#he gets so worried if his daughter doesn’t finish what’s on her plate either

[nattheother]

over the counter and back ✧ jww

tags fluff, meet cute, izakaya!au / midnight diner!au, slight misunderstanding, few swear words, self indulgence (surprising), love me a sopping wet pathetic yn

wc 2.7k words

note that men’s nonno izakaya shoot with dk… yeah... *faints* the hirotaka allegations aint helping either [pic cr. jwwfile on twt]

note i was gonna put an alcohol on the tags but its an izakaya au, u know what ur getting into so :3

crossposted to AO3

—

It wasn’t the weekdays or the rush hour, it’s just the izakaya usually is not that packed. Only two couples on the tables and a woman tonight, who seemed to get off work quite late, sitting at the bar area, seemingly laid back on her phone over her unfinished beer. Old jazzy songs from your boss’ playlist softly filled the bar, warming up the mood.

Your head chef, well, your boss, Kouji, just bid you a farewell. The izakaya just opened about two hours ago this evening, but he had to clock early for his daughter in labour. She usually works part-time here alongside you until about a month ago, which is why you tried to fill her shift until she comes back. Not that you mind.

You wished him good luck before he tackled you into a light hug, resulting in a small “oof!” out of you.

Honestly, handling the diner on a slow day alone doesn’t really worry you. It’s always just the three or two of you. Kouji said the neighborhood was particularly safe, “also it’s a small bar afterall,” he adds.

As you came back from the kitchen after finishing the woman’s check, a new customer came in behind the bar island this time. Young man probably what describes him more. Looks about around his mid 20s, pretty thick rimmed glasses. You’re not sure if it’s his shoulder who’s wide or his button-ups were just oversized, but does he look lean. 

“Welcome! Anything for your order tonight?”

He sits on the barstool at the centre by himself. He adjusts his glasses as he glances around unsure, “yeah, um… just gyudon and draft beer, please,”

You walked around getting the tall glass to pour one from the beer machine. “Sorry, can I ask something?” he promptly starts.

”Yeah?”

”Where is Kouji-san?”

Looking up from the filled glass, you serve the beer on the counter, “Sensei? His daughter’s in labour tonight. I’m in charge for tonight,”

“Only you?” you smiled at his question and nodded, “‘Seems you know Sensei. You’re a regular?”

He took off his watch and chuckled, “Sort of? I do stop by pretty frequently but I’ve kinda never seen you,” he reasoned as he folded up his sleeves.

You laughed softly in the middle of wiping off the beer faucet, pointing to the back with your thumb, “I’m usually in the kitchen.” You put the rag into your apron, “So ring the bell or call up if you need anything.”

You felt the banter was enough as you turned your heels back to the kitchen because you had to make his gyudon, “Wait,” but his calling stopped you in your step. You turned around to him taking a sip of his beer.

“I haven’t gotten your name.”

“If it isn’t Wonwoo!”

Who?

Kouji’s whoop was muffled behind the kitchen curtain. You tried to calmly finish plating up the dish for a current customer so you can quickly move on to this acquaintance of Kouji. Putting his order is for later, so you swiftly deliver the tray full of bowls to the also full table at the back first.

You came back with another tray of empty dishes as you can finally see your next customer.

Oh, right… I forgot to ask his name.

He smiled at you as you confidently welcomed him, mirroring his smile.

In the middle of putting away the dirty dishes, Kouji came into the kitchen with a question, “Wonwoo said he knows you? You’ve never told me!”

You looked back at him in a slight surprise and a chuckle, “Not really, actually, we met around last week I think? You clocked off early.”

What you remembered from that day was after Wonwoo asked your name, customers piling up in a short time right after you served his food. That resulted in you spending most of your time in the kitchen and finished his check a little quickly because the other was also queuing behind him.

“Go take his order. A group just came in just now and I’m taking theirs,” Kouji ordered.

“What?? Why not you earlier, Sensei?” you whined.

After your half-playful complaint of not taking his order, you wipe off your hand dry and sighed on your way out.

“Another draft beer?”

You guessed as you walked up to him. He nodded, “And a mapo tofu, do you have that?” You took out your notes to write down his orders, “I’ll make sure and prepare that for you.

Anything else?”

Days after that, Wonwoo stopped by around eight to nine, assumingly whenever he had overtime. It’s always the same order. One (or more) glass of draft beer and any bowl dishes, that mapo tofu most of the time.

There was also the time where he came in at almost eleven. He usually never shows any signs of fatigue or weariness on his face but you can see the dim in his eyes. You tried to not approach him that much, spending more of your time checking up the kitchen before touching the baton to Kouji for the night.

You rang up his check right before you clock out. He looked a bit more refreshed after his meal, cheeks slightly flushed after a few refills of beer.

“Please walk safe home,” you gave back his card to the small tray alongside the bill.

Not expecting your non-customer service-way farewell, he stared at you for a few seconds before nodding his head, “you too.”

You swear in every language you can think of. Your heart squeezed. Wonwoo was starting to grow in your heart. It’s really nice to see him in the izakaya for a few days a week after that. You never sort of believed in any of those “at first sight” moments, if it works, good for them. While it did feel slightly heavy on your feet anytime you had to walk back to the kitchen instead of seeing him and talk to him, you had to put your mind in place. Focus. 

It could be because he’s one of your first regulars and, cough, is good looking, but you don’t know his background. Who are his friends and family and why does he always come in alone? You’re not even sure if it’s a crush or that you just found comfort with a customer. Either way, workplace is still a workplace and he is your client. This izakaya is your only rendezvous to him.

That is when Wonwoo ordered two glasses of beer. You tried your best not to halt when you stepped out of the kitchen and saw a young woman around his age beside him. You didn’t, and served him his usual bowl of rice. Gyudon this time, and mapo tofu for her.

You need to stop looking like a stalker, hiding behind the kitchen curtain. This is the second time he had brought her to this izakaya. You need to stop before someone accuses you as a total creep as you compare their interaction a few days ago with today. Almost the same. From outside it looked like they were having a quite serious and private discussion, noting down stuff on paper and their phone alternatively. As if someone’s life was actually on the line. You are also lucky Kouji will come later at night, because he might also accuse you as a total creepy stalker.

You try only focusing on attending customers. It’s almost the weekend and customers start piling up before you realize Wonwoo was already sitting alone. You try to not overthink why he didn’t take her home himself and let her go home by herself.

You walk up to the bar to check the beer dispenser. You can feel his eyes boring at you, slightly dim again like it was a couple weeks ago, and two empty glasses of beer.

“Need a refill?” you carefully ask, walking up to him.

“I’m good.” he slightly smiles before asking for his check.

You kept your sweet encouragement to yourself as you don’t want to force and assume anything towards him. He left the change and gave you a tip.

“Wonwoo?”

It was nearing autumn. Though the sun was already setting at five, the bar still opens at the same time. The rain pours hard, covering any sign of the sun setting with gloom. But nothing could’ve prepared you other than the six feet tall man crouching under the roof in front of the closed bar you’re working at, shading himself from the rain. You grip your umbrella tighter when he looks up to your call.

He calls your name in recognition as he stands up.

The rain poured harder above the roof of the izakaya when you hand Wonwoo the warm coffee on the bar. He’s in the middle of taking off his damp jacket when he looks up to you at the sight of the cup.

“On the house,”

“Thank you.”

You busy yourself behind the bar, checking and tidying stuff up under the bar as Wonwoo sips on his coffee. You peek glances over him. He doesn’t look as tired as the last time you saw him. But if your over-analysis and timeline matched, his reasoning behind crouching like a pathetic man in front of your workplace must have something to do with it.

“Is it okay if I ask you what’s wrong?”

Your sudden approach jolts him a little. He chuckles, “it’s fine,” you wait for his pause.

“I can say it’s family matters. Something came up and we had to figure it out somehow, a little stressful I might say,” you hum understanding.

“Did you not have work today? You usually come later. It’s not even six yet,”

He shakes his head, “No, I just finished super early. My seniors are having dinner, too, so,”

“Not going?”

“Not really my thing. Only works when I was new,”

He takes a sip of his coffee again. You space out for a moment not knowing what to respond. You were never the best at comforting someone. For as long as you’ve been friends with your best friends, you’ve always listened. Maybe give them some hugs and pats on the head, words of “I’m here” and “You’re not on your own” repeatedly said, affirming.

You felt sort of bad and truly embarrassed at how you acted behind him the past weeks, sort of suspecting his love life, getting (you admit) jealous at some random woman you don’t know and didn’t even try to know. Maybe what you thought a few weeks ago was right. Maybe you do have a huge cru–

“Yes, Wonwoo?” your ribbons of thoughts were snipped by Wonwoo calling your name.

“You’re usually bright, is something wrong?”

Confused by his question, you look around unsure. Guests usually come around an hour after opening, and you never wished someone to come in right now so bad through your whole career.

“M-maybe? I don’t know, sorry,”

Wonwoo was in the middle of wiping his glasses with the paw of his sleeves. He puts them back on.

“It’s usually me who’s quiet between us,” he adjusts them to the bridge of his nose, looking up at you from his seat, smiling.

Between us? He’s not making this any better. You scratch the back of your neck, not planning to come up with any reply or answer. You avert your gaze to the window, trying to avoid his eyes. Your wish of customers barging in is washed away by the rain—not slowing down any minute apparently.

“I just thought something came up and you had to like,” you chuckle at your assumption, “get off early or, run away or some sort,”

Wonwoo was still sipping his coffee. Not sensing his answer in any minute, you finish your prior thought with your remaining breath, “sort of heartbroken-looking.”

You organize the shot bottle on the under bar, again trying to distract yourself from the fact that he's now facing you, eyes boring. You didn’t budge and he stared at his coffee.

“I wanna get to know you, Wonwoo,” you finally look at him. Emphasizing on your tone, you don’t want him to feel like you’re just messing around.

“Can I?” you ponder at him, preparing yourself for the worst.

“I don’t know if it's possible. For all the time you came here, the past few weeks, I always get all... gung-ho when cooking, or preparing side dishes and bowls in the back. It’s like I want you to see me doing great like there’s nothing wrong in my mind. You know, "bright" like you said. It’s honestly stupid, fuck…” you breath out the last word.

“And then you came in super late that night, with that… heavy shoulders and countless refills of this damned beer, and then came in with that lady not once but twice, and this… serious tension between the two of you. You know, I just didn’t want to assume but it’s just… I don’t know, it was kinda confu–”

“With who now?”

You instantly pause, knowing full well he has probably catched on. So you sigh, “That… friend around your age. Pretty, slight tan, long hair,” you scratch your forehead in defeat. It’s like your pride just splurts out like a balloon being squished its air out.

You excuse yourself by collecting his empty cup on the top counter to refill it, but a hand halts your steps grabbing onto your arm.

“Don’t give me more, I don’t handle caffeine that well.”

“Just… let me put this back to the kitchen,”

“Later. Sit here.” he orders.

Your heart flinched at the slight octave drop of his already soft voice. Another sigh of loss, you put back the cup. Wonwoo slowly let go of your arm to let you walk around the bar counter.

It’s now a whole new view. Wonwoo is sitting right next to you and you can definitely smell his cologne. Even just one second of eye contact, you couldn’t handle it. How does one’s gaze be so soft and comforting? You dart your eyes and cover them with your hands with elbows on the table.

“Just… let's just finish this. I already feel ridiculous.”

All you can catch with your ears was his soft chuckle and fabric rustling, “you wanna get to know me right?”

You feel his fingers snake around your wrist, gently pulling your hands away from your face. Seeing his face up close does not help even one bit, you feel even more like shit of how messy and pathetic you must’ve looked.

“That… “friend”, is my future sister-in-law,” he starts,

Your eyeballs could probably see the back of your head as you whip your head away in another embarrassment, “Ugh, Wonwoo, enough of that,”

“Which is why we were so stressed we had to talk about it on our own. My brother’s marriage is on the line.”

You hear his tone indicating him smiling whilst explaining. To be frank, you kind of already gave up the moment his voice dropped an octave lower. All you can do now is just to sit next to Wonwoo with his thumb drawing circles on your palm. 

“It’s not stupid,” he softly assures, fingertips a little cold from sheltering the rain earlier. But it does feel so to you. Stupid crush at the ripe age of your 20s. Great. 

“So can I get to know you then?”

You look up at him, desperate for his answer and decision.

“Only if I get to know you, too. Here,”

He taps his finger to the table, hand still not letting go of yours. You make sure once more, “like right here?”

He nods, “until today’s first customer.”

You’re not sure if the smile on your lips is for him or just out of embarrassment, “Well technically you are one,” you chuckle, “at least let me put this back to the kitchen.”

Well, now that your stupid crush issue is all clear, you can finally find the courage to look at his face one more time, no meddling. All you can focus on was the soft and playful beam on his eyes behind that thick specs.

“Tell Kouji-san you got a date tonight.”

[18:06] sensei [18:06] i might have to clock off early

[18:12] Oh sure, something’s up?

[18:13] yeah umm [18:13] i just booked myself a date

[18:14] Oooh [18:14] Hahaha [18:14] About time that wonwoo

[18:14] ??? [18:14] sensei???

—

[m.list]

im bout to make a “try not writing scenario about another meet cute at 3 am” challenge (already failed)

[roselyn-writing]

Ice Goddess and her Icy Warrior Chapter 11

A/N: it’s been a while since I didn’t update this fanfic! But! Here I am! 😄

“Returning home”

Kuai Liang woke up to the voice of people laughing and talking together. He just remembered that he isn’t in the Lin Kuei temple anymore, but he is in Aliyaa’s dark palace.

He wanted to go back to sleep; however, his head is throbbing from a migraine. He is annoyed by this migraine that kept pulsing in his head.

He knew if he continued to force himself to sleep. It would hurt even more, so, he got up from the bed. He found some clean clothes of a Virginian design. He wore them, although the fact that it is not his taste in clothing or anything.

Then he goes to rinse his face and comb his hair. He saw a big interior mirror he moved toward it to see himself.

He looked neat and stylish, although, he is old and a tough Grandmaster. He smiled at himself, for being tough and stylish.

He joined the others in the main hall. there, they appear to be eating breakfast. He greeted them.

“Good morning,” Kuai greeted.

“Good morning to you too,” Aliyaa greeted back.

“Morning, Luv~” Selviya greeted back.

The others greeted him too. Kuai chose a seat near his love, Selviya Levsloky.

The food table is long and big, it is filled with the most delicious foods of all cuisine. Arabian, British, French, etc.

Kuai is hungry he couldn’t decide what plate he chooses to eat from, but one plate caught his eye and that is french toast. It is a delicious plate that made his mouth-watering.

Selviya noticed this and she grabbed the french toast for him. putting the plate in front of him.

“Wellness,” Aliyaa said.

Kuai took the fork and the knife. He started to cut the toast like a gentleman, A man with manners of eating.

He took a bite after he cut a piece of the toast, and he hummed in a satisfied tone. enjoy the taste of the french toast, such a delicacy, He thought to himself.

the french toast is soft and mushy. He wished he could munch on it forever, but good things never last as he thought to himself.

Moments later, Hadi came with a tea tray in his hands, he gently put it in the center of the table. In everyone’s reach.

Eevie quietly took a cup of tea, she started to pour the hot beverage onto her cup, then she added the milk and sugar, and stirred it up with a teaspoon.

After sipping his coffee, Arouj took a napkin and wipe the corners of his mouth. Arouj had just finished eating breakfast.

“So! How are you and your clan?” Arouj asked, with a smile on his face.

“So far, everything is good,” Kuai answered.

“I’m just wondering; why are you here guys?” Scylla pondered, “Shouldn’t you be doing “stuff”.

“We are here to investigate something,” Kuai replied, He can’t possibly think of something intimate while he is on a mission.

“That’s understandable,” Aliyaa encouraged.

While hearing everyone talking and giggling with Kuai. Derek deliberately made a shrill sound with his fork, as he scratched his fork on his plate.

“Ugh! Stop it!” Eevie muttered while covering her ears.

“Sorry.” He blankly apologized.

Kuai knew that Derek is annoyed at him for being with his daughter Selviya. In his mind’s eye, Kuai wonders, Selviya isn’t his daughter from this world, she is from another world. Another time, where he is dead and couldn’t watch her grow. So, Being annoyed at him is pretty pointless.

Aliyaa knew that the atmosphere is getting worse between these two. She quickly changed the subject.

“How’s everyone Kuai?” Aliyaa asked, with a smile on her face.

“They are fine,” Kuai told, as he pours himself a cup of tea. He couldn’t resist the smell of the tea.

All this time Selviya is quiet, either she is eating or drinking tea. She is worried that Derek is trying to harm Kuai. She doesn’t wanna see them fighting or hurting each other. She cares about them both.

In the middle of talking, Aliyaa’s mirror made a vibrant sound. Alarming everyone in the room.

Aliyaa quickly got up from her seat to look at her mirror. What the mirror shows made everyone's blood run cold.

A group of cyborgs gathering around in an unknown HQ. Among them is a yellow one and a red one, There is also a new face joining them. a demonic creature wearing a grey ninja attire with yellow veins on his skin, and his hair is grey and flowing. Kuai immediately recognized him, It is Smoke.

“Smoke!” Kuai called in utter disbelief.

“Holy moly!” Selviya called while looking at the mirror in fear.

“Quick guys! I think you don’t have much time before they reach the Lin Kuei base” Hadi urged the two cryomancers.

“On it!” Kuai affirmed.

With a flick of her finger, Aliyaa created a portal for them to reach the Lin Kuei base. At any moment the attack will take place.

Luckily, they were able to alarm the others before the Lin Kuei cyborgs assault.

Older Kuai and younger Kuai were able to create a spiky ice fence that will hold the cyborgs from attacking. So Selviya can use her powers to eliminate them all easily.

Frost rushed to escort all the trainees and Lin Kuei out. She is ready to use her cryogenic powers if needed, she stayed guarding the gate from the cyborgs and helps others to escape. In a safe dungeon underground.

With her magic wand in hand, Selviya called the power of the celestials and stars to guide her hand in victory. the Crystal Silvernium shines brighter as Selviya ascends her celestial form.

Adorned with a beautiful blue gown that shines brighter than the stars themselves.

Although the cyborgs destroyed the icy fence.

but that gave Selviya the time she needs to transform and save everyone.

The cyborgs managed to wreak the temple’s gate. But they couldn’t fight Selviya as she easily blinded them all with her holy light magic.

“Celestial blessing!” Selviya commanded the crystal Silvernium.

With her power amplifying with crystal Silvernium power to shine a powerful beam that wiped the cyborgs. Finally, their souls rested in peace.

Cyrax and Sektor aren’t done yet. In the shadows lurks Smoke. Looking at the five people in pure hatred. He will kill them all, He will have his revenge on Lin Kuei and Subzero who abandoned him to his death. He will take pleasure in skinning them alive.

After Selviya’s light beam ended, she returned to her human form as the celestial gowns disappeared from her body, leaving her with her human attire.

Cyrax attacked Bi han, Sektor targeted Kuai and Young Smoke, and Kuai was ordered to rescue the others while Selviya stayed to fight the revenant smoke.

“Who the fuck are you?” Sneered the revenant Smoke at Selviya, as he fired a smoke bomb at her.

She dodged it easily as she aimed an ice sphere at his legs, freezing his legs in spot. She cartwheeled in front of him and kicked him in the face.

“Your salvation!” Selviya answered.

Selviya kicked him with a force that he rolled over and fell face-first on the ground. He groaned in pain. The kick made him see stars, as he barely stand up. He felt pity for himself because a kick from a woman makes him dizzy.

He rushed toward her with his kunai poised to strike her in a vulnerable place. Her knees for an example.

The revenant used his smoke abilities to vanish in a cloud of smoke; as he easily dodged her ice attacks. He appear behind her up in the air as he tackled her from behind.

both rolled on top of each other. But the revenant easily pinned her down and started to choke her.

She panicked and wailed. Then she started to scratch his hand with her painfully long nails. She succeeds in this as he lets go of her throat to see his bleeding hand. She exploited this moment to kick him in the face again. Then she cartwheeled away from him.

“You are strong. Woman,” the revenant praised. He will admit it: the woman is very attractive and expert at fighting.

“Thanks! You’re not bad yourself,” she replied to him.

In his dark state of mind and heart, Smoke feels pure hatred for his ex-friends, for the lin-kuei. He would do anything to harm them and make them bleed for what they did to him. His first reaction is to kill this woman. He knew that she is Kuai’s lover and he will have this as the best revenge.

He will kill her and vanish into the shadows. Then Kuai will come and discover her lifeless body in this bloody place, then Kuai would mourn her and would go crazy for her. This is the best revenge he has in mind.

Selviya knows that the revenant can’t be reasoned with. They are doomed to be hateful of the people they know. Because they thought that they are “abandoned” to their death.

Selviya must make him unconscious so that she can restore him; if Raiden failed in doing so, she won’t.

Selviya quickly rushed towards him before he can jump; she easily slid through his widening legs and kicked him in the balls.

He groans in pain as he holds his sack in an attempt to lessen the pain. Selviya rolled to the side and got up to hold her wand to restore him to life.

“Purification!” She said loudly.

A holy beam of light struck him he yelled in pain and horror. He thought that he was dead and dusted away due to this amount of power.

But, no. Moments later he woke up and saw his hands, he can’t believe it. Is he alive? For real? or is it just a dream he longed for?

“Welcome back to life Tomas Vrbada!” She greeted him with a smile, as she lend a hand to him.

He cried in happiness; He is indeed alive. After all these years, he has been a slave to evil and darkness. Now, he is free and alive.

“Thank you… ” He croaked. “I’m forever indebted to you,”

“Nope!” She said with a smile. “You don’t owe me anything!”

He smiled at her. She is beautiful, and kind. She is everything he dreams of.

“Kuai is so lucky to have her,” Smoke thought in his mind.

No matter what he feels or thinks; He can’t let her know. Even if Selviya doesn’t want anything in return. He vows to protect her.

Grandmaster Kuai Liang with the help of his brother Bi Han. was able to behead Sektor then he knocked Cyrax unconscious.

He rushed to check on his love. Is she alive or dead, he was afraid, a lot of thoughts raced through his mind. He can’t bare to lose her.

He promised to protect her no matter what. Luckily, He saw Selviya helping human smoke.

“Smoke!” Kuai called, he was running toward them.

With a big smile and teary eyes, he hugged his best friend. He had lost hope in restoring him, but Selviya didn’t.

“Kuai!” Smoke uttered as he hugged his lifetime best friend.

For long moments they hugged each other. They didn’t see each other in decades, of course, it would be more than a short hug.

Then they break the hug and talked with each other. This sight warmed Selviya’s heart, she promised that she will bring him happiness. It is all she cares about.

Young Smoke was scared when he saw his other self is old and tormented; the same said for Cyrax, who was holding the hand of his cyborg self.

Both were traumatized. Although they didn’t go through what their older selves had been through. It is a miracle that they didn’t. They only pitied themselves.

“Care to explain?” Stated the newly restored smoke.

“It is a long story,” Kuai answered with a smile.

But the happy moments didn’t last. Because young Hanzo and other Raiden came.

“Thank you so much for protecting my warriors,” the other Raiden said, with a smile on his face.

Young Hanzo, Young Kuai, Other Bi han, Young Smoke, and Cyrax were sad because it is time to say goodbye to Selviya and Grandmaster Kuai Liang, their saviors. They can’t forget their stay here. But everything is gotta come to an end.

“You’re welcome,” Grandmaster Kuai uttered.

“Goodbye, guys! We will miss you!” Selviya expressed, She will miss them greatly.

“Thank you for everything,” Young Hanzo said

The other men nodded in agreement.

“You’re welcome!” Both Selviya and Kuai said.

“Goodbye!” Young Kuai spoke.

“Goodbye!” Selviya and Kuai replied.

they waved goodbye to each other before leaving for their world.

The other Raiden said nothing; he only gave a satisfied smile. Then in a flash, they all disappeared.

Selviya hold her wand, she rushed toward the cyborg Cyrax. She must do it before he gains consciousness.

Selviya raised her starlight wand. The wand started to shine then Selviya muttered. “Purification!”

A ray of light flashed from the wand. As it covered the cyborg with a holy light. It started to restore every human aspect in him. The metallic structure began to melt off as it give way for his flesh and skin to grow back. His organs started to breathe, his heart started to beat humanly, and everything about him is turning human now. During this whole process, Cyrax was unconscious. He is being reborn again. As he was a human being.

Smoke and Kuai stared in awe at what was happening to Cyrax; he is being reborn. By the hand of a celestial girl.

Selviya finished restoring Cyrax. Both Kuai and Smoke rushed to see Cyrax. He is human again. Although he is younger than him. He was a cyborg for decades! As for Smoke, he was a revenant he didn’t age either. Only Kuai and his brother aged.

Kuai and Smoke carried the unconscious Cyrax to a sofa. There he slept peacefully.

“It is over, finally!” Kuai muttered in happiness as he wiped the tears of joy.

Selviya only smiled; she didn’t say anything.

“Yes, it is.” Smoke nodded.

Selviya had one final thing to do today. And that is rebuilding the temple again.

Selviya used Crystal Silvernium. She raised high above her head and commanded it to rebuild the destroyed temple.

A colorful ray emerged from the crystal as it rebuilt everything in a blink of an eye. Both men are impressed with such power.

“Let’s go check on the others!” Selviya suggested.

The other men nodded and then went toward the others. They announced that the cyber initiative is done and they won the battle.

“That’s great!” Frost exclaimed, “Thank you Grandmaster and Selviya!”

“Frost! You did good too,” Selviya replied.

“We all did great,” Bi han summed up.

Cyrax finally woke up. He is surprised he is seeing new faces and they all look real to him.

“Kuai Liang? Bi Han? Smoke?” Cyrax questioned, “You guys are alive?”

“Yes, we are,” Grandmaster Kuai answered.

Tomas and Bi han nodded at him, Cyrax looks at his hand, he is alive again. He smiled, not believing what he is seeing.

“Welcome back to life, Cyrax!” All said to him.

“Happy to be back alive again!” Cyrax expressed with tears in his eyes.

He looked at Selviya, “Thank you,”.

“No need to thank me,” she responded.

[typical-simplelove]

To Capture a Moment (M. Barzal)

Author's Note: This was a prompt from the ever amazing @thatflyersfan, so thank you for this! The prompt was "taking polaroid photos", and I'm a sucker for childhood friends to lovers, so this is the product! I hope you enjoy it, and please let me know what you thought either in an ask or in the tags. Enjoy!

Author's Note 2: If you reblog this, I'll send you an ask thank you and mention you in an appreciation post (if I do this!)

Warnings: Mentions of sex, one or two slightly NSFW scenes (but VERY mild), a mention of a breeding kink (literally mentioned in one sentence), marriage, pregnancy, Santa, but the rest is just fluff!

Word Count: 9.3k

Enjoy reading!

If anyone were to walk down the hall of your and Mathew’s hallway of your new home, they would see it lined with polaroid pictures. These polaroid pictures show the relationship between you and Mathew from the young age of five to now sharing your new home, married, and with two children. A hallway that was the epitome of a picture is worth a thousand words.

Age 5

“Mathew, please, just stand next to your sister, please,” Mathew’s mother requests. Her tone was close to begging. Your parents had to deal with a family emergency, so they sent you to the Barzal’s to be babysat. Mathew’s mother decided to take Liana, Mathew, and you to Lafarge Park.

Currently, you are sitting on a bench giggling as you watch Mathew sigh as he gets up from where he was sitting next to you. He groaned as he got up and stood next to his sister. He wraps his arm around her but doesn’t smile. At the touch, Liana screams and begins to cry. It was close to her nap time, and the smallest things were making her fussy. Mathew’s mother sighs and goes to pick up her daughter to try to comfort her. Mathew grins widely and sits back down next to you.

“I don’t like taking photos,” Mathew says bluntly. You look at him but are squinting as the sun is in your eyes.

“You like taking photos in your hockey gear,” you point out.

“Yeah, but I don’t like taking photos,” Mathew emphasizes the word photos as if that were enough explanation. It wasn’t. “You know what I mean?”

“No.”

Mathew gives you a curious look, and you want to point out his hair is getting long, but his mother calls Mathew back over to take the photo.

“But I don’t want to,” Mathew whines.

“Mathew,” she says in a mother’s knowing tone, and Mathew gets up exasperatedly. He stands next to his sister. He opts not to put his arm around her this time and looks at you before the picture is taken. You smile widely at him and wave. Mathew wears a giant grin on his face in response. His mother notices Mathew’s wide smile; she smiles when she realizes you are the reason for Mathew’s smile. She takes the photo quickly knowing that Mathew’s smile is short-lived.

“Yn, come take a photo with Mathew,” she calls to you. You skip over to Mathew. Surprisingly, Mathew doesn’t complain about taking another photo. Then again, though, Mathew never complained about anything when it came to you.

“Mom, can we do the fancy camera? The one that prints out right away?” Mathew asks.

“Sure, sweetheart,” Mathew’s mother says and pulls the polaroid camera out of her purse. Mathew insisted she bring it today, and she guesses this was why. “Smile,” she directs and snaps the photo. Once the photo is printed, she places it in her wallet.

“I’m going to hang it on my wall,” Mathew tells you after the photo is taken and that he did. After he got home later that day from dropping you off at home, Mathew begged his mother for the photo. He tapped it on his wall next to his hockey posters because to him, you were just as important. As Mathew moved around for hockey, that photo always followed him around with a few others. It sat in his wallet, and when he felt homesick, he’d look at it with a wide smile. Now, it sits amongst the many polaroid pictures on your wall.

Age 6

Whenever you and Mathew were together, Mathew’s mother always brought the polaroid camera with her. Mathew always loved taking those kinds of photos with you. In the past year, you and Mathew have taken countless polaroid pictures that lined both your walls and his.

Today, you were sitting in a local hockey arena watching Mathew play. Well, you were watching the empty ice getting ready for warmups. You were wearing one of Mathew’s sweatshirts as you shivered in the cold of the arena. You were clutching the mug of hot chocolate Mathew’s mother gave you in hopes of warming up. When Mathew got on the ice for warmups, you smiled widely. Even at such a young age, seeing Mathew would bring a smile to your face and make you all warm and fuzzy.

You walked towards the glass to get a better look at your best friend. When he skated by you, you tapped softly on the glass to alert him you were there. When Mathew turns to see you, he gives you a giant smile from beneath his helmet. He takes a few moments to stop and looks at you for a moment. Mathew’s mother takes the polaroid camera out of her bag and quickly snaps a photo of the two of you in this exact position.

That photo remains on the Barzal mantle till this day.

Age 7

The annual Christmas Fair was back in Vancouver again, and Mathew was super excited to see Santa this year. He figured that his dream of playing in the NHL would come true as long as he asked Santa for it for every year of his life until it happened.

You were both standing in line waiting to go inside the Fair. Despite being bundled up in your warmest sweater, jacket, gloves, and hat, you were still cold. One would think that after spending copious amounts of time in a hockey arena watching Mathew play, you would be used to the cold, but you weren’t.

“Are you cold, Yn?” Mathew asks concerned. He can see you shivering but trying to hide it.

“Just a little,” you lie.

“Oh, here,” Mathew says and walks over to you. He wraps his arms around you in a giant hug to keep you warm. You feel your cheeks warm at the touch, but you, at the age of seven, think it’s just you already warming up. You rest your head on Mathew and wrap your arms around him. “No, keep them in your pockets, so you can keep warm.”

“What about your hands?” you worry.

“Don’t worry, I play hockey; I’m used to the cold,” he reassures you and flashes you his signature grin. Mathew’s mother wasn’t able to capture a polaroid photo of this event, but your mother was able to pull out her phone to capture the moment. Even at the age of 7, Mathew would do absolutely anything for you.

Eventually, yours and Mathew’s families end up inside the fair and in line to see Santa. Now, a hot chocolate in your belly and a warm meal, you were slowly warming up and didn’t need Mathew to hold you anymore. He was bouncing with excitement as you both got closer and closer to the front of the line.

When it was Mathew’s turn to see Santa, he walked up, and you waited in line for your turn. A sudden gust of wind made a giant shiver rack through your body, and Mathew noticed from where he was sitting on Santa’s lap.

“Is everything alright, son?” he asks.

Mathew looks up at him with worry. “My best friend is cold, and I don’t like it when Yn’s cold. I’d rather be cold instead of Yn.”

“Well, maybe we should finish here quickly, so you can go and make Yn warm. What do you say?”

Mathew nods enthusiastically. “Yeah, I like that.”

“So, what do you want, son?”

Mathew looks into Santa’s blue eyes and is about to ask for an NHL career. He then looks at you and sees you shivering. Mathew’s heart stops and realizes that it doesn’t matter if he got the NHL career if you were cold. You couldn’t be cold because if you were cold then you’d get sick. If you were sick, then who would be Mathew’s best friend? “I want Yn not to be sick.”

“Oh, is that so?”

“Yeah,” Mathew nods. “I can’t have my best friend sick because then who would be my best friend.”

“Well, then, I’ll be sure to grant your wish, son,” Santa says. In all his years of doing this, he’s never heard this one before. “Keep Yn close, okay? Yn seems like a special one.”

Mathew always kept those words close to his heart whether or not he remembered who told them to him.

Age 10

For the past ten years, you and Mathew have taken a photo on yours and his birthdays. It was always you on the right and him on the left. Whoever’s birthday it was would be holding the gift the other got them. It was tradition.

It was your tenth birthday, and the day was coming to a close. All your friends had left, and it was just your family and Mathew’s family who were still there. You were on your third piece of cake, and Mathew was trying to convince you to give him a bite, too. He looked nervous.

“Are you okay, Mathew?” you ask after finishing your final piece and giving Mathew a piece.

“I have a gift for you,” he mumbles.

“Oh!” you thought you opened all your gifts.

“Can I give it to you?”

“Yeah, sure,” you answer. Mathew gets up to grab the gift, and you throw out the plate in the trash.

“This is for you,” he says and passes the bag to you. You gently take the wrapping paper out of the bag; you set it to the side and pull out the box. You gasp when you see it. You smile and jump up to give Mathew a hug. You wrap your arms around him.

“Thank you for the polaroid camera, Mathew,” you whisper as he wraps his arms around you.

“Of course, Yn. It’s time you had your own, so we could take all the photos we want.”

“Come on, let’s go and get my mom to take a photo of us.”

You and Mathew go and find his mother. When you find her, you take the camera out of the box and hand it to her. You and Mathew position yourself against the wall, and he wraps an arm around you. You hold the box in your hand and smile. Mathew, though, isn’t looking at the camera; he’s looking at you with the widest grin on his face. All that mattered in his life was making you smile. If he made you smile, then Mathew always wore the happiest grin on his face.

Age 13 - Stargazing

Your parents had to go out of town to take care of your grandparents, so you were staying with the Barzals for the weekend. You were both currently laying on in his backyard on a blanket staring at the stars. It was your favorite pastime — laying together looking up at the stars.

You were both lying next to each other, shoulder to shoulder. You turned your head and looked at Mathew, but you looked to find him already looking at you. “It’s pretty,” he says.

“It is,” you agree and turn back to the sky. Mathew, though, remained looking at you.

“Do you have your polaroid camera?”

“Yeah, right next to me. Why?”

“Let’s take a photo,” Mathew answers. He sits up and leans over around you to grab the camera. In the process, Mathew’s arm brushes your stomach briefly, and his face grows warm at the touch. Somewhere, between the ages of 12 and 13, Mathew has developed a crush on you. He didn’t tell anyone because why would he? At this age, Mathew would get teased for having a crush on you, so he didn’t tell anyone. Besides, he wasn’t even sure if you liked him, too.

Mathew lies back down next to you and rests his head close to yours. He lifts his arm up and positions it so that the both of you are in frame. You both smile, and Mathew presses down the button.

The photo comes out, and Mathew’s heart warms at the picture reflected.

“Can I have my camera? I want a picture of the stars, too,” you ask. He hands you the camera, and his hand brushes yours briefly. You thought nothing of it, but Mathew’s heart was racing. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome,” Mathew whispers, and you give him a curious look. “What?”

“Nothing, you’re just acting weird.”

“I’m not acting weird; you’re acting weird.”

You laugh. “Whatever. Doesn’t matter.”

Mathew watched you take a photo of the stars in the sky, and he came to one realization: he never wanted to live in a world where you weren’t there.

Age 16

It was Mathew’s 16th birthday, and you were sitting on a garden chair watching him have the time of his life with his friends. As you both started high school, you both found yourself in different friend groups. That wasn’t to say, however, that your friendship wavered. It just meant that you both weren’t next to each other all the time. You were okay with that new realization. You were okay with it because that meant that you could work through your new found feelings for Mathew. You didn’t know when it happened. One day, you were eating lunch with Mathew, your friend, with normal hair and normal eyes and a normal laugh. You were eating lunch with Mathew, your friend, who was normal looking. The next day, though, you were eating lunch with Mathew who had the most beautiful smile, the most beautiful eyes, the softest hair, and was the most beautiful man you’ve ever seen. He was no longer the boy you grew up with. He was Mathew, and you finally understood what all the girls were talking about. It was difficult for you to breathe around him because you wanted him to hold your hand and love you. It went from Mathew being your best friend to you loving Mathew as more than a friend, and it scared you.

You were sitting there smiling when Mathew caught your gaze. He looked you in the eyes and waved. You waved back and warmth filled you. He excused himself from his friends and walked over to where you were sitting.

“You brought the polaroid camera,” he says as he brings a chair next to yours and sits.

“Well, we’ve taken the same photo for the past sixteen years. We might as well continue tradition, right?” you tease.

“Yeah, tradition,” he whispers giving you a look that makes you melt. He leans his head close to yours with a soft smile. “Can I tell you something?”

You nod trying to suppress a shiver.

“Somewhere in the past —”

“Yn, can I borrow your polaroid camera, please?” Liana interrupts as if knowing what Mathew was going to say. You tell her yes, and you see Mathew, out of the corner of your eye, blush and shake his head while also glaring at his sister.

“Um, you were saying?” you ask hoping to rebuild the bubble you both just had.

Mathew looks at you trying to figure out if he wants to continue. “Um, somewhere in the past five or six years or so, I screwed up.”

“Screwed up, how?”

“I fell for you,” Mathew whispers, a blush overcoming his face.

“But, you’re sitting right now,” you say oblivious.

Mathew laughs his laugh, and you melt into a puddle. “I fell in love with you, Yn.”

“Oh. Oh!”

Mathew laughs again with a bashful smile settling on his features. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to fall in love with you.”

“Are you still sorry if I were to tell you I fell in love with you, too?”

“I wouldn’t be sorry, then,” Mathew says and leans his head close to yours. He takes one hand and cups your cheek. He rubs soft patterns on your cheek as he begins to tilt his head. “Can I kiss you?”

