#i got this from another Sesame Street shirt

[xx-sketchy-xx]

[letstrythisout4]

Mary and Harry Pt. 2

April 1982

Bright green eyes stared into Mary’s deep brown, and Mary could hear Peter in the back of her mind.

He’s very…aware. 

That was what Peter said when he held Harry for the first time. Everyone had laughed at how concerned he sounded and looked, arms held all the way out holding Harry as if bringing him any closer would hurt. 

The comment was the first of many. Everyone loved Harry, more than anything, but he was…different. He just knew things. Remus had refused to baby-talk to Harry, claiming that Harry understood and it seemed that he did. He would babble back at Remus as if speaking, expressions appropriate to every story that Remus laid out.

Mary had never seen these moments herself, always getting the long-winded retelling from James and Sirius. After years of knowing the boys Mary had learned not to believe anything they said unless it could be proven, and it had just felt like another exaggerated story.

But now it made sense, it hadn’t even been a year since they had been together and Mary could see exactly what they meant.

The pair both sat at their small dinner table, Harry staring knowingly at Mary as if he were a proper Legilimens. Then Harry’s hands appeared from where they had rested below the table of his high chair, in his hands were Mary’s keys. 

Mary’s head dropped on to the table and she let out a loud groan.

This baby was going to be the death of her.

Mary stood, reaching across the table to pry the keys out of Harry’s strong baby-hold. “Enough with the keys, Harry.” 

Mary had been told her whole life that she was patient. She didn’t feel very patient as she opened and slammed closed the nearest drawer in their kitchen, keys trapped inside. 

The urge to slam her head into the wall almost took over Mary as she watched Harry’s eyes water. “Don’t start, Harry.” 

He started.

First it was slow, tears silently streamed down his chubby face, his chest rising and falling with the wails that were preparing to escape his lungs. “WAHHHHHHHHH!”

For the most part, Harry was a quiet child. The most sound he made routinely was giggling whenever Mary forgot to tie up her hair, he would laugh and laugh tugging on her curls, finding immense amusement in how Mary would repeatedly say “Ow ow ow ow, stop it, you damn gremlin or I’ll put you up for adoption, do not test me.”

“What do you want now, Harry? And don’t ask for the keys, I’m sick of hearing them chime.” Mary rubbed her forehead, how people could possibly have multiple children was lost on her.

He did the impossible and started crying even harder, “Mama, Papa, Pads, Moo, Pet” and he repeated and repeated, tiny fist wiping his face. 

Mary sighed, “I miss them too.”

Sometimes Harry would just do that, start repeating the broken names that he knew. He wasn’t even two and yet he knew that people were missing in his life. “Come on, we have things to do.”

The pair of them got ready, falling into their short morning routine. Harry was dropped into his play pen, or cage as Mary liked to call it, and played noisily with blocks and sensory fidgets that Mary had bought. Sesame Street was already playing, Big Bird was on an adventure to find a friend, “Alright, I’ll be right back, don’t break anything.”

Harry looked over his shoulder and jutted his thumb towards her to acknowledge he understood. 

Mary didn’t know much about babies but it didn’t feel like he should be able to do all of this.

“Alright, then.” Mary was off, practically running into the bathroom (Harry always found a way to get into something he wasn’t supposed to if she left alone for too long) , pulling off her satin scarf and shaking her curls out. She dressed as quickly as she could, a simple red shirt and dark-washed jeans, and hopped back into the living room, putting her shoes on as she went.  Sneakers now tied, she swooped up Harry and dressed him similarly, though his shirt was blue. The final touch was a tap to Harry’s head, the chill made him shiver and hum disapprovingly at her, his disappointed glare was worth it when his eyes were brown, nose wider and hair curlier; he now looked less like a mini-Potter and more like a mini-MacDonald, it was almost disturbing how much he looked like her cousins.

Her cousins… Merlin, she hadn’t seen them in years. 

A tug and the sound of stomping feet got her to walk. 

The duo walked out of the apartment, Harry stood patiently beside Mary as she fought to lock the apartment door, looking very adorable wearing his baby glasses and book bag as big as him. 

That was another thing Mary quickly realized was, James wasn’t lying about ‘Potter terrible eyesight trait’. It wasn’t very noticeable until a few weeks into their new lives and when Mary had been calling for Harry to look at her when she was standing across the kitchen and he couldn’t make eye contact. An immediate red flag because this boy did barely anything other than make eye contact. 

And so big chunky high-powered glass sat on Harry’s nose, not unlike photos Euphemia had proudly shown James’ entire friend group every Christmas, she would say it was a “curse” placed on all Potter men since the dawn of time to have terrible sight, Mary could remember Fleamont’s hearty laugh filling the room whenever the topic came up. 

It never failed to make the patriarch laugh.

There was another tug on Mary’s jeans and she was back in 1982, staring unseeingly at the wall of the hallways of her apartment building and not in 1979 snickering with Lily at baby James’ glass that made him look like a bug.

No, now instead of a photo bug-eyed James below her was bug-eyed Harry looking concerned. as if he knew.

“Come on.” was all she said, one hand taking his hand in hers, the other patting her wand which was concealed in a pocket sewn on her jeans. 

The pair started their walk, through the elevator and lobby, Harry waving to the doorman as he always did, chirping out “Hi!”.

When they had first moved to D.C. Mary had been worried that she wouldn’t be able to find the magical sections of the district, but it was rather easy. Americans weren’t nearly as strict on secrecy as Britan was. Mary had been lucky to find an apartment on the outskirts of the district, a nice historical town, mixed with apartment, townhouses and shops. The best part -other than the safety- was that just down the street was a Magical Emporium, the front half was for muggles who seeked out the services of the witches who ran the stores. Most muggles were skeptical, some were believers, some were just desperate and willing to try anything. The back half was what interested Mary, in the back of the hole in the wall store was an entire shopping village filled with everything a witch could ask for. 

Mary and Harry walked through the store, Mary covered Harry’s ears as a muggle in a suit started begging if there was anything that the counter could do to save his business. With a nod to the witch, they walked to the back through one curtain, then through another to find the village. Witches and wizards were apparating and disapparating in and out, filing in and out of shops and restaurants. On days where Mary missed her Hogsmead days she would bring Harry here, the two of them sitting on a bench watching as people milled around.

But today wasn’t a day for people watching, today they were on a mission. The duo walked to the owlery, Harry stood patiently in line for a total of five minutes before he started repeating “Up! Up!” Mary stood with Harry in her arms.

For a baby, he looked very smug.

“Next in line please.” They approached the wizard's station that had called them, “Owl preference?” a dark-skinned wizard asked, hand hovering over bins of owl treats. 

“An Elf Owl, please.”

“Been here before?”

“No.”

He smiled, “It’s simple really. Take the treat, extend your hand over the ledge and the owl will come to you. See the treat is charmed to attract whichever owl you ask for, tie the letter as you would any other and they’ll fly off. Whatever you’re sending weighs less than 3 pounds, correct? Traveling domestic or international and if international where?” he asked, handing over the circular treat.

“International, Britain.” Mary stated simply, the less information given the better. 

“Hm well, I am required to tell you that because of the war letters may be intercepted, our owls are top notch but” he shrugged “things happen. And as with all flights we do not do long term stays, meaning the owl will not stay with the recipient. Do you wish to get an owl that will stay  for a total of 10 minutes, allowing for a response?”

“No, no I don’t need a response.” Harry gurgled unhappily at that. 

The wizard raised an eyebrow at her, “He seems to think otherwise.”

Mary pinched Harry lightly, “He just likes to disagree with me.”

Once the payment was finalized they walked to the ledge where several feet in front of them were multiple trees, owls occupying almost every branch. (One of Mary’s favorite aspects of the village was that nobody asked for names unless absolutely necessary, making purchases much simpler for Mary) Mary perched Harry on the ledge before holding out her hand with the treat. A small Elf owl flew to them and Mary tied her letter to his presented talon.

The letter was simple,’I have him, I was right about Dumbledore, stay safe’ was all it read. Mary gently stroked the owl's head, “This goes to Remus Lupin, give it to no one else.” The owl blinked and flew away. 

—

Mary was proud to call herself a decent chef, at least when she paid attention.

Which wasn’t frequently.

She walked around stirred the pasta she was boiling and allowed herself to get lost in her mind.

Remus Lupin. 

There were some days where Mary regretted not bringing Lupin with them to the states. She typically dismissed the idea quickly, there were plenty of valid reasons to leave Lupin. It wasn’t a secret he Dumbledore was looking for Harry, he and Milicent Bagnold -the current Minister of Magic- were all over the papers, stating that someone had stolen away Harry Potter. They stated that they had “good reason to believe” that the boy was alive and somewhere out there in the world. 

Mary had already been in hiding for a month before the attack on Lily and James, hiding that Dumbledore recommended. 

So when Mary had disappeared it was nothing to worry about, but if Remus disappeared, they might as well have handed over Harry right to Dumbeldore. Remus’ description was too unique. But most importantly, Mary didn’t think he’d have gone willingly.

Dumbledore was very…trusted. Everyone adored him, everyone owed him, so everyone listened to him. So when Mary spoke out against him there had been concerns. 

Mary never really trusted him. He was too… politically correct. He never wavered, always preached love and light and forgiveness, but it never resonated with Mary. 

But everyone else agreed, at least agreed enough. Nobody was quite as starry-eyed but everyone still trusted him. Even as people started dying left and right. 

Mary was sixteen when she was attacked by wanna-be Death Eaters in the halls of Hogwarts. She was sixteen when Dumbledore told her that he “couldn’t do anything” about the attack and that “ we are all in a delicate position”. She was sixteen when she officially didn’t trust Dumbledore. She was sixteen when she started whispering her doubts to her friends. She was seventeen when she started noticing that her friends were lying to her. She was seventeen when she and her friends joined the order. She was eighteen when Moody had casually mentioned that he was “impressed” when Dumbledore told him that “she was willing to go on missions alone”, when she had never said that and had thought it was a coincidence. 

She was twenty when Lily had whispered to her about a prophecy that Snape said “no one was to know about”. 

~~~~~

“Who else knows?” Mary whispered, griping Lily’s arms tightly.

Lily shook her head, red hair spilling from her bun, “I don’t know. I haven’t told anyone…” she trailed off and guilty added “not even James.”

Mary’s mouth opened and closed before spitting out, “Why tell me?” 

That was the first time in a long time that Mary had felt one of her friends had been truly honest with her. Ever since the night in the hospital wing years ago, where she whispered to them that she thought Dumbledore was a coward for not punishing Muliciber, honesty was quietly non-existent. Her friends would dance around any details concerning their work for the Order, she would only get vague descriptions. 

They never stopped loving her, no, Sirius’ hugs were still strong and grounding and Marlene never stopped smiling with teeth, but it was different.

It broke Mary's heart to see Lily fold into herself at the question, “I don’t think anyone else will believe me.” Lily gasped, tears flowing.

Peter had said years ago “A fairy loses its wings every time Lily cries.” and it had never felt more true. There was no better way to describe how wrong it was.

All these tears for a letter. Mary hugged Lily tightly, “I believe you.” she whispered and Lily only cried harder. The letter had Snape's cramped spidery handwriting, scribbled out was a prophecy and a warning to “tell no one, no one knows”.

“James and I went,” she sniffled. “We went to my parents' old house and it was there waiting on the kitchen table. I hid it before James could see.”

“I won’t tell anyone.”

 ~~~~~~

The night had ended with many tears and the burning of the letter, neither girl was going to forget the haunting words ever. 

And even now, Mary couldn’t confidently say Remus would believe her. Remus was a practical man, never fond of Divination. And denial…denial was a strong thing. Even Mary struggled to believe all of this came from a flaky form of magic.

Lily hated Divination, nobody hated Divination more than Lily Evans. But desperation too was a strong thing. 

Mary shook her curls, Remus wasn’t here and it was too late to get him, the past was the past. She looked down at the noodles she had been stirring and…they weren’t boiling anymore. 

‘Oh no…” Mary thought to herself, head falling back as Harry began to cry. 

The lights in the apartment flickered, the ice machine started pouring ice out of the fridge, and Harry’s toys started levitating. 

“ALRIGHT ALRIGHT! ENOUGH, I’M COMING!” Mary yelled to Harry as she began searching for the keys that she had once again hidden away. 

Keys in hand, Mary jumped over the couch right into Harry’s playpen all but throwing the keys at the baby. 

Suddenly everything stopped, the faint sound of boiling began again, ice stopped falling on the floor and the lights were consistently on. Harry began waving the keys around, listening to the jingling they made. Mary slumped on the floor beside the one year old, “Aunt aunt aunt” he chanted using his hand without the keys to pat Mary’s curls from where they were in reach.

“All this for a snotty, green, bug-eyed one year old” Mary muttered under her breath before gently pushing Harry over, much to his amusement.

[thisapplepielife]

Written for the @steddieholidaydrabbles December challenge.

Best Part of the Day

Prompt Day 17: Platonic Stobin | Word Count: 1000 | Rating: T | CW: None | Tags: S4, Platonic Stobin, Ride to School, Pre-Steddie

Steve honks the horn, and sips from his mug of coffee. It won't fit in his cup holder, so he has to rest it on his thigh. He honks again, and a minute later Robin rushes out of the front door of her house, towards his waiting car.

Arms flailing, she screams, "Hold on, I'm coming!" 

It makes Steve chuckle. She's the one about to be late to school, not him. He's graduated. Family Video doesn't open for another two plus hours. He's got plenty of time to kill this morning, but he knows she doesn't want the tardy. He knows her like the back of his hand. The front of his hand? 

His whole hand. For sure.

Robin fumbles with the trunk, and he watches as she unlocks it. It was just easier to give her the damn spare key instead of him having to get out every morning and unlock it.

She finally piles into the front seat, with a huff, "What are we waiting for? You're gonna make me late, dingus!"

He rolls his eyes.

"Good morning to you, too," he says, handing her his mug of coffee. He might as well. She's gonna take it from him, sooner or later. She always does. He opens the console, and hands her the bagel that he's wrapped in a paper towel, before leaning to look back over his shoulder, reversing them back onto the street. 

He glances at her out of the corner of his eye, and she's alternating between drinking coffee, and eating the bagel. Getting sesame seeds all over the floor mat. He'll have to stop by the car wash and vacuum it after he drops her off.

"There's an away game tonight," she says, done with the bagel, and now holding his coffee in one hand, putting her mascara on with the other. He watches, not sure how she's doing it one-handed.

"Yeah, the kids have told me a thousand times, like I've somehow suddenly forgotten how a basketball schedule works since graduating," Steve says, annoyed.

"I have to ride the activity bus to the game, but if you can forge me a note again, I'll ride home with you. Dibs on the front seat," she says.

Steve laughs. He's been roped into taking Dustin, Mike and Max, and Dustin's gonna hate that she's called dibs, but fair is fair. Dustin can have the front seat on the way to Hartford City. 

They head down the highway, and Robin tells him about her morning. He nods, listens, and analyzes more about Vickie than he ever imagined possible. It's a ritual at this point. She pines. He gives advice she won't take.

They argue. They banter. 

Rinse, repeat. 

Day after day, morning after morning.

But it's often the best part of his day.

He's trying to explain exactly why she should just go for it, when Steve catches movement out of the corner of his eye, and realizes they're about to be broadsided by a van, that as far as Steve can tell, has no driver.

Steve slams on the brakes, stopping short as the van whips onto the highway from a side road, cutting him off. The driver's head just barely popping into view, mere seconds before he needed to make the turn.

"Watch it, asshole!" Steve screams, slamming his hand on the steering wheel. 

"Uh, Steve?" Robin says, and he turns to look at her, and she's wearing the coffee. Brown splotches staining her white blouse, running all over his leather seats. 

"Are you hurt? Did you get burned?" he asks, patting her arm down, like that'll help.

"Well, it doesn't feel great! But I think I'll live," she says. "But I don't have time to go back home and change, I'm going to be so late. Detention for me, yay," she says sarcastically.

"Take off your shirt," Steve says, and she cuts him a look, "Not like that, Jesus, Robin. I don't want to see your boobies."

He snaps his fingers, and gives her the hurry up motion.

So, she does, and he takes off his shirt, too, and stretches his hand out to offer it to her. She takes it, and slips it over her head. It's too big, but she says she doesn't care, because that's the style, apparently.

"Thanks, dingus," she says, and he slides his arms back through the holes of his vest. No shirt underneath. He looks ridiculous.

At the school, they both get out, and Robin digs out her notepad, and turns around. Steve lays the notebook on her back, and writes the note, forging Mrs. Buckley's signature to get Robin off the activity bus on the way home. 

"There, done," he says, swatting her on the back with the notebook, and she takes it and rushes towards the building, turning back towards him.

"Thanks, Steve! See you tonight!" she yells and then she turns and runs away from the parking lot faster.

"Yeah, yeah," he mutters, but he smiles as she goes.

"Nice fashion statement, Harrington," Eddie Munson interrupts, as he climbs out of the same goddamn van that caused this whole problem in the first place. He should have known Eddie "The Freak" Munson was involved.

Steve looks down at his bare chest.

"Well, I had a shirt until you cut us off and Robin spilled coffee all over herself," Steve snaps.

"I don't know what you're talking about, that doesn't sound like me at all. I'm a great driver," Eddie says, digging around and coming up with a black, metal lunchbox.

His drugs. Steve knows all about Eddie, and his dealing business.

"Yeah, sure you are," Steve snips, turning to get into the driver's seat. He has no interest in engaging with Eddie Munson at ten 'til eight in the morning. No goddamn way.

"Nice to see you, King Steve," Eddie snarks, walking awfully slowly towards the school for someone that nearly ran them off the road to get here today.

What a dickhead.

Notes: Eddie definitely saw Steve in that no-shirt/vest combo and when presented with the opportunity to see it again in the Upside Down, and in his own vest no less, he took it, lol.

If you want to write your own, or see more entries for this challenge, pop on over to @steddieholidaydrabbles and follow along with the fun!

If you want to see more of my entries into this month-long challenge, you can check them out in my Steddie Holiday Drabbles tag, right here!

[tiredly101]

Hello, I can ask for a request.. I could make a fanfic where all the Welcome characters appear in the real world, mainly in the reader's house. Now they and the reader have to share a house and try to find some way to send them back to their world... I think it would be cool for a story

(Bonus: maybe while changing channels on TV, they come across another puppet show)

Ooh! I love this idea Anon and so it shall be made! Hope you like it tho!

That TV is possessed, isn't it?

Pairing: Wally Darling x Human!Male reader

Summary: What anon asked for with some changes!

Illustrated crosses through a TV Au, picture done by @mikomi-the-clown

M/n was a pretty normal guy, he didn't cause trouble so no one really bothered him and overall he is pretty calm, the only thing that made him stand out apart from his god like beauty and the fact that he smokes cigarettes was his love towards animated cartoons mostly Welcome Home now what he didn't expect was for one day while he smoked a cigarette for the tv to start shaking and he had an overall normal reaction. He grabbed his bat, cigarette still in his lips and he stayed behind the couch.

"That TV is possessed, isn't it?," Said M/n underneath his breath and then the TV stopped shaking and eight colorful character where throw on M/n's floor which left him shocked. He lowered the bat and took a big puff on his cigarette before walking over to the one he knew as Wally Darling who said in a shy way "Neighbor?". His legs were crossed and instead of his rainbow pants he had some brown ones, he still had his white shirt on just that some bottoms were opened and his red handerquief was opened like if it was a tie. In another situation M/n would, very likely, have a gay panic but right now really wasn't the time.

"How did you guys get here?," Asked M/n while lightly poking with his bat Barnaby, still face first on the floor, body. All the cartoon characters seemed confused which made M/n sight before taking another big puff of his cigarette.

M/n sights while looking at his TV, seemed normal so he turned it back on putting a random channel. It was the animated cartoon number one competition with Welcome Homes and that was Sesame Street and he pointed to the couch which made all the characters sit down. M/n turned off his now finished cigarette and turned another one after a couple of minutes and when he was going to take a puff Wally took it off his hand and turned it off which made M/n look at him now realizing that he was standing in front of him, between his legs and awfully close to his face.

"Are you going to help us go back home?," Asked Wally quietly now sitting in one of M/n's leg which made him blush before softly answering yes. Wally blushed at the man's raspy voice and got confortable while watching the Tv.

"If Home was here then I would never leave," though Wally while cuddling into M/n which made the man chuckle while hugging Wally from the waist. This felt natural, normal for some reason but for now M/n wasn't going to question it.

Hoped you liked it Anon!

[silverskull]

One of These Days

Chenford Week 2023 Day 3: Something's Missing Day Kind of a missing scene after the episode about the missing kid.

