#he carries water bottles and snacks for them like a total mom when they go exploring

[oneluckydragon]

BREAKING NEWS!!! Local idiot ghost absolutely blown away when boyfriend gives him a nickname for the first time, more info after this broadcast.

Bonus pet-name edition:

(Yeah I know it's ooc for grovyle to EVER use the term "babe" but lets go ahead and assume he's done it accidentally a few times rather than intentionally. He's deeply in love with the dumb ghostman, ok. Sometimes it just slips out.)

Dusknoir is still recovering from hearing it. And when he finally calls grovyle "love" himself on accident a few days later, he falls deathly ill for two weeks cause his body couldn't handle the aftermath and started rapidly shutting down on a molecular level.

[subpar-ghoulfriend]

Let’s have a baby

yandere!EraserMicx PREGNANT!Reader 

A terrible mix up leading to an accidental pregnancy? Or something more intentional? Either way now you were pregnant with (none other than the beloved power couple heroes) Eraserhead and Present Mic’s child. Time to discuss how co parenting is going to work. 

TW: pregnancy, artificial insemination, yandere elements, mentions of stalking, alludes to potential custody battle

You had been avoiding the two men for the past week, which was challenging seeing as they managed to find your phone number, address, and place of work. Any time you blocked their calls they got a new number. Two Pro Heroes versus a twenty something civilian, it was only a matter of time until you were cornered.

Now the couple stood between you and your apartment. You had a long shift at your job as a pet groomer and just wanted to get some rest.

Present Mic was the first to speak. "Hey lil momma, we heard you had work today so we brought you some dinner. We thought we could talk over a nice meal."

You had no response. You were tired, both physically and emotionally. You had been put through the ringer ever since meeting them at your doctors office. It was a total Jane the Virgin situation. You went in for an assessment about some supposed ovarian cysts and unknowing left artificially inseminated. There was a supposed mix up, a digital glitch that somehow merged your chart with the surrogates - apparently your names were super similar. Two weeks later you were called back into the doctor's office and informed of what took place. And now you were in this living nightmare.

And the two heroes had nothing to do with the error. There was totally a surrogate. They hadn't paid off your provider. And why would they? You had never met them - although given their patrols they may have seen you once or twice...

They were tearful when they were informed of the mix up, they had been waiting patiently through the whole process and now everything was thrown in chaos. They offered to compensate you for your service which sent you into a blind rage. They just assumed you would carry a child, a child with half of your DNA, and then give YOUR baby away. Rationally you understood that they had planned to be be the only parents to the child, but that was with a professional surrogate who understood the process, who didn't want the child in their life, just happy to help out a loving couple. But that wasn't you, you grew up wanting to be a mom, and now they would take that from you.

What if they tried to legally take sole custody of the baby? Surely they had some pull in the judicial system. Besides, they were a solid couple with money, while you were alone with no family and working two jobs. The thought made you sick to your stomach.

You were shaking as you tried to push past them. Maybe they would just disappear if you ignored them, a girl could dream. But instead they tagged along inside. Albeit you weren’t fighting them on it, you knew this had to happen eventually.

Aizawa easily found the cluttered dining table in your small apartment. You flinched when the loud one tried to help you shrug off your backpack. Taking a seat on the couch you waited for them to start berating you.

"Come sit at the table, dinner is getting cold," Eraser spoke for the first time.

"I'll eat later, I'm not hungry."

"You may not be, but the baby needs to eat."

You glared, how dare they insinuate you didn't know what your child needed. If your body was hungry, you ate. If you were full the baby was full too.

But, you complied, not wanting to argue, "Fine, but I ate a snack not too long ago."

As you ate, Mic kept you company, picking at some left overs, they clearly ate before their visit. Aizawa was rummaging through your place but you managed to hold your tongue until he began throwing things out of your fridge.

"What are you doing?" You hissed, getting up out of your seat.

"Mic and I will bring you groceries tomorrow. The food you have is barely safe for an adult, let alone a fetus."

"Are you kidding me? It's not like I'm chugging alcohol and living off Twinkies. Hey! I just bought those turkey slices. How is turkey bad?" You whined.

To make sure you wouldn't dig the food out trash he dumped it out of his container.

"Zashi, don't let me forget to empty the trash on our way out. Do you know how much salt is in deli meat? And there's no way you can drink any of this while you're pregnant." He gestures to the cans of soda.

As the frustration built you had to fight back tears. They couldn't come in to your home and start throwing out your things.

"Some of us don't make ridiculous money, I'm buying what I can afford and the doctor never had any problem with my health." You hissed.

Hizashi felt the tension thickening, "Hey hey hey, it's okay. Sho and I will go get you some good stuff. We just gotta watch out for you and baby."

And that was the end of your resolve, you stomped past the Hero and locked yourself in your bedroom. Finally tears began to drip down your cheeks.

Back in your kitchen Mic was chiding his boyfriend for being so tough on you.

"So I should just back down while she stuffs herself with junk food?"

Mic gave him a shrug, showing him a bottle on your counter, "At lest she's taking her prenatal vitamins?"

Grabbing the keys to your apartment Aizawa instructed Mic to wait with you while he got you better groceries. He would make copies of your keys on his was back.

You prayed they would leave soon. You were laying in your bed having cried yourself out. Barely into your second month of pregnancy. You still had to endure this for at least seven more months, but most likely much longer.

Next thing you knew you were opening your eyes and the clock read seven AM. By now your uninvited guests must be gone. Nervously you sat up, praying that you'd skip the morning sickness just once this week. You had always had a weak stomach and even the doctor was surprised you were already experiencing the symptom. Unfortunately the minute your feet touched the floor you knew what was coming. You sprinted to the restroom, not even checking to see if the duo had left.

God this was terrible, you didn't just hate throwing up, you were terrified of it. What if you started and never stopped? But it did come to an end. You wiped the water from your eyes and took a moment before standing from the floor. You screamed when a hand slid under your arm, helping you up. Another set of feet rushed to the bathroom.

" What's wrong?" Hizashi huffed as he skid to a stop.

You pulled arm free from Aizawa's grasp. "What are you two still doing here?"

You turned in the faucet to rinse your mouth. Trying to calm your stress, the nausea was trying to return.

Undeterred the scruff pulled your hair into a bun before rubbing your back. You debated returning to bed but that wouldn't get them out of your apartment. You told them you need to sit down, both of them nodding, still wearing their concerned expressions. They got you a glass of water before joining you on the couch. Stubborn men, you sat at the end of the couch so they couldn't both sit, but Mic decided to perch himself on the armrest.

He started petting your hair, "You feelin better little listener?" You nodded in response.

"I got you more food, let us know if your hungry."

You sighed in defeat, "I'm barely two months pregnant, I can fend for myself. What did you all want to talk about?"

You anxiously placed a hand on your stomach. Both men felt their hearts flutter recognizing your maternal instincts kicking in.

Aizawa let Mic begin, he was the more gentle of the two.

"Well, we figured we got off to a rough start. You got put in a tough situation. We shouldn't have assumed you didn't want a child so we're not mad at how you stormed out. But either way we expect to be in our baby's life. The two of us talked it over and we don't want to fight you if you want to be in their life too. So if you wanna be the mommy we're cool with it."

You could blame your reaction on your hormones for your response but you didn't, "Geez thank you so much for allowing me to be in MY child's life."

Aizawa placed a hand on the back of your neck, giving you a gentle massage. "Okay then, the three of us are gonna have a baby. That means you have to stop ignoring us. We can raise the baby together, without involving anyone else. But if we have to, we can always go the legal route for the baby's best interest." 

He knew it was a low blow, but the couple needed you to stop fighting them. Your eyes snapped to his and you shook your head in protest.

"Okay then we're all the same page," Aizawa reassured you.

Mic cheered, "Now we can focus on the fun stuff."

"Hun," Eraserhead caught his attention. "There's still a few more important things to figure out. We don't want you going back to that doctor. They're incompetent. We scheduled you an appointment with another's clinic for next week. Okay?"

You couldn't find your voice after how easily he threatened to take your baby. So you just nodded. Half listening.

"Good. We also went ahead and programmed our numbers into your phone. We need to be able to check in with you."

"Okay, but I can't use my phone at one of my jobs."

"About that lil momma," Mic started. "You work a lot, which is totally bad ass, but we don't think you leave enough time to rest and take care of yourself."

You tried to protest but Aizawa cut you off, "You also shouldn't be working around so many animals. Even though we love animals, they can be unpredictable and one dog can trigger all the rest into a frenzy."

You were dumbfounded, "I've never heard of anything like that happening. One of my coworkers was pregnant last year, she worked until her maternity leave. Plus I need to be able to pay my bills. And don't offer to compensate me again."

"Why do you have to view it as compensation? We just want to take care of the mother of our child. Just think about it. Mic and I have to go take care of some business but we'll be back later this week."

---

Back at their home Hizashi was dramatically splayed on their bed.

"Babe why are you pouting?" Aizawa asked.

"Why can't we just bring her home already?"

Aizawa sympathized with his better half, but they needed to be methodical. He reminded Hizashi that they didn't need to cause her even more stress, especially so early into the pregnancy. If they played their cards right they would have their happy little family soon enough.

If they could ease you in to the relationship everything would be easier in the long run. They had been managing just fine until now, they could wait a few more months.

He joined Hizashi on the couch. Mic was comforting himself the way he usually did when he felt like this. He was scrolling through the countless photos they had collected since their chance encounter with you over a year ago. 

[kaaytea]

How about being the manager of Inarizaki, Nekoma, Seijoh and Shiratorizawa and how the boys would feel when they finally finally get a manager? :0

New Manager

⤷Includes: Nekoma, Inarizaki, Seijoh, Shiratorizawa

A/n: I haven't written for the HQ boys in a hot minute so I was sUper hyped for this! Thank you for the request, dear 💕

----------------------------------------------------------

Nekoma

Nekoma has been manager-less for so long that literally the entire team was dumbfounded when they spotted you chilling next to Nekomata

Like hello??? Who are you and what are you doing in their gym???

There's a good few seconds of silence when Nekomata introduces you

Despite being cats, they greatly resembled their Fukurodani rivals as they blinked back at you with big curious eyes

That is until Yamamoto slumps to his knees and starts tearing up, blabbering on about how they've been blessed with a manager while a quiet Fukunaga pats his back in an almost humouring manner

Yamamoto's out burst is what loosens up the team and they start making their way to introduce themselves to you

The first is Kuroo, who approaches you with a welcoming smirk which was quickly followed by a gentle smile from Kai and a reassuring pat on the back from Yaku

The first years are VERY eager to meet you! Lev and Inouka are bouncing around you spewing out questions to the point where Yaku has to kick them both and send them off to warm up

Sweet Shibayama very nervously bows at you and thanks you for taking care of the team (what a baby 🤧💕)

The entire team absolutely loves you by the end of your first day (yes even the aloof creature that is Kenma, though he'll never admit it)

Nekoma's inner team dynamic is very familial and you're immediately sucked into the little family vibes they got going on

The first years love to be around you! (Specifically Lev bc you're not as mean to him as everyone else)

The first years are always volunteering to help you carry equipment or water bottles

You once caught one of the jokes Fukunaga muttered during practice so now the two of you bounce little puns and jokes off of eachother to see who can get the other to laugh first (he is currently winning. although, you got him to tear up from laughing so hard once which you've been counting as 10 wins)

The third years tend to mother hen you a bit, specifically Yaku and Kuroo

Kuroo made it very clear to you that you're apart of the team even if you don't play on the court, so as captain it's his job to make sure all his players are ok (mentally, physically, socially, you name it! He's always looking out for you and is basically your big brother)

You and Yaku bond over the fact that you're both the unofficial team moms. The two of you are very organized and have a whole ass check list that you BOTH go over at least twice before the team leaves for a game or training camp

Kai is like your calm in the storm that is Nekoma. The two of you have had numerous conversations about anything from books to cafés and he's always willing to lend an ear if you need to rant

Kenma is a fairly distant person but he warms up to you when he notices how caring you are. He even let's you play his DS on the train rides to and from Nekoma

Inarizaki

You're a brave soul if you are willingly becoming the manager of Inarizaki

Kita is actually the one who asked if you wanted to be the teams manager

He saw you cleaning the board in a classroom during lunch break and was impressed by how well of a job you did

It doesn't matter if you said yes out of fear from Kita's blank stare or because you were genuinely interested bc now you're standing in the volleyball gym, clad in Inarizaki's signature maroon tracksuit

The team notices you instantly, particularly a certain blonde Miya

Before Kita even got a chance to introduce you to everyone, Atsumu had wandered over to you with a lazy smile tugging at his lips

Atsumu introduced himself and then started asking what you were doing here

"Are ya lost?" "Ya here to admire me?" "Ya dating one of the players?"

You didn't get a chance to answer his questions as Osamu lovingly threw a Volleyball at Atsumu, cutting off any moment you had to respond

The only problem was that Atsumu noticed the volleyball rOcketing towards him and scrambled out of the way like a startled cat, leaving the ball to hit you instead of its intended target

The silence that hung over the gym was deafening as the younger team members watched Kita and Aran rush over to assist your now bloody nose

Just as quick as it had started, the silence was broken by Atsumu yelling at his brother for hitting a helpless person in the face and the gym quickly descended into madness

Aran held a towel to your nose and gave you a few encouraging pats on the back as the both of you watched Kita chew out the twins (safe to say Kita was hard on them during practice)

Osamu approached you during a water break to apologize and, to the surprise of the entire team, gave you the extra pudding he had as a peace offering

Since that incident Osamu and Atsumu stopped throwing volleyballs at each other's heads (at least when you were around that is)

The team is also surprisingly protective of you

The glares people get at tournaments if they try to flirt with you are terrifying

You become pretty close with Suna as the both of you tend to sit back and watch Atsumu and Osamu fight (you tried to step in once but they literally only respond to Kita so it didn't do much)

Suna also pats you on the head whenever he passes you

(it's something he does to his little sister to show some form of affection/appreciation and now he does it to you for the very same reasons)

This goes with out saying, but the twins love you

Osamu still feels bad about the whole hitting you in the face thing so he always shares any snacks he's got on him with you

Atsumu truly just likes being babied by you

Any ounce of praise or happy smiles directed at him has him acting like a puppy

(does 'Tsumu have a tiny crush on you? Yep he totally does!)

Kita and Aran are absolute sweethearts!! They are both very grateful for all the work you put in and treat you to boba every other week as a thank you :))

Seijoh

It was a new school year and you decided to push yourself out of your comfort zone a bit

What better way to do that then be a manager for a sports team!

Apparently one of your classmates let it slip that you were looking to be a manager for a sports team because you were approached by a very buff and very attractive guy a few days after asking if you'd be interested in helping the volleyball team

You happily agreed to do a trial day that afternoon, to which the player, who you now know as Iwaizumi-san, breathed a sigh of relief and said he'd pick you up after school to take you to the gym

So the school day is over, Iwaizumi meets you outside your classroom and you're off!

As you walk to the gym he fills you in on some of the tasks the manager would have to do

The job didn't sound that terrible so you were a bit confused as to why Iwaizumi was having such a hard time finding a manager

"Let's just say that the applicants were more interested in staring at our captain than the actual job." He had told you

Ok so first unofficial rule....don't stare at the Seijoh volleyball team's captain? A bit odd but who were you to judge, maybe the guy was shy and didn't like attention

Your thoughts were cut off by the crisp slap! Of a ball hitting the floor followed by a few short yells from the players littered across the court

Your attention was then caught by the sensation of someone draping their arm over your shoulders and a tangy apple smell invading your senses

"Oh? I didn't know you were dating someone, Iwa-chan~"

Iwaizumi shoved the brunette off of you and quickly explained that you were just here to test out being the manager for the day

The player's eyes lit up and he turned to you with a bubbly smile, introducing himself as Seijoh's captain, Oikawa Tooru

Ah, Captain.... Now you knew why they were having trouble finding someone who didn't stare

Your first day went fairly smooth, just a few blunders that were quickly forgotten by the team after Oikawa cheerfully told you: "Everyone has to start somewhere, (y/n)-chan!"

After the first week you had to admit that the Aoba Johsai volleyball team were quickly becoming some of your best friends, you all fit together like a dysfunctional family

Makki, Mattsun, and Iwa would always agree/praise you when you joined in one the daily Oikawa roast session

Oikawa (when he wasn't pouting about how "mean" you are to him) was fairly sweet to you

He spent the first month helping you learn the rules about volleyball and explaining the lingo the team often used during plays

Although, he does jokingly flirt with you about 40 thousand times a week so...

Kindaichi is a nervous wreak around you the first few weeks. Eventually his nervous demeanor melts away. Now he goes to you whenever he needs someone to toss the ball up for him so he can practice his spikes

Kunimi likes you simply because you let him get away with napping during water breaks

Kyotani acts like you annoy him but if anyone made you cry or hurt you in some way he would burn the entire gym down in a heartbeat

Did I mention that Seijoh are also very protective of you?

When at tournaments they travel in a small pack with you in the middle to reduce the chances of you getting hit on

Shiratorizawa

Shiratorizawa is a very nice and prestigious school so you thought why not participate in an extracurricular that would be beneficial for, not only your resume, but you yourself as well!

Out of all the clubs you chose volleyball which you're starting to regret a bit since one of your friends informed you that the team is a powerhouse school

Which means you can't make a bad impression or silly mistakes.....at all

That entire philosophy is thrown oUt the window on your second day as the official manager

You somehow managed to trip over your own feet and slam into a cart full of spare balls AND spill the water bottles you were carrying all over yourself

You were hoping that the team, by some miraculous reason, didn't notice but the stifled giggles from a certain red head said otherwise

You would give anything for the ground to just swallow you up and disappear forever

But then you saw a pair of gym shoes standing in front of you and when you looked up you were met with THE Ushijima Wakatoshi, captain and ace of shiratorizawa, offering you help to stand up

You hadn't seen Ushijima be more than a stoic and intimidating guy so you were even more surprised when he gave one of his spare shirts to change into now that you had spilt water on yourself

I guess you could say your little clumsy episode was what broke the ice for you and the team

Tendou loves talking with you

You're an interesting person to him and he finds great pleasure in teasing you (in his own words it's "out of love")

Ushijima ended up not being as intimidating as you originally pegged him to be. Instead, he was just a quiet guy who surprisingly could say some pretty funny things (whether or not he intended it to be funny)

Goshiki just loves you. Period.

You praise him and give him head pats so he couldn't be happier!

Tendou and Shirabu tease him all the time about how he has a case of puppy love for you (which Goshiki aggRessively denies no matter how red his face is)

Semi is someone who is grateful for your assistance with the team and does his very best to get Tendou out of your hair when you're trying to do your manager work. He also shares his headphones with you on long bus rides so you can listen to music together!

[dirtytransmasc]

as a party hoppers kid, who has spent too many nights sleeping on strangers floors to the feeling of speakers vibrating the whole house and in the company of random kids. Who knew how to mix drinks before I got basic arithmetic. Who spent too much time being drunkenly soothed by strangers when all I wanted to do was go home. (this is gonna be based in my early 2000s, north eastern 'not racist' racist poor white dad's friends house parties, experience. so this may not be accurate for everyone, but this is my idea if accurate)

Eddie is the guy at parties that takes care of the kids. we know he's older (19-20) so he was definitely a partier, and we also know he likes kids, he seeks out and adopts freshman at school it's safe to say it carries over into his day to day.

Eddie is the guy who breaks away from the party to play with the kids

offers them his headphones when the music gets to loud

helps them go into the kitchen so they can get food and water or can get to their parents (it's the biggest anxiety for kids, all the adults in there yelling and getting drunk. if your not already explicitly told not to go in there, it's just so overwhelming you'd rather starve, get dehydrated, and have a headache then go in there and ask for help)

he keeps the kids away from fights or the overly rowdy

he scopes out potential threats and makes sure they can't lay an eye on the children. will beat the shit out of a pedo, makes sure everyone knows they're a pedo, and will beat the shit out if anyone that hosts them ever again. don't fuck with kids around Eddie.

he tries to entertain them, normally tv isn't an option, but he makes up different games. he brings games if he can.

he lets the kids play with his hair and jewelry if they get bored

he tries to make sure every kid has somewhere to sleep, even if it's in his arms, he'll hunt down pillows and blankets, he'll give up his own coat if he has to.

he isn't against wearing a kid in his hip if he has to. like he'll just walk around a party with a kid, like it's totally normal. if anyone looks at him weird he makes a big deal just to make the kid laugh.

will yell at anyone threatening the peace of the kids. will yell to get the music turned down. will yell at parents keeping their kids at a party way too late

none of this yelling is done in front of the kids, unless he's being funny about it. he doesn't want to scare them.

drives home kids whose parents are too drunk to drive. will physically restrain someone trying to drive their kid home drunk.

people kinda just drop kids on him, like little ones even, and as much as he hates it cause like, kids don't belong at parties, he doesn't let go of that kid for a second. he really becomes on mom

manages bottles, Sippie cups, snacks, diaper changes. just imagine him rocking out to music while giving a baby a bottle.

he hates people who bring their kids to parties not because he minds kids, it's cause he's worried about them, he's gone into rants about how it's unsafe and irresponsible.

gets called a creep by some newbie and then said newbie gets school by Eddie, the kids, and all their parents. he will pull out a list of names if pedos he's beaten up, kids who call him uncle/cousin/dad and latch onto the second they see him, parents who admit to him being a better caretaker then them.

newbies who lose their kids will flip out when they can't find them, then a regular just points to Eddie asleep on the couch with a kid curled up in his arms, not even shocked.

will go to the gas station for snacks.

he's the best at handling meltdowns, even if he's panicking himself, he's so fun and bubbly that he can calm any kid down.

kids like him cause he's a goofball, and is so casual with them, they feel like big kids too. he's the adult who doesn't make them feel small so they all want to hang out with him.

Eddie goes to parties to party, he never goes with the intent on babysitting. but a kid's safety is so much more important to him that he will give up some of his own fun for a kid's well being everytime.

I have a million of these, should I do more? maybe for when he goes to a highschool party or dealing with teens?

[jujutsu-headcanons]

A Peak in Their Pockets!

(ft. Team Tokyo First Years, Team Tokyo Second Years, Adult Shamans, & others)

A/N: I named this "a peak in their pockets" out of pure impulse because it sounded cute; however, not all of these involve pockets. It's more of a "things they carry around with them" and this includes backpacks, purses, and other methods of carrying around junk. Also, I tried to include as many characters I could; I'm literally doing this with the characters I can name off the top of my head. Enjoy!

Team Tokyo first years

Itadori Yūji

Preferred method of carrying things: fanny pack (I'm sorry)

Phone

Wallet

Keys

A squished pack of gum

A really tiny speaker that's also really loud

Earbuds, because his teammates get irritated at his loud music

Portable battery pack

Fushiguro Megumi

Preferred method of carrying things: backpack

Phone

Wallet

Keys

Headphones, to block out his teammates

Charger

Portable battery pack, because Yuji forgets to charge his

A first aid kit, because his teammates are clumsy

Water bottles

A map of Tokyo, just in case

Granola bars

A notepad + pen

Occasionally a jacket, which Nobara always steals

Kugisaki Nobara

Preferred method of carrying things: purse

Phone

Wallet

Keys

Her hammer and nails

Feminine hygiene products

One of those mini roll-on perfumes

Tubes of mascara and concealer, a compact of powder foundation, and lip gloss

Chapstick, which Gojo tries to steal because he swears she stole it from him (she did, she just forgot)

Mini sewing kit

Mini hairbrush + mirror

Hair ties 

Hand sanitizer

Mini tissues

Mini wet wipes she totally didn't steal from a restaurant

Advil

Also, various other tiny things that just float around, like: a bead from her shirt that fell off, bobby pins, a safety pin, and coins

Team Tokyo second years

Zen'in Maki

Preferred method of carrying things: mini purse

Phone

Wallet

Keys

Feminine hygiene products

A cursed switchblade

Eyeglass cleaning cloth and spray

Hair ties

Inumaki Toge

Preferred method of carrying things: oversized jacket pockets

Phone

Wallet

Keys

An extra bottle of throat medicine

Honey lemon cough drops

Spare face mask

Panda

Preferred method of carrying things: classified

Maki's weapons

He is a panda; there's not much else he needs

Team Kyoto

Todo Aoi

Preferred method of carrying things: pockets

Phone 

Wallet 

Keys

A signed picture if Takada-chan

Airpods

Zen'in Mai

Preferred method of carrying things: a purse, which Todo or Miwa usually carries

Phone

Wallet

Keys

Feminine hygiene products

Tubes of mascara and concealer, a compact of powder foundation and lip gloss

Extra ammo

Used bullet casings (don't ask)

Fake I.D's (don't ask)

Razor blades. Not a physical knife, just replacement blades

Adult Shamans

Gojo Satoru

Preferred method of carrying things: jacket pockets. FYI, he has at least six in his uniform jacket

Phone

Wallet

Keys

Spare blindfold

Sunglasses (in a case)

Chapstick (he changes flavors often, but he's very fond of coca-cola)

Lip gloss he stole from Nobara in retaliation for stealing his chapstick

Lotion. He moisturizes. End of story.

