#i also gnawed on my crib as a baby | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

dmitriene · 10 months ago

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cw: tooth rotting fluff, comfort no hurt, retired leon, selfdoubt, mentions of child and pregnancy, mother and fatherhood, established relationship, kisses, young parents

initially, you and leon were both not particularly confident and focused on the topic of having a child, there were many reasons to doubt — your common youth, his dangerous job, the complexity of family life and his fear that he, as a father, will not be enough, with his work, with his inexperience, with his gnawing darkness.

but everyone deserves their own attempt at a happy life, and you literally gave it to leon — with the warmth of your home, your kisses and gentle touches that drew the constellations of his scars and stroked his mop of blond hair when he was tormented by nightmares, and you also gave him a charming girl, the happiness of his whole life, a wonderful baby who was an incredible cross between your common genes and proof that leon has the right to love and happiness.

no matter how afraid he was, how he doubt his ability to raise a child and become a good father to him — he became, the little girl doted on her young daddy, and you couldn’t look without a smile at how he babysat her, changed diapers, fed, bathed her, took her to the doctor and personally rocked her in his arms before putting her in the crib to sleep, whispering quiet purrs — «shh, sleep tight, my pretty princess» oh, how he loved her.

you knew he was taking some kind of vacation when he found out about your pregnancy, oh, there was no way he would have decided to continue going on missions when he knew that you, carrying his child and being in one of the most difficult periods, would be at home alone — leon would never allow this, and so it was, he immediately announced that he would no longer be able to appear due to circumstances, to which he was released much more voluntarily.

only his absence dragged on, as soon as the baby was born, and as soon as he saw her?

he realized that he would stay here for the sake of you two forever, for the sake of his little girl, for the sake of you, his beloved, so very soon he left the ranks of being an agent, even despite all your uncertainty, you knew that work of this kind is important, you didn’t want to oblige him, knowing that it could be hard, but the firm confidence in his blue eyes and how firmly he crossed out the things that he was accustomed to reassured you, and his serious, muttered words, full of affection and those very sincere feelings, became more confident — «i won't let you and her be alone, sweetheart, i'm gonna stay, as long, as you'll accept me»

so time passed, you devoted yourself to motherhood, and leon to fatherhood, allowing your baby to grow up in complete love and care, while she became older and older, faster and more talkative, and leon was faced with completely new feelings, non acceptance of the fact that his beloved daughter getting bigger and bigger every day.

birthday after birthday, year after year, she gradually learned to walk and even babble charming words, after which she also learned to speak full words, and very soon to speak, and it is worth noting that leon was on the list of those who could not hold back their tears when she called him dad, oh, he really cried when he heard a small, childish voice babble enthusiastically — «dada!!», and this was the last straw before the salty tears fell from his blue eyes, and his hands joyfully picked up the baby, making her giggle.

today started earlier than usual, mainly due to the fact that the baby had been running around the house since the very morning and didn’t let you and leon sleep much, especially when she came to your room, immediately climbing onto the bed and starting to jump on the mattress, enthusiastically for some unknown reason, causing you and leon to growl sleepily before he opened his eyes, scooping her by her small body between your bodies and allowing her to immediately begin to speak with undisguised childish joy, looking at the two of you, while you gently ran through her brown locks with your fingers — «wanna go to playground with mama and daddy!! can we go??»

little ones request brings a bright smile to the two of you, besides, the child needs something to do with it's activity, and the weather outside is good, so you nod, while leon lifts her with his hands and sits her on his chest, causing her to giggle with joy when he carries her in the air for a while, and then she sits comfortably on him, as he gently rises to kiss her forehead, and then stroke her small cheek, purring — «course we can, princess, but first of all, what about breakfast? and then we'll go getting ready, yeah?»

she jumps joyfully, hastily getting off his chest and, in general, your bed with hasty mutterings — «okay daddy!!» before running out of the room and turning around the doorway, running into the living room, but her next noisy steps that sound like a splash on the linoleum make you look at the entrance to the room, as the top of her head peeks out from the side and she babbles, seriously, before running away again and make you and leon laugh out loud — «oh!! and i wanna eggs with bacon, please!»

soon the aroma of a freshly prepared breakfast was in the air after you all ate, leon enlisted to wash the dishes while you went to dress both yourself and your daughter, making sure that the baby was dressed comfortably and for the weather before sending her to her dad, leon, while you in the meantime, started doing your makeup, sitting down in front of the dressing table and starting to sort out the necessary cosmetic accessories, until a child’s voice and the sounds of footsteps were heard behind you again.

leon imposingly walks in with her in his arms, holding her with his hand underneath while they both focus their attention on how you put on makeup, making you arch an eyebrow and look at them in response through the mirror, to which leon just smiles widely and waves his head, and the baby looks nothing more than interested and enthusiastic, watching your every move while leon purrs — «mm, our mama all dolled up for us, eh, sweet girl?»

you giggle in response as your daughter points her hands in your direction and leon, picking up her wish, steps towards you until he stops very close, bending down to put her on the floor, seizing the moment to kiss the top of your hair, when she tugs your hand, forcing you to be distracted by her and put your blush brush aside, stroking her hair and asking gently — «what do you want, sweetheart, hmm?»

a child's curious gaze looks at a used, slightly blush stained brush before small hands take it in their own and she proudly, loudly declares — «wanna be pretty like mommy!! can i put some too?» but then she is interrupted by another voice, rougher and strangely tense, the voice belonging to leon — «uh, no, sweetpea! you're still little for these things, no?»

your eyes widen in surprise and an awkward silence hangs in the room, except for the fact that the little one immediately crossed her arms over her chest and began to build an offended expression on her face, and leon’s face filled with an awkward blush before he turned towards the exit and muttered under his breath, leaving you two alone and rubbing the bridge of his nose in shame — «i'm.. i'll wait for you in the living room, just come out when you're both ready!»

nodding, you acknowledge his words with calm — «alright, lee» before turning your full attention to your daughter and stroking her cheek, playfully pinching and taking the brush from her little fingers, leaning down to whisper in her ear, squinting your eyes playfully and making her light up with joy in response — «let's put some blush together, what do you think, baby?» and she nods, jumping up and hurrying to settle on your lap while you alternately touch both her and yourself with the brush.

when you finish applying makeup on both yourself and her, you immediately put everything back in place and leave the room, allowing leon to notice you both with a slight smile on his lips before you finish a few touches, putting on your shoes and taking things like your purse and wallet, before leaving the house and heading towards the playground, while leon carried your daughter in his arms, periodically playing with her and chatting, answering her curious questions, but you still felt that something was wrong, there was still some kind of sadness on his face?

being in thought for some time, you decide to act as soon as you reach the playground, where leon immediately puts her on her feet and allows her to happily run towards the slides, while you, meanwhile, sit down together on a bench, your soft hand carefully finds his, intertwining your fingers as he strokes your knuckles but stops, blue eyes moving to yours in surprise when you ask coyly — «what's that been, lee? with the makeup, like.. what's wrong?»

his cheeks are flushed with embarrassment and his eyes dart around as he instinctively squeezes your hand a little tighter, but gives no reaction other than to look away, nervously licking his slightly plump lips and focusing on your cute girl playing on the playground before he quietly, uncertainly mutters — «it's.. it's stupid, really.. it's nothing, sweetheart»

you frown, raising your eyebrows, what you hated most was when leon brushed off his worries and problems, no matter how many years passed, this habit was the hardest to knock out of him, so sometimes you had to be assertive, like now, scooping his face by the cheekbones as much as possible gently, making him turn to you before you say sternly, forcefully, but at the same time your tone of voice is still nothing more than gentle, inviting — «leon, love, talk to me, is something bothering you? we can talk about it and find a way to navigate, like we always do, yeah?»

he nods meekly, lowering his head slightly, causing a couple of blond strands to fall on his face, before he purses and unclenches his lips and says, placing his warm, calloused palms on top of your warm ones, saying quietly, with a mixture of shame and uncertainty, but wanting to open up to you nonethless — «she's.. she's growing so fast.. i just.. i don't know, darling, it's so hard to watch»

as soon as his words reach your ears, your gaze immediately softens and you are already openly cooing, softly kissing him on the lips and laughing softly, making him look at you more boldly, but still with the same tenderness and uncertainty, what he experiences cannot but cause a pleasant warmth in your chest, and misunderstanding in him, only because he is not at all familiar with such things as a young father, but for this he has you, so you immediately hug him gently, saying comfortingly — «oh, leon, baby.. it's alright, it's a completely normal thing, but she's growing up, and that's what life is»

he just nods, silently burying himself in the crook of your neck and sighing, hugging your waist and tightly squeezing his fingers around the curve before turning his gaze to your daughter, lifting his face and simply resting his head on your shoulder, you're right, children are growing up and quickly enough, but how he wanted her to remain so small and charming forever, and one of his sighing mumbles makes you chuckle quietly as he says — «you're right.. just.. she looks so adorable like this, my innocent little girl»

smiling, you place a gentle kiss on the top of his head before lovingly hugging him tighter to your shoulder and chest, softening your gaze even more when the little one waves to you from the landing, causing the two of you to wave back at her at the same time as you murmur — «she's still her daddy's innocent little girl, isn't she?» and leon chuckles quietly before pressing your fingers to his lips and kissing them tenderly, saying as he exhales — «yeah.. she definitely is»

#.𐙚july's writings #.𐙚july's requests #leon kennedy x fem reader #leon kennedy fluff #leon kennedy x reader #leon kennedy comfort #leon scott kennedy x reader #leon scott kennedy fluff #leon scott kennedy x fem reader #leon scott kennedy comfort #leon scott kennedy x you #domestic leon kennedy #leon kennedy x you #leon scott kennedy #leon kennedy drabble

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sleepyfan-blog · 4 months ago

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Beans with Baphomet

Author’s Note: Thank you to @Undeaddream for letting me borrow Tiny and Almach and @plagueparchments for allowing me to borrow Baphomet! This is the next part of the Raised On Terra AU! First. Previous. Next

Tagged: @egrets-not-regrets @the-pure-angel @sharenadraculea @i-am-a-dragon34 @gallifreyianrosearkytiorsusan

Warnings: swearing around infants, ask me to tag something if it bothers you/I missed something

Summary: Baphomet tries to introduce a New Food to two of her charges.

“Bah! Bah!” Three called out, having managed to grab one side of his bassinet with his hilariously tiny fingers and pull himself upright. One small hand was still gripping the side of his crib, the other was reaching up to her.

Baphomet smiled a little as she took three more steps, closing the distance between where she had been standing and one of her three charges. “Hey little buddy. You hungry? Or just want a cuddle?” This…Babysitting duty was not one she’d ever expected to take on, but all three of her charges were adorable little ones.

His lavender eyes were staring holes into her soul “Bah! Bah!” and waved his hand impatiently.

“I wonder… Are you trying to say up? Or my name, which is Baphomet?” The Custodes coos as she carefully picks him up with one hand, supporting his head and back with one hand. “You’re still tiny, even if you are growing steadily.”

Fifteen’s mind was already lightly tugging on hers, the impatient demand to be held also clearly being sent to her. Fifteen was silently kicking at the side of his bassinet and pouting up at her with mismatched eyes.

“Ah… I see we are practicing our Biomancy skills today, little buddy.” She hummed, shifting her hold on Three so that she could safely pick up fifteen as well, broadcasting the care and fondness she felt for the both of them at each of the infant primarchs in her arms.

Three giggled and clapped his hands, wriggling delightedly as he leaned into her arm.

Fifteen cooed and clumsily sent to him the gnawing hunger he felt in his belly.

Baphomet chuckled, pressing a kiss to Fifteen’s bright red forehead “You got it buddy, snack time. But I need you both to be quiet, because most of your brothers are asleep, including Nine. Who is always hungry when he first wakes up and I don’t have enough arms for the three of you.” She placed Fifteen and Three in two of the baby slings she was carrying, giving them both gentle kisses to the forehead to keep them from fussing.

The Custodian made her way over to where the food for the infant primarchs was placed within their room, opening the cold storage section with one foot. Using her psychic abilities, Baphomet grabbed two bottles of formula - which she set in the warmer to begin heating up - as well as a small container of the blended bean and legume paste, which was both fortified with additional nutrients and calories to try and introduce the pair of infant primarchs to a new food. While all of the little ones were still avid drinkers of the heavily fortified formula they were consuming, six months had passed, and they’d been instructed to begin to slowly introduce other kinds of foods to the little ones.

She warmed up the legume and beans paste as well, making sure to grab a couple of spoons. And their bottles of formula. Baphomet then settled down on one of the very comfortable chairs meant for the caretakers and fed Three and Fifteen with about a third of their bottles of formula before scooping up the bean mixture onto a spoon and murmured “Come on, little one. Time for something new.”

Three stared down at the brownish-green mixture, a decidedly unimpressed frown appearing on his adorable little face and he turned his head away from it. “Meh!” He tried to reach for his bottle “Bah! Baaaah…”

“You’ve got to try it first. Come on, it’s good for you…” Baphomet tried to cajole ,bringing the spoon up to Three’s mouth, gently touching the paste to his lips to get him to lick on instinct.

Three tried to lean away from her, rubbing his lips with a tiny hand and trying to snack the spook away from him “Bah! AH! Ahhhh!”

“Aww, come on, little one. There’s no need to be like that. Heeere comes the thunderhawk! Brrrrrr…. It’s yummy I promise! See, I’ll eat a little.” Baphomet cajoled, taking a tiny taste of the bean and lentil mixture. It didn’t taste like much, but that was deliberately done, so as to not overwhelm tiny palates. “Mmm… Sooo Tasty…See, your brother is eating his spoonful like a good boy.”

Indeed, Fifteen had grabbed at the spoonful of baby food with his hands and was industriously gnawing on it. He’d even gotten some of the food in his mouth, though more of it was smeared across his face. Fifteen squeaked and brought a hand up to his face, rubbing at the bean-mixture on it.

He pulled his hand away and stared at the paste on his fingertips before shoving his hand in his mouth, giggling in delight.

“See! He likes the bean paste, so come on… One bite, please?” Baphomet coos, bringing Three the spoonful of beans and legumes paste up to his mouth. “Come on you adorable little shit, eat the bean mush. It’s good for you.”

Three pouted up at her before opening his mouth, revealing -

“You’re starting to grow teeth! What about you, buddy?” Baphomet asks, delighted to see that at least one of the infant primarchs she was taking care of had reached this benchmark She looked at Fifteen - who had managed to use his budding psychic powers to drag the glass container of baby food within arm’s reach and was alternating between shoving mouthfuls of the foodstuff in his mouth, and covering his face and hair with it. “Oh… Oh no. I suppose that’s why I shouldn’t try and feed more than one of you at once. You know you’re going to get a bath, right? I can’t leave you covered in beans. Almach and Tiny would both whisper-yell at me about it. You look ridiculous.”

Baphomet heard more baby giggles and turned back to Three, who had decided that the bean paste was actually yummy. He’d eaten everything off of the offered spoon and was trying to grab the jar of paste.

Fifteen wasn’t having any of that, though and his eyes were glowing with the eldritch light of the warp, trying to keep the jar out of his brother’s grasp “Baah!”

“Oh no. I have fucked up.” Baphomet murmured to herself as she grabbed the floating jar of baby food “Hey now, there’s plenty for each of you. There’s no need to fight over it.”

Three grunted unhappily as he was robbed of his prize, which had been just barely out of his reach.

Fifteen started to sniffle, his eyes huge and wet as he tried to pull the jar of legume paste out of her grasp with his psychic powers.

Baphomet snorted in amusement, lightly tapping him on the forehead “Stop that. You’re nowhere near old enough to win in a battle of wills against me, tiny fucker.” She set down the bean paste and pulled out some cleaning wipes, trying to get some of the pasty-clumps out of his thick mane of hair. “This is going to be such a pain to clean if it dries in your hair. I’m glad that you like the new food, but fuck. It’s like you tried bathing in i-”

Crash!

The sound of glass on carpeted flooring stopped Baphomet from continuing her gentle scolding of the mischievous infant primarch.

She swiftly turned around, to find Three sniffle once, twice before bursting into tears as he tried to cuddle into her.

“Shit shit shit, what was that?” Baphomet demanded as she looked Three over for any injuries that he might somehow have gotten. She didn’t see any marks, cuts or bruises. Where had the-

Ohhhh… Baphomet looked down, spotting the now broken jar of blended beans and legumes. “… Little one did you try to grab the jar?” She asked, sighing a little. While most baseline infant humans didn’t have the strength nor the coordination to grab jars of that size, the little Primarchs were much stronger and more than one of them had caused this sort of accident before. “I know, the noise was loud and scary, but it’s okay, little one. No harm done. You’re safe. I’m safe, your brother is fine. All of them. Scared the fuck out of me, though.” Shit, she wasn’t supposed to swear around the little primarchs. “... Don’t say naughty words until you’re at least as big as me… Will you ever get as big as me? Hmm…”

She picked up the bean-splattered infant and rocked him close to her chest, giving him the occasional reassuring kiss on the forehead. Baphomet still wasn’t sure why Valdor had picked her of all Custodes to help raise and protect the infant primarchs while they were so tiny and fragile, but… Damn it, she really was trying her best here.

As she had expected, both Tiny - the martian tech priest who somehow had the most experience raising humans during this life stage - and the Blank, Almach had arrived first, having heard the crash.

Almach was first through the door, a worried scowl on his face “What happened?”

“Three and Fifteen are hungry. I was trying to introduce one of the new foods to the two of them and they started to fight over the jar. They dropped it before I could catch it, and it broke upon hitting the floor. No one’s hurt, though both are startled.” Baphomet explained dutifully.

Tiny crawled its’ way out of the vents, scuttling along the wall and over to where the glass and food was, swiftly cleaning it up, beeping and clicking rapidly at her.

Baphomet rolled her eyes, not knowing exactly what it was saying, though she understood the scolding tone “Yeah yeah. I am trying to be careful! Which is why I only have one of the psychic primarchs out during feeding time, rather than both of them. Mouthy techno-bastard!”

Nine was - for the most part - a fairly agreeable baby. He hardly ever cried or fussed when he wasn’t trapped in a vision-fueled nightmare because of his nascent prescience, but Nine was ferocious when it came to feeding time. He was also one of the four primarchs - five with Three - with at least one tooth growing in. And all two and a half teeth Nine had were very sharp and he got bitey when he was hungry.

