#but both parents wanted his dad to have full custody so like... maybe??

[unnonexistence]

an important writing question to ask yourself is "how much time and effort do i want to put into figuring out what this character's legal documents would look like"

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA for asking my gf's son not to call me dad?

I (22M) have been dating my gf (24F) for 4 years now. She has a 7 year old whose dad isn't in the picture anymore - he hasn't been since the kid was born. My gf says he was abusive and I think there are some charges against him but as far as I know, nothing was proven. He has other kids too who he does have a relationship with but he doesn't have custody rights with my gf's son so they hasn't been allowed to have a relationship.

My gf and I live together and are both in college. I am going to be a surgeon and she wants to study science but she hasn't decided what to do with it yet. Because we're both busy with that, her son doesn't live with us full time. He stays with her parents during the week. This means that we have to dedicate our weekends to looking after the kid. I didn't really mind this at first but her parents are really pushing for her to look after him during the week now too, which we don't have time for. I hear how that doesn't sound great but the plan has always been that her parents will take care of the kid until she finishes with school. She has classes for 4+ hours from Mon-Thurs, plus she needs to spend a few hours studying every day, then she has labs on Friday for most of the day. I have classes all week for fewer hours each day but next semester I'll probably be doing an internship so I'll have more work to do. Then we pick up her kid on Friday evenings and spend the whole weekend with him. There's hardly any time for us to spend time alone together. I like her son and he's usually fun to have around but both of us are obviously stressed from having no down time so most weekends my gf and her son get into an argument or something and things escalate. I try not to get involved when that happens. Sometimes my gf and I are the ones who end up arguing and in that case, I usually go to my parents house.

Basically, I'm not super involved with the kid. Her parents want us to spend all of our free time on parenting despite originally agreeing that it was better if my gf focused on school. He has a dad who could probably be more involved but my gf and her family don't want him around. I've suggested that maybe it would be a better solution for her son to live with his dad full time, that way she can focus on school and then her career and still have time for herself and for us. I love her but she doesn't really have maternal instincts and she doesn't actually want kids, she has said a lot that she regrets not giving him up for adoption.

Recently, we were out for dinner with my gf's sister and kid, and the kid called me his dad. He's done this a lot and usually I just kind of ignore it, but no one else corrected him this time and I felt like the kid deserved the truth. I asked him then and there not to call me dad because he has a real dad who probably wouldn't like it. He didn't seem upset by it but my gf's sister lost it. She thinks I don't want the kid around and that I'm the reason my gf doesn't spend more time with him. She also thinks this was the first time my gf's son heard about his bio dad. Total conjecture, but she won't hear my side of it. The kid knows I havent been around since he was born so he obviously knows someone else must be his dad. I told my gf I don't think it's fair to let the kid call me dad when he has a real dad out there and she sort of agrees. She told her son not to call me dad anymore and they had a long talk about it. She still doesn't want the real dad involved but that's a whole other battle.

Here's why I think I might be the asshole: I said this to the kid in a moment of annoyance, which probably wasn't the way to bring it up. Like I said, he didn't seem upset by it but I wasn't there for the longer conversation so I don't know exactly. I think he's old enough to be allowed to know about his real dad in a more serious way. It's kind of messed up that he could run into his dad in the street (we live in a pretty small town) and wouldn't know it. I'm not his dad and for the foreseeable future, I won't be responsible for him as a parent because he still lives with his grandparents. I think it's reasonable to say that he shouldn't call me dad. So, AITA?

[sunny44]

Co-parenting (Part 1)

Pairing: Carlos Sainz x ex wife!reader

Warnings: Carlos being a bitch, fighting and maybe other things.

Summary: Co-parenting is never easy but y/n never though it would be so hard.

Next Chapter

Carlos and I got divorced 2 years ago, and currently, we share custody of our daughter, which means I have her since Carlos travels a lot due to racing, so every weekend he’s free, he comes and picks up Maeve.

But this time I had a very unpleasant surprise.

Being famous, I was always aware of what was happening with Carlos, even if I didn’t want to, and a few months ago, rumors came out that he was with some model, and when we separated, we made an agreement that any person who entered romantically into our lives, we would introduce to each other before involving that person in our daughter’s life.

But it seems Carlos had a problem when it comes to him.

I crossed my arms watching Carlos and the model girlfriend get out of the car and come towards my door, besides not notifying me about it, he simply brought her along without any prior discussion or approval.

The doorbell rang, and I walked to the front door, and there were Carlos and Rebecca, both trying to look welcoming and unconcerned.

“Hi, Y/n,” Carlos said, smiling. “How are you?”

“What is this?” I asked, pointing to the two of them.

“What do you mean?”

“You demand an agreement, and when it comes to you, you simply ignore it.” He took a deep breath.

“I know, but we’ve been dating for a while, and I thought it was time for you to meet her.”

“Meet her?” Y/n’s voice trembled with frustration. “You can’t make this decision alone, Carlos. We are her parents, and this should be a decision we make together, not something you just think is a good idea and ignore the fact that I am her mother.”

Rebecca stepped forward, with a gentle voice.

“Y/n, I really just want to get to know her. I’m not trying to replace you.”

And my frustration only intensified.

“It’s not about replacing me. It’s about us making decisions together for our daughter, and that doesn’t involve you being here.” Carlos sighed, running his hand through his hair.

“Look, it wasn’t our intention to make you uncomfortable. Let’s talk about this, okay?”

“Oh, so now you want to talk?”

“Can you stop being so difficult? She’s my daughter too.”

“Then start acting like a father instead of going around kissing models in clubs and then bringing them to my doorstep.”

“I am a father when I can be because my life is very busy, and you knew that when we had her.” He says arms crossed. “Maybe you should stop being a terrible mother making me lose the little time I have with my daughter, and then we talk about it.”

“Carlos.” Rebecca speaks as he finishes.

“You know what, if anyone here is a terrible parent, it’s you who prefers to spend your weekends in a car racing in circles and risking leaving your daughter without a father. I’m here every day doing the best I can to take care of her, but apparently, that makes me a terrible mother, so I’ll call her and you do whatever you want since it’s always been like this.”

I enter the house holding back my tears and go call her, she was so excited to see her dad that she didn’t even notice the tension between us, and I thanked god for that.

He tried to talk to me before leaving, but I just said goodbye to Maeve and closed the door, but I couldn’t help but notice that Rebecca wasn’t there anymore.

…

Hours passed and when the end of the day came, I heard the noise of his car, so I went to the door, and when I opened it, she came running.

“Mom, look.” She said showing me a bag full of things. “I’ll show you everything after I take a shower and have dinner.”

“Okay, my love, go ahead.” She smiles, says goodbye to him, and goes to her room.

“Can we talk?”

“No, I don’t want to talk to you.” I tried to close the door, but he held it. “You’ve already said what you think of me, and I’ve already said what I think of you; I don’t think we have anything else to say.”

“What I said is not what I really think.”

“In fact, it is, at least part of you thinks that way, and I’m not going to take back what I said about you because I think that way. I know it’s your career, but I won’t admit that you break our rule, tell me I’m a terrible mother, and then come back wanting to apologize.” He doesn’t say anything. “You don’t know how hard it is to see the guy you loved more than anything with someone else, but especially to see the father of your daughter say that you’re a terrible mother even though I work really hard to give her the best life I can.”

“I’m sorry.”

“That won’t fix things this time, Carlos.” I say looking into his eyes. “You don’t do anything to make my life easier; you show up, do your fatherly duty for a weekend while I stay here dealing with everything else. I don’t have the option of having only the easy parts of having a child. I have to deal with the pressure of being a single mother, having to hide from her every time I need to cry because I can’t take it anymore doing this alone, or having to leave her with my parents because I can’t even get out of bed to take care of her while you’re out there sticking your tongue down supermodels’ throats.”

“I didn’t know you felt this way.”

“And how would you know? You’re never here.” He doesn’t say anything. “I don’t need anything from you, not anymore. The time when I needed you here has passed, and I hope it never comes back.”

“Is everything okay, mommy?” Maeve asks appearing on the stairs, having taken a shower and wearing pajamas.

“Yes, my love, what do you want to eat?” I say wiping my tears.

“I want nuggets with veggies.”

“Okay, so let’s make them.”

“Are you going to have dinner here, daddy?”

“No, my love, I have to go, but I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?”

“But don’t you have to go travel?”

“I do, but not now.”

“Okay.” She goes to him and then comes back to the table. “I’ll really come to pick her up tomorrow if that’s okay with you.”

“Okay.”

“Bye.” He leaves, and I lock everything.

“Mommy, where are you?” She screams from the kitchen.

“I’m coming baby.”

I’m not sure if I’ll write a part 2 but if you guys want another part, let me know.

[beah388love]

The beginning

18+ Minors DNI!!!

Full Masterlist TUA Masterlist

Pairing: Five hargreeves x Fem!reader

Summary: The beginning, your story.

Warnings: mentions of blood,Murder,reader has powers,angst,brother dies,readers family dies,fighting,death!!! (Please tell me if I missed any!!!)

It all started about 50 Years ago, well 50 years and 2 months ago to be exact. I'll never forget that day, because the day started perfectly normal.

Nobody tells you just how loud the sound of silence is. at that moment, I felt like I could hear everything and nothing at the same time.

———

Aged Eight.

It was around 2-4 in the morning judging by the colour of the dark blue sky outside and she was woken by her dad sprinting out of his room, petrified. She'd never seen him so panicked.

Her first thought was, maybe they were being robbed? maybe someone broke in?

That was until her mum sprinted out after her dad with her brother in her arms. He was limp and blue.

She felt her body stop, she ran over to her parents and reached out to her brother and she'll never forget the feeling of touching his face.

She stood there as her parents panicked and rushed calling the ambulance and once they got there she still stood watching them leave with her brother.

She still had hope though. I mean this stuff only happens in grown up movies? It definitely won't happen to us. Right?

No. Of course not.

Right?

She was taken to her grandparents house and stayed there for a couple hours with her two other brothers.

She sat there on the sofa, watching her grandad pace up and down the kitchen.

But after awhile she sat watching out the window of the front garden. Waiting. Waiting to see her parents again with her brother.

Maybe he was sick? And needed some medicine?

Maybe he needs some cheering up?

We'll make him better. He'll be fine. This is just a really vivid dream.

Not long later she saw her parents arrive without her brother.

Maybe he had to stay at the hospital cause he still needs medicine?

No. All the optimistic thoughts are gone because

she just knew.

She could feel it through the window and across to them.

She just knew.

He's not going to be okay. She felt it.

Her parents came in crying, "he's- he's" they didn't even get the word out and we all knew.

It's not going to be okay.

He's gone.

