#ignore the disaster of my room in the background

[h3rmitsunited]

My bff and I are going to Phoenix FanFusion next month and I'm really excited. I've never been to any con ever before despite 1, living in San Diego (where like one of the most famous comic conventions is located every year) and 2, being like a nerd for over 10 years and into all that nerdy crap. I just don't have local friends and I don't like big crowds that much so... whatever...

Anyways, I'm really excited though because my friend and I are going to cosplay when we go and I've got my two outfits fairly sorted out and they look pretty good I think!

First my friend is making a Howl costume from Howls Moving Castle, so I'm going as Sophie-

And two, she's going to dress as Terra from Teen Titans and I put together a sort of casual ish Raven outfit. I didn't really like the idea of wearing a long sleeve black turtleneck in June in Arizona so... tank top turtleneck. Plus shorts and not the like underwear bottom she usually has lol

[sadnymi]

Mattheo making a girl cum by praising her and its in class just little whispers and she dry humps him so desperately in a slytherin party he calls her bunny

「 ✦ Duel of Desires. ✦ 」

Mattheo riddle x reader

Summary (Request) : Furious at what Mattheo did in class, I set out for revenge. But my carefully crafted plan takes an unforeseen twist

Warning : Dry Humping , public sex ,fingering , dom/sub dynamics , praise kink

Words : 2.8k

A prickling sensation on my thigh interrupted my meticulous Charms notes. Glancing down, I found Matteo's hand, his fingers tracing idle patterns against the soft skin of my thigh .

A playful annoyance bubbled up inside me. Here we were, Professor Flitwick droning on about the Levitation Charm, and Matteo was turning my thigh into his own personal canvas.

"Mattheo," I hissed, swatting his hand away without breaking eye contact with the restricted professor.

He winked at me, a devilish glint in his eyes. "Just admiring your concentration, love. Makes you look positively fierce."

My cheeks flushed, not entirely from his suggestive comment. Professor Flitwick, with his booming voice and magnified eyes, felt like a hawk perpetually circling the classroom.

"Focus, Mattheo," I murmured, trying to reign in my scattered attention. Transfiguration had been a disaster this morning thanks to his constant teasing, and I wasn't about to let Charms suffer the same fate.

"But you're so much more fascinating than Levitation," he countered, his voice barely a whisper. He brushed his hand against my thigh again, this time lingering a beat longer.

Frustration bubbled over. "Mattheo! We have an exam coming up, and I need to actually learn something."

He chuckled, the sound low and warm against my ear. "Relax, love. You're a natural. Besides, who needs a wand when you have me?"

My irritation morphed into something a little more heated. This wasn't the first time Mattheo's playful teasing had crossed the line in class. The thrill of stolen moments was undeniable, but the risk of detention or worse, Professor McGonagall's withering stare, loomed large.

Taking a deep breath, I decided to play his game. Leaning in close, I lowered my voice to a conspiratorial whisper. "Alright, Romeo," I said, using a nickname reserved for those rare, stolen moments,"but if you distract me any further, your punishment will be far more… delightful than detention."

A surprised laugh escaped his lips. He met my gaze, his eyes darkened with desire. "Game on, then, witch."

As I attempted to focus on the lecture, a sudden touch on my knee jolted me. Glancing towards Matteo, I found him diligently transcribing the board's contents into his notebook, a mischievous grin playing at the corners of his lips. His left hand remained hidden under the table, adding to the clandestine nature of his actions.

I tried to discreetly shake my leg to deter his advances, but his hand deftly maneuvered to my thigh, securing a hold on my skirt. His touch sent a tingling sensation through me, disrupting my concentration.

Professor Flitwick's voice cut through the room, requesting me to read aloud from the textbook. Despite my racing heart, I began to read, acutely aware of Matteo's lingering touch inching closer to a more intimate area.

Despite the electrifying distraction, I forced myself to continue reading, attempting to ignore Matteo's provocative gestures. However, his subtle movements became more daring, culminating in a direct contact that made my breath hitch.

His whispered words added to the tension, leaving me flustered and unable to fully focus on the task at hand. The classroom seemed to fade into the background as Matteo's actions dominated my senses.

As Professor Flitwick instructed Matteo to continue reading, a mischievous smirk played on his lips while his hand, hidden under the table, ventured into forbidden territory. His index finger delicately teased my clit, sending a shiver down my spine as I tried to maintain composure and focus on his reading. The weight of Professor Flitwick's gaze lingered, making every movement feel amplified and dangerous.

"Thank you, Mattheo," Professor Flitwick's words acted as a temporary interruption, drawing attention away from our covert exchange.

His touch became more daring as his whole hand began to rub circles against my clit, causing me to clench my legs tightly together. “ don’t close your legs bunny “ A hushed command slipped from his lips when he ensured that Professor Flitwick wasn't observing our clandestine interaction.

"You're so beautiful when you struggle for me," he murmured, his words a tantalizing mixture of praise and provocation.

As his fingers sadly ceased their movement, I closed my eyes in an attempt to steady my racing heartbeat. Our pretense of innocence continued as we both feigned concentration, with him jotting notes in his notebook and me doing the same, all the while feeling the lingering heat from his touch between my thighs.

My quill trembled in my hand as his middle fingertip teased my entrance, a subtle reminder of the delicious tension that pulsed between us.

"You're doing such a good job," he whispered, the words dripping with desire and satisfaction.

As his finger continued its tantalizing dance on my clit, my senses heightened, and the room seemed to blur around us. I could feel the weight of his gaze on me , his right hand came to my notebook and reading what I wrote

His whisper in my ear sent shivers down my spine, his words laced with admiration. "So smart," he praised, his voice barely audible over the classroom's ambient sounds.

A soft moan escaped my lips as his finger teased my sensitive clit, drawing attention from those around us.

“Is there a problem Miss (Y/L/N)?”, Professor Flitwick's inquiring voice momentarily broke the spell

Mattheo sped up his pace and i gulped, shaking my head “Nothing just…I hit my leg.”

His thumb pressed against my clit, a silent command for me to focus, even as waves of pleasure washed over me.

"Silence, darling," he whispered, his touch igniting a fire within me, making me stand at the edge of my seat “it makes me smile when you drip like that before i even touched you “

The intense sensations brought tears to my eyes, but I fought to maintain composure, desperately searching for any distraction. ,and then I noticed his bulge deliberate flex of his thigh muscle all added to the dizzying mix of pleasure and tension I moved my hands but he catch them with his free hand .

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," he warned firmly, his smirk evident in his voice.

Mattheo's skilled fingers pushed me to the brink repeatedly, each pause amplifying my desire. I felt like I was on the verge of losing control, his smirk and chuckle signaling his triumph.

"I admire your strength, bunny," he praised, pushing me closer to the edge. "Cum for me, pretty one," he commanded, igniting a blazing inferno within me with his mere touch. It was a paradox of ecstasy and frustration, and I cum so hard it was insane, leaving me questioning how such intense desire could be evoked with such minimal contact.

─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ── ─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ── ─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆

I sat in my dimly lit room, wrapped in a cozy blanket, my favorite book lying forgotten on my lap. The decision weighed heavily on my mind—to go or not to go to the Slytherin party. Earlier that morning, Mattheo's teasing in class had left me flustered and frustrated, but now, as I replayed those moments in my head, a mischievous smile tugged at the corners of my lips.

The memory of his touch, his whispered words, and the forbidden thrill of our secret interactions still lingered, leaving me feeling a delicious ache between my thighs. I pretended to be mad at him for crossing boundaries during Professor Flitwick's lecture, but deep down, I knew I was equally to blame for letting the tension build to such intoxicating levels.

As I contemplated my next move, the allure of the party beckoned to me—a chance to indulge in the forbidden, to dance on the edge of danger. I could almost feel the pulsating music, the dim lights, and the whispered promises of excitement and pleasure.

"Two can play this game," I thought, my heartbeat quickening with anticipation. The thrill of the unknown, coupled with the lingering desire from our unfinished business, fueled my decision. With a determined grin, I tossed the blanket aside and rose from my bed.

I selected a tiny, short green top , hugging my curves in a way that exuded confidence. Paired with a sleek pair of black shorts, a bold statement . Adding a touch of glamour, I applied a vibrant red lipstick that accentuated my lips, and I let my hair cascade down in loose waves, framing my face.

To balance the daring look, I threw on a large black hoodie( that won’t stay on for too long) , leaving the zipper slightly open.The contrast between the snug, the revealing outfit

Tonight, I would embrace the tantalizing dance of temptation and desire, fully aware that every step taken towards the Slytherin party would lead me deeper into the seductive web we had woven together.

"Hey, y/n! Glad you made it," Enzo greeted me with a mix of surprise and warmth as I entered the party. He glanced at me, momentarily taken aback, before announcing my presence to everyone in the room.

"Y/n's here!" Enzo exclaimed, drawing attention to me. "Matt said you were sick and wouldn't be able to come."

I flashed a smile, inwardly amused by Matteo's excuse. "I feel so much better now," I replied, playing along and maintaining an innocent facade. Despite trying to act casual, I couldn't help but notice the gazes lingering on my chest, emphasizing the alluring effect of the green top I had chosen. I met Matteo's eyes, silently acknowledging the unspoken game between us.

He was clearly irritated by the attention I was drawing, but I couldn't help but feel victorious in my little game. With a determined smile, I made my way over to where he was seated, bypassing the available seats and settling directly onto his lap.

I leaned in, planting a kiss on his cheek and greeted him, "Hi, handsome." His eyes reflected a mix of frustration and anger as he tightly wrapped his arms around my waist, though I played innocently by running my fingers through his hair.

"What do you think you're doing?" he asked with a harsh tone, clearly not pleased.

"Just here to see you," I replied, my gaze batting innocently at him. "Felt terrible staying angry after our little disagreement this morning." A sly smile played on my lips. "Didn't you miss me?"

Before he could reply, a voice cut through the charged atmosphere."Matteo, mate, another drink?" Jack, or perhaps that was his name, stood beside us, his gaze politely averted. A flicker of something unreadable crossed Matteo's face.

After Jack melted back into the crowd, Matteo's voice dropped to a low growl. "I see what you're doing."

I opened my mouth to respond, but he cut me off again. "And zip up that damn hoodie." His hand reached for the zipper, but I caught his wrist , realizing how close it was to my sensitive areas.

"No," I countered, my voice firm but playful. "It's stiflingly hot in here. Perhaps I'll just take it off ."I strategically brushed my hips against him, scanning the surrounding area for any watchful eyes. Thankfully, the party was in full swing, a blur of dancing bodies and overflowing drinks.

"Stay still," he said through gritted teeth, a hint of desperation lacing his voice.

Despite his demand for me to stop moving, I couldn't resist the temptation to tease him further. My actions were deliberate, a playful challenge to his control.

"Why? Does it bother you?" I asked, feigning innocence but knowing exactly the effect I was having on him. His grip on my waist tightened, a silent warning.

"You're playing with fire, sweetheart," he warned, his voice low and tinged with desire.

I leaned in closer, our faces mere inches apart. "Maybe I like the heat," I whispered, my lips brushing against his ear.

A startled gasp escaped my lips as his hand squeezing the plush of my ass , a possessive gesture that sent a tremor through me. The heat of his gaze seemed to sear through the carefully constructed facade of innocence, the tell-tale flush creeping up my neck a stark contrast to the coolness of the room. My breath hitched, a silent whimper escaping my lips as I unconsciously pressed closer, the frantic rhythm of our breaths mirroring the rising tension.

He could see the flustered look i had on because of the thought of being caught trying to dry-hump him. But he could see the reddened tips of my ears and hear my small whimpers along with your breaths heavying the more i pressed myself against him.

He leaned in, his lips trailing a path of fire down my neck before finding a more sensitive spot. A jolt of electricity shot through me, a strangled moan almost escaping my lips.

"Did you truly believe you held the reins, darling?" he murmured, a sardonic edge to his voice.

"Still dwelling on this morning, aren't you, my love?" His words came out in a murmured tone, a sly smirk forming at the corner of his lips. "I find this new side of you quite appealing—so eager and yearning for me that you couldn't resist acting on your desires."

He could discern the flustered expression I wore, a result of the daring move of trying to dry-hump him. Yet, he also noticed the reddened tips of my ears and heard the soft whimpers escaping me, blending with the deepening breaths as I pressed myself against him.

After a teasing kiss to my neck, his tone turned huskier as he remarked, "Did you honestly believe you were in control, bunny?"

"Still dwelling on this morning, aren't you, my love?" His words came out in a murmured tone, a sly smirk forming at the corner of his lips. "I find this new side of you quite appealing—so eager and yearning for me that you couldn't resist acting on your desires."

In response, I nodded, a small whimper escaping my lips, as I ground my throbbing need against his hardened bulge. "P-please, I need you," I pleaded, my desperation evident.

"You look exquisite when you're craving my cock to fill you up, love," he whispered, his voice filled with lust and desire.

"How badly do you want me to satisfy you, baby?" He inquired, his hand moving forward to gently stimulate my neglected bundle of nerves with the pad of his thumb.

"Badly, very badly," I replied quickly, my voice trembling with desperation, as I lifted my head to meet his gaze, my eyes silently imploring him to fulfill my intense yearning.

I took a deep breath, my voice quivering with need as I angled my hips to align my still-covered entrance with his cock.

"Please," I breathed, my plea hanging in the air as he teased me, moving my hips against his bulge with his hands firmly gripping my ass.

His teasing sent shivers down my spine, making my heart race. "Please, Matt, I need you. Please stop teasing me," I begged, leaning forward to press soft kisses along his jawline and down to his neck.

A guttural groan escaped him as I sucked on his skin, leaning his head back , giving me more space marking him as mine, marks he would wear with pride the next day. "Fuck, bunny, you don't know what you're doing to me," he grunted.

His hardened cock rubbed against my clothed pussy, sending a delightful tingling sensation through my entire body. "Feels so good," I moaned breathlessly, my hand entangled in his dark hair, while I moved on him with increasing fervor.

His hips bucked against mine, his cock rubbing me just right through our clothes. "I could cum like this. Do you feel good too?" I asked, pulling his hair slightly to lift his face as I demanded his lips to meet mine. Our kiss was messy, his tongue taking the lead effortlessly.

Despite us being almost fully dressed, he made me feel incredible, my pleasure building rapidly as I rode him and rubbed my clit on his cock eagerly.

Suddenly, he took control, moving me faster. My head fell back, and I trembled heavily in his hands. "Don't stop, please, Matt. I'm close," I whimpered, my hands balling into fists on his chest, crumpling the fabric of his shirt.

He encouraged me with soft kisses, his hips bucking harder against mine, causing me to feel him twitching. That was my breaking point.

I came hard, my moans and profanities filling the air. I barely noticed how tightly I had clenched my hands into his chest, quickly withdrawing when I realized I might have left a few marks. What would our friends say? Panic started to set in.

But he cut through my thoughts, burying his face in my neck, his lips grazing against my shoulder. "Don’t panic, bunny. No one was watching, and if that makes you feel any better, I would kill anyone who did."

I smiled, reassured by his words, and felt his hands roam around my back.

"Now, lets take this to your room. Enough with the games " he said, zipping up my hoodie before standing up.

─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ── ─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ── ─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆

[htmljoon]

Imagine Miguel has slowly been falling for his personal assistant at work, as much as he’s been trying to ignore those feelings. He plays them off as fondness for a coworker, you had a mentor mentee relationship, of course he’d care for you. But he realizes just how deep his feelings truly are when he’s been at the office all night, not even realizing it had gotten well into the morning of the next day. He’d been so strung out and hyper fixated on the project that was due by the end of week that he’d completely lost track of time. The blank eyes behind his glasses are slowly scanning the documents on his laptop screens, deep blues painting his unusually pale skin just below them, clear evidence of his exhaustion. But his heart stops, and the room feels a little warmer, a little more colorful, when he hears you down the hall. The familiar hissing sound of the espresso machine stirs something in him, but it was white background noise compared to your beautiful voice. You were singing a song like you were up on a stage, full of emotion and enchanting like a siren. “Through drought and famine, natural disasters, my baby has been around for me…” You performed, deft hands working the latte maker like you did every morning for your boss. Soon the mechanic whirring stopped, giving Miguel an even better listen to your captivating music. His heart was pounding between his lungs, all fatigue having been stripped with each passing note. His eyes widened as the click of your heels grew closer, your humming growing louder, and then you startled in the doorway, nearly dropping the latte you made for him every morning. “Shi—“ you caught yourself before the curse word slipped out in front of your boss. You heaved a loud, breathless sigh, gripping your chest and doubling over. “Oh my god, you scared me, Mr. O’Hara! What are you doing here so early, sir?” He prayed you didn’t catch the pink hues dusting his cheeks, or the way he couldn’t take his eyes off of you and you stepped closer. The gentle smile you gave him as you set his morning coffee down on his desk had butterflies blooming in his stomach. All he wanted to do was grab that hand and reel you in so he could crash his lips against yours. “Just… prepping the project that’s due Friday,” he grumbled in a gravely voice, throat dry from lack of use. You sucked your teeth and shook your head. “You’ve been up all night? That won’t do at all. I’ll order breakfast from that place you like down the street. They have breakfast empanadas, right?” But you had already pulled out your phone to search the menu, giving him another glance and smile that has his knees weak before you typed away on your screen and headed back for the door. When he glanced down at his mug, his gaze stuck on the heart you drew next to his name, and his breath hitched in his throat. He could melt in your presence, you burned as brightly as the sun. And there was no denying he was falling in love with you.

