#especially when Cassie later on meets them and they are kind

[chloesimaginationthings]

Abby could befriend any animatronic from FNAF..

[jonjaydami]

Ok so we have all seen those posts talking about Bruce looking at his kids and still seeing them as his precious babies even though they are towering muscular adults right?

Well I raise you clark seeing them the same way but through step dad vision. Cause honestly he didn't come into Bruce's life until a bit later and by then he already had Robin by their first meeting. Of course Bruce didn't trust clark to even be in his city let alone around his kid but any chance he was in Gotham for any reason Dick was asking to use him as a "super jungle gym" and was dangling off his limbs.

Now don't get clark wrong he likes kids! But kids actually make him nervous. Not only did he grow up on a farm pretty isolated in a small town that didn't have many people so not like he was a baby sitter. But also...batman makes him nervous and for good reason to.

But the closer he got to him the more he was allowed around the kids especially (depending on what universe your shoving these characters into but this is my version) after he saved Jason from getting killed by the joker and he batman started to trust him a lot more. Jason was in awe but is definitely a wonder women fan. Which is fine because Clark is also a fan of hers and have written many articles about her as a hero. Jason always found a way at any gala or event to fallow clark around and pretend to also be a journalist and ask people questions. But he did them way more accusing and got several people to whisper. Bruce was amused but also just tired of his kids wanting to be around clark. The man was a goody two shoes.

When Steph comes around and eventually Barbara and even Cassie they ask a LOT of questions and not the kind of ones like Tim (who upon their first meeting tore off his glasses and asked him why he uses them as a disguise when it doesn't even work) *note they work very well at disguising him Tim just doesn't understand how other people just CANNOT see superman when looking at him*

Duke had to be the most tamed out of every. Single. One. Of Bruce's kids. He was polite and even shook his hand. He was expecting questions or insults of some sort but when none came he was shocked to say the least. He didn't sleep for days afterwards.

The next and last was Damian who after years of experience with Bruce's kids he believed he was ready....he was in fact not ready. Damian not only insulted him, threatened, and snuck into his apartment to "scope out the enemies territory" really he was in trouble and didn't like Bruce grounding him so he went over there to pick a fight.

In all reality dealing with thr kids for so long ended him and Bruce becoming closer and closer and eventually getting together and tying the knot. Now that they are all grown adults he just CANNOT see them as such.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Damin at the ripe age of 22: Die alien!!

Clark *holding back tears*: you used to say that when you were 13

~~~~~~~~~~

The batkids *arguing*

Clark *Looking at them. Just to see a bunch of teenagers and children*: you see it to right?

Bruce *taking a sip from his mug*: it never changed

[elizabethemerald]

The Infiltration

The Beginning of the New Pantheon

Masterpost

Donna Troy dialed a familiar number as she flew through the air from Mount Olympus. She could feel the weight of her coming responsibilities on her shoulders already. Zeus had chosen her to be Queen of the New Olympians. She would need a whole freak out later, but for now, she had to inform the others. 

“This is Nightwing.” Dick’s voice came through her comm, calm, curt, and ready for any crisis. Just what she needed. 

“Hey Boy Wonder.” Donna said.

“I get the feeling this isn’t a social call.” 

“Unfortunately no. I’m going to send you a list of junior leaguers, can you make sure they are waiting for me at Titans Tower? Along with any of you bats that are free.” 

“Of course, Donna. Does this have anything to do with the emergency meeting Diana just called with the rest of the League?” 

“It sure does.” 

“Got it. What should I tell the others? What should I be ready for?” 

Donna took a moment to think through what she thought would happen and how the others would react. 

“Tell your birds to polish their batarangs and prepare for an uncertain diplomatic situation.”

“Got it. I’ll round up the others and meet you at the Tower.” 

“Thanks.” Donna almost ended the call, but stopped. “And Nightwing?” 

“Yeah?” His voice was half distracted as he sought out where the other bats were currently. 

“I’m going to need your help to keep them all from falling apart.” 

“Don’t worry Donna. I’ve got your back.” 

.

Cassie was baffled by her mission. How was it that there was a group of heroes that had flown completely under the radar of the Justice League, yet had somehow earned the respect of the Olympians? Her list had a bunch of different names on it, but all had the same location. She had looked up the names in the JL systems as she flew from Olympus to the middle of nowhere Illinois. None of the people were in the database. Red Robin would be pissed if he knew. 

Even more concerning was the fact that there wasn’t even a town listed at the coordinates. Batman insisted that the League had the best satellites with the best cameras and there was nothing in the area. There weren’t even any JL calls! If there were a bunch of heroes who had been facing things that had been known to the Olympians, there should have been some calls from civilians for help right? 

She was really hoping this wasn’t some kind of weird murder-cult or unsanctioned government organization. She hated dealing with those, and for now she would be on her own. Young Justice got up to a lot of weird stuff that didn’t make it into the League reports, especially under Red Robin’s leadership, and this might top all the rest. 

Cassie landed just on the outskirts of what appeared to be a regular suburban town. Her eyebrows rose at the sign that welcomed her to Amity Park. Underneath the city’s name had previously been an older town slogan, she could still read the faded letters even though the words themselves had been removed, “The Most Haunted City in the US!” Over those faded marks was a new slogan, “A Place to Live.” Clearly the slogan had changed recently, with a real half-assed effort. 

Over top the new slogan was some graffiti in a neon green spray paint that crossed out the other words and said, “Welcome to Hell.” She supposed it only made sense for someone who would replace Hades as the lord of the Underworld to live in a place like this. She sighed to herself, switched her uniform to her more stealth focused look and crept past the city limits. 

Her feelings of concern grew when she saw what was clearly a government blockade stretching across the road into the rest of the city proper. Multiple all white vans blocked all out going traffic and the in going road was limited to a single lane. She could make out multiple government goons in tacky white suits carrying all manner of glowing green weapons; blasters, rifles, even what looked like a bazooka. 

A fence extended from the blockade and seemed to wrap around the entire city. The fence was topped with barbed wire and had strange sensors every few yards. She pulled a few wires, and connected them to the small palm computer she carried with her equipment. She might not be as techy as Red Robin and Impulse were, but she was better than Superboy, and Red Robin made sure they were all equipped to handle the basics of infiltration and espionage. 

Whatever the sensors were searching for, and it wasn’t movement, heat, radiation or anything else she could figure out on her own, they also didn’t detect her. There didn’t appear to be any cameras that she could see, so the goons were solely dependent on these sensors. This was becoming even more of a mystery, and she hadn’t even found Phantom yet. 

Cassie lifted off, flying easily over the fence to land on the other side. Both the goons at the gate and the sensors were aimed at the sky, so she had to imagine that whatever they were trying to contain was a known flier. Even if the sensors couldn’t detect her, she would have an easier time avoiding problems on the ground even if it would take longer to get around. 

She walked quickly into the mid-sized town from the outskirts and her concerns only grew. There were hardly any cars on the roads, which made perfect sense considering the road was pocked with massive craters like the town had been bombarded by meteors. The few citizens she could see hurried by as if afraid to be caught out on the streets. 

This was a city under siege, but from what? 

Also, why hadn’t the Justice League been called? 

Cassie had a bad feeling that she wouldn’t like the answer to either of those questions. 

She hurried through, her eyes peeled for any threat, as well as on the look out for the mysterious Phantom she was supposed to be making contact with. There were stores boarded up, more sensors along with loud speakers on tall poles, and posters warning the populace about a curfew. 

Cassie ducked into an alley at the sound of squealing tires. Her eyes just about bugged out of her head as a silver tank, with that same neon green detailing barreled around the corner. It took out a stop light, then without stopping carried on down to the other end of the street. The tank had what  she could only describe as a cannon on its roof, that same eerie green glow to it. 

She had fought alongside Superboy often enough that her first thought was Kryptonite, but unless there were somehow an entire city of secret Kryptonians, it didn’t make sense for them to carry weapons specifically against the Supers. She leaned out into the street to see if she could see which way it was going, or if there was any sign of what a tank like that was needed for. 

“Hey! Get out of the streets!” A voice hissed to her from the opposite alley way. 

Cassie whipped her head up. There in the opposite alley were two teenagers, desperately waving her over. She double checked that the tank had turned the corner and wasn’t in sight and she ran across to them. They pulled her away from the street into the back alley behind one of the businesses. 

She looked the two of them over once they were no longer moving. The girl was goth, with dark hair, pale skin, a leather jacket, and backpack with several plants hanging out of it. Cassie thought she might get along very well with Raven. The boy had dark skin, a ratty and stained beanie and the oldest PDA she had ever seen even if it looked modded to Hades and back. He would probably get along entirely too well with Red Robin. She would have to keep the two of them apart. 

The boy was watching back the way they had come, his PDA in his hand as he checked for any followers. The girl was watching with Cassie with the same examining glare she was used to from Batman. 

“What are you doing?” The girl snapped her question out. “We told all teenagers to stay off the streets. It's not safe with the GIW on patrol!” 

Cassie ratcheted up her mental alarm scale quite a bit. This whole town already had so many red flags it looked like a ski slope, and now she was adding even more. She set her feet and squared her shoulders. She was a member of Young Justice. She wasn’t going to let this happen. 

“I need you two to tell me everything you know. I’m called Wonder Girl and I’m with the Justice League and I’m here to help.” Cassie said, using her “Daughter of Zeus” voice that she reserved for during a crisis. Impulse always said he could hear thunder in her voice when she did that. 

“What’s the Justice League?” The boy asked, and Cassie was knocked onto her back foot. She had purposely said the main League because people sometimes looked down on YJ and TT because they were kids, but how could someone not even know about the Justice League? They were in the news almost every day for one reason or another. 

“Uh, the Justice League is a group of heroes that protect Earth? They’ve fought off alien invasions and saved lives and things like that? Because of my strength I usually help fight off meta humans who want to conquer the world or steal stuff.” 