“Please,” you beg. Mathew places his lips on yours softly as your hands go to his neck and begin to softly playing the hair at its base. It was a kiss full of fireworks. All the noises around you mellowed out. All the emotions you feel for your best friend come out in one kiss as it deepens. You both pull away when a flash from a camera startles you both.

“Sorry, I just had to,” Liana apologizes, handing you back your camera with the photo printing.

“You didn’t have to,” Mathew grumbles angrily.

“It’s okay. Don’t worry,” you tell her, taking back the camera. You look at the photo and smile. Mathew was gently holding your face as he kissed you softly. You both had wide smiles on your faces as you kissed each other. “See, we have a photo of our first kiss.”

Mathew kisses your forehead softly. “Here’s to many more.”

Age 18

“Yn, come outside, please?” Mathew begs with a pout on his face. “I want to take a photo with you.”

“But we’ve been taking photos all day,” you groan. It was reaching 9pm at night, and the joint graduation party for you and Mathew was over. You were both lounging on your bed reminiscing about the future. Mathew was going to have this amazing NHL career, and you were going to college.

“I just want this one,” Mathew says as he gets off the bed. He looks at the many polaroid photos sitting on your wall of both your family, friends, and him. He was in most of them. He picks up your polaroid camera and grins at you. “Please? My parents bought sparklers, and we haven’t used them yet.”

You get up because Mathew could get you to do anything as long as he gave you that grin. “Okay.”

Mathew takes your hand and leads you both downstairs. “Liana, can you take a photo of us?”

“More photos?” she asks. Liana was just as fed up with taking pictures, too. “Yn, how do you put up with him?”

You shrug with a smile. “It’s easy when I love him.”

“I love him, too, but I can’t put up with him,” Liana mumbles following you both out the door. Mathew inquires about the sparklers and is directed to his mother’s car. You and Liana stand out in your backyard. “What kind of photo does he want?”

“I’m not sure, but I know he wants a polaroid photo.”

“He’s obsessed with those,” Liana comments as Mathew walks up to you two. He hands the polaroid camera to Liana and ushers you over to where he wants to stand. He takes two sparklers out of the box and hands one to you.

“I want to kiss you as we hold the sparklers,” Mathew mumbles against your skin. His words sent shivers down your spine.

“Okay,” you whisper as Mathew lights yours and his sparklers. He looks at you with a wide smile and wraps the arm that’s not holding the sparkler around your waist. You wrap your arm that’s not holding the sparkler across his shoulder and lean in for a kiss. “Liana, take the photo when we kiss, please.”

Liana makes a comment about how disgusting the two of you are before saying an “okay.”

Mathew leans in with a smile and kisses you. You kiss him back with a smile just as wide closing the space between you two. You see the flash out of the corner of your eye and pull away slowly to set the sparkler out. When they’re out, Mathew pulls you in for another kiss full of love and passion. He never gets enough of kissing you; if it were up to him, he’d kiss you for every moment of every day.

“The photo’s ready,” Liana interrupts, not wanting to watch her brother kiss anyone even if it were you. You both separate breathlessly and observe the photo. He wraps his arms around you and settles your back against his front. He rests his head against yours and holds you tightly against his chest.

“We look cute, babe,” Mathew whispers into your ear. You look into his eyes and break out into a smile.

“We do look cute,” you agree. You were about to say something else, but the flash of the polaroid camera interrupts your words.

“Sorry,” Liana apologies. “You guys just looked really cute.”

Mathew kisses your cheek, and his heart bursts with love. He loved you so much that there were no words. From where they were sitting on the back porch, your parents and Mathew’s parents were looking on with love. You and Mathew were perfect for each other, and they knew that your relationship would stand the test of time.

Age 21

You were in New York for the first time during the hockey season. In past times you’ve been in New York, it was either before the season or after the season. This was the first time that your school schedule lined up perfectly with a chance to go see Mathew play on Long Island. You met the WAGs for the first time tonight, and you instantly loved them and them the same. You were currently standing next to Sydney, who took you under her wing, at the glass as warmups just began. You had your new polaroid camera and ready to snap one of Mathew.

“Do you and Mathew have a strong connection to a polaroid camera?” Sydney asks.

You nod with a smile. “Yeah. For as long as I can remember, we’ve always taken photos with a polaroid camera. We have millions of photos together.”

“Yeah, I’ve seen them. Mathew displays them proudly across his apartment. He loves them, but he loves you more,” Sydney teases.

You don’t reply except for smiling bashfully and shaking your head playfully. You were about to say something when Mathew interrupted you by bumping into the boards in front of you. He looks at you, and his heart grows a million sizes seeing you wearing his jersey. You smile when you see him and wave. He begins to show off in front of you with his stick handling. You shake your head playfully at his actions, but you use the opportunity to snap a photo of Mathew. It’s of him concentrating on the puck. You tuck it into your purse to observe later on.

“Did you want me to take one of the two of you?” Grace asks, who was on the other side of you and has also taken you under her wing.

“Would you? That’d be great.”

“Of course,” she says and takes the camera from you.

“Can Grace take a photo of us?” you ask Mathew. You were suddenly nervous that he was going to be embarrassed of your tradition.

“That would be amazing,” he tells you genuinely. He leans against the glass on his side, and you do the same on your side, smiling at Grace. Once the photo is taken, you, once again, put it in your purse to look at later. Mathew waves before rejoining the rest of his team.

“You guys are cute,” Sydney comments with a smile.

“Oh, to be young and in love,” Grace comments and both girls laugh. You put the camera in your purse, and you smile as the heat rushes to your face. Indeed, to be young and in love.

Later that night, you and Mathew were sitting on his couch when you pulled out the polaroids from the day. Mathew looks at the polaroid that you took of him without him knowing and blushes. You notice it and kiss his cheek.

“You look good, babe,” you tease.

“Yeah, but this one is better,” he says pointing to the photo Grace took of you. His hold on you tightens as he rests his head on the crook between your shoulder and neck. “Wanna know why?”

“Why?” you giggle as Mathew’s breath tickles you.

“Because you’re in it,” Mathew flirts.

“Shut up,” you say bashfully as the warmth reaches your face.

“It’s true,” he whispers. “I’m not ready for you to go back to school. I want you here forever.”

“Don’t worry,” you reassure. “After I graduate, I’m going to get a job here in New York, and we’ll be here forever together. Don’t worry; you can’t get rid of me that easy.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it,” Mathew says and places a kiss on your cheek.

Age 22

Mathew is sitting next to your father with a bouquet of flowers and your polaroid camera on his lap. Mathew’s leg is bouncing as he anxiously waits for your name to be called. It was finally your graduation day. You’ve been working hard for the past four years, and it was finally paying off. Mathew was so proud of you, and he was so happy that he got to be here at his super smart, super beautiful girlfriend’s graduation day.

A name a few before yours was called, and Mathew and your family perked their attention to be ready when you were called. In moments, your name was called, and you were walking across the stage. Mathew and your family all stood up to cheer for you. Mathew put the flowers down on his chair and put the camera up to take a photo. He snapped one exactly as you were handed your diploma. He put the photo in his wallet with the same one from when you were five.

As you were walking across the stage, you caught Mathew’s eyes, and he winked at you. You smiled bashfully, and as you sat, you felt the warmth on your face. The rest of the celebration went by quickly as you all threw your caps in the air and cheered. You were done! You finished! You were officially a college graduate! You said tearful goodbyes and congratulations to your friends before making your way to your family and Mathew.

Mathew stood to the side as your grandparents, parents, and siblings embraced you and congratulated you. He could see the impatience in your eyes as you greeted each and everyone of them, wanting to greet Mathew. As you hugged your grandparents after your parents, your mother walked over to Mathew.

“Hand me the polaroid camera. I’ll take a few as she comes over to you,” your mother says, and Mathew hands her the camera.

Finally, finally, it was Mathew’s turn to see you. “Congratulations,” he says to you softly.

“Thank you,” you whisper.

“These are for you,” Mathew says and hands you the flowers. You both vaguely notice the flash of the camera as your mother took a photo of Mathew handing you the flowers. You take the flowers and smile behind them embarrassed. One of your siblings takes the flowers from you, so you can properly embrace Mathew. He wraps you in a giant hug and kisses your forehead. “I’m so proud of you.”

“Thanks, baby.”

“I can’t believe that my girlfriend is a college graduate,” Mathew comments as you pull away to look at him. He leans his head down and kisses you softly. You reach your hands to wrap around his shoulders and pull him closer to you. You both deepen the kiss but not too much as your father was right there watching you two. As you and Mathew kiss, you both, once again, vaguely recall a flash of the polaroid camera. It didn’t matter. When you both were together, especially kissing, the entire world faded away. Finally, you both pull away with breathless smiles.

A few weeks later, you were both back home in Coquitlam, and it was nearing the end of your graduation party. Mathew was sitting on the back deck with his parents, Liana and your dad as the night winded down. In your hand, you held the two photos your mother took and wanted to show Mathew.

“Mind if I steal him for a moment?” you ask resting your hand on Mathew’s shoulder.

“Please, he keeps talking about you, and it’s making me sick,” Liana says. Everyone laughs in response, and you take Mathew’s hand and lead him away from the group.

“What’s up?” he asks.

“I want to show you the photos from graduation,” you tell him. “The polaroids.”

You and Mathew find a spot in the backyard and sit. Mathew sits first and opens his legs for you to sit in between. You rest with your back against his chest, and his arms reach around your waist to hold you tightly. He kisses the side of your cheek as you show him the photos.

“Here’s the first one,” you say and show him one. It’s the photo of Mathew handing you the bouquet of flowers. Smiles are adorned on both your faces, and Mathew’s eyes are laced with nothing but love for you. “We look good.”

“You always say that,” Mathew teases.

“Doesn’t mean it’s not true,” you reply looking at your boyfriend of many, many years.

He kisses your temple. “What’s the next one?”

You flip to the next photo and show it to him.

“Now this one, this one, we look good,” Mathew says, giving you a raised eyebrow. It was a photo of Mathew giving you your congratulatory kiss.

“We do look good,” you comment with a smile.

Mathew was contemplating on whether or not to tell you about the photo he took of you while you walked across the stage. He opted against it wanting to keep the photo to himself for the moment. “This is our thing, isn’t it?”

“What do you mean ‘our thing’?” you ponder.

“You know, all couples have their thing. This is our thing, taking polaroid photos,” Mathew explains.

“I guess it is,” you hum. “It’s not a bad ‘thing’ to have.”

“It really isn’t,” Mathew says and kisses you. He will be forever indebted to his mother for starting this tradition that the two of you have.

Age 24

On your first night after moving to New York, Anthony and Mathew insisted on taking you out to celebrate. You were tired, though, from unpacking and settling in all day, so you told them you didn’t want to do anything crazy. Why was Anthony tagging along? You didn’t know. He was there to help unpack, and he said you three should celebrate, so here you were.

You let Anthony and Mathew pick what they wanted to do as you showered and unpacked your stuff in the washroom. You walked out freshly showered to Mathew and Anthony having wide smiles on their faces.

“What if we took you to Times Square?” Mathew says. He walks over to you and wraps you in a giant hug. You hum in response, but Mathew isn’t sure if it's from the hug or agreeing with going to Times Square. You wrap your arms around him and breathe in his scent. You missed his scent before you moved in with him. You spent a few years back home with a job before you moved to New York. You wanted to be on your own for a bit before making the trek across the continent.

Anthony clears his throat to signal that you and Mathew weren’t the only two in the room. You both pull away, and Mathew’s face is crimson red as he meets his friend’s eyes. “So, Times Square, yes or no?”

“Sure, but not too late because I’m tired,” you reply. Getting to Manhattan from Mathew’s, no your apartment, Long Island apartment was long. You told them the train would be easier, but Mathew and Anthony would rather drive, so driving it was. The entire night was a blur. You were tired and exhausted, and the ecstasy you felt from being in the City with your boyfriend, finally, was too much to handle. You were over the moon overjoyed.

The three of you stopped for a moment in the main square of Times Square, and you looked around in awe. Mathew was watching you with nothing but love in his eyes as you took in the sight. He spent every night over the past few years wishing and dreaming of the nights and days he’d get to have you by his side. Anthony, on the other hand, was rolling his eyes at his best friend’s love sick nature.

“Did you bring your polaroid camera?” Mathew whispers into your ear.

“Yes, why?” you ask with a smile on your face that makes Mathew melt into a puddle.

“Let’s get Beau to take a photo for us.”

You watch as Mathew asks Anthony to take a photo of the two of you; you giggle quietly as Anthony rolls his eyes but says yes. Mathew walks over to you and wraps his arms around you. Anthony holds the camera up as you and Mathew smile for him. However, instead of looking at the camera, Mathew is looking down at you as you smile at the camera. He’s looking at you, the love of his life and the light of his life. Anthony snaps the photo but rolls his eyes at the lovesickness of his best friend. The photo prints, and you throw it into your purse to look at later. You continue to explore the awakeness of the Big Apple with your hand in Mathew’s. You fell in love with the city, and you were excited to be living in the lively state of New York.

Later that night, you’re getting ready for bed and standing at your dresser in the bedroom. You set your purse on it and take the polaroid camera out. Next, you take the photo out of your wallet and look at it. You smile at you and Mathew in the photo. As you’re looking, Mathew walks out of the washroom with his sweats hanging low on his hips without a shirt on and wraps his arms around you. He holds you close against his bare chest and rests his head on your shoulder breathing in your comforting and familiar scent.

“What’re you looking at?” he asks in a low husky voice that sends chills down your spine.

“The photo from tonight,” you say in a low voice as Mathew pulls you closer into his body. “You didn’t even look at the camera.”

“It’s a waste of time to stare at a camera when the best part of my life is right there,” Mathew flirts. He kisses your neck in between words pulling a soft whimper from you.

“You’re such a flirt,” you teasingly scoff. You rest the photo on the dresser and turn around, so you’re facing Mathew. You rest your arms on his shoulders and feel the expanse of the muscles there. You watch as Mathew’s eyes begin to darken and fill with need and desire.

“How else am I supposed to keep my girl satisfied?” he smirks.

“I can think of a few ways,” you tell him confidently before closing the space and placing a kiss on his lips. Mathew instantly picks you up, and you yelp slightly at the sudden touch. He carries you to the bed and places you down slowly. In between kisses, you tell him, “I love you.”

“I love you, too. More than anyone or anything in the world,” he replies. One day, he knew that he’d be getting Anthony to take a photo of the two of you with an engagement ring on your left hand.

Age 25

Engagement Party

Four months after you moved to New York, Mathew proposed to you. He got down on one knee during a date-night at home. You knew something was up when Mathew was nervous the entire night. You, obviously, said yes to forever with your best friend and the love of your life.

Now eight months later, Mathew’s family was throwing you both a small engagement party to celebrate the engagement about a month before your wedding. It was just both of your immediate families and close friends. You didn’t invite many people knowing the majority of the important people in your life would be flying to Vancouver for the wedding in about a month.

You were wearing a white sundress that made you feel like the bride that all movies and books describe. You were surrounded by your family, but most importantly, you were celebrating getting married to your best friend and love of your life.

It was getting late, and you were sitting on Mathew’s lap. You were resting your head on his shoulder with your arms wrapped around his neck and his arms wrapped around yours. The steady breathing from him and his warmth led to you falling asleep. He was tracing small patterns on your hip as he continued to talk to the small group of people around you. At some point, you heard Mathew tell someone to grab his sweater, and he threw it over your shoulders. You were so tired and didn’t tell him you were cold, but he just knew.

You didn’t know when you fell asleep, but you just did. No one noticed you were asleep until someone asked you a question, and you didn’t respond. Mathew looked down at you and noticed that you were sleeping. You looked adorable and comfortable in his arms. Mathew’s heartbeat quickened as he realized that he got to spend the rest of his life with the person in his arms. He got to spend the rest of his life with the person in his arms who looked so at rest, so beautiful, and so happy.

Liana quietly gets up to grab your polaroid camera from your purse. She knew that you’d want to have this documented.

“Get used to this, Mathew,” your dad began. “Yn will be falling asleep in your arms like this forever.”

Mathew smiled at your father’s words and rested his head against yours. He’d be more than okay with that. Liana didn’t tell Mathew he was going to take a photo. She knew that you’d far rather that the photo was candid and not scripted. Liana approached the group quietly and snapped a photo. Mathew was too absorbed in holding you that he didn’t notice. Liana left the photo on your nightstand where you found it the next morning. You smiled at the photo when you saw it knowing you weren’t making a mistake with who you wanted to spend the rest of your life with.

Wedding Day

You woke up the night after your wedding day curled into Mathew’s bare chest. You opened your eyes and a wide smile erupted across your face. You ran your fingers along Mathew’s stomach, and your breath hitched in your throat when you caught sight of your wedding band on your left finger.

“Morning, baby,” Mathew says in his morning voice that still makes your heart flutter. He runs his left hand across your back, and his wedding band sends chills down your spine.

“Did you know that we got married last night?” you ask sweetly.

He gives you a low chuckle. “Yes, I do know that.”

You giggle. “I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

You both lay in bed for a while in silence before Mathew says anything again. “Liana gave me the photos she took on the polaroid last night.”

“Oh,” you say as you sit up. You and Mathew put Liana in charge of taking a few polaroid photos of the two of you knowing she’d be the best one to do so. Mathew also roped in Anthony, but you both had more faith in Liana.

You sit up against the headboard as Mathew gets up and grabs the envelope that Liana gave him before you both left the previous night. Mathew pulls you against him as he rests against the headboard, too, and hands you the photos. You look in the envelope and notice six photos.

You pull out one and smile at it. It was your first dance with Mathew. Liana took the photo perfectly just as the song was coming to a close and Mathew was twirling you with your dress splaying out around you. Mathew had nothing but love in his for his new wife and a giant smile on his;he had tunnel vision when he looked at you. The entire world faded away except for you. You remember Mathew placing a kiss on you just as you reentered his embrace. Your heart was beating through your chest as Mathew and you continued to dance to the remainder of the song.

“We look good,” you tell him, showing him the photo. Mathew grabs the photo from your hand and is careful to only hold the corners. You’ve been on his case many, many times about not smudging the photo.

“You look good, babe,” Mathew corrects. “You always will look better than me.”

You smile bashfully at your husband’s words and smile into his chest. He tightens his grip around you before grabbing the envelope, placing the photo in it, and grabbing another. He smiles at the photo of him and his mother dancing together. “Look, it’s your mother-in-law,” he comments.

You look at the photo and smile. “Indeed it is.”

“Is it weird that she’s officially your mother-in-law?”

“Not really. I mean, it’s different, but not weird. Your mom has always been in my life, so it’s not like I don’t know her. Is it weird that my parents are your in-laws?”

“Yes, absolutely. The amount of stares that your father has given me? He never scared me when we were growing up, but in the past few years, he has.”

You laugh and place a kiss on his cheek. “Don’t worry. He’s just being protective of his child.”

“It better be just that,” Mathew mumbles. You grab another photo from the envelope and smile at the photo of you and your dad dancing together. Both yours and your father’s eyes had tears in their eyes knowing that this was it. This was what you both knew was coming but weren’t ready for. You were starting a life with Mathew and forming your new family, and your father was losing his child to the man who loves you as much as he does.

You put the photo back in the envelope and grab the next one. It was the photo of the kiss after the officiant said, “you may now kiss your bride.” You and Mathew both had wide smiles on your faces as you leaned in for the first kiss as a married couple. You remember how eager Mathew was to kiss you and how much he needed to kiss you. Sometimes, it makes you wonder how he goes on long roadtrips without kissing you. Mathew’s hands were sitting on your waist under the edges of your veil with his gold wedding band reflecting the light of the ceremony’s venue. Your arms were wrapped around his shoulders with the light reflecting off your grandmother’s tennis bracelet, your something old, and Mathew’s grandmother’s gold bracelet, your something borrowed. The space between you two was non-existent as you both needed to be as close as possible to kiss. You and Mathew both had a professional photographer at the wedding, but there was something more special about the photo being taken by someone who you loved.

The fifth photo is of you and Mathew giving each other a bite of your wedding cake after biting it. You both opted for a traditional two-tiered cake with white fondant and flowers around the base. Mathew had his left arm on your waist, your veil taken off to preserve it, with his right hand holding a fork close to your mouth. You had your dominant hand resting on his chest with your nondominant hand with a fork in it to feed Mathew a piece of cake. You both were looking in each other’s eyes but midlaugh. You couldn’t remember what he said that made you laugh so hard, but you did.

The six and final photo Liana took was of your send off. To reminisce from your high school graduation party, you and Mathew opted for a sparkler send off. Sure, it was cliche but much of your relationship with Mathew was a cliche. You and Mathew were standing in front of his car as your family and friends held sparklers cheering for you all. Mathew had his hands cupping your face and giving you a kiss with a wide smile on his face. You had your arms in his hair holding him close to you. It was a perfect ending for the day of your dreams with the man of your dreams starting the life of your dreams.

“I can’t wait to see all the professional photos,” you tell him as you put the envelope on the nightstand.

“Who really needs professional photos?”

“I mean, we have all those polaroids from growing up but not many from last night, so we do?”

Mathew looks at you and smiles. “I guess we do.”

The professional photos were exactly what you were hoping for. Each time you looked at them, your heart beat just a tad faster and your stomach did somersaults. Mathew always did have that effect on you.

Honeymoon

After the wedding of your dreams, you and Mathew were off to Paris for a honeymoon of your dreams. Sure, it was very cliche, but, again, everything about yours and Mathew’s relationship was a cliche.

It was halfway through the trip when it dawned on Mathew that you both didn’t have a polaroid photo together. He was shocked to say the least when he realized it. That same day, you and Mathew were heading to the Eiffel Tower, and Mathew figured it was the best opportunity for a photo op, so he threw the camera into your purse and made a mental promise to get a photo of the two of you.

You and Mathew purchased your tickets and took the elevator to the top of the tower. On the descent, you and Mathew got off on the second level to get more pictures opting to take the steps down. You were looking at the Parisian skyline with Mathew holding you against his chest. Your arms were crossed against your chest with Mathew’s arms on top of yours. The metal of his wedding band sending shivers down your spine.

“Can we take a photo?” Mathew mumbles against your ear.

“Yeah,” you whisper back. You aren’t sure why you whispered, but you didn’t want to break the intimate moment.

“I’ll go find someone to take it for us. Polaroid, right?”

You smile softly. “Yeah.”

Mathew asks one of the working attendants to take a photo for you two. You hand the polaroid camera to the attendant. You and Mathew take the same position you were just in; however, now, you were both facing away from the skyline. You smile for the camera, but, as usual, Mathew isn’t looking at the camera but at you.

“Your husband wasn’t looking at the camera, would you like me to retake it?” the attendant asks.

You laugh softly. “No, that’s okay. Thank you.”

The attendant walks away as you look at the photo. “Why don’t you ever look at the camera? We rarely have any photos of us — polaroid or digital — where you look at the camera.”

“I think I’ve said this already, Yn, but there’s no need to look at the camera when all I want to look at is you.”

You smile and shake your head playfully at your husband. “Okay, smooth talker, take a photo of me?”

“Gladly.”

Mathew took way too many pictures of you on his phone, but his words were “it’s important to capture your world in someone else’s eyes” which he did.

Age 27

Three weeks after giving birth to your first son, Isaac, you and Mathew were exhausted to say the least. Being new parents and with the stress of the end of the regular season coming soon, you and Mathew were just plain exhausted.

Mathew was at a hockey game that night. Somehow, despite the exhaustion of being a new father, Mathew was still playing well. He managed to have a four point night; the commentators said something about his new found “father strength.”

The game ended about an hour ago, and Mathew would be home any minute. Finally, finally, Isaac was sleeping and wasn’t crying. You posted a note on the door for Mathew telling him that if he woke Isaac, you were going to a hotel to sleep. Mathew, chuckled to himself, when he read your note. He walked into your apartment, and his heart melted at what he saw. You were sitting on the couch with Isaac sleeping on your chest. You were stroking his back to keep him quiet. Every few moments you’d kiss his head out of love.

You left the polaroid camera on the kitchen counter after taking a few photos of Isaac and your new family. Leaving the camera out allowed for Mathew to take a photo of you without knowing. He puts his stuff down quietly and picks up the camera. He takes it out of the case and snaps a photo. The flash of the camera startles you slightly. When you look over to the flash, you smile when you see your husband. Mathew places the photo facedown on the table and walks over to you. He takes his tie off and rests it on the side of the couch. He sits next to you and kisses your forehead. “Hey,” he whispers.

“Hi,” you whisper back.

“How was Isaac?”

“He was good,” you tell him. “I’m tired. I’m not sure how I’m going to get through the rest of his life.”

“Hey, we’ll be okay, okay? We’ll figure it out, okay?” Mathew reassures.

You nod. “Yeah, we’ll be okay.”

Later that night, you put Isaac down for bed and enter your bedroom. You fell asleep easily that night in Mathew’s arms with a soft smile on your face. Yeah, everything would be okay.

Age 28

Shortly after giving birth to Isaac, both you and Mathew were hit with a really bad case of baby fever. Everytime you or Mathew held Isaac, the next immediate thought you both had was “let’s have another baby.” Every time you saw Mathew doing skin-to-skin contact with Isaac, your heart would flutter with love for your husband, your son, and a strong desire for another baby.

Seven months postpartum, you finally felt comfortable with approaching your husband with the topic of having another baby. Mathew was super excited that you brought it up. At first, trying to conceive was slightly painful. You were both patient with the process knowing it would happen when it would happen. You finally conceived after six months of trying.

Five months later, you felt comfortable announcing it to the world. You bought a whiteboard and wrote a message that said, “Baby Barzal #2 coming soon.” Also, you placed the ultrasound photo on the top corner with a baby jersey with “Barzal 02” on it. You took a photo of it to post both on yours and Mathew’s instagrams. You smiled at the messages you received from your friends, family, the WAGs, and Mathew’s teammates. You both opted not to tell anyone except for immediate family wanting to enjoy the news on your own for the time being.

“Mathew, do you know where the polaroid camera is?” you call out realizing that you had a polaroid of the baby announcement for Isaac but not baby number two.

“On the dresser, probably,” he called from Isaac’s room. You could hear the scrunch in his nose as he changed Isaac’s smelly diaper.

“Thanks, babe,” you call back and walk into your bedroom. You grab the camera and walk back to where you have the pregnancy announcement still sitting on the floor. You snap a photo and smile as you place it on the wall.

With baby #2, your heart was full and excited for what would be coming in the future.

Age 29

“Anthony, please?” you beg.

“Why do you guys always get me to take the photos of the two of you?” Anthony whines.

“Because you’re the best at it!” These words do not convince him further to take a photo of you, Mathew, your daughter, Shannon, and your son, Isaac. “What about, if we have another baby, we name them Anthony”

“What? No,” Mathew yells. “No way. No more kids”

“Just give me the camera,” Anthony sighs. You, who is holding Shannon, and Mathew, who is holding Isaac, walk out to the door of your new house. Shortly after finding out you were pregnant with your second child, you and Mathew began looking for a house to live in, figuring an apartment, no matter the size, was too small for the family you both wanted to build.

Mathew holds Isaac in his right arm and wraps his left arm around your waist. You hold Shannon in your left arm with your right arm wrapped around Mathew and look up at him and smile. He smiles back down at you. Anthony knows, after taking way too many polaroids for you two, when to take the photo — when you both inevitably kiss. As he expected, Mathew leans down and kisses you with a wide smile. Anthony holds up the camera and snaps a photo. You both pull back as Anthony hands the photo and camera to you.

“One of your future kids better have Anthony as their middle name or something. Don’t say you’re not having more because we both know the way Barzy is,” he grumbles as he walks back into your newly finished house.

Mathew goes into Isaac’s bedroom to put him down for a nap as you put Shannon down for a nap and grab the tape to put this new polaroid photo on the wall. You put it up and smile at the rows and rows of photos that line the walls. You stand there looking sentimentally at all the memories.

“Hey, you okay?” Mathew asks and rests an arm around your waist.

“Yeah, just look at all the photos from our lives,” you tell him. You rest your head on his chest as you both your eyes trace over the photos. The photos spanned from many different parts of your lives, both together and separately. On the wall, there are many photos of you and Mathew from when you were young, to young adults, to adults living together in New York. On this wall tells the story of how you were best friends from a young age to being lovers to finally being married. The wall tells the stories of you and your friends from high school and college, and it tells the story of Mathew’s hockey career. The wall tells the story of your engagement and marriage. All the photos are a piece of who you both are.

“Here’s to many more photos on this wall,” Mathew says.

“And to maybe another wall dedicated to polaroid photos,” you add on getting a smirk from Mathew.

“The more kids we have, the more photos we’re going to have.”

You giggle. “I thought you didn’t want any more kids.”

“We make some really great kids, so maybe.”

“And it's not because you have a breeding kink?” you tease, and Mathew blushes at your words.

“Maybe it’s because you look great pregnant.”

“So, maybe more kids?” you suggest with a smile.

“Maybe more kids,” Mathew confirms with a kiss on your cheek.

Despite the wall being 75% filled, you knew that your best days were still ahead of you. You couldn’t wait for the future photos that will tell the story of yours and Mathew’s lives together.

Taglist: @goalision @coffee-ontherocks @glassdanse @barzal-burakovsky @boqvistsbabe @heatherawoowoo @heaveniish @stars-canucks @tkapuckit @mellany1997 @nhlboyshavemyhart88 @heybarzy @2manytabsopen @habsfan @besthockeyfics @plds2000 @kaitieskidmore1 @iwantahockeyhimbo @tysonsjosty @barzysandmarnersbitch @ollywahlygator @leafs-forever @laurenairay @no-pucks-given @sixmapleleafs @davopuck @thebestoffanfiction @islesnucks (Join my taglist here!)

[luvnami]

𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫'𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐞 - wahh it’s here! can’t believe my brainrot of osamu teaching a cooking class turned into this long fic lol... i hope you enjoy it!! it was fun crafting the story with my beta readers and i put a lot of effort into it!!! itadakimasu <3

𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐚 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬 - @forgetou​ @amjustagirl​ (muacks 2x) + tq to everyone who helped me with the banner!!

𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 - you’re suna’s younger sibling, food, heartbreak, angst but happy ending, mentions of stabbing (joke), kita dances to ‘ice cream’ by selena gomez and blackpink, mentions of alcohol, mentions of blood (brief), suna beats (redacted) up

𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 - miya osamu x gn!reader

𝐬𝐲𝐧𝐨𝐩𝐬𝐢𝐬 - you fall in love with miya osamu once more, but you’re afraid of getting hurt again.

𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭 - 5535

𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 | 𝐤𝐨-𝐟𝐢

1. Cook the rice according to your rice cooker, then transfer the cooked rice to a separate bowl to cool it down.

“What ya want t’do is scorch the soy sauce.”

The class presses themselves against Osamu’s workbench as they scribble down notes on their recipe printouts. Their lips purse to ooh and aah at his cooking skills, though you’re pretty sure that they’re more interested in how his biceps flex when he flips the wok with a trained flick of the wrist. 

You stand at the very edge of the group. It’s better than getting close with a group of hungry housewives, really. If grocery store and department mall sales have ever told you anything, it’s to never get in the way of what a seasoned housewife wants. Unfortunately for you, you haven’t learnt the way of being a homemaker just yet. 

You’re unemployed, right in the middle of a month and a half-ish long transfer between jobs. You currently stay at your brother Suna’s place — which is really just an apartment filled with dirty laundry overflowing from its seams.

Turns out Suna himself is a bit of a gossip.  He told Kita who told Atsumu who told Osamu that you’re stuck at his place 24/7 with no friends or entertainment in the lovely city of Nagano. It’s just mountains and trees as far as the eye can see all around — and there’s only so many hikes you can take each week. 

“Why don’t you take a cookin’ class?” 

“Cookin’?” Your face screwed up in confusion. “ What for?”

“So that you can actually pull your weight around the house and make me something to eat.”

You chucked a pillow at his head and began to list all the things you did while staying at his apartment. Laundry, cleaning the floor, doing grocery shopping (even if it was only instant noodles and snacks), finding his disgustingly sweaty socks under the sofa and many other important chores, thank you very much.

Besides, you weren’t as eager when you saw who was the one that would be holding the classes. With his picture plastered across the front of a pamphlet, your heart dropped into the pit of your stomach. Years of chasing his dreams and training in a kitchen had done Osamu wonders. 

You had half a mind to smack Suna in the head with the yellow, glossy paper, but instead you quietly tucked it into a corner of the guest room to look at later. You were sure Suna hadn’t forgotten your history with Osamu just yet — but perhaps he assumed that enough time had passed to heal your wounds.

Either way, there’s no going back now. That’s how you ended up at Osamu’s ‘Cooking class for homemakers — you can do it too!’, except you aren’t a homemaker. You shift your weight from one foot to the other as the sound of sizzling soy sauce fills the air. Osamu pauses for a while before beginning to mix the rice with the sauce, wielding his spatula and wok expertly like weapons.

“Miya-san, you’re amazing!” someone gushes.

He lets out a bashful laugh. “This is nothing. I’m sure everyone will be able to do this by the end of class today!”

You wonder if he’s ever considered being a teacher. The demonstration on how to make shrimp fried rice is soon over and everyone returns to their benches, eager to try out the recipe. You are no different. Scurrying to your bench at the very back of the classroom, you exchange glances between the printed recipe handout and your tray of ingredients.

“Need any help?” 

Osamu’s voice and looming presence makes you jump.

“Woah! Careful there,” he chuckles, his fingers gently prying a knife out of your hands.

Unconsciously, you had raised it in shock when Osamu snuck up on you. The knife now lays safely on the tabletop and you feel the eyes of the entire class boring into you.

“Sorry, Miya-san. I didn’t see you,” you apologise meekly.

“Don’t worry about it, I shouldn't have scared ya like that. And no need for the formalities! You’re my friend’s sister, afta’ all.”

Oh goodness. You half expect the class to pick up their pots and pans and run at you right this moment. You swallow back the half hearted ‘Osamu-san’ that rises in your throat. Your heart trembles in your chest and for a second, the silence that weighs heavily between the both of you turns awkward. 

“Miya-san! Could you help me with this please?” 

You’ve never been so glad to hear Tachibana’s sickly shrill voice before. Osamu is quick to wave goodbye to you before hurrying over to her bench, a smile still on his face. You breathe a sigh of relief. 

You make a mental note to tell Suna that Osamu should just stick to placating those housewives and leave you the hell alone. The last thing you want is to have blackmail spread around the neighbourhood by these gossipy housewives, or worse, have their daughters hunt you down and chop you up into pieces.

Whatever. You’re just here to learn how to make shrimp fried rice and then go home to your annoying older brother. Besides, it’s not like you’ll be here for long. Miya Osamu just happens to be the local heartthrob, the handsome and eligible bachelor chased by anyone single and ready to mingle. You have absolutely nothing to do with someone so popular and good-looking. And for goodness sake, he’s your brother’s high school friend and your… Well, you know. 

Your face burns and you pick up the knife again, grip tightening on its handle. You begin chopping at the onions with renewed determination.

(Later on, when you bring back a tupperware of fried rice for Suna, he looks you in the eye and asks “Shrimp fried this rice?”.

You shoot him a glare.

“I fried this rice.”)

2. Prepare all the fillings that you are going to use and set aside, such as pickled plums or tuna mayo. Prepare your seaweed sheets.

What you don’t expect is for Miya Osamu to show up at your doorstep the next day with boxes of food, cartons of drinks and a very noisy brother of his in tow. 

“Rin, where can I leave the drinks?” Osamu yells.

“Rin, can I play your PS5?” Atsumu shouts.

You think that they are very different, the Miya twins. Suna takes a minute to finish putting on some clothes (you had answered the door, thankfully. No one wants to see Suna Rintarou in Pikachu boxers) before bursting out of his room.

He’s quick to smack Atsumu’s ‘dirty little setter hands’ away from his precious Playstation, directing Osamu to what constitutes the apartment’s kitchen — a second-hand fridge and the building-installed gas stove that works only if you hit it hard enough. You’re surprised that neither you or Suna haven't died of a house fire or gas poisoning by now.

It doesn’t take long for the other Inarizaki alumni to arrive at Suna’s apartment in a series of doorbell rings. Kita even brings along a large bottle of sake, to which everyone cheers loudly. You don’t understand why they had chosen Suna’s place to have a reunion party. Seriously, wouldn't Onigiri Miya or some other izakaya have been a better choice?

However, there’s free flow of drinks and lots of yummy snacks, so you decide to let the noise wash over you and stand by the food table to pick at the trays of pizza, fried chicken and other finger food. Aran even offers you a drink, smiling sweetly before going off to wrangle Atsumu from trying to initiate a beer chugging competition. Some things just never change, you suppose.

“Having fun?”

You jump and nearly drop the plate of food that you hold.

“You have a horrible habit of scaring people, Miya- Osamu.”

His first name comes out awkward, tumbling off of your tongue as you use a pair of chopsticks to carefully pile back some mentaiko mayonnaise onto a slice of tamagoyaki. Osamu settles into the crook of the kitchen counter next to you with a playful grin on his face.

“Do I really?”

“Don’t forget that the first time you did that, someone nearly got stabbed.”

You pop the tamagoyaki into your mouth. It’s delicious — the egg’s sweetness balances out the salty sauce. You wonder if there’s enough left on the tray for seconds. 

“How’s the reunion going?” you ask nonchalantly, and shuffle a few centimetres away from him.

You hope Osamu doesn’t notice that. He does, however, but chooses not to comment on it. He brings up a hand to scratch at his neck, his shoulders slumping ever so slightly. He’s close enough for you to get a whiff of whatever cologne he’s wearing. Your head spins for a second. 

“Oh, none of us have gotten drunk just yet. I’m pretty sure we’ll be playing beer pong or something later on.”

You steel yourself against the urge to look at what Osamu is wearing. Don’t look, don’t look, definitely don’t look. Miya Osamu is, has been, a dangerous man to fall in love with. You can’t afford to- 

Perhaps gouging your eyes out would have been a better choice in theory. Even a glance from where you stand beside him is enough to see that not only is he wearing a tight, black T-shirt, Osamu also has a pair of sweatpants on. Is it a sin to wear sweatpants? Probably so, especially with the way it makes your throat run dry. 

“Beer pong, huh?” You try your best to mumble somewhat nonchalantly. “Who won the last time?”

“Kita.”

“Kita?!” you gasp. 

Even that’s enough to make you forget about Osamu and his stupid (and very sexy) sweatpants. 

“Yeah, right? That was the first time he participated. All of us got left drunk in the street, so we decided to do it at someone’s place this year.”

You let out a soft laugh at the thought of a bunch of grown men piled over each other on the road. You don’t particularly like the thought of cleaning up after them tonight, though. 

The lack of words between you and Osamu descends into snorts of laughter that trickle in from the tiny living room. Aran throws his head back, drink nearly spilling out of his cup. Ginjima laughs so loud you see Omiomi cover his ears and Suna holds his phone up, filming every second of Atsumu’s defeat. 

