#can anyone explain to me if we can tell WHEN in 2025 this will air?

[secriden]

The audacity of this man *U*

[alurite-l]

Oh since we’re trying to play oppression Olympics as a way to excuse what's happening let's go then. @carbonation-cryptid What’s going to happen to me - a Muslim in America? There has been a massive rise in hate crimes and Islamophobia that has a left a six year old child dead and a Muslim woman who was having a picnic on her own lawn dead. I live in the south and do you honestly think I feel safe and okay as a Black transgender bisexual Muslim?? Do you think Biden has done anything for me? Tell me which president was in office when we lost roe v wad and we had gained more anti LGBT laws this year? Which side was he on exactly? Where’s the student loan forgiveness, where’s the universal healthcare?? I’m so sick and tired of you white liberal cucks who are threatening and fear mongering black and brown people and people criticize anyone who dares point out the lies and hypocrisy of Joe Biden. All y’all do is scream project 2025 but don’t realize that it’s black n brown people who will be affected first at a disproportionate rate. Also I really hope you made a post or thanked black women for getting your precious genocide denier in office or else you would’ve had trump right now.

I swear to god you get a white bitch in a marginalized group they’ll walk around thinking they’re the ultimate oppressed victim. YOU HAVE PRIVILEGE AND YOU HAVE POWER OVER OTHERS. You are lucky to hop online and fear monger and try and shame people for wanting Joe Biden out of office. Have you even stopped to think about how you’re lucky to be disabled in America right now? Do you even know how unbelievably hard it is to be disabled in Palestine right now? What are they deaf people supposed to do when the bombs drop? What are the mentally disabled people supposed to do, who have no clue was going on and have no caretakers to explain it to them? What about the blind or the ones who need crutches and wheelchairs to move supposed to do? Because there is no way they can move through all that rubble only. What about people who have respiratory issues supposed to do with all dust and white phosphorus that’s in the air and being dropped? Can you PLEASE drop the white privilege and white superiority complex and think about LITERALLY ANYONE OTHER THAN YOURSELF FOR FIVE FUCKING MINUTES??? IT IS NOT ABOUT YOU RIGHT NOW

[taetaesbaebaepsae]

Residue

Summary: You’ve never thought much about androids, even though they’re all around you, until you meet Jooheon.

Warnings: angst, some mention of violence and some blood, unprotected sex (if they aren’t an android wrap it up), smut but the vanilla kind, at least for now

Word Count: 3051

a/n: this is a commission for an anonymous friend, I hope you like it!

If someone were to ask you how you ended up on the lam with a wayward Android, you'd start with the movie theater.

You didn't know if you even wanted to see a movie or not, but the android behind the counter was something that drew you in, you had to admit. You hadn't even known he was an android, not at first.

They usually have something, you note, something that makes them look….uncanny. This one’s a good one, though, with his welcoming smile and these deep dimples in his cheeks (that’s not a common feature, surely?) when he asks you what time.

You’re so distracted looking for the uncanny valley of the android that you blink. “What time is it?”

“9:59 AM.” He rattles off, and you’d swear he was smirking a little. Could androids even smirk?

You narrow your eyes. “You’re an android?”

He nods. “Model 29643-C.”

That number means nothing to you, so you stare at him blankly.

“Jooheon,” he supplies. “My last owner called me Jooheon.”

You freeze. "You had an owner?"

He smiles patiently. "A lot of us worker bots are refurbished. They don't usually bother wiping us, just give us new commands."

You can't help being intrigued, leaning against the counter. You've read about android rights activists, know there are humans that believe androids develop emotions in the same way humans do.

"Does that bother you?" 

He tilts his head. "I don't think 'bother' is a command anyone would find very useful."

"That's not what I asked." You raise an eyebrow, not used to droids not giving direct answers.

The android, (Jooheon, you remind yourself), looks up at the camera above his head and then back at you, and you feel your heart speed up.

You've always been drawn to good stories, and it looks like this android has a big one to tell.

"If I come back just before close," you say in a low voice, "could we talk?"

His nod is almost imperceptible, but it's there.

Hours later, you're nearly vibrating with excitement, and you're shocked when he steps outside the box and out onto the theater steps.

"Camera stops here," he explains, tilting his hand to denote the angle stopping right before the second step.

You blink, and you wonder how prejudiced you are against them that you're surprised by how intelligent he is.

You sit down on the steps and he sits, too. You can feel his body heat (android heat?) in the cool air, and you wonder if that's a feature that most androids have, or.just him.

"What do you remember from before?" You ask.

"I remember my owner. Her name was Gahyeon."

"What did you do, clean for her-"

"I was her companion," he says simply, and your face heats.

"Ohhh so you were like, a sex robot."

Jooheon tilts his head again. "I don't understand that term. We did have sex."

You choke a little on your own saliva, surprised.

"But it wasn't just about that. She loved me, and I loved her." You freeze at his words.

"Are you programmed to love?"

"No. None of us are, but we feel it just the same. Just like we're only programmed to appear to breathe but if you put one of us underwater, it still feels like we're dying."

"Did...did someone do that to you, Jooheon?" You ask softly.

"When they don't bother to wipe you, they leave the good memories and the bad ones."

"What happened?"

He twists his upper body to look at you. "Why do you want to know?"

"I...I don't know," you admit. "You just seemed like you had a story to tell."

"Most people don't think we have stories. Most people think things just happen to us, like we're objects." He states.

"I don't think you're objects," you say. Anymore, you think.

"Did you know every wipe leaves something behind? That a cleaning android will still remember the chemical components to bleach even after they're wiped and reassigned?"

"I didn't know that," you admit, and you're wondering what that means for him. Remembering bleach is one thing but…

"I remember little pieces of all of them," he says softly.

Something in your heart clenches.

Jooheon stiffens as a light flashes from the movie theater. "I have to go back." He stands and turns toward the ticket box. "Thank you," he says, and then disappears into the box, going to the back of the theater.

You sit on the steps until the lights all go out, thinking, your heart seeming to seize in your chest.

It's like a floodgate, after that, you want to know everything about all of it, about how androids are treated, about their programming, and you spend a week mired in research.

You can't stop thinking about him, the way he'd tilted his head, wondering what had happened, how many companions he'd had.

You read up on companion androids, having to search through pages and pages of ads and half naked androids before finding articles on long term effects of overusing companion droids.

It takes a toll on the androids, although companies like Companions R Us and Lifetime Companions will tell you a refurbished android has been wiped and is just like a new one.

Studies prove that endless wipes of android hard drives prove problematic in many ways, however.