[falcqns]

you'll be alright (no one can hurt you now) chapter three

✰ 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠: Lucy Chen & Tamara Colins, Tim Bradford & Lucy Chen, background Tim Bradford x Lucy Chen

✰ 𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐲: Lucy spends her first week of maternity leave ignoring everyone but Jackson and Nolan. Tim comes back to work and questions where his rookie is, but no one will tell him anything, even Lucy. Lucy finds out some news about Tamara, and has to make a decision.

✰ 𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬: canon divergence, autistic!Tamara, Tim Bradford would do anything for Lucy Chen, Lucy is a hardcore swiftie, adoption, finally Tim makes an appearance, low-key basing Tamara off of my one month old bc im obsessed w everything she does as I didn’t get this experience w my first, 

don’t forget to read and reblog, and i do not give permission for my works to be posted anywhere other than tumblr. thank you.

Lucy laid Tamara down in her bassinet, one hand on her back, and one hand on her belly. She removes her hand from underneath her, and rubs her belly, watching as the 2 week old infant stretches, yawns, and closes her eyes, falling into a deep sleep. 

Lucy sighs, rubbing her hand across Tamara’s forehead, before leaning down and pressing a kiss to her nose. The past two weeks had been a lot, but Lucy wouldn’t trade it for anything. She was loving being Tamara’s guardian. 

Was she exhausted? Yes. Had she not had a shower in over a week? Also yes. But it didn’t matter. Knowing Tamara is taken care of, safe, and loved is more valuable to Lucy than all the good night sleeps and hot showers she’d ever taken are. 

Lucy turned on the sound machine and the baby monitor, taking the portable portion with her. She slowly shut the door, and then turned to look at the state of her apartment. 

It was a disaster. There were empty bottles, take out containers, coffee cups, and laundry everywhere. The dishes were piling up, and the garbage needed to be taken out. She sighed one more time, clipping the baby monitor to the pocket of her sweat pants, before she started picking up things, wanting to get the apartment in order for when Jackson and John came over after shift. 

Jackson had been her number one supporter the last two weeks. He came over on his lunch break and helped her bathe Tamara for the first time on her own, and had ran out to the store for formula and diapers and wipes more times than Lucy could count. John, on the other hand, had yet to meet Tamara. He knew of Tamara, and that Lucy took her in, but he had been so busy with adjusting to his busy schedule and maintaining his contact with his son that time for him to come over and cuddle a baby while Lucy ate something was limited.

Tonight, however, was a free night, and Lucy could tell John was excited. He had texted her in the morning, asking if they were still on for tonight and if she needed him to bring anything, followed up by a text gushing about how he couldn’t wait to meet her. It made Lucy happy, knowing that she had such a great support system already, even though it was small. She had yet to tell her parents, as she knew that they would call her irresponsible and foolish for doing this, but then again, what did they know about raising children properly? All they did when she showed any sort of emotion was stick her in a therapy session. 

So while her support system was small, it was strong, and was filled with people who would support her how she needed, not how they thought she needed it. 

She had just dragged Tamara’s baby bouncer that Jackson had brought her a few days ago into the bathroom when she heard Tamara start crying in her bedroom. Lucy smiled to herself, and made her way into the bedroom. She turned off the baby monitor and the sound machine before approaching the bassinet, where Tamara was moving her limbs around in her sleep sack, eyes searching the room for Lucy. 

“Hi baby girl.” Lucy said gently, not wanting to startle Tamara. She unzipped the sleep sack and cooed when she saw Tamara’s limbs scrunch up in a stretch. “Did you have a good sleep?” She asked as she lifted her up, making sure to support her head. 

Tamara instantly settled down when Lucy held her against her chest, and carried her over to the change table. She laid her down and unzipped her onesie, her heart hurting when Tamara let out a cry at the air of the room hitting her bare skin. 

“I know,” Lucy said gently, trying to be quick about the diaper change. “I know, Mama Lucy is trying to be quick.” 

Once she was changed and her onesie was done back up, Lucy cradled her against her chest once again, and carried her into the bathroom, strapping her into the baby bouncer. Tamara cried again briefly, but quickly settled when Lucy hit the on button and it slowly began rocking her back and forth. 

Lucy sighed, and stripped quickly, turning the shower on and hopped in. She kept the shower door open slightly, just so that she could peek out at Tamara every so often. She knew Tamara would be fine for a few minutes, but it made the anxiety in Lucy’s chest settle if she could just peek at her every once in a while. 

Lucy finished her quick shower, and dried off, dressing in record time. She had just pulled on her leggings and sweater when Tamara started crying again. Lucy checked her phone and deduced that she was most likely hungry, as it had been almost 3 hours since her last bottle.

She scooped Tamara up, and carried her into the kitchen, where she grabbed the bottle with 3 ounces of formula, and warmed it up before carrying it over to the couch. She was about to sit down and feed her when the doorbell rang. 

“It’s open!” She called to Jackson and John. Jackson opened the door and walked in, followed by John. 

“Hey,” She said, smiling at her friends. “How was work today?” 

John nodded with a smile, his eyes fixed on Tamara. 

“Do you want to feed her?” She asked, and John nodded. 

“If you don’t mind,” He said, looking at her for permission. 

“Be my guest,” she said, holding out the bottle in one hand, and Tamara with her other arm. John scooped both baby and bottle from Lucy and sat down on the couch. Lucy sat down next to them, with Jackson sitting across from the two of them, on the chair that he had claimed over a year ago. 

“How was work?” Lucy repeated, wanting to know what was going on while she is gone. 

“Oh you know,” Jackson said with a smile. “Its work.”

“Yup,” John agreed. “Absolutely insane.”

“Glad to hear nothings changed,” Lucy said with a smile. 

“Well, one thing has changed,” John said. “Tim came back to work finally.”

Lucy nodded. “I figured. He’s not mad that I’m off, is he?”

Jackson shook his head. “No, not mad. He’s definitely confused, but don’t worry, we haven’t told anyone the real reason you’re off.”

“Thank you,” Lucy said sincerely. “I really do appreciate that. It’s not that I’m ashamed of her or anything, but I don’t know how long she’ll be with me, so I don’t want everyone to get attached and then have to say goodbye.” She explained. 

Both boys nodded, and John went to open his mouth to answer, when Lucy’s phone went off. She looked down, and saw the name ‘Stacie - DCFS’ flash across her screen. 

“Hold on,” she said to the boys, grabbing her phone and walking into her bedroom.

“Hello?” She said, answering the phone. 

“Hi Lucy, its Stacie.” Stacie said in her cheery voice. 

“Hi Stacie, how can I help you?” Lucy responded, trying to control her breathing. She knew that this call would come sooner or later, and no matter how much she told herself that she had to do what was best for Tamara, she still dreaded hearing that they found her family. 

“Well, I’m just calling to inform you that the search for Tamara’s family has been unsuccessful. We were unable to locate any relatives who are able to take her in.” 

A smile spread on Lucy’s face, which then caused a pang of guilt inside her. She shouldn’t be rejoicing over this. Them being unsuccessful means that she does have family out there, but they aren’t able to take her in, meaning she once again, in her short 2 weeks of life, has no one. 

“Oh, okay.” She answered. “So what happens next?” She asked. 

“Well,” Stacie said, a smile evident on her face. “You have a choice to make. We can either search for a permanent placement for Tamara with another family, or you can start the process to adopt her.” 

Tears filled Lucy’s eyes. There was no question in her mind about what she was going to pick. 

“You can take a few days to think-“ Stacie began, but Lucy cut her off. 

“I want to adopt her.” She said. 

“I had a feeling you’d choose that option,” Stacie said warmly. Lucy could hear keys clicking in the background. “So, I will contact a family lawyer for you, and get the process expedited. If all goes well, which I know for a fact it will, she should officially be yours - at the very latest - by the end of next month.” 

“T-thank you,” Lucy said, swallowing the lump in her throat. “Thank you so much.”

“You’re so welcome, Lucy.” Stacie said. “Because of you, that baby is going to be raised in a wonderful environment, by the most wonderful mom. I’m so glad that you are the one who found her.” 

Lucy and Stacie traded thank you’s once more, before saying goodbye and hanging up. Lucy sat down on the bed, and sniffled, wiping her nose on her sleeve. She took a deep breath, before the door opened. 

“Everything okay, Lucy?” John asked, carrying Tamara. 

“Y-yeah, great actually.” She said, looking up at her baby girl in the arms of her friend. “That was her social worker.”

Jackson walked in to the room, and took a seat next to her. “And?” He asked. 

“They couldn’t find any family when are able to take her in, so we have started the process for me to adopt her.” She said with a smile, and laughed when both Jackson and John exclaimed in happiness, Jackson wrapping her in a hug. 

“That’s amazing!” John said, sitting down next to her. “You’re officially a mom.” He said, handing Tamara over to her. 

“Yeah, I am.” She whispered, looking down at the sleeping infant. She then wrinkled her nose, after getting a whiff of poop. 

“Oh yeah,” John said. “Yeah she definitely pooped, so she’s all yours, Mama.”

—-

Later that night, after Jackson and John had left, and Tamara had been laid down for the night, Lucy was laying in bed, facing Tamara. She was going to be hers, officially, and she couldn’t be happier. She had always wanted to be a mom, and now she was one, to a little girl who deserved a mother the most. 

Just as Lucy went to close her eyes, there was a knock at her door. Lucy sighed, and climbed out of bed, trudging to the door. She peeked through the peep hole, and her heart dropped seeing Tim. She gulped, and opened the door. 

“H-hi,” She said apprehensively. 

“Hey.” He said, looking concerned. “Why aren’t you at work? Grey said you’re on leave for a few months, and no one seems to know anything.” 

“What, are you worried?” She said jokingly, hoping that Tamara would stay asleep. 

Tim rolled his eyes. “No, Boot, I just wanted to know if you were dropping out of the program or not so I don’t waste my time waiting around.” 

Lucy rolled her eyes. “No, sir. I am not dropping out.”

“Then why are you on leave?” He demanded. 

“Look, Tim, theres been few…” Lucy began, unsure how to word her explanation without giving anything away. “Changes in my life recently. Changes that I don’t feel at liberty to share with people, especially not my training officer. Not at the moment at least.” She explained. 

“I just need a few months to adjust and find my footing, and then I’ll be back.” She said, and Tim nodded in agreement. 

“Good.” He said simply. “I’m going to hold you to that, Chen.”

Lucy smiled warmly. “I know, sir.”

[beloveddawn-blog]

for @minnieposting Noel is her character I just got a thought in my head that wouldn't leave. One brief misgendering by a character that hasn't met Noel before and a gender-neutral usage of 'dude' because I feel Donovan is that sort of person.

Enjoy!

Noel lit up as Donovan sauntered into the arcade. They quickly shook their head, however, and then sprawled elegantly and insolently over the counter. Or at least attempted to. They actually looked a bit like a golden retriever looking for pets, but Donovan refrained from commenting on it. As cute as Noel looked when they were all fired up, that wasn’t the point of this visit. “There’s my favourite sidekick!” He exclaimed, throwing in a wink. “Whadda ya say we cause some trouble?”

“I’m still at work.” They replied thoughtlessly, then went bright red and started waving their hands in front of their face. “I… I… I… I mean, maybe. Depends on what you have in mind. I��ll see if I can pencil you in somewhere.” It was a valiant attempt to regain some dignity, but unfortunately Donovan knew better. As did Luis, who groaned dramatically in the background. 

“Dunno.” Donovan replied slyly. “What’re ya in the mood for? Quick run through the woods? Explore the deepest levels of the sewers? Steal something out of the Prince’s room? Heckle Xyla? There’s all sorts of things to do around here.” His grin grew as he went on, the list getting steadily more dangerous as he continued. Noel was starting to turn faintly green, their skin shifting to match their hair as their distress bled through their own unique abilities.

Still, though, Noel was never one to back down. Donovan would have gotten bored if they had been. They slouched back against the counter behind them, hands causally tucked into their hoodie pocket to hide their shaking. Their grin shook just as much, but they offered it anyway. “That’s it? Sounds like you’ve got nothing but boring pla-AHNS.” Their voice cracked in the middle of the word, likely from fear, and Donovan felt bad for just a moment… Before entirely forgetting it happened as he surged forward, hands outstretched in an attempt to catch Noel. Noel, who had startled themselves with their own voice, slipped on the spider plushie behind them… And accidentally slid the entire collection of stuffed animals you could win at the arcade off of the counter, before falling themself and knocking over a lamp. Which then hit a vending machine. Which swayed ominously before Donovan pivoted and pushed it back into place, determined to protect Noel after his little bit of teasing had gone very wrong.

Luis groaned long, loud, and dramatically before slamming his face into the counter. “Just go.” He begged. “I’d rather deal with customers all day myself than watch one more moment of this disaster kid and their disaster flirting. Just go enjoy the carnival. ANYTHING but staying here and making my day even worse.”

Noel looked like they were about to cry, and Donovan was having none of that. Not when he’d actually come here to sweep Noel away for a little date. “Perfect, Luis, thanks. You’re a real pal.” He replied, reaching over the counter to haul Noel up by one arm. Then he used both hands to grab Noel further in the armpits and bodily haul them over the counter only to tuck them under one arm. “See ya around!” Then he turned on his heel and steered Noel right out of the arcade, ignoring how they flushed some odd magenta-violet colour rather than a normal red. Once outside he steered them off to the side and grabbed them a cotton candy. “Good job ditching work.” He commented, choosing to act like Noel had done it on purpose to make Luis be the one to kick him out. Plausible deniability and all that. “I’ve heard Luis make some pretty good ‘done with people’ sounds before, but this one really took the cake. You’ve got a real talent there.”

Noel blushed and hid their face with the cotton candy. Donovan wisely chose not to tell them they’d gotten it on their forehead.

*

Okay, look, Donvan knew Noel thought he was the coolest thing to ever call Withergate home. He knew that. It didn’t mean he didn’t want to show off for them sometimes, though. It was one thing to just feel that adoring gaze on him, but another thing entirely to turn towards it in triumph and bask in it. He wasn’t really going to take Noel into the forest, though. Or the depths of the sewers. Mortal peril wasn’t actually date material, exhilarating as it could be. And Donvan trusted himself to keep them both safe, but it would still stress Noel out a bit. So, on to the next best thing: the carnival! He could show off to his heart’s content in a safe environment and bask in Noel’s delight, feed them and send them home with a smile on their face. It was a great plan!

*

Donovan stepped back as P.A.M. lit up in delight and announced his score for the whole carnival to hear. He hadn’t quite unseated the High Score (and where a farmer of all things had learned to fight like that…) but it had been impressive nonetheless. He’d even impressed himself, he’d been so focussed on showing off. Riding high on his victory and the starstruck awe in Noel’s eyes, Donovan made the mistake that would set the tone for the night. “Whadda ya say, Noel? Wanna give it a try?”

“Sure!” They chirped, stepping gamely up to the machine. Donovan could see the slight tremors of nerves in their shoulders, but Noel had more guts than most and never backed down. They looked at the machine for a moment before shifting their hands to match Donovan’s claws (and watching flesh flow like that was always going to be just as freaky as it was freaking awesome, he loved this strange little dude so much) and settled into a poor imitation of a fighting stance. Before he could correct them, however, the dummy appeared.

Noel startled, took a swipe, overbalanced because their hands were now a different shape than expected, fell forward, and smashed their face into the dummy.

Donovan shot forward to get a hold of them, ignoring P.A.M. shutting down the game and informing him he’d gotten Noel disqualified. There was blood on Noel’s face.

Oh, not a lot, which was a great thing to discover, but enough that Donovan could smell it, and it was distressing. He’d never actually smelled anything like it before and even though it wasn’t unpleasant he never wanted to smell it again because it meant Noel’s blood was outside of their body!

Noel, for their part, just looked up at him dazedly, then gave a soft, “Oh,” and shifted their nose around a bit to heal it. Which was super cool to know, but also not what you wanted to have happen on a date. And shapeshifting couldn’t deal with the little goose egg forming on Noel’s hairline. They shook their head decisively, however, when Donovan suggested he just walk them home. “I still wanna hang out with you,” they insisted. “We had plans.”

Which… they sort of didn’t. This had been a whim. Still, Donovan was totally wrapped around Noel’s fingers and also still wanted to hang out, so they did.

It did not improve from there.

*

“So, chap, what’s your guess? Was it 21, 27, or 39?”

Noel blinked slowly at Chauncy, obviously trying to parse the question. “35,” they replied decisively.

Now it was Chauncy’s turn to blink. “Thirty… five. That’s… not an option, kid.”

Noel nodded seriously. “And a half.”

*

Benny laid the cards out in front of them. They were playing as a team, so Donovan pointed to one and Noel pointed to a second. The cards didn’t match, so Noel looked seriously back at the ghost before saying, “Go fish.”

*

They didn’t even get to try the hat game. The critter appeared and Noel squeaked in delight before turning themselves into one, chittering back and forth with it animatedly.

Jet banned them. Donovan couldn’t stop laughing.

*

The ferris wheel was the pinnacle achievement of the celebrated architect Xyla and by far the most interesting part of the Withergate skyline… And Donovan really should have noted that Noel never mentioned it themselves. They didn’t tell Donovan they were afraid of heights until the second rotation, and on the third one the whole ride had to be shut down for cleaning. Donovan didn't wait for the operator to “assist them in safely disembarking”, he simply talked Noel into shifting back into a critter, tucked them in his shirt, and took off.