Osamu opens his mouth as if to ask you something.

“C’mon! Yer killin’ me, Kita-san!” Atsumu yells, socked feet and waving arms trying to match the onscreen character’s movements.

Kita, on the other hand, is scoring perfect marks without as much effort wasted. You giggle to yourself as he moves his hips, shaking them here and there. A small smile quirks his lips upwards as he finishes with a flawless ending move on ‘Ice Cream’, the Just Dance characters fading into oblivion on the screen. Atsumu crumbles to the floor in defeat. 

Osamu’s lips form a straight line as he watches you laugh along, raising a hand to cover your mouth. He curses Atsumu’s birth and swallows back his embarrassment.

“Did ya see that, Osamu? Oh- Kita-san is so good at everything!” you gush.

“Atsumu just sucks.”

When you laugh, Osamu thinks something in his chest lurches. Regret makes his head go foggy and leaves a sour taste in his mouth.

3. Place cling wrap over a rice bowl. Place some of the cooked rice over the centre of the cling wrap and make a well.

“No way ya got a love letter!” Atsumu yelled.

“Ya get yer fair share. We share t’same face, why shouldn’t I get some?” Osamu retorted, rolling his eyes. 

Suna watched as the twins began to gripe and argue about who was the better looking sibling again. Nothing unusual, really, given how this occurred every odd day of the week.

“S’gotta be a prank. No way someone likes a loser like you,” Suna mused.

In retaliation, Osamu threw him a stink eye. “You two are just jealous,” he sniffed.

The letter had been written on pretty pink paper, all hearts and cute handwriting as his secret admirer asked him to meet them on the roof after school. Not that Osamu wasn’t affected by it, of course. It always rubbed his ego the right way to know that someone preferred him over Atsumu. Though, it wasn’t like he was interested in anyone then. It only took a second before Osamu ripped the letter in half.

“Woah woah woah! Yer crazy! Whatcha gonna do if some pretty girl gave that to ya?” 

Atsumu’s eyes widened in shock, almost reaching forward to grab the shreds of letter that Osamu had torn up. 

“Does it matter? S’not like I’m interested in datin’ right now,” he replied.

“Seriously? What if she’s like, super duper hot!”

Osamu’s face screwed up. “Are ya a horndog?”

Just as Atsumu was about to shout at his dear brother again, you opened the door to their classroom and hurried in. You had a bento box in hand and a cute pout on your face as you placed it on Suna’s table.

“Rin! You forgot your bento at home again!” 

“Oh.” Suna blinked. “Thanks.”

“Seriously, you gotta stop forgetting your things! I can’t be bringing them to you all the time-”

“Hey, Suna.” Atsumu perked up, referring to you. “Would ya go on a date with Samu or me? Me, right? Definitely me!”

Your face flushed with heat. “Huh? What are you talking about?”

“‘Samu got a love letter in his shoe locker this morning. Cliche, huh?” your brother said between bites of his lunch. 

“Mm, yeah. Cliche,” you mumbled. 

You looked around anxiously for any sign of the love letter. Was it in Osamu’s bag? 

“Can ya believe he tore it up?” Atsumu laughed.

“What?”

Your heart felt like a stone in your chest as you froze, your blood running cold. 

“Yeah! This dumbass doesn’t know how t’appreciate anythin’,” he replied, smacking Osamu on the back of his head.

His twin responded with a muffled growl as he continued to scarf down his absurdly large bento. You fiddled with the cuffs of your sleeves, staring down at your feet. You were quick to bid the third years goodbye as you fled their classroom as an inexplicable ache spread through your chest. 

You didn’t focus on your classes for the rest of the day. The fact that Osamu had torn your love letter, written with all your heart and soul as you crumpled draft after draft last night, tipped you over the edge of your fantasies and had you plummeting straight into reality. 

“Oi.”

You looked up from your feet, glancing up at Suna. The both of you were swapping your indoor shoes for outdoor ones, but you had absentmindedly stopped in the middle of slipping your right foot into a shoe. It was nearing the time where they closed the school gates, so there weren’t many students around save for the odd volleyball club member.

“What’re you doing? Put your shoes on properly,” he huffed.

“Sorry,” you said quietly, and slammed the locker door shut once you were done.

You walked a few feet ahead of Suna as you approached the school gate. Your head drooped with each step, tears beginning to mist your eyes. You willed yourself to hold it in till you got home, till you were in the safety of your bedroom to start sobbing your little heart out. Suna tugged on your wrist.

“Are you crying?” he questioned.  

You shook your head quickly, rubbing your eyes with the back of your sleeve.

“Oi. Answer me.”

This time, his voice was a little softer, yet held a mixture of irritation and anger behind a crumbling wall of apathy. Who had been the one to make you cry? 

“It’s nothin’,” you choked out. “Let’s just go home.”

You turned your face to the side as tears continued to roll down your cheeks, muffled cries turning into heartbroken sobs. Something inside of Suna’s head clicked. 

“It’s Miya Osamu, isn’t it?” 

You had to bite on your lower lip to stop it from trembling.

“That bastard tore up your letter, didn’t he?”

You gave Suna the tiniest of nods. He let go of your wrist and whipped around, eyebrows furrowed together. Not wanting to date was one thing, but treating your confession like dog shit was something else. Fortunately for him, the Miya twins were changing their shoes in the getabako.

“‘Samu!” Suna yelled.

The gray haired male looked up with a face of confusion.

“Suna? Whaddya want-” Osamu wasn’t able to say anything more as Suna’s fist collided with his face.

Atsumu jumped back with a yelp as the both of them crashed to the ground. Your hands flew to cover your mouth.

“Rin! Stop it!” you cried out.

You dashed over, tripping over your own feet as you tried to pull Suna away from Osamu as they traded blows. It took the work of you, Atsumu and Ginjima (who had been unlucky enough to pass by) to tear the two apart, and even then Osamu was still struggling in his brother’s arms to be let go.

“What t’hell, man!” he snarled. 

Suna wiped his nose, glancing briefly at the crimson that stained his school uniform. The adrenaline was beginning to run low and pain began to settle into his fists and ribs. His shoulders heaved with each breath, and your hands clutched his shirt.

“Rin. No more, please,” you begged, pressing your forehead against his back. “No more.”

Suna hated the way your voice trembled as you spoke. He didn’t think it was fair for you to bear the burden of pain while Osamu got to walk away unscathed, leaving you broken in pieces. His fist curled up again.

“It’s not worth it, Rin.”

Suna took in a shaky, deep breath.

You were right.

Miya Osamu wasn’t worth it. 

4. Put about 1tbsp of the filling of your choice on the centre of the rice and cover it with rice.

A week comes and goes after the annual Inarizaki reunion. You’re still finding sticky stains on the floor, as well as food wrappers tossed behind the sofa. Suna sends the group chat a video of you yelling at all of them while wielding a mop with so much fervour Aran asks if you broke it. Atsumu actually apologises and Osamu offers to come over and help clean up. The entire group chat flames him immediately.

As per last week, you walk into Osamu’s cooking class at 2p.m. on a Wednesday afternoon. It’s hot outside, droplets of perspiration rolling down your nape. The cool air-conditioning of the classroom is much appreciated and you don your apron behind the gaggle of housewives. You catch snippets of their conversation as they put their items in the cubbies provided. 

“Tanaka-san, did you see the mushrooms that were on sale this Monday?”

“My son is attending this cram school this summer. Here’s the address!”

“My father-in-law keeps complaining about the heat…”

“Good afternoon, everyone.”

“Miya-san!”

Everyone perks up when Osamu walks through the door. They’re quick to surround him, asking how his day had been. You look tired, take this ginseng drink! It really revitalises your spirits! Did you get a girlfriend yet, Miya-san? My daughter is single, you know! 

You watch as Osamu walks behind his bench, all smiles and “Is that so, Shigeru-san?”. Polite enough to please them, but not enough to make them think that he actually wants to go on a date with their 34 year-old daughter who’s a tired office worker looking out for potential husbands like a hawk. He lets out a heavy exhale, using his cap with the Onigiri Miya logo on it to fan himself.

“Hot today, isn’t it?” he chuckles.

You think that maybe he’s the one that’s making this summer so warm, especially with the way that his shirt clings to his figure and his flushed cheeks that make him look adorable. 

Wait.

You do a double take. Ah, adorable. You must have meant that heart-print apron that Tanaka is wearing today. It is pretty cute, and you wonder if you should ask her where she got it from later on. Definitely not Osamu with his perfect smile that would make anyone’s heart skip a beat, and definitely not when it’s directed at you.

“Gather around everyone! We’re going to be making gyoza today!”

The demonstration goes as usual — Osamu impresses the housewives, they gasp and someone even touches his forearm and asks “How did you get so strong, Miya-san?”. Not that you care, of course. You certainly don’t. What you’re more concerned about is how Osamu manages to make wrapping the fragile gyoza seem so easy. 

Your fingers pinch at the thick dough, eyebrows furrowed together. No matter what you do, your filling keeps spilling out of the wrapper and so you’ve opted to try out for a thicker piece this time. Not that it really matters — Suna will be the one suffering from food poisoning if it turns out bad, anyways.

“Ah, yer made it too thick,” Osamu says as he strolls over. 

You tense up as he leans over your shoulder, peeking at the chubby gyoza in your hands. You pretend not be affected by how close he is and continue pinching the wings of the dumpling shut.

“They keep bursting,” you sniff. 

“Maybe ya put t’much filling?” Osamu suggests. “Here, lemme show ya. Put tha’ one down and grab a new wrapper. Yeah, just like that.”

You stiffen as Osamu flours his hands and cradles your hands in his. 

“Here ya go. That’s t’much, scoop out some more. That’s it. Now gently…”

Blood rushes to your face as you feel the warmth of his skin seep into yours, his hands rough from years of training and cooking. Scars adorn the tips of his thick fingers and knuckles. You suddenly feel the urge to gently trace them with your thumb, to ask him how he got each one of them. 

Would he let you? Let you so close, that perhaps you would be the one to know every single thing about him?

“You did it!” Osamu says cheerfully. 

He suddenly pulls away, making you plummet back to reality. A perfectly made gyoza sits in your hands.

“I’m looking forward to tasting your gyoza later on. Now keep trying!” 

You’re left dumbfounded as Osamu walks away to help out the other housewives. They stammer and blush when they get too close, but he never holds their hands in his own, never smiles as gently as he does with you.

You place the gyoza on a pan and put the lid on with a little bit more force than what is necessary.

5. Wrap the cling wrap over the rice and squeeze and mould it into a triangle shape with your hands.

You try not to make contact with Osamu after that. Attending his cooking classes becomes a game of cat-and-mouse, where you try to tell him ‘I don’t need any help, Miya-san’ and watch him crawl away in defeat. In fact, you decide to skip the lesson on making hamburgs and instead spend the afternoon watching television.

After all, from what you’ve learnt in the past, Osamu is nothing more than trouble. You think it’s worth the sacrifice now to put some space between the both of you so that you don’t end up heartbroken a second time. 

Though, you do feel a little bad. Just a little bit. One day when Suna’s out at training, you hear the doorbell ring and Osamu’s voice ring through the genkan. You hear his feet shuffle by the door and a heavy thump outside before he leaves. You only open the door when you hear his car pull out of the apartment building’s carpark, and find a packed bento lunch for you in front.

You try to pretend that the bunny cut apples and sakura shaped carrot slices don’t mean anything.

“Ah, Suna-san! Where were you last week?” Tachibana titters as you step into class for the final lesson.

“I wasn’t feeling very well,” you lie. “I think I caught a summer cold.”

“Oh dear, that sounds terrible!” the ladies chorus together. 

You think they’re probably just glad that you didn’t get in the way of their beloved Miya-san. You tug your apron over your head, and ignore Osamu when he greets everyone. His eyes linger on you for a little too long during the demonstration — to the point that he actually burns the skin side of his salmon fillet.

Osamu skirts around your bench like a nervous puppy when the demonstration is over. You don’t seem particularly keen about talking to him, though the tips of your finger tremble when he finally plucks up the courage to stand next to you. It’s not close enough for your elbows to touch, but close enough that he can whisper to you without anyone else hearing him.

“Hey,” he begins, uncertain. His voice wavers slightly.

“Hey,” you reply, wary of what he might say. 

“Are you okay?”

You take a moment to think, tipping the sake bottle carefully to measure out an exact tablespoon of it. He wonders when your hands have seemed so delicate, so small. He aches to hold them in his own again. 

“I’m okay.”

“That’s good.”

It’s quiet, again. Just like that night in Suna’s apartment, with all the noise of the reunion going on around you, except this time it's the clanging of pans and utensils, paired with the chatter of many ladies. 

“I was thinking…” Osamu stares down at your hands, turning the measuring spoon over so that sake splashes onto the hot pan with a sizzle. “Maybe we could get a drink together after this?”

You cover the pan and watch its surface cloud up with condensation. You hide your shaking hands by digging them into the pockets of your apron. 

Osamu swallows. Perhaps he had been too direct with you; scared you off with how quickly he was advancing. Or did Suna tell you to be careful of him? That he didn’t want you falling in love with him a second time? There’s no lie about it, that Osamu had been a grade A asshole back in high school.

But he loves you now; has loved you since then. Would you be willing to give him a second chance?

“Osamu,” you breathe.

His shoulders relax slightly when you don’t call him by his last name. 

“I don’t know what to do.” 

Your voice comes out timid, scared. Osamu’s heart crumbles at the edges. He wonders if you would hate him if he reached out and took your hands in his once more. You’re both adults, perfectly capable of rational thinking if only your hearts hadn’t gotten in the way. Love hurts, they said. You want to agree. 

“We can start it out slow,” Osamu suggests.

“I’m supposed to start my new job next month. I won't be in Nagano for much longer.”

“I’m opening a branch in Tokyo.”

“I’ll be busy settling down. We might not get to see each other often enough.”

“A little is better than nothin’.”

“You’re my brother’s friend.”

“Now, yer just picking at nothing, babe. Didn’t you have a crush on me back in high school, too? That didn’t stop ya, did it?”

Your heart wrestles with your brain, insisting on comfort and that love will always come in the form of someone that isn’t Miya Osamu. You’ll find someone, but will they be better? Will they send food to your doorstep, or send you stupid photos of dogs he saw on the street? Will they chase after you relentlessly for years, will they be Osamu?

A lump forms in your throat and you wonder if this, has been, is love. You tear your heart out from within you and let it cling to your sleeve, as pathetic and scared it is. You don’t mind if it hurts. To never hurt is to never have lived, to never have loved. 

By this point, your eyes have misted up with tears and it hits you- You’re about to cry about your crush in the middle of a cooking class attended by middle-aged ladies. You’ve never been more embarrassed. 

“Really?” you whisper, looking up at Osamu with glittering eyes. 

He ignores the “Miya-san! I need your help!” that rings out in the background. He smiles gently.

“Yeah, really.”

A tear slips down your face. Osamu lets out a breathy chuckle as he swipes it away with his thumb, giving your shoulder a squeeze.

“We’ll talk properly after this, alright?” 

You nod numbly. You watch as he hurries off to Shigeru, gasping when he sees how she had completely butchered her fillet. He turns back to you, trying to hold in a snigger. 

You giggle.

Osamu thinks he wants to hear that laugh forever.

6. Remove the cling wrap and cover the bottom of the rice triangle with a nori sheet and set aside.

“One extra large bonito onigiri with spring onions!” you cry out from the counter.

Back in the kitchen, Osamu and another part-time worker scoop steaming rice out of large vats and use their hands to mould them into perfectly shaped triangles. A scoop of filling goes in and a strip of seaweed is wrapped hastily around the onigiri before it's sent to you to package. You place the onigiri carefully into a box and slip it into a paper bag with the shop’s logo on the front for a take-away order. 

The shop is filled with customers even on a Wednesday afternoon. The clock shows 2p.m., past lunch time, yet you can see a queue that snakes out of the shop and down the alleyway. 

Another long day ahead, you think to yourself. 

“It’s our turn!” a little girl squeals as she takes the bag from you, opening it up to peer at the huge onigiri inside. “Mama! ‘giri!” 

Her mother laughs and pats her head. “Don’t forget to say thank you, Haru.”

The girl turns to you, eyes sparkling. “‘Fank you, Miya-shan!” 

A cheery grin almost splits your face in half. Miya-san. Four years on and it still makes your stomach flip whenever you hear that Osamu’s last name has become yours. It was an easy decision for the both of you to get married, really. You had loved each other for years and all you wanted to do in the end was to spend the rest of your lives together.

You quit your office job just before you got married to help Osamu out with the new Onigiri Miya branches. It took some getting used to, but the familiar customers and bright smiles that you see just by serving onigiri each day makes it worth it. It’s tough work, no doubt. But doing what you enjoy with the man you love is more rewarding than it ever could be.

Though, it’s not like your relationship has always been smooth sailing. There are days when you bicker over something stupid (like how you always forget to close the lid of the rice cooker), or when Osamu insists that he isn’t overworking himself (although his eyebags tell otherwise). But love’s a recipe with a few secret ingredients, and you’ve come to master it over the years. 

“Come back soon!”

The shop is filled with the fragrant scent of freshly cooked rice and bonito flakes being stir-fried into furikake. Customers perch on tiny stools as they scarf down onigiri of different shapes and sizes, licking their fingers clean. A plush toy of Onigiri Miya’s mascot sits on the counter next to a potted plant that Atsumu bought (which is surprisingly still alive).

A photograph of the third Tokyo branch’s grand opening hangs on the wall. You and Osamu hold up a bouquet of flowers, smiling toothily at the camera, your wedding rings glinting in the sunlight. 

“One medium onigiri with tuna mayo, coming right up!”

You jump as Osamu shouts out the order suddenly and you nearly drop the onigiri that he hands to you.

“Woah, careful there,” he chuckles, a hand ghosting the small of your back.

“You have ‘ta stop scaring me, ‘Samu,” you huff and roll your eyes playfully.

Osamu grins at you and the edges of his eyes crinkle up. You place the onigiri safely into its packaging and place it on the counter for a customer to collect, before turning back to plant a kiss on his cheek. Osamu’s face flushes pink and he hurries away, mumbling something about bonito flakes.

Your heart soars in your chest.

Yeah, it has been, will be, worth it. 

7. Repeat the same steps as above to use the rest of the rice with other fillings that you prepared.

[baecvlt]

Stalker Nagito Komaeda x Milf!Reader

this was requested via my twitter:

“Hey! i’ve seen your works and I’m in love. Can I request smut where a stalker Nagito Komaeda becomes obsessed with a milf reader who moves into the neighborhood who’s like a dom in bed and ya know just large bust and taller than him. Thank youuu🤍”

a/n: ofc. but I have my own idea of a dom which i’ll use involving certain things (heed warnings)

warnings: he is so obviously a virgin in this, degradation, slight masochism, asphyxiation, spit, also Nagito calls the reader mommy (side note: nagito is in his early 20s in this, he lives alone. age of reader isn’t specified BUT I say she’s in her late 20s/early 30s)

• • •

It was a bright day...which Nagito despised. It was summer. He hated the sun, hated the mosquitoes, and the unnecessary humidity. It was days like these he wishes he was back at his university dorm. The A/C, the tall tree covering his window and blocking the sun...it was perfect. Hell, he didn’t even hate classes. Yet, he couldn’t live in the dorms forever. When it came time to buy a home, he stupidly did so in fall, moved in during the winter.

Well, no shit the home seemed perfect then. It wasn’t fucking summer. His A/C decided to break, his windows has a great view of the sun, and most of his friends were out of town (all except Hajime, but Hajime is fucking boring and a bummer). Nagito sat on his couch, watching reruns of old tv shows. He took a sip from his nearby glass (cold water), suddenly hearing sounds of what appeared to be a loading van. He looked outside his window.

A moving van?

Right, that one old man who lived there passed away. Freak accident, by the way. Oh well, may he rest in peace. Meanwhile, Nagito was being himself and trying to see who it was. Pretty much, the dude was being nosy. He saw another car pull up. That must’ve been the family’s car. Out jumped 3 kids, what appeared to be 2 girls and 1 boy. An adult stepped out. Nagito decided he’d get a better look at the situation. He put on his shirt, black jeans, and his green hood.

He was “going for a walk”.

Without being noticed, he made his way to the other side of the street. It was a woman, she was taking boxes out of the truck. The minute Nagito saw her it was if he was stricken by Cupid’s arrow. She was tall and beautiful. Her skin complimented her hair and her legs, he couldn’t take his eyes off them. Her breasts...he needed to stop—

“Hi!”

She was in front of him, a warm and inviting smile on her face. “H-Hi,” he muttered. She didn’t hear him well, so it helped that he waved. “I’m new in the neighborhood. We just moved in,” she added, putting the box down. She stuck her hand out, going for a handshake. He shook her hand, her warm hand against his cold ones. Why are his hands always cold? “I see,” he responded, getting his shit together,“I’m Nagito Komaeda. I live across the street”. She introduced herself and complimented his house.

“What a lovely home. I hope the neighborhood is just as lovely”

“It should be. It’s pretty quiet. There’s not many families here. Say, can I help you pack?”

“You’re too sweet! I’d really appreciate it”

He helped take all the boxes in her home, helping load a couch too, and help with other large objects. They finished in 9 hours, taking a majority of the day. “Thanks for helping out, Nagito”. She made a lemonade, handing him a glass.

“Don’t mention it! Also, thank you”

One of the kids ran in the living room where they sat on the couch. He gasped when he saw Nagito. “Mommy! That man looks dead!!!”. Nagito smiled, but his mom was not amused. “Michael! Apologize..”. The kid kept smiling and said,“Sorry!”. He ran to another room. “I’m so sorry,” she muttered. Nagito shook his head.

“Hey, I’m rather malnourished”

“Ha. On an unrelated topic, are you hungry? I could make us something”

“Oh, I shouldn’t linger any longer. I wouldn’t want to disturb your husband”

She laughed. “I know you mean no harm, but I’m not married,” she added. “Oh,” Nagito muttered,“I’m sorry, I really didn’t mean it in any way”. She shook her head and reassured him it was fine. “Sit, Nagito,” she pulled out a chair,“I’m not letting you refuse having dinner with us. Especially since you were such help”. She rubbed his back before heading back into the kitchen to begin cooking.

She made him a bowl of pasta, adding chicken on the side. Nagito was quite happy. He hadn’t eaten a good meal in so long. Her kids didn’t eat at the table, but on the counter. Meanwhile, she ate with Nagito. Just as Nagito thought he couldn’t grow fonder of her, he did just that. All she did was let him talk about himself.

“Jesus, I’m sorry about your parents? How are you keeping yourself afloat with university and expenses?”

“Academic scholarships”

“Wow, you’re such a smart boy”

The way she phrased it made him flustered. “Thank you for the meal, ma’am,” he muttered,“I haven’t eaten like this in who knows how long”. She smiled tenderly, picking up his empty plate. “Seconds?”. He shook his head.

“No, thank you. I’m already so full”

“I’m glad. You know, there’s always a meal for you in store if you can do me a favor”

“What’s that?”

“My oldest daughter has her final test this week. You think you can help her study? I’ll make you a nice, warm meal every time you come over”

Nagito thought about it. He would also have time around her. Plus, she wasn’t a bad cook. “Of course, I look forward to it,” he told her. “Lovely”. He got up and excused himself to go home. “It was nice having you over, Nagito,” she said softly. He could tell she was getting sleepy. When people are tired, Nagito has noticed that their tone is rather sheepish. She walked him to the door, ruffling his hair playfully and he blushed. “Goodnight, neighbor”.

“Goodnight, you”

Before he left, she stopped him and handed him a paper: (xxx) xxx-xxxx ♡

“Call me when you get home so I have your number saved. Then, I can call you when my daughter, Vanessa, needs help. Take care, okay?”

He nodded.

She closed the door, his thoughts racing on his way home. He picked up some things about her, things she didn’t even tell him. He went home and opened a notebook, writing all of it down. He called her and she answered, her voice as sweet as when he left (only sleepier). “Hello?”. His breath was heavy without realizing it as he spoke. “H-Hey, you told me to call you,” he breathed,“It’s Nagito...Komaeda”

“Oh, hey, angel! I’m not interrupting anything am I?”

“What? No, it’s all good— why’d you think so?”

“You sound like you need to catch your breath, but anyway, thanks for calling me. I’ve saved your number now”

“Oh, great! Well, if that’s all, I’ll let you go to bed now”

“It was. Goodnight, Nagito”

“G-Goodnight”

He hung up, flustered more than ever as he continued to jot down his thoughts on paper. The next day, he woke up at 6am to wait in his car. He knew what he was doing was wrong, but he couldn’t help it. At around 7:41am, his front neighbor and kids headed for their car. Nagito, who had taken a light nap in the driver’s seat, was awoken by the car starting. He waited for the car to drive away just slightly past his house to start his own car, slowly tailing behind her.

He dropped her kids off at the nearby elementary. She got off, kissed them on their forehead (all minus the eldest, who walked swiftly through the gates). Seeing how she cared for them made Nagito feel bad, but all he did was brush that feeling off. Next, he followed her through her daily. As he did, his notes from last night echoed through his mind, adding new detail.

“She works at an office not everyday She doesn’t have allergies but is sensitive to dust Red seems to be her favorite color but always in a darker shade Her daughter is around 10 years old She isn’t vegan but enjoys almond milk Maybe has an issues with abandonment but I can’t assume that either She buys many apples but not the same amount of bananas at the store so maybe she only eats the bananas—”

Just more to add to his notebook.

He got home before she did, writing down what he had learned. His phone rang about an hour later of him getting home. He picked it up,“Hello?”. “Nagito, hi!”. It was her. He started having a mini-panic attack, because why would she be calling him? “H-Hey, how are you?”

“I’m doing alright. I was wondering if you could come over and tutor Vanessa”

Oh, thank god.

“Yes, of course. I’ll be down there right now”

“Great. See you then!”

He was relieved, heading to her home happily. He knocked on the door. When she opened it, she did so with the same warm smile as yesterday. “Thank you for coming over,” she said,“She’s in her room”. Nagito nodded, freezing when she grabbed his hand and took him to the room. Her touch was so soft, noted. They got to the room, where a girl was reading a book on a desk. “Nessa?”. The girl turned around.

“Nagito is going to be here for a few hours to help you out with homework and studying. He’s really smart, so pay attention and be respectful”

“Okay, mom”

She nodded, squeezing Nagito’s shoulder before leaving. Nagito approached the girl, she took her things out. Before he could speak, she stopped him. “Please don’t call me ‘Nessa’,” she whispered,“It’s bad enough my mom does, but not you, Please”.

“Don’t worry. I wasn’t planning on referring to you at all”

“Bastard”

“Nessa”

“I guess I walked right into that one”

Nagito laughed, grabbing a chair and sitting next to her. Her work wasn’t what he expected. Is this what they’re teaching kids now? He could’ve sworn he hadn’t seen this type of stuff until he hit middle school. It wasn’t anything he couldn’t do, but damn. All in all, tutoring went well. Vanessa actually learned something today. “Good job!,” he said. “Thank you,” she smiled and hugged him,“I felt so stupid”.

“Hey, its okay not to understand things”

Her mom walked in. “Dinner’s ready”. Vanessa got up and went to the kitchen. “How’d it go?,” she asked Nagito. “Went well, she gets the math now,” he answered. She smiled, thanking him for his help and asking him to join them for dinner. He’d be foolish not to, so he accepted the invite.

Fish tacos were served tonight with rice and beans, another lemonade made. It was different than anything Nagito had ever had, but that doesn’t equate to bad. He actually enjoyed the meal. The kids sat at the main table today, much more respectful than yesterday. “Michael how was school?”. He put a thumbs up, getting back to eating. “And Adrianna?”. She looked up from her meal and shrugged. “What’s wrong?”.

“I’m tired, but class was okay”

“Oh, okay. When you’re done, just take a quick shower and get to bed”

“Thanks”

Nagito thought it was endearing. Seeing how understanding and loving she was, it was refreshing. The kids all eventually left, Nagito finishing his meal. “Did you like it?”. He looked at her, nodding. “Great! Seconds?”.

“Full again. I don’t usually eat, but your food is always so good”

“Oh, you’re just saying things...”

“No, really! Thank you”

He said his goodbyes to the family, walking back home. It was as if he was falling for this woman more and more everyday. He went to sleep, this time dreaming of her. He never dreams, but this time he dreamt she was on her knees for him. Then, nothing else. It was as if his dream teased him.

The next morning, he woke up to some knocking on the door. He looked at the time. 8:23am. He put on a pair of jeans and his shirt, walking to his door. He opened it and there she stood, wearing a black dress and red heels. He assumed she had work and needed a favor before going. “Good morning,” he said.

“Were you following me yesterday?”

Shit.

“I, uh...,” he didn’t know what to answer. He was indeed following her yesterday. He also liked her, so if he straight up said that he was to following her, it’d ruin things. His face was glowing a shade of pink to a slight red as he thought of the right answer. He was still stumbling over his words. “I think it’s kinda cute,” she added. The fuck? “Huh?”. She pushed him inside the house, closing and locking the door behind him. “When a boy follows someone around, it’s because he wants something,” she added, but her tone was so sultry,“Well, Nagito—”. She pushed him onto the couch, leaning in front of him with her hands on his chest.

“—What do you want?”

None of what was happening felt real. Nagito couldn’t find the words to express what exactly he wanted. This was the first time he’d ever been in a situation like this, it wasn’t a bad one either. He began to panic when she straddled him. “Could it be that you wanted me?,” she asked. He frantically nodded and she laughed as she locked her lips with his. He gasped against her lips, kissing back. She slowly trailed her kisses down to his neck, cupping his jaw while grinding on his lap. Nagito moaned, his shaky hands grabbing her ass. She grabbed his hands and put them away from her. “It’s cute that you’re getting this carried away”.

“I’m sorry”

“No time to apologize. Get on your knees for mommy”

Nagito was about to lose his mind when she said that, but he obeyed. Her presence was domineering as he stood on his knees against his carpeted floor. She spread her legs, noticing Nagito desperately trying to get a look. Her red heel stopped him, stepping on his head lightly. “Am I teasing you?,” she asked,“It’s okay to be honest”.

“Y-You are, but its okay. I want to be teased by you”

“You’re adorable,” she took her heel off his head,“Let’s go to your room”.

He practically ran to his bed. He sat and waited patiently. She entered the room, heading to his bed. She began to take off his shirt, admiring his frame. She then unbuckled his belt and unzipped his jeans. He kicked them off and sat down. She sat next to him. “Give me your hands”. She held them, frowning slightly. “Boo, they’re so cold,” she teased,“I’ll warm them up for you”. Carefully, she grabbed his left hand, putting his middle and ring finger in her mouth. She licked to his fingertips, leaving him tense and speechless. She stopped and smiled at him.

“This is your first time, isn’t it?”

He nodded shyly. “Don’t be shy,” she said,“I’m going to guide you, but I’m also going to have my fun”. He gulped, nodded. She stood up and removed her dress. She wore a lacy black bra and panties. She brought his hands to her breasts, allowing him to fondle them. They were huge in his hands. “You like them, baby?”. “Y-Yes,” he muttered,“Can you, uh, take....the bra off?”. He was ashamed when asking, he felt desperate. She smiled and nodded, unhooking it and allowing the bra to fall to the ground. He gasped at the sight of her tits, grabbing them. She straddled him.

“Do you know what to do with them?”

He nodded, rubbing one and sucking the other. She moaned sweetly, grinding on his lap. He popped his mouth off them. That was when she took the opportunity to knock him onto the bed. She began to make out with him, shoving his tongue down her throat. They lay sideways. Her hand was on his neck, slightly choking him. He couldn’t resist but try to grind on her lap. She laughed. “Look at you,” she mocked,“Humping my leg like a desperate little puppy”. She didn’t let him speak, sitting up and pushing him back down. “I’m going to give you what you want,” she whispered in his ear,“Take your cock out”.

He was nervous as he did, hands shaky. She blushed a bit at his size. “It’s so big,” she said, straddling him,“I’m going to have my way with it”. “Please, do what you want to me,” he begged,“Abuse me, please”. She didn’t speak, sinking down on it. Nagito gasped, she was extremely wet. She began to bring her hips up and land straight down on it, repeatedly. She put her hands around his throat, now being rougher. Nagito gasped for air, grabbing her hands.

That was a mistake.

“Hands down,” she ordered, striking him across the face. “Sorr-”. He was slapped once again. “Only speak when you’re spoken to”. He nodded as his stomach began to cave in. His cock twitched each time she slapped him, making her moan. She leaned forward, capturing his earlobe between her teeth. He winced, his hands tangling in the sheets. He felt as though his entire body was blushing.

“You’re so sensitive there”

She teased him, kissing the skin and nibbling. His hips involuntarily snapped upward, making her whine. “You’re so desperate, baby,” she laughed,“it’s so cute”. He could feel her warmth running along his cock. He bit into his hand, trying to stop himself from cumming inside her. It worked, but she didn’t like him doing that. She grabbed his hands and kissed them.

“Don’t hurt yourself, put them right here”

She placed them on her boobs. He watched them bounce up and down, grabbing them gently. His rather large hands seemed small on her tits. He was extremely flushed. He took them off her and placed them on her hips. “Open your mouth”. He lay back more and did as he was told. She leaned forward, grabbing his jaw again as she spit into it and kissed him. He moaned when she did, his urges getting the best to him and thrusting upward. He hit her cervix every time, causing her to produce the sweetest and sluttiest of moans. Her walls tightened around him and now he was whining. “Are you gonna cum, honeybun?,” she asked.

“Y-Yes..”

“Where do you wanna cum?”

“I wanna cum...everywhere. I want it. I want it so bad. I wanna cum inside and on your tits, on your ass, y-your face..mouth. Please let me cum, mommy”

She motivated him, riding him harder. “Come on, Nagito,” she whispered,“Cum for mommy. Cum all the way inside her”. He lost his mind after that, groaning as he shot his load(s) inside her. He was still inside her as he tried catching his breath. She rubbed his chest, shushing him. “Good boy, you did so well,” she cooed,“Such a good boy.” He was covering his face, embarrassed and still hard. “I wasn’t too rough, was I?,” she asked. He shook his head, thinking,“Not rough enough”. He whined when she got off, revealing he was still erect. She noticed.

“You wanna go again, baby? Kids don’t leave school till 2:30. We have time for an extra fuck”

“C-Can I?”

“Yes, dummy”

She let Nagito choose how to fuck her. He wanted missionary, mostly because he craved intimacy and she did not disappoint. She kissed and praised him, telling him he was good. She held onto him the whole time and cuddled him afterwards. Nagito felt so special, he felt loved. “I can come over when I don’t have work,” she said,“Would you like that?”.

“I’d love that actually”

“You make me happy, Nagito. I could stay here and cuddle all day”

“I feel so lucky”

He yawned, looking at the clock. “Its 10,” he told her. She nuzzled his chest, humming. “Mmmm, let’s take a small nap,” she whispered,“Okay?”. “Okay”. He kissed the top of her head and held her to him, slowly joining her in slumber.

[featherlight-touches]

Family Support

Wrote a one-shot story with Mirabel and Camilo. She helps cheer him up. A bit different than what I usually write, but it’s fluffy and has some tickles in it. Enjoy!  

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

It has just reached late afternoon and the Madrigals were all returning home from their chores and duties from within the Encanto. This would usually be the time where everyone met up for dinner, which is the plan.

Everyone sits down with their plates of food and smiles warmly at one another in greeting.

“Buenas noches, everyone,” Abuela greets all the faces she sees at the table, who all responds with nods and smiles. “I hope you all had good days and have done your best to make our family proud.”  

Mirabel, although lacking a gift like the rest of the family, was confident she did her part to help the family today.

Ever since the rebuild of Casita, everyone has been feeling a lot more relaxed around each other. Of course, they still helped around the Encanto, but they made sure they weren’t so overworked.

The family were filled with smiles and positive vibes, which is how it should have always been.

“Good, well then, let us…” Abuela pauses with a small look on concern, she notices that there is an empty chair at the end of the table. “Who is not with us?”

The rest of the family turns to the missing seat, all checking among themselves who was not present. There was Pepa, Bruno, Félix, Antonio, Dolores, Isabela, Luisa, Augustin, Julieta…

Mirabel was the first to realise who it was before anyone could finish counting the family members.

“Camilo?” She looks to her tía and tío who shared a sudden look of concern for their missing son. Camilo never missed a meal.

“Did anyone see him come home?” Julieta asks, sharing the same look of concern as the rest of the table.

It wasn’t until a cloud started to form above their heads, they knew how worried Pepa was becoming.

“I- I’m sure he’s okay,” Bruno tries his best to calm down everyone’s anxiety. “Maybe he’s up in his room… you know, getting an early night or something.”

“First thing is first,” Abuela stands, grabbing everyone’s attention once more. “We will finish our meals; regather our strength and then we shall check his room and the rest of Casita for him.”

“Dolores, do you hear him anywhere?” Félix asks his daughter, who responds with a shake of her head, looking very disappointed from the lack of anything coming from Camilo. “Maybe Bruno’s right, maybe he’s just sleeping early tonight.”

“I have to be sure!” Pepa stands, abandoning her food and immediately leaves the room, the cloud following her but not before a small sound of thunder echoed throughout the room.

“I hope he’s okay,” Antonio says, his animals sensing his sadness and nuzzling against him. Félix reached his hand to gently ruffle his curly hair in reassurance before standing and excusing himself to follow after Pepa. He needs to make sure his son is safe.

It would appear the ones left at the table had lost their appetites, no one was eating. Mirabel looks to everyone, unsure of what to say. If Camilo was here, he would probably tell a poorly timed joke to try and lighten the mood, anything to help the family smile again. He was caring in that sense.

“He’s not there…” Dolores breaks the silence, hearing the worried chatter coming from her parents upstairs. This raises the concern of everyone else in the room.

“What chores did he have today?” Isabela asks anyone who is listening, but Luisa only gave a shrug in response.

“I saw him this morning playing games with some of the kids, but I didn’t see him since then.”

Mirabel didn’t remember seeing him that afternoon either, her brows furrow in confusion. Where could he be?

She looks up to Dolores who is trying to comfort Antonio. Bruno and Julieta leave the table to go and look for Pepa, they want to make sure she is calm and doesn’t blow Casita away with a hurricane in her worry.

None of this was making sense, Camilo was always at the dinner table, his appetite was huge for one his age and size. This was due to his shapeshifting abilities which the family were aware of, but to go missing like this was very unlike him.

Mirabel searches her brain, for any clue or memory of Camilo acting this way and where he would go if things maybe got too much. The thing with that is, Camilo never seemed unhappy. He was always trying to put smiles on everyone’s face.

Mirabel sighs, leaning back in her chair.

She hears everyone standing from the table and begin to search for him. Abuela sighs.

“I didn’t think anyone would be able to eat, anyway,” she gave a small smile to Mirabel, which was reflected. She stands and leaves to help in the search for her grandson.

