#happy birthday to meeeeeee

[coupsnim]

s.coups and dk for allure korea - may 2023

[autisticlancemcclain]

“C’mere, squirt.”

The great pine forests of East Texas have been, for the most part, miraculously spared of Empire destruction. The American Southwest was largely destroyed, along with countless other hugely important geographic landmarks on Earth, but East Texas — and all the memory it holds — seems to have fared just fine.

They will rebuild, anyways.

His son straightens immediately at Keith’s gentle beckoning and toddles over, climbing on top of his bent knee. He smiles softly, placing a balancing hand on his back — his palm spans the entirety of the kid’s back, holy shit, he’s so tiny, how was Keith ever placed in charge of something so tiny — and uses the other to point at a brown smudge high up in a Loblolly. Cory squints. Out of the corner of his eye, Keith sees Lance press his hands to his face and muffle a scream. Goober.

“That’s a red-tailed hawk,” he murmurs. “That’s the bird you hear in movies.”

Cory hums in understanding, although he probably doesn’t. They don’t watch a lot of movies. Keith once read about how detrimental screens are for developing children in one of Shiro’s many parenting books, so they don’t watch a lot of T.V. (Back when Cory wasn’t even with them yet, and Keith was panicking nightly. Lance had to fish all their devices from the garbage. It was a time.)

“Caw,” says Cory sagely. Keith snorts.

“Yes, buddy. Caw. If you sit real still, the bird might even move.” He hears the echo of his father’s voice, decades old, in the back of his mind; a memory, frayed at the edges, of Keith in this very forest, held in the same way he’s holding his own son, listening his Pa quietly name all the birds and rocks and trees. Hanging on his every word, even though he didn’t get it all. The smell of the pine trees, the rumble of Pa’s low voice. He swallows the lump in his throat, brushing a kiss into Cory’s hair. “That’d be cool, huh?”

Cory babbles something Keith can’t understand. A sticky hand comes up to pat Keith on the cheek, making him smile despite the sting of his eyes. “Daddy, caw. Birdie! Caw.”

Keith turns his head to press a kiss to Cory’s palm. He giggles. Keith wiggles his eyebrows, blowing a raspberry, just to make him laugh harder. The pain in his chest begins to loosen, ever so slightly.

He catches Lance’s gaze over Cory’s head, and takes the time to memorize his dark eyes all over again. Lance lets him. He always does, even though it makes him blush and fidget, lets Keith trace his thumb along his lash line and study the flecks of Earth brown and ash black in his eyes, of sun gold and deep amber; he likes Keith’s attention on him as much as he refuses to admit it.

That’s Lance, though. Tries with every inch of him to be cool and mysterious and suave and can’t manage to save his life. His twitchy enthusiasm sparks in everything he touches, no matter how hard he tries.

When he started digging through Keith’s collection of atlases and running around the house with stacks of blankets and sleeping bags and camping supplies, Keith had said, “Planning something, sweetheart?” and Lance had stuck out his tongue and responded, “Blah blah, nosy.” But Shiro had texted him to let him know that Lance had asked for Keith’s old photos, and one day Keith caught him with a bulletin board and dozens of pins of pictures of pine trees and booking receipts and dorky sticky notes until Lance screeched and kicked him out.

Lance is bad at secrets. And he is a dorky and kind weeper who loves to do anything but mind his own business and muddle things up.

And Keith knew that all when he married him, and loved him for it then, too.

“Hey, mijo,” Lance suggests, “how would you like to sit on daddy’s shoulders so you can see the birdies better?”

Cory gasps, looking rapidly between his parents. He bounces excitedly in Keith’s lap, attempting his own cawing noises, pointing up at the nest.

Keith smiles wider, quickly swiping under his eyes before straightening. He shifts his hold on Cory and winks at his husband, who rolls his eyes in fond understanding, and then his tilts the boy back until he’s giggling, leaning in close until their noses are brushing.

“Munchkin,” he says, playfully nipping the tip of his nose, “you know how you can get even closer to the birds?”

Cory gasps. “How, Daddy, how?”

Lance chuckles. When Keith glances over at him, his smile is so wide it forces his eyes near shut. Keith’s chest aches, it aches so good, and the little Keith that lives in his chest holding himself tightly and swallowing past the perpetual lump in his throat is soothed and comforted and held lovingly. Something cracks and heals in his heart.