Post-yesterday's MCD trauma, this about as sickly fluffy as I get.

After spending the day with (and without) Jordy Yates, Tim and Lucy broach the topic of children.

Full fic below the cut, or here on AO3.

.

.

“He sent you an email?” Tim shrugged, flicking at the screen of his phone with his index finger.

“It’s just one line.”

“Well? Read it to me!”

Lucy was literally hanging off his arm, her two hands clamped over his wrist like an overeager sloth, hopping on the balls of her feet as she tried to see the screen past his hand.

“Dear Sergeant Bradford. Thanks for not arresting my dad. You’re not so bad. No cap. Jordy Yates.” Tim blinked, frowning at the phone. “Did we give him a cap?” “Don’t be an idiot,” Lucy said, swatting him on the shoulder “You know what that means - I’ve heard Tyler say it to you dozens of times.”

“Yeah, but maybe you didn’t know what it meant,” he replied, snapping off his phone and smirking at her. 

She dropped her jaw, mock horror written all over her face. “You were setting me up?”

“Revenge for revenge.” He leaned in close, his breath sending the loose hair at her ear into a ticklish ribbon across her cheek. “And I’ve got more planned for later.”

Her tummy spun, hitching the breath in her lungs, and she leaned into him for a second, tucking her shoulder under his and bumping her nose into his neck. 

Everyone knew that they were a couple now - had gotten over the initial instinct to hoot or nudge one another when they walked into a room together; but it still felt a little bit daring to be this close to him, to stand in his space or hold his gaze or touch his body. And she had to admit - she liked it.

“See you for dinner in thirty?”

“No cap.”

***

“Is it culturally appropriate for Streets of Vietnam to serve pad thai?” Tim asked, digging his fork into a wad of sesame-sprinkled beansprouts.

“It keeps you coming back to them,” she answered, tapping his knee with her own behind the metal leg of the table.

He didn’t reply, smiling at her as he slurped up the sprouts, hooking a relaxed finger under the curve of her knee and locking her leg against his own.

They’d come here a few times since their first - second - date, and while she liked to switch up her order, darting from noodles to rice to tofu and back again, he invariably went for the pad thai, waiting for their order at the side of the food truck while wrapping his arms around her waist and sliding his hands into her back pockets. 

One night he’d had a couple of beers, overtiredness and relaxation combining with the alcohol to turn him into a sentimental puddle, and she’d accidentally wheedled the truth out of him: “It’s what you tasted like. Our first real kiss.”

And her heart had done a little somersault, her eyes reflexively locking on his lips as he shuffled closer to her, worming one searching hand around her back and under her shirt.

Tonight, although sober, he was almost as mellow, gazing off at the horizon with a faint smile as he finished the last of his meal, his fingers tapping a light rhythm against the back of her calf.

“Whatcha thinking about there?” She tossed her fork into her dish, pushing it out of her way and leaning her elbow on the table, dropping her chin into the palm of her hand to look at him properly. She used to think he was eternally on guard for more car-jackers, staring out into the distance every night they ate here, but it turned out this particular park was one of the few places in LA with enough foliage to block the street lights and frame the night sky just so; the moon and a few brave stars glimmering brightly above the crest of the hills. She loved that that’s all that it took to make him happy: a view of the stars and the taste of her lips.

He smiled at her sideways, leaving down his own fork and linking his other hand around her knee. “Can I ask you a question?”

She blinked, slightly taken aback, but she nodded nonetheless. “Of course.”

He took a deep breath, his eyes falling to gaze at his thumbs, spinning slow circles on the top of her thigh.

“Did you ever go through with… getting your eggs frozen?”

Even in the dim light she could see the slight flush of pink along his cheekbones, and a surprised laugh burst from her lips before she had time to swallow it.

Of course this conversation would come up. They were a couple now. This is what couples talked about, eventually.

And she had talked to him about it before. More than anyone - anyone - else. He knew so much about her, knew her so well, that it upended what she’d expected of her ‘perfect relationship’ time and time again. She wouldn’t have it any other way - but they’d done almost everything about this backwards, and sometimes she forgot that they had to address old topics in a new light and with an entirely shifted perspective.

“Um, I actually didn’t.” She needed a second to get her thoughts in order, and he nodded brusquely, looking away from her and back out across the parking lot. She hurriedly dropped her hands to his, tucking her fingers around his thumbs and angling her head to make him look at her again. 

“But I had some tests done. Back then. At the clinic. And everything…” she trailed off, feeling unaccountably shy as he waited for her to finish, his eyes dark and sparkling under the string lights. “Everything is ship-shape. All good. For whenever I’m ready.”

Dummy.

Idiot.

‘Ship-shape’? Who was she, Popeye? She was talking about her ovaries, not a crateload of spinach!

Tim, however, didn’t seem to mind, a smile softening into the corners of his cheeks, his hands sliding up from below her knee to wrap around her fingers, tracing patterns on the back of her hands with his thumbs.

It gave her heart. Galvanised her bravery.

“And you? You told me once you always thought you’d have kids. Do you still feel that way?”

His smile broadened, flashing into the night like the crescent moon, and he looked away again. His thumbs beat faster against her knuckles, his leg beginning to hop beside her own, the way it always did when he was nervous or excited.

Unbidden, her heart picked up pace, rattling restlessly inside her chest.

“I do.” He looked back at her swiftly, his eyes locking with hers. “With you.”

They didn’t have to say the rest; whatever mad bravery had overtaken her earlier in the bullpen had made it clear: one of these days.

For now, this was all she wanted. His legs on the bars of her chair encircling her body. His hands - one holding both of hers, the other searching, searching, always searching, along her waist and her ribs and beneath her shirt for whatever skin it could find. And his lips, warm and soft and tasting of soy sauce and beansprouts.

And then, later… maybe… one of these days…

***

“Bring the bag Tamara!” Lucy’s voice sailed through the open door, past where Tim was running in circles like a headless chicken.

“Already on it!”

Unlocking his truck and locking it again; racing back to the front door before realising what he’d done and skidding to a halt in full-on roadrunner style in the middle of the driveway, then turning to jab the obstinate keyfob into mid-air with a grunt of frustration.

Lucy breezed past him, her silk kimono wafting in the light wind like graceful wings.

“Shit! Kojo’s escaped!” Tim’s momentary distraction at her appearance was broken and he darted towards the happy dog, spreading his arms to prevent any canine liberation attempts, before realising that Tamara was also following, Kojo’s leash securely wrapped around her fist.

“I got him, crazy man.”

“Tim, the bag!” Lucy sang the words over her shoulder, pulling firmly on the handle of the truck’s passenger door.

“Bag, yes, bag!”

Tamara extended her arm, Lucy’s stuffed black duffel hooked over her shoulder, and Tim shot her a grateful look as he grabbed the strap, quickly ruffling a hand over Kojo’s head before running around Lucy and tossing the bag into the bed of the truck.

“Not there, Tim, seriously! One red light and someone will reach in and swipe it!” Lucy scolded, her foot pausing on the step below the door as she frowned at him.

“Right! Yes, of course.” Tim spun around again, pulling the bag back out of the bed and throwing it hurriedly into the back seat instead.

“This is priceless.” Tamara had her phone out, recording every last moment for posterity, while Kojo sat politely at her feet, his tongue lolling out languidly as he watched the commotion.

“Tim? A little help?” The height of the step was proving too much for Lucy, even with the aid of the grab handle, and she was poised halfway, one foot up and one foot down, sizing up the distance between the ground and the floor of the truck with a dubious eye.

This time, Tim had nothing to add, slamming the back door closed and sliding smoothly into Lucy’s side, slipping his shoulder beneath hers and leveraging her into the vehicle with a steady hand around her back, a gentle support beneath her with his hip and his thigh. She hovered for a moment, her arm suddenly draped around his shoulder, and an easy smile spread across her face, its mirror appearing on Tim’s a split second later. She kissed him then, her nose pressed into his cheek and he wobbled, a small giggle escaping from one or other of them in the gap between their lips.

“You guys are sickening.” 

Tamara was well versed by now in how to break a magic moment and the kiss ended, Lucy throwing her a long-suffering roll of the eyes from the gap between the truck and the door, Tim immediately returning to panic mode and dumping Lucy hastily into the passenger’s seat.

“Okay, time to go, let’s move, let’s move!” Tamara gestured with her head, both hands currently occupied with her phone and Kojo’s leash, and Tim nodded in response, slamming Lucy’s door and rushing around the front of the truck to the driver’s side.

Just as he was about to round the hood, he stopped, turning on the spot and dashing back to Tamara. Without warning, he threw his arms around her, squeezing her into a tight embrace, his chin pressed firm against the crown of her head and his heart palpably hammering inside his chest. For a moment, she was surprised; warmth and peace and hope flowing through her - and then it was over, and he stepped back; once, twice, the smile on his face growing broader as he moved away.

And then Lucy rapped on the window, laughing and waving, and Tim ran for the truck, hopping into the driver’s seat and reversing out of the yard almost before she had finished buckling his belt for him.

Tamara tapped her phone screen, zooming in on the departing truck, before sighing and shifting the camera back to focus on Kojo. He gazed up at her in utter adoration, his tongue still hanging lazily from the side of his mouth and his tail battering happily at her ankle.

“Whaddaya think, boy? One semi-adopted daughter, one shared rescue dog, and now a brand new baby? Are we good?”

Kojo gave a pleased ‘ruff’, recognising his favourite word, and Tamara chuckled, tilting the camera to get one last glimpse of the truck as it disappeared over the horizon.

“Yeah. I agree. We’re all good.”

[mariacallous]

The first video Rachel Griffin-Accurso uploaded to YouTube is so bare-bones, it looks like she’s being held hostage and forced to croon children’s tunes.

It was an experiment, through and through. “I ordered a green screen from Amazon and Googled ‘how to use a green screen with iMovie,’” Griffin-Accurso says of recording that first clip. She was a preschool teacher, not a content creator; she used a camera she found in her house, recording herself by setting the camera on a pile of books so it’d be at the right height. The results are … fine. She stands in front of a chintzy-looking cartoon sea floor in a red shirt and thick headband, singing a ditty a cappella. (“One little blue fish, swimming in the water …”) The two-minute video ends with her waving to the camera, then cuts to a generic graphic asking people to like and subscribe.

It feels slanderous to write about this clip’s shortcomings now, because Rachel Griffin-Accurso is (probably by my estimation, and definitely by my 1-year-old son’s estimation) the finest entertainer for young children working today.

Since uploading that first video in February 2019, she’s gone from a New York–based educator dabbling in digital content to Ms. Rachel, toddler-whisperer extraordinaire, with millions of devoted followers. Her YouTube show, originally called Songs for Littles but recently renamed Ms. Rachel, is an interactive, thoughtful addition to the children’s canon; it now has a cast of merry singing adults, live instrumentals, and puppets, too. It has a modern-day, DIY Sesame Street vibe, with an emphasis on language development that has converted speech therapists into ardent boosters. Linger long enough outside a daycare, and you’ll spot a mom wearing a “Running on Ms. Rachel and Iced Coffee” T-shirt.

Griffin-Accurso’s rise wouldn’t have happened in a different children’s media landscape. She started recording videos because she’d gone looking for language-development-focused programming for her young son, who had a speech delay, and didn’t find what she wanted. “He’s such a visual learner,” she says. “I just thought it would really help him.”

She didn’t know anyone in the television industry, or even how one would go about pitching a series. “I felt like I had a strong show,” she says. “But I didn’t have connections.”

She didn’t even really have a staff or a fleshed-out project, instead learning as she went. Her husband, Aron Accurso, turned into a castmate; a composer and musical director with Broadway experience, he also oversees the show’s music, helps with editing, and moonlights as a puppeteer. Singer-songwriter Jules Hoffman, now another cast mainstay, got the gig initially by answering an online ad in 2019. “I literally opened up Craigslist, I typed in ‘children’s music,’ I saw Rachel’s ad—no pictures, one sentence,” they remember. “Then we met up and hit it off.” While traditional children’s television development can be a years-long process from idea to execution, Ms. Rachel grew into itself publicly, one uploaded video at a time.

Accurso-Griffith is now making inroads in more traditional children’s media. But the way her story started is representative of a sea change happening in the world of kid’s entertainment: YouTube is the nucleus.

The YouTube Era of children’s programming represents a marked shift in what and how young kids watch video. For decades, children’s television was appointment viewing on a handful of broadcast networks. The UK and Canada had kids' programming on BBC and CBC, respectively. In the US, Saturday morning cartoons were king, while PBS set a gold standard for educational fare with long-running hits like Sesame Street. In the 1980s, the rise of cable led to the creation of several kid-specific channels, most famously Nickelodeon and the Disney Channel. 

The rise of streamers and “peak TV” led to a corresponding flood of children’s content, which is a major draw for audiences. How major? Over a third of the shows most in-demand on Disney+ are children’s programming, according to Parrot Analytics. Some of these Disney hits are in-house titles like DuckTales; others are licensed, like the truly delightful Australian cartoon Bluey.

Children’s programming also thrives on less kid-focused streamers. More than 18 percent of Amazon Prime Video’s demand is for kid’s television—in part thanks to the streamer’s catalog of children’s content that originated on YouTube—and more than 17 percent of demand on Paramount+ is for kid’s television, likely because of its library of Nickelodeon shows. Parrot Analytics measures demand for children’s programming at just above 15 percent for both Max and Netflix, a testament to how those streamers have also developed their kid’s entertainment sections. (Max now owns the rights to Sesame Street, for example.)

While the streamers have been jostling for dominance, though, YouTube has surpassed them all. “Time spent with YouTube is even higher than it is with streaming content,” says Nancy Jennings, a professor at the University of Cincinnati and director of the school’s Children’s Education and Entertainment Research Lab. “YouTube has really taken over the space.”

YouTube’s rise is tied to a number of factors. First, there’s how accessible it is. (Free!) Then there’s the sheer volume of video available. “Nothing can really touch it,” says Katie Bailey, editor of the children’s entertainment trade publication Kidscreen. (Trailing far behind in second place, in her estimation? “Netflix.”) It also offers unrivaled variety. Does your kid want to watch hundreds of hours of videos of garbage trucks? What about hundreds of hours of other children opening toys, or playing video games, or reciting Shakespeare, or participating in elaborate pranks, or touching slime? Hand them a tablet or smartphone. And when whatever your child has chosen has finished playing, YouTube’s algorithm has something else ready in the queue.

The audience sizes for kids content on YouTube are staggering. Songs for Littles as a channel has more than 2.7 billion views. Its subscriber count sits just above 4.7 million. The channel for the BBC's popular Hey Duggee has some 2.5 billion views and more than 1.7 million subscribers. But those look Lilliputian compared to the behemoth that is Cocomelon, YouTube’s most popular children’s program within the United States, and its second-most popular channel overall. Cocomelon has more than 162 billion views and 161 million subscribers.

Cocomelon’s success story is far weirder than Ms. Rachel. The brand started as a YouTube channel launched way back in 2006, specializing in alphabet videos for toddlers; it was created by former filmmaker Jay Jeon as a hobby. (He has two kids.) As it gained an audience, the channel expanded into nursery rhyme animations, went through a few name changes, and eventually rebranded as Cocomelon in 2018. By the time it was sold to a British media startup called Moonbug in 2020, it was an unprecedented juggernaut.

Moonbug’s existence is a case study on the centrality of YouTube to the kid’s entertainment world. The company has grown by acquiring already-popular YouTube channels and making them obscenely popular multi-platform brands. (In addition to Cocomelon, it also owns Blippi and Little Baby Bum.) A year after it landed Cocomelon, Moonbug itself was sold for a reported $3 billion to a Los Angeles–based entertainment startup called Candle Media, which was founded by a former Disney and TikTok executive and is backed by the private equity firm Blackstone.

After Moonbug got on the scene, Cocomelon and its other hits went from being YouTube sensations to simply ubiquitous. Starting in 2020, Cocomelon jumped over to Netflix, where it has remained one of the most-watched children’s titles globally ever since. And that was just the beginning. “Our content is on 180 platforms around the world,” Moonbug’s managing director Andy Yeatman says. In addition to all the major US streamers, Cocomelon and other Moonbug shows appear on international broadcasters like the BBC, Germany’s SuperRTL, Brazil’s Globo, as well as Chinese streaming platforms owned by ByteDance and iQIYI.

When Moonbug started attempting to strike deals with more traditional media companies, they struggled to convey exactly how big the properties they owned already were. “In the first couple years, it was definitely a hurdle to get them to take us seriously,” Yeatman says. “It was, Oh, it’s just YouTube content. But we don’t get that anymore.”

Now, streamers vie for said YouTube content. Moonbug has struck deals to create exclusive spin-off programs based on its preexisting shows for several major platforms. An offshoot of its property My Magic Pet Morphle will debut on Disney+ next year.

Meanwhile, both streamers and traditional broadcast and cable channels are now creating their own content specifically for YouTube. “They’ve moved to embrace the platform,” YouTube’s head of family partnerships Lauren Glaubach says. Disney, for example, has put whole episodes of its new animated show Star Wars Young Jedi on the platform, a move Glaubach sees as expanding its audience. “You look at these full-length episodes on YouTube and there are over 34 million views in total.”

Part of the great appeal of YouTube is that anyone can upload a video to the platform. It’s also the great problem of YouTube: Moderating the world’s largest repository of user-generated video is impossible to do flawlessly. And while Disney is finding additional audiences from using YouTube, it was also at the center of one of the platform’s biggest scandals: Elsagate.

In 2015, YouTube launched an app especially for children, YouTube Kids. It was meant to curate high-quality, child-appropriate videos. And it did, mostly. But bad actors sought to piggyback on the demand for actual kid’s programming with low-quality, hastily-made videos that often included disturbing storylines and imagery. Some of these videos took beloved cartoon characters and created knock-off content with decidedly freaky, unsettling plotlines. (Sample title: “PAW Patrol Babies Pretend to Die Suicide by Annabelle Hypnotized.”) The character Elsa from Disney’s megahit Frozen was a frequently-bootlegged character, so people following the scandal ended up nicknaming it after her.

YouTube conducted a massive purge of the offending videos and channels after the Elsagate controversy; in the years since, its moderation efforts appear to have paid off. (I recently spent several hours trying to find inappropriate content on YouTube Kids; I found some mildly puerile fart videos, but nothing truly disturbing.) Josh Cohen, the founder of creator-economy news website TubeFilter, has followed YouTube’s approach to kids content since the beginning, and believes the platform was “whipped into shape” by the backlash. “It’s a testament to YouTube responding to criticisms,” he says.

Still, to this day, not every parent feels comfortable plopping their kid down with a tablet and YouTube, and that’s one of the ways some of the original children’s television purveyors continue to thrive. PBS, for example, may have far more competition than it did when Sesame Street launched, but it’s managed to carve out a successful lane for itself, in part by adapting early to the digital-video space and preserving its quality-first reputation.

PBS launched its own digital video player back in 2007. “YouTube already existed at that point and we had been watching it carefully, but we just didn’t feel like it was a safe place for us right out of the gate. But because a lot of kids were on it, we were like, OK, we’ll launch our own player,” Sara DeWitt, the senior vice president and general manager of PBS Kids, says.

PBS did embrace YouTube eventually, though. When YouTube Kids launched, DeWitt says PBS worked to be one of the app’s “anchor tenants,” in part because it wanted to be on the platforms where its target audience already spent time.

For that reason, the public broadcaster has also been on the forefront of another shift. For well over a decade now, PBS Kids has considered gaming as an essential component of its programming. “We made the decision in the early 2000s that our shows were going to be multi-platform. Meaning, it would be shows and games. When you pitched to PBS kids, you really tried to come with a world, because we weren’t launching any shows without a gaming element as well,” DeWitt says.

This melding together of children’s television and children’s gaming is only accelerating. David Kleeman, a senior vice president at the game development studio Dubit, has studied children’s entertainment for decades (he’s the former president of the American Center for Children and Media) and he’s tracking how these two worlds are colliding.

Kleeman has already seen children enthusiastically watching video content within gaming platforms, and believes this type of screen time will be increasingly commonplace in the future.

In 2022, the anime-adventure series Bakugan Battle Planet launched a blended experience where kids playing on Roblox could stream episodes of the series within the gaming platform. Kleeman tested what it was like to watch within Roblox; he navigated his avatar over to a screen, where other people had done the same, creating a virtual screening room. “There were all kinds of other avatars, bouncing and running around,” he says. “It felt like I wasn’t watching TV alone.”