Forever.

Because that's the thing with time, nothing can buy it or get it back not even the richest or happiest.

But things didn't get much better after that.

———

Aged eight:

Around five months after her brother passed away, all her family were still mourning.

But today her parents both went out to grab some food for her and her brothers.

And once they collected all the things they needed. They left, hopped in the car and drove back home.

But on the way, a drunk driver swerved into the side of their car, killing them both.

She was devastated and it still didn't get better after that.

It actually got worse.

None of her distant relatives wanted to take care over them so her and her two younger brothers all had to go separate ways.

She never saw her brothers again.

She gave them both massive hugs, sobbing as they went different ways.

And your probably wondering 'how does this relate to five Hargreaves?'

The little girl in this story didn't go to an orphanage or a foster home or a happy place at all.

A certain man flew over to England and somehow got the social services woman to give him custody of you.

A man you had never met.

Reginald Hargreeves.

"Come with me, come on now don't hover around." He said sternly not even batting an eye to you.

You followed him still in your nightgown, trying to hide your sobs.

———

"Y/n? Are you listening to me?" Five cut you out of your thoughts as he waved a hand in front of your face.

"Huh?"

"I was saying...If my calculations are correct we can get back all we have to do is get a briefcase." Five said grinning at you near the end of his sentence.

"Oh god, what now?"  You asked tiredly

"Well..i was hoping-"

"hoping I could use my powers?" You cut him off and he nodded with a somewhat pleading grin.

"Alright..but if this time doesn't work I'm gonna kill you myself." You sighed and he nodded behind you grinning as you walked off.

———

After Reginald took you in, he helped you understand your power to great lengths.

"Reality warping".

You can change reality and quite literally defeat the laws of science. However it does come with some cons.

You can only change things you know or can imagine.

You have to be in 'the zone' is what you call it.

And one of the biggest cons is, when you use your power it drains you.

And I mean drains you.

Your energy levels - actually no, all your levels go down.

———

"Go down the left corridor and into the wooden door. And I'll meet you" five whispered and you nodded.

You did as he said and sneakily went into the wooden door, it was a meeting room and If im five was right, it would be filled with people in around two minutes.

You hid behind the door in the corner of the room and waited.

When they began walking in, you sat there and held your feet to your head.

Once you calmed down and focused, all the men began dropping dead.

Once they were all on the floor, five blinked next to you and grabbed a briefcase.

He grabbed your hand and blinked you both back to the middle of nowhere.

"Y/n?  you okay?" He asked you and you nodded tiredly.

"Do ya think it's gonna work?" You asked him breathlessly and he didn't respond.

Your guess was he probably didn't wanna get your hopes up to much.

———

This is my first series so i know It’s probably not the best!!! 🧡💛

[sea-owl]

Because of your last question, now I want to know what kinda buddy comedy movie Lucy and Simon would star in?

Well, we know for a fact that Simon is gonna be some sort of father/big brother figure to Lucy. Because even at his worst rake lifestyle, I fully believe Simon still would have been a better role model than Lucy's uncle or brother. And from the book, we know Simon isn't bad with children. He just refuses to carry on the bloodline. We see him positively interact with both Gregory and Hyacinth, who were ages 11 and 10 at the time.

I like to think Simon somehow acquired Lucy during his traveling years. Not 100% sure how, probably some sort of tradegy for Lucy's parents, but somehow Lucy ended up in Simon's custody. Originally, Simon was just going to make sure Lucy got back to England safely and drop her off in the care of her relatives. But Lucy was so adamant about not going back. There was something in her expression that Simon recognized and empathize with.

Simon, being the young and kinda dumb 20 something year old he was, didn't think much beyond that and just took Lucy wherever he went. Was this kidnapping, maybe, but Lucy's uncle didn't care when he got that letter one less problem for him. He was happy to sign over custody to Simon. Simon, being the nerd that he is, rationalized that he was giving Lucy an advanced education. Lucy was just happy to strap in for the ride and not back to her creepy uncle.

So now we got the pre marriage girl dad Simon and his precious baby girl Lucy. Simon tries his best to give Lucy a childhood better than his own, and yes, sometimes he may spoil the girl. Simon's nerd side comes out full force when he helps Lucy with her studies, especially math. He teaches her how to follow the stars like a map.

There are some who theorize that Lucy is actually Simon's illegitimate child who takes her mother, but those rumors are ignored. Simon himself rolls his eyes at those rumors while Lucy herself follows his lead. She doesn't understand fully herself, but if Simon says to give them no mind, then she'll do just that.

Things start to get interesting when Simon starts his fake courtship with Daphne. Lucy thinks they should court for real. She likes Daphne, and Daphne has quickly taken the girl, too. Simon is lowkey side eyeing Gregory, though, because why is he standing so close to Lucy? Good sir, you both are too young to think of courtship!

[spindle-girl]

I will never not get annoyed over people saying that Brian/Grue joining the Heroes was the obvious and easiest choice out there. Admittedly, the WOGs expand more on it, but even with what we get from Arc 4 when he talks about his trigger event, I can't comprehend how anyone wouldn't see the reasons for him not wanting to join the government sponsored heroes.

Basing this off memory, but to sum it up, Brian goes to him moms house after getting a text from Aisha asking for help. He finds her in some poor condition ( I don't think he goes into detail and it may not matter if he did cause he's not telling the full truth here) and when he tries to take her back to his dad's, their step-dad gets in thew ay and doesn't let them leave. Brian proceeds to beat him up, take his sister back, and gets powers sometime in between.

Then, he, aisha, and their dad go to the police the very next morning. They explain what happened and Brian still describes how he almost got sent to jail. Only aisha backing him up and his step-dad missing an asshole anonymous meeting saved him. And he still got some months of community service. Like, in my opinion he did the right thing every step of the way and still almost got screwed over.

Sometime later, (not immediately cause he's 14 to 15 when he gets powers) he decides to try and take care of aisha by being a villain to get enough money/backing to do it.

That's all described in arc 4. Now we get into the WOGs. Again, basing this off memory, but I can try to find them later.

First, Brian lied about his trigger, a little bit. General event still happened, but when he claimed he didn't know who the man was besides being his mom's new boyfriend, he lied. He knew that man bc it was the same boyfriend who had abused him in the past. And his mom brought him back and let him interact with his sister. Add in his mom's other problems and his dad's ("I wouldn't describe him as abusive") there was a fair bit of emotions Brian was going through that he didn't share. But at the end of the day, every adult in his life failed him and his sister. He wouldn't be willing to extend his trust as easily.

Second, a different WOG described Brian getting into crime in a panic bc aisha had done something afterward that led to her needing to get bailed out of something with money (again, going off memeory) so even if he wanted to join the wards he'd be doing it with a record. Presumably he later decided he might as well go all in on it and get aisha into a safer environment than both his parents. He probably thought it may help with keeping her out of trouble as well if she wasn't around two people who didn't know how to raise kids (not that he did either, but he probably thought he couldn't do worse).

Third, by WOG he did actually consider the wards, but after researching them decided they wouldn't be worth it. Admittedly this was moreso bc of his own hangups with commitment. Bc telling the big organization your power and identity then trying to bail wouldn't really work out, but apparently it was still preferable to a career of crime. It's not like the Protectorate would actually have authority to take a child away from their parents anyway without major proof, especially if that kid isn't a parahuman themself.

Fourth, the undersiders were generally a low risk high reward chance until Taylor joined and brought them her bad luck. They operated for a year and only got into some mild skirmishes with Lung and them being escape artist didn't have an issue with him. Besides that, they made a shot ton of money on top of the 2grand their sponsor gave them.

Fifth, I don't think we ever learned what the time table was for Coil helping out with Brian getting custody, especially given how suspicious Brian was of their mysterious boss and his motives preleviathan. Maybe Coil admitted to knowing Brian's problems and offered a solution at the start. Maybe Brian opened up with it as a condition to him joining. Or maybe after a few months of getting 2grand a relatively easy missions Brian decided to trust the boss who hadn't screwed him and ask for the money to be given to him in a legal paycheck for better chance at custody. I say that last option bc Brian is supposed to be the careful pragmatic one who thinks about his choices and doesn't do the crazy option unless bug girl decides to go full throttle and he begrudgingly goes along. And giving his personal details and a sure fire way of blackmail isn't excalty the pragmatic choice.

Tldr: he has to have some pretty big distrust of authority cause shifty parents and probably shotty police and by WOG became a criminal in a panic before going full in on it. Cause he was, again, like 15 years old.

Now, the argument for him joining the wards is that the Heroes/PRT could have snapped their fingers and given everything Brian would want. And seeing the deal Madcap got I can definitely see the idea behind it, but there are a few problems with that. A) Brian wouldn't know shit about how desperate the Heroes are bc they don't advertise that. B) I'm not sure how much power they would actually have over taking kids away from unhealthy environments cause laws and shit would probably limit that. C) as stated above, he says he almost got jailed for hurting his step-dad so I don't see him liking authority at this stage, no matter how just he was in the eyes of the law for it. D) Brian's own issues and that he's a 15 year old so he won't see the world as a perfectly rational being.

[pragmatic-and-eepy]

ok since four people wanted it, headcanons! for the main four, I'll probably do more for the other characters later.

Edd! Full name, Edward "Edd" G. Sworld

A silly guy! He was born human, though he doesn't count himself as one anymore after the dose of his neighbors' weird satellite. He's still got powers, though it takes a while for them to properly return and he isn't the best at controlling him.

5'11/~180 cm and fat, but he loves himself. Big bear man.

Aroace spec, he's demiromantic and biromantic, but he's just asexual.

His main source of income is from commissions as he never actually went to an art school and has trouble getting full-time work. He does have a secret account for his little hero work when his powers start working and sometimes gets money from people who admire him.

He was the proper start of the friendgroup and the only reason the others stay together.

Did I hear someone say heterochromia? He used to only have pale brown eyes, but now a light green ring is around his pupils due to his powers.

Closest reference I have to how he looks in my mind: @/thepolysworldau has the best reference IMO. He just feels right.

Matt! Full name, Matthew "Matt" Doll

He wasn't always stupid, he just lost it for a while after being bit by a vampire :sob:. He didn't have a consistent source of blood intake and that's what made him a bit airheaded.

6'6/~198 cm, stringbean ahh looking fucker. He looks like he could be broken in half like dry pasta.

He's pan through and through, though he prefers the colors on the bi flag. Still, he feels pan is a better label for him so he sticks with it.

Went through the gender exploration phase after he got bit by the vampire but ultimately realized that yeah, he's a man, just fairly nonconforming at times with his style and he really likes makeup.

This man has freckles!!! There more prominent due to his skin not having as much pigment to it anymore, but he likes them so he's not upset.

