#and she's doing so good <3 but you just know that it's a conscious choice every single time she's in front of carla

[lesbiancosmicowl]

I'm gonna be with you every single step of the way. ↳ Lisa Swain & Carla Connor + Choosing to stay

[sp1d3rzz]

pt.2 pt.3

Can we talk about how much of a pervert Midoriya is???

Warning !! : Masturbation, degradation, and pussy eating. Lemme know if I missed anything ^^

Like think about it. Your average bullied 'weird' kid who honestly doesn't have a lot, (no friends, no quirk, and certainly no girlfriend) is just so dirty.

Uses his computer a LOT. You can't tell me he isn't sitting there jerking off to his oddly specific choice in hentai because he can't stop thinking about how girl's hand accidentally brushed against his while walking.

Poor thing probably doesn't even know the girl was definitely gossiping with her friends later about the accident.

"I mean, did you see the way his cheeks went bright red?" followed along with a few "yeah"'s and "that guy is so weird"'s.

Or maybe he does?? Maybe he imagines how much shit the girls talk about him so his orgasm comes even faster. Midoriya finds pleasure in someone who knows how to put him in his place.

His rough hand moving up and down his length, biting down extra hard on the hem of his favorite 'Plus Ultra!' shirt to keep him from making too much noise.

Groans and whines are heard from behind the door to his room as he trails a thumb over his slit, bringing the pre-cum around his tip to ease the tension. His head dips back and his eyes close.

He imagines the feeling of being stepped and shoved into the floor with the heel of his favorite hentai cosplayer. Insults and degrading words going through his ears and to the blood of which flows to his girthy cock.

"You're such a naughty boy, hm?", "Say it, say your mommy's naughty little boy.", "Want me to spit on you?...Yes?? Dirty bitch."

Saddest part is that he just can't help how he feels. Always becoming heated whenever a girl tells him how messy and improper his hair is.

Of course, she means it as a way to make him feel self-conscious about himself. But little does she know how he thinks about how it'd look even messier if she were to tug at his green strands while he ate her out like it was his last meal.

Mouth desperately sucking up the juices of her cunt as he moans and whimpers pathetically from just the pure taste of her warmth.

His nose swiping against her clit every time he adjusts himself to get a better angle. Arms wrapping around plush thighs to bring her closer to his face.

"Tastes— so good–" he'll buck his hips up into nothing just to cool his sensations. Eyes watch every move she makes, just to make sure he's doing this right. Just to make sure he's pleasing her.

And when she finally cums and scoots herself away from him, she see's her wetness and cum have coated his face messily. The sight might be sexy, but who wants to do anything more with a loser like him?

So when she gets up and leaves like nothing even happened (despite the fact she's practically shaking as cum leaks through her panties), he follows her to the door.

"B-bye!" he calls out, and isn't surprised when she slams her car door, starts the car, and drives away. Just a little hurt.

[willows-peak]

*･ﾟ✧ How the JJK characters show their love for u (love languages)

tags: multi character x reader, gn! reader, fluff, just overwhelming amts of fluff

word count: 1.3k

a/n: im starting off with some fluff, bc they all deserve some soft loving <3

⋆｡˚ ♡ PHYSICAL TOUCH: light squeezes of your hand, hugs from behind, leaning on your shoulder on the train, holding your wrist while you walk together, no matter what their hands are on you. they just love you too much to keep away from you, can you blame them? the feeling of you against their skin makes them feel happier than they could ever expect, even when they're coming across as clingy sometimes.

nobara will tug on your sleeve until you oblige and follow her around the mall, your hand either taken by your girlfriend's or the brightly colored shopping bags she'd acquired over your trip. some for her, some for you, because she was just dying to put you in some of the shirts she'd seen around the mall. and she's smile and kiss your cheek when you went with her requests with no fuss

yuuji will take no liberties in picking you up at any point. greeting you? you're up in the air before you can say 'hello'. god help you if you even mention being tired, because he will carry you in his arms without a moments hesitation, holding you close to his chest and claiming he can't in good conscious let you walk while tired! as your boyfriend, its his job to take care of you

gojo will never ever hesitate to embarrass you with how doting he can get. dramatically gasping whenever he sees you in his kitchen making a snack and rushing over to you, pressing kiss after kiss to your face and squeezing you while praising the heavens he's able to see you today, ignoring how you turned your face away and whined at him to lay off

⋆｡˚ ♡ WORDS OF AFFIRMATION: with someone like you, how do you expect them to keep their mouth shut? they can never get enough of the way you blush or laugh at their compliments, or their daily vows of love. "you're a great cook, dear." if you made them a meal, or fawning over how great you look today, despite you being dressed in loose pajamas with a messy bedhead. they need you to always know how in love they are, constantly.

sukuna, surprisingly, can offer quite a few bits of praise to you through the day. while you may have to pause and figure out his wording to actually receive a compliment at times, that doesn't change how he'll always show his approval of you in his own way. he never fails to acknowledge your effort in something, patting your shoulder and congratulating you on whatever you did.

nanami is always straight to the point when he speaks, wasting no extra time to dance around a subject and often being more blunt than necessary with his words. and that carries over to how he loves you, of course. kissing the temple of your head, murmuring about how lucky he is to be with you, brushing hair out of your face while you lean in for a proper kiss.

⋆｡˚ ♡ GIFT GIVING: plastic charms, figurines, hair clips, clothes, jewelry, stuffies, flowers, games, they're never ending. you're never not on their mind, so it's really impossible for them to be out and about without seeing some beautiful roses in a shop window and not hesitate at all with buying it for you. a single off handed comment about how you're a fan of something, and suddenly your arms are full of different kinds of merch. you've had to reorganize your room countless times to fit everything they've gotten you in there, and you're starting to look like a hoarder. but, it makes them happy, so what choice do you have?

getou could plant acres of flower fields with how much roses he'd gotten you. you can't even remember when you'd told him your favorite flower, the innocent seeming question still forcing you to fill up vase after vase of beautifully picked red roses. the amount of times getou had shown up to your door, hands behind his back with a smile plastered over his face at your weary sigh. "what did you get now, sugu..." "i don't have a clue what you mean, my love."

maki will take the extra step and take you with her when she gets a gift idea, finding the way you'd fret over her funds as she casually bought you yet another scarf she caught you eyeing much cuter than surprising you with it. this happens so often that she's caught you snapping your head forwards when letting your eye linger on something too long, making her laugh and peck your cheek before snatching it up before you could notice.

⋆｡˚ ♡ QUALITY TIME: quiet nights, spent curled up next to each other simply enjoying the others presence. sitting next to you while you play your favorite game, throwing occasional questions at you and smiling when you eagerly answer them. sometimes they get sheepish at how in love they are, that you simply being there makes them feel happier than anything. but when you're cozied up next to them, snoring softly against their chest, they can't seem to care too much about anything else

megumi is the king of silent time together, claims it helps him study and plan for missions when nothing is happening around him. and while that's true, often times he will replace 'feeling lonely and wanting your company' with 'studying for an exam'. he's sure you aren't aware of what he truly means when he asks to come over though, even when he shows up with no textbooks or notes to 'study from', and immediately goes to cuddle up against you when you usher him inside your room.

choso is..very clingy lol. always following behind you wherever you go, sitting next to you with a soft smile even as you aimlessly scroll through your phone. he's so silent that you've forgotten his presence entirely a few times, yelping when you hear a low sigh or a shuffle of his hand against your own. you felt a little exposed at first, always being under surveillance by him, but you adjusted pretty quickly and accepted his way of affection.

⋆｡˚ ♡ ACTS OF SERVICE: call it a hero complex, but they just adore being your knight in shining armor. holding the door open for you, finishing an assignment for you after learning how stressed you've been recently, wrapping their coat around you when it gets too chilly out, making your favorite meal just because they could. why should you have to do things when they're right there?

toji, despite having cast away his family name, was still raised by a traditional family. which meant he'd assigned himself to any hard work that needed to be done. plumbing, cleaning, repairing of any kind, he was on it. at first he did it out of habit, used to being forced to pick up any chore that others didn't feel like doing. but over time, the way you'd thank him and hug him tight when he did something for you made his heart melt. nowadays, he almost gets giddy when he hears your frustrated mumbling from across the room, happy to help you yet again with whatever you needed.

yuuta is really the sweetest thing... he's always ready to help you out, no matter how small the issue is. the mornings are his favorite, though, watching your chest rise and fall peacefully while sunlight slowly made its way across your sleeping form. he loves being able to tidy up your room and get breakfast ready for you while you peacefully sleep the sunrise away. he'd turn his head towards the hall as he heard your footsteps shuffle closer to him, a blanket draped over your sleepy figure as you greeted him.

inumaki, even with your reassurance, still feels guilty at times for not being able to talk with you how you're used to. deciphering rice ball ingredients in response to you asking when his is birthday isn't the simplest task, unfortunately. so, he always makes sure to show his love through simple tasks he can do for you. keeping extra snacks in his bag for when you get hungry during class, handing you his umbrella if he notices the sky beginning to dribble on your way home, even when you insist he keep it. he doesn't mind the rain if it's with you.

[injvns]

copy that - na jaemin

wc: 1.3k

notes: this turned from a kun fic based on a song to this thing from my little brain hole. not being able to focus can do wonders sometimes. hope u enjoy ᡣ𐭩

you wake up to the sound of the shower running.

that already ticks you off, knowing jaemin left you to freeze your ass off in bed before you were even conscious. you pull the sheets up past your face, trying to human-hot-pocket yourself back to a warmer temperature.

you've been with jaemin for over a year now, and you still aren't used to the fact that he's an early riser. it's just weird to you, and kind of annoying. you will finally be getting to the good part of your dream, and that is exactly when jaemin's body decides it's time to start the day. you love waking up to him, don't misunderstand, but it'd be nice to wake up to him a little later. 

you hear the blow dryer start, signaling he'll be back to bed soon. painstakingly you reach your arm out from the blanket cave you've created and feel around your bedside table for a good two minutes until you find your phone. maybe you should've waited to open it. the first thing your screen greets you with is a text from your boss letting you know you have to come in later today. it was supposed to be your day off.

now you're plain irritated. 

this was the first day in weeks you and jaemin both had off at the same time. facetime calls and messages that didn't get answered until 3 hours after they were sent were starting to get old. today was meant to be a day spent in the house, together, no interruptions, just you and jaem.  you managed to get it interrupted sooner than it could actually start.

before you can fully spiral, you hear the bathroom door open. you peak your head out from under the covers,

"you gorgeous, gorgeous man and your stupid, stupid sleep schedule."

he smiles that gorgeous smile at you, "good morning, beautiful," he approaches the bed, getting ready to flop himself on top of you, "how'd you sleep?'

"good until i woke up without you, and now my boss wants me to go in." you sigh as jaemin wraps himself around you, "i don't understand it, the company is huge! i cannot be the only one available."

"i'm sorry, beautiful." is the only thing he says, knowing he can't solve the problem, but wishing he could. sometimes you hate that he's the best. you hate that he's more worried about you than upset that your plans together are ruined.

"today was supposed to be about us, jaem." you feel your tears begin to well up, "i just wanted to be with you today."

"i know, baby." he lets out a sigh of his own, "is there any way you can get out of going?"

"i don't think so," jaemin reaches to wipe the stray tears that had fallen from your eyes, "saying she 'wants' me to come in was the wrong choice, she's telling me i'm coming in today." 

your boss is a great woman, you would even consider her a friend, but damn does she exploit the hell out of your friendship. if someone calls in sick, you're her go-to. if someone has a family emergency and needs to leave, you're the one she calls to replace them. hell, if she can't come into the office you basically end up doing her job for her.

"i think i have a good hour before i need to leave." you hate capitalism.

 you get no response from jaemin, only the consistent feeling of his hand smoothing out your hair, that is until he pipes up.

"want me to shower with you?" he winks, it would've been super corny if he wasn't super hot.

"you just showered?"

"offer still stands~"

"okay, then get off me already." 

he takes that as his cue to roll you both over until you are the one on top of him, then lifting you off the bed. he carries you to the bathroom with a newfound determination. as he sets you down on the bathroom counter you ask,

"whats got you so excited?" you can't hide the teasing smirk that makes it's way onto your face.

"always excited to see my beautiful girl's body." he says it so proudly you can't help but hit him out of embarrassment.

"shut up! don't get me horny before i have to leave for work, asshole." there is no bite behind your words.

"sorry! sorry!" he blurts, full of amusement. he definitely isn't sorry.

soft laughter filled the bathroom. for every morning jaemin wakes you up way too early, he makes up for it with a lifetime of memories filled with shining sunrises and dazzling smiles. as you go through the motions of preparing for a day that could've been so much better, jaemin stays with you for each second of it. from washing your hair for you, to drying it as you brush your teeth, to just being there as you get dressed. the day might be time lost, but the morning is alive and well and filled with you and him.  

"wait, pretty, before you leave," jaemin trails off, going to get something from under the bed, "i got us something."

you watch him move in the mirror as you put on your necklace, the one jaemin got you for your 9 month anniversary. he pulls a box out, not small enough to be jewelry, but not big enough to be shoes. it's got your interest piqued.

"come see," he beckons you over softly.

you come up behind him to stare into the mysterious box and see— walkie talkies?

"huh?" confusion covers your features.

"i saw little dog toy ones when i was getting food for the babies, and i just figured it'd be so much nicer to talk to each other at work this way. i know it's still not the same as being together, but i thought it'd be nice to hear your voice whenever i want." he plays with the buttons on the walkie talkie as he talks.

your expression melts into one of pure warmth as you wrap yourself around the man of your dreams. you make sure to squeeze him as tight as you can; it blows your mind everyday that a man this considerate really made his way to you.

"t'ank yu" it comes out muffled into his chest.

he huffs out a laugh, the air comes and floats itself down over the top of your head, furthering jaemin's mark on you. it's not a mark in a possessive way, it's simply a mark that has been left over time. when a love is as deep as the one he has for you, it can't be helped that he unconsciously finds any and every way to connect himself to you further.

after that, you both decide its unfortunately time for you to start your day. jaemin drives you to work, leaving you at the office with a sorry but loving smile. his walkie talkie is pink and in the center console. yours in red and in your bag. he made sure to buy a charger for yours and his separately, 'so you can never get rid of me,' he says.

as you go throughout your day, constant updates from your boyfriend fill the usual silence of your office space. he lets you know when he gets back to the apartment, he lets you know what's happening in the book he's reading, and he lets you know when lucy sits on top of the book as he's reading it so that he'll pet her. you always make sure to give a response back. 

his voice is a welcome sound to your day and one that you hope you hear for all of your days. that feels like something too heavy to say over a walkie talkie so instead you say,

"hey, jaem, i love you."

your hear the line crackle to life, 

"copy that."

[sweetestcaptainhughes]

First Last Christmas

Word Count - 17.3k

Summary - Jack is starting to think this isn't his best idea, and Idris is starting to maybe regret her choice. Maybe agreeing so quickly to spend the holidays with her baby daddy who she broke up with 3 months isn't the best idea.

Warnings - none. just some family drama but who doesn't have family drama during the hoildays.

Author's Note: It is finally complete. Thank you for everyone who reads this AU and has been excited for this to come out. Thank you Allie for being my beta reader for a good 75 percent of this fic even though she's on vacation. 🫶🏻🫶🏻 This is the longest fic I have ever written so be kind. Consider this my Christmas present from me to you even if it's a little past midnight. 😂

Till Forever Falls Apart Masterlist

Roughly 2 weeks before Christmas…

Idris could physically feel her hand shaking as she rode up the elevator to her old condo - now known as only Jack’s and Luke’s - and it wasn’t anxiety that also made her cheeks feel flushed, it was anger. Idris was so angry with Jack that she could feel her jaw starting to hurt from how tight she clenched her teeth. She looked down at her phone to see if he thought to answer any of her messages about Christmas only to see a text from him asking her to text him when she was leaving her place with the kids. She found herself shaking her head in disbelief as she exited the elevator making the sharp right turn to walk down the hall to knock on her - she still couldn’t bring herself to think of Jack as anything other than Jack, the word ex made her stomach turn and she couldn’t call him her fiance anymore, she could say baby daddy but that only described the relation he had to their children not the impact he had on her, her heart, her life, so he was just - Jack. 

Taking a deep breath she stood in front of apartment 725, trying to make herself calm down even just a little before she faced him, she knocked heavily on the door. Jack answered almost immediately, it’s expected he was expecting her to drop the kids off to him on his day off. But the kids are still over at her little cozy apartment spending time with their Uncle Luke and Uncle Nico, because she needed time to talk to Jack about how he’s been avoiding all of her calls and texts about Christmas. 

“Hey guy-” He didn’t finish his greeting that was meant for his children and his smile dropped as his eyebrows frowned ever so slightly when he realized the kids weren’t with her. Idris isn’t sure if it was a conscious act or not, as he slightly boxed himself into the doorway more as if to not let her into his space. Even if it was a place that she decorated herself with him years ago, before Luke even joined the NHL and lived with them, before they ever even fell into their friends with benefits situation, back when Jack was just her guy best friend who she just so happened to meet due to a one night stand. Back when he was 19 and just got his first apartment and Jill was still stocking his fridge when he was due to come back from long roadies. “Where are the kids?” he sighed as he questioned her, as if he didn't have time for whatever she was planning. ‘Too bad’ Idris thought to herself, ‘Christmas is two weeks away and we have two children who believe in Santa. Time to act like an adult.’ 

“At my place with Luke and Nico. I needed to talk to you and I didn’t want listenin’ ears.” she explained, but she didn’t miss the way that Jack crossed his arms and looked annoyed. 

“So that’s why Luke was up so early this morning. Course he just had to run off to help you.” he snapped bitterly and Idris was finding it hard not to yell at him. ‘This is about the kids. Christmas. Kids. Christmas.’ she kept repeating to herself trying to get herself not to be roped into another useless fight with the man in front of her. 

“Jack, we both know he’s not doing it for me. He’s doing it because he loves his niece and nephew.” Idris tried reasoning with him. “But that’s not why I came here. Can you let me in? I really don’t want to do this in the hall.” Jack flashed an unreadable expression on his face, something unmistakingly softer than earlier, almost looking like the old Jack for a millisecond and then it was gone as quick as it came, as he stepped aside giving Idris room to step into the apartment. 

Idris couldn’t stop herself from word vomiting as she noticed that no decorations were out for Christmas, not even the children’s stockings were hung. “Where is the tree?” she asks as she slips her scarf and gloves, gently placing them in her coat pocket as she places it on the back of the chair, her heeled booties already off by the door looking like they never left beside her children’s and Jack’s array of shoes. 

“Didn’t feel like decorating.” he mumbled as he walked past her and sat down on the coach in the living room. “What do you want, Idris?” he asks as he picks back up his controller, Idris was fully prepared to scream thinking he was going to resume his game but was surprised and maybe even a little grateful when she realized he was just turning it off. 

“Well even if you don’t you “feel like it.” Zander is old enough to notice Jack.” she tries to speak softly, so it doesn’t come off as judgmental as she wants to be. Although her words still have a sharpness to them. “We need to talk about Christmas. You haven’t answered a single of the hundreds of texts I’ve sent trying to plan with you.” Idris adds, as she is reminded of the reason she came over in the first place, ‘the kids. Christmas.’ 

“Well maybe I didn’t feel like decorating this year.” he snaps, it isn’t harsh, kind of like how he snaps at the media when they repeat a question or ask something that isn’t logical, like the time they said ‘Quinn was like a brother to Jack.’ when he is in fact Jack’s older brother. But still, even if it wasn’t harsh, a little over a year ago, he would never even think to give her attitude when she’s just trying to be a good mom to their kids. “Also I liked the message Iddy. I got the toy alright.” he huffs, and it takes everything in Idris not to scream at the man sitting in front of her, manspreading, arms crossed, as if she is wasting his time.

“That’s not the point and you know it. Cool you got a toy off the internet congrats on doing the absolute bare minimum. For god sakes you haven’t even decorated Jack! Christmas is literally 2 weeks away! What the hell! I thought we agreed that the kids' happiness came first! And that includes Christmas. Do you think I wanted to decorate by my fucking self this year! No. Do you think I want to be standing here begging for you to look at me so we can talk about where our children are spending Christmas! No. I much rather be curled in bed with Luna doing nothing but here I am. Here I am! I am trying to co-parent with you! But how can I when you don’t answer any of my texts or calls trying to talk about what we're gonna do!” Idris yells, she doesn’t feel better, she feels like shit, she always does when she’s fighting with Jack, as if he is a vacuum that sucks all the energy out of her. She’s also close to tears, but Idris has always been one of those people that cry when she’s so angry she can barely think coherently. She looks at Jack from across the room and waits, waits for him to care enough to answer her. 

“I’m off for Christmas break, I thought the answer was obvious. I’m taking ‘em home to the lakehouse.” Whether it’s because Jack is speaking softly or the drumming in Idris’ ears is too loud from the anger she feels, she looks at him with disbelief. 

“What?” she breaths out. 

“Imma take ‘em home, Idris. You had them for Thanksgiving. It’s only fair I have them for Christmas.” Jack is standing now as if he’s preparing for a fight with her, but she can’t bring herself to fight, her body is in shock. Jack might have been an asshole and maybe that’s why she left, but he was never cruel and taking her children away from her on Christmas was cruel. 

