#and tell him it's ok. the grownups are here to help you with your baby brothers you deserve your own life too

[nyan-bynary]

People who want to fuck choso are like enigmas to me,,, I cannot for the life of me understand the thought process there I'll be completely honest

[pesterloglog]

John Egbert, Vriska Serket

Act 5, page 2661-2663

EB: jade is not answering!

EB: are you sure she's ok?

AG: She's asleep!

AG: She sure seems to sleep a lot. She sort of reminds me of my goo8er teamm8.

AG: He napped through most of the adventure, and was practically useless.

EB: oh...

EB: you mean carcino geneticist?

AG: Hahahaha, no way! Karkat is so up tight, he hardly slept a wink over the whole 600 hour span of our quest.

AG: He didn't even wake up on the moon until AFTER we won the game, hahahahahahahaha.

AG: What a loser.

EB: heheh. car cat. that is how i am saying that.

EB: beep beep, meow!

EB: i will have to remember to give him a hard time about that.

AG: John, you are pretty weird! I can see why you would piss him off so much.

EB: it is really not hard to do that.

AG: Tell me a8out it!

AG: Speaking of telling me a8out things...

AG: Why don't you tell me what you were just dreaming a8out that was so important, fellow Prospit dreamer????????

AG: Prospit is the 8est. Derse is where all the rejects hang out. Am I right?

EB: i never even saw prospit.

EB: aside from flaming bits and pieces of it i guess.

EB: something happened, and it blew up, and dream jade died, and then i was wandering around this place that was like a chess board with a huge crater in it, with loads of dead black and white guys everywhere.

AG: Yes, I know all that! That place is the 8attlefield, which is where your dream self lives now. You will appear there any time you go to sleep.

AG: Prospit dreamers are supposed to end up there eventually. If they're any good, that is. ::::)

AG: 8ut you got there so much sooner. Normally a dreamer's journey to the 8attlefield will not 8e so spectacularly sudden and violent. Meteoric, if you will!

EB: oh, huh.

AG: 8ut you didn't answer my question! What was so important that you wanted to go 8ack to sleep again for?

EB: my dad was there.

AG: What's that?

EB: um, you know...

EB: my guardian?

AG: Oh, you mean the adult male human who lived in your hive?

EB: yes. if by hive you mean house.

AG: Haha, I was wondering a8out that. I was like, what the hell is this guy doing in this kid's hive? Where is his lusus? Is he an orphan contending with some sort of meddlesome grownup squatter????????

EB: um...

EB: these observations are very alien of you.

EB: but that's pretty cool i guess, seeing as you are an alien.

AG: Yes, I just chalked it up as generic alien weirdness and didn't think too much a8out it. Just another series of strange exhi8its from an inferior civiliz8tion.

EB: the funny thing is, he is not even really my dad.

EB: i mean, i was adopted by him, although we are not actually unrelated, i think.

EB: he is the son of my grandmother, who isn't really my grandmother...

EB: nanna is sort of like my biological mother, and my biological father would be jade's grandpa, sorta.

EB: both of which i just created, with slime and stuff, and sent back in time as babies.

EB: so i guess, if anything, that makes my dad...

EB: my half brother???

AG: ::::\

EB: tell me about it!

AG: W8! 8efore you wander too far off course like a doofus, you need to know how to get to a return node!

AG: So you can get 8ack to your computer. Here, hang on, I am making you a map.

EB: but i know where i'm going!

EB: terezi already made me a map.

AG: What!!!!!!!!

EB: first she made a really crappy one, then a really nice one that works kind of like google.

EB: she started helping me after she tried to kill me.

AG: Ugh. She is still trying to one up me I see. Even preempting my awesome helpfulness!

AG: When did she do that? I mean from my perspective? Do you think she already did it, or hasn't done it yet?

EB: wow, how could i possibly know that!

AG: I don't know. Forget it.

AG: I will show her though. I will show her the meaning of helpfulness.

AG: I will help this little human nerd under the ta8le. The very same ta8le you dined at, while I w8ted on you prong and fucking nu8.

EB: you mean like a candle light hate date?

AG: God, no!!!!!!!! With a human? Gross.

EB: oh...

EB: well then, thanks, i guess?

EB: why do you want to be so helpful, anyway?

EB: i mean, with her i got the sense she was being kind of jokestery about it, which is something i can understand.

EB: but why bother helping, if we aren't going to win anyway?

AG: You won't win? Says who?????????

EB: you guys.

EB: it is practically all you ever say.

AG: Well, ok yes, you are screwed. And so are we.

AG: 8ut so what!

AG: Just 8ecause you are going to fail doesn't mean it won't 8e any fun along the way!

AG: 8y the looks of things, you have a very exciting 24 hours ahead of you.

AG: It'll 8e one hell of a reckoning!

EB: that is nice to know.

AG: Yes, and 8esides. Continuing on this path and 8ringing Jade into the game I think you will agree is very important!

AG: And not just 8ecause she is your friend and you would 8e kind of upset if she died.

AG: Again.

EB: yes, i think i would be.

EB: but why else?

AG: 8ecause you need to complete your prototyping chain!

AG: Only when all players have entered with a prototyped kernel does the 8attlefield assume its final form.

AG: That form prepares Skaia to grow the new universe you will cre8te.

AG: Or in this case, fail to cre8te. 8ut whatever!

AG: That is no reason to deter you from completing worthwhile game o8jectives.

EB: we are supposed to create a universe?

AG: Yeah! You didn't realize that yet?

EB: no!

AG: 8oy. How clueless can you get.

EB: why are we supposed to do that?

AG: What a stupid question! It is the point of the game. It's what happens when you win, and winning is the only point of anything.

EB: oh. that's true, i guess.

AG: Anyway, you should 8e glad it's the point. And you should 8e glad your predecessors were not such a sad sack group of players like you guys.

AG: Otherwise your universe would not exist, seeing as we cre8ted it 8y 8eing incredi8le in every way.

EB: you did?

AG: Yep. You're welcome. ::::D

EB: hmm...

EB: i don't know what to think about that.

AG: Not knowing what to think a8out things appears to 8e your specialty!

EB: hurrrrr oh man what a burn!

EB: (j/k it was actually lame.)

AG: ::::P

EB: well to be honest, i never really believed any of your guys's doom and gloom nonsense.

EB: not because i think you are lying...

EB: i just feel like there must still be a way to win!

AG: That's the spirit, John!

AG: That is a winner's attitude, and there is always hope for someone who has that.

EB: yes, i agree.

EB: also, there is always hope for someone who has good friends to count on!

AG: Pff.

AG: Laaaaaaaame.

[bagadew]

The Great Ace Attorney Playthrough: The Adventure of the Great Departure (Part 3)

Last Time: We finally found Miss Brett, the English woman who’s present had been erased from the scene of the crime, and dragged her ass to court only to discover that she was a Massively Racist Bitch in a swan hat. After a lot of back and forth it became clear that Dr Watson Wilson actually died of poisoning, and that Miss Brett took advantage of the fact Japan currently doesn’t do autopsy reports to shoot his corpse in the chest and frame me (Ryunosuke) for the murder. Fortunately for us Hosonaga took the bottle from the crime scene, and after needlessly translating Miss Brett for the last hour (and presumably filtering out a lot of questionable content) was only to happy to produce it for the court. Unfortunately for us the poison wasn’t in the bottle, so it’s up to a lady in pink to save the day!

I’m going to roundhouse kick Auchi

I’m liking how everyone else in this room is just as done with Auchi as I am

Our saviour Ryunosuke, that’s who

Oh, that’s not a glass

Is it about poisons?

It is!

Ok so I’m pretty sure that Curare is incredibly powerful and fast acting poison (which lines up with what we know). Unfortunately I think it needs to be injected but I might be mixing it up with something else.

Susato’s actually given me the report now, which is probably a much more sensible way of getting information (rather than me trying to remember what I’ve picked up from Agatha Christie novels), and unfortunately it looks like I remembered correctly about it needing to be injected.

(Side note: how alarming is it that I’ve retained this much knowledge on poisons? I feel the need to explain that I’ve been reading and listening to audio dramatisation of Agatha Christie novels since I was about three, but I feel like that makes it worse)

What is curious though is it’s potential use as an anaesthetic. Given that Dr Wilson had just had a tooth removed with anaesthetic I wonder if there’s a connection there?

I’m not sure what it could be though, unless it turns out Miss Brett Weekend at Berniesed his corpse all the over way from the clinic.

GET HER ASS RYUNOSUKE!!!

Actually wait...

GET HER ASS JUDGE!!!

Auchi if we were to run this courtroom on things you know about we’d be running a kindergarten.

Auchi, you’d never even heard of Curare until I told you about it, be quiet while the grownups are talking.

Yeah, Curare is not a nice poison.

I’m not going to post the full explanation here, but wow, Kazuma’s really going all out with his description!

Also it looks like I misunderstood about it needing to be injected. Everyone’s saying that it can just be swallowed, which I guess that makes sense given how deadly it is.

Miss Brett’s being a bitch again (but what else is new) and Kazuma’s taking none of your shit and telling her that the feeling’s mutual. (Something I would have screenshot, but I was too busy calling Kazuma a legend to press the little square button.)

I knew it, it was only in the glass.

Yeah, now try it again from the glass you took.

Don’t worry Ryunosuke, I got this!

It’s ok Kazuma! Believe in me (Ryunosuke) and our beautiful friendship!

It astounds me too Kazuma, but for once I’m on to something!

Kazuma, please stop saying foreboding things, I need you to survive the next case and you’re already not being helped by the fact that you’re so much better than me. You’re so good you kind of render me, the protagonist, a little bit obsolete in fact.

PENALISED!

I guess I was wrong then! That bottle does somehow contain poison.

Yes Kuzuma, because I’m going to be penalised otherwise!

OH FUCK I’VE GOT IT!!!

I UNDERSTOOD CORRECTLY THE FIRST TIME!!!

IT DOES NEED TO BE PUT INTO THE BLOODSTREAM!!!

AND THE DOCTOR HAD A GAPING WOUND IN HIS MOUTH!!!

WHICH MISS JEZAILLE BRETT ADMITTED SHE KNEW ABOUT!!!

It’s finally time!

Let’s get her!

He’s got it!

GET HER ASS RYUNOSUKE!!!

She’s cracking!

Is it hatred Ryunosuke?

Ah no, my mistake - it’s lawyer rage conviction!

I know I’ve said this a lot but...

GET HER ASS RYUNOSUKE!!!!!!!!!!

HE DID THE THING!!!!!!!!

WE’RE USING HER OWN WORDS AGAINST HER

AND IT FEELS SO GOOD!

Oh good... she’s started laughing

Oh no. We’ve set things into motion haven’t we.

Kazuma, I can’t stress enough how important it is for you to take care of yourself in the case to come.

SHE’S DESTROYING THE EVIDENCE!

You can’t do that!

Oh who am I kidding, this lady’s been dancing on privilege since she walked in.

Oh Ryunosuke I think she might have done...

I knew she felt like an end of game villain!

Auchi’s about to catch these hands!

Kazuma’s telling us to step into our mind palace.

‘Is Kazuma right’, he thinks, as he remembers the blood on the plate.

I don’t know Ryunosuke? Is water wet?

You got it Kazuma!

I mean to be fair it did only just happen.

DID HE STEAL THE PLATE?!?

YES HOSONAGA!!!

YOU BEAUTIFUL GENIUS!!!

I do genuinely love these moments in Ace Attorney though. When everyone works as one to get some untouchable big fry. There’s something very rewarding about the whole thing.

Shit... she swapped it out...

Fortunately my man Hosonaga has everyone’s plates though!

Cheer up Ryunosuke, look, we have steak blood at least. And I’m sure Hosonaga’ll bring us the rest of the plates if we ask nicely. Especially after Miss Brett broke his bottle.

Miss Brett’s now making racist statements again.

But at least I’ve been given the steak to examine!

Bless you Kazuma

Ryunosuke what short of cats have you been looking at!

Get his ass (affectionately) Kazuma!

THE STOLEN COIN!!!

I KNEW SHE SWAPPED THEM!!!

(Also it looks like I was right about it being stolen by Nosa)

Didn’t know that was there, did you Miss Brett?

Now, dig your own grave with your words!

Now it’s time to dob Nosa in it. Sorry Nosa but you were kind of a jerk. Look on the bright side though, now’s your chance to redeem yourself in my eyes, like Hosonaga has!

Old man Korekuna’s armed and pissed!

Nosa I’m sorry. It’s best to throw yourself on his mercy now before I rile him up more. Use your baby to calm him if you must.

NICE CATCH NOSA!

I take everything back, Nosa your complete safe, old man Korekuna has no idea how to use that thing.

Ah, I forgot he was proficient in vase!

(Which I forgot to screenshot)

Never mind Nosa, you’re still screwed!

That is the right face to pull (Nosa not Hosonaga):

Look at him in the corner there. I feel bad now.

It was theft wasn’t it?

...oh Nosa what have you done?

(Kept food on his kids plate probably, given how he can’t afford childcare)

Nosa’s now accusing his infant son of being the mastermind... Sure Nosa, everyone’s bying that.

Either accusing a baby is a panic response, or I don’t need to feel so bad anymore.

Hosonaga how did you not immediately catch this guy?

HE SLIPPED THE COIN UNDER THE STEAK SO IT WOULDN’T BE FOUND WHEN HE WAS SEARCHED!

MISS BRETT’S TRYING TO WEASLE HER WAY OUT TO LUNCH AGAIN!

Oh thank god!

I thought for one terrible second we were letting her go.

(I’ve say it before and I’ll probably say it again, this is an intense first case)

Yes! ‘Her’ steak had a big bite mark in it!

But I thought and English Lady like yourself wouldn’t eat steak that way Miss Brett?

Of course, there’s a difference between the two photos.

I knew I could see the glass in the first one, which means it was taken before Miss Brett rearranged the table!

Oh, now Nosa’s saying that he switched the plates.

I must admit I didn’t expect that, I thought it was something Miss Brett did to remove the bloody evidence.

She’s cracking!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

YEEEEAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!

IT WAS ALIVE!!!

BABIES!!!

BABIES EVERYWHERE!

Oh god... what’s she planning.

Your honour, she’s already poisoned one person, do you want to be next?

Kiss my ass Miss Brett

Get used to it Auchi.

HAHA!

DAMN KAZUMA

(Editor Note: I am very upset by how poorly my screenshots conveyed Kazuma destroying Auchi’s hairdo with his sword)

Also, were you always hot Kazuma?

Wait no - I can’t be thinking that. The bar for fictional men I like is the floor and if I want Kazuma to continue to live a long, happy, non morally ambiguous life, I need him to not fall into the category of ‘fictional men I find hot’.

For some reason, I picture it being blue and spiky your honour

Wait what’s this about Kazuma having a mission?

Oh fucking hell, I’ve doomed you to moral ambiguity haven’t I Kazuma?

Thank you for the backhanded compliment your honour!

Ooh, petals rather than confetti, that’s a nice touch!

We did it!!!

And most importantly of all, we’re being praised by Kazuma!

Susato! Our saviour! Has turned up, along with her father: the innocent Professor Mikotoba, who I would like to thank and to reiterate that he could never kill anyone!

Seriously though, what was the relationship between him an Dr Wilson?

Ah ok, I simply just had to click on to find out.

So apparently the two of them worked together in the same hospital in London for a while.

OH MY GOD KAZUMA’S TAKING THE SWORD WITH HIM TO GREAT BRITAIN!!!

YES KAZUMA! F THEM UP!!!

(Also if your journey tragically ends in the customs office there’s a non-dead-Kazuma reason for me to go in your place.)

Oh fuck, she got off didn’t she...

I knew it

Of fucking course...

So basically she’s going to get off with a slap on the wrist. That’s what I’m getting from all of this.

Yep

Ah, but what you’ve failed to understand Kazuma is that the British Government and 99% of those people in power, are hypocritical dirtbags who will change the rules to suit them.

OK TEAM LETS GO GET HER ASS!!!

FINAL BOSS! FINAL BOSS!

Now on to the party with Kazuma!

And also Hosonaga apparently. Who is clinging onto his waiter job even though the case he was investigating is solved. Look like Ryunosuke was right about money being tight.

Hosonaga, do you not have a job anymore?

Were your superiors upset when you said ‘fuck the government’ and bought Miss Brett to us? Or was it your one man forensics team shtick that upsets them?

Oh yeah, we never did find that out did we?

Kazuma Asogi I forbid you from charging me with looking after your sister, of for that matter anything, incase something happens to you!

Fortunatly for us Hosonaga is here! Diving in-front of that Kazuma shaped plot bullet with promises of food!

Ryunosuke over here, taking the cases final moments to roast Hosonaga.

I think we’re even now Satoru, my second favorite character.

I don’t want to click to the next text box.

OH FUCK!

Oh wait, false alarm everyone!

I genuinely thought that the case was going to end with something like: but little did I realize that he never would.

Anyway that’s enough worrying about Kazuma! For now let’s enjoy the fact we’ve finished this bastard hard first case!

We’re moving on to Episode 2: The Adventure of the Unbreakable Speckled Band next!

[omg-im-such-a-masochist]

⛽️ 🔥 FIRE AND GASOLINE 🔥⛽️ (PART 1?)

Prompt: Y/N’s life has changed drastically, precisely 10 years ago and all because of an adorable lunatic and two little maniacs. But what will happen when a divergency of thoughts leads Y/N and her lunatic to say some pretty harsh words, that they know they will regret it later?

Word count: Maybe too long?

Pairing: Jon Moxley (or even Dean Ambrose if that’s your liking) x Reader

Warnings: For now, just some cursing and angst

Notes: His time has finally arrived and I couldn’t be more nervous about it! This goes out to my sincerely unhealthy love for Jon Moxley and my mixed feelings about having kids (sounds like a good match right?). Y’all know the drill loves,sorry for misspellings,english isn’t my first language (bla bla bla),check out my other stories if you’d like to(it would make your girl here very happy 😊) and if you’re comfortable with it,please let me know what you think? Some feedback is always welcomed and appreciated ❤️You can check out my other stories typing ‘masochist writes’ on the search bar on my page and my newest story as a fixed post.Okay,now let’s get to the fun part,shall we? Hope you’ll enjoy 😉

A light smile formed on my lips as I watched through the kitchen sink window Atticus and Rosie play in the backyard as I did the dishes. I never thought that my life could change for the better with a 6 and 4 years old..and to think that I never thought of myself as the maternal type.

The plate I was rinsing off almost broke on the sink as my body jumped from fright, when a pair of hands embraced my hips

“Oh God, you almost gave me a heart attack! Are you crazy?”

“Not really, just a little lunatic..” He laughed “I’m sorry it wasn’t my intention to frighten you, but once I saw that ass kitten I lost my fucking mind! Just like I did 10 years ago...” His hands roamed on my hips until they reached my ass that he lightly slapped. “Did you miss me, cherry?” His lips glued on the nape of my neck

‘Cherry’ that lame ass nickname he gave me 10 years ago...and all because my cheeks go incredibly red when I blush or whenever the weather gets cold making a huge contrast against my pale skin.

“Of course I missed you! This house gets too boring without you in it” I lightly chuckled

“Is that the only reason why you missed me?” He grinds his bulge on my ass, as an insinuation to what he actually meant by that question

“Jon, the kids are outside...”

“I’m not doing anything, I’m just asking an innocent question kitten” He nibs my neck

I turn around to face him, placing my arms around his neck leaning in for a kiss. It started innocently, but Jon Moxley wouldn’t be Jon Moxley if things were kept innocent.

His hands reached the hem of my tank top, sliding in to meet my bare skin, he roams up til he finally founds what he was looking for.

“Fuck baby, I missed these” He whispers as he softly but firmly squeezes my breasts. As much as I would like to have some fun time with my husband it’s not ‘adult time’ yet, which meant the kids were still up. So no ‘dirty deeds’ for us just yet.

I took the little bit of sanity I still had and broke the kiss

“Jon, that’ll have to wait babe”

He sighs “C’mon Y/N is just a quickie kitten, the kids won’t even notice you’re not here..just a few pumps in, I swear!”

“The last time you wanted to give it just ‘a few pumps in’ I was birthing Rosie 9 months later” I reminded him

“So? We love each other, we’re an adult couple with a beautiful family and a lot of love to give” He nibs my bottom lip “What’s wrong with having another little maniac? I wouldn’t mind! We make some pretty fucking good looking kids, we should start practicing another one now” He vaguely said

Oh God not this again... This has been a pretty heated topic between Jon and I, he was always crazy about kids but I wasn’t very fondly of them. When I found out I was pregnant with Atticus I lost my mind! I wasn’t sure about the whole ‘mommy’ commitment for life thing, I didn’t even knew if I had one single bone of motherhood in me. That soon changed though when I first held Atticus on my arms, at that moment I knew my heart was sold to some stinky bum that would call me ‘mom’ for the rest of my life. Rosie was a surprise too, we haven’t even talked about the possibility of having another kid and I was already pregnant with her.