The two teens looked completely baffled and Cassie just gave up trying to catalog the red flags in this town and just marked the whole thing as FUBAR. She would probably need the help of the rest of Young Justice to get this sorted, or maybe even the full League. 

“Well, ‘Wonder Girl’ my name’s Sam and-”

“Wait, Samantha Manson?” Cassie ignored the implied finger quotes around her hero name in her excitement that she may have just found one of the people she was looking for. 

“My name is Sam.” Sam snapped. 

Cassie ignored her clear irritation and unrolled the scroll she had been given, ice and frost cracking and flaking off as she did so. If Sam Manson was here, it made sense that she would know the other heroes the Olympians were looking for. Cassie closely examined the list she had before looking up at the boy. He didn’t look like a Jazz, or Danielle, he might be a Dan or Phantom himself, but considering his collection of tech she could see, she had a good guess of who he could be. 

“And that means, you must be Tucker Foley!” Cassie said triumphantly. 

Both of the teens now looked at her with even more wariness than before. That made sense considering what Cassie had seen, but she now had part of her mission objective in front of her. She dismissed the stealth mode on her costume, flicked her wrist to unfurl her lightning lasso and allowed some of her ‘demi-god aura’ out. 

“I am from the Justice League, and I am a hero, but I am also a daughter of Zeus, and I have been sent here on a mission from Olympus to summon the heroes of this town to come to our aid. It is only right that I assist you in any way I can from the troubles you currently face.” 

“What?” “What?”

[schizosamwincester]

Today's order of business: Dean Winchester is aplatonic. Let me explain why.

To start: aplatonic people do not experience platonic attraction. They do not have any desire to befriend specific people. I am going to assume that you all are familiar with asexuality and aromanticism. It's the same exact thing but for friendship. They often don't want friends in general, although of course not necessarily. Some aplatonic people are indifferent and don't really care if they have friends or not, and some like having friends despite the lack of attaction. The key is that if you're aplatonic, you don't meet people, even really cool people, and go "hey, I want to become friends with them." Even if you have friends, they tend to be pretty easy to drop if life changes because you don't feel that inherent connection to them.

Dean? Throughout the show as I've seen thus far (seasons 1-4), he never exhibits any desire for friends. He doesn't want to keep any specific people around, and he doesn't want friends as an abstract concept, either. The whole thing never enters his mind.

This is especially noticeable because Sam is so clearly alloplatonic. He's always looking for connection with others. Every time he meets one of the special children, he wants to keep in contact. He gives out his phone number to Andy and actively searches for Ava. In early romantic/sexual encounters, like in Provenance (1x19) and Heart (2x17) he seems much more interested in befriending these women than sleeping with them. In After School Special (4x13), the death of someone he was friends with for a single month in high school absolutely guts him. In Dean's flashbacks to high school, he doesn't even try to make friends. He only cares about hooking up with girls.

The only real exceptions I can think of are his relationship with Cassie (1x13), which is still far more sexual/romantic than any kind of friendship, and Richie (3x04) who is a fellow hunter and thus more of a coworker than anything. Yes, you certainly can be friends with girlfriends and coworkers, but that usually isn't the defining feature of either relationship. Besides, if his feelings for either of them were especially strong, I think he would have kept in contact with them. He runs into Richie again by accident, and he never seeks out Cassie again after her single episode.

The contrast with Sam makes it pretty obvious that it isn't just that friends are impractical given Dean's lifestyle. The same goes for Sam, but he still obviously wishes he could have them. It also means that it isn't a matter of desire for friends getting in the way of the plot or the writer's vision for the show, because Sam displays platonic attraction all the time and the show still works.

Now, one could argue that he does want friends and simply represses that. It is true that Dean represses almost everything. However, Dean is not actually good at repressing things. There are always cracks in the facade, and these cracks are displayed very clearly to the audience. He thinks he puts up a decent front, but time and time again, characters (especially Sam) see right through him. But when it comes to loneliness? Desire for connection and relationships outside of his family and sex? We don't see a thing. Dean is only lonely when separated from his family. He very much does not need anyone else.

If Dean wanted friends at some point but learned to repress that or ignore that desire? We would see that. We are shown countless times all the dreams and desires he needs to set aside in service of hunting and family, and friendship is never one of them. Even in his dream reality in 2x20, he doesn't have any friends at all.

Now, I am aware that in later seasons, Dean makes friends. That said, from experience in the apl community, it is pretty common for us to end up with friends whether we want them or not. Alloplatonics enjoy adopting friendless people. Sometimes people just keep showing up in your life and you're like "well... I guess we're friends now." Not feeling platonic attraction doesn't stop us from liking people or getting along with them once the relationship exists, we just don't have that feeling of attraction compelling us to start a relationship. I personally have loads of friends, and they're mostly by accident. You have enough good conversations with a mutual or someone in a discord server or someone irl and they tend to stick around. So while I know Dean makes friends later, unless he actively seeks them out and initiates the friendship, that really doesn't have any bearing on if he's aplatonic. Besides, the fact that in 4 entire seasons he doesn't do that at all when Sam does multiple times is more than enough for me.

To put it very simply, why do I think Dean is aplatonic? Because Sam is lonely in general, but Dean is only lonely when separated from Sam and/or John. Family are the only people he wants or needs.

(A disclaimer that aplatonic people can absolutely want romantic relationships. Dean just never demonstrate that. They also don't necessarily have any attraction to family either. That's called being afamilial. Dean just very obviously is not afamilial)

[tabsters]

The Twelve Days of Zodiacs - Day 2

"On the second day of Christmas, my Zodiacs gave to me, Two bread rolls, And a snowball fight under a tree."

it should be noted that this story is in a modern AU, aka an AU where no magic exists. everyone is just normal and untraumatized! the modern AU names for the characters are listed below:

SGZ! Taurus: Tara SGZ! Aries: Aaron

tagging @mythicalmagical-monkeyman @hyperfixation-tangentopia @maiawhimsicalt and @sweet-star-cookie

next chapter is here!

"You volunteer at a lot of places, huh?" Ciara asked as the two of them walked through the zoo's entrance. "I didn't even know we had a zoo here."

"Well, it is all the way across town." Cassie showed the security guard her pass, smiling and nodding as she walked through the zoo gates. "And it's actually a pretty funny story as to how I started volunteering here."

"How'd it happen?"

"One of the zookeepers saw me feeding pigeons in the park and thought I'd be a perfect fit for feeding the birds here."

"How many pigeons were there?" Ciara asked in confusion. How many pigeons did one have to feed before they got the attention of a zookeeper?

"I think twenty?"

Ciara balked at that. "Twenty?!"

"Yeah, it kind of got out of hand," Cassie said, shrugging. "You're actually not supposed to feed pigeons at all, which I didn't know at the time. But Tara—that's the zookeeper I'm friends with—said it's alright, as long as I don't do it again."

"The pigeons must've really liked you, huh?"

"They were flocking all around me. I felt like a Disney princess!"

Cassie waved towards the right, where a large arrow that said 'Aviary Exhibit' was posted. "This way!"

A lot of people were at the zoo, mainly parents and children. It seemed like a good group activity, the kind of thing that her family might have done when she and her siblings were younger. But now that Alex was off at college, Sera and Hannah were so busy with school, and her mom's real estate business, they never really had time to just hang out like they used to.

Maybe I should bring them here. Ciara thought as they weaved their way through the various animal exhibits. Sera would definitely like the aquatic exhibits. Hannah would like the birds. Alex...Alex would like the food.

"Tara!" Cassie waved, bouncing on the balls of her feet. "Hi!"

Ciara looked towards where she was waving, finding a tall, muscular woman with dark curly hair. She was wearing a zookeeper's outfit, and carrying a crate of papers. She put the box down, waving at Cassie with the same amount of vigor. "Cassie! Good to see you!"

"Ciara, this is my friend Tara Dellman." Cassie gestured between the two women. "Tara, this is my friend Ciara Ramirez-Moreau. She's come to help out for today."

"Yeah, I needed some volunteer hours," Ciara said, sticking her hand out. "Nice to meet you."

Tara enthusiastically shook her hand, and Ciara winced inwardly—it felt like getting her hands caught in a drawer. "Glad to have another volunteer! C'mon, I'll show you how to get started."

-

Two hours later, Ciara was happy to admit that she was having a lot of fun. Cassie and Tara had spent the entire time showing off all of the different birds, their species, and their names. The parrots were especially her favorite.

"This one's Ruby," Cassie said as a red parrot hopped around on her finger. "She likes strawberries. Like, really likes strawberries."

"Do we have any strawberries?" Ciara asked as she watched two other parrots, Evie and Nigel, fight over a couple slices of mango and banana. "I wanna see."

"I think we have some!" Tara rummaged around in one of the bags, pulling out a Tupperware filled with strawberry slices. She held it out to Ciara. "Here you go. But be careful, because Ruby is quite the menace."

"Here you go, Ruby," Ciara cooed towards the parrot as she held out a strawberry slice to her. The small parrot clicked her beak, reaching her neck out to the fruit. "She's so cute, I don't know what—OH MY GOD."

Ruby then promptly proceeded to go absolutely berserk, squawking and diving beak-first into the fruit. Ciara, startled, dropped the entire container onto a nearby table, red juice spilling everywhere. The tiny parrot hopped around frantically, trying her best to fill her beak with as much of the red fruit as she could.

"It looks like a murder scene," Ciara said, aghast. Cassie merely giggled.

"See? Told you." Cassie gently scooped the fruit back into the Tupperware with her gloved hands. Ruby, evidently having had her fill of the fruit, squawked happily. "That's why we make sure we lock the strawberries up."

"Do you normally work with the birds?" Ciara asked, turning to Tara. "No offense, but you look like you work with...I dunno, maybe big snakes?"

