#guess who just came back from Carol Singing

[sjhowitt]

The Presbytery crew going out carol singing....ending in the Red Lion after which point its just Sid and Bunty demanding Figgy pudding with menaces.

[crystlizabeth]

Will we get a pt 2 of Cowboy Cassanova? 🥹

Cold without you…

Phillip Graves x Blackfem!Shepard!reader

Warnings: angsty, cursing, self neglect, arguing, age gap(24&32), fluffy. Again not proofread.

Summary: months later winter seemed colder and now sad what used to be your favorite time of year was now your most dreaded. But everybody gets surprises during the holidays.

P.1 cowboy Casanova

You were so angry with him, you wanted nothing more than to scream and cry. Your father tore him away so fast just as you had him so close. How could he seek to hurt you so much your own father, he watched you fall apart and he knew it was because of his doing. He did it wanting to keep his little girl from heartbreak but he was the one that broke it he knew that as soon as you arrived back to your family home. Still in your outfit from the night your tear stained face and bloody red eyes, your broken tone.

You cried and cried to him pushing him away when he came up to comfort you acting stupid as if you didn’t know, yelling all he could say it was for your own good. That Graves isn’t a man to be involved with let alone he was ‘to old for you’. That you needed to accept this and theres so many people in the world for you that school should be your main priority not some man who was taking advantage of you. He made you seem so naive and he knew better he knew that you know what you wanted what situations you got yourself in and that if he really was taking advantage of you, you would have sure as hell known.

Right there was when he knew he lost is babygirl. That he broke her heart into a million pieces not Phillip. Him. He watched as you wailed into your mothers arm mumbling out to him ‘how could you..’, ‘why would you do that..’ and ‘im not your little girl anymore.’ . Your mother comforting you not knowing the full situation but knew her husband had fucked up bad.

Now it was December you where back in Texas from school. The southern winter was different, it used to be your favorite the memories of playing in the snow with your siblings staying home from school and Christmas. But you had a feeling Christmas was going to be different, quite even.. the streets covered in inches of snow the night colorful lights on the trees and buildings around it as the snow fell from the sky. Eventually your older brother picked you up from the airport to take to home.

“You ready to go, see dad?” Caleb asked, the sound of his daughters in the background talking to one another singing the carols that came from the radio.

You sighed softly looking away from the window to face him, the street lights shiny on his face sometimes you forget how easily he lost his color in the winter his freckles becoming lighter his hair short the curls still noticeable. “Not exactly who I want to see.. but everyone is home right now so I don’t just have to see his face.” You laughed lightly knowing all of your siblings were gonna be there.

He hummed in response. There was the silence everyone knew what you dad pulled and why you were so mad at him even after the months passed.

“You know sis, you do look I dont know— good I guess?” He said quietly.

You pressed your lips together. “Im fine just school is hectic.. just be a break..” you mumbled looking down checking your phone.

“Has he tried getting in contact with you.. I gave him you new number.” Caleb said.

Oh? You faced him your eyebrows frowned, “no.. no he hasn’t has he said he’s going to..?” You asked.

Your brother shook his head unsure “I don’t know but he ask about ya, specially since I bring you up near him iv been tryin’..” he spoke.

Phillips been asking about you. But he hasn’t even reached out knowing that you wouldn’t hesitate to pick up the phone, well how could he? You’ve been away for collage and he had been deployed.

“ I have to be honest, your face looks sickly thinner, and you just don’t seem like you..” Caleb spoke.

Winter could be rough sometimes but you had been falling apart just a soon as the wether started to get colder. You had more than enough people around you that gave you comfort and all the love you needed yet it was still so cold without him. This was about the time Phillip and yoh started messing around talking more, going out, eventually sleeping together to him coming to your family’s Christmas party. Spending the new year together and soon enough becoming a couple. But now he wasn’t with you anymore, you never hated the cold as much as you did right now the Christmas light that’s hung from the houses and the music that played it made you want to cry and curl up in a ball.

Upon arriving to your family home the big white farm house decorated, walking in you were welcomed by everyone your sisters and other brother. Your mother happily taking you into a hug kissing your face, then your father he smiled lightly at you hoping to maybe get a hug maybe even a hello but you just nodded at him giving him a half smile.

“I know mama but I’m tierd and have a raging headache.” You spoke to your mother as she tried getting you to get some food, saying the same as your brother that you looked sickly and food was what you needed. She soon gave up letting you escape to your room for the rest of the night.

Opening your doors it looked the same besides the white Christmas lights hung around your room giving it a little bit of light, but in your bed laid a small present and letter with a note on top of it ‘made sure your daddy didn’t get to it - love mama’. Made sure he didn’t get to it? Putting the note to the side you took off your big jacket hanging it on your closed door along with your boots.

Walking up to it it was a small gift wrapped up in sparkly blue paper with a gold ribbon. There was a letter under it so you opened that first it read.

“With you I was so warm you were the source of my warmth and just as I knew it you were gone. It got so cold, did it for you? I have so much I was to ask and tell you I know, everything reminds me of you I find you in every small thing. But this was my favorite, something that reminded me you were my warmth my Sun. So every time you feel cold remember this gift. Merry Christmas My dear.

-Lip”

You read through the note the small tears falling off your face onto the paper, you analyzed his cursive written so delicately. Slowly placing the letter down you grabbed the box unwrapping it slowly, you wanted to savor this moment. The blue paper tarring off revealing a little velvet box, opening it your eyes met a gold necklace. The necklace having a sun on it.

Pulling the necklace up you pulled its cushion revealing another small note.

“may you shine brighter than the sun ever could.”

Oh Phillip.. the way he could break your heart all over again. You brought the necklace up to your mouth your lips pressing a kiss against the cold material. You sat there for a moment trying to pull yourself together soon enough being able to get up and put the letter and not on your night stand with the box, you had put the necklace on it sitting a little past your collar bone.

For the next week that’s all you could think about, you sat wondering if he was in the country maybe you could get into some sort of contact with him. Your brother was your only option to go to, but you didn’t exactly know how to approach him you weren’t sure if Caleb had Phillips number. But it never hurt to ask right?

Pulling your brother to the side you asked. “Do you have Phillips number? Email? Anything Caleb please.” You pleaded.

He looked at you, you could sense the light feeling of worry, “I don’t..” he spoke. You groaned out in frustration knowing he had changed his number as well but you never thought of getting Phillips email.

“But I do know he’s home.” Caleb said holding his daughter.

He haven’t moved, you mentally screamed at yourself of course he hadn’t moved and you knew where to find him. Was is risky yeah but he definitely couldn’t come here. After hours of mentally preparing yourself you grabbed the two notes along with an old box that held more letters that you had written and he had written. you borrowed your sisters keys walking out the door. The drive seemed so dreadfully long you began to think maybe you should go back doing this all you would be doing is causing more problems. But you couldn’t let the thought of your fathers disapproval hold you back anymore. You were grow and able to make your own decisions either is be physically or mentally, your love life had both to do with your father. But as of now you risked throwing away your relationship with your father for a man. A man that treated you so gently, a man who even spent months away still communicated so damn well, a man who made sure you stayed focused on the things you wanted to do, a man that loved every inch of you and could handle your mood swings. Maybe it would all be worth it in the end, maybe your father would turn out to be right to remove him from your life that was a risk you were willing to take.

Glancing over at the clock it was almost 10 when you pulled you to his gate. His property was covered in snow a path way could been seen of his truck coming in and out, you could see the light in his house but there were no Christmas decorations on display. Opening the door the cold air hit you as you opened the gate quickly getting back in the car driving up next to the his GMC.

Taking one more deep breath you turned off the car. Getting out walking up his porch, the sound of the dogs barking made you smile light you finally heard his voice telling them to quiet down and ushering them into the side room. His footsteps quickly came back the sound of the locks of the door being unlocked.

His face soften as soon as his eyes meet yours, silence not a word. The cold December air blowing but it didn’t seem as bad as before, it wasn’t freezing. His blue eyes looked over you gently taking you in his hand reaching out he pulled you inside quickly closing the door behind you. He’s hand didn’t leave your arm, he just continued to look at you he looks as if this was his breaking point that he had been just a cold with out you.

“You can’t be here..” he whispered, his brows frowned.

You stood there looking at him with big eyes that if you were to look away he would disappear. “I got you gift Lip…” you said quietly watching his face closely looking for any signs he didn’t want you here. But there wasn’t anything.

“Surprised your dad didn’t get to it first…”

“My mom did, she put it on my bed.” You reassured.

You saw the corner of his lips rise a bit. His hand didn’t leave your arm you felt his thumb start rubbing against your sleeve lightly. Neither of you needed to speak as of now just needed this to be in each others space, the comfort of each other was all you needed.

You felt his warm hand touch you, the coldness that covered your face absorbing his warmth. “You’re not taking care of yourself are you..?” He asked his eyes running over your features.

He could saw how full you’d become you didn’t have that glow he saw you with last, the bags under your eyes still noticed under your makeup. He could tell your habits of self care had changed, he let his other hand leave your arm touching your face. He was so gentle with you his calloused hand held your face close, you wanted nothing but to pull him in and feel his lips on yours but you controlled yourself just letting the moment pass.

“Lip..” you spoke softly.

He hummed, “Do you think we can try again-” you said he quickly gave you a look.

“You know what your dad-”

“No, no I don’t care what he thinks I will make sure you keep your rank. I’m old enough to make my own decisions especially when it come to my love life. Phillip your all I want, I mean that I can’t see myself with anyone else we both know this would happen me right back on your front step.” You said your hand laying on top his forearm.

He knew you where right he’ll you both said I love you when he left. He knew sending you a gift would bring you right back to him, shit if he could have done it the other way around he would’ve been on your front step as soon as you got back from college. Little did you know he had fallen apart just as much as you, but he managed it differently. You both knew that being with each other right now was enough to build that warmth once again.

Five months that’s how long you both went without eachother, but it wasn’t the same no letters, no calls nothing. And you where right your father had no reason to control your love life, and Phillip knew how much you meant to Shepherd he wouldn’t let his little girl leave compromise was something he could work with.

His lips came close to yours, your lips quivering just to feel the touch of his chapped lips. He waited ther watching you hold back from kissing you “Are you sure?”

You nodded, “No darlin’ I need you to use your words..” he whispered his hot breath hitting your lips making you lick them slightly.

“Yes, Im sure.”

That was all he needed to hear his lips touching yours softly letting himself sink into your kiss, you put the box to the side letting your hand wrap around his neck him adjusting moving his hands dow to your waist holding you in a tight embrace as you both kissed. God did you miss his taste, the strong coffee and whisky always seemed to linger on his lips such a different combination but so addicting.

To put it simply you didn’t go home that night.

His arm wrapped around you as you laid on his chest. For once you were warm again, warm with him. But the peace has to me distrusted at some point, you phone buzzed again groaning you realized you still have your sisters car your location is off and you’ve been gone all night.

Quickly getting up you rushed over to your sweat pants grabbing your phone out of the. ‘23 missed called Mama’, ‘16 messages Nessa’ and ‘54 missed calls Daddy’. Shit..

For all they knew you where dead. “Whats wrong Darlin’?” You heard lips voice say.

“Nobody knows where I’m at.” You spoke sending a text to your mother and Sister quickly.

“You didn’t tell them where you were goin’? What bout nes?” He asked sitting up.

You shook your head wiping your eyes putting your phone upside down on his dresser giving your full attention back to you.

Through out the morning you both caught up, the two of you catching up. So much had happen in the last five months you opens up about your mental health throughout it and the downfall of your and your fathers relationship that you had turned 24 and lived in campus now your apartment from before empty and most of that stuff in a storage unit and at home. Also That you even made a attempt to move on failing horribly, he admitted the same that he couldn’t find a smile that lit him up. That he was going down mentally as well this made you two realize that maybe you two were co dependent on each other but also just heart broken.

“What do you plan on telling your father?” Phillip spoke sipping on his coffee his hand on the small of your back.

“Well he’s not gonna like what I have to say honestly but I could careless and I plan on taking you if that alright?” You explained picking at your breakfast.

He hummed “ I wont get shot on sight right?” He half joked.

You slapped the back of your hand to his chest playfully. “Shut up. Plus mama keeps them locked away when we have guests because she has curious grandbaby’s for their safety and now yours.” You smiled at him kissing his cheek softly.

“Let do this yeah?” He said giving you a reassuring smile.

“Yeah, as long as your with me.” You said softly your voice slightly shaky.

“Always.”

You both had driven separately him following behind you, he did the same while walking into your family home stayed behind you as you gave your keys back to your sister. Nessa giving you a look as she saw the man, your mother shaking her head slightly “he’s in his study upstairs.” She said he face turning to Phillip giving him a sympathetic smile. She knew all hell was about the break loose.

Walking into your fathers study he saw you the relived happy look quickly changing.

“What is-”

“He’s here because I asked him to, because I went to go see him after 5 months of no contact.” You said cutting your father off.

He stood up going to say something but you quickly spoke before him.

“Sit down. —For a man who raised me to be independent you hind me back. It was never him, or me is was you. Because your scared to lose me and if you couldn’t tell when you told him to leave me I lost all sorts of respect for you you lost me right then and there.” You said, you heart racing.

“I want to make this clear i really do dad. I am 24 years old, one of the highest and hardest worker in my classes and through out the years. I have done everything to please you and when I finally have something of my own you take it from me. You— you threaten his rank a rank he’s spent years to get to something that means so fucking much to him I made sure he picked that because if I didn’t he would have dropped that job turned in his rank and gone home to me. But you couldn’t come to that fact that I a grown woman had found someone I loved I’m not naïve dad.” You spoke sternly you didn’t want to cry but god was your heart beating out of your chest.

“I need you to understand that if you want to continue to see me you will treat him with respect in and out of the base. You will not make any remarks about my relationship about him you will keep your negative opinions to yourself because you are the only one that has a problem. And if you don’t I will leave, I’ll keep in contact with mom but I will not. I will not fucking speak to you do you understand.” You spoke looking into your fathers eyes.

His brows frowned but he nodded “I understand.” He spoke softly.

“I really hope you do..” because if he didn’t you wouldn’t talk to him maybe ever and that hurt you. But he can’t control you and you had to make that clear.

You walked around his desk hugging him your fathers arms holding you tightly. Even if you were a daddy’s girl he was the only man that had broke your heart, and that’s what hurt the most. He knew how bad he had hurt you yet didn’t regret what he did but now he had to come to terms with it, you weren’t his babygirl anymore.

But that you were Phillip Graves, that man would hold your heart gently never seeking to break it.

Winter wasn’t sad anymore, yet the joy had come back to it. Spending the remainder of Christmas break with Phillip and your family, everyone officially meeting him as your boyfriend. You had your glow back, crazy how one person can bring you back so quickly. There was no thought of him leaving again he wanted to down every last moment with you, and he planned on it. The winter once again had become your favorite.

And you weren’t cold without him anymore.

Soo here’s part two I know it’s not alottt of Phillip and reader but I wanted it to be dramatic and I love a Christmas/winter themed fic!

[24hrfrog]

!! w/ the top gun au x pjo theyre all baby teens, i think its more fun to mirror how percy was in the first book (yes i literally grew up on this series i will put top gun au in the very beginning ✊🫡) also no the pjo characters (literally everyone minus the gods and Charon) dont exist in this au theyre basically replaced with these four

idk the actual ages of mav, ice, goose n slider so heres a guess thats prob v wrong of their age gaps irl (like to the actors actual ages) but canon in my little au lol

Slider:

+ 15, got to camp when he was a baby bc no one wanted him 🧌 he grew up there and survived, he stayed with the hermes kids until he was 10 when he was claimed :( zeus sucks.