“I took them to Ann Arbour for the long weekend to spend time with my family. I drove to the lakehouse 2 ½ hours away both ways so they could see their Uncle Quinn, your brother Jack. Then not even 30 hours later, I made the drive again so they could see you and Luke on Sunday. And spend time with you on the day you were free from hockey. Then I drove home alone” her voice cracked, she wished it hadn’t but it did and a dam of tears started streaming down her face like a hurricane banging on a screen door in the summer night. Suddenly Jack’s stomach started to hurt and his socks looked much more interesting than Iddy’s face.  “I drove home alone. Crying because of you! Because your words you had with me about not being there sooner with them! About how I was trying to ruin the holidays. So no.” Idris took a deep breath using her hands to speak as she made air quotes as she spoke “ I didn’t ‘get them for thanksgiving’ I shared them with you, and your family even if you weren’t there. I tried to be fair, and mind you I did it without talking to you because you refused to just like you are now. I know that you hate me for leaving, and I can live with that. But what I can’t live with is battling against me every goddamn fucking day because you’re not adult enough to have a fucking conversation about what’s best the kids. Because you know who you’re hurting when you do that Jack?” she asks him and Jack glances up from his feet feeling like he’s being scolded by his mother, deciding that it was probably a rhetorical question. “You might think it’s me, but it’s our kids. Zander doesn't understand why his mama and daddy live apart now. Zola who adores her father and who still is her favorite person, and she might be little but she isn’t stupid, she can feel the tension when we’re in the same room. If you want to spend your Christmas break at home fine but I am not spending Christmas without my kids.” Idris’ feels a migraine starting to brew with the amount of stress she is having, as she glances at the family room clock and realizes she’s been here for 10 minutes and nothing productive has been done. She runs her hands through her hair, its shorter now since she cut it, shaking it out and pulling at it,  as if pulling on her scalp will lessen the stress.

“So you wanna stay here?” the confusion is clear in his voice, she doesn’t have to look at him to know that. 

“No.” She exhales, looking up making eye-contact with him, his blue eyes boring into hers, it doesn’t matter the history when he looks at her at that all dumbfounded and confused like only she can bring him out of it, it makes her knees go weak. “We’re always home for Christmas. It’s just harder now.” 

“Because you left.” He mumbles to himself. 

“Actually not what I was thinking, more like Zander believes in Santa and all gifts for everyone and the kids have been shipped here. And how are we gonna get all the kids gifts in 2 checked bags, plus their strollers, and diapers and everything else they need for traveling. Let alone the fact we have Apollo and Luna now, and checking them into the animal hotel was fine for Thanksgiving but the kiddos missed them and cried about it all week.” 

The more Idris talks, the more it’s obvious how much thought she has actually put into this, and Jack feels guilty for causing her so much anxiety knowing that if he just wasn’t so stubborn they could have figured this out around Thanksgiving and not waited till 2 weeks before. Plus, if Jack was being honest with himself, he would have procrastinated even longer having this conversation with Iddy if she didn’t just show up on his doorstep and force him to talk. He was still so mad at her for leaving, he knew they were in a bad place, but he didn’t know it was that bad. Idris settles on the couch opposite of Jack and puts her hands on her head, leaning forward resting her elbows on her knees and Jack flinches; she only does that when she’s starting to get a migraine which she only gets because of stress. Stress that Jack caused and that doesn’t sit right with him. 

Jack's mouth slightly twitches, his palms getting slightly sweaty as he squeezes his knees with them and fights internally with himself. If this was even 10 weeks ago, he would walk over to her and hold her and tell her everything was gonna be okay. But that was before, and even though he knew he was only lying to himself to make himself feel better, he hasn’t done that in almost a year, holding her when she got too stressed out. Most of the time he just blamed her for working too much, or putting herself in the position she was in. “Fuck it” he mumbles to himself as he gets up and goes in front of Iddy, sitting on his knees as softly calls her name grabbing her hands as they are in little balls now and he knows she’s using her nails to put pressure on them, sighing when he sees all the little bright red  half moon imprints. “Idz.” he whispers, a nickname only he uses, he hasn’t used it in months but he hopes it helps bring her out of her head and back to him.

 “Idz, I’m sorry,” he speaks softly, and he grins when she finally looks at him. “You’re right I haven’t been good at communicating when it comes to the kids and it is selfish of me. And I knew it was stressing you out and I didn’t care. I’m sorry Idz.” His hand twitched in hers, he wanted to bring her palms up to his lips and softly kiss each mark she inflicted on herself but he didn’t wanna push it. She was letting him hold her hand, after he was a dick for weeks to her, simply for choosing herself. He settled on rubbing small circles with his thumbs into her hands. “Comeon’ Idz let’s look at a calendar ya?” He asks he still won’t speak above a whisper, he doesn’t want to shout anymore, he’s tired and he wants to finish planning so he can go pick up his kids and play with them before he has to drop them back off at Iddys because he has a 6 am morning skate time tomorrow due to being a game day. 

“Why that still doesn’t answer the question of where?” She squeaks out, and his heart hurts that she doesn’t get that they can go to Michigan and be home. 

“Iddy we’ve always gone home and that doesn’t have to change okay? I’ll drive up with all the presents if I have to alright?” 

“What about Apollo and Luna, you know she doesn’t like car rides or the plane but I don’t wanna leave her.” Jack resists the urge to take his thumb and pull at her bottom lip she’s chewing on, he hates when she chews on her lip as cute as it might look, because she never stops until it chewed raw, usually bleeding. 

“We can take Luna to the vet to get medicine to help with the car ride alright? And I can take them in the car. okay?” He’s not really asking if he can take them more if she has any questions about his plan so far. 

“Okay but where in Michigan.” 

“At home Idz.” He doesn’t have to say it, she knows there are only two places he calls home in Michigan, his moms and dads house he spent a few teenage years in, and the lakehouse he owned with Quinn. They have always hosted Christmas at the lakehouse for as long as they’ve owned it. 

“That doesn’t answer where I will stay? I don’t want to be away from the kids when they wake up on Christmas Day. This is the first year Zander is starting to understand the concept of Santa, I don’t wanna miss his face when he sees all the presents under the tree and all the cookies he laid out gone.” 

Jack chuckles, not because of her reasoning but because he can see Zander screaming his head off Christmas morning. It takes everything in him not to let his pet name for her slip, his heart aches, its moments like this he wishes they were still together, but if they were together they wouldn’t be debating where to spend Christmas. “You can stay at the house, Iddy, it’s as much yours as it is mine or Quinn’s. I mean you were there when we picked it out, there when we signed for it, definitely was the one in charge of furnishing it.” 

She made a face as she asked “isn’t that weird?” 

“Who cares if it’s weird? When have we ever been normal?” he chuckles trying to break the tension that was still left in the air. 

“What most people don’t have two kids with a one night stand?” Iddy asks sarcastically and they both laugh, the mood finally lightening up for the first time since she arrived. 

So it was settled Idris would be spending Christmas week at the lakehouse, she would fly in with the kids the Friday before Christmas out of Newark airport where Jack dropped them off. She will first drive to her parents and spend the night hanging out there so they can see their grandchildren they don’t see enough of. Idris and the kiddos will spend the night at her sister's little townhouse, because she didn’t think she would want to drive the 2 ½ hours to the lakehouse that late. If she was by herself she wouldn’t care, but she really tried hard to keep the kids on their routine when they were with her and that included bathed and in bed by 7. The next day they’ll drive up to the lake house where they will spend a few days alone before Jack arrives Monday night with Apollo and Luna with him. Luke and the rest of the family already decided not to arrive until Christmas Eve, Luke even brought his plane ticket already and they will spend Christmas together. It seemed simple enough, what could go wrong? At least they had a plan now. 

After talking everything out, Idris felt much better, they even talked about the kids' gifts and who was getting what, what was Santa’s and what was from them. They both agreed the kids were too little and it was too petty to separate the gifts they gave their children ‘from daddy’ or ‘from mama.’ Everything that wasn’t Santa came from them as a unit, even if they didn’t work together all that well.

“Wait.” she gasps as Jack starts to stand, but if Idris says wait he will, even if his body is in an awkward position half standing, half bent over. Jack can’t help but think that this position probably isn’t good for his shoulder since he’s putting all his weight on it. But he didn’t care, if it earned him brownie points with Idris. She softly pulled him down to the position he was before and he was grateful he didn’t have to feel the tension in his shoulder anymore. “I don’t want to get to the house 3 days before Christmas and have to decorate yet another house for Christmas.” Usually they decorated together the weekend after Thanksgiving. If they were up there, his mom would always come and help Iddy since Jack never had much time in the mist of the season. But at least that way they never had to stress over it when they were only up there for Christmas break for a few days. 

“Why don’t I ask my mom for help?” he asks, normally he would just tell her he was going to ask his mom. But now with the separation, everything felt off on its axis like he needed permission before he offered a solution. She didn’t reject it right away so Jack took it as an invitation to keep going, “she loves decorating for Christmas Idz, I’m sure her and dad can run up and put the tree together and everything before you and the kids get there.” 

“That’s a lot to ask of them.” She’s biting her lip again and Jack bites his as a response, ‘please stop baby, you're gonna make yourself bleed.’ But it’s not his place anymore to say that even if it makes him sick watching her do it and not saying anything. 

Jack sighs, he knows they wouldn’t mind, they would be happy to help. But he also knows the way Iddy grew up wasn’t the way he did, and every favor even if it was a family member came at a price to her. Jack, no matter how hard he tried over the years could never get that out of her head. “You know they would do anything for you.” He says as he looks into her eyes, grateful she’s finally making eye-contact with him. He could have said ‘for the kids’ or ‘for me’ but he knew it held more weight if he said the truth. Decorating was going to ease Iddys to-do list, not his and the kids honestly probably wouldn’t care they are still so little. But it matters to Idris for some reason to make this Christmas perfect, so he was gonna try his damn hardest to help her. She nods a ‘okay’ and Jack smiles, probably for the first time in days except after he scored a goal last night and had a celly on the ice.

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Friday December 20,2024

It should be easy enough, flying with the kids by herself. Idris didn’t think it would be difficult, it’s not the first time either of them have been on a plane. She has flown with both of them with Jack plenty of times, even all the way to Vancouver once to visit Quinn. She even flew without him with the kids over Thanksgiving and that is the busiest time of year to travel. Thankfully, she didn’t have to lug too much around just enough stuff for them for night and a few winter items for the kids that she knew weren't in the lakehouse due to their fast growing bodies. It was fine in the beginning, Zander was in that phase where he loved being a helper, but it made a turn for the worse quickly. Jack had decided that he didn’t want to just drop them at the door, but help her check in, even though she had carried even more by herself less than a month ago. But she didn’t want to bicker when he was trying to be nice. Zander wanted to help so Jack let him ‘push’ one of the suitcases, really Jack was pushing it with his foot, sometimes grabbing it to steer. Zander didn’t seem to notice, focused on the task at hand, pushing the suitcase across the parking garage floor. It was cute how happy her son was at his father’s compliments. “Good job Z. Keep going buddy.” Idris was busy wearing the diaper backpack bag, holding Zola, and the carrier in her other hand that she decided she didn’t need to wear yet. She was pushing her carry-on suitcase with her hand following behind Jack who had both car seats (because all though it isn’t a rule, Idris will be damned if her kids aren’t secure 35,000 feet in the air.) 

At one point Zander got distracted by the sound of a car coming down the ramp, it was a loud high pitch sound, he never did like loud sounds, he jumped he would have hit his hand on the handle of the suitcase if Jack’s hand wasn’t there. “I scared.” Zander mumbled, as he looked up at his dad and decided to hang on to his leg. Idris could tell that he was pulling at Jack, trying to get him to open his legs more so Zander could attempt to hide himself in them. The car skeeted past them and it took everything in Jack not to yell at them for being an asshole and scaring his kid. “Daddy?” Zander whined, and it hurt him. He hated seeing his kids upset even if it was something as simple as getting spooked by a loud sound. He could hear Idris behind him, trying to calm a fussy Zola who also didn’t appreciate the unexpected noise. 

Jack squatted to the ground to be eye-level with his son, gently putting each car seat down, using his knee to keep the giant suitcase from rolling away. Zander didn’t wait to be comforted, he jumped into his arms and Jack embraced him cooing in his ear that it was alright. Idris was suddenly grateful that Jack insisted on dropping them off three hours ahead of time instead of the normal two, because they haven’t even made it out of the parking garage and they’ve been here almost 20 minutes. Zander wanted his mom to carry him once he was calm and as much as she wanted to explain she couldn’t, she didn’t. Instead she handed Zola to Jack and stripped herself of the backpack and her winter coat momentarily to put to strap her carrier on. Then she put back on her winter coat, grabbed Zola and set her inside. Then gently, bending down she put the backpack on and picked Zander up and balanced him on her hip. Jack stared at her, as if this was the hottest thing she had ever done in front of him. He knew no one else probably found it attractive, but watching Idris be a mom always made the pit of his stomach warm, at least he wasn’t sporting a semi in public due to his baby-mama he wasn’t even with he thought to himself. 

“Ready?” she breathes out. Jack knows it’s directed at her, but his throat feels dry with where his mind was going as he was watching her, so he just nods. Picking up both bulky car seats, he tries to push the carry-on suitcase with his leg which he is successful. But he can’t really steer as well as he thought he could. ‘Maybe it was good Zander was helping him’ he thought to himself. “J I got it.” grabbing the suitcase and rolling it on her side, Jack wasn’t sure how she was able to push both suitcases, and hold both kids. 

Somehow it was smooth sailing from there, Jack stayed until Idris was done checking in, bags checked. The bag she was originally going to use as a carry-on she decided to check because she didn’t want to lug another thing around if she didn’t have to. Zander decided he could stand now and wanted to be a helper so Idris let him hold her phone. He was honestly too little to carry a car-seat or wear the diaper bag, and although he has carried Zola before it wasn’t for long distances, they are practically the same size after all. 

Saying goodbye to Jack was weird, not for the kids, they were fine. But this was the first time they have really said a goodbye before one of them takes off in an airplane while they aren’t together. Both of them don’t seem to know what to do with that piece of information, Jack switching the weight back and forth between his feet to help ease his nerves. Iddy with her bottom lip between her teeth, it was finally Zander who broke the awkwardness with his question from below them. “Daddy, why not come?” he asks, he doesn’t seem upset more than anything curious. Jack bends down and explains he has a few more games, and then he promises he will come and he’s even gonna bring Apollo and Luna with him. Zander gasps at the news, a look of excitement in his eyes at the fact the family dog and cat were gonna be there for Christmas. “When?” he asks. 

“4 sleeps buddy.” As he pulls his son in for another hug, kissing the top of his head. Idris stomach twist, in a good way, she knew Jack was always good with kids. But seeing Jack being good with their kids, made something stir in her she hasn’t felt in a while. She takes a deep breath, pushing down whatever feelings were trying to crawl their way up. Jack puts his forehead against Zanders, like he always does before they are going to be separated. “Make sure you listen to Mama okay?”

“Okie daddy.” he stretches and moves away, his attention span has never been long even compared to other two-year olds. Zander holds onto Idris' hand as Jack stands and puts his hand on Zola’s head, leans down and gives her another kiss. 

“Bye-bye Zozo.” he coos. He smiles when she babbles back at him mixed in with “da-da” Finally he steps back and looks at Idris, he wants to step into her space, to hug her, kiss her goodbye even if it’s just on the cheek. But he doesn’t want to make her uncomfortable, so he stands back grasping the back of his neck, he can feel the slight sweat on his skin. “Uhh Iddy. Call me when you land okay." She steps forward and hugs him unprompted and he suddenly doesn’t have any breath in his lungs. He just closes his eyes and wraps an arm around her, the other reaching down to pet Zanders head. Jack could stand there all day despite having a game tonight, hell he could stand there forever if she’d let him. He breathed in finally, enjoying the scent of her shampoo, the smell of baby powder from Zola, he was holding his whole family for the first time in months and he will be damned if he ends it first. 

Jack isn’t sure how long they stood there, time always escapes him when Iddy is in his arms. Finally she looks at him “you’ll be doin’ your pre-game napping when we land.” It takes Jack a second for his brain to catch up, of course leave it to Iddy to go right back to conversation like that wasn’t the first time he had her in his arms in months. 

“Doesn’t matter.” he doesn’t leave room for debate, but he knows she will have something to say so he adds, “you and our kids are about to be on a plane without me, I will be lucky if I can even get my heart to stop pounding so fast, so I could sleep before I know you’re safe Idz.” He doesn’t look away, and neither does she, both trying to read what the other person is thinking. Neither of them giving the other even a slight clue, ‘when did I stop being able to read her every thought’ he thought to himself. 

“Okay.” she nodded at him, putting the car seats on the shitty airport trolly an airline employee offered. Idris was busy,  making sure Zander was holding onto the side of the cart and then she turned and left. Jack stood there to see if she would turn around and wave before she got onto the escalator she didn’t. But at least Jack could be happy that his son did, waving bye to his dad as he yelled something Jack couldn’t hear but knew it was some sort of goodbye. 

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sunday December 22nd: 

Jack had practice this morning but he didn’t care, just went through the motions. He missed his kids, he missed Iddy, but missing them isn’t new, being away from them due to his hockey schedule isn’t new. He missed most of Zander's firsts - from being a newborn baby to about 8 months old -  due to hockey. Jack knew the all too familiar feeling of missing his family, having fomo was his villain origin story at this point. The only thing that was new was the fact that he was home and they weren’t. It always fucked with him the most the nights where they were with Idris and not him. But at least for the most part they tried to switch off every other night. Jack knows that when he wakes up he’ll see his kids that morning or that afternoon picking them up from daycare. But this, them being home and him being in Jersey, it was torture, it felt like something was nawwing at his skin from the inside, and no matter what he did he couldn’t get the restless feeling out of his head or off his skin. 

The only good news he had was that tomorrow night right after the game he was gone. Jack would leave directly from the rock to the lakehouse if he could tomorrow. But he has to pick up Apollo and Luna from his place first. The little fact that he will be with his kids and Idris under the same roof after tomorrow night is the only thing keeping him from not screaming from the endless restlessness he was feeling. 

“You seem tense.” Nico observes and normally Jack would appreciate his captain and one of his best friends on the team checking on him. But right now he didn’t want to talk, he wanted to skip his shower and get dressed as quick as possible and go home. Jack wanted to pack the car so it was ready for tomorrow, he wanted to get gas so he didn’t have to stop tomorrow night, he wanted to FaceTime Idris and talk to her and his kids. Even though he knew she wasn’t going to talk to him, she would always answer though so he could talk to Zander and Zola. 

“I’m fine.” He mumbles, Jack didn’t even try to hide the little bit of annoyance in his voice. 

“Dude you don’t seem fine. Is everything okay at home?” Nico whispers the last part, he knows Jack doesn’t want people knowing about his life. Even though every single person on the team, coaches, medical staff and hell even the social media team knows Idris and him are living apart. But that doesn’t mean they know all the inner personal details of the day-to-day baby-mama drama. Even Nico doesn’t want their shit aired out for the gossip groups of the Rock. 

“Not in the mood to talk.” Jack mumbles as he throws a pair of sweats on. Jack knows he’s going to regret not showering as soon as he’s home, but at least if he’s home he can take a real shower, maybe if he stands under the hot water long enough - the water hot enough to feel like it’s slightly burning - he’ll be able to think about anything else besides Idris hugging him in the airport and how good it felt to have her in his arms again every time he closes his eyes. 

“Come on man. Keeping that shit in isn’t gonna help you.” Nico is poking, he wants Jack to talk, but Jack doesn’t wanna talk to him. 

He’s still pissed at Nico for babysitting his kids with his brother so Idris could come yell at him about Christmas. Nico also last week took his kids out for hot chocolate when Idris couldn’t pick them up on time from daycare on time due to a meeting running late. Jack can’t be pissed at Idris for not calling him, not trusting him enough to help her out when he was perfectly available. Not when he couldn’t stop thinking about the butterflies she gave him in his stomach when he wrapped her arms around him. Or the fact that he has been a dick to her since they separated, he made Luke their mediator in everything revolving around Idris for the first two weeks, including pick-up and drop-offs. But he can be pissed at Nico and he will be. Even if Jack knows Nico would never make a move on Idris, he knows they are like siblings, he also knows Idris would never go after one of his teammates even if they are separated. But the idea of Idris choosing another man over him, Jack’s always been the jealous type, ‘territorial like a pitbull’ is what his high school girlfriend called it. 

“I know you miss ‘em Jack, it’s normal you know. I miss my fam-” 

Jack cuts him off, he turns his head to Nico’s cubby and in a second he’s in his face screaming at him. “You don’t know shit Nico. This isn’t me missing my mommy or sister. I miss my kids who are 1000 miles away from me right now! You can’t even keep a girl long enough to have a kid. So you latch onto mine? How could you possibly know what I’m feelin’!” he yells. Luke and Jesper are pulling him away from Nico, Jack doesn’t know what happened, one second he was fine the next he was attacking. Jack really doesn’t know what happened, sure he might have been mad at Nico, but to try to attack him? He has always had a slight anger problem but usually it was just when shit didn’t go his way on the ice. The last couple weeks though he’s been snapping at everyone. 

“Bro chill.” he hears Luke in his ear, he tries to shove him off but Luke doesn’t let him, using his long arms to his advantage wrapping Jack in them as he pulls them to the other side of the locker room towards Luke’s bench. “You can be angry but you can’t take that shit out on anyone but yourself.” Luke mumbles softly, Jack knows if they were home he’d be louder, but Luke represents him too much as his older brother to air out his business out in the locker room. Or maybe it was Idris or the kids that made Luke stay quiet, whatever it was Jack was thanking the heavens as he felt himself calm down. Most of the people in the locker room had left to shower, or at least pretended to not listen and watch Jack’s breakdown in front of them.

Luke was holding him in his arms not letting him move until he forced his body to calm down. It must have taken longer than Jack thought to calm down because next time Jack looked up he noticed all the guys were gone, it was just Luke and himself in the room. He’s not sure where 10 men that are over 6 '0 ft tall and over 200 lbs went in 30 seconds but he’s grateful to be alone with his brother because he’s about to cry and at least Luke won’t think of him as pathetic as he felt for it. Luke lets go of his brother and Jack takes a step forward and then turns around so he’s facing Luke. Jack doesn’t wanna look up and see whatever emotion Luke is displaying on his face; disappointment, anger, sympathy. Although Jack doubts Luke feels any sympathy for Jack, he’s seen most of the shit go down between Idris and himself. Jack wouldn’t feel sympathy if he was in Luke’s shoes. Jack stares at his shoes, his dirty white sneakers he keeps here to wear before games. He must have slipped on the wrong pair of shoes when he was too in his head earlier. “It’s just eh” he tries to start, he clears his throat before he tries again. “This is the longest I’ve ever been away from my kids unless I was on a roadie.” 