Other industry experts suspect gaming will have an even more prominent role in children’s entertainment in the future. Libby Hunt, the research manager at Boston Children’s Hospital’s Digital Wellness Lab, sees the trend toward more immersive, interactive digital entertainment as already underway. “The popularity of online environments like Minecraft or Roblox really encapsulates this shift,” she says. Hunt predicts even more “blending” of gaming and television in the future for young kids. (This is a trend that is even further along with older kids, who frequent apps like Twitch to watch gaming streams.)

In addition to television shows cropping up within gaming platforms, gaming content is already widespread on television and streaming video, and there’s no sign of that abating. Recently, Amazon’s Freevee platform announced a deal to create channels devoted to Minecraft and Roblox gameplay and tutorials, a category of video already prevalent on YouTube.

The category of “children’s television” has existed for nearly as long as television has, but it is an increasingly leaky category. As spending time on online platforms like YouTube and Roblox supplants sitting in front of an old-fashioned television set, the very idea of “kids tv” becomes as antiquated as Saturday morning cartoons.

Still, some things stay constant. “What really fascinates me is that for all the contextual changes of how we watch, how we play, how we do all those things—child development doesn’t change,” Kleeman says. Kids will always pay attention to a captivating show—whether or not it’s on television is besides the point.

[cartoonist-ks]

The Bernia AU: Humble Beginnings

About: The first installment to The Bernia AU. This story is about the iconic muppet duo, Bert and Ernie, and how they got married after over 30 years of being together.

Author's Note: So, for those who either follow me, or at least read this story, might notice I re-posted it, and that's because of some minor changes. Instead of establishing that Bert and Ernie have been together for over 50 years before marriage, I've reduced that to 30 years, and the reason for that is that I added something to the timeline of this AU, and only changed it for the sake of the story to make sense. What is that something I added, you may ask? You'll just have to see once that story is published. Keep in mind, that Bert and Ernie are still together and will remain together as a married couple forever in this AU.

Rating: All Ages

AU: Bernia

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

Bert and Ernie have been together for over 30 years now. They have gone on more dates than The Count can count. And we all know he loves to count. But this time, it will be different. Bert has something special planned for his date with Ernie. Bert fixes his bow tie in the mirror. He wears a white, button-up shirt, with a black vest over it. Black pants and his plain old saddle shoes. He looks at himself in the mirror making sure he looks decent enough. He then began to spray some cologne on himself to keep him smelling nice.

Bert: “Okay, I think I’m ready. Let’s see, I took a bath, I brushed my teeth, I combed my hair. My outfit looks decent. Okay, I think I’m ready to go.”

            He began to walk out of the room when he stopped by the door.

Bert: “OH! I almost forgot!”

            He walks back to his dressing table and opens the drawer. He lifts some neatly folded clothes and retrieves a little black box underneath. He puts the black box into his pocket and closes back the drawer.

Bert: “Now, I’m ready!”

The yellow muppet makes his way out of the room, closing the door behind him. He then meets Ernie by the front door. Ernie is wearing only a white button-up shirt, black pants, and a little red tie. As footwear, he wore dark brown loafers. The orange smaller muppet greets his boyfriend walking towards him.

Ernie: “Hey, honey. You look nice; as always.”

Bert: “Thanks. You look handsome as always too. Ready to go?”

Ernie: “Ready, but why did we have to dress up so nice anyway?”

Bert: “I made reservations to this nice restaurant a few blocks down from here. They only allow formal wear, so we must look nice.”

Ernie: “Well, why can’t we just go to any other restaurant that isn’t so strict on clothing?”

Bert: “Because tonight is a very special night. And I want everything to be perfect.”

Ernie: “What makes this night more special than other nights we’ve had with each other.”

Bert: “Oh, you’ll see. It’s a surprise.”

Ernie: “I sure do love surprises. Alright Bert, let’s go.”

The couple proceeded to exit their apartment. As they walked down the stairs, Oscar pops his head out of his trash can. He looked at both Bert and Ernie in disgust.

Oscar: “Ugh, where are you two lovebirds headed? How many dates have you guys been on? Like 30?”

Bert: “We lost count. But tonight’s gonna be special.”

Oscar: “What can be more special than any other dates you’ve been on so far?”

Ernie: “That’s what I said. Bert said it’s a surprise.”

Oscar: “A surprise? I hate surprises!”

Bert: “Oh, Oscar. Nobody hates surprises.”

Oscar: “Well, I do! They make me grouchy. And I love being grouchy.”

Ernie: “Of course you do, Oscar.”

Both Bert and Ernie walks past his trash can.

Oscar: “Just keep that mushy stuff away from my trash can! Ugh, love…”

            The grouch dives back into his trash can. Bert and Ernie walk down Sesame Street where they met Alan by Hooper’s Store, cleaning the tables as it was almost time to close up for the night. Alan greets the two lovebirds.

Alan: “Hi, Bert, hi Ernie. Off on another date, I see.”

Ernie and Bert: “Hey, Alan.”

Ernie: “Yeah, Bert’s taking me to this fancy restaurant. He has a surprise planned for me.”

Alan: “Ooh, that’s nice. Well, I hope it goes well.”

Bert: “I hope so.”

Ernie: “Ooh!”

To Ernie’s surprise, a limo drove up. Bert walks up next to Ernie, putting his arm around his shoulder.

Bert: “That. Is our ride.”

Ernie: “Woah, Bert. You shouldn’t have. This must be a pretty special surprise if you went and got a limousine.”

Bert: “Only the best for my spring pigeon.”

Ernie: “Oh, Bert.”

Ernie kisses Bert on the cheek. Bert opens the limo door, gesturing for Ernie to go in first.

Bert: “After you.”

            Ernie hops into the limo. He looks around in astonishment at the inside. It was a nice ruby red. The seats were smooth and leathery. In the door, there was a pocket where a bottle of a cool beverage bathing in ice, so it can stay cold.

Ernie: “It’s really nice in here.”

The Count: “Yes! That’s 1. 1 passenger in the back seat. Ha, Ha, Ha!”

Ernie: “Count? You’re the limo driver?”

The Count: “Yes. Bert asked me to take you guys on your…uh…30th date? You know I lost count. Which is weird because I never lose count. Hmm, maybe I should count how many dates you’ve been on so far.”

Ernie: “UH- That’s alright, Count, you don’t-

The Count: “1, one date. 2, two dates. 3, three dates. 4, four dates…

Ernie: “Oh, dear…”

The Count: “5, five dates…

Bert walks over to Alan.

Bert: “Boy, I really want this night to be perfect.”

Alan: “You mean, more perfect than any of your other dates?”

Bert: “Yes. This night is gonna be special. It has to be.”

Alan: “What makes this night so special?”

Bert: “Because…

            Bert takes out the small black box he saved in his pocket. He opens it, revealing a small ring inside. It was a nice golden color. It even had the shape of Rubber Duckie carved in it. Alan looks at the ring in surprise.

Alan: “Ooh… Does this mean, you’re finally gonna propose to Ernie?”

Bert: “Yeah.”

Alan: “Well, it’s about time. How long have you guys been together?”

Bert: “Over 30 years.”

Alan: “It took you over 30 years to finally put a ring on his finger?”

Bert: “Well, better late than never.”

Alan: “Good luck, Bert. I’m sure Ernie will say yes.”

Bert: “I hope. Bye, Alan.”

Alan: “Bye, Bert!”

            Bert then makes his way into the limo to meet a disenchanted Ernie.

Bert: “Ernie, what’s wrong?”

The Count: “11, eleven dates. 12, twelve dates…

Bert: “Is he counting?”

The Count: “13, thirteen dates…

Ernie: “Well, he is The Count.”

Bert: “We don’t have time for this. We’re suppose to be at the restaurant before 9.”

The Count: “14, fourteen dates…

Bert: “COUNT! Count, we gotta go. It’s 8:45. We need to get to the restaurant before our reservations expire!”

The Count: “Alright then. Off we go!”

And with that, Count started the limo and was now off to the restaurant. As they made their way to the restaurant, Ernie couldn’t contain his excitement. He couldn’t wait for what Bert had in store for him this time.

Ernie: “Oh boy, I wonder what the surprise is! Ooh, can I have a hint?”

Bert: “No, dear heart, you gotta wait.”

Ernie: “Can I guess?”

Bert: “No, you can’t guess. Do you want to ruin the surprise?”

Ernie: “But I’m just so eager to find out what it is! Ooh, is it…a new friend for Rubber Duckie?”

Bert: “No.”

Ernie: “Is it, that new paint set I wanted?”

Bert: “No.”

Ernie: “Oh, I know. A chocolate fountain.”

Bert: “A chocolate foun- Ernieee, stop trying to guess. When the time is right, I promise you’ll see. And I know you’re gonna love it.”

            Bert holds both of Ernie’s hands in his own and looks at him with loving eyes. Ernie gives Bert a warm smile.

Ernie: “Okay, Bert. I won’t guess anymore. I’m sure whatever it is, it will be very special. But not as special as you.”

Bert: “Oh, Ernie…”

            As they both were about to lean in for a kiss, they were abruptly interrupted by a sudden jolt from the limo. As if they ran over something.

Ernie: “What was that?”

The Count: “I do not know. I will pull over to see what is wrong.”

            Count pulls over the limo. He then exits the vehicle to see what’s the matter. After a few seconds, Bert heard a tap on his side window. He rolls down the window to reveal The Count standing there.

The Count: “It would seem that we have a flat tire.”

Bert: “A flat tire?! Wha- can you change it?”

The Count: “Let me see?”

Count then checks the back to see if there were any spares. He walks back to Bert’s window.

The Count: “There aren’t any spares. I think I forgot to bring some.”

Bert: “Are you kidding me?!”

Bert’s eyebrow dropped expressing that he was angry.

Bert: “What ding-a-ling forgets to bring spare tires?!

Ernie: “Honey, honey, calm down. It’s gonna be okay.”

Bert: “No, it’s not! I planned for this night to be perfect! Everything was supposed to go smoothly! Now we’re gonna be late for our dinner reservations!”

The Count: “I can always call someone to fix our flat tire.”

Ernie: “That’s a great idea, Count. See, Bert, it’s gonna be fine.”

            Bert hangs his head down low.

Bert: “Hmm…"

An hour passed, and the limo’s flat tire was finally fixed, but by that time, it was already too late. It was already past 9, meaning that their reservations would have already expired. Bert was very disappointed.

Bert: (sighs) “So much for a romantic dinner.”

Ernie: “It’s okay, Bert. I don’t care about having a fancy dinner. I just want to spend the night with my handsome boyfriend.”

Bert: “Tonight was supposed to be a special night. I was gonna- … it doesn’t matter…”

            Ernie ponders to himself for a minute, before hatching a great idea.

Ernie: “Hey! Tell you what. Why don’t we have our romantic dinner at the most special place ever.”

            Bert perks his head up.

Bert: “Uh? Where?”

Alan is carrying a tray with two bowls on it. One containing oatmeal and the other containing macaroni & cheese. He brings it over to the table Bert and Ernie were sitting at.

Alan: “And for the lovely couple, a fresh bowl of oatmeal for Bert. And a hot steaming bowl of macaroni & cheese for Ernie.”

            The storekeeper rests the two bowls down in front of the gentlemen.

Bert: “Hmm, thank you, Alan.”

Ernie: “Thanks, Alan.”

Alan: “Anytime, you guys. Enjoy.”

A violinist appears holding a violin.

Violinist: “Would you like to hear some sweet music while you eat?”

Bert: “Oh, that would be nice.”

Ernie: “Yes, please.”

The violinist began playing his violin. He played, “I am forever blowing bubbles”. And it really added to a calm romantic atmosphere. The once disappointed Bert was now satisfied with his date. Sure, it wasn’t a fancy restaurant, but it no longer mattered as long as Ernie was happy.

Bert: “You were right, Ernie. This is the most special place to have a romantic dinner.”

Ernie: “It’s special to me because this is the place we first met. I never thought I would end up falling in love with my roommate years later. And each day with you will always be special.”

Bert: “Aww, Ernie… I find each day special with you too.”

Alan taps Bert on the shoulder.

Alan: (whispers) “Ah, Bert? I think you should do it.”

Bert: (whispers) “Do what?”

Alan: (whispers) “The ring?”

Bert: (gasp) “Oh, right! Umm…”

            Bert gets up from his seat. Ernie is confused.

Ernie: “Bert? Is everything okay?”

            Bert is nervous. He was shaking a little and his palms were sweaty, but he took a deep breath and exhaled. He looks into Ernie’s eyes, how they sparkle in the moonlight. He was finally able to build the courage to tell him.

Bert: “Ernie… from the moment I first met you, I always thought of you as a friend. But after we started living together, I didn’t know that I was starting to have feelings for you until I realized that a life without you would be pure misery. When we finally got together, I was over the moon. Living with you has been an absolute dream and I want nothing more than to spend every day of my life with you. For the rest of my life. I know we’ve had our differences and our mishaps. Most of them, caused by you. But no matter what, I want too always be there for you. Whether we’re angry with each other, or sad together, I know that our love will never wither. So…

            Bert pulls out the small black box containing the ring. He kneels on one knee. Ernie’s heart began to race. He had an idea where this was going. Bert opens the small box, revealing the shiny piece of jewelry. Ernie covers his mouth with a soft gasp.

Bert: “Ernie, will you make me the happiest man in the world and…marry me?”

            Tears began to form in Ernie’s eyes as he looked down at the ring. He saw the carving of Rubber Duckie on the golden piece of treasure.

Ernie: “Oh, Bert…(sniffs)…yes…yes…YES, I will marry you!”

            Ernie jumps out of his chair and into Bert’s arms nearly knocking him over, but the larger muppet was able to keep his balance as he hugged his partner. They then share a tender kiss that lasted half a minute before parting. Bert then slips on his ring. It was a perfect fit. Ernie looked down at the shiny golden treasure then back at Bert, giving him another tender kiss. Alan and The Count watched them from the distance with a smile.

The next day, Bert and Ernie announced to all their friends that they would finally be tying the knot very soon. There was a lot of preparing that needed to be done, but luckily for the muppet couple, they had all the help they could possibly get. Everyone on Sesame Street helped the couple to plan and prepare for the big event. After months of planning, the day finally came. Bert and Ernie decided to have their wedding at a nearby park. The chairs with set in two rows with everyone who knew the muppet couple as well as families of the soon to be wed couple. Bert stood up front with the priest holding a large book. Alan and Chris stood with him, as well as his twin brother, Bart. Bert was visibly shaking and sweating. He was nervous. He had pictured this moment every day after the proposal. And now that it was finally here, he started to have doubts. Bart and the other two men noticed how nervous Bert was.

Bart: “You good there, Bert?”

Bart puts his hand on Bert’s shoulder.

Bert: “I-I don’t know if I can do this.”

Chris: “Are you starting to have doubts?”

Bert: “A little… Mostly about the possibility that all of this could go wrong.”

Bart: “Hey, Bert. Nothing’s gonna go wrong. You’ll do just fine.”

Alan: “Yeah. We’re right with you. Everything’s gonna be okay.”

Bert: “I hope so. I really do hope so.”

Bert began looking around at everyone who came to their event. There was Gordan and Maria, Susan, Miles, Gabbie. As well as Cookie Monster, Big Bird, Rosita, Harry Monster, and many other friends. His family, his nephew Brad, his mother, his cousin Bertina. And Ernie’s family, his parents, his cousin Ernestine, his uncle Ernesto, and his other cousin Fred. Everyone he cared about and supported him through all his life, and soon enough Bert’s nerves began to settle, just in time for the wedding music to start playing. Abby and Zoe were skipping down the aisle tossing flowers on their way down until they made it to the front. Then came Elmo walking down the aisle with a nice black suit, holding a pillow with two golden rings sitting on it. Once he made it up to the front it was now time for the groom to come in. Bert’s eyes shot open when he saw him. His fiancé standing at the other end of the aisle, wearing a white tux, holding a bouquet of flowers. His eyes sparkled with such beauty. The yellow muppet was mesmerized by his soon-to-be-husband. Ernie slowly and gracefully walked down the aisle, the people sitting in the rows of chairs watched as he walked past them with warm smiles. Once he finally made it up the front, he faced Bert. The large muppet faced him too. Looking into each other’s eyes with love. The priest began to speak.

Priest: “We are gathered here today to celebrate one of life’s joyous moments, and to honor the words of Bert and Ernie, that shall bound them together in marriage. Marriage is a promise, that two people who love each other make, to continue their journey together as one. Two people, who wish to be together forever. Does the groom and groom have a few words to share before we proceed?”

Bert: “I have a few words. (clears throat) Ernie, I hope that whatever happen, whether if we’re mad at each other, or sad together, we will still be together no matter what.”

Ernie: “I hope we stay together too, Bert. No matter the costs.”

Priest: “Okay. Let us proceed then. Do you Bert take Ernie to be your lawfully wedded husband for as long as you two shall live, in sickness and in health, ‘til death do you part?”

Bert: “I do.”

Priest: “And do you, Ernie, take Bert to be your lawfully wedded husband, for as long as you two shall live, in sickness and in health, ‘til death do you part?”

Ernie: “I do.”

Priest: “Can the ring bear now give both the grooms their rings?”

            Elmo walks up to the couple and lifts the pillow towards them. Bert and Ernie pick up the rings and slid them on each other’s fingers. Elmo walks back to his place and the priest began one last time.

Priest: “By the power vested in me, I now pronounce you husband and husband. You may kiss the groom.”

            And with those final lines, Bert and Ernie leaned in for a warm, tender, kiss. Everyone else watching got up from their seats and began to clap. Cookie Monster hugged Oscar as he cried tears of joy. Instead of pulling away, Oscar hugged him back. Even though, he was a grouch, he couldn’t help but shed a little tear, feeling happy for the now, married muppets. Once the couple finally separated from their kiss, they held each other’s hands and walked back down the aisle. Bart, Chris, and Alan were also clapping for them. And so, the after party began. They all sat around a table. Gordan stood up, lifting his glass up and tapping a butter knife against it.

Gordan: “I would like to make a toce, to Bert and Ernie. I wish for them to have a long happy marriage. After over 30 years, they finally tied the knot, and I couldn’t be more than happy for them.”

            Everyone at the table clapped. Bert and Ernie hugged each other.

Ernie: “Thank you, Gordan. That was very nice.”

Bart: “Alright, let’s dig in!”

Everyone at the table began to eat. They talked. They shared some laughs, and they ate some more. Once, it was finally time to cut the cake, Bert and Ernie held the knife and started to cut the three-layered cake. Ernie smeared some of the frosting on his finger and began to taste the cake.

Bert: “Oh, can I have some.”

Ernie: “Sure, Bert. Here.”

Ernie smeared the cake frosting on Bert’s nose. He pointed and laughed. Bert nodded his head before taking some of the frosting on his finger and smeared it on Ernie’s nose. Bert laughed. Ernie laughed too. After the cake, there was the slow dancing. Everyone grabbed a partner and danced, swaying side to side. Ernie and Bert held each other in their embrace and danced as if they were the only people in the entire world.

Bert: “How was it?”

Ernie: “How was what, Bert?”

Bert: “All this? Was it everything you could ever wish for?”

Ernie: “It’s more than that, Bert. It’s everything I could have dreamed for. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Bert: “Me either.”

            Ernie lays his head on Bert’s shoulder and closed his eyes to imprint this exact moment in his mind. All they could feel was love for each other. Nothing more, nothing less. It started to turn dark, some of the kids were tired and their parents took them home, but not before congratulating the couple first. Bert and Ernie sat on a bench and looked up at the stars together while continuing to hold each other.

            It’s been a year since the wedding, and Bert and Ernie are still as happy as they’ve ever been. Not many things have changed since they got married. They still lived in their basement apartment as they always have. They still sleep in the same room on the same bed together. So, nothing really changed about their relationship. Just same old same old stuff. But things were about to change for the married couple. Bert and Ernie were preparing a separate room. Ernie was standing on a latter, painting the walls a nice blue sky. He was just about done painting a cloud. Bert was putting together a bassinet with a mobile hanging over it.

Bert: “Ernie?”

Ernie: “Hmm?” Bert: “Does this look good?”

Ernie looked at the bassinet at where it was placed. It was placed near the window of the room. Ernie shook his head in disapproval.

Ernie: “Mh-mh. Why not move it more over there.”

            Ernie pointed towards the corner of the room. Bert began pushing the bassinet toward the corner.

Bert: “Is this good?”

Ernie: “Hmm… maybe push it a little to the side.”

            Bert then pushed the bassinet a little bit away from the corner.

Bert: “How about now?”

Ernie: “Hmm… still not good. Move it over to the door.”

Bert: “Alright.”

            Bert once again pushed the bassinet over to the door, but not too close as to give the door room to open.

Bert: “Now?”

Ernie: “Umm… I don’t like it. Bring it back over here.”