Hand sanitizer

One of those one time use disposable toothbrushes that are smaller than his pinkie

Those things you spray in your mouth to freshen your breath

In one pocket he keeps bone shaped graham crackers. They're literally Scooby Snacks. These are not for him, these are to "train" the kids

In another pocket, he keeps candies for himself. He does not share.

Kiyotaka Ijichi

Preferred method of carrying things: briefcase

Phone

Wallet

Keys

Another set of keys, he's been trusted with many things

A cursed weapon

Notebooks and folders galore

Spare glasses, because he's worried about his being broken in battle

An extra tie. He's like that.

Shoko Ieiri

Preferred method of carrying things: her lab coat. When she's not wearing that, she wears a cute trench coat. Occasionally uses a purse.

Phone

Keys

Wallet

Scalpel. You'll never know when you'll need one.

Disposable face masks and gloves.

A vial of mysterious liquid

Cough drops

Blister packs of various medications she can name just by looking at

Band-Aids

Literally, anything else she accidentally carries home from the office

Nanami Kento

Preferred method of carrying things: also a briefcase

Keys

Wallet

It's just weapons. Literally any curse weapon he can fit in there. 

He also carries an old-timey pocket watch in his actual pocket

Other characters

Sukuna Ryomen

Preferred method of carrying things: his kimono sleeves

He is a demon. He does not carry things. However, I felt weird not putting him on this list

So imagine him taking Yuji's body over and pulling things out of his fanny pack/ pockets and going "what the fuck is this" instead

Yoshino Junpei

Preferred method of carrying things: pockets

Phone

Keys

Wallet

A lighter, but not because he smokes, because he stole it from his mom

Earbuds

He wears skinny jeans he can't carry anything else

[collecting-stories]

Home - c. 14 - Georgia

Summary: With your dad home the house feels a little too suffocating. 

A/N: Sorry this took so long to get out. 

Georgia Masterlist | The Walking Dead Masterlist

☼ ☼ ☼ ☼

You were home. You had driven home from Tara’s on Sunday, early so that you could go to pick up your dad. He was silent the whole way home and said little more when he got in the house, shutting himself in the garage. He didn’t come in again until your mom got home, annoyed from work and from your dad’s presence in the house. It took less time for them to get into it with each other than it did for dinner to be finished and you knew, as you snuck out your window, that your dad would be back on the bottle before the night was over.  

Leaving the jeep in the driveway, you headed down the street and cut through the catwalks, only half considering where you were walking. You hadn’t been home a day and already you felt like you were losing your mind. Maybe it was stress, all the minute components of life piling up on you, making you feel like you were seconds from probably losing your mind and the one thing that had been keeping you sane through all the other crap was suddenly gone, vacant from your life.  

You stopped at the familiar house, almost knocking on the side door but you noticed a light on in the camper and you went to it. The light flickered for a second as footsteps sounded, just a few to get to the door and it was opening, the spring creaking as you stood there off the step, Daryl standing in front of you.  

“Ya don’t give up, do ya?”

“Sorry, it’s just...a shitty night at my house. I just wanted to go somewhere I’d feel better, figured here was the best place.” You replied.  

Daryl stepped back, holding the door wide open for you to step up into the camper. It was small inside but cozier than you expected. You stood there for a moment, a little awkward, feeling like it was the first time you were around him again. And maybe that was because of what you’d said. You couldn’t erase telling him that you liked him, and you certainly couldn’t make him forget either.  

“Ya alright?” Daryl asked, handing you a bottle of water and sitting back down at the table. You sat on the bench across from him.  

“I picked my dad up this morning.” You replied, “he’s been in rehab.”  

“So ya came here?”  

“I didn’t want my mom to see I was gone so I walked.” You said, unscrewing the water bottle and taking a sip, it occurred to you only once the water hit your throat how thirsty you were. “I can’t go to Tara’s, she’s in Woodbury, and I can’t go to Maggie’s cause I’d have to tell her.”  

“Shouldn’t be too hard for her, the Reverend was a heavy hitter back in the day.” Daryl replied, continuing to eat his dinner, seemingly unfazed. He’d never show you if he was though.  

“What?”

“Ya ain’t heard about it?”

You shook your head, Maggie had never said anything to you about her father having a drinking problem.  

“He quit the bottle when Maggie’s mom got sick. I remember, musta been nine years old at the time, my mama dragged me to church and he gave this long sermon about sinning and asking for god’s forgiveness. Load a bullshit if I ever heard it, but he changed himself around.” Daryl replied.  

“How’d you know the sermon was about him?” You asked, your mind swimming with information. You’d known Hershel all your life, at times when you were feeling lost he always felt like a second father to you.  

“Used to drink down at The Wharf with my dad. Told him I was gonna tell somebody about him once when I was real angry and he just said ‘you go tell Reverend Greene or the sheriff, I see ‘em every night’. My dad ain’t big on socialising and he only goes one place.” Daryl said, “it was a poorly kept secret but then he sobered up and everybody swept it under the rug for him.”  

“I had no idea.”  

“Didn’t mean ta ruin the Reverend for ya…just meant, he’ll be understanding, if nothing else.”  

“My mom would lose it if I told anyone that my dad’s an alcoholic. I mean, it’s just you and Tara that know, everyone else just thinks he works a lot or if they don’t think that they just don’t ask.” You admitted. You could practically imagine the hellfire your mom would bring down on you if you told everybody that your dad was a drunk.  

“What about yer mom?” Daryl asked, getting up from the table and going to wash his dishes.  

You watched him for a moment, thinking this was what you had been missing for those few weeks apart. This was the thing you craved the most from him. To just be able to sit and chat with him, listen to him talk, edging away at his reservations until he was talking to you about anything. You wanted to tell him you missed him, you missed this. That you loved him and that probably you always would but you kept your mouth shut, knowing that you had to take what you could get if you wanted anything at all with him.  

“What’d you mean?” You asked.  

“Til she died, my mom always stuck it out. Knew no one else was gonna deal with her. She was angry and she could mean when she wanted and she damn near hated my brother, ruined her life the way she saw it. So she knew nobody was gonna want that…she stuck it out til she died.” Daryl replied, “if your dad’s the problem, why doesn’t yer mom leave him?”

“I think it’s the other way around.” You admitted, “my dad drinks so he doesn’t have to be there with her but he doesn’t have to leave either.” Sometimes you thought he might be trying for a slow death, trying to drink himself out of the life he’d been saddled with.  

“Yer mom that bad?”  

“She can be.” You replied, “what about your dad, I don’t really see him that much, only the one time he thought I was a prostitute.”  

Daryl scoffed, that nearly invisible smile appearing, “we don’t bother each other too much anymore. I pay most a the bills and he leaves me alone.”  

“You should be the one in the house then,” you teased, smiling when he scrunched his nose and shook his head.  

“Nah, I’d have ta redo that whole thing top ta bottom ta wanna spend any time living it in.” Daryl replied, “ain’t the best memories.”  

“Sorry.”  

“Don’t be, ya didn’t know.” He came back over to the table, sitting down opposite from you and leaning back against the vinyl seating. “Ya want me ta drive ya somewhere?”  

“Can’t stay here?”  

He sighed, running a hand through his hair. “Ain’t that I don’t want ya too…” he trailed off, “I don’t want ya doing something yer bound ta regret cause ya think ya feel a certain way.”  

“Why do you think I don’t?” You closed your eyes for a moment to calm yourself down before looking at Daryl, this was not going to be like the last two conversations. “I came here because we’re friends and I needed a friend. If you just want to be friends then, I can respect that. But please, I don’t want to totally lose you because of something I said.”  

Daryl nodded his head like maybe he was considering what you had said after all. “Fine, I ain’t gonna entertain ya though, I got things ta do.”  

“Like what?” You asked, glancing around the camper. It was clean and the space was small, hardly looked like he could do much.  

“I was headed down to the laundromat ‘fore ya came here. I got a bag a clothes ta wash in my truck.”  

“Good, I’ll come with you.” You replied, standing up, all ready to go.

“I didn’t miss ya pestering me ya know, least I got a break from it.” He joked and you smiled, if he was joking about it then it didn’t bother him as much as he said it did. It wasn’t a far reach for you then, to assume that maybe he did really like you and he was only saying different because he was afraid of being with you.  

“Yeah but I bet I’m way prettier than Rick,” you teased, following him out the door of the camper.  

“Don’t know, he’s got his moments.”  

-

“I’ve never been in the laundromat before,” you commented, holding the door for Daryl as he carried a hamper bag of clothing in. The laundromat was small, a little store front nestled in beside a law office and a psychic. You had suggested getting a reading, despite the late hour, and Daryl had scoffed at you. “Like, I always drive by but I’ve never been in.”

There were three vending machines besides the one that dispensed detergent. Coffee, snacks, and soda. You tried the coffee while Daryl threw his clothes in the wash. “It ain’t much.” Daryl replied.  

“That’s what you always say.” You joked, setting your coffee down on the counter and sitting up on it beside the pile of dark clothes that Daryl was sorting through to throw in the wash.  

Being here with Daryl was nice. It felt a lot like before you told him that you had feelings for him though you couldn’t deny the elephant in the room, knowing that Daryl knew you liked him, that you were in love with him, and that you knew he didn’t want to feel the same way.  

“Will you still teach me car stuff?” You asked, handing Daryl your coffee to taste.  

He took a sip, “ya always put that much cream in yer coffee?”

“To be fair, it’s powdered.” You replied. “I filled my own washer fluid the other day.”  

“And yer car didn’t blow up?” He teased.

“No.” You huffed, kicking him with your foot. “So, will you?”

“Yeah.” He replied. He wouldn’t ever admit it but seeing you at his door had felt like a weight lifting off of his chest. Not seeing you or knowing that you were okay had driven him a little crazy. Daryl had considered going to see you at the diner and talking to you but he chickened out every time, convincing himself that you were better off distancing yourself from him. But maybe he had been wrong. Or maybe he just wasn’t better off being away from you.  

-

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[keanureevesisbae]

Mister Cavill, your dog is kinda fat - Chapter 18

Summary: Veterinarian Olivia Tran has zero time for bullshit. After becoming a mom at age twenty three, the one thing she wants is a good life for her daughter Vanessa. Her ex didn’t want anything to do with her nor the baby and she decided that man are officially banned out of her life. But then she meets Henry Cavill at her clinic and her ban slowly starts to crumble apart. Henry on the other hand is looking for one thing: a family. And when he meets Olivia Tran, he finds just that.

Henry Cavill x Olivia Tran (ofc)

Warnings: None

Wordcount: 1.7k

A/N: It’s a bit of a shorter chapter, but very important for the story 🤗Also, I’m writing a little something something for Chris Evans and if you are interested and want to, please check it out 🤗💕

Masterlist // Previous chapter // Next chapter

Being 25 weeks pregnant is no piece of cake and I forgot how much I dislike it, especially in this heat. I’m nothing but a sulking mess in front of the air conditioning. When I was pregnant with Vanessa, poor Belle didn’t know what hit her and every time I was in a grumpy mood (which was daily), she had to deal with that. Now Henry and Vanessa are in this together, but they somehow continue to be the sweetest. I have mad ass respect for them, because I know that I’m in no better mood than I was during my first pregnancy if not worse. This baby likes to play football with my bladder.

Today we are having an ultrasound that will determine the gender of the baby. We were supposed to find out three weeks ago, but since the power was out at the maternity clinic, we couldn’t use the ultrasound machine, only an old piece of crap, that did determine that the baby’s heart was okay.

Vanessa walks out of the kitchen with a big smile on her face. ‘Mommy, we have pancakes.’

‘That’s great, sweetheart,’ I say from the couch.

School starts in two weeks and though I love that girl with all my heart, I’m happy that she is going back to school again, so we can have a certain routine in place again. My maternity leave starts in a month and I can’t wait for that to start.

I try to get up from the couch, but I can only let out a huff. I mean, I could get up by myself, but it’ll cost me too much energy. ‘Sweetheart, could you get your dad for me, please?’

Vanessa chuckles, because she always likes it when her dad helps me out. He is setting an excellent example for her and I hope that it will be moments like these she’ll remember once she will date herself. ‘I will, wait here, mommy.’

She skips to the kitchen, while Kal places his head on my knee. ‘I know, baby,’ I say to him. ‘We have fifteen more weeks to go, until you have another baby sister.’

‘Does my lovely queen need a little help getting up?’ Henry asks, who walks into the living room with a big smile on his face. Ever since we found out I was pregnant, there was an instant switch in his behavior. He has always been sweet and thoughtful, but nowadays he shows what he has been doing the past months that I have known him, it was only twenty five percent of his love.

I can’t carry groceries anymore, I can’t clean up the house anymore, because of the chemicals and the hard work (something that you won’t hear me complain about and I really hope this continues after I give birth and years beyond) and he literally does anything I ask him to.

Around a week ago I was thinking out loud with Vanessa what kind of snack I wanted and he rushed to the kitchen to get it for me. When we are in bed, he cuddles up with me from behind and places his hand on my bump. Our bed is the only place where he doesn’t ask me permission for touching it, which on its own is adorable. Whenever we are out of the bedroom, meaning downstairs, at his parents, in the mall, you name it, he’ll hover his hand over my stomach, before he looks at me with a raised eyebrow.

Every single time.

He is so sweet and so loving and I can’t believe that I went from an asshole like Wesley to a lovely man like Henry.

I hold out my hands for Henry and he pulls me up, before pressing a kiss on my forehead. ‘My little grumpy lady,’ he chuckles.

I scoff. ‘I’m not grumpy,’ I retort.

‘You are, mommy.’ Vanessa grabs my hand and says: ‘But that’s okay. You are growing a baby in your belly.’

Vanessa has been nothing but understanding and I love her with my entire heart for it. However, though it’s true, I refuse to believe that I’m grumpy, because I feel like I was on my best behavior today. ‘When exactly was I grumpy?’

‘This morning,’ she answers. ‘You yelled at daddy for giving you tap water instead of the one from the bottle. You stomped your feet when you found out he ate the last cookie. You cried when you saw that he gave you the wrong socks.’

‘Oh,’ I mumble, already forgotten that I actually done all of that this morning. Oh poor Henry. ‘I have been mean to daddy quite a bit, haven’t I?’

She nods.

‘Have I been mean to you?’

Thankfully she shakes her head, though I feel like she only says that to spare my feelings.

‘Good,’ I chuckle. ‘Do you think I should apologize to dad?’

‘You should, but remember, he will always love you.’

That shouldn’t make you cry, Olivia, so please don’t do that! I look up to my handsome and loving boyfriend Henry and say: ‘I’m sorry.’

He starts to laugh, before he shakes his head. ‘That’s okay, my love. You can’t help it.’

We walk to the dining room and once we’re seated, we start to eat the pancakes and they are really good. ‘Are you guys ready for today?’ I ask them.

Vanessa starts to nod. ‘I am. I really want a sister.’

‘You do?’ Henry asks. ‘And when we find out it’s a boy, what are you going to do then?’

Though Henry pretends he doesn’t understand parenting and is in awe with how I raise Vanessa, he caught on so quickly, asking her those deep questions. He tells me that we should raise all our future kids just like this, causing me to reassure him that we are definitely doing that to an extent, because I have a feeling that I found the perfect parenting style for me. Again to an extent again.

‘I’ll love him no matter what,’ Vanessa answers. ‘It’s just that I get girls better.’ That’s so deep. ‘Boys in my class are dirty.’

I snort. ‘Boys are dirty, I totally agree.’

‘Excuse me?’ Henry says, with a raised eyebrow. ‘I’m a boy and am I dirty?’

‘I was going to add that all boys are dirty, except for the Cavill guys, had you let me finish.’

He smiles, holding my hand on the table. ‘That’s better.’

Vanessa scrunches up her nose. ‘I think uncle Piers is pretty dirty. His farts smell really bad.’

Now Henry can’t stop the laugh. ‘You are totally right, my sunshine.’ He looks from Vanessa, to me, back to Vanessa, back to me, all with a loving smile on his face.

‘Mommy, daddy’s been acting weird.’

I nod. ‘I know, he is probably thinking to himself how he got so lucky that he got not only me, but also you and also this baby.’

‘How did you know?’ Henry asks, honestly in shock.

‘I know everything. That comes with being a mom.’

Vanessa agrees. ‘My mommy knows everything.’

‘That’s not true,’ Henry retorts. ‘No one on earth knows everything.’

Vanessa takes a bite of her pancake, thinks about her answer and eventually says: ‘Well, my mommy knows a lot. More than you.’

‘Yeah, sweetheart, you tell him the facts now.’

Henry sighs deeply, before laughing. ‘Always teaming up against me. Let’s hope the new baby agrees with me more often.’

≫≫≪≪

Because I’m in desperate need for some love from Vanessa, I’m sitting in the back of the car and hold her hand. ‘Together with the terrible mood swings going to the grumpy part of my feelings, I also have been overly emotional. I cry while watching Winnie the Pooh, the drawings Vanessa makes, make me end up bawling like a baby and sometimes when Henry and I are in bed, I just start to sniffle, simply because he gives me a kiss.

I can’t wait for the pregnancy to be over and to hold our new little baby, hoping that the hormones will normalize a bit.

I look at Henry through the rearview mirror and I can’t hide my smile anymore. I’m so happy right now, it’s disgusting really. When I’m at his mom’s place, we talk about life and she says that though she loves her husband dearly and he was an angel throughout her pregnancies, it’s nothing compared to how Henry is with me.

When we arrived at the maternity clinic, Vanessa sits on Henry’s lap, as she looks around the waiting room. ‘Mommy, how are you feeling?’

‘I’m feeling good, sweetheart.’

‘Are you nervous?’ She resits on his laps and places her hands on my stomach. I hate it when people outside my family touch my stomach, it makes me want to punch then in de face, but when she does it, I feel so loved, I feel so beautiful. Vanessa makes sure that I’m happy and that I feel good about myself. She is an honest angel.

‘I’m not. I’m excited.’

‘Me too.’

We are the next to be called in and Vanessa is sitting on Henry’s knee, as I lay on the examination chair. I pull up my shirt and the doctor squirts some cold gel on my skin. ‘Are we ready to find out whether you get a baby sister or brother?’ I love how the doctor involves Vanessa in this exciting day.

We hear the baby’s heartbeat filling the room and I already get emotional, something that was inevitable, because hearting their heartbeat always makes me cry. I hold onto Henry’s hand and he clears his throat, before he kisses my fingers. ‘Okay, this is the baby’s head,’ the doctor explains, as she points to the screen. She continues to look at the baby and say: ‘This baby looks really strong, so that’s good.’

‘Is it a boy or girl?’ Vanessa asks with a smile.

‘Let’s take a good look at that, shall we?’ With a frown between her brows, she tries to get the best view and eventually she smiles. ‘Well congratulations, Cavill family,’ she says, ‘you are going to add a little girl to the mix.’

I just hope that they do work now, because Tumblr has been being a little bitch about this for quite some time! Please let me know if you have received a notification!

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[writing-mermaid]

This is the night, it’s a beautiful night and we call it bella notte

Summary : When just a tiny push was what missed to make Sonny ask the new SVU detective out.

Pairing : Sonny Carisi x reader

Warnings : None I think

Word Count : 3 721

Author’s note : For the Anonymous who asked for the prompt : “Somewhere deep down, there’s good in you. Pretty far down”. I hope you will like it. Slightly inspired by Lady and the Tramp at some point. Pick a prompt or two or three and send an ask and a character or you can ask for stories with original characters  Don’t forget that feedback is appreciated and really important.

Song of the title : Bella Notte - Ruby Summer

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“Somewhere deep down, there’s good in you. Pretty far down”, detective Y/N Y/L/N says, looking at the teenage girl at the other side of the table in the interrogation room.

  The dark haired, tanned skin girl wears a NYPD hoodie and a pair of sweatpants that the detective in front of her gave her when they both arrived at the precinct two hours ago, in replacement of her ripped one. She was covered in blood and bruises.

  “Listen Sira, if you don’t tell me what happened and who did this to you, I can’t help you. I can even help you to find your family again and make sure that something like that doesn’t happen to you again. So, tell me. Like I said, I know that there is good in you, even if it’s deep down. If you help me, I can talk to my ADA and we can find a solution if you don’t want to go back with your parents. I’d do anything to help you but in exchange, you have to help me.”

  Sira looks at Y/N. She’s pretty, she thinks, with her Y/E/C eyes and her mid-long Y/H/C hair, her pink lips, and she looks brave too, what happened to me would never had happened to her. On the other hand, Y/N wants to slap herself, she referred to Carisi as “my” ADA, instead of “the precinct’s ADA”, feeling her cheeks blush. But it seems that Sira didn’t notice and she’s glad to have her back on two-way mirror, so nor her captain or the ADA would have noticed her slight blush at the mention of him.

  “I’m starving”, Sira finally states after a few minutes. “I want to eat, and then, I’ll tell you what you want to know.”

“Well, that’s a first step”, Y/N says, rising from her chair. “What do you want ? Chicken ? Ham ? Tuna ? Veggie ?”

“Tuna, with a Cherry Coke please.”

“I’ll be back in ten minutes”, Y/N tells her, taking her notebook with her and exiting the room.

  Meanwhile, in Olivia’s office, the captain and the ADA are looking inside of the interrogation room, watching, and listening to Y/N trying to convince Sira to tell her what they need.

  “She’s good”, Sonny turns to his former captain when he sees Y/N looking at Sira, who seems to be thinking about the detective’s offer.

“Why do you think I hired her, Carisi ? Not because she’s good looking. I mean, she’s a beautiful young woman, but that’s not the reason why I hired her”, Olivia tells him.

“Where did you say she worked before ?”

“Interpol.”

“Why would an Interpol agent leave her post to work for NYPD ?”, Sonny questions.

“I don’t know”, Olivia sighs, “Maybe she was only tired of it”, she shrugs.

“I’ll be back in ten minutes”, they hear Y/N say to Sira, making them looking back in the interrogation room, where they see Y/N getting up from her chair, her notebook in her hands.

  Olivia turns off the intercom when Y/N opens the door.

  “It seems that you managed to convince her to tell us things.”

“Well, I can be very persuasive apparently”, Y/N answers to her chief. “I’ll probably need your help for her when she tells me what we need to know”, she adds, turning to Sonny. “I have to go for a few minutes, she’s hungry and I promised her a tuna sandwich and a Cherry Coke.”

“You should eat something too”, Liv tells Y/N, removing her glasses and sitting behind her desk.

“Yes mom”, Y/N replies, smiling playfully at Olivia.

  Y/N exists her captain’s office and goes to her desk to take some money in her wallet, Sonny looking at her from the inside of Olivia’s office.

  “You should go with her, instead of watching her from afar. As she said, she’ll need you for Sira. And you should eat. I’m sure she would be glad of the presence of her ADA”, Olivia says, smiling to herself, insisting on the “her ADA” to give Sonny a hint.

“See ya later Captain”, Sonny grabs his suite jacket before taking the same way Y/N took two minutes before.

“Those two, not even seeing the oblivious”, Olivia sighs, watching Sonny jogging towards the elevators.

  A few minutes later, and thanks to his long legs, Sonny manages to catch Y/N at the store down the street.

  “Hey, do you mind if I join you ?”, he asks her, after he spots her in the snack area.

“Not at all”, she smiles up at him, hands full of food. “Sonny can you take a can of Cherry Coke up there please ? My hands are kinda occupied and I’m too tiny to grab one.”

“Sure, let me help you”, he says, taking her burden, in his big hands after grabbing some food for himself. “Do you intend to nourish a regiment ?”, he playfully questions, looking at all the food Y/N took.

“I don’t know how long Sira stayed without eating, so I might get carried away with all of this”, she motions to the food. “But I rather have too much than not enough.”

“My treat”, he says when they reach the checkout and Y/N takes her wallet out of her purse.

“You don’t have to”, she looks up at him. “I can pay for my food and Sira’s.”

“Let me buy it for you, it’s my pleasure.”

“Dominick Carisi, you’re too good to be true”, Y/N says, taking a shopping bag out of her purse to put the supplies in it.

  Sonny takes the bag of food from Y/N’s hand, his fingers grazing hers, and without knowing it, they both feel their cheek heat up at the light touch of their skins.

  “Do ya think she’ll tell you want you want to know ?”

“I hope so. I just want to help her, she seems lost and she needs us to help her.”

“Us ?”, Sonny raises one of his eyebrows.

“Yes, I thought that, as you are the ADA, you could help me with her, or help her with me. I… I just…”

“I see what you mean, and for the record, I’ll help you, don’t worry”, he smiles down at her.

“Thank you, Sonny.”

  Back at the precinct, the detective, followed by the ADA, goes back in the interrogation room.

  “Here for you”, Y/N says, handing the food to Sira.

“Thanks”, the teenager takes the sandwich from the Y/H/C haired woman in front of her, rips open the package and starts to devour it, barely taking time to chew.

“Slow down, you’ll choke”, the detective tells her protégée, putting down the can of Cherry Coke in front of her, along with a bottle of water.

“Sorry, I was hungry, haven’t eat for three days”, the teenage explains, her mouth full of bread and tuna, while Sonny and Y/N take a sit in front of her.

“Sira, I’d like to introduce you to someone. This is Dominick Carisi, the Assistant District Attorney I told you about.”

“Hey !”, she stops eating for a few seconds, just to gulp her Coke. “He’s cute, I understand better when you said he’s your ADA, and why you blushed”, Sira shoots at Y/N, with a sly grin on her face, looking at the two grown up in front of her turning red.