“I know.” he says, Luke’s tone is neutral, but his voice sounds annoyed. Jack knows his brother isn’t annoyed, he really has no emotion behind his words, and that’s how Jack knows he’s getting fed up with his shit. 

“And Apollo all he does is cry at the door waiting for them to come home, and Luna won’t even glance my way like I’ve personally wounded her by taking her back to our place for a few days. It’s one thing to miss them, it’s another thing to have to watch how even our pets miss them.” Jack sniffles, he didn’t want to cry in front of Luke. He’s done a lot of that lately but he can’t help it, he misses them so much his chest physically hurts. 

“You are going to see them tomorrow night Jacky.” Luke tried to reason as he took a step towards his brother. 

“Yeah but by the time I get there, the kids will be asleep and probably Idris too. Plus I’ll have to crawl into a cold bed since Iddy’s stayin’ in the guest room.” he complains.

“Not to sound like a dick but who’s fault is it that you're even separated in the first place? And don’t say Iddy cause she’s the one who had the balls to leave cause maybe you don’t remember but I do live with you Jack. I know you're my big brother and I will always root for you, I will always look up to you in some way. But you can't seriously be mad at anyone else for where you’re standing.” 

Jack didn’t have a response for his little brother, but he’s never felt like a shitter older brother. Big brothers were supposed to set examples, be a role model, they were supposed to give the “get your shit together” talk to their little brothers, not the other way around. Jack is tired of Luke calling him out lately, but he doesn’t say it, he just sighs and glances up finally. Jack thinks he might be even more tired of seeing that expression on Luke’s face. The one where he’s disappointed but also looks like someone who has no shock in their body, like it was expected for Jack to yell and try to fight Nico, as if it was expected for Luke to have pull him off, or even expected for Jack to try to reason his actions with shitty excuses he knew held no weight. 

Jack just wants it to be tomorrow night so at least he can block everything out and just drive, drive until he finally feels at ease for the first time in days because he will be with his family, his kids, his Idz. 

—---------------------------------------------------------------------

Monday, December 23 ~ 2 days till Christmas: 

Idris was tired, she loved her kids, but not talking to another adult since Saturday morning when she left her sister’s was starting to weigh on her. Of course, she’s messaged Jack here and there when he’s asked for updates, texted her sister off and on. But an actual conversation, not since Saturday and she was starting to go a little stir crazy because of it. 

“MAMA.” Zander screamed from the family room, thankfully because of the open floorplan she didn’t have to move from the stove to answer his calls. 

“Yeah Z baby” she calls. “I’m in the kitchen bubs.” she calls out to him. Immediately she hears the pitter patter of his feet hitting the floor as he runs to her. 

“When's daddy comin’?” he asks as he slams his entire body weight into her legs, immediately trying to climb up her legs while he waits for an answer.. Thankfully she is normal for him constantly running into her and climbing her or Jack, it’s like his body constantly has to be in movement. Ellen swears that Jack was the same way, - and although she always wished to have a ‘mini - Jack’ when she was pregnant with Zander, she wishes she was more specific with the universe, she meant looks and not his restless energy and sass - Idris hopes that he starts to calm as he gets older and not more energetic because she doesn't know how she will survive the ‘horrible threes’ if he is even more of a ball of energy. 

“Honey I’m cooking lunch, do you want up?” she asks her son, glancing away from the grilled cheese she’s making for Zander and Zola to share. Zander continues to pull on the side of her hoodie, the bottoms of his feet pushing her calves trying to continue to climb her. 

“Yeah.” he finally huffs, Iddy barely bends down as she scoops her son up and sits him on the counter next to the stove so he can watch as she cooks. 

“It’s hot, Zander. No touching anything or you’ll have to get down." She gently reminds her son, but she’s not sure if he even knows that she is talking to him. Immediately jumping back into why he came to find his mom anyway. 

“When's daddy comin?” Frowning his eyebrows as he has to repeat his question from earlier. 

“Soon baby. Tomorrow. Daddy has one more game he has to play sweetheart.” Iddy says gently, not sure how he will respond, as she removes the pan from the hot burner and turns the stovetop off. 

“I wanna watch,” he says, although ‘watch’ comes out more as ‘wash.’ Iddy can’t help but smile at how he pronounces some words, still learning how to perfect some of his sounds. 

“Okay. It starts in about an hour I think. First lunch, then we can watch Daddy.” Idris starts to silently pray to the powers above that no one slams into Jack today, like they did the last time Idris let Zander watch one of his dads games a few weeks ago. She really doesn’t want Zander to get scared again like last time, he was so scared until he saw Jack and with him driving here tonight, she couldn’t imagine having an anxious Zander until the middle of the night. 

“FaceTime Daddy and ukle ‘uky.” he asks, Idris grins Zander also hasn’t perfected his ‘L’ sound yet. Idris turns to the 2 kid plates behind her that have some fruit on them and cuts the grilled cheese into 4 pieces and gives Zander 2 pieces and Zola’s plate one to start. 

“I’ll have to see if he’s available honey”, as she microwaves the leftover broccoli in the microwave from the night before she planned to add it to the kids lunch to make it a little more balanced. 

Pulling out her phone, as she walks back over to Zander texting Jack to ask if he has time before the game for a FaceTime. Glancing at the clock she knows the players are probably getting dressed for warm-ups right now or even on the ice for warmups already. Iddy helps her son get down from the counter and helps him settle into a chair at the kitchen table with his food. She sits Zola’s plate in front of her, as she drags Zola and her high-chair closer to the table. 

“Daddy first.” Zander demands, and Idris sighs as she is about to tell her son Jack hasn’t answered her yet but she’s saved by her phone ringing. 

Idris answers the phone, setting it up so it’s promoted in front of Zander. The first thing Jack hears as it finally connects is “Zander you still have to eat while talking to daddy.” Jack grins as he sees his son on the screen, head turned slightly no doubt pouting at Iddy. 

“I don’t wan’ broccoli.” he fusses. 

“Zander.” Jack calls his attention, it’s the first time Zander or Idris address that he’s on the phone. Idris is suddenly glad she’s off camera because she’s pretty sure her breath catches at the sight of Jack. He is sitting in his cubby, the phone titled so all you can see is the collar of his jersey and head, his hair damp and messy probably from him running his hands through it too much, his jawline perfectly on display. “Are you listening to Mama?” he asks. 

Zander looks like a deer caught in headlights, pouting slightly at the fact his dad is calling him out on his behavior. “Bb-but mama’s broccoli isn’t as good as yours.” he mumbles, arms crossed, looking down at his lap as he tells his dad why in his 2-year-old logic he is right. Iddy can’t help but roll her eyes because what her son really means is that she doesn’t smother it in butter and cheese. 

“I’m sure Mama made you more than broccoli Z.” he reasons. But Zander doesn’t respond verbally, just shoves a piece of grilled cheese in his mouth. 

“Daddy you comin’ soon?” he asks mouth full and all, shifting in his chair, suddenly on his knees so he can bend closer to the screen. 

“Yeah I’ll be there tomorrow when you wake up.” Jack answers. 

“Daddy?”

“Yeah.”

“You get a goal fa me.” Zander asks, Jack can hear Iddy chuckle close by in the background even if he can’t see her, and it makes his chest warm. 

“I’ll try bubs.” he promises. Jack looks off the camera and bites his lip, probably contemplating how to say bye to his son so quick. “I gotta go Z.” he softly says. 

“You always have to go.” Zander whines and his pout deepens. 

Jack doesn’t know what to say, he’s glad Idris is close by and can take over. “Z, he can’t score you a goal if he doesn’t go warm-up. Coach will be mad, Daddy might get in trouble and not be able to play.” Idris tries explaining, and although it’s a little dramatic Jack wouldn’t probably get benched if he skipped warm-ups he would definitely get chewed out by more than one person. 

“And how is he gonna score you a goal from the bench baby?” she asks their son. 

After another minute or so, Zander says “okie. Bye daddy. Good ‘uck.” he smiles at his dad. ‘Gosh toddlers and their big emotions,’ Jack thought to himself, as he told Zander bye and that he loves him and how he will see him soon. 

Iddy was able to finish feeding both kids and settle into the coach just in time to turn on the game. Zander is two so his attention span isn’t long enough to pay attention to a whole game. But when Jack gets the first goal 5 minutes into the game, Zander can’t help but scream jumping up and down, “Daddy scored! Daddy scored.” Idris shyly pulls out her phone to take a video of her son’s little celly in the family room, and sends it to Jack to see after the game.

It’s even more of a reaction when Jack gets a second goal, with an assist by Luke. Idris was never into hockey before she met Jack, but now her favorite part about watching hockey is watching her son react to it. They watched Jack get ‘star of the game’ and his interview after in the locker room. The one thing that stuck out to Idris about the interview was when he was asked about his celly. The reporter said he looked like he was trying to sign a ‘z’ in the air after both goals and wanted to know if he knew ASL. 

Jack has the biggest smile on his face, as he lightly chuckles, “no, not well. My kid Zander probably knows more than me.” Everyone laughs at that. “His name starts with a ‘z’ and before the game he asked if i could score him a goal so uh… I guess it was my way of saying hi.” Jack is slightly blushing now, he doesn’t talk about his kids often, he doesn’t post them, but everytime he does mention them he has nothing but adoration in his eyes. 

The reporter follows up with, “After the second you signed ‘z’ twice, why the difference, was it on purpose?” 

“Wow you were really watching me eh?” he jokes. “Do I need to file a report for a stalker?.” After a pause he laughs and goes “ I’m messing with you.Yeah it was on purpose, my second born is named Zola, and we call her Zozo a lot. So I guess it was my way of saying hi to her. Although she is under 2, she probably didn’t make the connection, despite also knowing more ASL than I do.” Everyone laughs after that, and Iddy loses focus as she is consumed in her thoughts about what Jack just revealed, 

Zander ends up FaceTiming with Jack one more time as Jack is sitting in the car in his apartment’s garage about to leave. Idris thinks it’s kind of cute watching how Zander can barely hold her phone as he marches around the house updating him on his thoughts of the Rangers game today. 

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bedtime was surprisingly easy at first, until Zander said he was scared to sleep in his big kid bed by himself. In a way, it can be understandable since they made the switch to a floor bed for him, she can’t remember if he ever actually has slept in it yet. Plus the one at both Jack’s and her place are the exact same, even the same frame, since originally one of them was brought for the lake house. But when they split they ended up using the frame for Idris’ apartment. Then, when she finally remembered they didn’t have one for the house in Michigan and she tried to go back and buy the same frame for a third time - because Zander has a very hard time with transition and change, she knew it was best if everything was the same - they were sold out. 

Then if she takes into account how this weekend went, Friday night they co-slept at her sisters, Saturday was a bad sleep for both Zander and Zola so they spent the whole night with Iddy in bed. Finally last night, Iddy was too tired from the night before. She didn’t care where they slept as long as they slept so she could sleep. 

She bends down so she’s on his level when she speaks to him. “Okay, I understand sleeping in a new place by yourself. It can be scary huh?” phrasing her statement as a question on purpose. Zander mumbles something as a sort of agreement, nodding his head as well. “Okay, well why don’t we lay down together for a little while?” she asks, with the plan of getting up and going to her own bed for the night once he’s asleep. 

As soon, Zola realized her mama was staying in the room and giving snuggles to her brother, she demanded attention. Standing up in her crib, babbling away, Iddy knows it doesn’t mean anything but also knows if she had the words she would be cursing Iddy out. This leads to all three of them cuddling in Zander’s bed. 

Jack arrived around 2 am, and he’s never been more grateful to be at his destination. Even with the medicine they got from the vet, Luna cried almost the entire twelve-hour car ride. Plus, anytime Apollo saw anything remotely interesting he barked, Jack didn’t know a dog could find so many interesting things. The worst part was that Jack couldn’t even drown them out with music, he tried but it only made them louder, around the eighth hour he gave up entirely. 

Jack didn’t want to park in the garage since he knew the sound would probably wake the kids up, which would wake up Idris. The last thing he wanted was a pissed off Idris because he was being “lazy about walking a couple more steps.” Jack shakes off the memory of her saying that last year to him, and steps out of the car stretching after so many hours. 

After letting Apollo use the bathroom, he grabs the cat carrier and the three of them start to make it inside. Jack kind of expected them to run off when they got inside, which they did. The part that kind of took him off guard after using the bathroom, and slowly making his way up the stairs to the kids room to check on them was to find Apollo and Luna already half sleep on the bed with all three of them; Zander, Zola, and Idris. Slowly he made his way out and stopped in the closet bedroom beside his own which happened to be Luke’s and grabbed the comforter. Quietly he made his way inside and laid the blanket on top of them, he was just about to leave when he heard his son, “daddy?” he calls out, and Jack silently curses that he woke up his kid. 

Turning around and getting on his knees again he whispers, “yeah buddy?” 

“Daddy home!” he says in his normal voice, which Jack hushes over. 

“Gotta be quiet Z. Mama and sissy are sleeping.” he whispers. “Plus Apollo and Luna.” glancing down at the end of the bed where Apollo is curled up, Luna not far from him. 

His son gasps in surprise, “ah, it’s like a sleepover.” Zander says, ‘sleepover’ it’s the word they use when they are trying to explain to their barely 2-year-old how cool it is to have a sleepover with ‘just mama’ or ‘just daddy.’ It definitely wasn’t the best explanation, and although Idris and Jack realize that in hindsight there isn’t much anyone can do. 

“Yeah, a big sleepover.” Jack whispers, a slight sad grin on his face as he pets his son’s hair, dipping down to forehead to give him a kiss. “Goodnight. Love you.” Jack goes to get up, but Zander grabs his arm and stops him. 

“Want daddy cuddles,” he whispers. 

“Z, you have mama cuddles right now we can cuddle tomorrow.” he promises. As much as he would love to go to sleep with his family, he doesn’t want Iddy to wake up uncomfortable. A part of him knows that’s pushing the limit too far, too fast, and he doesn’t want her pulling away even more than she already has. Hell, they didn’t even sleep in the same bed the last six months they were together, Jack definitely knows it’s some kind of crossed boundary if he crawls into bed. 

“Daddy. Sleepover too” Zander is doing that thing, what twitter calls “famous Hughes pout” Jack thinks. Jack really meant no, but he also knows if he says no again, Zander will probably stop whispering which will definitely wake Iddy and Zola up then Idris will definitely be mad at him. 

“Okay.” he says, pulling the comforter up and laying next to his son, thankfully they got a full size bed but as Jack lays down he’s thinking they should have gotten a queen. 

“One big sleepover.” Zander mumbles into his neck, content to be between both of his parents. Jack rationalizes his decision by telling himself that it’s the lesser of two evils. If he said ‘no’ Zander was going to wake up the entire house and Iddy would be pissed. But if he crawls into bed, Iddy might be upset that he crossed a boundary even if he was pressured into crossing it. Jack tells himself that either way Iddy will be upset, but dealing with an angry ‘got 8 hours of sleep Iddy is a lot easier to stomach, plus he gets to cuddle with his son, so basically it’s a no brainer to Jack. 

“Yeah bud, one big sleepover.” he mumbles as he drifts off to sleep. 

Tuesday December 24, 2024

Idris is the first one to wake up, she feels that Zola has moved she’s no longer laying down tucked into her side and immediately she’s up ‘mama bear’ fully activated. Thankfully she’s just at the end of the bed playing with Luna, and even if she wasn’t in the bed, the bed is on the ground so she wouldn’t get hurt if she climbed off of it. Realizing her daughter is safe, she takes a deep breath, her heart rate slowly coming back to a normal pace, until she turns her head and sees Jack and Zander curled up together. 

Idris truly doesn’t know what she feels except anger at the fact that Jack just decided to crawl into bed with them last night. But, she also reminds herself that it’s Christmas and she doesn’t want to fight with him and ruin Christmas for her kids. Gently she removes the comforter that Jack must have brought in for them and climbs to the end of the bed where Zo is. “Good morning princess.” she coos, “why don’t we let the boys sleep and go make some breakfast? Are you hungry Zozo?” 

All Zola does in response is giggle and clap her hands. Iddy decides that’s good enough and scoops her up as she stands, both Apollo and Luna following them out hoping to get an early breakfast. Idris goes downstairs, lets Apollo out, and makes a morning milk for Zola. Idris goes ahead and puts Zola in the playpen in the family room while she moves around the kitchen feeding both animals, and making her morning cup of coffee. She’s happy she’s at the lakehouse and can indulge on Quinn’s fancy espresso machine. 

As she opens the fridge she hears baby feet stomping down the stairs and hears Zander walk slowly into the kitchen. He has his baby blanket in one hand, his hair an absolute mess as he nudges in Iddy’s leg who is still in front of the open fridge looking for what to make for breakfast. 

Iddy’s hand goes to the mess of curls on top of his head. “Morning Z.” She greets him still not looking at him yet. Zander makes some kind of groaning sound as an answer, never been a morning person just like Jack he needs to ease into his day. 

“I was gonna make breakfast, do you wanna stay in here or go lay down on the coach and watch cartoons with sissy?” she asks him softly, finally looking down at him. 

Zander seems to really think about the offer before he says “cartoons. but first morn’ kisses .” The sleep is still evident in his voice. She scoops him up and carries him to the family room, turning on the TV and putting some random cartoon on. Gently she goes to put Zander down the coach, kissing his cheeks super fast to give him his “morning kisses.”

By the time she goes to the kitchen to make breakfast and feeds both kiddos Zander has decided he’s wide awake and ready to go wake up Jack. Glancing at the clock and seeing it’s barely quarter after 7. “Z, you can’t go wake up Daddy, he came in late last night, he needs to sleep.” 

Before Zander can respond they hear rustling from upstairs, and Zander runs to the bottom of the stairs and even opens the baby gate before Idris can catch him. Thankfully he still likes to crawl up the stairs and he didn’t have to crawl far since Jack met him halfway. 

Jack picks him up and lightly tosses him in the air, Zander squeals in happiness as Jack walks them into the kitchen. 

“I didn’t make you breakfast, I didn’t think you would be awake yet.” Idris says standing at the kitchen island not even looking up from her phone. Idris knew she was being petty but she also couldn’t bring herself to care. Jack last night did what he always does ‘whatever he wants’ with no regard to how other people would feel about his actions. 

He sets Zander down, who immediately runs off to the family room to play with Zola. Jack walks around the counter to meet Idris, facing her he says quietly. “It’s okay. I’m sorry about last night.” Jack gently raises his hand from resting on the counter, as if he’s debating if he wants to reach out and touch Idris' arm. 

“We can talk about it later.” 

Jack started to explain himself anyway “It was Zander he-“ 

Idris snaps quietly at him, “That’s real rich Jack, always blaming someone else, even your 2-year-old son. And I said we can talk about it later when the kids aren’t 20 feet away.” 

No one else is set to arrive until around 5 tonight even Jack’s parents, as much as they love their son and adore their grandchildren and Idris. They all decided - more like Luke warned them about how bad it’s been with the bitterness and overall pettiness - it would be best if they came later because they know they are less likely to fight if they don’t have anyone to distract the kids, well they hoped. 

Thankfully both of the kiddos were pretty much on the same nap schedule so they both went down around 10 am. Jack gulped his body suddenly tense as he exited the kids room with Idris. He really wished it was one of those days where he joined the kiddos for naptime just so he didn’t have to go downstairs and fight with Idris. 

Idris grabbed the baby monitor on her way out of the room, slowly making her way down the hall and down the stairs. Jack followed behind like a child who knew he was about to get scolded or a dog with his tail between his legs looking down, nervous about what’s about to come next. He followed her all the way to the kitchen before she turned around and gave him a look as if to say ‘what the fuck Jack?’ 

“Idz, let me explain.” He speaks gently, raising his hands up as if he’s already surrounded by raising the white flag. Jack thinks if he goes on using her nickname, it will soften her, possibly maybe a little. 

It does not go the way Jack was hoping for, “Don’t Hughes.” she grits out of her teeth. ‘Fuck she’s more pissed than I thought’ Jack thinks to himself. “Don’t call me that when I’m pissed at you, it isn’t going to help you.”

“I’m sorry I am. But Zander woke up when I came to check with the kids, and he asked for snuggles. I told him that you were already cuddling with him. But he was insistent, okay? And I hadn’t seen them in a few days plus I knew if I said no he would probably throw a tantrum and he would wake you and Zo up. Okay. So I decided it was the best option. I know you probably think I crossed some kind of line with where we are at. But I’m not sorry for giving into Zander, even if it made you pissed at me.” Jack explains as he watches her expression soften which Jack is grateful for. 

“You did cross a boundary. I only accidentally fell asleep in Zanders bed with them. I was trying to get him to not co-sleep for the first time in days and I ended up falling asleep with them.” Iddy turns her head slightly, and stares off a little looking deep in thought. Jack really wants to step into her space, he wants to gently grab her chin and force her to look at him, he wants to force her to tell him what she’s thinking.Even though he knows it’s technically not his place anymore, he still wants to.  But he doesn't, he just chews the inside of his mouth giving his mind something else to concentrate on. After a minute or so, she turns to him, “let’s unpack the car while the kids are asleep.” 

They work in silence bringing everything in and hiding them in the basement closet they know the kids will never open. They even build the mini stick goal in complete silence, it would impress others watching two people work in that degree of harmony without speaking. Although, Jack thought to himself about how it was only like this because of everything that’s happened. For better or worse, they learned how to work in silence long before Idris left and it wasn’t because they were so comfortable with each other. It was because Jack was so angry that anytime he spoke to Idris they yelled, and Idris stopped trying to beg Jack to try, so they learned how to work together, raise two kids without even speaking for almost 10 months. 

—---------------------------------------------------------

Once the kids wake up from their naps the pair seems to be able to find their voices again as if nothing happened during the kids naps. They spend the rest of the day playing with the kids, letting Zander run the show in how they spent the day. From playing mini sticks, to playing outside on the playset or jumping on the ground level trampoline. 

