#i read kiddie lit

[amplexadversary]

Right. This has been a vampire thing since *Dracula* Dracula. For some reason that's so easy to forget.

[corkinavoid]

A list of things I've done that pissed my mother off, but as Batfam + Team Phantom edition

Bruce: got into a verbal fight and held a year-long grudge at my teacher for not giving me a fair grade at an annual competition, and proceeded to go out of my way to win said competition next year

Alfred: refused to eat her food, got told to cook for myself and did so, ending up with both my dad and sister saying my banana bread was the best thing they've eaten

Dick: swung on the bungee rope over the dry riverbed turned into junk yard, fell, miraculously did not die, went to that same bungee rope the next day

Babs: organized a stake out, found out which neighbor had been messing with trash bins when everyone blamed raccoons, called said neighbor a raccoon for the next three weeks

Jason: kept reading books at night with a flashlight, when said flashlight was taken away, lit a candle and accidentally almost set the house on fire

Tim: fled to a different country across the globe without telling anyone except my sister, who's been 7 at the time, and did not respond to any calls or messages for three months

Steph: picked a dress with glitter for a dinner with her relatives after specifically being told not to, was forced to change, but took my revenge by exploding a glitter bomb in the car when we have already arrived at the relatives' house

Cass: responded with 'sorry I didn't quite catch that could you repeat' to her very long rant, over text

Damian: successfully clawed and gnawed at a classmate's face after they destroyed my painting

Duke: was the leader of school rebellion over the 'no wigs allowed in school' rule in sixth grade, managed to convince two teachers to join, ended up with the rule taken down

Danny: accidentally shocked myself with a tazer I stole from her handbag, cried, when she came to ask what happened, showed her by repeating the accidental electrocution

Dan: pushed my maternal aunt into the pool and watched her flounder, knowing very well she is a bad swimmer, when confronted about it later argued it was the kiddie part of the pool and she could not have drowned

Jazz: told her I was in love with a girl she disliked, when she voiced her opinion on it, made a whole argument about how I'm supposed to learn from my own mistakes and not from her experiences

Dani: zoned out while she was yelling at me, came back to her saying 'you're no better than a pig', impulsively told her 'it's because of genetics' and started oinking

Sam: painted my nails and toes on my left hand and left foot black, dyed my hair purple, but only on the left side, as well as got a piercing on the left eyebrow, while the whole right side was left 'natural'

Tucker: learned to change the wi-fi password and held power over the internet every time she took my electronics away by asking a friend that lived nearby to come by my house and using their phone to change the password

Bonus:

Selina: repeatedly stolen antique jewelry from grandma because she, in turn, stole it from my other grandma

Valerie: turned rogue, teamed up with the opponent team in lasertag and helped them win over my own teammates

Talia: threatened a person I will carve their eyeballs out with a spoon if they ever as much as look at my sister funny again, a month later gave them a decorated silver teaspoon as a birthday gift

Jack Fenton: failed my driving license test seven times, three of which were on purpose

Maddie: ruined her plans of my picture-perfect marriage by friendzoning a son of her friend, claiming I'm saving my love only for the important things like mozzarella

Vlad: scared my sister shitless by telling her a scary story about ghosts under her bed and then hiding under her bed and making 'boo' noizes

Clockwork: purposefully made her experience deja vu by wearing the exact same clothes and greeting her the exact same way in the exact same place for three days in a row

[mistydeyes]

little moments and little voices

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summary: Despite the long hours and constant threat of death, the 141 always has something to return to. Even when they're away, they love the moments you share with them and your children.

pairing: 141 x fem!Reader (established relationship)

warnings: none :)

a/n: i redid my little headers for each section so hope you enjoy!

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price

“C’mon babies let’s call daddy,” you said as you gathered your three little children. “Mum we’re not babies anymore,” the eldest spoke up as your youngest climbed in your lap. “Alright my mature adults, let’s call your father,” you said in a fake stern voice. Your children laughed as they got settled. “You sound like daddy,” your son giggled as he sat down. "Okay is everyone ready?" you asked and they all nodded in agreement. You grabbed the laptop and pulled up Skype and they all giggled as it rang.

After two rings, John's face lit up the screen. "Well hello there," he said as he sat back and your children rushed to wave hi. "We all miss you, sweetie!" you exclaimed and blew him a kiss. "I miss you all too," he replied as he held a hand up to the screen. "Daddy guess what?" your middle said as she climbed onto your lap to see her dad better. "What, pumpkin?" he replied happily. "I lost a tooth," she exclaimed and showed her dad the empty gap in her front smile. "She's been showing everyone, sweetheart," you laughed as you placed your face back in the frame. You continued to have your other two children provide their updates, your eldest had gotten the best marks at school and your youngest recently learned how to tie their shoes. You could see your husband smile at them proudly as he praised all of their achievements. Eventually, you saw the time and knew it was time for bed. "Kiddies I think it's time we head up to bed, yeah?" you asked and you were immediately met with groans. "Don't act like that for your mother," Price scolded and the whining stopped. "Maybe if you ask nicely, Daddy can read us all a bedtime story," you smiled and they begged your laughing husband.

Eventually, he relented and your kids happily climbed down and raced upstairs. This was their favorite part of the night when John was away and were all dutifully ready to be tucked in. You followed with the laptop in hand and set it up so that all your children could see. "Alright, let's see what we have here," John chuckled, "I have a new one for you it's called '‎Goldilocks And The Three Bears'" your kids oooed in response as you sat next to your youngest bed. "I have a special guest," he continued and shifted the camera to the left, "Uncle Kyle is here and he'll be doing some of the voices." You waved as you saw the Sergeant appear on the screen. The kids screamed with happiness at the sight of their favorite uncle appearing. "Hi kids, I'm Goldilocks," he said in a high-pitched voice and you let out a small laugh. As soon as everyone settled, John prepared his best narrator voice and opened the book. "Once upon a time, there was a young girl named Goldilocks," he began. Before you knew it, he was reading the last few lines. By now, your children were fast asleep. The excitement from seeing their father and the laughter from Kyle's impressions had tuckered them out. You kissed them all gingerly before picking up your laptop and heading downstairs.

"Hi sweetheart," John said as you settled on the couch. "How are you doing?" you asked and his smile faltered a bit. "Tired, missing home," he replied and your heart ached slightly. "We miss you too, John," you whispered as you brought the device closer. "I'll be home soon, just have to tie up some loose ends," he noted. God you missed him. You knew what you had signed up for on your wedding day but these last few months had been hard. You sighed as he looked at your thoughtfully. "Want me to tell you a bedtime story?" he joked and that's how you fell asleep to your husband just talking.

soap

“Daddie daddie daddie!” is all the warning Johnny got before his two twins came running to him. “Slow down there, wee little ones,” he laughed as he went to pick them up in his arms. After four years, Johnny would never get tired of this. “Mammy did face paint with us,” his son said as Johnny examined his face. You had in fact painted their faces and they were excited to show their father. “Let’s get a proper look at both of you,” he said as he sat them both down on the kitchen counter. His kids smiled widely at him and he could see a collection of butterflies and bees on his son’s small face and hearts and flowers on his daughters.

“Where’s your mam now?” he asked as he lowered them off the counter. His daughter excitedly grabbed her dad’s hand and led him to the master bathroom. You stood there washing off your hands and brushes to see your tiny terrors dragging Johnny in. You smiled when you saw them tugging at your husband's arm. You put the brushes down as your twins jumped up and down in excitement. “Hi sweetheart, everything good at the brief?” you asked as you walked over and kissed his cheek. Your kids squealed in disgust and hid their eyes as he held your face gently. "All good, love," he replied, "now what's all this face paint business about?" You looked down to see your kids running around as if they were in a sugar rush. "Ah I had them lying around and they were getting antsy waiting for you," you said and gestured for the twins to settle down. As you continued to clean and chat with Johnny, your daughter had a brilliant idea.

"Mam, can you do some face paint on Daddie?" she asked sweetly and you looked over at Johnny who looked equally as excited. You sighed as you had just finished cleaning your brushes but you always folded for your children and your husband. "I guess I could," you said and the whole group cheered. You set up your station again and Johnny sat on the bathroom counter, leaning down so you could see his face. He squirmed a little under your grip and you ran your fingers over his stubble. "I could make something work," you said before pulling out the paints in your other hand and beginning your masterpiece. You made sure as you were painting to tell your kids not to ruin the surprise. Johnny held onto your waist as you painted. Your children moved around every so often to get a better angle of your work.

"And done," you said with a smile and he turned to look at himself in the mirror. "You've outdone yourself," he said as he examined the delicate brush strokes. "I wanna see!" your son called and Johnny hopped off the counter so they could get a better look. The twins gripped his cheeks and giggled at the splashes of yellow and blue and white. "It's a duck!" your daughter exclaimed. "It's a family of rubber ducks," you said as you bent down, "There's a daddie, a mammy, and two little ones following." They moved Johnny's face around to see the two parent ducks on one cheek and the two smaller ones on the other side. "That's us!" your daughter said as she touched the wet paint. She quickly rubbed it off on her dress and you sighed as you had just gotten them changed that morning. They ran to the playroom and before you could follow, Johnny held you back and kissed you. At first, you thought it was romantic but you soon realized he had brushed off the paint onto your face. "You're a bastard," you joked as you examined your face. "Ye but I'm yours," he said and you laughed as you went to follow your wild children.

gaz

"Shhh don't ruin the surprise," Kyle could hear you say as the door slowly cracked open. All morning, you and your daughter had worked on something special for him. According to your five-year-old, it was "Top Secret" and Kyle was happy to catch up on some shows while you and her worked in the living room. Your daughter jumped onto the bed as Kyle reached to pause his show and you joined soon after. "Okay it's time to close your eyes," she said and Kyle put his hands over his eyes. You smiled as you handed your daughter the masterpiece she had been working on. "You can open them now," she giggled and shoved the paper into his hands. "This is amazing Ivy," he said as you lay down next to them. "She made it all himself," you smiled as you turned to see the drawing.

Today was Kyle's last week before a long deployment and your daughter had wanted to give him something to have. All morning, she drew and colored a drawing of your family including your German Shepherd. The childish drawing had you and Kyle in front of your house and your daughter running around with your dog in a yard of green grass. Kyle kissed your head as your daughter described the scene and pointed out all the drawings. "...then we have mummy, she's wearing the green dress you got her," she said as she continued to point. "And who's that handsome guy?" Kyle said as he pointed to himself. Your son smiled up at you before replying. "That's you, Daddy," she said, "I wanted to draw your uniform but it was too hard so you're wearing a shirt and shorts." Kyle laughed as the drawing was surprisingly accurate, the clothes were things you wore daily and the house looked like the one you were sitting in.

"Well I'm sure my little artist is hungry," he said as he got up and placed your daughter on the ground. "Let's go out to eat today," he announced and your daughter jumped up and down. "I wanna pick out my outfit today," she triumphantly said before running off to her room. Kyle took this opportunity to grab you and hold you in his arms. "Thinking about another little one?" he joked and you laughed as you rolled over to face him. "Not when you're away," you exclaimed, "don't even get me started on the weird cravings Ives gave me." He kissed you gently and you knew you would revisit this as soon as he got back. "She doesn't want you to leave," you whispered after you sat in silence for a few moments. "I'm going to miss you too," he replied and held you closer into his chest. Parting was always such a bittersweet time for the family.

Before you knew it, Ivy came storming back into your bedroom. "Look at me!" she said as she twirled around. You and Kyle propped up to see her in a similar green dress. "Oh Ives, I told you that you were going to wear that when we picked up Daddy from the airport," you scolded but Kyle placed a gentle hand on your waist. "It's a special occasion though!" she exclaimed and you just smiled at her early surprise. "I love it, sweetheart," Kyle replied as he helped you up. "I only think it's fair if Mum wears her green dress," he smiled and kissed you on the forehead. Despite having the surprise ruined, you enjoyed walking around the streets of your town with your daughter in matching dresses and your husband lovingly smiling at you.

ghost

Simon woke up to hear the soft taps on the piano and your soothing voice guiding your son. “Alright sweetheart let’s try that again,” he heard your voice instruct as he played the beginning notes to Heart and Soul. Simon lay in bed for a while as he listened to the peaceful melody. He had been gone for too long and your son had gotten even better since he was last home. You were now able to play duets with him and didn't have to direct him through the sheet music. He smiled softly as he got out of bed and made his way down the stairs. He made sure to walk gently as to not disturb his two musicians. As he descended, you joined in with the duet and began to play the other notes. “Heart and soul, I fell in love with you,” you began and Simon heard your son's little voice join in. Your voice was light and it filled the home with life. When you were first pregnant and he found out it was a boy, Simon feared he would turn out like him but after seven years all of his worries were quelled.

"...and stole a kiss from the night," you both finished as Simon entered the living room. After a few years, you knew when Simon was watching so it didn't surprise you to see him in the doorway. "When did you learn that?" he asked as your son ran up to hug him. He held him to his leg as he watched you turn from the piano slowly. By now, you were about 7 months along and were clearly showing. In just a few more weeks, you would be welcoming a little girl. "I taught him a few weeks ago, he's a fast learner," you proudly announced as you closed the piano lid. "I can play two songs now," your son boasted as Simon lifted him up and tussled his dark hair. "Better than I could ever do," he replied and he lowered your son and made his way over to you. "We might just have to get you lessons, Elliott," you said as your son joined you back on the piano bench. He beamed at you as you looked at Simon's mini-me. "And soon we'll have our own little orchestra," you continued and patted your growing belly, "she loves when Elliott plays, I imagine she's dancing in there." In the morning sunlight, you looked radiant and Simon kissed your forehead gently.

As you shared a brief moment together, your son insisted on playing a new piece you had just started to teach him. "I don't know El, you heard how bad I was singing last week," you joked as he looked at you with puppy eyes. Eventually, you relented and you motioned for Simon to watch. You cleared your throat as your son stretched his fingers and found the starting notes. Simon's ears were soon filled with the melody of Edith Piaf's La Vie en Rose. He smiled softly as you soon began to sing. "Des yeux qui font baisser les miens," you began in an attempt at emulating Piaf's elegant French accent, "Un rire qui se perd sur sa bouche." He watched as Elliott's hands moved around the keys as you sang the romantic song. Despite not being as musically inclined, Simon recognized you were in the key of C, something you had taught him. He closed his eyes as you both continued to perform in sync, savoring the melody and your soft vocals. As soon as he finished with a few ending notes, Simon clapped softly. You and your son laughed as you bowed to your audience.

"It's still a work in progress," you laughed as scooted off the piano and joined next to Simon's side. As you enjoyed the soft moment with your head on his chest, Elliott posed a question. "What if we name the baby Rose," Elliott spoke up and you both thought for a moment. "But out of all the songs why Rose?" Simon asked as you looked at your son. "Mum's always so happy when she sings it, I think the baby would like it," he continued and Simon listened intently. You had been flipping through baby books for weeks and no one of them truly resonated. As you thought about the idea, you suddenly felt the baby kick and smiled. "I think little Rosie agrees," you said happily before sitting down. Simon joined on the other side of the piano and you three squished on the small bench. "Rose it is then," Simon said and enveloped you all in a hug. Before you could get up, your son had a brilliant idea. "Dad let me show you how to play 'Chopsticks'" he exclaimed and Simon knew he was trapped with his musicians.

[milesdickpic]

Thanksgiving at the Bradshaws | H.C

Click here to see the master list

Happy Thanksgiving, Besties! For those who celebrate, be safe and i hope you have a great day! Whether you celebrate it or not, I just want to let you all know that I am BEYOND grateful for each and everyone of you. Thank you for being here with me 🥰 I love you all so much! ❤️ Happy reading and enjoy! 💕

*Can be read in conjunction with the HLG series! 🦃

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You and Bradley planned a low-key Thanksgiving for the family. It was going to be a laid back and cozy night. 

All the kids were asleep while all the adults started to make dinner. It was going to be an early night since everyone had to work early the next morning. 

Austin made his famous stuffing. He had brought it the year prior and it had to be the best stuffing you and Bradley had ever had in your lives. 

Phoenix made a a potato casserole along with some green beans.

Hangman worked on the turkey, making sure it was pure perfection. (Like himself)

You made mashed potatoes, gravy, and Mac and cheese. 

Bradley started to set up the table. He put out the best cutlery you and him had in the house, as well as the best looking plates. The ones that weren’t stained nor microwaved burned from the men of the house. 

Bradley wrote name tags for everyone and set each of them on a plate at the table. He grabbed a jar and labeled it “What I am Grateful For.” And placed it in the middle of the table. 

“Thanksgiving dinner for brunch is the best idea we’ve ever came up with.” Hangman laughed as he was basting the turkey with broth and butter. “This baby is almost ready!”

Bradley laughed and smiled. “I am so ready to eat. I missed dinner last night so I could be an endless pit today.”

