#it was like 8:30 this morning looked up in work parking lot and saw it and was like damn ok maybe not everything is terrible

[confessormoons]

[starwarsmum]

Chapter 2 is up!

Dick sighed and leaned back into the first class plane seat. Jason had been bugging him to come to Paris with him since the end of the year, and had even bought him plane tickets as part of his Christmas present. He had also insisted on accompanying him, which was…suspicious. He was confident it wasn't a matter for their alter egos or they would have just taken the tubes over.

He glanced over at Jason, trying to scrutinise him in the dim light of the cabin. They had begun their flight in the early hours of the evening in Gotham which meant that the sky was only just beginning to lighten in the early morning of Paris. The broad man was snoring comfortably in the seat next to his, the white tuft in his hair almost glowing in the darkness.

As the plane landed, Jason stretched and bolted upright, practically springing to collect his luggage. Dick was concerned - Jason never got excited over a holiday, unless it was a cover for one of their ‘nightly activities’. But Jason had promised him that there would be no need for Nightwing or Red Hood to make an appearance. 

“Hell, Paris apparently has its own heroes, I'd hate to tread on their toes, ya know?” Jason said, apparently in good humour as they waited for their car to be available. Ever since the…disagreement, Dick and Jason had avoided using any of Bruce's resources. “Besides, it's all magical bullshit around here. Way above my pay grade.”

“You really did your research before we came, huh,” Dick marveled, sliding into the passenger seat as Jason took charge. He had apparently made an itinerary, starting with a trip to a famous pastry shop. “Are you sure I can't just look at what you have planned?”

“Nope,” Jason grinned, the car smoothly moving away from the lot. “I hope you've been brushing up on your French, Dickie. You're gonna need it.”

As they approached the corner that housed that patisserie, Dick saw a bustle of activity. Checking the time, he saw that it was just before 8:30, meaning that the school across the street was a hive of activity. There was less of a queue in the bakery thanks to the time and they waited patiently, eyeing up the various goods.

“Bonjour, ” came the jaunty welcome from the petite Asian woman. She was older and had a motherly look, smiling pleasantly as she waited for their order. Dick smiled back at her before ordering.

“Bonjour, madame, nous voudrions deux croissants chocolats et douze macarons, s'il vous plaît.” The woman smiled and rang them up before moving around to collect their order. As she did, Jason stepped forward as well.

“Pardonnez-moi, vous êtes Sabine?” Dick looked at Jason, bewildered, even as the woman - Sabine, apparently - responded cautiously yes. “Awesome, uh, nous sommes ici pour visiter Marinette, ou est elle?” Sabine nodded in understanding, brightening as she handed over their goods. She let them know that Marinette was over at the park nearby. Thanking her for the baked goods and her time, the pair made their way out of the bakery.

“Jason, what on earth was that about?” Dick demanded, as soon as they were out of earshot of the woman. He let out a noise of frustration at Jason's shrug and secretive smile. “Seriously, is Marinette a new girlfriend or something? Is that why you insisted on coming and dragging me all the way to Paris?”

“Listen, all good things come to those who wait, Dickie-bird. Look, there she is now. Marinette!” He hollered the last part, waving and grinning broadly at a small woman, similar but younger to the woman at the bakery. Dick saw her look up and smile, balancing something on her lap. Something that looked suspiciously like a small child, with dark hair

“Jason, why do you know a French woman with a baby ?” Dick was panicking, he could feel it. Had Jason somehow fathered a child in France? Was this a trip so that Dick could meet his new niece or nephew? “Jason, I swear to God, if you had a kid and didn't tell any of us, I will disown you .”

“Bonjour, vous êtes Monsieur Grayson, non?” Dick's eyes were huge as the woman approached, and they were glued to the bundle in her arms. When he didn't say anything, she cleared her throat and tried again. “ Pardon, I am Marinette, and this is Penélope. It is a pleasure, Monsieur Grayson. ”

“I- I think I'm going to pass out,” he whispered, feeling overwhelmed. “Jay, seriously, how could you not tell us? I'm not sure I can actually disown you, but this is big.”

“Penny's not my kid, Dick,” he said, but he did reach out for the wriggly bundle when Marinette held her out. “Marinette is more like…a little sister. Don't worry, little one,” he cooed down at the baby girl, eyes full of wonder. ��Uncle Jason is here now.”

“ Oui, par mariage, ” Marinette snorted, rolling her eyes at the man. “Sorry, Monsieur Grayson, I'm sure you are very confused but I had to meet you before we could discuss anything in more detail. Mon mari , he is just being cautious.”

“Someone is being cautious…by sending you to meet me with your kid?”

“Because, I am not the one in danger of being hurt, oiseau, ” she said firmly. At his look of further confusion, she sighed and stepped towards him. “My husband, he has come very far in the years I have known him but he is worried that you will be angry with him. Il est fragile, and I will not allow you to hurt him if it can be avoided.”

“Pfft, fragile, sure,” Jason snorted, although he looked apologetic when Marinette glared at him. “Sorry Mari, but he hasn't changed enough for me to say he's fragile . Look, Dick's getting riled up and he is supposed to be here on holiday, I promise that he's not going to hurt him. He is the very last person in the world that Dick would hurt.”

Dick's eyes snapped up at that, widening as he gazed at Penélope, noting her slightly darker skin and just how dark her hair was. “No,” he whispered, looking up hopefully at Jason. “You found him?”

“Yes, Grayson, he did,” came a deep voice from behind him and Dick span so fast he almost pirouetted. He drank in the sight of his brother, tears springing to his eyes before he stepped forward and grabbed him into a hug. Damian sighed and patted his back, eyes suspiciously bright. 

“ Mon dieu, you brothers are so emotional,” Marinette said cheekily, taking Penélope back from Jason. Damian gave her a mock glare before pulling back from Dick and giving him a smile. “ Parfait, maintenant, can we go back to our home? I am sure Penny would like to have her breakfast and a nap.” 

Damian relieved Marinette of the job of carrying Penélope and she fell into step beside Jason, chattering about their Christmases. Dick felt his nerves come back with a vengeance. Damian seemed at ease, bouncing his daughter as he stepped.

“I am sorry for the cloak and dagger, Grayson. Marinette is, understandably, wary of our family. She only knows what I have told her, and what she has gathered during our time together. She also knows that nobody has come to see us in that time, and it makes her nervous that you have now come.”

“We didn't know where you were, lil D,” Dick said softly. He had always been gentle with Damian and it stayed true, even now. “I swear to you, we looked. We spent a solid month trying to find you, and even after that we kept trying. You didn't take the…usual transport for going abroad, none of your aliases were in use, and Jon said he didn't know where you had gone, only that you had told him you needed to go. I didn't even know you were gone until I returned from my case, and I'd lost 3 weeks alone to that.”

“Tt, Jason told us. He has assured us that it was a random piece of luck that led to him finding us, and has promised that we may reconnect with whom we choose at our own pace. But he did ask that he be able to tell you first. Now, let us go inside and we can settle Penny. Marinette, mon amour, will you start the coffee?”

“Bien sûr, tu veux un thé, mon chéri? ” She replied, setting up a highchair at a dining table towards the back of the room. He confirmed and she twisted her way into the kitchen, humming softly. They could hear her clattering in the kitchen, making Penélope gurgle and clap. Damian smiled at the child indulgently and placed her in the chair. “ Son petit déjeuner, Damian, elle a très faim. Tu en veux?"

Dick was in awe. The little family was clearly practiced in their morning routine, Damian taking charge of feeding his daughter - his daughter, Dick's baby brother had a kid - whilst Marinette made coffee and tea. When had his brother become so domestic? Just how much had changed when he had left home? He wanted to know everything.

“Dames, I'm so happy for you,” Dick burst out, brimming with pride, tempered by his sadness at having missed it. “You have a beautiful family but how…when did you meet? Where did you go after everything with…I just wish I had been there for you.”

Damian shrugged, although his shoulders tightened slightly. “I cannot say what would have been better, but I am happy with my life here, Grayson. Marinette has been a blessing, in many ways. She has helped me heal from things I did not know were hurting me, and she has blessed me with my own family. I would not change where I have come to.”

“Such a serious talk,” Marinette said, bustling into the room with a tea tray, weighed down with coffee, tea, milk sugar and some baked confectionaries. Jason whooped and took a seat at the table, leaving both the seat next to Damian, and the one next to Penny, free. “ Monsieur Grayson, you cannot change what Damian has been through and I would not want you to have stopped him coming to me. It is natural to want him to have never been hurt, mais if he had never left, I would never have found l’amour de ma vie. ”

“ Un conversation serieux, elle a dit, ” Damian said mockingly, making Marinette flush prettily. “Marinette, my love, you cannot say that and then follow up with an even more serious conversation.”

“ Silence, mon coeur,” she said severely. “Anyway, you wanted to know how we met, non ? Would you like to tell the story, or shall I?” Damian snorted and waved a hand to indicate that she should continue. “ D’accord , so I met Damian perhaps a month after he arrived in Paris…”

* Flashback 

It was getting dark, the summer day bleeding into a warm summer night. Marinette had been walking down a side street after meeting with Adrien. She had been prepared for the day to run longer than he had promised but it was still later than she had hoped to be walking home. She kept her head down and scurried across the next alley.

She heard a sound, a fleshy thud and a grunt, and she automatically turned towards it, hand coming up to touch her earrings. She saw the shapes of 2 men grappling and sprinted towards them, calling out as she did. As she reached them, she forced her way between them, shoving back the larger of the two as she stood over the prone form of the second.

“ Arrêtez, quoi tu fais? ” She demanded, meeting the man's eye. He let out an impatient noise before gesturing to a woman who was cowering behind a large bin. Her eyes widened and she looked back at the man on the floor, who was groaning and trying to get up. “ Merde, un voleur? Désolée, je ne savais pas. Ca va? ”

“Tt, je suis bien ,” the man said, his voice deep and annoyed. “ Il ne m’a pas vu avant je lui ai frappé. Il n’a pas utilisé son couteau .”

Marinette gave the man a long look, wondering whether she could turn her back on him long enough to use the restraints she carried with her. She decided that he had already helped one woman, she might as well put a little trust his way. She pulled out her phone and called the police, securing the other man's hands as she did so, speaking in rapid fire French. 

And then she went to the woman and spoke softly, reassuring her that all was well and that she could relax. The man continued to watch her, eyes sharp.

*End flashback

“...and after that, we exchanged numbers. He clearly knew what he was doing, the man had hardly a scratch other than being passed out. He seemed surprised by how I handled the problem, but not unhappy. Running into that alley was the best choice I have made, pour ma vie entier ” she beamed, turning her bright eyes back towards her husband.

“Tt, I think you could have done slightly better than a man who had scarcely a penny to his name and none to call a friend. And I know many of your friends agree,” Damian added grumpily, beginning to clean Penélope as she had finished her meal. 

“Well, I cannot help you, and other people, being wrong, Damian,” Marinette shrugged, standing and taking hold of Penélope. “ Maintenant, please excuse me, I must try to get her to sleep. She is unbearable sans her nap.”

“She will be several minutes, Penny struggles to sleep when we have guests,” Damian mused, the corners of his lips turning up slightly as he watched her go. His finger began turning one of his rings before he stilled and turned back to Jason and Dick.

“She's wonderful, baby bird,” Dick said softly, seeing the love she had for his brother. He ached to have missed so much - his first real relationship, how he had grown, his wedding - but he was relieved that Damian had had the chance to experience it all. He was grateful that someone as loving as Marinette had seen something in Damian and then stayed with him. “I can tell you love her very much, and she loves you too.”

“Oh, yeah, these two are disgustingly sappy. Even just through video chat they could rot teeth,” Jason joked, looking around instead of at either of his brothers. They passed more of the time, catching up on the changes in Dick and Damian's lives. They talked about Mar’i and Kor’i, Damian's job, their weddings…Dick had squealed when Damian pulled out his wedding album to show them.

“Holy shit, is that Jagged Stone?” Jason's voice was hushed but undeniably excited. “No way no way no way , you did not have Jagged Stone at your wedding .”

“He was not my guest, Todd. My wife has many connections, and Jagged insisted on providing the entertainment for the evening portion of the celebration.” At Dick and Jason's slack jaws, he snorted. “Marinette is a world acclaimed fashion designer, she is notable for making pieces for the eccentric musician, and when he heard that his ‘niece’ would be married, he insisted.”

“Hold up, Jagged Stone’s niece…famous designer…are you saying that you married MDC?! But…but Timmy has a contract with you! He is forever rubbing it in our faces that he gets to commission MDC originals, I'm pretty sure it's his only joy at this point, and you're telling me that your wife is the reason he gets to do that? That's so unfair! We've been in touch for nearly 2 months and you didn't think to tell me?”

“This is why he couldn't get you to relocate, isn't it?” Dick said to Marinette as she stepped lightly back into the room. “He's been so upset that he couldn't get you to move to Gotham but you wouldn't, because Damian would never.”

“Non , it was not Damian's decision. I think that he would go anywhere with me if I thought it would be good for us, but I would never wish to hurt him like that. Besides,” she added, in an attempt to lighten the mood, “I have the feeling that Monsieur Drake would monopolise my time if I was that close, and oncle Jagged would never forgive me.”

It was many hours later, and several giant yawns from Dick, that they admitted they needed to get to their hotel. Marinette said goodbye warmly, promising that Damian and Penélope would be available for the rest of their trip, even though she had work to do.

“There will be other visits where I can spend time with you all, but I think it best that Damian be allowed time with ses frères without me worrying over you all. I only ask, Dick, that you respect our decision not to involve Monsieur Wayne . I would never ask you to lie to him, but I must insist that you only give him information that he specifically asks for.”

Dick swore that he would keep the information to himself, although he begged to be able to tell Kor’i, which Marinette readily agreed to. 

“Thank you, Jay,” Dick said, on the drive to their hotel. “No, seriously, this is the best Christmas present I have ever received.”

“So you're not mad that I didn't tell you sooner? Good,” he sighed when Dick shook his head, “because Mari straight up terrifies me.”

[jgroffdaily]

Excerpts from Daniel Radcliffe's interview with the New York Times on 30 April.

Daniel Radcliffe caught the first batch of Tony nominations during the announcement at 8:30 a.m. He texted congratulations to his “Merrily We Roll Along” co-star Jonathan Groff, who was nominated for best actor in a musical.

But then dad duty called before his own category, featured actor in a musical, was announced at 9:00.

“I was in the middle of doing breakfast and trying to put my son down for his morning nap, so I got a text from a member of the cast letting me know I was nominated,” said the actor, 34, who stars as the lyricist and playwright Charley Kringas in the acclaimed revival of the 1981 Stephen Sondheim-George Furth musical, “Merrily We Roll Along.”

Radcliffe’s Tony nomination — for his fifth Broadway role since his 2008 debut in “Equus” — is the first of his career. And it’s extra special, he said in a phone conversation from his New York apartment on Tuesday, because not only Groff, but his other “Merrily” co-star, Lindsay Mendez, was also nominated, for featured actress.

