#i scheduled this to post at the end of my work day so i'll answer these once i get home!

[tartagliove]

as promised, ask game time! send an ask telling me what you ate today and i'll assign you a skullpanda popmart figure!!

(examples below, featuring the one popmart figure i own on the left)

[makeitmingi]

Asking You To Be His Valentine's

[Let The Heart Love Again Drabble]

pairing: wooyoung x danceteacher!reader (y/n) feat. Yoonseo

summary: after agreeing to go on a date with wooyoung, your relationship only grew and blossomed into something much more beautiful. as wooyoung expected, you've integrated perfectly into his and yoonseo's lives. and despite already being in a relationship, yoonseo insists that wooyoung ask you to be his valentines.

word count: 3.1K

a/n: a little late to valentines day posting but ive been wanting to write something for 'Let The Heart Love Again' and what better time to write for them than valentines day!

"Good work today, everyone! Thank you." The boys bowed to each other and the members of BB Trippin, who bowed back. They all split up to go to their phones or get a drink of water after practicing for so long. Wooyoung grabbed his phone and sat with his back against the mirror, to read a message from you.

'Hey! We just ended class, going for a quick snack before going to KQ. See you~ - (y/n)'

He smiled at the picture you attached of Yoonseo eating and sent you a reply before tucking his phone into his pocket and going to drink water. Wooyoung took out a towel to wipe his sweat.

"So, Valentine's day is coming up soon." San said, wiping his body and downed a whole bottle of water.

"I'm aware..." Wooyoung trailed off, giving his best friend a suspicious look, wondering where he was going with this.

"What are your plans? Did you even ask (y/n) to be your valentine's yet?" San asked and sat beside Wooyoung. The shorter blinked in confusion and shook his head.

"What do you mean? We're dating, I already asked her to be my girlfriend. Isn't it obvious that she's my valentine's?" He frowned.

"Oh, hyung! Poor, naive Wooyoung hyung." Jongho chimed in with a shake of his head.

"So what if you're dating? You could be married and girls still like to be asked by guys to be their valentine's! A lot of guys forget to ask and girls can get upset. You have to ask (y/n) to be your valentine's." San pointed out.

"You make it sound like if I don't ask, she'll accept some other guy's request to be his valentine's. And I know (y/n) isn't like that, she's pretty chill." Wooyoung shrugged.

"Even the most chillest girls like to be asked out." Yunho added.

"Coming from all of you who are single!" Wooyoung scoffed loudly, rolling his eyes.

"If you excuse me, my girls are coming. Put on your shirt." Wooyoung threw his towel at San. San rolled his eyes and pulled his shirt on while Wooyound went out.

"There are my girls!" Wooyoung smiled, seeing you and Yoonseo emerge from the lift hand in hand.

"Appa!" Yoonseo laughed and ran forward, landing in her father's arms. He showered her in kisses. You smiled and headed over.

"Hey." You greeted softly. Wooyoung straightened up and smiled softly, reaching out to hold your hand. He leaned in to give you a kiss on the cheek. He knew that you were still a little shy when it came to PDA, especially at the company when you knew that the other members were around.

"How was practice?" You asked.

"Good. Tiring but good. I'm excited for the comeback, new choreography always gets me excited." He said.

"And how was class?" He asked back. You nodded over to Yoonseo, who began to excitedly tell her dad all that she learnt in class today. You listened to her with an endearing smile on your face.

"That's right. She's almost in a full side split." You said and Yoonseo nodded, happy to have your validation.

"Are you staying over tonight?" Wooyoung asked.

"Please! Please stay over!" Yoonseo begged when you didn't answer immediately, thinking of your schedule tomorrow. Wooyoung held Yoonseo's shoulders.

"Don't do that, baby." Wooyoung looked down at his daughter in slight disapproval, making Yoonseo pout.

"It's fine, Woo. I just have practice tomorrow morning for my upcoming showcase." You said.

"It's entirely up to you but I can drop you off if you'd like. I'm off tomorrow so I'll drop you at the studio then Yoonseo at school." He offered. You thought about it and nodded your head. Yoonseo cheered and hugged your legs.

"Hi, (y/n)~" The other members emerged from the studio. You waved and bowed to them. Your serious relationship with Wooyoung was still rather new so you were still formal with the others.

"Good work today." You clapped.

"You too." Jongho smiled kindly. Wooyoung cleared his throat and wrapped an arm around your waist to hold you to his side.

"Gongju nim!" San scooped Yoonseo up and hugged her, the two were always so excited to see each other, even if they see each other at least every other day.

"Geez, you two are always like long lost lovers." Wooyoung scoffed.

"It's cute." You giggled, seeing San piggyback Yoonseo and march around playfully, making her laugh.

"Alright, you two, break it up. It's time to go home." Wooyoung clapped. He loved his members like his family but right now, he'd much rather spend time with you, relaxing at home after working. San and Yoonseo whined, unhappy that they were not able to spend more time together.

"Why don't you two go ahead? I'm free for the rest of the day, I'll drop the princess off tonight." San offered.

"Me too!" Yunho raised his hand. Wooyoung gave an uncertain look, looking at Yoonseo who nodded her head happily, wanting to spend time with her uncles.

"Fine. But have her back home by 6. She has school tomorrow." Wooyoung said. Jongho, San and Yunho saluted to Wooyoung.

"Bye, baby. I'll see you later." Wooyoung opened his arms. Yoonseo came down and hugged her dad.

"Bye, appa." She kissed his cheek before hugging you.

"Have fun, Yoonseo ah. See you later." You hugged her before she went back to playing with her uncles. Wooyoung grasped your hand with his own and led you to the exit.

"Are you hungry?" You asked, cupping his cheek. Wooyoung shook his head and hugged your waist, resting his head on your shoulder.

"Everything ok?" There was more worry in your voice now as your fingers touched the back of his neck.

"Mmm, just tired. I'm glad you're here now." He mumbled. Reaching the basement carpark, Wooyoung opened the car door for you to enter before running to the driver's side to enter. Wooyoung started the car and began to drive.

"Comeback season is coming soon. I'm gonna be busy." Wooyoung said, his hand reaching to rest on your thigh.

"It's alright, Wooyoung. I understand." You placed your hand over his, knowing that he was worried about not being able to see you with his busy comeback schedule.

"We'll make time." He smiled.

"Of course. And if you need me to come over and help with Yoonseo, I'll be more than happy to." You giggled.

"Thanks. I'm sure Yoonseo will be happy to hear that, she loves you and loves spending time with you." Wooyoung chuckled. You felt a warmth in your heart hearing him say that.

"I love hanging out with her too. She's such an amazing kid." You said, making Wooyoung smile proudly.

"Come on." After he parked, you and Wooyoung headed up to the apartment. Even if you didn't live together, you stayed over often.

"I declare that we spend the rest of the day in bed." Wooyoung said as the two of you removed your shoes. You nodded with a giggle, liking that idea. While you unpacked your bag, Wooyoung bent down and kissed your cheek before going to shower. You began to unpack the items in your dance bag.

You placed your ballet shoes by the balcony, next to Yoonseo's to air them. Then you did the laundry, washing your stuff along with Wooyoung's clothes and Yoonseo's.

"This is what it's like living with two ballerinas." Wooyoung laughed, emerging from the room while drying his hair.

"It's only going to get more, you know? More constumes, more dance shoes, all that." You grinned.

"Well, I'll have you to help me sort those things out." He pulled you in by your waist. You slapped his chest and went to shower, wanting nothing more than to spend time with Wooyoung now.

"I'll prepare your snacks for dance tomorrow since I'm preparing Yoonseo's." Wooyoung said through the bathroom door.

"Thank you!" You replied loudly.

"Wooyou-" You paused when you came out after your shower and drying your hair to see Wooyoung fast asleep. He had one of Yoonseo's stuffed animals on his chest.

"Cute." You tried to muffle your giggles and slid under the blanket, sleeping against his side.

After Yoonseo came back last night, all 3 of you had a nice dinner and you helped Wooyoung with putting her to bed. He didn't want to excite her too much since he wanted her to sleep early since there was school the next day.

"I'll see you, jagi." Wooyoung leaned over to give you a kiss as he pulled up to the drop off of the dance academy. You smiled into the kiss and grabbed your bag.

"Mmm, see you. Thanks for dropping me off. Bye, Yoonseo ah. Have a nice day at school." You wished.

"Bye, (y/n) unnie." Yoonseo giggled and waved. You and Wooyoung decided that Yoonseo would call you 'unnie'... for now.

"Stay safe." Wooyoung said as you exited the car. The father and daughter watched as you entered the building and disappeared from their sights.

"So, appa." Yoonseo cleared her throat.

"Uh oh, what did I do wrong now?" Wooyoung asked jokingly, sensing Yoonseo's sudden seriousness.

"This is serious, appa! Uncle Sannie told me you haven't asked (y/n) unnie to your valentine's! What if someone else asks her? We're doomed!" Yoonseo yelled dramatically.

"We're not doomed, my precious baby. I don't know why uncle Sannie is telling you these things but (y/n) unnie is already my valentine's. I don't have to ask her." Wooyoung said with a soft sigh, looks like he'll need to call his best friend to scold him about the things that he's telling his niece.

"Well, did you ask her? Or do you think she is your valentines?" Yoonseo questioned back.

"I don't think, I know. Why do you think she stays over all the time? We go on dates. That means she's my valentines, my white day, everything." Wooyoung explained.

"Hmm, no. You have to ask her before it's too late." Yoonseo shook her head.

"Do you want me to do it for you?" Yoonseo offered when she was met with her father's silence.

"What? No. I don't need you to do it for me. I can ask her, I just don't know why you and your silly uncles are so insistent on this." He scoffed in disbelief.

"We're just trying to help, appa. You like (y/n) unnie and want her to be your valentines right?" Yoonseo asked.

"Yes, of course. I just didn't think I would need to ask her when we're dating. But if it'll satisfy you, I'll ask her, okay?" Wooyoung sighed.

"Okay! You have to do it tonight. And I'll help! You need to get flowers, everyone likes flowers! And write her a card." Yoonseo excitedly started listing things for her father to do and buy, which Wooyoung will have to do after dropping her off at school.

"Alright, now, you focus on school! Have a nice day, baby. I'll come pick you up when you're done." Wooyoung hugged his daughter and kissed her head.

"Bye, appa. Remember to get everything I told you." Yoonseo reminded sternly.

"Yes, ma'am." Wooyoung saluted.

So, Wooyoung went to the shop and got almost everything his daughter told him to get. Then he got home and started decorating. It wasn't even valentine's day yet.

Honestly, Wooyoung has never done this before. His last relationship was with Yoonseo's mother and they didn't date conventionally.

'Asking my girlfriend to be my valentine's |'

Wooyoung sat on the couch and searched online. Looks like his members and own daughter was correct, many girls liked to be asked to be valentine's dates despite already being together.

"Maybe this is why she left me." Wooyoung said bitterly, recalling how Yoonseo's mother threw insults at him.

"Streamers, flowers, cupcakes." Now Wooyoung wanted to make sure he had everything. This wasn't valentine's celebration, it was him asking you to be his valentine's. By the time he was done getting everything ready, he had to go pick Yoonseo up from school. As he waited, he called you.

"Hey. I'm picking Yoonseo up from school. What time will you be done today? I can pick you up." He smiled as he leaned against his car, keeping an eye out for his daughter.

"Hmm, let me run to check my schedule. I have rehearsals for my showcase... And a costume fitting... I don't think I'll be done so early."

"No worries. I know you're busy getting ready for your upcoming performance." Wooyoung chuckled.

"Yeah, I've been running back and forth. Sorry... I think I'll only be done around 8. Don't worry, I can make my way over to yours on my own when I'm done."

"Are you sure?" Wooyoung waved to Yoonseo when he saw her come out with her class and teahcer.

"Positive! I'll see you and Yoonseo at home?"

"Yeah, alright. Drop me a text when you're leaving the studio. Have a good rehearsal, make sure to drink water and eat something. I love you." Wooyoung wished, his heart warm when you referred to his place as 'home'.

"Thank you. I love you too!"

"Appa!" Yoonseo jumped into Wooyoung's arms. He chuckled and hugged her tightly. Despite only being apart for a few hours, he had missed her dearly.

"Come, let's go." He opened the door for her to climb into her booster seat in the car. Of course, there were people still taking pictures.

He is Wooyoung from Ateez after all.

"(y/n) just called, she's coming back at 8 after her rehearsals so we'll surprise her then. I've decorated the house and got everything ready." Wooyoung informed his daughter as he drove.

"Okay! I can make sure you did it right." Yoonseo said. Of course, she was a kid and meant no malice when she said that.

"Yes, boss nim." Wooyoung teased back.

"It has to be perfect, appa!" Yoonseo exclaimed.

"Yeah, yeah. I hear you." Wooyoung groaned, his daughter was nagging him like he was the child and she was the parent. Honestly, she was starting to sound like Hongjoong, which scared him slightly. His life will not be easy if his daughter starts to nag him and boss him around like Hongjoong does.

"So, how did I do?" Wooyoung asked when he opened the door and let Yoonseo into the house, letting her look around. Yoonseo tapped her chin as she inspected the place.

"You did good, appa." She spun on her heels and gave him an approving thumbs up.

"Come here, you." Wooyoung grabbed her and attacked her with kisses, making her squeal loudly and laugh.

"Here, this is for you. Will you be appa's valentine's too?" He grabbed a smaller bouquet with a small puppy plush attached. Yoonseo grinned and threw her arms around her father's neck.

"Yes! Me and (y/n) unnie will be your valentine's!" She giggled, hugging her dad tightly.

"I'm glad." He smiled softly and hugged her.

"Now, we have to get ready for our surprise. Let's go pick out a pretty dress." Wooyoung held Yoonseo's hand, leading her to her room.

After a long day of rehearsals, you finally made your way back to Wooyoung's place. Your friends spent the whole day talking about their upcoming valentine's day plans. You didn't want anything significant, maybe just dinner with Wooyoung and Yoonseo.

"I'm home~" You announced and removed your shoes in the doorway. To your surprise, the house was dark. You thought Wooyoung and Yoonseo would be home. Maybe they were both sleeping.

"Wooyoung? Yoonseo?" You called out but there was no reply. As you walked down the hall to the living room, you gasped.

"Hi, jagi."

"Hi, (y/n) unnie." The father and daughter were right in the middle, both dressed up, with candles and flower petals around. Each of them had flowers in their hands.

"Hi... What's going on? Did I miss an important date?" Your eyes widened in worry.

"No, you didn't. With valentine's day coming up, I was gratefully reminded that I have not asked you to be my valentine's."

"Oh..." You nodded slowly. Yoonseo giggled and ran up to you. You bent down to hug her, wrapping your arms around her waist as you watied for Wooyoung to finish.

"So, will you be my valentine's?" He asked with a crooked smile.

"Yes, Wooyoung. I will be your valentine's. You too, Yoonseo." You giggled. Yoonseo clapped and hugged you before letting you go to Wooyoung. You received the flowers, cradling it in your arms as you leaned forward to give him a kiss. Wooyoung's hands automatically came to rest on your waist.

"Thank you for doing this. It's really sweet." You smiled.

"I helped!" Yoonseo raised her hand with a proud smile. Your hand came to rest on the top of her head, she was really such a great kid.

"Although, I have to admit, I thought we were already each other's valentine's... Unless you were planning on asking someone else?" You raised an eyebrow, teasing Wooyoung.

"What?! No, of course not! It's just that the other guys said... then Yoonseo said... See! I told you." Wooyoung stuck his tongue out at Yoonseo.

"You're so dramatic, appa." Yoonseo scoffed, as if she wasn't the same.

"So, you didn't need me to ask you to be my valentine's?" Wooyoung checked. You shook your head.

"Yeah, she didn't need it, appa. But like uncle Hwa says, it's not a 'need', it's a 'want'." Yoonseo lifted a finger, quoting one of her uncles. Wooyoung sighed and shook his head.

"You need to stop hanging out with your uncles so much." Wooyoung squinted his eyes. You laughed and hugged Wooyoung. Even if you were not expecting this at all, you were still touched that he did this for you. As you both sat on the couch, Yoonseo sat on your lap.

"What's this? Did you make this in school?" You asked, gesturing the the beaded bracelet on her wrist.

"No. Seojun asked me to be his valentine's and gave me this. See the heart?" She showed you the pink heart bead right in the middle.

"Ah... I see. That's sweet." You nodded slowly, turning to glance at Wooyoung. The poor man looked like he was going to burst a blood vessel, his eye twitching slightly.

"And what did you say...?" Wooyoung asked, strained.

"I told him I'll think about it." Yoonseo shrugged. You pursed your lips to hide your laugh at Wooyoung's reaction.

"The answer is 'no', baby. You tell him no. Wait, don't even talk to him anymore. You're only allowed to have girl friends, no boy friends. I'm telling uncle Sannie you talked to a boy." Wooyoung stood up.

"Wait, no, appa! Don't tell him!" Yoonseo slid off her lap and ran after her father.

~

Masterlist

[gguk-n]

Max Unravelled

Unravelling Max's Mystery (Max Verstappen x Online Friend!Reader)

Series Masterlist

Summary- Max accidentally made an account on google plus in 2013. He came across a poetry page and enjoyed reading them. He ends up friends with the poet. He loved the normalcy she brought to his life. He didn't realise when the comfort he felt for her turned into love.

{Max's POV}

2013

I was searching for something on my gmail account when a pop up for google plus came through; without much thought I clicked on it. Some how, I'm yet to figure that out, I ended up with a google plus account. One of the few accounts I got recommended was a poetry and story account. They wrote very eloquently; I could feel the emotions in every word. I started reading all their posts in my spare time and even commenting on the ones I liked. I found my self constantly checking back to their page to see if they posted something. Their poetry was relatable and understandable. I hope they always have a good day since their words always pick me up when I'm down.

The poet I had been enjoying so much is a girl, and her name is Y/N. She's around my age; I guess that's why I related to her work so much. We spoke for the first time ever on her birthday. She made a post about it being her birthday so I wished her. She was sad about not being able to enjoy her birthday, I felt bad for her so we talked for a while until dad called me to practise. That was the start of our friendship. We ended up talking on google plus a lot. We shared the same sense of humour and best of all, she didn't know about racing. It was like a breath of fresh air to not talk about racing. She doesn't even seem interested in it; so I can live as Max for a while now.

My birthday was shit but talking to her made everything better. I can't believe I got excited about talking to someone and that someone made me feel good even on one of my shittiest days. She's one of the nicest people I've had the pleasure of talking to. I really do wanna talk to her on phone, typing everything I want to say out feels tedious.

2014

I've gotten busier since this year with Formula 3. We barely get to talk anymore. She did send me her number and we chat on Whatsapp whenever we can. But obviously it is not the same. I've suggested talking on call a few time and she finally agreed; I just need to find the perfect time to get away from everything to talk to her. I felt so nervous to talk to her for some reason, what if she thought I was weird and didn't enjoy talking to me? What if she heard me and decided I wasn't fun? What if we had nothing to talk about? I called her while sitting in my driver's room, she picked up quite quickly after 2 rings to be exact.

Max- Hi, Y/N! Y/N- Hey, Max!! How are you? Max- I'm good, what about you? Y/N- Yeah, I'm good too. haha!! This is so weird talking to you. Max- yeah, you sound pretty. Why would I say that? That sounds so fucking creepy, I face palmed myself so hard. Y/N- You sound nice too. I mean....you have a nice voice. Max- haha, thanks, this is the first time some one has said that. She thinks I have a nice voice, do I? Y/N- soooo, what have you been up too?? You've been so busy lately. I could hear people outside the driver's room. I quickly locked the door before answering her question. Max- yeah, I've been busy with stuff. I'll be done soon for a while now. Y/N- That's great I need my best friend back! Did she just call me her best friend? I've never had a best friend before.