In 2025, a female android who had been wiped nearly twenty times completely shut down. Her hard drive proved to be fully functioning and all coding correct, but she couldn't produce a single command, no matter how simple.

In 2029, a male android wiped fifteen times became obsessed with playing a piece on the piano, over and over until the synthetic skin on his fingers ripped. When the owner tried to remove him from the piano, he became violent and had to be decommissioned. After, a research assistant discovered this companion had an owner from ten years past who was a famous pianist. The owner cited this companion as his muse before he died. The research was not published until ten years later, after the assistant left the company.

There are at least sixty reports in the last thirty years of refurbished companion androids being decommissioned, and over half resulted in violence, one even resulting in a human death.

Yet in the year 2049, as many as 100,000 refurbished androids are sold in the companion trade. They're thousands of dollars cheaper for both companies and consumers than new models, and as long as companion androids are demanded by the public, this will keep happening.

Why? Why are companion androids twice as likely to develop glitches than for example, cleaning androids?

The answer lies in the way all androids' hard drives work.

All androids, whether for companionship, cleaning, manual labor, or any of the other hundred plus uses, are programmed to learn.

This programming takes hundreds of thousands of lines of code, code that evolves over time. "Code this complicated leaves behind a residue," our anonymous source told us. "In order to evolve, there has to be a base code, and after a wipe, a similar code is put in place. Due to that ability to evolve, sometimes the code evolves backward into old codes, sparking old memories for the androids. It's something like muscle memory, but for hard drives."

We asked our source, who works for a large and popular Android company, why the decommission rate is so high for companion androids.

"The ability to learn things like cleaning methods or sales tactics is one thing, but companion androids learn things like arousal and attraction….some customers even program them to learn a synthetic version of love and affection. Even though people don't think of androids as being able to have these emotions, emotions in humans are also caused by synapses in the brain that aren't unlike the android codes."

Put simply, if androids can learn things like arousal and love, they can also learn loss and heartbreak and violence, depending on the owner.

This says a lot about the uprising of runaway androids and the cry for "rights for machines," in this reporter's opinion.

We reached out to Lifetime Companions and Companions R Us for comment, but received no response.

You're almost crying by the end of the article, wondering how many times Jooheon has been wiped, what he remembers. It's startling, realizing that many of the androids you see every day have the capacity to feel. It makes you feel differently about every interaction you have with them over the next week, and when you go to a late movie just to talk to Jooheon, your throat feels tight when he gives you a big, open smile.

"Nice to see you again. What time?"

You stutter out a showing time and sit through an entire movie you barely remember before leaving the theater, glancing over at him.

He follows you out to the steps again and it feels different somehow, from the first night.

"Do you know how many times you've been wiped?" You ask, and he stiffens.

"You've been doing your research." 

When you nod, he continues, "There's no way to know, really, but I write it down, each time I have a distinct memory. Sometimes I dream about them. There's about fifty entries in my journal."

"Fifty," you marvel.

He shrugs, and you wonder briefly if that's part of the learning code, picking up tics and habits from humans like the head tilt he does when you surprise him.

"I was a popular model, one of the first."

"I read that...that you learn," you say slowly. "Do you think you learned how to love her? Gaheyon, was that her name?"

Jooheon sits quietly for a moment, looking down at the stone steps. "I don't remember learning to love," he says finally. "But I think it was a long time before her. Do you remember? Learning to love?"

He looks at you and his eyes are this beautiful combination of brown and amber under the streetlights.

"I don't...I don't think I have yet," you breathe.

He smiles at you and you look away, your breath catching in your throat.

It's different, after that, meeting with Jooheon. It's like he's human now, and you feel a bit guilty for not feeling that way from the beginning. He becomes a friend more than a curiosity and you find yourself telling him about your job nearby, how most of your coworkers have been replaced by androids. You even talk about how you were resentful at first, but later appreciated how hard they worked, how much more you were able to get done.

He always listens and smiles when you laugh, and you find yourself thinking of the amber brown of his eyes while you're at work or late at night when you can't sleep.

Everything changes, one night about two months after you had met the android. You show up at the theater a bit early with a friend, one of your few remaining human coworkers.

It starts the same, with Jooheon's dimpled smile, his words.

"Nice to see you again. Time?"

You tug your friend up to the window. "Jooheon, this is my friend Taeyong."

Taeyong waves and grins, but Jooheon does that stiffening thing you'd noticed, shoulders squaring a bit.

"Time?" He says again, something about his smile a bit off.

You raise an eyebrow but answer, and the whole movie, you're anxious.

You return right before close, like you have every night for the past month, but Jooheon isn't at the window, even when you knock. You wait at the steps for hours, but the theater goes dark and no one comes out, so you start the walk home.

You're passing your workplace when you hear footsteps behind you, and you speed up a bit. When the footsteps speed up too, you turn, panicked.

But it's concern and not fear that makes your heart speed up when you see Jooheon striding towards you.

The right side of his face is covered in red, and when he gets closer you see the white of his right eye tinged with blood.

"I can learn," he mumbles. "I can learn, I can learn," over and over until panicked, you cover his mouth.

You aren't sure exactly the rules of a work android being on the streets, but you assume there are laws against it and consequences, so you slowly lower your hand.

You tug him behind you as quickly as you can, grateful that most everyone takes the subway instead of walking in your neighborhood.

He keeps mumbling, but under his breath, almost a whisper, and when you get him inside your apartment and sit him down, he goes silent.

Somehow that's even more eerie than the repetition, and you bring a cool, wet cloth to clean the blood from his face.

He doesn't move, staring straight ahead, and your heart seizes up in your chest.

It's a shallow cut on his cheekbone, and it's odd that it doesn't bruise, but you suppose synthetic skin is different that way.

"Jooheon?" You call softly, and he stiffens in that peculiar way of his, some light finally returning to his eyes. He looks at you and you sigh in relief, seeing recognition in his gaze.

"I…" he pauses and then starts again, voice sounding hoarse. "I never learned your name."

"Y/n," you say, giving him a weak smile. "Can you tell me what happened?"

Jooheon reaches up to touch his injured cheek. "The boss was upset with me for forgetting to count down the drawer."

You blink. "You forgot?"

"I can learn," he says again, almost in a whisper, and panic rises in your throat.

"What does that mean, Jooheon?"

"You asked me when I learned to love," he explains. "I realized today, it wasn't just once. It was fifty times." He pauses again. "Fifty-one."

"I don't understand." You take his hands and they're warm, you wonder if body warmth is a companion android feature only or if they all feel like this.

