#and my mom immediately started fretting about how i’ll spend too much time in bed in college and how she worries about me taking care of

[buck-yyyy]

after two weeks of relative freedom regarding what i eat, when i eat, when i shower, when i go to bed, what i want to do with my time, etc etc, spending this next week in a hotel room with my parents is going to be fucking Rough

[nerdzzone]

-More Hearts Than Mine-

Summary: Raising a child is hard. Raising a child with one of Hollywood’s biggest stars is even harder. And raising a child with one of Hollywood’s biggest stars who you’re not actually in a relationship with is even harder still.

Especially when a global pandemic is sweeping the world.

With lockdowns and stay at home orders looming on the horizon, the uncertainty of their situation becomes almost too much for Whitney Taylor to handle. Chris suggests that they quarantine together to avoid any potential separations but, given what happened the last time they spent more than a few brief moments in each other’s company, that could cause more problems than it solves…

Chris Evans x OFC

Sequel to: Once Bitten - Twice Shy

Part Two

____

Part Three

I did my best to take Scott's words to heart. It was eye-opening and, while it didn't change my concerns about how Grayson would be affected, it helped me soften my guard a little bit when it came to Chris.

We were both in over our heads, stuck with feelings that we didn't know what to do with and insecurities that left us unable to fight for what we wanted. I had doubts and I had questions, but if what Scott had divulged was true then I did have some sympathy for Chris because I knew exactly how he'd been feeling for the last few years.

So, I decided to talk to him. To hash it out, lay it all on the table and see what he had to say. I wasn't entirely sure I would change my mind about the situation, but I wanted to give him a chance to explain his thoughts and feelings unlike how I'd shut the conversation down after Christmas.

But I didn't count on how chaotic it was to be trapped in a house, all day every day, with a child who was almost three. Even with three adults, there were days when it felt like we were the ones who were outnumbered as we took turns trying to keep him constantly entertained and stimulated. To our credit, it was working and we were managing to keep Grayson from being bored, anxious to go out to a park or noticing that things were all that different, but it meant that I had no time or energy to deal with heavy conversations. Things were fine between Chris and I, we were getting along well enough with no more noteworthy disagreements, but there hadn't been a good time for any kind of heart-to-heart.

Things only got more complicated about a week and a half into our lockdown when Chris had to start doing interviews. He had a new show, Defending Jacob, coming out in a few weeks and he had to start the promo for it.

Most people who were working from home these days with small children running around had way more difficult situations to balance than we did, but we knew it would be tricky to keep Grayson from getting curious and barging into an interview. He'd proven to be quite sneaky when he wanted to be and Chris was anxious about the whole thing. He wasn't a big fan of interviews at the best of times so doing it over Zoom made him even more nervous. He spent the whole morning fretting about it being awkward, concerned that he wouldn't be able to relax and act natural, and it seemed like he was channelling his anxiety into his worries about Grayson. He very much liked to be in control of what the world saw of Gray and having him crash an interview wasn't what he wanted. I completely agreed and assured him several times that I wouldn't let that happen, but I could tell he was still stressed about it as he dragged himself off to get ready.

For the first hour or so that Chris was working, things went well. We read a story and played with some Lego, activities that wouldn't get Grayson too excited and noisy, but when Scott suggested that he curl up on the couch and watch Finding Nemo with him, we ran into a problem.

"Okay!" Grayson cheered, jumping up from where we'd been playing on the floor. "Be right back!"

He took off down the hall and I leapt into action, calling his name and stopping him just as he got to the bottom of the stairs.

"Where are you going, buddy?"

"To get my bear!"

Grayson's room was upstairs, next to Chris' office. He knew where Chris was so I knew there was a good chance he would stop by to say hello on his way past the door.

"Why don't you go get settled on the couch with Uncle Scott and I'll get your bear so you don't miss any of the movie?" I suggested. "Is he in your room?"

"No," he shook his head. "He's in Daddy's office."

I held back a groan, knowing that Gray would not be happy if I explained that he couldn't have his bear for the movie because we weren't allowed in Daddy's office right now. But I also knew that now he'd decided that he wanted to watch a movie, it wasn't likely that he would settle doing anything else either.

"Well, Daddy's very busy in his office right now," I explained. "But I'll go upstairs and see if I can sneak in and get him, okay?"

Grayson agreed to that suggestion and ran off back towards the living room as I glanced at the clock on the wall quickly and hoped that Chris was between interviews. I knew he wouldn't be done for the day just yet, but he had a few lined up so there was a chance that he wasn't currently on a call.

As soon as I pressed my ear to the door of Chris' office, my hopes were dashed. I could hear the sound of laughter echoing through from his laptop so I knew he was in the middle of something, but just as I was about to walk away I heard something that caught my attention.

"You have a son of your own, don't you?" The interviewer asked and I cringed, knowing that it wasn't something Chris liked to discuss. His character in the show was a father though so I wasn't surprised it had come up, it gave them a segue that they hadn't really had before. "How is that going with this lockdown?"

Ever the professional, Chris didn't even hesitate before he answered even though I knew he would be annoyed by the line of questioning.

"Oh, it's great! He's staying with me until all this is over so it's great that we get to spend so much time together," he told the interviewer. "I'm lucky enough to be in a situation where I can just take a few months off until things cool down without too much worry so we've just been relaxing, building blanket forts, watching movies and getting in some bonding time that I miss out on when I'm busy. It's had some challenges, but it's been really nice."

I knew I shouldn't be listening, it was rude to eavesdrop even if the conversation would shortly be broadcast to the whole world, but again, the interviewer's next question had me too intrigued to walk away. Despite all the talking points that he could have chosen from Chris' answer, he zeroed in on one thing.

"He's staying with you for the entire lockdown? Is there a rekindled romance we don't know about?" He asked. "Or is his mother no longer in the picture?"

My jaw dropped. I didn't know who Chris was talking with today, but it wasn't like his team to set him up for any interviews where he would be asked questions like that and most interviewers were too polite to fish for the kind of gossip you'd find in a trashy magazine.

"Oh, I'm not gonna get into all that." Chris' tone was much more clipped than it had been moments before - he was clearly not impressed by the question either. "It's not anyone's business really, is it? But I will say that she is definitely in the picture and one of the best moms that I know. She's staying here with us too."

My heart melted a bit at his compliment even though I knew the words he added at the end meant that we were in for a whole new gossip storm.

It suddenly felt like I really was overstepping by standing at the door listening to this conversation without his knowledge so I headed back downstairs. As I got back into the living room, I pulled my phone out of my pocket and sent a message to Chris:

It would appear that you have a stowaway. I know you're busy, but please return Mr. Bear at your earliest convenience.

I put my phone away as I explained the situation to Grayson, but luckily, he was too interested in the movie to pay much attention to what I'd said. By the time Chris came down with the bear, it was like he'd forgotten that he ever cared about it in the first place.

Most of my attention was on Chris at that point though. The way he scurried into the room, avoiding looking in my direction at all. He looked ashamed and withdrawn and I couldn't hold back a sigh when he left the room quickly as I knew that he was beating himself up over the conversation that he didn't even know I'd heard.

-

Chris was sullen for the rest of the day. He perked up around Grayson, but whenever Gray was distracted there was a scowl or a frown firmly planted on his face. I wanted to say something, but I didn't know how without confessing that I'd overheard his interview. Given his mood and the ease with which we fell into disagreements these days, that seemed like it would cause more issues than it would help.

The news broke at about eleven that night and I knew because I was suddenly inundated with texts from friends and with follower requests on my private social media accounts. I pulled up the video and watched the interview, feeling another wave of empathy when I saw the annoyance written all over Chris' face as he answered the questions. He'd found a subtle way to shut the interview down almost immediately after the incident and I was proud of him for handling it so diplomatically.

I added it to the list of things that I needed to talk to Chris about whenever I got the chance as I pulled myself away from my laptop and headed to the bathroom to brush my teeth before bed. However, when I got into the hallway, I noticed a light coming up from downstairs. As far as I knew, everyone had gone to bed almost an hour ago, but I had a good idea whose thoughts would be keeping them awake so I headed down to investigate.

My suspicions were confirmed as I walked into the living room and saw Chris on the couch, his phone in his hand and his brow furrowed.

"Uh oh," I started, making his eyes snap up towards me. "Are you doomscrolling?"

The angry look on his face softened slightly as he raised an eyebrow at me.

"Doomscrolling?"

"Yeah," I shrugged with a smile. "That's what the kids call it these days when you spend too long scrolling through the news or Twitter, just soaking in all the bad shit in the world."

Chris chuckled as I moved into the room and sat on the opposite end of the couch that he was on, tucking my feet underneath me.

"I didn't know you were so down with the kids these days."

"I'm getting old, Chris. I'm almost thirty-two, I have to stay cool somehow." I shot him a wink. "But anyway, what are you reading that's making you look so grumpy?"

Chris sighed and locked his phone, putting it on the end table next to the couch.

"I said something in an interview today," he admitted. "Something that I shouldn't have said."

I watched him for a moment, waiting for him to look at me and elaborate, but when he didn't, I spoke up.

"I hope you're not about to tell me that you regret saying what a good mom I am or I'll be really disappointed..."

That comment brought Chris' gaze back to me, his shock evident on his face until it faded into a grimace.

"You heard what I said?"

"I watched the video," I admitted. "I had a flurry of Instagram activity that tipped me off."

"You didn't read the comments, did you?"

There was worry written all over Chris' face when I shrugged.

"Of course I did. Can't have my self-esteem getting too high, can we?" I was teasing, but his look of gloom only deepened. "Chris, it doesn't matter. I'm no supermodel, they're not saying anything I don't already know."

"See, this is what bothers me," Chris snapped. "My so-called 'fans' are out there spewing all this crap about you and you're acting like it's all true, so who cares? Well, I care because it's bullshit and you don't deserve it!"

"I didn't mean it like that," I assured him, keeping my voice quiet in an attempt to cool the situation.

We'd been here many times over the years and I knew how enraged the comments made Chris. He saw right through me, he knew that I took some of the things that had been said to heart, but who wouldn't? It's hard not to take it personally when someone points out your biggest insecurities, the things that you hope no one else notices, the things that you tell yourself can't possibly be true or as bad as you think in your head. It's impossible not to let it get to you a little bit, but I was well practiced at dealing with it and had grown a thicker skin.

At least, when it came to the comments about my appearance. The comments about how I'm not good enough and how Chris could do better always struck a cord, but it was nothing I couldn't handle.

"No?" Chris huffed. "What did you mean then?"

"That I know I'm an easy target because I'm not stick thin with a boob job," I answered, wanting to diffuse the situation before Chris got too upset. "They're cruel and mean, but they're just jealous because they think their dream boyfriend is taken now."

"Well, anyone who claims to be a real fan of mine wouldn't talk like that about someone I care about," he grumbled. "I shouldn't have answered, I should have just ignored the question."

"Actually, I'm glad you didn't. I'm glad you set the record straight rather than have everyone think I've abandoned my child. I would probably get even more hate for that."

"He shouldn't have even asked about it," Chris continued. "It was so out of line. Why can't people just mind their own business?"

"Because everyone adores you and has a burning desire to know everything about you," I teased, stretching my feet out to nudge his leg gently. His lips twitched briefly into a smile, but it faded as fast as it appeared. "Even my friends were all messaging me, asking if it was true like gossiping teenage girls. Everyone wants the Chris Evans scoop."

That comment earned me a chuckle and I relaxed slightly, hoping that he was starting to calm down.

"I'm sure your friends were more interested in the gossip about your life, not because of me."

"I dunno," I shrugged. "They always liked you."

Chris smiled, but a sigh slipped from his lips as he draped his arm over my feet where they rested on the couch next to him. We sat quietly for a moment as I continued watching him, wishing there was something I could say to ease the worry in his mind, but his next words left me a little bit speechless.

"I do get it, you know?" He said, his eyes still fixed firmly on the ground in front of him. "I get why you wouldn't want to be with me. I get that it's a lot to deal with."

My heart sank at his admission and I scrambled to figure out what to say.

It wasn't ideal - discussing our relationship, while he was already feeling quite murderous - but he'd brought it up and it was hard to say when we'd get another chance. Once again, I found myself fighting the urge to bolt for the door, but I swallowed hard and took a deep breath, hoping that this would be a civil conversation.

"Chris, it's not that," I insisted, my voice soft in what I hoped would be a soothing tone. "Maybe they didn't do anything to ease my concerns, but the bullies on the internet aren't what scared me away."

"No?" His eyes flicked up to meet mine. "Then what did?"

He sounded so defeated and I bit my lip to keep my emotions from bubbling up. The truth was that I didn't know where to start. There was too much floating around my head, too many questions and too many explanations that made less sense now that I knew what I knew after speaking with Scott. I was scared, but it was a very justified fear that could only be made sense of by answering his question with another question.

"Why didn't you tell me that you were in love with me?"

Chris raised an eyebrow, but shrugged off the question.

"You didn't seem like you wanted to hear it, Whitney. I told you that I was all in after Christmas and you shut me down pretty fast," he pointed out. "I didn't think blurting out a confession of love would do much to change that."

Had that been what I was referring to, it would have been a fair argument. However, I was referring to long before our latest incident so I shook my head.

"I talked to Scott," I confessed as a slight look of betrayal slid onto Chris’ face. "Don't be mad, he'd had a few drinks and was feeling sentimental. He told me that you were in love with me long before Grayson was even in the picture, but you never told me."

"I slept with you, didn't I?" He questioned, a defensiveness creeping into his tone. "Doesn't that make someone's feelings pretty fuckin' clear?"

"Hardly," I scoffed. "People sleep with people they're not in love with all the time and it becomes even less clear when they meet up afterwards to have a discussion about their relationship and that someone makes no mention of being in love."

"Was it really a discussion? Or did I show up at your apartment just to hear you lay out the ground rules?"

I faltered slightly as I thought back, but after a moment of reflection, I nodded.

"It was a discussion."

"I believe the first words out of your mouth were 'I think we both know that we're better off as friends'," he informed me. "Doesn't leave much room for debate."

"I was scared." That confession came out less confidently, but I found my voice again quickly. "And I assumed that's what you wanted too because you never pushed back."

He cocked his head to the side, a hint of a smirk on his face.

"You weren't the only one who was scared."

"I was the only one who was pregnant," I retorted, my tone growing harsher as my frustrations started to rise. "I was the only one who was trying to make a massive life decision while hormonal and growing another human being inside of them."

"That's fair," Chris nodded, his voice much calmer than I expected after my burst of annoyance. "But I wasn't about to pour my heart out and tell you how I felt when you kept talking about what a mistake we'd made as if you'd never regretted anything more in your life."

"Getting pregnant was a mistake," I clarified. "I love Grayson and I wouldn't change it for anything, but we can't say it wasn't a mistake at the time given our situation."

"A situation that you didn't want to change."

"Only because you never told me how you felt," I shot back. "I didn't want you to commit to something out of a sense of obligation. I didn't want you to put up with me for a few years until you dumped me for someone more in your league who you actually cared about."

There was a look of surprise on Chris' face at that revelation as it became more and more obvious to both of us that we hadn't been as good at communicating as we may have thought. It seemed we'd both been so convinced that we knew exactly how the other person felt that we hadn't bothered to actually ask them.

"But I did care about you," he assured me. "And you never told me how you felt either."

"I slept with you, didn't I?"

There was a smirk on my face as I threw his words back at him despite the anxiety that was bubbling inside me.

"A wise woman just informed me that sleeping with someone doesn't necessarily mean anything," he teased, a soft smile on his face. "But I think it's safe to say that we were both cowards."

"Again, in my defence, I was pregnant," I reminded him. "I was trying to make a logical decision while my brain was muddled with hormones."

"But you could have told me after," he pointed out. "We lived together for year after he was born, Whitney, and you never even dropped a hint."

"Oh, please," I snorted out a harsh laugh. "Do you remember what that year was like? We had a newborn baby who never slept for more than ten minutes at a time and you were flying in and out for the first six months, filming one of the Avengers movies. I was delirious, exhausted and emotionally wrecked. I wasn't in the right head space to give much thought to our relationship."

"So, if I had made a move back then? Would it have made a difference?" He asked. "Because it didn't seem to matter much a few months ago."

This was the real issue at hand.

It was all well and good to talk about the past and how we'd managed to come this far so oblivious to each other's feelings, but the real discussion was where we were at now. And the truth was, that I didn't know.

I opened my mouth to answer, but shut it as my words escaped me. I shifted nervously, shrugging under his stare until a sigh fell from my lips.

"I'm not sure anymore," I admitted. "If you'd told me how you felt back then, if you fought for us to be together then I might've been swayed."

"But now?"

"Now, I think we made the right decision for Grayson."

Chris was still staring me down, his eyes locked on mine as if he was looking into my soul. It was an intensity that was hard to endure and I was relieved when he spoke again, despite how his words made my heart ache.

"But what about the right decision for us?"

"That's not what's important," I insisted. "I've seen so many of my friends struggle through their parents' bitter divorces, I don't want that for Gray. I don't want us to lose our ability to work as a team and put him first."

"Yeah, you mentioned that several times," Chris huffed. "But I don't see why you're so fuckin' convinced that we'd end up hating each other."

His frustration and impatience was shining through and I felt my panic rising again. Chris had made his stance clear and I knew I needed to make a decision soon or my lack of decision would decide for me, but I felt like I was stuck between a rock and a hard place. The thought of not being with Chris made my heart ache especially now that I knew the extent of his feelings, but the thought of being with him and the consequences that could come from that set every anxious nerve in my body on edge.

I found myself scrambling for something to say that was non-committal, but would placate the situation. I floundered until, fortunately, a tiny voice from the doorway saved me.

"Daddy said a bad word..."

I leapt off the couch, desperate for any excuse to get away and Chris raised his eyebrow at my swift reaction. I ignored him as I looked at Grayson, who was rubbing his eyes with one hand and clutching his bear in the other. He looked so small, standing there in his little flannel pajamas and I smiled at the sight.

"That is a bad word," I agreed. "Daddy shouldn't have said it. But what are you doing up?"

"I had a bad dream."

His voice was small as he was still half asleep and Chris stood, following me over as I walked towards him.

"I'm sorry to hear that, buddy," he said, lifting him up in his arms. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"No," Grayson shook his head. "It was scary."

"Awe, I'm sorry, sweetheart," I frowned as I rubbed his back, my heart melting at how small he looked in Chris' arms. "Do you want me to tuck you back in or Daddy?"

He rested his head on Chris' chest and pulled his bear so close that his answer got muffled by the stuffed animal's fur.

"I want to sleep in Daddy's bed..."

I looked up at Chris, letting him decide if that was okay, but he was already nodding his head.

"Sure, we can do that," he assured him. "But don't hog all the blankets this time, okay?"

Grayson giggled and I smiled as they headed to the door.

"Goodnight, boys," I called to them before they disappeared. "I'll see you in the morning."

"Goodnight." Chris paused to answer me and flashed me a look that made me feel like a schoolgirl being scolded by the principal. "This conversation isn't over."

It felt like a foreboding warning and it left me so flustered that all I could do was nod before he turned and continued on his way to his bedroom.

He was right.

Our conversation couldn't end there unless we wanted another four years of miscommunication and mutual longing, but I didn't know what to do. I wasn't trying to be difficult, but both options seemed destined to lead to heartache. Of course, I had no evidence to prove that we wouldn't live happily ever after, but he was Chris Evans. He was the man that women all over America, all over the world, would kill to be with. And I was just me. Once I fell off whatever pedestal he'd put me on in his mind and he realized how ordinary and unremarkable I was, it wouldn't last.

And I couldn't spend the rest of my life waiting for the other shoe to drop.

With a sigh, I headed to the stairs. My head was a mess despite my hopes that talking to Chris would bring me some clarity. It seemed I was starting a pattern of coming away from late night conversations with more questions than answers, but I was beginning to think that might be due to the fact that I would never be told what I wanted to hear. No one could make this decision for me and no one could make it a fool proof choice.

There was always a risk when it came to love. I just had to decide if that risk was worth it and start being honest with myself about why I was so scared. Were my intentions really as noble as I wanted everyone to believe? Or was I using Grayson as a shield to protect my own heart from pain as much as his?

-

Part Four

Tags:  @maggotzombie @moonlacebeam @mizzzpink @zaylaugh @flowery-mess @flowerjewels @njrronaldo7 @hockeychick10

[weeb-writor]

No More Crying, Brat!

Heyo! So next part in the Aizawa series is out. If your just now seeing this don't worry it can act as a stand alone! Reader is as neutral as possible including gender. Hope you like it!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Aizawa Shouta x Reader

You and Aizawa lazy morning gets interrupted and end up babysitting Jun and then you end UA, where you meet the infamous Bakugou

Words: 1997

Part One  Part two  Part Three  Part Four  Part Five

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This was your favorite thing, a sunday morning with the love of your life. It was the one day where neither you or Aizawa had work, well most times anyway. Phones tucked away and out of sight and the TV off. You laid in bed just resting and talking nearly all day.

“I want a bunny sho.” You said into his chest.

“I love you a lot but not possible. I know my cats seem nice but they are still cats and very ferocious predators.” He said playing with your night clothes.

“But they’re fat and lazy, I doubt they’d be able to catch the bunny.” You whined at him. He gave you a flick on your forehead obviously not happy with your words.

“Don't pick on my cats for something they can't help. You're the one always feeding them treats and extra food at meal time.” He said in a kind of pout. You giggled at his words moving to straddle him.

“Oh like you're any better. All you want to do with them is cuddle even though you know they need exercise. Don't blame me for your fat cats.” You said glaring into his eyes with a sort of playfulness.

“Oh kitty, your claws are showing. Do you wanna play, you want your exercise?” He said lowly to you. You of course had no objections but your plans were foiled as soon as they had begun by his phone, it was the one for emergencies he had to pick it up.

“You’ve reached, Aizawa Shouta, on his one day off. This better be good.” He sighed into the phone.

“Hey there, little brother!” You heard someone say as the phone was on speaker.

“Sigh, what do you want?” He said to the energetic boy.

“Awh is that anyway to treat your older brother who you love so much?” The man whined into the phone.

“When he interrupts what could have been such a great and peaceful, blissful even, morning yes it is.”

“Oh were you gonna finally put our present to good use?” He whispered.

“Good god, what do you want?”

“Oh right, I was the one to call you! What was it again…. Oh right! I need a favor.”

“You called my emergency phone, for a favor.” Aizawa deadpanned at the phone.

“Well yeah, I knew you wouldn't answer your regular phone and it is important. I need you to watch Jun for me at least for today. Sora will come pick him up tomorrow or sometime late within the night and take over from there.” He said the playfulness in his voice dying out.

“Yeah of course, what's going on?” Aizawa said, sensing his brother’s seriousness.

“You know his immune system is so weak, every time he gets sick he’s in the hospital for weeks. Me, my wife, Haru, and Maki are all showing early symptoms of the flu or something. We immediately sent him to our neighbors but we think it's best if he goes with a family member until we can recover.” He said seriously for once.

“Yeah of course and I’ll tell Sora I can take over if he gets overwhelmed. I'm on my way.” Aizawa said moving you to get ready.

“Oh when you get here Haru wants to wave by from the window, if that's alright.” Aizawa agreed before hanging up.

“So change of plans for our lazy Sunday, I'm really sorry.” He said quickly, throwing on casual clothes, you followed suit.

“No no, it's fine! Any Sunday spent with you is great.” You smiled at him.

“Okay we should get going, it’s a little bit of a drive.” You nodded as you fed the cats before going to get in your car.

“Pop quiz by the way, which brother was that?” He said as he pulled out to begin your journey. You thought about it for a second Jun and Maki were they only two blondes and stuck out so much in the dark haired family, so they were easy for you to remember, Their dad was the outgoing Shiori, right?

