#did greg spend too much time reading those posts that are like

[alwaysalreadyangry]

cannot BELIEVE they cut out all of the scenes where Nicky is like this about food

[lifewithdavefarts]

DaveFarts - Episode 4 “Post Gym Gas” [Episode List] The showers at Dave’s gym are once again out of order so he shows up at Tim’s house to take a shower.  This time, however, he’s not in a rush, so he can spend a bit more quality time with his best friend…  With some help from the gassy effects of his fiber bars…

Unlike the other stories, this one is told from Dave’s POV.

Post-Gym Gas

“Man… thanks again, Tim.” I said, showing up in his bedroom wearing only a pair of boxers.

Yes, only a pair of underwear. Tim’s gay? He finds this attractive?

Who cares. That’s how I act when I’m around our other straight friends and I’m not going to treat Tim “unnaturally”, or like he’s some kind of of sick person, just because he thinks he’s making me uncomfortable. Heck: he probably got a boner right now. Big. Fucking. Deal. I’ll just take that as a compliment.

“Those idiots at the gym again messed everything up. Maybe I should go to a different one.”

I grabbed the towel that Tim gave me earlier and pressed it on the rest of my body as I still felt a bit too wet. I then checked my phone, answering a couple of texts from my girlfriend Dana and put on my pair of black gym shorts (they’re not really ‘shorts’ actually as they almost go below my knees when I get up). I remain bare-chested as it’s not really a cold evening and I don’t want to sweat again: I just took a shower!

As usual, I felt my stomach rumble a bit. “Fucking fiber bars again!” I thought. I ripped like eight long farts under the shower, but I still feel bloated. Is the gym working? I’m eating tons of those bars and I just can’t see the point. Well, at least they sure make Tim happy.

Yeah… Tim, my great, disgusting best friend. Can’t believe he likes this stuff.

Look at him, trying to read his books, in silence. He’s already as red as a tomato. I wonder when he’ll understand that he doesn’t have to feel so embarrassed about this stuff, not around me at least.

Speaking of which, I think I got one ready…

I couldn’t hide my smirk as I slowly got up and walked towards my friend sitting behind his desk. I was literally towering him. Tiny, short Tim: must defend at all costs!

I don’t know how this stuff works, but I hope he’s enjoying it.

And, honestly, I think it’s hilarious, and I’m always glad to share a few good laughs with him.

“Dude. I think I got a big one for ya.” I simply said.

I turned around, chuckling a bit, pointing his butt at his face. I leaned a bit and I felt his defenseless head brushing against the fabric of my gym shorts. I already started to laugh. I’m a worthless immature, but I thought that was hilarious. I pushed a bit and the fart came out naturally, as big as my usual blasts. I made sure that my ass was still brushing against my friend’s face: I need to make clear that I’m perfectly comfortable with his fetish.

The fart vibrated violently through my shorts right in his face.

Eight seconds. Man! I’m so talented. Fucking fibers though.

I turned around to check whether my friend survived to that, and his hilarious smile confirmed that he was alive and well (and probably aroused too, but that’s a problem I can’t take care of). I bursted into a laugh, I couldn’t’ help it.

“Told ya it was big!”

He nodded at me and smiled.

As long he’s comfortable around me it’s great.

We still spend an incredible amount of time together and, to be honest, nothing really changed.

But sometimes Tim acts a bit too awkward, so I just make him understand (every. single. time.) that there’s no reason to act all weird around me. Dude, I’m like your brother, you can trust me! I trust you, that’s for sure!

Man, I’m pretty sure he wishes more face-farts right now.

I wonder if he will ever have the guts to ask me directly. He knows I’m a proud farter, I’ve always been.

Gotta admit that the funniest part about all of this is how much of a dork Tim is, seriously.

If he wasn’t gay, pretty sure some girl out there would have considered him adorable.

To me, however, it was a mixture of annoying and hilarious.

I felt my belly hurt a bit; fiber bars were still messing up with my stomach. I finally put on a black undershirt and sat again on my friend’s bed. I’ll leave in a couple of minutes though, gotta a lot of stuff to work on back at home.

“Dave…”

Apparently, Tim just grew a pair.

I saw him turning red, into a stuttering pile of awkwardness.

I pretended to have no idea of what he was going to tell me and I tried not to laugh at him.

“I’d hate to make you uncomfortable but…”

I checked my phone, not even looking at him, if that made him more comfortable.

“But since you seem so open-minded about it I was wondering… nah never mind!”

I chuckled a bit. “What?” I asked, knowing exactly what he was going to say.

“It’s just that I don’t want you to think that I want to be your friend because of…”

“…because of my farts?” I simply said, cutting him off.

He almost fell from his chair and quickly stood up, nervous as usual.

“Tim, I know you’re not an asshole. If you were, I wouldn’t be here.” I stated.

Let me tell you the truth: I knew that Tim loved my farts and most of all loved the fact that I didn’t care at all about his fetish. And that’s it. He was my friend before realizing his fetish, since middle school.

Tim always says “Oh Dave! He’s so great. Always looking out for me!”, but that’s because he’s an insecure little shit.

The truth is that Tim has always been the one looking out for me. He’s always been there, for reasons that I don’t really want to explain, but let’s just say that sometimes it was pretty serious family stuff.

He’s not an asshole: he’s the opposite of that.

I know he considers me “the” best of the friends.

Let me tell you that I consider myself lucky to have a friend like him.

It’s hard to believe, I know, since he’s so weak and awkward, while I’m stronger and all this bullshit, but trust me.

This “best friend” thing goes both ways. He’s my bro.

“Were you going to ask me for a fart?” I asked, with a smirk.

His reaction was priceless.

“Sorry, I shouldn’t have done that. It’s just too… gay I guess.” he tried to say, faking a chuckle, trying to *not* sound embarrassed, completely terrified.

It’s not like this came out of nowhere though.

I did “help” somehow, not only with my continuous face-farting.

I even send him random fart videos on WhatsApp. That must be painful for him.

“That’s not what friends are for. You’re already doing so much for me. You’re being so supportive, more than I could have ever hoped, and I’m not only talking about… well… this” he said, too embarrassed to pronounce the word 'fart’ apparently. “I’m not in the position to ask for this stuff. Sorry.”

That was too easy.

I nodded and then, with a deft movement, gently kicked his ankle, making him trip on his own bed. His head landed right next to my sagging (in shorts) butt and I didn’t even need to move.

“There. Now you’re in the position to ask.” I chuckled.

He was, quite literally, in the *right* position: I could sit on his face in a moment.

I laughed so much at him, but I wanted to laugh with him.

I simply stared at my gay friend and smiled, finding his teary, embarrassed eyes a bit too hilarious maybe. I finally lifted my butt, and put it above his defenseless face. I didn’t sit directly on him: my ass was hovering above him, only inches away from his nose. I then started to fart, as I usually do.

Fiber bars were an incredible fuel. The blast almost ripped my pants. Even I could feel the wind being fired right in my friend’s face. Disgusting. Disgustingly hilarious. I bursted again into a laugh and I sat directly on his head as the fart kept going. One of my best of that day, that’s for sure. I think it lasted around 9 seconds.

Pretty sure he loved it.

“Smells great, does it?” and I lost it, laughing again like an immature jerk, despite being in my 20s.

Tim was dazed, startled and sat next to me.

I patted his shoulder in a friendly manner and he turned to me, finally laughing too.

“Gotta go now, bro.” I said, it was getting too late. “See ya tomorrow. I’m expecting you to join us this weekend. We’re having a surprise party for Lucy.”

“Of course! I already texted Greg. He’s got a new car and can pick both of us, so we can drink as much as we want!” he replied, with a rare smirk.

You smooth little fucker.

You act all awkward around me, but you’re still a party-animal.

So proud of you, bro.

“Finally! That’s the Tim I want to hear!” I said, heading downstairs. “See ya tomorrow then…”

Outside of the house, in his front yard, I then ripped one last, long, rumbling fart.

Fucking fibers!

I guess this one is literally on the house, Tim.

End of Episode 4

[1dmonthlyficroundup]

1D Monthly Fic Roundup

Hi, and welcome to the 1D Monthly Fic Roundup for August 2021! Below you’ll find 23 One Direction fics that were all published this month in the order they were submitted to the blog. We hope you’ll check out these new fics! If you would like to submit your own fic, please check this post on how to submit or visit our blog @1dmonthlyficroundup​.

Happy reading!

He Carries The Key by @lululawrence

[Niall/Louis, OT5, 8k, Not Rated, tumblr post]

Niall was mostly home, ready for a shower and a chat with Louis, when suddenly Niall was flooded with emotions from the pack bond.Shock. Surprise. Confusion.But mostly fear.Something was wrong with Louis.

Plus One by mynameispiaivy / @missrefridgefreetorator

[Louis/Luke Malak, 3k, Mature, tumblr post]

Louis is invited to an event and he has to bring a "plus one".

Better Mistakes by lovelarry10 / @chloehl10

[Harry/Louis, 117k, Explicit, tumblr post]

“Look, this doesn’t have to be the end of the world-”

“Oh but it fucking is,” Louis said, shaking his head. “How the fuck am I going to tell Matt I’m pregnant with a baby when we’ve not had sex in months? He might be a bit thick sometimes, but he is gonna know there’s no chance this baby is his.”

“You don’t have to, uh, tell him it’s mine, right?”

Louis scoffed. “Why, are you scared he’s gonna come and kick the shit out of you?”

“He wishes,” Harry laughed, looking back down at the test. “Shit, I … I can’t believe this. Louis, I didn’t mean for this. Honestly. It was just sex for me. We have great sex, and I didn’t see why I should have to turn that down, not when you clearly wanted it as much as I did. I didn’t want this to end in a baby.”

Louis knows he shouldn’t be sleeping with his boyfriend’s enemy. He knows that. But there’s something that draws him back to Harry over and over again. Falling in love wasn’t part of the plan...

Thou, Sun, Art Half As Happy by @lululawrence

[Louis/Harry/Nick Grimshaw, 7k, Not Rated, tumblr post]

Hello, I’m sorry if this isn’t a post that is allowed on this channel, but I was hoping for the best since it is regarding a photography project I’m working on at the moment. I’m working on a set of sunrise kiss photos and therefore am needing a willing kissing partner. I’d hoped to be able to provide one for myself, but it hasn’t panned out, so here I am! I was hoping to find someone here, since I know most of you (at least peripherally) and can generally vouch for you not being creeps. Plus this way I know you will understand needing to continue to tweak the camera settings and reshoots etc that others might not.

Anyway, I’m looking for someone who identifies as male or male-ish (sorry, ladies) who is between the ages of 18 and 40. I’m a 29 year old male-ish myself, for those who would like to know before replying.

If you’re interested and are free the early morning of August 7th and would like to kiss in the sunrise with me for the sake of some (hopefully) interesting and fun photos, let me know via DM and I’ll give you the location.

OR the one where Louis needs a kissing partner, two show up, and it all might turn out for the best that way.

call my name and save me from the dark by @so-why-let-your-voice-be-tamed / we_are_the_same

[Louis/Harry, 4k, Teen & Up, tumblr post]

“I don’t know if it was a nightmare,” he confesses to the ceiling, the darkness making it easier to speak up even when he still has to close his eyes to stop himself from tearing up. “It feels more like a memory. But it can’t be.”

Harry shifts, and Louis can feel his chin perched on his chest, doesn’t need to look at him to know that Harry’s studying him. “Why?” He prompts, when Louis doesn’t immediately continue, and Louis swallows, tries to shrug off the apprehension, the fear that Harry will think that he’s gone mad.

“Because I heard them pronounce me dead.”

Feels like home by @neondiamond

[Louis/Harry, 2k, Explicit, tumblr post]

Louis comes home from work with an exciting surprise. Daydreaming and celebrations ensue.

this is my jam by @disgruntledkittenface

[Harry/Louis, 4k, Mature, tumblr post]

The guy’s eyes are so blue that Harry can’t tear his gaze away, even as he moves to the beat. The searing light shade is magnetic; he finds himself leaning in and yelling, “This is my jam!” only to earn a laugh from thin pink lips that Harry’s definitely going to be dreaming about tonight.

“Your jam?”

When the guy yells back over the music, his blue eyes sparkling and his lips twisted in a smirk, Harry’s chest literally puffs out with pride at earning his attention. His obvious approval. Tongue-tied, Harry nods and closes his eyes as he lets go, the music reverberating around them. All of the usual inhibitions that keep him in the corner at parties fall away and he bounces around the center of the dance floor, waving his arms above his head. Somehow his towel stays on, even as he starts to think he wouldn’t mind if it fell off. Fuck it. He finally made it here, he’s damn well going to enjoy it.

Harry goes to a gay bathhouse for the first time. 90s AU.

I Know My Arithmedick (2 + 2 = 4sum) by yeah_alright / @uhoh-but-yeah-alright

[Harry/Louis + Louis/multiple partners, 3k, Explicit, tumblr post]

Harry wants to watch Louis fuck someone else. Louis loves giving Harry what he wants. It’s simple math, really.

doG…and his friend by @uhoh-but-yeah-alright / yeah_alright

[Louis/Harry, 3k, Teen & Up, tumblr post]

When Joan has to move out of her small, nice home and in with a random roommate, she obviously brings her dog/boyfriend, Doug, with her.

Doug makes a friend. And maybe more.

I Heard You Talking by @lululawrence

[Louis/Harry, 10k, Not Rated, tumblr post]

It had been an hour of their noise that Louis had been dealing with, and for some reason the fact that these grown men were being this rowdy in the quiet carriage over a game of Uno was the breaking point for him. He stood up and turned around, making his way down to where the group of five were somehow gathered around a table.

Louis stopped at the table and cleared his throat, mouth open and ready to politely request they keep it down when the man who was sitting with his back to Louis turned.

He was stunningly gorgeous.

Blinking a ridiculous number of times in an attempt to pull himself together, Louis coughed and spit out, “This is the quiet carriage.”

God, he was nearly forty and that was the best he could do in front of a set of pretty, green eyes?

Or the one where Harry is famous and Louis doesn't have a clue. Good thing his son is able to help him out.

All That You Need by @haztobegood

[Louis/Harry, 2k, Explicit, tumblr post]

Pre-heat was always one of Harry’s favorite times to spend with Louis. It was a time to rest up and indulge in extra cuddles, like basking in a ray of sunshine before having to dive off the deep end. Louis lavishes him with tender touches and soft kisses. Harry wants to savor this time as long as possible. The unquenchable need will come later, but for now, his desires are simple. He just needed to be closer to his alpha. As close as possible.

sickly sweet fonding by amomentoflove / @daggerandrose

[Louis/Harry, 1k, General, tumblr post]

A few members of their crew start piling up the dirty dishes and taking them over to the sink. Harry walks around the cameras, and smiles brightly at Louis.

“What do you think, Lou? Do I have it in the bag?”

Louis eyes a bowl of bright pink lumpy batter being cleaned from Harry’s side. “Of course you do.” He wraps an arm around Harry’s waist and steers him away, all while ignoring the dramatic gagging Niall is doing. He doesn’t think it’s just the batter making Niall gag.

or the one where Louis fonds over Harry's horrible baking skills

Fractured Moonlight by amomentoflove / @daggerandrose

[Louis/Harry, 1k, Mature, tumblr post]

Louis huffs because he doesn’t want to deal with this. “Listen, I appreciate your concern.” He doesn’t. “But it’s not your duty to look after the sad man at the bar. Okay?”

'Ere comes the milk by stretchmybones / @onlyfor-thegays

[Harry/Louis, 1k, Explicit]

Louis is obsessed with Harry's mommy milkers.

everything comes back to you by stretchmybones / @onlyfor-thegays

[Louis/Harry, 8k, Explicit]

Harry and Louis are childhood best friends. What happens when Harry has to move towns just as they are starting their secondary gender presentations? What happens when fate brings them back together years later in the most unexpected of ways?

He Still Takes My Breath Away by @parmahamlarrie

[Harry/Louis, 32k, Teen & Up, tumblr post]

Camp Infinity is the perfect place for a lot of things; hiking, swimming, sports, eating, and falling in love. Harry Styles is a bit too familiar with the last one from his years of being a camper. This year things will be different. He’s 21, a grown man now, and ready to see Camp Infinity from a different point of view; working as a lifeguard. However, his whole summer turns upside down when a familiar British lad makes his return into Harry's life.Or the one where Harry is a lifeguard and Louis is the head of recreation. And, sometimes, you just need a little push to realize what was right in front of you the whole time.

Also known as �� The Summer Camp Fic

tread lightly on my ground by fairytalelights / @lookslikefairytale

[Louis/Harry, 20k, Explicit, tumblr post]

No, that's the tragic part of this, the part that makes Harry feel like the universe is playing a cruel joke on him. The father of his baby is exactly right, exactly who he always imagined himself having kids with. He just imagined them married, bonded. Happy. He didn't imagine them barely talking, tip-toeing around each other because neither of them is brave enough to talk about what happened between them. He didn't imagine the father of his child not loving him back.

or, the one where Harry is having Louis' baby, but Louis doesn't know it's his.

Getting a Head for Heights by @ladyaj-13 / LadyAJ_13

[Louis/Greg James, 3k, Teen & Up, tumblr post]

The problem is, Louis thinks Greg would be quite good to date, so it would really help if everyone would stop reminding him of that fact so he could unthink it. He’d be a gentleman, at least until Louis talked him out of it, and he’s funny and nice and hot and they’re both into music and football and drama. He’s also a freakish giant of a human, and the problem with dating is that sooner or later you have to stand next to each other.

We Go Together (series) by @beelou / cherrylarry

[Louis/Harry, 3k, General, tumblr post]

A grease au

Hot Boy Summer (series) by @louisandtheaquarian / zita17

[Harry/Louis, 35k, Teen & Up, tumblr post]

Louis is an overworked bartender hoping to save up enough extra tips to buy a new air conditioner before he literally melts during a scorching NYC heat wave. Harry is the new neighbor that wakes him up by moving in his sole day off at 6am. An NYC enemies to neighbors to lovers AU featuring a rickety fire escape, the 2021 Euros, Lirry bickering like a divorced couple, and enough OT5 clichés to rot your teeth. (If Harry's pastries don't get them first.)

across the river is where my heart is by 4ureyesonly28 / @evilovesyou

[Louis/Harry, 8k, General, tumblr post]

The first time they see each other is when they are toddlers, playing out in the yard. Louis remembers sitting on the perfectly trimmed lawn and getting yelled at for picking at the soft blades of grass; she remembers looking over, across the narrow but deep and wild river, and watching another little girl, out in a different garden, picking flowers for her mother.

She remembers carefully raising her hand and waving—her little heart beating hard in her chest, as if she had done something dangerous, something forbidden, even though back then she could not understand the true divide the River made amongst them.

bright eyes, blue denim by 4ureyesonly28 / @evilovesyou

[Louis/Harry, 2k, General, tumblr post]

Louis' favourite jeans have suddenly disappeared from where he always got them. Harry is a store manager with an affinity for customer care, particularly when the customer has bright blue eyes and happens to be very flirty.

whatever you feel like doing in this moment by 4ureyesonly28 / @evilovesyou

[Harry/Louis, 2k, General, tumblr post]

Louis gets all that he's ever wanted during his favourite game at their group's weekly improv show.

