got good taste.” he smiled “Take after me.”

At that she gave him a scathing look and he chuckled a little as Alex let out a little gurgle, his arms outstretched. Mary held her arms out for him so Frank crossed the spacious room and handed the baby over.  Alex grinned and made a grab for Mary’s hair, making her smile as Frank sat on the floor in front of them both, his back leaning against the ladders that led up to her bunk.

“You gonna shout at me as well?” she asked after a little pause and Frank inhaled deeply.

“No.” he shook his head, letting his breath out slowly “I think Fliss said everything that needed to be said. I’ve nothing more to add really.”

“Are you mad?”

“No, just disappointed Mary.” he said honestly “I thought I’d taught you better than that.”

Mary looked down, her shoulders slumped “I didn’t mean it. I was just angry. Sally makes me mad.”

“You make me mad sometimes but I don’t say nasty things.” Frank sighed, “Well, I hope I don’t.”

As he spoke those words his mind strayed back a few years to the incident in his apartment when he’d stood on the lego bricks. It seemed like a life time ago, Mary had been so little compared to the girl that sat before him now.

“Hey, look at me.” he said gently and she raised her eyes to his. “Did you mean it when you said sorry?”

Mary nodded “Yeah, I did. But her mom started calling me names and she was so mad at Fliss. Fliss told her to shut up in the end but then she told me off too.”

“Well, that’s because Fliss…” Frank paused, swallowing a little as the words formed in his mind “Well, Fliss is your mom and she loves you, so she’s gonna defend you. That doesn’t mean she agrees with what you did or that what you did was justifiable.”

“I know.” Mary’s voice was quiet “Is she mad? Sally’s mom said they were leaving.”

“Yes they are but…” Frank shook his head “No, she’s not mad. Perhaps a little disappointed in you too, but you know the rules, no one stays mad in this house. We say our piece, we apologise, we move on. And we try to be better in future.”

It wasn’t quite a flat out lie, whilst he and Fliss could argue and stay pissed at each other for days, where Mary (and in the future no doubt Alex) was concerned it was a different story.

“Do you think she’ll let me go tomorrow?”

“Depends on how you behave tonight.” Frank shrugged, moving his legs as he made to stand “I honestly don’t know.”

Mary took a deep breath and Frank pushed himself to his feet with a slight groan as his knees clicked. Fuck this getting older shit.

“Will she dry my hair for me?” Mary looked at Frank.

“Go and ask.” Frank replied simply, taking Alex off her. She followed him out of her room and made her way over to their room, knocking on the door. He paused in the doorway of the nursery, watching as she pushed it open timidly and he saw Fliss look up from where she’d been doing her make up.

“Lissy…” she said quietly “Please could you do my hair for me?”

“Course I will.” Liss smiled, beckoning her in. “Come on.” As she stood up so Mary could sit at the stool she caught Frank’s eye and he gave her a wink before he turned into their son’s room and made his way over to the changing unit at the right hand side. As soon as he saw the outfit he gave a loud laugh and shook his head taking in the tiny little yellow palm printed Hawaiian shirt, almost identical to the one he owned, and jeans.

“You’re momma thinks she’s so funny.” he snorted, dropping a kiss to Alex’s head as he lay him back on the mat. “And to be fair, as far as jokes go, that one’s pretty good.”

*****

The managed to depart just 10 minutes after their aimed for time and arrived at the restaurant 5 minutes or so late, but all things considered that wasn’t a huge issue. They walked in, Frank pushing Alex’s buggy as Fliss gave them the reservation name.

“Ah, yes, Mrs Adler, the rest of your party are in the bar area. If you head through I’ll let your server know you’re all here and she’ll come show you to the table.”

“Thanks.” Fliss smiled, and the 4 of them headed to the left. Mary spotted Steve and the twins first and gave a little yell, running over towards them, Frank, Fliss and Alex following.

“Mrs Adler, huh?” Frank teased, his voice low as he leaned down to speak into Fliss’ ear, the warmth that had flooded his chest at hearing the guy essentially calling Fliss his wife evident in his eyes which were bright with love.

Fliss gave a shrug, grinning as she turned her head to look at him. “I just gave Adler as the name for the table, he just assumed.”

“Well, you will be soon enough.” He smiled, pressing a soft kiss to her lips.

He expected some sarcastic response about how there was still time for her to change her mind but none came. Instead she merely beamed at him, her hand gently reaching up to cup his cheek “Can’t wait Sailor.” She bit her lip and Frank could do nothing but smile back like a complete love struck idiot, his forehead pressing to hers as he kissed the tip of her nose.

“Get a room!” Steve bellowed over the bar area and Fliss merely turned her head to look at him, raising her middle finger.

“Felicity Rose Gallagher!” Verity scalded “Stop being so uncouth. I brought you up better than that.”

Fliss rolled her eyes “Dad didn’t”

Bill scrunched his face up and shrugged “Touche Titch.”  He chuckled as he reached out for Frank, grabbing his hand and pulling him into a manly hug “Happy birthday, Son.”

“Thanks Bill.” Frank smiled, turning to Steve next who did the same before he then greeted Sian, Verity and Roberta with hugs and kisses to the cheek before he ruffled Charlie and Joel’s hair as they came over and hugged him round his waist. “You two grown since last week?” he asked, looking at the 2 boys whose heads were both now almost level with his ribcage.

“Feels like it.” Sian mumbled “Mind you, not like their father is a small man is it?”

Steve opened his mouth, grinning to make a dirty comment no doubt about his size so to speak but instead he gave a yelp as Verity reached up and slapped the back of his head “Don’t even think about it Steven.” She pointed at him.

“Mum…” he wailed as Frank chuckled, moving to the bar after checking if anyone else needed a drink.

“This is on us tonight.” Bill pushed up next to him, waving his hand at the bar tender “Yeah, on the tab for table 20, thanks…”

“Bill, there’s no need.” Frank began the usual protest whenever either of his future in-laws insisted on paying but as normal Bill shook his head.

“I know but we want to.” He shrugged “I mean what’s the world coming to when I can’t treat my kids to dinner huh?”

Frank sighed a little and smiled “Thanks.”

Bill nodded as Frank placed his order- a pilsner for him, lemonade for Mary and a tonic water for Fliss who had said she would drive home. They’d debated getting a cab but as she had assumed she would be up early in the morning to drive to the Competition and said she’d prefer to drive. Now that was all hanging in the balance due to Mary’s earlier behaviour, or lack of more to the point.

Shortly after they were shown to their table, Mary taking a seat next to the twins in between Verity and Bill. When both Steve and Frank began to tell them to sit where they could keep an eye on them, Verity scoffed and waved them away, her arm dropping round Mary.

“My pudding can sit next to me if she wants.” She pouted and Frank rolled his eyes before shooting Mary a look.

“First sign of any nonsense…”

“I know.” She cast her eyes down before she looked at him. “Please can I have my Tablet?”

Frank looked at Fliss and she nodded, reaching into the bag under the stroller for it and handing it over.

“Volume down.” Frank instructed as he passed it round and she took it with a thanks. The three kids huddled round it as Mary turned it on, no doubt looking at their latest Minecraft game or whatever the hell it was the three of them seemed to spend half their lives connected to one another over the internet for. Whilst Frank was conscious most people might consider this lazy parenting, he saw it as being no different to them having a toy or colouring book at the table and so left them to it, as they began to chatter amongst themselves, only being interrupted when they were asked to pick what they wanted to eat. Once the orders were placed and another round of drinks appeared, Frank was handed 3 gift bags over the table, blushing slightly as he took them with thanks. Bill and Verity had bought him a bottle of 15 year Barrell Craft Spirits Bourbon and a new pair of Ray Bans after his had met a sticky end when Alex had pulled them off his face and then dropped them onto the floor where Fliss had accidentally stood on them, cracking the lens. Fully aware of how expensive both those items were he thanks them, whilst reprimanding them once more for spending too much money on them to which Verity hushed him and Bill merely rolled his eyes giving a shrug. Roberta had gotten him a new tool belt for him to use when working on the boat which he was really pleased with. As he showed it to Fliss she cheekily quipped in a quiet voice that he could finally get rid of the spanner in his pocket which had made Sian choke on her drink when she overheard. Steve pat her on her back as she sorted herself out, and then Frank reached into the final bag from Steve, Sian and the boys. He thanked them for the 6 pack of Sam Adams, which could sometimes be hard to find in the stores in Florida, nodded in appreciation at the new Patriots Jersey they’d gotten him with ADLER arched over the back, and reached in to pull the last item out, which was a blue baseball cap.

“What the…” he scoffed and looked at Steve who had broken into a huge guffaw of laughter at the look of disgust on Franks face. Bill and Verity also started to chuckle and as Fliss reached out to turn it towards her she snorted as Roberta slapped the top of the table in utter hysterics as the white letters MAGA stood out clear against the dark navy.

“That was his idea, not mine.” Sian protested as Frank looked down, shaking his head at the joke before he spotted the small writing under the larger letters. “Make the Asshole Gone Again.” He read, and at that he gave a loud laugh. “Wonder if I’ll get away with wearing it for work?”

"I thought you said you were voting Trump?" Roberta’s voice was serious and Frank shook his head, taking a swig from his beer, as she gave him a cheeky grin.

"Don't start him off again, please Roberta!" Fliss groaned "I had to stop him putting his foot through the TV last night when they showed that Jordan Klepper vs Trump Supporters section on the Daily Show."

"He’s an ass clown." Frank replied and Steve laughed.

“Suppose being a Democrat is part and parcel of coming from Mass, huh Frank?”

“What, like being Anti-Tory is part and parcel of being from Merseyside?” Frank shot back and Steve gave a grin, raising his glass in his direction.

“Correct!” Steve nodded enthusiastically.

“Damned Tories…” Bill shook his head. “Johnson doesn’t know his arse from his elbow.”

“You know, I seriously think you should be IQ tested before you're allowed to vote.” Fliss shrugged and Roberta leaned forward.

“Yeah but, how can you test what ain’t there?"

Everyone at the table laughed as Frank reached for his beer. "Actually, if you think about it, it’s pretty simple." he swallowed a mouthful of his drink and looked at Roberta "One question- are you voting Trump? If they answer yes then they clearly have the IQ of a goldfish, right to vote denied."

The table laughed again and it wasn’t long then until their starters arrived and the chatter slowed as everyone tucked in, Fliss taking a minute or so to settle Alex who had woken up with perfect timing as ever.

“You want me to sort him?” Frank lay a hand on her thigh and she shook her head, handing the baby a teething ring.

“No, I got it.” She smiled, “Besides he’s good now.”

Frank gave her knee a squeeze and then glanced across the table where Bill was looking at Mary.

“So, you all set for your last competition tomorrow?” he asked and Frank let out a little groan.

“I err…” Mary’s eyes fell down towards her food “I don’t know if I’m going.”

“Why not?” Verity asked.

Frank looked at Fliss, who had been about to open her mouth and gently shook his head. He wanted Mary to be the one to explain, she was the one that had misbehaved after all.

“Because I was naughty.” She shrugged “So Fliss and Frank said they don’t know if I can go.”

Verity and Bill looked at one another before they both glanced over the table at Frank and Fliss. Fliss raised her eyebrows a little as Frank reached for his drink.

“Oh, well, I’m sure you’ve learned your lesson.” Verity looked at Mary and she nodded again, her eyes still on her plate, brimming with tears.

“It all depends on tonight.” Frank spoke softly “Good behaviour over dinner and we’ll think about it.”

“Really?” Mary asked, looking up and he nodded.

“Really.”

“What did you do?” Charlie asked.

“Never you mind.” Sian cut him off, looking at him.

“It doesn’t matter what Mary did.” Fliss stated simply “It was dealt with and that’s that. No need to talk about it anymore.”

“But…”

“Charlie, stop.” Steve said sternly. Charlie narrowed his eyes at his dad and Steve pointed his fork at him “Carry on mate, see where that attitude gets you.”

Threat received and understood, Charlie went back to eating and the talk struck up once more about Frank and Fliss’ trip to Vermont the weekend after. The more they talked about it, the more Frank found himself getting excited. 3 nights alone with Fliss in a cabin in the middle of what he was hoping would be a decent covering of snow sounded like his idea of heaven.

Dinner passed with no more talk of misbehaving children and at just gone 9pm they finished desert and Frank sat back, the waistband of his jeans feeling a hell of a lot tighter than they had when he arrived.

“Think I’m having a food baby.” Fliss groaned besides him and he turned to her, raising his eyebrows.

“As long as it’s not a real one.”

She snorted into her lemonade, shaking her head “Oh no…”

“You not fancy another?” Sian, who had heard the exchanged asked and Fliss looked at her, hesitating a little.

“Not at the moment, no.”

“Well that’s a step up from the ‘Oh,Christ no’ you spluttered last time the subject was raised” Frank teased and she nudged him with her elbow as Steve sniggered.

“You can shut up as well!” Fliss glared at him

“Ah come on Titch, another baby in the family would be great.”

“Well you have another, if you want one so bad!”

