#i also made walt but i realized p quick that i do not care if walt lives or dies

[acesammy]

guess i’m gonna terraria post on main for a sec, but i just need to say that i was one achievement away from having all of the fucking terraria achievements unlocked,,, and then they added more this month skdjfnwekjfnskdjfn

[nrth-wind-a]

@trollamulet​ - Christmas Gift!

Drabble Below the Cut!

Prompt: Grown-up Jlaire Fluff --

Jim, half-troll though he was, had rapidly adjusted his sleep schedule to match Claire’s. It helped that he could go into the sunlight now, of course, and so didn’t have to sleep the day away with blackout curtains over every window.

Yet, he wasn’t sure what it was— maybe a leftover side-effect from being nocturnal for a while in his youth, and thus, was more used to being awake in the hours before dawn— but frequently, so frequently that it was nigh a habit, he woke in the dead of the morning, just before sunrise.

This morning was no such exception. As his eyes flickered open, slowly, naturally, the room was shaded in such a way that indicated that the sun had yet to rise, but was perhaps flirting with the idea.

Whenever this happened, he couldn’t entirely say he minded. He’d never considered himself a morning person as a teenager, but he had to admit that the early morning, the golden over the horizon… it was beautiful.

Almost as beautiful as the person in bed next to him, he thought, giving a private smile as he glanced over at them now.

Their hair was tangled and messy, and fell over their forehead in feathery waves. He almost brushed it away, but was concerned that he’d wake them. They’d been chipping away every day at a doctoral dissertation, and so deserved the rest. He wished he could get them to rest more, but Claire was endearingly stubborn. They worked harder than anyone else he knew, and while he worried sometimes, it really was stunning to watch. They were easily one of his biggest inspirations. And, vice versa, they were happy to inform him that he was the same for them. It was sweet to know that. He loved them dearly, and the idea that they motivated each other to be better, together? It was sublime.

This, he thought, staring up at the ceiling with a goofy smile on his face, this is sublime.

In a few hours, they’d need to get up, the both of them. In a few hours, Jim would begin on breakfast, and Claire on coffee and setting the table. In a few hours, he’d kiss them good-bye, and open up his to-do list for the day.

But for now… for that moment, Jim could simply breathe in the dawn, and let his smile grow wider, when he noticed the first rays of sunlight lighten their window sill.

Gently, carefully, he slipped from their bed, taking his phone with him. He walked into the sitting room of their apartment, pulling up one of their kitchen table chairs to the living room windows. They weren’t enormous, but they were big enough to stare out at the horizon of the city in which they lived, and appreciate how the sun glittered over the buildings, over the park nearby.

Tearing his eyes from it for a moment, he opened his phone, slid over to his camera, and snapped a picture.

He didn’t do this every time, because it would fill up his storage with how often he treated himself to watching the sun, but he clicked over to the group he shared with Strickler and his mom, and sent the picture along anyway because it had been a few weeks since he’d done so. After the message read that it had sent, Jim glanced back up and out the window, mind feeling blank, and calm.

It wasn’t until a few minutes later, that he looked away again. His phone had buzzed with a text from— oh, his mom. He chuckled softly; no matter what hour it was, his mom was often one of the first to get back to him, unless she was in the middle of working with a patient. She kept almost as odd hours as he had when he’d been the Trollhunter, so it wasn’t at all odd to see her quick response.

“That’s beautiful, honey!” she’d written back.

He grinned wide, sending a heart in return, and was about to close out of his messages app again, when a new message popped up, from Strickler. Now, that one was odder. Strickler’s sleep schedule was also that of a human’s, but even he usually took what chances he could to sleep through the sunrise, given that they had quite a number of— in Jim’s opinion, too-quickly— growing children in the house by now. He was reliably up fairly early, still, for a stay-at-home parent, but waking at dawn was rarer. He had half a mind to send a check-in message to him privately, but as Strickler’s message loaded, Jim got a little distracted— it was picture as well. A picture of Walt Jr., riding the bike that Strickler and Jim had gotten him, and helped to build, when Jim had been home last week for the boy’s eigth birthday (pointedly not his fifth). Jim beamed, seeing the huge grin that Walt was wearing, as he had clearly been trying to peddle hard down the sidewalk, training wheels and all.  He looked fiercely determined to perhaps run Strickler over, even, and Jim was only proven to be correct in this assumption, as Strickler supplied a second text, which read, “Nearly made me drop my umbrella yesterday. I think he enjoys the gift.”

Jim let out a quiet laugh and texted back, “Man, if only I’d known your true weakness was kids on bikes, back in sophomore year. Happy he likes it, though.”

Strickler’s response was near immediate, “You were a child on a bike back then as well, Young Atlas,” the old nickname made Jim’s chest flip a little, with sentimentality, “And you certainly tried too. Unfortunately for both you and Walter Jr., I am a little harder to defeat than that.”

Jim snorted and keyed in “A shame,” but thought that perhaps a different approach would get Strickler back for the ‘Young Atlas’ use— no way was it an accident— so he backspaced and typed out, “I know. And I’m glad.”