Phoenix scoffed as she finished laying out her dishes she repaired. “You’re always and endless pit, Bradshaw. You and your kids!” She slapped his shoulder as she set the dishes onto the table. 

You came over and looked at the table. Bradley had set out some little pumpkins left over from Halloween. He lit a couple of candles, he set put the nice silverware and plates. He put out 2 variances of wine glasses. (Plastic ones for the kiddos) Each plate had everyone’s name on it. It was so cute and simple. 

You kissed his cheek. “Thank you for setting the table, Brad.” You placed the Gravy onto the table as Bradley went to grab the mashed potatoes and Mac and cheese. 

As everyone started to lay their dishes onto the table, you and Bradley went upstairs to get the kiddies ready. Everyone decided that Thanksgiving themed pajamas were the move. 

The boys wore matching turkey onesies, Leia wore a “bring on the leftovers” pajama, Bradley wore a pajama that was full of turkeys, you wore a pajama set that was covered in cute coffees, lattes, pies, and pumpkins.

You and Bradley brought down the kids. The boys were strong enough to start sitting on their own in their high chairs. So you and Bradley placed them into each of theirs. Leia pranced around and looked at all the food that was laid out for everyone. 

“GOSH I AM SO HUNGRY!” Leia was so excited. “You and me both, sweetheart.” Bradley picked up Leia and kissed her cheek over and over again. 

Everyone started to make their way downstairs. 

Phoenix wore an oversized pajama set that said, “official pumpkin pie tester.”

Austin wore a grey pajama set with pumpkin pies all over it. (Hehehe)

Gunner came running into the kitchen with a onesie that had turkeys, pumpkins, and “happy thanksgiving” written all over it. 

You all started to take a seat at the table. Bradley sat at the head of the table. You to the left of him. Next to you was Phoenix followed by Austin and then little Bradley in his high chair next to him. On the other side was going to be Leia, Jake, and then Luke in his high chair. 

You were all seated and Bradley looked around for Jake. 

“Seresin. Hurry the hell up!” You slapped Bradley’s arm and shook your head. “Sorry, sweetheart.” Bradley cleared his throat. “MOVE YOUR ASS, SERESIN!” 

“IM COMING!” Jake yelled from the top of the stairs. You could all hear him making his ay down.

“HO-LY. SHIIIIIT.” Bradley, Leia, and Phoenix all said at the same time as Jake made his way down. 

Hangman was in a big turkey onesie. He had the hood on and everything. 

“That is one big Turkey.” Austin laughed as he looked at Jake. 

“Gobble Gobble these nuts, Bradshaw.” Jake laughed and Bradley spit out his water. 

“MY CHILDREN ARE IN THE ROOM.” He lunged for Leia’s ears. 

Once you all sat down every one took turns writing what they were grateful for and placed it into the jar. 

Bradley jumble the jar and everyone took turns asking out a paper and reading what was on it. 

You were first, “I am grateful for being able to spend this holiday season (and everyday) with the people I love.” You smiled and looked around. Austin raised his hand. “Mine. I’m grateful to have you all in my life. I wouldn’t have it any other way.” 

You passed the jar to Phoenix. “I am grateful for being alive and being around those I love the most.” Phoenix looked straight at Bradley. Bradley smiled and nodded at Phoenix. “That be me. I love you guys.”

Phoenix passed the jar to Austin. “I am grateful for food.” Everyone looked slowly at Leia. She started to turn red and giggle. “I AM HUNGRY, OKAY!” She crossed her arms and scowled at everyone as you all laughed.”

Austin gave the jar to Leia. “I am grateful for all my friends and family.” Leia looked up at everyone. Phoenix put her finger up. “Me. I’m grateful for all of you. Life would have been lame if I wasn’t here with you all right now.” She looked at Hangman, “That includes you too, Bagman.” They both laughed. 

Leia gave the jar to Hangman. “Here, Uncle Jakey.” He kissed her cheek and pulled out one of the folded papers. “I am grateful for the beautiful family I have been given.” You smiled, “I don’t know where i would have been if I hadn’t met or created any of you. I love you, guys.”

Jake reached over Leia and gave the jar to Bradley. “WELL. We all know who is left.” Jake laughed. 

Bradley pulled out the last folded paper. “Let’s see what we’ve got here.” He looked down at it and his smile softened. He looked at Jake and gave him a little nod and he nodded back. Bradley sighed. “I am grateful for saving the man that saved me. Thank you Bradshaw for taking me in as one of your own after all these years. I don’t deserve you, buddy. I am thankful for being able to be a part of his and y/n’s family.” Bradley folded the paper back up and smiled at Hangman.

Jake pushed his lips together and smiled. “Of course you’d get mine. But it’s true. I’ll forever be grateful and thankful that you both have allowed me to be a part of your family. Thank you.” You got up and gave Jake a kiss on the cheek. Bradley smiled, “I couldn’t imagine a life without you, Turkeyman.”

Leia gave Jake a kiss. “I love you, uncle Jakey!” 

After all the thanks were given you all ate together reminiscing on what the year had been so far. You were all grateful for everything you were given in the last 11 months. 

After dinner, you all cozied up on the couches and Leia chose to watch ‘Addams Family Values.’ Her favorite part was when Wednesday sabotaged the play and burned down the thanksgiving set.

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Happy Thanksgiving, my loves! I promise to be posting the next chapter of HLG this coming week. Everything has just been so hectic! But it will be up soon! Thank you for your patience and love. See you in the next one! 🫶🏼

Dinner party guests are in the comments ❤️

[fountainpenguin]

"I almost held up a grocery store, where I almost did 5 years and then 7 more..."

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Well, look what I've pulled out of the ashes! It's been a while, but we've got a new Come What May chapter today!

Chapter 6 - “Talk About Us”

Read on FFN || Read on AO3

Start from Chapter 1

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No rest for the wicked! Kevin (and an undead iguana) head home from the Cake 'N Bacon with Foop in tow... Maybe the anti-fairy can help with Kevin's ghost problem? Wait, forget that… Didn't Grandmama say Kevin's got a cousin running around Dimmsdale? Finding Remy is WAY more important. Check it out!

(First 1000 words under the cut)

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Talk About Us

Year of Water, Spring of the Aligned Raindrops

Saturday, May 15th, 2004 - 11:44 am

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When it comes to I've had the weirdest day, it's hard to top going to lunch with the Grim Reaper and getting handed an iguana. Granted, this wasn't Kevin's first time eating lunch with the old coot, and Foop was still begging for the details. Yeah, Kevin didn't even know where to start with that one. "He's just a long-time friend of my mom's" didn't seem to be cutting it.

Personally, Kevin didn't see what the big deal was. The Grim Reaper had a creepy aesthetic to him - you know, like Marvin and Molly - but all in all, he was just some guy. He picked up odd jobs all over Peachfield to pay off his student loans. Hearing Foop gush over him as Kevin picked at his soup (and his uncle devoured a sandwich) kind of gave him the creeps, like listening to a Kindergartener gush about the local crossing guard.

Is it really THAT weird?

Denise Quinna Crocker was a vampire lover. She volunteered often at the Peachfield nursing home and hung around the elderly. The Grim Reaper also volunteered a lot at the Peachfield nursing home, although probably for a different reason. They shared a love for all things dark, bleak, and undead. And, well… he walked around in a big brown cloak and preferred writing with a quill. Denise Crocker was going to notice that. She'd always been an extraverted woman, and her nosiness knew no bounds. Did you know the Grim Reaper has a birthday? Apparently that's a thing.

"Super lame," Foop scoffed when Kevin tried explaining this over their table at the Cake 'N Bacon. The kid took a massive bite of clam chowder, then went back to coloring spikes and pitfall traps down every path of his kiddie menu maze. "Really, Kevin… I thought you were a cool Crocker."

"Death is overhyped anyway," Kevin muttered back. He'd finished his own soup, apart from some final chunks of celery and clams. He gripped his spoon like a bungee cord and stabbed it in the bowl. You know, the explanation of how he'd come to know the Grim Reaper may have been short, but lingering in the poorly lit diner with his uncle and a little kid - not to mention a hissing iguana - felt even more distracting.

Were people whispering about them? Kevin kept glancing around, watching Vicky weave back and forth between the tables with her pitcher. Was the iguana invisible or something? No one else had reacted to it yet. Once, when Vicky turned around with her scarlet ponytail bouncing, her eyes locked on Kevin's. She scrunched her nose at him, brows drawing low. Somehow, that look sort of curdled his skin. Kevin dropped his gaze to his empty soup bowl, his heart pounding like a crushed car on a conveyor belt. His phone hung like a brick in his hand. Great. Its cold, blank screen just surfaced the reminder that

Can we go yet?

The Cake 'N Bacon's clam chowder did taste delicious. It lifted Kevin's spirits a bit from the slump they'd plunged into after he was denied a visit to the Buxaplenty place, but it definitely didn't fill his stomach. He made a mental note to order a sandwich alongside the soup if he ended up eating here again, but he was more than ready to leave once their bill was paid. His skin itched like mad. He kind of wanted to wash his hands and splash his face just to shake off some of the general weirdness of the day, but he'd already used the bathroom once since they got here and he was pretty sure the waitresses would stare if he squeezed past them to go again.

At last, Uncle Denzel stood and shooed Foop off the other end of their booth. He said he had to swing by the Dimmsdale pet store to get iguana food and that he'd need to use the bathroom too before he left, so Kevin offered to walk home by himself. "I want to see more of Dimmsdale," he told his uncle, staring up with the widest blue eyes he could manage, and his uncle bought the lie.

In truth? Anything, even walking around the California outdoors on a hot day like this one, had to be better than another reckless drive in the back of the Unsuspecting Van.

"I'll go with you," Foop chirped, grabbing his crayons and menu from the table. Once they were in his hands, he vaporized both in a small puff of smoke. Kevin blinked tiredly at him, but didn't dare voice a complaint.

"Sure, let's go with that. I've never really talked with an anti-fairy before, except when you showed up on the doorstep this morning. This could be a great learning experience for me. I mean, I am supposed to be studying abroad for a semester. Maybe I can write a paper on anti-fairies for extra credit."

"You cannot!" came Uncle Denzel's cheerful voice. He rustled Kevin's hair with his big hand before scooting past him to the bathroom. "Oh! Kevin, take that sorry excuse for a lap dragon back home with you when you go. I've got errands to run and a tiny bladder to hold me over. You'll probably beat me there!"

Uhh…

So this was an interesting predicament. Kevin eyed the iguana, who'd shoved its face in Foop's soup bowl and started munching on the last traces of clams. That so-called "sorry excuse for a lap dragon" was still an oversized, shimmery green iguana with a crest like a rooster's and a big throat pouch now dripping with specks of soup. Its long toes ended in creepy, curled talons. Its yellow eyes rolled in its head.

Kevin glanced down at Foop, who stood stiffly beside him in his childish human disguise. He could almost pass as a normal kid, you know… if it weren't for the mustache, goatee, and wide lavender eyes. Those eyes blinked nervously up at Kevin. Apparently, Foop considered touching reptiles to be outside his job description as "Uncle Denzel's best friend" and Kevin really didn't blame him. Even if it sucked.

[Cnt'd on FFN / AO3 - Links at top]

[ehgood-enough]

The power of music is so amazing. I was reading a fic that had notes about how Bruce Springsteen fits supernatural so well. I’ve never been a big Springsteen fan always seemed more like “middle age person music”

So I had popped on born to run while doing the dishes. It’s pretty good. I knew a few songs. It’s got me feeling good enough that I’m cleaning more. Pop on the river. Life is good I’m making some progress on the disaster that is my apartment. Cleaning stuff out.

Go to run a couple errands finish up the river while I’m out

Come home ready to tackle more with Bruce. Ok let’s go for born in the USA. THE Springsteen album

Yeah everyone alive in the 80s knows born in the USA hmm well I guess I know the lyrics to cover me. Oh and Darlington county.

Man I can almost feel summer. Smell dusty fields. Feel grass and weeds

Working on the highway …oh yeah know this too. Makes me want to dance. I can almost smell the grill and feel that summer mud that you get around the plastic kiddie pool

Downbound train finds me sitting on floor crying absolutely overwhelmed with memories. Had to be summer 84. God that old apartment, sticky from fluffanutters, roller skates, big wheels in the driveway way; hide and seek in the weed filled empty lot next door, cook outs at the neighbors out back, digging potatoes with my great uncle, running up and down the wooden stairs in the poorly lit hallway up to the second floor. So much happy and within the year it was just gone

Gone like the America of the boomers featured in the song. Even that seemingly bleak future the adults were feeling back in 84 looks unachievable now

Happy and sad all at once listening to an album I doubt I’ve heard in its entirety since that summer and music just seeps into your bones that 44 year old me knows lyrics from 4 year old mes memories.

[pleuvoire]

you know looking back on it it’s funny cause when i was in middle school my big hyperfixations were various middle grade novels, which are aimed at late elementary to middle school, and my mom was concerned that i was outgrowing that reading level and needed to read things that were more appropriate to my growing intellect instead of staying in the kiddie pool, so she encouraged me to read stuff like jane eyre and other classical lit 😭 mom if you wanted me to outgrow middle school books you could have just put me on to YA

[myemuisemo]

Read Along with Richard Scarry’s Busy Busy Town, Part 0

I bought a used copy of Richard Scarry’s Busy Busy Town because (a) the current situation has reduced my attention span to five words and two cute animals at a sitting and (b) the cover looks somewhat like the corner of State and Beech Streets.

Busy, Busy Town (1994 edition) -- red sky in morning, sailors take warning. Small plane has presumably taken off from Tweed.

(Thank you, Google Maps.) Open questions: 

Does Busy Busy Town have Chinese restaurants?

How about wine bars?

Tattoo parlors?

I live in New Haven, Connecticut, which is notable for being the most typical city in the United States in terms of demographics such as race and income. As Five Thirty Eight put it: “Normal America is not a small town of white people.” 

In the 1950s and 1960s, when Richard Scarry was hitting his stride as an author and illustrator,he and his family lived first in Ridgefield, then in Westport, Connecticut, so my sense that Busy Busy Town feels like Connecticut is not entirely off-base. 

While I’ve (just) ordered Scarry’s biography, The Busy, Busy World of Richard Scarry (arrival predicted August 13-20, so with the current postal situation, figure on Hallowe’en), the purpose of this Read Along is to sneak up on the text in the dark and see what we make of it as a guide to exploring a real city.

Back in first or second grade, my first encounter with “civics” was some sort of Explore Your Community exercise. The only thing I remember is that we had to report on going to the supermarket, which back in the suburban California of that era was an exercise that involved my parents taking coupons to at least four stores in order to get the best deals. (Gas was cheap. Food wasn’t.)

In any case, the idea is to approach the Busy Busy Town as a sort of elementary civics text, only with adult (if somewhat befuzzled and distracted) context and curiosity. This Read Along will go two pages (one set of panels) at a time until we’re done.

[icouldhavebeenfree]

the only YA book series i ever read was harry potter.. i never read pjo or hunger games... i feel this has given me brainrot

[tsugua-rebmetpes]

101 Cute dates & bucket list

Little fire pit on the beach (middle of the night, private)

Toasting marshmallows & making cute smores

Observing the night sky through a telescope together / watch the stars on a clear sky in the middle of no where

A midnight dip in water (lake, ocean, etc. As long as it's safe)

Skinny dip under a full moon & to kiss passionately on a platform on the lake

To go on a small camping trip just the two of us

To visit the candy shop and pick each other's candy bags for only us to share them between us anyway

Getting crepes with you and eating them side by side

Taking you lingerie shopping so you can see the outfit as I buy it and the level of excite I know you have knowing you'll get to tear it off later

Sharing a bath with you (where we both fit comfortably or just tucked in a little where we can laugh about it)

Baking cookies so we can have them with our coffee in the morning

Taking you to a coffee roaster hut so you can experience amazing coffee

Going to a little tea house & plantation so we can support local business and enjoy the joys of freshly brewed tea

Picking what the other person must eat off the menu at a new venue / a place we've never been to before

Throwing a dart on a map and going to where ever it lands for a small holiday / trip (could be a city map, regional, state, national or global)

Decorating and making a floating lantern to release into the night sky (a la tangle)

Icing biscuits to look like things we like (e.g. ourselves, frogs or whatever your heart desires)

Smooshing whipped cream onto your nose and kissing/licking it off ♡

Making something together in a pottery class for ourselves n one another

Volunteering at a farm to help around (muster, harvest, etc.)