Right after that the baby factory was officially closed to me but not for Jon, he wanted at least two more kids and I didn’t, he had a bit of a trouble understanding that back then I didn’t even wanted my first one! I love my kids, I would die for them in a blink but that doesn’t mean that I eagerly look forward being pregnant every goddamn year.

Jon’s job doesn’t help either, with him constantly being on the road I do most of the raising when it comes to the kids. Of course he still is an amazing father in the short amount of time he is home but still, I’m the one who has to do the working, cooking, cleaning, give baths, put to bed, take to swimming classes, brazilian jiu-jitsu classes, dentist appointments, running to the emergency at 3am because one of them is suddenly sick while the other one sleeps at the emergency’s waiting room chair, wiping off their tears whenever daddy has to leave again..

“Jon, not this topic again, please” I beg

“What is wrong with me wanting to discuss having another baby with the woman that I love?”

“It’s not that simple Jon, I wish it was but is not” I said slightly angry

“Yes it is that simple Y/N! You’re the one who’s always trying to complicate things” He let go of my hips

Great! Now he’s angry too. That’s just what I needed!

“Jon look, I don’t want us to fight ok? You just got home and we all miss each other so why don’t we drop it for now huh?”

I tried to wave the white flag, but I should’ve known it wouldn’t work with Jon ‘The Stubborn’ Moxley

“Of course you want to drop it, it’s not of your interest is it? No it isn’t! You always do this! Whenever a subject doesn’t matter to you, you don’t wanna talk about it, you’re always so selfish! Always thinking about yourself, never once caring about me or what I want! Selfish as fuck!” He raised his voice

When people say that words can hurt more than actions they were right. If he had punched me in the face it wouldn’t hurt as much as the harshness of his words. To say that I am selfish? After everything I left behind just to be with him? That hurt! And instead of doing the adult thing and keep my mouth shut before I said something I knew I would regret it, I did the Y/N thing where I run my mouth with harsher words than he’s previous ones just so I could hurt him as much as he hurt me

“I’m selfish? Me? Oh you better place the mirror in front of your own face to find the definition for that word Jonathan! You are the one who gets to make your ‘wrestler life’ on the road, living like a single man with not even one worry on your mind while I get behind with two kids and all the shit that comes with the package! It’s easy for you to say it with your 15 minutes FaceTime parenting that you do! In the mean time I have to be the bad guy who has to always say no because glorious dad is on the road chasing his dream for when he gets home he will do all of his kids luxuries so he can try to compensate his absence with Barbie dolls and hot wheels cars! So yeah I’m the selfish one Jonathan, good thing you notice that” I regretted those words as soon as they fell from my lips.

Jon’s eyes briefly showed the hurt caused by them but he soon replaced that with rage and pride before lifting his head up to say

“And is thanks to glorious dad that you have this comfortable house, a nice car and a shit ton of food on your table sweetheart. Let’s be honest here Y/N, how are you supposed to support yourself and the kids with your shitty excuse for a salary? I wipe my ass with the pitiful money that you make” He huffed

I’ve never felt so humiliated in my life. Yes my paycheck was mere cents compared to his, but I worked hard for my money, I was proud to have my own money, to share the bills with him and was proud for not taking the easy path of relying on a rich man to support myself (like my dear old mother proudly did). So the fact that he took something that was so prideful to me and used to humiliate me, made me for once rethink all of our 10 years together and if it was worth it at all.

Tears threaten to fall from my eyes and Jon seemed to have realized what he just said as for he reached his hand to cup my cheek

“Kitten, I-“

“Don’t! Don’t touch me, I don’t want you anywhere near me” I said in between sobs

“Y/N please I-“

“Mommy, why are you crying?” I saw Rosie’s smile die on her lips once she saw me crying.

I heard Atticus’ fast footsteps coming by the french doors to stop by Rosie

“Yay, daddy’s home- Mommy are you ok? Why are you crying? Did you get hurt?” His small but smart baby blue eyes roamed my face and my body for any signs of physical hurt

“Yes stinker, mommy got hurt” I said trying to hold back my sobs

“Where? I can’t see anything” Those clever blue orbs that were a faithful copy of Jon’s roamed through me once more trying to find the injury

“Why don’t you guys come here and tell daddy how much you’ve missed him while mommy goes upstairs to clean up the scratch?”

They just nodded and ran towards Jon, who took them both in his arms

“Y/N” He started but I gave him a look that made him go silent.

I reached the safety of my bedroom, feeling the urgent need to run away. Run away from him, from this house, from this country. Taking with me only the clothes on my body and my two little beasties...the immature part of me yelled ‘do it, do it’ but the grownup in me knows I can’t do this. It’s not fair to the kids, they barely get to see their father whom they love and miss so much. It’s not fair to Jon either, he loves those kids more than he’s own life.

But right now I needed my safe place (or better, person), I needed to breath so I called her and when I received the ok on spending 3 days at her house I packed a small little bag with enough close for just those days, as I was zipping up the bag a faint knock came from the bedroom door soon after being followed by it opening.

“Kitten, can we talk- What are you doing?” He asked in urgency as he bursts into the bedroom approaching me.

“I’m gonna go to Nancy’s” I vaguely said looking at anywhere but him

“Nance? Your sister?”

“She’s the only Nancy I know, so yeah..”

“But why? I just got home, I wanna be together Y/N”

“It’s just for 3 days Jon..you’ll be with the kids, they need you and they miss you” My voice is a faint whisper

“But I need and miss you too! I want you here! How am I supposed to enjoy my family if it’s not complete? I’m sure we can figure it out whatever it is that happened earlier” He grabbed my shoulders turning me to face him and cupped my cheeks, tilting my head up to look me in the eyes.

“Y/N, kitten, I know that I’ve said some pretty harsh things to you earlier. I’ve been stressed out. It’s all my fault, I’m so sorry cherry. Please forgive me baby” He pressed his forehead with mine

That was typical Jon, always pulling the guilt towards himself, he has a hard time understanding that he was not always the only cause of a disagreement.

“Jon, we both said some stupid things ok? This is not all on you, love” I released myself from him, if he continued this close I wouldn’t resist, and right now I need to think.

“Yes it is Y/N. Me and my stupid fucking mouth, not you. You’re perfect kitten”

I scoffed “Trust me, I am not”

“Yes you are! Look at who I am now because of you, I stopped doing drugs, I’m not a drinking mess anymore, I eagerly look forward coming come because I know that the three pieces of my heart are waiting for me, look at what I’ve achieved, what you gave me, how you gave up everything and everybody to be with me”

Oh yeah,that.. my ‘high society family’ was not happy at all when they met Jon, they said that we were a very dangerous combination of fire and gasoline, that we would never be happy. I had two options they said, either them or him. I hated my family and loved Jon so it was a simple math. I left my house and all of the luxury behind to live with him in his ridiculously small one bedroom old apartment. The only person that I still talked to was Nancy my older and just as rebel sister, who gave everybody the middle finger and left the not so humble abode of my family never speaking with them again. So it made sense that the two rebellious black sheeps would become their own family, mine was Nancy and I was hers.

“Jon I need some time to think, we need it ok? Please, we both need to digest what we’ve said to each other. It wasn’t just a simple ‘fuck off’ we’ve said some pretty bad stuff so let’s just process this ok?” I beg

“Are you gonna leave me forever? Please don’t tell me you’ll want divorce because of this...I won’t handle it kitten” His voice was strangled by tears

“Jon-” I was thankfully interrupted by Rosie’s and Atticus’ screams of joy on the hallway as they ran towards our bedroom

“Mommy, daddy the movie is about to start c’mon” Atticus says as he jumps from excitement. They have been wanting to watch Moana for a while now, but only when daddy got home so he could watch it too.

“We’re going buddy” Jon fastly said

“Actually” I begin “Only daddy will watch the movie with you” It crushed my heart to see the disappointment on their faces

“Why?” Rosie asks

“Because auntie Nancy called and mommy’s gonna need to go and help her”

“Is auntie Nana in trouble?” Now it was Atticus turn to ask

“No stinker, she just need momma’s help with something, it’s nothing bad I promise”

“Can you go to Nancy’s after the movie?” Jon hopefully asks, he knows that the longer I stay the less likely it will be for me to leave.

The kids gasped at their daddy’s amazingly smart idea.

“Please mommy, please!” The kids started to beg as they kneeled down to make their begging really serious.

Jon kneeled down too, by my side. I looked at him confused and he just said

“Yeah mommy, please stay” He placed his hands on my hips “Please kitten, don’t leave me” He whispered

And now I have 3 pairs of incredibly beautiful and pleading baby blue eyes staring at me waiting for my answer.

What am I supposed to do?...

To be continued (?)

What do you think? Should this story continue? Would you like to see what will Y/N do? What would you do? Please let me know your thoughts, they are so very important to me and help me with my writing 💕🥰

[lia-jones]

Growing Together - Chapter Twenty-Six - Dura Lex, Sed Lex

Before we start:

This work is unbeta'd and English is not my first language. I apologize for any mistakes you may find. Have fun reading!

They made us pack a suitcase, just in case. So that the child wouldn’t have to go through the pain of being separated at the place he learned to love and call his own. Like leaving the love of his parents in a cold and impersonal courtroom would be any better.

I resentfully grabbed a duffel bag and filled it with some of Owen’s belongings without him knowing. I put inside a toothbrush and a comb, some underwear and some clothes, pajamas. I put in there all the things he would need for a night out, keeping his favorite things in his room. Because he wouldn’t need to go. Because even if he did go, he wouldn’t go for long. But mostly because the things he loved the most belonged with the place he loved the most and with the people that loved him the most.

The morning of the trial, I found myself staring at his room, holding that duffel bag tightly, my nails digging deep in the fabric, almost ripping it. I hated that duffel bag and all it represented. If I could, I would set it on fire.

“Are you ready? It’s time to go.”

Victor was standing in the doorway, impeccably dressed in his charcoal suit with a burgundy shirt. He looked calm and focused, undefeatable. Ready for the battle.

“I don’t want Owen to see this.” I showed him the bag I was holding. “Go ahead and put Owen in the car, I’ll go shortly.”

“Andrea.” My husband held my hand, giving me a determined look.

“I know.” I squeezed his hand. “We got this.”

____________________________________________________________

Something came up. I’ll be home for dinner.

The note was taunting, sitting perfectly on the polished marble surface, sporting her usual perky handwriting.

Andrea was nowhere to be found.

“Are you sure she didn’t tell you where she was going?”

Owen, who was busy cutting his french toast, shrugged yet again.

“No. Only that she had a plane to catch. And that I should behave while she’s gone.”

“It’s not like her to just leave without saying anything.” Victor took his phone from his pocket, wondering if he should try to call an eleventh time.

“Well, she did say something.” The boy replied matter-of-factly, eyes still on his plate. “She left a note.”

Victor wanted to explain to his son that the information on that note amounted to nothing, that even though his mother had been clear enough that she’d be gone, she had also been cryptic enough to worry him. Victor hated to be kept out of the loop like that, it was a habit that came with his job, to always hold every single piece of information about everything. Andrea, however, was well versed in the art of pulling the rug from under his feet, and sometimes could act so randomly it was hard for him to predict her next move. He had to admit he found it alluring, but also annoying.

It wasn’t like he was controlling or domineering, he just felt safer knowing at all times where she was, what she was doing, and who she was doing it wi-

“Eat your toast.” Victor quickly ended the subject, not in the mood to explain anything anymore.

___________________________________________________________

“All rise.” The bailiff announced. “Department One of the Family Court is now in session. Judge Erica Bridges presiding. Please be seated.”

We all got up from our seats, Victor taking Owen’s hand as to motion him to do the same. The judge was a petite woman with bright blue eyes that were framed with dark eyebrows and hair. She looked far too young to be a judge, yet she had this intimidating aura that made everyone around her feel insignificant. It,reminded me of my husband, keeping everyone on their toes with his mere presence.

“Good morning, ladies and gentlemen.” The judge opened a file in front of her. “Calling the case of Cole VS Lee regarding the custody of Owen Cole. Are both sides ready?”

“Yes, Your Honor.” The layers replied.

I couldn’t help but look to my side, to the familiar face that had been giving me grief for so long: Pamela Cole. She sat beside her lawyer with a humble look on her face, wearing a modest black dress like she was in mourning, probably to earn sympathy points from the judge. A heatwave coursed through my body, as anger started to churn inside of me. Anger for her audacity to come into my office and tell me all those lies, wanting to take advantage of my sympathy. Anger towards myself, for being an idiot and believing her.

I hated her for having the same DNA as my child, as I hated DNA for being used for such vile purposes. My mind was running wild with thoughts of revulsion and grievance when I felt a warm hand taking mine. It was my husband, looking intently at me like he could read my thoughts, probably because he was having them too. And with just a little magical squeeze of his fingers, all the fire was gone, being replaced by a sense of confidence. We were ready. She would not win.

“And are you Owen?” I heard the judge addressing my son. “You are a very handsome young man.”

“Thank you, Your Honor.” He answered politely. “My mom tells me the same thing.”

Laughter echoed in the courtroom.

“You know what we are doing here today, Owen?”

“My grandmother wants to be my forever family.”

“Good.” The judge smiled at him. “Now, I have something to ask you. We are going to start talking about very boring grownup things, so it would be better if you go with this gentleman to a special room we have, where you can read, or play a little. Is that ok?”

“Aren’t you going to ask me who I want to be with?” Owen frowned.

“Oh, I definitely want to know what you feel about all this. It won’t take long, I’ll call you after a little while, ok?”

I squeezed Victor’s hand tighter as I watched our son being taken away. This was it, it was about to start. How did he look so cool, so centered, when all I wanted was to just grab the boy and make a run for it? But then he looked at me, and I could see it in his eyes. The glint of worry only a wife’s trained eye would recognize on him.

“Very well, now that the child is away, you can make your first statements.”

__________________________________________________________

“Where on Earth are you?” He answered the phone, ready to scold her.

“Well, you are correct. I am indeed on Planet Earth.” She joked, unfazed by his severe tone. “I have ten missed calls from you, didn’t you see my note?”

“You mean the elaborate itinerary of my wife’s whereabouts and the extensive list of reasons why she suddenly disappeared the day before our son’s custody trial?” He gave her a mocking tone. “No, I must have missed it.”

“Victor…” She sighed.

“If instead, you are referring to the ridiculous piece of crumpled paper you left on our kitchen counter stating you were alive by the time you left the house, then yes, I am holding it as we speak.”

“Something came up.”

“Your note already told me as much, if I can decipher your messy handwriting correctly. What else do you have to say for yourself?”

Another sigh came from the other end of the line. Victor was perfectly aware of how difficult he was being, but he couldn’t be more indifferent to it. A week ago, they were fighting because he had kept her at bay. Now, she was doing the exact same thing. If Victor was a gambler, he would bet his fortune on how he wouldn’t like the reason.

“Look, I’ll be completely honest with you.”

“I’m listening.”

“I had an idea. Something that can help us. And I wanted to give it a try.”

Victor pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to contain his frustration. What was she up to this time? And why wouldn't she give him a straight answer already?

“You can tell me when I get there. Just tell me where you are, and I’ll come to pick you up.”

“Do you trust me?” Her disarming question.

“With my life.” He promptly answered. “However, do I need to remind you that we agreed never to keep things from each other? What happened to “we’re in this together”?”

“You told me I wouldn’t fight hard enough for you and Owen.”

Victor paused. He did say that. He wished he didn’t.

“I don’t think that’s true, and you know that.” His tone softened.

“Maybe it is. Well, it was. The truth is…” She hesitated for a second. “I felt weak. I felt like I was losing. And I was so afraid to lose again that I thought it would be better to just stop fighting. I felt like if I lost, I would never recover from it. Do I make sense?”

Victor remembered her howling in his arms at that clinic in Switzerland, when she was told they couldn’t have a biological baby. And his own desperate moments on that kitchen floor, not long ago.

“What I didn’t realize was that, by giving up, I was letting both of you down. I was letting my family down. So this is my way to show you that I believe in us, I believe in us as a family, I’m fighting for us. That’s why I need to do this alone. I need to prove to you that I’m all in. Will you let me?”

___________________________________________________________

“Your Honor, the adoption was made under extremely odd circumstances, and with no respect for the law.” Pamela’s lawyer argued. “My client was not informed of her daughter’s passing, or that the child was left alone.”

“The late mother left a suicide note stating that she did not intend the grandmother to have any contact with the child.” One of Victor’s lawyers argued back.

“I take it you have such a letter in your possession.” The Judge asked.

I jumped on my seat, surprised that they were even mentioning it. Didn’t we agree we weren’t going to use it? I watched incredulously as the lawyer glanced at Victor, waiting for instructions. Victor squeezed my hand again, nodding to the lawyer. What the hell was happening? The lawyer paused and sighed heavily before addressing the judge again.

“No, Your Honor, we do not. That letter was unfortunately lost with some other papers.”

“Your Honor, with all due respect, this trial is a waste of our time.” The other lawyer spoke again. “Should Victor and Andrea Lee be ordinary people instead of public figures, the orphanage would have contacted the grandmother, as it lawfully should, and we wouldn’t be wasting public time and resources! My client has proved that she is fit to be the child’s guardian, and by law, she should have custody. And despite whatever story Mr. Lee’s lawyers wish you to believe, there is obviously no letter from the daughter. Even if there was, there would still be the matter of the daughter’s mental condition when she wrote it.”

“Do you have anything else to present to us to make your case?” The judge turned to our legal team.

__________________________________________________________

Owen spent most of his day in his bedroom, coming out only when summoned. Things had changed dramatically between Victor and Owen since the panic attack, and Owen was treating him with the same distance he did back when he first started living with them: he started to address him as Sir again and seemed to avoid all kinds of interactions. When they were forced to be together, like when sharing a meal, Owen kept his eyes on his plate, barely saying anything other than some short bitter words.

Victor couldn’t blame him. He had acted cold and distant during the funeral, disregarding his family. Everything one won’t expect from a parent. It was only natural that Owen was suspicious of him now, he had lost his trust in him. Victor’s penance was now to get it back.

“Are you hungry?” Victor entered the boy’s room after a brief knock. “I have some frozen mango, we could make sorbet together.”

“No, thank you.” Owen answered, not caring to lift his eyes from the book he was reading.

“What do you have there?” Victor tried again. “Is that the book Mom bought you?”

“Yes.”

“The Beesy Life.” He read from the cover. “Anything interesting about bees?” Knowing his son, he would surely jump at the opportunity of stating an extensive list of facts.

“They make honey.” He quickly dismissed him. “Can you leave so I can read?”

“Why don’t we go outside and play some football together? It’s sunny today.”

The boy seemed to bury himself even more in his book.

“No, thank you. I’m reading.”

Victor surely had his work cut out for him. With a heavy sigh, he sat on his son’s bed. Diversions wouldn’t work, he would have to stop being a coward and just cut to the chase.

“Owen, we need to talk. Do you think you can put that book down?”

Victor grimaced as his son obediently placed the book on his lap, giving him his undivided attention. It was so hard to find the right words. Andrea usually helped him with these things, making notice little things he couldn’t see, encouraging him to open up a little more. Ironically, when things were hard, Andrea was always nowhere to be found. Or maybe things were hard because she wasn’t around, Victor wasn’t sure anymore. He closed his eyes briefly, trying to imagine how Andrea would do it.

“I need to apologize.” Victor began. “I was callous and cold towards you and your mother, and-”

“Was it because of that letter you got? The day we went to the market?”

Victor turned to his son, astonished.

“Mom cried the day you got that letter. And every day after that.” The boy explained, like he understood Victor’s surprise. “And you began to fight. You never fight.”

“Owen...” Victor looked at his son, not knowing what to say.

“What did it say?”

_______________________________________________________

“Alright Owen, now that the grownups have talked, I want to get to know you better. Do you mind if I ask you some questions?”

My son looked at me with hesitant eyes, and I gave him a small nod of reassurance, mouthing It’s ok.

“Ok.” He nodded, following the bailiff nervously to the witness stand.

“Well done. Are you comfortable there?”

My husband’s hand squeezed mine hard. I ran my thumb over his. Owen would be ok. He was a smart child.

“Do you see this document I’m holding?” The judge showed him a folder. “This is your file, it tells me things about you. So, I know you are five, and you have been living with the Lees for almost a year, and you are doing very well at school… But it doesn’t tell me other important things, like, what are your favorite hobbies, if you have any close friends…”

“My best friend’s name is Mathew, he’s from my class. We play soccer together.” Owen promptly answered. “I like to play soccer, with my friends or with my Dad. I also like insects, I want to be an entomologist. That’s why my Mom calls me Bug. Oh, and we have a pet lobster! His name is Mr. Lobster, my Dad lets me feed him sometimes.”

