#just a ridiculously cute archie face

[parasitoidism]

i find him so cute here like look at the way hes holding on to his key stone. AWW.

[leggerefiore]

any short ideas on how some of the characters (including lucy would be nice but it isn’t necessary :D) fare against the cold? colress has a cooling system in his coat so he’d probably have a heating system too… and of course everyone has seen ingo handling the cold </3

a secret Lucy fan hiding among the masses....

characters: Ingo, Emmet, Colress, Lucy, Grimsley, Nanu, Volo, Archie, Maxie, Cyllene, Cyrus, Kabu

▲Ingo▼

● The older Subway Boss is well-adjusted to cooler temperatures. For one, the Gear Station stays a pretty consistent temperature always due to being underground, often skewing a bit cooler even with moderated air control. And, two, well, he lives in Unova. The region is known pretty well known for its icy winters. Many times, Ingo had nearly taken a tumble, walking out on the iced over sidewalks. He is well aware of how to bundle up and stay warm. That, and he finds his love of coffee quite beneficial here. The warm beverage helps keep him nice and heated. Though, he does get quite red cheeks in the cold. It is a bit cute to see. (Oh, and Chandlure is an enormous help in keeping him warm. The spooky chandelier hates to see him so cold.)

▽Emmet△

○ The younger Subway Boss hates the cold. He whines about winter and refuses to go out as much. Instead, he bundles up under a ridiculous number of blankets and runs a space heater. Ingo worries about him in this state. Unova's freezing temperatures are a maddening part of the year. Elesa watches him become a recluse in real time. The only thing that inspires him to face the day is his job. He loves his trains verrry much, so he will put on five extra layers and go to work. He has his Archeops cuddle with him to help keep him warm. Its plumage keeps it warm despite the whole half-rock thing. He loves hot chocolate, especially at this time of year, to stay extra warm. People assume he is downing coffee like his brother, but he is not.

🥼Colress🛸

🧪 The scientist was familiar with all kinds of climates. Though, notably, he did originate from Unova. He knew the cold very well due to the shifting climate of the region. Winters could be particularly harsh… So, he made his Achromatic Wearable Console able to manage both highs and lows in temperature. Should it get too cold, the internal heating kicks on and keeps him warm. Though, honestly, he prefers the cold to heat. It reminds him of a lab environment. That, and being hot, quite impacts his focus. If it is especially cold, he pulls out a scarf the same colour as his blue hair streak, which is quite a sight.

💜Lucy🐍

🟣 This Frontier Brain? She hates the cold. Hoenn is a warmer climate with mild winters. She is not at all prepared for cold weather… In fact, to her, anything under 13°c (55°f) is almost unbearable. Much like her choice in a partner pokemon, she wants to curl away on colder days and just wait for it to pass. Her annoyance is skyrocketed by fewer challengers, too, in colder weather. She usually ends up wearing a jacket at 15°c (60°f) and huffs the entire time. At least she looks a bit cool in her Serviper themed jacket. In the battle of snake woman versus cold? Cold wins.

♠️Grimsley❤️

♤ The gambler is more than used to chilly winters. Hailing from Unova, he has seen insane winters and even faced a few without heating (due to various reasons). He is more than adept at handling the cold and seems completely unfazed, even in his usual attire of a suit. It is a bit shocking to see. Though, if it becomes too much, he has his Liepard come out as a warm water bottle of sorts. If it is entirely awful, his Houndoom is out and absolutely pressed against his side. Though, he never lets it reach his face. He does get a bit of red in his face, however. In truth, Grimsley prefers warmer climates. Which is why he ponders Alola some days. For now, however, he will deal with Unova's insane seasonal shifts.

🐈‍⬛️Nanu❤️‍🩹

🌑 This old man? Does not mix well with the cold at all. Alola is his home, and he quite enjoys the tropical paradise's climate. Yet, in his last life, he ventured all over the world and experiences climates of all temperatures. He discovered quite quickly that he hated colder environments. A heavy coat over his suit made him look goofy when mixed with his cheeks as red as his irises. Many asked him if he was quite alright. He wanted to say that he felt like he was going to freeze to death, but he bit his tongue. No, Nanu did not enjoy those times at all. He was glad to be in Alola, where he did not even have to think about the cold unless something to do with Mount Lanakila came up.

💫Volo📜

⭐️ The merchant is more than adept at facing the various temperatures offered up by Hisui. Though, more often than not, the region offered up cold temperatures that would scare many away from settling. Yet, Volo dared to face this region's extremes with ease. For one, he simply had too much love for where his bloodline had settled long ago, and for two, well, he found himself enjoying the isolation the cold tended to warrant. It was even in the Icelands that he met his beloved partner pokemon. The little egg-like creature wandering up to him with such gentle eyes. Yes, Volo would dare say he even liked the cold. His body did not even need many layers as the Galaxy Team members demanded to face it. Though, he did have to get out a few extra blankets for overnight. (His Arcanine would suffice it truly grew to be too much.)

🌧Archie🌊

💧 Surprisingly, the Aqua Leader manages the cold well enough. While Hoenn usually faces mild winters, he is pretty unbothered by cooler temperatures. Archie does not even get out a coat typically, which scares some people when he is still wandering around in his wetsuit like summer is not long gone. Why is he so adapted? Well, the ocean gets pretty cold, and he loves the ocean. His Sharpedo is always pretty cool to the touch, too. Oh, and his team's hideout is an actual seaside cave. Archie guffaws at people's shock of learning this often enough. He is no wimp, of course. Unlike a certain someone he knows.

☀️Maxie🌋

🪨 The Magma Leader hate, hate, hates the cold. There is nothing he can stand less than being cold. He wears a sweater in the sweltering heat of a volcano – This man cannot handle temperatures below 25°c (77°f). He simply is seen bundled up in the most mild of temperatures. Most people look at him like he is insane, even in Hoenn. His Camerupt comes out frequently enough for him to snuggle into and steal the pokemon's warmth. (His Camerupt quite enjoys this, of course.) His face is as red as his hair in truly cold temperatures, and he is utterly miserable.

🌙Cyllene🌌

🌕 The Survey Corps Captain is admired for her capable of facing many things without faltering to emotion or hesitation. However, she has one plain weakness that curses her. She hails from Hoenn. The Galaxy Team HQ is quite well insulated and even features heating – Something she dearly enjoys. She is far from used to the winters that Hisui provides her. The poor Captain braves the cold while attempting to pretend she does not wish to return to her homeland and enjoy a sweltering summer that almost could suffocate you to the dry coolness Hisui gives. She cannot bear the cold as well as she pretends to and refuses to let anyone know. Her envy for the Galarian professor being so bundled up is silent. At least, she is excited to hear a more “tropical” part of Hisui is to be developed… Perhaps she will move there one day when retiring from her work. (If ever.)

🌌Cyrus🛰

☄️ The Galactic Boss will never, ever admit that he cannot bear the cold. It will never leave his mouth – It will never express itself on his face. However, he cannot stand it. He grew up in Sunyshore – A bright, warmer place – He found himself despising that very thing and refusing to ever step foot inside that city again. However, one horrible piece remained a burden on him. His preferred temperatures. Most of Sinnoh was cool all year around, and he simply had to deal with that. Longer sleeves were simply his preferred management. Though, most Galactic members will note their boss's warmer attire choices, even if the temperature is considered moderate for Sinnoh. (Granted, the HQ is kept quite cold due to the various machines around, so many chalk it up to that.)

🔥Kabu🏅

💥 This old man… Well, he has lived in Galar for some time. Despite his origins of Hoenn, he has adjusted to the more temperate and cooler averages of the island region. Granted, he does still bundle up a bit more than expected in the cooler months. Their winters certainly are not comparable to what he faced in Hoenn. But he feels he runs hot, so it almost balances out. He finds the cooler temperatures as no real bother for him anymore. Though, when he first moved, it had been a bit of a shock. He would rather not think of how his poor his reception had been. Torkoal had been his literal hot rock during that time. Usually, he just puts on his coat and enjoys a nice warm meal to get over the cold now.

[edsheeranong]

Sweet Pea x Fem OC

Pt. 2

archie andrews twin sister, delilah, is fed up with him being overprotective. so when a cute serpent offers her an opportunity, she can't turn it down

Delilah hung onto him for dear life, terrified as they raced through the streets of riverdale. when they finally arrived at pops, delilah didn't think she had it in her to step off the bike. he pried her hands off him and helped her off. with her whole body trembling in fear she couldn't get the helmet strap undone. he once again helped her and took it off her head.

"i'm never doing that again," she said, flattening out her hair. he fixed a piece of her hair and gestured for her to follow him.

they walked through the doors and delilah surveyed the room for archie. he wasn't there.

"i'm gonna go wash my hands," she said excused herself. when she came back out, she came face to face with archie, veronica, jughead, and betty.

"hey girl," veronica said. "we were just about to sit down, do you wanna join us?"

"oh, no thanks V. i'm here with someone," delilah explained. "thank you for the offer though."

"o la la, does delilah andrews finally have a boy?" veronica asked.

"no," archie shot in. "no she does not."

"just between us girls," she whispered to veronica and betty. "kinda."

the girls all squealed at her admission.

"i don't wanna move to fast, and put labels on it, but i really like him," she lied through her teeth.

"well we won't keep you any longer," betty winked at her and started walking toward a booth.

"who?" archie demanded.

"none of your business," she walked away from him and towards sweet pea who was seated at the counter. when she took the seat next to him, archie sprinted across the room to them.

he ripped sweet pea out of his seat and they started yelling.

"what the fuck are you doing?" archie said.

"i'm here on a date," sweet pea responded.

"get away from my sister," archie shoved him and sweet pea shoved him back.

"you're being ridiculous," delilah said, stepping in front of sweet pea right as archie tried to push him again. she lost her balance and fell back into sweet pea hard. he caught her and rested his hand on her hip.

"don't touch her," archie said.

"i think i'll do what i want."

archie lunged at sweet pea but jughead held him back.

"sit down," veronica demanded. "leave her alone, archie."

"this isn't over," archie threatened before walking back to a booth.

sweet pea turned her around and leaned her back against the counter.

"not so bad, right?" he whispered. she shrugged lightly and he pulled her in for a hug. "is he watching?"

"mhm," delilah hummed into his chest. after a few seconds he pulled away slightly, their hips still pressed together. he looked at her carefully before raising his hand to her chin and gently kissing her.