Go fruit picking together recreationally

Go to as many different distilleries and breweries as we can

Try to make bread together

Have our own Minecraft world together

Complete stardew valley & cattails ♡

Take a cooking/pastry lesson

Take Polaroid photos of our time together (on a trip or small adventure)

Go for a little hike together

Go swim in a little unknown ish water hole and push boundaries of comfort

Go to a cinema late at night (last screening of the evening, maybe wear matching pajamas) and buy popcorn / sneak snacks in. Cuddle in the cinema and watch a cute film together (be one of the only people in the cinema)

Have s/o read my favourite book to me aloud before bed time

Make jam & preserve food items & dry ingredients to make tea, etc.

Make chocolates for you (home made)

Grow my own flowers for us to admire

Start a small veggie patch & harvest our own produce to have a "self sufficient" dinner night

Volunteer at an animal shelter

Go to a farmer's market together / local fruit market and buy ingredients we will make into a meal together that evening

Become animal foster parents & successfully get our lil foster a fur-ever home

Do a hot food challenge or some sort of food challenge together

Go to a day spa for a "couple's retreat"

Make your favourite food (lasagne) on your birthday 🥰 / a random day

Steal a shopping trolly and race around an abandon area of the car park thinking we are in go karts & take photos

Dress up as the cool ghosts in the "blanket ghost" trend and take cute photos in odd locations

Explore an abandoned building together and theorize about the past / research about it

Have a little picnic in a field / park

Take a dance lesson together (ballroom) and be clumsily cute on trying something "new"

Sleep next to you & wake up beside you 🥺

Make your lunch for work & wake up early to make an awesome meal!

Make a random meal really late in the evening spontaneously to satisfy a craving

Have a new years kiss

Look at Christmas lights on houses together

Watch all the Harry Potter movies one after another together

Finish a series that either person is interested more initially in but both like towards the end

Do a cute skincare date! (Face masks)

Go to a food festival and try as much food as we can, get creative - pick the other's meals out to switch it up a little

Go paint balling together and try it out (even if I may not be as good as you. :< I'll try!!)

Try laser tag if paint ball doesn't go so well, feel free to invite friends to both events for more fun :) or go karting (something I've never done before)

Go horse riding together sometime

Cook with a campfire / burring our food in the ground for it to cook (Like damper)

Volunteer to plant trees

Become regulars at a small bar

Play pool/billards together

Check out a timezone arcade and play as much as we can :3 see how many prizes we can win and be merry

Have a board game night (catan, uno, monopoly, dnd etc.) Together with friends or strangers

Visit movie world (theme park) and dress up a little! / usj / Disneyland

Play pinball and we swap between balls to see how far we can go together!!!

Have a little date with the power off (candles, moon lit dinner, board games and no electronics! Be cute and creative)

Donate blood, with moral support or together :3

Go foraging for edible fruits, vegetables, etc. And make a meal out of it :3 research and have fun

Make a little stone tower together and take a photo of the creation (balancing stones)

Plant sunflowers and look after them for a whole season ♡ alternatively pick said flowers when ripe and give them as a gift to love ones

Do a Lego / puzzle set together ♡♡

Capture a little froggy and set him free (clean him up and take him to somewhere safe)

Watch horror films or movies we haven't seen before even if it's silly (.e.g the room )

Visit an aquarium and stare at the little jellies in the jelly room

Go to see a musical, play or ballet together 🥰

Dress up and go on a spontaneous date around town, over dressed for the occasion but having fun

Sunset and nibbles planned date 🥺

Go on a theme crawl, e.g. coffee, tea, wine, pub, cocktail, ramen, etc.

rent bikes to travel around on whilst doing a theme crawl

Dinner theatre or dinner murder mystery event together! Something a little less tame and wacky but still just as fun (something I've never done before)

escape room (challenge ourselves to do it within the time set!)

Ice skate together, trip & fall and catch one another on the ice being cute (maybe rent the kiddy pusher to help you out and be dorks)

Mosh and go to A small band performing concert together / go to A concert for an artist one or both like

Hot air balloon ride ^-^ (waking up early and having our own "Up" moment)

Ride in a helicopter one day to see the world like the birds that fly in the sky

Buy a plant or two at a nursery and take them home to look after

Go roller skating, reliving our teenage years with a limited budget, eat old skool candy and slushies.

Surprise birthday party

Outdoor cinema, watch a film on a projector and have fun on some outdoor cushions

Have a little boho tent and lunch date set up as a surprise

Dance under the moonlight and shining stars together just swaying and holding one another

Overnight at a bed & breakfast together, sleep in and enjoy breakfast in bed whilst away from phones

Have a little bonfire moment at home, write down your deepest desire, secrets, fears and burn them

Take a personality test together just to see the results

Read books in a little book cafe & drink our favourite drinks whilst snuggled up in a book nook

Do a little tarot reading & see a psychic or medium

Raise a pet together

Buy some helium balloons & change our voices whilst doing something (e.g. a speak type board game)

Wake up with you kissing me / wake you up with kisses

Plan a vacation together

[study-coffee-chicago]

Seasons of Med: Season 4 and Seasons of PD: Season 6: Of Loss and Letters (A Halstead Brothers + Halstead Sister! Imagine)

As always, I do not own any quotes from Chicago Med 4x02.

Y/N's age: 17

Jay's age: 31

Will's age: 33

You sat in your English 11 class and wrote and wrote an essay for your test. Your hand was starting to cramp. Out of the corner of your eye, you saw someone's phone light up from the phone caddy.

Yes, that's right. Your high school now had a phone caddy where students had to put their phones every class. Each student was assigned a number and then that's where they put their phone during that hour. Some teachers didn't care and let you keep it on you, but some did.

Your phone lit up again. You so desperately wanted to look at your watch that was connected to your phone, but you knew that doing so would look like you were cheating, so you decided against it. And, you turned your attention back to your test.

It lit up again and this time your teacher had had enough and stood up to grab your phone.

"Sorry to interrupt your tests," she started, "but how many times do I have to tell you guys to put your phones away with the screen facing the whiteboard. That way it's not dis--" She sucked in a breath as a text came across your screen. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw one word: hospital. And, this caused her to read the text. "Y/N, please come with me."

You stood up, utterly confused, and then left the room.

"Firstly, let me say I didn't try to read your texts. I just saw it out of the corner of my eye and...it's important."

You believed this teacher. She was young, pretty fresh out of college, and one time when you came in for a review session, she made all of you guys brownies to snack on while you worked.

She handed you your phone. It was a text from Jay.

Dad's in the hospital.

Your breath caught in your throat. Was it something with his heart? Had he started drinking again?

"Can I--"

"You can go, Y/N. I'll call the office and have someone bring your books down there after class so you can pick them up there when you come to school later. Drive safe."

"Thank you."

You practically sprinted down the hallway and to your locker as another text came in from Jay.

If you don't answer in the next ten minutes, I'm calling school to get you out.

You finished shoving stuff into your backpack and then started on your way to the office. You went to sign out when one of the secretaries stopped you.

"I've got it, hun. You just take care of yourself." Your teacher must've called down.

"Thank you," you choked out and then left the building, dialing Jay's number as you walked.

"Jay!" you exclaimed when he picked up on the first ring. "What happened to Dad? I was taking a test and then my phone started blowing up. Is he okay?"

"Y/N, there was a fire at his apartment. He's in the ED at Med. Will will fill you in more when you get here." You could tell by the tone of his voice that it wasn't good.

"Jay, you can't just tell me that! There's gotta be more!"

"Y/N, you're about to drive. You'll be at Med in twenty minutes. I don't need you to get in a car accident. Do you want me to stay on the phone with you?"

"Please." You got in your car and then turned your phone on speaker and started your car. "Can you tell me stories on my way there?" you asked Jay. "I need something else to focus on."

"Focus on the road."

"I mean listen to. I need something else to listen to."

"What kind of stories?" he asked.

"Can you tell me how Mom and Dad met?"

"You know how they met: it was at a White Sox game. Dad saw Mom stand up to buy some popcorn and said he fell in love with her at first sight. He must not have been a pain in the ass then. And, his favorite pastime probably wasn't yelling at people like it is now. Probably smiled more, too."

"Technically, he doesn't yell at me," you said. "Except when he was drunk before you started taking care of me and he finished the twelve steps."

"Oh, right. I forgot. I'm his favorite person to yell at," Jay said sarcastically. "He wasn't always an ass, though. He was actually excited to have a daughter at first. And then, his asshole buddies in construction changed his mind and made him think that women weren't his equals."

"Dicks," you muttered. "What did you and Will do when you found out that Mom was going to have me? Were you mad you weren't going to be the youngest anymore?"

"Nah, I was happy I'd have someone to pick on like Will picked on me."

"Hey!"

"Obviously I didn't follow through with that line of reasoning," he laughed. "Mom was telling us how we'd have to play tea parties with you and all that girly stuff. Me and Will obviously weren't too thrilled about that."

"Well, you're lucky I'm not a girly-girl then and didn't really play tea parties."

"That's because I taught you how to kick a soccer ball the minute you could walk. Shocked you didn't play that in middle school and now in high school," he added.

"I'm not competitive enough for that."

"Oh, believe me, we know. That's why you didn't play goalie: because one game you were goalie, you just sat down in the goal and started playing with the grass."

"Goalie was boring. And, you don't get a break; you don't get to sub-in. My favorite part of kiddie soccer was the snacks and juice boxes at the end."

"Don't forget those few times you scored goals during the games," Jay pointed out.

"Yeah, I guess that part was kinda fun."

"See? You had fun."

"Not really. But, I'm pulling into Med now. I'll gonna park and then I'll be in the ED."

"Okay, make sure you remember where you parked."

"Don't worry, I will."

You parked and then made your way into the ED waiting room.

"Miss, I'm going to need you to take a seat and wait to be seen," a nurse you didn't recognize said.

"Oh, no," you started. "I'm not hurt. It's my dad. He was in the fire and my brother called." You looked down at your feet, finally realizing the gravity of the situation. "My brother called and said he's in the ED. Um, one of my brothers is Dr. Will Halstead."

"Oh, I'm sorry, honey. Go right on in." She gave you a sympathetic look.

"Thank you."

You hustled into the ED and looked for Maggie or one of your brothers. You spotted Maggie first.

"Maggie where's--"

"Your dad's in Treatment One." She pointed you in the direction of the room and you made your way over there.

You entered the room at the same time as Dr. Rhodes. "You guys wanna fill her in?"

"What's going on?" you asked, worry evident in your voice.

Your dad started coughing and spit some bile into a bin, causing you to wrinkle your nose in disgust.

"Dad tried to play hero," Jay started to explain, "He forgot he was in his 60s with a bum ticker."

"Yeah, well, this is your fault to begin with," Pat Halstead said.

"Me?" Jay asked.

"Yeah, you stuck me in that fire trap."

"Please, can you two just not fight for once?" you complained.

"Pop, stop talking," Will urged.

Dr. Rhodes started doing an EKG and then ordered some tests, finally shutting your dad up...and saving you from another argument between Jay and your dad. Then, after he was done, he got called out to consult for Dr. Choi.

"I don't need all this," your dad complained once Dr. Rhodes had left the room.

"Calm down," Jay told him rudely. "You're getting yourself all worked up."

"What do you know? You're no doctor."

"Dad," you said.

"You had no right to sell my house!"

"You wanna talk about this again?" Jay practically yelled. "It was a wreck. You couldn't take care of the place."

"You just wanted my money!"

"Hey!" Will yelled, but it didn't stop the two...nothing ever did.

"You don't have any money you thankless old prick!" Jay yelled and then started to walk out.

"Jay!" Will yelled as you started to follow him out, hoping to calm him down. "Y/N, stay here," Will told you.

"Why?"

"I know you're gonna try to calm him down, but he needs to cool off by himself right now."

You huffed. "Fine." You turned back to your dad. "I don't think he really meant it. He was mad. Both of you say things you don't mean when you're angry. You two are a lot alike that way. Like when you said he wasn't a son of yours."

"Yeah, you should apologize for that one," Will agreed.

"Not until he apologizes for what he just said to me. Only then will I--"

Alarms started sounding and lights starting flashing. Will hit a button on the wall and two nurses rushed in.

"Will, what's happening?" you screamed. "What's happening to Dad?"

Will lowered the bed and then put his fingers to your dad's neck. "No pulse. Bag him."

"Wait, he's your dad," a nurse, who you recognized as Monique, said. "Shouldn't another doctor run the code?"

"You got one handy?" Will asked as he started chest compressions.

"Will, what's happening?" Jay asked as he re-entered the room.

"Jay, I need you to take Y/N out of here. Now."

"No, I wanna stay. What's going on?"

"Jay, now," Will stated again.

Jay placed on hand on your back. "Y/N, c'mon."

The alarms were still sounding, the lights still flashing.

"No!" you yelled.

"Y/N, I need room in here," Will told you. "The best thing you can do for Dad is to leave this room."

"No! I wanna stay!" you yelled again.

Jay looked at Will and he nodded. Then, you felt yourself being lifted off the ground by Jay.

"Put me down! Put me down!" You started kicking and swinging your arms, but he didn't budge. "Let me go back in there!"

Once safely out of the room--and having drawn the attention of most people in the ED--did Jay finally put you down. You tried to run back towards the treatment room, but Jay scooped you back up.

"Nope. We're going outside," Jay told you.

"Fine. But, once we're out there, I'm not walking with you."

You crossed your arms in frustration. After that little stunt he pulled back there, there was nothing he could say that made you want to be around him.

"That's fine. Just keep your phone on you."

***

As you kept walking down the sidewalk to the right--Jay had went left as soon as you walked outside because you didn't want to be around him--you spotted none other than Kelly Severide sitting on a bench, looking like he was currently throwing himself a pity party.

"Hey," you said as you walked up to him.

"Y/N? what are you doing out here?" he asked as he looked up.

"I could ask you the same thing."

"Well, have a seat. You look like you've been crying."

"So do you," you pointed out.

"Stella's in the ED," he admitted. "She had a nasty inhalation injury. They uh, they might not be able to save her lung...which means she wouldn't be able to be a firefighter anymore." He looked back down.

"I'm sorry, Kelly. But, Stella's a fighter."

"Yeah, I know. She left home when she was eighteen and she didn't have the best home life before that either."

"She told me."

"She told you?" he asked, looking back up at you.

"Yeah, when she helped me get ready for homecoming, she told me that she gets it. She gets what it's like not having a mom to help you get ready for dances."

"Dude, we have a problem," Will said through the phone to Jay.

"Which is...?" Jay asked.

"Nat got called in. We don't have anyone to help Y/N get ready for the dance."

"Shit," Jay cursed. "Yeah, that really is a problem. Let me make some calls."

Jay hung up the phone with Will and then scrolled through his contacts. He thought about asking Hailey, but he wasn't super close with her yet, so she was off the table.

Then it hit him: Stella.

But he didn't have her number.

But he had Kelly's.

"Please don't be on shift, please don't be on shift," he muttered as the line started ringing.

"Hey, Halstead," Kelly answered.

"Hey, man. Listen, I've got a huge favor to ask you. Well, actually, it's more you asking Stella for the favor."

"What do you want me to ask her? She's right here."

"Well, it's Y/N's homecoming dance tonight and Nat was gonna come over and help her get ready and she got called into work. I was wondering if maybe Stella could come over and help Y/N out."

"Okay, I'll ask her."

He heard mumbling which he guessed was Kelly talking to Stella. "I'm gonna put her on," Kelly said after a minute.

"Okay."

"Hey, Jay," Stella said into Kelly's phone.

"Hey, Stella. Kelly explain everything to you?" Jay asked.

"He did. I'll be over there in an hour. Unless you need me sooner, then I can make it half an hour."

"An hour works great. Thank you so much. You're a lifesaver, really."

***

Jay had left to run to the store and had told you that Stella would be there in an hour. So, when someone knocked on your apartment door twenty minutes later, you were utterly confused.

You got up from the couch and looked through the peephole in your apartment door, seeing none other than frick and frack...otherwise known as Adam and Kevin.

"What are you two doing here?" you asked as you opened the door. "If you're looking for Jay, he went out to run some errands."

"No, we're actually here to see you," Kevin said.

"Me?"

"Yeah," Adam confirmed. "Aren't you supposed to be in a dress or something?"

"I'll put it on after Stella dose my hair," you told them. "Sorry, c'mon in."

The two entered the apartment, but you were still confused as to why they were here, and why they were here for you and not your brother.

"I guess we can teach her like this," Adam said.

"Might be better, too," Kevin started. "That way she won't rip her dress when we're first teaching her."

"Uh, excuse me. Right here, guys. What are you planning on teaching me?" you asked, annoyed that they were talking about you like you weren't even there.

"We are here, little Y/N, to teach you how to fight," Adam answered.

"First of all, don't ever call me little Y/N again. Second of all, no you're not. What's the real reason you're here?"

"That's it," Adam laughed.

You raised an eyebrow, so Kevin decided that he needed to clarify. "It's just for self-defense. Just in case a horny teenage boy comes up to you and starts grinding on you at the dance, so you'll know what to do."

You were still skeptical about this, but they did have a good point. You had to give them that.