“A pet lobster? That’s unusual.” She chuckled. “I can see in your file that you are doing well at school, no disciplinary reports… It seems you adjusted very well to that new reality.”

“Miss Dillon says God works in mysterious ways.” The boy looked at the judge in all seriousness. The judge frowned, taken aback by his statement.

“I could say that He does, Owen. But why do you say that?”

“A while ago, we went to have dinner at Gavin and Mia’s, and Mom got sick and threw up all over the floor. And later that night, I woke up and Mom and Dad were talking, and I did something I shouldn’t have.”

I looked at Victor, confused. What on Earth was Owen talking about?

“What did you do, Owen?” The judge asked.

“I eavesdropped.” His head hung in shame. “But I didn’t mean it in a bad way, I was worried about Mom. And then I heard Dad talking about the bad man that hurt Mom, and because of him she can’t get a baby. So…” Owen looked at me, hesitating.

“Yes?” The judge pressed.

“I don’t like that Mom got hurt so badly, but if God works in mysterious ways, maybe He made that bad man hurt Mom so she would adopt me, because He knew my other mom would die.” He shifted nervously in his chair, giving the judge a pleading look. “I know the other lady is my real family, and maybe she is a really nice lady, but I already have a family. I love my Mom and Dad, and I know they love me. Can I please keep them? Can they be my forever family? Please?”

My son’s words pierced my heart, and all the tears of fear and anguish I had been hiding came full force. Despite knowing my background, Owen would never really know how he was an angel in my and Victor’s life, filling our life with color and love. Losing my son was like getting my heart ripped out of my chest, and nothing would ever fill that gap. Victor’s grip on my hand tightened, the brief twitch of his finger making me look up. His eyes were also filled with tears, as he held onto my hand for strength, just like I held his. And as I looked around, wiping my tears with the back of my fingers, I noticed there wasn’t a dry eye in the room. Except for Pamela, who looked at us with utter disdain.

“Well, Owen…” The judge cleared her throat. “Thank you so much for talking to me. I will consider your words.”

_________________________________________________________

Victor looked his son in the eyes, trying to formulate the right words to say. There weren’t any. If his wife was there, and not on some kind of wild goose chase, she would tell him to speak from the heart. And it was more and more evident that raw honesty would have to do.

“You have a grandmother. Your biological mother’s mother. She wants to adopt you.”

“I have a grandmother?”

Victor’s eyes fell to the ground.

“Yes.”

Owen jumped from his seat, eyes wide in anger.

“You told me nothing would make you send me back! You told me you were my forever family!” The boy broke down crying. “You were lying!”

“I never lied to you, Owen, you-”

“You told me I was a Lee! That I was your son!” Victor tried to hug his son, but he wouldn’t let him, hitting him with his clenched fists. “You don’t love me, you want to send me back!”

“You are my son!” Victor held his son tight, his voice echoing through the apartment. “You are a Lee, you’ll always be a Lee, and no one will take you away!” Victor felt his eyes sting with emotion, his voice faltering as he spoke. “I will not allow it.”

Victor pulled his son to his arms, tears running freely from his eyes too. He was so brutally inept when it came to expressing his feelings, yet he needed to show his son he loved him above everything.

“I am your father, Owen, and there is no law in this world that can change that. And we do want to be your family. Otherwise, why would your mother be crying all this time? Why would I become so insufferable?”

“Please don’t leave me.” Owen begged, his face buried in his father’s chest.

Victor knew that sentiment all too well. To hold a loved one so desperately and still feel her slip away from his fingers, leaving nothing but loneliness, no one to gather and mend the shards of his broken heart. But those days were over for Victor. And they were also over for Owen.

“I’m not going anywhere.” Victor smiled, wiping the tears from his boy’s cheek. “You belong with us.”

Before he was a father, Victor would scorn those romantic fools that told him about how deeply a parent can love his child. He simply found it impossible to be. He has never been loved that deeply, he couldn’t even fathom how that must feel like. But at that moment, with Owen's little arms wrapped around his neck, Victor’s heart felt like a deep wide ocean, filled with love and joyful selflessness, a complete devotion to that little red-haired boy. And a promise, no, a purpose to devote every single day of his life to his happiness.

“So I don’t need to go?” Owen asked, breaking his embrace.

“No, you don’t. You’re a Lee and that’s settled.”

Owen’s bedroom door flung open.

“Mom!” Owen left his father’s arms to run to his mother.

“Bug!” Andrea lifted him in her arms, giving him a tight hug. “I missed you so much, little one!”

“Where have you been?” Victor went to his wife.

“I did it.” She bit her bottom lip in excitement, putting their son down and reaching for her purse.

“And may I know what exactly did you do?”

“We won.” She smiled widely, handing Victor an envelope.

Victor read the document inside, not believing his own eyes. They had never contemplated it, it seemed so impossible…

“What is it, Dad?” Owen looked at both of them, excited. Victor lifted him up in the air with joy, twirling him in his arms.

“What we needed to officially make you a Lee.”

__________________________________________________________

Victor stood quietly at a hidden corner of the main hallway, talking on his phone. An oblivious passerby would think he was having a calm conversation, but I knew better: by the look in his eyes, Victor Lee was making some serious threats at that precise moment. Our legal team was reunited not far behind, deeply engaged in a quiet conversation, the panic very clear in the faces of some of them. Something had gone wrong. Something had gone terribly wrong. And my job was to sit quietly with Owen, trying to distract them the best I could from the gravity of the situation.

“One, two, three, four, I declare a thumb war!” Owen chanted excitedly, as I tried my best to discreetly grasp what was happening. “Mom, are you paying attention?”

“Yes, Bug. Go ahead.” I answered distractedly as I noticed my husband look at his phone in silence, poker face in place.

“You may all come in.” The bailiff called us. “The judge has come to a deliberation.”

A bad feeling glued me to my seat, and for the life of me, my legs wouldn’t work. I looked at my son, the sweet five year old that meant the world to me, and I feared this would be the last time I would see them. I slapped myself mentally for being distracted looking at Victor and the lawyers, when I could just have enjoyed this last moment with him and played thumb wars.

“Owen, you come with me to the other room, alright?” The bailiff took his hand and I held his other one, unwilling to let go.

“Lady…” The bailiff pleaded.

Just one second, damn it! I may lose him forever, I just need this extra second!

“Owen…”

“Yes, Mom?” Sweet brown eyes stared at me expectantly.

I wanted to tell him I loved him, and that he would be an honorable man, and that someday I would love to know the kind of person he would grow up to be. I wanted to tell him that I would cry for him every single night, that he wasn’t born out of my mangled body but he was mine, that I would never forget about him, for as long as I should live. I wanted to tell him I would never adopt another child, that no child would ever take his place, and that my heart would belong to him forever. But I couldn’t. If he was going to be with his grandmother, I had to make things as easy as I possibly could for him. Even if they were impossibly hard for me. So, instead, I ruffled his hair.

“You did very well, with the judge.” I smiled. “I’m proud of you.”

“Thanks!” He smiled confidently. “I love you, Mom!”

As Owen walked away, holding the bailiff’s hand with a smile, a dark shadow ran across my line of vision. It was Victor, taking his son in his arms. And that was when I knew my suspicions weren’t unfounded: we were losing him.

I witnessed the sadness in Victor’s eyes as he smiled at his son, hugging him and tousling his red curls. And then the glint of despair, as his eyes landed on me, his expression telling me he was close to falling apart. I wouldn’t have to be strong just for Owen. I would have to be strong for Victor too. So I summoned the last of my strength and stood up. For better and for worse, we are in this together. I won’t let you fall, handsome.

We never said a word, as Victor took my hand and led me inside the courtroom. I didn’t know what had failed, and it wasn’t important. I took a shot and I missed. We wouldn’t win this one. I thought about the duffel bag in my car and regretted not putting one of Owen’s favorite books in there. He would need something to distract him tonight.

The judge entered the room, and while I could see the hesitant look on everyone’s faces, I couldn’t care less about it. I had no interest in hearing someone say I couldn’t be a mother, I already was. Even if a piece of paper said otherwise. Owen was my son.

“I have to say, this was one of the hardest decisions I had to make in my whole career.” The judge started her deliberation. “Dura lex sed lex. This means, the law is hard, but it is the law. The law speaks of rights and duties, it tells us in which direction to go, but the law does not contemplate feelings. The law does not abide by what makes us feel better. The law is impartial to love and to emotions. It is so by design, so we don’t let our hearts cloud our judgments. The law is correct, but that doesn’t exclude the fact that it can be very painful.”

The sound of heavy wooden doors opening abruptly echoed through the room, making us all jump in surprise. From them, one of our lawyers ran, stopping only in front of the judge.

“Your Honor, I apologize for my audacity towards this court.” The lawyer bowed. “But new evidence has arrived that cannot be ignored.” He handed her an envelope.

I looked at Victor, puzzled. Was it…

“Can you please explain to me and Mrs. Cole’s lawyer, what exactly am I looking at?” The judge opened the envelope.

“Mrs. Lee was able to track down the child’s biological father.” The lawyer explained. “She flew yesterday to Acomb and met him at the hospital where he is working as an intern doctor, and he granted her and Mr. Lee parental rights. We were just waiting for the lab to give us the DNA results.”

“And why am I getting this just now?”

“We couldn’t present the documents without being sure that Mr. Richardson was indeed Owen’s biological father.”

“Your Honor, this is highly inadequate! I contest this man’s right to give parental rights, he was never in the child’s life to begin with!” Pamela’s lawyer argued.

“Neither was your client, Counsellor.” The judge gave the lawyer a frown. “Well, it works for me.” The judge banged her hammer. “The Family Court decides that Mr. and Mrs. Lee will be granted full custody of the child Owen Cole, concluding the adoption process, effective immediately. Congratulations, you can get your son for the next room.”

Victor and I practically crashed against each other in a tight embrace, smiles mixed with tears, emotions running wild. We had won, we had our son. We were officially a family.

We entered the other room with joy in our hearts, laughing as Owen ran into our arms.

“I'm going home with you guys?”

“You are officially a Lee!” Victor laughed as he threw the boy in his arms.

“You adopted me? You are my forever family?” Owen teared up, reaching out to me so he could hug me as well.

“We are a family.” My throat tightened as I hugged the two men I loved the most in this world. “And we are forever.”

Victor pulled me close to them, wrapping both me and our son in a tight hug. And I couldn’t help but think back to our year, so full of adversity. Despite it all, we came through. We fought and found solace in one another. We became stronger and more united, we grew together, as a family, and we would continue to do so.

Love does conquer all.

Author's Note: This project has been going for a year now (it started in February 2020) and it won't be over any time soon, so I would like to ask you, as much as possible, for your support, because we still have a very long way to go. So, if you enjoy the work, don't forget to comment and reblog. It gives it traction and enables other people to learn about it, and for me to get more excited about what I do.

[babysizedfics]

4!!!

-🍼

vee shows michael her pacis

vote from this concept voting post!

so its the first time michael has visited the house since vee told him about her regression. he was super supportive and understanding - honestly it made a lot of sense given what he had seen of her behaviour

and michael reassured her that he was okay with it all and that she can regress with him if she wants to. so before michael visits, vee purposefully doesnt hide any of the little items around her room as she had done every time he visited previously

and when michael comes in he sees the sanrio and winnie the pooh colouring books on her bed. he just smiles and asks if she was doing colouring before he got there

vee gets a bit shy because its so much more real to have him actually talk abt it openly, and she just shakes her head, blushes and starts to chew her nail

michael obviously notices her nervousness so he doesnt push anythinf and they just sit down on the bed to watch a cartoon - michael isnt into kids shows rlly but hes been watching steven universe with vee recently

and eventually vee notices michaels gaze has wandered during the show and hes looking at the bedside table - she looks and goes rlly red because she FORGOT that she left out a couple of pacis,

she looks up at michael kindve scared that hes gonna think its weird but he just gives her a soft little look and whispers "do you wanna show me them?"

vee squeaks and quickly hides her head behind his shoulder and he giggles "its okay we dont have to" and goes back to watching the screen

but vee is chewing her lip and fidgeting with michaels sleeve and then after some internal debate and a lot of nervousness she tugs his sleeve

so michael looks down at vee and she just,, points to the pacis silently

michael nods "yeah kitty, i saw the pacifiers. did you wanna show me them?"

and hes sounds kind, michael is always so kind, that she nods rly shy but clings to his arm tighter, not moving to pick the pacis up.

so michael reaches over and picks both of them up and puts them gently in her lap,

her fingers go to the lilac sparkly one instanty and turn it over in her hand and michael prompts "is that your favourite one? its definitely your favourite colour"

and vee just smiles and feels less shy and "um yea.. i think so.... but- but um i like all of them really..."

and she tells mimi abt all the different colours she has and how nice they feel in her mouth and she even mentions that she uses them when big sometimes for anxiety - she flips the dark blue one over to show him the clear teat and explains that one is better for chewing. thats why she has two next to her all the time so if shes little she goes for the softer cloudy teat and if shes big and anxious she uses the firmer clear one and it helps her breathe slowly

michael is actually super impressed and curious about that "oh! oh like oral stimming! like the chewy necklaces!" and vee smiles "yeah!"

then the convo abt the pacis goes quiet and vee is leaning against him and fiddling with the lilac paci in her lap, smiling softly down at it

then suddenly michael asks, sounding almost shy "kitty? can i maybe... ask you something?"

vee feels her heart stutter. she gets rlly nervos and her eyes tear up in a second because oh no hes uncomfortable he thinks its weird he's gonna ask me to never show him little stuff again oh no

she rlly quiet goes "mhm" and braces herself

then mimi asks rlly sweetly "can i maybe see you with it in? its okay if not i just kinda wanna see..."

vees cheeks quickly go hot and she pulls back a little to look up at him and check his facial expression

he's smiling a little shyly. "i promise its not because i wanna laugh or anything i just... i dunno i just wanna see, i think itll be cute" and hes a bit blushy

vee is completely thrown off by michael actually wanting to see her use her paci but,,, she hesitates then RLLY quickly puts the paci in her mouth and hurriedly covers her face with both hands

mimi giggles and says "aww vee, its ok! but i cant see you" and he rlly gently puts his hands on top of vees and she doesnt react badly so he pulls them away from her face and chuckles "hello kitty!"

at the nickname she slowly looks up at him and is sucking the paci noticeably now to help with the nerves. its bobbing in her mouth and shes blushing and her eyes are wide and michaels face instantly lights up and he coos "AWWW KITTY 💖" really gushing and adoring

vee breaks into a big big smile behind her paci and she squeaks and buries her head on michaels shoulder again as he tells her "vee oh my gosh, you look even cuter than I thought!"

"nooo mo mo" vee giggles embarrassed, itching to crawl into mimis lap but theyve never done that before so she just settles for wiggling her butt on the bed and pulling her skirt down to make sure mimi can't see her pullup

"yes yes! youre so pretty kitty~" michael says really baby talky and pokes her cheek softly (he knows she loves being called that) (she squeals a little)

michael doesnt draw too much attention to vee after that, after the little blushy giggle fit he asks her if she is regressed and she takes her paci out to say she isnt, if she was regressed she wouldnt be able to talk or really sit up on her own

so michael asks more about how she uses the pacis as a grownup for anxiety. and after talking about it they both simultaneously pause then go...

"do you think you might wanna try?"

"do you think it would make me calm?"

and then they both giggle and vee hands the dark blue paci to michael smiling rlly big and her chest is bubbly with excitement because mimi is making this feel so NORMAL and fun!

and thats why when patton walks into vee's room twenty minutes later with snacks and appl mango juice, he is greeted with the image of vee sucking her sparkly lilac paci and having fallen asleep on michaels shoulder, and michael just scrolling on his phone and spinning the blue paci in his mouth

patton actually immediately whisper apologizes, he thought that michael would be embarrassed and that it was meant to be a secret

but michael isnt embarrassed at all, he asks through the paci "oh hi pap! are bose cookiebs?"

pat nods and places the snacks on vee's desk then quietly asks if michael regresses too (he was totally ready to adopt btw lol)

but michael just laughs and takes the paci out and is like "nah i just wanted to see what it feels like but i dont think theyre for me. kitty sure looks cute with them though"

then he looks down and smiles at sleepy vee whos just blinking awake and she asks rlly quiet and high pitched "wh- mimi?" through her paci

michael giggles and looks rlly softly down at vee as he pokes her nose "im still here, kitty. you fell asleep"

and vee sighs and buries her face against his arm and suckles on her paci more

michael laughs and wiggles his arm to get her to stop faling asleep "vee no cmon your dad brought snacks! i wanna eat, get off"

and of course that makes vee cheeky and she wraps both arms tightly around mimis arm and closes her eyes as if she's asleep but shes smiling mischievously behind her paci

"nooo im hungry" "im theepy!" "no youre not sleepy you were already sleeping!" "till theepy" "youre not, youre hungry" "nop hungy" "YOU ARE im speaking it into existence your so hungry right now" "nooo thtop it!" "no i wont stop you are LITERALLY starving you want a cookie so so bad right now, you want a chewy sweet cookie and nice cold apple mango juice" .... "arrghhh now i wan cookieth and juith!" "hahahha"

and patton just watches on with the softest smile because hes so happy vee found such a wonderful supportive friend

[littlebigafterdark]

I'm feeling in a particular mood for some more Logan stuff, (totally not my comfort character who unfortunately is a medium for a lot of angst /s) so maybe the almost-relapse?

the littles accidentally trigger logan's ED (janus and patton help him thru it)

This is a copy pastd from a really long message i sent to liv a few weeks ago, just in case the grammar is weird or somethin!

oOo

context: whenever roman is a brat and refuses to eat dinner, logan gets noticeably more frustrated than with any other bratty behaviour because it hits too close to home to his eating disorder

so...

one day when patton is out somewhere, maybe at his carpentry class ((thats actually slightly spoilers for a big concept for the main blog lol)), logan has both the littles

and roman is bratty and refuses to eat dinner and logan breathes evenly and tries not to worry abt it bc he KNOWS roman always eats, hes just doing it to be annoying, breathe, he isnt actually restricting its ok

and logan was literally holding the baby fork up to vees mouth and suddenly she giggles and pushes it away

"come on baby, yummy time" logan coos and smiles a little but he doesnt feel it, and with his other hand he tickles lightly under vees chin and she giggles and logan smiles and goes to feed her again

but she pushes the fork away and babbles "mo bima!"

and roman laughs "yeah, no dinner! no dinner!" and bounces

and logan is feeling rlly shaky and hot suddenly and swallows thickly and ignores roman, and keeps looking at vee "princess, please open up," trying not to pay attention to how shaky his voice is. "its papa's spaghetti remember? yummy" he nods enthusiastically and goes to feed her again

but again vee just giggles all squeaky and pushes the fork away and looks at roman with a big smile for his approval. and roman is like "yeah vee! rebellion!!!" still so playful

but he hasnt noticed logans chest is heaving a little and hes staring at where vee pushed the fork away and logan was too shaky not to drop it on the floor.

and he looks up at vee and how small she is and how shes genuinely on the lower end of average weight and they need to make sure she doesnt dip down into underweight and thinks about how terrified he is of the idea that if she did develop an ED like he did it would be so dangerous and he cant see his baby go through that and-

it just hits him so so so harshly and hes suddenly crying and roman and vee freeze and look at him. and he hurriedly wipes away his tears and breathes shakily and tries to say again

"vee pl-please just ea--" and his throat closes up, he cant even say the word 'eat' and he gags on his tears and jumps up from his chair to run out to the downstairs bathroom and locks himself in trying to calm down and stop gagging.

and he can hear vee crying and roman - adult now - promising her its okay, mama feels a bit sicky but everythings okay, lets phone nana, its ok baby

and logan is breathing too fast and shaking and crying with his back against the bathroom door, not gagging anymore, but unable to take himself outside

. he hears roman feeding vee, and vee giggling and clearly enjoying the food, but no matter how comforting that is to hear he cant get over that genuine terror he felt when vee refused to eat, its his worst nightmare for vee to develop disordered eating - for any of them, but vee is already very thin and it could be critical, and logan cant get over that

when janus arrives (barely ten minutes later, he must have jumped in the car straight away which is only used for emergencies bc of janus' partial blindness) he speaks quietly to roman, and of course theyre trying to be subtle

but the kitchen is only across the hall from the bathroom and logan hears every word of roman explaining what happened and how confusing it was and how patton wont be home for another forty five minutes and roman didnt want either vee or logan to be alone but they probably shouldnt be around each other right now since vee gets so upset when the others arent happy

roman tries to talk to logan first through the bathroom door, apologising for misbehaving and promising he wont do that again. but can logan tell him what exactly was so bad about it this time? so roman can not do whatever it is in future.

but logan cant bring himself to say anything. he cant tell roman about this at least not yet he hasnt felt ready yet even if its been years and he doesnt know if he ever will be ready to tell roman about his ED

so after realising logan wont talk to him, roman swaps with janus. janus doesnt know the details but he knows theres something about logan and eating and hes made an educated guess from all the fibs hes heard over the years.