+ has abandonment issues which is why he is stuck so close to ice as they have a strong connection, tries his best to always succeed due to fear of disappointment to zeus, tries to be mature but ends up crying and needing comfort (sad kid bro, too much stress, is being forced to grow up basically which is why mav is such a nice balance helping him be childish/immature whenever they argue— its all out of endearment)

Ice:

+ 14, met slider when he was 9– is the reason slider got claimed in the first place when slider ended up discovering he could blast people saving ice from monsters chasing him up the hill, campers steered clear of slider after that due to the “ohh hes the son of zeus” effect so ice had slider and slider had ice, ice was claimed just a few days into camp life

+ bosses people around but its bc he knows and plans things they dont and never reveals why he tells ppl to do what until after the fact which can be kinda annoying but u just gotta trust ice— even if he tells u to stab him or if he betrays u for a second (lol). he finds patterns in peoples personalities that helps him guess what their reaction to different scenarios will be so he doesn’t get surprised by a lot of things and can defuse a situation with just words in a snap

Mav:

+ 13, youngest lil baby, got to camp just a few weeks ago basically and got too many enemies when he helped his team win in capture the flag— immediately got claimed by ares after that especially when he fought dirty and took out slider mid game which pissed off the winner who had a streak going

+ naturally gifted, his adhd is a bit more intense than other demigods making reflexes and senses more heightened (a blessing and a curse) he prefers to sleep outside in a makeshift tent he has pitched up a little farther into the woods since he prefers nature more over other peoples company (minus goose) a lot of energy but a bit of a loner if no one he’s rlly close to is around— came from an foster family that adopted him that is apart of the demigod protection group, hasnt seen what campers like ice and slider have seen yet in the demigod world (friends dying, quests where no one comes back, parents being dead beats, etc)

Goose:

+ 15, older than slider already has a crush (carole, a girl back in the mortal world he sees every summer, shes 16 and they were paired up as a pianist and singer for a performance which started off their relationship), got to camp when he was 13 and prefers non fighting activities, got claimed when he and the campers had a sing along

+ never rlly talked to slider or ice until mav got to camp and wouldnt stop pestering the only zeus child if he could shoot lasers out of his eyes, goose and ice get along fine tho ice sees a loyal comrade with goose which he admires, occasionally has sleep overs with mav in his tent outside whenever mav wants the company or a tranquilizer to sleep, gets too many migraines from shenanigans to the point he always has a thermos with a soothing tea and a case of Tylenol

[itsthecherryontop]

Adrenaline Rush (Billy Hargrove)

Scene from Chapters Twenty-Five and Twenty-Six of my Billy Hargrove Slowburn Enemies to Lovers Fic

Pairing: Billy Hargrove x Henderson OC (Halle)

Chapters Posted: 26/49 UPDATES WEEKLY

I could see Hargrove keeping an eye on me out of the corner of my vision. I couldn’t blame him. I had some pretty wild party experiences since he came to Hawkins. He probably considered me his responsibility for the night.  

He didn’t approach me until I was having a conversation with Tommy who was refilling his drink. Tommy had thrown his arm over my shoulder as he made some joke about the look on Steve’s face when they announced his nemesis as the Prom King. Before I even finished responding the curly-haired blond was standing near me. Tommy removed his arm when he noticed the newcomer. 

“I should get back to Carol,” he announced, giving his friend a mischievous smirk and heading off.

“How about a dance, Princess?” The senior confidently grinned. 

I peered over at the dance floor full of couples dancing together. There was almost no space between the pairs and not like earlier in the parking lot. No, it was not an innocent lack of space. It was wondering hands, slotted legs, and flushed hips. 

“I am not dancing like that,” I firmly declared. Just the implication of it caused me to blush. There was no way. It crossed the firm line I had set in my mind. If I wasn’t going to call him Billy, I most certainly was not going to grind my body against him. That was certainly not just crossing the line but obliterating it. There would be no coming back from that. My feelings had to remain a crush…a very intense crush.

Hargrove turned his head to look at the couples before humorously blowing air out of his nose, “I didn’t expect you to.” 

“What is that supposed to mean?” I demanded. 

“It means I wasn’t asking you to dance like that,” he repaired. 

“Well, I would hope not, William,” I huffed. My blush was either darker than aged wine or fluorescent. If he had meant that kind of dancing, then it meant he did want me that close to him. A bizarre thought. It wouldn’t have gone anywhere, but the thought of him that close…nope. Stop thinking that. 

“Come on,” he said, offering his hand. “Don’t worry, I’ll behave.”

Sighing I placed my cup on the counter before letting him lead me to the dance floor. Once again I found myself waiting for him to instruct me on dancing. He laughed at my out-of-place look. “You gotta move, Princess.”

“I have a feeling your idea of dancing is much different than mine,” I explained over the loud music. 

Stepping forward he placed his hands on my hips encouraging them to sway from side to side. Instinctually, I bent my knees to allow the movement to be more fluid. I heard him mutter something, but couldn’t hear it over the music. He stepped closer erasing more of the space between us as my arms fell around his shoulders. Still far enough apart that we weren’t really touching. It felt intimate as he moved at the same rhythm as I did, matching it to the beat of the song, edging on the line I had set for myself.

“See? Easy enough,” he spoke, looking down at me with a smirk. 

“Yeah. I guess it’s just keeping a rhythm,” I agreed. It wasn’t so different than how I usually danced just less sporadic and more contained without much movement of my arms and feet. I also didn’t usually dance this close to my partner. His hands remained on my waist and hips, behaving as promised. 

“I can tell you’re trying not to sing,” he teased, leaning down so I could hear him. 

“I usually sing when I dance and move around more,” I responded. 

“I know. I saw you dancing with Chrissy earlier,” he claimed.

“I didn’t know you were paying such close attention to me, William,” I snarked as the song switched.

“It’s hard not to notice you enjoying yourself, dancing all over the place. I’ve never seen you like that before,” he responded. There was barely any teasing undercurrent. 

So, he saw me bouncing and swaying all over my dance space in whatever movement I felt. I often forgot my surroundings as I sang lyrics and pranced around. It could have looked rather embarrassing to an outsider.

“Didn’t realize I had such a commanding presence,” I offhanded. 

“There’s a lot of things you haven’t realized,” he spoke in a lower octave that was nearly lost in the sound from the speakers. His eyes studied me as a chanting sound started outside. Breaking from his heavy gaze, I turned to look through the crowd out the window to the backyard. There was a crowd gathering out on the back patio. 

“I think your people are calling you,” I informed, identifying the count of the keg stand partaker. Stepping back my hands slid across his shoulders before dropping to his arms. I smiled up at him, “Go on. I know you want to.”

“And if I don’t want to,” he argued as his hands lingered on my sides.

“You’re going to let someone challenge your record? I can hear them getting close,” I provoked. He quickly glanced in the direction of the commotion. I knew he was listening to the chant. “Go on. Have fun. I will be fine,” I said, nodding my head towards the door as he turned back to me. I could see the conflict on his handsome face. Stepping back further and removing myself from his hold I guided him through the crowd and out the door. 

I was surprised to see Jason on the keg stand as he drew close to Hargrove’s record. He had crested a few seconds above the record before his feet hit the ground again. The crowd cheered and Jason loudly boasted his accomplishment. Some of the boys goaded Hargrove. His fists were slightly clenched as he set his jaw. I indicated for the Californian to pass me his leather jacket before he stepped up to reclaim his title as Keg King. I didn’t understand why it was so important to high school boys. With the jacket draped over my crossed arms, I watched as he strutted up to the keg in his unbuttoned shirt. Tommy and Andy held up his legs as the count began. 

The crowd had grown at the commotion. I had been pushed out of the way, lost in the sea of hollering teens. I couldn’t see anymore so I exited the crowd and made my way to the small bonfire set further in the back yard. I stayed with my hands held before the flame as I listened as the chorus of voices increased. He was reaching his old record and the voices rose in encouragement. I knew he would reclaim the top spot. He was too determined not to. He would push himself beyond his limit if he had to prove himself. The shouting turned to proud screams as he beat his previous record and Jason’s. I could just make out Hargrove’s own gloating roar over the others. 

He was paraded through the house by his teammates. I laid back in the chair knowing I would have to take care of him later. He had drunk far too much not to be wasted. I didn’t have to worry about him trying to drive himself as his keys were tucked safely in my pocket. The chill of the late-night air brushed against my back as I waited. My thin sweater didn’t provide much protection so I slid my arms through the borrowed leather jacket as I waited. The sleeves were slightly too long, reaching halfway down my hands. I sat with my arms pulling the fabric closed around me as on the edge of the seat closest to the fire. 

After what felt like too long the volume from inside the house lowered. Getting up I made my way back into the fray. I scanned the mass of bodies for a curly blond mullet. My view was limited without standing on a surface to see over the heads of those taller than me. I worked my way across the room. After a few rooms, I caught sight of Carol and Tommy. 

“Hey. Have you seen Hargrove?” I called as I approached them. Carol flashed me a tipsy smile, while Tommy swayed on his feet. 

“He’s somewhere looking for you. Might have passed out though,” Tommy answered. 

“Okay thanks,” I waved, walking away.

 I made a few more rounds downstairs. I resigned to climbing onto the counter to look through the dance floor crowd. After I was sure he was not in the house I looked out back before making my way to the front porch. I found him sitting on the porch steps. 

“I have been looking everywhere for you,” I huffed, sitting beside him. 

“You’re the one who wandered off,” he slurred with his head in his hands. His elbows balanced on his knees. 

“I was getting pushed around in the crowd so I went and sat down to wait till everything calmed down,” I explained, placing my hand on his back. He didn’t look like he was feeling too well. 

“I turned around and you were gone again and I couldn���t find you,” he tried to snap through his drunken tone. I could tell he was only going to get sicker. 

“I was by the fire outside. Right by the keg stand. Come on, let’s get you home,” I offered standing and gently tugging his elbow. 

“I’m not going back to that house,” he sneered, quickly raising his head. His unfocused eyes narrowed on me. 

“I meant my house, silly. Come on. If you pass out I won’t be able to carry you,” I smiled softly. His eyes eased as he looked at me, stopping on the jacket I forgot I was wearing. “I got cold waiting,” I dismissed. 

Slowly he stood up and began stumbling towards his car. I steadied him as I supervised his journey into the passenger seat. He stared at me as I started up the engine and adjusted the radio. Placing my hand on the back of his headrest I reversed before shifting into drive. I drove far more carefully than I had the night of the Upside Down events. I didn’t need Hargrove getting mad at me or throwing up. 

I parked the Camaro down the street to avoid questions from my mother and Dustin in the morning after waking up to the car in the driveway. I had to drap his arm over my shoulder as I supported him around the waist. There was no way I was going to force him to crawl through the window when he could barely stand.

 “You’ll have to be quiet,” I muttered as I unlocked the front door. It was about four in the morning so everyone in the house would still be asleep for a few hours. We should be fine as long as we don’t make too much noise. 

I almost dropped him in the hallway when he tripped over a piece of robotics parts Dustin had abandoned in the path to my door. Cursing softly I caught him by stepping in front of him. When we entered my room, I set him down on my duvet. 

“You’ll have to change. You’re not sleeping in my bed in clothes covered in alcohol,” I told him. His keg stand had caused his chest, shirt, and jeans to be sticky with dried beer. 

I heard him toss his shoes on the floor and unbuckle his belt as I opened my closet to collect some of the apparel he kept for when he slept over. With fleece shorts and a shirt in hand, I turned around. He was slightly swaying on his feet as he pulled his shirt off. He stood in just his white briefs as I pointedly focused on not looking down. I moved to hold out the bundle of clothing to him as he reached down. His fingers slipped into the waistband of his underwear as he prepared to pull them down. Lounging forward I grabbed his wrist to stop him.

“What are you doing?!” I hissed at him with wide eyes. 

“I sleep naked,” he slurred, staring at me confused by my reaction.

“Not in my room you don’t! Now put these on,” I scolded with a harsh blush as I thrust the clothing at him. I turned away to give him privacy as he dressed. I grabbed my pajamas from under my pillow. 

“You’re leaving?” he mumbled as I reached the door. 

“Yes, I’m going to go get dressed,” I explained, looking back to find him sitting on my bed in his lounge shorts. 

“Why don’t you change here?” 

“You’re here and I’m not stripping in front of you,” I announced. He already knew this, but he stared at me and…pouted. He was definitely pouting as he sat on my bed staring at me. I struggled not to snicker at the turn of events. 

I quickly made my way to the bathroom to change and clean my face and teeth. He was still sitting on the bed when I was done, “Why aren’t you wearing a shirt?”

“Beer,” he gave as a reason. In the bathroom, I grabbed a washcloth and soaked it in water to clean off his skin. Once he was clean he pulled the shirt over his head as I tossed the cloth onto my hamper. 

He crawled under the covers as I closed my closet door, something I had habitually done since childhood. Slipping into bed I turned off the lamp and laid down on my back. I had been lying down for less than a minute before I felt Hargrove shift. I froze as I felt him move until he was nearly over me. One of his arms was placed across my stomach as he settled his body against me. He was lying halfway on top of me with one of his legs slotted between mine. I didn’t move as he rested his head on my collarbone, in the crook of my neck. He released a deep sigh mumbling a word beneath his breath I couldn’t catch as his weight settled against me.

“You smell nice, Princess,” he murmured. Drunk Billy Hargrove was certainly a turn of events.  He was much more vulnerable and…softer. I wonder if that was how I acted drunk. 

“Thanks,” I responded. It wasn’t like I did anything different than I normally did. I wore the same perfume and used the same lotion. If anything I probably smelt worse after dancing in a smoke-infested house. 

Slowly I wrapped my arms around him, one on his arm and the other in his hair. This was crossing my boundary. Waking up tangled together was different than intentionally cuddling while conscious. He was only so close because he was drunk. 

“Goodnight, William,” I whispered to the boy breathing softly against my clavicle. 

“Mhm, ‘night, Sweetheart,” he muttered, nuzzling further into my neck. Gods, this boy would be the end of me. I hoped he couldn’t hear the fluttering beat in my chest at the nickname. One he had only ever called me once months ago when he was ever so carefully patching up my leg in his bathroom.

Giving up on a losing battle I leaned my head against his blond curls. I never stood a chance. It would happen eventually and I was already letting him seep through the only barrier that protected me from it. He was passing through my walls the same way as the Trojan horse did in the city of Troy, with barely any resistance.

...

Getting up the next morning was a struggle. We both had the afternoon shift. I woke up to my alarm and Hargrove was still asleep on top of me. I tried to slip out from underneath him but ended up waking him up instead. 

“Can you get off of me? I need to get up,” I said after he groaned and opened his eyes. 

He stared at me in a daze through squinted eyelids.  Slowly he pushed himself up and stared at me through bleary eyes before plopping down on the bed beside me, keeping his arm over my waist. 

I retrieved water and ibuprofen from the kitchen before handing them over. He gulped down the entire glass before burying his face back into the pillow. He had an hour before he needed to get up anyway. 

He was very much out of it the entire day. He sat up on his chair under an umbrella wearing sunglasses. He was moody and brooding to anyone who approached him. On his break, he joined Jess and me at the concessions stand. He immediately began digging through my bag looking for the bottle of pills I had packed for his headache. The noisy children playing in the pool must have been irritating him. He sat at the table in the back corner with his head resting on the tabletop. 

“You should eat something,” I suggested, placing a plate of fruit and a cream cheese bagel in front of him. He just grumbled without moving. “It will make you feel better, I promise,” I persuaded, slightly ruffling his hair before retreating up to the front counter. 

By the time he had finished his break he had emptied the water cup I gave him and half the food was gone. I smiled as I cleaned up the waste. Getting that stubborn mule to do anything he didn’t want to was a win. 

He was still not feeling sociable as we exited the pool gates. I drove us both for our shift due to his hangover and planned to drop him off at his car since he intended to spend the night at his house. 

