#and meantime all he can think about is leo and what he did wrong with piper

[lesbiantrish]

oh my god jason grace is actually so tragic

[destinyc1020]

I think the point is that many Tom fans are tired. For example, Z has Dune, Euphoria and now The Drama lined up, while Tom only has Spider-Man. It's as if we're living in a loop. We have no confirmation of any other projects that look promising, absolutely nothing, not even a glimpse of a new character or an interesting movie. And I know he's just done a play, but it's not the same, not everyone was able to see the play.

For those of us who are fans and don't live in London, it's as if we've been waiting forever to see only Spider-Man again, and that's the frustrating part. 😩

And I hate the way most people on Twitter treat Tom and now we're back in the same place, with people comparing his career to all the other white boys in the industry today, but this time there's no defending it, because in a way they're not entirely wrong. 😭😭

I understand your frustration Anon, but try to keep things in perspective here:

True, we haven't seen Tom filming a big screen movie since SM NWH, but most of us saw NWH in Dec 2021.... AND in Jan 2022 (let's be honest, we didn't just see the movie once lol 😏), then, right after that, we had "Uncharted" come out in Feb 2022.

We also JUST had Tom's series TCR come out last summer, where we saw not just 2 hours of footage of Tom (like a regular movie), but 10 episodes of the series, which is essentially like 10 HOURS of Tom footage... which basically equals out to him being in five 2-hour length films.

He also decided to take a much-needed and much-deserved break last year, which was ironically also the same year that a LOT of actors weren't allowed to film anything or even promote any of their films due to all of the strikes going on. 🤷🏾‍♀️

He just did a play run in London, and while most of us didn't see it, he was still keeping busy, and he also has SM4 coming up. I'm not sure what's going on with the FA biopic and whether or not it's still going to be smthg he's attached to, but I'm excited to see him take on that role as well in the future if it comes to fruition! 😃

Sometimes, some of these filming projects take TIME. There are also a lot of factors going on bts beyond the actor's (and even director's) control, so if there's a delay, then an actor just pivots, just like Tom did, and goes on to do smthg else in the meantime! 🤷🏾‍♀️

We also don't know what Tom might have going on in his personal life. He might be deliberately slowing down on some projects because he has some things he wants to do on his own. I just learned about Tom and Harry supposedly starting up their own production company last week lol 😆 We really don't know all the facts.

Some actors go 2, 3, even 4 years in btwn a filming project. Leo is notorious for this. I don't see his fans complaining. 😕 They just know that he takes his time, and they will be there in theaters to support him when another one of his films come out. Maybe when Leo was younger he was doing more back-to-back roles, but he's now pushing 50 REAL hard, and maybe he's just slowing down a little, or wants to work with specific directors on very specific projects. He can afford to do that.

Same with Tom! 🤷🏾‍♀️ If he can afford to take long breaks in btwn roles, then that's fine! Spiderman is a very physical role. It can take a lot out of your body. Plus, he's doing a lot of his own stunts. He might need breaks in btwn from those types of roles.

Another thing.... STOP ✋🏾 🛑 comparing Tom to Zendaya. They are two different people. They are two different actors. Just because they are in a relationship with each other, it doesn't mean that they have to have the same exact career journey.

Zendaya's acting journey is her own. Tom's acting journey is his own. Fans don't need to compare them both. I've never seen people compare both actors in a romantic relationship with each other in my life.

If you're a fan of both Tom and Z, then when one has some down time, you can enjoy whatever the other has going on work-wise on their end. 🤷🏾‍♀️

[yellowhollyhock]

https://www.tumblr.com/yellowhollyhock/741343527513079808/not-sure-if-youve-already-been-asked-this-but

Can you imagine the ultimate betrayal Raph felt when Casey with Leo? Yeesh I feel that pain too much.

Yesss

Also Casey's explanation made least sense to me. it feels more than anything else that the writers are trying to drive home Leo being Correct whenactually it's not a black and white issue at all.

Leo and Mikey are saying things have gotten worse, they have the power to help and it might in some way be their fault so they should help. All of this tracks okay except 'it might in some way be their fault.' Like my dude. If getting rid of one powerful guy who was hurting people turned out to have consequences you don't like to the point where you think it was a mistake, then where is the logic in solving that problem by taking out more guys??

And that's the part Casey focuses on. He says "I was always taught you should fix your mistakes no matter what." Trying to stop other equally bad people from filling the vacancy that Shredder left isn't fixing your mistakes. It is literally doing the same thing again. And okay yeah if you feel like that's your responsibility now because you done it once. I can see that. But do you see how the cycle of violence will never end (isn't that the brilliance of the show? the underlying tragedy? the fact that these teenagers have to face these realities where even and especially when they're trying their hardest to always do what's right, the answers aren't always clear and sometimes they do harm? (I absolutely would not say more harm than good in this case, Shredder was dangerous and stopping him did protect innocent people no Leo I don't care what the crime reports say of course there's going to be an increase while the power is shifting, it will level out once someone's in power that's how these things work, yes I understand in the meantime people are getting hurt how exactly do you intend to stop crime in NYC forever. Yes I know you want to protect people I think that's wonderful. but you need to pause and be practical if you want your good intentions to prove efficacious. Also have you considered that a lot of the actual members of these gangs are people like Angel? If you wanna change up your strategy because you feel like you made a mistake, why would it be to choose a bad guy to put in power and/or fight them all, and not to reach out to the guys at the bottom and figure out what their unmet needs are and cripple the big crime organizations as much as you can by taking care of the people society wouldn't. AND WHY WOULDN'T THAT BE THE APPROACH CASEY TOOK, THE ANGEL THING WAS LITERALLY HIS EPISODE))

Ahem. I got off on a bit of a tangent there. (parentheses within parentheses (and it's more than half the paragraph) (teehee (sweats))). But the point is yeah! It feels like Casey only understood bits and pieces, which makes sense because the turtles do tend to not Explain things to him, and yet without fully understanding and before trying to, he takes Leo's side. It's almost like he saw that Raph was getting mad at his brothers and, knowing how much he cares about them, wanted to nip it in the bud before things got bad. But boy buddy that was the wrong approach because I really do think that was the last straw for Raph. mortifying when visiting friends side with your family against you. devastating when it's your best friend.

I also headcanon that's something Casey's dad used to say to him, about fixing your mistakes. So that's an entire angsty thought for another post.

(more headcanons Angel and Casey's dads used to be friends and Casey would be old enough to remember when her dad left and would've heard the things his dad, who would never leave his family, would have had to say about a friend he'd once respected) (Angel is my special interest within my special interest) (or one of them anyway XD)

You know what's also so sad is I really think Donnie was on Raph's side and would have countered Leo much more calmly than either Splinter or Raph could. But he didn't. Because they couldn't stop Leo anyway and so he did what he thought would keep the family together rather than what he thought was best, because he saw how important it was to Mikey, and boys ohh man I get it. I get his side of things in this best i think. But ouch. Raph really needed just one person who he felt was actually listening and would stick up for him. And Casey didn't listen and Donnie didn't stick up for him. And that's not the norm for them.

[midnightcreator12]

And We'll Keep Marching On Chapter 17 - A Cabin in the Woods

AO3 Link

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

The training session had been pretty much abandoned after Leo managed to choke out a few words. 

Donnie had dashed off to the barn, likely to get his laptop, and left everyone else to convince Leo to go back inside and not attempt to do training.

By the time Raph had gotten his brother settled, his phone was blowing up with messages from Donnie, all about the thing that was wrong with Leo’s brain. Raph had debated watching them right then and there but….knowing Leo could understand, he decided to cue them up later.

Later came late at night when everyone else had long gone to bed. Raph set himself up at the kitchen table with a cup of water and his T-Phone, reading articles and watching videos.

All the information made his head swim and his eyes cross, which was not helped when Donnie sent a wall of texts outlining his plan to get Leo’s brain back to normal.

But he read and watched everything. Twice. Because he was not going to drop the ball on this. He was going to help Leo get better in no time and things would, hopefully, finally, settle out some. Even if Leo wasn’t well enough physically yet, if he could talk then he could take over training, organize everyone, help them come up with plans to return to the city-

Raph paused his train of thought. One thing at a time. And the first thing was to get Leo fully back to himself.

...he also had questions about one part of Donnie’s treatment plan.

And, like the thought had summoned him, the front door clicked open and Donnie walked in, bleary-eyed but looking a lot less depressed than he had over the last few weeks.

Raph scrabbled up from the table to catch him before he went upstairs, “Hey, Dee?”

Donnie paused, rubbing his eyes as he turned to Raph. But he was grinning, almost bursting with pride, “Oh, hi! You read everything I sent you, right? I know Mikey probably didn’t but if you did we can start speech therapy tomorrow!”

“Yeah…I had a question about that actually.”

“Oh, course, course, course,” Donnie shook his head a bit, probably waking his brain up enough to focus on Raph.

“Do we really gotta…baby talk to Leo?”

“Baby talk?” Donnie huffed. “I’d hardly call it baby talking to him.”

“...your little planner literally says ‘hand and/or show Leo items and get him to say what they are accurately.’ That’s literally what Splinter did to teach us how to talk.”

“Exactly,” Donnie nodded. “That was how Splinter taught us and it’s a highly recommended method in language and speech therapy.”

Raph grimaced a bit at Donnie’s enthusiastic explanation, “Yeah but…you said he knows what’s going on.”

“Well….he knows the gist of whatever is happening around him,” Donnie shrugged. “But without some kind of MRI scan, I can’t gauge how affected his concentration and retention is. All I know for sure is that the part of his brain that helps him talk has been affected. Now, he could likely heal on his own without intervention but if we help him reteach his brain in the meantime it will lessen the likelihood of him having permanent issues with speaking.”

“Permanent?” Raph looked down at his T-Phone. Donnie hadn’t mentioned anything about long term damage.

Donnie nodded, some of his excitement finally bleeding out, “Um, yeah. Stuttering is the biggest one. But he could also have issues remembering certain words, long-term issues focusing, there is a chance the symptoms could resurface again down the line-”

“Okay, okay,” Raph cut him off. “I get it…but it still sounds demeaning.”

“Well,” Donnie scratched the back of his neck. “...okay, yeah, he’s probably going to hate it. But it’s the best way we have to help him.”

Raph sighed heavily, head drooping a bit. He knew Donnie probably would’ve left that part off if he didn’t think it would help. But it still made something in his chest twist a bit, thinking about having to walk Leo through something as simple as speaking.

Donnie was quiet for a bit, awkwardly shuffling his feet as he waited for Raph to reply, “You, um…you don’t have to do the speech therapy with Leo.”

“No!” Raph said quickly. “No, I can…I can help. I’m not gonna just…give up on Leo-”

Donnie nodded, wringing his hands, “Yeah, okay, I get it…but its fine to let us take over if it gets too much.”

“Yeah, thanks,” Raph cleared his throat. “I’m just gonna….read more…for a bit.”

“Oookay,” Donnie frowned. “You sure you don’t want to sleep?”

“Later,” Raph dismissed as he turned away. “Later. Erm, sleep well Donnie.”

“Yeah…same to you.”

Raph moved quickly back into the kitchen, only pausing at the table to listen as Donnie moved upstairs and into one of the brdrooms. He sighed when he heard a door click shut, sinking back into his chair and picking his phone back up.

As much as the mere idea of doing the whole…speech therapy stuff churned his guts, he had to get over his own hangups to help Leo.

He meant what he told Leo, weeks ago in the dark on their first night at the farmhouse.

He was going to be a better brother. And he wasn’t going to leave Leo’s side no matter what.

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

Raph decided that the sooner they started, the better. 

So the next morning, when he and Leo had sat down in the kitchen for some breakfast, Raph plucked up Leo’s glass, “Okay Leo. I need you to repeat after me real quick.”

Leo blinked, frowning at Raph’s hand in confusion.

Raph pushed down at the twinge he felt, clearing his throat. Donnie had said to start things simple and in their first language, since it seemed that that was easier at the moment. And there was a good chance that once Leo got most of his comprehension with Japanese back, English would soon follow.

So Raph swallowed and tapped the cup, saying, "Mizu."

Leo frowned and let out a questioning churr.

“You gotta say it, so your brain can start…ya know, fixing itself. Come, just try.” He tapped the glass again, "Mi-zu."

Leo's beak scrunched up, eyes pinching as he mentally processed what Raph wanted, “Maa-zi.”

And Raph was so tempted to call it good enough, pat Leo on the shell and say he’d done fine. Because watching Leo struggle over such a simple word hurt, worse than he thought it would and he just wanted this to be over and done with.

Except Donnie’s messages had reinforced, several times, that ‘close enough’ would do more harm than good and that they had to make sure Leo said the words accurately, or his brain might start making inaccurate connections and mess things up too much to fix later on..

So Raph shook his head and repeated, “No, it’s Mizu.”

Leo frowned, jaw working open and shut, much like he had the day before. Like he was trying to chew on the word or mouthing it before trying to verbalize it.

“Me…Zi.”

“Mi-zu,” Raph repeated, a tiny bit of frustration entering his tone.

He noticed it seconds after it entered the air and mentally kicked himself. Donnie had said this would be hard, that they needed to be patient. And Raph couldn't bail or mess things up now because he was getting antsy.

Leo let out a small hiss, and Raph twitched at the sound, unsure if the hiss was directed at him or that Leo was frustrated with himself.

But he also thought of Splinter, gently but firmly reminding them that they had to use words and that they were too old to be making turtle sounds.

He almost repeated the phrase to Leo, it was on the tip of his tongue. But…something stopped him. Something deep down that he’d felt whenever Splinter when reprimand a hiss or chirp or churr.

Instead, he said, “Mi-zu.”

Leo hissed again, but this time he cut himself off, eyes shutting and face contorting in concentration, “Meeee-za.”

“No,” Raph choked, free hand clenching on the table. “Come on Leo, you can do it. Mi-zu, Mizu.” He slid the glass closer to Leo, trying to help…what had Donnie called it? Build the association between the word and what the word represents?

Leo's jaw clenched, his hands balling up and shaking as his eyes cracked open again.

He looked upset and Raph was so, so tempted to just end the impromptu session. This had been a horrible idea, he should have let Donnie do the first one.

Leo opened his mouth, a choked sound coming out a first. Then, slowly, painfully, he said, “Miiiiii-zu.”

“Great!” Raph was a little ashamed at the relief that washed over him, knowing that they were done. “That was great Leo, well done! You’re gonna be back to top shape in no time! Here, why don’t you-”

Leo snatched the glass away when Raph went to hand it to him, water sloshing over the side. Leo seemed to pay it little mind as he raised his shaking hands and tried to take a drink.

Raph stood, moving to help steady to cup, “Hey, be care-”

Leo’s eyes went white and he slammed the cup onto the kitchen table with a loud, “Yame!”

It had made Raph jerk back.

Because, duh, of course Leo didn’t want help. Especially not his help. Raph had pretty much humiliated him with the stupid therapy session, forced Leo to struggle with one simple little word. And Leo knew, knew what the word was but still had to flounder in front of Raph.

Raph, who had spent the last year, ever since Leo had been appointed leader, picking at him, teasing relentlessly, doing everything he could to try and make Leo falter.

Of course he didn’t want Raph’s help. Why would he? Raph had been a terrible brother to him. Even before they started going to the surface, Raph had been so awful to Leo-

For once, he was very glad when Mikey brust into the room jabbering away about what the chickens were up to that morning and what he had planned for breakfast. Leo’s head turned away and Raph took the distraction to beat a hasty retreat to recollect himself.

He ended up on the barn roof…sulking.

Which honestly made him feel even worse. He was sulking because Leo had gotten mad at him and meanwhile, Leo's reasons to be upset were much, much more valid.

Leo had to watch the rest of them train, go about their business, do things that he couldn’t right now. And Raph had gotten frustrated with him! Hell, he should understand not being able to fully say what was on his mind. When he was mad it was like all his words got stuck in his throat.

No, that wasn’t even the same. Because Raph could calm down and speak. Leo couldn’t, he could barely get out one word answers.

Stupid, he was so stupid-

“Hey Raph!”

Raph nearly jumped out of his shell and definitely did not squawk in surprise, “Casey? How- How’d you get up here?”

“Uh, climbed? Probably the same way you came up!” Casey plopped himself down next to Raph, letting his feet dangle over the edge. “Better question is, why are you up here dude?”

Raph shrugged, pulling his knees closer to his chest, “....thinkin’.”

“Surprised you aren’t still glued to Leo’s hip. What, you two fightin’ again?”

“No!” Raph snapped out, feeling a small rush of anger. “No, I’m not…I’m never gonna fight with him again.”

“Really? You?” Casey chuckled. “Dude, I hate to break it to you but siblings fight, like, all the time. Especially you and Leo.”

“But he can’t,” Raph grumbled. “He can’t and….he shouldn’t have to! God I always gave him so much shit and now…now I’m still the bad guy because I have to tell him what things are!”

“I mean, he knows what they are, right?” Casey shrugged. “His brain just doesn’t know how to say the words anymore.”

“Why do you have to phrase it like that?” Raph grumbled.

“Geez, chill out dude. Don said he’s just gotta, ahhhh, what was it? Something about reteaching his brain how to interpret signals so he can say what he’s thinkin’?”

“Right, and while we do that, he knows exactly what's going on and can’t do anything but put up with the baby talk and not being able to walk.”

Casey went quiet for a bit, gaze drifting out to the horizon, “...you need a run.”

“Eh?” Raph blinked, the sudden change of topic throwing him for a momentary loop.

“Yeah, let’s go check out the woods!” Casey jumped up, seeming very excited about his idea. “You’ve been all cooped up in the house for weeks, dude. And I know that training with Mike and Don ain’t enough to get your blood really pumping.”

Raph blinked again, eyes flicking towards the direction of the house.

Maybe…he should? Maybe that was why he’d done so bad helping Leo's speech? Because he needed to work any anger out of his system.

But…something could happen…

Casey didn’t give him much more time to debate, reaching down and grabbing the top edge of his shell to drag him up, “Come on, it’ll be fun. Plus! Can’t let Raven and Mikey find all the cool stuff out there first!”

Raph gave Casey a flat look, “I thought you two were getting along now.”

“Define ‘getting along’,” Casey snickered. “She's still weird as hell dude.”

“Whatever,” Raph pulled away and headed for the side of the roof where he could swing himself down into the open hayloft, “You coming?”

“Hey! It was my idea!” Casey shouted as he raced to catch up.

Raph simply rolled his eyes and slid over the edge. He did wait once his feet hit the wood floor of the loft, making sure Casey didn’t fall to his death if he tried to move too fast and mistimed the swing from the roof into the loft.

Luckily, the idiot did learn a thing or two with all those rooftop patrols. Enough that he easily followed after Raph and did not have to be saved from cracking his skull open on the ground.

Raph stumbled a bit when they walked past the house, eyes instinctively scanning for signs of Leo. But the kitchen window was empty and the rest were too obscured for him to see inside from the yard.

He debated for a moment, about just switching direction and going to the house roof. Leo may not want to see him right now but it still felt wrong to just up and leave when he was still clearly in need of support.