"hey, dic" (janus' unsavoury nickname for logan that he insists is just short for dictionary) "do you need a glass of water?"

logans throat is actually dry from hyperventilating and he says with a quiet scratchy voice through the door "yes please"

and when janus brings it to the door he just knocks gently and when logan opens the door to accept it janus doesnt make any comment on logans messy hair where hes run his hand through it or on his glassy red rimmed eyes or on the tremble of his fingers. but he does say "i know it must be so cozy in there" he nods to the cramped cold bathroom "but you might just prefer it in your room"

logan flushes a little and nods, comes out of the bathroom and heads to the stairs, but he pauses at the bottom of the stairs thinking... he doesnt know if he can be trusted alone upstairs. theres another bathroom up there and the gagging has made his stomach churn and he feels FULL from dinner and if only he emptied it then maybe he would feel better right? .... no

so he rasps without turning back to janus "i... i cant be alone"

"look behind you, idiot" janus says and its far closer than logan remembered him being.

he whips his head round to see janus was following closely behind him. janus raises a pierced eyebrow "well, are we going to stand in the stairway all night?" and of course its snarky but its soft too

so logan breathes deeply and they go upstairs to his room. janus makes himself at home, immediately grabbing a book from logans book case and collapsing sideways in logans armchair as soon as they stepped in the room. logan reclines on his bed and sips his water and does breathing exercises and tries to not feel humiliated about this breakdown

every time logan tries to apologise for disturbing janus' evening (he didnt) or asks if janus is sure roman is grownup enough to look after vee appropriately (he is) or insists that he is okay to be left alone now (he's not) janus just murmurs "shut up im reading"

when patton gets back roman just tells him logan isnt feeling good and patton hurries up to see him - and upon seeing his husband logan is overcome by shame that he almost relapsed and relief that his best friend is here and a wave of tears that he tries and fails to blink away

and janus just quietly bids them good night and promises he'll stay a couple hours to keep roman and vee company, but patton insists he stays the night in pattons room (its not safe for him to drive in thr dark) and janus is used to this routine by now that he knows where the spare pillows are

so janus leaves quietly and logan croaks "thanks, old man" trying to sound casual but regretting it when his voice shakes. janus just holds up a peace sign and closes logans door behind him on the way out.

as soon as the door closes logans face crumples and he hides his eyes behind his arm and patton practically bounds over to logan and climbs onto bed next to him and cradles logans head to his shoulder as he cries

they stay like that, cuddling in bed, patton cradling logans head and kissing the nape of his neck and wrapping his arm around logans waist to spoon him and whisper about what happened and how they can avoid it in future

but mainly they just breathe and cry together and patton fills the hours with soft affirmations of love and getting logan a tea and promising its okay if logan wants a cookie with it but logan says maybe later (later turns out to be 2:30 in the morning but at least it really was later)

they barely sleep that night but its all comfort and talking and by morning despite being exhausted, logan feels safer and breakfast goes by without a hitch

oOo

just some notes me and liv made that i think highlights some main points:

logan struggling so much even when he knows that the kids are just playing around and they don't really mean that they don't want to eat, but it's just one of those things that inevitably hits too close to home

it just suddenly hit him! like any other day he can cope with roman doing that, its a small blip usually, but the fact that VEE started refusing food freaked logan out so much bc they genuinely have to keep an eye on her weight just bc shes naturally so small

his emotions about his history with an ED plus his overprotective mama cg space making him nearly go into a panic attack from the thought that vee could develop an ED is very sad and very true

and janus coming right away!! and he and roman handle the siatuation so well, like roman was so smart knowing not to leave logan alone, and janus calling him dic and taking him to his room and staying there until patton gets back

and him crying from just seeing patton because he's his best friend and he can be vulnerable around him is very :'c <3

hes so so relieved to see patton but theres also the slightests "ive let my husband down" bc he thinks bc patton helped him so much he owes it to patton to not relapse - but of course pat reassures him its natural to relapse but he didnt! he caught it in the early stages and asked for help and patton is never disappointed in him

he caught it!!! he caught it and he stopped himself and he let himself be helped by both roman and janus and patton and he didn't even relapse!! and this whole thing is really a sign of how far he's come that he was able to accept their help in his vulnerable state, even if roman and janus didn't have the full story, they still wanted to help him through whatever he was experiencing

[aedelia]

A Hero in the Making

Also cross posted with FF.net and AO3

All Tucker wanted was to play on the slide.  Some bullies interfere and he ends up gaining something much better than just a trip down a slide.

A Hero in the Making

                 Tucker was grinning as he raced around the playground. He had helped his mom make cookies and she let him lick the spoon and the beaters.  It tasted amazing as always and then she had shooed him out the door to play while they baked.  There were only a few weeks left of the summer before third grade and the weather was perfect! It was nice and warm outside, birds were singing and kids were laughing while they played.  He ran past a bench where a red haired girl with headphones had her nose in a book and a sandbox where the little kids were digging for treasure.  

His eyes lit up when he spotted that the big slide was empty.  He clambered up the rope ramp and bounced in excitement at the entrance to the tunnel.  He had just put his hands on the top to go in when he felt someone grab his shirt from behind and yank him back.  He stumbled as he was pulled and tried to keep his feet under him while being dragged backwards to the edge of the platform.

A tall blond boy with green eyes gave him a mean smile and said, “Kids with glasses aren’t allowed to slide.”

Tucker shook his head at him twisting his neck to try to see the other boy, “Yes I am!  I’ve gone on this slide before!”

Tucker was flailing around and trying to get the bigger kid to lose his grip on his shirt.  The blond boy smirked as he yanked Tucker back again and swung him around.  He then shoved Tucker down the ramp. He was bouncing and tumbling as he rolled over the knots to the ground.

“Hey Frankie, this kid thinks he’s allowed to slide on our slide!”

Another blond boy who looked like the big kid snatched Tucker’s glasses off the ground from where they had fallen.  He peered through the lenses; his eyes magnified as he held them up to his face.

“Wow Russ, his eyes are really bad.  I can’t see anything!”  He looked around the playground with his dirty hands half covering the glass and smudging the lens as he twisted and bent the frames.

“Hey give them back!” Tucker shouted, shedding wood chips as he scrambled to his feet and lunged at the thief.

The other boy laughed and held the glasses up high above Tucker’s head where he couldn’t reach them. There was a thud as Russ jumped back down to the ground.  

“You’re just a little kid, you’re not even big enough to get your glasses back!” He taunted, shoving Tucker.

“A blind little kid!” Echoed the other blond as he pushed Tucker back into Russ’s grip.

Russ grabbed Tucker’s ball cap off his head and threw it behind him, “My big brother is on the Casper football team and you’re not cool enough to wear a Ravens hat!”

Tucker’s hair had sprung into a fluffy cloud without his hat and Russ squashed his hand into it, smacking Tucker on the head in the process.

“Wow!  Look how girly his hair is!”  

He shoved Tucker back to his friend.

“It’s so gross and poofy!” Frankie exclaimed, shoving Tucker again.

“Stop it!”  Tucker cried as he was violently shoved back and forth between the other boys.  His vision became more blurry as his eyes started to tear up.  New insults assaulted him with each push.

“So girly like a princess!”

“Aw look he’s crying now!”

“Little girly crybaby!”

“No one is going to save the crying princess!”

“Princess Poofyhead!”

“Cotton Candy Head!”

Frankie pointed Tucker’s glasses at him and said, “More like Cotton Head.” He said slyly, “You should go find some cotton and pick it like-” his next words were cut off as a red and white blur flew into him and tackled him to the ground.

“You’re just a mean bully!” A voice shouted from the figure kneeling on the downed bully.  

Russ shoved Tucker one more time, knocking him to the ground as he rounded on the shorter boy that had interrupted his fun.

“Hey kid, we’re just showing this crybaby who’s allowed and not allowed on the playground.  It wasn’t very nice of you to knock down my cousin.”

The boy swiped the glasses from the stunned blond he had knocked down and leaped in between Tucker and the bigger bully.  Now that he was closer, Tucker could see he had curly black hair, a red and white shirt, shorts, and red shoes.

“It wasn’t very nice of you to be a bully and be mean!” he shouted.

“Hey hey, we’re not bullies! We were just...enforcing order on the playground.”  Russ, hands stretched out in placation.

“You’re lying!” The black haired boy hissed through clenched teeth, “The rules are to be kind to each other!”  He clenched the hand holding the glasses and roughly pointed his other at the bully. “Stealing is wrong!  Pushing around kids that are smaller than you is wrong! Calling people mean names is wrong!” His volume increased until he was shouting.

The second bully slowly got to his feet.  He rubbed his backside and then brushed off the playground dirt and wood chips that were clinging to his shirt and shorts.  “We were just having some fun.” He muttered.

The smaller black haired boy heard him and quickly changed targets, “It’s not fun if it hurts someone else!  If you don’t leave us alone and go away…” he paused, face scrunched as he thought of a good threat, “I’ll yell for my mommy and daddy and tell everyone that you were hitting and calling names.”

Russ stood still for a moment thinking before he grimaced slightly, “Hey Frankie, let’s go.  Slides are stupid anyways.  Let’s let the babies play with the stupid baby toys.” He turned and tugged his cousin along when it looked like he was going to argue.

“Why are you listening to him?  He’s just a whiny little kid, the only reason he knocked me down was he got me by surprise.” Frankie complained.

Russ leaned towards him and loudly whispered, “Cause we don’t want the Freaky Fentons coming over here. Let the weirdoes play, we have better things we can do.”  

Frankie faced the smaller boys as he was led away and called, “Keep your weirdness to yourselves freaks!”

Tucker’s rescuer waited until the tormenters were far enough away before crouching down level with him. “Hi!  I’m Danny!” He said with a friendly grin.  

“My name’s Tucker.” he responded, using his sleeve to wipe away his tears.

Danny offered his hand and helped pull Tucker to his feet.  He frowned as he passed the glasses back to their owner, “I’m sorry they messed up your glasses.  I ran as fast as I could but I was on the monkey bars when I saw what happened.”

Tucker shook his head still letting out little sniffles, “Thank you for helping me, they were really mean and said some really bad things.”

Danny had a thoughtful look as he picked up the hat and handed it to Tucker.  “Do you want me to tell the grownups?”

Tucker shook his head again as he put the crooked glasses on his face, “No then they’ll just be mad and come after me again.  They’re not worth it.”  He blinked as he adjusted to being able to see again, Danny’s eyes were very blue.

Danny shrugged, “If you’re sure.”  He offered Tucker his hand again.  “Come meet my big sister!  Jazzy is really smart, she skipped the fifth grade and is starting middle school this year.”

Tucker hesitantly took Danny’s hand and asked, “Why are we going to your sister?”

Danny grinned at him, “Cause we’re friends now right?  Jazzy will want to meet my new friend and know who you are!”

Tucker felt hope in his chest like a little bird stretching its wings for the first time.  He shyly returned the smile, “Yeah I’d love to be friends.”  

Danny’s grip was gentle as he led Tucker to the park bench, chattering the whole way. “And I have these really cool model rocket ships that my mommy and daddy got me, they glow in the dark!  And I have glow in the dark stickers on my ceiling too!  Daddy had to help me put them on, he’s really tall!  We had to do them over a lot until they matched the real constellations.  My mommy makes cookies every week and they’re really good!  We have ghost sprinkles that we can put on them.”

“My mom makes cookies too, I helped her make some today.” Tucker said.

“Helping make cookies is so much fun! Did your mommy let you lick the spoon?” Danny asked.

“Yeah!  She let me lick the spoon and the beaters from the mixer too!  It was so good!” Tucker answered.

“Ohhh that’s the best!”

They came to a stop next to the bench that Tucker had run past earlier.  The red-haired girl was still reading her book.  It didn’t have many pictures and Tucker could see a lot of big words.  He recognized ‘mitochondria’ and ‘nucleus’ but didn’t know what ‘vacuole’ or ‘cytoplasm’ meant.

Danny reached out with his free hand and put it right over the pages, “Jazzy!” he sang while wiggling his fingers.

“Danny!  I was reading that!”  The girl slid her headphones down around her neck as she finally looked up. Mozart continued to play as she and Tucker stared at each other for a moment.

Danny looked back and forth between them with a sunny smile on his face, “Jazzy!  This is my new friend Tucker.  Some bullies were being mean to him but I stopped them.” He said proudly.

She held her hand out to Tucker, “It’s nice to meet you, my name is Jasmine Fenton, but you can call me Jazz.”

Tucker gave her his best firm handshake and replied, “My name is Tucker Foley and I just turned 8 last month.”

Now that the introductions were through, Danny pressed forward and asked, “Jazzy can Tucker come over to our house to play?”

His sister frowned at him, “Danny you can’t just invite him without checking with his parents first. He can come over to our house if he gets permission first.”  

Danny turned to Tucker with hope shining brightly in his eyes.  Tucker rubbed the back of his neck as he considered what to do, Danny was even better at the puppy eyes than him.  “We can go ask my mom if it’s ok, she can fix my glasses up too.”  He grinned at the other boy, “She’ll be really glad to meet my friend and the cookies might be done now too!”

Once he had agreed Danny began bouncing in place and tugging on his sister’s hand.  “Come on Jazzy, you have to come too!”  As she packed her book and music away, he turned expectantly to Tucker, “Where do you live?” he asked.

Tucker pointed and said, “The second street over from the park on that side.  I live in the yellow house.” He grinned as Danny took his free hand and started swinging their arms as they walked, Jazz trailing a few steps behind them.

It only took a few minutes for them to arrive at the door to the Foley house.  Tucker shoved the door open, kicking off his shoes while yelling, “Mom!  I made a new friend!”  He turned to the Fenton siblings and pointed to the mat by the front door.  “You can put your shoes here and then you can come into the kitchen and meet my mom.”

Once all the footwear had been dropped onto the mat, he led them down the hall and into the kitchen.

“Wow, your cookies smell really good!” Danny exclaimed as they came into the room.  

“Why thank you, young man.” Angela Foley said as she used an oven mitt and a spatula to slide the cookies from the baking sheet to the cooling rack.  Once all of the cookies had been moved she looked up at the children hovering by the hallway.  “Oh my! Tucker, what happened?  You’re covered in dirt and your glasses!”

Tucker sniffed as he showed the bent frames to his mother, “There were some mean big kids at the playground and they messed up my glasses and tried to take my hat too.  Danny made them stop.”

“And this is Danny?” she asked, looking at the other boy.

Danny nodded while scuffing his foot as the attention shifted to him, “They were being really mean and pushing him and saying mean names.” he explained.

“And who’s this?” she asked while looking at the third child in the room.

“My name is Jasmine Fenton, I’m Danny’s older sister and I didn’t see the bullies.” Jazz answered while hovering behind her younger brother.

Mrs. Foley knelt down in front of Danny to meet his eye level and sincerely said, “Thank you Danny for helping Tucker when the bullies were being mean to him.  It means a lot to me that he has a friend who will stand up for him if someone is being a bully.”

Danny nodded and then surprised himself with a big sniff as tears started to come down.  He scrunched up his face in confusion as he continued to sniffle.

Jazz moved around to face him while asking, “Danny, what’s wrong? Are you hurt?”

Danny shook his head, “No! I don’t know why I can’t stop.” He said, offended that the tears wouldn’t stop.

Tucker tugged on his mom’s sleeve, “Mom, why would you cry is you aren’t hurt or sad?” he asked.

The other children waited expectantly for the answer.

Angela smiled and said, “Well sometimes if you’re trying very hard to be brave and strong when you’re feeling scared you can get through without crying, but when you get somewhere safe then the scared or sad feelings will still need to come out.  It’s ok to cry if you need to, there’s nothing wrong with that.”

She got off the floor and dampened a nearby towel.  She then used it to wipe Danny’s face of tears and dirt.  Once she had cleaned his face, she rinsed the towel and repeated the action with Tucker.  Jazz watched her with something close to awe in her eyes, “How did you know that?” she asked.

Angela chuckled and answered her, “That’s called psychology dear.  It’s the study of how the mind works and is very useful for understanding why people act in certain ways.”

Jazz nodded thoughtfully while watching Danny and quietly muttered, “Psychology sounds very useful and helpful.”

“There, that’s a lot better now.” Mrs. Foley said once both boys were cleaned and calm.  She gestured to the kitchen table and said, “Why don’t you three have a seat and help yourself to some cookies while I fix Tucker’s glasses.”  After plating the sufficiently cooled cookies, she ruffled Danny’s hair and held out her hand for the damaged glasses.  Tucker handed them over and then slid into the chair next to Danny, “Mom, after my glasses are fixed may I go over to play with Danny?”

His mother hummed thoughtfully as she ran water over the glasses to remove the dirt and smudges. She glanced at the table and had to hide her grin at the pleading looks the boys had.  “Of course you may.  As long as you come back before dark and follow any rules the Fentons have in their home.  You can give their parents our phone number when you get there.”  She carefully didn’t react to the happy exclamations from the boys and gently bent the metal frames back into the correct position. Once she was satisfied with the shape, she used a clean cloth to wipe the lens and passed them back to Tucker.

Once his glasses were back in place, Tucker shoved the last third of his cookie into his mouth and chewed furiously.  A moment later he thanked his mother and slid out of his seat.  He shifted on his feet while he waited for Danny and Jazz to finish their cookies as well.  Once they had all finished and Mrs. Foley had dropped some baggies with more cookies into their hands, they were out the door again.

Angela hummed cheerfully as she started cleaning her baking dishes.  She had almost finished scrubbing her baking pan when her husband returned from work and entered the kitchen.

“Hello Honey.” He said as he pecked her on the cheek.  “Where’s Tucker?” he asked as he swiped one of the warm cookies from the plate on the table.

“Tucker made some friends at the playground today.  Some bullies were harassing him and another boy stepped in and scared them off.” His wife answered while finishing the dishes.

“That’s wonderful!” He absently replied before taking a bite of the pilfered treat.

“Yes, the Fenton children are very sweet and were very polite when they came here to ask if Tucker could come over to play.” She said while placing the last dish on the drying rack.

Maurice choked on his cookie; “Did you say Fenton?” he gasped out, crumbs flying.

Angela dropped the towel she was using to dry her hands and hurried over to pound on his back.  “Yes, the Fentons.” she repeated, “Danny is around Tucker’s age and Jasmine is his older sister.”

“That’s great Honey.” Maurice wheezed, thinking back to his junior year of college and the party where he poured a whole bowl of punch over some huge freshman with the name Fenton. ‘That was years ago and hundreds of miles away from here.  Surely it can’t be the same Fenton?’

[merinnan]

DMBJ Explore with the Note Ep 4

Explore with the Note Ep 4 watch thread! 

 Since Ep 3 had no updates to any of the counts, we start ep 4 off with the following:

Season 2 Xiaoge Rescue Count: 2 for Wu Xie, 2 for protagonists, 3 for everyone

Season 2 Wu Xie Swoon Count: 0 Season 2 Evil Hair Count: 2 

Cumulative Xiaoge Rescue Count: 12 for Wu Xie, 17 for protagonists, 18 for everyone 

Cumulative Wu Xie Swoon Count: 6 

- Now that I have some idea of the colour schemes, I can identify which opening credits shots are from flashback scenes and which are from Wu Xie era scenes 

- Ah yes, the snek fishies. A clue to consider, then forget about while we look at other things.

- Aww, he's so happy to see the baby corpse vase 

- And the paintings are far more interesting than whatever might be inside the vase. Although he's moving it around far too easily for the baby corpse to still be in there, I think

- Poor confused Wu Xie. I don't blame him. The stuff in this tomb and its design apparently places it in two different time periods which are like 1000 years apart 

- Oooh, bubbles 

- Good move on the jumping back, turning off your torch, and getting a knife ready

- Although there appears to now be light coming from the water itself 

- Hahah, it's Pangzi and Xiaoge 

- Oh, nice, this time they're not subbing Men Youping as Pokerface.

- And of course Xiaoge is the first one he asks if he's alright, and goes to help out of the water XD 

- lol, even Pangzi calling him out on that 

- Aww, he's so worried about the mark on Xiaoge's arm

- "What happened?!" 

"Oh nothing, just a demon" 

"..." 