It did not matter who he bit, either. Whether the unfortunate soul be a caretaker, one of his brothers, a beloved stuffed toy, or during one memorable (and totally not terrifying memory, thank you very much) occasion, his creator and Lord.

Thankfully, the Emperor of Mankind had merely laughed as he gently pet Nine’s downy-soft fledgling feathers and dark, curly hair, saying “He’s quite fierce. Good he will need that in the many battles to come.” The Emperor had even let Nine gnaw on his hand for several minutes before gently detaching the growling baby from one of his fingers and leaving the room.

That had been a little over a week ago, and Baphomet would never admit to having nightmares about how poorly that encounter could have gone, had He not been in such a good mood.

“Would you like a hand?” Almach asked, already walking over to where she was sitting, reaching for Fifteen, who was comprehensively covered in beans and legumes. The Blank was surprisingly pushy when it came to the caring of the infant Primarchs, and would take over care of others’ charges if he felt it necessary.

“I’m fine, though - hey! TIny get back here with Three! I can handle my charges, you fucker! They just… Got the better of me. Fifteen’s a psyker, I’m not sure how well he’ll react to you touching him, Pariah.” Baphomet reminded the Blank, holding the bean-covered baby close to her chest as she stood up, trying to chase after the tech priest, who was clicking away at her as he scuttled up the wall and into the vents, again.

Damn it. She knew that Tiny was an excellent caretaker and would be back at some point with a well-cleaned Three. It was just going to be a pain in the ass to try and convince it to let her hold Three for the next few days, the territorial bastard. Tiny had also made off with three’s formula bottle which meant they planned on being Vanished with the baby for Some Time.

“Nine is waking up, would… Wait he’s also a Psyker, isn’t he?” Almach hummed, a sad expression briefly flashing across his face.

“He sure is. He’s got future sight, Eight too. From what I can tell they only happen when the kiddos are sleeping but that might change as they get older.” Baphomet answered, shrugging a little. Baseline seers were very rare, but she was keenly aware of the fact that the Primarchs had been hand-crafted to be… Many things. Extraordinary and highly gifted were two of those things. “If you’d get the baby bath started, I’d be grateful.”

Almach nodded “I’m always happy to help care for the young ones… Have you heard anything about the Names issue?”

Tiny skittered down the wall, using an arm to acquire Nine before Baphomet or Almach could do or say anything. The Custodes heaved a sigh as the Blank laughed a little.

Baphomet shook his head “I’ve asked Valdor about the issue. He’s said that His Majesty is still pondering what to name them, or if he’d allow us to give them childhood names to refer to them until they earn their adult names.”

“... And that doesn’t bother you?” Almach asked, squinting a little up at her.

Baphomet shrugs a little “We Custodes are given names as we earn them. I’m not surprised if that would be the same for Primarchs. Both us and them were hand-crafted by the Emperor Himself for specific purposes. Those purposes are different, but not so different as many of the Golden Host would like to believe. I do have some ideas for names mine have earned already”

“... I suppose that makes sense. I’ve got the bath ready.” Almach answers, a thoughtful if… Sad expression on his face. “What… What names have you come up with?” He looks at her in askance.

Rude bastard. Time to redirect him. “Five’s about to wake up from the fuss. You should probably help him get back to sleep.” Baphomet informed Almach, sensing the change in alertness in the fussy infant primarch. Five could be very loud when he wanted to be. “For Fifteen… I was thinking of either shape-shifter or copy-cat. Three has earned the name Bean-Vanquisher, and Nine is Bitey.”

The Blank nodded and headed off to go soothe one of his charges. He threw over his shoulder “I”m… Not sure those would be good names to use for them…. Ma’am.”

Baphomet carefully bathed a very squirmy Fifteen. He kept trying to grab the bubbles, the soap, and the soft cloth that she was using to get him clean. “Yeah, yeah. Says you. I think they’re great kiddie names. What do you think, copy-cat?”

Fifteen giggled and chased after a bubble, his eyes still shifting slowly between colors. He squeaked when the bubble he caught popped.

“Maybe I should call you bubble-killer instead? Bubble Killer, the fierce psyker-primarch of the Imperium of Man.” Baphomet mused as she carefully washed the bean-paste of of the infant’s hair. She smiled fondly at the little brat, making sure he was fully un-beaned before taking him out of the bath and carefully patting him dry.

Baby skin was very delicate, even a Primarch’s. She’d learned that the hard way. Once Fifteen was dried, she swaddled him in a fresh blanket. “Look at you. All tiny and squishy and adorable. I never understood what cute-aggression was, until I started caring for you little fuckers.” She wanted to bite his chubby cheeks for several maddening seconds. Not that she was going to say that out loud. Almach already didn’t like Apollo very well. No need to go making enemies among the caretaking team.

Fifteen laid his head against her chest, one thumb in his mouth as his eyes slowly closed, a happy sigh leaving him as he settled in for a nap.

Baphomet huffed softly “Oh, I see. Is it naptime, after all the mischief? I suppose. But you can’t sleep on me, squirt. His Majesty has told us not to…” Even though his little mind was radiating sleepiness at her, she could resist if she didn’t hold him long. She walked over to his crib, gently setting him in it once she was sure that he was asleep.

#cw swearing around infants #raised on terra au #oc: baphomet #oc: almach #oc: tiny #adeptus custodes #adeptus mechanicus #warhammer 30k #Fulgrim #magnus the red #Sanguinius #the god emperor of mankind #jaghatai khan #baby primarchs

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gumballavocadoharry · 8 months ago

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A boy's best friend; Jack chambers:

*Mentions of abuse, trauma but also, EXTREME FLUFF!!!!*

*Also the lullaby is a real song from the 50's by a group called, The Spaniels.*

Jack's finger; wrapped in a gentle grip in Roger's mini hand. His soft green orbs staring into Jack's matching ones. Roger's little limp body wrapped in his thick cotton teddy bear quilt Alice knitted. It sprawled across Jack's arms; the crook of it pinching the tiny edges. Small gurgles pecked from Roger's gummy mouth; Jack gently rocking his little baby boy, cooing and whispering sweet gentle things.

"Who's my little teddy bear? You are! Who's a little baby bear? You are!" Roger's dimples eroded for his father's happiness. Soon, Roger was fast asleep in his father's arms; small snoozes whistling through his slightly ajar lips. Jack couldn't help but take a mental picture of the beautiful baby he privileged holding. He planted a light kiss on Roger's cheek before taking him to his crib and calling it a night. "Goodnight sweet prince....I love you."

That was just the beginning of an imperishable relationship between Jack and Roger. Stroller rides to the playground, fresh baked cookies made by Jack, dipped in milk pooling around in Roger's sippy cup, dancing along in the living room, hand in hand to one of Jack's records that spun to every drum beat. Bath time songs about getting clean, bedtime cuddles while anticipating the last adventure of 'Teddy McStuffins' that Jack made sound so exciting. And then the warm cloak of quilts brazing over Roger's little body, inviting the sweet warm goodnight kiss to be pressed onto his forehead like a ticket to a train ride of sweet dreams.

"Goodnight my teddy bear, I love you." The words tickled inside Roger, flushing a warm gush of love to river through him. But it was different now. Rod and Mick were Roger's buddies, his ride or dies. The three amigos were inseparable; pulling pranks, hanging out at the corner almost everyday after school, riding bikes around town and meeting up with Mick's sister and her friends who attracted the eyes of the young boys. Jack could even admit that Roger's friends reminded him of his gang around that age, but the sting still singed inside of Jack's chest. The scalding realization that he wasn't as special to his 'little buddy' anymore slaughtered him.

Jack had came through the door, smelling the seasoned scent of casserole filling through the downstairs entirely. He had taken a deep breath in from the unsparing day at the office; Frank walked with gritted teeth, training a new intern who seemed to care less about his job. He stayed stable with his senior employees, but the tense feeling still pinched tightly through the day and echoed through the office. The drive home was a flicker of street lights through the freeway and into the city.

Jack's mind puttered between work and dinner; his agonizing hunger gnawed at him the more his hands clutched the steering wheel. The only glimmer that seared through the caustic thoughts was a mental imagine of a game of catch with Roger and baking cookies with Susan. It sent a smile to his face, eyes glittering with love wanting more than anything to be home. Greeting Susan at the door with a chintzy coo: "Hey baby girl, I'm home!" Susan ran into her father's arms, receiving kiss after kiss on her rosy cheeks. "Oh I missed you so much! You, mommy and Roger!"

Susan pulled away, eyebrow arched a little. "Mommy?" Jack chuckled, cheeks tinting a blossom color, "Sorry, I guess it's just a habit from when you were little...." He fluffed Susan's hair, swishing her blonde coat from her dainty shoulders. Jack took in his daughter's full features: those deep dimples that poked even without a smile, those baby girl eyes that puffed sophomoric little orbs and those ginger pink lips; small and poppet.

He scanned the living room, searching for his chocolate headed boy. As Jack expanded himself through the living room, he found Roger writing at the kitchen bar, eyes focused on whatever he was jotting down. A warm jab cut through him; a sensation of special adoration pinging through him for his youngest, most fragile of the Chambers clan. It moved Jack to Roger, cupping him into his arms and pressing a sound smooch to his cheek. Jack was too clouded to recognize Roger's little disgruntled face: scrunched and furrowed.

"Hello, my little guy, daddy missed you today!" Jack cooed, rubbing his cheek against Roger's. Roger swallowed hard before pinching on a plastic smile and reciprocating Jack's sweetness, but with his own bittersweet. Alice couldn't shut the beam off her smile seeing Jack be so affectionate towards their children. "Hungry?" She cuddled up into Jack's side, placing a lipstick kiss to his cheek. Jack blushes and loosened the tie around his collar. He kissed back, allowing traces of Alice's ebony red to trace his lips.

Jack soon entranced himself in the smell of casserole that sighed through the kitchen. The family joined for dinner and small talk around the table. Jack had sealed in a planned date with Susan; a weekend for baking cookies, working in the garden and a countryside bike ride. Jack, with a silent grin, turned to Roger, about to ask what his plans would be for the evening when: "Hey, Mom and Dad? Can I go with Rod and Mick to the game on Sunday?" Jack bit his lip, looking to Alice, who nodded her head. "I think so, Jack?" Jack swallowed his bite, and nodded,

"Sure Champ."

Jack sat on the bed bench, fiddling his fingers together, waiting for Alice to finish rolling the last curler into her hair. Jack's eyes, droopy laid themselves to Alice who pranced out of their bathroom, bouncing in her silky lavender lingerie. "Coming to bed?" Jack tilted his head, "Yeah, I'm just gonna grab something to drink." Alice watched her husband promenade out of the door and tiptoe through the hall. Maybe from habit, Jack thought, he carefully peeked through the doors of his children's bedroom.

Susan was curled up; her back turned to the door. She was wrapping a hug around her little kitty doll that she would press against her cheek every night for a blanket of comfort. Jack couldn't help but let a dimply smile lift through his cheeks. He whispered an inaudible "Sweet dreams," before closing the door back.

Jack looked into Roger's room, seeing the little boy dangle off the side of his mattress; teddy bear had been dropped on the floor and Roger's snores were next to whispers. Jack didn't hesitate to carefully sneak inside and move Roger into a regular upright position and tuck his teddy next to him. Before draping the covers over his little body, Jack kissed his forehead. He let his fingers lift a loose tuft of hair from Roger's face, skating quietly through his skin.

Roger's eyes peeked a crack before shutting themselves again. Once his father's footsteps were out of the room, a smirk appeared so sneakily. He felt every warm touch that Jack planted. It soothed him more than he would ever admit.

Jack sat downstairs eating away on orange juice and some potato chips. The light of the television flickered through every commercial till eventually, static. The TV signal had turned off for the night so that meant Jack needed too as well. But he couldn't. One nagging thought pecked at his brain like fingers to a scab. I'm overreacting he thought. But no matter what he did to reassure himself that your mind can play tricks, Jack still couldn't seem to get a satisfying redeem.

He's growing up, he needs his space. He'll come around when he's ready. We still are best buddies..... right?

The words stomped loudly through Jack. Susan was more than willing to spend time with her old man, but Roger...no....no he made new friends....Mick and Rod. They just need to get acquainted. Jack just couldn't peer into his mind for all those moments he begged his father for a game of catch or when it did happen, his father would come at him hostile, full of angst leading to an argument and tempers flaring. Those painful memories of David, smacking Jack around for 'backtalk' when Jack insisted on starting a conversation, those angry words being yelled when Jack would make a mistake.

'Stupid' and 'bastard' were tattooed on his head every time Jack would wake up, walk around and lie down. One time, Jack decided that affection would possibly cheer David up after a harsh day at the factory. Jack assumed the best when he planted a peck to his cheek only to be back handed so hard that Jack could remember the flickering lights on the kitchen floor. It was his consciousness fading in and out he found out when a few minutes later, his eyes opened and nothing had changed. The smell of wax stung into his nostrils once he lifted himself up and limped to his room.

No wonder Jack wanted something better for his children. Jack moved his hand upon realizing something wet had spotted it. He sniffled and swatted tears away before rustling upstairs to his bedroom. Jack reserved any memories of his parents for the sake of his mental health. Even Alice only knew remnants of what Jack told her.

One particular Sunday evening while Jack was helping prepare the pasta salad, Alice had brought up David wanting to visit the house for the weekend. Jack's eyes; calm and steady turned threatened and fierce. "That man is to never so much step a toenail onto our curb, let alone the house! I don't ever want him near the children!" Jack's voice was gritted through his teeth. His grip on the knife tightened along with the tranquility of the house.

A stunned silence leaving Alice, Roger and Susan to give each other confused looks while Jack just studied his knife board and the chopped up carrots on it. Dessert was later served with an explanation and an apology from Jack.

Jack snuck up the stairs, quietly sneaking back into his bed next to a sleeping Alice. Jack's eyes stood open and active. His mind raced through the memories of David and it overloaded him to a sluggish awake. Jack dug through his mind to think of something more blithe and glee. Susan and Roger swinging at the park, Roger's toothless smile sucking on his ice cream cone, Susan in her princess dress dancing through the kitchen.

Those happy memories clouded one after another like a picture show. They brought serene to Jack. Susan; their little daddy and daughter date scheduled for Saturday. It made Jack glisten inside with fuzziness. Roger; his baseball game with friends. What Jack would've made into his and Roger's day: tickets to the game stashed away in his wallet, a pizza dinner afterwards and ice cream for dessert. Jack didn't realize he was smiling until his face dropped upon realizing that it wouldn't happen. His days of bonding with his boy were numbering. At least, that's what he thought.

Jack could feel the strings in his gut tighten. He could still feel the soft new skin of Roger's cheek pressing against his own. His arms wrapped around his baby tucked away and swaddled in this little burrito. The little boy he prayed for, the baby he wanted more than any career, any bachelor lifestyle that was in his reach...it would mean nothing if he couldn't grasp the one important piece of his life that could change everything for the better. He couldn't just let it slip from his grasp like silk from glass. So he wouldn't. Jack sealed the night with a vow to never let it go.

It would be too late for him and David, but for him and Roger....a different story. Jack slowly closed his eyes, dreaming of a fresh page for him and Roger. One Sunday couldn't cram all the buckets of adoration he had for him. But everyday could be a possibility.

The faint grunting hum of Dean's lawnmower trimming his lawn was like an anthem for 'good morning'. Jack rubbed his groggy eyes before tiptoeing downstairs to make breakfast. He decided on surprise pancakes; making them into shapes for everyone. Susan and Alice's was a heart and Roger's would be of a teddy bear. Jack dolled out effort for its button eyes and mouth. To him, it was Roger, innocent and cute yet mischievous if you stared deeper into its eyes.

Susan was the first to wake, coming into the kitchen and smelling the sweet scent of fresh pancakes, stacked on top of each other like books. "Hey baby girl," Jack kissed his daughter's cheek soundly, "I made some pancakes for everyone." The little blonde took a seat at the table, grabbing her fork and slicing through her little flapjacks. "Here you go honey." Jack poured syrup onto Susan's pancakes.

Soon, Alice came down, taking a whiff of the honeyed smell and sat next to Susan. "Oh, aren't these cute! Heart shaped pancakes!" Alice beamed at her husband's creativity. She rewarded him with a kiss to his cheek, letting her thumb edge through his small stubble. Roger, the last little participant was still sound in bed sleeping. Jack had slid Roger's pancakes on his plate before turning the stove off and rushing upstairs to his bedroom. Jack's slippers scratched across the wood, hearing only little coos of Roger's snores from behind his door.

Jack gave a few soft knocks before entering. He could swear his heartbeat speed up to an audible echo. His little boy, sprawled out over the covers, his teddy bear tucked under his arm and his mouth slightly ajar with morning pillow drool cascading from it. Jack took a quick mental picture of this moment before gently rustling his Roger awake. "Wake up my teddy bear, breakfast is ready." His voice had returned to the same cooing gentle bird like tone he religiously used with Roger as an infant.

Jack didn't hesitate to bend down and smother good morning kisses to Roger's face. Something to Roger's chagrin.

"Come on buddy, it's breakfast time." Jack picked Roger up in his arms and decided that he would carry him to the breakfast table. "Does Mr. Teddy wanna come join us?" Roger shook his head, trying to subside a frown from wrinkling his forehead. Jack set Roger down in front of his pancakes; cutting them into little pieces after gouging them in syrup. "That's adorable! Roger's is of a teddy bear!" Susan exclaimed. Roger gritted his teeth and flashed a superficial grin before shoving his mouth full of his breakfast.

"Oh," Jack grabbed a napkin and wiped away the syrup mushed around Roger's mouth. He gave a fatherly smile and rubbed Roger's shoulder. "There you go rogie." Roger didn't respond, just internally grumbled

The sun shimmered through the patio door. Jack was bright in his work suit; black tie with a gray suit and black loafers. Roger followed behind Susan, wearing his typical good boy clothes that would quickly mislead the common folk of an inverse to his behavior. Jack couldn't help but beam at his children. Looking at the little creations of his heart; once were droplets of dreams and now a vivid colorful reality. Jack looped his hand into Roger's little one while they followed behind Susan to the car.