“People in your line of work probably get bored of actors talking about how much they love each other, how much they enjoy working with each other,” said Radcliffe, who is best known for playing Harry Potter onscreen. “And we do say it a lot, but this group is really awesome — Lindsay, Jonathan, the whole cast. I feel so lucky.”

You recently were the ring bearer at Lindsay’s wedding, for which Jonathan served as the officiant. How did that come about?

It’s what I do in the show — when Jonathan and Katie Rose Clarke are getting married, I’m the ring bearer. So we were in Lindsay’s dressing room on the Saturday or Sunday before she got married, and she just offhandedly was like, “Would you be the ring bearer?” We found that funny. So I did! But also I suddenly went from going to a wedding with zero responsibilities to going and having to not screw something up; to not drop the rings and suddenly have them flying around Central Park! But it was fine.

All three of you have been with the show since its Off Broadway run in 2022. How has your performance grown and changed?

When we first met, we were getting on really well, but we were still getting to know each other, so we were having to act the friendship more. And now so much of it is just there. That’s not a feeling you get all the time as an actor. It’s rare, and I feel very lucky that I just have to look into Jonathan’s eyes or Lindsay’s eyes and get everything I need to get through whatever moment we’re doing.

What initially attracted you to the “Merrily” role?

When I saw this production in London, I had the reaction of going, “Oh, I’m really right for this part.” I could hear my voice in the character pretty early on. I love musical theater, but it’s not something I’ve done my whole life the way Jonathan and Lindsay have, so the vocal aspects and the musical aspects are the stuff I’ve really enjoyed, especially when the music is as incredible as Sondheim’s. “Franklin Shepard” in particular was pretty challenging to learn initially. But now that it’s in me, it’s incredibly fun.

There’s no challenge in musical theater like a Sondheim patter song.

The first few times I was doing it, it was genuinely terrifying. The one time Off Broadway where it kind of went wrong was one of the most terrifying things that’s ever happened to me onstage.

What happened?

I got ahead of the band by like half a beat, so I was out of sync with them for — it felt like 30 seconds, but it was probably less. Thankfully there are enough musical things happening in that song that I recognized one of them and was able to reorient myself.

Who is the person you’ve been most nervous to have come see the show?

Meryl Streep was in the audience one night, and I was very thrilled to find that out after the show was finished.

[orchid-mantis-petals]

WHEN HOME BEOMES YOU CHAPTER 10

/ Hello!! Hi!! As promised here is chapter 10. A few notes before we begin!! Next week is my official work change. Barring any health problems or life problems Saturday Night, around 8-10 MST will be the drop day from now on.

/ I will do my best to drop a note to tell you all what is happening. Anyway I will stop rattling on now.

/ My usual thanks go to @maximumkillshot and @taeminsung for all your help and ideas for this chapter.

/ Genre: Angst, FLUFF, crack, comfort

/ Warnings: talks of past, PTSD, talk of panic attack, past chapter incident, swearing, throwing snow??, Throwing shade (Seungmin, and reader) oh yeah and swearing

/ Summary:

“Whatever Seungmin,” the older shook his head as he went to switch up the settings on the ball machine. In the hour they had been there had been no one else in the space. It was nice, Seungmin liked the silence of it. But he knew it wouldn’t last forever. Not long after he switched the settings the door opened up as another person came in to bat just a few cages down.

It was nice to have time at the main JYP building before your work schedule began. When Lee Know parked the car you were quick to bid them farewell. After the near 30 minutes you’d spent in that detective's office then to admit some of it to Felix and Minho. You needed a breather, your gym session was overdue. But your bag was at home in your apartment. So you didn’t really have a change of clothes. It was there you found yourself with a coffee in hand at the top of the company building as you looked over the city. From your apartment you mostly saw the mornings, the evenings this city had. It felt strange to have time to witness it in the midday. You shivered as a cool breeze licked your neck, winter was only a few weeks away. But her approach was fast. Felix and Hyunjin had rattled on about the snow and how pretty it looked over Korea. In their excitement you found yourself giddy to see it with them this year. You sipped at your coffee as your solitude gained company. You knew who it was before they stood beside you, trauma is funny like that. Just the cadence of someone’s steps is recognizable to the person. “Hello Chan,” there was a chuckle before his frame took residence beside you. “Who blabbed??”

“Felix, he was just worried about you. We all are,” you sighed as you finally turned to look at him. It was true, the face he wore was one you’d call worry. Eyes wide, eyebrows quirked in different positions his body leaned toward you as his entire attention now belonged to this conversation. And ideally, toward you.

“I’m okay Chan, it’s just. It’s a lot to process. Years of my life packed away in a box. I’ve protected that box for a long while. To finally hand it, and essentially my life over to another person. It’s a lot to handle,” Chan nodded. You knew he understood in his own way what you had gone through. Maybe not in the same light but he did understand. “I talked a little bit about my sister today. It’s been a very long time since I’ve have,”

“Do you want to talk about her more??”

“Yeah..yeah..Chan you would have loved her. She was this beautiful bright woman. She always chased her dreams and strived to make this world a better place. I loved to watch her work. In a way Chan you’re a lot like her,” he only listened, to which you appreciated when you were done talking he scooped you into a side hug. It was nice to lean into someone as you let go once more. The rest of the day went just as easy, the boys kept close. Felix had said something to them, what you didn’t know. But every chance they were given your usual trio was stuck to your side like glue. Changbin not far off as he watched your every reaction. It was nice. When you finally made it home and plopped into bed you were exhausted. Before you fell asleep you checked schedules for the next day. It was good to see that the boys were provided a free day to just relax. You, yourself, had the day off effectively before schedules ramped up. Your last task for the night before you forgot was to send a text to Himora so he had a way to contact you regarding your case. He was quick to respond, his statement that he would have further info for you in the next coming days.

**** **** **** ****

“Come on Seungmin we have the day off, why couldn’t you do this alone??”

“From what I remember Innah you asked me to teach you baseball, how I teach you is not really up for debate,” Seungmin stood in the doorway of the dorm as he waited for the youngest member to get his shoes on so they could go out. It was clear I.N. had regretted asking the slightly older male to teach him how to properly play baseball. Sure, they could have slept in a few hours longer before they ventured out. But Seungmin didn’t want to spend all day at the batting cage. A few hours in the morning with lunch to end the activity was the best he could manage. There were things in his own personal time he wanted to take care of. So he dragged the youngest team member from his bed at Seven am to go out and get it done.

“If I had known you’d drag me out of bed this early I would have told you nevermind,”

“You learn better in the morning, Innie,” Seungmin tossed him a water bottle and bag before he walked out the front door to the cars. The younger just behind him on his heels. Lee Know was kind enough to loan his car for the day, with the ask that they didn’t trash it. Seungmin agreed to not eat in the vehicle to keep the trash down. His regular batting cage place was always open this early, if they happen to not be they always made an exception for Seungmin, a regular and favorite of theirs. He suspected it was due to the fact that he tipped well to keep his identity secret. When they arrived he practically dragged I.N. into the building for the younger had fallen asleep in the car on the way. They bypassed equipment rental, Seungmin had enough for both of them to use. Once set up in their spot he gave I.N. the instructions on what to do. He watched as the younger worked hard to get it right. It took some time, but in an hour Seungmin saw progress in the younger man. “See now, was that so hard??”

“Whatever Seungmin,” the older shook his head as he went to switch up the settings on the ball machine. In the hour they had been there had been no one else in the space. It was nice, Seungmin liked the silence of it. But he knew it wouldn’t last forever. Not long after he switched the settings the door opened up as another person came in to bat just a few cages down. As the person passed by Seungmin was quick to recognise it was you who had entered the building. He strangely had come to know you by the sound of your walk, how you look as you pass by or walk in front of him. Psychologists often say it can be a sign of trauma, or a response to trauma in your life. What trauma Seungmin didn’t know. More often than not he was just an observer, one to take in all the details from a distance and keep them to himself. Or used as prime blackmail against his favorite people. He would call it his love language, others say its torture. Either way, he observed. His attention was now divided between I.N. and you, one cage away from them. He watched as you stretched and set up. Then he’d turn to Innah and instruct him on what to do next.

It was after another hour that he decided he’d had enough. He could tell from how you stood, your weight distribution, stance, even your bat hold. All of it was near perfect, yet every time the ball was ejected from the machine you missed. “Seungmin??”

“Mm hold on Innie,” he stepped out of their cage and made moves toward you. “Pack up we’re going,” he turned off the machine before he walked over toward your cage. He knew you were aware of their presence. So when he stepped up to your area and cut the power to your machine you just sagged the bat dropped to your side. Felix had told them all to be kind to you. Not that he had plans to hurt you. But whatever the sun wants he gets. There was mention you had injured your hands in a panic attack. Seungmin knew there was more to the story. That Felix had said something beyond the panic attack to the three oldest of their group but he didn’t pry. It wasn’t his place. “Let me see your hands,” he didn’t ask, maybe his approach was harsh but he didn’t care. There was a thought to ask you, to rearrange his phrase so he was gentler with you. But it was hard when he knew you were hurt, to Seungmin that was enough. He just wanted to help in his own strange way.

“What??” Your voice was so quiet it tugged at Seungmin’s heart. He felt his guts twist up a little at the sound.

“Hands,” he took your hands into his, he was so careful as he pulled your gloves off. He watched your every flinch and twitch. Once the gloves were off he sighed. The bandages over your hands were splotchy and red from your cuts. “Alright, let’s go get lunch I’ll bandage you up in the car,” he took you by the wrist and dragged you with your belongings where he and I.N. had been. The younger boy was quick to take your wrist from him to allow Seungmin the chance to grab the last of their things and pay. “Take her to the car,” he told the maknae as he went to pay for both your and their time at the cage. The big tip included at the end. He thanked the staff with a small bow before he wandered outside to find you and I.N. at the car. Without a word he threw open the trunk and piled all of the bags into the back while he searched for the first aid kit he knew Lee Know kept in there. Once it was found he waved you over. His brain was so set on helping you he hadn’t realized how you felt as he caged you against the trunk of the suv before he literally lifted you by the hips to sit in the open back of the car. Seungmin was on autopilot as he removed your old bandages. He inspected the cuts to be sure none were infected before he recleaned and bandaged them up.

“Jeez Minnie, I see you’ve been hitting the gym with Binnie,” his cheeks flamed red at Innie’s words and the realization at what he’d just done.

“Sorry,” he grumbled as he backed off of you. He was sure his ears were bright red as he helped you down from the car. “I didn’t..”

“It’s okay Minnie,” your voice was so light as you teased. “You were only trying to help. Bin will be happy to know his hard work is paying off,” he scoffed and playfully shoved you to I.N. before he cleaned up the mess and closed the car.

“Alright you weirdos let’s get lunch,” the three of you piled into the car with one thought in mind, food. To fill your empty stomachs with something delicious and maybe a little greasy. It would fit the theme for the day. Seungmin didn’t let either of you choose where you’d eat, just that you would have something to eat. He dragged you both to a small local Ramen spot that had a variety of egg topping choices and his favorite fruit salad bar. “Driver picks the meal,” he stated as though you or Innah would protest his choice. Neither of you did, in fact the meal was the perfect amount of filling and greasy that he desired.

“We should go do karaoke,” Innie suggested between mouthfuls of food. “I want to hear Y/N sing for once,”

“I promise, you don’t,” you laughed, it was a sound Seungmin strangely loved. He’s heard it often over the month and a half he’d come to be in your presence. It was so loud and unique to you. When he heard it he couldn’t help but laugh along with you.

“I’m sold. Karaoke after lunch,” he decided, sure you could decline, take a cab home but there was a smile on your face that proved to say otherwise.

“Don’t cry for your poor choices Kim Seungmin,”

“I never cry over a choice I make,” he challenged as he paid the bill for lunch earning a scowl from you as you lifted your wallet for him to see. “What?? I’m just faster,”

“We’ll have to see about that,” you laughed as the waiter took his card. Seungmin fell silent as you chatted with I.N. again he just pondered and observed, he’d noticed over the last couple weeks you’d seemed so tired and run down. Yesterday at the photo shoot you had been so quiet, outside your usual chit chat with Felix or Hyunjin. When he watched them come close to you he noticed you actually for once clung to them. You had even sought the attention of Lee Know at one point. It was different to see you act in such a way. He didn’t dwell on it too much, not when he saw the light had begun to come back to your eyes since he had taken you away from the batting cages. He hoped karaoke would also make you smile and laugh for him. When lunch was finished the three of you drove to a karaoke place just down the street from your apartment. Ever the practical person Seungmin had chose this place on purpose. Especially when he learned you walked to the batting place. He was happy to have been the chauffeur for the day’s activities if it made you and Innah smile for him. He thought back to when he spoke to Felix, how honest he was with the Australian in how he felt about you. But the moment you let him take care of you, the moment he was hooked. Like the rest he wanted to know your darkest secrets. Why had you hid so much from them?? But he wouldn’t pry, no never. Not when he could see behind your strong facade, he could see the growing cracks in the mold of your well built walls. He feared that when the break occurred you’d be lost forever. Seungmin would try his best to keep that from happening to the best of his ability. When he parked the car you were the first out of it and into the building, he raised his brows quizzically at I.N. as they followed you in. “Ha!! Beat you to it!!” You cackled as you handed your card over to the desk clerk. Oh..how silly of him..he should have known you’d play this game to win.

“Had no idea you were so competitive. Game on Y/N,” he laughed as the clerk handed you a key card with a room number to your karaoke room. He followed at the back, I.N. just in front of him and you at the helm.

“Me?? Competitive?? Never??” There it was again, the butterflies in his tummy. He wanted to make you laugh forever.

**** **** **** ****

I.N. had come to adore you in their lives from day one. He was right there, right behind Han at that airport. One they’d frequented quite often when they traveled. Situations like that with fans were normal, sadly. It was a risk that came with the career. He knew that, yet each time something like that happened Innah could feel his body revolt. Felix and Han both told him that experience was anxiety. While sure his was only temporary to certain situations he could only imagine what it was like to experience that on the daily. His heart felt as though it had dropped out of his chest and dragged behind him for miles. It was only when your kind face came to check on him did he calm. You had made sure he wasn’t injured, that the woman who had tried to grab him never did. From that day on he trusted you with his whole heart. He’d later come to learn more about you and your life in America. They weren’t secrets persay, but it was so cool to talk to you without your trio at your side.

It had been the night before the flight back from Japan. He couldn’t sleep, nor could you, it seemed, as he found you on the rooftop balcony of the hotel two hours after all of you returned from the after party. When he settled beside you on the bench the two of you didn’t say a word for a long while. It was you who had broken the silence first.

“Can’t sleep??” He shook his head as he tipped it back to the sky. There weren't many stars he could see here in the city but the few he did always captured his attention. “Airport??” This time he nodded, his eyes moved to meet yours as you watched him quietly.