“What happened last night?” He finally asked as we were parked along the curb behind his car. 

“Jason beat your keg record and you then beat him. They were paraded around and I took you home after,” I listed, tapping my fingers on the steering wheel and glancing over at him.

“What else?” He asked, leaning his head against the window without removing his eyes from me. 

“I had to stop you from fully stripping in my bedroom, but that was kinda it,” I explained as I shrugged.

“See anything you liked, Princess,” he smirked. It was the first teasing comment he had made all day.

“You really think I let you get that far, Mr. I-Sleep-Naked?” I jabbed. 

“Seems like you missed a good show,” he rebutted.

“Funny coming from the boy who pouted when I left the room to change,” I teased through a smirk.

“I don’t pout,” he defended with a weak glare. 

“Maybe not sober, but drunk you is a different story,” I grinned wickedly at him. 

“You expect me to believe that?” He said, raising his eyebrow.

“Are you too proud to admit it, William?” I provoked, leaning closer to him with my elbow on the center console.

“I don’t pout,” he reaffirmed as he met my stare.

“Whatever you say,” I dragged out the words in a taunting manner that he didn’t appear to appreciate based on the deadpan look he responded with.

If you'd like to continue reading: archiveofourown.org

[disneyanddisneyships]

@gyubby99 okay I had to write some Carolyn stuff.

Carolyn skipped her way into her father's study. The eight year old had been "summoned". Something about an important discussion about her future.

"Daddy?" She asked as she opened the door.

"Ah, care bear! Come in, darling," her father exclaimed with a small smile as he regally made his way over to the chairs in the middle of the room.

"Daddy, why did you ask me here?" The little girl asked as she sat in a chair, her feet hanging as she kicked them back and fourth.

"Well... my dear.... your mother and I spoke the other day and we believe it's time to tell you that you are engaged to be married!" Her father spoke with a small smile.

Carolyn's feet stopped their movements as she looked at her dad and tilted her head.

"But daddy, boys are icky..... since when have I been englaged?" She asked, messing up the word.

"Its 'engaged', darling... and it's been like this since you were born I'm afraid," he explained.

"But.... what's the wedding going to be like?" She asked.

"Well that's for you to decide, my duckling," he answered.

"Hmmmm..... who am I going to marry?" She asked again as she began to kick her feet once more.

"A young strapping man just over the horizon. His name is prince Johnathan. I'm told he's a unique boy. I'm sure you'll get along," He explained.

"Hm.. okay! I'm gonna go start planning my wedding!" Carolyn exclaimed with a joyful smile as she hopped down from the chair and ran out of the room.

"... please let that boy be good to her," Her father muttered before giving a sigh and going back to handle the kingdom's debt.

Carolyn made it back to her room, giggling all the way there before jumping onto her bed and taking out a small notebook from under her mattress.

Dear Diary, Daddy just told me that I'd be getting married in the future! I found it quite confusing because I'm only 8.. but I guess that's what princesses are s'possed to do! it's okay though cause I know that, that day is going to be perfect!

Years later....

"Again Carol!" Her mother yelled as Carolyn sighed and slouched.

"Mother, I'm never going to get it right! Violin is too hard. Why couldn't I have learned piano?" A 15 year old Carolyn asked.

"Darling, violins are unique! They give off a sound that nothing else can!" Her mother explained.

Carolyn sighed, earning a knowing look from her mother.

"Go on my dear. Take a break. Be back here in an hour," she muttered before gently taking the instrument out of Carolyn's hands and smiling.

Carolyn ran up to her room, the flower crown she wore accentuating her wavy platinum blonde hair. The dress around her whooshed as she ran into her room, practically jumping onto her bed and taking out a small scrap book.

"Care bear?" Came her father's voice as he knocked and entered. "What's that?" He asked.

"Its a scrapbook of wedding things! I thought I'd want it for when my wedding is supposed to be planned!" Carolyn explained with a smile as she flipped through some pages. "Do you think Prince Johnathan would like roses?" She asked.

"Youll have to ask him, my dear..... do you need anything?" He asked.

"No.... why are you acting strange? She asked with a raised eyebrow.

"No reason, darling. I must've slept wrong. I'll leave you to it!" He replied before wlaking out of her room.

Carolyn shrugged before taking out her diary.

Dear diary, There's only a few more years until I'm married. I do hope eathan the stable boy won't be too distressed. I recall our parting like a songbird singing for death.... I do hope he forgives me. But I'm afraid my loyalties mist lay with my future husband! I won't know what he's like until we marry, but I've a feeling he'll be very kind!

3 years later

Carolyn looked at her hands as the carriage rocked back and fourth on the dirt road.

"Now now, bumblebee, please don't look so sad... I know it's been difficult since your mother.... this marriage will help our kingdom in the long run," her father spoke as he raised her chin up with his finger.

"How am I supposed to get married without mother?" Carolyn asked in a whisper.

The carriage stopped and moments later the door was opened.

"His Highness, King Xavier, and his daughter, Princess Carolyn!" One of the footmen announced as the two got out of the carriage.

"Ah, Xavier! What a lovely suprise!" Jonathan's father spoke as he moved to hug Carolyn's father. "Ah and this must be your daughter. She's quite lovely!" He stated with a warm smile before glancing to his son and gesturing him over.

Prince Johnathan rolled his eyes, not going unnoticed by Carolyn.

She held out her hand, only for Johnathan to shake it harshly instead of a proper kiss on the knuckles.

"Its very nice to finally meet you, Prince Johnathan. I'm Princess Carolyn of Rosania," Carolyn introduced herself.

"Yeah. I figured. Call me John," He muttered.

Carolyn kept a smile... this wasn't at all what she thought it would be....

A day later, the wedding was held.

And that night, Carolyn sat and waited in her new room, Alone.

Dear diary, This wasn't at all what I wanted.... there were no smiles.... no romance.... there wasn't even any flowers, much less roses.... I'm holding out that with time, my new husband will get accustomed. until then,, I believe this is the last page I will be writing for a while.. Goodbye ~ Carol

[ponds-of-ink]

Sing The Ghosts A Christmas Carol Bonus Chapter: “The Ultimate Challenge”

Or, as I called it in a WIP file, “Putting The ‘Boxing’ in Boxing Day”.

Well, I had this idea for a while and thought it’d be a good way to really end NaNoWrimo. Hope this pays off..

-

Well, I guess I can tell one more tale. I forgot that I never answered one question: Did William ever beat that Ultimate Challenge? And, if so, was he set free like he thought?

To answer the first question, I need to return to a different Christmas. Happiness were high all around, William was enjoying his time off, and nobody really thought of actually participating in the challenge that would cause so much holiday grievances.

That is, until a message from The Bear ‘himself’ arrived.

The Puppet, being one to usually speak for this golden-furred ringleader, set to work on getting everyone’s attention. She snatched the microphone from Fun-Fox and whistled into the speakers. “Sorry to interrupt the fun, but we’ve got a letter from ‘management’,” she relayed to her puzzled audience. “And it’s written out to William, so I hope he’s paying attention.” William—who was then in the middle of giving Scraptrap some much-needed advice in terms of confidence—quickly raised his hand. “I’m all ears, don’t fret,” he assured with a raised voice, readjusting his sitting position. “Go ahead and read.”

The Puppet wasted no time in prying open the sticker-sealed letter. She took a moment to decipher the crayon-scrawled drawing, then read the note for all to hear:

“The Ultimate Challenge starts tomorrow. 6 AM. No more stalling. No more ‘tack-tic’ stuff. I want to see you put the ‘boxing’ in Boxing Day.”

While the other animatronics voiced their mixed emotions, William simply leaned back in his chair. “Sounds like Goldie’s getting impatient,” he muttered to a wide-eyed Scraptrap. “I’m not sure why exactly, but I’m willing to put up a good fight.”

“‘Putting the box in Boxing Day’?” Scraptrap repeated incredulously, his voice barely above a whisper. “But Boxing Day isn’t about wresting, … is-s-s it?”

“You’re right, it isn’t,” William replied calmly, patting the rabbit’s shoulder. “If I recall correctly, it’s just a separate holiday that comes right after Christmas. It’s more of a Canadian and British tradition, though, which makes Goldie mentioning at all even more strange.”

“Maybe.. A calendar told ‘him’?”

“Maybe,” William echoed, shrugging his shoulders. “But I won’t get that worked up about it. I need to save all my frustration for tomorrow.” His eyebrows raised as a sudden thought came to him. “And, by the way,” he resumed, refocusing his attention towards Scraptrap, “don’t be scared if you jump-scare me the most. I’m not going to lash out like I did many Christmases ago— N-Not intentionally, anyway.”

“Thanks for the warning, then,” Scraptrap responded sarcastically, his good ear raising a little. “Heh. I bet you’re going to throw so many fits.”

William just chuckled sheepishly. Deep down, he knew he was going to have an outburst of rage or two. Not towards any of the animatronics in play, mind you, but towards the system itself.

Thankfully, that system wasn’t in play on that Christmas night. The hours flew by, housing games and talks of all kinds. Molten Freddy lost his Guessing Game title, Ballora managed to hit the Purple Piñata, and many other wins and losses were decided on that night.

Of course, as we’re not here to discuss the interpersonal “rivalries” of the animatronics, I’ll skip to the main event itself. William, understandably, woke up that morning absolutely tired. All the lingering joy from the night’s festivities went down in the drain in minutes. One round, he was too slow in dealing with certain threats like Night-Marion. In another, he made too much noise for the equally-frazzled Music Man or Lefty’s likings. Even more rounds were lost due to forgetting his cameras or some other arbitrary condition, which I won’t waste your time with. All that the “lay-person” needs to know is that the barrage of noises combined with remembering so many rules did a number. This was to be expected, of course, but all parties were getting very worn-down over the course of the day. Yes, including the extra robots waiting in the metaphorical wings.

By the time the sun set on our human realm, William was practically in shambles. His arms and fingers ached from all the frantic movements. His eyes welled with tears of pain and endless hours of straining. His ears would have bled if his ability to regenerate wasn’t in play then. And, worst of all, his nerves and mental state were shot. Gone were the hours of confidence and proper strategy. Now he spiraled into absolute despair. “Maybe all those canned remarks still have a grain of truth in them,” he thought as he recovered from his latest attempt. “Maybe I’m not fit to leave this place, even with all my efforts to improve. Maybe this challenge is supposed to show how inadequate I truly am— Both as a human being and as a game player.”

He slumped as he placed his elbows on the desk. His reddened eyes drifted to the newly-mounted clock. It ticked on though its hands still stayed at midnight. Almost as if it was taunting him. Waiting for him to accept his fate. However, this taunt was met with a raised eyebrow. William leaned back, then let his eyes bounce between the clock and the monitor. “The next session hasn’t started yet,” he noted quietly, putting a hand on his burning forehead. “The loop’s.. stopped.”

He stared on the monitor a bit closer. A bluish-gray text box took up the middle of the screen. In gold text, a question emerged: “Giving up yet?”

William’s posture straightened a little. He lifted his hand towards the screen. His mind darted between the two answers presented. A long train of thought barreled towards its destination. He selected “No”.

Another text box popped up. “Okay then,” was its answer. “Have ‘fun’. Over and over and over again.”

Deep down, William’s response was a resolute “I will”.

So, the cycle of torment restarted. The faked irritation in the animatronics became more genuine. William tried to revive his thought process, but it stayed dead in the red-tinted water. Evening turned to night, darkening along with the mood of the Neon Cemetery.

So, does this mean that my answer is “No”? Did he—and by extension, we— never found out what happened? Was he doomed to undergo a Groundhog Loop of maddening proportions?

Well, that’s the most miraculous part of the story: He did, in fact, finally win. And not because he surrendered to Golden Freddy.

You see, in the dead of night, he decided to have one more go. “This’ll be the last one for a good while,” William reasoned with himself as he collected his newest consolation prize. “I’m knackered and famished. Everyone else is hopping mad. It’s for the best that I just ‘call it quits’ after this one.”

So, in a sleep-deprived state; he started the night. His mind drifted into some dazed state, practically repeating the once-frantic motions as if it was daily routine. The blaring noises sounded like television static. The threats were simply greeted with a weary wave before being shut out. To put it another way, he was absolutely out of it for almost the entire shift. It took a particularly loud advertisement on the monitor to even snap him back into action— And that advertisement played an “hour” before the end of his shift.

Now snapped back to this new reality, he tried to maintain his pace. He stuck to his routine, but with a lot more energy. The minutes passed by in a frantic pace. All of the animatronics put on their best performances. Golden Freddy’s presence loomed over the entire event, though the hear only appeared once or twice. William clenched his teeth as he glanced at the clock. Five seconds to go. Four seconds. Three. Two. One…

Six chimes rang out. The entire room fell into silence.

…A silence that William immediately broke. “Yes!” he yelled into the apparent void, putting his hands on his head. “I beat it! I finally did it…!” His triumphant voice broke into a sob as he mistakenly fell onto the floor. He stayed there, spilling all of those bottled emotions on the floor.

The score on the monitor kept on increasing. It ran through the ranks, as if trying to find the right thing to “exclaim”. Until, finally, it stopped at the most understandable remark of all: ‘Unbeatable!’

And, yes, it was unbeatable.

…So then why was he immediately sent back to the office?

William had this exact question as he opened his eyes. He peered across the desk to see if something special happened. The only thing that appeared was a small, golden Freddy trophy next to the monitor. And, on said monitor, another text box with golden letters that read:

“What? You thought it was over?”

William instinctively selected the “Yes” option. After all that, how could he not assume such a thing?

The screen flickered as a ghostly laugh rang out. The text box updated again:

“Silly bunny. I will never let you leave. I can never let you rest. No matter how many times you beat it, you’ll always end up back here. Forever.”

An icy sensation ran through William’s entire body. “Was this always planned?” he asked hoarsely, typing the same question on the keyboard.

The text box wasted no time in replying. “Yup,” it said. “Even before your little ‘turn around’.”

William’s look of horror melted into a furious scowl. “But that’s not fair!” he snapped darkly, rapidly typing away yet again. “For the others, I mean! Won’t you wear them all down soon enough? Won’t you get tired of me screaming and bemoaning my fate over and over again?”

The text box paused for a second, then continued its streak of fast replies. “Being tired of you acting like a crybaby is better than letting you go,” it answered. “You haven’t been punished enough yet.”

William raised an eyebrow at this last remark, but decided to brush it off. “What would’ve happened if I was let go, then?” he questioned further. “Do you think I would’ve returned to the living world?“

Another pause from the other side. This time, it was minutes longer. William did send a “take your time” through the keyboard, but to no avail.

A couple of minutes later, the response finally came. “I don’t know,” it replied in a smaller font. “But I have a feeling you’d try to claw your way out somehow.”

William’s brow darkened. “I doubt that I have that kind of power,” he corrected thoughtfully. “But, as I myself have no idea what awaits any of us, I suppose I’ll uphold your judgment. Until you or I find out, of course.”

The screen flickered. The laughter started up again, but it was much shakier. “I can work with that,” a final box added. “See you tomorrow…” William simply waved as the box closed itself. He tiredly climbed into his chair. He exhaled slowly, lowering his head. All he could do was cling onto the progress he made— Both in his game-playing and with himself.

..Yes, dear reader, this was how that night ended. A great triumph fading into the tortured monotony of tomorrows to come. I wish I could add a further anecdote. Bit, alas, time is pressing me and Goldie has been very persistent. Most likely is, given the uncertainty of it all.

The only comfort I can give is that the robots and William are still in better standing than they were years ago. Ballora and him have become a lot (though whether or not Justine is haunting her is still unknown, so any romance has been held off). Scraptrap is finally saying quips of his own instead of repeating the one line he’s been retrained to echo back. And the rest? Well, some have worse grievances to deal with, but at least amends are being made.