“Shiori, the 3rd eldest brother but 5th eldest in general.” You said pretty confident in your answer.

“Correct, I'll remember to give you a prize later.” He said with a smirk. You smiled at his words and that was that. The rest of the journey was quiet and quick and so you found yourself with Jun clinging to Aizawa as you stood in front of his house window. His family waved at him as he stared back with tears eyes.

“Okay Jun we should go now.” Aizawa said picking up the young boy and walking him to the car, locking him into the seat quickly and just like that you were on your way. You sat in the back with the 4 year old trying to keep him entertained on the kind of long drive.

“So kind of slipped my mind but I’m due back at the dorms in an hour…cause of the influx of villains and Eri” Aizawa said, glancing at you in the mirror.

“Oh it’s fine I did all the baby Aizawa’s at once. I can do one by himself.” You said bopping the boys nose as he played on your phone

“No, I wouldn’t ask you to do that. I told Shiori I was gonna watch him and I meant it. I was thinking we could take him up there and spend our Sunday together.”

“And meet your friends? And coworkers? Your students too? Like the 3rd or 2nd most important things in your life? All at once?” You said to him with an unnerved smile.

“Don’t fret, you survived my family, a few heroes aren’t gonna kill you.” He chuckled at you.

“We gonna see hero’s?” Jun asked with little stars in his eyes. Aizawa looked at you obviously wanting to know if you wanted to or not.

“Yeah bud, lots of them.” You told him with a smile. He clapped with joy and you laughed through your nervousness. It didn't take much longer to arrive at the UA building and after getting clearance you all headed to the dorms. Jun was a little scared as he clung to Aizawa tightly.

“I'm surprised he is clinging to you like that, he was so outgoing when I was babysitting I wouldn't take him as one to be afraid of new people.” You said looking down at the boys.

“Usually he isn't such a shy thing but without H-A-R-U he is pretty scared, they are twins. Really I don't know how he's gonna survive without him.” Aizawa said as he stopped outside a set of doors marked 1A. He didn't even get to warn you or Jun of the chaos that awaited you cause the door flew open.

“Shouta! Finally!” Present Mic said letting out a sigh.

“Sensei!” He’s student sounded off behind the blonde.

“Hey, get out of the way. At least let them sit down before you annoy them with questions.” He scolded as he felt Jun disappear further behind his legs. The students and excited teachers did make way for you and let you sit down. Jun huddled in Aizawa arms, face tucked in between his arms.

“Aizawa Sensei, we didn't know you were married! And with a kid too! What's their quirk?” A blonde rushed out.

“I am not married, this is my love L/N, but this little guy is my nephew. You might be seeing him a lot over the next two weeks.” Aizawa said tiredly.

“Hello! Aizawa already said but I'm L/N, and this is Jun.” You said with a small wave. They all introduced themselves and everything was going swimmingly until Aizawa was called away to get Eri.

“Hey Mic, he knows you a little better than Y/n, would you mind taking him?” Aizawa said, handing the heavy 4 year old to his friend. Jun let out small sniffles as his uncle left his eyesight.

“Don't cry little Jun. He’ll be right back, until then wanna see some of our quirks!? They are super cool.” Midoriya said with a smile and so the kids took turns trying to get the boy to smile and his tears to stop. They had all failed so far as his cries got louder.

“Alright brat, stop all your whining! What on earth are you crying for? Cause your uncle left for a few seconds? Are you that much of a baby? You're like four and still crying like a baby, I thought you were a big boy.” Bakugou said to the boy and before you could interject Jun did.

“I am a big boy but I miss my brother! And my big sister! And mom and dad! Uncle sho said i can't see them ‘cus they sick.” He said, starting to cry louder.

“That’s it? So you would rather go see them and get sick. I bet that would make your brother and your sister feel like shitty people and make them sad too. That’s what you want? To make your brother sad and guilty?”

“No!” He cried out.

“Then suck it up, for a few days you get to hang around your uncle and his badass hero friends and students. All the while your family gets better and you can see them again. So stop crying, and i’ll show my quirk! It’s better than any of the Extras quirks you’ve already seen.” Bakugou said to the boy. Slowly but surely he did stop crying and left the comfort of Hizashi’s arms to hold bakugou's hand.

“You know when I walked in to see you yelling at Jun I almost killed you. But now I'm glad i didn't, how do you feel about earning some extra credit?” Aizawa said from behind you. That was the most eventful part of your day so far. The rest was spent with Aizawa and Eri really. Jun was stuck to Bakugou like glue, doing everything he did, not noticing his jealous uncle. As bedtime approached for him you weren't sure how to get him to go to bed, he was attached to bakugou at the hip. Well that was until you learned that the blonde who was angry, loud and a bit delinquent-ish was actually a good boy who went to sleep at 8:30 just like Jun and Eri.

“Alright brat, i'm going to bed so you can stop following me around like a chick now. I’ll see you again soon and you better not cry for nothing again.” He said ruffling Jun's hair before walking into his room. Jun walked over to you guys as you all said goodnight.

“I got permission from Nezu, you're both allowed to stay over night but sometime within the night Sora’s coming to get Jun.” Aizawa said with a yawn.

“Alright then I'm looking forward to some cuddles! To bad your fat cats here, they make good pillows.” You said teasing him, he gave you a light shove in response.

“Hey uncle sho?”

“Yeah, kid?”

“Bak’go is a hero?”

“Basically.”

“I think he’s my fav’rit. He’s so cool.” He slurred, climbing unto Aizawa’s bed as soon as it came into view. Aizawa was silent as the boy fell asleep and only spoke out after he was dead asleep.

“I think I am going to kill him and like hell I'm gonna let him babysit with Sora.” Aizawa pouted under the covers.

“What a possessive uncle you are shouta, Also I think they all like me! Good to know the people most important to you like me!”

“Well if they didn't they could go hell cause you fall into the category that makes you number one in my life.

“What's that?”

“Family. At least you will be when I give you my last name.” He said as he swung an arm around you and Jun. You fell asleep with a smile on your face, his last name was starting to grow on you.

[stxphxn-strange]

death doesn’t discriminate

a/n: so when i first started my college au, i came up w a lot of angst and tragedy that i forgot about when i introduced you to it. so here’s my solution: you’re getting angst now! tw for death in this fic, keep that in mind as you read. I’m super proud of this so i hope you read and lmk ur thoughts Tags: @stark-strange-love @ah3m @grumb-lin @ironstrange-chaos @maya-custodios-dionach

“You’re perfect, you know that? You’re the most precious thing in existence.”

His words were met with a content (read: blissed out), sleepy sigh.

“Hey, you good?” Stephen asked, softly ruffling Anthony’s already wildly messy hair.

“Great, but exhausted,” Anthony murmured, pressing his face into the pillow. “You know you tired me out, just let me sleep.”

Stephen smiled and kissed him softly. “Do you want to shower first? Maybe a snack? And then I promise you can rest.”

“And you’ll hold me all night?” Anthony asked, looking up and batting his eyelashes.

“Ugh, you’re impossible!” Stephen scoffed, overcome with love for his boyfriend. “Of course I will.”

All Stephen wanted to do was kiss Anthony senseless and hold him forever, but he couldn’t for a couple of reasons: tomorrow he was leaving on SI business, and someone was knocking on their bedroom door.

During Stephen’s unusually infinitesimal period of reflection Anthony fell asleep, unintentionally forcing Stephen to get out of bed. He tightened his robe as he answered the door, tiredness making his smile more forced than normal. “Rhodey, I’m not going to moderate another debate about almond milk between you and Harold.”

“Stop calling me Harold!” Harry yelled from somewhere down the hall.

Rhodey shook his head. “Oh no, we’re not getting into that again. I was just going to ask if Tones got the PDFs yet.”

“He’s asleep,” Stephen said, a blush creeping onto his face. “Although I need to wake him up again, I can ask or just tell him to text you.”

“That sounds good,” Rhodey replied, a knowing look in his eye. “Just remember: our business trip is only a week, and no wall in this apartment is 100% soundproof.”

Stephen rolled his eyes. “Goodnight, Rhodey.”

He closed the door again, sitting on his bed beside Anthony, who appeared to be falling deeper into sleep.

Stephen sighed, gently shaking one of his shoulders to wake him up. Another restful night filled with banter and love was ahead of them, and Stephen wanted to make the most of it before Anthony left in the morning. Grumpy as he was when he finally woke up, Stephen could tell that Anthony wanted to make the most of the night as well.

++++

“It’s official: I hate goodbyes!” Stephen tried not to convey how upset he actually was.

He did hate goodbyes. He hated that Anthony was leaving for a week, though he never liked to admit how much he actually missed his boyfriend. Stephen would always nod whenever Wong complained that the house was quiet without Anthony, Rhodey, and Harry, but his face always fell when it struck him again that his boyfriend was away.

“Let me ask you something,” Wong began.

“Do I want to know?” Stephen replied, filling the kettle with water.

“I won’t beat around the bush,” Wong said. “Why haven’t either of you proposed yet?”

“Unlike the rest of you, we’re not in a rush,” Stephen quipped. “If I know Ant as well as I think I do, he’s waiting for what he thinks is the perfect moment. I’m doing the same.”

“That’s a load of bullshit,” Wong said.

Looking up from his phone, he continued: “You know, we thought you were going to propose before graduation! I’m already out $300 because of all of the bets I lost to our friends.”

“I don’t think I want to know this either, but who did you bet with?” Stephen asked.

“Carol, Rhodey, all of the Odinson siblings, and Christine,” Wong replied.

“And you all know why I didn’t do it then, yes? As in you didn’t bet $50 with six (6) different people after winter break?” Stephen asked. “Anthony and I talked about it and it just felt too soon after his mother and Howard died.”

“No, I didn’t,” Wong said. “That makes sense, though. We really aren’t trying to rush you.”

“I know you don’t mean it seriously, what in our friend group isn’t dealt with through absurd amounts of teasing?” Stephen asked, rolling his eyes. “But you know what? I think when they come back from the trip might be a good time.”

“Fucking FINALLY!” Wong replied, leaping into the air. “Let’s call Christine right now!”

++++

A few days later, Wong woke up to the sound of one of his housemates frantically opening and closing the kitchen cabinets. He was about to text the housemates’ chat, before he remembered that Stephen was the only other one that was home, the others wouldn’t be back for another three (3) days.

So that left a singular question: why was Stephen, somehow the quietest of the group, slamming cupboard doors?

Wong found his bunny slippers and shuffled down the hallway, locking eyes with a distressed Stephen. “What are you doing?”

“I’m rearranging the kitchen.”

“Why?”

“How many reasons do you want? I don’t know what to do with myself, I’m stressed, and it’s too early to call Anthony although I doubt he’s asleep as it is since he rarely sleeps while traveling, but—”

“You can’t be this nervous to propose, can you?” Wong asked, his tone ignorant and teasing but without malice. “He won’t be back until the end of the week, so you have time to plan and replan everything until you’re happy.”

“I was going to propose when he got back, I was going to ask you to help me plan something nice as a welcome for him and Rhodey and Harry, but... shit I have to go home,” Stephen said. “To my parents’ farm, I mean.”

“Why? Everything okay?” Wong asked.

Stephen ran a hand through his bedhead. He knew he was shaking but didn’t have the energy to care. “My mom isn’t doing well at all. I... Victor needs me.”

“When do you leave?”

“Later this evening. I just need to call Anthony, both to hear his voice and to keep him updated.”

“He’s calling you now,” Wong said, glancing at where Stephen’s phone was vibrating towards the edge of the counter.

He began to make something for breakfast as Stephen picked up the phone.

“You know I love you, but why are you calling so early?” Stephen asked, trying to keep his voice light.

Anthony, sleep deprived and stressed as he was, knew him too well and could immediately tell that something was up. His voice was rough when he spoke, “something’s wrong.”

“What do you mean? Are you okay?” Stephen fretted.

“I’m fine, I meant something’s bothering you. I can hear it in your voice,” Anthony clarified. He sounded like a warm hug that Stephen just wanted to hide in until the end of time, his tone gentle as he asked what was going on.

“I’m just upset, that’s all,” Stephen replied. “Um... Victor called me about an hour ago. He says Mom isn’t... doing too well and he really wants me to go to the farm, at least for his sake. So I’m leaving tonight, just to spend some time there while I can. Apparently a lot of the family is flying out... Vic didn’t go into detail but he said it’s bad.”

Anthony hummed, and Stephen could hear rustling on his end of the line.

“What are you doing?” He asked.

“I’m looking for my laptop so I can book a flight,” Anthony said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“No way, I can’t ask you to—”

“Stephen? My darling, my sweet baby boyfriend who can be more obtuse than a triangle?” Anthony interrupted.

Stephen scoffed. “You’re one to talk.”

“My mind is made up,” Anthony said. “I’m sure someone can cover for me, this is a family emergency after all.”

“You...” Stephen’s voice broke. “Anthony...”

Anthony hushed him quietly. “I want to be there for you, and for your family, and I promise you I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

“Fucking hell,” Stephen whispered, trying to keep himself from sobbing. “Thank you.”

“I just want to support you, Steph,” Anthony replied. “I’m going to have to go wake Pepper up, she should be getting up soon. I just want to brief her before the day starts, but I’ll be free for a bit after I find her if you want to call me back.”

“I might FaceTime you,” Stephen said. “You haven’t even been gone that long and I still miss you like you wouldn’t believe.”

“The feeling is mutual,” Anthony murmured. “I love you.”

“I love you too, tell Pepper I said hi,” Stephen replied.

He put his phone down when the call ended, sighing and running his fingers through his hair.

“Do you want french toast?” Wong asked quietly.

Stephen jumped, forgetting his friend was even in the kitchen. “Yes please. And then I have to go and pack some stuff.”

++++

“Hey guys, I need you to cover for me. I have a flight to Nebraska at 4, it’s a family emergency, Stephen’s mother...”

“Tones what are you still doing here? You need to get there. I’ll help you pack,” Rhodey said.

“I’ll drive. Be ready to leave in no later than two (2) hours,” Harry added. “

Pepper smiled sadly. “You know we’re going to cover your ass no matter what, especially if it has something to do with Stephen. By the way, w—”

“Now is hardly the time to discuss a proposal, Miss Potts!”

++++

“You know, I always liked Anthony better than you,” Victor said. “I think Donna did too, God rest her soul.”

“Alright Vic, enough,” Stephen replied. “I only came home for you, don’t chase me away. Besides, Donna liked me better than you, and that’s all that really matters.”

“I’m telling Dad you said that,” Victor spat, his light tone betraying his words. “You know I’m happy you’re home. And I’m glad you have Anthony.”

“He’s loyal, you know? I tried to tell him not to come, but he insisted. And he was in California for business,” Stephen said, smiling at the mention of his boyfriend.

“You’re going to do something embarrassing once you see him, aren’t you?” Victor scoffed.

“No, I’m just going to hug him,” Stephen replied. “Fuck off Vic, it’s none of your business how I show affection.”

All things considered Stephen didn’t break his word, because he did hug Anthony as soon as they made eye contact. Nobody had to know if there were tears in his eyes when he rested his head on Anthony’s shoulder and held him as if they’d been apart for years.

Victor, impatiently standing a short distance from the couple, cleared his throat. “I don’t mean to rush this reunion, but we should get home now.”

“Since when do you drive?” Anthony teased, giving Victor a short hug. “The last time I saw you—”

“Don’t you dare say I was ‘just a baby!’ I’ve heard that from all of my relatives these past two (2) days,” Victor replied. “And let me address that now: I’m driving so I control the music.”

Victor’s taste in music wasn’t bad, so neither Stephen nor Anthony objected. Plus, they were both exhausted from traveling and the fact that they didn’t sleep very well apart. It was no surprise that Anthony fell asleep on the drive from the airport to the family farm. Stephen thought back to the other day, to the way Anthony soared under his praises and how he fluttered his eyelashes at the end of the night, just before falling asleep. He was trying to be coquettish, but fell asleep before they could trade anymore banter. Stephen had to fight to keep from laughing (it was more like giggling) at how adorable Anthony was.

Tonight, as the moonlight through the car window highlighted his closed eyes and slightly parted lips, Stephen just wanted to cry. It wasn’t a sad kind of cry, it was perhaps relieved. Things would always be okay with Anthony around, and that realization never failed to bring Stephen to tears.

++++

It was the best sleep he’d had in three (3) days, and it came to a sharp end as urgent knocking cut through his dream.

Anthony slipped out of bed, pulling the blankets up around Stephen. No matter how cold he got in the middle of the night, he always kicked the comforter away.

His fond smile at the thought of Stephen’s idiosyncrasies died when he saw the stricken look on Victor’s face.

“What’s wrong?” Anthony asked, immediately placing a comforting hand on his shoulder.

He’d always seen Victor and Donna as the siblings he never had, and it was very important to Anthony that all of the Strange siblings knew he cared for them. Stephen obviously did, although reminding him never hurt, but the familial bond Anthony had with his siblings was valuable to all parties involved. Understandably, the idea of Victor being this upset troubled him.

“Is Stephen up?” Victor asked. His voice was almost shrill, marching the chaotic background noise from elsewhere in the farmhouse.

Anthony shook his head. “Do I need to wake him up?”

Victor nodded. “And hurry up, we have to go downtown now. Meet me in the kitchen as soon as you can.”

++++

The rest of the Strange family descended upon both the farm and the town after Bev Strange passed. The next few days consisted of funeral arrangements, people running errands, speedrunning the stages of grief, and little to no sleep. There were two (2) points during that week where everything came to a screeching halt, and everyone was just taking on tragedy like a sponge soaks water. The night before Mrs. Strange’s funeral was one of them.

Eugene Strange jogged down the stairs that night, an envelope in one hand and his other clutching his chest.

“Dad you okay?” Stephen asked.

“Completely fine, I’m just running something to your aunt and then I’ll settle in for the night,” Eugene replied.

“Do you want me to take it?” Victor offered. “You don’t look well, you should rest.”

“No, son, I’m okay. A little drive to town can’t hurt,” Eugene said, waving his hand in dismissal of Victor’s offer.

A little drive to town couldn’t hurt on its own, but coupled with a heart attack it was fatal to Eugene.

Stephen was livid when he found out, mostly angry with himself for not going and running the errand. “Why did I let him go?”

Victor was also livid, his anger directed at Stephen for most of the week. “Yeah, why did you?! How can you say you care about our family when you took Donna to the lake that day, AND you let Dad go when he was in no condition to drive? I’m lucky you even came around for me and for Mom, everyone knows all you care about is yourself!”

As the Strange family planned their second funeral of the week, Victor and Stephen didn’t talk much. Victor wasn’t right to be angry with Stephen, which he did eventually realize. Victor was even the one who advocated for Stephen going home and taking care of himself for a few days.

“He’s right, you do deserve to be cared for. Especially now,” Anthony murmured, tracing Stephen’s collarbones. “You’re so strong and selfless, I just want to give you the world, if you’ll let me.”

“You’re too good to me,” Stephen murmured. “Ant, do you know I love you so much it hurts? The fact that we’ve been in each other’s lives for so long and have come so far means so much, and there’s no one else I’d rather go through all of this shit with. You... you’re just everything. I love the way you drown me in praise but catch me when I fall... and—”

“If anyone gets drowned in praises, it’s me from you,” Anthony whispered, as Stephen broke off with a sob. “You’re the one always catching me and keeping me grounded. But that’s what our relationship has always been, you know? I never would have gotten through the things that happened in the past few years without you, and there won’t ever be a moment you won’t have my equal support. I think you’ve been stuck with me since we met and talked about... remind me, with your picture perfect memory, what it was?”

Stephen didn’t reply, only shifting a bit closer to Anthony.

“Steph?” Anthony asked quietly, brushing a soothing hand through his hair.

Stephen snored softly. It wasn’t really a snore, as Stephen didn’t snore, more or less a soft exhale that ghosted over Anthony’s collarbone. Either way, he was asleep.

Anthony smiled sadly and kissed his forehead. “Goodnight Stephen. Get some rest, I promise I’ll always be here.”

++++

“If you need anything, do you swear that you’ll call or text or just fly to New York to see me?” Stephen asked again.

“Stephen, I promise I’m going to be okay,” Victor assured him. “And I will.”

“You don’t need anything else while we’re here?” Stephen asked.

“No, I’m fine!” Victor said, feigning annoyance. “Just go home, and Anthony take care of my hardheaded brother, please.”

“I always do,” Anthony replied, giving Stephen a soft kiss.

“Get your PDA out of my face,” Victor teased. “Have a safe flight. Text me when you’re home.”

“You do the same,” Stephen said firmly.

The events of the past week took their toll on the brothers, and Stephen’s usual fearlessness disappeared. The smallest things rattled him, a routine lurch of the plane almost sending him into a panic attack.

“If we survive this flight, will you marry me?” Stephen asked at the crux of takeoff.

Anthony smiled and hugged him, murmuring, “I thought you’d never ask.”

“I swear I had this whole gesture planned but I don’t want to live another second without asking. A part of me needs this trip to have something of a happy ending, and I was really going to wait until we were home, but I waited long enough to be your boyfriend, I don’t want to wait to be your fiancé,” Stephen rambled.

“I have my own romantic gesture planned too.” Anthony’s voice was low and gravelly from tiredness, and his voice combined with his closeness sent shivers down Stephen’s spine. “You’ll love it, I’ll show you when we’re home.”

“I can’t wait.”

++++

Wong‘s friendly, grumpy face was a nice surprise waiting for them at the airport. “Harry and Rhodey are home, sleeping I think but you never know with them. I figured you’d both be tired, so I’d just come get you and let you sleep on the drive home.”

“You might be a Saint,” Anthony replied, leaning fully against Stephen.

“I’m just a good friend, one who accepts payment in the form of bread,” Wong teased. “Let’s go home.”

Harry was the only one in the kitchen when they got back, Rhodey on the phone w T’challa in his room. He greeted them with a warm: “Hey guys, you okay? I made sandwiches if you’re hungry.”

“My friend, I’m going to take you up on that,” Wong replied, pulling up a stool.

“I’m exhausted, and Ant is too, so we’re going to bed. Text if you need anything, but we’re going to just go pass out,” Stephen said. He didn’t bother waiting for a response, taking Anthony’s hand and leading him to their bedroom.

It was right before they climbed into bed that he got down on his left knee, taking hold of Anthony’s hands.

“There’s no limit to the things I want to say to you, and we both know that I’m never usually short on words but I just need to get my point across now. I might combust if I wait any longer,” Stephen began.

“Ask me,” Anthony murmured breathlessly. “I won’t interrupt again, just go ahead a—”

Stephen frowned as someone, it sounded like Harry, shouted from the kitchen.

The knocking, uncoordinated and loud, only intensified the longer Stephen and Anthony ignored it.

“What?!” Stephen called.

“We need a moderator for another debate about food!” Harry yelled.

“I’m in the middle of proposing!”

[inkjam-moon]

Code of Silence Ch 5 - The Party (M)

Genre: Mafia AU, light fluff, smut

Member: Min Yoongi

Word Count: 7.2K

TW: swearing, mafia talk, nipple play, biting, fingering, multiple orgasms, kind of exhibitionism

It’s been two months since you got married; almost august. Every day is much like the rest of them. You wake up, fix Yoongi breakfast, and then lay around the house, trying to keep yourself busy until you make yourself dinner, take a shower, and then go to bed. Sometimes, when you know Yoongi’s going to be home late, you relax in your room, or in the tub and play with yourself, breaking out your toys and wearing yourself out, because sometimes it’s the only thing left for you to do. You and Yoongi have gotten to know each other much better, in fact, you know almost everything about him, and you’re glad that he takes a day off here and there to spend time with you so you’re not alone.