He also used to have heterochromia! One eye was green, the other was blue, but now they're both red because of the whole vampire thing. His hair's also a slightly more red color now, he just dyes it to be more orange like it used to be.

Closest reference to how he looks in my mind: @/starrixle's Matt design is PEAK (all different images except for the last two words)

Tom! Full name, Thomas "Tom" Bromel

Monster Tom my beloved, but I do NOT vibe with the canon monster design, it's so ugly :sob:. I vibe more with @/albi-finch-blog's design. It can go between the bigger and smaller forms, fully depends on how well he's doing mentally.

The only transgender in the group, he's also a demiboy (he/they/it pronouns, am i projecting a bit maybe i am)

The shortest in the group at 5'3/~160 cm. It doesn't help that they keep slouching. Also definitely on the heavier side.

Its eyes are because of its monster heritage, which came from their mother's side. His dad is just French.

Is he unhealthily attached to Susan? Yes, yes he is. In his defense, Susan was part of his major teenage rebellion phase before he left to live with his friends.

Bisexual, preference for men though.

Closest reference to how he looks in my mind: For his half-shifted form, i feel @/battyratzz's works the best, but for him just being human? I feel @/422kit's design works best.

Tord! Full name, Tord Lorison.

The only human of the group. Debatably so later on but shhhh.

For a while he was around 6'/~183 cm, but after his return he was like, freakishly tall (taller than Matt) and he just kept getting taller until WTFuture timeline (there is a reason for this i promise).

He of course came from Norway but his parents divorced early on and he spent time between the UK and Norway (like, every few months he'd switch places) until his father won full custody of him and he stayed in the UK from when he was around 7 to his early 20s, when he left.

He hasn't picked a label for himself and he doesn't really want to, he just knows he likes men and women and maybe other people it really just depends on their aesthetic.

LONG GREASY HAIR AHH WASH YOUR GODDAMN HAIR BRO UGH. Also naturally very dark-haired, but he dyed it a more caramel color for a while until after he got a bit blown up.

He's OBSESSED with inventing things, has been since he was a kid. Little science kid but engineering was his calling and he's been building for a long time.

Closest reference to how he looks in my mind: To me his style came in eras. He looked like @/pond-child-edd's design for a while until his 20s, became @/anonymousjackalope's design from when he left to a bit after he got explodicated, and then ended up as @/lexisgayok's design but with dark hair and a mask.

EXTRA EXTRA! EXTRA HEADCANONS, SOME MISC AND SOME WITH HOW THEY INTERACT BELOW THE CUT WAHOO! HERE BE SHIPPING, YOU ARE WARNED!

Tord and Edd dated when they were younger, from around 14 to 16 I think. They ended up realizing it just wouldn't work so they broke it off but stayed friends.

Matt was the one who bought the house they all lived in because his parents were actually loaded and didn't care about how he used the money since he was normal enough to avoid some danger.

Tom did not join the friendgroup willingly, he got dragged in kicking and screaming by Edd and never escaped.

Tord ALSO didn't join entirely willingly, but Edd was the only kid who talked to him when he first started living part-time in the UK and he didn't like being alone.

Matt's been crushing on Edd since they were ten and was HELLA JEALOUS of Tord. He still is, but he's let it go enough.

Tom would regularly bite Tord for various reasons up until he moved out. They nearly bit him again when he moved back in.

Tom's bad at emotions, especially handling attraction. His first relationship was with Laurel but they weren't the best at being a couple, his second was with Bully (yknow, from the beach episode) (it was very unhealthy but he thought it was fun), and his last relationship came years after with Tord (it'd been sitting on unresolved feelings for a long time and only really realized after Bully that the feelings he felt for Tord were attraction).

Once Ringo got out of the house while Tord was home alone and Edd was supposed to be gone for a week visiting family, so Tord literally built a fake Ringo from scratch before finding her literal hours before Edd came back. Now there are two Ringos and Tord kept the robo-Ringo when he left.

Edd and Matt ended up starting a relationship not long before the proper start of the WTFuture timeline happened, they were walking to where they would've had a date when the Red Army invaded.

Tom was home alone with Ringo when it happened. She'd been sick and he took the day off work to watch her. Both Tom and Ringo got taken by the Red Army early on.

[erythriina]

ooooo tell me of dinah and kitaani??

“I’m a little tea-pot, short and stout,” George is singing quietly, bouncing Kitty lightly on his shoulder. “Here is my handle, here is my spout. When I get all steamed up, hear me shout… tip! Me over! And! Pour! Me! Out! You have a lovely smile, Miss Little, yes you do… I could kiss your lovely little nose, but I will not.”

“What is she wearing?” Ned croaks, and George turns in surprise.

“Oh, hello! Look, your old man’s back with the living,” he says brightly. “Feeling any better?”

“I feel like now my body knows I haven’t been sleeping,” Ned mumbles. “But… yes. Actually.” George, smug, gives him an exaggerated wink. “Yeah, yeah. Thanks. But… really. Thank you, George.”

“Any time, Ned, and I mean it,” he says. “Both of us. John’s just popped out to get you some more laundry detergent, by the way. And something for the grown-ups’ dinner. Oh, d’you want to see what we brought for her? It was a surprise!” George excitedly readjusts Kitaani onto his shoulder. “Give your pops a fashion show, chickie.”

She’s wearing a onesie Edward doesn’t recognise, made of fuzzy black material; George pulls the hood up over Kitaani’s head, revealing two triangular fabric ears. When he turns her to the side, Edward sees a short tail made of the same fuzzy fabric swinging from the back.

“And there’s little paws on the bottom of her feet, look… because she’s Kitty, get it? Oh—oh, Ned, don’t cry. Do I need to tuck you back in too?”

So ESSENTIALLY this is a modern AU originally dreamt up by @manicpixiedreamjop , that has grown into a fun little playground for the two of us over the past … 6 months?? holy shit

THE BASICS:

Edward and Silna were in school together, and dated for a little while when they were about 17 and accidentally got pregnant. They decided that Edward would have full custody; he was pretty directionless at the time and was instantly in love with the idea of being a father, even if it was also terrifying, while Silna had no desire to be a mother, especially at 17.

In Gus’s words: I just think it could be an interesting parallel to canon silna being too young and overwhelmed for such a huge life shift, but getting the opportunity here to not have to take it all on

Her name is Kitaani, which if I’ve done my research right* means ‘on the open sea’

*Ive always struggled with learning/understanding other languages, so lmao it’s…entirely possible I’m wrong. If I am pls lmk ! ‘Kitaani’ isn’t a word in and of itself, it seems to be a part of a word used to denote location, but I still like it.

A few years later, Edward’s local single-parents group has a new member, a (very recent) widower named Solomon, whose daughter Dinah is the same age as Kitaani. Kitty and Dinah hit it off immediately, which is great bc they’re both about to start school for the first time and now they have a guaranteed friend there! And Edward and Solomon hit it off too.

They enter into a relationship for a short while - but Sol is still grieving, and also Ned’s hung up on one of his coworkers, and it becomes clear eventually that maybe a physical relationship isn’t right for them. Still, they stay incredibly close friends (Gus and I are in agreement that they are in a queerplatonic relationship!) and London cost of living is bull, and they’re both single dads and they need the support, and they end up moving in together.

Kitaani is more outgoing, generally louder, and sporty. Dinah is quieter and shyer, and has about a million allergies. They’re inseparable.

(Kitty L, Dinah R)

They like to tell strangers that they’re twins.

The coworker, by the way, is Jopson :) who is dealing with his own stuff around this time… he’s busy getting custody of his younger brother, JJ. It takes them a while to get their shit together enough to start a relationship, but they do bond over the fact that they’re both parents, even if Tom’s not technically JJ’s parent, just his legal guardian.

And yes, Hodgson and Irving are here. They come to Dee and Kitty’s birthday parties 💗 (the theme is Frozen)

[weewoo911]

I read your posts about Helena Diaz and I agree so much, every time she says something I get tensed for something worse to come. Her conversation with Eddie where she told him to not drag others down with him was so brutal, I somehow felt less shocked by the Buckley parents. What hits harder is that Eddie is somehow alone in dealing with her. With Buck there was Maddie and then Chimney who understood how fucked up it is. With Eddie he's got sisters but he's expected to hold more responsibility otherwise (even if Ramon seems to be improving). It's terrifying in a way, with how it's complicated because she wasn't even an absent parent so the memories are gonna be mixed.

I would really like it if Eddie got some kind of interaction w his mother in whatever is coming up bc I think the potential conflict there is really interesting.

I think a lot of times when people have kids really young, their own parents can end up doing a lot of heavy lifting, and with the best of intentions they can still end up treating the young parent as a child. I think that’s essentially what happened with Eddie & Shannon. Wanting to help turning into treating them both as incompetent, which took a toll on them both.

“Don’t drag him down with you” is a legitimately wild thing to say to your own kid- especially when he has just been left by his wife and is working three jobs to try and build a better life for his disabled kid. I’d love for that to be explored more- why his parents were so sure he was going to fail to the point they were ready to take his kid.

(Also to be clear I don’t know that they would have ever actually tried to take custody of Christopher, I don’t think we can take the coma dream as a direct canon for what would have happened- but if Buck thinks in his subconscious that it could have happened then what has Eddie said about his parents)

I also think it’s interesting to view it in contrast to Buck’s parents, because where Buck’s parents were under invested, Eddie’s parents maybe wanted too much agency over his life. And Eddie is a character who clearly feels the weight of other people’s expectations on his shoulders.

So yeah, I don’t mind if they go redemption arc - (though I think the show went too hard with trying to redeem Buck’s parents, Eddie’s dad and Chimney’s dad- we also can send the message that bio family relationships sometimes just can’t be fixed) - or full on screamfight but I’d just like it to be explored and have a satisfying resolution

Sorry this post ended up kind of long, but I didn’t want it to be straight up dunking on the character- I like having messy characters and conflict- it’s what makes the show interesting!