The last thing Noel needed after puking on the ride was to walk through the gauntlet of people also affected. Especially the ones in the splash zone.

*

Dugan’s Deadeye was another unmitigated disaster. Neither Noel nor Donovan owned their own crossbow, so Donovan sweet-talked Dugan into letting them borrow his crossbow to give it a try. He made a respectable showing of himself, but not enough to win. He shrugged philosophically, as he never really used a crossbow and as such, reasonably, wasn’t great at them. 

Then it was Noel’s turn.

Three shots in, of course, and the string snapped. Noel yelped and flinched, and that honestly probably saved their pretty face. Nothing could save their arm, however, and the welt the string raised looked even worse than the goose egg from before. It was probably only thanks to Noel’s big sad eyes and sad whimpering that Dugan dropped his complaints so quickly. They hightailed it out of there pretty quickly too.

*

That was how they found themselves back in the arcade. Luis was still ignoring them completely, but that was just fine by Donovan. They were just having a calm, chill time with Donovan teaching Noel how to properly play pool (and no, it’s not just poking the ball with the stick, there is a technique to it) when Noel managed to mess up a shot badly by scooping it, causing the ball to fly off like it was trying to skip town, only to be stopped short with a loud THWACK!

Right.

Into.

The.

Prince’s.

Hand.

Prince Darius blinked slowly, taking in the scene in front of him. Donovan didn’t really hold with authority figures, but there was no denying the amount of power the other man held. And while Donovan could withstand some royal tantruming with ease, Noel was a more sensitive soul.

The Prince’s gaze shifted between the two of them for a moment before he raised one eyebrow at Donovan imperiously. Good, he thought, fiercely glad Noel wasn’t going to be taking the heat for this. They hadn’t done anything wrong, it was an accident and the Prince hadn’t even been inside when it happened, but both King Minos and Dynus ruled with iron-fisted whims. Prince Darius wasn’t usually too bad, but every now and then seemed to feel he had something to prove.

“Even for a hustle, this is awfully unfair.” He commented, his red eyes glinting with judgement. “Look at him, he can barely hold a cue!”

Donovan squared up by slouching down, fixing his own harsh gaze on his ruler. “They’re just learning,” he replied, taking care to keep the comment light. It wasn’t really unreasonable to assume he was attempting to hustle Noel, Prince Darius had seen him do similar things before, but there was something about the thought of that happening to Noel that had the wolf in him snarling. “Nothing like that’s happening here.”

Prince Darius took a closer look at Noel, and Donovan could see his features hardening as he took in the small lump on their forehead, the remnants of blood around their nose, and the edge of the red mark from the welt peeking through the loose neck of their hoodie. “Yes.” He replied, voice clipped and brittle. “I can see you’ve been taking very good care of them already today.”

Donovan drew up in affront and opened his mouth to deny it when he was beaten to his own defence by a tremulous voice he hadn’t expected would have the courage to speak at all in royalty’s presence.

“Don’t you speak to Donovan like that!” Noel insisted, coming forward to stand between them. They were easily the shortest of the three, and it was almost comical how far back they had to tilt their head to match that narrowed red gaze. “It’s absolutely not his fault that I’ve been a disaster of a person today, I just… I just didn’t sleep well. He’s been great about it, even when I messed up all his plans. And I really don’t get why you’re being mean to him when I was the one that bounced the ball up like that. That’s really unfair.”

For one full, breathless moment, Noel stood steady under Prince Darius’s flinty gaze. Donovan raised a hand towards Noel’s shoulder, intending to offer support, when the Prince softened. He still carried his arrogance like a cape, and his eyes still held their keen edge of assessment, but the defensive aggression he had set his shoulders in left, seamlessly flowing back into casual confidence. The smile he gave Noel was both smug and lazy, but there was something there that had Donovan’s hackles rising.

“I’m not judging his character, I’m judging his teaching.” He replied, speaking to Noel directly for the first time. “Come. I shall assist you with this match. You’ll need all the help you can get to stand a chance against this punk. He spends far too much time here, and it shows in his skill.”

“Excuse me?” Donovan spat out, knowing his own laughter showed in his voice, “You’re in here every single afternoon, you don’t get to judge me for my habits.”

Prince Darius raised an imperious eyebrow. “And yet I still manage to actually accomplish things in my day. It really makes one question your abilities.”

Donovan snatched his cue back up from where he had left it leaning against the table. “You go right ahead and do that,Your Highness. I’ll make sure you regret it.”

*

*

*

“... And I really don’t know what he was trying to accomplish with this, but he was actually nice for the rest of the game! And don’t tell him this, but he really is a good teacher. Noel improved dramatically as soon as they calmed down from their little bravery high.” Donovan griped, flopped lengthwise across his couch as he recounted the day to his friend.

Teleri hummed in acknowledgement before lifting the sword she was sharpening up to the light to check the edge. Seemingly satisfied, she set it aside and started polishing her gauntlets. “Darius trusts your judgement.” She commented offhandedly, then paused. “Well, no, ‘judgement’ is the wrong word there. As is ‘trust’. You know what, just throw that whole comment out, it doesn’t make sense.” She set her glove down on the table and pinned Donovan with an intense gaze. He ignored it. She ignored him ignoring it. “Darius doesn’t have the time to get to know all of his subjects individually. He takes his duties far too seriously for that. And he cannot be obviously invested in newcomers, it’ll make people talk and ruin what he’s planning. You have a true knack for finding the interesting ones, however, and you quickly get bored of monotony. So even if someone is interesting, if they wish to blend in and settle down you’ll get bored of them. And unlike Xyla, who has similar people skills, you’re not actually connected to Darius in any way. You don’t pay taxes, you swindle officials, and I think Cordelia would like to have you hung, but all of those are actually bonuses in Darius’s eyes. You are an excellent source of unusual skill sets and fascinating perspectives for him.”

Donovan narrowed his eyes at her. “I’m not sure how I feel about that.”

“Proud he trusts you, angry he’s using you, and uncertain about making his life simpler in this way if it has the potential to make other lives harder, probably.” Teleri replied off-handedly, going back to her gauntlets. She ignored both his sulk and his irritation, knowing she was right. “If it was King Minos I’d agree with you, nothing good is going to come of it. But Darius wants what’s best for his people. He wants Withergate to flourish. And he’s as concerned about Dynus’s influence as I am. Plus, you help him keep a finger on the pulse of who is unhappy here, so he can do things like clear out sections of the sewers or put a lock on rising housing prices.”

He digested that for a moment, before coming back to the biggest concern for him. “What does that mean for Noel?” He asked, aware that they were now firmly in the Prince’s attention.

“Probably nothing.” Teleri replied, frowning at a stubborn scoff. “He knows now that they are unique, talented, brave, and so very loyal, and he wants them loyal to him, but unless it comes to all out war between the cities, which it will not because I will never let it, he doesn't actually need Noel for anything. It goes both ways, though. If things go that thoroughly badly, he’ll be looking out for Noel just as much…because he’ll know they’re irreplaceable.”

Donovan blinked at her. “I’m not sure if that makes me feel better or not.” He admitted.

Teleri nodded at her gauntlet, seemingly satisfied. “Yeah, life’s like that. Never simple and never easy, but worth it anyway.”

[silvfyre-writings]

Aizawa Cares Pt. 27 (MHA Fanfic)

Hello, and welcome back to another chapter!! This week is Tsuyu, who was interesting to write. And it's a short chapter this time, only because I kinda just lost my creative juices, but I'd already committed to the chapter so I kept going? So for that, I apologize if the quality is lacking.

Either way, I hope you all enjoy! Thanks for reading!

Out of all the students in his class this year, Aizawa found that Asui was the quietest one. He didn’t mean ‘quiet shy’ like Koda, or ‘quiet trauma’ like Todoroki; instead, the girl was often ‘quiet thoughtful’, thinking over her words rather than just blurting them out like her classmates were seldom to do. This made Asui appear wise for her age, but Aizawa just had a feeling that it was because Asui didn’t want to have to repeat herself if she got spoken over. Which Aizawa understood quite well; he too, wasn’t fond of repeating himself, which was why he had long perfected the glare that brought about immediate silence.

But sometimes Asui got too quiet, so much so that she faded into the background entirely. These days, Aizawa noticed how the girl would still hang around her friends, but would be much more withdrawn, letting them do all the talking and whatnot. Aizawa didn’t know if her friends were aware of this or not, but that wasn’t his business. Asui would also refrain from speaking in class, even if he called upon her; the look he was often given by the girl was enough to have him turn to another student to ask the same question.

Sometimes the kids just had off days, and forcing them to participate instead of letting them back away was just a recipe for disaster—Aizawa had learnt that the hard way at the start of the year when he’d tried to push a very recluse Jiro into participating, resulting in the poor girl nearly deafening the entire class.

Aizawa had learnt.

Winter was the worst for it, he found; the cold already making Asui lethargic and difficult to engage with, with even those closest to her struggling to do much else than drag a tired greeting out of the girl. So, to throw that quietness on top of Asui’s hibernation mode, it left Aizawa feeling just a little more than worried for his student whenever colder weather came around. But every time it came, Asui managed to come through to the other side.

Until now.

This winter had been a bad one, so bad that Asui had literally gone into hibernation after valiantly dragging herself to class. Aizawa had let her stay, before sending her back to the dorms with Todoroki and Bakugo—the two boys more than capable of generating enough body heat to keep Asui walking—to stay until warmer weather. It wasn’t an ideal solution, but Aizawa had always told his students that their health came first, and thus, Asui was considered to be on a medical hiatus from school.

But now it was spring, the cold still lingering, but effectively being chased away by warmer weather. Everyone was starting to shed the thick coats that they’d needed to wear nearly every day, even inside the classrooms when the heating blew from overuse.

Yet Asui still hadn’t returned to class.

Aizawa didn’t know how long the girl’s hibernation mode lasted once the cold weather passed, but he had a feeling that it wasn’t supposed to be this long. And judging from the worried looks her friends threw at her empty seat, they didn’t think it was normal either.

“Uraraka, can I talk to you for a moment.” Aizawa called out into the room as his students were packing up and getting ready to leave.

Uraraka jumped at being addressed so suddenly, clearly not expecting her teacher to speak to her. But the girl nodded and came up to stand before him. “Is something the matter, Aizawa-sensei?”

“I was just wondering if you’d spoken to Asui recently?” Aizawa asked.

Immediately, Uraraka’s face fell, and his student began to worry her bottom lip between her teeth. “I haven’t… we’ve been trying too though! But Asui never answers her door, and whenever we send her a text, she either ignores it or doesn’t respond for hours. Jiro and Shoji say she seems fine, but for some reason, she just isn’t coming to school.” Uraraka froze, and then frantically waved her hands. “Not that I’m saying Asui doesn’t want to come to class, but maybe she has a really good reason why she isn’t? Could her hibernation be affecting her still?”

Aizawa raised a hand to stop Uraraka before the girl threw another twenty questions at him. “I’m not sure. But thank you for letting me know. I’ll swing by the dorms after school and see if I can’t talk to her.”

“Okay, sensei.” Uraraka paused for a moment. “Thank you, sensei. We’re all really worried about her.”

Aizawa let his expression soften and rested a hand on Uraraka’s shoulder. “You’re a good friend, Uraraka. I’m sure Asui knows that.”

The fifth floor of the dorms was silent as Aizawa walked down the hall towards Asui’s room. The only other female on this floor was Yaoyorozu, and he’d seen the girl in a study session with her friends on his way to the dorms, so there was no one else except for the student he was looking for. Aizawa paused outside of Asui’s room, listening carefully for any signs of life coming from inside. But just like the silent hallway, there was nothing to indicate that his student was even inside. Which had Aizawa a little worried. Even in the dead of night, when he was doing his dorm checks, his students made noise; whether it be because they were moving about in their sleep, or just staying up late, he didn’t know. But the point was, the dorms were rarely ever silent.

It was concerning, and Aizawa quickly knocked on the door in front of him. “Asui? It’s Aizawa, are you in there?”

A faint noise that sounded suspiciously like a thud came from inside the room, followed by the sound of someone coming closer. The door creaked open slightly, giving Aizawa just enough room to see Asui staring at him with a rather dead look that should never be on a child’s face. It was the kind of expression that you saw in heroes that had gone through something traumatic and were struggling to cope, the kind you saw on someone that had nothing to live for anymore. It wasn’t a kind look to have.

And it broke Aizawa’s heart to see such an expression on one of his student’s faces.

“Hey there, kid. May I come in?”

Asui stared at him for a moment before she nodded and stepped away from the door so that Aizawa could walk into the room. Aizawa quickly stepped inside, shutting the door behind him and plunging the room back into darkness. He remained by the door, watching as Asui simply went back to her bed and crawled into the mass of blankets gathered upon it, shifting around so that she was still watching Aizawa. How did I miss this? I know the signs; I should’ve seen them. Aizawa couldn’t help but think as he made his way over to the desk in the room, commandeering the chair so that he could talk to his student on her level. He didn’t think it would be wise to stand above Asui at the moment, not when he didn’t understand just what was running through his student’s mind.

“Your friends are worried about you.” Aizawa settled on saying.

Asui didn’t say anything, but it looked like she was listening to him at least, which was fine with Aizawa. He wasn’t expecting Asui to speak with him if she wasn’t feeling up to it.

“They were worried once the warmer weather came and you didn’t come back to school. They were thinking that maybe your hibernation was still affecting you.” Aizawa took a second to lean down in the chair so that he could meet Asui’s eyes at her own level. “But I think that something else might be going on. And seeing you like this; I think I can gather just what it is.”

The moment he finished speaking, Asui began to cry. It wasn’t the messy crying that he’d witnessed from his other kids, instead it was silent, big fat tears rolling down Asui’s cheeks and dripping onto her pillow, fists clutching the blankets so tight, it was a surprise they didn’t tear. Aizawa practically threw himself out of the chair the moment he heard Asui’s breath hitch as she tried to fight back the tears. He came to crouch before her, one hand held out for her to take if she wanted to; a hand much smaller than his own quickly taking hold, and not letting go.

“S-Sensei, I—” Asui’s voice broke off with a sob.

Aizawa was quick to reassure her. “It’s okay. I understand.”

Asui broke completely then, sobs becoming louder and louder until they filled the room. One hand held tight onto Aizawa’s and the other beat against Asui’s pillow, as if the girl wasn’t quite sure what to do with it. Meanwhile, Aizawa just sat there, offering his student the quiet company she needed, waiting for her crying to calm down so that they could properly talk.

Everyone needed a good cry at least once in their life.

He knew that from experience.

Aizawa didn’t know how long it took for Asui to stop crying, but it must’ve been long enough for his students to arrive back at the doors if the shuffling from outside the room was anything to go by. Not that that meant he was going to leave anytime soon; nothing would drag him from Asui’s bedside right now, not even a villain attack. Some other teacher could deal with that.

“Do you feel better now, Asui?” Aizawa asked, taking great care to keep his voice quiet and gentle. The girl nodded, letting go of his hand to wipe her face.

“Thank you, Sensei.” Asui croaked. “I’m-I’m sorry.”

“Whatever for?”

“I… I don’t know.” Asui admitted.

“Then you don’t need to apologize.” Aizawa said, shifting positions so that his knees would stop screaming at him for sitting on them for so long. Old age, hah. “How about we talk about this? Is there something going on?"

"No, I just... I don’t know… I just woke up after hibernation and didn’t see the point in leaving my bed, I guess.” Asui paused. “I know what it looks like, Sensei, I remember you teaching us about it when you gave us that lecture of taking care of our mental health.”

“If you knew, then why didn’t you come to me? Or one of your friends?” Aizawa asked, also remembering the lesson Asui was talking about. After a few too many breakdowns from his kids, Aizawa had sat them all down in the common room for an unofficial lesson, talking to them all about taking care of their mental health alongside their physical health, and going into depth about the signs of some of the more common illnesses—all while expressing that they could affect anyone.

But did that mean his kids came to him when they struggled? No, of course not, because they were all stubborn teenagers dead set on trying to deal with their problems on their own. Which was fair; Aizawa distinctly remembered being the same way in school himself.

That didn’t mean he didn’t want his kids to be better though.

Asui sighed, burying her face into her pillow, her words becoming so muffled, Aizawa had to lean forward just to hear them. “I just didn’t want it to be real, I guess. I’m sorry, Sensei, I don’t really have an answer for you.”

“That’s fine, I don’t expect you too. But let me help?”

Black eyes peered up at him, a little bit of hope shining beneath the exhaustion. “Okay. But, how?”

“Well, for starters, let’s see if we can’t convince Bakugo to cook something. And then we’ll see if Uraraka and the other girls will help tidy your room. Just small steps, Asui. Just small steps.”

Asui nodded, and reached out her hand.

Aizawa took the offered hand and squeezed it tightly, conveying as much as could through that grip that everything would work out, and that everything would turn out fine.

[doc-hudson]

Trick or threat: Fast car

Alternative title: In which Doc tries real hard to be cool in front of a kid and Luca reevaluates their life choices.

Dated: 29-30 October, 2022

TW: Reference to an almost panic attack. 

Luca Paguro

When Luca had admitted they didn't know anything about Halloween, Magnus had bought them a pumpkin hoodie and shoved them out the door to go the Secondary party they'd heard about. Except Luca didn't really want to go. Milo and Hiro were both going to be at some uni party and Zero had been sort of cadgy about where he was going to be. Tony was home with Ian. So that was everyone Luca new.