Yoongi doesn’t like you down at the club too often, as there has been more and more trouble with the Busan gang crossing borders lately; he doesn’t want to leave you vulnerable; but today is one of the days you decided you want to go out, so now here you sit at a table, having lunch with Taehyung and Yoongi. Well, Taehyung and you are eating, Yoongi is fretting over some emails he received earlier in the day from the west end about some young thugs terrorizing a neighborhood.

“Yoongi, please eat something.” You beg, pushing his plate back toward him.

“I will in a minute.”

“You said that five minutes ago.” Taehyung states. “Come on boss, you gotta eat.”

“Fine! Fine. Jesus.” Yoongi shuts his laptop and brings his plate toward him, digging into the food you had the kitchen make for him, watching him gradually relax as he eats. 

“Better?” You ask, taking another bite of your sandwich.

He nods. “Definitely. How do you always know what I need?” He questions in amazement.

“Why do you always ask me that?” You giggle, trying to hide your smile.

“It’s because she’s your wife, she needs to know these things.” Taehyung blurts loudly, staring at something behind you.

“What are you talking about? Yoongi grumbles as you turn to see Yoongi’s mom walking up to your table.

“Oh, um h-hi!” You blurt, nudging Yoongi with your elbow to get his attention.

“Hm?” He turns to you as his mom speaks.

“Hi sweetheart! How are my three favorite troublemakers?” She asks, beaming.

“Hey mom.” Yoongi nods at her before turning back to his food.

“Hi Mrs. Min! You look nice today.” Taehyung charms, making her giggle like a schoolgirl.

“Thank you little Kim. I just wanted to remind you three about the party tomorrow night. You’ll be there, right?”

“Party?” You turn to Yoongi in question.

“Yoongi, don’t tell me you forgot to tell Y/N-ah?”

“Mom, I told you, I have work to do.”

“So much work you can’t stop by your own father’s birthday party? At your own club?”

“It’s Dad’s birthday? Why didn’t you tell me?” You pout.

“Because we’re not going.” Yoongi insists.

“Why not?” His mom demands.

“Yeah, why not?” You repeat. “I think it’ll be fun.”

“Yeah, come on Min, lighten up.” Taehyung joins in, elbowing Yoongi’s side playfully.

Yoongi drops his chopsticks, clearly aggravated. “Okay! We can go for a little bit.” He aquieces. “Can I please eat now?”

You roll your eyes and turn to Yoongi’s mom. “We’ll be there, I promise.”

“Perfect!” She exclaims as she begins to walk away. “Right after closing!” You and Taehyung wave goodbye as she disappears out the door onto the street.

“Yoongi,” You turn back to your husband. “Why don’t you want to go?”

“It’s just going to be like every other party. All of the family, and a bunch of my dad’s friends standing around, drinking soju and judging me.”

“Judging you?” Taehyung cock his head in confusion.

“Yoongi, no one’s judging you. If anything, they’ll congratulate you for doing such a good job.”

“Right…” He scoffs.

“She’s right.” Taehyung agrees. “You’re doing really well at running things.”

“Thanks Little Kim.” Yoongi sighs as he finishes the last bite of his food. “I have to get back up to my office and straighten some things out. Why don’t you go shopping?” Yoongi suggests.

“Shopping?” Now you’re the one that’s confused.

“Yeah,” Yoongi pulls his wallet out of his back pocket and hands you his sleek, black credit card. “Go buy a new dress for tomorrow night.”

“A-are you sure?” You check, hesitantly taking the card.

“Absolutely. Dress, shoes, the whole deal. Little Kim, you go with her. Buy yourself something nice, and make sure she gets something good. If we’re going tomorrow, I want to show you off a little bit to those asshole stiffs.”

“Boss, you don’t have to show me off, you already have my heart.” Taehyung coos, batting his lashes at Yoongi as he grabs the elder man’s arm.

Yoongi rolls his eyes as he shrugs Taehyung off. “Sometimes I really don’t know why you hang out with him.”

“Just for that I’m taking her to the expensive stores.” Taehyung pouts.

“Go ahead. Go wild. Buy designer.” Yoongi urges as he stands, collecting his things, leaning down to kiss you on the head before he starts to walk toward the back where his office sits. “I’m counting on you Little Kim. Make it good!” And with that he disappears around the corner. Before you can even say anything, Taehyung has tugged you up out of your seat and is rushing you out the door over towards his car.

Ten minutes later you’re walking into the Daehyun Primall, arm linked with Taehyung’s as he leads you through the doors. You’ve never been to a mall this big, usually you just go to the one down the street from your old house, but Taehyung insisted the shops here were better.

“Where should we go first?” Taehyung asks, clearly more excited for this than you are.

“I don’t know.” You shrug. “You know this place better than me.”

“Well, do you want your shoes to match your dress, or your dress to match your shoes?”

“Is… Is there a difference?”

Taehyung sighs at you. “Let’s just get started.”

Taehyung drags you into an expensive looking store, and you immediately feel uncomfortable. Everything looks fragile, and you know if you touch something you’re going to break it, so you keep your arms crossed in front of you while Taehyung whisks you around, pulling things off the rack at will and holding them up to you, either putting them back or folding them over his arm. When he’s made his selections, he ushers you into the dressing room and has you try on dress after dress, but none of them feel right to you and you quickly move onto the next store, and then the next store… and then the next store. You’re afraid you’re going to run out of stores before you find something.

It’s been four hours. As you’re walking between stores again, you happen to walk past something that catches your eye; a pair of shoes. Their beauty physically stops you in your tracks, causing Taehyung to bump into you.

“Y/N, what are you-?” He looks up into the window display and sees what’s caught your eye, smirking at your reaction. “Good choice. They’re Loubotin’s. Et voici et voila if I’m not mistaken.” You shake your head when you hear the designer name and begin to walk away. “Ah, where are you going?” Taehyung grabs your arm.

“They’re too expensive.” You mumble.

“How do you know? There’s no price?” Taehyung asks, looking back into the window. 

“They’re designer…”

“Um, were you not at lunch? Your husband specifically said to buy something designer. He gave you his card for a reason. He wants you to get something you’ll like.”

“I can find something I’ll like that’s less expensive.”

“Y/N, we’ve been here all afternoon and this is the first time you’ve even shown interest in something.”

“But Tae-”

“No buts. Come on.” Taehyung tightens his grip on your arm and drags you into the store, walking right up to the first salesperson he sees. “Excuse me, she’d like to try on the lace Loubotin’s in the window please.”

“Very well.” The associate looks down at your feet and then walks away into the back of the store. You take a seat on the bench and wait a few moments until she returns with a box of shoes. You take off your sandals and the woman slides the shoes on your feet, fastening them with care.

“How’d you know my size?” You ask, amazed that the shoes fit perfectly.

“It’s a gift.” She says, smiling at you. “Go ahead and stand up.”

You stand and walk over to the mirror, staring at the expensive shoes on your feet and how unbelievably cute they look.

“Y/N,” Taehyung groans. “Those are perfect. You have to get them!”

“You think so?”

“Plus they’re white, which means Yoongi will adore them.”

“I don’t know…” You mumble, still unsure.”

“I do know.” He turns to the saleswoman. “We’ll take them.”

“Just so you know, they cost-”

“Nope. I don’t want to know.” Taehyung leans over and grabs your wallet out of your purse, taking out Yoongi’s credit card and handing it to the woman. “Just ring them up.”

The next minute, you’re walking out of the store, expensive ass shoes in hand, your heart having palpitations from all the money you just spent, but Taehyung refused to tell you how much, and even threw out the receipt before you could look.

“Now we just need to find you a dress to go with your shoes.”

“Tae, why are we even doing this?” You ask.

“Because Yoongi told us to?”

“Yeah, but why?” You repeat as he tugs you into the next store.

Taehyung smiles at you. “Because Yoongi wants to show you off. Which means he wants you to wear something sexy to show everyone how hot you are, which means he’s probably going to fuck you tomorrow night after the party.”

You choke on the water you just took a sip of. “Are you always so crude?”

“How long have you known me?” He asks as he looks at ties.

You roll your eyes. “Too long. But Yoongi’s not going to fuck me. He doesn’t want to. If he did, he would’ve done it by now.”

“What are you talking about?”

“We’ve been married for two months, he’s had plenty of chances!”

“Aren’t you the one who said he’s slowly starting to show more skinship with you?”

“Well, yeah, but that’s different. And it’s usually just in front of people who think we’re actually in love.”

“Y/N,” Taehyung sighs as he stops looking through a rack of dress shirts, clearly exasperated. “I don’t know how I can make this any more clear. Yoongi’s fucking into you. Okay? He likes you.”

“He does not.” You insist.

“You just… You’re too close to it, you can’t see what I see.”

“And what is it that you see?”

“The way he looks at you doll. It’s the same way my parents look at each other, the way your parents looked at each other… The way you looked at those fucking shoes.” He teases. “He sent you out today so he can show you off to the world tomorrow night. He wants to show everyone what’s his and his alone.”

“...You really think so?”

“Yes. So stop questioning yourself and let’s make you look hot!”

“Alright, fine. What kind of dress?”

It took two hours to find the perfect dress, by the time you were at the register, the mall was about to close. You walk into your apartment exhausted, your bags in hand as you shut the door behind you when you are immediately wrapped in two strong arms and knocked back up against the door.

“Oof!” You recognize the cologne as Yoongi’s and stand there a bit stunned. “Yoongi…?”

He pulls back and cups your face in his hands and you look around the apartment to see Namjoon, Seokjin, Yoongi’s father and Big Kim are all present. “Where have you been? Why haven’t you answered your phone?”

“I didn’t have it with me, I think I left it at the club. What’s wrong?” Yoongi seems unable to speak as he strokes his thumb across your cheek, his eyes red and puffy as though he’s been crying, so you look elsewhere for answers. 

“We got a hit that Busan was following you to the mall.” Yoongi’s dad explains. “We checked it out and sent several of our guys down to protect you, but when they got there, they couldn’t find you or Little Kim, and when you didn’t answer your phones, we could only assume the worst.”

“Oh my god. We didn’t go to the usual place, Taehyung and I went to Daehyun. We had no idea.” You look back at Yoongi to see nothing but worry on his face. “I’m so sorry.”

“I thought they got you…” Yoongi whispers, pulling you close to press a lingering kiss against your forehead before wrapping you in a tight embrace, all for show you’re sure. 

“Well, as long as everything’s good here, we’ll head home.” Big Kim states. 

“I’m sorry to cause you so much trouble everyone.” Yoongi lets you go enough that you can bow in apology to the rest of the men in the apartment.

“It’s what we’re here for joka.” Big Kim assures you as he walks over and opens the door. “Let’s go kids.” He instructs the two younger men. “I’m sure these two have some things they’d like to do without us standing here gawking.” When the two boys still don’t move, Big Kim snaps his fingers. “Hey, let’s go.” Namjoon and Seokjin suddenly scramble to follow Big Kim out the door, Yoongi’s dad bringing up the rear. 

“I’m glad you’re safe Y/N-ah.” He offers you a smile before heading out and shutting the door behind you. 

You relax a little when they all leave until you realize Yoongi is still holding onto your waist, tightly. “Y-Yoongi.” You whisper. His gaze snaps up to meet yours. “I’m okay.” You smile softly and reach up to cup his cheek. “I’m here.”

“Right.” He immediately drops his arm. “Sorry.”

You feel a little sad at the loss of his touch. “Why don’t we get some sleep, hm? We’re going to be up late tomorrow at the party.”

“Yeah, you’re right.” Yoongi nods.

“I’m going to hang my dress up, I’ll be right there.”

“You can hang it up in my closet.” Yoongi offers.

“I’ll be right down the hall.” You assure him. “Besides, I want this to be a surprise.”

“Okay, just hurry.” Yoongi nods.

You head down to your room and take out your dress, hanging it up so that it doesn’t wrinkle, and putting your box of shoes underneath before changing into your pajamas and heading back to Yoongi’s room.

Yoongi’s sitting on his bed, flipping through channels on the tv, until he sees you come in and immediately forgets what he was doing. You climb under the covers with him and he scoots right up next to you, wrapping an arm around your waist and resting his chin on your shoulder, surprising you a bit; usually he ends up cuddling you in his sleep, it’s never intentional. 

“Yoongi… Are you okay?”

“I’m just… I’m glad you’re safe.” Yoongi whispers. You can’t think of anything to say in response, so you just hum contentedly as the two of you drift off.

The next day you wake up to an empty bed and look over on the nightstand to see a note; Yoongi always leaves you one now when he goes to work before you wake up.

I’m working late so I’ll meet you at the party. I can’t wait to see you. 9 o’clock. -Yoongi

You spend the morning putting about the apartment, flipping through make up tutorials online to try and figure out what to do with your face tonight. After you eat dinner, you finally decide on something and get to work, a natural looking eye with a dark nude lip; your dress will draw enough eyes. You leave your hair down in loose waves on your shoulders. When it’s time, you shimmy into the underwear Taehyung forced you to buy yesterday. “You don’t wear a bra with this kind of dress, but you should definitely have some cute underwear to balance it out!” Was his excuse. Then you slide into your dress, a white floor length, skin tight halter top with a low back, a deep v neck, and a mermaid bottom. You swear this thing cost more than your wedding dress. You sit on your bed and slip your shoes on before standing and taking a look at yourself in the mirror. 

Somethings missing. You open up your jewelry box and dig through until you find them; your mother’s favorite dangling pearl earrings and one lone pearl strung on a low hanging silver necklace, the pearl itself settling right between your cleavage. You quickly put the jewelry on before taking another look in the mirror. Perfect. You grab your clutch before heading out, locking the apartment behind you and heading down to the curb where Taehyung is waiting for you.

He whistles when he sees you come out of the building. “Damn doll, you look smoking!” He hollers at you as you walk up and open the door.

“Shut up.” You roll your eyes as you get in. The two of you listen to music as Taehyung drives to the club. It’s not a far drive, maybe ten minutes, but the entire time you’re fussing with your boobs. Taehyung parks the car and you both hop out and you walk toward the club’s back entrance. “This feels wrong.” You complain, still messing with your dress. “Something’s wrong.”

“Nothing’s wrong.” Taehyung smacks your hands away from your chest. “It looks sexy.”

“I feel like I’m going to have a nip slip.” You whine.

“I told you to buy dress tape, but you didn’t listen to me.” Taehyung reminds you. “But you’re supposed to show a little side boob.” He stops and adjusts your dress for you, making the fabric sit just right on your breasts. “There. Better?”

“Maybe…” You huff. “Why is it that you can do these things and I can’t?”

“I’ve had a lot more experience taking off and putting on clothes than you have.” You roll your eyes at the smirk plastered on Taehyung’s face and walk away from him. “Come on, that was funny!” He calls after you, running after you as you open the door.

“Why didn’t we go in the front door?” You ask as you walk down the long back hallway, past Yoongi’s office and the kitchen to the dining room doors.

“Because we always come in this way, it’s more dramatic.”

“Whatever, let’s just go.” You state, pushing open the door and walking into the room. 

It’s already filled with people, you look at your phone to see it’s 9:15; you’re late, but just barely. You look around to see if you can spot your husband, but you can’t find him until Taehyung nudges your side and points at the bar where you see Yoongi slumped over, staring at his beer, a bit dejectedly. Is something the matter?

“He’s probably just waiting for you.” Taehyung whispers, reading your mind. “Go get him, I’ll meet up with you later when you’re ready to leave.” You nod and feel Taehyung’s hand leave your back as he disappears into the crowd. You straighten yourself up and head over to the bar, tapping Yoongi on the shoulder.

“Is this seat taken handsome?” You coo.

He holds up his left hand, not even looking at you and fiddles with his wedding ring. “Married. Thanks.”

“I know.” You giggle. This causes Yoongi to look up at you, his eyes going wide when he realizes it’s you, they grow even wider when he takes in the sight of you in the skin tight dress. 

“Holy shit…” He mumbles, not even trying to hide his hungry eyes raking over your body before they meet yours again. “Y/N, you look amazing.”

“Good enough to show off?” You ask.

“Perfect.” Yoongi finishes his beer and the orders you a drink before wrapping his arm around your waist and whisking you around to show you off. You meet several official looking businessmen that are apparently investors of your lifestyle as they back the family before you run into Yoongi’s dad.

“Happy birthday!” You cheer, giving him a hug.

“Thank you so much Y/N-ah.” He smiles wide.

“I got you something while I was out yesterday, I hope you don’t mind?” You ask, taking the carefully wrapped package out of your clutch, still unsure as to how you got it to fit in there, even after you took it out of the box.

“Well, I’m not going to say no to a present!” He claps his hands excitedly as you hand him the gift which he quickly tears into. 

“I heard Yoongi saying you needed a new one.” You explain as he takes the watch out of the wrapping. “I hope you like it.”

He admires the beauty of the new watch and beams at you before fastening it to his wrist where the tan line of his old watch sits. “It’s beautiful joka, thank you. What an amazing daughter-in-law!” He says, a little louder than normal, obviously trying to impress someone nearby, and apparently it works. A tall, muscular, and rather intimidating man walks over to your small circle.

“What are you barking about Min?” He asks, slapping Yoongi’s dad on the back.

“Look,” He holds out his wrist. “My wonderful daughter-in-law gave this to me!”

“Ah, the elusive Choi girl is finally here?”

“She’s a Min now Hanbin.” He gestures to you. “This is her. Y/N, this is one of my oldest friends, Park Hanbin.”

“Pleasure.” Hanbin sticks his hand out for you to shake, but when you do, a chill runs down your spine. Something about this guy seems off.

“The pleasure’s mine.” You smile sweetly as he looks you over, pursing his lips.

“Yoongi.” He nods at Yoongi before glancing at you again. “You seem to be doing well for yourself.”

“Always good to see you Mr. Park.” Yoongi nods back, protectively tightening his grip on your waist.

“Well,” He turns back to Yoongi’s dad. “Afraid I have to cut out early. The misses is calling.”

“You better run home.” Yoongi’s dad jokes, clearly having delved into the liquor quite a bit already.

“I’ll see you next time.” He shakes Yoongi’s dad’s hand and then Yoongi’s. “It was nice to finally meet you Y/N. I’ll see you around I’m sure.” He gives you a sly smile and then walks away, disappearing into the fray.

“Yoongi, there’s a few more people you two should meet.” Yoongi’s dad states, ushering you both in the direction of the bar.

You meet about twenty more people, including Namjoon and Seokjin’s mom and dad; honestly, you didn’t know the two were brothers they’re so different; but after you escape and have a few more drinks, you find yourself out on the dancefloor with Yoongi. You arms are wrapped around his neck and his around your waist as you both sway slowly. A few songs in, you decide to ask the question lingering in the back of your mind.

“Yoongi, how does your dad know Hanbin?”

“Mr. Park? They grew up together. They were friends all through high school.”

“Does he… Does he know about-”

“The family business?” Yoongi shakes his head. “As far as he knows, my parents are just happily retired.”

“How did he know my last name?”

Yoongi ponders this for a moment, then shrugs. “My dad probably mentioned your family once or twice as friends, that’s all. He wasn’t around to be able to come to the wedding, otherwise you would’ve met him there.” You simply nod, something about than man bothered you, but you can’t put your finger on it. Yoongi seems to sense your discomfort. “Y/N, what’s wrong?”

“Hm? Oh, nothing, I-” You look around for an excuse when you see several pairs of eyes around the room staring at you.”

“Everyone’s just… T-they’re all staring.” You mumble.

“Because you look amazing Y/N-ah. If I was them, I’d be staring too. Your ass looks incredible in that dress.” He suddenly stops moving as he realizes what he said, the alcohol clearly having an effect on him tonight, and you can’t help but giggle.

“You think so?”

“Definitely.” He nods, his cheeks turning pink as he starts to sway again.

“Well I have to say, I’ve always liked the look of you in a fitted suit.” You admit.

“Really?” Yoongi looks a bit shocked by your confession.

“Yoongi, do you not realize how handsome you are?”

“Me? Uh… Not really. Taehyung’s way more handsome than me.”

You shake your head. “You’re different kinds of handsome.” Yoongi looks at you, confused so you explain. “Taehyung is goofy handsome. You’re quietly handsome.”

“I’m… I guess that makes sense.”

“You’re hot stuff Yoongi, just accept it.”

Yoongi chuckles. “If you say so.”

“I do.” You confirm before resting your head on his shoulder. You sway for a bit longer before you hear Yoongi’s voice, low in your ear.

“You’re beautiful…” He whispers, making you shoot back up in surprise as a shiver runs through you.

“R-really?” You stutter. He nods, his gaze flickering between your eyes and your lips.

Are you drunk or does Yoongi want to kiss you right now? Your eyes flash down to his lips, catching a glimpse of his tongue flicking out to wet them and suddenly your head is spinning with arousal. One of Yoongi’s hands comes up to cup your cheek, his thumb brushing your skin before he pulls you close, pressing his lips to yours for the first time since your wedding.

His lips are just as soft as you remember, but they feel needier now than they did before. He quickly tilts his head to deepen the kiss, filling your senses with bliss until he pulls away, both of you suddenly out of breath. Yoongi searches your face, looking for some sort of emotion, but all you can do is smile shyly as you look away and blush. Yoongi looks like he’s about to say something, but he’s interrupted by a voice from behind you.

“Y/N-ah! It’s getting late, are you guys ready to head home?” Taehyung asks, slinging his arms around your and Yoongi’s shoulders. 

“Yes.” Yoongi nods quickly. “We’re ready.”

“Perfect. I’m parked out back, let’s go.” Taehyung walks away, and Yoongi grabs your hand, tugging you along after him. You grab your clutch from behind the bar, say goodnight to everyone and then head out the back door, but as you go to sit up front with Taehyung, Yoongi stops you and pushes you into the backseat before climbing in with you and shutting the door, never letting go of your hand. 

“What am I, your chauffeur?” Taehyung asks as he pulls out into traffic.

“Just drive.” Yoongi grumbles. As you drive he squeezes your hand in between both of his, rubbing the back of it with his thumb, you can’t help but stare at his long slender fingers, entranced by the way they move until one of his hands starts pulling at the fabric of your dress, hiking it up until he can slip his hand under the fabric onto your bare high, your breath hitches as his fingers move closer and closer to your center before quickly slipping under the lace.

You feel him hesitate for just a second before his fingers find your clit, making your gasp and slap your hand over your mouth. Yoongi’s not even looking at you, but man is he paying attention; every little twitch of his fingers that makes you whimper, he memorizes and uses it against you until finally he sinks two of those long slender fingers into your core as a whine slips past your lips.

You catch Taehyung’s gaze in the mirror and he raises an eyebrow, but you shake your head and turn your gaze out the window, your face flushed red. Your breathing picks up as the hand that isn’t covering your mouth reaches out and grabs Yoongi’s thigh, squeezing it tightly as you silently beg him to stop, but he ignores you, curling his fingers up into your g spot. You can’t help the gasp that slips past your lips as you bend over, grabbing Yoongi’s arm and stopping his motions just as Taehyung pulls up in front of your building.

Yoongi quickly slips his fingers out of you, popping them in his mouth as he opens the door and steps out of the car. You have to stop for a moment and give yourself a reality check. Did that just happen? You tug your dress down as Taehyung opens the door for you. Did Yoongi just finger you? Out of nowhere?

Before you even realize it, Yoongi has your arm and is walking you toward your building. You wave goodbye to Taehyung, who is nice enough to wait until you get into your building to drive away. You and Yoongi step into the elevator, and suddenly it’s quiet; the only thing you hear is the pounding of your heart in your ears. Now he chooses to  be completely silent?

Yoongi still has a hold of your hand as he walks out of the elevator and punches the code into the keypad, unlocking the door and leading you into your apartment. The two of you stand in the entryway after he shuts the door and take your shoes off, but after they come off, you can’t bring yourself to move. What the hell happened in the car? And why isn’t he saying anything now? Did you do something wrong? Did you- Mmph!