“We are.” Sian spoke and at that the table fell silent. All eyes turned to her, Verity and Bill exchanging a glance with one another as Fliss looked from Sian, to Steve who leaned back in his chair, arm falling round his wife’s shoulder, a smug smirk on his handsome face.

“No, are you…really?” Verity’s hand fell to the hollow of her throat as Sian blushed a little, nodding.

“We found out last week.”  Sian smiled, looking at Steve “We wanted to get you all together and…”

The table fell silent before there was a sudden flurry of excited voices and the scraping of chairs as everyone stood up to hug one another and offer congratulations.

“What’s going on?” Joel piped up and Steve smiled as he sat back down having just received a huge bro hug from Frank.

“We just told everyone about the baby.” He smiled and the twin’s faces fell into identical expressions of understanding.

“What baby?” Mary asked.

“The one Aunty Sian’s gonna have.” Frank looked at her.

“You having a baby?” Mary looked across the table.

“We sure are.” Steve beamed.

“That’s so cool!” Mary grinned.

“So, when are you due?” Fliss asked and Sian smiled.

“Middle of October.” She said “So I’m gonna  be huge at your wedding.”

“Especially if its twins again.” Mary chipped in and Frank turned to look at her, before he bit his lip and glanced back up at Steve who’d paled a little.

“You know it is a possibility…” Roberta grinned “Happened to a friend o’ma sister’s. Two sets of twins.”

“Oh, just think Bill!” Verity beamed “Another two grandkids…”

“Mum, shut up!” Steve groaned as the table laughed.

Not long after the happy news, everyone agreed that it was time to be heading home. After another mini argument between Bill, Steve, Roberta and Frank about the check, which Steve and Frank both lost, the party all gathered their things and headed out to the parking lot.

“Roberta, you need a lift?” Fran asked but before she could answer Verity shook her head.

“She’s coming back to ours. We have a bottle of Rioja to crack open.”

Bill let out a dramatic sigh “Can I come sleep in your guest place-ow!” he yelled as Roberta reached up and slapped him round the back of the head.

With a snort Frank clipped Alex into the baby seat and after another goodbye to everyone they headed home arriving just before 10.

“Did you have a nice night?” Fliss asked Frank as they walked up towards the door and Frank nodded, dropping a kiss to her head.

“It was fantastic, the whole day has been great. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. Shame your mom couldn’t make it.”

“Well she’s still getting over that virus but I was thinking. Maybe near Mary’s birthday we could head up to Mass? We haven’t been since…” he trailed off and Fliss instantly understood why, the last time they’d been in Boston had been when Mary had been taken ill and John had attacked Fliss.

“I think that’s a great idea.” Fliss said as Frank unlocked the door. “It’s a short enough flight for Alex and it would be nice to go.”

Frank smiled as they all stepped inside and Thor came charging out of the kitchen to greet them all.

“Do I have to go to bed or can I watch TV?” Mary asked, looking up “It is Saturday…”

“Well, I would say yes but we have an early start tomorrow.” Fliss looked at Frank and he instantly understood.He rolled his eye softly before giving a concessive nod and Fliss continued “I mean that is if we wanna get to the show on time.”

“I can go?” Mary’s head whipped to look at them both and Fliss nodded.

“Yes, you can go.”

“Oh my god thank you, thank you!” Mary shot over to hug her, her arms wrapping round Fliss’ waist “I’ll behave, I promise.”

“I know.” Fliss dropped a kiss to her head. “Now skoot, we’re gonna be up at 6.”

Mary hugged her again, then turned to Frank who swung her up with a groan “Stop growing will ya?”

“I’ll try!” she giggled, squishing his cheeks between her hands. “Love you dad.”

Dad.

Frank felt his stomach twist, and he glanced at Fliss whose hand had flown to her mouth, her eyes wide. She hastily swallowed, recovering herself, her eyes glassing over as she shifted Alex’s car seat in her arms before she turned to place it on the coffee table.

“I love you too.” Frank cleared his throat, as he dropped Mary to the floor “Go on, I’ll come tuck you in in five.”

She skipped off up the stairs, Fred hot on her heels and as soon as her door shut Frank turned to Fliss.

“You ok?” she asked and he nodded, his eyes full of unshed tears as he sank down onto the arm of the couch. “How do you feel?”

“I don’t know.” He replied softly, and he truly didn’t. “Shocked, a little. I guess, that even despite the adoption I never…well, I never anticipated that because she’s not actually mine and…”

His face screwed up a little, and Fliss stepped in between his legs her arms wrapping around his broad shoulders. He pressed his face into her chest, his arms curling around her waist as she gently stroked one hand through his hair and down his neck.

“Of course she’s yours.” She whispered, dropping a kiss to his head. “I keep telling you this. In every single way possible bar biologically, she’s your daughter Frank. We got the paper work to prove it.” At that he spluttered a little laugh and Fliss pulled back to look at him, her hands cupping his face as she wiped away a single tear that had fallen down his cheek.

“We just never talked about it.” He shrugged a little lamely and Fliss smiled.

“Somethings you just can’t prepare for, no matter how much philosophy or logic you try and apply.”  Her brown eyes locked onto his “This was just, well, it was a natural thing. I can’t explain it any better than that. The question is, did it feel uncomfortable?”

“No.” Frank answered honestly as he shook his head, taking a deep breath, his lip quivering. “And that’s what shocked me the most. I always thought I’d hate it but…”

“But you didn’t?”

“No.”

“And are you gonna be okay if she keeps calling you dad?”

He nodded and Fliss gently bent down to kiss him softly, before pulling away “Then roll with it. Like Dad did with me. You know, if you wanted to you speak to him then I’m sure he’d-“

“I already did.” Frank shrugged a little. “Months ago, just after we’d moved in here and we’d decided to adopt her. He told me about how you’d made that wish at your birthday and…” Frank took a deep breath “And I know Mary’s always said she wishes I was her dad and I guess, well if I’m honest there’s always been this part of me that wishes I was, despite Diane.”

“Diane would be happy, I’m sure.” Fliss looked at him “Frankie, I know this is probably gonna sound so shit, but, well there’s a reason she came to you to…well to do what she did, because she trusted you with her daughter. And you’ve done her proud baby, so proud.”

Frank felt the burning in his nose as he scrunched his face up in an attempt to stem the tears that were threatening to overwhelm him and once more Fliss wrapped her arms around him, gently rubbing between his shoulder blades. “What do I do now?” he whispered “How do I react?”

“You don’t “Fliss replied, kissing his head “You take a minute, then you go upstairs and tuck her in as usual. Don’t make a big thing about it or she’ll start to worry. Chances are she hasn’t even realised she’s said it.”

“And if she has?”

“Well then be honest. Tell her its okay.” She felt Frank nod and then she stepped back, her hands on his shoulders. “You good?”

“Yeah, yeah I’m okay.” He stood up, wiping his face. He took a deep breath and glanced down at Fliss and smiled, “I love you.”

“Love you too.” She smiled “Now go on, I’ll check the doors and be up with you in a second.”

Frank climbed the stairs, taking a deep breath before he knocked gently and walked into Mary’s room. She was already in bed, Fred curled by her feet and as Frank crossed the room he almost tripped over her discarded clothes.

“Seriously?” Frank pointed them as they lay on the bedroom floor. “Wardrobe, not floordrobe Stack!”

“Oops.” Mary grimaced and Frank rolled his eyes, picking the items up, tossing them onto the bean bag under the bed.

“If they’re clean put them away, if not put them in your laundry hamper.” He instructed, leaning against the rails of her bed.

“Sorry, I’ll do it tomorrow.” Mary shuffled onto her side to look at him. “Did you have a good birthday?”

“The best.” Frank smiled honestly “Got to spend it with all my favourite people. And you.” Mary shoved him gently and he laughed, “Joking, joking!” he smiled, brushing her hair back off her face “You know you’re my best girl.”

“What about Fliss?” Mary narrowed her eyes suspiciously.

“She’s my best woman.” Frank answered easily. Mary looked at him before she smiled, accepting his explanation. “You excited about tomorrow?”

“Yeah.” Mary nodded “And nervous.”

“Nothing to be nervous about.” Frank shook his head “Just go out there and enjoy it. You’ve done so well for a first season, Fliss was saying that earlier. We’re proud of you sweetheart.”

“Thanks.” She grinned “Hey, Frank?”

“Yeah?”

“You know what I said before...downstairs?”

Frank took a deep breath “I do.”

“Did it bother you?”

“Not one bit.” He smiled and Mary grinned.

“Good, because I think I’d like to say it more going forward.” She reached out, her fingers fiddling with the buttons on his shirt. “Unless you annoy me. And then you can be Frank again.”

Frank chuckled “Sounds like a deal, Stack”

“Okay, you can go now. I need to sleep.” Mary snuggled down into the covers and Frank smiled, pulling them up round her chin, dropping a kiss to her head.

“Night”

“Night.”

He turned to leave the room, throwing a last glance over his shoulder before he closed the door behind him.

***** “Mary, are you paying attention?” Fliss looked at her as she sat astride Monty, grinning ear to ear.

“Yeah, sorry.” She turned her head, “I’m just so happy!”

“I know honey!” Fliss chuckled, “And you did so well in your other two classes and yes we’re gonna celebrate that later but focus on this one now, yeah? You’ve gone clear so all you need to do is get round the jump off. You remember the order?”

“Erm…” Mary spun in the saddle looking round “Yeah its two, six, nine, double back to twelve, across to five and then you send him quickly down the line to finish at eight.”

“Good.” Fliss smiled “Remember, let Monty find his way. Don’t mess too much and if you think you can make that sharp turn after nine and cut through instead of round four then do it. If not, take the safe route and aim for clear.”

“Ok, yeah, got it.”

“Glad you did.” Frank mumbled, gently pushing Alex’s buggy to and fro as the baby dozed “’Coz that all sounded like a different language to me.”

“That’s because you don’t get it, Dad.” Mary turned to look at him.

“You’re right, I don’t.” Frank agreed

“You would do if you spent more time watching me instead of faffing with the boat in the garage.” Mary shrugged. At her words Frank narrowed his eyes and turned to Fliss who was biting her lip, a faint flush on her cheeks.

“Don’t look at me!”

“Oh, I’m lookin’ at you Cowgirl, because no one else I know uses the word faff.” He arched an eyebrow. “Well apart from your mom, dad, Steve and Sian…damned British slang!”

Fliss snorted “Ok, busted. But that’s not exactly what I said.”

“Well what was?” he dropped his voice a little and Fliss started to laugh.

“I just said to Jo when she commented she hadn’t seen you in a while that you were busy with the other woman in your life aka the boat.”

Frank rolled his eyes. “Hey, that engine was giving me trouble.”

“I’m sure it was.”

“And you weren’t complaining about me faffing too much when you were up there with me a few weeks back.” Frank dropped his head as he spoke into her ear and smirked as Fliss shivered at the feel of his bearded cheek scratching slightly at her neck.

“Well that situation benefitted me.” She muttered back, her eyes hidden behind her shades as she kept her face turned towards the ring, watching the first of the ten kids through to the jump off go.

“Very selfish of you Miss Gallagher.”

“Well when it comes to you I don’t like sharing.”

Frank gave a chuckle and pressed a kiss to her cheek “No worries on that count, I’m all yours baby.”

She smiled, and then winced as the competitor in the ring misjudged the turn between two jumps and the pony slammed on, sending her flying over its neck. Frank swallowed as Mary turned to look at Fliss her eyes wide.

“Why did she undercut that turn then?”

Fliss shook her head “If she’d have hugged tighter to the corner she might have made it but as it was she only got a two stride run up.” She bit her lip then frowned “Don’t you do that!”

“I wasn’t gonna!” Mary snorted, rolling her eyes.

“Good.” Fliss nodded “Like I said, you can make your time up between nine and twelve and then five and eight, if you need to.”

Frank groaned “Why couldn’t you pick a nice safe hobby…like swimming or something?”

Mary looked at him reproachfully “Frank, I could already swim.”

“Yeah but…”

“And Swimming can be dangerous, people drown.”

“Not if they’re supervised.”

“And besides, if I hadn’t wanted to go horse riding, you’d have never met Fliss.” Mary looked at him, fixing him with a maddening smug look because she knew that was the absolute ace card.

“Okay, you got me there.” Frank grumbled “Smart ass.”

Fliss chuckled as the three of them turned their attention to the ring and eventually after the other nine riders had finished, Mary’s name and number was called having been pulled last in the random order draw.

“Good luck.” Fliss smiled as she walked Mary to the gate of the arena before she set off, trotting Monty around the outside of the arena before the buzzer sounded. And then she was off. Frank hated this bit, and always found himself torn between desperately wanting to watch and also wanting to look the other way. He normally settled for a combination of the two, watching for a second, looking away, glancing back…but this time he found himself watching Fliss. Her face was set in utter concentration as she watched Mary’s round, her head tilting left to right, her hand making a pulling motion as she was willing Mary to slow Monty down and then suddenly she perked up completely, her lips curling upwards.