Roger just stared down at the grainy crusty pavement of the driveway, not wanting to see his father's cheesy papa lion smile. Roger felt this waver of sarcasm inside when he felt Jack had even allowed him to buckle his own seatbelt. The ride to school was full of Jack's lively chatter. His glances through the rear-view mirror, his eyes full of adoration and adulation. The emerald jade of his irises popped like candy; sugar bubbling on your tongue that puckered sourness and a sweet rush through your mouth.

But Roger just concentrated on the blazing currents of grass taped to the curbs and sidewalks sidelining the street. The stoplight around the corner of the school sent a warm patch stomping through Roger's gut. A pinch of cold gashed through him as his brain would continue to radiate over what he feared.

Validation from Rod and Mick meant more than warm papa bear hugs from Jack.

"I want you both to have a nice day at school," Jack pulled Susan in, pressing a big hummingbird kiss to her cheek. Roger slithered down the mushiness with an eye roll, ignoring the flush feeling in his cheeks. "Roger, your turn," Jack's voice, rosy and coddled while his hand motioned for Roger's goodbye kiss. Roger hesitantly made his way across to the driver's side, where Jack quickly pressed a kiss to Roger's cheek, squishing the other side with his hand. Once Roger pulled away, he grabbed his lunch before running out of the door and towards the front door of the school. Jack saw them off, before putting his bel air into reverse and speeding off to his job.

Jack thought he outdid himself: not letting one precious moment slip away with his little boy. Scanning his card through the door, clocking in and taking a seat at his office was routine for him. But the fresh whiff of the sterile office walls was like ice in lemonade on a summer's day. His documents were laid and stacked on his desk, his typewriter firmly solid on the mahogany wood and the picture of his family stood boldly among the blandness of the engineering work that weighed heavily through the day.

Roger, meanwhile, stuck in his chair, hand slouching against his face while listening to Mr. Pecker go on and on about the boring science project that was due the following month. Roger could feel the inside of his stomach gnawing at the little crumbs of his morning pancakes he had to salvage the resistance of hunger. The clock ticking was deafening; pounding louder and louder against Roger's ears; his fingers patting softly on his desk until.....

Ring!

Roger along with his grade scurried from their classrooms and into the gym. Roger pulled out his sack. He sniffled in the wavering linger of his cheese sandwich with chips, apple juice and his two oatmeal cookies. Upon pulling the sandwich from the foil, a note had fallen into his lap. Roger unfolded it to reveal the sweet message written tenderly inside. Written with such grace as the cursive of the letters were close to perfect. A recognizable signature.....one of his father's. Roger knew it had to be him; memories of Jack signing permission slips and in school detentions slips.

The note somehow flew into the grasp of Chip Jameson, a fourth grader who was known for class pranks, one of Roger's idols. He read the note loud enough for the entire cafeteria to hear, leaving a conundrum of laughter and teasing looks and glances towards Roger. His table laughed him out of the cafeteria, making Roger finish his lunch in the washroom stall.

The walk home was jittery. Susan, not knowing anything about the lunch time situation, kept pondering what her brother could be so upset about. He was fine this morning?

"Roger.....what's wrong?" Roger stopped in his tracks, handed his sister the note from his lunch that he managed to get from Chip and continued walking straight ahead.

This special lunch is dedicated to my extra special baby bear who loves his cookies! Extra papa bear love today!

Sincerely,

Daddy

"I'm sure he didn't mean for this to happen Roger..." Roger sighed. "I know..... it's just that.....my reputation hasn't been the best with the guys and so I just wanna impress them. And this is not helping." Susan swallowed and continued walking back to the house. Neither Jack or Alice's car was anywhere in the driveway, so Susan was always tasked with carrying the third of four keys. Roger had his own, but was usually Susan's temporary responsibility on the walk home from school. "Here," Susan unlocked the door, "Why don't I make us a snack?" Roger nodded, allowing a smirk to penetrate.

Susan grabbed a few cookies from the jar with two glasses of milk. "Thanks," Roger grabbed his half as the two settled into the living room for TV time. Susan snacked on her Oreo's while multitasking between the TV and her homework. Roger stared through the TV rather than at it. Shoving soggy, milky Oreo after Oreo into his mouth, leaving traces of black crumbs around his mouth.

"Roger, don't forget about your homework." Roger grabbed his science book and notebook; studying through the pages of butterflies that he was supposed to hypothesize in his notes. The sound of the car pulling into the driveway purred through the living room just as Roger and Susan had finished their homework and chores. Alice flew into the house holding two large pizzas. "I'm so sorry kids-" Alice sat the pizza down on the counter, "I was out all morning running errands.... good thing your father made those pancakes, kept me full until now."

Susan would just stare and admire the small strands of blonde that would fly every time a slight breeze would trickle her face. The small beads of sweat still didn't dew or blotch her mascara and eyeliner or the dark magenta lipstick she had put on just before she left the house. Susan loved how Alice dolled herself up, affectionately whenever stepping out in public. The navy blue dress flowed like a curtain against the air as her the clicking of her sliver heels ran from one end of the kitchen to the other, gathering everyone's plates and drinks. Once settled, Alice slicked her long hair back and tied it back into a bun before wrapping her children in warm hugs. "Hello ducklings!" She pressed kisses to both of their foreheads before fluffing her dress out again.

Jack rang through the door, setting his suitcase down and stripping off his suit jacket. "Daddy!" Susan jumped into a hug with Jack, letting him smother her face with kisses. Roger's shoulders gained tension. Like thick rocks had been dropped onto them, becoming stiff and heavy. His legs could only stand a few places behind his sister, watching their father give his affection to her and Susan welcoming it with such keenness. Roger's blood spiked when he noticed Jack's eyes meet his own. "Roger! How was your day?!" Jack came towards Roger, using his arms to pick him up over his head before coupling him into a side hug and smooching his face all over. "Did you get my note?"

Roger's plastic smile reared, sucking in every bitter aftertaste of what had happened. "Yeah....I got the note." So did everyone else he thought.

Dinner for Roger was a delicious pepperoni and mushroom filled charm. Sipping his iced tea, washing down the warm gooey taste of cheese felt like the center of a heated caramel cream candy he loved. Five slices of pizza later, his belly was stuffed. "Here comes Master Chief, plummeting through the fields, Arton! Prepare for battle, prepare for-"

"Hey rogie bear, just popping in to check on you.....whatcha doing?" Roger held up his action figures. "Well, guess what's on TV right now?" Roger's curiosity pecked him. Jack ushered him downstairs. A sudden gripe of excitement punctured through him, a hopeful thought of an action movie or a drama mystery. Maybe that new alien sci-fi movie that all the seniors were raving about. Maybe it would be 'The Blob'? Coming downstairs, Roger saw cartoon flashes of puppets, a woman sitting in the middle of the room on the carpet with millions of puppets and kids around her.

His eyes squinted and mouth ajar. "What's this?" "The Adventures Of Captain Caterpillar!" Jack grabbed a stunned Roger's hand and led him to the couch. He wrapped a blanket around both of them while cuddling Roger in his arms wearing the same papa bear smile. Roger's cheeks were stained red, flushed with this peach rose complexion. Roger would occasionally glance up to Jack's little singing voice, tuning along with the silly dandle songs the caterpillar would blare loudly while dancing around with his lanky friends.

The cringe riveted through Roger everytime some baby nursling song would pop out out of nowhere through the black mouths of some puppet. Finally the movie ended, and so did the tight cosset hug from Jack. "That was such a good movie! What was your favorite song?" Roger racked his mind, "Uh, the one about the kitten and turtle taking turns,"

"That was such a cute one! Mine was the sharing one with Barnaby the mouse and Cynthia the pelican." Roger thought for sure Jack's screws were loose. He could never be entertained by something of this nature anymore. Roger made small talk before goose stomping himself up to his room. He dropped on his bed in total mortification. He was aghast to have even been able to sit through the entire thing!

His internal moaning didn't last as a knock on a door interrupted his moment. "Hey baby, it's beddie by time." Jack cooed. He invited himself in with a book in his hands: The Bedtime Wish Of Mr. Lemur.

Roger's mouth stood open once his eyes zeroed in on the pasty blue cover. Jack took a seat on the bed and patted the right side of it, ushering Roger to join him. "This is a story of a wise old lemur, who enjoys a good bedtime story even in his old age." Jack read the first few pages before Roger decided to peek over, accidentally slicing his finger against the sharp edge of the paper. "Ouch! Paper cut," he soothed his pointer in his mouth, "Oh, hold still rogie," Jack kissed Roger's finger, "there all better."

Jack finished the story, allowing Roger to get into his Pj's before tucking him into bed. "Goodnight my Mr. Man, sleep tight and don't let the bed bugs bite." Roger could only let Jack's puckering lips press against his forehead.

Once the lights were shut off for the night, Roger's mind was still awake. It raced through Jack pampering him and swaddling him in this cocoon. Unbreakable, unable to free himself from his father's dominating love. It swallowed him at every corner, abashing his chances at a fair impression for newcomers, Rod and Mick. It chided him. Bore into him, like teeth to a cob.

But even he couldn't expect the overattentive attention that he could receive by morning. In his eyes, it was a would be a new school day, a bright chance and a resumption of himself for the third grade.

Oh, Jack sure was proud of himself. His energy didn't die until two in the morning and by then, he had knitted two sweaters for his children for those chilly fall months. A flower one for Susan and a teddy bear one for Roger. He made matching hats for them as well and made the innocent choice of a teddy bear sweater for himself to match Roger's with the idea of being a pair.

As predicted, spring always brought warm sunny days with lulling breezes and sparkly neon flowers and other days were chilly and gray with a somber shadow looming over everything. Today was a mixture, chilly but sunny. Jack practically forced Roger to wear his new sweater, but he didn't expect the nasty surprise that awaited him after school.

While all the other kids rushed out, Roger stared to dart out after being questioned and teased for the "ugly teddy bear sweater" as he called it, he saw the same bright blue sweater hugging onto someone else. A taller lanky figure, coming closer he found it to be Jack. Roger frozen in place, his face blushing a bright blossom color mixed with coconut white in a pasty shade of fear. Kids snickered and giggled when they noticed the matching attire between father and son.

"Rogie! Come on down baby!" Roger did a walk of shame down the stone steps, slithering through the judgment of everyone and incidentally into Jack's arms. "Teddy Bear hug for my teddy bear!" A mortified Roger had little choice, but to bury his face into Jack's torso to shelter his eyes from any silly looks or bolstering laughs from everyone who watched this horror show. Jack walked hand in hand with Roger and Susan on the way home, chatting non-stop about his 'surprises' for the children when they were to arrive home. Roger's expectations were low. In his mind, it could've been anything to a baby swing or a brand new crib just waiting for him to be placed into.

Susan seemed to indulge in Jack's blabbering about his journey into getting the surprises from the store and how they had to be custom-made from scratch. Susan's eyes grew wide with excitement. Her bippy boppy pigtails bounced the more she skipped with bulging curiosity of what her present could be. Roger, on the other hand, barely made himself noticeable.

When arriving at the house, Jack ran ahead of them, enticing them to close their little eyes while Alice would help escort them inside. Roger's gut grew with some excitement- surely it would have to be pretty big if asked to wait outside with their hands to their eyes. Alice pulled them into the house and yelled "Surprise!" with an ardent rave. Susan opened her eyes first to see a brand new lip gloss kit just for her. It had different shades of pinks and some even had glitter mixed into them. "Oh, thank you so much Mommy and Daddy! I love it! I love it! I love it!" She squealed, jumping up and down before pulling Alice and Jack into a hug.

Roger grew really excited. Susan's pre-adolescent gift was like a preview for his, right?

A giant stuffed beige teddy bear with a propeller beanie cap on its head sat on the couch. Not the skateboard he'd hoped for..... the babyish teddy toy staring right back at him, mocking his childishness with a vigor. Nonetheless, to be polite, Roger wore a plastic smile and thanked Jack and Alice. "And don't forget, these are custom-made! I had Susan's lip glosses made fresh from the counter at the mall. The brand is No7®. And Roger's came from ToysRus®. I had it made specially for him, and had his name inscribed on the bottom of the teddy bear." Roger cringed from being reminded that his 'gift' was from a toy company, while Susan's was from the mall where most adults and teens shopped for their items. Sure, people shopped at ToyRus..... for strollers and cribs along with baby rattles and bottle sets.

Later in the evening, once chores were finished, homework was done and dinner was eaten, Roger was spending the remainder of his night watching Looney Tunes. Jack took a seat next to him, propping a laying Roger's feet into his lap. His fingers gently warmed their way on the soles of his soft little feet. Squishy in Jack's hands. "Did you have a nice day at school?" "Yeah," A short diluted answer. Jack questioned again, "Do you like your teddy bear?" His voice, cooing slightly. "Mmhm." Maybe he's tired, Jack thought to himself. So, he rubbed Roger's feet harder. Only a bit. Even Roger had to agree that Jack's massages were relaxing and that his feet did need the extra attention from the walk home from school.

Jack was gentle and detailed- rubbing to a pattern that would relax Roger's little feet. Once Looney Tunes went off, the familiar twinkle tune theme of The Twilight Zone popped on. Roger's eyes grew bigger, anticipating what would be the mystery of tonight from Rod Sterling. "Oh no, this probably is too scary for you, Rogie," And with that, Jack clicked the television off to a black screen. "It's bedtime anyway now." Roger's internal glare bored through Jack as he settled Roger into his arms for a moment, before setting him down from deciding tonight was not the night his back could withstand the weight of his eight year old.

"Do you know what time it is?" Jack asked, Roger shrugged, "Bath time!" A hot flash spiked up Roger's back and stabbed into his cheeks. Once he saw the ducky bath towel sitting on the counter of the sink among the other bath toys, a sliver of fear eroded in him. Roger returned to the bathroom with just his robe on before getting into the bubbly warm bath water. It felt good against his skin; a serene little moment of peace before the storm. Jack came in, sat to the side with a wash cloth and began to wash Roger's face and body. "We did this all the time when you were a little baby. I would get you all clean and sing you this little bath time song I made up....something called 'Gilly in the tub' or Cleanie time'..... something along those lines." Roger was not impressed... in fact, it wasn't until Jack raised his arm up and cleansed his armpit that he felt the true sting of feeling babied. His open mouth to protest led to a mouthful of soapy bubbly water once Jack had rinsed the cloth and squeezed the water onto Roger's face.

He wrapped Roger in his ducky bath towel and led him to his bedroom to lotion himself and put on his pajamas, while Jack drained the tub. But when Roger went to put on his pajamas, the ones laid out for him were these sky baby blue cloud printed footie type expect without the footie part. Roger raised an eyebrow, he'd never seen these pj's before. Were these missing ones that I had forgotten about? He questioned himself. But once Jack came and explained that they were simply new ones he had gotten that day because of "how cute they looked," he couldn't resist. As if Roger's face wasn't crimson already, he got a duplex nasty surprise when he realized the pj's came with a sleep bonnet and that Jack had bought matching ones himself.

Jack pretty much insisted Roger wear his together with Jack. "And don't forget the bonnet either, baby!" Roger's face brightened into a tomato red, having the bonnet plopped on his while being called a 'baby'. Jack grabbed a book from the shelf and sat on the bed. "Curious George gets a medal." Jack read the story with such animation that he hoped would provoke an honest keen in Roger. But he was still batty with wearing baby cloud pajamas that matched his father's. Once the story was finished, Jack tucked Roger into bed. "I'm not sleepy," Jack raised an eyebrow. "Not sleepy? How about a glass of milk?" Roger nodded.

Jack left the room just Susan entered. All she had to do was take one glance at Roger, then at Jack... before bursting a loud laughter. It furrowed Roger's eyebrows before he hopped out of bed and pushed Susan from his bedroom. "Shut up!" He slammed the door before walking over to his desk with a huge pout on his face. "Hey, what's Susan laughing at?" Jack popped through the doorway, glass of warm milk in one hand and two cookies in the other. "Nothing," Roger shook his and climbed back into bed. Jack set the cookies on the nightstand before tucking Roger in. "Now I don't want you eating and lying down, okay?" Roger nodded.

Jack paused for a moment before gathering a fatherly look in his eye, "How about I sing you a lullaby?" Roger's eyes went wide, "Oh, that's okay.... this milk is gonna hit the spot I think." "Are you sure?" By then, Jack had invited himself on the bed and lifted Roger into his lap. "I have a really good one that I used to sing to you as a baby?" Roger knew he couldn't back out of this one. If his voice cracks.... Thought a close to fed up Roger. "Okay," Hesitant with no free will to decline.

"Well, it's three o'clock in the morning,

Baby, I just can't be here tonight

Well, I hate to leave you, baby

Don't mean maybe, because I love you so

Goodnight, sweetheart, well it's time to go

I hate to leave you, but I really must say

Goodnight, sweetheart, goodnight

Goodnight, sweetheart, well it's time to go

I hate to leave you, but I really must say

Goodnight, sweetheart, goodnight

Now, the sun might come and the birds

Might hear if I stay here too long

One kiss and we'll part

And you'll be sleeping

You know I hate to see you go

Goodnight, sweetheart goodnight."

Jack's voice was indeed soothing a tuned, but it still didn't stop the deep impending cringe Roger felt from sizzling inside him. "Now it's really time for bed, baby bear," Roger hated bring called that nickname.... at least some of the time. But tonight, he really hated it. He hated his pajamas, he hated his sleep bonney, he hated the bedtime story..... he hated being pacified by his father.... endlessly. Even the feeling of the thick snug warm quilt being placed over his body, sprouted hatered through him. "Goodnight little duckling, sweet dreams.... I love you very, very, very much!"

Jack bent down and kissed Roger's cheeks- not just once; puckering a squeaky smooch to his chubby cheek, he lavished the little boy with a series of affectionate goodnight kisses. As if Roger's boiling point wasn't already bursting to a head, the last kiss was the loudest- a long 'Muah!' being hummed loudly through the entire bedroom, Jack's hands holding Roger's with a gentle grip and his face only spaces apart from Roger's. It ended with Jack's lips practically sucking the fleash off Roger's face, leaving a wet smooch mark in the form of Jack's love; heart shaping around his right cheek.