“No, I… Hum… When I said my ADA, I meant the precinct’s ADA. He’s a former cop, he used to work here before I arrived, so he knows everyone pretty well”, Y/N explains to put up a front.

“So Sira, detective Y/L/N told me you probably will have something to tell us. In exchange, as she said, we can help you. This is particularly important to be sure that what happened to you, never happened to anyone else.”

“Okay, I’ll tell you”, the teenager says.

  And she told them everything she knows. The name of her pimp, how many girls he has, what he makes them do and the way he treats them when they refuse. By the end of the day, Y/N has enough information to arrest the man.

  “Well, it should be enough to arrest him and lock him up for a while”, she tells Sonny after Sira left with a social worker that will take her in a shelter for the night, while she’s walking back to her desk in order to collect her things.

“You did a good job there Y/N.”

“Thanks.”

“Wanna have a drink ?”

“No, not tonight, I’m tired, and to be honest, I would have rather go with the others and arrest that bastard, but Liv said I earned my rest, so I’m going home”, she smiles up at him.

  It’s now or never, Sonny thinks, gathering his courage.

  “Y/N ?”

“Yes, Sonny ?”

“Would you like to have dinner with me on Friday night ?”

“Dominick Carisi, are you asking me out ?”

“Yes, I’m totally asking you out.”

“I’d love to”, she answers. “Friday night, I finish at six. I’ll text you my address and you pick me around seven ?”

“Sounds good to me”, he answers.

“See you on Friday night then”, she kisses his cheek and leaves the SVU floor, a smile on her face, leaving behind her a grinning Sonny, who reaches with his hand the spot when she kissed him.

“Are you okay Carisi ?”, Olivia asks, coming behind him.

“More than okay”, he answers, putting his suit jacket on one shoulder and going out, humming.

  Friday night seems not to come fast enough for Sonny, who barely had a glimpse on Y/N for the rest of the week as she’s busy with the victims and Sira’s testimony. She made an amazing work, what he mentioned to the court, while she was trying to reach all the families of those girls, kidnapped to serve as sex slaves. Most of the families were glad to find their children again, some other were unreachable, but he knew that Y/N wouldn’t abandon those girls until she finds a solution for the last one.

  “I’ll never be out of her”, she complains to Amanda, who’s finishing some paperwork at her desk.

“You’ve got something planed tonight ?”, the blonde detective asks her friend.

“Yep, going on a date with Carisi”, Y/N answers, making Amanda spitting the water she’s drinking.

“What ?!”, she says, wiping her chin and moping her desk. “You’re freaking kidding me ?”

“I don’t.”

“Jeez, he finally made his mind up to ask you out, was about time. I was tired to see him staring at you with blankly, and even if you didn’t notice it yourself, you definitely had a thing for the guy too.”

“Thing is, I’ll never be out and ready for him to pick me at seven… It’s almost six thirty…”, Y/N sighs.

“Okay, you know what, give me your size and there’s a store down the street, I’ll pick a dress for you, something that could do with your faux leather jacket and the shoes you’re wearing, and I’ll text Carisi to take you here instead of at your apartment. I’ll help you get ready and I’ll even help you to finish that case. Which girl do you have to finish with ?”

“Sheena Cassady, she’s the last one, I couldn’t reach her parents yet. I don’t understand if they don’t want to see her or don’t want her back or if there is another reason, but I don’t want to give up on her.”

“Give me fifteen minutes and I’ll be back to doll you up for Carisi. Don’t worry, I have some make up in my desk, just in case.”

  Y/N just nods, not really knowing how to stop or answer Amanda who rushes outside of the precinct. She sighs and returns to her work, still trying to reach for Sheena’s parents. After ten minutes of tone in her ear, she decides to stop, feeling bad for Sheena. The detective gets up from her desk and goes straight to the break room, where Sheena is waiting for her to know if she has news from her family.

  “Hey Sheena, I hope you’re okay”, Y/N says, entering the room.

“It’s getting a little long detective Y/L/N, did you manage to call my folks ?”, she asks.

“I’m sorry sweetie”, the older woman apologizes. “It seems that I can’t have them on the phone. I tried the neighbors too, but nothing. I’ll have to call social services again for you, and I’m sorry.”

“That’s alright, don’t worry, I knew that they would probably don’t want me back”, Sheena shrugs.

“Okay, I’m back”, Amanda shouts from behind, going to the break room. “And I’ve got the perfect dress for you”, she adds, pulling a wine-red dress, with a fake leather brown belt. “I know you have a pair of black ballet flat in one of your drawers. Just a little make up, and he’ll fall at your feet.”

“I heard you had a date with the cute ADA”, Sheena smiles at Y/N.

“Yes, I do, I hope this will be okay.”

“I’m sure it’ll be. He seems to be a decent guy”, the teenage adds.

“He’s more than decent”, Amanda answers. “Hey Sheena, wanna help me doll Y/N up ?”

  The young girl nods and rises from the couch, a smile on her face, following the two detectives in the bathroom, picking up Y/N shoes on the way. A few minutes later, Sonny, dressed in his blue three-piece suite, goes out of the elevator, looking around for Y/N, or at least Amanda to tell her where the Y/H/C haired woman is.

  “What’s up Carisi ? I heard you got yourself a date with Miss Interpol”, Fin greets him, clasping his shoulder. “Be nice to her, she’s a great girl.”

“I know Fin, don’t worry I’ll treat her well”, Sonny responds to his former coworker and friend.

“Great, you’re here !”, Amanda states coming back to the bathroom, Sheena on her heels.

“What are you doing here ?”, Sonny asks his friend.

“Me ? Just playing fairy godmother for your date”, she just replies.

“You’re playing fairy godmother, you ? That’s new. Not a role I would see you in”, Sonny mocks her, but his voice fades when Y/N passes the door of the bullpen, leaving him speechless.

“We should have made a princess out of her before, I’ve never seen Carisi shutting up that long before”, Fin says, from behind the still silent ADA. “You look stunning Y/N”, he adds, moving towards his coworker to have a better view of her.

  He’s right, Sonny thinks, she’s stunning. Rollins really worked well.

  “Hey.”

“Hey. You look, magnificent.”

“Thanks Sonny. You don’t look that bad either”, Y/N smiles at him.

“I booked a table in an Italian restaurant if it’s okay for you.”

“Perfect. Have a nice night everyone”, she waves at her colleagues, before taking the tall and  handsome Italian’s arm.

  From the precinct to the restaurant, Sonny acts like a real gentleman with Y/N, who tries to remember if she already has been treated that well by a man once in her life. Sonny is perfect, holding the door, letting her walk in or out before him, pulling her chair once they’re settled at their table.

  “May I ask you something ?”, Sonny questions while they’re eating their pasta plates.

“Sure”, Y/N answers, taking a bite of her pasta dish, and humming in delight.

“Why did you leave your last job ?”

“I felt like, something wasn’t here anymore. A sense of weariness. I was tired. Tired of being constantly chasing after bad guys.”

“Well that didn’t really change”, Sonny laughs.

“You’re absolutely right about that. I was never home, I didn’t really have a social life, couldn’t really see my family, couldn’t have a love life”, she adds, looking up at him. “So, after seven years, I decided to resign. I wanted stability, to see my family more often, finally settle down somewhere, have a pet, find someone to spend my life with, maybe getting married and have children. It was hard for me, I didn’t have the impression to be useful. When I left, I took some vacations, because I really needed it. I came back here, looked for a place to live and one day, my former boss sent me an email with a job opportunity, saying that SVU needed a detective and that I would be perfect for the job. And to be honest I love it, I finally have the impression to do something good, to be useful.”

“And he was right”, Sonny states, “you’re damn good with the victims, the way you investigate. How you managed to convince Sira, Sheena and all the other girls to testify. How it made possible to dismantle that network. You’re an amazing cop.”

“Thanks Sonny, but to be honest, I would never have managed to convince Sira if you refused to help me.”

“I can’t refuse you anything”, he blurts, taking another bite of his plate, before realizing what he just said. “I mean…”

“That’s okay Sonny, I’m not going to demand you to offer me a ring just because you gave me a compliment”, Y/N says, taking a sip of the Italian wine in her glass, watching Sonny turning red. “Can I taste those ?”, she suddenly points at his plate.

“Sure, be my guest.”

  Y/N leans a little over her plate to sink her fork in Sonny’s, who wraps a bit of his own spaghetti on his fork. Neither of them notice that one particularly long spaghetti wrapped itself on both forks. And the particular way this restaurant places people, helps a lot in what happens next. As they both eat the spaghettis, musicians come around, distracting them from looking at each other, the spaghetti disappearing in both their mouths, until their lips are pressing against each other. They both move back, looking at each other with a small smile, and start to eat again, in a comfortable silence.

  After dinner, Sonny takes Y/N to an Italian neighborhood party in East Village. The street is full of people, music and there are some attractions here and there. A carrousel, a Ferris wheel, a band playing music and people dancing around the square. Fingers intertwined, Sonny and Y/N, wander through the fair, their eyes trying to watch everything. With the warmth of the evening, both of them left their jackets in Sonny’s car, enjoying the mild temperatures.

  “Do you want to dance ?”, Sonny asks, after a moment, pointing at the people dancing and at the band.

“I’d love to”, Y/N answers.

  He grabs her hand and leads her to the improvised dancefloor in the middle of the street. Sonny takes Y/N’s right hand in his left and put his right hand on her waist, while Y/N lays her left hand on his shoulder. As the band starts to play a very familiar tune, they start to sway, looking at each other, a small smile on their lips.

  Oh, this is the night, it's a beautiful night

And we call it bella notte

Look at the skies, they have stars in their eyes

On this lovely bella notte

  Sonny spins her around, while the two singers continue to sing the main theme from Lady and the Tramp. When Y/N is facing Sonny again, she moves closer to him and wraps her two arms around his neck, laying her head on his shoulder, letting the words of the song lull her, wishing that this moment never ends.

  Side by side with your loved one You'll find enchantment here The night will weave its magic spell When the one you love is near

For this is the night And the heavens are right On this lovely bella notte

  At some point, she rises her head and Sonny kisses her tenderly. At the end of the song, Sonny takes her hand back in his and they leave the now crowded dancefloor.

  “What’s next ?”, she asks with bright eyes.

“Well detective Y/L/N, what do you think about this ?”, he says, showing her the Ferris wheel.

“I think this is a very good idea ADA Carisi”, she smiles at him, pulling him towards the merry-go-round.

  Sonny buys two tickets, and they are seated in the cabin, enjoying the view as the wheel goes up. When it stops at the top, they can see a few neighborhoods, and look up at the stars.

  “This night is perfect”, Y/N says, leaning into Sonny’s side. “I don’t want it to be over. I’m so glad you finally asked me out.”

“I’m glad I did it”, Sonny answers, putting his arm around her shoulder, his chin on her head. “I should have asked you long before if I knew this would be so perfect.”

  After another hour spent at the fest, and after two gelatos, Sonny brings Y/N back home.

  “This was the best date I’ve ever have”, Y/N says when Sonny stops in front of her building’s entrance, his car parked a little lower down the street. “Thank you, Sonny.”

“Me too”, he replies, scratching the back if his neck. “Does this mean I can have hope for a second date ?”

“I’ll gladly go out with you again Dominick Carisi, a second time, and a third time and a fourth time”, she pulls him down to her by his tie, her lips crashing on his.

  She releases his tie when he kisses her back, wrapping her arms around his neck, to pull him further into her, while his hands find their way to her hips. When they pull away, lips swollen, Y/N smiles up at him one last time, before climbing the few stairs to her building’s front door.

  “I’m waiting for your call ADA”, she playfully says.

“And I’ll call you detective”, he answers, on the same tone.

  Y/N blows a kiss and closes the door. When the door closes, Sonny goes back to his car, almost dancing on the way, already planning his next date with Y/N. He is more than happy to finally have been able to ask out the woman of his dreams and to have make it the start of something that he knows he’ll cherish for the rest of his life.

Taglist :

@bastard-man-barba​, @storiesofsvu​

[dolce-peach]

Loki x reader, reader is on the younger side (but not really) and has a large extended family who one day begged her to babysit three little nephews at the tower and Loki has to help too. Just parental Loki Fluff pls

domestic bliss

pairing: loki x reader

warnings: fluff, soft loki

a/n: i absolutely cannot 🥺 also my non-creative mind decided to name the lil ones peter, harry, and gwen 😅😂 and i will say this as many times as i can: loki deserves the whole world 🥺🥺🥺❤️ hope you guys like it!

permanent taglist: @kaitlynmalikisnotonfire​ @just-another-loki-fanblog​

** TO MAKE A REQUEST -- please check the status in my bio **

masterlist

----

“Who is the best baby in the whole wide world?”

Your baby nephew Peter squealed in your arms as you held him up, hoisting him higher until he left your hands for a moment.  He giggled as you caught him again, his cheeks rosy.

“But Auntie Y/N!  What about me?” your other nephew Harry whined, hugging your leg.

“I’m Auntie Y/N’s favorite!” exclaimed your niece, Gwen.  “Everyone knows that!”

You laughed as you bent down, embracing them.  “I love you all, okay?”

You kissed their cheeks before carrying Peter into the kitchen, where you got his bottle ready.

Your days weren’t usually like this at the Avengers Tower, but when your older sisters had to run on last minute business trips, as the youngest, you couldn’t say no.  Little Peter, Harry, and Gwen had grown to be absolutely irresistible in recent years, so you never minded looking after them anyways.

Peter began whining a bit, sensing his bottle was close to being ready.  He already began reaching for the bottle.

“No, sweetie,” you cooed.  “It’s not ready yet.”

Gwen tugged at your sweats.  “Auntie Y/N, can I have a snack?”

You answered by getting a bowl of sliced peaches out on the table.  Both Harry and Gwen climbed into their seats, reaching for the fruit.

Peter cried a bit more, and you did your best to distract him by making funny faces.  His cries echoed throughout the entire floor.

“Who in the world is making so much noise?” Loki raged as he stormed into the room.  

You sent him an apologetic smile.  “Sorry, my sisters needed someone to watch the kids.”

Loki’s threatening aura faded away, replaced with realization.  “Oh,” he said quietly.  “Forgive me.”

“Uncle Loki!” Gwen cheered.

The god frowned.  “That’s King Loki to you.”

Harry pouted.  “I thought Uncle Thor was the king.”

“That’s --”  Loki sighed.  “Never mind.”

You almost completely forgot about Peter in your arms.  You grabbed the warm bottle and fit the nipple on top before giving it to him.  He grasped on tightly, sucking eagerly.

Out of the corner of your eye, Loki tried peeking over your shoulder to watch as Harry and Gwen were having a conversation about spaceships.

“Isn’t he adorable?” you whispered.

Loki cowered back, coughing.  “I suppose he’s quite...above average.”

You raised an eyebrow.  “Do you not like kids?”

“They’re loud,” he said, eyeing Harry and Gwen.  “They’re much too excited, and they have incredible tantrums.”

“Hm, sounds a lot like you,” you teased.

He walked around the counter.  “What does that mean?”

“Exactly how it sounds,” you laughed.

Loki rolled his eyes as he stood in front of you.  You somehow never ceased to amaze him with how far you could go.

Before he could realize what was going on, you placed Peter in his hands.

His eyes widened with panic.  “Wait, what are you doing?”

You grinned, adjusting his awkward, lanky arms so he held the baby safely.  “Letting the four of you bond while I take a break,” you said.  “I can only be a mom for so long.”

“Parenting is not necessarily a specialty I possess, especially given my family history,” he said.  “Take him back!”

“I’ll be down training with Nat for about an hour,” you said as you playfully nudged his shoulder.  “Call me if you need anything, but he should be ready for a nap after finishing his bottle.  All you have to do is watch him sleep.”  

“Where are you going, Auntie Y/N?” Harry inquired sadly.

You ruffled his hair.  “Just downstairs to train,” you explained.  “Don’t you want to spend time with Uncle Loki?”

Harry looked as though he was going to cry.  “Yeah, but I want you, Auntie Y/N!”

Gwen took his hand.  “It’s okay, Harry.  I’ll take care of you,” she said.  “And Uncle Loki might make something explode again!”

Harry’s eyes lit up, making you smile.

You gave the two one more hug before walking towards the door, sending a wink towards Loki.

He glared at you.  “I have to admit I’m thinking about stabbing you right now.”

“Go ahead,” you said.  “But you’d miss me.”

Loki frowned deeply, opening his mouth to complain once more before you shut the door behind you.

--

You panted, catching your breath as you took gulps of water.  Your body was pretty worn from babysitting the past few days, but it wasn’t anything you couldn’t handle.

“How are the little rascals?” Natasha asked, sitting down next to you.

You handed her a water bottle and a towel.  “So energetic,” you said.  “They’re good kids.”

“I don’t doubt it,” she laughed.  “Who’s watching them now?”

“Loki.”

Her eyes widened.  “Really?  He was okay with it?”

“Not really, but when is he ever?”

She nodded.  “Hope he doesn’t make the toaster oven explode again.”

You laughed.

After a few more minutes of rest, you decided you were done for the day.  You said bye to Natasha before heading upstairs to the common area.  You were expecting total chaos and mayhem, but when the doors slid open, it was quiet.

“Loki?” you called.  

You carefully walked in, your eyes scanning the room until you spotted them on the couch.

Loki sat sleeping, holding Harry and Gwen on either side while Peter was sound asleep in his lap.  Loki’s lips were slightly agape, making you stifle a laugh.  

You carefully snapped a picture before touching his shoulder.  “Loki.”

He opened his eyes groggily as you helped him up, careful not to wake the kids.  “Y/N?”

“Morning, sleepy-head,” you laughed.  “Have fun while I was gone?”

“Actually,” he began.  “Yes.”

“Good,” you said.  “I think you’d make a great dad.  I think they really like you.”

His eyes glistened.  “You think so?”

“Definitely.”

[veky1993]

So in news surrounding my writer's life, today I have been accused of plagiarism. This is, of course, total bullshit, but if anyone is looking to accuse me of that again, they are free to reach out to me here, where I will happily disprove their baseless accusations. 

In the meantime, anyone who is simply hoping to read a little something fluffy, silly, and romantic involving our favorite MC couple, is welcome to do so on AO3, or on ffnet, or right here below:

Sore Loser

"I don't know what statistics you've been reading up on, but they stand no chance whatsoever," Sharon said, her tone no nonsense.

"Forget the statistics," Andy disagreed, rather heatedly, "they've got this, you'll see."

"No, honey," Sharon's tone went up to a faux sympathetic one, "you'll see."

This was the conversation Rusty walked in on as he ventured out of his room in search of a bottle of water to take with him before heading out. He found his mother and her husband in what seemed to be a verbal standoff, glaring at each other in challenge from their respective sides of the couch.

He burst whatever weird bubble they were in. "What on earth are you two bickering about now?" He said the last word on a whine, more than justified in his exasperation, seeing as he had lost count of how many times he had found them like this.

Both heads turned in his direction.

Andy instantly muttered, "Football," while Sharon rolled her eyes and said indignantly, "We're not bickering."

Rusty laughed and pointed a finger between them, continuing his stroll toward the kitchen. "You should try getting your stories straight."

He didn't hear his mother's response, but distinctly made out Andy's grumbled, "Smartass."

By the time Rusty had retrieved his water and walked back to the living room, the two had left their opposing ends of the couch and met in the middle, Sharon tucked into Andy's side as he flipped through the TV channels.

"Made up already?" Rusty teased, then made a disgustingly sweet 'aaww' sound.

Sharon lifted her head to grace him with a half-hearted glare, but it was Andy, who without sparing him even a glance, and blowing his annoyance ever so slightly out of proportion by adopting a particularly exasperated tone, grumbled, "Don't you have somewhere else to be?"

The question halted Rusty just short of the hallway leading down to his room. "As a matter of fact, I do." When his eyes landed on Andy's final choice on the TV, he pointed his bottle at the screen and grimaced exaggeratedly. "And thank goodness that I do."

"What's wrong with watching football?" Sharon asked, mildly offended, and turned to face Rusty fully.

"Oh, watching football's just fine," Rusty shook his head, "it's watching it with you two that just..." he trailed off on a feigned shudder.

Sharon suddenly turned back to Andy. "You're right. He is a smartass."

Andy let out a throaty chuckle. "Mark the date and time." He made a show of checking and tapping his watch. "Sharon Raydor admits Andrew Flynn is right about something."

Sharon's eyes narrowed, and she leaned back a little to cross her arms, then pursed her lips as she leveled Andy with a stare that quickly dampened his earlier luster. Suppressing a proud grin for being able to mess with him quite so easily, Sharon kept her tone teasing, even as her voice dipped low, and she simply said, "Oh, I cannot wait to see your team get crushed to a pulp."

Making a conscious effort not to roll his eyes at them, Rusty interjected before the situation could escalate, or worse, potentially scar him for life. "His team?" he asked, genuinely curious, as he waved his bottle at the TV again. He might be clueless about the sport in general, but even he could tell neither Sharon nor Andy's favorite team was playing that day. "You know what?" he added quickly, raising a hand in a 'stop' gesture before either one could reply. He shook his head, too, deciding he didn't need any more details. "Nevermind. I'll just, uhm," he hooked a thumb in the direction of his bedroom, already retreating that way with a couple of backwards steps, "head out before you two football freaks make me seriously question ever agreeing to being part of this family." He turned on his heel, and quietly, but still loudly enough for them to hear, corrected himself. "Or well, before Mom does anyway."

Andy burst out laughing, breaking Sharon's concentrated effort of still staring him down. Her eyes went wide at her son's (only too warranted) words and she swallowed an offended gasp, then tilted her head in Rusty's direction to sing-song after him, "It's called being passionate about something!"

When no response came, Andy tugged on her arm until she unfolded them and pulled her into his side again. "Don't worry," he squeezed her gently, "I for one love the football freak in you." When Sharon stiffened, no doubt wanting to pull back and slap him with one more glare, he quickly tightened his hold around her, and plopped a kiss into her hair all the while grinning. Sharon let it go quickly, however, only muttering something that sounded suspiciously like 'Surrounded by smartasses,' and by the time they returned their attention to the TV, Rusty finally shuffled back to the front door.

"It's called being ridiculous," he informed her quite matter-of-factly, then without further ado and certainly without expecting either Andy's or Sharon's response, swung open the door and walked out with a, "I'm off, bye!"

Affronted by the young man's audacity, Sharon pushed herself off Andy's chest and watched with wide eyes as the door closed behind him, speechless. On a chuckle, Andy pointed his finger at it. "He gets that from you, you know?"

Sharon frowned, looking back at him in confusion. "Gets what from me?"

"Wanting to always have the last word," Andy quipped.

She smacked him across the chest even as she made herself comfortable against his side again. "Oh, hush you."

Undeterred, Andy kept on chuckling, then, as the commentators started discussing pregame statistics and strategies, randomly asked, "Do we have any snacks?"

Sharon tilted her head up to look at him. "We just ate."

"So what?" Andy shrugged, shaking her a little in the process. "Can't watch football without having something to munch on."

Sharon gave him a serious look of consideration, and Andy could practically hear the wheels of her sense of occasion turning. "You make a good point," she decided, giving his arm a squeeze as she untangled herself from it.

Andy grinned smugly and pumped his fist in victory. "I'm on a roll tonight!"

Sharon shook her head at him, then inclined it to the side, her brow creasing together in seriousness. "Healthy snacks though," she said sternly, getting to her feet to round the couch.

Andy flopped his head down onto the backrest of the couch and groaned. "Like carrot and celery sticks?" he suggested sarcastically, but there was genuine dread in the words as well.

"Why not?" Sharon countered, brushing her fingers through his hair as she walked past his head.

Unable to tell if her tone indicated those were exactly the kind of snacks she had in mind or not, Andy narrowed his eyes, rolling his head to follow the rest of her movement. "Maybe this," he waved a hand at the empty coffee table, "is just fine after all."

She laughed, then disappeared from view.

Andy huffed. He didn't often get these cravings. He'd gotten used to and even learned to enjoy their heart-healthy diet, but today he'd kill for a bucket of greasy chicken wings or a box of even greasier pizza. Even a pack of pretzel sticks or a bag of chips would do. Anything would, but the likes of celery and carrots.

"You sure about that?" Sharon's voice carried to him from the kitchen, pulling Andy out of his self-pity.

Her teasing undertone only confused him, until he heard the ping of numbers being punched into the microwave. He straightened on the spot instantly. "What's that?" he asked suspiciously.

Sharon poked her head out into his field of view, and wiggled an eyebrow at him. "You'll see," she said, cryptically.

Andy didn't dare hold high hopes for confirming his suspicions, but when he heard a pop, soon followed by a number of others, he grinned widely. "You mean I'll hear," he said, loudly enough for her to hear him over both the sound of the microwave and the popping.

Sharon appeared again, walking back toward the couch carrying two tall glasses of water, and smiled at his excited disposition. "Better than carrots and celery?" she asked, handing him the glasses to put on the coffee table. When he did, she turned her back to him and leaned against the back of the couch.

Andy sank into the cushions and looked at her with a dreamy smile on his face. "Much."