Casey gave his arm an impatient tug.

And Raph followed after him because he was a damn coward who didn’t want to face Leo again.

The moment the pair stepped into the woods Raph started scanning around them, more out of habit than actually wanting to take in the scenery. The entire Mom-Thing incident taught him a very valuable lesson in not getting too comfortable.

Casey, however, was very much the opposite. He plowed ahead with no hesitation, crashing through the underbrush and loudly telling Raph that he'd found a great hiking spot further in the woods a few weeks ago.

Raph only nodded, trying to take in landmarks to help him find his way back.

It was…surprisingly a lot more difficult than finding ones in the city.

In New York, finding his way was as easy as remembering street names or certain billboards or recognizable buildings. In the sewers, it was valves in certain places or which tunnels were caved in or which old substation they had to cut through.

The woods? Raph would pick out a tree to mark the path and then lose it the second he turned his head. He’d pick out a bush he thought was unique only to find dozens more exactly like it within seconds. He’d find a rock only for it to vanish into the fauna if he didn’t stand in a very specific spot.

It was the inability to get a sense of direction that made him ask, “Do you even know where you’re going?”

“Sure I do,” Casey grunted as he clambered over a fallen tree. “Raven and Mike ain’t the only ones who go exploring. And I can only stay cooped up for so long, ya know? Least I don’t gotta worry about cars and other people out here.”

“Yeah, just getting lost.”

“We aren’t lost!” Casey stomped through a particularly thick clump of bushes before spinning around. “See!”

Raph followed and found himself standing on a worn dirt path. He frowned, looking up and down it for any kind of signage or markers or anything to show people regularly used it, “Case-”

“Oh relax,” Casey scoffed, moving to follow the path uphill. “It’s the wrong season for people to be hiking. And besides, pretty sure deer or something made this.”

“Deer can make trails now?”

“I mean, I think my Zoology teach said that….or was it elephants?”

Raph groaned in the back of his throat but trailed after Casey, keeping close to the tree line and one ear tuned for any sounds of humans…that weren’t Casey.

The trail went for a while, winding around in erratic curves but moving steadily upwards with a smooth enough slope that it was nearly unnoticeable.

Casey eventually wore himself out running around in the front and slowed himself down to walk next to Raph.

They both plodded along in silence for a bit, just the sound of snow crunching under them and a few birds trilling in the distance breaking it.

Then Casey finally spoke, “Do you….wanna talk?”

“What about?” Raph grumbled as he did a quick scan over his shoulder.

“About…I dunno, anything? This is the first time it’s been you and me one on one in weeks!”

Raph shrugged. Mostly because he didn’t have much to talk about or want to talk about.

Casey sighed heavily, “Dude, come on. If you’re hung up about the hissing thing, it’s water under the bridge. I get it, you were stressed out and probably hadn’t been sleeping great.”

Raph just shrugged again.

“Come on. You gotta at least got some new funny stories about Leo-”

“No,” Raph interrupted harshly.

“Okay, still a sore spot.”

Raph growled under his breath, “My brother could have died Casey….my brother almost did die.”

“...yeah but…he’s okay now.”

“No he’s not!” Raph hissed out. “He can’t walk, he can’t talk, hell, we don’t even know how aware he is.”

“I thought Don said-”

“He could still be having problems. He may never not have problems! Leo might…damnit, he might never be Leo again!”

Raph was breathing heavily, eyes starting to get blurry as his worst fear came tumbling out. That Leo was gonna be stuck in a vulnerable state because he wasn’t good enough to help him-

He felt Casey’s hand touch his arm and he didn’t even think, just dashed ahead up the trail. He scrubbed at his eyes, trying to force the stray tears back inside.

He could NOT break down. He was supposed to be leading and Leo never broke down like this when he was leading. Not even when Raph had recruited Donnie and Mikey to help him push Leo’s buttons and frustrate him so badly that he would leave patrol early.

God, why had he ever thought that was a good idea? At the time he’d wanted to prove that he could be a better leader than Leo but…it had all ended so badly.

And even after that he’d still pick and push and prod and try to get a rise out of Leo over missions and patrols and now he might have to permanently take on everything because Leo-

The trees suddenly ended, spitting Raph out into a small clearing.

And when he looked up he froze.

The clearing was small and was very well hidden by the trees, but there was enough room for a structure to be built safely. An old, dilapidated-looking shack being that said structure.

Raph only froze for a moment, barely a second, before he spun and dived back into the trees, hunkering down and disappearing into the shadows.

“Raph!” Casey’s voice cut through the woods and Raph jumped at the sound, shuffling away even more.

He could still see the clearing from his hiding spot, so he saw Casey tumble out of the woods, panting and red-faced. He looked around before freezing much like Raph had.

Raph waited, watching for when Casey would turn around and come back so Raph could meet up with him.

…instead, the idiot whistled and started walking towards the shack.

Raph hissed…then bit his tongue when he realized it was a turtle hiss, and pulled out his phone to fire off a quick ‘get back here’ text.

A red ‘not delivered’ message appeared next to his text bubble seconds after he hit send.

He looked back up, hissing again in agitation when he saw Casey was at the freaking door of the place and was trying to open it.

He edged closer to the treeline but years of ingrained lessons from Splinter stopped him from breaking cover. He watched in baffled shock as Casey managed to open the shack door and walked right inside.

He heard Casey’s voice, ringing clearly to his hiding spot, “I know you did your little vanishing trick Raph but there is no way anyone lives here! Come check this place out!” 

Raph didn’t move. Every instinct screamed at him to not move, to not be seen, to disappear and retreat to somewhere it was safe.

But he didn’t know the way back. All these trees looked the same.

So he waited and watched as Casey went inside without a damn care in the world. He knew his friend was an idiot but come on! He was older than Raph, he was supposed to know better!

…his inner voice was starting to sound a lot like Leo.

Raph couldn’t see in the shack, any windows the place had were boarded up with plywood and it was too far for him to even attempt to listen in.

He still tried, moving as close to the edge of his cover as he could and straining to try and hear anything.

It was him trying so hard to focus in on Casey’s movements that gave him the early warning of something else.

A very loud engine, slowly getting louder and coming up the trail.

Raph scrabbled back, whipping out his phone again and desperately trying to send Casey a text. And each one had a little ‘not delivered’ message within a moment of him hitting send.

The sound of the truck got louder, loud enough that Casey could definitely hear it. Raph moved under some brush, watching as a rattling, rusted truck appeared from the trail, growling and grumbling as it rolled up to the shack before the engine was cut. He watched, eyes flicking between the shack door and the truck, waiting to see which human would appear first.

The truck door squeaked loudly as it was pushed open and an old, haggard-looking man stepped out. His back was hunched, clothing just as old and rough looking as his house and truck and, even from a distance, Raph could see deep hallows under the guy's eyes that gave his face an almost skeletal look.

The guy stumbled around his truck, fumbling with the tailgate for a bit.

And Raph saw the moment the man's head turned and saw the front door wide open. And suddenly, the guy was moving. Off like a shot into the house, shouting and banging around loudly enough for Raph to flinch. 

He moved back to the edge of the woods again, mind spinning, debating if he should risk being seen and go in after Casey-

Only for Casey to come speeding out of the house, eyes wide and being followed by the old man’s shouting.

Raph still tensed, bracing his limbs and waiting for Casey to get close enough-

He shot out of the foliage, just for a moment, just long enough to snatch Casey up and drag him down into the hiding spot. And no sooner had the leaves stopped shaking from the disturbance, the old man skidded into the doorframe, looking around wildly.

His voice echoed across the clearing, croaking and scratchy, “You better stay away! Or you’ll doom yourself to endless nightmares, ya hear! You shouldn’t go poking your nose where it don’t belong!”

Raph kept a firm hold on Casey as he back away from the old man’s shack, footsteps silent as the shouting started to fade.

Raph didn’t dare start running until he couldn't hear the man’s voice anymore. Only then did he turn and start sprinting, keeping the road in the corner of his eye to help guide him and keeping a firm hold of Casey.

He would have run all the way back but Casey didn’t have as much endurance as he did, so they had to stop after a few minutes.

Raph dropped his friend's hand, waiting as Casey panted and wheezed.

Only after he straightened up did Raph reach out and slap his hand to the back of Casey’s head, “What the hell is wrong with you?!”

“What? It looked abandoned!”

“Well, turned out, it wasn’t,” Raph hissed. “You can’t be taking risks like that bonehead! We can’t afford it! What if that guy had seen me?!”

“Okay, okay, I’m sorry!” Casey huffed, rubbing the back of his head. “Was just trying to have some fun.”

“Well stop it,” Raph barked. “Just…gha, which is the way back? We’ve been gone way too long.”

Casey sighed, shoulder drooping and face making an…almost disappointed expression.

But he gestured and started to lead the way back.

Or, Raph hoped it was the way back. The last thing he needed or wanted was to get lost in these damned woods.

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

Mizu - Water

SO! The plan was that I would finish editing and upload the chapter when I got home. But then I got a lil delayed so the chapter got posted later than I planned so sorry about that. But I hope y'all still enjoyed it!

[stfurichie]

Richie Fluggerbutter // 23 // Socialite // Amity Park

Species: Human Sexuality: Bisexual Pronouns: He/Him Favorite song: @ My Worst — Blackbear Big three: Gemini sun, Aries moon, Leo rising

Character description

Richie has always carried himself with confidence. It came with having a lot of money and parents who saw him as a golden boy, but there’s always been so much more to him than what’s on the surface. He’s mischievous and calculated, and knows exactly how to get whatever he wants. He knows that as long as he plays the part that people want to see and shines his pretty smile, he can have others wrapped around his finger in an instant. He probably would have been an amazing actor, but instead his priorities lie with his family’s real estate company. He should definitely be the last person on Earth to be inheriting the company eventually, but he is constantly grateful that he grew up an only child. He’s never had to worry about his future, and that’s why he could instead just live in the now and have fun along the way. He gets easily wrapped up in drama, relationships, and partying, which was what he wasted his time doing while in college. He didn’t give a shit about school, but his dad wanted him to major in business to make sure he was ready to step up in the company someday. Richie thinks he’s ready now, but his parents say otherwise. At least he has the racers to stick by him, despite that he’s an obvious backstabber and doesn’t worry about hurting them in the long run. He doesn’t really fear getting caught for all his bullshit, because he’s never had to actually face any consequences before. Hopefully, none of it catches up to him someday!

Headcanons

- Teagan is his ride or die, even though he cheats on her and doesn’t treat her all that great. She’s still the one girl he’s truly loved and been with the longest. He hasn’t fully realized it, but he’s really just scared of being fully committed to her. He doesn’t want to feel tied down and stuck — he wants to be free to do whatever the fuck he wants.

- He typically cheats when he’s drinking, which isn’t exactly a rare occasion. He throws parties at his place quite a bit, which he used to do at his parents’ mansion until they finally helped him get a place of his own. They probably got sick of the maids complaining about the messes he created. His house isn’t as big as his parents, but it’s his own, and he could always get something bigger later on. It does get lonely sometimes, but that’s all the more reason to throw more parties and sleep around in his free time.

- Skating isn’t exactly one of his priorities, but he has fun with it in the meantime. He mostly does it because it’s what connected him with the friend group in the first place, but he’s pretty sure once the company is his, skating will become a thing of the past for him.

- Vanna really changed things up within their friend group, and he didn’t like that. Teagan started acting all weird, and something about Vanna made him want her. Why did they play so hard to get? Why didn’t they just fall for his act like everyone else so easily did? It was as if they could see right through him, and something about that was strangely intriguing.

- He likes to push his luck, which is probably stupid but his ego is too big to care. While any smart person in his shoes would keep Teagan close and treat her better, he likes to see how far he can go. That’s another reason why he cheats, why he does stupid things to receive reactions out of people. No matter how much he’s done wrong, his parents don’t seem to bat an eye, and it’s honestly boring. He knows they love him deep down, but they only show it through money and hand outs. They don’t push him to do or be better, besides proving himself worthy to run the company, and it’s kind of shitty. When will they realize everything he’s doing is a big cry for attention?

- ESTP

[fruitcoops]

hi eve! what do you think about a video where couples do the chapstick challenge? like jily vs coops and they compete to see what couple guesses more right! idk i think i would be fun

It's been too long since I wrote one of these--I missed them! Coops, Cubs, and SW Jily belong to @lumosinlove <3

“Welcome back, everyone!” Dorcas said with a smile to the camera. “It’s been over a month since our last big video like this due to scheduling, but we hope you’ve been enjoying our more active social media presence in the meantime. I’m here today with James and Lily Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and our lovely Cubs. How were your summers, everyone?”

“Hear that, Cap?” Logan’s grin was smug as the cat that got the canary. “I’m lovely.”

“Our summers were great,” Sirius said, ignoring him. “Lots of vacation time.”

“At our house,” Lily teased.

“Yeah, while you were on vacation. It’s called being a good godfather.”

“I’m glad you all had fun,” Dorcas interjected smoothly as she pulled three bags from under her chair. “Because we’ve got a very special game today. Inside these bags are ten blank chapstick tubes, each with a different flavor. One person from each team will apply the chapstick to their lips, and their partner will first have to kiss them, then guess the flavor. Finn, Leo, and Logan, your team will have two guessers.”

“They get two guesses?” Remus protested. “That’s so unfair!”

Dorcas shrugged. “They have to guess at the same time, and they only get one point per correct answer.”

Finn raised his eyebrows. “Y’know, Loops, you’re starting to sound pretty homophobic over there…”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Remus sighed.

The camera cut; when it returned, Lily, Sirius, and Finn were seated in folding chairs with the bags of chapstick in their laps and a small sticky note in their hands. Across from them, their significant others were sitting with large headphones over their ears.

“Can you hear me?” Dorcas called.

Remus didn’t react at all as he messed with the trailing wire; Logan squinted at her. “Quoi?”

“I can’t hear anything,” James said loudly. “This is super weird. It’s just, like, humming. Honey, it sounds like Harry’s white noise machine!”

Lily smiled reassuringly and patted his hand. “A little quieter, lover.”

“What?”

“A little—nevermind.”

Dorcas’ mouth twitched with a suppressed smile. “Non-guessers, you can find all the flavors written on stickers at the bottom of each tube. Please start with number one on your flavor lists when you’re ready.”

Sirius bit his lip as he riffled through the bag, and Remus leaned forward to give him a light peck at the corner of his mouth. “I haven’t put any on yet!” he laughed.

Remus paused. “What?”

“I haven’t put any chapstick on.”

“Slower, I’m not good at lipreading.”

“Mon dieu,” Sirius muttered with a shake of his head.

Next to him, Finn had already applied his first flavor and was sitting with a happy smile as Leo and Logan thought for a moment. “Is it lime?’ Leo guessed.

“I think it’s lime,” Logan said half a second later. Finn gave them a thumbs-up and the three of them high-fived. “Called it!”

“That’s…lemon? Really sour lemon?” James guessed. Lily shook her head and showed him the tube. “Lime. Shit.”

Remus licked his lips. “Lime?”

Sirius nodded. “Oui!”

“Really? Hell yeah!”

“We’re at a bit of an advantage,” Sirius said as he put the lime in his lap and checked his list. “I wear chapstick all the time.”

“Why?” Dorcas asked, sounding rather amused.

“My lips get dry from being at the rink all day.” Sirius shrugged and put the next one on. A mischievous smile flickered over his mouth and he tilted his chin toward Remus. “He won’t leave me alone, either.”

Remus’ eyebrows pitched and he leaned forward. “What?”

“Nothing.”

“You have to go slower, I really can’t—”

“Green apple!” Logan exclaimed, slapping Finn’s knee in excitement as Dorcas covered her mouth to hide her laughter. “I remembered what it’s called!”

“Correct!” Finn announced.

“I think it’s green apple,” Leo said.

James pulled away and rested his chin on his hand. “Kind of a caramel apple, but without the caramel.” Lily turned to face the camera with a look of disbelief. “So just a normal apple, I guess.”

“Yes!” Lily turned his face toward her with a smile. “You got it!”

“I got it? Woohoo!”

“That’s green apple.” Remus wrinkled his nose. “Tastes like those shitty candy apple lollipops, though. Did I get it?”

Sirius nodded and wiped his lips off. “Number three is pomegranate,” Dorcas announced.

Finn frowned as he dug through his bag. “I don’t—there it is. Wow, this smells really nice.”

Leo paused and smiled before kissing him. “That smells really nice!”

“Does it?” Finn laughed before moving to give Logan a kiss.

“Oh, I like that,” Remus said, kissing Sirius a second time. “No idea what the flavor is, but I like it. Hmm. I have to think about that.”

“Is that frosting?” James asked excitedly as he grabbed Lily’s hands. “Do you have frosting flavored chapstick?”

“No,” she laughed, shaking her head. “What the hell? It’s pomegranate.”

“It’s what?”

“Pomegranate.”

“Persimmon?” She rolled her eyes and showed him the sticker. “Wow, I never would have guessed that.”

“Is it cherry?” Remus guessed. Sirius shook his head and his face fell. “Aw.”

Leo and Logan shared a look as Finn kept his poker face. “I have no idea what that is,” Logan finally said. “It’s sweet, though.”

“Is candy-flavored chapstick a thing?” Leo wondered. Finn held the tube up. “Pomegranates are tart. That wasn’t tart.”

“What the hell is that?” Logan looked to someone off-screen and held one of his headphones away from his ear.

“Une grenade!” someone called.

“Oh! That didn’t taste like it at all.”

All four guessers kissed their partners within a few seconds for the fourth—almost immediately, they pulled away, faces twisting. “Oh my god,” Remus coughed, wiping his lips. “That’s grape. Oh my god.”

James’ nose scrunched. “It’s grape. I don’t like it.”

In a moment of direct action, Leo took the wet wipe Finn had been using and ran it over his mouth while Logan stuck his tongue out. “It’s grape, and it’s gross. No more cough syrup kisses, please.”

“You’re halfway there!” Dorcas called, chalking up their correct guesses on a whiteboard as Lily, Sirius, and Finn applied the fifth flavor.

Sirius held his hand up as Remus started moving in and sneezed. “Desolee. Okay, you can go now.”

Remus kissed him and recoiled in half a second. “More cough syrup? Are you kidding me? It’s not any better when it’s cherry.”

“Dorcas,” Leo whined when he pulled away. “The first ones were such nice flavors!”

“My head hurts just tasting that,” James said miserably. “It’s that awful fake cherry stuff.”

“That’s cherry.” Logan smacked his lips with a grimace. “Eugh.”

Dorcas held up five fingers for them to see as she spoke. “Just five more, and you’re all done. Those are the only bad ones.”

Lily lit up as she applied the sixth and James hurried to kiss her. “Oh, that one is nice! You always wear strawberry. It’s my favorite.”

Remus shrugged. “Kiss was great, flavor’s fine. It’s just fake strawberry, yeah?”

“Whew.” Leo’s eyebrows rose after the kiss. “Very st—”

“Oh, strawberry!” Logan interrupted. “Katie makes me wear something like that when we have tea parties.”