- Ah, Pangzi knows what that is 

- ...and ofc Wu Xie only knows what it is from classic poetry texts 

 - *googles ptomaine gas* 

- Ugh, yeah, you don't want to be breathing that. Sounds unpleasant

- Wu Xie is so over everything rn 

- Except Xiaoge, anyway

- I really like S2 Pangzi. He's got the right blend of competence and humour. Comic relief without being just a caricature like S1 Pangzi 

- And Wu Xie showing off his smarts, which is cute. It's moments like these that reminds me he's got an architecture degree

- I think this is the first time we've heard Wang Zanghai's name in the dramas so far 

- And Xiaoge seems to certainly know the name and not be happy about it

- Oh, this looks like a Xiaoge flashback? 

- More fucking swimming, of course 

- But without a diving suit this time - And that's all it was. So interesting. So groundbreaking. I've never seen anyone swimming through dark murky water in this show before

- This Wu Xie is a much more expressive Wu Xie than S1. So many smiles! 

- And such a brilliant little shit 

- I'm really liking the Wu Xie/Pangzi interactions so far. Well, all of them, but these moments are so good. They're reminding me of the Chongqi interactions

- Oh, more bubbles, I'm sure this will be FINE 

- Oh, it's just the water draining out

- Pangzi complaining he can't see because of the fog, but really, I'd think the darkness would be the bigger problem. 

 - They've only got a couple of torches, and this is a large room and even larger pit that that staircase is going down into

- Wu Xie, what did you expect, asking if he can read something from such a distance? 

- And then looking at Xiaoge to see if it's going to be okay to do this 

- These steps & the twig-things on them are remarkably dry for having been submerged in water only a couple of minutes ago

- OK, now that I'm not distracted by speaking or, like, plot (or pingxie), the bgm is actually drawing my attention and dear god, yes, it really is awful and annoying 

- Hahah, dunking on both Sanshu's and Pangzi's English skills in one go

- This Wu Xie is a lovely chaos gremlin 

- Who hasn't completely lost all sense of caution yet, it seems 

- I mean, Pangzi, I'm not sure you'd be saying those things if you heard the kinds of stories Sanshu was telling bby!Wu Xie in those flashbacks 

- Then again, you probably would

- "Besides, I can't leave Xiaoge" ❤️

 - So Xiaoge probably left those marks 

- This look on Pangzi's face as Wu Xie just throws away all the caution he'd been arguing with Pangzi with to go chasing after Xiaoge XD

- I have to say, S1 was far superior in terms of set lighting. Most of the time it's so hard to make out anything. Like, I know they're meant to be in a tomb, but would it have killed them to add more set lighting so we could actually see what's going on more consistently?

- I do love this Xiaoge's unimpressed looks. 

- Oh, it's the mirror 

- Again, everything down here is so remarkably dry 

 - Dry enough to have got dusty in mere minutes!

- Intense Xiaoge Stares! All the stares, all the time, all at Wu Xie

- Ooh, old diving equipment. Well spotted. 

- That airtank being crushed like that does not seem to be a good sign 

- I'm with Pangzi. What sounds? The bgm was drowning out everything except speech

- Hahahah. Pangzi all like, no, we don't need to go up, it's not that dangerous, you're just scaring yourself. Then one mention of the Drought Demon and he's like y'know, on second thoughts.... 

- Xiaoge does like his disappearing tricks 

- And reappearing ones

- This is a good shot for a vague creepiness factor

- Baby is so worried

- Oooh, time for dramatic music while we look at dramatic skyscapes and seascapes 

- Wait, is all that water running backward? 

- I have no idea how that is meant to symbolise remembering things, but apparently it does 

- And now, a Xiaoge flashback

- The vases in the tomb 20 years ago were amazingly clean. Somehow they went somewhere between 500-1500 years staying as clean as if new, then in 20 years they got covered in waterscum.

- I am impressed at the seals on their equipment, if dude was able to bring a sketchpad along on a dive and have it be perfectly dry when he took it out to draw on. 

- And all those notebooks, too 

- The flashbacks get MUCH better set lighting

- Boys, boys, don't fight over the priceless antique porcelain like that. You're gonna drop it and break it. 

- Hahah, Xiaoge's trying so hard to ignore this girl 

- Even when she does give him something interesting to look at

- Well, that explains why all the vases were over there and in that order 20 years later for Wu Xie to find

- This kind of chatter is exactly the kind of chatter I'd expect on an excursion to look at things, or a group project. A little bit is relevant, most is just random chatter, and some might actually eventually mean something once they talk it out. It's great

- Oh, if only you knew, Wenjin. If only you knew 

- Hahah, Wenjin yelling at everyone and telling them to stay put, while Xiaoge just calmly ignores her while he puts his backpack on and walks off 

- lol, and then he just staaaaares at her until she lets him go

- Ah, she knows Sanshu so well 

- She's trying to be the grownup here 

- Poor Wenjin. She really can't win either was when she was stuck on an expedition with both Sanshu and Xiaoge

- Apparently these guys all managed to make it through the hallway without any of them triggering the traps 

- Well done, kiddos 

- Poor Wenjin playing babysitter to all these kids, though

- At least 20 years ago the stonework stayed wet after the water receding instead of mysteriously drying off 

- Well. Most of it, anyway 

- The floor, at least 

- I mean, like, kids. You didn't have to follow him. He didn't ask you to. 

- You just decided to

- Well, they were right, Sanshu was there 

- Just not the one they thought he was 

- Oh, that's a door there 

- I love the way Wu Xie and Pangzi in this tend to shine their flashlights in each other's faces to indicate "I think you're full of shit"

- Oh, clever Wenjin, the first one to figure it out 

- So much staring at each other

- Season 2 Evil Hair Count: 3 

- Though so far it's just sneaking down to tickle Wenjin's neck 

- And they go from perfectly dry corridor to wet-floored room 

- For no discernable reason

- And we end the episode mid-flashback, with them gushing over how pretty the Heavenly Palace is 

- And it really is quite pretty 

- No updates to either the Rescue Count or the Swoon Count, and only the single last-minute update to the Evil Hair Count

So, we end with:

Season 2 Xiaoge Rescue Count: 2 for Wu Xie, 2 for protagonists, 3 for everyone

Season 2 Wu Xie Swoon Count: 0

Season 2 Evil Hair Count: 3

Cumulative Xiaoge Rescue Count: 12 for Wu Xie, 17 for protagonists, 18 for everyone

Cumulative Wu Xie Swoon Count: 6

[nodesiretogrowup]

alrighty, review time!

Do you think Donald wrote the song? He did write a song when he was younger and the lyrics fit him best

I love that Donald is the sane man of the Caballeros

Why did you choose the bathroom? That’s really weird and kind of perverted

I love the picture of a rubber ducky in a top hat on the wall

Just how big is that bathtub? Four grown men were able to fit in it at the same time

Never mess with a man who has a demon-ghost butler

“That’s the FOURTH rich guy’s bathroom we’ve been kicked out of.” I...I would like to know about the other three. And again, WHY THE BATHROOM?!

“We just need someone to listen to us!” Donald giving us the theme/moral of the episode

Was Louie just waiting out there?

Louie looks like a drug dealer. He also looks a bit like the reboot version of himself from that poster in Quack Pack

“And you’re willing to do whatever I say, at any cost whatsoever?” “Well, not any...” “QUIET, DONALD!” Guys, you should listen to Donald, he knows Louie better than you

Poor Donald, the only sane man here

I love the stickers on Louie’s laptop. I wonder if he actually knows how to hack

I love the stupid “it” trends. Hats-Hats and Invisible Piercings, what will they think of next

Of course Dewey would keep up with an IT list. He actually cares about his image/how his peers view him

The lead singer of the Feather Weights looks like a punk girl version of Drake. I’m gonna go with them being related somehow. Or they used to date. Or they go to the same hair stylist. THEY ARE TIED TOGETHER SOMEHOW

Yo-yo tricks were more of a 2000s thing, Dewey (seriously though, does anyone else remember when yo-yos were SUPER POPULAR for some reason?)

Panchito is so ridiculously EXTRA and I LOVE HIM

“These are my people.” Oh sweet Dewford, they wish they were on your level

“Internet fame-the most important fame of all” Well it’s the most achievable

And then Dewey just rolls off screen

“If only someone had a super-elaborate scheme to get in...KA-BOOM!” Dewey’s not the only showman in the family

This show LOVES some big boards

Why/when did Louie plan all of this? I mean he did want the Caballeros to make him their manager so he could get a cut, but why?

Already you can see that Louie’s pride is gonna get in the way

Again, Donald is being the responsible one

I love their signatures. Panchito’s is like a 12 year old girl’s, José’s is curvy, and Donald’s is the least showy. And I love that Panchito thought “Don” was enough lol. He is close to Launchpad levels of ditziness

The pictures Louie uses on his board are GREAT! I love fridge-raiding Panchito

Agent Dewey-License to Chill. Dewey, that was two episodes ago

“I have a very special job for you.” “Oh-ho ho-ho, special.”

Luis P Canard. Is that a false identity Louie already had or did he make it up for the party? Or is there an actual Luis P Canard?

Huey looks SO CUTE! Though he should have known something was up when Louie asked him to forge a signature. Do you think Huey has forged other documents with or without knowing it?

Louie looks good with that black “lipstick”

“Welcome to the scheme.” “What scheme?” “Nothing.” “TELL NO ONE.”

Gyro Gearloose-Kid inventor. Does that mean he was a child prodigy or that he LITERALLY invents kids? Or both? The possible clone’s tube had K.I.D. on it. I bet this will be explored more, probably next episode

I love how they all stare at the earpieces when Gyro says the DEFINITELY won’t explode 

I love that the lion statues have sunglasses and there’s a statue of a ballerina hippo from Fantasia

OUR QUEEN HAS ARRIVED

How do ducks whistle if they don’t have lips?

Daisy-smiles, Donald-I WOULD DIE FOR YOU

I love Daisy’s fake laugh

With both of them in tuxes you can really see that Dewey and Louie have different body types. Louie has broader shoulders.

“I’M GONNA DANCE DOWN THE RED CARPET.” No Dewey, that’s for the after party

It’s the PEP guy! I feel like he’s gonna become a villain with how much he’s been embarrassed (and he already LOOKS like a cheesy superhero show villain)

GRAVES IS BACK, BABY

Dewey has made a LOT of enemies

“New plan-Dewey is NOT going to the party!” DAMN, THAT’S COLD

“This is the Dewey-est party in town!”

“Oh, WHY was I cursed to be so FLASHY and UNFORGETTABLE?!” I love my dramatic son

Why did the Caballeros have to switch hats?

“SO TIGHT. !”

WE NEED MORE DJ DAFT DUCK

Ok, real talk? That party looks boring as fuck 

I like that there’s sweat when Dewey pulls off his helmet. It’s the little details

“Everyone listens to my plan.” Dewey looks PISSED

“The plan to wow Glamour with our haunting melodies.” Panchito is Drake/DW if he was a Latin Lover. THEY NEED TO MEET. IT WOULD BE HAMMY AND GLORIOUS

“You mean our SICK dance beats!”

Donald is like “girls, girls, you’re BOTH pretty”

But seriously, they need to decide what direction they want to go with their sound

Donald is ALWAYS the voice of reason (except in The Town Where Everyone Was Nice, he got a bit caught up in that lie)

“I will charm my way on stage with my golden voice.” #youtried

That smirk José gives him, beautiful

“Easy, grownups.” YOU JUST GOT DISSED BY A 10 YEAR OLD!

“So I’ll dazzly Daisy with my hip, cool yo-yo tricks.” I would have liked to see how that played out

Does Louie have some kind of dirt on Jane? Why does she keep helping him out? Why does she call him “Mr. Duck?”

Glamour is a BITCH. And it seems like Daisy might share the same luck as Donald and Della

SERIOUSLY, WHAT DO YOU HAVE ON HER, LOUIE?!

Donald was posing all cool

Why send Donald in to do the most important part of the plan? At least have someone with him. Louie should have gone with him so Donald could distract Daisy and Louie could use his pickpocket skills to get the pass. Louie did not account for the variables

“Ooooh PHOOEY.” I love that all of the Duck family say Donald’s catchphrase

POOR DEWEY!

I love Louie’s other distraction ideas-explosion, food poisoning, SET FREE A WILD MONGOOSE, ghosts, ANOTHER explosion 

LET DAISY SAY FUCK

I’m pretty sure Donald got a boner when he saw Daisy DESTROY that vase (I also found it hot). He was scaroused

OUCH. That HAD to have hurt/broken SOMETHING

How did Louie get that picture of Webby? Hell, how was that pic taken in the first place?

“WHEEEEEEE” Webby knows what’s up

“MY FAULT! It’s...your bag.” Oh Donald

LET DAISY SAY FUCK

“My band is sorta...crashing the party.” DONALD YOU ARE TOO CUTE

The yo-yo just rolls away

Louie, you hurt Dewey’s feelings! Also, your plans are pretty ridiculous too, including the one you are currently trying to pull off. There had to be a better idea than a harpy

Listy-er

GLAMOUR MUST DIE FOR WHAT SHE DID TO LOUIE! IT’S A GOOD THING DONALD WASN’T THERE OR ELSE SHE WOULD BE

“I don’t want to be at Funzo’s forever.” “Why not?” Oh Webby, so innocent to the horrors of minimum wage jobs. Also it’s nice to see Webby being able to have an ordinary conversation with someone

FALCON’S EYEBROWS ARE MESMERIZING

It’s equal parts cute and sad how long Dewey takes to count

MANNY IS FUCKING SWOLE

Manny is 0 for 2 when it comes to being the muscle (I’m counting him vs Mega-Beaks as well)

“That was odd.” You have no idea

Donald sees Daisy as the GODDESS she is. GET YOU A MAN LIKE DONALD

I KNEW IT! I KNEW SHE WANTED TO BE A FASHION DESIGNER! It was like the only guess I got right so let me have this

“Nobody listens to me either.” Awww

“They don’t understand me.” AWWW

“Well that’s weird, I understand you perfectly.” MY HEART!!!

I LOVE THIS SONG SO MUCH! And when it changes into how Daisy hears him...chef’s kisses. It reminded me of Remember Me from Coco and I Love You Too Much from Book of Life

Real talk-the song really got me. I feel a lot like Donald. A lot of times it feels like no one is listening or understands me because my thought process is a bit different. Or they can understand but they don’t care, like how Daisy feels. When Donald sings for her, I teared up because I want to be comfortable enough with someone to let down my guard like that. Music is a big part of who I am so I would love if someone sang for me even if they don’t have the “perfect” voice. I want someone to feel comfortable enough with me to let down their guard and be real

Daisy is a woman of ACTION

Do you think she’s been stuck in that elevator before?

“My kids!” “Wait, you have kids?” Whenever Donald calls them his kids I gain 5 years to my lifespan. I can’t wait for Daisy to officially meet the kids

“Oh no, not again!” Starting to rethink your life-choices aren’t ya?

I love Mark. He’s so stupid and out of touch with the real world

“Oh Gravesy! Long time, no crime.” GRAVEBEAK LIVES ON!

I love Mark’s hoverboard crashing and catching fire in the background. And then it chases Slash

Haha, Mark’s name is Markus. What a dewb

I was rooting for rich lesbian aunt, but mom works too

Graves is SO DONE with these people

Dewey is all of us

Poor Louie. His self confidence is the most fragile of the kids

Nerp

“Just listen to me for once.” WE ALL NEED TO LISTEN TO EACH OTHER, THAT’S THE THEME OF THE EPISODE

THEY’RE HOLDING HANDS! And Mark seemed into it ;)

“I want to look away but I can’t” CALLING IT NOW, THIS LINE’S GONNA BE A MEME

I want Dewey’s yo-yo skills to be a reoccurring thing

That’s one of the things he has in common with his uncle-being a performer even if they aren’t the best at it

Louie’s face as he sneaks away is great

“The failure of it is ridiculous...and BEAUTIFUL!” Gonna use that to describe myself from now on

Dewey is IT. SO FABULOUS!

Daisy, maybe you should let the man get rid of them

DOUBLE BADASS ONE-LINERS

LET DONALD SAY FUCK

HE’S SO PROUD OF HIS BOY

I like the “totally not Pirates of the Caribbean” music that accompanies José when he’s fighting

“Nice singing.” “Nice moves.” NOW KISS

“Oo, nice dagger.” Webby, not the time for that

There is NO WAY that the scene with Gabby and Webby isn’t foreshadowing SOMETHING

“I gotta get out of Duckburg.” Jane starts a GoFundMe page to get out of Duckburg when she gets home

BATTLE COUPLE!

DAISY WILL FUCK YOU UP

DON’T MESS WITH HER MAN

It was then Donald realized that he had met his future wife

DONALD AIN’T GONNA TAKE THAT SHIT FROM YOU

It was then Daisy realized she had met her future husband

“LOVE YOUR BLOG” Who knew Manny kept on on the latest trends

Glamour probably realized those fuckers were crazy so she should back off

SILENT M’MA CABRERA!

OMG EVEN THE TREE HAS FUCKING SUNGLASSES

Manny is one suave motherfucker

Glamour playing with the yo-yo while Mark acts like a spoiled brat

DEWEY IS PROUD OF HIS DADNALD!

IF WE DON’T GET DEWEY’S DOZEN AT SOME POINT I’M SUING

“Our brotherhood is the greatest scheme of all!” SO FUCKING WHOLESOME! MORE LOUIE AND DEWEY PLOTS

“HEY, YOU’RE MESSING WITH MY MOJO!” Don’t be a hater, Manny!

“I could listen to it all night.” DAAAAAWWWWWWW

GAAAAAAHHHHH THIS EPISODE WAS SO GOOD! I love that there was a common theme of feeling like you aren’t being heard. Daisy felt like she was too unimportant to be listened to, Louie doesn’t listen to Dewey because he feels like Dewey isn’t serious enough, and NO ONE listens to Donald because his voice is hard to understand. In the end they all get heard, with Donald and Daisy getting the bonus of finding someone who understands them. The two of them really are relationship goals. I cannot WAIT for more wholesome Donisy content. This one bumped Quack Pack down from my favorite so far.

[longforyesterday]

Ok. Here we are. Long post(/rant) ahead in response to the photo above. Sorry for my English, but I had to get these things off my chest. Thanks to everyone who will take the time to read this post, and tell me what you think!

1. They had all agreed to shut up about the “divorce” and he announced it to promote his album.

First of all, it was Allen Klein (one of the main villain in this wretched story) that had convinced John - who was very enamoured with him, his persona and his promises - not to tell anyone about it. In late December 1969 John, however, told journalist Ray Connolly, who didn’t say a word. Klein wanted to make as much money as he possibly could from the band, and announcing the break-up would have certainly damaged that prospect.  Paul did it in April 1970. That’s four months of limbo, of nothing. He was in the midlle of an uncertain situation, with a manager who profited off them and their work and that he didn’t want, his bandmates and closest friends against him. Paul loved the Beatles and being a Beatle, he never wanted them to break up but the time had come. George had wanted out for years but never left for good. We all know John had lost interest in the band and had already started working with Yoko. I feel like Ringo didn’t want the band to break-up, but just went along with the other two, hoping that Paul would eventually agree with them. Releasing a solo album (that he put together without any help from the other three) while staying in the Beatles under Klein, with no hope of a follow-up to Abbey Road, in a tense situation, after John’s “divorce” private announcement, alone against the other three would have meant - for Paul - that everything he made from it would have gone to Klein for the most part. Of course he didn’t want that. Let’s not act like this didn’t affect Paul at all.  It must also be mentioned that, while he was working on his solo album, Allen Klein and John had contacted Phil Spector to work on Get Back/Let It Be, which had been shelved.

Back in Beatles headspace, Paul sat in a room at Cavendish Avenue and, with fresh ears, reviewed the results of the second version of the Get Back LP. To his mind, the music was stark, unadorned, frighteningly bare, but ultimately thrilling. Klein, meanwhile, bluntly deemed it ‘a crock of shit’ and conspired with Lennon to bring in Phil Spector, who had just overseen the rousing production of ‘Instant Karma!’, to rework the tapes. Unknown to McCartney, Spector booked studio time in March and began slathering strings and brass, fairytale harp and aaahing choir onto ‘The Long And Winding Road’, making it sound hopelessly corny, like a BBC orchestra backing Engelbert Humperdinck. At this stage, however, Paul remained unaware of this development, his thoughts somewhere else entirely. Secluded in his music room at Cavendish Avenue, McCartney began recording his first solo album.

Tom Doyle, Man On The Run

Then came a letter (maybe it’s just me, but I find it a little passive-aggressive) from the rest of the Beatles.