Jack gave a quick pinch to his cheek before leaving the room for the night. Roger was lying straight in bed; frown rooted on his face, shooting a glare that could chill the spiciest of things. Roger ended his night with swallowing his pride and hoping for a twist to his domain. He cuddled himself under his quilt before wrapping a gentle arm around his teddy bear. He stared into its eyes; black and lifeless, but forgiving to Roger's hidden animosity. He turned his eyes off for the night, allowing his body to drift into a weakness for slumber.

It was the middle of the week and Roger had no interventions from Jack. Thursday was promising with its spring blossoms and humming bees that whizzed past your ear. The sun poked through the glass of the classroom, allowing a sunny twinkle to splash Roger's skin during math. It was all rainbows and butterflies until a napping annoucment was made by Mr. Weschester, the principal. "Remember students, don't forget tomorrow is chaperone day. Parents and PTA staff faculty will participate as classroom helpers and lunch monitors, Friday. So, don't be surprised if you recognize one or a few people at the school!" He chuckled slightly.

It didn't alarm Roger. After all, Dad would be working and Mom doesn't even know yet.

"Hey Roger!" He turned to see his sister running full speed through the hall, "Did you hear? Tomorrow is particiaption day, so it means Mom and Dad might be at the school tomorrow! That would be so great..... I would be able to show them all my teachers and hear them say how well I'm doing in their classes.... they'll be so proud!" Roger wasn't amused.

"I'm not surprised that you're not excited...... you're always doing something bad anyway," Roger opened his locker, "I'm not doing anything! I just don't think it's 'super cool' to have your parents show up at school.... I mean, you don't see me showing up at dad's job, right?" Susan shrugged, "It's Mick and Rod, isn't it?" Roger gave Susan a side look, "It's me Susan. You know how I've always felt about that," Roger grabbed his lunch from his locker, "Yes, I am trying to impress them right now, but....." Susan lifted a brow, "What?"

"I just don't want Dad showing up at the school. He's been so clingy lately- and don't try to deny it or stick up for him!" Susan giggled, "Oh yeah, like last night, in your matching pajamas and the matching baby bonnet that he made you wear. It was so funny!" Her voice squeaked. Roger slammed his locker door, "Whatever, if you see him, tell him I'm not his baby bear!"

He stormed away, leaving Susan behind with a graded worry and confusion. The lunchroom was filled per usual, only this time, Roger found a slightly more isolated table. The incident of the last time haunted him enough to keep his space empty or at least less crowded. But upon opening his lunch, Roger once again found a letter in his bag.

Dear Roger,

I just wanted to write about how special you are and how much fun I've had spending time with you the way I have. Our little walks when it's time to go home are pleasurable, our time together on the couch is relaxing and entertaining, but most importantly.... it's our bedtime that's my absolute favorite time with you. We get to read stories and I get to hold you in my arms as you slowly drift off to dreamland. And of course, sending you off with goodnight kissies and huggies to end the night, is a very important ritual to me. I love you more than anything and I hope you have the best day at school my guppy puppy!

XOXO

Love,

Daddy!

Roger scanned through the note before crumbling it inside the pocket of his jacket. He sat and ate his peanut butter and jelly sandwich without any surmising feelings of anyone.

Friday arrived. The sun was bright and early, the birds were awake and breakfast was already on the table. Toast with melted butter, orange juice, bacon and eggs were served with a ginger smile from Alice as she set the last plate of food down on the table. She dusted the flour off her aporn before taking a seat with the rest of her family. Roger, unsupecting to Jack sharing a smile with Alice before looking back to their children.

Susan eating her toast peacfully while looking through her assingnment and Roger sipping his juice while sharing his looks between his plate and the wondering eyes he sensed from the table.

The ride to school was filled with songs from Dean Martin. Roger just let the base of the radiowave take him as he anticipated every melody from the singer. He noticed Jack having this grin shaded on his face; unbreakable even when the traffic jamed and when a j-walker stepped out in front of the car and he had to slam his breaks and his horn at the same time. It didn't grind into Roger until they pulled up in the parking lot and he noticed Jack turning off the car. He turned around to Roger, "Puppy, Daddy's going to go in with you this time..."

Roger looked to the side before turning back to his dad. "Is something going on?" "Well, sorta..... I'll tell you about it later," Now Roger was really confused. But, for once, he obeyed his father and followed him out of the car. Jack wiggled his fingers into Roger's little hand and held a tight grasp to it, like he was dangling from the edge of something and Roger was his lifeline connection. "Remember when we used to hold hands when we would to school some mornings?"

"Yeah..." Jack smiled down at Roger. He rubbed the back of Roger's hand with the side of his thumb. It made Roger self conscience- all eyes seemed to bore directly in their direction, like an alien was walking in broad daylight amongst the public eye. But they weren't. Only a few giggles broke through the clambers of laughter and causal chatting amoung the students. Father and son made it into the school where Roger broke free from Jack's pyhsical grasp and started on his way up the stairs after a quick aloof goodbye. "Nugget! What about your kissy kissy?!" Jack shouted; shuffling through the groups of children that seemed to stand in the way of his getting to Roger.

"I have to kiss you, baby bear!" Roger just stood frozen. Shocked and horrified at those little sentences. He shot his head around to see the slather of classmates mocking and teasing him much to Jack's complete oblivion. Roger stumbled down the stairs, struggling to meet Jack's gaze before being enveloped in a firm bear hug and receiving a resounding kiss on his forehead. And of course, Jack completely smothered his little face in goodbye kisses. One 'Muah' after another. Roger's face didn't seem to fade from its crimson color. It got bolder and bolder with everything Jack seemed to do that would humilate Roger to no end.

Why does he always embarrass me at the worst times? Roger's mind wasn't shy about conveying a few malefic thoughts of Jack of his own. "I love you, baby cakes. Now run and get to class now." "Baby cakes?" A boy questioned. Roger wiggled out of Jack's hug and ran to his class as fast as he could. Couldn't Jack see the slur of students he gathered around them? The crowd that was drawn because of his yelling? Like ants to an abandoned potato chip lying on the pavement.

Roger's day could only get worse as he realized out of his entire class, Jack was the only parent who showed up for particapation day. The realization made Roger want to scream. Jack would pop into the classroom ocassionally to help with passing out papers and cleaning up after the kids. He never seemed to busy enough to squeeze in the occasional hug or kiss to Roger. Pinching his cheek or rubbing his head wasn't barred either.

At lunch, Jack was chaperoning the students- paying extra unneeded attention to his own: wiping his mouth, feeding him the pudding he put in his lunch ealier, and the finale..... burping him; patting his back while his head was craddled against his shoulder. Then recess rolled around.

"Hey Mick, watch this!" Roger swung on the rod of the jungle gym, intending a front flip, but instead landed on the concrete asphalt. His knees were scrapped; blood trickling down them like tears. Roger tried getting up, but was stagnant on the ground. "Roger, are you okay?!" Mick ran to his friend and tried helping him up, but the watchful eye of Jack caught them and with lightning speed, flew over towards the boys. "Rogie! Are you hurt?! Did you get a boo boo?" He bent down and examined Roger's scraped knees. "Oh, you poor baby, it's okay.... daddy's got you," Jack lifted Roger and carried him to the nurses, bridal style. "Dad! Everyone's looking at us!" He whined.

"Oh, don't you worry about them... let's take care of Roger first."

The bell rung, recess was over and Jack was to be back at Roger's next class. Roger came limping back from the nurses with his legs cleaned and bandaged. "There's my little pookie bear, do you feel better?" Roger's cheeks stung again. "Dad.... I'm not a pookie bear," His teeth were gritted, "Well, you're my pookie bear.... forever and always." Roger sucked up an eyeroll.

The last class of the day seemed to shot by fast. Out in the hallway, Roger noticed Jack with Mitch and Rod, huddled around together. Roger's heart sped up, his breath became shaky and his mouth dry and metallic. He caught the tip end of Jack's memory of Roger's little daycare accident; his diaper being poofier than his whole little body and Jack speeding through track just to get there to change him. "I was so worried that Roger was going to get a diaper rash..... I think I went to five different stores to find the right diaper cream for his little bottom...."

Mick and Rod burst out laughing. "Can you tell us more stories of baby Roger?" Jack giggled, "Of course- in fact, I have pictures of him as a baby." Before Roger could intervine, Jack had whipped out pictures of baby Roger in the bathtub or comepletly nude on the living room rug. Jack's eyes had this twinkle of adoration in them- he loved talking about his children when they were little. "Roger was so adorable- oh and had the roundest little bottom I ever seen! I had made up this little song called 'Icing on the cake', and I would sing it while changing Roger's diaper."

"Why did you call it 'Icing on the cake'?" Rod asked, side eyeing Roger with a little smirk emerging from his mouth. Roger's eyes grew big, praying that Jack wouldn't reveal the most embarrassing story of his life. The most humilating secret that he would never let out for anyone. "I called it that because when I would put diaper powder and cream on Roger's little bottom, he would get fussy, so I would sing it for him to soothe him.... and because it was like icing a cake. His little bottom looked like a fluffy cotton ball.... that's why sometimes I call him my RoRo Bear."

Roger was in utter disbelief. A shock of total and utter humilation. His most embarrassing secrets were revealed right to the very people who he worked so hard to impress and entertain. The nickname he hated being called and the story he never wanted out was now in full circle, ready to blowup to the whole school. Jack finally spotted Roger, flashing him an innocent fatherly smile. "Hey munchkin, I was just talking to your friends Rod and Mick- they're very nice!" But Roger's face was stuck, stuck in a dark crimson colored dispair. "What's wrong?" Now Jack's voice rang concern. Roger furrowed his eyebrows into a deep glare and walked around the trio; going straight to his locker, pulling his backpack and walking out the front door, hoping to get trapped and lost in the rushing rabble of the students.

"Roger! Roger!" Jack caught up to him, and pulled him close to him. "What's the matter baby?" "I'm not a baby! I'm not a muchkin! Or a pookie poo or pookie bear or whatever, I'm not any of those things! And I'm not your little baby either! How could you do this to me?!"

"To you?" "Yeah! Why did you have to run and tell Mick and Rod about the Icing on the cake story or reveal my RoRo bear nickname?! Why did you have to come to school anyway?! Or buy matching Pj sets or kiss me everytime you see me or sing me a stupid lulluby? Or...Or......." Roger just scoffed out of Jack's grasp but stopped, fully allowing the boiling point come to a head, "I'M NOT A BABY ANYMORE! SO STOP TREATING ME LIKE ONE!" Roger huffed off, running all the way home with tears streaming down his little rosey cheeks. The crimson was wearing off, but the sting still stayed behind, leaving escars of disgrace deep in him.

Roger stopped at the corner, wiping his face from the thick rill of tears. "I'm never talking to him again." He said to himself. Roger looked around hoping to beat Jack's green chevy bel air to the house. He stormed in, said a quick greeting to his mother before locking himself in his bedroom, spending the next fifthteen minutes with a deep glare sprawled across his face.

Jack came in wearing a sullen teary eyed frown. "Jack?" Alice came over and sat him down on the couch. "What's wrong what happened?" Jack looked down, "He hates me,"

"Roger?" Jack slowly nodded, "I accidentally embarrassed him at school and he got angry and ran home, I'm assuming." "Yeah, he just ran upstairs not too long ago- what did you do?" Jack swallowed, "I guess I got carried away with being affectionate with him..... I babied him a little too much..... I always forget that's a sore spot with him!" He slammed his fist down on his thigh. "I'm gonna go talk to him." Jack's eyes looked toward the stairs.

Jack's feet were whiny against the wood of the stairs. He held tight to the railing, not allowing his legs to wobble him unbalenced. He could feel the tension from behind Roger's door. It only spotted a speck of softness once he heard the faint sniffling sounds on the other side. It made him want to break through the door and wrap his little one in a hug, but a sharp pinging sense of misgiving halted any mollycuddling thoughts. Instead, he delicately pittered a knock on the door. "Come in," Jack slowly tiptoed into Roger's bedroom, scouring his soft sniffles from tears that he had been crying alone in his bedroom.

"Roger.... can I sit?" He shrugged, "Whatever."

Jack took a seat across from Roger, "Rog..... I never meant to embarrass you...... I was just trying to-" Jack stopped, racking his brain for the right words, "I just wanted to be close to you. I thought that if I showed you how much I love you..... we would be close again."

"When were we not close?" Even Jack couldn't answer that. He realized just how overexaggerated his idea really was. "You made new friends and-" "Now I probably won't have because of you!"

Jack had to bite his tounge and swallow the shallow pettiness of pride he had from his callous mistake. No matter how he would spin this, Roger would never the plot. Jack himself was though. He made it all about him more than he ever could've for Roger. All because of a haunted memory he carried with David. Jack wanted to be better, he wanted to be opposite. So much....... that he forgot what was right in front of him. His pride was shaken so much, that looking Roger in the eye would be very painful....more than it should've.

"I'm so sorry Roger. Honestly, I am. I know you're not a baby...... it's not always easy for me to admit that to myself everytime I see you growing up and doing things on your own. In my mind, I guess I was thinking of some of our best memories being when you were just so.....so....little. So helpness and fragile.....you needed me then. You needed me so much, and I just felt so responsible for being this positive influence in your life that....... I couldn't help it. I still see you as a baby on some days and.... I guess I got a little carried away,"

"A little?" Jack gave a tight smile, "A lot." Roger turned his sight back to the floor, "Roger, look at me darling," Roger slowly lifted his eyes back to Jack's. "I'm very, very, very sorry about.... everything. You're not a baby and I was wrong for being that way...." Jack's eyes softened, a soft tiny smile rippled on face, "I look at you now.... and I'm so proud of you. I love you very much, and the last thing I would ever want is to make you cry or be angry or in pain."

Jack held out his arms, "Do you forgive me?" Roger eventually let a smile cross him, giving into his father's pout and falling into each other's arms. "Of course." Jack squeezed Roger tightly, never wanting to let go. "Just promise me one thing....."

"What?" Asked Roger. Jack pulled away to look into the green of Roger's eyes. "Promise, no matter how big you get.....you'll still be my little baby bear?" Roger smiled, "I promise." The father and son hugged each other tightly, running through the strainds of hair on the back of each other's heads. Roger felt Jack's hand rubbing and craddling his little head, while Jack felt Roger's little hand rub in between the back of his scalp and neck.

Jack decided to savour the little present moment without any doubts or past memories to cloud what already exsisted......

Their love for one another.

#jack chambers imagines #jack chambers imagine #jack chambers #jack chambers son #jack chambers daughter #alice chambers #roger chambers #susan chambers #dwd blurbs #harry styles dwd #dont worry darling #harry styles fanfiction #harry styles imagines #harry styles #dadrry #dad!harry

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fortunatelychaoticphantom · 4 months ago

Text

Yeah, so I finished Breaking Dawn.

General:

Holly shit. Holly fucking shit. Holly Jesus fucking Christ holly fucking hell god damn shit. THIS BOOK IS AMAZING.

I am serious. I am not being ironic or trying to be cool or contradictory or nothing. This book is absolutely batshit insanely fucking good. THIS IS GOOD FUCKING FANTASY.

Look. I've read and watched plenty of reevaluations of the series in the past couple of years, and I think we all know by now that it is far from perfect and there's a lot to criticize, but that the criticism and cultural uproar at the time was just pure misogyny and hatred to anything that girls like (a day will come when we talk about Justin Bieber and how the entire world decided its number one enemy was a 13 year old boy who wanted to be a pop singer and was beloved by 13 year old girls but it is not this day), and that Meyer is actually a very good world builder. This reread really solidified this for me, but even more so then before. I really do believe she is a good writer. NOT GREAT, but good. Until Breaking Dawn.

I am not joking when I tell you that this is one of the most incredible books I have ever read in my life. It is leaps and bounds better then any other book in the series. I think the other books are fine and enjoyable, they definitely don't hold the same charm over me as they did when I was 16, but they are absolutely entertaining and even truly touching (New Moon specifically). But this... this is just a different league altogether. This book is mature, and brutal, and aggressive, and disgusting, and horrifying, and reached fucked up territories that few writers dare to explore and I absolutely admire Meyer for this.

Part One - Bella:

It's a pretty short section of the book so there's not much to say about. It's sweet and fun but nothing much more.

Horny Bella is the best Bella. Get some girl.

Part two - Jacob:

Anyway, this right here is what brilliance is made of. I need to find a way to articulate it properly. It's the first time I have ever been so acutely aware of the narrator because the entire narration is in first person and so all the sections that are supposedly general descriptions are an active thought of Jacob that in almost every single moment are being experienced not just by me but by his pack(s) and by Edward and are commented on in the story. I don't even know how to explain just what an unbelievably wonderfully complexly imaginatively fucked up this is. Just. Amazing.

LEAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!

I'm okay I swear. But seriously. Leah's story is amazing as is, but it's the room Meyer gives her to be both filled with sorrow and with just pure spiteful rage. I love that she is not perfect, she is not currently nice, because she can't be nice, but a day will come when she might be better, be in a better place, and that's okay because we understand her. I just love her so much.

Speaking of which, I love the new bond between Rosalie and Bella but I also love that it's not entirely a good things? Like, there is a very clearly stated undertone that Rose cares more about the fetus than she does about Bella, and I just respect that? She isn't just magically sweet and kind, it's twisted and complicated and good storytelling (I forgot to mention in the Eclipse post Rosalie's backstory, but obviously that's also amazing).

Seth is also the most wonderful and pure cinnamon role in history and I will die for him.

6. this:

Leah: Mom dropped him a lot when he was a baby. Jacob: Oh his head, apparently. Leah: He used to gnaw on the crib bars, too. Jacob: Lead paint? Leah: Looks like it.

7. This section is just so fucking brutal. The physical toll of carrying the baby for Bella, Edward's agony, Jacob's suffering, Leah's everything, the coming attack from the wolves, the birth... Immaculate.

Part three - Bella:

If there was one Mary Sue I would stan, it was Bella. You're doing amazing sweetie!! You go and be an awesome newborn. We believe in you!!!

All the vampire descriptions are just so fucking good. The whole distractability, the way the new senses literally overwhelm you. I love it all.