“I’m afraid. Last time was scary,” you nodded in understanding as you moved to settle his head on your shoulder.

“I understand but I promise it won’t happen this time. I can’t promise every time. But I can promise this time. I can walk you through the plan if that helps??” He nodded again, his head still gently nestled against your shoulder. “I have switched your flight to early morning so the crowds are smaller. I called the JYP PR team to have the old flight information released. Like last time I will have extra support from the airport staff to protect you. And I have switched you and Han to be closer to me,” it was simple. You threw everything into logic for him. All his worries ebbed away at that moment and he fell asleep against you. When he woke up the next morning he wasn’t sure how he ended up in his hotel bed but he didn’t question it. He was ready for whatever the day brought. That conversation had made him realize you were more than just a person he could trust. You were a friend. And maybe one day part of his small family. On the plane ride back to Korea you had sat with him and talked him through the plan for the airport back home. He felt so at ease around you. It reminded him of the times his mother would give him a lemon drop candy. The sour flavors always shocked his brain but the sweetness soothed it minutes after. His mother loved to give it to him when he ran around or rattled on about nonsense.. In a way you had replaced that candy with your own self. You had become his Lemon Drop, that soothed his anxious soul.

“Lemondrop..sing a duet with me??” This was the first time he'd called you that aloud. The others had nicknames for you so he figured why not give you one of his own?? Plus it was cute to see your cheeks flush pink at the name. He handed the machine to you. To pick a song to sing with him. He watched as you hesitated a moment before you picked a Song by Twice. It was so cute to watch you hold the microphone far away from your face barely singing the words to the song that you picked. He didn’t judge. In fact to ease your anxiety he sang loud and with a funny voice. You joined him in the silly antics as the song came to an end. You both laughed at the crappy score the machine gave you.

“My turn,” Seungmin stated as I.N. handed over the iPad to him to pick a song. It went on like that for a while. All of you picked songs back and forth for nearly an hour before I.N. had an idea.

“Minnie!! You should do a battle with Lemondrop,”

“I don’t see how that’s fair Innie..” you complained but reached the iPad to select a song either way. He laughed as Seungmin also selected a song to battle against you with. Second pick went first so both of you sat back to watch Seungmin sing. It never mattered if it was in a performance, the studio, or even karaoke Seungmin sang with his whole heart. He gave everything to the craft that he loved. I.N. adored him for that, he knew the rest of the members did too. It was because of him they all worked hard to be better. To do their best. The sparkle in your eyes gave away to Innah that his magic worked on you too. When it was your turn to sing unlike earlier this time you gave it your all. The song you picked was one of their own.

The opening notes to Cover Me blared over the speaker. He was shocked to say the least. You’d been so quiet when you sang earlier and Cover Me wasn’t an easy song of theirs. Yet as the lyrics displayed on the screen he saw your eyes were closed as you sang along to the music. His heart nearly stopped when you hit every note perfectly. It almost reminded him of the day Chan had Seungmin in the studio for his part. How he did his line in one perfect take. If you had any flaws in the way you sang their song he couldn’t tell. Silently he pulled out his phone from his pocket and hit record. He wanted to immortalize this moment forever if he could. When it came to Seungmin’s part he watched as your body relaxed to draw in enough energy to sing the note. And just like Seungmin you got it in one perfect try. Innah saw from the corner of the room his older member was shocked, jaw literally slacked at your ability. And when the song ended it wasn’t a surprise to either of them that you had beat Seungmin.

“What happened to ‘I can’t sing’??” The older mocked your earlier words with a slight pout on his face.

“I-I’m just as surprised as you are,” you laughed as you set down the microphone on the table. The youngest in the room was about to pick another song when his phone began to ring. It was Lee Know. He was quick to answer.

“Hey Hyung what’s up??” He shrugged to you and Seungmin as he settled into the couch.

“I’m here with Bin. I’m driving you two home it’s snowing,” At first I.N. questioned how he knew where they were but then he remembered Minho always put tracking on his devices in order to keep them safe.

“Okay, we’ll meet you out front. Oh. We have Y/N with us,”

“I didn’t see her motorcycle, it's unsafe to drive that thing in the snow..”

“Ah..Hyung no,” he laughed at how protective he’d become over you all of a sudden. “She walked to the batting place and we happened to be at the same one so we dragged her along with us,”

“Oh, I see,” there was a quick silence on the other line before Lee Know spoke again. “Bin can take her home. I'll drive you two,” he heard his other Hyung squawk in the background before there was some light rustling. He was sure the two were messing with one another before the line fell silent as the older had hung up.

“That was Minho Hyung. He and Bin Hyung are here. It’s snowing so they want to take us home. Lee Know is taking you and I,” he pointed to Seungmin. “And Binnie will take you,” he said as he addressed you. It wasn’t long after that all of you packed up your belongings and headed out the front door. He watched silently as you bid farewell to the desk clerk and thanked him for the great service. Just outside the door the three of you could see the large heavy snowflakes that cascaded down from the sky.

“Innie!! Dance with me!!” He followed you out into the sloshy wet snow to dance. Your twirling caught the attention of his Hyungs who parked beside Lee Know’s car. They stepped out to watch you two play in the snow.

“Careful Innah!!” The oldest sighed as he walked over to the two of you. He stopped to grab his Hyung.

“Minho!! She out-sang Seungmin,”

“Oh?? Did she now,”

“He’s exaggerating Lee Know,”

“Am not!! I have it on video!!” Innie pulled out his phone and played the video for the rest of them to hear.

“I can safely say you certainly out-sung the main vocalist of our team. Careful Seungmin we may have a new team member,”

“She’s too pretty to be on our team,” Seungmin smirked as he bumped his shoulder with yours. All the while they saw you smile. It was wide, wider than they’d seen in days. I.N. knew they all felt the very same way. If they could, they’d do anything to see you smile like that forever. He bid you farewell with a hug as Seungmin put your stuff into Bin’s car. There was a moment he felt your arms tighten around his before you let go. Sneakily he kissed your cheek before he ducked into Lee Know’s car. A half made snowball smacked the window seconds after. But all he did was laugh and laugh. He heard you laugh from the other side of the door. Lee Know rolled the window down a fraction of an inch to call out to you as you got into Changbin’s car.

“Hey Athena, you missed,” the world around the five of you erupted into fits of laughter, even Seungmin joined. I.N. held onto his smile from the moment he got home, to the moment he fell asleep. All of it because of you. Your bright eyes and brilliant smile. It lit a spark in him. In them all.

TAG LIST:

@taeminsung @maximumkillshot @feybin @alex--awesome--22 @liknws @palindrome969 @newbbystay @highlydestiny

[pbandjesse]

I am back at camp. And my decision could be more positive I think it works really well today. Very tired right now but I had a really nice. One of the negativity that I had been feeling really transferred over to today. And I start with my boundaries I am setting have been respected. And I'm just feeling pretty good. Also just really excited to close my eyes.

Last night after I finished my post James would finish their podcast and would come give me the biggest hug and it was so nice. We would talk for a really long time and eventually they went to go to pizza and we just sent the night together and it was really really good. I told him about my plan to be more positive and they thought that was a good idea.

When I woke up in the morning James was right there getting ready to leave. They gave me a big hug and then they went to work. I was going to roll over and sleep longer but then I remembered I purposefully parked on the side of the street that we had to move the car by 8:00 a.m. for shoot cleaning or get $100 ticket so that I would force myself to wake up. And, under duress, I got up and got dressed and tried to shake off how tired I was.

It was very hard. I was not feeling 100%. But I really liked my outfit and my hair was doing good things and I was determined to be positive. I'm trying to stop frowning so much. I feel like I've been just frowning a lot and I catch myself doing it and I don't like it. So I am making a big effort to just have a neutral face if I'm not smiling.

I went and got breakfast and that was fine. And I saved my sandwich for lunch which I always think is a pretty good idea. And it was a nice drive. I listen to some music and I beat the drop off line once I got to camp.

I got up here around 8:30 and tidied up a little and put some stuff away. And kind of made a plan for what I was going to do. I had to do some prep work and I wasn't sure if Tatiana was coming. But I wanted to make sure I had stuff done just in case. And I figured when she came she could help me sleep and reset some of the cardboard and things would be productive.

And she would come and she was super helpful. I showed her the other loom and we worked on that for a while. I showed her the tools that you used to move the yarn around and I don't know if she's interested in using it but it was fun to have as an example.

And it would be a really nice day. Our first group was running late. Not shocked. So I was standing outside and I felt like I was very overcaffeinated this morning because I was flitting from one thing to the next. And I told Tatiana I felt like my brain was going a million miles a minute.

I went outside to see if anybody was coming and one of the girl groups was walking past and one of them just said oh my God you're so pretty. And I was like oh my God the first person to tell me that this summer. And the counselor and a couple of the kids go but we all know you're pretty so we don't have to tell you. And I'm like but no one has told me! And it just made me feel so good and when that little girl saw me later she said hello gorgeous. And I was like oh my God thank you so much.

So that brighten my day a lot. And I would have a really nice day. While my first group was late, they did a great job, Jorge was there and he loves arts and crafts so it means all the kids really excited to do arts and crafts. He is color blind so it was very cute when he came in to ask what color the yarn was in his hand. He was looking for red and he was playing with brown. And then he thought one was white it was actually pink. But we eventually figured it out and he was able to make the red white and black flag he wanted to make for the sports team he likes. I forget which one it was. It was soccer. You know, European Football.

I don't go to lunch. Instead I eat my egg sandwich in my outside hammock and read my book. While I was out there I heard voices in the art building and I knew Tati was in here. But it wasn't the group it was Joe and Alexi's dad and two electricians. Because Alexi's dad, Lou, apparently bought a new kiln or was given a kiln? And he wants to put it in the art building so we can do ceramics again. Which would be so cool but Alexi does not think will happen because this building is not insulated for that. It would get so hot in here. And that is correct. That is my concern. I don't know how big the kiln is he's talking about. But it would have to hold a lot of pieces I was assuming. It would be very cool to do though. Maybe sometime in the future.

In the meantime though I talked to Joe about flooding in the building and he has some ideas. He's not too worried about the structural stuff I think but at least we'll get some of the moisture out of here hopefully.

Good afternoon groups were great. The day camp group right after lunch was 15 minutes early again. But they were very chill about it and they took the kids down to the field. And they did a very good job with their little stick of looms that we made. Honestly I don't think the fabric looms work great. I don't know why because the Pinterest moms all said it was such a fun project. But I'm only having day camp one and two do it because I don't think they can handle the other one. The older kids can barely handle it. It's been very mixed. Most, like 99%, of the kids really like this project. It's just a couple that really don't get it or rushed through it because they want to be done cuz they're not interested. Fine I just don't like when they're disrespectful about it. Like I don't accept that everybody will love my projects all the time even if I would love for that to be the case. I just want them have a good time so as long as they tried we can move on. Like one boy absolutely hate leaving. And did not want to do it at all but he tried for a few minutes and then he asked if he can make a drum so I got him a jar and a balloon and we made him a little drum and it was really fun.

Good afternoon actually went really fast. I have my little break and that group right after was stuck it and they came too early and I made them all leave because I said I had 10 more minutes on my break and I wanted them to go away. And Manny was like yep you don't have to explain that to me! And then they ended up being late which I thought was funny. But they were very sweet boys and at first none of them wanted to do anything but then I convinced them all to make bracelets and stuff and a lot of them made things for their girlfriends which I thought was cute. They asked what would be the perfect color to make the bracelets they were going to do and I said it should be your eye color and her eye color and they were like oh my God that's such a good idea! I was like they're going to love it. So I helped a few of them do that. And a couple of them made beaded bracelets. Including one boy who's from the Ukraine and has a very fun accent. He did not love that I called him the Ukrainian child a few times. But I think more because he does not want to be referred to as a child. But they're all children to me.

One of my favorite things right now has been explaining to the kids that my age difference between me and the counselors is more than the ancient between them and the council hurts. And I think that's really funny. It's also fun to tell the kids that James was a few of the counselors counselor back in the day. Like that's my husband. And we're old!

I was happy when the day was over just because I was getting tired. I said goodbye to Tati. Jeff was up here doing service hours and was sorting beads for me. He also wrote his little paper on Bob Ross which had a lot of typos but was solid information. I did not know that Barb Ross was in the army. And was missing a finger on his left hand. So I signed off on his service hours and his paper and I went to go take a shower.

I actually kind of wish I had brought my bathing suit down so I'm going to start keeping my bathing suit in my shower bag. Because when I got down there the water was so warm and it was so nice. I was standing in the shallow end in my skirt for a little while just enjoying it and then I went and sat with Chloe who had her legs in the water. The horse girls were swimming and getting ready for pool canoes. The little girls that were there were all very concerned about my skirt getting wet but I kept telling him it's fine guys it's fine. I'm about to get changed. And after we sat and talked for a while I would go take my shower and I did not smell like metal this time. So I'm pretty happy about that. But I think I am going to stop somewhere this weekend and get a new lotion. Something that smells nice like a fruit. I usually go body shop but it's so expensive. We'll see what happens.

I would take a walk around camp at one point. I heard Ty wasn't here because something was going on. So I was going to walk over to homestead. I stopped at nature first and said hello to Celia. She was working on creating a new enclosure for Samson the box turtle. And then I went over to see the homestead animals. I also texted Ty to check in to make sure he was okay. And I made friends with the goats. I had tried to get them to come over to me but they wouldn't and then when I walked away they started bleating So I walked back and then they wanted to chew on my skirt and sniff me and stuff and I was like oh my God are we friends now?? It was great.

And it would be a really nice afternoon. I would read for a while and hang out and eventually CJ came and chilled with me. I had a little snack before dinner. And then me and her walked over to dinner itself to get ready and it was a really good dinner.

We had spaghetti. There was no meat sauce. I got to have breadsticks and broccoli. I wanted to have three breadsticks but honestly two was too many. But I was having the best time. And my friends were there and everything was great. And then I heard there was Kona ice coming too and so I was like oh my God we need to go get that. So we jokingly all said that we had to go check on the quality of the Kona ice which is why we had to go get it right now. So me CJ and Celia walked across the field to go bother the Kona Iceman.

We chatted with him for a while and we all got our little treats. And then me and Celia went back to nature so that she could show me Samson's new enclosure and when we got there we didn't see him because it turns out he is so happy for the very first time he has enough substrate and space to bury himself. And so he dug a little hole and buried himself in his new substrate. What a difference 6 in in width will make on a tank for this little turtle. And so we sat and we were just so thrilled that he has so much more space. And then we discussed ways that we can try to improve his enclosure and the snakes enclosure. Just make them a little bit better. I'm going to check to see at home if I have expandable foam and if not we might make a plan on trying to make some kind of rockscape in the back using some that we can pick up from somewhere. But it was just really nice sitting in there and we talked about him a whole bunch of stuff. Including all of my weird medical things. And then Josephine enjoyed us and we all chilled for a while until it was time to go and put the birdies to bed.