Yoongi pushes you back up into the wall and plants his lips back on yours, grabbing your hips and pulling you close to his body. The sudden action takes you by surprise, but you don’t waste a second in kissing him back, tugging at his dress shirt to get him closer to you. Yoongi’s hands slip around to your back, caressing your skin as his tongue slips into your mouth for the first time; he tastes like you. His kisses only grow more and more needy as you stand pinned between him and the wall until he reaches his hands down and grabs your ass, squeezing it tightly, causing you to moan and break the kiss.

Yoongi doesn’t even stop, his lips trail to your neck, leaving hot, wet kisses against your throat. You gasp with each touch of his lips against you, your nerves electrified as your arousal swirls in the pit of your stomach, your panties already soaked through. Is this it? Is this really happening? Are you finally going to have sex with Yoongi?

“Y-Yoongi…” You whimper.

This causes Yoongi to stop, his forehead resting on your shoulder as he catches his breath. “Shit…” He curses. “Y/N-ah, I’m so sorry I… I should’ve asked in the car and I-”

“Don’t apologize, please.”

“We don’t have to… I mean. I feel like I’m- You can say no.”

“Yoongi.” You grab his face and force him to look at you. “I-I want this. I need this, I want… I want you, please.” You beg.

That’s all it takes. Suddenly you’re being pulled into Yoongi’s room, the door is shut behind you and his lips are back on yours. Yoongi is uncontrollably needy now, his lips are all over you; your own lips, your neck, your shoulder; and his hands are following close behind; caressing your neck, your back, your hips, your ass, pulling you as close to him as he possibly can. His tongue slips back into your mouth as his hands slide down to your chest, groping you over your dress before pulling back in surprise.

“No bra?”

“You don’t wear a bra with this type of dress.” You repeat Taehyung’s words, smirking at Yoongi.

“Then I’m glad you bought it.”Yoongi smiles back, bringing his hands to your back and unzipping the dress before reaching up to the clasp around your neck, undoing it, and letting the fabric fall to the floor. “You looked sexy as hell tonight.” He groans, walking you over to the bed, letting your knees hit the mattress before you fall back, Yoongi falling on top of you, his knees on either side of you as his lips latch back to yours. “It took everything in me to keep my hands off of you.”

“Why’d you try so hard?” You tease. Yoongi pauses and climbs off you, standing up. Wait, you didn’t want him to stop. “Yoongi-”

“Because I didn’t know you wanted it this badly.” Now it’s his turn to smirk as he shrugs off his jacket, never taking his eyes off your body as he takes off his tie and starts to unbutton his shirt.

“You didn’t ask.” You sit up and pull him to you by the hem of his shirt and start to help him with the buttons, staring up at him, admiring the way his hair falls into his eyes at this angle, making him seem more mischievous than normal.

When you get his shirt undone, you part the fabric and your hands explore his toned abdomen, loving the pale translucence of his skin tone, until your hands find the waistband of his dress pants, meeting his gaze for permission. He nods, ever so slightly and you smile before unbuttoning then and pulling down the zipper, you’re about to grab the waistband when Yoongi pushes you down on the bed, drops his pants and then scoots you back, climbing on the bed between your legs before his lips find your neck again, leaving hot kisses along your skin before he reaches your collarbone and decides to bite down, sending pleasure sparking through your body.

“Yoongi…” You gasp.

“Does that feel good?”

“Mm.” You nod, blushing. “I-I like to be bit.”

“Lucky for you, I like to bite.” He leans back down and bites you again on your shoulder, then your neck, then your chest, then he slides down to your breasts, squeezing them tightly before biting down harshly on the top of each of them, causing you to let out a small moan.

Yoongi then flicks one of your nipples before pulling the other into his mouth, sucking on it harshly before tugging on it with his teeth, causing your back to arch off the bed from pleasure.

“A-Ah~ Oh god…” You whimper, your hands gripping the sheets. While his mouth stays on your breasts, one of Yoongi’s hands slips down between your thighs, touching you over your panties again.

“God, you’re still so wet.” He muses, pushing the soaked lace out of the way and touching you directly, his fingers deftly slipping into your folds and circling your clit.

“Y-Yoong-i.” You whine, your hips bucking up into his hand.

“What’s got you so worked up Y/N-ah?”

“I-I-”

“You just want to be touched, don’t you?” He teases, tracing his fingers around your entrance.

“Y-yes.” You moan, trying to get him to slip the digits inside you, but instead he pulls away. You whine as the loss of sensation until he grabs your underwear and yanks them down your legs, allowing you to catch a glimpse of his hardness in his tight boxers until he starts to play with his own waistband, but then changes his mind.

"You're so beautiful." He mumbles, laying at your side as he presses his lips to your neck, spreading your legs before slipping those two fingers from the car back into your core. Your head falls back against the mattress as Yoongi's fingers curl inside you, rubbing right against your g spot and making your head spin. Suddenly, you feel your release creeping up on you at a rapid pace, and it only takes a few more well placed thrusts of his fingers before you come undone, your body quivering at his touch. He coasts you through your orgasm the best he can with the way your thighs squeeze together.

"God, you're even more beautiful when you cum." Yoongi groans, sitting back up and grabbing his boxers. He takes a deep breath and pushes them down his legs, revealing his length; you watch it bounce as he throws his boxers to the floor, your mouth watering at the sight.

He follows your gaze and blushes before scooting up between your legs, his long cock brushing your folds, making your shiver with anticipation. “Um. It’s… It’s been a while for me so I don’t know how long I’ll last.” He admits.

“It’s okay.” You smile up at him with a small giggle. “It took me, what. Two minutes?”

He chuckles as he leans over you, giving you one last lingering kiss before he pushes his hips forward. You gasp harshly as Yoongi’s cock slips inside you, not having been stretched out for a while, there’s a slight burn, but it feels oh so delicious. Yoongi holds his breath, only letting it out in short pants when he’s completely seated inside you.

“H-holy shit.” He groans. “You already- Are… Are you always this tight?”

You can only whine in response, wrapped up in the feeling of him inside you, your core contracting in pleasure. You wrap your legs around Yoongi’s waist, urging him to move by digging your heels into his back. He gets the message and pulls his hips back before quickly snapping them into you, making the two of you simultaneously moan out. After that, Yoongi can’t hold back. He thrusts into you over and over, moaning and groaning above you, filling you up so wonderfully. One of your hands grips his shoulder for support, the other finds purchase in his hair, tugging on his dark black locks in pleasure.

“F-feels so good.” You whimper. “Yoongi…”

He grunts in your ear, resting his forehead on your shoulder as he picks up his pace, slamming into you relentlessly, causing a lewd squelching sound between your legs from just how wet you are. You’ve been waiting for this for so long, the anticipation alone has you a mess, but it’s even better than you imagined, better than you ever dreamt. You whine with each thrust, your breasts bouncing as sweat forms on your body.

Yoongi’s not faring much better; his hair is damp, his chest sticky where it presses against yours. He sits back on his knees and plunges into you even deeper, hitting spots inside you that have you seeing stars. You study him; the way his chest heaves, the way his muscles ripple, the way his arm veins pop out, the way his eyes close, the way his brow furrows in concentration; you’ve never seen him look this sexy before, but it turns you on like nothing else, your core contracting harshly around Yoongi’s length, causing him to gasp as his hips stutter.

“Fuck, I-I’m not going to l-last.”

“Yoongi p-please…” Yoongi takes a deep breath, slowing down his thrusts to make them intentional, purposeful, wiggling his hips around until he finds your spot. “Oh god, right there!” You moan. “Fuck~”

“Cum for me Y/N. Please.” Yoongi begs, thrusting into your g-spot over and over. To help, Yoongi slips a hand between your bodies, circling your clit harshly, causing your release to hit you sooner than expected.

“Y-Yoongi!” You cry out, your back arching off the bed as you orgasm harshly, your core spasming around his cock as your body shudders beneath him.

“Oh god, ohh fuck~” Yoongi curses, riding out your orgasm before quickly pulling out and stroking himself to release on your lower abdomen, some of the hot white mess dripping down into your folds.

Yoongi sits back on his knees, his chest heaving as he tries to catch his breath while you’re still slightly out of it from your own orgasm. Yoongi quickly climbs off the bed and pulls on his boxers before heading into the bathroom. You lie on the bed, still trying to process if this was real or not when Yoongi comes back with a damp washcloth. He cleans up the mess he made between your thighs before throwing the cloth into the laundry basket as he walks to his dresser. He pulls out a t shirt and tosses it to you before climbing into bed with you, just watching as you lay down.

You turn and look at him. “ Is everything okay?” You ask.

“Um, was that… I’m sorry. Are you- Did I-” He sighs before laying on his back. “Nevermind.”

You scoot over to him and lay your head on his chest before wrapping your arms around his waist. “It was great.” You assure him. You can feel him relax under you before he pulls you close, burying his face in your hair, humming happily, and it isn’t long after that that you drift off.

When you wake up the next morning, the bed next to you is empty. You frown a bit as you stretch. You had hoped Yoongi wouldn't immediately head off to work, but you guess some things can't be helped. You sit up and are about to get out of bed when the door to Yoongi's room opens. You look over to see Yoongi coming in with a tray in his hands, dressed in a t shirt and sweats. When he sees you're awake he smiles.

"M-morning." He mumbles walking over to the bed and sitting down in front of you, placing the tray down between the two of you.

"Good morning." You smile sweetly at him. "You're not at work?" You ask looking down at the tray as your stomach rumbles; omurice, and it looks amazing.

"I decided to stay home. I wanted to make you breakfast, a-and i thought maybe we could spend the day together? We haven't for a while s-so... yeah..."

"That sounds great." You nod and grab a fork before digging in. "And this looks amazing. I didn't know you could cook!"

"I can sometimes I guess. I just.. wanted to make something for you."

"What's the occasion?"

"It's a t-thank you. For last night..." He admits, scratching his neck as he avoids your gaze.

You pause and look at him for a moment, swallowing before you say something. "You're... thanking me for... Sex?"

“I-I didn’t want you to think I just did it because I was drunk. I’ve- Well, I’ve wanted to for a while I just didn’t… I didn’t know how to ask.”

“Really?” You smile up at him.

“Are you kidding? Do you know how often you turn me on? Walking around in your little shorts and no bra? Helping you get out of the tub?” He smirks. “I should’ve asked sooner, but I think the alcohol made me braver.”

“I’m glad it did.” You say, taking another bite. "So what did you want to do today?"

"I was thinking um... maybe we could stay in bed and watch movies?" He suggests.

You can't help but giggle. "Are we actually going to watch the movies?"

"That depends." He smirks.

"On what?"

"If you're going to need a break or not."

You laugh full out now. "Can I at least finish breakfast?"

Yoongi nods, taking a bite for himself. "You'll need your strength."

Copyright © Inkjam-Moon 2019

[echoes-of-realities]

be my fire in the cold (and I'll be waiting by the mistletoe) - 21/25

* * *

[From the Start] // [Fanfiction] // [ao3]

[Previous Chapter] // [Next Chapter]

Chapter Summary: Brittany invites Santana over for Christmas supper; Santana should have known that the Pierce’s would all be as endearingly charming as Brittany.

Notes: Thanks for being so patient the past couple days! My school year started late so they pushed our end of term late too, so this week has been crazy busy but the chapter’s here now and it’s still on time in my timezone lmao.

Forgive any mistakes in this because I just did one last checkover while severely sleep deprived lmao. Tomorrow’s chapter will either be up early morning or late afternoon!

Chapter 21: hot chocolates and crackers and family smiles

///

Santana’s drifting in and out of a dream filled with blonde hair and blue eyes when she registers that her phone is ringing. She groans and buries herself further under her blanket, desperate for even a couple more seconds of sleep. After all the excitement yesterday she had thought she would immediately crash after crawling into bed last night, but she ended up wide awake for most of the night, her mind continuing to replay the disbelieving and overjoyed look on Brittany’s face once she saw her family sitting there in that back room. Despite all that she’s overcome and done in her life, she’s pretty sure her proudest moment was last night, when Brittany turned back to her with that tender, adoring on expression on her face that made it impossible for Santana to doubt that Brittany returns her feelings.

She’s, like, almost one-hundred percent positive that Brittany is as in love with her as Santana is with Brittany, because the look on her face last night was so simple and honest that Santana can’t imagine what else it could be.

Her phone stops ringing and she sighs, still drifting between sleep and consciousness, but there’s barely a moment of silence before it starts ringing again, finally tipping her towards consciousness. Santana grumbles as she emerges from her pile of blankets and glares at her vibrating phone on the bedside table. It’s a two show day, which means she really should answer her phone in case there’s some emergency at the theatre that desperately needs to be addressed, but that doesn’t mean she’s going to be happy about it.

She finally grabs her phone and answers it with a grunt that could, generously, be interpreted as a hello.

The laughter that answers her is like the best alarm clock in the world.

“Brittany!” Santana says, and instantly she’s wide awake. She wonders if she could record Brittany’s laugh and use that as an alarm instead of whatever prerecorded sounds are on her phone because it does a much better job of waking her up than her real one.

“Took you long enough to answer grumpypants,” Brittany teases, and the smile in her voice brings one to Santana’s face in return.

“I thought you where the ghosts of the theatre trying to get me to come in early,” Santana yawns.

“Forget the ghosts of Christmas past, the ones with bowties and too big egos are much more terrifying,” Brittany agrees with a laugh.

Santana hums and lets her eyes close, pretending, just for a moment, that Brittany’s voice isn’t coming through her phone and is instead right beside her. She imagines how nice it would be to be wrapped around Brittany right now; Brittany’s always so warm and Santana’s always so cold, and she always sleeps the best when Brittany’s breathing is the soundtrack for her dreams, her heartbeat lulling her to sleep like—

“—so would you like to?”

Santana blinks her eyes open, startling back to the present. “I’m sorry, what?”

Brittany laughs, high and fluttery, and Santana can hear the hint of nerves radiating from the sound. “Did you fall back asleep?”

“No,” Santana protests immediately, and then, after Brittany’s little disbelieving noise, she adds sheepishly, “Maybe a little?”

Brittany giggles and there’s a moment of silence where they just listen to the other smile before Brittany restarts her question. “I was saying, before you so rudely fell asleep on me—”

“Hey!” Santana protests around a laugh. “It’s not my fault you called at,” she pulls her phone away from her head to check the time, “seven thirteen in the morning!”

“—that Holly gave me the day off since my family’s here,” Brittany continues as if Santana hadn’t interrupted her, “and it would give Jane some real experience on stage. So I was wondering if you wanted to have Christmas supper with my family tonight?” she asks and basically causes all of Santana’s body to shut down as all functions are redirected towards trying to stop her heart from leaping out of her chest.

“Really?” she whispers, “I don’t wanna, like, intrude or anything.”

“You wouldn’t be,” Brittany hurries to insist. “My mom suggested it, actually, and I’d—” Brittany’s voice drops to a whisper and for a moment Santana feels like they might be the only two people in the entire world, “I’d really love it if you came.”

Santana’s heart swells in her chest until it feels too big and too bright for her body to contain it, and then just as quickly a sudden, disappointing thought strikes her and her heart crumples and shrinks like a crumped up paper towel. “Britt, I’d love to,” she sighs, “but it’s a two show day. I won’t be out of the theatre until, like, after eleven.”

“Well,” Brittany drawls sheepishly, “I may have mentioned that to Holly and she may have offered to give you the second show off, since you were hired on such short notice with no complaint and Holly said she really appreciated it and you deserve a little break and also so Quinn can get some more experience running the show. Only if you want of course!” Brittany adds hurriedly. “No pressure or anything! I totally get it if you don’t want to because you don’t know my family and I know they can kinda be a bit much sometim—”

“I’d love to,” Santana interrupts quietly, and she can hear Brittany’s teeth click as her jaw snaps closed.

“Really?” she breathes.

Santana grins into the darkness and snuggles further into her blankets, the warmth surrounding her nothing compared to the warmth in Brittany’s voice. “Definitely,” she promises.

Santana just listens to Brittany smile for a long moment, before Brittany manages a “Cool” that barely contains her happiness it’s so bright and warm. “You can just come over after the matinee or whenever. Mercedes and Sam are coming after the evening show too, so.”

“Okay, see you then,” Santana murmurs.

“See you,” Brittany whispers and there’s a beat of silence, a farewell missing that is unspoken but not unfelt, before they both whisper bye and the same time and giggle as they hang up.

Santana clutches her phone tightly in her hand and turns to bury her face into her pillow, willing herself not to burst from the dizzying force of the love that courses through her body, before she finally gets out of bed to get ready for the show.

///

Santana spends the entirety of rehearsals and the matinee being mercilessly teased by, in turn, Quinn, Mercedes, Mike, and then Tina.

At least Tina is helpful about her teasing; Quinn just smirks at her the entire morning of rehearsals and then even more during show, somehow both amused and haughty, Mercedes and Mike won’t stop making kissy faces and cooing at her the entire lunch break when she eats with them, both of them ganging up on her completely unfairly, but Tina is the only one who is actually useful while she’s teasing. She helps Santana redo her makeup after the matinee so its less I’m an exhausted production stage manager don’t talk to me or I’ll snap and more I’m confidently meeting my not-yet-a-girlfriend girlfriend’s parents despite not being confident, like, at all, and then helping Santana pick out an outfit without either of them even being near her closet because Tina just knows her so well.

“I can’t believe you’re actually worried about making a good impression,” Tina mumbles as she concentrates on getting Santana’s eyeliner just right, “You’ve already made such a good impression that I don’t think there’s any left for the rest of us.”

“That’s not how it works, twinkle toes,” Santana snarks.

“I know that you doofus,” Tina says with a dramatic eye roll, “I’m just showing you how absolutely ridiculous you sound for thinking even for a second that her family won’t like you.”

“I know it’s just—” Santana cuts herself off and looks away quickly. She looks so fretful that Tina doesn’t even scold her for almost causing Tina to draw a black line across her temple with the eyeliner. “If— If Brittany and I start dating,” Tina snorts a little because please they’ve basically been dating since the moment they met, “She’s never going to meet my family, unless they all pull their heads out of their homophobic asses, which will probably happen about the same time I marry a man, so never.” Tina quiets and gently strokes her hand over Santana’s shoulder until Santana finally glances back up with a slightly watery smile. “That’s why this is so important,” she continues quietly, “Because they’re— I don’t have anyone to introduce her to and— I mean—”

“Hey, hey, hey,” Tina coos before Santana’s tears can even fully form, “I get it. I know why this means so much to you— You’re getting the chance to have a family again.” Santana just nods, not trusting herself to speak, and Tina lets her wallow for a moment before she smiles a little. “But you don’t gotta worry about that. After yesterday I already know her parents adore you, and I only meet them in passing.”

Santana sighs and murmurs her thanks, tilting her head back up and allowing Tina to return to carefully applying Santana’s makeup.

“Tina?” Santana says quietly, and Tina hums a little in acknowledgement as she carefully taps the mascara brush to Santana’s eyelashes. “I already have a family,” she admits quietly.

There’s really nothing Tina could say to that statement than what Santana’s already said, so instead she just folds Santana into her arms and holds her tightly. “You know Mike and I have arguments all the time about which of us gets you for our future wedding party,” she jokes, as if this hasn’t been a real concern whenever Mike and Tina discuss their hypothetical future wedding, “Mike insists on claiming you as his best woman because you two are bros but I always call dips on you as my maid of honour because I knew you first and finders keepers, losers weepers, Michael.”

Santana’s laughter is muffled against her shoulder. “I should totally exploit this and make you duel each other for my affections.”

“Oooh that’s a good idea,” Tina says mock-seriously, and then, completely serious, “I’d crush Mike though.”

Santana giggles and settles again, her insecurity fading under Tina’s comforting embrace.

///

Santana hasn’t had Christmas with anyone besides her mom, and sometimes her mom’s chill younger sister when she’s in the country, since her abuela disowned her all the way back in high school. It’s stung deeply every year no matter how hard her mom would work to keep her mind from dwelling on the thought, but now, surrounded by the laughter and playful teasing of the Pierces, it feels like a distant memory of another life.

She’s spent the last four Christmases alone, but watching Brittany and her sister gang up on their dad with two rolls of wrapping paper while she helps Whitney cut up vegetables in the kitchen reminds her why she used to love the holiday so much when she was younger; back when her abuela would hold her hand at midnight mass and sneak her chocolates from her pocket when the minister wasn’t looking, when her and her cousins would terrorize the neighbourhood with their Crazy Carpets and sleds, when her mom would always wake her up in the morning so they could make homemade cinnamon buns, just the two of them, for breakfast before opening their presents, Santana’s presents always wrapped with care after her mom picked up so many overtime shifts to afford whatever Santana wanted for Christmas that year, her mom’s presents always sloppily handmade or cheaply bought with the money she got for walking Mrs. Sandia’s dog from down the street.

She forgot what it’s like to be surrounded by the joyful chaos of a family who loves so loud.

A hand on her arm startles her out of her thoughts and she jolts a little, turning to find Whitney smiling softly at her. “Penny for your celery,” she says quietly.

Santana glances down in surprise; she hadn’t even realized she was finished slicing the celery. She should probably pay more attention and not zone out when she has a knife so close to precious fingertips. She quickly sets the knife down and allows Whitney to reach across her and take the cutting board so she can dump the celery into the stuffing. “I just—” Santana starts, and then quiets for a long moment. “I just forgot how much I missed this,” she finally admits, quiet and honest. “My extended family didn’t really like that I’m— Well I haven’t seen them since I was in high school, and for so long it was just me and my mom which was perfectly fine with me. But then after—  After everything, it was just me after.”

Whitney sets the cutting board down and turns to pull Santana into a tight hug, her arms strong and warm just like Brittany’s always are and the thought makes Santana smile. “Blood doesn’t always create love,” she says wisely, and Santana’s eyes wander to the living room and catch on Brittany and her dad, giggling as they hang garland from the window.

They look nothing alike; Brittany’s about a foot taller and all California girl beauty, blonde hair and sparkling blue eyes and summer sun freckles where her dad is straight hair and coffee dark eyes and clear skin, but they have the same smile, one that quirks their lips up and spreads them thin, scrunching their cheeks up to their eyes until they’re actually glowing from within, a smile that Santana can’t help but return whenever she sees it no matter what’s going on around her.

How some people don’t think that Pierce is her dad because of something as dumb as biology is beyond her; she knows better than anyone that blood doesn’t mean anything unless you choose to make it mean something.

“Thank you,” she mumbles into Whitney’s shoulder, “For letting me crash your family-time today.”

Whitney shakes her head, pressing a motherly kiss to Santana’s temple as she pulls away, releasing Santana to brush dark hair back from her face. “Of course,” she says, her lips quirking up into a small smile as she playfully pinches Santana’s cheeks before growing serious again. “You make my little girl happier than I’ve ever seen her,” she continues, and heat prickles Santana’s cheeks, “and you made today possible, so, really, thank you.”

Santana’s still blushing when Brittany wanders into the kitchen a couple minutes later, her uninhibited smile growing wider as she watches Santana and her mom work side by side in the kitchen.

“What?” Santana says self-consciously, but Brittany just shakes her head wordlessly, refusing to say anything. She doesn’t have to, because between Brittany’s bashful-hopeful look and Whitney’s knowing smile, Santana knows exactly what Brittany’s thinking, and there’s nothing she wants more than for Brittany’s thoughts to come true, for her to be doing this with the Pierces for years to come.