You know what? I really don't mind the imprinting. Meyer goes to great lengths to say that it's in no way romantic. It's not the Greatest Thing, but, I mean, I'm reading a fantasy book... my suspension is very much suspending...

Jacob's being an ass again, only caring about what he wants, but it's only for like two chapters so it's fine.

I can't help but love the congregation of vampires, it's just so fun and interesting, and even though we spend so little time with them they are all so distinct.

It's a great showdown. I love it way more then I did the first time. I am still fond of the What-The-Fuck-They-Are-All-Dying???? scene from the movie, but it's intense even without it.

and this:

Garrett: If we live through this, I`ll follow you anywhere, woman. Kate: Now he tells me.

Good job all around. Now I need to go buy Midnight Sun.

#twilight #twilight renaissance #twilight revival #breaking dawn #twilight breaking dawn

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the-starry-seas · 3 months ago

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SO ACES SQUAD! I saw on the picrew post that Blue talks to the flower bushes and I need to know what he talks about with them. And do they have names????

Fury is a cook??? Tell me more???? 👀👀 Does he have a favorite thing to make??? What was the first dish he ever made and how did it turn out??

Racer! As a fellow Oldest Sibling/Sister I gotta ask- what’s her favorite way to annoy each of her kih’vode? Because I love annoying the little shits as revenge for all they’ve put me through

Whisper- I am just. So intrigued by xeim. Would xe like a chew toy to bite on?? They’re very soothing and I have a few xe can borrow :3

I am in love with Ember to be honest. He seems like such a sweet baby. I would like to wrap him up in a blanket burrito and give him many cookies to nom on

Yesss my first squad, they'll always be famous to me <3

Blue mostly talks about problems because then nobody talks back to him. The man just needs to vent at something, once in a while. But he also tells them that they're nice plants with pretty flowers, because he heard that saying things like that helps them grow better. He also talks to them about his boyfriend a lot. The family has some very strongly held Opinions about Blue's taste in men. (Well, taste in man. Singular. He married the first dude who showed interest in him and they're strangely cute about it.) The plants do not have names but he's particularly fond of the blueberry bush that his man gifted him.

Fury is a cook! And a baker! He loooves everything with strawberries, it's the polycule's favourite fruit so he gets really good at every dessert he can find. He also likes a lot of spiced food and gets very good at a jalapeno, cheddar, and bacon sourdough. He will eat any kind of sandwich on that bread. But his favourite favourite is grilled cheese with grape jelly. He made it in the GAR after good missions and now it's a traditional celebratory food for the squad. That was his first attempt at his own recipe, so to speak, and it became everyone's go-to comfort food.

Racer is very good at annoying people. Blue is easily annoyed by her because she's chaotic and loves explosions and keeps sneaking bombs onto their ship/into their house. Fury cannot be annoyed by her 99% of the time, they are far too alike, but sometimes she tries to bother him into doing chaos with her while he's hyperfixated on something else and he gets snappy with her. Ember hates how she just goes through his closet and steals all his cute shirts, but he can always steal them back. Whisper has bitten her so many times for just picking xei up in a hug and spinning xei around like a dreidel, or just being too loud in xeim general vicinity, and she has yet to learn any better.

Yeah xe loves chew toys! I hc that xe does have a chew necklace that xe gnaws on while xe's staked out somewhere cause it gives xei something to do. Xe also likes rubik's cubes and has the kind that has those different tactile bumps that match the colours.

Ember is such a sweetheart. He does love blanket burritos, especially with his husband. But the best place to chill is in the bay window blanket nest with their baby girl cuddled to his chest. They live on the next planet over from Tatooine and everyone visits each other all the time. He's also a ballet dancer, fire dancer, and a woodworker! The whole family's got little carved animals hanging around. They're good luck charms <3 And he carves their tiny darling Kote's crib, too!

#aces squad #cs blue #ct fury #ct racer #ct whisper #ct ember

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aimwigs · 9 months ago

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love all your dad wig so much i could read it forever thank you for all the blurbs

IM GLAD YOU'RE ENJOYING!!! i'm having so much fun writing them. here's another that you can read below the cut or on ao3 about waking up in the middle of the night with a baby

When the familiar fussy cry comes crackling through the baby monitor on the nightstand, QT rolls over and screams into her pillow.

He honestly fucking gets it. It’s only about two weeks ago that Ryan started generally getting through the nights without waking and as of two days ago, they’re back where they were two months ago, with long nights spent switching off and trying to coax her back to sleep. According to her pediatrician, she’s teething which isn’t always an issue when it comes to sleeping through the night but since she already had some issues with sleeping through the night up until pretty recently. QT gave her Tylenol before bed, but they’ve still been up with her a few times tonight, the latest being when Ludwig rocked her back to sleep only twenty minutes ago.

“I’ll get her,” he offers, patting QT’s arm and climbing out of bed because he’s an awesome partner and an even better dad.

Without lifting her face from the pillow, she mumbles something incomprehensible in response. He assumes she’s thanking either him or some sort of higher power for the fact that she doesn’t have to get out of bed.

Ryan’s entire face is bright red when he picks her up, tears streaming down her cheeks and snot dribbling from her nose as she thrashes her arms and legs around violently. It breaks his fucking heart to see her struggling like this— as much as he hates getting up in the middle of the night he understands that it’s only because she’s hurting.

He picks her up and balances her at his hip, gently bouncing her as he grabs her blanket from her crib and pushes it into her pudgy hands, just so she has something to focus on. Her screams quiet to sniffles as she shoves it into her mouth and tries to gnaw at it— poor girl.

It feels almost robotic as he walks downstairs and grabs a washcloth out of the freezer, a handy tip that QT’s sister passed down to her when she mentioned Ryan had started teething the other day. They’ve done this so many times and sure, it helps, but it only soothes the pain for so long before the tears start up again.

Sitting on the couch with her, Ludwig carefully rubs the freezing washcloth against her gums, coaxing her to gently chew at it so the cold can numb her aching gums.

As she chews, quieting finally, he grabs a tissue off the coffee table and wipes her face free of boogers and tears before leaning down and pressing a soft kiss right where wispy blond hair meets her forehead.

“You’re okay,” he whispers, wrapping her in her blanket and hugging her to his chest. “I’ve got you.”

She starts to relax a little, allowing the washcloth to fall from her mouth, and he reaches up with his thumb to gently massage her gums in the way that he saw in some YouTube video he watched about this.

When he hits a bump on the bottom, he freezes and withdraws his thumb so that he can look at her mouth. Sure enough, barely visible near the middle of her mouth is a tiny pearly white tooth. Her first fucking tooth.

“Oh my fucking god!” he says, loud enough that Ders peers over to them with interest from the cat tower across the room.

He debates waking up QT for this. On one hand, it’s definitely a big first. Teeth mean chewing. She’s literally going to be chewing her whole life! But the tooth will also still be there when she wakes up tomorrow and she did seem pretty fucking exhausted.

Fuck it. He’s pretty sure that she’ll be more excited by the tooth than pissed about being woken up at four in the morning. She probably hasn’t even fallen back to sleep yet. Moments like these are meant to be shared, so he stands back up, bouncing Ryan at his side, and walks back upstairs.

“Babe?” he whispers, creeping back into her bedroom.

“What?” she mumbles into the pillow, still immobilized by being woken up in the middle of the night for what feels like the millionth time. Parenting is seriously fucking hard.

“I need to show you something,” he tells her.

She flips upright and turns on the light in an instant, a panicked look on her face. “Is something wrong?”

He looks from Ryan, half-asleep in his arms, to her. Okay, he can see how that might have sounded slightly worrying after they literally just woke up to her sobbing.

“No, no, no. It’s a good thing,” he tells her, sitting on the bed and handing Ryan over to her.

Ryan smiles a little and reaches up to grab at her nose, making QT laugh and press a kiss into her hair, even though she seemed frustrated by being woken up just a few minutes ago.

“Look,” he tells her, reaching over and carefully pulling down her bottom lip so that QT can see the tooth.

QT’s eyes widen. “Holy shit! Is that?”

“She has a tooth now,” he confirms.

She turns to stare at him for a moment, looking absolutely stunned. “I’m going to fucking cry or something. That’s an actual fucking tooth!”

He nods. “Logically, I knew that teething meant her teeth were coming in but I don’t know why I figured she’d just sprout a full set in a month or something.”

QT snorts, reaching down to run her finger along the tooth. “Lud, that’s seriously fucking stupid.”

“I’m not a baby expert. I’m learning, okay?” But he’s barely even focused on what he’s saying, he’s just watching his little girl, sleepy and confused about why her parents are so excited right now.

“You got a little tooth now,” QT says in her baby voice. “Soon enough you’re gonna be able to eat all sorts of stuff just like your Mom and Dad. I’m gonna make so many tasty little treats just for you one day.”

She reaches down and boops her nose, earning a giggle.

How did I get this fucking lucky? he thinks as he watches his partner and his daughter. It’s the middle of the fucking night and all he can think about is how grateful he is for everything he has.

Being a parent is seriously fucking hard. Babies are so fragile, and there are so many little things you have to do for them, and it makes balancing work harder, and it puts an extra strain on your relationship. It’s all fucking worth it, though, because he gets to have little moments like these, sitting in bed with QT celebrating Ryan’s very first tooth.

#dadwig #answered #anonymous #my fic #ludwig #qt #ludqt

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rodeoxqueen · 4 years ago

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Can you do more head cannons of The DMC boys taking care of their baby girl???

Howdy,

I do not think I’ve written headcanons of Dante, Vergil, Nero, and V with a baby daughter? Well, no time like the present.

Enjoy,

Rodeo

Dante

“Baby. Baby girl. Baaaaaby!” Dante calls as his daughter, white-haired and arms covered in baby fat, gurgles with joy.

Literally the love of his life. The babe looks just like him, with white hair and blue eyes.

Lady and Trish adore the baby girl and do not trust him to dress their niece cutely. So they spend all his money buying the cutest little shoes and dresses. The baby fever is so bad for them.

Dante is so protective of his little demon child. He duct tapes all the sharp corners in his shop. It’s Hello-Kitty and red duct tape. It’s such an eye-sore but he’s so proud of himself.

He doesn’t use her crib. Every night, his daughter cries when he puts her in the crib. He ends up taking her to his bed, her little body resting on his chest, moving to the rising and falling of his form.

They eat meals together, both covered in bits of food. Messy eaters, the two of them. Dante always seems to eat incredibly leaned back and his daughter copies him, leaning to the back of the baby seat with her little feet crossed.

She loves sundaes and slaps the table when she can’t get any. Dante can’t resist giving her the strawberries to gnaw on.

“Shithead! You’re going to give her cavities!”

“Nero, she doesn’t even have teeth yet.”

Sometimes they just nod at each other.

“Hey, boss lady.”

“Dah.”

“Very nice.”

He gets a tactical baby carrier, much to everyone’s disgust.

His little baby girl is often found latched onto his leg, cooing and refusing to leave from her father’s proximity.

Vergil tries to hold her and she cries immediately. It’s because Vergil looks like a very serious Dante and that doesn’t sit right with her.

The twins tried dressing the same and brushing their hair the same style to see what she would do. She keeps pointing to the other and saying “da-da” and grabbing at the other twin. Eventually, she starts fussing.

Well actually, demon children can detect parental pheromones. She likely figures out who is who very soon and will not unlatch from her demon daddy.

“She’s got quite a grip,” Vergil comments as blood soaks into Dante’s shirt where her hands clung to him.

“Her claws came in early.” His brother grunts. His hands aren’t even on her, she is completely supporting herself with her little devil hands.

Dante will walk out of the house with his hair done like his child’s. The last thing a demon sees is the merciless face of Hello Kitty on a barrette on Dante’s head. It’s quite frankly scarier than anything else.

See Exhibit C-(credited to @aztarion)

Vergil

“This is my daughter. If anything happens to her, I will kill Dante and everyone else in this room and then I will kill Dante again.”

“Vergil what.”

This man does not use babytalk. He talks to her in complete sentences with words Dante doesn’t even know, his child babbling in return.

“Child, I grow quite jaded by this tirade. Either participate in nap time or stay put, I shall not heed your intentions to stay up.”

“Abababa!”

“I will not tolerate your churlishness.”

He does his best to dress her in blue. They match all the time.

He isn’t great with doing hair that isn’t his. His daughter has all her hair swept back like her old man. She copies him, slapping her forehead and swiping her stray strands of hair back. He smirks at her likeness.

Vergil had to be taught how to change a diaper by Nero.

No baby carrier, he will hold her to his waist at all times and she chews on the handle of the Yamato. He just lets her.

He doesn’t buy her toys, everyone else does.

“Child, you must stop collecting tributary from your relatives.”

“Bababababa.”

Vergil does not trust those two women with his child. However, he finds his daughter points to Trish and makes grabbing motions. Trish coos at her in her slender arms and laughs when she chews her hair, his daughter gripping Lady’s finger in her other hand. Vergil stops, and realizes-

This is the closest he will ever see his mother hold his child. He finds he does not mind it.

Vergil’s daughter is protected by his doppelganger, who moves stuff out of her crawling path and ensures she doesn’t bump her little head.

He also does not use the crib. But he tried. His baby daughter cried and reached for him, her little face scrunched up with sadness.

“It is for your own good. You must be independent. The world is a hard place, sleeping alone is the least you can do.”

The baby continues to cry and Vergil relents, eyes soft as he takes her back. He holds her the entire night.

“Perhaps just this once, my little lamb.”

All grown up, his daughter will find her baby photos in a neat scrapbook, all images were taken by Dante of Vergil holding her every night.

Nero

Youngest dad here, quite frankly the most competent.

He grew up taking care of other kids, no matter how punk rock he is, his instincts to take care of kids shine through.

She has a black pacifier that’s shaped like a skull.

He is so clingy to this little girl, knowing how he grew up with no parents.

His little girl is always with him. If not, she’s with Kyrie. She has to be convinced to go play with other children.

“Hey, can an uncle hold his niece-”

“Frick off, I’m her dad.”

“Censoring yourself, are we?”

He gives up swearing near her. That swear jar paid for a new school building next to the orphanage.

Nero melts when his little girl scratches her nose the way he always does. Some things are just genetic.

His little girl has his temper. She kicks and screams and slaps him when he doesn’t give her what she wants, although she is an angel in general.

His kid is the first one to fully trigger, a very angry and blue one-year-old with horns and astral wings, literally bursting with demonic energy and snarling. Nero sheds a tear in pride after she slashes the side of his face. A bag of frozen peas in hand, he looks at her with joy.

“She’s going to be so kick-butt. Just like me, huh?”

His daughter is tolerant of her grandfather. In the arms of Vergil, she glares back at him.

“She will be a very strong Sparda,” Vergil comments as she rips a button off his jacket.

Nero is so soft with this baby girl. He’ll scream at Dante and his father seven ways till Sunday but coo in baby talk with her.

He sings her to bed the classics.

“But I’m a creep, I am a weirdo. I don’t belong here…..” Nero rocks his daughter side to side as she softly breathes.

“N-Nero?” Kyrie asks from the doorway. He casts her a glance.

“It’s Radiohead.” He says before returning to his loving mumbles. Kyrie sighs.

“Oh my darling. Look at you, little star.” He beams as he taps her little nose. Her hair is white just like his when Nightmare is unbound.

He adores her, this little crawling bundle of joy.

Cane in one hand, he holds his child in the other.

“Wow V, human babies sure are squishy looking gremlins.”

“Griffon-”

“In a good way!”

The two other familiars are also dedicated to his daughter. Shadow likes to clean her with her tongue, causing her hair to stick up in all directions.

Griffon collects things that are shiny and gifts them to her little fat baby hands.

Unfortunately, babies are very grabby little people. Griffon caused a power outage one time because the little starling pulled his tail feathers out in curiosity.

Of course, V reads to his child his poetry. It’s the only way she can be put to sleep.

She fusses and V simply holds her up and asks her what the matter is. She babbles and squirms and V does his best to understand baby talk.

He lets people hold her, although he is nearly inches away to retrieve her in case she is displeased.

Dante is the favorite uncle and she loves to play peek-a-boo with him.

V nearly keels over one day when she managed to absorb Shadow, soft baby skin decorated by black spider lilies. She returns Shadow in the form of a kitten although the big cat quickly turns back into a grown panther.

She tried it with Griffon. Yes, of course he pops out again a swearing baby chicken.

“My dear, what on earth?”

“Da-da!”

She pulls on V’s hair, threading her fingers through the midnight strands. She also puts her hand on his gently-sloping nose. He doesn’t mind it, although her fingers can be sticky.

He keeps a little bell on his cane to waggle over her head when she is bored. She loves it and reaches her little hands to the sound. She likes to take his rings and clink them together.

Sometimes, he gives up and just eats the same baby food she does.

He’s a very patient father, although she can easily exhaust him with all the demands.

“The queen reigns over all.” V muses as she throws a tantrum.

He has a day-to-day journal of her development, full of pressed flowers and inked poetry of his Little Wanderer.

#devil may cry #vergil sparda #dante sparda #devil may cry imagines #dante headcanons #dmc imagines #dmc v headcanons #dmc5 v headcanons #vergil headcanons #daddy Dante #dadgil #dad Nero #daddy V #parenting headcanons #request #daughter headcanons

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elisaphoenix13 · 3 years ago

Text

Bonding With Clay

Tony woke with a soft groan and rolled onto his side to throw his arm around Stephen and buried his nose in the back of his neck. He even hooked a leg over Stephen's and ground his hips against his ass until the younger man hugged and swatted back at him.

"Tony, no. There's a child in our bed and I have to go to Kamar-taj today." Stephen mumbles.

Tony cracks his eyes open and lifts his head to look over Stephen and sighs when he finds Valerie cocooned against the sorcerer. "Doesn't she have her own bed?"

"She had a nightmare."

"What about William?" Tony complains and Stephen chuckles.

"You know as well as I do that there are some things parents can do that siblings can't." The sorcerer pushes Tony's face away. "Go brush your teeth."

"Absolutely not. You have to suffer my morning breath now." Tony laughs and kisses Stephen. It only lasted a few seconds before the younger was pushing him away again with a look of disgust.

"I can even taste it!"