"I learned it every time. Every time, I had to learn it again. I didn't realize it, not until I learned it again this time."

All the oxygen seems to have been sucked out of your apartment. "You're saying-"

"I love you, Y/n. I love you, and when you brought your human date, I remembered, all at once, and it made me forget about my job."

You finally take in a breath, feeling like you've been holding it for an hour. "I'm sorry you got hurt."

Jooheon shakes his head. "I can't feel pain like you do, just a feeling something's wrong. But I've been feeling that way all night." He laughs, and it sounds tinny and fake.

You're still holding his hands. 

"Everything will be okay," you assure him, even if you have no idea what to do next, because he looks so stiff, his brow furrowed.

You lean forward to press your mouth to his before you know what you're doing and he makes this very human sound in the back of his throat before pulling you into his lap, making you drop the bloody cloth on the floor.

You marvel at how soft his mouth is, how talented his tongue is, sliding against yours effortlessly. He was made for this, after all, you think, head spinning when he shifts to lie you on your couch, unbuttons your jeans with one hand, sliding his fingers under your waistband.

You arch your back when his fingers slide against your clit, almost teasingly. He never stops kissing you, never loses focus even when you're writhing beneath him.

You pull away from his mouth long enough to gasp out a breath.

"Jooheon, I want to….can you…"

He smiles, dimples flashing in his cheeks, and if you didn't already know you loved him, you would have realized it then.

"I'm rusty, but I can learn," he says, and you're startled into a laugh.

"Was that a joke?" You ask as he unbuttons his slacks, tugs down his underwear and then you're awestruck by how pretty his cock is, standing hard and delicately curved against his flat belly.

"Maybe." He looks down at you for a moment. "Is this how you like it? Like the man on top?"

You bite your bottom lip. "Ah, sure, I like it lots of ways."

He smiles again, and part of you wishes he'd stop, it makes your heart gallop in your chest.

"I can learn all of them," he says almost proudly, sliding into you, and you choke out a moan.

Immediately he leans down to kiss you again, grinding his pelvic bone against your clit on every thrust, slow and unhurried.

"Hnngh, Jooheon, Jooheon, Jooheon," you chant against his mouth, and he moves his lips to your throat, your collarbone.

Your skin tingles where his lips graze and your orgasm hits hard, making you buck your hips up to meet him, crying out.

He fucks you through it, still kissing gently at your collarbone, and you whimper as pleasure starts to build in your stomach again.

"Jooheon, are you, can you…"

"I can," he says easily. "If that's what you like. I don't have to."

"Does it feel good, if you-" your sentence ends in a moan as he grinds against your clit again, lifting one of your legs to fuck you deeper.

"Yes, of course. Like the opposite of my pain response, something feels really right."

"Want you to," you gasp out, pleasure shooting through you as he continues to fuck you slow and deep. "Want you to come with me."

Jooheon speeds up his thrusts suddenly, making you cry out. He looks down into your eyes and your breath catches as another orgasm rolls through you.

Jooheon stiffens in that familiar way, thrusts becoming just a bit erratic before you feel something warm release inside you, and he dips his head to kiss you, sloppier than before.

"I love you," he says simply, and some part of you wants to cry at how much it makes your chest swell.

He does learn, and fast, and you barely leave your bedroom the first few days. You don't even think about what comes next, your heart so full of him you can't, spending hours making love and talking and it's like you're in this bubble where no one can touch you.

The fourth day, you have to go out for groceries, and it hits you like a dash of cold water when you see Jooheon's face, something like a mugshot, plastered on the shop's glass.

Warning: Runaway Android

May Be Dangerous

There's a number beneath, and your feet can't carry you back home fast enough.

When you tell him he doesn't react other than that slight stiffening of his shoulders.

"I should turn myself in."

"No!" You protest. "What will they do?"

"Wipe me. Maybe decommission me."

"No," you whisper. "No, they can't. We can run away, go somewhere-"

Jooheon places his hands on your shoulders. "Somewhere androids are free? There's no such place, Y/n." He looks so somber, so determined, that panic rises in your throat.

"Not yet! We could run until the rights amendment gets passed…."

Jooheon is quiet for a moment, and then nods, kissing your forehead. "We can leave in the morning."

You blink, shocked at how quickly he changed his mind. You suppose even with learned emotions, androids were better at following logic than humans.

It's clearly the logical choice to run, to keep him safe, and you fall asleep in his arms with him holding you almost too tight.

In the morning, he's gone, and you don't stop crying for two days.

It's not even on the news, the runaway androids turning himself in, but when you finally return to work, the pictures of him have been taken down from the shop windows, and you don't know why it makes your breath catch in your throat.

It feels real, somehow, final, and you end up taking another three days off work after you see those windows bare.

It takes another month before you stop having mini panic attacks every time a sales android smiles at you, or a friend asks you to a movie.

You finally agree to go to a showing two towns over for a limited release film that your friend has been dying to go to, but you're listless on the drive there and up the steps.

"Nice to see you again," you hear, and all the rest of the sound goes out of the world. "Time?"

You look up and he smiles at you, and this time his dimples crack your heart straight through.

"Jooheon?" You whisper, and he tilts his head, and it's almost imperceptible, that stiffening of his shoulders, but it's there, and it fills your heart with hope.

"I….I think I dreamed about you," he says slowly, and your face breaks into a smile.

[thatonecurlygirl]

Biology of Billy Hargrove {2}

Fandom: Stranger Things

Pairing: Billy x Reader

Word Count: 2025

Read: Part One

The largest human organ is the skin. The skin of an attractive female he has he sights on always does him in. The rush of heat he always manages to pull to her cheeks with just a smile. The softness under his touch or the sheen of sweat on their skin once they’ve gone a round or two. Billy always had to have the feel of another’s skin even in the most minute way — just to feel something — and today not just anyone would do.

His eyes scan the crowded halls looking for one girl, in particular, the one he had dreamt about getting his hands on last night. It took him a few moments, playing a game of ‘where’s Waldo’ before his eyes landed on the hidden jewel he was looking for. With his signature smirk, he pushes past the girls making their way toward him and saunters right up to you. He doesn’t hesitate to reach out, run his fingers along the nape of your neck and chuckling when you shiver at his touch.

He can’t help but let his mind travel back to last night, your skin glistening with the pool water and the glow of the setting sun causing you to almost glow. You were like a painting, one worth to be hung up in those fancy-schmancy museums or something like that. Made him wonder why he hadn’t noticed you like this before, sure he knew you and that you were a babe but for some reason, he always just kept his distance and once you broke that barrier he’s not so sure he can keep that distance anymore. Now, you’re his new muse whether you like it or not.