[chemicallady]

Daddy is home

Greg Sanders x Reader

A/N: Thank you everyone for reading this. If you want some fluff with just a little sadness, you're in the right place.

Couple: Greg Sanders/Female!Reader

Category: Mostly fluff with a little piece of angst. Family slice of life for Greggo.

Content Warning: none

Summary:  Reader is use to feel Greg absence.... but what about is own children? And Greg? What's more important? His job or his family?

*****

You are use to feel Greg absence, almost every night and, sometimes, even for days. It wasn't a big deal when you two started to see each other. You were a grad student, looking for a PhD out of town - searching for a new experience- and he was a lab tech at the crime lab in Vegas. Your relationship had worked for 5 years while you were in Salt Lake City, even if you constantly missed him so much and viceversa. He spent a lot of utahns weekends at your apartment and you came back in Nevada for every break.

After your PhD graduation you came back to Vegas and he proposed to you. It was an hard time, Warrick was dead, he had printed is first book on Vegas history and you just settled down at UNLV. You had lived togheter two months and then he proposed. Of course you said yes and the two of you had a small cerimony at the Eclipse, Catherine's casinó. It was an intimate cerimony, with your friends and co workes and relatives from Norway and (your hometown/country.)

You had worked hard on your post doc as a teaching assistant and a researcher and he has continued his job as a csi. You have always prefered working at night the days you didnt have any class, in order to be awake when he came back home in the morning.

It worked since you discovered that you were pregnant. Both of you were so excited to become parents, it has always been something that you desire, having your own kids. Start a family.

After Bjorn birth, by the way, everything changed. You have started to work in the morning and sleeping at night in order to provide the best standard of living for your son. And, after two years and half, Jodie came to the world, complicating thing but coloring your life even more.

You constantly miss Greg, of course. You miss your youth with him, the mornings spent in making love with jazz music in the background before a lazy afternoons sleeping in his arms. The days he came to the University after job to pick you up.

But both of you love your family.

It's stil working.

Because you love him and Greg loves you more than anything.

More than that, he is born to be a dad. He was scared as hell, but he perfect fits that role.

Even more, he is methodical.

He is really good in keeping job separating from his personal life, even if his coworkers are his family. And yours as well.

☆

...But is hard for kids to understand why dad is never home. Especially for Bjorn, who is the eldest. He has started to notice this situation in the last weeks and you have been scared of this moment since you gave birth to him.

《 Why daddy can't come today?》

You look at your baby boy, feeling really sorry for the whole situation. It is his first baseball match with the pre school team as a player in the field from the first minute and it means a lot to him.

Bjorn's really smart for his age, he understand that his parents jobs are important because is a duty... But is natural that he feels so betrayed. He is still too young to even imagine how demanding is Greg's job.

《Because daddy has a case》, you try to explain with a soft voce, caressing his blonde hair with two fingers. He seems totaly like his father in this moment. 《He has to catch this big bad guy and-》

《Why uncle Nick is not catching him for daddy? Just for today! 》

《Because they work togheter, sweetheart... you know that. We already talk about daddy's job...》

Not in a specific way, of course. Greg is more like a super hero to Bjorn.... he is too innocent and young to know how cruel and horrible could be the world sometimes.

《It's not fair. He never came to see me play》

《That's not fair... you know that daddy is so sad for this... he ask me to shot everything so he can see it as long as he will be home!》

That doesn't help.

《And I'll be already in bed》 he snuffles, before running in his room, nearly cry.

You don't know how to manage this. Both of Greg and you are really indipendent.... that's why your wedding is so strong, because you don't need the other around one all the time.

But for Bjorn is different. He needs his daddy as he needs you. Most of that, he wants to make Greg proud of him, shows him how he has improved thanks also to their weekend practices on Sundays.

You are still thinking about a solution, but Jo start to cry from her playbox.

You have to speak with your husband and decide what tell to Bjorn, togheter.

He deserves a good explanation.

☆

It's late when Greg comes home.

He is surprised when he notice that the kitchen lights are still turned on. You are sitting at the table, looking at your laptop as you can't really see it.

《 y/n, baby?》, he calls you, waking you up from your thoughts. 《Are you ok? It's like 3 in the morning, sweetie.》

《Yeah, I was looking over some notes from next week semenary when I realised how late it was, I decided to wait for you to come back.》

《Thanks, after a couple of double shifts, I really need to speak with my wife》, he says with a smile, before kisses your lips and take a sits next to you. 《I've missed home in those last two days.》

《Have you slept a little?》, you ask worried. When a case is so demanding, the team works till they are exhausted. 《Did you have a propel meal?》

《...I ate two sandwiches Dr Robbins' wife made for us.》

《....there is some roast left. I'm gonna warm it for you and then I'll put you in the bed at least for nine hours, bright man》

He laughts a little. 《Yes ma'am.》

You stand up, caressing his hair, after place a kiss on his head. 《Tell me about the cause. Was that bad?》

《More like a nightmare....》

He starts talking about the brutal abductions he was working on those last days. In the meanwhile you are cooking for him. You open a good bottle of wine your father sent to you last week and prepare a couple of fine glasses. Is not a problem for you when Greg talks about his job. For some unknown reasons, it grows on you during the years togheter. You also have helped the team sometimes with you competences. It's quite normal for the two of you speaking about your day. It helps to split away the stress and find always your connection. And is always reliving for you see that even if the job is so demanding physically and emotionally, Greg can totaly handle it. Not only. He loves is job. Even in dark days like this one.

《Poor girls....》, is the only thing you can say, while you're watching your husband eat like he was starving. 《No one deserve this kind of fate...》

《Think at the parents 》, he observes, moving his elbows quickly. 《If someone would have done something like that on Jodie, I'd went mad.》

You stop thinking about the case immediately.

《Sorry for the unhappy connection.... but if you are not too tired, we need to speak about our boy.》

Greg looks at you surprised. 《What about him? Bad day?》

《Yes》, you answer, surprising him even more. Bjorn is really talented in sports, unlike his father. 《He played 10 minutes than he had an argument with the coach and spent the rest of the afternoon warming the bench.》

This is unusual. Bjorn is a good lad. Always smiley and obedient at preschool. Teachers love him because he is so good and he knows a lot about science and stuff even if he is four. Mom is an academic, a college professor and daddy is a scientist. How could be different? He is also responsible and he always take serious the baseball trainings. That's the first time he disobey this much.

《What happened y/n? Oh, no. Let me guess.》 You look him cover his own face with a hand. 《He is mad at me, isn't he?》

《Yep babe, he is really mad at you. And at me as well. By now, I think he is mad at the world because you didn't come today.... I explained him that's not your fault, but...》

Greg sighs 《But it is my fault. When he born I swore to God that I'd be a good father even if my job is.... the 70% of my life.》

《But you are》, you say with a stubborn tone in your voice. 《You are a good father. It was just and unfortunate Saturday. He have never missed a game before. You'd be there if it wasn't for the case. 》

《I know but he deserves more than all those 'if' statements. 》 You look at him, feeling the heaviness of this thoughts. 《I should stay in the lab.》 He finally says and you realise a long sigh. This is not going to be an happy conversation, not with your regretting husband weak moment. 《The moment I met you, I knew you were the one. I wanted to start a family before changing job, work on field. It was a stupid decision. If I continued to work as DNA tech we would have more money and more time to spend all togheter.》

《.... I throught we were out with 'if' statements.》

《Y/n, honey-》

《Don't you dare 'honey' me, Greg Sanders.》 You stop him. You keep his hand in yours and smile. 《You are an amazing father. One day, when he will be older and wiser, he will understand. Now is easy to handle the situation. If you spend a day with him, he'll forget about it. Is just a kid, G.》

Greg seems not satisfied. He feels like an idiot, not thing about how mad is son would be noticed his absence. But he also trust your judgement. He always says that you are an amazing mom and even more, the best of wives.

So he smiles back.

《Maybe you are right.》

《Maybe?》, you ask with an ironical tone. He stand up and comes near to you. He offers his hand and you keep it, staning on your feet.

《Sorry Dr Sanders》, he replies, while you are wrapping your arm on his neck. 《You're completely right y/n. I'm already planning an afternoon, just for boys.》

《He'll love it》, you reassure him, before asking for another kiss, with more passion. You both find a good arrangement so you can clean the kitchen and try to sleep at least three hours.

.....or maybe do something more interesting with you husband, who seems to have plans, looking the way he is lifting the t-shirt of your pijama....

You are use to feel Greg absence, that's true.

But when he comes back, well.... that's the moment you realise how much you actually have missed him. And how much you love him and be loved in return.

○Fin○

[historic-old-guard-lover]

How many languages and which of them would the cast speak if we’re going to be completely historically accurate ?

This a great question that I can’t quite answer, but I spent six hours researching to give it a shot. I think that there’s a broad range of plausible languages and you’ve got leeway to choose how many. The first part is that different people have different affinities for languages. Some people can speak ten different languages fluently (or near-fluency), while others will struggle juggling three different ones in their brains. The range in the languages can affect this, too: it’s easy to mess up between similar languages. I personally have trouble speaking Spanish because in the middle of the sentence, I’ll drop a French word without even realizing it. The same thing doesn’t happen to me in other languages like German, though. By the same token as I’ve discussed before, similar languages are easier to learn. Going from English to Russian with the Cyrillic alphabet? More difficult than English to French, which makes up about a third of modern English. These are languages that are still in the same family (Proto-Indo-European, PIE), though, so it holds nothing to the difficulty of going from English to a language like Mandarin.

I’m breaking this answer into two parts: 1) how many?; 2) which ones? and I’m going to get carried away because I’m me so it’s below the break to spare you if this comes across your dash and you’re not a nerd...

PART 1: What’s a realistic number for them to speak?

I think that each member of the old guard probably has a certain number of languages which they’re comfortable with, a few more that they can understand/get by in, and a few that they may only know phrases from. The number of each isn’t the same for everyone. The average human being is able to speak ~1.5 languages. The most talented polyglots can speak upwards of 50 languages, maybe one guy even spoke 65 (mostly I want to mention he loved translating the phrase “kiss my ass”). This hyperpolyglot, Kreb aka “Kiss My Ass” Stan, had his brain dissected after his death and it showed a lot of “abnormalities”. That leads neuroscientists and me to believe that being able to study and learn 65 languages is either 1) a major skill that rewired his brain because he was flexing it so much; or 2) very abnormal and facilitated by his brain differences. Since their powers don’t make them stop being limited by the human brain (they can forget), I would say that it is unlikely that one of them is fluent/near fluent/comfortable in more than ~65 languages.

Getting past twelve languages is considered a feat, so I think only Andy, Quynh, Nicky, and Joe could be anywhere near the upper-bounds of languages. Remember, these hyperpolyglots spend their entire lives studying languages and often need refreshers. The members of the Old Guard don’t have the luxury of reading grammar books all day, and they also have to remember a bunch of combat training. You can argue that a lot of fighting is “muscle memory” aka located in the cerebellum and nowhere near language processing areas, but there’s still things like math, navigation, etc. that they need to remember. I doubt they have a list of their safe houses just lying around. The older members can speak more languages by virtue of being around longer and having that time to learn, but if we’re being realistic they should probably speak no more than ~45-55 languages comfortably. This doesn’t mean that they only *know* that many, but the other languages would be more like bad high school Spanish in America than able to wax poetic. Aside: that Joe is able to be poetic in what is AT LEAST his fourth or so language is very impressive and we should talk about that more.

How Many Each Member is Maximally Proficient In/Knowledgeable Of at the end of the film/Opening Fire comics run:

Lykon (comics): proficient in ~15, knowledgeable of ~30*

Lykon (movies): proficient in ~45, knowledgeable of ~80*

Andy: proficient in ~50, knowledgeable of ~100**

Quynh | Noriko: proficient in ~51, knowledgeable of ~90**

Joe: proficient in ~30, knowledgeable of ~80

Nicky: proficient in ~30, knowledgeable of ~80

Booker: proficient in ~10, knowledgeable of ~30

Nile: proficient in ~2 (maybe 3), knowledgeable of ~5

*In the comics, he is younger than Andy and Quynh and I assume he dies young. In the movie, it is strongly implied that he was the oldest. The reason why his numbers are not larger, however, is because at some point there were fewer languages as humanity had not dispersed as much as it eventually did. He’s also long before written language which facilitates learning for most people. RIP Lykon.

**I’m not saying that Quynh is smarter than Andy, just that she comes after written language and it should be slightly easier for her to pick things up. I’m giving Andy access to more languages, however, because PIE alone covers Europe, Central Asia, and South Asia. More on this later.

PART 2: Which languages would each of them speak?

I’ve covered this question a little in a previous post that was broadly about proto-indo-european/Andy-centric (check it out if you want), but I’ll give a broader survey of each character here.

A Quick Aside on Lykon: We don’t know enough about this character, and the fact that the comics and movie diverge so sharply does not help at all. I’m going to headcannon that he was from Eastern Africa, where most archaeologists agree that modern humans first appeared in the Horn of Africa aka modern Ethiopia and Somolia and neighbors, and predates Andy by ~3,000 years. For future purposes below and assuming a birth date for Andy in the range ~5,000BCE - 4,000BCE, this puts his birth at around ~8,000BCE - 7,000BCE. This is wild speculation, however. Maybe the early immortals should be spaced by warfare types (Stone Age, Bronze, Iron, Steel?) or maybe they pop up once a cultural region reaches a certain historic point or maybe they just sorta pop up and then live for six or seven thousands years. I’m working off the last assumption because it’s the simplest. The only thing I’m certain of is that Greg Rucka probably didn’t sit down and think this pattern through. If I’m wrong, oh well. I’m mad at him for all his historical inaccuracies. With dating from ~8,000BCE - 7,000BCE, I’m having trouble finding a name for the cultures that scientists/historians know were living there at the time. It’s probably because the region has been continually occupied since the first humans, which one can safely assume makes abandoned and undisturbed sites hard to fine.

A Quick Aside on Quynh | Noriko: I like the film better, so I’ll be working with Quynh. If there’s enough interest, I can add on Japanese for Noriko. I’m going to date Quynh to be ~1,500 years after Andy (maybe this should be the new date system, before Andy “BA” and after Andy “AA”). This puts her in the time range of ~3,500BCE - 2,500BCE which could place her in either the Đa Bút neolithic culture of modern-day Vietnam or the Phùng Nguyên bronze age culture of modern-day Vietnam. Those names are archaeological in nature, based on the location where sites have been found and dated to those ranges.

Other Origins: Because we have diverging cannons, I’m going to just state the backgrounds that I’ve assigned. Joe is from 1066CE with a background in the Arab-controlled Maghreb (more specifically, modern-day Tunisia and Northern Algeria). Nicky is from 1069CE with a background from the Italian maritime republic and city-state of Genoa. Booker is from 1770 southern France. Nile is from 1994 Chicago in the United States. Andy is from ~5,000BCE - 4,000BCE in the Caucasus (modern-day Georgia and Azerbaijan) or the South Western Eurasian Steppes, probably the Shulaveri-Shomu culture assuming that location.

The first language everyone learned, their “mother tongue” or “native language” is one that they definitely speak. It’s the language that they think in and would be hard-pressed to lose. This even includes now-dead languages, because, again, it’s the one that they learned to think with. Of course, it is possible to lose a language when you have no one to speak it with if you wanted to do something tragic, but I think that these things are too deeply ingrained for it it to happen by accident.

What Each One’s First Language Would Be:

Nile: American English, possibly African-American Vernacular English (AAVE) at home

Booker: Provençal/Occitan, possibly “standard French” (school and other places outside the home)

Nicky: Genoese Ligurian/Zeneize

Joe: Tunisian Derja/Tunisian Arabic/Tunisian, and possibly one of the dialects of the native Zenati language group based on where more precisely you place him

Quynh: Proto-Viet–Muong (which isn’t well documented because it’s so old)

Andy: Proto-Indo-European (PIE), but if you’re curious the Classical Scythian Language for which she is probably named is only off by a factor of 10 (4000 vs 400 BCE) *cue distressed sighing*

Lykon: Proto-Cushitic (also suffering a lack of documentation from being old as heck)

Other than their first languages, what else they learn depends on where they go. People learned languages back then for the same reasons that they do today: to communicate (and to read, after the invention of writing). 

Additional Confirmed or Likely Cannon Languages:

Nile: Spanish because of the American school system for sure. French is listed on the IG account, but she probably speaks only Spanish or French to a degree of fluency, definitely one better than the other. Very Basic Pashto, which we see her use some obviously-memorized phrases with in the film.

Booker: The IG promo things asserts that he knows (modern, standard) Italian and Greek. Why not? He also probably knows Spanish depending on where more specifically in southern France he is from. He’s probably also picked up on at least Very Basic Arabic from Joe and Nicky, but actually learning the language would take commitment from him. He also clearly speaks English.

Nicky: Other Italian dialects, and it would be fairly easy for him to have picked up modern Italian. He definitely reads Latin. If he was from a wealthy family, he probably also speaks Greek. If he was from a trading family, he probably speaks the trading pidgin of Sabir. The IG account confirms Arabic (vague, but okay I’ll be generous and say modern standard Arabic) and Romanche (they meant to write Romansh). I think Romansh is poorly chosen to characterize him in Northern Italy, but I’m feeling generous. He also clearly speaks English.

Joe: He definitely speaks standard Arabic to have been able to communicate with other Arabic-speakers in Jerusalem.  Genoese Ligurian/Zeneize because of the love of his life, which also means he probably picked up modern Italian at some point. The IG account confirms Farsi (they call it “Persian” *cue screaming*), which works if he was a merchant who traveled far to eastward on the Silk Road...and if you go with the comic cannon makes more sense. I’m going to say that he speaks the Mediterranean trading pidgin Sabir because of his location in Tunisia. If he was from a wealthy merchant family and could afford schooling, he probably learned Greek and maybe also Latin. There’s a good chance that he knows conversational-levels of other native Zenati languages thanks to colonialism discouraging their usage. He also clearly speaks English.

Quynh: We don’t actually know if she speaks English, but it’s safe to assume she does speak at least some of it. She’s probably learned Vietnamese and Mường because of her mastery of their proto-language. Because I see her returning to modern-day Vietnam to fight the Chinese colonization, I think that she might know Cantonese or Mandarin. Based on her travels with Andy, I’d like to propose Greek, Latin, and Mongolian. I’m sure that Andy and her share a language, but who knows which one they were each speaking when they met!

Andy: The IG account says “all,” but I’ve discussed this elsewhere (*major eye rolling*). She almost certainly picked up Scythian and Greek based on her chosen name. Latin isn’t as likely as you’d think, but is possible. I’d like to think that she’s also partial to learning Russian (or some earlier form of the language), Mongolian, and Armenian. Based on her travels with Quynh, I imagine that she speaks Cantonese or Mandarin and Vietnamese or Mu’o’ng. There is some mystery language shared with Quynh, too. She also clearly speaks English.

Lykon: I really don’t know enough about him to hazard any guesses. He should share at least one language in common with Andy and Quynh. If his date of death is ~2,000- 1,000 BCE like I’m supposing, there’s a good chance that he only speaks one or two currently-named languages. Sorry, OP.