Bert: (sighs)

            Bert pushed the bassinet back over to the window where it was originally placed. Ernie nodded his head in approval.

Ernie: “Perfect!”

Ernie laughs. Bert shook his head in disapproval.

Ernie: “Oh, Bert, the room looks wonderful, don’t you think?”

Bert: “Yeah, it looks pretty good. I can’t wait for the baby to finally sleep in it.”

            The couple looked around at the new nursery, they prepared for a baby. That’s right, Bert and Ernie are going to welcome a new bundle of joy to the street. The nursery had a nice outdoor kind of feel with the walls painted a sky blue with puffy clouds and a grassy green for the grass. It also had a few bunnies painted on it. There was also a changing table to change the baby’s diapers, a dressing table to keep the baby’s clothes, a closet to store the baby’s toys, and a rocking chair to rock the baby to sleep at night. Cannot forget the bookshelf where all the baby books were, and finally the bassinet.

Ernie: “Me too, Bert. I’m sure they’ll love it. I can’t wait to read to the baby at night. Rock them peacefully in the rocking chair. Lay them nice and soundly in their little bassinet.”

Bert: “Me too, Ernie. I can’t wait to do all those things too.”

            The two muppets were alerted by the sound of the doorbell. Bert was confused. They weren’t really expecting guests over.

Ernie: “Ooh, that must be the toys.”

Bert: “Toys?”

Ernie: “Yeah, didn’t I tell you? I ordered more baby toys online.”

Bert: “More baby toys?!”

Ernie: “Oh yeah. I should go get them.”

            Ernie hummed as he made his way to the front door. Bert stood there surprised before following him. There was a delivery man outside on the stoop waiting for the person to collect his items. The orange muppet finally came out and greeted the delivery man.

Ernie: “Hello, there.”

Delivery Man: “Yeah, did you order a delivery on baby toys?”

Ernie: “I sure did!”

Delivery Man: “Here you go.”

The delivery man was about to hand Ernie the boxes when Bert finally came out and without a second thought, he intervened.

Bert: “Oh I’ll take that!”

Bert takes the boxes instead.

Ernie: “Ooh. Thanks, Bert.”

Delivery Man: “Have a nice day.”

The delivery man walks away. Ernie looked at the boxes Bert was holding.

Bert: “Ernieee, don’t you think this is a little too many toys? We already have plenty in the closet.”

Ernie: “You can never have too many toys, hon.”

            Bert sighs. Just then, Elmo and Abby were passing by when they saw the muppet couple with boxes.

Elmo: “Hi Ernie! Hi Bert!”

Abby: “Hey, you guys!”

Ernie: “Hello, Little Elmo. Abby.”

Elmo: “What are Bert and Ernie doing with all those boxes?”

Ernie: “Just some stuff we ordered for a surprise.”

Abby: (gasp) “A surprise?”

Elmo: “Elmo loves surprises! What’s the surprise?”

Ernie: “We can’t tell you yet. We want to gather everyone on Sesame Street and tell them. You’ll just have to wait until then.”

Elmo: “Okay! Elmo can’t wait to hear what the surprise is!”

Abby: “Me too!”

Bert: “Ugh. I’m gonna bring these boxes in the apartment.”

Ernie: “I’ll come with you! Bye guys.”

            Both Ernie and Bert made their way back into the apartment.

Elmo and Abby: “Bye Bert. Bye Ernie.”

Elmo: “Oh, boy, Elmo wonders what Ernie and Bert have for a surprise.”

Abby: “Me too. Do you think their getting a new pet?”

Elmo: “Could it be a dog?!”

Abby: “Or a cat?!”

Elmo: “Or maybe a hamster?”

Abby: “Who knows? We’ll just have to wait to see what it is.”

            Meanwhile, back in the apartment, Ernie was looking over the new toys he got for the baby.

Bert: “I still think this is way too many toys, Ernie. Would it even fit in the closet?”

Ernie: “Oh, Bert, I’m sure it will! Let’s see here, we got a teddy bear. A shiny ball. And a rubber duckie!”

            Ernie squeaks the rubber duckie and laughs.

Bert: “Why not give the baby the rubber duckie you already have?”

Ernie: “Bert, Rubber Duckie is MY toy. I wouldn’t just give him up. You know this.”

Bert throws his arm up in the air and face palms.

Bert: “Of course.”

Ernie: “But hey, the baby will have their own rubber duckie to play with. I’ll even teach them the rubber duckie song when their older.”

Bert: “I’ll admit that song never gets old. Not even for you.”

Ernie: “That song will forever be a staple to me. I sure am awfully fond of it.”

            Ernie laughs once again.

Bert: “And I will forever be awfully fond of you, my spring pigeon.”

            Ernie blushes before walking over to Bert and giving him a kiss on the cheek.

Ernie: “Oh, Bert. I’m awfully fond of you too.”

            When the time was finally right, Bert and Ernie gathered everyone on Sesame Street to tell them the news of them going to have a baby. Everyone was ecstatic for the couple and, as always, gave them their support. After a couple of days, Bert had a surprise for Ernie waiting outside of the apartment. Bert leads Ernie outside of the apartment with his hands covering the orange muppet’s eyes.

Bert: “Alright, Ernie! Are you ready for your surprise?”

Ernie: “Yes~. What is it?”

            Bert removes his hands away from Ernie’s eyes. Ernie opens his eyes and gasps in surprise. He saw a gray SUV parked in front of the apartment.

Bert: “I got us an SUV! The car dealer said they make wonderful family cars. We can go on family road trips. Just me, you, and our baby together. As a family.”

Ernie: “Bert! Oh, this is wonderful, Bert! I’m so happy!”

            Ernie gives Bert a big hug.

Bert: “You wanna see the inside?”

Ernie: “Of course.”

Bert: “Okay!”

            And so, the couple got inside the large car. Ernie sat in the passenger’s seat, while Bert sat in the driver’s seat. Ernie admired the inside of the car. Bert nodded his head, proud of his choice.

Ernie: “Wow, Bert, this is wonderful!”

Bert: “Yeah. After we got married, I’ve always planned for us to eventually get a car, so we can go out on trips together. And since we’re about to be parents, I thought it was the right time to finally get it.”

Ernie: “Oh, thank you, Bert. You know, this baby will be very lucky to have you as a father. You’d make a great dad.”

Bert: “So will you.”

And with that, the two shared a warm kiss while sitting in their new SUV. A couple of months went by, and the couple finally welcomed a new baby to the street. Everyone on Sesame Street waited for them, as they pulled up.

Elmo: “Look, everybody! They’re here!”

            Bert made his way out of the car, greeting everyone present.

Bert: “Hey, everyone!”

Maria: “Welcome home, fellas!”

Gordan: “It’s so great to have you guys back! How was it?”

Bert: “It was alright.”

            Bert came around to the passenger’s side to open the door for Ernie.

Big Bird: “Oh boy, I can’t wait to see the new baby!”

Ernie: “Well, you won’t have to wait any longer.”

            The orange muppet carefully made his way out of the car, holding a swaddled baby in his arms. Though, the baby’s face couldn’t be seen. Everyone awed, as Ernie made his way towards the stairs of the stoop and sat down right in between Elmo and Abby. Everyone there looked closer as Ernie pulled the blanket out of the baby’s face for a better look.

Alan: “Awe, they’re so cute!”

            The baby was small and had yellowish-orange skin, a smile like Ernie’s, and a reddish-orange nose that was shaped like Bert’s. Of course, they had black hair like both parents, with the only difference there being a white patch of hair on the side of their head. Their eyes were closed, and they slept peacefully in Ernie’s arms. Elmo couldn’t contain his excitement.

Elmo: “Is the baby a boy or girl?!”

Ernie: “It’s a beautiful baby girl.”

Abby: (gasps) “A girl! I was right.”

Rosita: “Awe, she is very beautiful!”

Grover: “She looks like both you and Bert, Ernie.”

Ernie: “She does.”

Bert: “She’s a healthy mix between me and Ernie.”

Maria: “Well, she is very cute.”

Chris: “Yeah, congrats you too.”

Bert and Ernie: “Thanks.”

Big Bird: “What’s her name?”

Bert and Ernie: “Bernia.”

Grover: “That is such a cute little name.”

Alan: “And a very clever one too. It’s like both Bert and Ernie put together, which would make sense.”

Bert: (chuckle) “Yeah. It took us a while to come up with a name, but we finally settled on naming her after both of us.”

Susan: “That is very special. You both are very lucky to have such a beautiful baby girl.”

The Count: “That’s 1, one cute, adorable baby. And two wonderful parents.”

Bert: “Thanks, Count.”

Abby: (cooed) “Hi there, Bernia. I’m Abby.”

Elmo: “And Elmo’s Elmo. Welcome to Sesame Street.”

            Everyone looked down at the little bundle of joy. Bert and Ernie especially couldn’t be any happier. With the new member on Sesame Street, the air was getting sweeter. The iconic muppet duo were gonna have a lot of changes in their lives that will take some getting used to, but as always, they can get through it together. There are still lots of adventures to explore, as this was only a humble beginning to a new chapter.

The End...

[twistednuns]

April 2024

The fragrant smell of the Mediterranean. Drawing, writing, reading on a mattress outside on the balcony. Listening to the waves, the humming and chirping and a soft snore. C. often sleeps wrapped in his blanket like a little burrito.

Finding another book by Aldous Huxley. Someone abandoned it and left it on top of the fireplace in our apartment. Does the Universe want me to read all his books?

Driving around with scooters on Agistri. Empty roads. Hardly any people. Breathtaking views. Sunshine. A little offroad adventure to find the highest peak of the island. Climbing down to a deserted beach. Swimming in the sea for the first time this year.

Reading in bed, waiting for C. to wake up. Morning cuddles.

The friendly owner of the fish restaurant. Befriending the orange tomcat with a hoarse little meow. Other cats following us on our walk to Skala (during Golden Hour - stopping every few metres to take a photo of the beautiful flowers and citrus trees).

Biting into Greek halva. Much too sweet of course but I love the soft but crispy consistency and the taste of roasted sesame. More culinary highlights: Vegan mushroom pita at CooKoomela Grill. Fried Saganaki cheese. Greek salad. Baked cheese balls covered in linseed and sesame on caramelized onions. Orange marzipan. Pastry with spinach and feta. Iced latte. Breakfast in bed: strawberries / an unexpected breakfast delivery with rich warm pastries from the local bakery.

Exarcheia was our favourite neighbourhood in Athens. Lively, alternative, creative - with lots of street art. We befriended the staff at The Others and ate at the vegan grill every single day. I loved our night out playing pool and going dancing at BeQueer and Asylo. I gave C. my pink shirt and Desigual psychedelic top, applied golden eyeliner and took him to the gay bar where we danced to Lady Gaga etc. Walking home in the early morning hours, hand in hand.

Climbing a few hills in Athens. Enjoying the view from our rooftop. Following all the kittens.

Fields of yellow daisies.

A soft landing. Making dinner, eating outside. Smoking our first legal spliff in the sun (C. in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas attire). Taking a nap. C. walked me up to the bus station when I was finally ready to leave.

Watching 10 Things I Hate About You together. C. even admitted that it was a nice movie. We also watched the first season of 3 Body Problem and the first three episodes were really amazing - until it turned into trashy action TV. I loved the virtual reality game they invented and all the inception the San-Ti are able to do.

Sitting down in the pottery room to work on my own sculpture. It calmed me down so much. I was in the zone. And able to ignore the loud children. I wonder why I don't craft and paint more often despite knowing it gives me so much joy.

I saw a pheasant in a field by the road!

Buying my grandma's wedding ring back.

Settling the last open tasks with my brother.

Using my bathrobe to scratch my back while taking it off.

A large, thin crescent moon lying on its back the day after the eclipse.

Singing Soli Deo Gloria with my choir. Always such a special energy.

Meeting Luna for tea and hot gossip. We finally managed to meet one on one! She's such a cutie.

Getting a whole cart full of flowers and vegetables plants for the balcony. And a tray of strawberries. Making everything really nice. I finally got a parasol, too! It's lovely to read and eat outside now. I even fell asleep on Friday afternoon.

Sleeping propped up on pillows and blankets from both sides. My little bed castle. So cozy.

Taking almost an hour out of my morning to have a chill conversation about Islam with a student. It was super interesting to learn from him and it seems like we have mutual respect for each other's beliefs.

Spending a whole day cleaning, planting, repairing. I love productive work.

Walking along Ostersee with Ralf. Fields of dandelion, apple blossoms, bumblebees. A great view of the mountains. Swimming in the cold, clear lake. The first mild sunburn of the year after reading in the sun for an hour. Wonderin about the angry geese that kept flying around the lake in a pair.

Eating pancake soup, salad and dumplings with creamy mushrooms at Alter Wirt in Höhenrain.

Reading a great book about Highly Sensitive People. I feel seen.

Taking a day off when I needed it. Being nicer to myself, observing my emotions. Trying to figure out what I'm actually feeling and why. Realising how cut off I am from my body.

Going to an Ecstatic Dance event with Ralf. Running into Robert. Cuddling and freaky dancing. Great vibes. Ralf said he calmed me down.

Even though I didn't really feel like company, Ralf was super easy to be with. He gets me and we're really good together. I guess other people would have stressed me out to no end. I loved our deep talks, his help with finances, how empathic and careful he is with me.

Having someone to miss (I haven't seen Christian in over a week and I'm really looking forward to embracing him).

Sitting outside Cafe VorOrt with a huge cup of ice-cream. Fooling around with the curious baby at the next table.

A lovely performance with my Gospel Choir at church. Talking to Julia and Isabel. Finding a golden star in front of Kathrin's feet while warming up. Having a really good time. Listening to the sermon, reflecting on spirituality. Oh, and Tom's orange oldtimer. What a cute car.

Cracking my back really nicely coming out of Plow Pose. I'm also still really grateful for Lucie's yoga classes. I feel better after every single one.

Starting to create a 90s playlist.

Finishing the annoying 1000pc puzzle. Reorganizing Lian's room. I got to put his books in order and I loved it.

Spending my days off around C. It's nice to have company. Doing our little projects together. Cuddle breaks. Finding the special in the ordinary.

Sharpening my knives. Reaching a semi-meditative state in the process.

Charlie hopped on my back when we were standing in line for the bakery mobile. Such a weird cat, I love him.

People cancelling plans last minute when I prefer alone time.

Sniffing my piece of croissant before I eat it.

Noticing that the first orange poppy blossom had opened!

Getting an armful of rhubarb. Cutting it - such a satisfying, crunchy sound. And the smell of it reminded me of Sophie Dahl's cookbook. I made streusel cake with marzipan... delicious!

Realizing that I'm actually quite good at my job and that it's rather enjoyable as long as I'm relaxed and have enough energy.

Finally booking the karaoke box for my birthday and inviting everyone.

A spontaneous phone call from Kati who just bought a house in the Netherlands. Life updates. Realizing that I appreciate a phone call so much more than draining voice messages. It's counterintuitive but direct communication feels more comfortable than indirect messaging by now.

A lovely party at Südstadt with many Burner friends. I couldn't find my purse and jacket anymore when we left but luckily I'd put my keys, wallet and phone into my jeans pockets and - even better - everything showed up again and I was able to pick it up two days later. Someone must have relocated my stuff...

Testing mattresses with C.

Perfect timing: catching the bus without having to wait. Not having to walk to school in the cold.

Going to work with Christian in the morning. Driving to Munich together. And his smart outfit that day! I love him in a suit.

I found another book about Leonora Carrington. For free, on a windowsill, on my way to the cafeteria.

Robert's kitty massage programme. And receiving offers from him and Chili to help me with my business idea. Seems like I'm slowly running out of excuses.

Creating worksheets and tests for my ESL lesson. I kinda enjoy designing the exercises and doing the layout. But I never know when to stop...

Being the main examiner for the final arts exams was kinda cool. And I got to paint something during the practical exam, too. I love how I'm slowly getting back to creative work - at least when I'm at school and there are others in the room with me who're also working. Perhaps I should join a co-working space for artists?

Painting with neon orange and pink textmarkers. And long sticks of charcoal.

Christian's positivity. That I get to experience enthusiasm through him. How harmonious we are even though we're often quite stressed but I love that we're trying to find workarounds together. I feel super comfortable around him.

Starting a little collection of Gina Ruck-Pauquèt's zodiac story books for kids.

Rating my students' crushes and trying to find out the name of cute boys at school for them.

One of my High Energy Productive Thursdays. Tackling my to do list. Organising, getting clarity, and things out of the house. It feels so good to be in this flow state. And to do stuff I'd been procrastinating on for months. Like finally selling a few things online that have been lying around for ages.

In the night of the full moon in Scorpio on 24 April, I received a very clear message: It's enough. It's time. Time to let go. I no longer need all these thick physical layers of protection, manifestations of my desperate subconcious attempts to hide my extreme vulnerability. All the texts on Highly Sensitive People I've been reading inspire me. I'm strong enough now (Cher's Strong Enough playing in the back of my mind) and I know myself very well. // I enjoyed watching these words pouring out of my pen (or brain), writing them down in my journal. What a blissful feeling.

I got a grow kit for edible mushrooms and when I opened it the smell reminded me of forest soil. How pleasant.

The little birds who sometimes land on my balcony.

Attending another Joy of Connection event. C. was the DJ and I enjoyed his sound a lot! I loved connecting with Andreas (his hard pressure massage was fantastic) and checking in with C. during the event. Little flirty gazes here and there. Soft touch, a kind word.

Offering to introduce a slutty life drawing session and help with techniques. I might finally have to put my experience as an art teacher to good use.

Learning about Bokononism (fiction, religion) In Kurt Vonnegut's novel Cat's Cradle, a religion secretly practiced by the people of San Lorenzo, the supreme religious act of which consists of any two worshippers rubbing the bare soles of their feet together to inspire spiritual connection.

Recreating my grandma's garden bean recipes. The garlicky and the buttery one with onions. I'm going through a green bean phase.

Unearthing a Sandra Bullock 90s romcom, While You Were Sleeping.

The bright moon following me for a whole night, hanging low in the clear sky, illuminating my sleep. I even dreamt about it, huge and scary behind a city skyline.

Kitchen flow. Making Drug Eggs, granola and frozen nut butter chocolate dates with sea salt.

Applying sunscreen. The smell of summer on the first warm day after the two frosty weeks. Bringing my plants outside again.

Visiting the salt mine in Berchtesgaden with Lian and Christian. Sliding down the tunnels together. Unlocking an old memory of the mirror lake I'd already visited once when I was young. Instant recognition. A weird feeling. A boat tour around Herrenchiemsee on our way home. Stopping at a tulip field with the Alps as a picturesque background.

The creative vision to customize my new furniture with a wooden sun and some fabric. Looking forward to working on this project!

Iman and Klara made me a bracelet. It says best teacher...

Coming up with a cool skin structure for the ceramics dragon I'm currently working on.

Wearing my Tic Tac Toe shirt to BaLu's birthday party.

Getting a structured carpet for the living room. I love walking over it, it's like a little foot massage every time.

A heart hug from Ben who told me about the wavering shapes and colours he was seeing.

[pasiveagressive]

Broken Bones III // H.S.

PART 1   PART 2

Tumblr and I messed up so you get two parts today🫣

Enjoy!

Harry took the steps of her apartment building two at a time. She lived in a nice set of apartments on the seventh floor and the elevator was broken. He couldn't find it in himself to care.

707. He knocked. It was about 5 till 8 and he hoped she wasn't that serious about waiting till 8, he hadn't been able to contain himself from seeing her any longer.

The door opened and a very different Y/N was looking at him. At the hospital she wore scrubs and looked like she was ready for anything. On Friday her make up was all done up and she had been sporting a dress, ready for some fun. Today she was wearing a too big shirt tucked into the front of her soft shorts and a pair of fuzzy socks on her feet. Her hair was back in double braids and her face clear of all makeup. She was nothing short of adorable.

"Hey." He said from where he was leaning against the door frame.

"Hi." She opened the door for him. "I like the pajamas."

He grinned, looking down at himself. An old pair of sesame street pajama pants and a t-shirt.

"Figured you would."

She shook her head leading him into her apartment. It was big, the kind of apartment you'd expect a doctor to have. It was filled with whites and grays, modern looking everything. Everything besides the pictures lining the walls. All colorful, all standing out against the bleakness of the apartment.

She led him through her kitchen, also modern but with brightly colored centerpieces and to her family room. There was a fireplace in white stone, also adorned with colorful pieces and a large tv in front of a large sectional. There were floor to ceiling windows instead of walls, thick curtains hanging on their sides. It was homey and modern all at once.

He put the movie on the coffee table and plopped down on the couch next to her.

