#but if y’all have a clue about it I’d be grateful!

[enigma-absolute]

This is part of the ask game of “tell someone something you assume about them and see if it is true or not.”

For you, the “Left Behind” book series you gobbled in one go and loved every bit of it.

Half-true!

I didn’t get into the full adult series, I’d gotten into the kids spin-off side story version of it (though I never did read EVERY book in the series) and I especially ate up the books in the latter days of the seven years.

However, looking back on it with a more of a critique-ful eye just. Makes me glad I didn’t make those books my personality as a kid. There’s healthier eschatology out there than that. Cool story, but the vibes can’t hit any longer. I might have a nostalgia soft spot for them, but I’m in no rush to re-read them again.

[therealslimshakespeare]

Two questions haha! Post-war, what kind of domestic things lead to spicy things for Gale and Maureen? And the same goes for Ida and Rosie later on?

Oooh excellent ask, one I need to give more thought to and write on but for now here’s basic what comes to mind -I’d love to hear y’all’s thoughts.

Gale x Maureen: nothing really changes in the fact that Maureen remains proud as hell of her little golden overachiever but also miffed at the sheer amount of time his important jobs and higher studies require of him, the way he gets into a whole mood about them and brings it home inadvertently. She certainly has more patience for it by now as they’ve come to an understanding, he’s working on disentangling and leaving it at the office and on her part she throws fewer tantrums over it and merely declare: her need for his attention.

Which he’s always willing to give. Sometimes his engine is not revved as hot as hers and it takes a minute to play catch up, but he’s there for her in every way he can, a dynamic they solidified in camp. Often when she knows hes genuinely too busy to make time, she simply crawls under his desk, bounces in his lap and tells him carry on, while she gets her fix.

Spankings, I’m afraid. She wasn’t so sure she liked them all that much but she could feel how despite the first few being non sexual in nature, they made Gale hard, and that aroused her in its own way. He’s got a very specific way he makes love to her after such discipline, it’s very slow but hard with a great deal of reaffirming eye contract which makes her cum like a girl possessed, his whole attitude being like he’s pinning his newly tamed prey down after not just the attack but then the devouring.

This couple is about power plays for sure, but mostly nice ones. And Maureen does most of the initiating although this man cannot restrain himself when she’s on the water. Boating or kayaking or what have you, his mouth runs dry watching her enjoy herself so much in her little swimsuits and he’ll act on his feelings with a rash publicity utterly unlike his usual self.

Rosie and Ida? Ooh, so many things, and a lot of them very domestic, mild, not at all a blatant wooing. He’s done the damn dishes, she’s found and archived a case he was about to have a panic attack over losing, they won a case, they did something mildly risky (they’re both closeted adrenaline junkies), they aced their Christmas shopping list, they smoked everyone in snow skiing -you know what all these mild things lead to?

Celebratory or grateful kisses, and no one, absolutely no one kisses like the Rosenthal’s. It would get you heated just running into them in the hall going at it, much less if you were engaged in it as one of them.

They don’t eat each other’s faces off, or not always, they’re the best at sensual kisses that make you realize you have no fucking clue that the mouth could caress so much. And they hold each other’s faces and she tugs at his hair and he often kneads her shoulders while at it which turns this rather stiff spined woman into goo.

Phone sex is huge for them,… ok maybe not full phone sex all the time but good Lord, the foreplay of an average call between them! Started with their courtship and now it’s gotten so blazing and so specifically coded, nothing better be in their way between them and the bedroom when one or the other gets home.

[nika324]

Alice and these posts… ma’am… plz. Hour 639 of me breaking down. It’s the way my IRL friends are texting me and loving every minute of season 5 and then I have to act like a normal person when they txt me. 🧍🏽‍���️🧍🏽‍♀️🧍🏽‍♀️ I am soooo down bad. It’s giving crazy ex who can’t move on. 🥲 I’ve been scrolling through the hashtag on Twitter, trying to get excitement from the new viewers. And I’ve been scrolling through my live tweets, trying to live through them. I found a tweet I sent out from when she pulled KG’s gun on him and I almost threw up rereading it. However, I was so pleased when she did it. ☺️😌 One of my boos found most of the season 1 filming locations. One of these weekends, I’m taking myself on a QOTS Dallas tour. 😭😂

***

Just to piggyback off of Eva’s post from last night, 90% of the fandom I’ve encountered has been really sweet and really nice. This is my first and probably only fictional fandom and this has been a such great experience. No matter how I may feel about the final season, I am soooo grateful for the show, the introduction to these amazing ass actors (specifically Alice), and the ppl I have met so far. I’ve learned so much as far as TV and fandom shit. Lemme make yall laugh. For almost the entirety of season 5, I was in our group chat lost & confused AF. The girls would be in there, talking in fandom code. “Canon” this, “head canon”, “OTP” that, such and such’s ”arc” and I’m in the group chat trying to look for context clues bc I ain’t know (still confused sometimes tbh. Y’all be patient with me 😂) what none of that shit meant. Like literally… elevator music and tumbleweeds in my head. 😭😭 So finally around episode 8, I finally asked them to tell me what all that shit meant. 💀 This series and experience also exposed me to the world of fics and shit. Never in my life would I think I’d be reading fictional work for this show and writing shit. 💀 But..real life is overwhelming sometimes and especially as of late with all this shit going on in the world, so fics are a great escape. I’m also PMSing so… bad combo. 😕 Anyways… y’all are great. 🖤🤍🥺

You stuck with me for life, @allthingsjeresa You knew that already. ☺️

[honeypiehotchner]

Looking Too Closely (Bucky x Fem!Stark!Reader) — part four

Y’all. I am dumb as all fucking hell. I’ve had this finished for days and just keep forgetting to post it. Send help

Summary: Ominous stuff and the Father Test results oooooo

Warnings: angst but that’s it I think

The next day, you and Wanda finally tackle everything Pepper bought you. You’re glad you took Tony’s advice (for once) and asked Wanda for help because it’s so much stuff.

“That is not my color. There’s no way I’d wear that.”

“You won’t know unless you try it on!” Wanda argues, holding the shirt out to you.

You push it back to her chest. “Nope. You take it.”

“Are you sure?” She asks, setting it aside. “Pepper got these for you.”

“Yeah, I know.” But I don’t like owning things.

Wanda sighs. “I’m sorry, but it’s okay to own things, you know.”

You look up in shock. You completely forgot she can read minds.

“I’m sorry,” she says again, grimacing. “I try not to, I swear, but that was a strong feeling,” she raises her eyebrows for emphasis.

“I’m not used to it,” you confess. “Mom never had enough money for us to have anything but the essentials. So, this…” You gesture at the pile of clothes around you and on your bed. “It’s weird.”

“I understand,” Wanda says. “But, I mean, you didn’t have anything when you got here. These are all essentials. It just looks like a lot.”

“You’re probably right,” you murmur. “You can still have the shirt, though. That really isn’t my color.”

“Okay,” she chuckles. “I’ll take it.”

You hear footsteps down the hall, and they sound a lot like Bucky’s, which is why when he knocks on the door, you’re not at all surprised when it sounds like his knock, too.

“Come in,” you call out, and sure enough, it’s Bucky.

“Hey-- Oh, hey Wanda.”

She waves.

He looks back at you, smiling sheepishly. “Sorry, I was just checking on you.”

You furrow your eyebrows. “Why?”

He shrugs, evidently not having a reason. “I...I don’t know. I hadn’t seen you since yesterday, so I guess I just...wanted to check.”

“Oh,” you nod slowly. “I’m good. Thanks for checking.”

“Yeah,” he says, waving once more. “See you.” He closes the door behind him, and you listen to his footsteps retreat back into the main area.

“Weird,” you mutter, grabbing another shirt to examine.

Wanda snickers.

You drop the shirt, giving her a look. “What?”

“Nothing…” She shakes her head, picking up a pair of pants. “These are cute.”

“Wanda,” you sigh. “What?”

“Nothing!” She tries again. “Really, it’s nothing. Bucky is the one mind I can’t really read. He’s good at hiding things.”

“But?”

She shrugs. “He doesn’t really check up on people.”

“Okay? And?”

“Nothing,” she says again. “Like I said, I can’t read him. And we have a bigger thing to worry about. Do you like these?” She turns the pants around for you.

You accept her subject change reluctantly. The pants are cute.

+++

When Bucky returns to the main area, he’s immediately called away by Steve.

“Meeting in five,” Steve says. “At MedBay.”

Bucky follows Steve to the elevator, narrowing his eyes. “Why MedBay?”

“It’s about Y/N,” Steve says quietly, stepping inside the elevator with Bucky.

“Did the results come back?” Bucky asks.

“They must’ve,” Steve sighs.

“What are we gonna do if she’s like us?” Bucky asks. “She has no clue that she is.”

“That we know of,” Steve adds.

“No, Steve, I don’t think she knows,” Bucky argues. “At all.”

“Well, we’ll figure that out later,” Steve says.

The elevator stops at MedBay, letting the two super soldiers off.

They’re met with Dr. Cho, Tony, and Natasha standing around. The look that Nat gives Steve is enough to let him know it’s bad.

Of course, bad is subjective. Because if you are a super soldier, that isn’t necessarily a bad thing (you won’t drop dead from it) -- but Bucky isn’t sure it’s a good thing, either. Especially if you don’t know what you are, because that means you were given the serum against your will and without your knowledge. But who would do that to you -- to a fucking kid?

Tony breaks the silence. “Well, we don’t need to stand around staring at each other. I’m sure you’ve put two and two together.”

Bucky’s heart sinks. “She’s a super soldier?”

Dr. Cho shakes her head. “I’m not completely sure.” She pauses. “But based on the DNA so far...yes. A form of one.”

“A form of one?” Bucky blurts.

“I’ve already called Dr. Banner,” Tony says. “He should be here tomorrow to help us figure this one out. Quickly.”

“Do you think someone is trying to recreate the serum?” Steve asks.

“Not trying to,” Tony says. “If Y/N is anything to go off of, they’ve done it.”

“But how does she not remember it?” Natasha questions. “It sounds like something someone would remember.”

“Unless she was unconscious,” Bucky adds quietly. “Or whoever it was wiped her memory.”

Everyone looks at Bucky, afraid that he’s right.

“We don’t know that, but...I do know her mom worked for HYDRA. Or a group closely associated with them,” Tony waves his hands aimlessly. “FRIDAY is still digging.”

“And you had sex with her?” Bucky laughs darkly. “Of course.”

“Hey, I don’t need your judgement, Barnes,” Tony snaps. “All I need is some help. Because until I say so, this stays between us. Okay?” Tony raises his eyebrows. “Barnes?”

“Okay,” Bucky mutters.

“Understood,” Steve says with a nod, but Tony wasn’t worried about him, or Natasha who nods in agreement, too. Tony’s worried about Bucky because he’s latched onto you in some weird way that Tony can’t quite place, but he knows it’s going to cause issues.

“I’ll try to convince her to start training with us,” Nat says. “At least with Wanda and I first. It’ll give her something to do and I can see how she behaves.”

Steve likes the idea. “If she wants to train with me or Buck, that’s fine too, we can gauge if she does or doesn’t know about her strength.”

“We don’t even know if she has super strength,” Bucky argues. “All I’ve noticed is that her senses are sharper than normal.”

“She’s been on the run,” Nat counters. “I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s holding things back from us. Don’t give me that look, I’m not saying I blame her, I’m saying I understand.”

Bucky doesn’t stop glaring at her, but he does nod.

Tony breaks the tension with a clap of his hands. “Now that we’re all on the same page, I need to go. I’ve got some news to break to the kid.”

All heads slowly turn toward Tony.

“Wait…” Nat furrows her eyebrows.

“She’s really yours?” Steve asks quietly.

“She’s really mine,” Tony nods, smiling, but it doesn’t reach his eyes. “Talk about being father of the year. Not even knowing your kid exists until she’s almost twenty.” He laughs it off because that’s all he knows how to do, but everyone can tell he’s beating himself up inside.

+++

When you see Tony again, Wanda is gathering the few clothes you decided not to keep.

“Hey munchkin,” he says, knocking on your door with two knuckles. “You got a minute?”

“Sure,” you shrug.

“I’ll see you later,” Wanda waves, punching Tony lightly in the arm on her way by.

“What’s up?” You ask. You’re grateful he’s come in now because it gets you out of hanging all this shit up, but you won’t admit that to him.

“Thought we could take a walk,” he shrugs. “I realized I haven’t given you the grand tour.”

You chuckle. “I’ve been almost everywhere, I mean, what else is there?”

Tony only smiles.

You shake your head, rolling your eyes. “Fine, lead the way.”

Tony doesn’t seem nearly as happy as you thought he would when you agreed.

Still, you follow him, and you don’t question his mood. Even if the two of you do bicker like hell, you kind of don’t mind spending some time with him. Working in the lab yesterday was more fun than you expected it to be.

Tony takes you down to the garage where all his cars are. There’s a couple motorcycles, one for Steve and one for Natasha. Bucky, surprisingly, doesn’t have one. Tony doesn’t point a car out and say it’s Bucky’s, so you don’t know if he even has one.

From there, he walks you through the business floors, nodding to the few people that pass by. You notice the odd looks you get, though. Tony doesn’t bat a single eyelash.

It’s when Tony walks you through his lab again that you realize he’s stalling about something, but you say nothing, letting him do whatever it is he’s doing. As much as you hate to admit it, you’re kind of enjoying the tour.

The last stop is the balcony near the very top of the tower. It’s right outside Tony’s office, unsurprisingly, but you truthfully didn’t even notice it the first day you were here.

You take in the view of the city from here, the breeze on your cheeks. You have a feeling you’ll be sneaking in here more often than not to come out here.

“So… The results came in.”

Slowly, you look over at Tony. “The results?” You pause. “From the paternity test? Already?”

“Dr. Cho uses different technology here,” he shrugs. “It’s quicker.”

“Okay…” You murmur. “What’s the verdict?”

Tony chuckles as he takes his sunglasses off. “What do you think?” He pauses, looking down. “What do you want it to be?”

“I don’t know,” you answer honestly, leaning against the railing. “What did you want it to be?”

“I’ve always wanted to be a father,” he admits, surprising you. “But the fact that it never happened just told me I wasn’t cut out for it. And even now, I think that’s true. I mean, look at me,” he scoffs. “I didn’t even know I have a daughter until she’s almost twenty, and she had to come to me. I couldn’t even go to her.”

You stare out at the city, not blinking, not moving, barely breathing.

“I always said I’d try to be better than my dad if I was one,” he continues. “I’d be around more. I’d be more involved in my kid’s life than I would in my work. Guess that one didn’t work out.”

“If it makes you feel any better,” you chuckle, trying to slice through some of the awkward tension, “every time my mom told me you’re my dad, I...I would be two seconds away from telling her to go to hell. But I never did.” You shrug. “I never believed her, though, either.”

“Do you believe her now?”

“Hard to argue with science, I guess,” you admit. “We can ignore it, though, if you’d rather I just...quietly leave.”

Tony shakes his head. “No. No, I’m not gonna make you leave.”

“Okay.”

“You’re welcome to stay as long as you want,” he says. “And you can change rooms, too, just let me know. There’s bigger ones a few floors down that are empty. It’s just Bucky and Steve on one end.”

You snicker. “You sure you want me rooming on the same floor as them?”

“Yeah, you know what, I take that back,” he nods firmly. “You’re staying where you are.”

“You’re ridiculous.”

“I know,” he replies almost instantly.

Heavy silence settles over the two of you for a few moments. The city breeze is the only noise in your ears, aside from the car engines, but you’ve gotten good at tuning those out.

“You’re not gonna get pissed if I don’t call you dad, right?” You ask.

“As long as you don’t get pissed if I keep calling you munchkin.”

You sigh. Win some, lose some. “Fine.”

“Good deal,” Tony says with a nod.

“Can I ask something else?”

“Shoot.” He pushes away from the railing to face you instead, leaning his hip against the glass.

“Do you remember my mom at all?” Before he can reply, you say, “It’s fine if you don’t. I’m just curious.”

He hangs his head. “I don’t. I’m sorry, munchkin.”

You shrug. “Probably for the better, anyway.”

Tony stills. It’s the first time he’s ever heard you talk about your mom, really, but with what he knows, it only makes him more suspicious. FRIDAY won’t finish digging until sometime tonight or tomorrow, but the beginning of what she’s found doesn’t look positive. And neither does your current expression.

[fishfingersandjellybabies]

No One I’d Rather Die For - fic

Characters: Dick Grayson, Damian Wayne, Bruce Wayne Summary: In canon, Damian blamed himself for Dick getting shot, despite not being there. So...what if he was? A/N: I’m struggling with some personal stuff and needed to cry, so now y’all have to as well. I never actually read when Dick got shot so this is based on the panel that came up when I image-searched it. How this became from Dick’s pov I have no clue. It was supposed to be from Damian’s, oops. Uh....warning death and gory-ish descriptions.

~~

It was raining in Gotham. And that wasn’t new. But that’s all Dick could think about. All he could focus on.

That, and one other thing.

Damian wasn’t supposed to be here.

Damian wasn’t supposed to be in the city. He was out. With the Titans, with Jon, with Maya, whatever. He was out of Gotham.

He was out of Gotham.

And it was just a normal case. He and Bruce standing on the GCPD roof with Gordon, talking over the evidence and suspects. Bruce and Jim were frowning. Dick was trying to cheer them up with a stupid joke. They were just about to wrap up for the night. Go back home. Relax. Move on to tomorrow.

Damian was not. Supposed. To. Be. There.

He was talking, in the middle of a joke. Something about the fucking Napkin Man.

Then, there was a distant pop!, the flash a shadow to his left, the thump of something hitting the roof, and liquid hitting his boot.

He blinked in an involuntary flinch, and Bruce screamed.

Screamed.

Bruce didn’t emote as Batman. Batman was calm, collected, always. Or angry. Angry and punching, the only sounds he emitted then were war cries.

And war cries weren’t screams. They weren’t agonizing shrieks.

Dick looked towards his mentor, followed his line of sight, even as Bruce lurched forward and collapsed to his knees.

His gut, his heart, his entire soul dropped into a black hole. Everything came together at once.

The pop was a gunshot. The shadow was Robin – Damian – dropping into action from his perch. The thump was Damian collapsing after being hit. The liquid on his boot was blood.

Damian had jumped in to stop a bullet. But who was the bullet for? This roof was in the center of various other taller buildings, they were practically sitting ducks. Damian had seen the threat, assessed the situation, and timed his movement.

Dread began creeping through his veins.

Gordon was furthest from the ledge, behind them both. Bruce half hidden in shadow, not a good angle to get a shot at, if the shooter wanted a one-and-done assassination.

A lump started forming in his throat as he too fell to his knees, quickly gathered Damian into his arms.

Damian had jumped to his left. To Nightwing’s left.

The bullet was for Nightwing. Someone had just tried to kill him.

And Damian saved him. Damian just saved his life.

(Again.)

The deduction, this mental investigation, took all of two seconds. If this wasn’t turning out to be the worst moment of his life, he would have been proud of himself.

“No, no, no…” Bruce was whispering, as Dick watched the blood pour over Damian’s chest, across his black-gloved fingers. Faintly, Dick registered Jim calling for an ambulance and a city lockdown. “Son…!”

The hole was in Damian’s throat, right through the center, just above his uniform collar. It pulsed with every attempted heartbeat. Blood leaked in waves. His eyes were already fluttering behind his mask.

Had he jumped too soon? Did he mean for it to hit him in the chest, or where his armor would have protected him better?

Did it even fucking matter at this point?

“You’ll be fine.” Bruce was practically pleading, hands hovering over Damian’s body like he didn’t know what to do with them. “You’ll be fine, son. I promise.”

Damian had the audacity to try to smirk.

“It’s okay.” Damian wheezed. The blood flowed harder. His head lolled into the crook of Dick’s elbow as he looked up at him. “You’re…you’re okay, so it’s…it’s all okay…”

God, Dick wanted to throw up. The lump in his throat threatened to rise like bile, and he coughed himself into a fit of tears. He tried to put his hand over the hole, put pressure on the wound, for a moment couldn’t find it in the flood of blood, but already his brain was telling him the truth. The truth he couldn’t bear to hear.

Damian was dying.

He had seconds. He’d be gone before any help could arrive. He’d take his final breaths right here, in Dick’s arms.

“Damian.” Bruce murmured, cupping his hand along Damian’s cheek. Damian could only move his tired eyes to look at him, kept his head nestled against Dick’s chest. “Damian, son, please don’t leave me. Please.”

“Ssssorry.” Damian offered instead. “But…” He closed his eyes, gave a light sigh, tried to open them again. “You’ll still have Grayson.”

Dick wailed. Like that made it better. Like Dick was the one who needed protected at all costs, not this child. Not this precious little boy who took their lives by storm, and they were all so much better for it.

“…It was KGBeast. Your old enemy.” Damian slurred. He closed his eyes again. “Don’t know why he’s afterrrrr…Nightwing, but…it’s a start…f-for your investigation…”

Batman – Bruce, now. Bruce wearing a stupid mask – gently shushed him, shaking his head as tears poured down his face. It appeared the truth had hit him now too, and there was no more time to beg the gods or universe around them for mercy.

He kept one hand on Damian’s face, and took the boy’s hand with the other. And Dick was grateful – Bruce didn’t try to take him. Didn’t try to pull him away from Dick’s arms. Just shifted closer so Damian was comfortably balanced between them.

He leaned down, pressed a gentle kiss to Damian’s forehead. “I love you, Damian. I love you more than I thought I could ever love another human being.”

Damian let himself smile at that, forcing his eyes open one more time. “I love you too, Father. Thank you for…for…” A pause, for a watery cough. Dick tightened his grip on his shoulder as Damian slumped a little. “…everything.”

Bruce couldn’t speak. Just shook his head. Damian closed his eyes again, and Dick knew, he knew, that he would never see those sea foam green irises again.

The bullet hole sputtered blood, and Damian hummed, “…Grayson.”

“Oh, kiddo.” Dick sobbed, pushing Damian’s hair back with his own bloodied hands. “My sweet little kiddo.”

“I’m glad I met you.” Damian whispered. “You’re…the best thing that ever happened to me.”

“No, that’s you.” Dick countered. “That’s you to all of us.”

Bruce nodded in agreement and squeezed Damian’s hand. Damian snorted a laugh.

“I love you, Damian.” He said quietly, finding himself still aware of Gordon nearby. But did it matter? Would Jim tell anyone that Robin’s name was Damian? Would he put the pieces together? Probably not. And right now, who cared if he did. “I love you so much, and I…I don’t know what I’m going to do without you.”

“…Keep saving the world.” Damian sighed matter-of-factly. “…Duh.”

“Duh.” Dick repeated with his own laugh. Even Bruce allowed himself a small smile. Dick glanced up at him, and Bruce returned the look. After a moment, he nodded once. Dick nodded back, and looked back at Damian. He swallowed that lump, kept carding his fingers through Damian’s hair, and watched as Bruce stroked his cheek. “…Go to sleep, D. We’ll take it from here.”

“…I love you, Richard.”

“I know, kiddo. And I’m so grateful for that.” Dick smiled. “…It’s okay, Damian. Get your rest. You deserve it.”

Damian attempted to nod, but the movement didn’t look right. He took another inhale, held it, and let out a long, slow sigh.

And he was gone.

Damian was dead.

Bruce immediately doubled over his body, sobbing against Damian’s forehead. Dick could only keep a tight hold on Damian’s body, wondering if he would ever be able to let go as he looked up into the sky.

It was raining in Gotham. And that wasn’t new. But now it seemed like there was a reason to it. Now it seemed that as his tears fell harder, so did the rain, washing away Damian’s blood as the city mourned with him.