Tara laughed. "You're right, I normally do work with larger animals. But a lot of employees have been taking time off for the holidays, so I'm just helping out wherever I can."

"That's nice." Ciara glanced back at Cassie, who was now feeding two other parrots bits of fig and date. "Cassie's pretty good with animals, isn't she?"

"She is! A real multifaceted gal." Tara nodded towards Cassie. "She's got a good future ahead of her. I'm glad she's got someone like you to guide her?"

"Me?" Ciara asked, pointing at herself. "I'm not...I only met Cassie pretty recently, I'm not gonna lie. I don't know if we're that close yet."

"Really? I thought you two were already good friends." Tara clapped Ciara on the back, nearly causing the girl to cough. "Irregardless, you seem like a good kid. Cassie looks up to you, I can tell."

"She does?"

"Hey! Ciara!" Cassie waved Ciara back over. "Come help me feed these two!"

Tara shrugged towards Ciara, seemingly saying, what did I tell you? Ciara smiled and made her way over.

"This is Elaine," Cassie said, pointing to a black and red parrot. "And this is Fig." She pointed to a pink parrot.

"Is it called Fig because it likes figs?" Ciara asked, letting Fig hop onto her finger. "Should I be worried about a repeat of Ruby?"

Cassie laughed, the sound bright and clear. "No, he's just called Fig because when he arrived, figs were all he would eat."

"Tara?" A short man with dark brown hair and a goatee waved outside the bird enclosure. Tara quickly walked over to the enclosure's entrance, sticking her head out and talking with the man.

"Who's that?" Ciara asked. 

"Oh, that's Aaron." Cassie waved towards the man, Elaine squawking on her figure as she did. "He's Tara's personal trainer, I think. For gym workouts. He's pretty nice, although he looks a bit mean at first."

"Ah."

Tara turned back, waving the girls towards her. Both girls dutifully came towards the entrance. 

"There's actually an employee potluck happening right now!" Tara said cheerfully. "I can take you both, if you'd like to go. You're both volunteers, so they'll let you in."

"Sure!" Cassie said, and Ciara nodded in agreement. They had missed lunch, and she was pretty hungry. 

All three of them disposed of their gloves, washed their hands, and waved goodbye to the parrots. Tara lead the small group towards the zoo cafeteria, the other three falling behind. 

"So, who're you?" Aaron asked Ciara as they walked. "You know Cassie?"

"Oh, I'm Cassie's friend. A new one, actually." Ciara shrugged. “You know Cassie as well?”

“He made me do a bunch of push-ups one time because he wanted to see how strong I was.” Cassie giggled. “I think I did ten? Fifteen?”

“Oh, wow.” Ciara had always been awful at phys ed. “Impressive.”

“Here we are!” Tara opened the door to the cafeteria, ushering all of them in. “Come on, help yourselves!”

The cafeteria was crowded, and the four of them slowly made their way through the line. Eventually, they slowly separated, each of them grabbing their own food.

“Whew!” Ciara muttered as she finally managed to find a table with two free seats. She watched the crowd mill past, catching glimpses of Tara’s curly hair or Aaron’s goatee-d face. After a while, she saw Cassie looking around, her face unsure.

It reminded her of the first time they met, at Math & Science Club. Cassie had been looking around for someone to help her with algebra homework, and all of the other tutors were already occupied. Ciara was the one to wave her over and invite her to sit down.

So that’s what she did now.

“Hey! Cass!” Ciara shouted, and she was worried that her voice wouldn’t carry through the loud crowd, but Cassie’s head perked up. She hurriedly rushed over, sitting down in the seat across from her.

“Hi!” Cassie took out her utensils, digging into her barbecue. “Wow, we sure have different tastes, don’t we?”

Ciara looked down at her plate. She often joked that she had the palate of a toddler, and her mac and cheese and chicken nuggets were certainly proof of that. Cassie’s plate was slightly more adventurous, with barbecue, coleslaw, and scalloped potatoes. In fact, the only food that they both had was one of the bread rolls.

“Damn, can’t believe it’s only been two days of break,” Ciara said, poking at her mac and cheese. “It might be good that we became friends when we did. I probably would be rotting in bed right now if it weren’t for you.”

Cassie laughed. “That’s good! I’m glad I can be helpful like that.”

She held up her bread roll—a toast with actual toast, perhaps—and said, “Cheers to the holidays! And our friendship, of course.”

Ciara, smiling, held up her own bread roll and lightly tapped it against Cassie’s.

“Cheers!”

fun fact: one of the names Katie gave me as a human name for taurus was tori, but I didn't choose it because there's a girl named tori in my GT class and she's an absolute bitch

check out @sweet-star-cookie's starglass zodiac lore if you liked this!! questions about my lore are greatly appreciated!!

[liaromancewriter]

Hooked on a Feeling

Premise: Cassie and Ethan feel their babies kick for the first time.

Book: Open Heart (post series) Pairing: Ethan Ramsey x F!MC (Cassie Valentine) Rating/Category: Teen. Fluff. Words: 685

A/N: Submission for @choices-february2023 Day 9, "Maybe I'm Amazed"

The first time was like bubbles rising inside her. She’d been standing near the digital whiteboard, running differentials with the team. At first, she thought it was gas, but then her heart got that fluttery sensation. The shy kind of feeling she got whenever Ethan was near. It had been such from the first moment.

Cassie Valentine glanced toward the glass wall out of habit, expecting to see her husband. But the hallway was empty, and she wondered if her hormones were just out of whack. She shook her head to clear the disappointment and turned her focus back to the meeting.

Later, she was reviewing patient notes on her tablet for an afternoon consult when she felt it again. Butterflies in the pit of her stomach, like she was being tickled from the inside. It wasn’t painful, but it was…unnerving.

She paused, brows furrowed in consternation, and wondered if it was something she ate. And that’s when she realized it wasn’t indigestion. It was her unborn children saying hello.

Cassie dropped the tablet on the desk and leaned back in her chair, closing her eyes. Her hands automatically cradled her belly, and she rubbed gently. Tiny wings flapped as if acknowledging her presence, and she chuckled.

She knew she had a comical grin on her face, but she didn’t care. She was hooked on this beautiful and intoxicating feeling, enjoying a private party with her unborn twins.

When the glass door swooshed open, she didn’t bother looking up. The quickening of the beat of her heart, the scent of his cologne, gave away the identity of her visitor.

Her green eyes lazily drifted open when his shadow fell on her. A dreamy smile still hovered on her lips. Ethan quirked one eyebrow; just that one action spoke volumes about his concern for her.

There was no denying her hormones had been all over the place the last couple of months. Not the most patient of men under normal circumstances, the notoriously austere Dr. Ramsey had had to adjust to his wife’s yo-yo-ing emotions.

Cassie grabbed his dark tie and tugged his face down, her mouth closing over his, swallowing his protest at the abrupt movement. His lips softened against hers, and his hands framed her face as he deepened the kiss.

She broke away first, smirking when she caught the blush spreading across his cheeks. Ethan blushed easily for all his masculinity, especially when she kissed him at work. After all, he had a reputation to maintain as a demanding and not-easy-to-please chief of medicine.

But Cassie didn’t care. She had crashed through all his self-imposed principles from the start and always would.

When her heart somersaulted again, she remembered what she’d been doing before Ethan dropped by. Unsure he would feel anything, she took his hands and placed them on either side of her pregnant belly nevertheless.

Nothing happened for a few seconds. Ethan started to say something, but suddenly, the babies kicked upward. It was faint, barely there before it was gone, but he felt it. His eyes widened in shock, and his fingers instinctively dug into her skin, making her wince before he let go.

Ethan’s blue eyes snapped into hers, questioning, and she nodded, tears dampening the corners of her eyelashes. He pulled her out of the seat, changed places, and eased her onto his lap.

Cassie looped one arm around his neck and leaned her forehead against his. His fingers entwined with hers, and they placed their clasped hand on her belly. It sounded unlikely, but their babies must have felt them; first, one, then the other waved, a pulsating movement just below the surface.

A few minutes later, he bowed and whispered something to their unborn children. His voice was low, and Cassie couldn’t make out the words. The babies must have liked it, for they executed two swift kicks.

When the babies settled down after that, Ethan continued to rub her belly, the wonder still present in his eyes. They smiled at each other, and Cassie settled in to enjoy this private moment with her family.

Bonus

All Fics & Edits: @a-crepusculo @annfg8 @bluebelle08 @coffeeheartaddict2 @crazy-loca-blog @doriopenheart @genevievemd @headoverheelsforramsey @lucy-268 @jamespotterthefirst @jerzwriter @lady-calypso @mainstreetreader @takemyopenheart @potionsprefect @queencarb @quixoticdreamer16 @rookiemartin @socalwriterbee @tessa-liam @trappedinfanfiction

Submissions: @choicesficwriterscreations @openheartfanfics

Ethan & Cassie only: @cariantha @custaroonie @hopelessromantic1352 @mrs-ramsey

[braveblackbutterfly]

What happens to Wendi North and Trevor Dalton in Supernaturally Human?

Note 1: mild spoilers will be at the top of this post and major spoilers will be in the keep reading section.

Wendi and Trevor, my first main couple in a book I wrote. They are my only main m/f couple in a book project of mines (the rest of my main couples are f/f or cis female/nonbinary.

I wrote this book because I was a huge fangirl of vampire shows and movies (mainly The Vampire Diaries). But as a black fangirl, there weren't many black centered vampire or witch books. So I decided to write my own.

Note #2: Looking back at this novel nearly a decade old now, there will be things I would change about Wendi and Trevor's story. But I'm going to write what I came up with in 2015.

*

Wendi and Trevor met at a very bad time/situation at a nightclub called Nightcrawlers for (targeted) human guests, run by vampires unbeknownst to the humans. Wendi's best friends, Raquel and Asia convinces her to go with them to the club despite her hesitations. The outing ends in tragic as Wendi's friends are killed by a ruthless vampire coven/gang run by a 500 year old vampire named Ken.