Instead, they had started to wander around town, just looking at everything. They watched the kids in the costumes, the teens screaming, the people laughing and teasing each other. They didn't talk to anyone, but it was fun to watch.

Except suddenly the screams took on a different tone. And became a lot of running. Then the purple monsters started to appear and Luca completely froze

-

Doc Hudson

Now, if there ever was a moment where screams and people running around wearing questionable attire was sociably acceptable, it was Halloween, so Paul didn’t really think twice about...anything that happened around him, not when chances were that everything was just kids being kids and doing as kids (and himself being a ridiculous old man) did.

But when the screams turned less playful, less practiced…

“Is that a local tradition?” he asked the nearest person around, which happened to be a kid wearing a pumpkin costume and no shoes (really? in this climate?) “or are those just theatre kids being ‘emselves?”

-

Luca Paguro

There were screams. There were screams and monsters and even though they'd been warned about Swynlake disasters, the past few months had been so quiet they'd started to feel safe. Apparently that was a mistake. Of course the human world wasn't safe!

Starting to tremble, they fully jumped when the voice appeared next to them.

"I-I don't...I'm new. But...but what are those?" Their voice cracked on the last word as they pointed at the shambling figures

-

Doc Hudson

...Oh

“It’s ok, kid” Doc replied, raising his palms in the universal sign of ‘look, I’m unarmed’ before looking into the ruckus' general direction. This all could still be a joke, a very tasteless one, but a joke still.

Poor fella sure as hell wasn’t laughing.

“Well, that makes two of us. I’m also new around” he said, trying to lift the kid’s spirits a little, taking a step forward in order to shield them from watching...whatever the hell was happening and risking a full-blown panic attack “it’s ok, I promise. Now take deep breaths”

-

Luca Paguro

Doc was entirely correct that Luca was on the edge of the panic attack and was wishing they were back in their room. Or preferably back in the ocean where the monsters made sense and usually were just hungry and they had a whole pod around them to protect them.

But they could handle instructions, so as soon as they were told to take a deep breath they did, following it with another. It was better with an adult there to hopefully explain things. Even if he was new. "Do we...do something? Or go somewhere? I don't - all my friends..."

-

Doc Hudson

“That’s it, kid. Now-” He continued, alternating his attention between the chaos that seemed to inch closer every second, and the poor fella. The best option right now was to run -but that would probably make the other even more nervous, so Paul would have to think about a temporal alternative.

He searched his pockets, ignoring his keys and going straight for the mini Kitkat he’d managed to snag earlier, then offering it to the other.

“Here we go. Take little bites while-”

Something akin to metal being hit resonated in the background.

“-little bites. And keep your eyes on me, ok? We’re getting out of here in a sec”

-

Luca Paguro

Luca, for the record, Luca would be okay with the instruction to 'run' especially as an instruction. The bigger problem would be that they physically couldn't run very far on land, but that was a minor detail.

But a new food - particularly a new sweet food - was an extremely effective distraction and Luca immediately took it and took little bites, the terror being replaced by sheer delight at the taste.

But the promise of getting out was also good and they looked back at the older man nodding quietly in response.

-

Doc Hudson

Think, Hud, think.

“Ok” said Doc, mostly to himself, as he knelt in place, bad leg be damned “You’re getting a piggyback ride”

Sure, the option seemed unortodox out of context (and even with context, sure) but that was their best bet as of now: they had to get away and get away fast now that something was around the corner.

Something...vaguely human and that had a curious green glow to it.

“Close your eyes, if you feel like it. I promise you won’t be missin’ anything interesting”

-

Luca Paguro

Luca had...no idea what a piggyback ride was. But considering the man was kneeling with his back to Luca while still talking to them, they could at least make a guess with 'back' and 'ride' (where did the pig part come into this? They'd need to remember to look it up later).

They made the mistake of glancing back at the purpler figures which were now much close and then they tossed their skinny 5'6 body at the adult, clutching at his shoulders and hoping that they ride would begin now!

-

Doc Hudson

The pause was kind of unexpected and Doc was about to ask if the kid was truly ok but soon enough the kid’s weight made itself present on his back and the question became unnecessary.

Oh, man, as light as the kid was this absolutely would hurt later, Doc could tell already.

“We’re out” he declared as he rose, albeit slowly, then inhaled; And off they went, the sudden sprint making Paul bite his lip in pain as they made their way away from whatever-the-hell those things were-

-or, at least, the closest of them. Unluckily for them all, the problem right now wasn’t a lone purple thing wrecking chaos, but a whole lot of them roaming around and doing just that; Even when they turned the corner, a new one appeared.

Ah, just their luck.

“Kid” he called “I know you’re new around but you’ll have to tell me where to go. I haven’t got the slightest idea”

-

Luca Paguro

Luca didn't close their eyes as the only thing worse than seeing danger was not seeing danger when you knew it was there. So they held on as the man began to run.

Except there wasn't an 'away'. They were everywhere. They watched as one of the purple creatures punched through a window and then kicked over the trash bin outside the house. Another one grabbed hold of a person, and they screamed out loud before pulling themselves away and running.

They needed to go somewhere safe. There was only one person in town they considered really safe.

"That way. Forward and then take a left. We can go to Laurel's house in Tortuga. Laurel can beat anything."

-

Doc Hudson

Great, absolutely great. Well, at least the kid had someone, someplace, they could trust and while that wasn’t a complete solution to the problem, it sure was better than nothing.

“Forward, then left” Doc repeated as they moved once again, zooming next to one of the purple creatures, one that seemed way too busy trying to make sense of a streetlamp before deciding that it just wasn’t worth the effort and, instead, decided to tackle it down as if the thing hadn't been made of metal.

“Forward, then left” Paul insisted through gritted teeth as he forced himself to maneuver away from the things, people running around and the occasional something being thrown around “ok, hang in there, kid”.

He had no idea who Laurel was, but if the little fella trusted them then they’ll have to make do. If anything were to happen he could always try to herd the blasted things away from them-

-well, if his strength allowed for it, that is. He was terribly rusty and already getting tired.

“Tell me when to turn left”

-

Luca Paguro

As Luca caught sight of one of the goo monsters slammed their hand through a window in order to grab hold of something on the other side to pull it back through. Another one had picked up a board and broken it in their hands.

Letting out a small 'eep' they clutched tighter at the man and half buried their face in his shoulder (but not enough to cover their eyes, just in case).

A moment later, he tapped the shoulder. "Next left! Then forward to 242 Maple Drive."

-

Doc Hudson

Next left! said the kid, and that might just be the best thing Paul had heard all day.

“Almost there, don’t worry” Doc replied, mostly out of breath, as they took a left, passing dangerously next to a purple thing that refused to move out of their way.

Only barely did they touch, a piece of goo-like substance clinging to his (and the kid’s) clothes before being pushed away by their movement's inertia and leaving behind a rather angry, but ultimately too far and too slow to catch up to them, purple colossus.

“It’s ok, kiddo” he insisted, slowing down in the hopes that now that they’d finally reached a neighborhood that wasn’t completely invaded by the blasted things “I think they haven’t reached this place yet, you can breathe calmy now. Is there any way, ‘sides the number, I can know what house I’m looking for?”

-

Luca Paguro

Even that brief touch had Luca shuddering and shrinking more against Doc. This was why he shouldn't go outside! Outside was dangerous!

But as they came into the familiar neighborhood where he lived, he relaxed his grip and slid off the man's back. He'd been carrying him for a long time anyway, and Luca could run for a little bit. Probably.

"I can point it out. Thank you."

-

Doc Hudson

The kid’s weight disappeared from Doc’s back and...well, that felt a bit better, but the man wasn’t about to admit that, not when he still wanted to play cool for the kid, even if they seemed more relaxed now that they were around familiar surroundings.

“Don’t mention it, champ” he replied with a soft smile (that may or may not be noticeable under all the white makeup he was wearing) “I’ll stand here for a second and make sure nothing follows you, ok?”

-

Luca Paguro

Luca had started to walk when the meaning of the man's sentence became clear, and they paused to turn back towards him.

"Don't you want to come inside? Laurel has lots of snacks and she can protect people from anything. Staying out here doesn't seem very safe because what if the monsters come this way?”

-

Doc Hudson

Paul shook his head ‘no’, still smiling.

“Don’t mean to impose, sport” people might get injured and while he couldn’t officially try and patch people up, he could always try and help in a less...formal way -he’d have to run to get some supplies, sure, but that was his plan for the night.

“You stay safe and look after your folks, ok? I’m sure you’ll be just fine”

-

Luca Paguro

It felt wrong letting him walk away, but the little bit of Luca's courage that had gone in to talking to the stranger in the first place faded away at the 'no'. "Ok. If you're sure. Thank you sir." That was polite right? That seemed like a polite thing since he didn't know the man's name. Oh no, he didn't know his name and now he definitely couldn't ask,  that would be weird. Intead, Luca just waved awkwardly and walked quickly into Laurel's house.

[lemon-plort]

[ FFVII Demo thoughts below :) ]

Dumping all my first impressions here now that I've sat on it for a bit

PROS

This is probably going to be a bit of a mess bc there's just so much I love about this franchise...

Starting off obvious, the music oh my god. Nobuo Uematsu smashed it out but that was to be expected.

I absolutely adore how they explored Cloud's recollection of events from his pov!! Zack's mannerisms and personality showing through while the real Cloud stayed in the background and kept mostly silent (especially around Tifa). It was cool to see, and I think they did a great job blending cloud's perspective with what actually happened. It felt believable that Cloud could recall everything the way he did and seeing how his mind mended or flat out ignored the gaps and inconsistencies was perfect.

Speaking of, the method they chose to retell it. I'm so glad they opted for more of a story around a campfire kind of approach than just showing us through flashbacks. The added dialogue from Barret, Tifa and Aerith was the cherry on top.

Loved the choice system

I've seen others mention it too but how they aren't afraid to keep things a little silly :)) Cloud stuffing his mouth with those sandwiches, butchering Tifa's theme on the piano and stretching with the exercise class were great little moments and I can't wait to see more.

Sephiroth. He honestly deserves multiple bullet points. I LOVE how we got to see more of his personality pre-nibelheim disaster. His banter and expressions were such a welcome addition since I feel they never expanded on it nearly enough in crisis core! He looked genuinely upset after losing the other Shinra trooper and the amount of expression purely in his eyes during and just before the disaster- *chefs kiss*

The small details around the environment, I spent a good chunk of the time just getting in the camera mode and zooming into all the pictures Tifa had around her room or the posters in the general store and inn.

How realistic the physics were for those mako purifiers?? It made me feel like I was back hauling around road cases

Screw it he is getting more points. I need to mention his hair and boots. I couldn't stop looking at them, they were so nicely rendered...

Expanding on that everything was tbh. The fabric of Cloud's pants looks so so soft (they were looking a bit rough in remake) and all the detailing on the buster sword and metal like Tifa's gloves. I could spend hours just zooming into every little detail and texture.

I also think they nailed Cloud and Tifa's models. They both clearly look like themselves even though they're younger which I feel some games struggle with.

More Sephiroth points soz- his model was just so accurate. There were shots where his silhouette literally looked like his original art, it was so satisfying to see.

The use of the L2 R2 buttons. Idk the proper name for the feature but when they make it physically harder to press. I feel they used it sparingly which made it more effective. That scene especially with Cloud crawling towards Sephiroth...oh my god chills. It gave me the same sense of immersion like the end of Crisis Core during Zack's final stand.

More on the immersion. How they differentiated between Sephiroth and "Cloud's" skill levels by allowing Sephiroth to cast the higher level spells from the get go.

Combo moves!! One of my favourite features in FFXV so to see it translated here was great

Just going to make a general point for the atmosphere, environment, voice acting, enemy design etc. bc otherwise I'll be here forever.

Though the scene with Sephiroth cutting down all the tubes has to get a special mention. The pure disdain in his voice towards Hojo was done super well.

CONS

Some of these might be a little nitpicky since I really don't have much to complain about

I found some of the dialogue to be a little clunky at times, like the characters weren't given enough time to say their line before the camera changes. This is probably just a translation issue though and really doesn't bother me that much

Not the biggest fan of the white interface for your spells n shit. It feels like it sticks out a lot more than the blue and not in a good way.

I think I just generally prefer remakes UI (except the pause screen, I enjoy getting to see their models rather than the still images we had before)

Moving around the map is a bit clunkier than I would've hoped. The inside areas were better but outside felt choppy at times.

the storage space....

MISC.

I find it generally funny how they completely skipped over any mention of gackt Genesis. Like it makes sense but as someone with no real hatred towards him like a lot of fans have, it came across like square enix was shoving him in a box and hoping no one brings it up lolol

surprised to see we're getting a demo update too, the Junon demo? curious to see what they'll cover in that

Overall though I'm absolutely buzzing. February 29th can't get here soon enough :)))

[twomrw]

Catch a Falling Star - Chapter Nine

Series Masterlist

Series Summary:

Ezra Owens + Empty House = Pretty Chill Summer

Pretty Chill Summer + ‘Nola’s Best Family Restaurant = What is sleep?

What is sleep? + Spoiled Pop Star = Recipe for Disaster

Previous | Next

Word Count: ~4000

Chapter Summary: Is this what getting along looks like?

Chapter 9

Ezra and Ada walked into the gym in silence. 

“Wait here,” he instructed as he moved towards the front desk. Just his luck! It was Maya's shift. He gave her an unimpressed look as she raised an eyebrow at him.

“Can you put her on my account?”

“Sure. I’d love to. I’m definitely enjoying this show of domesticity.”

“There’s nothing domestic about this. It’s just two people going to the gym together.”

“Mmmhmm.” Maya smirked. “Here’s the temp card I normally give Caleb.”

Ezra furrowed his brows.

“So she could come without you,” Maya enunciated the words with care while raising her eyebrows in the same annoying way.

“Right,” Ezra responded, avoiding eye contact, “Thanks.”

He handed Ada her card and her locker key, before pointing out the aerobics and weights rooms and letting her know he’d be ready in an hour. Then, he stalked off without another word to the men's locker room.

Ten minutes later, he walked into the weights room to find her at the squat machine with a guy helping her take some of the weights off. He was relieved. She had already made herself at home. He wouldn’t have to babysit her here. He had clearly communicated as much, but Ada was, well… Ada, so saying what he wanted didn't always mean that he got it. With a satisfied smile, he put his headphones in and focused on his own workout.

Forty minutes later he was pushing through his last set on the leg press when she showed up in his periphery. He turned to get a better look. She was doing lateral pull downs in front of a mirror while a sweaty guy did bicep curls nearby. She moved machines and in a matter of a minute the guy had followed, carefully removing weights for her. She looked annoyed. Typical Ada, getting upset when someone was trying to help her.

He was content to believe that her ingratitude was the end of the story until they were back at the gym the next day. He'd tried leaving earlier to avoid her but she'd been standing in the kitchen, sipping tea when he had tried creeping through the house. It was almost as if she'd known he would try something like that.

So here he was stuck for another morning watching her get upset over a random dude helping her. You’d think he’d be able to just ignore her and focus on his own workout, but Ezra had kept moving from room to room and Ada had kept following him, always in his orbit. It was annoying, but their truce was what had him holding his tongue. 

"Hey babe! Can you adjust the weights on the leg press for me?"

Ezra blinked. Then he blinked again.

"Babe!" Ada waved a hand in front of his face and Ezra was tempted to throw a look over his shoulder to make sure there wasn't some poor guy behind him that Ada was talking to.

"Can you adjust the weights for me?" She raised her eyebrows, trying to communicate something else with the look.

Ezra pulled an ear bud out of his ear and in leaning to do that, he caught a glimpse of the guy from yesterday hovering in the background. Everything made sense now.

He got up from his seat. "Sure thing, baby." He wasn't sure if his smile looked like more of a wince because he was definitely cringing on the inside.

Ada moved ahead of him and when they got to the machine he glanced around to find that the guy had resumed his own workout.

"Hey." He whispered as he pulled off a disc. "Do you want to report him? This gym has a strict policy against harassment."

She shook her head. "He didn't try anything, but I knew this was the fastest way to get him to leave me alone."

Ezra offered a curt nod as he removed another disc. “This good?”

“Yh. Thanks.”

“Mmhmmm.”

He tried, and failed, to shove down the guilt swirling in his stomach at having tried to avoid her. And if he spent the rest of the hour a bit more than an arm’s length from her, it was only because he had decided to do a lighter workout today. 

The next day was only easier. Without having to discuss it, he'd be at her side, changing weights, not quite hovering, but close enough to ward off any creeps. They fell into an easy –Ezra didn’t think he could find a word for it. It wasn’t quite camaraderie, but they were tolerating each other. He was getting good workouts again and so he was sleeping better. From the looks of it, she was too.

That all translated well into work at ‘Nola’s. This was the last week to prep before the tourist season and it was usually so easy to feel overwhelmed, but this year felt different. Of course, Ada was still generous with her snide marks, but Ezra bore them well now that he was mostly well-rested. He had found it best to offer her a tight smile and get back to work. She scowled every time. It was great.