“Like this!” Keith shouts through all the emotions bubbling up all over him, and tosses his son in the air, careful not to go too high out of his reach.

Cory shrieks with laughter, tiny fingers scrabbling for purchase on Keith’s jacket on his way down. Keith hardly lets him settle before he’s tossing him up again, higher this time, laughter louder and squealing. The bird has long since flown away, disturbed by the sound, and probably every other animal within a thirty foot radius. But Keith can’t bring himself to care. The bugs can’t move far, and no doubt Cory will want to dig around for worms with his Papa like always. (Keith knows for a fact that Lance has three spades in his backpack and several see-through containers.)

For now, he has time to toss his son in the air. He has time to lean into the hand his husband slides into his back pocket. He has time to smell the pine trees, to think of his father, to feel the bounce of packed Earth under his feet.

To the tiny him that lives buried in his chest, he whispers, we made it, ace.

———

keith and cory in the forest

[lillazyboithings]

Habby birfday to me

Just some doodles to celebrate my birthday with before it ends in my timezone

(I will still probably celebrate it in a mental sense until it's completely over in other timezones lol so I'll probably post actual birthday art by then in a few hours)

[annahxredaxted]

21 BITCHESSSSS ‼️‼️‼️‼️

[nintendonut1]

happy birthday to me i drew this as a gift to myself because that's just something you can DO when you're a cool artist like me~!

[sketchingstars03]

Happy Birthday to Me!!

And thank you all so much for the art and kind messages!! You really did make my day today!

I’d call this birthday a proper success!! 🥹☺️🥳

just to give proper credit, Ink belongs to @/comyet ! Can never forget that!

Goodbye teenagehood, I’ll miss you well 🫡

[4townglazer]

what's 10+7🥳🥳🥳🥳

[catxolotlquoise]

One foot further into the grave¡!! :D

[emmashouldbewriting]

I am vehemently against these accessories 😒

[magiturge]

ITS MY BIRTHDAY IM GETTING OLD

[lillywhitefield]

Chapters: 3/3 Fandom: Bridgerton (TV), Bridgerton Series - Julia Quinn Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Colin Bridgerton/Penelope Featherington, Minor or Background Relationship(s), Philippa Featherington/Albion Finch, Harry Dankworth/Prudence Featherington Characters: Colin Bridgerton, Penelope Featherington, Portia Featherington, Philippa Featherington, Albion Finch, Prudence Featherington, Harry Dankworth, Dunwoody (Bridgerton), Original Characters Additional Tags: Childbirth, graphic description of childbirth, Giving Birth, Blood, Medical Procedures, Fluff, Domestic Fluff, Post Season 3, Regency, Pregnancy, Babies, Family Fluff, Family Bonding, Season 3, Epilogue, Mild Angst, Motherhood Summary:

She's actually a little early, but it's Penelope's turn to give birth

[lasersheith]

My husband got me a 3D printer for my birthday 🤩🤩🤩 I am so excited I've been wanting one forever but could never make myself commit to a specific model because they're pretty spendy. He did so much research and picked a really great one for beginners that scales up pretty well 🥺🥺 he's the best

Also if anyone has suggestions for cool useful shit to print let me know!!!

[hanatatami]

As a birthday present for myself I commissioned someone to fix my beaten up paperback copy of The Count of Monte Cristo so here's a little drawing to celebrate (⁠｡⁠･⁠ω⁠･⁠｡⁠)⁠ﾉ⁠♡

Penguin Classics are very delicate and this was a big book so I was afraid it was gonna turn to dust soon since I carry it around a lot... I love the new binding. The covers are a bit bigger to protect the pages, and the spine is reinforced as well (⁠◍⁠•⁠ᴗ⁠•⁠◍⁠)⁠❤ It even got a bookmark now!!!! So pretty!!!

[hoedamn-eron]

It’s my birthdayyyyyyyy! 🎉🎂

[welcome-to-green-hills]

I am vibrating with excitement over this sonic prime teaser

I AM SO FREAKING EXCITED YOU HAVE NOOOOO IDEEEAAAAA 🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩

[bravenew-what]

It’s not easy starting year 25 today when you wake up with a sinus headache 🤪