“Camilo…  where are you?” Mirabel asks herself quietly. The tiles to her left began to move in a small beat, gaining her attention. “What is it, Casita?”

They tap again. Mirabel gives a small gasp at what she’s been told and immediately leaves the dining room area. She wants to go tell everyone she thinks she knows where he is, but the family are all trying to calm Pepa, who is very upset right now.

Perhaps, this wasn’t the right atmosphere Camilo would want to see right now, besides, she wasn’t sure herself if he was even where Casita suggested. She goes to check for herself.

She reaches the nursery, her room. She mentally prepares herself before entering. “OK…”

She opens the door slowly, checking the inside of the room. She sees her bed, her things… she looks over to the right side of the room to the spare bed that lives there.

She closes the door. “Camilo…”

There he was. Laying there, his arm slung over his eyes, the other resting on his stomach. He lifted his arm off his eyes to look at Mirabel before lowering it back down. He’s been here the whole time?

It makes sense that Dolores couldn’t hear him in here, for some reason her hearing was restricted from this room. She believes Casita did so, so that if anyone needed time to be alone or talk to someone in private, they could do so in there without being heard.

“Hey, cous…” Mirabel approaches the bed with caution, unsure of what’s going on with him right now. They used to be close as cousins during their childhood, but ever since he got his gift and she didn’t, they drifted apart. She doesn’t know what goes on in that head of his anymore. “You good?”

No response.

“’Milo...?” she sits on the edge of the bed he currently lays on, in which he scoots over to give her some more room. “Everyone is worried about you, you know?”

No response.

“Did you have a bad day?” Mirabel asks, trying to get something, anything from him.

But again, no response.

“Anyone home?” Mirabel tries to poke his arm and get his attention that way, but all that does his causes the shapeshifter to flip over onto his stomach, resting his head into his now folded arms in front of him.

She groans in frustration at his lack of cooperation. “Come on, primo! What’s going on?”  

There was a muffle from him. Mirabel leans closer to his head. “What was that? I don’t speak muffle.”

Camilo raises his head up briefly to repeat himself, “M’tired.”

“Really? Because looking at the way you’re being lazy and unresponsive to me, I would have never guessed that.” Mirabel jokes and she can swear she hears a small chuckle muffled into his arms. “But seriously, is everything okay? You missed dinner…”

There was another muffle from him which was the last straw for Mirabel, whose fingers darted to his sides. “OK, you know what. I want to talk to Camilo, not Mister Muffles over here!”

It was by memory that Mirabel remembers that Camilo was ticklish, and he immediately brings his arms down to his sides in protection to the sudden tickling assault that takes place there. His speech is no longer muffled as his tired giggles starts.

“OK, OK, I give!” he laughs and now that she can hear him properly, she stops her tickling, looking very proud of herself.

“Now then, you were saying?” She holds up a warning finger as she sees him about to reset his arm position. He keeps them in the middle, enough so that he can at least rest his head on one of his arms.

“Wasn’t very hungry.”

“Because?”

“Do I need a reason to not be hungry?” Camilo asks raising a brow to his prima, not annoyed by the question, just curious.

“Well, I mean,” she scoots a little closer. “It’s you. You’ve never missed a meal.”

“I guess there is a first for everything then, huh?”

“Camilo… come on, you can talk to me. If it’s something you don’t want to leave this room then that’s okay! I can keep it between us.”

Camilo looks at his prima then sighs. “You’re not going to leave me alone until I tell you, are you?”

“Nope,” Mirabel replies almost instantly, which even causes him to chuckle a little. She was always such a positive person. He liked that about her.

“It’s…” he pauses, not even sure how to word what he wants to say. “Nothing.”

“Nope.” Mirabel shoves him, gently but enough to motivate more words. “That’s not an answer, now come on.”

“Do you really care, Mira?”

“Of course I do, you’re like, my favourite cousin. I care about you.” She brings a hand on his shoulder, giving the gentlest of squeezes.

“I thought Dolores was your favourite,” there is a cheeky grin displayed on his features, teasing about the time where she mistook him for Dolores when he was busy sneaking some seconds.

“Alright, you know what, THAT … was a complete misunderstanding and… come on! I needed to get information from Dolores!” Mirabel is suddenly flustered. “I love all my cousins. I care about all of you, and if there is something wrong. I want to help you.”

There was a small silence between them and for the first time since she has been in that room, she let it happen.

“I appreciate it,” Camilo finally spoke, giving a genuine smile to his cousin. “I don’t even know how to describe it, honestly. Just… feeling out of place, I guess.”

“Out of place?”

He hums. “It’s like, is my gift even that helpful? … I shapeshift. That’s it.”

Mirabel blinks, waiting to hear what the problem is because in complete honesty, she wasn’t seeing an issue yet. Camilo already feels regret for bringing this up, and especially bringing it up to his prima that didn’t have a gift.

“Everyone else has really helpful gifts, and they do a lot to help the community. I just … become someone else.”

“And that’s bad?” Mirabel asks, trying to understand what it is her cousin is getting at.

“Well… yeah, how does that help anyone?” His voice broke a little when he says this. “Take me out of the equation and nothing changes, you know?”

Camilo buries his head in his arms once more, wanting to desperately hide any emotion that may be slipping out.

“Camilo,” Mirabel whispers, using her fingers to pet his curls which is something she has seen Pepa do before. He has just explained how Mirabel used to feel. She never would have guessed someone in the family with a gift felt the exact same way. “You are more than-“

“More than just my gift, yeah yeah, I heard all that before,” Camilo interrupts, a little too aggressive than he meant it, but he is frustrated. “My gift is to be someone else, so that’s who everyone sees. They don’t see me.”

Mirabel is about to counter his comment when she hears a sniffle. Is he crying? No… not Camilo, surely not.

There is another sniffle.

She never knew how much this bothered Camilo, but then, this is the first she is hearing of it. In an instant, she wraps her arms around him, squeezing him tight. She feels him shaking from his sobs, which seemed to grow when she touched him.

“Lo siento, Camilo,” she whispers into his ear. “I had no idea you felt this way. But hey… look at me.”

He shakes his head, refusing to show his face.

“Please,” she asks again, a few tears forming in her own eyes at how emotional he is right now.

With another hidden sniffle, he raises his head to look at her. His eyes are red, puffy and tears streamed down his freckle kissed face, a sight she hasn’t seen since their younger days. This face was enough to Mirabel to grip onto him tighter in the embrace, his forehead rested on her shoulder.

She comforts him by rubbing his back, slow and soft, whispering the words “Clear skies, clear skies,” to try and calm his sobs. This eventually works and she gently pushes Camilo off her shoulder to look her in the eye.

“You listen to me, primo. This family loves you, with or without your gift. You’re you.” This almost brings more sobs but this time he holds back with another sniffle. “And your gift, is great! Just as special as you are. You bring smiles to everyone in the Encanto, and I know behind that mischievous exterior that you hide in,” she playfully pokes his nose which at least rewards her with a small smile. “That you care so much about this family and this community. Just like we care about you.”

Camilo is the first to initiate the embrace this time around, he gave her a tight squeeze as a sign of gratitude. The reassurance was just what he needed to hear.

“Thanks,” he parts from the hug, using the palm of his hands to rub out the last of the tears from his eyes.

“Of course, and I mean every word of it.”

“I know you do,” he gives one last sniffle, looking at her face once again. “You suck at lying.”

“Gee, thanks.” The fact that he can make jokes now fills Mirabel with confidence that he is at least feeling a bit better. “You really shouldn’t keep things like that bottled up, you know? Everyone is so worried about- Oh! Tía Pepa! She was about ready to blow Casita away she was so worried about you!”

Camilo stretches and places a hand on his stomach. “I’m hungry, is there any food left?”

“Did you hear what I said? Everyone is worried, you need to go let them know you’re safe.” Mirabel grabs onto his wrist in attempt to pull him up with her, but he flops backwards back onto the bed. “Hey!”

“I just want to eat something, I don’t think I can handle everyone else right now.”

He suddenly feels fingers back to his sides once again, wiggling up and down. He yelps then breaks down into a small fit of laughter.

“You get up and go see everyone right now, or else I am going to tickle you to death, Camilo!” Mirabel threatens playfully, listening to her primo laugh.

“Stohohop it! Alright! You win!” he gives a sigh of relief when she stops. “You’re mean.”

“Yeah, but we’re family. So, you love me.” Mirabel grins, helping her cousin to his feet and walks side by side with him to the door. “I won’t tell anyone what we talked about, but I really think you should talk to tía Pepa about this, or Dolores. Anyone.”

“I will,” he confirms, giving a small thankful smile to Mirabel. “Gracias, Mirabel.”

[dracowars]

Hii if your requests are open can u do one where the reader and draco are married and he wants to have kids but she keeps avoiding it and saying they should wait a bit longer. And then they end up talking and the reader confesses she scared of going through pregnancy because it just sounds so painful and that when she was younger she was a little chubby and it took her forever to lose that weight so she’s also scared of gaining weight and being undesirable after? Just some cute fluff and maybe dad!draco

founding of a family | draco malfoy

pairing: draco x reader

word count: 1,7k

summary: where draco wants to have children, but y/n doesn’t

a/n: uni starts again next week so i try to work on as many requests as i can before that! <3

warnings: angst, mentions of pregnancy, mentions of insecurities regarding weight

universe: harry potter

Draco’s return is announced by the opening and the following closing of the front door and not a second later, he walks over to you into the kitchen, where you are currently busy preparing your dinner. When you hear his footsteps behind you, you turn to him with a smile on your face, even though you briefly get startled at the sight of him. It must have been a very tough day considering the exhausted expression on his handsome face.

“Good evening, darling”, you greet him warmly and put your arms gently on his shoulders, looking deep into his gray eyes that are surrounded by emerging dark circles. Despite everything, he smiles back, exhausted but genuine.

“Hi”, he softly whispers to you and gives you a kiss to greet you while his arms wrap around your waist, pulling you closer to him, the tips of your noses almost touching after the kiss.

“Exhausting day?”, you carefully ask, already searching for an answer in his eyes.

“Yeah, you could say that”, Draco sighs but quickly puts a smile back on again in order to not unsettle you in any way. “Do not look at me like I am about to pass out. Don’t worry, I really am fine. At least now that I am reunited with you. I will be better in no time.”

“Then I will do my best to fulfill my job as a wife today”, you playfully tease him and give him a quick kiss before you go back to making dinner for the both of you, giving him the time he probably needs for himself after a tough day, letting him arrive at home entirely.

He has been coming back stressed and tense from his work as a healer for several weeks now. Apparently, it is the month when most magicians decide to get involved in accidents or need medical treatment. In any case, you do your best to at least relieve him of the burden in the short time you have together.

While you are serving the dinner for tonight – Draco’s favorite meal – he quickly sets up the table and lights the candle in the middle of it next to the bouquet he brought you last week. Even when he is not feeling well, he still manages to bring a smile to your face every day.

You sit down together and enjoy your time, in which you try to not remind him of his work. At least at home he should be allowed to relax and calm down after a stressful day.

“Now that you mention it.. Unfortunately, Harvey is absent next week and I have to double my shifts in the hospital”, Draco explains after listening to you intently about your plans for the upcoming week. The name makes you widen your eyes slightly since Harvey is one of the leading healers at the St Mungo’s Hospital, who has also become a good colleague and friend of Draco.

“Oh, why is that? Is he alright?”

“Yes, his wife is pregnant and they will probably welcome their newborn next week”, Draco says, finishing his plate while noticing out of the corner of his eye how your fork immediately sinks down.

There it is again: the topic. The topic that you absolutely want to avoid, but it feels like you get confronted with it every single week. And each time it ends up with two people getting hurt.

“Oh.. how-how nice”, you put on a fake smile and poke around your food, breaking eye contact with your husband.

“Right? Next week their life will change forever. I bet they can’t wait to welcome their child. Just imagine how their son or daughter will frolic around them, learning something new every day”, Draco enthuses and you can’t tell whether he even notices how much this topic bothers you. Did he not learn anything from your last arguments about pregnancy?

“Draco, please.”

“What?”

“Please stop talking about this again”, you almost beg him, and your heartbeat accelerates in fear that this conversation will soon escalate again.

“What is wrong about it? Every time I want to talk to you about it normally, you immediately become so dismissive, Y/N”, Draco confronts you and you can feel his piercing gaze on you, your hands clenching into fists under the table.

“That’s exactly it! We have talked about it a lot, it is enough”, you counter him, your words coming out harder than you expected.

“We have been married for two years now. Do you not want to see little versions of us walking around here? Or do you just.. do not want to have children with me?”, Draco asks and your head shoots up in an instant, your eyes meeting.

“What? No! It is not that, Draco.”

“Then what is it? I do not feel like arguing about it every single time. I do not want my parents to ask me whether you are already pregnant every time we visit them!”, Draco’s voice gets louder all of a sudden and you can no longer hold back the tears that are forming in your eyes.

“Because I am not ready!”, you yell at him and angrily get up from the table, tears now streaming down your cheeks as you run out of the dining room and into your shared bedroom, loudly slamming the door close behind you. Laying down in bed and snuggling under the thick covers, you let your tears and sobs run free. You press your trembling hands against your chest, feeling your pounding heart against it from the other side. Your blurry gaze falls on your bedside table where your moving wedding photo is placed. Grinning broadly, your former self smiles at the camera and you remember that this must have been the best and happiest day of your life so far.

With a loud sniff, you reach for it and lay it down to save yourself the sight of it. Then, you turn on your back and blankly stare at the ceiling. Until you hear a gentle knock on the door and quickly turn your back towards it.

“Leave me alone.”

“Please, babe. I am sorry.”

The quiet squeaking of the doors tells you that he has come into your bedroom nevertheless, and shortly afterwards you can feel the mattress next to you sink as he sits on it. Not giving him an answer, you hide your face in your hands.

Draco’s heart, on the other hand, breaks at the sight of you. He did not know that this topic really did bother you this much. To say he feels bad is an understatement.

Not quite knowing what he should do, he strokes your back very slowly and carefully, trying to calm you down somehow. While doing so, he does not miss that you turned your wedding photo around.

Although you do not want to admit it and he is actually the person you want to see the least right now, he manages to calm you down and your loud sobs slowly disappear. After he has handed you a handkerchief, you sit up and lean your back against the headboard while his guilty gaze follows your every move.

“I did not mean to hurt you”, Draco begins and even though you avoid his gaze on purpose, you can tell from his voice that he is serious.

“I know. I did not mean to freak out, but this topic.. I am just so incredibly scared, Draco”, you admit, nervously fidgeting with your fingers on your lap, not sure how he will react.

“What? You do not need to be afraid, baby. I am with you”, he assures you and takes your hand in his, briefly letting your wedding rings meet.

“You do not know how a pregnancy works. How much pain and problems it involves. The thought of being pregnant scares me. I can’t take responsibility for such a small human being, I am not in the right position to do so. I know how much you want children, but I just can’t”, you sob, suppressing your re-emerging tears.

“What are you even talking about? Are you listening to what you are saying? Of course you can! You are such a strong woman”, Draco reassures you, but his mere words can’t calm your thoughts either.

“Even if that is the case. Even if I get pregnant, Draco, it will not get any better after that. Then I have to put this tiny little being first and even if I can cope with this, then my body would still be deformed. Pregnancy can do so much damage to the body and.. what if you do not want me anymore? What if am undesirable for you afterwards?”, you explain to him honestly and he listens to you very carefully, now understanding your inner conflict much better than before. He knew about your insecurities.

“You are afraid that I would not love you anymore?”, he repeats your words, not understanding them correctly. “If you would get pregnant, I would love you even more afterwards. I could not think of anything more beautiful than you, no matter what. The way you would hold our child in your arms. It would be the most wonderful moment and you would look gorgeous and so stunning.”

When you suddenly throw yourself around his neck in relief, Draco can barely keep his balance and falls back onto the mattress with you on top of him. He hugs you tight, so tight that he is afraid of crushing you.

“I love you”, you whisper in his ear and by your soft voice he notices that you feel much better than before. Now that you have finally told him. Taking your face in his hands, he looks you straight in the eyes.

“No matter what happens, I will always love you, do you understand?”, Draco makes clear and you nod with a small smile on your lips before gently connecting your lips in a kiss.

“Maybe I am ready for it after all”, you say against his lips and the sudden speechless expression on Draco’s face that follows your words makes you giggle and blush. He crashes his lips against yours right away and turns you around, you now lying under his body. Feeling his smile against your lips, the heavy burden suddenly vanishes from your shoulders and the thought of pregnancy no longer scares you. It suddenly sounds more like something you really want to experience.

With Draco by your side.

Together.

[halcyon-writings]

OK BUT SERIOUSLY SINCE REQUESTS R OPEN MAY I GRACIOUSLY REQUEST AN ETHAN WINTERS (RE8) X DAUGHTER READER (PLATONIC) WHOS A TEEN AND ACCOMPANIES HIM ON THE JOURNEY AND SHES REALLY PROTECTIVE OVER HER AND SHE DISAPPEARS IN THE DIMITRESCU CASTLE ONLY TO BE FOUND BY ETHAN LOCKED IN A OR SUM SHIT WAITING FOR ETHAN THANK YOU TAKE CARE OF URSELF IS THIS GOOD ENOUGH HSHAHAHAH

so idk if this was a request for hcs or a fic so i kind of just did a combo of the two

warnings/notes: canon typical violence, some mentioned re7 + village spoilers, gn!reader

It starts off how stories like these always do, a man has no need to go into a terrifying yet quiet town or farmhouse, but he does anyway, because he has a big heart to make up for the lack of rational sense. He knew something was wrong about Mia’s final video call, that her message was showing anything but the fact that she was safe. So he loaded up his car and got to driving.

And now who would’ve thought that it domino’d into Ethan Winters, currently hoisting up his teenaged child into a farm house’s window to unlock it from the inside so that a group of bloodthirsty lycans would not tear them apart, being here?

He wishes he could tell what you were thinking. When he had found you back at the Baker’s home, you were quiet, skittish, and scared. But unharmed for the most part, molded and the infected family alike seemed to avoid you. Well not Lucas, but he was the textbook example of homicidal, so Ethan supposed he didn’t count. Sure with the time passing, you had gotten comfortable, and the therapy Chris and his group had provided helped too. But you were still quiet for the most part.

Until something changed. Rather spending time with Mia, you kept to yourself in your room. Otherwise you kept around Ethan himself or baby Rose if the parents needed you to look after her while they worked during the day, or at least when Mia had strangely not wanted to keep Rose with herself at all times. At meal times you had made yourself scarce too, quickly finishing what you had on your plate and cleaning your dish, returning to your room. Mia’s behavior was strange and he had ticked it off as being concerned but wanting to give you your space.

“You know how teenagers are,” She would say with a simple shrug. “I’m sure whatever this phase is will end soon.”

And then it didn’t.

Because now you were being dragged out of your room by men in all sorts of gear with weapons pointed at you, Rose’s cries echoing throughout the dark house while you fruitlessly struggled against them. You hear Ethan call out for you, righteous anger and worry in his voice. You try and reach for him, but only feel a sharp pain at the back of your neck. Your vision goes dark and so does your consciousness follows soon after.

And that’s how you both end up here. The truck meant to transport you somewhere crashes. You ignore the bad feeling as you step out, snow crunching beneath your shoes. At least they let you put on decent shoes, your fuzzy slippers surely would’ve been soaked by the snow.

Ethan calls your name and you look up, he begins to take off the large jacket from the bodies, the bodies, left of the soldiers meant to take you to wherever Chris had wanted you to go. And your shivering form doesn’t help, a small and thin sweater only doing so much for you. It should’ve felt wrong to disrespect the dead like that but your mother- guardian was dead, and your baby sister was missing.

The village was an experience from hell, memories of the Baker House were quick to rear its ugly head. You try and cover your ears, eyes shut tight as you crouch in an attempt to make yourself smaller. From those, creatures almost mauling you and Ethan losing his fingers, to Luisa and those villagers, they did not deserve the gruesome end they got.

Ethan kneels beside you, hands cupping your head as he brings you close into an embrace, quiet assurances that you both will be leaving soon, finding Rose and going home. “I’ll protect you kiddo,” He swears, and you believe it. Your head is tucked under his chin, and Ethan remembers that you’re still a child too, his words to protect you weren’t just that, as he swears to himself. He would tear those things apart for both of his children, to make sure they could go home and live in peace. His heart clenches however, when his mind trails to Mia and how she would not be with them.

And then you reach a wine cellar of all places. Before you meet a mysterious man that makes goosebumps rise on your skin. And then a metal pipe goes through his leg, and the pair of you are encased in metal scrap, being dragged to who knows where. Finding yourselves in a cold chapel, in front

Although the worried look you send his way makes Ethan think maybe it was better off to be back in the wine cellar. As the man- Heisenberg- forces him to run while you’re dragged back. You try to run at least, but you don’t make it far. The Very Tall and Dangerous Looking Lady peers down at you from underneath the brim of her hat. But rather than malice, it’s... warmth?

And once more your poor head is a victim of a sharp hit, losing consciousness again. The last bit you see is your father-figure all but being pushed down a hole as he flees the lycans that surrounded him, continuing to look back at you in worry. You shake your head, hoping it conveyed that you wanted him to go.

But now you can’t say in particular that you’re having a bad time, since you’re inside, the fire from the castle’s several hearths keeping the place warm. The Lady of the house introduces you to her daughters. You can’t help but shrink behind her when they all seemingly surround you both.

Lady Dimitrescu only laughs behind a gloved hand. And allows you all to mingle. If you could call it that by being locked away in a spare room. You couldn’t even stop them, they had the ability to lose a physical form by turning into flies. You wished you had some kind of power like that. You don’t hear much from any of them after that. Occasionally you hear the tall woman’s steps around the corridor, but that’s it.

You chew your lip nervously, a bad habit that you thought you had gotten rid of since Louisiana. You can only stare out the window hopelessly, being on a tall floor, the fall would’ve grievously injured you or worse. The smooth brick was not good for climbing. You tried at least attempting to break the door down, but whatever it had been made off was practically impossible to break. (Your poor shoulder still aches from trying to ram it down). Gun shots echoing through the mansion don’t sooth your nerves either, maybe Redfield was here too, either to finish the job he started with-

The click of the lock makes you jump, quickly grabbing a glass vase, hiding behind the door. Your eyes close as you look down, you tremble. Before throwing it all to the wind and just tossing the large vase in an attempt to make a run for the unlocked door. Only to be stopped by a face you thought you’d never see again.

“Dad?” Your voice is raspy, from the lack of use, but you can’t manage say anything else as you’re brought into a tight hug, almost falling to the ground from the sheer relief you had felt seeing him alive. He quickly checks you over, chin in his hand as he inspects you for any obvious injury, quickly hugging you once more. 

“It’s okay, I’m here now,” You notice his hands, bandages bloodier from before. “Let’s find get out of here,” He says with finality and you nod. You carefully take his hand, the one that actually did have all five fingers, giving it a squeeze. Now it was time to escape and find your little sister. 

[broiderie]

Lost Princessa 2

Ok... part 2. Here it is. Remember to be gentle. 

Please do not translate, repost, or steal any of my work. My mind is deranged enough without anyone else’s help. Thanks again to @drabbles-mc for letting me bounce ideas off you and helping with plot points.

Taza x Daughter!OC

Warnings: none (Let me know if I missed anything)

Megan meets the rest of the family....

Taza re-entered the conference room smiling and made his way over to sit next to Megan. “So, what’s your plan now that you’ve found me? I know what I would prefer, but I also don’t want to jump to conclusions.”

Megan sighed and pulled her long braid over her shoulder with a rueful smile. “Honestly... I’m not sure. I don’t honestly think that I got this far by planning anything.” She busied her nervous fingers by fidgeting with the end of her braid. “What would you like me to do? I understand that you may not want me around. I can disappear if that’s what your need. I honestly don’t know why I thought you’d want to know about me...”

Taza stopped her nervous rambling by covering both of her hands with one of his. “Megan, honey, breathe.” He waited for her to take another visible deep breath. “I’m glad that you’re here. I’m glad that you found me. I want to get to know my daughter.”

She smiled shyly up at him and blinked rapidly to clear her lashes of tears.

“Now. I have a ranch outside of Santo Padre. I’d really like it if you came home with me. It’s a bachelor pad, but we can make changes... we’ll do whatever you need.”

“Really? You... you want me around?”

“Yes, Chica. I want you around. My brothers too. You have a ton of men currently waiting to meet you down in the casino restaurant. We’ll get some food and then we can go get your stuff from where ever you’re staying and head out.”

She smiled brilliantly at him when he answered her, but her face fell when he mentioned getting her things. She cleared her throat, “There’s nothing to get.” She held up her battered backpack. “I’ve got everything here. And... um... I don’t have gas money or anything to contribute to the trip back. I used the last of it to get here this morning.”

Taza frowned at the small pack. It obviously didn’t hold much. Maybe a change of clothes or two, but not much else. Certainly not enough to get her across country like she had been. “Don’t worry about the money, Chica. It’s covered. We’ll have to stop and get you a helmet and jacket too. You can’t ride like that.”

She shook her head. “I can’t let you do that. That’s a lot of money to be spending it on me.”

“Mija- you’ll have to have a helmet. It’s the law and club rules. And you need a jacket to protect you too. I’m good, but everyone lays down sometimes and things happen on the road. I promise you this- it's not negotiable.” He squeezed her fingers gently. “Let’s go get some food. You’ll feel better.”

Taza stood and offered to carry her backpack, again noticing the lack of weight to it. Then he led her out of the room to meet his brothers. Her new family.

At the door to the restaurant, he paused and turned to face her head on. He nudged her chin up to make her look him in the face. “Listen, Chica, the men you are about to meet have been my family for a long time. They’re going to be your family too in time. They look rough, but don’t let them scare you. Any one of them would do anything to protect family and that includes you now.”

She smiled shyly and nodded. “I can hold my own, I think. I’m used to some pretty rough guys.”

“Thatta girl.” He checked his phone to find a text from Bishop to let him know that they’d commandeered the smallest dining room for an impromptu family dinner. “Let’s go eat.”

He led the way keeping a careful eye on his daughter. His mind buzzing. He had so many things that he wanted to know about her. He worried about how she would mesh with his brothers. She’d seemed so nervous and shy. He didn’t want the more intimidating ones to frighten here. He’d have to speak with them at Templo and ask them to be gentle as she adjusted to life with the club. He’d also warn the young bucks to keep their hands to themselves.  

He opened the door and laughed as all heads whipped around to see them and silence fell. He guided Megan inside and shut the door putting her backpack down with their gear. Bishop must have filled the club in on what was going on. They were way too curious about this new face.  

Bishop stood up smiling. “All sorted?” At Megan’s nervous nod he motioned to Taza to bring her around to a seat at the table next to him. There was an empty seat on the other side of her apparent chair for Taza.  

Taza guided her quickly to sit. He stood behind her chair for a moment and squeezed her shoulders reassuringly. “So... this is Megan. She’s my daughter. Don’t you all swarm her at once. Give her a chance to breathe. She’s coming back with us so we can get to know each other. Mija, you already met Bishop and Hank. I’ll let you meet the rest of the guys at your own pace.”

At her tiny awkward wave, they all cheered and went back to eating and laughing. Taza seated himself next to her and Bishop resumed his seat on her other side. Across from her was a man that she didn’t know and Hank was across from Taza. The man she didn’t know had dark hair slicked back and was wearing a kutte just like all the others, but she could tell that he was different.  

Megan smiled and offered her hand across the table. “Hi, I’m Megan.”

Alvarez smiled and shook her hand gently. “Marcus Alvarez. I’m a very old friend of your dad’s and a cousin of Bishop’s.”

Megan smiled sweetly. “Are you from Santo Padre too? Forgive me... I’m not sure how all of this works.”

Marcus laughed and took a sip of beer. “You’ll get there sooner than you think, but to answer your question- No, I don’t live in Santo Padre. I ride out of Oakland.” He tapped his charter flash. “Welcome to the family, sweetheart.”

Dinner continued with Megan slowly being introduced to everyone as they came by for Taza to introduce them. She tried to keep the names straight, but her mind was so tired that she knew that she’d screw it up if asked.  

Taza kept a gentle conversation going with Megan throughout the meal. Nothing heavy. Just little things. He asked if there was anyone she wanted to contact to let them know that she was safe and she shook her head. “There’s nothing and no one left in Tennessee for me. I left my job bar tending the day before I started this way. Hoping for a fresh start.”

Taza nodded. “We can do that, Mija. Fresh start it is.”

When Taza drifted to go talk to Bishop and El Padrino, Hank noticed that Megan drank only water and hadn’t taken much in the way of food. Really only what Taza encouraged her to take some of. He leaned over the table to speak quietly to her. “You okay, Princessa? Need me to order you something else?”

She shook her head quickly and quietly murmured “I don’t have the money for this...”

Hank smiled sweetly and reached to pat her hands that were twisting a napkin on the table. “Oh! Don’t worry about that. Family dinner falls on the club’s dime.” He saw her visibly relax. “You haven’t had an easy trip, have you Princessa?”

She grinned a little as he gentled her along and started to hand her bowls to get food on her plate. “I think I currently have about five dollars in my pocket. I’m going to have to find a job quickly in Santo Padre so that I can pay Taza back for all the things that he says that I need.”

Hank shook his head firmly. “No. We’ll get you kitted out proper. Don’t you worry about that. We’re going to take care of you now. It’s what family does.”

Taza had gotten up and had his head together with Bishop and Alvarez while keeping Megan in his sight at all times. “Bish... I know we’d usually drive straight through to get home, but Megan can’t do that. She doesn’t even have a jacket, let alone the gear for that kind of ride. Plus she’s exhausted. I don’t know when the last time she slept was, but I’d bet that it wasn’t enough...”

Bishop nodded. “Yeah. I noticed that. Where do we need to go to pick up the rest of her gear?”

Taza sighed. “We don’t. All she’s got is that backpack and it’s not even half full. I haven’t gotten a straight answer as to where she’s been staying. To be honest, I’m not sure that I want to know. I get the feeling that I won’t like her answer.”

Bishop sipped his beer and kept his eye on el pacifidore as he seemed to gently urge their newest family member into eating something. “Hmmm. You’re right. She looks exhausted. It wouldn’t be a good ride for her even if she had gear. Not tonight anyway. But there’s also no sense in keeping the entire club here overnight.”

Marcus smiled. “I agree. Why not keep a small group here and the rest roll out? The smaller group can follow in the morning so no one rides alone. I’d say put her in the van but that’s not an option with the weapons currently in there. She’s family, but let’s not scare her just yet.” He stretched his back. “I’ll admit, I was dreading the night ride myself, so I’m willing to roll out with the smaller group tomorrow.”

Taza laughed. “We aren’t as young as we used to be.” He finished his beer and grimaced. “I have to take her home to the ranch in the shape I left it. I’ve been at the clubhouse so much with this Galindo shit that it’s barely habitable for ME.”

Bishop patted his brother’s shoulder. “It’s settled. You’ll stay here with El Padrino and... two others?” He looked at Marcus questioningly.

“Yeah. Two would be good.”

“So let’s say... Hank and... who else?” Bishop gestured to the rest of the table. “Hank’s good with her already.”

Taza observed the rest of the club for the moment, trying to see them from an outsider’s point of view. He didn’t want anyone too intimidating. “Can’t be Creep. Road Captain goes with the larger group so he can drive the van...”

Marcus laughed. “Can’t be the prospect either. He’s gonna go clean Taza’s house before we get there.”

Taza’s face lit up at that idea. “Yes! I want him to move my shit while he’s there. Put her in the master. Girl deserves her own bathroom.”

Bishop laughed and stroked his beard thoughtfully. “What about Coco? Hank’s supposed to be keeping an eye on him anyway.”

Both Marcus and Taza nodded. “That’s set then. Everyone else head out after dinner. The new princessa’s escort will be Taza, Hank, Coco and myself. We’ll head out tomorrow morning after a shopping spree. We’ll keep you in the loop, but we gotta take it easy on her. We may be late.” Marcus patted the table and stood. “I’ll go arrange accommodations with the tribe.”

[screamingatanemptyroom]

Please Fix the Story pt 23 - Sci Fi

Here is the next part! There is at least one more part in this world. Getting really close to the end!

Masterpost Linked Here

Enjoy!

_______________________

Life moved on, and despite the growing anxiety I had after my encounter with Chris, things moved smoothly. Chris had disappeared after that night, leaving his resignation from the academy laying on his desk. Liam was busy with wedding plans, occasionally checking in to make sure I was happy with his choices.

He was honestly much more thoughtful about it than I would have been, and I was happy to have his help. My father arranged his leave and was on his way. We also heard from Liam’s parents that they were going to arrive soon as well.

When Liam received the news, he became perfectly still for a few moments. I watched him, concerned at the obvious change.

“Liam, are you okay?”

“I – I don’t know.” His eyes were unfocused, as if staring off into space. “Why… are they coming?”

“Because they’re your parents? I doubt they would miss the wedding of a royal family member, no matter how bad your relationship is.”

“Parents… it’s… all wrong.” Liam seemed to be struggling against some invisible bind. His dark blue eyes flickered, and seemed to almost glow in the shadow of the resting area we sat it.

WARNING. World destabilization detected. Attempting forced conformity… Failure… host and partner soul strength too high.

Unable to see the bright blue words hanging in the air, Liam continued speaking.

“This… isn’t right. I don’t have family." His face was becoming more certain. “It’s not my fate. All I have is…” He glanced at me, his eyes filled with pain. “Bel..?”

WARNING! Stabilize world story immediately or face destruction and mission failure.

I reached out quickly, holding Liam’s hands in my own. “Liam, take a deep breath. Do you trust me?”

“Yes.” He answered without hesitation.

“I know it seems wrong, but for now I need you to go with the idea of having parents and family.”

“But…?”

“Trust me. “

“Okay.” He leaned back, sighing. The glowing dark blue of his eyes faded, and he closed them for a brief moment, before seemingly returning back to normal. “I trust you.”

We don’t belong here.

The uncertainty in this world grew each day. Liam, whoever Chris had become… me… we weren’t from this world. But if we deviated to much, the world could destabilize, and I could fail the mission.

I just needed to keep my head down, blend in and complete the mission.

Try not to rebel too much against the role I’d been given in this world, except the ending.

Simple, right?

_______________________

…

“We’ve talked the last few hours about our lists, now it’s your turn! What do you miss most about Chris, Alaira?”

Maybe world destabilization, mission failure and soul destruction aren’t that bad after all.

I stared at the group of young women in front me, wondering for the hundredth time in the past hour how I had been roped into this... harem support group?

Allie, Ilene and Wen stared back at me, waiting for me to answer.

“I… miss kicking his butt in mock Mech battles?” I winced as I spoke, realizing they would probably take offense at that, but to my surprise they all smiled and nodded.

“Yeah, you were a very important rival to Chris.” Ilene patted me on the back.

Allie spoke up, “He was always talking about how he wanted to beat you and have you accept him as a fellow Guardian. “

“Yeah… he… I…” Wen started to chime in, but then her face crumpled as she sobbed into her hands. “What are we supposed to do now that he’s gone?! What am I supposed to do without him?! What if he never comes back?!”

“I miss him!”

“Me too!”

Soon all three girls were crying, leaving me in uncomfortable silence in the corner.

Blend in, don’t make waves, don’t try to change things….

“I can’t live without him!” Ilene’s dramatic cry broke something within me.

SCREW THIS!

“OKAY GUYS, SHUT UP!” I stood up, placing my hands on my hips as I stared at them. “You are a group of highly intelligent, talented women in the most competitive military academy in the known universe! And you’re nothing without some guy?”

“He’s not just some….” Wen started to interrupt, but was shushed by me.

“No. No matter how much you care for him. He is a guy, and you are all your own person. You have talents, dreams and stories beyond his existence.” I turned to petite girl beside me first. “You! Wen, you’re one of the top engineering students in the program! With your skills, it would be a cinch to improve upon the current Mech design!” After all, she had ramped up Chris’s Mech in the story, surely she could do the same without him!

“And you!” I pointed at Allie. “You’re a Guardian! You're a level B one at that! That's an even higher level than Chris!”

“But I don’t have his drive…”

“You can have his drive! You can have more than his drive! He spent half his time complaining about how people didn’t take him seriously or how people were trying to force him to be a Connector. You can be TEN TIMES the Guardian Chris was!”

I ignored her startled sputterings and turned towards the dark haired girl on the other side. “And you… Ilene.”

She stared at me warily. “What about me?”

“You’re a freaking Princess! And a super talented Connector! How can that become nothing if Chris isn’t around?”

“…I thought you didn’t like me?”

“I don’t.” I answered bluntly. “You treat your brother like trash, and that’s enough for me to want to kick your teeth in.” I sighed, leaning back in my chair. “That being said, just because I hate you doesn’t mean I don’t respect you as a talented Connector. You just have a crappy personality.”

“Um… Thanks?”

“Don’t mention it.” I opened my arms. “You three have top-notch talent all gathered here in one room. What do you need Chris for?! You could be a force to be reckoned with!”

Wen jumped to her feet. “You’re right! I should design a Mech, one stronger than anyone’s ever seen.!”

“Yes!” I pumped a hand in the air.

“And I’ll fly it! I’ll terrorize the Hive until they go running back to their home planet!” Allie stood up as well.

“You’ve got it!”

Ilene joined in. “If I remember, Allie, you and I have a decent resonance match. How about we partner up?”

“Let’s do it!”

The girls high-fived each other while I watched approvingly.

“Let’s destroy the hIve!

“We’ll save humanity!”

‘...And then we’ll find Chris!”

I groaned.

They were so close… but I guess this is better than nothing.

The girls plotted the formation of a new team, surprisingly accepting the team name “Harem” (my suggestion). As they filed out, chattering excitedly, I prepared to escape this mentally exhausting group.

“Alaira, wait.” Princess Ilene stopped me before I could walk out the door.

“What is it?” I kept a neutral expression. I hadn’t been joking when I said I didn’t like her.

She hesitated. “Are you really marrying my brother?”

“Yes. Do you have a problem with that?”

“…No… it’s just…” She rubbed her face. “He’s… different. And I feel like you should know. “

Sitting back down, I crossed my legs and prepared to listen.

“Since he met you… William is a different person. He’s kinder… gentler… even goes by a different name. He’s never gone by Liam.”

That caught my attention “What was he like before?”

“Angry. Vicious. Hurt people just to watch them suffer.” Her face was blank, as if remembering things she didn’t want to. “He was so mad at the world for not allowing him to match, he spent all his time plotting to take down talented people who could.”

A villain. Was that who he was before Liam stepped in? Like how Alaira was before I took over? Or Chris before… whoever it was… took his body?