Gem had been a different challenge. Her remarks didn’t seem to hold the same bite as Ada’s, because it always felt like she didn’t mean to insult him, but it still came out that way. The good news was that Gem and Adalia worked well together waiting tables now that Ada had agreed to work alongside Francis in the kitchen. She was surprisingly good with a knife and chopping board and Francis was grateful to get rid of Adalia’s clumsiness. The poor girl was the epitome of accident-prone. Somehow she always managed to narrowly miss an actual injury, but it still stressed Francis out.

Francis’ peace was not the only upside to this new arrangement. With Ada in the kitchen, it would be more difficult for her to be recognized by a random customer. It would help her lay low. That’s exactly what he told Jess later that afternoon, with more than a little satisfaction.

She shot him a dubious look.

“What?”

“Lay low?”

“Yeah!”

“Covered in sequins?”

Ada walked out right at that moment. Her apron didn’t do as good a job of hiding her outfit underneath like the ‘Nola’s Best uniform shirt had done. Ezra was sure he could hear the rhinestones on her dress from where he stood at the entrance.

He offered Jess a sheepish smile. “She packed the suitcase of tour costumes.”

Nodding, Jess offered him a pat on the shoulder. “You’re a smart guy. You’ll figure something out.”

Three hours later, Ezra was sitting on an ottoman at the mall questioning all the decisions he’d made in life that had led him to this present nightmare.

“How does this look?”

“It’s fine.”

Ada’s eyes narrowed at him.

He didn’t mean to be dismissive. He just couldn’t tell the difference between this top and the last five. If he was being honest, that wasn’t quite true. He didn’t care to notice the difference. He’d expected to drop by one or two stores and pick out a couple pairs of shorts and some T-shirts and call it a day, but Ada had insisted that she had an image to uphold. He’d held his tongue for the sake of that blasted truce. Against his advice, she had chosen to wear sunglasses and an old bucket hat she found in Ma’s room. He had felt the pair would draw attention to her instead of away, but clad in one of the gym outfits she’d put together from Ma’s clothes, she looked like a normal tourist from Hewie.

“Is that…?” a voice sailed towards them from the front of the store.

They both froze. Ezra slowly turned around to see two young ladies at the check out. His heart rate picked up and he was already thinking up the route they could take out of the plaza without drawing any more attention, when one of the girls broke into a grin.

“Ezra! It is you. It’s been so long.”

Ezra’s eyes zeroed in on the girl’s face and then on her friend’s.

“Emma? Emily? Wow! Long time.”

Ezra glanced behind him as the girls started towards him. Ada had returned to the dressing room.

He gave both of them a polite hug. They had been in the same graduating class at Beanefield but Ezra couldn’t remember having more than one class together. He was used to these kinds of reactions though. People who moved to Hewie were always so excited to see him whenever they were back on vacation.

“You here on vacation or…” He offered the expected small talk.

“Actually we’re doing some shopping for my wedding.” Emma offered a smile that was the perfect expression of false modesty.

“Oh! Congratulations!” Ezra offered, because he was sure that it was the response she was looking for. She showed him her ring, that look of forced humility on her face as she continued talking, “‘Nora prices are ridiculous—”  She interrupted herself, “Whoops! Look at me sounding like a real mainlander. Hewie prices are seriously ridiculous, though, so we thought we’d pop over to ‘Nola and…yeah.” She gestured with her ring-encumbered hand around them. Emily smiled politely next to her.

Ezra hoped the look on his face hadn’t betrayed his boredom. It was great that Emma was getting married. Power to her and her fiance. He didn’t have anything against his former classmates. They were really nice from what he remembered, but he was tired and he really couldn’t risk Ada coming out of the dressing room and being recognized. He fidgeted.

“But anyway, we’re having this little get together at Pine Beach House tonight. You should come! Some others from our class should be there. It will be our own little class reunion.”

Ezra hesitated. He shot a quick look over his shoulder. “Uhhh…” There was still no sign of Ada. “I’ll think about it. With the Rush starting next week…”

“Oh right. You’re still at ‘Nola’s Best.”

Ezra was sure that Emma hadn’t meant it that way. He didn’t care to be rubbing shoulders with the Hewians, but it still kind of stung that everyone had moved on except him. Emily offered him an apologetic smile that seemed to say, “Don’t take it personally. That’s just how she is.” He offered her a tight smile in return.

“Then you definitely should come. It’ll probably be your last opportunity for a night out.”

It would probably be his last opportunity for a night in, was the thought that popped into his head. He didn’t share it though, instead offering a forced smile and polite nod. Emily finally spoke up, jutting her chin up to gesture behind him, “You can bring your…”

He glanced at the curtain rustling while Ada changed.

Ezra shook his head violently. “Friend!” he blurted.

“Yeah! Bring your friend.” Emma’s grin widened with what looked like mischief while Emily tried to hide a grimace. Ezra was a bit confused by the reactions, but again, he didn’t share his thoughts.

“Anyway, we have to head out. We have a lunch date with my mom.” Emma took a few steps backwards, still facing him.

“Nice seeing you Ezra,” Emily offered, a genuine smile in place of her grimace.

“Yeah you too.” He watched them go offering a final wave.

“I think we need to take a snack break, Friend.”

He almost jumped out of his skin, hand going to his heart in an attempt to slow its rate. Ada had changed back into her original outfit and had two tops slung over her arm as she stood to his side, grinning up at him. 

Ezra glanced at the time. It was almost one. He was running behind schedule. This wasn’t going to work, but he couldn’t just abandon her. He sighed, shooting off a quick text to Maya, before processing her purchases at the checkout counter.

“I know just the place. Let’s go.”

Ezra led her to a tiny bistro just a stone throw from the harbour’s lookout point. A chalkboard stood outside the front door, the menu scrawled on it in a loopy cursive, the same handwriting they’d become all too familiar with on oil-stained paper bags. He knew the moment she’d seen it when Ada let out a gasp. He turned around just in time to catch her eyes light up.

“Is this?”

“Olive’s Bistro.” He gestured to a seating area overlooking the water shared by the several tiny restaurants lining the street. 

“No way! I’m coming inside. I have to see where the magic happens.”

“It might be a little crowded, but suit yourself.”

A little crowded was an understatement, but Ezra and Ada squirmed and squeezed their way through the back of the –Ezra didn’t know if you could call it a line. But he was used to this. Sensing his turn he called out his order. He glanced at Ada. She seemed a bit confused by all the commotion, but not disturbed. That was a bit of a surprise, though it shouldn’t have been. She would be used to crowds.

The wait was not as long as it should have been with the swarm of hungry customers, but the bistro workers were efficient and effective. In less than five minutes, Ezra was back at the counter handing over a bill to the cashier. He offered a polite smile as the older woman handed him his receipt and change.

He moved towards the young lady packaging his sandwiches with deft fingers. Eying the handwriting on one of the bags, she pushed the two paper bags towards him with a curious look. She lifted her questioning eyes to him. “Owens?”

“Yeah!” Ezra nodded, eyebrows furrowed at the person who was, apparently not so much a stranger, in front of him. He’d given his first name when he ordered, so she wasn’t reading it off the order. Maybe he was in the system or maybe she knew him. He racked his brain to think of where he knew her from. Coming up empty, he went with the safer, though more uncomfortable option. “Do I know you from somewh—” he started.

She shook her head with an understanding smile, pointing to one of the paper bags. “It’s the capers.” She looked at him again. “You’re the only one that orders them.”

“Really? But they’re so good!” Ezra protested.

“Apparently, we’re the only two people in ‘Nola who think so.” The young girl offered him a conspiratorial smile, while she started folding the next person’s order into a sheet of wax paper.

“Great minds!” Ezra offered a genuine smile.

“And taste buds,” she replied easily.

He broke into surprised laughter and her eyes squeezed tight in delight. They couldn’t help but grin at each other until the sound of a throat clearing caused Ezra to turn to the person next in line. Ezra, who was gripping his and Ada’s sandwich, was most definitely in the man’s way.

“Sorry,” he offered a sheepish smile to the next customer and a little wave to the young lady.

“See you around, Owens!” she nodded.

“Of course! Those of us with good taste have to stick together.” Ezra was still sporting a grin as he made his way to the door, when Ada appeared beside him again. He’d completely forgotten she was there and her sudden appearance startled him for the second time that day. Too embarrassed to clutch his chest this time, he pushed the door open and gestured for her to walk through.

“What was that?” she asked. He could hear the accusation disguised as curiosity.

“What was what?” He cleared his throat.

“That interaction? Did I just witness Ezra Owens flirting?”

“What?! No! Of course not!” Ezra turned to her in alarm. “Is that what it looked like?” He couldn’t hide the panic in his voice.

Despite the sky threatening rain, Ada gravitated towards an uncovered seat facing the sea. The metal table in front of her was sturdy, though you could see through the layers of different paint colors to the rust peaking out beneath. He sat next to her.

“No wonder Vivian is so concerned about your love life.”

Ezra was grateful he hadn’t started on his sandwich yet, because his mouth fell open.

“You’re absolutely clueless.”

“I am not!” He protested weakly. “And why were you listening in on a private conversation?”

“The girls earlier, the one in there,” Ada listed off on her fingers, ignoring his question. “I bet there are so many ‘regulars’ at the restaurant.” 

“What are you talking about?”

Ada raised her eyebrows at him, taking a bite of her sandwich. Understanding lit his eyes before he scowled in disbelief.

“Hey! I don’t get it either!” Ada offered with her mouth full.

He made a face at her, before taking a bite of his sandwich. Both of their mouths full, there wasn’t much room for conversation. The pair settled into, though not necessarily a companionable silence, a comfortable one. 

Ada ate her sandwich with her usual enjoyment, except her eyes didn’t close in satisfaction as often. She was studying the tourists at the lookout across the street. It was one of those perfect places for a touristy photo. If you angled yourself just right you could make it look like you were leaning against The Rocks. This summer, he was sure every Hewian’s feed would be flooded with pictures from this lookout point.

Ada seemed fascinated by the scene before her. To be fair, she’d probably never been here before. They’d never really taken her out and about in her first summer. She spent most days in mom’s room watching TV. The next year they’d all gone off to camp. She’d joined the music cohort and been hooked. She’d signed up every year after that until she was signed. Ezra was one of the few people who’d actually seen the start of her music career. 

A rough wind whipped at the umbrellas nearby and threatened to pull Ada’s hat off her head. Two hands reached up to keep it in place and Ezra grinned.

“I told you it was a bad idea to wear that.” He’d said as much before they left the house, but Ada had insisted that she was tired of wearing wigs and there was no way she could be seen out in public in the state her hair was in.

She shot him what was supposed to be a withering glare but with her elbows bent and her hands overhead it just made her look more ridiculous. He stifled a laugh that seemed to turn the glare even more icy. Ezra couldn’t explain what came over him. He couldn’t help but tease her further.

“As usual, my advice means nothing.” He sniffed exaggeratedly.

She rolled her eyes, sensing his teasing. Something in her eyes made him believe her next words were serious, though. “I stayed, didn’t I?”

“As a last resort.”

“It doesn’t matter…”

“Of course not,” his I-told-you-so smile made her roll her eyes again.

“Whatever!”

He snickered and she turned with a scowl back to the harbour.

“Want a picture?”

She raised a single eyebrow and he responded with a silent gesture too, jutting his chin out towards another group of tourists taking pictures. She turned back to him looking as though he had asked her if she wanted to rob a bank.

“And what exactly am I going to do with a picture?” She raised both eyebrows in question, “I can’t post it online because then everyone will know where I am.”

“Ummm…maybe just keep it, as a nice memory. People can do that, you know.”

He stood, balling his sandwich wrapping and napkins up and stuffing them into the paper bag. He could sense her reluctance.

“Come on,” he stretched out a hand, expecting her to dump her garbage in it, “I promise to get your good side.”

“Fine!” His outstretched hand sank with the weight of her phone and then she was standing, tossing her garbage and making her way across the street.

Ezra watched her go as an unfamiliar feeling washed over him. Being with Ada like this, it was almost…easy. She stopped and turned to glare at him and his immediate thought was that she’d somehow been able to read his mind just now, but she only motioned for him to hurry up. 

She was leaning against the wooden rail with a scowl on her face by the time he jogged over. He lifted the camera quickly and pretended to take a few pictures with his phone. Her eyes filled with horror.

“You delete that!” She screamed lunging towards him and his phone. Ezra leapt backward.

“Shhh!” He put a finger to his mouth as he gestured around them with his eyes. “You wouldn’t want to draw attention to yourself now would you?”

She opened her mouth to retort but then closed it in a firm line. She knew he was right. Pulling down her hat again, she threw a furtive glance over her shoulder and realizing that the coast was clear, she lunged at the phone in Ezra’s hand again.

For a second time, he easily swerved out of the way before she could reach him. His skill was the effect of ten or so years being the smallest of five hungry boys on a pizza night at the Owens house. 

Out of reach, he took an actual picture of her glower, grinning in delight behind the camera. He started filming a video as the look intensified.

She crossed her arms. “You wouldn’t dare post those. Aunt Lila would kill you.”

“You’re right,” he relented.

She seemed surprised at first and then a smug smile spread across her face.

“But I’ll hold onto them.”

Her mouth opened in protest, but then she thought better of it.

“For memories, right?” her tone was sickeningly sweet.

“I was thinking more like extortion,” he muttered.

“What did you say?

“Oh! You look great in front of the ocean!”

Her eyes narrowed in suspicion, and he just continued grinning.

“Ready?” he asked with feigned innocence. 

She rolled her eyes before leaning back on the railing with a look of consideration. “What do I do?

He shrugged. “You decide. It’s your memory.”

“I think I wanna’ look like I’m backing the wall. You know, with my leg propped up?”

“You got it!”

Ezra directed her through a few shots taken from her phone, and then a few from his own phone because his camera was better quality. Now he was angling the camera so that it looked like she was pushing the wall of rocks across the sea. From where he stood, it looked like she was having a lot of fun. An involuntary smile spread across his face at the thought. He’d send her all the photos later. Maybe when things settled down, he’d send a few to Ma. His smile grew wider. She’d like that.

For the second time in too short a span of time, Ezra was convinced that he could communicate with people telepathically when his phone started to flash with an incoming call from his mother.

He motioned to Ada that he had to take the call and moved further from the crowd.

“Well if it isn’t my long lost mother?”

“Ezra! How–things? How–you –ing?”

“Ma? Ma?”

“We – finally able to get —to a phone so  –cide to call.”

“You’re breaking up.”

“Yes–ception is bad. How–you doing?”

“I’m fine Ma. Just missing you a lot.”

“Miss –too. -zra I–ot to go–know when is next time—call you. Hope you’re -ing fi.—ove you.”

The line went dead and Ezra huffed a breath, the phone dropping to his side with his hand. How was he supposed to survive this summer without Ma? He guessed that was the point; he’d always been too dependent on her. Now was the time for him to finally grow up.

He glanced up at Ada. She’d been on her own for a while now. If she could do it, he could too. He made a move towards her as a couple of teenagers approached and spoke to her while gesturing to their phone. He noticed her tight smile as she took the phone and leaned in. She slipped her sunglasses down a bit on her nose and the kids looked at each other in confusion. His heart rate slowed and he came to a complete stop as understanding dawned on him. The kids spoke to her and pointed to where Ezra had been standing just a few minutes prior, taking Ada’s picture. They hadn’t recognized her. They just wanted her to take a picture of all of them!

Ezra couldn’t help the relieved laughter that bubbled out of his chest when she stalked away in complete mortification. She adjusted the hat on her head glancing in his direction: an action he suspected was designed for her to see if he’d witnessed her little mishap. They made eye contact and he lost any ounce of composure he had left. He doubled over in silent laughter, eyes closed and grabbing his middle. Next time they opened, he caught a glimpse of her taking the picture and he wasn’t sure, but he thought he saw her fighting a smile. His laughter subsided in time for him to see her returning the kids’ camera. She offered them a genuine smile this time and his grin only grew when she directed it at him.

I think we’ll be just fine, Ma.

A/N: So grateful to be writing again. <3

Previous | Next

Series Masterlist

Twomrw Masterlist

[vivaamor]

you defend eddie

today was cleaning day.

after being together for six months, you had begun staying at eddie's at least three to four nights a week, when you weren't having sleepovers with robin or nancy.

once wayne had his eyes set on a house, there was no changing his mind. he gave eddie the trailer as long as he could continue to pay rent, it was all his.

eddie wouldn't describe himself and clean, nor would he say he's a disaster, probably somewhere in between. he'd been to your parents house, whom you were still technically living with as you were in college, and your room was always spectacularly clean and organized. the most you stayed at his trailer, the more embarrassed he was since it was never as clean as your room.

he'd started cleaning a few hours after you'd gone to work at your waitressing job and kissed him goodbye. you promised to see him after, since the gang was going to come over and hang out and you would of course be staying the night.

the kids had come to help, or more dustin. he took any chance he was given to come around eddie's-- he was his biggest fan. lucas was sat on the couch, the others outside. "what the hell even is this, eddie?" dustin pulled a dirty sock from under the couch in the living area, sniffing it. "holy shit, i'm gonna throw up-"

"don't be a wimp, henderson. y/n's gonna be back from work in an hour." eddie rolled his eyes, laughing to himself at dustin's discomfort as he loaded the dishes from the sink into the dishwasher in the kitchen. "fluff those pillows, would ya, sinclair?"

sinclair sent eddie a look from the couch, "fluff the pillows?"