I guess my wish has been fulfilled, but not in the way that even I anticipated. And, all things considered, that might just be the best outcome any of them coul

[dinuxia-bhm]

Sorry for the late update... Got caught up with my driving test. This chapter was supposed to be updated after Christmas... But eh, better late than never??? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Shoutout to @sharksinflowercrowns again for beta reading this...

Deck the Halls of Wittebane Manor...

CHAPTER FOUR...

"Ok people, we're here!” Luz announced carrying a huge pile of presents.

"Uggggh, I hate this part. We have to get past that… thing now." Hunter said, groaning for the umpteenth time that day.

"Come on, he's not that bad. He's just really really… affectionate. Yes, affectionate." Luz shrugged before stepping in front of the door. "Open up Owl House." She commanded playfully, standing in front of the door.

"No way, José…" The all too familiar nosy voice came out of nowhere. "What's the password?”

"Come on, Hooty… It's me, Luz." She laughed it out. "I'm here for Christmas and I brought presents!" She winked.

"Presents!" The voice squealed and finally a pixelated round face that looked like an owl materialized on the screen in the center of the front door. "You have presents for Hooty?"

"We have presents for everybody!" Luz replied enthusiastically.

"Yaaaay!" The face on the screen cheered and then cleared his voice, only to scream even more. The "Hi-tech Optimal Operational Task managing Yottabyte" a.k.a HOOTY squealed from the door. "Eeeeeeda! We have gueeeeests!" He called out.

"Ok if y'all are Carollers you can sing to Hooty-" A woman with thick, long, silver hair which was greying significantly, appeared from inside, opening the door and her sentence trailed off as she recognized the so-called guests. "Luz!” She brought her in for a big hug. " Ah… it's great to see you!"

"You too Eda!” Luz tried her best to hug her mentor/other mother while balancing the pile of presents in her hand.

"Hey Eda!" Vee waved from the side, smiling at her sister's heartwarming reunion with her mentor.

"Vee! Bring it in!" Eda held out her arms to hug them too. Very immediately joined the hug beside her sister.

"Hello… Eda…" Hunter said quite nervously from the other side. He was still getting used to having family members who actually love and care about him. Given the fact that Eda actually happened to be Hunter's biological aunt, and the fact that she used to work against his uncle back in the day, Hunter really didn't know how to react to situations like this.

Now don't get him wrong. He knows that Eda actually cares about him and he equally trusts her and respects her. He knew that she's family. But the fact that he used to view her as an enemy when he was under his uncle's custody, didn't allow him to forgive himself so easily.

Eda looked at him with a very soft and welcoming gaze. She let go of Luz and Vee and she stepped ahead to move closer to Hunter. "Welcome home, Blondie…" She laughed softly with her signature snort and carefully embraced Hunter in a warm hug.

Hunter froze for a moment, not knowing what to do. He saw his sisters encouraging him to return the hug. After a few moments of contemplation, he finally gave in and put his arms around his aunt. "Thanks… a lot." He mumbled, closing his eyes.

"Awwwwwwww, family reunion!" Hooty cooed from his screen making Hunter jump backwards.

"Hooty, stop scaring the kid." Eda shook her head as she led everyone inside the owl house.

"Is it just me or is Hooty getting creepier every year?” Hunter shuddered. "It's so real, I feel like it's not just an AI but an actual person trapped in cyberspace."

"Eh, it's not my fault I have the most advanced AI assistant in the world." Eda shrugged. "Ok, maybe a little my fault… But Hooty makes everything easier in the Owl House. It's not the 'Owl House' without the owl." She said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Luz!" A younger boy came running towards Luz and tackled her in a hug. Hunter smiled seeing his honorary brother/cousin, Eda's adoptive son, King.

"King! Oh my goodness, you have grown so much." She ruffled his hair. "And guess what? We got presents!" She placed the pile of presents on the floor. Then she proceeded to hand over all the gifts to the respective person with help from Vee. Hunter smiled to himself looking at his sisters as he took a closer look at the interior of the Owl House for the first time after coming in.

It was decorated top to bottom with lights and tinsel and ornaments and all sorts of seasonal decor. The fireplace had stockings hung on it and various ornaments were placed on top of it. The windows and doors had thematic curtains on. Scented candles filled the atmosphere with a divine aroma. But the thing that stole his attention was the Christmas tree. Sure it wasn't as big as the one in the center of the town but it still stood towering over Hunter.

He allowed himself to smile as he dared to imagine the thought of the Wittebane Manor in such festive decoration. He vaguely remembered a time when the manor was full of joy and laughter. A time when his family was alive. The time when they celebrated his first and only true Christmas. The thought of bringing that feeling back to the manor made his heart flutter. It wouldn't be easy. He knew that things won't be the same. But he believed that he could make it a little better.

He only had to take care of patching up the house a little, of course Darius would send help for that, but after all that was done, the house had to be decorated. And now he didn't have to worry about that because someone had generously offered to help him with that. And just like that his mind wandered back to the girl he met at the marketplace.

Hunter was able to deduce a lot of things about her during their short interaction. She seemed intimidating at first but she proved to be equally kind and cheerful. She had a lovely personality which was very welcoming and she made sure that Hunter felt comfortable around her. She was very strong and that was very clear. Also she kinda looked cute in that adorable oversized snow jacket. Whoa, where did that come from? He shook the thought out of his head as he realized he had been zoning out looking at the Christmas tree.

"Ok, who are you and what have you done to Hunter?" Luz crept up from behind him and managed to startle him.

"What are you talking about?” He cleared his voice.

"We are not hearing you complain that we're 'taking too long' and that you actually have to go get stuff done about that rusty house of yours." She shrugged. "The Hunter I know would've left fifteen minutes after arriving here."

"Yeah, you do seem awfully quiet." Vee added from the couch opposite to them.

"Well, I don't have to worry about that anymore, cause I got help." He replied smugly.

"Wow, you finally decided to get some therapy?" Luz asked, raising her eyebrows.

"What! No!" He shook his head. "I got help with decorating the house in time for Christmas." He sighed.

"That's great news." Vee spoke up again. "How exactly did that go?" She asked curiously because she knew Hunter wasn't the type of person who openly asks for help. Be it a paper cut or lifelong trauma, Hunter never asked for help.

"Well, there's this girl I met-" Hunter was cut off by Luz's excited squeal.

"A girl!" She asked practically bouncing up and down on her feet. "A girl's been keeping your mind occupied. I really have to meet this girl if she's managed to get you, out of all people, distracted."

"I'm not distracted!” Hunter sighed in frustration again. "She told me she'll help me decorate the house if I help her decorate the town and help her spread Christmas cheer to everyone in here." He looked away shyly.

"Wow, now I'm one hundred percent sure that you're an imposter." Luz said dryly.

"Yeah, you've never ever been excited about holidays. You were always like that grumpy old Scottish Duck." Vee chuckled. "If this girl has got you hyped up for Christmas, we really gotta get this girl an award."

"You can give her all the awards after she finishes decorating the house." Hunter shrugged but he couldn't keep his excitement contained. "Heck, I'd give her one if she manages to pull off something like bringing some joy back to that creepy old house." He could barely control his smile.

"Don't worry bro…" Luz said softly, looking at her brother genuinely smiling for the first time in a long time. If this random girl managed to put a smile on Hunter's face, Luz believed that she could do anything. Even make that gloomy house an absolute delight. "Something tells me that she'll be getting all the awards."

[glimblshanks]

🎭🌞🎉🧭🪄 For the Pagan/polytheist ask game

🎭 - What is an emotionally impactful or silly worship-related experience you've had?

I had some trouble picking an answer for this but I guess I'll share a recent experience.

My family has always used our house to host ritual rehearsals, full moon potlucks, coven gatherings, etc, etc. For as long as I can remember there's always been someone over at our house doing religious stuff. But of course, COVID really shut that down and it was a huge change of pace for me. We've only really started hosting things again in the last year or so, and it's been an adjustment having so many people around again.

Anyways, this December we had a bunch of people over practicing Yule carols for an upcoming event. I was in the kitchen baking and listening to everyone sing (I always love it when we have a big group of people singing in the house, it just brings so much energy to the space) and the little girl who was playing the returning sun in our solstice ritual came in and tried to sneak a spoonful of sugar to eat out of my baking supplies (it was a school night so I told her no and shooed her out of the kitchen).

But anyways, as she was running out of the kitchen in her gold lame outfit meant to represent the sun, and people were singing an explicitly Pagan rendition of Greensleeves in the other room, I was reminded exactly why we do rituals to celebrate the light returning. It's not just to get through the dark part of the year. It's to remind us that other good things like joy, community, and love, will also always come back, just like the sun, and that was a really nice reminder to have with everything else that's going on in the world right now.

🌞 - Which deity(ies) are you closest to/do you worship the most often?

My main guys are Thor, Libertas, and Artemis, although I also work with Danu and Loki a fair amount.

🎉 - Do you celebrate any festivals? If so, which ones?

The big one that I celebrate is Lughnasadh, there's a group in my area that does a three-day festival for it and I go every year. I also like to attend my city's (secular) Beltane fair and go to Pagan Pride each year.

And I don't know if this counts exactly but outside of Beltane and Lughnasadh festivals I also like to host tea parties to celebrate the sabbats. It's just nice to give each holiday its own marker!

🧭 - What led you to your practice?

I was raised Pagan so polytheism has always been a part of my life. I stayed Pagan, because honestly I just really value the religious community I grew up in - it's very joyous and accepting and I genuinely enjoy attending my place of worship.

I have tried out other religions over the years (when I was seven my poor mom spent almost a year sitting through Unitarian church services just because I liked going to their kid's classes lamo) but nothing else ever really spoke to me the way Pagan spirituality does. I do incorporate some Quaker beliefs into my personal practice, but that stuff all came from a Quaker Pagan teacher of mine so I still learned it through a very Pagan lens.

I guess the real answer is just that I like spirituality and community and I haven't found anything better than what I was raised with yet 🤷‍♀️

🪄 - Do you practice witchcraft? If yes, do you keep it separate from your deity worship?

Yes? Kind of?

The thing about being raised with witchcraft is that it just sort of ends up being something you do sometimes instead of a specific practice. It's very rare that I ever actually sit down and intentionally cast a spell or whatever, but I still definitely do magic.

If a deity feels like they need to be involved in said magic that's not really up to me tbh. I will occasionally ask deities for help with things but I think that sort of blurs the lines between prayer and magic -They're kind of the same thing for me.

[sebastianstangirl01]

Hi! I saw that requests are open and this one has been on my mind for a while.

With Bradley Bradshaw x daughter!reader, maybe elementary school age? where he surprises her at school after getting back from deployment.

Thanks!

Christmas Miracle

Title: Christmas Miracle

Pairing: Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw x child!reader

Summary: Y/N thought her dad was going to miss Christmas, so imagine her surprise when he surprises her at her 2nd grade Christmas Program at school.

Warnings: none

Growing up Y/N has always loved Christmas.

Her and her dad would always go all out decorating the house like it came right from the North Pole, making Christmas candy, building gingerbread houses, drinking got coco, and singing Christmas Carols on the piano.

In all her 7 years of life Y/N and her dad Bradley spent Christmas together just themselves, but after reconnecting with Maverick he joined in on their Christmas last year with Penny and Amelia now they have become one big family.

But this year is different.

Bradley has been on a deployment for an emergency mission, air support. Y/N hasn’t seen her father in person since Thanksgiving, she’s been staying at their house with Maverick who moved in to take care of her.

He’s tried to keep the 7 year olds spirits up by doing everything they normally do during the Christmas Season, but it isn’t the same without her dad and Maverick knows that. But he refuses to let the little girl he loves wallow in self pity.

Maverick knew how much Y/N didn’t want to do the Christmas Program this year at her school, but he also knew that she would regret not being a part of her favorite time of year just because she is sad. And he knew that Bradley wanted Y/N to do her Christmas Play.

“Papaw Mav?” Y/N asked as she sat curled up into Maverick’s side as ‘Rudolph’ played on the TV

“Yeah sweetheart?” Maverick replied squeezing his arm around her shoulders

“Do I really have to do the Christmas Play tomorrow?” Y/N asked playing with her fingers making Maverick sigh

“Come here, peanut.” Maverick said grunting as he lifted Y/N onto his lap making her face him. “You know you love the Christmas play, why don’t you want to do it this year? I already promised your dad that I would video the whole thing for him.”

Y/N’s big blue eyes the spitting image of her grandmother, started to fill with tears and her bottom lip started to tremble. The sight was enough to break Mavericks heart in two.

“But daddy won’t be there. I don’t want to do it if daddy won’t be there. He always takes me out for ice cream after, and we sing Christmas songs. It’s not the same without him.” Y/N said and a big tear fell down her cheek, Maverick immediately wiping it away with his finger before kissing her on the forehead and pulling her against his chest.

“I’m sorry sweetheart. You know how much your dad wishes he could be here. He loves you so much and the last thing he wants is for you to be sad, especially on Christmas.” Maverick consoled her rubbing gentle circles on her tiny back. “How about this? We call your dad right after the play and he can see you all dressed up in your Christmas dress and then I’ll take you to get ice cream.”

“I guess that’s ok. Can we get daddy ice cream too?” Y/N asked making Maverick chuckle

“Honey I don’t think the ice cream would still be good but the time your dad got home. But when he does, we’ll all go get ice cream together. How does that sound?” Maverick asked letting you lean back on his lap and play with his dog tags.

“Good.” Y/N nodded and Maverick smiled gently rubbing her cheek making Y/N giggle

“There’s that rotten giggle I love so much! Let’s get you ready for bed, you’ve got a big day tomorrow.” Maverick said getting up keeping Y/N on his hip

The next day Y/N was sitting with her class on the floor of her school gymnasium, she was wearing a sparkly red dress with black tights and red buckled shoes. Penny had curled Y/N’s hair and pulled it into a half up half down style with a red and silver sparkly bow.

Maverick and Penny were sitting in the stands with Amelia, all of them smiling at how cute the kids all looked in their Christmas outfits. Maverick had his phone ready to record, but he wasn’t just recording Y/N’s play.

Early this morning Bradley had called and told him that he was going to be coming home, the mission was over and he would be back in time for the Christmas play but he wanted it to be a surprise for Y/N so Maverick hasn’t told her yet. Bradley had just texted Maverick to tell him that he made it to the school and was about to come in.

Y/N was sitting on the floor criss crossed playing with the skirt of her dress unaware of the principal approaching the microphone with a smile on her face.

“Hello everyone, thank you for coming out to our 2022 Christmas Program! The students and staff have worked so hard to put on a good show for you all, to kick off the Christmas Season! Before we dismiss and you check your children out for Christmas Break, I would like to take a second to remember the men and women who cannot be here with their family members this Christmas because of their bravery in service of our Military.” The principal announced and everyone started to clap

Y/N clapped along with the rest of the gym but she could feel herself becoming more and more sad at the thought of her dad not being here with her.

“But I would like to recognize a special member of our military who has just landed back stateside and came here to surprise his daughter. Everyone please help me welcome back, Lieutenant Bradley Bradshaw!” The principal announced making Y/N’s head snap up as everyone started cheering and clapping

She looked up at Maverick instinctively and he just smiled and pointed to the front of the gym. Y/N followed his gaze and saw her dad standing there with a teddy bear and a big smile on his face, still dressed in his flight suit.

“Daddy!” Y/N exclaimed as she got onto her feet and ran towards him as fast as her little legs would carry her. “Daddy!”

Bradley smiled and bent down scooping his little girl into his arms and spinning her around, Y/N buried her head into his neck and held onto him for dear life.