Trevor and his friend Cameron are also at the club. Trevor wanted to do something, help them (or more so Wendi who he's immediately drawn to), but Cameron warns him they can't compete against Ken and his coven and that witches and vampires rarely interact with each other. When they do, it's never on good terms.

Despite this, Trevor goes to check on Wendi anyway as she makes her way out the club. As he approaches, she thinks he's one of Ken's minions. She gets fed up when he tries to explain he's not affiliated with Ken. When she tries to shove him away from her, she has a vision with flashes of them being a romantic couple, their relationship having an impact on their world.

Even more confused and scared, Wendi runs out the club which Trevor easily catches up to her. Still not sure what this vampire's intentions are, Wendi shows him the vision. She is taken aback when Trevor looks at her like he’s already in love with her.

When Trevor finally asks for her name, he realizes she's North witch, one of the most powerful witch covens on the east coast. At least until her parents were murdered during a mission when Wendi was a teen. The vampire government nor the royal court did nothing to the suspected vampires. And Wendi knows they are not going to do anything about her best friends' murder.

Seeing the anger in her, Trevor decides to help her get justice with the help of their friends and families (and later other allies).

Wendi meets Trevor's coven which consists of his best friend Cameron and his half sister Viviana (note #3 someone please send me an ask about Viviana! I'd really love to talk about her). Trevor meets Wendi's relatives: her aunt Cassie, her uncle Jake, her cousin Kesia, and her sister Jasmine. On Cameron's bold suggestion, they all meet a vampire hunting couple named Kaida and Shoya. And that couple later introduces them to a werewolf sibling pack: Jaya, Pravin, Deepnita and Aja.

Everyone works together and come up with a plan to defeat Ken and his coven. But Ken doesn't makes it easy for them, especially when Ken threats to drain Wendi of her blood at his full moon party (legend has it that a vampire who drains the life of a witch during the full moon will become unbeatable against the wooden stake. Is it true? Who knows 🤷🏾‍♀️👀)

Throughout all this chaos, Wendi tries (and fails) not to fall in love with Trevor. At first, she doesn't understand why she's fated to a vampire after everything his kind done to her family. But as time goes on, they learn more about each other, and Wendi can see the (remaining) humanity in Trevor and grows to love him as a person and not as a vampire.

Flash forward to the end: the morning before Ken's full moon ball, Wendi has another vision, this time of her, Kesia and Jasmine levitating in the air and casting a human transformation spell at Nightcrawlers, turning Trevor and his coven back into humans. Wendi and her family finds the spell in one of the three spellbooks Aunt Cassie gave her earlier in the book and discovered the spell will only work if the vampire has their humanity intact. Otherwise, the vampire will be set ablaze. With that in mind, the three witches practice memorizing the spell in their head (can't cast it now for they don't want to turn Trevor and his coven into humans before stopping Ken).

Fast forward to the full moon party: people dance, people die, someone comes out the closet, Ken and his minions are finally stopped and Trevor and his coven turn back into humans.

Wendi and Trevor can now truly be happy together.

[valoeaera]

Mistakes Were Made - Meryl Wilsner

Hook/Gimmick: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Pacing: ⭐⭐ Leads: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Side Characters: ⭐⭐⭐ Spice:🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️

Overall: A Tier

This book has less of a “meet-cute” and more of a “meet-sexy”, as the first 10 or so pages are basically all smut (not necessarily a bad thing!). College senior Cassie and doctor Erin meet in a college bar and end up having a one-night stand in Erin’s rental car (🥵). The twist comes when Erin meets her daughter, Parker, and Parker’s friend for breakfast the next morning and discovers that her daughter’s friend is Cassie! Hi-jinks ensue. This book is often labeled the “MILF book” and that hook definitely holds true. The taboo romance is very fun, but does bring me out of the story at a couple points, with the concert scene, shower scene, and a couple other small portions being particularly immersion-breaking.

The pacing definitely suffers in act 2. The book has a lot to cover between the spice scenes, Parker’s family drama, Cassie’s college life, both leads generally sneaking around, a job interview process, and did I mention spice scenes? Parker kind of disappears from the book around this time too, which is disappointing, but given the reason which is given in act 3, it makes sense. She comes back later when the characters need to reconcile and go public with their relationship, and the story gets a lot better when she does. Act 3 felt a touch rushed as a result, I really would have liked more of the book with Erin and Cassie being public, if only because I want the best for them and I think their dynamic is mostly pretty cute.

Erin and Cassie’s relationship reads well, for the most part. The chemistry is there, both romantically and sexually, for me at least. The one thing that stuck out to me is that Erin feels a touch immature for a 38-year-old. Maybe this is intentional and kind of brings the characters’ maturity closer together as Cassie also acts a bit older than she is, but it brought me out of the story a bit. This was most true during one of the spice scenes towards the beginning of act 2 (the shower one), but that could just be a me thing. The end of act 1/beginning of act 2 takes place during an extended stay at Erin’s house where Parker is present for most of the stay. This was, in my opinion, where the leads were at their worst. For one, Cassie is somewhat coerced into coming on the trip, experiencing a lot of pressure from Parker and Erin to go, which rubbed me the wrong way with Cassie’s financial instability being a recurring plot point. Also, Erin treats Cassie and Parker similarly in a couple of spots in this section (buying them matching pajamas and nursing them while sick), which gave me a little ick as these acts are framed as motherly towards Parker and sexy/romantic towards Cassie. I liked that act 3 has the leads interacting away from Erin’s house, which shifts the power dynamic at least a little bit in Cassie’s direction, which I felt was sorely needed earlier in the book. These two get a lot better when they are able to be openly dating, as I said earlier.

The side characters are mostly positive for the story. Acacia is in the truly terrible position of having to hear two sides of this story. At first, she only hears it from Cassie, whom she tells that sleeping with Erin is a terrible idea. Then, as we find out later, she also hears it from Parker, which is why both characters, Parker especially, kind of disappear for a bit of the book. Parker is, justifiably, pretty upset when she realizes that her mom and her friend are romantically and sexually involved and the two have some fights and stop being friends. She and Acacia kinda have to figure out how to forgive Cassie and Erin for lying to Parker and sneaking around, which I liked that the book dealt with instead of waving it away. Both are fantastic friends to Cassie. Erin’s ex-husband, Adam(?), sucks though. I understand that he’s this book’s version of the third act breakup, but he’s really not got much of a dog in this race so-to-speak, other than generally caring for Parker’s well-being. Dude blows up immediately without asking anyone how they feel about it, including Parker. What an ass.

Lastly, the spice. Holy moly, the spice. This book has, with one exception (we’ll get to you later!) the most spice of any romance I’ve read at 8(?). It’s honestly really well written in my opinion; Wilsner is probably my second favorite author I’ve read in this department. I really enjoyed that both women were in dominant/submissive roles as opposed to occupying one role exclusively. I felt like this was a very good choice with the age gap, as Cassie being solely dominant would have felt strange and Erin being solely dominant would have felt like a little too much power-imbalance for me. I believe this is the only book I’ve read with a strap scene at time of writing, and I know they can be controversial, but I enjoyed this one. These two have very cute chemistry in most of the scenes and the author doesn’t get carried away with the innuendo like some other authors I’ve read. I suppose it helps that Wilsner didn’t need to come up with a nice way of saying cock. Also uh, I’m just going to leave this quote here for…. No reason.

"Cassie, please." Erin gasped.

Cassie pulled out and thrusted again, adding a twist of her hips at the end, and Erin cried out. Her legs were trembling, her hands still clutching the blankets.

"You can move, Erin," Cassie said. "Fuck me back."

Anyway, this book was pretty good and I’d recommend it if you don’t mind either reading only at home or blushing in public!

[sweet-star-cookie]

tell me about the southern birds! :DD

Alright! ^_^ One thing to note about this group is I haven't worked out the core concepts for all of them yet, meaning some of them are currently a lot more vague and what little art I do have right now is far from finished, subject to a complete overhaul like with Aranea's redesign. There are a lot of bird constellations I'm working with, so I'm currently figuring out how to stop them from being too same-y, both visually and in their narrative purpose. That said, I figure showing the roughs is better than nothing anyway, so here we go!

The Southern Birds are primarily a dance group, and use that title to refer to themselves collectively when performing. At one point they performed for the Sky Mirror Circus, but the relationship soured over time. Eventually, as more things started to fall apart and many of the constellations needed to fend for themselves, this group added in more combat training to survive, though some adapted to this change better than others (more on this later). Especially after the fallout with the circus, the Southern Birds look out for themselves most of all.

True to the grouping of their constellations in real life, the members are Phoenix, Tucana, Pavo and Grus. We'll start with Phoenix, as she's the leader of the group and is the most important narratively speaking.

Unlike the other constellations and true to her name, she can resurrect herself after burning out, and this death defiance was of great appeal for Ura and her circus initially, as it could serve a lot of intrigue and shock value to an audience. But Phoenix still isn’t immortal, and she’s one of the only constellations that shows her age visually because of this. The more times she burns out, the more her feathers turn to ash and stardust, and her magic takes a greater toll to use. Some day, she too will burn out for the final time.

I wanted to go for an aging debutant / 1920s flapper kind of inspiration for her design and personality, as both she and Ura’s performance styles and aesthetics match a similar era. She holds herself to a high standard, and can come off as haughty, overly particular, and quick to anger, especially about matters of passion. Though she is indeed the mythological fire bird, I based part of her body shape on that of an ostrich, particularly her legs. Great for dancing, sure, but also great for a swift kick if need be! She is one of the members that adapted quickly to more combat-based movement, and does much to protect her group as their leader.