We ended up talking on calls a lot more. I would have her contact ringer saved with a separate ringtone so that I would know to answer it. She usually called at reasonable times, where ever I travelled as if she knew my schedule.

2015

I got signed with RedBull Racing's junior team, making me the youngest driver. It was such a surreal feeling. But this also meant I couldn't talk to Y/N as much as I wished I could. Training and the races kept me very busy. But she was very understanding and would always welcome me back, no matter how long I was gone for.

2021

The first time I'm regretting not telling what I do to Y/N was today when I won my first World Championship. I was surrounded by my team, my girlfriend and my family as I got out of the car after I finished P1 at Abu Dhabi but it felt strange; like I was missing someone. I wish I could share this win, the biggest in my life yet, with the person who makes me feel so special yet so myself.

When I asked her about Formula One, she didn't know about, she didn't even know the prominent figures. So, I wasn't as worried about her finding out but I did worry now; since my win was controversial according to the media. However, she never asked. Was she really unaware or playing dumb? I wasn't sure if I should be grateful I get to be just Max or sad that I can't share a huge part of my life with my best friend.

2023

Y/N and I have been friends for the past 10 years. Time really flies. I've gotten a lot better at balancing my personal and work life. Y/N is my well kept secret; like I'm the only one who knows her. She moved out for college and we've only video called since. She is still funny and still writes. I think it's so cool of her to stay passionate about what she loves and keeping at it. She loves my cats more than I love them sometimes, she get's so excited when I send pictures of them. She says they cheer her up and that Jimmy and Sassy are her virtual pets. They loved her too honestly, they would always recognise when she was on call and jump into my lap or the phone to see or hear her. She still doesn't know what I did for a living; we've kept that a 'secret' you could say. But really I just didn't know how to tell her I was a Formula One driver and a 2 time World Champion.

Today was like any other day, I hadn't spoken to Y/N at all. Whenever I called her, I would usually close/lock the door depending on who was at home. My girlfriend didn't know about Y/N. I didn't even know how to bring it up, honestly. I sat down on my SimRacing chair after I switched the livestream off. Her phone rang for a few times and then stopped ringing but she didn't answer the call. I tried again thinking maybe she was busy or didn't hear it. I called a couple times before texting her; no reply. I was freaking out. This was the first time in 10 years that she hasn't answered my calls. She won't even reply to my messages. I found myself pacing around the house. The door to the room opened to my girlfriend's daughter standing in front of me, "Maxie, why are you walking in circles?" She asked after observing me for sometime. "It's nothing" I said, trying to calm myself down more than give a reply to her question. All these horrible thoughts swirled through my mind; what if she was in an accident and no one knows? What if she got robbed? What if she hurt herself and can't get help? What was I supposed to do? I didn't even know where she lived. I just couldn't think straight. My hair was a mess with how much I was running my fingers through it, a few stands coming along when I almost pulled them out of frustration.

After 7 hours, she replied to my text. I had almost given up hope, but she said that she was fine and that her phone was about to die. I felt relieved knowing that she was ok. But the text was so out of character for her. I texted her everyday after that in hope of talking to her. We always spoke everyday and it had been years since we didn't speak for so long. Almost every text was left on delivered. I had a race this weekend which I won and went out to celebrate with everyone because they wanted me to tag along. I didn't see the text Y/N sent me a while after the race since I was at the club. I only saw it when I got home. As soon as I saw it, I called her. She answered after a few rings.

Max- Schat, how have you been? Haven't heard a word from you in days. You could clearly hear the worry in my voice. Y/N- I've been busy, school year ending and stuff. Why didn't you sleep yet? Max- You know my sleep schedule is non existent. Y/N- Yeah, I guess I do. What did she mean by that? Her voice seemed hoarse, was she sick?Y/N- You know how I do freelance editing Max- You've told me about it Y/N- The latest author I'm working with is a sports author. I was hoping you could help me since you are a walking encycylopedia. Max- sure schat, but what's up with you? You know I'm always there for you Y/N- Yeah it nothing, just stressed. Max- Take off, you deserve it I wish she took care of herself instead of working so hard without breaks. Y/N- The summer break is here soon, I'll be fine. So about that author... Max-Yeah, what sport does she write for? Y/N- Formula One. I don't really like reading lengthy articles and I'm sure one article wouldn't do a sport any justice. I felt the ground slip from under my feet. My palms had gotten sweaty suddenly. Max- You did not go through google yet, right? (I stammered out) Y/N- Oh no, what do you take me for? I got excited to learn about something new. Do you know who the reigning champion is? I felt like I was about to lose everything. I didn't know what to say, my mouth was dry. No matter what I said, I don't think I could fix this situation. Y/N- Some dude named Max Verstappen. You guys share the same first name. He has 2 cats too; named Jimmy and Sassy, who look exactly like your bengals. I mean he even looks like you, with horrible sleep schedule just like you. He even sounds like you. There was horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach and my lungs felt like there was no air in them. Watching her tear up was the worst feeling.

Max- Schatje, I can explain. Y/N- You don't have to Max. I never asked you what you did. You don't have to explain anything. Max- I wanted to tell you, it just never came up in conversation. Y/N- I get it, it's difficult to tell your friend who has amounted to nothing that you are the World Driver's Champion, best of the best in Formula One. Max- Y/N, it's nothing like that. You're great, you're kind, you're funny. She laughed, but that stung my heart for the first time when her laugh was my favourite sound in the world. Y/N- Those are character traits I possess, they don't describe my career goals or achievements. I know I work 2 jobs to stay afloat while you make millions, I know I wish I was an author and not their editor, I know you probably thought I was too stupid to understand your rich and fancy world. Max- No, no, you're so talented. I've read your work and I'm sure the right publication will pick your work up. Y/N- I got rejected for the sixth time today. All of this is fine except that you lied to me about being single while having a girlfriend for years and having the happy family you dreamt off. You didn't have to introduce me to her; not like my boyfriends met you. But it would've been nice if I knew. Max- It just never came up. (I held my head in shame) Y/N- I...we joked about setting you up with someone all the time. Please don't. I get it, we didn't tell each other about work goals or what we did as a job but personal life; I literally told you about every guy I've ever been with. I felt bad telling you thinking you were single. I feel stupid right now. I wanted to reach out and wipe her tears but I couldn't. Max- I'm sorry,Y/N. I promise I won't hide anything anymore. Please, don't cry. Y/N- My name is Y/N Y/L/N. I majored in literature in Uni and now work as a primary school teacher and freelance editor. I'm trying to get my book published soon. I broke up with my boyfriend 2 months ago. This fucking hurt, everything she said and the way she said it. Max- Please don't do this. Y/N- I believe at least one of us should be honest. Max- Let me fix this. Y/N- Don't worry. There's nothing to fix. Max- Please don't say that. You mean a lot me. (I felt tears in my eyes.) Y/N- Me too. That's why, I need time. I'll talk to you when I'm ready. Max- Please, I can't lose you. I felt like my world was crashing. Y/N- You won't. I'll always be there for you. I just need time. Take care Max I was crying as she said it. Max- Bye, take care Y/N. I'll always be here. And the screen blacked out, I could see my reflection on the screen, tears streaming down my face.

After I was able to clear my head I texted her telling her that I would always be there for her and I would like to clear up the misunderstanding when she's ready. I spent the next few months thinking about her. It was starting to affect my relationship. I couldn't really give my girlfriend time when my mind was occupied with thoughts of Y/N. When my girlfriend brought it up how we were growing apart; I had a fight with her. I don't know what came over me, but not talking to Y/N or not knowing what was up with her was making it very difficult for me to focus on anything. The fighting became a constant after that. I didn't understand why she couldn't let me be. I missed my friend but she wouldn't get it.

I was SimRacing when Y/N's name popped up on my phone asking me to call her. I guess she was ready to talk it out. I really wished that this wasn't the end of our friendship. I really hoped that we could get over the misunderstanding and still be friends. I told the team I had some work and called her immediately. She answered like always; I waited for her to speak with baited breath. She started talking and we cleared everything up. I apologised for hiding the truth from her. I told her how much of a constant she was for me in my ever hectic life; how talking to her made everything better. She listened to me, I listened to her and then finally asked her to come to my home race. I wanted to meet her. I couldn't live knowing that I had the resources but didn't meet the one person that mattered to me the most. She was hesitant at first but I offered to get her the tickets and insisted on her joining me at the biggest race of the season for me and finally she agreed. I was over the moon. As soon as we ended the call, I sent her the tickets. I found myself counting down the days to the race for the first time.

I was waiting for her at the airport when she got here. My heart was beating very fast as I waited for her to come out. When I saw her; she was beautiful, shorter than I expected but she looked cute with her bag in one hand and a back pack on her shoulder, her hair in a low bun, a small smile graced her feature. I don't think I've noticed anyone with such detail ever before. Our conversation flowed easily. It didn't feel like it was the first time we were meeting. I dropped her at the hotel and went off to do media duty's at the paddock when I came back she was still asleep, traveling must've tired her out. She got dressed while I waited for her to get ready, even giving my 2 cents on what she should wear. She looked gorgeous, I couldn't help myself, staring at her. The black satin dress hugged her curves in all the right places. Her hair flowed down her back, the jewellery sparkling against her body. We went to have dinner at a fancy dutch restaurant. She loved the food especially the apple tart. The moan she let out as she devoured the dessert made blood rush downwards. I found my cheeks heating up, thankfully the whole place was dimly lit. We walked around for a while after the meal, she made fun of my name but I couldn't care less. I apologised and she accepted it and hugged me. Her arms were soft and the embrace warm. I found myself wrapping my arms around her, my face buried in her neck. I was scared I was gonna lose her, forever. I've never been scared to lose anything but a race until now and the thought of not having her in my life seemed scary. She consoled me and we headed back to the hotel.

The rest of the weekend was uneventful except for my girlfriend being pissed; she fought with about Y/N. I don't get what her problem is, she's just a friend I've known since forever. I'm just showing her around. I was giving interviews when I saw her talking to Lando, I saw them laughing along in the corner of my eye. It made me feel strange, there was this feeling in the pit of my stomach and I didn't like it. When I got back, Lando had left since it was his turn. She found Lando cute and it irked me, I was annoyed hearing her ask me to set her up with him. We got back to RedBull hospitality when my girlfriend asked me to talk to her, I left with her reluctantly leaving Y/N with Checo.

"Listen Max, I get it, she's your childhood friend and all, but it's so weird how she suddenly cropped up when I or for that matter any one knew nothing about her. People are saying stuff about us since she stepped on the paddock and the way you are dragging her along." my girlfriend spoke. "What are people saying? I will not stand any slander against her" I cut her off. She laughed dryly. "WOW, they are saying stuff about us, Max, us, that you are cheating on me with her. You've been so distant for months until a month ago, I didn't know what went wrong and you wouldn't talk either." she said running a hand through her hair. "It's nothing really. She just knows me as Max and not Max Verstappen and that's why I'm closer to her. Nothing more." I said. "It's pointless talking to you" she said turning around. "If we're done, I'm leaving, Y/N doesn't know anyone here except me." I said leaving for the door. She huffed before she followed me out. Y/N looked worried about what was going on between me and my girlfriend but I calmed her down and we spent the day together. She tagged along during quali too. I saw her praying before quali, it made my heart swell. I was starting pole and we spent the night watching a movie even though Y/N wanted me to rest before the race, I wanted to make the most of the little time we had.

Y/N hugged me before the race wishing me. I wanted to win so bad, I'd won here twice before but this was different. I wanted to win in front of her. I raced like a mad man and then I heard it. I crossed first and my happiness knew no bounds; knowing she was watching. I got out of the car and immediately ran to her; hugging her. It was cathartic. Y/N said my girlfriend looked annoyed, but I couldn't care less. I watched my girlfriend leave, annoyed. When I received the trophy at the top step of the podium knowing she was watching me from below made it so much more worth it. Y/N wanted to go out to celebrate my win and I wasn't one to say no. I went back to the hotel to get cleaned up and ready for the night.

I was greeted by my girlfriend in the room, it was dimly lit as she was sat at the corner of the bed with tears streaming down her face. "HOW COULD YOU DO THAT MAX?" she screamed at me. "Am I a fucking joke? I let it slide, you said you were friends but the first person you go to after winning your race was her, what do you think people were whispering when you did that?" she said in between sobs. I didn't get what she was saying. "Do you like her?" she asked. "What? We're friends" I stated. She shook her head, "No, Max, you aren't. The way she looks at you is how I look at you. The way you look at her" She cried, "You've never looked at me like that" she lamented. "It's nothing like that" I began. "You should've respected me at the very least and broken up with me if you liked someone else, I'm not gonna be some girl's place holder till you can have her." she cried out. "You're not a place holder for her" I said. "Feels exactly like that" she said wiping her tears. I felt nothing my 2 year long relationship might be ending and I didn't care. I didn't even try to correct her, did I really like her? Was Y/N really more important to me? "We're through Verstappen, if you can't even fight for us, I'm not about to fight for us" she sighed dejected. I walked towards the bathroom to wash up while she packed up to leave. When I got out she was gone. I went to pick Y/N up.

She kept asking me about my girlfriend but I never told her that we broke up. I didn't want her to feel responsible for my decision. At the club, she got close to everyone pretty quickly. She was unstoppable, downing one drink after another. I hadn't touched alcohol since I was driving. The others kept handing her drinks much to my dismay. She asked me to come dance with her but I had the others to look after too. She was busy dancing surrounded by too many guys, one of them going as far as to touch her and grind against her. All I saw was red, I bid the guys good bye and stormed the dance floor to drag a reluctant Y/N with me; I ended up carrying her out on my shoulder. She wasn't very happy, screaming and hitting me till I put her down. She puked as soon as I put her down and joked about missing my expensive car, I didn't really mind if she hadn't since she was more important than the car. I got her medicine and left them at her side after putting her to bed.

We spent the next few days after the race sight seeing. Y/N brought up my girlfriend a few time and I ended up avoiding her. When we were cuddling while watching Barbie I felt my heart beating out of my chest as she scooted closer to grab tissue. When her hand brushed against my skin, it burnt and a weird feeling erupted in my chest. She seemed completely unaware of how she was making me feel. We fell asleep on the couch that night.

I wasn't able to avoid the girlfriend question any longer and told her that we broke up without making any eye contact on the way to drop her to the airport. My eyes stung and there was a lump in my throat; I wasn't sure it was because of my girlfriend or Y/N. I bid her farewell, she would turn back towards me to wave after every few steps; my eyes were blurry after sometime trying to prevent the tears from falling. I ended up crying after she left.

All the races after, I ended up going shopping after or before every race to collect some trinkets or stuff that was special to that place and mailing it to her with small notes attached. She would graciously open them in front of me on video call; the smile she gave me the first time she received was unparalleled. It made my stomach turn over. I wanted to make her smile every chance I got. That's how I ended up sending her a package after every race from every country until I got reprimanded by her for the excessive amount of gifts. She asked me not to send one after every race and stick to one or two in total; I was forced to agree to that request.

We were planning on spending Christmas and New Year together; she wanted to leave after Christmas but I was able to convince her to stay until I had to leave for pre-season training. I couldn't wait for the season to end and to spend the year end with Y/N. We celebrated me winning the championship on video call; even though I had hoped she could be present in person but it wasn't possible with her schedule. This championship felt better than the last two since I was able to celebrate it with her. 2021 me wouldn't believe me right now.

Y/N flew in as soon as winter break started for her. I had cleaned up the house as much as possible. I had told my cats about Y/N visiting who seemed excited. I picked her up from the airport and when we got home the cats were very excited to meet her; a lot more receptive than the other guests I've had over. We spent the next few days going to places and the Monaco GP circuit. She cribbed about walking the entire time we walked the path. It made me laugh.

The night before Christmas we fell asleep on the couch cuddling; I hadn't slept this well in a very long time. When I woke up, Y/N was no where to be seen. I sat up waiting for her to return when she came back, she looked so cute in her jumper and shorts with her hair a mess. We opened up presents after some time. She had gotten me a Sid plushie, an ugly sweater and perfume. I got her a Formula One book with my face, a coffee mug and a pendant. I wanted to get her more stuff but I was sure she would make me return it if she saw every thing. I think the house would be over run with the amount of stuff I wanted to get her. Then she brought the matching sweater she got with me; I put it on immediately. I wanted to match with her all the time. We had a bit of back and forth on the dinner but agreed on Turkish kabab.

New Year came too quickly, which meant Y/N would be leaving soon. We went clubbing on New Year eve. She didn't drink like the last time we were at the club but made friends with some of the guys there. Having a social butterfly for a friend was a bad idea. We counted the time down to midnight as the clock struck 12 and I turned towards her to celebrate I saw she was kissing one of the guys she had befriended when we entered. If the club was quite you could hear my heart shatter. That's when I realised that all these weird feeling and all the times I couldn't stop thinking about her was because I liked her, no scratch that, I loved her. I felt my heart constrict when she turned towards me and hugged me later. I didn't want to talk about it, this would ruin our friendship.

All I could think about was how it felt to watch her kiss another man. I hated it, the worst feeling, worse than DNFing or not winning. I hated knowing another man could touch her and feel her. I wasn't even sure how to bring it up since what were we if not just friends. I put myself into training for the upcoming season but those feelings I felt when she kissed another man were still fresh in my head and I couldn't get rid of them even if I tried.

I was able to convince her to join me during her spring and summer break. We had fun, I loved having her waiting for me at the end of the race. I didn't really enjoy all the media questions that had cropped up about Y/N when she was seen with me, before or after the race. During my summer break, I spent it at her place. When I got there, it was a small apartment; but it had a homely feel. She would cook food for me and we would watch movies; I had a few commitments with the team and would leave for some time but then be back. It was so nice to have some one to come home to. When she was having her book launch, I went to meet her at her launch with a bouquet of flowers. "Congratulations" I said while handing her the flowers and giving her a hug. "Thank you" she replied, a smile playing on her lips. We had celebratory dinner after. Immediately after that, we were on the news. It read that I had a girlfriend, she kept apologising but it didn't matter. It made me a little warm, I'm not sure what emotions I felt hearing people speculate that she was my girlfriend.

I flew back to Netherland for the race early, she would only be joining me on the race day due to work. It dampened my mood but there wasn't much I could do about it. She flew in the morning of the race; it made my day watching her walk out of the airport. We talked all the way to the hotel where she got changed and we headed to the paddock. I had thought it through; after the qualifying, I had planned on telling her how I felt. I was gonna win this race and confess to her. Knowing that I can't hold her while someone else can was eating away at me and I wanted to take the chance before it slipped away from me.

I started the race P2 and finished it at P2. In the final laps, the only thoughts running through my head were, I really wanted to ask her out as a race winner, I can't do that now. She probably doesn't even like me like that, did I really want to ruin everything I had with her. I stumbled out of the car towards her, a big smile on her face. And suddenly I said it; "I wanted to ask you out as a race winner" emotions were running high. She insisted me to continue and when I did, she agreed to go out with me. I was over the moon, my head was reeling. This race ending was not what I hoped for but Y/N's answer was something I really was hoping for.

She waited for me in the driver's room. I couldn't help but not touch her. Her skin against mine send electric shocks through me, I couldn't help but smile at the feeling of her against me. I wanted to have this feeling for the rest of the life. I wanted to have her next to me; it took me a while to figure that out but now that I had, I didn't want to let go. I loved her and I wanted her.