“She’s cut the corner, she’s gone for it.” She whispered and Frank’s eyes snapped back to the arena to see Mary clear the second to last jump and Monty picked up the pace. “Not too fast.” Fliss muttered “Pull him up, just take a check, a little one. Oh, shit!”

At Fliss’ last words Monty took off, clipping the pole with his front feet. It rolled in the cups and Frank held his breath before it rocked a little too far and fell to the floor. There was a collective sigh of disappointment around the ring from the spectators and then applause rang out as Mary crossed the finish line and turned to see the pole on the floor. She hung her head a little, shaking it before she trotted out and stopped by Fliss and Frank.

“Hey…” Fliss beamed at her “That was really unlucky. He only just clipped it.”

“It rolled?” Mary grimaced and Fliss wrinkled her nose as they set off back to the wagon.

“Fraid so.”

“Bummer.” Mary shook her head.

“What?” Frank asked, utterly puzzled.

“It means that the pole simply rolled off, it wasn’t taken straight down with the knock.” Fliss explained “Believe me, It’s the most annoying thing in the world.”

“But it’s the same result.” Frank looked at them both and Mary groaned exasperatedly.

“Don’t talk about stuff you don’t understand!”

“That’s me told.” Frank scoffed as she jumped off Monty and proceeded to remove her hat.

“Can we go see who won?” She turned to Fliss who had just taken Monty’s saddle off.

“Sure, let’s get him loaded up and then we’ll go.”

Once Monty was back on board, the ramp shut they headed back down to the Arena, Fliss pushing Alex’s buggy as Mary slipped her hand into Frank’s. They arrived back just in time to see the placings.

“Oh, that’s cool.” Mary shrugged “Saffy won the class.”

“You know her?” Fliss frowned.

“Only from when we were waiting in line before.” Mary shrugged “She seemed nice. I wonder who’s won it overall.”

“We’ll check online later.” Fliss said, before she grinned “You know, I’d kinda like to know who won the Junior Rider class for the season. Any idea Frank?”

“Oh, some blonde kid with an attitude problem.” He shrugged as Mary looked up at him, her eyebrows arched, hands on her hips.

“Well everyone says I act like you so any attitude I do have…” she drew a circle in the air with her index finger of the hand that wasn’t holding his before pointing at him “…is one hundred percent your fault.”

Fliss spluttered out a laugh as Frank blinked, looking at Mary then to Fliss. “I…wow.” was all he could bring himself to say.

The three of them politely applauded as the top six riders took a lap of honour before the winner took her own and as she emerged from the ring Mary let go of Frank’s hand and stepped forward.

“Well done.” She smiled at the girl who sat atop a chestnut pony and Frank watched, the pride in his chest almost stopping his breathing. He felt Fliss slide an arm round his waist and he moved, dropping his own over her shoulders as she leaned up to kiss his cheek.

“Thanks Mary!” the girl grinned “You were so unlucky with your last pole.”

“I did my best.” Mary shrugged “That’s what my mom and dad say matters the most.”

Frank felt Fliss stiffen a little besides him “Did she…”

“Yeah…”he whispered, dropping a kiss to her head.

Fliss took a shaky breath and hastily blinked back the tears as Mary turned back towards them “Hey, can I go get a drink with Saffy from their van? I’ll be like 10 minutes?”

“Erm…” Fliss wiped her face and looked at the woman next to Saffy who smiled and nodded.

“It’s fine.” She beamed “Fliss isn’t it? You run Sandybrook?”

“Yeah.” Fliss smiled.

“I’m Jenny, Saf’s mom. And we’re just parked right there.” The woman spoke “I wouldn’t mind a chat with you actually about a horse I have. He needs backing and you came recommended.”

“Sure, just…” Fliss looked at Frank and he gave a grin

“I’ll set off back with him.” he nodded to Alex who was fast asleep. “See you at home, take as long as you need.”

“You sure?”

“Course.” Frank gave her a kiss before he called to Mary “Hey Stack, I’m gonna go.” She turned and ran towards him, hugging him tight as his hand dropped to the back of her head. “I’m proud of you.” He said softly and she beamed.

“Thanks Dad.”

He gave her another hug before he turned and took the brake off the stroller, turning it round. As he made his way back towards where his truck was park he tossed a glance over his shoulder to see Fliss now in a full on laugh at something the woman called Jenny had said, head tipped back, shoulders shaking, her pretty profile simply radiating happiness.

And right there, Frank knew there couldn’t possibly be ANY man in the world who felt the sheer contentment and love that he did right then.

***** Chapter 20

[theshippingcraft]

Lost and Forsaken Ch 6

To that one person on AO3, that commented on the last chapter: thank you for reminding me that this story exists! It’s been ages since I’ve updated! Here is a chapter six! :)

Also, here is the AO3 link if you want to read the story on there!

theshippingcraft

Moven slinks forward, crouched low to the ground as he keeps eye contact with the older voidwalker. Fear is clear in the being’s eyes, and the being flinches away with a hiss when he takes a step too close for his comfort. Quickly backing up, his legs bang and scrap against the bed behind him.

“╎'ᒲ ᓭ𝙹∷∷||, ||𝙹⚍∷ ⍑╎⊣⍑リᒷᓭᓭ.” The teen whimpers, eyes wide as he zeros in on the lashing tail. “╎'ᒲ ᓭ𝙹 ᓭ𝙹∷∷||!”

Hands shaking, he slowly moves towards the other bed. Eyes still on the older voidwalker, Moven finds his way to the shared closet. Opening the door, he feels around without turning towards the opening. Feeling what he’s looking for, Moven pulls out one of the two articles of clothing.

Quickly glancing at it, eyes going back to meet the other’s eyes again, Moven winces at the sight of what he grabbed, though he knows it’s bound to fit the bulkier being. It’s green and dress-like, with two large splits on either side of the skirt for easier movement. There are two belts that loop around the waist, the rope blue in color and the cloth the same shade of green as the dress. He knows that there are armbands that are supposed to go with it, but Moven had shoved them into the other dresser upon finding them.

Shaking his head, Moven edges towards the other bed and places the dress on it. He’s quick to move away from it, curling up on his own bed.

“ℸ ̣ ⍑ᔑℸ ̣  ╎ᓭ ||𝙹⚍∷ᓭ.” He tells the being. “╎ℸ ̣  ᓭ⍑𝙹⚍ꖎ↸ ⎓╎ℸ ̣  ||𝙹⚍.”

theshippingcraft

Michael lingers at the doorway, eyes unwavering from the solid iron doors in front of him. The small call from James has him shaking his head, turning away with a dark look forming on his face. James flinches when he turns to the younger man, his eyes quickly focusing on the floor.

“Get the others,” he tells him. “We’re going to have to talk about the mission.”

Michael doesn’t wait for an answer, heading off towards the personal wing of the building. Pulling at one of the straps of his suit, Michael shoves the thoughts about the compound's newest addition to the side. The last thing he thinks of is to keep an eye on the being, simply to make sure the voidwalker doesn’t die on them before it becomes useful.

theshippingcraft

Dream frowns, following the rest of the group inside. His com. and he assumes coms of the others as well, had made a noise every admin knows well: something horrible is happening, and they need to meet NOW. The being stopped the roleplay he was involved in, despite the importance to the server’s story it had, and left the Dream SMP with apologies on the wind behind him. Left in the care of his grandfather, Dream simply hoped that nothing burns down during the time he’s not there.

Settling down in one of the empty chairs, Dream turns to the nearest person. The quick look at shaking brown wings has him thinking twice, but Dream trudges forward and clears his throat. The avian looks up at him, and Grian gives him a tight-lipped smile.

“Do you’ve got any idea of what’s going on? Why were we called here?”

Grian nods, face falling flat and expressionless. His wings curl and tighten to his back, voice flat as he speaks. “One of our own was kidnapped.”

[what-is-your-plan-today]

Riding On

Ch 19- Everyone Loves A B-J…

 Summary: It’s Frank’s birthday and the Adler-Gallagher clan enjoy a family based weekend that brings Frank several surprises along the way, whilst both him and Fliss get a gift that money simply can’t buy.

 Warnings:  Bad Language words, Smut (NSFW, 18+)

Pairing: Frank Adler x Fliss Gallagher

A/N:  LONG update here guys, and sorry, I really couldn’t resist the Trump bashing again. For what it’s worth, I cannot WAIT to write Frank’s reaction to that election when I finally get there. All together now “F**k Donal Trump!”

Thanks to my wonderful gals @icanfeelastormbrewing​ and @southerngracela​ who let me bounce a few ideas off for this...

Chapter Song: I’m Yours- Jason Mraz 

Series Masterlist //  WIYPT Masterlist

 Well, you done done me, and you bet I felt it, I tried to be chill, but you're so hot that I melted. I fell right through the cracks, now I'm trying to get back.

Given that Alex's stay at his grandparents was a success, Fliss felt much happier about her planned surprise few nights away for Frank. She had already booked most of it in early January, having roped her parents, Mary and even Frank's colleagues into her plotting to ensure that the days she had selected- Thursday to Sunday over the second weekend in March- were booked as leave and factored into the rota at the shop without him knowing. Mary, being her usual googling genius self, helped Fliss to find the perfect place to stay in the area she had selected along with a number of activities and she’d booked the whole thing on her credit card so that Frank wouldn't see anything suspicious showing up on their bank statements. That said, despite all her secrecy, Frank could tell she was up to something. He knew her too well not to spot it. And being the impatient little shit he was, he tried everything he could to coax it out of her to no avail. She wasn't for cracking, and neither was Mary. All he kept getting told from both his girls was "wait for your birthday" which was driving him insane. He even tried to catch Fliss out mid sex one evening. He lay over her, languidly dragging his cock in and out of her at a torturously slow pace, promising her he'd let her come if she told him what she was up to. She'd simply panted out that he was an asshole and then looked up at him with those eyes, wide and bright, shining with love and as usual he'd caved. He never could resist when she looked at him like that and a few minutes later she was crying his name whilst Frank was still none the wiser as to what was actually going on. The morning of his birthday rolled around much the same as any other Saturday morning, except Mary had opted to stay home the night before instead of going to Roberta’s as they were going out for breakfast. The morning sun was warm on Frank's face as it spliced through a crack in the curtains, but that wasn't what had woken him. It was Fliss, kissing and nuzzling all around his shoulders and the back of his neck as she snuggled into him from behind, her hand snaking around his waist and dipping into his boxers.

He gave a croaky little groan as her hand wrapped around his semi-hard cock, lightly stroking him as she continued gently kissing his neck, the heat from her body radiating into his as she pressed her chest to his bare back. Frank turned his head so he was looking over his shoulder and she met him with a cheeky smirk which turned into a slow, gentle kiss, perfect for the lazy, slow strokes she was giving him.

"Happy birthday baby." She whispered, nudging his nose with hers.

“You can say that again.” He choked as her grip tightened around him.

“Happy birthday baby.” She chuckled and Frank rolled his eyes giving a huff of laughter but before he could reply Fliss had gently pushed on his shoulder, coaxing him over onto his back. She moved so she was hovering over him, kissed him again before her mouth made its way down his chest, nose and lips tracing a path down his happy trail and across his Adonis belt. With a soft moan of her name, Frank’s hand tangled in those soft, morning-tousled waves of bright, auburn hair he adored as she glanced up at him with her deep, brown eyes, the polka-dot bed covers peaked around her head. She gave another cheeky grin as her hands reached for the side of his boxers and he shifted his hips to allow her to pull them down. Her eyes locked on his she wrapped her hand round the base of his cock and gave a few further flicks of her wrist, causing him to sigh before she adjusted herself, pulled her hair over one shoulder and took him in her mouth. Frank moaned, totally blissing out as Fliss licked and sucked her way around his dick, the hand that wasn't in her hair fisted around the bed sheets as he felt his pleasure mounting the more she worked him. His hips bucked slight as she took him all the way to the back of her throat, a motion she repeated for 3 or 4 times until he was gone. With a hiss and a croak of her name Frank spilled himself down her throat, his fingers tightening around her hair as he sighed, laying back, eyes closed, chest heaving.

With a smirk Fliss pulled his boxers back up and crawled the length of his body, laying on top of him, her chest pressed to his. He smiled, his eyes still not opening as he wrapped his arms around her, holding her close for a second, basking in what a fucking amazing wake-up call that had been, until the baby monitor on the nightstand suddenly emitted a loud gurgled screech signalling Alex was awake and sure enough, as they both turned to look at the screen they could see him attempting to roll over in his crib.

“It was a lot easier when he was right here.” Fliss pouted, her chin on Frank’s chest as she peeked up at him and Frank gave her a stern look.

“We’re not having that argument again, Liss.” He shook his head, “He’s 6 months old now. He can sleep in his own room.”