Around 3 though Idris reminded Zander that they still needed to bake cookies to leave out for Santa tonight. Zander loves baking with his mom, so he was content with not playing outside anymore and instead drinking hot chocolate and baking cookies with his mom. Zola is a little young at 19 months to care about baking, so Jack and her play in the family room. 

The house is filled with giggles from both kids, Christmas music playing lightly in the background, the Christmas lights glowing from the tree and the smell of sugar cookies baking in the oven. While the cookies were baking they decided to throw a Christmas movie on and of course because Zander is Jack’s son he picked ‘Home Alone’ to watch. Jack reminds himself to enjoy this, enjoy that they are snuggled all together on the couch watching his favorite Christmas movie with no tension. While Idris is hoping that the lightness in the air can stay until after tomorrow night but she has a feeling in the back of her mind that it probably won’t. 

—--------------------------------------------------------

“Mama look.” Zander demands, as he displays one of his finished sugar cookie decorated with so many globs of icing and sprinkles, she already knows she’s going to make Jack eat that one tonight. 

“Wow baby. It’s beautiful.” she smiles wide at him.

She sees in the corner of her eye chuckling as Zola sits well more stands in his lap. Zola didn’t seem to understand the concept of decorating the cookie, as she had icing all of her hands and face giggling, she was signing for ‘more.’ 

“No.” Idris says, signing ‘no’ as well, to which Zola starts aggressively signing ‘more.’ Jack can’t help but laugh as Idris signs inresponse ‘no. all done. All done.” Idris doesn’t even speak because she knows she doesn’t have to for Zola to understand what she’s saying. Zola tries to reach for the plate to grab another cookie but Zander beats her. 

“Mama said all done Zola. These are for Santa” in the most serious voice a 2-year-old can have. Jack just laughs at the fact that not only did Zander also cut off his little sister, but how he did it,  even as Zola turns to him, grabbing onto him fussing thinking he will give into her. 

“Not this time Zozo. I know cookies taste good though.” she whispers as he rubs her back, and comforts her, even if he’s still laughing with Idris about Zander cutting her off. 

—-------------------------------------------------------------------------

As everyone arrives the house becomes a loud, energetic place. Zander convinced both his uncles and Grandpa to play mini sticks with him, which Idris didn’t even realize they had that many mini sticks at the lakehouse. Of course, none of them are the mini sticks Zander asked Santa for Christmas. Ever since he learned that his dad was getting a custom mini stick from Bauer Hockey, he asked Santa for his own which would have been easy for Jack to ask for. But no, Zander didn’t like that it said J.Hughes on it, since his nickname wasn’t ‘J’ it was ‘Z.’ So he wanted it to say Z.Hughes. Thankfully, Jack was able to convince them to make two custom mini sticks, and even put them in the black mystery paper for him, if he put it on his instagram story Christmas Day. 

While the boys were all busy playing mini sticks with the kids, Ellen and Idris were in the kitchen. As Idris pours both Ellen and herself a glass of wine, she hears Ellen ask her if she’s okay.

“What?” she asks in a daze, maybe she didn’t hear Ellen right. 

“Are you okay honey? I know I’m Jack’s mom but, you can still talk to me you know. Although, I was never a single mom per say, Jim was gone so much when the boys were little sometimes it felt like I was. I know you have your mom who was a single mom you can go to for advice but I just wanted-.” 

“Ellen.” Iddy cuts her off, gently setting both wine glasses down. “I appreciate the offer, but I’m fine really.” Ellen gives Idris a look as if she knows that Idris is full of it, but doesn’t push, just nods her head. Before either of them can speak they hear a high pitched cry and Apollo barking loudly from the family room and both of them take off. 

Idris runs into the family room to see Zander holding his arm, fully crying in Jack’s arms. As soon as he sees Idris, he no longer wants Jack, only his mom, a true mama's boy. As Idris kneels down to her son, he slams into her body. “Shh. it’s alright. What happened, love?” she asks her son as he forces himself as close as humanly possible to her his high pitch screaming not lessening. 

“What happened?” Ellen asks the men in the room in that voice you never want to hear from your mother no matter how old you are. 

“He got hit with a puck.” Luke mumbles as he picks up Zola so she doesn’t get too close to the young parents while they try to calm down their son. 

“A foam one right?” Ellen asks. 

“No.” Jim answers. 

“What?” Idris asks the adults around her, refusing to look at Jack. 

“We couldn’t find any foam ones, so we thought we would use an outside hockey puck. I told them to be careful but Zander is so jumpy, I guess when Quinn shot the puck, he moved at the last minute and it hit him.” Jim explains. 

“It was an accident.” Jack mumbles as Zander is finally just sniffling. “Hi lil’ man.” he whispers to his son, who has barely left the comfort of his mothers arms, ever so slightly tilting his head to see his dad. 

“The good news is that it can’t be broken, Quinn didn’t shot it that hard.” Luke comments, and then immediately shut up when he was met with glares from everyone else in the room. 

Quinn bends down to Zander, “hey buddy I’m so sorry.” Jack can tell that Quinn feels like shit for it, but he doesn’t care he hurt his son all he wants to do is punch Quinn in the face a couple times. 

“Iz otay.” Zander whispers and Quinn sadly smiles back at his nephew. After Idris and Jack both looked over Zander’s arm without his long sleeve shirt on in the bathroom, they knew he was just gonna have a nasty bruise but that was about it. 

The Hughes family has this tradition that Idris has just decided to roll with when it comes to Christmas Eve dinner. Idris grew up in a family where they had to dress up and all the aunties, uncles, and grandparents came over. The expectation for you to be on your best behavior in your best Sunday clothes which were also usually the mist itchy clothes. The Hughes were the complete opposite, every year they ordered pizza in and just bumped out on the coaches watching movies. 

So that’s what they did, Zander didn’t leave Idris’ arms and neither did Zola. Both of the babies are perfectly content in their moms arms and no one else's. It was kind of a pain for Idris to help both of the kiddos eat when they were so physically attached to her. But anytime Jack tried to help by peeling one of them off, they whined and batted his hand away. Everyone could tell it hurt Jack’s feelings, his dad slapping his shoulder almost trying to comfort him. 

Sometime during the movie, Zola fell asleep. It was somewhere in the middle of ‘The Elf’ where Buddy is decorating the apartment and eating maple syrup pasta for breakfast that Idris’ phone buzzes. Gently she grabs it out of her pocket and sees that it’s her boss calling her, immediately she gently removes the limbs of her Zander off of her getting up and handing a sleeping Zola to Ellen on her way out the family room. 

“Hello.” she answers the phone, standing in the hallway that leads to the stairs going upstairs. 

“Hey glad I caught you. Remember that client Samson that wanted that painting for his wife for Christmas?” he asks sounding rushed. 

“You mean for her birthday?” Idris asks kindly trying not to come out and tell her boss he’s wrong. 

“Yeah yeah same thing anyway, the artist finally agreed to the price today at 500k.” 

“Wow, that's great, I know Samson will be happy.” 

“Well that’s the problem,” after a pause her boss continues “that’s kind of why I’m calling.” 

“What?” she doesn’t try to hide her anxiety.

“Well Samson has apparently decided that it’s not worth 500k and the artist barely agreed to that price so I need you to convince Samson it’s worth it.” he explains as if it’s just a regular Tuesday morning in the office. 

“On Christmas Eve?” she asks. 

“Yeah. It’s one phone call " Iddy come on.” sounding like it’s not a big deal at all. 

“Okay.” 

“Perfect. But he can’t do it tonight, it’s going to be the day after tomorrow around 2 pm. I’ll tell Sarah, my new secretary, to email them to you.” 

Idris can’t help but joke, “what happened to Kennedy?” she chuckles, knowing it’s an on-going joke that the only woman who can stand working for him is her because he doesn’t hit on her. 

“Didn’t work out. Anyway Merry Christmas. Send the kiddos my love. Jack too.” 

“Haha, very funny William.” sounding as sarcastic as possible as she hangs up the phone. 

Before she can even put her phone back in her hoodie’s pocket, she jumps up at the sound of Jack behind her. “Seriously Idris. You have got to be fucking kidding me.”

“Jesus Jack you scared me. What are you even talking about?” Idris doesn’t bother hiding the tiredness in her voice, it’s been a long day and it will be an even longer.

 “You left watching a movie with your family on Christmas Eve to gossip with William.” his arms are crossed in that way where it’s not because he’s annoyed, his jaw slightly clenched. 

“Zola is asleep. Zander was half asleep when I left. So yes I stepped out to take a phone call when it’s a movie I have seen no less than a 100 times.” Idris was matching Jack’s annoyed expression not in the mood for whatever she knows he’s about to imply. 

“That’s not the point.” slightly raising his voice, it doesn’t go unnoticed to Idris that someone in the family room turns up the volume of the movie. 

“Then what is Jack?” she asks.

“The fucking point is that it’s always him. It’s like he has this power over you even if your kids aren’t above it!” He’s now screaming and any chance Idris had of not also raising her voice is over. 

“That’s not even close to the truth and you fucking know it! I’m not sure what the fuck you’re trying to imply Jack but it’s wrong!” 

“So you don’t care more about your career than you do us!” he yells at her. 

“No! I don’t. But the same argument could be made for you, Mr.hotshot hockey player!”

“You don’t seem to mind about my hockey player money.” he retorts back, he has that smirk on his face like when someone knows an insult they just spit out sticks. 

“Oh my god! Were not even together and were having the same fucking fight! It’s insane!” she yells storming out of the hall to climb the stairs two at a time, but Jack is apparently not done. 

“So that’s it?” he yells at her as they climb the stairs. 

“Yeah that’s fucking it Jack! You know I’m done, you know I love my job just like you do. You know I love being a mom. But you also know I was hesitant to come here, but I love being a mom so bad I decided to spend my first Christmas single in years with my ex-boyfriend and his family so my kids can have both their parents for Christmas. So don’t tell me I put anything above those babies again asshole.” Idris turns to walk down the hall to the guest room she’s been staying in. 

“Ex-fiance. Not boyfriend.” he can’t help but point out, it’s like a sickness, the way even when she hasn’t been his for almost 3 full months he still needs to stake his claim to her. 

“God of course that’s what you got out of that.” she mumbles as she slams the door behind her. 

Jack makes his way back downstairs, kind of surprised that Zola stayed asleep during that, she’s still snuggled up on his moms chest. Zander has since climbed into Quinn’s lap for cuddles, it doesn’t really surprise anyone he is becoming the favorite uncle whenever he’s around. “Don’t” he mumbles as he falls into the coach where Idris was sitting, Luke next to him. 

“Oh bro. I wasn’t planning on it. That’s what mom and dad are for.” he whispers as a response. 

“Daddy?” Zander asks from Quinn’s lap. 

“Yeah Z.” he asks, trying to hide how angry he is from his son. 

“Where's mama?” 

“She has a headache bubs, so she went to bed early.” 

“Oh” is all he responds with leaning back into his uncles chest. 

“You always have been a shit liar.” Luke mumbles which earns a slap in the back of his head from Jack. 

After a couple minutes, Jack can see that Zander and Quinn are whispering amongst themselves not really watching the ending of the movie. If Jack took an honest survey of the room no one was really watching the movie, as if everyone was on edge waiting for the next shoe to drop. 

Zander slowly shimmies his way off of his uncle's lap and goes to make his exit. “Where are ya headed Z?” Jack asks. 

“To give mama snuggles. Like she does to me when I feel sick.” he tells his dad before he’s off dragging the same baby blanket he left on the coach this morning back upstairs with him. 

“Well I think we're headed to bed as well.” Jim announces. 

“I can put Zola to bed Ma, hand her over” Jack offers but is waved off as she stands and they leave the room. 

After a couple minutes of the brothers sitting in silence Quinn’s the one to break it. “I know you guys are separated, but it must be a new low for your son to comfort Idris when you're the one who made her upset.” 

“Will you shut-up you hurt my kid tonight I outta kill you.” Jack grinds between his teeth.

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

Idris hears a knock on her door and decides to ignore it knowing it’s probably Ellen or one of Jack’s brothers coming to check on her. “I’m fine” she groans back, turning away from the door. She can hear it click open and says “Luke I’m really not in the mood.” 

“Mama” she hears Zander say and suddenly she’s sitting fully up starring at her son at the side of the bed. 

“Hi honey. Is your arm feeling better?” she asks. 

“Yeah. Daddy said you your head hurts.” he mumbles softly as if not to speak too loud to hurt your imaginary headache anymore than it already would be and Idris heart melts at the gesture. 

“Yeah, just a little. I’ll be okay.” reaching out to gently push the baby curls out of his eyes, suddenly thinking about the fact he needs a haircut. 

“Want snuggles? Like when I’m hurt you give snuggles” he asks shyly looking up at his mom. 

“Always from you baby. Come ‘ere” As she picks him up and climbs under the covers with him enjoying her son cuddling with her. 

Jack went to check on the kids around 1 am when Idris and he agreed to meet downstairs to play Santa. When he peaked in he only saw Zola in her crib. ‘Z must still be with Idris.’ he thinks to himself. Idris doesn’t come down to help but who can blame her, he was kind of dick to her. So Jack carries up all the gifts by himself and puts them under the tree including the new goal and Zolas new walker toy. He eats all the cookies, even Zanders very very sugary ones and the carrots too, only leaving the stumps. 

Finally as he lays down he hears Zola crying. Sometimes she still needs a diaper changed in the middle of the night. Slowly he gets up and walks across the hall to the nursery to see Zola standing in her crib crying. “Hey Zozo.” he greets her as he flicks the light on and walks across the room. 

Zola did need a diaper changed, but once she did that she was still crying Jack wasn’t sure what was wrong and then signed for ‘mother.’ Idris was coming into the nursery anyway after hearing Zola not calming down. “Mama” she stretches, physically trying to get out of Jack’s arms and into hers. 

It hurt Jack more than he cared to admit, Zola was always a ‘daddy’s girl’ literally from the moment she came out of Idris. There were so many times when she was young that only he could calm her down, she really only ever wanted Idris if she was hungry as a newborn. 

“Hi honey.” she coos and immediately she stops crying. Idris walks over to her crib and grabs a pacifier. Zola glady takes it and leans her head on Idris’ shoulder. Jack stands off to the side feeling like chopped liver. As Idris tries to put her back in her crib she gets fussy again. 

“Okay okay. I get it. It must be scary sleeping alone. I don’t think you’ve ever done that before huh? Zander is already in my bed, wanna sleep with mama and brother tonight?” she asks in a soft voice that one would only use for a baby or small animal. 

Jack feels like shit still standing in the middle of the room, as Idris walks out the room carrying a very content Zola. All he can think about is how that’s the third time today his kids have picked Idris over him, and the second time tonight Zola specifically has. Jack never thought he would be jealous because his kids are giving more attention to Idris but he is, and that’s all he can think about as he attempts to fall asleep. 

—---------------------------------------------------------------------

Wednesday December 25, 2024 - Christmas Day

Idris woke up to Zander shaking her awake, Idris has never seen him so excited in the morning, she grabs her phone and looks at the time 5:45 AM. 

“Santa came! COME ON MA.” He screams physically trying to pull her up. A very big contrast to how be is every other day of the year, but Iddy finds it cute. 

“Zander. Shhh. People are sleeping.” As she helps Zola out of bed, and lets her walk just holding her hand. Idris thinks it’s kind of amazing how kids wobble and then all of a sudden one day they can walk and talk like it’s nothing. 

“Santa came Zo! Come on, move faster.” Zander starts pleading with his little sister to move faster. 

Iddy can see how flustered Zander is becoming at how ‘slow’ Zola is walking down the hall,scared he might try to drag her down the stairs himself soon.  So she suggests “Z honey why don’t you go wake up Daddy and we’ll meet you downstairs.” 

He doesn’t need to be told twice, sprinting down the hall screaming for Jack to wake up. Idris can hear a yelp from Jack from the stairs and can only imagine where Zander jumped him awake. 

Idris makes it down the family room, at the exact moment she hears Zander running down the stairs. His yelling must have woken everyone up, because behind Jack are both his brothers and his parents and Apollo bringing up the rear. 

Everyone lets the kids open their gifts all at once from Santa, it’s kind of heartwarming seeing how happy they both are. Apollo has decided to bring the wrapping paper to Jim who’s holding the trash bag. 

“Apollo. Are the kids too messy for you?” Iddy jokes and all he does is use his nose to nudge her leg as he passes her with another ball of wrapping paper in his mouth. 

Quinn laughing asks “did you guys teach him to do that?” 

“No” Jack breathes out in between his own laughing fit. 

Once the kids were done everyone opened their gifts from everyone all at once. Except for the gifts that Zander and Zola (Zander to be honest) picked out for everyone. Zander loved passing out his gifts - some might have been homemade - but Jack’s and Iddy’s were not. He stood in front of his dad practically blocking the view as he opened his gift. Now when Idris took Zander out shopping for his dad, she did not stir him in any sort of direction; she truly gave him free range to pick whatever ‘he’ wanted his dad to have. This is how Jack ended up opening a bag of pretzels and a pink beanie. In his defense, pretzels are Jack’s favorite snack (might also be his, so there might be a conflict of interest but Iddy didn’t say anything). The bright pink beanie was because “daddy only wears boring colors and pink is a fun color.” The beanie also has a tacky flamingo stitched on the front but Jack loves it anyway and puts it on right away. 

Now when Jack took Zander out he did not go with the ‘free range method.’ Now Jack did let Zander  wrap it,  Idris is pretty sure he used at least 2 rolls of tape alone because she had to use scissors to cut out the box. When she opened the box she found a new pair of knee high leather boots to replace her old pair. Nothing was wrong with her old pair but when she had Zola her feet grew in size and never went back down. She loved her knee high boots and was really sad she had to donate them. Even over a year later she hadn’t really found the time to replace that exact pair of other boots she could wear instead. But to see the exact pair, down to the brand and even the little pattern stitched in the heel made her gasp. 

“Do you like them mommy?” Zander asked unsure since she hadn’t spoken immediately. 

“I love them, baby. Thank you.” she whispers and as she hugs Zander she makes eye-contact with Jack who's across the room sitting in a chair with that dumb pink beanie on. She mouths ‘thank you’ to him and he blushes, quickly looking away. 

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Surprisingly to everyone, the day was turning out to be pretty good. After presents, Idris, Quinn and Ellen made a huge breakfast for everyone. Everybody sat around the dining room table (the kitchen table not comfortable to fit everyone plus the kiddos) and ate. The meal was great, it was like the tension from last night was gone. After breakfast everyone sort of migrated to the family room, lounging around doing nothing, some Christmas movie on in the background no one was really watching. Quinn even made a comment to Luke about how he’s gonna win the fight since it was already 4 pm without Jack and Idris getting into a fight. All Luke said was “I don’t know about that big brother.” as he walked away stealing the last cinnamon roll on Quinn’s plate he had just warmed up as a snack, going to chase after Zander with his new nerf gun.

Idris was in the kitchen, finishing cleaning the dishes she was feeling too lazy to clean right after breakfast. Idris was enjoying the quiet around the loudness that was the Hughes family Christmas. As she was washing the last pan that had the cinnamon rolls in them she heard someone come behind her but didn’t think anything of it until she heard Jack’s voice. 

“Hey” he softly says. 

“Hey yourself.” she answers awkwardly, not really sure what Jack was looking for, maybe he wanted to hear thank you the present Idris thought to herself. Putting the pan in the drying rack and wiping her hands with a dish towel she turns“Thank you by the way for the boots.” 

Jack babbles out a quiet “yeah no problem.” his cheeks were just slightly more pink than they were when he came in. “Uh, can we talk?” he asks, scratching the back of his neck a nervous tic he’s never been able to grow out of. 

“About?” she asks confused about what Jack could possibly be thinking about. 

Somehow her answer must of satisfied Jack because he walks more into the kitchen standing directly in front of Idris leaning against the island, while she’s still in front of the sink. “Look about last night.” 

“What is there to talk about?” Idris doesn’t mean to sound as defensive as she does. But how many times can you have the same fight with someone before there is nothing left to add to the conversation. 

“Uh like about how you disappeared in the middle of the movie to talk to a precious boss who constantly calls you when he knows you are home spending time with the kids.” he might not have meant to scold her but that’s what it sounded like. 

“Oh my god Jack. I can’t believe you are coming in here and instead of apologizing you are just bringing up again how mad that I took one phone call about work. You act as if someone from the devils called you, you wouldn’t have taken it.”

“I wouldn’t.” 

Idris is nothing less than baffled at how Jack is acting right now. “That’s such bullshit and you know it.” Idris starts to walk around the kitchen as if she needed to give herself as much physical space from Jack as possible. 

“It’s not.” he defends himself before he adds, “Did you answer just because it was him?” The way he says ‘him’ Idris immediately knows what’s really bothering him, it’s not that she got up during the movie or even that she took a work call. No, Jack was mad because he was jealous. 

“Oh my god!” she sighs. “I can’t believe this. You’re mad at me because you're jealous.” she accuses Jack, but it comes out more as a statement - as if it was already confirmed as a fact - rather than an assumption. 

“I am not.” he snaps at her, his voice starting to get ever so slightly higher, as he walks around the island to be on the same side as her again. 

“You fucking are Jack! God I can’t believe this! We are literally again having the same fight and we are not even together anymore!” feeling so frustrated that she is starting to yell, running her hands through her hair as if it will ease some of the anger she is feeling inside. 

“God I am not. I’m mad that you prioritize work over our family!” 

“Bullshit. Fucking bullshit and you fucking know it!” she yells, not thinking about who else is in the house, or the fact that Zander and Zola are in the next room. “God that is so rich coming from you! How much of Zander's first 9 months of life did you miss? How much of me being pregant with Zola were you just.. gone Jack? Playing hockey?” 

“I was providing for this family!” he yells, his blue eyes as dark as the deep sea filled with his anger.