Swatting the hand away from your neck, you turn around to see Billy standing there with his usual smirk. He leans against the locker beside yours, letting his eyes slowly roll down your body — head to toes and back up — eyes finally resting on yours when he decides to speak up.

“Morning sweetheart.”

“Morning Billy, can I help you with something?” You ask, rubbing the back of your neck and trying to rid yourself of the goosebumps that had made a path where his fingers trailed gently across your skin.

“Just came to say hi to my little stalkers.” He smiles with a wink, looking between you and Angie.

“Whoa, about that! We-” Angie begins to explain but is interrupted by Billy.

“No, it’s alright. I understand, your sweet y/n here invited me over last night and explained all she needed to. Although she could have gone into more… detail.” He smirks.

Angie’s eyes go wide in revelation of what Billy is talking about. Her head whips over to you who is standing there as if nothing he said bothered you a bit. With a quiet scoff, you shake your head and grab your English textbook, closing your locker.

“See you in class, Billy.” Is your only response as you walk past him, Angie quickly following on your heels and showering you in questions.

“What was he talking about?” Angie asks as the two of you take your seats in your English class, pulling your desks together so that they touch.

“I was going for a swim and thought, what better way to apologize for creeping than to invite him over to the pool.” You shrug.

“Or you just don’t want to admit you find him delicious and wanted to see him up close.” She was wagging her eyebrows with a wicked smile on her face.

“Not true!” You gasp, face completely defying what you just said. “Maybe just a little.” You whisper.”

You always know when Billy walks into the room because that boy demands all the attention. At first, the room goes quiet for a microsecond as if he is pulling all the noise and energy from around the room so that he can use it.

“Ah, little stalker, there you-”

“Mr. Hargrove, take your seat please.” Mr. Jordan says, entering the room and walking straight back to his desk.

With a groan, Billy drops into the desk directly behind you. Smiling when he sees you shift in your seat under the pressure of his eyes. After a couple moments of his quiet staring, you turn in your seat, glaring at him as he happily returns it with a wink.

“Today, we will be starting our partnered projects.” Mr. Jordan announces.

“We’ve got this project in the bag,” Angie says, nudging your side.

Mr. Jordan continues on with the details of the project but you can’t really focus on anything other than Billy twirling the eraser end of his pencil in your hair. You know that all he is really trying to do is get a reaction out of you and you are determined to deny him that reaction. Sure, Billy is hot and all but you don’t want to be just like all the other girls in this school. You’re happy just being acquaintances with Billy, admiring him from afar.

“Hey Mr. Jordan, I’ll take y/n,” Billy says, leaning back in his chair.

“Wait, what!” You ask, eyes wide as you finally tune back into reality.

“Looks like we’re partners, little stalker.” He smirks, leaning up in his seat to nudge you.

“No! Mr. Jordan, Angie and I were supposed to be partners. We are always partners!” You stand up out of your chair, making a scene.

“Exactly, you two are always partners. It’s time for a change, change is good.” Mr. Jordan says as he writes in his notebook, paying you no mind.

“Yeah, little stalker, change is good.” Billy chuckles.

“Stop calling me that.” You snap, crossing your arms over your chest.

“Oh, did I hit a nerve, little stalker?” He asks with an amused gasp. “I wouldn’t mind hitting a different type of nerve.” He whispers seductively in your ear.

You can’t help the shiver that runs down your spine, an involuntary reaction to his breathy words in your ear. Billy notices right away, he can see the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. He smiles when he sees you shiver ever so slightly when his breath fans across your neck.

“This is going to be fun.” He chuckles to himself as he leans back in his chair, pretending to listen to whatever Tommy H. Is spewing.

“You so owe me, like for the rest of your lives.” You groan pacing the room, the three young teens from yesterday along with the rest of the party, including the designated ‘dad’ Steve. “Now he won’t leave me alone.”

“Look, we are sorry, we didn’t know who else to go to,” Max says, throwing her hands up in the air. “If there was another option, we wouldn’t have brought you into this.”

“Yeah, well now we have to figure out how to get me out of this.” You groan plopping down on the couch. “Plus, it’ll do us no good having Billy chasing after me to get into my pants. He’ll just get in the way.”

“Not necessarily.” Lucas shrugs. “I mean if he is chasing after you and you are intentionally keeping him away from us… he will never get in the way.”

“He has a point,” Dustin says with a nod. “Plus, I heard you have a thing for Billy. Shouldn’t be too hard to take one for the team.”

“Who said I have a thing for Billy?” You whip around, facing Dustin, eyebrows furrowed. “Your cousin Lydia? She’s an idiot.”

“Denial.” Dustin chuckles.

“Okay, enough.” Steve intervenes. “It would come in handy to have someone we know that can keep Billy out of our hair but if you aren’t comfortable with it…” Steve shrugs.

“Well, I have to work with him for the next three weeks anyway.” You sigh. “You all still owe me though.”

A knock on the door has you groaning and pouting. With a sympathetic smile, Steve gathers the kids telling them it’s time to leave as you all make your way to the front door. When Steve opens the door, Billy’s face is dumbstruck with confusion and you can’t help the small amused smile.

“Well Harrington, I didn’t expect you here,” Billy says, his voice flat as the kids make a beeline out of the house. “You two playing some weird game of house or something?”

“You jealous?” Steve asks, stepping out of the door and onto the front porch with Billy.

“Of you, Harrington? Never.” He smirks.

“Can you just shut up and get in here so we can start on this, please?” You ask, pulling Billy’s attention away from Steve and to you.

“Eager aren’t we?” Billy smiles and shoulder checks Steve as he steps into the doorway. “ Later, Harrington.”

You stand in the doorway, watching Steve and the kids leave. When you turn around, your eyes meet with his beautiful blues. Slowly, Billy saunters closer to you, his gorgeous blue orbs not leaving yours as he walks close enough for your breath to mingle without your lips meeting, a surprising mix of his cigarettes and your minty gum. He lifts his hand up, almost in slow motion as he reaches past you and closes the door, stepping back and nodding to your backpack on the ground by the door.

“Where do you want to take this part, sweetheart?” He asks, looking around the living room. “Maybe the bedroom?” He smirks.

“Sure, whatever.” You sigh, grabbing your bag from off the floor. “Let’s go pretty boy.” You walk past him and up the stairs toward your bedroom.