“I know, I know…” She sighed, pushing herself up away from Frank and climbing off the bed. He watched her go laying back on the pillow, giving a roll of his eyes at the ceiling. That had been one hell of heated discussion earlier in the week when he’d suggested it was time Alex moved into the nursery at night instead of just taking his daytime naps in there. Fliss had protested, shown him all this stuff on the internet about how it was better for kids to be in their parents rooms until they were 12 months old, which Frank and countered with articles to the contrary he had found and stated Mary had never slept in his room from the moment he’d had her. She’d gotten upset, teary, but he wasn’t caving in. He’d hated being so damned forceful with her but the fact was as much as he loved the kids he selfishly and unashamedly wanted his private space back, a space where they got to be alone with one another to allow them to be Fliss and Frank, not mom and dad. Plus he also knew the longer Alex stayed in their room the harder it was going to be to get him to settle in his own space. Eventually, after Fliss had realised this was one thing she wasn’t getting her own way with she’d given in, and spent most of the night tossing and turning, sniffing a little, and when he’d tried to cuddle her she’d told him to piss off. Frank had merely taken a deep breath and backed away, knowing full well that when she got up in the morning and saw that Alex was fine, she’d feel like an ass. And he’d been right. She’d been up at the crack of dawn, straight into the nursery and come back a few minutes later, sidling up to him and hugging him from behind whispering that she was sorry, and the entire thing had been forgotten.

A thud on the bed jolted Frank from his thoughts and he looked down to see Thor had hopped up on the foot of the bed and he flopped down, his head on the peak that Frank’s feet were making.

“Oh, it’s like that is it buddy?” he asked and the dog merely looked at him before giving a contented sigh, his tail thumping on the bed. Then his head perked up as the door to their room pushed open again and his tail grew even more frantic as Fliss entered with Alex in her arms. She placed him down on the duvet and climbed into bed again, both watching as their baby promptly rolled from his back onto his tummy, his head raising to look at Frank as he gave a loud gurgle, grinning up at his daddy.

Frank gave a huff of laughter as he sat up against the headboard and hooked his hands under Alex’s arm pits, standing him up on his thighs. Gently he moved his hand so the baby could grab onto his fingers and Alex stood, looking around the room as Frank helped him stay in place.

“Mum thinks he’ll be crawling soon.” Fliss smiled as she lay back, watching the two of them “I mean he’s already sitting up and bum shuffling on the floor so…”

“God help us…or more to the point God help Thor!” Frank snorted as Alex gave a loud shriek as he spotted the dog led on the bed. Thor once more thumped his tail but made no effort to move. At that point, Alex’s legs gave a little wobble and he plopped down onto the soft duvet, sitting up and grabbing at the pattern on the cover before he looked up, grinning once more at Frank.

“He’s always so happy.” Fliss beamed at the baby who waggled his arms excitedly as Frank once more helped him stand up.

“He does nothing but sleep, eat, drink and mess in his diaper.” Frank shrugged “What’s there to be miserable about?!” Fliss snorted as Frank cocked his head and studied his son. “His hair is definitely going darker.” He mused.

“I know.” Fliss smiled “I’m glad his eyes aren’t though.”

“Glad?” Frank turned to her. “How come?”

“Because they’re just like yours.”

Frank smiled as Fliss leaned over and kissed him softly. They spent a little more time in bed, watching Alex’s various attempts to shuffle over the top of the bed towards the german shepherd at the bottom, before they heard Mary’s door open. She headed into the bathroom first before she knocked on their door and when Frank told her to come in she dive bombed on the bed singing Happy Birthday and demanding that he get up to open his gifts.

It was only since being with Fliss that Frank had really had Birthday or Christmas presents to open since he had left Boston. Granted, Roberta had normally gotten him a little something from her and also Mary but now it was different. And not that he was materialistic but he loved the fact he felt a little spoilt. He sat on the couch and unwrapped each one in turn to reveal a couple of new shirts, a pair of sneakers and a framed photo of the four of them which had been taken by Bill at the last Competition Mary had been in. She was sat on Monty in her full show gear, rosette attached to the pony's bridle as Alex perched in front of her, held safely in place by Fliss's hands. Frank stood at the other side of the pony, his arm round Mary all of them beaming at the camera. "Thanks guys, I love it all." Frank looked up smiling, before he paused as Fliss handed him an envelope "More?"

She nodded from where she sat on the floor with Alex who was stood on shaky legs, hanging on to her fingers just as he’d done with his dad earlier. Frank looked at her suspiciously before he slipped his finger under the flap and tore it open. He pulled out the piece of paper, which was a flight itinerary and his eyes widened as he looked at the destination. "We're going to Vermont?" He looked at Fliss and she grinned, giving a nod. "3 nights, next Thursday to Sunday, just the 2 of us"  She informed him as Frank quickly scanned the details, his eyes flicking back to hers as he registered the fact they were going to be alone "Nice little cabin in the Moscow area of Stowe and I booked us a few things to do..." "Please tell me one of those things is the Ben and Jerry's tour!" Frank groaned as and Fliss gave a chuckle.

“Well you know what they say…” she looked at Frank whose eyes flicked back to the printed itinerary before they raised once more to hers, questioningly. She grinned and licked her lips “Everyone loves a BJ.”

Frank gave a snort, followed by a little sigh of delight looking back at the piece of paper in his hand, his eyes shining with happiness as he took it all in. “Lissy, this is amazing." He beamed "Thank you." "Wait..." Mary suddenly piped up "You're going to Ben and Jerry's?" "Yeah." Fliss nodded.

"So not fair." She rolled her eyes "I wanna go."

“Tough.” Frank shot back “It’s my birthday not yours.”

“Well can we go for my birthday?” Mary asked.

“No.”

“That’s so mean Frank.” She whined.

“Go call someone who cares.” He looked at her. She narrowed her eyes and then held her hand out.

“Give me your phone then.” She demanded and Fliss laughed.

“Yeah? And who you gonna call?” Frank eyed her “Ghostbusters?”

Marry grinned “Nope. Poppa Bill. He’ll kick your ass.”

“Oh please!” Frank snorted “I’m not scared of Bill.” He shrugged “I could take him down.”

Mary pondered for a second before she looked at him, a positively wicked smirk crossing her face “Fine, I’ll call Uncle Steeby then. I know you’re scared of him.”

“No I’m not.” Frank scoffed and Mary snorted

“Whatever Frank, you’re only lying to yourself.” She said, standing up “Imma go get dressed. When we going for breakfast?”

“Soon as we’re ready.” Fliss smiled and Mary skipped out of the room, humming something to herself, Fred and Thor both following her as she went.

“You’re a liar.” Fliss looked at Frank.

“What?” he asked, picking Alex up and settling him on his knee.

“Saying you’re not scared of Steeby.”

“I’m not.” Frank shook his head, before his face rearranged into a little smile “I’m petrified of him.”

****

Just over an hour or so later they were settled in a booth at Keke's Breakfast cafe on Gulfport. Mary announced loudly that she didn’t need to see the menu, telling their server that she wanted her favourite, the apple and cinnamon waffles with a side of bacon. Frank rolled his eyes at her hyper nature, a soft smile on his face as she chatted away to the teenager who entertained her ramblings with the patience of a saint whilst he and Fliss gave the menu a cursory glance before they too opted for their standard order. Frank took the large French toast combo with his eggs over easy as always, whereas Fliss chose the raspberry stuffed French toast. They also ordered a side of plain pancakes for Alex, the baby now at the stage of holding various food items in his little hand and gumming them half to death with his few teeth. It kept him quiet and entertained whilst they ate, even if more of it did end up round his face and in his hair than his mouth.

Their food didn’t take long, Frank filling the 15 minute or so wait gently teasing Mary about a boy she had mentioned from school, causing her to narrow her eyes at him, protesting that they were just friends. When Fliss then pointed out that was how her and Frank started off she paused, pulled a face and then informed them that their accusations were both baseless and gross, causing Frank to laugh and lean back in his seat, taking a large drink of his coffee.

Their food arrived and Fliss cut up the pancakes, handing a large piece of one to Alex as they all tucked in, eating with gusto, a happy silence falling over the table which Mary broke a few moments later.

“Can we grill tonight?” she asked, her mouthful of food. Frank looked at her, where she was sat on the bench opposite him, next to Fliss. He shook his head “What?” she asked.

“Seriously, it’s breakfast time and you’re asking about what we’re eating tonight?”

Mary shrugged “You need to be more organised, Frank.”

Fliss gave a snort as Frank looked from Mary to her “Seriously, I’m 39 getting sassed by a soon to be 10 year old.”

“39…” Fliss sniggered and Frank nudged her under the table with his foot.

“So can we or not?” Mary demanded.

“Jeeez.” Frank rolled his eyes, picking up his coffee “It’s my birthday, don’t I get a say in what we do?”

“I’ve actually booked us a table somewhere.” Fliss spoke, cutting across the argument. “Thought it might be nice for us all to go out.”

“Where?” Mary turned to her.

“1200 Chophouse.”

Frank let out a groan of delight at the same time Mary punched the air “Seriously?”

Fliss nodded “It was going to be a surprise. Mum, Dad, Steve, Sian and the kids are coming. Oh, and Roberta.” She turned to Mary “So when we get back you need to ride then bath Monty and load the wagon ready for tomorrow. The table is booked for 6:30 so we can feed Alex before we go. He should be happy enough in the chair.”

Mary nodded “Am I on the 1pm class?”

Fliss shook her head “No, I told Joanne to take you off. I’ll teach you later once the class is done ok?”

Mary grinned “I like it best when we do that.”

Fliss smiled at her and then turned to Alex who had enthusiastically banged his fist on the little plastic tray of the high-chair. “You ok baby?” he grinned at her then let out a loud shriek. “Ok, hang on…” She tore another pancake in half and then handed it to him where he shoved it in his mouth straight away. She watched him for a second then looked at Frank “He’s got your appetite.”

“He’s a growing boy.” Frank shrugged.

“What’s your excuse?” Fliss teased and Frank swallowed the last of his breakfast and leaned back against the bench, arm resting along the back of it as he drank his coffee.

“I burn a lot of energy.” He said after little deliberation, shooting her a wink.  

 About half an hour later they finished their breakfast and headed home, Mary and Fliss both changing into their riding gear and heading over to the yard for the afternoon. Fliss was apologising to Frank about not spending the full day with him but he chuckled, assuring her that he some peace and quiet and one-to-one time with his boy was celebration enough, earning him a soft nip on his arm in retaliation. He spent the afternoon in between making sure Alex was happy and settled enough flicking through trash TV, drinking beer and scouting the internet for a couple of boat parts some of which were needed and others, like a surround sound digital entertainment system complete with satellite TV, were not. Nevertheless, he marked the catalogue number down along with the stuff he actually did need so he could see how much cheaper it would be when he ran it all through the system at work.

At just gone 5 Fliss and Mary came back through the door, Thor hot on their heels, Fliss face bright red and Mary’s streaked with tears.

“What…” Frank stood up and Fliss held her hand up, telling him to stop. He did as he was told, observing with a frown as Mary kicked off her boots and gave a sniff.

“Fliss, I didn’t…”

“I’ve nothing more to say on the issue.” Fliss cut her off.

“But…”

“No buts Mary.” Fliss shook her head “What you said was really mean and I won’t tolerate it ok?”

“Kay…” She sniffed again.

“The horse world is full of nasty bitches.” Fliss looked at her. “I don’t want you becoming one. You know, you’ve done spectacularly well for your first ever season and now and you’ve pretty much just ruined it for yourself because frankly I’m not sure letting you go tomorrow is appropriate given your behaviour.”

“I’m sorry…please, Fliss. I can’t miss the last show!”

“Enough!” Fliss voice rose and Mary shut her mouth hastily. “No more. Now go get showered and changed, we’re late, we need to leave in an hour.” Fliss spoke with a finality to her voice which Mary clearly picked up on as she didn’t argue or plead anymore. Instead she simply wiped her face and headed through the room to the hall, eyes focussed on the floor as she walked. When she shut the door behind her to the hallway, Frank turned to Fliss, his expression puzzled.

“Ok, what’s going on?”

Fliss groaned, heading to the fridge “She was practicing over a few jumps and couldn’t quite get Monty to make the turn on the last one right, he kept tripping or knocking the pole down so she started to get frustrated. And it didn’t help that Sally was stood watching. Mary carried on getting really annoyed and distracted, and basically screamed at Sally saying that she was putting her off and then called her an asshole and told her to leave because no one on the yard liked her.”

Frank arched an eyebrow “She said that?” Fliss nodded and he groaned “Jesus.”

“And then Sally’s mother started.” Fliss sighed heavily, shutting the fridge door and cracking open the bottle of water she’d retrieved. “She was accusing Mary of being a spoilt brat and a spiteful little witch so then I ended up arguing with her, you know, pointing out that they’re kids and they say stuff, and that Sally is no angel as she has an acid tongue too…not that that excuses what Mary said.” She took a long drink of water “The upshot is her mother served her notice and they’re leaving next weekend.”

“So you lost clients?” Frank folded his arms, shaking his head in frustration, “Because of Mary’s mouth?”

“2 boarders.” Fliss shrugged “I’m not too bothered about that side of it, I have a waiting list so I can fill them straight away, I just don’t want Sandybrook getting a reputation, you know? Livery Yards can be horrible places and I work so hard to nip any bitching and bad feelings in the bud before they can spiral.”

“Did Mary apologise?”