[iwasforcedtomakethisbytum]

Help me ahhh i can't stop thinking about what I'd do if i were in charge of a reboot of 6teen

For starters it would be more serialized, the original already had some of that and i don't wanna it to be so serialized you can't watch episodes out of order but we have streaming now so why not just have more mentions of previous episodes or foreshadowing future episodes

I'm mainly just thinking about Jonesy and how i could to not be the most hateable character, but i still want him to be a bit of a jerk to be honest but dear Lord I'm gonna give him a little chill pill like maybe he shouldn't be a literal criminal in multiple episodes, i wanna keep him being a selfish dick but maybe instead of flirting with literally all the women it's mostly just with his friends i kinda like the idea of him being demisexual idk i just like it, i also gave him more necklaces, mostly they mean nothing and he'd be happy letting another wear them, but one of his necklaces is his cremation necklace and is just really uncomfortable with the idea of others wearing it

i made jude trans, again i don't remember why i hc it but it's fun, so my design for him shows his binder under his tank top, i feel it would be mentioned but not a lot outside of a joke or two, i give him the more girly hands the women are given as a way to hint it and maybe older photos could show him with long hair or a dress. I also gave him a scarf which one thing i did add was maybe he'd like crochet/knitting and made the scarf himself (i also like to think nikki carries an opossum around that Jude made) he rollerstates everywhere even when he bumps into everything! I don't know what to headcanon his family like, they almost seem neglectful in the series as they're usually mentioned leaving jude alone at the house i feel but does that mean they're bad

Jen i feel she'd roughly stay the same, but maybe she'd be complaining a bit more about shit, i imagine she puts up with her job and school and stuff she hates because she knows it'll help her get what she wants but she doesn't care for it in private. Her parents are divorced like the original but i feel her dad isn't really explained in the original because jen remembers him as a good dad and some lines may reference him having died (omg what if he died by suicide, no I'm sorry not today) but it's never said that he's dead explicitly so it would make me wonder why in the original jen only lives with her mom, did he flee the area, was jen an unreliable narrator and he truly did something awful that warranted him not having custody, did her parents both choose to let Jen's mom have full custody for some reason? I don't know but in my version i like the idea of it being mention that she has to move between the houses (wait would she even have too, i know 16 is a bigger deal in Canada so would that give her the right to decide to not live with one of them?) but in my version of the show jens parents would have split costody of her and that would be mentioned

Nikki is a bit more nerdy i feel i made her, i like the idea of Chinese being her home language, and maybe she can also speak other languages outside of English and Chinese, i feel she'd speak Quebec French, Spanish and ASL to varying degrees of proficiency i could see her maybe considering being an interpreter as a career, she'd still be into protesting the same stuff she has before, she now has a half shaven head, one thing i don't necessarily care for with redesigns is just making her really emo but she's not really that in the original i mean sure it's alt but i don't see it as really emo. I feel like her and Wyatt talk about anime a lot. I feel she'd be fairly distant from her friends at the beginning of the series, like she's there with them they've known her most of their lives but it's not like she opens up to them about things and might seem unemphatic to them but overtime she tries to care about them and open up more maybe starting with them saying they're bi, which one is just like "wait you hadn't told us this before?"

Wyatt is also just nerdier, he draws, he sucks at it but he does draw, he obviously in a band, and so is jude, he just gets to do everything wyatt gets really obsessed with things he likes and will be upset if you don't like them, he also wears his headphones almost all the time, usually they're no music on though, i feel the music his band makes is just stuff that stimulates the ears it's just "hehe brain go brrrr" he's really into written art as well like fanfiction and poetry, i feel it would also be mentioned he takes care of younger siblings a lot as it's mentioned he's part of a big family in the series, i see him on the younger end of the family but still, idk maybe he could also have nieces and nephews

Caitlin also is into art, i feel she'd really be into the idea of fashion design but doesn't know how to make/modify clothing, she is the best drawer of the group, you can still very easily tell she's an only child, i liked the headcanon of her being homeschooled before joining the same school as the rest of the group, you could make an argument the first episode could imply it by saying "she didn't start until grade 10" but that also could mean she just went somewhere else, but i do think it would be fun if she didn't stop being friends with trisha despit being a bitch and the others keep trying to tell her to not hang with her but she "sees the good in her" i think it would be interesting to see it play out

I feel their parents would be mentioned more in the series, they might not show up but they are teenagers/young adults living under their parents roof so i feel it would make sense for it to be brought up more, like maybe the mention of a curfew or them complaining about something they're parents are doing or complain about rules they don't understand

It would be kinda cool to have a moment where both jen and jonesy bitch about their home lives and maybe complain that the marriage shouldn't even happen

Well that's it, i could probably say more but my brain has been satisfied

[dumbass-tumbler-cryptid]

Hi do you have any thoughts on Spider (modern au) with cystic fibrosis?

Interesting question! I saw that you also asked @lost-girl-2021  this question so I'll do my best to not repeat anything she said and focus more on how this would play out in my modern au Cabin in the Woods.

Disclaimer though, I actually didn't know a thing about cystic fibrosis until I watched a hand full of videos on it last night. I watched a video from the mayo clinic just talking about what it is, how its diagnosed and how its treated then I watched videos from kids with cystic fibrosis talking about how they manage there symptoms so that is the extent of my knowledge on the subject.

So my thoughts:

Quaritch and Paz weren't close with either of there families so they had no idea cystic fibrosis even ran in there families. From the videos I watched both parents have to have the gene for a child to get CF so maybe they both had a great grandparent that had it giving Spider a 1/8 chance of getting it.

They were shocked to say the least when only six weeks after his birth there baby was screened and diagnosed with CF

I imagine on the outside they would seem to just roll with it but on the inside they're both devastated.

They learn everything they can to help there son cope, studying different therapies, all the different medications, and any life adjustments they could make to make Spider's life as easy and comfortable as possible.

They have the best of everything too, the best nebulizer, the best setup for vest therapy, the best emergency supplies.

They are so well educated and well supplied that by the time Spider is one both his parents could step in as emergency services at the drop of hat.

Of course life gets flipped on its head after Paz is killed, and Quaritch is sent to jail for trying to kill her killer.

Quaritch would be freaking out every moment he's away from his son.

Because he's so determined to get Spider back as quickly as possible he wouldn't even bother to try to legally regain custody. That takes too much time and his son needs him now.

So from prison Quaritch is instructing team Deja Blue, having them set up a get away home with all the supplies they could possibly need.

In the Cabin in the Woods prologue Quaritch gets out of jail when Spider in four, and he goes just to look at his son in the group home.

In this the time line would be the same but instead of just going to see him, Quaritch would just sneak in in the middle of the night and take his sleeping child straight from his bed.

No one would even notice that Spider was gone until about noon the next day.

By that point Quaritch would be long gone.

That morning the four year old would wake up in the backseat of a truck, incredibly confused, but once his Papa explains to him what's happening he easily excepts it, thinking there just on a fun adventure.

So I still haven't found a way to write in locations of things in Cabin in the Woods but in my head Spider originally lived in or around Washington D.C before his dad kidnapped him. The cabin is all the way in Colorado. In this though I feel like Quaritch would want to get out the country but he wouldn't want to not live in America so as a happy medium he runs to Alaska where there's a cabin in the woods in the remote wilderness waiting for him.

In case of emergency this cabin is only about an hour away from the nearest hospital and town, and isn't nearly as hard to get to as the cabin in my actual story.

I already write Quaritch as being insanely controlling and over protective and that would just increase by 100 here.

When Spider is little he has no issue with his dads constant hovering, but as he gets older it starts to get anoying.

Because he really has no freedom. They stick to an incredibly strict schedule, vest therapy for twenty minutes twice a day, a regimen of medication and supplements always taken at the exact same time, extremally large healthy meals (that boy has never had a piece of candy or a drop of soda in his entire life) daily exercise to keep his lungs strong. All with his dad monitoring him the entire time.

It gets even worse when Quaritch learns about health tracking watches. He's never bought something so fast in his entire life and he practically locks it onto his son's wrist.

Spider is homeschooled too of course, mainly because he's a kidnapping victim (but he doesn't know that. He was way to young to remember everything that happened after his mama's death and Quaritch just told him his mama died in an accident and that they've always lived in there home) but also because his dad doesn't want him around anything or anyone that could potentially get him sick.

Spiders CF is so well managed though that you wouldn't even be able to tell that he has it. Sometimes he even forgets that he has it.

As he gets older he'll start to push for more freedoms and that will only make Quaritch hold on harder.

Anyway those are my thoughts. Hope you enjoyed! 💙

[gemsofthegalaxy]

another kidfic idea....................

The hookup Greg gets pregnant never tells him about it, thinking the kid is fathered by her on-again-off-again boyfriend. She gives the child up for adoption with the boyfriend, and Tom Wambsgans former Waystar CEO or something adopts her after divorcing Shiv, and goes to be a recluse with his daughter on his slightly upstate vineyard.

Four years later, Greg comes into a bunch of money and also the most disregulated state of his life when Ewan Roy dies, and then, somehow, through a random visit to the hospital where Tallulah was born, he finds out he's a parent and immediately lawyers up to challenge the fact he never gave up his parental rights in the state of New York because he wants to see her and meet her, dammit.

He and Tom meet in NYC and are like a pair of hissing cats, because Greg is interrupting Tom's blissful little life, some stranger wanting access to his kid, whereas Greg refuses to feel like a scumbag who abandoned his child and had a deep need to at least be involved in her life. And they're both rich, at this point, so no clear favor is given based on that alone.

Their lawyers advise them together that the adoption agency should not have accepted the original parentage without blood proof and since Greg does have proof he is blood related (although arguably the hospital may have violated Tallulah's privacy by telling him that. it's a fanfic plot okay?) and that... yeah, technically, there's not much of a case against Greg being involved. If he were to try to get full and exclusive custody that would be a whole other matter and he'd be equally unlikely given Tom has been her sole parent for four whole years and adopted her fair and square. But if his request is to be involved, there's not a lot to be done, because legally he's entitled.

So. They are court ordered to co-parent as well as take some parenting classes together so they can get on the same page, and given a week-by-week schedule they're expected to abide by.

Despite their initial catty meeting and a few weeks of legal slapfighting, Tom quickly realizes that Greg is just as dedicated as him to trying to do right by his daughter, and he really does mean well. Their first meeting with the baby together gets emotional quickly even though she barely understands what's going on. Afterwards as Tom checks in, Greg lets it slip that he spent his whole life thinking there was something about him that wasn't good enough for his own father to stick around or something silly like that, and he couldn't bear his kid to feel that way, and Tom's heart breaks a little bit in an instant.

Even though they're supposed to swap out weeks, Greg quickly starts leaning on Tom and going to him with every little thing, because he also doesn't want to confuse their daughter, and thinks that ideally they want to present themselves as united, and on the same page at least as far as she knows. You know. Just to make it as smooth a process as possible, and Tom agrees, so they spend a lot of time at each other's houses getting to know each other and musing about how they must have just missed each other when it came to Waystar- Greg never ended up working there because of Ewan but now has has his seat on the board, and Tom resigned as CEO shortly before Ewan passed away.