///

After supper Whitney and Brittany disappear to her room to hunt for a deck of cards in her closet, one that Santana promises she one-hundred percent saw when her and Brittany were looking for Christmas tree ornaments the other day. Pierce is as goofy and sweet as his daughter, and Brittany’s sister is as snarky and teasing as her sister, and Santana takes great joy in watching the Pierces and matching their characteristics and mannerisms to Brittany’s, finding that she fits in with them as easily as she fits with Brittany.

After a couple minutes of being recruited into helping Brittany’s sister hunt through the kitchen drawers to see if there’s a deck of cards there, she heads down the hallway to see if Whitney and Brittany had any luck; she’s pretty sure the deck was in the crumbling cardboard box with half its lid missing that her and Brittany shoved to the very back of the closet shelf.

The sound of her name catches her attention as she nears Brittany’s room, and she slows to a stop and pauses outside the doorway. The light from Brittany’s lamp—the lightbulb in the ceiling light went out yesterday morning and Brittany hadn’t had time to replace it yet—spills out into the hallway and casts Brittany and Whitney’s shadows long and looming on the opposite wall as she concentrates on the conversation in Brittany’s room.

“Why didn’t you ever tell me that you have a girlfriend?” Whitney asks incredulously and Santana’s heart relocates to her throat, somehow pounding in her ears all the way down to her toes. “You’ve already told me so much about Santana this past month, you could have told me she was your girlfriend not just your friend, you know I don’t care who you date as long as they treat you right, and Santana so obviously does that.”

“No, it’s not— It’s not that— It’s just—” Brittany stutters, but her mom just continues to talk over her.

“You don’t have to be embarrassed, sweetie,” Whitney promises, “your dad and I think she’s wonderful. And not just for flying us out here. I’d don’t think I’ve ever, in your whole life, seen you as happy and settled as you are around her, and she absolutely lights up whenever you walk in the room. You don’t have to be scared that we won’t approve or something. I mean how could we disapprove, we adore her already.”

“I didn’t tell you because she’s not—” Brittany stutters, and Santana can easily picture the soft flush to her cheeks, “We’re not— I mean, we are but we aren’t, you know?”

She can see Whitney shake her head in the shadow on the hallway wall. “I— I don’t think I follow.”

Brittany laughs a little, her shadow dancing a little with the motion. “It’s okay, I don’t think I was following either.”

Whitney’s shadow shifts closer to Brittany’s until they’re indistinguishable from each other. “Why don’t you try again?” she offers.

Brittany takes a deep, steadying breath, and when she speaks Santana can hear the smile in her voice. “We only went on our first official date on Monday,” she explains softly, “But we’ve kinda been unofficially dating, like, every single day since we meet, more or less.”

“So then,” Whitney’s voice trails off and Santana wonders if her brows quirk in the same way her daughter’s does.

Brittany laughs a little and it looks like her shoulders shrug by the way the shadows twitch near their combined heads. “I mean, you know me, I’m usually pretty content to just let whatever happens happen.”

“But you already know what you want,” Whitney says knowingly.

Brittany laughs again, her voice bright and happy. “Of course I do, I want to be her girlfriend for, like, a really, really, really long time.”

Santana’s pretty sure she stops breathing entirely. She had known, of course, or at least suspected, but hearing it said aloud kind of makes Santana want to run up to the rooftop and shout that Brittany S. Pierce, the most amazing and brilliant and snarky and sweet girl in the entire world, wants to be her girlfriend; no one else’s, just her girlfriend.

She takes a moment to compose herself before she sneaks back to the kitchen, finding Pierce and Brittany’s sister engaged in hot chocolate making.

“Did they find it?” Brittany’s sister asks as soon as she spots Santana.

Santana panics for a moment shrugs, opting for honesty. “I dunno, it sounded like they were having a serious conversation so I didn’t interrupt.”

Brittany’s sister eyes her for a moment—and Santana is suddenly thankful her blush is never too obvious to people who don’t know her really well—before she shrugs and turns back to the fridge to locate the whipped cream.

Pierce glances up from putting the kettle on and grins at Santana, who’s hovering awkwardly at the end of the kitchen counter. “Has Brittany ever taught you how to make our World Famous Pierce Hot Chocolate?” Pierce asks. Brittany’s sister catches Santana’s gaze over her dad’s head and rolls her eyes, circling her finger around her temple as she shakes her head, causing Santana to bite back a grin. When Santana shakes her head Pierce gasps, apparently scandalized and insulted by the fact. “Well we gotta fix that right away,” he insists, urging Santana closer, “Now it’s a secret family recipe but you seem to have a friendly face so I’ll trust you with it.”

Brittany’s sister snorts from across the kitchen at her dad’s antics. “It’s not a secret family recipe if you keep sharing it with people not named Pierce, dad,” she chides teasingly.

“Nonsense,” Pierce says with a wink in Santana’s direction, “Everyone in this household today is an honorary Pierce.”

Santana blushes at Pierce’s words—at the thought of being a Pierce—and listens avidly to the family recipe, feeling more Christmasy than she has in years.

///

By the time Santana—for the seventh time, not that anyone’s counting—gets her ass whooped by all the Pierces at every card game they know, the evening show at the theatre should just be calling half hour, which means there’s a half hour before the live action How the Grinch Stole Christmas is going to start. While Whitney and Pierce decline the next hand of Blackout and disappear into the kitchen to make popcorn and pull out all sorts of snacks, Brittany’s sister takes it upon herself to teach Santana the best way to beat Brittany. For someone who’s being ganged up on, Santana doesn’t think she’s ever seen Brittany look happier; though she would be lying if this whole day, being so easily accepted into the Pierce family, hasn’t made Santana happier than ever either.

Pierce and Whitney emerge with snacks just as Santana successfully wins her first hand for the very first time all night, and Brittany’s pout at losing is completely useless because she has to hide her smile behind her cards; Santana can still see it in her sparkling blue eyes though.

Whitney and Pierce distribute snack bowls before sinking down in the couch, Brittany’s sister quickly claiming the third cushion, glancing between the only seat left, the armchair perpendicular to the couch, and Brittany with a challenging smirk.

Santana’s a little behind on the uptake, because before she knows it she’s being dragged off the living room floor and tugged down onto Brittany’s lap in the armchair. Brittany’s soft and warm and blushing under her, and Santana’s thankful for the darkened living room because it hides her own blush as she sinks into Brittany’s arms, Brittany’s admission to her mom earlier at the forefront of her mind.

“Hi,” Brittany whispers as Pierce searches through the channels to find whatever one is playing the movie.

Santana sucks in a deep breath; from where she’s perched she can feel every breath Brittany takes, every tiny movement of her thighs, every stroke of her hands over her own legs, burning her fingerprints into Santana’s skin with her touch. “Hi,” she manages.

The armchair is tucked into the corner, not private but a little bit removed from the other occupants in the room. Brittany adjusts them a little more, wiggling around underneath Santana until she can grab the bowls of snacks beside the armchair and pass them to Santana as she manhandles Santana until they’re both more comfortable, Santana’s butt tucked between the arm of the chair and Brittany’s thighs, her legs draped over Brittany’s so she’s curled completely into Brittany’s lap.

There’s still ten minutes before the movie so Whitney offers to get drinks for everyone, disappearing to the kitchen while Pierce and Brittany’s sister get into a discussion about the best Christmas movies of all time.

Brittany’s fingers tracing small hearts on her legs draws Santana’s attention away from an argument about the merits of Elf versus The Santa Clause, both of which are obviously inferior to Home Alone, the best Christmas movie ever, in Santana’s humble and obviously correct opinion.

When Santana meets blue eyes through the dim of the living room she’s suddenly struck by the realization of how much she wants to be doing this for the rest of forever.

“I’m really glad you came today,” Brittany whispers, her breath warm and sweet from chocolate and honey roasted peanuts, “I just— Having you here was just— It was—”

“I know,” Santana says quietly, her smile making her cheeks ache from how wide it is, “I know what you mean.”

Brittany hums and her hands relocate to loop around Santana’s waist and hug her tightly. Santana sighs and leaves the bowl of snacks in her lap to balance against gravity on its own as she wraps her arms around Brittany and nuzzles into her. “Yeah, that’s,” Brittany starts and then seems to lose her thoughts as Santana’s lips press fleetingly to the sensitive skin of her neck. “That’s,” she tries again, but then gives up and just cuddles Santana to her instead of trying to form a coherent thought.

Their snacks are long forgotten—as are their drinks once Whitney returns with them—as they just cuddle in the darkness and watch the movie, Brittany’s fingers trailing along Santana’s legs and Santana’s playing with Brittany’s hair, occasionally grabbing Brittany’s fingers to play with to throughout the movie.

Just as the Grinch is in the middle of stealing Christmas from the Whos, Brittany’s lips find her ear in the dark, pressing briefly to the peak of her cheekbone before they locate their target. “There’s nothing I want more than to do this next year too,” she breathes, like she’s standing at a wishing well with her eyes shut tight and a penny clutched in her hand, like she’s making her greatest wish in the world before flicking her penny into the darkness, like she’s hoping more than anything that it will come true.

Santana turns her head a little so she can look into Brittany’s eyes, her lips hitting Brittany’s nose on the way past. “Me too,” she promises quietly.

Brittany’s eyes soften and melt and Santana falls straight into the adoration and love sparkling there and she knows—she knows—more than she’s ever known anything else in her entire life, that she’s going to be falling in love with those blue eyes every single day for as long as Brittany will have her.

[rainingskyguy]

A yukata

Name: Kurosaki Ichigo.

Age: 15 years old.

Hair: Orange.

Eyes: Brown.

Occupation: High school student.

Special Skill:

Being the best big brother in town.

“Good morning,” Ichigo yawned as he entered the kitchen already dressed up for school. He was up decently early because he had been having really long days at school and he wouldn’t admit it but he missed talking to his sisters, even if it had only been a week.

���Ah, onii-chan! Good morning! You’re up early!” As always, Yuzu was already there, preparing everyone’s lunchboxes and was just getting started on breakfast. Nowadays Karin sometimes helped her with it, but her twin was probably still fast asleep at the moment.

Ichigo glanced at their wall clock. Well, he was up early. He was no cook, but he could lend her a hand. He dropped his bag on the dining table, rolling his sleeves as he set the rice cooker and finished washing the vegetables he grabbed off the counter. Yuzu looked at him, a knowing smile on her face but allowed him to help without protest.

“How have you and Karin been? Everything alright? Anyone you want me to bash their head in?” Ichigo said casually, giving her the washed vegetables so she could chop them faster.

“Of course no! Karin and I have been fine, for your information.” Yuzu replied, giving him a look. Ichigo huffed, raising his hands in mock-surrender.

“And what about your club-thing? I remember you were having trouble with some piece a while back.” Ichigo said, grabbing plates and setting the table as Yuzu finished cutting and turned on the stove. She was silent for a moment, enough for Ichigo to finish and stare at her. “Yuzu?”

She jumped in place. “Ah, no, it’s nothing. I finished the dress, although Karin says she won’t show it to you, because she’s embarrassed – oh but she looks so cute, you’re really missing on it!” His little sister giggled softly, as she tossed the vegetables in and let them simmer.

“Is that so?” Ichigo said, staring at her intently. “I’ll have to take your word for it, then. And? Is there anything worrying you?”

“Hm, not in particular.”

“Really?” Ichigo insisted, as he poured himself a glass of water, taking the chance to squint dubiously at the nervous girl. “If I recall correctly you were fretting about a final evaluation for the cultural festival.”

“No, I wasn’t!”

Silence. Yuzu deflated, conceding defeat. “Yes, our teacher wants us to make a yukata for adults. And I don’t have anyone to be my model for it. Besides, we’re supposed to show them off at the festival.” Yuzu frowned down at her stove. “And like everyone’s doing one for their mom, or their older sister and Karin’s too young for what my stupid teacher wants.” She added with surprising candor, jutting her lower lip out.

Ichigo just blinked at her, confused. “Hey why not just use me, then? I can model for you.”

Yuzu turned to him so sharply he was mildly worried for whiplash but his sister didn’t seem to notice. “Would you really do that for me? Would it be okay? Are you okay with it?”

“Geez, calm down. It’s just clothes, right? I can do it.” Ichigo said, with a shrug. “Although if you want me to wear it to the festival you’d have to do a pretty damn good job.”

The youngest Kurosaki squealed in glee as she launched herself at Ichigo, “Thank you, thank you so much, onii-chan!”

Ichigo retuned the embrace. “Anytime.”

   Ichigo would have expected that to have solved everything but Yuzu came home one day, stomping her way to her room, yelling that her handicrafts teacher was stupid, that the club was stupid and she didn’t want to have anything to do with them.

Karin, with all of her pre-teen wisdom –aka none– looked at Ichigo with saucer-like eyes, worried and unsure of what to do.

With a sigh, the teen ruffled her hair and headed for his sisters’ room.

He knocked on the locked door. “Hey, Yuzu? Is everything okay?”

“Yes, why do you ask?” She replied in a completely normal voice. 

Teenagers, man. Ichigo shook his head.

“Uh, maybe because you came here really annoyed, kinda loud and now you won’t open your door for me?”

Silence.

He could hear a shy shuffling of feet and soon enough she had opened the door, looking embarrassed. “Was I really loud?”

Ichigo rolled his eyes and forced his way inside. He led her to her bed and sat down next to her.

“Yuzu,” he began. “Did something happen?”

“No,” she said immediately then bit her lip and rephrased. “Well, I mean, It’s not a problem exactly. Nothing you have to worry about.”

“Is it about the yukata? Is it because I look like a delinquent?”

“No… the teacher doesn’t want to let me do a male yukata. She insists it has to be all females, which is just stupid! And I already troubled you with being my model and now I’m back to square one with no model and no time to look for anyone.”

“Yuzu what are you talking about? I can still be your model. Male yukata, female yukata.” Ichigo shrugged. “Same difference. It’s just clothes, honestly. I don’t mind.”

Yuzu stared at him as if she couldn’t quite believe what she was hearing. Then a grin broke her face and she launched at him again, squealing her thanks.

Ichigo smiled back.

  It is now time for the cultural festival and although Ichigo believes in Yuzu 100%, he can’t help but be nervous as he hadn’t had the chance to try the new garment on until the day itself.

He woke up one day with someone incessantly pounding on his poor door. When he opened it he was unsurprised to see a sleep-deprived Yuzu shoving a lengthy piece of garment at him, ordering him to try it on immediately.

Ichigo had a bit of trouble convincing his sister that he could change alone, but in the end he ended up shouting questions through the door because why were female yukatas so weird. He finally gave up when it came to the obi and Yuzu happily looped it around him, and helped adjust the meters of fabric so it looked like Ichigo actually meant to go outside with it.

“The pattern’s really nice. Did you choose it?” Ichigo asked, looking at his reflection on the full-body mirror Yuzu had in her room. The yukata was a pretty standard one, with the white undergarment on top of his undershirt and shorts, peeking shyly at the neck– and best of all, pretty damn comfortable. Over it was the yukata itself, a dark velvety blue patterned with hundreds of small eight-petal flowers that looked as if they had been caught falling down his shoulders. It was all secured in place by the biggest obi he’d ever seen– a bright salmon pink, that matched the falling flowers perfectly and for once didn’t clash with his hair.

“Yes, I did!” Yuzu exclaimed, clapping her hands together. “Do you like it?”

“Yeah, I do.” He looked behind himself at huffed a laugh at the big bow on his back, making him feel like a present wrapped in flowers and an obi for a ribbon. “Hey,” he called to a nervous Yuzu who flinched –as if expecting him to rebuff her or something. “Can we think of this as an early birthday gift for you? I’m already wrapped and everything.”

The smile that split her face was worth all the puzzling through never-ending fabric.

Yuzu herself had donned a pink yukata she had made last month– it was made of a much simpler, cheaper fabric with only a checkered salmon pattern on the hem. It had been her first try, so she hadn’t wanted to spend a lot of money on something she wasn’t sure would be fruitful but she had done a splendid job (which required a lot of Ishida pestering, Ichigo would know; he had gotten an earful at school). She had adorned her hair with a strawberry trinket that Ichigo couldn’t help but squint at.

To confirm his suspicions, she had smiled impishly before hurrying to get their lunches packed as Ichigo went for his sandals.

 “What’s the verdict?” Ichigo deadpanned as Karin finally looked up from her videogame, Ichigo lazing around in the living room by her side as Yuzu fretted about making a dessert for the after event.

His other sister checked him out, her eyebrows high before returning to her portable console. “I always knew you were a pretty boy. You look good.”

“Thanks, I guess.” Ichigo laughed, twisting his head over the back of the couch to peer into the kitchen. “What say you, dearest Yuzu?”

The girl bounced into the room, a triumphant look on her. “Of course you look gorgeous! And I’m all done! Let’s go before it’s late!”

“Aye, boss.”

  On their way to Yuzu’s school it was almost cliché when they bumped into a couple of delinquents spraying the side of a home as if that was remotely important. Ichigo made sure Yuzu stayed behind him as he called them out,

“Hey, you two bumbling morons. Don’t you have anything better to do?” The hooligans turned to look at him and promptly burst out laughing.

“Or what, flower-boy? You’ll serve us tea? Oh I’m so- “The first hooligan went down with a punch to the face and his partner had no time to run as Ichigo used that same momentum to slide and trip him up –letting him face-plant into the ground.

Ichigo then readjusted his yukata and kept on walking undeterred as Yuzu rushed to be his side as the delinquents groaned on the floor.

“So pretty…” One of them muttered, wiping the blood off his nose. His friend grumbled but didn’t disagree with him.

   In the end, the event was a success. Ichigo would have expected to need to hit more people who dared mock Yuzu’s amazing work, but most of them had been too busy admiring the yukata and the few that weren’t were successfully cowed by his intense glare.

Ichigo had to strut around a lot, letting people ogle him and call him weird things like “pretty” and “beauty” but Yuzu made up for it by giving him chocolate cookies during his break and letting him leave before the after party so he could go home and sleep in. On his way out, Ichigo had ruffled her hair, the sleeve of the kimono making the movement that much more grand. “Nice work, kiddo.”

Yuzu had smiled like a blinding sun. “You are the best, Onii-chan.”

[parchmints]

JuLance Day 6 - Music

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day 6/31 - Music

Set the morning after Lance and Veronica’s chat on the roof. 

(My hc for Luís is that he’s the Shiro to Lance’s Keith and partially raised him, so he looks up to him a lot and now I’m super attached to the idea)

Day 6: Music

It’s in the late morning peace of the McClain household that Lance hears music from the top of the stairs. The house should be empty of everyone by this hour (all of them already at work or school), but Luís is the one exception. He works nights as a bartender and musician, so at this time of day, he’s here alone.

Lance comes down the stairs with as light of a foot as he can, not wanting to disturb the serenity of the moment--refracted light illuminating patches of the floor from the windows, dust particles gently floating through the air, and Luís softly playing his well-loved acoustic guitar.

He’s seated on the benched window that overlooks the ocean with a small smile as he hums along to the song he’s playing. Lance thinks he looks straight out of a painting with the sunlight showering around his wide frame.

Lance sees him by the time he’s halfway down the stairs, but Luís hasn’t noticed him yet. For just a moment, Lance watches him play. He’s a skilled player and he makes it look so easy with the way his fingers effortlessly glide from fret to fret and pluck at the strings without ever looking down or missing a step.

He was born to do it, Lance thinks as he gazes fondly over at his oldest brother. He’s missed Luís and his music so much, but seeing him so completely in his element and so enveloped in his own little melodic world, Lance is realizing now just how much.

Finally, Lance steps all the way down into the living room and that’s when Luís finally sees him. He flashes Lance a big smile and says--still playing--“there you are.”

“Morning,” Lance says as he sits opposite of him on the bench.

“You slept late today. Did you have trouble sleeping?” he asks and Lance holds back from rolling his eyes. Luís has always been the mother hen type, something he clearly picked up from their, well, mother.

“Naw,” Lance starts, leaning against the wall, “Veronica and I were just up late talking. That’s all.”

Luís hums at that with a knowing smile. “Mamá will kill you two if you keep going up on the roof, Lancito.”

“Mamá doesn’t have to know.”

“She’ll find out.”

Lance can’t argue with that. The woman has a sixth sense; you have to when you have six children.

“Yeah, she probably will.”

Luís lets out a small chuckle at that, still plucking away at his guitar until he finds a pleasant place to stop.

“You still remember how to play one of these?” Luís asks, turning behind himself to grab a second acoustic guitar. It doesn’t surprise Lance at all that he has a second one at the ready--Luís has been collecting them since before Lance was born and the house is littered with them.

“Who do you think you’re talking to? I’m an old pro,” Lance says, taking the guitar by its neck and settling it on his lap. Lance begins strumming immediately, the desire to impress his brother ever present, to play the first song Luís ever taught him.

And, of course, he botches it.

On a clearly wrong and jarring note, Lance winces. “Okay, maybe I’m a little rusty.”

“Not bad for not practicing for two years,” Luís says, and if that isn’t just so like him. Out of all his siblings, Luís is the gentlest, not feeling the need to tease Lance over every little thing, even when there’s ample opportunity.

“I think I’m mixing up the chords. What is it again?” Lance asks and patiently, Luís explains it to him. He’s always been a great teacher and Lance is filled with warmth to be able to learn from him again.

It reminds him of when he was little, following Luís around like a duckling and clutching at the hem of his shorts. With a twelve-year difference between them and their parents always so distracted, Luís partially raised Lance. It was Luís who taught him how to shave, taught him how to talk to girls, and how to find X in algebra equations. When he was really little, Luís would even tuck him into bed and sing him a song to help him sleep.

When Lance starts to get the hang of the song again, Luís joins in with his guitar and begins singing with the same rich, full voice Lance remembers from his childhood.

And hearing Luís sing almost has Lance in tears again.

He realizes just how much of a comfort Luís’ song has been to him over the years. When he was spooked by a big, mean dog snapping at him, Luís calmed him down with Lance’s favorite song. When Lance was rejected by his first crush in middle school, Luís forced him to learn guitar. When Lance was nervous about leaving Cuba for the Garrison, Luís bought him a guitar of his own to practice with while he was away.

It hits Lance then that this is how Luís shows his love--through music.

Lance joins in with the singing then, hoping that it’ll help keep his eyes dry somehow. He’s cried countless times in front of Luís, but he doesn’t want to break the magic of the moment. Plus, he’s always loved singing with Luís; Lance’s voice is higher than his and when they sing together, they harmonize well.

The words to the song come much easier to Lance than the chords did. There’s a buzz in the air as their duet fills the empty house with melody and harmony, words and song. Lance’s playing is still a little sloppy, but Luís is so good that it’s hard to even tell.

The song is soft and sweet, something about a deeply devoted love, and singing it again feels like being wrapped up in a big bear hug. It makes him feel safe, makes him feel like he’s home.

The song slowly comes to its end and when Lance lifts his head up to look at Luís, he’s already staring at him with one of his signature warm smiles.

“What? Why are you looking at me like that?” Lance asks with an embarrassed smile.

“I was just thinking,” he starts, eyes growing softer, “you’re so grown up now.”

Lance groans.

“Luís! God, you’re such a mom.”

The comment gets Lance one of Luís’ best belly laughs and he can’t help but join in.

“I know, I know. It’s just...I always knew you’d do big things, but saving whole planets? I didn’t see that one coming,” he says, looking off into a memory. “Though, if anyone would be saving the world, I’m not surprised it’s you. You’re really turning out to be a great man, just like I always knew you would be.”

A lump forms in Lance’s throat at the praise and he can’t meet Luís’ eyes when he says, “Yeah, well...I wouldn’t be half the man I am if it wasn’t for you.”

And it’s true. Lance looked up Luís more than anyone else growing up. He was strong, smart, and kind, and Lance wanted to be just like him. Still, it’s a pretty sappy line, the kind he likes to stay away from, but he’s only been back for one day, and okay, maybe he’s feeling sappy.