Dorcas added more tallies to her board. “Tremzy, you can’t hear me, but that’s the cutest thing you’ve ever said. We need pictures.”

“I’ll find some,” Finn promised.

Sirius rubbed his lips together and made a face; Remus laughed, running the pad of his thumb along his mouth. “Stop, I can’t kiss you like that! It can’t be that bad.”

“That would give me a headache,” James said, clearly disappointed. “It’s some sort of pineapple monstrosity. Pina colada? I liked the strawberry a lot better.”

“It’s pineapple. Does that count?” Lily asked. Dorcas nodded, and she gave James a high-five.

“That’s not bad,” Leo admitted with a shrug. “Tastes like the dried mango we get at the store, the kind with all the sugar on it.”

“I don’t have the first idea what that is,” Logan said. “Knutty, I’m letting you take the reins here.”

“You’re both wrong,” Finn said, enunciating every word so they could read his lips.

“Baby—” Remus faltered with a laugh and held the wet wipes out of reach as Sirius tried to take them back. “Baby, we don’t get a point if you wipe it off. Just one kiss, okay?”

“Fine,” Sirius grumbled. Remus pressed a sweet kiss to his upper lip and handed him a fresh wet wipe. “Happy now?”

“Oh, I like that,” Remus said. “It’s definitely pineapple. I can see why you hated it so much.”

“Cap, do you not like pineapple?” Dorcas asked. His intense wiping of his lips was the only answer necessary. “We’re in the final three. Sirius, your team is in the lead by one.”

“Come on, hubs,” Lily said as she put the next one on. “This is easy-peasy. We have to beat Cap or we’ll never hear the—”

“Mint!” Leo exclaimed, looking quite proud of himself. “Ooo, it’s like Christmas.”

“I can smell it all the way over here,” Remus laughed, though he didn’t pass up the kiss. “That’s peppermint.”

“It’s like a candy cane,” James said dreamily.

“He’s not going to like this one,” Sirius said as he capped the next chapstick. “I like it, though, and that’s all that matters. Pucker up, Loops.”

“Oh, hell no.” Remus leaned back as Sirius leaned in, keeping his lips out of range. “Nope, not a chance. That’s some plastic vanilla bullshit and I’ll be tasting it all day.”

Dorcas tapped him on the shoulder and he lifted one headphone. “If you don’t taste it, you don’t get a point this round.”

“We can take the hit.”

“What? No!” Sirius protested. “I had to taste the pineapple, remember?”

“I love you and I totally want to win this, but I really, really don’t want that taste in my mouth.”

“Fine,” Sirius sighed, wiping his lips off as Remus readjusted his headphones.

James’ face split into a beaming smile after his kiss. “Birthday cake!”

“No.”

“Shit.”

“Vanilla,” Leo and Logan said in unison.

Finn pumped both fists in the air. “Yes! We’re tied for first!”

Leo gave him a high-five. “I don’t know what you’re saying, but you seem excited about it!”

“Last one,” Dorcas warned. “Whenever you’re ready.”

“You should wear chapstick more often,” James said as Lily lined her lips. “It makes you so soft.”

“He has no idea how greasy my mouth feels right now,” she said fondly with a glance to the camera.

“Tell me about it,” Sirius agreed. “Alright, Loops, don’t pussy out this time.”

Remus narrowed his eyes. “You just told me not to pussy out, didn’t you?”

Sirius blinked at him. “I thought you couldn’t read lips.”

“C’mere.” Remus cupped his jaw in one hand and kissed him, then smiled. “Orange. Did we win?”

“Mmm, that’s what the oranges back home taste like,” Leo said, going in for a second kiss.

Logan licked his lips a couple of times. “Tastes like fancy orange juice. I like it.”

“In a cruel twist of irony, my lips are getting dry,” James said when they parted. Lily raised her eyebrows as he thought. “That’s orange. We won, right?”

“Take off your headphones,” Dorcas said, miming the motion until everyone could hear her before holding her scoreboard up. “Unfortunately, James and Lily are in last place with a score of seven out of ten. Cap and Harzy, your teams are tied for first place with eight out of ten.”

“We could have won if you didn’t have a personal grudge against vanilla,” Sirius said under his breath. Remus threw one of the chapsticks at him and Sirius dropped another down the neck of his shirt.

“Boys.” They both gave Dorcas a sheepish look and she shook her head. “Thankfully, we prepared for this situation with a tiebreaker. Nobody but me knows the flavor, and it is not written on a sticker. Remus, Leo, and Logan, you will not have to put your headphones on again, but you will have to correctly identify both flavors to get their point. You will write your answers on these whiteboards. You only get one kiss to determine your guess. On your marks, get set, go!”

Sirius swiped a decent amount over his lower lip and pulled Remus in with his hands on his cheeks; Finn practically used half the stick covering his mouth before collecting his kisses. “That’s interesting,” Leo murmured, tapping his dry-erase pen on his thigh. “That’s very interesting.”

Remus jotted down an answer and leaned back in his chair with a self-satisfied smile. “You know it?” Sirius asked with a grin.

“I do.”

“Is that your final guess?’ Dorcas checked. He nodded, and she took his pen. “Leo, Logan, do you have a guess as well?”

“I think I know one of the flavors,” Leo said cautiously, bending over to whisper it in Logan’s ear. He hummed in agreement, then whispered back.

“This is so intense,” James murmured, looking between the two teams as Lily perched herself on his lap. “I feel like I’m watching the Olympics.”

“If we get one of the flavors right and Loops gets both wrong, do we win?” Logan asked as Leo wrote their answer down.

Dorcas thought for a moment. “Yeah, sure. But only if Remus gets it completely wrong.”

“What’s the prize?”

“You already get to kiss your partners all afternoon instead of running drills. What more do you want?”

“Amen,” Remus agreed.

“Alright.” Leo handed over the whiteboard pen, though he looked nervous.

“Would you like to go first?” Dorcas offered.

“Coconut and lemon?”

“That is incorrect.”

“Ah, fuck me,” Logan muttered. “Loops, you’d better be wrong.”

Remus’ smile was even more pleased as Dorcas turned to him. “Remus, do you know what it is?”

“Well, Ms. Meadowes, I’m glad you asked. That’s Burt’s Bees honey and coconut.” He flipped the board with a flourish. “And it just so happens that my boyfriend bought that exact chapstick at the store last week and has worn it every single day since then.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Leo looked between them in shock as Logan’s jaw dropped. Finn buried his face in his hands. “Of every flavor on earth—”

“I promise it was not intentional,” Dorcas said, though she was laughing a little. “I literally rolled dice to pick it while I was looking at the website.”

Sirius looked to the ceiling as he pulled Remus’ chair closer. “Thank you, universe, for my terrible impulsive habits in the self-checkout line.”

Dorcas turned to the camera with a dimpled smile and spread her hands. “Thank you for joining us for the chapstick challenge, Lions! You can find all these flavors at the link in the description. Like and subscribe for more videos like this, have a great day!”

[down-in-devildom]

Can you do the beelzebub reaction to seeing chef mc crying. everone is allways asking them to make them food and they just got burn out. Now they are worried that people only like them because they can cook.

Howdy and thank you for the prompt! I hope this is okay. Beel doesn’t really talk much for it is interesting having to delete whole paragraphs of dialog when I remembered...

Chef!MC with Burn out 

While walking into the kitchen at HoL for his late night pudding and seeing MC crumpled on the floor in tears, Beelzebub was instantly by their side on the ground. His first priority was to do a quick check over them to make sure there were no injuries or current threats. When he was sure that no external forces appeared to be the cause of MC’s distress, he would gently try to uncurl them from their ball

“What’s wrong? Do you need me to get you anything? Are you hurt?”

When Beel does not get a response, he would sit fully on the ground and pull MC into his lap. They would be bundled up into the crook of his neck as he rubs little circles on their back. He is silent as he waits for them to either talk or push him away, the tears rolling down their face dampening his neck and shirt. In the meantime, he really takes in the state of the kitchen. 

Flour was spilled all over the counter and floor. There were powdery white footsteps everywhere on the ground as if there was some frantic pacing. The fridge was left open and a massive amount of eggs had their yolks and whites separated into two bowls. Shadow hog cutlets and mauled mouthed salmon were in various states of butchering on the island and the mountain of dishes in the sink alone was enough to give even Barbatos pause. When Beel really allows himself to register MC’s clothes and hands, they were covered in all kinds of foodstuffs.

When the tears finally begin to dry up and the hiccupping quiets down, Beel makes to get up and get MC as far away from the kitchen as possible. He picks up the MC and cradles them. He first makes sure to grab the packs of pudding from the fridge he originally came down for, then he is off to his and Belphie’s room with MC tucked into his side with one arm. 

When he made it to his room, Beel placed MC on his bed, not caring that they were smearing flour all over his bedsheets, and put the puddings on his nightstand. He then sits next to them and grabs a single pack of the dessert and a spare spoon he kept in his nightstand. He then proceeds to spoon out a bit of custard and holds it in front of MC, waiting for them to take a bite. MC was very drained and a bit zoned out to notice the pudding in front of them at first so Beel just kept waiting. Waiting and waiting and ignoring his own hunger until finally, finally, they took a bite of the pre-offered pudding.

Beel keeps feeding them the dessert one spoonful at a time until it is done. When the package was empty, he set it on his nightstand and grabbed another one. He was ready to repeat the process until MC spoke for the first time since he found them.

“I’m so tired, Beel.” He looks at the MC and puts down the pudding. He sits silently next to them, giving his full attention. “Ah, would you like me to take you to your room?”, he asks. When the MC shakes their head ‘no’ he nods his head in understanding and waits for them to continue.

“I feel like I am only seen for what I can do, for my usefulness. I’m always being asked to take over cooking duty, or to help cater for Lord Diavolo’s parties, or for Devilgram-able food for Asmo, or for anime and cat themed desserts from Levi and Satan, or to specifically cook certain demon’s breakfasts/ dinners at certain times because not everybody could be bothered to show up to the table on time, or to make such a massive amount of food and slave away for hours only for it all to be gone in an eighth of the time it took to make!”

MC’s voice continued to raise during their speech and they appeared to have spoken without taking a breath because they had to pause and gasp for air a bit afterwards. Beel gave them time to settle down a bit and thought about what they said. To Beel, food as his literal lifeline. He could not really remember when he wasn’t tied to food; consuming food was his identity ever since he became the Avatar of Gluttony, and he was okay with that. He did not care if that was all that most demons saw, but he also had Belphie. Belphie saw him as more than a blackhole that needed to have food constantly thrown at him. He also had MC that saw him as a demon that cared a lot about his family AND food. 

He felt his heart ache a bit. He thinks that MC probably felt lonely and lost. Beel cannot ignore the part he played in MC’s distress and feels his heart squeeze just that much more. “I’m sorry.” Beel says it with such sincerity and remorse. His eyes were open and honest as he looked into MC’s eyes, his whole upper body turned to them on the bed and his focus solely on them. “I am sorry for making you feel that way. I love your food but I also love you, MC.” 

Beel doesn’t speak much but he means what he says. He doesn’t really know what else he can do for MC at this point besides trying to help persuade his brothers to not ask so much from MC and taking up cooking duties himself. His brows knit together as he tries to think on what he can do but his stomach is starting to take over. His hunger is becoming increasingly hard to ignore and the bed is starting to shake with each grumble. His eyes dart to the stack of puddings and he tries to pull his focus back to MC.

MC just chuckles and hands Beel a few packages of pudding. In a flash, Beel devours them and is reaching for more. The stack is gone in an instant and his hunger is still very much there. He glances at MC with a pile of disregarded pudding cups littering the ground.

“How about I whip you up something real quick?”, MC offers. Beel was about to say that it wasn’t necessary when his stomach let out a roar this time. MC chuckled before getting up and making their way to the door. “I don’t think I am not against making food for the people important to me, as long as it is on my terms…. Thank you for listening to me, Beel.” After that night, Beel made an effort to try to help MC more in the kitchen. Their work didn’t really slow down and everybody still wanted to eat their food, but at least, with Beel there, they felt more like they...mattered. Even though Beel kept eating over half of the ingredients before anything could be cooked properly.

------

Thank you for reading!-Leo

[chiliiscereal]

Chosen last: part 5

Summary: the turtle boys try to figure out how to comfort reader after a terrible experience with a boy, and Donnie does his best to apologize

————

Here’s the part before! In the part there are also links to the rest!

https://chiliiscereal.tumblr.com/post/651628962334769152/chosen-last

Donnie had no words to say.

Well, for the first five minutes of complete and utter silence.

You could feel him gaping at you but you couldn’t face him. He was right. He was right all along and you were a fool for hoping.

The rooftop wind howled, reminding you that you were still there.

“D-did he..?” Donnie cleared his throat and started over, “did he succeed?”

You shook your head and pulled your jacket closer. “He came close.”

He glanced at the jacket you were wearing. Underneath he could see your dress had rips in it. Even worse, he could see a small trail of blood.

Probably left by fingernails.

He didn’t know what to do.

He didn’t know what to say.

Not even how to ask if you were okay or if you needed him to help in any way.

So he did the best thing he knew how: make a plan.

“We’re gonna kill him.” He decided, standing up furiously. “We’ll kill him, resurrect him with cpr or defibrillaters, and then give him to the police.” He began pacing the rooftop, his mind turning and processing this information. “I need his address, I need his phone number, and his mother’s number.”

You just listened to him walking instead of his words. It was comforting in a way.

You couldn’t believe that almost happened though.

You couldn’t believe that even though you did your best to stop the worst, he came close.

What if you hadn’t listened to your gut?

What if you had told yourself you were overacting?

“We’re gonna call your friends.” Donnie decided. “You can stay the night with them. You shouldn’t be alone after-.”

“I’m not staying with those assholes.” You spat, much to his surprise.

“But... they’re you’re friends!” He was extremely confused. Did he not have all of the story? “Shouldn’t you-?”

“I said no.”

“But you could really use-!”

“I said NO!” You shouted at him, finally turning to face him.

He finally got a good look at how much damage was done.

Your eyes were red.

Tears leaked down your face.

A scratch decorated your cheek.

And... those eyes... they were so hurt and lost.

He messed up. He messed up bad.

Donnie shut his mouth immediately. “Okay, okay! But... do you want to be alone?”

You turned away again, shaking your head.

“Can I take you to the lair then?”

You hesitated for a second and then nodded.

“Okay, alright, come on.” He gently offered his hand to help you up, not sure how he was supposed to handle this.

You accepted it and let him assist you to your feet.

He didn’t make you talk on the way there.

Probably cause he didn’t know what questions to ask to get the answers he wanted.

You were fine with that. You didn’t need to talk.

Not now, anyway.

You’d have to talk eventually though. There was no way to be in the lair without saying anything.

————

When you arrived you could hear the sounds of the tv playing. Even the sound of the air hockey table.

Maybe the boys would be too busy to notice you.

Donnie lead you quietly through the lair and into the living room where his brothers and April were sat at.

You two tried to walk behind them but Leo noticed once you had your back turned to him, both of you almost to Donnies lab.

“Hey, y/n!” He grinned, pausing the tv. “You’re back already?”

“Yeah, how was the party!” Mikey leaned over the back of the couch excitedly. “Did you have fun?”

You kept walking, more tears spilling.

Raph immediately sensed something was wrong. “Hey, what’s up? Are you good?”

You stopped, so so SO close to breaking.

Donnie didn’t know if you wanted him to answer or not so he waited.

“Is it okay if I stay here tonight?” You asked quietly, still not showing your face.

“...yeah? Yeah you can stay?” Raph tilted his head in confusion and stood up from the couch. “What’s goin’ on?”

“Nothing’s going on.” You tried you keep walking but Raph stepped in front of you faster than you’d ever seen him move.

“Clearly there’s something going on.” He placed his hands on his hips, refusing to move. “Did Donnie pester you or somethin’? Did he make you leave early?” He sent his younger brother a small glare.

Donnie held up his hands innocently. “Just because I thought about it does NOT mean I did it.”

You kept your eyes on the floor, hair in your face and cheeks flushed bright pink.

“Y/n, you know I love you, but you’re a TERRIBLE liar.” Leo joked, throwing an arm over your shoulder. “Now, what happened?”

“You wanna know what happened?” You growled, too overwhelmed. “I’ll tell you what happened! Donnie was right!” You shoved Leo’s arm off you and glared at him. “All of you were! And I was STUPID to think that someone would actually like me!”

Mikey rushed over quickly. “Hey that’s not true-!”

“Then tell me, Mikey!” You whipped around to glare at him to, “tell me why Eric was only being nice to have sex with me! Tell me why he planned it with my friends to get me alone! Tell me why they thought that if I had ‘a good time’ then I’d loosen up and stop being a PRUDE!”

The boys stood there in silence, mouths open and eyes wide.

Donnie just looked at the floor in embarrassment.

Oh there was no stopping the tears now. You swiped them away furiously, cheeks flushing brightly.

You didn’t want to have this outburst now.

But there was just too much going on in your head!

“You guys were right.” You muttered as you strength faded. “I should have listened to you. I shouldn’t have gone to that stupid party and I shouldn’t have believed him for one second.” You locked eyes with Donnie. “I shouldn’t have believed he liked me for me.”

As if everything else wasn’t making him feel guilty that was just another cherry on top.

April was at your side quickly, arms wrapped around you and hands rubbing soft circles on your back. “It’s okay, the important thing is that you’re back here. With US.” She held you at at arms length. “Let’s go clean you up and talk, okay?”

You nodded, desperate to finally get away from the pitying stares you were getting.

“Donnie, can we borrow your lab?” She asked the purple masked turtle as she began to lead you in that direction.

“Yeah yeah sure.” He confirmed immediately. “There’s a... a first aid kit... if you need it.”

April whisked you away, leaving only the sound of echoing footsteps.

———-

“Oh man.” Raph sat down on the couch, head in his hands. “I can’t believe...” he trailed off. He didn’t even know how to finish that sentence.

Mikey sat down to.

Donnie and Leo, on the other hand, both stayed standing.

None of them knew what to say.

There were too many things dumped on them at once.

They’d heard about things like this happening but that always felt like something that happened in movies or to strangers.

Not a close friend.

“Well...” Leo tapped his fingers against his arm, “how’d the apology go?” He needed to find something else to talk about. He couldn’t think about it for very long without feeling this anger building up inside him.

“Well...” Donnie started, “I didn’t really... get to the apologizing part.”

“Please tell me you didn’t start gloating when you saw that y/n’s night hadn’t gone well.” Leo crosses his arms, already knowing the answer.

Donnie’s eyes went wide. “Why would you assume that? I am hurt.”

“Because that’s what you always do when you find out you were right.” Mikey insisted.

Donnie caved immediately. “Yeah... yeah I did do that.”

“Donnie!” His brothers chorused in disappointment.

“I know!” He threw his arms out angrily. “I know I shouldn’t have! I couldn’t help it! I knew something bad would happen I just didn’t know that it would be something like this!”

“You didn’t even apologize!” Leo scoffed. “You just rubbed it in her face!”