Maybe because of the crazy circumstances they met under, they get close really quickly, and each feel like they've known each other a lot longer than they really have and it becomes apparent before long.... they're totally fucking in love. But they're both hesitant, because they know it would be really big for their daughter if they suddenly start being together and what if it doesn't work out or changes something and messes up this delicate, lovely balance they just struck. And at this point, Tulip has definitely already asked "Why Dad and Daddy don't kiss like the other parents now that they found a Dad to be with Daddy all the time", thoroughly embarrassing them both.

Of course, they can't resist for long and fall into the temptation to be together, at first trying to be subtle and sneaking around so they can do a little 'trial period' before Tallulah finds out, and eventually they have to fess up and actually tell their daughter like "actually you know how we said we're just friends and co-parenting you and not in love? we are in love" and Tulip's like "yay. okay. can we have ice cream for dinner" and theyre like "....how about after dinner maybe?" and she whines and pouts but eventually gives up and has ice cream for dessert instead.

[plutobutartsy]

part 2 of my shared custody au

here's part 1 if anyone is interested but hasn't seen it yet:

okay anyway it's gavin/freelancer time >:D

gavin and freelancer are fighting for their lives trying to keep their relationship strictly professional

they are failing

caelum tries his best to wingman ("did you know that my dad gives the best hugs ever?? and he has cool hair and it's really soft!!")

pet just wants a moment of peace without freelancer talking about gavin (and ofc for their bestie to be happy)

"he's so hot and considerate and dedicated and-" "so date him" "nO i can't do that do you know how inappropriate that would be omg"

they have this conversation thrice a week

at some point freelancer decides it's best for them to avoid gavin so they don't end up crossing any lines

but it doesn't work because they keep being stuck together to prepare for one school event or another

they do their best to only talk about school related things, no more banter, minimal small talk

gavin thinks he did something wrong, that maybe they found out about his feelings for them and this is their way of letting him down easy

then caelum's grade goes on a field trip to a history museum so a few of the parents are needed as additional chaperones

originally, gavin plans on not going since things with freelancer have been so awkward lately (god they're both such idiots)

but he's lowkey a hellicopter dad so he goes out of worry for caelum lol

freelancer and gavin kind of avoid each other like the plague for the bigger chunk of the trip

after the museum guide is done giving the tour, the kids get some time to roam around on their own, the chaperones and teachers walk around the museum as well to keep an eye on them

that's when freelancer and gavin run into each other in a small, empty side room that's on the more boring side of the exhibit

freelancer is almost out of the door when gavin just BLURTS out that he's SOOO SORRY for making things weird and that he hopes they can just go back to normal and-

freelancer is like "huh???" because THEY should be the sorry one for PROJECTING their own feelings onto a a student's parent and oh gOD they're so unprofessional-

so then GAVIN is confused because wtf are they even talking about?? what feelings?? HELLO?????

they stare at each other for a while until freelancer FINALLY mumbles that they fell in love with gavin and just wanted to maintain a professional relationship with him

gavin is just kinda like "oh thank god, i thought i made you uncomfortable and you hate me now-" and he explains that he feels the same way

they get interrupted by some of the children entering the room but they agree on talking some more when they can be alone

you'd think this would make things even more awkward but it actually helps disperse most of the tension between them!!

they meet the following week during one of freelancer's lunch breaks and agree to secretly date even though they're both a bit hesitant to do so

(they're really bad at hiding it though because anyone with eyes can tell how much they love each other)

but it's the end of the school year and after that caelum won't be in freelancer's class anymore anyway

when they finally tell caelum he's so excited

he was kinda sad because he wouldn't be in freelancer's class anymore but now he can spend as much time with them as he wants!!!!

he immediately demands the three of them go out and do something together so they go to the park together

some more miscellaneous stuff

even though gavin originally only showed so much interest in school events because of freelancer, he turned into a full-on pta mom along the way

he found out he had a genuine talent for organizing events and he enjoys it and takes pride in it now

he's very popular with the other parents (yes, some try to flirt with him) and especially after the bake sale he starts trading recipes with a few of them

damien and huxely have a daughter named millie who goes to the same school as caelum, though she's only in first grade while caelum is in the 3rd grade

both damien and huxely are very involved with the school and pta as well

damien stays more behind the scenes organizing; he's the one who knows which permits they need from the city, how to maximize profit from fund raisers, etc

huxely is better at making things fun for the kids

he's very passionate about sports days and such because he knows how easy it is for p.e. classes to ruin the relationship children have with fitness early on

the children really love him because he's so supportive of any effort, no matter how small, and because he doesn't really talk down to them the way a lot of adults do

gavin and huxely become fast friends, damien takes a while to warm up to gavin

vega also gets unwillingly roped into the group because huxely is just relentless in being friendly

damien and vega don't get along that well at first but they bond over lovingly bullying gavin and over their shared taste in books (thriller and fantasy 100% + secret romance lovers (this is canon erik told me so))

millie and caelum have playdates :)

lasko is a history and english teacher at the local middle/high school

he gets a lot of his supplies at the store pet works at

freelancer actually spends a lot of time there on the weekends to hang out with pet

those two become friends with lasko almost immediately

lasko and pet play dnd together (nobody ask me any more about this idk shit about dnd)

they also try to teach lasko how to crochet but he's pitifully bad at it

surprisingly though he is pretty good at knitting

him and freelancer share a lot of their knowledge when it comes to teaching with each other and they have froyo together every friday

the first time vega asked pet to have coffee with him they said no simply because no matter what vega does, he always seems smug and they wanted to spite him

after freelancer and gavin get together, freelancer and pet convince gavin and vega to go on a double date

gavin knew of pet because freelancer is the type of person to brag about how great their friends are but he didn't know freelancer's pet was the same one vega was dating

likewise vega didn't know that pet's bestie and their bf where freelancer and gavin

so when they got to the restraunt gavin and vega where like the spiderman meme

pet and freelancer 100% knew and just wanted to mess with them

after that first double date vega and gavin are very adamant about never doing it again but they both can't say no to their partners

so double dates become a very regular occurence for them and pet and freelancer enjoy every minute of it (they're menaces)

for the first one lasko babysat caelum but he really can't keep up with caelum's energy levels

now huxely and damien mostly do the babysitting allthough "uncle lasky" also helps out when he can

after lasko and his listener get together they also babysit a lot

gavin, vega, freelancer, pet and caelum try to do a family movie night once a month

gavin and pet bake something and freelancer and vega build a pillow fort in the living room

caelum runs back and forth between both because he just can't decide what would be more fun so he tries to do both

he ends up falling asleep really early on because all the excitement wears him out

they do these movie nights at vega's place since his is the biggest but it's still kind of cramped

vega also prays nobody finds any glitter inbetween the couch cushons from before he got with pet because no matter how many times he vacuums, there's always more glitter

[a-small-batch-of-dragons]

hiiii idk if you’re taking requests, and feel free to ignore me lol, but i’ve been thinking abt Try Your Best (That's All We Can Do) a lot recently. and like reading it is so perfect and i love it. i was wondering if you were going to add to the story at all. ik it is wrapped up nicely, but i kinda wanna know what happens to them (make sure roman can avoid being murdered and heal), but yeah! thanks for all you write!

I really, really like how I ended that fic, so I don���t think I’m going to do another full chapter, but I’ll do a mini-fic epilogue just for you :)

Roman eventually shares with Virgil and Remus—and Janus, by default, because god knows his two lil gremlins don’t want to keep secrets from their dad if they don’t have to—that he’s been going to a therapist since a few months after Jamie committed suicide. He ascribes a lot of his personal growth to talking things through with them, even though they’re determined to get him to accept some credit on his own.

(Remus may or may not hit Roman in the face with a pillow for the same reasons and the two of them may or may not get into the habit of pillow-fighting whenever they see each other. It’s unclear whether or not this is actually a good thing.)

(It is, don’t worry.)

Roman actually plans to meet up with Virgil for a date right after one of his appointments, and Janus drops him off outside the building. While there, the therapist asks Janus if he’s Roman’s father. He isn’t, and says as much, but he starts to worry about how Roman’s managing to afford this if his therapist can’t even recognize his parents. He confronts Roman about it and Roman says that the school’s guidance counselor actually recommended and they worked out something with insurance that his parents never had to personally approve.

There’s another indecent at school where Janus is called in because Remus got into a fight. When he gets there, he sees Roman sitting outside the principal’s office, holding something to his head again, and Remus glowering at the wall. For a terrible second, he has memories of the same thing happening in middle school, only this time Remus has his arm around Roman’s shoulders and Virgil comes running up a second later.

Jamie’s friend had attacked Roman again, and Remus had tried to stop them. Roman had shoved Remus behind him and been rewarded with a textbook across his temple. The administration had found the three boys like that: one bleeding, still holding back another, the third crying and screaming on the floor.

Roman’s parents never make an appearance.

Janus offers to drive Roman home—and maybe not-so secretly give them a piece of his mind—but Roman pales and makes up something about how that would just leave his car in the school parking lot overnight and he’d have to figure out a way to get to school tomorrow. Janus lets it go, mostly so the poor thing doesn’t freak out even more, but he’s oddly quiet for the rest of the night.

He also turns into a total cuddle monster for the rest of the week, but that’s not that big of a surprise.

No, the surprise comes when Virgil gets a call during one of their weekend afternoons and finds out that Roman has to cancel their date tomorrow because he’s in the hospital.

The call doesn’t even end before Janus is barking at both of them to get in the car.

They’re almost not allowed in, because only family is permitted, but then the orderlies reveal that Roman’s actual family hasn’t showed up at all, didn’t answer the emergency call, and Janus just about shoves his way past them to let Virgil run into Roman’s room. The room is filled with machines and loud beeping and a scared child in an oversized hospital bed, and all Janus can think about is the little boy in his father’s suit, all alone in a graveyard.

The doctor comes in. All three of them completely fail to be subtle at eavesdropping as she tells Roman that his attacker has been taken into custody, and that it’s a good thing his family came so quickly.

Virgil barely stifles a gasp, Remus’s eyes go wide, and Janus’s just watches the most heartbreaking confusion cross Roman’s face until he realizes that the doctor is referring to them.

“…yeah,” Roman mumbles, not meeting any of their eyes, “I guess I am.”

The doctor turns to Janus. “Did they tell you what happened?”

“No, not yet.”

“Your son was hit by a car. Luckily it wasn’t going very fast and his injuries aren’t too severe, but he’ll need to rest and heal. Is there somewhere you can—“

“Can you give us a moment, please?”

The doctor looks at Roman, surprised, then back at Janus. Janus just raises his eyebrow—“He’s the patient, it’s not up to me.”—and the doctor leaves.

“If you say anything about being sorry for being an inconvenience or her assuming we’re your family,” Remus says before Roman can say anything, “I’m gonna hit you with a pillow.”

“Remus,” Janus warns.