“I never said that you weren’t! What I am saying is that you can’t say that you also don’t work a lot of hours and are away a lot from the kids! You can’t sit there and point a finger at me when three are p[ointing back Jack! I’m done having this conversation with you. Whether you're jealous. Not jealous. I don’t care we’re broken up so there is no reason for you to feel some type of way. Or for you to come in here and yell at me.” Idris turns to walk away and leave the kitchen but stops at Jack's words. 

“Are you fucking him?” he asks. Idris is frozen and she is astonished at his accuration of her character.

“What?” she asks as she turns around, truly believing she heard him wrong because her Jack would never ask her such a thing or think that somehow she could be sleeping with her boss. 

“You heard me.” he snapped, stepping closer to her. “Are you dropping your panties anywhere you can for him like you use to for me?” his words spitting venom. 

“Fuck you.” Idris says she walks away just trying to get upstairs as far away from Jack as she possibly can because her watery eyes become full blown tears. 

Jack follows her, apparently not done with fighting with her. Dispute the fact that it feels like his words somehow felt worse than a bullet to the chest. “What no answer Iddy?” he asks. 

Idris was going to ignore him until she heard her son. “STOP.” he yells at Jack jumping in front of him kicking and punching him as hard as he could. “ALL YOU DO IS HURT MAMA. I HATE YOU.”

Idris can’t walk away from her son even if a tiny part of her loves him for it. She comes up behind him, picking him up from under his armpits and carrying him away somewhere. “Zander no. We do not hit people and we do not tell them you hate them.” Idris starts to talk carrying him up the stairs, still an angry ball of limbs yelling. 

“I DO HATE HIM. I DO” 

“We don’t use that word in this house.” they can hear Idris says before they hear a door shut upstairs.

Jack doesn’t move, he doesn’t say anything he’s frozen in place. Jack doesn’t even know where Zander learned that word, and it breaks his heart. His own kid, the one thing he loves the most in this world hates him? Jack knew that he preferred Idris over him, which was fine. But to hate him, to want him to leave. Jack was gonna be sick, he felt this deep need to throw up. 

“I-I I need some air.” he chokes out to his family standing around the hall and family room. Jack runs out of room to the back deck, he doesn’t stop moving until he’s leaning over the railing emptying his stomach of everything he ate in the last 12 hours. 

“Here.” Quinn says to Luke, handing him a 100 dollar bill. 

“Keep it. I don’t want it.” Luke mumbles climbing up the stairs, whether to go hide his room or check on Idris and Zander no one is sure. 

“I’ll go check on him.” Quinn says it at the same time Jim says “Imma check on Jack.” But Ellen stops both of them, gently touching both of them on the shoulder. 

“No, I got it. Why don’t you guys finish the movie?” She doesn’t give them any room for debate; they settle back into the coach. 

Ellen slowly opens the sliding glass door now in her boots and winter coat, along with a blanket she must have grabbed on her way out. Jack turns around to the sound of the door, Ellen can see his red rimmed eyes from crying, his blue eyes the lightest of shades it always is when he cries. “I don’t wanna talk.” he mumbles turning back out to look at the lake, he can’t see much because it’s so dark out but he tries anyway. 

“Okay, that’s fine. I'll tell you to listen.” she says in that tone only mothers can use on their sons, as she drapes the blanket over his shoulders. “He doesn’t hate you, you know that right Jacky?” she asks gently. 

“Uff. Could have fooled me.” he mumbles. 

“Jack, he's two. He doesn’t even know how to spell his name, he doesn’t understand what he’s saying.” she tries to gently let Jack see the truth. 

“I don’t know Ma, he never wants me anymore. Even when he’s at home with me he’s asking for Idris. I knew he was a mama’s boy and I was okay with that but he hates me. All he seems to do is fight me on every little thing. Honestly I’ve been a shit father, I would probably hate me too if I was him."He still hasn’t looked at his mom, he’s just word vomiting as he leans against the railing of the deck and  stares out to the land and the lake. 

“I’m gonna tell you a secret. It’s a secret every parent figures out at some point and no one tells anyone about parenthood. A child is their meanest self with the person they love the most. He loves you Jack, adores you even. All he does is want to be like you. And you know what you are?” she asks, he turns to her giving her look. “You are the biggest mama’s boy there is. Where do you think he learned how to be one? Or the fact that he wants to play center ‘cause my daddy does.’ The boy loves you. He just is little. And yeah kids bounce back, but you have to remember that you and Iddy being apart is also a very big change for Zander. And that boy doesn't like change. Kind of like someone else I know.” She gives him a pointed look. 

“Who me?” he jokes for the first time since she got out on the deck. 

As they turn to head back inside she says “just think of it this way.. It’s like a right of passage for your kid saying they hate you. Well except usually it’s during the teenage years..” She jokes as Jack wraps his arm around her side giving her a hug. 

“Can I just say one thing?” 

“What?” Ellen asks. 

“This is definitely the worst Christmas.” Jack admits. 

“Yeah well Christmas joy is overrated. Why do you think we did more to celebrate Hanukkah while you were growing up?” Both of them laugh and head inside, Jack does feel better after he talks with his mom. Maybe it is true what they say, you are never too old for a mom talk and a hug.

[novantinuum]

Fandom: Steven Universe Rating: Gen Words: 2.8K~ Summary: Not too long after making peace with Homeworld and sparking the start of Era 3, Steven wakes up one morning to discover some... notable changes about himself.

AKA: The one where Steven finally hits his growth-spurt. All at once. Because of course the half-Gem kid could never experience such a human thing like puberty in a "normal" way.

[Part 1 of 2]

Just a few seconds later, knuckles rap against the door in answer to his perturbed cry. 

“Yo Steve-o, that you in there?” Amethyst calls. 

“Y-yeah?” he stammers. His brows threading inwards, he delicately runs his fingers over the ridge upon his throat, very much thrown off by the distinctly lower tenor of the sound coming from his own mouth. He swallows hard, pushing himself to speak again. Come on Steven, he berates himself, think of something lighthearted. This doesn’t have to be a bad thing. No need to completely freak out over this yet. “Who else would I be? It’s not like the whole town uses this bathroom…”

“I mean, I do sometimes. For fun.”

“Okay, fair point, but—”

“Dude, what’s wrong with your voice? Are you like, sick or somethin’?“

“No, it’s just—” 

He squeezes his eyes shut, blocking out all the nebulous, spinning distractions of his mind and the world beyond. Deep breath. It’s okay. Tons of things about his form may be entirely different right now, but like… he seems fine. Right?? Nothing about his body feels tangibly wrong like it did when he willfully stretched himself out on his 14th birthday, or when he changed all his fingers into cats, or when he lost all control of his aging and morphed into an anciently old man and almost died, it’s just… 

New.

New and wholly unfamiliar.

So what now? How can he bravely move forward with all this? What does he need to know? 

“Have, uh… have you ever shapeshifted by accident in your sleep?”

“Not that I‘m aware of,” she says, and he can practically hear the shrug in her tone. “Shapeshifting is a conscious thing you do. It’s a choice, y’know? It doesn’t just happen.”

A good long moment passes as he drinks this information in. He runs his hand through the short curls at the back of his neck as he stands there in the pair of too-small banana yellow pajamas he fit in just fine last night, musing.

“Huh… I guess that makes things pretty simple, then.”

“What d’ya’—”

“Amethyst, I think I’m finally older,” he says, still absolutely mystified by this prospect as he gawks at himself in the mirror. 

She gives a fond laugh. “Ch’a, right? You get older everyday, bud. Wild.”

“No, I mean I’m actually, physically older! Look!”

Steven whirls around and swings the bathroom door wide open to show her. Amethyst’s jaw drops.

“Whoa—! Dude!”

Chuckling nervously, he steps a few feet out, wriggling his bare toes against the wood floor. “I know, right?”

“What the heck, you weren’t kidding!” Before he can even move to say anything else, she spins on her heels and cups her mouth with her hands, hollering towards the temple door. “HEY, PEARL! GARNET! You gotta get out here and see this!”

His brows shoot towards his hairline, his heart hammering in his chest all the while at the thought of all the dumb show-and-tell he’s gonna have to deal with now. “Aww, come on, did you really have to—”

“Amethyst!” Pearl cries, scrambling through the still opening gap in the doorway with Garnet striding mere steps behind. She summons her spear from her gem and swings it to fighting stance with an artful flourish. “What happened? Where’s the threat? What do you need us for??”

Steven darts towards them, hands held up in a placating plea.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa! There’s no danger! We’re fine. I just—”

“Oh, my stars—!” she gasps, allowing her spear to dissipate in a glittery flicker of light. “You’ve grown!”

“Nice look, Steven,” Garnet nods, a supportive smile gracing her lips.

“And you’re sure this is real this time? You’re not—?”

“No, no, I’m not stretching myself out, I promise. I just woke up like this.”

“B-but—” Pearl taps her fingers against her chin, appearing thoroughly puzzled— “I thought humans were supposed to age gradually, not all at once.”

Steven’s shoulders slump. “Well… that’s what I assumed too, but—”

“Come, sit with me,” Garnet says, walking around the warp pad to enter the living room. She sets herself down on the couch, patting the cushion in open invitation.

With a heavy, far too weary for his age sigh, Steven shoves his hands in the pockets of his too-small banana pajamas and plods his way over. The rest of the Gems follow suit. He settles himself right next to Garnet, with Pearl perched opposite to her and Amethyst happily lounging on the floor, leaning on the coffee table with her elbows. 

“Steven’s aging hasn’t aligned with the norms of humanity for a very long time,” she observes, a glint of morning sun that’s beaming through the window catching on the edge on the edge of her star shaped visor. Then, turning to him: “I’m curious why you think this is.”

He hums, considering all the chaotic happenings of the past few years. Despite the rare query she poses, he gets the sense that… in her vast wisdom… she already knows the answer. Or at least, a small sum of it. It should be noted that her future vision— as far-reaching as it otherwise is with the vast possibilities of existence— can’t ever touch any knowledge that she won’t be conscious for or present to receive, let alone retroactively scry into the past.

(And honestly? Thank goodness for that.)

“I’m not sure,” he says, a half-lie.

He can think of one reason he might’ve started aging again. Though, it’s not something he’s ready to talk to the Gems about yet. It’s… far too delicate a topic to risk bringing up so soon after the start of peaceful Era 3. But after spending a whole childhood being constantly compared to and mistaken as various versions of his mom… let’s just say, having his gem torn from his body and getting to see it reform into a version of himself (and not her) was simultaneously the worst and the best thing that could’ve ever happened to him. While undeniably traumatic, this experience served as the ultimate proof that he doesn’t have to waste another second of his existence chewing away at some burgeoning identity crisis, that he can live his life however he wants. As Steven. Not as Rose, or Pink Diamond, just… Steven.

He’s not exactly sure how all this mental weirdness translates into him staying stuck looking like a little kid for like… six or so years, but after he returned home from his latest escapade on Homeworld, he could sense that— despite all the messed up stuff he and Connie went through— his spirit was lighter, somehow.

So maybe, he thinks, he simply had to peel away at all the damaged layers of his identity to ready himself to move on to the next stage of his life. Maybe he had to stare death in the eye and pass through the heart of the storm in spite of all these hardships before he could piece the foundational truths of his story back together and learn to finally live again.

To start shifting his hopeful gaze towards the dawn of their bright, sunny future…

“I mean, I always kinda thought he stopped aging because we never did,” Amethyst says then, laying her cheek on the table. “Like, it happened around the time you moved in with us, yeah?”

He purses his lips, scanning his memory. “Uh… I think so? It might have been a year before. Two, even. But I was definitely hanging out with y’all a lot by then.”

She leans over and playfully slugs him in the arm.

“See, there you go! You always wanted to be just like us when you were a kid, so much that you even wore that same ol’ star shirt every day to match ours, ha! You must’ve wanted to be a Gem so badly that you subconsciously stopped becoming older at all.”

“That’s actually a pretty solid theory, Amethyst,” Pearl chimes in. “Good thinking!”

“We have seen you shift your form in response to your perception of others around you,” Garnet says with a nod. “This has caused you to temporarily age and shapeshift in the past, but for you to age in a stable way now, your perception of self must have stabilized, too. I’m very happy for you, Steven.”

She tousles his mess of curls with her gold ringed hand, a welcome little offering of affection that he eagerly leans into.

And then, out of nowhere, Amethyst starts cackling.

“Dude,” she blurts out between her peels of laughter, nudging his foot with her elbow, “I just realized— Greg’s gonna totally lose his shit when he sees this…”

Pearl’s expression scrunches inwards with prickly displeasure. “Language!” 

“What, it’s true!”

He waves Amethyst’s comment off. “Pshhh, my dad’s seen way weirder,” he says, rolling his eyes. “Like, did I ever tell y’guys how the cat fingers incident ended?”

“No!” the quartz exclaims with intensive fervor, and leans forward in anticipation. “Gimme the juicy deets, m’man!”

Garnet adjusts her visor then, her features falling into a dutiful line. “Speaking of Greg… story time can wait until later. Steven— if you want to see your father this morning, you need to head over there now… or there’s a good chance he’ll fall back asleep until one and you’ll miss your window.”

Amethyst’s lips fall into a pout as she slumps back against the foot of the couch, her arms crossed. “Awww, phooey. Spoil sport.”

He swallows a grimace as he internalizes Garnet’s prediction. Yeah, that sounds about right. That’s become a bad habit for his old man lately, staying up super late and then sleeping in almost half the day on weekends. Ever since he received that ten million dollar residues check it’s nothing that can hinder his financials anymore, thank goodness, but then again…

“Yeah… I should probably go make sure he wakes up,” he mutters, pushing his tired body off his seat. “I’ll need his help finding new clothes, anyways.”

The second he’s up and moving again, Amethyst darts around him and snatches his spot with such swift and viscous drive that one might believe this ploy were her sole quest and purpose in life. She stretches out against the seat back with a big, dramatic yawn, crossing her arms behind her head as she speaks. 

“It’s too bad you can’t just… I dunno… summon whatever clothes you want out of light, like us. That’s like the biggest bummer of humanity, if you ask me.”

“And when do you ever experiment with your outfit enough to have a strong opinion about this?” Pearl prods, crossing her arms. “It took you almost a decade to fix that asymmetrical shoulder strap.”

“Well, P… I like to think of myself as a Gem who would experiment with my outfit. One day. If I’m ever really, really bored. Consider it an Era 3 aspiration.”

Steven rocks back and forth on his heels, absentmindedly fiddling with the fraying bottom hem of his pajama top.

“Okay, uh… well, I’m gonna dress to leave now, so—”

“Yeah, see ‘ya.”

“Send a text if you need anything!” Pearl says with a casual wave.

“And don’t forget…” Garnet begins, the ellipses in her tone practically visible with the naked eye.

He pauses in his dutiful march to the stairs— (a somewhat unsteady march… as it turns out, shooting up about a foot and a half in height overnight tends to impact one’s sense of balance for the worst, go figure)— turning back to intercept whatever life advice or future vision she’s prepared for him this time. 

She grins, flashing him a quick heart with her hands instead. “We love you!”

~~

Steven trudges across the hot sands to his dad’s car wash sans his favorite flip flops, trying his very darnedest to wipe away the developing grimace on his face all the while. 

A small segment of him felt overjoyed when he first saw his reflection this morning, eager to look his age and finally grow up alongside his human friends. But after struggling to find anything that fits him even halfway right in his wardrobe, his good mood has rapidly spoiled. There’s a decent few reasons for this.

Reason number one: his old sandals are at least two sizes too small. His heels stick out over the end now, and the plastic thong digs into his toes something terrible. He literally can’t wear them without giving himself blisters. Ergo, his bare feet right now. 

Reason number two: none of his jeans sit right around the waist anymore, plus they make him look like he’s waiting for a flood. (Though thankfully, he found a stretchy blue skirt buried in one of his drawers that will do the trick for now.) 

And perhaps worst of all… reason number three: with his newly increased height, every single one of his treasured star shirts have been turned into ill-fitting crop tops, putting his gem on full display. He’s not against the concept of a crop top, but it sure ain’t a look he’s passionate about for everyday wear. It just feels… too exposing. Like, what about winter?? He can’t bear his whole midriff in winter, he’d freeze, and like… get hypothermia, or something. And not only that, but the longer he’s awake this morning the more an inescapable, thrumming ache starts to settle within the deepest core of his body, like even his bones themselves— the stubborn things— dare to object to this abrupt growth spurt.

Just… ugh. What an annoying hassle all these changes bring.  

“Stupid shirt,” he grouses, tugging at the too-tight collar, “stupid sandals, stupid Gem puberty! Why, oh why can’t I ever go through human stuff normally?”

His bare foot catches upon a sizable stone hidden amongst the beach. On any other day he would’ve successfully broken his fall, stumbling forwards a few awkward steps before regaining his balance and continuing on his way. But with his body now so different, and his center of gravity entirely off from what he’s used to, he head plants straight into the ground.

Wow, he thinks, spitting sand out of his mouth and pushing himself back to his feet. How elegant. Truly the shining paragon of coordination and grace.

Thank goodness no one was watching. Next time he’ll just have to remember to float.

He arrives at his dad’s van with no further incident. The rear doors are— following Garnet’s prediction- cracked open. Dad’s awake, at least for now.

“Daaaaaaaad,” he hollers, cupping his hands around his mouth to project. “A really, really weird thing happened, and I kinda need your help!”

A few spare seconds pass, seconds filled with the rustles of shifting blankets, the sound of a book being shut closed, and his dad’s low murmurs. The doors swing wide, though not as wide as Dad’s eyes when they wander around their bright, sunny surroundings and eventually land square on him and his new look.

“Wh— Steven, holy smokes! Look at you!”

With an awkward chuckle, he scratches away at an itch at the nape of his neck. “Heh heh, I know, right?”

“You’re almost as tall as your old man! When did this happen? How did this happen?”

“Some point last night, I guess,” he shrugs. “I just woke up like this. But Dad—” he clings onto his arm with mounting desperation— “I need your help to find some new shirts. Don’t you have like… whole boxes of your old tour merch stashed away somewhere? I don’t wanna have to get rid of my star, I just— I just need a bigger size, or something.”

“Hmmm…” Dad muses, scratching at the scruff of his beard. “Well, maybe, but…”

“But what?”

“But if any of it’s still around, then it’s probably in Amethyst’s room. All of the stuff from the storage unit ended up with her, remember?”

“Oh…” he says, brows furrowed, not quite able to parse this fact within his memory yet. And then… 

Ugh. That’s right.

Two New Years’ ago. The huge mess of crates and mattresses and long forgotten belongings. All that ridiculous Little Butler nonsense. Amethyst’s fight with Dad.

“Oh,” he mumbles, crossing his arms. “Right. Well, then let’s go find it!”

“R- right now?”

“Yeah, why not? I need new clothes, and you could see if there’s any old junk in there you might want to keep!”

With that, he grabs his dad’s hand and yanks him along, spirit filled with renewed purpose and vigor.

“And you’re sure you need my help for this?” Dad asks, lagging a step or two behind him as they march back across the beach together. “The Gems, they… well, they don’t usually want me going into the temple—”

“Oh, Amethyst will be fine,” he says with a wave of his palm. “She never cares when I go in there to check out her trash piles. ‘Sides, I need your help to find the right box! I have no idea what your old band stuff was stashed in.”

His dad flashes a tight smile, the sort he always serves up when he’s nervous, but also too timid to tell him that he’s nervous.

“Well… if you think she’ll allow it…” he relents, and picks up his pace to match his.

~~

[End Part 1... more to be shared later.]

[love4ng1e]

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Beginners guide to manifesting!!

By love4ng1e 𝜗𝜚

Requested by @limitless180

You asked for techniques, but Imma give you the whole pack because i'm cool like that. I'm going to keep it simple so you don't overcomsume. I said this was going to take a day or so, but never mind because I manifested time to make this.

I did a separate post on some of those stuff, but this is it all together. This is the only post you need.

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1.0: What is manifesting?

By simple definition manifesting is getting what you want. There is no need to make it any more complicated.

2.0: How to manifest?

There's multiple ways to manifest and there's no wrong or bad way.

I am a master manifestor, so I'll be honest and say that I do absolutely nothing to manifest except simply just acting like a master manifestor. I'll still give you ways I used that worked for me when I was a beginner, and that works for other people, too.

2.1: Robotic affirming.

Robotic affirming is repeatedly repeating any affirmation of your choice. What that does is reinforce that you have your desire and then plays out in your 3d (I will talk about the 3d a little farther).

It's very important to persist when it comes to this technique. Your affirm until it is factual in the 3d. You do not take no for an answer. It has no choice, but to manifest.

You repeat the affirmation any time. Regardless of what you're doing. As much as you want/feel necessary. Before falling asleep and first thing in the morning are both very powerful times. If you tend to forget, you can set alarms.

If this gets tiring to you, please switch techniques. This isn't for everyone.

2.2: Subliminals.

Subliminals are hidden affirmations under music/sounds. These affirmations directly bypass the conscious mind, directly to the subconscious mind (I also will talk about that a bit farther).

There are plenty of subliminal channels out there, but not all of them are trustworthy.

Good ones are:

I want it, I got it > link (she's my personal fav)

Cee > link

Baejin Cafe > link

Moza Morph > link

Kottie > link

Eve > link

Enchanted Workshop > link

Crystie > link

The best way to know if a subliminal channel is trustworthy is to read the comments. If there's none, I would stay away.

You can listen whenever you want. Headphones/Airpods are recommended.

2.3: Vision boards.

You can use pinterest for that. You simply make a board full of pins of what it is you want to manifest. For example, if you want a cat, you make a vision board full of cats. After that, you visualize it anytime you want. You can mediate while visualizing.

2.4 The law of assumption/loa.

The law of assumption/loa, also just called the law, was popularized by Neville Goddard, It focuses on your belief system. The core idea is whatever you assume to be true will manifest in your life.

Assume the feeling of wish fulfilled - Instead of focusing on attracting something external, you convince yourself that you already have it internally. That belief shifts your reality to align with that assumption.

Step 1: Identify what you want.

Step 2: Assume it's already yours. Feel and act as if your desires is already yours.

Step 3: Persist in the assumption. Even if your external reality doesn't reflect it yet, hold on to the belief until it manifests.