She chuckled, then ran a hand affectionately down the side of his face, no doubt to lessen the blow of the words that followed. "There is a catch, however."

"Ugh." Andy grunted. "I knew it was too good to be true," he grumbled petulantly.

Sharon laughed, running her nails down the line of his jaw, then grinned when Andy failed to dip his chin down fast enough to trap her hand before she pulled it back. "It's a low-sodium mix," she explained. "Spicy, but not salty."

Andy's eyebrow quirked skeptically. "Is it any good?"

Just then, the microwave pinged it was finished, and Sharon moved off the couch. "We're about to find out," she said, going to retrieve their popcorn.

"Can't wait," Andy said in a tone that held zero optimism, but Sharon didn't hear him.

When she finally returned, she dropped the bowl of popcorn into his lap as she walked around the couch to find her seat again. When Andy looked at her, his eyebrows went up at the mischievous glint in her eyes. "Oh," he grimaced, looking at the bowl in disgust, "that bad?"

A short burst of giggles bubbled out of her. "No," she grabbed a few popcorns and happily chewed on them. "They're not bad at all actually."

Andy continued to appraise the popcorn with distrust, but asked, "Then what's," he waved a finger at her face, "all that about?"

She swallowed, then bit the inside of her cheek to contain a smile. "I may have another snack for you," she informed him with a playful bob of her eyebrow.

Andy's head snapped up to look at her, his hand pausing halfway on its path to test the popcorn. "Is that so?" he asked suggestively, leaning toward her, his eyes on her lips.

She tilted her head up and quickly acquiesced to his wordless request for a kiss, then laughing a little, said, "Not that kind of snack."

"Oh, God," Andy mumbled and flopped the side of his head against the backrest. "You're stuffing me with carrots and celery after all, aren't you?"

She giggled. "Actually…" She pulled her hand out from behind her back Andy didn't even notice she had been purposefully hiding from him. "Cheat day," she added, wiggling a bag of potato chips in front of him.

"No way," he let out lowly, lifting his head and his eyes going wide.

"Way," Sharon countered, then put two fingers underneath his chin, pushing up his dropped jaw.

"I love you," Andy said on a happy sigh, ducking his head to kiss the two fingers on his chin.

"Ah-ah," Sharon warned, tapping his lips with the digits he just kissed.

"Another catch?" Andy asked, suddenly resigned, stuffing his mouth with a handful of popcorn, for a moment forgetting he didn't even know if it was any good. "Oh," the taste distracted him, "this is nice," he said over his mouthful.

"Told ya," Sharon said proudly.

He ignored her gloating. "So," Andy eyed the bag of chips she had produced, "what's it gonna cost me?"

Sharon looked at the TV, momentarily chewing on her bottom lip. "I was thinking we make this a little more interesting."

Andy shifted on the spot, putting just a bit more distance between them to look at her with curiosity. "Do I like where this is going?"

"If you want this," she waved the bag, the rustling and rattling sounds music to Andy's ears, "then most definitely."

His wheels turning, Andy looked at the TV where the game was just about to start. "Oh," he said when he finally figured it out, "you're thinking bets."

She smiled instantly. "I am."

"My team wins, I get that," he eyed the bag hungrily, "your team wins, you eat it?"

Her smile widened. "Precisely."

Andy turned toward the TV and relaxed fully into the couch, propping his socked feet up on the table and grabbing another handful of popcorn. "You're on."

Caught between shaking her head and laughing at his childish excitement, Sharon put the prize down on the coffee table, then leaned back into Andy's side. "Hold your horses, my dear," she mumbled, snaking her hands around his arm, "those are mine."

"Nope," Andy disagreed confidently. "I told you, I'm on a roll today."

She laughed, grabbing some popcorn out of the bowl in his lap. "Not for long." She dropped just a single corn into her mouth, then repeated, "Not for long."

Halfway into the game, Andy was a huffing, puffing and disappointed mess, most likely a little exaggerated for Sharon's benefit, but she still had an incredibly hard time not to laugh at him. When he suddenly grabbed the remote and turned off the TV in frustration, her self-restraint vanished and she burst out into snorts, failing miserably at hiding them in his arm. "I was watching that," she managed in between her laughs.

He extracted his arm from out of her hold and shuffled nearly all the way to the other side of the couch. He glared at her as he put the bowl of popcorn down on the table, then took the bag of chips that lay next to it. "Take it," he practically threw it into her lap, "you win."

She caught the bag, a tad clumsily. "Teams have recovered from worse, Andy," she offered optimistically, and she might have even been convincing, had her voice not trembled with suppressed laughter.

He continued to glare at her, his tone as begrudging and pessimistic as it possibly could be. "The hand of God can't save that mess of a team." He struck a hand out in the direction of the now black screen as if she hadn't seen exactly how dreadful they were.

Sharon snorted, not disagreeing. "Well," she finally said, preparing to open the bag, "if you're sure…" She eyed the TV, then Andy. "I mean, the game's not over yet."

"I'm sure," he grumbled, slumping back into the couch, now avoiding to look at her. "Knock yourself out," he added, crossing his arms.

Her lips pressing into a tight line in order to stop herself from further laughing at him, Sharon opened the bag. When she reached inside and took a chip out, she watched him intently as she slowly put it in her mouth, but he steadfastly refused to so much as glance her way. Not being one to give up so easily, she bit into it, making it crunch loudly, but when not even that chipped away at his resolve, she let out a low moan and nearly snorted again, when that instantly, and most likely reflexively, had his head turn toward her.

"Delicious," she told him, her tone, in Andy's opinion, far too seductive to be talking about a strip of baked potato.

"There's no need to rub it in, you know," he muttered, his lip curling in displeasure.

Having his attention now, she openly grinned at him, and took another chip out of the bag. She placed it into her mouth just as slowly, then repeated both the crunching sound and her low moan. The way he frowned, even as his eyes flashed with lustful hunger, had her wonder what seemed more alluring to him, the chips or her. Something told her it was the chips and the thought only caused her to laugh a little more.

As if seeking at least some comfort, Andy briefly leaned forward to stick his hand into the popcorn bowl. Chewing furiously around his mouthful, he pushed himself back into the couch, and grumbled, "Now you're just being plain cruel."

"I might," her voice shook with amusement, but she paused deliberately until he looked at her just in time to see her slowly lick the salt off her fingers, and she suppressed a grin when his mouth dropped open and he stared stupidly at her, "be persuaded to share."

He closed his mouth, but only to bite into his bottom lip. "Yeah?" he managed, having to clear his throat when the word came out hoarsely.

She offered an affirmative hum, and the sound drew his eyes up to hers, pulling him out of his temporary stupor. "Persuaded," he was a little wary now, "how?"

His suspiciousness made her chuckle because she had no intention of living up to his idea of torture. "Oh," she reached out the hand holding the bag of chips, wiggling it a little, "just get back here, and help yourself."

He didn't need telling twice, but to her complete and gasp-eliciting surprise, when he reached her, he didn't go for the potato chips, but for her lips, catching them in a hungry kiss. Before she had a chance to respond, he pulled back, then, sounding a little surprised himself, said, "You taste like potato chips."

She barely managed to laugh, when his lips landed on hers again. She responded this time, her hand finding the back of his head to keep him precisely where he was. When his tongue darting out and swiping over her bottom lip drew a strangled groan from him, she smiled, breaking the kiss and resting her forehead against his. "Why do I get the feeling this is about the chips and not us?"

Andy pecked her lips one more time, then pulled away a little to look her in the eye. "Oh, it's definitely about the chips," he finally stole a chip from the bag she was still somehow clutching and plopped it into his mouth, pausing to moan in pleasure as he munched on it, "but also," he leaned in to kiss her once more even though he was still chewing, "very much about you."

Sharon was certain he meant his words, and it drew an affectionate little smile out of her, but when he immediately after stole another couple of chips out of her bag and continued snacking on them happily, she snorted. "Maybe I should leave you two alone." She even started pushing at him to further her point.

"Uh-uh," Andy disagreed, shaking his head. He shifted a little so they were side to side, then dug a chip out of the bag and offered it to her. "I'm in a sharing mood," he added seriously.

"You," the word was laced with incredulity and one of her eyebrows shot up, "are in a sharing mood?" She bit off the chip he held out anyway.

"Mhm," he hummed confidently, then rubbed his fingers together before digging into the bag yet again.

That made her laugh again. She let Andy take over the bag, then helped herself to some chips and said, "I've married a child."

Sharon had to trap her bottom lip between her teeth to prevent herself from laughing when his entire demeanor only corroborated her words; the bland expression on his face, the almost protective way he was clutching the bag in his lap, and last but not least, Andy's chip-loaded hand hanging in the air, midway to his mouth. "You like the child in me," he told her nonchalantly, tilting his head back to drop the pile into his mouth.

He had her there, and because it was simply impossible to deny it, her mouth immediately stretched into a besotted smile. The discovery that he could be silly to the point of ridiculousness had been something she stumbled upon long before a romantic relationship crossed either one of their minds. It endeared him to her, as she would later realize, not just because this side so clashed with the tough, quick to anger Lieutenant, but because like her, there weren't that many people he relaxed around enough to reveal it. Being one of those few chosen ones warmed her heart back when they were just friends, and the feeling only intensified over the years, especially as he slowly, without her even truly noticing, uncovered her own dorky side.

The absence of loud crunching noises slowly drew Sharon out of her musings, and as she returned to reality, she found Andy watching her with interest.

He wiggled some chips in front of her. "Chip for your thoughts?"

She giggled. Yes, she absolutely adored the child in him, and she found no reason not to tell him as much. She stilled his hand, and leaned in to wrap her lips around the proffered chips, then once she chewed and swallowed, said, "I adore the child in you."

His mouth opened and then a corner of it took an upward turn as it formed a lopsided, goofy, and coincidentally, childlike smile. His hand went for her cheek, then slipped into her hair before she could fully pull back. When he pressed his lips to hers this time, chips were most definitely not on his mind.

He released her lips only to trail a path of kisses along the line of her jaw, causing her to grip his shoulders for support. "We have the condo," he mumbled when he reached her ear, "to ourselves," he caught her earlobe gently between his teeth, then released it as he pulled back to grin at her obscenely, "don't we?"

On a sigh, she lifted her head and opened her eyes, her hold on his shoulders slackening. "Mhm," she hummed in a way that had Andy capture her lips one more time.

His attentions were interrupted on a grunt when he squeezed the bag he miraculously still had ahold of a tad too tightly, and in turn, quite loudly, crushed a few of his precious chips. He frowned at it, making Sharon laugh, who quickly helped by extricating it out of his hand and flopping it down on the table. For a second, a look of regret, or was it longing, flashed in Andy's eyes, as if perhaps he wasn't quite ready to part with his beloved snack just yet, but it was quickly forgotten when Sharon huffed impatiently and planted a hand at the back of his neck to press her lips to his again.

He slipped his hands underneath her shirt, then on an insistent squeeze, nudged her into his lap, never once letting go of the kiss. When she straddled him, however, it was Sharon who broke it, moving the hair out of her face with an elegant shake of her head. She dropped her forehead to his and whispered, "You should lose bets like these more often."

"You should feed me potato chips more often," he countered, making his point by bucking his hips into her.

She giggled in that rare, carefree, high-pitched tone of hers, then kissed him again. He grinned when they let up for air and their combined breathing fogged up her glasses. When she put a hand against his chest, getting some distance between them, and unceremoniously tore them off her face, he chuckled.

She folded her glasses, but did not let go of them as she tangled her hands behind his neck. She squinted, for show really, and complained. "You're blurry."

He pulled his hands out from underneath her shirt and clasped her face, his thumbs running over her cheekbones until she stopped squinting. "You're beautiful."

She instantly smiled.

"Especially your eyes," he added, letting go of her cheeks to brush his thumbs affectionately across the crinkles that appeared in their corners.

"Charmer," she muttered, but dipped her head to kiss him quickly again anyway.

Grinning, he dropped his hands and focused on them as he slipped them beneath her shirt again. When he thrummed his fingers lightly against her sides and her posture stiffened, he smirked. "Just speaking my truth."

When his fingers traced the edge of her bra, Sharon clasped his wrists and straightened. He looked up to find her matching his smirk with a coy smile of her own. "Let's save some truths for the bedroom." She ground against his lap just in case he was missing her point.

On a low groan, he dropped his forehead to her shoulder. When she laughed, he recovered and caught her off guard by dipping his hands to her lower back and sliding her closer across his lap. The sudden movement had her throw her head back long enough for Andy's lips to latch onto the revealed skin of her neck. Careful not to leave a mark, he sucked on a spot he knew to be particularly sensitive and distracting, then mumbled, "Let's."

Before Sharon could do so much as moan in pleasure, his hands dipped even lower, to the backs of her thighs, and in one swift motion he was on his feet with her.

Alarmed, she instinctively hooked her legs around him and clutched desperately at his neck, dropping her glasses to the couch. "Andy, put me down!"

He adjusted his hold on her, then kissed her cheek. "Nope."

She relaxed, but only in exasperation. "You're not twenty anymore, you know?"

"I know," he agreed a bit regretfully, making her smile. "Just," he jostled her a little until she was even more securely in his arms, "trust me."

"I trust you," Sharon said indignantly, but did rest her chin against his shoulder, missing the immediate smile the easy constatation drew on Andy's face, "it's your old bones I'm wary of."

"Ouch," he said, then squeezing her thighs in retaliation, added, "I'll show you old in a minute." When she chuckled, instead of heading to the bedroom to make good on his promise, he remembered the discarded bag of chips and with the intention of folding it close so its contents didn't dry out, he bent down a little. In the process, he dipped Sharon and, holding onto him more tightly, she let out a startled "Oh, my God!"

Straightening again and making sure she was safely in his arms, on steady feet Andy finally started walking toward their bedroom. "Started without me?" he teased.

Sharon snorted into his neck.

It wasn't until they were safely ensconced behind the closed door of their bedroom that Andy let her back down to her feet, his arms only loosely looped around her.

She tried to glare away his cocky smirk, but instead, a smile crept upon her face on its own volition and she found purchase on his hips, pulling him closer to her. She still had her wits about her though. "I'm waiting," she challenged, "old bo-"

He cut her off with a bruising kiss.

…

The following morning, Andy woke first. At the feel of an arm resting heavily on his chest, he instantly grinned and looked to his side. Sharon lay sprawled on her stomach, facing away from him. He suppressed a chuckle when he realized she was taking up a good two thirds of their bed, then careful not to wake her, slowly moved her arm. She didn't stir awake, but did tuck her arm under her pillow in response. Andy itched to run a hand down the exposed skin of her upper back, but—he remembered this on a smug smirk—he'd proven what old bones could still do the previous night, and decided she'd appreciate the extra sleep, even if he was certain she wouldn't mind the attentions he'd have in store for her if he did wake her up.

Seeing though that he would not be falling back asleep, but being too lazy to actually get up and start his day, he reached for his phone.

After he turned off the alarm clock, he opened his news app. Same old recycled news from the day, if not week, before, of course, filled his screen, and he was just about to find something else to do, when a headline in the sports section caught his eye. 'Last Night's Spectacular Recovery...' part of the title read, underneath a photo of the banners of the teams that had clashed the previous evening. He clicked the 'read more' link, then instantly sat up as he scanned the article. "They what?!" he exclaimed, then immediately winced at his loud voice, his eyes darting to Sharon's sleeping form.

She woke, of course, a sleepy, disgruntled moan coming out of her. She turned her head his way, then frowned. "What's with the yelling?"

Andy was no longer sorry for waking her up. "They won!" He pointed a finger at his phone screen, then at himself. "I won the bet!"

Sharon closed her eyes, her brow momentarily creasing further, needing a second to remember what bet he was talking about. When she did, her eyes flew open. "You did?"

"Yes!" Andy exclaimed yet again, all but shoving his phone in her face when she pushed herself up on her elbows. "Ugh," he groaned when she took his phone to read through the article, "I could have had those chips all to myself," he mumbled disappointedly.

Sharon flung the phone back in his lap. "You wouldn't have shared?" she asked, her voice thinning, offended.

Andy looked at her blandly, his response matter-of-fact. "You and I both know who the bigger person in this relationship is."

Sharon rolled her eyes. "You're so not getting the rest of them."

"The hell I'm not," Andy disagreed. "I won 'em fair and square."

With that, he flung the covers off himself, draping them over Sharon in the process, and practically jumped out of bed.

With a jerked movement, Sharon freed herself of the offending item just in time to see Andy swinging his bathrobe over him and heading for the door. She was on her feet equally as quickly, grabbing and wrapping her own robe around herself as she hurried after him.

She nearly bumped into his back, however, when she reached the living room.

"They're gone," Andy whispered disbelievingly, standing rooted to the spot and staring at the coffee table.

"What's gone?" Rusty appeared out of the kitchen, a cup of coffee in his hand. His eyes landing on his mother, he added on a smile, "Good morning, by the way."

Sharon tied the sash of her robe a bit more securely, then joined Andy at his side. "Good morning," she greeted, matching his smile, then chanced a glance at Andy, a dumbstruck look on his face. When it didn't seem like he would be responding to Rusty's question any time soon, she did so in his stead. "There was a bag of potato chips," she waved a hand at the coffee table, "there."

"Oh," Rusty followed her wave, then scratched the back of his head awkwardly, "I haven't had potato chips in like forever, so," he grimaced, realizing he perhaps shouldn't have done what he was about to admit to doing, "I may have polished it off when I came home last night."

That jump-started Andy's ability to speak. "You what?" he practically screeched.

At the same time, Sharon burst out laughing.

Andy continued incredulously. "But you ignored the half-full bowl of popcorn?" He waved a hand at the bowl that in fact still stood on the table, more than a sizable portion of popcorn in it.

Rusty winced. "I like them crunchy, and these already went stale."

"He likes them cru-" Andy couldn't even finish repeating Rusty's sentence, but looked wildly around the room, unbelieving. "Are you hearing this?" he suddenly asked Sharon.

She hid her mouth behind both of her palms, unable to contain her laughter.

Rusty frowned at this point, absolutely baffled by both their reactions. "What's the big deal?"

As Andy instantly started on a mini rant, describing exactly what the big deal was, Rusty just stared at him. For a while now, a big topic in the household was Sharon and Andy's medically conditioned diets. Sharon found it less difficult to make the transition. For as long as Rusty had known her, she was always watching what she ate, and regularly made sure he, too, ate more than just junk food or take out. Andy, however, who had actually had more time to get used to it, seeing as he was on doctor's order ever since his blood clot ordeal, grumbled about all his restrictions often enough that Rusty, and he suspected his mom, too, simply learned to tune him out, whenever he got particularly prickly about it. Like now.

The healthier diet was never forced on Rusty though. He still indulged in plenty of burgers and fries, but it had kind of become the norm for there not to be all that many unhealthy snacks lying around the house. Still, sometimes he'd go out and stock up on some, sometimes his mom would think of him and get him something, even Andy remembered to get something for him if he went on a grocery run. So when he came home last night, he didn't think twice about enjoying the bag he found on the coffee table. Their reactions now though, confused the hell out of him. Hoping to make up for it, and really to just put an end to this increasingly strange conversation, he interrupted Andy and said, "Look, I'll get you a new one."

Two simultaneous, equally as baffling, responses came at that.

"You sure will," Andy agreed threateningly.

"No need," Sharon said dismissively.

Then the duo turned to glare at each other.

Rusty gave the heavens an exasperated look, part of him truly seeking out divine help. "Not this again," he mumbled, ignoring them and going over to the couch.

"Cheat day was yesterday," Sharon said, and this drew Rusty's attention again and he turned his head to look at them. Things were beginning to make a little more sense.

"Yesterday?" Andy threw his arms out. "What yesterday? You mean those five minutes before—" He suddenly snapped his mouth shut, throwing Rusty a quick look as he obviously remembered they weren't alone.

Sharon smirked, raising an eyebrow and taking half a step back as she folded her arms in nothing if not challenge.

Rusty took a sip of his coffee, and actually sent out a quiet prayer for Andy not to take her up on it. He could already deduce much more than he wanted to, and he'd appreciate being spared any more details. Unfortunately, as Andy still considered his response, Rusty's eyes fell on the glasses Sharon had dropped on the couch the previous evening. Having eaten the chips in his room when he came home, he hadn't noticed them before. Now, however, they only further helped his deductive skills and he regretted not drinking his coffee in his room as well. He picked them up, then interrupted them just as Andy opened his mouth to finally say something. "Really?" he drawled, dangling the glasses between two fingers as if they were too sullied for full skin-on-plastic contact.

Andy rolled his eyes and snatched the glasses out of his hold, handing them unceremoniously over to Sharon. "Oh, get your mind out of the gutter," he muttered. "Nothing happened." He shot Sharon, who put her glasses on, an absolutely filthy look, and added, still in a very much grumbling tone, but quietly, for her ears only, "Not here anyway."

Rusty didn't hear what he said, but did not miss his look, and what was more, the way his mother actually squirmed, blushed and laughed all at once. He dropped his head over the backrest of the couch, squeezed his eyes shut and groaned. "Guys!"

Andy must have decided that mental image was enough punishment for his faux pas, for Rusty felt him walking past his head in the direction of the kitchen, a low chuckle emanating from him. Then a hand he knew belonged to Sharon disturbed his hair. When he opened his eyes to look at her upside down, she was smiling apologetically at him. "Sorry," she rolled her eyes at Andy's grouchy mood, "he was really excited about those potato chips."

Completely misinterpreting her words, Rusty's eyes went wide and he lifted his head, a horrified "Mom!" on his lips.

She glared at the back of his head, unimpressed. Having reached her limit for tolerating his exaggerated disgust of them, she pointed a finger threateningly at Rusty's head. "You know what," she then started following Andy into the kitchen, "just for that, you now owe us two bags." She ignored Andy's ensuing victorious laugh, then knowing Rusty would whirl around to stare at her, turned to meet his look, daring him to disobey.

Rusty instantly retreated, muttering a quick, obedient, "Yes, Mom." He flopped his head back down on the couch, and grumbled loud enough to make Sharon laugh, "I'm never eating potato chips again."

[mercedesamayajones]

Hiking Fun || Samcedes

Who: Mercedes Jones and Sam Evans

What: Sam and Banner join Mercedes, Aiden and James as they go hiking and enjoy a picnic. 

Notes: @sammy-d-evans

Mercedes zipped up the last sandwich and placed it into the bag, glancing out the window and smiling at Aiden and James ran around in the backyard. She went over her list of things they needed for the day, ensuring that she didn't forget a thing. Since they were going on a hiking trail and having a picnic, she didn't want them dragging coolers around, so she made each of them a lunchbox with sandwiches, chips, drinks, and a treat. Brownies were chosen by the boys. Grabbing the ice packs and frozen water bottles from the freezer, she loaded up each bag and smiled. Mercedes zipped up the last sandwich and placed it into the bag, glancing out the window and smiling at Aiden and James ran around in the backyard. They were ready, now all they needed was Sam.

Grabbing her hiking boots, she debated if she should go with tennis shoes but thought against it, then grabbed them just in case. Worst case scenario, she would leave them in the car. Throwing her hair into a messy bun. she glanced at herself once more, smiling at the oversized purple shirt that hung off her left shoulder and pair Capri leggings. There was a time when she would dress up to try and impress Sam, but he friend-zoned her one too many times, and she finally gave up any notion that they would be anything other than friends. No matter if she did still like him as more. Shaking off her thoughts, she called the boys in and smiled. They were going to have fun, she was sure of it.

As he made his way to the back of his truck, Sam couldn't help but smile as Banner greeted him with a wildly wagging tail. "Someone's excited to go on a hike," he spoke as he helped the dog out of the back of his truck. Sam checked if the backpack harness was still in place before he told Banner to follow him. Sam had bought Banner a backpack for hikes like this. The St. Bernard loved to work and help out, so he had him carry treats and water on most of their walks.

He reached the front door of Mercedes house and rang the doorbell, patiently waiting for someone to open the door.

Mercedes heard the doorbell, but Aiden and James ran to the door before she could get it. "Don't you boys open it unless you know it's Sam!" She yelled after them. They quickly looked out the window and yanked the door open. Smiling at Sam but going right to Banner.

Mercedes grabbed the bags and smiled, seeing the kids and Sam. "Hey, Sam! We are ready."

Sam grinned as James and Aiden forgot to greet him in favor of hugging Banner. "Be careful, he drools," Sam jokingly warned before turning his attention to Mercedes. His eyes wandered over her statue. He arched a brow in silent question when he noticed the bags. "Hey, hi. Are you bringing a whole restaurant with ya," he inquired as he reached out to take the bags from her. "I thought we could walk to the start of the trail; it's only like 10 minutes or so."

Mercedes cleared her throat. "Gentlemen! Banner didn't drive himself here. Say hi to Sam!"

"Hi, Uncle Sam." The boys said in unison, and she laughed at Sam's words. "Hardy har har very funny. It's just water and snacks and a picnic; you do realize these boys eat every five minutes, right?" She teased as she grabbed the other bag. "That's fine with me. And I am pretty sure the boys want as much time with Banner as they can get."

"Feelin' the love, guys," Sam snorted as he put his head through the straps of the bags and let them hang over his shoulder. "I know, I know, growing boys and all that...  We should be at a great spot to take a break in like 40 minutes or so," Sam mentioned as he led Mercedes towards the boys.