“I’m not pretending that I’m perfect, either. You’re right, I treated my brother like garbage, instead of trying to help him. I thought he was a monster. Honestly, I thought his hanging around you was some new scheme…. I was kind of hoping he would take you out so your couldn’t bother Chris…”

“So nice of you.” My tone was sarcastic

“At least I’m honest. Anyways, this doesn’t appear to be some trick… I think he’s changed… he actually seems to care about you. But I thought you should know who he was before he met you.”

“Thanks.” My tone was slightly better than before. “Don’t worry, I know exactly who I’m marrying.”

Liam. Not your villain brother.

“Good Luck.” Ilene seemed relieved, as if a burden was off of her shoulders with the confession, and hurried out.

I stood in the room alone silently for a few moments, processing.

There’s too many questions, and no answers in sight.

I left to find Liam. I missed him.

_______________________

I arrived just in time to see Liam and Alaira’s father facing off.

“She is my precious daughter.” The tall middle aged man with close cropped hair and a scowl made scarier by the scar running from his left eye to the corner of his mouth, towered over Liam. His disapproving air was evident.

“Yes.” Liam smiled and nodded, seemingly fearless.

“No man deserves to marry her.”

“Agreed.”

“So who do you think you are?” General Gladus poked Liam’s chest with a finger.

“The luckiest man alive to be able to stand in the same room as Alaira, much less stay by her side all my life.” He held out a plate in front of the angry man. “Cookies?”

“Well, you should know I don’t approve of this fast courtship…” He picked up one of the cookies and bit into it angrily. “You both are so young…” He took another bite. “And I don’t want you to hold her back…”

“I completely agree. I will do my best to support all her goals in life.” Liam handed the general another cookie as he finished the first.

“Good…” He chewed slower. “Is this chocolate? How did you get it so soft but chewy at the same time?”

“I developed the recipe. Would you like more?”

He picked up another one. “Just know this doesn’t mean I fully approve of you.”

“Of course not… Would you like some cake…”

“….”

“I also have homemade hot chocolate.”

“… As long as she likes you, I guess.” He finally muttered, his hands full of baked treats and dessert drinks.

Liam overwhelmed him with support spouse abilities. I laughed in the doorway, attracting the attention of both men.

“Anything for me?”

Liam nodded with a bright smile. “I saved you a plate.”

General Gladus cleared his throat as he saw the large platter filled with cookies.

“Don’t worry, Sir, I saved an extra plate for you.”

“… Don’t think you can bribe me.”

I raised an eyebrow. “So I can have your plate, then?”

“The hardened general clutched the plate of cookies to his chest. “Don’t you dare! The boy made them for me out of respect for his future father-in-law!”

“…” Liam and I smiled at each other.

“How is the front line… Dad?” The title felt a little rough as I spoke it. I was still acutely aware that he was Alaira’s father, not mine.

“Stable, for now.” He frowned. “Fortunately we have an elaborate defense system, to give plenty of warning. But they’ve been retreating more and more lately. The higher ups seem to think that they might be admitting defeat, but I just don’t think so. I think they’re preparing for something… big.”

He’s right.

I knew the ending of the original story. Around the time Alaira was supposed to graduate, they had attacked in the largest numbers ever seen, necessitating all senior students being recruited to help fight. Even Alaira, who was without a Connector and would have normally been left behind was brought in. They couldn’t afford to leave any powerful guardian out.

I still have a little more time, though. I can train with Liam, maybe get Wen to help upgrade our Mechs, train up some of the students… We can have a chance to really face off against the attack.

There’s still time…

“Don’t let down your guard. You’re the best general we’ve got.” I patted Alaira’s father on the shoulder.

He crushed me in a big hug. “Don’t worry, your dad will protect the galaxy! You just get married in peace.” He leaned in and whispered. “See if he can make a few more of those chocolate cookies, okay?”

“I will, Dad.” It came much more naturally this time.

I’ll protect you too. I added silently.

_______________________

As the wedding drew closer, we were notified that the king and queen were on their way. Liam ignored the news, continuing to work on seating charts and music for the ceremony.

“We have to welcome them when they arrive. They are due any minute.” I finally spoke up, slightly exasperated with his head-in-the-sand act.

“…If we have to.” His voice was cold, his dark blue eyes flickering between fear and annoyance.

I held his hand. “Don’t worry. No matter who they think you are, or what they say about you, just know that you’re my future husband. Don’t worry about anything else.”

He reached out, pulling me tightly against him. “ Thank you.”

“Just play along with them. I held his face between my hands. “You’re Liam. Not Prince William. Not their son. Not Ilene’s brother. Liam.”

WARNING. DIRECTLY CONTRADICTING STORYLINES IS FORBIDDEN.

Liam tilted his head and studied me with a worried expression. “… Are you okay?”

“Just follow my lead. Please.” I looked away from the bright blue words in annoyance and moved.

We went to meet the Royal Family, each of us nervous for different reasons.

The King and Queen looked slightly like Liam and Ilene. The king had curly dark hair, severe features, made worse by the frown as he studied Liam. The Queen had the dark blue eyes that both siblings had, and a beautiful, delicate face… but the overall sense was ruined by the terrified light in her eyes as she almost hid behind her husband.

“So this is the girl you tricked into marrying you?” The king looked at me with morbid curiosity.

Liam took a deep breath. “This is Alaira, Grade S Guardian, my resonance partner and my future wife…”

“What game are you playing, William?” His father snapped, interrupting him. “If this is some ploy to ruin General Gladus, you should stop now.”

“This isn’t…”

“You should stop this now.” The Queen squeaked out nervously at me from behind the King. “He might be my son, but you can’t trust him…”

“…”

“This wedding is a farce.” The king snapped finally. “He’s a monster.”

_______________________

“Why did you follow me?” the mournful voice called out as I entered the dark room.

“Do you want me to leave?” I looked up at the large dark blue eyes curiously, barely able to make out the large form in the darkness.

“I didn’t want you to see… didn’t want you to know…”

“Know what?”

“That I’m a monster.” The whisper was filled with so much pain it made me cry.

_______________________

BAM!

Before I fully came out of the memory, I had punched the King.

“…”

There was a moment of stunned silence from everyone present.

“You dare…!” The King finally spoke up, rubbing his red cheek with a furious expression. “I can have you executed!”

“Just try, Barry.” General Gladus walked in, his hand holding a drawn weapon. “I’ll shoot you in your precious Royal Ass, and then what are you going to lounge on while I fight your wars for you?”

"..."

"..."

"..."

The room processed his words in silence for a moment, before the king burst out angrily.

“Gladus, are you threatening me?!!”

“Oh shut up Barry. " He waved dismissively with his gun. "It wouldn’t even be the first time I’ve shot you. Probably won't be the last." You won’t arrest me, you need me to protect your country.”

“You are willing to let your precious daughter marry this… this… “ The king trailed off, glaring at Liam, who stared calmly back.

“Yes.” General Gladus shrugged “I heard the rumors. Even with the 100% match I wasn’t about to let him hurt my daughter.”

“Then why…?”

“I’ve sat down with your son, Barry. I shook his hand, looked him in the eye. I asked him the hard questions. I’ve observed him around Alaira.” The General stepped forward, placing a heavy hand on his shoulder. “I know a good man when I see one. And I see one. One who loves my daughter. Maybe you should try looking closer.”

“But he…”

“Plus he makes delicious cookies.” He muttered.

“…He what?”

I stepped forward, blocking Liam behind me. “He’s not a monster. He’s my future husband. I honestly do not care about your opinion. But if you want to try to hurt him, just know… you won’t have to wait for my father to shoot you. I’ll do it first.”

“… Control your child, Gladus.”

“She even threatens you just like me!” He reached out and placed an arm around my shoulders. “So proud.”

“…Fine. “ The King frowned “I won’t try to save you from yourself. Marry him, if you want.”

“I plan to.”

“Whatever you’re plotting, William, you better stop now.” He glared. “You might have fooled them, but you won’t fool me.”

“I don’t have to fool you.” Liam’s eyes were dark. “You mean nothing to me.”

“I’m your father.”

“I have no family. I… I can never have family.” Liam turned away.

“William…” The Queen called out softly.

“I AM NOT William.”

WARNING. World Destabilization detected!

“Come on, Liam. Let’s go.” I grabbed his hand and walked away, calling over my shoulder as we left. “You’re free to attend the wedding, but stay away from us otherwise.”

“You’ll regret this!”

I laughed at his bitter words. “Enjoy the disappointment.”

Liam and I left.

_______________________

We sat in my room, and as soon as my hand left his, he curled up, holding his arms over his head.

“I don’t feel right.”

“Liam.” I reached out and touched his back, feeling him trembling beneath me.

“Who am I? I don’t think I’m William. The things they said… the things William has done… He’s not me.”

Warning!

"He's not me... he can't be... He's not..."

WARNING! World destabilization... Bright blue words and a mechanical voice appeared again.

“SHUT UP!” I yelled, drowning out the voice. I pulled his arms down, looking straight into his dark blue eyes. “You are Liam. And you’re my partner. And tomorrow you’ll be my husband. Nothing else matters..”

“But…”

“I can’t explain things right now. I don’t even know everything right now. But I know there’s a reason we’re here together. I’ve found you, and I won’t leave you.”

He held me close, both of us kneeling on the floor. He was clutching me as if I was the only thing anchoring him. I felt lost myself. I was frustrated at my lack of answers, angry at the pain Liam was experiencing, afraid for the future ahead of us.

“Alaira… no… Bel?” He whispered. “... I love you.”

I smiled at the unfamiliar but familiar name, pressing my face against his shoulder. “I love you too, Liam.”

“Marry me tomorrow.”

“Definitely.”

“Don’t leave me behind… please.”

“I won't... No matter what.”

A long silence fell between us. Finally Liam sat back, his face slightly red. “I wish we were getting married tonight. I can’t help but feel something terrible is going to happen to prevent our wedding.”

Foreshadowing.

Ignoring the ominous word that appeared in my subconscious, I smiled reassuringly. “Nothing is going to happen…”

“ALERT! CODE LEVEL RED. PLEASE REPORT TO EMERGENCY STATIONS. ALERT!”

I sighed. “I take that back.”

We headed to the Command Level in the main Academy.

_______________________

“Dad, what’s going on?” I called out as we passed the main doors.

“Alaira…” General Gladus’ face was uncharacteristically serious. “It’s not good.”

I stood beside him, looking up at the large holographic display at the center of the command room, feeling the blood drain from my face. “The Hive.”

“They’re past our defense systems.” He slammed his fist against the table. “This doesn’t make any sense! How did an army this huge get past us without starting any alarms!”

I stared at the countless red dots on the screen, feeling lost.

This isn’t right. In the story I should have had YEARS before the Hive attacked in such large numbers. Even then they were caught immediately in the defense systems and gave the military time to prepare. How could they get past us… unless…

“Chris.”

He said he was going to end everything. Is this what he meant?

Alaira’s father was confused. “That male student who disappeared? How would he have access to defense system information?”

Chris wouldn’t… but whoever was controlling Chris might have more information.

I let it go for now. “What do we do?”

“There’s too many… and they’re headed for a defenseless planet in this system.” He hung his head. “I don’t have the manpower to defend it.”

I stepped forward, giving him a grim smile. “You’re not alone, Dad. I’ll help.”

“We! We’ll help.” Liam stood beside me. “We’re a powerful combo. You can’t afford to turn us down.”

General Gladus sighed. “Even if I recruit top senior students from the academy… the numbers we have… it’s a suicide mission.”

Warning! Mission Failure Imminent!

Your mission: Prevent destruction of the human race by the alien monster race known as The Hive.

The Hive are now attacking in large numbers. Your estimated chance of success against them in battle is 0%.

“If you’re not gonna say anything helpful, then shut up.” I growled quietly.

Liam turned towards me. “Are you okay?”

If you fail your mission, you will face soul destruction.

“It’s not like I’m swimming in options.”

You have one option.

“Who are you talking to?”

“What is it?” I whispered, holding Liam’s hand and squeezing it. I have to save him.

...

ACCEPT YOUR FATE.

...

I stared at the blue words silently for a few minutes. “Liam, what if I said we have an 100% chance of dying if we went on this mission…”

“You don’t know that…”

“...and I had a fool proof way to protect you… But we would be separated forever?”

I didn’t know what my fate was. But I did know in the deepest part of my soul one thing:

Liam was not my fate.

“I don’t plan to survive this, Liam… but if I could save you…”

“I would rather die by your side.” He didn’t hesitate.

“But…”

He grabbed my other hand, holding them both tightly. “We’ll face this together.”

_______________________

“It’s hopeless.” I whispered, holding him tightly. “What if fate is stronger than us?”

“I don’t need hope, Bel.” He leaned closer, his breath warm against my neck. “If fate is going to separate us, then we’ll destroy it.”

“Together.”

“Always.”

_______________________

I looked at the hologram, at the countless numbers of enemies that awaited us, and leaned against him with a sigh.

“Together.”

He smiled in return.

“Always.”

[study-coffee-chicago]

Who Would've Thought? A Government Teacher and an English Teacher (A Halstead Brothers + Upstead + Halstead Daughter! Imagine; Part of AU-gust)

A/N: Thank you for reading! Remember to like/reblog and comment! I'm also donating all the proceeds that from my buy me a coffee account to Save The Children to help the children of Afghanistan. Link to buy me a coffee.

Anyway, enjoy!

"Hey, I know you aren't a morning person," your dad said as he walked up to you sitting at the bar in the kitchen with a piece of paper in his hand.

"You're right, I'm not," you said.

"All I need is for you to look over the seating chart I made for the juniors."

"Make sure you didn't put people who have beef next to each other?" you asked.

"Exactly. And I figured, since it's your class, you'd be the perfect person to do it."

"And because I'm your daughter."

"That, too."

He set the paper in front of you. "Since I'm doing this for you, care to make me my coffee?" you asked

"The pumpkin spice one?" You nodded. "Kid, it's the first week of September. It's like 75 out (23.9 celsius). Fall's not even close. And, technically, it's still summer."

"Listen, Dunkin' came out with their pumpkin spice stuff in mid-August. And, you know the minute it hits September, I get in the fall mood."

"But you still won't go to a Bears game with me and your Uncle Will," he said.

"Dad, I don't understand football."

He pulled the K-Cup out and put it in the Keurig. "I told you that me and Uncle Will could teach you. And, you seem to understand it when you're at school football games."

"I just cheer when everyone else does. It's not that hard."

"Fair enough."

He pointed to the counter of the bar, so you looked down at the seating chart. You waved him back over to you as you heard the sputtering of the Keurig, telling you that all your coffee was almost in your tumbler.

You pointed to two seats. "These two girls have had beef since middle school, so throw them across the room from each other." Your dad grabbed a pen from his breast pocket and drew a line to put one of the girls on the opposite side of the room. "These two are dating, so unless you want them talking all the time, I suggest you at least move the guy to a different group." He drew another line on the seating chart. "And this guy dated these two girls, so you need to make sure that they're as far away from each other as possible."

"Which one is he dating now?" your dad asked as he drew more lines.

"Neither. He was dating both of them at the same time. Get why none of them can be by each other now?"

"Gotcha."

He took the seating chart from you and handed you your tumbler of coffee. "I don't drink it black," you said as you raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, believe me, I know, but I'll leave you to do that because I don't want to mess up your coffee to creamer ratio and have you get mad at me for it."

"Fair enough."

You sighed as you poured your creamer into your coffee because you thought about all the homework that was going to be piled on to your plate this year.

"What's wrong?" your dad asked.

"I'm gonna be drowning at the end of today."

"Can't argue with you there. But tell me if you think your homework load for APUSH (AP US History) and AP Gov (AP Government) is getting too much for one class. I'll talk to the teachers. And, you have me to help you with your government homework." He said the last part with a huge smile on his face.

"Dad," you groaned. "You've been waiting for me to be a junior forever now just so you could be my teacher."

"Yup, and you chose AP over me. How rude."

"Sorry, but college is expensive. It was only like 50 bucks a class when you went to college back in the olden days."

"Young lady, I am not old."

"Fine, you're vintage. Better?" He just glared at you while you finished stirring your coffee and then started making your breakfast. "But, at least Hail- Miss Upton doesn't give us a ton of homework because she knows we're drowning in homework already and have the SATs to worry about, so that's nice."

You were super thankful for your Honors English 11 teacher, who also taught AP Stats. She gave you at least half an hour each class period to do your homework since she knew that most of you had sports or after-school clubs or a part job to get to and didn't have all night to do homework. She was the one who also said to send her an email if you couldn't get the assignment done and she'd give you an extension. She said that your physical health and mental health were way more important than you finishing your homework.

Your dad was like that, too. Granted, he didn't give the students in his class a ton of homework to begin with, and he made the class fun...at least, that's what you heard from the kids who were juniors last year. The only time your dad really gave homework was when he gave out study guides to fill out. He'd give them out a week before the test and then after two days, he'd check that everyone got them done and go over them in class so that everyone had the right answers to study from. Mr. Jay Halstead also didn't give tests on a Monday because that was just cruel...and he knew that when he was in high school, he absolutely hated homework, so he didn't give a lot of it. And, he hated coming to school on a Monday when he forgot to study over the weekend, so he didn't give tests on Mondays.

"You're not going running this morning?" you asked as you cut up a banana to go into your oatmeal.

"No, I think I'll run with you guys after school today at practice."

Your dad was also the high school cross country coach. You weren't a fast runner by any means, but your best friend, Emma, had made it to regionals and was a great runner. And, your dad said that you either play a sport in high school or you get a job, so you joined the cross country team. In all honesty, you liked running for the endorphin rush it gave you after the run and just talking to some of your teammates while running or listening to music or podcasts while running. But, you weren't competitive, so that's probably why you weren't as fast as Emma, and your dad knew this. But, he was just glad you were being active in some way after school and that you enjoyed exercising even if you weren't the best or the fastest runner. He just wanted you to live a long and healthy life, and he knew starting to exercise in high school would help you build those healthy habits.

But, usually what your dad did in the morning was go to school at like six in the morning, so he'd be up at five, and then he'd utilize the weight room or the indoor track to workout. Then, he'd take a quick shower and get ready there, and be teaching by 7:30. Yeah, he was crazy for running that early.

"You know," you started, "Miss Upton likes to run. Maybe you should see if she'll co-coach with you? Or maybe she'll run with you in the morning?"

Jay shook his head and took a sip of his coffee. "Y/N, how many times do I have to tell you that Hailey and I are just friends. Nothing more."

"Says the man who lesson planned with her last week," you said, wiggling your eyebrows.

"Y/N, she's a coworker. I would've done that with anyone. It was just coffee. You read too much into things."

"Dad," you sighed. "You haven't dated in years."

"Yeah, since Abby dropped you off on my doorstep." He used to refer to Abby as your mom, but she wasn't around, so when you were around 14 years old, you just started referring to her as Abby. After all, you had never even met the woman, and she didn't want you, not even leaving an address on the note attached to your pajamas, so she didn't deserve the title of Mom.

"So, 17 years. You haven't dated in 17 years, Dad. You gotta get back out there. Even Uncle Will said you need to."

"You talked to your uncle about this?" he asked. "Oh, and put some egg whites in that oatmeal for some extra protein."

"What? You gonna make us lift weights today at cross country practice?"

He shrugged. "You never know. Now, no more talking to Uncle Will about my love life."

"There's not even anything to talk about. But, he does think you and Miss Upton would look cute together."

You added some egg whites to your oatmeal and put it back in the microwave for an extra minute.

"This has been going on for way too long now, Y/N. We're not gonna date. We're just friends and coworkers. Just drop it."

You put your hands up in mock surrender.

Ever since freshman year when you had Miss Upton for creative writing (yes, she taught one section of AP stats, one section of creative writing, and she also taught Honors English 11 and regular English 11 for the rest of her sections), you knew that her and your dad would be a great match. So, you confided in Emma and she agreed. Ever since then, you hadn't really let the topic go.

"Fine," you groaned...even though you and your dad both knew that the topic would not be dropped in the slightest.

"Now, do you want me to drive you, or do you want to drive yourself?"

Usually, since he left before you, you'd just drive yourself to school since you were 17 and had been driving for a year now. But, during the first week of school, your dad didn't do his morning workouts, so he always gave you the option if you wanted to ride to school with him.

You pursed your lips. "Fine. I'll ride with you, just cause it'll save me gas."

Jay laughed. "You're not even the one who pays for your gas."

He was right. He was the one who paid for your gas because you had always studied hard...and you played a sport, so you didn't have time for a part-time job. Because of this, Jay decided he'd pay for your gas. But, you did have to work a part-time job in the summer.

"Fine. It prolongs the time before I have to go to the gas station. How's that?" you asked.

"Miss Upton would be proud of how you worded that."

"Maybe you should tell her that, Dad. It'd be a great conversation starter."

***

"So," Emma began as you were warming up for your run after the school day ended, "how'd the chat with your dad go?"

You sighed while jogging. "I don't think it's ever gonna happen. He's too damn stubborn to ask her out and he claims that they're just friends and coworkers. I hate it. They'd be so damn cute together."

"I know," Emma agreed. "You know, I overheard her in the hallway between classes saying that she was going to chaperone the homecoming dance. Maybe your dad could get in on that and that's how they could talk more?" she suggested.

"Emma, that's a great idea, but I really don't want my dad at homecoming. That is awkward as hell."

Emma laughed. "Sorry, didn't think about that."

"Hustle up!" your dad yelled. "Time to stretch!"

You started your normal stretching routine before your dad started to give his normal beginning of the school year speech. "Alright, I need all of you to listen up. I don't want anybody talking over me, you hear me?" You all nodded. "Okay, good. So, I know that some of you have heard horror stories about the old cross country coach who said that if you miss a practice, then you miss a meet...unless it was for being sick." Most of you nodded.

Before your dad started coaching and the other cross country coach retired, a lot of the students hated the previous coach's coaching style. His coaching style was run more to get better at running...which sounded good in theory. But, this didn't actually work. You see, what would end up happening was that he'd make the runs longer and longer. He'd even make the athletes do a long run on Saturday and then a short run (which to him was three miles) on Sunday. If an athlete didn't send him the screenshots from apps like map my run, then they wouldn't be able to race in the next meet. This obviously was a recipe for overtraining and injuries. You heard that one girl even hurt her IT band from running so much! So, it was no surprise that most people hated the coach and so many parents complained, so he stepped down, and then your dad came in to coach.

"That's not how I coach," your dad continued. "School and your grades are really important. So is sleep. I don't want you guys not getting sleep or not getting to spend time with friends or not have other social interactions because you have to practice for two hours and then go home and do homework and get to bed late. I don't want you guys to be sleep-deprived zombies." Most of you laughed at that. "With that being said, if you're overwhelmed and feel like there's not enough time in a day, just come talk to me and we'll figure it out. Whether that's only coming to practice for an hour or taking a few days off to study for an upcoming test or taking time off for a family emergency, we'll figure out what to do." Everyone nodded. "Alright everybody, let's go run the big loop. Keep track of your split times."

***

You were walking inside with Emma to go grab your stuff from your locker after you had finished practice. Perks of having your dad be a teacher? You and your friend could leave your stuff inside instead of bringing it outside with you.

"Just meet me in my room when you're done, Y/N," your dad told you. "Have a good night, Emma."

"You too, Mr. Halstead," she replied.

"How many times do I have to tell you to call me Jay when it's not school or practice hours?" Jay smiled and then walked down the hall to his classroom to retrieve the stuff he had brought with him for the day...with his shirt sticky from sweat since he had run with you guys today.

He walked out of his classroom with his backpack and gym bag, to come face to face with Miss Hailey Upton walking out of her classroom as well.

"Run with the team today, Jay?" she asked.

"Yeah, you know, first week of school, kind of hard to get my early morning runs in when there's so much to do on the classroom side," he answered.

"Understandable. I've been doing mine after I lesson plan and before dinner. Hopefully, I'll be back to nightly runs soon before it starts getting dark earlier and earlier."

"But, when it gets too dark, then you'll be running in the mornings soon...and then it'll be cold," Jay pointed out.

"There's this thing called a treadmill, Jay. I utilize that in the winter."

"That shows that you're an English teacher: you use big words."

Hailey rolled her eyes. "I see you reading books during your lunch period. I know you know big words, you just prefer not to use them."

"Yeah, because I want the kids to think I'm a cool teacher...not a snob."

"I am not a snob!" Hailey jokingly argued.

"I'm kidding, Hailey! I'm kidding! And, I know you lesson plan and grade on your lunch break, too instead of going to the teacher's lounge."

"Spying on me now, huh?"

"Our rooms are right across from each other and we have the same lunch period, what else am I supposed to do?" he laughed.

Hailey sighed dramatically. "Oh, I guess. Tell you what: come to my room during our lunch period and I can give you some good book recommendations."

"I get enough book recommendations from my daughter, thank you very much. But, I guess I can always use more."

"So, see you during tomorrow's lunch period?"

"See you then. Have a good night, Hailey."

"You, too. Tell Y/N I say hi and not to work too hard on all her homework."

Then, they walked down the hallway and Jay walked back towards where you were still chatting with Emma. All the while, he was thanking God that you weren't there during that conversation between him and Hailey because he wouldn't hear the end of it. But, he was also wondering what the hell he'd just gotten into.

***

"You will not believe what I just saw!" Emma whispered to you the next day in your AP gov class.

"What?" you whispered back.

She had forgotten her laptop in her locker and had to go get it. Which, the route to her locker from the classroom you were currently in went right past your dad and Hailey's classrooms.

"Your dad and Miss Upton are in her classroom eating lunch together."

Your eyes practically bulged out of your head. "No way!"

You received a glare from the teacher and were quiet. But, you'd be sure to ask your dad about this when you went home tonight.

***

"Uncle Will's coming over for dinner in an hour," your dad told you when you got inside your house after practice. You had decided to drive yourself to school today instead of riding with him. "How much homework do you have?"

"Uh..." you blanched and set down your backpack and unzipped it. Then, you grabbed your planner and flipped it open, laying it out on the kitchen table. "I have an AP stats worksheet that's due tomorrow, I have to read half a chapter in my AP bio textbook by Monday, I have to read a full chapter of my AP gov textbook by Tuesday, and I have an APUSH assignment due tomorrow. Oh, and I should probably read a chapter of the book I chose to read for my English class plus I have to annotate a few paragraphs of crappy 16th-century literature by tomorrow, too."

"Christ," your dad said. "So, what do you have to do tonight?"

"AP stats worksheet, APUSH assignment, and I have to annotate for English. I could always not read the chapter in the book I chose to read if I don't want to."

"Do you want me to just tell Uncle Will to come over this weekend?" he asked.

Jay know knew you absolutely loved his brother and that you were always excited to tell him about your day and how school was going. It had always been this way because, when Jay found you on his doorstep, he was 22, and had just started undergrad and was working on his teaching degree. Because of this, when Will wasn't studying in his last two years of med school and later working in a hospital as a new resident, he was your go-to babysitter. And you absolutely loved when he came over...despite not being able to remember much because you were so young. Apparently, you had been particularly fascinated by Will's red hair and would pull on it every chance you got. But, he'd let you play with it until it really started to hurt him because you were his favorite (and only) niece and he knew he'd do anything for you. This came in handy as you got older because you realized you had him wrapped around your finger and would always ask him for homework help. Or, if your dad wouldn't give you spending money, you'd go straight to your Uncle Will, and usually, he'd give you some.

"No," you answered. "A doctor needs to know stats, right?"

"I think so," your dad answered. "Why? Are you struggling already? Do you need to go into the regular stats class instead of the advanced one?"

You laughed at your dad's concern. "No, I'm fine. Just figured he'd be able to check it for me to make sure I did everything right."

"Oh, good. And, I'm pretty sure he can do that. Now, go take a shower so you can get started on your homework before he gets here and so I can start on dinner."

***

"Guess what?" you asked as all three of you twirled your spaghetti onto your forks at the dinner table an hour later.

"Chicken butt," Will said.

Jay rolled his eyes. "I swear, I wonder if Mom and Dad were lying when they said that you were older. Maybe I'm the older one and they just lied to us because you sure do act like the younger brother."

"Relax, Jay. Just because I'm more fun than you and Y/N likes me better, does not mean that I'm immature."

"Anyway," you said, wanting to tell Will what you had found out earlier today, "do you want to know what I have to say or not?"

"Go ahead," Will said.

"Okay, so today during AP gov, Emma had to back to her locker to grab her laptop. And she went right by Dad and Miss Upton's classrooms." You paused as you looked over at your dad and saw his eyes slightly widen and then go back to normal. "And they were eating lunch together in her classroom!"

"Awe," Will cooed. "My little brother's back on the market. Good for you, man." Then, he turned to you. "Upton's the short, blonde English teacher you've been trying to set him up with for years now, right?"

"He's not supposed to know about the set-up part!" you hissed.

"Oh, sorry. Jay, forget I said that."

"Y/N, I already you've been trying to set us up," your dad laughed. "It's been kind of obvious."

"Now that that's settled," Will started, "how'd it go? What did you two talk about? And are you having lunch together tomorrow?"

"You two are terrible, you know that?"

"Oh, we know," Will said. "But, you can't ground me, so I can be as terrible as I want."

Jay laughed. "She won't get grounded for that, Will. She might get grounded if she keeps procrastinating her stats homework, though."

"Need help, kiddo?" Will asked. "I have to read stats for things like new drugs and stuff, so I'm good at that. Don't know if I can help you with actually solving the problem because it's been ages since I've done that, but I can try."

"No, thanks, though. I just took a long shower so I have to get it done after dinner. I understand it all, though."

"Good, you can always come to me if you need help with it, though," Will offered. "Or, since it's Miss Upton--" He looked directly at Jay when he said Miss Upton and then turned his attention back to you. "--who's your stats teacher, you can always ask her. But, be sure to drag your dad along with you."

"Will!"

***

Two weeks later

"Might want to tell them to drink a ton of water after this, Jay, because it's so hot," Hailey Upton said as she walked up to Jay Halstead--and Coach Halstead for the next few hours--at an away cross country meet on a Wednesday afternoon in mid-September. "Or better yet, get them some Gatorade."

"Hailey?" Jay asked as he turned around, getting his stopwatch ready. "What are you doing here? And, I'd get them Gatorade if I could. I kinda forgot to pick it up last night."

"I'm here because some kids asked me to come to their meet. And, I always try to come to those things if kids ask me."

Jay cocked an eyebrow. "Would two of those kids be my daughter and her best friend?"

"Among others."

He looked down at the rolling cooler she had brought. "What's with the cooler?"

"Well, you may not have had time to pick up Gatorade, but I did. So, there's one in there for each kid plus the coach...and me of course."

"How'd you know Gatorade would help?" Jay asked. "Other than logic of course."

Hailey laughed. "I've run a few marathons in my life, Jay. I know all about proper hydration and how important it is to refuel after a hot run."

At this, Jay raised his eyebrows. He knew that she ran, but she didn't know that she ran marathons. "Oh, wow. Which ones?"

"You know, the Chicago marathon obviously. Always wanted to do like Boston or someplace, but you have to qualify for those, you can't just go and sign up like here in Chicago. Oh, and I've always wanted to do a Disney marathon. I think it'd be cool, you know? Run through Disney World, maybe hop on some rides during the race."

Jay smiled. "That actually does sound really fun."

The announcer said that it was ten minutes until it was time to race.

"I gotta get to the first mile marker," Jay said.

"Okay, where's our tent? I'll go put this cooler under it."

Jay told Hailey where the tent was and was about to leave when she stopped him.

"Where do I get the maps? I can go to the second mile marker to help out with times in case you can't get there fast enough," she suggested.

"That'd, uh, that'd actually be great, Hailey. Thank you. And, you just get the maps from the table right over there," Jay answered and pointed to a table about 200 meters away.

"Awesome, thanks. See you after the race, Coach," Hailey joked.

Jay nodded and started to jog off toward the first mile marker. But, all the while he wondered what the hell this woman was doing to him. Because he felt his cheeks heating up in a blush as he jogged off.

And, as for Hailey, well she was watching as Jay jogged away and loved the way he ran with perfect form and how his biceps flexed just enough that she could see the muscles slightly bulge.

She laughed to herself. If they ever went running together, she'd have to tell him to loosen up because you weren't supposed to run with your arms as taut as his were; he was wasting energy.

But, for now, she just made her way over to the tent and left the cooler and then went to get a map and start off toward the second mile marker to help out a fellow teacher...well, maybe he was starting to be more than just a fellow teacher. Neither of them really knew at this point. But, Hailey liked the thrill of it all. She felt like she was in high school again...a high school student, not a high school teacher.

***

You panted and winced as you crossed the finish line. Shit, your shin splints were really acting up this time, and God, it was so hot out and you felt nauseous and even had to walk during some points of the race. We'll see what your dad had to say about that.

Wait, was that Miss Upton coming up to you?

It is! She actually came!

"Y/N, are you okay? I saw you walking," she said worriedly while your dad jogged over since you were the last one on your team to finish.

"You good, kid?" your dad asked.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. My shin splints just hurt really bad and I think the heat's making me feel sick."

"Okay, well, I have to go watch the boys and make sure they're ready. Hailey, can you, uh, help Y/N? The medical tent's across from here. Maybe make sure she gets under our team tent without puking and get her something to drink?"

"I can do that, Jay, don't worry."

Emma walked up to you. "Good job!" she exclaimed.

"Girl, I didn't even run as fast as you! You flew through there. But, it's hot as hell!" you said.

"It is really hot. You gonna watch the guys' race?"

"No, Dad told me to sit under our tent in the shade. Gotta get some ice for my shins first, though."

"Shin splints acting up?"

"Yeah."

Then, you, Miss Upton, and Emma walked over to the medical tent where you got bags of ice wrapped around your shins.

***

"I'll run to Mcdonald's and get you ice, too," your dad said before you got in your separate cars back at school after the meet. "What do you want?"

"Uh, a ten-piece nugget--don't forget the honey mustard--a medium fry, and a medium lemonade," you said as your dad typed it into the notes app of his phone. "Thanks."

"I'll see you at home. Drive careful."

"See you in like half an hour."

Then you drove home and decided to start on some homework while still in your sweaty cross country uniform.

When your dad got home, you gobbled down your food because damn, you were hungry after that mentally taxing race. Then, you and your dad filled the bathtub up with ice and cold water.

Time for hell...aka an ice bath. At this point, you'd do anything to prevent your shin splints from getting bad. At least the old coach wasn't coaching because, from all the horror stories you heard, it'd be worse for your shins if he was coaching and not your dad.

After you changed into a pair of spandex shorts and a long-sleeved running shirt and a hoodie, you lowered yourself into the freezing and icy water. You set your phone timer for eight minutes and braved the cold for that long.

Then, after that, you drained the bathtub and took a very hot shower. But, as you were in there, you started feeling nauseous again. You crouched down and actually ended up throwing up a bit in the shower. It was nothing major, you just figured it was from eating too fast. But, you were still really tired.

And this is what you told your dad when you got out of the shower.

"But, I still have homework," you said defeatedly. "I kinda wanna just go to sleep now. It's already 7:00 and I have at least two to four hours of homework to do."

Jay sighed. He never wanted to play this game, but he wasn't going to let you run on not enough sleep tomorrow when you weren't even feeling your best.

"What classes?" he asked.

"Uh, I have to get APUSH done which will take me like at least two hours, and then I have English and stats homework," you answered.

Jay sighed. "I'll give Hailey a call and explain the situation and see if she'll give you an extension on the English and stats homework."

Your eyes widened. "Really?"

"Yes, now go grab some water and get started on your APUSH homework. And.. it will only be a one day extension."

"Thank you, thank you, thank you! You're the best Dad ever!"

Then, you grabbed your water and went back upstairs to your room.

But, all you could think about was that your dad and Miss Upton were talking over the phone outside of school. Maybe they were becoming more than just co-workers.

Jay dialed Hailey's phone number and grabbed a beer from the fridge.

"Jay?" she asked when she answered.

"Hi, Hailey. Yeah, it's Jay. Listen I have a huge favor to ask you," he said.

"What is it?"

"So Y/N puked a bit in the shower, probably because of the amount of sodium in those damn chicken nuggets she wanted, and then she took an ice bath and then a hot shower, so the quick and significant temperature change probably played a role. Anyway, how it happened isn't the point. It's just that she's really tired and she has AP US history homework that she has to finish. So, would it be okay if you gave her a one day extension on her English homework and her stats homework? If not, I completely understand because you can't just make exceptions because she's a teacher's kid and--"

"Jay, relax," Hailey laughed. "Yes, I'll give her the extensions. What is it that you always tell your team? Their physical and mental health comes first?"

Jay chuckled and then took a sip of his beer. "Yeah, that's about right. And, thank you. Y/N will greatly appreciate that."

"No problem. But, I also have a favor to ask you."

Jay cocked his head to the side and raised his eyebrows. "Oh yeah? What's that?"

"So, we're short on chaperones for the homecoming dance and I was wondering if maybe you could chaperone? And, I figured that since you have a kid and would probably want to be there for her pictures before the dance, you don't have to help us set up. Maybe just chaperone and then help us tear down? If not just chap--"

"Hailey, of course, I'll help out. Now, Y/N, she might not be happy that I'll be chaperoning her school dance, but I'll be there. Count me in."

***

2 weeks later, 3 days before homecoming dance

"Okay, I know I'm just your English teacher," Miss Upton started at the beginning of class that day, "but I still care about your guys' safety. So, please, please, please do not drive drunk or buzzed. Call your parents to pick you up. I can absolutely promise you that they'd be happier that you called them to pick you up than you trying to drive home and getting into a car accident."

"What if my parents will be mad at me for drinking anyway?" one kid asked.

"So, if that's the case, you can always call me and I will come pick you up from wherever you're at. I can lose a few hours of sleep to make sure that you guys are home safe." She started writing numbers on the whiteboard. "Right here is my cell phone number, if you think you'll need it, write it down or make it a contact in your phone. Again, I'd rather not come to school on Monday and learn that one of you is in the hospital because of something that could have been prevented."

You pulled out your phone, you didn't think that you'd need Miss Upton's number, but you figured you'd put it in just in case since two girls from your AP gov class asked you to be the DD for a party. You were kind of friends with them, like you studied for tests together, but that was it. But, you had debated it because it was a party after homecoming and you had never been to a party before...let alone one after a dance.

"Oh, Miss Upton," you said as you put your phone face down on your desk.

"Yes, Y/N?" she asked.

"What color dress are you wearing when you're chaperoning the dance?"

"I haven't really thought it much." She furrowed her eyebrows as she wondered why you were asking this question. "But, probably red. Why?"

"Just wondering."

And now, you just needed to make sure that your dad had a red tie and that he actually wore it when he was chaperoning the dance.

***

3 days later, homecoming

"What about this?" your dad asked as he walked out of his room in dress pants, a white shirt, a navy blue tie, and a sport coat.

You were already in your dress and had gotten your hair and nails done earlier in the day, so now you were just waiting to take some pictures with Emma and then actually go to the dance.