“Daddy, your home!” Y/N whimpered with happy tears falling down her cheeks

“I couldn’t miss Christmas with my favorite girl in the world! I love you so much.” Bradley smiled kissing her cheek

“I love you too daddy.” Y/N whispered into his neck

Taglist:

@daughterofthereaper02

@luckyladycreator2

@calpurniatypes

@littlebadariell

@qnfluvr

@raefoxiegirl

@maverick-wingman

@avada-kedrava-bitch

@army24--7

[writingintheshadowsforever]

Imagine Kate coming to you after Clint abandons her

Kate knew she had no right to turn up on your doorstep. After everything she put you through for the past couple of days. Like her mom you weren't ecstatic about her running around the city helping Clint fight bad guys, but you were way more supportive than Eleanor was. You knew how much Clint meant to Kate, and that being partners with him was a big deal to her. You didn't want to get in the way of her dreams, so all you asked of her was that she checked in with you. On the daily basis to let you that she was okay and still alive most importantly.

At first she had no problem keeping you in the loop, but then she ghosted you for an entire day without a word. You were freaking out and tempted to go to Eleanor especially when you found her apartment blown to bits. But then you decided to check her aunt's apartment knowing she would hide out there sometimes, and there she was.

Kate and Clint were too busy decorating a tree and talking to realize they had company. Neither of them heard you come in so when you spoke up that led to both of them being startled into action. Clint armed grabbed a vase off the table, and Kate held up an ornament ready to throw it. Until she realized it was just you, and then things were just awkward. Because you didn't wait for an explanation storming out of the front door trying to keep the tears at bay. Here you were worried that she was dead, or being held captive. Instead she was bonding with Clint treating him to dinner, and decorating a tree.

The two of you weren't even able to get around to decorating your place for the holidays. Because she was so busy with an Avengers-level threat, but apparently Kate could make time for Clint.

"Y/N wait just let me explain" Kate pleaded running after you.

You paused in the hallway and whirled around letting the tears fall down your face. "I thought you were dead Kate like seriously it would've taken you five seconds to pick up the damn phone, and text me."

"I had more important things to worry about y/n." The words left her mouth before she could stop them

You froze your response caught in the back of your throat as you were taken back by her words. "If that's really how you feel then go be with Clint for now until forever. I'm done with you Kate Bishop."

This time Kate just let you leave deciding it was best for her not to follow. In the end she figured it was for the best she would need to keep you at arms length with the Tracksuit Mafia being after her. Clint insisted that she would regret her decision, and needed to find a way to make it up to you.

Kate prayed that a box of your favorite chocolates and a bouquet of flowers would do. Because it was cold and late plus she was too tired to make the trip home. She refused to hear Eleanor's criticism, plus she really did miss your company.

You was wondering who had the nerve to bother you this late at night, and thought about not answering the frantic knocking. Then you decided it was probably some carolers or something. Not wanting to be rude you opened the door preparing yourself for the singing. Instead you came face to face with your ex, and now you wanted nothing more than to disappear. But you noticed the scraps and bruises on her face, and your heart clenched.

Kate opened her mouth to explain but closed it instantly unable to find the words to apologize, and explain why she is here. You didn't seem to mind at all though as you took her by the hand, and tugged her into your warm apartment. "Come on let's get you patched up Katie."

She gave you a small smile you were the only one allowed to call her that, because coming out of your mouth it sounded perfect. You led her to the bedroom where she took a seat on the bed, and waited while you went to get the first aid kit from the bathroom. "So you wanna tell me what happened, or am I going to have to guess?" You asked pulling out some alcohol wipes to clean the cuts. Kate hissed in pain as you dabbed the gash on her forehead, but waited for you to finish before answering.

"Clint said we aren't partners anymore because things are getting to dangerous. He took my bow and told me to go home" Kate told you looking away in shame.

You gripped her chin gently and made her head back around to look you in the eyes. So you could finish cleaning her wounds in silence while trying to think of a way to cheer her up.

"I bet you're happy about this huh it proves you're right."

That comment made you pause too really look at her. "I never said you couldn't be a hero so no none of this proves me right. I believed in you and your abilities from day one, all I wanted was for you to be careful, and too come back to me everyday. And no I'm not happy because I know now you're upset."

Kate couldn't fight the giant smile from forming on her face at your words. She screwed up majorly but here you was taking care of her, and showing her the support. Her own mother could never give her. "Thanks y/n that means a lot, and I'm sorry about the way I treated you, and for what I said. I didn't mean any of it I was jus-"

You cut her off by pressing your lips to her forehead softly. "It's okay Kate I'm just glad you're alive we can discuss everything else later. Right now you need some rest so lay down."

She knew better than to argue with you plus she could feel her eyelids getting heavy, and her body was ready to shutdown. So she did exactly what you told her to do, and slipped underneath the sheets of your bed. Kate jumped a bit when you came in behind her nudging her over.

"Don't worry I'll stay with you, and wake up if he calls or anything." You reassured her wrapping an arm around her waist.

Kate turned over to face you and snuggled into your embrace. Letting out a sigh " I don't think he's going to call I'm not his partner anymore."

"You don't have to be his partner to be a hero Kate, and once he realizes that. He'll come back plus he's definitely going to need your help so just rest up."

Kate fell asleep with a smile on her face thanks to you, and had the best sleep ever since all of this started.

Taglist: @wandanatvoid @yelenabelovasgf @romanoffomixam @xxromanoffxx @xxxtwilightaxelxxx @mellowladyangel @musicinourlips @shayzulia @cyberbonesworld

[jadelotusflower]

Obscure Christmas Movie Rewatch: A Mom for Christmas

Tired of your yearly watches of Love Actually and Muppet’s Christmas Carol? Underwhelmed by the churn of Netflix/Hallmark Christmas movies that have approximately three plots and only two titles?

Well this year welcome to my Obscure Christmas Movie Rewatch, where I revisit corny tv movies from my childhood, often available in terrible potato quality on YouTube!

First up it’s A Mom for Christmas! Made in that glorious year of fashion and good taste 1990, with a girl who wants (guess what), an Australian mannequin who wants to be real girl, and a witch who brings them together for Christmas.

Meet Jessica Slocum (unclear if she has a blue-haired English Aunt obsessed with her pussy):

Believe it or not, the messy braids/floppy hat combo was peak fashion at this time (look up Blossom if you want to know more).

Jessica’s idea of a good time is to wander around a department store looking forlornly at the other girls shopping with their mothers, to the angelic voice of the late great Olivia Newton John singing “what if?”

Meet Philomena (Doris Roberts, also late and great), a witch who for some reason works in a department store even though she can grant wishes. She also saves mannequins from trash compactors and encourages people to pick up litter. I kind of wish the movie was about her.

She grants Jessica’s wish of a Mom for the holidays, and bring one of the store’s mannequins to life in the form of Amy Miller. Now, ONJ was always a better singer than an actor, and maybe it’s just the childhood nostalgia talking, but she’s exceedingly charming in this.

Jessica’s dad is this dweeb Jim Slocum (Doug Sheehan), who allows her to move in after she shows up at the door claiming to answer an ad he placed for childcare. You can see where this is going.

There’s a wiff of Xanadu about the whole thing, except instead of a Greek Muse awoken from a painting, this time ONJ is given human form from plastic, and sadly there are no roller-skating musical numbers.

What follows are various Born Yesterday tropes, including Amy cooking chicken noodle soup for breakfast, reading Jessica’s diary and inviting her crush over, and trying to put out a fire with eggnog. Jess learns that having a mother comes with conflict, and Amy learns to cry, as another ONJ song plays in the background.

There’s also the drama of taking one of the store’s cars to go tree shopping (driven by a mannequin chauffeur), and Jessica needing to remember her lines for the school Christmas play (the Santa mannequin helps her out).

There is however a genuinely hilarious moment as Doug sits in the aftermath of the Christmas tree fire, surrounded by burned family photos of his dead wife. Amy pops her head around the corner and chirps: “Are you sure you don’t want some gazpacho?”

There are three different shades of pink in this outfit - the early 90′s, everyone!

Since it’s all very low stakes, we need a villain in the form of mustachioed Jacob Carter Mr Morelli (Carmen Argenziano), the store’s security chief who hates Christmas and (for some reason) mannequins, and wants to bust Amy for shoplifting the clothes she left the store wearing when she came to life.

There’s also a subplot about how the mannequins with no faces or souls are replacing the “real” mannequins, treated 100% seriously, accompanied by creepy music.

Was this some kind of social commentary about department stores losing their vibe and becoming mass-commercialised and soulless rather than retaining customer-focused charm, told through the lens of mannequins who come alive at night vs those who don’t? Probably not. This has no bearing on the actual story other than the threat that if Amy turns back into a mannequin she’ll be replaced and destroyed. But this remains unresolved at the end as we can only assume Amy’s mannequin friends, not so lucky to become human, will shortly be relegated to the trash compacter Philomena saved Santa from in the opening sequence.

Amy has the power to bring other mannequins to life, but they all cheer her off at the end instead of asking her to wake them up so they can stage a mass breakout and save themselves. Way to pull the mortality ladder up after you, Amy.

Kids, the 90’s was nothing but hats and scrunchies. It was a simpler time.

And side ponytails. So many side ponytails.

Amy and Jim fall for each other blah blah blah, Jessica has to confront losing another mother so soon after finding her, but at the end of 90 minutes all is well, Jess and Jim’s love for Amy turn her human forever, Morelli gets almost mown down by the mannequin chauffeur and probably has a break from reality, Philomena continues doing her witchy thing, and a Mom for Christmas becomes a Mom for life.

Look, this is not a good movie. There’s only so much work the nostalgia filter can do, and there is a huge amount of schlock and cringe in this. But Olivia Newton John (RIP) is charming, Doris Roberts (RIP) gives an empathetic performance worlds away from Marie Barone, and it’s inoffensive, family fare.

Should your interest be piqued, it can be watched here:

[viola-halogen]

12 Days of Thanktival — Day 7: Traditions

—

[AO3 link]

Relationships: Pat Butcher & Fanny Button, Pat Butcher & Everyone

Characters: Pat Butcher, Fanny Button, Everyone else

—

Summary: How the Button House Christmas Quiz came about.

AKA Pat refuses to accept that just because they're ghosts, they can't still celebrate Christmas.

A/N: Happy (belated) Christmas to everyone who celebrates it! Also this is probably clear in the fic but this takes place during Christmas 1984, the first Christmas since Pat's death.

—

The Limits of Being Dead

“What do you mean, you guys don’t do anything for Christmas?”

“Well, what do you expect from us? It’s not like we can buy each other presents, or eat Christmas dinner…”

“Or visit family.”

“Or pull crackers.”

“Yes, but… it’s Christmas!” Pat said. “Couldn’t you guys… sing carols, or play charades?”

“Absolutely not,” Fanny said. “I won’t have such nonsense going on in my home.”

Pat sighed. In the few months that had passed since his death, he’d learnt a lot of things, but somehow the knowledge that his fellow ghosts made no effort whatsoever to celebrate Christmas was one of the most shocking. He supposed because, up until this point, he’d somehow believed that his life would continue, even beyond the grave. Here, it seemed, was the proof that that wasn’t the case.

“What is big deal anyway?” Robin said. “Christmas. Is just passing fad anyway.”

“We’d all love to celebrate if we could, Patrick,” Thomas said. “Well, most of us would. It’s just easier when you accept that things can’t be the way they were when you were alive anymore.”

Pat sighed. “I s’pose you’re right,” he said.

“Well, now that that’s dealt with,” the Captain said, turning to leave the room. Most of the others followed him out. Kitty did reach out and put a hand on his arm as she was passing.

“I still like to pretend that when I wake up on Christmas morning, I’m going to go downstairs and open all my presents,” she said to him. Then she skipped out of the room, humming as she went. Pat folded his hands behind his back and went to look out of the window. Heather had strung some fairy lights around the fountain on the drive—they weren’t on yet, but Pat could just make out where they were.

“It is a pity, I know,” a voice said, and he turned in surprise to see Lady B standing on his right, staring out of the next window over. “When I was alive, we would cut down a great tree every year and stand it up in the parlour. We always decorated it on Christmas Eve, and on Christmas Day we held a great dinner for everyone in the house. It’s not the same any more, of course.”

Pat startled. To say he was surprised to hear the formidable, uptight Lady Button confiding in him would have been an understatement. It was even more of a shock to hear the sentimentality with which she spoke about her life.

“Carol and Daley and I decorate together every year,” Pat said. “Up until now, I guess…” His heart fell as he wondered whether Carol and Daley would decorate without him, or if doing it at all would feel wrong now that he wasn’t there.

“Hmm. Well, there’s no point dwelling on the past,” Fanny said, and turned away from the window.

There she is again, Pat thought. But the slightest shape of an idea was beginning to form in his mind.

“What if we had a tradition of our own?” he blurted out without thinking. “Something we started now, this year. Something that had nothing to do with any of our lives—something we can do as we are.”

“Like what, exactly? It’s all very well and good saying something like that, but if you don’t have an actual idea…”

“I’ll think of something,” Pat said. “I don’t know what yet, but I’m sure it’ll come to me.”

“You’d be lucky to get the others to agree to it,” Fanny said. “For a bunch of people with nothing to do and infinite time, it’s like herding cats trying to persuade them to take part in something. But as for me…” she grimaced as if it physically pained her to admit what she was about to say. “I wouldn’t exactly… hate having some way of marking the festive season. As long as it’s not a pantomime.”

“Okay, I promise you it won’t be a pantomime,” Pat said. Then he turned back to the window. The knowledge that he had Lady B behind him lifted his spirits—it made him think that maybe what he was trying to pull off would prove possible. All he had to do now was come up with an idea.

~~~

“A… quiz?” Thomas said doubtfully. “That’s your idea for our all-new Christmas tradition?”

“Yes, but not just any quiz! All the questions are going to be about us. So the more you know about your fellow ghosts, the better you’ll do.”

“Sounds boring,” Robin said.

“Just give it a chance, guys!” Pat said. “I’ll write all the questions myself, and all you need to do is show up. It can just be fun… a way for us to acknowledge the season, and… I don’t know, maybe bond a bit? Don’t you guys ever want to get to know each other better?”

“Well, I want nothing to do with it,” the Captain said. “I already turn up to the clubs, and I conduct the daily briefing—that’s good enough for me.”

“I think you should all give it a try,” Fanny said. She’d refused to help Pat present the idea to others, and was standing at the back of the group with her arms crossed and her chin raised. Pat had been beginning to worry that maybe she’d decided to retract her support. “This is a good Christian household, and we should all be doing something to mark this most auspicious and important time of year.”

The Captain immediately stood up straighter, turning to address Fanny as if reporting to a superior. “It certainly wouldn’t hurt to give it a try. In fact, I think it’s an excellent idea. I shall be encouraging each of you to participate fully.”

Well, at the Captain’s on my side, Pat thought. Even if it was only because of his weird desire to align himself with Lady B, it was a victory Pat would take.

“How exciting! A Christmas quiz!” Kitty said.

“S’pose it might be a bit of funs.”

“I think it’s a good idea, by the way,” came Humphrey’s voice from somewhere, and they all looked around in surprise. Eventually he was found underneath the sofa, and the Captain lifted him up so he could join in. “Although I may have a disadvantage in terms of knowing about things that go on in this house.”

“Why not? I often excelled at competitions of wit when I was alive,” Thomas said.

“Yeah, it’s more about… getting to know your fellow ghosts than how smart you are,” Pat said. Thomas said nothing, and he didn’t push it. As long as he was on board.

“Fine. Le’s do it.”

“And Robin makes seven,” Pat said. “Awesome! You guys aren’t gonna regret entrusting me with this, I promise!”

~~~

In order to get the quiz done in time for Christmas Day, Pat enlisted the help of Fanny and Robin. Fanny because she had insisted on it so forcefully that he’d had no choice but to let her help, and Robin because he’d had nothing better to do when Pat had asked for volunteers. Robin’s help turned out to be mostly useless—he was good at gathering information, yes, but seemed to have a very different idea of what made a good quiz question than most people. And Fanny’s creative input was something else entirely.