[goldentournesol]

Mon Cher

(Spencer Reid x Reader)

Part 2 of Mon Lapin

The one where Spencer and Reader finally go on a date after pining over each other for too long. (Reader owns a French bakery)

Length: 2.6k

A/N: tooth-rotting, cheesy FLUFF! thank you to everyone who requested a part 2, i wasn’t going to write it but y’all--i think this might be my favorite thing that i’ve written so far!

masterlist

Spencer knew that across many cultures, pink lilies represented love, admiration, and compassion. All things he wished to convey to Y/N, so it really wasn’t difficult to pick a bouquet of pink lilies for her. His heart thumped against his ribcage as he neared the bakery where he told her he’d meet her. He hoped he wasn’t too forward with her yesterday, but he was getting antsy. Despite seeing her a couple times a week when he was in town, it was never enough just to chat casually. He wanted to lose himself in conversations with her. With all his ambition for knowledge, he couldn’t think of a subject he wished to memorize more than everything she is. 

He cleared his throat and made sure his tie was as straight as it possibly could be before pushing the glass door of her bakery, the chime of the small bell reaching the corners of the store. His eyes swept across the familiar scenery, but she wasn’t there. He approached the counter nervously.

“Hey, Marissa. Is Y/N here yet?” He asked her coworker and she beamed upon seeing him.

“Hey! She should be here any minute. I kind of forced her to go home to get ready and all, it’s really hard getting her out of the bakery!” She laughed and Spencer nodded, smiling, grateful for the extra minutes he needed to compose himself. 

He found Y/N’s dedication to her job endearing. He glanced down at the bouquet and adjusted the flowers in an attempt to find something to do with his hands instead of tapping nervously against the counter. Why was he so nervous? She wouldn’t have agreed to the date if she wasn’t interested. Well, then again, he didn’t really give her an option. Was that the wrong decision? 

Just before he could spiral into his thoughts any deeper, the bell chimed again, causing him to turn to face the door. The air evaded his lungs as soon as his eyes settled on her, an occurrence Spencer didn’t think happened in real life. He’s read about it, sure, but he never thought he’d ever experience it. She strolled in, a dark emerald dress flowing with her movement. Spencer had to remind himself what the function of the respiratory system was when she approached him. 

“Spencer?” She spoke softly, realizing that he hadn’t said anything. He blinked, snapping out of his daze with a prominent blush. 

“Y-yes. Hi, sorry, um,” he paused, a bashful, sheepish grin overtaking his face, “you look beautiful, Y/N.” She mirrored his smile, cheeks reddening as she glanced at the bouquet of flowers in his hand.

“Merci, mon lapin. [my bunny] You look just as dashing as ever. I see you remembered the lilies.” She sent him a sly smile. He had forgotten about the bouquet in his hand under her intense gaze. He nodded, his arm extending the flowers to her. She graciously accepted them and immediately buried her nose in the center of the bouquet, emerging with a smile that could make Spencer’s knees buckle if he wasn’t careful.

“They’re beautiful, thank you. Give me one moment.” She scurried off into the kitchen of the bakery and returned with the largest cup she could find. She settled the flowers in their new home before picking one out of the bunch and securing it to one of the bobby pins near her left ear. Spencer was positive he resembled a love-sick puppy as he took in the sight. Marissa was pretending to wipe down a table in the background, but really she was fawning over the two lovebirds. 

“Shall we?” Spencer managed to speak, gesturing towards the door. 

He tried to contain his grin as he stared at her ethereality. She smiled up at him and nodded, taking one last look at Marissa before she left. Her coworker sent her a teasing look and waved goodbye. Spencer offered his arm to Y/N as they stepped into the chilly air. She gladly took it and beamed up at him. He tried not to focus on the way his arm felt tingly with hers around it.

“I’m so glad we’re finally doing this, Spencer.” She spoke and he nodded.

“Me too, Y/N. So, I wasn’t sure what you liked so I settled for a reservation at an Italian restaurant. Would that be okay?” He tried to swallow his nerves.

“Yeah, that’s perfect!” It didn’t really matter, she knew she’d go wherever this man asked her to go. 

The nervous energy in the air was lighthearted and it made her feel like she was a teenager going on a date for the first time again. They caught each other up on their lives as they walked. Both of Y/N’s hands ended up around Spencer’s arm and he found himself relishing in her warm touch as well as every little squeeze she gave when she got excited about something she was saying. He wanted to pay attention to the direction they were walking in, but it was too damn hard with the way the lamp lights reflected in her irises. He’d almost walked right past the restaurant.

“Oh, we’re here.” He laughed lightly, leading her to the entrance and they were seated immediately.

Dinner went smoothly. She’d known that he was an interesting man, but he made it so easy for her to get lost in him, what he was saying, his eyes- oh man, those eyes. She knew all about eyes being the windows to the soul, but she didn’t know how one man’s eyes could possibly convey so much emotion. She watched him talk about his work family and his real family, although not in great detail. They were so captivated by each other, the waiters had to make noises with either their throats or mouths to get their attention.

Once they were out of the restaurant, they continued walking down the same street, still deep in conversation about a topic probably wouldn’t interest anyone else. Spencer hadn’t really planned the night out, he didn’t know what exactly she would like, so he decided he’d let the leaves fall where they may. All he did know was when she giggled, his heart skipped a beat. Suddenly, they stopped in their tracks and she let out a loud gasp.

“Oh! You know what I just remembered?” Spencer stared at her curiously, “There’s a tiny theater up ahead that plays some really cool foreign films, you probably know about it. I know the owner, she texts me whenever they add a French movie. Tonight they’re playing one of my favorites, Les Parapluies de Cherbourg! [The Umbrellas of Cherbourg] Oh, you would love it! Would you like to go? It’s totally fine if you have something else planned, though.” Spencer grinned at her excited nature and nodded eagerly.

“Are you kidding? I always have to beg my friends to come see foreign films with me, I’d love to go.” Spencer couldn’t believe this was happening. They arrived at the theater soon and she was disheartened to hear that they didn’t have subtitles for the movie.

“It’s okay! I don’t mind if there aren’t any subtitles.” Spencer said once he saw the smile dissipate from her face. He hadn’t had the heart to tell her that he’d already seen the movie before anyway. The gleam in her eye was much too precious when she spoke of the film.

“Are you sure? I can probably whisper-translate to you, uh, i-if you’d like.” She stated somewhat shyly, a blush creeping up to her cheeks.

“I’d like that.” Spencer smiled as he realized that the roles were usually reversed and he’d usually be the one whisper-translating a movie to someone.

And so they sat in the small theater, arms tangled in each other over the arm of the chair between them. She had one hand on his bicep as he leaned the top half of his body closer to her. They were probably sitting closer than they normally would have sat, but she used the excuse of whisper-translating to her advantage. She felt a strand of his caramel hair tickle the tip of her nose as her lips whispered in his ear. Spencer fought to regulate his breathing every time she came near. He was glad he’d seen the movie before because he was sure that if this had been his first time seeing it, he’d have absolutely no clue what was going on. She also fought to resist the urge to press her lips to his clean shaven jaw--and basically everywhere else. 

The movie ended before they knew it and they could finally see each other in the gentle light of the theater. Spencer turned his face to send her a grateful smile just to find her face inches away from his. His eyes involuntarily flickered down to her lips. The same lips that were by his ear a few moments ago. She smiled back softly and they enjoyed the closeness for a short moment before Spencer shyly broke eye contact. They broke apart, both blushing from head to toe. Both far too shy to initiate anything. He cleared his throat before standing from his seat. Y/N followed him out of the theater.

“So, did you like it?” She asked as they stepped out, noticing that the streets were a lot darker and quieter than they had been prior to entering. It must have been late. 

“Yeah, I loved it.” Spencer said, almost breathlessly, but he wasn’t talking about the movie, of course. She grinned with triumph and courageously slipped her hand into his as they walked back in the direction they came from. He took it one step further and laced their fingers together. She swooned over his smile. 

An aggressive gust of wind suddenly washed over the two of them on the sidewalk, which made them instinctively close their eyes to brace themselves against the dust in the air. She only opened her eyes as she felt the lily in her hair slip out of its secure place from in between the prongs of the bobby pin.

“No!” She gasped and Spencer quickly -and ungracefully- leapt to catch it before it flew too far. She laughed as he turned to face her with a pleasantly surprised expression, almost in disbelief that he actually caught it. He approached her again and gently returned the lily to its rightful spot just above her ear. He moved a stray strand from her face and she gazed up at him with a certain type of adoration. His hands moved to cup the plumpness of her cheeks as they relished in each other's tender gazes. She let her hands rest right under his ribs and pulled him impossibly closer.

“You are so beautiful.” He whispered, his breath washing over her face. He felt the skin under his fingertips warm up.

“Merci, mon cher.” [my dear] She whispered back, a definite level-up from mon lapin. That he did know the meaning of.

Spencer grinned slightly before finally leaning down to close the gap between both their lips. It was gentle and sweet, neither of them rushing it. To many onlookers, they were just a young couple sharing a kiss on the sidewalk in the middle of the night. To them, it was a silent declaration. A statement that conveyed more emotion than any of the thousands of words that existed in all the languages they spoke between them could. Y/N found herself following through after Spencer reluctantly pulled away for air. She stopped herself, blushing profusely at her involuntary movements. He only grinned wider in response before stepping back and grabbing her hand again.

“Let me walk you home.” He told her as they began walking again.

“Actually...the night doesn’t have to end yet, if you don’t want it to, I mean.” She smiled up at him.

“I don’t want it to, what do you have in mind? Everything’s closed down.” Spencer pointed out.

“Um, I might know a place.” She said in a teasing manner with a slight smirk, “The owner and I go way back.” She giggled.

“Oh really now?” Spencer played along, laughing.

“Mhm, we’re practically like this.” She laughed as she crossed one finger over the other on her free hand to represent a bond.

She unlocked the door to her bakery and pulled him in, closing the door again behind him. Before Spencer could even register what was happening, she had grabbed a hold on his tie to gently guide his face back to hers and enveloping his lips with her own. Spencer responded immediately by wrapping both arms around her waist securely. The kiss was significantly more passionate than the first, but just as sweet. She pulled apart first and bit her lip sheepishly.

“Sorry, I couldn’t help it.” She admitted and Spencer stood in a daze. 

She giggled and moved away to turn the lights on, but only some. The soft light illuminated the empty bakery and he realized then just how beautiful the place really was. Or maybe he thought everything would look ten times more beautiful after a kiss like the one he’d just received. The thought had extended to her, of course. Spencer didn’t think it was possible that she could look any more beautiful. But there she was, in all her glory, proving him wrong as each second passes.

“Come with me, I have something to show you.” She hooked her pointer finger around his and dragged him to the kitchen. He was in awe as he took in the sight of all of the kitchen appliances. It wasn’t a large kitchen, but it was oddly spacious and organized. 

She smiled wide at his reaction, “This is quite literally where the magic happens. Ooo! Come look, I made these right before I left, Marissa must have taken them out of the oven before she locked up. They’re for tomorrow.” She pulled him to a tall bakery rack and he spotted his favorite treat, pain au chocolat. She took one off the tray and gave it to him. It was still warm on the bottom. He couldn’t hold his excited grin back as he took a hefty bite out of it. She giggled as she watched him close his eyes dramatically.

“I’m truly at a loss for words, Y/N. They’re so good. How do you get them right every time?” He asked with fascination and she propped herself on the counter of the kitchen, taking one for herself.

“Well, it took time and effort to perfect the recipe, Dr. Reid.” She giggled, biting into it. “I can show you how to make them one day. Maybe our next date?” She looked at him hopefully and he nodded eagerly.

“Yes! You can finally show me how to make pain au chocolat.” He tried to imitate her accent, he really tried. She burst out laughing at his cuteness.

“Pain au cho-co-lat.” She emphasized, separating the syllables.

“That’s what I said! Pain au chocolat!” He laughed, although the pronunciation was still slightly off.

“Alright, close enough.” She giggled again as she pulled him closer, locking her legs at the ankle behind his waist. They’d have plenty of time to perfect his accent later.

“Embrasse-moi, mon cher.” [Kiss me, my dear] She whispered. 

Right then, he thanked himself for having the foresight to brush up on the language enough to do exactly what she asked. 

Half-eaten pains au chocolat were long forgotten.

Mon Lapin (part 1)

[justabigassnerd]

I’m proud of ya kid

Pairing - Daryl Dixon x teen!reader

Word count - 5,683

Warnings - TWD style violence, injuries, blood, guns, swearing, angst

Summary - you go hunting and end up with a gunshot wound, you run into the one person you thought you wouldn't see again

A/N - so this is the fic I’ve had planned for a while... The idea came to me while I was watching season 9 of TWD and guess what? I made it ANGSTY. This was a fic I was super duper excited to write and I hope I did my own idea justice. I doubt y’all care but as I am on my second rewatch of TWD (already on season 4 bitches) I’ve been kinda coming up with ideas for maybe Daryl and the readers relationship in certain eras of the show so if y’all wanted to see a certain bit e.g. post prison where everyone makes their way to Terminus I’d be more than happy to write it. I want to thank Moosey as well because she has been a massive help with my constant questions and ideas and helping me plan this fic (and she doesn’t even watch TWD she’s just that helpful and kind) I can’t express how grateful I am to have her as my friend. Love ya tons Moose! Anyway, as per y’all, please leave requests and enjoy!

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Five years and a half years. That’s how long it has been since you last saw Rick Grimes before he died, he sacrificed himself by blowing up the bridge the communities had spent so long building to stop a herd of walkers from reaching Hilltop. Since then the communities of Alexandria, Hilltop and the Kingdom stopped working together, you had no clue as to why, but the death of Rick caused a rift between them. The thing that hurt you most however was that a year after Rick died, you also stopped seeing Daryl Dixon too. At first it was hardly noticeable, he’d leave for a bit but come back often enough to be seen by everyone but over time he drifted away and soon stopped returning to Alexandria altogether, breaking your heart. You had known Daryl since the start, you were nine when the dead rose to eat the living and he had found you wandering in the woods with Merle after you escaped your foster house after the people looking after you left at the first sign of danger. Merle insisted that taking a little girl was a bad idea and that they should just leave you to fend for yourself but Daryl ignored his brothers harsh words and offered to look after you, not long after that you met the others at the quarry and you made friends with them all but everyone could tell Daryl was the person you liked most. Over time the two of you grew closer and you even started to see him as a father figure but you never told him out of fear he’d not take it well so you just kept it to yourself. When Daryl first stopped coming back to Alexandria you thought it would be like that time at the prison where he left with Rick, Oscar and Michonne to save Glenn and Maggie but when they returned Daryl wasn’t with them. Carol was the one to tell you that he hadn’t come back and that he chose Merle over the group back at the prison. You didn’t leave your cell for a couple of days and the day you came out was the day he came back. The Governor attacked the prison, killing Axel and destroying the first fence and filling the field with walkers. You hadn’t noticed Daryl’s return until after the Governor had retreated and Glenn had returned, when you saw him you immediately went back to your cell and sat with Carl who wondered why you’d left in such a hurry. He knew you were upset about Daryl leaving but he thought you’d be happy to see him return, you told him that you were happy he was back but you were still upset to think that he left without giving the group a second thought. You felt betrayed and Daryl knew it, he gave you space for the first two days after he came back but soon enough Carol told him to talk to you, she knew how upset you were that he left and she needed Daryl to actually talk to you, to make things right. Daryl found you in your cell with Carl reading comic books and you tensed up when you heard his voice, asking Carl if he could speak to you alone. He apologised for leaving and explained why he did it and you understood, you knew Merle was Daryl’s blood and after what happened in Atlanta, he wasn’t willing to leave him again. You didn’t know what to say in that moment, so you offered Daryl a small smile and a ‘thank you’ for talking to you. Within an hour your relationship was back on track and it was like nothing ever happened.

Every night alone in the house both you and Daryl shared in Alexandria upset you further, you hoped and prayed it was like the prison but as time pushed on, you lost hope. You tried looking for him outside the walls a couple of times but after not finding a single clue to his whereabouts you shifted your energy onto other things. You helped raise Judith, you attempted to teach her how to use a bow and arrow just like Daryl did all those years ago with you but she much preferred to use her father’s Colt Python which you couldn’t blame her for, she was a natural with it. When you weren’t looking after Judith you were going on runs with Aaron, Rosita and Michonne or hunting by yourself. Daryl had taught you how to track effectively and how to skin your kills, you tended to hunt alone as it was much easier and meant there was a smaller chance of spooking the animal and losing it. Sometimes you even were put in charge of watching Negan in his cell, you were well aware of the evil he had done, you saw him kill Glenn and Abraham and then take Daryl to the Sanctuary but you couldn’t help but feel bad for him. He’d lost so much after the war and now he was a prisoner, you found over time that he responded much better to you and you even found yourself enjoying his company every now and again. You were now eighteen and this is the life you know, despite all this and how long it’s been since Daryl left you couldn’t help but miss him terribly and hope he’d come back one day.

“Where are you going y/n?” You turn around as you approach the gate to see Judith jogging over to meet you.

“I’m going out for a hunt, if you could let Michonne know that’d be great.” You say, adjusting your bow on your back and double checking you have your handgun and hunting knife with you. The hunting knife was one of Daryl’s old ones he gave to you when he decided you needed to learn how to defend yourself back at Hershel’s farm. It was one of your prized possessions and it never left your sight.

“Can I come?” Judith asks, looking up at you with her puppy-dog eyes causing you to let out a chuckle.

“Not today Judith, I promise I’ll take you one day but not now, besides I’ll be back before nightfall.” You promise, knocking her hat over her eyes as she lets out a laugh. Judith quickly pushes the hat back onto her head before giving you a hug which you gladly return. When she releases you and steps back you turn around and Eugene opens the gate for you to walk out which you do. Once the gate is closed behind you, you make a beeline for the woods, your eyes immediately falling to the ground to search for any kind of animal tracks. You wander quite deep into the woods before you find any tracks and when you spot a deer’s tracks you follow them, removing your bow from your back and getting an arrow out of your quiver ready for when you find the deer. Eventually you see the buck standing still, its ears twitching as it listens out for danger. You quietly draw an arrow back on your bow and take a small step closer to get a good shot at it. As you step closer you trip over a small log you hadn’t noticed while being fixated on the deer. You fall to the floor and the deer runs off, having heard your fall. You groan as you get up, a mixture of pain and frustration after tracking the deer for as long as you had and now it’s gone. Once you’re back on your feet a shot rings out and a burning pain spreads over your side and you collapse to the floor. Your hands find your wound and you immediately press a hand on it, putting pressure on it to slow the blood flow. You hear the rustle of leaves and a man comes into your vision, he’s shocked as he looks down at you and you could see the gun in his hand leading you to realise he’s the one who shot you.

“Oh shit, you’re a kid. I just shot a kid! I thought you were a biter I didn’t-” The man says, backing away as he takes in what he’s done. Before you could even ask him for help, he turned around and bolted, leaving you bleeding out in the middle of the woods. You remain lying on the floor for a minute before you force yourself to your feet, your hand clutching at the bullet hole and to your relief you find an exit wound on your back. You head back in the direction you came, attempting to make it back to Alexandria. As you wandered you found yourself getting lightheaded, so you use your hunting knife to cut off your shirt sleeves to tie them around your waist to slow the blood flow further. Eventually you lean against a tree and slide down until you’re sat on the floor, you were sure you were going to die here, alone in the woods. You hoped no one that knew you was going to find you after you turned because you didn’t want anyone to have to go through that. You inspected your injury once more and winced at the sight before tightening your makeshift bandage around it once more. Before anything else could happen, you heard barking and looked up to see a dog stood in front of you.

“Shhh, I don’t want the walkers to find me.” You whisper to the dog, wincing as you try to sit up further but the dog ignores you, continuing to bark while its tail wagged madly. You were confused as to why it was just barking instead of tearing into you, lots of dogs now were desperate and would kill and eat a person given the chance but this one seemed well fed and its tail was wagging which you assumed was a sign of friendliness as it hadn’t moved to attack you yet.

“Dog! What are you-” You heard a familiar voice ask and you look up to see someone you never thought you’d never see again.

“Daryl?” You ask, looking up at the man in front of you. He hadn’t changed much besides the red scar going from above his left eyebrow to his cheekbone.

“y/n?” Daryl quickly became shocked when he realised it was you and immediately helped you to your feet and wrapped an arm around you as means of support. He whistled for the dog you assumed was his and he was by Daryl’s side in an instant, leading the way while Daryl took you to his camp.

When you arrived at Daryl’s camp, he sat you in front of the fire and went to his tent to grab some medical supplies before returning to your side. He removed the makeshift bandage and barely muttered an apology when you winced and set to work bandaging and cleaning your wound properly and you managed to sit still most of the time, your brain still reeling from the fact that Daryl was here, right beside you.

“What the hell were ya doin’ out there all alone? You coulda died out there if I wasn’t there.” Daryl said as he finished patching you up, making you look up at him in shock. You’d just seen him for the first time in years and his first instinct is to scold you for being out in the woods?

“Yes, Daryl because I love hunting to provide for my family and then getting shot by some random ass survivor who runs away when he sees he’s shot a kid.” You snap, immediately regretting your reaction because you didn’t want your reunion to consist of arguing.

“Some guy out there shot you?” Daryl asked, his voice switching from angry to concerned very quickly as he looks up at you from your injury.

“What you think I did this myself?” You manage to joke, knowing Daryl and Rick taught you the ins and outs of gun safety when Shane decided at the farm that everyone should be able to handle a firearm. You notice Daryl smirk slightly, but he attempts to hide it behind his hair.

“Look, you should get some rest. You must’ve lost a decent amount of blood out there.” Daryl says, quickly changing the subject as he packs away the medical stuff.

“I gotta get back to Alexandria.” You say, standing up but then immediately sitting down when your vision swims, you hated the fact that Daryl was right but you promised Judith you’d be back before nightfall and judging where the sun was you only had a couple of hours of light left.

“I’ll take ya back to Alexandria when I think you’re okay. You need to rest now.” Daryl insists, helping you up and to his spare tent he has pitched which made you wonder why he had one up. You lie down on the mat and pull the blanket over you, trying to find the most comfortable way to sleep without opening your wound. Once you were comfortable however, it took you no time to fall asleep, the exhaustion and blood loss catching up to you quickly.

When Daryl was positive you were asleep, he picked up his crossbow and loaded it before turning to Dog.

“You keep an eye on ‘er okay? Bark if anythin’ happens.” Daryl tells his loyal companion, stroking the top of his head before heading out into the woods to where he found you. Once he found where he found you he followed your tracks backwards until he found a second set of tracks, definitely belonging to someone else and judging how close they were to yours he had to guess they belonged to the survivor who shot you and left you for dead. Daryl followed the tracks until he saw a man alone, in a camp setup not too different to his own. As Daryl got closer, he unloaded his crossbow and slung it over his shoulder to not appear threatening to the other survivor. When he got closer, he purposely stepped on a twig and when the survivor turned around with his pistol raised Daryl simply held up his hands in surrender and stayed put until the man lowered his weapon.

“Sorry I scared ya. I’m looking for someone, don’t suppose you’ve seen a kid around here? We were huntin’ together, and she wandered off, musta seen somethin’ but now I can’t find ‘er.” Daryl asks, giving a description of you while lowering his hands and stepping into the camp. He sees the hidden panic in the man’s eyes which he hides behind a neutral expression that may have fooled many but not Daryl.

“No man I haven’t seen anyone looking like that. You don’t get many people out here besides the biters, I’d remember seeing an alive person.” The man says, laughing to cover up his nervousness which Daryl picks up in an instant. Daryl was never the most social person, but he’s always been good at reading people and could tell when people were hiding something.