"I like your place." He commented, looking over at her.

"Thanks." She smiled. "Normally it's really messy but my brother stayed the week a couple weeks ago and I haven't been around long enough to mess it up again."

He laughed. "Are you close with your brother?"

She nodded. "Very. He's an FBI agent and a workaholic, like me. He just finished a difficult case and he needed a break so he came and stayed here for a bit. I forgot how much I missed him until he was standing at the other side of the door."

"That must be hard, having a brother in danger all the time."

"Kind of." She shrugged. "He's really good at his job and he's not as reckless as he once was."

Harry nodded, wondering what kind of test he'd have to pass if he ever got anywhere with Y/N. And God did he want to.

“So I had an idea.”

“What’s that?” He replied

“How about instead of a dance I paint your cast? I’m not a half bad artist according to my family.”

He found himself nodding.

"Alright. Ready to make my cast pretty?" He asked her, wiggling his eyebrows.

"Born ready." She laughed climbing to her feet. "Come to my office."

He laughed, taking the hand she held out to him. She pulled him up and lead him through the kitchen and down a hall. He passed a guest bedroom, a closet, and than he was walking into what was supposed to be another spare bedroom. Instead it was filled with her art. There were canvases everywhere, both finished and blank. Bottles of paint were everywhere along with brushes.

"This is what the rest of the house normally looks like." She grinned at him.

He was to busy staring at some of her works to really notice.

"You're literally perfect." He said, aware of the awe in his own voice. "At everything."

There were paintings of oceans and mountains. People and animals. Colorful and black and white ones. Realistic and cartoonistic. Everything.

"These are amazing." He said, looking over at her. He hadn't really thought of how good she'd be but she was perfect at everything else so he wondered how he could have thought she'd be anything but.

She shook her head, blushing slightly. "Just tell me what you want painted."

He shrugged. "I don't know. You're good at everything, surprise me."

She shook her head again, grabbing a basket and putting several different colors in them. He took them from her and walked back to the living room after her. She was carrying some newspapers and brushes.

"Alright, you make the popcorn and I'll get the movie ready."

He did as he was told, finding the popcorn button on the microwave and letting it do its thing. And then he was going through her cabinets trying to find a bowl to put the popcorn in. He finally found one, a large blue tub, when the popping stopped. There was nothing he hated more than burned popcorn. He poured it into the bowl before walking back to the couch.

She already had the movie in and ready go. Star Wars episode one. He had taken a gander and judging by the look on her face he had nailed it on the head. And he also hoped it would be an opening, there were several more to watch.

"How'd you know I loved The Notebook." She asked when he sat down, an extremely large smile on her face.

"I took a guess." He shrugged. "You seem like someone who appreciates good cinema when they see it."

She laughed before grabbing the remote and pressing play. While she was gone she had also poured multiple colors on a board.

"Figure out what you wanted to paint?" He asked, laying the newspapers on the floor and on the couch. She didn't seem all that bothered by the potential disaster it could cause.

She nodded. "And if you don't like it it's your own fault."

He put his cast in her lap over a newspaper and told her to have at it.

"It's a surprise." She told him, pushing his head so he was looking at the tv. "No peeking."

"Alright." He laughed, grabbing the popcorn and putting it in his lap.

If it wasn't for her quoting the movie and laughing at the right parts he wouldn't have been known she was watching it. He had looked over a few times, not at the cast, and has seen the look of concentration on her face. Her eyebrows were furrowed, eyes never looking away from his cast, and body tensed and relaxed all at once.

"And done." She told him when the movie had an hour left.

Her looked over and his jaw promptly dropped. It was an ocean. complete with silhouettes of animals and a sunset. It was beautiful.

"Y/N, literally how." He asked speechless.

She laughed. "Shhh, the movie isn't over yet."

He honestly didn't really care, it was something he'd seen a million times. He was too busy turning his arm every which way to see the masterpiece that was on his arm. He never wanted to take it off. So he told her that.

Y/N gave him a look. "I'll paint you something else." Her attention turned back to the movie.

Harry wondered how much better her work would be when she had a flat canvas with no bumps on it. He really wanted to find out.

"Promise." He held out his pinkie.

She looked over at him. "Promise." She took his pinkie with hers.

When the painting on his arm was dry he got up and turned the lights off and grabbed a fluffy blanket from the rack.

She put everything on the coffee table and rested against his side, his arm around her. The blanket lay across them and he thought he might be in heaven.

He knew he was when he woke up to her practically laying on top of him, head rested on his chest. The sun shown through the window and he wondered what time it was. It had been a long time since he had slept past 8 in the morning. The clock above the tv told him it was 10.

"Y/N." He ran his arm up and down her back. "It's 10 o'clock, when do you have to get to work?"

She grunted against him, burrowing herself further in his chest. He laughed slightly, still running his hand up and down her back.

"Y/N." He tried to coax her out of sleep. "Let's make breakfast."

She turned slightly at that. Eyes blinking their way open.

"What time is it." She sleepily murmured, fists rubbing her eyes.

"It's a little after 10." He moved his hand from her back to her hair. "What time do you have to be at the hospital."

"Not till noon." She yawned, sitting up. "Breakfast sounds good though."

He sat up with her, smiling. "Good, I'm starving."

"I fell asleep on your abs and now I'm wondering how you have those."

Harry let out a surprised laugh. "I work out, and run around a stage for a living that's how."

She shook her head, climbing off the couch. "Come on." She gave him her hand. "I want bacon. And pancakes."

He took her hand. "All I know how to make is bacon so you're on pancake duty."

"Deal." She grinned.

He followed her to the kitchen and watched her take out everything they needed, trying to remember where she kept everything for next time. Hopefully there'd be a next time.

"Here." She got out the electric skillet for the bacon. "You'll take longer than me."

He got to work, opening the packet of bacon and squeezing as many as he could in the pan.

"How do you want yours cooked?" He asked her.

"I like mine crispy." She smiled over at him.

"Good." He smiled back. "Me too."

"Waffles or pancakes?" She asked, staring at the bag of mix in her hands.

" Waffles. " He said automatically.

"My favorite."

And they worked in silence, her finishing before he did.

"What do you want to drink?" She asked, breaking said silence.

"What do you have." He asked, flipping the bacon for the final time.

"Tea, orange juice, coffee, or water." She read off.

" Orange juice. " He smiled over at her. "Please."

"You got it."

"This smells so good."

Before he could say anything his phone started ringing from the living room. He wouldn't have answered it if it wasn't Mitch's ringtone.

"One second." He told her and ran to get his phone .

"What?" He asked in to the phone.

"Where are you?"

" Why? "

"You were supposed to be at the studio 20 minutes ago."

"I'll be there soon."

"Where are you?"

"Bye Mitch." He said, hanging up the phone.

"Everything alright?" She asked as he slid into his seat.

"I forgot I was supposed to be at the studio today.”

"Oh." She looked apologetic. "Do you need to go?"

" I've got time. " He smiled over at her. "You're only about a five minute drive from my place, plus they can’t really do much with out me."

She smiled. "Good, cause I can't eat all this myself."

He laughed, taking a bite of his waffle. It was really good.

"Is there anything you're not good at?" He asked her.

"Anything that requires musical talent." She said instantly.

"Really." He laughed. "One of the very few things I can do."

" I prefer to express art in other ways. " She shrugged.

"Yeah well you need to teach my sister how to cook cause she's complete shit at it." He told her, munching on the bacon.

"You're literally eating waffles." She told him. "Anyone can make waffles. "

"I can't." He stuck his tongue out at her.

"Sorry." She shook her head. "Anyone with half a brain can make waffles."

He gasped, bringing his hand up to his heart. "You take that back."

"Or what?" She challenged, narrowing her eyes.

"I'm going to tickle you." He raised his good hand menacingly.

"I'd like to see you try."

He got up as quick as he could, surprising her slightly. She shrieked and ran around the table, him catching her in about two steps.

"Stop." She laughed loudly.

"Say I'm smarter than you and have way better abs and a better personality than you."

"Someone's desperate." She said through her laughter.

"Say it." He tickled her harder.

"Okay okay. " She swatted his hands away. "You're smarter than me and have way better abs and a better personality." She turned in his arms. "Now can I get back to my waffles please."

He nodded, letting go of her before he did something stupid like kiss her.

"Want to come to my place on Tuesday?" He asked before he lost his nerve.

She smiled at him. "Can I come in my pajamas?"

He smiled back. "Of course."

"Sleepover?" She asked. "I get off at midnight on Monday and I normally sleep the whole morning away."

He nodded again, wondering if he was friend zoning himself.

"Sounds like a plan." He finished the last of his food and took it to the sink. She followed him, dropping the dishes next to his. And they did the dishes together, something that he normally hated but she somehow made fun.

"I've got to go." He dried his hands on a towel. "Thanks for everything." He dropped a kiss to her head. "Have fun at work."

She smiled up at him. "Anytime. And don't kill anyone, I don't have time to take on another off duty patient."

He laughed, walking out the door. "You're mine anyways."

The door closed behind him, shutting the laughter off from his ears. And when he finally made it to the studio, the smile was still on his face. Even if he got interrogated by Mitch and then Gemma when she arrived.

_______________________________________________________________________

"Here." His phone dinged at 12:37 on Tuesday morning.

He smiled despite the time, heading out the door and down the stairs so he could walk her up.

"Hey." He greeted when he saw her at the bottom of his stairs.

She looked up surprised, and very tired. "Hey." She sounded tired too.

"Ready for bed?" He asked her, holding out his hand.

She nodded, taking it and following blindly after him. She was still in her scrubs and she had a bag on her back. He hoped she had brought her pajamas cause he had made sure he put his on. Red with fire trucks on them, he never thought he'd wear them again, or let anyone know he still had them.

"Long day?" He asked her.

She nodded. "There was a lot of near deaths and actual deaths tonight."

He stopped in front of his door.

"I'm sorry." He brought her into his arms, running his hand down her back. "People shouldn't do stupid shit." He tried to make light of the situation.

To his horror she started crying. "There was this old man who had a heart attack and I had to tell his wife of 50 years that he didn't make it." She wiped angrily at her face.

"Shhh." He ran his hands through her hair. "You should go take a shower, wash away some of the pain."

" I was thinking of punching a wall actually. "

He smiled despite himself. "You mean you didn't learn from my mistake."

She smiled through her tears.

He laughed this time, thinking that maybe it was okay and she wasn't going to start crying again.

" I mean the unbearable pain you go through when the annoying x-ray guy pokes and prods at your freshly broken arm for 20 minutes as he tries to keep his eyes open."

She laughs, running her hands down her face. "I'm sorry I'm such a mess, I'm normally okay, I just." She stopped, swallowing a visible lump in her throat.

He grabbed her face in his hands. "Hey, it's alright." He kissed her forehead. "I want to be this person to you, I'm here for you when you're tired of being perfect all the time."

She choked on her laugh. "Thanks. Now about that shower?"

He laughed, opening the door and pulling her in with him. The apartment was rather messy, something that happened whenever Gemma was in town.

"Sorry." He smiled sheepishly at her as she tripped on a heel. "Gemma's a mess."

She laughed, finding her balance on a wall.

"It's alright, I'm just like half asleep right now."

He smiled at her, leading her through the kitchen and to his room. He had bought a three bedroom apartment with the thought that maybe Gemma would need a place to stay if she ever left the bastard.

He used the master himself, he didn't care about the size, he just liked that he got his own bathroom. Y/N shut the door to it and he smiled to himself, walking out of his room, shutting it as he went. Gemma is waiting on the balcony to talk, something they did every time they came. Drake was on the couch sleeping. They had a rule, Gemma had to sleep alone, something he thought she was secretly grateful for.

He stepped out on the balcony, taking a seat next to the two.

"She's here." He told her. "But she's had a long day so I don't think she'll be ready to see you guys."

Gemma whined. "But I want to meet her, for real. In her non-doctor form."

Harry shook his head. "She'll be here tomorrow. Which reminds me, don't come in to wake me up, she needs a good rest."

Gemma sighed. "I can't wait to meet her, she sounds perfect."

Harry grinned. "She is." He stood up, pulling her in for a hug. "Goodnight Gemma." She hugged him back.

She called good night over her shoulder at him as he walked back inside. The bastard was still out cold on the couch and he resisted the urge to dip his finger in a glass of warm water and make him pee himself.

He snorted to himself, walking back to his room. The water was no longer running as he laid down on the bed. He wondered, not for the first time, how she managed to do everything she did. Being a doctor, having the life of someone else in his hands, Hell he could barely handle his own life.

The door opened and she walked out, hair soaking wet and curly, face void of all make up and a tired smile on her face. She had worn a pair of fuzzy pajamas and an old t-shirt this time. She was adorable. And he was really smitten.

"Feel better?" He asked her as she climbed in his bed.

She nodded, laying down so she was propped up on his many pillows.

"Want me to sleep on the floor?" He asked, he would willingly if that's what she wanted.

"No, I like sleeping next to you." She mumbled, eyes shut.

He tried to bite back the huge smile threatening to overtake his face and failed.

"Alright. You sleep with a fan?" He asked, getting out of bed.

"Can't normally sleep without one." She mumbled, eyes still closed.

"Me neither." He turned it on, flicking the light off as well.

He climbed back on his bed and helped her get under the covers. He liked seeing her this way, all vulnerable and like she needed someone for once.

"Thanks." She mumbled as she rolled to bury her head in his side. "You know I normally don't do this." She yawned. "But I really like you."

He tried to bite back another smile and failed again.

"I really like you too." He dropped a kiss on her head. "Now get some rest, superwoman."

She was already asleep, arm wrapped around his chest, legs intertwined with his. He joined her fairly quickly, the smile still on his face.

"Harry."

He grunted sleepily, hugging the softness closer to his body.

"Harry." She laughed. " I have to pee. "

His eyes blinked their ways open. Y/N was wrapped in his arms, looking back with a smile on her face. She looked a lot better.

"Good morning." He said, kissing her cheek.

"Good morning." She whispered back, closing her eyes as his lips made contact with her cheek.

He reluctantly let her go, hoping she'd come back if he didn't move. And she did, sliding back in his arms like she never left.

"What time is it?" He asked, nuzzling his head into her neck.

"Almost noon." She intertwined their feet.

"Wow." He muttered. "I feel like a teenager again."

She laughed. "What are we going to do today?"

"What do you want to do?" He rolled on his back, bringing her with him so she rested on his chest again.

"Something fun." She started drawing on his chest with her fingers.

"We can talk to everybody and see what they want to do, I mean as long as you're cool with hanging with them."

She nodded. "Yeah, that sounds good."

Harry nodded.

She sat up in the bed and stretched. He watched as her shirt lifted up revealing her freckle covered skin. Before he could stop himself his finger was tracing them. He had a thing with finding constellations in the stars and she had a ton on her.

She turned back with a small smile. "They're everywhere."

"I like them." He smiled back.

"Really?" She raised her eyebrows. "They're so ugly."

"No, they're cute." He grinned at her.

Before she could say anything her phone started ringing from her bag.

"Hello." She answered.

"A little warning would have been nice." An eyeroll.

"Yeah just give me a minute." She put her hand over the phone. " I have to go. My friend is standing outside my apartment waiting for me. " She gave him a sympathetic sort of smile.

Harry frowned. "Everything okay?"

She shrugged. "I think so, he tends to pop by unannounced because he thinks I have no life."

He. He resisted the urge to tell her to stay. "Alright, another time then?"

She nodded, reaching across the bed to place her lips on his cheek. "Yeah, I'm sorry, he's an idiot really."

"See you Thursday?"

She nodded, smiling as she grabbed her bag. "I really am sorry, tell Gemma I'm sorry I had to go."

Harry nodded, disappointment coursing through him. It was one thing to be ditched for hospital duties, it was another to be ditched for another guy. He tried to hold his jealousy and anger in.

"Of course." He got up to walk her out.

Her hand still covered the mouth piece and he wondered what it was that she didn't want this guy to hear.

"Thanks for cheering me up last night." She said as she slipped her shoes back on. "I'll see you Thursday."

And than she was gone. He sighed, running his hands through his hair.

"Harry." Gemma's voice called from the living room. "Did she just leave?"

He walked to her, collapsing on the couch next to her. Drake was nowhere to be seen.

"Yeah." He looked over at her. "Apparently one of her friends showed up at her apartment wondering where she was."

"Why do you sound so bummed?" She asked.

"It was a guy. I'd been thinking I knew a lot about her lately, we talk a lot and we're constantly texting but there's still stuff I have no idea about."

"Than ask." She pointed out like it was obvious.

"What if she doesn't want me to know." He looked over at her. " I think I really like her Gem, I don't want her to not feel the same way. "

"I think she really likes you too." She said, "What kind of person would come to a strangers house after a long shift at the hospital just to spend the night."

" I don't know. " He shrugged. "Maybe she just thinks we're friends."

"What's her last name." Gemma asked, pulling out her phone.

" Why? "

"We're going to look her up on social media, make sure she's single."

"Y/L/N." He responded. Even that was pretty.

She opened up Instagram and typed her name in.

"That's her." He pointed to the third one. @/yourinsta.

Her profile picture was of her and a blonde guy. His heart sank a little.

And there was a common feat in her pictures. A scrawny asian boy with glasses and a tough looking white haired guy with the same eyes as her.

"That's her brother." Harry pointed out to Gemma. "And I have no idea who that is."

"Her best friend." Gemma said, clicking on a picture. "Best friend since birth."

He didn't know what to think of that. Everyone said those made the best relationships but he could see the way she looked at him, like he was her brother. He sighed, adding this to the list of things he didn't know about her, a list that was longer than he wished it was

[smaptain-smerica]

Female Reader x Rooster

Time: Post-Top gun: Maverick

Y/n Blackwood - L/n, daughter of Charlotte "Charlie" Blackwood. Y/n took a strong interest in planes from a young age. Knowing her father was an esteemed pilot drew her even further into the navy. Quickly, she became one of the best solo pilots and graduating at the top of her class at Top Gun.

Her next mission? Return to Top Gun, Face certain death, romantic interests, and finally, her thought-to-be-dead, father.

This book contains strong language and sexual content that may be sensitive readers under the age of 18

This story was originally posted on Wattpad, follow me on there for faster updates. I have published a non-binary version of this story published there for those who do not identify as female or use she/her pronouns. It will follow the exact same story line. Link to Wattpad Account Link to the Non-Binary version

Master list

Return to Me

After our session at Top Gun I offered for Hangman to come over for dinner. I had put a roast in the crockpot all day so it would be ready when we arrived back at the house. The smell entered our noses the second that the door opened and we both signed in satisfaction.

"Oh man, that smells amazing." Hangman said dreamily as we began to set our things down in the entryway. He had time to change and get a shower in after our workout. I, on the other hand, had not.

I left him alone in the living room for a few minutes while I showered and changed. I came back out with a pair of sweatpants on and one of Bradley's comfortable t-shirts. I would be lying if I said I hadn't slept in the same one last night. It was the last one I had that even remotely had his scent.

I looked over at the kitchen island and smiled, seeing Hangman had set up some plates and already managed to find the wine, pouring us both a glass. He looked up at me with a small smile before plugging the wine bottle.

"You didn't have to do that." I slightly scolded him as I approached.

Hangman shrugged in response, "it's the least I could do." He held out a glass to me, which I gratefully took. We got our plates and began eating. The conversation started small. Discussing the pilots, what we liked and didn't like, things we could do to challenge them.

Then the conversation changed to memories, fun, light hearted topics. We had moved from the island where we were eating to the floor of the living room, playing cards on the coffee table.

"I don't know why this game is called Trash." Hangman stated, flipping his cards over until he had to put one in the discard pile.

"It's probably because you throw away the cards you don't need." I suggested. Truthfully, I didn't know either.

"But you have to count to 10, what does counting have to do with trash?" He persisted.

"You could ask Oscar."

Hangman looked at me like I had just spoken another language, completely confused. "Huh?"

"Oscar the grouch, from Sesame Street? He lives in a trashcan."

It was obvious that we were both trying our best to hold back laughter, until we couldn't anymore. Hangman and I burst out laughing so hard we both gripped our stomachs for support.

Suddenly, the sound of the front door closing echoed through the house. We couldn't see who it was yet, but they walked down the hallways until they appeared in the living room.

"Rooster?" I asked, relief in my voice. He had on some camouflage military pants and a plain, untucked, white t-shirt. His many bags thudded to the ground and he looked over in our direction. He looked exhausted, his eyes tired with dark circles under them. Though his face slowly grew into a more angry look.

"Get out, Jake." Bradley nearly growled.

"Excuse me?" Hangman challenged, standing up to his feet.

"Jake get the fuck out of my house!" Bradley screamed, pointing towards the door.