[deliquescentnightmare]

Character Introduction

Hello! my first little character sheet so you all can meet Delila, the main protagonist of my still untitled story. Most- if not all- of my characters are blatant self-inserts, and Delila is no exception. I identify as GF so she's kind of the embodiment of my very fem moments, and my soft cottagecore side. Anyways, here's all you need to know about her! I'll post newer versions of her character sheet later on as certain events happen in the story so I don't give you guys spoilers.

Name: Delila Amelie Lestrade

Age: 24

Hometown: Born in Atlanta GA, moved around a lot as a child.

Occupation: Forensic Psychologist. FBI agent.

Sexuality: Asexual, questioning.

Talents/Skills: Writing. Playing Uke. Can't cook at all. Great skill of falling down or bumping into things. Hands are steady in times of crisis and is very levelheaded.

Siblings (describe relationship): Theodore 'Theo' Grayson Markham. 35, older half brother. Second son of Alana Markham(nee Ramses) and Fredrick Markham. Lives in NY. Jameson Albert Markham, 36, oldest half brother, and firstborn son of Alana Markham and Frederick Markham. Lives in rural North Carolina with his wife and kids. Gwendolyn 'Gwen' Beatrice Markham (deceased). Born 1980, died at 26) Killed in a car accident in St Louis in 2006. Very close to Delila and Jameson. Entire family mourned after she passed, and Alana became very different emotionally.

Mother (describe relationship): Alana Elizabeth Markham (nee Ramses). 54, lives in Ojai, California with Frederick Markham. They talk intermittently, but Alana isn't very responsible and Delila refuses to interact with her too much because it's emotionally draining. Alana refuses to acknowledge Gwen even existed.

Father (describe relationship): Gregory 'Greg' Lestrade. 49. Their relationship is close, and Greg would often visit Delila, or fly her out to see him during school holidays when she was a child. They call often (when he actually picks up or calls her back) and email back and forth. She loves him more than life itself even if he often forgets to call her because he's busy.

Significant Others (describe relationship): Struggles to remain relationships due to lack of intimacy, but had a long-term relationship for 2 years that recently ended for undisclosed reasons.

Pets: none yet. had a childhood snake named Jonathan.

Friends: Li Huang (will be introduced in the next chapter or the one after), John Watson, Molly Hooper, Sherlock Holmes (tentative), Theo, Mycroft Holmes(eventually).

Height: 5'2" or 157.5 cm

Weight: 135 lbs. or about 61 kg

Race: Caucasian, British-American

Eye Color: Blue in Original Fictions. In this AU, however her right one is Purple. her left is Pink. (I like pink and purple very much)

Hair Color: Naturally brown, dyed pastel orange.

Distinguishing features: Constantly has scrapes and bruises, often topped off with band-aids on her fingers and cheeks. Her wild orange hair and round gold-rimmed glasses. (they're bigger than Harry Potter's, before you ask). She wears a black pea-coat often, and it's worn from years of use. (it was her sister's)

How does he/she dress? Black pea-coat when it's colder. Likes to wear slightly-too-large clothing. Often wears stolen shirts, sweaters and button ups. Flowy, flowery dresses and skirts and occasionally ripped jeans. She did go through an Emo phase and dyed her hair white in her late teens/early 20's, and has some clothing left over from that phase that she occasionally wears.

Hobbies: Writing romance fiction and crime. Reading, often James Patterson or fantasy. Playing ukulele, and singing. She likes to dance but isn't very good at it, so she often does it when she's alone or it's dark (or both). She likes to go for walks with John in the park, and used to go for walks with Theo.

Greatest flaws: She cares too much too fast, and becomes attached to people within a day or so of meeting them. She can be slightly needy and clingy if she doesn't have a lot of friends, because she thrives off of physical affection. She's very stubborn, and will do things even when she's been given explicit instruction not to because she thinks she may know a better way. (sometimes she does, but other times she just is too strong headed to stop). She can either be unabashedly arrogant or filled with crippling self-doubt dependent on the situation as she's experienced a lot of respect and praise for her intellect. She also puts a lot of pressure on herself to succeed and it can lead to devastating burnouts.

Best qualities: Very loving and openhearted. She will put others' needs above her own nearly every time. She will make sure her friends and those she cares about are taken care of, and are taking good care of themselves. She is extremely intelligent and knows an array of weird and sometimes useful facts, and has a large span of knowledge thanks to her time at uni. She also has a way of making friends wherever she goes, which leads to a large web of connections and sources whenever she needs them.

Introvert or Extrovert? Ambivert, it's dependent on the situation. For example, if she's forced to be in isolation then she's going to be more extroverted when she's around people again. She enjoys talking to people, but after a certain amount, she can become worn out and need alone time. I think it would be good to note she is much more socially adept than Sherlock, though he is better at other things socially. (she has Asperger's and therefore he picks up on certain cues or details she may miss)

How does the character deal with anger? Delila can either run hot or run cold in terms of temperament. When she runs hot, she is often so overcome with emotion that she 'loses' words, struggles to speak and gets really flustered. (not in a good way) she never really says anything unkind when she's like this but she will be very dismissive and tell people to leave her alone. She is prone to shouting or crying to voice her frustrations and get out her emotions. The best way to calm her down is to let her rant about it, and she often calls Theo- who lets her rant. When she runs cold, she is eerily calm. She becomes sharp-tongued, cold and calculating. She will destroy whoever has angered her in this way and feel no shame. Sometimes she will spend days like this, and will be snippy and distant to anyone who tries to talk to her. She is vengeful and fully of unabashedly cruel remarks. It takes a lot or something particularly bad to get her this way.

With sadness? Delila tends to cry when she's sad, and is most comforted by physical affection. She listens to sad music, curls up under a blanket, and will write, whether it be in a journal or creatively. She will occasionally vent, but usually keeps it to herself as to not burden people around her with her issues or emotions.

With conflict? Delila can be rather argumentative and stubborn, but if she cares about the person she will do her best to listen to their side of the argument or disagreement, even if she feels as though they are wrong. When it comes to other peoples' conflicts, she will try and take the side she feels is most correct, or try and be an unbiased judge. She will defend her friends if there is a conflict in which they are being attacked in some way.

With change? Delila isn't a big fan of change but she will try her best to adapt and overcome by setting goals and new routines.

With loss? Delila will self-isolate. She will spend a lot of time re-consuming media that reminds her of what she has lost, and will go through a period of denial. Eventually, though she will come to honour the memory and move on.

What does the character want out of life? Fulfillment. Delila has spent a lot of her short life searching for something she is truly passionate about, but once she finds things that make her happy she becomes hesitant to follow them. She longs for fulfillment in ways other than reproducing and relationships, but one day she wouldn't mind having a family.

What would the character like to change in his/her life? Delila wishes she'd spent less time worried about how her mother perceived her and hoe those around her viewed her and her achievements. She is quite successful now and has learnt better but she wishes she hadn't let her doubts hinder her in the past.

What motivates this character? Delila doesn't excel because she longs for success, but because she fears failure. She refuses to be a burden, and will be independent almost to a fault.

What frightens this character? Delila is terrified of her family being hurt in any way, or losing someone she loves again. She also despises spiders and rejection.

What makes this character happy? Music. Her family, her friends. The rain. Tea. she loves to dance, but she only does it when she's alone.

Is the character judgmental of others? Delila's job required her to profile people, and because of that it has become her nature to psychoanalyse or even try to make assumptions about people from the get-go. She will often alter this perception of people later on depending on how she sees them interact with their environment, and people around them.

Is the character generous or stingy? She can be overly generous when it comes to those she loves, but also hesitant to share other things. It all depends on the item or person's emotional and sentimental value to her.

Is the character generally polite or rude? Unless given good reason to be rude, Delila is generally kind.

[forevercloudnine]

new 52 scarebat ship meme

(I had @heroes-etc​ give me more questions, but for scarebat this time, since we talk about it 24/7 but I never post about it. These are from this ship meme.)

4. Their favorite physical feature on each other?

There’s only one feature of Bruce’s appearance that’s scarier when he’s not wearing the batsuit, and that’s his creepy blue eyes. Especially the way Greg Capullo draws them where they’re sickly pale and have ridiculously constricted pupils.

So his eyes would definitely be in the running for Jonathan’s favorite feature, even if seeing them would require Bruce’s mask to be off, which is something New 52 Scarecrow explicitly avoids. Yes, that character trait only exists to justify why Batman’s identity is still secret after Scarecrow mind controls and subsequently institutionalizes him in “Gothtopia,” but I think it’s interesting so I’m going to pretend it’s not shoe-horned in there for meta reasons.

Actually having to see Bruce without the cowl on would definitely permanently break the illusion of Batman as a nightmarish inhuman bat demon, which I’m sure is a large part of the appeal for anyone as obsessed with fear as Jonathan Crane. But Bruce’s creepy eyes would be a serious consolation prize. 

Bruce’s favorite of Jonathan’s physical features is rough, because Jonathan is famously not great re: physical features. I’m going to say his mouth, because a) that’s where the snark comes from, and b) the New 52 establishes that in one of their earlier encounters, Jonathan had sewn his own mouth shut, so it’s one of those things where a bad first impression turned positive later on leads to more fondness than if you’d made a good impression in the first place.

I just looked up the panel where he does it and I DID forget how incredibly gross his lips look here, which makes the fact that I have chosen it as Bruce’s feature seem really funny in retrospect. But I do think that seeing Jonathan’s mouth healed and unmutilated would be a reassuring reminder of how he’s stabilized since their first encounter, at least to the point that he isn’t hurting himself anymore. Also, Bruce buys him a lot of chapstick.

Bonus alternate answer that did not make it into the Google Doc:

9. How open are they with their feelings?

Bruce and Jonathan are both pretty competent deceivers in the New 52; Bruce always, Jonathan depending on how the writer is feeling (though you could argue that Bruce just has a stronger grip on reality, while Jonathan’s skill at obfuscation varies with how lucid he is).

...I was going to use Detective Comics #23.3 as an example of Jonathan being a good liar, but actually upon re-reading I’m realizing that only 1/4 rogues buy his attempt at manipulation. So maybe he’s considerably worse at hiding his intentions than he thinks he is. Regardless, he doesn’t ever attempt to disguise his obsession with Batman.

Whether or not he’d express romantic feelings or try to hide them is debatable. There’s no Masters of Fear equivalent in the New 52 establishing that he was ever mocked or punished for expressing romantic feelings for someone, though there is a flashback panel in his origin emphasizing that he was always lonely in this regard (and coincidentally doesn’t specify that his interest is in women, which is fun).

In Green Lanterns #17 he has some internal monologue about how fear is his romance and he needs Batman to feel it, but it is an INTERNAL monologue, so it’s not clear if this is something he would express to Bruce or keep to himself. Or if he’s even fully processed it himself, given how incredibly out of it he is in this comic. Most of his spoken lines are just kind of screaming incoherently. Bruce gets pretty snippy with a Green Lantern at the end of the issue for suggesting that Jonathan should be punished for his crimes as if he were in control of his actions. 

Bruce is a similarly complicated answer, since for all his deceptions and shadowy mystery he pretty much wears his heart on his sleeve when it comes to romance. It’s just that his heart doesn’t express or process emotions the same way as anyone around him, which can create conflict. His (seriously underrated) love interest during Scarecrow’s origin arc, Natalya, spent most of her time dating him thinking that he didn’t care about her for this reason. He was trying to express that he loved her, but he mostly did so through complimenting her skills, which she never took as serious declarations of affection because he wasn’t being straightforward and she was insecure.

Jonathan does not himself seem like someone who would be especially secure in the idea of another person having romantic feelings towards him, so I assume that while Bruce might THINK he’s being open with any romantic feelings he develops, he would in reality just be really confusing.

13. How do they react to being away from each other?

I actually think that in general, Jonathan is one of the few people who would have no issue dealing with Bruce’s tendency to unexpectedly go AWOL for long periods of time, given that he himself has a tendency to fixate on his work to the exclusion of everything else.

But New 52 Jonathan specifically probably has pretty serious abandonment issues due to his father putting him in “the pit” and dying before he could take him out, meaning that Jonathan was waiting for his dad to come back for him for God knows how long, until Jonathan Sr.’s employers finally sent the police to investigate. 

So while in general I think he wouldn’t be very clingy, any impression that Bruce had died or otherwise wasn’t coming back for him would probably be incredibly triggering. If Bruce could assuage this reaction by occasionally sending updates that at least indicated he was still alive, then I doubt Jonathan would have any problems with his absence.

(@heroes-etc​: bruce sending like a checkmark emoji once a day. jonathan hears his phone ping, looks at the screen, and goes hm. good. and doesnt respond.)

Bruce meanwhile has no problem ditching literally any love interest at any time if something crime-related comes up, unless he’s considering quitting the cowl for them (as Joker probably accurately fears will happen with Catwoman in Prelude to the Wedding). But I don’t think he’d stop being Batman for Scarecrow, nor would Jonathan ever want him to — he’s interested in Batman, not necessarily Bruce Wayne.

But even though Bruce wouldn’t have an emotional problem with distance, I think he would get similarly paranoid if they went too long without contact, though for different reasons than Jonathan. Unlike some other villains (*cough* Joker and Riddler), Scarecrow has machinations that don’t require getting Batman’s attention, so if he decided to continue with his less legal experiments, he would not feel compelled to get Bruce involved. While the “World’s Greatest Detective” would probably not have an issue keeping an eye on Jonathan while he’s in Gotham, he’s considerably less capable of that in space. And Jonathan is definitely a rogue he would be obsessed with keeping an eye on, even if he reformed. 

Batman & Robin Eternal established that Dick’s first supervillain conflict AND first mission leaving the country was chasing Scarecrow across the world for an entire summer, which is kind of insane considering how early it was in Batman’s career. Like, he did not have an army of children to watch Gotham for him while he was gone. He had one child, and he took that child WITH him. He left Gotham undefended for months, JUST to catch Scarecrow. Sooo that in of itself implies he wouldn’t be great at keeping his distance.

15. Does their view of themselves differ from their partner’s view?

Well, Jonathan occasionally sees Bruce as a giant bat demon, so yes.

Outside of that very obvious differing view, Jonathan in general sees himself and the rest of the rogue gallery as more vital to Batman’s identity than Bruce considers them; the extent to which he’s right varies depending on your interpretation of Bruce’s character, but it’s definitely not something Bruce would ever consciously think or say. 

This is related to something that’s definitely a misconception of his, though, which is that the majority of Batman’s job revolves around supervillains like him. In Kings of Fear, when Jonathan blackmails Bruce into letting him come on patrol with him (which is a whole thing in of itself), he’s shocked at how boring most of Batman’s work is. Which probably goes along hand in hand with sometimes seeing Bruce as an almost mythologically inhuman figure. 

In his defense, it’s not like he has a lot of context for what the minutiae of Batman’s job is like. He’s either fighting Batman, hiding from Batman, or imprisoned by Batman in Arkham, a place where everyone else also spends all their time fighting or hiding from Batman. Which would really skew your perspective.

Interestingly, Bruce and Jonathan are both people who pride themselves on being extremely self-aware. Both of them probably inaccurately. You can rant about how you have a perfect understanding of your troubled mental state all day long, but if you’re still dressing up like a monster at night to indulge the power fantasies you created as a traumatized child by scaring the hell out of people, there’s probably a level of self-realization you haven’t gotten to yet.

Bruce however is at least self-aware enough to regularly be able to analyze his way out of fear toxin induced hallucinations, which Jonathan is unable to do — when he’s not depicted as having become immune to his fear toxin due to overexposure (as he is in Green Lanterns #17), he can be defeated with the same formulas that Batman regularly manages to resist (like his honestly embarrassing breakdown in Nightwing #50). 

Which ties into the difference between how he sees himself and how Bruce sees him: Jonathan obviously visualizes himself as a “master” of fear. He actually has the same internal monologue about fear and trauma that Bruce does in Batman: The Dark Knight #13: “Make it your own... run to what you fear... stare it in the eye... until it whimpers and backs down.” But Bruce doesn’t see Scarecrow as conquering his fear; he sees him as addicted to it, to the point of his own detriment.

Which is interesting, because Jonathan clearly sees his Scarecrow persona as a way to regain control after being victimized by his father’s fear experiments throughout his childhood. I guess Bruce’s perspective would be that Jonathan’s father instead got him addicted to fear as a child, so his attempts at agency as Scarecrow are just a) reliving his trauma over and over and b) compulsively inflicting his own trauma on others. There’s probably some truth to that, even if overall it’s probably an oversimplification (and coincidentally pretty much EXACTLY what Riddler argues Bruce is doing by “funding” Batman in Batman Annual #4, so there’s that).

20. Did either person change at all, to be with their partner?

The obvious answer here is yes, because Jonathan is a supervillain with no regard for human life while Bruce is a superhero who has dedicated his life to protecting people. So presumably one or both of them would have to make serious compromises to be together. HOWEVER. Scarecrow’s primary motivation is to research, understand and inflict fear, while Batman’s modus operandi is making his enemies afraid of him. So despite their contradiction in morals, they’re uniquely positioned to advance each other’s goals, were they to ever join forces.

Bruce never has a problem using fear toxin on Scarecrow, presumably partially out of an “eye for an eye” sense of poetic justice, but also because Batman is practical and it’s a nonlethal weapon that’s always available to him while fighting Scarecrow. If he could have fear toxin customized for his own use, it’s hard to imagine him being unwilling to use it. In Gothtopia he actually advocates for using what’s leftover from Crane’s new formula on all the inmates at Arkham, which seems about as insanely morally ambiguous as it gets. Arguably, putting fear toxin in his smoke bombs would be considerably less wrong than drugging mental patients out of their mind when they’re supposed to be receiving therapy (this is also the issue where he illegally releases Poison Ivy because she did him a favor, which is both morally questionable and relevant to the current topic).

Jonathan obviously already thinks Batman is the most interesting possible case study in fear; it’s why he keeps coming back to Bruce and Gotham despite being one of the more independent villains in Batman’s rogue gallery in the New 52. So though he would have to give up actively kidnapping people (which would be a huge sacrifice, I’m sure), teaming up with Bruce would give him unrestricted access to his favorite test subject. Unfortunately, it seems very possible that he would fall back to old tricks if he ever felt that he’d gotten everything he could out of a partnership with Bruce. Fortunately, that would probably take a VERY long time.

[henryobsessed]

The Borrower and Her Bean Part 10

Summery:  Four silver eyes blinked from the darkness watching the intimacy between Borrower and Bean, a smile crossed their faces. Since Melina was a little borrower her silent friends had listened to her desires and dreams. Hoping one day they could step in and answer at least one of those wishes. Looking at each they smiled, a twinkle in their eyes as they continued to watch and wait for the perfect moment.

Word Count: 1800

Warning: Fluff and Angst

A/N Sorry its been a while since I have posted, with Christmas coming life is getting busy. I hope you enjoy the continuing story of Henry and Melina

Part 9 - Part 11

Part 10

"Ok" her soft voice bought a smile to his heart. Resting his hand next to her body Henry winked to her as he whispered "do you trust me?" she stared at his hand and fear seemed to cross her face, however, it was quickly replaced with determination. Standing she reached out and grabbed hold of his pinky finger with both her hands pulling herself up into the palm of his giant limb. She looked up at him with a shaky smile and nodded. Lifting his hand towards his chest he tried to make careful movements aware she could easily slip. Lifting up to the top of his chest at the swell of his pectoral muscle he waited for her to walk off and make herself comfortable sitting cross-legged.  