“Bullshit.” Daryl mutters, making the man cock an eyebrow and turn to look at Daryl.

“I’m sorry, what did you say?” The man asks.

“I said bullshit. I know you saw ‘er and I also know you shot and left ‘er for dead. You’re lucky I found ‘er when I did because if I went out there and found ‘er as a walker I’d- well you sure as hell wouldn’t be alive right now. I’ve been looking after ‘er since the start of all this. Hell, she might as well be my own kid after everythin’ we’ve been through. If I ever find out you’ve been near ‘er or hurt ‘er again, I’m gonna make you wish you were dead.” Daryl growls, stepping so close to the man that their faces are practically touching as he stares him down. The other man cowers in fear, spluttering apologies and how he didn’t mean to hurt you while his hands instinctively moved to protect his face. Daryl was also in shock at the fact he confessed to someone how he thought of you as his own, he’d never told anyone, not even Rick or Carol. Daryl shook himself out of his thoughts and focused his attention on the now sobbing man and backed off slightly.

“I’m sorry, I really am. I didn’t know, I thought she was a biter and when she went down that’s when I realised, I fucked up.” The man apologises again moving his hands from his face when he notices Daryl backing down.

“You’re damn right you fucked up, you shoulda helped ‘er. She was bleeding out and you just ran away. It’s a wonder you’ve survived this long.” Daryl says, glaring at the man as his thoughts fell back to Rick, a man who should still be alive to raise his children and the man he caused the death of. Seeing that the man was now no longer any sort of threat to you or anyone else he cared about Daryl turned and walked away, checking over his shoulder every so often to make sure he wasn’t being tailed in case the man’s blubbering was all an act. Night was falling as Daryl returned to his camp and he peeked in your tent to make sure you were okay and he saw Dog curled up at your side, bringing a smile to his face and as he moves away from the tent he notices Dog wake up, his tail lightly thumping against the woodland floor.

“Shh, don’t wake y/n up. You stay there boy.” Daryl says to the dog whose eyes close again and his tail stops wagging, falling asleep once again. Daryl then moves to put out the fire in the camp before heading to bed himself.

You woke up the next morning feeling significantly better than you did the day before, your injury still hurt when you moved but for the most part it was bearable. You were shocked to see Daryl’s dog curled up by your side as you had no recollection of him being anywhere near you when you fell asleep but it still brought a small smile to your face as you stroked the dog tenderly, watching as he yawns and licks your hand. You decide to get up and as you leave the tent you notice Daryl making something over the fire, his back to you. You approach the fire and sit on the log next to him.

“Mornin’.” Daryl grunts, all his attention focused on the stew bubbling over the fire.

“Morning Daryl.” You reply, falling silent after as you watch Daryl stir the food in the pot. You wanted to talk but you didn’t even know how to initiate a conversation with him anymore after how long it’s been. The two of you sit in silence until Daryl hands you a bowl filled with the stew he cooked up; you break the silence by thanking him before eating your food.

“I’ll take ya back to Alexandria today. It’s safer for you there, Siddiq can look at that and deal with it better than I have.” Daryl says once he’s finished eating, motioning at your injury with the spoon in his hand.

“Before we go, can we just talk? Like we used to?” You ask, fiddling with your hands until Dog comes trotting over, sitting himself in between your legs and you run a hand through his fur as he pants happily, his tail hitting your leg with each wag.

“Ain’t much to talk ‘bout.” Daryl grumbles in response as he places his bowl on the floor.

“Come on Daryl, we haven’t seen each other in years and now you want to get rid of me?” You say, temporarily stopping your stroking of Dog who grumbles until you continue to stroke him.

“It ain’t that-”

“It isn’t? It sure feels like it.” You snap, not allowing Daryl to finish speaking.

“You really wanna leave that untreated?” Daryl snaps back. You knew there was virtually no talking him out of wanting to take you back to Alexandria as soon as possible and while you could see his logic you were just as stubborn as him and you weren’t willing to let up. A silence falls over the two of you for a minute or so before you choose to speak up.

“I miss you.” You say, your voice barely loud enough for Daryl to hear but you knew he did because he turned to look at you with a soft expression.

“You’ve been there since the start and you looked after me when you had no reason to, you could’ve just listened to Merle and left me there in the woods but you didn’t. You taught me how to defend myself and how to provide for myself and others. You’ve been there for me for so long and the moment I can be there for you… you disappear. I know Rick’s death was hard on you, but it’s not your fault and you shouldn’t be distancing yourself from the people who care about you. Do you know how many times Judith has asked me when you’re coming back? I hate having to tell her that I just don’t know because she knows I’ve looked for you before. Michonne kept telling me you’d come back but I figured it out over time that she was just saying it so I wouldn’t risk my ass out there trying to find you.” You say, allowing every thought and emotion you’ve bottled up to come out in your rant and as you go you feel a mixture of angry and sad tears welling in your eyes as you turn away staring at the ground as Dog turns around and rests his head on your leg almost like he sensed your sadness. You couldn’t bear to look at Daryl, if he didn’t hate you already, he almost definitely would now.

“Kid, I didn’t mean to leave, jus’ didn’t seem right to go back to Alexandria without him. ‘N over time I just remembered how much better I am out here.” Daryl says, he’d never been good in situations when people let all their emotions out but he realised how much his departure hurt you and he wanted to make the effort to make things right again.

“I know you wanted to find him, if anyone deserves to be buried properly it’s him but Michonne doesn’t blame you for it and she constantly worried about you back home. When she found out I was sneaking out to look for you I was banned from runs and hunting for a month, Michonne couldn’t stand the thought of losing someone else. It’s not just me who missed and worried about you Daryl. We all did.” You reply, your focus solely on Dog as he looks up at you with his gentle, brown eyes.

“I miss you guys too.” Daryl admits after a moment of silence between the two of you, you’re taken aback by his statement as it’s something you’d never hear him say in a million years.

“Why don’t you spend the night at Alexandria? It’s safer than out here and there’s plenty of space for Dog to run around while not at risk of walkers. Judith and the others would love to see you.” You propose, turning to look at Daryl.

“I don’t know kid.” Daryl says, looking away at the fire.

“Just one night, you can leave the next morning just come see everyone.” You plead, wanting to make sure the others got to see Daryl too.

“Fine, might do me some good ta see ‘em.” Daryl says finally, standing up and moving to sort his stuff out while you smile. You get up soon after to gather your own stuff and Dog starts to get the hint that you’re going somewhere so he’s up on his feet, sniffing your bow and looking up you curiously.

“You’re coming too buddy, don’t you worry. Judith and RJ will love you, Gracie too actually. Hell make that all the kids.” You say, smiling down at him as he wags his tail furiously, licking your hand and jumping up at you. While he jumped up, he accidently caught your injury with his claws making you wince and pull away, your hand immediately grabbing your side.

“You okay?” Daryl asked, walking over to you with a worried expression.

“Yeah, Dog just got a bit excited and caught my injury. It’s okay now.” You say, the pain still lingering but you opt not to worry Daryl further, but you could tell it was already too late for that.

“We better get a move on then, the sooner Siddiq looks at that the better.” Daryl says, picking up the last of his things before you make a move to head back to Alexandria. The walk back to Alexandria wasn’t as long as you thought it would be considering how far you went into the woods to find the deer in the first place but you injury throbbed with each step and you found your hand didn’t leave its place on your wound, you noticed Daryl looking over at you multiple times as you made your way back home but you knew he was just falling back into his old habits of constantly checking to make sure you were still there and that you were okay. When the familiar walls of Alexandria come into your view a large smile crossed your face and when you left the woods you called up to Rosita who you noticed was on guard duty.

“y/n? You had us worried sick, Judith said you were meant to be back before nightfall yesterday. Where the hell where y- Daryl?” Rosita says, at first relieved to see you alive but her relief quickly turned to shock when she saw Daryl stood with you, Dog also by your side.

“Got shot by some guy out there, would’ve bled out if Daryl hadn’t found me.” You explain as you approach the gate which is opened by Aaron who seems equally as relieved to see you alive. As soon as you and Daryl step into Alexandria Judith seems to appear from nowhere and barrel into you for a hug which you quickly return, ignoring the pain flaring up in your side.

“You promised you’d be back before nightfall why didn’t you come back? I was worried about you.” Judith says, her face muffled by your shirt as you hold her close, mentally hitting yourself for causing her so much grief.

“I’m sorry Judith, I really thought I’d make it back, but some idiot out there shot me and Daryl saved me, made me spend the night at his camp and brought me back here. I’m sorry I had you so worried.” You apologise to the young girl who releases you at the mention of Daryl before realising he’s stood just behind you and then she gives him an equally as large hug, taking him aback massively before he returns the hug too. Michonne then approaches you, asking where you where before noticing Daryl and the way you were holding your side and mentally puts things together.

“Come on, lets go to Siddiq.” Michonne says, motioning with her head towards where the infirmary is and you walk off, Dog and Judith hot on your heels while Michonne and Daryl walk behind at a slightly slower pace.

“They’ve grown up.” Daryl comments as you and Judith talk to each other, with you bumping Judith with your uninjured side as you laugh.

“Yeah, they have. y/n’s been a massive help these past few years. You clearly taught her well.” Michonne replies as you approach the infirmary and enter with Judith.

“Jus’ taught ‘er all I could, couldn’t risk ‘er gettin’ lost and not knowin’ how to find ‘er way back home or somethin’.” Daryl says as they approach the doors to the infirmary where Dog is sat outside, having been told to stay outside by you. Daryl and Michonne stay outside to converse more while Siddiq stitches up your wound, talking about how lucky you were that Daryl found you when he did. Once he was done, he suggested you don’t hunt or go on runs to allow yourself time to heal which you initially protest but after Judith suggests just doing guard duty you back down. You and Judith head back outside to see Daryl and Michonne chatting but they stop when they notice you. Dog greets you happily like you’d been gone for hours as opposed to minutes.

“We should get something to eat, you should both come to ours.” Michonne says, addressing you and Daryl to which the both of you nod, following Michonne and Judith back to their house where RJ is sat in the living room, he smiled at the sight of you and got excited seeing Dog who ran over to him and sat next to him. You choose to sit with Judith and RJ with Dog while Daryl and Michonne make something for dinner. Once the dinner is made you sit with RJ, Judith, Michonne and Daryl and dig into your meal. As soon as you finished you washed your plate and told Michonne that you were heading home.

“You get some rest okay? That means no runs or hunts okay?” Michonne says, watching as you move to the front door.

“Siddiq said that too, don’t worry I’ll stay here and do what I can here.” You say, bidding a goodbye to the children before Daryl decides he’s coming with you too and along with him you’d obviously get Dog tagging along. When you reach your house, you sit on the porch steps as it grows dark instead of heading inside with Daryl. You watch the sky grow darker and the stars come out before you heard the door open behind you and you see Daryl sit beside you.

“You sure you’re okay?” Daryl asks softly, looking over at you with a worried expression.

“Yeah I promise I’m okay.” You reply, your eyes fixed on the stars as they start to shimmer and shine in the darkness.

“You know I never knew my real parents? They died when I was little, before all this went down, I was in and out of foster homes. The people I was with at the start dropped me and left when things went south and that’s how I ended up in the woods that day you and Merle found me. You looked after me when you had no reason too. I guess what I’m trying to say is, you kinda became my father figure growing up and I hated it when you disappeared because you’d been around so long and done so much for me but I couldn’t help you in return. I let you down and I’m sorry Daryl.” You say, your eyes remaining fixed on the stars as you tried to stop the tears from welling up in your eyes and when Daryl noticed them his heart broke, he didn’t know you viewed him as a father figure and he hated how you felt like you let him down when he chose to stop returning to Alexandria.

“Ain’t your fault. None of it is, don’t ever let yourself think that. Remember when we lost the prison? I didn’t know what to do because I thought you were dead, Beth had ta drag me around everywhere. That’s when I realised, I thought of you as my own kid. I’m sorry I hurt ya by not coming back.” Daryl says, watching as you blink furiously, trying to stop the tears that now are rolling down your cheeks.

“If you prefer living out there, I’m not going to stop you, it would just be nice to see you every so often.” You reply, lifting your hand to wipe your tears away. Daryl wraps an arm around your shoulder and pulls you into a side hug which you allow, your gaze still up at the sky. You were grateful for a lot in the world you lived in but Daryl was definitely the top of the list because if it wasn’t for him you wouldn’t be alive and he took you in in a world were having extra mouths to feed was a hinderance instead of a help. You hear a tapping of claws on the deck and Dog shoves his head in between the two of you, making you laugh and move away as Dog tries to lick your face and you notice Daryl laughing too as he strokes Dog. You knew you couldn’t force Daryl to stay in Alexandria if he didn’t want to but you were glad he now knew about the impact he had on you growing up and that he viewed you as his own. When the two of you had decided the conversation was finished as you had both said everything you needed to say you decided to head to bed. As you head into your room Dog decided he wanted to spend the night in your room and he hops up on your bed, bringing a smile to your face. Before you close your door, you hear Daryl say your name, causing you to peek your head out into the corridor where Daryl is stood.

“I’m proud of ya kid.” He says simply, a small smile on his face before he heads into his own room. You retreat into your room and your smile widens at what Daryl said, you’d always wanted him to be proud of you and to hear him say those words brought so much joy to you. You change into your pyjamas and lie in your bed with Dog sleeping at the end of your bed. You then fall asleep with a smile on your face for the first time in a long time.      

[otp-promptly]

Can you please write me some prompts wherein A and B are superheroes, in a relationship with each other, on the same team? A finds out she’s pregnant, but doesn’t know how to tell everyone, let alone B. Their teammates are very supportive of their relationship and B is very protective of A, especially after A finally tells him she’s pregnant.

Oooooo I love this idea!! And I’d like to apologize for taking so long for this😅 school is not fun

Also umm I don’t watch/read much superhero stuff but I hope these are good!

—————

A has no clue how to tell B, so they keep putting it off. B eventually finds out when they see A’s bump growing in their suit.

An idea for this:

B, looking at A’s stomach: “Is that—?”

A, shyly: “Oh...yeah... I uh, I didn’t know how to tell you. But yes. I’m pregnant”

B: *picks A up and spins them around* “we’re gonna be parents!!”

—————

A and B, sitting on the couch, with B’s hand on A’s bump:

B: so how are we gonna tell everyone? And what are we gonna do while you’re pregnant?

A: Like what will I do while y’all are doing your hero thing? I’m not sure. I won’t be able to fight, of course. And I don’t know how we could tell them. What do you think?

B rambles about a few ideas they have, and they both slip into a deep sleep while the radio/tv plays in the background

—————

[assuming these heroes have powers]

The whole hero group is together, having what they think is another one of their dumb normal conversations. What they don’t know is that B guided them to talking about whose powers a baby born to two heroes would have. They have a friendly argument about this, until A or B says “I hope our baby has [A’s/B’s] powers”

—————

A hates not being able to help while the others are fighting evil/crime, so they try to help around the headquarters/house. At first, they do more harm than good, but soon they learn/practice a bunch of household/potential parenting skills (cooking, baking, doing laundry, knitting, painting, etc.) and the group is really grateful for all the help they give! They jokingly refer to A as their mom sometimes.

—————

The group plans and pays for a baby shower for A, with the help of the people A has saved before.

—————

B tells A all the time to stop exerting themself, and A responds with “you can’t do all the work every day! I need to be helpful too!” And continues what they’re doing.

—————

B begins using their powers/acting like a hero more around A when they’re pregnant as a way of being protective. A’s even getting surprised at how creative they’re getting.

—————

B begins using A’s status as a way of getting special treatment for A (in a non-manipulative way). For example, B announces “pregnant superhero coming through when A is having trouble moving in a crowded place, says A is a pregnant hero to get a seat on a bus, etc.

By the end of the pregnancy, A is so tired of hearing “pregnant hero”, and is looking forward to leaving the title behind. B is so used to saying it though, that it doesn’t go away for a couple weeks.

—————

[slightly comedic ig]

The group announces a no-crime week on the week of A’s delivery, informing the town of what’s going on. Miraculously, there’s no crime, and the whole group is able to wait in the waiting room for A and B.

—————

I might add to these later!! I hope these are what yoh were looking for!! And again, I’m so sorry for the wait!!

[taetaespeaches]

favorite albums of twenty-twenty:

I’m indecisive, so disclaimer lol. But I wanted to be self-indulgent for a moment and share my very favorite albums of 2020. In a year where I felt both alone and lonely, music was massively important to me. I tried to limit this to my top ten but I’m too indecisive and a lot of amazing music came out this year so there’s eighteen albums lol. Why not. So yeah, enjoy or ignore, I just had the urge to do this. (This isn’t in order except BE, D-2, Maria, and Map of the Soul: 7 are all definitely in the top five.)

Also, if you see this and want to do your own, tag me! I’d love to see your top albums <3 

↬ BE — BTS

⟶ Top tracks: Telepathy, Blue & Grey, Fly To My Room, Disease, Life Goes On

I mean come on. This was the pandemic album we all needed and I will forever be grateful for this masterpiece. I think this is an album that will grow with me and will kind of act as a companion throughout my life. The musicality, the lyrics, the variety, all of it, it’s just perfection. It feels like a friend who gives you comfort but also makes you confront your emotions, and that was everything I needed this year. I will forever be obsessed with this one. BE is my friend. 

↬ D-2 — Agust D

⟶ Top Tracks: People, Moonlight, Daechwita, What do you think?, Dear my friend

Agust D came back and he fucking owned it. The amount of pure talent and passion in this mixtape is un-fucking-real. Yoongi is just unbelievably talented and this album perfectly displays that. Plus, these songs have been my ride or die since May, like, there isn’t a week that goes by that I don’t listen to this album in full at least once. Just incredible. 

↬ María — Hwasa

⟶ Top Tracks: LMM, Maria, Intro: Nobody Else, WHY, I’m bad too

This album is so connected to my fucking soul. I swear, Ahn Hyejin and I’s emotions are so similar and the way we process them is soooo similar, this album just honestly means the world to me. Plus, it’s amazing. Every song is a masterpiece. Obsessed. Much like D-2, I listen to this album at least once a week. And the number of times I have cried listening to it is unreal. Intro: Nobody Else is very much how I felt this year and LMM has made me cry more times than I care to admit. This album makes me feel what I’m feeling, gives me comfort, and helps me pick myself back up again. Another one that will grow with me. This year through the loneliness and in times that I felt I had no one, this was my companion.  

↬ MAP OF THE SOUL: 7 — BTS

⟶ Top tracks: Black Swan, Interlude : Shadow, My Time, ON, Friends, Moon, We are Bulletproof: the Eternal, Outro : Ego

Come onnnnnn. Perfection!!!! Quite literally the album that has been there with me through every step of this pandemic. I still cry watching the Ego mv. Why? No clue, just makes me sob tears of happiness. Black Swan? Possibly one of my very favorite songs EVER. OF ALL TIME. My Time? Relatable as fuck. Friends? The cutest thing I’ve ever heard. Moon? I’m sobbing again, that’s my emotional support Seokjinnie. Just, the album is a goddamn masterpiece, I don’t care who disagrees, my opinion is fact on this one.

↬ love is not dying — Jeremy Zucker

⟶ Top tracks: full stop, oh, mexico, hell or flying, lakehouse

Jeremy is another one that I just feel emotionally related too. Like I just get what he says and means and it hits me right in the heart and mind and gut. Another companion album. I think full stop is one of the most relatable songs I’ve ever heard- lyrically and the way it builds and becomes a bit chaotic… like whoah. I feel that in my chest. Also, oh, mexico is another song I related to so hard this year. This album has just made a massive impact on me and I love it.

↬ folklore — Taylor Swift

⟶ Top tracks: seven, peace, the lakes, the 1

So Taylor surprised everyone with an album. What the fuck, ma’am? This is my second favorite Taylor album to date, second to only her second surprise album of the year. Like what? I’ve cried listening to this album and absolutely sobbed listening to seven. She just really popped off with this one and I don’t think I need to explain to you all why this album is so good. If you’ve heard it, you know.

↬ evermore — Taylor Swift

⟶ Top tracks: ivy, cowboy like me, long story short, coney island, gold rush

Oh here we have another surprise album, and now my favorite album by Taylor. I think this album perfectly displays Taylor’s insane lyricism better than any of her works. This album just hit really different for me, every song was my favorite on first listen and I still have the hardest time picking favorite tracks. It’s just beautiful and it’s great and I love it a lot.

↬ SAWAYAMA — Rina Sawayama

⟶ Top tracks: Fuck This World (Interlude), Tokyo Love Hotel, Bad Friend, Comme Des Garçons (Like The Boys)

Have you heard it? If so, you know why it’s on this list. Pop perfection. Rina is a goddess. That’s that. It’s just amazing. Rina is a visionary and this album displays that perfectly. Comme Des Garçons was the first song of hers I ever heard and I was immediately obsessed. Next level, this woman. A queen.

↬ Petals For Armor — Hayley Williams

⟶ Top tracks: Crystal Clear, Why We Ever, Over Yet

Wow. Just, bless Hayley for this. Crystal Clear has quickly become one of my very favorite songs ever and Why We Ever is a little too relatable. And I distinctly remember hearing Over Yet for the first time in May and feeling joy for the first time since the pandemic started. This album is one to listen to when you’re mad, sad, when you need comfort, or when you’re ready to heal. Honestly, another companion.

↬ Nectar — Joji

⟶ Top tracks: Like You Do, Your Man, Sanctuary, MODUS, Run, Mr. Hollywood

I could honestly list nearly every song on this as a top song. Holy shit. Joji is another visionary. He’s insane and I’m obsessed with this album. I swear, every time I listen a new song jumps out as a favorite. Like You Do is a song that just means so much to me. A masterpiece. This album is my go to when I’m looking to get into my feels. Also Daylight isn’t listed in the top tracks but what a fucking bop. I’m just in love with this album. For real, obsessed.

↬ Plastic Hearts — Miley Cyrus

⟶ Top tracks: Angels Like You, High, WTF Do I Know, Midnight Sky, Never Be Me, Plastic Hearts

I’ve never been like an avid listener of Miley, just a few tracks, but this year I got more into her. And this album, goddamn. Every song is a contender for top track. How does that happen? Midnight Sky? Huge for me this year. Like I cannot tell you how massive of an impact this song made on me. Angels Like You is such a perfect song. High is a little too relatable. Just seriously, wow. Kind of speechless, I just adore this album.

↬ Positions — Ariana Grande

⟶ Top tracks: pov, obvious, 34+35

The way I cried my first time hearing pov. Ari what are you doing to me? That song is just such a beautiful way to look at love and this whole album is just so healing. A happy spot on this whole year. 34+35 is a thot anthem and I’m obsessed. This album is just another example of Ariana’s talent and we were all blessed to be able to hear it.

↬ CALM — 5 Seconds of Summer

⟶ Top tracks: Wildflower, Lover of Mine, Best Years, Teeth, High

I don’t care if y’all think it’s cool to like 5sos or not, this album is so fucking good. It far exceeded my expectations. Some of these songs are some of my favorites for the year. Wildflower is a fucking happy pill and Best Years makes me fucking cry. High is too relatable, and Teeth may as well have been written about me. And Lover of Mine perfectly relates to the most important relationship of my entire life. I’m gonna say it, Luke Hemmings is such an underappreciated lyricist. The man is good. I love this album a lot. 

↬ Manic — Halsey

⟶ Top tracks: Finally // beautiful stranger, SUGA’s Interlude, Forever … (is a long time), 3am

I never really listen to Halsey so it took me a long time to give this album a try and wow I’m so glad I finally did. It became an instant fav. Honesty, anything Yoongi touches is a favorite for me so obviously that song would be in my tops, but Forever … (is a long time) is so relatable and just so fucking good. And Finally // beautiful stranger is honestly my favorite Halsey song ever. It’s stunning. This album is amazing. Period.