We got in the bird enclosure and immediately I grabbed the dog. Which isn't very weird thing to hold. And he did not love it. But we got him in the enclosure and then I grabbed the chicken, Grandma, and then we had to get the two little chicken. And they were much harder to catch because they were faster. But humans are pursuit predators so it was not a big deal we just kept following them until we cornered them were able to catch them. It was really fun to know I was having a great time but I was getting a little sweaty and I was ready to go and lay down.

Celia went home and Josephine and me walked to the museum to use the bathroom. And then she tried to convince me to come to skip tonight but I was not having it. I have eaten way too much food and I was ready to go lay down. I talked to Cody for a few minutes and then told Josephine about the movie The Newsies because we were looking at a sign about Santa Fe. And then I came back up here. Which is where I have been for most of the last hour. I did walk down to the field for a little while to watch the fireflies but I am very very tired and I am ready to just be chill.

Tomorrow is the last day of the first session of camp! And the end of the second week. I love camp and I'm glad that today really felt more normal. Things didn't feel as heavy and bad and people were being more respectful and I just felt more myself. It was really good.

Tomorrow I have my last groups and fingers crossed me and a couple of the kids from teepees will get to practice with the metal casting. Hopefully I don't hurt myself or anybody else. We'll see what happens there. But I hope it's a really good day and I hope you guys sleep well tonight. Send me the vibes that I can fall asleep easy and then no beetles attack me. Good night everybody.

[aestheticvoyage2023]

Day 48: Friday February 17, 2023 - “Photo Reel”

What my photo reel can say about how we navigated our day together:

7:08am - Stacking garages at sunrise. I may never sleep in ever again. 10:49am - Story time at the Library, shy in my lap.  Taking in the scene.  William starts school next week, so some good socialization should be useful.  I told William that Libraries are where all the books come from. He obviously had no clue we were coming to Story time for little babies instead of nap today! 11:15am - William is caught reading “Where is the Pirate?” to another little boy with a stuffed rat. Biggest cat in the room once he figured it out. 11:54am - Holy shit, did you know Peacocks can jump?! 12:05pm - When we go to the zoo we work our way back to the Elephants, and apparently Noon is a really great time to be here, because at least today, Noon was feeding time and all the elephants were right up to the gate and what do they eat?  Cucumbers.  Check that out William! 12:15pm - After seeing the elephants, I get William out to run around and see if he’ll go hit the elephant butt.  Today he came close - but did really enjoy watching the other little boys do it.  He can point out every animal on the big donor mural back there! Even the Ostrich! 12:28pm - “Want to go see the bearded dragons today?”  “YEAAAA!” 12:53pm. - Lunch time. Zoo Fries.  Dippa Dippa. Ice.  We both love this part of the day. 2:02pm - Somewhere during the hour long afternoon nap.   Audrie asked me to try to stretch the morning out and only do one nap.  I gave it my best shot!  I kept him awake until 1:30 when we started to drive home.  I pulled into Michaels Parking Lot as soon as he was out and took advantage of that time to get some work done, hotspotting into my email.  Time is a premium.  I look up into the mirror to see if he’s still asleep and saw the most precious little boy with his Uncle Louie and I thought he looked just about perfect. 3:43pm - Time outside laying on the grass playing with the ice cream truck, turned into a big whirling dervish Dog Wrestle where all three puppies practiced their best moves and defenses to see who would be king for the day, and in practiced fashion, Havarti wins.  Because Havyvys is the King of every day here at The Finca.   4:33pm - Toot Toot.  Time to go try to take a nap because this guy is asking for Thomas The Train.... or maybe he’s pretending to be an ice cream train.  Hard to say but I look at this picture now at the end of the day and can literally hear him saying “toot toot” 7:20 - Butter Noodles are served with Potatoes/Ranch Dippa, and Cucumbers (like the elephants eat).  It took some wild coaxing (I know that was a lot of french fries dude but that was literally six hours ago!).  Even Mama couldnt coax him to eat over facetime.  Finally I got serious.  “What do you want to watch while you eat? Dora?”  “HOCKEY!”  Seriously? OK!  I found the Spartans playing Wisconsin, and William clapped and said “Lets Go Blues” and ate his dinner.  Sometimes something works and I have no clue why.  Like what kind of cheat code was that?! 7:45pm - Play time in the great room to wind down and digest that food.  Get your wiggles out running that truck transporter up and down the bench seat.  That truck transporter is early front runner for toy of the year. 7:53 -”What are you playing with there buddy?” - “Mama on the airplane.”  Now thats a heart melter.   “Mama flying the airplane? While the pilot rides?”   “Yea!” “Is that why it never leaves the ground?”   “Yea!” 8:13pm - Tubby time.  He really doesn’t like getting his hair washed.  Really its the rinse that gets him.  He’s taken to playing with the rinse bucket so that I can’t sneak up on him with it.  This kid really loves his nightly tubby time though, especially since we add the blocks to make a boat out of for Ernie and Cookie, and bubbles that smell so nice.  Its a great positive kickoff to bedtime routine and I am so glad he enjoys it and its not a fight.  I suppose we can thank mama and all those early bath times for that!  Writing about it now reminds me of how funny he was when we’d lift him up and out of the bath as a little baby.  Such great memories. 9:14pm: 15 hours after it started, almost exaclty, the day was done. Sure I had to come back in and reassure him the standard few times, but I called it with a photo at 9:14.  The bed time routine went fine.  He didn’t want to get out of the tub, and so got shivery cold as he brushed his teeth and I held him tightly in front of the mirror.  I moved him to the changing table where I combed his hair real nice with a part to the left (my favorite part of the routine), then lotioned him, added a diaper, and put on his lucky “No Wake Zone” pajamas - we might need these tonight after Mama had me take out the morning nap!  Then we read 4 books (Heads, Goodnight Hockey, Love In The Wild, and First 100 Trucks), while he ate a Peach Squeezy yogurt, the only one he’ll take these days.  He sucked it dry in about 2 minutes.  I should time him one of these days, but its very efficient. I suppose all that practice with the nipple raised a superstar squeezy sucker.  We put on the sleep sack, said goodnight to the dogs and everything else we passed along the way (elmo chair, monkey, baseball, hockey game on tv). He took some ibuprofen for his teeth, chased with some icewawa, looked at me and said “Bop” - Kenny Chesney, Nick Mulvey, Renee & Jermey, Sleep Sounds, Thunderstorm.   Bop goes the weasel and finally on the third of fourth try I had him down to stay and I snuck out.  Finally time for a break.  Turned the salt lamp up, stole a pic - the best one of the day.  The trophy prize - a happy healthy sleeping baby right on time at the end of a successful day where I planned my work and I work my plan.  The picture, at 9:14pm, of successful Dad Day.

Song:  Kid Cudi - Pursuit of Happiness

Quote:  “Listen to me son, I’ll tell you why your father is strong; Because he can still say ever single day, he’s yearning to belong. Yearning to belong, Yearning to belong,  My heart beats with a ceaseless longing of a yearning to belong In spite of myself, and all of these nursery songs My heart beats with a ceaseless, meets with a peaceless burning to belong”

~Nick Mulvey, CuCuRuCu   

[vintagegirl840]

Pearl Jam orgy

☠️🖤GONE SCARY🖤☠️

It was a cloudy day in late October 1998. 1:34 pm. The bunch was lazing around in their hotel room. “Well guys, we don’t a show tomorrow, we should explore this area.” Says Ames.

They were in a pretty rundown, outdated town. “Ehhh this is a dump I mean what is there to do around here?” Says Mike. “Lighten up Mike. Small towns always have hidden gems.” Says stone. Eddie wakes up confused, “W..w..what time is it man?”

*yawns* “FINALLY YOURE UP!” “Good morning sleepyhead” “Show last night knocked you out huh?” Everyone is excited to see ed up. Eddie gets up and heads to the bathroom. “I reek”.

“Ohhh you know I like that natural man smell” says Mike. The rest run to the bathroom following Eddie <3.

8 hours later… (9:30 pm)

“Y’all wanna get into some trouble??” Stone says with a playful smirk on his face. “What ya thinking Stone?” Says Ames. “While all of you were showering earlier, I explored and drove around some. I saw this abandoned arcade called Freddy Fazbears pizza. I was thinking we could try to break in there?? See some stuff stuck in the past. What do ya say Eddie, you are the leader after all”

Everyone kinda cracks a questioning if this is a good or bad idea smile and looks around at each other. “You know…let’s do it”

THE BUNCH HEADS OUT ON THEIR MISSION!

They pull up. The only car in the parking lot. They all approach the doors. It’s open? “Probably junkies staying in here” says Mike. They enter inside. “This place looks like it hasn’t been touched since 1985” says Matt.

After a couple minutes of exploring, they find a room with an old computer and a camera system. “I wonder if this stuff still works?” Says Mike. “Here’s a switch right here” says Ames.

All the lights went on, it was a dark room still but instead there was some neon lighting around the room. The computers shut on and all the camera screens. “Woah what are those creepy things” says Ed. “Looks like some animatronics, these aren’t very cute!” The bunch laughs.

“You know, this is a cool looking environment… to maybe…” “DONT EVEN MIKE YOU MAKE EVERYTHING SEXUAL” says Ames. “That might not be a bad idea actually” says Stone, moving up to Mike and putting his arm around him. The bunch gives eachother the look, Ames eyes roll. They tell him come on. They get in their order. STONE ON BOTTOM AMES SECOND MIKE THIRD MATT AFTER THAT AND EDDIES THE TOP. Some rimming and water sports are involved.

“That was great guys” says Stone.

Suddenly a crash is heard and the lights go out. “WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT” says Mike. Stone and Mike search for eachothers arms and hold eachother. Everyone huddles up in pairs. “If we die together. I love y’all. Thank you for letting me be the dom. I love each one of y’all equally I am so grateful for our time together” Says Eddie.

There is a loud scream. Chica. Pearl Jam died on this day in 1998.

[ayearlaterletters]

Jul 18 - Jul 21

Written on July 21st at 6:39 pm Before I start recapping our days together let me just say hi baby and good morning, good afternoon, and good evening. :) I miss you so much and I like you <3 ahhhh I want to see you tonight. I have the urge to see you again even though I just saw you like 4 hours ago lol. Surprise beach night drive? ^_^ We will see, hehe <3 !!! Alright, let's start the weekend recap!!!!!!!

Thursday July 18th Recap: I believe you worked and it was my day off! We hung out with Marcus and watched his volleyball practice! Before you came to pick me up for Marcus practice, I got my nails done all white, which you liked. My nail tech lady, whom I haven't seen in months because I haven't got my nails done by her in a minute or she's been away traveling, brought you up. i was blushing so hard because I cant believe she remembered that conversation but I'm glad she did because I love talking about you to everyone else but you - at that time you didn't know I had a crush on you. You thought it was cute that I liked you so much in that time period. Then you picked me up, picked up Marcus, drove to the YMCA and supported his volleyball practice then out of nowhere around 8:30 the power went out lol that was funny. Then me and Marcus decided to gang up on you keeping you outta the loop lol but I asked if he was down for pizza and we all got pizza! :) yay then we dropped Marcus off at home you and i and kissed in front of your driveway for like an hour. then we drove to the beach for a little bit kissed some more stared into each others eye then you drove me home. the end of our goodnight. Friday July 19th: Finally your day off and I woke up so early that day like 7am. I went on my usual 2 mile walk with trooper to the park. I went to Starbucks got myself some ice water, drove home and started packing for our weekend gateway which we had been looking forward to for a week ^_^ I think you were cleaning your bathroom, packing, showering, and playing dress up for your momma because she was attending the rugby game, then finally you came and swooped me up! We made our way to C level lounge and met your mother. I ordered the Korean tofu and you ordered the Mediterranean bowl which was super delicious :) 7.5 rating because I like my bowls hella built with more veggies but it was all good lol. After our delicious lunch we made our way to the hotel and checked in. We made endless love for almost 6 hours. I would repeat this day again, no... i would repeat this weekend with you, but with days off from work, again. We didn't have dinner, we just went to bed after being in each other's embrace for hours. That was a great way to end the night by falling asleep in your arms <3

Saturday July 20th: Sadly I had work in the morning which was a drag but luckily my day was super easy because I was SS and not a lot of special services that day. After you picked up from work, we went to get breakfast at the Lazy Hippo and you had your first mimosa. You got strawberry french toast rating 5.5 and I got a breakfast burrito with country potatoes. Would rate a 7.5 :) After our delicious breakfast, I randomly wanted something sweet and tried vegan rocky road ice cream for the first time. walked around downtown, came across some vendors and met a guy from section 6 selling graphic tees lol for like $40. now I know about different the sections lol I love learning something new every day. things just amaze me what goes through people's minds lol Anyways... after walking around downtown, we made more love but originally you wanted to change clothes and get out of the outfit that you started to feel hot in. which you didn't tell me until after we finished making love and woke up from our nap! You also tapped out that day which is funny because u learned about the refractory phase! You seriously thought you had erectile dysfunction omg lol. i won the championship belt temporarily because that night I called defeat when you seriously put me to bed lol. we did get indian food from the royal India then walked around downtown even to seaport. we stopped at this fancy restaurant, animae which is an expensive ramen, steak place I think lol I just heard about this place from word of mouth. lovely ambiance and beautiful people, we belong there because we are beautiful people. After we walked around downtown we made our way back to the hotel and ended up snuggling because we had some questions for one another like do we still like each other. we passionately kissed and made really great love to end the night.

Sunday, July 21st: I went to work and girlbossed. luckily i got out before 10am and had enough time to get back to the hotel and pack my belongings before check-out time. however, you were giving me those damn puppy eyes asking for one last time before we leave our lovely weekend. after our festivities, we went to ob and got Luigis pizza. we originally were going to Hodads but the line was stupid long but its all good because I got to try your pizza spot! After pizza I got some mid thai tea and then you drove me home. i lowkey wished you took the long way home so we could spend more time together vibing, holding hands, and looking at you. we both knocked out and now we've been on the phone together since 17:00 and it is now 22:00. Goodnight my lover boy, who almost said I love you today hehe

See you another time i cannot wait to see you again and let's have another good week ^_^ more adventures and blessings to come!

10:13 pm Much love, appreciation, and gratitude, angel your taxi driver.

Angel Numbers: 10:10

[engeorged]

Please Feed the Bears

Words and concept by @fillthattank and @engeorged

Artwork by @badoobers

Having spent four years in teacher training college and 8 years working in shitty schools, Dan was done being a teacher. Like most of his colleagues, he loved the kids and teaching, but the red tape was killing him. He was still spending hours and hours every evening lesson planning, marking and setting goals. Even just engaging with parents through the new app the school had imposed took an hour a night now. He was done.