We were both in the hotel room at the end of night in each other’s embrace, "Can't believe you're my boyfriend" she exclaimed. "Can't believe you're my girlfriend either." I exclaimed back. "I've liked you since I've known you" she mumbled. "What?" I asked shocked. "Yeah, I've always had a crush on you. Teenage me would lose it right now if she saw" she said. "I'm sorry it took me so long" I muttered pressing a kiss against her lips. "better late then never" she laughed wrapping her arms around my neck, flipping me to straddle my hips. She bent down to kiss me again.

I could spend the rest of my life like this, if it meant I could have her forever.

Hope you had fun. Thank you for enjoying the story!!

[soaps-mohawk]

Plans For The Rest Of The Year

Since we are in November, it's time to touch on some things I've been thinking about over my month long break.

First things first, CRCB will continue but there's going to be some changes to the update schedule. I will not be doing weekly updates anymore. It's just not possible anymore. It was a stretch back when I was lucky enough to have the ability to do weekly updates, but now with work and the upcoming holiday season, it just won't be possible anymore for me to do weekly updates.

Instead, I'm going back to how things were in the beginning. Those of you who are OGs will remember that I kind of just updated whenever I had a chapter done and that's what the update schedule is going to look like going forward. It probably will remain that way for the rest of the duration of the story since come January I will be going back to school and also working on moving. This will also allow more time to answer comments and asks and not make me feel like I have to crunch to get things answered within a week along with writing the chapter. I'm very sorry to everyone who will be disappointed, but for my own sanity I have to just update whenever I can manage to get a chapter done.

That being said, there will be some other changes. During the break I worked on an old fic for a different fandom, and I honestly kind of miss writing for other fandoms. So that's also going to play into CRCB's update schedule. Sometimes I just want to (and need to) write other things, and I'm going to allow myself to do that. I also have some other COD fics (shorter fics) that I'd love to work on as well when the inspiration comes so it won't just be no content until the next part of CRCB. There will be other things posted as well. Those of you subscribed to my Patreon, you'll be getting a similar post but with some other things regarding content there soon.

That's the plan moving forward at least for now. The end of this year and next year are going to be very busy for me with a lot of changes, so I have to adapt this hobby to fit into my real life schedule. Since that's what this all is. A hobby. It's not my job (even though I wish it could be) so it has to be sacrificed a bit in favor of things going on in my real life. I'll still be writing and posting and updating stories, it just won't be nearly to the extent that I was before October.

There probably won't be a CRCB chapter this weekend since I don't have one ready yet, but potentially at some point next week. I'll probably make a post here the day before the chapter will be posted, and I for sure will post on my taglist blog the same time that the chapter drops here so make sure you're following there and have notifications on if you want to be notified of when the new chapters are coming out.

I think that's all I have for now regarding this blog and CRCB and what's going to happen going forward. Again, I'm very sorry for everyone who I'm going to inevitably disappoint with this news, but things just have to be this way.

I hope you all have a good day and I will see you probably later when I answer some of the asks sitting in my inbox.

[cloudyynebulas]

Hello I want to welcome you to the Cookie Run x reader community and as for my request can you do headcannons of your favorite cookies please

thank you thank you! it's much appreciated :] since no specific game was specified, i'll write out the ancient hero cookies (plus a few beast cookies) for this ask!

i ended up writing a LOT for this one, so apologies if its a little long! as stated in my pinned post, requests are open indefinitely! feel free to send some stuff in my inbox and ill get to writing it asap ^_^

COOKIE RUN: KINGDOM ROMANCE HEADCANONS

[ reader is implied to be gender neutral! ]

. ☾ . .

PURE VANILLA COOKIE ;

Pure Vanilla Cookie is incredibly gentle and sweet. He's always there to lend an ear for you, his touch soft and caring with a scent of warm vanilla and soft cream. He'll happily stop whatever he's doing if it means being by your side.

He's an Ancient Hero, so he carries plenty of responsibilities, but his typical busy schedule does not come in the way of being around you - and as mentioned above, he's fully willing to stop what he's doing to be there for you, especially if you need comfort.

Very very affectionate, but always makes sure you're comfortable with being hugged or held in the moment before he makes any moves. He wants you to be comfortable.

Plants a whole room full of flowers in his kingdom just for you. He'll ask you what kind of flowers you love most, and the next thing you know, you'll see a whole bunch of them planted in a greenhouse, and tons more in different vases and bouquets around the castle.

Whenever you're wounded, Pure Vanilla Cookie is by your side within seconds. As an exceptional healer, his light magic soothes your wounds and fills up cuts, stopping anymore runaway jam from escaping your cuts and bruises. He's incredibly gentle with his work, so very rarely do you wince or clench your teeth in pain - and in the case that does happen, he's quick to apologize and make sure you're alright.

. ☾ . .

HOLLYBERRY COOKIE ;

Hollyberry Cookie is incredibly outgoing and energetic - always full of life and passion. She's the life of the party, and whether or not you're more extroverted or introverted, she's fully understanding and makes sure that you're always having a good time to the best of her ability.

The Hollyberry Kingdom is typically always packed, filled with laughter and berry juice - a smell that you grow accustomed to very quickly. Her kingdom is very well known for parties and get-togethers, so it's not often that the marble halls of magentas and cream are silent. It can get a little overwhelming, but Hollyberry often spends most of her time at these parties with you, and when she notices you're getting overwhelmed, she takes you to a quieter part of the castle.

Just like with Hollyberry, Wildberry Cookie is very much by your side often. His stoic posture and serious nature can be a bit intimidating at times, but he's incredibly caring and deeply cares for your well-being, just as he cares for Hollyberry's. Any Cookie that Queen Mother carries a deep love for is someone that Wildberry will protect no matter what.

He gives you both personal space when needed, guarding the two of you with an iron fist (quite literally). Expect your protection and safety to be rather high, as Hollyberry Cookie would never let anything happen to you. Her famous shield can protect you from any attack, and she's fully willing to throw herself into danger if it means keeping you safe and out of harms way.

Pitaya Dragon Cookie is well-aware of this relationship between you and Hollyberry Cookie, and Hollyberry has made it very clear that the dragon is not to bring you into harms way - or they'll have to answer to her shield, and she won't spar with them anymore. The red dragon will merely grumble incoherent nonsense, but will abide by these rules at the end of the day.

. ☾ . .

GOLDEN CHEESE COOKIE ;

You're her favorite treasure, no doubt about that. You are one of her greediest desires, and not a single misfortune should ever befall you so long as the radiant queen has you in her sight. Golden Cheese Cookie spoils you rotten, and every time you might insist that you don't need anymore gifts, she merely laughs and you get even more.

She spreads out her wings and will lift you up, gliding through the skies of the desert, the wind breezing up against both of you as you two would soar high into the skies, getting an absolute gorgeous view of the desert, the cheesebirds, and the horizon off in the distance.

Mozzarella Cookie absolutely makes bets between Smoked Cheese Cookie and Burnt Cheese Cookie when it comes to the relationship of you and Golden Cheese Cookie. She playfully teases both of you, and finds the relationship absolutely adorable.

You want something? You get it. There's not a single thing that Golden Cheese Cookie can't get her greedy hands on - every single one of your desires will be fulfilled, just as she fulfills the desires of her most treasured subjects. Everyday of your life is essentially paradise, and she'll stop at nothing to make you happy.

After the Dark Flour War, if she lost you - she would be destroyed. Losing her kingdom, her precious subjects, Burnt Cheese Cookie, Smoked Cheese Cookie and Mozzarella Cookie .. and you. Her hands holding up the small remains of her kingdom in defeat.

But she would never let you go. Never let anything that was hers disappear without a trace. She'll create the Virtual Golden City, like the war never happened. She'll be able to see you again - not as a bunch of cookie crumbs, but as the walking, talking, you. She'll salvage everything she can of those she treasured most, and this time - she won't lose you. Never again.

. ☾ . .

DARK CACAO COOKIE ;

Dark Cacao Cookie is very serious - a cookie known and revered for his blade, where the two dragons remain sealed. His resolution is great, yet so is his love for you. He's not naturally very soft or calm, so such moments are a rarity, but that does not bother you.

Living in such freezing cold temperatures is something you always struggled adjusting to, but Dark Cacao Cookie does everything in his power to keep you warm and safe within the walls of his kingdom. Whenever the two of you must trudge through the snow, he keeps you close, his warmth keeping the two of you warm through the treacherous environment.

Caramel Arrow Cookie and Crunchy Chip Cookie are very devoted to their king, and seeing him smile at the sight of you warms their hearts greatly. They usually spend time hanging out around you and the three of you often hang out whenever Dark Cacao Cookie must attend to his duties, which leaves you at the mercy of their playful teasing.. that usually ends in a trip to get boba.

After the Dark Flour War, his decline and isolation in his kingdom broke your heart. You tried, desperately, to bring back that resolve in his heart, but there was not much you could do. The damage had been done, and his friends were separated - and all of Earthbread felt the repercussions.

Gingerbrave and friends brought back that spark within him, and you reassured him that you'd never leave his side. Not now, not ever. He may have lost his way, but that didn't make you love him any less. Dark Cacao Cookie had always been faced with burden, and through the many years, he's always supported you - and now it was your turn to support him.

He's incredibly protective over you. Anything that dares threaten you will be put to an end with a swift strike of his sword. Whether it's Stormbringer Cookie's Heaven Splitter, or it's Mystic Flour Cookie's trickery, nothing will bring you harm when he is around. Especially after his awakening, he is now stronger than ever - and no shred of darkness will be able to come your way.

. ☾ . .

WHITE LILY COOKIE ;

Similar to Pure Vanilla Cookie, White Lily Cookie is incredibly gentle and soft-spoken. She's intelligent, curious, and very powerful. She's often on her own path, with you by her side, going from kingdom to kingdom. Unlike her dearest friends, she didn't have her own kingdom - choosing to roam the land rather than stopping and settling down.

The two of you roam the world together, with almost every inch of Crispia having been seen by the two of you - walking side by side. Searching in every nook and cranny for answers to White Lily's biggest question: Why were cookies created?

You wouldn't lie and say that such a question piqued your interest as well. White Lily Cookie wanted to see the witches, and from the endless amounts of research that the two of you conducted over the years, you both discovered the event known as the Night of the Witches, held once in a thousand years.

White Lily Cookie was very adamant on getting to this banquet - and was overjoyed when you agreed to come with her. The two of you eventually arrived to Beast-Yeast, where, after saving Silverbell Cookie, you both were welcomed into the Faerie Kingdom and became very good friends with Elder Faerie Cookie.

You and White Lily Cookie settled in the Faerie Kingdom longer than most other places you both would stop at momentarily to gather bearings, before continuing the journey. During these moments of standstill, White Lily Cookie was often seen with her hand intertwined with yours - both of you walking side-by-side, always and forever.

You both would be cooped up in libraries, reading large scrolls and ancient texts together. On the occasions when the two of you weren't researching, you'd be strolling the Faerie Kingdom with her and talking with the other Faerie Cookies, or standing on the wooden bridge dressed in flowers - watching the river water run through softly.

The Night of the Witches was the last time you saw White Lily Cookie for a long time. You awoke late that night, only to realize that White Lily Cookie was gone, with nothing but a small note left behind in her spot. Her note was written in her delicate handwriting, where she apologized for leaving without you - promising to return.

She didn't want you to be put in danger.

Elder Faerie Cookie did everything he could to comfort you as the days went by - with no sign or message of White Lily Cookie's return.

When the Dark Flour War commenced, all you could do was watch the chaos unfold with horror - as Dark Enchantress Cookie's terror wrecked havoc all throughout Earthbread. You didn't know what the feeling was - but just from the glimpses of Dark Enchantress Cookie you could see, you knew that it was her.

The glass casket that was once empty was suddenly filled with an unconcious White Lily Cookie - who was no longer truly herself. Now, she was merely half a cookie. With no way of awakening her without the Light of Freedom, you spent countless days protecting her casket, hoping for the day that she might return.

. ☾ . .

SHADOW MILK COOKIE ;

ohhhh boy. this one's a doozy.

Shadow Milk Cookie is extreeeemly clingy. For an Ancient Cookie who was once baked to be the Virtue of Knowledge, he knows everything about you. Of course, this Knowledge is twisted by the fact that his very existence has been distorted into what is now the Beast of Deceit, meaning that he is incredibly unpredictable.

Due to his clinginess, it's very often that his embrace is wrapped around you. Whether it's a sudden hug, your hands being yanked as you're suddenly forced into a dance - a serenade between you both, or his puppeteer strings keeping you locked in place so that you can't leave his side, Shadow Milk Cookie doesn't hesitate to keep you near him at almost all time, whenever he can.

If the two of you had met prior to his fall into darkness, he was one of the most caring, understanding Cookies you knew. But that Cookie you once knew was long gone, now replaced with a twisted version of himself. His morality and ideals gone with a flick of a wrist.

Try as you might to get away, there's nowhere on Earthbread where Shadow Milk Cookie cannot find you. When he's got his sights on you, it's over. There's really nothing you can do. The only moments of peace you would've ever received were during the countless years the Beasts were sealed away into the Silver Tree.

Your friends, such as Pure Vanilla Cookie, White Lily Cookie, and Gingerbrave, would do everything in their power to keep you safe, which Shadow Milk Cookie only finds annoying. These lowly thieves and weakling Cookies attempting to keep him from his beloved? Such blasphemy! The only thing he finds mildly entertaining about it is seeing his favorite marionette protecting his beloved - you.

Candy Apple Cookie most definitely listens in to his long, looong tangents about you. The way he compliments and adores everything about you, from your dough, your eyes, your clothes, everything about you is flawless to him. When he'd been sealed away in the Silver Tree, he longed to see your face again - it'd just been sooo long!

The guy loves theatrics. Especially when it comes to making cardboard cutouts and acting out in dazzling plays - and it's very clear where the favoritism lies. Those who Shadow Milk Cookie considers his friends are clearly drawn with detail and precision, while those he despises are drawn poorly, messily - meant to insult and mock.

Yours, however, is drawn with such meticulous detail, down to every last drop of color, just like his. When he acts out these plays, your puppet and his are always together - with his best vocal impression of you aweing Shadow Milk Cookie, boosting his own ego. All you can do is watch in disbelief at this so-called 'fictitious' play, while your friends silently pity you.

Definitely haunts your dreams, similarly to how he haunts Pure Vanilla Cookie's. You're not quite sure how he does it, but with how powerful he is and with his strength growing day by day, it's safe to say that you get less and less hours of sleep as the nights go on. Though, you can't stay awake forever - and when you fall asleep, he'll be there.

You can't get away from him. Trying to run away only results in blue puppet strings dragging you right back to him, where he scolds you for going "off-script". He finds your attempts at escaping entertaining, so he allows it to happen - letting you get that briefest glimpse of hope, only to snatch you up in his hands and shatter that glimmer of light you'd been clinging onto, dragging you back into the darkness with him.

There's nowhere to run. You're his, and his alone, till the end of time.

. ☾ . .

BURNING SPICE COOKIE ;

...this guy is really scary.

Burning Spice Cookie is known as the Great Destroyer, merciless and vile. He crushes hundreds of Cookies and other Wild Spices who dare even look in his direction the wrong way. Everything to him is meaningless and boring, things that will be inevitably destroyed. It's all a pointless cycle of rise and fall.

But you are a loophole in this cycle. He's not too sure what makes you so special .. or why his eyes light up in a firey passion when he sees you, some random Cookie who should've been reduced to ashes in the sand within seconds of being spotted by the Great Destroyer himself. He can't quite put his finger on it, but his mind races just at the sight of you.

With how he is, upfront and demanding, he wastes no time catching you. With his army of Wild Spices and his general, Nutmeg Tiger Cookie, you are quickly overwhelmed and outnumbered by many. Try as much as you can to run away and hide, you will be caught.

Burning Spice Cookie enjoys the thrill of the chase, the little game of hide and seek he plays with you as he and his entire army hunt you down, but his excitement is only satisfied when you are finally caught, thrown onto the sand in front of him, left at his complete mercy.

You are taken to his temple, and are kept under constant surveillance by him and Nutmeg Tiger Cookie, with you next to him at all costs. Any attempts at escape are practically impossible, and with his sheer strength, you wouldn't dare test such dangerous waters.

Very clingy, similar to Shadow Milk Cookie. His grip is incredibly strong, and just the slightest bit of strength would easily shatter your dough - but, surprisingly enough, Burning Spice Cookie knows to be gentle with a frail Cookie such as yourself. Every move and every thing you say feels like you're constantly walking on eggshells.

One wrong move, and you could be crumbs. Burning Spice Cookie is not opposed to threatening you with such words, knowing that your fear will keep you complicit, make you cower and not dare to think of the slightest possibility of escaping.

His chuckles of victory over this little game between you and him are all that echo within the walls of his temple as he sits on his throne, with you by his side, always.

. ☾ . .

MYSTIC FLOUR COOKIE ;

Mystic Flour Cookie is incredibly interesting and isn't like the other Beasts. She sees all things as utterly futile, and how everything is doomed to crumble and fade away as time passes on. She merely brings upon a quick, swift end to suffering Cookies, letting them pass on to be free of all burden.

Yet, through her countless years of existing, fulfilling the wishes and desires of all Cookies to the point of trapping herself within a cocoon, she never thought that she, herself, would have another wish beyond her goals of the world turning to pale flour.

Her goals remain the same, only now, she wants you to be with her as the world eventually crumbles to nothing but colorless flour. The two of you standing over the remains of a once broken world, the two of you as the sole survivors, the last remaining Cookies to walk Earthbread. Together, you both will fade into nothingness.

A perfect, peaceful end the two of you will share. But until her goals are truly fulfilled, you and her have eternity to prepare for that moment.

You may not agree with her ideals, but it does not matter to her. You will eventually see the truth, the futility of it all, and come to terms with her morals and beliefs - and be with her. Cloud Haetae Cookie will sing of her praises, filling your head with doubt and confusion about which side is truly the good side.

For Mystic Flour Cookie, she has existed since the dawn of Earthbread, alongside the other Beast Cookies - yet no Cookies have fascinated her more than you. She can only smile as you so desperately try to flee and escape your destiny, but in the end, you will understand.

She can wait till the end of time. You'll come running back to her in the end.

[schemmentisimpasours]

You Belong With Me

Gif as always by @babytakeittothehead

Summary: This was a request by @schemmentisfavoritegirl (why is it not letting me tag you the hell).for Teen Reader that Melissa takes under her wing. Listen this one got away from me and the ending is a little muddled... but it's because I think I want to do a spin on the idea for a series. But I gotta wrap some series up first.

Pairing: MOM!Melissa Schemmenti/Daughter!Reader

Warnings: Bullying, Group Home, Small physical violence

Masterlist

2.4k words

PS: This is scheduled to post while I'm away on a mini vacation so if stuff is messed up I'm sorry! I'll fix it and post when I come home Tuesday. If I'm not stressed out and annoyed from this damn trip 😅

-

“We have 15 high school students from the National Honor Society who will be joining us for a week to help in classrooms for their community service hours. Whenever you are ready, come up and grab their file and then take them with you,” Ava announced at the quick lunch meeting she had called , pointing to the students lined up on the wall.

Melissa was the first in line and pointed at you. You were off, standing in the corner by yourself, tapping your fingers rapidly in time to the music in your AirPods, “I would like her.”

“You sure about that Schemmenti? Teacher said she is a real piece of work. This is apparently her last chance, or she faces suspension. ”

“I’m sure,” Melissa said, taking your file and walking up to you.