Tony laughs again and rolls back over to get out of bed and shuffle into their bathroom to brush his teeth. As he passed Lucy's crib, he found her wide awake and sitting up, patiently gnawing on her teething ring...which she fondly chucked at his head. It was her way of saying good morning and also her way of showing that she liked someone. Fortunately she only threw soft things at people. The more dangerous items were chucked at something random. Like the lab incident.

So he and Stephen considered themselves lucky. Of course they still tried to get her to stop, but she was stubborn like her parents. Lucy did what she wanted.

"Just a minute Lulu. I've been ordered to wash my mouth and you know how Mom is." Tony says and grabs his toothbrush. Lucy babbles in a way a baby might be offended and Tony looks into the bedroom to look at Stephen as he gets out of bed as well. "Y'hear that?"

"She always has something to say." Stephen scoffs as he fixes the blankets over Valerie. "It'll be you, Lucy, and Valerie today. The kids have school and classes, I have things to check on in Kamar-taj, and everyone else is busy."

Tony spits into the sink after rinsing and frowns. "I don't mind, but Val never seems to enjoy our time together."

"She's getting better." Stephen sighs.

It was true...for the most part. Valerie wasn't completely reliant on Stephen anymore ever since the twins came to live with them. She adored William, and of course she loved Tony, but she and her father had yet to find something to bond over. She loved reading and the piano like Stephen just like Lucy loved being in the lab with Tony. He would figure something out though. Maybe tough out sitting through The Little Mermaid for the fourteen hundredth time? That was Valerie's favorite movie.

"You taking the cloak?" Tony asks.

"Mmhmm." Stephen responds as he brushes his teeth.

"Athena?" Another noise of approval. "Right... we'll figure it out."

"Mmnnbbbftt!" Lucy babbles.

Tony leaves the bathroom and takes the baby out of her crib. "I heard you the first time, bossy."

"If that isn't evidence enough that she takes after you--" Stephen starts until Tony points at him.

"She could have just as easily gotten it from you Duchess."

Stephen chuckles and walks back over to the bed when Valerie sits up and rubs her eyes. While he got ready for the day and explained to the little girl that she would be spending the day with her father and sister, Tony got himself and Lucy ready for the day. His mind was already occupied with how he would spend the day with the girls since Valerie had no interest in the lab, and everything led to Disney movies and tea parties. Not that he had anything against either of those since he was used to it, but he had tried that before and Valerie just didn't seem as interested as she would usually be.

It sort of made him feel like a failure as a father. There had to be something they would enjoy doing together right? Hell, even Lucy enjoyed being run around by Thomas.

"What sounds good for breakfast topolina?" Tony asks as Valerie climbs down from the bed.

"Fwench toast."

Well, that was easy. "French toast it is." Tony says.

Stephen crouches in front of Valerie when he finishes getting dressed and brushes her hair back. "I'll be back later. Have fun with Daddy, okay?"

"Okay."

Stephen kisses her forehead and gets back up to grab his sling ring off the nightstand, and waits just long enough after opening a gateway to wait for Levi to fly into the room and hang on his shoulders. Then he and Athena were through the gateway and it closed behind him, leaving Valerie to stare forlornly at the space it had been. Tony gently pats her head before leading her out of the master bedroom.

"Where's Mooey? Why don't you go get him and you can help me with breakfast." Tony suggests.

"Can we have fwuit?" She asks softly.

"We sure can." Tony smiles. "We can even have some chocolate chips on our french toast if you want."

Valerie smiles and nods before skittering away to her room to find her stuffed cow. A smile from a promise if chocolate chips was a good start to their day, and he would make sure they had a fruit salad with all of her favorites. So with that thought in mind, he descends the stairs to the kitchen where he deposits Lucy into her high chair and answers her demands when she smacks her hands on her tray.

"You are your mother's daughter...but don't tell him I said that." Tony mumbles and searches through the cupboards for the baby cereal puffs. "Look at that! Apple cinnamon flavor, your favorite!"

He pulls out the container and opens it to pour a dozen pieces onto Lucy's tray and she immediately grabs one and pops it into her mouth, humming happily. Lucy would be fed some proper breakfast later, but the puffs would tide her over until he and Valerie cooked and ate their own food. When he started to grab all they would need to make breakfast, Valerie finally joined him with Mooey in one of her arms, and he grabbed a step stool for her to use.

He gave her the easier tasks such as cracking the eggs and putting some cinnamon in them before it was whisked, and while he cooked the french toast, she washed the fruit. Strawberries, grapes, bananas, and even some kiwi were thrown into a bowl after Tony helped her cut them into pieces, and Valerie carefully mixed them together before stepping down from the stool and carrying the bowl to the table. It was amazing how independent Valerie was already being in her own way. She loved helping any way she could and even got a little upset when something was beyond her capabilities. Like when Stephen got sick. She was able to help make him soup but not much else and hated that there wasn't more she could do to make her mommy feel better.

William had to distract her most of the time, and the other times he had to reassure her. Tony and Stephen didn't like the girls to go into their room if one of them were sick because they didn't want them to get sick too.

"Here we go. Piping hot toast with…" Tony makes a show of topping Valerie's french toast with a few chocolate chips and she giggles. "Chocolate chips as promised. Buon appetito."

"Tank you Daddy," Valerie says softly when he places the plate on the table in front of her. He cuts it up for her before kissing her temple and then gets his own plate before sitting across from her.

"Want syrup?" He asks and grabs the syrup dispenser he had filled with warm syrup and pours a little bit on her toast.

"Ba!" Lucy reaches out and Tony chuckles and puts a drop on his finger to stick in her mouth.

"There. Like it? You don't get anymore." Tony says as Lucy sucks on his finger.

Tony made quick work of his french toast and fruit so he could feed Lucy before she started to demand more syrup. He grabbed a jar of chicken and rice--which made him gag a little when he opened it-- and a spoon, then offered a spoonful to the infant. He really didn't understand how babies could like the meat purees. He didn't dare try it in case it tasted as bad as it smelled, and the vegetables weren't much better. Tony was seriously considering giving the task of feeding Lucy her meat and vegetables to the Avengers.

Or the boys if they misbehaved. He knew for a fact the smell hit Peter harder.

"All done." Valerie announces.

"Great job." Tony glances at her plate. "You sure polished your plate. Go ahead and go watch your movie while I finish feeding your sister."

"Kay."

Valerie gets down from her chair and grabs her plate, carrying it to the sink and carefully lifting it up to drop it in. She checked her hands to see if they needed to be washed, found them clean, and shuffled to the living room and asked Friday to put on her favorite movie. Tony smiled and finished feeding Lucy and cleaned her up before taking her to the playpen in the living room, and then returned to the kitchen to clean up the mess. With how quiet things were, Tony honestly would have forgotten that Valerie was even there. All he heard was the tv and Lucy...and the water running.

How Stephen and William remembered her when she was this quiet was nothing short of amazing, but the thought sounded terrible to him at the same time. He didn't forget about Valerie, not by a long shot, but if someone told him they came by and took her to do something, he would be inclined to believe them. But she was sitting on the couch with Mooey clutched in her arms when he finally finished cleaning up and sat on the couch next to her.

"So...I thought of an idea." Tony smiles when Valerie looks up at him.

"Idea?"

"Yup. I think Tibbs is around here somewhere and he's due for his next pedicure."

Valerie's eyes brighten and she giggles. "Dia and Cassie do that!"

"Well I think it's our turn."

The little girl hopped off the couch to go find the pet safe nail polish and Tony looked around for the cat. It didn't take long to find Tibbs dozing in a patch of sunlight on the floor and the feline protested with an annoyed meow when Tony scooped him up.

"I don't know why you bother throwing a fit." Tony snorts as he carries Tibbs back over to the coffee table where Valerie was already waiting. "What color is he getting today topolina?"

"Purple!"

Tony laughs. "Purple it is."

Once Tony sets Tibbs down, Valerie gently takes one of the cat's paws and carefully applies the polish to each nail. Tibbs, the ever chill cat, sat calmly after yawning and patiently let the little girl do his nails. He was more than used to letting the girls do stuff like this to him and knew eventually they would finish and let him go so Tony wasn't worried about him scratching. All the other animals got pedicures as well.

Even Emir.

"Tibbs gets tweats!" Valerie says after finishing.

"He sure does. You know where they are." Tony says and Valerie gets up to retrieve the cat treats.

She shook the bag as she returned from the lower cabinets in the kitchen, and Tony laughed when the cat's ears perked up. Tony helped his daughter open the bag and she grabbed a small handful which she held out and let Tibbs eat straight from her hand. While the cat purred contently, Tony glanced over at Lucy to find the baby fast asleep with her teething ring still in her mouth.

"Where's the Play-Doh Uncle Steve got you?" Tony asks and Valerie points towards her room. "Go get it. We'll make some sculptures."

"You too?" She asks.

"Me too. You can show me how to make flowers."

Once again, the little girl scurried away, leaving Tony with The Little Mermaid to fill the silence, but soon enough, Valerie came back with an armful of containers of Play-Doh. She sets them down on the coffee table before sitting on Tony's lap, and he smiles as she starts opening the containers and taking out the clay. They spent the next couple of hours shaping the clay into different things, from flowers to Tony's suits, until they were rudely interrupted by Lucy's teething ring. Specifically when it sailed into the air and hit the side of Tony's head.

"I'm guessing it's time for lunch." Tony snorts and lifts Valerie out of his lap, groaning as he gets up from the floor. "Daddy's getting too old for this."

"Burro di arachidi e gelatina?" Valerie requests.

"Yes ma'am. With milk." Tony says as he walks over to the playpen and picks up Lucy. He sniffs and grimaces. "After I change your sister."

Valerie wrinkles her nose. "Yucky."

"You said it. You finish your sculpture and then we can make lunch and watch a movie. Sound good?" Tony asks.

"Uh-huh."

Tony couldn't believe he was worried about this just this morning. He enjoyed playing with the clay with Valerie, and he was pretty sure she enjoyed herself too. He made a mental note to think of more things to do for the future days like this, with another side note to think of things that Lucy could eventually join in on. The baby was growing up fast and wouldn't be content to stay in the playpen forever.

"Phew." Tony reels back a little when he opens the baby's diaper once he gets her on the changing table in the master bathroom. "Are you taking lessons from Harley?"

#stephen strange #supremefamily #ironstrange #tony stark #mama bear stephen strange #valerie stark strange (oc)#lucy elina stark strange (oc)

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marvelmadam08 · 3 years ago

Text

Baby Blues 17/?

Summary: Alex and Chris have their first scare as parents.

Warnings: Blood, emergency hospital visits, slight angst. Fluff.