The job had taken his whole life. He didn’t have a social life any more, he didn’t have time for friends, let alone dating. He used to be hot! Six pack abs and thick biceps left over from his rugby days, but late night pizza orders and rushed meals whilst sat in his sofa marking had put an end to that. He wasn’t unfit as such, (he still cycled to work!) but he had a definite little pot belly now with a jiggle when he walked and his ass was forcing him to buy jeans two sizes too big.

He’d begun to put aside a little money each month to go travelling and it was now time to cash in. He gleefully handed in his resignation and booked his tickets. He was going to fulfil a life long dream and tour America. His money wouldn’t last long but he’d be able to get a little cash in hand job every few months and settle down for a bit and that should last him. All his mates did it when he was training and he was beginning to feel like he had missed out, so now was his chance. The morning of the flight came and he felt so free and so excited! He’d sold everything he had accumulated in his shitty flat, gotten rid of his bike and the keys to the flat. All he had in the world was shoved into his backpack. The world was his oyster.

Three months later

The bubble burst two weeks into the adventure when he was robbed on a metro in New York. All his cash and bank cards were gone. When he had phoned his insurance company, they had gone bust overnight and so there was no payout. He refused to phone his parents. He was 30, that would be so humiliating. And they wouldn’t be gracious about it, they had already told him this was a childish idea to go travelling on a whim like a teenager. They’d probably give him money to come home, where he’d end up living in their house for a few years whilst he did supply teaching jobs in horrific schools. No thank you, he’d sort this out himself. He got a job for a few months, cash in hand with no questions asked, doing deliveries for a pizza place in New York which gave him enough money to travel west and a constant supply of free pizza. Sure it was on the bus, and sure he’d put on a few more pounds but at least he’d done it himself. He arrived in what the bus driver called ‘Butt Fuck Nowhere’ ready to work.

He booked himself into a cheap and sleazy hotel. He had enough money for one night which meant he needed to find himself a job fast. After making a few enquiries he found the only real place to work for foreigners was in a massive theme park just on the edges of the town. He hiked his way there and found the employment office and made his case. In lieu of a formal interview, the guy looked him up and down and made his assessment. Dan was 6’5 and so being tall, tall, he would be the park's main mascot, Buster. Buster was a big bear and the costume was huge, with loads of room inside. The only upside was that his face wouldn’t be entirely covered by the costume. Instead there was a little hat with bear ears he would have to wear.

He would have to do a trial before he was offered the job for real, and the eventual pay would be $15 an hour, which didn't seem like a lot. Whilst Dan signed the contract, the boss called for his helper who was a short burly guy in his late twenties called Mitch, with a gravely voice that made it sound like he smoked 40 a day. Mitch’s eyes perked up when he saw Dan.

‘He’ll do!’ Said Mitch, his eyes hungrily taking in Dan’s face and height.

‘Hey!’ Said Dan, holding out his hand. Mitch shook it enthusiastically.

‘Hope you’re hungry!’ Said Mitch

‘What?’ Said Dan, a little confused but he began taking off his clothes ready to get into the costume. He was about to pull it on when Mitch stopped him and pushed him over to a pair of scales. ‘Step on’ Mitch encouraged him.

‘I’m a little husky at the moment!’ Dan replied nervously

‘That’s not a bad thing.’ Mitch replied as he took the reading from the digital scales.

‘Hang on? Why did you need that?’ Dan asked, realising that that was weird.

Instead of replying, Mitch just held out the costume. Dan slid it on, pulling his arms through the holes. It wasn’t as heavy as it looked and was a little baggy round his middle but it seemed to fit ok.

‘Why did you need my weight?’ He tried again as he did the zip up, but he was bundled out of the office and into the park without an answer

It was early, but already, Dan could see people walking around. He wasn't entirely sure if they were fellow employees or visitors. They weren't wearing any uniform, but they looked like adult men. Way more adult men than he'd expect at a theme park.

Years of teaching had killed most inhibitions and fear of embarrassment within Dan, so he jumped up and down, danced a bit, acted like he thought a man in a bear-suit was expected to act.

"Hey, it's Buster Bear!" he heard someone say.

Dan turned round, and waved. It was a group of guys, six he counted, looking around 30. A big variety of heights and builds, though they all looked pretty hairy.

One of the guys came running towards him.

"C'mon guys, let's bust the bear!' he said, to the others.

When the guy arrived, Dan didn't even have time to talk. The guy shoved a hot dog right into his mouth. Dan was a bit shocked, but started chewing. It wasn't a bad hot dog.

No sooner had Dan swallowed that another guy shoved a hot dog into his mouth. Dan was even more surprised, but hey, the customer is king, and he was kinda hungry anyway, so he chewed and swallowed.

The six guys proceeded to shove a hot dog each into his mouth. He wasn’t expecting that at all but as he was on probation he didn’t want to challenge it. His minder stood to the side happily watching and not saying a word. Was this a thing here? It didn’t take long but he ended up eating six hot dogs in a short space of time.

This first guy moved to feed a second one but Mitch stepped in. ‘You know the rules, big guy. Let someone else have a go. Move along now!’

Admitting defeat the six guys moved on laughing and patting each other on the back. When they were at a safe distance he turned to Mitch ‘What the hell was that?’

‘Did no one tell you?’ He laughed. ‘It’s just a cute thing we have here. When you see Buster bear you have to feed him something. It’s just for fun! You’ll get used to it!’

Dan was so confused. It was one thing giving the bear a small thing but he’d just eaten six whole hot dogs and he’d been on the job for 15 minutes! Also why were they grown ass men? Theme parks are for kids right? He wasn’t even sure what question to ask first. He opened his mouth to ask something and found a churro in it. Two young bearded guys had snuck up behind him. They happily began feeding him a big churro each. Dan was starting to feel pretty full already but he really needed this job. He’d have time to ask questions in a moment. So he played along. Rubbing his furry tummy and chewing he ate a churro from each of them.

As they walked away, clearly happy he heard one of them comment about how hot he was which gave him a little rush of pleasure, followed by a touch of embarrassment.

Turning to Mitch he formulated his question ‘Where are the kids?’

Mitch looked at him like he’d said something crazy inappropriate and just shook his head. ‘Dude this place is for adults only! Now look lively. Here comes another group of customers.

Totally confused, Dan turned and saw four guys coming towards him with huge bellies and carrying buckets of loaded fries. Before he could say anything, a chubby hand stuffed a fist full of fries into his mouth. They were hot and salty and covered in bacon and cheese and so good. He could ignore the full feeling with fries as tasty as this. A few fistfuls in, and the dudes started fighting over who got to feed him the next lot.

‘Bro wait your turn?’ The lead guy said in a thick southern accent.

‘This is my turn dick face?’ Replied a guy who looked like he could be his brother, shoving him out of the way with his fat ass.

Dan found himself amidst four angry fat guys who’d clearly had a few too many beers and his teaching skills suddenly kicked in.

‘Boys, there’s plenty of room in my tank, now just keep the fries coming!’

It calmed the situation a bit but still was a little tense. A few of the guys were squaring up to each other and getting riled up. Guided by Dan the fries were soon put away turn by turn into his filling tank. Pacified and pleased with themselves the men staggered away punching one another on the arms as they went.

The four buckets of fries on top of the hotdogs and churros suddenly weighed heavy on Dan's stomach. He belched loudly and gave his belly a rub. ‘How come you didn’t intervene man?’ He asked Mitch

‘You seemed to be handling those dumb asses pretty well yourself?’ Mitch laughed back

‘I thought it was one thing per person? You said that was the rule?’

‘Yeah but they had the golden buckets. They paid extra. They can feed you the whole lot if they want!’ Mitch explained. ‘Let’s keep going, bud!’

Dan uncomfortably followed on behind Mitch, feeling the heavy food settling as his stomach set about the task of digesting. Over the next hour or so they encountered several more guys, all keen to feed something to Buster. Dan played the part, eating up the burgers, candy apples and handfuls of popcorn. All the food they seemed to serve at this place was full-on junk food. It didn’t hurt that it all tasted so good. The pace was fast but not too bad. He felt like he was keeping up. He’d always had a big appetite and would often find himself eating his feelings when he was back in school. And he needed this job. He couldn’t bring himself to contact his parents. There were just two more hours of the trial left, he could do this. He was beginning to notice that the costume was feeling a little claustrophobic. It felt super roomy when he put it on but he was feeling the material clinging to his skin a bit now. It was super hot inside too. He could really do with something to drink. He would look for some dudes with beers or something if that was allowed.

The next encounter he had was two good looking college bros with backwards caps and muscle tees. Unfortunately they didn’t have beers but they fed Dan a funnel cake each. He’d never seen one of these before but the sweet dough tasted amazing. Afterwards though he began to feel a little uncomfortably full. The last few bites were a little hard work. He could feel grease and the pressure of food in his packed stomach reaching a slightly more painful place. When they had gone he asked Mitch if he could take a ten minute break. Mitch reluctantly agreed but said he couldn’t take the suit off. He took him behind one of the rides where they found a little bench. Dan eased himself down and instantly regretted sitting. The pressure reached a peak which made him wince and stand back up. Tentatively, he sat back down and leant back on his arms. Under the suit, he arched his back to give his belly space to expand. Mitch grinned. ‘Ready to give up yet?’

‘No man, I’m good’ Dan lied.

‘There’s pockets!’ Mitch offered smiling still

‘What?’ Dan was feeling a little light headed with how full he was feeling and he didn’t really know what Mitch was talking about.

Mitch leant over and pulled a small zip down on the side by Dan's hip. ‘If you need to give your belly a rub, there’s a small pocket. Trust me on this. You need all the help you can get before the lunch rush!’

The prospect of a lunch rush was something Dan would need to deal with in a few minutes but for now he eased his hand into the side of his costume and felt the warm flesh of his distended furry belly. He couldn’t trust himself to think back over how much food was in him, it would just make him queasy. For now he just closed his eyes and gave his tight belly a good rub.

‘Come on buster!’ Mitch said after a too short amount of time. ‘You need to be back on the tarmac!’

Begrudgingly Dan stood, admittedly feeling a little better after the rub. He could almost feel the food redistributing itself as he moved.

‘Hang on, What did you mean lunch rush?’ He asked his guide as they walked.

Mitch just smiled. ‘Happy hour!’ He repeated cryptically.

Leading the way, Mitch took Dan back into the park where they made their way to an area set up next to a steep roller coaster. A little food hut decorated to look like a large picnic basket was serving food to a long queue of guys, all who started cheering as they saw Buster Bear approaching. This made Dan's stomach lurch a little. That was a lot of guys buying food. ‘Should we keep moving?’ He asked Mitch nervously.

‘Why would we do that? This is your chance to prove you deserve the job.’ He pointed at a large wooden throne just next to the clearing. ‘Take a seat’

Reluctantly Dan shuffled towards the chair and sat down. It was surprisingly comfy and the position of the seat meant that he was nearly stood up which put no extra pressure on his already packed belly. He gulped as he realised that the design was probably on purpose.

One by one the men left the queue and joined a new one in front of Dan. They all had their fast food clutched in their hands ready to feed Buster. Mitch leant in and whispered into Dan's ear. ‘If you can survive this, the job's yours. And did you read the small print?’

Dan shook his head nervously. ‘No?’ He admitted, looking to find a way out of this. There was no way this was worth $15 an hour.

‘At the end of the day we weigh you and you get $50 per pound you put on. You get a bonus for the more food you eat!’

That changed things for Dan. He really needed that cash. He’d nearly used up the last of his money staying at the motel in town and without this job, he’d not have enough for the next few days. A few hundred dollars could really come in handy right now. He could eat a lot? What’s 10 lbs of food look like? That’s $500 dollars. Surely that could be doable? He set his jaw and nodded to Mitch ‘let’s go’

The stream of food that followed was unreal. Each guy shoved one thing into Dan's open mouth and he chewed and swallowed like his life depended on it. Corn dogs, tacos, hamburgers, onion rings and fries all disappeared down under the fur of the costume into his hidden but rapidly expanding belly. He didn’t allow himself time to consider how much food there was or how he was going to feel afterwards, he just kept the thought of the dollars ringing in his ears. Ice cream and donuts, beers and sodas all sucked down into his filling tank. The guys queuing were loving it and Dan was fully playing the part of a greedy bear. Growling and snarling as their sweaty palms pushed the calorific food into his mouth. Mitch’s face slowly turned from a smiling sneer, laughing at Dan's fate, to one of admiration. He’d been with a lot of Busters and Dan was eating like one of the best. He’d spent many an afternoon with a sorry dude in a bear costume throwing up into a bin after a shift but this guy seemed to be an absolute eating unit. Towards the end of the happy hour though he started being a little worried. This guy had eaten a lot. Like, too much. Even with the bear costume on he could see that his gut was beginning to push against the fabric.

As Dan was being fed a large chicken tender the bell went to signal the end of happy hour. Dan looked a little confused as he snapped out of his feeding frenzy. The rest of the guys in the queue all shared a collective groan as Mitch told them that the bear needed to head back to his cave for his nap whilst Dan looked on, totally dazed. As Mitch shooed away the queue, the volume of food inside Dan’s belly suddenly made itself very known. He felt the skin over his belly stretched and tight and the pressure that had built up inside him became very apparent. He had never in his whole life felt as full as he did right now. In the distance he heard Mitch talking to him. He wasn’t sure what he was saying but he nodded and allowed Mitch to help him to his feet. The new weight in front of him made him stagger a little at first as he felt the food lurch inside his belly balloon. A large belch escaped and he found himself laughing. Mitch led him through the park round the back, fortunately not encountering any more punters eager to offload some more food into his aching gut.

Coming round a little bit he found himself back in the offices, just him and Mitch, who was looking at him in a concerned way. ‘I said are you ok bud?’

Dan belched again in response. ‘I think I’m ok? I ate a lot.’

‘Yeah. You did.’ Mitch nodded in agreement. ‘You wanna take off the costume?’

Dan nodded. He went to undo the zip but found the fabric was restricting his movement. Mitch fished around under his neck and pulled the zip down to the bottom of his ribs. The rush of cool air was like heaven as he peeled his arms out of the costume. He went to pull the zipper down but his bloated midsection was now an obstacle. Pulling it out, he managed to get the zip to slide down to the underneath of his belly which pushed itself through. Dan looked up into the mirror on the wall opposite. Shocked, he saw the full extent of his four hours of being stuffed by random strangers. His belly was enormous. The furry skin stretched tight over the mass of food contained inside. Round and expansive, his belly looked like it had been photoshopped. His gut had completely filled the baggy costume.

‘Holy fucking Mac and cheese balls’ Mitch exclaimed reaching over to give his belly a poke. Even his heavy handed push hardly made a dent in it.

‘It feels like I’ve swallowed quick drying cement!’ Dan complained. ‘Help me out of this fucking thing!’

Mitch pulled the costume down round his ankles, headbutting his engorged stomach by accident. ‘Shit man, sorry!’ He said rubbing his head

Standing there in just his pants Dan couldn’t quite believe what he was seeing. He was enormous. His furry belly and body made him look like he was still wearing the fat bear costume.