Ringo Starr stood on the doorstep of McCartney’s house at Cavendish Avenue, unaware that he was about to precipitate the end of The Beatles. His tricky diplomatic mission, which he had chosen to accept in his role as the chirpy drummer, was to convince his increasingly estranged bandmate that there was an unacceptable clash of release dates between the long-delayed Get Back – now renamed Let It Be – and Paul’s freshly minted eponymous solo album, which was due to be issued only a week before. With him, he had a letter, dated 31 March 1970, handwritten by John Lennon and co-signed by George Harrison. It read: ‘Dear Paul, We thought a lot about The Beatles and yours [sic] LPs – and decided it’s stupid for Apple to put out two big albums within 7 days of each other. So we sent a letter to EMI telling them to hold your release date ’til June 4th (there’s a big Apple-Capitol convention in Hawaii then). We thought you’d come round when you realised that The Beatles album was coming out on April 24th. We’re sorry it turned out like this – it’s nothing personal. Love, John and George.’ Paul – his patience already strained, his temper on a hair-trigger – invited his friend inside and very quickly absorbed this information. Then he erupted. ‘I told him to eff off,’ Paul says. ‘Everyone, to my mind, was completely treating me like dirt. It was kind of like, “We’re the big guys, we’re the grownups.” And I said, “No way, man. Get out.”’ Ringo swiftly departed with the sound of Paul’s fury ringing in his ears. McCartney refused to budge and his solo album was released on 17 April 1970, forcing Let It Be back another two weeks to 8 May. It was the moment when Paul McCartney finally gave up on The Beatles, the point where he mentally quit the group.

Tom Doyle, Man On The Run    

Of course the news provoked public outrage, and Paul - trying to set the record straight - later said 

‘It was all a misunderstanding,’ he protested. ‘I never intended the statement to mean “Paul McCartney quits Beatles”. I didn’t leave The Beatles. The Beatles have left The Beatles, but no one wants to be the one to say the party’s over’ 

Tom Doyle, Man On The Run

but John was furious because he had wanted to announce it to the world and Paul had beaten him to it. He didn’t announce it to promote his own solo efforts, he wasn’t the type of person to do such a thing: Paul left that limbo he didn’t want to stay in and did what had to be done, even though it was painful. His first solo album resented from the announcement, and McCartney was destroyed by critics for ages because of it, not because of the songs, and by John, George and Ringo too.

2. “He sued the Beatles”

Yes, he sued them, that’s a fact. He sued them in December 1970, at the end of an year during which he had received worldwide hate and criticism for his actions and for his album. He could have sued the other three immediately after the release of McCartney or Let It Be (and he was booed during screenings of the movie), but procrastinated and thought a lot about it. He also had a nervous breakdown because he felt worthless and useless and because of that difficult situation within the group (which at that point didn’t exist anymore) and with Klein. We could have lost him if it hadn’t been for Linda.  There was no other escape from that situation. He brought his former bandmates to court with a heavy heart. He “killed” the Beatles, but he also saved them from their manager. In the end they all recognised Paul was right about Klein, and he did them a favour by freeing them from that shark and from Apple.

3. “It’s a drag”

Imagine having just learned of your close friend’s sudden, terrible death at the hands of psycopath. Imagine burying yourself in your work, in the studio to deal with your grief, and crying your eyes out all the while (George Martin was there with him, and I trust George Martin). Then you come out of the studio and a journalist shoves a microphone in your face, prying, asking you for a reaction to the sad news you’ve been trying to deal with for hours. He probably was still in denial. Everyone has a different reaction to death and grief.

4. “He lost their songs to his little Jackson mate”

Paul and Michael had worked together on two singles, and MJ had hung out with the McCartneys in their Scottish estate. He had also asked Paul for financial advice, and he suggested investing in song-publishing. The Beatles catalogue was up for sale and Jackson seized the opportunity. Of course Paul didn’t think MJ would go after their songs and was upset about it (eight years of his and his former bandmates’ hard work in another man’s hands? I would be furious) and he and Yoko weren’t able to outbid Michael and to get the songs back, which only happened ten years ago. 

5. The credits for ‘Yesterday’

Every song in the Beatles catalogue that wasn’t a cover, written jointly with Ringo or written by George was credited to Lennon-McCartney, even when they wrote and composed separately (especially after 1967). Paul and John also agreed that the credits could be reversed, if either of them wanted to, on any future releases. When I first got into the Beatles, I thought that that was a good arrangement, but in my book the name of the main composer should go first. For example,in my opinion, A Day In The Life is correctly credited to Lennon-McCartney, but Eleanor Rigby, which was Paul’s creation with some input by John, should be McCartney-Lennon. But this is just my opinion. Now, Yesterday. We all know Yesterday was and is Paul’s baby. John repeatedly said he had nothing to do with it. In Wings Over America (1976), Paul reversed the credits for five Beatles songs, and John didn’t say a word about it. In 1996, before the release of Anthology 2, Paul asked Yoko to reverse them only for Yesterday, and she disagreed. He didn’t ask her to remove John’s name. After Yoko’s refusal, (probably unbeknownst to Paul) Linda, who was at the height of her chemo treatment, phoned her to ask the same thing, only to be answered “That’s never going to happen”. She could have been more empathetic and polite. Maybe she refused beause Yesterday is the most covered song of all time and still makes a lot of money?

6. “Salieri and Mozart”

Some people may argue that I’m bringing Yoko into this for no reason whatsoever, but - actually - there is a reason. The comparison with Salieri and Mozart was made by Yoko herself in a BBC interview in December 1997, when Linda was diagnosed with terminal liver cancer. Put yourself in Paul’s shoes.  Your wife is dying and your best friend’s widow rubs salt into the wound and describes you as the Salieri to her late husband’s Mozart. Common knowledge has it that the two composers were enemies, and that Salieri even poisoned Mozart, but in reality the Italian musician was Wolfgang’s mentor and tutor, and we probably wouldn’t have had Mozart without Salieri. If you choose to make that comparison just as Yoko made it, you should keep in mind the historical truth, and that Salieri was essential. The person who made the comment said that Paul is the modern equivalent of Mozart, and for a reason. Mozart had been a musical prodigy since his childhood, and Paul was and is still considered by many an all-round musician and multi-instrumentalist. People who worked with the Beatles like George Martin and Geoff Emerick, their sound engineer, even said that he was the most musically talented of the four. He also composed Yesterday in his sleep, for heaven’s sake! You can have your favourite among the four Beatles, but you can’t deny his talent. (The commentator isn’t doing that, but a lot of people did it in the past and still do to this day.)

7. *I’m not going to repeat those last words*

Read up on his life and work, dear commentator, and then tell me if you still think that. And his solo work shouldn’t be dismissed like that. Maybe I’m Amazed? Another Day? Band on the Run? Live and Let Die? Here Today? I could go on. (The other former Beatles wrote some clunkers too, let’s not forget that). I think that many of the nasty, horrible comments about Paul come from what John said about him immediately after the break-up. John regretted them later, walked back on them, apologised and made peace with Paul (who never badmouthed him in the press), but the media ignored that and continued spreading lies. Paul wasn’t and isn’t perfect, neither of them was. A lot of people (mainly boomers) just like to act like John was Saint John of Peace from Liverpool and never did anything wrong, while the other three were inferior to him and evil people, especially Paul. Nowadays (thankfully) people tend to be objective and to not believe the old whitewashing propaganda that has been perpetuated by the Lennon Estate. But this post is not the place for that.

[buddaimond]

Rob, you actively pursued Claire, showing up at her door and asking to work with her. Why did you want to work with her so much?

Denis: You don’t have to answer that. [laughs]

Pattinson: All her movies feel like they're not just made ... it doesn't feel like a director said, "Oh, I'm a professional film director, I'm making this because I have to make a movie." They all feel like a little part of her. I always find it interesting to find out what it is about a director that makes them feel that. But also, I always just thought the performances she always gets, it's across the board, there aren't really any bad performances in any of her movies. So I was just wanting to work with her as an insurance policy.

So Claire, why’d you say yes?

Pattinson: I paid her.

Denis: It didn’t take long. Meeting him, speaking with him, I understood that the choice was made, you know? There was nothing to think about.

This project had been in development for some time, but was there any hesitancy or new visual language you had to learn to make a science fiction movie?

Denis: For me, really, no. It was like any film I've made, except the location was in a spaceship, you know? But I never thought, wow, this is a new angle in my life and blah, blah, blah. The only reason I was a little bit afraid was because it's in English, but that's all.

At least there’s not a ton of dialogue, that must have helped.

Denis: No, I never use too much dialogue, but it's not a question of dialogue or not dialogue, you know? Even if there is no dialogue, to make a film in English means you have to think in English. Also, the crew was German. People keep telling me, "Oh, there is not much dialogue in your films." But what's the difference if the film says a lot? Sometimes, dialogue is just noise — blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And it says nothing, you know?

The dialogue seems to be now, the quantity is like a recipe. If you want to bake a cake, you have to put in 200 grams of this and that, sugar, etc. It's like voiceover. Do we need a voiceover or no? That is a big question in a film, much more important than dialogue. For me was really important.

There’s a fair amount of voiceover here — was that ever a debate?

Denis: No, even before I met Rob I knew that there must be a voiceover because I wanted to start with the character alone with the baby.

Not that I was checking my watch at all, but the opening with just Rob and the baby, that’s a significant chunk of time. Is it hard to get a baby to act? Did you just let the camera roll?

Denis: Do we direct? No, you have to create a mood.

Pattinson: It’s so difficult to get a film crew to be quiet. It was the most gentle set. It was a lot of having to keep the baby asleep and everyone, no matter who they were, there was never anyone making a peep, ever. That was really unusual, especially because we had little tiny rooms, when it would have been really loud.

Denis: When you say small rooms, these were of course rooms made for cinema. So it was made out of wood and stuff and when we started shooting with little Scarlet, as soon as she slept in your bed, in the bed, I felt that suddenly the set was real. Immediately it became real. She was really sleeping.

It takes some time to earn a baby’s trust.

Pattinson: The first couple of days, when I'd take her, she would get really upset with me for taking her away from her parents, but I know her parents really well, so that wasn’t so hard. I would give her back after finishing shooting, but then I realized every single time she got wrenched away, she'd be really upset. So I was like, "OK, I'm just going to stay with her the whole day." Because if she didn't see her parents, it was fine.

But it was also a question of keeping her constantly distracted the whole time. Normally, you know, you shoot a scene and then you leave set. But it was really cold in Cologne, where we were shooting, so I would just stay on set, trying to think of things to entertain a baby for hours. I was constantly running through the trees at the end. You had to think of new stuff. It was only about two weeks, and originally you could go just look at some leaves, "Ooh Scarlett, look at this leaf!" After five days she'd be like, "I'm sick of looking at leaves." And I'd be like, “OK, are we shooting yet?” I'd spend like three hours babysitting.

One of the most satisfying things you've ever done, when you're trying to shoot a scene but also trying to combine it with getting her to go to sleep, and if she goes to sleep in the shot, it would be glorious. It’s like scoring a perfect goal.

Bonding with the baby is good prep work, then.

Pattinson: There’s something deeply traumatic, especially when it's not your baby and she's crying in your arms, you will do literally everything to stop her crying. And her parents are watching the monitor as well.

Denis: Stop it, you’re killing me, you’re killing me. There was one moment where he said, “I don’t want to yell too loud.”

There was that moment where you have to be very frustrated with the baby.

Pattinson: That was definitely a moment where I did the take and then said, “OK, take her!”

Claire, a lot of your movies deal with fatherhood. What is interesting about that to you?

Denis: Because I don't remember my father as the mast of my life. Of course I loved my father, but I mean there is something in filmmaking, it makes you realize other things that you never did realize in your own life. If a guy like Robert Mitchum is suddenly very gentle with an animal or with a child, somehow you feel the world is moving, because in film, every character is iconic, you know? And if this character is doing things as natural as feeding a baby, suddenly it changes completely the balance of the feelings. It's beautiful.

I think many films could be made of that type. You know, there is always something to discover with the relation between a grownup and a child. It's not me. I'm not obsessed by fathers. I'm obsessed by film.

Robert, the scene you shoot with Juliette, when she mounts you, and you’re mostly unconscious. How was that to film?

Denis: She’s raping him.

Right, yeah. Your eyes are closed the whole time. How hard was that to film?

Pattinson: Well, for me it was quite easy. It was very strange because I have my eyes closed the whole time, so I had absolutely no idea until I saw the movie. I think it was pretty spectacular.

Denis: She took your hand and then your fingers and then the last thing I said to you, "Maybe you feel something, a little bit."

He gave a little bit of a smile at one point.

Denis: We did one take completely unconscious, and then one slightly conscious.

Pattinson: Because they are, they're attracted to each other—

Denis: Yeah, she’s a foxy lady.

Pattinson: He's enforcing that discipline on himself. But really it's kind of like, what are you doing all that for? You could be in a spaceship, having sex with Juliette Binoche all the time. What's the problem with that?

So what was it like watching that the first time?

Pattinson: I remember seeing the script, the dialogue for that, I was like, "Wow, okay."

Denis: Fill me, fill me Monte! [laughing]

Pattinson: I spoke to the translator, and I was like, "Andy, I don't really think that girls say like, 'I want you to fill me up,' I think that's a porno thing." And he's like, "Rob, you obviously haven't had sex with a guy before." I did think it was quite funny when she was walking through. I did see it kind of in the corner of my eyes, when she's drifting through a spaceship with my cum in her hands. I think a lot of it is very funny.

[zoebechtle-blog]

Unlikely Chapter 12

“You know what my favorite thing about your face is?” Random thoughts from Zoe. Niall turned his eyes from the football match on the TV (against my own will, he had turned me into a Derby Rams fan). It was late on a Saturday night. Willie and Hannah were out of town and Deo had been relocated for the weekend. We hadn’t seen much of one another over the last week - he was finishing things for his upcoming charity golf tournament and gala, and sliding into the studio to write as often as he could. He claimed he'd had a stroke of inspiration lately and wanted to get back to making music. I was busy finishing up work on a big research project with a few other therapists, and hadn’t been home before 9:00 anytime recently. As of next week, his schedule was the most insane thing I’ve ever seen for an unemployed musician (as I liked to remind him): golf tournaments, fundraisers, charity games, concerts and festivals, and an extended trip to the U.S. to write and record more. Therefore, we had sequestered ourselves in his house and were having a grownup sleepover. Last night I’d insisted we make a fort out of cushions to eat pizza in - once I’d convinced him it was an amazing idea, he’d gone in with full gusto, choosing blankets that were sturdy. He fancied himself a fort engineer by the end, and was a little pissed when we knocked it down after the dinner during more active pursuits that resulted in an impressive patch of rug burn on my back. We took a long bath, with bubbles that I’d smuggled in, and I’d dozed off with my back resting on his chest, at ease with pretty much everything. He turned on some late 90s dance music this afternoon and we danced around like idiots, then tried (unsuccessfully) doing the tango (I have two left feet). I was trying to convince him to let me braid his hair, but he wasn’t there yet. It’d been the best 30 hours ever, and I was kind of buzzed off my love of him. Well, and the bottle of wine I’d been sipping on.

“What’s that, baby?” He took a long drink of his beer and I watched him swallow, enthralled. “Z?”

“Huh?”

He started laughing. “You have the attention span of a mouse. What’s your favorite thing about my face?”

“Oh yeah!” I was sitting on his left side on the ginormous sectional sofa in his living room, my feet across his lap. I scooted my butt closer until I was almost sitting on him, and turned his chin so he was facing forward and I had a perfect profile shot. “This. This is my favorite.”

“You’re poking my cheek!”

“No! I’m poking your eye dimple. It’s the cutest thing ever.”

“I don’t even know what you’re talking about - don’t have a dimple on my eye.”

“Right under, not ON your eye.” I rolled my eyes for emphasis. “Here.” I grabbed my phone from behind me and pulled up a picture of him I’d taken that morning. He was sitting on his countertop in his tightie whities, laughing at my impressions of various Food Network chefs while I made French toast. He looked so utterly perfect, laughing so hard he ended up getting the hiccups when I discussed Wonder Bread and Egg Beaters as Sandra Lee, his hair falling over his brow and fingers grasping the overhang of the counter. Who knew the members of One Direction loved cooking shows? I’d promptly walked over the kissed the living hell out of him after I snapped the pic. Such opportunities could not be wasted. “See? It’s a little dimple and it only shows when you’re genuinely smiling. Everytime I see it I want to buy a house and retire there because it’s the most perfect place on Earth.” Okay, maybe I’d had closer to a bottle and a half of wine. He looked at me with wide, adoring eyes, and caught my lips with his own.

“Know what my favorite part of your face is?”

“I’m guessing my lips because, blah blah, sucking you off,” I gave him a cheeky grin, expecting the usual male answer.

“You underestimate me, Zoe,” he replied, wrinkling his forehead and pushing his pretty lips out into a tiny pout. He actually looked a little hurt.

“I’m sorry, boo.” I traced his chin dimple with my thumb, pacifying him. “What’s your favorite part?”

He kissed my brow bone. “This. Can tell everythin’ you’re thinkin’ by your forehead and brows. You can’t hide a thing. Explains why you can’t play poker for shit.”

“I’m not THAT bad.”

“Babe, Nick took forty quid off you in one hand.”

“He cheats.”

“Sure he does.” He’d pulled me back against the cushions with him and I cuddled up to his side. “Love you. Bad poker face and all. Best thing that ever happened to me.”

I felt my emotions bubble up as they always did when he said something like this. “Love you more.”

“Impossible.”

“So possible.”

“Nope.”

“Shut up, shamrock.” In order to ensure his silence, I climbed over his lap and kissed him stupid. He upped the ante by slipping my t-shirt over my head, and I won by pushing his shorts down and sliding down on his cock.

His stylist, Ellie, and her favorite tailor showed up Sunday early afternoon to fit Niall for his fundraiser suit one last time. He was leaving soon for a golf tournament in Northern Ireland so all final preps needed to be now. I adored Ellie-she’d helped me find a dress (not even a dress, a fabulous creation of nature that was the most perfect item of clothing I’d ever had on my body) for the upcoming Horan Rose event. And to Niall’s chagrin, I’d paid for it myself despite his requests otherwise and whines to the stylist. I would be there not only in girlfriend capacity, but also representing the clinic and its autism research efforts. Luckily, my boss was coming as well, as Niall’s guest, so he could field all the tricky questions. An administrator I am not. When I’d shown Hannah pictures of the miracle dress, she’d been shocked.

“It’s pink.”

“‘tis.”

“You don’t wear pink. Ever.”

“I like pink!”

“I know, but 90% of your wardrobe is black! And it’s light pink at that!”

“Because pastels make me look dead. But this looks good.” I showed her the next pic in the roll of me modeling for Ellie.

“Holy shit.”

“Right?”

Hannah sat back, obviously proud of herself, “Love looks good on you, Zoe Jane.”

I threw a shoe at her, intentionally missing. She wasn’t wrong.

I laid on the bed while Niall pranced around in his underwear. His good mood was infectious, and Sam the tailor was having none of it.  The older gentleman who had twice whacked him on the back of the thigh for screwing around. He’d earned my adoration quickly.

“Zoe, will you look at these ties?” Ellie had plopped down next to me, holding up a large box. “I can’t decide which one.”

“Lord, she’ll put me in a bow tie, don’t let her choose, El!” I stuck my tongue out at Niall as I sorted. Damnit. He was right. I loved bow ties. They looked dapper.

“How about this one?” I held up a navy one for Ellie’s inspection.

“The peaches? You think?”

“Yup. In honor of his little peach bum.” He shook said bum at us, earning another smack from Sam. Too cute for words.

I was nervous about the fundraiser. Besides it being my first official event as Niall’s date, I was also going to meet the whole Horan clan - he was flying a boatload of people over from Ireland for the party. In negotiations with him and Kim, I’d gotten out arriving with him and doing the red carpet thing (the mere idea gave me hives). He wasn’t aware that I wasn’t going to be “arriving” at all - at my request, Kim was going to arrange for me to come in the back door of the facility. I knew I’d be photographed at some point or another, but I wanted to avoid it as much as possible. I agreed that I’d sit at his table and be on his arm instead of eating with Willie and Hannah nearby or my boss and his wife in the back of the room. He knew I was terrified of the attention, and tried to talk me down as much as possible.

“I know it’s a lot, babe.” We were FaceTiming as he got ready to head off to a rugby match with Rory.

“No, it’s fine. I just don’t want people paying attention to something that isn’t a the reason for the night,” I tried to explain. I started playing with my bracelet, twirling it around my fingers.

“Put the bracelet down, ya liar.”

“What?”

“Get on me about my nervous hands, and ya do the same damn thing.” He pulled his shirt over his head. “Kate is next to Justin, so why wouldn’t ya be with me?”

“Um, because she’s his wife.”

“Is that all it takes then?  Ok? Wanna get married? Let’s go.” Wha? I knew my mouth was gaping.

“No! I mean...no, shut up.”

He knew he had me and smirked. “Just gotta say the word.”