Roman winces, holding a hand to his side. “Don’t make me laugh, my ribs are cracked.”

“Good thing Re’s not funny, then.”

“Boys.”

Roman does, in fact, try and apologize for everything, but Janus stops him with a hand on his uninjured shoulder.

“You’re hurting,” he says softly, referring to far more than just the car accident, “let us help you, please.”

When the doctor comes back, the first thing they do is change Roman’s emergency contact to Janus.

[riahlynn101]

"Always and Forever."

Summary: All for One tries to be a good parent, Aizawa is a good brother, and Izuku is cute (and powerful).

(Written for the 2022 dad-fic-exchange for EliseRae).

--

It’s a universal truth that children love unconditionally. Izuku Midoriya is no different. 

He watches T.V from his place on the couch, snuggled up against his older brother’s side. Shota’s visiting from college, and has thus far indulged Izuku in his need to watch all the pre-quirk superhero movies their father dredged up from….somewhere (dad is always strangely vague when talking about his past). 

Izuku loves hanging out with his older brother. Besides the obvious, he likes being near his brother and daddy because of the light they give off (and other people, but daddy rarely lets him see anyone else). The small aura of bright yellow light that he gives off reminds Izuku of warm, sunny days where everyone’s happy and absolutely nothing can go wrong. 

“He must have some sort of spidey mut-muta- ability that needed certain things to make it work,” Izuku mutters under his breath. “Could your power work on him?” 

“The word you’re looking for is mutation, and maybe,” Shota says, looking down at his brother (who is laser-focused on the T.V despite asking a question). “I think it depends on if his powers truly are a byproduct of a mutation. In which case, no. Erasure wouldn’t work on him.” 

Chuckling, Shota nudges his little brother. “Not turning to the darkside are we?”

Izuku shakes his head, green curls mussing with the movement. “No, Nii-San, I was just curious.” 

They return to watching the movie. 

Near the middle of the movie, Izuku’s eyes become heavy with sleep. Not surprising considering he skipped his daily nap to spend more time with his older brother (“he’s spending the entire weekend with us, Izuku, go rest,” their dad had said, in a fruitless effort to placate him. “After all, tomorrow's your fourth birthday. You need to save your energy for the party.”)

Somehow, someway, Izuku had won that argument. But the consequences of his actions are slowly but surely catching up to him. 

He tries to muffle a yawn behind his hand. 

“Tired, are we?” Nii-San asks, patting his head. 

“No.”

“Okay, sure, Problem Child.”

Izuku scrunches his nose up at the nickname. You break your arm one time falling from a tree (and almost get run over by oncoming traffic, because he forgot to look both ways while out shopping with his dad. And are almost squashed during a hero-villain fight, because their quirks were just so cool! And there was that one time he was almost kidnapped because an older lady said she had an All Might action figure in her van.) and suddenly you’re a “Problem Child.”

“Uh, uh,” he says, petulantly. His eyes keep slipping closed, and he’s only half-listening to his older brother. 

“Sleep, Izu, I’ll be here when you wake up.”

When Izuku finally falls asleep, still nestled up to his brother in their living room, he dreams of getting a quirk of his own. 

-x-x-x-

Love is not a word many would associate with All for One. And while society as a whole wouldn’t be wrong to assume so, All for One is in fact only human (much as he loathes to admit that). 

He loved Yoichi first, as though the boy was his own son. 

He loved Ayame Aizawa second, in a vastly different way than he had ever felt before. A young woman with a vision quirk, dark eyes and long, wavy black hair. She insisted she loved him as well, even got engaged to him and bore him a son that resembled her. But luck wasn’t on All for One’s side, and Ayame discovered some of his more minor villainous deeds a few months after Shota was born. 

In a rare display, that would surely give his frail brother a heart attack if he was still around, he let her leave. They even shared custody of Shota until the boy was old enough to decide he wanted to live full time with his dad.

All for One took a break from dating for a time. He had a son who was growing more and more everyday, and an underworld to run from the shadows. 

And then, he met Inko Midoriya. 

A 20-year-old woman who had recently graduated from a nursing program. He met her while waiting on Doctor Garaki in the hallway of Jaku General Hospital. A polite, bright, young woman with a weak telekinesis quirk called, “Attraction.”

That was how Doctor Garaki described her when he brought her up during their meeting. 

It took a grand total of ten months, three hundred awkward attempts at flirting with the nurse, and no less than ten dad jokes a week in an effort to break the ice. 

She never took the hint.

Not until his son, then nine, fell off his bike and needed his hand stitched up. 

Being around his pride and joy, worrying extensively about how Shota was feeling and comforting him when the doctors had to numb the area, made being in the same space as her less nerve wrecking. 

“Hey, Shota, I’m afraid for the calendar,” All for One, going by the name of Hisashi, remembers telling his son, whose face was ruddy and wet from crying. 

“W-why, dad?” 

“Because its days are numbered.”

His son burst out laughing, smiling for the first time since falling from his bike hours earlier. 

Next to him, starting to clean up the room for the next patient, Inko chuckles at the lame joke. 

They get married on the last Saturday in April. Shota’s their ring bearer and Anyame even attended to wish the new couple good luck (blessedly, she doesn’t divulge why they broke up to Inko). The two women get along swimmingly and are fast friends. 

Six-years-later, on July 15th, Izuku Midoriya was born to Hisashi and Inko Midoriya at Jaku General Hospital. 

Izuku comes home with his father two days later; Inko doesn’t come with them.

Caring for a newborn and a teenager (who, at the time, was also grieving the loss of a good friend of his) was hard to say the least. He remembers crying for the first time since his brother died, unsure of how to proceed as a single father. 

For a time he even considered giving Izuku up for adoption, before Shota knocked some sense into him. 

“I’m sad too,” his son had said, holding a six-month-old Izuku close to his chest, “but I think adopting Izuku out is only going to make us hurt worse. He’s family. He’s my brother, and I don’t think I can lose anyone else…dad-dad…I…I can’t lose him.” 

All for One holds his sons close for hours afterwards, promising to never leave the two boys. 

A promise he hasn’t broken yet. 

On the rare occasions he has to leave on business and Shota can’t watch Izuku, Anyame happily takes on the role of babysitter. 

They live in a traditional-Japanese style house just outside the city of Mustufu. Close enough to the city that Izuku can get to and from school when he starts in the fall, but far enough away that no one pays them any mind. 

Which brings him up to now, standing in the middle of a superhero themed party store. 

He glares at an All Might-themed party pack (plates, cups, napkins, balloons, and party hats). Shaking his head, he takes the offending item off the shelf. Kami, the things he does for love. 

Izuku is turning four tomorrow. An exciting time in any child’s life. Four seems to be the average age when people are developing a quirk nowadays. Though, considering he himself is a first generation quirk user who knows if Izuku will even get one. 

He’s been going over all the possible quirk combinations that his son could have: a stronger form of “Attraction,” one of All for One’s many quirks (maybe even firebreath, as he constantly keeps that one activated just in case), or…..

Or a stronger version of All for One. 

He grimaces, picturing the absolute headache that would cause. 

“Did you find everything okay?” The cashier asks, scanning the party pack.

“Yes.” 

In a perfect world, he wouldn’t have to worry about his son developing a quirk so similar to his own. But it’s not and no doubt All Might and his little entourage would track him down, break his family apart, if word got out of a child possessing an All for One quirk. 

He sighs, thanks the overworked cashier, and heads for the door. 

One day at a time, Hisashi. There’s nothing you can do about it today. 

-x-x-x-

He arrives home to see his sons cuddling on the couch, fast asleep. Shota’s hair is covering part of his face, and he’s leaning over towards his brother, one arm wrapped around Izuku. 

Izuku, meanwhile, is snuggled up. His feet tucked underneath him, and his head nestled against Shota’s side. 

A pang of longing hits All for One’s heart. He remembers cuddling up with his brother like that. 

Yoichi would have loved them. 

Pushing down those feelings, he smiles at the boys. Carefully, so as not to wake either of them up, All for One covers them both with a throw blanket. He brushes Shota’s hair from his face and kisses them both on the head. 

He starts for the kitchen. Maybe he can finish dinner before either of them wake up. 

-x-x-x-

Dinner is a lively affair. Izuku talks animatedly about anything and everything, while his family listens intently. 

“And-and I think Shota’s quirk could work on Spider-Man ‘cause I don’t think it’s a mutation. I think it’s his quirk.”

“Back in my day,” their father starts (to which both boys groan), “we called heroes, like the one in that movie, “Superheroes” and they had superpowers not quirks.”

“But I thought they were called meta-abilities before quirks,” Shota says, taking another bite of his fried rice. 

Their dad nods. “In the real world, yes. But in films and comics, people called them superpowers.” He pokes at his rice with a chopstick, face oddly solemn. “Back in those days, before meta-abilities, people wanted powers.” 

Someone pats his hand. Looking down, Hisashi sees his youngest son’s tiny hand trying to comfort him. 

“It’s okay, daddy.”

“Yes,” All for One agrees. “Everything is fine.” He smiles, wanting to change the subject. “Are you excited for tomorrow?”

Izuku bounces in his seat, nodding. “Mhm! Super-duper excited!” 

Shota snorts. “That's all he’s been talking about today. Well, that and those superhero movies we just had to binge watch today.”

“Oh, don’t act like you didn’t enjoy them as well,” All for One teases his oldest son. 

“Because I-”

“Daddy can I go to the park?” Izuku asks, his plate already empty. 

Hisashi loves and hates in equal measure that the city put in a playscape just down the street. It’s far from the busy streets and oncoming traffic and the hustle and bustle of city life, but he still doesn’t like his son(s) going there. There’s always a chance of something going wrong, and he’s been around too long to leave things to chance. 

But…looking into his youngest’s green eyes, eager and excited, Hisashi can’t bring himself to say, “no.”

“Yes-”

“Yay!” Izuku cheers, hopping off his chair and racing towards the front door. 

“Izuku-”

Shota pats his dad on the back. “I got him, dad.” He takes his brother’s and his’ plate to the sink, rinsing them off. “Be back before seven.”

“Of course, be safe.”

Shota shoots his dad an awkward smile and hurries to catch up with his rambunctious little brother. 

All for One sighs, contently. What could possibly go wrong?

-x-x-x-

The trip to the park starts off well enough. A few kids around his age are playing in the sandbox. Izuku races over to play with them. He’s seen them here before (whenever he can get his father to take him here, that is). He likes playing with them because they always have such pretty colors connected to them, hovering over their small shoulders like a guardian angel or an extension of themselves. He’s noticed it, the small ball of light, in other people as well. But daddy doesn’t let him interact with other people a lot, so it’s always exciting when he can see lights and colors that differ from his brother and daddy (and Auntie Anyame).