↬ Future Nostalgia — Dua Lipa

⟶ Top tracks: Pretty Please, Cool, Don’t Start Now

This album is just disco pop perfection and I’ve been obsessed all year. It’s the perfect album to listen to when you just wanna fucking dance and forget about all the shit that 2020 gave us. The perfect escape and it’s so so fun and the songs are just bops. I’ve probably listened to this album a hundred times because it’s just the perfect escape. If I wanna let go for a bit, this is my go to.

↬ Punisher — Phoebe Bridgers

⟶ Top tracks: I Know The End, Chinese Satellite, Garden Song

This album makes me feel some shit. Like holy hell we are in our feels. Phoebe’s songwriting is superb and these songs just hit. I honestly only listen to this album when I really need to get in touch with myself because it literally doesn’t allow me to avoid my feelings. But it’s pretty much perfection and I think it’s going to grow with me throughout the years. I just love it. I remember being blown away on my first listen, it’s just unbelievably good.

↬ Ungodly Hour — Chloe and Halle

⟶ Top tracks: Tipsy, Baby girl, Ungodly Hour

I don’t even know how to explain how good this album is. Like, have you heard it? You get it. These girls went the fuck off and all we can do is thank them for it. Thank you for your service ladies. This album is just a vibe from start to finish. And Ungodly Hour is one of the best title tracks of the year. That’s just that on that. Give them all the awards.

↬ IS ANYBODY OUT THERE? — DPR LIVE

⟶ Top tracks: OH GIRL, NO RESCUE NEEDED, KISS ME

This album isn’t just an album, it’s an experience. This man takes you on a musical journey. It’s a story. It’s flawless. I adore it. DPR LIVE is so underrated and I can’t wait for him to get the hype he deserves. This was the most surprising find this year and I’m so thankful I found it. Just so god. From start to finish, you just get sucked in and then it ends and you’re just left like, whoah. Amazing. 

[ajfanfic]

The Golden Room - A 70s Lesbians Witcher Fic

Part four of Snow and Dirty Rain

Read it on Ao3

We were in the gold room where everyone finally gets what they want, so I said What do you want, sweetheart? and you said Kiss me. Here I am leaving you clues. I am singing now while Rome burns. We are all just trying to be holy. My applejack, my silent night, just mash your lips against me. We are all going forward. None of us are going back.

Richard Siken, "Snow and Dirty Rain"

The dykes are always the first to go. That was a fact Geralt had gotten used to. It doesn’t surprise her, and it hadn’t upset her much before. This time, though, her eyes burn as she walks in the door, a pink slip in her pocket. She drops her coat on a chair.

Jaskier looks up from where she’s scribbling in her notebook and before even saying hello, asks, “What’s wrong, baby?"

“Got laid off,” she says roughly.

Jaskier rounds the table and pulls her close. Between their two incomes, supporting the three of them had been a close thing. She says, “I’ll work more nights.”

Geralt wants to say no but bites her tongue. Jaskier knows how she feels about the risks her work poses. She breathes in the sweet smell of Jaskier’s shampoo. “I don’t want you to.”

“I don’t want to either, but what else are we going to do?”

“We’ll figure something out. I’ll find another job.”

“The rent is due soon.”

“I know.”

There isn’t much more to say.

Vesemir calls the next day and Geralt swears the old woman has a psychic ability to tell when something is wrong, no matter the distance between them. The longer Ciri is with them, the more she thinks it might be a parent thing. Jaskier sits leaning against Geralt’s shoulder to listen in.

“There’s always work for you here,” Vesemir says.

Jaskier raises her eyebrows in a question at Geralt, who shakes her head and answers both of them.

“I couldn’t leave Ciri and Jaskier for that long.”

“I meant all of you.” Geralt can hear the look on Vesemir’s face that asks are you stupid, kid?

“We wouldn’t want to impose,” Jaskier says, pressing close to join the conversation.

“No imposition, you’re family. Get that Yennefer to bring y’all down Monday, she can have the guest room for the night.”

And just like that, it’s more or less figured out.

Yennefer jumps at the chance to see Vesemir again. They pack themselves into her battered purple car with bags of groceries and a bottle of Vesemir’s favorite whiskey. Jaskier and Yennefer fight over control of the tape deck before letting Ciri pick. They speed down the highway, “Mercedes Benz” blaring. Geralt can’t help smile as the noise of the city fades away, replaced by the shout of the wind and her little family singing along.

The old farmhouse is much like its owner, weathered and grey in a way that would be imposing if not for the brightness of the life within. Vesemir is waiting for them on the front porch, arms crossed and grinning. Ciri looks between her and Geralt as they climb out of the car, then down at herself.

“I see what you meant, Yen,” she laughs. Between their hair, faded jeans, work boots, and muted flannels, the three look uncannily similar.

“Told you,” Yennefer says. “You were meant to end up here.”

Geralt drops their bags on the step and tackles Vesemir in a bear hug.

“It’s good to see you too, kid.”

“Been too long.”

Vesemir pulls away and smacks Geralt upside the head. “Now, who’s fault is that?” She holds her hand up before Geralt can protest. “Introduce me to my grandkid.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Geralt beckons her up. “This is Ciri.”

Ciri squares her shoulders and tips her chin up. “Good to meet you.”

Vesemir looks her up and down appraisingly. “Can you ride?”

“No, ma’am.”

“Then that’s our first order of business.” Vesemir throws an arm around her shoulder and pulls her into her side. “Why don’t we let Geralt put y’all’s stuff away and I’ll show you around. The ladies can put their feet up for a bit.”

“Hey!” Geralt protests even as she picks the bags up again.

“Vesemir is absolutely right, that long drive was just exhausting.” Jaskier fans herself dramatically.

“And you didn’t even do anything,” says Yennefer.

“Nothing but enjoy your company, darling.”

“You-!”

Jaskier darts up the steps, giggling, with Yennefer hot on her heels. She pauses to drop a kiss on Vesemir’s cheek before heading into the house.

It doesn’t take long for them to decide to stay. They hadn’t talked about what they were going to do next, too grateful to want to ask too much but the next morning over breakfast Vesemir looks up from her coffee and says, “I’m not sure how attached y’all are to the furniture you got in the city, but you’re welcome to the truck if you want to bring anything else down.”

“Honestly, a coat of paint and this place would be nicer than anywhere else I’ve ever lived,” says Jaskier, “furniture included.”

Vesemir smiles. “Then we’ve got our first task. Ciri, what color’d you like?”

She thinks about it for a long moment. “Yellow. Bright yellow.”

“Yellow it is, then.”

Vesemir introduces Ciri to the horses when Geralt goes into town to buy paint. Ciri decides that Applejack is her horse. Applejack has yet to agree, but with time and sugar cubes, Ciri is determined to win him over.

Geralt comes back with paint, and brushes, and a package of seeds that promise to someday be a feast. Jaskier’s eyes light up and she claims a plot by the porch as her garden.

“So I can sit in the shade and keep an eye on it,” she explains. She’s got a wide-brimmed hat on and her hair tied up, a pair of Ciri’s jeans too short at her ankles, and Geralt has to push the hat back and kiss her.

Vesemir kneels in the dirt beside her and shows her how to build a mound and press the squash seeds into the middle, how to make furrows for the carrots, and put marigolds around the edge to keep off the bugs. Together, they plant the seeds.

“Good work,” Vesemir says. “It’s been a long time since I’ve kept a garden here. It’s too much work for one person.”

“Most things are,” says Jaskier. “Most things are, honey.”

They don’t end up using the truck. Yennefer drives down again the next weekend, the rest of Jaskier’s clothes, her records and record player, and Geralt’s few books in the trunk. Jaskier runs an extension cord out the kitchen window and sets the record player up on the porch. Geralt and Vesemir argue over their plan of attack, but settle on taking the week to do the work, one side of the house at a time, top and bottom. Ciri ends up with soap in her hair and Jaskier’s top is soaked through by the time the walls are clean, and they have to take a break for lemonade. They tape off the window trim and pull the chairs away from the wall. Vesemir starts at the top with Geralt, claiming her knees are too old to get on the ground. Ciri obliges and lays on her belly to paint the edge where the porch meets the wall.

The project grows, as projects are wont to do. The house’s bright color makes the trim look dirty, so white joins the yellow splatters on their jeans. A rainy weekend leaves the kitchen bright green, cans of blue waiting at the foot of the stairs for the bedrooms and the next storm. Summer is beginning to frizz Jaskier’s hair by the time they finish and the house matches the riot of color outside.

Vesemir teases them for their taste and Ciri says, “That’s what you get for inviting a bunch of queers into your house.”

There is a glint of victory in the smile Geralt and Jaskier share at that, satisfied in the knowledge that they have done well. After dinner, Ciri and Vesemir do the washing up and Geralt follows Jaskier onto the porch.

Fireflies flicker over the dirt road. They stand for a long moment at the rail, a breeze keeping the night from unpleasant heat.

“Thank you. For coming here.” Geralt doesn’t say for me but Jaskier knows her well enough to hear it.

Jaskier leans back against Geralt’s chest. She sighs, looking out past the small garden she’s planted beside the porch and the wide fields beyond. Geralt’s arms wrap around her and she feels very peacefully small.

“I knew I’d be happy here because you and Ciri are happy. And I am, but I’m happy here for me, too. All of this isn’t what I thought I wanted but it’s good in a way I couldn’t have predicted, putting down roots. I’ve never been in one place long enough to do that before.”

“What do you want, sweetheart?” Geralt says.

She smiles softly and says, “Kiss me.”

[thermaflute]

Hi can I request headcanons for Mina with an s/o who’s always dancing? I know she would love to dance with someone who can at least do a two step 💀💀

I got you! Yo she would hate being with my ass I can’t dance to save my life. Like I can do a little something here and there but something that requires multiple moves? I’d be shot on sight if my life depended on it. 

Ashido Mina

Ashido is so happy to finally have someone that can match her skills. No more tripping over her classmates feet, she can actually get through a dance with you and she’s beyond grateful for it. 

She’s spent years with bakusquad and either getting absolutely stiff moves or something so aggressive it might as well be moshing, she forgot that others could even dance.

She actually had no clue you were good at dancing until she took you to a party. You two were cheering on people in a dance circle before someone accidentally pushed you out. You were a little startled, but you quickly did your thing and she was impressed. She was looking at you like baby *baby face emoji + heart* 

Getting in dance offs became a normal thing for y’all to do at parties, like you guys became known for it and would actually be invited to parties specifically because y’all knew how to keep the energy up (Plus you were really good at sensing when the cops were about to pull up but that’s for another day lmao).

Y’all can literally out dance everyone and anyone. If anyone even tries to come for y’alls crown they will swiftly have their ass whooped, dancing style of course.

You’re also the only one that can catch her rhythm so she is just smitten over you. 

She can actually dance to a lot of different things, from Bachata to cybergoth music she can literally get it to anything so y’all can go to any function. 

You guys have little dance-offs in your apartment that start from absolutely nowhere. First you’re cooking dinner, next you’re ass to the ground while the food is popping on the stove. That’s just how it is around here.

Due to your mutual love of dancing, y’all also make playlists for each other a lot and end up listening to a range of music. You and her are always listening to something new that you put each other on to. 

Even when y’all aren’t moving around, you love to just bop to music while you lay on her. You’re so precious and she always wants to record you but she instead opts for just enjoying the little bits of cuteness you provide her. 

[vvakarians]

I need to be vulnerable for a second.

It’s been a year. I’ve made a lot of progress and am still uprooting shit I’ve been wading in for a while now. I’m growing and learning. But I’ve never gone into detail really, maybe on twitter and mentioned it a couple times but yeah. Been thinking a lot.

TW for Homophobia / Abuse

TLDR; My best friend was a shitlord and I spent ten minutes painfully sobbing about it. I’m fine lmao just needed to make a messy post.

Won’t be mentioning who they were on SM here but if mutuals who are and were friends w/ both of us want to know, hmu lmao. I sincerely hope y’all didn’t get shit on like I did

I’m so tired. I’m tired of knowing that someone I used to call my best friend literally cyberstalked me in a discord server and when I told them I wanted to have a space without them/wouldn’t be interacting with their character, they lost it.

I’ll call this person A. They were there for me through a lot but it got weird towards the end for sure. A was always clingy, always needed to be right (passed it off as an OCD thing), and always felt like they needed to be included in things I was doing. Abandonment issues due to trauma they said, still doesn’t excuse it but you know? Fine.

I identified as aro/ace for a long time bc I was severely traumatized. Someone thirst followed me and cornered me into a relationship/took my kindness for granted (Not A, not yet). A’s reaction was to assume I would never have time for them and we would drift apart, just because I had a partner. They complained about this to me and said that even if I was just their friend and QPP (we were both aro/ace) that they still felt I would abandon them. I tried to calm them down the entire time, this was October 2018. Three days later I had a severe PTSD break (unrelated trauma) and broke up with my ‘boyfriend’. A said it was the right decision and we left it at that.

Cut to me a year later having recovered a bit and realizing I had romantic feelings still. That I *wanted* to kiss and take someone out, and do heavily romantic things. During this time A and I had severe issues with D&D parties also where they would break down if they didn’t know everything and said that I couldn’t produce any part of my worlds for profit bc theh had contributed in a small way. It was a bad time. It lead to the complete disintegration of two relationships that I can...probably never get back. One of which I’m not sure I *want* back, but that’s a different story.

Basically they wanted to be the DM with half the credit despite only making npcs I could easily replace or cut out entirely. Now that I started playing again, I have.

I still was friends with them, still waveringly QPP’s with them. Though I’d often feel my skin crawl when they touched me or wanted to be in my space. This was all the time, not when I got triggered into a PTSD episode. I was annoyed when they wanted to always be in my space and have all my attention. But I felt obligated to A and had been recently traumatized again.

Even with all of this I wanted to come out as gay / mlm but still keep part of my aceness with me. Of course in feeling this, I approached A to let them know. Their response was to immediately come back with ‘we can do all of those things you want to do with a romantic partner’. Which I felt may be true for some aspecs but not me. I wanted to *be* with someone and not just...a friend. I wanted to have a boyfriend and be cheesy. I told A that it was probably true but I wanted something else. That I wanted space to think on what they had said. They came back with ‘you’re abandoning me. You just don’t like me. Everyone always leaves me’. Once again with the ‘you get a bf you’ll forget I exist’ rhetoric 🙃.

I told them that they weren’t the person I wanted to be romantic with. I was looking for someone else. I wasn’t attracted to them that way. They took that as an insult. Though to me they relented. Come to find out A got one of our mutual friends involved bc they lived in the same area. They vented and complained to them that I was going to abandon them, that I was punishing them, that they didn’t know what they did wrong. Which was behavior my parents exhibited when I was forced out as trans to them. That Inwas punishing them somehow for a misdeed or that they knew me better, they did something ‘wrong’.

The only outlet I had away from A was TikTok, we weren’t really doing D&D anymore because the party had dissolved due to their controlling habits. Every account I had was heavily monitored by A, I would vent and they would immediately pull it up and ask if I was okay. Even if I had explicitly said before that I was alright and needed some space. But TikTok was a place they barely went on. So I cosplayed more after our last visit (October 2019), and got a small following after joining a lovely d&d tag ran by one of my now closest friends. I also met my boyfriend through this tag, and several other very close friends. I made an oc that I integrated in one or two sessions of D&D before I completely stopped DMing.

Now, it gets worse. I get a following for cosplaying my oc Asariel Whately, join a server, and for a time have a pretty okay place away from A. Some breathing room. When I mentioned that Asariel (who we had talked about maybe being w/ an oc of theirs) was going to romance my now boyfriends oc in the tag, they got upset. They said that they were sad to see them with someone else, and asked if it could all be before my campaign/not actually be real. I told them no and that I’d continue doing what I wanted.

Well, after that and scouring my TikTok (i made the mistake of saying anything in the first place), they got invited to the server and started RPing/cosplaying in the tag. Which they’re allowed to do, but A has a history of wanting to be in my things and being the center of attention. When I say A got involved with *several* other characters, including a possible *minor*, that doesn’t even cover the worst of it. They got involved in a huge polyam relationship (which is fine, i’ll explain why their behavior was weird tho) that LITERALLY took up chunks of the whole server. Any time my bf and I got into chat to rp out some scene for Asariel and Fraanic, A was there to bury our scene in their own garbage. Could have been conicidence but who knows. Then the minor got added into the mix and most of us just had the server on mute/rped in DMs. It was so bad that other people noticed their bad behavior, meta gaming, and needing to be right.

Our relationship ended when someone from a private close knit server made up of all the people who wanted to remove ourselves from the toxic environment, outed our server. Said there was an nsfw server and A immediately jumped to say they wanted an invite. I panicked and DMed them for the first time in weeks to say that they couldn’t. That I needed space from them and this was the one place I had. We had a fight, they said ‘they’re my friends too’ and I pointed out that they had forced their way in, that I said I needed space. Eventually they gave up on it, thank god. But it left me wrecked for months. I didn’t create, I retreated into a two person server with my best friend who is now my boyfriend and just never looked back.

While I’m grateful that this massive upheaval gave me a new support network, got me into a good place for a romantic partnership, and allowed me to heal...I still have a lot of pain. I felt like I had been commodiefied, like an object because of how kind and soft and pliable I was. Because someone thought I was beautiful and *theirs* in the worst way. My ocs who are some of my largest coping mechanisms were tainted, I could barely play Dragon Age, couldn’t think about it. Because someone had conpletely obliterated my love for it. I hate to think they then continued to do that same thing to other people but I honestly have no clue what A is doing now. They dropped off the planet and honestly good riddance.

[dannydouni]

I got tagged by @faceless-dude for smth. And like. All I want to say is that you so much. Cuz I’ve had this sitting in my drafts for months and I didn’t know when would be a good time to post it. Or like update it or like just when I should do anything with it. So yeah. Thank you so much for helping me get the chance to post this :)))

“I’ve had this in my drafts for some time now probably since the Canadian thanksgiving and like only touched on it a few times, and well I never got to post it cuz I got well uuuhhh... shy I guess and at that time a lot of things were going down and stuff. And because of that I just felt like it had no meaning whatsoever anymore. So I thought I’d edit it a bit so it fits better and so I can finally post it and stuff.... sometimes it’s nice to get something out there after having it written down for so long. And well what better time to post it than now XD on New Years!. Anyways here it goes”

Hey guys, friends especially, ITS A NEW YEAR!!!!!! I just wanted to pop in and say that...well...thank you. And while I don’t really mean this directly to anyone so far (details for ppl that I know on this app will be written later on in this post). I know it’s usually super cheesy and just cringe and stuff but I honestly couldn’t care less about that stuff when it comes to the people close to me and to the people I love and care about. So I would like to take this opportunity to thank y’all. First and foremost. What the actual fuck guys. Why lmao. Out of everyone in this world you bunch picked the weirdest, ugliest and just straight up stupidest dude out there to be friends with XD, y’all do know there was much better than this out there right XD. I legit have no competition since I’m just so bad LOL. But still, for some reason, with all the shit I just listed y’all still decided it was a good idea to be friends with me. Y’all still decided it would be a great idea to stick with me up until now. Y’all still decided that I could belong with other people that I could fit it with you guys. That I could.... have genuine, real and just straight up amazing friends. I have absolutely no fucking clue how this turn of events happened. But I can say this with full certainty. You guys have changed my life. You guys are probably the main reason I’m still kicking around to this day lol. You guys are the reason I keep going and keep living and just keep enjoying the tiny gifts that life has to offer sometimes instead of pain XD. I still don’t and probably will never understand why or how god or life decided to be nice to me the few times I met one of you but I’m honestly so eternally grateful that I just... I have no words almost.... I just don’t know what to say sometimes. It’s honestly so out of this world how amazing and nice some of you are even tho I’m like the complete trash of this world XD. In all honesty.... without you guys I’d probably not even be here lmao... I’d probably would’ve just went on with my life with nothing to wish or hope for other than for the next day to pass even quicker than the last.... or just for days to just over as soon as they start... I won’t say more cuz that’s shit is personal and I’m not about to write that in public 😎. But like I know for sure that without you guys. I would not be here right now. So thank you. Thank you for everything. Thank you for all the memories you’ve given me, the countless nights you’ve made me die of laughter, The countless times you’ve made me choke and almost die from how funny something would be, the countless times you’ve made me think “damn I don’t ever want to wake up from this dream if this is not real”. Just thank you, for talking to me, for letting me vent, for letting me be there for you when you were there for me, for being my rock to lean on, for helping me go through the toughest of times like if it was a normal day. Thank you guys so much for treating me like an equal, for being friends with me, for playing with me, for inspiring me, for teaching me new things and helping me with anything I could ever ask for. Thank you guys so much, and while words will never be able to fully explain what I fully mean or what I fully feel. But I hope that this at least will give you an idea of how greatfull I am for you guys... i hope this will show you how thankful I am for you guys. I love you guys so much that the word love just can’t even express how much you guys truly mean to me. You guys have changed my life for the better and even tho I will probably never be able to repay that I’m hoping that I can do something to at least return how much y’all have done for me. And even tho a lot of the people I mean by this message are not on Tumblr I have a few that are and it is for that reason that I will thank you and write something for you guys here too. So here is the part for the specific people.