Settling the book on his stomach he began to read. He could feel her little hands subconsciously running through the hair the was underneath her. It was not a sexual feeling that she invoked but a feeling like he was at home. That she was meant to be with him.

Melina knew this was a bad idea the moment she sat, the rubble of his voice quivered through his skin. It was the most intimate feeling as it gently made its way through her body. She was trying to forget about him being anything but a friend. But this intimacy was almost too much. After a few paragraphs, the sensation became familiar lulling her into a comfortable easy. Letting go of her fear she decided to just enjoy this moment even if it was only going to be a one-sided relationship. She looked at the coarse hairs on his chest the curls were fascinating, the more comfortable she felt the more she explored as she ran her hands over the thick strands.  Feeling tired again she repositioned herself curling up on her side, his rumbling voice shivering through her body as she lost consciousness.

Four silver eyes blinked from the darkness watching the intimacy between Borrower and Bean, a smile crossed their faces. Since Melina was a little borrower her silent friends had listened to her desires and dreams. Hoping one day they could step in and answer at least one of those wishes. Looking at each they smiled, a twinkle in their eyes as they continued to watch and wait for the perfect moment.      

Morning came, the sunlight streaming in waking Henry from his deep sleep. He had not been plagued with any more dreams but had slept soundly.  Looking down he had hoped to see Lina still sleeping on is chest but the warmth of her little body was gone. Sitting up his legs swinging to the side of the bed, he rubbed a hand over his face. Things in his mind were moving fast, memory's of the night before and snippets of his conversation hit him. What an idiot, he had asked her essentially to move in to chase away his dreams. Instead of asking her because he liked her and was wanting to develop a closer relationship. He knew that physically it was impossible but that was not his driving motive, he was falling in love with her.

Deciding he needed to tell her he moved down the stairs, out the back door towards her vent hoping she would be there. Looking into the vent he could see it was empty. Determined to see her again he sat cross-legged and waited. As he did his eye caught sight of a small notebook hiding in the bushes. He picked it up and flipped through the pages. What he read surprised him and bought a happy feeling to his stomach..... She liked him too. He kept reading the pages filled with her emotions and thoughts. The sadness of there being no borrowers for her to partner with, the fear of being attracted to a bean who could not return her feelings, her anxiety when he was sick and her pushing herself to be brave.

While he read he missed that she had moved into the room and was now watching him. As he put the book down he saw her, her face white, tears streaking down her cheeks. His hands stilled as he realised his error, "Lina, I'm sorry I ..." a sound screamed from the vent as she began to yell "How could you, those are my private thought. My safe place, you have no right." at the sound of her yelling Greg came running into the room and pulled her into his arms as she broke down sobbing. He looked up at Henry shook his head and led her away.    

Henry sat in mute silence, his mind scrambling to understand what had just happened. Yes, he knew he had made a mistake reading her diary. Once he knew what it was he should have put it down. Kal came and jumped on him as he tried to gather himself, "Down bear" he spoke a flat tone to his voice. His happiness from earlier replaced by a feeling of dread, had he just ruined the trust she had in him?  

Melina clung to Greg, her legs threatening to give out on her. After waking up she had recalled their conversation, his warm chest rising and falling beneath her. She recalled his question, would she move in with him to chase away his dreams. Is that all he wanted for her to be his dream catcher, good luck charm? She thought they were becoming friends. The hurt began to well up inside as she made a quick exit sliding down the large hill of his pectoral muscle falling to the gap between his side and his arm. Thankful her movements had not awoken him, she scurried to the ball and chain to the side of his bed and moved down to the floor. Quickly she had left the room.  

Her emotions spilling over as she fought her love and fear after spending the night with him. Questions spilling into each breath. She had taken the long way back to her room trying to sort through her feelings. That was until she saw her bean sitting by the vent, her notebook in hand. She watched as he read her deepest desires and petitions to the moon and stars. Deep embarrassment filled her body as she watched him smirk as he put the book down. Trembling now filled with anger she yelled at the top of her lungs.  "How could you, those are my private thought. My safe place, you have no right." her little body so overcome broke down as she felt the arms of her brother surround her. Moving her away from her room as her legs gave way he hooked his arms under her knees and with a huff of effort lifted her bridal style. Laying her down on his bed he covered her and left her to cry herself to sleep.

A week later and Melina finally decided to craw from her brother's room. They had moved their beds to her room for the while to protect her from his advances. Her bean had reportedly visited each morning hoping to talk to her but the betrail of her privacy had been too much. She would no longer seek him out, instead, she would return to the traditions of the borrowers. To not be seen, to be cautious and hidden.  Her family didn't say anything, in fact, it was almost like a pact. her brothers also made no contact with Henry they tacked up a thick material over the vent so tight that he could not even slip a not through the sides. Although Greg and Carson desperately wanted to play a game with him again they loved their sister too much to betray her.

They had disappeared, all traces of his little friends had gone. Every doorway boarded up, leaving Henry to feel desperately alone. Deciding to be proactive he bought small cameras and set them up around the house hoping to catch a glimpse of his friends. He also began leaving small leftover bits of food in easy to reach places around the kitchen. Sometimes they were taken sometime they were left to spoil. He would sleep most of the day and stay up most of the night watching the camera's hoping to see them again. It was one night a week later that whilst flipping through a book he looked up and saw movement.  

Melina had been cooped up long enough, she itched to leave the self-imposed confinement of the walls. Hoping he would be asleep she moved out towards the kitchen. She was craving ice cream and knew where she could get some. The neighbors to the right had gotten a cat during there isolation so it had become increasingly difficult to borrow from them. So she had only one option, her bean's kitchen.  She walked across his tiled floor, using her shoestring rope and grappling hook tossed it to the top of the bench. Secure she gingerly she climbed to the marble top. Taking the time to catch her breath she looked at the next climb, trepidation hit her as she wondered if the Ice cream was truly worth it. But her craving one out as she made the next throw catching the edge of the fridge seal for a perfect hook.

The final climb made her very hungry clouding her judgment, resting at the top of the fridge she saw an old silver knife and decided to use it to pry open the freezer. She had no problem opening it and slid inside. What she had not banked on was the door not staying open but automatically closing. Sitting in the darkness panic began to overtake her as her body began to freeze.

Henry had been watching Lina's attempt to scale his cabinets, breath hitching at the site he only breathed with easy as she reached each limit. Furrowing his brow he watched as she opened his freezer and slipped inside. Chuckling to himself he wondered how much Ice cream she would consume as that was the only thing in his freezer that could be eaten without heating. He waited to watch for her to exit. When after 15 mins she was yet to emerge he grew worried, and fear for her safety overtook his respecting her distance. Quickly he ran down the stairs and opened the door to his freezer to find her little body curled up on top of the dinner for one meal. Gently scooping her into his hand he noted her blue face and ragged breath true fear washed through his body as he whispered her name "Melina"

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[harrydracompreg]

2020 H/D Mpreg Fest Reveals

♥ 2020 H/D Mpreg Fest Reveals ♥ The 2020 H/D Mpreg fest has come to an end. Below please find the masterlist of participants. We continue to be a small fest and I'd want to thank everyone who participated by writing, reading and commenting. I also want to especially thank those of you contacted me after claiming closed to offer your talent. It helped us post for the whole month. ♥ ♥ Submissions are no longer anonymous on AO3, so feel free to reply and repost your lovely works. Please, kindly, let me know if there's an error below by an email to the mod account (it's the best way to reach me quickly) or a PM on LJ to sassy_cissa or as always, feel free to ping me on the drarry discord.

Art The Unexpected Values of a Night out (and possibly too much booze)

Artist: AO3 thisbloodycat | @thisbloodycat

Summary: Draco just wanted to hang out, have some fun with his remaining friends. All was going fairly well -- that is, until Potter showed up. It turns out Draco's mother isn't too fond of illegitimate grandchildren, and Potter... Potter seems to be too damned pleased with this whole thing. If there was a list of all the things Draco has ever wanted, a wedding to Potter would certainly not be one of them. [G] ________________________________________________________________ Fic: A New Ordinary Author: AO3: JETPlayin | @jet-playin-around Summary: When Draco finds out he's pregnant, he never expects it to turn out like this. [19.9k, NC-17] ________________________________________________________________ every fragment of the moonlight Author: LJ bloodisshrp | Ao3: panicparade Summary: He feels vaguely off kilter, like the room was forced off its axis for a bit and then resettled, but nothing is where it used to be. Though there’s doubt creeping in, he has absolutely no idea how Harry will react, it’s overshadowed by sheer joy. [4.5k, PG-13] ________________________________________________________________ Regret-Me-Not Author: LJ: tangerinewords | AO3: tangerinewords | @tangerinewords Summary: Harry has been seeing Draco for some time and they've gotten closer. However, their relationship is still strictly sexual, so when Harry finds out he's pregnant, he doesn't know whether he should tell Draco or not. When Luna returns the Resurrection Stone to him after having found it on the Forest, he talks to Sirius and asks him for advice. [12.3k, PG-13] ________________________________________________________________ Up in the sky (I search for you) Author: AO3: SlytherinSizeQueen | @slytherinsizequeen Summary:A year ago, Draco gave birth to a stillborn baby boy. In an attempt to heal and move on, he decides to sit down and write his son a letter on what should have been his first birthday. A story about loss, love and 12 letters. Contains: Implied/Referenced Death in Childbirth (not Harry or Draco) [7.4k, PG-13] ________________________________________________________________ Life Is What Happens To You (When You're Busy Making Other Plans) Author: AO3: Ladderofyears Summary: Harry and Draco are the overwhelmed parents of Jamie Potter-Malfoy, their beautiful six week old son. Their life is running exactly as both wizards planned. But, when a misunderstood old witches tale, a hormonal Draco and an infatuated Harry all combine to throw this blessed existence into disarray Draco finds himself devastated. Can he find his way back to happiness? [9.2k, NC-17] ________________________________________________________________ To know the pain of too much tenderness Author: AO3: Cibee (Cibeeeee) | @cibeewastaken Summary: Harry is in love with Draco, and Draco sometimes goes on dates with other people, but it’s not like Harry could be bothered by it when he never told Draco about his feeling, right? Right. So Harry isn’t that bothered by Draco’s dates, what bothers him is when one of those dates knocks Draco up and doesn’t want the baby. [6.3k, PG-13] ________________________________________________________________ Something Good (The Second Time Around) Author: AO3: Ravenclaw62 Summary: After putting his youngest on the Hogwarts Express, Harry feels a little lost and without direction in life. There’s someone on the platform who notices, though, who also knows how it feels to come back to an empty home. Can this someone help Harry find his way? After years of contentment, acceptance, and ‘good enough’ — he never could have imagined that a whirlwind romance with his former childhood nemesis would become his something good after a lifetime of trials. [99.8k, NC-17] ________________________________________________________________ Life: A Series of Moments Author: AO3: Ruvarashe Summary: Life is a sum of thousands of moments that, put together, tell our individual stories. Some moment are brief with minimal impact and others have the power to shape every other moment that comes after. This is the story of Draco and Harry's breakup and the moments that come after. [2.8k, G] ________________________________________________________________ Buns in the Oven Author: LJ: erin_riwen | AO3: erin_riwen | @erin-riwen Summary: Harry finds a creative way to tell Draco their great news. [2.3k, PG-13] ________________________________________________________________ Hadrian's Curse Author: LJ: oldenuf2nb | AO3: oldenuf2nb Summary: When rumors about Albus Potter and his best friend begin to circulate at Hogwarts, Harry Potter finds you can never really escape your past. [30.1k, NC-17] ________________________________________________________________ The Seven Year Courtship Author: LJ: crazyparakiss | AO3: crazyparakiss Summary: Their relationship, for lack of a better term, started when Potter invited him out for a piss up. Now, as Draco stared down at the luminous green potion, he regretted ever letting this thing with Potter go beyond that first drunken night. [8.2k, NC-17] ________________________________________________________________ One Day's Difference Author: LJ: melcalder | AO3: MelCalder Summary: Draco's sacrifices his god-given body and has (mostly) no regrets. [10.3k, PG-13] ________________________________________________________________ Dissonance Author: LJ: bummedoutwriter AO3: BummedOutWriter Summary: Draco met Harry’s eyes directly, and spoke to him for the first time in eleven months, “Avada…” The rest was muffled in trauma as Harry felt a familiar warmth of magic, a flash of emerald light descending rapidly as he squeezed his eyes shut, and braced for— Or: In which Draco becomes a death eater, has a baby, and tries to forget about her. [17.2k, R] ________________________________________________________________ Best Laid Plans Author: LJ: nerdherderette | AO3 PalenDrome | @nerdherderette Summary: Draco picks at the hem of his robe. "I had a plan. I was going to woo Harry with my dashing charm and some earth-shattering sex. We’d fall madly in love, spend a year or two being sickeningly domestic, then get married and start a family." Pansy hides a smile. “One out of five’s not bad.” Or the one where a magical isle, a secret wish, and Harry bloody Potter take Draco’s plan and upends it on its head. [18.9k, PG-13] ________________________________________________________________ Hold Close Your Heart and Take The Leap Author: LJ: dracogotgame | AO3: dracogotgame | @dracogotgame Summary: Draco knows he needs to tell Potter their lives are about to change forever. But ‘knowing’ and ‘doing’ are two very different things. [19.7k, G] ________________________________________________________________ Second Time Around Author: AO3: Quentin_Threepwood Summary: Scorpius Potter-Malfoy’s parents were never a couple. They share custody of him and maintain a stiff, professional relationship. Harry is a professor at Hogwarts, and Draco is a potioneer. But after Slughorn is indisposed, and Draco takes over as potions professor at Hogwarts for the latter half of the school year, Scorpius enlists Slytherin house to help get his fathers together. He just wants his family together. [14.9k, R] ________________________________________________________________ Out of Order Author: LJ/DW: enchanted_jae | AO3: Enchanted_Jae Summary: Harry begins to suspect that Draco is pregnant, but Draco isn't having it. [4.4k, R] ________________________________________________________________ You were made for me Author: AO3: PollyWeasley Summary: Harry and Draco have been in a relationship for a while. Even though Draco did it to make Harry happy, his lover's pregnancy kink started to rub on him and now he really wanted to have a real pregnancy and a real baby. He supposed it was easy enough if you were part-veela and had all the necessary parts. Right? [4.9k, NC-17] ________________________________________________________________ Harry Potter and the Dreaded Handkerchief Author: AO3: countingcr0ws (ao3) Summary: Harry Potter wakes up one day and realises that he has lost six years of his memory from an accident at work. But it's not so bad because there's the internet nowadays, and Malfoy's back from his disappearance post-war! In which Harry bribes everyone with Greg's pastries, and tries to keep Malfoy in his life. [14.1k, PG] ________________________________________________________________ Piece of Me Author: LJ: lyonessheart | AO3: lyonessheart Summary: Harry lost a part of himself years ago. But now everything is different. [5.7k, PG] ________________________________________________________________

In The Small Hours Author: AO3: Ladderofyears Summary: Draco is suffering from a dreadful case of third trimester insomnia. Every night he lays awake, his worries growing gigantic and his eight and a half month pregnant body aching and sore. Harry can't abide seeing his husband suffer so he does a little bit of research in Draco's baby books. It seems the perfect cure for Draco's insomnia is right at his fingertips... [4.2k, NC-17] ________________________________________________________________ Finding Their Way Author: LJ: sassy_cissa | AO3: sassy_cissa | @sassy-cissa Summary: "Draco Malfoy-Potter!" Harry snapped softly. "Stop it right now. For the love of god, I manage an entire Auror division. I organise ops that involve coordinating scads of personnel." He glared at his spouse. "I'm damn sure I can manage to give our daughter her bottle at six, her bath at seven and have her in bed by half-seven." Or the one where their daughter gets the best of Harry and help comes from an unexpected ally. [8.9k, NC-17] ________________________________________________________________ The authors and artists worked hard on their submissions, don't forget to comment, leave kudos and rec your favourites!! I'll be around next spring to talk about the fest for 2021. sassy_cissa

[thisislizheather]

July Jiffs 2021

Yes, this monthly post should’ve been written on August 1st. Don’t be such a stickler, it’s not attractive. In any case, my apologies, it definitely will happen again. Here’s what went down in July!

You can find my favourite tweets of the month over here and here.

I ate the July-only-special Emmy cheeseburger dumplings from Mimi Cheng’s and they were incredible. I feel bad that you missed eating them.

Above Photo: Emmy Burger Dumplings (emmy cheeseburger dumplings in collaboration with Pizza Loves Emily/Emmy Squared, dry-aged beef, Grafton cheddar, crushed pretzels, caramelized onions, and Emmy Sauce. Pan-fried only. (8 pieces) $16.45

Nathan and I have been making homemade green iced tea every day and I think we might officially be better than you now…? Weird how that happened.

I finally found rain boots! I got them during the Nordstrom sale and I can’t wait to test them out. Those boots and this rain coat? Finally my life is figured out.

I wrote about the day trip I took to Connecticut.

Dying to see the movie about Celine Dion ‘Aline’ because it sounds insane.

I went to The Met to see the roof finally and what a time I had, I can’t wait to go again after October 29th when the fashion exhibit opens.

Above Photo: The Met rooftop, July 2021

Above Photo: The French decorative arts wing, The Met

Did you know that China imposed a cybercurfew barring those under 18 from playing games between 10pm and 8am? I kind of love it? I might not be allowed to have that opinion out loud, but here we are.

It’s summer so I’m making these tomato sandwiches semi-daily but I reeeally want to make this one with garlic aioli next.

I had the pizza at Spunto’s in the West Village and A+, will definitely go again.

I made crab cakes at home for the first time (with this dipping sauce) and I can’t believe how easy and incredible they were. Crab cakes > lobster, ANY day.

Ate the meatball parm at Scarr’s because I’m clearly crushing life and it was really good. I don’t think I’ve ever had a mind-blowing one, so the search continues.

Above Photo: Meatball parm at Scarr’s, NYC

I’ve been wanting a great club sandwich for months, so I went to Marks Off Madison and it was beyond satisfying. The bar area is perfect if you’re eating alone and the staff was stellar. Their Times review is so well deserved.

Above Photo: Club sandwich at Marks Off Madison, NYC

I used this Becca body highlighter (look it was $5 at Marshalls and we’re all depressed, leave me alone) to use at a wedding and did my legs look shiny? Not sure, I received approximately zero feedback on it but here’s the verdict: it’s a perfectly okay product. I think I just wanted to try something from Becca since they’re going out of business next month.

I also tried and already returned the lip plumper from Grande Cosmetics, which was a disappointment. Lip plumpers never work, when will I learn. Hot sauce lips might just truly be the only answer to temporary plumpness.

As a Canadian, I hope you’re aware of Mathew Evans and Henry Woodward because you should be. CAN’T believe I didn’t know about them until now. Where the hell was the Heritage Moment for them?!