“I know.” Donnie sighed. “I’ll apologize when April’s done.”

“You better.” Raph ordered, standing up. “In the meantime, we’ve got some planning to do.”

   ““But what CAN we do?” Mikey brought his knees to his chest and watched his older brother sadly. ““There’s not evidence and we can’t be seen by people!” 

  Donnie rubbed his chin. ““No evidence…. Yeah there’s not much we can do without OH AND THEN HE REMEMBERED HE INSTALLED THE CAMERA PROTOCOL!” He whipped out his wrist device and began tapping immediately. “I’ve got her phone set to audio record whenever she’s headed somewhere suspicious! How could I forget I launched it before she went?”

   His brothers huddled behind him and watched.     “We convince y/n to tell the police what happened, hand over the audio, and land that asshole in juvie!” Leo caught on quickly, slapping his brothers shoulder with excitement as if he was doing a drumroll.  “That’s exactly what he deserves!” 

  ““I personally think he deserves a visit from doctor delicate touch.” Mikey crossed his arms. 

  “Not just from doctor delicate touch.” Raph agreed. ““A visit from us and then a REAL doctor.” 

  “Hey doctor delicate touch IS a real doctor!” Mikey protested. ““He doesn’t need a PHD.” 

“Quiet.” Donnie ordered as he kept working. “We’re not gonna scare the life out of him without y/n’s permission. We’re not even gonna send this in without her say so.” 

  Mikey turned his attention away from Raph. ““What are we gonna do then?”

  Donnie straightened up and looked back toward his lab. ““Offer it as an apology. Y/n will decide what to do with it. It’s her choice.” 

  ————

The tears stopped maybe ten minutes ago.  Maybe twenty. 

You didn’t really know.

But you still felt dirty.

Disgusting even. 

Being with April helped though. She kept you present. She did her best to keep you from thinking about that slime ball of a boy.

  “Alright, your cuts are all cleaned.” She nodded to herself proudly. “You’ve got a pair of my pajamas, a blanket, and your best friend. I think my work here is done.” 

  When you didn’t respond she leaned down to make eye contact with you. “Hey, do you need some alone time?”  You wanted to talk.

You really did.

But you couldn’t stop seeing that boy dragging you to the bed.

You couldn’t stop see him trying to rip the dress off you.

You couldn’t stop seeing your friends yelling for you to come back as you ran from the house.

If it hadn’t been for Ralph’s self defense lessons…

April sat down beside you on Donnies bed.  “You’re safe now.” She pulled you into a side hug. ““He ain’t ever goin near you ever again. Not if he wants to deal with April O’neil.” 

  You gave her a small laugh. “I’d pity anyone who’d have to deal with April O’neil.” 

  She jumped on that immediately. If that’s what would get you to laugh then she was taking it and running with it. “You know it! I’ll hit him with my bat so hard his future KIDS will be feelin’ it!” 

  You gave her another chuckle. “Look out Eric,”

She squeezed your shoulder again. “Exactly. And as for your terrible friends, I’ll send mayhem after them if they even look at you.” 

   You nodded. “Thanks April.” 

She smiled back at you, standing up. “I’ll go call your mom and tell her you’re sleeping over, okay?” 

You nodded again. “Okay.” 

Before she even shut the door, her spot was replaced by someone else.  you didn’t need to look at them to know who they were. 

“Yes Donnie?” You pulled your blanket closer.

 He took a deep breath, not fully ready for what he was about to do. ““I… I messed up.”

That seemed like a good start. 

“So did I.” You grumbled. “Making friends with people like that-.”

“No.” He interrupted. “You couldn’t have known. I… I should have known better.” He fiddled nervously with the recording device in his hands. “Whether something like that would have happened or not I shouldn’t have gloated. I should have been a reliable friend and let you figure things out yourself.” You didn’t say anything else so he kept going. “I know I can be unbareable and controlling and… not understanding, but I should have put that aside. I know that this won’t make up for it in the slightest but…” he placed the recording device in your hands, “I have a recording of what happened. I Installed a device that would audio record whenever I thought you could be in danger when I last fixed your phone for you.”

You flipped the small object over thoughtfully.  “I didn’t listen to it.” He stated immediately as his nerves grew worse. “I know it was a violation of your space by not telling you. But… here it is. You can decide what you want to do with it. If you want to leave it in the past or turn him in-.”

“Or let us seriously mess up his face for you!” Leo interrupted as he came in without knocking, brothers behind him.

You hadn’t even known the rest of the boys were there. But it was still appreciated that they wanted to be there for you.

  “Or have him talk to doctor delicate touch-.” Mikey grinned and sat down beside you.

  “It doesn’t matter.” Donnie finished, relieved to have his brothers beside him. “It’s yours.” 

You didn’t really know what to say.

Well you did.

You had a lot to say.  you just couldn’t get to words out.

Donnie held his breath. 

Finally, you looked up and him and strengthened your grip on the device. “Why not all of it?”    He did this to you.

Your friends did this to you.

They deserved a little bit of karma heading their way. The boys cheered, swarming you in a giant hug right as April opened the door.

“Did I hear something about revenge?” She grinned and joined immediately. “Cause this girl is all over it!”

Oh Eric, if only you had done the bare minimum and had respect for your decisions.  This guy had it coming. 

That night, you stayed with April and splinter while the boys went out, promising to record every priceless moment and give it to you.

Tomorrow, Donnie would walk with you to the police station in disguise as your moral support while you turned over the audio.

[firehouseonechicago]

A Very Merry Christmas || Brian Zvonecek

Warnings: Pure fluff and Chicago Fire shenanigans. It’s Otis, what do you expect?

Summary: It was about time that you met the occupants of Firehouse 51, especially since Otis has been nagging you to do it for several months now. So, what better time to meet his colleagues than at Christmas?

Author’s Note: I love Otis, I miss him so much. I’m not seeing a lot of Otis content on here, so have a beautiful Christmas one-shot! Gif by @leo-suter��

For the several months the two of you had been together, Brian had been trying to convince you to stop by the Firehouse so he could introduce you to the team. And for some reason, you always said no. At first you told him it was nerves, you were always nervous about meeting new people. But then your nerves grew to fear, fear that his colleagues wouldn’t like you.

But since it was Christmas, and Christmas was the time of giving and coming together, you decided that it was time that you get over your pathetic fears. You had spent the entire morning cooking various treats and decorating Christmas themed cookies, as well as making a beautiful chocolate cake which you hoped would win over the occupants of the 51. After making sure that everything was completely and utterly perfect, and after carefully placing everything in tuppaware containers, you drove to the Firehouse all the while trembling slightly.

You hoped that Brian wasn’t out on a call, otherwise if you showed up and no one was there, it would be kind of awkard waiting around for him to return. Parking in an available space just a little further down the street, you carefully manouvered your way out of your car, and attempted to carry the three large tuppaware containers towards the open doors of the Firehouse. You struggled to see over the top of them, combined with balancing these containers filled with an entire morning’s-worth of hard work, it made it incredibly difficult not to almost drop them.

As the top container began to slide off, almost crashing to the driveway below, a pair of hands suddenly came to your rescue, taking the top two containers from your grasp. “Woah there, let me give you a hand!” A kind voice exclaimed, smiling down at you with bright blue eyes. You laughed breathlessly, smiling up at the man before you gratefully “Thank you so much, I’ll be honest I almost lost them a few times” You joked, fixing the container that carried the chocolate cake in your arms. The man laughed with you, looking you over with a slight hint of confusion. “I’m sorry, but I don’t think I’ve seen you before...” He spoke lowly, as your mouth fell agape in shock. They didn’t know who you were.

“Oh right! I’m uh, I’m here to see Brian? You guys call him Otis but he’s-” “Oh! You’re Y/n right? Otis’ girlfriend, he never stops talking about you...” The man explained, his smile growing “I’m Kelly Severide, head of Squad 3″. You nodded a small greeting “It’s nice to meet you Kelly, I would shake your hand but...” You paused, gesturing to the container in your grasp. He laughed, motioning with his head toward the firehouse “Come on in, Otis just went out on a call, but he should be back soon. In the meantime, why don’t we talk? I’d like to get to know you better” Kelly spoke kindly, looking at you over his shoulder as the two of you headed inside.

For the past hour, you sat in the common room getting to know the members of Squad 3. Of course, the main topic of conversation was your relationship with Brian. The typical questions like where did you meet, and how long have the two of you been together were the easy ones to answer. You grew somewhat nervous when they began to ask questions about your life, like what you did for a living, or where you had grown up. You didn’t like to talk about yourself much, there wasn’t really much to tell.

So when Truck 81 returned to the Firehouse, you were slightly relieved. Your eyes met Kelly’s, and you grinned “Okay, now you guys can start eating. Just don’t eat everything” you teased, as you removed the lids from the containers. Like hungry animals, Squad 3 pounced, digging through the cookies and other treats, some even beelining for the chocolate cake. You stepped back and chuckled softly, as the soft echo of voices outside grew closer and closer. Your gaze moved to the two large glass doors, your chest tightening with happiness as Brian threw open the doors, turning to look at the man beside him.

“I’m telling you Cruz, that girl was into you. Why didn’t you get her number?” He exclaimed, lightly hitting his friend’s shoulder. Cruz shrugged “She wasn’t into me, man. I’m telling you she was just being nice”. Brian scoffed, rolling his eyes before they widened upon seeing your form, standing somewhat awkwardly as you hugged your arms to your sides with a sheepish smile. The grin on his features widened “Oh my god, what are you doing here!?” He exclaimed, running towards you and enveloping you in his arms, picking you up and spinning you around as his eyes sparkled with happiness. You squeaked in surprise, laughing loudly as he returned you back to earth before you pulled away from him. “Well, since it is Christmas, I thought I would come down to the Firehouse and surprise you. I thought it was about time, and I brought gifts-”

“Gifts? What kind of gifts?!” A voice shouted from the doorway. Both you and Brian turned to meet the expectant stare of a man with a moustache and glasses. “Mouch, come on-” Brian began, but you stopped him by placing a gentle hand on your boyfriend’s shoulder “It’s okay, I brought my famous shortbread cookies, a few other treats and a delicious chocolate cake, your favourite” You informed Mouch, whispering the last part to Brian with a cheeky grin. You giggled softly as Mouch’s mouth fell agape, his eyes moving between both you and Brian in bewilderment. “Is this your girlfriend?” He questioned, gesturing towards you with a pointed gesture. Brian nodded “Yes, this is Y/n. We’ve been together for about six months”.

In that small moment of silence, Mouch rushed forward and clapped your boyfriend on the back “You better keep her” He spoke in a hushed whisper, before dashing towards the Christmas themed treats atop the table. Both you and Brian descended into laughter, as a second man joined Mouch. “Hey, save some cake for the rest of us Mouch!” “You should have gotten here first Herrmann!”. The common room descended into a frenzy, as everyone scrambled to grab one of your delicious delights. Whilst everyone was preoccupied, Brian introduced you to Matthew Casey, Cheif Boden, Shay and Dawson, as well as many others within the Firehouse. He gave you a grand tour of the place, before the two of you eventually ended up in the locker room. 

He turned around to face you with a gentle and loving smile “I can’t believe you came all the way down here for me” He whispered softly, once again wrapping you in a warm embrace while placing a gentle kiss to your temple. You hummed in response, “Merry Christmas, Otis” You teased, causing your boyfriend to grumble a response. You laughed, standing on your toes to press a loving kiss to his lips. Brian’s arms around you tightened as he reciprocated the kiss, before pulling away with a dreamy smile “I think it’s safe to say that they all love you” He whispered, to which you grinned happily “I don’t know what I was so worried about”.

Brian chuckled deeply, pulling you closer so that your head fell against his chest. “I think this is going to be a very merry christmas, don’t you?” He asked, pressing a light kiss to your hair. You smiled “I think so too”. In that peaceful moment of silence, Brian groaned loudly and somewhat disappointingly. You pulled away from you boyfriend and looked up at him in confusion. “What? What’s wrong?” “I just realised that all of your cookies will be gone by now, and I won’t get any” He pouted, his pursed lips causing you to chuckle at his adorableness. You smiled teasingly, taking his hands in yours as you grinned excitedly “Then aren’t you lucky that I made extras, and they are all yours”. Brian’s eyes widened significantly, his lips parting in awe. “God I love you so much” he breathed, cupping your face with his hands and gently running the pads of his thumbs over your cheeks. You flushed a bright red “And, I’ve planned a special movie marathon for you when you get home tonight”.

“Is it Star Wars?”

Your smile told him everything he needed to know, before he surged forward and caputred your lips with his own in a passionate kiss. Oh yes, this would be a very merry christmas indeed.

[magic-belodie]

I finished Castoel’s route of MCLLL episode 9. It cost me 1204 AP. I got the illustration with Castiel. Here is the summary:

(I have chosen different outcomes each time I play. So in the summaries there are more things different than the part with your lover.)

You start this episode in front of the café, you hear Nina talking. You go inside. Nina is talking with Gabin about Rock music. You ask Gabin how it is going with the band. It is going okay, they are trying out new things. Gabin is going to sing the background vocals and Leo is writing songs. But they don’t really talk about what happened and that worries Gabin. You promise to talk with Castiel. They are also going to the beach for a few days to get inspiration. Gabin leaves the café. You go to terrace to call the insurance. When you are done with the insurance, you see Violette and Kim. Kim is doing a lot better. She is training Violette and Chani. She also poses in the studio, so Chani and Violette can draw her. And Kim is starting with sculpting. Kim goes to the Gym. Violette stays she has appointment with Yael. You take her inside for a drink. Yael comes inside. The appointment is with an international gallery manager. Yeleen is the international gallery manager. She is doing good. And she insisted on meeting at the cosy bear to also see you. Yeleen found you work here through the videos you made. You leave them alone to talk about business. Yeleen finds the price too high. She has to contact someone, she will talk later again with Violette and Yael. Yael and Violette go to the studio, Yeleen stays to catch up with you. You go to the terrace with her. Yeleen worked a year for the museum. And then started her own gallery in Soho. Yeleen lives in South Ealing. She is on a dating site. Then you tell her about your life. Things are going well between Castiel and you. You also tell her about everything that happened with Dan at work. Yeleen think you are lucky finding someone with a big collection. Yeleen leaves for her next appointment. You go back inside.

You help Nina with the customers. Then comes Dambi inside. Her mom is back in town. They are having a big family diner tonight at Hyun’s house. You and Castiel are invited because you hired Dambi. Dambi goes back home. You call Castiel to tell her about the diner. Castiel actually planned to relax tonight, but it will be good for him to see Hyun again. Nina close up for tonight, and you go home earlier. When you get home. Castiel is already there. You tell Castiel about that you have seen Gabin and Yeleen today. Then you go pick out your outfit. I choose the outfit for the illustration with Castiel. You and Castiel go to Hyun’s house. When you are at Hyun’s home, Hyun got everything ready for diner. He tells you that Yael called him this afternoon. She has a lot of work for Hyun. So mush that he can really start his own business and focus on it. He said yes to the work, so he is now official a pastry chef. But Hyun still hasn’t told his parents. And he would have liked to tell them one on one. The bell goes and Iseul comes inside. The bell goes again, Hyun’s parents and Dambi are here. You take a family picture and post it on social media so that Juan (Hyun’s brother) can see it. Then you start with diner. Hyun Parents find the diner very delicious. They are very happy that you hired Dambi. Dambi still wants to make a living with gaming. Hyun parents are worried because she doesn’t make any money yet. And it takes a lot of followers to make a living out of it. Hyun gets the dessert. He says that you bought the cake. You can decide to tell that Hyun made the cake or not. I decide to tell the truth. His father likes the idea. His mother is worrying about the risk her son makes. Dambi, Castiel and you try to defend Hyun. You are so happy that Castiel defends Hyun. You whisper in his ear that you like him a lot when he says what he thinks. It makes you want to have discussions at home. You will get your illustration. Hyun’s mom says then that all she can do is watch her son grow. They go home. The story skips a few days. Hyun got a call from his mom, and she says that she always supported him. Then you are back in front of the café. 

In front of the café you see Raphael. Raphael talks about how Nina looks tired. He goes back to the university. You go inside. Nina tells you that Raphael is the guy she likes. Dambi thinks Nina should tell Raphael how she feels. You think so too. So Nina is going to tell Raphael the next time she is alone with him. Eric comes in the café. Nina goes to the kitchen to do the dishes. It is going better with Eric. He’s still leaving at the motel. You ask him about his job. Nath is on an undercover job and Eric is watching over him. Eric goes back to the station. You get a call from Priya. She wants you to come to her office. You leave the café in the hands of Nina and Dambi and go to Priya. When you are at the law firm, Priya tells you that she is defending Marina. She is accusing Rayan Zaidi of harassment. You tell Priya that you talked with Rayan about Marina in the last episode. She also asked how Rayan was when you were in the university. After telling Priya how Rayan was, you get the choice if you want to testify. I said yes. Priya and Renata are happy. You go home.

On your way home, you see Castiel. He is walking with pancake. You walk home together. In between, you tell him what happened with Priya. Castiel don't think that Rayan is guilty. All those people shouldn’t judge him so quickly. And the harm is already done. Everyone will have doubts after this. You tell Castiel that you were asked to testify and that you said yes. Castiel asked what Rayan did to you back when you were in high school. He gets that you were feeling uncomfortable at that moment. But Rayan didn’t do anything wrong. You will just see how the judges take it. In the meantime, you could use a period without drama. Castiel will let you hear a new tone he made. Then you two go to bed and the episode ends.

[crimson-snowfall]

Jealous hc for Comte, Leo and Theo please! Really appreciate your writing!

Sorry for the wait, and thanks for your kind message! Here ya go~

Ikevamp HC request: Jealous Theo, Comte, and Leo

Theo

Theo is particularly vocal when it comes to Arthur playing around with you. Even though he knows Arthur does it on purpose just to piss him off, he just can’t let the flirt do as he pleases with you, so he makes sure to give Arthur a piece of his mind every now and then.

Theo doesn’t really get jealous nor wary about you interacting with the rest of the mansion’s residents, because he’s plenty confident about his ability to keep his hondje satisfied.

The only time he ever feels jealous is during those occasional instances when you would end up spending a lot of time with Vincent for days at a time, and Theo hates himself for it.

He has always admired his brother, and Theo has spent all of his life believing that Vincent is better than him, and in a good way. He thinks of his dear brother as the best person in the world, so it made him sick inside as soon as he realized that emotions of jealousy have ‘tainted’ his love for his brother.

He is deeply confused as well, because sometimes he’s not sure whom is he truly jealous about. Perhaps he’s jealous both ways?

As soon as Vincent realized how Theo feels, he promptly apologized to him. Theo visibly paled upon hearing Vincent apologize to him, panic quickly taking over him.

“What are you taking about, b-broer? You did nothing wrong, you know you can never do wro–”

“Calm down, Theo. Look… I’m just really happy that you finally found yourself a woman to love in this life. That’s why I wanted to get to know her better, and love her the same way as I do love you, Theo. Because soon enough, she’s going to be my sister-in-law, right?”