@frogb, Genny :)

Genny :D

GENNYYYYY >:D

Good God..... how are you even real XD well to start off, a quick intro :).... probably my only irl friend that is actually active on this app and of course MY BEST FRIEND FOREVER IN THE WORLD AND THE #1 PERSON IN MY LIFE >:), I want to take this opportunity to just thank you again (I know I’ve said a a bunch of times and you probably hate me for saying it a lot XD, that along with sorry :(((( I can’t really control that Lmao but I’m getting better at it right :D). You....you’re my best friend :)... you have changed my life for the better way too many times cuz. I’ve honestly lost count dude. I’ve lost count. I just want you to know that even tho I said that the first thing I wrote on this post was meant for a bunch of people. I was really mainly thinking about you when I wrote it. Ever since you’ve been part of my life. You have made sure to change it completely. And only for the good and for the better. I don’t think you have a genuine idea of how much you’ve changed my life and how much you’ve made me happy :)... thank you Genny thank you so much for being the best thing to ever happen to me. Genny you truly are the best most amazing, kindest, nicest, loveliest, most wonderful, most talented person I’ve ever met. Look I won’t write my full thing here since...well I’ll say the rest to you directly. But well .. Genny... I love you... I love you so fucking much alright :D thank you for being the highlight of my life. Thank you for being you Genny and thank you for being here for me and just being my best friend in the world :)

@ritsu-in-a-maid-dress , heyyy duuuudee buddy chum buddy pal XD (don’t ask lmao), I know we like met only a few weeks ago actually idk maybe at the point when I actually decide to post this it’ll be months or like a year 😳 (and if it is HOLY SHIT WTF I HOPE I ACTUALLY TOLD YOU SOMETHING IN THAT TIME CUZ DAMN) and well so far, you have been nothing but an amazing, way too nice, handsome friend that has somehow probably one of the sweetest hearts out there. You’re actually so fucking funny and have made my day much better sometimes just from the very few talked we’ve had lmao (correction now it’s actually been quite a few 😳and honestly they’re getting to much better and funnier so thank you so much for making me laugh :D (oh and I will never forget that one call we had for 3 FUCKING HOURS DUDE!!!! THAT WAS AWSOME!!!) ) and while at first I was very shy to even talk to you. I’m happy that I can comfortably say hi without any regrets or anything lmao. I will tell you something I’m very thankful for in dm too cuz it’s kinda private :) so yeah.... thank you so much for being you and being my friend :D

@quellfy yoooooo duuuudde I don’t think we’ve ever really interacted on here but I’ve talked to you on the server and well I can know from there that. You’re just such an amazing and kind person. And that every time we talk I have a great time :)) I don’t know a lot about you but I do know that you’re an amazing artist who has amazing art (yes even when it’s not sad “pointing at alluka in snow drawing” amazing) and that you’re such a kind and I nice human being who’s been just super nice and good to me :)) so thank you. For being my friend and for being such an amazing human being :D

@faceless-dude yooooo I don’t think we’ve properly talked before but like :))) I really think you’re an amazing person and just super talented. Your art is something I’ve never seen before and I really really think it’s unique and just amazing. Thank you for your wonderful wishes. And yeah dw. I plan on keeping that promise >:) Gen will get her booties kicked just like you asked XD

@kur-upira we probably only interacted a few times. But in those few times. I could tell what kind of person you are and how much of an amazing person you are :D. I can tell you that just from those few times. I was able to see how much of a beautiful, talented (yes holy shit. I cannot stress this enough. I love your artstyle and good god it’s so good everything from the actual drawings to the shading to the colouring. It’s amazing dude. I really mean that. It’s one of the most unique and most beautiful artstyles I’ve ever seen), friendly and just amazing human being you are :))) thank you for those few interaction (which probably took me whole days to respond to because of anxiety and bs XD sorry about that lmao) and yeah. I would absolutely love to get to know you better and to interact more with each other :D

@starrynarwhale, I know we like pretty much only interacted like twice with each other but from those few times. I knew that you were a wonderful person :) not just an amazing person. But a very talented one too :D (your art is amazing dude. It’s really great. Not only that but like. Can I just say that. Your frog gon fridays are godly dude. They’re always so fucking cool and wholesome 🥺🥺I love them so much. Amazing) you seem like a very kind and amazing person so yeah :)) I’d love to get to know you better :D

@catboyyouko yooooo. I know we probably have only interacted once but let me tell you dude. You’re a wonderful, amazing, nice, kind and extremely talented human being. (Dude you don’t understand. Your art is fucking amazing. Not only that but your comics are so goddamn great too. Not just in an art way but in a story way too. It’s just always so amazing) oh and also like... I see that you vent a lot and stuff and just wanted to let you know that if you ever needed someone to talk to or vent to. I’m here for you. I feel like you’re such an amazing person and I would love to get to know you better :) so yeah. If you ever need anyone to talk to. I’m here alright :)

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE. I LOVE YOU ALL SO FUCKING MUCH

And if I didn’t @ you I promise It’s just cuz I’m too scared to bother you and @ Ing this many ppl has already made my anxiety skyrocket.

[soft-ris]

Hi! I'm not sure if u still have slots for CP but if so could I have one? my top 3 from hq are bokuto, iwaizumi + miya atsumu! im 5'5, she/her w long dark brown hair w the front half of my right side dyed white, green eyes + tan skin. I'm super bubbly, loud, naturally flirty + my love language is physical touch! I love working out and I'm a huge foodie. I'm stubborn + impulsive, luv rain/storms, coffee + pda. I ramble but I'm a gd listener, a night owl, v playful + luv teasing 1/2

im spontaneous, optimistic, passionate + ambitious! I'm empathetic + love comforting others! I'm emotional, confident, bold, giggly, energetic + observant! I'm also straight forward and try my best to be upfront about my feelings. I love autumn/winter, cooking + outdoors but also love cosy nights at home! I also really like protective people! Thank u sm in advance if theres still space <3 2/2

Cupid’s Pick for your match made in heaven is...

... Iwaizumi!!

...long dark brown hair w the front half of my right side dyed white.

All of them would find that super cool, like the unique style of it, their reactions would just vary.

Iwa would be wide eyed and go ‘wow’. He’d definitely stare, but in a good way because he’s 100% admiring the way you look with this style. There’s just no hiding that admiring look on his face, he can’t even if he tries tbh. He just thinks it’s so mf cool. Would subtly bask in the praises you get bc ‘hell yeah she’s fucking cool, that’s my girlfriend >:)’. Would compliment you for sure, simple and to the point, and you just know he means every word because his personality is like that.

Atsumu & Bo would be louder and more verbal & show-off-y. Lots of like ‘omfg this style is so cool?!?!?’. Would even go as far as saying ‘we matchBIXKJSANJC’ (especially Bo since the dyed colour is the same), since they have dyed hair themselves, and would also 100000% take pics and show them off to Osamu & Akaashi and their MSBY teammates and even post about u on their accounts bc they’re just so excited uwu

It’s also a given that they would change their wallpaper to u with this hairstyle ASAP uwu

I also really like protective people!

All of them are pretty protective in their own rights, I feel? The difference would be how they deal with the thing or person making you feel uncomfortable or unsafe.

I feel like Iwa would have no qualms being a sort of shield between you and that problem. If someone’s bothering you, he would step in between u and the person/people and bring you away from them AFTER (respectfully) glaring at them and telling them they’re making things uncomfortable for everyone. He’s quite observant too, having dealt with Oikawa’s personality and habits for a lot of his life, so he would be able to tell when you need his protection and when you can handle yourself. Tbh even when you can handle yourself, he’ll already be inching towards you, wanting to be by your side just in case it turns ugly. And if it ever turns ugly (which is fucked up because why tf would anyone wanna fight Iwa when he’s packing all those muscles??), ya know he won’t be fucking around. He may be a respectful man, but that doesn’t mean he won’t twist the person’s arm with a little more force than necessary if they tried to do shit to u. After the mf’s taken care of, he’ll take you some place quiet and make sure you’re alright, feeling safe and comforted by treating you softer than usual. Will also bring you your favourite snacks to help you ease your nerves and end the night on a better note. Overall, 10/10 boyfriend because your comfort and safety means a lot to him uwu <3

Atsumu would probably veeeery publically embarrass them by calling them out, and you know his words cut deeeeeep. He’ll be keeping a hand on you throughout the day/night, that’s for sure, until you’re home again. Just that touch of his to make sure you’re by his side and doing alright.

Bo would probably get angry (whether in a cute pouty way or in an intense anger would depend on the situation), unintentionally call them out (which would be hella embarrassing for the other person bc god they made BOKUTO angry??), and then he would just start trying to make sure you’re okay. He’d start being really touchy like cupping your face, hugging you from all angles, & etc. He’ll bring you home asap if the situation calls for it or if you ask him to or if the person isn’t gone from the space, but would probably stay if you tell him it’s alright and you’re okay now.

I think the both of them are protective in their own rights, but something about Iwa being really perceptive and having that strength and reliability to his personality that would probably make you feel the safest (based on yours and his traits).

I love working out and I'm a huge foodie.

IWAIZUMI HAJIME, (27), ATHLETIC TRAINER. CHAMPION OF ARM WRESTLING, AND EVERY SPORT IMAGINABLE.

I don’t think I need to say more, it’s all right thereKSKSKSK

He’ll work out with you and become those perfect work out couple goals. 1000000000000000000% for sure. And he’s an athletic trainer, so he knows how to help you maximize your work out.

I can also see him eating a lot with you on your food trips. Sure, his diet is pretty balanced, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t like to eat, and especially on cheat days he’ll happily indulge in the more ‘unhealthy’ foods with you.

I also don’t think he’ll be trying to control your diet, but maybe tell you stuff like ‘eat more veges/protein/etc.’ if you don’t eat properly. He cares for you and your health is important to him too. But if your diet is pretty good and balanced as is, then he’ll be a little more relaxed knowing you’re not surviving on only junk foods and sodas lol

I ramble but I'm a gd listener, a night owl, v playful + luv teasing.

GREAT because I can see Iwa appreciating very much that you’d listen to him talk on about his rough day, gush the monsters he finds super fucking cool (like Godzilla), rants about Oikawa being a shit head (again), and so on.

I can see him being a great listener too, always nodding along and taking in what you ramble to him. Giving comments and insights too if he can. And if he doesn’t have the capacity or energy for that (most probably bc work was draining or he isn’t having a good day), he’d tell you straight up (if you didn’t catch the physical clues he displays). Politely and to the point, without malice.

Oikawa is teasing and playful with him, so he’s practically built to handle it like a pro since childhoodKSKSKSK

But he won’t resort to violence with you ofc, just with Oikawa <3 depending on the nature of your teasing, he’d either roll his eyes and maybe bump your shoulder lightly (or some other light form of contact), or he’ll try to tease you back. I can also see him blushing and asking you to shut it if your teasing grants that kind of reaction if yk what I meanKSKSKS

The night owl bit, he understands, but would tell you sometimes to not mess up your schedule and to sleep earlier if you can because that’s just how he shows that he cares. If you point out that he sounds like a nagging mom, he’d pop a vein and tackle you (softly) and drag you to bed and be a little kid about it like ‘HA what can u do now that u can’t escape my arms?? Who’s a nagging mom now??’. Y’all would 100% end up in giggles UWUWUWUWUWU

I'm stubborn + impulsive, luv rain/storms, coffee + pda.

I can see Atsumu & Bo loving and basking in the PDA more than Iwa, because that shit makes him flustered so hard and he has to take a while to get used to having someone show him such bold displays of love. But I feel like Iwa would really grow to like it tho uwu

All 3 of them are kind of stubborn in their own way? If y’all disagree on something, I can see Bo & Iwa coming to a compromise with you easier than Atsumu.

Iwa would make you a cup of coffee just the way you like it every day when you wake up because it’s his actions with the littlest things that show you the loudest how much he loves you. He’s also great with holding you back on your more dangerous and rash and potentially harmful impulses, like the reliable figure that gives you good reasons and talks you out of reeeeaaally bad decisions, but he’s also a whole Gemini so he’ll indulge in your impulses with you more often than you think heh heh

I'm also straight forward and try my best to be upfront about my feelings.

That’s a great trait for all of the boys tbh, because all 3 of them needs someone like that due to their personalities.

Atsumu would understand that you’re not playing mind games and he wouldn’t then try to play it back or burst into flames. Bo would be thankful because he can just take your words as is. And that’s the same for Iwa too. While he’s observant and can probably read between the lines no problem, straight forwardness just makes things easier for him because he’s pretty straight forward too. And I feel that if he can count on you for that, then he’ll be probably allow himself to rely on you more.

If you praise them, they’ll know you mean it too and they’ll be real happy about it uwu

I'm empathetic + love comforting others!

Another great attribute for all 3 of them. Bo & Atsumu melts in a more obvious way (and in the moment) when you comfort them and when you empathize with them, but Iwa? It’s in the way he squeezes your hand right after, the look in his eyes are soft and so is his grateful smile. It’s in the way he hugs you later in bed, curving into you like a cat, arms secure around you, and he whispers a very tender ‘thank you’. It’s in the way he kisses you good morning the day after, hand on your cheek as if he’s holding the world in it, and he feels like he is. I’d say it’s more quiet with Iwa’s display of gratitude, but it’s just as loud as the other two, there’s no doubt about that.

I'm super bubbly, loud, naturally flirty + my love language is physical touch! I'm emotional, confident, bold, giggly, energetic + observant! I’m spontaneous, optimistic, passionate + ambitious!

Your outgoing and naturally flirty self would probably capture all 3 of their hearts, with Iwa putting up a little more fight than the rest (he doesn’t take it as him being special, but falls for your sweet words regardless bc he likes u so much).

Bo & Atsumu would satisfy your love language more, both looking like they’re very comfortable in showing you they love you in that way. Iwa might be a more muted than the 2, but if y’all are dating, he’d always have a hand on you somehow. Whether its holding your hand, a hand on your back, on your cheek, & etc. Like he just finds a way to always have contact with you, especially when he finds out your love language if physical touch. He’ll put in the effort, that’s for sure.

Atsumu might not do as well with your emotional trait? He doesn’t mince his words, and even if he tries to be softer with you, it’s not 100% that he’ll change that part of himself. He’ll try to comfort you, apologize and sooth your wounds if he hurts you bad, but it’s how he is with his words – blunt and (mainly) unfiltered. Iwa isn’t blunt, I’d say? He knows what to say and when to say it and how to say it, and he’s also caring, so I feel like he’d do very well with this trait of yours.

Being energetic meshes pretty well with Bo bc he’s pretty energetic himself. Iwa himself has a lot of energy, so he would most definitely keep up with your energy no problem.

Every other trait I can see doing well with Iwa. He’d admire it, and some would even push him further too by feeding off your traits too.

[doyouever-daydream]

Friends with Kids.

A/N  I re-watched Friends with Kids for the firs time in years and I came up with this, if you, like me, love rom-coms I highly recommend it, therefore if you don't want spoilers for the movie, go watch it and then come back here to read this! For the sake of the story there might be some OOC moments, don't kill me. Also there are many time-jumps so I hope it’s not too confusing. English is not my first language so bear with me, I try my best, I'm still working on it. I enjoyed writing this so much! I started last month and it was a blast so hopefully you enjoyed it as well, if you did, let me know! Thank you for reading this super long oneshot. P.S. This is the first work of the Movie AU series that I've been planning (if you pay close attention, without intending to I wrote a couple clues about others stories I'm working on (Movie AU's as well) 👀

P.S. 2 You should go and check this post and this post and help if you can ❤

ALSO this is another entry for my @cmbingo​ card, the square is Friends to Lovers.

Summary: After seeing all of their friends having kids, Penelope and Luke decide that since none of them seem to have found their person, they agree to have a child of their own. Having a kid with your best friend can't be that bad, right? (Movie AU: Friends with Kids)

Pairing: Penelope Garcia x Luke Alvez (with a little bit of Jemily 🤭)

Warnings: Cursing, mentions of sex, bad jokes, SLOWBURN, some angst I guess, some grammar mistakes.

Word count: 15410 (y’all told me to post it as a one instalment lmao 🤯🤯🤯)

Masterlist (You can also find this and other fanfics in my AO3 acc )

Luke didn’t need to look up to know that Penelope was finally down in the lobby, the sound of her high heels gave it away, he pocketed his phone and got up, ready to go and meet their friends.

“Hello chica” He kissed her cheek and she returned the gesture.

“Hi newbie, I’m sorry it’s so late, I got caught up at work, let’s go”

“After you” Once they were outside their apartment building, they called a cab, eager to get to the restaurant and catch up with their friends.

“How was work?” Penelope asked him as she put on lipstick.

Luke shrugged “Same as usual, nothing exciting happens, what about you?”

“Terrible day, I can’t wait to drink a couple glasses of wine” Luke snorted and raised an eyebrow “Or five”

“It’s Friday so I’m also thinking about getting a little tipsy” She placed her lipstick in her purse and rested her hands in her lap with a smile on her face.

“It’s been so long since the eight of us have gone out to dinner, I miss everyone”

“I know, I don’t think I’ll recognize their faces anymore” Penelope rolled her eyes instead of going along with it.

They remained in a comfortable silence the rest of the time, saving everything else they had to say until they were with the rest. Penelope and Luke saw each other much more often than the others, mostly because they lived in the same building, just an elevator ride apart, Penelope’s place was on the third floor while Luke’s was on the seventh. Another reason as to why they didn’t see each other that much was because half of the gang, Matt, Kristy, Derek and Savannah were now parents and they didn’t have as much free time time as before.

Once in the restaurant, Penelope walked as quickly as she could, Luke following close behind careful to act if she tripped or something. Penelope’s smile fell just a little when she only saw Emily and JJ sitting at the table.

“Hey, you guys are here” Emily and JJ quickly rushed to them, and after a round of greetings and hugs, the four sat down.

“Where's the rest of the gang?” Luke asked, looking around to see if they were by the bar or coming from the bathroom.

“Yeah, we can’t be the awesome eight when there are only four of us here” Penelope stated as she nicely signaled the waiter to come over.

Emily bit her lip and looked at JJ “They called to inform us they can’t make it tonight” The blonde woman informed them.

“Kristy’s not feeling well and Matt has to be there to take care of the kids and Derek and Savannah couldn’t find a sitter” Emily added carefully watching Penelope, they all knew she had been looking forward to this dinner for a few weeks now.

“Oh” Penelope forced a smile “It’s ok, I get it, things happen” Under the table, Luke took her hand and squeezed it, she looked at him and smiled a little less forced this time.

“We’ll be the fabulous four tonight” JJ raised her glass and Penelope remembered she hadn’t seen them in a few months so it was still exciting getting the chance to see them.

“I’ll drink to that” They all proceeded to order their drinks and dinner, ready to make the most of the evening.

They spent the next hour and a half talking about how life was, JJ and Emily told them about the trip they made to Italy to celebrate their three years of marriage, Penelope told them a funny story about a blind date gone wrong, Luke shared he was getting promoted at work, overall life was good for all of them and it made the evening much more pleasant even though four of their best friends weren’t there.

“There’s this guy at work who I think would be great for you” JJ commented while eating her dessert.

“I don’t know if I should trust you to set me up anymore, last time was horrible” Penelope replied remembering the last date she had with one of JJ’s prospects for her.

“No, this time it’ll be better, I promise” 

“I think you’d like this guy, Pen” Emily said while sipping on her glass of wine.

Luke nudged her with his elbow “Come on, chica, let JJ set you up, it can’t be worse than the time the guy bursted into tears when you told him you were a Libra”

They all laughed, followed by a loud sigh from Penelope “God, I missed this so much, being with you, laughing at my terrible luck when it comes to dating”

“I missed it too” Emily interjected “Being together not laughing about your love life”

“I gotta say it” Luke started “I love our friends’ kids so much but I miss the times when it was just the eight of us, you know?”

Before JJ or Emily said anything Penelope spoke “I know, I mean I’m also super grateful those little sweethearts joined the fam but on nights like these I get all nostalgic reminiscing the pre-babies era”

JJ and Emily shared a look and both Penelope and Luke knew something was up “What’s that?” Luke wondered.

Emily took JJ’s hand “Well, one of the news we wanted to share tonight was that JJ and I are adopting” Penelope and Luke were wide eyed “We actually started the process a few months ago but didn’t know when we were going to be matched and we didn’t expect it to happen soon but we’ve been matched, it’s sweet one year old girl” JJ finished telling their news to their friends.

“Her name is Emerson and she’s coming home with us in a couple weeks” Emily waited anxiously to see their reactions.

Penelope was the first one to speak “Oh my God, you guys, congratulations, a new addition to the fam” She was genuinely excited with her news and so was Luke.

“It’s great to hear this, you’ll be amazing moms” He turned to Penelope “We’re getting a new niece”

“I know, I know, look about what we said earlier-” JJ cut her off.

“Oh, it’s ok, we know kids aren’t really your thing so it’s alright” Luke was the only one who noticed how Penelope’s face changed for one second, she quickly smiled again, hoping no one noticed the flash of disappointment in her face at JJ’s words.

After saying their goodbyes and promising to reunite once Emerson was settled with JJ and Em, Luke and Penelope took another cab to go back to their apartments. She was silent and Luke didn’t know if it was a good idea to ask what was on her mind, he debated whether or not to start a conversation.

Before thinking it twice he started “So was it true?” Luke questioned and Penelope tilted her head.

“What do you mean?” Luke licked his lips.

“What JJ said about kids not being your thing” Penelope sighed and bit her lip, of course Luke had noticed her expression when she heard their friend saying this.

“She was referring to both of us, Luke” She tried to avoid answering his question.

“I know but in my case she’s wrong I would like kids” She looked at him with raised eyebrows and a smirk in her face.

“I didn’t know that, newbie” Luke shrugged “I honestly assumed you were the no kids kind of guy” 

“Are you kidding me? My mom would never forgive me if I never gave her grandchildren” Penelope laughed imagining Elena, Luke’s mom, lecturing him to give her grandchildren.

“So you’re doing it for your mom then?” 

“No, I really wanna be a dad, someday, a tiny human that’s half me, that would be great” She patted his shoulder.

“You’re right, that would be great” He looked at her expectantly “What?”

“What about you, Penelope? Would you like to have kids?” She pressed her lips together.

“Yes, I would love that” She admitted after a few seconds of being silent “The thing is I have no one, sometimes I think I should’ve said yes to Kevin when he proposed, I’d have children by now”

“You’re gonna find someone” She rolled her eyes “You will, you are gorgeous and an amazing woman” 

“Have you ever wondered if you’ve already met your person? You know, the one you’re gonna end up with?” Penelope questioned.

“No, I haven’t met my person, I know that much, but I will and so will you, Pen, you’ll see” He put his arm around her and she rested her head on his shoulder, starting to feel sleepy, they remained like that until they got home, said goodnight and went to sleep to their apartments.

Almost four months later, Luke and Penelope were hosting a baby shower for Matt and Kristy, it turned out that time they had cancelled dinner with them was because Kristy was having a hard time during the pregnancy.

Everyone was there, including friends they hadn’t seen in a while, all of them with their significant others: Spencer, Tara, Alex, Kate, David, Aaron and Elle.

At one point of the party, Penelope escaped from the conversations about marriage and kids, and she stood in a corner trying to go unnoticed, during the entire gathering Luke had kept an eye on her, since they were planning the party, he noticed the subject was still a sensitive for her.

“We did good” He said as he leaned against the wall.

Penelope looked around his place, everyone seemed to be having a good time “Yeah, I think it turned out pretty well” He offered his glass of wine, it was almost full “Thank you” 

“I’ve always known we were a dynamic duo” This earned him an eye roll from Penelope, he expected her to say something else but she remained quiet and so did he.

She took in the scene of her friends with their children, the look on their eyes were like nothing she had ever seen before, she knew these people from a very long time and there was always a huge difference between the before and after having kids.

“I want this” Penelope said out of the blue.

“Ok” Luke said unsure as to what she was referring, he thought about it for a second “I can plan a birthday party for you next year, Pen”

“Not a party, I want to have a baby” He didn’t know what to say to that but just in that moment JJ walked over to them with Emerson in her arms.

“This little one is looking for her fairy godmother” Emerson reached her arms to Penelope and she happily took the one year old in her arms.

“Did you, little Em?” She kissed her goddaughter’s head “I was missing you too” The baby babbled, content to be with her auntie.

“I’ll go grab some cake” JJ turned around and walked towards the kitchen and Kristy came to join the three of them.

“Thank you guys so much for this” She offered a warm smile “I promise you we’re done after this one” She announced while she rubbed her round belly.

“Oh don’t mind us, you have as many babies as you guys like” Luke joked and when they laughed, little Emerson joined them with a giggle.

“No, we’re definitely done, it’s your turn to find someone and start giving us nieces and nephews, right, Emerson?”

“I think this one will get a little sister or brother before we know it, Em and JJ are over the moon being moms” Penelope stated.

“I know” Kristy agreed “It’s been really touching seeing them in this new phase” 

“I hope someday you guys get to see me being a mom” The nostalgia was obvious in her voice.

“It’s gonna happen” Kristy assured her “And I can’t wait, Penelope” She smiled to her and then proceeded to go with her husband.

Seeing Penelope with Emerson and the rest of their friends’ children left him thinking, after the baby shower was over Penelope stayed to help him clean even when he told her to call it a night and go to  get some rest, but she refused, they spent the next couple hours tidying up the place, once they were done Luke offered to order takeout but she didn’t accept and went to her apartment.

Luke tried to get some sleep but he kept turning and tossing in his bed, his thoughts not letting him rest, he tried everything but ultimately failed, he looked at his alarm clock, it was almost 2:00 AM. Unable to get his idea out of his mind, he got up and walked towards the elevator, he needed to tell Penelope what was happening on his mind.

Once he got down to her floor, he stood outside her door for a few minutes thinking maybe it was too out of line to make her the proposition he was thinking about. He pressed his lips together and rubbed his palms in his pajama pants, trying to muster enough confidence to knock on her door.