I made a strawberry crumble coffee cake and it was too, too good, it’s such a perfect recipe if you have an abundance of strawberries and you’re sick of making jam. Adding sour cream made it moist as hell and I have to remember this for future coffee cakes.

Above Photo: Strawberry crumble coffee cake

It’s insane that it took me three decades to finally try caviar, but I did and now I want it by the boatload. I was gonna ask why no one told me, but everyone, everywhere has always been vocal about its greatness, so I’ll close my mouth.

I had to get an Indian wedding suit tailored, so I went to India Sari Palace in Jackson Heights and I can’t recommend it enough. Never had something tailored so perfectly. (I’ll never forgot Mindy Kaling saying years ago how rich people don’t buy better clothes, they just have all of their clothing tailored to their bodies so everything just looks better on them.)

I made this lemon butter ricotta zucchini pasta and it was summer in a bowl. I charred and added fresh corn as well and that sent it straight through the goddamn roof.

I’ll always look at the trivia page on IMDB of any movie I watch, so I can’t believe I didn’t know most of these Back To The Future details.

I bought this Zara dress for one of the weddings I went to and I can’t believe how much I loved it.

Above Photo: The Zara dress

I visited the new Dominique Ansel Workshop and I hate to say it, but it’s wildly overhyped. Maybe I’m wrong, but isn’t the chocolate in a chocolate croissant supposed to be a little melted and not hard as a rock? And the tomato tart tatine was weirdly underdone, too. What’s going on?

I made these eggless chocolate chip cookies that were wonderful.

In failure news this month, I optimistically tried to start a wardrobe challenge but brutally flopped on following through with it so I will attempt it again soon!

Incase you care, August is the only month you can apply for SNL tickets so get on that, if you so desire.

I maintain that this is the best moment from any of the Paranormal Activity movies, it still gives me chills.

Look, I’m a simple person. Sometimes you just want some Dippin’ Dots without trekking to an amusement park.

Above Photo: Dippin’ Dots in Flatiron, NYC

The Enbridge Ride to Conquer Cancer benefiting benefiting Princess Margaret Cancer Centre is a two-day, 200-kilometre cycling journey through the Canadian countryside on August 28/29, 2021 - support my good friend Greg who’s apart of it over here!

Things that I’ve been rewatching:

Desperate Housewives and I have zero idea why, it’s an objectively bad show. I grow to hate each character more and more as each season passes by, what am I doing and why can’t I stop.

Old Shrill episodes because I’m so, so sad it’s over forever.

New things I’ve watched:

I’m still in awe of how good this second season of Dave has been and I can’t wait for the season finale next week.

The movie Mystic Pizza - what a party! I mean one viewing is enough, but a pretty good movie.

I finally watched the movie Soul and it was (of course) really good, but my brother was right, it really felt like it was just missing one thing. I can’t explain it, but it was maybe one element away from being a perfect movie.

I tried the croissant soft serve from Supermoon Bakehouse and they’re truly doing the lord’s work over there. Just unreal. They’re only open Fri/Sat/Sun, but their offerings are above and beyond a regular old bakery.

Above Photo: Croissant soft serve at Supermoon Bakehouse, NYC

Some things I’m looking forward to this month: I’ve never even heard of a buckle but now I must make one, I’ll continue to mark things off of my summer list, I’d like to get in at least one more pool, I can’t wait to take a little drive for another mini-trip, and I think I’ll try to spend my remaining summer days tanning on my roof. Oh and of course I need to start plans for October. It’s going to be more fun than ever before, stay tuned.

If you have any interest in reading what went on in June, come on over here.

[sctisfctions]

( emeraude toubia, 28, cis female, she/her ) Have you seen CARINA TORRERO around ? I hear they’re an ESCORT who can sometimes be GREEDY & IMPULSIVE. But I also heard they can be DETERMINED & ADAPTIVE if you catch them on a good day. They’re usually hanging around LA CASA DI MATEO in their spare time. I sure hope they’re alright ! ( mandy )

Hello all! I’m Mandy and this is my child, Carina Torrero She’s… a lot, so bless your soul for finding your way to this intro.

Full name: Carina Cecilia Torrero Nickname: Care, Cari, C.C. Age: 28 Nationality: Mexican and Lebanese  Religion: N/A City of birth: Laredo, Texas The current place for living: Chicago, IL Job title: Eden Escort Married? No Spoken Languages: Spanish, English Birthday: October 30th Does she own a home? Yes

B A C K G R O U N D : ( updated Feb. 25th, 2021 )

Carina is the baby of her family and has always was spoiled as such; showered in gifts. In the small town of Laredo, Texas, the Torrero family was known as the richest family in town. While it was rumored that there were some underground dealings going on in the family business, none of those were true. In fact, The Torreros prided themselves on being the purest and most righteous family in the region. Rev. Torrero owned and pastored a Mega Church that made millions of dollars every week, on top of people throwing money at her parents for their “good work”. But it meant nothing to Carina because she always felt like the church always came before her. Every time they were absent from her biggest life events, a gift was sent to make up for it. 

When Carina went to Drexel University to get her degree in fashion design and marketing, she planned on spending the first year goofing off and exploring what the world has to offer her. In a city like Philadelphia, it was easy to get lost in the hype of pre-game drinking sessions and post-game parties, getting sucked into hook-up culture and living as thought she’d never have a chance to touch this many people all at once. 

Getting out of college and moving back in with her family in Laredo was odd, at first, leaving the sweet life of sin behind and pretending to be the angel the town was so used to. Kidding, of course, she couldn’t leave it behind. She started doing modeling on the side and ended up getting commissioned for a huge gig with a very risqué magazine. Before the photoshoot even happened, word reached her parents church and the rumors spread like wildfire across the town. Her parents looked down on her with shame and disgrace. 

It felt all so overwhelming until she realized it’s all just Texas life. Outside of their region, no one even knows who her family is. She knew the only thing to do was to pack up her things, steal a couple million dollars from her parents ( which was barely a dent for them ), and move to Chicago where she could carry on a life of her own. Within a month of moving, she made friends with some people who worked at a club called Eden. They got her a job as an escort and, to this day, she’s been operating as a freelance designer by day and an escort by night. 

Family:

Sisters or brothers: One older brother and sister Wife or husband: N/A. Children: None. Other important persons: Roommate(s)

Physical Characteristics:

Addictions: control, power Bad Habits: acting only for the good of herself Color of Eyes: brown The color of Hair: black The color of Skin: tan Dialect: american accent Does the character drink regularly? always Does the character have any disabilities? no Does the character prefer any proverbs? “the most important thing is to enjoy your life and be happy” - audrey hepburn Does the character smoke? sometimes Good Habits: open-minded, forward thinking, tidy. Height: 5′3″ Hobbies: reading, working out, instagram, binge watching, skin care routines, healthy eating Is she wearing Glasses? no Is the character healthy or does he have any diseases? she’s healthy What’s the style of the character? (modern, outmoded): sporty and sexy. is almost always wearing a sports bra, leggings, and sneakers.

Mental Characteristics

Education: Bachelor’s Degree in Fashion Design and Marketing Intelligent or not? smart enough. she picks things up quickly. Fears: being misunderstood, spiders Life Goals (next 5 years): get a mansion Life Goals (next 25 years): own a fashion empire Self-perception: idk she’s just trying to keep it all together Assumed external perception: she thinks people think she’s either great or a bitch, there is no in between. Self-Confidence: extremely confident Rational Or Emotional: rational How could you upset this character? compare her to her family

Wanted Connections ( all based on crazy ex-girlfriend/galavant songs )

any of these could be filled with gang affiliates of any kind !! It’d be fun to see how a gang affiliate would spice up these connections !! 

PLATONIC

FRIENDTOPIA: Carina loves very few people on Earth. They’re the Joey/Chandler/Monica/Phoebe to her Rachel. They do practically everything together, as they spend pretty much every waking second together. They’re her roommates (they can work at Eden with her, but it’s not required). 

LET’S GENERALIZE ABOUT MEN: a bitch-type group of friends that get together, sometimes drink, sometimes shop, or sometimes just share gossip and personal thoughts about what the hell is going on around them.

SECRET MISSION: They say the enemy of my enemy is my friend. These people mutually hate someone and often come up with different ways in which they can make this person suffer. But it’s all just in good fun…… or is it?

OFF WITH HIS SHIRT: Any of the men she’s been with exclusively through Eden. Her “regulars” or “visitors”, if you will. She gets paid quite heavily whether she offers sex or just her general company.

MAYBE YOU WON’T DIE ALONE: Carina is the self-proclaimed Hook Up Guru of Chicago, so she’ll definitely attempt to hook you up with that person you’ve had your eye on and it sometimes isn’t subtle. But sex makes her happy, so helping her friends get laid makes her happy too. 

AFTER EVERYTHING I’VE DONE FOR YOU: This person has gone to hell and back for Carina, yet she shows little to no gratitude towards them. It’s only a matter of time before their lid pops right off. 

FACE YOUR FEARS: These are her older friends who help her figure out her shit and she ACTUALLY listens to them because she just trusts them more than anyone else. 

GREG’S DRINKING SONG: Drinking buddies!! A lot of the instances Greg mentions in the song can basically just be different scenarios they’ve gotten themselves in.

ROMANTIC/SEXUAL:

IT WAS A SHIT SHOW: A bittersweet ex-boyfriend. They really didn’t have any choice but to end things. He has some things going on in his life, Carina wasn’t anywhere near ready for a monogamous relationship. They both agree… it was a DISASTER.

SETTLE FOR ME: Someone who, stupidly, has a crush on Carina and he literally doesn’t have a single chance in hell. I just think this kind of energy would be hella hilarious.

STRIP AWAY MY CONSCIENCE: One of the guys that she regularly hooks up/hooked up with. Maybe even dated, but it wasn’t anything more than sex, really. They’re still friends to this day. 

SEX WITH A STRANGER: This is pretty straight forward. All of her hookups. I’m just gonna list them here for data purposes. They coulda been friends before or barely know each other. Honestly, if she avoided everyone she’s ever had sex with, she’d never leave her house. 

ENEMIES:

MAYBE YOU’RE NOT THE WORST THING EVER: Bitter, toxic exes. This was one of her first real and intense relationships that happened in a time when she was the most vulnerable and unprepared. It ended HORRIBLY when they lashed out at each other and it’s hard to let those feelings go. If they can get over their own pettiness, they can at least hope to be frenemies.

JACKASS IN A CAN: People who really just DON’T think she’s all that. They thinks he’s very stuck up and don’t fall for her charming, blunt persona in the slightest. I’d just love someone to call her out on her bullshit.

I DON’T LIKE YOU: General dislike and sworn mortal enemies kind of situation. We can talk over what happened between them, but honestly, it wouldn’t be that hard to find something that she did… or someone. 

WHEW this was long, but go ahead and press some buttons if you like and wanna plot with her!! 

[ayla-221bee]

The Five Times Greg made Breakfast- 5- French Toast

-3 5. French Toast

 For the first time in his life, Mycroft did not care that his home was in a complete and utter mess. He had been much too thrilled at the prospect of Greg moving in permanently that he found himself unbothered with the growing mountain of cardboard boxes in the hallway or the strong smell of paint that was in the kitchen.

 His home was in complete and utter chaos and Mycroft could not be happier.

 There was something that was somewhat thrilling about having Greg living with him permanently, Mycroft could not place his finger on it.  He found himself looking forward to the future for the first time in his life when he normally dreaded it and he was somewhat fearful of it, especially with regards to his brother and the state of the country.

 He was still somewhat fearful about those matters on occasion, of course, but he had his future to look forward to.  He had to no longer force himself to believe the lie that he had told himself since he was a teenager; that he was not lonely.

 For one day, Mycroft read all the books and journal articles that he could get access to aid his understanding for his feelings for Gregory Lestrade.  He had never experienced anything of the sort before and he had been worried that the vice-like feeling that surrounded his heart after Greg said or did something, in particular, was symptoms of indigestion.

 After hours of reading and research, Mycroft had reached the very firm conclusion that he was was in love.  He was not too sure when he had managed to have his heart defrosted or how on earth Greg had managed to do it.

 In his day of research, Mycroft also reached a sound conclusion of that he was extremely happy for the first time in his life.   He had moments of happiness in his life before Greg, but they were fleeting, often leaving him as soon as they reached him.  The feeling of happiness he experienced seemed almost permanent.

 Mycroft’s favourite room in his home was his kitchen. He found himself spending the most time in the kitchen out of all the rooms in his flat and he could hardly understand why he avoided it for so long.   He had turned his spare room into a home office but he much preferred working in the kitchen especially when Greg was cooking, even if he did get awfully distracted by the sight of Greg in an apron more often than he would care to admit.

 Mycroft was more than happy to get the kitchen renovated if it ensured that Greg would move in with him. He had insisted on painting and decorating the kitchen himself no matter how many times Mycroft had offered to get a contractor in.   Mycroft had been more than thrilled to accompany Greg as he looked at paint samples and kitchen equipment.   Mycroft loved to watch Greg paint and decorate the kitchen, it had become his favourite sight.

 Mycroft also loved how happy Greg acted when he was in the kitchen. He had come to the conclusion one morning that he would have allowed Greg to decorate the kitchen in neon colours and memorabilia of his favourite football team if it made Greg happy. He had also realised that he would happily ride a unicycle to work for the chance that it would make Greg happy.

 “When did you get out of bed?” Greg asked with a yawn as he walked into the kitchen. He stopped for a moment and pressed a kiss to the top of Mycroft’s head before he filled up the kettle.

 Mycroft lifted his head from his laptop screen and wondered when he had last blinked. He had been summoned out of his bed at three in the morning due to a crisis with America. He was unaware of how much time had passed, the hours had melted into one.

         “Three o’clock,” Mycroft said. He felt somewhat thankful that he only had to do phone calls that morning instead of video conferencing as he was in his pyjamas, a mismatched outfit of  Greg’s worn shirt for The Clash and a tartan dressing gown that he got for Christmas.

 “They work you too hard,” Greg grumbled as he started to make tea. “Do you have anything scheduled today?”

 Mycroft stopped typing for a brief second and glanced at Greg from over his reading glasses, admiring the fact that Greg was dressed in nothing more than a dressing gown. “I have the day off,” he said. “I remember that you were interested in getting a few bits and pieces of the flat, I could accompany you to the shops.”

 “You want to go shopping?” Greg asked with a raised eyebrow.   “What on earth are you wanting this time? Are you wanting to make you French toast again?”

 “You know me too well,” Mycroft said with a soft smile. “No one makes it better than you.”

 Greg’s chest was puffed out with pride as he went to the cupboard for the frying pan. “I am convinced that the only reason you keep me around is that I feed you.”

 “You are also a fantastic shag,” Mycroft stated matter of fact, not looking up from the files that he was working on. He smirked to himself slightly as Greg choked on his tea.

 “I hardly understand why you are so surprised,” he said. “I did make it evident last night.”

 Greg shook his head and chuckled to himself as he made his way to the fridge that was covered in ridiculous magnets. “You always surprise me,” he said. “I’m not sure what I am more surprised about, you saying that or wanting to go shopping.  You are just going to hide in Waterstones until I’m finished aren’t you?”

 “You know me too well,” Mycroft grinned.

 He watched Greg slip on his apron and start waltzing around the kitchen in a well-known routine. He hardly used recipes when he cooked and he knew the kitchen like it was the back of his hand. Greg was the happiest in the kitchen and it had become one of Mycroft’s favourite places in his home when Greg was it.

 He thought about cooking for Greg sometimes and quickly removed the idea from his head.  He had never been capable in the kitchen and never moved past the limited amount of dishes that he cooked for himself in university and the early days of his career. It would be embarrassing to hand Greg a plate of beans on toast or a  Pot Noodle.  

 He tried to show Greg his appreciation in the little things, it was the least that he could do. He even strongly considered getting a dog as Greg had mentioned a desire to get one. He had been opposed to the idea at first but he had grown fond of the idea, quickly falling for the domesticity that surrounded it.

 As Greg placed the plate of French toast in front of him, Mycroft realised that it would only be a matter of time before he would have to ask that particular question.

 He felt terrified at the prospect of asking that loaded question to Greg one day.  He had little idea about how he would even ask or when was the best time. He just knew that he wanted to do it soon.

         He had the feeling that there was a good chance that Greg would say ‘yes,’ to his proposition.  

 “What are you thinking about?” Greg said as he sat down at the table with his plate of French toast. “You are in deep thought.”

         Mycroft blinked and straightened up in his chair.  “I was just wondering if we should go to the dog shelter today.”

 The smile on Greg’s face was contagious.

@piemaker-from-gallifrey  @cannon-32

Previous Chapter https://hogwartsjaguar97.tumblr.com/post/624788044483002368/the-five-times-greg-made-breakfast-4-bacon

[the-blind-assassin-12]

Passing Through

Part Five: Thaw

A/N: The storm is still swirling over the mountains and burying you in snow, but things start to warm up despite the chill in the air. 

Word Count: 5,034

The sound of your phone buzzing and the sudden flash of bluish light against the empty white walls of your bedroom jolted you awake, your eyes flying open as you took a quick breath in through your nose. Hmm? I didn’t set an alarm, what’s-  Your hand reached blindly for your phone, fingers feeling around in the dark until they caught the charger cable between them. Pulling it up off of the floor by the cord and then unplugging it, you checked to see what had woken you up. Before you could enter your password to swipe open the screen, you heard another sound that your still sleeping brain didn’t readily recognize as the opening of cabinets and clinking of glassware. Is that? But your question was answered by the hissing and sputtering of your ancient coffee pot and the nutty aroma as the brew started to drip. Oh. You sat up in bed, pulling your blanket up around your waist as you did. Ryan.

 You blinked a few more times and took another breath. You’d been dreaming, or at least you thought you had been, but as soon as you opened your eyes you lost every detail. There was music. I know that, and...light? It felt… You heard Ryan shuffling around in your cupboards as you tried to piece your fleeting dreams back together, but instead the events from the previous day and night came back to you with vivid clarity. Despite the drafty sliding door that lead out onto the patio and the faulty heat that was less predictable than the weather, the air temperature was warm. He must have kept the fire going all night. You dragged a hand through your hair, collecting the loose strands around your face and combing them back. I should get up...I need to… Though you hadn’t been nervous or hesitant around him at any point since your chance encounter in the coffee shop, you suddenly felt a flutter in your stomach at the thought of leaving your bedroom and seeing him, fresh from slumber and standing in your kitchen. You tried to chase the thought from your mind before it fully formed, but whereas your dreams didn’t want to be caught, it seemed this thought wouldn’t be deterred; what if I like it too much, him being here?  

 Your phone buzzed again in your palm, pulling your attention back to the present. Stop. You shook your head, clearing it of what ifs as best as you could, and focused on the text messages that had just come through. One was from Greg, your boss, and the other from Missy, both informing you that due to the weather, Jake’s was going to remain closed for the day, and that depending on how long the storm stuck around, they could potentially be closed the following day as well. Nothing like a snow storm to put a damper on your rent money. But as much as you depended on every shift you worked, you found yourself glad to have another day with Ryan. If he stays. You tried not to get too far ahead of yourself, tried not to assume that he’d want to spend another entire day with you, sitting on your floor in front of your fireplace and sharing the quickly diminishing contents of your fridge and pantry. You glanced out between the tilted slats in the blinds to see that big cotton ball flakes were still silently and steadily coming down. Though I guess he’s stuck here for now either way. From what you could see, it looked like around two feet had fallen, everything coated in a thick casing of snow. 