She laughed as she gave picked up her phone and keys, putting them in her bag. "As long as we make it fun and take breaks for the boys, I think this will be great! It's the perfect weather for hiking too. Is it true that one of the trails has a waterfall?" She handed each boy their bag. "We have extra water just in case." She said, making sure they had everything.

Sam snatched the bags from the boys and put them in his own, nodding his head in reply. "There is, but that one is a lot longer than the trail I planned for us to follow today. Maybe another time?" Sam put Banner on his leash and handed it to the boys. "Alright, all ready for an adventure?"

Mercedes smiled. "Yeah, that sounds like a plan." She locked the door as James and Aiden grabbed the leash.  Taking out her phone, she smiled, taking a few photos of the boys and Banner. "Okay, so how are you doing? How are the store and everything." She asked Sam looking at him for a moment before looking back at the boys.

"I'm good, and so is the store. People really found their way there, and I managed to build a steady stream of loyal customers," Sam started as he led the way outside. Then, after telling Banner to follow him, knowing that the dog would keep the boys from running off, he turned his attention back to Mercedes. "Met up with Quinn yesterday; it was nice getting to catch up with her after all this time. But enough about me, how are you?"

"That is really great! I mean, your store is pretty impressive, so it makes sense you would have a loyal following." As they walked towards the trail, she listened to him speak. "Really? I am so glad she is back for good. We talk so much, but it's been a while since we lived in the same place."

"You've talked to her while she was away," Sam inquired, the surprise of hearing Mercedes say that evident in his voice. "But yeah, it's nice she's back." Sam looked over his shoulder to check if Banner and the boys managed to keep up with them. Then, satisfied that they were, he turned the corner, bringing them to the start or the trail. "And how are things with you? What's this thing you needed a second opinion about?"

Mercedes nodded. "Yeah, we try to talk at least once a week, sometimes more, but now that she is here, I am so happy." Mercedes let the kids move in front of them as they moved to the trail. "Okay, guys, do any of you have to go to the bathroom before we get started?" They shook their heads no, and she nodded. They did go before Sam got there. As they started, she worried her bottom lip. "Umm, well, it's pretty big, and I don't know if it's a good idea."

"I always thought she just disappeared without a trace and didn't have contact with anyone," Sam wondered out loud. The feeling that washed over him stung. He felt somewhat hurt and left in the dark about how his friend had been doing all these years by another one. He swallowed and decided to shake off the feeling. Sam looked at Mercedes. "Sounds serious... what's this big thing?"

Mercedes sighed. "To her credit, she tried, but like with you and everyone else, I made sure we kept in touch." She let them walk in silence, feeling the weight of his stare. Finally, after a few more moments, she cleared her throat. "I want to give Aiden a sibling. I am thinking of using a Sperm Donor."

"It's a little hard to keep in touch when you don't know their number," Sam thought to himself while he nodded in understanding. He almost stumbled over his feet as her words sunk in. "You... oh wow, yeah okay, that's huge."(edited)

Mercedes studied Sam for a moment and waited for his response. She nodded, biting her bottom lip. "I have even looked into possible donors, but it's daunting. What if I choose the wrong one? What will people think of me being a single mom with two kids? But I love Aiden and James, even if he is just my Godson. I am ready to have another one.

"I don't think they'd think any different of you being a single mom of two or just one now," Sam rushed to tell her, trying to take some of her fear of other people's opinions away. "Why a donor, tho? Why not adopt one? There are so many kids out there that need a good place to call home."

Mercedes sighed. "I thought about it, and I do want to adopt; I had always planned on doing it when Aiden got older. Like what my parents did with Cam. But for right now, this is what I want, what I need."

"What brought it on, this sudden need to have another kid now? Is it Aiden starting kindergarten," Sam asked, letting his eyes wander to the front to check if the boys were still walking along the path. "So you might still adopt in the future? That's cool." Then, remembering how Mercedes started the conversation, he circled back to that. "Have you looked at donors already?"

Mercedes chewed her bottom lip. "Honestly, it's been in the back of my mind for a while. We always..." She sighed. "The plan before Aiden... the plan was when he was three we would give him a sibling. When he was 8, we would adopt at least one child that way he could understand and help his sibling understand." She looked at Sam but then back to the boys. "I have felt so guilty for so long about moving on, but it's time to stop feeling guilty and start living again...love may or may not be in my future again, but at least I can have my family." She nodded. "Yeah, I could use some help, though."

Sam nodded in understanding. "Life can throw you a ton of curveballs along the way," he said. "I didn't really know Aiden, but I'm sure that he would have wanted you to be happy in the end. And if this is the way to do that, he'd totally understand that you're moving on. And still, kinda keep with the plans you two made when it comes to kids." Sam slightly tilted his head to the side as he looked at Mercedes. "What kinda help?"

Mercedes chewed her bottom lip. "He was a lot like you if I'm honest. Not as funny; he couldn't do impressions to save his life." She glanced at Aiden.  "I know he would; I'm just sad about it. His parents didn't accept me, and so they didn't accept Aiden, and he will miss out on knowing that half of his family, he deserves to have us here." She stopped talking, not wanting to make things awkward if Sam was just being nice and not really wanted to talk about him. "It's overwhelming trying to find a donor."

"So he was ruggedly handsome, got it," Sam joked, trying to lighten the mood somewhat. "You know, it's their loss. Yeah, Aiden's missing out on knowing that part of his family, but they won't get to see what a great kid Aiden fathered. And they're missing out on getting to know their grandson. Maybe they'll come around one day when they realize what they are missing." Sam told Mercedes. "I bet it is. Especially if the donor wants to stay anonymous and they only let you know the basics."

"Oh, for sure!" She laughed. "So handsome." She sighed. "I know you are right, and I know that he is gonna ask, and eventually I will have to tell him the truth; it's just...sad." She looked at Sam, grateful that he let her talk about Aiden; it had been a while since she had been able to do that. She nodded. "All of them want to stay anonymous, which does suck, but at least Aiden won't wonder why the baby gets a dad, and he doesn't..."

As Sam listened to Mercedes, he couldn't help the confused look that washed over his face. "The baby gets a dad, and he doesn't...? That doesn't make any sense. Aiden has a dad, and he knows that. And the baby kinda will have a dad in the same way... I mean, the baby wouldn't know their dad, won't even have a picture of the dude. But, at least Aiden knows who his dad is and what he looked like."

Mercedes shook her head. "That came out wrong. I mean, if the donor wasn't anonymous and wanted to be in the baby's life, there is no way to guarantee that he would want to be in Aiden's life. And at this age, Aiden might wonder why the baby's dad is around, and his isn't. At least this way, all they know is me." She sighed. "I am sorry, I am just trying to make sense of all this, and I am afraid I am not making sense at all."

"Not really, no," Sam admitted, sounding as confused as he was feeling. "Do you want to know who the donor is, and you want them in not only the kid's life but also Aiden and yours, or do you want them to be anonymous? I think that's what you need to figure out first. And go from there. If you want to have a donor that is involved or at least one that you know, then go look for one that also wants that and wants to be in Aiden's life."

Mercedes watched the boys for a long moment, laughing and playing with Banner. "I can't be selfish, Sam. I am the one who wants this baby; I don't know any man who will gladly give me his sperm and want to not only be a father to our child but be one to Aiden, that would be like making this man have an instant family which isn't fair to him. It's not fair to want more than what I am supposed to get."

"So you want another kid, but you also want the whole family thing with the donor?" Sam asked. "You're not selfish; you just need to be clear upfront with whoever you end up asking. Because it sounds to me like you don't really want your donor to be an anonymous one."

She laughed. "I want the family, I want Aiden to have a dad, I want the new baby to have one, and I want a partner, so I don't have to do this alone." She looked at Sam seriously. "That being said, unless I find someone who wants to be with me, I am not gonna get the whole family vibe. Like this, this would be perfect." She gestured around the trail. "But it's not happening.  So If all I can get out of this is a baby, then that is what I will take." She wanted more than anything for days like this, family walking together laughing; it would be easy to hold Sam's hand and pretend,  but she wouldn't.

Sam scraped his teeth over his bottom lip, not sure how to react to all Mercedes just said. "I'm sure you'll meet someone that wants to be with you for all the right reasons one day, but yeah, that will take time. And if you really want a baby now, then a donor is your best option."

She sighed. "Yeah." She glanced at Aiden. "I may not be able to get everything I want, but I can do this. But you have to help me pick a donor; I could use the help."

"Who says you won't be able to get everything you want? Yeah, it will take time to find someone that wants to be with you and give you that family you so want, but in the end, that's the same for everybody that's looking for someone to spend their life with." Sam nodded. "I can totally do that. Set aside the ones that sound interesting to you, and I can look over whatever information you have about them."

She shrugged. "I am just not gonna focus on that. And focus on the things I am in control of. Looking for someone to spend your life with is too much a gamble." Especially when the only candidate in your life friend-zoned you. She thought to herself. She gave him a soft smile. "Thanks, Sam. I really appreciate that."

Sam looked at her, a frown on his face. "Never say never, love, find a way to sneak up on ya when you least expect it." He spotted the clearing he had in mind for their picnic and sharply whistled to get Banner's attention. "Break time," Sam called out to the boys. "So are you going for an anonymous donor, or do you have people in mind you might want to ask, so you at least know the person?"

She watched the boys running to keep up with Banner as they ran back to her and Sam.  She didn't say anything because if it happened, great! If not, then she wouldn't get her hopes up. "I don't know. I mean, it's not like I can ask someone like you to be my baby daddy. That would make for an awkward conversation, and I would say we have had enough awkward times." Her mind went to when she tried to kiss him a few years back, and he firmly placed her in the friendzone.

"Why not? If you can't even ask one of your best friends something like that, who else would you ask. I'd need some time to seriously think about it and talk to Even and my folks if it ever came up because it's not a decision to take lightly tho." Especially since he hasn't even thought about having kids himself. Sam shrugged when Mercedes mentioned them having awkward times. He had a feeling that she meant the time when he friend-zoned her. Right when most people in town were convinced that they would end up together.  Sam friend-zoned Mercedes because he couldn't give her what she wanted. He didn't feel the same as she did.  "We managed to stay friends through it all, didn't we? And that's what matters most."

Mercedes spread out the blanket and sat down. "Sam, I wouldn't ask you that because I have never even heard you mention kids. Though you are great with them. I wouldn't ask you something this big and have you feel obligated to say yes." She sighed, wanting so much to push all her feelings for Sam away, but some lingered for sure.  "Yeah, we remained friends, and I wouldn't want to lose that."

"Who says I'd feel obligated to say yes? I just told you that I would have to think about it and talk to my folks and Even about it before making any decision. So don't say I'd only say yes because I feel obligated to help out a friend." Sam sighed softly, letting his fingers run through his hair before he looked at Mercedes. "Look, this maybe isn't the time to talk about it; I mean, the boys are almost within hearing distance. If you want my help to find a suitable anonymous donor, I'm here for you. And it's up to you to make up your mind which of your friends you want to ask if you want the donor to be someone you know and who can maybe play a role in the baby's life. I think any of your friends would ask for time to think about things before agreeing to become your donor. It's not something you should rush into; that's all I'm saying. "

Mercedes nodded. "I know you better than that, Sam. I am just. I just wanted to get that out there. But you are right, how about we just table this, for now, you really have given me a lot to think about. And I do appreciate it." She watched as the boys came close. "For now, let's enjoy this beautiful day, which, thank you for doing this."

"If you really did know me better than that, then you'd know not to put words in my mouth or assume that I'd react one way or the other. You know I hate that." He gave her a slight smile. "No problem, it's my pleasure. I like spending time with you and Aiden and, of course, James as well."

She didn't look at him, sometimes she just said what she was thinking, it happened, but it was no point in dwelling on it. She nodded. "We like spending time with you and Banner, though pretty sure Banner is coming out on top right now."

"as usual, feeling the love," Sam chuckled as Banner sat in front of him. "I've got you, buddy," he said, opening one of Banner's backpacks and taking out some food and water for the dog. "It's a shame the weather is getting colder; else, we could do this more often."

Mercedes laughed, grabbing the wipes out for the boys to wipe their hands. "He's a dog, but trust when it's time to hear a story, they choose you." She nodded, looking around. "I know, but maybe there is some indoor thing we can do."

"We can always look into that climbing wall thing Billy is setting up," Sam suggested.

Mercedes smiled. "You know, Billy was saying he could set it up for Aiden's party; maybe we can check it out to see if it is something A and J like." She said, handing the boys their lunches. She reached in her bag and handed Sam his. "Made your favorite Sandwich and got your chips too."

"Yeah, we can do that.' Sam took the sandwich from Mercedes, setting it aside for a bit. "Thanks."

She looked at him. "Not hungry?"

"Uhh, oh no, I'll eat in a bit. Want something to drink first." Sam replied, digging up the bottle of water he brought with him.

She nodded, watching the boys laughing and whispering. She was glad James and Aiden got on so well; it would have sucked had they not. And it just made her want to give him some kind of sibling in the future.

Sam was actually enjoying the small hike and watching the boys play. It reminded him of the days where it was just Even and him running around all over their grandparent's farm. He finally took a bite from the sandwich. "This is good."

Mercedes offered him a small smile as she ate her own sandwich. "I know the boys are going to sleep very well tonight!"

"That's the outdoor air for ya; it totally has a relaxing effect," Sam told her. "Plus, by the time we're back, they'll have walked at least 3 miles. It's why I brought Banner along. If they get too tired, they can always climb on his back, and he'll walk them home."

She smiled. "I spent so much time on buses and in venues now I like to be outside as much as I can. Plus, it's a great way to keep Aiden entertained." At his words, she looked to Banner relaxing on the ground. "Thanks for that. I am sure at least one of them will need it."

"and that's why hiking would be a good hobby to have," Sam told her. He chuckled softly as his eyes took in Banner. "He loves helping; it's like in his DNA or something."

Mercedes smiled. Staring at the scene before her. This was what she wanted; she knew Sam just saw her as his friend. And she was okay with that on most days... But moments like these, she wished for more. Wished she could lean on him watching the boys talk and chat. Hold his hand. And that brought a look of sadness on her face for the briefest of moments.

[applepiry]

Karasuno Uni (Chap 3)

Chapter 3 - Saturday Afternoon

Contains: Jealousy as always, Flirting, smidgens of xNoya and xHinata Pairing: Short Fem Reader x Multiple Haikyuu Characters  Ry: Look at that i’m blushing ;;  WC: 4.4k+ 

YN- Your Name || LN - Last Name || YNN-chan - Your Nickname (From Family) || B#1 - Brother #1 Oldest Brother || B#2 - Brother #2 Second Brother 

---------------------

It had been an extremely awkward walk to the bus stop with Kageyama and Hinata, and when you had gotten home you had told Kenma you had decided to go to sleep instead of playing. You had taken a long, hot shower and paced around for a while before you ended up passing out on your plush couch while sketching to calm your mind down. 

You had woken up to sunlight in your eyes, and had made yourself your favorite hot beverage before you even began to think about what today would hold for you. Finally, when you look at your phone, you see so many texts from last night from Noya, Hinata and Tanaka, as well two from this morning, one from Kenma and another from Kageyama. Geez, these boys were going to drain all your energy before you could even get ready to go. 

Texting Kenma first, the safest choice, you send; “Good morning. Sorry for not meeting you online. I was so exhausted. Let’s play tonight tho!ヽ(・∀・)ﾉ”

After that, you send a very similar good morning text to Noya, Tanaka and Hinata; “Morning! Can’t wait to kick your butt in any game we play! \(^ヮ^)/ ”

One last one, texting Kageyama a reply; “Morning, how did you sleep? ٩(ˊ〇ˋ*)و”

Doing your usual morning routine, you play your favorite music, dancing around as you ready yourself. Humming along to the song, you pick out an outfit that was going to be comfortable for all day; some slightly loose fit jeans that hugged your hips and thighs, a graphic u-neck t-shirt, and your favorite hoodie. 

Right as you grab your phone, it goes off with a text from Noya, saying to head over whenever, as he was up now. Looking at the clock, it was almost 9:00 now, so it was a good time to head out anyway. Grabbing your backpack and putting the essentials, you also add some snacks, your phone, a charger and your 3DS into it. 

 You put on socks and laced up your shoes, lock up, and walk down the steps, seeing your grandparents out in the courtyard having their morning tea. 

“Ojiisan! Obaasan!” you say happily as you reach them, giving them greeting kisses on their heads.

“Going out, YNN-chan?” your grandma wonders with a sweet smile.

“Yes, I was just about to tell Mom, is she in the shop?”

“No, she’s out at the store. Your father is, though,” your grandpa tells you, “We’ll tell them for you later, go have fun today, okay?” he tells you, handing you some money and patting your hand. 

You thank him several times before grabbing your bike, glad that Noya had been so excited he texted their address to you last night. Right before you leave, you remember something and run into the bookshop, grabbing the next volume of a manga that Noya and Hinata had mentioned liking, shoving them into your bag before heading out on your bike, music playing in your headphones. 

-------------------

After half an hour, you come up to a three story apartment building, finding a place to lock your bike into place. Finding the right door on the third floor, you knock twice, rocking on your heels only once before the door flung open. 

“You came!” Noya’s happy voice filled your ears, his hand grabbing yours as he ushered you in. It seemed like a basic three bedroom, one bath apartment with a small living room and kitchen. The living room had a huge tv with two consoles under it, many games and manga lining shelves, several arm chairs, a few beanbags and a three seater couch in the middle. 

“Of course,” you say with a soft laugh. “Why wouldn’t I?”

“Well, girls aren’t... usually interested when we invite them for video games,” Noya replies honestly with a shrug. “But whatever! I’m so stoked you came,” he added. He leads you to the couch and offers you some water, coming back with a bottle and handing it to you. “Taka is still asleep, we stayed up kinda late,” he laughed out.

You nod and take a sip of water, “Really? I went to sleep right after I got home… I don’t know how you didn’t pass out after that game!” you respond with your own laughter.

“We can’t usually sleep right after a game. Takes time to wind down!” 

“Makes sense.” You stare at your water bottle, wondering what to say. 

“Any games you like to play the most?” he wonders, your eyes finally landing on his face. 

You realize how close Nishinoya sat to you, despite there being ample room on the couch. His eyes lock with yours, the two of you seemingly moving closer to each other with each slowly creeping second. Your breath hitches and you prepare yourself, a hundred percent ready to kiss this man in front of you, right here, right now. It wouldn’t be your first kiss, no, but your first in a long time. 

Finally feeling the softest of connection from his lips, you go to close your eyes before the feeling is gone in a flash, his entire body across the couch in the blink of an eye. You sit there, confused and concerned you had done something wrong until you hear what he had obviously heard. 

Footsteps.

A door swings open and you hear a loud yawn, “Uggh, what time is it?” Tanaka grumbles, wearing nothing but boxers as he scratches his bottom. 

Your face heats up instantly, looking away and fidgeting. 

“Taka! YN is here!” Noya says, throwing a blanket from the couch at him. 

Tanaka’s face turns blank,  and he makes an ungodly sound as he goes back into his room with a slam. A moment later he comes out wearing sweats and a bright smile as if nothing had happened, “Hey YN, how are you this morning?” he asks with a new found confidence in his voice. He obviously didn’t mind being shirtless in front of anybody, you had noticed. 

“Oh, yaknow, not bad. I fell asleep on my couch, though, so my backs a little sore,” you tell him with a soft laugh.

“Want me to rub it?” Tanaka offers without any hesitation.

Your face goes hot and you shake your head, holding up your hands, “N-No, that’s fine. If anything, I should give you guys a massage after that awesome practice match! It was so cool to watch a game up close,” you tell them with a soft chuckle. 

“I’ll totally take you up on that!” Noya replies with a grin.

“I’m cool…!” Tanaka said, grinning ear to ear. 

SLAM!

All three of you turn and see a blonde girl coming out of the last room, looking extremely exhausted. 

“Long night at the bar, Nee-chan?” Noya asked with a grin.

“Very! But I made lots of tips,” she said grinning back before she realized you were there. “Oh, who's this? A girl?” she snickered, jumping over the back of the couch and sitting beside you. “Wow, you’re hot~” licking her lips she leaned in close and touched your cheek gently. 

“Saeko! This is our new manager we were telling you about!” Tanaka said from between gritted teeth, annoyed with his big sister. Well, more like jealous of her touching you so casually. 

“Oh that’s right! LN-chan, right?” she wondered, smiling at you. 

You nodded, leaning in a bit to her touch, not at all phased with women touching you. “Yes, YN is my first name,” you tell her, looking up at her with interest. You always admired a confident woman, and women weren’t at all that hard to get along with. Perhaps the fact you had never been a threat in middle and high school kept them genuinely nice towards you, but it had been an overall pleasant experience. 

Saeko’s face went pink for a moment before she grinned, “I like you, YN-chan!” she laughed, pulling away and hopping up. She heads into the kitchen and rummages around, “Hey, are you going to stay for lunch, YN-chan?” she calls to you.

“Oh, well if that’s okay?” you wonder, looking towards Noya and Tanaka, both who were trying to find ways to get closer to you.

“Hinata and Kageyama are coming sometime, too,” Tanaka adds.

 “Let’s go get stuff for hot pot later then,” she calls back, coming back into the living room. “Who wants to go?” she wonders, looking around.

“I don’t mind?” you say.

“Me!” both Tanaka and Noya say at the same time, then look at each other.

“Perfect, I'll take Tanaka!” Saeko says with a grin, “You can carry all the bags back,” she adds as she goes to her room to get changed. 

“Argh!” Tanaka groans and stomps into his own room with an annoyed look.

Noya looks away, but you can tell he’s grinning to himself. 

-----

After the two leave with protests from Tanaka, you fidget for a moment on the couch, your eyes flickering to Noya after a few moments. Locking once more with the beautiful pair, his eyes remind you of dark honey, your lips part in a way that Noya obviously finds inviting. His eyes flicker down to your lips, his body shifted towards you. 

“Can I…?” his words barely register before your own answer is out. 

“Yeah,” is all the acknowledgment he needs before he's back beside you. 

In a moment, his lips nearly crash against yours, his body pressed against yours. Your eyes are closed as your hands find their way up his chest and hold onto his shoulders. One of his hands finds its way to your lower thigh, resting there as the other rests on your cheek. His lips feel so soft against yours, moving sweetly against yours despite being so deep at first. Wet warmth crosses your bottom lip, his tongue asking for entrance. Parting your lips as a reply, his tongue is exploring your mouth, making your knees quiver a bit, you definitely hadn’t expected this style of kiss. Finally, the two of you part, panting softly in synch, staring deep into each other's eyes.

“Wow,” you murmur once you catch your breath.

Noya’s face spreads into a grin, his thumb running over your jeans, gently pressing into your soft thighs. “Yeah, seriously…” he says, licking his lips. 

Your hands gently squeezed onto his shoulder for a moment before letting go, sliding down his chest. “U-Um.. want that massage?” you wonder, shifting a bit. “A-A shoulder massage?” you add quickly, biting your bottom lip gently.

He nods happily, “I’d love that!” he says excitedly, and moves himself, getting onto a beanbag in front of you, so he's now leaning back in between your legs. Leaning his head back even further to look up at you as you begin rubbing his shoulders, he hums happily before speaking again. “Hey, do you think-”

Knock Knock Knock!

Both of you look towards the door, wondering who in the world was here, knocking. Noya jumped up quickly and went to the door, peeking out the eyehole. He let out a deep sigh, “It’s Hinata,” he says, his face turned away from you as he opened the door. “Hey Hinata!” he greets him happily, ushering him in. 

Hinata happily says hello to Noya, then sees you on the couch and stiffens a bit, “YN-chan!” he trots over to you and sits beside you, “Did you guys get the new volume in yet?!” he wonders. When he and Kageyama had dropped you off at your stop, you had mentioned during the walk your family owned a bookstore, and Hinata had asked you to keep an eye out.

Noya quickly takes his place in the beanbag between your legs before Shouyou notices it. He acts as if this is normal, and begins turning on the tv as you answer Hinata.

“Oh, yeah!” you say, grabbing your backpack and pulling it into your lap. You pull the manga out, setting them down on the table, leaning across right beside Noya’s head. As you pull back, your breast brushes against Noya’s head, causing both of the boys to stiffen. Hinata watching your chest closely, and Noya staring straight ahead, savoring the feeling. Your breath hitches for a moment as you lean back, swallowing hard, “S-Sorry, Nishinoya-senpai…” you murmur. 

He turns to you with a grin, although his face shows he's panicking inside as he gives you a thumbs up, “Nothing to apologize for!” he proclaims, turning back to look over the manga.

Hinata shifts a bit and turns away, grabbing one of the manga off the table. “Thank you so much! I didn’t expect you to bring them! I could have stopped by later,” he laughed. He starts rummaging through his pockets, pulling out some money for you.

You smile and shake your head, “You can still stop by any time,” you tell him. You close his hand and push it back, “No need to pay me for any of this,” you declare.

“What?! No way! You can’t just give me something without getting something in return!” Hinata whined.

“It’s totally fine, I wanted to get you guys something, so I got you and Noya-senpai the manga volumes! Ah, I haven’t figured out anything else for anyone, though,” you explain, scratching your neck gently as you nervously spoke. You weren’t sure what their reactions would be.