"why him?" archie sat at his booth, fuming as he watched his sister.

"he's not without charm, archiekins," veronica said. "why are you so opposed to her dating anyway?"

"every boy in this town is an asshole," archie said.

"you live in this town," betty pointed out.

"i know."

"you're mainly upset because he's a serpent," jughead scoffed.

"yeah, jug. and he tried to hurt me. he showed up at my house and tried to fight me," archie complained. "why does he like her anyway? he hates northsiders."

"well, for starters, delilah is drop dead gorgeous. like even i've had thoughts about her," veronica admitted, resulting in a disgusted look from archie. "but, also, she's kind. she doesn't judge the southsiders, at least not outwardly."

"i think it's sweet," betty said.

"how? how is that sweet?" archie asked, slamming his fork down.

"he's willing to fight for her. he must know she doesn't date because you don't let her. just be happy for her, arch," betty explained.

"it just doesn't feel right," archie shook his head. "i can't shake the feeling he's using her to get back at me."

"not all serpents are the horrible people you make them out to be," jughead chimed in.

"can you blame me for thinking that?" archie practically yelled.

"i guess not. i'll talk to him," jughead told him.

"thanks jug."

archie watched as they left the diner and the only thing stopping him from following them was veronica sitting on the outside. but when he saw sweet pea hand the helmet to her he practically shoved her out and raced outside, his friends not far behind.

"absolutely not," he yelled. "she is not getting on that."

"calm down," veronica said.

"no, ronnie. a date is one thing but she can't get on that. she'll get hurt," he said. "i bet that's what you want though."

"excuse me," sweet pea stepped close to him.

"you heard me. i bet you're just itching to hurt her to get back at me."

"there's something wrong with you," sweet pea bit back.

"come on," she pulled sweet pea back. "he's not worth it."

"let's go," he mounted his bike and delilah followed him.

archie watched in anger as they rode away. he stormed back into pops, slammed money down on the table, and started running back home. when he got home, he went straight to delilah's room, but she wasn't there. he ran back down the stairs and found his dad in the kitchen.

"has 'lilah come back home?"

"no, i don't remember seeing her come in," fred responded. archie went back upstairs and called delilah. she didn't respond.

"god, he's annoying," delilah whined, putting her phone back in her pocket.

"i know," sweet pea said. they were sat on the edge of sweet water river, completely alone. "why doesn't he let you date?"

"i'm not really sure," delilah admitted. "something about all the boys being awful, i think. but i don't believe that."

"that's weird."

"i think he's trying to protect me, i mean he wouldn't ever leave my side growing up. but ever since he started dating veronica, he's been leaving me alone more, thank god."

"it still doesn't make sense though. you'd think he'd want you to have a boyfriend so he could protect you," sweet pea pointed out.

"i gave up on trying to understand my brothers mind a long time ago," she put a hand on his shoulder and sighed.

they sat there in silence, watching the river flow, for what felt like eternity before delilah spoke.

"it's getting late," she whispered. "it's dark and i'm cold."

"take my jacket," he took off his serpent jacket and handed it to her. "i'm sure your brother would love that."

"take me home," she said, snatching the jacket from him and pulling it over herself. she was practically drowning in it.

hé drove her back home and walked her up to her door. it wasn't that late but delilah didn't want to risk waking anyone up. she slowly crept up the stairs and entered her room. she found archie sitting on her bed.

"why him?"

"he asked me out," delilah said, crossing her arms.

"and you thought i would be okay with this?"

"archie, i have had enough with you thinking you can control my life. he likes me, and i like him. i'm not gonna let you ruin yet another relationship for me, i just won't," she was trying to be stern with him, but not be too loud. "now get out of my room," she pointed to the door.

"im not done with this," he said, heading for the door.

"yes, you are, archie. seriously leave me alone, you've done enough to hurt this family, dont add this to the list of things you'll be apologizing for for the rest of your life."

[tunashei]

One of my favourite things about pets is how unique they are in personality. No two animals the same, all with their little quirks and habits. I thought I'd list some about my two cats, and I'd love to hear about other peoples pets!

Sadie:

Is almost entirely silent, but will occasionally be sleeping and wake up meowing very cutely. It's like she forgets she can meow and the surprise of waking up reminds her. Or maybe she has really vivid dreams and has to explain them immediately.

Really enjoys being in the bathroom when I take a bath. I leave my clothes in a pile on the floor and she nests into them.

Loves burrowing under duvets and making herself a little cave to sleep in. She literally tucks herself into bed. She'll headbutt blankets until she can get underneath, or if I'm under the blanket she'll tap me in the face until I make room for her.

Kind of sucks at playing. She gets really excited watching toys and does this adorable head tremble, but rarely managed to get over her excitement enough to pounce

We've somehow taught her if she want to be put down when we pick her up she has to lick the tip of our nose.

If a very huffy cat. Sighs a lot.

Sits and sleeps very neatly, all paws tucked in tight together or curled into a perfect ball.

Has a surprisingly loud purr when she wants affection and also drools on you when really happy.

Archie

Chases his tail. It's ridiculously cute and funny watching him spin in circles trying to fight his own tail.

Really likes drinking bath water. The morning routine is to let him out of his room and walk with him to the bath to pour him a drink.

Used to be an absolute MONSTER with food. He'd break into cupboards and tear open packaging, we had to use baby-locks to stop him. One time he threw a packet of flour all over the floor. Another time he got into the packets of cat food and ate eight of them. If he managed to grab a treat packet he'd growl and wouldn't let go unless you literally put him in the bath and turned the shower on him. Thankfully he's not as insane anymore.

Greets you with a tail shiver often.

Just really likes being near people. If you're alone in your room he'll come just to lie next to you. Doesn't necessarily want pets or attention, just to be near you.

Loves sleeping on his back with his belly in the air, loves sprawling very un-neatly in general. Takes up as much space as he can.

Used to play fetch! Would bring the ball back to be thrown. He's forgotten how to do this though. Does love throwing his toys in the air tossing them about.

[fanfics4all]

Home Screen

Request: Yes / No Hi. I would love some Archie Andrews fics. And anything would be fine. Please and thanks. @12joeywheelerfangirl

Don’t be shy, request things! <3 Have a nice day/night

Archie Andres x Fem!Reader 

Word count: 866

Warnings: Just some cute fluff!

PLEASE DO NOT STEAL MY WORK, I WORK HARD ON MY FICS AND IT’S NOT COOL TO STEAL SOMEONE ELSE’S WORK! 

If you want to be on the tag list for anything (My series fics, specific character fics, or just all of them) All you have to do is send me an ask and I will add you! 

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(Not my photo, credit to whoever made it!)

Archie and I had always been close, best friends, even before we understood what friendship meant. Somewhere along the line, I started feeling things that were way outside of ‘best friend’ territory. I never said anything, though. I wasn’t about to risk the friendship for a crush. 

Today, we were hanging out at Pop’s like we usually did, grabbing milkshakes and talking about nothing in particular. At some point, my phone died and I left my charger at home. 

“Can I borrow your phone real quick?” I asked, reaching across the table. Archie looked up surprised but nodded. 

“Sure.” He said, digging into his pocket and handing it over without a second thought. 

“Thanks, I just need to check…” My voice trailed off as I unlocked his phone, only to see myself staring back at me. It was a picture of me laughing, probably one he took when I wasn’t paying attention. 

“Uh…why am I your home screen?” I asked, my heart racing as I looked up at him. Archie’s cheeks turned a shade of pink that even the dim lights of Pop’s couldn’t hide. He stammered, glancing around like he was searching for an excuse. 

“I…uh…well, I just…like having my best friend close, I guess.” I stared at him, a smile pulling at my lips. I could tell there was something more behind his words, something he was holding back. It was one of those rare moments when Archie Andrews didn’t have his usual confidence, and it was kind of adorable. 

“So…” I said, keeping my voice light. 

“...do you make a habit of setting all your friends as your background, or am I just special?” He let out a nervous laugh, running a hand through his hair. 

“You’re special, okay?” He finally admitted his voice was merely a whisper. 

“I didn’t mean for you to see that. It’s just…you make me happy and I like seeing your face every day, even if it’s just on my screen.” My heart did a little flip. 

“Archie…” He finally looked up, his eyes meeting mine. 

“I know we’re best friends and I never wanted to make it weird, but I can’t help it. I like you. I mean, I really like you.” I couldn’t speak, too stunned to believe he was actually saying what I had only dreamed he might. But seeing the nervous look in his eyes, I reached across the table and took his hand. 

“Archie, you could’ve told me ages ago, because I really like you, too.” His face lit up, his smile brighter than I’d ever seen. We sat there, holding hands across the table, both laughing a little at how ridiculous we were for waiting this long. 

Archie’s fingers tightened around mine, his thumb brushing softly over my knuckles. He grinned at me, and for a second I thought he might even be a little choked up. 

“You have no idea how long I’ve been waiting to tell you that.” He said. I laughed, feeling both nervous and happy. 

“So what was stopping you, Andrews?” He let out a soft chuckle, scratching the back of his neck. 

“I don’t know, I guess I was scared. Scared of messing things up, of losing you if it got…complicated.” He looked down at our hands, his expression turning thoughtful. 

“But then I realized I would rather risk it all than keep pretending I was okay with just being friends.” The intensity in his gaze made my heart race. 

“Well…” I whispered back. 

“...looks like you’re not the only one who’d been holding back.” His grin turned softer and leaned across the table, his face a few inches from mine. 

“Can I kiss you?” He asked, his voice low. I felt my cheeks heat up and nodded, barely able to breathe. 

Slowly, he leaned in, closing the distance between us until his lips brushed mine. It was soft and tentative like he was still processing the fact that this was real. I could feel his warmth, the way his hand cupped my cheeks as if I might disappear if he let go. It was just him and me, exactly where we’d both wanted to be. 

When we finally broke apart, he rested his forehead against mine, his fingers still laced with mine. He looked at me, his eyes sparkling with that familiar warmth, but there was something more, something deeper. 

“What now?” I whispered, feeling like I was in some sort of dream. He smiled, giving my hand a gentle squeeze. 

“Now? Now we take this one day at a time. But, I think first… maybe I owe you a real date.” 

“A real date, huh?” I teased, trying to mask how completely thrilled I was. 

“Where do you plan on taking me, Andrews?” He laughed, pulling back just a little to meet my eyes. 

“Anywhere you want, but I promise, wherever it is, it’ll be the best date you ever had.” I laughed, feeling the weight of years of friendship mixed with this new electric spark between us. 