At her approach, you removed your earbud and placed it back into your jacket. The first thought that popped into Melissa’s head was that you were respectful, unlike the other teenagers still scrolling their phones as they were approached. You didn’t shy away from her daunting presence, but Melissa could see underneath all your hard exterior that you were scared. Like with one wrong move, everything would fall down around you.

“Come on, kid you are with me,” Melissa said, and you nodded wordlessly.

You followed behind her, head held down, until you entered her classroom. Your mind kept replaying the worst-case scenarios, trying to prepare yourself as much as you could. You had heard about Ms. Schemmenti the fiery redhead of Abbott Elementary and knew one foot out of line and you would be screwed. She pointed to where you could put your stuff, and you couldn’t help but smile at the outrageous math lesson that was on the whiteboard. Fractions of various foods like pizza, apples, and cookies were drawn with a steady hand.

“You like math?” Melissa asked as you continued to stare at the lesson.

“It’s my favorite,” You said with a smile, “The only thing in life that has one answer. No other possibilities or options. Just right or wrong.”

“Alright math wiz, you can help the kids in small groups when they get back from lunch,” Melissa said simply, and it was settled.

Every day you came in, you helped with the math lesson with the kids who struggled just a little more than others and needed the extra support. Melissa watched as you slowly opened up, revealing a little more about yourself every day. And with every fact she knew, Melissa found herself getting a little more attached to you. You worked hard when you were in her class. Taking any critique from her without flinching and doing everything you could to make sure the kids were keeping focused. You always came in with your head down, earphones turned loud, but as soon as you entered Melissa’s class, you lit up all smiles and sarcastic jokes.

Then, when the final bell rang, you would make sure you had completed everything Melissa had asked of you before running off to the bus, avoiding the other kids the best that you could. She knew by day three that you were the outsider of the group. Never talking to the other kids who arrived with you and often being pushed around like you weren’t there at all. It made Melissa’s blood boil for a reason that she couldn’t name. She had watched this type of behavior unfold in front of her before and, of course, had been bothered. But this was different. This was pure rage she felt building in her. She waited for the day that you would snap back and wasn’t surprised when it happened. She was just furious that it happened in front of her eagles.

You had been helping take the kids to the gym when another boy walked by blatantly running into you. Melissa knew this kid, the one who had been put in Morton’s classroom but who often walked around free range. He had been the one to pick on you the most. Always seeking you out just to torment you.

You had brushed off the shove like you usually did until he said, “Eat any good pussy today dyke?”

Melissa had gone to snap at him for the language used in front of the kid, but before she could, you had already punched him square in the face. His head snapped back, blood immediately running down his nose as he fell to the floor. You went to kick him, but Melissa wrapped her arms around you, pulling you away. You kicked against her trying to get back to him as she pulled you into an empty classroom.

“Stay here for a damn minute!” Melissa swore and you flinched at her anger.

You let tears of rage fall down your face as you waited for her return. Why did you have to snap? Why did you always snap? It had brought you nothing but pain and sorrow and you didn’t know how to control it.

“Come on kid,” Melissa said curtly and you followed obediently behind her.

The little eagles were gone and the boy absent. All that was left was Mr. Johnson cleaning up the blood. He gave you a small nod and mouthed the words good job. You nodded back with a small smile.

“Listen I'm really sorry Ms. Schemmenti. I didn't mean to take my shit out in front of the kids like that. I just got… upset,” You said defeatedly once back inside her class, “You heard the awful thing he said to me. It used to be a comment here and there but it is constant now. I just blacked out and next thing I knew I was fucking punching him”

“Ain’t your parents teach you how to behave around other kids, especially the young ones? You take the fight somewhere else if you gotta swing. Away from witnesses,” She asked, anger still riddled in her voice, “And watch your language in my room.”

You shrugged, looking down at the floor. " I haven't seen them since I was ten. I have been in and out of group homes since then. Six of them due to my aggressive behavior. But in my defense I had to. When you are the only queer kid shi…stuff gets bad quick. All that has taught me is to fight first and ask questions later. It’s the only way to survive.”

Melissa was stunned into silence as you played with the sleeve of your jacket. Her lack of response made your anxiety rise. You gathered your stuff, not looking at her, “Look you don’t have to sign the paper. I'll go back to my teacher and tell him it’s not a good fit. Ava can write me up and call home. It will be fine don't worry. I made this mess. ”

Melissa knew that it would have been the end for you there. If your teacher found out you had lost another volunteer placement because of physical violence again, you would have been suspended. Your grades were already hanging in the balance as is, and this teacher already believed that you couldn’t and wouldn’t succeed. She had read most of your file when Ava said that you were the one to watch, but in it, there had been no mention of the group homes or the bullying that came with it. And by the sounds of it with one phone call you could be ripped from there too.The world was constantly trying to break you down, and the dark circles under your eyes told her that you were losing the fight.

“Wait,” Melissa called out to you, placing a hand on your shoulder, “Ava is already handling the boy and you ain’t getting in trouble. She watched what happened and we all vouched for you.”

“You didn’t have to,” you whispered.

“Of course I had to. I have been watching him bully you all week. It had to stop,” Melissa sighed, “And listen mistakes happen and I ain't gonna let you off easy but I'm not abandoning you either kid. You belong here. You belong with me.”

Tears filled in your eyes as you looked up at her, “You really mean it?”

Melissa wiped away the tears from your cheeks, “Of course I do. You remind me a lot of myself at your age. Angry at the world and thinking the only way through was to go down swinging. But hun, you keep swinging, you are going to hurt more than just the bad people. You gonna push away all the good ones too.”

“I don't want to be like this anymore,” you sobbed and Melissa hugged you close to her.

“I know,” She soothed kissing your head, “And you don’t have to be. I got you, we can work through it together.”

She let you stay there for a couple of minutes, pressed against her, clinging tightly, like she might disappear before she gave you one final squeeze. She wiped away the remaining tears from your face, kissing your forehead lightly, “You got the tears out, now it’s time to work on fixing what you broke. Starting with our little eagles. You gotta go apologize for scaring them.”

Which is exactly what you did when they returned from the gym. You apologized for scaring them, but not for defending yourself. Melissa had made it clear to the class that what was said to you was not nice and that the older boy was in more trouble than you were. It felt nice to have someone stand up for you for once. And when the end of the day came and the bus was there to take you back to your group home, you ran into Melissa’s arms terrified to let go and return back to that world. Her coworkers stared as Melissa clung to you just as fiercely before giving you a kiss on the head and telling you to stay safe.

That night, you were sprawled out on your bed, working on a project for school, doing your best to focus through the typical chaos, when your caseworker told you it was time to pack your things. Your single duffle bag felt like it was full of bricks as you wondered where they were shipping you off to and when you would see Melissa next, if ever again. The fear pounded in your heart all the way up to the driveway of a house that had a huge Italian hanging from the porch. Your face twisted in confusion until you saw her. Waiting for you at the top stair was Melissa a broad grin across her face.

Before the car came to a full stop you were out the door and running up the stairs. She opened her arms and you barreled into her. She laughed holding you close to her, “Welcome home baby girl.”

That night Melissa taught you how to make spaghetti. It was simple but was just a glimpse of the many meals she would teach you. When the plates were cleaned and the table wiped down she sat down and looked through your school portal. Glasses perched on the edge of her nose she ran through your missing assignments and what teachers you had. By the end of the week with many baked zitis involved your missing assignments were turned in and your grades up. The National Honor Society Teacher who had bullied and belittled you was fired and ran out of town. You would never ask how but knew Melissa was involved when a gleam in her eye showed as you told her excitedly of the teacher who replaced him. The boy who had bullied you had gotten expelled for a different incident that week as well and you never heard from him again. You finished the year with honors and enrolled in advanced courses for your junior year.

Your room got filled with posters of celebrities and books that were crammed in every free space. Twinkle lights hung from the ceiling and you hung pictures of you and Melissa on every wall. Your bed was covered in soft blankets and squishmallows you used as pillows. When your friends were over Melissa would sit in the living room listening to the giggles and loud music glad that you were comfortable and safe in her home. When it was just you and Melissa couldn't sleep at night she would stand in your doorway for just a moment to confirm that this wasn't all some elaborate dream. That you were hers just as much as she was yours.

The Thursday before Mother’s Day when you were 17 your adoption was finalized and you became an official Schemmenti. You had been calling Melissa Mom since your first month in her home but something about that mother’s day felt different. A breath released that Melissa didn't even know she held when she remembered you were a Schemmenti. Bound not by blood but by love and devotion to stay no matter what. A huge party was thrown in honor of the adoption and Janine and Jacob could be heard down the street screaming in excitement when they were named your godparents. You gave Melissa numerous gifts that day but her favorite one was something that you had made in art class. A collage of every single photo you had taken with her creating a heart around the quote: I love you Mom. Today, Tomorrow, Always. She had sobbed not caring that all of her coworkers were watching and hugged you so tight you lost your breath for a second.

During your senior year you were selected to participate in a year long mentorship program where you taught alongside a teacher for the last couple hours of the day. You worked alongside Baraba who wrote you a glowing recommendation for University of Pennsylvania’s teaching program. Which you were accepted to with a full ride scholarship and your teaching internship was completed with Barbara. Who when you graduated slipped into retirement leaving you her spot at Abbott Elementary were you worked alongside Melissa for another four years.

When you brought home the woman you would one day marry Melissa had loved her instantly. She walked you down the aisle in tears giving the best speech of the night. She was there every step of your pregnancy and welcomed her granddaughter with a smile and a kiss. Retiring to become the best Nonna she could be transforming your old room into a space her granddaughter could play and stay every weekend.

As you stood watching your daughter sleep in her bed surrounded by the stuffed animals Melissa bought so many years ago she came up beside you and hugged you close, “Told you that you belong with me.”

-

@yoyo-w

@cupldscntrl

@milfslvr

@liliapleasesteponme

@milfjuulpod

@schemmentisfavoritegirl

[sanguinesky-if]

[Dev Log] May 2025

Hello, I hope you're doing great!

As for my progress, here's a quick overview of my activity over the past month and my plans for the current one.

[Announcement] Patreon billing will be paused starting May 25 for one month to finish the update.

The work on the update is well underway, and since I've decided to add more content that was discussed in this post [public post on Patreon], I'll need one more month to finish it.

That said, the early release of Chapter 3 Pt. 2 is scheduled for the end of June.

At the end of May, I'll share more sneak peeks [for Morgan's, R's, and I's scenes], and reach out to the readers who have helped me with grammatical mistakes in the past to ask if they'd be interested in beta reading.

I hope this will help ensure the update contains fewer grammatical mistakes before it's released on Patreon and then publicly.

What was done last month?

▹ Chapter 3 Pt. 2: finished working on Morgan's and R's scene + made some improvements.

Aside from finishing the ROs' scenes, the list of improvements includes:

Making the small sex scene with secondary rivals available after some of the ROs' scenes.

Previously, the small sex scene with secondary rivals was only available as a separate scene that had to be selected instead of the scene with one of the ROs. While working on the update, I realized that was a very poor decision and coded it differently, making it available as a choice for the reader at the end of the scene with some of the ROs.

Adding the opportunity to unlock certain jealousy moments using alignment [approval] points.

While I was reviewing one of the completed scenes, I saw an opportunity to code a specific narrative variation involving jealousy using alignment [approval] points. This made me reconsider all planned jealousy moments, and I've decided that starting from Chapter 3 Pt. 2, readers will be able to trigger some jealousy variations if they have enough romance or alignment points. The alignment requirement will always be higher than the romance one [+1 or +2 compared to romance points]. I hope this change will be appreciated by the readers who don't want to flirt with other ROs but still want to experience at least some jealousy moments, even though it will be very occasionally.

What will I be working on in April?

▹ Chapter 3 Pt. 2: outlining and coding [I's, T's, and S's scenes].

In addition to that, the bonus content on Patreon that will be released this month will include:

▹ K's Short Story. ▹ T's POV [Chapter 3 Pt. 1].

Author's Note.

Just like in the previous dev log, I want to thank everyone who sent me messages and apologize if you didn't receive a reply.

Right now, my mind is completely focused on finishing the update, which makes me less socially active and attentive than I should be.

After the update, I'll try to be more active here, since I already have plans for what's next [some of which include NSFW content for both Patreon and public releases 😏].

Also, some of the questions I've received are already answered in the Q&A post, so please check there first to see if you can find the answer you'd like to know.

Thank you for reading to the end! Wishing you a wonderful week and days after that! ♥

[study-coffee-chicago]

Glasses (A Halstead Brothers + Halstead Sister Imagine)

A/N: Thank you so much for reading and for sticking around with my sporadic posting! Please don't forget to vote and comment! 

I start my second year of my doctoral program next week and have been working 60 hrs/wk these past few weeks to save up for when I have less time during the school year. I don't know when I will post next, but I have an idea that I want to write and I've also been trying to write 300 words/day, which is very helpful in getting writing done. 

Anyway, sorry for the long author's note! Enjoy!

"You gonna go see my teacher now?" you asked after you and Jay walked into your elementary school one spring evening.

"Yup," Jay answered while he led you over to the small table set up right outside the room. It was stocked with coloring pages, markers, crayons, and a couple of books. "And you're going to sit right here while I talk to her, okay? I'll be right inside."

"And then we get ice cream after?"

"What was our deal?"

You sighed. "If I get a good re- re--" you scrunched up your eyebrows as you tried to remember the grown-up word that Jay had used earlier. "What's that word?"

"Report."

"Oh, yeah! If I get a good report, then I get ice cream."

"That's right."

"Mr. Halstead?" your teacher said as she stepped out of your classroom.

"Hi, Miss H!" You waved. "Please tell Jay I was good because I get ice cream then!"

Jay chuckled. "You'll just have to wait and see, kiddo. Now, be good while I talk to Miss H, okay?"

"Okay!" Then, you started flipping through the coloring pages to try and find one that you wanted to color.

***

"So, tell me the truth, is she a troublemaker?" Jay asked as he sat down across from your teacher. "I know for a fact me and my brother were, so it wouldn't surprise me."

You teacher smiled. "Y/N is anything but that. She does her work as assigned, gets her planner signed at night, and stays on task very well. She struggles with math, but that's understandable. Some take longer to learn math than others. But, she excels at reading. She said that you read with her and do flashcards with her every night."

Jay nodded. "We're working through The Chronicles of Narnia right now. Me, my wife, Hailey, or my brother, Will, will read that to her before she goes to bed, depending on who's with her due to our schedules. Then, the next night, we'll have her try and read to us. She's working on Junie B. Jones."

"Well, it's working. And, she's making more progress in her mad minutes for math than she was a month ago. Do you work on flashcards every day?"

"We try to," Jay answered. "Those we try to do right after school and give her a snack with it. Some would call it bribery, but it works."

"Keep doing what you're doing. It's been working really well." She paused. "There is one thing that has been concerning me about, Y/N." Jay furrowed his eyebrows as he continued to listen. "When we move seats for groups during partner reading and other times during the day, I noticed that she struggles to read what's on the board. Sometimes she'll squint really hard and sometimes she'll walk up to the board to write in her planner at the end of the day. I've moved her to the front row for class, but when we move for groups and she's further away from the board, it seems that it's hard for her to see. Do you have the time and money to get her eyes checked? If not, we have vision testing coming to school in a month, which is free and required for all students," your teacher finished.

"My brother's a doctor, and we'll make sure to see her pediatrician about this. It's getting close to her yearly physical anyway. Thank you for telling me. Is there any other times that you notice this?"

"During library days, she always makes sure to sit in the front so she can she the pictures better. I'm sorry. I wish I had more information to give you."

"No, thank you for telling me this. I know you have a lot of other kids to look out for. Is there anything else I should know? Behavior wise, she's good, right?"

"Very well behaved. The only thing I was concerned about is her vision."

"Great. Thank you again for telling me."

"You're welcome. Is there anything else you needed to discuss regarding Y/N?"

"No," Jay answered. "I'll get out of your hair now then. You've probably got more parents to see."

"I do. Have a good night."

"You, too," Jay replied and then made his way to the door and out into the hallway.

Your head shot up the second you heard the door open. "I was good, right?" you asked.

"You weren't good-"

You dropped your head. No ice cream. "But-"

"You were great, kiddo!" Jay exclaimed.

"Ice cream!" you cheered.

Jay squatted down to your height and looked at the picture you were coloring. "That's really pretty and you're almost done. So, how about instead of going out for ice cream, I call Will and have him pick up ice cream sundae stuff and we can make them at home. That way, you can finish your picture at home."

"Can we watch a movie, too?"

Jay looked at his watch. 5:33. You'd have time to watch a Disney movie before bedtime. "If you start it right when we get home, then yes, you can watch a movie."

"Yay!"

"Now, stay here for a couple more minutes while I go call Will, okay? And, what's my rule?"

"If I have to go somewhere and can't tell you, tell a good adult." Jay had taught it to you as trusted adult, but you couldn't remember that word, so you always said good adult.

"That's right. I'll be right back."

Then, he made his way all the way down the hallway and turned the corner and continued walking until he was sure that you weren't within earshot to call Will.

He picked up on the first ring.

"If you need help disciplining her based on a bad report, that's all you, Jay. You're the disciplinarian and I'm the fun brother."

Jay rolled his eyes. "It's not that. She did great, but her teacher said that she might need glasses. She said she struggles to see the board. Think you could check her out tonight?"

"Jay, she needs to go to an optometrist for that."

"I know, but can't you just do some preliminary stuff? Also, she wants you to come over for ice cream sundaes and a movie, so you'd be there anyway."

"Who says I don't have plans?"

"C'mon, man. I know you."

"Fine, I'll be there in 30 minutes. You need me to pick anything up? Maybe a pizza? Can't just give the kid ice cream for dinner, but you know that."

"If you bring pizza, at least bring a salad with it," Jay bargained.

"Deal. See you in 30. And, I'll put in a call to her pediatrician on the way to your place."

"Perfect. Thanks, man. See you later."

Then, Jay hung up the phone and walked back over to you. "Ready to go?"

"Yes! Ice cream!"

"Ice cream is right. Let's go, kiddo."

Then, you two made your way to his truck and went to the store to buy everything you, Jay, Will, and Hailey would need for ice cream sundaes. And, Jay kept an eye on you to see if you were squinting. But, it was a bit difficult because he was making a mental checklist and checking everything off while you two were in the store. He figured he'd investigate more when you got home.

***

When you got back, you quickly put on your Tangled pajamas and told Jay that was the movie you wanted to watch.

Then, you grabbed your stool from under the sink while Jay was in the living room getting the movie pulled up. Your hand was on the handle to the freezer and you were just about to open it when Jay walked back in.

"And what do you think you're doing, missy?" You turned around to face him and it was like you were a deer in the headlights. "Were you trying to get ice cream before dinner?"

"Maybe..." you answered slowly.

"That's what I thought. Now, how about you get down and start your movie so that you can finish it before bedtime? Will will be here soon and then I'll bring your food to you."

"I get to eat in the living room?" Jay almost never let you eat in the living room! You always had to eat at the table!

"If you eat over your plate, you can eat in the living room. But, if you start being messy, it's right back to the table."

"Okay!" You jumped down from your stool, put it away, and then made your way to the couch in the living room. You grabbed your favorite fuzzy blanket from the back of the couch and then hit play on the remote.

Jay chuckled and reached into the cabinet where he hid the stickers for your sticker chart. Then, he placed one on the line next to the chore that said Clean up when asked - No arguing.

Even though he didn't ask you to put your step stool away, you still did it. And, maybe he was giving you this because he felt guilty about not noticing that you were struggling to see. Either way, you were one step closer to getting a prize.