"Okay, so what do I do? And, did Jay put you two up to this?" you asked.

"He didn't," Adam answered. "We came of our own free will. First thing you need to know about throwing a punch is doing it with a closed fist." You closed your fist. "Perfect. Now, when you throw the punch, make sure your arm is locked out."

You did as he said and your punch was a little flimsy, but you worked on it.

***

"Is this the right color you think? I tried my best," Jay said as he met Stella in the elevator on their way up to his apartment. He pulled out a sparkly black bottle of nail polish. Stella had asked if your nails were done, and when he said no, she asked if he could pick up some nail polish while she packed up all her hair stuff and makeup to help you get ready. He had reluctantly agreed. By looking at the picture of your dress he had on his phone--it was a two-piece dress where the skirt portion was long enough that it covered your belly. The skirt was white with a floral design and the top was black with sequins--and used that to figure out what color nail polish to pick. Stella told him to keep it simple, so he just picked up a black bottle with some sparkles.

"Perfect!" Stella exclaimed as she looked at the color.

They got off the elevator and then walked to your and Jay's apartment. When Jay opened the door, he was met with one of the weirdest sights he had seen in his life: Adam was rolling around on the floor in what looked to be pain and you were jumping up and down and celebrating and then giving Kevin a high five.

"What happened here?" Jay asked.

"Oh, hey bro," Kevin said.

"Hey, Jay," Adam gritted out from his spot on the floor.

"We were teaching Y/N self-defense in case someone grinds on her at the dance," Kevin supplied. "And, we got to the kneeing part."

"So, she kneed him where the sun don't shine?" Jay laughed.

"Yeah," Kevin confirmed.

"Good job, Y/N. Adam, I'll get you ice and a beer. Kev, you want one?" Kevin nodded and Jay handed the small bag containing the nail polish to Stella.

"So, here's the deal," Stella started. "Natalie got called into work, so you're stuck with me helping you get ready. I've got some nail polish that your brother so generously went out and picked up for you, a straightener, a curling iron, tons of bobby pins and little hair ties, and tons of makeup. Just tell me what you want and we'll get the ball rolling."

You helped Adam up off the ground and then started towards your room, Stella following close behind.

***

"You know, I never had a mom to help me with this kind of stuff either," Stella confessed as she was twisting your hair.

"You didn't?" you asked. "Who helped you?"

"My mom was in and out of my life in high school, so usually one of the nice neighbor ladies helped me with my hair. The makeup was all me."

"So, you know how it is. I feel like it's harder for me than for Will and Jay because they both had Mom for over twenty years. I only had her for nine."

"Well, if you ever wanna talk about girl stuff, I'm your girl. Now, anyone special you wanna dance with? Or are meeting him at the dance?" Stella asked.

"Well, there is someone." You blushed.

"Girl," she dropped your hair. "You can't just leave me hanging like that. Who is it?"

"His name's Caleb. He's really good friends with my friend, Andrea." Stella knew who this was. She knew that you had saved her life during the shooting half a year ago. "He's really cute. Tall, Brown hair. Blue eyes. One of the star players on the football team," you told her wistfully.

"Ooh, you got it bad," Stella laughed.

"I got what bad?"

"Your crush on this Caleb kid. You are crushing on him so hard, Y/N. Can't say I blame you. The popular kid is always the way to go...as long as he's not a douche."

"He's actually not. He's actually really nice."

"Well, does Caleb have a date to the dance?" Stella asked.

You sighed. "He does. Her name's Sasha and she's a total bitch. Excuse my French."

"Well, I'm gonna let you in on a little secret: sooner or later, the dude sees his girl's true colors."

"I, uh, I thought about asking him to dance. I remember Jay saying when I was like four and he was going to his senior prom, that if he wasn't dating Allie and a girl asked him to dance, that he'd dance with her because it takes guts to ask someone to dance. But, since Caleb's got a date, that probably won't happen."

"Hey, if he's dancing solo and a slow song comes on, you gotta ask him to dance. Shoot your shot, girl."

"You're right. I'm gonna ask him to dance. I will ask Caleb to dance."

"That's the spirit! Now, we gotta get you looking extra hot so he falls in love with you when he's staring into your eyes while you two are slow dancing the night away."

You laughed and Stella returned to your hair.

***

Later that night, a slow song came on and Sasha was nowhere to be seen with Caleb. But, he was on the dance floor, near the back wall, all by himself. So, you asked him to dance. He said yes, and after, he even gave you a hug. Best dance of your high school career so far.

After you texted Andrea to tell her that you danced with Caleb because you had no idea where she was, the next person you texted was Stella. You knew she'd be hella excited for you.

You crushed on Caleb for a few months after that. But, then he got a new girlfriend and ended up cheating on her with not one, but two different girls. Needless to say, your crush on him died the second you found out this information.

"She loves you, you know," you said to Kelly.

"She told you this?" he asked.

"She didn't have to. Every time Stella sees you, or even when she talks to you, her face lights up."

"She's good for me. That's for sure."

You paused. You knew Kelly didn't have the best relationship with his dad and neither did Jay, Will, or even you. You also knew his dad had died a few months ago, around October and it was currently February. "Did you ever get mad at yourself?" you asked.

"About what?"

"When your dad died. You knew he wasn't the best person, but you were still sad."

"I'm sorry, Y/N. I don't understand where you're going with this," Kelly apologized.

"I know my dad wasn't the best person, hell he was neglectful and unfit to be a parent, still is. So, why do me and my brothers still see him? Why do I still feel sad and scared that he might die?" you asked. You knew this was something you should be asking your school counselor--you had started seeing her a lot this past year because of the shooting--but Kelly was here now. And, maybe he'd understand because he didn't have a very good dad either.

"It's because you remember how he used to be," Kelly said. "You, Jay, and Will all remember when he was a better person. When Benny died, I didn't feel like I was grieving current Benny. I was more grieving for the Benny I knew when I was five years old when he was a good dad. And, I never gave up hope that he'd become a better father as I grew up. When he died, I knew it would never happen. You're grieving the dad you used to know and the hope you might lose of him becoming a better man."

You nodded because you really had no idea what to say. You thought Kelly was right; maybe that was the reason why you were sad and fearful about the possibility of your dad dying. You two sat in silence after that, finding comfort in each other's presence, each hoping for the best, but trying to prepare yourself for the worst.

***

You walked into the ED, to be met with Jay storming out and Will quickly following after him. You ran after them.

When they finally stopped, you made your presence known. "Okay, someone wanna tell me what the hell's going on?"

"Dad's brain dead and Will, Will doesn't want a second opinion and just wants to let Dad die," Jay spat.

"A- Are you sure he's brain dead? Maybe you read it wrong?" you asked. There had to have been some kind of mistake. Your dad couldn't be brain dead; he couldn't be a vegetable.

"Y/N, I know this is a lot of information to take in, but the EEG, the thing that reads brain waves, showed that Dad's brain dead. Dr. Abrams read it and he's our top neurosurgeon."

"I still want a second opinion," Jay restated.

"Abrams is our top neurosurgeon, Jay. The opinion doesn't get any better than that," Will told him.

Jay scoffed. "So all your degrees, all that money, all those years in school, this is the best you can do?"

"Jay, Dad almost died two years ago. He's been living on borrowed time."

"Abrams didn't say Dad had no chance!" Jay protested.

"One thousand to one is no chance."

"So you just want to give up?" Jay clenched his fists at his side.

"I've seen a lot of patients in his condition--"

"There goes that doctor voice."

"I'm sorry, but I am a doctor," Will retorted.

Jay scoffed. "Yeah, we got that message. And Dad knew you thought you were better than us. We always came in second. Hell, Y/N came in second because you were away at med school! Who was looking after her when Mom was dying? Me and Dad. Who took her in because Dad's a shitty parent? Me. You weren't there, and now you wanna decide what happens to Dad?" He stepped closer to Will.

Will took a step closer to Jay as well. "You know that's not true, Jay."

"Yes, it is!"

Will opened his mouth and started to say something, but you weren't listening, you were too busy stepping between your brothers because you sensed a fight about to break out.

"Enough!" you yelled. Both Will and Jay looked down at you, shocked at your outburst. "Dad's fucking dying in there and you're fighting about old shit! Don't you see that it doesn't matter? Do you really want to spend your last moments with Dad fighting? Because I sure as hell don't."

Then, you moved away from them and made your way to the bathroom before you started bawling. You really didn't want to do that in front of the other people milling around the hospital.

Jay sighed and put his hands behind his head as he watched you walk off towards the bathroom.

"I never thought I'd say this," Will started, "but she's right. We can't be fighting right now."

"Yeah, I guess we shouldn't be doing that," Jay said. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay. I know you didn't mean it."

"Guess me and Dad really are alike. Stubborn and quick to yell things we don't mean."

"I'm pretty sure all of us got the stubborn gene, even Y/N."

Then, The COO of the hospital, who Will introduced as Ms. Garrett walked up to them and told them that they had the full support and all the resources that the hospital had available to help their dad. This didn't seem like her at all, so Will excused himself to go talk to Ms. Goodwin. And, Jay figured this was as good a time as any to see how you were doing, as he hadn't seen you leave the bathroom yet.

***

Jay popped his head into the bathroom and since he only saw one stall in use and saw your shoes in that one, he entered the bathroom and locked the door.

He heard a sniffle. "Short Stack? You okay?" He paused, mentally kicking himself. "Stupid question, of course, you're not okay. I know you're in here," Jay said gently.

"Go away," you said through your tears.

"Y/N, you know I can't do that."

"I just wanna be alone...and for you and Will to stop fighting."

"We made up. Me and Will are fine. Can you please come out?"

You swallowed and frantically wiped your tears away and the snot that ran from your nose. Then, you walked out of the stall and immediately over to Jay and hugged him. "I'm sorry," you mumbled into his brown jacket. "I'm sorry for yelling and swearing. I just wanted you guys- I just wanted you guys to stop."

"I know, I know. Neither of us is mad at you. You had every right to be pissed at us."

"It's just- It's just... nevermind. It's stupid."

"Y/N, it's not stupid. Just tell me. I promise I won't laugh."

"You promise?"

"I promise," he confirmed.

You sighed. "I didn't get as much time with Mom as you two did and now I'm not getting as much time with Dad. You guys had both of them--" You drew in a shaky breath. "You guys had both of them at your high school graduations. I won't have that. I won't have that, Jay."

And that's when you crumbled and you just sobbed into Jay's jacket. When you were nine, you never really comprehended the number of things your mom wouldn't be there for, like your first high school dance, your first date, your first kiss, your high school graduation, your college graduation(s), your wedding, your possibly having a kid and her possibly having grandkids. Granted, your dad wasn't the best dad or even the best man in general, but now you'd have neither parent at any of those things, at any of those milestones.

Jay just held you as you continued to sob about all the things your parents wouldn't be there for, holding you just as your mom would hold him whenever he cried when he was younger.

***

You and Jay sat next to each other by your dad's bedside, the sounds of the vent that was currently keeping him alive were the only sounds that could be heard. Will came in and motioned for Jay to meet him outside the room.

"Be right back." He placed a hand on your shoulder.

"Be right outside," Will promised.

Outside of the room, Will explained that the reason Gwen Garrett wanted to keep your dad alive was that his bypass was 29 days ago. And that she just wants to keep your dad alive for one more day just so the hospital didn't take a hit.

"You think Dad would want this?" Will asked. "To stay alive just to buff some numbers?"

"No, no he wouldn't. But, me and Y/N talked while you tried to figure out what that Garrett lady wanted. Uh, Y/N didn't get as much time as we did with Mom and now she's getting less time than we are with Dad."

"Because she's a lot younger than us. What are you trying to say, Jay?" Will asked.

"I think Y/N should decide. She should decide whether or not we keep Dad on the vent because she had the least amount of time with him. She should get to decide whether or not she gets more time with him."

"Jay, I'm not trying to argue with you, but do you really think that's a good idea? Her decision could cause her a lot of trauma down the road if she ends up thinking she made the wrong choice in the future," Will pointed out.

"We could tell her our opinions and what we want, but tell her that ultimately, she gets to make the final decision. That way, she doesn't feel like it's totally on her," Jay suggested.

"And if she doesn't want to make that big of a decision?"

"We decide between ourselves."

Will sighed. Jay did make a good point. "Fine. But if she feels like shit for months, I'm blaming you."

"Add you to the list of people blaming me for bad shit in their lives."

"Are you lumping me together with criminals you put away?"

"Basically."

Will and Jay re-entered the room. "Why does it feel like he's squeezing my hand?" you asked.

Will sighed. He didn't want to crush your hope of your dad coming back, even though he knew it wouldn't happen, but he also knew that he couldn't give you false hope; he knew he needed to explain this to you.

"Those are just reflexes," Will answered. "I'm sorry, Short Stack, but they don't mean anything."

"They don't? He doesn't know I'm here?" You sniffled.

"He doesn't know," Will confirmed.

You nodded and continued to hold your dad's hand.

"Y/N, we have something to tell you," Jay started. You tore your eyes away from your dad and up to your brothers. "Me and Will decided that you should decide whether we keep Dad on the vent because you got the least amount of time with him."

"You- you guys want me to decide whether Dad lives or dies?" you asked.

Will nodded. "If you don't want to, me and Jay can decide between ourselves, but you can still tell us what you'd prefer. If you want to decide, we can let you do that. Or, if you want our opinions before you decide, that's fine, too."

"What do you guys think? I don't want to decide all by myself," you practically whispered.

And so, they explained to you how Garrett just wanted to keep your dad alive for one more day just to buff some numbers and how they didn't think he'd want to be alive just to do that, just to save the hospital from liability.

You also knew that there were one thousand to one odds against your dad coming back and that those weren't odds at all. He'd need a miracle. And, if there was one thing you knew about your dad, it was that he didn't believe in miracles. He believed in hard work, not miracles.

It was for these reasons that you said what you said next: "Let him go."

***

"Just when I thought you couldn't get any dumber," Will started when you and Jay arrived at your dad's apartment a few days later to go through his stuff. Surprisingly, most of it had been spared during the fire. "You went after the person responsible for the fire, didn't tell anyone, and ended up getting shot."

"You got shot?" you yelled as you walked in.

"Nice going, man. She didn't know," Jay said, annoyed. He turned to you. "It hit the vest. I'm totally fine. I just have some bruising on my chest. Nothing to worry about."

"And you two tell me to be careful," you mumbled. "I should be telling you that."

"It's no use, Y/N," Will said. "I tell him all the time. He just never listens."

"You know you're not a cat, right Jay? You don't have nine lives."

Jay rolled his eyes. "Where are we starting?"

***

Jay looked down at the pictures he was going through. He always thought that his dad didn't make it to his police academy graduation. But, the photo in front of him proved him wrong: there, in his hand, was a picture that his dad took of him on stage, getting his badge pinned to his chest when he had graduated from the police academy with the date written on the back.

He put a hand over his mouth to stifle his sobs and keep you and Will from hearing them. But, he didn't know you were on your way to find him.

"Jay, Will's wondering if you want us to order pizza? You good with--" You stopped talking when you saw Jay sitting on the floor, staring at a photo with silent tears streaming down his face. "What's wrong?" You knelt down next to him.

Jay frantically wiped his tears away using the hand that wasn't holding the photo. "Sorry, yeah, tell Will he can order pizza."

"Jay," you said sternly. "What's wrong? And, don't you dare say nothing. Because you wouldn't let me say nothing, you'd bug me until I told you. So, if you don't tell me, I'm going to keep bugging you about it, just like you'd do to me."

Jay chuckled. "I really screwed myself over by using that parenting tactic, didn't I?"

"Yeah, you did. Now, what's wrong?"

Jay sighed. The Halstead stubbornness was starting to show more and more now that you had been living with him. And, because of this, Jay knew that you wouldn't let up.

"I always thought Dad never went to my graduation from the academy." He set the picture on the floor between you guys. "But he did."

You furrowed your eyebrows. "You didn't know that?"

"Why would I? Did you know?" he asked, turning to look at you.

"Yeah. He had to leave early because he had to make sure he was home when I got home from school. That's why he couldn't congratulate you after. He never told you?"

"No, he didn't."

"You know the first thing he said to me when I walked inside?" Jay shook his head. "He said: your brother's a Chicago police officer. I'm proud of him. And your mother would be, too."

"He- he said that?" Jay asked, getting choked up once more.

"He did. He might not have said it, but he was so proud of you, Jay. So proud."

***

Will opened a cabinet to grab some paper plates for you three to eat your pizza off of. As he was grabbing them, his hand brushed up against something leaning up against the back wall of the inside of the cabinet. It wasn't one something, but multiple somethings. He furrowed his eyebrows and took out the entire stack of paper plates, causing the multiple somethings to fall to where the paper plates had previously been. Then, he took the mystery things out of the cabinet.