The brooch she wears is called the Phoenix Heart, and was a gift from Ura when they first fell in love. That initial spark was a genuine one, but as Ura descended deeper into her obsession with "living forever" and the dangers that come with that, Phoenix knew she couldn't reason with her. She felt more and more used by Ura, as if her magic was the only thing she was truly in love with, and their relationship ended with great bitterness.

Phoenix carries a lot of distrust towards the zodiac after what happened with Ophiuchus and his connection with Ura, seeing it as a failure on their part considering how poorly it went. Though the zodiac never claimed to be the "leaders" of the Astral Plane, their increased protection measures and wielding of elemental magic via the Solunar Spirits held certain expectations for the other constellations who they now claimed to be under their protection. Expectations that, to Phoenix, were barely met at all.

Because of Ophiuchus, she views the Starglass as nothing more than an arbiter of destruction, and thus doesn’t exactly give Cassie a warm welcome when they first meet. She does eventually come around to at least help them find Ura, though it's more for the sake of protecting her group and putting her ex-girlfriend behind bars than anything else.

Tucana - The Toucan

The youngest (and smallest) member of the Southern Birds, specializing in baton twirling for her performances. Though Pavo is her primary guardian, the entire group takes care of her in one way or another. Given her size and age, the others are often focused on keeping her safe the most during anything involving combat, as Tucana simply isn't strong enough to fend for herself (bless her little heart though, she tries).

The coloured specks on her feathers are pieces of confetti or glitter used in her cheery, upbeat dance routines. As you might expect, she's got the curiosity and innocence of a child, and is based on a baby toucan specifically, hence why her beak is a lot smaller than her adult counterparts. She hops around to move whenever she isn't flying, which she can only do in short bursts. Pavo - The Peacock

Tucana's primary caretaker, and thus is the most worried for her safety. He possesses a fairly anxious personality overall, and is known for splaying his feathers when frightened. As such, his dances involve a lot of quick movements and shaking motions. He shares a similar need to "look pretty" like Phoenix does, but his vanity is more of a personal desire and it does not possess the same arrogance as hers.

Though his anxiety makes what combat skill he does have rather clumsy and frantic, he is able to use his feathers to distract and misdirect foes, allowing someone else to land a blow instead.

I'm currently toying with the idea of him being some kind of fortune teller or tarot card reader to tie into the astrology angle, but I need to work on the concept more in terms of how I'd integrate it into the lore, and that will in turn inform his visual design a bit more. As I mentioned before, I don't want these designs to be too same-y, and a lot of these birds are of the "long and spindly" variety in terms of body shape. In addition to avoiding the potentially harmful tropes associated with fortune tellers, I also feel he looks too much like Lord Shen from Kung Fu Panda at this stage, even though he'd likely have the typical blue/green/yellow palette of a typical peacock anyway. Grus - The Crane

Arguably the most graceful of the group, specializing in long and flowing motions as a ribbon dancer. He is the brother of Columba (The Dove), who took over as pirate captain of the Argo Navis after the death of The Roaring Thunder, the previous incarnation of Leo.

Both cranes and doves are common symbols of peace, but each of them approach that idea quite differently. Grus is a pacifist, disliking conflict in any form and thus did not adapt to combat training very well at all. He instantly regrets his involvement in it, even just in training.

Columba, on the other hand, has a far more militaristic approach to peace, feeling it must be earned and maintained by force instead, frequently leaving the two brothers at odds. Grus's more subdued and quiet personality often does not pair well with Columba's loud and authoritative demeanour. As a result, the two parted ways, choosing to approach the predicament of the Astral Plane in their own respective groups instead.

[cryptidsurveys]

Wednesday, August 7th, 2024.

Who will you be spending Christmas with this year? Depending on what day it falls on and what my schedule looks like at the time, I will most likely be spending it at the animal shelter. The rest of the day will be spent at home with my dad. I'm sure I'll do something with my mom to celebrate Christmas too, but not necessarily on the day-of.

What time do you usually go to sleep at night? I go to bed super early (like 7pm-8pm); however, it takes me a while to fall asleep, so unconsciousness happens sometime around 9pm. I also typically wake up during the night and it takes me a bit to get back to sleep. Going to bed so early is pretty much the only thing that even halfway guarantees that I'll get at least 7-8 hours of solid sleep. Unfortunately, going to bed later with the hope that I'll fall asleep faster or sleep more deeply just shrinks that available window of opportunity.

Did you go to high school with your current best friend? No, but we did meet during my high school years.

Have you ever wanted to be vegetarian or vegan? I have been vegan/vegetarian at different points in my life, but not currently.

Do you park your car in a garage, carport or just in a driveway? I park it in the driveway. There's no room in the other half of our garage, but even if there was…lmao, I'm afraid I would park in there and I wouldn't be able to back out again. New driver problems, I guess. ;D

Have you ever been a passenger in a semi-trailer truck? Yeah. In childhood. We broke down on the way back from a grocery shopping trip in another city and a semi driver gave us a ride back into town.

Have you felt sick today? No. Just tired, but a good, satisfying type of tired.

Whose was the last funeral you attended? It was for the father of a past partner, back in 2009.

Have you read The Hunger Games trilogy? I have.

How many times a week do you wash your hair? A bunch. Twice on animal shelter days because I shower before and after, then at least once during my two days off. Like, sometimes I'll skip showering on one of the days if all I'm doing is going grocery shopping, but if I'm feeling gross or have therapy or some other social activity later in the day, then I'll take one.

Do you need to wash your hair right now? I guess I don't need to because I showered last night, but I will be showering shortly because I need to get ready to go to therapy before too much longer.

Do you avoid using public restrooms? Not really.

What is your boss’ (or school principal’s) name? I'm not going to give their real names (I've been using aliases for animal shelter staff for the sake of anonymity, plausible deniability, or what have you), but they will be referred to in this blog as Leslie and Iris.

Have you seen any extended relatives in the last month? I haven't.

Do you like eggnog? Yeah.

Is there anything important you need to do today? Therapy, wash my bedding, make some art, and spend some time with my kitties (I can tell they miss me now that I'm gone more often). Oh, and because I don't know if I'll get a chance to take a survey within the next few days, I'll just talk about some upcoming stuff. I'm going grocery shopping tomorrow morning and I need to pick up a bunch of doughnuts to bring in on Friday. It might be Cassie's last day, so I want to have a little going away celebration with the people in cattery. It's also going to be one of our community service worker's last days, so we're going to sneakily invite him back there as well. Plus Darrel - can't forget Darrel. And I'm getting enough so that the dog staff can have some too because I don't want them to feel left out, especially not with how kind they've all been to me.

Who is the person you dislike the most? Okay, you know when you work with someone who drives you up the wall with their behavior/personality? Then you find out they might be leaving (it's still a case of I'll believe it when I see it)? And you're like…damn, I'm actually gonna miss you a little bit. Maybe you're not so bad after all. And what if the person who replaces you is even worse? (It's Alex, lmao.)

Do you take part in paying the bills for your household? Yeah.

Have you ever properly listened to classical music? Did you like it? I don't know what you mean by properly, but I basically always listen to classical music whenever I'm in the car. I do like it.

Do your parents know how to text? Yeah.

Do you text your parents often? Not that often. I text my dad when I'm on my way home from the shelter after full days (sometimes we get finished much later than expected), and I text my mom only very occasionally.

What letter does your middle name begin with? A.

Do your initials spell an actual word? HAT.

What will you do when this survey is over? I'm actually going to stop here and go take my shower. I'll finish this later in the day, so you'll have your answer then… OKAY. I'm back from therapy. It was cancelled due to a family emergency. I had a snack, made some art, and after this…I think I'm going to lie in bed and listen to something on YouTube until lunchtime.

Do you know anyone with celiac disease? I don't think so.

How many siblings do you have? Are they all full siblings? I have one sibling.

What’s the weather like today? Sunny and hot.

Have you ever eaten a cinnamon donut? I might have.

What is the longest relationship you’ve ever been in? A few years.

How many times a day do you brush your teeth? Twice.

How do you usually celebrate New Years? I don't really do anything. I don't even bother staying up until midnight.

Is the place that you’re in right now quiet or loud? What can you hear? It's a little bit loud due to the swamp cooler.

Do you currently have any alarms set? No.

How many cars can fit in your driveway? You could probably squish four in there if you wanted to.

Do you like whiskey? I don't like the taste of hard liquor in general. Then again, I don't drink it for the taste.

When was the last time you ate, and what did you have? I had Greek yogurt with fruit, cereal, and chocolate syrup.

[quiet-girl-short-stories]

A Little Jealousy

A/n: every time I see this title, I think of Monsta X 🤙

There was always a little part of Cassie that felt protective of the men who surrounded her daily life. From simply wanting to take care of them if they ever fell ill, to not liking it when anyone even so much as looked in their direction. There was one of them in particular who she didn't like the attention he would get on a regular basis, and while yes he was essentially famous, Cassie didn't think that meant anything.

"Who is this girl?" Cassie said as she scrolled through multiple pictures of Amai with another female.

Cassie didn't recognize her from anything, not another girl group, not a childhood friend, not someone at the company, not even a manager. Cassie was slightly filled with jealousy thinking that maybe Amai had moved on from trying to date her and was with this girl. She felt her face hot and thought about why she should even be upset with this.

"I-I mean, we're not dating and I..." She trailed off for a second. "Well I am single! I can get upset if someone who I have the chance of dating is with some other girl... it would be different if it was a guy who was all over Amai, but..." She grunted and locked her phone before sitting in her chair looking out the window.

What should I do?

Cassie didn't know what to do, she didn't even know if she could fully call this jealousy or not.

She thought for too long on it and found herself becoming disinterested in everything. She didn't want to write, she didn't want to eat, she didn't even want to move her hand to put her desktop to sleep. She rolled her eyes thinking about Amai.

"I mean, he can date if he wants to, but why put me through all of that for so long then?" Cassie wondered if she was taking this too seriously. Right as she was thinking that her phone went off and without thinking she answered it.