“Oh yeah.” Fliss swallowed some more water. “I tore strips off her. As soon as she said it I told her to get straight off Monty, put him away and we were done. I made her apologise in front of everyone who’d been watching and then told her I’m not sure if I’m gonna take her tomorrow. I also told her if it wasn’t for the fact it was your birthday and we had no one to babysit, she wouldn’t be going anywhere tonight either.” She paused and bit the inside of her lip and looked at Frank “Was that too much? I mean…”

“No, absolutely not.” Frank shook his head “And besides, even if I thought it was harsh, which I don’t, I’d never undermine you anyway.”

 “Thing is Frank, I really want her to go tomorrow.” Fliss rolled her eyes, “She’s worked so hard and she’s not a bad kid. It feels such a shame to let all her hard work and practice go to waste.”

“Well you didn’t say she couldn’t go for sure, just that you were debating whether or not to allow it.”  Frank shrugged “So, let’s see how she goes tonight when we’re out. Then we can decide.”

Fliss nodded “Okay.” 

“Honey, don’t think on it.” Frank cocked his head to one side, the look on Fliss’ face betraying the internal conflict she was feeling “You did the right thing.”

“I know, I know but doesn’t stop me feeling shitty about it Frank.” Fliss sighed as Frank walked towards her “I hate having to tell her off. She’s a good kid most of the time and I know deep down she didn’t mean to be so cruel.”

“Well, we all say things at times we don’t mean. I’ve told her that a few times myself.” Frank smiled, wrapping his arms around Fliss.

“It was frustration more than anything.” Fliss melted into his arms and Frank gave a hum of agreement. “Frustration at not being perfect at something.” He said wisely “Monty isn’t an equation or a problem she can work out with maths or logic.” He shrugged “Maybe it will do her some good to learn a little humility.” He dropped a kiss to her head. “Now, no offence but you stink of horses and we have 50 minutes until we need to leave. Go grab your shower, I’ll feed Alex and then get ready. Won’t take me long.”

Fliss chuckled and pulled back, looking up at him, narrowing her eyes “You’re not wearing one of those shirts are you?”

“It’s my birthday.” Frank shrugged “Surely I can wear what I want?”

Fliss rolled her eyes “Whatever.”

“I thought you liked them?”

“They’re hideous”

“But endearing.” He dropped another kiss to her lips “At least that’s what you say.”

She chuckled “I’m only teasing, I kinda like you in them.” She kissed him again and then pulled away, giving a little jump as Frank slapped her ass as she turned around to walk away. She tossed him a look over her shoulder which he met with an innocent one of his own before she walked into the hall, heading up the stairs.

20 minutes or so later, complete with Alex who had enthusiastically wolfed down a generous helping of Fliss’ home-made cauliflower, broccoli and cheese puree, whilst simultaneously smearing it all over his face, he headed up the stairs and into their bedroom. Fliss was wrapped in a robe, finishing off straightening her once hair and she gave a smile as Alex grinned at her.

“He really likes that stuff you made him.” Frank smiled and looked down at his son as he gabbled away in his arms. “I’ll get him cleaned and dressed before I take a shower.”

“I got his outfit ready.” Fliss smiled “It’s on the changing mat.”

“Don’t you trust my fashion sense?” Frank teased and she grinned.

“Your fashion sense is exactly why I picked it.”

“Rude.”

“Trust me, when you see it…you’ll understand.” She smirked.

“Okay…” Frank pulled a confused face before he dropped a kiss to her cheek and turned to head across the hall to the bathroom. 5 minutes later he’d managed to give Alex a quick bath to clean him up and after a little wrestle as the baby really was becoming a wriggle worm, he finally got him wrapped him in his little bear towel with the hood pulled over his light brown hair.  Emerging from the family bathroom he made his way towards the nursery, pausing as he heard a little sniffle coming from Mary’s room. Taking a deep breath he moved towards that door instead and gently knocked.

“Stack?” he asked, and when she didn’t tell him to either ‘go away’ or ‘wait a second’ he reached with one hand to open the door and pushed it gently inwards. Mary was sat on the huge bean bag which was situated underneath her raised cabin bed, a book on her lap, her hair damp from the shower. She was dressed in a smart denim skirt which was printed with little white stars and a red plaid top with lace trim down either side of the column of buttons and round the collar.  “That new?” he asked having not seen the top before.

“Fliss bought it me last week in Target” she said quietly, wiping her eyes. “I liked it so she said I could have it as I’d done well with Monty”

“Well, you got good taste.” he smiled “Take after me.”

At that she gave him a scathing look and he chuckled a little as Alex let out a little gurgle, his arms outstretched. Mary held her arms out for him so Frank crossed the spacious room and handed the baby over.  Alex grinned and made a grab for Mary’s hair, making her smile as Frank sat on the floor in front of them both, his back leaning against the ladders that led up to her bunk.

“You gonna shout at me as well?” she asked after a little pause and Frank inhaled deeply.

“No.” he shook his head, letting his breath out slowly “I think Fliss said everything that needed to be said. I’ve nothing more to add really.”

“Are you mad?”

“No, just disappointed Mary.” he said honestly “I thought I’d taught you better than that.”

Mary looked down, her shoulders slumped “I didn’t mean it. I was just angry. Sally makes me mad.”

“You make me mad sometimes but I don’t say nasty things.” Frank sighed, “Well, I hope I don’t.”

As he spoke those words his mind strayed back a few years to the incident in his apartment when he’d stood on the lego bricks. It seemed like a life time ago, Mary had been so little compared to the girl that sat before him now.

“Hey, look at me.” he said gently and she raised her eyes to his. “Did you mean it when you said sorry?”

Mary nodded “Yeah, I did. But her mom started calling me names and she was so mad at Fliss. Fliss told her to shut up in the end but then she told me off too.”

“Well, that’s because Fliss…” Frank paused, swallowing a little as the words formed in his mind “Well, Fliss is your mom and she loves you, so she’s gonna defend you. That doesn’t mean she agrees with what you did or that what you did was justifiable.”

“I know.” Mary’s voice was quiet “Is she mad? Sally’s mom said they were leaving.”

“Yes they are but…” Frank shook his head “No, she’s not mad. Perhaps a little disappointed in you too, but you know the rules, no one stays mad in this house. We say our piece, we apologise, we move on. And we try to be better in future.”

It wasn’t quite a flat out lie, whilst he and Fliss could argue and stay pissed at each other for days, where Mary (and in the future no doubt Alex) was concerned it was a different story.

“Do you think she’ll let me go tomorrow?”

“Depends on how you behave tonight.” Frank shrugged, moving his legs as he made to stand “I honestly don’t know.”

Mary took a deep breath and Frank pushed himself to his feet with a slight groan as his knees clicked. Fuck this getting older shit.

“Will she dry my hair for me?” Mary looked at Frank.

“Go and ask.” Frank replied simply, taking Alex off her. She followed him out of her room and made her way over to their room, knocking on the door. He paused in the doorway of the nursery, watching as she pushed it open timidly and he saw Fliss look up from where she’d been doing her make up.

“Lissy…” she said quietly “Please could you do my hair for me?”

“Course I will.” Liss smiled, beckoning her in. “Come on.” As she stood up so Mary could sit at the stool she caught Frank’s eye and he gave her a wink before he turned into their son’s room and made his way over to the changing unit at the right hand side. As soon as he saw the outfit he gave a loud laugh and shook his head taking in the tiny little yellow palm printed Hawaiian shirt, almost identical to the one he owned, and jeans.

“You’re momma thinks she’s so funny.” he snorted, dropping a kiss to Alex’s head as he lay him back on the mat. “And to be fair, as far as jokes go, that one’s pretty good.”

*****

The managed to depart just 10 minutes after their aimed for time and arrived at the restaurant 5 minutes or so late, but all things considered that wasn’t a huge issue. They walked in, Frank pushing Alex’s buggy as Fliss gave them the reservation name.

“Ah, yes, Mrs Adler, the rest of your party are in the bar area. If you head through I’ll let your server know you’re all here and she’ll come show you to the table.”

“Thanks.” Fliss smiled, and the 4 of them headed to the left. Mary spotted Steve and the twins first and gave a little yell, running over towards them, Frank, Fliss and Alex following.

“Mrs Adler, huh?” Frank teased, his voice low as he leaned down to speak into Fliss’ ear, the warmth that had flooded his chest at hearing the guy essentially calling Fliss his wife evident in his eyes which were bright with love.

Fliss gave a shrug, grinning as she turned her head to look at him. “I just gave Adler as the name for the table, he just assumed.”

“Well, you will be soon enough.” He smiled, pressing a soft kiss to her lips.

He expected some sarcastic response about how there was still time for her to change her mind but none came. Instead she merely beamed at him, her hand gently reaching up to cup his cheek “Can’t wait Sailor.” She bit her lip and Frank could do nothing but smile back like a complete love struck idiot, his forehead pressing to hers as he kissed the tip of her nose.

“Get a room!” Steve bellowed over the bar area and Fliss merely turned her head to look at him, raising her middle finger.

“Felicity Rose Gallagher!” Verity scalded “Stop being so uncouth. I brought you up better than that.”

Fliss rolled her eyes “Dad didn’t”

Bill scrunched his face up and shrugged “Touche Titch.”  He chuckled as he reached out for Frank, grabbing his hand and pulling him into a manly hug “Happy birthday, Son.”

“Thanks Bill.” Frank smiled, turning to Steve next who did the same before he then greeted Sian, Verity and Roberta with hugs and kisses to the cheek before he ruffled Charlie and Joel’s hair as they came over and hugged him round his waist. “You two grown since last week?” he asked, looking at the 2 boys whose heads were both now almost level with his ribcage.

“Feels like it.” Sian mumbled “Mind you, not like their father is a small man is it?”

Steve opened his mouth, grinning to make a dirty comment no doubt about his size so to speak but instead he gave a yelp as Verity reached up and slapped the back of his head “Don’t even think about it Steven.” She pointed at him.

“Mum…” he wailed as Frank chuckled, moving to the bar after checking if anyone else needed a drink.

“This is on us tonight.” Bill pushed up next to him, waving his hand at the bar tender “Yeah, on the tab for table 20, thanks…”

“Bill, there’s no need.” Frank began the usual protest whenever either of his future in-laws insisted on paying but as normal Bill shook his head.

“I know but we want to.” He shrugged “I mean what’s the world coming to when I can’t treat my kids to dinner huh?”

Frank sighed a little and smiled “Thanks.”

Bill nodded as Frank placed his order- a pilsner for him, lemonade for Mary and a tonic water for Fliss who had said she would drive home. They’d debated getting a cab but as she had assumed she would be up early in the morning to drive to the Competition and said she’d prefer to drive. Now that was all hanging in the balance due to Mary’s earlier behaviour, or lack of more to the point.

Shortly after they were shown to their table, Mary taking a seat next to the twins in between Verity and Bill. When both Steve and Frank began to tell them to sit where they could keep an eye on them, Verity scoffed and waved them away, her arm dropping round Mary.

“My pudding can sit next to me if she wants.” She pouted and Frank rolled his eyes before shooting Mary a look.

“First sign of any nonsense…”

“I know.” She cast her eyes down before she looked at him. “Please can I have my Tablet?”

Frank looked at Fliss and she nodded, reaching into the bag under the stroller for it and handing it over.

“Volume down.” Frank instructed as he passed it round and she took it with a thanks. The three kids huddled round it as Mary turned it on, no doubt looking at their latest Minecraft game or whatever the hell it was the three of them seemed to spend half their lives connected to one another over the internet for. Whilst Frank was conscious most people might consider this lazy parenting, he saw it as being no different to them having a toy or colouring book at the table and so left them to it, as they began to chatter amongst themselves, only being interrupted when they were asked to pick what they wanted to eat. Once the orders were placed and another round of drinks appeared, Frank was handed 3 gift bags over the table, blushing slightly as he took them with thanks. Bill and Verity had bought him a bottle of 15 year Barrell Craft Spirits Bourbon and a new pair of Ray Bans after his had met a sticky end when Alex had pulled them off his face and then dropped them onto the floor where Fliss had accidentally stood on them, cracking the lens. Fully aware of how expensive both those items were he thanks them, whilst reprimanding them once more for spending too much money on them to which Verity hushed him and Bill merely rolled his eyes giving a shrug. Roberta had gotten him a new tool belt for him to use when working on the boat which he was really pleased with. As he showed it to Fliss she cheekily quipped in a quiet voice that he could finally get rid of the spanner in his pocket which had made Sian choke on her drink when she overheard. Steve pat her on her back as she sorted herself out, and then Frank reached into the final bag from Steve, Sian and the boys. He thanked them for the 6 pack of Sam Adams, which could sometimes be hard to find in the stores in Florida, nodded in appreciation at the new Patriots Jersey they’d gotten him with ADLER arched over the back, and reached in to pull the last item out, which was a blue baseball cap.

“What the…” he scoffed and looked at Steve who had broken into a huge guffaw of laughter at the look of disgust on Franks face. Bill and Verity also started to chuckle and as Fliss reached out to turn it towards her she snorted as Roberta slapped the top of the table in utter hysterics as the white letters MAGA stood out clear against the dark navy.