I rolled my eyes. “They’ve known one another more than three months. They weren’t outed on the The Daily News and Sun out partying. Twice. The fangirls of the world don’t hate Kate. I don’t want to cause problems for you.”

“Z, are ya ever gonna realize that I don’t give a fuck? Yeah, I try to keep as much of me life private as I can, but I’m not going to hide ya. Ever. And I’ll protect you.” By this point he was pointing his finger at his laptop in a rant.

“God you’re a pain in the ass.”

“Likewise, pretty girl. I gotta go, car is here. Love you.”

“I love you, too, Nialler.”

Niall got home late Thursday night, and the Irish contingent starting arriving by the planeload Friday afternoon. I’d stayed late at work to get ahead since I’d be off Monday and Tuesday for the golf tournament and the inevitable aftermath-I’d been training my liver for this weekend since I was sixteen. After work I’d planned on going home, leaving Niall to his own devices with his guests. But in true Niall fashion he had his dad text me that he expected to see me when he landed. The little bastard had pulled out the Bobby Horan card.   When I finally left, a black Range Rover beeped at me from the curb and Basil waved.  I let out a sigh and muttered to myself.  “So much for taking the tube like a normal goddamn human being.”

“What are you doing here?”

“Picking you up, obviously.”

“He really doesn’t know how to take no for answer, does he?” I buckled into the passenger seat as Bas tossed my bag in the back.

I wasn’t one hundred percent on board with this uncomfortable hour drive and silently shook my fist at my boyfriend. I was still trying to figure out where I stood with Bas. While I was sure he didn’t hate me, my relationship with Niall and what it meant for his security (and heart) were still unknown. We both routinely got some nastygrams, and lately he’d been getting his phone hacked on the regular and spammed by little shits. I was anxious and had skipped lunch today because my stomach was going nuts with nerves. I was facing an entire long weekend filled with people who loved Niall and were going to be watching me. I didn’t work well under pressure. So I filled the car with awkward conversation until Bas’s eyes basically begged me to shut up. Rightfully silently chastised, I leaned my seat back and closed my eyes until we arrived home (shit, did I just refer to Niall’s house as home?). I didn’t even get my buckle undone when the door was opened.

“Ni, Jes-,” Oh. This was not my blonde bombshell. The older man with rosy cheeks beamed at me.

“Zoe! Aw, love, it’s a pleasure!” The legend himself, Bobby Horan, pulled me out of the car and into a gigantic bear hug. Unlike when I met Harry, however, I didn’t mind. I may have squealed a little bit.

“Back off, old man!” Niall elbowed his dad. “I haven’t seen my girl all week.”

“Whose fault is that, youngster?” Bobby gave me a grin, and I squeezed him again.

My quick confidence shot from Bobby quickly diminished when I walked into a house full of strangers. I knew it was coming but still was not prepared. Before I could blink, I’d met Eoghan, Bressie (hello...I was never going to be able to make eye contact with him), Bobby’s girlfriend Aoife, another Niall, and various other guys whose names I was going to spend the whole weekend trying to remember. I was passed from person to person - the Irish were huggers. Sensing my discomfort, Deo slid a Jameson in my hand. I mouthed a thank you to him and downed it only to have it replaced by a beer. After being appropriately introduced, I excused myself to go to the bedroom and change. And have a minor panic attack in the bathroom.

“Babe?” Shit, I’d been gone for almost half an hour.

“In here.”

“Decent?”

“Totally depends on your definition. But no, I’m not pooping.”

His head poked through the door, giving me a look. “Hiding, huh?”

It was useless, he’d figured out my M.O. “There are just so many of them. And they all love you. If you haven’t noticed, I tend to make an ass out of myself when I’m nervous.”

“I know. Still waiting for those strokes you promised me.”

“I hate you.”

“C’mere.” He pulled me up to him, wrapping his arms around my middle. “I missed ya. Didn’t even get a proper kiss. My da’ cock blocked me.”

“I’m assuming not for the first time.”

“You have no idea.” He’d finally worked a smile out of me and gave me a warm, gentle kiss that I felt down to my toes. The beer he’d been enjoying was obvious, but there was a slight mint to his taste as always. “Missed you, pretty girl.”

“I missed you, too.” I rested my head on his collarbone as an someone beat on the window in the closet, causing us to both jump a foot.

“Quit molesting the lady, Horan, and get your ass out here!”

“Fuck you, Eoghan!” he shouted back. “Hey,” he whispered, pulling my attention up to him. “Everyone out there is so excited to get to know you. You’re all I’ve talked about for months. Babe, they love you already. I promise.”

The Irish could party, let the record reflect. Aoife, Hannah, and I ventured out late Sunday morning for manicures and to get last minute supplies, including buy a new tie for Eoghan, who had insisted his could double as a headband the night before, requiring me to cut him out of it. None of Niall’s ties matched the intricate pattern of his suit, he claimed (Niall was positive he just wanted me to feel the fabric) and I’d been tasked. Once I’d gotten over my initial shyness, I realized why every one of these people were special to Ni. It made me feel even closer to him, and pondered introducing him to my family eventually (then promptly took a shot to chase that crazy idea away). The only stone left unturned was Maura. She and her husband were meeting us at the event. Willie and Deo privately had told me that she’d guilted Niall into the invitation - something she routinely did when there was something she was interested in. In the time we’d known one another I had never witnessed her interacting with him in any way. I had developed an attitude about her, and he was aware of it. I didn’t know Niall as a small child, but the idea of willingly leaving him was foreign to me. I didn’t know her side of the story, it was true. But even how she treated him now pissed me off. Plus, I’d bore witness to the affects of her abandonment, and that made me pull out my momma bear tendencies.

Over the last two months I’d observed Niall pour over details with planners and Justin, his co-host. He’d really put his heart and soul into it, and I was full of pride. So proud that I’d risked my perfect hairdo (okay, so it was Hannah and her masterful use of a flat iron and bobby pins) to give him a blowjob in the closet before he’d left. Right against his perfectly organized hat collection, near the mirror so he could watch in full detail as I swallowed him whole wearing nothing but a strapless bra (ouch) and lace boyshorts.

“Christ, if that’s the reaction I get for helpin’ people I’m gonna sign over my whole bank account.” I’d just nuzzled my cheek against his thigh and cleaned him off with a satisfied sigh. Then I  did something so positively dirty that when my rational brain returned I couldn’t believe it. I dipped my finger in a tiny trickle of come on his thigh, and, eyes locked with his, and dabbed it behind my ears like perfume. Then licked my finger.

“So I have a little bit of you with me all night.” I loved philanthropic men, what could I say? He hauled me to my feet and was about to maul me when his phone rang. “That’s your car.”

“Fuuuuuck. I’m going to think of that all night.”

“I know. That’s why I did it.” I kissed his lips pertly and rubbed his nose with mine. “Go, I’ll see you in a bit. I’ll be the one falling down in heels.”

“Don’t worry,” he turned to grin at me as he picked up his suit jacket, “I’ll catch ya.”

The ballroom at the private golf club was madness. Ellie and I had ridden from the house together, and were both bouncing with excitement. Swanky events weren’t my thing, but I knew the night promised to be amazing. We had shuffled in through the kitchen, and observed Jamie Freakin’ Oliver yelling out directions. El didn’t give me time to adequately fan girl. Probably for the best. I’m sure I would have ended up stealing a carrot. We spotted Bressie and Eoghan and huddled with them. My inner matchmaker decided that Ellie and the single Bressie would be adorable, and I made a mental note to mention that to Niall later. He was still working the green carpet, and would be for a while. I’d spied him outside of the ballroom doors and felt giddy inside - he looked amazing (god, Ellie was good at her job) and in his element.

We sipped Horan Shamrock Spritz cocktails and the obvious jokes about Niall being in our mouths were shared. I privately gloated knowing he was more than just in my mouth. Eoghan eventually made a face, “Of course she’d show up to this - rich and famous folks.” We all turned in unison and Bres groaned. I recognized the tiny (seriously, I’m short - I would tower over her) woman as Maura. Not wanting to be obvious and being a huge fan of avoidance, I excused myself to go to the charity section and spend some time mingling and discussing the clinic with guests, most of whom had no idea that I was anything other than a practitioner attending the event. My feet ached by the time dinner was announced, the royal blue shoes that matched some of the gem detail on the top of my cocktail dress not being designed for long term wear. I mentally patted myself on the back for tossing a pair of flip flops into my bag.

“Excuse me, excuse me,” a familiar Irish voice interrupted my conversation with an older couple about vaccines (for the nine millionth time in my career). Niall put his arm around my waist, “I need to steal this one to meet a few people. Have you all seen the silent auction tables? We’ve got some great prizes. Glenn,” he patted the man’s elbow, “there’s a package to play with Rors this fall. It’s got your name written all over it.” Like that he slid me a way.

“I owe you. So hard.”

“Your eyes were screamin’. I know when my girl needs help.” He kissed my cheek as we navigated the crowd, being stopped by every other person for Niall to chat. “You smell fuckin’ amazin’.” We raised our eyebrows at one another.

“Musk.”

“You’re going to kill me, woman.”

We were interrupted by a high pitched, loud voice, “There’s my baby boy!” I knew I couldn’t avoid her all night.

“Mam, I was lookin’ for ya. Wanted to introduce you to Zoe, my girlfriend. Zo, this is my mam, Maura, and step dad, Chris.” I could see Maura eyeing me up and down, and I felt everything from my hair to my toes being judged. I slapped on a huge smile and reminded myself that he loved her despite the shenanigans she’d caused, so I owed it to him to try.

I extended my hand, “It’s lovely to finally meet you.”

“You, too, dear. I didn’t know you had a young lady, Niall.”

He cleared his throat. “Yeah, for a couple of months.” The tension was thick and I was uncomfortable.

“Did the two of you have a nice trip?” It was lame, but it was something. We stood and talked awkwardly (Niall had his arms crossed over his chest with his hands tucked, a sure sign he was uncomfortable) until dinner was announced. We were all at the same table, but luckily were joined by Bobby and Aoife as well, and Deo and Martin. Willie, Hannah, Eoghan, Bressie, and other friends were behind us, and at the next table were Justin and Kate (whom I had grown to quickly adore) and their family members. There were plenty of people to chat with so I could avoid direct conversation with Maura, who, to be fair, didn’t seem all that interested in talking to me. Luckily, the wine was flowing.

Shortly after dessert was served, some big shot came over and Niall introduced us all. As they left to start the speeches, the gentleman complimented Bobby and Maura on raising such a fine young man. Having sat back and watched her bask in Niall’s glory all night (and watching his jaw tense and him clench his fist when she did), including claiming him auditioning for XFactor was her idea (it wasn’t, and any fan with internet access knew that) and how she always knew he’d be special, my irritation grew, I couldn’t control myself. The cat was out to play.

“Yes, Bobby, he’s right,” I reached over and grabbed “the father-in-law” (as he’d dubbed himself the night before)’s hand, giving it a squeeze. “You really did a fabulous job with that one. Thank you.” I knew Maura caught what I’d done, and frankly I didn’t care. She glared at me and I gave her the eye right back. Deo watched us in amusement.

“Zoe, would you like to go to the powder room with me?” She was throwing down a challenge, and emboldened by liquid courage, I took it.

“Certainly.” Aoife looked at me with wide eyes, and stood to come along. I waved my hand at her, and she grabbed it. She had my back.

“Aoife, I think this needs to be a talk between Niall’s mother and his fling,” Maura said, giving her a withering look. Oh fuck no. Those were fighting words. I pushed my chair in with a little more force than I’d intended, and the table shook. She might be little, but I had rage and a little country in me. I would take her on for insulting me, her ex-husband’s girlfriend, and abandoning her sons. With pleasure.

“Well, let’s go have this talk, shall we?” I turned on my heel and walked off to the private toilets, not looking back to see if she’d follow me. I knew she would. And I knew whatever I said would be turned around to make her the victim. We all knew women like her. I leaned against the toilet wall and waited.

“Listen, missy,” she’d barely cleared the door. Normally I hated confrontation, but this was different. This was standing up for Niall. “I don’t know who you think you are, but I am his mother and you will not undermine me. I am just as responsible for his success as his father!” She was feisty, I’ll give her that. “You don’t know anything about me and how dare you embarrass me in front of these people. You’re just a slag using him for his money and connections.” I just let her rant. Also, project much?

My voice was much more calm than I’d anticipated. “You’re right, Maura, I don’t know you. I don’t know what you went through when you abandoned your sons, but I’ve seen first hand the damage it’s caused. I’ve had to deal with the complex Niall has about women leaving him, and it almost ruined our relationship before it started. Forgive me if I underestimate your contribution to his life beyond birthing him.”

“You have some nerve!” The door opened and Aoife and Hannah walked in just in time to hear her shriek at me.

“I do. You’re right. But, I’m not ‘some fling’. If you were an active part of his life, you’d know that. Everyone else from Ireland knew. I love your son. Desperately. And I apologize,” that hurt to even say (sorry not sorry), “if you feel that I haven’t adequately respected you. But please quit taking credit for something you had very little to do with. Niall is the amazing person he is in spite of you, not because.” My peace being said, I brushed past her and walk out of the bathroom, my hands shaking and went straight to the bar.

The night proceeded on, but I felt uneasy. It probably wasn’t my place to tell his mother off, even though she richly deserved it. Especially on a night like this. I tried to put it out of my mind, but I couldn’t. My stomach rebelled against me and I was anxious as hell. I’d seen her approach Niall afterwards and the two of them venture outside, their heads bent towards one another. Shit. Before I could check with him, however, the performances started.

Hannah had shared the highlights (greatly exaggerating, as to be expected) with the boys, and Eoghan had declared me his hero. Bressie jokingly offered to pay my tab for the evening. Bobby very obviously called me daughter multiple times in her earshot. At least some people were on my side.

“Hidin’ so I can’t have a dance with ya?” I’d be standing at the bar, sipping another Horan cocktail, and his hands rubbed my hips. He dipped his mouth close to my ear and whispered, “Gotta be careful kissing your neck tonight. Not big on the taste of myself.” I laughed and turned around, wrapping my arms around his neck.

“Hi, bugaboo.”

“Hi.” He kissed my nose. “Heard you’re causing trouble.” My stomach dropped and my face flamed even more. I bit my lip, hard.

“Sorry, I ran of-”

“Don’t apologize,” he stared at me. “No one has ever called Maura on her bullshit before. No one ever stood up for me like that.”

I exhaled, the weight of the world lifting off my shoulders. I pulled on a little piece of hair on his neck. “I could have picked a better venue, though.”

“Probably. But this is twice you’ve proven you’re a fucking bad ass in public.” He kissed me and lead me onto the dance floor as “Fix You” by Coldplay blasted. Appropriate.

[abcthought]

Hmmm I don’t know what to say.

To read that you felt you have been abandoned by Ven and myself felt really strange and almost insulting right off the bat. But I realize you and I do not know each other and your view seems skewed by that. I’m writing this out not for you to attack but to understand my feelings and maybe cut us some slack when you reference our “abandonment”.

My relationship with the family is strained. And it has always been, since I was a baby. My father and my mom did not have a great relationship. My mom was pregnant with me at 20 years old, and my dad 19 (I think). We lived with grandma and grandpa for a while. Aunt Jissel was like 15 and your dad was also super young. But idk if you know this but the relationship between my parents was violent and turbulent. They fought constantly, my dad did drugs, my mom did drugs, she went to jail, he went to jail, her parents disowned her, and lots of other messed up stuff. My great grandma was actually the one to bail out my mom. She had no parental support at all. My grandma and grandpa were genuinely all we had for a part of our life. Until they couldn’t be anymore.

My dad punched my mom in the face during a violent fight. I saw the whole thing. I was about three, maybe four years old. My dad punched my mom and broke her nose. Blood splattered everywhere. She was screaming, I was screaming, my dad was demonic. I remember my mom bent over the sink, sobbing and sobbing. I remember running to find my little sister, so we could hide. I was so scared of him. My mom ran to my sister and I, grabbed us as quickly as she could, and ran for the car. I remember my mom holding me, as she ran down the stairs. Here I am, getting buckled into a car seat with my father, literally shouting from the apartment stairs, threatening my mom.

She was finally able to move in with her parents, my grandparents. My mom was suddenly a very young single mother. At like 23 years old... with two toddlers. Not to mention she suffered a miscarriage from my father sometime before this. She was put through the ringer. I don’t remember much on why or how we were allowed to see him again, but they would meet at a McDonald’s in Fontana, off of cherry and foothill. Then my dad would bring us over to gma and gpas house. I used to play all the time over there with your dad and uncle Bobby even. You were born shortly after, and we would visit as much as we could. Except my dad would sometimes not show up to pick us up. My mom told me that we would cry and cry, not understanding what was happening or why he wouldn’t show up. To protect us, she decided that he wouldn’t be allowed to hurt us anymore. That we had been put through too much by him.

Then, she remarried my step dad. He was an abusive piece of work too. He was emotionally abusive to my mom. She wanted us to see grandma and grandpa, but he would not allow it. I went like a good few years not seeing anyone.

Your parents and our aunt/uncles etc were also just starting their lives. They were young adults with their own families, schooling, careers etc. The last thing they had time for was to reach out and care for us. They trusted my mom enough.

We also had our own family now. We had a dad, an older brother, and an older sister. That was really important to me. Because for a few good years I actually had a family. I experienced a lot without the Monarrez’s. And that was literally never my choice. I was a literal child. From first grade to fifth I pretty much heard nothing.

I had actually told my friends that my dad had died, that’s how in the dark I was. But my dad made no effort to contact us, or get better, or just be good. He had the power to grow up and change, there was literally nothing I could do.

Eventually, in middle school my dad came back to ven and I’s life. This is predominantly the years you remember. And they were good years. Things seemed good until he went to prison. Nobody told me where he was. We had no idea where he had gone. Then he’s back, then he’s gone again. I never understood and it hurt a lot to be with family, the not, then with, then not. Aunt Jissel one day pulled ven and I aside and said, “we actually do know where your dad is, he’s in jail”.

And to her credit she did what she could, like take us to knots scary farm etc. But for the most part, all of the grownups in our family danced around the fact that our dad was not there for us, and that they did not know how to be there for us either. Something I don’t hold against them. Honest to god, I have even had this conversation with aunt Jissel.

Anyway, one day, I get a call from him in jail and he says I have a baby brother. And by this point I’m in 7th grade. Barely beginning to be a teenager. And that same year my mom and stepdad get divorced, and my older brother is beaten up by my step dad. The last time I even saw my dad before that was when he picked up ven and I to go look at Christmas lights. But he had his girlfriend there the whole time and rarely said anything to us. Ven and i sat quietly in the backseat. Then we we got home, him and his girlfriend snuck away to his bedroom. Ven and I were left alone in the house, just trying to feel like he wanted us there.

We were allowed to see my dad a lot more after Caden was born, because he was “changing”. Also my mom was back to being a single mom, so she asked us if we were ok to see him again and we said yes. Literally the first time I saw him again I called him dad, and he didn’t even respond to it. Because he wasn’t used to being called dad.

He took us to his church, he showed me his job, he really seemed like he changed. At some point he moved out to Arizona with you guys. In freshman year of high school, he came back. He had for some reason brought a girlfriend back home from Arizona with her two daughters. He pitched to us “being a family” and we went to see twilight together.

I was told after that, he broke up with her and drove her back to Arizona. At this point, I’m a teenager. A brilliant one. I took five AP courses, I took advanced math, I played three Instruments, I acted in plays, and I was in every band or after school activity. The reason I got to do those things? My grandma and grandpa on my mother’s side. They are the only reason I am alive. My grandma is basically my second mom. She did everything, sacrificed anything, and loved us more than I have ever seen a grandparent love someone. This is not to say I don’t love grandma Esther with all my heart, because I do. I love her very much. But my relationship with my maternal grandma is special. So when it came time for me to graduate, I was only allowed 13 tickets. I chose my moms family over the monarrez’s because of every sacrifice they made for us. For every moment they were there. For how much I loved them.

But when I told me dad he yelled at me. He called me a liar. He drove to my house to say mean things in my front yard and after sending me a cruel Facebook message accusing me of not caring about them and leaving them behind.

I was 18. Just barely an adult, about to graduate with honors, and my father who had not raised nor cared for me was yelling at me. Instead of being happy to graduate I spent it with anxiety, nausea, pain, and guilt. Feelings I don’t think we’re justified. The experience was so awful my sister chose to not even walk the next year.

At this point I’m in college, I have my first job, I have a lot happening. I was not responsible for repairing a bridge that someone else destroyed. I sought therapy for the things I saw with my dad. I have problems every day with the guilt. But it is most painful to me, to see my grandparents age. I do my best with what I have got. I visit them when I can, I send them pictures, I’ve bought them stuff during covid, I had them at my college graduation. I did not have anyone at my wedding other than my mom and sister. Not even my maternal grandparents. No aunts, no uncles, etc.