Suddenly, there’s a rough hand on his head that ruffles his hair with enough force to push his neck back into his collarbone.

“Ayy, Lancito, you trying to make your big brother cry? What’s up with that?” Luís asks with amusement, but Lance hears the subtle catch in his throat.

Lance’s eyes are wet too, but he blinks the tears back as he slaps Luís’ hand away. “Hey! Watch the hair! That took me all morning.”

“Oh, forgive me,” he says with a big grin as his hands wrap around his guitar again. “One more song? Then I’ll make you breakfast?”

Lance smiles, unable to contain it after he realizes how grateful he is to be able to spend time with Luís again, to play with Luís again.

“Yeah, one more song.”

[sapphic-sustrai]

Tradition..

Words: 1430 words.

Rating: K+.

Summary: Yang and Ruby bake cookies together.

Author’s Note{s}: Just for context, Yang is 12 years old, Ruby is 10 years old and Zwei is just a few months old. This is the first RWBY related thing that I’ve written and I’m excited to share it. I’d like to thank @nytearia​ & @theasteroid-blues​ for helping me edit this prompt, it means a lot! If I made a mistake, I’ll go back and fix it. Feedback is always welcomed! Read more under the cut.

     There was nothing Yang enjoyed more than going to the supermarket on a Saturday morning. The calmness that the early morning provided along with finding good deals on usually expensive items was almost therapeutic to her.

      The blonde enjoyed the short walks back to her house because it gave her time to think. Today she was thinking about making cookies, specifically peanut butter and chocolate chip cookies. They were awfully tempting bad and she’s sure that her Dad and Ruby would love them.

      She grabbed her house key and unlocked the door. She took peak inside to see if there was anyone in the living room, aside from Zwei sleeping on his bed beside the couch.

      “Alright, careful…” Yang carefully opened the door, her attention on Zwei. As she took a few steps inside, the small puppy lifted his head and turned his attention to Yang and immediately bolted from his bed to greet her with a flurry of licks to her face.

      “Hey Zwei, good to see you. I missed you so much, I hope that you were a good boy while I gone.” She cooed as she rubbed Zwei’s belly.

      Zwei was ready to play some more, but Yang sadly had to let him know she couldn’t at the moment. Petting Zwei’s head playfully, Yang let him know she was willing to play later. Zwei happily barks in response and heads back to his spot beside the couch to continue his nap.

      Yang made her way to the kitchen and placed the several bags that she carried on top of the counter and decided to see where the rest of her family was.

      “Dad! Ruby! I’m home, where are you?” She called her dad and Ruby while walking around the house, but there was no response. Suddenly she started to hear what appeared to be sobbing coming from upstairs and decided to go investigate.

      She figured out that the sobbing sounds were coming from her shared room with her sister. The concerned older sister walked over to the door and knocked on it a few times. She tried a few more times, before finally hearing, “Come in…”, from behind the door.

     Yang opened the door to find her sister sitting on her bed, with her face in her hands and tears streaming down. The blonde sat on a spot next to her sister and wrapped her arm around her, pulling the smaller girl close. She kissed the top of her head and gently asked,

     “What’s the matter Ruby? Is everything okay? You’ve got me worried sis.”

     Ruby looked up to face her older sister, wiping her sleeves against her face, she sadly replies,

 “I’m sorry to make you worried Yang, it’s just…well it’…um…it’s about Dad. I think he’s…well…not quite feeling like himself again. I think that he’s sad about Mom not being here. He really misses her…I’m really worried Yang…I’m really worried about Dad.”

             This wasn’t the first time Yang and Ruby have seen their Father like this, in fact they’ve seen him like this a couple of times in the last couple of years. Ever since their Mom had passed on. Their Dad would sometimes find himself in a depressive state. It was like he would completely shut down, spending most of his in his room with the door closed.

           Yang has started to notice that as Ruby grew older, her concern for their Dad grew. She never liked seeing her sister neither be sad, nor did she like seeing her sister look worried however, it can’t be helped sometimes.

“Aww sis, I’m worried about him too. To be honest…I miss Mom too. I know that you do too, right?”

           Ruby nodded her head in response before Yang continued.

“I think that I know of a way that we can cheer Dad up. Let’s bake his favourite cookies, I know he really loves peanut butter and chocolate chip the most! Do you want to help me out sis?”

           Ruby looked eager, but Yang also could tell that her sister seemed to be a bit apprehensive at the same time.

“I would love to help, but…I’m not quite sure how. I’ve never baked cookies before, Yang; you or Dad always made them. I don’t want to mess anything up…,” she fretted; while twiddling her thumbs.

Yang patted her sister on the head, as if to comfort her,

 “It’s okay Ruby. Don’t worry, I’ll teach you everything I know and I learned from the best! I just hope that I can be as good of a teacher as Mom was…Anyways, what do you say we get started my little helper!”

       Ruby practically leapt off her bed and sped down the stairs into the kitchen. Yang chuckled as she followed her slowly behind her.

        At the kitchen, Yang made sure that Ruby washed her hands first. The next step was to check to see if you have every single ingredient that you will need before starting. Their Mom always made it a point to encourage safe handling of food and proper organization.

             Yang got Ruby to hand her each ingredient and would show her step-by-step what to do. When it came time to mix everything together, Yang insisted that Ruby give it a try and promised her that she’d help her if she had trouble. She started out okay, but soon enough the dark-haired girl started to stir a little too hard, to the point where a bit of the dough was starting to fly out onto the counter.

      “Woah there sis, you need to be a bit more gentler when stirring, okay?” Yang exclaimed as she showed Ruby the proper stirring technique.

       Despite this little mishap and having to stop Ruby from consuming all of the chocolate chips, Yang was proud of her sister overall. Her little sister did pretty well for this being her first time.

      They had put the cookies in the oven about thirteen minutes ago, so it wouldn’t be much longer until they were baked to perfection. The two sisters were currently playing a game of cards at the table, while their cookies baked. They looked over at the oven every few minutes to see how the cookies were doing.

      “Yang, why do we have to stare at the oven? I’ve always seen you do this whenever you made cookies and I was just curious as to why that was.”

     Yang chuckled before answering her sister’s question.

     “Well it’s not technically necessary, but it’s what mom and I did when we baked cookies together and I wanted to carry on that tradition. If we ever bake more cookies together in the future we can carry this on as a tradition between us, if that’s okay with you?”

     “Oh, okay that makes sense. I would like to try and bake cookies with you more often Yang, this was so much fun!” Ruby cheered as they heard the timer on the stove started to beep, signalling that the cookies were finally ready to come out.

             They decided to wash a few dishes while they waited for the cookies to cool off, which Ruby was honestly not that excited to do. After a couple of minutes, the two of them placed the cookies onto a small plate and carried it up to Taiyang’s room on a tea tray with a large glass of milk.

             Yang could tell that her sister was a bit nervous of making her Dad feel worse, but she gave her a reassuring nod and a pat on the shoulder. Yang decided to wait outside of the door. She watched as her sister entered their Dad’s room tray in hand, sitting on the floor and laying her back against the wall. She was a bit worried when for the next few minutes all she could hear was silence, but eventually she started to her laughter coming from her Dad and Ruby.

      She could hear her Dad call out,

      “Thank you for helping your sister make these cookies Yang, they’re incredibly delicious!”

             Yang got up from her spot on the floor and entered her Dad’s room to find him and Ruby hugging in a sweet embrace. She joined in the hug and whispered into her Dad’s ear,

      “You’re welcome, Dad. I want you to know that Ruby and I love you very much and you don’t have to deal with your sadness alone.”

       Taiyang smiled while letting tears slide down his cheek. He pulled his two girls closer to him, feeling lucky to be the Dad to two of the most amazing girls he called his daughters.

[rejectedbyeharmony]

Bryan Paul, Semi-Pro BMXer

The summer after I graduated high school, I got the opportunity to spend some time in Europe with a few of my classmates and my favorite art teacher. We spent weeks looking at art, taking in the culture (read: legally drinking), and saying a farewell to each other before we all went off to college. I wasn’t focused on meeting anyone that summer, I was happy enjoying my last few glory days before college started, and I had to make a whole new set of friends.

I was accepted to George Mason University, which is a great fine arts program. But, my parents lived 25 minutes away, so I commuted to school. My freshman year, I didn’t really get the college experience. I would hang out in friends dorms, but I didn’t really get a chance to make many friends, as I was taking a full load of classes and was dating someone who didn’t go to our school. That guy is irrelevant to this story.

I found myself slipping into old social habits, including hanging out at the mall a lot with friends. Part of that experience was walking laps around Vans Skate Park, at the end of the mall. My girlfriends and I would go in and look at shoes, and pretend to be interested in the skateboards. But we were mostly interested in the skaters. We would stand on the chain-link fence and watch them do tricks, sometimes they’d come over and talk to us. Any girl who grew up in Woodbridge in the late nineties, spent her share of hours watching and flirting with these incredibly talented, hot guys. It was pretty much the highlight of every week.

Wednesday was bike night, when the BMX riders would come in and hit the pipes and bowls on their bikes. I loved going and watching them, because the skill level was significantly higher than most of the skateboarders, and it was pretty much like watching your own X-games at your local mall.

One fateful Wednesday I caught the eye of a tall, black-haired, blue-eyed guy. I didn’t know who he was, but from the way the staff treated him, he must have been important. He was really talented and had a great smile. I kept hanging around where he was and eventually he talked to me. His name was Bryan. And he was hot as fuck. I don’t even remember what we talked about but ended up hanging out that night, having dinner and talking for hours. And then the next day, he called me. He wanted to know what I was doing that night, and if I wanted to go on an adventure. This is still probably the most romantic thing any man has ever asked me, to this day.

So we met up, and he took me to the neighborhood where he grew up. It wasn’t far from where I grew up, and I spent some time playing in this neighborhood as a kid too, so it bonded us. He showed me this tiny pet cemetery in the woods and we shared a mutual creepy shiver when we discovered it. We laughed and made out, and had an incredible time together.

Needless to say, I was completely smitten. I knew he was older than me, but I couldn’t really tell how old. I was only 18 and I had no concept of discerning men’s age yet. I was sure he knew I was younger, but he never asked how much younger. So we kept dating, blissfully ignorant of each other’s ages, but just happy to spend time together.

He lived pretty far south of me, closer to Richmond. He was always willing to come up and see me, but one day suggested that I come down his way. We met and he took me to Richmond. I had never been there before, but a lot of the kids I went to high school with ended up moving there and loved it. He showed me around all the cool neighborhoods and I fell in love with Carytown. I thought it was so cool that he would take me there, and I fell head over heels for this guy.

We dated through the end of my first semester in college, when he announced to me that he had to move to South Carolina. He was getting laid off from his job, and he was going to go work for his dad in Charleston. My heart took a huge leap and I told him I was going to go with him. He encouraged me to stay and finish school, but I needed to be with him. I told my parents that I was going to take a semester off and follow my heart, and they were understandably livid. I wasn’t working at the time, and I had no money. So I was completely financially reliant on them. They paid my car bill, my insurance, and gave me an allowance for gas and food to get to school. I told them that I didn’t want any of that and I just wanted Bryan.

My parents told me if I dropped out of school, they would take my car away. They also threatened that if I left school, they would no longer be responsible for paying on my student loans. I didn’t believe them, I knew they were all just empty threats… Or so I thought. But I also had a car and no money and I needed to get out of town before they could take it away from me.

So I stole the car, I drove out to Warrenton where my grandma lived and I asked her for money. I don’t remember how much she gave me, but I do remember her crying when she wrote me the check. She begged me not to go, but I told her it was something I needed to do. So I got in my Saturn and drove it to Charleston.

Bryan had given me an address, and I called to tell him I was coming. At the time I had a pretty basic Nokia brick phone. There was no text messaging, just calls, so I really had to rely on him answering. He didn’t answer my call until I was crossing the North Carolina/South Carolina border. I remember looking up at the exit for South of the Border, and when I looked down and saw that he was calling me back. I gleefully told him where I was, and it stung when he sounded stunned that I was actually coming. I asked “do you want me there?” And he said “of course. You’ll be here late, but just call me when you get here and I’ll come down and let you in.”

When I drove up to the house in Charleston, I was so nervous that i forgot to call him. Walking up, I could tell it was his parents house, so I expected to see them. I hoped that he told them that I was coming, and I wouldn’t be an unwelcome guest. But I didn’t expect to see two small pink bikes with streamers thrown down on the sidewalk in front of the house. There were children living here.

I sucked in my breath as I knocked on the door and Bryan’s mom answered. She gave me half a smile and welcomed me into her home. She apologized for not having the guestroom ready, and explained that Bryan forgot to tell them that I was coming. I was mortified, I immediately felt like I was making a terrible decision, but I just needed to spend the time with him to know that things could be right.

Then he came down and hugged me, and quickly ushered me up to his room. I stood there awkwardly and asked “should I not sleep in your room with you?” He said, “No it’s fine.” And we crawled into bed and I told him all about my trip down. At some point during our conversation I mentioned something about dropping out of college during my first semester. He stopped me and asked, “wait how old are you?”

Here we go. I remember looking back at him with big eyes, for the first time realizing that we had never had that conversation. I said “I’m 18,” then reassured him, “I’ll be 19 in May.” And his face turned green. He said angrily, “do you have any idea how old I am?” I didnt... so I guessed 25. I didn’t know anyone older than 25 that I didn’t consider a ‘real adult’. He laughed and closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose, and then he all at once wide-eyed looked at me and said “Fuck, Katie. I’m 32.”

I didn’t know how to react to that and I think I didn’t say anything. But he was clearly fretting over it. He laid back on the pillow and closed his eyes, and sighed “Let’s just go to bed.” We didn’t have sex that night, and I couldn’t sleep anyway. I just laid there awkwardly cuddling with him, worried about the bikes and the parents and what the fuck was I doing.

I think I dozed off around four and woke up with the sun. He was already up and out of bed. I cursed him for leaving me in that room by myself, but was grateful to discover there was an adjoining bathroom with a shower. So I pulled some clean clothes out of my bag and went into the bathroom and ugly cried in the shower trying to decide what I was going to do. Would I just hide in the room until he came and got me? Should I walk downstairs and see if everyone’s waiting for me at the breakfast table? I was so confused and a ball of anxiety.

As I finished my shower and I got a towel, I heard two tiny voices in the bedroom. They’re were little girls in there. My heart sank as the reality sunk in: Bryan had children. I kept hoping that maybe they were his nieces or just some neighborhood kids, and I searched back through my memories to try to recall whether he had ever told me he had children. But all I could remember was never telling each other any intimate details about our lives. I mean, Jesus Christ, neither of us knew how old the other one was.

Yes I realize how stupid this is, I gave up my entire life to move to another state with someone who wasn’t even expecting me, who I knew nothing about. I see that now. And I felt it then, but I was too young and naïve to understand the gravity of the situation.

I got dressed and walked out into the bedroom to find Bryan in there with two beautiful little girls playing video games they both looked up confused that I was there. He clearly hadn’t even primed them for the woman that would be walking out of the bathroom. I use the phrase woman lightly, because I was not. I was all of 18, and I barely had any relationship experience, and here I was faced with a man, much older than me… With two little girls.

I’ve always been pretty good with kids, so I stood on that confidence, and sat down on the floor with them. They flooded me with questions “What’s your name? When did you get here? How do you know daddy? I like your hair. What’s that? (pointing to a tattoo) Oh, did that hurt? Do you want to go outside and play?”

I felt relieved by that last question and happily agreed to go outside and play with the girls. I looked to Bryan for some acknowledgment, he just smiled and said he would come outside a little later. We were outside for what felt like hours, until his mom called us in for lunch. Bryan never came outside to play with us and never gave me an opportunity to talk to him about what we were doing here. But when I walked inside, I saw my bag packed at the top of the stairs. He was leaving me a not-so-subtle clue that he wanted me to leave.

So I politely finished lunch with his family and walked upstairs to grab my bag. I made an excuse about having to visit some friends in town, thanked his parents for their hospitality, and said my goodbyes. He followed me out to my car and tried to apologize, but I was heartbroken and the damage had been done.

I loaded Incubus “Morning View” into my CD player, and watched him in the rear view as i pulled away and made the long trek back to Northern Virginia. I didn’t go home that night, I drove onto campus and stayed with a friend who knew where I was going that weekend. I called her on the way back and she could just hear me quietly weeping on the other end and she said “hey, just come to my dorm”. At this point I had already disenrolled from school, and it was too late for me to sign up for the next semester of classes. So I waited a few days hiding out in Jessie’s dorm until my sister called, asking if I was ok. She said everyone was worried about me, and I confessed that things didn’t work out. Then, I finally went home to my parents house. To my moms credit, she never gave me shit, she just welcomed me back in with open arms and to this day we’ve never really spoken about it.

It’s been 17 years now, but I still think about him all the time. I’ve even looked for him on social media, but he was never really much of a Facebook kinda guy. I never knew the whole story about his kids mother, or his past. But sometimes, I’ll see someone who vaguely looks like him, and my heart misses him as much as it did that day I left.

[haltandcatchfiretothemax]

[H&CF S4 SPOILERS] Headcanon that in 1994, Donna Emerson makes a very big deal over Thanksgiving

Bos stops by for a visit in early November and when he sees her lists of potential guests and centerpiece ideas and phone numbers for specialty shops that sell expensive wines, cheeses and chocolate, he teases her, "Now what's all that, a plan to break into Alcatraz?" "I just want it to be nice for the girls," she chuckles. "Haley said we should just get Chinese food that night, but…not this year. Next year, maybe. But not this year," she says firmly. "This year, we go all out."

[This got REALLLLY long but we also don’t get anymore show so THAT IS MY JUSTIFICATION]

Bos says that he'll ask Diane about stopping by that evening for dessert, and then as he's leaving Donna's, he says, "And either way? I will make sure that Cameron gets that scrawny behind of hers over here." "I appreciate that, but no pressure," Donna hugs him.

Haley convinces Joanie to come home for the holidays, or at least that one, after Donna offers to pay for her plane tickets. Donna's so overjoyed by this she ends up inviting literally everyone she knows -- she invites her parents, Cameron of course, emails the entire Symphonic staff to let them know her door is open if they don't have plans, and then sends the same email to everyone she knows from Comet (including Katie Herman) AND Mutiny

The guest list balloons to the point that Donna decides to have the whole thing catered

After a lot of hemming and hawing, she asks Haley, "Have you talked to J*e? Haley says she got an email from him, wrote back, but hasn't heard from him since. "He probably won't feel like coming back here so soon, right?" Donna wonders. "But what if he doesn't have anywhere else to go…." "Can I invite my friend Vanessa? I don't think has anywhere to go either," Haley blurts out. "Uh, sure," Donna says. She emails J*e later that night. He doesn't reply.

Donna is relieved and humbled by her house full of people that day. Cameron gets there an hour late, bottle of cheap wine in hand, and is immediately overwhelmed

Among Donna's guests: Trip, who manages to not bother her, Tanya Reese and her younger sister, who don't have any other family nearby, Comet restaurant expert Risa and her trans butch partner (whose boyish good looks mesmerize both Haley and Joanie), and Yo-yo and his wife and Lev and his partner (the sight of whom actually makes Cameron cry slightly, even though the first thing Lev says to her is, "I haven't see Tom OR Admiral Eyebrows here?! Tell me that means you're finally FREE")

Speaking of which, J*e does call, early in the afternoon, to thank Donna for checking on him. She asks how he's doing, and he admits, "I've been better. …I appreciate the invite, Donna. I couldn't, though." Thinking back to the holidays she spent by herself after the divorce, she says, "Yeah. I've been there. There's next year, though. Or the year after that. I mean, so long as you don't steal any more of my husbands." J*e laughs for the first time that day and says, "Of course. As long as you don't steal any more of my girlfriends." Donna blushes at this, and then awkwardly offers, "Do you wanna talk to her? She's here. Cameron." "Just tell her I really hope she's having a good day," he says. Donna nods and then says, "You know who probably wants to talk to you? Let me find Haley…." He and Haley talk for 20 minutes, and when she mentions Vanessa, he says, "You'll both figure it out. I promise."

Just before dessert is served, Cameron tries to go hide in the kitchen for a bit, but Donna is there, also hiding, weeping quietly over the sink. When she asks Donna if she's okay, she says, "Oh, I'm fine…I'm better than fine. Everything is exactly how I wanted it to be, Joanie is home, everyone seems like they're having a good time, the food is great and we'll have leftovers for a week…it's like, my whole life is out there. Except for Gordon." Cameron frowns at her, "So that's what all of this was about, huh? At least we got a chocolate fountain out of it, I guess." Donna laughs and says, "I thought about just having a normal dinner, but it just felt too much like that last time at Gordon's. Bos' chili."

Cameron understands Donna's mixed feelings. "Have you talked to Lev, or Yo-yo? I've been catching up with them and it's really great but it feels sad too. I don't know why that is." "It's great, but it makes you realize how finite everything is, maybe that's why it's so sad," Donna sighs. "Or maybe we're just weird?" "I've considered that, I'm pretty sure I'm weird," Cameron says. "Well, I gotta get back out there, so come be weird out there, when you're ready," Donna says gently, grabbing a box of plastic pie servers. Cameron takes a few deep breaths, and then when she hears the doorbell, and then Bos' voice, she goes back out to the party.

While everyone is eating dessert, Donna interrupts the party to thank everyone for being there. "This year has been…strange. It's been hard, but it's been good, too, and I'm just grateful that all of you decided to spend part of your day here. So, enjoy! My house is your house, today. Stay as long as you'd like, and don't forget to make a plate to take home if you'd like!" (Almost everyone does make a plate, but Donna's still drowning in leftovers at the end of the night.)

After the last guests leave, Donna starts putting away the food, and Cameron tries to make herself useful by helping her with it. They scrape and pour into and wrap and cover together silently, until Donna thanks her. "You don't have to stay, though, I've got this," Donna reassures her. "Yeah, but we didn't really get to talk, it was so busy," Cameron shrugs. "It's okay. I don't mind helping. I don't have anywhere else to be." Donna smiles and says, "Okay, I'm just gonna go change, I'll be right back."

Donna is already in her sweatpants, sitting on her bed near her nightstand, taking off her jewelry when Haley knocks on her open bedroom door. When Donna tells her to come in, she sits down next to Donna. "I feel sick. I'm not sure if it's because I ate too much pie or because I miss dad." Before Donna can respond, Haley bursts into tears. Donna puts an arm around her and jokes, "But you liked the pie at least, right?"

Cameron spends twenty minutes clearing away all the cups and plates and bottles, and then realizes how quiet and empty and strange the house feels now. Worried that she's overstayed, she goes looking for Donna so she can thank her, say good night, and go home. She sees Joanie standing in a doorway, and calls out, "Hey, is your mom in there?" Joanie turns to smile at her, and motions for Cameron to follow her as she goes into Donna's bedroom.

Cameron stops short when she sees Donna, Haley, and Joanie curled up together on Donna's bed. Haley is asleep, head on Donna's chest, hair rumpled and face blotchy. "I'm sorry, I was gonna go back out there and ask you how you were doing," Donna whispers, "but…" "No, it's okay," Cameron says, feeling an ache in her chest. "I'm gonna get out of here, we can --" "Wait, why?" Joanie interrupts her. "You don't have to go just because Haley fell asleep," she bounces up and grabs Cameron's hand, and drags her to Donna's bed. She goes back to her spot next to her mom, and Cameron gingerly sits on the edge of the bed. "I was just telling mom that she has got to dial it back for Christmas," Joanie says. "Except for the chocolate fountain…."