"Hmm, I don't know. The shirt and tie are kind of what you wear to work everyday, so I think you need something different. Maybe a brighter tie or something," you said and then walked into his room and opened his closet.

You sifted through the closet until you found what you were looking for: a black shirt and a red tie.

"I think you should wear these," you said and laid the two pieces of clothing on his bed.

"What? Why? You know I never wear red. That tie has been hung up in my closet since you were probably ten," he argued.

"That's the point, Dad! You need to get out of your comfort zone and wear something besides what you wear to school...or in your case, work. It's a dance, so you have to wear something fancy."

Jay groaned. He knew he wasn't going to be able to win this argument.

"Fine. I'll change."

"Good."

Then, you walked out of his room.

Your plan had worked.

***

"Mr. Halstead," Hailey said as she saw Jay walk onto the dance floor a few hours later when all the lights were off and the cleared-out cafeteria became full of students dancing.

"Miss Upton," he greeted. She laughed. "What?"

"It's nothing," Hailey said quickly. "It's just that, well your tie..." she trailed off while his eyes raked down her body in the slightly tight (but not too tight because they were at a school function) spaghetti strap bright red dress that she was wearing. "Let's just say I now know why Y/N asked me what color dress I was wearing."

Jay groaned and shook his head. "My daughter. Always...you know, I don't know what her game is at this point, but I should've suspected something when she told me to go change."

But damn, Jay thought, she does look good in red.

God, Hailey thought, I wish he'd wear those kind of black shirts to work more often.

***

It was now after the dance and you and your dad had arrived back at home at around the same time.

"You're a little devil, you know that?" he asked when you were both inside.

"I have no idea what you're talking about. I plead the fifth," you replied.

"Very funny. You can't do that."

"Yes, I can. You should know this, Dad, you teach government."

"You can plead the fifth in court, but you cannot do it with your dad. So, I know that you asked Hailey what color dress she was wearing just so my tie could match it."

"Oooh, so we're calling her Hailey and not Miss Upton now. I'd say that's a step up. What did you two talk about at the dance? Because I know for a fact that you didn't ask her to slow dance."

"And you didn't slow dance with anyone either, so we're even, kid," Jay retorted.

You rolled your eyes. "I'm gonna go take a shower. Get this hair out."

"Okay." Your dad yawned. "I'm gonna get to bed. Now I know why you sleep until noon the day after dances: they're exhausting."

"Tell me about it. Goodnight. Send Miss Upton-- well, Hailey now-- a text to make sure she got home safe!"

You didn't even wait for your dad's witty reply before you bounded up the stairs and into your bathroom.

But, you didn't actually end up taking a shower. You ran the shower while you washed off your makeup and re-did it into something more party-appropriate and then took down your hair and put it up into a ponytail.

After half an hour, you turned off the shower and wrapped your still dry body in a towel after you had stripped off your dress. You peeked out of the bathroom to see that your dad's bedroom door was closed, which meant that he was asleep.

Then, you tiptoed into your room and changed your clothes.

You pulled out your phone to tell the girls to park a few houses down so your dad didn't hear the car pull in the driveway or see the headlights.

Your plan of going to your very first high school party was a go.

***

It had been two hours since you had snuck out and it was nearing two in the morning. And, you weren't feeling too hot. You had decided not to drink because you were the DD out of you and the two girls from class. And, you had kept the car keys away from them so that they couldn't do anything stupid...and so you could keep them safe. You hadn't drank anything, but you had eaten the fruit off of the top of the spiked punch bowl and, for whatever reason, you were starting to feel lighter and happier.

Shit.

Your dad had warned that fruit soaks up alcohol. How could you have been so stupid to forget that? He was going to kill you! There's no way you could call him to pick you up, absolutely no way!

Somehow, you found your friends, they were by the makeshift bar, no shock there because you knew the only reason they were there was to get drunk. Note to self: if people you only know because of one class ask you to come to a party for the sole purpose of being the DD, do not go.

Luckily for you, one of the girls' boyfriends played on the football team and wasn't going to risk his season just for one party. So, you told him that you needed to leave and that you were the DD and asked if he could get the two girls home safely. He agreed and you passed off the car keys to him.

Then you walked outside, the chilly mid-October night air helping to slow the nervousness coursing through your veins about facing your dad.

You pulled out your phone and hit the contact you had made in class a few days ago.

"Hello? This is Hailey," you heard Hailey's voice on the other end of the phone.

"Miss Upton, it's Y/N Halstead," you said.

"Y/N? Are you okay?" You heard shuffling on the end of the line and assumed that Miss Upton was standing up from somewhere.

"I mean, I'm kinda woozy I guess. But, I snuck out and my dad doesn't know where I am." You hung your head. You couldn't believe you had been so stupid.

"And you had a drink so you can't drive home?" she finished.

"Yeah." She didn't need to know the details. All she needed to know was that you needed help getting home.

"Okay, send me your location and I'll be there soon, okay? Is it safe for you? Do you need me to stay on the phone or call the cops?"

"No, no, I'm perfectly fine. Just need someone to drive me home."

"Okay good. Send me that location and I'll be there soon."

Then, she told you the model of her car and the color so you could spot her easily. Once you were off the phone, you sent her your location and she replied with a thumbs up, telling you that she got it.

Your phone rang. You thought it was Miss Upton, but then you looked down and saw it was your dad.

Double shit.

***

"Please don't tell my dad," you said when you pulled up to your driveway half an hour later.

"Y/N, I have--"

But, she was saved from telling you that she needed to tell your dad when the front door flung open.

Your dad must've seen the headlights.

"Go," Miss Upton said. "You're only prolonging the inevitable if you stay in here."

You sighed. "Will you walk me up?"

"Sure."

So, both you and Miss Upton exited the car.

The minute your dad saw you, he ran down the steps to you.

"Young lady!" he yelled. "Where were you? Do you know how worried I was? You could've gotten seriously hurt!" He paused. "Get over here!"

You knew to listen to him when he pulled out the dad voice.

He put two fingers underneath your chin and tipped your head up. "Breathe. Now."

It was faint, but it was there, your dad smelt stale vodka on your breath...mixed with a citrusy scent and teeth that hadn't been brushed since the previous morning.

He sighed and clenched his teeth. Then, he put his hands down and he finally spotted Hailey. "Hailey, what are you doing here?" he asked, unclenching his jaw.

"I always tell my students that they can call me if they need to get picked up from parties and can't drive. So far, Y/N's the only one who has utilized that."

"Well, thank you. I'm sorry she had to make you come out at this time of night." He turned back to you. "As for you, go inside. Not only did you drink, but you went to a party, too. We'll talk in a few minutes."

You hung your head and made your way inside and sat down on the couch in the living room.

Jay walked up to Hailey. "I'm really sorry about her. But, thank you for getting her home safe. How far did you have to drive? I can give you gas money for all of this on Monday."

"Jay, it's fine. I make this offer for homecoming and prom every year. You don't have to pay me. I just wanna make sure all the kids get home safe, that's all."

"At least let me buy you coffee or something. You brought my little girl home safe when I didn't even know where she was. I think that warrants some type of reward."

"If you want to repay me that bad," Hailey began, "I'm lesson planning and grading at Starbucks tomorrow. I guess you can buy me a coffee."

"Done. Text me the time and I'll be there."

"Will do."

"Now, excuse me, but I have to go deal with my daughter."

"Goodnight, Jay."

"Night, Hailey."

Then, she drove off and back to her house while Jay walked up his front steps and wondered what he was going to say to you.

"Look at me," your dad demanded when he made his way into the living room.

You looked up. "I'm so--"

"No," your dad said quickly, cutting you off. "You don't talk. You only listen. Do you understand me?" You nodded. "Good. Do you know how worried sick I was when I couldn't find you inside? I was beside myself, Y/N. I didn't know where you were, I didn't know if you were hurt. I'd never forgive myself if something happened to you. What you did was stupid and reckless and please do not ever, ever do that again. Never do that again. Do you hear me?"

"Yes," you answered.

"Good."

You took a deep breath before you asked your next question. "Am I in trouble?"

Your dad sighed and sat down next to you. "As much as I want to ground you, no you are not in trouble. I'm just so relieved that you're home safe. And, you made the right decision by not driving and calling someone to pick you up...even if it wasn't me."

"Do you want an explanation as to why I went?" you asked.

"No, God no. I may look calm on the outside, but on the inside, I'm still pissed."

"Can I ask how you knew I snuck out?"

"You forgot to leave your fan on and I knew it was way too quiet in your room."

The doorbell rang.

"Shoot, I forgot to tell your uncle that you're home safe. But, you better go up to bed before me and him talk and think of a punishment for you."

"So you're still mad?" you asked.

"A little mad, but mostly I'm just relieved and disappointed. I thought you knew better." You hung your head. "Now, go to bed."

"Okay." You stood up. "Goodnight, I love you." You gave him a hug.

He gave you a kiss on the forehead. "I love you, too, kid. Now, get to bed."

You went upstairs, but instead of going all the way to your room, you sat down on the landing, intent on listening to your dad's and your uncle's conversation about you.

"Hey, she's home. It's all good," Jay said as he answered the door and then motioned for his brother to come inside.

"Oh, thank God. Where was she?" Will asked as they made their way to the living room and sat down on different couches, facing each other.

"Apparently she went to a party. I know she drank because I smelled alcohol on her breath. It was just a bit, but it was there."

"If you want, we can bring her to Med and I can do a tox screen to see the level of alcohol in her system," Will suggested.

"You know, that's not a bad idea actually."

Jay quickly stood up, but Will stopped him. "I'm kidding, man! Don't do that! She was still lucid when she came home, right?"

"Yeah, she was walking and talking normally."

"Okay, then sit your ass back down and don't drag your daughter to Med. Did you ground her?"

"No, I actually didn't."

"There's a shock. You always said you'd ground your kid if they snuck out. Oh, how things changed."

"I was just so relieved," Jay said and sat back down. "When Hailey pulled in the driveway and Y/N got out of her car--"

"Wait," Will started, cutting Jay off, "Hailey picked her up? Hailey Upton?"

"Yeah," Jay answered. "Apparently she'll give out her phone number to the kids in case they need to get home safe from somewhere after prom and homecoming. And, Y/N called her and not me."

"I wouldn't call you either," Will joked. "You'd probably scream at her in front of everyone at the party."

"I would not!" Will cocked his head to the side. "Okay, maybe, but that's beside the point. All that matters is that Y/N had the wherewithal to know that she couldn't drive and she solved that problem. God, Will, the amount of adrenaline that left my body when I saw her get out of that car was astronomical."

"I bet. So, do you know where she went?"

"I just know it was some party. She got lectured when she got home, don't worry about that." Jay put his head in his hands.

"What? What's wrong, Jay?"

"Anything could've happened to her, Will, and I wouldn't have been there to protect her. I wouldn't have been able to protect my own kid."

"Jay, you can't blame yourself. Hell, most teenagers do this stuff."

"I know, I know. It's just that her grades have been slipping slightly and I'm wondering if I should have her transfer schools." Your eyes widened as you listened to that part of the conversation. "Maybe, having her dad teach at the same school isn't helping her. She went to a party, Will. Maybe it's the kids she's meeting in class, maybe being at another school would be better for her."

"Jay, you can't make a decision like that based on one stupid decision the kid did." He knew his brother was torn up about this, so he changed the subject. "What'd Hailey say?"

"I offered to pay for her gas, but she shut me down."

"Anything else?"

Jay sighed. He knew his brother wouldn't let up. "We're going out for coffee tomorrow to grade. She said I can repay her by buying her coffee there."

"Aw, you're going on a date."

"It is not a date! It's just two coworkers working in a coffee shop together...in their off time."

"Sure, keep telling yourself that."

A few minutes later, the conversation was over and Jay walked Will out, so you made your way to your room.

One thing was for sure: you were not giving your dad another opportunity to even think about you switching schools.

It was time to grind...starting tomorrow because you desperately needed to sleep right now.

***

You woke up around 11:00 the next day, which was Sunday. Then you got up and went downstairs to eat some breakfast.

"Morning," your dad said. "I made breakfast sandwiches. There's two in the fridge if you want one...or both."

"Thanks," you said. You wanted to ask if he was still mad, but you didn't really want to have an argument right when you woke up.

But, being around teenagers all day must've given your dad a sixth sense.

"Listen, kid, I'm not mad at you if that's what you're worried about. You just... you scared me last night. If something happened to you because I couldn't protect you-- because, as a parent, it is my first responsibility to keep you safe. Anyway, if I couldn't keep you safe because I didn't know where you were, I would never be able to forgive myself."

"Can I tell you why--"

"No. As a teacher at the school, the less I know the better. I really don't want to have to tell the administration and then get kids suspended from their sports for drinking. So, all I know is that you snuck out, went to a party, and drank. I don't wanna know who else was there or whose house it was at."

"But, I--"

"Y/N, end of discussion. Now, I have to go and meet Hail-- Miss Upton, for coffee since she so graciously picked you up when you made a bad decision last night. Don't do anything stupid when I'm gone or else you will be in trouble, got it?"

"Yeah, I got it. I'm just gonna study for the SATs."

"Good idea. Be back later. I love you."

"Love you, too, Dad."

***

"...And whatever she's having," Jay said and slid over so that the barista could input Hailey's order.

"Just a grande vanilla sweet cream cold brew, please," Hailey ordered.

Jay paid and then he and Hailey waited by the other side of the counter for their drinks to be ready.

Jay laughed. "You and my daughter have the same taste. You both like vanilla sweet cream cold brews."

"I'm shocked you let her get that with the amount of caffeine in cold brew," she said.

"Eh, it's just like once a week. On my rest day when I don't have to be at school before dawn to run, I'll grab her and I something from Starbucks, and then she'll just stop by my room to get it before school starts."

"That's nice of you," Hailey mused.

"Yeah, but nothing compared to Miss I have coffee in my room for the kids and you can drink as much as you want Upton."

"If you've ever heard kids talk about how little sleep they get like I do since I teach AP classes, then you'd get why I do that, Halstead. I hear kids saying that they normally only get four hours of sleep a night because they're up so late doing homework. While I don't think they should become dependent on caffeine at such a young age and need to be getting a lot more sleep than that, they need to stay awake during school. That's also probably the reason why you and I don't give a lot of homework."

"And it's ridiculous how early school starts anyway," Jay said and grabbed their drinks off the counter.

"I'll drink to that," Hailey laughed and then poked her straw in her cold brew and took a sip.

Once they took their seats, they talked a little before starting to grade and lesson plan.

"Not to pry or anything," Hailey began, "but did you ground Y/N? You don't have to answer it if you don't want to, I'm not her parent, so I know I'm not the least bit entitled to that information."

"Well, you did pick her up when she needed help, so I'd say you are entitled to that information," Jay chuckled. "But, to answer your question, no I didn't ground her just because I was so relieved that she was home. The amount of adrenaline and cortisol that dropped in my body when I saw her get out of your car was amazing, Hailey. Thank you so much." He paused and took a sip of his cappuccino. "But, we did have a talk about how she shouldn't be doing that because it's dangerous and if something happened to her, that I wouldn't be able to help her and since I'm her parent, my first job is to keep her safe. She does know that if she sneaks out or goes to a party again, I will be grounding her, though."

"Well, you had a much different and a way better reaction than my dad did when he learned that I snuck out," Hailey muttered.

But, Jay had great hearing and heard her. He put down his coffee and furrowed his eyebrows. "What happened? You don't have to tell me anything you aren't comfortable with."

"Why did you become a teacher?" Hailey asked instead.

"Why did I become a teacher?" Jay repeated and Hailey nodded. "Well, as you know I was in the Rangers in Afghanistan and, while I was there I saw so many kids walking super far to schools or us accompanying children to school. They had to go through so much just to get to school, and I wanted to make a difference in kids' lives here Stateside. So, when I came home, I enrolled in college and got my degrees in education and a minor in history." Hailey had known that he was a veteran, which explained why he took every September 11 off, but she didn't know he became a teacher because of what he saw over there. "What about you?" he asked. "You went into social work before you became a teacher, right?"

For the past almost month and a half, the two teachers had been eating lunch together in either Hailey or Jay's classroom, and during those, they obviously talked about their experience with education and what made them want to go into the teaching field. Hailey mentioned one time that she was originally a social work major but then switched it to education. But, Jay didn't know why.

"Yeah, yeah, I was originally a social work major. But, it uh, it brought up some really bad memories and I didn't think I could handle being around that all day," Hailey answered, staring directly at her coffee.

Jay cocked his head to the side. "What do you mean? Again, you don't have to tell me anything you don't want to."

"Um, it's okay. It's a part of my past. So, why I said that you were a lot nicer to Y/N when she snuck out was because, well, when my dad found out that I did, he uh, he..." she trailed off.

Jay's gaze was soft and sad as he finished for her. "Physical?" he asked, referring to the type of abuse she had endured as a child and teenager.

"Yeah," she whispered.

"Hailey, I am so, so sorry that happened to you. I'm honored that you'd tell me this."

"It's uh, it's why I give those kids my phone number in case they need help. And, at the beginning of the year, it's on my syllabus, too," she said.

"In case they need a way out, they can call you," Jay said, piecing it together.

Hailey nodded.

Jay reached across the table and gently grabbed Hailey's hand in his. "You're a good woman, Hailey Upton."

She smiled sadly and nodded, grounding herself by focusing on the feeling of Jay's hand in hers.

"Do you want to get started on grading now?" she asked after a minute had passed.

"That might be a good idea," Jay laughed. Then, he let go of Hailey's hand. But, neither of them wanted that little handhold to end.

***

One month later

God, you were in pain. You didn't wanna get out of bed; you just wanted to sleep. Hell, you needed sleep.

Over the past month, you had thrown yourself into studying. You wanted to stay at this school. You loved all your teachers and you didn't want to leave your friends, especially your best friend Emma. And, you were also scared that if you had to transfer schools, that you might not do well on your AP exams or that you'd have a bunch of other requirements that the new school had that you'd have to do the last half of your junior year and during the entirety of your senior year.

You didn't want any of that.

So, you had come up with a plan.

The day after homecoming and that next week, you studied an hour or two hours later than normal. But, you still felt that you had work to do if you didn't want your dad to transfer you at the end of the semester. So, during your study hall hour, you'd go to the teachers and ask how you could get your B+ up to an A- or your A- up to an A. You'd even review questions you got wrong on quizzes so that you could get them right when those types of questions showed up on the tests.

Yes, the teachers probably thought you were crazy because you had good grades already and were trying to be Little Miss Perfect (or they thought that you were trying to get into another scholarship bracket for college or trying to become valedictorian), but you didn't care if you looked crazy. You wanted to finish your high school career at the school you were at now.

Also during this time, you had been "going to sleep" around 10:00-11:00, which was your normal time, just so that your dad didn't get suspicious. But, what you'd actually do was sleep for an hour-ish and then get up and study more.

It started with you studying until midnight and at the latest 1:30 in the morning...and then you'd wake up five hours later at 6:30. It wasn't ideal, but you could manage. Because, since your dad went to school earlier than you, you just brought extra coffee to school and he didn't notice a thing.

But, since all the teachers wanted to get their tests in before Thanksgiving break, for the past two weeks, you had been doing your power nap thing so your dad assumed that you were asleep, and then would wake up and do homework and study until 3:00-3:30 in the morning. This meant, that during the week, you were running on just three to three and a half hours of sleep a night. And, it wasn't like you could catch up a ton on the weekend, or else your dad would get suspicious. So, you just got like seven or maybe eight hours of sleep on the weekends. So, you were constantly in a state of sleep debt and in desperate need of caffeine.

You had done the extra cup of coffee for the first two weeks, but for the past two weeks, you had been drinking two cups of coffee at your house before school and finishing the second cup at school right before classes start, but then going into Miss Upton's classroom and getting another cup of coffee. Then, you'd also get another one from her room a little after lunch. (You made sure to never go in there during her lunch period because your dad and her still ate lunch together and you didn't want him to get suspicious.) Also, sometimes you and Emma would go to Starbucks to study after school. So, lately, you had been averaging four to five cups of coffee during the week and just two on the weekends. Because, again, you couldn't have your dad getting suspicious.

And, your dad and Miss Upton ran together in the morning before school now, so you really had to be careful about what you told Miss Upton. You couldn't have her telling your dad that you were drinking a couple additional cups of coffee. You just told her that your coffee never stayed warm long enough when you brought it from home, which is why you opted for hers. And, she bought it.

To cover the bags under your eyes, you had been wearing a bit of extra foundation and cover-up. And, to make sure that your dad didn't notice at home, you'd wash off all your makeup after school, but then quickly redo the area under your eyes.

So far, he was oblivious.

But, for a week and a half, your stomach had been super achy and you couldn't stand to eat anything in the morning before you had at least one cup of coffee. So, what would typically happen was that you'd end up eating a bowl of overnight oats in your car in the school parking lot before walking inside so that your coffee had time to digest. You figured out that you were fine after that. Well, it was still achy, but not as bad as in the morning.

God, you wish you were at that point right now.

For the past five days, you've been feeling nauseous and your stomach has been achy, but in the morning, there'd be a stabbing pain before you had any coffee. You'd roll out of bed when your alarm went off and go straight downstairs to get coffee because that seemed to be the only thing--besides ibuprofen--that would alleviate the pain.

But right now, right now was the worst you had ever felt in your entire life. You felt like someone was stabbing your stomach and it wouldn't let up. You felt nauseous like you'd puke any second. And, trying to get into another position didn't help. Nothing helped.

Fuck, you had to swallow your pride and your secrecy and go tell your dad.

You needed help and you needed it now.

So, you got up. But, that just made it worse. You swallowed, trying to keep the lump in your throat and not have it go on the floor.

You whimpered and then walked a few steps and opened your bedroom door.

Then, you threw yourself on the floor and crawled across the hallway.

You held your breath as you stood up, anticipating a ton of pain--which came--when you stood up and opened the door to your dad's room.

Then, you went back on the floor and crawled in there with tears streaming down your face.

It took all your energy to whisper, "Daddy."

***

Jay blinked sleepily. He thought he heard his daughter mumble "Daddy", which she hadn't called him in years. But, then he heard it again.

He looked down and saw a figure curled up in a ball on the floor.

"Daddy, make it stop, please," you whimpered.

He quickly flicked on the light so that he could get a better look at you.

"Y/N, baby, what's wrong?" he asked quickly when he saw your tears, your face contorted in pain, and how jagged your breathing was.

"Hurts," you whimpered as more tears fell and you clutched your stomach.

He jumped out of bed and knelt down next to you. "Your stomach?" he asked urgently. You nodded. "Can you sit up?"

You nodded and leaned against his bed. But, that was a bad idea because the minute you were upright, you puked right down yourself. You groaned and pressed down more on your stomach, which just caused you to vomit more and more.

The minute you started to vomit, Jay looked at the clock. He started to soothe you by rubbing your back, but then quickly stopped and ran into the adjoining bathroom to grab the trashcan and put it underneath your mouth instead.

"There you go, there you go," he soothed as he held the trashcan with one hand and rubbed your back with the other. "Get it out. It's okay. It's okay. I'm right here. I'm right here, Y/N."

But, when you puked for almost four minutes straight and were still in pain after, Jay knew something was seriously wrong.

"Don't get up, you'll make it worse," he said. You nodded weakly. "I'm gonna go grab you some water and Gatorade and put those and a bowl in the car. Then, we're gonna go to Med to get you checked out." You nodded again. "I'll be right back. I love you."

He gave you a quick kiss on the forehead and then sprinted off into the kitchen to grab the stuff he previously mentioned. Then, he ran outside and unlocked his car, turned it on to start heating up, put that stuff in the backseat, and sprinted back inside.

"Y/N, you still awake?" he asked when he walked back into his room.

"Mhm," you hummed with your eyes still closed and your hands still clutching your stomach.

"Okay, I'm gonna throw on a hoodie and my shoes, and then I'm gonna run into your room and grab you some shoes and a hoodie because it's pretty cold out. Are you okay here?" you nodded slowly. "Okay, I'll be right back. Don't get up."

Five minutes later, you had your shoes and hoodie on. You weren't much help getting those on; your dad basically had to dress you as if you were a baby again.

"I'm gonna pick you up and bring you to the car and we're gonna go to Med to see Uncle Will."

"Uh huh," you said, letting your dad know that you had heard him. Then, you felt yourself being lifted off the ground and soon felt the chill of the late November air and then the leather seats of your dad's truck on your back and the warmth of the truck.

"There's water and Gatorade. I want you to take a few sips," your dad said. "There's a bowl, too in case you have to puke again."

You drank a few sips of Gatorade and then laid back down and closed your eyes.

As your dad backed out of the driveway, he called Will to explain the situation and tell him that the two of you were on your way to Chicago Med.

After the call, he threw his phone into the passenger seat and reached his left hand into the backseat, and grabbed one of your hands. You gripped your dad's hand weakly as he drove as fast he could to Chicago Med.

He had to make sure that his little girl was okay.

***

"We've got a treatment room right here," Maggie said when she saw Jay sprinting into the ED with you in his arms.

She quickly led him to it and he laid you down in the bed.

Will rushed in with Natalie and April a few seconds later.

"Y/N, Y/N, can you hear me?" Natalie asked.

"Hurts," you mumbled.

"Jay," Will started, "did she puke on the way here at all?"

"No, no, she didn't. She just puked for almost four minutes straight at home and it's worse when she sits or stands up. She's been clutching her stomach since she woke up."

"Gonna- gonna--" you started to heave and a pink basin was thrust under your mouth and then you emptied the few sips of Gatorade into the basin. You started to cry even harder once you finished. "Make it stop, make it stop! Please make it stop!"

Natalie turned to your dad. "Do we have permission to administer medications?"

"Please," he answered, his voice cracking. He was terrified. He was terrified something was seriously wrong. He had never seen you in so much pain. "You have permission. Just please help her."

April pushed antinausea and pain medications as well as a light sleeping medication because it was apparent that, along with puking and being in a world of pain, you were also utterly exhausted.

"Y/N," April started, "you're going to get sleepy soon. But, can you give us your pain level on a scale of one to ten?"

"Ten. My stomach hurts at a ten," you answered while tears still ran down your face.

"Did you eat anything you weren't used to? Drink anything?"

"No, no," you panted. "Just- just lots of coffee. Not a lot of sleep. Studying."

Will and Natalie shared a look. They knew what this could be. And, at least they got it out of you now, because it was clear that the meds were starting to work and you were fading fast.

"Hun," Natalie began, "we're gonna leave April in here with you in case you get sick again. Is it okay if me, your Uncle Will, and your dad have a chat outside real quick?"

"Want my dad. Please."

Natalie smiled sadly. "Okay, he'll stay. We can talk to him later."

Your dad reached for your hand and held it and rubbed his thumb over the top while you drifted into a medication-induced sleep.

Five minutes later, you were out.

Jay looked at his brother. "What's going on? What's wrong with my kid?"

"From what she told us, it sounds like the acid in the coffee she's been drinking has been irritating her stomach lining. Has she been drinking a lot of coffee lately?" Will asked.

"Not that I've noticed. But, sometimes there's a little less in the coffee pot than I think there should be. But, even if she is drinking two cups, that can't cause this, can it?" Jay asked worriedly.

"No, two cups shouldn't. But, if she isn't sleeping a lot, sometimes lack of sleep can make people feel pretty crappy. So, if she's drinking more than her normal amount of caffeine and not sleeping, then that could be what's causing it."

"But, she goes to bed at her normal time," Jay argued.

"That doesn't mean that she's sleeping. She could be lying awake in bed. Has she seemed more tired to you?"

"No, not that I've noticed. Uh, what do I do, Will? Can't you run some tests?"

"I mean, I can run one to see if she's sleep-deprived, it's a plasma cortisol test. If her levels are elevated, that means she's not getting enough sleep. But, it wouldn't give us the reason why her stomach's hurting so bad and why she's nauseous and vomiting," Will answered.

"Then don't run the test," Jay said. "If it's not going to figure out the problem, then I don't want to put her through that. But, what do we do?"

"If it's what I think, an irritated stomach lining, then we keep her for observation for a few days, ween her off of caffeine to a healthy amount, give her antinausea and pain medications, and just wait for her to go home until she feels better," Will answered.

"Okay. I guess we wait. You mind grabbing me some coffee?"

Will laughed because they had just been talking about how you had been possibly drinking too much coffee and now Jay was asking for it. "Yeah, I can do that. My shift ends in an hour, so I'll be down here to wait with you then."

Jay smiled. "Thanks, man."

***

It was 7:30 in the morning the next day, which was Thanksgiving Day, when Jay's phone rang, waking him up. He answered it without checking the caller ID because he didn't want to disturb your peaceful sleep.

"Hello?" he asked groggily.

"Jay? Where are you and Y/N?" he heard Hailey's voice through the phone.

Shit, the Turkey Trot, he thought.

He and you always ran the Turkey Trot every Thanksgiving, sometimes dragging Will along if he didn't have to work. Then, you'd have your Thanksgiving feast later in the day. Granted, your dad had to keep pace with you for the entire time, so it really wasn't a race. But, it was a nice bonding experience, so the two (sometimes three of you) kept it up.

Jay had mentioned it to Hailey one morning when they were running the indoor track before school started, and she said she'd sometimes run it, too. So, Jay had invited her to run it with him and you, and she agreed.

You were convinced that Miss Upton and your dad were secretly dating.

But, Miss Upton had been waiting for you and your dad at the designated meeting spot for half an hour now. And, Jay Halstead was not one to be late.

"Listen, me and Y/N aren't going to be able to make it. She had some stomach issues last night and now she's in the hospital and the doctors are trying to figure out what's wrong," Jay said.

"Oh my God," she said as she started to walk away from their planned meeting spot and towards the parking garage where she parked her car. "What hospital are you at?"

"Chicago Med," Jay answered. "Why?"

"I'm gonna find someplace that's open and grab breakfast and then I'll be there."

"Hailey, you don't have to."

"Jay, I want to do this. I'll be there within the next hour."

Then, without waiting for him to protest once more, she ended the call.

***

When you woke up a few hours later, you rubbed your eyes, despite the IV in your hand, and rolled over.

"Well good morning, or almost afternoon," your uncle Will said and stood up. "How's the pain on a scale of one to ten?"

"Uh, maybe a six, seven?" you said.

But then, you looked around the room.

Why was Miss Upton here?

"I'll go get a nurse and let you three talk," Will said and then left the treatment room.

You looked at your dad and raised your eyebrows. At the same time, the achiness in your stomach started up again and you clutched it.

"Gonna be sick?" your dad asked.

"I don't know," you answered.

He handed you the pink basin anyway (a clean one because last night's was gross and went off to get cleaned) and you set it on your lap.

"Feel like you can eat anything?" your dad asked. "Hailey brought food...and coffee, but we'll have to check with the nurses about how much coffee you can drink."

"You brought it?" you asked as you looked at Miss Upton.

She smiled. "I did. I called your dad to see why you two weren't at the Turkey Trot yet, and he said you two were here, so I figured I'd find somewhere that's open and get you breakfast." She rummaged around in the bag and pulled out a container. "He mentioned you were having stomach issues so I opted for something light, so the fruit and nut oatmeal from Mcdonald's. I also grabbed a packet of syrup in case you wanted it sweeter."

She passed the food to you along with a spoon and a napkin. "Thank you," you said as you took them from her. "Sorry I messed up your run."

Hailey laughed. "It's okay. My run's the least of my problems. Me and your dad just want you to get better."

You tried to hide your smile. She said she and your dad. She cared about you more than she did other students...and you were just waiting for them to slip up and call each other babe at this point.

"Hey, I'm back," Will announced as he walked into the room. This time, he had Dr. Choi and Monique in tow. "Natalie and April have Thanksgiving off, so you have Dr. Choi as your doctor and Monique as your nurse."

You nodded.

"Hi, Y/N, I'm Dr. Choi, as your brother just mentioned. Monique here is just going to check your vitals." You nodded again. "I understand you've been having some stomach issues. Can you tell me when they started? Any changes to your diet or routine that I should know about?"

Here goes nothing.

You looked at your dad as tears formed in your eyes. "I'm sorry," you said. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you."

Your dad moved his chair closer to you and gently grabbed your hand. "Tell me what, baby?"

"I- I went to that party because--"

"Y/N, how many times do I have to tell you that I don't want to know why because I'm a teacher? Me and Miss Upton are both teachers."

"But I didn't go to drink at all! I hadn't even planned on drinking! I didn't even drink a drink!" you yelled, causing Monique to take a step back. You took a deep breath and turned to her. "Sorry, sorry. I'll be calm so you can do your job." After a few breaths, Monique went back to checking your vitals and you continued your story. "These two girls I know from my AP gov class asked me to come to the party to be their DD. So, I went. But, when I was there, I ate the fruit from the punch bowl and I forgot that the fruit absorbs the alcohol. I'm sorry."

"And when you realized what happened, you called Miss Upton?" your dad asked.

"Yeah," you confirmed. "And, I even made sure to give the car keys to one of the girl's boyfriends who wasn't drinking because he plays sports so that they'd get home safely."

Jay smiled slightly; he had taught you well.

"Did you keep drinking consistently after?" Dr. Choi asked. He couldn't see one drink causing all these problems.

"No, God no!" you said. But, then you clutched your stomach and took in a deep breath.

"Pain?" Dr. Choi asked.

"Yeah, it's not as bad as last night, though."

He looked to your dad. "If she wants more pain meds, will you allow it?"

"Yes," your dad answered.

"Do you want more pain meds?" Dr. Choi asked.

"Please," you answered.

So, Monique started to get the pain medication ready to go into your IV and then pushed the meds.

A few minutes later, once the medication had started to work, you continued your story.

"I heard you and Uncle Will talking," you said.

"When?" your dad asked. "Me and Uncle Will talk a lot."

"The night I snuck out. You and Uncle Will were talking and you said that you might make me transfer schools if my grades don't get better. I don't want to transfer schools, Dad."

Your dad sighed. "Kid, I was mad, but in reality, I wouldn't do that. That was just me being angry and trying to find a solution when I wasn't in the right headspace. Were you so nervous that your stomach hurt all the time?" he asked.

"No," you answered. "but, I started staying up later and doing homework."

"Really? You always seemed asleep to me."

"I'd sleep for an hour and then wake up and study more." Your dad sighed. "I'm sorry. And then I was just sleeping for like three hours, so I'd drink four or five cups of coffee a day and my stomach hurt so bad in the morning if I didn't drink any coffee, so I'd eat breakfast in my car before school."

"For how long?" your dad asked. "For how long have you been bottling this up? For how long have you been waiting to eat breakfast?"

"The stomach aches started a week and a half ago. I'm sorry I didn't tell you." You started to cry harder.

"Hey, hey it's okay. We know what happened now, so hopefully, Dr. Choi and everyone else here can fix it." He looked up at Dr. Choi who had been intently listening as well. "Right, Doc?"

Dr. Choi smiled. "That's right, Y/N. And, what it seems to me is that you've just been drinking too much coffee, and coupled with the lack of sleep, have had abdominal cramping and nausea due to all the caffeine irritating your stomach lining. So, what we'll do is ween your caffeine intake back down to one to two cups of coffee per day, not go cold turkey because you'll probably feel pretty crappy if we did that, and then continue giving you pain meds and antinausea meds. We'll probably keep you here a few days upstairs in a recovery room just for observation to make sure nothing else is going on."

"So, I have to spend my whole Thanksgiving break in the hospital?" you asked.

"I'm afraid so," he answered.

"Well, this sucks." You looked at the table next to Miss Upton. "Is that coffee for me?"

"It is. I don't know if you can have it, though," she answered.

"She can have it," Dr. Choi answered. "Just, no more after this one seeing as that's a large."

You nodded.

"I got you a vanilla iced coffee. Since apparently, we have the same taste because your dad said you also like vanilla sweet cream cold brews as much as me," Miss Upton said and then handed you the coffee.

"Seeing as everything looks good, me and Monique will check on you later." He turned to the three adults in the room. "If she pukes up that food or her stomach pain gets worse, come get us."

"Will do, Doc," your dad answered.

"Jay," Hailey started, "can I talk to you for a minute? Outside?"

Jay furrowed his eyebrows slightly but nodded. "Of course. Be right back, Y/N. I love you."

"I love you, too, Dad," you said.

Then, your dad and Miss Upton left the room.

Outside the treatment room, Hailey took a deep breath, grounding herself as she prepared to talk to Jay.

"I'm sorry," she blurted out.

"For what?" Jay asked, utterly confused.

"I knew she was drinking extra coffee but didn't tell you! Well, she told me when she brought it from home, that it would get cold too fast, so she always came to my room and had two cups during the day. If I knew she was drinking some at home, too, I would've never let her have any. I'm so, so sorry, Jay!"

"Hailey," Jay began and placed his hands on her shoulders, "it's not your fault. Hell, I didn't even notice it and she's my daughter."

"I know, but I just feel slightly responsible for her being in that hospital bed--"

"It's not your fault, Hailey. I promise. I don't blame you one bit and I know Y/N doesn't either."

Meanwhile, back in the treatment room, you really needed to use the bathroom.

"Uncle Will?" you asked, causing him to look up from his phone where he was trying to figure out what restaurants were open for dinner on Thanksgiving. He really didn't want him and his family eating hospital cafeteria food for Thanksgiving dinner.

"Hmm?" he hummed and gave you his full attention.

"I really need to go to the bathroom," you told him.

He pocketed his phone and stood up and moved over to you. "Okay, I'm gonna help you up and with one arm, I'll hold on to you and with the other, I'll hold onto the IV pole for you. Is that okay?" You nodded. "Do you think you'll need help in the bathroom? I can grab a nurse if you need me to," he offered.

"No, just help me to the bathroom, please. I should be good when I get in there."

"Okay." Then, he helped you up and the two of you made your way over to the bathroom where he stood and waited while you went inside.

Back with Hailey and Jay, Jay reassured Hailey once again that none of this was on her.

"If anything," Jay began, "I should be thanking you. You got Y/N home safe after that party."

"Jay, we've been over this. I would've done it for any one of my students," she said.

"But, would you take their dad up on their offer of buying you coffee if it wasn't my kid you picked up?" Jay asked and tilted his head to the side.

"Probably not," Hailey said, a blush rising to her cheeks.

"Can I ask why?" She stayed silent. "Listen, Hailey, it's been a long time since I've seen you as just a fellow teacher," Jay admitted.

She looked up at him. "Since we're all sharing secrets today, it's been a long time since I've seen you as a fellow teacher, too, Jay."

Jay smiled and moved a piece of her hair behind her ear. He leaned in. "Can I?" he asked.

He didn't get a response because she quickly pressed her lips against his. It was the kiss she had been waiting for since she asked him to eat lunch with her that first week of school.

You and your uncle Will had chosen that exact time to make your way back to your treatment room. You two had seen everything: your dad putting a strand of Hailey's hair behind her ear and them leaning in and kissing.

You were glad that one of your hands was free because you whacked Will across the chest in excitement.