A/N: So sorry for the delay in posting. I’ve been in a serious downward spiral for a while lately, along with some family drama (I’ll spare the details) but I’m back and will do my best to keep posting regularly.

~~~~~~

11 Weeks ( and 5 Days) Old

Chris was stressed. He was going back and forth between home and work, and when he was home he'd work some more. He would wake up early and drag himself to bed long after both Alex and Ace went to sleep, not that it would make much of a difference. Ace would still cry when Chris would try to hold him or go anywhere near Alex. Now he knew how Dodger felt for the last three months.

Chris quietly shut the front door behind him, knowing that Ace would be in the middle of another nap right about now. He stopped in the doorway of the nursery, it was cooler than usual; the window next to the crib opened just enough to let some fresh air breeze through. Ace was soundly asleep, his tiny fist was halfway in his mouth covered in drool. He made his way down the hall to his own room. Alex was on the bed, Dodger curled up by her side, her focus on the laptop in front of her while she typed away. He took in how she looked, her freshly washed curls were out, which he loved; and she was wearing her ‘lucky’ writing shirt and a pair of shorts.

“Hey babe.” Alex grinned. Chris climbed up on the other side of Alex, draping his arm over her lap and sighing deeply “Rough day?”

“Something like that.” He turned to look at the laptop screen “What are you writing?”

Alex covered his eyes “Nothing.”

“Is it about me?” Chris tickled her side, Alex half shrieked, trying to push his hands away

“Chris, cut it out- you know I don’t show you my chapters until I’m ready.”

“C’mon, I just wanna make sure you’re writing me accurately, as a loving supportive, sexy husband- ‘with eyes that rivaled the bluest of oceans’-”

Alex cringed at the memory of her slurring those words to Chris after an eventful Girls Night Out she had with her old college friends. They were engaged at the time, drunk Alex thought sending Chris a 'sexy' voice message would be the best way to rile him up for when she got home. When she woke up the next morning, with a massive hangover and no solid memory of the rest of the night, Chris was there with aspirin and let her listen to the voice message and watch the video of her trying to sneak back in the house without being caught.

“I told you that in a drunken state!” Alex pulled the pillow from behind her and smacked her laughing husband in the face. “You’re such a jerk.”

"Now you're in trouble." Chris sat up, pushing the laptop off her lap and tickling Alex's sides

"Chris, I didn’t mean it." She said between giggles “Get him Dodge.”

Dodger sat up, ears twitching slightly, before he bounced off the bed and ran out the room all together.

“Traitor.” Alex pouts

Chris pushed himself up on his knees, his hands grabbing Alex by her legs and pulling her closer. His eyes roamed over her body, one hand rested on her thigh while the other cradled the back of her head; playing with the tiny coils there.

“Chris, you’re gonna mess up my hair.” Alex smirked

“Then put the bonnet on and let me do what I need to do.” he whispered, now leaning in closer to press his lips to hers.

Dodger ran back into the room, whining loudly before barking.

“Shh, Dodge you’re gonna wake the baby!” Chris shushed. Dodger barked again, with more fervor, Ace cries shortly followed, he ran out once more; still barking and growling. “Dodger, enough!”

Alex huffed before pulling away from Chris. “I’ll get Ace.”

“I can do it.” Chris offered

“No, it’s fine, but do me a favor and grab my bonnet.” she winked slipping out of his grasp in time to keep him from smacking her ass. Chris jumped up from his spot on the bed to rummage through the dresser for the silk bonnet.

"Chris!" Alex shrieked

"Al?" He ran for the nursery, Alex was practically halfway in the crib scrambling to get Ace, Dodger was doing his best to climb inside the crib too "What’s wrong? What happened?"

Something jumped out the crib, Dodger took off after it, giving Chris room to see what was happening. Ace was nearly red in the face, crying and scared; a small series of scratches covered his face and arms.

"There was a squirrel in the crib, it must’ve gotten in through the window." Alex picked Ace up holding onto him closely "Mama's here, it's okay I got you."

"We gotta take him to the hospital." Chris was already grabbing the carrier and nearby baby bag.

“It’s okay, it’s okay.” Alex gently laid Ace in the carrier and strapped him in, he continued to cry and squirm

***

Ace's cries carried on the whole ride to the hospital. Alex and Chris were talking over each other when the nurse asked what was wrong, thankfully she was able to understand and rushed a doctor over.

They both watched the nurse apply a soothing aloe lotion to the scratches, while they sat on the other side of the room. Ace rested in the incubator, staring back at the nurse, from time to time he would turn his head in the direction of Alex’s voice.

“It’s all my fault, I’m so fucking stupid.” Alex sniffled, rubbing her legs, partly to comfort herself but also because she was cold, not thinking to grab longer pants before leaving the house.

"No, Al it is not your fault, and you are not stupid." Chris shrugged off his long sleeve flannel, draping it over Alex's legs then wrapping his arm around her shoulders.

“I left the window open.”

“You made a mistake, mistakes happens all the time with first time parents.”

“How many first time parents let a wild, rabid squirrel into their newborns room?” Alex huffed “He hasn’t even gotten his second round of shots yet. He could get rabies or typhus, maybe ringworm.”

“He’s going to be fine, the doctor said the cuts weren’t that deep and we got him here in time to catch anything.” Chris kissed the top of her head “He’s gonna be fine, Al. I’m sure of it.”

“Okay, we’re all done.” the nurse cooed at Ace, placing mittens on both of his hands to keep him from scratching “The doctor should be back in just a moment to let you know how the tests went.”

“Thank you.” Alex was the first one up, hurrying over to the incubator “Hi baby. Mommy is so sorry for letting that mean old squirrel scratch you up.”

Chris walked over to the other side, smiling down at his son. “Hey bud.” he smirked slightly watching Ace rub his face with the mittens “You know we owe Dodger something special, for scaring that squirrel off.”

“He probably mauled that thing.” Alex stated, then poked out her bottom lip at Ace “Didn’t he, didn’t Dodger attack that nasty little squirrel that scratched up your face.”

“We should get him a treat on the way back.” Chris stuck a hand inside the incubator, stroking Ace’s cheek gently. “And we should probably move Ace’s crib from by the window.”

“Agreed.” Alex looked up when the room door opened again, seeing the doctor walk in “Good news?”

“Luckily majority of the scratches weren’t that deep, and the ones that were didn’t show signs of any other infections. No traces of rabies or any other diseases in his blood, which is extremely lucky considering he still hasn’t had his second round of vaccines yet.” he doubled checked the clipboard, “I will recommend that if any of the scars start oozing or he shows signs of swelling, that you come back to see me. As well as changing his soaps to ones with Aloe, to keep him from scratching.”

“Of course, thank you.” Chris shook the doctor’s hand “Are we all set to take him home?”

“Absolutely. As soon as you sign the release papers.”

***

Dodger was at the door as soon as it opened, he sniffed at Alex and Chris, looking for Ace; whining softly.

“Ace is alright, Dodge.” Alex assured, Dodger followed after her to the bedroom. She laid Ace down in his bassinet, currently still asleep from the car ride home.

Dodger padded over to the bassinet, curling up next to it. Alex knelt down to pet him, giving him well deserved belly rubs and ear scratches. "Good boy Bubs."

"Very good boy." Chris came up behind Alex with a hefty bone for Dodger that they picked up on the way home. His ears perked up at the sight and he sat up waiting for Chris to hand it over "Proud of you, Bubba."

Dodger wasted no time gnawing on the bone, remaining in the protective spot next to the bassinet.

“I think this was a quickest he’s gone to sleep.” Chris stated in reference to Ace, a small smirk on his face hearing his son’s soft nasally snores.

“The aloe lotion and the drive put him right to sleep.” Alex secured the mittens on Ace’s hands. Chris wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her in closer and rested his chin on her shoulder. “He looked so helpless today, so scared. And it was my fault I never have him nap in a different room and the one time I do- this happens.”

“It wasn’t your fault Al, you couldn’t have known.” Chris spoke softly “Do you know how many times my brother and I have sent each other to the hospital?”

“I heard the stories Chris, you practically tortured your poor brother.” Alex sighed “Are you saying that, this is gonna be the first in a long roster of hospital visits?”

“I’m saying, look at him. He’s here, he’s healthy, and he’s going to be okay.” Chris kissed Alex’s cheek “Let’s get to bed.”

Alex half pouts, but allowed Chris to pull her over to the bed. “But I’m not tired.”

“Then you can keep me company, because I’m exhausted.”

They both settled on to their respected sides of the bed, but still drifted to the middle; Alex curled into Chris's side, letting her head rest on his chest and his arm wrapped protectively around her.

“When did you become the voice of reason in this relationship?”

“After all these years, I’m still full of surprises.” Chris kissed her on the forehead “Now go to sleep.”

“You’re bossy.” Alex yawned

Chris woke up again around four in the morning, not that he truly went to sleep, each time he closed his eyes he kept hearing Alex screaming, Ace crying, and something even more rabid or dangerous than a squirrel was in the crib next to him. He acted a lot braver than he let on today, giving Alex positive assurance while his own thoughts were just as frightful for the outcome.

He slipped out from under Alex without waking her, walking up to the side of the bassinet. Ace stared back at him with sleepy eyes, rubbing his face with his mitten covered hands.

"Hey bud, you're supposed to be sleeping." He whispered, gently picking Ace up in his arms. There was no fussing and no crying this time, Chris held Ace to his chest bouncing from foot to foot to lull him back to sleep. “I’m gonna tell you a little secret, just don’t tell Momma, but I was really scared today, seeing you all scratched up and hurt. It felt like my heart stopped, it probably did a few times.” he kissed the top of Ace’s head “I’m not gonna let anything hurt you again, I promise.”

Alex stirred, feeling the empty space next to her "Chris?" She focused her eyes on her husband standing over the bassinet "What's wrong?"

"Nothing’s wrong, we just couldn't sleep."

“Bring him over here.” Alex patted his empty space. Chris laid back in bed, still cradling Ace against his chest, Alex returned to Chris’ side. Dodger hopped up next, pawing at the bed for permission. “You too, let’s go.”

He hopped up, nestling himself between their legs, curling up at the foot of the bed.

“Better?” he asked her

“Much better.”

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

Taglist: @madbaddic7ed @sweetie20 @kidkool90 @maleekabenjamin @sophiayoongi-hyung @lovelokiqueen @loki8484 @buckysforeverprincess @dezdechild @marantha @lydslikestyds @wakandabiitch2 @across-the-starss @hbh6064th @jaydeee86 @alexabrown7

#Chris Evans #chris evans x ofc #chris evans x reader #black reader #babyblues #loki #Black Widow #captain america and the white wolf #what's your number #dad!chris #wandavision #agatha all along #Christopher Jamal Evans #Knives Out

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fantasy2739 · 3 years ago

Note

Could you write a fic with baby Douxie and Merlin??? Like it just seems like a cute idea!

She’s back!!! I hope this works for your request, can always do Merlin finding Douxie as a baby if you like.

Also some of you may have seen that I’ve posted my works onto ao3 so people can find them easily!

The baby garbled at him. Merlin stared at it with something between disdain and concern. He didn’t know what Hisirdoux had done. Whether it was a potion, magical accident, or one of Morgana’s pranks, he didn’t know. And he didn’t want to know. Well he did, so he could reverse it. And have his normal, gangly, bumbling apprentice back. He didn’t seem to be having much luck. The baby made another noise. Merlin sighed and picked the... thing up. How did one even hold a baby? They seemed so fragile. What if he dropped him? Would it leave permanent damage? Would Hisirdoux be okay when he went back to normal? What about food? Did babies eat normal food? Merlin tried to hide the resounding panic. He considered if babies were like dogs and horses. Could they sense fear? Would this small form of Hisirdoux know he was absolutely terrified? Merlin tried his best to hold the baby close. He remembered how he’d seen some mothers hold their children and attempted to duplicate it. Luckily Hisirdoux seemed to be an intuitive child and wrapped pudgy arms around his neck, snuggling into his shoulder. Merlin patted his back a little in what was meant to be a soothing gesture. Fortunately Hisirdoux seemed to like that and let out a noise that could be considered happy. Maybe content. Oh who was Merlin kidding he didn’t know anything about children. He’d have to go commandeer a wet nurse or someone like that. Was there even a wet nurse around? He couldn’t recall seeing many children in the castle so maybe he would have to go to town. There was a scuffle and Archie came in to view.

“Oh my, what’s happened to Douxie?” The cat asked. Merlin almost rolled his eyes, but Hisirdoux had heard Archie and was now flailing small arms at him with excited noises. Perfect.

“Watch him.” Merlin ordered, settling Hisirdoux on the ground. The baby immediately started scrambling towards Archie. He clearly couldn’t walk yet. “I’m going to find a wet nurse.” Before Archie could protest, Merlin swept out the room.

He returned an hour later, wet nurse less and unamused to one of the most adorable things he’d ever seen. Not that he’d ever admit it. Hisirdoux was curled sweetly into Archie, big eyes following the cats tail as it whipped back and forth. Pudgy hands would occasionally dart out to try and catch it. Accompanied by a giggle. Merlin smiled before smothering it.

“I take it you couldn’t find anyone to help?” Archie said, batting his tail out of Hisirdoux’s reach. Merlin gave the cat a deadpan look, he was awfully sarcastic without Hisirdoux to mind him.

“I spoke to one who found this funny.” Merlin grumbled. Actually she’d laughed in his face and mumbled something about karma. “She told me how to handle this so you can shoo.” He reached down to pick up the baby. Hisirdoux started crying the moment he was pulled from Archie’s cosy embrace. Merlin’s eyes widened as the sobs grew louder. He tried pulling Hisirdoux close. Patting his back. Rubbing it. Nothing seemed to be working until Archie hopped onto his other shoulder. He batted his tail around and Hisirdoux began to giggle again. Small hands grabbed the appendage and rubbed it happily. Archie suppressed a hiss. Merlin rubbed Hisirdoux’s back.

“You clearly know exactly what you’re doing.” Archie quipped. Merlin rolled his eyes.

“I consulted with a wet nurse and she told me what to feed him and how to get him to sleep. The back rubbing should have worked.” Merlin said pointedly.

“What did she say about taking away his favourite toy?” Archie asked, eyeing the baby now gnawing on his tail. “Or did you leave before she could tell you?” Merlin puffed up his chest.

“I’m a Master sorcerer. I can manage a baby.” He said haughtily.

“So you left.” Archie confirmed. Merlin sighed.

“I left.”

It took a while but Merlin managed to extract Hisirdoux from Archie’s tail by tempting him with some milk. Hisirdoux guzzled it.

“Slow down Hisirdoux, you’ll get sick.” He chastised, tugging the milk cup back. Hisirdoux’s eyes began to well up with tears. Merlin sighed and gave in, letting Hisirdoux guzzle away. Now if he could put him down for a nap, Merlin could get some work down. After Hisirdoux finished his milk Merlin tried his best to soothe him. It took a while and lots of rubs, but Hisirdoux fell asleep clutching at Merlin’s hair. Gently, Merlin lowered him into a make shift cot with a baby blue blanket and tucked him in. He shuffled off to get back to work. Not a few minutes had passed when.

“Waaahhh. Waaaaaahhhhh!” Came from the crib. Merlin hurried over. Hisirdoux’s face was scrunched up like he was in pain. Merlin checked him over for injury and couldn’t find any. The wailing was louder and louder. Merlin was beginning to panic. What could be wrong? He searched the brief conversation he’d had with the wet nurse.

“Sometimes if babies consume too quickly or they swallow air with their meals they need to be burped. If they aren’t it can be quite uncomfortable for them.” She had said, still snickering. Maybe Hisirdoux needed that. He lifted the small thing up and began patting his back. The first hit was clearly too hard and Hisirdoux cried louder. Merlin reminded himself that this was a baby and he needed to be gentle.

“There, there.” He mumbled as he lightly patted Hisirdoux’s back. “Let it out.” It took a minute but eventually Hisirdoux let out a little burp. What Merlin wasn’t expecting was the spit that also came up. It dribbled off his shoulder, sticking to the armour. Merlin pulled a face of disgust. Still Hisirdoux couldn’t help it. He tried to put him back into the cot but Hisirdoux was having none of it. After tussling with the child Merlin realised he wasn’t going to win.

“I hope you realise this is a big compromise.” Merlin said sternly to the baby now settled in his lap. Hisirdoux looked up at him with big eyes and smiled. “Don’t give me that look. This won’t keep happening.” Hisirdoux giggled. “Just sleep would you.” Hisirdoux snuggled closer and quietly napped while Merlin got some work done. A few hours in and Hisirdoux started to get restless. Merlin paused his workings and began to rub his back. Maybe it was a nightmare. Did babies get nightmares? Could they comprehend fear? Or did they just want something? Was it the lack of contact? Merlin pondered all this as Hisirdoux settled down again.

“Heh, you’re almost cute when you’re sleeping.” Merlin muttered at the slumbering bundle. This wasn’t so bad. Of course right at this moment he was painfully reminded that Hisirdoux was a baby. And babies couldn’t control. Well anything. Now dripping, and smelling slightly, Merlin used magic to clean them both off. Hisirdoux woke up to giggle at the green magic wrapping around him. He tried to catch the strands.

“Oh like that do you.” Merlin cooed. “Well then.” He floated some objects in front of Hisirdoux and the baby clapped wildly.

“Aah aaaah.” Hisirdoux babbled. He reached up and captured one of the objects in his own sky blue. It floated and Hisirdoux cheered. Merlin was so surprised that the others things clattered to the ground. The object dropped and Hisirdoux looked at it with a big pout. Merlin picked it up and placed it on the table. He poked Hisirdoux’s check, distracting him.

“Aren’t you full of surprises my little apprentice?” He said. Hisirdoux gave him a warm smile. He made a grabbing motion towards Merlin, who obliged. Lifting him to his chest. “It would almost be a shame to have you turn back.” Merlin sighed. He did miss his apprentice. He missed the stumbling, grumbling, and even the lute playing. The baby was cute but his apprentice was special to him. He sighed again. Hisirdoux looked at him curiously. He reached one tiny hand out and patted Merlin’s cheek.

“Aagghh aggooo.” Hisirdoux babbled. Merlin smiled. He was sure it made sense to Hisirdoux; and it was sweet that the baby tried to comfort him. He cooed at the baby.

“Changing you back can wait a bit longer.” He mumbled as he rocked his charge.

#toa #tales of arcadia wizards #tales of arcadia #Douxie #hisirdoux #hisirdoux casperan #Merlin #fluff #merlin isnt winning dad of the year #Merlin is Douxie’s dad #Archie #gratuitous misunderstanding of babies #seriously I’ve not seen many babies #fanfiction #submission #asks

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chelseareferenced · 3 years ago

Text

Look Around At How Lucky We Are To Be Alive Right Now (Heisenberg x OC!Lizzie)

Lizzie thought that killing Miranda would have solved their problems. They would have been able to find a quiet little corner of the world and make it their own. That had been the dream Karl had whispered to her in the dead of night.

But a dream and reality are two very different things. They had lived their dream for a while, a dream of not having to fight for survival, of having to do horrific things to keep them both safe.

But Heisenberg never was one to sit and smell the roses. He had been approached by a corporation, called themselves Umbrella or something like that, said they needed a man with Heisenberg's talents to make the world a better place. Lizzie never interacted with any of the agents, something about them made her stomach twist and her head ring.

It made her husband happy though, and it paid well. As long as he was happy Lizzie was happy.

Her period being late was the first sign that something had changed. Lizzie would just shake her head, maybe she had mixed up the timing, maybe it was the lack of stress, maybe she had eaten something, it was difficult to say.

Waking up feeling sick made another puzzle piece fall into place. Heisenberg had woken her up with gentle kisses and sweet words. And Lizzie had made a beeline straight for the bathroom, her husband running after her, he even held her hair back and rubbed her back as she vomited. Again came the reasoning "don't worry honey, something must have disagreed with me!"

The longer it went on the more piece came together.

The small bump on her stomach and a pregnancy test caused all her denial to crumble away.

Without a shadow of doubt, Lizzie was pregnant.

So many emotions flooded through her, joy and pure happiness. She had always wanted children, even treating Lady Alcina's daughters as if they were own despite their cruel actions towards her.

But then the doubt came in, gnawing away at her happiness like a mouse does to woodwork. What if Karl didn't want children? What if he got mad? What if he left her? What if he made get rid of it?

It wasn't like it was back at the Village of Shadows, she couldn't nip up the mountains to confide in Donna, couldn't visit the lakes to ask Moreau for help, couldn't go to the castle to ask Alcina to help her. She was alone.

Ethan Winters had seen to that.

Karl noticed something was off sooner or later. And it hurt him to see his buttercup suffering. Mood swings, illness and looking at him like he was going to yell at her at any second. It broke his heart.

"Butterblume, darlin'... please talk me..." he cupped his wife's face in his hands and looked into her eyes. "Whatever is bothering you we can figure it out together, just let me in!"

Lizzie started sobbing and held onto him, clinging onto him like he might just vanish at any moment "Karl... Karl I'm pregnant!"

Heisenberg froze.

And Lizzie cried harder, thinking her worst fears were about to come true.

Until she heard laughter.

He.... wasn't mad?

"Is this what's got your antenna in a twist buttercup?"

"You're not-"

"Mad? No! Going to leave you? Absolutely fucking not, you're stuck with me babies or not"

Lizzie started laughing now.

"How long have you known?"

"A month or so..."

"You hide the fact you where pregnant for a month?"

Lizzie shrugged and smiled, feeling like a huge weight had been lifted off of her heart and shoulders. Her baby would be safe and loved and her husband wasn't going to leave.

"I... I'm gonna be a father!" It had finally sunk into Heisenberg's mind properly. He was going to have a kid, a baby, with the love of his life. They where going to have a family. A proper family.

"I love you Lizzie... so much, you don't have to worry about anything I'll-"

A soft hand on his cheek made him pause mid sentence "you don't have to do everything honey... just come home at the end of the day, that would be enough. Enough for the both of us"

One of Heisenberg's rough hands covered the soft and warm on his cheek and he took his glasses off, so much warmth and love were in those amber eyes.

"Then that's what I'll do. I'll always come back to you and our kid... I have to make a cradle though"

"Or... we could just order one?" A teasing smile appeared on Lizzie's face. She knew her husbands opinions on flat pack furniture. They had bought a table and Karl had thrown the thing down the garden. It was pretty funny to watch.

"Now that's just mean, you may be having my baby but you're not going to convince me to make a flat pack crib"

"Not even for a kiss?"

"Not even a million kisses buttercup"

"Ah well, it's a good thing I like watching you work isn't it..."

Now it was Heisenberg's turn to tease, his hands wandered down her waist and gave her ass a little squeeze "I'm pretty sure that's how we got this bundle of joy in the first place..."

"Karl Heisenberg!"

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

Back on my bullshit, this is gonna be at least a three part mini series with some angst coming up hehe, if you want to be tagged in this mini series just let me know in anyway.