"Bradley!" I scolded him. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. This was the second time I had ever heard him angrily yell, and it was scary.

Hangman put his hands up in surrender, gathering his things up and heading for the door. He stopped right in front of Bradley, giving him a cold stare before exiting.

"Where do you get off screaming at your friends to leave, huh?" I began to raise my voice now as I approached Bradley.

"It's my damn house. I can do what I want." He snapped back at me.

"Well where have you been, huh? Where have you been Bradley." I knew the answer to that already, he was on a mission. I was more meaning to his mysterious disappearance, not responding to my texts or calls.

"You know exactly where I was." He sassed back, talking as though the answer was obvious.

"No I didn't, because you couldn't be bothered to return any of my calls or at least send me a text!" I could feel the emotions welling up in my throat, it closing around itself.

"I couldn't use my phone the last week because they said it could jeopardize the mission!"

"But you could call Pete and not me?"

"It was late at night! I didn't want to wake-"

"I thought you were fucking dead!" I finally screamed, tears now brimming to my eyelids. I bit down on my bottom lip to try and prevent any more from coming.

"You thought I was dead so you bring another man into my house?" Our argument had now turned into us screaming at each other. Most of my anger was directed at him, but part of it had slowly been building up.

"Jake is my friend. I brought him here to help me! He helped me get back in the plane and is helping me with classes!"

"God, y/n he's in love with you! It's so obvious!"

"I know that!" We were silent for a moment, our angry breaths were the only things filling the room.

"He told me, we talked about it. We're still friends."

"Y/n you can't just be friends with someone you're in love with."

"Well it wouldn't matter anyway because I'm not in love with him I'm in love with you!"

My heart dropped down to my stomach at the sudden instinct for those words to jump out. Bradley seemed to relax his body, his face moving into shock.  Tears now tore down my face rapidly. I couldn't handle it anymore. I grabbed my keys from the bowl and stormed off to the front door. I ignored Bradley's protests for me to wait or to stay until I reached for the door handle and flung it open.

"I'm in love with you too." He called from down the hall. I turned my head back to look over my shoulder. I stared at him for a brief moment before dramatically slamming the door behind me and making my way to my car.

Hangman had already loaded his things into the trunk and was leaning against the side of the house. He immediately pushed off and came up to me when he saw me.

"Are you okay?" He asked. I sniffled my nose, clearly not okay, but responding so anyway.

"I'm great." I grumbled dryly.

"What happened?" He tried to ask again when we got into the car. I turned the key and started the engine.

"I don't want to talk about it." I insisted sternly. I was thankful he knew me well enough to listen, even though the silent car ride back to base was excruciatingly awkward.

I knew I didn't want to go back to the house once Hangman was safely back at base. Truthfully, I knew exactly the place that I wanted to be. I put my car in park in the driveway and went straight inside.

Maverick was inside making dinner in the kitchen when we locked eyes. He smiled at me, obviously happy to see me. I think he noticed quickly that something was wrong because that smile faded quickly.

"Is everything okay?" He asked, throwing down the towel he had in his hands and approaching me quickly. I would have responded if I didn't feel like the first word to come out of my mouth would also bring tears.

"Bradley's back."

"He's back?" Maverick asked surprised.

"Stormed into the house while Hangman and I were eating and started yelling."

I sat down on the couch as my head fell into my hands. Maverick moved to the couch next to me and brought me into his arms. I explained the situation in more detail to him while frustrated tears.

"I don't know why I'm crying I'm just really mad." I sniffled, wiping my tears away aggressively. I was now even more mad at myself for crying.

Maverick gently rubbed his hand up and down my arm near my shoulder comfortingly. "That doesn't sound like him. Did you he anything else?"

"No. I left right after..." my voice trailed off, not sure I wanted to finish my thought.

"After what?" He asked.

A knock at the door interrupted our conversation. Not just a knock, a persistent pounding at the door. Maverick jumped to his feet and approached the door.

"Brad?" Maverick asked. I felt my heart drop. My head whipped towards the door to try and get a better look.

"Can I talk to y/n? Please?"

"She doesn't want to see you right now." Maverick said rather sternly. I was surprised he was so willing to take my side.

"Please, Mav." I couldn't see him but I could hear how upset he was by the tone of his voice. He was broken.

"I don't think it's a good idea."

"Pete," I finally stood up and caught his attention. I walked over to the doorway and saw Bradley standing there, looking at me expectedly.

"Can we please talk y/n?" He asked, a pleading look in his eyes. I sighed and signaled for him to follow me. I led him through the house and into the back yard. I sat down on one of the patio chairs and watched as Bradley paced back and forth on the pavement. He finally took a big sigh and walked over to me. I expected him to sit down in the chair right next to mine, but instead he knelt down on the ground, taking both of my hands into his. I was surprised by this gesture.

"There's something I need to tell you. It's part of the reason I lashed out the way I did but it is in no way an excuse. And I'm sorry for yelling and not calling and being a total asshole to you."

He was being so sincere, so honest, never in my life had I ever been with a man who was willing to get on his knees and apologize for his actions. My heart ached from the way he was acting, I could tell he felt bad.

"Thank you, I really appreciate that. I'm sorry-"

"No, you have nothing to apologize for."

Bradley took a deep breath and looked off into the distance before looking back over at me. "About 5 years ago I was in a relationship with this girl who I thought that I was going to marry. We were going to get married. On the morning of the wedding, I went looking for her mother because her father was supposed to help me with the groomsmen activities. When I approached the bridal suite, I heard her inside talking about how she was marrying me because she would receive my military benefits as well as compensation. She knew I would give anything her because I was 'too nice'."

My heart dropped out of my chest. I have no idea where it went because it felt like it wasn't even beating at all. I've been thinking about this story for a while. On and off my mind would wander to what Hangman had told me that night, always too scared to ask because of what Maverick said. I couldn't believe that it was true.

I reached out and put a hand on the side of his face in sympathy. "Bradley,"

He grabbed my hand that was on his face and gave it a gentle squeeze before continuing. "Then, I overheard her say to her maid of honor, that I wasn't her type. She said that she would rather see someone like my friend Jake Seresin. If it weren't for the money, she would rather be with someone like him. So I packed up all my things and left. And I never looked back."

My mouth was gaped open in shock, I couldn't believe someone had actually said that about him. I instantly wanted to be protective, jump to his defense. In the few short months I knew rooster, he has proven time and time again that he would do anything for those he cared about. It made me unbelievably angry to hear someone wanted to take advantage of that.

"I know that you two have known each other longer than we have, but I got jealous. I saw you two sitting together and laughing, It felt like I blacked out with anger. I didn't want the same thing to happen again."

I looked down into his brown eyes, watching then flip back and forth between my two eyes. I smiled at him gently. "I meant what I said."

Rooster raised his eyebrow at me. "About me getting off to screaming at people?"

I playfully smacked him in the shoulder, which he pretended to be hurt by. "I love you." I said and felt a heat spread across my face. The slowest smile spread across his face, a smile that illuminated the entire world, sitting right in front of me.

Bradley wrapped me in his arms, picking me up off the chair and hugging me tight. His lips pressed against mine in one of the most loving kisses I had ever received. Every ounce of passion and feeling he ever had was exerted in that kiss. And I felt every single bit of it. Ever ounce of love, longing, and relief.

He finally put me down, bringing his hands to either side of my face. "I knew from the moment I met you, it would be impossible for me not to love you." We brought each other in for a kiss one last time, only to be interrupted by a certain trouble maker.

"Get a room!" Amelia dramatically shouted into the yard, causing us both to look in her direction. Bradley let out a relieved huff and smiled at the young girl. "Hey Mills."

They met halfway through the yard before giving each other a large hug. Bradley couldn't see it, but Amelia looked at me and gave me a thumbs up behind his back. I chuckled, giving her a small wink in response.

Amelia squealed in surprise as Bradley lifted her up and threw her over his shoulder. "What's for dinner? I'm starving!" He announced while walking into the house.

I took a moment outside to look up at the stars in the sky. I smiled, signing in relief. I was beyond happy that he was back. I had this perfect image of his return in my head so for it to turn into an argument, it was unexpected. What was also unexpected was my confession of love. I was so wrapped up in the moment and my feelings that I didn't even realize I felt that way.

Bradley and I made eye contact through the window. He gave me a gentle smile, then made his way to the door to the backyard. "You coming, sweetheart?" He called to me.

I turned to him with a smile, taking his hand as we walked into the kitchen for dinner.

Next Chapter

[loganslowdown4]

I’m gonna attempt to break this down and point out all the stuff in the guys’ rooms for the newest episode because there’s a ton of Easter eggs in here and it’s fun to compile a list!

🧸🧸🧸🧸🧸

And I’m a complete nerd 🤓

Ok let’s start off with

PATTON’S ROOM!

* Ernie plushie (Sesame Street) in homage to LNTAO

* Light blue dad pyjamas

* Chocolate (baby Pound Puppy plushie) from Moving On

* Winnie The Pooh quilt

* Reindeer plushie bean baby from the 80s (I literally used to have these)

* light blue Cat poster

* Orange tabby cat statue (he loves cats, ok?)

* Mrs Fluffy Bottom (bunny plushie from Prince vs Villain short)

* The creepy glowworm from babyhood

* ‘You make me want to die.. of laughter’ misleading compliment card from Virgil from the 12 Days of Sanders Sides (Xmas)

* His glasses

* A plate with a cookie (and a second cookie because he earned it)

* Framed photo of friends (combats the lonely feelings)

* Catholic Youth Bible (from swearing Oath in SvS)

* Braided friendships bracelets in the Roman Virgil and Logan’s colours

* Embroidery thread to make more friendship bracelets in his, Janus and Remus’ colours

* Pizza plushie (from opening shot Thomas saying ‘YouTube Time’)

* Light blue lamp

* The smell of Christmas (in a box!) from Moving On nostalgia episode

* Stitch plushie from opening scene ‘YouTube time’

* Plus the room has the glittery quality that his room did in the moving on episodes

ROMAN’S ROOM!

* Red plush blanket and red silk pillow case fit for a prince

* Red/pink full face cooling sleep mask for beauty sleep

* Wearing his (Beauty and the) Beast onesie from ATHD

* Up poster (part of his 101 Disney poster collection) (plus it mentions ‘adventure’ which is what Roman would want to dream about)

* Glitter/sparkle aesthetic in his room magically flying around; also a soft rainbow glow overlay

* STAR THINGIES (he got them back from the echo-y mind palace)

* Reading Lord of the Rings (TFOTR) (red and white cover!) plus dudes on an adventure with a king and hot elf? It does scream Roman, doesn’t it?

* Plus multiple bookmarks so he can reread his favourite parts (or find parts that the other sides would like)

* Oh hey Katana

* Little Roman fan made wooden dolls

* Pictures from skirt PS, 80s PS, selfie as Prince from vine days

* Sticky notes (red): YOU GOT THIS PAL! (either from himself or Patton); WWLOJD? (What Would Leslie Odom Jr Do?) plus a picture of the man himself (a crush? 😏); Take Dance Classes AGAIN (is this in reference to Thomas can’t dance? ‘I can box step with the rest of them! 5 6 7 8 no need to demonstrate!’)

* Scented candles for sleep

* REMUS omg was I right about them sharing a room? Hahaha he steals a star thingie because he knows Roman loves them

* Roman Youtooz toy from last year

* Lavender sprays for sleep

* Moisturizer for skin care (a prince has got to slay)

VIRGIL’S ROOM!

* Dark aesthetic from Accepting Anxiety episode

* Purple and grey bedding

* Watching a Jack the Ripper conspiracy video on his computer (re: what videos he would make if he had his on YouTube channel from Q&A)

* Green Day t-shirt (specifically American Idiot album) (also featured album on wall in Accepting Anxiety episode)

* Plain purple sleep hoodie (the man cannot be without a hoodie)

* Whiteboard with ‘# of days since last total disaster: 5’ but who knows what his definition of disaster is…

* Black dry erase marker for whiteboard

* Cobwebs on night stand

* MARCUS! Plushie spider

* Patton’s FamILY card

* Huge (almost empty) purple bottle of melatonin (used to aid sleep)

* Book for Grimms fairy tales (decidedly did NOT swear on his ‘bible’ from SvS)

* Nintendo switch

* Not sure what the things standing up are? Maybe candle/lights?

* Also a mood light off to the side

LOGAN’S ROOM!

* The periodic table on the wall with rainbow colours (that’s just perfect)

* Dark blue dad pyjamas and eye mask (probably for a proper nights sleep) plus he replaces his glasses with an eye mask

* Dark blue matching bed sheets because UNIFORMITY

* All the plushies! All of them. I think he needs the most comfort

* Gravity Falls journal #3

* Another self insert fanfic from Roman! (Possibly not the Sherlock one that Roman wrote for Christmas because this is thinner and has different stickers on the cover, but ahhhh that’s so SWEET)

* Blank cue cards for new slang words to learn

* A FINISHED Rubix cube

* His glasses

* A crossword day by day calendar

* A blue alarm clock 11:30pm? (although it’s pretty late, Logan, is that really a good sleep schedule?)

* An empty jar of crofters (because they are so darn collectible)

* A 10th doctor funko pop (and a Tardis underneath all the plushies!)

* A blue mood light behind the plushies

* And he has a Clapper lol

THANKS FOR READING EVERYONE!

[effielumiere]

The Snoopy Convention

Pairing: Jung Hoseok / J-Hope x Reader

Genre: Romance, Non-Idol AU, Comedy.

Synopsis: Hoseok is a college student who has a passion for music and dance, and his favorite pass time is adoring the most adorable dog in the world (aside from Mickey), Snoopy! So when a convention was held he couldn't help himself and attended. To his surprise, he meets some who shared the same love towards the adorable dog.

Chapter Warning(s): A bit of cursing but filled with pure fluff, that's all folks. UNEDITED!

Word count: 4.6k

A/N: Hiii, I'm back... kinda lol. Funny how this was completed before Love Notes, which was supposed to be uploaded first lol. I hope you enjoy this, it's my first BTS fluff fic. I wrote this long before JITB was announced but recently finished it. I hope you enjoy it. BTW THIS UNEDITED, JUST THOUGHT I'D SAY IT AGAIN. Also... I'm pretty sure the Snoopy Convention doesn't exist... I wish it did though. I bet Hobi would fly all the way there to see it. So, here's to Hobi's undying love for Snoopy and for younger me who loved Snoopy as Joe Cool lol.

Lemme know what you think via sending me an ask (you can do it anonymously if you like), reblog this post and reply down below. If you wanna be added to my permanent taglist comment here.

< masterlist >

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

"For the last time, hyung," Taehyung says annoyed as Jin laughs with Jimin and Jungkook as they sat on the couch "I'm not going to join you in this ridiculous -" he rips off his gloves and kicks off his shoes making the trio laugh more, Hobi wanted to laugh but he was holding back knowing Taehyung was gonna be more pissed if he did.

"Taehyung-ah, please," he had tears in his eyes now threatening to fall and he was turning a light shade of pink from holding his breath from laughing "It's only for an hour, all you gotta do if be my wingman,"

Jin guffawed as he gasped out a dad joke making Jimin and Jungkook laugh harder "He calls you a wingman because you got wings and you're a-"

Taehyung cuts him off before he could even continue "I KNOW I'M DRESSED AS A FUCKING BIRD, HYUNG, STOP POINTING IT OUT!"

From where he was standing, Hobi was able to see Yoongi who had his back towards the group, sitting on the brown piano bench, shoulders shaking, he had his head turned to Namjoon who was quietly laughing sitting on the balcony bench, he eventually laid on the bench covering his face with the open book he was reading - still laughing.

"I LOOK LIKE FUCKING BIG BIRD FROM SESAME STREET, HYUNG!" Taehyung's outburst finally causes Hobi, Namjoon and Yoongi to join the other boys who were already laughing loudly. Taehyung throws the bright bonnet he was supposed to wear along with pieces of his outfit dramatically to the ground making Hobi gasp for air trying to get him to get back in his costume "Taehyung, come on," he giggles "I need someone to be my Woodstock"

"He has wood, Hoba, but it ain't gonna be stocky for you," Jin gasps out and another round of laughter rings in the air this time Taehyung joins as he fell to the ground laughing. Jimin was on the ground in front of Jin and Jungkook, shoulders shaking violently as he laughed. Namjoon's laugh was heard all the way from the balcony, no doubt whoever was outside heard all of them laugh, especially Namjoon.

"Taehyung, please" Hoseok begged him as he laughed "Jimin won't go with me none of them would"

"Hyung, we said we'll go with you, but you didn't say anything about wearing a costume" Jimin wiped the tears in his eyes, Jungkook was also doing the same.

"But it's what makes the experience much more memorable," Hoseok whined pouting his lips hoping they would pity him

"Memorable for you, but memorably embarrassing for us" Yoongi points out "We'll go with you, Hoba, you can wear your costume if you want to, but no forcing us to wear one"

Hobi sighed in defeat and nodded "Fine, I just thought you guys wanted to enjoy it as much as I would if you wore character outfits too"

"We'll wear t-shirts, but not what you're wearing" Jin says

The following evening they stood at the convention center giggling at Hobi who had to get out of his costume at security and get back in it afterwards.

"Nice underwear, Hoba," Yoongi teased with a straight face making Taehyung hide behind Jin as he laughed silently. Hobi glared at him making fun of his white boxers that had different woodstock animations in a pattern and a plain white cotton t-shirt "Shut up, man. Like you don't wear underwear with bears on them" he shot back making the group snicker at them and Yoongi hitting Hoseok's arm with brochures he had on his hand. Once Hobi was inside his costume except his head gear, which was a giant Snoopy mascot, they made their way to the entrance of the main hall where they saw a lot, A LOT of people who were wearing articles of clothing that had snoopy or a Peanuts character on it, the caps were the cutest ones, but to their surprise, Hoseok seemed to be the only one wearing a mascot costume, making him a bit sad and embarrassed.

"I think you're over dressed, Hoba" Namjoon whispered to him, concerned when he witnessed the change in Hoseok's happy and excited reaction from no less that five minutes ago "You wanna exchange clothes?"

"It's okay, Joon-ah" Hobi swallowed a lump in his throat, "It's once in a while that events like this happen; A Peanuts Anniversary. I never thought I'd be able to attend one and here I am. I'm okay with my outfit," he smiles as he whispered the last part to himself. Namjoon heard him, but wasn't convinced, even so he decided to trust his friend's word and nodded.

"We'll be over at the Marvel Convention about three halls there" he points at the direction to their left "Give us a call if you wanna go home, okay?"

Namjoon has always been kind and considerate when it came to his family, and he was family, the boy were brothers ever since they met in middle school. And Hobi has always been thankful of everything Namjoon have done from protecting him from getting more beaten up by his bullies the day they met. Namjoon had been walking from music class with Yoongi on their way home when they heard the commotion in an alleyway and the voice of Hoseok begging the bullies not to hurt him and that he just wanted to go home. They were already a few punches is when Namjoon and Yoongi stepped in saying that they already called the cops and thay they were going to post the video of them beating up Hoseok if they didn't leave him alone, making them run off. They took him to the nearest hospital to have his broken nose fixed and his cuts cleaned. The trio have been close friends ever since and over the years the other boys were added to their group eventually when they had to go to college they moved to one apartment and were always helping each other out, but Namjoon was always the one who was like a protective father image to them.

Hoseok nodded at him and smiled at the other members who watched him as he stepped up to the security showing them his VIP pass which he worked so hard for; saving every penny he could just to experience euphoria in a, as he called it, Snoopy Convention. He wore his costume head which made him taller, even taller than Namjoon he felt happy being away from the spotlight, but he soon realized that he was wearing the wrong outfit if he wanted to lay low.

"Nice, outfit, bro" he received compliments from people whom he walked by all seeming very happy to see someone wear a Snoopy mascot. Maybe the outfit wasn't much of a bad idea after all. Looking around, he didn't know where to start. There were so many things that he wanted to see in the span of 4 hours before he had to get back home to sleep early and be up early for class tomorrow first thing in the morning. Deciding to make a pit stop on the mini bar that served both alcoholic and non alcoholic beverages, he would opt for a shot of liquid courage.

"What's your poison, Snoopy?" the bartender smiled "though I'd suggest that you take the head off in case kids see you drink," they both chuckle as Hobi took off Snoopy's head, as morbid as it sounded.

"Whiskey on the rocks, please" he smiles as the bartender nodded

"I wish I had your guts, man" the bartender shakes his head in disbelief "I wouldn't want to be the center of attention, let alone being the only Snoopy around here," placing the drink in front of him.