He gasped when he read the first one.

In his hand, he held six letters, two addressed to each of you, one from your mom and one from your dad.

"Will, what's taking so long?" Jay asked as he flipped open the pizza box. "Food's getting cold."

"I think the pizza's gonna have to wait, guys." Instead of grabbing the plates and bringing them to the table, he brought the letters instead.

"Those don't look like plates to me," Jay pointed out.

"Because they're not." He set the pile of letters on the table. "They're letters. Addressed to each of us."

"But, that's Mom's handwriting," Jay said, flabbergasted.

"What do they say?" you asked.

"Only one way to find out," Will said and reached for the two addressed to him.

You and Jay did the same.

You swore you could hear a pin drop as each of you slowly ripped opened the yellowing envelopes. The seals were easy to open because, since they had been sealed for so long, some of the stickiness was gone.

Will first started with the one from his dad.

Dear William,

I know I said a real man goes right to work. And, I know I was mad at you for doing what you wanted to do and becoming a doctor. But, I guess I just have to think of med school as on the job training...that you pay a ton of money for. You will never hear me say this out loud to you because you know as well as I do that I am as stubborn as they come and I hate admitting I was wrong. But, you did good, kid. Both you and Jay did.

I'll keep this short because, if you're reading this, that means I'm gone and I'm assuming you, Jay, and Y/N are busy with the arrangements. But, just know that even though I don't say it a lot, I love you and I'm proud of you, son.

Love, your father,

Pat Halstead.

Will wiped below his eyes. His dad did say he was proud of him when he was out of surgery two years ago. And, Connor had told him everything his dad had said about him before he went under the anesthesia. But, it was nice to have that in writing because it would be there forever.

It was like all three of you had the same idea to open the letter from your dad first. Your logic was that you figured your mom's would make you cry more, so you figured you'd open that last.

Jay fought to keep his eyes dry as he read the letter from his dad. He regretted the last words he had said to him, now more than ever.

Dear Jayson,

I know you think I hated you for going into the military straight out of high school. But, I didn't. I was just scared, scared I was going to lose you. One thing you don't know is that I tell everyone I work with that you're a war veteran. I love bragging about you and telling people about your accomplishments. They always say I should be so proud of you. And, I'm sorry I never tell you that, but I am proud of you, really proud of you. You fought for our country and saved countless lives over there. Just keep saving the innocent, Jay. That's what you seem to do best...and fight against the people who tell you that you can't do it, just like how you fought against me when I told you not to join the military.

I'll keep this short because if you're reading this, that means I'm gone. But, always remember that I am so proud of you and that I love you so much.

Love, your father,

Pat Halstead.

His dad was proud of him. And now he had a reason as to why his dad didn't want him to join the military: he was scared. And, Jay told himself that if he had his own kids, he'd probably do the same thing because he had seen the horrors of battle and he wouldn't want any of his kids to go through that.

Finally, you read yours. And, as you read it, you were crying more than your brothers. You really didn't care, though.

To my daughter,

As I am writing this, you are nine years old and want to be a doctor. I don't know how that will pan out or if you'll change your mind on what you want to do. But, I am here to tell you, don't let anyone or anything stand in your way of what you want to be. Don't let Will stand in your way and don't stand in his shadow if you become a doctor. Strive to be better than him. Compete with each other if you end up going into the medical field; a little friendly competition never hurt anyone. Be smart and keep your brothers in line because Lord knows they're both as stubborn and as reckless as they come.

Love, your father,

Pat Halstead.

So, Jay was right: Dad wasn't always a sexist pig. And, Kelly was right as well: you missed your old Dad, the one who believed you could do anything, not the one who you knew when you were 13 to now, who was drunk, unfit to parent, and sexist as hell.

Then, Will opened the letter from his Mom.

To my first baby, Will,

First of all, let me say that I love you so much, more than you can ever imagine. I know you'll be a great doctor. Just, be smart, and try to be a little less stubborn because I'm assuming you're going to have to work with other doctors. Find it in you to compromise. I don't know what to say in this because me and your dad agreed that you and Jay and Y/N will get these letters when he's passed as well, so I don't know how far into the future you'll be seeing this. So, I figured I'd leave you with some life tips.

Mom's life tips to Will:

1. Never, ever lay your hands on or disrespect a woman. If you do, I will come down from heaven and smite you myself. This goes for Jay, too.

2. Make sure you help your girlfriend or wife with the household chores, like cleaning and cooking. You never leave all it to her. Again, same goes for Jay.

3. I'm sorry to say this, but never grow out a long beard. You have red hair and if you grow out a beard, you'll look like an overgrown leprechaun. Sorry, sweetheart.

Love,

Mom (Amelia Halstead).

PS. In this envelope you will find $500. This is to help you with med school loans, malpractice insurance, or if you're reading this way into the future, to help you with bills, and your own little family.

Will let out a small chuckle as he read the last life tip. And, thankfully, he had never decided to grow out his beard. And now he never would.

Jay looked down at his mom's loopy cursive handwriting and began to read.

To Jay, my second baby,

First of all, I love you more than you can ever imagine. And I am so, so proud of you for choosing to serve your country. I don't know whether you'll decide to stay in or leave the rangers, but I'm sure you'll be amazing at whatever it is you choose to pursue. And Jay, please keep in mind that you only have one life. Don't be crazy and reckless out there. I don't think you will be, but I'm just reminding you because I'm your mom and that's what moms do, they nag you and they worry about you no matter what. And, if you're reading this, that means your dad has passed away as well. Don't take this the wrong way, but please go see a therapist. You've fought in a war and seen terrible things overseas (I know because you once had a nightmare at home. I just didn't tell you that I knew this) and you've lost both of your parents. You should talk to a professional, sweetheart. But, always remember that I will be with you when your nightmares get rough. And, if Y/N wants to follow in your footsteps and go into the military, talk to her about it, but don't fight her on it like Dad did to you. Finally, I will leave you with some life tips.

Mom's life tips for Jay:

1. Never, ever lay your hands on or disrespect a woman. If you do, I will come down from heaven and smite you myself. I already wrote this in Will's letter as well.

2. Make sure you help your girlfriend or wife with the household chores, like cleaning and cooking. You never leave all it to her. Again, this is in Will's letter, too.

3.  I know you want to save everyone, Jay. And, you have a big heart, but you also take things personally. Just know that you can't save everyone and that is okay. Be kind to yourself and think of all the people you did save as opposed to those who you couldn't. It's okay to grieve for them, but don't let your grief last forever.

Love,

Mom (Amelia Halstead).

PS. Also in this envelope is $500. Use it towards therapy. But, if you already made the leap to go to therapy, one I am proud of you, and two, use it for something else. Donate it to veterans in need maybe. Or, use it to help pay off loans if you decided to go to college if you ended up leaving the military. Or, if you're reading this way in the future, use this money to help with bills and your own little family.

Maybe Jay would start therapy again now. He had gone a while ago, but after his meds stabilized his nightmares again, he stopped going. Maybe he'll go again because as he always said, his mom was a smart lady.

You were ugly crying as you opened the envelope and read the first few words that your mom had written.

To my baby girl,

Y/N, I love you so much and you will always be my baby girl no matter how old you get. I know I only got nine years with you, but know that I will always be with you in your heart no matter where you are. I was so excited when I found out I was having a girl and I'm so sorry we didn't get as much time on earth together as we should have. Continue doing what you love. Don't let your brothers take Beary from you. And, don't take no for answer when someone tells you that you can't do something just because you're a girl. Us girls are strong. As for the future, sweetheart, you have the kindest little personality right now. Never lose that. But, at the same time, don't let anyone take advantage of that. Stand up for yourself and stand up for others in need. I am going to leave you with more life tips than I left your brothers because they're older and should know a few more things than you at the moment...and they aren't girls.

Mom's life tips for Y/N:

1. And, don't laugh at this, but it works. When shaving down there, apply deodorant down there after. It helps to keep razor bumps and itchiness at a minimum.

2. Don't go for the first man that says I love you. You need to make mistakes before you fall truly and madly in love.

3. Girls can be cruel in middle school and high school. It's okay if you only have one or two true friends because having a few super close friends is better than having lots of distant ones.

4. Don't depend on any man for anything. Before moving in with your boyfriend and/or getting married, make sure you are financially stable all by yourself. That way, you will be able to leave him if things go south.

5. When you do get married, always keep money hidden away or have a secret bank account that your husband doesn't know about. That way, if things get really bad really fast, you can get out of there as fast as possible.

6. Finally, and I'm assuming Dad, Will, or Jay has already told you these things, but if they haven't, here they are. When drinking, watch the bartender make your drink. Don't take drinks from anyone. And don't leave your drink unattended.

I love you, sweetheart.

Love,

Mom (Amelia Halstead).

PS. Also in this envelope is a $20 gift card to Build-A-Bear. If you are too old to use it, save it for your kids. Or, if you have kids, give it to your kids. There is also $480. This can be used to pay for dresses for school dances, for college, and if you're reading this way in the future, to start a stash of money that your husband doesn't know about, or to help with bills and your own little family.

All three of you were in tears. But, you always knew that both of your parents would be with you and that they were so, so proud of each of you and that they loved each of you more than the world itself.

A/N: Thank you so much for reading! Leave a comment if I made you cry! I got a request of Kevin and Adam teaching Y/N how to punch, so I incorporated it into this imagine. To the anon who requested that, I hope you liked it! Anyway, please reblog/like and comment to tell me what you think! As always if you want to be added to my taglist, just tell me and I’ll add you! Finally, liked the imagine? Buy me a coffee here. 

taglist: @theambracer88 @virtualreader @kelelas-life @celyndavies @brookerz122493 @musicismyescape27 @anotherfan07 @thexplosivegirl @dreamingwithlens @xoxmariaxox @onechicago18 @iamasimpingh0e @i-like-sparkly-things @herecomesthewriterwitch @liampayne88​

[niqhtlord01]

Humans are weird: Psychological Warfare  (A continuation of Super Soldiers)

( Don’t forget to come see my on my new patreon and support me for early access to stories and personal story requests :D https://www.patreon.com/NiqhtLord ) (For those interested in learning about the events leading up to this please read the previous short story for this here: https://niqhtlord01.tumblr.com/post/188251556966/humans-are-weird-super-soldiers )

“This is enforcement team three, responding to request for assistance at broadcast building nine.”

The enforcer car sped through the well-lit streets like a blade of grass dancing in the wind; swerving between other vehicles and pedestrians almost as if it was liquid curving around a hard surface. The lights from virtual billboards lining the streets each casting another shade of color as enforcer Gavrin hung up his transponder as he rounded another corner and avoided a headlong collision with pedestrians.

“Will you slow down!?”

Gavrin was too focused on the road to respond to his partner’s pleas as they continued to speed towards broadcast building nine.

Jimble had his three hands pressed against the roof of the enforcer car for stability and shot another scornful glare at Gavrin.

“What the flartack has gotten into you, Gavrin?” Jimble said as they hit a speed bump and lurched through the air for a few moments before crashing down to the hard road again. “You’re going to get us both killed!”

“What was the request for assistance?” Gavrin calmly said as he continued weaving through the traffic. Jimble let go of the roof with one of his hands and scratched his head.

“The report said intruders had forced their way into the building.”

Gavrin nodded. “Something that big is going to be noticed by a lot of people, and I want them to know that I was there first.”

“If you were any more of a glory hound you’d be wearing a collar.” Jimble replied. He looked down at the navigation screen showing the layout of the city. “It should be just around this next corner on the right.”

As the enforcer car swung around the sharp corner Gavrin’s eyes went wide and he slammed on the stabilizer brakes. The car screeched and nearly flipped over as the momentum was suddenly killed before Gavrin grabbed Jimble and pulled him over to his side of the interior. The combined weight brought the car back down to the road before coming to a complete standstill.

Jimble lifted himself up slowly trying to regain his senses while Gavrin popped open the side door and stormed off. “No, no; I’m fine.” Jimble groaned as he blinked his eyes several times to clear them up. As he got a good look at his partner in front of the car he gasped.

Surrounding the entire street level entrance to broadcast building nine were several dozen military transports. Jimble looked to either side of the street and saw soldiers lining either side all with their weapons trained on the broadcast building.

“What the flartack is going on?”

As Jimble got out of the car he could see his partner arguing with two soldiers that had stepped forward and barred him from passing.    

“Like flar I will!” Jimble heard his partner shout into the face of the nearest soldier.

“This area is restricted.” The same soldier continued as two additional soldiers broke away from covering the building to stand on either side of Gavrin. “Move along.”

Before Gavrin could let out another outburst Jimble stepped in.

“We are responding to a request from assistance filed from this broadcast building five chrono ticks ago.” Jimble said as he glanced between the visored helmets of the soldiers. Gavrin looked like he was about to shove his way passed the soldiers until Jimble put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed. He grunted for a moment before Jimble felt his partners muscles relax before Gavrin shook off his hand and went back to the enforcer car.

“And if I’m not mistaken,” Jimble said as he addressed the original soldier his partner had been shouting at “the military does not have jurisdiction outside of military installations and star ports; making this a de-facto enforcer matter.”

“This incident has been reviewed by city officials and was determined to fall under military jurisdiction.” a new voice cut in.

Both enforcers turned to see a sharply dressed military officer approach the group. With a wave of her hand the soldiers dispersed back to their positions leaving them alone.

“Since when?!” Gavrin nearly shouted as he smacked his hands against the hood of enforcer car.

“Since several highly ranked prisoners of war escaped a military base five days ago.” She turned and looked at the broadcast building and for a moment Gavrin could see what almost looked like fear cross her face.

“Why weren’t the enforcers informed of fugitives on the loose?” Gavrin pressed. “We could have found them far faster than you lot.”

“They are not normal fugitives.” was all she said before quickly raising a hand to her ear. She nodded a few times to herself before casting a look around the entire street.

She opened her mouth as if to give an order when an ear shattering static cut through not only her radio but Jimble and Gavrin’s radios as well.

“Good evening, fine citizens of Tivin.”

Jimble looked up to see the virtual ad long that had been for clothing change to static before displaying a new feed. It showed the interior of what appeared to be a broadcast room. There was a broadcast desk, a virtual backdrop of Tivin, and even the stations logo on the front. Yet behind the desk was someone Jimble had never expected to see.

A human…..

The human wore a makeshift cloak across his shoulders along with a bandana over his forehead keeping the strands of black hair out of his eyes.

“Cut the line!” Jimble and Gavrin tore their gaze away from the screen to see the officer shouting into her communicator. Whatever the response was it appeared to displease her as she turned to her waiting forces and shouted “Get in there now!”

The waiting squads of soldiers surged forwards, blowing the doors off the front entrance and rushing inside without a moment’s hesitation.

“My name is Joseph Maker,” the human continued drawing the attention of the trip remaining in the street, “and as you’ve no doubt noticed I’m very much human.”

Joseph waved a hand to something off screen and the camera panned around the room to reveal several other humans standing in the corner of the room. “As are my friends here.” Joseph continued as the camera spun back around to him.

“Your military was kind enough to invite us to your world for a little…chat..and afterwards we felt it only right to see this prime example of society we’ve heard so much about.”

Gavrin felt something strange and turned to see the building behind him. The virtual ad for some food parlor warped and displayed the same transmission of the human at the broadcast station. He watched as one by one the ads lining the streets all began to blink and switch to the same feed.

“They’re using the emergency broadcast system.”

His statement fell on deaf ears as sounds of weapons fire erupted from the broadcast building. Jimble and Gavrin both reached for their side arms and trained them on the entrance expecting something to come rushing out. The windows of the upper floors were flashing with the light of muzzle fire and grenades exploding, several of them shattering from the barrage raining broken glass down on to the below streets.

Gavrin looked up to see a soldier flung through one of the windows as if they were nothing but a rag doll. They screamed the entire way down falling through the air until impacting the ground with a disgusting wet flop of a sound.

“I’ve learned so much about your culture these last few days.” The human calling themselves Joseph continued. “For instance, your media appears to block any mention of the war effort what so ever.”

Joseph stood up and began walking across to the other side of the room and as the camera followed him Jimble and Gavrin let out a horrid gasp. Curled up in the corner was the broadcast stations staff, bound with cabling.

Joseph knelt down to one of them and removed their gag. “Tell me, mr…” he waited several seconds before his hostage caught on that he was waiting for him to respond. “Kavik.” They said as their voice reeked with fear. “Mr Kavik, thank you.” Joseph continued as he placed his arm around Kavik. “What do you know about the war between our two peoples; hmm?”  

Kavik looked confused and scared, his mouth opening and closing as he tried to find the words. “That..” he began to speak, “that we are winning.”

To Gavrin’s surprise, rather than showing anger the human laughed and patted Kavik on the back.

“What a patriotic answer!” Joseph smiled as he continued patting Kavik on the back. “I’m sure it will be perfect on your tombstone.”