Noya tilted his head back and grinned at you again, holding the book, “Thanks so much! I really appreciate it,” he told you, leaning slightly so his back was touching your legs. He opened his mouth to ask a question, but Hinata spoke first.

“Wow you’re so nice…!” Hinata says, and unable to help himself, wraps his arms around you and hugs you, squeezing you for a moment before letting go. “AH! I hope that was okay…” he says, fidgeting. 

A smile spreads across your face, “I don’t mind. I actually like hugs,” you tell them, feeling a bit more confident around them. The fact that you could relax around both of them, and they both seemed to think highly of you, helped the situation. 

Hinata’s face goes red and he nods. Both of them look like they have something to say when the clicking of the door’s lock causes everyone’s heads to turn. Tanaka and Saeko had returned with the groceries, since the store really was only around the corner. 

“Oh, Hinata is here!” Saeko says as she comes in, holding only one bag in each hand, heading to the kitchen. “I wonder when Kageyama will show up?” she wonders to mostly herself as she starts putting stuff up. Tanaka isn’t far behind, helping put the groceries up before he greets Hinata, his gaze going to Nishinoya who hadn’t left his spot between your legs. Noya was sitting firm, not willing to jump up to help like he usually would, focusing on the tv and acting as if he was finding something for entertainment. 

“Oh, hey, Tanaka-senpai, what kinds of things do you like?” you wondered.

“Me? Hm, well, I like video games, meat and melon bread, and hot girls!” he tells you, grinning.

To most people, that would not have been helpful but you had a secret, something you never shared. You loved to bake, and were rather amazing at it. You could totally make melon bread, you had been thinking of making milk bread for Kageyama last night but had been way too tired. In fact, you had started pre-mading nearly all the pastries on Sunday for the little cafe in the bookstore these past two months. Then your parents would bake them as needed. 

“I can work with that,” you say with a soft laugh. 

“What do ya mean?” Tanaka wondered.

“She’s getting everyone on the team presents!” Hinata chirped happily.

“Doesn’t that sound like something that should be a surprise, Hinata-chan?” Saeko said, laughing loudly.

“It’s okay! It is for a present,” you laugh it off, not minding. It wasn’t like any of them knew exactly what you’d be getting anybody.

“She got me manga!” Noya said, holding up two volumes with a large grin.

Hinata did the same, nodding happily, “Me too!”

“That’s awesome! I can’t wait to get a present from a pretty girl!” Tanaka said happily, dazing off into his own daydream.

“It’ll be monday if that's okay?” you wonder. You would be busy most of tomorrow, but you knew you could make an extra few melon breads during that time.

“Whenever is fine with me!” Tanaka replies, grinning as he sits beside Hinata on the couch. “What are we gonna play?” he asks Noya.

Noya grinned at him, “Any of the Kario games we have, it’s like the only series we have that’s four player,” he said, shifting through the game selection to find the perfect one. 

“Oh, do you guys have Kario Kart?” you wonder with a sparkle in your eye, freakishly good at that game.

“Oh heck yeah we do!” Noya pulled it out, putting it in the gaming console as everyone picked a controller. 

“I love playing this game,” Tanaka said smugly, “I’m pretty damn good at it.” You were sure he was trying to impress you, but they seemed to forget who your friend was already. 

You had spent hours upon hours playing games with Kenma, Kuroo and your brother. You and Kenma preferred to join as a team, but on the occasion you were on opposite teams, things got heated as the two of you were competitive. 

“I am too!” Hinata said with a grin, enjoying sitting next to you. 

Knock Knock! 

“Ah, that must be Kageyama!” Noya said, hopping up and leading to the door, opening it and ushering Kageyama inside. 

You wave, “Morning Kageyama,” you say as you fiddle with one of the controllers, picking a character as you, Hinata and Tanaka all get ready to play a round.

“Morning... is this why you didn’t text back?” Kageyama wonders as he sits in one of the empty chairs, eyes flickering to your chest for a moment before looking back at your face. 

Your face flushed a bit, surprised he was being so upfront. “Oh! Yes, I’m so sorry, I rode my bike here and forgot to check my phone,” you laugh, feeling a bit bad you had forgotten to text him back. You pull out your phone, checking the messages, even if it is too late now. You quickly reply to Kenma as Noya sits between your legs in the beanbag, all of them watching you closely. 

“Come on and put that away! Let’s play~” Hinata says, just barely noticing the contact name out of the corner of his eye. 

“Sorry,” you reply as you put it away, picking the controller back up. 

“Alright, let’s play!” Tanaka shouts happily, “You can play next, Kageyama,” he says as he begins the game once Noya picks out his character.

It went on like that for a few hours, everyone switching around as you all played games until around noon, when Saeko started the hotpot. Noya was the first to suggest turning on a show in the background as you all gathered for lunch.

Your phone began going off right as you had taken your first bite. “I wonder who that is…?” you wonder mostly to yourself as you go to your bag, finding your phone and answering it. “W-Wait, hold on, slow down,” you said as you heard your mothers frantic voice, asking where you had been and why you didn’t tell them you were leaving for so long. “I told grandpa!” you tried to tell her, but she wasn’t having it. “F-Fine, I got it… See you soon,” you finally mutter, hanging up the phone and frowning a bit. You turn back to see all four boys, and Saeko, watching you from around the corner of the kitchen. 

“Do you have to go already?” Hinata and Noya whined together.

“Was that your mom?” Kageyama wonders.

“Man we were just starting to have fun!” Tanaka complains, heading over to you. 

“Yeah, I’m really sorry. It seems my grandparents forgot to tell my parents I was leaving, so now my mom’s all mad…” you explain, sighing. You weren’t upset with your grandparents, though, as you knew their memories were slipping due to old age. Plus, you had had a lot of fun and knew you’d definitely be coming back to hang out again. 

“Want to take some hot pot?” Hinata asks, which earns him a smack from Kageyama.

“How is she supposed to do that, dumbass?” he grumbles.

“So mean!” Hinata whines.

“It’s okay, thank you for thinking of me, Hinata,” you say, smiling at him. 

“Here take this as a snack~” Saeko offers, handing you a protein bar. She hugs you tightly, “And be safe okay? Here, have my number so you can text me anytime!” she says happily, taking your phone and putting her number in it. You hug her back, feeling a bit embarrassed with all the boys staring at you, but enjoy the way it feels. 

All of a sudden, Noya and Tanaka are hugging you too, “Yeah be safe! Text us!” they say as they hug you and Saeko. Hinata joins in, leaving Kageyama to awkwardly stand in the corner. You laugh and agree you’ll text everyone once you’re back home. 

“Oh, wait YN,” it’s Hinata as he moves quickly towards you, “Can we go together? I just saw the text from my mom! She needs me to watch Natsu,” he explains, sighing a bit, being made to watch his little sister's babysitter still, at the age of 18. Not that he minded watching her, but he had been having fun too.

“Dang, Kageyama, you should check your phone too or everyones going to be banned from coming over, jeez!” Tanaka complained. 

“I don’t have any younger siblings, though? And my mom knows I’m here.” Kageyama replies, confused but still looks at his phone just to check. “Nope, no messages.”

“It was a joke,” Tanaka laughs and slaps Kageyama’s back.

“I’m really sorry guys, again,” you say, bowing to all of them again before nodding to Hinata, not minding if he took you home, or at least part of the way. You honestly weren’t sure where this place was compared to yours. Last night, you had taken the bus, having forgotten your own bike, while he had ridden his bike home. And you hadn’t ever gone home together before. 

The two of you had bikes, so you agreed to race to the base of the mountain, apparently his family’s house was on the other side. 

“Wow, so close! Only right down the mountain!” he said excitedly when you had told him which street to stop at.

The bookstore you lived above was near the base, a two story building, the bottom being the bookstore and the top being your home with a balcony overlooking the courtyard, the entire outside surrounded by six foot walls that connected the two buildings. The back building was a four bedroom house, which your parents and grandparents lived in and had been your mothers childhood home. You had spent summers here, and some winter breaks, but your hometown was a bit further away. 

It was odd, you wished you had somehow met Hinata back then, when you had wished for someone your age to play with when your brother would pick on you and run off with his own friends. 

“I won!” Hinata shouts, breaking your thoughts as you realize you got to the corner across from your house. 

“Darn it! I spaced out!” you groan, hopping off your bike and walking it the rest of the way.

“Wow, this is where you live? I’ve been in this bookstore before!” he said as the two of you crossed and you stopped in front. You invite him in, going through the gate and parking your bikes beside one anothers. 

“I need to go find my mom, but thanks so much for bringing me home,” you tell him, gently biting your lip as your eyes flicker to his soft looking lips.

“Thanks for the manga… and hanging out with me, u-um! I mean us!” he stammered, obviously nervous, but you had caught him looking at your lips too. 

Gently placing your hand over his mouth to stop his ramblings, you lean up, moving your hand just in time to plant a sweet kiss on his lips. 

“I enjoyed hanging out with you,” you whisper, having just barely pulled away. 

His face was bright red, but something in his eyes told you he wanted more. Leaning in again, he pressed his lips to yours, his hand finding your waist to pull you in. It surprised you since you weren’t sure if he was going to actually do it, but you quickly leaned into him, kissing him deeper for a moment. Hearing a door open, you quickly pull away, your face feeling like it was on fire.

“I’ll text you, okay?” you whisper, kissing his cheek before pulling back fully, right as you hear your mother call for you.

“YN! Where have you… Oh! Who is this?” the short woman who looks similar to you, just without your eye color, walks up to Hinata and smiles at him. 

“Mom, this is Shouyou Hinata, he’s from the Volleyball Club I started managing with Kiyoko-nee-chan,” you explain to her.

“Nice to meet you, ma’am!” he nearly shouts, stiffening up. 

She laughs, “No need to be so stiff, son,” she tells him sweetly, “Nice to meet you, dear.” 

“Ah, well, I’ll see you Monday, YN, I gotta go!” he says, bowing to your mother and thanking her for letting you spend time with him before taking his bike and disappearing down the road.

“What a cutie~” your mom coos. “Well, you’re not in trouble this time… but make sure you tell us, okay? Can you go work in the cafe for a bit for me?” she asks, although you know it’s really a frequest. “I wonder when I’ll get a cute son-in-law like that?” she wonders loudly as she walks off, 

Your face goes red, mumbling as you go into the cafe, putting on an apron and getting a snack first, considering you hadn’t had a chance to finish your lunch. Once you’re at the counter, you pull your phone out of your pocket and quickly text everyone that you got home safely, as well as tell Kenma you got roped into working today. 

Jingle! Jingle! 

“Welcome!” You say, setting your phone down as you look up, your eyes going wide when you see two familiar faces, Sugawara and Sawamura Senpai’s.

“Oh, this was the right one!” Daichi said, grinning as he looked at you.

Ry: Next part is right after this~ Ohohoho May contain Daichi and Suga fun~

[katedrakeohd]

Like Father

Word count: 2908

.......

Author's Note: I wanted to get this posted for Father's Day but I got lost in Cordonia 1885 along the way, and had to make my way back. 😏😂

No warnings needed for this one, it's all emotional fluff and good feelings. You might need to keep a tissue handy though. I know I needed a few.

[Jackson Walker face claim: Jason Behr]

[Bianca Walker: Jason's wife KaDee Strickland]

[Young Drake: Atticus Behr]

Thank-you @ravenpuff02 for being my taste tester and giving me the thumbs up. 😊😂

.....

Summary: Drake and Kate are just settling in after welcoming home their newborn daughter Brooklyn. Drake receives a package from his Mom, that hits him right in the feelings and helps him reconnect with his Dad.

:: ♡♡♡ ::

- Like Father -

In the nursery at Valtoria manor, Drake and Kate Walker are spending some quiet time with their newborn daughter Brooklyn. Kate is sitting in the rocking chair cradling their little Beanie in her arms as she nurses. Drake is sitting on the rug nearby leaning up against the crib, watching them. Kate gently curls a lock of her daughter's silky fine hair around her finger, marveling at her delicate features as her tiny mouth and plump cheeks draw nourishment from her breast. She catches Drake's look of adoration and gives him a gentle smile.

"Hi there, Daddy," she says quietly.

Drake smiles back, whispering, "So how's our little girl doing?"

Brooklyn pauses her suckling, breathing a little sigh out of her nose, and then reaches out her tiny fingers to grasp the edge of Kate's robe. She looks up at her mother and blinks sleepily a few times before closing her eyes again and resuming her feeding.

Kate readjusts her hold on Brooklyn and gently rubs her back as she starts to rock, "We're doing just fine. She's looking sleepy but still seems to be hungry. Do you want to come over closer to see?"

Drake grins, an eager expression on his face as he gets up. "I'd love to. I can't help but feel a little envy at only being able to watch."

Kate giggles softly as she watches him come over to stand behind her chair. "Don't worry you'll have plenty of your own Daddy and daughter moments too."

Drake bends down to kiss Kate's cheek, placing his hands on her shoulders, and massaging gently with his thumbs. "Yes, I know. So how are you doing? Do you need anything?"

Kate sighs, enjoying the feel of Drake's warm hands. "Mmm, I could definitely get used to shoulder massages. I'm still adjusting to holding the weight of her in my arms for long periods of time."

Drake strokes his hand through her hair, dividing her long lengths and enjoying the way it waves and curls so easily as he coils and releases it from his fingers. Although it was too soon to tell, he hoped Brooklyn would have hair like Kate.

"Do you want me to get you a pillow? It would give your arms a break."

Kate tips her head back and gives him a grateful smile. "That would be wonderful. Oh, and a bottle of water?"

"Of course, anything for Mommy." He leans down to give her a kiss on the lips.

"Be right back."

On his way to the master suite, Drake meets up with his head housekeeper Marie in the hallway.

"Good morning Your Grace, how are Her Grace and the little one fairing today?"

Drake smiles at the older woman. Her jovial nature was a calming and supportive presence to have around during the settling in period for Kate and their baby. She was a mother herself and Drake appreciated her advice and suggestions.

"We're all doing well thanks. We even managed a few hours of sleep last night."

Drake rubs at the stubble on his cheek self consciously, knowing how tired he must look. He usually tried to maintain a semblance of tidiness and decorum around his household staff but Brooklyn's arrival had meant adapting to her needs over his own.

Marie juggles the laundry bundle she's carrying to hold it against her hip. She reaches out to pat Drake on the arm, giving him a warm sympathetic smile.

"I'm sure you'll do just fine. Being a new parent is an exciting and challenging time for everyone. If you need anything don't hesitate to let me or Gladys know right away."

"We will. Thanks Marie." Drake's conscience reminds him he was supposed to be doing something for Kate, and he tries to step by his housekeeper.

Marie snaps her fingers, as she remembers something else, "Oh speaking of Gladys, she wanted me to tell you that a package has arrived for you from your mother."

Drake can't hide his look of surprise, "Oh? Please have it sent up to the nursery for me."

Marie nods as she resumes her duties, "Right away, Your Grace."

Drake walks into their bedroom and makes his way to the wet bar he recently had installed. Since Christmas he'd overseen many renovations to the Manor. Despite it's stony castle type walls and grandeur the Manor at Valtoria was lacking in some modern comforts and amenities. Some bedrooms had only been heated by fireplace and were lacking any sort of heating in the bathrooms. Now they all had infloor heating.

Opening the mini-fridge behind the counter he selects a bottle of water, a cereal bar, and a cheese snack for Kate. When he had the fridge installed he'd imagined having alcohol in it, but thinking about it now he didn't see that happening anytime soon. He was a Dad now, and would probably have to keep his whiskey locked away. But that was ok. Whistling to himself he grabs a pillow off the bed and heads back to the nursery to his family.

Returning to the nursery he finds Kate lowering Brooklyn down into her crib. She smiles and beckons him over, whispering. "She just fell asleep. Is all that for me? You're so sweet honey."

Drake drops the pillow onto the rocking chair and slips his arm around Kate. "I brought you a little snack to keep your energy up."

Kate takes what he's offering and settles down onto the rug to eat her snack. Drake grabs the pillow and lays down beside her, propped up on his elbow. He lifts the hem of her robe and gently strokes her thigh as she opens her bottle of water.

Kate catches him staring at her, and reaches over to mess up his hair. "What are you staring at? I probably look terrible because I've barely slept."

He shakes his head and pulls her over to lean against him, folding his body around her. "No way. You're beautiful Kate. I could just sit here and watch you do anything all day."

Kate breaks off a piece of her cereal bar and feeds it to Drake. "Oh shush. You're just saying that because you're still traumatized from watching me squeeze out a baby."

Drake glances up at the crib as he chews, and then grins at Kate. "Seriously though, you're like my super hero. I'm never going to be able to look at your..uh. you know the same way again."

Kate pats him on the shoulder, "You'll get over it, and before long we'll be able to do things like we used to."

"How long do you think Brooklyn will sleep?"

Kate shrugs, biting off a piece of cereal bar. "It's hard to say, why?"

Drake hugs Kate around the middle and pulls her down to lay next to him. She giggles as he tucks his face into her neck and snuggles in close, his voice is muffled as he kisses her skin, "I say we should have a nap too."

"Right here on the floor?"

Drake nods, closing his eyes with a sigh. "Mmmhmm, and if she wakes up we won't be far away."

Gripping a handful of his shirt Kate soaks up Drake's body heat as she strokes his hair and kisses him on the forehead. She can't help but smile about the way Drake cuddles into her in the same way that she had just been cradling Brooklyn.

Drake inhales deeply, appreciating her scent. "Damn you smell good, different but good, it's almost like vanilla ice cream."

Kate laughs, "I've been breastfeeding. You probably smell the milk I've been leaking."

Drake shifts his position on the floor, running his fingers along the open edge of the silky fabric of her robe. "May I?"

Kate bites her lip as she feels his fingers graze against the delicate skin of her breast, seeing the curious look on his face. "You want to taste it don't you?"

Drake grins as he unties the belt on her robe and delicately lifts it away to expose her breasts. They're so beautiful and round and he gently cups one in his hand and marvels at the weight of it.

"Do they feel different? They definitely look different to me, and I'm not just saying that because I'm a guy who really likes his wife's boobs."

Kate laughs, "Of course they feel different. I need to buy a whole bunch of new bras to keep these puppies contained. And the leaking is totally random and I have to keep changing my shirt or whatever."

Drake gently strokes his thumb around the dusky pink rim of her areola and smiles as he sees a drop of milk start to form. Leaning in he collects it on his tongue, and then closes his lips around her nipple. She draws back when he tries to suck on it.

"Hey there Daddy. You only get a taste, so you better save the rest for Beanie."

Drake chuckles, then wipes his mouth. "Ok, I know she needs that more than I do. But damn that was sexy. How long before I can have you for myself?"

Kate sits up and reties her robe, smirking at Drake as he caresses her thigh. "Give me a few weeks, and let me consult my doctor. I know you're anxious, but Brooklyn is my top priority right now. Be patient."

Drake rolls over onto his back, folding his arms behind his head with a sigh. "I can be patient, dunno about lil Drake though. He has a mind of his own."

Kate gets up from the floor to check on Brooklyn. Out of the corner of her eye, she notices what Drake's talking about. "It's simply a mind over matter type of thing. Here's a suggestion, think of changing dirty diapers."

Drake grimaces, closing his eyes and chuckling quietly, "Oh yeah, that'll do it.

Kate strokes her finger down Brooklyn's soft cheek, watching her tiny hands flex and relax in her sleep. There's a quiet knock at the door and Drake sits up. "Oh right, my package."

Glancing at his lap, and raising an eyebrow Kate giggles, "Your what?"

Drake gets up and goes over to the door, "My Mom sent me a package."

Upon opening the door, Drake is greeted by a smiling Preston holding a cardboard box. "You opened it didn't you?" Drake frowns.

Preston nods, "Sorry Sir, I had to make sure it wasn't tampered with. Would it satisfy you to know there was nothing threatening inside?"

When he holds out the box, Drake takes it with a sigh. "Ok, fine. Just quit smiling at me, it's unsettling. Thank you, Preston."

Drake steps back and closes the door. When he turns, he sees Kate holding Brooklyn cradled to her chest, swaying her gently side to side.

"Oh, was that Preston?" she smiles, seeing Drake's stormy expression.

Drake doesn't answer, just rolls his eyes. He carries the box over and sets it down in the crib and opens the flaps. Kate peeks around Drake to see what's inside.

On top of various envelopes of pictures, a few smaller boxes and what looks like a folded up shirt, there is a folded piece of paper that looks like a letter.

Kate walks over to the changing table to check Brooklyn's diaper, leaving Drake alone with his things. Picking up the letter he reads:

Over at the changing table Kate hears Drake clear his throat, and when she glances over her shoulder she sees him fold up the letter and drying his eyes on his sleeve.

"Drake, honey? Are you ok?"

Leaning on the crib, and looking down at the box, Drake sniffs then mumbles, "I..I'm fine."

Kate shakes her head and then goes back to changing Brooklyn, "If you say so, but those are some fine looking tears. Seriously, what's in that box?"

Drake straightens up and tucks the letter into his back pocket, "Stuff that belonged to my Dad, and some photos and shit. Bring Beanie over and let me show you."

Kate uses a wet wipe to clean her hands, and then sanitizes before dressing her little Beanie in a fresh diaper shirt and then scoops her up into her arms. She kisses her on the forehead and then carries her over to see what has gotten Drake so emotional. "What's up Pop?"

Drake pulls an envelope of photos out of the box. "You never met my Dad, so I guess photos will have to do.”

The first photo they see is of Jackson and Bianca holding a very young Drake. He immediately blushes and tries to shuffle onto the next one.

Kate gasps putting her hand on his arm to stop him, "Awww, is that you? Oh my goodness look at those cheeks."

What about my cheeks?" Drake asks, feeling defensive. "They're perfectly boyish cheeks."

Kate giggles, "Oh I know."

Bringing Brooklyn up to her face she makes smacking noises as she smooches on her chubby cheek. "They're perfectly scrumptious. I bet your Mom gave you kisses and hugs all the time."

Drake shrugs, "I guess so. Doesn't every Mom?"

Kate shifts Brooklyn onto the other arm, untying her robe and letting her have some skin to skin contact up against her chest. "Not all Moms are the same."

Drake flips through more photos, stopping on one of his Mom and Dad kissing under one of the big trees at Walker Ranch.

"Heh, I know this tree." Drake chuckles, holding it out for Kate to see.

Kate smiles, "So do I. We kissed under it too."

The rest of the photos in the envelope show pictures of the ranch, including a young Drake sitting on a pony with a cowboy hat on his head and a big smile. He flips it over and sees cowboy Drake on Cinnamon written on the back.

Drake slips his arm around Kate's waist, pulling her to his side. “I loved that little pony.”

Kate smiles, leaning against his shoulder. “And some day Brooklyn will have her own little pony to love too.”

After looking through some other photos they swap it for another envelope. This one has fewer pictures in it. “Oooh,” Kate says, her face lighting up with surprise. “Is that really your Dad? I can definitely see the resemblance now.”

Drake rolls his eyes and tucks the picture back in the envelope, “Are you seriously going all weak in the knees for my Dad?”

Giving Brooklyn a gentle kiss on top of the head, Kate lays her down in her crib and grabs the envelope from Drake's hand and goes over to sit in the rocking chair. “Wow, you really do have the same Walker frown, and his smile.”

Drake just shakes his head and looks into the box for something else to look at. Picking up a familiar looking blue velvet box, he opened it to find his Dad's Guardian of the Realm medal. Lifting the medal away from the padding, he feels a sense of pride knowing he shares something in common with his Dad other than his genes. Closing the box again he tucks it away and takes out another rectangular shaped box. Opening it he finds his Dad's watch. Feeling a tightness in his chest, Drake chokes back a sob and his eyes start to burn with tears. Although he hated making a fuss about his own birthday as a kid, his Dad's birthday had always been a special occasion. Since his Dad was born in June, it usually meant taking a family camping trip on the weekend nearest his Birthday.

The watch he was holding in his hands was the last Birthday gift he'd ever received. Turning the watch over he sees the engraving that his Mom had gotten done on the metal case. A capital J and W were intertwined in a delicate script. Putting the watch away again in the box, he looked forward to storing it away with his own few pieces of jewelry in the wooden box on his dresser. Wiping his eyes, he realizes that Kate is watching him again.

“Must you stare at me when I'm feeling my most vulnerable?” he smirks, rubbing at the back of his neck and looking away.

Getting up from the rocking chair, Kate walks over to hug Drake from behind, and hands him the envelope of photos. With her cheek pressed up against his back, she rubs her hands up and down his chest. “It's ok Honey, you can cry in front of me whenever you need to. I'll never feel any less of you, or tease you about it.”

Drake clears his throat and glances over his shoulder at her, “But you already sort of did tease me about it not too long ago.”

“Well, yeah. Because you were trying to hide it. Just let it go Drake.”

Drake breathes in a shaky breath and covers Kate's hands with his own, his words coming out thick with emotion as he exhales. “Do..do you want to see what else is in the box?”

Kate gives him a squeeze, and sniffs back a tear of her own. “Ok, sure.”

“Let's turn on the baby monitor, and bring the box back to our room.” Drake suggests.

Kate nods, turning on the monitor hanging on the side of the crib and then follows Drake as he picks up the box and leads the way.