“That was his idea, not mine.” Sian protested as Frank looked down, shaking his head at the joke before he spotted the small writing under the larger letters. “Make the Asshole Gone Again.” He read, and at that he gave a loud laugh. “Wonder if I’ll get away with wearing it for work?”

"I thought you said you were voting Trump?" Roberta’s voice was serious and Frank shook his head, taking a swig from his beer, as she gave him a cheeky grin.

"Don't start him off again, please Roberta!" Fliss groaned "I had to stop him putting his foot through the TV last night when they showed that Jordan Klepper vs Trump Supporters section on the Daily Show."

"He’s an ass clown." Frank replied and Steve laughed.

“Suppose being a Democrat is part and parcel of coming from Mass, huh Frank?”

“What, like being Anti-Tory is part and parcel of being from Merseyside?” Frank shot back and Steve gave a grin, raising his glass in his direction.

“Correct!” Steve nodded enthusiastically.

“Damned Tories…” Bill shook his head. “Johnson doesn’t know his arse from his elbow.”

“You know, I seriously think you should be IQ tested before you're allowed to vote.” Fliss shrugged and Roberta leaned forward.

“Yeah but, how can you test what ain’t there?"

Everyone at the table laughed as Frank reached for his beer. "Actually, if you think about it, it’s pretty simple." he swallowed a mouthful of his drink and looked at Roberta "One question- are you voting Trump? If they answer yes then they clearly have the IQ of a goldfish, right to vote denied."

The table laughed again and it wasn’t long then until their starters arrived and the chatter slowed as everyone tucked in, Fliss taking a minute or so to settle Alex who had woken up with perfect timing as ever.

“You want me to sort him?” Frank lay a hand on her thigh and she shook her head, handing the baby a teething ring.

“No, I got it.” She smiled, “Besides he’s good now.”

Frank gave her knee a squeeze and then glanced across the table where Bill was looking at Mary.

“So, you all set for your last competition tomorrow?” he asked and Frank let out a little groan.

“I err…” Mary’s eyes fell down towards her food “I don’t know if I’m going.”

“Why not?” Verity asked.

Frank looked at Fliss, who had been about to open her mouth and gently shook his head. He wanted Mary to be the one to explain, she was the one that had misbehaved after all.

“Because I was naughty.” She shrugged “So Fliss and Frank said they don’t know if I can go.”

Verity and Bill looked at one another before they both glanced over the table at Frank and Fliss. Fliss raised her eyebrows a little as Frank reached for his drink.

“Oh, well, I’m sure you’ve learned your lesson.” Verity looked at Mary and she nodded again, her eyes still on her plate, brimming with tears.

“It all depends on tonight.” Frank spoke softly “Good behaviour over dinner and we’ll think about it.”

“Really?” Mary asked, looking up and he nodded.

“Really.”

“What did you do?” Charlie asked.

“Never you mind.” Sian cut him off, looking at him.

“It doesn’t matter what Mary did.” Fliss stated simply “It was dealt with and that’s that. No need to talk about it anymore.”

“But…”

“Charlie, stop.” Steve said sternly. Charlie narrowed his eyes at his dad and Steve pointed his fork at him “Carry on mate, see where that attitude gets you.”

Threat received and understood, Charlie went back to eating and the talk struck up once more about Frank and Fliss’ trip to Vermont the weekend after. The more they talked about it, the more Frank found himself getting excited. 3 nights alone with Fliss in a cabin in the middle of what he was hoping would be a decent covering of snow sounded like his idea of heaven.

Dinner passed with no more talk of misbehaving children and at just gone 9pm they finished desert and Frank sat back, the waistband of his jeans feeling a hell of a lot tighter than they had when he arrived.

“Think I’m having a food baby.” Fliss groaned besides him and he turned to her, raising his eyebrows.

“As long as it’s not a real one.”

She snorted into her lemonade, shaking her head “Oh no…”

“You not fancy another?” Sian, who had heard the exchanged asked and Fliss looked at her, hesitating a little.

“Not at the moment, no.”

“Well that’s a step up from the ‘Oh,Christ no’ you spluttered last time the subject was raised” Frank teased and she nudged him with her elbow as Steve sniggered.

“You can shut up as well!” Fliss glared at him

“Ah come on Titch, another baby in the family would be great.”

“Well you have another, if you want one so bad!”

“We are.” Sian spoke and at that the table fell silent. All eyes turned to her, Verity and Bill exchanging a glance with one another as Fliss looked from Sian, to Steve who leaned back in his chair, arm falling round his wife’s shoulder, a smug smirk on his handsome face.

“No, are you…really?” Verity’s hand fell to the hollow of her throat as Sian blushed a little, nodding.

“We found out last week.”  Sian smiled, looking at Steve “We wanted to get you all together and…”

The table fell silent before there was a sudden flurry of excited voices and the scraping of chairs as everyone stood up to hug one another and offer congratulations.

“What’s going on?” Joel piped up and Steve smiled as he sat back down having just received a huge bro hug from Frank.

“We just told everyone about the baby.” He smiled and the twin’s faces fell into identical expressions of understanding.

“What baby?” Mary asked.

“The one Aunty Sian’s gonna have.” Frank looked at her.

“You having a baby?” Mary looked across the table.

“We sure are.” Steve beamed.

“That’s so cool!” Mary grinned.

“So, when are you due?” Fliss asked and Sian smiled.

“Middle of October.” She said “So I’m gonna  be huge at your wedding.”

“Especially if its twins again.” Mary chipped in and Frank turned to look at her, before he bit his lip and glanced back up at Steve who’d paled a little.

“You know it is a possibility…” Roberta grinned “Happened to a friend o’ma sister’s. Two sets of twins.”

“Oh, just think Bill!” Verity beamed “Another two grandkids…”

“Mum, shut up!” Steve groaned as the table laughed.

Not long after the happy news, everyone agreed that it was time to be heading home. After another mini argument between Bill, Steve, Roberta and Frank about the check, which Steve and Frank both lost, the party all gathered their things and headed out to the parking lot.

“Roberta, you need a lift?” Fran asked but before she could answer Verity shook her head.

“She’s coming back to ours. We have a bottle of Rioja to crack open.”

Bill let out a dramatic sigh “Can I come sleep in your guest place-ow!” he yelled as Roberta reached up and slapped him round the back of the head.

With a snort Frank clipped Alex into the baby seat and after another goodbye to everyone they headed home arriving just before 10.

“Did you have a nice night?” Fliss asked Frank as they walked up towards the door and Frank nodded, dropping a kiss to her head.

“It was fantastic, the whole day has been great. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. Shame your mom couldn’t make it.”

“Well she’s still getting over that virus but I was thinking. Maybe near Mary’s birthday we could head up to Mass? We haven’t been since…” he trailed off and Fliss instantly understood why, the last time they’d been in Boston had been when Mary had been taken ill and John had attacked Fliss.

“I think that’s a great idea.” Fliss said as Frank unlocked the door. “It’s a short enough flight for Alex and it would be nice to go.”

Frank smiled as they all stepped inside and Thor came charging out of the kitchen to greet them all.

“Do I have to go to bed or can I watch TV?” Mary asked, looking up “It is Saturday…”

“Well, I would say yes but we have an early start tomorrow.” Fliss looked at Frank and he instantly understood.He rolled his eye softly before giving a concessive nod and Fliss continued “I mean that is if we wanna get to the show on time.”

“I can go?” Mary’s head whipped to look at them both and Fliss nodded.

“Yes, you can go.”

“Oh my god thank you, thank you!” Mary shot over to hug her, her arms wrapping round Fliss’ waist “I’ll behave, I promise.”

“I know.” Fliss dropped a kiss to her head. “Now skoot, we’re gonna be up at 6.”

Mary hugged her again, then turned to Frank who swung her up with a groan “Stop growing will ya?”

“I’ll try!” she giggled, squishing his cheeks between her hands. “Love you dad.”

Dad.

Frank felt his stomach twist, and he glanced at Fliss whose hand had flown to her mouth, her eyes wide. She hastily swallowed, recovering herself, her eyes glassing over as she shifted Alex’s car seat in her arms before she turned to place it on the coffee table.

“I love you too.” Frank cleared his throat, as he dropped Mary to the floor “Go on, I’ll come tuck you in in five.”

She skipped off up the stairs, Fred hot on her heels and as soon as her door shut Frank turned to Fliss.

“You ok?” she asked and he nodded, his eyes full of unshed tears as he sank down onto the arm of the couch. “How do you feel?”

“I don’t know.” He replied softly, and he truly didn’t. “Shocked, a little. I guess, that even despite the adoption I never…well, I never anticipated that because she’s not actually mine and…”

His face screwed up a little, and Fliss stepped in between his legs her arms wrapping around his broad shoulders. He pressed his face into her chest, his arms curling around her waist as she gently stroked one hand through his hair and down his neck.

“Of course she’s yours.” She whispered, dropping a kiss to his head. “I keep telling you this. In every single way possible bar biologically, she’s your daughter Frank. We got the paper work to prove it.” At that he spluttered a little laugh and Fliss pulled back to look at him, her hands cupping his face as she wiped away a single tear that had fallen down his cheek.

“We just never talked about it.” He shrugged a little lamely and Fliss smiled.

“Somethings you just can’t prepare for, no matter how much philosophy or logic you try and apply.”  Her brown eyes locked onto his “This was just, well, it was a natural thing. I can’t explain it any better than that. The question is, did it feel uncomfortable?”

“No.” Frank answered honestly as he shook his head, taking a deep breath, his lip quivering. “And that’s what shocked me the most. I always thought I’d hate it but…”

“But you didn’t?”

“No.”

“And are you gonna be okay if she keeps calling you dad?”

He nodded and Fliss gently bent down to kiss him softly, before pulling away “Then roll with it. Like Dad did with me. You know, if you wanted to you speak to him then I’m sure he’d-“

“I already did.” Frank shrugged a little. “Months ago, just after we’d moved in here and we’d decided to adopt her. He told me about how you’d made that wish at your birthday and…” Frank took a deep breath “And I know Mary’s always said she wishes I was her dad and I guess, well if I’m honest there’s always been this part of me that wishes I was, despite Diane.”

“Diane would be happy, I’m sure.” Fliss looked at him “Frankie, I know this is probably gonna sound so shit, but, well there’s a reason she came to you to…well to do what she did, because she trusted you with her daughter. And you’ve done her proud baby, so proud.”

Frank felt the burning in his nose as he scrunched his face up in an attempt to stem the tears that were threatening to overwhelm him and once more Fliss wrapped her arms around him, gently rubbing between his shoulder blades. “What do I do now?” he whispered “How do I react?”

“You don’t “Fliss replied, kissing his head “You take a minute, then you go upstairs and tuck her in as usual. Don’t make a big thing about it or she’ll start to worry. Chances are she hasn’t even realised she’s said it.”

“And if she has?”

“Well then be honest. Tell her its okay.” She felt Frank nod and then she stepped back, her hands on his shoulders. “You good?”

“Yeah, yeah I’m okay.” He stood up, wiping his face. He took a deep breath and glanced down at Fliss and smiled, “I love you.”

“Love you too.” She smiled “Now go on, I’ll check the doors and be up with you in a second.”

Frank climbed the stairs, taking a deep breath before he knocked gently and walked into Mary’s room. She was already in bed, Fred curled by her feet and as Frank crossed the room he almost tripped over her discarded clothes.

“Seriously?” Frank pointed them as they lay on the bedroom floor. “Wardrobe, not floordrobe Stack!”

“Oops.” Mary grimaced and Frank rolled his eyes, picking the items up, tossing them onto the bean bag under the bed.

“If they’re clean put them away, if not put them in your laundry hamper.” He instructed, leaning against the rails of her bed.

“Sorry, I’ll do it tomorrow.” Mary shuffled onto her side to look at him. “Did you have a good birthday?”

“The best.” Frank smiled honestly “Got to spend it with all my favourite people. And you.” Mary shoved him gently and he laughed, “Joking, joking!” he smiled, brushing her hair back off her face “You know you’re my best girl.”

“What about Fliss?” Mary narrowed her eyes suspiciously.

“She’s my best woman.” Frank answered easily. Mary looked at him before she smiled, accepting his explanation. “You excited about tomorrow?”

“Yeah.” Mary nodded “And nervous.”

“Nothing to be nervous about.” Frank shook his head “Just go out there and enjoy it. You’ve done so well for a first season, Fliss was saying that earlier. We’re proud of you sweetheart.”

“Thanks.” She grinned “Hey, Frank?”

“Yeah?”

“You know what I said before...downstairs?”

Frank took a deep breath “I do.”

“Did it bother you?”

“Not one bit.” He smiled and Mary grinned.

“Good, because I think I’d like to say it more going forward.” She reached out, her fingers fiddling with the buttons on his shirt. “Unless you annoy me. And then you can be Frank again.”