“You better deliver, because I have high standards.” Archie’s eyes gleamed with that familiar confidence I loved. 

“Oh, trust me, I’ll make sure of it.” He winked.

Tag list: @les-bio-lie @tashy-bear @ashwarren32 @hollie-blogs-blog1 @lover-of-books-and-tea @nerdygaloresposts @teenwolfbitches28 @kmc1989 @drw0301bieber @lady-of-lies @ravenmoore14 @ravenempress101 @cillianchamp @rowanthomasknapp @rachelxwayne @ready-4-fanfiction @madammarvellous-blog1 @emo-godess-loves-you @hiya-imthatgirl @mindsetjupiter @averysinclaire @mittelerde1999 @sweetest-peas @rousewriter @camiconfessions-blog @thecaptainsgingersnap @cenyddtheunicorn @jacksxsouthsideserpents @lover2448 @mamacobie13 @nixdunbarhale2-blog @nixdunbarhale @beginningstofandom @will-noble-owns-my-ass

[whumpbug]

hi bug, it's tea! could i ask for 💌, 🔪, and 🌲 for Simon and Archie?

HI TEA!!! you ABSOLUTELY can ask for them!

all these questions are so fun OMG im excited to get into it. ok here we go.

💌 — romance/flirting

full disclaimer. both of these guys are kind of disasters at romance. its part of the reason they work together. its Silly.

simon. my sweet, baby, darling simon. he wouldn't know flirting if it decked him square in the face. not only is he unaware of when others are flirting with him, he is also unaware of when he is inadvertently flirting with others. unfortunately, he is Quite gorgeous, and his quiet, blunt, Mysterious demeanor has many people intrigued and attracted to him and he is completely oblivious to it. hell, he's oblivious that archie likes him that way until he straight up says it (which is a fic for the future. not yet. they are still Pining.) he's completely hopeless.

archie is similar but in the opposite way. he is so friend shaped. he sees everyone else as friend shaped too. the idea of romance doesn't even cross his mind when meeting someone, he just gets excited to meet new people. this poses a problem when he is out in the city as Vigil because. well imagine a cute, blonde, bubbly, masked Dude saves you and smiles at you in just that right way. you'd fall in love too. the problem lies in the fact that people just. declare their love to him. right to his face. and archie is just like "aw thanks so much! get home safe!" and Never sees them again. he isn't even aware it was a romantic encounter.

the two together are a seperate thing entirely. they are both painfully, ridiculously aware of their feelings for the other but have NO idea how to express it or what to do about it so they just. ignore it. try to pass it off as a really close friendship. they are fooling no one.

bonus content! their love languages:

simon: acts of service (a surprise to no one)

archie: physical touch and words of affirmation (again, who is surprised)

🔪 — melee weapons

like i mentioned in the previous post, simon isn't really well-versed in any weapons because he is a Simple Civilian Med Student. the only technical melee weapon he is good with is a kitchen knife, he can mince like nobody's business, but tell him to attack? he is fumbling. he can't fight to save his life.

archie doesn't really use weapons in his fighting style either, he focusing on disarming and incapacitating. However. he can and will use a weapon if he really needs to, and his weapons of choice are escrima sticks because theyre effective and relatively non-lethal. he is Very good with them because he practiced them a TON when he was a kid (it was a great way to relieve stress) so yeah! archie weapon lore drop!

🌲 — surviving in the wilderness

im going to answer this as if they were surviving on their own, without the other because. together would be very different.

i think simon would actually be relatively alright on his own. physically, at least. mentally is a different story. but he is a practical guy, and he was an EMT in highschool so he at least knows a lot of emergency first-aid if he were to get hurt. he's cautious, calculated, and i think he'd manage to survive for at least a few weeks on his own with his knowledge of medicine and also just. general stuff

archie would be a different story. i feel like he'd just. panic. he's used to being able to punch his way out of problems and go home to a safe, warm apartment, not being stuck in the middle of nowhere. he is a city boy, through and through. he is not made for the wilderness. he wouldn't last a day. he'd get sad, reckless, and panicked. someone get this boy out of there

thank you so much for the question tea!!!!!!!!! these were so fun especially the first one!!! i hope you enjoy!!!

[peacerisendove]

Big Ethel Energy S2 Episode 25 and 26

The best thing this comic has done so far is focus on Veronica and her blooming love life because I love to see it. It's interesting , it gets away from our annoying protagonist, it gives this comic life that doesn't seem insular.

And honestly that's what you want in a comic that is about life! You want to see the surrounding environment and what's going on because when the focus is solely on your protagonist and their problems it does get tedious especially when that protagonist appears self centered, never recognizes their own faults/wrongs, and bad mouths the people around her amongst other things.

For once something that feels extraneous and separate to Ethel and her main character life! And that is a good thing as I've mentioned!

I love something that has absolutely nothing to do with her. Ronnie is out living her life and getting interested in another man. It's very cute and wholesome how she's very into this guy without him even realizing. They're very different and it's super cute. Especially with how she genuinely wants to learn more about being more eco-friendly and not wasting.

I feel like these bit are trying to maker Veronica come off as rude, but I don't see it that way. She feels professional and focused, even though she really wants to get to know more about Gilbert.

Aaaaaand back to Big Ethel Drama we are.

Honestly, Betty's reaction is exaggerated. Someone else has a crush on the guy you like and said guy said no to you before? You deal with that kind of thing.

You don't own Seth.

Ethel is in a relationship and isn't going after Seth. She has a crush, but she's not going to currently act on it.

The only person Betty can be reasonably upset with is either Seth for rejecting (because it always hurts when the guy you like doesn't like you back) or herself. It's unreasonably to be mad at Ethel for something she can't control, but also isn't even a thing. She's making a mountain out of molehill and her response is exaggerated.

Though honestly, lets look at the comic, Betty has had a lot of time to be upset over Seth not liking her back, so her being mad even now is ridiculous in my opinion. She is rejected by Seth in S1 Episode Episode 50. I'm assuming it is around fall because Ethel states she was away on Holiday at the start of Season 2, so I think Betty's had more than a few months to process. The last time we heard about her opinion of Seth was S2 Episode 15, where she said: "I'm not angry at him anymore for not wanting to date me, but I'm still hurting a bit from his rejection".

Above Image: Season 2 Episode 15

SO which is it Betty? Why do you feel so goddamn attached and possessive of a man who has no interest in dating you and who we barely see you interacting with??

And even if it's just the rejection hurting her, that gives you not right or reason to bite your friend's head off for JUST HAVING A CRUSH when she is ALREADY IN A RELATIONSHIP AND PROBABLY WON'T ACT ON IT. Betty is fueling her own fears and anxieties and that's her own fault. It's honestly just ridiculous to watch as well.

This little reaction makes her seem really entitled and childish overall, which are aspects I don't associate with the general idea of Betty's character in the Archie Universe (essentially the concept of Betty over all as someone who's read the old comics).

-sigh- Man, I know this misunderstanding is going to blow up in Ethel's face and I genuinely feel bad for her in this instance.

Episode 26

OKAY NOW I CAN GET INTO THIS.

GIRL NOT EVERYTHING IS ABOUT YOU. YOU'VE HAD SO LONG TO PROCESS YOUR FEELINGS. This is only your issue no one else's. It's truly so embarrassing and ridiculous to watch this go down.

Why is almost everyone in in this comic is so terrible? It's not even a reasonable sort of terrible you know? Yeah people get angry but it feels like drama for drama's sake.

NO YOU FUCKING DIDN'T DUMBASS. I HAVE THE RECEIPTS. FUCKING SETH POINTED THAT OUT TO YOU, YOU CALLED IT MANSPLAINING AFTER HE REJECTED YOU.

Above: Season 1 Episode 50 (read left to right)

Betty: "I'm sure he knew."

GIRL. Do not put the blame on him. Even if he knew. He also clearly knew it was inappropriate, so he politely ignored or dissuaded you from it. This is not about feelings. It's about what is proper. He didn't want to take advantage of you and so he didn't.

UGH SHE'S BEING BITCHY AND SHALLOW AND POKING AT ETHEL'S RELATIONSHIP, WHICH SHE KNOWS AS HE FRIEND IS A GENERAL SORE POINT, BECAUSE SHE DOESN'T HAVE ONE. How shallow can you get? Even as a friend I wouldn't do that.

I'm rolling my eyes ya'll. The pettiness. The idiocy of her reaction. Please go read a better comic than this.

Why do we keep blaming people who don't deserve it? First it's Jughead now it's Seth. When and where will it end? Also crying? Seriously? How are you not pissed the fuck off? I'm pissed the fuck off and I barely like you as a protagonist. Where are the actual fights in these friendships??? All it is is crying and yelling.

Seth didn't drive a wedge between you two. You continue to not want to take responsibility or accountability, and honestly neither does Betty now that I think about it. That and what drove a wedge between you two is Betty's stupid reaction to something should have dealt with months ago. It's probably been a whole season! It's spring right now I think! Get over it! He doesn't like you!

Goddammit. We almost have a voice of reason. He's right on the first part. It's not her fault, but we really need to stop propping up Ethel on a goddam pedestal. It's infuriating.

She's not right!!!!!!!

OH MY GOD.

YOU CAN SETH'S NAME A THOUSAND TIMES BUT IT'S LITERALLY NOT HIS FAULT. I am begging the author to get an editor or something. I'm begging. This is ridiculous.

(I am so upset that I hit the image limit of 30 I want you guys to see my upset Jughead reactions.)

Me too Seth. Me too. I know she's over correcting and being so FUCKING STUPID.

...

WHAT THE UTTER FUCK!!!!! YOU'RE SO FUCKING STUPID. I HATE YOU. YOU LITERALLY DID THIS WITH JUGHEAD!

GROW THE FUCK UP.

TAKE SOME GODDAMN ACCOUNTABILITY FOR YOUR ACTIONS IN YOU GODDAMN LIFE.

YOU ARE NOT SPECIAL. YOU DO NOT DESERVE TO BE ON A PEDESTAL. YOU DO NOT DESERVE TO BE A FUCKING PROTAGONIST OF A SERIES WITH THIS KIND OF WRITING.

SETH DID ABSOLUTELY NOTHING WRONG. YOU'RE MAD!!!