Vincent had that kind smile on his face as he said all those things to Theo, and it’s enough to make the strength in Theo’s knees leave. He pulled his brother in a tight embrace, insisting that he should be the one apologizing for even feeling that way.

It’s not often that Theo shows his weak side towards him, so Vincent had been more than willing to comfort him and dispel his worries.

After that, Theo’s subtle jealous episodes became far less often. However, when you finally realized it and confronted him about it, you could’ve sworn he got incredibly flustered for a moment.

“Huh? What are you talking about hondje? Why would I be jealous? This is my brother we’re talking about here, do you really want to get punished?”

Unfortunately, he didn’t sound nearly as convincing as he had hoped to be, and while you would’ve taken this golden opportunity to tease him, you decided against it. Theo can play really dirty if you tease him so much, and you’re not yet really ready for another night of him just teasing you until you’re nearly in tears. Instead, you spent the next few days spoiling him with sweets and fluffier servings of pancakes.

Comte

At first, you thought that Comte just really loved to spoil you. But after a while and as you get to know him better, you eventually noticed a pattern to these shopping sprees and fancy restaurant dates he often takes you to.

While the fact that he indulges spoiling you remains true, you realized that he does this mainly so he can have a valid reason to keep you all to himself, at least for the day.

Lately, he’s been starting to spoil you way too often, almost every other day. While you do enjoy the time you spend with him, your closet is starting to get crammed with all the clothes and accessories he gets for you. You’re also conscious that you may be starting to put on some weight as well.

Unsure of what to do, you approach Leonardo. Comte is good friends with him, so you thought that Leo of all people would know how to deal with your lover’s behavior.

You came to him in the library and much to your surprise, the pureblood is actually awake and not passed out on the floor like always. You told him about your troubles.

“Have you talked to him about it, cara mia?” A soft smile graced his features as he regarded you with concern.

“No. The thing is… I don’t even know where to start.”

“Well, this is actually the first time I’ve–” Leo stopped mid-sentence, his expression as though he had sensed something coming. His soft smile turned into a mischievous one as he stood from where he was seated and approached you.

“No, I think I have an idea.” With those words, he closed the distance between the two of you, pinning you against the nearest bookshelf. He tilted your head up, your eyes meeting his that were dancing with mild mischief. Leo leaned dangerously close, and it really looked like he was going to kiss you when—

“Leonardo Da Vinci.” A heavy voice came from the entrance, and there stood Comte, golden eyes on fire. Leo was shaking– surely not out of fear, instead he looked like he’s trying to hold back his laughter.

In mere seconds, Comte has you in a protective embrace whilst his vicious glare remained on his friend. The other pureblood shrugged it off.

“There you have it, cara mia. Now’s your chance. Go and tell him. There’s no way he could deny it anymore.” Leo walked out of the library as if he had done nothing wrong, and the sigh that escaped Comte’s lips nearly echoed in the room.

“What was that all about, ma chérie?” He turned you around so that you’re facing him, the rage in his eyes replaced with mild sadness.

You ended up telling him everything, how you loved spending time with him, but how deep down you wished he didn’t have to resort to spoiling you that much all the time.

“I appreciate everything, Comte. But, you don’t really have to go that far every time, I… I already have so much of everything. If you’re jealous, we could just always spend more time together– just simply the two of us, together. It doesn’t have to be always extravagant.”

“I’m sorry ma chérie. I just couldn’t help myself whenever I’m with you. I want to give you everything.” Comte placed a tender kiss on your forehead.

He continues about taking up on your offer about spending time together without being too extravagant. He suggests taking you off from your household duties for the next few days, and the tender look in his eyes made it impossible for you to refuse.

“I can’t guarantee that I won’t end up spoiling you… in my own other ways though, ma chérie. I hope you’re prepared for that.”

Leonardo

Leo’s room has always been messy, but lately it’s just a disaster. For the past two days, Sebastian has been taking care of most of the other household duties while he left you in charge of your lover’s room.

On that particular day, the butler told you that your sole task is to attend to Leo’s room, and after that you can take the rest of the day off as some sort of compensation.

You came to his room, already dreading the mess that’s about to unfold before your eyes as soon as you open the door.

“Leo, how do you even manage to get your room this dirty? I just cleaned up yesterday!” You made no effort to hide your frustration as you began cleaning his room. Surprisingly enough though, this time, he helped you out.

Soon enough with his help, the room looked far more decent and actually habitable. “See? It’s much better now. You’re actually good at this, Leo. If only you would do it more often, then–”

You were cut off when strong arms pulled you into a tight embrace. “It’s been three days and you still don’t get it, do you, cara mia?” Leo planted a soft kiss on your neck before falling back into his bed and turning you around so that you’re on top of him.

He wore a somewhat lonely expression as he played with your hair. He took a deep sigh, the signature scent of cigarillos wafting on the air. “Lately… I found myself feeling rather jealous.”

“Jealous of what? And what does that have to do with any of this?”

“You’ve been doing nothing but housework lately, cara mia. You attend to everyone, and sometimes I just want to keep you to myself. That’s when I thought, what if I made it so that all the housework you’ll ever do is in my room? Then maybe I’ll get to spend more time with you.”

You looked at him in absolute disbelief. “Leo, I can’t believe you…”

“You don’t have to, cara mia. But today I helped you because… I want you to do something other than housework.”

Hope you liked it and sorry for any ooc-ness and grammatical error, my mind’s really a mess right now with all the university work piled up on me ;w; I haven’t read Leo’s route yet either so sorry if his is a little bit shorter compared to the others. I need to read more canon facts and be able to read more interactions between these characters so I can write them better in the future, but on the meantime thanks for your understanding! As for the other request (and future reqests that may be made), I’ll get to you on the 1st week of February~

[rottmntquotes]

Stars

Blue, or white bulbs? Purple accents, or an indigo moon? A swirly wormhole, or a dramatic supernova?

"It is but the constant struggle of an artist."

A quick scoff drew Leo out of his thoughts, and he turned to send a genuine smile to his genius twin. In response, Donnie sneered, eyes narrowing and accenting the bags that formed. This didn't throw off Leo's mood, though; if anything, the look drove Leo to work harder, walking up to Donnie and holding up two strands of lights. A happy, almost childish look was on Leo's face, and Donnie rose a brow despite his previous anger.

"Blue, or white?" Leo asked, holding the lights up respectively. "I want to hang up lights in the room."

"Leo, it's your room now. Why are you asking for my opinion?" Donnie retorted, rolling his eyes as the question was completely ignored.

"I just thought you'd like to help decorate the room." Leo hummed, moving to pick up a picture of a supernova. "What about this? Cool colored wormhole, or warm colored supernova?"

"Uh, neither. If anything, I'm more of a wintery planet sort of turtle. Studies show that many people find it easier to sleep in cold, snow colored environments. It causes the body to naturally search for heat, and when the heat is found, the body is more likely to be comfier than if it were in a hot environment."

"Okay."

Donnie paused mid-speech, watching his twin look through his phone casually. A minute or so passed before Leo shoved his phone into Donnie's face. "So, colors like this?"

"Uh... yes...?" This was weird. Why was Leo acting so... not Leo-ish? It was a question that plagued Donnie's mind, but he was quickly cut off before he could ask. Quick paced whistling filled the silence, and Donnie watched as his odd twin took hold of a few dark blue bulbs, holding them up in the air while squinting his eyes.

"Is this a good blue?" Leo asked, continuing to hold the bulbs up. "Or should we go with indigo?"

"Are... are you okay?" Donnie chose to voice his concerns instead of answering, placing a hand on the back of Leo's neck. The Slider snickered at the touch, dropping the lights and turning to kitten-slap Donnie's hand away.

"I'm fine. I just want to know how you want the room to look."

"Will you stop saying that?! This isn't my room anymore! It's yours! You were the one who hustled this room out of my hands!" Donnie shouted, his body stiffening as he curled his beak into a snarl. Leo smiled in response, shrugging and returning to the decorations.

"What do you think about having little star stickers on the wall?"

"That sounds like a great id- Hold on! NO! I don't care about anything you do to this room! You hustled it, so you can deal with what I had to deal with! And lemme tell ya, there are plenty of things wrong with this room! It's cramped, there's barely enough room to put your massive mountain of junk, and you can bet that it'll be ten times worse to crawl out of that poor excuse of a bed! You'd have been better off committing a crime and being sent to jail!"

"Then... why are you so upset?" Leo's question surprised Donnie, leaving the Softshell to do nothing more than attempt to answer. "Uh-huh, right. So, until you calm down, I'm just going to make the big decisions, and what you see is what you get."

Donnie sputtered, unable to formulate full sentences, especially as he was pushed out of his previous room. A quick yet gentle shove was all it took to get Donnie to leave, and Leo waved his brother off, turning around to continue his previous work.

__________

It was around 9:00 p.m. when the boys arrived from Run-of-the-Mill, each of them finishing up cheery stories before they all split up to do their own things. Raph went to lift weights, Mikey went to work a new project, Donnie retreated to his lab, and Leo... went back to decorating the room. A frustrated groan was let out, and Donnie was torn between staying in his lab and ignoring his petty feelings, or trying once again to confront Leo about the strange behaviour.

Then again, this would just show off that Leo was somehow managing to get underneath Donnie's battle shell. Something he was probably already doing to begin with. Happy whistling came from Donnie - Leo's room, effectively driving the Softshell crazy. A low growl came from Donnie's throat before he stood up suddenly, ignoring his body's reaction to the movement as he stormed into his - Leo's room.

"Alright, what gives?! Why are you spending so much time decorating this room?!" Donnie asked angrily, searching Leo's face for any sort of explanation. Leo simply smiled in response; a genuine look that served to drive away any of Donnie's previous negative emotions.

 How did he manage to do that???

"Well, I noticed how you've been way more sleep deprived than usual, which is my fault entirely. So, I've decided that I'll let you come in here and sleep whenever you really feel yourself losing all sanity because of dad's snoring." Leo explained, briefly turning his back to Donnie so that he could retrieve a nearby screw. "I've been working on this for weeks, and I keep asking for your opinion because I want you to be able to be as comfortable as possible when you need somewhere to rest and relax."

"Wait, but where would that put you?"

"I'll just sleep in my old room whenever need be." Leo chimed, shrugging as he moved to pick up a picture of the family. "I've gotten used to dad's snoring, so it won't bother me as much."

"So... you're willing to give up your own comfort, just so I can get a good night's rest?"

"Yup! It's what twins are for, after all!" Leo's comment was met with silence, but he said nothing on it, taking this time to begin hammering a nail into the wall. Once the nail was deemed planted enough, Leo hung the picture up, humming happily, and stepping back. "And viola! Your new- OW!"

Donnie was snapped out of his confused haze by Leo's yelp of pain, searching everywhere possible for any type of source. After a minute or so, Donnie noticed that Leo was favoring one foot more than the other, and he instructed the blue clad Slider to sit down on the... nest? Yep. It was a nest.

"Hey, I'm fine Donnie, I swear. It's just a little nick." Leo assured, standing up and immediately sitting back down. With an unimpressed scoff, Donnie grabbed Leo's foot, gasping at the sight of the large nail that had lodged itself into the skin. "See? It's nothing!"

"Nardo, there is an entire nail lodged in your foot. That. Is not. Nothing!" Donnie exclaimed, lying Leo back so that they were both in a comfortable position. "Now, I'm gonna have to pull it out- BUT IT WON'T HURT! I'll do it on three so you know when to expect it. One... two... WHAT'S THAT?!"

"What?! OW!" Leo pulled his foot back, cradling it lightly and blowing on it rapidly. Donnie, in the meantime, was studying the nail for any signs of rust. None were found, but the Softshell decided that he would give Leo a Tetanus shot anyways, just to be on the safe side. "Hey, hey, I ain't gettin' no shot! That is not happening!"

"You "ain't getting no" shot, huh?" Donnie snickered, patting Leo's head. "Do you remember nothing about the double negative rule?"

"Screw that rule." Leo spat, grumbling as he received another head pat.

"Heheh..." Donnie paused his ministrations, thinking over what to say next. "Thank you, Leo."

"For?"

"This. The room. The decoration. Everything." Donnie clarified, leaning down and bumping foreheads with his twin brother. "You didn't have to do this."

"No, but I wanted to." Leo hummed, purring at the affectionate nuzzling his words earned him. "D'aw! You're making me blush!"

"Perfect, that means less blood to deal with when I give you the shot."

"Wait, what?"

"Oh please! Just because you did something nice doesn't mean I have to neglect your health. Now come on, I don't want to carry you all the way to the lab."

"Are you calling me fat?"

"You? Fat? Why, that's like calling a marshmallow spicy!"

"Okay, I get it... I love you man."

"I love you too, brother."

[ohdarlingohsweetheart]

FOUR.

One | Two | Three | Four | Five | Six

Second time's the charm~

A casual greeting at a book store turns into so much more.

[WARNING]: This is a YANDERE story! Stalking, murder, the whole nine yards!!! Read with caution!

If you find this story on any website NOT under misfitgirlwrites/misfitgirl3390 please let me know!

Font for book cover credit (x)

   After scrolling through Cherri's Tumblr for nearly two hours, Leo found pictures of her on Halloween. She was dressed as Poison Ivy and it suited her nicely. He stared at the pictures for a while before saving them to his phone. She really was beautiful. His thoughts were interrupted by his phone vibrating.

Marcel: So I was going to pretend I didn't see you guys in the ice cream shop with some dude but I changed my mind. Who was he?

   Leo arched a brow.

Mary: His name is Leo! Cherri met him yesterday and we ran into him again today, nothing to be worried about  d a d

Marcel: Haha very funny

Cherri: It's okay, Marcel. He seems nice

Marcel: All guys seem nice when they want something from you.

Mary: He's just being friendly! Cherri is perfectly fine! And cute! I think it's about time a guy tried to sweep her off her feet! Anyone is better than Darius 🤢

Cherri: ;;;;;

Marcel: There are a lot of guys just like Darius and that's why I'm worried.

   Did Darius do something to Cherri before? Leo didn't like the sound of that. He also didn't like how skeptical Marcel was.

Cherri: ...I think he's kind of nice

Cherri: I understand why you're worried but I'll be okay

Cherri: And if I need you I know I can call you ☺️

Marcel: ...alright

Marcel: Fr though be very careful

Cherri: I will! My dad just got in, I have to go

Marcel: Ard

Mary: Baiii 💖💗💖💗💖

   Leo hummed. He'd have to look into Darius. In the meantime, he went back to Cherri's Tumblr. He could tell by a certain blog she interacted with a lot that it could possibly be Mary. That and the username seemed very fitting.

   Brattyxkitten_.

   Leo clicked on the username and looked at the bio.

Bunny 🐰 | 18 | A Princess 👸🏻 | 💚 Loki Laufeyson 💚 | 💗 Sebastian Michaelis 💗 | MANY MORE 🥵

   There were also mobile links and one of them led to her Instagram account, which wasn't private. He scrolled through and saw a few pictures of her and her siblings. He knew now that Marcel was her older brother. There were a few pictures of Cherri as well, which he screenshot to save.

Cherri: Hi Leo :)

   Leo quickly stopped what he was doing to reply.

[Text]: Hey Cherri

[Text]: Did you get home safe?

Cherri: Yeah, I did

Cherri: I just wanted to ask, could you maybe use Google hangouts?

   Leo didn't respond right away. He wanted to ask her why she was hiding her text messages. Could her father be looking through her phone? It's not like she's doing anything wrong so it couldn't be him, right?

[Text]: Yeah I'll download it now

[Text]: What's your email?

Cherri: cherriacrawford@gmail.com :)

   He knew that already and he was glad he remembered to pretend he didn't. Leo set up his own account on Google hangouts and switched over before texting Cherri once more.

[Text]: Is this better?

Cherri: Yes! Thank you ☺️

   Leo smiled slightly. He completely forgot about trying to find more on Darius. Instead they talked about books. He liked that Cherri genuinely liked the books she was forced to read in high school. The Great Gatsby was her favorite book and she didn't hate Shakespeare but made it clear that she could also live without his work. She thinks she would suck at poetry but Leo disagrees. He thinks that she'd be amazing at anything she tried to do.

[Text]: You know, I think you'd really like Little Women. Did you read that book?

Cherri: Yes!! Omg I absolutely loved it! Women are powerful 💪🏽

[Text]: Well what about the movie?

Cherri: 1994 movie? Yes

Cherri: Not the recent one

[Text]: Well what if we see the recent one together?

Cherri: I would love to do that! But I'm kind of short on money

[Text]: Don't worry about that, I'll pay for you. I'll even pick you up if you'd like

   Leo was definitely considering this their first date. He wondered if she was too. She didn't respond right away, so he switched back to her account to see her rapidly texting Mary. He quickly opened the chat.

Cherri: HE ASKED ME IF I WANTED TO SEE LITTLE WOMEN WITH HIM

Mary: uM??? DID YOU SAY YES?

Cherri: YES

Mary: Y E S

Cherri: HE ALSO OFFERED TO PICK ME UP?? DO I SAY YES???

Mary: Heck yeah!!!! This will be your real first date!!!!

Cherri: Yes and I don't want to think about Darius or Commissioner Hughes >.<

   Commissioner Hughes? Was Darius the Commissioner's son?

Mary: Tell him yes and dress cute!

Cherri: what about my dad?

Mary: Tell him that you're coming over to my place! Don't forget to tell Leo your curfew!

Cherri: Right! Okay!

   Leo switched back into his account and checked his messages.

Cherri: I'm fine with you picking me up! :)

Cherri: But my dad is a bit strict so I need to be home by 6:30

   Leo thought that was pretty early for someone her age.

[Text]: We can just hang out early. I'll make sure you're home before 6:30, I promise

   He wanted to promise that he wouldn't do whatever Darius did to fuck up her first date.

Cherri: Okay! Thanks so much! So tomorrow then?

[Text]: I wouldn't want to wait any longer

Cherri: I'll see you then, Leo 🥰

   Leo smiled. This was definitely a date. If things would keep going this smoothly, Cherri would be with him in no time. But he knew that wasn't the case; not with Darius apparently being a reoccurring problem and whatever is making her keep everything on an account in case she has to clear her phone.