:: ☆☆☆ ::

@jovialyouthmusic @sirbeepsalot @emceesynonymroll @emichelle @mskaneko @speedyoperarascalparty @dcbbw @drakeandcamilleofvaltoria @pedudley @kingliam2019 @kimmiedoo5 @gardeningourmet @drakesensworld @mfackenthal @thequeenchoices @debramcg1106 @fluffy-marshmallow-heart @wickedgypsymoon @griselda1121 @indiacater @texaskitten30 @nikkis1983 @lynne1993 @bobasheebaby @drakesfiance @ravenpuff02 @moonlightgem7

@princessleac1 @janezillow @jlpplays1 @walker7519 @drakesensworld @furiousherringoperatortoad @samihatuli @walkerswhiskeygirl @fromthedeskofpaisleybleakmore @loveellamae @rainbowsinthestorm @burnsoslow @bbrandy2002 @jessiembruno @msjpuddleduck @princess-andromeda-nazario @princess-geek

[ankhashiva]

War Of Souls Chapter 16

Heya! ~Yes.It’s here.After a year of this damned writers block.And of course I’m posting it right now, freshly made and translated.I hope you’ll appreciate it!If you like my Julius Novachrono x OC fanfic, please share, like and comment, it means a lot  🥰 War Of Souls: Synopsis:  Two worlds, two sides of the same coin and an enemy wanting to destroy them. It was by wanting to protect the Earth from this enemy that she found herself projected into this other world, gravely wounded, in the Clover Kingdom. A man, whom she took for an angel, saved her life. But what she didn't know is that she should save his in turn. Because the enemy doesn’t just want these two worlds. He also resents these two people who, together, could change fate itself.This story starts a few days before Asta joining the Black Bulls. War Of Souls Chapter 16 : Nightmares and Reality - HERE CW: Angst, lots of sadness, mental torture, LOTS OF FLUFF BE WARNED OMGGGGG WHAT HAVE I DONE???

Previously It is your feelings that give you this mission. Do not reject them.

"I don’t reject them. I just intend to... lock them up if necessary."

It’s a programmed leak.

"It's not you who live with voices in the head. If I don't make this stone, madness will carry me away before."

We are you. And you are us.

"I am Katerina Bella. I am myself, I never wanted to be more."

You have no choice, neither have we.

"That’s why I’m doing this fucking rock. 'Cause I’ve never had a fucking choice."

This is not the way to go. You’re going to hurt more people than you’re going to save.

"It is not up to you to decide. I WILL TRACE MY LIFE AND SAVE JULIUS!"

My fist clenches and plunges into the workbench, breaking it in half. The cut stones roll to the ground, the pain in my knuckles is sharp, the blood beads on the broken wood. I slide down on my knees, exhausted. I put the amethyst around my neck, the cold chain contrasting with my burning skin. I feel my mana calm. I sigh, relieved. My gaze is on pink quartz, polished to perfection in a sphere the size of an orange.

"If I have to seal my heart to save the ones I love, I will do it without hesitation. No one will steal my most precious thing anymore. I will succeed where you failed, ladies. I will succeed where I failed, for lack of guts."

If I am to become... No. To become again the monstrous goddess that I was, I will. But first of all...

The Underworld is waiting for me.

???

Six months.

Six months since my return to Earth, to my home world.

Six months, during which my time stopped. Since Julius' death in Clover. Where Patri gave him the fatal blow, aided by William Vengeance's betrayal.

And where I was forcibly sent home, while the man I love was breathing his last breath.

It ruined my life.

I couldn’t save him, let alone say goodbye.

So I took refuge with my mother and father-in-law, temporarily moving in with them in Lorraine. I found a normal human life there, returning to work as a perfumery consultant in a large company.

I did not want to fall into a daily "metro-work-bed" but, pushed by my mother, worried very much for my mental health, I gave in after a month. I couldn’t, and I still can’t go back to Clover on my own. My powers aren’t strong enough to cross worlds. Aether is missing, there is only Eros and his wife Daphne who are thirty kilometers from my home, to visit me often and to invite me to endless drinking.

The first month of my return, I don’t really remember much of it. The only thing that resonated in my skull was the perpetual hangover that I felt when I drowned my grief in ambrosia, and the echo of Julius' sweet voice.

Drunken parties followed one after the other, my best friend Erika holding my hair when I puked my guts in the bathroom, Daphne handing me water bottles so I wouldn’t die dehydrated.

Even though dying has become a luxury for me ever since I totally became a goddess again. A goddess unable to save the man she loves.

Chronos had won.

I had lost everything.

But what everyone was unaware of, except Eros and Daphne, is that at the end of this month, I had used my pink quartz orb to enclose my emotions. All of my emotions.

All my emotions and feelings related to Julius, sealed in a crystal that I had polished and enchanted myself after my arrival in Clover.

If I had done this sooner, could I have saved him?

That’s a question I probably would never have an answer to. Monday, January 4, 2021

Open the store. Open the cash registers, launch the cashing program, receive the re-supply of the shelves. Prepare online orders. Greet co-workers who arrive one by one. Advise customers, sell them items. Take the lunch break, smoke cigarettes on cigarettes. Look at the pictures on my phone, those of Clover. Smoking cigarettes again on cigarettes. Falling into a picture with Julius. Looking at him calmly, without emotions. Smoking a last cigarette.

Perfume yourself, go back to work.

Counting the register, closing the perfumery. Walking in the city to reach the car, music in the earpieces. Smell the scent of black musk and sandalwood. Stop walking, turn around to find the origin of this unforgettable fragrance. But not find anything. Tu-dum

Get back on the road after a moment of doubt. Enter the car, turn on the engine, drive home. Parking in the garage next to my stepdad’s car, Steve.

Go home, kiss my mom on the cheek, fist bump with Steve. Take a shower, think about the smell after work.

Tu-dum

Sit on the couch, drink the aperitif with my family. Dinner, clear the table, go to my room. Being attacked by my two cats, Leo and JoJo. Let them sit on my legs, hidden under the blanket.

10pm

My phone is ringing.

Unknown number.

Do not answer.

Put the phone in "airplane" mode. Activate my alarm clock, fall asleep watching Steins Gate. Tuesday, January 5, 2021

Open the store. Open the cash registers, launch the cashing program, receive the re-supply of the shelves. Prepare online orders. Greet co-workers who arrive one by one. Advise customers, sell them items. Take the lunch break, smoke cigarettes on cigarettes.

Perfume yourself, go back to work.

Counting the register, closing the perfumery. Walking in the city to reach the car, music in the earpieces.

Feel the scent of black musk and sandalwood again. Stop walking, turn around to find the origin of this nostalgic fragrance. But not find anything.

Tu-dum Get back on the road after another moment of doubt. Enter the car, turn on the engine, drive home. Parking in the garage next to my stepdad’s car, Steve.

Go home, kiss my mom on the cheek, fist bump with Steve. Take a shower, think about the scent after work.

Sit on the couch, drink the aperitif with my family. Dinner, clear the table, go to my room. Being attacked by my two cats, Leo and JoJo. Let them sit on my legs, hidden under the blanket.

10pm

My phone is ringing.

Unknown number, like yesterday.

Do not answer.

Put the phone in "airplane" mode. Activate my alarm clock, fall asleep before the end of the Steins Gate season. Wednesday 13 January 2021

Open the store. Open the cash registers, launch the cashing program, receive the re-supply of the shelves. Prepare online orders. Greet co-workers who arrive one by one. Advise customers, sell them items. Take the lunch break, smoke cigarettes on cigarettes. Watch the videos on my phone, taken in Clover. Smile calmly, the heart still empty.

Perfume yourself, go back to work.

Counting the register, closing the perfumery. Walking in the city to reach the car, music in the earpieces.

For the umpteenth time, smell the scent of black musk and sandalwood. Stop walking, turn around to find the origin of this unforgettable fragrance. But find nothing, as usual. Tu-dum

Going back on the road, there is no place for doubt when madness has clearly insinuated itself in my mind. Enter the car, turn on the engine, drive home. Park in the garage, next to Steve’s car.

Go home, kiss my mom on the cheek, check in on Steve. Take a shower, think about the scent after work.

Sit on the couch, drink the aperitif with my family. Dinner, clear the table, go to my room. Being attacked by my two cats, Leo and JoJo. Let them sit on my legs, hidden under the blanket.

10pm

My phone rings, always at the same time.

The same unknown number, who never leaves a message.

Do not answer.

Put the phone in "airplane" mode. Activate my alarm clock, fall asleep in front of Steins Gate 0. Saturday 16 January 2021

Wake up without waking up. Pick up the phone, see a missed call.

It’s 10:30 in the morning.

Drinking coffee with the family. Eating an almond croissant. Take a shower, get ready, go to Luxembourg with Erika to buy alcohol and cigarettes for the evening at Eros and Daphne.

Go home to Erika, get on her 31, go to the mythical couple at 7pm sharp.

Being greeted by Daphne, always so stunning. Go into the living room, filled with familiar faces. Eros, my cousin James, Uncle Hades, my favorite cousin Persephone. Damien.

Ignore Damien.

Head for the buffet.

An appetizer for dinner.

Eat a few snacks, go to a contest of the biggest drinker with the girls.

Win the said contest.

To be completely drunk.

Smoking marijuana joints, being completely off the grid.

Isolate myself in the veranda to catch my breath. 10pm

My phone is ringing

I can’t stand it.

I pick up the phone. I’m about to scream, but a soft voice is ahead of me.

I recognize it.

Tu-dum

"After more than a week, you finally decide to pick up your phone. It’s a long time coming."

Tu-dum

I hold my hand before my mouth, trembling like a leaf. My knees slip away, I slide to the ground.

I feel the scent of black musk and sandalwood filling my lungs.

Tu-dum

Tu-dum

My heart is contracting painfully.

"Breathe... I’m here for you. I’ll always be here for you, baby." The bile settles in my throat. I swallow, then I manage to articulate gently.

"I saw you die... the dead cannot call the living..."

A little silence ensues. I must hallucinate. It must be that.

"Turn around and tell me what you see."

I obey mechanically, pivoting towards the bay window.

My vision is blurring.

White, red, gold and purple.

The colorful figure approaches me.

Tears leak from my eyes, my heart contracts painfully after more than five months of hibernation.

My phone slips from my right hand and falls heavily to the ground. A warm and familiar hand rests on my cheek, the thumb caressing the beading tear on the skin. The gold becomes a golden wheat mane by the sun, the violet glitters like an amethyst in the moonlight.

The shape is defined at the same time as my breath is blown.

The face that I missed the most in this world as in the other one finally appears to me and I can no longer rationalize my thoughts, already clouded by drugs of all kinds.

But this face so soft, so strong, so familiar smiles at me.

And the only thing I can do is throw myself into his arms. "Julius..."

I repeat his name again and again, like a litany, a prayer, a vow, to anchor this moment in reality.

His embrace tightens, his right hand on my neck, the other on my waist.

Then, after long minutes sitting on the ground, I step back to look him in the eyes.

Heterocromia eyes staring at his eyes holding the galaxy, the universe, in a purple hue.

Tu-dum

Tu-dum

Tu-dum

My thumb caresses his lower lip, fleshy and soft like a ripe apricot. A wave of well-being overwhelms my heart whose time had stopped. I desire only one thing, to embrace him with all my soul, with all my being.

Julius perceives this desire, his eyes glow brightly and his smile widens.

His hand takes mine, he kisses it. "It will have to wait, my Princess. You don’t belong here."

My trance breaks after he utters this strange sentence. Before my perplexed face, he continues.

"Nothing is a foregone conclusion. Not even this reality. Get out of this prison now. Get up and get out of this house. I opened a path for you."

"But... Julius..."

Julius helps me up and heads for the living room.

"Chronos holds you prisoner. Get out. Ignore the people here. They are illusions. Even I am one."

I look at him one last time, the incomprehension in me. But I obey him. I begin to run towards the crowded living room of my friends... Illusions from my friends. Damien tries to grab my arm, I get rid of his hold. Then Erika tries to hug me but I flee again. I run again, reaching the entrance. I open the door, a blinding blue light floods the darkness. I rush into it.

I'm finally breathing.

116

Tuesday 17 September 2019, during the night

Somewhere in the underworld

Eros felt the Aether's magic fluctuate. It had been more than two hours since the Primordial God had entered the psychic prison in which Katerina was in and he was trying to save her. And as the Primordial God of Love, Eros lent a strong hand to his favorite couple... Or at least, future favorite couple. These two have an extraordinary temporality, the labels are not enough to describe them.

The blue sphere protecting Aether disintegrated and the man landed on his feet, exhausted. Eros rushed towards him, holding him with an arm behind his back. The God of Love sat the masked God on the bench, who took off his mask in order to breathe properly. "Did the Primordial God of Time manage to get his sweet and stubborn half out of this nameless mess?" Ask Eros, already knowing the answer. His pale pink eyes stared at the tall blond, who turned his lavender eyes towards him.

"It took me a few months in that time prison, but yes, I managed to free her."

Eros laughed warmly, tapping on Aether's back. He then handed him a cup of an orange drink that the God of Time swallowed with a blow.

"After that, if Katerina doesn’t understand who you are, I will feel compelled to parade around Clover completely naked, a sign in my hand saying TAKE OFF AETHER'S MASK YOU STUPID GODDESS!" Aether, perked up by the divine drink, leaned his back against the bench, pensive.

"I have already broken some dozens of time travel laws to redirect Katerina to a less bleak future. Her making that quartz sphere was somewhere a chance and a premature act, it created a time fixed point into which I could intrude."

"But in which Chronos could also interfere, and imprison her."

Aether nodded, the features of his face pulling as he thought of Chronos.

"Right. In this life... Kat is literally freewheeling. Her actions are almost unpredictable. I only see them a few days in advance, whereas before I could predict them up to a year in advance depending on gravity. Having created this sphere months before its initial creation disrupted the course of time and of course, Chronos felt it. He took advantage of her weakness to imprison her in her sleep and change her memories. It’s a low blow." Eros replied immediately.

"A low blow that could very well add oil to the blaze that consumes Katerina. She is the Phoenix, even human, every ordeal she has undergone has drastically made her evolve. I wonder how she will react when she wakes up."

Aether scratched his chin, thinking.

"We are at a time crossroads. Knowing her character, she can very well run away for days to put her ideas in order. This time, I can’t predict exactly what his next actions will be. '

Daphne, who listened to the conversation in the distance, joined the two men, with food in hand. Eros and Aether served in the bowl of fresh fruit. "Personally, and knowing Katerina differently from you, I rather think that she will join Julius, kiss him, and then run away for a few days out of shame for having just kissed the man she loves and who she had silently promised to maintain a certain distance." Daphne said, sitting on her husband’s lap.

Eros laughs while imagining the scene.

"You should replace Apollo as an oracle, my dear Nymph." "I have already married one god, I do not intend to replace another." Retorted the interested one.

A slight smile appeared on the face of the Primordial God of Time.

Tuesday 17 September 05h

Tartarus In this part of the Underworld, imprisoning the greatest criminals and threats of the magical world, resounded a guttural cry full of hatred. The deep pit keeping the evil Titan trembled at the echoes provoked by his rage. The seal resisted the attack on his aura, alerting his jailers.

Hades appeared above Chronos' prison, an apparent mocking smile.

The God of Hell felt satisfied. Proud of his niece Rhea-Tayet, Katerina.

Proud of Aether.

The two beings capable of putting his father Titan out of his hinges.

But above all, out of harm’s way.

A small hand caressed his short snow-coloured hair. Hades turned around and saw his wife, Persephone, floating at his height. He wrapped a lock of her pink fleece on his finger.

"Soon... things will soon be better for them." Whispers Hades, hasty.

"I hope so. They deserve to be happy at last." Persephone replied, loud enough for her crystalline voice to reach Chronos.

07am

My eyes open in a heartbeat. I am dripping with sweat, my breath is erratic. I look at my phone and realize several things.

First of all, I’m still in Clover.

Secondly, it was only a few hours between my return home, my nervous breakdown in my father’s workshop and now.

Thirdly, this vision that I had.... This mental prison.... It was so realistic that I thought it was real. My reality.

Julius was dead. Killed by the captain of the Golden Dawn, who harbored an elf soul. I had returned to Earth in the same way I had arrived here, without warning. Chronos had defeated us. I leave my bed to take a shower, disoriented and the heart bruised. Everything around me seems to me attenuated, my brain is numb. My head hurts, and the weight of my wet hair doesn’t help. It seems that I unconsciously used my magic again during my sleep, my hair reaches my buttocks.

I dry myself, put on black jogging pants and a tee-shirt of the same color, put on my grey sneakers and run out of the house, passing in front of Papa in the kitchen, drinking his coffee.

I need to see Julius.

This sentence resonates in my head over and over again as I run into the nature slowly waking up, my lungs put to the test. I take an impulse to the ground and fly in the morning sky, towards the Castle.

I scan the cloister leading to the floor where Julius' office is and my heart misses a leap. Julius

He’s here... he’s really here...

I begin my descent to the cloister he is about to leave and, in a fiery volute, touches the ground, just a few metres from him.

The tall blond smiles at me and astonishment appears before my bewildered face.

I try to catch my breath, my rib cage in full effort, moving fast. The sounds are blocked in my throat.

Julius... you’re alive. you’re really alive. My gasping calms as the eyes of the Wizard King seek an answer in mine.

My body’s not responding.

And for once, I agree with my other two inner voices.

My right leg goes forward, then the left. One step at a time.

Then, my right hand grabs the white fur collar adorning Julius' cape. The left slips on his neck.

I feel the tension in his muscles, the surprise permeating them.

Time stops around us. I stand on my toes and, without understanding what I am doing, slip my lips over his, in a sweet kiss.

He doesn't repel me, though momentarily paralyzed by stupefaction, and wraps his arms around my shoulders.

The kiss becomes urgent, I dominate the dance, desperate, in a primary need to be reassured. My embrace tightens, his lips open, allowing me silently to pursue this unexpected kiss.

Our tongues dance harmoniously together, timidly then intensely. Everything seems right. Normal. Destined.

He tastes so sweet.

Addictive.

The only drug I need.

Time stops around us.

But it’s back in my heart.

[artificialqueens]

and i'll call you when the party's over (jan/gigi) - aries

summary - there are two sides to every story, but that doesn’t make either one less complicated.

a/n - (dj khaled voice) Another One. i liked the oneshot i posted a few days ago enough to attempt a companion/prequel thing that turned out to be half as long, apparently! thanks as always to alex for being a great beta and providing me with the idea for this in the first place <3

Sunday, November 29th

‘-But I’m not really a popcorn person,’ Jackie sighs. ‘It’s too salty. I don’t want to have to keep stopping to drink water if I’m watching a movie too, you know? That’s, like, triple multitasking.’

Gigi laughs, grabbing the bucket of popcorn and pulling it closer to herself, taking a handful. 

‘I like it,’ she says, her mouth now half-full. ‘You can get it sweet, though.’

‘No, but that defeats the point, i’d rather just get chocolate or something.’ Jackie turns to her left and nudges Jan on the shoulder. She doesn’t look up from her phone.

‘Who are you texting?’ Nicky asks, stealing the bucket from out of Gigi’s lap. ‘They’re stealing you from us. We need your opinion on movie snacks.’

Jan smiles and her eyes light up as she locks her phone and places it on the cushion beside her. ‘Nobody,’ she replies, but the mischievous, almost childlike grin on her face says otherwise. ‘Movie snacks?’

‘We’ve been talking about this for like ten minutes,’ Gigi sighs, irritated. ‘Weren’t you listening?’

Jan grins back at her, mock offended. ‘I was totally listening!’ She gasps. Her phone vibrates, as does the cushion. Gigi looks at it in disgust, and pretends to be nonchalant as Jan’s Fleetwood Mac ringtone echoes through the room. She sits in silence, trying her best to twist her expression into something less sour.

‘ God, just answer the phone,’ Nicky laughs. ‘We can live without your input on this for once.’ Jan grabs her phone and laughs, walking out of Jackie’s living room and closing the door behind her. 

‘Who do you think it is?’ Asks Jackie, turning her head back to face the others. Gigi shrugs, grabs the popcorn back, and shoves a handful in her mouth to stop the bitter comments before they can escape.

‘She’s been talking to that Jake guy a lot,’ Nicky suggests, picking up the tv remote. ‘From biology, or something. He seems okay, I don’t really know him.’

Jackie nods, entertained, and returns the topic of conversation to the important distinction between types of M&Ms. Gigi grabs another handful of popcorn, and stays silent.

Wednesday, December 23rd

Jackie’s never one to half-ass anything, and holidays are no exception, apparently - when Gigi arrives at her house, gift box in one hand, bottle of Bailey’s in the other, she has to take a second to drink it all in. She’s hung fucking mistletoe. Christ.

They’re all sat around the dining table, Mariah Carey is playing in the background, and for a self-proclaimed Christmas hater, Gigi’s pretty content. Jackie pulls a spinner from some board game or other out and flicks it, grinning when it lands on Gigi.

‘okay, G, you go first,’ she smiles, rubbing her hands together. ‘Who’d you get?’

Gigi grabs the gift box from the floor next to her and pushes it across the table to Nicky, whose mouth drops open in surprise. ‘No way,’ she squeals. ‘You bitch, you kept that so secret!’

‘That’s the whole point,’ laughs Jan, tapping the table in excitement. ‘Go on, open it, I wanna see!’

Nicky unties the gift bow and slides the lid off the box, grabbing its contents. ‘A necklace?’ She questions, squinting at the piece of jewellery in her hands. ‘What does it say?’

‘Prettier,’ Gigi replies. the other three glance at her, confused. ‘There was one that just said pretty,’ she explains, ‘and this, and I didn��t think you’d appreciate being second best.’

They continue around the table with gifts. Nicky buys Jackie some kind of expensive perfume that would seem insincere and impersonal from anyone else, but is so quintessentially Nicky that nobody seems to mind. Jackie gives Jan some cute flower earrings and a gift card to a bakery that she loves. 

‘So you can stop hassling us for cupcakes,’ she explains, and Jan laughs in response, and it’s music to Gigi’s ears, always has been.

‘My turn, then,’ Jan smiles, pushes a gift bag across to Gigi. She pulls out sheets of lilac tissue paper to find what feels like a weirdly-shaped sack. When she lifts it out of the bag, the others’ confusion is evident.

‘It’s a cat,’ Jan clarifies, reaching over to tap one of the points on the gift that Gigi thinks, if she squints, could resemble ears.

‘Is it?’ Asks Jackie, face twisted. 

‘You sure?’ Nicky snorts and whacks her on the arm.

‘Yeah!’ Jan fake glares at them, and locks eyes with Gigi. ‘I made him for you, because you mentioned that one time that you wanted a cat but your mom’s allergic.’ 

Gigi thanks her, and the smile doesn’t leave her face all night. 

She names the cat Charlie. He sits at the foot of her bed from then on, and she can’t help but grin every time she sees him.

Sunday, March 6th

‘If we can’t agree on something, we can always just rewatch Mean Girls,’ Gigi suggests, leaning her head back against her pillow and rubbing her eyes. ‘It’s a classic for a reason.’

Nicky groans, throws a cushion across the room, laughs as it flies and hits Gigi in the head. ‘I’m so fucking bored of mean girls.’ Gigi flips her off and picks up her phone, busying herself by scrolling through the same ten instagram posts in her feed she’s seen twenty times today already.

‘We could watch Stranger Things or something?’ Jackie pipes up, scrolling through Netflix. ‘I’ve heard that’s good.’

‘Ooh, Jake said he didn’t like it, though,’ Jan replies, looking up from her phone for a whole second before glancing back down and laughing at something she sees. 

‘Ooh, Jake isn’t fucking here, ’ Gigi snaps, slamming her phone onto the couch beside her. ‘Can’t you think for yourself, or would he not like that either?’

It’s so quiet, you could hear a pin drop. Jan’s face drops, and Gigi feels a guilt unlike anything she’s ever known before at the sight of her staring blankly across the room, eyes welling up with tears. Her eyes narrow and she shakes her head, stands up, and walks out silently. The sound of the door slamming behind her echoes and hits Gigi like a bullet through the chest.

Monday, March 7th

nicky - hey babe, u doing okay? (2:07am)

            i just spoke to jan. i know u probably don’t want to but i think u should apologise. wouldn’t want her to be too upset u know? (2:08am)

            anyway did u see that cat vine i tagged u in on ig?? (2:15am)

-

gigi - hey can i call you? i feel like doing this over text isn’t right (10:12am)

jan <3 - of course! give me a min. (10:12am)

-

jan <3 - make sure you send me the link to that cat video!!!🐱💞 (1:45pm)

Saturday, June 11th

For Jan’s birthday, they congregate in her kitchen and take shot after shot of cheap tequila until Nicky can’t take a step without falling face-first onto the cold linoleum tiles. Jackie sighs, picks her up like it’s nothing and carries her into the living room, rolling her eyes. 

‘She’s such a mom,’ Jan comments, pulling herself up to sit on the counter, swinging her legs back and forth like a kid on a swing. If she notices her heels hitting the cabinets a bit too hard, she doesn’t say anything. Gigi laughs and jumps up beside her, grabbing onto Jan’s arm when she nearly falls, collapsing into giggles on her shoulder when she makes it up successfully.