“You should make it at least a hundred questions long,” she told him sternly. “Anything else would simply be too easy for everyone.”

“It’s not meant to be University Challenge, Fanny,” Pat said. “It’s just meant to be fun.”

“Well the only way to make something fun is to present a proper challenge. Otherwise just about anyone can do it.”

“That’s… sort of the point, isn’t it? Besides, we can’t do a hundred questions, or have you forgotten that I have to memorise them all?”

“Do my question about squirrels!” Robin said.

“Robin, for the last time, the questions are meant to be about us. We all agreed on that. We have to at least give everyone a chance to get it.”

Robin shrugged. “Your loss.”

“Did you get anything useful when I sent you out to find information?”

“Oh yeah! Super cool cloud over east garden, kind of look like bum.”

“That’s a no then. Fanny, please tell me you have some ideas.”

“The Captain talks to his pillow sometimes when he thinks no one is around to hear. Thomas can’t actually tell the difference between Baroque and Renaissance and has been making it up this whole time. Humphrey still doesn’t know who Shakespeare is. Robin claims to have been the inspiration behind Stonehenge. Kitty likes to befriend the pigeons that live on the roof. I’ve read the entirety of On The Origin Of Species. The Captain can play the violin. Mary never travelled beyond the house and her village in life. You’ve seen Les Miserables live eight times. Thomas is allergic to hazelnuts.” She folded her arms and looked smugly at him.

“Wow,” Pat said, blinking in shock.

“That should be enough to get you started,” she said.

Eventually they were able to agree on a compromise—the quiz would be fifty questions long, and Pat would remember the first half, and Fanny the second half. Everyone playing would have to keep track of their own scores. Robin was very little help and spent the rest of their planning time chasing shadows around the drawing room, but he did agree that if anyone was having second thoughts about taking part, he’d be there to give them some gentle encouragement.

Christmas Day came, and Pat was beside himself with excitement to finally get the quiz started. They waited until early afternoon, and then Pat and Robin rounded everyone up in the common room. They even managed to find Humphrey’s head, which now lay contently in Kitty’s lap. He seemed the most excited about taking part in the quiz—as for everyone else, opinions seemed to differ.

“I just hope this doesn’t take too long,” the Captain was saying. “The King’s—Queen’s—speech must be on right now…”

“Heather never watches it,” Thomas said gently. “This year won’t be any different.”

“You don’t know that!” the Captain protested.

“Oh, isn’t this exciting?” Kitty gushed, stroking Humphrey’s hair. “A whole Christmas tradition all of our own!”

“I thinks we shoulds have gone with the pantomime instead,” Mary said.

“Okay, everyone!” Pat said, stepping to the front of the room. “The moment you’ve all been waiting for has finally arrived… Welcome to the first ever Button House Christmas Quiz!”

There was a smattering of applause. Pat stood for a moment looking out at his fellow ghosts, and felt a bubble of hope rise up in him. I did this, he thought. I got them all here together, to take part in something as a group. It may not have been a real Christmas, not by any means, but it was something. And he’d gladly take that over nothing.

“Get on with it, man!” the Captain shouted, and Pat came quickly back down to earth. Still, he held on to that warm feeling as he took a breath, and began to recite the first question.

[batfamtv]

(girls like girls) like boys do, nothing new

can you do a jealous carol x reader ? like reader has had long time crush on carol and admits her feelings only to get turned down bc carol has internalized homophobia and doesn’t know how to react. carol gets jealous when reader is moving on with another mcu character of your choice.

carol danvers x reader

warnings: internalized homophobia, failed the reverse bechdel test (women only talk about one (1) woman, a gay), no gays fighting over Y/N

word count: 2565 for the gays; set in avengers: endgame; everyone lives au

read part 1 here

Now, after a couple of years, you got promoted

Working under Nick Fury and caring for the Flerken really got you qualified to work in the field

And you did, with the best of the best: Natasha, the Black Widow, and Clint, Hawkeye

You were there when Loki destroyed New York, when Ultron threatened to destroy the world

Over time, your powers manifested, they have been dormant for the longest time

Speaking of dormant, you hadnt heard from Carol since the night she left

You talked to Nick, asked him if she’s ever stopped by, but she hasnt

“She’s busy saving the world, Y/N” he’d tell you, but that didnt make you feel better

You felt so hurt, by her reaction, her rejection, but you began to look forward

But you think about her everyday, wondering what could have been

Carol had given Nick a pager, “for emergencies only”, she reminded him, but she also gave you one

Carol told you that it’s just to make sure Fury doesnt send out some false alarms, but who was she kidding? Maybe she did want you to hit her up

But after all those years, you hadn’t

She looks at her pager every single day, wondering if the world would miss her if she decides to come see you, to clear things out

And you have thought about ringing her up too, in times when the world is in trouble, and in times when the feeling you have on your chest is sharp that you couldnt breathe

In times when you miss her so much you cry uncontrollably, hand over your mouth to make sure no one hears

To make sure no one hears how much you miss the woman you love

You were with Nick and Maria when it happened

It was chaos in the city, and you, Nick and Maria got out of the car to investigate

The drivers seats of cars are empty, helicopters crashing into buildings

Almost reflexively, your hand flew to your pocket, where the pager lay there, almost waiting for you to press it

“Y/N?” Maria sounded distressed, and when you turned to her, her body was disintegrating, like sand blown away by the wind

Nick was distressed and eyed you, “You have to call her. Call control.”

You didn’t hesitate, pressing the button as you watched Nick do the same to his pager, watching your mentor and friend disappear right in front of your eyes

When your right hand started to disappear, you moved the pager to your left hand, tears threatening to spill

You were going to die, alone, unloved, and not having told Carol how much you miss her

Her name was the last thing on your lips before you disappeared

When carol came back to earth, she didnt know anyone

But everyone was grateful to her, for returning tony

The burning question in her head, the one thing she almost didn’t want to admit

Where is the woman she loves?

Back then, way back when carol was still a child, she was told that there were a lot of things she couldnt do

She couldn’t be strong, couldn’t play baseball--because she was a woman

She couldn’t join the air force, couldn’t be a pilot--because she was a woman

All of these things she couldn’t do, but there has always been one thing she was not allowed to do, not allowed to be

Because she was a woman, she is not allowed to like other women

Maybe if she tried hard enough, she could break the glass ceiling and become an air force captain, but there was one thing that she just was not allowed to do

And that was to acknowledge weird, different feelings for women

That has always been the case, it was drilled into her being, ever since she was a child

Girls can’t like other girls

And you confessing your feelings to her years ago forced her to acknowledge that her feelings for you were not at all platonic, that she didn’t stay with you for 3 days just because you were a good friend to her

Carol had to face the facts that being with you reminded her that she was human, and deep down, like the child that she was a long time ago, she had feelings that she didn’t believe were right

And she understood that her running away was not the right thing to have done, that she, who almost prided herself for being able to face her problems head on, was not ready to face this one problem that she had been forced to hide deep down, for years and years

Carol Danvers had always liked girls, and she liked you

Carrying that aircraft containing tony stark and nebula did not bother her one bit, what bothered her was that she was coming to earth after all these years

Somehow she believes that she is being forced to finally deal with abandoning you after all these years

But in spite of this, carol is feeling excited about this, because finally, after all these years...she had made peace with it

Girls like girls like boys do, nothing new

And all it took for her to realize that was the beeping of the pager

When everything had settled down, carol had been graciously offered a change of clothes by Pepper, who was hysterically thanking her for bringing tony back

The atmosphere was morbid, everyone in silent despair, and she was quietly begging for someone to fill up the spaces of what has happened on earth since she was last there

Finally, surrounded by a group of people calling themselves the “Avengers” (carol raised an eyebrow at this, asking if nick fury was the one who assembled the group, “Yeah, how’d you know?” Rhodes asked, and she shrugged and said “Lucky guess”), she was finally brought to speed

“It’s been 23 days since Thanos came to earth”

Holograms of people Carol believed were part of this team are projected around her

“We’re trying to take a census, and it looks like he did exactly what he said he was gonna do”

Nick Fury’s face appeared on the screen, much to Carol’s shock

Tears were brimming in her eyes, thinking about the distress call from Nick

Because if Nick sent the distress call and is now, as Natasha said, wiped out...does that mean…?

“Thanos wiped out...50% of all the living creatures”

Y/N’s face appeared in front of Carol not long after

With that, Carol exhaled as tears finally fell down her cheeks...she had her suspicions, but hoped--no, begged--for it to be false

Y/N was gone

And carol was too late

Tony stark had been upset...and collapsed, Carol, who was still in shock, was staring at the hologram of Y/N in front of her

“Carol, right?”

Carol turned, regarding Natasha with a nod

They hadn’t had the chance to properly introduce themselves, but Carol didn’t think there was any time

“Carol Danvers,” Steve added with a chuckle, “I think we all know you by name before we even met you”

“Fury really singing me praises, huh?” Carol was almost amused

Natasha smiled sadly, “Not Fury,” and she and Steve turned their heads toward the hologram of Y/N

“Whenever she had the chance, she would talk about “her”, Y/N’s greatest love,” Natasha whispered, remembering how she and Clint always pretended to be annoyed whenever Y/N would go on and on about this really powerful superhero who shined like the sun, and lit a flame in her heart

And as much as Carol wanted to bask in the appreciation, she felt nothing but shame, knowing she abandoned Y/N, and wasn’t able to save her

Glancing back at the hologram, she eyed her once more

Years had been good to Y/N, still beautiful as ever, leaving her breathless, but she wasn’t there anymore

And Carol knew what she had to do

If she couldn’t save Y/N, Carol could avenge her

Rhodes approached her, Natasha, and Steve, “He’s probably gonna be out for the rest of the day”, referring to tony

With a resolute look on her face, she said, “You guys take care of him, and I’ll bring him a Xorrian elixir when I come back”

Confused, Natasha, Steve and Rhodes glanced at each other before Steve asked, “Where are you going?”

“To kill Thanos,” Carol said matter-of-factly

Natasha could almost feel the anger Carol was radiating with, so she hurried to catch up to her, “You know, we usually work as a team here…”

When Natasha finally had the chance, she pulled carol over to the side to talk to her privately

“I know that you usually work on your own, that there are worlds out there who need you, but earth needs you too”

She was convincing Carol to stay, to try and create a better world for the people who survived, but it was getting quite hard for Carol to remain on earth

“I don’t…” Carol shook her head, “I don’t have much left on earth.”

“If you can’t stay, atleast come from time to time,” Natasha begged, “This was your home, wasn’t it? This was Y/N’s too.”

And Natasha was right, Carol thought, and in more ways than one, it was her home. But now it’s empty, and Carol is in mourning and she had never felt so alone

All those years, she thought she could live with what she did knowing that Y/N she was still on Earth, possibly with someone who is not ashamed of who she is, who is not ashamed to accept their own feelings

And Carol was okay with that thought, but now…

She couldn’t stand being on Earth knowing Y/N wasn’t there

It was like coming home to a cold and empty house

But she looked at Natasha, finally with the courage to ask her what she had been thinking all this time, “Were you and Y/N together?”

“No,” Natasha answered, almost teasingly

Carol felt relief, but above all, she felt obligated

To do right by Y/N

So she agreed to visit and report from time to time, “For Y/N. Because I need to do right by Y/N.”

When Carol returned to earth after 5 years, Thanos was there, and so was everybody who had disappeared 5 years ago

In spite of all the chaos, she couldn’t help the voice in her head, asking, “Is Y/N here? Is she safe?”

But you were nowhere to be found, and she had promised to scour the world for you later

Thanos was defeated, but it was in exchange for the lives of Tony and Natasha

With a heavy heart, everyone attended their funerals, all grieving the loss of two of their comrades, friends

At the funeral, Carol stood at the distance, watching behind everybody else

Behind her, Nick was there, and they exchanged solemn nods and opted to wait until the end of the funeral to reconnect

“You came,” was the first thing Fury said, after all those years that they haven’t seen each other

With a small chuckle, she nodded, “Don’t flatter yourself, I didn’t come because you called.”

“I know,” Fury retorted, amused, “You came because she called, right?”

Carol’s mouth opened, lips about to ask a question she had been dying to ask ever since she came back, but no words came out

When everything was chaos and adrenaline and fighting, Carol was not scared

But now that the dust has settled, she was terrified...because now there was no more excuse to avoid what her heart has been begging her to do

Before she could push the question out of her mouth, Fury handed her a piece of paper. “She’s off-duty. Gave her a whole damn month to recuperate from being wiped off the face of the planet.”

And when Carol unfolded the piece of paper, it was just an address

Nodding gratefully to Fury, Carol turned to leave, about to face her biggest obstacle yet

From what she could tell, it was a safehouse

Apparently, Y/N was someone high up the organization that they had warranted her one

Just a little cottage out on the countryside, a palace she had always wanted

Carol laughed whenever she remember you saying, “Maybe one day I could afford a little house in the middle of Kansas, meet Clark Kent and Lois Lane...I don’t know”

And here you were, at a small little house in the countryside

Carol watched you, almost ashamed to just be staring at you while you make yourself some breakfast

As she approached the porch, she wondered how she could take on the mad titan Thanos, but is now shaking as she brought her knuckles to knock on your door, extremities suddenly feeling cold, and knees wobbling to support her weight

She could barely hear your footsteps because of the blood rushing to her head, to her face, heart beating wildly

And when you opened the door, she noted how your eyes widened the tiniest bit, mouth opened in surprise when you realized who was on the other side

“Hi, Y/N,” was the first thing she croaked out

“You…” you smiled at her, “you changed your hair”

With a laugh, she nodded, running a hand through her short hair, before she let her hand down

Slowly counting to three

And engulfed you in a hug

Absolutely-swept-you-off-your-feet hug, your feet leaving the ground as her arms wound tightly across your waist, almost crushing you

And when you heard her inhale into the nape of your neck, it was like a reflex that you threw your arms around her neck, squeezing her just as tight

And Carol wanted to apologize, and confess, and plead for you to give her another chance

She wanted to tell you that she’s sorry for leaving, i was so confused and i was scared to come back and have you look me in the eye and tell me you don’t forgive me for what i did, but i have made peace with who i am and know what i want and what i want is you and your happiness and you and you

And she may have tried to make a letter to help her organize her thoughts

You held her shoulders back, looking at her, really looking at her, after all these years, and you use your thumbs to wipe away the tears running down her face as she shyly laughed at you and held your hands to her cheeks and kept it there for a second, relishing in your heat because you were finally here, after all this time, after 5 long years you are alive

And she brought your hands down and cupped your face and leaned in

And touched her lips to yours, gently, lovingly, finally

You can taste the saltiness of her tears, but also her apologies, and love, and devotion and you kissed her back, smiling

And as you pulled away, you wiped her tears again, before holding her hands, guiding Carol inside, “Let’s eat breakfast.”

And Carol Danvers, for once, was selfish, and did not think of the world needing her help, because she knows that the world would be fine if Carol stayed home for a while

And home is wherever you are

a/n: thank you so much for your support! i rly hope you like this ;__;

[hinnyfied]

Harry and Ginny Decide to Buy a House

It had been just shy of two blissful years since Ginny had moved into Harry’s flat in central London. Harry would have been happy to have her move in the day she came home from Hogwarts, but it had been important to Ginny after signing with the Holyhead Harpies to have her own place first. By the time her year-long lease was up however, she was spending most of her time at Harry’s anyway. There hadn’t been much of a conversation about it really, she just hadn’t renewed the lease and when she asked Harry to help move her things over, he agreed without hesitation.

Harry and his girlfriend were curled up together on the couch reading, but Harry, who was deep in thought, wasn’t retaining a single word as his eyes glided meaninglessly back and forth across the page.