   He'd focus on that later. For now, he wanted to relax and enjoy his date tomorrow.

~~~

Taglist: None yet~

[rottmntrulesall]

Venus and Hamato Family Story: Cherished Little Treasure

This was a gift fic by @fanfic-inator795 . After the events of “Many Unhappy Returns”, the Hamato Family are introduced to the Turtles’ little miracle. Little Sister Venus x Sibling/Family AU combined.

Venus might have been quite the little surprise - not just for her aunts and uncles, but supposedly for her father and brothers as well. 

After the Shredder had been taken care of for the moment, they had left for Japan to pick up a few things before returning - Saki didn’t trust Big Mama whatsoever, and while his siblings agreed with that, they also just wanted an excuse to spend more time with their brother and nephews. 

After not seeing Yoshi- Lou- Splinter for so long, could anyone really blame them? Aimi certainly couldn’t, she had been eager to get back as well (even if taking a break from the sewer smells was admittedly nice...).

However, when they returned to New York City just a few weeks later, they discovered not just Splinter and their nephews… but a baby niece as well. To say their family had been a bit, well… shell-shocked at the sudden appearance of the little turtle girl was an understatement, to say the least.

“Iiiiit’s kind of a long, sort of sad story,” Splinter had half-heartedly explained when first asked, “But let’s not worry about that now! Let us focus on the present… and my wittle Venus~” He then nuzzled her scaly cheek, and Baby Venus squeaked and smiled a little at the fur that tickled her.

“Well, I don’t see anything wrong with that,” Aimi said softly. Frankly, she didn’t need an explanation. If the mutant members of her family were happy, then so was she - and she was definitely happy when she was given permission to hold and hug her new granddaughter.

So, not having much of a choice, the rest of the Hamato Clan settled back into the atrium, each of them taking their turn in meeting little Venus De Milo Hamato-Jitsu.

“Not that it isn’t a lovely name, but why Venus?” Nori asked as she gently rocked the little Indian tent-turtle in her arms.

“Well, her brothers are all named after artists,” Splinter began to explain, “So, I thought why not name her after a piece of art? Keep it going with the theme and all.”

“And it’s a good thing he came up with that idea instead,” Leo spoke up, giving his pop a sly smirk, “When she first hatched, he thought about naming her Eggy.”

Splinter scowled, swatting a tail at his blue-masked son, who just laughed. “I was still trying to think of names! Sometimes it just takes me a bit to think of one, that’s all!”

“Is that why you still call us by our colors most of the time?”

“Hey, you try and keep track of four different names while trying to keep up with all of you!”

Nori chuckled, and looked back down at her niece. Venus was staring up at her with curious brown eyes. “You have a very silly papa, Ven-chan,” Nori told her, gently petting the side of the turtle’s tiny head with her thumb, “But he and your brothers still love you very much, and so do we.” 

Venus just yawned, and snuggled up to her auntie’s chest. “Awww…” Nori began to hum an old lullaby she had remembered her mother singing to her as she continued to rock the baby turtle to sleep…

()()()()()()()()()()()()

“I just can’t believe how small she is~!”

“It makes sense. She’s a baby. Babies are small.” Mei reached out, poking Venus’ cheek. Venus pouted a bit at that, moving her face away. “And squishy. Squishier than I thought a turtle would be.”

“Stop that, Mei,” Hiroki scolded, “You’re going to make her cry!” Thankfully, the scowl didn’t stay on her face too long, especially not when Venus began to coo and babble. “Ugh, I just LOVE her! We are definitely going to have to get her some proper close though.” Splinter hadn’t even bothered making his sons wear clothes most of the time, just belts and masks. “We’ll have to get her some dresses and yukatas, and especially a kimono! She can wear it for her 100 day ceremony! And maybe some more ribbons and hats-”

“And a set of kunai,” Mei stated, “Maybe some shuriken too.” When her older sister gave her another look, Mei simply said, “What? She may be a baby now, but she’ll have to train eventually like we all had to - and if she’s anything like her brothers, she’ll want to train anyway once she sees her father in his movies.” Not that she would be able to look down on her - or any of her nephews - for that. Lou was pretty cool back in the day, after all. “We might as well help her get a head start.”

“Why don’t we save knives for her seventh birthday, alright?” Hiroki suggested, “And in the meantime, we can dress her up like a little princess! You would like that, wouldn’t you Venus?” Venus blinked, mumbling to herself as she sucked on her hand. She then looked past her aunts at her uncle, who despite staring at her still hadn’t tried any closer. Tilting her head slightly, she gave a small shout, hand still halfway in her mouth.

“Oh! Uh, hello,” Hikari nodded, giving her a small wave. He had to agree with his twin somewhat, Venus was pretty cute. Even if she was a baby turtle… Frankly, he was still trying to get used to teenage turtles, along with all the other strange creatures and yokai he had encountered lately.

Venus called out again, bringing Hikari out of his thoughts. “Yes, hello, I see you,” he said, waving again. But Venus just continued to make small shouts, waving her arm at him. Just what did she want?

Hiroki rolled her eyes at her brother. “She wants you to play with her - like this!” In one swift motion, she swooped her niece up and began tickling her tummy. ...Though, when she realized that wouldn’t exactly work on a turtle, she moved her hand to Venus’ tiny foot. That definitely did the trick, making Venus squeal and squirm with giggles. “See! She likes playing! Now you try!”

“Er…” Hikari moved a bit closer, feeling nervous. He had interacted with babies before, he knew they were typically harmless. But with Venus still being part animal, he couldn’t help but worry about her potentially biting him if she didn’t like him for whatever reason.

So instead of getting his hands near her, Hikari instead stuck his tongue out at her, crossing his eyes a bit. He tried making other silly faces too, and even threw a bit of peek-a-boo in there, covering his face occasionally in-between changing expressions.

“...Wow. And you all say I am the weird one in the family,” Mei dryly commented while Hiroki tried her hardest not to cringe at her twin. But just then, Venus started to laugh again - even clapping her hands a couple times before trying to mimic her uncle’s silly faces.

Hikari smiled a little at that. “I guess you like me after all, huh? “GA!” “Heh, thank you, little one…”

()()()())))()()()()()()()()()()()

“-and our clan had been able to save several villages and many people that day, with your great, great, great grandmother leading us to victory! Of course, that is just one of our family’s many stories. There was another time, a little later on, when-”

“Uncle Kenji?”

Kenji smiled as he looked over his shoulder. “Hello Raphael. Did you or your father need something?” Last he heard, Splinter was taking a well deserved nap after little Venus had been up all night, and Kenji had volunteered to take the day shift, wanting to have some bonding time with her before Nori or Hiroki could swoop in and snatch her up again.

Raph shook his head as he walked around to sit beside his uncle and sister on the couch. “Nah, just seein’ what you guys were doin’.” 

Recognizing her oldest brother immediately, Venus smiled at him, making excited churs and shouts. Raph practically beamed at that. “She’s so cute~!”

“Heh, she certainly is,” Kenji agreed, adjusting his hold on her so she could see her brother better. 

“...Do you remember what it was like when my dad was a baby?” Raph asked after a moment, fidgeting with his hands a little, “Like… do you remember what it was like being a big brother to someone who was so much younger than you?”

“Well, my brother is only three years younger than me,” Kenji explained, “Given that I was only a toddler when Yo- Splinter was born, I don’t remember our earliest years together too well, only the times after that. However, I do remember what it was like when the twins and Mei were born, so I do have some experience with babies.”

“Ah, right…” When his nephew glanced away, Kenji gave him a curious look.

“Is there anything else you would like to ask? Or anything you would like to say?”

“Well…” Venus began to babble again, and Raph held his hand out to her. He smiled a little as Venus tugged and squeezed his fingers, but he also couldn’t help but wince a little at the fact that his hand was twice the size of her head. 

“...You know I love Venus, right? A-And I love havin’ her around but… I’m not used to bein’ a big brother to someone who isn’t just a year or two younger than me…” He frowned, using his other arm to sort of hug his midsection. “What if I accidentally hurt her? Or she ends up hatin’ me when she gets older? Or-” Raph stopped when he felt Kenji put a firm hand on his shoulder.

“Raphael, I can promise that she will not ever hate you,” Kenji told him, “You are just as kind to her as you are to your brothers, she could never hate someone with a heart like that. And as for hurting her… Yes, I can understand the worry. She is quite small, and a bit fragile, but you are also gentle and careful. You haven’t hurt her yet, right?”

“Well, no but- hey!”

Taking the distraction opportunity, Kenji quickly moved Venus out of his lap and into Raph’s. The snapper froze for a moment, instincts taking over as he tried to give Venus proper support so she didn’t fall or hurt herself. Venus whined a bit at the sudden activity, though luckily it didn’t take her long to get comfy again. Parts of her big brother might’ve been spiky, but that didn’t stop other parts of him from being soft.

“...” Raph sighed a bit, relaxing ever so slightly.

“See? You are doing great!” Kenji said as he patted him on the shell, “Sometimes the best way to gain some confidence around babies is to just get comfortable holding them, and to let them get comfortable around you.”

Raph smiled a little as Venus snuggled deeper into his arms. “Heh, I think she’s already got the comfortable part down.”

Kenji chuckled. “I suppose so. ...Say, did I ever tell you about the time Splinter and I tried exploring the forests near our home? We had been hoping to find ghosts, or perhaps an abandoned magic sword.”

Already curious and being a huge fan of his uncle’s stories, Raph sat back as he and his little sis listened to Kenji’s tales. 

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

Venus hadn’t seen this much activity in her home since her aunts, uncles and granny first came to visit them. Everyone was moving around, setting up various decorations, tables and more. 

“Man, how come we never got a fancy 100 day meal-ceremony?” she heard Big Blue mumble as he and Big Purple cleaned the last of the tv room’s space.

“Because back then, I’d be lucky enough to just find food for us for the day, let alone things like mochi, tai and sekihan,” Daddy explained, “Though, for the record, I still considered it a miracle when the four of you survived 100 days.”

Looking over to the coffee table that had been set up in front of her Daddy’s chair, Auntie Nori and Granny were setting up fancy dishes in red and white bowls. Venus still didn’t quite understand why - if they were hungry, why didn’t they just drink milk like she did? What was so great about this food stuff anyway?

Just another mystery for her baby mind… like the outfit they had made her wear for this supposedly special day. Venus gave a small huff as she tugged at her kimono again. The fabric was pretty and soft, but she didn’t like how constricting it felt around her shell and arms. It was like a blankie, but she couldn’t just throw it off whenever she felt like it. So annoying…

Though, speaking of annoyed- A slight grumble brought her attention to the tv room’s entrance, where her grumpiest uncle stood. However, his scowls and glares didn’t bother Venus in the slightest compared to how they bothered everyone else in her family, and when Saki began walking away, she rolled herself onto her hands and knees and began following him, not caring if she was getting her kimono dirty.

“A complete waste of time,” Saki huffed. 100 day meals were traditional, yes, but the infant receiving this one was anything but ‘traditional’ and normal! And even if she was, Saki still considered it a waste of time. If he had things his way, he’d be training in the garage/dojo, but Donnie had locked it up tight along with his lab, following his father’s orders that no work would be done that day, only celebration.

Saki had briefly thought about breaking the lock, but he wasn’t in the mood to deal with his siblings complaining about it. Maybe he would just go on a walk around the city instead. By the time he got back, the meal would be over, and at least he would be doing something produc-

“Ah!” He felt a tiny hand pull at his pant leg. 

Looking down, Saki saw that it was the tiny Guest of Honor herself. Scoffing, Saki stepped away from her, but Venus just crawled forward, tugging on his pants again. “Ugh…” No baby that young should be crawling already. The logical part of his mind reasoned that it made sense - she was a turtle, moving on all fours was natural even at a little over three months. But the more stubborn part of him chalked it up as yet another thing that made her an abomination, a mutant that shouldn’t exist, no matter how seemingly cute and ‘innocent’ she may have been.

Whether she was unaware of her uncle’s feelings towards her or simply didn’t care, it didn’t matter. Venus just smiled and stretched her arms up, making grabbing motions as she gave small shouts.

“No,” Saki said firmly. Venus didn’t stop. “I said no.” Venus didn’t stop. “I don’t like mutants!” The turtle-girl remained undeterred. “Ugh…” Knowing that she would just continue to follow him if he tried to walk away again, Saki reluctantly picked her up. “There, now understand that while we may technically be family, you are still a yokai creature and therefore-!”

Venus smiled up at him, giving a small giggle as she reached up towards his face. Saki braced himself for her to start smacking and pulling, and was more than ready to start yelling at her for it. However, surprisingly, Venus was gentle. She lightly touched and squished her uncle’s cheeks before moving down to his beard - a feature that, while darker and shorter than her father’s, still reminded her of him - cooing all the while.

“...” Saki remained stoic, even if internally he felt a bit awkward having this baby turtle touch his face.

Once she was satisfied, Venus snuggled into her uncle’s arms, resting her head on his broad shoulder. “...I still don’t like you,” he told her, even as his hand instinctively began stroking her back just as he had done with his own child when they were an infant.

“Oh Venus! Sweetie, where did you-?” Splinter emerged from the tv room, and blinked when he saw his brother. “Saki? You’re-”

Immediately, Saki moved Venus from his arms to her father’s. With a slight sneer, he told him, “You should teach your daughter not to bother others,” though his tone didn’t have quite as much bite as it usually did. He then walked away towards one of their home’s exit tubes, not once bothering to look back at them.

“...” Venus stared at her uncle before looking at her father for answers, cooing curiously.

Splinter just sighed, giving her a small kiss on the forehead. “Come on, little one. There are plenty of other people who wish to celebrate your life.” With that, he took Venus back inside. 

She was placed in front of the fancy food, and while she was still much too young to eat it herself, the meaning and symbolism behind the dishes still rang true for her family as they ate it along with the other foods Mikey had prepared. “Pizza and hot soup are both very important parts of this fam,” he had insisted, “They should be part of EVERY celebration.”

“A new type of tradition,” Splinter nodded, lifting a cup of tea to his second-youngest and his culinary efforts. 

Seeing this, Venus tried to do the same, raising her bottle with a small cheer. Her family laughed and smiled, and Venus smiled back. Maybe she didn’t always understand her aunts or uncles, or even her father, brothers and April at times, but she still knew how much they loved and cared about her. And really, that was all she needed.

[imthequeenofcordonia]

My world ended that day- part two.

This is my contribution to @choicesfebruarychallenge The prompt is: rain. Thank you for including us all.

Paring: Drake x OC (Lily Rys)  

Word count: 8.304

Warnings: Infant loss, drinking to cope, angst, panic attack, brief talk about an eating disorder and abortion.

Song inspiration: Leave a light on by Tom Walker.

A/N: This part was especially hard to write. All characters belong to Pixelberry other than Lily.

Permatag: @desiree---1986​

Drake and lily tags: @addictedtodrakefanfic​​​​​​​​​, @msjr0119​​​​​​

My world ended that day tags: @drakeandcamilleofvaltoria​​​​ @kimmiedoo5​​​​ @cordonianroyalty​​​

Soon Wednesday rolled round which meant Drake would  be arriving back in Cordonia with Bianca. Which meant she would be seeing her husband again, which was something she was completely and utterly dreading, that was if he wasn’t just going to avoid her, like she was considering doing to him.

Lily dressed and walked down to the dining room for breakfast. When she walked in, Regina, Liam, Riley, their three children, Leo, Katie who had arrived over the weekend and the twins since Nathan had an important case come up so he was unable to look after them and her twin sisters were both busy too, Bertrand, Savannah and Bartie were already sitting and eating their breakfast.

Leo’s full attention was on his daughter, Eva, who was talking away at him about nothing important. Katie was talking to her son, Lewis, who was talking to her about his best friend, Jack, at school.

While the rest of the adults were talking about Drake’s arrival and the funeral on Friday morning, with Leo and Katie chiming in now and again.

Liam happened to look up and caught sight of her in the doorway. She gave an awkward smile at everyone then took the empty seat beside Leo. They stayed silent, the adults anyway, as Lewis continued rambling.

Lily swallowed hard as she looked at Caitlyn, John, Harry, Bartie and the twins. Tears welled in her eyes. Lewis caught sight of the tears streaming down his aunts cheeks getting out his chair and trotting over to Lily, holding out his arms to her.

Lily gave him a sad smile and picked him up to sit in her lap wrapped his arms around her neck, Lily eagerly returning the hug. She felt Leo place his hand on her back, rubbing affectionate circles along it. She caught her brother’s eyes and gave him a smile.

“Are you okay, Aunt Lily?” Lewis asked.

“Yeah,” Lily said, wiping her face and smiling down at him. The adults all knew she was lying and that the smile was forced but the young boy didn’t.

“Why are you crying?” He asked.

“Erm…I er…I’m crying because I’m happy to see you and Eva,” she lied, “You’ve gotten so big,” She said, bouncing the young boy on her knee. Eva jumped down off her chair, Lily picked her up to join her brother on her lap.

Lily wrapped her arms around her niece and nephew tightly, crying silent tears into Eva’s long brunette hair, much like Ellie’s hair was.

“Alright you two. Come and finish your breakfast,” Katie ordered. The children hugged their aunty tightly then jumped off her lamp returning to their seats to dig back into their cereal.  

Lily wiped her eyes once again turning to face everybody else. Savannah gave her a sad smile. “Have you heard from your brother?”

Liam noted that she didn’t call him Drake, he found it odd. Maybe something had happened between them that  he did didn’t know about, he concluded.

“He’s on his way. They set off early this morning,” Savannah explained.

Lily simply nodded.

She greeted the rest of her family. Savannah, Bertrand, Bartie and Maxwell had been staying at the palace, so Sav could be closer to Drake when he got back and could do anything to help Lily in the meantime.  

Staff soon brought out Lily’s breakfast. Lily nodded a ‘thank you’ at them as they left, leaving her staring at it as everybody else continued to eat theirs. The adults engaged in meaningless conversation, everyone except Lily anyway, as the children talked amongst themselves.

Leo kept glancing at his sister. Noticing she hadn’t actually eaten any of it, only pushed it to the side to make it appear like she had. Leo caught his brother’s eye across the table, having a silent conversation with him. Leo cleared his throat and stood up.

Katie looked up at him giving him a questioning gaze, he simply just smiled at her. He picked up his plate with his half eaten breakfast with one hand, placing his other hand on his sisters shoulder, leaning down to speak into her ear.

“Come on,” he said, moving toward the door with his plate and cutlery. Lily rolled her eyes, knowing what he was doing.

She looked at everyone who all seemed otherwise occupied and weren’t looking at her. She picked up her breakfast and cup of tea following her brother out the dining room.

Leo led her to the ballroom. He placed his plate down onto a table that sat on the outskirts of the room, dragging it near into the centre, then  grabbed two chairs from a stack near the other tables placing them on either side, then plopped down into his seat.

Lily stood staring at him. He nodded to the chair. “Sit down.”

She did as she was asked. She took a sip of her tea then looked up at her brother, her brow raised. “When you were ill, what was the thing that we always did to get you to eat?” Leo asked.

“We’d go and eat away from everyone else and talk as we ate. It helped. It only being me and you and I knew that you weren’t going to judge me if I ate a lot. The only time you’d step in was if I barely ate anything. Leo, you don’t need to worry. I’m not starving myself again. I promise.”

“Good,” he nodded.

“Then why-?”

“Why drag you out the dining room?” She nodded. “Because Lily I’m the one person that can actually  get through to you. I’m worried about you, you’re not looking after yourself. I just want to talk to you. Away from everyone. What’s going on?”

Lily shrugged, “I got a text from Drake. He said he’s not sure if he wants to go on Friday.”