"Joanie," Donna says firmly, "for the last time, we are not keeping the chocolate fountain. Cameron, how was your day? Are you alright?" "Yeah," Cameron grins. She kicks off her shoes so she can lie down, and gets comfortable, or more comfortable. "I'm okay. This is the easiest Thanksgiving I've had in a while, we always used to go to Tom's family's house in Dallas. God, his mom hated me." Joanie responds with a silent glare, and Donna says, "Well her son is a hypocrite and a jerk and a plagiarist." "He wasn't all bad. And he put up with me," Cameron argues. Like a pair of synchronized swimmers, Donna and Joanie turn at the same time to look at Cameron with the same 'are you serious?!' face. Cameron blushes, and Joanie moves over and throws an arm around her, and says, "Well whatever, we love you even if they didn't." She hops up off the bed and says, "I'm gonna get some pajamas on, be right back!"

Donna sighs, "He really was an asshole." "You never liked him," Cameron replies, and Donna says, "You're right, I never did." After a minute Cameron says, "Thanks for always liking me better than you liked him." Donna snaps, "He made it easy," and then says, "Of course I liked you better. You were my partner. And now…you're family, really." "Right," Cameron nods. "Thanks for inviting me today."

By the time Joanie comes back, an hour later, Cameron and Donna are both asleep. She smiles at them, shuts off the light, and goes back to her spot between them.

Cameron wakes up late the next morning in Donna's empty bed. Donna is standing in front of her dresser, brushing her hair. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to stay here," Cameron frets. "That's okay," Donna shrugs, pulling her hair back into a ponytail. "You can rest more, if you want." "No, no, I'm good," Cameron says getting up. "Okay, then you're free to join the feeding frenzy in the kitchen," Donna replies, "Joanie is on second breakfast, they already ate all the cereal," she grouses as she leaves the room

After a few minutes, Cameron goes to the kitchen, feeling like an intruder. Joanie is making eggs, pancakes, and bacon and telling a story about Thailand, Haley is laughing at her, and Donna is putting on some coffee, beaming at the both of them. She wonders if she should sneak out without bothering them, but Joanie says, "Hey! Are you hungry?" "No, I'm okay, I was just gonna let you guys, you know…" Cameron trails off. "Really?" Haley side eyes her. "Yeah, I don't even really live here anymore, and you're not even gonna stay and visit with me?" Joanie huffs. "Rude much?"

Donna pours some coffee into a mug an walks it over to Cameron. "She has a point," she says. Cameron accepts the coffee, and spends the rest of the afternoon there, listening to the three of them talk and bicker and giggle and tease each other, grateful to be with them, even if she's not yet fully convinced that she really belongs there. 

[texanredrose]

Losing Sleep Twilight

Part XIX

Yang held her breath, on the verge of tears but doing her level best to keep them at bay. Just past three in the morning, she stood in the cramped hospital room with her heart beating wildly in her chest and a proud smile on her lips, watching as their eldest daughter carefully brushed her fingertips along their first grandchild's face. 

"She's beautiful," Zephyr whispered, shifting slightly so her husband could see. "She has your cheeks." 

"I'm not so sure about that," Verdel replied, and she could sympathize; Schnee genes ran strong, and for all of Winter's talk about how much their daughters would take after Yang, they looked every bit the spitting image of their Mom, though with a little more width to their shoulders and hips. A good thing, too; Zephyr had hardly spent any time in labor and looked a girl deal better than she had after having the now new mother. "But she is beautiful." Zephyr hummed, eyes drooping shut for a moment, something he seemed to notice, too. "Hey, Momma? You wanna hold her?" 

A slight frown touched her lips briefly but she quickly flashed a smile. "Sure, Son."

She exchanged a glance with Winter- still too emotional over their first grandbaby to really register the oddity of the request- and they stepped closer together. Mainly because Yang had started worrying about her wife's balance recently; after their last ski trip, she'd noticed Winter had a bit more trouble remaining solid on her feet. The doctor assured it wasn't anything serious, just a result of a rough tumble, but she didn't quite believe that. Then again, she wasn't moving around so good herself, though she hid it well enough as they both shuffled over to Zephyr's bedside. Yang reached out, taking the baby from her daughter's arms. Hardly eight pounds, such a tiny little thing, but she remembered when the exhausted woman in the hospital bed was about the same size. 

"Winter, look," she said, cooing even as she tapped a setting on her arm, adding a very low vibration that simulated both a heartbeat and circulation in her prosthetic. "Ever seen anyone so little and so precious?" 

 "It's been about twenty years," Winter replied, leaning against her shoulder to look down at their grandchild. "She's going to grow up like her mother and Momma before her."

"Yeah, she will," Yang said, watching Verdel fuss over Zephyr for a moment. It reminded her so much of the few memories she had of Winter hovering around her, ready to chase off any unwanted visitors and bending over backwards to make her comfortable. "If you're lucky, she'll be like you and Zizi."

"Don't joke." Zephyr gave a tired chuckle. "You'll give her ideas. I'm a doctor, not a lawyer; I can't keep up."

"You'll find ways, trust me," Winter replied, leaning over to kiss their daughter's forehead. "You did amazing, Zephie. Should I go get the others?"

She nodded. "I might look like I just finished a twenty four... but I can't wait for her to meet them."

"You gonna be okay?" Yang's brows furrowed as her wife started for the door.

"I'll be fine," Winter replied with a cheeky grin. "It's just down the hall."

As the newborn began to squirm, her attention refocused on the little one. "Have you two thought of a name?"

"Wisteria," Verdel said, with a little grin.

"She told you about that, huh?" Yang chuckled. "It's a good name."

"It is." She looked down at the baby, a bittersweet pang in her chest; she already loved this little one just as much as her own children. However, she'd held Wisteria longer than she probably should've, and Zephyr was drifting in and out of consciousness. "Ready to have her back, V?"

She nodded down towards the baby. Almost immediately, his expression changed to one of concern as he drew back, hiding his left hand away. "Uh, Zizi and Zach should be here in a minute, I'm sure they'll want to hold her."

Ah, so that's it.

"They will. But she's your daughter." Yang walked around the hospital bed, using a severe look to pin him in place. "You or Zephie should be holding her when they come in, and she's a bit out of it."

He swallowed, hard. "But... what if I-"

"You won't," she said, offering up the precious little bundle. "You're her father and you love her." As he hesitantly reached towards Wisteria, the hospital lights glinting off his own prosthetic hand, she gently smiled. "You won't hurt her. She already knows that. Believe me- she's going to be Daddy's girl." Wisteria began to fuss and Verdel drew back at first, though clearing her throat seemed to encourage him. As he took the infant into his arms, Wisteria quieted down, though she did seem to squirm. "See? You better be careful, V. She's going to be your shadow for the next twenty years, just watch."

He didn't hear her. His entire focus was consumed by the sweet little angel in his arms.

Yang looked over to see Zephyr's tired but proud smile. "I did pretty good. Huh, Momma?"

"Just like I knew you would." She smiled. "Now you've got a little family of your own." She reached out with her left hand to grab her daughter's, squeezing lightly. "Be half the woman your mother was and you'll be brilliant."

Zephyr laughed. "That's what Mom says about you." She paused. "And either way, that's a high bar."

"You can make it." Verdel looked up. "We can. Right?"

"Right," Yang replied.

"Make way, best Aunt coming through-"

"And best Uncle!"

"Zizi, Zach, keep your voices down, we're in a hospital."

"Yes, Mom."

"Don't sass your mom, Babe."

"Don't suck up to my mom, Sweetheart."

"Zizi, language!"

"Oh come on!"

Yang rolled her eyes as her kids and wife returned, with their own partners in tow, only to put a hand to her forehead as a rather irate fellow grandmother came in, pointing out how she was clearly the best Aunt, hands down, with Blake watching in amusement as her wife began fussing over her niece and nephew. Meanwhile, Yang stole a glance back at the new parents, at Wisteria wrapping a tiny hand around Verdel's prosthetic finger. Winter came back to her side, putting an arm around her shoulders as the shenanigans began in earnest, only one thought on her mind.

They did pretty good.

Part XX

Winter sighed heavily in relief as she sank back into the back seat, allowing her eyes to close for a brief moment. Mentally, she acknowledged she'd gotten much too old for these red eye flights, her back complaining rather insistently despite the comfort in first class seats. However, all that fell away at the little whine from the car seat next to her, and she smiled across the car to her wife's pinched expression.

"Oh, hush little Xavier, it's okay." Yang reached into the car seat to soothe the toddler, voice soft. "We're all done now. Don't cry."

"He'll be fine once we start moving," Zach said from the front seat, slipping his seatbelt on and preparing to pull away from the terminal. "Sorry; my sitter bailed on me and I didn't want to wake up Zephyr or Verdel."

"Are Zise and Taylor-"

"Oh, right, they probably didn't tell you; Yvonne came down with a cold a few days ago. They're both fretting over her."

Winter looked back towards Yang as the car started moving, the two exchanging a knowing smile. "Sounds familiar."

Zach smirked at them in the rear view. "You taught us well, Mom."

"Your Momma was the one fretting most of the time."

"I remember it a little differently," Yang said, offering the pacifier to their youngest grandchild. From one to five with a sixth on the way, they'd still not gotten over the immense pride and swell of affection that came with every little coo their grandchildren gave. "Have you heard anything else from Marigold?"

"Momma," Zach replied with a weary sigh. "She's not coming back."

"Maybe she's just-"

"Momma." His lips turned down at the corners. "She officially relinquished custody today. She's not coming back."

Winter leaned forward, reaching out to lay a hand on her son's shoulder. "Zach-"

"I'm fine," he replied, flashing a small smile that didn't quite reach his eyes- an expression his grandpa wore all too often. "I mean... it hurts. But now I know she's not going to make Xavier's life one of choosing between us. And it's not like he's lacking for strong, motherly role models."

"Still, son. It must be difficult for you." She squeezed his shoulder. "If you need anything, just let us know."

Zach laughed. "What, and stop your world wide tour? I can't deprive Remnant of your visits; that'd be selfish."

"Well, I'm afraid we've beat you to it," Yang said with a grin. "We're going back to being home bodies."

"Missing the inside of your classroom?" Zach chuckled.

"I'm retiring, actually," she said, looking down at Xavier and smiling as the toddler fell back asleep thanks to the rocking motion of the car ride.

"What? Since when?"

Winter bit her tongue lightly, leaning back into her seat.

"I've used up all my vacation days and I've seen all Remnant has to offer with the most beautiful woman beside me," her wife replied with a soft laugh. "I think it's time to just be Grandma for a bit."

"Like you can ever be just anything." Their son laughed, pulling off the highway towards his own neighborhood. They'd all agreed that spending the night with Zach and Xavier would be best; their house sat on the other side of town, at least another thirty minutes away, and given the early hour, they'd rather not. Plus, finding out their grandson needed someone to watch him the following day certainly made the decision easier. "You're going to get restless."

"Yeah, but maybe Taylor needs help with that boat of theirs," Yang replied with a shrug. "Besides, free babysitters. It'll be good to be around the grandkids more."

Winter looked out through the window at the predawn neighborhood, the barest hints of people rousing for those early mornings- some for work, others for school. Together, they'd seen what felt like all of Remnant in various states but she remembered most fondly their own home in such hours, tending to their children. She could look forward to similar instances looking after their grandchildren, at least.

"Hey, do you want to bring Xavier up to the zoo tomorrow?"

"We could do that," Yang said with a smile. "You cleaning out the elephant enclosure?"

She raised a brow in curiosity; last they'd been told, Zach worked almost exclusively with the big cats.

"Actually, we just opened up the snow leopard habitat, and I have a sneaking suspicion they might be Xav's favorites." Their son chuckled. "You should see how he reacts when he sees one."

"We look forward to it."

Silence filled the car for a moment before Zach broke it. "Mom? You okay?"

"Of course," she replied.

"You're really quiet."

"I'm tired." Shifting, a sigh passed her lips. "I'm not a fan of early mornings anymore."

"That's an understatement." Her wife teased, though something flashed in her eyes- sympathy, and a testament to how much stronger Yang was to hide her own exhaustion so well. "A nap and we'll be fine."

Winter held her peace as they arrived at Zach's house, getting out of the car with a quiet groan. They only brought in a couple bags, with Zach doing most of the heavy lifting while Winter grabbed their carry on and Yang carried Xavier. He started to fuss only a little before being put to bed in his crib while Winter unpacked their essentials from the bag, Zach wishing them a good night before retiring to his own room for a small nap before work.

When Yang entered the guest room, her wife quickly detached her prosthetic with a whimper and a sigh. Then, she approached, reaching up to message away the tight muscles in her wife's shoulders.

"Have you thought more about switching to the lighter prosthetic?" She ventured, softly.

"I dunno." Yang sighed. "I think I might just go without."

"Are you sure?" It wasn't a decision to make lightly. Despite the fact they couldn't do all the things they had when they were younger, opting to not use the prosthetic meant more stress and strain on her other arm. Considering the discomfort the last trip had brought with it for both of them- going up north had not done them any favors- the end of their vacationing days wasn't so bad but focusing on spending time with their grandkids... Winter worried about what the future might bring. "The lighter version-"

"Snowdrift." Yang's shoulders fell. "I'm tired and so are you."

She watched her wife's expression for a moment before nodding. "Let's go to bed. We'll talk about it in the morning." Winter helped Yang get dressed, both of them getting under the covers and cuddling up the same as they'd done for nearly forty five years. "Good night, Sundrop." She pressed a kiss against her wife's shoulder. "I love you."

"Love you too." Yang turned her head, kissing her good night, and they both fell into a sweet slumber born of exhaustion.

Part XXI

Yang furrowed her brows, frowning down at the wrapped box. It was too big to grab with only one arm, even with her stump to brace, and frustratingly enough... too heavy. She'd already tried hefting it onto her shoulder to no avail, leaving her standing in the study alone with a big present for the six grandkids still sleeping soundly throughout the house. She'd thought she could sneak out, get the presents under the tree in the dead of night, and back in bed without anyone being the wiser, just like the old days.

"Now what?"

"You ask for help."

Yang blinked, looking back to the study door and finding her wife there, leaning against the doorframe. She tried making it look easy but, seeing as her cane was nowhere in sight, obviously needed the support.

"You should be asleep, Snowflake."

"Without you? Perish the thought." She shuffled into the room, nodding towards the present. "I'll grab that."

"It's heavy." Zach and Taylor had helped load it up and bring it in, but they were asleep like everyone else.

"It can't be that heavy," her wife said, bending down to try lifting it up. After about a minute of trying, filling the room with grunts and groans while Yang watched with a hand on her hip, Winter straightened up and panted. "How did we even buy this?"

"Home delivery, remember?" She chuckled, though she sympathized with the furrow to her wife's brows.

"Maybe if we both try?"

"Let's find out." They both bent down, struggling to just get it off the ground, but Yang didn't have the strength she used to and Winter's back was giving her more trouble now than it had before, and they both silently agreed to set it down between Yang's reddened face and Winter's wince.

"Okay." Her wife puffed out a breath. "Now what?"

"You ask for help." They both turned to see Zise standing in the doorway now, hands on her hips and frowning at them. "Only you two would have a house full of people and still try to do things yourself."

"You should be asleep," Winter said, with enough of a gleam to her eyes for Yang to find amusement.

"Uh, this is my house; you can't give me a bedtime in my own house!" Their middle daughter made a motion down the hallway before stepping into the room, rolling up the sleeves of her robe. "What did you two even buy that's this heavy?"

"This is a present from Santa." Winter shrugged, leaning back against a wall as Taylor entered the study. "He made them a special present."

Just before her spouse knelt down to assist with picking up the gift, Zise stood straight up and rounded on her mom. "Don't tell me you two got those robopets-"

"You got them robopets?" Zach whispered as he ducked into the room, his gaze shifting away from Winter to look at his sister. "By the way, you're being way too loud."

"I am not-"

"Yes, you are," Zephyr said, Verdel right behind her.

"She's not usually this cranky," Taylor said apologetically, though they had a mischievous look oh their face.

"Yes she is," everyone else in the room replied, quiet laughter following as Zise rolled her eyes.

"Would you three get over here and help us instead of being smartasses?"

Yang stepped back, allowing the five to crowd around the present- which was, in fact, a set of robopets, six little mechanical dragons waiting to be activated the following morning. Her wife seemed equally amused by their children's lighthearted squabbling combined with spouses' gentle ribbing until they had the present lifted up. And that's when they heard the squeak of a door opening elsewhere in the house- which, with all the adults in the room currently, could only mean one thing.

"I got this," Yang said with a smirk, quickly heading for the door and ignoring the way her right hip made each step a bit shorter than in past years, nearly breaking her expression, but she manage to plaster on a tired smile as she slipped out of the room. A few steps down the hall, she made the turn towards the stairs and got halfway up before she could see the sliver of light against the far wall up ahead. On the landing, she saw Wisteria leading her little brother out of their bedroom, both freezing at being confronted.

"Grandma!" Wisteria kept her voice down, making a quick motion with her hand. "Grandma, did you hear Santa, too?"

"I did!" She knelt down by the two, immediately regretting it but resolving to deal with it later. "I had a little talk with him."

Wisteria's eyes lit up as Walter clapped his hands together. "Santa!"

She nodded. "Yup. He said you two were really good this year, but you still need to be good, and that means going back to bed. It's still too early to go downstairs."

"But Grandma!" Wisteria pouted, gaze drifting over Yang's shoulder. "Grandmom, please!"

"Oh no, that's not going to work." Winter chuckled. "You heard Grandma."

"See?" She smiled. "Go back to bed, you two. Morning will be here soon enough."

Although not happy about it, Wisteria and Walter turned around and went back into the guest bedroom, sharing the space with Xavier- still sitting in his bed, wide awake but wise enough not to leave the room before Dad came to get him- while their cousins slept in another room. Winter gave her a hand, helping her back to her feet, and sending a warning look further down the hall followed by the quiet 'click' of a door closing. Alone in the hallway and mere hours away from the children being impossible to contain, they exchanged a look.

In the weak light, Yang saw amusement twinkling in blue eyes and a touch of sadness as she likely remembered a Christmas Eve now decades past. The same night played again in her own mind, the memory still so crisp- she sometimes forgot where her keys were or that they moved the local supermarket down a block, but she remembered the best Christmas present she'd ever received in the form of her wife grabbing her in the dead of night to fulfill a promise to their daughter.

They hardly looked like they did then- she couldn't wear her prosthetic anymore and her blonde locks had lost their color completely about five years ago, the slow process of turning white as her wife's taking nearly two decades.(edited)For a moment, she was lost in a memory.

But then she was slumped against her wife, blinking her vision clear. "Huh?"

"Sundrop? Can you hear me?" The worry in Winter's voice brought her gaze up to see her wife's expression, pinched together as she struggled to keep the woman on her feet. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine." She drew in a breath, noting the ache in her chest and fuzziness in her head. "Got lightheaded when I stood up. Nothing to worry about." Nothing changed in those blue eyes. "I'm okay, Snowdrift." She coughed a few times and shook her head, feeling much better after a moment to gather her bearings. "Let's go make sure the gifts are all placed, and then lay down. It's going to be a long day."

"Yang," she said, voice hard as steel though a warble existed at the edges. "That's the third time this month."

"And the doc told you to use your cane." She shot back, though she relented quick enough. "I'll make an appointment. If it happens again, we'll go to the emergency room. Okay?" Reaching out, she rubbed her wife's arm. "It's Christmas, Snowdrift. Let's enjoy it."

"Very well," she replied, likely only relenting because she truly did need her cane nowadays. "But if you breathe one word of me walking around without my cane to Weiss, I'm telling Ruby about these spells of yours. It's hard enough getting her to take her heart medication without me setting a poor example."

"Deal." They exchanged a kiss and started towards the stairs, helping each other down. In a few short hours, the house would be alive with squealing children, and eventually with two more clans as their sisters' families joined the fray, and Yang felt her heart ache for all the love filling it.

Part XXII

Winter sat with the weight of the world on her shoulders, the arm chair comfortable but unable to make her feel any semblance of ease. They'd known this day was coming for years but that didn't make the reality any easier to cope with, especially with the steady beeping of the EKG occasionally deviating, and with each stall and start, she felt her own heart stop and start again. The doctors had come and gone but they hadn't broken the silence yet. Winter for fear of what would be said; Yang because she'd been staring out the window and lost in thought the whole time.

Finally, she spoke. "Im sorry, Snowdrift." 

She winced, chin falling with her shoulders. For the past few years, her wife's heart had started to fail. She'd always had problems with her cholesterol, and their trips around Remnant meant being a bit more lax in her diet, but when they'd returned... she hadn't gone back to it. Yang continued eating whatever struck her fancy. It made sense- she'd always had a hearty appetite- but those little cheats caught up. When the dizzy spells continued, she went to the doctor as promised, and that's when they learned- her heart wasn't getting enough blood. She tried changing her diet then but the damage had been done and her first heart attack came hardly a year ago. Medication didn't seem to help and knowing her father had passed under similar circumstances... Yang always had the largest heart, loving everyone freely... the irony didn't escape her and she cursed it all the same. But she didn't give up just yet. 

"A heart transplant-" 

"Snowdrift," she said with a small smile. "I'm seventy four. I've lived a good life." The corners of her mouth turned down. "If I could, I'd stay with you and the kids and grandkids forever. But we know that's not possible. I can't take twenty years from someone else just to try for that century mark myself."

Her throats constricted as she forced herself to her feet, using her cane to hobble over to her wife's bedside. She slipped her hand into Yang's, squeezing lightly. She understood the logic- of course she did- but she wanted to be selfish. "They've got those prosthetic hearts now-" 

"I don't qualify." She frowned. "You know that." 

"If there's one person on this planet who can change reality with just words, it's me," she said, feeling the tears stinging at her eyes. "But I won't change your mind." 

"No," her wife said with a deep sigh and a wince, clinging tight to the hand in hers. Once, it would've been strong enough to crack Winter's knuckles, but now it didn't even draw a little pain. "I love you, Snowdrift." 

"I love you, too, Sundrop." She leaned over and pressed a kiss to Yang's lips. "I'll get the doctor and call the kids."

Winter marshaled her strength and turned towards the door, pulling out her scroll and calling Zephyr first. Then Zise, then Zach, and each promised they'd be there as soon as they could, though the speed with which they showed up was telling; she wouldn't be surprised if they'd taken up residence in the hospital's cafe after she'd told them of Yang's hospitalization. The conversation with the doctor's, though, was more taxing, though they tried to be compassionate with the questions and paperwork. Winter felt a lead weight drop into her stomach as her wife signed the paper and it soured when she put her own name beneath it.

"Mom?" Zephyr's brows pinched together while Verdel immediately went to Yang's bedside. "Are you sure we can't talk her out of it?" 

"You know your Momma," she said, her voice weak. "Once she sets her mind to something... there's no changing it." 

Her eldest daughter nodded, taking a deep breath to stave off the tears before joining her husband. Zise, Taylor, and Zach joined them, while the grandkids were all spending the night with friends. That was probably for the best; better that they remember Grandma with a smiling face than with machines hooked into her. Winter called Ruby and Weiss, too. They wouldn't be able to make it in time but she did turn the video so Yang could see, weak smiles and tear filled words exchanged before her wife's breathing became heavy. The emotional stress took its toll and Winter watched as the EKG became erratic- not a heart attack, not yet, but not exactly better as it lost its rhythm once or twice and her breath became suddenly short. 

"Ma'am," the doctor said, a softness in his tone. "It's time." Winter nodded and leaned close again, kissing Yang's cheek. "I love you." 

Her wife offered a weak smile but her breathing wasn't improving. Lilac eyes eventually shifted to their children. "You guys... don't need to... see this..." she paused, trying to muster her strength "I love you... all so much..." 