  He sighed and knocked a couple times.

Luke tried a few more times, wanting to tell Penelope what he was thinking about, after all it was his best friend, if she didn’t accept, they could laugh it up and continue as if nothing happened. 

Penelope opened the door “What’s up, Luke?” She put on her glasses as her eyes adjusted to the light.

“Can I come in?”

“Yeah, what’s wrong?” Penelope yawned.

He stared at her and took a deep breath “I want a baby” Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

“Are you… Drunk?” She questioned and he shook his head.

“I want to be a dad” He blurted. 

“Ok? Well I know everyone calls me the fairy godmother but it’s not like I can make a baby appear and give it to you”

“What if you could?” Luke objected.

Penelope let out a frustrated sigh “Are you high?”

“No, Penelope, you want to be a mom and I want to be a dad, we haven’t found our person but we’re best friends I thought maybe we could try this” 

“How would that even work? Luke, what the fuck?” 

“Look, there are different types of families, two best friends having a kid and then finding their person doesn’t sound too crazy to me” He insisted.

“Are you being serious right now?” Penelope wondered, trying to examine his face to see if he was messing with her.

“I am” He walked to her and took her hand “Think about it, we’re best friends, we have a baby and we split everything 50/50 costs, responsibilities, and it will be good because we’re not attracted to each other, we won’t get to have married couple fights and all the complicated part” He offered a small smile to his friend who looked at him open-mouthed trying to process everything he was saying.

“I need some time to think about it” Luke smiled when he heard those words and let go of her hand.

“Alright, that’s ok” He walked towards the door “Let me know what you decide on, you know where to find me” As he was about to leave, he turned around and quickly walked to her to hug her.

“Go to sleep, Alvez”

“Garcia-Alvez has a nice ring to it” He whispered in her ear before she swatted at his chest, he rushed to the door and closed it behind him, leaving Penelope standing there, shocked at his proposition but also thoughtful, she walked to her bedroom and snuggled once again in her bed, trying to regain her sleep before Luke came to disrupt her mind.

Penelope and Luke were busy with work for the next couple weeks, until one night she texted him if she could come up to see him, he instantly replied with a yes and Penelope was on her way with an answer to his proposition. She let herself in and walked to his living room, he was watching TV.

“Hello stranger” He patted the couch, inviting her to sit beside him.

She plopped next to him and Luke put his arm around her without taking his eyes from the screen “How’s… life?” 

“Good I guess?” He quickly shot her a look with an eyebrow raised “How about you?”

Penelope played with her hands “Did you mean what you said that other night?” Luke turned to her and took the remote control turning the TV off and giving her his undivided attention.

“About having a baby with you? Absolutely” His voice was firm and his face was serious.

“I’ve thought about it” She looked at him and he was waiting for an answer.

“And?” He questioned with raised eyebrows.

“Ok” Penelope stated in a whisper.

Luke smiled “Ok?”

“Ok” She returned the smile “You are right, there are different type of families and two friends having a kid doesn’t sound like the worst idea”

He leaned forward to her “Should we get to it? Like now?” Penelope jumped.

“No, not now but soon I guess, I’m not sure” She was suddenly self conscious, thinking that in an attempt to have a baby together, they’d need to have sex.

“We could do those fertility tests to know when you’re ovulating” Penelope looked surprised.

“How do you know about those?” She asked with amusement.

“What? Because I’m a guy I can’t know? Come on, Pen, I’m a modern men” She chuckled and looked at him waiting for the truth.

“Ok I saw it on a movie but I do want to know more about this, I plan on being there for you during the pregnancy, Lamaze classes and all”

“Alright, we can talk about all of that later, I’ll just go have dinner now” As she was about to get up, Luke took her hand.

“Don’t go, we can order something or I could cook something for you”

“Didn’t you already had dinner?” He nodded 

“But you can have dinner here, you don’t need to eat all by yourself”

“Alright I’ll go check your fridge, I’m sure there’s some leftover takeout I can eat” Penelope went to the kitchen and Luke started to look for something she could also enjoy on the TV, this was their routine, having dinner at each other’s apartments whenever they could, talking about life, family, dates they’ve been, adding a baby to their dynamic didn’t sound like the worst idea.

“We are having a baby” Penelope announced to their friends, Luke was a little bit terrified of Derek’s reaction to the news, Penelope and him were very close.

“So you’re finally together?” Savannah said with a smile on her face.

Derek who was sitting beside his wife started grinning, he knew this day would come “I’m happy for the both of you”

“Uhm, no, we’re not together, we’re just having a kid” Savannah’s and Derek’s face changed into frowns.

“Oh” Savannah said smiling again, trying not to show her confusion, she wanted to be supportive of her friends, especially Penelope, she was Derek’s best friend.

“So how far along are you, baby girl?” Derek wondered with a more serious expression.

“I’m not pregnant yet, we just decided to have a baby”

“It’s because we both want to be parents so w-we came up with this idea” Luke added.

“Well, that’s great, isn’t it, babe?” Savannah squeezed Derek’s knee for him to say something supportive.

“Yeah, yeah, it is” He tried his best to offer an honest smile “Hank would love to have another cousin, especially coming from his fairy godmother”

Penelope smiled at Luke reassuring him that everything was ok, he had expressed his concerns over Derek’s reaction but as close as Penelope and Derek were, this was her decision. 

Later that evening Penelope offered to help Derek to do the dishes and he was glad he would have a moment alone with her.

“Are you sure about this, baby girl? The whole having a baby with Luke thing?” She noted the worry in his voice, she finished drying the last plate.

“I am, it’s not like we are getting any younger” She shrugged and leaned on the kitchen counter, he shot her a concerned look “Hey, if you weren’t married I’d go to you for this” She joked nudging him with her elbow “Just imagine your DNA and mine, that kid would be something else” They both laughed.

“I can only imagine how that’d conversation would go” Derek commented while drying his hands.

“I actually can’t, I mean Luke was really the one that came up with the subject”

“Was he now?” He asked with an arched brow

“Stop it, it’s not like that” She rolled her eyes “We’re friends, that’s all we are and all we’re going to be”

Derek shook his head and let out a sigh “Alright, if you’re sure then just know you have us for support, questions, help, anything you need, sweetness, and I better be godfather”

Penelope got teary eyed, it was really important to her to count on Derek for this new adventure, he was her most precious friendship, so listening to him saying those words made her feel more at ease, she was sure of her decision but that didn’t mean she wasn’t terrified of the changes coming up.

Soon all of their friends heard the news from Penelope and Luke, Matt and Kristy were very supportive, mostly because in their eyes those two belonged together, they thought that maybe for them the baby had to come first then they’d realize how perfect they were for each other despite their differences. A contrast from Emily’s and JJ’s reaction, JJ had always been super protective of Penelope, and she thought this was a terrible idea where Penelope would end up being hurt, Luke was her friend as well and knew he wasn’t a bad guy but raising a kid with someone was complicated even when you were in a serious relationship with someone you were in love with, Emily wasn’t a fan of the idea either, someone was bound to get hurt and no matter who, their kid would have to pay the consequences, they didn’t explicitly voiced their concerns but neither did they applaud their decision.

Kirsty, JJ brought their kids at Savannah and Derek’s for a playdate, and it was only a matter of time before the subject was brought up.

“So what do you guys think about Pen and Luke’s plan?” JJ asked watching Hank helping Emerson to get the toys she wanted.

“Well I hope she gets pregnant soon, so their baby can be close to this little one in age” Kristy replied while rubbing her stomach.

“It’s gonna be interesting” Added Savannah while taking a sip of wine.

JJ squinted and looked at them “Don’t you think it’s crazy for them to go through it? Penelope is too sensitive, I’m not even sure she’s not feeling something for him already, what if she gets her heart broken?”

“It may not be ideal but…” Savannah shrugged her shoulder and pressed her lips “It’s their decision and I don’t think anything we say will change their minds”

“They want to be parents, they are planning this and seemed excited, I don’t think it’s the worst thing”

The blonde woman remained silent, she was still unsure it was the right choice but everyone seemed to be on board so she tried to be supportive of Luke and Penelope, hoping with all her heart they they’d prove her worries were silly and that they would make it work.

The day had finally come, they were trying tonight and Penelope was a bundle of nerves, Luke on the other hand was excited, lately his desire to be a father was getting stronger, all of his co-workers talked about their experiences in fatherhood and even though they shared both, the good and the bad, he was anxious to experience it firsthand.

“Alright I’m ready” Penelope announced as she entered his apartment in her mermaid nightie and fluffy robe with unicorn slippers, Luke smiled at the sight of her, soon with all the confidence she had mustered, Penelope straddled his waist.

“A ‘hello, how are you?’ would be nice” He joked and she lost all confidence, the blood traveled to her face and she stepped away from him but Luke took her hand and pulled her so she was sitting next to him “I’m kidding, it’s j-just I don’t know, I’m using humor to lighten up the mood”

“I’m mortified, Luke” She admitted with closed eyes “We’re having sex”

“It can’t be that bad, I know it won’t be bad” Penelope opened one eye.

“How could you know?” Luke shot her a smirk and a wink.

“If we’re comfortable enough to have a baby together then I’m comfortable enough to confess I’ve had some dreams”

Her eyes shot open “LUKE!” Penelope’s voice raised with surprise.

“That’s exactly how it sounded” He joked and if Penelope wasn’t red before she was now.

“Oh my God, stop, I don’t know if that makes me feel better or not” Luke laughed, not really understanding why she was so worried.

“Come on, chica, it’s gonna be alright” He placed a strand of her out of her face.

She sighed and sat up straighter “Ok, let’s do it”

Luke caressed her cheek “Are you sure?” 

Penelope swallowed and nodded, he went on to kiss her and after a few seconds she started laughing.

“Pen, this is not helping my confidence” He commented as he pulled away, Penelope rested her forehead on his.

“I’m sorry, it’s just, you know I laugh when I feel awkward” Luke softly placed his hands on her shoulders and got up.

He extended out his hand to her “Let’s go to the bedroom” Penelope looked hesitant “If you don’t feel like doing this today, we can do it some other day, it’s ok”

“No, I want to, it’s just… Weird” 

“So I shouldn’t have lit the candles or put a million rose petals on the bed then?” Penelope rolled her eyes, he was teasing her to that one time a guy had done that and it was a huge turn off for her.

“Shut up, shut up, shut up, I hate your mouth so much”

Luke loved to mess with her “I bet you a hundred bucks you won’t be saying that in a few”

“Fuck you, newbie” Penelope spat.

HIs hands signaled to himself “Be my guest” This time he saw the eye roll on her face accompanied with annoyment and he decided to stop his teasing “Alright, alright, look, I know you like fresh sheets and I even used that softener you like, let’s go to bed and… Do this”

“I need a minute” She went to the bathroom and Luke sat on the edge of the bed, waiting for her, he licked his lips, hoping she wasn’t regretting everything, soon Penelope came back and stood between his legs.

“Ok, shut up for real this time and let’s do this” She placed her hands on each side of his face.

“One baby coming up” Penelope facepalmed “... In nine months, th-” She kissed him in an attempt to shut him up for good, Luke immediately responded and placed his hands on her hips.

Once they were done, they remained on his bed, both were hopeful that everything was on their side so within the next couple months they could see a positive pregnancy test, Penelope’s awkwardness was all gone, she figured she was making a big deal of the whole thing, having sex with Luke wasn’t bad and she actually had enjoyed it more than she thought she would.

“Shouldn’t you lift your legs up or something?” Luke suggested.

He didn’t see her rolling her eyes “Is this another thing you saw in a movie?”

Luke turned to her “Maybe”

“Let’s go to sleep Luke” She turned to the other side and fell asleep easily.

That night Luke had another dream with Penelope, except this time, in his dream they were a family, they were even married and had twins, he woke up in the middle of the night thinking about it, he remembered the joy he felt in his dream and allowed himself to imagine how life would be if that scenario became a reality, after a few minutes he shook his head, Penelope was just his friend, there was no interest in being more than that from either side.

They decided to give it a few tries, to increase the chance for them to get pregnant, the next times weren’t awkward except for one time where Luke came in unannounced.

“Pen” He called for her entering her apartment “Chica, let’s get to baby making, there’s a game I really want to catch later” As he finished his sentence he reached Penelope’s living room only to find her sitting there having dinner with a guy, Luke’s eyes widened, she was going to kill him probably.

“Uhm, I think you already have plans for tonight” The guy said while getting to his feet.

“Wait, Joe, it’s-” Penelope didn’t know exactly what to say.

“No, no, it’s ok, I’ll go, it was nice meeting you” He hurriedly got his messenger bag and walked out of the apartment.

Luke immediately apologized “I should’ve knocked, sorry, I’m really sorry” Penelope waved him off.

“A mutual friend set us up, she insisted a lot and I ended up saying yes” She sighed “But right now, I’m not interested in dating, not when I’m trying to have a baby with my friend, so it’s ok” He still felt terrible so he decided to skip the game and stayed to have dinner with her.

“Pen” Luke squeezed her hand “Are you actually gonna take the tests or are you just gonna stare at them?” She looked at him.

“Maybe if I stare them long enough they’ll get some sort of vibes from me and show us if that week of trying worked or not” He smiled sympathetically, six weeks had passed since that week and Penelope avoided taking the pregnancy tests, even though her period had been late, she was scared of seeing the results, Luke was understanding and supportive, he had a good feeling but he put himself in Penelope’s shoes.

“Come on, let’s go” He took the bag of pregnancy tests he had bought and tried to guide her to the bathroom but she didn’t move an inch “It’ll all be ok”

“What if it’s not?” Penelope asked in a whisper.

“Then we’ll get through it, together” She felt tears coming to her eyes, she was terrified of the results, whatever they may be, she knew they would have an impact to her.

Luke was open to keep trying if the results were negative but he didn’t know what Penelope wanted so he wanted to know what the tests actually ended up showing before bringing up the conversation. A few minutes later, he was waiting outside the bathroom for her, he was starting to get worried, she was silent.

“Penelope, can I come in?” No response, that didn’t help his nerves “Ok, I’m coming in” When he entered, he saw her face filled with what he believed to be surprise.

She barely smiled “It’s positive, all of them are actually” Luke’s lips spread into a wide smile.

“I knew I had a good feeling about this” He hugged her and kissed her hair, they were going to be parents.

The next few months flew by, soon they were getting ready to welcome the little one, true to his word Luke had been with Penelope as much as he could, whenever he wasn’t at work he was beside her learning together, reading books, attending classes, building baby furniture, reading Penelope’s favorite children’s books to the baby, feeling the baby kick for the first time, discussing names, imagining how life would be once the baby arrived.

None of them had been really interested in meeting new people during the pregnancy, until Phil, Luke’s friend insisted on setting him up with a doctor, after much insistence Luke accepted, not without asking first Penelope for advice on whether he should go out with her or not.

“She sounds great, you should do it, it’s been an eternity since you’ve gone on a date” Penelope mentioned rubbing her belly “I miss listening to your disastrous dates stories, they are quite entertaining” Luke glared at her and handed her the ice cream pint she had asked for.

“Ha-ha, you’re very funny” He pursed his lips together “I think I’m gonna tell Phil yes”

Penelope winked at him while licking ice cream off her spoon “Great, I’ll help you choose a nice outfit”

A week later Luke was out with Lisa, Phil’s friend, she was really nice, easy to talk with and gorgeous, she didn’t seem to freak out entirely when he brought up that he was about to be a dad, he was actually enjoying the night, for a second he saw that she seemed distracted and looking behind him.

“I’m sorry, Luke” She cut him off “I think there’s someone trying to get your attention” His brows furrowed as he turned around to find Penelope carrying her hospital bag, this immediately made him panic as he rushed to her.

“Are you in labor?” He took her by the shoulders and examined her.

“Yes, my water broke” Luke was in shock for a second “An hour ago but it is until now that the contractions are getting frequent and…” She placed her hands on her shirt and clutched the fabric  “...Stronger” 

“Oh my God, you should’ve called me the minute it happened, let’s go” He tried to take her hand but she managed to remind him to give an explanation to the nice woman that looked at them with empathy in her eyes.

Soon they were settled in the hospital room, Penelope wasn’t ready to push yet but both her and the baby were doing fine.

“You were supposed to go into labor in two weeks” Luke was scared this was a sign something was wrong but after some tests, doctors and nurses assured them everything looked normal.

“I guess we already know newbie junior is antsy like daddy” 

“We don’t even know if the baby’s a boy”

“Oh newbie is gender neutral, I’ve been calling them this without actually thinking it’s a boy or a girl”

Luke smiled and started to push some strands of hair out of her face “You’re being a champion, Pen, you’re handling everything amazingly”

Penelope laughed as she took deep breaths “Oh, don’t be fooled newbie, I’m freaking out and I might pull one of those ‘what have you done to me? I hate you’ lines just like in the movies” 

“I’ll take it, chica, you can even punch me if you want, so I can experience at least a little bit of pain with you”

“I’ll keep that in mind” She joked.

Soon Penelope started to push and not even once she cursed at Luke, he held her hand, cleaned the sweat off her forehead and kept encouraging her to trust her body, Penelope was exhausted and sometimes she felt like she couldn’t go through it but then she remembered that after all the pain she would finally look her baby in the eyes and fall in love like she had never done before, she tried to remember everything she had learned from her doula, and within the hour she heard her baby’s cries.

Luke swore it was the most beautiful sound he had ever heard, while Penelope’s eyes focused on the baby who was being all cleaned up.

“Congratulations, it’s a boy” Doctor Kim said as she placed the newborn on his mother’s chest.

“Hello you” Penelope whispered with tears on her eyes, and Luke stood over her head watching his son “You couldn’t wait to meet us, little one” The small baby fuzzed.

“It’s alright, we couldn’t wait to meet you either” Luke said while seeing him open his eyes for a brief moment before he closed them and nuzzled to her mom’s chest.

“He’s here, Luke” She stated without taking her eyes off her boy “We did it”

The following morning, the new parents were still living in their own bubble with their son, he was healthy and so was Penelope.

“Ok so we agreed on Bowie, right?” Penelope tried to see if Luke would budge.

“No, sorry chica, we didn’t”

“Alright, Ziggy then” Luke laughed softly, she kept suggesting those ever since she got pregnant.

“Nope”

“Ok…” She tapped the baby’s little nose “David it is”

“What about Julian?” He suggested and Penelope felt in her heart that was perfect for him.

“Julian” She bit back the smile and thought about messing with him for a little “I guess we’ll go with your suggestion”

“Hey, I’m trying to-” Penelope finally looked up to him and smiled widely.

“I’m kidding, I love it, he looks like a Julian” His tiny lips turned up in what looked like a tiny smile “See? Jules agrees” She passed the tiny bundle to Luke and he happily held his son.

“Hello young Julian Garcia-Alvez, we love you more than you could ever imagine”

Later that day Derek and Savannah came to visit, they couldn’t wait one minute more to meet the new addition to their lives.

“Hello, hello” Savannah announced as she carefully opened the door and peeked her head “We’re here to meet the handsome boy”

“Ah! We were waiting to see you” Penelope was beaming at the thought of her found family meeting her boy “Come on in”

Derek entered eyeing the three of them, he was glad for her best friend, she had always wanted to be a mom and now she had finally become one.

“Look at that, my baby girl had a baby boy” Derek saw the tiny baby in Luke’s arms, he was familiar with the look on Luke’s face, it was one of pure love and adoration, the one he had for Hank when he had been born.

“Let me present to you to Julian Garcia”

Derek raised an eyebrow at Penelope “It’s Julian Garcia-Alvez but I guess Luke’s too lazy to say the full name”

Luke didn’t even seem to hear them mention his name, he was to absorbed in his son “I love the name, he’s gorgeous, congratulations guys” Savannah squeezed Penelope’s shoulder.

After a conversation about how Penelope had to interrupt Luke’s date and how was Julian’s birth, all while his auntie held little Jules, Savannah suggested Luke to go and get some tea and muffins, she wanted to give Derek and Penelope a moment so they could have a conversation of their own, ever since she had started dating Derek she knew him and Penelope shared a really special friendship and that sometimes they needed a moment just them alone to talk about life.

“We’ll be right back” Luke glanced at Penelope and Julian and smiled at them before closing the door behind him.

They remained silent for a few minutes as they only focused on Julian who was now wide awake.

“How are you feeling?” Derek asked softly.

“I feel like I’m in a dream” She admitted “I can’t believe this sweet little boy was given to me”

He placed his hand in the side of her face “I already know you’re gonna be the most amazing mom to Julian” Penelope leaned into his touch.

“Thank you for being there, both you and Savannah were the two people that were the most supportive, I’m still not sure JJ and Em are totally on board with this and Matt and Kristy they have five kids now so we don’t get to see them much but you and Savannah were always there for us”

“And we plan on continue being there for the three of you” Penelope couldn’t hold back her tears “May I?” She carefully handed Julian over to him.

“Can I confess something? I’m scared about how this is gonna go, I mean with Luke, how we’re gonna make this dynamic work”

“Baby girl, are you sure you don’t have feelings for him?” Penelope smiled.

“I love the guy, I mean he’s the father of my baby but no, there’s no feelings there” She was being honest but still Derek felt uneasy, thinking the situation could change and Penelope would end with a broken heart. 

“Ok, well I’m sure you will make it work, maybe it won’t be easy but both of you are very determined and at the end of the day it’s this little guy you’ll be doing everything for so I’m sure you’ll be ok”

“Oh, chocolate thunder, you always know what to say” Penelope stated seeing Derek smiling at Julian “I wanted to ask you something, well, Luke and I did” 

“Anything”

“We were wondering if Savannah and you would like to be Jules’ godparents?”

“Oh, Penelope, I would’ve disowned you if you hadn’t asked, of course, we would be honored to be his godparents” 

“I love you, Derek Morgan” She reached out for his hand.

He looked at her and squeezed her hand “And I love you Penelope Garcia” He looked down at his new godson “I love you too Julian”

That day after Derek and Savannah, Luke’s family, and the rest of their friends had visited them to meet Julian.

Penelope came out of Julian’s room, she had put him down to sleep, already knowing he was going to wake up in a few hours, three months had already come and gone, neither could believe how fast time was passing by, they had adjusted quite nicely.

“Ok, I have some more things I need you to store in your apartment” She signaled some things next to the door, they were some coats, a pair of skis, shoe boxes, even her ukulele was being forgotten at the moment and since it was taking space it had to be stored on Luke’s place, they had been doing that ever since they’ve brought Julian home.

“Have I ever told you you own way to many shoes?” Luke commented rubbing his eyes.

“All the time” She smiled “I still don’t care”

“Alright, I’ll take them now and don’t worry about waking up later, I’ll come down to feed him” She raised an eyebrow.

“Are you sure?” 

“Of course, it’s around 2 when he wakes up, right?” Luckily for them, Julian was the greatest baby, he easily fell into routine, he woke up around the same time each night, so Luke had alarms and he came down so it wasn’t only Penelope waking up at night.

“Yeah”

“Ok, goodnight”

For Luke it felt as if he had just closed his eyes when the alarm went off, he quickly got up and went to Penelope’s place, he opened the fridge to find the different bottles, each of them were labeled:

One glass of wine.

Couple of Margaritas.

Pure.

Stressful day.

Pure.

He snorted and grabbed one of the bottles labeled as ‘pure’ and proceeded to warm it, he didn’t hear any crying when he came in so he assumed Julian had yet to wake up demanding to be fed, a few minutes later the three month old woke up and Luke was ready to feed him, he sat in the rocking chair with the baby to his chest, once Julian was done with the bottle, he burped him and sat a little bit more with him, he loved those moments were he could hold his son and sing the lullabies his mom and grandma used to sing to him when he was a kid.