"yeah, you know, it's when you-" he puts his hands, demonstrating in the air. "i don't know man, it's a thing. fluff-" he's cut off abruptly, the front door of the trailer squeaking as it was hung open. "hey! careful with the door, robin. don't break my door-"

robin ignored him, stepping inside quickly, yelling and hollering in the background. "it's y/n! help!" eddie furrowed his eyebrows, she wasn't due back for another hour. but by the yelling of a very familiar voice, he knew she'd gotten off early. he dried his hands on his jeans, running out the door with dustin and lucas trailing behind to see what was going on.

"say it again! say it a-fucking-gain!" you threatened, pushing steve off your arms as he tried to keep you from throwing another punch. "that's what i thought!" there was three guys facing you, one with black, long hair and the other was jason carver, his hand feeling over where you punched him.

eddie's eyes widened, running down the steps of the porch toward you. "your boyfriend is a murderer." jason practically spits, and in that moment, all you can see is red. pure red. you finally shove steve away and haul ass to jason, slapping him across the face.

"shut the fuck up, or i swear to god, carver, i'll-" he pushes you hard until you fall to the ground. which pisses you off even more. you help yourself to your feet, launching at him when eddie grabs you from behind, tightening his arms around your waist. "get the fuck off me!" you yell, scrambling to escape his grasp.

"hey, hey!" his voice reaches your ears and your body relaxes, no longer shoving at him. "breathe." he glares at harrington, who tells jason and his friend to fuck off. you reach your arm above your head, flipping the boys off as they scramble out of the yard, their eyes widening when they see eddie. "what's gotten into you?" everyone stares at you, catching their breath once you've calmed down.

you turn around in his embrace, meeting his eyes. "they were berating you, eds! coming to this part of town to call you a murderer?" you gasped, shaking your head. "you're not a fucking murderer!" you look back at the boys running off, screaming, "i'll show you a fucking murderer!"

"y/n, baby, look at me. cut it out." he warns, his hand coming up and ghosting his thumb over your cut lip. "they hit you?"

you shrugged, "i threw the first punch." he shoots you another look. "i'm going to defend you. you can't tell me not to." eddie knew very well you had a temper. you were never violent or abusive to him, but you were stubborn and protective of the people you loved.

"alright, then." he sighed, looking up at everyone. "meet back in an hour, i've got to clean up y/n here." he glances back down at you once steve and nancy start rounding up the troops, telling them they'll head to the wheeler house for an hour. "come on, trouble." he pulls at your hand, leading you inside the trailer.

immediately, you felt guilty. "i'm sorry." you sighed, rubbing your hands over your face. "i don't know what happened, but i know that i embarrassed you." he leads you to the couch, and you sit. "i'll control it, i just hate-" surprising you, he shuts you up with a soft kiss.

pulling away, he looks at you with a small grin. "embarrassed? pretty girl-" he grabs a wash cloth, wetting it under the kitchen sink before retreating back to you. "i couldn't say it in front of the others because they were traumatized, but that was fucking bad ass."

"really?" you ask, wincing as he brushes the wash cloth over your bleeding lip.

he nods eagerly, sitting on his knees on the carpet floor before you. "just maybe don't threaten to commit first degree murder next time, cupcake?"

"good plan." you giggle. "i'm always on the other end of this, cleaning yo up after a fight. it's kind of exhilarating."

he chuckles to himself, shaking his head at you. "alright, slow down, cowgirl. no more fights. at least till this lip heals."

"it's a tiny cut!"

"you're a tiny person." he rebuttals, raising an eyebrow.

you laugh again, looking around the trailer. "you cleaned?" he nods, rolling his eyes at your excitement. "you didn't have to clean!" all the anger from a few minutes ago seemed to just wash away with the smell of air freshener.

"i wanted to. you know, this is kinda your place, too. want you comfortable and all that." he shrugged sheepishly, looking down at the carpet.

your heart melts at his admission. "you're perfect." you cup his cheeks in your hands, leaning in to press a kiss to his lips.

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

"what the frick? no way!" dustin nearly throws the game board to the floor, huffing in annoyance. "you can't do that!" he exclaims at mike, furrowing his eyebrows.

"can, too!"

"can not!"

"can-" the boys quiet down when dustin lifts his eyes from mike to you, who'd just woken up from a nap. "oh, hey." mike waves over to you.

you walk over slowly, deciding to sit on eddie's lap in the chair he was sat on. "hi,"

"well, would you look at fuckin' rocky over here." steve jokes, laughter erupting from everyone in the room and even pulling a smile from you.

eddie rubs your side, "yeah, how ya feeling', street fighter?" you leaned your head on his shoulder.

"perfect."

[kaizoku-pirateking]

Headcannons//Christmas Evening With Them

a: the biggest headcannon I ever wrote on one piece so far. *pun intended. There'll be a collaboration with together so they're pretty much combined, anyways got to go I need to prepare to food for later 12am, Happy Holidays Everyone!

includes: ace, kidd, law, luffy, nami, robin, sabo, sanji, shanks, zoro

*Collaboration: ASL Brothers // Robin & Nami, Kidd & Law

warnings/tags: none ! Modern AU!

masterlist

ASL BROTHERS

A complete chaos, Well mostly Luffy who would get excited and goofy setting the Christmas Tree and wanting to decorate it badly (Result: It's a disaster), Sabo and Ace were fighting on the background on who'll received the most highest exam score on their Chemistry and Math final examination score but after one hour they gave up and helped on preparing the decor

“Get out of my way” “No YOU get out of my way” Sabo and Ace would bicker while preparing the food to be placed on the table, Meanwhile Luffy will began to eat all of the food and will scold Luffy to not eat all of it. You will have to stop their fights but they won't listen at all

In the end, Garp when he came home he punch the three's head; Which result a swollen and they 'tried' to fix themselves to not receive the fist of love anymore

KID AND LAW

If you put a quiet and a loud man in one room what will happen? A fight. Kid wants to have a competition with Law to see who's the best at decorating the Christmas gifts which Law tried to ignore his challenge but secretly accepted it

They will test it out by challenging who has the best gift wrapping, You'll just laugh at their stupidity. Though Law will win with Kid being the worst one but you won't tell that.

Kid will be awkward when saying the simple “Merry Christmas” and it will take him many minutes or hours to finally say it. Law would be casual at it though

ROBIN AND NAMI

They're the most chilled out of everyone, Robin would cook while you help Nami decor the living room. There's one moment why you had bought lots of decors. Because more decors= more money

Robin will use you as her taste tester and ask if the food was too bitter, sweet, sour, etc. Robin would definitely tease you by her being the one who'll feed you and “Open wide” which will cause you to be embarrassed

Receiving hugs from them will be like as if an angel hugged you, They had the most soft and loving hugs! Nami would nuzzle her cheeks with yours and Robin putting her head on your shoulder (when in sitting position, them on opposite side of you)

SANJI

Christmas with him?= *chefs kiss, He's a best cook of course the table is full of his delicious meal, He'll be in his 'love mode' when you compliment his cooking

You want to do a work too but he keep on refusing and he will do the decorations also, The only thing you had done is basically washing the dishes

Watching the fireworks with him when it lit up while hugging each other close, He'll be warm and his face will have his smile which feels like an innocent person

SHANKS

He's too bored to do everything, Even if you want to he'll pout and mutter “it's alright you don't love me anymore” so the house may end up not designed

Shanks is fine if the house is nor designed, There isn't much food as long as he can cuddle with you and have you with him to complete the year he would be happy

It ended up with you two just ordering for a food and take a small stroll on the snowy park and might do a 'little entertainment' with him

ZORO

Same as Shanks, but won't really mind you preparing for the Christmas and will help if you're struggling of reaching the top

Zoro will buy many liquor. But since you said to limit what he buy he just bought two of it one for him and the other for you two to share

The Christmas with him may be boring and bland but he's happy to spend another Christmas with you two still together and loving each other

Advanced Merry Christmas for those who live in the West!!❤️

[alpacaparkaseok]

Can’t Keep My Hands To Myself

pairing/genre: Taehyung x reader, idol!reader x idol!taehyung

premise: When you lock eyes with your soulmate, you’re immediately teleported to them. So, technically it’s not your fault that you ended up in Kim Taehyung’s lap for all to see.

word count: 1.3k

[1/2]

requested by @marianeamine​ - thanks for the fun request! a picture of your request will be at the bottom of the post! (also, can we just enjoy Yoongi’s tiny clapping in the background of this gif? lol)

The lights are nearly blinding as you move across the stage, basking in the fan-chants you can hear around the giant venue. You don’t claim to be anything like EXO or BTS...but still, you would be lying if you didn’t get some sort of satisfaction at the considerable amount of fans that made it to MAMA this year.

You watch as one of your group members takes the center as you’d practiced, the other two of you flanking her and pushing hard through the final notes of the song. 

Your little trio, while new to the competitive world of K-pop, had an amazingly successful year. When you were invited to perform not one but two of your hit songs on stage at one of the most prestigious award shows of the year, you were floored.

Now, locking eyes with your other bandmate as all three of you hit the final note - which is nothing short of a miracle, considering how hard you’re breathing right now - you can’t help but smile.

What a year it’s been. 

Together, the three of you sink to the floor, keeping those smiles on your faces until lights fade and the cameras go elsewhere. You were instructed to remain sitting on this portion of the stage for about a minute after the performance, due to the hosts coming out on the opposite end of the room and needing to rearrange this corner. It was deemed too dangerous for you all to get down just yet, but you don’t mind.

Now that you don’t have those blinding lights focused on you, you can actually see out into the crowd. Your heart swells as you spot all of your fans with signs and lightsticks, a few of them still trying to see your group through the darkness. It’s tempting to wave at them, but you refrain, not wanting to draw attention away from the hosts. 

“Dude,” Jiwoo scoots closer to you, Ari leaning over as well to hear what she’s whispering, “Is it just me, or did Yeonjun just get like...1000 times hotter?”

You refrain from laughing, instead craning your neck to get a look. “Where’s TXT?”

Jiwoo gives you subtle directions, not daring to point at him for fear of some fancams picking up on her newfound obsession. That would be a PR disaster. 

“They’re kind of hard to see from this angle,” Ari explains, having already found them. “They’re sitting right behind BTS though.”

Well, you know where BTS is sitting. Everyone, whether they like it or not, is automatically tuned in to where the biggest band in the world is sitting. 

You look over at them, eyes jumping over them to see TXT behind them. You grin. “Yeah, they all look really good.”

“Yeah,” Jiwoo huffs. “But Yeonjun looks sooo good, right?”

Squinting your eyes in an effort to get a better look, you’re a little shocked when certain BTS members sense your stare.

You watch with utter embarrassment as Jimin chuckles at your group, nudging Taehyung and mumbling something to him.

“Er...guys...” you begin, praying that Taehyung won’t look this way. How embarrassing, they probably think that you’re gawking at them not TXT.

You don’t get to finish your sentence as you see Taehyung glancing up, saying something to Jimin as he locks eyes with you.

The darkness from your corner of the stage suddenly becomes absolute, wind whistling in your ears as you gasp for air. The strange sensation doesn’t last long, and soon you’re slamming into something solid and warm.

Peeking one eye open, you’re met with fluffy dark hair, and arms that wrap around your waist to keep you from slipping off. 

Before you’re even able to understand what’s happening, you hear it. People whispering, a few even crying out in distress. Did something bad happen?

Straightening up, you let out a little squeak at you find yourself staring straight into the cocoa-dipped eyes of Kim Taehyung. His lips have parted, making it seem like he was gasping just a moment ago. One of his earrings glints in the light, casting him in a diamond-like glow.

Overall, he doesn’t seem to be faring much better than you, but as you go to move away because you’re on the man’s lap, he instinctively tightens his grip. 

“Let her go, Tae,” Namjoon grounds out from the other end of the seats, and it seems like only then does Taehyung begin to hear the obvious uproar and excitement from fans and idols. He gives you an apologetic smile, loosening his grip. 

You fail to return the smile, too dazed to even register what just happened. Rising to your feet, you suddenly become ultra aware of all the cameras that appear to be pointed in your direction.

“Hyung...” Tae murmurs, noticing the cameras as well. Before anything else can be said, you’re nearly tackled as Jiwoo and Ari come rushing over, eyes wide.

“Are you alright?” Jiwoo pants, looking over every square in of your body as though expecting to find a gaping wound. You give her a shaky nod, still struggling to find your voice. 

“...what...what just happened?” You croak out.

Staff from both Bighit and your own agency rush over, forming a packed circle around your trio and BTS. There’s a collective groan that goes around the building from those who’s view is now obstructed, but you pay them no mind.

“Hello,” one staff member says with a gentle smile that immediately puts you at ease. “You’re probably feeling a little strange, right?” You nod. 

Staff are in the process of speaking to Namjoon and the other members, Jiwoo and Ari joining them. Despite the situation, you can’t help but giggle at the fact that Jiwoo is still attempting to discreetly get a look at Yeonjun.

Taehyung comes to stand across from you, eyes flitting between you and the staff member. 

“We’re going to take you guys backstage, alright?” She asks, and the two of you mutely nod. “Stay in the circle, keep your heads down.”

She goes over to check that the other members are alright to stay at the award show or come backstage. They all want to come, but Namjoon looks around the room and comes to a decision.

“We’ll go back in a little while,” he says, ignoring Jungkook’s pout. “I think it might be best for us to stay and act normal. Maybe it’ll help people calm down.”

You don’t bother telling him that it probably won’t do much, you do appreciate the intention.

“Alright! Let’s go!”

Surrounded by staff and bodyguards, you feel like you’ve been swallowed up. Shuffling forward, you turn to look for Taehyung and are shocked when he sidles up next to you and laces his fingers through yours. He gives you a smile, making sure to keep his head down as instructed.

“Hey,” he mumbles, practically making you melt.

You blink up at him, unconsciously sliding a little closer. “Hey.”

“You did really well up there,” he nods to where the stage must be. 

“T-thank you.”

He grins again at your shyness, giving your hand a little squeeze. “Are you excited?”

You frown. “For what?”

Holding up your intertwined hands, Taehyung chuckles. “For this.”

“Ah,” you take a moment to look at your hands, marveling at how perfect they look together. “Definitely.” Then, getting a bit of courage, you grin. “Actually, could you do me a favor?”

He immediately nods, eyes never leaving your face. “Anything.”

“You need to introduce Yeonjun and Jiwoo.”

Taehyung immediately bursts into laughter, the sound echoing off the walls now that you’re backstage. “Really?”

Before you can respond, the same staff member from before rushes past you with a shocked expression. “What just happened?” You ask the people surrounding you.

An older bodyguard takes his hat off and scratches his head, laughing quietly to himself. “Another pair of soulmates made eye contact.”

“Again?!” Both you and Taehyung asks, caught between shock and amusement. “Who?”

Your answer comes in the form of the door to backstage flying open, a second group of bodyguards and assorted staff rushing toward you. Taehyung pulls you closer to him to keep you from getting trampled. As the sea of staff parts, your jaw drops open and you can’t help but laugh.

Because there’s Jiwoo and Yeonjun, staring at each other with reddened cheeks and sheepish grins.

“Well,” Taehyung whispers down to you. “That was easy.”

masterlist || pt. 2

[mischiefandspirits]

Bernard Figures It Out

Was reading through all the comments on @frostbittenbucky's post and all I could think of was that it was Bernard talking to Tim. Then I got to thinking...

"I've connected the two dots."

"You didn't connect shit."

"I've connected them."

Bernard figures out Tim's a superhero... sort of.

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

Tim fidgetted nervously as he waited on the front porch of his boyfriend’s house. Bernard had sounded so serious when he’d called during Tim’s lunch to ask him to come over after work so they could talk about something.

Which Tim had done, after spending an entire board meeting just going over the past week trying to figure out what he’d done.

The only thing he could think of was that he’d ducked out halfway through their lunch date on Wednesday to give Duke some backup, but Bernard had seemed understanding when Tim explained there was an emergency at GRC Labs. It couldn’t have been a tipping point, either, since Tim had managed to only flake on three other dates over the past few months they’d been dating. Kate had been happy to cover for him as often as she could “out of queer solidarity” when she found out Tim was dating a boy for the first time and Tim had managed to trick Bruce into covering a few actual Wayne Enterprises emergencies for him when they came up.

There had to be a reason Bernard was breaking up with him, though. Had he missed something? He definitely wasn’t forgetting an important day. He was good with days and Tam was even better, so she would have reminded him on the off chance that he had forgotten.

What was he missing?

Bernard was smiling when he opened the door, but there was a nervous energy to it that had Tim’s stomach sinking. “Hey, Tim.”

“Hey.” Tim gave his own nervous smile then slipped inside.

They went into the living room and sat down on the couch.

Tim frowned when Bernard grabbed a manila folder off the coffee table. Crud, had he screwed up enough that Bernard had had to make a list? He knew he was new to dating a guy, but he hadn’t thought he’d done that bad. He’d really been trying, especially with how his and Stephanie’s relationship had fallen apart at the end. “What -”

“Just let me speak, Tim,” Bernard said, waiting for Tim’s nod. “Okay, so you know Clark Kent, right?”

Tim blinked as Bernard opened the folder to show a picture of Clark. It looked like one of the employee pictures from the Planet’s website, with his dorky “I’m just a humble country boy” smile and the golden globe from their roof photoshopped in as the background. “Uh, yeah? I think so. He works for the Daily Planet, right? I think he’s worked at a few of Bruce’s events. Not a lot of outside reporters are willing to come to Gotham.”

“Exactly!” Bernard said, snapping his fingers and pointing at Tim.

“What?”