‘Happy birthday,’ she says, holding onto Jan’s hand just a bit too tight. Jan thanks her, still laughing.

‘It’s weird to do this on a Saturday,’ Jan muses, squeezing Gigi’s hand. ‘I’m so used to Sundays with you all, it feels wrong.’

‘No!’ Gigi replies, and Jan winces at her volume. ‘You’ve had a really nice day!’

‘I have, yeah,’ she giggles, nodding.

‘What’d you get?’ Gigi asks, swings their hands back and forth. ‘From people that weren’t me.’

‘A lot of gift cards,’ Jan replies. ‘And chocolate. Pretty boring.’

‘What about Jake?’

Jan scrunches up her face and shudders. ‘He got me a fucking Forever 21 gift card.’

Gigi scoffs, lets go of Jan’s hand and places both hands on her face, turning Jan’s head to meet her eyes. ‘ Fuck him,’ she says, more force in her words than she realises. Jan smiles, but it doesn’t meet her eyes. Gigi looks at her, confused.

‘No, I didn’t mean to make you sad,’ she mumbles, shaking her head. Don’t be sad, it looks weird on you, you’re so pretty.’

Jan tilts her head up and there’s something in her eyes, soft and weird and wonderful, that makes Gigi feel like she’s floating. She swears she sees Jan glance down at her lips and lean in for a split second, but she’ll never know. 

Jackie pushes open the kitchen door and Jan springs back, pulls her hands away to fiddle with something on the other side of the counter. Jackie asks if they have any aspirin, Nicky’s complaining about a headache. Gigi hops off the counter, makes her way to the bathroom, and locks the door behind her.

Thursday, August 18th

There’s something about the way Nicky’s looking at her from across the table that scares the shit out of Gigi, but she tries her best to ignore it and grabs another slice of pizza, glancing around the restaurant. Neither of them have spoken much the whole time they’ve been out - it’s weird, for the lack of a better phrase.

‘So what, did you just feel like treating me?’ Gigi asks, laughs nervously, takes a sip of her Coke through its red-and-white striped straw. Nicky looks at her and her eyes are so full of poorly disguised pity it makes Gigi feel like a child.

‘You know I’m not one to avoid bringing shit up, right?’ Nicky replies, stirring her drink absentmindedly. Gigi nods. ‘What’s up?’

‘And it’s only coming from a place of love-’

‘Nicky.’

‘You,’ she says, slamming one hand on the table, ‘need to suck it up and get the fuck over Jan.’

Gigi’s eyes widen and she inhales too fast in shock, choking on her drink. Nicky watches, failing miserably to bite back laughter.

‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’ Gigi takes another sip and her eyes dart around the room, trying to find something distracting to focus on.

‘Don’t bullshit me,’ Nicky laughs. ‘It’s been two months since her birthday party, and I don’t know what the fuck happened, but I haven’t seen you speak to her since, and I hate it. You’re acting as if she’s poisonous.’

She is, now, thinks Gigi. She may as well be. 

‘I don’t need to get over anyone,’ she stresses. ‘Nothing happened , we just haven’t spoken much recently.’

‘I do talk to Jackie, you know,’ Nicky replies, reaching across the table to grab Gigi’s hand. ‘I’m just saying this because I care about you. I don’t want anything between us all going sour. I love you all too much. Also, she has a boyfriend.’

Gigi smiles, but she’s sure it comes out as more of a grimace. ‘If you care so much, can you drop it? Nothing will go sour, because nothing happened.’

Nicky shoots her a knowing look, but does as she asks.

Saturday, October 1st

When Jake breaks up with Jan, she messages their group chat in floods of tears, and Gigi’s never invited them over faster. A stupid move, maybe, but for a second, as she types, she’s just Jan’s friend, and she wants to be there for her.

It was a stupid move. Definitely a stupid move.

She sits with Jan, holds her for hours on end, wipes her tears and orders the other two around to try to cheer her up as much as possible. There’s a kind of sick sadistic enjoyment in knowing she’s the only person that can make Jan feel better and she doesn’t want to acknowledge it in the fucking slightest, so she doesn’t, lets it bubble underneath the surface but keeps it contained until she can’t handle it anymore. When it gets to that point, she grabs the wine.

She lays next to Nicky making stupid Grease references and then Jan leaves and they’re alone, and her mood shatters into pieces, and all she wants to do is sweep them under the coffee table with the rest of the overpriced breakup cupcakes and leave them there.

‘What’s wrong, doll?’ Nicky grabs her hand and squeezes it comfortingly.

‘Is it bad that I’m happy about it?’ Gigi asks, tilting her head towards the door, avoiding eye contact at all cost. ‘Does that make me a bad person?’

‘What, being happy that your best friend just got dumped? Yeah, maybe?’ Nicky comments, narrowing her eyes. ‘Didn’t we talk about this? I don’t think this is the best time to let your feelings come into play, G.’

‘It’s not my feelings,’ Gigi replies, her voice quiet. ‘I just mean because he was kinda gross to her, that’s all.’ There’s not much conviction in her voice, and it seems like she’s trying to convince herself more than anything. Nicky buys it, somehow.

Sunday, October 16th

She kisses Nicky for the first time outside of a bar. It’s too early to warrant them being anywhere near drunk, and she tastes like cheap wine, and it feels rushed, and impulsive, but not wrong. She checks her phone and they’re late to meet Jan and Jackie, and she feels like she shouldn’t feel as bad about it as she does, because Nicky doesn’t seem to care at all.

They stop at a corner store on the way to Jackie’s house to pick up some snacks, and Gigi tries her best to ignore the tightness in her throat when Nicky grabs her hand as they’re walking along the street.

She turns to Gigi suddenly, grabs her other hand as she walks backwards, and almost makes her drop the plastic bag. 

‘What are we?’ She asks, her dramatic faux-old Hollywood movie accent strong. She looks at Gigi with dark, worried eyes, stays silent for a good five seconds, and then she laughs, and Gigi laughs with her, relieved she was joking, unsure of how she’d have coped if Nicky was serious. Nothing , she thinks. And I think I want to keep it that way .

Nicky kisses her again, spontaneous and odd, against the wall of an alley near Jackie’s house. Gigi feels like a kid, sneaking around in the sunset, but she thinks maybe she could get used to it. If she closes her eyes and focuses hard enough, she can almost mess up the mental picture enough to turn Nicky’s hair blonde, and her eyes blue, and her hands softer, and make everything how she wishes it was.

They get to Jackie’s, and neither of them say a word. Gigi sees Jan’s dejected eyes when they show up, and she wishes she’d gone to that stupid fucking family party after all.

Sunday, October 30th

They stick a dumb horror movie on the tv and let it play as background noise once Jackie leaves. It hits one in the morning and Gigi and Nicky are the only ones awake. It’s weird of Jan to fall asleep so early, but Gigi can’t bring herself to engage her in conversation long enough to keep her up and Nicky’s too busy shit-talking people on her instagram feed to create much of a compelling reason for her to be up, either.

Gigi looks between them and feels suddenly, overwhelmingly lost, and she wants to get up and escape, get a glass of water, clear her head, but it’s like she’s frozen in place. She doesn’t want to be around either of them right now, but lucky for her, she’s with both, and acknowledging whatever the hell’s going on with either would be equally painful. 

So she sits, eyes glued to the shitty slasher flick on the screen in front of her, and tries to focus on the plot enough to distract herself from the room she’s in. 

Nicky taps her on the shoulder and breaks her trance, beckons her over to the corner she’s in.

‘Look at this,’ she whispers, pushes her phone towards Gigi to show her some kind of gross-looking outfit picture taken by god knows who. ‘Can you believe people leave the house like that?’ Gigi laughs, but it’s more of a formality than anything else. Nicky scrolls down and finds an old favourite vine and they laugh together, genuinely this time, watch it on repeat a few times.

Nicky looks at Gigi and sighs, hooks a finger under her chin and tries to pull her closer. ‘ Stop it,’ she objects, the sternness she tries to convey masked by the last of her laughs at the joke. ‘Not with Jan here.’

‘She’s asleep, baby,’ Nicky insists. ‘It’s fine.’

Gigi shakes her head and pushes herself back across the wooden floor, leaving Nicky confused. ‘Later?’ She mouths, and Gigi gives her a half-hearted nod, pulling herself to her feet. As she walks to the kitchen, trying to ignore Jan’s heavy breathing from the couch, she wishes she could just leave, walk off into the night, and not have to talk to either of them for as long as possible.

[missmitchieg]

Triple Threat And The Fantabulous Redemption of One Carrie Wilson - Ch 3

Carrie went through the rest of her day with a smile on her face and a sparkle in her eyes, excitedly texting her dad that she was going to Julie’s after school and would be home by dinner. “Remember, Kayla! Dirty Candy’s got a rehearsal tomorrow! Don’t be late!” She called to her friend across the hall before quickly catching up with Flynn and Julie, wrapping her arms around their shoulders with a grin. “Are we ready, ladies?“

“Oh! Hey, girl. Yeah, we’re ready.“ Flynn smiled and wrapped her arm around Carrie’s waist.

“Sweet. We have so much to talk about and catch up on!“ She said as she started the walk to Julie’s with them. “Like how you came across the cool hologram boy band.“ She said and gave Julie a small smile, curious to hear how on Earth that happened.

“What? Nah, you don’t want the boring details of that.“ Julie deflected quickly. “And they’re not a boy band. They’re rock stars and they all get very offended if you call them a boy band.“

“Ooh, so-rry.“ Carrie laughed as she stepped in time with Julie and Flynn, turning her head toward her. “What about you, Flynn? Hey, you still a little Brat or have you seen the hot pink light?“ She asked, remembering one of the big arguments they used to have when they were younger.

“Once a Brat, always a Brat, Barbie Girl.“ Flynn grinned and flipped her hair. “Clearly you’re still the same pink princess you always were.“

“Always.“ Carrie confirmed with a nod. “Latest movies have been so bizarre, though. You know they used the plot of Princess And The Pauper and made the pauper a pop star for one? They remixed To Be a Princess.“ She huffed and gave an irritated eye roll.

“Wait, what?“ Julie almost shrieked and gave Carrie a shocked look, remembering that Princess  Anneliese   was her favorite Barbie character and doll and Princess And The Pauper was her favorite movie when they were little.

“Yeah, and not even well! It was so bad! And the next day, I really thought it was some crazy messed up fever dream, but no! Dad was there when I watched it and he was confused, too! They really have gotten so lazy, they’re just re-using old plots that were perfect and ruining them with weird, random changes! Like, if you’re going to remake a Barbie movie and remix and rewrite one of the best songs from it, you could at least do it correctly!“ Carrie ranted and sighed dramatically, making both girls laugh a little at her antics.

“Yikes. Barbie Girl betrayed by her childhood idol. Hurts, doesn’t it?” Flynn asked and gave her a look, referring to the time when Flynn’s favorite dolls were no longer on shelves and making Carrie wince slightly.

“But I heard Bratz came back, didn’t it?” Carrie asked her, getting a nod. “Any news about your favorite doll, Chic?“ She asked Julie, easily falling back into the habit of calling the girls by their nicknames.

Julie pouted and shook her head, slumping her shoulders. “Absolutely nothing. It’s like they just want everyone to forget they ever made them.“

“That’s evil.” Carrie rolled her eyes again, shaking her head in dismay.

“It’s awful, Carrie!” Julie huffed.

“And it’s not like I can do anything about it, either! I’m just me!” Carrie pouted sympathetically and gave her shoulder a squeeze.

“Maybe my dad can. I can ask him to make some calls. Yell at some idiots who clearly don’t understand the mistake they’re making here.“ She offered. “I mean, you don’t just upset Carrie Wilson’s friend and get away unscathed. You get away with a hole in your wallet.“ She smirked.

Julie grinned at Carrie, squeezing her back tightly. “You’re the best, Barbie girl!“ She said happily, making Flynn smile at them. “I missed having a friend as powerful as you.“ She said and Carrie shrugged, strutting in front of them.

“Well, you know. With great power comes great responsibility and all that. I’m just using my power to make my friends happy, because that’s one of my many responsibilities.“ She said simply and the girls just laughed and let Carrie lead.

Carrie smiled and kept walking in a comfortable silence with them, making a mental list of every question she had and everything she wanted to tell them. She really did have so many questions and so many exciting things to tell them about. She perked up as they arrived at Julie’s and walked inside, greeting her dad with a grin.

“Hey, dad. We’re home.” Julie said, waving at her dad looking at pictures on his laptop.

“Hey, Mr. Molina! Long time, no see!“ She said as Julie went to raid the fridge and cabinets to get some snacks and drinks.

“Carrie! Haven’t seen your face around in a while!“ Ray grinned giving Flynn a side hug. “Hi, Flynn. You girls have a good day at school?” He asked and they all nodded, Julie glancing with a smile at seemingly nothing for a second before handing Flynn a bag of cool ranch doritos and a can of 7-Up.

“Oh, you know. School was school. The usual. Hey, Barbie Girl. Cherry cola still your favorite?“ She asked and Carrie nodded, taking the can handed to her.

“Thanks.“

“Good thing Carlos loves cherry cola too. Dad, please don’t tell him I stole one for Carrie. We’ll be in my room.“ Julie said and led the girls to her bedroom, sitting in bed with their snacks.

Carrie looked around at Julie’s bedroom with a smile and sat next to her, taking a sip of her cherry cola. “Your room is cute, Chic. A little different than I remember, but cute.“ She noted, perking up when she saw a familiar box on a shelf. “Hey, is that your dream box?“

Julie looked up and nodded, biting into a dorito she stole from Flynn’s bag.

“Do you still keep the Chanel charm I gave you in there?“ She asked, biting into an oreo cookie.

“Yeah. I’ve thought about putting it on a bracelet, but I don’t wanna lose that. It’s-“ Julie smiled, stealing another dorito from Flynn and getting a “Hey! Not your doritos!“ from her. ”It’s one of my favorite memories of us.“

Carrie looked at Julie and gave her a sweet smile, wrapping an arm around her neck. “It’s one of my favorite memories, too. It was a really good day.“ She said softly, remembering how excited Julie was to have ”a real Chanel charm, mom!“ in her possession now.

She hummed and grabbed another cookie as Julie looked up and excused herself to go do something, unhooking her arm from Julie’s neck. “So Brat.” Flynn looked up, watching Carrie curiously.

“What’s the story on the hologram boys?“ She asked, deciding not to beat around the bush.

“OH. Um. They are- WERE a band from Sweeden. And Julie met them on twitter. And they started skyping and then did the hologram thing and here we are! Now they’re Julie’s band.“ Flynn said and took a swig of her drink, seemingly ignoring Carrie’s squinting eyes.

“Uh huh... Sweeden. That’s what Julie told you?” She asked and Flynn nodded.

“Yup! That’s what she said.“

“And Julie leaving suddenly, that wouldn’t have anything to do with the boys, would it?“ She asked suspiciously, crossing her arms. It totally wasn’t that she didn’t believe her best friends. They were just both acting too weird. Like that time when they showed up at her house unannounced, asked for water and Flynn was telling her and Nick about a racoon or whatever was in her backyard.

Flynn shook her head and looked up when Julie came back in, offering her an oreo.

“Everything good?” She asked and Julie nodded, taking the cookie.

“Yeah, we’re good. Hey. You guys wanna paint each other’s nails like we used to?“ She asked and Carrie nodded her head,  deciding to drop it for now.

“Sure. I’m do for a manicure, anyway.“ She said, deciding she could try again another day.

“Pink glitter for you, I assume?“ Julie asked and Carrie nodded with a smile, watching Julie grab a bottle of polish remover and cotton balls, hot pink glitter polish, a shiny purple polish, and a dark red polish that matched Flynn’s skirt perfectly.

“Hey, I have this exact glitter nail polish in my collection!“ She noticed with a smile and got to work on removing her week old, slightly chipped baby pink nail polish.

Julie chuckled as she started to paint Flynn’s nails expertly, gently holding her fingers still. “Maybe we’re not so different after all, then.“ Carrie nodded at Julie’s comment, laughing softly.

“No, the pink princess and the purple rock star really aren’t that different. The red rap goddess isn’t different from me, either. But she is awesome.” She said, making Flynn smile at the compliment.

“Thanks, Barbie Girl.“

“Just being honest, Brat-“ “She’s just speaking truth, Brat-“ Carrie laughed when she and Julie spoke at the same time, making Julie and Flynn laugh, too.

“I missed this so much. I missed my girls so much.“ She said, leaning her head on Julie’s shoulder.

“I missed you, too, Carrie. We both missed you so much.“ Flynn nodded at Julie’s words, looking up.

“You know... You and Dirty Candy sounded really good at Eats&Beats.“ She said with a smile. “It was so cool, it made me forget why I ha- Thought I hated you.“ She corrected herself quickly. “It was really good choreo and dancing. And I guess those outfits were pretty cute, too.“ She said, making Carrie chuckle.

“Oh, really? Not “too Barbie-like” for your tastes, Brat?“ She joked with a smirk. “You know, I actually came up with that look. I dreamed it up, drew it out and I had the outfits custom made.“ She told them proudly, making them grin at her in surprise.

“Ooh, the pop princess is a fashion designer on the side now, is she?“ Julie teased with a smile as she finished Flynn’s left hand and started the other.

“Oh, you know me, girls. Always looking for something else to be good at. Always looking for something else to be praised for.“ Carrie joked and rolled her eyes at herself, shaking her head.

“You were always the best dancer out of the three of us.“ Carrie smiled at that, looking down.

“Really? I always thought you deserved the title “best dancer“ out of us three, Flynn.“ She admitted softly.

“Me? No. I’m the rapper and the DJ out of us. Julie’s the singer and the pianist and you’re the dancer and apparently, the fashion designer.“ Flynn told her and Julie nodded in agreement, capping the bottle when she finished.

“Yeah, what Brat said. You’re totally the most graceful dancer in the room right now.“ Julie told her, speaking as if she really did believe it, surprising Carrie.

“Oh. Thank you, girls.“ She said softly, feeling her smile grow.

“Yeah, you’re amazing! The way you spin around? I can’t do that without falling over or getting dizzy.“ Julie grinned and laughed at herself.

“And that footwork, girl!“ Flynn said, blowing on her nails to dry them faster as Carrie opened the purple nail polish bottle.

“I work really hard to be that good.“ She said, sitting straighter.

“And all that hard work pays off.“ Julie confirmed for her. “And your voice is good, too! Not just your dancing.“ She said and Carrie smiled.

“Well, you know. Singing runs in the family.“ She bragged and flipped her hair, giggling with them. “Come here, Chic. Time for your nails.“ She said and Julie shifted to get closer, taking one last cookie in her mouth before she let Carrie start painting.

“You were really good at school, too. That song was stuck in my head for, like, an hour after.“ Julie laughed.

“That’s the goal. Get Dirty Candy stuck in everyone’s heads so they come back to our music videos on youtube. Hope one of them is a music rep and we get a deal. Become mega famous like dad.“ Carrie told the girls as she painted Julie’s nails.

“Or, become mega famous like Dirty Candy deserves because you guys are really good and deserve the recognition no matter who your dad is.“ Flynn pointed out and gave Carrie a look.

Oh. Carrie didn’t think about it like that before. She always just figured she would be in her dad’s shadow no matter the recognition she and her girls got. She knew they were good, but she knew her dad would always be bigger. She told Julie and Flynn as much, blinking when they both once again insisted that Dirty Candy was just as good and deserved just as much recognition as Trevor Wilson.

“Thanks, girls.“ She said after a minute and smiled, quickly finishing up Julie’s right hand and grabbing her left.

“Hey, we’re just telling the truth. You and your girls have real talent.“ Julie smiled and squeezed her hand.

“As do the two of you. And your band.“ Carrie said as she resumed painting Julie’s nails before remembering something. “Oh, hey. My friend Kayla wants to know if your bassist is single.“ She told her.

“Oh, Reggie? Yeah, he’s very single.“ Julie confirmed with a quick nod and a grin. “Kayla is Purple Candy, yeah?“ She asked and Carrie nodded.

“She’s got a huge crush on him.“ She giggled. “It’s kinda funny. He’s usually not her type, but he just does something to her.“

“And she does something to him.“ Julie smirked.

“She does?“ Flynn and Carrie asked at the same time, making Julie laugh.

“Ooh, if you two only heard the way that boy talks about ‘that pretty girl that smiled at me at Julie’s school’. It makes me and Luke laugh so hard. And- OH. And Alex, my drummer, he’s a Dirty Candy fan!“

Carrie grinned at hearing more about Julie’s band friends, laughing softly. “Oh, is he? Tell me more about your boys, Chic.“

“Alex really likes dancing. And he loves your music. Almost as much as he loves drumming. And Reggie, he may look like a super cool rock star, but he’s a total dork off stage.“ Julie giggled. “And Luke-” She blushed, growing shy. “Luke is so sweet. He gives really nice pep talks and he’s really supportive and encouraging when I’m nervous or when Alex gets really anxious.“

Carrie smirked and Flynn snickered at the dreamy, far away look in Julie’s eyes, finishing up her nails.

“-And he’s really funny and smart and cute and his lyrics are so good and-“ Julie blushed red and shut her mouth when she realized how much she was gushing about Luke and that Flynn and Carrie were laughing at her. “And- Well, you heard what Flynn said I sound like at school. He’s that. And so much more.“

Carrie snorted and nodded, capping the purple nail polish bottle. “Yes, and she was not exaggerating at all.“ She laughed, making Flynn cackle. “Your little crush on him is so cute, Julie.“

“So cute!“ Flynn nodded, still cackling into her hands.

“He’s obviously special to you. And I hope I’m right that your Luke feels the same about you. I hope you two find a way to be together and he treats you right. If he doesn’t, I’m here to cry to. After I pummel him like roadkill.“ Carrie said, making Julie and Flynn laugh again.

“Thanks, Carrie. I really appreciate that.“ Julie smiled gratefully and blew on her nails, shuffling to let Flynn in her spot to paint Carrie’s nails.

“Hey, that’s what friends are for.“ Carrie shrugged as Flynn opened the bottle with a smile, starting to paint Carrie’s nails.

“I’d hate to be the boy that hurts you, Barbie Girl.” Julie joked with a smirk.

“Ehh, I wouldn’t and don’t pity the next dumb boy that hurts her. He deserves whatever fury she unleashes on him, and what fury I unleash on him, if he loses his mind and hurts her.“ Flynn shrugged.

Carrie laughed at that and shook her head, covering her mouth with the hand Flynn wasn’t painting. “No. No. I’m so over boys right now. I’m not looking for a new boytoy at the moment. I’m just gonna live my life.“ She told them.

“You’re not gonna try to get back together with Nick again?“ Julie asked.

“Oh! I didn’t tell you yet! No, we’re never getting back together. But we talked it all out and we are friends. Just friends.“ Carrie smiled. “Well, on the condition that I don’t force him to watch The Bachelor and The Bachelorette with me anymore.“ She laughed. “Oh, he always got so bored so fast with those shows.“

Julie snickered into her hand, leaning her head on Flynn’s shoulder. “Oh, dear. Whatever will Barbie Girl do with Danforth-Evans now that she can’t watch trashy reality shows with him?“

Carrie almost snorted at that, but stayed still so Julie could finish her nails, chest heaving with laughter. “I’m sure our darling boy can find other things that both of us will enjoy doing together.“

“Our darling boy. That’s nice.“ Julie smiled and Flynn nodded with a grin.

Flynn finished painting Carrie nails and blew them dry, rolling her eyes fondly when she promptly pulled out her phone and took pictures of her nails for instagram. She smiled, though, seeing the caption on the post:

“Nails courtesy of my girl, rap goddess, bomb DJ, graceful dancer and favorite little Brat, Flynn 💖“

Flynn and Julie both liked the post and commented red and purple heart emojis on it, posting their own nails to their instagrams.

Carrie grinned as she liked and commented pink heart emojis on both posts, almost immediately getting a few texts from confused classmates who thought they all hated each other still. She kindly replied to the texts and put her phone away, just talking to the girls about everything and nothing for a few hours.

She left after a while to go home, telling everyone she promised her dad she’d be home for dinner. She hugged the girls good bye and walked out, heading home. She grinned as she thought about everything they’d talked about, looking down at her expertly done nails.

Step five... Semi accomplished? She thought and shrugged after a second, getting home quickly and walking inside. She was at least friends with Nick and hanging out with Flynn and Julie again. That had to count a little bit toward being a better person, right? Carrie thought so. She shut the door behind herself and walked toward the dining room, perking up when she found her dad. “Hi, daddy!“ She grinned happily and hugged him.

“Hi, baby! You have a good time at Julie’s today? How was school?“ He asked, happy to see his daughter so happy.

“Yeah. We talked a lot and we painted each other’s nails- She has the same polish that I do! And we posted it all on instagram because of course we had to.” She giggled again. “And school was school. Made up with Julie and Flynn. Made up with Nick. But we’re just friends now.“

She smiled as she sat down to eat with him, telling him all about her day. She felt her smile grow as he relaxed more, clearly not thinking right now about whatever it was that had been bothering him. Good sign. Good sign. She went up to her bedroom a while after, deciding to go to sleep soon if she wanted a good start tomorrow. She had a lot to do and a lot to say. She got ready quickly and laid in bed, slowly falling asleep.