I have been through a lot of pain with my father and the family. I have never felt like I belonged. While you all were the same age (cousins) ven and I were the older kids. I was an adult before any of you. And now? I’m married, I have a home, I have a family of my own, I am educated, I am passionate, I am talented. There is not a single quality that I have that had come from the family. That was all my own and with people who supported me indefinitely and without question.

The reason I don’t make it to the invites? They’re last minute or I have other priorities. For your graduation I was working so my mom and I could have rent that month. I did the grocery shopping, we only had one car, we were scraping buy paycheck to paycheck. And i worked very hard to make sure my mom was never alone to bear the burden. I am the oldest, so I gave up everything to take care of my mom and sister. We never got a penny of child support or any financial help.

Also, getting a call at 5pm ON thanksgiving and being told to come down is not the same as getting an invite ahead of time. It is not the same as someone asking us to join as a family. It’s last minute, it’s hurtful, and it always stung because we always felt like an after though. I didn’t even know grandma was in the hospital because NO ONE told me, except my baby brother. It was not the responsibility of a young boy to tell us that. And the blame is solely on the adults of the family.

Now I am a fully grown adult woman. I have a degree, a career, credentials, a cool husband, and a good family. I have chosen to only really engage with grandma and grandpa, as they are the only ones I can bear to see. I will not let you accuse us of “abandoning” them or leaving them to rot as they age. I do what I can, when I can. My responsibility is to my own life. I do not have a relationship with my father. I do not have a relationship with you. It will always be so, because the damage is done. I have worked through the trauma on my own. If you choose to still believe that we had any choice in the matter, or that any of it was intentional, you are sorely wrong.

[kpop-melody]

BTS reaction to their daughter wants to marry them

Anonymous said :

Can I have BTS reaction when their 5-year-old daughter says she's gonna marry them when she's grownup because they are just so perfect? Thank you 😘

Hi darling~thanks for requesting ! ..here’s your requested ship and I hope you like it >< .

P.S : I read it ( 3-year-old ) ,I don’t know if this affects but in case you found something strange ;) .

Jin :

Jin's daughter was setting on her father's lap while he was doing for her a braid she asked him to do ,why ? ..because she is her dad's model and bestfriend ,and he will never refuse an order from her ! .

She stood in front of the mirror to see what her dad made ,but she was so short to even see her forehead ,Jin came and held her up between his arms .She looked at her hair and smiled brightly ,that smile which lights Jin's day and make him the happiest father ever .She looked at him and kissed his cheek , with a childish keen tone she said :

" You are the best daddy ever !" ,that made Jin look proudly at himself in the mirror .

"aren't I ? ..and now ,because I'm your perfect dad ,what will you do for me ?" He said with warm eyes as he kissed her chubby cheeks .

"what I will do ? ..ummm " she said while looking at her fingers ,it's a habit to look at her fingers and move them randomly while thinking ,that was the cutest thing Jin has ever seen .Then ,with wide eyes and a huge smile she said .

"I'm going to marry you when I am 23 !" ..she said while pointing at his nose .He had that shocked face and weird smile ,then put her on the ground .

"ohh babe ,I know I'm that pefect and you won't find someone like me but .. you can't marry me ! ..you know why ? ,because you will be always your perfect dad's princess !..now ,let's make some cupcake !" .

Suga :

When Suga has to make or produce a new song ,it's so normal to see his daughter next to him in the studio ,because it's her favorite time ,and he likes to spend time and share his achievements with her ! .She was on his lap that day when he finished making the song and decided to let her play with the piano or ,teach her how .While pressing randomly on the keys and laughing at every sound she was hearing ,she asked him .

"daddy ? ..you know how to play on this thing ?" ..she asked while looking up at him ,so he looked back at her .

"yes baby-girl ,this thing called the piano ,and those are the keys ,and I think I can play for you anything you want !" She smiled widely and looked admiringly at him .

"ohh ,really ? ..so you can play that song in Tom and Jarry ? " she asked while waiting for his answer with wondering eyes .

"yes I can ,listen to this ! " , he started playing professionally and she was so shocked yet so happy because of his skills .She hugged him the moment he finished ,so he did back ,then looked at him and said :

"can I marry you ? so you can play it for me everyday before I go to bed ? " ..she said in an innocent way ,so his gummy smile suddenly showed up .

"and why ? ..I can play it for you everyday before you go to sleep even if you didn't marry me " he said while playing with her hair and smiling ,so she pouted .

"NOO ,I'm going to marry you ! " she said while burying her face in his chest .

"as you like my angle " ..he said as he started playing the song all over again .

Rap Monster :

It was the learning hour ,as Namjoon was calling it .Him and his daughter ,everyday ,were sitting to the dinner table as he was telling her about random things in the world or history ,anything she wanted to ask ,he was there for her to answer  .One day ,he was telling her about the history of the T.V ,in a very simple way ,so her small mind can understand .

"and then the colored T.V was in every house in Korea ! " ,he said while swiping some photos in the iPad ,he always used visible tools to teach her .Suddenly she asked with opened mouth :

"waah dad ,how do you know all these things and they happened before you were born ?" ,he giggled .

"well ,books and helpful websites are available for anyone !" ..he said as he placed his chin on his hand ,so she looked at the library in the other side of the room .  

"so you read all these ? " ,he nodded with a shy smile ,so she shouted with her eyes locked on the books with shocked face .

"I HAVE THE BEST DADDY EVER !" ..then she stood on the chair and hugged him ,so he did back .

"you know you can read these too ? ..and maybe more ? ,so you can learn about anything in the world ?" ,he said as he pointed at the bookshelves near them .

"NO ! ..I hate reading ! .. " she said as she locked her arms near her chest with a frown .

"baby ? ..and how do you imagine to learn about what you want ? " he said with a stunned face ,she took a minute before she found the solution .

"I can marry you ! ..so you can always read books and give me learning hours !" ..she said with a huge smile ,he giggled at her childish thoughts .

"but you know you have to love reading now or then ! " ..he said with a warm smile which showed his dimples .

"ok ,but I'll marry you anyway " ,she said as she smiled brightly and opened the iPad again .

"now tell me about the history of dolls  daddy ! " she said as she showed him a photo of her teddy bear and sat to hear his lecture .

J-hope :

He was teaching her some simple dance moves in the practice room under their house .She loves to see her dad dancing in a professional way ,so she got jealous and wanted to be as good as him .That moment ,when she was in her dancing clothes ,she entered the room and he was doing some break dance moves in an amazing way ,with her penguin walk she ran toward him as the music was finished ,so he held her and swung her in the air ,which made her giggles get higher and higher ,she screamed the moment he stopped .

"YOU ARE AMAZING !" She screamed as she hugged his head .

"ohh and you are a perfect daughter " he said as his dimples were shown and he kissed her cheek a long one .

"dad ? ..I want to marry you when I grow up " she said with a cute tone ,so he laughed so hard .

"ohh babe ,you can't marry me ,cuz you are my little princess " she frowned ,as if she was that close to cry .

"but dad ,I want to learn those dance moves when I grow up !" ,he held her closer .

"and you will learn them ,you don't have to marry me ,mom will get mad " he said with a huge smile .She giggled ,they always used  to talk about you in your back ,that made her laugh so hard .

"ok ,but promise me you'll teach me this dance ! " she said as she started to whisper so you won't hear .He nodded and went to the player .

"I promise ,and now ,let's dance a little ! " .

Jimin :

He was sitting near her on her bed before she fell asleep ,talking about how you both met, fell in love and got married .As she was smiling ,hugging her teddy bear he finished and said :

"then you were born and our life became totally perfect" ..she smiled

"I like it " with a simple whispering way she said it ,which made him take a quick kiss and whisper :

"yes me too " ..

Then she started playing with her teddy's hands in a cute way ,he smiled again and said :

"I know you have a question ,ask .." , she mumbled after he finished :  

"you said you love mom so you married her ?" She said while staring at the wall .

"yes ,if you love someone you should be loyal and love him forever ,and that what I wanted when I thought about marrying mom !" He said while patting at her hair ,so she looked up at him .

"so ,can I marry you ? ..because I love you ?" She said with an innocent look and shiny eyes .He giggled which made his eyes turn into two black crescents .

"ohh babe ,I love you too!" He said as he stole a kiss from her cheek .

"so can I marry you ?" ..yes he tried to make her forget that question cuz he didn't know how to answer ,so he made a weird smile and got up .

"sure babe ,any time ..now ,go to the dreamland ,good night angel !" he said as he waved for her ,got out and shut the door behind him .

V :

They were watching a family series they used to watch everyday ,when a marriage scene came and and she shouted out loud .

"I HAVE A DRESS LIKE THIS DAD !" ,he giggled and looked down at her ,being silly till the max :

"yeh ,you should get married too !" ,he threw that sentence and didn't realize that his daughter was thinking about it the whole time ,so she suddenly stood up ,turned off the t.v and looked at him with a smile .

"I want to marry you dad !" ,a boxy smile made its way on his face ,then sat and looked warmly at her .

"why ? ..you still a little cutie " he said while squeezing her cheeks ,which made her pout :  

"but I want to wear that dress and get married ! " ..he kept looking at her with a smirk on her face , a while and he said with a keen happy wide smile .

"you wanna get married ? " she nodded with a smile ,so he took her and entered the room .

"then let's get the bride ready ! " ,she didn't know he was planning for a new game ,when he got her ready from head to toe ,then changed to his formal suit and started a photography session like a real bride and groom ,and she was having fun doing it too ! .

Jungkook :

Kookie and his daughter sat on the grass ,admiring the sky and talking about the clouds' shapes when his girl looked up at him and said :

"dad ! .. I want to marry you !" In the cutest tone and the most innocent way ,he used to hear this tone when she is that happy ,so he couldn't resist but smile ,we can't ignore the fact that he got nervous and shocked from his daughter's sudden comment but ,that didn't stop him from enjoying his girl's childish thoughts and have fun while she is in that spontaneous age ! .

"ohh ,wh- ..why ?" He said with a hesitant voice ,so she looked down at her dress and said ..mumbling :

"because ..because you said you married mama because you love her ,and I love you !" ..that moment Jungkook couldn't control himself but smile widely his bunny one ,super happy because how his daughter thinking so highly of him .

"ohh ,ok ..I'll marry you ,but we need to ask mom if she agrees " yes he was surprised but in the same time he was so glad of the way his daughter expresses her feelings ,so he kept admiring her as she ran straight to you to ask for your permission .

GIFs are not mine .

Requests : Close ! 

-Admin K .

[reactingtosomething]

Solo Reaction to Orphan Black Episode 510: “To Right the Wrongs of Many”

Well Done, Show.

The Setup: This is it, Clone Club. The final ride has ended, and I for one loved the hell out of it. Check below for my final Orphan Black solo reaction. Spoilers for the last five years, basically.

SARAH: Art knows what they need and is not the one who is Helena’s twin, clearly she should go be with Helena and he should get the medical supplies. I mean I know it had to be Sarah vs. “PT” at the end, obviously. But in-universe I’m right about that logic. But yeah, Sarah killing him with very little ceremony and none of his acolytes to watch was pretty appropriate.

OH GOD they pulled no punches with that suffocation visual.

This is EVOLUTION. More on that later.

The Sarah/Mrs. S parallels during the births, though. Sarah (and all the clones) are moving out from under the control of their lives and destinies. They are not S’s to watch over or Neolution’s to control. They are the adults. They’re raising each other and their kids.

Sarah and Helena’s joyful laugh/cries after the birth(s) are just lovely.

Is Sarah getting her GED?? I’m so proud! She’s turning into such a grownup, but is also still herself. Well done, show.

Honestly I do think that Sarah should sell the house. She needs to become her own version of an adult, not just step into S’s shoes entirely. Like, don’t move away to wander the earth apart from the whole support system, but get an apartment instead maybe.

Sarah. Get your ass back in there and take the GED test!

“I don’t know how to be happy. There’s no one left to fight and I’m still a shit mum.” There is SO MUCH here. For one thing that language is super telling—Sarah may not always be good at being a mother, but she’s far from a shit one compared to Coady, the other person who’s been described as such. There’s no question about Sarah being wrong here. (Admittedly she has not always been a good mother but she has been improving and she does always have Kira’s best interests at heart.) For another thing, this is very important and realistic. Ending an all-consuming battle and returning to normal life is never simple. Sarah was good at guerrilla warfare, essentially. Those skills don’t immediately translate to healthy coping mechanisms or finding a day job. Sarah is still Sarah. They’re all still the people they were before and during this shitshow. Alison is still the woman who sold drugs and hot glue gunned her husband. They’re all still just people and they can’t go from living one life to living a totally different one with no bumps, even a normal/“easier” one. Just because Sarah can’t do it immediately doesn’t mean she can’t do it at all.

None of them are perfect and they’re all in it together and it’s the most mellow but effective multi-clone season ender ever. No one look at me.

HELENA: This is basically a nightmare birth situation and I am NOT a fan.

Helena is preparing for vengeance even while ACTIVELY CONTRACTING and all I can say is damn, woman. Props.

OH MY GOD Art and Helena are such a good team! That was highly effective tag team murder.

It’s a boy. Of course they’re boys. Kira was (nearly) exploited the way Kendall and the Ledas' birth mothers were. Kira and Charlotte are the intermediates, the ones who are part of the Leda story but won’t grow up entirely within it, but these boys are the true next generation. They’re not just repeating the script over again, they’re a departure from the Neo controlled past.

That is the cutest and creepiest mobile ever.

Orange and Purple!! Ok, but babies lose their socks ALL THE TIME. This is an imperfect method.

“Always when I eat, he poops.”

Super into her Hawaiian shirt over overalls look.

“Where does this sand come from?”

They’re still not going to explain the black part of Orphan Black, are they?

I’m touched by the significance of naming the boys after Donnie and Art, but doesn’t that get confusing? Sure, call the baby Arthur instead of Art, but there’s nothing that far away from “Donnie,” sound-wise. And at least for now they live on the same property. (The one bit of Judaism that has managed to enter my psyche the most is the custom of not naming kids after living relatives, so I’m a little weird about this kind of thing.)

RACHEL: Is Rachel coming? Is that the secret person Felix is expecting? Yesssss. Even if she can’t be a part of the happy family, she is still a part of this and the show/Felix acknowledges it.

So we’re just straight up discussing this in front of the uber driver?

She gave them the list of Ledas. Rachel’s final redemptive act saves the rest of the clones she helped to subjugate, and is a final screw you to the people who made her do it for so long.

General Rachel thought: Rachel needed redemption. She was cruel and a part of the structure that controlled and killed a lot of people. She was a product of a deeply abusive situation that made her that way, but she still was that way. She still stomped on the potential cure, she still ordered the deaths of clones and others. In a way she and Helena are a better “two sides to the same coin” comparison than Helena and Sarah are. Both were raised largely without love or proper socialization. Both were made “self aware” while fairly young. Both are taught that they are the special one, and can only continue to do they terrible things they do by believing that fact. Both self-harm. Both learn that their extremely black and white world views are limited primarily by being exposed to the family of their clones, primarily Kira. Helena made the change much more quickly, but they are both on that arc.

ALISON: “I was a drug dealer for Pete’s sake” is peak Alison Hendrix.

The Hendrixes have joy and laughter as a part of their sex lives and I am happy about this.

I know this is not from this episode, but it’s amazing

COSIMA: Cosima is curing the Ledas!! She is doing it! And of course she feels like it’s not enough because she’s Cosima, but she’s doing it!

Science monkey! I love this.

Cos, you don’t have to be good with kids if you don’t want to be. Although she actually is excellent with kids, just not babies. So I guess the point is you don’t have to be maternal if you don’t want to be. You can love the children in your life without wanting your own. And if you do want children, being scared doesn’t mean you can’t do it.

Cosima is coming so close to meeting all of these women, but not quite. That’s beautiful and sad in its own way. She’s always been the one to embrace sisterhood the quickest, so I imagine she loves each of these sisters a little bit. But she’s not destroying their lives by telling them about all of this when there’s no need to. There is an argument to be made about not making the decision for them by keeping the info from them, but telling them would also be making that decision for them. I’m going to choose to believe that they leave a semi-conspicuous web trail so that any Ledas who start to become self aware can find clone club if they’re looking.

Also, can we talk about how gorgeous this artwork is and how I’m now obsessed with it? Please illustrate all of their adventures around the world.

TONY!!!! Guys, Tony has at least been acknowledged again! He and Krystal are cured and that is good.

EVERYONE ELSE: Goddammit Coady why are you so resilient?

“PT” (AKA JOHN) losing his grip is both terrifying and delicious. I was honestly hoping he would die of a heart attack—none of his cruelty or his science could save him from a simple failure of the body. But again, it being Sarah’s action was probably necessary.

Honestly, this was an underuse of Enger after they set her up to be such an interesting character in such small moments earlier. Clearly the focus here is on the Ledas more than their subjugators, but come on. I wonder if she had anything that ended up being cut for time? I’m excited to follow the actor’s career.

I know I already used this one, and it wasn’t from this episode. But look at how compelling she is! And this ^ isn’t even as good as the toothbrush scene!

There really is a kill them in the throat theme this season.

Art calling people sestra is adorable!

274??? Living or total ever? That’s so many!

I’ve done a lot of discussing parenthood as a sign of adulthood, and I certainly don’t want to say it’s a 1:1 situation. I think it has come up a lot this season especially because the show is a discussion of both family and evolution. It’s hard to have evolution without future generations, so there is a lot of kid focus. I don’t think the show goes to far in the direction of accidentally suggesting that motherhood is essential for adult womanhood—that’s the beauty of having a lot of women in your show. You can tell multiple stories, and multiple versions of the same story without suggesting that it is The Story.

I have no idea how intentionally Fawcett and Manson created this discussion of feminism and bodily autonomy. I think the later was the main intent and the feminism came out of the realization/acceptance of what they were already in the midst of creating. By making the lead a woman, they made most of the leads women, who all had to be different from each other. They couldn’t fall into the tropes many writers do when it comes to female characters. And when they began discussing This may be wrong and ungenerous of me—they may have had exactly this intent from the beginning!—but two things: 1) I think if they had a huge focus on feminism from the beginning there would have been more than one director who was a woman in the entire run (Helen Shaver, 3 episodes) and 2) Honestly, them learning the lesson as they went and freaking going for it is kind of great. Without meaning to (from the beginning—I’m not suggesting they were totally unaware this whole time!) these guys made a show that is all about women reclaiming their bodily autonomy from a big-for-tv version of forces that are very real in our lives. Realizing that that was the story and leaning into it effectively and without becoming a morality play is impressive and it gave us the show we have known and loved.

Ok, “this is evolution.” So true, on the science side and the personal side. Sarah and Helena have always been the outliers. It was a quirk of biology that lead to twins. And then their birth mother was willing and able to keep them safely away from Neolution. And they are actually able to conceive. None of these facts were intended or planned for. Evolution comes from gene mutations. Sometimes mutations are harmful, but sometimes they’re beneficial or neutral, and they get passed on and help the species become something new. If that happens enough times, you get a whole new species. There’s nothing intentional or graceful about it. You can’t plan for it, and you can’t do much to control it. “PT” tried to, and it never worked out for him. There were always other changes, or not enough change, or the small detail of people being people and thus not entirely controllable. He was beaten by the results of the uncontrollable parts of evolution, an unexpected twin who unexpectedly became a mother. And Sarah has evolved as a person because of both of those things, as well as everything else. In killing “PT" she completes the final step of not just no longer running from her problems, but truly stepping out from underneath them.

Finally, let’s talk happy ending. Finishing this was hard—I’ve had trouble taking a long view of anything this weekend, in light of the events in Charlottesville, VA. This is the first time I’ve sat entirely still in at least a day. It’s made me even more glad that this show, which has always contained darkness and some shocking violence, let the “core four” of clones and most of their nearest and dearest survive. There were deaths along the way, and a shit ton of suffering, but they could have gone much darker about the ending for the sake of Realism and I’m damn glad they didn’t. The show was about finding the light and hope and family amidst all of this darkness. Sarah has been trying to be allowed/allow herself to be a part of her family since she got on that train. It doesn’t look like what she thought it would, but neither does she anymore. This is the version of family that works for this version of Sarah, and it works for the show too. Everything’s not perfect. S is dead, Rachel will never be a part of the family. They’ve all suffered massively. But they made it, and they have each other for support moving forward. Bad things can end. Good things can endure. That hasn’t always been an explicit message of the show, but it is the one they chose to build to.

That’s all, folks. For more weekly reactions, check out Kris’s GoT series. For more ass-kicking genre women, check out Wynonna Earp. For more of Miri have a lot of feeling, check out The Bold Type (and I guess this blog in general).