Frank chuckled “Sounds like a deal, Stack”

“Okay, you can go now. I need to sleep.” Mary snuggled down into the covers and Frank smiled, pulling them up round her chin, dropping a kiss to her head.

“Night”

“Night.”

He turned to leave the room, throwing a last glance over his shoulder before he closed the door behind him.

***** “Mary, are you paying attention?” Fliss looked at her as she sat astride Monty, grinning ear to ear.

“Yeah, sorry.” She turned her head, “I’m just so happy!”

“I know honey!” Fliss chuckled, “And you did so well in your other two classes and yes we’re gonna celebrate that later but focus on this one now, yeah? You’ve gone clear so all you need to do is get round the jump off. You remember the order?”

“Erm…” Mary spun in the saddle looking round “Yeah its two, six, nine, double back to twelve, across to five and then you send him quickly down the line to finish at eight.”

“Good.” Fliss smiled “Remember, let Monty find his way. Don’t mess too much and if you think you can make that sharp turn after nine and cut through instead of round four then do it. If not, take the safe route and aim for clear.”

“Ok, yeah, got it.”

“Glad you did.” Frank mumbled, gently pushing Alex’s buggy to and fro as the baby dozed “’Coz that all sounded like a different language to me.”

“That’s because you don’t get it, Dad.” Mary turned to look at him.

“You’re right, I don’t.” Frank agreed

“You would do if you spent more time watching me instead of faffing with the boat in the garage.” Mary shrugged. At her words Frank narrowed his eyes and turned to Fliss who was biting her lip, a faint flush on her cheeks.

“Don’t look at me!”

“Oh, I’m lookin’ at you Cowgirl, because no one else I know uses the word faff.” He arched an eyebrow. “Well apart from your mom, dad, Steve and Sian…damned British slang!”

Fliss snorted “Ok, busted. But that’s not exactly what I said.”

“Well what was?” he dropped his voice a little and Fliss started to laugh.

“I just said to Jo when she commented she hadn’t seen you in a while that you were busy with the other woman in your life aka the boat.”

Frank rolled his eyes. “Hey, that engine was giving me trouble.”

“I’m sure it was.”

“And you weren’t complaining about me faffing too much when you were up there with me a few weeks back.” Frank dropped his head as he spoke into her ear and smirked as Fliss shivered at the feel of his bearded cheek scratching slightly at her neck.

“Well that situation benefitted me.” She muttered back, her eyes hidden behind her shades as she kept her face turned towards the ring, watching the first of the ten kids through to the jump off go.

“Very selfish of you Miss Gallagher.”

“Well when it comes to you I don’t like sharing.”

Frank gave a chuckle and pressed a kiss to her cheek “No worries on that count, I’m all yours baby.”

She smiled, and then winced as the competitor in the ring misjudged the turn between two jumps and the pony slammed on, sending her flying over its neck. Frank swallowed as Mary turned to look at Fliss her eyes wide.

“Why did she undercut that turn then?”

Fliss shook her head “If she’d have hugged tighter to the corner she might have made it but as it was she only got a two stride run up.” She bit her lip then frowned “Don’t you do that!”

“I wasn’t gonna!” Mary snorted, rolling her eyes.

“Good.” Fliss nodded “Like I said, you can make your time up between nine and twelve and then five and eight, if you need to.”

Frank groaned “Why couldn’t you pick a nice safe hobby…like swimming or something?”

Mary looked at him reproachfully “Frank, I could already swim.”

“Yeah but…”

“And Swimming can be dangerous, people drown.”

“Not if they’re supervised.”

“And besides, if I hadn’t wanted to go horse riding, you’d have never met Fliss.” Mary looked at him, fixing him with a maddening smug look because she knew that was the absolute ace card.

“Okay, you got me there.” Frank grumbled “Smart ass.”

Fliss chuckled as the three of them turned their attention to the ring and eventually after the other nine riders had finished, Mary’s name and number was called having been pulled last in the random order draw.

“Good luck.” Fliss smiled as she walked Mary to the gate of the arena before she set off, trotting Monty around the outside of the arena before the buzzer sounded. And then she was off. Frank hated this bit, and always found himself torn between desperately wanting to watch and also wanting to look the other way. He normally settled for a combination of the two, watching for a second, looking away, glancing back…but this time he found himself watching Fliss. Her face was set in utter concentration as she watched Mary’s round, her head tilting left to right, her hand making a pulling motion as she was willing Mary to slow Monty down and then suddenly she perked up completely, her lips curling upwards.

“She’s cut the corner, she’s gone for it.” She whispered and Frank’s eyes snapped back to the arena to see Mary clear the second to last jump and Monty picked up the pace. “Not too fast.” Fliss muttered “Pull him up, just take a check, a little one. Oh, shit!”

At Fliss’ last words Monty took off, clipping the pole with his front feet. It rolled in the cups and Frank held his breath before it rocked a little too far and fell to the floor. There was a collective sigh of disappointment around the ring from the spectators and then applause rang out as Mary crossed the finish line and turned to see the pole on the floor. She hung her head a little, shaking it before she trotted out and stopped by Fliss and Frank.

“Hey…” Fliss beamed at her “That was really unlucky. He only just clipped it.”

“It rolled?” Mary grimaced and Fliss wrinkled her nose as they set off back to the wagon.

“Fraid so.”

“Bummer.” Mary shook her head.

“What?” Frank asked, utterly puzzled.

“It means that the pole simply rolled off, it wasn’t taken straight down with the knock.” Fliss explained “Believe me, It’s the most annoying thing in the world.”

“But it’s the same result.” Frank looked at them both and Mary groaned exasperatedly.

“Don’t talk about stuff you don’t understand!”

“That’s me told.” Frank scoffed as she jumped off Monty and proceeded to remove her hat.

“Can we go see who won?” She turned to Fliss who had just taken Monty’s saddle off.

“Sure, let’s get him loaded up and then we’ll go.”

Once Monty was back on board, the ramp shut they headed back down to the Arena, Fliss pushing Alex’s buggy as Mary slipped her hand into Frank’s. They arrived back just in time to see the placings.

“Oh, that’s cool.” Mary shrugged “Saffy won the class.”

“You know her?” Fliss frowned.

“Only from when we were waiting in line before.” Mary shrugged “She seemed nice. I wonder who’s won it overall.”

“We’ll check online later.” Fliss said, before she grinned “You know, I’d kinda like to know who won the Junior Rider class for the season. Any idea Frank?”

“Oh, some blonde kid with an attitude problem.” He shrugged as Mary looked up at him, her eyebrows arched, hands on her hips.

“Well everyone says I act like you so any attitude I do have…” she drew a circle in the air with her index finger of the hand that wasn’t holding his before pointing at him “…is one hundred percent your fault.”

Fliss spluttered out a laugh as Frank blinked, looking at Mary then to Fliss. “I…wow.” was all he could bring himself to say.

The three of them politely applauded as the top six riders took a lap of honour before the winner took her own and as she emerged from the ring Mary let go of Frank’s hand and stepped forward.

“Well done.” She smiled at the girl who sat atop a chestnut pony and Frank watched, the pride in his chest almost stopping his breathing. He felt Fliss slide an arm round his waist and he moved, dropping his own over her shoulders as she leaned up to kiss his cheek.

“Thanks Mary!” the girl grinned “You were so unlucky with your last pole.”

“I did my best.” Mary shrugged “That’s what my mom and dad say matters the most.”

Frank felt Fliss stiffen a little besides him “Did she…”

“Yeah…”he whispered, dropping a kiss to her head.

Fliss took a shaky breath and hastily blinked back the tears as Mary turned back towards them “Hey, can I go get a drink with Saffy from their van? I’ll be like 10 minutes?”

“Erm…” Fliss wiped her face and looked at the woman next to Saffy who smiled and nodded.

“It’s fine.” She beamed “Fliss isn’t it? You run Sandybrook?”

“Yeah.” Fliss smiled.

“I’m Jenny, Saf’s mom. And we’re just parked right there.” The woman spoke “I wouldn’t mind a chat with you actually about a horse I have. He needs backing and you came recommended.”

“Sure, just…” Fliss looked at Frank and he gave a grin

“I’ll set off back with him.” he nodded to Alex who was fast asleep. “See you at home, take as long as you need.”

“You sure?”

“Course.” Frank gave her a kiss before he called to Mary “Hey Stack, I’m gonna go.” She turned and ran towards him, hugging him tight as his hand dropped to the back of her head. “I’m proud of you.” He said softly and she beamed.

“Thanks Dad.”

He gave her another hug before he turned and took the brake off the stroller, turning it round. As he made his way back towards where his truck was park he tossed a glance over his shoulder to see Fliss now in a full on laugh at something the woman called Jenny had said, head tipped back, shoulders shaking, her pretty profile simply radiating happiness.

And right there, Frank knew there couldn’t possibly be ANY man in the world who felt the sheer contentment and love that he did.

[crystalgirl259]

How to Train Your Dragonblood 3: The Dragonblood Alpha Ch3

After Jay and Cole finally got Kai and Rocky to stop their little game of tug and war, they all flew towards the smoke to investigate it. Below them, the trees look like an orange, yellow blur below them and on any other day, Jay would be in awe. But as they flew further into the forest, however, the bright orange and yellow colors became a burned, gray forest. The place looked downright depressing. The trees were devoid of any leaves, standing like sticks among the ashes.

They flew through the burnt remains of the forest until they reached the ocean and saw a large and piercing structure of ice, with large protruding spiky icicles.

As they flew around the destroyed structure, Cole realized that used to be a type of trading post or battle fort. This fort looked like it was once a thriving outpost, complete with docks for ships, weapons, and what looked like cages. Jay really hoped they were for containing livestock and not something else. There were even raised docks for archers to fire. Despite Cole clearly identifying the fort as strong, something had reduced it to splinters and icicles.

At first, they thought it was an Ice Dragonblood, but judging but the size of the blast, it must have been an incredibly large and strong one.

They stopped in midair to take in the sight. Jay turned around to Cole, who shrugged helplessly. They had all seen Ice Dragonblood attacks before, but it wasn't just the ice that was strange. The way the ice shot out from the ocean suggested a Water Dragonblood, but the few scorch marks on the bits of wood exposed made Jay think of a Lightning Dragonblood, or possibly a Fire Dragonblood. Jay could feel Kai's hope through their link, but they both knew not to get too hopeful.

They had been disappointed in the past.

They flew closer to the massive hunk of ice, looping through a ring and around it until the man-made structure became more visible.

"What happened here?" Jay asked in horror, but none of his friends had an answer for him. As they kept flying around, the wood splinters on the ice made it seem as if the ice suddenly grew in the middle of a village. On the muddy ground around the ruins, two dragon-like footprints were seen. They looked to be around the size of the monster from the Dragonblood's Nest from five years ago, possibly even bigger.

"I really don't like this," Kai said through the link as he shook his head and Jay put his hand on his neck in reassurance.

"Easy, baby." He replied, but he couldn't hide his own unease.

"Jay!" Cole suddenly cried when he saw something down in the ice, but it was too late.

"Fire!" A man suddenly shouted from below as a net was launched from a trapped ship and Jay and Kai got out of its range just in time. Even though the couple had managed to dodge the net, Cole and Rocky were not that lucky. The Earth Dragonblood was caught in the net and they fell down. Cole was thrown off from the saddle during the sudden drop. The noirette cried out as he fell, but Kai to catch him in his claws. Rocky landed on the ground and men suddenly surround him, carrying shields and spears.

Rocky struggled to escape or transform, but the net seemed to be made from vengestone, blocking out all of his powers.

As the men closed in, Rocky launched rock spikes from his tail that struck a fallen mast. From behind the fallen mast, a man jumped out to join in the fight. The middle-aged man had messy black hair and sharp, sandy brown eyes with long sideburns and stubble around his mouth and chin. He wore a brown jacket with large pockets on the front and a patch on the right side, tan pants, and a black belt, and carried a brown whip. He was also wearing an eyepatch on his right eye with a necklace made up of large teeth from hunted dragonbloods.

"Watch the tail!" He shouted to the men as he leaped on Rocky and grabbed his snout and head spines, pulling him down. As the men tried to tie Rocky's legs, he grabbed a rope wrapped around his arm that he used as a muzzle when he was suddenly distracted by a loud roar in the sky. As he looked up he saw a red dragon crossing the sky above at blazing speeds. "Is that what I think it is?" He whispered as his eyes widened in shock and excitement.

"STOP!" Jay shouted as Kai flew lower with Cole still hanging from his claws. Cole growled in anger when he saw his friend in chains as he hopped down and ran towards his dragonblood, but was pushed back by the men holding up their weapons in a warning. Jay quickly stepped up, holding a flaming sword that he swung at them. They backed off in surprise and Cole took the chance to grab a random sharp stick from the floor.

"Back again?" The man sneered angrily at them until his eyes zeroed in on Kai, still in his dragon form, snarling and snapping behind them. His eyes widened in amazement as she stood up on top of Rocky, holding his left hand over his sword. "Well what do you know, that is a Fire Dragonblood." He smirked at Kai with a predatory stare. Jay's eyes narrowed as he kept his hand in front of protectively while the dragonblood bared his teeth at the hunters.