Before Kavik could react Joseph had grabbed his head with both hands and violently twisted. In an instant Kavik’s neck had snapped and his head was now facing the wrong direction on his body.

“Will someone kill this flartack feed!?” Jimble could hear the officer shouting again. “It’s going out planet wide!”

To Gavrin’s horror the humand did not stop at simply snapping the now dead broadcaster’s neck. They watched as the human continued to twist the head in circles until the skin began to rip and tear. As the camera continued to remain focused on the gruesome affair, Joseph slowly and deliberately continued twisting the head in circles until finally pulling it free from the body along with a portion of the spine.

“See what patriotism will get you kiddies?” Joseph still had a smile upon his face even as he casually held the severed head.

Jimble’s eyes were so transfixed by this act of barbarity unfolding before him that he didn’t feel Gavrin shaking him.

“Do you hear me? We need to get in there!”

Jimble looked down from the virtual displays and Gavrin saw nothing but fear in his partner’s eyes.

“Did you not just see the human rip a head off with their bare hands?!?!” Jimble was nearly hysterical now. His mind was not able to process what was happening before him. Before Gavrin could reason with him Joseph spoke again.

“You see, your people have a knack for invading other systems and either enslaving or eradicating species on flights of fancy.” Joseph let the head fall from his hand finally and just before it hit the ground kicked it with his right leg. The head simply turned into a shower of blood, bone, and bile before the camera; coating Joseph in a glazing of gore.

“Reading your records it’s been centuries since the last time one of your own worlds felt an enemy attack, so I imagine it’s given you this sense of security and superiority.”

Joseph looked down at his hands now for the first time and noticed they were covered in blood. He tried shaking them a few times but after that failed he walked back to the huddled hostages and wiped his hands on one of them.

“My friends and I thought that it would be most beneficial to reintroduce you to the horrors of war.”

The smile faded from Joseph’s face as one by one the other humans began to stand behind him.

“From this day forth, this planet will become a battlefield.”

“The safety and security you have lived with your entire life will now become a distant memory.”

“Your leaders will be hunted down and flayed one by one.”

“Your centers of industry and commerce destroyed beyond repair.”

“Your culture and history washed away in a tide of your own blood.”

“I promise you that for the atrocities you have carried out against my people you shall be shown no quarter, no mercy, and no forgiveness as we rage across this pathetic world like a hurricane of death and destruction.”

Jimble and Gavrin watched silently as the remaining hostages were brought before the camera. Each of them screaming into their gag as the humans slaughtered them like cattle, live for the entire world to see.

“War has been nothing but a game to you people, played out far from your homes and loved ones.”

The smile returned to Joseph’s face, but it lacked any semblance of warmth or kindness. It was a twisted smile, a smile of a predator looking down at his prey’s final moments.

“So now I want to ask you all, would you like to play a game?”

Roar of an explosion rocked the broadcast station building cutting the feed instantly. Jimble, Gavrin, and the officer dove for cover as debris began falling all around them. When the dust finally settled Gavrin looked upwards and saw the smoking remains of several destroyed floors.

“It’s about time.” The office said into her communicator as she straightened up. “Which team finally got the shot off?”

She waited for several seconds but no reply. “Repeat, which team took out the building?”

Yet again, silence.

“Will someone respond!?”

As Gavrin and Jimble both rose to their feet a strange thudding sound could be heard in the distance.

“What’s that sound?” Jimble queried. Gavrin listened closer to the thudding. “It almost sounds like-“

Another set of explosions rocked the street, this time from below the surface. In a flash of light Gavrin saw the officer thrown violently up into the air as the ground beneath her feet exploded upwards. He didn’t see where she landed as the explosions continued to ring out all around him.

When the explosions finally stopped Gavrin opened his eyes to a city of darkness. Every light save for the fires now burning brightly across the city streets were off. People in surrounding streets now ran to and fro in panic as if they had been consumed by madness.

“We need to contact headquarters.” He turned to see if Jimble was already up only to find his body limply hanging out from under a crushed piece of masonry.  

“Well hello there, friend.”

Gavrin turned to see the speaker and froze.

Joseph was standing before him, casually standing in front of him with half his face burnt off. He could see strips of flesh burnt and charred hanging from him like bits of loose string, but even more surprising was the slowly growing blob of new skin that was already growing over the wounds.

Remembering his side arm Gavrin went for it but was too slow. In a flash Joseph had grabbed his hand by the wrist and clenched it so tight he severed it entirely.

Gavrin looked down at where his hand had once been and the bloody stump that now remained; a twisted mesh of blood and bile leaking from his wound like a waterfall. He looked up at his attacker to see the dozen or so humans that had been with him on the screen spreading out from the building. Some were equally singed while others appeared fine as day.

Several civilians saw them as well and let out a scream in horror. The humans began running and were on the in moments ripping them limb from limb.

It was chaos, pure chaos.

The last thing Gavrin remembered before passing out from blood loss was the crooked smile of Joseph as he looked down on him.

The crooked smile of a predator about to feed on a world driven to madness. 

[spooderboyandtincan]

The 12(ish) Days of December

A/N: I intended to write a Hanukkah themed chapter, but unfortunately I suffered some burnout and I couldn’t really start it :(((((( I plan and hope to add on to this in the future, I just wanted to get it out here on time! Happy Holidays everyone!!

Read on Ao3

/ST*RKERS DNI/

I

“Che palle!” May cried as she and Peter stepped out of the elevator. “Tony, what the hell is that?!”

“It’s a giant teddy bear,” Tony called back from the kitchen. “It’s for you, Pete!”

“Me?” Peter gasped, his face lighting up. He charged toward the ten-foot teddy bear and tackled it. The giant brown bear teetered slightly with his weight but didn’t tip over. “He’s so soft!”

Tony came out of the kitchen with a wide grin on his face. He wiped his flour-coated hands on his pants and tried to give Peter a hug without pushing him off the bear,

“He’s so beautiful!” Peter giggled, wrapping his arms around the bear’s neck. “And huge!” 

Tony nodded in a proud, self-satisfied sort of way. Besides being delighted that the boy clearly adored his gift, he now had proof that this was obviously how one should react when presented with a ten-foot-tall stuffed animal. He'd have to take a picture and send it to Pepper.

May tossed her purse on the floor and shook her head at Tony. “As long as you can find a place for it, I’m not complaining,” she chuckled.

“I’ll rent a storage unit somewhere,” Tony supplied, taking a sip of coffee from his Iron Man shaped mug. Tony treasured that mug, which had been gifted to him by Peter several months ago. He never brought it in the lab for fear that Dum-E or U would break it, and he kept it in the cabinet next to his “1# IronDad” mug (also a precious gift from his kid).

He looked back to Peter, who had wrapped his arms around the bear, which was tilting dangerously. “Be careful, kiddo,” he said, biting his lip. But the moment the words got out of his mouth, Peter and the gigantic teddy bear started to topple to the ground.

“Shit-!” he began, darting forward, only to be met by Peter’s giggles.

“Nooo. Leave me. ‘M comfy.” He rolled onto the bear’s big belly and sprawled across it. “This’s perfect,” he hummed, closing his eyes. 

Tony and May shared a slightly exasperated yet fond glance. Tony flopped down next to Peter, tucking a curl behind his ear. “Now that I think about it, spider-baby,” he mused, “I’ve got something else for ya.”

Peter perked up and opened his eyes. “What?” 

Tony gave him a large grin and ran a hand through his curls. “C’mere.” He wrapped an arm around his shoulders and led Peter to his room.

May sighed. “I swear to god, Tony, if you’re giving him an Audi….” she muttered. 

“I’m not!” the man insisted. Peter rolled his eyes and sat down on his bead. 

Tony put a warm palm over his eyes. “Close your eyes, bud.” 

Peter tried to keep his eyes closed as Tony ran to his own room, tearing through what sounded like wrapping paper and knocking boxes over with no absence of cursing. 

Moments later, a small, leather 4x4 inch box was placed on his open palm. He opened his eyes and looked first at the box, then at up Tony, who smiled. May shrugged and gestured to open it. 

Inside the box rested a thin, slender watch with a smooth black strap. The face of the watch was rectangular, and when Peter pushed the button on the side it lit up, displaying the time above what looked like a mini arc reactor. It resembled the StarkWatch he was wearing that very moment, except it looked more high-tech.

“A new StarkWatch, specially customized for you, by yours truly,” Tony said. “Your old one looked pretty busted, even though they’re supposed to be indestructible.” Peter snickered at Tony’s gentle jab. “And it’s got a few minor upgrades. You can set the lock screen, for one. And it should be trackable from anywhere in the universe, and I mean everywhere. And you can call me, or May, or Ned or Rhodey or whoever from the top of Mount Everest or the bottom of the Mariana Trench.”

“Wow,” Peter whispered, tracing the sides of the watch before strapping it onto his wrist. “Thank you, Mister Stark! I love it! It’s so cool!” 

“What happened to ‘Tony?’” he grumbled playfully, giving his spider-baby a kiss on his head. “I’m glad you like it, buddy. It’s basically the same stuff as your old one, just better.” 

Then, to both Peter and May’s surprise, Tony bent down and grabbed a colorful red bag covered in golden glitter. Peter laughed.

“Tony, it’s only the ninth!” May snorted, her eyebrows raised past her hairline.

“That’s because we’ll need these before Christmas,” Tony said wisely. He handed Peter a soft package wrapped in green tissue paper and watched him tear the packaging in half.

“It’s so ugly!” he cried, holding up a garish green sweater. There was a plastic red ball attached to the big reindeer's nose and tiny bells were tied onto the reindeer’s harness. Little snowflakes were patterned all over, and Peter couldn’t help but laugh. “I love it, Tony!” Peter pulled the sweater on and was delighted to find that the fabric was incredibly soft, instead of the unbearably itchy sweaters he had owned in the past. “It’s perfect!”

Tony laughed fondly at his already thrilled kid. “If you think it’s good now, wait till you see this. FRI, lights off,” he ordered.  

Peter felt Tony fumble with something on his shoulder, and suddenly the sweater lit up. The reindeer’s nose lit up bright red, the snowflakes began to glow, and, as cliché as it might have sounded, the bells gave a merry jingle as Peter laughed.

“I love it!” He tackled Tony with a hug, relaxing slightly in the man’s arms. 

“Good,” Tony chuckled, “‘Cause I’ve got about three more for you and your aunt each.”

II

“Tony, where’re we going?” Peter whined, his breath fogging the window. “Tell meeee!”

“My lips are sealed,” Tony said, pretending to zip his lips shut and throw away the key. “We’re almost there, Rudolph, don’t worry.”

“Rudolph?!” Peter snorted.

Tony reached over the console to ruffle his hair. “I thought you might want a Christmas nickname,” he explained. “Plus, y’know, you already had a nickname available that only required a bit of simple reconstruction, Roo.”

Peter shook his head. “Just tell meeee!”

“No. Never.”

“Pleeease?”

“I physically can’t, buddy.”

“Tell me! Tellmetellmetellme pleeeeeeeeease?”

“Will… to keep secrets… decreasing,” Tony said robotically. “Fine. We’re going ice-skating, Petey-Pie.”

Peter gasped, his big chocolate eyes going wide. “Really?!” 

Tony grinned and glanced over to his kid. “Really.” He wished he could stop the car and give his sweet boy a hug. 

“But…” Peter bit his lip. “I don’t really know how. I mean, I went ice skating with Ned a few years ago but we mostly fell over and bruised our butts.”

Tony chuckled fondly. “That’s okay kiddie, I’ll show you the arts. Rhodey and I went when we were in college, and man, we had a blast laughing at each other. Oh- we’re here!”

“Tony, I don’t have any skates!” Peter realized as they hopped out of the car. 

“I already got you some, Pete, don’t worry,” Tony assured him. He opened the trunk of the car. “And I brought you an extra hat, a coat, a scarf, some better gloves, extra socks and a pair of snow pants.” 

“Tony,” Peter began, leaning into the hug the man offered him all the same. He grumbled and rolled his eyes but let Tony wrap a scarf around his neck and trade his thin woolen gloves out for much warmer, thicker ones. Peter had to admit he felt a lot warmer. “You’re ridiculous.”

“Thanks, Pete. M’kay, I’ve got these fancy red and blue skates for you and red and gold for me.” 

“And I’m sure the color choices were random?” Peter asked sarcastically. “Wait- these have the Spider-Man logo on them! Mr. Stark, are there Spider-Man ice-skates?!”

Tony bent to kiss his forehead. “There are, Pete. Pretty cool, huh?”

“So cool! I love ‘em, thank you, Tony!” He held up the skates to admire them. “They’re great!”

“No problem, buddy. It was my pleasure.”

Peter flopped down in the snow and pulled on his skates. He looked up to admire the tall oak and pine trees swaying gently with the wind, the last leaves of fall scattering along the icy roads. A pair of snowflakes drifted down to his coat, and Peter felt a sort of peace flow through him.

“Petey? Are you comin’?” Tony called, skating back and forth along the edge of the pond. Peter knotted the laces of his skates tightly and struggled to his feet.

“I’m trying!” he yelled, staggering forward. He leaned over the ice and felt a bit dizzy. It was about a foot down to the actual ice, and Peter knew without a doubt that he would slip if he tried to get down. “I dunno, um….”

“I gotcha, Petey, don’t worry.” Tony held out his arms and gave him a reassuring smile. Hesitantly, Peter lowered stepped onto the frozen pond, grabbing Tony’s arm and clinging to him as he got both feet on the ice. 

“Good job, Roo!” the man praised, lifting him up by the armpits so he was standing up a bit straighter. He couldn’t help but compare Peter to a fawn who just stood up for the very first time, and the boy’s big bambi eyes weren’t helping his case. “Getting on the ice is the hardest part. I’ve landed on my ass more times than I can count.” Tony frowned at himself. “Sorry I said ‘ass,’ don’t repeat that.”

Peter snorted. His skates slipped and he felt Tony’s arms tighten around him. “Whoa there, buddy. I gotcha.” He tucked a loose curl behind the teen’s ear and kissed his cheek, wrapping an arm around his shoulder.

“‘M’kay, you ready, Pete?” 

“Heck yeah!” 

Tony grinned. “Okay, first, you said ‘heck yeah’ instead of ‘hell yeah’ and that’s adorable,” he teased, chuckling at Peter’s eye roll. “Second: let’s wreck this rink!”

Though of course, they ended up making more of a wreck of themselves rather than the rink.

The very second Peter slid his foot forward, he found himself spontaneously falling backwards. Luckily, Tony caught him easily and gently pulled him back up. 

“I meant to do that,” he huffed, his small hands scrabbling at Tony’s coat. “It was- completely- intentional.” 

“Of course it was, Roo, I know that,” he said with a raise of his eyebrows. “No one has the grace and agility you do.”

“I am graceful, Tony! How dare you?!” Peter grumbled. 

Tony might have made a quip about the arms wrapped tightly around his waist for support, but he decided his poor kid had suffered enough. Despite bumping into every table or chair in his path, Peter was surprisingly graceful, especially when he swung with ease through the air on a thin stand of webbing. “You are graceful, buddy, I promise,” he admitted. “You wanna give it another try?”

Peter stuck his tongue out at him, adjusted his hat, and gingerly took a step forward. Tony tensed, ready to lunge forward and catch him if the boy slipped, but found himself letting a quiet cheer. “Nice job, Pete!”

Peter beamed at him, his legs spread far apart and his arms extended for balance. He tipped backwards and Tony started to jump forward, but Peter flailed his arms around and regained his balance.

“I think you’re getting the hang of it, kiddo!” Tony called as Peter made his way to the opposite side of the pond. He winced suddenly, protectiveness flooding through him at his retreating figure. “Be careful! Wait for me!”

He caught up to Peter easily and zipped in front of him, catching him by the shoulders. “You’re doing great, baby!” 

“Thanks,” he giggled, looking down at his shoes. He wiped his red nose with the back of his hand and sniffled. “‘S fun!”

Tony smiled and adjusted Peter’s scarf. “Glad to hear it.”

“Tony?” he asked. “Can you do a figure eight?”

The man paused to consider this, clicking his tongue. “Only one way to find out!” he decided. 

Peter watched excitedly as he skated out to the middle of the pond, looking practically weightless. Tony took a deep breath, prayed he didn’t break any bones, then pushed off. He zoomed around the pond in a perfect figure eight, only faltering for a brief moment, and traced over it twice before he skidded back to Peter. “Ta-da!”

Peter applauded, clearly very impressed. Tony bowed exaggeratedly and pretended to be embarrassed. 

“D’you think I should try?” Peter asked. 

Tony smiled fondly. “Only if you want to. I know you’d nail it though.”

And he did. Peter skated carefully to the edge of the pond and performed the figure eight beautifully, spinning in circles and laughing when he got a bit too dizzy.