 You quickly responded to Greg and Missy, telling them to stay safe and to keep you posted about tomorrow. Dropping your phone onto the bed next to you with a soft thud, you swung your legs to the side to stand when another sound hit your ear and froze you in your tracks. It was the sound of his voice, and though you couldn’t hear every word and weren’t familiar with the song, you were captivated. You took a few steps closer to your door, hoping that you’d be able to hear him more clearly. You had, but you realized that he was only singing a few words at a time, then intermittently humming, and you wondered if it was a new song that he was working on, or an old song that he was trying to recall. You wondered if it had meaning, or if it simply made him happy, or if it was just what came to mind for no reason other than to fill the silence.

 “Halfway up ...rolling…” Straining your ears and holding your breath, you caught a few clear lyrics, incoherent hums filling in the gaps between them. You smiled to yourself as he reworked the line, adding to it. “Got halfway up that rolling hill…”  There you go. Something in the way that he sang, a sort of surprised satisfaction in his tone, made you believe that it was a new project, something he was still working on. You always admired songwriters. It was one thing to play music written by or for someone else; not that there weren’t innumerable ways to put your own distinct mark on a song, because there were. Every musician brought something new to every piece of music that they played, you knew that. But it was another thing entirely to conjure every bit of the song into being, to pull the melody from the air and the lyrics from your heart. He continued to try the line in different pitches, changing the cadence and timing. Wonder if I’ll get to hear it someday. You tried not to want it as much as you did, but just those few lyrics, just the hint of a rhythm, made you crave more of the song. Don’t, you warned yourself for what felt like the hundredth time since bringing him into your home.   

 Sighing, you pulled the oversized sweater that you wore more tightly around yourself, shrugging deeper into it as you pulled yourself away from his song, moving over to the mirror that hung on your closet door. Combing your fingers loosely through your hair, you twisted it into a rope, circling it up on itself and tying it off in a knot. A few strands inevitably fell free, and you tucked them behind your ears. Wiping the sleep out of your eyes, you gave yourself a once over; thick gray socks pulled up over black leggings, burnt orange cable knit sweater that was older than you were layered on top of a plain white long sleeved tee. You weren’t dressed to impress, but you were warm and as put together as you were going to be, and you couldn’t hide out in your room any longer. Leaving your phone behind, you took a breath and headed out into the hallway. 

 The second the door opened everything intensified; the warmth from the still crackling fire spreading over your cheeks, the familiar, cozy smell of your favorite roast drawing your lips into a sleepy grin. But it was his voice that made the biggest impact. Ryan didn’t just sing, you’d learned. He poured himself into every lyric and all the notes between with such passion that it was impossible not to feel it when he made music. If you want to know him, you just have to listen. You could listen all day, feet planted on the beige carpet, arms wrapped around yourself and his magic filling the air. 

 Instead, you took a few more steps and came through the hall to turn towards the kitchen. Sucking in a breath, you felt your eyes widen as you caught sight of him. He was wearing the same sweatpants and tee that you’d seen him in the night before, but now they bore wrinkles from being slept in, creases near the hem and sleeves that told of tosses and turns. His hair had dried overnight, but he hadn’t bothered to comb it or even drag his fingers through it. Yesterday it had been corralled beneath his cap but now, given a few hours of freedom, it curled and waved near his ears, and a stray strand dangled down to curve around his eye. Even though the snow was still falling, fluffy, white clouds clogging the sky, muted sunlight came through your windows to catch the honeyed highlights in his otherwise dark locks. You worked to control the rapid beat that your heart had taken without your notice as he opened a cabinet to search for sugar. 

 He’d been humming under his breath since you’d turned the corner, but a few more lyrics suddenly came to him as his socked feet arched and he rose to his toes to view the contents of the top shelf. “Roots growin’...put down roots, growin’ down through the ground…” Again, there was an experimental excitement in his voice as he played with the new piece. You couldn’t keep the smile from your face if you wanted to. “It’s the next one,” you said, finally revealing your presence. “Middle shelf, silver canister.” He turned, flattening his feet to the linoleum, the daylight shining in his eyes like fireflies in summer. Oh, he’s… He smiled before closing the cabinet to follow your instruction, opening the next one and retrieving the sugar. 

 “Thanks.” You nodded and he placed the sugar next to the coffee pot as it finished it’s brew, the tired appliance exhaling a final hiss before giving one last sputter, the light behind the orange cover coming on to confirm that the process was complete. “Mornin’,” he said then, turning to face you and leaning back against the counter. “I hope you don’t mind, I wanted to…” he gestured at the coffee that he’d made and shrugged. 

 Mind? You shook your head. He made me coffee and he thought I’d mind? He’s something else. With a smirk, you opened another cabinet and took down two mismatched mugs- one boasting a beach scene, the handle taking the form of a leaping dolphin, chipped purple lettering reading Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, the other depicting an owl, its feathers painted in reds and browns, it’s wise eyes wide and round. “Good morning, Ryan,” you said, and the second the words had left your lips, you felt something change. Oh, no. Those words tasted too good, like the flesh of a forbidden fruit, making juicy promises of sweet tomorrows. You cleared your throat and tried not to let it show on your face as you turned back to him, handing him the empty mugs. “Sleep well? Were you warm enough out here?” 

 You watched his cheek lift slowly into his left eye as his grin spread upwards at your questions. “Yeah,” there was a hint of that excited surprise that you’d heard in his singing as he answered you. Turning to the tired coffee pot, he poured the steaming hot morning elixir, and you thought you caught the same kind of self- admonishment in the slight shake of his head that you’d given yourself. Huh. He cleared his throat. “Yeah, slept real well, nice’n warm.”

 When was the last time he had a warm place to sleep? You couldn’t help but wonder. Days? Weeks? How long has he been on his own? You watched him set the carafe back on top of the hot plate, his shoulders rising and falling before he turned back around. 

 He locked his warm brown eyes with yours as he passed you the owl mug, saying your name- not Junebug, your real name. “Thank you,” he said with more sincerity than you’d ever heard those two words carry. Of course, Ryan, I couldn’t just... His eyes shifted for a second to the window across the space, at the storm that had swept in to derail his plans. “F’you hadn’t offered me a place to stay I don’t know where I’d…” He shook his head and you tried to shake the idea of him freezing under some overpass downtown from your mind. “Storm came outta nowhere’n I don’t know anyone out here ‘cept Cowboy’s brother’n…” He trailed off, eyes flicking downwards again before coming back up and bringing a small smile with them. “Just, thanks.” 

 You clasped your hands around your mug, palms absorbing the warmth from the porcelain. “Ryan, it’s…” You sighed and smiled, and you were relieved to see that he followed your lead. “You’re welcome.” You are. You tore your focus away from his gaze, attention landing on the sugar you’d helped him locate. You pointed your chin towards the canister and he followed with his eyes. “Need a spoon?” Pulling open the silverware drawer, you grabbed a utensil for him, holding it out between you. 

 “Oh, yeah, thanks,” he reached forward to take it from you, his calloused fingertips brushing yours for the most fleeting of seconds, but igniting a spark the way a match does when it strikes. He licked his lips and blinked at you as he leaned back against the counter. Did...no, you assured yourself that he didn’t feel it too. He sweetened his coffee, giving it a stir. “Myrtle Beach, huh?” He changed the topic to the souvenir that held his caffeine. “‘Been there a few times.” 

 Of course you have. You’d been there every summer from the time you were born until you moved out on your own, the family vacation spot holding a place close to home in your heart. You imagined him there on the smooth white sand, feet and chest bare as the sun tanned his skin. You could see him sitting with his guitar outside the fudge shop you used to visit annually, contributing to the bluesy songs that the employees there would sing as they poured the thick, gooey chocolate and coated pralines in sugar and spice. It was easy, you realized, to imagine him in your favorite places. It doesn’t matter, don’t think about that. “Yeah?” you asked as you brought your mug to your lips to take a sip. 

 “Mhmm,” he tapped his spoon twice against the rim of the mug before tossing it into the sink where it clanged noisily against the stainless steel. Did he do the dishes? A glance at the full dishrack on the counter answered your question for you. “I stop there sometimes when I’m headin’ back to visit family.” So he’s from the East Coast, too. “Played with some friends at the pier and the boardwalk a few summers ago.” He brought the colorful mug to his lips and gave a gentle blow to cool the liquid inside, ripples forming on the dark surface before he took a sip that left the bristly hair over his upper lip damp. His tongue came out to quickly collect the droplets stuck in his beard and mustache. “Thinkin’ ‘bout headin’ back that way soon. Next summer if not this one.”

 Without meaning to you saw yourself laughing and strolling the boards with him as the foamy sea swept along the shore, the bright orange sun dipping behind the horizon and the humming of insect wings filling the warm air. You imagined playing music with him, maybe with his friends- the ones he’d told you about last night- under the wooden gazebo where you’d stood to watch local musicians with Eli and your mom on your way back to the hotel after a long, sunny day on the sand. Too easy. But before you could change the subject, he was asking you how long it had been since you’d been there. How old is that mug? “Um…” you stalled, taking another drink and heading out of the kitchen, suddenly unable to share the small space with Ryan and your wishful thinking. He followed, bringing his coffee with him. Shrugging, you walked over to the living room, where he’d folded the blankets and sheets you’d given him, piling them neatly atop the still inflated mattress. “Maybe eight years or so?” Longer. You moved the mattress with your foot until it bumped up against the wall opposite the fireplace, then sunk down onto it. Big mistake. You were hit instantly with his scent as you sat where he slept; bar soap and tobacco and that indescribable smell that cold, crisp air leaves on your clothes and in your hair after you’ve been outside all day. Though you knew you shouldn’t, you took a slow breath in through your nose and imagined waking up wrapped in that scent morning after morning. 

 It was a losing battle with him right there, long legs bending so he could take a seat next to you, the mattress dipping with his weight to make the whole thing feel even more familiar than it should. “Think you’ll ever go back?” You watched his eyes travel to the flames in the fireplace, making sure that they didn’t need attention before settling back on your face, waiting for your answer. 

 Nodding, you stared straight ahead at the glow of the embers beneath the grate. “I hope so.” You thought about revisiting your home away from home with your brother often, wanted more than anything to revisit those memories and make new ones, the two of you laughing and enjoying the slow, simple happiness that you’d found in that place over the years. I’ve got bridges to mend before that can happen though. One step at a time. 

 Out of the corner of your eye, you watched as Ryan smiled over the top of his coffee, the steam swirling in front of his eyes, making them even warmer than the fire that you sat before. “You will.” He said it so matter of factly that even though you couldn’t say when, you believed that you would. “Someday.” Someday. You heard the same hopeful quality that was in his tone the day before, when he talked about seeing his friends as soon as the snow let up. “That’s what’s great about havin’ favorite places.” You turned and his smile inched higher up into his cheeks. “You can always go back to ‘em. Whenever you’re ready.” 

 Am I ready? You blinked at him and felt your own lips twitch upwards, unable to avoid the contagious nature of his smile. “Yeah, whenever I’m ready.” But when will that be? Every time you thought about spreading your wings and jumping, you shriveled back inside of them and crawled away from the ledge. It wasn’t the fall that worried you, but the landing. You’d already crashed and burned once before. You weren’t sure you’d survive it again. Not alone, anyway.

 He cleared his throat and set his mug down by his feet, lacing the fingers of his left hand with those of his right the moment they were free. Binging his elbows up until his tattooed digits pressed against their opposite knuckles letting out a series of little pops, Ryan turned his head towards the rectangular window that took up most of your empty wall. “I’m guessin’ you’re not goin’ to work today,” he wagered, taking in the snowfall. 

 You were glad for the change in subject, glad that he seemed to sense it too. “Nope,” you sighed, leaning back against the wall, tilting your head so you could watch the snow as well. “Looks like you’re stuck with me.” 

 He chuckled, looking down through his long lashes as the laugh rumbled up from his chest, and you tried not to think about what it would feel like to press your hand there, to feel that happiness bubble up to the surface beneath his warm skin. Get up. Get up, get up, get up. You stood as he shook his head, that one unruly piece of hair falling rebelliously back down over his brow. “Stuck,” he blew air through his nose, squinting his eyes. “I’m not stuck, I’m,” You walked over to the window, two fingers moving the blinds aside. “I’m lucky.”  

 You closed your eyes and swallowed as you let go of the curved plastic blinds, letting them clack together, the draft that slipped in around the edges of the window chilling your fingertips. He just means that he’s lucky that he’s not outside, not that- 

 “I’m lucky. Not just ‘cause you gave me a place to stay. I’m...I feel lucky I met you, you know?” 

 Yeah, I know. You felt the same way about meeting him. Even if you never got to find out what waking up to him would be like, or how a laugh feels as it leaves his lungs, you had been lucky enough to find each other in the world on a day that you both needed it; lucky enough to find a friend in the storm. “Ryan,” you turned back to him, aware that there was emotion in your eyes that you couldn’t control. He was already looking at you, ready to receive your eyes as they fell to his. “Yeah, I-” 

 But you were cut short by the tingling ring of his phone from somewhere in his pocket. “Sorry.” He apologized with a sympathetic look as he reached for the phone, leaning to one side to make accessing his pocket easier as he dug the small plastic device out and glanced at the number. “Might be Virgina, maybe she’s callin’ from the motel or somethin’... I gotta…” 

 You shook your head dismissing his concerns. We were headed toward dangerous territory anyway. “No, that’s…” you gestured towards the phone as he smiled gratefully. “Go ahead.” You walked back towards the kitchen to give him privacy, not wanting him to feel the need to go outside to take the call. 

 “Hey, Virginia?” He answered, hopeful excitement in his question. “That you?” I hope he gets to see them today. You smiled as you crossed the vacant dining room, feet finding the tiled floor of the tiny kitchen. I should see about breakfast, maybe I have some…

 You didn’t mean to listen, but you couldn’t help but hear. His tone took a hardened edgen as he stood abruptly from the mattress, one hand raking through the ruffled nest of his hair. “Jackie?” You busied yourself with opening the refrigerator and counting your eggs. Who’s that? He’d told you about Cowboy and Virginia, Georgie and Robin and Oz and Louie, but no one named Jackie had come up in the stories that he shared last night. Before you could wonder if there was a woman in Ryan’s life that he’d forgotten to tell you about- no, that doesn’t seem like something he would do, stay in my home without telling me he’s in a relationship- He was speaking again. “Wait. Woah, woah, Jackie, wait.” Oh, that’s not… You realized quickly that it wasn’t a conversation he wanted to be having. He paced the living room but showed no signs of stepping out to finish the call, so you did your best to focus on putting food together. “Jackie,” you heard him say finally as you cracked eggs in a bowl. “Jackie, why are you callin’ me? It’s not…” He sighed and there was another long pause as he moved towards the window where you’d been just a few moments before. “Thank you,” he said, “but that’s…” Another pause that you tried to fill by taking a frying pan out of your cabinet and perching it atop one of the burners. “Jackie, listen to me please? There’s nothin’ to…No, we aren’t… Jackie? There’s nothin’ left to say, Jackie. I’m not comin’ back. I know that’s why you-” You’d poured the eggs into the hot pan and they hissed as he pulled the phone away from his ear and swore under his breath. “Jackie? I’m hangin’ up now. Please don’t call me again, okay?” He flipped the phone closed with more force than was necessary and tossed it to the mattress, letting out a sigh. Yikes. You heard him rifle through his pack, mumbling to himself as he pulled out a small tobacco tin and a sleeve of rolling papers.  

 You opened the utensil drawer and pulled out a spatula before pushing it back in with your hip. The sound of the rollers caught Ryan’s attention and he turned towards the kitchen as you started moving the quickly cooking eggs in the pan. 

 “I’m sorry, that was” he crossed over to lean on the counter that separated the kitchen from the rest of the space. 

 You shook your head and looked over your shoulder at him. “It’s fine, Ryan, don’t…” You waved one hand nonchalantly, the other still working to scramble breakfast. 

 “That was…” He blew out a breath and took a sip of his coffee, draining his mug and setting it down next to the tin. Guess he’s gonna tell me anyway. You switched off the pan, letting the eggs finish cooking in the residual heat, and balanced the spatula against the handle. He waited until you turned to face him to continue. “Her name is Jackie, and I used to… we were…” he squinted his eyes as he searched for the word. 

 “Together?” You supplied, raising one eyebrow. 

 “No,” he said firmly. “No we weren’t really together she… we met when I was stoppin’ in Utah last year, and she just…” He sighed and pushed his hand over his hair again, seemingly frustrated at his inability to explain what this woman meant to him. “It wasn’t right,” he said finally with a small movement of his head back and forth. “It never was, she just… we met and then she kept… she was tryin’ to make me stay, right from the beginnin’, I see that now. She knew I was just in town a couple’a days, but she was tryin’ to fit me into her life there in Ogden. I was stayin’ with her when I got the news about Cowboy and it just…” He picked up the tin and held it up. “You mind if I roll this, I’ll smoke it outside a’course.” 

 You nodded and gestured that he should go ahead and he thanked you. You didn’t know this woman, but what he’d told you and the way he sounded when he was on the phone with her was enough for you to form an opinion, and it wasn’t a favorable one. She took advantage of him when he was grieving. That’s… 

 “After I left Odgen, I came back, few weeks later, and we… I tried but I just… I couldn’t be what she wanted me to be, you know? It was never gonna work.” You watched him start to work on crafting a cigarette. “She didn’t,” he shook his head, eyes focused on the tobacco leaf and the thin paper he was rolling it in, shifting his fingers to craft a perfect cylinder. “She wasn’t a cheater, she didn’ lie or anythin’ she just,” he pinched the empty bit of paper at the tip and gave it a small shake. “She wanted me to change too much.”

 You frowned, though he didn’t see it. You’d only known him for a day and a half, but you couldn’t imagine him any other way; you couldn’t imagine wanting him to change. But I never thought Kevin would expect me to change, either. They  were a slightly different set of circumstances- you’d been with Kevin for years and had already made enormous lifestyle changes for him when he’d decided that they weren’t enormous enough. From what Ryan had told you of Jackie, she seemed to like the package that he came in but didn’t care for the things that made him Ryan and not somebody else. She wanted to change him from the start. That’s so...selfish. Your frown deepened as you turned back to the stove and removed the pan from the burner, sliding it to another so it could cool. “I’m glad you didn’t,” you faced him again, expecting him to still be busy with the cigarette, but he’d finished with it by the time you turned around. 

 That same look crossed his face that you thought you saw earlier, the look that you felt on your own face as you told yourself not to get too close to something that was only going to be gone soon. “Yeah,” he said, tapping the cigarette twice against the countertop. “Yeah, me too.” He blinked and tilted his chin towards what you’d been cooking. “Did you make breakfast?” You nodded and he grinned, shaking his head and erasing the leftover stale feeling that talking about Jackie had brought about. “I was gonna offer to do that, to thank you for-” Again the ringing of his phone cut the conversation short and he took a breath before going to retrieve it. This time a relieved expression crossed his face as he read the caller ID. “This time it is Ginny,” he said, motioning to the door. “I’m gonna step out an talk to her and then we can,” he pointed to the eggs as he picked up his jacket, sticking the cigarette between his lips. “An I got somethin’ I want you to hear, Junebug, song I woke up with in my head. Want you to give it a listen. That okay?” The phone rang again in his hand as he waited for your response. 