His brother sits next to the other parents, a slight grimace on his face. His brother is kind of funny like that. Other people make him nervous, which isn’t the funny part, but the way his face contorts against his will to show his emotions plain as day, is. 

Still, Izuku isn’t cruel and is not nearly as oblivious as daddy thinks he is, so he pats his brother on the arm and offers a small smile before running off to play in the sandbox. 

He plays alone for a while, scooping the sand into buckets to make sandcastles, until another boy, probably a few years older than him, wanders over. He has dark blue hair and the aura that follows him is a soothing baby blue. 

“What’s your name? Mine’s Tanaka Akio,” the boy, now known as Akio, says, grabbing the other available bucket. 

“Midoriya Izuku,” he answers, timidly. Despite his growing excitement at having someone around his age to talk to, he can’t help but feel a little shy. 

“Okay, can I call you Izuku-Chan?”

“Mhm,” he agrees. 

“And of course, you can call me Akio-Chan, or Akio.” Akio smoothes out the sand in the bucket, packing it down.

“Okay.”

 “This isn’t going to work,” he says after flipping over the bucket, only to watch his castle crumble. Izuku follows suit, more out of curiosity than anything else. 

It breaks apart and crumbles away. 

“Aw,” Izuku whines. “Guess we’ll have to start over again, huh?” 

“Yes! But I think my quirk can help us. I can generate water. It’s weak, but it should help wet the sand enough for it to stick together.”

Izuku stares at his new friend with stars in his eyes. “Generate water? Is it sweat? Or does the water come from the water you drink? Do you have to drink a lot of water? If you don't, do you get sick?”

“Yes. I don’t know. I don’t know. Yes. And kind of? Mama makes sure I drink at least one glass per hour.”

Not exactly satisfying answers, but Izuku manages to stop himself from hounding the other boy about his super cool water quirk. 

“Do you like heroes?” Akio asks. “I used to live in the city, so I used to see them fight villains all the time.”

Izuku nods, the rest of his nerves slowly dissipating as the other boy starts to jabber on and on about all the different hero fights he’s seen.

As the two boys continue to play together, Shota watches intently. Socializing, no matter how miniscule, stresses him out. Only Hizashi and Nemuri seem to- well, no, they still stress him out, but they’re at least funny. And, at this point, he’s probably stuck with them. 

A woman, presumably a relative or babysitter of one of the many children playing in the park, clears her throat. He side-eyes her, but beyond that, he pays her little mind. 

“Ahem, sir,” she says. 

“Yes?” He asks, warily. 

“You look awfully familiar.” She smirks.

“Do I?” Shota thinks of moving to the bench on the other side of the park, but there’s more people over there and it’d be rude to just up and move. His dad taught him better manners than that.

“Yes. I think I saw you on the news. Oh, what was it for?” The woman thinks aloud to herself. 

Shota’s mouth suddenly feels strangely dry. He speaks around the lump growing in his throat. “You must be mistaken. I-I’ve never been on the news.”

“No, no, I know I have. Ah, I got it!” She snaps her fingers. “You-”

“Nii-San!”

Shota politely excuses himself, thanking whatever God or deity helped him avoid her next words. He rushes over to the sandbox.

There sits his brother and another little boy, both of which look shocked and horrified. Upon seeing Shota, his little brother sniffles. 

“I didn’t mean it. Make him better.”

“Huh?”

“Haru!” The woman from earlier wails, racing over to them. 

It’s then that Shota takes notice of the unconscious boy laying on the opposite side of the sandbox. 

“What happened?” He asks, trying and failing to keep the worry out of his voice. 

Izuku gives a weak shrug of his shoulders. “I-I don’t know. He was being very mean, and I just wanted him to stop so I-”

“You!” The woman yells, startling everyone in the park and even a few babies started crying at her outburst. She gathers her son in her arms. “You hurt him!”

“No, I-I didn’t mean to.”

“He really didn’t. Haru-Kun kicked our sandcastles down and called Izuku-Chan a bunch of really nasty names. And neither of us touched him. We’ve been here the whole time.”

The woman glares at the kids, looking a hairbreadth away from pouncing on them. 

Protective big brother instincts engaged, Shota steps in front of both the boys. “I can call emergency services. We can settle this between the adults.”

“Whatever. Just call them.”

-x-x-x-

“Ah, huh, thank you. Thank you, yes, goodbye.” Their dad hangs up the phone, flipping it shut (another relic from his time, whatever that means).  “The boy woke up.”

Izuku, who hadn’t stopped crying since the incident at the park, is fast asleep in his bedroom. Safe and sound.

From his place on the couch, Shota breathes a sigh of relief. “Did they figure out what happened?”

“Shota,” his dad starts, sitting down next to him, “you know what my quirk does, correct?”

“You can take and give quirks?”

“Yes.”

“Is- was the incident at the park….can Izuku take and give quirks?”

“Yes.”

“Yes?”

“What else do you wish me to say, Shota? From what you tell me, Izuku might have felt his friend and he were threatened and used his quirk on the boy that was bothering them. Unintentionally, of course.”

He scoffs, standing up quickly. “I also said Izuku never touched him. A few witnesses verified that.”

His dad nods. “Interesting. Did you happen to know what the boy’s quirk is?” 

“I think his mom mentioned something about him being able to bend metal? I don’t know, she really wasn’t happy with Izuku or me and made every effort to tell us so.”

“Funny then that I find that exact quirk in Izuku’s possession, isn’t it?” His dad laughs, but it comes out sounding humorless. Suddenly serious, he leans forward. “This stays between us and Izuku. At least until he can control it. Do you understand?”

Wordlessly, nervously, Shota nods. 

“Good. Now that that’s settled let’s discuss party plans.”

Getting to his feet, his dad starts rambling on about the food preparations. Shota follows behind him, offering a hum here and superficial comment there. Though he tried to hide it, the fear in his dad’s eyes had been there. 

If his dad is frightened, then what chance does he and Izuku have against whatever evil he’s afraid of?

“Shota?” His dad asks, voice soft and brows furrowed. He holds a cookbook that looks several decades old in front of him. “Are you alright?”

He forces a smile. “Yeah, just a little tired. Sorry, go on.”

There’s a knowing look in his dad’s eyes, but it vanishes in the blink of an eye. “What kind of cake do you think Izuku would want?”

“Anything All Might.” Is Shota’s immediate answer. 

“Hah, but what flavor?”

“It could be made of only wasabi, as long as it’s All Might themed, the kid won’t care.”

His dad sighs and closes his eyes. “I suppose you’re right. Well then, what about you? What kind of cake do you like?”

“Surprise me,” he says, moving out of the kitchen and towards the bedrooms. “I’m going to bed, I’ll be up early to help decorate.”

“Goodnight, Shota.”

“Night, dad.”

-x-x-x-

The next day is nothing short of chaotic. No one brings up the events of the previous day, instead choosing to focus on the party at hand. 

Shota, true to his word and against his body’s protests at getting up earlier than eleven, helps his dad decorate the living room and dining room. Red, yellow, and blue streamers hang from the ceiling. The dining room is set up with each place setting having an All Might plate, cup, and napkin. His dad doesn’t hide his grimace everytime he locks eyes on it. 

“Izuku will be happy,” Shota says, casually reminding his dad why they do this song and dance every year (and will probably continue to do so for the next fourteen years). 

“Yes, yes he will.” He sighs, rubbing his forehead. 

Shota chuckles, gathering bits of plastic and broken streamers to shove into the trash can. His dad checks his watch. 

“Well, time to wake the birthday boy. There’s this diner in the city that serves American-style breakfast. I think you boys will like it.”

-x-x-x-

His dad, per usual, was correct in his assumptions. The American 50s-style diner sits in the middle of Musutafu, nestled in between a ramen shop and a discount book store. An overly-friendly woman with neon green hair and wearing a stereotypical waitress uniform leads them to a booth at the back of the diner. 

Once they’re all settled in, the waitress starts passing out their menus. “There we are. And one for-”

Izuku grabs her arm, still holding onto the menu. “You have a very pretty quirk. Can I have it?”

The woman gasps, eyes widening. 

No one moves.

No one breathes. 

Shota looks to their dad, who’s reaching towards both of them. A protective glint in his red eyes. 

And then, the bell over the door chimes. 

The waitress laughs, ruffling Izuku’s hair. “Kids say the darndest things don’t they?”

Shota and their dad join her in laughing, cheesing it up. “Yep, they sure do. Today’s actually his fourth birthday. You know how kids are with quirks nowadays.”

The waitress nods along. “Yes, yes. Can I get you guys anything to drink?”

-x-x-x-

“Izuku,” daddy starts, voice low, “you can’t just ask people if you can have their quirks.” 

They’ve just got home from the diner, and his big brother is trying his best to clean the remaining syrup off Izuku’s face. The cool rag is scrubbed harshly against his skin, an unreadable expression on his brother’s face. Something in Izuku twists, feeling guilty. 

He pulls away, bottom lip quivering. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to.” In all honesty, Izuku has zero idea what he’s apologizing for, but it has to be something pretty bad if even daddy’s upset. 

Daddy sighs, bending down. Putting a gentle hand on Izuku’s shoulder, he tells him, “you didn’t do anything wrong, Izu. Just….sometimes people are weird about their quirks. Most people don’t want to give their quirks away.”

Izuku fidgets with the hem of his All Might t-shirt. The fabric feels nice and the familiarity helps quell some of his growing anxiety. “But All Might says it’s good to share.”

“Yes, and it is. But….” daddy trails off, eyes looking towards the ceiling as if trying to find an explanation. 

“Izuku,” his big brother starts, “think of their quirks like a limited-edition All Might action figure. You wouldn’t want anyone touching that, now would you?”

He purses his lips, thinking it over. That makes sense, he supposes, and Nii-San’s right. If anyone touched his limited-edition, tenth anniversary All Might action figure (or any of his merch, really) he’d be extremely upset. 

“That…I understand. But everyone has such cool quirks.”

His dad huffs out a laugh, all previous seriousness long gone. He ruffles Izuku’s hair. “They do, don’t they? It’ll be hard, but we’ll figure it out. Together.”

“Together?” Izuku asks, leaning against daddy. He’s warm and Izuku really needs a hug right now. Daddy acquiesces, wrapping his arms around him. He must also motion big brother over, because not a second later, he’s joining in the hug.

“Together,” daddy repeats. 

“Yeah, problem child, always and forever.”

[crinkled-emotions]

“Can you please come and get me?”

hi would i be able to request this for bradley and amelia? i loved every interaction you’ve written between them!!