The skin is the largest human organ and right now yours burn from the holes Billy is boring into you. The both of you sitting cross-legged on the floor, you with your nose in the book that the teacher had assigned to you and Billy with the book in his lap and staring at you, head tilted to the side. You try to ignore his eyes trained on you but the longer he looks at you the warmer your skin gets, accumulating a thin layer of sweat.

“Can you please stop staring?” You smack your book closed, looking up at him.

“I think it’s time for a break.” He sets his book on the floor, scooting it away from him and standing up to his feet. “Come on, little stalker, let’s go for a dip.”

“Billy, we are in the middle of-”

Before you can finish your sentence Billy picks you up and throws you over his shoulder. His muscles tight as he holds you still, rushing out of the room and down the stairs. Your heart almost stops at how fast he races down the stairs and out the back door, not wasting a second before jumping right into the pool. The water is cool, contrasting with the warm, late spring air. You breach the surface of the water, a few feet away from Billy.

“What the hell!” You gasp, wiping the water from your face and splashing him.

“Thought you needed to cool off a little bit.” He winks. “Plus, I like the way you look… like this.” He says quietly and pushes you against the edge of the pool, leaning into your lips and you let your eyes flutter closed.

Right before his lips come in contact with yours, you are interrupted by someone clearing their voice, a sound you are all too familiar with. Instinctively you push Billy away, putting as much space between the two of you as you can before you look up at your mom.

“You should probably head home.” You say quietly to Billy before climbing out of the pool and grabbing a towel from your mom. “I’ll bring your book by later.”

“Just bring it to school tomorrow.” He says with a smile, looking from you to your mother before heading out the back gate.

“Be careful with that Billy kid, he seems like trouble.” Your mother warns, turning to walk back into the house.  


“Trust me, mom, I know.” You sigh, looking back to the gate Billy just walked out of.

Taglist: @xicarcalii @dacremontgomerylover @super-strange-sons @the-ghostgirl-blog @admiralsixx

[inawickedlittletown]

Walking The Wire (136/158)

Summary: Tony Stark always knew about Peter Parker. He didn’t know that Peter was going to get superpowers and become Spider-Man, but he always knew about Peter because Peter was his son.

This will span from pre-Iron Man up through the rest of the MCU (eventually including Infinity War) and will be for the most part canon compliant except where I’ve taken some liberties and interpreted canon a certain way.

Pairings: Pepper/Tony, Tony/Steve (endgame), Tony/Mary (past)

A/N: If you want me to tag you when I post new chapters let me know. This fic is also on AO3

I used Collider’s MCU timeline to stay canon and the title of this fic is an Imagine Dragons song that is just so fitting for Peter and Tony

@findmeinthestarss

Masterpost

Chapter One Hundred Thirty Five

2018

“Time is kind of silly in here,” Peter said. He was lying down on the floor. It actually kind of felt nice to stretch his back on the floor like that.

“You are kind of silly,” Bucky said.

It felt like they had been in the stone for forever. Except that other times it felt like he had been out in the real world just minutes earlier -- like his dad had been holding him so recently that Peter still felt his hands.

“I know that,” Peter said. “So, did you know that my dad actually drew up plans for your arm? I saw them once -- he was really surprised by all the work that those Hydra scientists managed to do since it was so long ago.”

“You’ve told me this before,” Bucky said.

“Oh,” Peter said. “I guess I forgot. I’ve probably told you everything already.”

Bucky nodded. He then, dropped down to the ground next to Peter. “Everything,” he said, “except for about this MJ girl.”

Bucky tended to bring up MJ whenever he felt like bothering Peter. It was all because Peter had been describing her to Bucky and Sam once for just in case anyone saw her around in their weird orange world -- the stone. No one had. It meant that she probably hadn’t turned to dust.

Then again, they were finding people all the time. And even though they had seen Quill and Drax they hadn’t seen Mantis and Peter knew for a fact that she’d turned to dust.

“You said her eyes were really pretty, Petey,” Bucky said and smirked. “Then, you told us that she has a really nice smile.”

Peter could feel his face getting warmer.

“I don’t have a crush on MJ.”

The thing was that maybe he did. Well, no, Peter didn’t know for a fact that he did. He just knew that he didn’t know how much time had passed in the real world and that he missed MJ and hoped she was okay. He hoped the same for Ned and maybe for everyone else that he was in school with -- even Flash.

“Are you teasing him again, Buck?” Sam asked with a smirk. “You know, I just remembered that MJ definitely knows he’s Spider-Man. So as far as possible girlfriends she’s definitely a good candidate.”

“Yeah,” Peter said with a roll of his eyes. “If we ever get out of here.”

Bucky laughed and Sam grinned at Peter and Peter just groaned and he didn’t have a crush on MJ.

“I don’t know why I hang out with the two of you.”

“Because your other options include Strange,” Sam said.

“Or Quill. He was kind of weird.”

“Oh. Yeah.”

“So, what you’re saying is that you’re from the future?” Natasha asked.

Scott began to nod but then he shook his head. “No. No. I’m from a few weeks ago.”

“So you’re from the past,” Bruce said.

Next to Tony, Steve shifted, his arm brushing against Tony’s. Too much had happened in the last twenty minutes. The arrival of Carol, Thanos’ use of the stones, and then Scott Lang had arrived. Scott who had been presumed to be a victim of The Decimation, but who turned out to be perfectly fine but had appeared with some outlandish story about time travel.

Scott threw his hands in the air. “Yes. Sure. I went to the future accidentally when I was stuck in the quantum realm. I came back -- I meant to go back into the past so I could warn everyone about Thanos and stop the decimation from happening. I didn’t manage that so now I just want your help with going back far enough that I can actually do that.”

“Run all of this by us one more time,” Rhodey said. He had his arms crossed and he looked tired. They were all tired.

“I need to go back in time to warn all of you about Thanos,” Scott said. “Although considering how this conversation is going, I don’t know if any of you will actually believe me.”

Tony could tell that Scott was getting frustrated. Scott was also telling them something that could have sounded crazy except that Tony had been in space and fought a weird purple alien who thought that the way to save the universe was to get rid of half of the population. Tony had also seen first hard that what scientists had been theorizing for years about wormholes was true and that they could indeed bend space to make space travel faster and easier. So, why couldn’t time travel be possible as well? After all, time travel sort of landed within the same theories as far as Tony knew.

“The issue isn’t if we believe you,” Carol said. “I mean, I don’t even know you. Just explain it in detail.”

Scott hesitated. His eyes seemed to linger on Tony and then again on Steve.

“Sort of met you in the future,” Scott said. “Captain Marvel, right?”