[don-daygamerz]

Cute Interruption

Ben Barnes x Reader (Family AU)

Requested by: anonymous

Request: So imagine that he's during the online interview let's say with SaB cast. And during his speech (with camera on) they see a glimpse of a woman or hear a baby's laugh sth like this, and then they're like "What was that Ben?" and you know his eyes went wide cause he knows that they know 😂 ❤

Alternate version: Little Web Guest

Warnings: none

Word count: 2.2K

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All was set for the man of the hour. His camera was well focused and audio clear. It would be like an ordinary facetime chat only with more people and live streamed to a broad audience from around the globe. Was he nervous? A little but he was in the comfort of his home and his family would be here supporting him from the living room while he was in his office. So he was good.

“You ever miss doing the interviews in person?” (Name) asked as she gently bounced their baby girl.

“Sometimes but I’m happy to do it from home these days. I get to be with the people I love,” he endearingly said to his wife as he threw his hands in a gesture to pass him the baby he helped create.

“And I get to be here all day, every day, with this stinky little bugger,” the baby girl laughed at the silly face her daddy pulled which caused her to stretch one of her chubby hands to grab his nose. In doing so, Ben kissed his baby girl’s little hand before she went to cutely scrunch his nose.

“You happy daddy’s home?” his little girl kept smiling and giggling. “My darling, Eleanor.” Eleanor Tricia Barnes was the name bestowed upon the dark and starry-eyed child of the Barnes family that was gifted to them. She was their true pride and joy all since she was conceived.

“Yeah of course you are. Who wouldn’t be?” he teased. (Name) just rolled her eyes playfully at him.

“Mwah!” he then gave an exaggerated kiss on his daughter’s cherub cheeks, “Daddy loves you so much! You cannot imagine how much!” Ellie laughed as he began to tickle her tummy. “I can’t get enough of how you dressed our little starlight,” he continued as he gestured to the baby’s clothing. Their little one was dressed in a dark custom baby grow with printed silver antlers encasing writings in white font at the front saying, ‘Little Darkling’.

“I couldn’t help myself!” (Name) exclaimed in excitement. “It suits her.”

“It really does,” he smiled at that and their daughter just cooed, bringing smiles to the parents’ faces. His wife had been very vocal about how proud she was of him for landing a unique role (just like his previous roles).

In fact, she was obsessed with his character. Who wouldn’t obsess with such a dashing villainous character with a dark personality and a penchant for power and destruction? He found it adorable how his little wife obsessed over his character.

“Sometimes, I think you love the Darkling more than me,” he teased one time before. “No, I do not!” she quickly denied but Ben was not convinced by how smug he looked even though he was teasing her. “I just can’t help but admire my husband’s magnificent talent in acting, that’s all.” She said it ever so flamboyantly that it caused her husband to laugh at her ridiculous antics but gently so as to not interrupt his baby’s feeding time.

“Nice save on that one,” he said as he bottle-fed their dark-haired angel in his arms.

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The interview began a moment later. Ben was immediately absorbed into his work of listening and answering fan questions diligently just like the rest of his co-stars (now close friends); Jessie, Archie, Freddy, Amita, and Kit as well as the addition of a special guest, creator/executive producer, Leigh Bardugo.

(Name) was occupied with folding the laundry on the couch while looking after her daughter who was laying on her stomach on the play mat gnawing the ear of her stuffed elephant that was gifted to her by her nana. Gosh, she was so adorable.

An interruption rang from the front door as the doorbell sounded off. (Name) looked away momentarily from the baby girl minding her own business towards the main entrance door wondering who it could be. Well, she could check for a quick moment since she felt confident that little Eleanor would not leave the play mat. So off she went to tend to the matter at the main entrance. It had only been a package delivery. She had placed her signature and received the package from the delivery guy.

But as soon as she returned to the living room, her child no longer occupied the soft play mat. She silently freaked out and looked around for the runaway. ‘She couldn’t have gone far,’ (Name) thought to herself. The mother had only been gone for a measly 2 minutes. Eleanor was not anywhere in the living room, the kitchen, or the dining area. Panic was starting to rise in her body and negative thoughts flooded her mind. ‘Oh shit! I am such a bad mom! I should have put her in the bouncer and strapped her in. But I didn’t think she would really run off!!’

Her near meltdown faded away once she heard her baby’s laughter down the hallway that led to Ben’s office. She laughed in utter relief and rushed to Ellie’s location. She saw the little Barnes cutely crawling down the hall; her diapered tush wiggling as she babbled and harrumphed.

“Now where do you think you’re running off to, starlight?” (Name) chuckled as she walked to her rebel of a child. Ellie stopped and turned to her beloved ‘mama’ and smiled as if she didn’t commit a felony. “Ah, ah. Don’t play coy with me, you little rascal.” Unbeknownst to them, Ellie had stopped her ‘running’ and stopped at her father’s office door… which was left ajar.

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“How has everyone adjusted to the ongoing pandemic?” the interviewer asked the cast members. Some answered with sentences like:

“We were lucky to wrap up season one by the time quarantine began and get home safely…” the writer announced to everyone.

“Right now, I’d say for everyone we’re just chillaxing with the addition of disinfecting,” Kit joked making everyone laugh.

“So true,” Jessie chimed in.

“Yes, it caused quite a panic for us since we worried for our families and friends,” Freddy commented which everyone agreed to.

“I understand some of you guys are parents as well. Was it Archie and Ben?”

“Yes.” “Yeah.” They both replied at the same time.

“I apologize for this being too personal and late but I wanted to congratulate Archie and Ben on being fathers,” the interviewer complimented them which caused the two men to smile shyly and bashfully. Everyone in the chat applauded ‘softly’ and some whopped in cheer.

“How are the little ones?” Amita asked her friends.

“So great.”- Archie

“Wonderful.” - Ben

“Totally kicking my ass.” – Archie

“Ha ha ha ha ha!” laughed everyone including the interviewer.

“Can’t disagree with that statement,” Ben said to his co-star.

“Fans can’t get enough of how the show’s two rivals are now fathers. Both of you have baby girls, right?”

Ben and Archie said ‘yes’ and introduced their names.

“Iris”

“Eleanor”

“Such lovely names!” The men smiled then thanked the interviewer.

“Alright, then what can we expect from the next seaso- ” their interviewer got interrupted by a series of giggles belonging to a baby, that came from behind Ben through the gaping door to his office. Ben was using his MacBook and was seated not too far from the door in case his wife needed him.

“What was that?” Freddy barely completed his sentence as he could feel himself chuckling. Archie himself knew what that sound was as he himself was familiar with the sound of a baby’s laughter.

They heard the giggles again and a faint sound of a woman playfully scolding them. Ben half covered his face with his hand but it was evident to everyone including the viewers that he was smiling as well as chuckling from how his shoulders shook.

“You’re such a troublemaker, huh? But you’re my troublemaker,” the woman continued to say.

The webcam showed how Ben’s eyes directed towards the sound with a look of happiness.

“Was that Baby Barnes?” Kit asked in mock shock and playfulness. The comment section started going crazy, heating up with so many questions and sweet messages regarding Ben’s baby.

Omg! I heard Ben’s baby!!!🥰🥰🥰🥰

Special guest Eleanor Barnes💫

Please let Baby Barnes join the chat!

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️💘

💕Has to be adorable if her daddy is 🥵Ben Barnes😎

Love how Ben is all smiles when it’s about his daughter!!

👶👶👶🥰🥰🥰😍😍😍

“Aww she sounds adorable,” Amita cooed.

(Name) then poked her head out the door which gave the cast and viewers a brief glimpse of her figure or rather face. She leaned slightly so she could keep her daughter out of the camera’s view. One of the things Ben and (Name) prioritized was safeguarding their daughter from social media.

“Sorry, love. She ran off,” she apologized guiltily for having to interrupt Ben’s work. But her husband dismissed it. “It’s fine. How’s the little one?”

“She’s good. Our mischief-maker ran off without me looking,” she stopped as she felt their daughter get antsy which signaled that it was her feeding time. A small chubby hand pulled at her hair and played with the strands. Ben laughed when he heard what his daughter had done.

“Is that (Name)? Hi, (Name)!” Jessie called out excitedly. Since Ben and Jessie began working together it brought (Name) and the young actress close together and become really good friends. She had also become a really good aunt to their darling Eleanor.

“Oh Jessie says ‘hi’” Ben pointed out to his screen.

“Oh…Oh! They can see me?! I’m so sorry for interrupting! Hi Jessie darling! Hi everyone! I’m gonna go now! Love you!” And immediately (Name) went off and closed the door shut in case the little rebel ran off to her father’s office. Ben’s co-stars sent their greetings as well before she dashed off.

Ben blew her kiss and waved her. “Love you too.”

“Wow that was an unexpected but cute interruption,” Kit announced out of the blue. His statement caused everyone including their audience to crack up.

“It really was cute!” Leigh smiled.

“Now I’m starting to wish my daughter interrupted me, aah,” Archie joked. He as a father understood that there is no such thing as privacy but it was not at all a bad thing. Not at all. It was like a wonderful surprise. Laughter just kept ringing through the web chat.

“That was really nice, wasn’t it?” Amita asked them. “It really lightened up the mood. I love it.”

“Yeah! Ben should have his kid screeching more often!” Freddy offered jokingly.

“Screeching?!” Ben exclaimed in mock shock, “I’ll have you know, Mr. Carter. That my daughter is blessed with the voice of an angel.” He added that bit in a serious tone.

Their laughter and bantering nearly took up most of the online interview but it brought out the good in these people. The audience was eating everything up and savoring how sweet Ben and (Name) were to each other.

“Sadly, that is all the time we have, thank you so much to our panel and to everyone at home watching. Can’t wait to see the next season of Shadow and Bone. You can keep up with Shadow and Bone on their official Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram pages. Thank you!”

The cast and the creator bid each other farewell and returned to their daily lives. Ben closed his laptop and left his office to return to his family. He saw (Name) feeding their daughter what looked like banana puree. Eleanor was strapped in the high chair diligently eating but paused when she noticed her father coming her way. The girl began to swing her legs in excitement and reached out her palms to him.

Ben laughed as he rushed to his baby’s side as if he was impatient. He rubbed his thumbs on her chubby cheeks and then placed a long loving kiss on her dark downy head. Eleanor cooed so adorably at Ben and gave a gummy smile.

“How was the interview?” (Name) asked her husband who now began wiping away the drool and puree around his baby girl’s mouth.

“Was really good, actually. We had an amazing laugh and exchange of banter. They loved how you disrupted our interview.” He smiled at the last sentence.