"I decided to seize the moment" Hobi sipped his drink "Events like this happen only once in a lifetime, so I went all out. Plus I'm not sure if I'll be able to attend another one"

"Don't be ridiculous, bro," he grins as he cleans a glass with a rag that was neatly folded next to him "Besides looks like kids are gonna love you in that" just as he says the word a mother and daughter step up to him asking for picture of him in a costume, once done he took his head gear off and finished off his drink, as he went on his little adventure. In the far end of the room there was a little auction happening with Peanuts pins that dated back to the 70s. There were two persons bidding on the little auction didn't seem too interested, they were probably around the same age as Jungkook. The enamel pin badges were a pair, with the images of Snoopy and Gigi kissing through the edge of the pin and it had a glittery coating with golden outlines of the characters. The bid started at 5,500 won, the autioneer looked dismayed at the audience and the two kids who didn't seem interested, and out of pity Hobi bidded.

"5000 won" Hobi shrugged, the auctioneer looks at him shocked "It's all I got with me right now, sorry," It's a lie, he's actually got 6000 won with him but decided to keep 1000 with him in case he gets hungry.

"Sold," the auctioneer bellows "to the Snoopy mascot and that's all the items for today folks. See you next time"

The two guys got up from their seats and made their way out. Hobi walked up to him and handed him the 5000 won which the man gratefully smiled and handed him the box of pins.

"Glad you got these," he chuckled "my wife kept bugging me that someone else deserves to have these since our kids don't seem to enthusiastic about the Peanuts world."

"That's sad, who wouldn't love these guys. They're amazing"

"I know but don't tell my son and niece that the piano he's using was signed by Schultz."

"Don't worry," Hobi giggled "I didn't hear a thing"

"Good, good," the man extended his hand "Bang Sihyuk, I'm a music major professor at the University. I think I've seen you around Song's dance classes?"

"Yeah" Hobi nodded surprised at the encounter "Jung Hoseok, my friends call me Hobi" the older man smiled

"You don't happen to be one of those kids that hangs out with Namjoon and Yoongi are you? The underground rappers? RM and Suga?"

"In fact, I am J-Hope," Sihyuk stared at him grinning

"Well how about that," he laughs "How come I don't see you in music class anymore?"

"Probably because the rapping scene isn't for me, dance is more of my thing" he rubs the back of his neck nervously "My feet and body are faster than my mouth, honestly"

After a beat, Sihyuk shakes his head "I highly doubt that. Namjoon invited me to one of those rap battle thingies, that he and his group competed in. I've seen what you can do, Hobi. And I think you've got it. Don't get me wrong you're good at dancing, but you're also good at rapping. That's probably why my niece thought you were really good and for what I know, she listens to classical music mostly because she's a ballerina."

"I took ballet for a couple of months last year but gave up after," he chuckled "the kids were making fun of me being too stiff and my toes hurt too much"

"But you're still dancing, now that's something," he grins "tell you what, whenever you feel like it drop by music classes with Joon and Yoongi, just sit in. I'm sure you'll enjoy it"

"I'll try, sir" Hobi gets up shaking his hand

"You know, my niece likes the while Peanuts franchise but she never asked for those saying that if it was meant to be for her - at least one of the pins - she hopes to received it from someone like her, a fan. Kinda like how I met my wife"

"Is that so?" Hobi smiles

"Yeah, when I met my wife it was somewhat of convention like this one except we were at the auction, bid-fighting one of the first published prints on the newspaper. I bid the highest but I bought it for her just to ask her out, she kept calling it an expensive date

She bought those pins just after my son was born but, like I said, he's not much of a fan, and now it's yours" Bang Sihyuk smiles as he places the strap of his bag on his shoulder, preparing to leave "Take good care of it, kid, it's not gold or diamonds, but the sentimental value is more expensive than any other currency in the world. I'll see you around. Enjoy your time and I heard there's another one like you here" he wiggles his eyebrows as he heads off and Hobi waves goodbye, still rooted on his spot. What does he mean 'one of me'? Hobi wondered as he sat back down on the of the seats. Opening the casing of the pins, he pulls one out, Gigi and turns it over.

'Neverending forever my universe, yours forever'. Checking the other pin, it had the same engraved message. Hobi smiles in awe at how sweet the couple was with each other and decided that he would do what Professor Bang Sihyuk did, except he was going to give the Snoopy pin to the girl that will steal his heart. Hoseok was snapped out of his thoughts when his phone rang from his costume pocket. Staring at the screen he picked up Taehyung's call.

"Hyung" Tae yelled out of breath "Hyung, you've gotta see this!"

"See what, Tae?"

"Someone's dressed like you, but Gigi!" Namjoon yells "We went outside to buy some chicken nuggets because were craving and right in front of us was Gigi! We thought it was you but Gigi had a purple tutu on and guess what she ordered, Hoba?!"

"What?" he asked bored as put the box case in his hidden bag; Snoopy's tummy.

"A hamburger meal with a crap load of pickles and her beverage of choice was Sprite" Hobi stopped in his tracks hearing it, the boys gave him hell for his combination of hamburger and sprite insisting Pepsi or Coke tasted better with it. Hobi found it endearing and shocking that he wasn't alone.

"I think she's there, hyung. She left about 10 minutes ago headed to the convention building. I hope you get to meet her, hyung. You won't miss her, obviously" with the last word added Hoseok heard snickering and he decided that they were probably playing a joke on him because of the outfit making him a bit sad.

"Look guys, I know the costume was a lot but you didn't have to go this far just to tease me, you could've done it straight in my face"

"Wait, hyung, no! We're not joking around, there is someone who's dressed as Gigi and she's probably there,"

"Yeah, yeah, I gotta go, the line for the Snoopy shaped cotton candy is about to leave" Hobi hurriedly said as he hung up putting his mascot head back on and jogging to the cart.

"Motherfuc-" Hobi cursed as he collided what felt like a wall and fell flat on his ass, mascot head flying off. Rubbing the spot on his lower back that collided with the floor "Bro! Watch where they fuck you're go... ing" Hobi trailed off as he looked at who he slammed into,

"It ain't my fucking fault you weren't looking where you're going you idiot!" As she looks up, her eyes widen at the realization of who she bumped, or rather collided into.

"Oh, you're J-Hope, right?" she asked hesitantly as she slowly got up with the help of Hobi, holding the fallen Gigi head by the ear in one hand and the other was holding his hand. Hobi felt a bit warm in his outfit just by looking at her, let alone being in close proximity.

"Yes, but that's my stage name. My real name is Ju-"

"Jung Hoseok, you're taking up Fine Arts and you major in Music, but you lean more towards dance; Hip hop specifically, you stopped sub-majoring in other music classes I heard... and noticed, but that's alright, it suits you more." she said in a fast manner that had Hoseok's head spinning

"Y-you know me?" Hoseok stuttered as stared at her wide eyed "H-how do you-?"

"Well..." she trailed off as played Gigi's ears between her fingers "I'm kind of a fan, you see. I first saw you during orientation and I was really impressed with your dancing, then I saw you in the ballet classes that the school offered to kids during the summer, but you didn't stay for long. Not to mention, I see you in almost all of the school's music events and I've... attended a few of your... underground rap battles with Joon and Yoongi..." Hobi was about to respond when a voice interrupted.

"Are you two gonna stand there all day or are you gonna buy some cotton candy before I leave?" the man selling the cotton candy asked them. Hobi held his arm out, motioning her to go ahead of him. As he stood behind her, he couldn't help squint his eyes and send off a quick thank you prayer to whoever was up there for making this moment happen. He finally found out that his first crush has noticed him, is talking to him, bumped into him and to add it all up, she's a fan of his work.

"So you like Hip-Hop and rap?" he asked as he watched her smile get brighter as her cotton candy was being shaped into the shape of Snoopy's head.

"I didn't," she said as she looks back at him "Until I heard you, Joon and Yoongi at Mr. Bang's riff-off in our second year. Not sure if you remember it though, usually the acapella club hosts it, but that year everyone who was majoring in music and dance were supposed to group up and battle. My group didn't make it to the Semi-finals but yours did. It's BTS, right?"

"Yeah, it is" he smiled, before turning and handing a bill to the the vendor "that's for two, I'll pay for the lady's candy"

"Y-you don't have to do that," her eyes widen as she looked up from her tummy-bag where she was grabbing her money "I was actually going to pay for yours too"

"Maybe next time, Y/n" he tries to hide his smile hoping she'll catch his drift.

"Next time?" she asks, watching him nibble at Snoopy's cotton candy nose

"Yeah, next time... If you're up for it...." he trails off, looking down at his candy avoiding eye contact

"It's a date," she quickly says before shaking her head "I'm mean-I'm so sorry, I didn't mean for it to come out like that,"

"No, no, no, it's okay" he reassures her "It's a date,"

Y/n blushes as she nods, looking down at her cotton candy as she starts picking the flossy thing and eats it with a smile. At that moment Hobi discreetly pulls out his phone and takes a picture of her eating the candy and another picture he took focused on his candy and her, blurred in the background. He sends that to the group chat with the other boys.

🐿️I found her

🐨 Finally, Tae and Jimin wouldn't shut up about how cute you both look.

🐻 Because they are!!

🐻 Imagine! It's Snoopy and Gigi!

🐰Did you make friends, hyung?

🐿️ I did! You wouldn't believe who it is!

🐥 Who?

🐿️ I'm pretty sure you could have a wild guess, Jjiminie

🐥Wait... you don't mean....?

"So, should I call you Hoseok or J-Hope?" she asks almost done with her candy, making him ignore his buzzing phone and look up at hrt beauty.

"Hobi," he mutters "My friends call me Hobi."

"Alright then, Hobi. How about we get out of here for they lock us inside?" she suggested and when Hobi looked around he finally noticed that the convention hall was finally cleaning up, getting ready to close. He nodded as tucks the mascot head under one of his arms and walked beside her while they walk towards the exit.

"Do you need a lift?" he asks suddenly "I could drive you home?"

"Nah, I came here with my uncle he's probably waiting for me in the parking lot," he nods in understanding "What about you? Did you come here alone?"

"No, my friends and I drove here," he explained "They were afraid I was gonna be bullied because of the suit so they got in the car and eventually got interested in the Marvel convention down the hall"

Hobi opened the door for her, once she was out, he carefully walked backwards to avoid his Snoopy butt getting stuck in the door. Turning around to face Y/n, he finds her giggling. He chuckles at the sound.

"What?" he asks "Do I have something on my face?"

"No," she giggles "Your ass is too fucking thick in that costume, you had to literally back up your dump truck"

Behind Y/n the other boys were standing next to Hobi's SUV chuckling, while Jungkook and Yoongi were quietly laughing in the backseat.

"She has the same potty mouth that hyung has" Jimin giggled at Taehyung who replied "Remind me not to bring them alcohol, their potty mouth might be worse when intoxicated" Yoongi chuckled at the two's joke who themselves can't stop giggling as they were tipsy.

"Um, Y/n these are my friends," Hobi says as he introduces his friends to her awkwardly.

"So, you're the Gigi we saw at McDonald's" Namjoon says "You have a strange order combination,"

"Oh," she says her cheeks turning a slight tinge of pink

"Yeah, it was strange but nothing new," Jimin says as he leans on the window of the passenger side "Hyung orders the same thing every time"

Y/n look at Hoseok in surprise, he mirrored the look before stuttering and looking at Jimin.

"Y-Ya! Why did you have to broadcast that to to everyone?"

"Relax, hyung," Jungkook says "We all know your weird combo, plus Y/n over here has the same combo, it's no surprise."

"Do you need a ride home? Would you like to join us?“ Taehyung asks her, eyes glinting mischievously, as he leans to the middle row where Jungkook and Yoongi were sitting.

"It's alright," she politely wave off his offer before Hobi could talk back at Taehyung "Hobi asked me the same thing, but my uncle's over there waiting" she pointed at a car in the open parking lot. The boys turned to the direction she pointed, Namjoon and Yoongi's eyes widen in familiarization her... uncle.

Hobi tried to look at where Y/n was pointing only to find a man who was carefully placing a box in the trunk of a white SUV.

"Uncle!" Y/n yells, making the man turn around. The other boys, as well as Hobi's jaws drop as they get a good look at her Uncle.

"You're uncle is Bang Sihyuk?!" Yoongi yells from inside the car, suddenly feeling wide awake.

"Woah," Jimin gasped in surprise "What a plot twist..."

"it's not a plot twist at this point," Taehyung laughed

"Well, sorry to break it to you Hobi but we gotta go, we got a project to finish up tomorrow" Namjoon says as he smiles apologetically at Y/n "Sorry, Y/n,"

"That's all right" she waves off his apology and she tilts her head at her uncle's direction "He's in a hurry to get me back home before my parents notice I'm missing" she chuckled

"All right, we'll see you around" he nods as he pats Hobi's shoulder and mutter "Say goodbye to your girl" low enough for Y/n not to hear, to which Hobi nods, before Joon sat next to Yoongi.

"Well, I guess I'll see you around in campus" he smiles a little as he plays with Snoopy's ears.

"Yeah, you will, especially if rejoin music classes or ballet, but you'll definitely see me around" she smiles "oh, and don't forget our date"

"Date?" Hobi stared at her shocked, behind him the other boys looked at each other as Namjoon and Jin ask each other "Did she just say date? As in a date with Hobi?"

"He better keep it up, he's getting luckier by the minute" Jungkook chuckles as they all watch Y/n and Hobi interact, unbeknownst to them, Bang Sihyuk was leaning on the side of his car waiting for his niece and when he reads her lips say the word 'date', he shakes his head chuckling "Aiiish~ he better not break her heart or he's in trouble" he says to himself as he rounds the car to gets in and warm up.

"Yeah, you said earlier when we were having cotton candy"

"Oh, right," he starts to think of where he could take her next off the top of his head but came up with nothing just in time for her to say "Han River, next weekend... maybe Saturday?

"We could have a picnic and fried chicken there." she suggested and Hobi could think of a better idea making nod enthusiastically at her suggestion "You're on, I'll text you"

"It's a date," they beam at each other as Hobi gives her a tiny wave goodbye before getting on the middle row seats of the car handing Snoopy's head to Jungkook who gladly took it and put it on his head making Jimin laughs from the passengers side, and Taehyung and Jin laughing from the backseat.

Hoseok walked around the front of the car to head towards the driver's seat, when half way he stops in his tracks as he feels the box that had the pins that he purchased from the auction earlier and remembered the story that Bang Sihyuk told him. Turning around, he looks at Y/n who looked confused, and slowly he walked her way. As he did, he felt like his life flashed before his eyes; memories of orientation day when he showed off his dancing skills and saw Y/n jaw drop and endless happy seal like clapping when he was performing. Moments from the underground rap battles he used to run away from home to attend to just to be free, and immediately spotting her in the crowd yelling and hollering along with the crowd of people. But the most memorable memory, last summer when he found out she was a ballerina helped teaching kids to dance and he decided to take lessons before he sadly decided that he had to drop it because it wasn't his thing, but would continue watching from afar.

Taking out the box, the opens it and gently hands her the Snoopy pin and says "I bought this at the auction before we met from who I now found out was Mr. Bang. I think, that you deserve to have my other half, to remember me and this day. I'm keeping Gigi because it reminds me of you." Y/n stares at the Snoopy pins, and Hobi could literally see the wheels turning in her head "You owe me, a date. A lot of them." he teases her, and she finally looks up, eyes a bit glossy.

"S-sure" she stuttered "However many dates you want, Hoba" making Hoseok smile brighly as he carefully leans forward to kiss her cheek before walking back to the car making his way to the driver's side. And before he got in, he yelled "See you on Saturday," as he waved goodbye and drove away the other guys waving at her as well.

When they were far enough the other boys started yelling at how smooth Hobi was in asking her out, but Hobi didn't pay them any mind as the memories flashed before his mind as he drove making him smile and as he did he felt proud of himself for asking her to stick around for a long time.

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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[mixsethaddams]

Extract from chapter 4 of crushcrushcrush. Read now on ao3.

WIP, 24684 words, rated M, Steve/Eddie

////////

Hawkins High senior prom in 2012 was nothing special to most of the people there.

Sure, they were all excited to graduate and go off to college, but it was just another big party. The punch was spiked to all hell, there were girls crying off their lashes in the bathrooms, and there were boys wrestling in the middle of the dance floor. Typical teenage shit. They all thought they were so grown up, and the racks of everyone’s baby pictures made them all feel so much older. The theme was ‘How Far We’ve Come’ and the prom committee had bullied everyone’s parents into handing over childhood photos to display outside the gymnasium in the school courtyard for the event. They were hung with clothes pegs onto string lights, wrapped around room dividers that usually got used to keep people away from half-finish projects in the art rooms.

Steve was standing in front of the pictures now, seeking out his friends’ faces. Everyone else was still inside so he could stand and look for as long as he wanted without needing to move. Tommy Hagan had pointed to his when they passed by earlier, but Steve’s mom said he needed glasses because he couldn’t focus on the tv lately, and as he struggled to see any of the faces in front of him he couldn’t help but agree. He did consider for a second that it might be down to the punch though, it was like rocket fuel with the amount of peach schnapps and bourbon that was dumped into it the second the music started. He took a step closer to the display and squinted, finding it hard to even find his own face in the low light of the surrounding exhibit. Steve found Tommy’s eventually, and then Carol’s, but he was getting a headache now from the strain. As he away with a step backwards, he sighed loudly into the quiet courtyard, rubbing his hand over his face.

“Rough night?”

Steve jumped at the unexpected company as Eddie came to stand beside him. They hadn’t really spoken to each other during their senior year. Steve thought that maybe it was last year that they had last said anything to each other. His stomach swooped at the thought. He watched as Eddie looked over the pictures in front of them. Steve thought he looked great. A black shirt with no tie under a loose blazer with ripped jeans might have looked messy on anyone else, but Eddie’s purposeful underdressing for the prom looked perfect. Beautiful, even. He was wearing a cologne that smelled of something vaguely familiar. Steve couldn’t quite place it but he had some distant memory of it that his mind just couldn’t quite get hold of. Their arms were close, and Steve felt the urge to lift his hand and grasp Eddie’s sleeve. He pushed the feeling away.

“Where’s yours?” asked Eddie, turning his head look at Steve for the first time.

Steve sighed again, casting another look over the pictures.

“I dunno, honestly,” he said, forcing lightness into his voice, shoving his hands into his pockets. “Can’t see for shit, I guess I really do need glasses,”

Eddie hummed for a second and nodded, drawing his lips into a tight look of consideration. He looked along the lines of photos and then flicked his finger against a picture just to the left of Steve’s eyeline.

“I’ve been telling you that since we were kids. You’re right there,” he said before shifting his gaze to the rest of them. “Now, where am I…”

“How did you–?”

The picture was of Steve at no more than two years old, sitting on his living room floor and covered in a Sesame Street blanket. Now that it had been pointed out to him, it’s position was obvious, even if the edges were still a little blurry.

“Your dad showed it to me once,” explained Eddie, still looking for his own picture. “Oh my god, this is what Wayne gave them?”

Eddie laughed as he plucked his picture from its peg high up on the top row and held it close to them for Steve to see. The two boys, dressed as donkeys, were smiling wide during Miss Tilly’s nativity play. Eddie leaned sideways to knock their shoulders together as they looked down at it. Steve took his hand out of his pocket and hold the other corner of the photo.

“Oh my god,” echoed Steve, smiling at the memory. “At least it wasn’t the one of us dressed like SpongeBob and Patrick for Halloween I guess. Do you even remember this play?”

Eddie pressed their arms close together again and this time held the contact.

“I remember us asking why we had to stand all the way in the back,” he said with a grin, looking at Steve. “We thought we were the stars of that show, man,”

Steve laughed now. Their poor teacher had been followed around by the two of them for weeks having to explain why the donkeys wouldn’t be at the very front.

“But Mary and Joseph knew the donkeys! The other people were all strangers!”

“Uh huh, uh huh, they were way better friends with them, they’d want them to see their baby before anyone else,”

“Boys please go back to your seats,”

“Which was funny because she wouldn’t let us dress as stars either,” said Steve. “Samantha Conners and Sara Bright got to do that, remember?”

“Remember?” asked Eddie with mock offence. “I’m still holding tight to that grudge, they couldn’t ever sparkle like us,”

Eddie’s pinky finger had moved the small distance across the back of the piece of card in their hands and rubbed against Steve’s. His stomach flipped at the unexpected sensation but now Eddie pulled his hand away entirely, leaving Steve holding the picture by himself. Eddie put his hands on the top of his head and spin into a messy little pirouette. He finished by holding his arms wide when he came to a stop and wiggling his fingers. Steve put a hand to his mouth and giggled when Eddie spat out the hair that had gotten into his mouth. He hadn’t giggled in a long time. No one was able to make him laugh like Eddie. Eddie gave a small bow and rolled his hands in a circle as he did so.