Five minutes later, Will walked in with the pizza.

"Will!" you exclaimed and jumped up off the couch and ran up to him. "My teacher said I was really good!"

"I heard that! Now let me put this down and then I can give you a big hug. And I even got you your own pizza!"

"You did?"

"Yes, I did, silly!"

"Jay, did you hear that? Will got me my own pizza! That way I don't have to pick the gross onions and black olives off yours."

"I did! Now, let's let Will put down the pizza, hmm?" Jay said and grabbed your hand to gently pull you out of the way.

You moved out of the way, allowing Will to set the pizza boxes on the table. Then, he crouched down and gave you a bone-crushing hug.

"Stop! Too tight!" you laughed, making Will just squeeze you harder while Jay tried his best to contain his laughter at the two of you.

"Alright, you two, Let's eat before the pizza gets cold. Y/N, go wash your--"

Jay was cut off by the door opening and you squealing.

"Hailey!"

You wriggled out of Will's hold and ran up to her. "Guess what?! Guess what?! Guess what?!"

"Guess we know who her favorite is," Will muttered.

"What?" Hailey asked with a giant smile on her face. She was also holding a pink box that you noticed sort of smelled like cookies.

"I did really good at school so I get pizza and ice cream sundaes!"

"I know! Jay told me! So, I thought we could have brownie sundaes!"

She moved toward the table and set down the pink box. Then, she opened the box, revealing fresh, warm brownies from the bakery a block from the district.

You reached for one, but Jay quickly swatted your hand away. "Nuh-uh. Dinner first, missy."

Jay then put your personal pizza on a plate along with a breadstick, baby carrots, and some ranch for you to dip the carrots in. He handed you the plate along with some napkins.

"Go ahead and watch Tangled while you eat, okay? We'll be in there soon."

"Okay!"

The minute Jay heard the movie playing again, he was all business. "So, how are we doing this, Will?"

Jay didn't need to explain to Hailey what he was referring to here because he texted her that you had gotten a good report, but that your teacher also said that you needed glasses after he called Will when you were at school.

"I called her pediatrician and she can see her on Friday. She said that if she does need glasses, the optometrist should be able to get her on Monday."

"Perfect, great. Me and Hailey both work Monday, so you can take her, right?"

"I can take her," Will confirmed.

"Okay, good."

"So, in the meantime, what do we do?" Hailey asked.

"I'm just gonna watch to see if she squints at all during the movie. Maybe if you guys take her to the park tomorrow ask her to see things that are far away, like, Hey! Look at that cool bird! or something and see if she squints or not. Can't really do much until she goes to the optometrist," Will answered.

"You guys are missing Flynn get hit with a frying pan!" you yelled.

"I blame you for her love of violence, Jay," Will joked.

"Coming!" Jay yelled. "Just a sec, kiddo!"

Then, the adults filled their plates and made their way to the living room.

***

Monday afternoon

Will was going to kill his brother. When you got in the car, he asked if you were ready to go. To where, you had no idea. So, you had asked if you were going home.

"No, to the doctor, silly. To get your eyes looked at," Will answered.

"But I already did that! No more, please! Wanna go home!"

Will sighed but continued driving. "Why don't you want to go to the doctor, kiddo?"

"Because I don't want shots! I didn't get shots last time, so I gotta get shots now! Don't want 'em!" you cried.

"Oh, no, no, no," Will quickly soothed. "No shots. They're just going to look at your eyes. Then, you have to tell them which picture is easier to see and what letter you're looking at."

"Really? No shots?"

"No shots," Will confirmed.

"And I get French fries after?"

Will took a deep breath. Did he want to have an argument with you while driving and then end up either in an accident or late to your appointment because he had to pull over? No. Neither of those sounded particularly appealing. So, he went with the safest option.

"Yes, we can get French fries after."

***

"Y/N Halstead," the optometrist called after you had been sitting at the office for ten minutes.

You stood up and so did Will and you quickly grabbed his hand, letting him know that he would be coming into that room with you no matter what.

"I'm not going anywhere, kiddo."

"I just making sure," you told him, causing him to chuckle lightly.

You walked into an office with a weird thing hanging from the ceiling. There were lots of different circles and it was really big. There was a chair in front of it, too.

While the doctor started talking to you, he lowered the chair. "So, Y/N, I hear you're having a little trouble seeing the board at school, hmm?"

You shrugged. "A little. But only when I'm far away."

"And that's okay. What I'm going to do is help you see better. I'm going to lower down this machine--I know it looks big, but it's not scary, I promise--. Then, I'm going to have you read some letters to me."

"Like I did the other day at the doctor's?" you asked as you looked up at Will.

"Exactly like you did the other day," he confirmed. "Now you just look into special stuff so we know exactly what glasses you need." Then, he quickly turned to the optometrist. "Sorry. I'm Dr. Will Halstead, an ED doc at Chicago Med. Also her older brother."

"He said I gotta go to someone else for my eyes, but he's a doctor," you said to the optometrist.

The optometrist laughed and then shook your brother's hand. "Well, he's right." Then, he got down to your level and said in a stage whisper, "and between you and me, I probably know more about eyes than him."

"Really? I didn't think anyone was smarter than Will!"

"Really. Now let's take a look at those eyes." He moved over to his chair and then had you look into the glass circles. "Now, read me the smallest letter you can see."

***

"How'd it go?" Jay asked when you and Will walked into his apartment. Then, he spotted the McDonald's bag. "Seriously?"

"Only way she was gonna go. You sure she doesn't listen to your interrogations at the district? She had to have learned blackmail from somewhere."

"Haha, very funny. Did it go well, kiddo?"

"Yeah, I had to look at these pictures and tell the not Will doctor what one looked better," you answered.

Jay held back a laugh at your description of the doctor. "Did you pick out any glasses?"

"Yeah, I got purple. Can I eat my food now?"

"Go wash your hands and then you can."

You ran off to go wash your hands so that you could eat your chicken nuggets and fries and then Jay turned to Will.

"She been like this all day?" Jay asked.

"Doesn't help when she has no idea what's going and I have to tell her thirty minutes before the appointment, Jay," Will quipped.

"Fries and nuggies!" you yelled as you ran out of the bathroom after washing your hands, which effectively cut your brothers' conversation about your lack of excitement to see clearly short.

***

3 days later, Thursday.

"You ready to pick up your glasses, kiddo?" Jay asked as you got in his truck in the pickup line at school.

You simply shrugged. "Yeah," was all you answered.

Today at school, during soccer at recess, a boy's glasses fell off and then someone accidentally stepped on them and broke them when you were playing! What if that happened with your glasses? What if you couldn't play soccer anymore because you wore glasses?

You loved soccer ever since you had started playing it last year. And, you and Jay always practiced on Sunday mornings at the park. And, when it was nice out, you two would always have a picnic. It was always a Jay and Y/N date (sometimes Hailey would come along, but only if you agreed to it). That time was sacred for you and Jay because of his demanding job, but what if you didn't get to do that anymore all because you needed stupid glasses to see the stupid board at stupid school?

"How was school?" Jay asked. He knew by your demeanor that your mood was more sour than it had been this morning, and he'd prefer to discuss it now than have you blow up at home. One would be shocked at how much anger you could hole up and spew out from your little body.

"It was good. Same old, same old."

Jay rolled his eyes. You had definitely picked up that saying from Will. "Do anything fun?" he probed. "Was recess good?"

"I played soccer during first and second recess, but I didn't score at all. Stupid boys. They're always faster than me."

If you hadn't added the last part, then Jay would probably have told you that boys have cooties anyway and to stay away from them until you're thirty. But, you did say that last part, so he knew he had to be comforting.

"Well, you gotta remember, you like playing defense, so what do I always tell you?"

"I gotta outsmart 'em...and slide tackle."

Last Jay checked that was illegal in kids' soccer. "I don't think me or Will ever taught you about slide tackling. Where'd you learn about that, kiddo?"

"Adam taught me when he took me to the park when you had to talk to some bad guys yesterday."

"Of course he did," Jay muttered. "Just remember, you can only do that to me, Will, or Adam. Don't try and do that to other people, okay?"

He knew that he should probably tell you to never do that, but eh, he figured he'd let you have a little fun. And, it wasn't like he never got kicked out of games for doing a slide tackle...okay, maybe multiple slide tackles in a game with one leading to the other team's captain getting a concussion.

"Okay," you answered. "I'm not good at 'em anyway."

Jay chuckled. "And let's keep it that way."

***

Jay was both happy and frustrated when he watched you put on your glasses and see the world clearly for the first time in who knows how long. He was frustrated because how could he have not noticed this? Hell, how could Will not have noticed this? And, he was happy as he watched your mouth fall slightly agape and mutter whoa to yourself.

After you made sure that your glasses fit and the optometrist did all the necessary checks, you made your way back to Jay's truck.

"I gotta stop at the district to pick up some paperwork," Jay said as he began driving. "You ready to show off your glasses to everyone?"

"Yes!" you exclaimed. You loved the color of your glasses and everything was so pretty! Nothing was blurry anymore!

When you walked into the district, you were first met with Trudy, who didn't see you at first.

"Looking for this, Chuckles? You left it here earlier and you and me both know that Voight will have your—" And then she noticed you and quickly shut her mouth before she swore in front of you.

"Good catch, sarge," Jay said and took the manilla folder from her.

"Y/N, I didn't know you had glasses! They look so pretty! So much better than my old lady ones," Trudy complimented.

Then, you heard someone coming down the stairs.

"So if I call you old—"

"Shut it, Ruzek," she snapped as Adam strode over to you.

"And, she's back. Thanks, man," Jay complained.

"I was just telling Y/N here how pretty her glasses were before you ever so impolitely interrupted," Trudy said to Adam.

Then, Adam crouched down to your height. "My, my. They sure are pretty." Then, he held up three fingers. "How many fingers am I holding up?"

"Adam!" you laughed. "That's not how they work."

"But I thought that's how glasses worked. How about you tell me how they do work?"

"I just can't see far away. You gotta back up and do that."

He did so and then reached into his pocket.

"So, can you read this?"

"Oreos! I can read the words now!"

That stopped Jay in his tracks. "What do you mean by that, kiddo?"

"I can read the words from far away now and not just close by me. It's because I have my glasses now, duh."

Adam almost burst out laughing at your sass, but held back his laughter when he saw Jay's death stare directed right at him.

"Right, of course, silly me," Jay answered quickly. "Go get your Oreos from Adam and then we can go upstairs and show everyone else your glasses, how's that sound?"

"Okay!" you excitedly ran up to Adam and he handed you the Oreos. "Thank you!"

"You're very welcome!"

You started towards the stairs and Jay quickly whispered to Adam, "Boards flipped?"

"Did it before I walked down here since I heard her voice."

"Great, thanks."

"Jay! You gotta put your hand here to open it because I'm not special enough to put my hand here!" you exclaimed.

"Okay, okay, hold on a sec," he said and then gently pushed you to the side to put his hand on the palm scanner. The door beeped and then he pulled the door open. "Ladies first."

You walked in and immediately everyone's heads turned towards you.

"Y/N!" Hailey exclaimed "You got your glasses!"

"Yeah! Everything looks so much better and so pretty!" You took a moment to look around the bullpen. Despite being in this room with Jay and Hailey for two years now off and on since your dad died, you could finally see it clearly. You thought everything was always a little blurry around the edges.

"How many fingers am I holding up?" Voight asked from the back of the bullpen near his office.

"Three!" you yelled confidently.

"That's right! Wow, she counts faster than you, Ruzek."

Jay held back a laugh while Adam exclaimed, "Why you gotta be like that, Boss?"

"Because it's true. You got the paperwork, Halstead?"

"Right here. I'll get out of your hair now because it's my RDO and I do not want to be here on my day off. C'mon, Y/N, let's go home."

"But I didn't see Kevin or Kim yet!" you whined.

"They're out doing police work, kiddo. You can see them later, okay?"

"But I want to show them my glasses!"

Hailey quickly saw the temper tantrum that was about to erupt and stood up. "How about I take a picture of you with your glasses and send it to them? Then you can see what they say when I get home tonight. How does that sound, Y/N?"

You nodded and walked closer to her. "Yes!"

While Hailey was taking your picture, Jay mouthed thank you to his wife for avoiding a meltdown in the bullpen.

***

3 days later, Sunday

You did not sleep good at all. You tossed and turned all night thinking about your Jay and Y/N date in the morning. You loved them and you loved soccer! But you couldn't go now because what if your glasses fell off when you and Jay were passing the ball and practicing? And, if you took off your glasses before playing, what if he got mad at you? Jay and Will had told you that you had to wear them all the time! And you didn't want Jay Jay to be mad at you!

So, when you went into the kitchen in the morning (wearing your glasses of course) and saw Jay and Hailey sipping their cups of coffee, one could only imagine your relief when you looked out the window and saw the sky was covered with dark gray clouds.

"Morning, kiddo," Jay greeted. "Doesn't look like we can play soccer today." Then, Jay furrowed his eyebrows as he got a better look at you. You had dark circles under your eyes that looked like they should be for a college student cramming for finals instead of a first-grader on a Sunday morning. "You feeling okay?" Then, he walked up to you and placed the back of his hand on your forehead. "Hmm, you don't feel warm."

"Didn't sleep good," you mumbled.

"I didn't sleep good either," Hailey sympathized. "Must be the weather." She knew it was her insomnia acting up, but you had no idea what that was--and she hoped you never would have to know what that was like--, but she didn't feel like explaining it to a first grader this early in the morning while she was running on fumes herself.

"How about we have a lazy day," Jay suggested. "Movies and coloring sound good, Y/N?"

"Yeah. Can Will come, too? He always does the best coloring."

It was true. Because of how steady Will's hands were due to being a surgeon, he could color in all the small areas in the pictures, even in adult coloring books that Hailey had, that you, Jay, and Hailey would typically make a mess out of and at least color outside the lines a bit.

"I'll give him a call. I don't see why he wouldn't want a lazy day," Jay said.

"And, I think we have some chocolate chip cookie dough in the freezer to bake cookies," Hailey suggested.

Jay glared at his wife and then rolled his eyes. You've already gotten spoiled with treats and takeout more than enough this past week and a half. But, he knew as well Hailey knew herself that she had a sweet tooth and it only got worse when her insomnia was acting up.

"Before we do all that," Jay began, "let's get you some breakfast first. What sounds good, kiddo?"

"Can I have an omelet? With lots of cheese please?"

You were recently introduced to these a few months ago when you and Hailey were enjoying chocolate chip waffles at a diner and Jay had an omelet. You wanted some of his hash browns, but he said you had to try a bit of his omelet. You didn't really want to try this, but your want hash browns overpowered this. And, lo and behold, you liked it! So, now on Sundays when Jay wasn't working, you'd ask for an omelette. It has to be Jay who made them though because he made the best ones between him, Will, and Hailey.

"Omelet it is," Jay replied and then picked up a spatula. "How about you go get dressed while I make this, okay?"

"Okay!"

Then, you ran off to your room to put on some comfy clothes to spend the day in.

***

"Where's Y/N?" Will joked when he walked inside around 10:30 that morning.

"I'm right here!" you yelled while you sat at the table coloring. You had no idea how he couldn't see you when you were right there!

"Oh, I didn't recognize you with such pretty glasses."

You dropped your head. "You- You don't?"

Luckily Jay was behind you so that you didn't see him wipe his hand down his face. 

His brother, Jay thought. Thank god he didn't go into pediatrics.

"I was only kidding, silly! Of course, I recognize you! The only thing different about you is that you have glasses now. But, do you recognize me?"

"Yes! But your hair's really messy! Do you want to use my brush?"

Jay choked on his second cup of coffee at your comment and Hailey quickly hit him on the back.

He cleared his throat. "Sorry, went down the wrong pipe," he said and then coughed a couple more times.

Will smoothed down his hair. "Wind's pretty strong out there. Guess it messed it up a bit." Then, he walked over to the table and set a tray of drinks down. "Coffee for all three of us and hot chocolate for you." He handed you your drink. "Careful though. It might still be super hot. Now, what are we coloring?"

***

"She is totally out," Jay commented later that afternoon.

The four of you had started watching a movie and you had curled up next to Hailey under your favorite fuzzy blanket. Needless to say, after you struggled to sleep this past night, within thirty minutes of the movie, you were totally out with your head leaning against Hailey's chest.

Hailey smiled down at you. "She's so cute when she's sleeping."

"When she's awake she's a menace now apparently," Will joked.

"Just because she made one comment about your precious hair," Jay muttered. "Let the hair comment go, man. Let it go."

Will rolled his eyes. "So, how's she doing? She mention any headaches at all with her glasses?"

"Hasn't said anything to me," Jay answered. "She say anything to you, Hails?"

"Nothing," Hailey replied. "She also didn't say that kids were mean to her, so that's good, too."

"Yeah, I remember when Jay got his glasses. All the kids teased him about it," Will said.

"It wasn't all the kids. It was you! Just you! And, now they have more education for bullying and stuff, so maybe kids are nicer than when we were kids." Then, Jay changed the subject. "I'm just shocked she didn't throw a fit when I said we couldn't play soccer today because it was storming."

"But, she said she didn't sleep good last night," Hailey reminded him.

"Yeah, I know. But still, she loves Sundays. And, at the beginning of winter a few months ago, she threw a fit the first time there was too much snow on the ground to go."

"I would say consider it a good thing that she didn't fight with you this morning," Will began, "but you said she didn't sleep good. She say anything else to you? Her tummy or head hurt? I didn't notice anything off when I was here, but maybe she said something earlier."

Jay shook his head. "She seemed fine, other than her being tired."

"Okay, good. If she tells you anything else--especially if she's having headaches--let me know."

***

3 days later, Tuesday

You were usually so excited for Tuesday nights and soccer practice, but now, you were nervous. What if your glasses fell off and somebody broke them? You didn't want Jay or Will or Hailey to be mad at you!

So, when you were running at practice, you went exceptionally slow, which made Jay wonder if you were hurt. He watched you shake your head at your coach, so he must've asked you the same thing.

When you got in the car after practice, needless to say, Jay was slightly worried.

"You okay, kiddo? You didn't look like you were having fun out there."

"I was having fun," you answered, but that was only a half-truth. You only had fun when you were defending and didn't have to worry about running as much, and thus, your glasses falling off.

"Okay. You just didn't feel like it today then?" You shrugged. "That's okay. Everyone has days like that."

What he wasn't going to do was be like your dad and make it seem like you needed to be at 100% every single day. As long as you tried your best with what you had left in the tank, that was all that mattered.

You nodded and just looked out the window while Jay kept driving.

And once you got home, since you put your cleats away nicely without being asked, Jay added a sticker to your sticker chart. But, his detective senses were tingling.

Something was definitely off with you.

***

One week later

It had been a long week for both Hailey and Jay. They'd had their hands full at work trying to catch a serial rapist who ended up killing his last three victims.

During this time, you had spent most of your time with Will, except on Jay's RDO, and then Hailey's RDO when they each spent time with you instead. Even though each of them knew that the team would be a man down on each of their RDOs, they knew it would be difficult for Will to be the sole caretaker of you with his demanding job as well. So, even though they probably should've worked during their RDOs this week, they didn't.

But, they had been so mentally drained on their days off that neither of them remembered to check your backpack for important paperwork. And, both Jay and Hailey knew that Will always conveniently "forgot" to check this. (But, it was probably because he didn't feel like disciplining you if you got a bad report.)

Now, it was 8pm on Tuesday night, they had caught the guy, and both Jay and Hailey had quickly finished their paperwork so that they were home in time for bedtime.