3.0: The 3d and the 4d.

There's the 3d and the 4d. The 3d is your physical world/external world. The 4d is imagination. Imagination is creation. Manifestation happens in the 4d.

The 4d is the only thing you need to focus on. Nobody cares about the 3d. The 4d is where everything happens, and then it shows up in the 3d. Therefore, circumstances do not matter.

Also time does not apply in the 4d so do not wait for your desires. It is already yours.

3.1: The conscious mind and the subconscious mind.

This is my personal take on the conscious mind and the subconscious mind.

The conscious mind is the main part of your brain. It has rules and uses logic as its main principle. You live in xyz country, with xyz people, you go to xyz school, whatever.

The subconscious mind is more hidden. It's sort of like a blank canvas. It's influenced by the conscious mind. Whatever you get it to believe will show up in your reality. Logic is not its main principle, so nothing is impossible or absurd.

You do not need to convince the subconscious mind to manifest, but it can be helpful.

─────── ༺ ❦︎ ༻ ───────

─────── ༺ ❦︎ ༻ ───────

I hope I could be of help! Much love.

"Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life's coming attractions." - Albert Einstein.

─────── ༺ ❦︎ ༻ ───────

[ghoulishfreak]

"Swaying" Hypnovember Day 1

based on @altarmind 's Hypnovember prompt list

"Listen, I understand hypnosis works, kind of. As a psychological concept," Jacob said, ideally putting his textbooks away. "But I just can't believe that you could put a little spiral or one measly pocket watch in front of someones face and make them do whatever you want!" He turned around after finishing, joining his classmate, Sabrina, on his couch. Sabrina smiled with a knowing look.

This had all started with a little debate after their psychology class. Hypnosis had come up in their lesson, and Jacob couldn't hold back his scoff. Sabrina had bothered him about it after their lecture, and Jacob would be lying if he didn't see the passionate conversation as an opportunity to finally invite Sabrina back to his apartment. To continue the conversation of course, and more, if Jacob was lucky.

"I think you underestimating those classic methods of hypnosis. It's just a matter of capturing the subjects attention completely so they're psychologically susceptible to suggestion," Sabrina said with a gesture. "Anyone can be hypnotized. It's just a matter of getting them into that state."

Jacob scoffed. "Maybe the weak willed," he mumbled. Sabrina eyed him, and for a quick moment he felt like prey frozen in place. He was released from that fear when Sabrina smiled, turning her body to face him more.

"Is that so?" she asked, reaching into her pocket. "How about I try to hypnotize you? And if you go down into a trance, you let me program whatever I want into your little, "weak willed" brain?" She pulled a shiny gold pocket watch from her pocket, holding it up and dropping the watch down right in front of Jacob, dangling and swaying slightly from its chain.

Jacob eyed her with a smirk. "Oh, now I see why you were so personally offend. Sure, do your best to hypnotize me. But if I don't go into a trance or whatever, you have to do something for me. Sound like a deal?" Sabrina nodded, and instructed Jacob to face her more, leaning his back against the arm of the couch.

"Now Jacob, I'm going to ask that you watch the watch. Watch the watch swaying, back and forth, back and forth. Just following it with your eyes." As Sabrina spoke, and Jacobs eyes moved, he felt smug at how un-hypnotized he felt. Sabrina was going to feel so stupid when this was over, and he'll have proven that he was right. And there's so many ways he could use that favor....

"That's right Jacob, you're doing very good. Just keep your eyes on that swaying, shiny watch. I know you work hard, I know your mind needs a rest. I know you're so tired, so tired your eyes can barely stay open." Jacob was surprised to find that she was right, his eyes had begun to feel heavy. His vision blurred as his eyes followed the sway.

It doesn't mean anything, Jacob thought. I'm just tired. She knows that. I'm not getting hypnotized.

"That's it, feeling so relaxed for me. Relaxed and comfortable, just following the sway." Sabrinas voice was so warm and welcoming, it felt like it was filling up Jacobs head. "Now, I'm going to count down from 10. And when I hit 1, you will fall deep into trance for me."

Trance? Does she really think I'm that easy?

"10, 9. Relaxing more and more"

Mmm, I am feeling relaxed. But I'm not hypnotized.

"8, 7. Feeling so good, feeling your mind rest"

Yes... rest. But, I'm not hypnotized...

"6, 5. Sinking down, sinking with each sway."

Sinking... sway... But....

"4, 3. So deep now, coming right up to the edge."

Deep... I'm.. not..

"2, 1. Drop now"

Hypno...tized....

Jacob heard a snap. And then his mind was off.

.....

"... and back awake for me."

Jacob's eyes fluttered, slowly coming back to focus. Sabrina was in front of him, grinning. Oh no...

"Looks like I was right," she said with a snicker. Jacob felt his face warm with embarrassment. "Now, tell me what you are boy."

"I am weak willed. I am easily hypnotized." It came out of Jacob's mouth without his conscious choice and made him feel lightheaded. His face got even more red.

"Good boy," Sabrina said, and a rush of pleasure filled Jacobs body. He stabilized himself with a hand on the couch and looked at his classmate with bewilderment.

What else did she put in his brain?

[luimagines]

Four Loving Hours

Another comission!

They asked for Four going out with Reader and maybe getting a shy first kiss in. I tried my best to oblige. <3

Masterlist

Content under the cut!

Four took in a deep breath and tried to straighten his hair out once more. He was nervous but excited.

You had finally agreed to spend some time with him. He really wanted it to be a date but he wasn’t about to push his luck when it took him more than the usual amount of courage he could muster just to ask to get you alone.

He also pulled down and straightened his tunic and tried to be as presentable as possible.

He left his house with high hopes and a picnic basket.

Walking through Castle Town only serves to heighten his anxiety. What if he messes up? What if he makes a fool out of himself? What if he ruins any chance he might have had with you? What if he makes himself look like such an idiot that you laugh at him and then the whole town knows just how much of a loser he is?

Four finds himself at your front door.

His thoughts make him think that this is a dumb idea. It halts his hand right as he’s about to knock on the door. He should leave. He should just call it off. He can send a message later saying that he didn’t feel good and if you both can reschedule.

The doors opens

“Oh!” It’s your mother. She smiles brightly before he can say anything, and calls back into the house. “Honey! Link is here!”

“Thanks mom!” You call back from the beyond.

Four gulps quietly and smiles back at your mother, wanting to make a good impression despite the fact his name is a household name at this point. “I hope you don’t mind me stealing her for a little bit. I’ll have her back before sun down.”

Your mother’s smile seems to widen and she steps back. “It might be a while before they come out. Do you want to come inside?”

“No! No! I’m ready, I’m here!” You cry out before he can respond. You kiss your mother on the cheek before ushering her back inside. “We’ll be safe and make good choices and come back before you know it. Ok, goodbye!”

Your mother laughs but closes the door behind her.

Four feels a little dumbfounded. He had prepared to answer her but he wasn’t prepared for the way you sent yourself flying out of the house just to see him. He didn’t think you’d be this excited about a small picnic by the lake.

Unable to process the very abrupt cut to the social interaction he was having, he glances over your apparel while you straighten yourself out as well. You’ve put more conscious effort than usual into your hair, and he doesn’t think he’s seen that shirt before. Is that new?

There’s a slight floral scent in the air now. Did you put on new perfume too?

Four feels himself blush a bit. At least he wasn’t the only one who wanted to look nice for this. “I like this.” He gestures to you. “I could get used to more of this.”

You cough and get a delightful shade of pink dusted over your features. You even bless his ears with a small giggle, albeit a confused one. “You just gestured to all of me.”

“Yes.”

You gulp, brightening into a scarlet red over your features.

Four feels like a total dork as he holds out his free arm. “Ready?”

You bite your lip deliciously and slip your arm in his. “Yes. I’m ready.”

Four grins and begins to lead the way to the lake, ignoring all the stares that come his way. He hopes that you’re not too bothered by it. He didn’t stop to think about the gossip that will no doubt sprout from this.

“I hope you’re hungry.” He says in the lull of silence, wanting to distract from the fact that the people are no doubt watching. Four wiggles the basket in his arm to bring your attention to it. “I think I packed enough food to feed a small army. So feel free to eat as much as you want.”

You snort and shake your head. “You always do this. I promise you, I get fed enough at home as it is.”

Four bites his lip and tilts his head away from you, trying (and failing) to play innocent. “Let me do this. I don’t cook enough as it is.”

“Oh, so I’m your guinea pig?” You tease. He finds it in himself to relax as he answers you. “Of course! Dad won’t let me in the kitchen otherwise. Something about how blacksmiths only work with one type of stove and are a risk to burning down the house.”

You laugh a little more. “I’ve always liked your dad. But isn’t your grandpa a blacksmith as well?”

“Guess who’s not allowed in the kitchen either.”

You laugh louder, more carefree and Four forgets his anxieties just for a little bit. He smiles with you, taking in your radiance and brilliance. Beautiful. You’re beautiful. There’s no other word for it. Four can feel his breath get stuck in his throat, feeling content to simply watch you.

Before he realizes it, you’ve both reached the lake in the nick of time. He’s quick to set up the blanket and  get the food ready while you’re busy admiring the scenery as the light becomes more moody. “I don’t think I’ve ever been here at this time of day. It’s beautiful.”

Four pauses and looks back towards you, no doubt with a love stricken look on his face. “I’ll try to bring you out more often then. The world is beautiful no matter where we find ourselves… We just have to look at it.”

You hum and look back down at him, sitting down without much thought to your movement.

You kiss cheek and he stills.

Four can feel you grow a bit nervous from his reaction, or lack of one if he had to be more honest with himself. His heart begins to shoot in a rapid fire in his chest and he forces himself to look up.

You seem to regret your actions fairly quickly. That just won’t do. “Sorry! That was a little uncalled for, wasn’t it? I didn’t mean- I’m sorry. I should have at least asked.”

“You missed.” Four blurts. 

“What?”

What, indeed! What on earth possessed him to say that?

Four meets your gaze head on, willing the blush off of his face so he can keep it straight. “I said you missed.”

You seem to fluster even more and lean closer, even as you struggle to meet his eyes. “Did I?”

Four leans closer as well, not entirely sure where he plans for this to go. “I’m sure you did.”

You gulp a little, mirroring him subconsciously. “And where was I supposed to kiss you then?”

Four bites his lip once more and he notices that your eyes dart to the small movement. His confidence begins to grow more by the second. “I can show you.”

You lean even more and he can feel the way your nose brushes against his. “Show me?”

“Will you let me?” His voice drops to a whisper.

“Always.”

Four closes the distance. He’s not sure what to do, but he’s quickly aware that you don’t either. He doesn’t try to think much about it and simply lets his emotions and desires guide him, hoping that it’s at least a nice experience for you.

Your lips are soft against his and it makes him smile. A hand comes up to cup your cheek while the other rests at the back of your neck, pulling you deliciously closer.

The food has all been forgotten at this point.

Four can feel your hand come up and snake their way into his hair as well. He can feel the slight tug and follows the direction you give him to deepen the kiss as it is.

He has to pull back a little to take a breath. While he was aware that a kiss could be breathtaking, he didn’t think he would literally forget to breathe during said kiss.

“Link.” You’re just as breathless and Four finds himself tucking away the way your voice sounds for a future experiment. But for now- “Much better.”

He kisses you again because he still can, and pulls back to reach over for some of the food he brought. He refuses for it to go to waste. “Here. Try this. It’s your favorite cake. Or at least an attempt at your favorite cake.”

Your breath catches and he hears your voice squeak, but doesn’t comment on it. “You mAde all of this?!”

“Of course.” Four sends you his most charming smile, handing you the plate of cake anyway. “I gave it my best shot but don’t be afraid to tell me if you hate it.”

“...Link, I don’t think I can eat all of this.”

“Well, we’ll just have to do this again.”

[mikaelsonharem7]

Cheers to 25 🥂

NSFW

Warnings: choking, p in v, smut, spit

This is a gift to myself cause it’s my birthday today!! Also Happy Thanksgiving 🦃

“Come on, Lyric. It’s your 25th birthday; you have to do something.” My best friend said. Another year, and it’s another year of me not doing anything. I never did anything on my birthday. I just never felt in the spirit enough. But she was right; I am turning 25, and it’s a milestone birthday, so I let her convince me to go out.

 

“Fine. Where are we going?” I ask, finally giving in.

 

With a smirk on her face, she says, "Perfect! You were going anyway because I and Tay were going to kidnap you, but it’s a surprise, but just know you’ll love it.” Knowing her, I’m a little worried, not gonna lie, but YOLO. She then darts to my room and goes straight to my closet to pick out some clothes. The clothes here she’s picking out have me questioning the dress code because it was all mini dresses and I’m just like, this is definitely out of my comfort zone, but again I’m embracing the fun tonight. I then see her grab one of my duffel bags, and I stop her.

 

“Are we spending the night there?” I ask, growing more curious.

 

“It’s a day trip, but I’m just grabbing options.” She said with a smile.

 

After packing and picking up Tay, we finally take off on the road, and by the direction we’re going, I can tell we’re going towards Texas. I don’t know what I got myself into, but there’s something telling me that it’s going to be a very good night. After a 3-hour drive, we end up in Dallas, Texas, and we pull up into a nice hotel. Getting out and walking in the hotel is gorgeous, very modern looking, and clean. As we get to the check-in and we get our keys, I see that the key has a P on it and that normally it is for the penthouse. As we make our way to the penthouse suite, my heart is filled with joy and love that my best friend would do this for me on my birthday.

 

Turning to the both of them, I have tears in my eyes, and my best friend says,

 

“Don’t start. You deserve this, plus it’s your 25th; of course you know we gotta go big!!”

 

After getting settled and unpacked, we finally start to get ready. As I come out of the bathroom, I see Tay and my best friend laying out some options. They know that I’m not the type to show off my body because I am self-conscious. Yes, I bought them, but I never had the courage to wear them out, but I was really liking what they picked. After trying on some choices, I finally settled on a minidress, and I put a long-sleeve white bodysuit underneath. I also paired it with some cute tights and some platform pumps. It was out of my comfort zone, but I couldn’t lie; my body looked so good. The dress hugged my curves just right!

 

Once we were all dressed and cute, we headed down to the UBER and headed to the destination. As we pull up, I see that we are at a club, and it looks nice!!! After we make our way inside and head to our table, we sit down, and I scan the room and just take it all in. This is really not my scene, but I’m determined to make a night out of it. Ordering drinks, I order a blueberry pineapple mojito, and it was delicious. The club also had some finger foods, so we ordered some to share. Sitting down my finished drink, another one is placed in front of me, and I look at it confused. I didn’t order anything, so where did this come from? I lean over to ask my friends if they did, and they said no. Not taking a mystery drink, I take it back to the bar, and when I go to try and return it, the bartender directs my eyes to a section of the club. When I turn to see, my eyes widen. There in all his glory is Randy Orton.

 

Dressed in all black with a single gold Cuban around his neck, he looks so damn good. Turning my attention back to the bartender, I ask if she could remake the drink so that I had eyes on it. Understanding my point, she smiles and instantly remakes my drink. Wanting to test the waters, I stay at the bar and wait till he makes his next move. After a few minutes I feel a hand slide on the small of my back, and the most heavily scented perfume invades my presence. God, he looks and SMELLS so good.

 

“So you just take my drink without saying thank you?” I suddenly hear next to me.

 

Turning my head, I look at none other than the Viper himself. Seeing him in person is so much more satisfying than seeing him on TV. His blue eyes still noticeable in this dark club.

 

Wanting to play along, I say, “Well, it got you over here right. So I say my plan is working so far.” I have a slight smirk on my face as I take another sip.

Chuckling, Randy leans on the bar and looks at me.

“I noticed you and your friends when y'all walked in here, and I just wanted to get to know you. What brings y'all here? Are you from here?” Randy asks.

 

“Well…no, we’re from Louisiana, and it’s my 25th birthday today, so they dragged me out to celebrate.” I replied.

 

“Oh well, happy birthday! Is this the only thing you have planned tonight?” He asks

 

“So far, yes. This isn’t my scene, but my friends planned this, so I'm going to make the best of it. I don’t really celebrate my birthday, but I’m changing that.

 

"I will be honest; this isn’t my scene either. So I know this is forward, but would you like to come back to my hotel just to talk?" Randy invites as he looks me in the eyes. His eyes drop to my lips for a split second. 

 

Thinking to myself, I just say, “Why not?” Let me tell my best friend that I’m leaving.“

 

Walking over to my friend's table, I let them know that I’m leaving, and they asked with who. I show his picture and explain who he was, of course, save it, and say, Keep your location on if you need us.

 

Walking back to the bar, I let him know that we’re good to go, and we go out the back to his car and head back to his hotel. Once we get to the hotel, we will go up to where he is staying, of course, at the penthouse, and it is gorgeous. The floor-to-ceiling windows let you see the city below.

 

“So I take it that WWE pays very well, 'cause holy shit,” I turn to him after taking it all in.

Laughing, he replies, “I say they pay pretty well.”

“Can I get you something to drink? Water?”

 

I say yes, and he hands me a glass. I keep looking around, and I guess to please my curiosity, he offers to give me a tour. I, of course, say yes, and he walks me around the living room and shows me the balcony that wraps around the downstairs. He shows me to the gym that he has in suite, and of course, we end off with a mortgage look-around of the kitchen. To the stairs to check out the second floor. We make our way down this long highway, and he opens the door to this beautiful bedroom. The master was dark in color and cozy with a balcony overlooking the city.

 

Walking out to the balcony, you stare out at the city, and you sigh. Randy walks next to you, and you see that he has two champagne glasses. Smiling and taking the glass, you thank him.

 

“I want to make a toast to your 25th, and hopefully your birthday has been good so far, and I hope to make it better.” As we clink our glasses. We walk back inside and sit on the couch in the room. You both begin conversation back and forth. Mostly you, as you tell him you’re a fan. You ask him to try to get him to spill if he’ll turn on Cody, but he wasn’t budging. After a few more glasses of champagne, you both put your glasses down, and Randy just stares at you. Being bold, you ask what he meant by “hoping to make your birthday better.” Not saying anything, he reaches over and pulls you onto him. Your dress rising up as now you’re straddling his hips. You feel his hands cup your ass as he leans forward to kiss you. Letting out a moan when he squeezes your ass and you let out a gasp when he sends a slap to your right cheek.

 

Be suddenly picks you up and carries you to the bed. Laying you down, he kisses down your neck. Nipping here and there, making you yelp. He kisses down your chest, pulling the straps from your dress and pulling down the tights you were wearing. Leaving you in only the white bodysuit, Randy slithers in between your legs, kissing and nipping at your thighs, leaving tiny hickies in his wake. Getting to your center, he pulls on the snaps holding the bodysuit together, making them come undone. Looking up at you, he licks his lips and slowly takes a long lick. Eyes rolling back, and he continues. Licking. Sucking. Pulling. Your mind was running wild with pleasure as your body shook in his mouth. Trying to catch your breath, Randy doesn’t stop, and he adds a thick finger and then two. He curves his fingers, hitting that special spot, and you come undone once again, trapping his head between your thick thighs.

 

Coming up for air he kisses up your body, taking off your bodysuit in the process. Palming your plump breast, he takes a nipple in his mouth as a fingers toys with the other. Your hands continue to his shirt to pull it off, tossing it to the side, and you bring your hands down his chest, slightly scratching in the process. Your hands continued as you tried to get his pants off. Once they were off, you took his big cock in your hands, slowly stroking it, feeling him get harder. You surprise him by changing your positions, and now you’re on top. Kissing down his chest, you get to his hard cock. He had to be 6 inches, and he was thick. Making sure his eyes were on you, you stuck your tongue out and licked a line, and as you got to the tip, you wrapped your lips around the head and sucked. Hearing his moans sent shocks to your pussy, causing you to get wetter. Randy’s hand finds your head and slowly moves it down further till he reaches the back of your throat. Slightly gagging, you pull away, catching your breath before Randy does it again. Him hearing you gag on him only makes him harder. Pulling you from his cock, a trail of spit followed as it dropped to your tits.

 

“You look so good when you choke on my dick,” he growls.

 

Pulling you closer, he kisses you, making you moan in his mouth. He turns and lays you on your back as he settles in between your thighs. Grabbing his cock, he rubs it up and down your slit, teasing your clit. Your wetness coating his tip. He gently begins to slide in, going slowly as he stretches you. Pulling out and pushing in again, you feel your pussy tighten and release around him, and he makes a grunting sound. Leaning down, he captures your lips as he mumbles,

 

“You’re squeezing me, baby. You're going to make me cum before I can fulfill my promise.”

 

Your eyes close as you relax a bit, and Randy begins to stroke faster and harder. Moans and wet skin are the only sounds to be heard in the room. Randy’s hand finds your neck, giving it a tight squeeze. The pressure isn’t one of pain but one of pleasure, the lack of blood flow aiding in the pleasure.

 

“FFFF-FFUUCKKKK! Right there, right there. Please.” You beg as he keeps hitting that spot that made you see stars. Your body was shaking; sweat coated both of your skin. Spreading your legs wider, Randy begins to go faster and harder while he also begins to play with your clit. The combination of both sensations causes you to cum, and you squirt as he continues to fuck you.

 

“Good girl, that’s a good girl. Keep cumming for me.” Randy says as he feels your pussy continue to squeeze him. Feeling your pussy squeeze him triggers his own release, and he cums, filling you till both your juices are dripping out of you. Catching a much-needed breath, Randy slowly pulls out and collapses next to you. Pulling you closer, he wraps his arms around you, and after a while, you both fall asleep.

 

Sunlight shines on your face, waking you up from the best sleep you’ve ever had. Looking around, you forget where you are until the memories of last night begin to flood in. Jumping up, you begin to get dressed. Once dressed, you are about to walk out when you see a note on the nightstand. Flipping it open, you read:

 

Sorry I’m not there. We have a show tonight, and I had rehearsals. I'm not sure when you’re leaving, but I’d love to see you at the show tonight, so here are tickets. If you plan on coming, just text me at xxx-xxx-xxxx.