He pulled out the picture to show the next page was an article titled, “DAILY PLANET REPORTER… BATMAN!?”

A wave of relief washed over Tim and he placed his face in his hands. “Were you up all night on the hero conspiracy boards again?”

“No. I mean, I found this on a board and was up all night thinking about it, but I found it reasonably early.”

“One in the morning isn’t reasonable, Bernard.”

“Says the guy who’s always wide awake when I call to infodump.”

“Touché.” Tim leaned against Bernard and gave him a smile. “So tell me, why is some reporter from Metropolis from all places Batman.”

“First of all, living in Metropolis is the perfect cover. Everyone assumes Batman would live in Gotham, no one would consider he could be from anywhere else. Metropolis is outside the GMA, but close enough that the commute is still possible.”

“But it’s Metropolis.”

“And who would think Gotham’s Dark Knight lives in the sunshine capital? Plus, I hear he disappears a lot on the job. There’s gotta be a reason for it!”

Tim made a note to let Clark know he needs to cut back on the disappearing act some since people are catching on.

“And have you seen the guy? He is swol AF, babe.”

“Please don’t call me babe while you’re talking about how hot another guy is.” Especially Tim’s honorary uncle.

“You know I prefer twinks.”

“BERNARD!”

“I’m just saying,” he continued, ignoring Tim’s shout. “The guy is definitely hiding something! Besides, Kent is an investigative reporter. He’s gotta know a lot about cases and the underground and detective work.”

Not as much as he likes people to think, but more than he likes people to know Superman does, Tim mused. “But what about the other vigilantes?”

“Well, Kent has a cousin…” Bernard flipped through a folder and pulled out a picture of Kara. It looked like a screenshot of her interviewing Lena for CatCo. “She’s obviously the latest Batgirl. Look at her hair. And the first Batgirl and the current Batwoman were obviously Lois Lane, the red hair is just a wig. Did you see how she kicked butt at that last event she went to? She’s not as subtle as Kent. That means their son is the latest Robin. He’s exactly the right size.”

Oh, Damian better not hear about this, Tim cackled internally. His youngest brother hated being reminded that Jon was the same height as him despite their two years age difference. Damian definitely took after Talia when it came to body type, no matter what he said.

“And Kent also has a brother.” This time he pulled out a picture of Kon. The clone must have been caught by a reporter out shopping with Ma since he was carrying some paper bags and glaring at whoever was behind the camera. “At least, he’s supposedly Kent’s brother, but he was a teenager when he first showed up with the Kents. A lot of people think he’s actually Kent’s son, that Kent got a girl pregnant when they were teenagers and something happened to the mom so Kent had to take him in. Now the Kents are trying to hide it by saying the two are brothers.”

That was… scarily accurate actually. Especially given Luthor and Clark were close friends at the time that Kon would have theoretically been born.

“And that beef would explain why the younger Kent brother went all crime lord on Gotham for a while before reconnecting with the family.”

“Wait, what?”

“Yeah, Kent Jr.’s got the perfect build for Red Hood.”

Tim bit back a comment on how Kon was shorter than Jason by a good foot. Timothy Drake-Wayne should not know that. Add Jason to the list of people who can’t hear this theory.

“And then there’s this girl,” Bernard picked up a picture of Lois, Jon, and Natasha Irons walking down the street together. “No one’s sure exactly who she is, but she’s been spotted with the Kents a few times. I think the cover story is that she’s Jon’s babysitter.”

“And the actual story?”

“She’s Black Bat, obviously. That’s why she wears a mask that fully covers her face. She doesn’t want to stand out as the only African American Bat.”

“Isn’t Signal also Black?”

“Yeah, but he works in the daytime so he’s already a standout.”

“And who is Signal in this? And what about Nightwing and Red Robin?”

“Well, Nightwing’s just a Blüd who came to Gotham. He doesn’t count.”

Ouch. Sorry, Dick.

“And Red Robin is obviously an older Robin, the one who was Robin when we were kids. Kent wanted to keep him on, and I don’t blame him. As for Signal, he’s got the same backstory as all the other Robins Kent picked up, he just went the Signal route because he didn’t fit the usual Robin mold.”

“Because the female Robin fit the mold,” Tim snorted. Robin Mold, as if he and his brothers were even the same ethnicity. Or even had the same hair color. Jason dyes his hair, Dick’s is brown-black, Tim’s is pure black, and Damian’s is more a dark brown and it’s only getting lighter as he gets older.

“She didn’t, that’s the point. Kent tried to give breaking the Robin mold a chance by letting his cousin have a go at it, but he realized it just didn’t work so she went back to being Spoiler and he got a new Robin.”

Not touching that with a ten-foot pole. “Right, and where does he get the usual Robins? Please tell me you’re not back on the secret government orphanages theory.”

“No, no, no. Kent travels sometimes for his job, right? And a lot of the time he’s going to places that have been hit by disasters or major crimes. So he’ll take in some of the displaced children to train as his robins.”

Tim pressed his face back into his hands.

“You see it, right?”

Honestly, Tim was just wondering how his boyfriend could be so close, and yet so far off. “How would Kent even afford taking care of a bunch of secret -- possibly illegally acquired -- children without anyone noticing?”

“Simple. Bruce Wayne is funding him.”

“Bernard, I love you, but what the heck?” Tim blushed and looked up as he realized what he’d said, but Bernard didn’t seem to notice as he steamrolled ahead.

“It’d also explain how he can afford all the gear and how he’d be able to travel to Gotham or anywhere else Batman goes without anyone noticing. He probably has a secret Batplane or something.”

“Why would Bruce do that?”

“Because Wayne cares about Gotham, everyone knows that, and this way he can make sure someone’s taking care of the city without anyone putting two and two together.”

“And two plus two is?”

Bernard gave him a hard look. “I’m not stupid, Tim. Bruce Wayne is obviously Superman. His face is right there.”

Oh, the others are going to love this! Too bad I can’t tell Damian or Jason. Jason especially would have loved this. “Right. Bruce is Superman.”

“He is. Superman is known for being nice and Bruce Wayne’s basically all that’s keeping the city running at this point. That’s nice as hell.”

Oh my god.

“And Wayne does charity for the victims of cataclysms, doesn't he? I bet he first saves people from them as Superman and then builds them new homes for free.”

Oh my god! Why am I not recording this!?

“And the Wayne’s were rich enough to hide the fact they adopted an alien baby.”

Tim raised an eyebrow. “If you’re about to tell me this is why Bruce’s parents got killed, you might want to stop while you’re ahead.”

“It’d make sense. There’re all sorts of unanswered questions about their deaths,” Bernard muttered under his breath, flipping through the folder. He pulled out another picture of Kara. This time she was in full Supergirl attire with a bus held overhead. “So if Wayne is Superman, then that’d mean your ex-girlfriend could be Supergirl. They look a lot alike and it’d explain how she got involved with you all.”

“Bernard, she has a human dad. You know, Cluemaster. The supervillain.”

“Yeah, her dad. But we don’t know anything about her mom!”

“Let me guess…”

Bernard pulled out a picture of Karen. She and Helena were suited up and talking to a group of cops, two goons held over each of Karen’s shoulders. “Her mom could be Power Girl! Some makeup and a wig and she could look just like Crystal Brown! And Damian Wayne is obviously the new Superboy! That’s why his background is such a mystery, right? He had to stay a secret until he could control his alien superpowers. That’s why he’s always so mean. It’s a cover since everyone knows Superboy is super sweet!”

Sure, when he’s not helping Damian pull pranks or using his adorable powers to put the blame on Kon and I. “No, Bernard. Damian and Steph are just very human hellspawn. And Bruce and Crystal are human too. I can’t believe you called me over here just to tell me you think Superman is both Batman’s sugar daddy and my adoptive dad.”

“Well, that’s not exactly why I called you over,” Bernard admitted, the nervous energy coming back. He grabbed Tim’s hands. “Tim -”

Tim’s stomach sank. “You are breaking up with me!”

“What? No! I don’t want to break up!”

“Why are you acting all nervous and serious then!?” Tim asked, pulling his hands away to throw them up in the air.

Bernard shook the folder. “Because I’m trying to tell you I figured out you’re Superboy!”

Tim’s brain blue-screened and his hands slowly dropped. “I’m sorry, what?”

“I know you’re Superboy. The older one, obviously. By the way, you and Damian really need to figure out separate names.”

Forget Jason and Damian, Kon can never find out about this. He’d never let me live it down. “Bernard, you called me a twink five minutes ago. Su-” Shoot, I can not risk getting Kon’s attention! “The older one might not be as big as Superman, but he’s not a twink.”

“Well, yeah, that’s the shapeshifting at work.”

“The what?”

“Obviously you Kryptonians can shapeshift. Why else would you look so much like humans?”

… Why do Kryptonians look so much like humans? Was there some - Wait, no! Break into the Fortress of Solitude for research later! Reassure your boyfriend that you’re not an alien now! “Bernard -”

“And that explains why your step-mom was so hot.”

“Gross.”

“She and your dad were actors hired by Luthor so you could have a normal life! But now Bruce has custody so he adopted you.”

“No.”

“That’s why you and your dad were so weird with each other when I met him.”

“We were weird because he’d just gotten out of a coma not long before to find that his wife was dead so he decided to actually be a dad for once in his life, but overcompensated and became a helicopter parent to a kid who was mostly on his own for his entire life!” Tim blurted out. “I am not an alien, Bernard!”

“Well, not technically since you were cloned from Superman on Earth.”

“Oh my god! You were just talking about Steph being Supergirl! Why would I date my dad’s cousin?”

Bernard blinked. “Supergirl and Superman are cousins?”

Right, Timothy Drake-Wayne wasn’t supposed to know that. “I thought they’d said something like that before, yeah. Are people seriously saying I’m Superboy on the internet?”

“NO! No, I swear I would have led with that if I thought your identity was compromised. A few people have mentioned Wayne and Damian, but not you or Steph or Jason.”

“Wh-Jason!? You think Jason was an alien too!”

“No, not exactly, but a few times when I’ve visited I swear I’ve seen a guy in the manor who looks like Jason. It’s just been out of the corner of my eye and he’s gone whenever I look so I’ve always thought it was just Dick or Bruce or some picture of Jason that my mind was playing tricks with, but it makes sense now that I know Wayne is Superman. He must have been able to heal Jason with alien tech, but couldn’t say anything because that would give away that he’s Superman.”

Damn it Jason! And damn it Bernard! I’m dating the smartest moron in the world! “Bruce did not bring Jason back with alien technology and none of us are aliens!”

“It’s okay, Tim. I won’t tell anyone.”

Tim grabbed Bernard by the jacket and pulled him into a kiss. When he started to feel lightheaded, he pulled back, “Could someone whose skin is as solid as stone kiss like that?”

Bernard blinked dazedly at him for a moment. “How do you know what Superboy’s skin feels like?”

Tim screamed internally. “He’s saved me from a kidnapping before.”

“Really?”

“Yes. I can get you the police report if you want.”

“Huh… And the others?”

“Not Supers. I can stab Damian the next time we’re at the manor if that’ll prove none of us are aliens.” He’d rather stab Jason, but that would probably only confirm to Bernard that Bruce used alien technology to bring him back.

“You probably shouldn’t stab your brother if he isn’t an alien.”

Tim rolled his eyes. “I won’t stab him anywhere deadly.”

“That’s not the point,” Bernard said slowly.

“He’ll be fine.”

“If you say so.”

“So do you believe I’m not an alien now?” Tim huffed, letting go of Bernard’s jacket.

The blond’s eyes dipped down to Tim’s lips. “If I say no, will you kiss me like that again?”

“You’re ridiculous,” Tim said, but he kissed him anyway.

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

“Okay, but I still say Clark Kent is definitely Batman.”

“Sure, Bernard.”

[heroloverangel]

Delicate

This is technically a sequel to last year’s Dad Mirio fic but can be read on its own! Everyone’s favorite Wholesome Dilf continues to live rent-free in my brain.

“I miss you soooo much,” Mirio says for the fifth time in the past twenty minutes. You give him a comforting smile from your side of the screen, you know how he feels. Your husband’s been gone for three days now helping with a disaster in Osaka, and he probably won’t be home for the rest of the week. It’s hard being married to one of Japan’s top heroes, you think to yourself. You wish you could be there with him, putting your training to good use where it’s needed, but your current assignment is too important to ignore. It’s as if he can read your mind from the other side of the country. “How’s my buddy doing?”

You smile and tilt your camera down to show off your heavy stomach. At eight months pregnant, you’re sidelined from hero work no matter what the crisis is. “He’s alright,” you confirm. “I think he’s bored without you around, though.” He lets out a little whine that’s almost heartbreaking; it’s obvious where he’d rather be right now. You take pity on him and drop the phone level with your belly to give him a better view. 

“Hey buddy,” he coos. “I promise, I’ll finish as fast as I can so I can come home to you and Mama soon.” You feel movement inside you as he talks. You don’t know how good your baby’s hearing is, especially through the video chat, but you’re sure that he’s reacting to his father’s familiar voice. “I can’t wait to get back and feel how strong you’re kicking in there. I bet you’re driving Mama crazy!” You relax further into your pillows and let him babble on to your bump about his day saving civilians and clearing out rubble, only a little lonely when you look over at the empty half of your bed. You really do miss him, your house is far too quiet and calm without his usual energy filling it.

You yawn after a few more minutes and glance at the time. “Sorry, it’s getting kinda late. Would you mind if we called it a night for now?”

He smiles, but you can tell that he’s trying to hide his disappointment. “No problem, I know you need your sleep. We’ll talk again tomorrow, okay?” You agree and tell your husband you love him before hanging up the phone and settling in for bed. You’re tired, but you’ve gotten too comfortable with him sleeping beside you and it takes awhile to fall asleep on your own.

You spend the next morning balancing your laptop over your swollen belly while you browse through maternity clothes. There’s a local shop that promises same-day delivery, and you treat yourself to a few things for your last month. You read through your email, a magazine wants a quick interview for an article about hero families and you’re happy to answer their questions. It’s hard to move too much in your condition, but you make sure to do the prenatal exercises your doctor recommended and then have a nice long shower. Your new clothes arrive and you leave them on the dresser for now while you eat lunch and call your family. It still seems too quiet in the house without Mirio, and you’re getting bored when your phone finally rings and your face lights up at his name.

“Hey sweetheart! I’ve got a surprise for you!”

You can hear the smile in his voice and it warms your heart. “Is it dinner? I think somebody in here’s really craving steak tonight.”

He laughs. “You’ll see. Just have a seat on the couch and close your eyes for a second, okay?”

This isn’t the weirdest thing he’s requested over the phone, and you obey. “Alright, they’re closed. What are you planning, Lemillion?”

“You can open your eyes in three...two...one…” his voice disappears from the phone, all you hear is the background noise of birds chirping.

“Mirio?” Your eyes are still closed.

“SURPRISE!” 

You jump in shock and drop your phone, your eyes flying open. He’s standing in front of you with the biggest grin on his face, completely naked. It takes you a second to realize he must have phased through the front door to surprise you. You struggle to stand but fail, and he has to pull you up himself into his arms for a deep kiss. “You’re home early! How’d you manage that?”

“The others knew how much I wanted to get home, with you being pregnant and all, and everybody worked extra hard to cover for me so I could leave first.” You owe every single one of them a thank you gift. “Boy, that Uravity is amazing with rescue work!” Oh, you owe her twice as much after this.

“I’m glad you’re home,” you sigh happily. Your husband drops to his knees in front of you and pushes your shirt up to kiss your stomach, rubbing his hand where he feels a faint kick.

“Me too. I missed our family so much.” His arms wrap around you and he rests his head against your middle. You run your fingers through his hair, both of you taking a minute to relish your little reunion. It’s only been a few days, but it was more than enough to make you homesick for each other.

He stands back up after a bit and you head for the hallway. “You should go grab your phone off the porch and take a shower. I’ve got a bit of a surprise for you too, when you’re done.” He’s happy to obey and you follow him down the hall, pausing at the front door then into the bedroom. You wait for the bathroom door to shut and then spring into action as fast as you can. You clothes come off; you kick them under the bed instead of wasting precious time trying to pick them off the floor. 

You reach for the new clothes on the dresser and find the outfit you’d picked for his welcome home gift. The bra is made out of soft white lace so flimsy it looks like it’ll tear if you breathe too hard. It ties closed with a ribbon in the front and your clumsy fingers finally form a decent bow on the third try. A skirt attaches beneath the cups and just skims your thighs, the two halves of it parted to show off your obvious pregnancy. You’re lucky that the matching underwear ties on the sides with more ribbon; you’re not sure you’d be able to get them on without five minutes of struggling if you had to step into them. 

You look at yourself in the mirror and adjust the skirt of your lingerie. Despite the sheer fabric leaving little to the imagination, you look sweet. Innocent. Delicate. A grin spreads across your face; it’s perfect.

You get dressed just in time; you hear the shower turn off and the door opens a second later. “There, all clean and-” Mirio freezes at the sight of you and you see his fingers twitch against the towel wrapped around his waist. “Oh, wow. You look...just, wow.” He’s crossed the room faster than you can react, strong arms wrapping you in a tight, warm hug. “You’re so gorgeous like this, babe.”

You lean into his body; you’ve missed this while he was gone. “Well, it’ll be awhile before we can do this again. I figured we should really enjoy ourselves while we still can.” He nods and gives you a surprisingly gentle kiss. You can tell he’s holding back his strength for your benefit and the knowledge makes your heart flutter.