Tony skated up to him, his eyes huge. “Jesus, Petey, that was fantastic!” He pulled the embarrassed teen to his chest and wished, not for the first time, that Peter wasn’t wearing a hat so he could kiss the top of his head. He settled for Peter’s cheek instead. “Wow, baby, that was amazing! Wait- I gotta sign you up for the Olympics. Where’s my phone- oh, I got it.” He pulled his phone from his coat.

“Tony, nooooo!” Peter protested.

“Tony yes. You’re too talented.”

“It was just a figure eight!” he giggled. “And you did one too so you hafta sign yourself up.” Peter looked up to the gray sky and shivered as the brisk winds tore at his heavy coat and scarf. He leaned even closer to Tony.

“You cold, baby?” Tony rubbed his back gently, hoping to generate some warmth. “Wanna go back home? We can come back here anytime you want.”

Peter sighed a bit sadly, but he had to admit he was freezing. He and Tony skated back to the car quickly. Snowflakes began to fall rapidly down as gusts of wind tried to upset their balance. Tony helped Peter onto the bank and they hurriedly yanked off their ice skates.

They found refuge in the car only when Tony turned the heater up full blast and  leaned over the console to pull Peter into his arms. Peter’s shivers that had been worrying him far more than Tony had been willing to say eventually died off and together they watched what was now practically a blizzard raging outside.

“Just in time,” Tony mumbled into Peter’s curls. “Feel any better, baby?”

He grew worried when he received no response and pulled back. Peter’s eyes were shut and his breathing slow, though he made a small whimpering noise in the back of his throat when Tony pulled away. Tony smiled, a tender, loving light in his eyes and pulled Peter back into his arms, cradling his kid against his chest and rubbing his back soothingly. “‘M here. ‘M here, baby, don’t worry,” he cooed, planting a kiss on his forehead. 

Peter curls tickled his cheek, his warm breath heating the skin of Tony’s neck. The console between him and his kid was uncomfortable and hard against his side, but he wouldn’t have moved for the world. Tony held Peter tightly and closed his eyes.

Maybe they could stay there a little while as they waited for the blizzard to pass.

III

Tony had been brewing a hot cup of coffee in the kitchen when a disheveled, sniffling, sleepy Peter face-planted into his back.

“Whoa, bud!” Tony spun around and caught the boy under the armpits. “Hey, hey. Are you okay?” He tilted Peter’s chin back and found that his nose was bright red, his eyes were half-lidded, and his bedhead was a lot worse (though still absolutely adorable) than it usually was.

“‘M fine,” Peter sniffled, leaning heavily against his chest. “Missed you.”

“Oh, baby,” Tony murmured, wrapping his arms around the small teen, “I’m right here. I’m not going anywhere, okay?” He gave his definitely-not-sick spider-baby a smooch on his temple. “You’re pretty warm,” he noted with a hint of worry in his voice. He pressed the back of his hand to the teen’s forehead. “Do you wanna lie down, kiddo?”

Peter shook his head weakly. “Wan’ you.”

Tony’s heart melted and he turned into a pile of mush. In this tired, sick, achy state Peter was clingier than ever, and all he wanted was him. He wanted Tony. He kissed Peter’s temple. “I’m gonna stay right here, Petey, don’t worry,” he assured his kid. “I promise.” 

Tony held Peter with one arm while he rummaged through the kitchen cabinets with the other. “FRI? What’s up with the spider-baby?”

“Peter is exhibiting symptoms of a common cold, such as coughing, sneezing, a runny nose, and a fever,” the AI replied. Tony felt a pang of worry and empathy in his heart. 

“Okay. I’ve got your pain meds,” he announced in a whisper. “Do you want water or OJ?”

Peter decided on the latter, not bothering to raise his head but simply mumbling “juice” into the man’s chest. Tony hummed in agreement and attempted to pour a glass for himself one-handedly (most of the juice ended up on the counter, but holding his sick kid was far more important than pouring orange juice).

He led the boy to the couch, a steadying hand around his shoulders. Peter snuggled against him, coughing and sniffling. He wiped his nose with the back of his hand and shivered.

Tony placed two white pills into palm. Peter took a hesitant sip of his drink and gulped down the pills. Tony tucked an errant curl behind his ear and placed a kiss one his temple. 

With Peter still in his hold, he strained to reach the weighted electric blanket that had fallen behind the couch. With a painful crack from his twisted back, he finally managed to get his fingers around the feather-soft blanket and settled back on the couch with a triumphant grunt.

He wrapped the electric blanket tightly around them both. Peter’s shivering caused a surge of fierce protection to run through his veins, and Tony hugged him to his chest, pressing a kiss to his soft, though slightly sweaty curls. He glared at the dark corners of the room, as if somehow the very cold that was making his child suffer so much would leap from the shadows.  

Peter found comfort in the vibrations of Tony’s chest and the beat of his heart. The calloused fingers running through his hair and the occasional kiss against his temple soothed him beyond measure, and without ever realizing it, Peter started to drift off. Compared to when he had woken up, soaked with sweat, wheezing and sniffling and rather nauseous, he felt so much better in his father-figure’s embrace.

Dimly, he noticed that Tony was talking to him. He thought he recognized the words coming out of his mouth, and he realized suddenly that Tony was reading Mr. Willowby’s Christmas Tree to him. That book had been Peter’s favorite when he was a small toddler, and hearing the familiar words aloud brought a big burst of happiness to his chest. 

Peter let his eyes slip shut for a second. The headache that had been pounding in his head was completely gone and in Tony’s arms, he felt incredibly warm and cozy and happy. 

When his eyes opened again, he determined that Tony had finished reading the book. If he had had enough energy, he would have asked him to read another. But much to his delight, he realized Tony had already picked up another book.

And just before his eyes fluttered shut, he heard Tony’s gentle voice speaking, full of love. “I love you, Petey.”

I love you too.

IV

“Mmm, Tony, the spaghetti was fantastic!” May exclaimed as she loaded her plate into the dishwasher. “I need that recipe, it’s just too good!” 

Tony looked at Peter out of the corner of his eyes. The boy shook his head frantically and drew a finger across his throat. Tony snickered. “Thank you, May, I’m glad to hear that,” he said.

To be completely truthful, he felt like throwing up. During the dinner, Peter had chatted enough to distract him, but now his emotions were left to himself, and Tony had barely been swallowed by them. He stuffed the last plate in the dishwasher and took a few long, deep breaths. He massaged his forehead and blinked, sitting down heavily on the couch.

Tony’s heart was beating out of his chest. He looked up to the boy, who was texting someone- probably Ned, completely oblivious. “Pete?” he began shakily. “Do you think we could talk for a second?” He and May shared a glance. She realized immediately what he was about to do and gave him an encouraging smile and a thumbs up. 

“Yeah!” Peter vaulted onto the couch with a laugh. His grin faded when he saw how worried, how scared the man looked. Alarm kindled in his chest. “What’s wrong, Mr. Stark?”

Tony couldn’t bring himself to laugh at the cookie crumbs in the corners of his mouth or the way his hair frizzed everywhere as he pulled his Santa hat off. He swallowed and took a deep breath.

“Um-” Tony had to clear his throat. He reached down and grabbed a briefcase leaning against the couch that Peter hadn’t noticed before. “Uh,” he tried. He pulled two papers out of the briefcase and stared at them for a long while. “Do you think that you could give these a read, kiddo?”

Peter nodded silently and took them. He looked up at Tony, his head tilted in confusion.

He looked to the papers. His eyes widened in disbelief. “W-what? I-” He turned the papers over as if there would be a sticky note saying “IT'S A PRANK!” on the back. “What? W-what? I-I don’t-” Peter shook his head. 

He couldn’t stop looking at those cream-colored papers. 

Child: Peter Benjamin Parker

Adopting Parent(s): Anthony Edward Stark 

The rest of the paper was blank, except for Tony’s signature at the bottom. 

“Am I asleep? This-this is a dream, right?” Peter's eyes were filling with tears but he didn’t bother to wipe them away.

“It’s not a dream, sweetheart,” May said gently. “It’s real.” She squeezed his knee, hoping to ground him.

“Really?” He opened his mouth but couldn’t seem to form words. He gaped like a fish, reading the adoption papers over and over again. “You-you wanna adopt me?” he finally managed to squeak out.

Tony finally gathered the courage to look at his kid. “Yeah, baby. But only if you want to, okay? Nothing would change, though. We’d- just be making it official. Everything would be the same except-” He throat closed, and suddenly he couldn’t speak. 

Except Peter would be his official son- legally, on paper. And Tony would be his official dad. (There was no way Tony wasn’t already his dad.)

“What are you thinking, baby?” he murmured, instinctively tucking a curl behind Peter’s ear with shaky hands. 

Tony’s gentle touch was enough to break the dam of emotions that had been holding back. Peter sniffled, then burst into tears and practically jumped into his dad’s arms. 

Tony hugged him tightly, rubbing a hand up and down his back and pressing long kisses to his temple. Peter blubbered into his chest, happy tears soaking Tony’s sweater. May wrapped her arms around the two and squeezed them both tightly.

Tony felt tears prickle in his own eyes and he dropped his forehead to Peter’s curls. “Is that a yes?” he finally managed to say.

Peter giggled wetly and nodded frantically against his chest. 

A grin as wide as a dinner plate crossed Tony’s face. He realized suddenly that tears were streaming down his cheeks, but he didn’t wipe them away. He kissed the top of Peter's head and squeezed him tighter. 

May pressed a quick kiss on Peter’s cheek and stood up. “I’ll be back in a bit,” she said, sensing that the father and son might want a moment alone. 

Tony rocked his kid back and forth, rubbing his back and pressing kiss after kiss to his cheek. “I love you,” he murmured into his chestnut curls. “I love you.” IloveyouIloveyouIloveyou.

“Love you,” Peter babbled. “I love you too. I love you.”

He held Peter at an arm’s length, still grinning. Then he pulled his kid back to him again and kissed his cheek, wiping away his tears with the pad of his thumb. “I love you.”

Peter sniffled, wiping his nose with his sweater. He wrapped his arms around Tony’s neck and curled around him like a koala. He leaned heavily against his dad’s chest, his breathing beginning to even out. Tony’s chest vibrated with every “I love you so much, Petey” and his ceaseless murmurs of love and comfort.    

“Love you, Dad,” he said sleepily, his eyelids drooping. 

A lump formed in Tony’s throat that he couldn’t seem to swallow past. Tears started to trickle down his cheeks. “Petey-” he murmured, his voice hoarse. “I love you so much. So damn much, okay?” He ran his hand up and down the boy’s back, kissing his temple and trying to blink his happy tears away. 

Tony felt himself slowly drifting asleep. He blinked, and then his cheek was resting on his kid’s curls. His eyes closed again, and suddenly May was there, draping a blanket over them. He tried to tell her to get Peter’s special heated blanket, because his poor kid couldn’t thermoregulate and absolutely hated the cold. Then he realized that she had already tucked it around the boy and sighed in relief, finally letting himself relax.

May settled on the opposite side of Peter and wrapped an arm around him. Within minutes she was snoring quietly, but Tony was too tired to notice. A wave of joy and peace and love washed over him, and his eyes slipped shut.

~~~~~

/ST*RKERS DNI/

~~~~~

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[modgirlyreposts-revamped]

OK SO I'LL TAKE THAT AS I COPYPASTED THE WRONG ONE IM SORRY FOR THE EDGY AMONG US AND KIDDIE DANGANRONPA JUST. HERE. YANDERE!SARAH.

-

CW for drugging(?) Like sedatives. I use that a lot in my stories bc it makes even the simple act of falling asleep fucked up and traumatic lmao

-

Her head hurt. That was the first thing Millie realized as she awoke. Her head hurt and really, her entire body felt fucking disgusting. Like everything in her had been blended up and the soupy mix was resting in her guts.

"Good morning, sleepyhead," a familiar voice hummed softly, lovingly, as Millie felt someone nudge her shoulder.

Prying her eyes open, Millie attempted to find the source of the voice.

It was too dark. Nothing around her could be seen, save for tiny cracks of light at the bottom of her vision which served to illuminate nothing. As she attempted to shift to see the light, her vision revealed flecks of lit grey concrete, and she found her face was covered with two thick strips of fabric.

Blindfolded, she must have been blindfolded.

Grimacing, she tried to shake off the blindfold and gag, realizing her arms were bound too.

"Good to see you awake," The voice continued. It was a voice she knew. She should've been able to recognize it but her head was too foggy and whatever name came with that voice was obscured by the fog. "How are you feeling? I read that chloroform can make you feel really gross, and I had to use, um, kind of a lot, so I brought you some saltine crackers for your stomach, and water and an Advil for your head. Do you usually take one or two?"

"One," Millie muttered, muffled by the fabric over her mouth as her mind struggled to catch up with the information she'd just been given. "W-wait... you... y-you chloroformed me?! Did you-?!"

"I don't know that chloroformed is a word," The voice mused. "But, yes, I did. I mean, I had to get you to come with me somehow."

"So you FUCKING POISONED ME-?!"

She felt a warm, soft hand- familiar, again- over her covered mouth, and for a moment, it comforted her, until her brain caught up with her and she remembered the context of the situation and tried to shake it away.

"Quiet," They told her. "I'm right here."

"I don't understand," Millie whimpered.

"Here."

The gag was removed from Millie's mouth, clearing her vision at the bottom a little bit as the cold air hit her freed mouth.

"Do you want an Advil? It'll help you understand things better once your head is cleared."

"How do I know you won't poison me again?" Millie retorted.

To her surprise, her blindfold was lifted a little bit- just enough to see what was certainly a small, reddish Advil in the hand of her captor.

A familiar looking hand. One that she'd held in her own before.

A hand that, in only another second, was prying her mouth open. She felt the pill on her tongue, then it was washed down by cold ice water. On instinct, she swallowed. The medicine caught in her throat a bit, and she gagged. In response, her captor placed a cracker between her lips.

"Are you feeling better?" They asked softly. "How are the ropes? Not too tight? I've never done this before."

"I don't understand," Millie said, her voice starting to raise. "Why do you care if my head hurts or the ropes you tied me up with are too tight? Why did you kidnap me?! WHO EVEN ARE YOU??"

Silence.

The silence lasted for almost a full minute, Millie unsure of what to do, her captor silent.

Finally, they broke it.

"Promise you won't scream."

"I can't do that."

"Promise me."

"No."

"PROMISE ME YOU WON'T SCREAM IF YOU WANT ANSWERS, MILLIE."

The voice was booming and angry, but only for a second before a soft squeak escaped them. She'd heard that before, that exact speech pattern, but she still flinched. Maybe it was especially scary since she knew it.

"Sorry! I don't mean to lose my cool. I really don't. There's no need to flinch, I'm not going to hurt you. I just... I want you to be comfortable staying with me. It'd be cruel to make you my prisoner, locked up in a nasty old basement, if I just want to spend time with you."

"I still don't understand," Millie whined, feeling like she was going to cry. "Who are you?"

The hands wrapped around Millie's head, untying her blindfold. The darkness went away in an instant and Millie found herself struggling to adjust to the light.

Then, all the weird familiarities and little quirks she recognized fell perfectly into place as she stared directly into the big, unassuming eyes of...

"Surprise...!" Sarah said, a bit meekly, with a small giggle. "I kidnapped you...!"

I'm just imagining Millie on the phone with her grandfather after this, and she's all like "hey gramps, I might be late for dinner tonight..." while Sarah is standing over her shoulder just intently staring at her jfsgsjgkgjdfg-

[stufftippywrote]

prom night

16: Why haven’t you kissed me yet? From this prompt list…

Wei Ying is sitting in the beanbag chair when he mentions it, hunched over forward as he plays Mario Kart solo. Lan Zhan is reading, and trying to keep himself from stealing glances at Wei Ying. It's not easy. Wei Ying's legs are miles long, extended on the carpet. He's got his video game face on -- intense, focused, just barely biting his lower lip.

Lan Zhan has just forced himself to look back down at his book when, in a sweeping motion, Wei Ying throws down his video game controller. His eyes dart Lan Zhan's way. "Hey, want to skip prom with me?"

Lan Zhan blinks. He closes the book and sets it aside. "You're not going to prom?" he asks, trying to tamp down on the throbbing of his heart. He was sure Wei Ying would have two or three dates to prom by now. It was that certainty that kept him from asking Wei Ying himself -- that certainty, and maybe a lack of courage.

Wei Ying blows air through his lips. "Pffft. Who wants to go to prom? All that dolling up." His expression changes, and he flips onto his stomach on the big beanbag chair, legs kicking up in the air. "Why, have you got a hot date for prom already? Who is she? Do I know her? When'd you ask?"

Lan Zhan is actively trying not to stare at Wei Ying's legs. "No."

"No, I don't know her? Or..."

Lan Zhan sighs. "I do not have a date for prom."