-Randy

Reading the note again, you think about it and decide that you’re going to go and have fun.

And you were right. The show was great, and you even got to hang out with Randy before you told him you had to head back home. Reluctantly saying goodbye, he gives you one last lingering kiss that makes your knees weak. Before he lets you go, he says,

 

“You have my number now, so I’d like it if we kept in touch.”

 

Not able to form a sentence, you slowly nod and turn to leave before a repeat of last night happens in the locker room. As you and your friends get back on the road, they ask if you had a good birthday, and once again flashbacks hit you, and you begin to smile.

 

“Oh, she SMILING smiling; she got some dick!” Tay screams.

 

Shaking your head, you just look down at the note you kept with Randy’s number and say, “I don’t know what y’all are talking about.” A smirk playing on your lips. What a great way to start year 25.

[gay-dorito-dust]

I heard you are looking for Barbie prompts👀👀

1. Ken learning to kiss (he's never done it before lol)

2. FtM reader struggling, Ken helps him realize he's just as much of a man as anyone else

3. Ken asking for advice on winning over Barbie, only to fall for reader

4. Ken revealing his struggle with toxic masculinity and his shame

God so many amazing prompts, I wish I could write them all but I don’t wanna bore anyone with how long of a fic that would be. So if anyone wants me to do the other prompts (1, 2, or 4) plz let me know.

Prompt 3: Ken asks for advice on how to win over Barbie, only to fall for reader in the process.

You cringed as another one of Ken’s failed attempts of impressing stereotypical Barbie. You had to applaud your friends’ tenacity because had it been you, you would’ve just given up in the moments where Ken had done nothing but persist in his pursuit of the beautiful blonde. You honestly didn’t a clue in whether or not it’ll do Ken any good in telling him that he would be better off in giving up, or it’ll just further persuade him into trying even harder in his efforts in a desperate form of hope that one day she’ll see him. Like actually see him.

Whatever the outcome, you knew that not matter what was being said by anyone, Ken was one to never know in when it’s okay to quit. His supposed advancements weren’t advancing anything in regards to his and Barrie’s relationship; they were still on square one in your humble opinion, as it was quite blatantly obvious that Ken needed Barbie like she was the oxygen he breaths but Barbie didn’t need Ken, she could very well breath happily without him.

Quickly seeing how you and Ken were the only ones left upon the peachy pink beach, you sighed as you made your way next to your blonde friend -who was very much in the literal sense lying face down within the sand- before sitting yourself down next to him with your knees propped up so that your arms may rest atop of them, followed softly after by your head feasting atop of your arms as you stared out beyond the horizon.

‘Well, that certainly went off without a hitch, didn’t it blondie.’ You said rhetorically whilst Ken groaned as he removed himself from the sand before practically slumping himself against your side.

‘First of all, my names Ken, not blondie, and secondly what is it that I’m doing wrong?’ Ken said, ‘I’d thought that she would totally be girlfriend/boyfriend with me by now but it seems that no matter how many times I’ve tried to make her see the man behind the tan, the more she doesn’t want me…what do I have to change about me to get her to admit that she likes me?’ He adds solemnly before looking over at you with a look of sheer desperation and hopelessness. ‘Tell me what it is that I have to change about myself in order to make Barbie see me.’ He asked of you, making you look his way as he grabbed your hands in his, almost like he was pleading to you to hear him. ‘Tell me what to change and I’ll do it, tell me what will make her see me as more Ken the boyfriend then Ken the friend.’

You stayed silent for awhile as you made the conscious choice to stare into his beautiful cerulean blue eyes that looked almost midnight blue with how they perfectly mimicked the starry sky above, or how they perfectly encapsulated the deepest depths of the very ocean he often -though not that often as he liked to claim- surfed. It was without saying that the Ken before you, your best friend Ken, was probably the most beautiful Ken you’ve ever come across, and while it’s not uncommon for friends to hype up the others beauty; there was obviously lines in the sand in regards to how far one can speak so highly of another’s appearance without it having somewhat romantic implications.

Upon realising how long you had been inside your own head, whilst externally just staring at him like a weirdo, you began to talk. ‘Here’s one thing you can stop doing and that’s going to extreme lengths to impress her.’ You told him, watching as his face slightly drop before feeling a panic consume you into continuing soliciting your advice, ‘I’m not saying you should cut it out all together but maybe tone it down a little, nobody here wants you to end up badly hurt yourself one day. Besides I think it’d be best if you just let her see the so called ‘man behind the tan.’ You added on as you pulled one hand of yours away from Ken’s hold in order to press it against his chest; more specifically where his heart lies. ‘Show Barbie the Ken that I know and love, the Ken who isn’t above helping others, the Ken who loves horses despite never having ridden one, the Ken who loves the beach, the Ken who loves his friends and will go above and beyond for them.’

You paused before trailing your hand upward so that it was now resting behind his neck, your thumb running across his skin in soothing patterns as you smiled at him, causing Ken to take a sharp inhale of breath. ‘You don’t have to change Ken, I don’t want my best friend to change for someone who won’t realise how lucky she is to have you in her life Ken.’ You utter softly before adding, ‘because I am and I prefer you the way you are right now, but I’m not the one your perusing and therefore I have no say in who you change for, just hope that you never do.’ You hauled yourself onto your feet before making your way off of the beach and back to your home, leaving Ken to stare after you in wonder and in awe.

‘Have I? Have I been going after the wrong person?’ Ken asked himself as thoughts of Barbie quickly became thoughts of you instead and the feeling that usually blossoms within him for Barbie, seemed to have only blossomed more then ever in regards of when it came to you. Naturally Ken was conflicted about the sudden change, wasn’t he suppose to be with Barbie? Then why did the notion of being your boyfriend felt more natural, more likeable then being Barbie’s boyfriend? He couldn’t understand how after perusing Barbie for as long as he has, his heart and mind have seemingly made peace with the fact that she wasn’t even at all interested in him, just as they were immediate in their change of trajectory and instead decided to set their sights on you after this particular night on the beach, and engaging within a conversation that relied on him to being open and honest about his feelings.

Ken just couldn’t understand why he felt so breathless when you smiled at him not too long ago, it felt as though you knocked the wind clear out of his lungs and he was still struggling on getting it back the more his mind stayed stuck on that particular moment. Ken was afraid to admit that he had fallen for someone new, but a small part of him was telling him that he had fallen for you way before the events that lead up to tonight’s conversation, telling him that it was no longer Barbie he was trying to impress but you.

[arichaa]

Taking care of Akaza's wounds

Hi! This is my first oneshot... I just hope you'll like it ♡ So it talks about Akaza being injured and we take care of his wounds yeah? Alright good good hahahahahahahhhahahahahahha

Precisions: Female human reader; Akaza's personality is like... shy, maybe a little bit tsundere? And too proud to show weakness; the infinity castle dynamic isn't like the one in the anime, but it's more like a big big house where they all live together or smth; Demons can be injured and don't have any regenerations abilites.

Nobody knows why Muzan needed a human in the Infinity Castle. Y/N might be important for his plans. She seems to know that she has no choice and is conscious of her duty in all this. A duty no one else needed to know. Muzan commanded the Upper Moon 3, Akaza, to protect her at all cost. To be her "bodyguard" when she needed to go outside the Castle, for instance.

Y/N is always kind and respectful with the Uppers Moons. She doesn't know them personally and some of them scare her, so she decided to interact with them only when needed. She knows what demons are capable of, although she tries to comfort herself into thinking that they would never disobey their master by hurting her. Or worse.

What doesn't help is that she's absolutely beautiful. Irresistible. So elegant. Pretty inside and outside. The fact that she blushes and loses her grip when someone compliments her accentuates her beauty. The Upper Moon 2 just has no shame in making her uncomfortable using this weakness, but it's just to tease her, according to him.

When it comes to Upper Moon 3, he doesn't care about her link with Muzan or what she is here for. Because why would he? Muzan didn't thought it was necessary to inform them about anything. No. What he cares about is her as a person. He gives his all. He gives his all to not embrace her tightly when she's worried. He gives his all to not absolutely destroy this colored eyed idiot's face everytime he pronouces a syllable directed at her. His all to have a non emotional discussion everytime he talks with her. He tried everything. Nothing worked. Maybe it's because Y/N stayed here for too long... no... just one month? He has never been like this, in his demon life and human life. He knows it's wrong, so he keeps giving his all desesperately. -----------------------------------------

Upper Moon 3 has been training with his colleague, Upper Moon 1, Kokushibo. He doesn't shows any mercy in his trainings, but that's a sign he appreciates him and wants him to get stronger. Akaza would rather die than ask him to be less harsh with him. He keeps collecting bruises and other injuries, but he doesn't talks about them because he just doesn't want to bring attention to him and show any signs of weakness.

Y/N is cleaning the kitchen. She doesn't have anything to do so why not? She hums, rearranges a little. Akaza happens to walks into her. There she is. Not that he looked for her. And if he was, it would only be to assure her protection. Nothing else. Come on. He knows he can't convince himself into thinking that. She didn't noticed him yet, tiptoeing to reach a bowl on the shelf. She looks adorable as always. He swallows, then clears his throat to annouce his presence. She looks behind her shoulder.

Y/N: Ah... Akaza dono, good evening.

Akaza: Good evening, Y/N.

Y/N: How was your day?

Akaza: Not bad, thank you.

Y/N: Good then...

They just look at each other, not knowing what else to say. Maybe he should leave now. It's just a greeting. The more Y/N looks at Akaza, the more she turns around completely to face him.

Y/N: Akaza dono.

What? What does she want? She swallows again, apprehending.

Akaza: Yes, Y/N?

The way she looks at him, it doesn't look good for him. She approaches him, looks at his chest. His wounded body. Then she looks back at his eyes

Y/N: You look severly injured. Is it because of your trainings?

Akaza is taken aback. He doesn't know how to respond correctly.

Akaza: Ah... "Severly" is a big word don't you think?

She tucks her hair behind her ear. Trying to keep composure.

Y/N: I picked this word because that's the only accurate one. *sighs* Don't you think you should... take breaks sometimes? Or, at least treat your wounds?

She knows these kinds of words might upset demons, so she tries to keep a calm voice to balance. He is the last person she wants to upset. Akaza doesn't know what to think. She is the last person he wanted to attract pity from. Yet he likes that she is worried about him.

Akaza: My... wounds don't need to be treated. And I don't have time to rest.

Y/N bites her lip, thinks for a second and takes his hand before walking towards her room. Akaza is absolutely flabbergasted. Of course it wasn't the first time they had physical contact. It would happen when he had to carry her around or when she tripped. But this time, it is initiated by her. He can do nothing but follow her. His neurones are all focused on her soft, small hand. They arrive in front of her door and Akaza regains composure.

Akaza: Y/N... What is this?

She looks at him, flustered

Y/N: I... Please... Let me take care of your wounds. I know you will never do it.

Take care of his wounds. That's what she wants to do. But Akaza is the one supposed to protect her. He doesn't want to be a burden to anyone, especially to Y/N.

Akaza: I'm not letting you do that.

She opens the door and slowly pulls his hand to make him enter. It's crazy how he can't even make himself clear to a human. To a woman. No. To Y/N.

Y/N: With all respect... Please sit down. I hope to see you in my room when I'll come back.

She leaves the room and runs to another. While Akaza, still standing, puts his hand on his hips, sighing from embarassement. He wonders how he managed to get himself in this situation. He just goes to sit on her bed, waiting for Y/N to come back. When she does, Akaza sees in her hands an aid kit, with everything needed for a healing session. She closed the door then goes sit next to him, at his right.

Y/N: Hearing you refusing my hand, I thought you would leave unnoticed.

She plans to do this step by step, his right arm first. She takes his hand again, his palm showing. Y/N just stares at his limb. Bruises and cuts everywhere. She wouldn't have survived if she had all these injuries. Or maybe she worried too much. After all, Akaza is strong, well build... Those muscles... She swallows then focuses on her mission.

Akaza: I appreciate your concern, but I really don't need all this.

Y/N: Cuts are open doors for infections. It can end badly, Akaza dono.

He sighs. That's too much for him. He already loved her to death. She didn't need to do this. Y/N looks at his arms, while he looks at her. Her focused expression makes his heart beat like drums. They're so close he can hear her breathing. That little mouth makes him imagine situations. It's the same thing on Y/N's side. She tries to keep a regular breathing. While she puts cottons on his cuts, she also tries to caress his skin for her own pleasure. Maybe it's inappropriate. But as long as he doesn't notice.

Of course he did. He hopes with all his soul she doesn't look at him to see a blushing Upper Moon. Y/N goes towards the shoulder to try and heal his wounds. Just the perfect height to hold her close. Her close presence distracts him from the stinging of the alcohol. They have been silent for a while now. They both know they should say something.

Y/N: If there's any intern injuries, I'm afraid I won't be able to help.

Akaza: There isn't. And you're doing enough, thank you for this.

She now treats his chest, full of deep cuts. That chest of his she always had to look away from. She touches him with her fingertips, evaluationg the seriousness of each bruise. While Akaza seats here, not moving. If he does nothing, he can't do something bad. He stiffens everytime she touches him.

The neck is the next step. While Y/N does her magic, she glances sometimes at his face, admiring his features. His cheeks so kissable. His little nose she wants to rub hers against. His eyes reminding her of a sunny day. She finds it ironic because Akaza can't go out in the sun. That mouth makes her lose her mind. And his hair urging her to caress it. Akaza looks back at her. Her heart does backflips.

Y/N: Ah! I was just... uh... checking if there's any wounds on your face. Yeah...

Akaza: I didn't say anything.

Y/N: Haha, indeed...

Well that's embarassing. She ends her awkward laugh with a sad smile. Akaza can be cold, but never mean, especially to Y/N. She knows it. And the Upper 3 just tried to not let himself do something he might regret by avoiding eye contact. But her stare was too long to avoid it indefinitely. And why did he have to say that? Out of all the other things he could've answered with... Akaza becomes more self conscious and tries to control his gestures and strength. He doesn't want to scare or hurt her.

Now they exchange words about the other moons, his injuries and other small talks. That makes them feel more comfortable. Y/N even starts to hum. She's almost done with the last body part she needs to treat, his left arm. She put bandages on each cuts. After finishing his hand, she brings it to her lips, closes her eyes and kisses it... kisses it?

Her brain is still trying to process what she just did. After all, that cutie used to take care of her nieces and other children's bruises and kept the reflex of the kiss on the little boo-boo. Heck she even made that "mwah" sound... She stayed on automatic mode for too long. What is she supposed to do now? Pretend it didn't happen? Apologize? Leave the room? She just keep looking at his hand and swallows. She is anxious about what would happen if she makes eye contact.

Akaza's brain is in the same state as hers. He can't even breathe anymore. She did it first. He can't do this anymore.

Y/N: ...Wait... let me explain, it's a ref...

The demon gently holds Y/N's hand, guides it towards his mouth and puts his lips on her fingers while closing his eyes. She didn't miss a second of that. Their movement are now only fueled with want. She looks so moved by his gesture. Y/N comes closer and caresses his cheek. He leans in her touch, pressing her hand with his.

Y/N: Akaza dono... I...

Akaza: Shhh... no need for words...

Akaza takes her in his arms, holding her tight. Her eyes are wide open as he shoves his face in her neck. She gently pushes him to make him lie on the bed so she can cuddle with him, her head against his chest. She tighens her hug by embracing his waist. And of course he lets her do whatever she wants with him. They both dreamed about it. They don't care about consequences now.

Akaza: Y/N... I know I shouldn't but... I'm in love with you. From day one. This moment between us, it was the last straw.

Y/N: I see... *chuckles* I love you too, Akaza dono...

Akaza leans in for a kiss. He slowly catches her lower lip between his, as she wraps her arms around his neck, and his around her waist. As sweet as he imagined. She intensifies the kiss by caressing his hair. She keeps kissing his cheeks, lips and nose while he blushes and smiles. He would've never thought she was the kind to show that much affection and he loves it. Y/N kisses him one last time on the chest and closes her eyes to feel his embrace.

Y/N: *whispers* I know your containing your strength. Don't hold back and hug me really tight. I need to feel you.

She didn't need to say more. He makes himself more comfortable and holds her for all the times he couldn't while putting his cheek on her head.

Akaza: *whispers* You can call me Akaza from now on.

[simonsrosebud]

hi, i just wanted to say how much i love your next gen socmed au!

could you give us more information on amalia day and how her relationships are(with her parents, stepfathers, significant others)

yes!! i love her sm

Amalia & Kevin

Despite the stern, impolite, and brash Kevin that we see in aftg, the Kevin that raises Amalia is almost a complete opposite

Kevin and Thea have split custody of Amalia, but Kevin has her a lot more often. She grows up in Kevin’s shadow, but he is very protective of her when it comes to his fame because he decided before she was even born that he did not want the same kind of childhood for her.

Amalia has Kevin’s determined and focused expression, the one that often mimics Wymack’s on the sidelines.

She also has Kevin’s resting bitch face, which Andrew is the one to point it out to Kevin, it leaves him speecsshless.

Amalia is a daddy’s girl and it’s always “daddy do it!” when him and Thea were still together.

Kevin carried her until shded literally got too big to carry, she’s his little girl and he surely treats her like the little princess she is.

Stern with her when need be because someone has to.

Ultimate sports dad. Goes to every single game of hers and cheers her on like all the other dads. Wymack, Jean and Jeremy relegate him to being a normal person about her playing exy instead of being kevin days daughter. Jeremy bc he’s seen the damage it can do, Jean bc he never got a choice in his future and needs to ensure she does, and Wymack bc he’s his voice of reason.

Kevin is the one who she goes to to complain and hear what she wants to hear, because Kevin is smart with his words when it comes to her.

Kevin is the one who teaches her to drive- the only one she lets because Jeremy is not a good driver and Jean doesn’t have the patience.

He takes her to shop for prom dresses with Abby and Amalia’s school friend. He gets teary eyed once she disappears back inside to take off the winner. She looks so much like his mother it hurts.

When Amalia is truly heartbroken over her relationship with Thea (because she sees how Katelyn Minyard is with the twins, how her friends are with their moms) then she cuddles with Kevin, something she hasn’t done to this extent in a few years, and falls asleep in his bed.

Amalia has Kevin’s stubbornness and hard headedness, his determination and confidence.

Amalia & Jeremy

Jeremy is the one that Amalia goes to when she wants something because more often than not he will say yes (within reason of course)

Jeremy is also the one that Amalia goes to when she fucks up and is scared of the consequences because Jeremy is the most patient of the three and operates by calmly talking things out and discussing what will probably happen while also making it clear that she has to tell the others or he will.

He is the one that she curls into and cries to when Thea doesn’t text her until 7pm for her 17th birthday, and who she confides in when someone in 8th grade questions her about her 3 dads and she doesn’t know what to say.

Jeremy and her go to the movies often and it’s their thing. They love Marvel movies and House of the Dragon (shut up ab timelines) and spend like 20 minutes after movies and weekly episodes debating and theorizing what this meant or what will happen next or what movie could come next.

Amalia and Jeremy share the same humor that he, Cat and Laila always had. They’re both silly and lighthearted and laugh with their whole bodies, a mimicked thing from over the years.

Amalia has Jeremy’s gentle heartedness and easy joy.

Amalia & Jean

^But Jean’s honesty and ability to verbally rip someone to shreds.

Jean is the most conscious of not stepping on Kevin and Thea’s toes when he and Jeremy get reintroduced into Kevin and Amalia’s lives, so he and Amalia take longer to bond. He and Kevin have too much history for him not to care about her, he’d take her in without question for her safety after the world they’d grown up in. But he knows there are limits when there is an existing family involved in the relationship he, Jeremy, and Kevin endeavor on.

Jean speaks to Amalia solely in French until she’s like 7 because Kevin and Thea were raising her bilingual and it was hard for Kevin to teach both when he had custody of her most of the time. Even after, French becomes their main mode of communication.

Jean teaches her to cook the same way that Cat once taught him. Coming becomes their thing.

Jean buys her pads and tampons when she gets her first period a month after Thea gets transferred three states over. It’s mortifying for her but Jean has zero shame and shows her how to use a tampon against her will.

Jean is the one Amalia goes to to complain and get a brutally honest answer or advice or whatnot. She goes to him when she’s pissed off and wants to scream because he’s surprisingly good at settling her with just facts and not feelings.

Amalia & Thea

Thea was heavily focused on her Exy career even after she had Amalia, but always made the time for her.

She and Amalia always had a special bond, but by the time Amalia is 9 that has greatly lessened. I don’t want to paint Thea as a bad guy bc it’s rlly not ab her as much as me simply wanting kerejean lol.

Amalia gets Thea’s skin tone, lighter but still not white. She teaches Amalia about her indian heritage and teaches her to love herself because she knows it’s not easy being a woman of color even if Amalia passes as a tan white girl with bright green eyes. Amalia learns to stick up for herself and correct people when they mis-label her as white.

She gets Thea and Kevin’s athleticism and height and ends up being 5’11.

Thea gets transferred to another team when Amalia is 12, and Kevin and Thea don’t go to court for custody because Thea knows Amalia needs to stay where she is with her family and friends and support systems. Thea is very supportive of Jeremy and Jean being in Amalia’s life bc she knows how important they are to her and wouldn’t rip her from that.

But her calls become less frequent over the years and although she visits when she can, Amalia doesn’t feel like she knows her as much as she should. Junior year of high school when Thea is a sports announcer or smth after retiring, she’s only able to get one weekend off not two in a row, and instead of using it for Amalia’s prom she uses it for her Exy tournament the weekend after. This crushes Amalia.

Amalia gets very jealous of other mother daughter bonds and Abby fills in as a mother figure while Thea is gone. Kevin, Jeremy, and Jean pick up on this easily and fill in where they can.

Amalia loves her mother, but she hates that she left. She hates that she didn’t visit, that her calls had spaced so far apart, that she wasn’t there 24/7 like she was supposed to be. She had 3 fathers that she loved, but nothing would compare to the way she remembered her mother brushing or braiding her hair and telling her stories when she was little.