Mitch nodded at the scales. ‘Wanna see how much we owe you?’ He asked

‘I’m gonna bankrupt you!’ Dan managed to joke as he stepped on.

Mitch whistled, clearly impressed. ‘Fuck me man. You’ve done well there today! I’d have to check but I’m pretty sure that’s a company record!’

‘Tell me man!’ Dan pleaded.

"We owe you $850 man! You’ve eaten 17 lbs of food!!’

Dan nearly passed out with shock. Taking another look in the mirror his distended belly looked like he was pregnant. Sticking out from under his ribs it rolled down in a wide curve till it tapered in where the ghost of his Adonis belt framed the underside.. All he wanted to do right now was sleep this off

‘You’ve definitely got the job!’ Mitch reassured him. ‘See you again tomorrow?’

————————————————————

If you want to continue Dans story yourself you can head here where you will find a chat bot programmed to be Dan at the end of this story!

Also find the rest of my stories here

[treefory]

It’s time for the cat to work

Working through the past

CHAPTER 2

Chapter 1 here

His alarm went off. He let out a low growl as he turned it off. He wished he could sleep longer, but the bills weren’t going to pay themselves. He pulled himself from under his covers and walked to the bathroom.

He stepped out of the shower and dried himself off, starting with his face and ending with his tail. Cash looked into the mirror and picked at the bags under his eyes. He would have slept in yesterday as sunday was one of his days off.

He buttoned up his shirt and fixed the collar. He looked at himself in the mirror. He wore a tan shirt with black stripes running down it. He tucked it into his black fitted pants.

He poked at his belly, It poked out a little whenever his shirt was like this. But it wasn’t his fault, it was just his primordial pouch. It was fuzzy and soft to the touch.

He grabbed his jacket and his keys. He locked the door behind him and drove off in his car.

He parked outside of a diner in the employee parking lot. The sky was just as gray as yesterday. He got out and as he was walking inside he pulled out a name tag and pinned it to his chest.

WAITER- Cash

The bell above the door rang as Cash walked in. He made his way into the back and checked in. The booths sat next to big windows and were red with white tables, Above them were lights that had dimmed with age. The black and white checkered floor was covered in dirt and grime. The only place that could be considered clean was the kitchen. Cash had never seen it get clean but he also never gotten sick so it must be fine. The bar was red just like the booths with a window that led into the kitchen.

Cash sat at the bar and picked at the dirt under his claws. No one else was here right now other than the chef and the manager. The place got most of their customers later at night, So being the only waiter right now wasn’t so bad.

The bell above the door rang as a small group of rabbits walked in and sat at a nearby table. Cash got up and put on the most friendly face he could muster “Good morning, and welcome to Harry’s diner. My name is Cash and I will be your waiter today. Can I start you off with some drinks?” Cash said as he handed each of them menus.

He pulled out a notepad and pen from his pocket.The rabbits stared up at him. There were five of them, four young and one old man. They were all a similar brown color with different white markings with The old one sporting a muzzle that had grayed with age.

The young ones were at least ten and the eldest at least sixty. All of them were easily half of Cash’s size. The young ones looked anxious as they sat close to each other.

Cash looked into the eldest one’s eyes. His expression was blank and stoic, But he could still tell something wasn’t right with him.

“Orange juice please…” one said sheepishly

“Apple juice.”

“Milk.”

“Can I have an orange juice too?”

“Two orange juice, one apple juice, and one milk.” Cash wrote “and how about you, sir?” He pointed the pen at the old one.

“Coffee. Black.” He said with a hint of anger. “And it’s mister Hollick to you.” Mr. Hollick grumbled

“Of course, Mr. Hollick.”

Cash put his notepad in his pocket as he walked behind the bar. His tail flicked in anger, he hated customers like them. More specifically mr. Hollick. He could tell that something was wrong the second he saw him. This was a terrible way to start his shift.

Cash poked his head through the window that led into the kitchen. “I need two orange juices, one apple juice, one milk, and one black coffee.”

The chef gave him a thumbs up.

Cash sat down at the bar and pulled out his phone. The time was 8:30, Only 5 more hours left till he got to leave. He looked up at the booth, the young ones looked away but Mr. Hollick didn’t. He stared him in the eyes as he scowled. Cash didn’t even roll his eyes, he knew better than that. He just looked back down at his phone.

The bell on the window rang as the rabbit's order sat at the window. Cash picked up the tray and carried it over. He laid out the drinks in the order they were ordered. Each of the kids said thank you, shyly of course.

Cash tucked the tray under into his armpit and pulled out his notepad. “Are you ready to order?”

The kids looked at Mr. Hollick nervously. Mr. Hollick sat up tall and stared cash in the eyes. Cash gave him the same unblinking stare. He knew he was trying to intimidate him, but he was anything but afraid.

“Three plates of waffles, one plate of pancakes, and one egg and sausage.”

“How do you want your egg-“

“Omelette.” He interrupted

Cash’s tail twitched. “Coming right up.”

He walked back over to the window, he ripped out the page on his notepad and placed it on the windows edge. “We got an order.” Cash called.

The chef took one look at the page and got to work. He watched the chef through the window as they mixed the batter. Cash turned his ears to face backwards

“There’s nothing to be afraid of kiddo!” Mr. Hollick said in a whisper

“But he’s so scary..”

“So what? He’s just a good for nothing carno.”

Good for nothing carno?! Cash felt his muzzle wrinkle and his tail thrash.

“But what if he tries to hurt us…?”

“I'd like to see em’ try! Nothing’s gonna hurt a hair on your head, not while your pops is around!” Mr. Hollick said proudly “just wait till that guy comes back around, I’ll show you the truth about carnos.”

Cash felt the fur on his back prickle, He didn’t want to go back to the table. But he had too, the chef had just set their food on the window, ready for cash to take them their food.

Cash grudgingly took the tray and steadied it in his paws. The plates were heavy, but nothing cash couldn’t handle. He walked towards the table, watching Mr. Hollick’s every moment.

Mr. Hollick had a smug smile on his face as Cash laid out the plates on the table. “Now that you have your food, do you need anything else?” Cash looked at all of them intently.

“There is one thing I need from you. I need an example!” Mr. Hollick scooted out from the booth and stood next to Cash. Cash took a step back.

“You see kids, carnos are not as big and tough as they seem to be! Though they might look big, aggressive, and could kill you in an instant, that doesn’t mean they will. Observe…”

Mr. Hollick raised his paw above his head and grabbed Cash’s stomach. His soft primordial pouch squished in his firm grip

It didn’t hurt, his paws were tiny compared to him. But almost instinctively, Cash’s fur on his back prickled, his tail thrashed, and his muzzle wrinkled to show off his fangs

“GRRRRRRR”

Mr. Hollick immediately let go and scurried back into the booth, he huddled up with his grandchildren who now looked terrified.

Cash angrily took the tray from the table and tossed it on to the bar then stormed off. He walked into the room in the back, the same one he checked in at. He let out a low growl to himself as he paced around the room for a good ten minutes.

Who does he think he is? You can’t just touch me like that. Big and aggressive? I can SHOW you big and aggressive! Cash thought to himself.

God, I haven’t growled at someone like that in a long time. Should I have growled? It didn’t hurt but I still didn't like it. Maybe I did too much…

Cash stopped pacing and put his paws on his hips. What now? Do I just go back out there and Ask them how their meal is and refill their drinks? Like nothing happened?

I don’t want to be insulted again… but, maybe I deserve it? I did scare his grandchildren, and for what? Because he touched my stomach? They didn’t deserve that

Cash sighed as he rubbed the back of his neck. I’ll just have to deal with it. I deserve whatever he wants to do to me. He probably won’t tip though.

He let out a heavy sigh as he walked out the room. His head hung low as he sat back down at the bar. He looked up at the rabbits, they had barely touched their food. Cash took out his phone to pass the time.

It was 9:30 now. Cash got up and stood in front of the booth. The rabbits looked up at him, fear in their eyes. Even Mr. Hollick looks scared.

Cash looked down at his paws. “Do you need anything else or do you want the check?” He mumbled

“Check please.” Mr. Hollick muttered

Cash stacked the plates on top of each other and carried them to the kitchen then sat them by the kitchen sink. He went behind the bar and counted up the bill then went back over to the booth.

“You total is $67.25. Cash or card?”

“Cash…” Mr. Hollick pulled out his wallet and handed cash his money. Cash went behind the bar and counted up the money and put it in the register.

Wait, there’s an extra 10$. Cash sighed. “Mr. Hollick, you gave me-“

The bell above the door rang as the rabbits left in a hurry.

Shiiiit, I’ll just consider it a tip. He thought as he stuffed the dollar in his pocket.

He sat at the bar again. The sound of dishes being washed echoed throughout the dinner. The sky was still gray, just like it has been for a while. Cash yawned as he laid his head down on the counter. he wasn’t going to sleep, no matter how tired he was he would never fall asleep in public.

Anyone could do anything to him while he was sleeping. His stomach growled, he hadn’t eaten anything today.

“Hey, could you make me some pancakes?” Cash said as he handed the chef his ten through the window. The chef took it and started making the batter.

Cash sat back down at the bar.

Big, aggressive, and could kill you in an instant.

that’s not who I am… not anymore.

Cash looked at his claws. They were sharp, only because he kept them like that. Because he needed to, or at least he felt like he did. He hated his claws, yet he loved them.

It’s been so long since he used them like…that.

A plate of three pancakes stacked on top of each other slid in front of cash. The chef gave him a small wave as they went back to the kitchen.

“Thank you.” He called out

He was half way done with his pancakes when a different family walked in and took a seat. Cash pushed his plate to the side as he prepared to continue the rest of his shift

CHAPTER 3 here

[imnotactuallygoingtousethis]

So, Sunday was meant to be my first pride fest since “officially” coming out

(in reality I just settled on some labels that work decent enough, I’ve long held that I felt like a part of the queer community but had been told for years I was wrong and look at me cmon of course I’m cishet. The only thing that changed is I stopped letting other people have a say in how I see myself)

Since I’ve always been so averse to labeling myself and have been open about myself for so long maybe she didn’t think it was a big deal. Maybe I’ve been so content I never brought up that I’d “officially come out”. Idk I’m trying to hold space for the possibility it was a misunderstanding. But it fucking hurt when she cancelled AFTER we were supposed to be there already.

I asked her and my sibling if they’d come with me (I’m too scared to go alone, not because of bigots, just social phobia) months in advance.

I gave warnings two weeks and one week in advance. Tried to start planning transport days in advance cuz I knew we were all bad at texting quickly. She even kept tabs on the weather so I thought we were fine. We knew it might rain but I said if it did they should both come over to my place and we can celebrate anyway. I tried… I really, really tried. Sent a book in texts trying to coordinate the night before, no response.

Got up early the morning of, excited. Tried to keep busy, did laundry, dishes, started getting dressed. I bought trans tape for the event and wasted a lot of it figuring how to apply it lol. It was cool seeing myself mostly flat chested, just a lil bit of boobage. Ever since I was a kid I wanted “chick boobs”, just enough to be a boob but with my pecs on full display. I was trying to hold wait to express the excitement and gender euphoria. I wanted to wait until it was closer to leave before I did sunscreen and glitter though.

So I waited. I’d sent another text at 7 am so I was waiting for a confirmation from either person that noon was a good time to head out, or where we wanted to meet (I’d asked a week ago, no response). And I kept waiting, at 11:30-45 or so I fell into a brief nap.

At like, 1:30 I woke up to a text from my sister timestamped around 12:30 saying she’d leave in an hour. (Um leave to where? I’d suggested meeting at ur place and no one responded?!) and a couple texts from my friend explaining that her and her partner were going over finances to buy a house and so she could not go with. She waited until after my sibling texted and then flaked immediately.

If she was up since 8 she def saw my text from 7. I don’t get why she wouldn’t have let me know asap. Or honestly, I don’t get why she wouldn’t have told her boyfriend that the financial shit needed to wait for a day. I tried to make sure everyone had plenty of time to schedule around our plans.

In fact- I KNOW I left enough time for them to schedule around it. The sister asks if I still wanted to go, but at that point it was 2 and it would have taken practically an hour to get there and park; I was too dejected to leave my apartment anyway so I said no. She said she’d try to stop by but never did.

I want to be nice to them because of all the space for misunderstanding, so I’m writing this instead. Maybe I’ll share my hurt with my sib and my best friend, one day. But for now I just need to let it be known how distraught I feel. How abandoned and unimportant I felt slowly removing the tape from my chest in the mirror, watching myself blink back tears in part of the outfit I’d picked out hours before my plans were canceled.

My last pride was my sister’s first since she’d come out as bi. I was excited to help her have their moment. Helped apply flag themed eyeshadow and got my anxious, crowd-averse ass out the door to make sure she wouldn’t be alone. Am I selfish for wanting someone to do the same for me?

I deserve my first pride. I’m not waiting a whole year. I’m having my own little pride this friday hopefully. I wanna do it while it’s still June otherwise I’d do it on Monday before my weekend. Me myself and I will be having an awesome lil personal pride celebration; complete with any rainbow snacks I can find and some fruity drinks. My boyfriend will probably throw more Will and Grace on, and I can wallow with the one person who’s always there for me.

[loiswolf]

Day 9 June 4 Koldern - Destruction Bay 136kms

That place yesterday did have a name but it was the only thing there!

When I first booked this place at Destruction Bay I thought it was only going to be 110kms from Koldern. Then yesterday it came up as 134km. Not Happy!

I decided that if it was windy I would hitch a ride again, otherwise I should be able to make it. There were not a lot of hitching options actually but I might have been able to get a lift. Everything is headed north for the summer.

Yesterday at 4pm there was a huge influx of RV’s . They were ALL heading north.

So today I got up early and was ready to go well before 8am. I had to sit next to the reception building to do my Wordle ( very important ( got it in 2)) and check a few other things.

I still left before 8 and took this photo of the park.

It was a really nice one and I liked the lady, Amanda, too. Last night I had to pay for dinner b but she threw in a few extra salads and baked goods, so it was very enjoyable.

I think I probably haven’t been eating enough and that’s why I’ve lacked a bit of my usual leg power. I haven’t really been hungry but I’m going to make sure I eat enough even if I have to pay ridiculous prices for it.

I wanted to really cover some distance before I stopped for my first break but I really had to stop and take photos of this fantastic reflection in the lake.

As usual I was surrounded by gorgeous scenery all day but it was not a lot different from yesterday. Here’s another lake shot

I pushed on in the cool morning ( Pinkie had been taken out of her sac and donned again). After 55kms I started looking out for somewhere to stop.

It wasn’t until 62kms, halfway up a long hill , that there was a barrier I could sit on. I ate 4 tiny donuts ( revolting!) and some tiny bite sized chocolates , topped up my zinc and lip balm ( I’m getting very conscientious about this now) and continued up the hill.