"Hello?" Her voice came out angry.

"Woah, what's wrong with you?" She heard Amai say.

"Nothing." She simply stated.

"Well okay... but I'm near your place right now and I figured maybe we could hang out for a bit."

The hell? "Aren't you busy?"

"No, I finished practice a while ago, but we still have something to film later tonight. We just got a little bit of time off."

Cassie pressed her lips together. She knew saying no to him would only cause some kind of problem down the line, especially because Amai could very easily find out she wasn't doing anything from Ankara.

"Alright, where are you at?"

"By that cafe near your place."

"Alright, I'll be there in a bit." She hung the phone up right after saying that and got up to get dressed appropriately.

As Cassie was getting ready to leave when it suddenly began to rain. The universal sign of something being wrong... Cassie sighed and got an umbrella and headed out to meet with Amai.

When arrived at the cafe, she saw the dyed gray hair of Amai mixing with the slight mist of the rain, she didn't bother to call for him, but as she got closer she noticed he was talking to someone. She stopped trying to see who it was and Cassie only felt her blood boil.

He's really with her? Does that mean-

Cassie's mind went all over the place and her thoughts about the rain didn't help. However, she went up to Amai and finally got to him, the girl looked at Cassie causing Amai to turn around as well.

"Hey, sorry to call you out like this." Cassie said nothing. "But, she has to go so." The girl nodded and gave a smile to Cassie.

"Too bad we can't talk a bit more." Cassie gave her a fake smile. "Maybe some other time?" The girl suggested. Cassie nodded without a word. "Alright then, you two have fun!" She said teasingly.

Amai sighed and gave Cassie his full attention.

"She's really too much with that... but good thing I was here or I would've got caught in the rain. Maybe we can share an umbrella." Amai said with a chuckle, Cassie made no effort to talk. Amai gave her a look. "Okay seriously, I knew something was wrong over the phone. What's up?" He said.

She finally said, "it's nothing serious."

"Well it's making you upset, so it must be serious."

Cassie looked off but then spoke suddenly. "It's nothing... but I was wondering who that girl was?"

"Oh, it might be bad for me to tell you this, but you don't even go on social media." Amai got close and whispered. "She's gonna be a host for this new show that's planned to air in the winter. Our group is planning to be the first guests!"

Cassie felt a bit happy about that. "So, you know her from work?" Amai nodded. Cassie released a small sigh.

"Wait a second, you've never asked me about anyone else I've been with before."

"Well, it's just because I saw a few pictures of you two together."

"So? I take pictures with my bodyguards sometimes. You know that's just how I am." She looked off. "No way." She looked back to Amai, "Are you jealous?" Cassie stared without saying anything. "Oh shit you are!"

"I-I'm not!" She finally said.

"I doubt it. Look at how red your face is!"

Without even being able to see her own face, Cassie knew she was blushing. Amai smiled at her and stepped a bit closer. The rain began to slow and Cassie could clearly hear him.

"You don't even need to be jealous. You know I only have eyes for you."

[miss-andromeda]

Character Sheet: Andromeda Rhodes

Inspired by the ever-amazing @tinkabelle24 and her OC, Val Scott 😊

----------

Face Claim: Maddy Kendzior

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Name: Andromeda Grace Rhodes

Meaning: Ruler of men. Her name is a direct reference to the Greek myth Andromeda, who was famously chained to a rock by her parents as a sacrifice to the sea monster Cetus. 

Age: She begins the story at 15, but currently she is 16. 

Birthdate: July 17th, 1996

Zodiac Sign: Cancer

Physical Traits:

Height: 5’2”

Plus-size build - which does lead to her body image issues later in season 1

Sunkissed skin, with rosacea on her cheeks

Long caramel-colored, slightly curly hair - 95% of the time, she has a ribbon or bow clip in her hair 

Forest green eyes

Style: Her go-to color is pink, and she tends to wear more “girly” clothes, like dresses, skirts, cardigans and rompers.

Her most common look is a form-fitting pink sweater dress, white Converse, and her pink bow clip.

Her hairstyles will change with each season:

Season 1 will feature her hair down

Season 2 will show her hair in a classic braid

Season 3 will feature a low ponytail at first and then switch to a French braid

Season 4 will see her as having a high ponytail 

Season 5 will have her in a bun

But no matter what, her bow will be included in every hairstyle, whether that’s a ribbon or a clip.

Personality: Andi is a naturally closed-off person, revealing only the surface-level facts about herself at first; her name, age, favorite things, best friend, etc. However, she is kind to others and has a huge amount of respect for people that she considers authority figures, like Splinter (when she meets him), her teachers in school, and of course, her parents (but that respect falters later in the story.) 

She is extremely intelligent, having an IQ of 150, making her a genius. However, this intelligence sometimes (though not often) spills over into arrogance, and she can be rude to others if they don’t understand what she’s talking about. She also puts herself down if she doesn’t understand something or can’t get it right, because she feels that with such a high intelligence, she shouldn’t have problems with anything with memory, experimentation, or general knowledge. 

This also ties into her being impatient and short-tempered at times, though she doesn’t have issues controlling her anger. Though more often than not, she is prone to be extremely sarcastic with others - especially her closest friends like April and the boys. 

Despite her brilliant mind, she is incredibly oblivious to anything involving romance and love - which can be infuriating, as it’s bleedingly obvious to anyone that watches the two of them that Donatello is hopelessly infatuated with her. While she does eventually reciprocate his feelings, it takes her a long time - when she feels enough trust in him that she can start to open up about her past. 

As the story goes on, Andi shows just how loyal she really is to the people that matter most to her. From the beginning, she sees April as her unofficial sister. As she becomes closer with the turtles and Splinter, she sees the latter as her father figure and the boys as brothers to her - with the exception of Donatello, of course. 

Some of Her Favorites:

Color: Pink

Music: Indie and alternative pop, though she also loves indie rock. Her favorite band is the (fictional) indie rock band Salem's Witches, and her favorite song by them is called "Close Call".

Book: War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy

Hobbies: Science (especially experiments and building tools and weapons), reading, listening to her CDs, spending time with April and the boys (especially Donnie, as much as she'll deny it 😉)

Relationships with Others:

Mother, Cassiopeia “Cassie” Rhodes: The two have a very, very estranged (and downright toxic and unhealthy) relationship. Cassie was never the typical mother to Andi; she was distant and isolated herself from her daughter. Not much can be said about her at the moment, but what can be said is that she and Andi’s father were married, but prematurely divorced when Andi was 12. After their divorce, Cassie completely disappeared from her daughter’s life - but they reunite in the middle of season 2. 

Father, Alexander “Alex” Rhodes: When he was alive, the two had a fairly close, father-daughter relationship. He wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed when it came to raising a daughter (especially one as smart as Andi,) but that doesn’t mean he wasn’t a good father to her. What he lacked in brilliance, he made up for in spirit, constantly encouraging her to follow her dreams of being a scientist and indulging her when she went on a tangent about…well, pretty much anything. However, his life was cut short when he was found dead in his apartment building in March 2010 - and when his autopsy was performed, it was found that the cause of death was poisoning. 

Best Friend, April O’Neil: April and Andi have been best friends since they were 12, a year and four months before Alex passed away. They met in English class in November of 2008, when they were assigned as partners to read and do a project on a Shakespearean play, and they chose Romeo and Juliet.  During their time together, they became close friends and began to hang out outside of school, eventually becoming best friends by the time they finished seventh grade (June 2009) and Andi meeting Kirby O’Neil when April threw her a birthday party at her apartment. When Alex died less than a year later, April was the only person that Andi willingly confided in about her father’s death, and April comforting her and offering to let her stay with her and her father for a week so that she didn’t feel so lonely cemented her as one of the most important people in Andi’s life. 

Miscellaneous Information:

Andi has undiagnosed Asperger’s syndrome, though it’s never explicitly stated in the story.

Her main weapon is a lithium-powered laser gun that Donnie helps her perfect in season 1. The reason why it’s a laser gun, specifically, is because of her need for things to be impersonal between her and her opponent in a battle, and simply because it’s more advanced than the traditional weapon.

It’s never explicitly stated either, but Andi is bi-curious. She will have feelings for Donnie, but when she and April started becoming closer as friends, she had a temporary crush on her. And to this day, she still wonders what it would be like to date another girl, but after she meets Donnie, those thoughts become fewer and farther between. The reason she had a crush on April in the first place was because April was the first person to show her legitimate kindness and platonic love, and Andi misconstrued her feelings of platonic love for romantic love.

Voice Claim: Sadie Sink

Singing Voice: Chloe Breez

(Had to choose this beautiful cover! 😉)

Songs Matching Her Character:

----------

@tinkabelle19 @m1dnyt3-w0lf @eveandtheturtles @red-phoenixxx @happymoonangel @androidships007

Wanna be added to/removed from the taglist? Just let me know 💜

[kissofthemuses]

ABIGAIL

FULL NAME: Abigail Pershing SPECIES: witch OCCUPATION: florist FANDOM: Good Witch

PHYSICAL

FACECLAIM: Sarah Power PRONOUNS: she/her AGE: 37 BIRTHDATE: April 10, 1986 HAIR: brown EYES: green HEIGHT: 5'8" ORIENTATION: bisexual

RELATIONSHIPS

MOTHER: Patricia Merriwick (deceased) FATHER: Arthur Pershing AUNT: Julia Brock GRANDMOTHER: Anne COUSINS: Cassie Nightengale, Joy Harper, Grace Russell ANCESTOR: Elizabeth Merriwick

PERSONALITY

MBTI: ENTJ-A/"Commander" ALIGNMENT: chaotic good TEMPERAMENT: chloreric ENNEAGRAM: 6 POSITIVES: Outgoing, charming, intelligent, well-meaning, loving NEGATIVES: overly competitive, closed off, contrary, vengeful

TAGS

Threads Headcanons Musings Inspo Photos

BACKSTORY

Abigail is the daughter of Arthur Pershing and the late Patricia Merriwick. She is the maternal cousin of Cassie Nightingale, Joy Harper, and Grace Russell, and a descendant of the Merriwick line.