“I’m really sorry! I never meant to interfere, babe. Really.” (Name) felt so guilty for causing a scene.

“It’s alright,” he reassured her by wrapping her in his arms. “In fact, you were amazing. Everybody in the chat thought you were cute.”

“I don’t if I should be happy or embarrassed,” she muttered unsure.

“It’s good, darling.”

Ben and (Name) looked at each other deeply and leaned in for a passionate kiss. (Name) could never get enough of her husband’s kisses. The way their lips melded like two long-lost lovers on their honeymoon (corny, I know). The kiss didn’t last long as they were interrupted by a loud babble and cry.

The couple looked to the little one who stared at them in pure wonder before laughing at the two as if they did a funny bit. This caused the mom and dad to laugh as well at their daughter’s silly antics. “Looks like Ellie is developing a knack for interrupting people. You really are a mischief-maker,” Ben teased.

The Barnes household was always filled with laughter, joy, and love. Now more than ever, Ben and (Name) made it their goal to protect their child from the virus that had taken over the world.

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Author's note:

Man... did this take forever but I'm glad that I managed to finish this fic. I have apologized for one too many times for the delay in my work but it's gotten difficult to find the motivation to keep writing. But now my inspiration is back and I no longer have writer's block. There will be an alternate fic to this one coming soon, very soon actually. It is similar but very different. I wrote it in my own vision but it will be a gift to the anonymous user who requested this current Ben Barnes fic.

So to the anonymous, I apologize for making you wait and in addition, there will be another fic coming soon. Hope you enjoy this one-shot. Thank you to everyone who has loved and supported my work.

Taglist:

@lokimischrf @s0-theking @s1xthirty @maggie-pottah @itzzzzcookie @mandybug39 @enchantingeggslimepeanut @nana-licious @fangirlfree @rheathesimp @darlingangel-17 @edithsvoice @chrisevansmarvelmcu @calimoi @lovesssss @esther334

[hwrryscherry]

The one where Y/N is a princess.

characters: HARRYxPRINCESSY/N

blurb: Y/N is the youngest daughter of Prince Charles and Princess Diana which makes herself the youngest sister of William and Harry(the duke of Sussex). Harry(Styles) and she meet at the Dunkirk premiere when Y/N attended with her brother Harry. This time, Harry(Styles) is in London and show Princess Y/N what it feels like to be just a girl called ‘’Y/N’’ for a day.

word count: 2.4K

warnings: fluff, a little sad in the end.

author’s note: I received a request about Y/N being a heiress and my mind just go directly to royalty so I guess this could be cool? I tried lol. If you’re british and you felt ofended by any way while reading this I’m extremely sorry!!!! I hope you guys like it as much as I do. And also, I just wanted to share that I wrote this listening to ‘’Ophelia’’ by The Lumineers and ‘’The Book of You & I’’ by Alec Benjamin. 

    You and Harry scheduled to meet in the British Museum situated in the Bloomsbury area of London even though it was a public space, it wouldn’t be a surprise as people already knew that you and harry new each other. You both met on the Dunkirk premiere which you attended together with your brother Harry. Harry(Styles) was such a gentleman, he actually were nervous. As a British man he respects the royal family as much possibler than he can, and he would never want to make neither you nor your brother to feel uncomfortable.

    But anyway, you both scheduled there because Harry had been in England for a while and as you stayed friends it just felt right to meet up. You actually felt really tired, emotionally tired. You were so used to traveling the most amazing places with friends and now being basically locked up at The Buckingham Palace because of the corona virus felt draining for you. So when Harry came up with the meeting you were so glad to finally be leaving home, and Harry has always been the type of person who you felt like you could talk openly and be exactly who you want to be, and we don’t even have to say that the British museum it’s probably one of your favorite places in London. You were enamored by art, and there were so many interesting things in there and every time you’ll go there you’d find something new.

  It was 9am and the museum it’s actually closed now but you did have some perks. You were in the Egyptian part accompanied by your bodyguard Jasper, when you suddenly listened the rough voice of you dearly friend coming closer to you making you turn yourself to look at him getting closer. He greeted you with a simple hug in which you reciprocated by opening a slight smile looking at him.

— Hello, darling — Harry said while using his hands to style his short and messy hair with a smile on his face. — How are you?

— Hi, I’ve been good, just tired! But what about you? — You asked as you both started to walk through the beautiful masterpieces — How’s your mom and Gemma? — You had that really strong British accent, which Harry understood completly, and he really likes it. He thinks it’s the cutest thing. Actually, Harry thought everything about you were extremely cute, you both have a little crush on each other but as you already told him a lot of times before, just the thought of how many things he’d have to leave for because of the royal regulation made you sad for him. You’d never ask him for something like that.

— They’re good but... — Harry stopped walking looking fixedly to your face trying to analyze your emotions by their expressions — Why are you tired? I mean, I understand it must be really bad living in a castle but anyway, what happened? — Harry said smirking at you and your reaction of laughing and rolling your eyes at him.

— Haha, really funny! You should be a humorist — You answered mocking a bit and running your right hand through your hair as you started walking again — And I asked you how were you, you won’t answer? I’ll lock you in the dungeon for your audacity! — You both always joked like this because when you first started being friends, Harry had all that idea about the old royalty with dungeons and prisoners so you’d always make fun of him for that.

— Alright, alright! I'm good, they're good, we're all good. Now, tell me! — Harry said putting his right hand slightly on your shoulder making you stop walking and look at him with all your attention. You sighed trying to form your words to explain exactly what you were feeling to him.

— I don't know, I'm just... I'm so tired of the routine, you know? I wish I could just go out to do the craziest things and not be recognized. — You were looking straight to Harry's green eyes, it felt like they were watching your soul because e was giving you his full atention. The boy really did care about you. He stayes quiet for a while in complete silence, it was a comfortable silence though. It never felt like you and Harry needed to talk all the time when you got together because it was nice just to stay together and enjoy each other's company.

— Let me take you out! — Harry suddenly said after a few seconds making your eyes widen up as you looked at him.

— Excuse me? — You asked.

— Let me take you out! We can put on some disguises and take the best London tour we can find, I bet you've never done it! — Harry said with a little smirk in the end. He was right, you never took a tour through your own city which seems crazy — You know... I really like you and if you wanna have fun this could be great! You'll be just a girl called Y/N and I'll be just a boy called Harry. — He said trying to argue with your thoughts thinking if this would actually be a good thing to do. But you didn't really have anything to lose, did you? — So, do you wanna do a bunch of fun things with me today? — Harry held out his right hand to you indicating that as soon as you shake his hand you would leave that museum and probably have the best day of your life, and so you did.

So as soon as you could, you both were out of that museum with the most ridiculous disguises, if I might say. Harry changed his fashionable clothes for some neutral grey hoodie and you changed your cute black dress to a jeans and hoodie as well. Your heart raced a bit when you both left that museum, the fear of being recognized was in you. It's not that you don't love the people of this nation, it's just... a day off could fit you pretty well.

It was hard to convince Jasper to leave you both alone though, it was his job to keep you safe and actually you don't even remember the last time you left your home without him, you just needed freedom for a while but you did convince him. He spent some minutes actually talking to Harry tons of rules about keeping both of you safe and how he couldn't risk your life and all that stuffs.

For the first time in your life, you were on those big, red and popular British bus. You and Harry entered by the back door and within minutes, you both were on the upon side of it on the last chairs. You looked through the window admiring this city and thinking about how much you would never want to live anywhere else. Harry was making a lot of dad jokes beside you though. You tried to laugh as lowly as you could but it was almost impossible, come on “What's the name of a man with a rubber toe? Roberto” it's so bad that it turns out to be funny. But anyway, the bus took both of us to King Cross where you entered a very popular fast-food place called “Five Guys” as Harry guaranteed you was the best he'd ever had and even though you'd doubted it so much, you agreed to go with him. When you were there, you ordered the biggest burger it had on the menu, which actually surprised Harry, but he surprised it too as he ordered it on the name of “Archie and Eleanor” so you could maintain your disguise.

— So.. Archie and Eleanor? — You asked smirking when you finally took the first bite of your burger. It was delicious but Harry was definitely lying, this is not the best one ever, but yep, all for the experience.

— Come on, you loved it! It's very charming, don't you think? — Harry asked as he took a sip of his coca-cola. It's crazy how these stupid disguises was working, is it really that impossible to recognize someone with a hoodie, cap and sunglasses? You didn't want to know because you were having a nice time.

— You know what, I think we need to get those Chinese cookies because I wanna read my luck! — You commented making him shook his head in reaction to your ask.

— Ok so we need to dinner Chinese food so bad! — You argued taking Harry from surprise as he didn't thought you'd stay this late with him.

— You'd have to buy actual Chinese food, you can't just buy the cookie! — He answered raising his eyebrows at you taking his last bite of his burger.

It didn't take much long for you both to be moving again. It was definitely the best day you've had in a while. You both went to Kensigton High Street and bought the most stupid UK theme hats. Harry bought a fake glasses too; it was blue and had a UK flag handed on it making you laugh every time you looked at his face.

— Come on, I still look cute! — He said putting his hands on his hips and posing like a model, on the middle of the street.

— If you say so!

Next you both went all your way up to Abbey Road which is the famous street from The Beatles photo, and you and Harry as the great fans you are had to copy them. You asked to a random person to take a photo of you two with the best American accent you could impersonate to her. The photo looked so cool and a car almost hit you two but you were fine and for some reason you both laughed and ran to the woman with your phone.

— Oh, to be drunk in love! You both are a really cute couple. — The old lady said giving your phone back to you and walked away before any of you could contest her. You both looked at each other and Harry smirked at you.

— Oh, we're such a cute couple! — Harry said blinking his eyes on a very cute way and you just rolled your eyes at him and started walking again.

— Come on, Styles! I wanna go to the Queen's Gallery — You said walking your way up to the bus stop. Harry had a big smile on his face, he didn't remember the last time he actually had that much fun. He loved England. He loved those places and he loved having this much fun with you.

In the Queen's Gallery, you and Harry tried to not make that much of a noise, it was a museum right? But it felt hard to keep it quiet because you both were taking the weirdest and funniest photos with the arts in there, for a moment you even thought you both were going to be expulsed of the location, but you didn't. None of you realized how much the time was flying and it was probably 3 pm now.