The next 20kms were unsealed!

Some parts weren’t too bad and Shirley handled it well.

At 93kms there was a really nice rest stop/lookout so rather than waste an opportunity, I stopped for another break.

The road had been moderately hilly all day but had a lot of flat sections as well. I think the wind may have been behind me. 😁

I was keen to get to a place called Burwash Landing at 119kms because I had been told they had a good shop where I would be able to buy reasonably priced groceries. Unfortunately I wasn’t advised that they were closed on Sunday and Monday. The museum was open….it was the only other thing there.

I sat and had a quick snack and drink before heading off for my last 17kms. I thought it would drag by but I actually spotted a bear ahead about 100m up the road. It was on the shoulder and it moved off into the forest. I swerved to the other side of the road when I got close and saw a patch of brown fur glinting in the sun, in amongst the trees when I cycled by. Ooooh!!

10kms on and a car pulled up beside me to warn me they had seen a grizzly by the side of the road about 2kms ahead. I think it was earlier in the day and I figured that the cars coming from the opposite direction would let me know if it was still there.

Anyway, looking out for bears made the kms slip by a lot quicker than just watching the odometer slowly tic over.

I reached Destruction Bay at about 3:30 and paid a fortune for bread, cake and fruit. I’m going to have to buy a restaurant meal again tonight.

I couldn’t get the wifi or my mobile data to work. It occurred to me that my mobile data hadn’t worked since I entered Canada so I played around with the settings and got it to work. Then I played around with the wifi settings and got it to work…..although it keeps dropping out.

Tomorrow is going to be over 100kms again but hope I will reach a decent sized town where I can buy supplies.

[kkbarksdale]

Day 3- St. John

Monday, May 1st, 2023

Today was the day to officially headover to St. John! We were really looking forward to this because we had heard that St. John was even more beautiful than St. Thomas. Cody and I were pretty well rested from our early nights, however the hot Caribbean sun was starting to wear us out a little. We decided that the 11 am car ferry would be best, and we would be coming back on the 6:15 pm car ferry to St. Thomas. We both were slightly worried that it wouldn’t be enough time on St. John but 8:30am was too early of a start for our days so far. We started our day with our routine of walking to Lattes in Paradise, and working out. I have yet to mention that Cody also enjoyed a morning ritual of jumping in our pool. It’s worth the mention as Cody really really enjoyed doing this every single day. Once we were ready for the day, we ventured down the hill to Redhook to partake in some shopping before our 11am ferry ride. We went to the local Caribean Surf Co shop where we chatted with some local friends. Cody made them laugh, go figure. I decided that I wanted to get all of the girls coming to our wedding some beachy bracelets! I enjoyed picking out bracelet bundles for all of the girls. We also shipped off our postcards to the states and met a really nice lady in the post office. She gave us some lovely marriage advice- do not have bad days on the same day. If he is having a bad day, let him. We were very touched by her warm hearted advice to us. We still had plenty of time to kill, so we crossed the street to the other shopping strip. We wandered in a couple stores and I ended up purchasing a wide brimmed beach hat because my forehead was getting so burnt from the Caribbean sun. We made our way back to our car where we found a big, orange, aggressive towing sticker on our back window. Cody and I both panicked that we were going to followed and towed, or ticketed. It gave us so much stress for about 30 minutes until google assisted us with realizing that the sticker was just a threat. Nothing more. Now off to St. John!

We waited for the car ferry for quite some time, as we were early to load. The car ferry was a cool experience! I finally had to let Cody drive the Jeep because you had to back up onto the boat. I think he enjoyed me asking him to finally drive around. Once we arrived to St. John, we took off to our furthest destination of Cinnamon Bay! We were pretty instantly blown away by just how beautiful St. John was. Everyone was right- St. John was somehow more beautiful than St. Thomas. Since it is a protected National Park, it was undeveloped and felt like driving through a jungle. The water was a more torquise blue, and somehow more crystal clear. The people we encountered on St. John were also more friendly. Not to mention, the roads were so much nicer as well. No massive potholes to dodge every foot. Cody was really looking forward to snorkeling, so we rented snorkeling gear for the day. We found an almost shady spot along the edge of the beach and made camp for the day. Our soft plan was to go to Cinnamon Bay and then back track to Trunk Bay. 

Upon getting into the water, we saw a big barracuda! Honestly, I was freaked out by it but it was cool to see such a big predatory fish right by your legs. We decided that we wanted to go ahead and scope out snorkeling! The rental girl said that there was an airplane wing, lots of wild life such as turtles, and also a reef along the beach. Cody and I saw many cute, colorful fish and coral. We snorkeled quite a ways down the beach and proceeded to get pretty worn out after about only 1 hour. When we came back to our spot on the beach, our neighbors suggested that we go over to Maho Beach as that is where all of the sea turtles will be due to the grassy bottom. Cody and I were interested but hesitant to go over to Maho because we rented our gear from Cinnamon Bay. We spent quite some time hanging out on Cinnamon Bay and watching a big group of locals having fun in the water. After a couple of hours in the sun, we impulsively decided it was time for a change of scenery and opted to head out to Maho Beach! We only had about an hour left with our snorkel gear, and about 3 hours before we had to head to the car ferry. 

Maho Beach was so cute! They had so many little food trucks, and the beach was very crowded much like all of the beaches on St. John. We quickly hopped in the water to make the most of our time left with the snorkel gear. Cody and I hit the ground running and scoping out sea life. We didn’t see much at first, but after some time, the animals started popping up. First we saw a small stingray! Cody was freaked out by the sting ray, as he thought it was blowing sand up at him. He ended up seeing another one as well but I unfortunately missed it due to my excitement for looking for turtles. Just when I thought we may not find any turles, we stumbled upon the biggest turtle we saw during our entire trip. He was probably at least 3 feet wide and long. He had 2 bottom feeding sharks attached to him. He was in about only chest deep water. He was so cool! I was shocked at how big he was! Cody and I were the only ones around him too, no one else had discovered him in that area yet. While we were enjoying the sight of him, we heard some people nearby us exclaiming that they had a little turtle near them! We rushed over to see a small little guy. He was so white and clean compared to all of te other turtles we saw on our trip. Satisified that we had found 2 turtles, we then exited the water and went to turn our snorkel gear back in before 4pm. 

We still had 2 hours to kill so we headed over to Trunk Bay to end our day there. Unfortunately at Trunk Bay, all of their amenities were closed when we got there but that was okay with us. We had done all of the things we wanted to do so far that day. Trunk was so beautiful and is St. John’s most busy beach! Trunk Bay actually has a snorkeling trail. We would love to check that out next time we visit the islands. After many hours on the beach and in the sun, Cody and I mainly just relaxed at Trunk Bay. We did watch a woman get bullied and attacked by sea gulls though, a sight that I will never forget. She was eating a container of food, when sea gulls started barating her. She eventually got scared, ran away, and dropped her food. Probably 30 sea gulls were flocking at her. I know she was scared to death but it was so funny. 

This was about the extent of our day! We rode home on the car ferry and enjoyed the most beautiful sunset on the water. We grabbed a quick salad dinner at the local grocery store Moe’s. We swam in the pool and called it an early night again. We needed a good night’s rest because we had such a long day on St. John. It was one for the books! We decided that we would always be staying at St. John in the future due to how nice it was! 

[chocolatebananapancake]

El Chaltén

A three hour drive from El Calafate sits El Chaltèn. A tiny town in the middle of Parque National Los Glaciers. From the town itself, you can see the mountains surrounding it and it is a very beautiful sight. The outline of the mountains is on the logo for the Patagonia clothing brand. And it's most famous for Fitzroy. In reality it has at least 24 hikes of different difficulties.

Climbers used to come here before it was known to trekkers. They would camp out at one of the rivers to wait for it to be low enough to jump across to access the mountains.

We had booked to stay in this cool looking tiny house which turned out way better than we expected. The owner Capa, a carpenter (El Carpintero) built it all himself. He upcycled lots of stuff for the place, like windows and doors and even the boxes he's used for moving make up the stairs to the bedroom at the top. It was definitely the best place we've stayed at so far. He's super creative and the place was so comfortable even with such a small space. We had a great chat with him when we arrived where he told us about the history of the town. It turns out he's the park ranger and built loads of the trails! He's worked all over the world as a park ranger, in Canada, Australia, Antarctica, America. And in Iguazu (our next destination). He was an awesome guy!

By the time we were settled in our tiny house it was evening so we had some time to visit the supermercado to pick up food for the next days trek. You've got to get creative when you're jumping from place to place. Don't want to carry stuff between towns. And they won't always have what you're looking for. But if you're pretty happy with a plain cheese butty then you're in luck. We also opted for some cup-a-soup for the top of the mountains which turned out to be excellent 👌

We ate at this tiny pizzeria on our street. People kept getting turned away it was so busy, they let you get a half and half pizza and we got one whole pizza each. It was a lot of pizza. But was sooo delicious! We had to take some home in the end.

The next day we were up at 7 to get ready and on the road at 9am for our Fitzroy hike to Laguna de los Tres. Set to be an 8 hour round trip over 20km so we had some walking to do! It was a great hike, the weather started out quite cloudy. But it cleared up as soon as we got closer to the mountains. It was a great view to see the clouds parting and the peaks showing. Like some kind of photoshop job. See the photos we put up for what I mean!

The start of the hike is uphill but flattened out for the majority and then the very last bit is 1km of steep climbing/scramble. Capa lent us a pole each which we were thankful for! We smashed the way there in about 3hrs 30 mins which was ace as it gave us more time to spend admiring the view.

The 45min uphill battle was worth it for the view of the mountains over the lake. It was also in a sort of bowl so was sheltered from the wind. The water was icy and freezing but it didn't stop a few people taking a dip!

On the route we passed a few campsites. We didn't know you could camp here. You could come here to do a similar adventure to the one we had in Torres Del Paine. Although quite different. To enter the park here is free, for now. It won't be long until they start charging people. Which they should do as conservation costs money. The camps had none of the amenities we had in Torres. Everything you need you will have to carry, food, tents etc. They each have one "toilet" each…and it's not pretty! But as in other places, you can drink straight from the streams. So it's camping for the real adventurers.

The way down was great as we saw lots of the great views we missed out on in the morning due to the clouds. We made it back to town before 5pm, tired but enough energy to enjoy a few beers and some dinner before an early night.

We hadn't planned much else for our visit but Capa told us about another hike, Loma Del Pliegue Tumbado. And we had to do the trail that the actual park ranger suggested. Turns out it was another 8hr round trip but 22km. After the day before we were quite tired so it turned out to be much tougher than usual. It was a gradual uphill all the way. Which we'd normally enjoy but not as much this time. The mirador (viewpoint) was obviously another beautiful one but much colder than yesterday. We were glad for our hot cup-a-soup!

There was another viewpoint 2km away, up a huge hill, you could just faintly see the path going up. We took the decision not to do it! Got to stay within your abilities. And we knew we'd be struggling on the way back after that! The walk back was very tough. Our feet were feeling battered. Plus downhill really does a number on them. But the trail was cool. It snakes through open fields with wild cows and through ancient looking woods. Over hills with yet more fantastic views. We finished that one quite quickly too even though it was a struggle and made it back to town at around 3:30pm.

The town, being so small is generally closed through the day as there aren't normally people there then, they are usually off hiking. So it opens up again at 6pm. So we had a great excuse to go back to the tiny house for a nap and chill out. Dan even tried to make a Yerba Mate that Capa had left for guests. Mate is a traditional tea drink that is very popular in Chile and Argentina. People drink it as a communal thing passing the tea around to be shared. It's supposed to be made in a particular way which we don't know of so we made it quite strong. Not so enjoyable for us! Hopefully we can try it again when it is made by someone who knows what they are doing!

That night we enjoyed more beers in a few bars and a lovely dinner in a place that Capa had recommended.

The next day was pretty chill, we had to pack in the morning as we were checking out and heading back to El Calafate. Before we left though we went for a leisurely breakfast and a super quick hike to Mirador de los Cóndores. Its one that Capa said he'd built for the retirees. Making accessible trails for people is ace, everyone should have the ability to enjoy a good hike. This one was on top of a hill though so not sure all could do it! And it was the one all the tour buses go for so was quite busy. We had to keep trying to overtake people 😄

But anyway it was cool, a great view of the town and there were 6 Andean Condors flying around it. They were huge! As one of the largest flying birds in the world they are around 1m tall and they have a massive wingspan of 3 metres.

El Chaltén might be our favourite place so far. On par with Torres. The vibe in the town is very chill and there is lots to do hiking wise. You could definitely stay there longer than the three nights we did. Anyways, that's all for now. We are on the bus to El Calafate again as we're catching a flight tomorrow morning (Sunday) to Puerto Iguazu to see the waterfalls!

Vicky

[agent-grey-fics]

Dancing in the refrigerator light | Lip Gallagher x reader

Pairing Lip x reader Requested by @ marvelimagines18 

Hey Lexi I was wondering if you could make this video a prompt for reader and Lip Gallagher it would make my whole week thanks babe❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMLnGNVtW/

Warning: none Wordcount: 1728 AN: Thank you for your request honey, I could totally imagine this scenario happening with Lip. I did my best to write something cute but it’s a bit shorter than usual. xoxo Lexi 

It had been a stressful day at the hospital. It all started out fine, you were on a 12-hours shift while one of your close friends was the on-call doctor. You always looked forward to the shifts you could work together. But today was a total shitshow, they had brought in a kid who had seizures every couple of hours and no one seemed to be able to figure out what was going on with him. None of the typical anti-epileptic medication seemed to have an effect on the seizures Cedric, Dr. Moore, had assigned you to watch him closely and ordered you to page him every time the seizures started again, which was a lot. It broke your heart to see the little boy and his family like that. The only good news you got that day was that Dr. Moore had found a drug that controlled his seizures for now. You loved being a paediatrics nurse but a case like this broke your heart, you didn't want to think about the possible brain damage that the boy suffered. ‘Y/n, go home you’re way over your hours and you can’t do anything here.’ Cedric looked at you with compassion as he spoke. He was right. Your shift had started at 6PM the evening before and it was already 8:30. Lip was probably wondering where you were as well. ‘You are sure that I don’t need to do something else before I clock out?’ He shook his head. ‘You already did enough today, now go home to that boyfriend of yours I bet he’s waiting for you.’ A boyish grin found its way to his lips as he spoke and you rolled your eyes at him. The two of you said your goodbyes and you made your way towards the parking lot so you could drive home. It was surprisingly quiet on the road for a Saturday night in Chicago but you didn’t mind. After a day like this you were not sure if you could handle the typical road rage you normally experienced in the city.