“I’ve been called that,” Carol said.

“So what happened,” Steve said. “In the future?”

Tony was interested too. It couldn’t be good from the way that Scott was so insistent on going back in time to somehow fix the whole problem.

“When did you end up?” Tony asked.

Scott took a steadying breath. “I ended up in 2025,” he said, “and I went to find Cap because I was in California and I knew where I could find him. I saw a newspaper and he was the closest to me location wise.”

Steve in California didn’t sound right at all. “Why?” Tony asked.

“Why what?” Scott asked.

“Why was he closest to you?”

Scott stared at him for a moment. “Because he was living in Malibu. Your house to be more precise.”

Maybe they were on vacation or there was another explanation for it except that Scott only mentioned Steve. And Scott had to pause and he looked nervous, as if he were trying to figure out how to explain things.

“Scott?” Steve asked.

“I guess it doesn’t matter that you know because we’re going to change it so it won’t happen at all, right?” Scott asked.

Bruce caught Tony’s eye. Time travel was a tricky subject and while Tony knew now that impossible things could happen and that they did, they couldn’t know that things could actually change. Maybe it would create an alternative time-line or it was all some paradox leading to the same end. There was just no knowing.

“I don’t know if that’s how it works,” Bruce said.

Scott nodded.

“Tell us anyway, Scott. No use hiding things from us,” Natasha said.

Scott nodded. He motioned at Steve. “You were living in Malibu and basically avoiding the world. I saw a news report and looked at a newspaper. I -- this is hard to say. They were talking about a charity gala for the anniversary of your death.”

Scott was looking straight at Tony. There was no mistaking that he meant him. No one said anything. It was -- it was only seven years from now and Tony was dead. But what did that mean about everyone else? Peter? Did they manage to get everyone back or was it that they failed again except that this next failure led to his death.

Scott seemed to look around at all of them, his eyes settling on Tony again. “It’s why Cap moved to California. He retired. I sort of got the sense that he never left the house.”

Steve had gone stiff from the moment that the implication of Tony’s death was out in the room. Tony grabbed his hand, holding it tightly until Steve looked at him and he let out a breath. Steve’s fingers squeezed his back.

“I--”

“I know,” Tony said. “We’re not going to let that happen.”

Steve didn’t seem to believe him. There was a fear in his eyes that Tony didn’t see often and it was hard to take in.

“We won’t let that happen,” Carol said.

It would destroy Steve if it did. For Steve to retire and become a recluse and never see anyone. For him to move all the way to California away from everything and everyone that meant anything to him — it was more than Tony could handle to hear that. To know that his death could break Steve and make him someone else entirely.

“How did it happen?” He looked to Scott, not sure if he did want to hear it but needing to. They needed to know in order to prevent it.

“Thanos,” Scott said. “I, um, I saw some footage. From what I gathered, there was a fight and it didn’t end well.”

Of course it was Thanos. It shouldn’t have been surprising to him in the least and yet to hear it out loud -- to know that in some future that hadn’t yet happened he was dead and that they hadn’t managed to defeat Thanos--

“So we don’t win,” Tony said. And he died. And Strange had given up the Time Stone to save him for no reason.

Scott nodded. “Yes,” he said, “yes, you lose. The future is -- it’s not good. But if you help me go back further into the past then maybe we can do something about it. We can win. We can be prepared for Thanos. Steve said -- he said something about destroying a stone earlier.”

“Not that it would matter if Thanos gets the Time Stone,” Bruce said.

“Unless that’s the stone we destroy,” Tony said. “But, is that even possible?”

Scott nodded. “Yeah. It’s possible she can destroy a stone,” he said and pointed at Carol. “Or Wanda.”

Tony knew that Wanda had destroyed the Mind Stone, but he didn’t know if she could have destroyed any of the other stones. Her connection to the Mind Stone made her power similar to it. But if a Steve from the future thought it was possible, then he had to have a reason for it. He did find it a little funny that they were back at the first idea he’d thrown out when Strange and Bruce took him to Strange’s place. The only thing that was Strange would never go for destroying the Time Stone.

Actually, Tony wasn’t all that sure that Scott’s plan was the way to go. If he showed up in front of them months before the initial attack when Thor and Bruce were still in space and none of them had any inkling on what was to come, Tony didn’t know if he or anyone else would just take Scott’s whole story well. Not to mention that if Wanda couldn’t destroy a stone that wasn’t the Mind Stone, they wouldn’t exactly have Carol around as back up. This was his life on the line -- his and the lives of everyone that had been dusted. Peter included. No. They had a real chance to get this all right and make it right again and Scott’s plan wasn’t going to work.

“Warning us isn’t going to do anything,” he said.

“But--”

Tony shook his head. “We won’t listen. You know we won’t. And even if we do, we won’t know the stakes or know how to make this right.”

Rhodey nodded along. “So, what do you propose, then?”

Tony didn’t really have a full plan in his head. He wasn’t exactly the one that was best with strategy. He looked to Steve and then back at Carol.

“If time travel is an option, then there’s plenty that we could do,” Carol said.

She was right. Scott looked a bit nervous and Tony had to wonder about him arriving at the wrong time than where he’d been headed. It made Tony wonder if Scott even knew how to control the whole thing in the first place.

“We can use time travel to help up,” Tony said. Then, he looked directly at Scott. “But, it seems to me like you don’t know quite how to control it -- otherwise you might have ended up when you wanted to be.”

Scott sort of grimaced and it was answer enough which meant that first they needed to actually figure out how to time travel. Because if Tony knew anything, it was that time travel was dangerous and messy and that all of this could end just as bad if not worse than before.

“What are you thinking, Tony?” Bruce asked.

The idea had formed for him before he even realized it -- coming to him because of something Carol had said earlier about going after Thanos and taking the stones and using them to set things right. Using the stones was probably the only way to undo the snap. But facing Thanos to take them seemed to lead directly to more defeat and his death too. Now, if they could time travel. It changed things.

“Well, what if we get all the stones before Thanos?”

Chapter One Hundred Thirty Seven

[missvanessagiardi]

adventures in babysitting || bodessa + 1

Tagging:   Vanessa and Bodie Holliday, Indigo McCarthy

Time: January 29th, 2025 (FUTURE WEEK)

Location: Marina Del Rey, Vanessa’s Condo

Notes: Vanessa (hastily) volunteers to babysit for MJ and Lo...much to Bodie’s chagrin surprise.  Thanks to little Indy, the two get a tiny taste of parenthood.