It was finally happening!

Jay and Hailey pulled away and looked at each other and smiled.

"I uh, I hope that was okay," Hailey said quietly.

"Oh, it was more than okay. I'd happily do that again, but we should probably get back into Y/N's room. She's probably wondering what's taking us so long," Jay said.

Hailey laughed. "Probably."

The two turned around and saw you and Will standing thirty feet away. Jay's eyes widened. "Uh..." he trailed off as Hailey blushed hard.

"Finally!" you exclaimed.

"Yeah, I agree with Y/N on this one," Will laughed. "But, who would've thought? A government teacher and an English teacher?" He started to help you walk back to your treatment room but turned his head back to Jay and Hailey. "Oh, don't stop on our account."

"Will!"

A/N: hank you guys so, so, so much for reading! Again, please remember to like/reblog and comment because I love reading all your comments and seeing that you liked/reblogged because that means you enjoyed reading the imagine! Again, I am donating all my proceeds on buy me a coffee until the end of AU-gust to Save The Children to help the children in Afghanistan. Buy me a coffee here.

As always, if you want to be added to my taglist, just tell me and I’d be happy to add you!

Taglist: @theambracer88@virtualreader @kelelas-life @celyndavies @brookerz122493 @musicismyescape27 @anotherfan07 @thexplosivegirl @dreamingwithlens @xoxmariaxox @onechicago18 @iamasimpingh0e @i-like-sparkly-things @herecomesthewriterwitch @liampayne88

[ethanesimp]

DON’T BURN THE PANCAKES // E.T.

Pairing: Ethan Torchio x GN! Reader 

Summary: Your daughter’s idea of cooking breakfast for you doesn’t go as well as she’d hoped for.  

Warnings: Just swearing, this is pure fluff

Word Count: 3.1k

Masterlist // Taglist link in bio

Taglist: @superchrystaldrug @ethaneskin @dont-let-me-drown-in-you @bidet-and-legolas @gretavanfleetlove @victoriadeangeliswifey @selenophiliaxx @tabi-toast @queen-of-brokenhearts @ohtorchio @geklutst-ei @soraya825​ @juststalking​ @cruz-ata

A/N: I will not accept any criticism on me calling his child Marlena. I thought it was cute and maybe something one of the band members would eventually do? I hope this is cute enough and that it doesn’t suck? My brain is completely fried from school so yeah!

The sky was slowly starting to get painted orange and birds had just begun chirping when Ethan was woken up by someone poking his cheek repeatedly. He'd been trying to ignore it, but the little lady doing it was persistent and wouldn't back down until she saw him open his brown eyes.

So, with a quiet groan as to not wake you, he gently removed the arm that was wrapped around your waist and turned around to look at the little girl who was sitting down on the bed, patiently waiting for him to wake up.

He offered her a lopsided smile and ruffled up her messy dark brown hair. She giggled and pushed his hand away, "Stop it, daddy!" She squealed. Ethan brought a finger to his lips and pointed at you sleeping peacefully beside him.

She nodded and shot him an apologetic smile. Ethan shook his head and got up from the bed. He lifted her into his arms without much effort and carried her out of your shared bedroom. He closed the door behind him and turned to kiss her cheek, "Good morning cara mia." 

"Good morning daddy," She mumbled and nuzzled her face into his chest as she yawned. 

Ethan laughed lightly, "Still tired Mar?" She immediately shook her head no and asked him to let her down. When he did, little Marlena took his hand in hers and dragged him to the kitchen as quickly as her little feet would allow.

It was your birthday today and, just like every year, she'd come up with a plan to give you something special and had asked Ethan for help. He'd taken her to the mall a few days back so she could pick up a present and the night before after you went to bed, he'd stayed up with Marlena to help her make your birthday card. All that was left were the pancakes she wanted to make you because, according to her, cakes were already overdone and you deserved something different and special, just like you. 

Her statement had warmed Ethan's heart and he agreed without complaint even if he was aware of just how difficult it'd be to clean the kitchen after they were done. She was always so excited about giving you both presents on any occasion she got and he wouldn’t deny either of you the joy you’d surely feel for Marlena’s little gesture. 

Ethan set her down on the counter and went to retrieve the pancake mix they’d bought while at the mall, “Okay, so what do you want to do? I’ve got the heart molds you asked for. Would you like to use them or should we just make some normal ones?”

She shook her head and pointed at the red heart-shaped cookie cutter that sat on the counter, “I think they’d like the hearts better,” He nodded in agreement and starting collecting the bowl and spoon they’d need to mix the batter.

He stood there and silently watched her mix everything together as music softly played from his phone which was sitting beside her on the counter. Ethan found himself nodding his head along to the songs he’d heard countless times on the cartoons Marlena watched every morning.

When finished, his daughter tilted the bowl towards him. Ethan smiled and gave her a thumbs up. He quickly greased one of the large pans, placed the heart-shaped mold on it, and poured a bit of the pancake mixture in. He repeated the process a few times until the whole pan was covered.

Right after he was done, loud cries were heard from the nursery. Ethan cursed under his breath and turned to Marlena, “I’ll be right back amore. Just stay there and please don’t go near the stove, kay?”

After receiving a nod, Ethan rushed out of the room and up the stairs. He walked into the nursery you’d both painted a pale yellow a few months back. He leaned down in front of the little cot and picked up the six-month-old baby girl wrapped in a little green blanket.

Ethan brought her close to his chest as he slowly moved his weight from one foot to the other and gently swayed his fingers side to side. She slowly started to quiet down and instead, a small smile appeared on her face at the sight of her dad. He cooed when she reached up for him with her tiny hands.

Unfortunately for him, all that peace lasted for merely a few minutes because then she started crying as loud as she could. He tried to sway her just a bit harder as he looked around the room for her pacifier so she’d quiet down while he got her bottle ready, otherwise, you’d be woken up and the surprise would be ruined.

Ethan sighed in relief when he spotted the little blue thing sitting on top of the dresser. However, his face fell as he turned to grab it and saw you leaning on the doorway out of the corner of his eye.

He turned around and offered you a small smile. You rubbed your eye and yawned, still exhausted, as you walked closer to him and took her from his arms, “I’ve got it tesoro, don’t worry. I can go get her a bottle.”

Ethan quickly shook his head, “No N/N, please let me. It’s your birthday and you should relax,” He insisted, hoping you’d just agree so he wouldn’t have to spoil Marlena’s surprise.

You raised an eyebrow in amusement at his words but nodded anyway, “Fine. I’ll accept because I wouldn’t mind a little nap,” You mumbled and carefully handed him the baby. You’d heard him and little Marlena talk about your surprise, but who were you to ruin it? Instead, you’d just go back to bed and wait for your little angel to bring you breakfast.

Before you could leave the room, Ethan grabbed your hand and pulled you close to him. He quickly kissed your forehead, “Happy birthday, amore mio. We can celebrate later, yeah?” He teased and playfully smacked your ass. You shook your head and laughed at his antics before leaving the room. 

He walked down the stairs with the baby in his arms only to find his other daughter pouting as she sat on the counter, waiting for him to return. She pointed at the stove, where the pancakes sat, with smoke coming out of the pan and all that was in it was now a dark color. 

Ethan sighed and dumped the pan on the sink with his free hand. Then he opened all the windows and swatted at the air with a towel to try and dissipate the smoke before it reached the fire detector and the alarm went off. 

Ethan turned to look at his daughter, who was still pouting and looked almost on the verge of tears. He delicately cupped her cheek, “Hey, it’s okay. I’ll clean this up and then I’ll give you stuff to make more batter, okay?” She nodded and smiled gratefully at him. Ethan nodded and stood up straight as he felt the baby in his arms begin to stir. 

He quickly gathered all the ingredients and placed them by the counter for his daughter to measure and mix. Ethan had taught her to cook the most basic things like eggs and pancakes ever since she was younger. Now she insisted on doing most things, like mixing or measuring ingredients, by herself.

He rushed to prepare the bottle for the baby as Marlena stayed distracted singing along to the music playing from his phone and mixed the pancake batter once again. Ethan moved around the room with ease, already used to doing things around the house while he held a baby in his arm. 

Once they’d finished, Marlena insisted on carefully carrying the plate filled with pancakes and neatly chopped fruit up to your room while he carried the coffee, your birthday card, and present in his free hand. It was a bit hard and he had to walk up the stairs at a remarkably slow pace, but he managed anyway.

Even if things hadn’t gone that great at first, your reaction upon receiving your breakfast and letter, and how happy your daughter looked made everything worth it in Ethan’s mind. He loved the three of you more than words could ever express and he’d be willing to do anything only to see you smile.

[monako-jinn-stories]

Crosshair X FemReader FanFic

It Started With a Vacation

Main Master List

Story Master List

Chapter Twenty Seven

Chapter Twenty Nine

Chapter Twenty Eight (18+)

Chapter Twenty Eight (PG)

The sounds of many feet sprinting past your door wakes you up in the morning. Delightful squeals are surrounded by the sounds of a few chuckles, as well as two voices warning to be careful. The feet run past your door again, and the squeals and chuckles follow. You roll your eyes, smiling to yourself as you throw the covers off of you and head to your door. As you open it, the boys run by again, Cyar’ika in Tie’s arms as the others chase him.

“What are you guys up to?” you ask, and they stop and smile at you.

“We’re seein’ who can hold onto Cyar’ika the longest before someone taps ‘em. When they do, we ‘ave to give ‘em Cyar’ika and they ‘ave to run and try to not let the others catch ‘em.”

“You’re playing a version of ‘tag’ with my child?” you question, raising an eyebrow at them. Tie nods, and you just shake your head with a small smile. “And how is my little princess doing this morning?” you ask, reaching out to take her. Tie pulls her away, a smirk coming to his face.

“Not so fast, y/n. Ya gotta catch me first,” Tie says before breaking into a sprint.

“I’m not chasing you to be able to hold my own child!” you call after him before turning to the others.

“I don’t think he’ll give her up unless you catch him,” Hex says, and you just sigh before taking off after him. It doesn’t take much for you to catch up, and sure you might have used the force a little bit to slow him down, but soon enough, you tap him and he stops to hand her over.

“Game over,” you say when the others catch up. “We’re not playing ‘tag’ with my daughter anymore.”

“Party pooper,” Sans mumbles, and you shoot him a glare before smirking as you respond.

“For that comment, you get to change her poopy diapers for the entire day,” you say, and he opens his mouth to argue, but you shake your head. 

“You’re mean,” he replies, narrowing his eyes and sticking his tongue out at you. Cyar’ika giggles at him before trying to imitate his expression. “You know what, I’m fine with changing poopy diapers if it means I get to spend more time becoming her favorite uncle,” he says, wiggling a finger in her face.

“Psh, as if you’ll ever be her favorite,” Aid retorts, and Sans turns to him to glare.

“You don’t stand a chance either.”

“I have a better chance than you.”

“I think currently, Hex has the best chance,” you cut in, and the others give you offended looks while Hex looks on proudly.

“I am pretty great, aren’t I?” he says, and you just roll your eyes and laugh before leading them off to get breakfast.

“Are you the ones making all that noise in the halls?” Ahni says as the boys follow you into the dining room. 

“Us? Make noise? Never,” Steele replies, and Ahni just laughs before setting out plates for them.

“You know, you should never lie to your cook,” she starts, “they could end up poisoning your food.”

“Ah, you would never hurt us,” Sans counters, waving a hand dismissively. 

“Hmm, perhaps you’re right, or perhaps my kindness is an illusion of who I really am.”

Steele snorts at that, rolling his eyes while taking a bite of his food. “Yeah. You could never be mean. You’re too sweet and caring.”

“Oh really? Is that a test?” she teases, and Steele shakes his head.

“No, I’d prefer to keep living in a galaxy where I only know nice Ahni.”

Ahni sits down next to Kwol, and she offers a smile to Steele. “Well, hopefully you will get to.”

“I, on the other hand, have definitely witnessed an Ahni that is…” Kwol starts, but pauses when Ahni gives him a warning look. “An Ahni that is not the same that you have always known,” he finishes carefully, and she gives him a side eye before looking down at her own plate to begin eating.

“Don’t worry, Crosshair has seen many sides of y/n,” Sans says, “and he’s doing just fine.”

“Since when are you an expert on my relationship?” you question, and Sans just gives you a look that seems to say “it’s obvious.”

“What are everyone’s plans for today?” Ahni asks, and you open your mouth to begin when a beeping from Sans’s comm interrupts

“It’s the Council,” he states, and answers it.

“Commander Sans, we hate to interrupt your…vacation,” Mace says from the other end, “but we have been informed that Commander Bly and General Secura are in need of assistance on a planet near Dohbar. We were wondering if you would be able to head over and help out.

“Well, General Windu,” Sans begins, “it’s only me, General Jinn, and Jawa squad here. The six of us won’t be much help.”

“Actually, I was hoping to talk to King Barren about that. Is he around and free?”

“Yes, he’s right here with me,” Sans says. Kwol gives you a confused look and you just shrug, and he moves to sit next to Sans.

“Hello, Master Windu. This is King Barren.”

“Hello, King Barren. As I’m sure you heard, we are hoping to have Commander Sans lead reinforcements to help aid Commander Bly and General Secura. We also understand that the rest of the 17th battalion is here on Coruscant. We are asking on the behalf of the Republic Alliance to have soldiers from Dohbar help-”

“Absolutely not,” Kwol interrupts, his tone firm and final. “Dohbar may have a senator in the Galactic Senate, but we are still a neutral system, and will remain so.”

“Please, it would only be for one battle.”

“It will never be only one battle for you,” Kwol counters. “Our assistance in one battle would put Dohbar on the Separatist’s radar, and we will be exposed to attacks on our planet and in our system. Dohbar will not risk its neutrality for your war.”

“And does Queen Monako share your sentiment?”

“Yes,” you respond. “Although I am a general in the GAR, I am a queen to Dohbar first. My people’s safety here is always my priority. I will not send my own army to fight in a battle that we are not, and will not ever, be involved in.”

“I understand, General Jinn,” Mace replies. “I am sorry to have bothered you all. We await your return to Coruscant tomorrow.” The comm ends after that, and the men of Jawa Squad share silent, conflicted looks with each other.

“Are you sure we can’t just take even a small force to help-”

“No, Aid,” you say, cutting him off. “Dohbar will not get involved in this war. I will not set my people on that path.”

“But you’ll allow us to keep fighting on the front lines?” Steele asks, a sour tone coming to his voice. 

“It’s different for you guys.”

“Why? Because we’re bred for this? Because we’re just tools for the Republic?” Tie asks, jumping into the argument.

“No, well, in a way, but you’re not tools, not in my eyes. But you are soldiers of the Republic.”

“We didn’t get a choice in the matter,” Steele counters.

“I know, but as a queen and a general, I need to do what’s best for my people, even if I’m not always able to for my troopers,” you try to explain, but it only seems to make them more upset.

“So you’ll fight for them but not us? You’ll refuse the Council’s request for your people but will only try to fight them for us?” Aid says, pitching in.

“That’s not anywhere near true,” you say, trying to suppress the anger that wants to come out. “I fight for you all the time! I’ve straight up refused to let you go into battles that I knew were not going to end well, and make sure you get plenty of rest when you need it!”

“But you still let us run into battle and die for the Republic, but you won’t let your own people do that,” Sans says, keeping his eyes down and not looking at you.

“Hex, you of all people should understand me,” you reply.

“But we don’t, General,” Sans says, standing from his seat. “I don’t think this conversation should continue. Jawas, let’s go. We’ve finished eating, and we should all just calm down.”

“Or we could go help Commander Bly and General Secura ourselves, because y/n refuses to do it herself.”

“You are not understanding me,” you defend, and Sans holds up his hand in a motion for silence.

“I said this conversation is over. Boys, let’s go. General Jinn,” you cringe at his use of your title, but raise your gaze to meet his, “we can talk later.”

“Sans…” you start, but you don’t know what to say. You don’t have to say anything, though, because he understands how fighting with them hurts you deeply. He knows that you can only do so much for them, and that you’re able to do more for your people. He also knows that, if you had the power, you’d protect them and everyone else in the 17th like you protect your people. 

As they leave, you feel yourself lose your appetite. You sit and move your food around your plate absentmindedly for a few minutes before deciding to get up and clear your mind. Ahni and Kwol ask if you’d like company, but you say no, and that you were going to spend some time with Cyar’ika.

You carry Cyar’ika out to your garden and sit with her under your favorite tree. You set her down and watch her crawl around, looking curiously at everything around her. You can’t believe how much she’s grown and learned in only a few months. Time seems to be going by too fast, and you wish you could spend more of it with her. But as your earlier conversation mentioned, you are a general, and you have your duties to your troopers. But you’re also a mother, and a queen, and that just adds to all the responsibility you have to balance.