 Your heart beat like the steel drum in Max’s store as he shoved his feet into his boots. “Yeah, Ryan, that’s okay.” 

 He smiled, cigarette still between his lips as he opened the phone and stepped toward the back door. “Ginny?” He pulled the door shut behind him and you stared at it, rooted in place. 

He wants me to listen to the song he’s working on? You cast your eyes around the room, from the dishes he’d done to the coffee he’d made, the fire he’d kept lit and the blankets he’d left his warmth on. It was easier last night to pretend that this wouldn’t be a problem, that you wouldn’t want all of this as much as you did. But his pack, guitar and hat looked good in the corner of the room. Oh, no.  

.

.

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@something-tofightfor​ @its-my-little-dumpster-fire​ @suchatinyinfinity​ @lexxierave​ @thesumofmychoices​ @songtoyou​ @traeumerinwitzhelden​ @gollyderek​  @breanime​ @obscurilicious​ @malionnes​ 

please let me know if you would like to be added or removed! (and if i added or removed you in error, I apologize!) 

[tcdarkeststorms]

Mother’s Day special

Since it’s Mother’s Day, I wanted to give some tribute to the moms we see in Trauma Center, along with headcanons about how a couple of ‘em are as moms and generally exploring stuff. This is my ship hell, just a fair warning.

HERE WE GO!!!

Cybil Kasal

Cybil and Greg, honestly thought long and hard about starting a family. Neither, were entirely sure, because of their GUILT and worrying if it would potentially cause issues with having kids or create issues for the kid once they were born. Privately, they got gene screening done.

They were so relieved when they were told they could in fact have a family safely.

Kari was born 10 months later.

Greg gleefully was telling those they were comfortable telling “She’s Gregnant.” including his mother in law. Cybil was bemoaning the fact, that this was his first dad joke and only the start of a lifetime full of them.

During her pregnancy with Kari, Cybil didn’t even stop working. While anesthesia isn’t an easy specialty by far… It was pretty much a situation of let her or lose a hand. Greg just kept a careful eye on her but put his foot down finally when she was in her last trimester.

The night Kari was born, Greg actually nearly missed it because of an emergency patient. He wanted to pass them off to another doctor, but Cybil insisted he go, she was gonna be fine. He made it with literally seconds to spare as the first thing he heard when he came into the room was Kari’s first cries.

Kari’s name actually has some significance to them both. Derived from HIkari since she was their little light of Hope.

For the first few months, Kari could only fall asleep if she was nestled between them. Cybil lost a LOT of sleep making sure their little girl was fine. (She had a little cot that she was tucked into that was above their own blanket)

Kari’s first words were….

“Dada”.

Greg would never forget the LOOK Cybil gave him when that happened. He tried to convince her, she really said Mama but they both knew.

She took her first steps for Cybil though and that was enough for her. (And Greg got it all on film including the crying from Cybil.)

As she grows, Kari and her mom are very close and Cybil does her best to be there as much as she can. She still works, but she’s not ashamed that she did indeed bring her little one to work a few times.

The first time Kari got sick with something more serious than a cold, it was a good number of sleepless nights. (Poor kiddo had food poisoning. It was not fun for Kari who was five at the time and Greg and Cybil were taking shifts all night to make sure she was comfortable/hydrated)

Kari was born on Mother’s Day of 2021. (May 9th) Cybil boasts that she was the best present she ever got.

Cybil is THAT Mom during sport events at school and the like. Cheering as loud as she can, booing the other team, boasting: “THAT’S MY LITTLE GIRL!!!” And generally just… embracing the role of “embarrassing mom” with utter pride.

They never had another child. They only planned for one and they got their little miracle child.

Naomi Kimishima

Naomi after she woke up from surgery had Alyssa moved to her room. Alyssa actually never slept in her hospital bed again, they slept in the same one together.

Alyssa doesn’t really sleep in her own room all that often. She prefers being near her mother, since she’s so busy… and Alyssa privately, feels safer being right next to her. When she gets older she’ll gradually sleep in her own bed more and more but Naomi doesn’t mind…. Privately, she feels better having her kid right there.

Alyssa, doesn’t remember the first time she called Naomi “Mom” however Naomi does. It was while she was dropping Alyssa off to play at Joshua’s house and Alyssa shouted over her shoulder “Bye Mama! I’ll see you later!”

She’d never admit this out loud to anyone (Except Little Guy) that she sat there in her car for nearly ten minutes crying.

Naomi… doesn’t really get along with the other moms that volunteer at Alyssa’s school. She comes across as intimidating to them and she thinks they’re too protective. (She got a pretty nasty set of glares, when waiting for the kids to be done messing around after school, Alyssa fell. Instead of rushing to her and fretting, she just called across:

“You good!?”

“Ahuh!”

“Good, get up and keep going.”

She could FEEL the judgement)

She… generally dislikes parental participation during events. She loves spending time with Alyssa, but she’ll be the first to admit, she’s more of an introvert now than she used to be and being around so many people is exhausting. She’ll suck it up for her sake though…

Except for Bake Sales.

She refuses to bake. She’s not a disaster chef like Gabe jokes, she can make basic meals and the most advanced thing she can make is various curries (all from scratch and both Indian and Japanese style curries) but unfortunately, that’s not exactly… welcomed at bake sales. She has no shame buying stuff at the store and dropping it onto the table.

There’s a few other moms she works with at CIFM, but they don’t talk…. And actually, Naomi avoids talking to them in particular, because she… really, REALLY hates how often they try to envelope her into their “Mom Clique” at work.  (She got enough of it, after being told how often Alyssa should be snacking, ect and flat out said: “She’s breathing and suffered no brain damage from the explosion. But you know, let’s hear again how I’m a terrible mom for letting her stay up late on weekends and letting her eat candy.”)

They give her a wide berth now as if she’s cursed.

That’s perfectly fine with her.

While they eat out often, Naomi does ensure Alyssa and her both eat a variety of food. Lot of vegetables, fruits, ect.

She became closer with her own mother, after adopting Alyssa since her mom was elated at having a granddaughter… and elated her child was going to live.

Naomi and her mom were close when she was growing up and she wanted the same for her and Alyssa… Luckily for her, Alyssa utterly adores her.

Alyssa shows interest in biology, but she’ll admit, she doesn’t think she could do the work Naomi does. She knows how hard it is emotionally on her at times and has stayed up with her, distracting her after some rough cases. Mainly in the form of watching movies and lots of cuddles in a blanket nest.

On her days off, Naomi always tries to see what Alyssa wants to do, before making plans… most of these plans, include teaching her about meditating, telling her stories, or facetiming with Naomi’s parents. Making blanket forts and watching cartoons, or reading together. (Naomi’s just… baffled at how easy going of a kid Alyssa is. She realizes she lucked out with having a child that’s so calm)

Chloe is still a problem cat and Naomi laments frequently, she didn’t expect to share a familiar with Alyssa.

She’d do it all over again for her sake.

When she and Little Guy get married, Naomi makes one thing clear - she wants ONLY one child and she’s got that already. Navel happily agrees.

Tomoe Tachibana

I like to imagine, Tomoe does want to be a mother someday. It’s just a matter of getting there… and being patient, even if it’s hard sometimes…. Sooo here we are.

In every timeline, when she gets with CR-S01, they struggle for awhile to have kids.

And in each timeline, they adopt after a certain point. They take in a little girl, named Rizabelle who is the utter light of their lives and they adore everything about her. Later on, they’ll have another child, a son (Galen, who you can find here: https://theblueskyphoenix.tumblr.com/post/612419824029777920/citra-torres-teresa-cunningham-galen-muller

Tomoe’s a very gentle and nurturing parent. While their daughter’s pretty hyper, she does her best to help her slow down and appreciate the life around them.

Their little girl, is generally just a ray of sunshine to everyone she meets and a very kind little girl. She adores her parents and spends as much time as possible with them when their home… and even at work.

Tomoe wants to teach both of her kids, martial arts, only if they want to though.

Rizabelle wants to. SO BADLY. Unfortunately, she’s a bit of a frail little thing so it’s not until she’s a little stronger that she starts learning the basics. There is absolutely no desire to take over the Tachibana clan though.

With both of her children, Tomoe emphasizes wanting them to know about their family’s background. A lot of history lessons, Japanese lessons… but she emphasizes she wants them to be kids as well. She never wants them to feel the pressure she did growing up, to do everything a proper “lady of the clan” would do.

Tomoe and Erhard both are guilty of being WAY too excited, to shop for their kids back to school supplies. Rizabelle had JUST turned six when they adopted her, so she was phasing out of Kindergarten when that happened. (They both went overboard. A LOT of books, too many backpacks, specialized stationary, Rizabelle genuinely lost count of how many bento boxes she has for her lunches. They were just so excited to have a kid to shop for. The same thing happens with Galen when it’s his turn, except he does use a few of Rizabelle’s hand-me-down’s since at least there were a few backpacks that weren’t too girly for his tastes and bento boxes didn’t really matter if they were cutesy or not)

Tomoe, privately really enjoys anime unironically, it’s just what she grew up with. It was a real joy to her, to get to share some of her favorite series with her kids. (Black Jack, the original Sailor Moon, stuff she remembered fondly as a little girl).

Movie nights are frequent in the Tachibana-Muller household, with everyone taking turns.

When Tomoe did fall pregnant with their son finally, she was excited, nervous, terrified. She was just… so looking forward to meeting him.

Oddly enough, she didn’t have much in the ways of severe symptoms. She was one of the lucky ones, who didn’t deal with morning sickness and she worked a good deal of the way into her pregnancy.

Erhard came home from work, quite a bit to find his wife and daughter fast asleep, with Rizabelle having her ear pressed to her mom’s stomach trying to hear what her new sibling was up to.

He has a lot of pictures of those times.

Tomoe is… VERY protective of her kids. Rizabelle got pushed and almost punished in the third grade, because it counted as a “fight”.

That was the last time, someone messed with a Tachibana child, as Tomoe went NUCLEAR. (Erhard took a step back and focused on making sure Rizabelle was alright).

No one ever picked on the Muller kids again after that.

Tomoe intimidates the other moms just as much as Naomi and… she honestly doesn’t care. As far as she’s concerned, if they don’t like how she raises her children, they can keep their opinions to themselves.

She admits, she’s a little lost sometimes initially and wishes she could ask her own mother for advice.. But she picks herself up and keeps going. (And asks for advice a LOT from Lisa and Naomi at the start. She realized very quickly to not worry so much since as long as their kids were eating enough, sleeping enough, ect then she couldn’t really mess up)

Lisa Cunningham

Lisa wanted to be a mom, ever since she could remember. When she fell in love with Gabriel, the first thing she warned him was that she did want kids and if he didn’t, then she would let him go right then and there, during their first date.

Luckily he agreed… When they had Joshua, it was still when Gabe was in the reserves. She quickly got on with the other military moms, who all had husbands in the same program as Gabe was. They got along pretty nicely and frequently lamented how often their husbands were busy.

Gabe only had to report to training so many times, never deployed. She still held things together though, when he needed her to.

They lived in California for part of Joshua’s life, before moving to Portland. Both are actually from Portland, but due to Gabe’s work lived in Cali for awhile. She misses it… especially when it’s cold.

When she first became pregnant with Joshua, she was mostly exhausted all the time… and mostly cried at stuff, when her hormones got to her. She could never remember actually being mad. (And Gabe would agree. He just felt bad when she was having a hard time.. And he also wishes he could forget some of the cravings. (“Who the heck dips pickles in peanut butter? For the matter, how many jars of those did you even eat!?” “Your son, wanted them.”)

They had a few names picked out but Joshua was the one they both liked the best. (It’s actually Gabe’s middle name, since he didn’t wanna saddle the kid with being “Gabe Jr.”, Lisa thought it was sweet… and it’s actually a family name, since it was also Gabe’s grandfather’s first name.)

They had some trouble deciding on a middle name though. It was a week long debate, over dinner because both wanted Joshua to have one of his grandfather’s names as a middle name.

They literally had this discussion until Joshua was born.

They settled on Joshua Thomas Cunningham… Neither grandfather's name won. Instead, Joshua’s named after one of the members of the band Styx, Tommy Shaw (Gabe’s favorite band EVER)

Joshua was a C-section baby. He was in distress and they both agreed it was best to just get him out ASAP. (Lisa was honestly terrified and tried to put on a brave face. Gabe stayed by her side the whole time. She can look back on it with humor nowadays though. “He didn’t want a squished head. He was already fluffy thanks to his dad here.” “Hey!”)

Lisa’s a doting mother on Joshua. Loves her baby more than anything else and does whatever she can for him… even if for part of his life, Gabe wasn’t in it.

They are very, very close due to this. Joshua wants his mom happy and does his best hoping not to worry her… even if she still worries like crazy.

They have tried to reconcile several times, meeting privately and talking over the course of the last year or so.

She was mentally burnt out by the time the outbreak had ended. She was so stressed out, it took a toll on her. She and Gabe were together again by this point and… yeah. It was rough. She was having trouble relaxing, neither were sleeping well.

Gabe declared they needed a vacation and they headed to California for two weeks.

Lisa… honestly gets a kick out of the fact, she gets asked for advice from one of Gabe’s old friends, about parenting… and happily will offer it if it’s wanted

A year later, they have another child, their daughter Terry… this time, everything goes nice and smooth and Lisa thanks her lucky stars it went just as planned.

She’s a loving dedicated mother and will do anything for her kids and husband.

While being married to Gabe wasn’t easy at times… she is glad they were able to work it out. (Though she gave him SUCH a look when someone at Resurgam said: “Didn’t you say you were gonna divorce her?”

“Oh please, he wouldn’t survive without me.”

“It’s true.”)

They both have had to put a lot of work into making their marriage work but it’s worth every second.

Angie Thompson

Angie and Derek’s first kid came along exactly 9 months after they got married. They really wanted a family of their own. They were blessed with their first daughter, Luna Stiles.

Derek has quite a few photo’s and notes from over the course of that particular pregnancy, to put in Luna’s baby book later…. Including some of the sillier things. (“Please tell me you didn’t take pictures of that time I cried because you made me eggs with a bacon smile.”

“Noooooo. NOOOOO never….” He did. He got a smack on the arm for it later. It was worth it.)

Angie, didn’t work in the OR at all during this. They worked with too many potential hazards and the smell of the disinfectants made her morning sickness act up BIG TIME. She instead, worked directly with the patients for most of it.

Derek spoiled her rotten and made sure to do as much as he could to make it easier for her… Including, overhauling paperwork duty for them both. (And later realized, he may have made a mistake as Angie now calls him on it every time. “What? Do we need another kid to make you do it on time again!?”

“A-Angie!!!”)

Angie and Derek both agreed, they didn’t want a lot of prying when it came to their children coming into the world. She quietly checked into Hope Hospital and after a long, LONG night… Luna was born and they couldn’t be happier.

Two years later, they were blessed with a little boy, named Glenn.

Angie dotes on them both equally. She was just so happy they were finally here, safe and sound… healthy…

Glenn is a mama’s boy. He happily will cling to her leg when she gets home from work, or if she brings them to work for a bit. He loves spending time with her and getting to know more about her job.

Her favorite part of her day is coming home to their kids and getting to enjoy their evenings with them… or mornings, depending on the shift. Either way, it’s her favorite part.

Angie and Derek both have days where they take one of the kids with them to do an activity solo with that particular parent, along with family outings all together. That way, they get some one on one time along with full out family time. (Derek’s forbidden Disneyland as a “solo parent activity” cause deep down he’s a big kid at heart who loves going just as much)

During the earlier parts of their kids lives, they lived in a few different areas, due to work reasons. They got to see quite a bit of the world before the age of ten, but were very happy to go back home for good. It was around when Luna was 6 and Glenn was 4 that they decided no more international medical work unless absolutely necessary. (“As in, we better be the last ones called.”)

Nap piles are a must. She didn’t understand initially the appeal of mid day naps before she and Derek got together… She admits, there is now nothing better than, taking a midday snooze, her kids her husband all together with her in their big queen sized bed.

Angie is a total helicopter mom when her kids are sick. She’s on top of everything… Derek’s involved with it too, but he’s mainly reminding Angie that they’ll be fine. He’s actually the calm one.

Angie is a member of the now unofficial “Moms who aren’t liked by the other moms at school” club, with Tomoe and Naomi.  It’s more to do with the fact Angie gets recognized from being in the news so often… More so because she refused to give free medical advice.

(“They do know, I’m not allowed to do that right?”

“I got snubbed for not freaking out over Alyssa falling.”

“They were afraid of me.”)

No matter what, she wouldn’t change a single thing.

[dansiere]

—    BASICS.

▸     IS    YOUR    MUSE    TALL    /    SHORT    /    AVERAGE ? Pearl stands at 5′10″ (178 cm) which renders her rather tall whenever compared to most women/humans in general. However, compared to most Gems she seems of average height. After all, she is easily dwarfed by Gems that stand higher in Homeworld’s hierarchy such as quartzes, jaspers, agates, bismuth, or, most strikingly diamonds. There are some exceptions, however. Pearl (i.e) towers over most peridots, lapis, sapphires, larimar and rubies. 

▸      ARE    THEY    OKAY    WITH    THEIR    HEIGHT ? She is not necessarily bothered by it but isn’t too fond of it either. Pearl is rather self-conscious about her appearance, given how much of it is linked to her status as former servant. The underlying discomfort notwithstanding; similar to her age, her height is but a number to her. 

▸      WHAT’S    THEIR    HAIR    LIKE ? Predominantly peach in colour, it can be considered orange from time to time [you may call her a ginger]. It’s relatively short & cut in a pixie cut at the front while styled up in the back. It reaches slightly beneath chin-length when wet but usually keeps its form due to well, Gem magic. Pearl used to wear a messier version of her standard hairstyle in her “youth”; indeed, during the war, she proudly donned a more “wild” look to complement her status as a renegade, whereas her hairstyle during her days spent in servitude featured a ‘rosebud’ kind of cut. Shortly after Rose’s death & Steven’s birth, Pearl eventually donned a very tidy & clean-cut look [for reasons that I will elude on further below]; no hair is allowed to pop out of its place. -- her hair itself is surprisingly soft & fluffy to the touch. 

▸     DO    THEY    SPEND    A    LOT    OF    TIME    ON    THEIR    HAIR     /    GROOMING ? Sadly, yes. She does not need to tend to her form per se but does so anyway in order to keep up a flawless & orderly appearance at any given time. -- however, ever since CYM, Pearl has gradually become more laid-back again & thus donned a messier hairstyle more reminiscent of the one worn during the war.