Once Jay and Hailey had finished reading you a chapter of The Chronicles of Narnia, Jay did what he always did when he hadn't been able to see you on a couple of school days straight: he went through your backpack to see if he missed anything such as permission slips, notes from your teacher, and to ensure that Will had been making you do your homework.

When he went through your math folder, stuck between last week's homework assignments and this week's was a note written in cursive. Because it was written that way, he could only assume it was addressed to him or another adult.

Mr. Halstead, I'm writing you this to make sure that Y/N hasn't lost her glasses. I haven't seen her wearing them the past couple of days and wanted to make sure accommodations didn't need to be made. If she has lost them, please let me know and I will be sure to move her desk up to the front to help her see the board for the time being. If you have any questions, please call me at my office number or email me. I previously left a voicemail for you and emailed you, but I don't know if they went through. -Stephanie Harding.

Jay sighed, pulled out a chair at the kitchen table, and began scrolling through his phone. There, from Friday afternoon, was an email from your teacher as well as a phone call from yesterday morning. How could he have missed these?

"You okay?" Hailey asked as she walked into the kitchen, freshly showered. She grabbed two beers from the fridge, popped the cap off both, made her way to the table, and handed one to Jay. "We should be celebrating, not sulking."

"I know, and I'm glad that case is over and the guy's in prison because, you know, he's a monster, but look what I found in Y/N's backpack."

He slid her the note and she began reading.

When she finished, she looked up. "Don't talk to her tonight, Jay. You might dysregulate her so bad that she might go back to sleep because her routine got thrown off."

"I know, but when am I supposed to talk to her? I don't want her throwing a fit in the morning before school, and who knows what's going to come across our desks in terms of cases tomorrow."

Hailey grabbed one of Jay's hands. "Jay, we'll figure it out. And, if we need to wait for your RDO or the weekend when we both hopefully have off, then we'll do that, okay?"

"Okay." He gave his wife's hand a squeeze and then took a sip of his beer.

Thank god for Hailey Upton, he thought.

***

The next day, Wednesday

Once you and Jay got home after he picked you up from school, he made you a snack and you pulled out a chapter book to read to him to practice your reading skills like it was just any other day. He set the addition and subtraction flashcards next to him. You'd do those after you read to him.

But, when you took your first bite of your ants on a log (celery with peanut butter, topped with a few chocolate chips), he reached over and slid the book over to himself. Then, he set it down on the chair next to him so as not to distract you from the upcoming conversation.

"We're not reading?" you asked, furrowing your eyebrows at him.

"Listen, kiddo, we need to talk about why you are not wearing your glasses at school."

"I am!" you protested.

But, Jay saw how your eyes widened slightly when he first said it. He knew you were lying; now he just needed you to admit to it.

"Y/N, your teacher called me and told me that you aren't wearing them. You're not in trouble--"

"No!" you shouted and jumped off your chair. Then, you ran to your room and slammed your door.

Tears pricked your eyes as you threw yourself on your bed.

You couldn't play soccer when you were in high school if you had glasses! At all the games you went to, none of them had glasses! You couldn't give up soccer just to wear these stupid glasses! What did your brothers and your teacher know, anyway? None of them even wore glasses!

You were waiting for Jay to come yell at you for slamming your door, but he never came. And you were so tired from school and from the short conversation that you had with Jay, that you eventually just cried yourself to sleep.

As for Jay, the second he heard your door slam, he sighed and laid his head on the table. What the hell was he supposed to do?

***

You woke up to someone gently shaking your shoulder.

"Y/N, c'mon it's time for dinner, honey."

Hailey.

"No," you mumbled.

You didn't want to face Jay after everything!

"You need to eat, Y/N. You didn't even finish your snack earlier. Just c'mon out and eat dinner with me and Jay."

"Jay gonna be mad at me," you said quietly and rolled over so that you were facing the wall.

"He won't be mad; we just want you to eat something. He made your favorite, fettuccine alfredo, remember?"

That's right! You got to pick dinner once a week and told Jay last week that you wanted fettuccine! And today was Wednesday! It was your dinner day!

"Oh yeah! I forgetted!"

Then, you jumped out of bed and ran downstairs.

Hailey shook her head as she walked behind you. Kids and their moods.

When you got to the kitchen, your plate was set right where it usually was with fettuccine, broccoli, and garlic bread.

You eyed Jay suspiciously when you sat down.

Then, Jay noticed you weren't wearing your glasses. Hailey noticed the very slight tilt of his head, so she quickly jumped in.

"They're on her bedside table," she said. "She was sound asleep when I went up there."

"Mhm," you agreed and then took a bite of your pasta.

Jay figured it was better to let you eat almost all of your food before he started in on the glasses conversation again. He needed you to eat something because, at this point, you hadn't eaten anything except your one ant on a log since 11am at school, which was seven hours ago. He didn't know how you hadn't woken up and been hungry but hey, he knew as well as you did that tantrums made you utterly exhausted.

Once you only had half of your garlic bread left, Jay decided it was time to have another go at this.

"Y/N, me and Hailey were talking, and we thought that if you came home from school wearing glasses, you can get an extra sticker on your chore chart," Jay said. "How's that sound?"

You shrugged. "Okay." You had already been doing that. You'd put them on right when you got in the car. You didn't need them for up close stuff like talking with your friends anyway and you could see Jay, Hailey, and Will just fine without your glasses; they were just a little blurry around the edges.

"That means we need to see you wearing them when we pick you up," Jay continued. "You can't just put them on when you get inside the car." Your brother was nothing if not perceptive.

You could do that. You'd just put them on when you walked out of school for pickup. You couldn't wear them all the time because then what if someone said something about you not wearing them while playing soccer at recess? Then you'd have to wear them at recess and you couldn't play soccer with them on!

"Okay," you said.

"Okay, good," Jay replied.

But, he shot a glance at Hailey. That was way too quick for you to agree to this without a fight even with the added incentive of getting a sticker on your sticker chart.

Something was off and both he and Hailey knew it.

***

Two days later, Friday

Jay walked out of an interrogation, relayed the info to his team, and then sat down at his desk to do some digging into this guy's financials. But, his phone lit up, notifying him that he had a voicemail.

He saw it was from your teacher and his brow furrowed.

"Hi, Mr. Halstead. This is Stephanie Harding calling. I received your email a couple of days ago explaining how you talked with Y/N about wearing her glasses and she said that she'd wear them and that they are not lost. I just wanted to inform you that she hasn't worn her glasses at all throughout the school day, but will put them on for pickup.

I just wanted to inform you of this and please let me know if there's anything that I can do to help."

Jay clenched his jaw and sighed frustratedly after he finished listening. He thought he'd be dealing with this level of sneakiness when you were a teenager, not now!

"Nothing in the financials?" Hailey asked from across from him.

"Still working on that," Jay answered. "Y/N's teacher called. Said she still hasn't been wearing her glasses."

"What? She was wearing them yesterday when I picked her up."

"Her teacher said that she'll put them on at pickup but won't wear them at all during the rest of the day."

Hailey shook her head and rolled her eyes. "We are getting played by a first-grader, Halstead."

"Don't I know it. I'm gonna give Will a call and see if she wore her glasses at pickup. Maybe he can get to the bottom of it while she's at his house tonight."

***

"Alright, kiddo. Game plan today is homework, snack, and reading. Then we'll grab a quick dinner somewhere and go to the girls' soccer game. Sound good?" Will asked when you got inside and set your backpack down.

"Don't wanna do my math homework," you complained. "It's stupid."

"What are you working on?" Will probed. "Maybe I can help you."

"Subtraction. My friends say it's like adding, but the opposite, but it's not!"

"Okay, okay, calm down. I'll make you a snack and then we'll work through it together. How's an apple with peanut butter sound?"

"Do you still have the green apples?"

"I do. Green apple with peanut butter coming right up."

***

Will wasn't stupid. He knew why Jay probably couldn't get the answer from you about not wearing your glasses. And that was because he was asking at the wrong time and because he was the one who disciplined you. Will never had to do that except for taking away ice cream as a bedtime snack a couple of times when you mouthed off to him. You didn't have to worry about having to go to bed early or not being able to watch more tv because you had gotten in trouble with Will. And, you and Jay were very much alike; both of you bottled up your emotions and were stubborn to no end...which is probably why you argued more with Jay than you did Will and Hailey and why Jay couldn't get you to talk about your glasses.

So, Will didn't bring up the glasses at dinner. He didn't even bring them up when you were at the soccer game.

But now was the time for him to bring this up.

You were currently sitting down next to him on the pull-out couch with your teddy bear and your favorite blanket, all ready for a chapter of Narnia and then for bed. You were comfortable and there was nothing to overstimulate you. You had food in your system and the excitement from the day was over.

You were calm.

"Before we start reading, kiddo, I need to ask you a question," Will started.

"Okay, what is it? Is it about what happened in Narnia when me Jay and Hailey readed it last week? Because I can tell you so you're not con...con—" You scrunched up your eyebrows as you tried to remember the word. "So that you know what's happenin'," you said instead.

"It's not about Narnia, but you can tell me before we start reading if you want. But first, I want to know why you aren't wearing your glasses. Do they make your head hurt? Did someone laugh at you?" You shook your head. "Okay, then what is? What's going on, Y/N?"

"Soccer," you mumbled, but it was so quiet that Will couldn't even hear you.

"What was that?" Will asked softly. "It's okay. You can tell me. I won't be mad at you."

You looked up at Will's face. He didn't look mad. Maybe you could tell him. Maybe he wouldn't tell Jay either and then everything would be fine.

"I can't play soccer no more be-because I have glasses!"

At this, you started to cry. All of the nerves you had felt about lying to your brothers and Hailey and the sadness about not being able to play soccer anymore all came tumbling out of you. And, it didn't help that no one on the high school girls' soccer team that you just went and watched earlier wore glasses. That just proved your point!

Will sighed and held back a laugh. Leave it to a little kid to catastrophize from A to Z.

"Who told you that?" Will asked, now realizing that he needed to get to the root of the problem.

"No one did! But none of the big girls wear glasses when they play soccer! And one boy's fell off at school and they got smashed and I'm the only one on my team that has glasses and---"

"Hey, hey, slow down. Take a deep breath, okay?" He allowed you to take a few breaths before he placed a hand on your shoulder. "You can still play soccer."

You looked up at him and your eyebrows furrowed before your mouth fell slightly agape. "I can?

"Yes, silly! We just need to get a strap for the back of your glasses because then they'll stay on when you're running."

"And I can play soccer with Jay Jay on Sunday?!"

"And you can play soccer with Jay on Sunday, yes," Will confirmed.

"Yay!"

"Now what do you say you fill me in on Narnia before I start reading to you, hmm?"

***

"Tell me you got something out of her," was the first thing that Jay said when he answered Will's call later that night.

"Jay, this is our sister we're talking about, not a criminal investigation."

"I know that, smartass. Still...anything?"

"She thought she couldn't play soccer with her glasses."

"What? Where'd she get that idea?"

"Well, kids are very observant, Jay. Maybe more observant than you seeing as you didn't even catch this--"

"Neither did you!"

"Last I checked, my job doesn't involve me doing a stakeout or working undercover."

And then Will launched into a recap of the conversation he had with you.

"Come to think of it," Will began when he was done and had answered all of Jay's questions, "I'm shocked you didn't think to get one for her right away because you didn't get contacts until high school and wore your glasses with a strap when you played soccer all the way from elementary school to middle school. You know what? I think I still have some pictures of that from the family photo album I took from Dad's--"

"Don't you dare!" Jay threatened.

"Who's gonna stop me?"

"Name your price...within reason."

"Breakfast tomorrow, 9am before me and Y/N go pick out her glasses strap. And you're paying."

"Deal!"

And years later, once you got to high school, you never did get contacts because one, you thought you looked better with glasses than without, and two, you wanted all of the little kids that came and watched your games to know that they could play whatever sport they wanted regardless of whether or not they wore glasses.

A/N: Thank you for reading and don't forget to vote and comment! Also, fun fact, I didn't get my glasses until I was 21. I went to renew my driver's license and barely passed the eye exam, so now I wear glasses.

[bowelfly]

Wait how does your artist telephone game work? Is it one piece of art after the other or is it art to word to art like telestrations?

answering these together since they're asking more or less the same thing. the process for art telephone is basically this:

as the gamemaster i get together a list of participating artists, randomize the order, though reserving the right to move participants around in ways i think would be interesting based on complimentary or contrasting art styles, and also try and be as accommodating to everyone's schedules as possible.

someone makes the first drawing and sends it to me in a private message. i then privately forward it on to the next artist in line. when that artist finishes their piece, they send it to me and i send it along to the next person and so on. this way every artist only sees the piece directly before them and nothing else until the big reveal at the end.

the important part is each artist is essentially tasked with recreating the piece they receive and can take as much or as little liberty with the contents as they wish. as you can see in the game i just posted some people do pretty faithful recreations of their prompt just in their own style and medium, while others just go hog wild and do a very loose adaptation.

i have seen versions where there are interstitial text steps, like going 'drawing > description > drawing > description, which would be a way of incorporating non-artists into the game but i like doing it all art.

@ragsy gonna answer this here while i'm on the subject because that is the one big thing with these games is that it's literally like herding cats and especially with large artist rosters it is inevitable that things get snagged up. to that end i implemented a couple rules this time around that at least helped prevent a lot of major delays.

the first thing is that i gave each participant a 5-day limit to at least send me a rough draft of their piece that was far along enough to send to the next artist while they finished it at their own pace. of course this did result in me having to chase down like 30 stragglers near the end of the game but it wasn't unexpected.

the other thing that helped was just contacting people several days before their turn comes up to confirm that they're free to draw during the time they're up during and if not i'll just shuffle them further down the line.

inevitably art block or irl shit will hit an artist harder than they expect and it's a delicate balancing act to try to keep the game moving without being pushy or annoying but i think for the most part i was successful. i probably pissed a couple people off but if so they were nice enough to not yell at me. we only had a few major delays and most of those were due to holidays fucking everyone's schedules up and multiple people in a row having to reschedule or drop out.

also yes there is literally nothing i won't turn into a color coded excel sheet. this is what grad school did to my brain.

[strawberries-and-summer-days]

NO WAY IN HELL ‧₊˚ ☾. ⋅

| percy jackson x popstar au

| au masterlist ☽

warnings: swearing and i think thats just about it!

a/n: i return from the actual dead guys. live has been hectic as hell recently so im staying up late so i can get the part out to you!! its like 12am when im posting this so delusion is feeding me here

lia and riley crowd around you as you recount for the millionth time what happened at the rooftop party.

they've been at you all week asking what happened - it definitely didn't help when that stupid gossip account posted about it. so now you face the downfall of trying to be a decent human being.

clearly it worked out oh so well and everything is perfectly fine.

you've been drained all week working out a few details for your upcoming shows, going to the gym every day to stay in shape for said shows, dealing with lia and riley, the pile of emails and work related things you should probably answer but haven't gotten around to yet.

honestly all you want to do is curl up into bed and sleep.

a nap would be really good right now.

instead you're stuck here with lia pestering you about the whole rooftop ordeal.

"oh my gosh, we've been over this, as i said the last time you asked - which by the way was," you check your watch. "thirty minutes ago. i said hello, we stood there awkwardly for about six minutes i asked how his day was he said decent, he asked me how my day was, i said decent, i randomly blurted out that the stars were pretty and then proceeded to complain about the party, then said i was going home. end of goddamn fucking story."

riley just laughs at your frustration and lia grins sheepishly at you.

"im sorry, please let me stay here tonight."

shaking your head you get up off the couch to start making dinner. your phone starts blaring as you do and lia picks it up and launches it across the room. "its stacey." she says as you catch it.

"hey, stacey what's up?" you ask your assistant/ agent. she does a lot of shit for you honestly, its hard to keep up with what she does.

"i just got a call from someone on percy jackson's marketing team-" you drop the onion you were holding. "and they want to schedule a meeting with you sometime this week." the silence is loud.

"why?" you croak out

"they want to discuss the rumours going around." fucking finally you hiss internally.

"okay...."

"okay you'll do it? or okay you want to tell them where to shove their discussions?" stacey asks skeptically, having worked with you long enough to know your tones.

sighing you answer her, "okay i'll do it, but i want riley and lia there with me."

"of course," stacey replies likely jotting this down.

"and for the love of god not in a public space."

you hash out some more details and hang up turning to face to very eager eavesdroppers, "what do you want us for?" lia asks.

letting out another sigh, "guess who's meeting us this week?"

☾. ⋅

percyjackson

liked by underovergrover, chris.rodriguez, lukecastellan, the.annabethchase, lia.mandel, rileywest and 923, 872 others

percyjackson i won both games btw

view all comments

underovergrover only cause you cheated!

percyjackson don't be bitter because i won

underovergrover fucker

user1 these little bits of his life only make him more hot oml

user2 i so wanna know if y/n was there

user3 no cause real??? i wanna know if us percy/n shippers have a chance

user4 im in love with him holy

user5 Y/N'S FRIENDS LIKED THE POST AGAIN AHHHHHH

user6 oml i ship them so hard i need to know if they're dating

☾. ⋅

percy was pissed.

ok that's an understatement. he was- is livid.

he had only agreed to this stupid meeting because he managers had suggested to him it might be good to clear the air. what he wasn't expecting was y/n to agree, let alone agree with a list of fucking demands.

and not only did she come with demands she shows up thirty minutes late with her friends in tow.

what. the. fuck?

once she settles in her agent leans froward and addresses percy's team as if y/n is incapable to do so.

"hello there everyone, how are you all doing today?"

percy's manager reply's out of curtesy before getting right down to business. "ok, i'd like to start by introducing myself, y/n i'm lauren i'm percy's manager and i organised this meeting because of the rumours i'm sure you've heard all about."

y/n nods. "yes i've heard of them."

"good because my team and yours have come up with a few ways to deal with the rumours." she place's a her hands on the table and leans forward when she talks. "the first and most obvious is for both of you to post an announcement that you aren't dating, but are simply friends and or acquaintances." you both nod at that. "the second option is to address the rumours via getting into another relationship - but obviously since you're both single right now its a poor decision." she takes a deep breath and flicks her eyes over to y/n's managers. "and the third and mine and stacey's most favoured one is that you.... fake date."

the silence the follows is deafening.

percy practically leaps out of his chair. "what the hell?"

"no fucking way-" y/n says at the same time.

"you've got to be kidding me," you both say at he same time you eyes shooting up to meet, stacey's and lauren's hidden smiles don't help the situation either.

"obviously if you don't feel comfortable doing that we understand," stacey says calmly.

"but if you are okay with that we can move forward with that plan... if that's what you wish for."

percy glares at y/n as she gathers her stuff and mutters "no way in hell am i doing that," before storming off.

her friends... lia? and... riley? stand up after her hastily making apologies, "we'll go.. get her, i'm so sorry about that."

stacey obviously knowing that y/n isn't coming back starts to gather all her stuff. "so sorry about all that," she looks at me and then lauren. "we'll have an answer by the end of the week."

☾. ⋅

yn.official

liked by underovergrover, lia.mandel, rileywest, lukecastellan, maisiehpeters, gracieabrams and 1, 489, 326 others

yn.official life's been good 😊

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lia.mandel im so excited to for our dinner tmr night!!

user1 mother posted!!!

user2 percy's friends liking this is my roman empire

user3 ikr i need to know if they're dating

user4 ugh seeing y/n happy make me smile

rileywest coffee with you was fun!!

underovergrover new album maybe??

yn.official maybe 🤭

user5 GROVER COMMENTED??? AND Y/N RESPONDED???? THIS IS NOT A DRILL GUYS.

user6 HOLY FUCK!!!!