Like most Merriwick women, Abigail possesses unique gifts, which she uses to coyly help people realize their full potential; her methods, however, are notably more elusive than her cousin's. Her guarded persona often affects how she delivers advice or presents her gifts, as opposed to Cassie's open-book personality.

Abigail originally moved to Middleton to enact revenge on her cousin after learning that the Merriwick's had property there. She initially feuded with Cassie and resorted to dark magic to get her way. She disliked the small town and refused to partake in events. After learning the truth about Cassie's past, the pair formed a friendship. Abigail befriended Cassie step-daughter, Lori, and they began a mischievous friendship. She would eventually move into Grey House where she grew close to Grace, Cassie's daughter.

Now, Abigail owns her own business, Abigail's Flowers and Chocolates. She also helps her cousin run Grey House Bed & Breakfast and had a brief stint as the Mayor of Middleton. Abigail and her ex-fiancé Donovan Davenport were entangled in the centuries-old Merriwick-Davenport Curse. Despite breaking the curse, their relationship ends when they realize neither of them will put their relationship first. Vying for a change of scenery, Abigail leaves Middleton to travel Tuscany, and is contemplating the permanence of her travels.

Abigail grew up in Greenfield and was primarily raised by her single mother. Abigail's father, Arthur, left them in 1999 when she was thirteen and travelled all around the world on business. Abigail's mother was ill and wrote to Cassie's parents asking them for help. They never responded, and a year after her father left, Abigail's mother died and Abigail went into foster care. In season 7, Abigail mentions that she is a Taurus.

She remained bitter over the fact that Cassie's parents never helped her mother and clung to the idea of making it out of foster care one day. She was placed into a foster family presumably in Greenfield, that was loving and kind, but they had little-to-no money. Instead of going to homecoming, Abigail made corsages and sold them to the girls who did go so she could afford to buy a prom dress for later in the year. Her foster parents purchased her a bike and took care of her, however, Abigail dreamed of leaving the home.

Abigail moved out of the home when she turned eighteen, only taking a few suitcases with her. The box of mementos that she had kept over the years was left at the last foster home when she moved out. She went to college and got a job in advertising, quickly moving up the ladder in the company and made partner. Years later, Abigail discovered that her remaining family was living in Middleton, after Lori Russell contacted her. Abigail decided to travel to the town to meet them - especially after learning she was behind in her rent. Cassie invited Abigail to stay with her and her family at Grey House, an invite that Abigail graciously accepted.

After bonding with Cassie and the rest of her family, Abigail decided to stay in Middleton while the sale of her company was going through. She was especially close to her youngest cousin, Cassie's daughter, Grace. Years later, Abigail opened her store called Abigail's Flowers and Chocolates and gradually became a prominent member in Middleton society.

[catastrophic29]

Tim Drake Fic Recs

Liminal Spaces (Finished)

One of my favourite fics! Where Tim is taken by young justice verse batman cause he has horrible eating and sleeping habits, and he takes down the light. Really good, love his characterisation, Damian was so adorable and protective in this. Also read the other works especially Compression.

Your Universe is Kinda Soft (Finished)

This is another Tim going into another alternate universe fic, this ones before Jason dies and the Titans remember everything.

Prudence in the desert. (Unfinished, but hasn’t been updated in a while)

Pru is injured and she meets the the batfam, none of them have met her and know one knows what happened to him during the time Bruce was missing.

Abandoned Nest (Unfinished)

One where Tim leaves cause he doesn’t feel like he’s part of the family, so he moves to Brazil and is still in contact with Tam, Cassie and Pru. He adopts a child named Neves and Kon and Bart come back to life. Neves and Damian are both kidnapped and they meet.

How To Accidentally Acquire a Brother

I love this fic!, So Tim isn’t Robin and everyone is a bit deaged except Damian who is still ten. Janet and Jack Drake are really horrible here and run a drug ring. So Tim goes yo the Red Hood (AKA Jason) and gives him evidence on his parents crimes. Tim is really sweet and a genius in here and he knows Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy, Barbara Gordan, and Stephanie. The Batfam are trying to find out how Tim knows everyone while he’s in Jason’s safehouse. He becomes Red Robin briefly but more like an Oracle for Red Hood.

birds fly in every direction (Unfinished and hasn’t been updated in a couple months)

So Tim (who is not Robin or Red Rbin yet) sends evidence on criminals to the police under an alias, and Jason and Tim meet at school. The batfamily grow to like him and his parents are kinda douches, he knows their identities and reveals them later it’s really good, both angsty and funny.

Jason's birds (Unfinished)

A fic with a platonically possessive Jason and a sentient pit, Jason realizes that his family is kind fricked up, so he kidnaps Tim then Dick than probably more. Shows mostly Jason and Tim, but later shows a lot of Dick.

On The Road (Unfinished, pretty much abandoned cuz it hasn’t been updated in over a year.)

This one is unfinished and on the shorter side (only four chapters) Where Tim doesn’t interact with the batfamily much and is shot protecting Damian. The batfam is kinda bad but mostly redeemed.

Sticks and Stones (Finished, only four chapters)

Kinda sad, lots of emotional abuse , Stephanie is not portrayed very good in this but most of the stuff she did in this is cannon. Has protective teen Titans.

Oneshots

Bird's Night Out

Really funny and angsty with Batbrother relationships all connected, mainly with Tim and Jason. Begins when Jason calls cps on Bruce/Batman. and later Tim’s angry and Jason moves in with him cause he’s alone and Tim’s helping him plan revenge on Bruce (Non-violently) Later Dick and Damian come in.

and ill spend my whole lifetime with your life line wrapped around my throat

Posted as a series cause its a oneshot that’s from two different perspectives. (Jason and Tim) Centres around the titans Tower incident but where Tim is on a phone with his parents and it shows how bad parents they are.

That Awkward Moment When You Accidently Call A Rogue Mom

Has past Joker Junior Tim, and good Harley Quinn.

Tim the terrifying

Really good series where Tim is kinda ruthless and protective of his family and friends. I especially like the first and last ones.

Light of Gotham

Short, portrays a darker Batman and Robin.

postscript

Some connected oneshots with the aftermath with Red Robin, slightly morally dubious Tim.

Blabbermouth

Tim with truth serum, pretty funny.

Trouble

A CEO of Drake Industries Tim with TimSteph and Oracle Tim. Batfam are bodyguards.

The Warmth of Pandora's Box

Constantine and Tim friendship with Coraline crossover, tho the character Coraline doesn’t appear. Just the Beldam, I hate coraline (cause it was scary and I’m a wimp) but this was interesting.  

ASSassins

Some more shenanigans with the assassin Trio and Tim. The justice league and batfamily are there too.

And If You Wrong Us

Some good Damian and Tim platonic relationships. With a bit of Damian angst.

First Meeting

Shows Tim as CEO of Drake industries, he was never Robin and it portrays how he is alike to his mother. Has Morally ambiguous Tim drake and the assassin Trio but mainly Pru. Minor Tim Drake/Pru.

you must have the words in that head of yours

One of my fav oneshots of Tim with both Jason and Pru friendship and its really funny.

Criminal deals are best made on a full stomach

A oneshot where the assasain Trio run a diner afte and Tim decides to bring Bruce there. Really funny.

Alien

Lazarus Tim where him and the assassin trio (Pru, Z and Owens) are dunked in the lazarus Pit. At Gotham he’s dosed with Ivy’s truth serum and Jason find him.

Other Lazarus Tim fics includes:

The Robin he left. (Oneshot)

The Tim Drake Jukebox (Series)

No Grave Can Hold My Body Down (Has Evil Tim)

Identity (Pretty Long, lots of )

Mama Amma (Has Tim as a mother)

Those are the ones I like, tho if you want more look at this tag.

https://archiveofourown.org/tags/Lazarus%20Tim

I have a lot more, so I might do a part two or add some fics to it later. Hope you like them. Tim’s my favourite Robin.

[robinofgothamcity]

♡ scenario: meeting dick's ex girlfriend and it going awkwardly well

♡ characters: jason todd ( red hood ) x fem! reader

♡ note: not checked for grammar or spelling mistakes / i'm sorry but have yall seen that comparison of Jason Todd from Titans to the comics that the DC Titans twit made? bc every time i look at it, it takes me out. my twitter groupchat have slaughtering it all night :').

you in Dick's apartment, fiddling with a few of his weapons as he sternly told you to put it down before you hurt yourself. you, clearly not bothering to listen, continued to fiddle with the batarang as it managed to hit you on the nose. in between Dick's laugh, he wheezed out an 'I told you so'.

"fuck off, when are we going to your dad's place?" you asked, "I want to get back home before we get back to our apartments later than we already are," you mumbled, getting up and grabbing your keys.

Dick ushered you out the door, murmuring that he'd buy you a coffee on the way to Gotham as compensation for helping his family out. you were Dick's ex girlfriend and although the two of you ended on friendly terms, you managed to know his families secret and thus, you decided to help Dick out with his hero work in Bludhaven.

the two of you had realized a while into the relationship that neither of you were really into each other romantically. it felt a bit forced with the kisses and dates and a part of you saw the way Dick felt about his ex still. you weren't mad at the way he felt about Barbara but you could tell that he still had feelings for her and you didn't want him to deny his true feelings for her anymore.