I'm in the mood for *festive* one shots, so here's one where Amelia has to go to her dad's for Christmas and she promptly decides it's a bit shit.

For the sake of this one shot- her dad is still in San Diego. Amelia isn't particularly fond of him but there's nothing she can do to get out of it. Well, so she thought.

There’s some hand-wavey stuff but y’know. Hand wave and get over it.

My dad thought the scene this gif is from was the funniest thing ever. I think he may have back snorted in the cinema lmao.

"I don't understand; why do I have to spend Christmas with him?"

"We've been having this argument since you were eight, Amelia, and I remind you every year; it's the custody agreement. I can't do anything about it; if I try and tell him no, I could- I could lose you."

Amelia frowned, watching her mother fuss around the bar.

"I don't want to spend it with him, mom! I want to spend it with you and Mav and Bradley!"

"Honey, I don't think Bradley's even coming. He's talking about deployment, Pete is heartbroken about it."

"Mom," Amelia insisted. Penny held up a finger, searching for a bottle of some particular alcohol.

"I already told you. It's the law, sweetheart. There's nothing I can do about it, he'll be here at 3pm at the 23rd."

Amelia tossed her book down, climbing off the chair at the deck to walk out toward the ocean. She took a seat on the sand and buried her head against her knees, huffing. She reached for her phone, frowning at the text from her dad that said he couldn't wait to see her.

That was a lie if she'd ever heard one.

-

Sure enough, Amelia's dad showed up at 3:15pm on the 23rd, jumping out of the car with a million apologies. Amelia sent her mom one last begging look, before turning and giving Maverick a hug. He caught her, frowning.

"Hey, kid, why the long face? I know it blows, but maybe you could-"

"-please don't make me go, Mav."

"I would love for you to stay, and I think it would brighten your mom's world, but unfortunately it's the law that you stay with your father. I'll come and get you on the 26th, okay? Nice and early, we can get waffles and a shake on the drive home."

When Amelia glanced at him, she saw the look of a man familiar with the routine.

"Bradley didn't like going to his grandparents', think it freaked him out, y'know, all the ghosts. They loved him, adored him, but I think he reminded them of their son a little too much."

Amelia knew then and there that he got it from both perspectives.

"Can I call you and mom later today?" She asked. Maverick nodded.

"Of course, kiddo. Look, you have to promise me something, for your mom's sake."

She hummed.

"I need you to be good for your dad. You don't have to be best buddies with him, but please just be civil. Okay?"

"Fine. Bye, Mav."

"See you later, kiddo."

She separated from him and walked straight past her biological parents, climbing into her dad's car and slamming the door shut behind her. Her mom moved away from her dad, leaning into Maverick who had a hand on her back for comfort. Finally, her dad got into the car.

"Hey, sweetie. Are you excited?"

"Sure."

He glanced at her via the rearview mirror, frowning.

"Amelia-"

"-dad."

He got the gist. Shutting his mouth, he started the car and pulled out of the driveway.

-

"I hate that she has to do this, but he won't give it up. I've asked him every year if he would swap, because she's miserable, but he refuses. Says because I get to have her full time, he gets to pick the holidays he has her."

"Surely your lawyer has something to say about it? We've both seen the way she looked at us when she got into the car."

Pete and Penny were sitting on the couch, sipping coffee together as they stared blankly at the tree in the room.

"How long do you think it'll take her to break loose this year?" Pete mused. Penny elbowed him, sighing.

"I think if she breaks out again, he's going to take me back to court. Sue for full custody."

"He wouldn't... would he?"

"He would; trust me."

Penny finished off her mug, reaching for Pete's empty one too.

"Have you heard from Bradley?"

"Yeah, deployment isn't until January. I offered for him to stop by on Christmas Day for dinner and he sounded down for it. He did mention something about him and Phoenix going on a roadtrip but that's not until a couple days after Christmas."

"Are you two going to be okay?"

"Are you and Amelia?"

Pete and Penny exchanged looks, Pete clearing his throat.

"Okay, new plan. We go to the Hard Deck Christmas Eve, dinner Christmas Day, and I'll pick Amelia up at some ungodly hour on the 26th so she's here when you wake up."

"Pete, you don't have to do that-"

"-I do, and I will. She's your little girl."

-

“Amelia, uh, when we get home... there’s going to be someone else there too.”

“Oh, are Grandma and Grandpa coming to Christmas too?”

“Uh, no. It’s... they’re really special to me and I would love for you to meet them.”

Amelia crossed her arms.

“Your girlfriend? Is that girlfriend four or five?”

“Amelia...”

“No, I’m tired of this, I thought it was just going to be us-”

“-she’s bringing my daughter. Our- our daughter.”

Amelia’s throat went dry. Suddenly, she wanted out.

“Pull over.”

“What? Amelia-”

“-pull over. Right now.”

Her father pulled into a fuel station and Amelia yanked her backpack from the seat beside her, hoisting it over her shoulder and stalking into the nearest bathroom. She knew she couldn’t call her mom, or Mav, but there was one person who was left on her ICE list.

“Bradley?”

-

“Nice one, Roos!”

Rooster spiked the ball up and Bob sent it flying over the volleyball net with ease, the pair high-fiving. Phoenix ducked under the net and threw herself into Bob’s arms, tackling him to the ground. Rooster laughed, letting her wrestle against Bob as she refused to admit defeat to the game. Hangman, on Phoenix’s team, grinned as he too watched Bob howl in laughter. They’d never seen him like that but they were thoroughly enjoying it.

“Hey, Roo! Your phone’s ringing!” Fanboy called from where he was stretched out on a lounge chair. Rooster frowned, jogging over to grab it. He saw the caller ID and he immediately felt a pit of dread.

“Amelia? What’s going on?”

“Bradley?”

“I’m here. I thought you were heading to your dad’s for Christmas?”

“Can you please come and get me?”

Rooster glanced at his team, then reached for his t-shirt.

“Where are you? Can you send me your location?”

“I’m- I’m hiding in the bathroom, at a gas station... I don’t want to go, Bradley, please don’t make me- I don’t want to-”

“-okay, okay breathe. Are you hurt, are you in trouble?”

“No, but- he’s... he’s got a new wife, and- and a new baby...”

“Ah, shit, Amelia, I’m sorry. That’s gotta be rough. I’m on my way, I’ll call your mom-”

Rooster heard Amelia gasp.

“You cannot call mom,” she begged, “she’s gonna lose custody of me because I keep running from my dad’s!”

“What are you talking about? If anything, I’d be giving full custody to your mom, clearly you’re not comfortable spending time with your- hey, Nix, I gotta go pick up Amelia. I’ll call you later!”

Rooster waved at Phoenix, still on the phone as he shoved his shoes on and began to jog back up the beach to his Bronco.

-

Amelia locked the stall and crouched on top of the toilet, holding her backpack to her chest. She could hear Bradley on the road, and then her father’s voice at the entrance to the ladies’ room.

“Amelia, you can’t hide from this.”

“I’m not going! You can’t make me!”

“It’s the law, Amelia! You will go-”

“-no! No, I won’t! You can drag me kicking and screaming out of this bathroom and I will run to the nearest police station! I’m not doing this!”

“Amelia!” Her father scolded, but Amelia remained in the bathroom, clutching her phone and her backpack.

“Bradley-”

“-I’m coming kid, hold tight. I’m, uh, maybe five minutes... wait, I’m pulling in now.”

“Amelia, can you please just come out so we can talk about this?” Her father pleaded.

“Bradley...”

“I’m coming,” Bradley said. She could hear the familiar rumble of the Bronco outside, then her father walking away.

“Are you Amelia’s father?”

“Who the hell are- wait a minute. Are you Nick Bradshaw’s kid?”

“Bradley Bradshaw, I think we met when I was a teenager.”

“What are you doing here?”

Amelia bolted from the bathroom, legging it to where she could hear her brother talking to her dad. Bradley caught her gaze and she tilted her head to the Bronco.

“Look, it’s none of my business, but your daughter called me and I’m going to take her to the police station in San Diego, because it’s the right thing to do. You and the cops can sort it out from there.”

“Bradley-”

“-and for future reference, if you have news like a new daughter, I would probably call before the baby’s born.”

Amelia watched him come over to the Bronco. Her father stood in his dust, lost and a little ticked.

-

“Do you want to talk about it?”

Driving on the back roads toward the station, Bradley finally broached the subject. Amelia had sniffled and stifled her sobs for the last ten minutes, using all the napkins in the glovebox.

“Talk about what?” She whispered.

“The fact you hate going to your dad’s, and you apparently have for years according to Mav.”

“He’s just- um. He... he only wants me on Christmas because it hurts mom, and I’ve known that for years, but for some reason... this year, I just- I had enough, and then he told me about his daughter, and-”

“-and you couldn’t pretend everything was okay,” Bradley mused. Amelia watched his moustache twitch and she winced.

“You called my mom, didn’t you?”

“I had to. Your dad could have reported it as a kidnapping, considering technically I’m a third party on your mom’s side.”

“You didn’t- I asked you to come.”

“Amelia, you’re a kid.”

Bradley was firm, brows set as he pulled into the police station. When he pulled off his sunglasses, Amelia could see the way his eyes were just a little damp.

“Look, Amelia, uh- I went through some shit when I was a kid too, and I get where you’re coming from, but the law is the law and your dad has custody for Christmas.”

“It’s stupid.”

Amelia crossed her arms over her chest and Bradley sighed.

“C’mon, let’s go tell the cops. They might not be able to change it, but they can make a note that this is not the first time you’ve left your dad’s. Especially at this time of year.”

-

(6 months later)

“Amelia, when it comes to the holidays, who would you prefer to stay with?”

Amelia snapped to attention, looking up at the judge.

“I would prefer to stay with my mom, Penny Benjamin, ma’am. I don’t feel my father and I have a relationship at all since he left when I was eight.”

“Okay, thank you.”

The judge was quiet for a moment, Amelia grasping her mom’s hand under the table. Glancing over her shoulder she could see Pete and Bradley waiting, both nodding at her with subtle thumbs up. Finally, the judge cleared her throat.

“I think it would be in Amelia’s best interests for her to remain with her mother full time. If her father would like to see her, he must give her mother twenty-four hours notice and Ms Benjamin has the right to refuse.”

Amelia’s jaw dropped and she turned to her mother, throwing her arms around her. Penny caught her, sighing in relief.

“I love you,” Amelia whispered into the hug, Penny tightening her hold.

“I love you too.”

“Oh man, I am so glad that worked out. I think your statement helped, Mav.”

Pete and Bradley appeared from the back, Pete giving Penny a gentle kiss. Amelia hugged them both, refusing to watch her father walk out of the family court room.

She was suddenly very excited for next Christmas.