The next step was the Columbia Road Flower Market. It was probably the coolest thing of your day. You both ran around taking a lot of photos and videos. You bought one of the most delicious breads in there. You were looking at some flowers when Harry came back to you with a bunch of pink tulips on his hand, it was your favorite flowers and he knew it.

You both went to so many places actually; you went to HMS Belfast, Battersea Park, Albert Memorial, Old Spiralfields Market, Serpentine Lake, Carnaby Street and Holland Park.

When it was closer to the sunset, you went to Princess Diana Memorial Garden. It was a hard place for you. It has always been and Harry even asked if you really wanted to go there, but you did. You needed to sit down for a moment on your life and miss your mom. You were little when she died so you're probably the only one of your brothers that remember her the least.

You both lied down on the grass. It had a fresh breeze in the air, but the sun was still out, it was that golden hour moment. You rested your head on Harry's thorax looking up to the sunset orange sky above you.

— You know this can be great... If we're willing to try! — Harry said in a very low tone. He was caressing your hair with his hand analysing your face, so he could get any reaction for you.

— It would be for a while. — You said sitting up to look at his face, your faces were a few inches apart, the golden coloration on his face giving him the glow he did have naturally — But what would happen 3 years from now when someone tells you that you couldn't perform anymore? Or you couldn't release your songs? It's not right, I can't ask you this! — Harry looked away for a moment, probably trying to contain his emotions and think, just think — But we have today, we have now. Maybe we should just enjoy what we have now!

He looked back at you, directly into your eyes and again, comfortable silence. The comfortable silence Harry thought was so overrated felt right any time he was with you. He put himself closer to you if that even it's possible. His ring handed touched your cheek, eyes never distracting, you leaned in and your lips touched his. It felt magical, it felt quiet and it felt right.

The sun was out now, bringing the night and the sky full of stars. You both were by The Mall avenue, running, and dancing to the song playing backwards; it was Ophelia by the Lumineers, after that day, this song was your song and any time any of you listened to it, each other was brought up to your minds. You called it a night when you both were by the top of the London Eye, where all the big lights inspired you. When the cold breeze hit your hair and the height scared you but Harry made you feel safe.

Harry dropped you off at the castle's gate at midnight, just as he promised. You stayed by the balcony of your room until the sunrise looking at the sky because you knew that Harry was on the other side looking at the sky too thinking about how you'd never get to finish the book of you and him, and if you weren't faded to end together at least you had today.

[the-bee-graveyard]

Congrats on 100 followers!!! How about kitty?

Thank you Fae ❤️

I’m sorry this took so long, I’m lazy

Requests are still open, go here for more details

Alright I call this one Windows, it’s inspired by the scene in Riverdale where Kevin and Betty are talking about Archie because it’s the one thing I remember about that show and it fits:

Twin sisters can be a lot of things. They can be best friends, forever companions. They can also be clingy, and nosy, and they can scare the shit out of you when they sneak into your room unannounced and you look up from looking out your window to see her standing next to you smiling like she was about to commit a murder.

“Shit Livvy!” Ty exclaimed, jumping back. His cat, Irene, hissed and leaped off his bed, coming to rub herself up against Livvy.

“What are we looking at?” Livvy asked, punching Ty on the arm playfully. It didn’t hurt but he flinched, and she moved herself to make sure she wasn’t touching him.

“Nothing,” Ty said quickly, trying to think of a way to close the blinds on his window without Livvy noticing. As if she could read his mind Livvy looked out the window and let out a loud gasp.

“Oh my god,” she exclaimed. “Kit got hot.”

Kit Herondale had been their neighbor since the fifth grade when the nice couple next door Tessa and Jem adopted him. He’d been friends with the Blackthorn’s since the sixth. Ty had a huge crush on him since the seventh, Livvy found out about it in the eighth, Kit went to visit family in England at the end of the ninth for the summer, and now they were all back here at the beginning of tenth grade, Kit looking like a whole Greek god.

Ty peeled out the window again. Kit had his window open (he always did) and he sat on his bed shirtless, looking down at his phone. He looked up for a second and Livvy waved. Kit smiles and waved back before looking down at his phone again.

“What the fuck are you doing?” Ty hissed. “Now he’s going to know we were watching him, and he’s going to think we’re creeps, and he’s going to tell everyone we’re creeps, and we’ll forever be known as the creepy stalker twins next door.”

“Can’t be worse than Mark being known as ‘strawberry boy’,” Livvy shrugged, referring to when their older brother went to a restaurant and ordered a plate of strawberries.

“It’s a lot worse than strawberry boy.”

“None of that is going to happen, I was just waving hello. We’ve all waved below a hundred times from this window. You need to calm down.” Ty fought the urge to throw a shoe at his sister. Calm down? How the hell was he supposed to calm down? Why don’t they all just start freaking meditating, because apparently, he was the one who needed to calm down. “He stares at you to you know, which means two things. One, the two of you need to start closing your blinds. Two, he totally likes you back.” Ty blushed.

“No he doesn’t,” Ty said. “Now promise me you won’t get involved.” Livvy stayed silent. “Livia Blackthorn, promise me.”

“Fine, fine,” Livvy sighed. “I promise.” 

“Good,” Ty said cheerily, off to go find his bee plushie before bed, he’d let Tavvy borrow it, and Tavvy had a horrible habit of not returning things to their rightful spot.

*Time jump to the morning*

“Ty, please get the door!” His mother, Eleanor called (Author’s Note: Eleanor’s alive because I said so) Ty opened their from door to reveal Kit standing there, a grin that should look ridiculous plastered on his face, but Ty found it cute.

“How’s my favorite Blackthorn doing?” Kit asked.

“I’m doing great, thanks for asking Christopher,” Ty’s little sister, Dru said as she walked by them. 

“I see you still have an attitude problem,” Kit said.

“How was England?” Dru asked. “Are you as big an asshole to the British as you are to the Americans?”

“Drusilla Blackthorn, we don’t fucking swear in my damn house.” Kit gave a dramatic gasp. Ty was pretty sure he was being sarcastic, Kit was good at that. “Shit! And yes, Christopher Jonathan Herondale doesn't discriminate, he’s an asshole to all.”

“I don’t think you’re an asshole,” Ty frowned, making Kit’s smile widened. He lost the frown, it was hard to frown when Kit smiled like that. Ty cursed his heart slamming in his chest, he swore everyone else could hear it. 

“Is Livvy walking with us?” Kit asked. They’d agreed before Kit left that summer to walk together for the first day of school, and Ty was touched Kit didn’t forget. He certainly hadn’t, he’d been waiting every day since Kit left to see him again.

“Livvy will not be walking to school with you,” Livvy said from the stairs. “Livvy’s getting a ride with Julian and Emma, it’s too hot to walk. Livvy will also stop talking it the third person, it’s fucking annoying.” Bullshit, Ty thought. Livvy’d rather walk through the desert than ride with Julian and Emma, she always complained about their obnoxious amount of PDA. And if Livvy went with Julian and Emma then he’d be stuck all alone with Kit and things would get awkward and Kit would find out about Ty’s crush and he’d hate Ty and Ty would have to flee the country to avoid seeing him every day.

Ty was about to tell his sister to suck it up and grab her backpack when his mother walked into the room. “Kit! Hello!” Eleanor said, waving enthusiastically with one hand, the other hand fiddling with a pipe cleaner. 

“Hi Mrs. Bla- Eleanor,” Kit said. Eleanor insisted no one called her Mrs. Blackthorn, she said it sounded too formal and it made her feel old.

“I just came to tell you to have a good first day Ty,” Eleanor said. She came over a kissed her son on the forehead, slipping his fidget toy in his pocket quickly before heading back to the kitchen. “I love you!” She called.

“Should we get going then?” Kit asked. Ty nodded and wrapped his backpack, putting his hands in his pockets so they wouldn’t flap so much. Kit said it many times before he liked it when Ty flapped his hands, but Ty was just used to hiding it. 

“I thought of you all summer,” Kit said as soon as they walked far from the Blackthorn house. “I missed you so much. You’re so much better than Tessa’s Aunt Harriet.”

“At least you got to go abroad,” Ty sighed. “All I got was listening to Livvy complain about the heat and Dru ranting about the new season of some horror show she watches.”

“Mark and Helen came home though, didn’t he?” Mark went to college in New York with his boyfriend Kieran and girlfriend Cristina, and Helen and her wife Aline both had high paying jobs as lawyers in New York too,

“Yeah, Helen and Aline came for a week and then Mark came for two,” Ty explained. “Helen brought me a keychain for my bag, and she brought me a copy of A Study In Scarlet. Of course, I already own it, but this one was a different edition.” Ty paused. “Am I boring you?”

“Never,” Kit replied. Ty looked at the other boy and saw the other boy staring at him. Kit then whispered something, so quietly Ty almost didn’t here him, “I love you Ty, I love you.” Ty stood still, his body refusing to move. Plenty of people said I love you, but those were just words. And even if Kit did mean them, that didn’t mean he meant them in a romantic way. 

By the time Ty came out of his frozen state Kit had already turned and begun to run in the other direction. Kit was fast, but Ty was faster. He caught up to Kit in no time even though the other boy had a head start and grabbed his wrist. Kit spun around, his eyes filled with tears that hadn’t fell yet.

“Can I-” Ty asked. “Can I kiss you?”

“Of course,” Kit asked. Ty pressed his lips to Kit’s, and the kiss was everything Ty could have imagined. When they finally pulled apart Kit had the same ridiculous grin from earlier on his face.

“We’re going to be late to school,” Ty said.

“That’s all you have to say?”

“Well it’s the truth.”

“Won’t be the first time.” 

“For me it will be.”

“I forgot what a goody two-shoes you are.”

“Fuck you.” Ty took Kit’s hand and smiled as they finished their walk to school.

Maybe twin sisters weren’t so bad.

Ty’s phone buzzed.

Livvy: Get your mans bitch

He took it back, twin sisters were definitely that bad.

[orionlakehastodie]

Golden Nap Time

As always a smutty Bensie fanfic inspired by Jessie and Ben and their instagramming

WARNINGS: Semi-public sex

Jessie doesn't understand how a man can look this beautiful.

He was seated in that ridiculous golden chair in his ridiculous glasses reading a book that looked so tiny in his hands.

It's ridiculous how absolutely gorgeous he is.

It's probably why she is, as of this moment she's squirming in her seat, remembering just how last night he wore those same ridiculous glasses in bed, when he was naked and hers.

So could anyone really blame her when she plops herself down on his lap in that ridiculous golden chair and covers them both with the cape of his costume?