He was loving being a dad and co-parenting with Penelope, he practically lived there, he would leave only at night but even then, he’d come back and sometimes would end up crashing at the couch waking up at Penelope’s. Luke placed Julian on his crib and left the room, as he walked out of the room he saw a photo of the three of them in the hallway and smiled, everything felt right.

Luke hurried through the stairs, he was coming home from work and Penelope was calling him nonstop to get home, he didn’t wait for the elevator and took the stairs, once he opened the door, he was met by a crying Julian and a crying Penelope.

“I’ve done everything and he won’t stop crying, he hates me, Luke” She said through her sobs.

Luke felt bad for Penelope, she was more sensitive than usual, the hormones were to blame, he went to them and took Julian in his arms.

“I’m his mom and he already hates me” She cleaned her tears off her face.

Luke started to sway him from side to side “He can’t hate you now, wait until he’s sixteen”

“LUKE!” Soon Julian stopped crying in Luke’s arms “How the fuck did you do that?” She asked in surprise.

“Oh, I don’t know I guess he loves me but he hates you” He saw the tears on her eyes “I’m kidding, I’m kidding”

Penelope sighed and sat on the couch “I’m returning to work soon and we don’t have a nanny yet”

“I know, I asked around some of my coworkers and they recommended me some agency” She smiled.

“That’s great, but we need to be clear on something” He looked at her with a frown “You can’t fuck the nanny”

“Penelope! I wasn’t planning on doing that”

“Ok, just saying, newbie”

By the end of the week they had hired Max to be Julian’s nanny, Penelope was faced with another challenge, learning how to manage going to work and being a mom, soon she discovered it was hard but she could handle it, she missed going to work, seeing her co-workers and having an excuse to actually put on some decent clothes and makeup.

 Matt, Kristy, JJ, Emily and their six children were visiting Luke, Penelope and Julian, they hadn’t seen them since the hospital, they were curious to see how ‘the experiment’ as Emily called it was going.

“I’m not gonna lie, I think the reason they didn’t invite us over sooner it’s because they’re having a hard time adjusting” Emily spoke up.

“You think? I don’t know” Matt replied.

“I mean it wouldn’t be a surprise, becoming a parent it’s not easy” Kristy added to Emily’s comment.

“We’re about to see” JJ said as they all stepped out of the elevator, it took five seconds for Penelope and Luke receive them, he had Julian on a baby carrier close to his chest.

“Hello!” They said in unison, after a round of hugs and greetings, they went to the living room.

“Please, get yourselves some drinks, I made some tapas, I’ll go get them” Penelope announced and JJ joined her in the kitchen.

“Hey, everything looks great” She meant it.

“Thanks, we manage to keep everything in place but Jules is about to start crawling so next time you won’t find a tidy place” Penelope laughed.

JJ frowned “Is Luke living here?” 

“No, well, kind of, he spends a lot of time with Jules” She shrugged it off, it wasn’t a big deal for them.

“Penelope…” JJ sighed “What’s this that you have going on?” Penelope rolled her eyes at her words, it wasn’t the first time she questioned it and certainly wouldn’t be the last.

“We’re raising a baby, he stays over, sue me” JJ’s eyes widened “No, he stays over but nothing happens, I’m not attracted to him and he’s not attracted to me, it’s all fine” 

“Ok, then it’s time for you to get yourself out there again”

“Actually I’ve been thinking about it”

“Say no more” Her friend winked at her and Penelope just went long with it, JJ said about a co-worker of hers that sounded dreamy. Once they returned with some appetizers, everyone was settled, Luke had taken the older kids to the other room where they put on a movie for them and gave them some sandwiches and toys so they could be entertained.

“It looks like you’re doing amazing, man” Matt said as he placed Rose on the ground, she was eager to follow Emerson,

“Yeah, it is, Pen and I are convinced we got very lucky with Julian, he’s great”

“Wait until he starts walking” Emily commented while she watched Emerson closely, she was walking around the adults, observing what she could grab, unfortunately for her, the apartment was childproof so there was nothing she could really play with other than Julian’s toys and her own.

“I know I told Luke that by then I’m sure I’ll have to give up my high heels” Penelope said while sitting down next to him and absentmindedly resting her hand in Luke’s thigh “Can you imagine me running around a kid in five inch heels?” They all laughed and Luke placed an arm around her, everyone could see the look on his face as Penelope continued talking, Matt and Kristy shared a knowing look and JJ was just starting to think Penelope was lying about “nothing going on”.

The rest of their visit went by quite quickly, all of them enjoying their time together, at some point, Penelope realizes it’s their first time her and Luke can relate to the parenting experiences and struggles, even though Derek, Savannah and Hank couldn’t make it, her heart fills with joys as she sees most of her found family together.

“You’re almost there, buddy” Luke was sitting on the floor, multitasking, he folded laundry and watched Julian as he tried to stand using Luke’s arm as support.

“Breakfast is ready for my favorite guys” Penelope announced carrying two plates “Here, put these on the coffee table, I’ll go get Jules’ plate” She leaned down to carry him “Come on little guy, let’s get those hands clean”

While Luke and Penelope both sat on the floor, Julian used the coffee table for support and finally managed to stand up and grab some of his breakfast, he was a good eater, they stared at him, amazed by the little boy who owned their hearts.

“Can you believe he’s almost nine months? He’s getting so big” She sighed nostalgically.

“I know, I feel like in no time he’ll be going to preschool” Luke added as he took a bite of his own breakfast.

“Don’t even start” Jules looked up to his mom “Yeah, baby, what if we slow down a little with this whole growing up so fast? Can you do that for mommy?” Luke was also looking at Penelope, he was thinking about how wonderful the last year and a half of his life had been, since finding out about the pregnancy to that very moment, he felt extremely content to have Julian and Penelope in his life.

“Ma!” He exclaimed and went back to grab a fistful of scrambled eggs.

Luke smiled at his son then he turned to Penelope “You know? I don’t think it’s been that hard, all of this”

“Right?” She took a sip of juice “I feel the same, we make a good team, newbie”  Just as Luke was about to say something else, Penelope’s phone dinged, she quickly took it and smiled at the screen, he remained silent and took Julian and sat him between his legs and put his plate in front of him so he could continue eating his breakfast.

“You’re done, Julian” He said to his son as the baby looked up to him with wide eyes “Yeah, it’s gone, it’s all in your tummy now, come on, let’s get you changed”

“Oh, I can change him, don’t worry” Penelope took her eyes off her phone.

“Alright, I’ll go wash these” He said as he took the dishes into the kitchen, trying to think who was Penelope texting.

A very happy Penelope entered the kitchen carrying a very happy Julian, they went to stand beside Luke as he finished drying the plates.

“You’re in a good mood” Luke stated trying to seem nonchalant.

Penelope couldn’t hold back the smirk “I am, I need to tell you something” She sat Julian in the kitchen counter “I’m going out with someone tonight”

Luke wasn’t sure why he felt a stinging sensation in his heart “Oh” He couldn’t think of something else to say.

Her smile soon changed into a frown “Is that ok? I thought this was my free night, but if you’ve got plans I can- “ Luke interrupted her.

“No, no, no, no plans at all” He tried his best to fake smile “It’s great, I’m happy for you, who’s the lucky guy?”

“His name is Sam, JJ set us up, we’ve been texting these past couple weeks and we decided to go out today”

“Great” Luke said without looking at her nor sounding very cheerful but Penelope failed to notice that.

Later that evening Penelope was a nervous wreck, she had facetimed JJ and Emily to voice her concerns about going on a date, she felt like she didn’t even remembered how to go on a first date, she remained sat on her bed, with her robe on, looking at the outfit her friends had helped her choosing, she thought about calling Derek, he was great at helping her when she wasn’t feeling her best self, as Luke passed her bedroom after putting Julian to bed, he stopped and saw that she didn’t have the happy look she had that morning.

He opened the door a little bit more and peeked at her “Hey, how is getting ready going? Everything good? Did he cancel?”

Penelope quickly looked up “No, it’s just that I’m nervous” As soon as she said she felt a little embarrassed “That’s stupid, isn’t it? Oh God” Luke entered and sat beside her and took her hand.

“Not at all, it’s normal to be nervous before going on a first date, but I’m sure you’ll be fine, from what I gathered he’s a great guy”

Her eyebrows raised “Did you eavesdropped my conversation with the girls?”

“Pen, you were literally sitting across Julian and I”

“Oh, that’s true, sorry, I was a little distracted then” She confessed running her hands through her hair.

“Should I prepare some tea for you and your nerves?” He suggested, not liking to see her stressed and thinking she shouldn’t be worrying, it was impossible she wouldn’t blow the guy’s mind, she was a catch.

Penelope placed one hand on the side of his face “Luke, that would be wonderful, you are a gift” 

“Alright, you continue getting ready and I’ll bring your tea in a moment” Just as he was about to leave, Penelope called him “Yeah?”

“Nevermind” She sighed and stood up to start doing her hair.

“Penelope? Come on, you can tell me anything” He leaned in the door frame, waiting for her to say something, instead she turned around and opened her robe, she was in her underwear.

“Do you think my body is ready to, you know, get out there?” Luke ignored the sensations the image in front of him caused to his body and walked to her, putting his hands on either side of her face.

“You are beautiful, Penelope, don’t ever think you’re not, you could’ve gone out on a date the next month after having Julian for all I know” She blushed and looked down “I mean it, you are the whole package, you’re smart, kind, witty, and sexy as hell so stop doubting yourself and if for some reason this guy doesn’t seem to be into you, then we’ll tell JJ, her friend is out of his mind” He kissed her hair.

“You really have a way with words, Alvez” She managed to look up and smiled “We need to find you someone as well” He pressed his lips together and that’s when he knew he didn’t want someone else, he wanted Penelope.

As he prepared her tea, he sat on a stool and tried to think when his feelings for her had changed, he was sure he didn’t feel that way before, or maybe he was but didn’t realize? He was so deep in his thoughts he didn’t listen the kettle whistling, he rushed to it so it wouldn’t wake Julian up but he was late, he went to get him and later appeared in Penelope’s room with Jules attached to his hip and nuzzled in his neck in one arm and a mug in the other.

“Here you go” He said placing it on her vanity. 

“Oh thanks” She glanced at him through the mirror “And thanks for getting him, I can’t exactly stand up fast and move freely with these attached to my boobs” She laughed.

“It’s ok”

“Isn’t this sexy?” She joked “Hair curlers on my head, makeup half done and pumping breast milk” Penelope laughed, she felt much more relaxed after Luke’s words.

He managed to smirk, it was an amusing image but in that moment it was also a beautiful one to him, even though in some part of his heart he felt it was wrong seeing her getting ready to go out with someone else.

“Your mom doesn’t believe what I tell her, Jules, please don’t be like her when you grow up” Penelope swatted his stomach.

“Hey! Don’t put my baby against me” She reached to Julian and Luke got him closer to Pen “Go to sleep, my sweet boy, I love you” The sleepy baby barely registered his mom kissing his forehead.

Luke put Julian to sleep and half an hour later saw Penelope walk out the door, he tried to watch TV but got distracted every few minutes by his thoughts who were set on Penelope and how her date was going, he glanced at the clock every frequently and even at the door, hoping to see her come in and say she wasn’t going out anymore because she had realized it was him she wanted to be with.

He leaned back on the couch “Stop, Alvez” He said to himself, he thought about calling Matt but it was kinda late, so he decided against it, after what it seemed like an eternity, Penelope walked through the door, she quickly took off her shoes and coat, she didn’t see Luke until he spoke.

“Hey, how was it?” He said rubbing his eyes.

“Oh, sorry I didn’t mean to wake you”

 “It’s ok, I wasn’t sleeping well anyway, so did you have a good time?” Penelope smiled widely and nodded.

“JJ was right, he’s amazing, I-I think he could be the one, and I know it sounds precipitated to say that but...” Luke felt his heart break and couldn’t even focus on what she was saying, he felt his world starting to crumble down “Luke? Are you hearing what I’m saying?”

He snapped out of it “Yeah, yeah, I’m glad, Pen, uhm I guess we won’t have to complain to JJ about it” He rubbed his palms against his jeans and got up “I’m gonna call it a night, I’m gonna go up, ok? I’ll see you guys tomorrow”

“Ok, have a good night” She replied with the smile that had never left her lips since her date started, she really felt a connection with Sam.

A few weeks passed by and Luke called Matt to ask him if he wanted to go shoot some hoops with him, Matt found the urgency in his voice odd and was sure it was a bad sign, he agreed and met him at the basketball courts they frequented. As they started, Luke tried to tell him how he had felt ever since Penelope had started seeing Sam, he was going around about other things without saying what he actually meant.

At one moment when Luke tried to take the ball from Matt, he abruptly stopped and went to the bench signaling Luke to go with him.

“So you have feelings for Penelope” It was a statement not a question.

“That’s not what I-” Matt rolled his eyes.

“Cut the bullshit, Luke, I wasn’t asking, I know for a fact you do, it was bound to happen and that time we all went to your house, you looked at her the way I look at Kristy, the way Derek looks at Savannah”

“You should’ve told me then, maybe then she wouldn’t have gone out with mr. Wonderful”

“Hey, it wasn’t up to me to get your stubborn ass to come to terms with your feelings, it was something you had to figure out on your own, unfortunately you did until you saw her with someone else” He drank water as Luke sat beside him running his hands through his hair.

“Should I talk to Derek? Ask him some advice?” Matt snapped his head at him.

“About what? Winning her over? I hate to say this but if she’s happy with this Sam guy, you shouldn’t interfere” Luke looked at him feeling almost betrayed “Dude, I know she’s feeling very happy, she’s talked to Kristy and she seems hopeful to see where it leads”

Luke sat with his head in his hands, not liking what he was hearing but knowing Matt was right, Luke himself had witnessed Penelope’s new happiness and excitement over the relationship “Why do I have to be so fucking stupid? Imagine if I had known before, maybe it would’ve been us in a relationship” Matt patted his shoulder.

“Hey, their relationship is fairly new, no one knows, maybe they’ll be done in a few months and you’ll have your chance, don’t lose all hope but don’t interfere”

He sit up “I guess you’re right”

“You should try and find someone as well, give it a try and see where it goes”

“Yeah, maybe I will, I don’t know” Matt got up.

“Alright, let’s resume the game ‘cause I’m beating your ass, Alvez” Luke rolled his eyes and followed his friend.

A few days later, after getting some groceries Luke had encountered with Lisa, the woman he was on a date with the day Penelope had gone into labor, he remembered how nice she was and they agreed on meeting again sometime, soon after that they were dating and although he knew he still had feelings for Penelope, she was very happy with Sam, he had met him and he hated the fact that there wasn’t much to dislike about him. He was amazing to Penelope and Julian, he was attentive, very respectful, kind, and the list went on, Luke was starting to come to terms that maybe Penelope and Sam were going to become permanent at some point and it did hurt him to think about it, but then he remembered he had Lisa, who was also an incredible person that was very understanding of his co-parenting situation.

It was almost New Year’s and the entire gang were going to a cabin to spend it together, it was the first trip since Julian was born and Penelope and Luke brought significant others, everyone was excited to spend the holiday together.

Penelope was packing her suitcase for the trip, Luke had packed Julian’s the day before so she only had to worry about her stuff, she remembered Luke had her skis and went up to ask him if he could take them in his car. As the door opened she was met with a smiling Lisa, the one year old in Penelope’s arms squealed happily.

“Isa!” He extended his arms to her and Lisa looked at Penelope to which the blonde nodded and allowed Julian to go with her before asking to be down.

“Pen! You’re here, are you ready?” Luke greeted her.

Penelope swallowed unable to get her eyes off Lisa who was helping Julian to walk “Uhm yeah, almost ready, I was wondering if you could take my skis?”

“Sure thing, I already loaded them in the car”

“Alright, we’ll get going” Penelope announced wanting to have his son back in her arms.

“Hey, if you want we can take Jules” Luke suggested and before Penelope could say anything Lisa spoke.

“Oh, absolutely, we could do that” Penelope gave them a tight lipped smile and clasped her hands together.

“Alright if you want to, it’s alright, I mean, if you’re sure”

“Of course, he’s the sweetest boy, aren’t you Jules?” Julian hugged Lisa’s leg and Penelope felt something she didn’t know how to label.

“Ok then, I’ll see you guys later”

“Wait Pen, I’ll go down with you to get Jules’ stuff” Luke walked with her to the elevator and for the first time in years, there was an awkward silence, at least that’s how it felt to Penelope whereas to Luke was just a normal silence.

“Is it okay that Julian goes with us, right?” He turned to her.

“Oh, yeah, totally” She mirrored his actions.

“I’m really looking forward to this trip, it’s the first time JJ, Em, Derek and Savannah are gonna meet Lisa” Penelope shot him her best forced smile and nodded.

Luke was in fact, telling the truth, his relationship was in a good place, he felt hopeful about a future with Lisa, she was very clear by telling him that she was looking for something serious and it came as a surprise to him when he found himself telling Lisa, he was also expecting to be with someone for the long run and that they should work towards a relationship of that kind, he was finally moving on from Penelope.

Or so he thought.

The cabin they rented was beautiful, it was big but cozy at the same time, everyone, adults and kids, were excited to be spending the next few days there, getting to know Sam and Lisa a little bit more since everything indicated they could eventually be more present in their lives. Matt and Kristy entered carrying, what it seemed like twenty bags, followed by their five kids, David holding little Rose’s hand who was excited to be walking in the house.

“The Simmonses have arrived” Derek yelled as he walked over to them to help with their stuff.

“We have and we are ready for the kids to be with their uncles and aunts while mom and dad rest” Kristy joked placing the bags on the floor.

“You definitely deserve some relax time, you guys are saints” JJ said hugging the kids.

“Where are the others?” Mat asked.

“We’re here!” Penelope announced appearing from the kitchen walking hand in hand with Sam “I’d like you to meet Sam”

“Oh we’ve heard great things about you, it’s great to finally meet you, I’m Matt, this is Kristy, and these are Jake, David, Lily, Chloe and Rose” Sam shook hands with the married couple and high fived the kids.

“Nice to meet you all, I was looking forward to finally see you, I have two boys myself that are actually your age I think” He said to Jake and David “So if you want to play something maybe I can join you” Both kids eagerly nodded.

The next couple days, almost everyone seemed to be having a great time, except for Emily and JJ, they seemed a little bit off but no one dared to ask why, it was only at moments they would be quiet than usual and seemed to be a little bit out of it, they tried to put pieces together but no one seemed to have a clear idea of what was going on, they didn’t look distanced from each other nor from Emerson, so they tried to not interfere.

“Oh, I’m happy to see you’re feeling better, babe, are you joining us for breakfast?” Penelope said to Savannah who had missed previous breakfasts.

“Yes, I’ll be down in a minute” She replied while tapping Julian’s nose.

Penelope went down and found Sam helping the kids with their breakfasts, it was a funny and sweet sight, Jake, David, Chloe, Lily and Hank gathered around him as he placed pancakes on all of their plates.

“Look at you JJ, you finally got it right with Sam” Kristy teased her, JJ had the worst record setting up Penelope and it was a never ending joke between the group of friends.

The blonde woman rolled her eyes and smirked “If you ever decide to have a kid, Pen, I must be the godmother” She half joked.

“I don’t know, maybe eventually” Both Kristy and JJ snapped their heads at her “What? I think this is going somewhere, he has two kids, I have one but I don’t know”

“I can’t believe there’s something you don’t know, Pen” Luke’s voice made them turn around to see him walking from the hallway, having listened only the last part of what Penelope was saying “Good morning ladies, I made some coffee if you want”

“Thanks Luke, where’s Lisa?” Kristy questioned.

“Oh, she’s getting ready for the day, she’ll be out in a few”

Once they were all sitting in the large dining table, Derek called their attention, both him and Savannah had big smiles on their faces.

“We would like to tell you that next year we’ll need a bigger cabin” Savannah taking her husband’s hand.

Derek continued “There’s going to be not one, but two new Morgans causing trouble” The entire group erupted in cheers and congratulations, JJ’s eyes went immediately to her wife, she knew her and knew that it took everything in Emily to smile, they were going through some stuff.

Part of the group had decided to go skiing while the others preferred to stay at the cabin and drink some hot chocolate, Matt, Derek and Luke walked a few feet behind Sam, Lisa and JJ.

“So Morgan’s party of five? How are you holding up?” Matt asked Derek, he remembered the surprise, nervousness and excitement that came when receiving the news he was going to have twins.

“Oh man, I can’t believe it, I still am processing all of it, Hank’s four so I’m not even sure I remember exactly how life with a newborn is, let alone two” All along Luke and Matt noticed how his features softened.

“I bet you and Savannah will get the hang of it” Luke assured him.

“You know we got you guys, so anything we can help with, I’m sure there’s some stuff we have that we don’t use anymore but it’s in great shape that you could use” Matt added and Derek felt thankful for them, all of them.

“Now that I have a son maybe you’ll finally trust me to babysit” 

“I’m not sure, we’ll see, we’ll see” Derek teased him and Luke scoffed.

“I vouch for him, Derek, I’m actually sort of proud of you, dude” Matt turned to Luke “It’s really warming to see you with Julian”

“I gotta agree with that, I was just messing with you Luke, what Matt is saying it’s true, I’ve loved to witness both you and baby girl, as parents to Jules”

“Thanks guys, it means a lot to have your support and to have you as a part of Julian’s life” Luke spoke from his heart but he also needed to point something out “Not to end the soft moment here, but did you see Sam’s face the other night when you called Penelope ‘baby girl’?”

“Oh I did, it took everything in me not to burst into laughter, Kristy actually kicked me in the shin beneath the table” Luke laughed.

“Honestly I’m so used to it that I didn’t notice but Savannah did and she told me to do something about it but Penelope assured me that she had explained everything to him and that he seemed fine with it, but I’ve toned it down a lot, I don’t know, I think this could be it for Penelope you know?” Luke swallowed, he had thought about it but wasn’t sure what to make of it.

Matt spoke up “They seem to be very serious, I like him”

“I guess I do too?” Derek shrugged, his mind remembering how just a few months ago he was convinced Luke was the one for Penelope, Luke and Matt eyed him curiously and that made him rephrase his words “I-I do like him, it’s just I’m super protective of her but he makes her happy so yeah” Luke refrained from offering his thoughts on Penelope’s relationship, he wasn’t sure what he made of it, how he felt, just then Lisa called out for him and he remembered he had an amazing woman in his life.

It was finally New Year’s Eve, the kids were all asleep and the adults were planning on enjoying dinner and drinks together, they were halfway through their dinner when Sam brought up an interesting subject.

“I have to say, I’ve been curious how did you come up with the idea of having a child together? Whose idea was it?” He wondered genuinely interested in listening the story.

“I… Don’t remember” Penelope tried to shrug it off, not wanting to discuss that in front of everyone.

“It was me actually, I had the idea, she had talked to me about wanting to be a mom and I wanted to be a dad and next thing we know we had Jules” Luke replied nonchalantly.

“The truth is he wanted this genepool for his kid, I mean, can you blame him?” Penelope joked while signaling herself.

“And have you thought what exactly are you gonna tell him when he’s older? About his parents being with other people” Lisa inquiried, her tone wasn’t rude at all.

The rest listened and focused on their plates, that was until a tipsy Emily decided to jump in the conversation.

“Oh, I want to listen to this, I bet they didn’t think about it”

“Well we might have talked about it once or twice but didn’t came up with a plan exactly” Penelope replied nervously, thinking it wasn’t any of their business, except Luke and hers.

“I’m sure you’ll do great, at least you were always aware that you were going to have the conversation, I never believed I had to until I got divorced” Sam interjected, regretting bringing up the subject.