“I think I’m going to sell Grimmauld Place.”

Ginny looked up from her book with what most people would interpret as a neutral expression, but knowing her as well as he did, Harry could see the mixture of surprise and concern that lurked underneath. “Yeah? Why is that?” she asked as she set her book aside.

“I guess for the same reasons I never lived there after I left the Burrow. I know it’s Sirius’s house, but he absolutely hated it. I haven’t been there in ages and when I do go, all I think about is how miserable he was there or how terrified we were hiding out during the war. Kreacher spends all his time between Andromeda’s and Hogwarts these days anyway and it’s not normal to keep a house you don’t live in. I just…” he paused as the image of Sirius joyfully singing Christmas carols danced across his mind uninvited. “I just think it’s time to let it go.”

Ginny considered him for a moment. “Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t expect you’d keep it forever. It just seems a bit out of the blue. Is there something in particular that brought this up?” she asked.

“Remember after your last match? In that small village just outside Leeds?”

“Of course yeah. We pointed out the houses we liked and judged people’s gardens like nosey aunts.”

“Well, I was thinking we could start doing that more seriously.”

“Behaving like a pair of judgmental old bats?”

“Looking for a house,” he said with a smile. “It’d be nice to have a proper room for Teddy when he stays over now that he’s getting older and a separate office space so I don’t have to leave case files all over the kitchen table, not to mention a place for the cat to go out other than a balcony.”

Ginny looked to the tabby cat currently sunning itself on the windowsill. “It would be fun to see what Cheddar thinks of garden gnomes.”

“Those poor gnomes,” Harry chuckled. “In all seriousness, I’ve liked living in the city, but I think I’m ready for somewhere a little quieter where we can settle in for a while. What do you think?”

She smiled softly at him, and he wondered if she too was picturing Teddy flying around a big yard on his toy broomstick, little kids with black and ginger hair blowing out birthday candles in a dining room filled to the brim with cousins, a greying couple enjoying their evening tea in a cozy living room, surrounded by family photos and a lifetime of happy memories.

Ginny reached up and stroked her fingers through Harry’s hair and said, “I suppose it feels like a natural time to sell Grimmauld Place then. If we move into a house?” He nodded.

“Let’s do it. The flat has been great, but I loved growing up in the countryside and honestly, that’s the type of place I’ve always pictured us living someday.”

As sincere as she had been, Harry couldn’t help himself. “Always? How long exactly is always? Did you envision us somewhere like the Burrow when you wrote me that lovely Valentine’s Day poem in ‘93? Because personally I-”

He was cut off by a pillow to the face, immediately followed by a passionate kiss.

[dameronology]

love in the time of PTA meetings {marcus moreno} - 1/5

summary: despite what pinterest shows, being in a parent in the twenty first century is hard; especially a single parent. your kid takes up your entire life and the idea of finding a fairy tale is laughable - that is until you finally attend a p.t.a meeting and cross paths with a certain marcus moreno.  {series masterlist}

warnings: i do not have children. i don’t know children work. this written entirely what i have seen them do in the sims 4. also, swearing. 

- jazz

Leaving work early was never a good look.

Leaving work early because your child had managed to set fire to a trash can was...well, it was something else entirely.

After rushing out of a very important meeting and parking your car in a did-you-park-it-or-crash-it manner, you were sprinting across the play ground and towards the front entrance. Having given up half way through, you’d kicked your stupidly high heels off and held them in one hand, trying to organise your slightly disheveled hair as you entered the building. Most parents might have been nervous to collect their kid after a call from the principle, but this was a regular Tuesday for you. Jack was a good kid, perhaps just a little...misguided. In your books, it was impressive that a five year old had managed to discover pyrotechnics, though you sensed the school might have been a little less lenient about it. 

‘Hey!’ You greeted the principle with a smile as you breezed through the doors. 

Jack was in a chair by the front desk, a gleeful look on his face when he saw you. As far as he knew or cared, he got to go home early and watch Paw Patrol for the rest of the day. 

‘Afternoon.’ He replied. ‘You’re lucky it was only a phone call.’

‘I know, I know.’ You grumbled. ‘I’m sorry. He’s...adventurous-’

‘ - he singed off his class mate’s eyebrows!’ The principle cut you off. ‘Given Monday’s biting incident, I see it fit that Jack take the rest of the week off.’

‘Right.’ You sighed. ‘Thank you. And sorry again.’

‘I’ll email you a list of...behavioural specialists.’ He muttered.

‘There’s nothing wrong with my kid. He’s just...curious.’ You insisted. ‘C’mon, buddy. Let’s go home.’

Jack sprung up from the chair, taking your hand in his and skipping out the door beside you. Parenting had been hard enough when you’d been married, and even harder now that his dad was out of the picture. It meant that everything fell on your shoulders; school runs, packed lunches, earning money, staying sane. You barely found the time to sleep, let alone go to soccer matches or take him to extra curricular activities. It meant that the stay-at-home mums - the ones who drove minivans and had specified walking shoes and shared memes about parenting on Facebook - muttered about you. 

I heard Jack’s mum couldn’t make it to the parent-teacher association meeting because there was a divorce hearing. 

Look at the kid’s lunch! Oh the saturated fat, the horror!

What do you MEAN your five year old isn’t vegan?!

Frankly, you wanted to whack them over the head with their own damn vision boards. So what if your kid was a little rough around the edges? He’d discovered fire today! If it had been in the stone ages, that would have been impressive. The kind of thing that would have earned him a McDonald’s, had the fast food chain been around at the dawn of time. With the way things were going, paired with the fact you knew your fridge was empty, it looked like you were heading for a Happy Meal anyway. 

‘So do I get all week off?’ Jack peered up at you, tugging on your arm.

‘Yup, all week.’ You sighed. ‘But it’s not a reward, okay? It’s...’

You stopped in your tracks when you saw Marcus Moreno’s car pull up in the lot. Naturally, it was expensive and electric and perfectly between the white lines. He gave your less-than-stellar parking a frown as he breezed by - not that you noticed. Frankly, you were too busy admiring him. You saw his face more on the news than you did in person, but he was beautiful. Talk, dark, handsome and mysterious, but also...friendly and approachable. He’d held the door open for you once two years ago and that had been it for you. There had been whispers about the fact he was a widow, though you’d tried not to pay attention to them. It wasn’t anyone’s damn business. You knew he was a good dad; you’d had the chance to meet Missy when Jack had got his head stuck between the playground fence and she’d helped pull him out. She was sweet and well-behaved and clearly well brought up. Could you say the same for your own kid? Eh, parenting was all trial and error. 

‘It’s what?’ Your son’s voice dragged you back to reality. ‘Am in trouble?’

‘What?!’ You jumped at the question. ‘No, I just...’

‘Because Principle Eikner said I’d done something bad.’

A small sigh escaped your mouth; placing his backpack on the ground, you knelt down to his height, gently placing your hands on his shoulder. ‘You haven’t done anything wrong, little man. We're just gonna take a few days out to talk about the rules and what it means to do the right thing, okay?’

‘Dad always said not to listen to the rules.’

‘Your dad said a lot of things.’ You reminded him. You stood back up, offering your hand to him. ‘Let’s go home.’

After a few minutes of bartering and the promise of a McDonald’s, you finally made your way back to the car, now with Jack attached to your back. If giving him a piggy back ride meant getting home quicker, it was a price you were willing to pay, especially since the other mums were starting to arrive to pick up their kids. The parking lot was slowly filling up with minivans - compared to your decade-old Honda Civic. It had seen better days, and one too many run ins with other cars and parking lot bollards. Still, it got the job done. 

‘Oh, I’m so glad to see you!’ You froze in your tracks again. This time, it wasn’t because of Marcus Moreno’s otherworldly presence, but rather due to the sound of the resident soccer mum. 

‘Carol.’ You turned around to face her (slowly, given the five year old on your back) with a forced smile on your face. ‘Hi.’

‘I take it you’re here for the parent-teacher’s association meeting?’ She gave you a phoney grin, handing you a leaflet. ‘I know you couldn’t make the last one, because of your...d-i-v-o-r-c-e hearings.’ 

‘I can spell!’ Jack chirped from behind you.

‘It’s okay, buddy.’ You reached up to ruffle his hair, smile not faltering. ‘But yeah, you’re right. And what about it?’

‘Nothing.’ Carol quickly shook her head. ‘So you are coming to this one? It starts in ten minutes.’

Truth be told, you’d no idea there was even a meeting tonight. You usually ignored the damn things until the news letter came out, and then you could read it from the comfort of your sofa with a glass of wine. There was nothing you stopping going tonight, aside from your intense hatred for them. 

‘I wanna get home and watch South Park!’ Jack chirped from behind you.

‘I don’t - I mean...I don’t let my five year old watch South Park.’ You said. ‘He walked in on me watching it one time and...point is, yes, I’m here for the meeting!’

‘No, you’re not-’

‘- Jack, just sssh!’ 

Carol blinked in surprise, but her phoney smile returned a moment later. ‘Excellent! I’ll see you inside.’

You inwardly groaned. Why had you just done that? You fucking despised sitting in a stuffy gym for the better part of an hour, listening to the perfect mums bang on about healthy eating and limiting their kids’ internet time. You already questioned your parenting skills as it was - the meetings only made it worst. You didn’t assimilate into that crowd; they were all married, with big houses out in the ‘burbs and bank accounts that could cover their kids ever-expanding interests and activities. Meanwhile, you were living on one wage and your two-bedroom apartment had a balcony, not a back garden. If Jack wanted to go on a field trip, you usually had to save up for months. You didn’t know if you envied the other mums’ lives, but you certainly weren’t jealous of how they viewed working mums and single parents. 

‘That lady is mean.’ Jack murmured from your shoulders.

‘Yeah buddy, I know.’ You nodded. ‘Guess we’re going back to school.’

--

Lugging the kid and his bag back up the school yard and towards the building was exhausting - at least it was your work out for the week done. By the time you’d reached the gym and placed Jack back on the ground, your shoulders were aching and you were disappointed to see that the refreshments didn’t have any alcohol. Was it too late to sneak out? The fire exit was right there and-

‘- shame this thing doesn’t have any wine, huh?’ A man was stood next to you, arms folded across his chest as he stared at the luke-warm jug of coffee on the table ahead. 

Tall, dark hair, stubble and with a faint hint of expensive aftershave you pretended not to notice? Hello, Marcus Moreno. Goodbye, ability to form coherent sentences.

You blinked in surprise. ‘Yeah. I could do with a glass. Or ten.’

‘So you hate these things too, huh?’ He smiled. 

‘With a passion.’ You returned the gesture. ‘I’m only here because Carol and her Karen Committee kept muttering about me not being at the last one.’

‘Yeah, same here. I was attending an emergency meeting about nuclear arms in Vienna, but I guess this is more important.’

‘I was...’ in court, signing documents to end my marriage, ‘otherwise occupied too.’

Marcus nodded in understanding. ‘Kids alone are a full time job, huh? ‘Specially when you’re the only one who’s running around after them.’

He knew about your situation and in return, figured that you knew about his. He’d heard the whispers about the divorce and presumed that the loss of his wife had been subject to similar gossip. The environment amongst the parents was shockingly similar to high school and things got around pretty quickly. You both hated it, especially given the nature of both your circumstances; death and separation was not something other people should have been talking about. Especially when you all you wanted to do was mind your own business and raise your damn (chaotic) kid.

‘Yeah, tell me about it.’ You replied. ‘My kid is like...a baby crackhead, as well. He’s been sent home twice this week and it’s only Wednesday.’

‘Oh, Jack’s your kid?’

You let out a groan, holding your face in your hands. ‘Yeah. Famously so, apparently.’

‘No, it’s not a bad thing!’ Marcus chuckled, pulling your hands away. ‘He played a brilliant baby Jesus in the Nativity last year.’

‘Aside from when he bit one of the three wise men, yeah.’ You could feel your cheeks heating up. ‘Missy actually helped him once. She seems really...not at all like my child. Which is good.’

‘She told me about the fence incident.’ He nodded. ‘May I ask why he was shoving his head out of the school gates?’

‘He saw an interesting looking slug.’ You replied.

Your conversation was interrupted by Carol, who had now climbed up on stage. She tapped the microphone and cleared her throat, gesturing to everyone to sit down so that the meeting could start. You wanted to curse her. Whatever giddy conversation you were having with Marcus was a thousand times more interesting than the PTA. At least you could revel in the fact he didn’t want to be here either.

‘Shall we?’ Marcus gestured to two empty seats a few rows back.

‘I mean, it’s an aisle seat, which is good for a quick escape if Jack decides to be Jack,’ you nodded in agreement. ‘Hey kid, c’mon!’

Turning away from the other kids, Jack sprinted towards you, hurling himself into your lap as he sat down. You let out an oof! and a groan. He wasn’t as light as he used to be a toddler. He stayed still for a moment, tiny hands clasping yours, before he realised who you were sat next to. The kids’ impression of Marcus was not quite the same as yours - he’d only seen him on TV, with the likes of all the heroes. You couldn’t remember their names (but in your defence, they were kind of ridiculous). 

‘Are you a superhero?’ He reached up, poking Marcus in the cheek. 

‘Jack!’ You hissed. ‘You can’t-’

‘- yeah, buddy.’ Marcus ruffled his hair. ‘But it’s my day off today, so I’m doing all this boring stuff instead.’

‘Can you fly? Do you know Miracle Guy? Have you fought aliens? Do you have a super suit? Do you know Iron Man? Wait! Can I be a superhero?!’

‘No, yes, yes, no, no and maybe when you’re older.’ He counted the questions off on his fingers. ‘But for now we have to keep quiet for the meeting. That would make you a superhero.’

--

You wanted to marry Marcus Moreno.

Seriously, you wanted to marry him.

His little comment had kept Jack quiet the entire meeting. And it was a long fucking meeting indeed. The last time he’d shut up for that long was...probably before he learnt to talk. You loved he was full of curiosity and questions, but he didn’t always understand that there was a time and a place. At least now you knew what would shut him up. 

‘How does Miracle Guy fly? Is Batman real? Are you rich? Do you know Wonder Woman? How does her lasso of truth work?’

‘Jack.’ You groaned. 

You were walking out of the school now and down towards the car park. Missy was in tow, tapping away on her phone, whilst Jack trotted alongside you and Marcus. He’d been spewing questions at the poor man pretty much since the meeting had ended - and yet, he seemed happy to answer them. Excited, even. It was clear that he loved his job.

‘You gotta give Mr Moreno a break, little man.’ You said.

‘Hey, just Marcus is fine.’ He replied. 

‘Hey Just Marcus, I’m dad.’ Missy chimed from beside you, not even looking up from her phone. It was...impressive, actually.

‘I already regret buying her that.’ Marcus murmured. 

The two of you eventually reached your cars. The Civic was still terribly parked across two spaces - you were a good driver, you’d just been in a rush. The dents and scrapes all over the doors and bumper implied other wise but hey, we move. You had a thousand and one other things to save up before a new car. Putting down the deposit on a house - one you could actually own, maybe a little further out from the city - was your number one concern. Paying off your divorce attorney came after that. 

‘It was nice to meet you properly.’ You pulled your keys out your back, tugging four empty packets of crisps and three bags of gummy worms with it. 

‘I’m not done asking questions-’

‘- you gotta let Marcus go, JJ.’ You peered down at Jack. ‘Sorry. He’s a little obsessed with the Heroics, but I guess you’ve worked that one out.’

‘Can I visit your base?’ He continued, ignoring you. 

Marcus knelt down to his height, a grin on his face. ‘I’ve got a free window tomorrow afternoon. You wanna come by? Your mum tells me you’re off school for the rest of the week.’ 

‘Really?’ You blinked in surprise. ‘I mean, I’m sure he would love that but I’m at work and he’s gotta go to my mum’s.’