☾. ⋅

you pace the room, stacey watches you with lia and riley on the couch as the phone dials.

lauren picks up on the third ring. "hello this is lauren smyth speaking."

"hi lauren, its stacey here. i was just ringing about our answer to your offer," she makes one more glance at you before focusing back on the call. "our answer is...."

TAGLIST‧₊˚ ☾. ⋅ [if you're name is white it mean i couldn't tag you]

@lauptimist, @itzmeme, @mariaaaaaahhhh, @paankhaleyaar, @maybxlle,

@lara20aral, @cxp1d, @user-3113s-blog, @pleasingregulus,

@avihashearts4lix, @inlovewithmorales, @brokecollegebitch, @user-3113s-blog, @officiallyalbino

@gloryhaddock, @kozumesphone, @moonlightwonderlan, @starxshining, @taintedrosee [if you want to be added just let me know!]

[uceyliyahh]

SOMETHING BOUT’ US

Summary: "I want you more than anything in my life." After being in a difficult relationship with Carmelo Yasmine decided to move on from him and become the next big thing while getting drafted on the smackdown roster she always thought she would never find love again due to her commitment issues until she met him.

This fanfic is 18+! NO MINORS ALLOWED

word count: 3508

smut warning; it’ll come in the story randomly so PLEASE PLEASE look out for it I’m not really good at writing ✍🏽 smuts but I’m improving at the moment.

Jey Uso x Yasmine

AWFUL GRAMMAR IM GETTING BETTER I SWEAR LOL.

comments, likes, repost are appreciated I would love the constructive feedback in what area I need to approve in. 🤍

ALSO! I don’t not want nobody stealing my fanfics or take it as theirs that will be an issue fasho so keep it cute respectfully.

I only own my OC along with the make up scenarios

But I’ll be writing along the way since this story is in my drafts on Wattpad right now so yuh. 💁🏽‍♀️

TAGS ⬇️ lmk if you wanna be tag 🏷️@pinkwithhearts @420days @jstarr86 @empressdede @angiedawn02 @biancasreign

@bebesobrielo @skyesthebomb @aikosilo @papireigns-05 @punksyeet @paigereeder @magnificentbouquetmusic

@hunnidmilly @celesteheartsjey @charmed-dreamssss @fearlesschimera @partypoison00 @mselenalovebug @bloodlinesbabe93

1.

YASMINE I was in the gym working out before going to work today. Being a wrestler was very cool. Shawn Michaels has declared that I will be the next great thing for the organization, which I truly believe.

As I was performing my bench press reps, I felt my phone vibrate and heard from my AirPods that Bianca was calling me, so I paused my reps and placed the weights down to answer the phone.

OTP Minnie🧃: Hey, B what's up? Breezy🫶🏽: Hey girlfriend! How are things going down at NXT? Minnie🧃: it's been going good I'm just at the gym right now before I head into work Breezy🫶🏽: good! I heard melo ass was tryna talk to you Minnie🧃: girl fuck him he's not important Breezy🫶🏽: period but I know the draft is coming up soon so I hope you'll get drafted to smackdown me and Trin is missing you dearly. Minnie🧃: I miss you guys too like our schedules are soo hectic rn it's not even funny Breezy🫶🏽: who you telling girl but imma' go I'll talk to you later girl! Minnie🧃: byeee

CALL ENDED

I hung up the phone and went back to performing my reps. I'll tell you a little bit about myself and Carmelo; we dated for around two or three years? We went from high school sweethearts to almost engaged before he left to become an NXT star and cheated on me.

When I found out he cheated on me with someone on the roster, I was furious to say the least. Since my name was on the lease, I basically threw his things out and told him to go live with his whore.

I blocked him on everything as he attempted to contact me after learning that I would be on the main roster of NXT, but I ignored him since I was focused on my work.

After that day, I couldn't trust any man. My trust issues were strong, and I was an extremely critical over-thinker, always wondering if I'd forgiven him, would he change?

But you know what they say: people who cheat will cheat on you again, and I wasn't going to cope with that.

As I finished my reps, I set the weights down on the side of the bench, grabbed my Stanley cup of water next to me, and began sipping it.

After I got off the bench, I grabbed my phone and checked the time; it was nearly time for me to go to work, so I grabbed my gym bag and keys and headed towards my car.

I opened the door, threw my workout bag in the backseat, and went to Instagram to upload my gym photos from earlier, all while turning on the car's ignition and moving away from the parking lot.

biancabelairwwe, trinity_fatu, tiffanywwe and others liked your post.

minnieminks: getting that good workout in before work. 💁🏼‍♀️💪🏼 biancabelairwwe: GIRL THAT THANG IS THANGING BACK THERE 👁️👄👁️ minnieminks: @ biancabelairwwe get yo' gay ass out of my comments B please 😭😭 trinity_fatu: damnnn girl that ass is fat tiffanywwe: Yazzie give me tips for a big booty like yours girl please I am begging 😭😭 carmelohayes: can't believe I fumbled that damn let's run that back. 😩😩 minnieminks: @ carmelohayes 🙄🙄

Read all Comments.

✧˚° I arrived at work as I parked in the garage grabbing my bag that had all of my gear inside of it while walking towards the building. As I was walking towards my locker room I've seen Lash running up to me as she gave me a hug.

"Hey Girly!" Lash said.

"Hey, Lash what's happening?" I said while folding my arms.

"Nothing much girl getting ready for this tag team match later on did you eat?" She said.

Now that I think about it I didn't eat before heading to the gym I shook my head while she linked her arms with mines as we began to walk to  the catering area.

I grabbed a plate getting me some Salmon along with some white rice and asparagus while getting me a cold bottle of water. I walked towards the table sitting down with Lash as we began eating our food.

"So I heard about you and melo yall ain't together anymore?"

"Nah we aren't together anymore after he cheated on me but he keeps trying to hit me up and stuff but I just ignore him." I stated while eating my rice.

"Mhm, period girl as you should if Trick would've done something like—something like what?" Lash got startled as she seen Trick behind her with his plate in his hands.

The couple stop kissing each other as he sat down next to us eating his food.

He chuckled at her as he set his plate down, placing his hands around her waist as she held him closely and kissed his lips.

I glanced at the pair kissing one other's faces, and it almost made me feel lonely, but I didn't mind since I enjoy being alone. Trick was close friends with Carmelo, and it wasn't strange for him to remain so after his friend strayed. We kept in touch from time to time, checking in on each other.

"What's good Minks." Trick said.

"Hey Trick how you been?"

"I've been good you know being the nxt champion and all how about you?"

"I'm fine just ready to see who am I going against tonight." I said grabbing the napkin that was next to me wiping my mouth in the process.

He nodded affirmatively and continued eating his dinner, while Lash nudged me, as if she saw someone behind me.

When I looked at her, she pointed her finger behind me. As I turned around, I saw the guy I despise the most, Carmelo, with crossed arms. I rolled my eyes at him.

"What? Melo?" I asked sternly.

"Can we like talk in private?" He asked.

I looked over at Trick and Lash, who were gazing at me, and then back at Carmelo. I groaned heavily, finished my lunch and tossing it in the trash bin while walking with Carmelo.

We proceeded to his locker room, and he locked the door behind him as I sat on his couch, crossing my legs in the process.

"What the fuck do you want Melo?"

"Can you relax with the attitude Minks? I'm tryna apologize for what happened I was drunk and stupid." Carmelo said.

"Melo I don't give a damn how many times you apologize to me about your actions I'm not taking you back." He scoffed in disbelief how can this man be so naive to think that I'll just welcome him back in open arms?

"Why do you have to be so difficult, Yasmine? "I'm trying to make things right with yo' ass." I rolled my eyes at him; is this nigga being serious right now?

I sat up on the couch, peering intently into his eyes while we both kept eye contact. "Me? Being difficult? How am I being difficult when I haven't done anything? I'm going to leave since you're already aggravating me, and I've only just arrived at work." I jumped up from the couch and moved towards the door, but he stopped my path while peering into his dark eyes.

He grabbed my throat and roughly pushed me back against the wall, pinning me in the process, which anxious me little. "Nigga, what the hell is wrong with you? "Let me go!" I yelled, attempting to shove him off of me. He held me firmly around the throat and muttered something in my ear that gave me goosebumps. "You'll never be able to find someone better than me and if you do I won't hesitate to kill them because you belong to me and only me understand..?" Carmelo threatened me as I was afraid.

I nodded yes as he left go of my throat, gasping for oxygen before exiting his locker room; I couldn't tell anybody about it or he'd be fired, so I kept it to myself.

I rushed to my locker room, closing and locking the door as I dropped down on the ground, breaking down. Tears streamed down my cheeks, and I gasped for air, attempting to calm down.

I wasn't expecting him to be like this with me because of his behavior, but what he said scared the snot out of me. I kept weeping silently so no one could hear me.

'What am I going to do?'

✧˚°

I was in the makeup chair, getting my makeup done, when I felt someone touch my shoulders. I opened one eye to find Lash behind me and offered her a phony grin. "Ouuu girl your makeup looks so good it matches with your gear so much." Lash praised me. "Thank you girly your gear looks so good make me wanna eat you up don't tell trick I said that by the way." While she and I were snickering at each other, I noticed Carmelo stroll past us, looking at me.

I avoided eye contact with him, which Lash observed as her facial expression turned to one of confusion, lifting an eyebrow at me.

"Did something happen between you and Melo?" She asked. I shook my head because I didn't want her to inform Shawn about what happened between me and him in his locker room.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, nothing didn't happen girl why don't you go focus on your match for tonight I'll catch up with you later." I said as she nodded her head hugging me in process.

After I got my makeup down I looked in the mirror checking myself out and damn I look good for tonight's match against Roxanne Perez for her title this was a good opportunity for myself.

She's been holding that Title for a hot minute now and out of all the girls I got the opportunity to win it.

"Yasmine to the gorilla, Yasmine to the gorilla."

I checked myself about one last time before heading out towards the gorilla I put on my jacket fixing my hair in the process pumping myself up to calm my nerves as I looked up at the TV screen seeing her going inside the ring.

I looked at the camera as my music starts playing saying towards the camera "it's go time baby." As I head out towards the ring. I walked out as the crowd cheered for me I love the massive pop that I am getting from the crowd.

"And her opponent from Brooklyn, New York weighting at 148 pounds Yasmine!!"

I spun around as I was skipping towards the ring flipping my hair in the process while doing the same thing around ring before getting on top of the ring. Sitting on the ropes before flipping over them walking around the ring.

"Yasmine is one of favorite female athletes on the NXT roster, mannn she's so talented."

"I agree with you here Booker she'll be the next NXT women's champion for sure."

I took off my jacket throwing it outside of the ring stretching my arms as the referee held up the championship before ringing the bell.

Roxanne ran up towards me as I ducked before doing a drop kick on her causing her fall on her back holding it. Grabbing a full load of her hair throwing her across the ring like a ragdoll as I climb on the ropes giving her doing a moonsault off the ropes landing on her body as she groaned in pain.

✧˚° 1! 2! 3!

"Roxanne Perez retains her NXT women's championship!!"

"Here's your winner and still the NXT women's champion Roxanne Perez!!"

This was a terrific match for us; we had synergy that no one else had in the locker room. Roxanne helped me up while holding her hand out in courtesy. I shook it, of course, as she hugged me and whispered in my ear that she was proud of me before releasing go.

I raised her hand as everyone shouted before rolling out of the ring, gripping onto my body because I was in pain. I headed towards the Gorilla after seeing Lash and Trick approach me.

"Oh my gosh girl you almost had her!" Lash said.

"Yeah, you did don't worry Minks you'll have that opportunity again." Trick said reassuringly.

I smiled at them weakly due to me feeling tired, "thanks guys I appreciate it but imma hit the showers good luck Lash!" I left them two as I went towards my locker room before I could I see Carmelo coming up towards me.

I walked past him not trying deal with his shit tonight after what happened earlier but he grabbed me by the arm as I looked up at him.

"You did a good job about there baby." Carmelo said as I scoffed.

"Don't call me that we aren't together Melo." I said sternly as I saw a grin on his face.

"Last time I checked we are remember what I told you earlier Yasmine." I just rolled my eyes at him before yanking my arm away from him heading in my locker room locking it.

I grabbed my phone seeing that Bianca had texted me.

IMESSAGE 💬 Breezy🫶🏽 sent 3+ messages

Breezy🫶🏽: Hey Girl! I watched your match with Roxanne and I must say you're one hell of an athlete girl doing all of em flips. 😭😭 Minnie🧃: thank you girl I appreciate it Breezy🫶🏽: you'll be a perfect match for the smackdown roster girl imma need a match with you and Iyo fr Minnie🧃: PLEASE THAT IS LITERALLY MY DREAM MATCH WITH HER😭🥲 Breezy🫶🏽: lol but are you doing okay? Minnie🧃: yeah...

I didn't know if I should tell B about what happened between me and Melo she'll probably be pissed if I told her.

Breezy🫶🏽: what happened Yasmine? 🤨 Minnie🧃: something happened between me and Melo... Breezy🫶🏽: what the fuck did he do? Because I will show my ass Yasmine Minnie🧃: it was just a simple talk and how he was sorry for what he did then when I decided to leave his locker room he decided to put his hands on me threatening me in the process... Breezy🫶🏽: OH HELL NAH IM FINNA TELL MONTEZ! THAT NIGGA DONT GOT NO RIGHT TO PUT HIS HANDS ON YOU! 😡 Minnie🧃: please don't tell Montez ion' want him involved B Breezy🫶🏽: no yasmine this is unacceptable Montez has to know ight? Minnie🧃: fineeee you're technically my sister in law so I have to listen to you. Breezy🫶🏽: good does anyone else know about this? Does Trick know? Minnie🧃: no don't nobody else know but you. Breezy🫶🏽: I'm glad you told me this cuz man but imma let you get some rest I'll text you in the morning. Minnie🧃: okay byee

Sigh now I gotta hear Montez fat ass mouth about this shit I'll probably be switched over to the smackdown brand with them that way I can be around from Melo ass and be with my girls.

After I took a shower I put on the some comfortable clothes while putting the rest of my gear in the bag double checking that I had everything inside of my bag before grabbing my keys heading out towards the garage.

I walked towards the garage unlocking my car as I threw my bag behind the backseat before starting up the car. While I was doing that I saw Carmelo coming up towards my car I just deeply sighed while rolling my eyes in the process.

"Baby where are you heading to?" He questioned me.

'If this nigga keep calling me baby imma crash the fuck out.'

"Nigga stop calling me your fucking baby because I'm not your damn baby now what the fuck do yo' ass want?" I said sternly while feeling irritated.

I made sure I locked my door just in case he wanted to do some sneaky shit.

"Stop catching a fucking attitude with me little girl before I handle yo' ass now answer my question."

"Ion' have to answer to you so I would advise you to me yo' ass before you get run over by me." I put the car in drive as I drove off from the garage leaving him dumbfounded while was driving I was listening to summer walker.

She just dropped a new single and I am in love with it as I was listening to the lyrics throughly.

'Only thing that's saving you (Oh-oh) Is the heart of a woman Yeah Only thing that's saving you, oh Is the heart of a woman Hey, yeah'

I came to a halt at the red light as I took out a pre-roll blunt from my glove section, lighting it up and taking a few puffs while simply vibing out.

As I began to drive towards my house, the light went green. I continued to smoke the pre-roll blunt, feeling my body relax knowing that this would help me calm down.

'Question is, why I do the things I do? Answer I may never find, but I'll always choose you Wanna give up on you but, damn, I know I can't I put the blame on me for giving you chance after chance'

I knew Montez would be unhappy when he found out what Carmelo had done to me; he had always loathed Carmelo since we met, but I didn't listen to him being crazy as usual.

And now I'm in a toxic situation with this man simply because he threatened me if I find someone else, but with my trust issues, I'm not sure if I can find someone faithful since people will do you dirty in the blink of an eye.

'In love with you, but can't stand this And I try to be strong But how much can I take? Put your words on your life this time And I hope your ass ain't lyin' 'cause'

I was overthinking whether someone would deal with my attitudes, or even handle me at all.

I despised being a critical over-thinker because it placed me in a deep state of despair knowing that all I needed was comfort, which he couldn't supply.

'Only thing that's saving you (Oh-oh) Is the heart of a woman Yeah, oh-yeah Only thing that's saving you Is the heart of a woman Yeah-yeah'

I eventually made it home, pulling into the driveway and shutting off my car before getting my belongings from the backseat. My body was still throbbing from the fight I had with Roxanne.

Unlocking my door and feeling the fresh aroma inside my house, I sighed in relief as I gripped against the wall and removed my shoes, placing them on the shoe rack.

I deposited my luggage on the couch and walked into the kitchen, opening the cupboard to fetch a snack because I had already eaten after my match.

Going upstairs to my bedroom, I dropped down on the bed and grabbed the remote next to me, putting on Netflix.

'It's my mind and my soul versus your pride Nigga, check your ego 'cause I left mine at the door Just because I let it slide Drowning in all my emotions I let you slide in this ocean I'm in'

I watched my phone light up as I noticed Trinity had contacted me, hoping Bianca hadn't told her what had occurred.

IMESSAGE 💬 Trin🤭🫶🏽: HE PUT HIS HANDS ON YOU? Minnie🧃: shit...did Bianca tell you? Trin🤭🫶🏽: yeah, ofc Yasmine she did tell me about it do I gotta tell Jon? Minnie🧃: might as well since she's telling my brother 🙄 Trin🤭🫶🏽: un-unt don't do that this is only for your protection Yasmine I can't believe he would do that to you hasn't he put you through enough? Minnie🧃: yeah you're right Trin Minnie🧃: will I ever find love or trust again? 😟 Trin🤭🫶🏽: heyyy don't be like that because I know how you get ion' want you to be in your head you will find it or it'll come to you I promise but this draft needs to hurry up so that you can be away from him Minnie🧃: what if he gets drafted on the smackdown brand too then what? Trin🤭🫶🏽: we will protect you yasmine don't worry as long as Jon and Montez is around you'll be okay Minnie🧃: kk Trin🤭🫶🏽: well imma go tell Jonathan since he don't play about you just like how Montez is with you being is little sister. Minnie🧃: ight then byeee

This is such a mess I hope and pray that he doesn't get drafted on smackdown with me because it'll just start some shit.

'In love with you but can't stand your ways And I try to be strong But how much can I take? Put your words on your life this time And I hope your ass ain't lyin' 'cause'

Why do I have to do this again? When I mean again I've been through an abusive relationship before in the past and lemme' tell you it was horrible but the person I was with before Carmelo is in jail for life.

So now I have significant commitment difficulties, as well as trust issues, since I'm frightened that if I date someone again, I'll get wounded again, so I've created a shield over my heart as a result of what I've experienced.

'Only thing that's saving you (No, I can't take it no more) (l'm bound to walk out the door) Is the heart of a woman Oh-oh, oh-oh Oh-oh-oh-oh, oh-oh, oh Only thing that's saving you Is the heart of a woman Ah, ah'

Something Bout' Us

A/n: welcome to a new book 💁🏽‍♀️ I hope Montez and Jonathan beat Carmelo ass honestly 😅 because why is he already starting shit with Yasmine?

But I hope yall enjoy this chapter lmk in the comments below.

Stay Ucey.

[praxcrown5]

WOC Question game!

Let's get to know everyone in the fandom better!

Rules of the game: I'll post some Cars/Planes questions. Reblog with your answer. Create a new post with new questions directed at the fandom.

Include the tag "wocquestiongame" in your responses and be sure to tag the cars fandom. Let's see where this goes.