▸      DOES   YOUR   MUSE   CARE   ABOUT   THEIR   APPEARANCE   /   WHAT    OTHERS    THINK ? Absolutely, yes. While she will never admit it, Pearl is very, very self-conscious out of various reasons (one being her abysmal self-esteem). Never one to bring up physical attributes (why, in theory, she does not necessarily believe that she has much to offer in that regard. Her body is a hardlight projection & she perceives it as such), she is nonetheless hyperaware of what exactly her appearance entails. Pearls are designed to look "pretty” & are EASILY recognized based on their lanky & delicate built (i.e their noses, slim & rather ‘androgynous’ physique, posture, voice, & even more ‘individual’ traits such as hairstyle or the colour of their clothes). Needless to say, the fact that she possesses the physical traits of a pearl will always mark her as something or someone ‘special’ in a negative sense; more an object than a person, to be exact. Due to that, she has been changing her form quite often in the past, always trying her utmost to go against any classically pearl-esque trait.

—    PREFERENCES.

▸     INDOORS    OR    OUTDOORS ?  both ▸     RAIN   OR    SUNSHINE ?  sunshine, though she is fascinated by Earth’s weather in general. ▸     FOREST    OR    BEACH ?  again, both even though she has a preference for the beach due to basically having lived right next to one for approx. 5000 years. ▸     PRECIOUS    METALS  OR    GEMS ?  ... hm. Swords. ▸     FLOWERS    OR    PERFUMES ?  flowers by a long shot. ▸     PERSONALITY  OR    APPEARANCE ? personality; though admittedly, she developed quite the type regarding appearance. It is canon that most of her ‘flings’ resembled Rose.   ▸     BEING    ALONE    OR    BEING    IN    A    CROWD ?  being in a crowd; she feels at unease in both cases but loneliness is something she is absolutely terrified of (she is prone to self-isolation during or after a breakdown, however: partially out of the desire to punish herself); Pearl is someone who needs people around her, preferably two. She may retreat to her room rather often or like to sit outside on her own but she only feels truly at ease whenever Garnet, Rose / Steven & Amethyst are in her proximity. ▸     ORDER    OR    ANARCHY ?  order, without a doubt. Her younger self was certainly more fond of anarchy, however. It is also important to state that she sometimes WISHES she could simply solve her problems in a duel again; after all, to her, as a fan of logic, fighting is less stressful than dealing with her emotions. ▸     PAINFUL    TRUTHS    OR   WHITE    LIES ?  white lies., without a doubt. Pearl is an excellent liar; not necessarily by choice but... well. She is fairly good at twisting words. ▸     SCIENCE    OR    MAGIC ?  science. ▸     PEACE    OR    CONFLICT ?  another quite difficult choice; while she fights for peace, conflict is where she thrives. It is one of those ironic cases in which a person defines or rather defined herself by participating in a war & for Pearl the war was ... well, detrimental to her identity. She romanticizes it to NO END. ▸     NIGHT    OR    DAY ?  both; it does not make much of a difference to her in the end. She might prefer night time simply because she loves to stargaze but well. She is fond of the sun too. ▸     DUSK    OR   DAWN ?  dawn; Pearl loves watching the sun rise. ▸     WARMTH    OR    COLD ?  again, it makes no difference. Pearl cannot feel either. ▸     MANY   ACQUAINTANCES    OR    A    FEW    CLOSE    FRIENDS ?  few close friends; as I stated earlier, she needs people around her because she cannot really be alone. That urge notwithstanding, Pearl is a very introverted person who struggles with social norms; in fact, she often forces herself to socialize to a ridiculous degree. In SU:Future, she is constantly trying to meet new people that are capable of a) giving her the validation she requires, b) still fill the hole that Rose left & c) to distract herself from whatever uncomfortable thoughts are on her mind post-CYM. Her prime focus remains the Crystal Gems, but it is safe to say that she is lowkey trying to emulate an environment she revelled in during war times; she likes to be admired by people since it gives her confidence & stability. -- there is a reason why she calls her human acquaintances “her fanclub”. ▸     READING    OR    PLAYING    A    GAME ?  reading; she loves games that include strategic thinking or logic in general, however. Or anything that allows her to ramble on & on about topics of interest.

—    QUESTIONNAIRE.

▸      WHAT    ARE    SOME    OF    YOUR    MUSE’S    BAD    HABITS ? She is a nervous wreck; a mess. Pearl’s biggest issue is her inability to let go of the past or deal with her emotions in a healthy way. Her tons of personal growth notwithstanding, she is fond of white lies & emotional self-destruction. While she is usually selfless by nature, most of her rather reckless actions have proven to be quite damaging to those around her (i.e. Garnet, Amethyst, Steven & even herself). Pearl is furthermore emotionally unstable & spins out of control hard & fast, is prone to extreme jealousy, possessiveness & obsession may it be with Rose or details/symmetry, what if’s & cleanliness as such. Pearl is quick to judge, over-protective, terribly patronizing at times (even though she does not mean to be), incredibly controlling & just “does too much” whenever pushed. She is also fond of blaming herself in quite the fatal way & lives “inside her head” way too much. Low-self esteem & lack of confidence leads to her lashing out rather than handling situations in a calm manner; while appearing steady & being quite the strategist, she can turn into a bundle of nerves within a second, usually yielding to hysteria & knee-jerk reactions that do more harm than good. -- she means well & she is a very loving/caring person who has her heart in the right place but sometimes she just... messes up. After all, she never truly had the time to deal with her own myriad of trauma & it shows. 

▸      HAS    YOUR    MUSE    LOST    ANYONE    CLOSE    TO    THEM ?      HOW    HAS    IT    AFFECTED    THEM ? Yes, her partner/lover Rose Quartz. It is a loss that is still haunting her 16 years after the other’s death; needless to say, she did not handle it well at all. While she knew that Rose would die to give birth to Steven (mainly due to her having been told in advance / her suspecting so after Rose fell in love with Greg), Pearl held on to the thought of her ‘changing her mind’ until the very end. When the time came, Pearl utterly collapsed. She spent the first few months in utter self-isolation (either sitting next to Rose’s statue at the fountain or in her room, laying on her back & staring at the wall / ceiling or knees to her chest), barely speaking to anyone; the very mention of Rose or Steven made her burst into tears. It went so far that she... basically tried to shatter herself after around six months. Pearl was, however, stopped by Garnet who showed herl a future in which Steven would come to grow & live alongside them, just how Rose had wanted it to be. Pearl still poofed herself but emerged later with a changed form, apologizing for her behaviour & swearing to never try something that selfish ever again.

     Her newfound hope notwithstanding; coercing herself to function normally (after just a year) despite her looming agony put a serious strain on her & most of her already damaged relationships to the other two remaining Crystal Gems. She stopped confiding in Garnet, & her relationship to Amethyst broke apart; she was moody, screamed at the others, ran away, lost focus during missions which eventually endangered the life of her comrades & her own. She got poofed several times & as a consequence took longer to regenerate up until the point were she got more & more lethargic, volatile & eventually depressed with no drive, trying her utmost to function via hyperfixating on Steven. Additionally, she (i.e) developed a neurosis & a serious obsession with cleanliness & details as a consequence, busying herself with her role as Steven’s caretaker & housekeeping duties, with Garnet serving as her rock in her weakest & most volatile moments. -- she eventually managed to make the conscious decision to move on around Steven’s 15th birthday & has been working on herself ever since. Needless to say, it is a slow progress.

▸      WHAT    ARE    SOME    FOND    MEMORIES    YOUR    MUSE    HAS ?   Most of Pearl’s happy memories pivot around pretty much everything that happened during the Gem War, with a heavy focus on whatever Rose & her did together. -- one of the most striking experiences she told Steven about was the discovery of the Lunar Blossom Grove that ended with her & Rose “dancing all night” in a pause between several battles, or the time she sat on top of a cliff above Strawberry Fields, where Rose & her made the promise to stay on Earth & spend their future together. Other happy memories include heroic battles alongside Garnet & Bismuth, fusions between her & Rose or discovering Earth’s beauty. She has thousands of memories that go into the same direction which she will fondly talk about whenever asked. 

▸     IS    IT    EASY    FOR    YOUR    MUSE    TO    KILL ? Yes. She is a veteran who fought in a thousand-year war for Earth’s independence. She shattered & poofed various Gems; efficient, precise & took no risks. 

▸      WHAT’S    IT    LIKE    WHEN    YOUR    MUSE    BREAKS    DOWN ? Oh, it’s ugly. She gets very emotional (hysterical, almost); a lot of tears, a lot of balled fists & screaming. In the worst cases, she gets aggressive, vocal, & even physical from time to time. She will punch walls, shatter objects, run her hands through her hair. She will lash out, say things that HURT & won’t apologize either. Most part of the time, Pearl runs off whenever it is too much. When alone, she will usually collapse & cry until she can’t no more. After that follows a period of her staying silent for hours. -- sometimes she calms down & pretends nothing ever happened or tries to make up for her actions by doing favours for those she has hurt.

▸      IS    YOUR    MUSE    CAPABLE    OF    TRUSTING    SOMEONE    WITH    THEIR    LIFE ?

Partially yes, partially no. Pearl does not value her life as much as she should. The only person she ever blindly trusted was Rose & even that came around to bite her in the end. She trusts Garnet to always have her back & watch over her, while she herself considers Steven & Amethyst people she ought to protect. -- however, Pearl is the type to willingly throw herself off a cliff almost immediately if it will spare someone she loves from an untimely end.

▸      WHAT’S    YOUR    MUSE    LIKE    WHEN    THEY’RE    IN    LOVE ? Pearl is an extremely romantic person; usually very physical & devoted, she will go miles for her s.o (imagine every romance movie cliche ever & you may get a good idea of how she will behave). Rather old fashioned, she is the kind of person that writes love letters or poetry; the kind that takes her s.o. to secluded places to spend the night with dancing under the stars, bring flowers or wine & simply take the time to make her s.o. feel loved. She is passionate through & through; her love is the yearning kind, extremely loyal, thoughtful, and all-consuming. Why, if Pearl falls for someone, she falls very, very hard.

tagged by : @foxcharmed, expect a letter from my lawyer soon. This meme came for me. tagging :  @reantte, @huntershowl, @kissafist, @ndeavor, @spiraledheart, @spnel, @carvedbones, @handspoken, & @enshijou.

[hogwartsfirebolt]

Number 12 please!! For the prompt thingy x

Thank you for the prompt ❤️

Drarry + 12: Roommates AU (omg they were roommates)

This is how it goes: Ron and Hermione are together, Neville and Hannah are together, Luna and that guy Rolf are together, Ginny and Cho are together—which is just hilarious, honestly, Harry finds it simply hysterical— and now they’ve got their sharp little eye on Harry.

This is how it goes: Pansy and Anthony are together, Greg and Millie are together, Daphne and Theo are together, Blaise and that older girl are together —Draco isn’t even sure she exists, he thinks it might just be Blaise’s reflection in drag— and now they’ve got their sharp little eye on Draco.

And well, thanks, but NO thanks. Friday night drinks are already damn uncomfortable when everybody is getting cozy with their partner and Harry and Draco end up pressed together at the end of the booth, trying to pretend that their, dare I call it friendship —more like past enmity that they shoved underneath the rug when their friends suddenly befriended each other— isn’t awkward as fuuuuck. (“So, uh, you opened a bookstore. That going well?” “Yes. Heard you left the Aurors to write memoirs. That going well?” “Sure is.”) They don’t need the added stress of their friends wanting to send them on blind dates with randos.

Yeah. Yeah. Thanks, but NO thanks.

This is how it goes: their friends confess they hate seeing them lonely, they hate knowing that each of them goes home at the end of the day to an empty bed, they’re 30, and are they really going to spend their sexiest years alone?

This is how it goes: Draco has just opened a bookstore and, coincidentally, Harry lives across the street from it. It’s not like they’re friends, but their friends are friends, and so Harry invites him to his flat for a drink one night after Draco closes the shop. It’s not so bad. It’s easier to talk to each other when they don’t have to yell over pub music —there’s only so many things you can talk about while Britney sings Toxic— and, actually, they sort of have a lot in common? They work with words, they love that cheap white rum they sell in corner shops, and they went through some pretty dense stuff as teenagers. And their friends are being unbearable about setting them up.

Pfft. They’re mental. I’m not lonely! I’m happy living here, and I have a cat.

I’m not lonely either! Sure, the Manor is a little big for me these days, and it takes a long floo jump to get to work every morning, but it’s not so bad.

And anyway, we don’t even need to be dating someone to not be lonely. That’s the whole point of having friends.

Definitely. And platonic roommates exist.

Roommates!!! A friend you live with. Not an empty home! Not an empty … — Malfoy. Malfoy I have an idea.

And so, there’s a contract that goes like this: they can never (underlined and circled in red) eat each other’s food, use each other’s shampoo or shaving cream —Not like you need it for that peach fuzz, Malfoy— let their one-night stands stay for breakfast, have sex in communal areas, skip the chores marked on the calendar pinned to the fridge and, especially, let their friends forget about the fact that they’re not living alone anymore.

Boy does it backfire.

Harry uses Draco’s shampoo. Draco uses Harry’s shaving cream for the two hairs on his chin. Harry eats Draco’s quail eggs. Draco eats Harry’s shakshouka. Draco begins to wear soft jumpers that belong to Harry around the house. Harry steals Draco’s shirts when he has to meet a potential agent. Each of their sex dates sometimes stay way, way past breakfast —Draco, I have to do my yoga in half an hour, tell that dude to fucking leave already— way, way past the afternoon —Harry, I swear if this girl isn’t out of the house by the time I come back from the bookshop, I will have your head.

They fight. They fight so much. It’s “I told you not to use my shampoo!” at night and “There’s no shaving cream left. Why the fuck is there no shaving cream left” in the morning. It’s “I told you I was taking this lunch to work and you ate it anyway, do you even listen to me when I talk to you?” and “I was gonna bring curry to Ron and Hermione’s, but you and your stupid fuck friend ate all of it.”

They fight everyday, it’s so exhausting, every single day — except for Mondays, that is. Mondays are sacred. On Mondays their friends visit, and Harry and Draco are the perfect flatmates, the perfect friends, they are happier than ever, guys, can you believe how happy they are? Until the others leave, of course, but by then it’s usually past midnight and does it even count as Monday anymore? Nope, I don’t think so. 

This is how it goes: one morning, on the very long walk Draco takes across the street to work, he is hit by a stray curse. Yeah, I know, right? That is so weird, that there was someone throwing curses at random at 9am on a Wednesday. That is so weird, that it hit a guy who used to be a Death Eater. Such a coincidence.

He ends up in Mungo’s. They reconstruct all of his thoracic vertebrae and tell him not to leave his bed for four weeks until he adjusts, and then to start walking little by little. He might have a limp forever, they say. He might have back pain forever, they say. He might have died if he hadn’t gotten to the hospital on time, they say.

Four weeks in bed are kind of a lot, especially for someone who lives on his own and has to do everything for himself, except Draco is not such a person, and he does have someone to help him at home. And Harry takes on that role the way he does everything in his life: taking the bull by the horns. He cleans the flat and does their laundry, he cooks for Draco and spoon-feeds him, he sits next to him for hours watching the cartoons and Mexican telenovelas Draco enjoys —“How do you even like these? They all have the same plot line and Teresa is kind of a really bad person” “Excuse you? Teresa is my role model. I don’t expect a brute like you to understand”— he helps him get to the toilet —“Merlin, this is so embarrassing” “You have nothing I haven’t seen, Malfoy, get on with it”— he sponge-bathes him and dresses and undresses him. He holds his arm when he begins to walk again. He goes with him the first time he’s back to the bookstore.

He writes about him, when he has time to sit in front of his typewriter again.

He thinks about him when he goes out one night after Pansy visits them and —You’ve been helping him non-stop for five weeks. You need to go out and relax! I’ll look after him tonight— He thinks about him as he apparates to the club, as he dances with a dark haired man, as he makes out with him out back, as they kiss and Will you take me home? He thinks about him when he says no.

The thing is. The thing is, their fights are not really that serious. The thing is, sometimes their arguments end up with them doubled over laughing because of some insult Draco came up with and It’s fine, it’s fine, I’ll cook some more and I’ll pack it so you can take it to the bookstore tomorrow for lunch. The thing is, it becomes increasingly easier to behave on Mondays, and, without noticing, they’ve began to develop some other routines too. Pancake Thursday, post-Friday-night-drinks Monopoly —every time, Draco cheats every time— Sunday night Quidditch sitting in front of the TV and eating their weight in fish and chips, Draco sitting Harry down and taming his hair and choosing one of his own shirts to give to him before he meets a potential agent, a consultant, a representative of a publishing house. Harry folding one of his own jumpers after laundry day and putting it in Draco’s closet.

Harry goes back home that night having had a realization. He says goodbye to Pansy —Harry, you look as though you’ve seen a ghost— and stares at his ceiling for hours before being able to sleep.

The next morning, he makes Draco’s favorite breakfast and tries to recall when exactly he learned it was his favorite and when it became his go-to when he’s cooking in the mornings and whether those two things are related. Draco comes out of his own room in boxers and one of Harry’s t-shirts on slightly unsteady feet but refusing Harry’s arm when —No, no, I need to walk on my own or I’ll never get better— and he makes coffee for Harry and tea for himself and Harry wonders when this became routine, too, having breakfast together in each other’s clothes, that they use as pajamas.

He wonders when he started packing Draco’s lunch in the mornings; when Draco started buying his favorite brand of shaving cream so he wouldn’t run out; when they started hanging out together at night, sitting on their couch, reading, watching TV, gossiping about their friends; when he started going to the bookstore, his typewriter in his arms, to sit by Draco as they both work.

He wonders when they stopped bringing people to have sex with. 

It’s at that point that he freaks out and immediately calls Laia, his fuckbuddy.

And it happens like this: it’s raining, because of course it is, and Draco throws a fit outside the bookstore, pretending to be mad about something when really, he’s just hurt Harry called Laia again.

It’s never been easy between them, has it? Of course it comes out in the middle of an argument, in the middle of the night, standing right in the middle of the street, drenched from head to toe. Of course that’s when it comes out.

Why are you acting like this?! It’s like you’re jealous or something.

Well, no shit! I’m jealous as fuck! What did you think!

Oh.

Oh.

Well, honestly, it’s not like Harry didn’t know. It’s not like he wasn’t hoping this sex date would make Draco jealous or, at least, let Harry forget about the inconvenient feelings he’s found buried in his belly.

He grins, and —Are you smiling right now? Merlin help me, Merlin help me, I hate you so much, I hate you so—

Kisses in the rain are a thing of fairy tales. A thing of romcoms. In reality, they’re inconvenient, a little disgusting, hair sticking to faces and necks and water making the slide of lips uncomfortable but. But. It doesn’t even matter.

It’s never been easy between them. But it doesn’t matter.

This is how it goes: a full-sized bed is traded for a queen-sized one, Harry’s room becomes their room, Draco’s room becomes their study. Their toothbrushes sit together in one vase. Draco uses Harry’s shaving cream and Harry uses Draco’s shampoo. They cook together, they cook for each other, they cook and they dance while they cook, they cook and they stop for a kiss. Their wardrobes blend together.

And as for sex dates. They won’t be needing any of those. This is the new contract. Underlined and circled in red three times.

And so!!!! That’s how I would write this trope (which is one of my absolute FAVORITES)

SEND ME TWO TROPES AND I’LL TELL YOU HOW I’D WRITE THEM