Addtional Info: This is a future week para.  Thank you to @lomccarthy and @immj for letting us steal your character’s child for this!

Bodie told herself she wouldn't go back to West. Not for the rest of their little trip. But avoiding a kitchen is like trying to ignore the pull of a siren's song. She just can't. Especially at West. Her first kitchen. /Her/ first kitchen. Her name is on the door. Vanessa's picture hangs in the foyer. There are so many memories. She can't help but go back and observe the continuation of the journey. So she might've gotten a little caught up in the kitchen after a long morning of boardwalks and strolls with Vanessa and Angus. So she's not coming home empty-handed. Fresh dinner for both of them and a nice bone for Angus! Pushing her way through the front door, Bodie calls out. "Honey, I'm hoooome~"

Vanessa meanwhile has both of her long, lanky forearms elbow deep in warm sudsy water, a silly expression on her face. Eyes crossing, and tongue peeking out. Her audience for this performance? A babbling and happy little Indigo McCarthy: Vanessa's last second volunteer to help MJ and Lo have a nice night out. The whole afternoon Vanessa had the baby out on the sands, cuddled up on the couch, and most recently getting a wash after making quite the mess of herself and a certain silly pitbull with babyfood. Angus insisted on joining his new friend in the tub, and Vanessa could scarcely resist, and now she's tasked with making sure both were squeaky clean. She's so focused, Bodie's return barely registers as she idly calls back. "In the bathroom, babe!"

Bodie takes her time setting down the food she's brought home, plating and placing it in the oven to keep warm while she follows up with Vanessa. She pulls a bottle of wine from the closet and sets it out to aerate then calls to the speaker sitting on the other side of the room to play an instrumental jazz playlist. It's a nice start to a nice wind-down of a nice night in with her wife, and Bodie takes her time. She moves from the kitchen to the bedroom and immediately strips out of her kitchen clothes to pull on a clean, comfortable pair of sweats and an old V-neck. Hair gets tossed up. Glasses get put on. And then she ambles into the bathroom. Angus' absence has been conspicuous, and paired with Vanessa's explanation, Bodie's assumed he's getting bath. And she's right. He's just.. got company. Little company. Little human company. Bodie slows her approach, mouth hanging open in suspended surprise as she stares at the baby in their bath and then at Vanessa. Arms fold across her chest. "IIIIIIIIIII... didn't know to be expecting company."

Vanessa freezes on the spot, the silence is filled with the baby's joyful gurgles as Angus licks a blob of bubbles off of her head. ​Shit!​. Turning her head on her neck to look back at her wife, Vanessa offers a sheepish expression. "Uh....I can explain." Quickly, she rinses the remaining bubbles from the baby's head and she lifts little Indigo out of the water, immediately wrapping the infant in a warm fluffy towel and holding her against her chest. A pudgy fist wraps around Vanessa's long pointer finger, and the model pantomimes a wave. "Indy, say hello to Aunt Bodie. Hi Bodie!" She says in a singsong voice, face against Indigo's with a smile. "Bodie, meet Indigo McCarthy. MJ's daughter. They needed a babysitter last minute so...here we are!"

Bodie tries not to let her face show exactly how not ideal this situation is. It feels a little like the time that Vanessa just showed up at home with Angus and, while that ultimately resulted in something very good, a baby isn't a puppy. And it's a baby her wife will give back to her parents at the end of the night, but Bodie can't help but feel a little bumrushed all things considered. In the context of this week... "Right. Here we are." She's smiling, but she's sure Vanessa can tell it's put-upon. She might not be pleased, but she'd feel like an asshole for letting her frustration upset an infant. "I'll be in the kitchen while you finish up in here." She turns on heel and leaves the room, very aware of Angus' wet, clumsy butt skidding out behind her.

Vanessa feels her stomach sink through the floor as she watches Bodie walk away. Inwardly she curses herself for not having the foresight to ask if Bodie would be okay with this. But it was only until later that night, and MJ needed someone... She glances down at the still very damp baby in her arms, entirely oblivious to the already tense air, still happily babbling and gnawing on Vanessa's finger. "Hey now, I'm gonna need that later, little lady!" Vanessa playfully scolds while walking out of the bathroom toward her bedroom. A quick change and diaper later, Vanessa enters the kitchen with Indigo in her arms still, and a ring of gummy keys firmly in the baby's mouth. Chewing with determination. Seating herself at the table, she looks to Bodie. "How were things over at West?" Maybe if they ignore the baby elephant in the room, things might not be so bad.

Bodie keeps herself busy by grabbing a towel from the laundry room and actually getting down on her knees to dry Angus before he makes the living room furniture smell like wet dog. Having him around sort of keeps her sane. She didn't ask for the responsibility of babysitting a kid, but the routine of dealing with her dog is familiar and comfortable. Once he's sorted, she slowly rises to her feet and sets the table. That's when Vanessa comes in with the baby, and Bodie bites the inside of her cheek for a moment. "Good. Busy." She uncovers Vanessa's plate and props her hip against the table, looking down at the model. "Are you hungry?"

Vanessa nods. "Yes. Famished. It's been a..." her voice suddenly gets singsongy once more as she looks at Indigo, "a very busy day of playtime with Angus on the beach!! Hmm?" Her gaze returns to Bodie’s, looking expectantly for her welcome home kiss.

Bodie flicks her eyes between Vanessa, the baby and back again, appraising. Finally, giving in, the chef leans down and presses a kiss to the model's lips. She pulls back just enough that their lips still touch when she says softly, "I love you." Then she kisses Vanessa again and stands, retrieves a fork and comes back, spearing a piece of asparagus and biting some off before holding the rest out in Vanessa's direction.

Vanessa feels a bit better with her wife's usual affection, and she can't fight the love drunk grin that forms at Bodie's playful offer of asparagus...that gets intercepted by a curious little hand that reaches for the spear before Vanessa can get to it. Gummy keys fall to the floor in favor of this exciting and strange new chew toy, and immediately Indigo begins to gnaw on it. "Oops?"

Bodie stares at the baby for a few seconds, a little dumbfounded, then looks back at Vanessa. The last thing she wants to do is fuck up someone /else's/ kid. Jesus. "Can babies even eat asparagus?" Blue eyes are a little owlish behind her glasses. "V, take it away from her."

Vanessa can't help but laugh a little at Bodie's concern, and she makes no move to take the asparagus from the baby, who has effectively turned one end of the vegetable into a gloopy mess. "Baby, relax, it's okay for a baby at her age to have some, yes. Can I get one now, please? Because it smells amazing, and little Indy here is making me jealous cuz she gets to enjoy it before I do!"