‘Honey?’ Twenty minutes later you closed the front door of your apartment behind you and you kicked off your shoes. ‘I’m late I know I’m sorry but there was this kid that they brought in and I just could not leave him any sooner.’ Lip made his way over as he saw the expression on your face, tears welling up in your eyes. You were exhausted. ‘Hey hey, don’t worry about it. Were you able to help the kid?’ ‘In a way, it was rather complicated. The doctors weren’t able to figure out what was going on immediately so it was scary for the parents as well. I’m just glad I’m home.’ A small smile formed on his lips as he held his arms open so you could walk right in. ‘You’re doing amazing things at that hospital y/n, those kids are lucky to have you as their nurse.’ You wrapped your arms around his waist and buried your face in his shoulder. ‘It just gets to me, even after all those years that I’m on the job. It breaks my heart to see them so helpless. Let’s hope that Cedric can figure out what’s wrong with the little boy and that everything will be fine when I return on Saturday.’ Lip softly ran his hand up and down your back to calm your nerves. ‘Did you already eat something?’ You shook your head only now realizing that you were starving, you didn’t eat anything since this morning. ‘Taco Thursday, how sounds that?’ ‘Perfect. Just let me get out of my scrubs first.’ He followed you into the bathroom and you both changed into your pyjamas: grey sweatpants and a band t-shirt for him and an overside t-shirt for you.

Lip pulled you into the kitchen and made you sit on the countertop while he started making dinner. ‘Hey Alexa, put my favourite songs on shuffle.’ ‘Y/n’s favourite songs are playing now.’ Born to Die by Lana Del Rey started playing in the background. You didn’t want the virtual assistant at first, you weren’t that much of a tech nerd but damn that thing came in handy as a sound system. ‘How was your day? Was it busy at the shop?’ A small grin appeared on his lips as he started talking about his day. ‘It was quite calm today actually, me and the boys went for a drink earlier.’ You lifted your eyebrow as he said that he want for a drink. ‘Non-alcoholic drinks of course.’ He reassured you. ‘It was nice actually, Jason and Tammy are expecting by the way.’ Your jaw dropped. ‘No way? That’s nice for them, the baby fever the two of them had was crazy. Glad that it worked out for them.’ The guys from the shop became close friends over time and they became your regular hangout crew. ‘Yeah, you should have seen Jasons’ face as he told us. He was so proud, it was really cute to see him so happy actually.’ Lip had already cut up some bell peppers and onions as he started baking some veggie minced meat. You were grateful that he was cooking because if you were alone you would have ordered takeout or simply not eaten. 

The two of you were at a steady moment in your life actually. You and Lip went all the way back to when he still lived with his siblings on North Wallace. It was an on again off again kind of relationship but in the end, the two of you always found your way back to each other knowing that you had a special connection. He was turning thirty while you just turned twenty-eight and life was great. You both had steady jobs, bought an apartment together and had an amazing friend group. You both loved kids but just for as long as they weren’t yours and you were glad that you were on the same page on that topic. You would give your life for the kids at the hospital but you could leave them and go to your peaceful home. Just perfect. ‘I bet that they will be great parents, we can be the cool aunt and uncle you laughed.’ Lip looked at you with a mischievous look in his eyes. ‘Oh boy, we can cover for them if they sneak around after their curfew and pick them up after parties their parents don’t know about.’ You started laughing. ‘You will have to wait another sixteen years for that mate, we can babysit and buy them cute gifts in the meantime.’ Lip pushed a filled taco shell in your hands. ‘Here, taco’s Gallagher style.’ That just meant that there was nothing more than the veggie minced meat, peppers and onions in the taco but you learned to appreciate it over the years. ‘My favourite style.’ You said before you took a bite of the hot mixture. ‘Thanks, didn’t realize how hungry I was.’ 

The two of you ate in silence, you sitting on the counter while Lip stood next to you. This moment was more than welcome after your busy day. Your peaceful moment got interrupted by Love Is Strange, the song from dirty dancing. It was one of your favourite movies of all time, their love story reminded you of your own relationship. A bad boy meets an innocent girl and they fall in love. Lip bumped against your shoulder while he had a boyish grin on his face and started to hum along with the music. He pretended to play the guitar with his hands in the air and it made you laugh. ‘Oh God, what are you doing?’ It was when the famous part started that he placed his plate down and stood in front of you ‘Sylvia?’ You didn’t answer and just shook your head while laughing as placed your plate on the countertop next to you. ‘How do you call your loverboy?’ He looked at you with a mischievous grind waiting for you to join in while he kept playing the air guitar. ‘Come here lover boy.’ You tried to say in your most serious voice but you failed because Lip made you laugh when he did some air guitar solo. ‘And if he doesn’t answer?’ ‘Oh lover boy?’ You crawled from the countertop and started swaying to the beat of the music. ‘And if he still doesn’t answer?’ ‘Oh I simply say, baby. Oh baby.’ Lip placed his hands on your hips so he could pull you against his body so the two of you could dance to the beat. ‘My sweet baby.’ You softly traced your hands over his chest as you sang the words with a big smile on your face. ‘You’re the one.’ The two of you burst out laughing whiles you were swaying in each other's arms. The two of you pretended to play the guitar pieces on air guitars. ‘Baby, oh baby. My sweet baby.’ He placed a quick kiss on your lips, both having big grins on your face as he did. ‘You’re the one.’  

The song ended and the two of you were standing in the middle of your kitchen with your arms around each other with big smiles on your faces. “O Children” from Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds started  to fill the room before any of you said a word and Lip pulled you in closer and softly started swaying the both of you to the rhythm of the song. ‘Forgive us now for what we've done, It started out as a bit of fun.’ Lip murmured the words against your hair as the two of you were dancing. It was a sad song but you loved the way it was composed, it made you feel things even if you didn’t understand what the singer had written it about. ‘Thank you, I needed this.’ It was only a soft mumble but loud enough so he could hear you. ‘I love you y/n.’ A small smile spread across your lips as he looked down at you. You reached up so you could gently press your lips against his. ‘I love you Lip.’ You buried your head against his shoulder and sniffed his familiar scent. This was what home felt like. 

[jihyocentric]

hi lumi happy holidays! ☺️ I would like to propose an idea after watching the 2nd season of TTT crime scene between g!p boss myoui, chief park and g!p detective yoo

detective yoo comes back from vacation and catches up on the latest events, overhearing about chief park’s past relationship with boss myoui and becomes jealous due to their secret relationship behind closed doors and probs bc she has a big ass crush on park. the detective glares at the mafia boss every time they pay a visit to see their young prodigal and stares daggers into their head when she sees her leader and the boss chitchatting.

she can’t help it. when she’s get together with the chief for a quickie, she becomes possessive and marks her so she can show that damn bastard who she belonged to, as a declaration of power. now boss myoui becomes competitive and plays along with this little game.

tis a proposal, the ball is in your court! :)

- 🐯

anonie, i'm totally writing this bc you haven't been here in a long time and absolutely NOT because i'm eager to write jeonghyo...

this rq reminds me of this fanart! hope it's good enough, i literally don't remember anything of TTT crime scene 1 & 2

-

when jeongyeon arrived at work after enjoying her vacation, the first thing she heard wasn't a welcome back or a good morning from her workmates. instead, she was greeted by momo and dahyun's voices, both of them gossiping about their chief's love life. jeongyeon was mortified for a minute, she thought no one suspected about her and jihyo's affair. that's until she notices they're not talking about her, but about myoui mina, a mafia boss that was constantly visiting their station in order to see her culprit.

"i saw them talking inside the office the other day and chief park seemed really... flustered. it was weird to see." dahyun tells momo, without knowing jeongyeon was near enough to hear it, keeping her voice low. "and myoui kissed her hand before leaving, too. i believe the rumors we heard were true, they were most likely in a relationship."

jeongyeon doesn't want to hear any more of that. she makes noise as she approaches them, on purpose, for them to notice she's there. jeongyeon places two cups of coffee, gladly still warm as she bought them before heading to work. she doesn't greet them as nicely as she would, her head filled with anger because jihyo hadn't told her about having a relationship with myoui mina.

"what time does myoui usually arrive?" jeongyeon asks, placing both of her hands on top of the table, scaring momo and dahyun who were supposed to be working and not chit chatting.

"a-around nine." momo gulps. jeongyeon looks at the watch on her wrist. it's 8:30, and jeongyeon smiles at the mischievous thought that goes into her head. "we missed you jeong... yeon."

momo doesn't have the chance to finish her sentence as jeongyeon walks away quickly, leaving both her and dahyun speechless. she doesn't knock on jihyo's door, instead makes her way into her office abruptly, placing the coffee she'd brought to jihyo over the desk.

"why didn't you tell me you used to date myoui mina?" jeongyeon asks, after two weeks without seeing jihyo. the chief's face light up as soon as she sees jeongyeon, but what her girlfriend (not exactly, but something like that) says makes her freeze in spot.

jihyo gets up from her seat, not quite meeting jeongyeon's height as the detective was almost a head taller than her. "how did you find out?"

"so it's true?" jeongyeon huffs out, feeling stupid for not noticing it. the glances myoui would give towards jihyo should've been enough for her to realize there was something going on between them. "did you even miss me? because from what i heard, you were too busy getting acquainted with myoui here in this very office while i wasn't around."

"who even told you that... of course i missed you, jeong!" jihyo is quick to defend herself, reaching jeongyeon's hands and interlocking their fingers. "i like you a lot. mina and i have history but we're done. i'm with you, not her."

jeongyeon holds jihyo's hands and make the chief walk around the desk in order to face her. "prove it."

jihyo frowns, confused. "how?"

jeongyeon inches closer, bringing her face down so that their noses were touching. "take off your clothes and i'll show you."

jihyo wants to say no. they were still at work, after all, and jihyo would never have sex with jeongyeon at work. they always did it outside, mostly in one of their cars or their houses. as the chief, jihyo brings a 'no' to her lips that she can't quite voice, because soon jeongyeon does it for her and removes the first piece of clothing off her body. jihyo sighs when she feels a wet kiss on her neck and a hand sneakily gripping her breast over the shirt.

"c-close the curtains." jihyo says, finally reminding that if anybody looked towards her office, they'd see them. unless the curtains were closed.

jeongyeon does just so, and jihyo shamefully uses the time to take off her shirt. she would be lying if she said she didn't miss being with jeongyeon. after weeks without the detective, having to rely on a couple of toys that would never compare to jeongyeon, jihyo was aching for jeongyeon to take her. her brain told her that that was wrong, that she shouldn't be fulfilling her needs inside the office, let alone when she had just about minutes before mina knocked on the door to have a small talk — something that had become customary by now. even then, jihyo still wanted jeongyeon.

while jihyo had many worries, all jeongyeon could think about was jihyo talking to myoui mina later on, with her load stuffed in her, hair messy unlike the neat way jihyo liked to have it, and hickeys all over her neck. the main reason why jeongyeon was so eager to have jihyo was to make a mess of her chief and leave her uneasy right before her now sworn rival, myoui mina, arrived to pay a visit to jihyo. jeongyeon might not know everything that went on while she was gone, but she certainly wouldn't stay behind.

the detective watched as jihyo took off her clothes and folded them neatly, worried they might get crumpled. jeongyeon doesn't worry about her own clothes that much, all she does is open the zipper of her pants, not even minding to open the belt, and slip her cock out, already half hard from seeing jihyo naked. it's been a long time since she got the chance to have some quality time with her favorite workmate, so jeongyeon was longing for this.

the detective passes her hands behind jihyo's thighs, lifting the smaller woman so that she could sit on the desk. it was spacious enough to fit her, but jeongyeon still pushed some things to the side, giving them enough space.

"so wet for me already, chief park." jeongyeon says, fingers brushing against jihyo's folds, full of slick.

jihyo blushes. detective yoo has always been quite the tease, but she felt more sensitive than the usual, much due to the lack of touch and attention she'd received from jeongyeon for the last few days. jeongyeon's kisses, her fingers squeezing her nipples and the heavy shaft resting on top of her core weren't helping at all, only making her more desperate to be filled, forgetting her position as the chief of the station as jeongyeon breaks her, little by little.

"don't call me that when we're- ah!" jihyo moans, almost too loud, when jeongyeon slips her tip inside, only to pull away next. "don't tease me!"

"i won't." jeongyeon licks her lips. "turn around for me, ass up and hands on the table."

"we've got to be quick." jihyo says before she does what she was told.

jeongyeon's hand fall hard against her ass, making jihyo whimper quietly. "i know."

jeongyeon finally sinks into her and jihyo almost cries tears of relief. jeongyeon might be trying to push mina's buttons with that and show her how much jihyo was already hers, but jihyo, innocently enough, just wanted jeongyeon inside her — all over her, whispering sweet nothings in her ear while she filled her deeper than her fingers and any of her toys could reach. the detective leaves her traces over jihyo's skin, she makes sure jihyo's neck is bruised enough for people to notice that those marks couldn't be an allergy or anything of that kind, but a stain that could only be left there by a person.

jihyo is so taken by her pleasure that jeongyeon resorts to silencing her with her hand over her mouth, muffling the pretty sounds coming out from her mouth, her hips moving so fast that the chief was being squished between the desk and jeongyeon's weight. the detective pounds hard and fast into her, making jihyo cry out, blessedly so, and when jeongyeon's free hand squeezes her chest and pinches her nipple, her walls tightening hard around jeongyeon's girth. jihyo meekly holds onto the desk, jeongyeon unfazed by the tears that escape from the corner of the chief's eyes. those were a consequence of how good jihyo felt with jeongyeon was lodged up in her.

"that's what i like to see." jeongyeon mutters under her breath. "aren't you such a good little slut for my cock, chief park?"

"jeongyeon," jihyo whines, her breathing ragged. she hopes nobody was near her office, or else they'd certainly hear the sounds of jeongyeon's thrusts and grunts, and her own moans, despite them being contained by jeongyeon's hands. "i'm coming!"

and she does, coming so hard that it brings jeongyeon to her own peak, feeling jihyo clench and grip her cock harshly, dripping to her thighs with her own slick. jeongyeon feels weak while she comes, but she still humps jihyo's ass until she's sure none of her load would leak out. at least not before myoui mina passed by, because she wanted jihyo to remind of her and how well her cock filled her earlier when she looked at mina later. not only that, but jeongyeon also wanted mina to notice the freshly made hickeys decorating the silky skin of jihyo's neck, smiling at the thought of myoui knowing that she made chief park her personal toy.

as both of them get dressed, jeongyeon looks at her watch. if momo was right, mina was going to arrive in no time. she helps jihyo get dressed and leaves a button of her shirt opened on purpose, her hair not nearly as neat as jihyo would've liked, and the best part was that there was no way to hide the hickeys on the chief's neck without makeup.

jeongyeon kisses jihyo's forehead and leaves her office then, with a convinced smirk on her face that myoui mina catches when she's making her way into chief park's office. much to her surprise, jihyo looks disheveled, flushed and her neck is red. it doesn't take her much thinking to realize what was going on. mina doesn't close the door. she stands there and looks at chief park, then at detective yoo, and something sparks inside her. she was about to have a lot of fun.

game on, it's what she thinks.