"We love you too, Momma," they replied- all five of them, because she and Yang had always accepted Taylor and Verdel as their children, too- and shuffled out with some reluctance, throwing one last glance towards the bed. 

"Ma'am." A nurse touched her shoulder. "You may want to step out as well."

Winter drew herself to her full height, tilted her chin up, and proudly responded. "I said 'until death do us part' and I meant it." She looked at her wife, who's eyes still shone with love after all these years. "I'm not leaving you."

To some extent, she felt this was the way things should be, for all the times she left Yang and her family behind to go into a warzone, it should be her being left behind at the end. She tried telling herself it was only fair. Yang let out a shaky breath.

"I'm sorry-" 

"Don't be," she said, offering a small smile. "Just be there waiting when for me." 

"Don't... rush." 

Her wife's eyes fell closed as the EKG's reading began deviate wildly, and Winter looked at the doctor pleadingly. When the doctor reached over and adjusted a hanging bag, Yang's expression smoothed out... but the EKG became worse. Winter stood at her bedside and waited, a sentry watching her beloved pass from this world into the next, and when the line became flat and the doctor read out the early morning hour, Winter instinctively reached out and grabbed Yang's hand before they drew the sheet over her. 

It was when she felt no squeeze, felt nothing at all, that it hit her, completely winded her- that she'd just lost her best friend and partner for over fifty years. 

Yang was gone. 

In that moment, she shattered. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she became aware that her children were around her, holding her up where her own legs couldn't as she cried, no words to accompany the anguish. Because in her mind- her heart and soul- all she could see was the snapshots of her life, and the smiling face of her wife accompanying so many of them- and scowling and sad and every emotion known to exist because they'd been together through so much... 

And that part of her life had come to an end.

Eventually, she turned unseeing eyes to the heavens, and she silently promised that she would make Yang proud. If she had even half the strength and composure of her beloved, she would be able to pick herself up and devote her remaining years to their family, just like all those lonely nights when Yang had held down the home front for her. 

But when she eventually returned to their house alone- though Zise accompanied her, and some part of her knew their kids wouldn't leave her to be entirely alone for a while- and climbed into their bed alone, only then did she realize how daunting a task it was, and in that moment she worried she didn't truly cherish her wife. 

"Goodnight, my strong Sundrop," she said to the empty room. "I love you... and I already miss you so much."

Part XXIII

The house was dead silent, a cool night in late fall, disturbed only by the ringing of a scroll. Groggily, Zephyr reached out and grabbed it, answering in a slurred tone. But the moment she heard the other voice on the line, she snapped awake. 

"Yes, speaking." 

"Ma'am, we're calling regarding your mother-" 

"Which hospital?" Perhaps it sounded callous to the uninitiated but Zephyr was old enough to understand that some things eventually happened. And, honestly, five years had passed since Momma did; every day, she woke up thinking it would be the one. Beside her, Verdel sat up and began attaching his prosthetic, having woken up initially with the call and then spurred into action by her words. 

"Mercy West General-" 

"On First and Central." She nodded at her husband, gathering her courage for the next question. "Is she..." 

Some part of her refused to finish it. 

"She's stable, but her kidneys are failing." The nurse paused. "She'll need long term care but she'll be alright." 

No, she won't.

"Get the kids," she said, and Verdel quickly got out of bed and headed for the door. "We'll be there soon." 

As she hung up, she did her best to muster the nerve to call her sister and brother. She could've asked the hospital to do it but, honestly, she'd rather it be her than some stranger. When she lifted the scroll to her ear, she desperately tried to arrange the words in her head, but- as usual- her sister seemed to click onto it immediately. 

"Is she stable?" No greeting of any sort; only one thing could prompt a call this early in the morning. 

"Yes, but she's going into renal failure." She paused. "At her age, it means long term care at a facility." 

"Which actually means... right." The shuffling of fabric proceeded a quick word to her partner. "Which hospital?" 

"Same as always." Ironic, that so many good and bad memories were contained in one building. 

"We'll be there soon. Want me to call Zach?" 

"I will." 

"Sis..."

She smiled, small and sad. "It's okay, Zizi. I'll handle it." 

A sigh came across the line. "Okay. Love ya, sis. I'll see you there." 

"Love you, too." Talking to her brother seemed at once easier and so much harder. 

"Hello?" He sounded like he'd been dead asleep after yet another long shift. 

"Hey, Zach." 

"Zephie?" He paused, and she could practically hear the shift in his expression. "Is she-" 

"She's stable... for now." Zephyr sighed. "It'll be long term care at this point." 

"Mom will never go to a home." It partly came down to pride but they all knew the majority of the issue stemmed from leaving the house. It held all the memories of Momma, to the point she stubbornly kept climbing the stairs rather than moving into a room on the first floor. Mom clung onto those memories with all the strength she had in her; she would never let them go. "So... this is it, huh?" 

"Yeah," she replied in a small voice. "This is it."

He sighed. "I'll get Xavier. We'll be there as soon as possible." 

"Good. See you there, little brother." 

"Yeah... same place as always?" 

"Yes." 

"Alright, we'll head that way. Love you." 

"Love you, too."

After hanging up, she got ready herself, trying to divorce the doctor side of her brain from the daughter side. As a medical professional, she felt compelled to try and convince Mom to get the treatment she needed... but the part of her that was raised by the woman's own hands knew that it was asking too much. Mom had done so much just to be there these past five years, for her and her siblings and all their children, but in her eyes, they could all see her will dimming. More than once, she remarked on how strong Momma was, to effectively raise them on her own while Mom was away. Zephyr remembered those days even after all these years, hoping against hope Mom would come back so Momma wasn't stressed, wasn't sad. As an adult, she looked back and realized Momma didn't handle the separation nearly as well as she pretended to, but Mom only saw her strength. In the end, they were both strong, but at their strongest when together, and life never stopped throwing punches. Eventually, a person breaks. Momma did, and now Mom... 

"Mom?" She blinked, snapped out of her thoughts by her daughter's voice. "Dad says the car's ready." 

Wisteria looked scared but tried putting on a brave face. Like her mother and grandma before her, she understood that trying to be strong would help others, and Zephyr nodded. 

"It's going to be alright, Terry." The nickname- given by Mom- had stuck, though they'd only ever heard stories about the person who bore it before. "Come along." 

"Mom..." Wisteria paused. "Is Grandmom..."

She considered lying for all of two seconds. But her parents did their level best to tell the truth, and she wouldn't betray that now. "We're going to say goodbye." 

Tears immediately came to her daughter's eyes and she crossed the room to pull her into a hug. Frankly, this was one of those rare times when she couldn't sympathize with her own children; growing up, she'd only ever known Grandpa Tai, so while she knew the pain of losing a grandparent, she only knew it so far as losing one. Not two.

"You can cry, Sweetheart. It's okay." 

"Is this why Grandmom didn't say if she'd come to my graduation?" They'd had the conversation hardly a month ago, and Mom hadn't been very forthright on her answer. 

"Grandmom keeps her promises, Terry." She frowned. "But she knows there are some she can't keep. And she misses Grandma terribly." 

Wisteria nodded solemnly. "Me too." 

"We all do." She guided her daughter towards the door. "I know it's difficult, but she's fought so hard to get this far. Let's go tell her we love her, one more time." 

Zephyr mentally frowned at her own words choice. She didn't want to say 'last'... but there wasn't a better way to put it, really. Yet, she avoided it anyway. As they headed towards the car, she braced herself for a very long night.

Part XIV

Zise ushered her kids into the hospital room, her partner not far behind. Some part of her dreaded this day coming but, now that it was here, she felt a certain amount of peace. It hurt, seeing Mom- always so proud and head strong- hooked up to so many machines, looking so frail, but they could only postpone the inevitable for so long. No one outran the final moments of their lives. Yet, at the very least, those moments wouldn't be alone for their Mom, who tried so hard to be there for them growing up. 

"What did the docs say?" She spoke quietly while Yvonne, Yvette, and Yelena went over to their Grandmom's bedside, the woman aware enough of her surroundings to smile at them as she had for Wisteria and Walter, though it was a weak expression at best. 

"She's going into multiple organ failure," her sister said, the clinical time hiding the pain in her eyes. "They were trying to put her on life support." 

"She signed the paper already?" Zephyr nodded. "And... you?" 

She didn't envy the task set before her eldest sibling nor did she miss the stuttered breath that left her chest. 

"Yes."

Ever since her eightieth birthday, Mom's health had started to decline. She spoke less with each passing year, looked to the sky more even though it hurt her neck. That she'd made it these last three years... Momma would be proud of her, she thought, and of Zephie as she pulled her sister into a hug. 

"You know it's for the best," she said, feeling the shake in her sister's shoulders and seeing the tears in her brother-in-law's eyes. 

"That doesn't mean I have to like it," Zephyr replied, sounding so much like their Mom then they couldn't help but laugh. Then the door opened and Zach stepped in, Xavier just a few steps behind. 

"Sorry we're late." The young man immediately joined his cousins, while their brother stepped up and wrapped both of his sisters up in a hug. "This is really it, huh?" They nodded, watching as their little brother's expression pinched together. "There's... nothing we can do?"

"Zach... look at her," Zise said, glancing back at the bed, where their Mom did her best to smile for her grandkids, but spoke not a word. "She's ready." 

"Yeah... but I'm not." Zach sniffled. 

Zephyr empathized. "None of us are... we haven't been and we won't be, even if she had another twenty years. We weren't ready for Momma to go, either." 

Her heart ached for the truth in the words. They really weren't ready, but no one ever is. At least they could take comfort in each other, like before. Something changed in her readings, prompting Taylor to step forward. 

"Okay, kids, say goodbye to Grandmom. Then, Wisteria's going to take you all down to the gift shop." They looked back at Zise for a moment. "I'll be right there. Okay?" 

The five kids, ranging from young adults to teenagers, nodded, each offering a final goodbye to their Grandmom and a careful hug around thin shoulders. Just before they shuffled out of the room, their Grandmom gathered her strength and uttered the one phrase she offered freely, even when she would say nothing else. 

"Love you... too..." 

Zise's heart ached for the scratchiness in her voice, how soft the words were, the stern voice she remembered from her childhood effectively gone.

The kids smiled and waved goodbye before the door closed and Taylor stepped forward, leaning down to kiss her cheek. 

"I'll go keep an eye on them." They gave her hand a little squeeze. "Thanks, Mom, for everything. I promise, I'll keep an eye on Zizi and Zach for you." They looked over at Verdel with a little smile. "But you're on your own." 

They all laughed a little as Verdel stepped up, using his prosthetic to hold Mom's hand, and it was bittersweet, because it always reminded Mom of Momma. 

"I'll watch Zephyr, and all your grandkids. I already miss you, Mom."

He meant well, but sometimes her brother-in-law didn't word things the best, and as he joined Taylor in going to watch the kids, Zise could see the bit of guilt flashing in her Mom’s eyes. She didn't doubt the woman could pull herself back from the brink of death through sheer force of will, but... that wouldn't be fair. It would be selfish, but not fair. She looked at her siblings, both caught between comforting their Mom and begging her to stay, and realized it fell to her. So she stepped up and sat down on her Mom's bedside, took one hand in hers, and mustered her strength. She knew Mom always felt like she hadn't been there at times and that guilt was kept at bay by Momma but never extinguished. 

Truthfully, there wasn't a day that went by where Mom wasn't there with her, a voice in the back of her mind calling for her to do the right thing, to be strong, to be resilient. And she was her Mom's daughter... but also her Momma's. 

"Hey, Mom," she said with a soft smile. "Tell Momma 'hi' for us. And that we love you both." 

Tears fell from her eyes when she saw the gratitude in her Mom's expression. Zephyr and Zach stepped up, too, the former resting a hand on Mom's shoulder and the latter taking her other hand. They'd waited out in the hall when Momma passed, rushing in at the alarmed look on the doctor's face when Mom broke down, but they wouldn't let her pass without knowing she was loved. When the doctor and nurses came in to adjust her medication, Zephyr told them. With some quiet words, the bags were swapped out, and their Mom closed her eyes one final time, surrounded by her children. 

With her final breath, Zise came to the realization that here, with almost fully grown children of her own, only now did her childhood truly come to an end, and she pulled her siblings closer together and wept.

Part XV

Zach stared down at the coffin they'd lowered down into the ground, various flowers and a few handfuls of dirt thrown in atop it. A few feet away, grass covered Momma's own coffin, their joined headstone now complete with Mom's dates freshly carved into the yellowed marble. His sisters and their families stood around, each processing in their own time, while Xavier stood beside him, quietly crying. Off to the side stood Aunt Blake and Aunt Weiss, the former holding her wife while the latter shook and cried, clinging to her jacket, their own children and grandchildren and even a great grandchild swaddled in blankets surrounding them. Auntie Ruby and Uncle Sun stood a bit back with their own family, having attended out of respect but still not entirely unmoved by the service, because they'd come to see Mom as a sister just as much as Momma.

Zephyr, Zise, and Zach had cried all their tears already and somehow summoned the courage to remain strong for their families, maintaining their composure throughout the service. Despite the chill of early winter, the sun shone brightly overhead, and it made his black tux a little uncomfortable.

"You look great, Son."

"Like an absolute gentleman."

"I do clean up pretty good, huh?" He spoke softly, recalling the response he'd given the night of his high school prom. "I love you, Mom. Momma." A hand slipped into his, his son scrubbing at his face with his other hand. "Ready to go, buddy?"

"Yeah."

He nodded."Alright." Zach turned towards his siblings. "We're going to head down to the diner. We'll see you there?"

It was a small, kinda cramped Mistrali place down off Seventh, but Mom and Momma loved it; no other place would do as a rallying point for their family in the wake of Mom's passing.

After receiving a chorus of affirmative responses, he turned away and guided his son towards the car. They got about halfway through the headstones before Xavier came to a stop.

"Dad?" His face pinched together. "Why do people die?"

Zach smiled; he'd prepared for this question. "I'm going to tell you a secret, Xav. Your Grandmom told your Aunt Zephie, and your Aunt Zizi, and me. Now, I'm going to tell you." He squeezed his son's shoulder. "As you go through life, you'll come to realize that love is never easy. It hasn't been for anyone. It'll keep you up at night- just like being angry, or sad, or anxious. You'll lose a lot of sleep as you get older because of it. But if you do it right, the sleep you lose, you'll get back at the end, surrounded by the people you love. That's where Grandma is, and where Grandmom went to join her. Grandma went to see your Great Grandpa Tai, and Grandmom followed her in time." He paused. "And, one day, I'll go, too, just like your Aunts, and we'll be with our parents."

Xavier's eyes widened. "Dad... you-"

"Hey, I'm not going anywhere yet." He chuckled. "But I won't be here forever." Then he pulled his son into a hug. "That's why I tell you every day I love you. So that, when I'm gone, you'll know just how much love is waiting for you at the end, just like I do." He drew back to look his son in the eyes. "Love freely, and never miss an opportunity to tell someone you care. There's not enough love in this world to miss out on that."

Xavier seemed to mull over his words before nodding. "That's why Grandma always stayed up to read us bedtime stories, and Grandmom woke up early with us on Christmas morning."

"Yup." Zach looked back at where the rest of their family stood, congregated around the gravesite. "And now, they get all that sleep back. And they're happy." Tears fell from his eyes. "If I'm half the parent they were, you'll be at peace when I go. It'll hurt, because loving someone and losing them is never easy, but if you spend every day loving and caring for those closest to you, you'll be able to sleep easy when the time comes."

He was nearly bowled over as Xavier launched into a hug, staggering him. "You're the best, Dad," he said, squeezing tight. "Grandma and Grandmom are proud, 'cause I am. I know that."

Zach smiled and hugged his son tight. "I had good teachers."

"I love you, Dad."

"Love you too, Xav." He said. "Now, come on. Let's go get lunch with everyone." As they climbed into the car, something occurred to the young man.

"Hey, Dad, we should invite everyone over to our house and watch a movie tonight. Ya know, like we did when I was little?"

"I'm not sure if we'll all fit," he replied, thinking on it. "But your Aunt Zizi might have enough room." As he drove out of the cemetery, he noticed Xavier staring out the window. "Something on your mind, champ?"

"Grandma and Grandmom are sleeping on the hill now," he said, nodding towards a green hill just beyond the cemetery's fence. "They look happy."

Zach didn't know what to make of it; sometimes, Xavier said some odd things. Mom and Momma always said it's the sign of a creative mind and he was probably just trying to construct a happy ending for his grandparents to give himself hope.

"Yeah. They are." He nodded. "And even though we miss them so much, we can be happy, too. I mean, when was the last time you got to see all your cousins?"

As the car continued to pull away, and the rest of the family slowly made their way to vehicles of their own, they were watched by the very spirits of those they mourned. No words were needed as Yang- looking and feeling like she was a late twenty-something, with both her arms though the right has a strange glowing quality to it she'd yet to figure out- laid back down beside her wife, happy and content as Winter wrapped her up in her arms and they basked beneath the rays of a sun they couldn't feel, but warmed by their love all the same.

Author’s Note: If anyone’s curious, this whole thing came about because I was thinking about all the different reasons a person “loses sleep” and the somewhat morbid saying of “I’ll sleep when I’m dead”. I thought up Zach’s lines and decided that I could both explore the various reasons and ways a person loses sleep over the course of their life and what it really means to get it all back at the end.

[instakpop]

JB scenario - Now or never

Requested by @thewriterandthereader

genre: ANGSTY AF, sad

Summary: Falling in love with JB is easy. He treats you right, stays by your side, and trusts you no matter what. But when his strict parents don’t approve of you and even try to find him someone “better”, your trust in him gets the ultimate test.

I laid out on my bed, waiting for JB to meet me at my apartment until I heard the jingling of keys on the other side of the door. And there he was. His smile lit up my entire studio. I gave him a weak smile back and he hurried to my side.

"My day just got better. Come here~" He pulled me into his strong arms and kissed my cheek. I felt so down, I couldn't even try to act happy. "Hmm? What’s wrong, Jagi?"

"Do you still love me?" I asked. He recoiled at my words, unsure how to process what I just said.

"Of course, I love you. I always have and I always will." He said. "Can I have a proper kiss now?" He leaned in, but I just can't. I turned my head and got off my bed.

"Ever since the day we became official, your parents have had it out for me. I know you keep saying they'll come around, but I just don't see that happening. I can see it in their eyes when they look at me. Like 'Our son can do so much better than a girl like you'."

"No. I can't. No one in this world can do better than the person they're in love with."

"I don't know JB," I said, bringing my head down. He got up, off of my bed and lifted my chin to look at him. "Tell you what. Let's go out tonight. Escape from all this. Just you and me." He suggested. I thought to my self for a moment and nodded. His smile widened and he kissed my lips as a goodbye. I gave in and kissed him back. "I'll pick you up later." I nodded at him and he left.

There was a part of me that just wanted really escape the situation and run away with him. But he would never do that. Not with his parents the way they are. With my luck, they'd probably have me arrested for kidnapping.  I know they don't approve of me. And honestly, I can't stand them either.

-Later-

I tried to get the finishing touches on my makeup when I got a call from JB. "Are you here already?" I asked

"No, baby I'm so sorry. Something came up and I have to cancel."

"Oh. Umm... Okay. Is everything okay? Do you need me for anything?"

"No. I'm okay. We can try for tomorrow night. I've gotta go, but I love you, Y/n."

"I love you too." As soon as I hung up I felt abandoned. I already got dressed up so I might as well just go out with a couple friends. I called them up and they immediately agreed.

We went out to a few stores before they closed just to look around and walked around the city. We stopped at one of our favorite late-night cafes to just blow off steam and talk about whatever.

"This is a much better way to spend a Saturday night. Thank you, girls, for coming out with me." I said They both gave me a quick hug and one of my friends looked around out the window.

"Oh my god! It's Jaebum..." My eyes widened and I turned to see what she meant. There he was. Across the street at a restaurant with some other girl. My heart started to pound so hard, I could feel it in my throat.

"Y/n. You need to go over there. Just try and hear him out." My friend said, insisting on being my voice of reason. But I'm done being reasonable. I got up and stormed across the street with my friends right behind me. When I walked through the door the hostess greeted me.

"Hi! Table for three?"

"No, actually I need to speak to him," I said pointing at JB. He must have heard me and looked over his shoulder. His face went white as if he'd seen a ghost. Or at least a pissed off girlfriend. He stood up and walked to me, not wanting to cause a scene.

"Can we talk outside?" He asked. I walked out the door without any reply and he hurried behind me.

"You have one minute," I said while crossing my arms.

"My mom set me up." I scoffed and rolled my eyes. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. "Just listen. She said if I go out with this girl then she'll stop trying to get in the way of us and my dad agreed. I figured if I went out with her I could just suffer through one dinner and we can be together in peace." He reached out for my hand and I pulled away.

"No. No, JB. You agreed to date this girl while you are still in a relatoinship. You knew what you were doing, which is why I assume she doesn't know about us. Right?" JB shook his head in shame and I took a step back.

"That's what I thought. And you know what. If your parents told you to go out with one last girl before they let you be with me, then they were at the end of their rope. Had you said no, they probably would have just stopped prying anyway. But you gave in. You gave up on us."

"No, I didn't, Y/n! I love you." He said trying to hold my head again. I felt the tears of frustration build up in my eyes. "I need to go," I said in a hushed tone.

I walked back to where my friends were and they took me home. The three of us were silent through the entire car ride. They both knew I didn't want to talk. I just let my mind wander. I had to make a change; A major change if I really want to be happy. My friends dropped me off and I hurried to my little studio apartment. The place where things never went wrong. And then It hit me.

I'm not unhappy or stressed when I'm in my own element. I need to find that. I need to get away from the parental drama and just find a place where I can find myself and then find love later. My phone buzzed and I saw JB's contact name light up the screen. I ignored the call and saw that it was one of many. I put my phone on the charger and started packing. If I can't run away with JB, then I'll run away alone.

Not even three minutes later I heard a knock at my door. I didn't answer because I knew it was him. I heard the jingling of keys and remembered he had my spare. The door opened and He froze when he saw me.

"Y/n, I-"

"Don't. Just, please...  Don't. I have tried for too long to get you to love me properly, but it just won't happen. And tonight was just the last straw. You don't even realize that this whole situation has broken me. I don't know how to love you anymore because you won't love me back."

"I do love you. My parents just can't understand that."

"Exactly. And that is why I need a clean break." I said before stuffing more of my things into storage boxes.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm leaving. We're done and you are the only reason I've stayed in this godforsaken place. Plus the timing is perfect. My lease ends at the end of the week and my boss already offered me a transfer to another location." I replied.

"...Y/n You can't."

"Look, JB. You are an amazing guy. I have had some of the best times of my life with you and I'll never forget that, but right now, we can't happen if you parents keep controlling your love life." A tear slowly slid down my face and JB walked toward me, raising his hand to my cheek, catching the tear with his thumb.

"I'm so sorry, Y/n. All this time my parents told me I deserve better, but that's never going to be true. Because you deserve better than me. You need someone who can give you everything I can't." He reached out for my hand and I felt a piece of metal in my palm. I looked down to see my spare key and sighed.

JB leaned in and kissed my forehead. I couldn't hold it back anymore and I let out a soft sob. "I hope you find your happiness, Y/n." He whispered against my forehead. I nodded and he let go of my face and hand. I watched him walk out of my life and close the door. But I can't fret for too long. Because the only way to get through this is to just get through it.

I turned to the window and looked out onto the city I'm about to leave behind. I know this is the right thing to do. I have to take this opportunity now or I never will.

The next day I called my landlord and told him I won't be renewing my lease and I took up my boss's offer to transfer. By the end of the week, I finished packing and found a new place to live. It was all happening.

The timing wasn't right for JB and I. But now I can finally live my life without being compressed by someone else's opinion. Now I can just be me.

THE END