My questions:

How long have you been a part of the fandom?

How did you get involved in the fandom?

Who is your favorite character and why?

My responses (below cut)

1 and 2: I've been a fan of Cars since 2006, when I saw it in the theater. Only within the last year have I gone balls-to-the wall with hyperfixating posting WOC art online, writing fanfiction, and generally interacting with the fandom...so I guess I'm pretty new to the things, here. I'm not super active online because of my work schedule (I'm a groundskeepee for a local zoo), but I try the best I can with the time/energy I have at the end of the day.

3. Doc Hudson, hands-down. When I first saw the movie, I liked Doc...but thought he was being rude and unfair to Lightning. Fast forward a while to when I got my dream job, teaching college geology. After three years, I realized that the admins didn't give a shit about education and that they seemed to be doing everything in their power to shut down anything that myself, or other professors, tried to do for the student body. I quickly became disillusioned by the apathy and lack of support...and I had to resign because the stress was literally killing me. I know now that this is a common theme in higher ed...but all I wanted to do was teach. To see that flame of understanding kindled in the eyes of my students...

To lose that, was like having my soul pureed in a blender, and I...havent been able to teach since.

Every time I hear Doc's line "there was a lot left in me, and I never got the chance to show 'em"...I tear up. He's still reeling from an apathy that ended his career ..and I understand how hard that feeling can be to rebound from, how you can lock everything in a garage and hide behind a new personality... because your old life is too painful to think about.

[wayiiseetheworld]

50 Ways

{ Chapter Two }

Summary: Fifty Ways Jack Abbot shows his love.

Warnings: Jack Abbot x OC!Wife. Established relationship. Age gap marriage. Depression. BiPolar. Medical inaccuracies.

Word Count: 1,369

Author Note: I am obsessed with Abbot, Robby, and The Pitt. Slowly going to post my stories from A03 on here. Rewatching ER and Animal Kingdom because of this show. Thank you so much for reading! || Not my gif.

Based off this Tumblr post : https://shorturl.at/a51iG

A03 Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/64495642/chapters/165620575

Prev | Next

II : “I’ll drive you to the hospital.”

Jack was getting the house ready for a special date night with his wife. After finishing his shift at seven am, he had spent much of the day dozing on the couch; sleep had eluded him in their bed. The police scanner hummed softly in the background—a soothing reminder of his military days that brought him a sense of comfort. Despite his therapist's suggestion to stop using it over a year ago, he found it hard to relinquish that solace, especially when he was alone in the house without her. 

He sighed as he navigated the stillness of the Abbot household, waking up alone, which was unusual since his wife typically followed a similar schedule. A quick shower helped clear the remnants of drowsiness, and he changed into a pair of black sweats and a tank top. He carefully slipped back on his prosthetic foot with the tennis shoes he normally wore in the house, opting to forgo his crutch, determined to tackle the tasks he’s planned out ahead. He then put on the black Ugg slippers his wife had gifted him a few months prior after he lost his old pair.

His wife was still at work, and he didn’t expect her home until a little after seven pm. It was usually her day off, but a last-minute call from a coworker had her stepping in for the noon to seven shift.

Tonight was their date night, and Jack was responsible for making dinner while Aila would choose the movie. 

As the clock struck five pm, Jack stood in the kitchen, pulling out the ingredients to start on taco chicken when his phone buzzed with a familiar number—the bar where his wife worked. “...Hello?” Jack answered, his voice steady but laced with concern. Aila always called or texted him from her cellphone, never the bar's phone.

He could hear the distant sounds of music from the bar echoing through the phone. A voice broke through the noise. “Dr. Abbot, this is Mark, head of security.”

Jack's heart raced, the urgency in Mark's voice sending a jolt of fear through him. “What happened? Is Aila okay?” he demanded.

“There was a fight,” Mark explained quickly. “A couple got into it, and Aila tried to intervene as the MOD. I just got in. In the chaos, one of them threw something, and it hit Aila. She can't move her hand properly, and honestly, it might be broken. She’s refusing an ambulance, though, so we need you to come get her.”

Jack's breath caught in his throat as he absorbed the news. For a moment, anger flared up inside him at Aila for refusing to accept an ambulance. “Refusing an ambulance?” he echoed, his disbelief spilling out. Jack's mind raced to the worst of possibilities, did she hit her head? “I'm on my way; I'll be there in five minutes to pick her up.”

“Great. We’ll be in the back office,” Mark replied before ending the call.

Jack rushed to put on his jacket, his mind racing back to a few weeks prior when they had shared dinner and wine. Aila had opened up about the increasing difficulties she faced during the day shift, expressing her frustration at management for not taking her seriously. She had mentioned that around three in the afternoon, rowdier customers from the hotel across the street would start to arrive. It pained him to think of how often she felt responsible for managing the bar’s atmosphere, especially when she was often left to handle things on her own without any support. 

Jack made a mental note to contact his friend who owned a bar and was also an ex-soldier. He might have some leads on where Aila could find a new job as he would really prefer her not come back to this bar.

As he finally pulled into the employee parking lot and parked beside the entrance, Jack took a deep breath before stepping inside. He ignored the lively sounds of the bar, scanning the backroom until he spotted Aila. She was seated on a chair next to a desk in a cramped office, positioned just across from the entryway to the kitchen. He could hear Mark trying to soothe her, offering to pour her a drink on the house or get her a bag of ice.

Aila cradled her injured hand, her face pale and strained, masking her pain with an expression of annoyance on her face. Jack knew that once they were out of her workplace and in the car, the facade would shatter.

Without hesitation, he hurried toward her, calling out, “Aila!” 

She looked up, forcing a weak smile, but he could see the pain lurking in her eyes. “Hey, I’m fine,” she said, uttering a lie that felt more directed toward herself than him.

Jack knelt beside her, his gaze falling on her shattered phone lying on the desk. It suddenly clicked why Mark had called him instead of her. His heart sank as he noticed the blood seeping through the makeshift bandage wrapped around her hand. She was visibly shaking, and Jack realized she was likely in shock or adrenaline rush leaving her body. “You’re not fine. We need to get you to the hospital,” he insisted, his voice steady and authoritative.

“It’s just a cut. I don’t need—” she began to protest, but the expression on Jack’s face silenced her.

“Aila,” he said gently, interrupting her, “can I see your hand?” He wanted to check for himself what kind of injury she was dealing with. The way she was cradling it, combined with the pale color of her skin and the way the blood was seeping through the bandage, made him suspect it could be broken. When she hesitated, he continued with a soft but firm tone, “You might have a fractured bone in there. We can’t take that chance. Please, let me take a look.” He hoped his calmness would penetrate the wall of stubbornness she often built around herself. “Just let me help you.”

Aila stared at him for a moment, doubt flickering in her eyes as she weighed her options. She could see the genuine concern etched on Jack's face, and despite her instinct to downplay the situation, she felt the urge to let her husband help. Slowly, she extended her injured hand toward him, wincing slightly as she did.

Jack took her hand gently, his fingers brushing against the bandage. He could feel her trembling, and he tried to be as careful as possible. “Alright, let’s see what we’re working with here,” he said softly, lifting the edge of the bandage to inspect the wound. 

As he revealed the injury, he saw two small gashes and her fingers limp. “Aila, this looks serious. You have definitely broken something, especially with the swelling starting already,” he said, keeping his voice steady to soothe her. 

“I just… I don’t want to make a big deal out of this,” she replied, her voice shaking.

“Sweetheart, this isn’t making a fuss. You’re hurt, and you deserve proper care. Let me help you, alright? I’ll drive you to the hospital. No ambulance.” he said, his grip on her hand gentle yet reassuring. Jack noticed the glass sitting on the desk, likely left there by Mark. He picked it up and began re-wrapping her hand, doing his best to provide some temporary support. “Robby is still working, and so is Dana. I’ll give them a call, and try to make it quick and as painless as possible, okay?” 

Aila finally nodded, the tension in her shoulders easing a bit. “Fine. Okay, just… let's go,” she agreed, her voice barely a whisper.

“Thank you,” Jack said, relief flooding through him as he stood, helping her to her feet. “Let’s get you out of here. Thank you for calling, Mark.”

Together, they made their way toward the exit. The once lively bar felt muted as Jack focused solely on Aila. Once they are in the car, Jack calls Dana to give them a heads up. Aila lets out a shaky breath, “Thank you for picking me up.”

“Anytime,” Jack promises her, starts driving towards the hospital.

[captain-clandestiny]

made it another year.

a bit of a personal comic, but just some feelings i wanted to get out.

I've... been kind of lost lately. I'm far from abandoning the development of Bluesleeves and the other stories i've been managing on the side, yet i just cant find it within me to create actual art lately. Something im proud of, not just a doodle or scribble or joke. And as i celebrate another year of life, it gets heavy. The guilt of inaction weighs more on my head and my heart with every day that goes by. But... I cant change.

Thats not to say i havent tried. God, ive tried more times than i can count. Ive tried more things than i can remember. Nothing works.

Or... nothing has worked.

And im starting to realize thats the key. Not some trainer on my ass, or another bummy improvement app. But hope. Hope, when kindled right, feeds to so many other things. Resilience, in the hope that things will improve. Discipline, in the hope that it'll all pay off. Sociability, in the hope to make some friends. Kindness, in the hope it can help.

But hope can lead you down darker paths too. Hope, burning bright, is ambition. But ambition, overwhelming, can turn to desire. And i let my hope get ahead of me. Looking at everyone else in this insane online world, my hope was changed. I began with a hope to create a story. Which turned into an ambition to amass an audience to love it as much as i did. And, as expected, kept evolving into a monster of jealousy, inferiority, and doubt.

Why can't I reach heights like them? Is mine not good enough? They have it all- why can't I just do what they did? Why won't it work?? How do I get them to listen? Something I'm doing wrong? Maybe I'm the problem? What if this is where it ends? Did I peak here? Did I do something wrong? Does this really matter???

It goes on and on. A monster, really. And when your passion project becomes an objective- a chore, is it really still from the heart?

...

this birthday has made me realize that i've gone down a wrong path. I got distracted, turned around, and now lost. but coming to that question- if any of it really matters, its never me that answers. rather. its my creations. why would they be here if it was all indifferent? why go through the labor that is constructing a story if it never meant anything? the sleepless nights of storyboards, countless sketch pages with a thousand portraits of one character? obligation does not drive that kind of devotion.

so for the first time in a while i looked inside my head for the answer. ignored the demon, the likes and ratios, and focused on this mysterious force instead. and there it was.

all of this was for hope.

my hope.

that my dreams would become real. my visions realized. and most of all, that somehow, it could help someone. anyone. even just one. because all i'd ever wanted was someone to help me. and if i could keep just one more person from growing up like me, that would be worth it all.

the purpose of Bluesleeves was not to attract fame, attention, or money, but to help. To convey a message (more like several, actually), to help people learn, and to make them wonder. entertainment is a powerful way to communicate knowledge, after all.

and while i can spend my birthday with this burden, wallowing in guilt over all the time i wasted and my simple misdirection, that wouldn't accomplish much. What matters is that i found my hope again. inevitably, i'll lose track again, and ill be lost once more. but what matters is that i dont stay there. that i keep moving. keep falling, but lifting my chin after every stumble.

this sounds sappy and awful, and honestly im losing my train of thought now, but i just needed to express this. for me. from me, to you. this is what ive been dealing with, and im sorry i havent been so active lately. it may be a while, but i promise you, im going to make it happen. i just need a stable mind before i keep up a stable posting schedule, haha.

some of this may help other people struggling similarly, or just be complete gibberish, i dont know!! because im sure not going back to read allat!! thank you, YOU, for reading this far. or if you skipped ahead down here, um, hi i guess.

thank you, every single one of you for your love and support. At the end of the day, no matter how hard, it still seems so impossible knowing that i've reached some of you with my stories. so out of this world that i could make you laugh, cry, smile... that i could make you feel. and that very impossibility means more than you could ever know 🫶

[gallawitchxx]

hi beeee!! i hope you're doing okay 💖💖💖

ooohohohoho okay for the kiss thingy: god knows why cuz it sounds potentially very painful but i feel so compelled to request 28 🙏

sweet deanna! i'm hanging in, thanks love! 💖 so you & @lingy910y both requested #28 & i want to fill both of your prompts. but because you were (rightfully) afraid of pain, i gave you one that's a bit strange, but has a promisingly happy ending? you can be the judge! xx

- - - - -

send me a number & i'll write you a smoocheroo 😚

- - - - -

#28: ...as a lie ps. this is inspired by this post about dealer!mickey & insomniac!ian, who have now rotted my brain.

Ian hasn’t slept in days.

It’s happened before—endless energy is one of his tried-and-true symptoms of mania—but this isn’t that. He’s taking his meds, his skin isn’t crawling and his mind is fairly quiet. Quiet enough to frustrate him as he tosses and turns and wonders what the fuck’s going on.

His schedule has been all over the place lately; his normal routine lost to the endless cycles of employment and Gallagher family responsibilities. He’d been hoping to add school to the mix this semester so that he could have other, less hectic options than a rig-riding EMT, but he’d pushed it off. A pity, now that all-nighters are apparently his thing.

Night two, he googles a few things, which is a huge mistake. Who can fall asleep after reading about how even just twenty-four hours without sleep can begin to derail your bodily systems? Sleep deprivation can cause or worsen conditions like Type 2 diabetes, High blood pressure, Stroke, Heart attack—his pulse leaps as his phone clatters to the ground.

Night three, he takes to the streets, running around the Southside until his lungs burn and his knees wobble. As he passes the clinic that gave his seventeen-year-old self a lifetime prescription for antipsychotics, he knows that if this lasts much longer, he should call his doctor. Tell them his nighttime meds aren’t putting him to sleep anymore. Nip this insomnia thing in the bud before it can overthrow the delicate balance he’s worked so hard to maintain.

Night four, desperate and a bit delusion, he pulls up a number he hasn’t used in years, saved under a contact labeled, DO NOT TEXT.

He breaks his own rule: Hey. Still making house calls?

The response is almost immediate: the fuck u care for?

Ian rolls his bloodshot eyes, typing: It’s an emergency.

Three little dots herald a response that makes him laugh: a weed emergency?

He stays strong: Wouldn’t ask if I didn’t need it.

The next text makes his chest clench: u ok?

He decides to keep it vague—I can’t sleep, but it’s not what you think.—and hopes he doesn’t have to explain further and is relieved to read: u want ur usual?

Another clench: Indica

Two texts arrive in rapid succession: what else do u want? can i give u head while u smoke or no?

There it is: the reason Ian doesn’t use this number anymore.

Maybe in another life it would be a blessing to have a weed dealer to lovers arc with your childhood crush, but in this one, it was a curse. A curse that lasted almost a whole year, bringing with it an endless bouquet of blissful fucks and free weed, and a million moments of tenderness Ian knew nobody else was getting out of the guy. A curse that eventually came to collect payment in the form of bloodied knuckles, broken hearts and ego wounds. A curse that still clings to Ian’s psyche, filling his dreams with gentle, tattooed fingers and bright blue eyes and a sweet and savory scent that can only be described as Mickey.

Mickey, now DO NOT TEXT.

On second thought, maybe he should never sleep again.

The knock at the door makes him hard—a Pavlovian response that irks him more than the three sleepless nights he’s suffered so far. Three raps, one right after the other. The last one no more than a brush of his hand.

Ian adjusts himself and answers the door.

Fuck, one look at that smug asshole and he’s immediately right back in it. Lust and like and maybe even a little bit of reckless fucking love fill his body, rising to the surface like sweet cream. A layer of fat on the roof of one’s mouth; a treat to lick later, a reminder that they didn’t end things because they weren’t insanely hot for one another and potentially soulmates. They were just idiots. Stubborn, petty dicks.

Oh Pride, the great slayer of men.

Jesus, he needs to sleep.

“First one’s on the house,” Mickey says as he crosses the threshold, a joint held tightly between C and K.

Hours slip by. They laugh, they smoke. It feels like old times. Ian’s body is loose in a way it hasn’t been in years. It feels good. Like maybe-he-could-sleep-tonight good. And as he melts further into the couch, he starts to get a little horny too. Because Mickey’s yapping on and on about some asshole that frequents the bar he works at, and Ian’s listening, he swears he’s listening, but he’s also staring at Mickey’s mouth like he wants to take Mickey up on that text message and shut him the fuck up with his dick.

Like he wants to taste the stale smoke of his tongue.

Wants him to stay the night.

Forever, maybe.

Mickey finishes his story. His eyes go soft and he drums his fingers against his knee. “Should get outta your hair, Gallagher,” he says. “Letcha sleep.”

That’s the last thing Ian wants.

“Not tired,” he fibs.

Mickey cocks an eyebrow. “You’re not? ’S been days, man. This shit’s gotta be hittin’ ya by now.”

It’s true. It has been days and this shit is hitting him. Or maybe he’s having a sleep-deprivation-induced stroke. He just knows Mickey can’t go.

“Can’t go to sleep without a goodnight kiss.”

Mickey’s already leaning in when he asks, “Then you promise you’ll hit the hay?”

Ian nods as Mickey presses a kiss to his lying lips.

[sanguinesky-if]

[Dev Log] December 2024

Hello, I apologize for the delay in releasing the dev log.

I'm currently away from home because a couple I'm friends with urgently asked me to pet-sit their animals while they took an unplanned business trip, so I didn't have time to prepare a post in advance.

This dev log includes:

A reminder of the release date for the public update.

An answer to the question of when to expect the next update.

Information about content that will be released this month [in honor of the New Year and the anniversary of the demo release].

A small addition to the "Secondary Rivals" section in the Romance System Overview.

Let's start from the beginning.

[Reminder] Public update release date

The public release of Chapter 3 Pt. 1 is scheduled for December 7.

Thank you for your patience and support!

A small note for my patrons: I really appreciate your help and support, but please note that saves from the Patreon demo will not work on the public release [since the files will be merged, as mentioned in the Patreon demo release post]. However, I will keep a working Patreon demo link for you where your saves will still work until the next update is released. I hope this will be helpful!

When will work begin on the next update [Chapter 3 Pt. 2]?

The work on the outline for the current draft I have for Chapter 3 Pt. 2 will begin after the New Year [a month after the public release, which is scheduled for December 7].

What was accomplished last month?

L's Side Story release.

There were some grammatical errors and a few coding inconsistencies because I used one of the variables incorrectly in the penetration moment ["the MC takes the initiative" scene]. Both issues have been fixed, and I apologize for the inconvenience. To my patrons, thank you so much for your support, patience and for helping with the errors. I'm glad if you enjoyed the story!

Bug fixes in the extended version of the demo.

There weren't many, but I still found a fixed some [mostly grammatical, as usual].

About my plans for the current month.

December 17 will mark the anniversary of the demo's release, and with the New Year approaching, I want to create something special to celebrate both occasions.

Throughout December, I'll be working on a collection of winter/New Year's themed short interactive stories, one for each of the ROs [featuring choices for the MC's name, gender, and one bold/shy flirt option].

Planned release: [Patreon]: end of December / first week of January. [Public]: a week after the release on Patreon.

I've also decided to release one of the stories in December before the full collection comes out.

It means the most-voted story and the most-voted alphabet will be released this month as bonus content on Patreon [I'm still waiting for the poll results since I released the post a little later than planned].

Secondary Rivals [a minor addition].

A small addition has been made to the Romance System Overview in the "Secondary Rivals" section:

Options marked [♡] establish relationship with the secondary rivals and unlock special scenes and narrative changes later on the story.

Thank you for reading to the end and for your support! Have a wonderful week and days after that! ♥