“Okay,” Leo nodded, taking a bite of his eggs. He nodded to Lily’s plate, telling her to do the same. Lily stabbed the yellow yolk with her fork and cut it in half with her knife, then placed it into her mouth, chewing and swallowing. “And?” Leo asked, “Have you heard from him since?”

“No,” she shook her head.

“There’s no right or wrong thing to do, Lily. Drake is going to do what he thinks is best for him. Like you’re going to do what’s best for you. Talk to him though.”

“And say what? ‘I don’t even know if I want to go myself?” she scoffed, “I know that this is fucking hard but he can’t keep running away and avoiding this. I’d like to but sooner or later we are going to have to talk about this.”

“So talk about it. Nobody is going to judge you if you don’t want to go.”

“She was my daughter, Leo. Of course people are going to judge me if I don’t go.  I’m expected to be there. I-I have to be there. I- the bloody press would have a field day if i didn’t go. It’s bad enough there’s a funeral in the first place, then because of who I am the press are going to be  all over it. Like they were when it happened.  Like they were when dad died and his funeral, then mom’s.”

“They’re dickheads. You know that. Lil, yes it’s going to be hard but if you talk to Drake, make up, he’s had time to think, time to calm down and so have you, maybe it’ll be marginally easier if you’re both their for each other. You are going to need each other. At the end of the day only you and him understand what you’re going through.”  

Lily pondered over what her brother had just said. She did need to talk to Drake, she knew that, but it wasn’t that simple. He blamed her, she blamed herself, she was scared if she did talk to him then it would just lead to another argument one that she just didn’t have the energy for.

She looked up to her brother her blue eyes meeting his. He gave her a small smile. “It’s going to be okay. I promise.”

*********

Lily paced around the living room in her quarters. Drake would be arriving back at the palace in the next half an hour. He had rung Savannah saying he was back in the country just over an hour ago.

She was scared to see him again. He was so angry the last time they saw each other, with good reason.

Lily had never been scared of Drake but she found herself being scared of him when he was yelling at her. She felt guilt over feeling like that. She knew Drake would never do anything to hurt her.

She was snapped from her daze when someone started knocking on her door. She walked on over to it, staring at it, debating whether or not to open it.

The knocking was insistent and loud. Maxwell, she concluded, sighing and opening the door.

“What?” she snapped, without entirely meaning to.

Maxwell looked slightly taken aback by her tone but shook it off nonetheless. “Drake will be back in a minute. Are you coming to greet him?”

Lily thought for a second. She couldn’t keep avoiding him, they needed to talk and that needed to happen sooner rather than later.

“Yeah,” she nodded, following Maxwell out.

*********

Lily rubbed her bare arms as the nighttime crisp air stung at them. She followed Maxwell outside to the main entrance to the palace, where Liam, Riley and Savannah already stood. The rest of the group had debated greeting him but decided against it, not wanting to overwhelm him after the long flight.

Lily stood next to her brother on the steps. He turned to look down at her. “You okay?”

She nodded.

No, she wasn’t okay. She was anything but okay but Liam didn’t need to know that. Knowing him he probably already knew anyway.

“I’m okay,” she affirmed.

“Okay,” Liam nodded, knowing his sister and that she wasn’t going to talk if she wasn’t ready and wouldn’t be forced into talking about it.

After Leo’s conversation with his sister earlier that morning, he had told Liam what was bothering her. Liam had already known about the text from Drake though. Drake had told him about not being certain whether he could attend or not.  He knew that was bothering her but that didn’t explain why Olivia was acting weird too. He could practically see steam coming out of her ears when Drake was mentioned. Olivia was Lily’s best friend, she was protective of her, but it was more than that, he was sure.

Lily’s attention was drawn from her brother to the oncoming headlights of the SUV coming up to the steps. This moment had been one she had been dreading since her husband left. It was going to be awkward, she knew that. Like Leo said, they needed to talk.

The SUV came to a stop in front of the steps. Drake’s door was thrown open and he jumped out.

Drake in marrying Lily had been given a title, he was now royal but you would never know as he never acted as if he was.

Drake looked up to the top of the steps, briefly catching Lily’s eye. He looked better than when he left. He’d shaved, had a haircut by the look of it, didn’t have dark circles beneath his eyes- he looked like he did before all of this happened.

Liam, Riley, Savannah and Maxwell walked down the steps. Savannah threw her arms around her brother, pulling him into a hug as Bianca’s door opened and she stepped out.

Savannah finished greeting her brother then turned to their mother, as the rest of the group spoke to Drake then turned their attention to Bianca, but Lily stayed fixed on the top of the steps.

He looked fine. Happy.

Lily could read that man like a book. He was either a hell of a good actor or he was over it. She felt herself getting angry. How could he come back looking like he’d just been on some kind of vacation when their daughter was dead?  They were burying her at the end of the week.

Without greeting either of them she turned back and headed inside. She felt tears prickling and stinging at her eyes, from the anger and sadness she was feeling at that moment.

She jumped when a hand clamped around her wrist, stopping her in her tracks. She’d recognise that touch from anywhere. Drake.

She slowly turned to him, fighting like hell to keep her tears at bay. “Hey,” he said.

Lily took a moment to steady herself. She was so close to crying that if she spoke she was sure the tiny droplets would come tumbling down her cheeks.

“Hey,” She whispered.

“Can we talk?” he asked, letting go of her arm. She looked down at the floor, wiping her eyes then looked back up at him.

“Yeah,” She nodded, leading him through the palace and into the dining room. He gave her a questioning gaze. “Neutral ground,” she explained.

“Fine,” he shrugged. “You okay?”

“Do I look okay to you?” she asked, gesturing to herself. Drake took notice of the dark bags under her eyes, the eyes he loves so very much, her hair brushed but greasy.  She looked skinnier to him, she’d lost some weight while he’d been gone.

“No,” he mumbled.

“And you? I mean you look…fine. Happy. Like you’ve just come home from a holiday.”

“Would you prefer me to still be drinking myself to death? To look like I did when I left?”

“No. T-that’s not what I’m saying,” she explained, shaking her head. She looked around the room, not daring to look at her husband. She sighed, ran her hand through her hair then  looked back up at him, shrugging. “I-I just- Drake I- Are you going on Friday?” She asked, finally having found the courage.  

Drake thought for a second. “I don’t know if I can,” he said honestly. “What about you?”

“Do I have a choice? She’s our daughter, we have to go, we at least owe her that. I know that it’s hard and the thought of the funeral is- the thought of burying our little girl is…horrific? I don’t know how to explain it. I spoke to Leo and he said ‘there’s no right or wrong thing to do’ but of course there is.  We have to go. You can yell at me and tell me it was all my fault there’s a funeral to begin with or say you wish it was me. You can’t say anything to me that I don’t already know, but…I can’t do this without you.”  

Drake was taken aback by her words. He didn’t really remember yelling at her or what he had said for that matter. He was drunk- the alcohol had been doing the talking.

He reached up to place his hand on her shoulder. “I don’t wish it was you,” he said, his chocolate brown eyes meeting her bright blue ones. “I’d never even think that, you know that. I was angry and drunk and I shouldn’t have said any of it. I’m sorry. I don’t blame you, of course  I don’t.”

She scoffed. “It sure sounded like you did,” she shrugged his hand off her. Stepping back from him. “Don’t worry about it though, Drake. It’s fine.”

“Lil-”

“No,” she cut him off. “You left me! I understand you needed a time out, sometime away, well done for knowing you’d had enough. Admirable, it really is how you can just up and leave after everything that has happened, like it’s…irrelevant. Like it doesn’t matter.”

Lily, listen-”

“I’m not done! You ran away. You ran to Texas, to the woman who abandoned you when you were a child, after your own dad had died. I needed you! I still need you. I know Ellie was your daughter too, i know it’s fucking hard, believe me-”

“Listen to me for a minute!” he yelled, “I didn’t know what else to do, Lily. I-we were just pushing each other away. You barely left our bed and I was just drinking the days away.  It was becoming toxic. I’m sorry for snapping at you. I said i’m sorry for what i said. Maybe going to Texas was the wrong thing to do but there’s no fucking guide of how to deal with your daughters death!”

They locked eyes. Both their chests rising and falling quickly from their outbursts. “ Stop being a coward and man up,” she snarled, turning away from him and heading out the dining room, slamming the door behind her.

Lily ran to her quarters, pushing the door open and slamming it shut behind her.  She was angry, upset and countless other things. She wanted to hit something. No, actually she wanted to beat the shit out of something in that moment.

********

Leo, Katie and the twins sat in the living room. The adults on the sofa and the kids sitting on the floor in front of the tv. Eva was drawing as Lewis watched the tv intently. Katie’s legs lay in her husband’s lap, Leo rubbing his hand up and down her bare calf.

Leo and Katie split their time between the states and Cordonia. Katie didn’t really have family back home anyway. Nathan, her eldest brother was busy with his job, his wife, Elena, and their daughter Rosie and her twin sisters, Jess and Kelly, were both off living their own lives. Kelly was at school finishing her degree and Jess had decided to go travelling.  

Like Lily and Drake, Leo, Kate and the twins had a little cottage on the palace grounds. Of course, there was more than enough room in the palace for all of them but they had wanted a place to call their own.  Constantine had gifted the cottage to the couple shortly after they had married in case Leo ever decided to come home, whether just for a visit or to stay.

The Children loved the palace but it wasn’t exactly the safest place for children. They would run around, even had gotten lost on a number of occasions, there were weapons on the display- no where near how Olivia’s estate was but still the couple found it unsafe for their curious five year olds.

Leo groaned when somebody started tapping on their front door. Katie was about to get up but Leo got to his feet first. “I’ll go.”

Leo opened the door to find his sister stood on the other side, cradling her left hand in her other one. Leo’s gaze drifted down to her bloody and bruised hand. “What did you do?”

“I might have…punched a wall. Multiple times.”

Leo shook his head in disapproval. “That wasn’t very clever was it?”

“I know!” she snapped.

“Want to talk about it?”

“Not really,” she shrugged, not really needing a lecture from Leo about what she had said to Drake a she really wasn’t in the mood for it. “Look it’s cold out here, can I come in?”

Leo moved to the side to allow his sister entry. “I’ll get you an ice pack,” He said, closing the door. “The kids and Kate are in the living room. Just don’t let the twins see your hand.”

She nodded heading into the living room. Katie perked up seeing her sister-in-law, they both had become reasonably good friends through the years. Kate’s eyes widened seeing Lily’s hand as she pulled down the sleeve of her jumper, to cover it, causing her to wince, before the twins saw.  

Lily plopped down onto the sofa beside Katie, the children seeming to still be occupied with what they were doing. Katie leaned in closer to Lily.

“What the hell happened?” she asked, nodding to her hand. The bruises were  climbing up her fingers peeking out from the jumper sleeve.

“I hit a wall,” she explained, “I know it was stupid. Leo has already told me as much.”

“Are you okay?”

“It looks worse than it is,” she shrugged.

“You know that’s not what I meant. Did you talk to Drake?” katie asked.

Lily shook her head as if that action would make her forget that disaster of a conversation that had taken place only an hour ago.

“I’d rather not talk about it,” she said, looking down into her lap and away from Katie.  

Leo walked back in handing his sister the ice pack. She took it from him, mumbling a thanks and placing it onto the mess she had made out of her hand. She winced as it made contact.

“You okay?” Leo asked.

“Yep,” she nodded, it was then the kids decided to look up. Eva looked at Lily quizzically upon seeing the ice pack on her hand as Lewis just smiled at his aunt and turned back to the TV.

“What happened to your hand?” she asked.

“I banged it,” lily lied.

The girl nodded in understanding. “I banged my hand the other day when we  were at the park playing with Bartie. It hurt. Does your hand hurt?” Eva asked.

“It does,” she nodded.

“That’s not good. I’m going to draw you a picture to cheer you up,” Eva explained, turning away from the adults to get drawing. Katie smiled at her daughter and then  turned to look at her husband.

“Can I talk to you for a second?” She asked.

“I’ll keep an eye on them,” Lily said. Leo nodded and left the living room with Katie trailing behind him.

Thirty minutes later.

“Aunty Lily look at my drawing,” Eva said, holding the drawing if the entire family including even Ellie. Lily glanced at it but turned away, not paying attention to Eva’s insistent pleas her aunt look at her drawing.

“Aunty Lily?” The girl asked, still trying to show Lily what she had drawn, obviously not getting the hint she didn’t want to look.

The sound of the children’s show that Lewis was watching echoed in her ears. It was loud, too fucking loud in her opinion and it was annoying the hell out of her amongst her nieces pleas she look at a drawing.

“Aunty lily please look.”

She didn’t know why but something inside her snap. She jumped to her feet, throwing the ice pack down onto the sofa.  “SHUT UP!” she screamed at the kids. “SHUT THE FUCK UP!!!”

Leo walked in after hearing his sister yelling. He took Lily’s expression go from pure anger to guilt then turned to see Eva tearing up and Lewis looking at his aunt in shock.

Lily looked from her brother back to her niece who was still trying to keep her tears back. “I’m sorry. I-i’m really sorry,” she mumbled.

Just then Katie walked back in,  “What is going on?”

Lily looked to her brother.

“With me. Now.” Lily followed her brother out the front door and onto the porch. He paced for a second then turned back to her. “What the fuck is wrong with you?”

“I’m sorry i don’t know why I yelled at them.”

“You just scared the shit out of her.” There were very few things that pissed Leo Rys off. He didn’t get angry or upset over a lot of things but he would if someone upset his kids or wife. Leo ran his fingers through his hair.

“I know. Leo, i’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare her or Lewis. I just-”

“Did something happen with, Drake?” he asked, the incident momentarily being forgotten. Lily hesitated.

“No.”

“Bullshit. Talk,” he ordered.  

“We had an argument, okay? He wanted to talk and I lost it on him. He just wanted to have a conversation about the funeral, explain why he left and I told him to stop being a coward and to man up,” she explained, shaking her head and looking down to her feet. She sighed, rubbing her hands over her tired eyes then reverting them back up to her brother.

“I know you. There’s something else. What is it?”

“Nothing,” she lied.

“Wow second time i need to call you out on your bullshit. Talk to me.”

“I erm…When Drake left, Liv and Max came to check I was okay, I wasn’t I- by the time Liv got there i was having a panic attack- Liv and I- I was pregnant,” she explained, stuttering.

“What do you mean was?” Leo asked, his brow furrowing.

Lily swallowed thickly, looking down to her feet again. “Liv took me to see Dr. Ramirez to check everything was okay- it was by some miracle.  On Thursday morning after I had the night to think I made the decision to have an abortion. Liv took me. It’s why you didn’t see me over the weekend- I needed some time to process all of it.”

They stood in silence for a few moments. Lily looked back up at him after finding the courage to do so.

“Why?” Leo asked.

“Because look at me, Leo! I am…broken! It’s my fault Ellie is dead! It’s my fault we have to bury her on Friday. I had an abortion to spare that child from having a mother like me! To stop him or her getting hurt because of me,” She screamed, her voice cracking whilst saying her last sentence. The tears soon came falling.

“What are you talking about?” Leo asked with genuine confusion. “I’m going to say this one more time: it wasn’t your fault. Yes, you were driving but that car crashed into you, not the other way around. Ellie loved you, she adored you, you know that, Lily. Deep down you know that.”

“Do I?” she asked, her voice cracking and tears spilling when she looked up at him again. Leo took a few large strides over to her, pulling her into him. She wrapped her arms around him as if she was clinging to her brother for dear life as she cried into his chest.                      

Leo rubbed circles along her back, whispering reassurances into her ear. In that moment that’s all he could do.

“I didn’t even tell Drake,” she mumbled into his chest. “He doesn’t know, Leo, I-”

“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it,” he told her. He squeezed her tightly one more time before pulling away. “It’s freezing out here. Let’s go back in.”

They returned inside. Lily gave both children a cuddle and said sorry for yelling and had a look at Eva’s drawing, thanking her for doing it and finishing watching the children’s show with the twins.

********

Thursday evening- Lily had finished making her tea in the kitchen then walked into her bedroom, swallowing thickly at the sight of the black dress hung up on her wardrobe door.

She couldn’t explain how she felt, it was like someone was squeezing her heart, she couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think, all she felt was numb.

It was like she was having a constant panic attack, like she couldn’t breathe, couldn’t catch her breath. Her world had ended that day and she still wasn’t sure nearly three weeks later if there was any coming back from it. Ever. How was she supposed to wake up every morning without her little girl and go about her day?

She took the dress down and put it inside the wardrobe- wanting it out of her sight, no longer needing any sort of reminder of what was going to be taking place the next day.

She sunk down on the end of her bed, gripping the mug tightly in her one hand as the other was still sore from the wall she had assaulted the evening prior.  

She hadn’t left her quarters that day, spending the majority in bed and looking through old photographs from when she was a child. She often wondered if her mother and father would be proud of her. She used to believe they would be but now she wasn’t so sure.

It was an indescribable feeling that she felt went her parents were ripped from her but this didn’t even compare.

She had spoken to Leo that morning to assure him she was okay and that he didn’t need to worry, although she was certain that he would- that’s what big brothers were for.  

Leo had had a point about Drake and lily needing to do this together, to be there for one another in their darkest hour but She didn’t know how they would do it. Every time they seemed to speak it just ended up in having an argument and one of them storming off.

She still needed to find out if Drake was going to attend. She understood very well were the apprehension came from. She understood that having the funeral was saying goodbye, a final goodbye and she wasn’t sure whether she could bear it either.

She was only eight when she attended her first funeral- her mother’s funeral. It was…she had nightmares about it for weeks afterwards, it was traumatizing for the young girl. She had witnessed things her brother’s hadn’t.

She, like Liam, had met with their mother in the ballroom and then went their separate ways.

Later that night, Lily had awoken from a nightmare and went to find her parents. She found them in the dining room with some friends. She peeked into the ballroom and Eleanor had seen her and offered to take her back to her room and stay with her so  Constantine could finish his conversation with the Duke of Karlington.

On the way back to their royal chambers Eleanor started to feel unwell and ended up collapsing. Lily had run back to the dining room to fetch her father by the time Lily had led her father to her mother, it was too late.

Just a week after she was made to attend her funeral, she hadn’t even processed any of it, that her mother was dead, what she had witnessed and she had to say goodbye. Her last goodbye to the woman she looked up to, who she admired endlessly.

Then it was her fathers. It was easier for her, the Rys siblings had known their fathers time was coming to an end, they were prepared for it as much as someone could be. Even then he was ripped from them suddenly, without warning. All she had wanted was to hold his hand and say goodbye, like she didn’t get to do with her mother, but she didn’t even get to do that in her father’s final moments either.

Yes, lily was an adult when she attended her Fathers funeral but it was still as traumatic as her mothers. She had so many nightmares after it. So many nights of waking beside Drake in a cold sweat yelling for her father to come back but during that time she had Drake to sit with her and comfort her that was the biggest difference to now. Drake.

All those memories she had of her mother and father were awful but what she was in for tomorrow would be so much more painful. It would be something she never, ever would forget.

She didn’t know how long she had been sat there when she was brought out of her daze by somebody knocking on her door.

She sighed, placing the mug with the now cold tea onto her bedside table and headed over to the door. She placed her hand on the doorknob looking out the peephole. Drake.