He startles when her arms wrap around his neck and his face buries in his chest.

"Jess, you okay?"

"I'm taking a nap."

She says it loudly for the benefit of the set designer who was looking at her with eyes as wide as saucers.

Ben's hand lands on the back of her head, and his cheek leans down to nuzzle the top of her head.

"It's okay I have you." He was so sweet she thinks. So romantic to think that all she wanted was to nap.

She closes her eyes and hums, her left hand hand sliding down his neck to his chest to settle at the edge of his pants.

He stills under her, his breath hitching in his throat as her hand cups him through his pants.

"Jessica."

He whispers low under his breath as she squeezes and shifts under his cloak to take his hand and slide it up her slit.

"My darling we're in public."

But his fingers curl against her soaked underwear anyway and she grins.

"And isn't that exciting? Continue reading my darling. Leave the rest to me."

Her hands slip under his pants, and grips him hard at the base. She slides her hand upwards to gather the precum at his tip and he hisses as her hands glide wetly down his shaft.

He sits there eyes blurring on the pages of his books as she pumps him as she innocently pretends to sleep in his chest, covered under his cloak.

He closes the book and wraps his arms tight around her, burying his face against her ear biting at it as he stiffens and stills and his spend pours over her hands.

She grins as he catches his breath and whispers in her ear "arms around me, and hold still."

His hand moves under her bum and he rises with her full weight.

He holds her tight against him and she nuzzles into his shoulder because honestly there is no where else in the world that feels as safe as Ben's shoulders.

"You guys okay?" That was Amita's voice.

Ben shifts her and whispers quietly, as if afraid to wake her. Her boyfriend. She thinks fondly. Such a great actor.

"Yeah, she's just knocked out. I'll take her to rest in the tent."

Rest. Sure. If by rest he means stuffed full of his cock, legs around his hips as he refused to pull out and grinded his hips into her as she cums then yeah sure she was going to rest.

She licks at where his neck meets his shoulder and Ben growls and walks faster to the tent.

Oh she was going to enjoy every minute of it.

---

"Okay so who's going to call them?" Freddy asks the group with a serious look on his face.

"Oh hell no. Last time I went I was met with Ben's bare ass hanging out." Archie could still remember it, clear as day, the site of Ben's pasty white ass. He thanked all the gods Jessie was not visible as he noped out of there calling for bleach for his eyes.

"I called them four times already Freddy. All of those times Jessie is screaming into high heaven. I can't have that in my ear again. I just... I cannot." Kit can still remember how Jessie screams Ben's name, that the mere sound of her calling Ben is a nightmare to him now.

"I saw dick and I saw pussy. I won't do it again." Amita grabbed his lapels and shook him.

Okay. So it was him... this time. His third time. So far he's been lucky. There have been no incidences-

"Ben? Jessie?" His voice shook as he knocked on Ben's trailer door. "It's... it's your scene."

The door squeaks as he opens it, and Lord why don't they lock their bloody door.

"Guys are you okay?"

He expected to see porn level fucking going on, instead it's just Ben, sitting on his makeup chair his finger to his mouth in the universal sign for quiet and Jessie, slumped on his lap, mouth drooling on his chest as she slept.

He smiles and nods at Ben and turns back to his friends all looking at him with gleeful expressions.

But he smirks at them and shows the cute Jessie napping on Ben photo and Archie cusses him out. "Aw fuck man, why do you never see the disgusting crap."

Amita slaps at his bicep. "I saw his balls bouncing on her butt. How do you only see the cute stuff!"

Kit just places his face in his hands and wails.

And Freddy grins. Freddy always wins. Brekker by Brekker.

[daydream-believin]

The Never-Ending Roadtrip (kmart’s haunted)

Summary: (part 1) Reader has joined Douxie on the quest for Nari’s safety. He’ll need company. (part 2) - Missouri 1     (part 3)

Warnings: swearing, very light spooky?

Word Count: 2245

A/N: so we’ve established that Doux wasn’t the one who burnt the bookstore, but they don’t know that. look, have you been in a Kmart recently? its apocalyptic. also, you know that post about people repeating their default work greetings by accident? yeah

“Do you want me to split the bill or?” The waitress asked, not sure if the group at the table was a young couple and their child or just three college kids hanging out. It was kind of hard to tell. On one hand, that one kid was so small, wearing a little deer costume, and had been helped to order. The other two radiated the energy of an old married couple and talked mainly to each other. But on the other hand, college kids are just like that sometimes.

“Nah, I got it.”

“What? No. I’m paying for us.” Douxie insisted.

“I have the cash, Doux.” (Name) turned to the waitress. She put some honey in her voice. “Just bring us one bill, please.” The waitress nodded nervously before heading off.

“No. I don’t want you paying for too many things while we’re traveling. You’re unemployed.”

“And who’s fault is that Mr. Mephits-Are-Vulnerable-To-Fire? You fucking burned down the store and put us both out of work here.” Nari was squirming at the negative vibes going on. It helped that she didn’t exactly understand what was going on.

“It was magic fire!” Douxie interjected in outrage. He looked so cute when he got defensive.

“Yeah, okay, sure.” (Name) shook her head, looking up to the ceiling. She let out a huff, “look, I invited myself onto this trip, Douxie. I want to pull my own weight. You’re going to have to let me pay for something eventually.”

“We’ll see about that, Love,” he said as he grabbed the ticket from the waitress’s hands as quick as lightning, tucked his card in and gave it right back before (Name) could further protest.

“Ugh! FINE! Then I’m getting the tip.” She pulled out a tenner and slapped it onto the table. She glared right back into Douxie’s hazel eyes. He glared right back into hers with a matched intensity. Nari looked back and forth between the two and whimpered. (Name) broke the standoff to assure Nari that they weren’t actually angry at each other so she shouldn’t be worried. That seemed to ease the forest child a bit but not by too much. She could still feel the weird aura they were putting off.

“Okay! So here’s your check back and here’s that lox bagel you ordered to go.” The waitress handed (Name) a doggy bag.

(Name) took the bag gingerly. A big fake smile spread across her face as she was momentarily possessed by that good spirit of customer service. “Thank you! I hope your experience was spellbinding! Have a magical day!” (Name) said on autopilot in that high-pitched voice and winked exaggeratedly. It was like she was an NPC and her talk button had been accidentally pushed. The waitress laughed forcibly and scurried away to the kitchen. Douxie cracked up.

“You do know that when I told you to say all that stuff after ringing people up, I was hazing you, right?”

“Oh yes, I am completely aware, Doux. Did you think I’d not pick up on how ridiculous that sounds? But I still say it to spite you.”

He shook his head. “Of course.”

***

Archie scarfed down his bagel sandwich with almost disturbing speed. It was like watching the void consume, well, a bagel sandwich. It just disappeared. Down his furry maw and out of existence. Being a dragon works up an appetite, after all. (Name) was a bit baffled and asked him if she should go get him another bagel. He assured her that the one was just fine and said something about trying to catch some birds later. She leaned back on her elbows against the boat’s railing, trying and failing to not think about the details of that.

Douxie cleared his throat. “So,” He folded his hands together for emphasis, “Since the subject of money came up earlier, I think we should also discuss the topic of our accommodations.”

“Well, you two obviously cannot afford lodging every night.” Archie snarked, flicking his tail.

“Thank you, for that, Arch. No, I was thinking more along the lines of a tent.”

“A tent?” the cat asked incredulously.

“Oh, that could work.” (Name) pointed at Douxie animatedly, “keep us close to nature for Nari. And also could keep our possible property damage bills down. Good idea, Doux.”

“Thank you,” Douxie puffed up, “see Arch? Someone appreciates my ideas-”

“Wait. That’ll be a short-term solution. We’re just barely into September. It’s going to be much, much colder in about a month. By October it’ll be too cold to bear. Even if we all huddle together like penguins.”

Doux looked away to hide his blush at the suggestion. “That is a problem. Okay, um-”

“Maybe we could just cross that bridge when we get there? Who knows what could happen between now and then. We could find so temp work in a little town somewhere.” (Name) shrugged, smirking at Doux. She didn’t want to admit that ‘we could be dead by then’ was also definitely a possibility on the table, so she tried to further distract from that thought. “Maybe we’ll find a creepy abandoned cabin in the woods we can squat in. Maybe some nice trolls will take us in as novelty pets. Maybe my rich Aunty Josie could just suddenly die under some ‘mysterious circumstances’ and leave her lavish fortune to her beloved niece,” she smirked at Doux, “I dunno, just spit ballin’ here.”

“I’m electing to ignore that you just suggested we ice your aunt because you were onto something there.”

“I was?” Her tone was a mixture of sarcasm and disbelief.

“Yes! New Jersey!

“New Jersey?” The wheels turned. “Oh! New Jersey!”

Nari looked confused. “What is special about this ‘New Jersey’?” she asked

Both Douxie and (Name) turned to her, “Trolls.” They said in sync.

***

(Name) stood there with her hands in her pockets. Somehow this Kmart was still standing, out here in The-Middle-Of-Fucking-Nowhere, Missouri. She was standing here, in a Kmart. It might as well have been 1986. There was barely anything on the shelves. Half the shelves themselves were missing. The floor had a layer of grime to it, in spite of the wet floor sign along with the shiny patches that said that it had clearly been mopped recently. The air smelled like something (Name) couldn’t quite place, but it was nostalgic. A strange scent that took her back to her childhood. Or at least she thought it was her childhood. It had to have been. Taking deep breaths, she couldn’t quite get enough of it.

Continuing that vibe, a muzak 80’s tune played over the speakers. Funny enough, despite (Name)’s brain seeming to recognize that it was playing a song from the 80’s, she just couldn’t quite put her finger on it as to which. Every time she thought she’d figured it out, she’d hear a few notes that would somehow change her mind. It was a pop song at least, to narrow it down. It’d been going on for about six minutes now. Must be one of those extended tracks.

She’d ask Douxie what he thought the song was. She turned her attention to him and noticed he was still just staring at that same shelf like he had been for, what, ten minutes now? Even though this fucking Kmart barely had any shelving in it, by some miracle it not only had exactly what they were looking for but an entire aisle of them. How lucky was that.

Douxie was taking very careful consideration into this tent purchase. This was going to be their new home, after all. He just couldn’t decide which one was best. They all had fancy camping terms on the packages that meant nothing to him. He’d been trying to decipher the code. The secret outdoorsman code. Nari shifted uncomfortably in the basket.