Bodie remains skeptical. There's a quirk to her brow as she watches the little brunette child do things to an asparagus spear she's never seen anyone do before. Her lip sort of half-curls for a second before she recovers and finally takes another piece onto a fork-- takes her own bite-- and offers the rest to her wife.

Vanessa happily accepts the asparagus with a wide eyed Indigo watching the exchange, staring as the long spear disappears bite by bite into Vanessa's mouth and down her long throat. Vanessa looks the baby in the eye with a loud "Mmmmmmmmmm!" and Indigo, fascinated with Vanessa's ability to eat the weird chew toy offers the half gnawed asparagus spear to the model. "Oh? You're letting me have it? Thank you, Indy!" Opening her mouth wide, she accepts the asparagus spear and nips down toward Indigo's little fist, kissing it loudly several times in a row. The baby squeals with delight. "MMMMmmmm that was so good! Aunt Bodie is the best cook in the entire world!" The baby continues to laugh, and Vanessa can't stop herself from giggling along with her. She offers Bodie an apologetic look.

Bodie knows her face is doing something really unattractive. Blanching, she can't quite watch Vanessa take a slobber-covered piece of asparagus with a neutral expression. So she lets them have their moment and turns away to pour herself a glass of wine. Downing the first pour quickly, she pours a second and then turns back to the pair at the end of the table. Glass in hand, she carefully forks a bite of cod and offers it to Vanessa.

Vanessa finds the whole scenario to be absolutely hilarious. Vanessa with a squirming one year old in her arms, and Bodie set on feeding Vanessa as though she were a one year old. She happily accepts the proffered morsel, and chews. "Mmm, ugh god this is so good." She's so spoiled with one of the best chefs in the country as a wife, and the occupant of her lap clearly sees that. Reaching with little fingers, Indy wants to find what Vanessa's just eaten. "Bodie, can you give Indy a little bite too, please?" As if on cue, the baby now looks at the chef.

Bodie takes a breath and swallows before licking her lips, slowly, and forking a small bite of perfectly cooked fish in the infant's direction. Indy opens her mouth and Bodie panics for a second, not wanting to jab someone else's child in the mouth with a fork, before oh-so carefully feeding the baby and smoothly (but quickly!) pulling the fork back. She releases the breath she didn't realize she was holding.

Vanessa beams at Indy as the baby happily chews and swallows. "There we go! Good girl, Indy! All gone!" Eyeing Bodie, Vanessa can't help but smile wider; proud of her wife for doing something she's sure Bodie wasn't particularly keen to. Holding up the baby up to a standing position so that her little feet are flat on Vanessa's thighs, the model playfully exclaims, "Thank you, Aunt Bodie!"

Bodie continues this odd tete-a-tete between herself, her wife and a friend's baby over and over again. And by the time she's washing the dishes and scooping a little bit of ice cream for dessert, she's convinced that both Vanessa and Indy actually ate more than she did. Which... go figure. But she finishes up her clean-up and takes the ice cream-- that she will, again, eat the least of-- into the living room to join the party on the couch. Where everyone is watchinnnng... "Is this really kid-friendly, baby?"

Vanessa glances up at her wife with a quizzical look, "It's just NatGeo. It's a bunch of cute little meerkats and--" All of the sudden one of the aforementioned meerkats is caught--and presumably eaten--by an African Wild Dog. Vanessa changes the channel before they can learn the meerkats fate. "Ooookay, point taken. Finding Nemo it is!" Scooting over so Bodie can sit, Vanessa begins to click through the Netflix menus, and Indy busies herself by gumming Vanessa's finger. Noticing the ice cream, Vanessa smiles. "Look Indy, Aunt Bodie brought us a little treat!"

Bodie assumes it's her fate to be the long suffering parental figure in this arrangement. Vanessa-- sweet, kind Vanessa-- has always been much more open and much more demonstrative of her sunshiney personality. It's one of the things that drew Bodie to her back in the very beginning... a genuine magnetism. But now it's costing her her ice cream. Bodie glances between her couch companions and sighs before offering the spoon in their general direction. She has no clue which mouth will clamp down on it first. "Are you sure they want you feeding their baby dairy and sugar?"

Vanessa tilts her head at the question. "I mean, she shouldn't eat that entire bowl, but a spoonful or two isn't gonna set her up with Type II Diabetes or anything." Taking the spoon, Vanessa slowly brings it to the baby's mouth. "Here it comes, open wide!" As the little girl does so, Vanessa too, opens her mouth, closing it as Indy clamps down on the little dollop of ice cream on the lip of the spoon. Catching the tiny bit that dribbles from the corner of Indy's mouth, Vanessa cleans the spoon herself and hands it back to Bodie. "Mmm so good!" Before she can gauge if the baby wants another, Indy lets out a yawn and nuzzles against Vanessa's chest. Within which Vanessa's heart melts into a puddle. Instinctively, her arms curl around the sleepy infant, cocooning her to Vanessa's body. Rocking the baby gently, Indy is out cold within minutes, and Vanessa lightly leans against her wife. "Look at her, baby...so sweet and innocent. She's been so good all day..."

Bodie eyes the sleeping child skeptically. Blue eyes finally rise to meet Vanessa's green. "She could have been a terror all day, and you'd say the same thing." Despite the argumentative statement, Bodie's voice is softer. Considerate. She knows that Vanessa loves this. She knows that. It didn't take seeing this all evening to know that. And Bodie's never not wanted to give her wife everything she loves. She just... She doesn't want to dwell on it and feel bumrushed again. She just wants to make Vanessa happy where she can. She tips her head to one side, resting against Vanessa's hair. "I know this makes you happy," she says softly, resting her free hand on her wife's knee.

Vanessa wants to add, ​"I wish it made you happy..."​ but she doesn't. She'll take whatever she can get in terms of Bodie's comfort level with their little guest. For now, with a warm slumbering infant in her arms, she's content curling up against her beloved wife, and relaxing--probably what Bodie's wanted to do all along. Turning her head, she presses a few kisses to the hollow of the Chef's throat, and remains gently pressed against the soft skin. She murmurs, "I love you." And she means it. Fully.

Bodie takes a deep, slow breath, relaxing into the couch and into the feeling of Vanessa's familiar body curled against her. This is nice. It's the first time since she came home that she's been able to feel... peaceful. Which is all she wanted. But Vanessa is happy, and the baby is sleeping. Angus is sprawled on the floor. She's got kisses. And hey! She's got her ice cream all to herself! "I love you, too, V. With my whole heart."