She hesitated to turn it not in any way shape or form in the mood for another argument but the conversations she had with Leo yesterday  morning and the evening prior swirled around in her head. Against her better judgement she opened the door.

Looking down at the floor before gathering the courage and the strength to look up at him. They locked eyes briefly before she turned away, reverting her eyes down the long hallway instead.

“Can we talk? I promise not to yell this time,” Drake said.

She nodded in agreement, stepping to the side to allow him entry. “Good. I’ve got a headache,” she said, her voice quiet and sounding defeated- that being the way she talked now anyway.

She closed the door and led him into the living room.

Drake and Lily both sank down onto the sofa. Drake leant forward, resting his elbows on his knees as Lily brought her legs under her.

“You were right: I have to go tomorrow. I owe her that,” Drake said. Lily turned to him, giving him an appreciative nod.

She took the pillow from behind her and brought it to her chest. Drake noted that was only something she did when she was anxious.

“I’m not going to yell at you again,” he repeated.

She looked down, playing with the tassel attached to the corner of the pillow. “I wouldn’t promise that just yet if i were you.”

Drake’s brow furrowed when he turned to her. “What the hell does that mean?”

Lily turned back to look at the tassel she was playing with in her hand.

He needs to know, Lily. You have got to tell him. It was his baby too.

She swallowed thickly. Took in a deep breath and looked back up at him. “I’m not going to…plead with you that you don’t hate me. You very well might do. You will. I’m not going to ask you to look at this from my point of view either-”

“What are you talking about?” Drake asked essentially cutting her off.

“Last week when you left I-” She stopped talking. She hadnt thought this through. This wasn’t how she wanted to tell him.

“Will you just say whatever it is,” he demanded.

“Last week after you left I-I discovered, along with Olivia, that I was pregnant.” She swallowed thickly, taking in another deep breath to steel herself. She locked her blue shiny eyes with his chocolate confused ones. “I had an abortion late last week,” she whispered.

“What?” he asked, his voice calm but she knew it wouldn’t be for much longer.

“I had an abortion,” she repeated, her voice cracking. Drake sat there in stunned silence. “I know that now probably wasn’t the time to tell you. I know that.  I-I couldn’t keep this from you, it wouldn’t be fair-”

He held up a hand to stop her. She looked back up from her lap to him, her heart shattering at seeing his eyes dancing with unshed tears. “I-I don’t know what to say,” She stuttered.

“Did anyone go with you?” Drake asked. Confusion flitted across her face.

She nodded her head slightly. “Liv took me but why does that matter? Why aren’t you yelling at me?”

“What good would it do?” Drake shrugged, “It won’t change it.”

“But-”

“But nothing,” Drake cut her off. “Am i pissed off? Yeah, I am. Would I have liked to be involved in the decision whether my child had a future or not? Yes, I would’ve liked to at least have been consulted. It was my baby too but…I don’t want to argue with you, Lily. I really don’t. I just- Why? Why did you do it?”

She thought the question over. “Because when you are pregnant that baby relies on you- for everything- to feed them, protect them- you have yourself to look after and the little person inside of you. That doesn’t stop when you give birth, Drake. They get older and don’t rely on you to do everything but you’re still responsible for them. They still rely on you to protect them and I failed to do that for Ellie. She trusted me to keep her safe and I couldn’t protect her. But that’s not why I did it. My heart is still full of her, she’s all I think about from the moment I open my eyes in the morning until I close them to go to sleep, I didn’t- I don’t have room for another baby, not while I’m grieving for her. Maybe not ever again because I don’t think I could ever go through this again. You can  hate me if you want, I wouldn’t blame you  but still come tomorrow.  Please.”

Drake got to his feet. “I- I just need sometime to…process that,” he mumbled and then left. Lily heard the door click into place.

Great…another thing i’ve fucked up

********

Lily glanced at the clock on her bedside table: 5:43. It had nearly been six hours of tossing and turning, falling asleep and waking back up again

She threw the covers off her, her bare feet meeting the plush carpet as she headed into his kitchen. She opened the fridge taking out the orange juice and poured herself a small glass. She put the carton back in the fridge, picked up the glass and headed to her living room, taking a seat on the sofa.

Today was one that she had been dreading for three weeks, from the moment Drake hold told her that her baby girl was dead. It was also one she never thought would happen either. It wasn’t right. This wasn’t the way it supposed to be.  

One day Ellie was supposed to attend Liy’s funeral, not the other way around.

She put the glass down onto the table then picked up her journal and pen, laying it open in her lap.

It’s funny how life turns out. Four years ago tomorrow I gave birth to my beautiful little girl. That was the best day of my life, I know all parents say that but it really was.

Who knew such a little person could change everything? Change your entire life?

You’re so happy when you bring a child into the world. You know one day they’ll have to go through losing you but you never stop to think it might be the other way around because that’s not how it’s supposed to be. That’s not how it works. You are never supposed to outlive your child.

People say it wasn’t my fault- it feels like it is, not just because I was driving the car  but because I protected her from everything for nearly four years, I grew her inside of me for nine months, kept her safe, gave birth to her and I was supposed to do that, protect her until I couldn’t anymore.

Because my mother died when I was  a child I never really had an example of what a mother was supposed to be like. From what I remember my mother was kind, passionate, assertive when she needed to be, not afraid to be the ‘bad guy’ when things called for it, taught me  right from wrong then she died and i didn't have her anymore, that role model, then I had my daughter and I didn't know how to be a mom. Regina was the opposite of my mother, cold, decisive, calculating (I’m describing Regina not Madeline- i know it sounds like the other way around) but I didn’t want to be her. I tried to be my mom and I failed.

I’m starting to think I’m cursed. Everything goes wrong in my life but Drake and Ellie were what went right. They were mine and now I don’t have either of them.

Today I have to go to my little girls funeral. I have to say goodbye but I can’t. I don’t know how to.

Saying that to my parents was the hardest thing I’ve ever  had to do but I did and I found some kind of closure along the way but I can’t do that with Ellie.

Everything revolved around her. She was everything to me. She made me want to get out of bed in the morning, to see her cheeky grin and hear her laugh- I’ll never hear that again. I’ll never overhear her playing tea parties with her bears and dolls, I’ll never hear her plotting things with Leo or see her laugh when Maxwell does something silly or play with her cousins, i’ll never see her squirm when Drake tickles her tummy. It’s all the little things, the moments in between that I’ll never get again. That I’ll miss the most.

A few tear droplets hit the pages, smudging some of the ink on the page, much like the other pages in the book.

It was something a therapist had suggested when her mother died- to write it all down, to get it off her chest that way instead of talking about it because that was something she struggled to do.

The same therapist had suggested that Lily write a letter, even though the receiving party would never read it, that maybe it would grant her some closure. She had done that for both her parents when they died. She wrote down all those unspoken words, everything she wished she could’ve done with them. She also wrote them one when she got married, had Elie, on their birthdays. There was something about it that gave her comfort. It helped her.

She turned the page and pressed the pen back onto the paper.

To my little Ellie,

You’re safe now sweetheart. I promise, nothing will ever hurt you again.

I miss you. Everyday. I think about you all the time and so does your daddy. He misses you. Everybody does, baby girl.

Lily took the pen off the page, putting the lid on. She wasn’t ready. It was too soon. She made herself a promise in that moment that one day she would get that letter written. One day.

********

Lily stood in front of her mirror in her bathroom staring at her reflection. She reached up to adjust the matching black fascinator on her head, before looking back into the mirror solemnly.

This wasn’t right. Any second now she was hoping she would wake up from this twisted, sadistic nightmare.  

She saw Leo come up behind her in the mirror, dressed in his black suit and matching tie. He placed his hand on her shoulder, she looked up at him as a tear trickled down her cheek.

Leo wiped it away. “Come on.”

“I can’t do this,” she said. She was starting to panic, it felt like somebody was sitting on her chest.

“Lil, calm down. It’s okay. It’s going to be okay, I promise.” Lily wrapped her arms around him, squeezing him tightly. He patted her back affectionately.

“Where are the kids?” Lily asked  as she pulled away. Thankful the mascara she was wearing was waterproof. That was a minuscule thing in the grand scheme of things but she was royalty, she was expected to look presentable even in her darkest and most painful hour.

“Joanne has got them.”

“Good,” she nodded, “They’re too young for this. They don’t need to be there.”

Leo nodded his agreement, “The cars will be here in a minute.”

She swallowed thickly and nodded. Leo led her out of her quarters and to meet the others on the steps.

********

Drake stood in front of his mirror doing up his tie and adjusting it so it was straight, then slipped on his black blazer.

He took in a deep breath to steel himself as he ran a hand through his chestnut coloured hair. His eyes moved to Bianca stood in the doorway in the mirror’s reflection. Drake swallowed thickly, licking his suddenly very dry lips.

“It’s time. The cars will be here in a second,” Bianca explained. Drake nodded, allowing his mother to lead him outside.

********

Lily arrived with Leo outside out onto the steps where Liam, Riley, Hana (who she had become quite good friends with) Maxwell, Bertrand, Savannah and Regina all dressed in their appropriate jet black outfits stood,

Lily felt tears pricking at her eyes when she noticed Drake wasn’t there. Despite the disappointment she was feeling that her husband wasn’t there she greeted the rest of her family.  

They stood there for a few minutes after they had all exchanged the most simple of pleasantries, because there was nothing anybody could actually say. Lily kept looking to the doorway, waiting, hoping that Drake was coming.

Lily’s attention was drawn to the two black funeral cars and matching hearse pulling to a stop in front of the steps. Her attention was drawn to the oak coffin in the back, surrounded with different coloured roses and mixed coronations. She felt a small smile tug at her lips when her eyes landed on the single sunflower.

All the young rys children used to grow a sunflower each and see whose would grow the tallest just like lily used to do with her brother’s when Queen Eleanor was still alive.

She felt someone grip her hand. She looked down at it, her brow furrowing as she turned her head to look behind her. Drake.

She squeezed his hand back tightly. She could read him and she knew he was fighting like hell to try and keep it together.

“You okay?” Lily asked.

Drake shook his head, his eyes drifting to the wooden box again. He wanted to believe that his little girl wasn’t in there but she was and that was just  the hard truth of it.

Drake looked back to Lily when she squeezed his hand.

“Are you alright?” Drake asked, she shook her head. They were not okay, none of it was okay.

With one last look between the couple, the group headed down the concrete steps and got into their respective cars.

******** Lily felt herself completely break when she saw the coffin being lowered into the cold, damp earth. She couldn’t hold it in anymore and burst into a heartbreaking sob, most of the people there had never heard anything like it, they had never seen a woman so completely and utterly broken.

Drake immediately wrapped his arms around her as he broke himself, resting his chin on top of her head as his own body wracked with sobs.

“It’s okay,” Drake whispered to her. The group of friends and family turned to look at the couple as they both completely shattered in front of them, all of them shedding tears of their own.

Lily’s knees buckled from beneath her and Drake let himself fall down with her, still holding her tightly.  “It’s going to be okay,” He repeated quietly to himself rather than her. “Everything is going to be fine.”

****Six years later****

Lily woke in the middle of the night in a cold sweat. Another nightmare. She was back in that car again but it wasn’t Ellie sat next to her.

Lily turned her head to the side- Drake was still fast asleep. She carefully threw the blankets off her and climbed out of bed and made her way to her daughter’s bedroom.

Rosie Connie Walker was now the couples pride and joy. She was nearing her fourth birthday like Ellie had been when she died and now Lily felt those memories and feelings rearing their ugly head.

In her nightmare it was Rose sat beside her. She was scared that something was going to happen. Last time broke her nearly beyond repair and if it happened again there really would be no coming back from it. Ever.

She picked the blanket up from where it had started to fall onto the floor and covered the young girl with it. She leant over and kissed her forehead. “I love you,” she whispered as she quietly snuck out.

Lily headed to her study, took  a seat behind the pine desk and took out her journal from her top desk draw and a black ink biro from the pet pot.

She flicked through the pages until she reached those few words she had written on one of the hardest days ever- she had a promise to keep.

Her eyes scanned over those words.

To my little Ellie,

You’re safe now sweetheart. I promise, nothing will ever hurt you again.

I miss you. Everyday. I think about you all the time and so does your daddy. He misses you. Everybody does, baby girl.

She steeled herself and pressed the pen tip against the page and started to write.

It’s been a while since I’ve written anything. Six years, I wasn’t ready then but i think i am now.

You, little madam, would be ten in a couple of weeks. Double digits.

I still think about you every single day.  I haven’t forgotten you and I never, ever will. I love you and I miss you more than words can ever express.

I hope that wherever you are now you know that me and your dad, your uncles and aunties and everyone misses you so much and love you endlessly.

You’d be a big sister. Her name is Rosie because you loved roses, didnt you? Your grandmother, Eleanor, loved them too, you must’ve gotten that from her. Her middle name is Connie, my dads nickname.

You’d be the best big sister, kind, cheeky, maybe a little bossy but you’d be the best big sister a younger sibling could ever ask for.

Your uncle Leo just had another little girl. He has three girls and one boy now- quite the handful he’s got- Luckily they seem to take after their mother.

Uncle Liam and Aunty Riley had twins last year, two girls.  

Your aunt Olivia got married, properly this time and they had a son together a couple of years ago. He’ll be two next month.

Guess what? I haven’t told your dad yet but I think I’m pregnant. I hope so. Maybe it’ll be a boy this time, your dad is a little outnumbered at the minute. He’d appreciate a boy i think.

Just know that wherever you are sweetheart that Rosie and this baby (if there is one)  aren’t replacing you. Nobody ever could. You were my first born. I was so scared but so excited when i found out about you.

It’s been six years and the pain hasn’t gone away, it never will but that’s okay because you’re my little girl and I am never going to forget anything about my little petal.

I miss you sweetheart.

Goodbye

Mom xxx

[fruitcoops]

Hey Eve! So first of all I wanted to say that I really love how you write arguments- even during escalations, I still respect the characters because you handle the arguments so well. This is kinda silly but I have a friend who I feel like isn't putting time into our friendship and I'm always asking her to hang out, so I feel a bit unwanted by her. Would you be willing to write a fic with that general premise? Idc the characters but your fics help me so much with having difficult conversations

Thank you! I’m sorry you’re going through that with your friend; in my experience, that is one of the worst feelings in the world and I wish you the best with them.

To the anon struggling with their acne that requested Leo and Reg: you are beautiful no matter what <3

SW belongs to @lumosinlove! TW for acne, mild pain, and lack of communication

Regulus’ phone pinged and his heart did its best to make an escape via his throat.

New Message From: Leo Knut

Are you on your way?

It was preceded by six other messages, most with the same general theme. Regulus shoved it back into his hoodie pocket and sank lower into the mattress, wincing as his cheek brushed the pillow. He had never thought acne would be painful, but it had been growing steadily worse over the past week and he could only reschedule plans so many times.

Message To: Leo Knut

Can’t make it

Sorry

See you tm?

Three dots appeared below, then disappeared. They lingered longer the second time.

Message From: Leo Knut

K

“Shit,” Regulus muttered, feeling guilt twist in his guts. He had been so ready to go that morning—it was just acne, after all—but one too-long glance in the mirror had sent everything crashing down. He couldn’t go outside looking like that. He just couldn’t. It was embarrassing, and painful, and he looked like a fourteen-year-old kid going through puberty all over again.

Someone knocked on the door. “Regulus? Are you awake?”

“Oui.”

The door opened a crack and Dumo poked his head in with a frown. “Aren’t you supposed to meet Leo this morning?”

“I’m sick,” he lied. Dumo laid the back of his hand over Regulus’ forehead and squinted at him in the darkness with a hum. “I already let him know I wouldn’t be there.”

“You look fine to me,” Dumo said, clearly suspicious as he sat at the foot of the bed. “What’s wrong?”

“Just stuff.”

“Just…stuff?”

“Yeah.”

“What kind of stuff?”

“Embarrassing stuff.”

Dumo raised his eyebrows. “Can we talk about it? You’ve been avoiding Leo for the past week, and from what I hear, he’s pretty bummed.”

“It’s stupid,” Regulus mumbled, turning on his side despite the sharp pain from the red spots on his face.

“It’s not,” Dumo said gently, resting a hand on his shoulder. “Not if it makes you this upset.”

“How do I—” Regulus faltered, pressing his lips together. He took a deep breath. “How do I get rid of acne?”

The words came out in a rush; he didn’t expect Dumo to catch any of it, but he simply made a noise of understanding. “If you weren’t the most hygienic person that has ever lived in this house, I would suggest washing your face. It’s different from person to person, but all your brother had to do was outgrow it, so I wouldn’t be surprised if it was similar with you.”

“So I just have to sit here and wait?” Frustration bled into his voice and he scowled, holding the pillow tighter.

“You can still do the things you like, Regulus.”

“I look stupid.”

“No, you don’t.”

“It’s gross.”

“It’s not.”

“How do you know?” he snapped. The guilty feeling returned with a vengeance and he tucked his legs up closer to his body. “Sorry.”

“Everyone gets acne. You just have do decide what you’re going to do in the meantime.” There was a light nudge to the middle of his back. “I suggest putting a shirt and some real pants on, and then meeting up with your friend like you said you would, oui?”

Regulus sighed through his nose. “I guess. These are real pants, by the way.”

“Sweats don’t count. Allez, petit serpent, Leo is waiting.”

Regulus dragged himself out of bed and splashed some water on his face—rubbing soap onto his skin was way too painful at the moment—before changing into real-people clothes and sliding his shoes on.

Message To: Leo Knut

Change of plans

DQ?

He waited in silence for what felt like a lifetime before three dots popped up.

Message From: Leo Knut

See you in ten

A pause, and then a simple <3. Regulus smiled.

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

“So.” Leo licked a drip off the base of his cone and laid back against the windshield, letting his head loll to the side as he cocked an eyebrow. “What happened?”

“My face feels fucking awful, dude.” Regulus hummed around the spoonful of minty blizzard for a second. “Being a teenager is the worst thing ever.”

Leo snorted. “We’re not technically teenagers anymore.”

“Still.” He hesitated, then knocked their elbows together. “I’m really sorry, by the way.”

“For?” Leo avoided his gaze and went back to his ice cream.

Regulus chewed the inside of his lip before answering. “The last week of avoiding you. I didn’t want to go out looking like this, but that was such a shitty thing to do to you.”

“It was. Apology accepted.” Leo glanced over and flicked his bicep. “Of everyone you know, I’m literally the last person who would judge you for that. Other things, absolutely, but not acne.”

“I know,” Regulus said quietly.

“Next time that happens, will you at least tell me what’s going on?” His blue eyes turned sad. “I was worried something really bad happened.”

“It won’t happen again,” Regulus promised, and he meant it. They sat in silence on the hood of the car with their ice cream for a while, pointing out weird-shaped clouds with various hums of approval; he wondered how he ever thought staying away from his best friend would make things better. “Hey.”

“Hmm?”

“Wanna see a tiktok of a duck I saw the other day? Made me think of you.”

A smile flickered over Leo’s face, then came out full force as he scooted closer. “Of course I do.”