“What am I going to do with everything?” you sigh, reaching out and brushing Cyar’ika’s silver hair from her eyes. She looks up at you with her sparkling eyes and you melt in her gaze. “You better not start using your adorableness on me to get your way, little princess,” you say, giggling as she looks at you blankly. “You and your father are going to get along so well some day. He’ll probably spoil you to the point where it’s a problem.” You huff in amusement at the idea of it and shake your head as you smile. You pick her up and take her into your arms, letting her cuddle up to you. “I hope I’m a good mother for you,” you whisper quietly, staring off into the distance. As if in response, you sense feelings of comfort and assurance coming through the force. You pull back slightly and look down at your daughter, and smile after a few seconds. “My little Jedi princess,” you say, “just like her mother.”

~~~

A knock at your door stirs you from your thoughts, and you pull yourself back to reality. You look down and groan slightly at the documents still pulled up on your datapad, still unread and unsigned. “I’ll do that tomorrow,” you mumble to yourself before heading to your door. You open it, and the boys of Jawa Squad are standing outside of it.

“Hey, y/n,” Steele says, “we’d like to talk to you again.”

“Of course,” you say, moving to the side and motioning them in. They all find a seat in your room, and you sit down with them. 

“First of all, I’m sorry for starting the argument earlier,” Steele says, and you nod. “It was very uncalled for and…I didn’t fully understand your words and I just jumped into an argument.”

“None of us fully understood your words, but we took the time to try to after our argument,” Aid continues. “Sans helped us try to understand better as well.”

“We know that there’s only so much you can do for us,” Tie adds, “and we’re thankful for everything that you are able to do.”

“It hit a nerve in all of us when you were so adamant about keeping Dohbar out and neutral, especially when we have to fight in the war, and it’s our brothers out there who needed the help,” Hex says.

“But we understand now that it’s different for Dohbar and us. Dohbar is its own system, and the GAR is under the command of the Republic. As queen of Dohbar, you’re able to make decisions with more finality for your people than you are as general of the 17th, and we know that if you could, you’d never allow us to go anywhere that would be a risk to our lives. But as Tie said earlier, we are bred for this. Our reason for existing is to fight in this war and defend the Republic, as much as we, and you, may hate the reality of it,” Sans finishes. “So, we are all sorry for the argument.”

“I’m sorry for acting as I did as well,” you say. “I should have remained calmer than I did and explained better. I love you all, so much, and you’re right. If I could, I’d do everything to ensure your complete safety. Unfortunately, I can’t, and so I have to settle with being the best general I can to protect you on the battlefield.”

“We love you too, y/n,” Sans says. “And sorry for calling you by your title earlier, I know you don’t like it when we do.”

“It’s alright,” you assure him, “now, we can spend all night apologizing to each other, or, we can all have a big cuddle pile on my bed.”

“Cuddle pile!” Tie and Aid say at the same time, already jumping on and getting situated. You roll your eyes and laugh softly, Hex and Steele both smiling at you before joining the two already there. “Everything alright, Sans?” you ask as he remains standing beside you, staring off into space.

“Yeah…just…I received a report from Bly after his mission…things were pretty bad. But I understand why you couldn’t let Dohbar get involved.”

“How bad was it?” you ask, but Sans shakes his head, offering you a small smile.

“Don’t worry about it, y/n. It’s nothing you should worry about.”

“But it is something I could have helped with,” you sigh, and Sans gently rests his hand on your shoulder and offers you another smile.

“I wouldn’t have wanted you to. You shouldn’t have to sacrifice your people for our war.”

“But-”

“No more arguing about this,” Sans says with a slight chuckle. “Now, there’s a cuddle pile waiting for us to join.” You take a few moments to look at him and study his expression before sighing and going to the bed. You crawl on and the boys immediately surround you, letting you lay in the middle. Hex takes the outside, Steele between the two of you, and then Tie, Sans, and Aid on the other side. 

Throughout the night, when Cyar’ika woke up, Aid or Hex would get up to comfort her. When you tried to, they told you to lie back down and relax, that you deserved a night of uninterrupted sleep. You appreciated their intent, but you still woke up every time she would fuss. After a while, they both finally let you help them calm her down, and they watched curiously as you did so. The secret was that you used the force to calm her, something they could not do themselves. Of course, you didn’t tell them this, because they’d probably tell you that you “cheated” somehow.

When you wake the next morning, it’s much later than you had intended to wake up, and you immediately wake the others as well.

“Mmm, leave me alone,” Tie mumbles in his sleep, rolling over to ignore you. You roll your eyes and shake him gently, and he just swats his hand at you.

“Come on,” you say, turning to shake Steele awake, “we don’t have much time to prepare to head back to Coruscant.”

“Can’t we just go back later?” Aid asks, and you decide to disrupt their sleep by sending waves of discomfort through the force.

“Alright, alright,” Sans grumbles, crawling over Aid to get off the bed. “Someone’s in a hurry today.”

“I have a feeling,” you say, narrowing your eyes as you try to focus on it, “something’s going to happen.”

“What’s going to happen is I’m going to sleep in my own bed tonight,” Hex says, “Steele stinks too much.”

“Hey! I do not!” Steele counters, and you just fold your arms and give them all a look.

“Are you guys going to go get ready now?” you ask after they all stop talking and look at you.

“Yes, ma’am,” Tie says mockingly, and you gently pull on his braid as he walks by, earning you a tongue out from him. You giggle and then close the door behind them so you yourself can get ready for the return to Coruscant.

After you dress and wash up, you head over to Cyar’ika’s room and get her up and ready for the day. You spend some time with her and Ahni as the boys finish getting ready, and all too soon you’re saying goodbye again and heading back to the center of the Republic.

“Everything alright, y/n?” Hex asks as he finds you in the bunk area. “You’ve been back here almost the entire flight.”

“I’m trying to meditate to figure out what feels so off to me,” you respond, “although I can assure you it’s nothing to do with you guys-well, not exactly.”

“What do you mean by that?” he asks, sitting across from you and removing his helmet.

“You guys will be involved in this…situation, but nothing bad is going to happen to you. It’s almost like…I’m sensing the Bad Batch.”

“Missing your man?” he jokes, but you shake your head.

“It’s not that, I think they might end up needing help.”

“Need help? The Bad Batch? Now that’s less likely than Fox liking Palpatine. Actually, no, I think it’s more likely, but just slightly.”

“Either way, I want our scanners and transmission to be on wide range, just in case someone ends up needing help.”

“You got it, y/n,” Hex says before standing up and heading back out into the main area. You watch him for a second before closing your eyes and beginning to meditate again, trying to focus on where this feeling is coming from. Something about it keeps taking you back to the Bad Batch, and you’re becoming increasingly convinced that they’ll be in need of help soon.

After a while, you leave the room and head to the cockpit, sitting in the chair next to Tie and watching the stars fly past.

“Something on your mind, y/n?” he asks, and you nod.

“It’s just that feeling…”

“Well, is ya Jedi mind telling you to go anywhere specific? Maybe ya can point me in a direction and we can find somethin’.”

You think for a second, wondering if you should just continue on to Coruscant or if you should deviate from your course and look for whatever the cause of this feeling is. “Yeah, we can try that.”

“Alright, I’ll pull the ship outta hyperspace,” he replies. “Just keep in mind this is a royal transport. We don’t got any guns.”

“Actually,” you say, reaching out and pressing some buttons in a specific pattern, “Dohbarians never go anywhere without weapons, not even into space.”

“You’re pretty strong with firepower for a peaceful system,” Tie chuckles, and you just smirk in response.

“Yeah, well, you don’t keep peace without posing a threat to those who try to challenge it.”

“That’s fair, I guess,” he says, taking control of the ship and pulling it from hyperspace. “Alright, where to?”

You close your eyes, concentrating on the feeling. You take a few moments before holding out your hand and using it to help feel what direction to go. Tie watches until your hand comes to a stop, and then he begins to fly in that direction. After a few minutes, you move your arm, and again, Tie follows it. 

“What’s going on?” Aid asks while walking in, leaning against the doorframe. “Why aren’t we in hyperspace? And what are you doing with your arm, y/n?”

“She’s guiding me towards that strange feelin’ she's been havin’,” Tie explains, turning the ship slightly as your arm moves.

“Does she have any more of an idea of what it may be?” Aid asks, sitting down in the seat behind Tie.

“Didn’t say, and I think she’s focusin’,” Tie replies. 

Suddenly, you open your eyes and grip the sides of your seat. Something is very wrong about what you had been sensing. You watch as a planet comes into view, and you immediately know that’s the right place.

“Check for transmissions,” you say, and Hex, who you hadn’t noticed join the group, immediately sets to work. At first, all you get is static crackles, but then a few words are able to come through. 

“-ech, how’s that -ission coming?”

“It appears to- eached a ship n- by, though I’m -re who it is.”

“This is Commander Hex of the 17th battalion, can you hear me?”

“-arely came thr-. -ate your battalion aga-”

“The 17th battalion. This is Commander Hex.”

“The transmission should be getting better since we’re about to enter the atmosphere,” Tie states, and he prepares the ship for entry.

“How many troopers do you have?” The transmission is nearly clear, save for a bit of static.

“Uh, five, plus General Jinn,” Hex responds.

“Oh. Well, I guess any amount of help is welcome.”

“Were you expecting more?”

“Not exactly. We weren’t expecting any help, but more is always preferred.”

“Alright, focus, Tech,” Hunter jumps in. “Can you track them, or can they track your comm to find our position?”

“Already on it,” Sans says. “Tie, fly two klicks west and then one klick south west.”

“Give me the coordinates, I can get there easier my own way,” Tie counters, and Tech starts rambling them off, repeated to Tie by Hex.

“What’s the situation like down there?” Hex asks, and you watch as his expression remains neutral as he listens. “It’s not too bad, definitely not ideal. Nothing they can’t escape with our help.”

“Good,” you reply, and without warning, Tie jerks the ship and maneuvers it to fly sideways.

“What the karking hells, Tie?” Steele shouts from further back in the ship, having been tossed into the wall. 

“Sorry, gotta avoid all these trees,” Tie responds. “Welcome to Kashyyk, boys.”

“Lovely,” Sans says as Tie turns the ship back upright. “Now, where the hells are we going to land?”

“Right here,” Tie responds, and as soon as he speaks, a cannon blast lands right in front of the ship, covering the viewport with dirt and debris.

“Everyone, out!” Steele yells, and everyone runs to the door. You’re the last one out, and as soon as you jump, a blast hits the ship and blows you further away. You roll a few times as you land, and immediately cough up dirt and blood. Your vision is blurry and you’re dizzy for a second before standing and regaining your senses.

“Get down, y/n!” Aid yells, and you duck just in time as another cannon shot flies past where your head had been a second ago.

“They’re just through these trees over here,” Tie says, waving everyone over as he begins to run towards the Bad Batch’s spot. You follow as well, trying not to stumble as you do. Something in your side sends a wave of pain with each step and breath you take, but you ignore it for now to keep running. 

“Welcome to the fight!” Wrecker says as you break through the trees to join them. 

“Woah, you need to get that taken care of now,” Hunter says as he looks at you. You furrow your brows in confusion before Aid comes into view and pulls you to the side.

“Sit,” he says, and pushes you down, not giving you time to argue. You still don’t know what’s going on, but a scream of pain leaves you as he pulls something from your side. You look down through tear filled eyes and see a piece of bloody wood. “I will never understand how you can ignore things that are literally sticking out of you and focus on the battle,” he mumbles, almost angrily. “Lift up the shirt.” You do as he says, and he applies the bacta, making you hiss through your teeth. 

“What’s going on here?” a voice says, and you look up to see Crosshair standing on a branch above you. 

“Hello, Snarky,” you say, smiling up at him. He jumps down, and takes his helmet off as he kneels beside you. He offers you a quick kiss on the forehead before he looks at your wound. “Princess-”

“No, don’t even say anything about me sitting out of the fight,” you say, and Aid clears his throat.

“You won’t be doing anymore fighting unless I deem you well enough,” he says as he stands. “Now, I saw you land and hit your head. Were you dizzy or did your vision blur at all? Were your steps unbalanced?”

“No,” you say, and he merely raises a brow at you. “Fine, yes, but-”

“You’re good enough to finish this fight, but when we get back to Coruscant, you’re getting a full exam.”

“Wait, what?” Crosshair says, and you grab Aid’s hand to help you stand.

“It’s alright, Cross,” you say, setting a hand on his arm. “This hopefully won’t take long, and then we’ll be on our way out of here.”

“Fine,” he says, slipping his helmet back on, “but I’m going to keep an eye on you.”

“How about you keep an eye on our targets instead?” Hunter says as he runs over, shooting at the droids breaking into the trees where you all are.

“Sir yes sir,” Crosshair mocks before jumping up and climbing into the tree again. You watch him for a second before joining your men, jumping right into the middle of the battle. 

“So, what exactly is the situation?” you ask, and Tech moves to stand beside you as he blasts the droids and you deflect the returning blaster fire.

“We were on a mission to deliver some defensive weaponry to the Wookiees, and as we were about to leave, the Separatist forces decided to attack us. We have not been able to get back to our ship.”

“How long have you been fighting them?”

“Not long, but since we were not prepared for an attack like this, we have not been able to make our leave.”

“Well, hopefully we can help with that,” Sans says, standing at your other side.

“Do you guys have any sort of plan?” Hex asks, and Hunter responds briefly.

“Get out alive.”

“Yeah, well, how you intend to do so would be nice to know,” Steele says.

“Just do your thing and we’ll do ours,” Hunter replies before giving a hand signal to the rest of the Batch. You decide to just focus on the fight in front of you, making sure your men are safe.

After a little while, you barely have made any sort of progress with the droids. You’d noticed Hunter, Tech, and Wrecker popping into view every so often, but never paid much attention to what they were doing. You’d just kept your eyes on the droids in front of you and took out as many as you could. 

“Alright, is everything in position?” Crosshair asks the others, and they confirm it. You’re confused as to what he’s referring to, but before you can ask, he tells you to do something. “Princess Cyar’ika, I need you to move slightly to your left.”

“What? Why?”

“I’m going to shoot your lightsaber.”

“What?” you ask, more confusion seeping into your tone.

“Just trust me, okay?”

“Just don’t break it,” you reply, “is this good?”

“Tiny fraction to the right…a bit more forward…perfect. Now lift your saber directly above your head.” You do exactly as he says, and wait. It feels as if each second crawls by as you wait for him to shoot, but when he does, you can’t bear to risk blinking. His skill always mesmerizes you, especially when he does a trick like this. As soon as his shot hits your saber, it’s deflected off and strikes through a droid, only to hit a tiny metal disk you hadn’t noticed before. It bounces off, hits another droid, and strikes a metal disk that Wrecker holds up in the air. Another droid, then a disk Tech tosses up. Droid, a disk Hunter throws forward. Droid, disk on a tree. Droid, disk on another droid. It continues to bounce all around, and then the real surprise happens. 

You hadn’t noticed the pile of explosives Wrecker had set near the entrance of the trees, where the droids are coming from. Thankfully, no one is standing near it as the blaster shot bounces off a final disk and strikes the pile. You duck down instinctively, and so do your men. When you look back up, trees are falling down onto the droids. With their way now blocked, you can find the Batch’s ship and head back to Coruscant.

“A warning woulda been nice,” Tie says while walking over. Everyone gathers near where you stand, and the Batch just exchange glances with each other before Hunter speaks.

“Sorry, we just didn’t know how to explain plan D-43 in time for it to work,” he says while shrugging.

“The explosion is what he was referring to,” Aid counters, a slightly annoyed look on his face.

“I agree,” you add, looking toward Hunter. “You should know that others don’t always like not knowing what’s going on, especially if something could be a danger to their lives.”

“But no one was hurt,” Tech states, and you shoot him a look.

“That doesn’t matter. What matters is that they could have been, and you know that I never would have forgiven you if something serious, or even fatal, happened to one of them.”

“She’s right, we shoulda given them a warning,” Wrecker agrees. “Especially me, I was the one who put the explosives down. It was my responsibility to ensure everyone knew, and I didn’t do that. I’m sorry, y/n. And Commander Sans, Captain Hex, Major Steele, Medic Aid, and Sergeant Tie. I promise that next time I will ensure your safety and that you’re aware of the danger.” Your men exchange their own glances with each other before turning to Wrecker and nodding, offering him small smiles.

“Thank you, Wrecker,” Hex says.

“Commando Wrecker, if we want to get formal,” he jokes back, letting out a chuckle while setting his helmet half on his head.

“Alright, we need to get going, we’re already late as it is,” Hunter states.

“So are we, because we decided to help you,” Steele says.

“And our transport was blown to bits,” Tie points out. “Sorry ‘bout that, y/n.”

“It’s fine, I can just use Kwol’s transport since he barely does any off-planet work,” you reply. “You guys got room for six more on your ship?”

“Plenty, as long as two of us share a bunk,” Crosshair says, smirking as he puts a toothpick in his mouth.

“Perfect, I can cuddle with Wrecker then,” you tease while stealing his toothpick and putting it in between your own teeth, earning a scoff from the sniper before he puts his arm around your waist and pulls you into him. 

“Not on my watch, you won’t,” he says, playfully biting your ear. “Mine.”

“I’m pretty sure everyone knows she’s yours already,” Hunter says, rolling his eyes as he walks by. 

“Someone jealous?”

“Of you? Never. I can find a partner easily.”

“Oh really? Then how about we make a bet?”

“What kind of bet?”

“I’ll explain on the ship,” Crosshair replies, and Hunter nods before leading everyone on. 

“Mind if I take a gander at your controls, here?” Tie asks as he stands in the cockpit. 

“I do not mind, but just don’t touch anything. We don’t need a repeat of what happened last time someone didn’t know what they were doing,” Tech replies.

“Ah, don’t worry. I would never touch anythin’ I didn’t understand when it comes to ships.”

“That is comforting to know. Perhaps if I need to step away for a second, you could take control for me.”

“I would be honored, sir,” Tie says, throwing up a playful salute. Tech eyes him for a second before nodding and turning back to the controls, beginning to take off.

“So, what’s this bet you’re on about?” Hunter asks as he sits on his bunk. 

“If you can get a partner as easily as you seem to think you can,” Crosshair starts, taking a moment to work in a nice shine on a part of his rifle, “then how about we put a time limit on it?”

“I’m listening,” Hunter says, taking his bandana off and throwing it into a pile of dirty clothes and bandanas.

“I think that’s the first time I’ve ever seen him without one of those on,” Steele whispers to Hex.

“After a while, I began to wonder if he was born with it,” Sans adds.

“I wonder how long he kept it on for,” Hex replies.

“We’ll go to the Uscru Entertainment District, and I’ll give you two hours to find a partner and bring them back to the Vos Gesal Hotel. If you don’t make it on time, you owe me a box of toothpicks. If you do, I’ll buy you a new bandana. Hells, I’ll even add in another if you manage to get two partners to come back with you.”

“Deal,” Hunter says, and the boys each stand to meet each other in the center of the room and shake hands, sealing the bet.

“You’re pathetic,” you tell Crosshair when he sits down again. He’s sitting on the floor between your knees as you sit on his bunk. He looks up at you with a smirk on his face.

“Why?”

“Because, you make a bet and ask for toothpicks?”

“Princess,” he says, setting his rifle down again and standing up. You watch as he continues to smirk, and he leans over you. You feel your cheeks warm as he gets closer, his form looming over yours. “I already have everything I could possibly want right here.”

“Save it for when everyone is not around,” Steele says, and the others chuckle along with him, including Crosshair.

“Asshole,” you mutter, and a hint of playful warning flashes in his eyes.

“Careful what you say, because I can be real mean if I want to be,” he warns, the smirk coming back to his lips before he places a small kiss on your forehead and sits back down where he had been.

The rest of the trip back to Coruscant is uneventful. You end up falling asleep on Crosshair’s bunk while he finishes up cleaning and shining his rifle. Hex, Sans, and Hunter have a conversation while Steele chats with Wrecker. Aid joins Tie and Tech in the cockpit, but ends up falling asleep as the two pilots talk about pilot stuff.

The feeling of something small repeatedly hitting and bouncing off of you pulls you from your sleep. You roll over and instantly get poked by something in the cheek. “What the-” you begin, and look down to see a toothpick on the bunk. “Really? You couldn’t have woken me up like a normal person would?”

“No,” Crosshair chuckles, “because I’m not normal.”

“You’re certainly right about that,” you mumble before standing and stretching. “Alright, Jawa Squad, I’ll see you soon. I’m going to skip out on dinner with you guys tonight and head back to the Temple to take a shower.”

“Good, I could smell ya from the cockpit,” Tie says, and you stick your tongue out at him, making him chuckle.

“I need one as well, I think I’ll join you to conserve water,” Crosshair says, but you shake your head and stop him. 

“You have to go to that hotel and wait for Hunter to return with his partners,” you say.

“Not yet, we all need to freshen up before any of us go anywhere,” Hunter says. “Crosshair has plenty of time to go with you.”

“Another time,” you say, earning a slightly pouty look from your snarky sniper. “Don’t act like that, there can only be one child-” you stop yourself from continuing, eyes going wide for a second before you compose yourself.

“What?” he asks, clearly confused.

“Nothing, never mind. I was just going to make a joke and then realized I couldn’t…at least not yet.”

“Oh…kay…” he says, slightly suspicious. Tech gives you a thumbs up as if to say “nice save” as he walks behind Crosshair. “Will you at least come and keep me company while I wait for Hunter tonight? I’ll just be sitting in the lobby, and it’ll be pretty boring without someone there with me.”

“Sure,” you say, “just let me know when you’re heading over.”

“We’ll pick you up at the Temple and then I’ll drop you two off at the hotel before heading out,” Hunter offers, and you thank him before saying goodbye to everyone else and heading back to the Temple.

You quickly get ready, slightly annoyed that you can’t enjoy a nice long shower like you wanted, and dress in some comfortable but nice clothes. You look in the mirror and think for a second before deciding to put on a cute dress. Almost as soon as you’re done getting ready, you get a ping from Crosshair letting you know that they’re about to reach the Temple. 

When you reach the hangar, they’re both by a speeder waiting. Crosshair is leaning against it with a toothpick in his mouth, and Hunter is standing at the front. As if on cue, when you step out of the elevator, Crosshair’s eyes find you. They slowly roam down your body then back up, and a sly grin comes to his lips. He flicks his toothpick away and unfolds his arms, walking the last few steps to greet you.

“I see we both had the idea to try and tempt each other tonight,” he says, and you feign innocence.

“What ever do you mean?” you ask, and he huffs in amusement before slipping his hand onto your waist and leading you to the speeder. He takes your hand and helps you on, and Hunter just rolls his eyes at the gesture before getting into the front.

“No funny business back there,” he says before starting the speeder and taking off. Of course, now that he’s told you not to, you decide to tease Crosshair as innocently as you can. You plop your legs on top of his and sit back against the other side, putting a bit of distance between the two of you. Crosshair eyes you briefly while his hand finds its way to your leg. He slowly trails it up till he reaches your knee, and unexpectedly, he slips his hand around and begins tickling you.

“Crosshair!” you say, gasping as you try to pull your leg from him. He just chuckles, holding onto you so that you can’t pull away and escape.

“Maybe you shouldn’t put your feet in my lap if you don’t want to be tickled,” he teases, and you just glare at him while continuing to try and struggle out of his grasp.

“You better stop shaking this speeder around or I’ll let you fall out,” Hunter warns, and both you and Crosshair stop messing around and sit normally, though he keeps giving you certain looks that only you understand the meaning of.

“Alright, I’ve got a tracker set on the speeder, so when you arrive, the timer will start automatically,” Crosshair tells Hunter when you reach the hotel. “It can only stop and reveal the run time with a code that I have memorized, so you can’t tamper with it or try to cheat at all. And just for good measure, we’ll be sitting in the lobby waiting as well, keeping track of time after I’m notified by my wristcomm that you’ve arrived.”

“You really went all out for this,” you comment, and the two men look at you before exchanging a glance.

“Bets are sacred to us. Not just the Bad Batch, but all of us clones. We will do everything possible to ensure a fair game.”

“Okay then…” you say, remembering how serious the men of the 17th always were with bets. “Well, I’m going to head inside and sit, it’s a bit cold out here.”

“I’ll be there in a minute, doll,” Crosshair says as you walk away, and his voice lingers on the last word for a second. You almost pause in your steps when he says the word, but you merely stumble slightly before composing yourself again and walking inside.

Wow, you think to yourself, this is a nice place. No wonder why Crosshair told Hunter to bring the partner here. Wait-how does he know about this place? The question sends a wave of jealousy through you. Has he brought someone here before? If he has, was it while you two were together? Would he dare do something like that to you? You, General Jinn, Jedi Master, Queen Monako of Dohbar-

“May I assist you with checking into a room, ma’am?” a man says from behind the front desk. You pull yourself from your thoughts and look at him, and he jumps slightly when you do. “My apologies, miss, I do not mean to intrude.”

“What?” you ask, and then you realize you’re glaring at him. “Oh, I’m sorry,” you say, a wave of embarrassment washing over you. “I’m not mad at you, I was just in my head when you spoke.”

“Ah, I see,” he says, relaxing a bit. “Now, may I help you get checked in?”

“I don’t have a-”

“Room 9904,” Crosshair says, walking up behind you, “reserved for a Mr. Crosshair and Ms. Jinn.”

“And is this man with you?” the man asks, and you nod.

“Yes, but I wasn’t aware he’d gotten us a room.”

“Of course I did,” Crosshair chuckles, “you didn’t think we’d spend the night in the lobby, did you?”

“I…” you begin, but then you shut your mouth and shake your head, hiding the small smile that slips onto your lips.

“Here is your keycard,” the man says, “have a lovely stay.”

“Thank you,” you and Crosshair say at the same time. He holds out his arm for you and you loop yours into his, and he leads you to the elevators.

“Room 9904?” you say, and he nods with a slight smirk. “I shouldn’t be surprised.”

“No, you shouldn’t,” he replies. “Besides, I never would have invited you if I truly meant to sit in the lobby the entire night. I know you have many other things you’d much rather do than that.”

“Yeah,” you say, “I could name a few things…”

“Hmm,” Crosshair hums, and he guides you out of the elevator once it reaches the floor. Only a few doors down is your room, and he slips his arm from yours to open the door.

“This is really nice,” you say, a hint of sourness coming to your tone. “How did you know about this place?”

“I’ve been here before,” he says, and he notices your instant mood change. “Princess? Is everything alright?”

“Yeah,” you say, a bit too quickly and harshly. “Just perfect.”

“Cyar’ika, I know when you’re lying to me.”

“Why have you been here before?” you ask, turning to face him. “I thought I was the only one you’ve ever been with. Are you sneaking off with someone behind my back and bringing them here?”

“What?” he says, shock covering his expression. “What in the hells are you talking about? Where did you even come up with that?”

“Answer my questions,” you say through clenched teeth. “Or else I’m going to walk out of here and take a taxi back to the Temple.”

Crosshair just looks at you for a second as if you’re crazy before he sighs and sits on the edge of the bed. “I haven’t been here with anyone other than my brothers,” he starts, “and an off-world political figure. Some king or duke or something. We were on a mission to protect him, body-guard sort of thing. He stayed here, and so we did as well. That’s how I knew about this place.” His expression changes then, to one of hurt and offense. “Do you really think I’d cheat on you?”

You bite your tongue, looking down and feeling guilty. Of course you don’t, but ever since you found out you were having Cyar’ika, and even more since then, you’ve felt insecure and worried about stuff like this. “No,” you start, keeping your gaze down as you walk over to sit next to him. When you do, he gently takes your hand into his and rubs his thumb over the top. “I just…I guess I’m a bit insecure about it. Ever since I was away for so long…I’d be worried that, I don’t know, you’d get too…built up.”

“Princess Cyar’ika,” he says, using his free hand to gently turn you to face him, “I will never, ever, even think about another person for as long as I live. You are the only one I want to be with. You are the only one who can even tempt me in any sort of way. All I want is you.”

You stare into his eyes then, and you can see how serious he is. He truly does love you more than words can express, and you love him just the same. Instead of responding, you reach up to his face and pull him closer to you. You close your eyes as your lips meet, and you let the desperation of your kiss consume you.

***

You lay in his arms, reveling in the moment. You take the time to just enjoy being close to him, as you seem to get less and less of these moments as the war progresses.

“I love you,” he says after a while, and you smile as you look up at him.

“I love you too, Crosshair.” A beeping sound comes from his datapad then, and he sighs while giving you a kiss before he stands and starts to dress. “Where are you going?”

“I had the tracker programmed to tell me when Hunter is on his way back,” he says, “I’m going down to the lobby to greet him.”

“Don’t take too long,” you say, stifling a yawn as he chuckles.

“Don’t worry, my Princess Cyar’ika,” he says, “I’ll be back before you know it.”

Crosshair only sits in the chair for a couple minutes before the front doors of the hotel open. He sees Hunter walking in with a Chiss woman and a Duros woman.

“I see you’ve taken a fancy to blue tonight,” Crosshair says, quirking an eyebrow at his brother.

“These fine young women were kind enough to accompany here,” Hunter replies, each of his arms around one of their waists. “Now if you’ll excuse us.” He nods to the front desk man as he heads toward the elevator, no doubt having already checked in and gotten his room ready. Crosshair doesn’t care, though. Hunter was .0743 of a second late. Crosshair won the bet.

If you enjoyed this, comments, reblogs, and messages are greatly appreciated!

Tag list! Use this Tag List Form if you would like to be added, removed, or change preferences! @imabeautifulbutterfly @m-o-o-n-s-g-o-o-n-s @kaykates

[blu-joons]

You Introduce Him To Your Daughter ~ Im Jaebum

“You’ve got nothing to worry about, she loves everybody Jaebum.”

His head nodded as you lead him up to your front door as your date came to an end. Just the sound of your key in the lock was enough for your daughter to jump up in the living room, racing through to have a look who was there. Once her eyes spotted you, she lit up straight away, sprinting in your direction, throwing herself into your arms.

It didn’t take long before her eyes also looked at Jaebum stood beside you. She’d heard a few things about him from you and knew that he was the one responsible for making sure that her mummy was happy and feeling loved. She smiled anxiously in his direction as you led the two of them further into the house.

It was as you walked into the living room you saw your friend sat on the couch who had been babysitting for most of the afternoon. Straight away she rose to her feet, greeting you both, letting you know all about how their day together had been.

“I’ll head off,” she smiled once she finished filling you in, pulling you into a hug. “She’s been really excited to meet him, so I hope it goes well for you all Y/N.”

As you glanced back around after waving her off, Jaebum and your daughter were already immersed in a game with her dolls, with her plastic dining set placed around in a circle. “Mummy, join us,” she smiled as you walked back into the room.

“Why don’t we give mummy the first cup of tea because she’s so special?”

“Is that so?” You grinned, taking a seat beside Jaebum. His hand instinctively wrapped around you, as your daughter looked up, smiling at how close the two of you were.

His head nodded, nudging against the side of yours. “Apparently Y/D/N is going to be cooking dinner for us tonight, so it’s a good job we didn’t eat whilst we were out.”

“It definitely is,” you chimed, taking the plastic cup and saucer that she passed across to you. “But shouldn’t our guests be the ones that eat first?” You asked her.

Her head shook, looking back across at you. “Jaebum is your boyfriend, so he’s not a guest. If he’s your boyfriend, doesn’t that end up making him a part of our family mummy?”

Your body froze at how open she was, scared to look at Jaebum in case she panicked him. But as his head nodded, ensuring that you got the first plate of food, you looked across at him mouthing a quick apology. Jaebum quickly brushed you aside, knowing just how honest children could be.

“She did nothing wrong,” he laughed as she walked off into the kitchen to continue playing her game. His grip tightened around you as he sensed how frantic you had become by your daughter’s sudden outburst. “Honestly, I’m just thankful right now that she seems to like me, and there’s no complaints from me if she decides that she wants me to be a part of your family.”

“I wouldn’t complain either,” you whispered as you rested against his chest. “It’s just these are things we’ve not really discussed between the two of us before, I don’t want her to overwhelm you or make things move at a pace that’s too quick for you.”

Jaebum silenced you with a kiss as your daughter walked back into the room, taking the two plates that she passed to you, beginning to tuck into the fake meal.

The two of them continued to get on whilst Jaebum pretended to eat her meal, and your daughter sorted out the rest of her dolls. He could only sit back and admire what a great job you’d done with her, and how close the two of you were. When he first heard you had a daughter, he had to admit, he was a little bit apprehensive, but now he’d met her, he had no idea why he ever felt that way.

“I think it’s time that we think about heading to bed soon,” you suggested as time continued to pass.

“But I want to play with Jaebum,” your daughter protested, “can’t I stay up late tonight?”

Your head shook as a pout quickly grew on her face. Jaebum leaned forwards and scooped her up into his arms instantly before she could get too upset, tickling her sides until she was back to her usual smiling self again.

“I’m sure I’ll be here more often, and I promise that we can play properly then.”

“Will you really come again?”

His head nodded, sitting her down in his lap. “I love being with your mummy, and I enjoyed my evening with you, so I’m hoping that we’ll be seeing plenty of each other from now on. As long as that’s alright with you too, can I come and visit your café again?”

Her head nodded instantly, throwing her arms around Jaebum’s strong biceps, mumbling an apology across at you for being so snappy. With ease, Jaebum stood up and lifted Y/D/N up with him, walking in the direction of the stairs. Yet again, you began to panic, not wanting him to do anything that he wouldn’t be comfortable doing.

“You don’t have to put her to bed if you don’t want to,” you whispered to him.

His head shook, already halfway up the staircase with her still in his arms, watching closely as her head settled against his chest as sleep quickly caught up with her.

“She’s no bother,” he assured you once he’d placed her down in the bathroom to do her teeth. “I need to start getting used to all of these things if I’m going to be spending more time here. You shouldn’t have to do all of these things alone.”

“Remind me again how I ever got so lucky with you?”

He sniggered quietly, helping you as you put your sleepy daughter to bed. Once she was tucked up in bed, the two of you headed back downstairs, placing all of her toys away before throwing yourselves onto the sofa to relax.

“She’s a lovely kid, you’ve done well Y/N,” he told you.

Your head shook as you met his eyes, “it’s not been easy raising her all by myself. There were definitely times when it wasn’t easy, you’ve not seen her throw one of her infamous tantrums yet.”

“I’m sure I’ll be able to handle them,” he proudly smiled, pulling you tightly into his chest. “I don’t want to replace her dad, but I want to make sure that she knows that I’m going to be here for the two of you from now on.”

“She already knows how well you look after me,” you assured him, “to be honest, as long as you continue to take part in her fake café, she’s bound to fall in love with you.”

He hummed gently against the side of your head, “I reckon that’s something that I can do. It’s so clear how inquisitive her mind is, she really must take after you. She definitely looks like you, she’s very lucky in that sense.”

“Did you just say she was lucky to look like me?” You asked him.

“Of course, just like her mummy, she’s beautiful.”

---

Masterlist

[corie-the-writer]

Ignite - Chapter 10

Chapter 10 Kelly and Chloe had spent majority of their time in bed that day until Hank had came knocking on the door, letting them know that he had made dinner. Chloe had tried to get him to go away by shushing him, but the low growl of his voice reminding her that she was eating for two caused Kelly to chuckle with his eyes closed, agreeing with her father and then kissed her forehead. Chloe had crawled out of the bed and then moved to help Kelly up from the bed even though he had protested. He had commented that he had to pee but he refused to let her help him into the bathroom. Since the fracture in his knee wasn't too severe, he had gotten away with being able to wear a brace for four to six weeks. The firefighter had went to the restroom and then headed out of the bathroom to head into the kitchen as he wobbled down the hallway. "Shouldn't you be using a crutch?" Chloe commented as she looked to the man who was using the wall for support. "It's fine Chlo..." Kelly grumbled lightly, "It's not that bad, just hard to adjust to." "Whatever you say, but if you fall, I'm not lifting you up." Chloe joked playfully. "I'll be fine." Kelly made his way towards the kitchen table and plopped down letting out a breath causing Chloe to giggle. "For a firefighter..." Chloe began to joke but Kelly playfully glared at her. "Shut it." Chloe had looked to the plates that were already laid out on the table for their meal to see a large steak, baked potato and salad, and her mouth began to water with how hungry she had been. Chloe didn't even bother speaking as she cut into the meat and began to eat. "My god, this would be amazing if I could drink a beer." Chloe commented, seeing both Hank and Kelly's eyes on her, "I am obviously not going to drink." Chloe added with a dramatic eye roll, causing Kelly to shake his head with a small laugh as he continued to eat. The sound of a knock on the door caused everyone to freeze for a moment since it was going on eight o'clock in the evening. Hank looked to his daughter, "Stay here." Hank ordered while Kelly stay up a little straighter. Chloe had finished the food that was in her mouth before pushing her plate away when the sound of the front door opened. Chloe listened quietly to see if her father was speaking and heard the familiar sound of her partner, Adam Ruzek. "It's just Adam." Chloe moved to stand up from the table just as Hank and Adam walked into the kitchen, and she had sat back down and grabbed her plate to finish. Adam sat down at the kitchen table and Hank grabbed another round of beers for the men. Hank sat down and reached for the files that Adam had laid on the table. Chloe reached for one but Kelly had stopped her, "Finish eating first." Kelly commented knowing that once she had started to look at the files she would forget about her food. "So what did you find out so far?" Chloe questioned to her partner as she focused on her food. "Well we checked every building around your apartment." Adam explained, "It took some time but we were able to track down the make of a car. It's a beat up old honda." Adam explained, "It was parked near the alley by your apartment. We decided to check the street cameras from the location of the fire, it was parked a block down." Adam explained, "The only thing is there are two names on the title of the car. Matthew Decker and Bryan Decker." "Photos?" Chloe finished off her food, pushing the plate away and reaching for the file and began to look at both men, seeing that they were twins but one Matthew had blonde hair while Bryan had brown, "Do you recognize either of these guys?" Chloe questioned pushing the file to Kelly who was nursing his beer. Kelly looked over the file trying to see if he had noticed either man or if anything had stuck out to him. Kelly had read the report at least a dozen times, something was sticking out to him but he couldn't place it. "Babe?" Chloe furrowed her eyebrows as Kelly stared at the file in front of him while Hank and Adam had went over the second file that Ruzek had brought in. "There was a fire at their childhood home." Kelly explained, "Their father was really pissed off, wouldn't leave the house so we had to drag him out." Kelly added, "I don't remember either guy being there though." "Did anyone get injured?" Hank questioned and watched the firefighter shake his head no, "Okay, so let's run their names through the database, see if there is any record behind their names." Hank stated. Chloe had gotten up from the table to grab her work laptop and headed back to the table. The Detective had ran the first twin's name, Bryan while Adam ran Matthew's name. "Bryan is married with two small children, works for a real estate agency up north in Chicago. No record outside of a couple of speeding tickets and seatbelt violations." Chloe explained reading the laptop screen. "Matthew has a rap sheet..." Ruzek commented after Chloe had finished reading on his brother, "Mostly drugs, a couple of hit and runs..." "Wait..." Kelly furrowed his eyebrows, "What sort of car did you say it was?" Kelly questioned. "It's a 1993 Honda Accord." Hank commented, "Why?" "Do you have a photo of the car?" Kelly questioned and watched as Adam gave a nod and pulled the photo out, sliding it to Severide, "We responded to a call a few months ago, the front end was practically demolished. I remember having to help the guy out of the car, he was high as a kite, he had a passenger that overdosed." Kelly explained, "He was trying to help the chick but I had pulled him out of the car so Brett and Foster could try to revive her, but it was just too late." Kelly explained. "Do you remember if he said anything to you?" Hank questioned. Kelly shook his head no, "I know that we had to do a report because of the death, I can call Matt and have him find the report for it." Kelly answered, "You think he's targeting Chloe because of me?" Kelly found himself questioning. "Anything is possible right now." Hank stated, "Especially if he's on drugs." Chloe watched as Kelly's shoulders slumped, "Hey, we don't really know if he's involved or not." Chloe tried to ease the tension is Kelly, "And it's not like you could have known, there was nothing you could have done." Chloe added reaching to squeeze his thigh under the table. "Kelly can you get ahold of Matt and have him bring the report in tomorrow?" Hank questioned, "Ruzek, I want you to start asking around about Matthew." Hank stated and grabbed ahold of the files. Chloe watched as her partner gave a nod, and then moved to stand up from the table after finishing off his beer, "On it boss." Ruzek stated, "Chlo, we'll talk soon, okay?" Adam suggested and the dark haired woman nodded her head, and she moved to put the plates in the sink to wash. "I got it." Hank commented as he approached her, "Go take it easy." Hank added. Chloe rolled her eyes, "Just because I'm pregnant doesn't mean I am incapable of doing dishes." Chloe commented. "No, but the doctor said that you needed to take it easy for a couple of weeks." Hank pointed out, and Chloe nearly growled but stormed out of the kitchen with Kelly slowly following her. . . Kelly had laid on the bed while Chloe had disappeared into the shower to try to wind down. He had been thankful that he had showered at the hospital so he wasn't too worried about showering for the night. He felt like all of this was his fault. If it weren't for him then Chloe and their unborn child would not be in harms way. He almost hated himself for putting them in this sort of situation. Laying in the large bed, Kelly knew that Netflix was playing but he wasn't paying attention to what was on the screen. His eyes would occasionally glanced towards the opened bathroom door, seeing the woman standing in the steamy hot shower. It didn't help that he wanted to join her but couldn't. He was growing frustrated from everything, plus the pain of his injuries. The Lieutenant closed his eyes trying to clear his mind. He had focused on his breathing instead of the thoughts racing around in his mind. "Baby..." Kelly felt the bed dip and fluttered his eyes open to see that Chloe was out of the shower, dressed in a pair of panties and one of his fire t-shirts she had stolen from him, "You want to talk about it?" Chloe questioned to him. Kelly looked to her as she sat indian style on the mattress facing him, his arm stretching out to spread his hand across her thigh, "I don't even know where to start." Kelly found himself sighing, "You're pregnant and there is someone out there stalking you." Kelly began, "I can't help but to feel like it's my fault. Finding out someone is pregnant is suppose to be a happy time, and we have to stay in your father's house and hide out." Kelly continued, "Then I can't even actually do anything to protect you, because if I weren't injured I'd be out there hunting this piece of shit down." "Kell..." Chloe smiled softly, "It is a happy time. I mean granted, we didn't plan for this pregnancy to happen, but I believe that it happened for a reason. As much as I want to question why everything is happening the way it is, I can't." Chloe explained, "I would drive myself mad if I did that, the only thing I can do is be thankful that the baby is okay, I'm okay and you're okay. That's what I focus on." "But aren't you worried?" Kelly questioned, watching as the woman nodded her head. "Of course I'm worried." Chloe let out a laugh, "I'm extremely creeped out, but as I said, I choose to focus on the three of us being okay." Chloe stated, "We are safe in this house, and I know that Hank and the team will stop at nothing to make sure whoever is causing this shit storm is caught." Kelly gave a nod in understanding, "You're right." Kelly stated, "I need to just be grateful that we are all okay." Kelly rubbed his hand along her thigh, "What are you wanting? A boy or a girl?" Kelly questioned looking to the dark haired woman. "I hadn't really even thought about it yet." Chloe explained, "But I almost want a little girl. Train her to be a detective." Chloe teased and watched as Kelly shook his head no. "Let's agree that our child has a simple job, like a teacher, or librarian." Kelly joked as Chloe moved to lay against him. "As much as I would love that, this baby is going to be a cop or firefighter. It's in their bloodline." Chloe chuckled causing Kelly to groan, "Let's not worry about that just yet, we have quite a while until we get to that point." "You're right." Kelly joked, "I wouldn't mind having a boy though. If bean is a girl, god forbid she looks anything like you cause I'm gonna be in a world of trouble." Kelly added. As Chloe and Kelly laid in the bed talking about what their unborn child would look like, who they would act like more between them, the sound of a cell phone chiming interrupting them. Chloe had reached over Kelly to the night stand to check their phones and noticed that her screen was lighting up. Unknown. "It's him..." Chloe answered, "He's calling..." Chloe added quickly, grabbing the phone and rushing off the bed to her father. "Answer it..." Voight instructed. Chloe felt her stomach turn for a moment, her hand trembling as Kelly hobbled into the living room just as she answered the phone. "Hello?" 'Detective...it's so good to hear your voice...' "Why don't you tell me your name instead of leaving me guessing." Chloe suggested, as Kelly sat down on the couch, watching her intently. 'Soon enough Chloe, soon enough. If you want to know who I am, why don't you come meet me?' "That sounds great. Why don't you meet me at the station?" Chloe questioned causing the man to chuckle. 'Detective, don't play games. You wouldn't want anything to happen to you or that abomination you're carrying, now would you?' Kelly nearly lost his shit when he heard him speak of their child and went to move from the couch but Hank had stopped him. Hank had kept his hand on his un-injured shoulder. "You are obviously trying to get my attention, so tell me why." Chloe stated not entertaining his comment about the baby, "You have my attention, so say what you need to say." Chloe instructed cooly. '"I thought I would take you away from him since he took her away from me but then I saw you...you're so much better for me than she ever was. I see the angel that you are, being drown by his darkness. I can save you...I wasn't able to save her, but I know that I can save you." Chloe furrowed her eyebrows looking to her father, "Did you set my apartment on fire?" Chloe questioned. "It was suppose to be him in there, not you." "And why would you send all those photos of me and..." Chloe began but got cut off by the suspects voice. "Don't you dare say his name!" "Look Matthew, this needs to end before someone gets hurt." Chloe stated, "If you turn yourself in we can make a deal. I can meet you at the station, but if one of my team members find you, the deal is off the table." Chloe added, "Let's make this easy, okay?" "You'll meet me?" "I will meet you at the station, no where else." "Do you think I'm stupid Chloe?!" Chloe looked to her father who mouthed, 'Ruzek tracked his call' her body instantly relaxing at the news, knowing that the team was going to get this creep behind bars where he belonged. Chloe knew that it was just a matter of time for the team to bust down his door, and found herself zoning out as he began to rant about how Kelly was tainting her mind, that he wasn't as stupid as she thought. "CHICAGO PD!" Chloe heard the sound through the phone and found herself crying as she ended the call, never had felt that huge sense of relief. Kelly instantly pushing himself up off the couch and rushing to her as she fell to her knees.

[berriusagi]

Stomach Bug Ch2

Dinner Announcement

Should I be writing my geology essay? Yes. Am I going to write it right now? No. Am I instead going to write a new chapter to this fic? Absolutely. Thank you everyone who showed interest in this story it means a lot that people actually like this and to everyone asking to be tagged I’d take a bullet for you. You are all the best.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.

The calm collected tone Bruce had during his call did well to hide the absolute madhouse that was Wayne Manor. While he was trying to subtly interrogate his youngest son over the phone his other three were playing the world's worst game of charades. Dick’s arms were flailing around as he made exaggerated motions trying to get a read on what Damian was saying through Bruce’s stony features. Jason was seemed to be working his eyebrows as much as humanly possible seeing if he could get even a hint of a reaction from Bruce. Tim, however, was just patiently waiting too tired to do any of the over the top actions of his brothers.

“Okay son, if you’re sure I’ll speak with Alfred.” Bruce nodded before hanging up and took a moment to compose himself before his sons launched into their own interrogation.

“What’s going on?” Dick asked, “Is little D okay?”

“What’s up with Demon Spawn I’ve never heard him have an emotion other than anger before,” Jason asked leaning forward.

“Why was he at Ivy and Harley’s?” Tim asked sipping his coffee.

“He didn’t say much.” Bruce sighed rubbing his eyes, “he told me he’ll be out for the rest of the day but that he’ll be here at dinner to explain what happened. He’s also bringing a few guests though he wouldn’t give any names.”

The three boys all shared looks before flying out of the room and scrambling through the halls towards the Batcave. Alfred stepping out of the way as they flew past him all shoving each other away or jumping over the other to try and be in the lead.

“They are quite lively this morning.” Alfred hummed walking over to Bruce with a raised eyebrow, “What did I miss?”

“Damian ran out during breakfast after a phone call and won’t be back until dinner he’s bringing three guests. He didn’t tell me more than that.” Bruce sighed leaning back in his seat, “How am I not grey yet Alfred?” he asked

“Must be favorable genetics as it can’t be from your tranquil life.” Alfred mused as he cleaned up the table and headed off to wash the dishes leaving Bruce alone to listen to the distant shouts of his sons fight their way into the Batcave.

~.~.~.~

“Angel, you need to eat something.” Damian said rubbing Marinette's back as she covered her nose turning away from the food set out in front of her, “I know it makes you nauseous but at least eat some toast.” he coaxed grabbing some dry toast and held it up to her.

“Eating is the last thing I want to do right now.” Marinette groaned still a little green from her last round of sickness.

“I know but the baby needs you to eat.” he soothed looking in her eyes, “you need to eat so the baby can be fed.”

Marinette groaned and pushed the plate stacked meats and eggs away from her and leaned back further to get away from the smell. Once her stomach seemed to settle she gingerly took the toast Damian kept insisting upon her eating and took small bites slowly working through it. Her stomach settled further the more she ate allowing her to relax a bit more and a healthier color to finally come to her face.

“Think she’ll be a vegetarian during this pregnancy,” Harley chuckled taking the plate away and deposited the food in the doggy bowls by the door for the two hyenas to come rip through later, “probably for the best for her to not have any meats though might really mess with her stomach.”

Ivy hummed looking through the pamphlets reading up on the different options, “Marigold we should set up an appointment with the OB-GYN Dr. Beau recommended. We should also grab some prenatal vitamins too since you’re not going to be getting enough nutrients from eating like a little bird.”

“I’ll go buy some,” Damian said standing quickly only to get shoved down in his seat a second later by Harley.

“Yeah no,” Harley said grabbing her brag, “That’s just what we need you on the front page, ‘ Wayne Heir spotted buying prenatal vitamins ’ this whole city would be in an uproar trying to figure out who you knocked up. You stay here and keep our little bug comfy we’ll go do the shopping.”

“You’re just going to leave your daughter alone with her boyfriend unsupervised?” Damian asked raising an eyebrow.

“What are ya goin to do? Knock her up?” Harley chuckled raising an eyebrow at the two blushing teens at the dining table. “You two talk, cuddle, be teens and red and I will do the shopping then later we’ll all go to Wayne Manor and act as buffers for marigold here so she doesn’t go catatonic.”

“Thank you,” Marinette mumbled looking up at the two women who so kindly took her into their home and wanted nothing more than for her to grow and be happy, “for everything I can’t thank you enough.” she sniffled scrubbing at her face.

Ivy and Harley both smiled and wrapped her up in another tight hug showering her in love and affection until her sniffles died down once more. The two women pulled back giving Mari kisses all over her face until she was giggling and pushing them away her face flushed with laughter instead of tears. Only once she was smiling brightly again did they finally pull away and leave the two teens alone.

“She’s going to be okay.” Harley smiled slinging her arm around Ivy’s shoulder, “our little marigold is gonna be just fine.” she sighed as they made their way out of the apartment building.

Marinette finished her dry toast sipping on some warm tea to soothe her throat from the torture it had gone through that morning with her stomach issues. Damian cleaned up the discarded dishes and helped Marinette up walking her over to the couch keeping a firm hold on her so she wouldn’t trip over the stray toys littering the floor. “Dami I can walk just fine.” she giggled softly as Damian helped her to sit.

“You’re pregnant I don’t want you to fall.” He said sitting down beside her, “I don’t want anything bad to happen to you.” 

“Walking around the apartment isn’t going to hurt me or the baby.” She sighed leaning on his side, “I might be a klutz but I’m not going to fall that easily. I was Ladybug for three years have some faith in me.” she mumbled closing her eyes all the stress and tension from the morning finally easing off now that she had Damian by her side.

Damian sighed wrapping an arm around her hugging her gently, “I have so much faith in you,” he whispered leaning down to kiss the crown of her head, “I’m just worried about what could all go wrong.”

Marinette sighed sitting up and turned to face him looking up into his emerald eyes, “I don’t want you to worry, I’m already scared I just want you to be the one to tell me everything is going to be okay. That we’re going to be okay.” she said moving forward to bury her face in his chest, “I want to act like this wasn’t an accident and that we’re not two stupid teens.”

Damian wrapped her up in a tight hug pressing a gentle kiss to her temple, “Okay angel,” he mumbled, “I’ll be your rock, we’ll get through this and we’ll be the best parents we can be.”

“That’s all I want.” she sniffled nuzzling closer using Damian's relaxed state to shove him back to lay on the couch quickly climbing up to cuddle up onto his chest burying her face into his neck, “I love you Dami,” she mumbled.

“I love you to angel.” he smiled softly gently running his fingers through her hair to help her relax as she began to slip away into a quiet sleep. He waited until she was fully asleep to allow himself to fully relax and take his time to process just what was happening. “I’m going to be a father.” he mumbled rubbing a hand down his face a soft laugh bubbling up from his chest as he smiled at the ceiling, “Todd’s going to have a stoke.”

~.~.~.~

“How is there nothing?” Dick asked staring at the screen of the bat computer, “That’s impossible there isn’t anything you can’t find.” he said turning to look down at Tim as he tapped away at the keyboard staring intently at the screen.

All three of the eldest Wayne boys had been down in the Batcave for hours scrubbing through phone logs, security feeds, anything and everything to get even a hint of what was to come for dinner. The longer they searched the more interested they got at the sheer lack of anything involving Damian and anyone else that would prompt him to act how he did.

“Doesn’t make sense Demon Spawn doesn’t just change overnight so either he’s just really good at covering his tracks or he’s a clone,” Jason said stretching out in his chair propping his feet up on the desk.

The other two made a humming noise as they continued to search through the documents for what felt like the hundredth time. “Wait!” Dick shouted jolting Tim and Jason nearly out of their seats as he pulled the keyboard from Tim’s grasp and started typing away, “We’re going about this all wrong.”

“And how, pray tell, should we be doing this?” Jason deadpanned looking over at Dick with a raised brow, “We should just go ask Demon Spawn and let him feed us a load of bullshit?”

“I mean clearly he doesn’t want us knowing anything because he buried it so deep but maybe asking him will give us some answers?” Dick said smiling in the face of his two brothers thoroughly unimpressed looks. “Oh come on it’s worth a shot.”

“Master Dick,” Alfred hummed walking down into the Batcave, “Master Timothy and Master Jason.” he nodded looking at the three men, “Our guests will be arriving for dinner soon please head up to the main house to clean up and get ready.”

“It’s time for dinner already?” Tim muttered turning to look at the clock noticing just how long they had been down there looking for the proverbial needle in a haystack.

“Yes so if you three will make your way to the manor proper.” Alfred nodded turning on his heels and headed back up the stairs so that he could continue with the dinner preparations.

The three men sat in silence for a moment longer before slowly making their way up the stairs. “Well, maybe we’ll get some answers during this dinner?” Dick asked looking at the other two only to receive shrugs in response.

Reaching the top landing they all split and went their separate ways to get ready for dinner taking their time to do their own thing. Soon enough a hard knock was heard through the manor signaling their mystery guests arrival. The three ran down once again shoving and tripping up each other to try and be the first in to see who would come through just narrowly avoiding crashing into Bruce’s back as they slid to a stop behind him.

Alfred calmly walked past them and opened the door, “Good evening Miss. Quinn, Miss. Ivy.” he said stepping aside allowing the two women to enter, “Welcome home Master Damian.” he said bowing his head to him, “and good evening miss?”

“You can call me Marinette.” she smiled softly up at the older gentleman, “I brought dessert,” she added holding out the large pastry box to Alfred trying to hide her nerves.

“Thank you, Miss. Marinette I’ll go put this away now. Dinner will be served shortly I hope you enjoy your stay.” he smiled softly nodding to the three women as he made his way to the kitchen.

“Damian you had us all quite worried when you ran out of here this morning.” Bruce said looking at his youngest and taking a moment to look over the three women before him, “Would you care to explain what happened?”

Marinette started to fidget keeping her eyes on anything but the Wayne’s before her, the soft pressure from Tikki in her purse doing little to keep her heart from beating out of her chest as her mind filled with everything that could go wrong. She managed to relax just a little as she felt the calm warm pressure of Damian's arm settling around her waist gently squeezing her hip to help ground her.

“Father, this is Marinette Isley-Quinzel,” Damian started his features cold and unreadable as he stared his family down, “she is my girlfriend.”

A pin could drop and sound like a gunshot in the silence that followed, the Wayne patriarch did well to hide his shock keeping a blank face as the three sons behind him ticked down to their own detonation.

“How much is he paying you?” Tim shot out.

“Where did you meet?” Dick grinned leaning forward.

“Blink twice if he’s holding you hostage.” Jason cut in.

Ivy and Harley stifled their laughs as they watched the three Wayne boys continue to throw outlandish theories and questions at poor Marinette. She seemed to calm down a small smile beginning to show on her face as she giggled at the two thinking she’d been coerced and the one trying to find out her life story. “He isn’t paying me or forcing me to be his girlfriend.” she smiled as Tim and Jason looked completely unconvinced, “and we met through a penpal assignment when I was thirteen but we didn’t start dating until I was fifteen,” she added on to answer Dick’s question.

“Well it is a pleasure to meet you Marinette it’s not often my youngest shows interest in anyone.” Bruce smiled stepping forward to take her hand, “shall we move to the living room while we wait for dinner?”

“That sounds just lovely Brucie.” Harley smiled stepping through them grabbing Marinette's arm and dragging her along out of Damian’s hold depositing her on a large armchair. Ivy shook her head smiling and followed her as she shrugged at Bruce taking a seat beside Harley on the loveseat as the Wayne’s made their way in. Once everyone was settled in and Damian got Marinette resettled on another loveseat so he could be beside her Harley decided it was a great time to drop the bomb, “So who’s gonna tell him?”

“Harls,” Ivy warned giving her a stern look.

“What? They need to know,” she said looking far too innocent for the chaos she was about to start.

“Tell me what?” Bruce asked looking at the two women carefully.

“Father,” Damian said drawing the attention of his family, “I know you just met Marinette but we feel you should know.” he said wrapping an arm around her to help keep her grounded, “Marinette’s pregnant.”

Silence doesn’t even begin to describe the absence of noise that followed, it was like a cold void swallowed the room as the Wayne’s collectively shut down at the news. Bruce’s face was unreadable as he took in the latest bit of news. Dick was practically vibrating out of his seat his eyes filled with glee. Tim looked as if his own brain was blue screening like a cheap laptop. Jason was the one to break the silence.

“Demon Spawn fucks.” Jason deadpanned

“JASON!” the room erupted from there Harley and Ivy cackling, Dick asking a million and one questions, Tim trying and failing to keep a straight face, and Jason roaring with laughter.

“What?! You’re going to look at me and tell me that I’m wrong?” Jason laughed, “the only thing I’m wrong about is that Demon Spawn would lighten up if he got laid.” he pointed at Marinette grinning wide, “She’s proof that he can fuck and still have a stick up his ass!”

“How long have you known?” Bruce asked his voice calm and collected effectively shutting down all conversation.

“I...” Marinette started her face a little pale from fear as she looked at Bruce’s emotionless face, “I found out this morning. I’ve had morning sickness for the past week.”

“You’re positive it’s Damian's?” he asked

“Father!” Damian glared moving to stand only to be held down by Marinette's small hand on his shoulder.

“I expected this,” she whispered urging him to remain seated before taking a deep breath and looked at Bruce, “I’ve only been with Damian since we began dating. If it’s not him then it’s Jesus coming back.”

Jason snorted getting a wide grin at the joke as he eyed Bruce trying to gauge his reaction.

Bruce seemed to take in everything he’d learned before a small spark lit up his eyes, “I’m going to be a grandfather.” he whispered tension starting to leave the room as he looked at Damian and Marinette pride and joy filling his eyes as he smiled wide, “I’m going to be a grandfather.”

“I call dibs on best uncle!” Dick shouted hopping up racing over to Marinette only to be tripped up by Jason.

“Like hell!” Jason shouted jumping over Dick, “I’m the best uncle for Pixie Pops kid.”

“Pixie pop?” Marinette asked letting out a yelp as Jason got right up to her practically throwing her up in the air as he lifted her from Damian's grasp.

“Hell yeah you’re small like a little fairy.” he grinned holding her as he jumped away from Damian's reach and Dick’s attempts to grab her, “so you’re Pixie Pop.” he chuckled.

The chaos began to unfold as Marinette finally relaxed all the stress bleeding away as she was welcomed into the crazy Wayne household. Ivy and Harley chuckled watching the two eldest and the youngest Wayne’s fight to grab hold of Marinette while Tim and Bruce seemed to quietly come to terms with all that was happening.

“So when’s the baby shower?” Ivy asked grinning wide.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.

@myazael @beautiful-disasters-sunshine @moonlightstar64 @moonlitceleste @stainedglassm @casual-darkness @mochegato @ultimatetornshipper @heemsanddamemes @nathleigh @qualitypeacepainter