Wei Ying claps his hands. "Sweet! Then hang out with me that night. I'll show you a good time."

It feels like a flirt, but Lan Zhan doesn't dare hope it really is. Sometimes Wei Ying's just like this. It's maddening, and he's maddening, but Lan Zhan can't get enough of him. Ever since he walked into history class freshman year with a jumbo-sized cup of Coke and a carefree smile, Lan Zhan's been gone.

Of course he will skip prom with him.

So on the night where giggling girls wear corsages and flirt near the punch bowl somewhere across town, Lan Zhan comes over. For a while it's like every other time they hang out: They go upstairs to the attic den and sit by the big TV shoulder to shoulder. They play Mario Kart without talking and, in Wei Ying's case, without blinking (Lan Zhan's pretty sure). But at about 10 PM, Wei Ying abruptly jumps up and switches off the TV.

"Uncle Jiang has to be asleep by now," he says. "Sweet. Time to go."

"To go?" Lan Zhan's vision is still swimming with red and blue shells.

Wei Ying grins and winks at him. "You didn't think we were going to stay around here all night?"

Which is how Lan Zhan ends up sneaking down the steps and out to the driveway and "borrowing" Jiang Cheng's bicycle. He's not sure how he feels about the ethics of all this, but he'd follow Wei Ying anywhere, any way he can. So they make a beeline through the night and end up in front of the Yunmeng Secondary School building. Wei Ying leads Lan Zhan around the side of the building and tucks their bikes in the shadow of a tree.

"What are we doing at school?" Lan Zhan asks.

"Whatever we want. Come on." Wei Ying heads toward the building.

"You're going to break into school?"

"No." Wei Ying makes a face at him, half-lit by a lamppost ten meters away. "It's not breaking in if I don't go into the building."

"Then what are..."

Wei Ying hefts his backpack on his shoulders and points toward the fire escape. Lan Zhan follows that pointer finger all the way up. "The roof?"

"Well," Wei Ying says too loudly, "I'm going up. You can stay here." He makes another face and trots toward the fire escape, leaping onto the first step with a ridiculous amount of grace for a teenager carting a heavy backpack.

You can stay here, he says, but Wei Ying must know that's impossible. Lan Zhan clenches a fist. "I'm coming," he says.

They scurry up the stairs and across the landings like mice in a maze, and Wei Ying swings himself over the concrete barrier and onto the roof. Lan Zhan follows, cautiously. The roof is plain, ugly even, just concrete and an HVAC unit that gurgles dangerously in the darkness. But the view is all right -- sprawls of suburban houses, vague orange glow above the treetops, bright full moon above. Lan Zhan gets a little lost looking around at it all. Then his eyes fall on Wei Ying and he's even more lost.

Wei Ying's wide-eyed, walking in a circle with his arms outspread. The moonlight and the muddled light from streetlamps join to illuminate him, the sharp curve of his nose and those smiling lips. Lan Zhan has, yet again, the urge to hold him still and kiss him. Wei Ying is always on the move, and all Lan Zhan wants to keep him in one place long enough to make his feelings known. But  that would be so unfair to Wei Ying, who is so beautiful when he's in motion. So all Lan Zhan can do is follow.

After a few excited laps around the roof's perimeter, Wei Ying settles next to him and swings his backpack down from his shoulders. When he unzips it, Lan Zhan can see the plaid peek of a picnic basket and a couple of cans of beer.

Wei Ying takes one can and offers the other to Lan Zhan. Lan Zhan shakes his head. Wei Ying shrugs, then pops his can open and drags out the blanket.

Several minutes later, as they lounge quietly on the blanket with the wide sky above them, Wei Ying mumbles, "Lan Zhan."

"Hm?"

"What are you gonna miss about high school?"

There's color in Wei Ying's cheeks, and Lan Zhan can feel his ears go hot in response. He turns over the question in his mind. There's not much about high school that he won't have in college, and he's looking forward to that more than he's worried about missing high school. He turns the question on Wei Ying. "What will you miss?"

"Oh, man, so much." Wei Ying lies on his back and lifts his arms, pretending to draw a bow and aim it at the moon overhead.  He lets go of the imaginary arrow and snickers. "Those stupid pep rallies we had to go to. Huaisang's locker full of dubious items. Failing math quizzes."

"You've never failed a math quiz in your life," Lan Zhan points out.

"I've tried," Wei Ying says with a laugh. "I'm gonna miss the pool."

"There will be pools at college," Lan Zhan says. "Better ones."

"Yeah, but will they have the charm of our dumb little kiddie pool? Will they have locker rooms that smell like beef for no good reason? Huh, Lan Zhan? Will they have that?" He points his finger at Lan Zhan and closes one eye as though aiming a gun.

Lan Zhan plays along, putting a hand on his chest and looking down as though he's been shot. Wei Ying cackles.

They spend hours up there, talking of this and that. Mr. Wen's hair, whether Jiang Cheng really could shove Wei Ying in a locker like he always threatens to, what they'll major in when they get to university, everything. Wei Ying slings over casual questions and Lan Zhan answers them, calm, looking up at the few visible stars. He'll miss this, he thinks. Even though Wei Ying is going to the same university, it's a big campus, and it won't be like it is now, with Wei Ying a few doors down or a classroom away. And there will be so many new people, and Wei Ying will find a whole other group of friends. Lan Zhan will inevitably be left behind. He wishes he had the courage to tell Wei Ying how he felt. He wishes he had any confidence that Wei Ying feels the same.

So he'll hold on to this night, the two of them alone beneath the canopy of sky, the smell of beer and the sting of insects. He'll hold on to the look on Wei Ying's face now, happy and flushed from alcohol, and the way his hair spills out of his ponytail onto the blanket like a waterfall. He'll hold on, and he'll want, and then when he has to, he'll try to let go.

Lan Zhan doesn't remember when they fall asleep, but when he wakes, the beginnings of dawn are painting the eastern sky pale blue. Wei Ying is curled up, head on Lan Zhan's stomach, and Lan Zhan reaches down to touch his hair, pet him gently. "Wei Ying," he urges.

Wei Ying sits up, blinks, and gives a big yawn as he stretches out his arms. "We slept?" he complains. "I wanted to stay up all night."

"You had to sleep off the beer," Lan Zhan says, kneeling and then standing up. The heat that had been Wei Ying's body is dissipating too fast, and the morning air is chilly against his bare arms. He crosses them over his chest, trying to hold in some warmth.

"I was never drunk," lies Wei Ying. He wipes his mouth with the back of his hand and unfolds from a crouch to stand with Lan Zhan.

"You'll be unstoppable in college," Lan Zhan says with some consternation.

"You'll be there to keep me under control," Wei Ying replies. Strangely enough, it's the first time he's talked about the two of them still hanging out when they go to school. Lan Zhan's heart twinges with a painful bit of hope.

Wei Ying saunters to the edge of the roof and leans on the barrier. "Well, Lan Zhan, how'd you like prom night?" he asks, offering a winning smile.

Lan Zhan just nods. Wei Ying smiles wider.

"How about a dip before we go home?" he says.

Minutes later, they've shinnied over the fence like a pair of climbing monkeys, and Lan Zhan is standing awkwardly next to the school's outdoor pool. Leaves have fallen in from the tree that arches over the pool area, big maple hands with spread fingers. Wei Ying is stripping somewhere near him. Lan Zhan has the good sense not to look. Instead, he turns his eyes to the western sky, still dark with night. The last remaining star winks at him.

And then he has Wei Ying's arms around his waist. "Take off your clothes," he drawls, trying to ruck up Lan Zhan's sweater from the hem. Lan Zhan shakes out of his grip, but not before Wei Ying has laid a warm hand on his bare side. Heat courses through Lan Zhan even after they've parted, and he fixes Wei Ying with an angry gaze.

"Fine, if you want to wear clothes into the pool, see if I care!" And Wei Ying drops his pants in a rush of motion and cannonballs into the water in just his boxers. Water splashes onto Lan Zhan's slacks, and he looks down in dismay. As he does, Wei Ying sends up another fountain of water, and this time it soaks him up to his sweater. Dismayed, Lan Zhan grumbles and starts to strip.

Wei Ying does the backstroke at a remarkable pace as Lan Zhan eases down the ladder into the pool. The water is cold, not icy but chillier than the mild air around them. Lan Zhan swims a lap or two, then relaxes against the side of the pool and watches Wei Ying horse around. He gets splashed several times. It's fine. He doesn't care. Wei Ying's attention is on him, so he'll take whatever shit he's given.

Wei Ying grabs his hands, pulls him underwater. Lan Zhan opens his eyes and blinks away the sting of chlorine. Wei Ying is a big fish, his whole body one sinuous movement. Lan Zhan could grab his elbow, pull him close. Kiss him under the water like some sort of fantasy. He could. He's strong enough.

But he runs out of air too soon, and comes up sputtering to the surface. Wei Ying surfaces next to him and laughs uproariously.

When he's had his fill of the pool, Wei Ying hoists himself up and out, then pulls two big towels out of his backpack. Lan Zhan marvels that they were able to fit. Wei Ying has thought this through, going so far as to bring spare boxers for the pair of them, and Lan Zhan is impressed. If only this was a date he'd planned out so thoughtfully. Lan Zhan's stomach sinks as he reminds himself that no, it's not.

Wrapped in towels, the two of them lean against the chain link fence and watch the sun come up. The orange-yellow light makes Wei Ying squint and shield his eyes. Lan Zhan can't not look - with the rays of the sun streaming onto him, he's all lit up, his face illuminated planes and long shadows. He's breathtaking, and Lan Zhan indeed forgets to breathe, gulping in a lungful of air like he's just come to the surface after minutes underwater. He forces himself to exhale slowly, normally. Why is Wei Ying so beautiful? It isn't fair.

"We should probably head home soon," he forces himself to stay. "Your uncle will wake up."

Wei Ying affects a labored sigh. "I guess," he says. "I'll be in trouble anyway, but you should probably head home and rest."

"Mn." Lan Zhan turns and walks toward the corner where his clothes are piled up. Or, he starts to walk. He doesn't get much further than an inch. Wei Ying has him by the arm, both hands stopping him.

"Wait," he says. "I have an important question for you."

Lan Zhan can do nothing but give him his full attention. He turns to face him.

Wei Ying flushes. The color in his cheeks rises so suddenly that Lan Zhan worries he's gone feverish from the early-morning swim. His hands are still wrapped around Lan Zhan's bicep, strength and warmth against his skin. "It's a very important question," he says, and there's some tension in his smile.

"Go ahead." Lan Zhan ignores the strange lurching feeling in his chest. The sense that something is happening. "What is it?"

"It's like this." Wei Ying beams at him, hands tight where they tug at Lan Zhan's arm. "Why haven't you kissed me yet?"

Everything stops. Time stops. Breathing stops. Lan Zhan forces out a "What?"

"I mean, I set everything up." Wei Ying says, a whine in his voice. "We spent the whole night together, and now we're watching the sun rise and it's prom night and I'm shirtless. What else is it gonna take?"

Lan Zhan's thoughts have gone so still, he has to kick them back into gear. "For me to kiss you?" He hears the words come out of his mouth and can't believe it. He can't believe this moment is happening.

"Yeah," Wei Ying says. "I thought you would have done it months ago. Unless I'm misreading everything." His hands loosen their grip, then let go, trailing down his arm and away.

There's dismay in his gaze all of a sudden. Lan Zhan can't bear to see it. He lifts a hand to Wei Ying's face, touches where he's dreamed of touching for four years. "Wei Ying ... really wants me to kiss him?"

Wei Ying laughs. "I've made that pretty obvious by now, right? Lan Zhan, don't tell me--"

Lan Zhan muffles any further words with his lips.

Wei Ying is sweet under him, so sweet. Sweet and yielding, and when Lan Zhan licks the seam of his mouth he opens to him, the kiss deepening but still soft, still gentle, still careful. Lan Zhan is aware that his hands are trembling.

They break apart and look at each other in the rising sunlight. Wei Ying's cheeks are rosy, and his lips are wet and shining, slightly parted.

Lan Zhan kisses him again, and this time, he's not careful.

He pushes Wei Ying against the chain link fence, feeling it sway under their combined weight, and drinks from his lips again and again. Wei Ying's arms wind around his neck. A groan breaks free from Lan Zhan's mouth. Wei Ying answers it. Beneath the slanted sun's rays, they kiss and kiss, Lan Zhan sighing, Wei Ying moaning and pushing his body against Lan Zhan's wantonly. Heat fills Lan Zhan's body all the way down to his toes. He licks into Wei Ying's mouth in desperate, powerful sweeps of tongue. The broken noises Wei Ying keeps making are driving him crazy.

He only stops kissing him when he can't kiss anymore. When they're both too out of breath and flushed to continue. They breathe raggedly, as though they've just run a marathon. Wei Ying's hands cling to his back, his head bobbing against Lan Zhan's shoulder.

"Wei Ying," Lan Zhan begins, not knowing where he will go from there.

Wei Ying cuts him off with a delirious sigh. "Finally," he murmurs against Lan Zhan's ear. "Finally, finally, Lan Zhan, I've been waiting so long."

"Why didn't you say something?" Lan Zhan asks, truly confused. They could have been doing this years ago.

"You know." Wei Ying's voice drawls, smooth and sweet as honey. "You were Lan Zhan, you didn't worry about things like that. I was just nursing the same crush that every girl in school had on you. Was I so special that I could have what all of them couldn't?"

Lan Zhan holds him close. His heart is thudding with happiness and his mind is singing. "Wei Ying is very special."

"Does that mean we're boyfriends now?" Wei Ying asks, still a shudder of uncertainty in his voice.

It's the silliest question he's ever asked. "Mn."

"And when we head off to college--" Wei Ying wriggles in his arms happily. "I can't wait to tell everyone I'm spoken for."

"Wei Ying. We should go home."

Wei Ying throws himself forward, squeezing Lan Zhan around the waist.

Lan Zhan sighs and tips his chin forward, his lips catching Wei Ying's cheek. Wei Ying makes a happy noise. "Five minutes," he whines. "Give me five more minutes and then we'll go."

A jogger passes on the distant sidewalk. The neighborhood is waking up, and they're still half-naked and damp. Lan Zhan really should urge him to go now, lest they be caught. Instead, he holds Wei Ying close and kisses his hairline. He's waited four years. He can certainly spare five minutes.

They go back to Wei Ying's place, and get in trouble, and pester Jiang Cheng about the prom. He has brought back with him loads of gossip, which he shares over the breakfast table. Wei Ying hooks his foot around Lan Zhan's ankle under the table. It feels like fireworks. Lan Zhan fixes him with an incredulous stare, and Wei Ying just grins.

Wei Ying walks him to his house; they kiss, hot and messy, outside the front door before Lan Zhan walks in to inevitable scolding. It's worth it. He couldn't have imagined a better prom night.

[lifblogs]

#SPNAdventCalendar2020 | Day 17: The ugliest sweater in the world. | @bend-me-shape-me

READ ON AO3

“What in the absolute fresh burning hell is that?” Dean asked of his son.

Castiel stepped on his foot beneath the library table, and Dean glared at him. His boyfriend glared back, clearly saying, No swearing.

Dean clenched his jaw, and relented.

He turned back to Jack…

...who was wearing what was probably trying to be a clothing item, but it looked more like a paleontologist’s worst nightmare. The fabric of whatever the hell that was was a dark green, and there was dinosaur on it. That was incorrect too. The fucking featherless bastard.

On top of its weird ass head was a santa hat. A santa hat.

Let’s not forget the fucking arms. Because those had white puffballs on them like this was a kiddie project in school where you used cotton balls to make something that was supposedly cute, but actually wasn’t. The lights. The god damn rainbow lights that were lit up at the collar, the ends of his sleeves, and the bottom of his shirt finished the whole ensemble. For some reason, the button for the lights was big and red and placed far too close to the poor, naked T-Rex. The thing was basically a self-destruct button.

Dean wished it was.

Lord, save me.

“Sam took me out and bought me a sweater!” Jack exclaimed.

“It’s lovely,” Castiel told him.

Dean sputtered.

That didn’t remove the smile from Jack’s face. “Look at the back too!”

Their son turned around, all excited, and in red capitalized words in a Christmas-y font was the god-awful, Christmas nightmare of “MERRAWRWWY CHRISTMAS.”

Great. Now Dean knew what it looked like to puke up the holiday spirit.

The “RAWR” was emphasized with tiny jingle bells under it. Beneath the words was a giant tree that was trying to be festive, but really, dinosaurs should be left in the prehistoric time. They had absolutely nothing to do with a holiday Christians stole from the Pagans and dressed up as their own.

Dean a hand to his head, as he lowered it.

“The back is amazing,” his boyfriend praised.

Dean groaned.

Jack turned around and beamed at them.

God, this kid is weird. He sucked in a breath. I love him.

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