Mirio recovers from his surprise quickly and returns to his usual unstoppable energy. “I’m gonna make you feel so good, I promise!” His bigger hand is warm around yours as he guides you to your bed, losing his towel in the process. You don’t hide your staring; his body is gorgeous after so many years of training and you could look at him for hours. He sits back against the headboard and carefully brings you with him to straddle his lap, and you feel his cock already growing hard against your thigh. “We’ll take it easy,” he promises. “I know we have to be a little more gentle now since you’re so big-” You stare down at Mirio silently, but he continues. “What? You are big, that’s a good thing. You’re growing our baby in there, he needs all that room!” You just shake your head; you can’t really feel annoyed when he’s this sweet.

He looks up at you with pure affection written all over his face and leans into your touch as you run your fingers through his damp hair. “How can you be this buff and this adorable?” It’s not the first time you’ve asked as much, and every time he laughs you off with a faint blush on his cheeks. You lean in for another kiss while his hands move from your hips over your ribs to the front of your slip.

“This is so pretty, you should keep it on.” He gives your chest a squeeze and you whine, too sensitive from the hormones wrecking havoc on your body. You knew your breasts were going to get bigger, but they’ve turned out to be overachievers and you’ve jumped up two cup sizes already. “They’re still really sore, huh?” You nod and he offers you a comforting smile as he plays with the bow before finally tugging it open. Your nipples are already hard, and you don’t miss how he licks his lips when his thumb brushes over one. “I could help you with that, if you want.”

“Mirio…” You love your husband and all his enthusiasm, but you’re well aware that he can be a little too eager and get carried away. He’s being careful now as his fingers trace against your warm skin, his touch barely teasing you. He pulls you closer; you can feel the smile on his lips as he leans into your neck. He follows your pulse, down your collarbone to leave kisses at the swell of your breast and you sigh. “Okay,” you agree. “Just remember to-”

“I know, be gentle. Don’t worry babe, I’m gonna take good care of you.” He pushes your lingerie out of the way to get a better view at your heavy chest and appreciates the sight of it. “Man, our kid’s not gonna be lacking on calcium, is he?”

“I love you, please stop talking.” He laughs but obeys, his tongue flicking over your nipple and making you squirm in his arms. He does it a few times and you let out a little gasp when he takes you into his mouth. “Go easy,” you remind him, but he’s already distracted with his task. You asked your doctor about doing this before and were told it was perfectly fine, but you can’t quite shake the thought that it’s a little weird as Mirio begins to suck at your tender nipple.

You’ve tried this before, but every time he’s been too rough in his excitement and you’ve had to yank his head away from you in pain. Tonight though, he’s trying his best and after a few seconds of discomfort there’s an unfamiliar tingle deep in your breast as your body responds to his stimulation. “It feels weird,” you groan, but your fingers thread into his hair so he won’t pull away. “It’s not bad, just weird.” You’re not entirely sure you like what he’s doing, but you’re willing to continue until you figure it out. His tongue brushes over you with a slightly different motion, and something in you clicks into place. “Can you do that again? I think I liked that.”

His laughter is muffled but still obvious and you can feel the smile against your skin. Mirio’s happy to assist, one strong hand settling on your back to keep you steady. It wasn’t a mistake; he repeats his movements and you realize that it feels good. It feels really good, you have to admit, as his eyes slip closed so he can focus entirely on pleasing you like this. You hold him tight to your body, fingers running through his messy hair while you enjoy the affection so happily given. You’re still sensitive though, and after a few more minutes you start to get overwhelmed and have to pull him away.

“It tastes good.” His grin is huge as he licks his lips. “It’s sweet, just like the rest of you.” You’d roll your eyes if he wasn’t so cute. He gives your breast a gentle squeeze and earns another whimper from you, then turns his attention to the other one. “Don’t want this side feeling left out, right? Lucky I’m here to take care of everything!” Your heart skips a beat, you’re so in love with this silly, wonderful idiot. You don’t get a chance to respond, once his mouth is back on you it’s hard to do anything besides pant and whine for him.

You squirm against him, his dick pressing against your thigh and your panties doing very little to hide how much you’re loving this. “Miriooo,” you moan, and the look in his eyes is nothing but pure happiness that makes you melt. “You always take good care of me,” you coo, reaching down to stroke his cock lightly. “You’re so good to me, honey.” He pulls you closer and releases your chest to look up and meet your eyes.

“Babe, I’m just giving you what you deserve. You’re literally making a brand new, little person in there. If that’s not worth being extra nice, I don’t know what is.” He really has no idea how perfect he is. His thumb brushes over your nipple and your body is so sensitive now it makes you shudder. “Alright now?”

You stop for a second to consider. Your breasts do feel a bit lighter, there’s less pressure weighing down on you after his help. “Yeah, thanks. You’re the best, really.”

He brushes off your compliment in favor of pulling at the strings holding your underwear together. “Just doing my job, miss.” He groans at the sight of you fully naked and traces a finger along the lips of your cunt. You hadn’t noticed just how wet you were getting as he’d worked on your nipples, but now two of his fingers slip inside you with no effort. “I love you so much,” he says with another kiss.

You buck into his hand mindlessly, too eager for his touch after only a few days. You want to hold off and come with his dick buried inside you, but you can’t deny yourself when you’re this needy already. “I want it,” you whine pitifully.

His other hand gives your hip a reassuring squeeze. “I know, baby. You can have whatever you want, just tell me.” His thumb swirls over your clit and he doesn’t miss the jolt that runs down your body. “Right there, huh? My pretty little wife wants me to make her come?” His smirk is playful and there’s a glint of mischief in those friendly eyes.

“Mirio, please.” Hearing him talk like that does something to you and you hide your face in the crook of his neck.

His hand moves faster and your pussy clenches tight around his fingers. “It’s alright, I’ve got you. Just let yourself go for me.” His voice is so warm and soothing, you can’t resist. Your orgasm is marked with desperate whispers in his ear as his hand moves gently between your thighs to urge you on. “That’s it, honey. You’re so good, I want more of you.”

It takes you a minute to calm down before you’re able to pry your sweaty face away from his shoulder. His fingers leave you aching to be filled again, and you swallow hard when you watch him bring them to his mouth to lick them clean. 

“That’s my girl,” he smiles like the sun and you look away, almost embarrassed by the affection between you two. You can’t see anything past your swollen belly, but you can feel his thick cock ready for a turn. “Are you up for more? It’s fine if you need to wait-”

You fumble blindly for his cock until the tip presses just outside your cunt. “I want you inside me. Here, Mirio. Your pretty little wife wants to make you come.” The blush spreading across his face at your words is a special reward of its own. His hips thrust upward to enter you while he slowly pulls you down to meet him, and your mouth falls open in a long moan. “Fuck, Mirio. We’ll have to wait a couple weeks after he’s born and it’s gonna suck so bad.”

He hasn’t put much thought into this fact and you can practically see the gears in his head turning. “Well then, I guess we’d better make it count while we still have the chance,” he says finally. He’s always so much stronger than you, even when you’re not in such a delicate condition, and easily sets a steady pace moving you up and down his dick. You cling to his shoulders to steady yourself as you ride him, pressing your tongue into hs mouth to devour his sounds. This may be the peak of happiness, with your sweet husband pounding away inside your excited pussy, showering you with compliments about how great you are and how perfect your little family is going to be. “And once he gets a little older, we can start working on his siblings!”

Your hips falter in their rhythm at the suggestion. “S-siblings? Already?”

He grins back at you. “Of course! We need five or six, at least!”

“Five or six…” you repeat, suddenly distracted by the thought of doing this another half-dozen times. You don’t know why you’re surprised, it’d be more of a shock if he didn’t have infinite love to share. The idea doesn’t bother you, and you find yourself returning his smile with a smirk of your own. “You really wanna fill me up that much, Lemillion?”

You’re not expecting his thrusts to speed up so much or for him to pull you down so hard you’re gasping for air. “God, babe. So much. I think about it like, all the time now. You have no idea.” He stops to kiss you again, and your cunt squeezes hard around him. “I can take more time off of work,” Mirio insists mindlessly, getting far too ahead of himself. “I bet I can hold so many babies at once.”

You laugh, he’s so ridiculous sometimes. “Let’s just focus on this one for awhile, okay?” He nods, trailing his lips down your throat to feel how fast your pulse is racing for him. You can feel another orgasm building, and that he isn’t far behind. You were only apart for three days but it seems like far too long. “You’re really, really the best.”

He cups your sweaty face in one hand, the look in his eyes so soft and loving it takes your breath away. There aren’t enough words to describe how much you love him right now, and clearly it’s the same for him. Wordlessly he releases you and drags his hand down your body, stopping to tweak your nipples and making you cry out. His fingers drop to rub firmly against your clit, and your back goes rigid. “Miri-ohh. Just like that, I’m gonna...there, fuck.” You clamp down hard on his cock with a loud moan and he holds you tight, supporting your overworked body while you come. “Here,” your voice is ragged. “Your turn, I know you’re dying to come inside me.”

“You’re amazing, honey.” That last compliment is all he gets out before his pace goes sloppy and you feel him flooding your pussy with a low groan. “You’re so amazing.” 

You cling to him while he gradually wears himself out and stay wrapped up in his arms for the next few minutes. Eventually, there’s a firm kick in your belly that informs you that someone noticed all your movement and he’s not happy about it. Both of you laugh as you separate; you flop down on the bed while Mirio cleans you up and finds you a comfy, oversized shirt and fresh panties to wear. It’s still fairly early, and you won’t be tired enough to sleep for a few hours.

“Now that was a welcome home gift. You should just wear that around the house until you have the baby, it looks really great on you.”

You ruffle his messy hair. “I don’t think it would survive the entire month around you,” you tease. You stretch your arms above your head and feel a grumble in your stomach. “So, the surprise wasn’t steak for dinner tonight?”

He’s in too good of a mood to even think of denying you. “It is now!” He’s already fumbling for his phone to look up menus. “Whatever you wanna eat, just say the word!”

Sometimes you wonder how you ever got so lucky.

[a-a-a-anon]

not a lot of people care about the prophecy anymore but here are my headcanons for a chardee macdennis double wedding:

they had to get married in a joint wedding, obviously. neither party would agree to getting married after the other. the topic was brought up and it led to hours of fighting and the threat of arbitration. each party presented their case to frank so he would be a deal breaker and pick who would get married first, but frank refused to get into that mess. they eventually agreed to do a simultaneous wedding

they frantically plan the wedding in one night, treating it like another scheme. during the course of that night they realize they don't really know a lot of people to invite. in the end dennis is appointed as dee's bridesman and dee as dennis' groomsmaid. mac's appointed as charlie's groomsman and charlie as his. they’re really pretending to treat it like a civilized affair. it's franks job to finance and to walk dennis and dee down the aisle (he's really involving himself for mac and charlie's sake. mac because he's proud of him because of MFHP and charlie because he's been his best friend for the last 20 years. he still thinks the twins are bastard crackheads)

they have 4 separate bachelor/bachelorette parties which are like mini versions of dee/charlie/mac/dennis days. frank complains he should be getting a party too and the gang yells at him that only people getting married get bachelor/bachelorette parties.

on the wedding day, the twins get ready together and charmac get ready together:

the twins are snide - "jesus christ sweet dee u should've gotten something with sleeves. that dress does nothing for ur fat bird arms" "well that blazer makes u look like a duck. it's too small" (she's right, the lapel bulges. for a moment dennis stops applying mascara:) "wha- i- why would you say something like that to a man on his wedding day..." or something like that. they're also weirdly competitive and are trying to have a Better wedding than the other, something that is both normal to want and possible to achieve in a joint wedding

charlie and mac are in the other room, incredibly anxious and sweaty and trying to keep each other from freaking out. they're trying to huff glue without getting any on their tuxes. dee made mac promise he won't let charlie eat so much cheese before the wedding because it makes his breath repugnant. mac ignores this and actually decides to try stress eating cheese too in an attempt to quell his pre wedding anxiety. they also helped each other dress in their tuxes (they’re used to getting someone from a non-'white trash' background to help them dress for fancy events)

dee's vows include a bunch of bad dirty jokes, tailor written for the occasion. they are groan inducing

before the wedding, charlie was afraid his vows wouldn't come out good (because sometimes words get blocked up in his mouth and he don't say it no good). he felt pressured to write something and writing words in itself is scary to him. in the end, he does a short simple sweet song for his vows. he got artemis (artemis is there, obviously) to pull out a keyboard when he cued her.

a good chunk of his vows dennis devotes to himself

mac pulls out a goddamn STACK of cue cards when it's his turn to say his vows. the gang expects a repeat of the Gang Texts situation where mac has way too much to say. instead it plays out like this post

during the wedding frank does a speech for all of them and it's just like his awkward speech on the boat in thunder gun express. he somehow brings up the topics of the waitress and mandy and banging etc and the gang is like COME ON FRANK

afterwards they play chardee macdennis and all the fantastic points in this post takes place

none of them spend their ‘first night as a married couple’ uh consummating their marriage or anything. no, they get hospitalized because chardee macdennis always ends in disaster

and a bonus crack idea: artemis gets called in as frank’s emergency contact and the gang is like oh? we didn’t know she was your emergency contact. frank replies that of course she is, the wife is always the emergency contact. he nonchalantly explains he got married that morning before all of them. the gang is greatly angered because they had a whole discussion on who should get married first and they had agreed to do a Thing! but they’re stuck in their crutches/beds/neck braces/etc and are incapable of unleashing their fury on frank without immense pain (not that this stops them from attempting to do so)

and afterwards frank promises them ice cream or something

[midnightf]

shouldn’t of left

Paring: Bucky x reader

Summary: you make a terrible mistake.

Authors note: okay, so this is my first fic and I am extremely nervous about it. Thank you to Mel, Cassie, Ariel, and Mae for helping me. I really appreciate it!!❤

When you arrive at a motel, sitting on the bed contemplating your recent choice, you look over at your phone. You sigh softly while gently tussling your hair, “Hey Bucky, I know I said I would love you forever, but something has changed in me, and I don’t anymore.” 

“No, that sounds mean,” you say aloud, shaking your head. “Hmm. Maybe, ‘Hey Buck, I’m sorry I fell out of love with you?’” What do you tell the man that you’ve loved for more than two years that you just weren't in love with him anymore?

You start to get nervous around the time you knew he would be home. You can only imagine what it would be like to come back to an empty house that’s typically filled with so much love. You try to guess how long it took him to find the key on the counter. He probably searched the house for about ten minutes until he went into the kitchen to grab a beer and looked down to find the key. He’s probably so confused and most of all hurt. 

“Did I make the wrong choice? Should I go back to him?” you wonder. You shook away the thought. “No, I can’t go back to him; he needs to work himself first before I can even think about getting back together with him.” 

You received multiple missed messages and calls from him, but you ignored them, staring at the screen as each call and message popped up. Grabbing your phone and contemplating whether or not you should tell him why you left, you close your eyes softly, thinking back to when your relationship first started. It was a rough start, but you guys made it; it was almost picture-perfect, almost the keyword here. Bucky…he had his demons for sure, but you loved him and were willing to help him through his troubles. Sadly, loving him wasn’t enough, and the demons were too much for you in the end. His nightmares and outbursts became too much for you to handle; his harsh words and screams hurt you to your core.

You don’t truly understand what led you to leave him, but it just made sense at that moment. So, you waited until he headed out to meet Sam before leaving the key to his apartment on the counter and never looking back.

A few months passed; you didn’t leave the motel room unless you got some food from the diner next door. Even then, it still made you nervous because if you ran into Bucky, then you knew your resolve would crumble, and you would come running back. 

But now, you aren’t sure it would be such a bad thing to return to him. Everything reminds you of Bucky, from his pack of gum you found in your car to even the damn mannequins that he would always stare at whenever you went into Target. You’ve been seeing him on the news recently with Sam for the work they’ve done recently.

One evening, you’re sitting on the bed in the motel room, casually scrolling through your phone with the television playing softly in the background, when all of a sudden, you hear, “Breaking News… Ukraine is under travesty tonight with the collapsing of mines leaving five people underground.” Glancing towards the screen, you can barely understand what they’re saying when you spot Bucky running in the back. 

“Damn, he looks good, oh how I miss those hands and how they used to—what the hell? Ukraine is literally in a natural disaster, and your horny ass is out here thinking about your ex?” You smacked yourself on the forehead and carefully watched the screen.

“This just in Bucky Barnes, formally known as the Winter Soldier, just rushed into the wreckage,” the news reporter says to the camera after receiving word over her earpiece.

You jump up and move closer to the screen. “What the hell Bucky? Do you have a fucking death wish?” you scream at the screen. “Bucky, you better make it out, or I swear on everything I will fly down there and get your ass out!”

Staring at the screen, you faintly see some movement behind the reporter, near the opening of the collapse. A few moments later, you see five people slowly walk out, holding your breath and crossing your fingers. “Please, Bucky, be alive. I made a mistake,” you beg tearfully. 

Just as you are about to give up hope, you see him emerge from the damage, the man that you left. The man that you need to apologize to immediately.

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Tagging some mutuals who might be interested (no pressure ofc!): @mickey-henry @buckysbiota @winter-james @ritesofreverie @golden-bucky @divine-mistake @my-divine-death @babycap @holdontorogers @gwenavibra @doubleleoenergy @fuckandfluff @fairyevans @outer-spacious