Your mother also doubled up as your baby-sitter. In an ideal world, you would have been able to afford a professional, but this was very much the opposite of an ideal world. It was the real world, and you were constantly juggling a thousand things at once. Never in a million years would you have changed it but there were days when you wanted to cry. When it was 9PM and Jack suddenly chimed in that he had a science project due the next day, or when he refused to eat his dinner because his chicken nuggets weren’t shaped like dinosaurs and fed them to the dog. 

Marcus looked, on the surface at least, like he had his shit together. He worked in a public facing job and he always looked put together. His car wasn’t covered in bumps and bruises and the inside probably wasn’t covered in yoghurt like yours. He seemed as though he got more than five hours sleep a night and his child was well-behaved. 

‘I’m sure we can work something out.’ He said. ‘If you give me your number, I’ll give you a call.’

‘Uh, yeah! Of course.’ He’d asked for your number. No big deal. 

You switched phones - naturally, his was much more high-tech than yours - and entered in your respective numbers. The whole thing made you admire Marcus even more; he didn’t have to have your tyrannical son over to his office, yet he offered to. He’d clearly seen how excited he’d gotten and it seemed like he’d found it endearing. 

‘Are you okay?’ Marcus asked quietly, suddenly putting his hand on your shoulder. ‘You suddenly zoned out.’

‘Yeah, sorry.’ You rubbed your eyes. ‘I got about three hours sleep last night. I would blame it on the terrible twos but I guess it’s the...fucking awful fives?’

He quickly turned his attention to Jack, opening the car door for him. ‘You wanna hop in? I’m just gonna talk to your mom about you visiting, yeah?’

'There’s Cheetos in the centre console!’ You called after him.

Once Marcus had shut the door, he turned around to face you. There was silence for a minute, and he just kind of...stared at you. You couldn’t read his expression or quite figure it out, but he had an eyebrow quirked and a look of...concern? Sympathy?

‘I recognise that look. It’s the help! I’m suddenly a single parent to a five year old and it feels like the world is eating me alive look.’ He said. ‘It’s the exact same one I had six years ago. Missy was about Jack’s age when...when it became just me and her.’

You softly smiled. ‘It’s not been easy.’

‘You’re doing a good job, okay?’ He gave your shoulder a light squeeze. ‘And if you ever need him off your hands for a few hours, I’ll gladly give him a tour of our headquarters.’

‘Thank you. So much, for both of those things.’ Your eyes fell to the ground. ‘It’s a refreshing change from Carol and her Pinterest boards and half-assed invitations to potlucks.’

‘God, I can’t stand all that.’ Marcus chuckled. 

‘I gotta get back now because I can see that Jack is about smush Cheetos over my break pedals but I’ll...’ you trailed off, forcing yourself to look at him and smile. ‘I’ll call you.’

‘I look forward to it.’ 

[jinpanman]

All I Want Is You(ngi)

pairing: yoongi x reader

wc: 2.5k

genre: pg15, fluff, established relationship

warnings: alcohol consumption

summary: Yoongi takes his baby out to sing karaoke the night before Christmas with the two Seoks. It’s a riot with drunken caroling (read: hollering) but he's so in love that he doesn't care.

a/n: My part of the SNOWLLAB with a super lovely bunch. Pls do yoself a favor and read everyone’s stories when they drop cause I promis it’ll be amazing. <3 A big thank you to Willow for pulling this crew together. A big thank you to Willow for the prompt inspo. A big thank you to Willow for creating the banner. A big thank you to Willow for beta reading my lil story and fixing up all the lil pieces and praising me….. So basically this is one big love letter to Willow. Thanks for being the best and most amazing little holibean 💙💚

sequel: Will You(ngi) Marry Me? 

Here he is now, currently regretting his inability to ever say no to your whims as he watches you skip with a couple of slips and twisted ankles along the way to the front of the small darkened room and snatch the mic off its stand. You’re bent over the karaoke machine, clumsily swiping the screen to find the song you want. After several more swipes, you squeal excitedly... and then he hears it. The reason for your excitement. The all too familiar jingling of church and sleigh bells elicits an embarrassed groan from him. You turn to face your small audience and after taking an unreasonably deep breath, you close your eyes and sing.

“I… don’t want a lot for Christmas. There is just one thing I need…”

“Sing it girl!” Hoseok cheers, thrusting a newly opened glass bottle into the air.

“Aaall I want for Christmas…”

“WHAT DO YOU WANT Y/N?!” Hoseok shrieks over the music.

“...iiiiiiss YOOOOUU...NGIII!!!” You hunch over to belt out the last note and your hair falls over your face but he doesn’t need to see you to know your features are scrunched up in order to sing past your lung capacity.

Yoongi very much wants to curl in the corner to hide from your unabashed love, but alas you, Hoseok, and Seokjin would never let him live it down, so instead he sits there trying (and failing) to fight the shy smile that overtakes his features. Even as the music grows louder, Yoongi can hear Seokjin laughing and slapping Hoseok’s thighs on the other side of the booth. 

Oh god. It was a bad idea. He knew it was a bad idea to have agreed to go out to karaoke with Seokjin and Hoseok, but you had begged and begged him and he was but a weak man when it came to you.

“I should have remembered it’s never a normal holiday with this crew.” He moans into his hands.

A hand roughly pats him on his shoulder. He peeks through his fingers to the portrait of a grinning Jin, now beside him. The man extends an unopened bottle of alcohol out to him.

“You sure you don’t want a drink, man? I know you drove but I don't mind chauffeuring you both home and taking a cab from there.”

“Nah, I’m good. We can’t both be stupid drunk when we get home. We might burn the house down then you’d have to waste even more money to come collect our bodies.”

Jin snorts at his remark. “Touché.”

The two of them lay back against the bench cushion and watch with horrified amusement as a wobbly Hoseok makes his way to you. The rambunctious (and very buzzed) duo up on the little stage drop to their knees and Yoongi balks at the way the two of you obscenely shake your butts to the very cheery tune of Mariah Carey’s biggest holiday hit. Sober Hoseok was always a delight. Even Yoongi didn’t mind busting out a few moves every now and then with him. Drunk Hoseok, though, he was a different animal altogether. Insatiable, he was, and he was the perfect hype man for drunk you.

Yoongi makes eye contact with you and now that you’ve got his attention, you reach out your free hand towards him and beckon him over with the curl of your finger. His heart goes a-hammering away without his permission. Yoongi, a fool in love, lets himself be pushed out of his seat and like a man lost at sea, he’s pulled closer and closer to the siren who sings the song meant to be his undoing. 

Except that the siren is you and your slurred singing is not at all alluring or seductive. He smiles at your pitiful attempt at fluttering your lashes at him. Despite your inability to entice him with your song and your sensual form, he still jumps overboard. He jumps and dives headfirst into the ocean that is your freely given love. All for him. Even a horrendous, throaty snort does nothing to unwind the unintentional spell you've cast on him. He faintly hears the two men squealing like children behind him, but all he can hear, all he can see is you.

“Make my wish come true! All I want for Christmas is you! Yoongi, baby!”

He can’t help but giggle at the way you serenade him, with your terribly exaggerated airy voice, but he loves it all the same. He loves you and all the surprises and jolly that comes with loving you.

Both you and Hoseok giggle at each other as Yoongi and Seokjin try to guide the two of you out of the building. Hoseok clings to his partner but his free hand is held tight in your grip, much to Yoongi’s chagrin. You’re both so wobbly and walking together is no help to either him or Jin. 

It’s definitely gotten chillier and Yoongi is grateful that you didn’t forget your winter coat tonight. You’re bundled and cosy beside him, with the hood wrapped snug over your head. Your eyes are still glassy and your breathing hasn’t quite recovered from your exuberant singing competition against Seokjin, but that’s okay. You know Yoongi will take care of you. That’s the only reason why you were able to let go so freely tonight anyway, and he takes pride in knowing that you trust him so entirely. He hoists you up into a more comfortable standing position and nods to Jin.

“Merry Christmas, hyung.”

“Merry Chrysler, Yoongichi. Drive home safely!”

Yoongi grimaces and mutters under his breath but Jin merely smiles bigger. With a final wave, he pulls a swaying and incoherent Hoseok close to his side and they walk to their awaiting cab. He would have waited until they got into the car, but you’ve started blowing raspberries on his neck. While he normally wouldn’t mind having your saliva on him, he can feel remnants of soggy pretzel bits flying out of your mouth onto his exposed skin and that is more than enough to kill what could have been a flirtatious mood. He pushes your head away, eliciting a squeaky whine.

“Ah, stop. That’s gross. C’mon, let’s go home.”

It wasn’t too much trouble getting you in and out of the car, but now that you have arrived home, you refuse to step inside your house. You cling onto him like a lifeline, as if you’ll fall to the ground and drown in the air that surrounds you.

“I don’t wanna go home yet, Yoongiii. I feel soooo gross!” You whine, heavily emphasizing on how gross you felt.

“That’s why we’re gonna go inside and shower, baby. So you’re not gross.”

“Oh my goood!” You sob into his shoulder. “You think I’m gross!”

Yoongi sighs and looks into the night sky, pressing his lips tightly together into a forced smile. You continue to wail out in the open and he all but clamps your mouth shut with a press of his finger against your lips.

“Do you wanna go for a walk instead?” You immediately shut up and nod eagerly. “Okay, let’s go walk, honey.”

He knows you’ll complain about the cold in a few minutes, but he’ll deal with that future Y/N when she arrives. They’ve walked a short distance around the complex when he suddenly feels a drop of cold wetness against his cheek. He looks up and notices the flakes of white falling from the sky. He squeezes your hand and points your interlaced hands up.

“Baby, it’s snowing.”

“Oh, shit it’s snowing! Okay.” You perk up at having heard that and untangle yourself from him. “Shit. Let me, let me uh, wait. Here.”

Before he could even begin to guess what you were about to do, you plop yourself right onto the cold grass. You shriek at the burst of cold against your legs but like the diva you think you are, you don’t get up and instead pose for him. Your hands are positioned entirely too close around your face that your eyes are barely visible and your skirt is hiked so far up your hunched legs that he can see your panties. You’re wearing those adorable brown bear ones he knows you think are the most comfortable pair of undies you’ve ever owned. Cute.

“Okay. I’m ready. Always gotta be ready for the camera.”

The noise that comes out of his mouth is entirely uncontrollable and he all but melts at the sight of you. The fairy lights your landlords put up around the apartments shine brightly in the night and illuminate the flakes of snow that fall from the sky. It’s a beautiful sight, but you shine the brightest. The light hovering above you highlights your subtle cheekbones and the combination of the falling snow and lights creates a sort of glowing halo around you.

You are, without a doubt, the most beautiful person he has ever laid eyes on.

The most beautiful and also the most extra because of course your first instinct would be to pose for him. That was how you met, after all. He had been out practicing street photography a few years ago when he bumped into you. You had the decency to be politely curious why he was taking pictures of strangers and after he shared his project, you agreed (even though he never asked) to let him take pictures of you. You started posing immediately and even walked around the block to pose with whatever you found interesting, whether it was the wall of a building or a newspaper stand. He probably loved you then. He definitely loves you now.

It’s too bad he doesn’t have his camera with him. His phone will have to do, so he pulls it out, angles himself and the phone at just the right spot, and takes several shots. Your eyes have shut close again, the trickle of soft snow cascading down onto your face and hair. Oh, the way his smile only widens as you bat your eyes in an attempt to blink the snowflakes away. He waves his phone and you suddenly remember what you were here for and you smile for the camera. Smile for him. 

“Sit down and take a picture with me!” You pout and pat the space next to you.

Who is he to say no? Several very blurry photos later (because what’s the point of getting drunk if you weren’t going to take blurry pics?), you were finally done with the cold. You cup his face and kiss his pink-tipped nose.

“You’re cold, Yoongi. Let’s go home.”

“Mmm… Let’s go.”

He takes your hand in his and tucks both your hands inside his coat pocket, knowing full well that you have a coat of your own with its own pockets. It’s true, his face is somewhat numb from the cold of the night, but he is quickly heating up wholly by the warmth of your shared love that the two of you have nurtured and tended to together.

“I hope you had fun tonight, baby.”

“I always have fun when I’m with you, Yoongi-poo.”

“So… what do you want most for Christmas?” He wonders if you’ll accidentally spill what you really want for Christmas but not even drunk you would sell yourself out to him.

“Didn’t I literally just sing ‘all I want for christmas is Yoooongiii’? Did I not make it clear enough?”

His lips spread into a bright upward curl and he giggles at the way you stare at him as if he was stupid for even asking such a question. As if it was obvious what you wanted. Of course, he knew you would say that. He honestly just wanted to hear you say it again. And... oh no. Now you’re singing again. Hollering, more like. Ah, well. It’s only for one night. He pulls you closer beside him and sings along with you, albeit in a much quieter tone.

Your apartment is back in eyeview and he pulls his phone out to check the time. It’s only a minute left until Christmas. He continues to watch the time pass by the seconds until there are only fifteen seconds left before midnight.

Then he starts counting out loud, in a teasing lilt that he knows is sure to pique your curiosity.

“What exactly are you counting down to?” You ask, puzzled.

You’ve sobered down quite a bit now, and you were ready to go sleep. He ignores you though and continues to count. By 5 seconds, you’ve stopped walking, although you’re still mumbling about how rude it was of him to ignore you. He reaches up to tuck your hair back behind your ears to get a better look at your face. Your stupidly beautiful face.

“I’m granting your Christmas wish in three… two… one... Merry Christmas, Y/N.”

He cups your face. It’s cold, and he makes a mental note to make sure to warm you up with a bath once you’re home. You gasp a second later and wrap your arms around him, staring up at him with a wide grin plastered on your face.

“Ohmygoddidyoubuymeapuppy??!!!”

He snorts and it’s out of sheer self restraint that he doesn’t go on an hour long tirade on the terrible idea of buying animals as holiday gifts and how he refuses to ever partake in it. He instead channels that energy into squishing your cheeks together so you don’t say anything else that could potentially ruin the mood he’s trying to set.

“Baby?”

“Whuh?”

“You make me really happy, you know that?” His voice softens up and he gently rubs your cheeks with his thumbs.

Your wide, wide eyes are still staring at him, unblinking, but he’s been under the scrutiny of your ridiculously lubricated eyes for long enough that he’s unbothered.

“And even though you’re still kinda loopy and you definitely spilled beer on me tonight, I still want you to know…”

He pauses for dramatics and chuckles when your hands fly up to grasp his hands that still cup your face.

“Yes?” You plead with him to carry on.

“I love you. I love you so much my heart is fit to burst.”

The soft inhale of breath is not lost on him and he grins at you. The sweet smile and blush that quickly overtakes your features is easily the best gift you could ever give him this Christmas.

“Oh my god. I think my heart just nutted.”

He snorts and sighs in defeat. Right. Only you could say something like that and still make his heart leap.

“I love you too. Can we go home now, though? My butt’s cold.”

“But I haven’t even gotten to the best part,” he teases.

Before you could ask what the best part was, he draws your face to his and presses his lips against yours. The warm exhale as you part your lips for him comes as a welcome surprise. You giggle into the kiss and pull him closer against you.

“You just kissed me,” you whispered as if he had committed a scandalous act.

“Baby, I always kiss you.”

“You’re right.” You grab hold of his hand and walk briskly towards your home, tugging a smiling Yoongi behind you. “Let’s go home so you can kiss me some more!”

a/n 2.0: HELLO THERE FRIENDO. how are you. happy holidays or i guess, happy day if you’re reading this in like, the summer time or something :”) thank you for reading this. did you like it? penny for your thoughts? (i will give u a pretty one forreal) isn’t yoongi the sweetest most amazing boyfriend eveerrrrr plz gush over him with me PLS