both of you hopped into your car and made your way over to his father's place. you had met Bruce a while back when you were dating Dick and by extension, you had met Dick's younger brother Damian. he was still a bit of a prick to you every time you met him but Dick had told you that Damian was just that way with everyone. you had a few interactions with Duke and Cassie from time to time but it was only when they stopped by. the only two you had yet to meet were Dick's two younger brothers, Tim and Jason.

you had heard stories about them it wasn't anything too crazy. all you knew was that Tim was a bit on the shyer side and Jason was the one with the crazy backstory. they hadn't told you everything about Jason but you did know that Jason was dead at one point and managed to come back. how? you didn't know and frankly, you didn't want to know. knowing that this world was filled with superheroes from out of this world and held supernatural abilities was enough for you.

by the time you arrived to Bruce's place, you had Dick take in your back pack as you sipped away on the Starbucks he had bought for you. Dick entered through the batcave, waving a hello to everyone as you saw Damian and gave the little gremlin a smirk before chasing him for a hug.

"get away from me you peasant," Damian screamed, grabbing his blade and pointing it at you. you laughed, sitting down on his chair, "aww, and to think I thought you'd be happy to see me!" you giggled, taking your laptop out of your bag with a few other things.

you noticed that there was another person in the room that you hadn't familiarized yourself with and got up, "hi, I'm ( your name ), Dick's work partner," you said, stretching your hand out for him, "and the pain in my ass." you rolled your eyes as the man chuckled, "I'm Jason," he replied. his voice alone made the hair on your arms raise in goosebumps as you found his voice extremely attractive, "pleasure," you responded, trying not to sound nervous.

Dick wasn't the smartest of all brothers, clearly but it didn't exactly take an idiot to see the way you immediately acted around Jason. he noticed the way you pulled yourself back a bit as Jason stood up to give you a proper hello. when he first met you, you were instantly the confident person you always were but this time, you were pulling yourself back a bit.

"so, how did you meet Dick?" Jason asked. you laughed, "we're partners at work and I even dated the asshole for a while," Dick whipped his head around as you heard Damian hollering from laughter, "I'm right here!" he exclaimed. you rolled your playfully, "please, I heard the way you talk about me to Barbara," you pressed, making Dick slump down in his seat in shame.

Jason laughed at the way you managed to make Dick fall back. he had never seen someone do that to him before and frankly, he kind of liked the way you poked at Dick a bit. everyone knew he was the easiest target to mess with but it seemed as though you were professional at it, just like Damian was.

"so, who are the ones on patrol tonight?" Bruce asked, getting up. Damian and Dick raised their hands as they all looked to Jason, "you're still hurt from your previous run in so you will be sitting this one out Master Jason," Alfred spoke up. you saw the way Jason wanted to argue but Alfred gave him the 'you better not try it' look.

"you can stay with her," Dick offered, slipping into his suit, "she's helping out with communication tonight since Tim is off doing work with the Titans." you gave Jason a wave of encouragement as he agreed, not as excited as you thought he'd be. you shrugged it off, waving everyone off with a 'be careful' lecture.

the batcave went silent as Alfred had offered to bring the both of you coffee for the long night. you were sitting across from Jason, your legs crossed as you slipped in your headphone into one ear to make sure you could hear what Damian, Dick, and Bruce were saying clearly. you cracked your neck, trying to make it unstiff as you gave the three of them their coordinates of where they were to meet if they all separated....which was the first thing they did.

"so, why did you and Dick break up?" Jason asked suddenly. you lifted your head up, "oh, we just realized we were better off as friends," you replied, "everything felt kind of forced and a bit weird so we figured it was best to just be friends before it got any weirder."

Jason nodded, smiling underneath his stoic face. he knew he wanted to make a move on you but realized it was a slimey thing to do so quick. he hadn't known the real reason to the break up but figured since you were still friends with Dick, it clearly meant that there were no hard feelings, especially when Dick was trying his time again with Barbara.

the two of you remained silent, sipping away on water and coffee. a few yawns crossed your face as you tried to keep yourself awake. this wasn't the first time Dick had you doing this but you hadn't went strictly from work to Dick's place and didn't get the chance to take a nap before leaving. Jason saw the way you were fighting off your sleep and chuckled.

"tired?" he asked. you nodded slowly, "long day and an even longer day tomorrow," you replied. you saw your phone ping up with text messages as you let out a groan of annoyance, "something wrong?" Jason asked, seeing the way messages came in left and right.

you flipped the phone over, "it's dumb. some guy I was seeing hasn't stopped messaging me ever since I gave him my number and even when I told him I wasn't interested, he still kept going," you confessed, wanting nothing more than to chuck your phone against the wall to make it stop.

Jason thought for a moment. he could play this one of two ways. one: trying to give you mature, adult advice or two: being the petty teenager he used to once be. "wanna try to get him back?" he asked, quickly checking the communicators and cameras to make sure everything was still okay. you nodded your head a bit slowly, not knowing what he was hinting at.

Jason grabbed your phone, quickly taking a photo before writing a few thing down and sending it. your eyes widened, seeing what he wrote out.

"might wanna stop texting the girl who has no interest in you."

you gave Jason a look as he laughed, "what?" he asked, going back to the cameras and communicators. after a while, you got a message that they were heading back to the cave as others took their place. you clapped in tired happiness as you shut the computers down and put every thing into your bad so you and Dick could head out as quickly as possible.

"leaving already?" Jason poked playfully. you smiled, "I have work in the morning and I doubt you'd want to spend anymore time with me," you joked back. Jason grabbed your phone again, this time putting his number into your phone before shooting himself a message.

"you couldn't even wait a day?" Dick said as he got out of the batmobile. you shrugged playfully, "what can I say? your brother is hot," you responded, waving your phone with his number in it. Jason choked on his spit as Damian gagged, "gross, keep that shit to yourself," Damian yelled, slamming the door of the batcave as he made his way to his room.

you gave Jason a wink goodbye before getting into Dick's car.

"see ya soon sweetheart."

[hekate1308]

Fictober 2022, #5

Prompt: "No, anything but that“

Fandom: Supernatural

Rating: G

Pairings: Destiel

Despite what some people may think about his job, Castiel has always loved being a waiter. Yes, even with him being awkward and unsociable, at least according to his siblings. But it keeps (again, somewhat unlikely) a roof over his head and food in his fridge, he meets lots of people so he never gets lonely (even though he should be, once more according to his siblings because he’s made it past the age of thirty without finding  a partner) and it leaves him with enough free time to paint, which is what he’s wanted since he was in school.

So, here he was, with over a decade’s worth of experience as a waiter under his belt. By that he means to say that he’s met lots of customers who’ve had special orders and/or wishes, some of them friendly and nice enough, others rude and demanding. Therefore, he knows how to handle anything thrown his way.

Until today.

He likes Sunday morning shifts. Most difficult customers are still in bed, and those who are around have a good reason to be, and are normally polite enough.

So at first, when he hears the little girl’s laughter from the kitchen, he simply smiles. He’s met enough children to be able to tell when they’re happy, and she’s as cheerful as can be.

He was however not prepared for the adult accompanying her – her father, most likely. At first, he’s busy listening to the girl, his head bowed, so Castiel can only tell that he seems to be rather tall and well built; then he raises his head and his breath catches in his throat just as he is about to greet them in the usual way.

Because this is the most beautiful man he has ever seen. And yes, he’s most definitely the father – the green eyes of his and the little girl prove that.

She can only be two years old at the most, there is no way this man is single he tells himself in order to get his thoughts in order, only that this doesn’t work because then the man smiles and oh God…

“Hey.”

“Hello, I am Castiel” he manages because after so many years, certain things are just engrained into him. “May I take your order?”

“You most certainly may” his grin grows brighter and it’s like looking at the sun.

So he concentrates on the girl. “Hello, I am Castiel.”

To his utter surprise, she chirps, “Like the angel?” with her young lisp.

“Yes, I –“

“My mother loved angels” the man shrugs. “So I tell her about them. This is Emma, by the way, and I’m Dean.”

He nods the concentrates back on Emma. “Emma. What would you like to eat today?”

“Pancakes!”

Dean sighs but seems to resign himself to his fate. “Fine, princess.”

“We have chocolate, banana, peanut –“

“No, anything but that” Dean hastily interrupts and when he turns back to him he adds, “She’s allergic to peanuts. Sorry, man. I’m just paranoid.”

“No, no, it’s completely understandable” he assures him because of course he would want to protect his daughter.  

Emma predictably chooses chocolate.

He shouldn’t, he knows he shouldn’t, but he mostly hangs around their table until they leave.

“Man, that pie was awesome, and Em really liked your pancakes. Our compliments to the chef.”

He nods. “I’ll pass it on.”

“We’ll be back” he assures him and Castiel nods again.

He knows nothing will happen, of course, but that he doesn’t mean he can’t spend some more time with this enchanting man and his adorable daughter.

One year later

“I’ll miss you, Cassie.”

“Balthazar, it’s not as if I’m moving to the end of the world” Cas reminds their chef once again. All that’s happened is that these days, he makes enough money off his art to live comfortably… especially considering he’s not alone anymore, these days…

“Oh God” he groans, “You’re thinking about your boyfriend again, I can tell” Balthazar groans. “Get out there and make yourself useful before you go all starry-eyed on me.”

He knows he doesn’t mean it, so he complies.

He didn’t expect to see Dean and Emma today, but he’s not surprised; it’s the kind of thing his boyfriend loves to do.

“Hey there, sunshine” he grins and Cas leans down to kiss him while ruffling Emma’s hair the way she loves him to, noting that she seems to be even cheerier than usual.

“Daddy wants you to marry him!” she shouts loud enough so the whole diner hears.

“Em!” Dean interjects but Cas is too busy staring at Emma to react.

Then the man he loves clear his throat. “Well, now that the cat’s out of the bag… What do you say, Cas? Let’s make it official?”

There’s only one answer he can give.