“So Boston, huh?” asked Eddie, standing up straight and putting his hands into his back pockets. He rocking back onto one leg, turning to face Steve properly now. “School paper says you’ll be coaching college varsity teams by the time you’re 25,”

Steve was caught off guard by the question. He had half been ignoring the fact that he was leaving in a few months. Early acceptance was great and everyone said it gave him a better chance to get his head around the idea of leaving, but Steve had found that it just gave him more time to think about what he wasn’t bringing with him. Who he was leaving behind.

“Boston, yeah,” said Steve looking at the bottom row of the display next to him. He slipped the picture in his hand into his suit jacket pocket, as if he was trying to pin the memory to his heart. “Not sure about the coaching thing but, yeah…”

“You excited?” asked Eddie. He took a step towards Steve and ducked his head to try meet his gaze.

Lying was something that Steve could never do when it came to Eddie. He was always compelled to tell him exactly what was going on in his head. Maybe it was because Eddie had trusted him with all his own secrets that Steve never felt the need to put up any boundaries of his own. So, was he excited to go to Boston?

“No,” said Steve admitted with a strained smile, feeling the corners of his eyes starting to prickle. “I’m terrified,”

[keelywolfe]

Stretch walking down stairs to find Red sitting on his lounge looking hung over but also stressed. Red can't remember what happened the night before all he knows is that Sans was acting normal even though it was obvious something wasn't normal then dipped to visit Papyrus.

I'm not sure if this is a request or a statement, but I can work with it. This veered off in a different direction than the ask, but eh, I think it's still pretty good.

Everything's A-OK

~~*~~

Edge was already gone to work by the time Stretch rolled out of bed and headed downstairs, following the siren call of coffee fumes. He still wasn’t quite awake even if his feet were moving and at first, he didn’t even register that the television was on. The boob tube blaring before he got up was not the normal state of being for his mornings.

Stretch stopped halfway down the stairs and stared. He gave his eye sockets a good, hard rub, in case he was hallucinating but when he opened them again, the scene hadn’t changed.

Red was sitting on the sofa, watching their television. He was dressed in his normal schlubbery, jacket, shorts, his sneakers propped up on the coffee table in a way that was guaranteed to give Edge a flaming conniption. Surrounding his shoes were an array of mostly empty containers that looked scrounged from their refrigerator, the handles of silverware sticking out from most of them.

The way he was slouched against the cushions told a story and so did the deep reddish circles under his eye sockets.

Red didn’t look up at him. There was a bowl of what looked like straight marinara sauce sitting on his chest that was surrounded by crumbs and stains, like the remains from a battlefield of formerly demolished food. As Stretch watched, he scooped out a spoonful and dumped it messily right into his enormous, sharp-toothed mouth. The effect was a little like watching a Saw movie.

Hm.

Stretch finished his trek down the stairs and made his way to the kitchen. The coffee pot was still half-full, and he poured out two cups, doctoring his with cream and sugar. He dug through the fridge for the butter for the other cup, the real shit that Edge got from the farmer’s market. He plopped a healthy dollop into the mug, stirring it until it dwindled away, then carried both back out to the living room.

That scene was unchanged, except for a little more of the marinara sauce was missing. Stretch considered replacing it with the coffee, then decided he liked his fingers more than that and set the mug on the table with the clutter of empty cartons instead. He sat down next to Red, taking a gratified sip from his own mug before he looked at the television.

Sesame Street.

Stretch only shrugged mentally and settled in to watch. It was always so weird to see Oscar the Grouch as green, and to have Beatrice and Erna as guys? This universe could be really odd sometimes.

After a minute, Red leaned forward, tossing the empty marinara dish on the coffee table with enough force to send out a fine splatter of sauce on the tabletop. He picked up the coffee with a grunt that probably passed for thank you, slurping it down, and if he hesitated after the first taste, he drank it with slightly more reverence on the next sip.

This close, Stretch could smell the whiskey coming off of Red. They didn’t have pores, but he stank like he’d been marinating in a few gallons of Wild Turkey, finely aged in a rusty oil barrel. If he was still drunk, it was hard to tell. The only differences he’d ever noticed between drunk Red and sober was he wouldn’t drive drunk, and Stretch wasn’t about to ask if Red wanted to tool around the neighborhood on Edge’s motorcycle. He only kept drinking his coffee.

They sat together for a while before Stretch said, casually, “so.”

Red didn’t reply. He only sat watching Super Grover teaching monster school as if it was the most riveting piece of television created and he was already composing his letter of recommendation to the Golden Globes for their consideration, brought to them by the letter ‘M’. Come to think of it, it wasn’t a bad way to shore up the Human kids awareness of Monsters…anyway.

Red wasn’t looking or talking to him and that? That was fine. He got it. Stretch set his empty coffee cup on the table and picked up one of the cartons that still had a little leftover macaroni salad in it, scraping the last of it up with his newly claimed fork. It was room-temperature, and the texture was going mushy, but it was Edge’s cooking, so it still tasted good. Sometimes Stretch thought he’d found a way to infuse his recipes with the better part of his love, or at least it tasted that way to him. Maybe he wasn’t the only one.

He was starting to poke through the rest of the cartons for something on the sweeter side to his impromptu breakfast when his phone vibrated. A quick look told him the message was from Thing One, and Stretch gave Red a sideways glance, tipping his phone so the screen couldn’t be spied on before he opened it. For once, there were no jokes, no puns, no scatter of emoticons to see how many could fit in between words and still have the message readable. There was only one blunt sentence.

you can tell him he can come home now.

Wow, thanks, make him the bearer of bad news. He hoped Red was actually picking up some of Big Bird’s teachings, although he doubted ‘don’t kill the messenger’ was on the list for today.

He squirmed in his seat and began, hesitantly, “red—”

But Red was already climbing to his feet. A shower of crumbs fell to the floor and he dusted more off his shirt, scattering them across his shoes and the carpet. “yeah, i got it.”

He didn’t so much as glance at Stretch as he headed for the front door. But he hesitated right in front of it, his back to Stretch as he said, “tell my bro his tomato sauce still needs a shit-ton more garlic.”

“you tell him,” Stretch retorted. “i’m not risking my meal ticket.”

What wasn’t said hung heavy in the air around them, unspoken but not unheard. Gratitude came in many languages and Stretch knew plenty.

Red’s shoulders hunched a little and he let out a rusty little laugh, “heh. you ain’t as dumb as you look, honey bun.”

In another step he was gone, shortcutting out instead of walking through the door, leaving Stretch sitting alone.

He looked at the mess on the coffee table, the crusty dishes and spills and sneaker prints, and the crumbs on the carpet.

Then he snagged the half-full container of sticky rice and sprawled out on the sofa, scooping up a gloppy mouthful. The Count was about to get started on counting bats and he didn’t want to miss it.

-fin

[alwaysachorusgirl]

Blackout Blues

Pairing: ADA Sonny Carisi x Fem Reader

Word Count: 1,258

Prompt: The One With the Blackout for @thatesqcrush Friends Bingo

TW: none

A/N: So, this is my first time writing for Sonny. It's just a whole lot of fluff with a teensy bit of hurt/comfort. The only thing it really has in common with the episode is that there's a blackout. As always, if anyone wants to be tagged in a future fic post, please let me know!

Tags: @thatesqcrush, @madamsnape921, @itsjustmyfantasyroom, @prurientpuddlejumper, @welcometothemxdhouse, @teamsladsandgents

“Doll, do you really think we’re going to need all that? Come on, sit down, snuggle with me, please?” Sonny gave you his best puppy dog eyes and pouty face. He was already settled on the couch in a t-shirt and pajama pants, a soft fleece blanket draped over his lanky legs. You placed another battery powered lantern and two more flashlights on the coffee table next to all the other ones you had dug out of various drawers and closets. You tested the lantern and flashlights to make sure they worked and looked at your husband. It was Friday night and he had been in court all week. He’d won his case and been home early for dinner, and now you wanted nothing more than to cuddle up in his arms and fall asleep bingeing old episodes of “Beachfront Bargain Hunt.” But you heard the pounding of the rain intensify against the window, followed by a rumble of thunder, and sighed. Mother Nature clearly had other plans.

“They said on the news that this storm might be a bad one, Sonny. They even interviewed that guy from the power grid, and he said to be prepared for possible blackouts. Even the Super called everyone in building to make sure we all had emergency supplies.”

“Hey, I’m not knocking you for being prepared, but you know,” he sat up, taking your hand, and pulling you closer, “you look really good in those pajamas…and you love watching other people buying beautiful, yet ridiculously overpriced waterfront property…”

You giggled at that, cupping his face in your hands, and placing a sweet kiss on his lips.

“Mmm… yes, I do, and I would certainly hope that I look good in these pajamas, you bought them for me.” The pajamas in question had been an impulse buy on a family outing to Target. You had gone in to get bedding for your daughter’s new bed. You had walked out with that, new pajamas for everyone, and a bunch of snacks that you really didn’t need, but Sonny had insisted otherwise.

“Well, I know how much you like soft, comfortable things. Come on, Doll, sit down, relax. You can use me as your pillow, you know I’m your favorite pillow…”

“Oh, I will definitely be doing just that, after I check on Lucy. Then I’m all yours, I promise.”

“Babe, she’s asleep. I read her three stories just to make sure.”

“I know, Sonny, but she’s two, and she’s just as scared of thunderstorms as I was when I was that little. And considering how it’s been since we moved her into a “Big Girl Bed” …”

“Babe, it’s only been a few weeks. She’s had some good nights, and some not-so-good nights. She’ll adjust, just give it time.”

You leaned over and kissed his forehead. “I know, Sonny, I know. How about, you start the show, and I’ll be back in a minute, okay?”

“Okay, love you, Doll”

“Love you, too, Son-shine bear.”

You crept down the hall to the door of your daughter’s room and opened it as quietly as you could. The glow from the nightlight illuminated Lucy’s face and you smiled. She was, indeed, fast asleep, her little arms hugging her favorite Care Bear. Her faithful canine companion, Winnie, was curled up next to her, snoring her adorable Bulldog snore. Satisfied that she was okay, you softly shut the door and went back to the living room.

Sonny grinned mischievously as he saw you approach the couch. You lifted the blanket and made yourself comfortable next to him. Your back was to the TV, but you didn’t care as you placed your head on his chest and yawned. He wrapped his arms around you and placed soft kisses along your face. Your body relaxed and melted into his.

“So, she still asleep?” he asked.

“Mmm hmm, “you murmured. “Like an angel.”

“Good. I love you, Y/N.”

“I love you, too, Sonny.” You felt him place a hand on your stomach, and you covered his with yours. “I’m okay, Son-shine Bear, we both are, just tired.”

“I know, Doll, I just worry about you. Any ideas on how we tell Lucy that she’s going to be a big sister?”

You opened your eyes and gazed up into his. “Not yet, let me get through this first trimester. Hopefully, I’ll have some ideas by then.”

Sonny chuckled at that and kissed your forehead. “Okay, Doll.”

There was an obnoxiously loud rumble of thunder and the lights flicked. You sat up like a shot, hand instinctively reaching towards the coffee table. It immediately connected with one of the flashlights, which you grabbed and switched on. You turned on a few more of the emergency lights, just in case.

“Doll, what are you—” Sonny was cut off by a clap of thunder so booming it shook the whole building. The lights flickered again, and this time, the living room went dark.

“MAMA! DADDY!”

“Lucy!” You and Sonny said in unison.

“Hang on, baby girl! We’re coming!” Sonny called back to her. You both jumped off the couch, grabbing as many lights as you could carry, and ran to your daughter’s room.

Sonny got there first. Lucy was sitting up in bed, terrified and bawling her eyes out. Winnie was trying to comfort her little human by licking the tears off her face, to no avail. Sonny dumped his lights on her bedside table and scooped up his daughter into arms while simultaneously plopping down on her bed.

“Daddy! Big boom! No like!” She wailed, holding onto him for dear life.

“I know, sweetie, I know. It’s okay, Mommy and Daddy are here. You’re okay we got you,” he desperately tried to reassure her, gently rocking her back and forth, and rubbing circles into her back.

You sat down next to them and embraced both of them. “We’re right here, baby, everything’s going to be okay. The thunder can’t hurt you; we won’t let it.”

Lucy sniffed and hiccuped. “Paw-mise?”

You smoothed her hair and placed a kiss on her head. “Promise; now, how about you sleep in the big bed with me and Daddy tonight? That sound good?” Lucy nodded, and you kissed her again. “Okay.” You looked down at Winnie, who was resting her head in your lap. “You too, Winnie, everyone in the big bed tonight.”

Winnie didn’t need to be told twice, getting up and jumping down to the floor. You grabbed Lucy’s security blanket and wrapped it around her tiny shoulders, then handed her her Care Bear. Lucy hugged it to her chest as Sonny kissed her forehead and stood up. You grabbed the flashlights and lanterns and led the way to the master bedroom.

You set up the lights around the room and Sonny got Lucy settled in your bed. Winnie made herself comfortable at the foot of the bed.

“Staw-ee Daddy?”

“Sure thing, baby girl.”

Sonny began reciting one of several Sesame Street books that he had committed to memory. You snuggled next to your husband, Lucy between you, hanging on her dad’s every word. As he neared the end she yawned, and her eyes fluttered shut.

“Wuv you, Daddy.”

Sonny kissed her cheek. “Love you, too, Baby Girl.”

“Wuv you, Mama.”

“I love you, too, sweetie.” You kissed her one more time, and then met your husband’s eyes and smiled. “I love you, Son-shine Bear.”

“I love you, too, Doll. Now get some sleep because I’m taking my favorite girls out to breakfast in the morning.”

[inkandpen22]

Beautiful Angel of Darkness (3/?)

Pairing: Spike x Female!Reader 

Warning: mild violence (basically nothing), mentions of smut 

Word Count: 1.2k

Part Summary: Buffy discovers that Y/N is a vampire. The discovery scares the Scoobies which is exactly what Y/N was hoping for. After they return to the crypt, Spike reveals something to her. 

A/N: The scene from gif between Dru and Spike inspired a portion of this part because that bit in the show is just so iconic! I mean... look at him! Haha 

Masterlist

“You’re a vampire!” Buffy gasps, her eyes tighten as if she’s seen a ghost. 

“Oh way to go Slayer! Ten points Gryffindor!” I tease, unable to withhold my laughter. 

She clenches her jaw. “Did Spike do this to you?” 

“No, it was Count von Count from Sesame Street,” I sass. “Um yeah, duh! For being older you’re not exactly wiser.” 

Her brows scrunch together, my words visibly capturing her attention. “How old you are you?” 

“Again, where are your manners?! Don’t you know you never ask a woman her age!” I remind her a matter-of-factly. 

“Can we stop with the chitter-chatter? I’m getting thirsty,” Spike groans from the sidelines. 

I tilt my head to the side with a pout. “Do we eat her?” 

“As if,” the Slayer grumbles. Then, she kicks me aggressively in the stomach, causing me to fly back into the far brick building. 

I fall to the pavement with a smack. It takes a minute for me to process what just happened. Then, I grow fucking pissed! I hop up to my feet and check my clothes. A massive black boot mark on my brand new shirt! Now on her feet, Buffy catches her breath. 

I scoff, stretching out my shirt to show her. “This is fucking new you bitch!” A growl forms deep in my chest as I see nothing but red. I march over to the Slayer and she squares up to fight. 

“Buffy!” An annoying high-pitch voice squeals. That must be Willow. 

Sure enough, Buffy’s Scoobie gang jocks out of the club to assist her. 

“Stay back guys! She isn’t human like we thought!” She warns. 

“No, she’s not,” I point, pretending to feel really bad about it. 

Spike appears beside me, wrapping his arm around my waist with a cheeky grin. I reach up and place a quick peck to his cheek. 

“You turned her, Spike!” Xander shouts, apparently rather crossed about the whole thing. 

“Can you blame a man?” He defense, peering down at me with longing eyes. 

I bite down at my lip as my eyes linger on his cherry red ones. Spike’s hand slips down my waist and he gives my ass a nice squeeze. If we weren’t in the presence of such terrible company, I would take him right here. 

“I think I’m going to be sick,” Xander grumbles to his friends. 

Spike and I turn our attention to the group, our cheeks against each other as we smile. How could mere humans ever understand what Spike and I have? We’re far too complex for their simple minds. It’s all encompassing and it replaces our souls. Spike is my reason for existing and I’m his in return. 

Spike caresses my cheek and places a gentle kiss to my temple. “Should we go, Love? I think we’ve over stayed our welcome.” 

I brush my hand against his jawline, starring into his compelling eyes with a mischivious grin. “Anything you wish, Darling.” 

He growls, a wicked grin appearing on his lips and I can feel the vibration from his chest. “You know I love it when you talk like that.” 

I snicker, eager to get back to the crypt and experience everything has to offer. I can never get enough of him. He’s the greatest addiction in the world that never be satisfied. 

___________________________________________________

Spike and I lay in bed, catching our breath from our many rounds of amazing fucking after we got back from The Bronze. The silk red sheet barely covers us from the outside world. As I relax with my head on my crisscrossed arms beside him, Spike props himself up on his arm and faces me. He leans down, placing a gentle kiss to my shoulder blade. Gently, he begins to trace random shapes on my back. 

“Let’s play a game, Love,” he suggests. 

I smile, “okay.” 

“I will write out words on your perfect skin,” he explains slowly, planting another kiss to my spin. “And you will guess what it is.” He adds, placing a kiss to my waist. 

I giggle, “okay.” 

Spike starts tracing letters onto my back and I do my best to focus. I also cheat by using my knowledge of Spike to make an educated guess. 

“Moon,” I guess. 

“Excellent,” he compliments. “That earns you a kiss.” 

He leans down and reach up to meet his lips halfway. He smiles into the kiss and I can’t help but mirror the reaction. We part and he continues on with the next word once I’m laying down again. 

I hum, I have two thoughts. “Blood,” I guess, biting my lip nervously. 

“So smart,” he leans down and plants a kiss to my lips. 

“Thank you,” I say against his lips. “I try.” 

We part and I rest my head back down on my arms. Spike lingers for a moment to think of a word as he taps his finger against his lips. When one pops into his head, his finger starts to glide across my skin. Oh, this is a long one. 

I try to focus on the movement of his finger so I don’t miss any lines. “Could you do it again?” 

He complies and repeats the lines. I press my lips together, starring absentmindedly at the far wall. I’m not sure how many words start with ‘I’. 

Infringe 

Ingenious 

Inimical 

But it’s an IL word. 

I hum, struggling to figure it out. Spike snicker beside me, enjoying my struggle. I playfully swat the arm that keeps him up, which only makes him laugh harder at my expense.

“Okay, one more time,” he so kindly does it again. 

I huff, growing slightly frustrated that I’m missing it and losing my streak. An IL word, how hard can it be? 

“Is it a phrase?” I question aggresively. It’s the one solution. 

He hums, a mischivious smirk appearing on his lips. 

To help me figure it out, I begin to name the letters out loud. 

“I, L, O, V...” I stop saying them, but Spike continues writing out the letters. 

Slowly, I turn onto my side and Spike’s hand slides to my waist. A faint smile remains on his lips as he brings his fingers to my temple and brushes my hair back. His eyes search my face with such admiration. 

“I love you,” he reveals quietly between us. 

A breathless laugh escapes my lips as I leap to wrap my arms around him. He falls onto the bed with laughter. I climb on top of him, utterly exploding with happiness. “You love me?!” 

He snickers, amused by my reaction. “Don’t believe me?” He sits up, resting against the headboard and grips my waist. “Yes, Y/N, I love you! I’ve loved you since the moment I saw you!” 

I cup his face, pressing my lips to his. I can’t help but smile against the kiss. I want to make this moment last forever. I break away, realizing I haven’t said it back yet. 

“Oh! I love you too! I love you so much!” I rush out. 

He smiles brightly, “I was hoping you would.” 

His hand wraps around the back of my neck and he brings me in for a gentle kiss. I’ve fallen under his spell, he’s utterly immaculate. Every moment with him is magical. I want to make up for every minute we spent apart before we met. As long as Spike’s mine, nothing bad can ever happen to us. 

We rest our foreheads against one another, starring each other’s eyes. 

“From now until forever,” he promises me. 

“Forever,” I repeat the vow, meaning it wholeheartedly. 

God, I love him so much. My entire world is him. He’s the sun, the moon, everything. I will love him for eternity. 

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Tags: @currently-obsesed-with-spike​ @mx-pibbles​ @shy-ginger-in-the-graveyard​