Significant other?

I don’t have anyone planned out for her rn bc in the AU she’s freshly 17, but I think she befriends a kid from her high school exy team, a boy striker a year below her. He lives with his aunt and uncle because his mother died and his father is in prison, and Amalia often times finds him in the gym practicing alone because it’s so quiet at home, and his aunt and uncle are lovely but it’s just jarring to get used to, not having parents.

Amalia is a dealer, so she invites him to practice with her on the weekend when “my dads are free. we have scrimmages sometimes.”

And he agrees but hesitantly. He knows who Amalia’s parents are, and he knows he’s no match for them. But she’s delighted when he’s actually waiting there when she walks into the gym that weekend with Kevin and Jeremy in tow. Bc he’s dorky and kinda quiet which rivals her family, so she wasn’t expecting him to actually show.

The kid does pretty well, but unsurprisingly gets lots of criticism from Kevin. He doesn't waste time with the switch from how he played to how Kevin is telling him to play instead. He’s the pro after all.

Then it becomes a habit, practicing with Amalia with or without her family, and eventually he impresses their coach enough to let him start a game.

Then they start hanging out more often.

He gets more playing time, which Amalia likes, because he's a reliable player and quick to call for help. Morgan’s other seniors don't do that and it infuriates her because then it's her fault for not dropping her mark and helping out.

And then he starts getting invited over for lunch after going to the court on the weekends. He gets along with Jeremy and finally meets Jean who grips his hand hard when he shakes it and says something to Amalia in french just to make him sweat bc this is the kid that's been making her smile at her phone so often?

Kevin doesn’t know when things go from friendly to more than that, but jean is the first to notice. He brings it up to Kevin and Jeremy first bc did they even establish rules on dating?! But then Jeremy sees Amalia run out to the lawn and jump into his arms and nearly take him down on the ring camera and- did she just kiss him?! Before getting into his car?! Did no one else see that?!

“You’re freaking out”

“Yeah, within reason though, right? She’s dating!”

“Kev, not to alarm you, but there's also a good chance she's kissed a boy by now, too. She’s seventeen.”

[hobbitwrangler]

Apologies if this seems random, but I was re-reading parts of the When the Sun Rises and thinking about Théoden the widower being into Finduilas, who is (at least at this moment in time) a sort of reserved person who carries a tinge of sadness with her. And then that got me thinking about  Elfhild as you wrote her in The Face of Spring, where she just sparkles with ebullience and joy. And I know those aren’t the same two universes (I mean, one is modern and the other is canon-compliant!), but it made me wonder if the Modern AU Théoden’s Elfhild was *also* a bubbly, happy person when she was alive and, if so, what that might say about his attraction to Finduilas now. You may not have gotten into that in your thoughts, so I understand if this isn’t a question you’ve got an answer for — feel free to ignore it!  But I thought I’d ask just in case!

This was such a lovely ask to receive, I’m so so flattered that you’ve been rereading When the sun rises! <3 Putting the answer under a read-more because, as the 38k Théoduilas google doc will attest, keeping it brief is not one of my skills.

Okay, so Elfhild in this AU was absolutely just as much of a bubbly, happy person as she is in The Face of Spring. I do think Théoden's attraction to Finduilas partly stems from the fact that she isn’t like Elfhild. I think he would find it strange to be in a relationship with someone too similar to her. He'd feel like he was doing a disservice to both her and the other woman and it would feel like artificially filling the role she played in his life, a role which in many ways doesn’t exist anymore since he has intentionally made an effort to rebuild himself and his life with Théodred rather than wallowing in grief (although he did do that for a while at the start).

When Théoden was young, Elfhild was perfect for him. She had energy and verve and life and for Théoden, after living in the tension of his family house and looking forward to a good life ahead of him, she was perfect. For Théoden as he is now, what he finds attractive is a sense of calm but also inner strength and vitality that is both necessary for life and what makes life enjoyable. It's this vitality that Finduilas is desperately trying to find/cling onto and her insistence on doing so is no small element of his attraction to her.

Also, Théoden himself has changed somewhat. It would be wrong to call him reserved or gloomy but when your wife dies and you have to take care of your son on your own and then your parents die and then one of your sister’s relationship falls apart and the other sister almost gets a divorce and then your favourite sister falls ill and you have to look after her kids on top of your own, it does tend to mean that there’s a lot going on and not a lot of time/energy for being the life of the party. Or even going to the party in the first place. Both he and Finduilas are much more burdened than they were when they were younger and first married and what they’re both working on is carving out as meaningful and happy a life as they can even with everything that’s going on. (Actually pretty much every single character in the main Théoden/Finduilas WIP is trying to do this, with varying degrees of success. Except Ivriniel. Ivriniel is doing great.)

But one of the things that my versions of Finduilas and Elfhild do have in common is that they both feel things very deeply. The difference is in how willing they are to express those feelings openly. Elfhild was, of course, an open book who, as she grows older, makes it a conscious choice to remain very transparent (which was sometimes a bit difficult for Théoden, who grew up in a family environment where that was very much not the case). Meanwhile Finduilas keeps her emotions under wraps a lot of the time, due to not wanting to worry her children/siblings or not wanting to pick fights with Denethor (although her patience does tend to wear thin during arguments about the kids), and she’s also absorbed lots of similar lessons to Théoden about not letting down the family image. Right from the start, Théoden has this impression that Finduilas is holding a lot of things back and presenting a very tamped down version of herself (she is) which, while it is still very presentable and ‘attractive’ in the general sense, is not truly representative of herself. And this version of herself, which Finduilas thinks is dead (holds back a massive five paragraph long rant about other people’s perceptions of Finduilas and Finduilas’ perception of herself) and Théoden only sees very brief, blurry glimpses of, is what Théoden is interested in reaching from the get-go. 

So yes, Elfhild and Finduilas are very different. Even on a good day, when she’s more up for conversation and socialising, Finduilas would tend to be quieter and more measured than Elfhild. But they both have a very strong, very lively force in them, which in Elfhild’s case was very much to the fore and in Finduilas’ case is in the process of slowly imposing itself again when she first meets Théoden. All this to say that both Elfhild and Finduilas have deep waters with strong currents (I am deep in the Dol Amroth sauce, can you tell?) but they are not the same kinds of water, by any stretch. I feel like if Théoden had to explain it, Elfhild would be like the sun shining brightly over the plains and Finduilas is like the moon over the sea at night. They’re very different environments but faced with either of them you are not going to just turn around and walk back into the house: you’re going to go investigate and find out what there is to see and do. (What Théoden takes a while to work out is that this does not mean that Finduilas isn’t, in her natural state, a bit feral, she’s just calmly, reservedly feral. Which works for him.)

What I do find quite funny in writing this fic is that Théoden has a very fixed idea of what type of relationship he has/would have with a significant other and what type of woman he finds attractive, and it is all securely anchored in his relationship with Elfhild. Which is why every now and again Finduilas will do something like coldly read Denethor the riot act or wear a suit and he’ll just be stood there like: well. Didn’t know that about myself. Filing that away to contemplate later.

So yes, there is my long, rambling answer. I hope you found it helpful and thank you so much for thinking of these three, I do love them dearly!

[vigilskeep]

Hii <3 I was the bethy anon ! Don't wanna spam too much , but i do tend to ramble when it comes to my favorite birdie tbh ... Oh but i was wondering what do you think her "canon" (canon in quotes bc always picture both twins living) choices after being made Inquisitor would look like ?? I know she believes in the maker , but would she believe she's truly Andraste's chosen ?? oooo other biggie i always think about is her top contenders for romantic interests !! I'd love to see her interactions with Sera, omg or Krem ?!

Thanks again for your time :) Hope you're havin a lovely day ! !

my stance towards bethany believing she’s andraste’s chosen is less would she and more how could i push her to that point, because i think a little religious delusion can really only improve her whole vibe. i don’t think she would necessarily jump right to claiming it—far too self-conscious, for one thing—but i don’t think it would be that hard to make her believe it, either, because bethany loves a good Narrative, and believing her gifts are from the maker is really important to her. is getting one more power from him really so hard to believe?

i’m most familiar with circle mage bethany, who would free the mages. i think she would probably keep celene on the throne, and i wouldn’t be surprised if she exiled the wardens. what are the other choices in this game i can’t remember

i’d be rlly fascinated to see bethany and sera’s relationship but i don’t know if it would work romantically. they both try so hard to be what the other is desperately trying not to be and do not take well to people picking at their pretences. my first choices for bethy to romance someone would be josephine (bethany loves fairytale romance. and rich people), blackwall (in the instance she lets being called a lady go to her head), or, as a bit of a wild card, the iron bull (bethany does not trust the qunari but her curiosity always gets the better of her and honestly i just want to see what happens with these two in a room). i’m also up for bethany/leliana and bethany/morrigan but really we could be here all day

[alternative-morenita]

1.3 - The Cannery

EP. 3 - THE CANNERY contents: prologue | 1.1 | 1.1.5 | 1.2 | 1.3 | 1.4 |

Hyde and Vander are dragged through a dark building -- assumably abandoned. Vander opens his eye, coughing for air as he becomes conscious.

Immediately, he sees a lanky boy no older than Hyde limping after them. He looks to his right, watching the unconscious teen before following the hands that clutch at their bodies to see a burly man with an iron jaw. 

"It's a little crude, I'll admit," Silco speaks. "The base violence necessary for change. But we both know topside won't listen to anything else." 

Iron jaw slams Vander against the steel railing of the path beside Silco. "Even with your monsters, you won't win a war against Piltover," he grunts.

Silco looks over at him, "I don't have to. I just need to scare them. They won't dare set foot in the underground again." 

Behind them, the blond boy bends down as purple vomit escapes forcibly from his lips. "You'll get people killed. For what? Pride?" Vander bites.

"For respect," Silco answers as if it was to be obvious. "Opportunity. Everything they've denied us.' 

"You had my respect," Vander argues. "The Lanes' respect, but that... that was never enough for you."

Silco turns to him, "we shared a vision, Vander. A dream of freedom. Not just for the Lanes, but the whole of the underground, united as one. The Nation of Zaun."

A dreamy look takes over his scarred features. His eyes fall onto Vander, "do you remember what happened?"

His voice turns corse, "I trusted you. And you betrayed me." He looks away as his trauma comes to life before him. 

Flashes of his body sinking to forceful hold his friend had wrapped around his throat, smothering his smaller figure under the erratic waves of the ocean.

Vander winces, "what I did to you... I've never forgiven myself. You were my brother." 

"No, you still don't understand," Silco trembles with irritation. His finger gently caresses his scarred eye.

"Can you imagine what it's like? When your blood mixes with the filth and the river toxins eat through your nerves. Oh, I hated you for what you'd done. But as time passed, so did my hate. And I was left with an understanding." He slightly smiles. 

He continues, "the only way to defeat a superior enemy is to stop at nothing. To become what they fear."

He shakes his head, "I hated you, but you kept my respect; until you made peace with them. Played lapdog after everything we suffered."

"I had no choice," Vander states.

"Perhaps," Silco tilts his head before raising a bottle of shimmer in hand. "But now you do. Shimmer, we have the power. We can finally realize our dream, brother." 

"Look at what you've done," Vander softly argues. "Benzo. These kids," he pathetically gestures to Hyde's limp body on the ground. "In fighting topside, you'd sacrifice everything that we are. It's not the way. Can't you see that?"

He voice drops, "kill me if you have to, but please spare the Lanes."

Silco's eyebrows furrows, "you'd die for the cause, but won't fight for one?" Vander scoffs, "I'm just... not that man anymore." 

"I'll show you what you really are," Silco glares.

He gestures for the iron jaw man to drag the bodies into the green lit room that contained a chair. Forced to make changes, he orders for the large man to anchor the teen against the wall before latching Vander into the seat. 

Left alone, Hyde groans before opening her eyes. She squints, practically hissing at the bright light. Giving herself a moment, she opens them once more to meet Vander's gleaming ones.

"You alright, lass?" He whispers. She grunts, "as good as I can be."

He shakes his head, "don't do that. Benzo's... Benzo's gone, it's okay for you to feel something. Anything." 

"We're in a bigger situation, Vander," she scolds. "we can play therapy when we get out of here."

The sound of shuffled feet catches their attention. They turn to see Vi, Mylo, and Claggor standing in the doorway. Vander whispers, "Vi."

Her bottom lip trembles as she launches herself at him, arms wrapping around his shoulders. Mylo and Claggor tackle Hyde in a tight squeeze as well. "What are you doing here?" Hyde glances at the trio. 

Vi glances at the older girl, a determined glare replaces her distraught pout. "We're breakin' you out," she declares.

Hyde raises an impressed eyebrow, a soft shine reflecting in her eyes. Vi sends her a soft smile before turning around. "Mylo," she orders. 

"On it," the boy jumps to work. His nimble fingers go to hold Hyde's locks, but she stops him with a shrug.

"Help Vander," she nods. Hesitantly, he nods before sliding over to his father-figure. 

The man looks at the kids, "how... How did you get in here? There's guards everywhere."

Vi answers, studying the only escape route they had. "It was easy. We found an open window and..." she trails in thought.

"Shit," Hyde's eyes widen, her soiled hands grip at the chains. The electrum colored marks on her body glow, humming to life.

Vander shakes his head, "oh, God. You have to get out. Now." 

Silco's voice echoes amongst the quiet air. "Welcome."

The kids freeze in fear. Hyde's jaw tightens, her molars grinding against one another as she clasps the metal chains with vigor. The green-gold ropes of magic trickle through the links; slow, but efficient. 

Silco creeps from the shadows, mocking claps ringing through the air. "You have my congratulations," he patronizes. "But I'm afraid this will be a very short reunion."

Sevika and many other followers appear from behind the man. "Have you heard the rumor?" He rhetorically inquiries. "Vander, the coward, fled town with his children and they were never seen again."

Claggor breaks off a bit of Vander's binds while Vi hides behind the wall of the doorway, tightening the straps of the barman's castor iron gauntlets.

"Claggor, see if you can find another way out of here," the magenta haired girl orders. "Okay," the boy nods.

Vander shakes his head, watching Vi scrunch her face as she turns to stand off with the marching crowd. "You don't have to do this," he growls, panicking. 

Hyde scoffs, finally given the freedom to shift onto her knees. "It's a little too late for that, Vander."

Iron jaw was the first to march down, knife in hand. Vi steps out of the room, hands up and knees shoulder with the part. 

"Come on," Hyde huffs. "Come on," she feels the chains loosen gradually, slipping from around her like some snake. 

Iron jaw goes to thrust his blade for Vi's chest, but she subconsciously blocks it with her hand-- having forgotten that she now equipped metal garments for fists.

Eyebrows raised in surprise, she takes the moment to uppercut the man on the jaw with her raw strength. Her weight shifts onto the tips of her toes for a moment but she was quick to find her balance. 

With the first line of defense down, that left for the others to flock towards the teen like vultures. "Hyde," Vander trails, his chest heaving and eyes wide.

"Hyde..." She groans, "I'm trying."

He speaks again, "Hyde!" She shouts, "I said I'm trying old man!"

"For Janna's sake," Vander growls as Mylo's lockpick falls to the ground. "Hyde!"

With a roar, her once brown eyes take a hollow glow that reflecting the powerful hum of her marks. The chains fly off of her body and in their place were electrum ribbons that spark, flicking at the mold covered steel walls. 

With an arm wrapped around her neck from behind and a one eyed man swinging blindly in front of her, Vi grits her teeth and kicks her foot out. Using her weight, she pushes the man back before shuffling the thug behind against the railing, tossing him off the side. She goes to reset, waiting for the next punch when a vine whips around the one eyed man and yanks him off the platform. 

A green light appears over them causing her to turn and see Hyde charging towards her. The teen's eyes widen, mouth gaping. A woman plants a hand on her shoulder only for it to be snatched by Hyde's bigger one. Specs of mold begins to trail up her forearm, turning the pale skin blue. The woman screams, fighting to pull away from the mage before flipping over the railing blindly. 

A shirtless man kicks Vi back, slamming his mallet down. His descent stops, caught by an invisible force that carried green sparks. He looks up, eyes meeting a green light before Vi's gauntlet crashes into his face. A shrill scream catches their attention, horror replacing their once brave facade. 

"Deckard?" Hyde whispers.

The once blond boy had grown in height, pale scarred skin cracks and darkens as purple rivers of shimmer trail his body before globs of it repel from his mouth. 

"Vi, get back," Hyde advises, stepping forward. "No-" She goes to argue, slamming into an invisible wall.

She growls, slamming her fist against the force before it pushes against her, shooting her staggered frame back into the small room. "No!" She screams. 

Hyde watches Deckard's figure torque and click into place, disgustingly. "I guess you can say this is like old times, yeah?"

Rather than a human answer, the boy roars a shrill screech once again before charging for her. 

Flicking her left hand out, vines twist around his ankles and travel past his knees. He roars, thrusting both fists down in an arch but she jumps back. As his fists slam into the platform, it quakes underneath them for a moment. Hyde charges, using his enlarged hand as a boost and latches herself around his head. Her hands cup his face, thumbs pressing against his eyes when a cold shock freezes her spine. 

The molded cannery walls had transformed into a dark space. A pure white bridge of matter forms, leading her into a space filled with purple shredded strands that seemed to resemble the look of skin. In the middle, a body floats limp as the purple strands was its only means to stay in the sky. Stepping closer, her eyes widen as a gasp leaves her. 

"Deckard?" She goes to touch him, flinching at the sight of her now white ghostly hand. One of the strands lash ferociously, gripping at her wrist with a jolt. She winces, pulling against it in hopes it would let go. 

To no avail, she watches fearfully as the purple glow bleeds onto her hand. It's touch burning through her nerves, the pain sends tremors to her chest. Her head falls back, a guttural shriek escapes from her before her world turns white. 

On the outside, Vander and the kids watch as Hyde's body slackens and allows the shimmer created beast launch her just steps outside of the room. "Mylo, hurry," Vander orders, his voice dark. 

Vi stares down at Hyde, tears streaking her face as Deckard's body shifts and clicks once more. The shimmer rivers on his skin hardening as a part of his face deflates, his jaw twisting before his beast form recollects itself.

Enraged, he snatches her by the throat, pettily roaring in her face. The gut wrench sound of her neck shifting under the weight of his grip irks Vander as he lurches forward. 

"Silco! Let her go!" He pleads. "This is between you and me."

The man snarls, glaring at his old friend from across the factory. "You had your chance." 

A ribbon of magic shoots from her comatose form, swirling around the fist that held Hyde's neck. Involuntarily, Deckard's fingers crack as they bend backwards from her throat.

When she falls to the ground, the ribbon releases his hand before shooting into his chest, sending his form backwards. Her shield gone, Vi runs for Hyde and lifts her body onto her shoulder. 

She runs back for the door, the trembling steps of Deckard vibrate through her heart. Reaching inside, she lays Hyde beside Vander before going to slide the door shut.

As he reaches closer, he begins to run for the small gap he had only to slam into the metal. She breaks the handle, locking it for as long as it could withstand Deckard. 

Mylo finally frees Vander's left hand and together they pick at the lock on his right. He looks at Vi, "you did good."

His eyes then trails to Hyde, "you both did." 

Having paved a way, Claggor begins to chisel heavily at the old brick while Vi slams her shoulder against the door as Deckard's hits slowly begin to wear down the security measure.

With a final kick, Claggor had created a hole big enough for everyone as Mylo had finally freed Vander's right hand. Hyde groans, her eyes opening as she crawls to her knees when streaks of blue flicker and a matching cloud of force follows.

The door bursts inwards, shoving Vi towards Vander. Debris spits, one planting itself in Claggor's head as it sends his goggles flying. His body slams against the wall, falling limp.

Claggor's pipe barrels into Mylo's chest, forcing him against the wall. The pain nulled thanks to the adrenaline, he looks over to Claggor's body when dust spills over him. He looks up and watches as the ceiling caves on top of him.

Hyde jumps to her feet, she turns to look for Vi and Vander when a discarded metal piece of the door's hinges lodges into her forehead. Her head snaps back as a result of the force, her body stiff as it falls onto the ground. 

Vander shakes his head, stuffed under rubble. His eyes dart across the room for the kids, slowly processing what had happened. He jumps from Claggor's buried body to Mylo's arm before meeting the blank, bloody glare of Hyde.

Beside him, Vi sobs from under the door, her head pointed to sky as she avoids staring at their bodies. Irate, he shifts from under the rubble and marches through the last of Silco's men. 

Meanwhile, Vi finally opens her eyes as she sobs. She notices the puddle of blood that surrounds her right hand. She painfully twists her shoulders, turning to abruptly meet Hyde's blank stare.

The sheet of jagged metal cut into her face, shining. She screams, sobbing in horror before she tries to avert eyes. Instead of some relief, she's met with Claggor and Mylo's buried bodies. 

She continues to sob, looking around the room for Vander when a familiar monkey head catches her attention. Deckard removes the door from her, the two stare at one another when a large figure snatches him by the neck.

The Shimmer mutated Vander tosses him away, meeting eyes with Vi. She flinches, conflicted between disgust and reassurance. He flinches, stumbling away from her as he grips his head.

He turns around, screaming, "Silco!" 

Fire begins to catch in the room, having already taken Claggor and Mylo's bodies. Helplessly, Vi crawls to Hyde before laying across her torso, sobbing into her neck.

With a final glare at his old friend, Vander charges for Vi and grabs both of the girls before leaping through the hole in the wall. The building explodes at the last second, their bodies quickly descend. 

Vander flips, using his body as their cushion. His beating heart echoes loud for them both to hear as he gasps for air, a dazed gaze taking over.

Sniffling, Vi gently raises his head. "Vander..." she croaks. 

"Take care of Powder," he says before his eyes roll back.

His head falls as the vibrant shimmer veins darken as his violet eyes are replaced with their natural storm grey. Vi's eyes widen, scarred lip trembling.

"No!" She belts. Her cries are drowned by the outburst of thunder. 

so...uh, who's excited for ACT II?