Also reblogs are appreciated

@purple-anxiety-blog @trashbunnysblog @statictay @captainsaltypear

#chelseareferenced #heisenbee #karl heisenberg #karl heisenberg x oc #heisenberg #heisenberg x oc #lizzie heisenberg #that would be enough #lord heisenberg #resident evil 8 #resident evil village #karl heisenberg lives #au #resident evil 8 oc #mini series

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doorsclosingslowly · 3 years ago

Text

Your death is a number but I cannot count that high (14/17)

In which Savage tastes freedom. Zombie Savage AU | 2k | warnings for body horror, suicidal ideation, mention of sexual violence

The back is still against the doorframe, even though it takes all of Savage’s might to keep it rooted there. He only bothers because Maul is staring at him—Maul, his little brother, who is alive!—Maul is finally meeting Savage’s eyes, and he looks brittle enough that a mistimed movement might shatter his composure. Savage will not do that to him. Not in front of their enemies.

Their enemies: if Savage allowed the Mother’s body—no, that’s not right, Kenobi said it’s his brother’s—his—if he allowed the body he is inside to move, he would stand in front of Maul now, using his broad back to shield him from the man who mutilated him and laughed, and the Woman who might use Her power at any time to violate him. Savage would be the impenetrable wall that keeps him safe forever. Savage will be the wall. They will have to shatter it—to shatter him, tear him limb from limb, and obliterate even the chapped nail on his left little toe before they may pass. He will die before anyone touches Maul. He will never outlive his brother ever again. Even now, he can feel the cables slithering out of his chest cavity and the shrapnel taking flight, worming their way across Maul’s back in clear threat. One step towards my brother, and it will strike. I will. The destroyed ‘saber parts squirm out of his rib cage. Floor tiles uncrease as they scuttle out of the wreckage of his right eye socket, leaving a meaty chasm; and the repair kit debris that knit him together after his attempted death caresses his arm as it shimmies out. He is almost emptied of metal now, only an umbilical cord tethering his skewered heart to the trash wall that has metastasized into a creature like the dread rancour from Feral’s least favorite nighttime story. He is glowing green.

Kenobi is distracted away from Maul, gazing at the metal birthed from Savage’s body with barely veiled horror. The Sister looks nauseated. She has gazed appraisingly at Savage, gauging his use; she has smiled haughtily; her eyes have threatened sensual caress. From her current expression, she would sooner eat the carcass of a half-decayed veeka-bird than touch him.

Good, Savage thinks. Good.

He is safe from her, inside this patchwork undying body; he is safe and Maul is safe, now that Savage is too horrendous for these people to look at. He can read it in the blown white of their eyes: this body is too monstrous for Her to use anymore. It’s not the body of a mate, a tool, an opponent, but a loathsome and piteous creation that will revel in its new, raging, abhorrent triumphant freedom.

This is not the body the Mother gave him.

It’s not the body of the baby that Savage’s long-dead big brother cradled against his chest; not the body of a roughneck chasing his peers nor the body that sobbed before Maul’s empty crib and helplessly soothed Feral when he was little, the body that carried his brothers and fed them and shuddered with terror. It’s not the body Savage grew up in, the body he grew to become.

But it’s not the body the Mother gave him.

He allows himself to explore it, quickly. His fingers, metal and gnawed skin alike, are shy, but even they can feel some differences. The planes of immaculate muscles are gone. The body She made undid the scars of his previous hard-won life, a vain indulgence aimed solely at Her and Her ilk, but now it is overstuffed again with the proud marks of battle. He already noticed that the long powerful arm has shrunk—not the one he raised when She told him to kill Feral, that one’s long gone and replaced by Death Watch steel, but its twin is shorter again, the way it used to be—and shrunk, he hopes, shrunk too is the limp dick She engorged and crafted for a purpose he still does not want think about. He noticed these changes, before, absent-mindedly on his fleeing ship, but mourning the deaths of all brothers who ever lived he was far too miserable to care. He tallies up the evidence now with his fingers. No longer does Savage hit his strangely high head against doorframes and lamps he should have cleared. It’s so obvious, and he should have noticed it earlier, shouldn’t have needed Kenobi pointing out his liberation. This is not the body Savage grew up in, but it’s so much closer than he ever dared hope he could regain.

You created that body, Kenobi said to Maul. Accused him. You, Maul. You did this. Not Talzin. Not any Nightsister.

This single accusation is enough to turn upside down the current eternity of Savage’s life.

It was Maul.

The body was created by Maul.

It’s Maul: the fulcrum that changes everything. It’s hard to believe, to consider the body’s movements friendly after months of living in the dumb meat She made for Her weapon and after weeks of cursing the Mother for not letting him die, and Savage does not actually know what a technobeast or a mechu-deru is except that they are the thing he is, now—he will ask later—but the very idea that this is Maul’s doing creates nothing but utter, giddy relief.

It’s not the Mother’s body that Savage wears anymore. This body that averts Nightsister eyes in revulsion and that keeps murderous Jedi far from his brother, this body that let him stand up after a mortal strike and return to his brother who still lives, his alive, clever, precious little brother—it’s not a poisoned gift by Mother Talzin that unmakes the person he used to be and demands its price in his brother’s blood. The beating of his hearts—their silence, now—is no longer subject to the will of a heinous Witch.

No, Savage’s ingenious brother has found a way to tear him free from Her grasp. This body was made by Maul, it obeys him, and… it will not kill him.

Savage stifles his sob. They are in the presence of enemies. Still, his shoulders raise as the weight drops away, and the rancour of his innards curls around Maul in grateful adoration. This body will not kill Maul.

Maul made it. It obeys him. It won’t kill him.

Never again will Savage have to fear being used to murder his brother.

Never again, never again. Maul rarely allowed Savage to broach the topic, back before their separation after the attack of Maul’s evil Master, and if he did he insisted that he was far more powerful than Savage and therefore, if anything, he would kill Savage and not the other way around. Savage usually pretended that it soothed his worry, because he didn’t want to reject Maul’s unpracticed attempts at consoling him—and he was happy that Maul was so much stronger, even as he hated the treatment that had given Maul that power—but how could he stop being terrified he might be used to hurt Maul? He’d never worried about hurting Feral, and that had given him nothing but ruin. Besides, even the most impressive fighter will one day let down his guard, and the more time they spent together the less Maul seemed to even entertain the idea that Savage could be a threat. Maul slept leaning up against him; he turned his back freely; he joked about Savage’s cooking. The closeness was both joyful and terrifying. So Savage worried, and worried, and created schemes upon schemes that might stop him when the Mother’s body he was trapped in was used to attack.

Never again.

Savage settles into the body, for the first time since Feral died. He feels the background headache and the pulsating pain in his chest, but he also focuses on the fact that his eye line is at the height it was before he gave himself to the Witches. The debris crawling back into his bisected arm is not the Mother’s reluctance at giving up Her weapon but his brother’s love.

It is strange: Savage came here to die. He was ready to make an ally of the person who’d hurt his brother most in the world—bar one—to make Sidious bleed for killing Maul, but failing that…

He came here to die.

Kenobi, he’d decided, would mutilate him the way he’d torn young hopeful Maul apart. Maul had jabbered and raved about that moment often enough, early in their comradery or later-on unguarded after nightmares, and though Maul liked to pretend it was a lucky hit and Savage admittedly knew far less about lightsaber combat, the sheer cruelty of the cut suggested that it was deliberate. Having met the Jedi in the flesh twice afterwards just convinced him further. So Kenobi was supposed to dismember this meat prison—let the Mother keep control of Her weapon when its brain is in pieces!

Kenobi had refused to play his role, but he hadagreed to join forces against Sidious. Sidious was much more powerful than Kenobi—occasional sweaty nightmares against utter mindless terror—and if the Jedi would not grant Savage release, then both of them would challenge the Sith Lord. Kenobi, who’d hurt Maul, would die miserably. Savage’s misery would end in death. Two wishes fulfilled. He was going to die.

Freedom was death.

Death was the only mercy.

Mercy was more than he deserved.

Time ceased to matter after he thought he saw Maul’s death, and so he doesn’t know when he heard of the destruction of Dathomir, but—for the worst eternity of his life, he believed he was the last creature left of his murdered planet. He, who’d watched his brothers die and he who killed them. There was no glory in living on. Even if there was, he didn’t want it. He didn’t want to be alone. Every movement of his new body reminded him of the Mother, the Woman who made him kill Feral, the last person he ever wanted to remember, and there was no duty to a brother that would make the misery worthwhile. He wanted to die. He’d wanted to die since Feral, but after Sidious’ attack, there was no counterweight. No Maul.

Death was more than he deserved, but he could not help but yearn for it.

It wore itself deep into the grooves of his mind—no release from this body but death. No release until Her weapon strikes true.

But Savage is not a weapon now.

Maul, his clever clever brother, gave him a body that strikes fear into the hearts of Nightsisters and Jedi, a body that might even, now that Savage can consider the matter with a lens that begs for more than death, a body that might even be able to protect Maul from his monstrous Master.

Savage is not a weapon, and he is not alone.

Maul is here, standing before him and facing away from the Jedi who mutilated him and the Witch who once controlled Savage. Maul is alive, gloriously alive, and this undying body will be the wall that shields him. No-one will ever hurt Maul again.

There is still pain, in this body that Maul gave him. There is far more pain than in the Mother’s body, which smothered every feeling and every thought if he wasn’t careful; this body hurts constantly, but now Savage can recognize the near-forgotten brag. I am, the ragged ache that replaced his hearts screams. I’m mine. I’m no longer Yours.

He stands still, and watches Maul regain his composure and turn around. The rancour retracts, bleeding back into the body. Savage can feel its quiet shy reentry. The pieces of metal are trying, pointlessly, to cause as little pain as possible. Savage does not know whether he recalled them, or whether Maul did—they are reunited now, and nothing else matters.

#savage opress #savage oppress #darth maul #zombie savage au #dimtraces makes things

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okayoonoh · 5 years ago

Text

MARK’S FAMILY

a/n: i have a bit more time now since school is out! i hope to get as many things out as i can!

here’s the masterlist to all things nct dad related! go and check it out!

MARK LEE:

he has 2 kids, both boys. ethan lee is the oldest, 2 years later, eli lee was born.

ETHAN LEE: >> as a baby <<

a giggly little thing

he was honestly just a lowkey baby

like he wasn’t super energetic

he wasn’t super fussy

he was just lowkey

mark honestly was so nervous the entire first couple months of ethan’s life

he genuinely felt like he was doing everything wrong and was so scared that he would do something that would eventually hurt ethan

but you would reassure him that every new parent just needs to figure it out and everything will be okay

mark was still pretty nervous tho

ethan is the oldest of the kids born in his year

there’s only three of them

ten’s second son, shawn leechaiyapornkul and jaehyun’s daughter, jung lani

all three dads would come together as a joint baby sitting project

but honestly, ten and jaehyun went over to help mark and ease his nervousness

like shawn is ten’s second son, so even if ten doesn’t have it completely figured out, he at least has the experience

on the other hand, jaehyun has read a ton of parenting books and such so he knows a lot about the facts of the matter dealing with temperature of baby food, the right type of crib, the material of the baby’s clothes, etc.

jaehyun and ten would go to mark’s house a lot to help him out and teach him the ropes

(omg i have scenario ideas haha)

but a little snippet:

mark: okay, ten-hyung, he’s been crying for the last hour and i already fed, changed, and burped him and i’ve been trying to get him to sleep for a while now... what do i do?

ten: stop bouncing for a sec and hold him. *walks over so his face is level with ethan’s face* ethan look! *takes out a toy to distract the baby*

ethan: *gnaws on his fist but stops crying, his attention on the toy now.*

mark: how did you know?

ten: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ all experience, dude.

(another scenario)

mark: okay ethan, time for your bath!

jaehyun: waIT STOP

mark: ???

jaehyun: did you check the temperature??? you can’t put ethan in the same temperature that you bathe in... babies can be sensitive towards this... *puts his hand in the water* oh my goD! mark! this is way too hot!! turn down the temperature!

(oh man imma have fun with these three haha)

ethan was born first

shawn was born next

and lani was born last

they were all born rather close to each other tho

like coincidentally, they were all born like within 30 days of each other lol

ethan was born 2 weeks late (i know... poor you...)

shawn was born roughly on time

and lani was born like 2 weeks early

since they were all around the same age and such, jaehyun, ten, and mark found that as a reason to all get together and help each other

(it was more mark freaking out and ten and jaehyun helping him out haha)

just give mark sometime with ten and jaehyun and they’ll make sure he knows what to do :)

>> as a child <<

started to become a little more active

he’s so lovable

like he’s so magnetic

so many of the kids are just so drawn to him it’s weird

like even he doesn’t really know why but people just always want to be his friend

he’s so talented and so dedicated when he puts his mind into something

ethan is such a hard worker

he’s best friends with ten’s second son, shawn leechaiyapornkul and jaehyun’s daughter, jung lani

they all remain best friends basically for life

the three of them are pretty clever for kids

like they make really good decisions

they won’t go and buy the high quality toys that are expensive

they’ll buy the budget toys bc there’s more of them

the three of them all play well together

shawn is really shy and was really scared to try new things

he wasn’t really adventerous

ethan and lani decided it was their life mission to make shawn more social and adventurous

most of the things they all did together was to try and get shawn to try more things and be less scared of not scary things

and he loves it!

ethan is like the leader of the group

as the oldest, the other two tend to just follow him

ethan is the same way towards his little brother

like at first, he was awkward like mark was

tbh ethan is super awkward around babies lol

like he doesn’t know the right way to talk with them

he’s okay with his younger brother

he didn’t really know how to interact with eli when he was an infant

ethan gets better when eli is a toddler

he starts to gain an interest in rapping and stuff around this age

mark shows him some of his old videos and such

and he’s honestly so entranced

he thinks mark’s rapping is the coolest thing in the entire world (bc it is)

mark starts to teach him as much as he can

and ethan is just so interested in all of it

ethan spends almost all of his free time writing lyrics and such

mark helps him out

ethan most definitely can speak english too

like mark made it a point that he wants his kids to be bilingual lol

ethan is just as passionate about canada as mark is

honestly? ethan looks like a mix between you and mark

but his personality is all mark

when he hits puberty, his voice is squeakier than average lol

he still raps through it tho

he doesn’t let the squeaky voice make him feel insecure at all lol

>> as a teen/adult <<

becomes such an amazing rapper it’s crazy

he doesn’t join a boy group

he becomes a solo artist

he’s honestly just as busy a someone in a boy group tho

like not only did he get his personality from mark

he also got his busy schedule :,(

this was unintentional

but ethan is such a good rapper that they just filled up his schedule

lani becomes a solo artist herself and they collab together a lot

like they collab together so much that at this point, they should just say that their in a group together lol

ethan is so multitalented

like his rap style isn’t limited to just one

like he can do all kinds of different styles

he can spit bars

he can deliver a super strong rap

he can even rap in a chill way

ethan’s voice is honestly so calming too

like he has one of those voices that you can just listen to for hours on end

his on stage persona is so intimidating

but his normal personality?

he’s soft™

around lani? even softer™

tbh

like lani and ethan just decide that they’re together one day

they both probably danced around that topic because they both were scared that getting together would ruin their friendship

like lani didn’t want to confess because she didn’t think ethan liked her like that

and ethan vice versa

ethan would probably be writing a song and he would call lani to be there bc she was his muse

and like they found themselves super close with each other and stuff

then they were like “look, let’s just start dating, wth.”

and they do

and they become the power couple of the century™

lol they probably were super scared to tell shawn

but when they did he’ll be like “FINALLY”

and lani and ethan were like ???

and shawn was like “y’all. I’m hella dense, but even I WAS ABLE to see that there was something going on between you two.”

ethan and lani were both hella relieved and their status as a couple didn’t mess with their friendship with each other and with shawn at all

anyway

ethan gets really famous bc he’s just such a good rapper and such

and he maintains his relationship with his best friends

and he also supports the heck out of eli

omg eli would like make a dance cover to every single one of ethan’s songs

and ethan and eli would dance together a lot

they were super good siblings

if ethan needed choreo, the only person he would go to is eli. periodt.

ethan is honestly such a good and awesome person :)

ELI LEE: >> as a baby <<

he was so chic as a baby

like he would give you guys smiles and stuff

but the smiles only lasted a quick second

then his face is straight again

everyone was lowkey like “why is he so mad at us all of the time”

eli wasn’t mad

that was just his face lol

he was a rather bouncy baby

like he was definitely happiest when he was in his bouncer

mark was better this time, dw

he definitely wasn’t perfect

but the training ten and jaehyun put him through prepared him for this

eli also tended to smile a lot when ethan’s in the room

and mark is definitely happy to have a little helper

even tho ethan was still a little young when eli was born

he was still a huge help

like if eli was crying

ethan would walk over and hit him reassuringly

and eli would stop crying!

but it was out of shock and not comfort lol

it’s okay bc it gave mark enough time to get over there :)

eli honestly was the biggest momma’s boy

like the first day you were gone the whole day

eli couldn’t take it

he cried basically the entire day

eli loves mark, but he just loves you so much more for some reason lol

even tho he looked mad 25/8

he was such a pretty baby

like he was all you with mark’s eyes

those rare times eli did smile, oh man

the universe stopped when you saw that precious smile

he was a really sweet baby regardless of what people would say :,)

one of the quickest ways to make eli really happy is to put him in his bouncer

turn on some music

and boom

happy baby right there

mark is really good at playing with his boys

like both ethan and eli had such an active imagination

and mark was right up there with them

when eli was stomping and walking around, that’s when mark shined as a dad haha

eli is happy sunshine even tho he has one of the most severe cases of rbf lol

>> as a child <<

still pretty chic

like nothing really phases him

he looks scary or mean

but he’s honestly really sweet and nice

people would be really scared to approach him tbh

bc he just looked so mad

but the second he opened his mouth?

happy boy™

omg but if someone was talking crap about eli?

ethan would have none of it

ethan will defend his brother until the day he dies.

he’s best friends with yangyang’s oldest son, ryu wei

they’re born the same year

eli and wei both love love love hip hop

they also both are so talented at dancing

like when you watch like those dance company things (like the MILLENNIUM DANCE COMPLEX) and you see the little kids?

that’s eli and wei

their personalities compliment each other well

like their both goofballs

and they both work really hard

and they both have a huge passion for dancing!

omg eli is definitely the shy one between the two

okok imagine

it’s eli and wei’s first super huge dance comeptition

and they both have major solos / a duet part of the dance together

the entire family is there

(including all of nct and their kids lol)

(they totally take up half of the theater but that’s besides the point)

wei is HYPED

but eli is super duper nervous

to the point where eli doesn’t want to go onstage anymore

and even tho wei reassures him, eli is still nervous

wei knows exactly what to do tho

he goes and grabs ethan and takes ethan to eli

and after a quick pep talk and such, eli is all ready to go out

eli and wei both KILL it

they do so freaking well so like ofc they won :)

(without a doubt nct would be so freaking loud lol)

but it was genuinely so good!

eli is full of so much talent

but even so, he’s not lazy

both ethan and eli have such a good work ethic

they work hard to see their goals and it pays off :)

>> as a teen/adult <<

his face remains the same

like his stoic exterior is what makes him so popular

his facial expressions are honestly 10/10

he becomes a dancer

and he’s oh so good

he is another one of the instructors at youngchul and kaleb’s place

eli and wei are the freestyle teachers

like eli can do practically any style

but he feels like freestyling is the purest form of creative expression in dance

lol probably with his stoic expression, everyone thinks he’s the “bad cop”

but it’s the other way around

and like wei isn’t really the bad cop

eli is like “okay! good work guys! let’s take a quick break then start again!”

wei is like “okay! love the energy so let’s all keep it going with no break. we’ll take a break when our legs feel like their gonna fall off, okay?”

eli was probably casted a lot since he’s been in the dancing scene as soon as he could walk

and like he genuinely considered joining a group

like he knew how to rap a bit from practicing with ethan and such

and tbh, eli thought he would do it bc he thought that it would make mark “more” proud of him

but mark would tell him to do whatever he wanted!

like regardless if he joined a group or stayed as a dancer or heck, even get an office job

mark would be so proud

so eli decided (probably on a coinflip lol) that he’ll dedicate his time as a full time dancer

and honestly? he’s living his best life

like best best life

he gets to do his favorite thing everyday

he’s surrounded by family and friends?

eli is thriving

he also is super duper supportive of all of the other dancers in the group

like if a kid wants to dance for fun, eli and wei will teach them!

omg eli for sure inherited mark’s flexibility lol

if eli is really feeling the vibe of a song and wants to go off he’ll throw in the splits 99% of the time teehee

like all of his talent and hard work is shown through every performance

eli is honestly pretty awkward tho lol

like onstage and in front of a camera? he looks like the most confident person in the world

then offstage and someone compliments him?

poor baby gets so shy haha

he calls you everyday

he’s still the biggest momma’s boy lol

eli is honestly just thriving :))

---

and there’s mark’s fam! i hope you guys liked it!

i have a ton of ideas for a joint baby sitting project between mark, ten, and jaehyun! it should be a ton of fun to write!

let me know if you have any requests! my request box is open :))

- amy <3

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