Strickler’s response was slower this time, and Jim grinned to himself, a little victorious grin.

“Barbara, come quick. I believe something is wrong with Jim. He is saying kind things to me.”

Jim rolled his eyes fondly and typed back, “You’ve heard me say more kind things than that.”

“Like what?” Strickler wrote back, and Jim’s response is too fast for him to realize that he’s being baited, as he sends, “Things like ‘I love you’ for example.”

“Oh, I love you too, Jim.”

Jim let out a soft gasp when he realized what Strickler had done, almost dropping his phone. Sure, he’d said it before, but it wasn’t often. Strickler tended to show, rather than tell. Not that Jim hadn’t heard it enough, either, but… well, it was just nice, sometimes, to hear it aloud. Or, well, over text in this case.

He puffed out his cheeks in amused frustration, and sent back, “Smooth.”

Jim could practically hear Strickler’s smug tone as he read the man’s “Thank you” in response.

Unable to resist, Jim ended the conversation by shooting back a “:P”. He had no doubt that Strickler was laughing on his end.

It was as he set his phone on the windowsill when he heard movement in the bedroom, and moments later, Claire was walking out, wrapped up in a throw blanket, looking like the very definition of the word ‘groggy.’

Jim broke out into yet another smile, seeing them. Wordlessly, he opened his arms, as Claire walked directly into them, leaning on him sleepily.

He ran his fingers through their knotted hair, being gentle when he hit snags, and laid a kiss on the top of their head, murmuring against it, “What are you doing up?”

They pulled back just enough to look him in the eyes as they said, “Had to get up early today. You didn’t hear my alarm?”

Jim looked embarrassed, “No. Guess I was too distracted by- oh, hold on one sec,” he perked up, and reached for his phone, pulling up the picture of Walt Jr.

Claire gave a soft “aww,” seeing it, and made a mental note to get that picture from Jim later. It would make a nice surprise to frame it for him. Because they’d seen the way he looked, when he showed it to them. He’d stared at it longer than they had, even though he’d seen it already. His eyes had held something honestly magical, and if there was anything that they knew well, it was magic.

Jim gave them a quizzical look, though, when he noticed them staring not at the picture, but at him. They grinned with the look of someone who knew something they didn’t, as he asked “What?”

Claire patted his cheek softly, “Nothing… just… admiring.”

The blush that overtook Jim’s face gave Claire no small amount of delight. They giggled seeing it, and only moreso when he shot them a look and then leaned in for a sudden kiss. They cupped his jaw, holding him there, placing a few more pecks on his lips, before pulling back, eyes meeting his. The look they shared could only be described as an exquisite kind of loving, as they leaned back in again, this time, pressing their foreheads together.

Without breaking that, Jim stood slowly, having to bend a little to reach, but he didn’t mind. He took both of Claire’s hands into his own, and began to hum a song.

It took them a few bars to realize that it was the song from the overlook, the song that they’d both long ago decided would be their first dance if they ever got married.

Claire gave a quiet laugh as it clicked, and looked at Jim fondly, “You sap.”

“You know it.” Jim grinned back, twirling them.

They raised an eyebrow, almost as if they’d been challenged, and, with a careful sweep of their leg, they disrupted Jim’s footing enough to allow them to catch him in a dip. They smirked down at him, as his surprise colored his face. When what had happened truly set in, he let out an amazed giggle, staring right back up at them. “Well… looks like I’m falling for you, huh?”

Claire snorted, “That was very unoriginal, you dork.”

“You’re the one who laughed.” Jim winked, and Claire shot him an amused look.

“I could drop you, you know.”

Jim responded by wrapping his arms around their neck. “Do it, and you go down, too.”

Claire considered for a moment, before shrugging and letting him drop, going willingly with him.

Jim gave a yelp as he fell back, though neither of them were harmed by the fall. “I can’t believe you actually did it!”

Claire put their hands on either side of Jim’s head, pushing themself up enough to look into his eyes once more. “Surprise.” They teased, before leaning in for another kiss, a long, deep one.

When they pulled back, the both of them were just a touch dazed— mornings like this, kisses like that, were not all that rare, but it was still nice when they happened— smiling like fools.

Their eyes met again, blue on brown, as Jim broke the silence first, “You hungry?” He whispered.

Claire sat up fully, pushing themself to standing, and then offered Jim a hand to help him up as well, as they nodded. “Starving.”

Jim grinned, “Awesome. I’ll get started on breakfast.”

“‘Kay,” Claire stood on their tiptoes and gave him a soft peck on the cheek, before continuing, “Gonna go shower real quick, then; be right back.”

“Alright. Oh, and— hey— Claire?”

They turned back to him, looking confused, “Yeah?”

“I love you.” Jim said simply, a goofy smile written across his face.

Claire blinked, before going a little pink in the face, “Jim Lake Jr. you really are a sap.” They huffed, smiling back. “But, I love you, too.”