There was no way Jay was going to let these hunters hurt his boyfriend.

"Thought they were all gone for good." The man continued, sounding very pleased. "Looks like our luck has turned for the better, men; I don't think the Baron has one of those in his dragonblood army."

"Dragonblood army?" Kai mentally asked. Jay was also curious, but right now they needed to save Rocky.

"Look, we don't want any trouble." He tried to reason with the man but he laughed, mocking them, and carelessly gripped into one of Rocky's head spikes. Cole bristled, but fortunately, nobody saw it. The last thing they needed was a fight with their leader targeting Kai and Rocky still in chains while he and Jay were badly outnumbered.

"You should've thought of that before you stole all of our dragonbloods and blasted our fort to bits!" The man shouted angrily as he pointed to the remains of a structure that were impaled by ice. The other men holler in agreement, but the riders were even more confused.

"Wait, what are you talking about? You think we did this?" Jay asked in disbelief. The man huffed and placed one foot on Rocky's head as he scowled at them in contempt. Cole and Kai scowled right back and Jay gripped his sword tighter.

"Dragonblood trapping is hard enough work as it is without do-gooders dragon riders sneaking in to rescue them!" He shouted angrily, but this just confused the trio even more.

"What do-gooders?" Kai asked, but Jay said nothing as he and Cole shared a look before the ginger-haired man processed the whole sentence and turned around, sheathing the sword.

"There are other dragon riders?" He asked in shock. As far as he or anyone else from Ninjago was aware, they were the only ones who ride and co-exist with Dragonbloods. The people of Ninjago had tried for years to get the other islands to accept the Dragonbloods, but it was a painfully slow process.

"You mean other than your little thieving friend from last night? You tell me! You may have an all-powerful dragonblood on your side but we still have a quota to fill!" He sneered as she stepped down from Rocky and on the floor, slowly pacing in front of his people. "How do you suppose we explain this mess to the Iron Baron?!" The man demanded in rage and his people all shouted in agreement. As soon as he said that name, Kai visibly stiffened.

There was no way that fairytale was actually true.

He could swear he had heard that name before when he was just a hatchling, but everyone believed it was just a scary story their parents would tell them to make sure they stayed as far away from humans as possible.

"Kai? Do you know him?" Jay asked through their link, but Kai shook his head, confusing everyone but Jay.

"Never met him, but when we were little Mom would tell Nya and me of a giant human made out of metal trapping disobedient Dragonblood hatchlings and dragging them to the Cursed Realm to work as slaves in his monstrous forge for all of eternity," Kai explained, barely suppressing a frightening shudder. When they were little and told this story, Nya and her friends thought it would be funny to gather up and scrap metal lying around.

They then used it to make Kai think the Iron Baron was coming for him.

"Does anything you say make sense?" Cole growled, snapping Kai and Jay out of their private conversation.

"He's expecting a new shipment of dragons by tomorrow." One of the men said, looking torn between anger and fear. The man, obviously their leader, pointed his finger at the one speaking and nodded his head in agreement.

"The Baron doesn't take well to excuses." Another trapper wearing a hood added, batted his blade weapon at them.

"This is what he gave me last time I showed up empty-handed." The man said as he pulled down his coat and shirt to show them a scar burned into the front of his left shoulder. Cole, Kai, and Jay looked at each other mortified. "He promised to be far less understanding in the future."

"Look, we don't know anything about a dragon thief or an all-powerful dragonblood or your lunatic boss and his dragon army, okay?" Jay gulped nervously, not noticing as the man faintly nodded and other trappers behind them aim their catapults and crossbows at the two humans and Fire Dragonblood. "Just give us back our dragonblood and we'll go, you very strange hostile person whom we've never met."

"Oh, where are my manners?" He mocked as she bowed down and slowly clutched a knife strapped to his lower back. "I am Clutch Powers, the finest dragonblood trapper alive." He announced as he took the knife out of its sheath with a flourish. He looked up where the men turn a large crossbow. He smirked as he pointed the blade at Kai who growled louder.

"After all, it's not just anyone who can capture a Fire Dragonblood."

"Go jump off a bridge you one-eyed bitch!" Kai roared, even though Jay was the only one who understood him.

"This is my boyfriend Kai; he says we're going, now!" Jay snapped, standing protectively in front of his boyfriend, even though they both knew Kai could handle himself in a fight. All of a sudden, the hidden dragon trappers attacked and Kai barely managed to dodge the hit from the crossbows. At the same time, the men began to converge on them. Thinking quickly, Kai shot a fire blast at the ice above them. A large icicle broke off and fell down, causing the trappers to yell and duck for cover.

Clutch too was thrown off his feet.

Jay quickly activated the sword and the flames around it and quickly cut the ropes binding the Earth Dragonblood. With his dragonblood free, Cole, Kai, Jay, and Rocky fly away while Clutch got back up. By the time he was up the pairs were both back in the air.

"You will never hold onto those dragonbloods forever, you hear me? The Iron Baron is coming for them all!" He yelled at the top of his lungs furiously, as he started swinging around the knife. As they flew as fast as they could from the trappers, Jay looked back, concerned at those words...

****************

Back at Ninjago, Jay's friends were all flying around the island, having a playful race amongst themselves. It was just after lunch now and now that they were all refueled and well-rested, the riders and their dragonbloods were looking for anything to pass the time. Right now, that something was racing. Dareth cheered the loudest, currently in the lead, as the others chased after them. As they raced, Plundar and Adam suddenly flew near Ed and Edna's hut.

There Edna was trying to relax, scaring her and the few pigeons and seagulls perched on the porch around her.

The normally calm and sweet Edna grunted and shook her fist at the group of flies, but none of them paid her any mind. In the plaza, Cliff casually greeted the many villagers as he walked towards the forge, hoping Jay would be there. As he maneuvered his way through the crowd, he chuckled when he saw a small group of people either scowling or celebrating at the recent Dragonblood game. A few of them had placed bets to who they thought would win.

Honestly, Cole, Zane, and Jay, if he ever attended, were the only ones who actually won any of the games.

The others were skilled riders and fighters, but they always fought each other instead of focusing on the task on hand. As Cliff entered the forge, he saw Ed working on the grindstone.

"Any sign of him?" The village leader asked when he didn't see his son or Kai in the forge.

"He's probably flown off the edge of the world by now." Ed hummed as he walked next to a Wind Dragonblood in his dragon form and opened the mouth to work on his teeth.

"You sure you want him running the village? You can still delay your retirement." He continued, worried for both Cliff and Jay.

"He's ready, you'll see," Cliff promised as a roar was suddenly heard from outside the forge. Kai and Rocky soon landed with their riders, kicking up a cloud of dust. As soon as Cole and Jay jumped off their backs, the two Dragonbloods returned to their human forms. "Hahaha! Here he is! The pride of Ninjago!" Cliff exclaimed to everyone who could hear, grinning from ear to ear. Dragonbloods aside, his son was becoming more and more like a worthy heir.

Jay quickly took off his helmet and walked towards the two men, with Kai and Cole following close behind.

Rocky would have joined them, but after that close call, he wanted to spend some quality time with his mate and their hatchlings.

"Who finally decided to show up for work." Ed joked lightly as he made a few pretend swings of his hammer as Jay dodged with a smile. Kai and Cole smiled at the casual interactions of the three. Cole had never noticed how close Ed and Jay were but neither did they often banter like that in public. Despite it being five years, it was like a breath of fresh air to see the boy he had been ostracizing still so spirited.

"Sorry, got held up." Jay grinned as he followed his father deeper into the building, dodging any object hanging low from the ceiling. "Hey, um, Dad! Can I have a word?" He asked and Cliff looked positively pleased as he put his large hands over Jay's shoulders.

"Something you're itching to tell me? He grinned as he wrapped his arm around Jay and they keep walking.

"Y-Yeah, not quite the itch you're thinking off but yes." He replied as the Chief grabbed two aprons from a hook that he threw to his son and Kai. Jay put it back on the hook whereas Kai just dropped it on the floor.

"Ah, good man! Now lesson one, a chief's first duty is to its people!" Cliff happily exclaimed as they stopped at a post. From a hook in the wall hang numerous slates inscribed with Ninjago runes and Cliff took the one labeled forty-one.

"Well, can we just talk in private for a-" Jay tried to say but was interrupted as Cliff shouted out the number. People outside were yelling and one excited man was seen jumping up and down and waving his hands.

"It's me, that's me! I'm next!" He cheered as he ran up to the counter as Cliff turned to smile knowingly at his son, who held in an irritated groan. "Okay, okay! I want one of those high sitters with lots of spikes and a big storage compartment." The man squealed in excitement like a child on Christmas Day.

"Absolutely! You got it, sir." Cliff smiled as he wrote down the order and went back into the forge, gathering tools and materials and handing them to his son.

"Dad, this is actually a little more important than building saddles." Jay insisted.

"Yeah, you think you can stop with these little orders and listen?" Kai snapped, only to back off at Jay's glare. Thankfully, Cliff didn't pay Kai's comment any mind.

"Ah, lesson two; no task is too small when it comes to serving your people." He told the ginger-haired man as they got to a table with diverse instruments. Cliff began to look at them and dropped them in a box while Ed got Kai to re-light the forge's fire behind them.

"Dad..." Jay whined as Cliff pushed the box of supplies into his arms and he took it as they started to walk to another part of the forge. As they walked, Jay also grabbed several things that he placed in the box. "I really need to tell you about this new land we came across."

"Another one?" Ed hummed as Zane and Pixal appeared from his right.

"Any new dragonbloods?" The pale man asked in excitement as Cliff picked up a large piece of leather, looking completely focused on his task and unaware of the conversation going on around him.

"We didn't stick around to find out." Jay shuddered at the memory.

"Yeah, these folks weren't friendly." Cole agreed with a glare as Jay and his father stopped beside a big, wooden structure that was meant to represent a dragon's back. Cliff put the leather on it and began to inspect it.

"Aw, really? Your Fire and Earth Dragonblood didn't bring them cheering to the rooftops?" Plundar laughed at the scowls they all sent him.

"No, this was different." Jay insisted as he began to draw the outline of the saddle while Cliff pushed on a level that aligned the leather and the structure that it sat on. "These guys were trappers, dragonblood trappers." He gulped and all his friends seemed to freeze at that. Over the years, especially in the beginning, a few ships would attack the odd Dragonblood that was hanging around near the edges of the island, but when they saw the riders coming in to attack, they quickly fled.

That didn't make it anymore scary at the thought of one of their scaly friends suddenly being taken away, never to be seen again.

Jay often had nightmares about that, as did Kai.

"You should've seen their fort, all blown apart and stuck in giant spikes of ice, it was weird," Cole added, still really confused by it all.

"Do you think it was an Ice Dragonblood?" Pixal asked.

"It's possible, but there was something about how the ice was shaped that didn't look like the work of an Ice Dragonblood." Rocky suddenly said as he walked in with Adam. "There was also damage to the ships and scorch marks on the wood."

"So a group of dragonbloods?" Morro suggested.

"No their leader said it was one, all-powerful Dragonblood that attacked them last night, I've never seen anything like it; and worst of all, they thought we did it!" Jay cried in offense and shock. Sure they had an island full of Dragonbloods and a seeming one-of-a-kind Fire Dragonblood, but even they wouldn't just up and attack a base and risk any lives like that, human or dragonblood.

"You know, you kids are gonna get in serious troubles one of these days, not everyone appreciates this way of life." Ed reminded them all.

"Ed's right, son, best we keep to our own." Cliff agreed as he took the leather and walked over to a table with a giant saw, where he laid it down. "Besides, you have more important uses for your time once we make the big announcement." He smiled as he pulled a lever that activated the saw and rubbed his hands gleefully, thinking of seeing his son taking over as Chief. Jay didn't share his mood and stopped the machine to finally get his attention.

"They are building a dragonblood army." He said in a tone that showed everyone that this was no laughing matter. His serious tone drew the looks of the people waiting outside, and some even subconsciously held their Dragonblood friends and family closer. "Or-Or at least the guy they work for is... uh, Metal Barton or something." He continued, trying to remember the name Clutch told him but failed. As soon as Jay said that, Cliff's eyes widened and he shared a look with a terrified Ed.

"I'll bloody his fist with my face if he tries to take Tox!" Dareth exclaimed as he punched his fist in his hand as the overall mood dove in somberness. Ronin, Shade, and Tox all rolled their eyes at Dareth's declaration, knowing he was all talk. Nevertheless, Ronin shared his brother's determination, as did the others. Before Jay could say anything else, Cliff suddenly grasped his shoulders, pushing him back a step as he forced the ginger-haired human to look at him.

"Baron? Iron Baron?" He whispered in absolute terror, something Jay nor anyone else had ever heard in the chief's voice.

"Uh... Yeah, I think so." He nodded, feeling incredibly confused and uncomfortable with his father's sudden shift in moods.

"Wait! You know him?" Kai frowned, but Cliff didn't answer. He simply had a faraway look in his eyes as he gazed around in thought. There was only one thing to do...