“No, but that actually makes more sense to me, I mean why you decide that you’ll bring a child into a world with someone you don’t love” The alcohol started to make Emily talk way more than she intended to

JJ tried to stop her, she took her hand “Babe, stop” Emily shook her hand and ignored her suggestion.

“You were in love with your wife I assume, I understand shit happens, people get divorced all the time and have to talk about this with their kids but doing it deliberately? I can’t fucking understand it”

Luke cleared his throat “Em, with all due respect, that’s how you think but-” Emily cut him off.

“No, not only me, everyone on this table believed you were crazy for doing this” She slurred “We all thought having a kid with someone you don’t love wasn’t the brightest idea”

Penelope who had remained silent, couldn’t hold it anymore and started to speak “Ok Emily but how are you so sure we don’t love each other? I’ve known Luke for more than half of my life, he’s one of my closest friends” She took a deep breath trying not to raise her voice and continued “He has been there through the good and the bad more than any of you have, sure it’s because we’ve been practically neighbors for years but that doesn’t make it less valid, I know pretty much anything there is to know about him and I love him for who he is, I know why when we first met him he was kind of a loner, I know he’s not a great cook but he does a mean lasagna, I know he’s loyal and honest and has one of the kindest hearts ever, we have the same values, we have the same sense of humor, I know his position on just about everything and I wholeheartedly agree with him, what better man could I have possibly chose to be the father of my son? Huh? So please refrain from giving your opinion on something that’s not your business at all, Em” Luke seemed to be at loss of words, many different emotions were going through his heart, for a second he forgot why was Penelope telling all of this, because of Emily, and everyone else seemed to fade into the background, he wasn’t moving on with his life, he was deeply in love with Penelope Garcia.

“Well-” Penelope cut Savannah off

“And I know, I just know that no matter what happens in a year or two or ten, we’ll be fine, because we love each other” She finished feeling how her pulse had quickened.

Emily snorted “Alright if you say so, but let me tell you something, you seem fine now but life gets complicated, friends” She addressed the entire gang “You don’t know it yet but it does” She rushed to their bedroom and JJ goes after her not before muttering apologies to Penelope, Luke and the rest of their friends, everyone is uncomfortable and confused by Emily’s outburst.

Penelope is excited to see everyone and celebrate Luke’s birthday together, she’s rushes out of the cab to the restaurant, only to find Luke in the waiting area of the restaurant.

“Hi, happy birthday” Luke hugged her “Where’s everybody? I thought I was going to be the last one here?” She breathed out.

“Oh, it’s just us tonight” Penelope frowned but didn’t say a thing “Julian seemed really happy to be with his grandma” Luke tried to change the subject so she wouldn’t question him. 

“Aw, he does love her, how’s your mom?” He took the chair out for her and then proceeded to take his sit.

“She’s doing alright, she asked me to say hi to you” He passed the message, knowing his mom wouldn’t forgive him if he forgot to do so.

“I should go and visit Elena one of these days, talking to her always lifts my spirits”                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

“Yeah, I’m sure she’d be thrilled to see you, she loves you, Pen” He leaned against the table and took her hand in his.

“She’s the sweetest, really” She adjusted her glasses and opened the menu “And where’s Lisa?” 

“No Lisa tonight, she’s on duty” He lied, rubbing his beard. 

Penelope pouted “Oh, I’m sorry, Luke” When he saw her sympathetic look he decided to cut the act.

“Don’t be, because it’s actually not true” Her face filled with confusion.

“Oh no, what happened?”

“Nothing, everything was great, she’s great” Luke looked down and felt it coming.

“Then what’s wrong?” Penelope asked with a furrowed eyebrows.

“Nothing’s wrong, I’m sure my mom would’ve loved her but…” He looked in her eyes and once again grabbed her hand “All I do when I’m with her is think about you and only you” Penelope mouth fell open, she felt the air removed from her lungs “I didn’t want her here tonight nor anyone really, I broke things off with her, I wanted my family with me and I realized you are my family” His voice broke “You and Julian are everything I need to get through life” The moment Penelope realized there were tears on his eyes, her own vision became blurry, she moved her chair to be next to him and leaned her head in his shoulder. 

Next thing she knew Luke was lifting her chin and searching for her lips, she pulled away even before their lips touched “Luke, I’m with Sam”

“Oh, yeah, sorry I should allow you to talk to him before-” Penelope closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

“We’re moving in together” Luke forgot how to breathe for a moment “I met his kids a few months ago and we’ve been talking about taking the next step ever since and we found a great place, I’m sorry, Luke”

He looked confused “But what about all you said that time Emily questioned us?”

Penelope look dumbfounded “I-I, it wasn’t a lie, I meant everything that I said, I love you but I-I’m not-” She took the hair out of her face “I love you so much as a friend, I thought we were on the same page, I don’t know what-” Luke let her go and got up, he needed to get out of there “Luke, wait” Before Penelope could walk to him, he was gone, and she was left there not knowing what to do of his confession.

The truth was her and Sam were in a great place, they were looking forward to start a life together, they had even discussed marriage, Julian loved him, she loved Taylor and Benji, Sam’s kids, everything seemed to fall into place with him.

The next months after that, Luke and Penelope barely spoke unless it was regarding Julian, the times where they would just spend weekends together with their son were long gone, Julian still spent a lot of time with his parents just separately, Penelope was starting to pack their stuff, she felt terrible and she wanted Luke to lash out at her, to tell her off, yell at her for taking Julian to another house, instead all Luke ever did was remain distant, she couldn’t blame him but she missed her best friend.

Penelope sighed “What’s going on in that beautiful mind of yours?” Derek said, he had offered to help her packing the last stuff before she was out of the apartment.

“Do you think I’m making a mistake by moving in with Sam?” He frowned, not knowing exactly where that was coming from, she had seemed when she told him and Savannah the news.

“I think you should do what makes you happy, if-” Penelope didn’t let him finish his sentence.

“Do you think I should’ve given Luke and I a chance?” Derek’s eyebrows raised, he was surprised at her question.

“Why are you asking this?” Penelope bit her lip and then sat down on the floor, since there was no couch or chairs left, and proceeded to tell him what had happened a few months ago, as Derek listened he didn’t have it in him to be surprised by Luke’s feelings nor Penelope’s second guessing her decision.

“Look, baby girl” He started as he cleaned the tears falling on her cheeks “I still think you should do what makes you happy, and follow your heart, you shouldn’t do something because you feel obligated to, you know? Moving in with Sam because you already leased the house or give Luke a chance because he’s the father of your son” Derek wrapped an arm around her “There’s nothing more I want than to see you happy, whether is with Sam, Luke, only you and Jules, look, even if you wanna go back to what’s-his-name let’s go live in a farm guy?” She laughed through the tears “I want you to be happy and I’ll be there for you, ok?”

“Ok” She managed to say “Kevin, he was the one that wanted me us to go and live in a farm”

“Alright, well if you wanna go live in a farm I’m sure Julian will love all the free space to run around” They laughed and Derek kissed her forehead, hoping she’d follow his advice and go with whatever made her truly happy.

Penelope was meeting Emily for drinks, she entered the bar to see Emily already sitting there, she greeted her and they started to catch up, it had been a really long time since they last saw each other, once again, life making it complicated to hang out more often.

“So” Emily started “I don’t think I ever actually apologized about that one time” She felt embarrassed reminiscing her behaviour during that New Year’s.

“Come on, Em” Penelope waved her off “It’s ok, you don’t have to say anything”

“No, but I do, I was- we were going through a difficult time, JJ and I were going through the adoption process for Nick and we weren’t getting matched and there were a lot of setbacks, that’s why we didn’t tell any of you at the time but it was difficult for us and of course, JJ was way better than at handling everything and I just let out my frustration that time when it wasn’t my place to say anything, I was an asshole to you” Penelope placed a hand on her shoulder.

“Don’t say that, Emily, we all snap sometimes, I’m sorry you were going through that but now you have Nick and he’s a great kid” Penelope smiled remembering the curly boy.

“I didn’t mean anything that I said, I mean, we did have our doubts but you proved it was possible to do what you did”

“Oh no, I actually think you were right, it’s a bit of a mess right now” Penelope looked away.

“I... Know, and even though the situation is not great right now, I’m sure you’ll get through it” Emily gave her a sympathetic smile and Penelope nodded “I gotta say one more thing though, I’ll never understand why you guys didn’t even try”

The blonde woman just shrugged, at that point neither did she “It’s just, we’ve been friends for half of our lives, it would’ve been, I don’t know, weird? We’ve seen each other at our worse and our best, he’s like always been there” As much as Penelope tried to convince herself it wouldn’t have worked out, she never actually did it.

“Babe, I don’t see how that’s bad” Emily commented taking a sip of her drink, her words echoed in Penelope’s head.

Luke opened the door and Julian immediately launched himself at him.

“Daddy!” He clung onto Luke’s neck while Penelope awkwardly stood there.

“Sorry I couldn’t pick him up tonight” Luke said, looking at Julian instead of her, he was still hurt but really trying to move on this time.

“Don’t worry, it’s ok” Luke expected to see her turn around and go back to her place but she remained there “I found this at my place, it’s your birthday present from last year, you never actually got it so I thought I should bring it” He saw the bag in her hands and it just reminded him of the day he had gotten his heart broken.

“Oh, Penelope, I appreciate it but I’m fine, I don’t need anything”

“Please, I insist” She offered it to him and Julian was fast take it.

“Open it, daddy!” He started to kick his legs so Luke would put him down.

“I’ll open it tomorrow, bud, it’s time for bed now” He could see Julian was not happy about it. 

“NO!” Julian dropped to the floor “Open it! Open it!” The terrible twos were not a joke, he started to throw kicks and Luke kneeled to his level.

“Jules, it’s time to go to bed, come on” He grabbed him in his arms.

“Open the pwesent” Luke sighed.

“I’ll make you a deal, we open it and then you go to bed” Julian seemed to calm.

“I’m gonna get going now, good night Jules, have sweet dreams, my love” She took a step to them and leaned to kiss Julian’s head, when she was about to step away she grabbed her sweater.

“Stay!” Penelope softly took his little hand and let herself free from his grasp.

“I can’t, I gotta go, baby” Julian started to cry.

“Maybe you can stay and help us with bedtime” Luke suggested, Penelope silently agreed.

They walked towards Julian’s bedroom and Penelope felt like an outsider, it had been a long time since she had walked inside Luke’s home, once they got there, she helped Julian to put on his PJ’s while Luke watched them and untuck his bed covers. 

“Pwesent!” Julian said once he was underneath his blankets, each of his parents sat on either side of the bed next to him.

Luke opened the bag and put out something that look like a binder? Photo album? ‘Luke + Jules + Pen’ was engraved on the cover, when he opened it, he saw it was a scrapbook, it had photos of him and Penelope when they first met back in college, ticket stubs of that time when Penelope was in different plays, from when all of the gang had gone to see the Yankees, Luke’s favorite baseball team, photos of them with their friends and then it was Julian’s first sonogram, photos of Penelope pregnant, photos of their baby shower, their first picture the three of them that Savannah had taken at the hospital, all of it was filled with memories.

Luke closed it abruptly, it was all too much for him “Alright, bud, it’s time for you to sleep, we’re picking up Roxy from the shelter tomorrow, remember?” A sleepy boy nodded and just when Penelope and Luke thought they had won, Julian spoke again.

“Mommy, stay!” Penelope tried her best to smile.

“I have to go to your other home, remember?” Luke noticed how Penelope’s voice faltered and decided to back her up.

“Julian, remember what I told you about your two houses? That only the most special little boys get two, so Mommy needs to go and take care of your other house”

“I want Mommy to stay!” He demanded, starting to cry again.

It took everything in Penelope not to tell him that he wanted to stay as well so she just held him and sang the lullaby Luke used to sing to him when he was a baby, it didn’t take long until he fell asleep, Penelope kissed his forehead and silently left the room with Luke behind her.

Before she could speak Luke beat her to it “Drive safe, I’ll take him to you on Sunday” He said and Penelope could only nod as she walked out of the door an to her car.

She sat there for a few minutes, not realizing tears were rolling down her cheeks, when she calmed down she started to drive home, it took her ten minutes to decide she was not going home, she made an u-turn to go back to Luke’s place.

She knocked, unsure what she was going to say but trusting it would be the right thing.

“Penelope? Did you forget something?” Luke asked, confused as to why she was back.

She walked right past him into his apartment “Remember when I asked you if you had met your person?” She said with tears in her eyes.

“Yes” He breathed out.

“We both said no” Penelope stated “Can you ask me if I’ve met my person, please?” Luke felt some sort of anger form in his chest.

“Why? So you can tell me it’s perfect Sam? I don’t under-”

“Please” She interrupted him “Please ask me”

“Have you met your person?”

“Yeah, I have, for a long time now, but I was an idiot and I didn’t realize it until just recently” She said through her sobs, Luke forgot how to breathe, playing her words over and over again “When I found your present and looked through it I realized it’s you, it has been you all along, Luke, you’re my person”

Luke didn’t waste no time and kissed her, feeling his heart being mend with every second that passed, when they pulled away, he asked “What about Sam?”

“He’s been out of the picture for months” She admitted and Luke resumed their kiss only to pull apart immediately.

“You’re my person, Penelope, always have, always will” He choked out.

“I love you, Luke” She caressed his face in her hands.

Luke closed her eyes, her words giving him a joy he didn’t knew existed “I love you too, Penelope” 

“So… Can I stay?” She chuckled through her tears.

“Only if you stay forever” Luke answered and took her in his arms, planning to make up for all the lost time where he wasn’t able to show her how much he loved her.

“Home, let me come home, home is wherever I’m with you” 

Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros

[kasdeyathebitterwoman]

Running Mate Part 3

Welp. There’s going to be a part 4 and probably several other parts to continue this story…the response to part 1 has been insane and y’all definitely seem to be enjoying part 2 as well, so thank you! 

Description: While running in the English countryside, Henry meets a fun documentarian and sparks fly. 

Word Count: 2,255

CW: none, fluff

Every day after your coffee date, you and Henry had talked via text message. He was charming and sweet in a way that most others were not. When you weren’t running with him, you were talking about a variety of topics from PC gaming to Ancient Egypt. You found a common love of history which was rare for you. Not everyone enjoyed listening to you go on about some ancient Roman or Grecian fact that you’d learned.

And now a week later, you were standing in the reception area of a private theater chatting with a friend and film critic from the area. As a tradition, your team held a sort of cocktail party before a viewing to give your guests a chance to mingle and learn more about the film from the producers. You were dressed in a sleek black halter dress with black pumps and minimal gold jewelry while your hair tumbled down your shoulders in a half-up, half-down hairdo. You found this dress that very day and fell in love. It hugged your curves just right and made you feel sexy, without being obvious.

Nervously, you glanced around the room looking for evidence of him. It was still early in the evening, so he wasn’t there yet. You ended up in a conversation with one of the directors on your staff. They were talking about a recent experience with a project and you couldn’t help from laughing. You closed your eyes, tipped your head back, and laughed. When you opened your eyes, your gaze slid toward the front door where you saw Henry stride in. He was wearing black slacks, a gray button-down shirt with the top to buttons undone, and a plain black jacket. His normally curly locks were smoothed out into loose waves and smoothed back so he looked even more like Superman than he already did. Your breath caught in your lungs and for a moment. Henry peered around the room before his eyes landed on you and you swear you saw the same thing happen to him. Then a beaming smile grew across his face and then walked confidently to you.

“Hello there,” Henry said as he got closer to you. You accepted an embrace and a kiss on the cheek from him and you could easily smell this cologne. It was earthy and musky with a hint of floral that you couldn’t place, but you didn’t mind.

“Hey,” you said smiling as Henry leaned back up after kissing your cheek. “Thank you for coming,” you said, genuinely thankful he showed up.  

“Of course,” he replied. “I’m happy to be here,” he smiled down at you and your heart skipped several beats, but someone clearing their throat brought you back to reality. It was David, the director friend you’d been talking with.

“Uh, Henry this is one of our in-house directors, David,” you say, gesturing toward David who gently waves. “David, this is my friend Henry,” you continue, gesturing to Henry. The men shake hands and chuckle.

“Oh yeah, I know who he is,” David says and Henry raises an eyebrow. “How’s your support for England treating you, mate?” David asks and Henry laughs suddenly. The two begin discussing, you slowly figure out, rugby. “Y/n, what do you think?” David asks at one point, turning to you. Your eyes grow wide and you look between the two men.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” you reply and the men exchange a glance.

“Rugby,” David says slowly and you bob your head.

“Yeah, no clue,” you say and Henry chuckles as David shakes his head.

“Damn, Yank,” he says and you openly scoff.

“Hey now, to be fair, I don’t even understand American football that well,” you start. “I played soccer in high school,” you say and Henry bellows at that. You smile at the sound, feeling your heart flutter again. David shakes his head and says that he’s going to get another drink from the bar. Henry agrees to go with him to get his own drink and you continue to mingle around the room. This was your least favorite part of the film making process, but you knew it had to happen. Henry found you again and offered you a glass of champagne which you graciously accepted.

“I have to admit,” he started, after taking a gulp of his Guinness. “If movie premieres were like this, I think I’d enjoy them much more,” he smiles at you with an eyebrow raise and you laugh sardonically.

“Really? I’ve never actually been to a bonafide movie premiere,” you say and Henry bobs his head.

“They’re honestly just horse and pony shows, but I have to do them,” he says, a tinge of irritation in his voice. You smirk.

“Oh that’s what this is as well,” you say and Henry raises that eyebrow at you. “That group over there,” you say, tilting your head to your left a little and watch as Henry subtly checks them out. “Is a group of our backers. They gave us money to make this documentary, so we have to show them finished product so they can tear it to shreds before the festival season,” you say this sardonically and Henry chuckles. A sound causes you both to turn around. It’s an usher announcing that it’s time to enter the theater for the viewing. “Oh by the way,” you start suddenly. You open the little clutch you brought with you pulling out a ticket. “This is your seat. Sorry, I forgot to give it to you earlier,” you hand Henry the piece of card-stock and his finger brushes your skin. You feel your knees turn to jelly instantly. He smiles as he takes it, then gestures for you to go ahead of him like a true gentleman.

As Henry finds his seat, you move the front of the room where James is standing with a film critic and friend. He sees you and smiles gently. You walk up to him, giving him a half hug.

“And who’s your friend?” James asks, his eyes darting quickly in Henry’s direction. You squint at him, your nose twitching as you try not to smile.

“Just that - a friend,” you reply, though James clearly doesn’t believe you.

“Mhmm,” he muses and you roll your eyes at him. He accepts a microphone from an usher and begins the opening comments. “Ladies and gentlemen, thank you all for coming to another Bulldog Westley Production screening. I’m James and this is y/n, and we are the team behind this company. We are absolutely grateful to have each and every one of you here, but I’m going to let y/n take over because ultimately, this film was her project,” he says, turning to hand you the mic. You take it and smile at everyone.

“Hey y’all,” you say in your usual twang and several people chuckle. “As James said, we are very grateful to have all you here. For many of us, this ain’t our first rodeo,” you say, waving to all the backers in the audience and laughing with them. “For those that are new here, hi, I’m y/n. I’m from Texas and I love documentaries. I get to work with one of my best friends,” you say, glancing at James who is smiling gently. “And I’m honored that he lets me spend real time and effort on things that I’m truly passionate about,” you smile around the room at everyone. Your eyes land on Henry for just a moment and you feel your heart flutter. “Alright, ooey-gooey stuff aside, there is just a little housekeeping I have to go over,” you say, pausing to make sure everyone is paying attention. “Number one, please, please, please, make sure your cellphones are turned off. This is an advanced screening and we are really hoping this does well in the festival circuit. It can’t do that if someone leaks even one second of footage. And number two, under every seat there is a feedback card. I’d love to know your thoughts about this when we are done. It is anonymous, so if you do say something ugly, I’ll never know it was you, but remember this,” you pause, staring everyone down. “I will think about it every single day for the rest of my life,” you joke and the audience bursts out in laughter. “Okay, that’s it for the intro. Ladies and gentlemen, we are Bulldog Westley Productions and this is our latest documentary, Take Me Home Country Roads,” everyone claps as you and James walk off stage to your seats. You gave Henry the seat next to you and he was smiling wide when you walked up.

“You were incredible,” he murmurs as you take your seat. You smile wide, grateful that the lights are dimming so he can’t see you blushing like crazy. Your nerves are amplified as the doc begins and the opening bars of “Take Me Home (Country Roads)” by John Denver begin. Without realizing it, your hand reaches out to Henry’s hand for comfort. He accepts your hand willingly, squeezing your hand gently. You can see him smile at you out of the corner of your eye and you feel yourself smile in response.

What you hadn’t been able to explain to Henry before this night was that the documentary he was viewing was incredibly personal. It was more a personal diary about a trip you took with your dad and your grandmother back to her home town of Grant Town, West Virginia. The documentary was based around the fact that your grandmother was going home to bury the last of her six sisters. It had been years since she had seen anyone or her home town. You had never been and you wanted to learn more about your dad’s family, so you asked if you could come along and film the experience. James thought it would make a great documentary and thus, the project was born.  

An hour and fifty-two minutes later, there wasn’t a dry eye in the house when the lights came back on. Henry, who was still holding on to your hand by the end of the film, let go to dab at his eyes as you made your way to the front of the room again. You and James received a standing ovation from the audience, then watched as everyone began to head back out to the reception area. Henry lingered to the side as you thanked a few of the backers that came to congratulate you on a job well done. When the last backer had gone, Henry came up to you.

“That was incredible,” he said, a faraway look in his eye. You accepted a hug from him and smiled at the compliment.

“Thank you,” you reply into his chest, taking in his smell again which as lingered. He pulled back to compliment you, but he just kept opening and closing his mouth and shaking his head.

“I mean, just,” he started and stopped. “Wow, that is going to do amazing in the festival circuit, y/n,” he says and you blush.

“I certainly hope so,” you respond, smiling. You stare at Henry, who’s staring right back, with amusement and happiness. You can hear someone walking up to you and glance over your shoulder to see James walking over.

“Hey y/n,” he says quickly, smiling and waving at Henry. “Hi, I’m James,” he says. Henry introduces himself and they shake hands. “Y/n, we need to get back out there and talk to a few backers before they leave,” he says before turning and walking away. You nod and turn back to Henry. It’s just the two of you now in the theater.

“Sorry, duty calls,” you say and he smiles at you.

“I understand,” he replies. “I actually need to get going myself, but I was wondering. Do you think I could see you again tomorrow?” he asks and you smile wide.

“I’d like that,” you reply. Henry nods and leans down to kiss you on the cheek. “You missed,” you say. Henry looks at you puzzled. “You missed,” you repeat, but Henry’s brow is no less furrowed. Ever so slightly rolling your eyes, you grab the collar of Henry’s jacket, stand up on your tip-toes, and pull him in for a kiss. It’s a surprise at first and Henry isn’t ready. It’s all a shock for both of you and you take a step back. “I’m sorry, that was forward and impolite. I’m so sorry,” you say, but Henry is shaking his head no.

“No, no, that was,” he starts, a little breathless. “That was really good,” he finishes. Then he steps forward closing the gap between you and kisses you. It’s raw and passionate and delicious. You wrap your arms around his broad shoulders while his hands snake around your waist. After a moment, you release yourself from him and take a step back. Breathing heavy, you look at him and he’s smiling like a schoolboy after his first snog.

“I have to go,” you say, still breathing heavily. You move to hurry off, but you stop and look at Henry over your shoulder. “And don’t look at my butt as I walk away,” you say dramatically, before turning and running for the door. The sound of Henry’s laughter follows you and you can’t remove the smile that is now permanently attached to your face.