“Hisirdoux, you should maybe, hurry this along?” She sounded strained.

But she was right. He should just pick one already. It’s all a gamble anyway. He decided on a dark green one that boasted a water-proof material. Good natural color, not easily spotted, and it wouldn’t soak through with rain. That should work well enough, he figured.

“I’ve hurried along. Sorry Nari.” He casually tossed the box into the cart next to her. She sniffed the box and nodded to him.

Now that they had their goal item, the quest party started for the checkouts. Douxie could have sworn that it had been on the side of the store they were in. They had passed it when they came in. Now it was completely across by the other door. Did he get turned around? Or maybe they did come in from that side of the store. He actually couldn’t remember.

As they walked, a few things caught (Name)’s eye. They passed a display of dark leafy plants in oddly shaped pots, a table stacked high with various books and a clearance sign, a knife case that had been left open, a candle display with a few that had already been lit and were dripping wax, a bargain bin of CDs, and lastly a sad box of no-longer-in-season pool noodles. There was a sale on bloodmeal apparently. Perfect for perking up those roses after the summer heat.

They arrived at the checkout after what felt like an endless journey. (Name) hadn’t noticed any other customers the entire time they had been there, and yet the line for the only check open had seven people in it. She grabbed a couple bags of red licorice from the impulse shelf to add to their cart while waiting.

Nari was really interested in that checker. (Name) took her in. The teen was taller than most and had very, very long blonde hair that cascaded down her back like a shiny golden waterfall. Her cheeks were slightly sunken in. Must be going through a diet phase. Poor girl.

The young woman was obviously not one for small talk. Name couldn’t blame her. Retail sucks. Her perfect red fingernails clicked against the keys of the register in a practiced beat. She turned around and told them their total in a bored monotone. As Douxie fiddled with his wallet and payed, (Name) found herself staring right into the cashier’s eyes. They were such a light icy blue, they were almost white. It was striking. (Name) was almost in a trance. It was broken as the cashier turned around swiftly to rip off the receipt off the machine, and, in an uncharacteristically cheery voice, told them to have a nice night. Night?

They returned the cart back to the stack, grabbing their one singular shopping bag and helping Nari out. Of course Nari could easily just jump out herself, but that wouldn’t be something a human child could do. They didn’t need to draw any unnecessary attention to themselves here. They made their way to the automatic sliding doors that lagged so that they didn’t open until you were standing right in front of them. This allowed Douxie time to catch a glimpse of the reflection in the glass. The reflection of the store was completely devoid of people. Not even the checker was at her station. He sucked in a breath. After walking through those first doors, he stopped. He took a moment to turn back. There she was, right where she should be, checking out another customer with three more in the line.

Douxie hurried along the doorway to catch up to (Name) and Nari. It was darker outside than he expected, and he was taken aback. He found them right outside the store, waiting for him. In one hand, (Name) was holding Nari’s, in the other, the plastic shopping bag. Her head was tipped up to the sky, transfixed by the moon. He came over, grabbing her shoulder as he pulled her along, in an attempt to urge her away from this place. She looked back at him, eyes wide with distress. He tried to convey that he understood with his eyes. All three of them instinctually knew not to say anything more why they were still in this parking lot.

It had barely been half past noon when they had started this little Kmart side quest. It was now at least seven by the looks of it. They had spent six and a half hours in a Kmart? How had they spent six and a half hours in a Kmart. There went their entire travel day. But no time to dwell on this, they needed to get back to Archie and the boat as soon as possible.

As they walked back towards the ship, (Name) and Douxie both took one of Nari’s hands so that she was in the middle, like how those couples walk with their children. The streetlights glared up at them in the slick pavement. Apparently, it had rained while they were in shopping limbo. Poor Arch. (Name) let out a puff of air.

“Well. That sure was something.”

Douxie nervously chuckled, “If we had stayed in there any longer, I think we might have died.” (Name) mirrored that nervous chuckle.

“Oh, no, dying would be much simpler than what would have happened to us.” Nari said sweetly, like what she was saying was somehow better. Nari liked being helpful. (Name) put on her best fake smile.

“Thank you, Nari.” She tried her best to sound as sincere as possible to spare the veggie lady’s feelings.

[figurctives]

     henri was fifteen when she realized theodore was her future. 

     or more like, when she realized she didn’t have another option. the first time she had a crush on a boy it happened fast. she’d met him at her summer hagwon. he was smart and kind and always saved for henri next to him. it took weeks for her to gather up the courage to ask him out; she wanted him to be her date for a charity event her mother was hosting. it would be her first time doing so, going with a boy. but it wouldn’t be the boy from her hagwon. her mother denied her of that immediately, like it wasn’t even worth considering. oh, no, henrietta. you’ll go with theodore instead, how about that?

      the idea had seemed outlandish at first. theodore, the boy who teased her and laughed when she cried and got her in trouble. she wanted nothing to do with him, only dealt with his shenanigans because he was always around. looking back, she wants to ask her mother, don’t you think we were too young? but she hadn’t thought that back then, she hadn’t even realized yet. not until the first time turned into the second time and the third turned into the fifth. instead she’d asked her mother, why theo? there’s a boy at my hagwon i really like, why do i have to go with theo?

     her mother had brushed her fringe from her face and said, because you and theodore look so lovely together. i’m sure you’ll make him very happy. there had been no more room for arguing after that. it was settled. for almost every formal event or gala or dinner henri attended for the next five years of her life, theo was her date and vice versa. he never even asked her to be his girlfriend, but somewhere along the way they fell together. started holding hands even when they didn’t have to, going places that were more than just the events they were expected to show up to. movies, dinner, each other’s houses and dorm rooms.

      it was easy to go along with. when theo kissed her for the first time in spring four years ago, on the sidewalk in seoul under the cherry blossoms, when their classmates teased them and said, you guys are such a cute couple, and theo didn’t deny it. just laid his arm across henri’s shoulders and smirked. henri had blinked, realization dawning over her and said, thank you, because it was easy to go along with. until it wasn’t. 

      until theo’s kindness and his interest ran full circle. until henri stopped knowing how to make him laugh or smile or pay attention to her. until she realized she would only be allotted into his life based on convenience and appearances. you’re so naive, henrietta, he’d say. because he gave it up first. the idea of them together, actually together. the hope that their future would be more than cold business arrangements and familial expectations, he never held on to that very tightly. not the way that henri did, for so long. 

      but finally, she was starting to let go of it, too.

––––

      “one week suspension,” theo sneers, tossing his phone across the room. it crashes into the wall and makes henri jump. “that’s all this incompetent staff is capable of.”

      “hold still,” henri says, fingers under his chin, tilting his face towards her with one hand and a damp cloth in the other. she stands between his legs in his room, at the edge of his bed, cleaning the dried blood from his bandaged nose. he’s been at it since that afternoon two days ago, face red even after the blood was cleaned from his skin. he’s done, he’d said as the nurses flitted around him in the infirmary. he’s finished. 

      he looks a little ridiculous now, his swollen skin a watercolor canvas of bruises, his nose stint ugly and silver. 

      "they’re a bunch of greedy cowards,” he goes on. “as if leonard park’s hush money is enough to allow his vermin son to continue tarnishing st. agathe’s. he should be expelled. his younger siblings, too, they’re all nothing but bad news.”

      silence settles as henri removes the bloodied gauze from theo’s nose, his anger simmering. she does her best to hide her relief. only a suspension, and not the permanent removal theo is fighting so hard for. the thought had scared her at first, that sinclair might be sent away and not allowed to return. would these feelings still exist inside of her if that were the case? would the sound of his name stop making her heart stutter if he was no longer around? would her life go back to normal, then?

      she hasn’t been able to stop thinking about it, hasn’t been able to stop trying to figure out how it all fell apart before they were even able to learn how they fit together. i’m probably the most exciting thing that’s ever happened to you. her fingers pause where they’re wrapping a strip of gauze around itself, as the words play over in her head. as she thinks of how sinclair’s shaking hand had felt in hers as she bandaged his bruised knuckles and he told her his secrets. 

      “he’s really not that bad,” she says, quietly, as she pushes the clean gauze  gently back into theo’s nose. he hisses, pulls away to look at her, offended. 

      “you’re defending him?”

      “no,” she assures. her hand finds the back of his neck and she pulls him close again to remove the blood and bandages from the other side. “but i think it’s important to take into consideration that calvin is his best friend, and they aren’t on good terms. if calvin is really... if he and sinclair never get the chance to work things out, it would be really devastating for him.”

      henri can’t get that out of her head, either. that look in sinclair’s eyes. that desperate need for answers, the fear that theo’s words might be true. but then she thinks about the way theo’s face had sounded under his fist, and she pushes it all aside. when theo grimaces up at her and says, you’re too naive, henrietta, she can’t help but to agree. 

––––

      the week of sinclair’s absence is relatively uneventful, with the school year finally approaching its end and finals just around the corner. with both calvin and sinclair gone, campus has grown quiet.

      this time last year, there had been a list of secret parties going around, all leading up to their final day, making the last weeks before summer exciting rather than stressful. but now, it feels inappropriate. the same way st. agathe’s had gone dark in the weeks following valentina’s demise, they’re all paying their premature respects to calvin. there’s been no sign of him. no ransom letter like the police thought, no clues as to where he could have gone. nothing. people were starting to lose hope. 

      but for all the parties that aren’t happening, henri still finds herself invited to one. halfway through the week, an unexpected face stops henri at the library’s front desk. as she hands over her book to be checked out, a body leans against the counter beside her.

      “hey,” luna says, friendly smile a little awkward. “listen, my birthday is coming up, and i know this is kind of out of the blue, but i’m celebrating this weekend, and i wanted to invite you.”

      “oh,” henri says, blinking away her confusion. she can count on a single hand the conversations she’s had with luna, and she’d still have fingers left over. she has no idea why luna would want to invite her to her birthday celebrations. “i don’t, um... i don’t think-”

      “i know it’s sudden,” luna interjects. she chews at her lower lip in contemplation for a beat, before she sighs, shoulders sagging. “but here’s the thing: simon is always making fun of me for not having any friends, so when i said i wanted to celebrate, it was kind of too embarrassing to admit that he was right, so i told him to plan something and that i’d bring people, but i don’t have a lot people i can ask, so. will you come?” she clasps her fingers together. “for the sake of my pride, please?”

      there is a glaring list of pros and cons that immediately presents themselves to henri, but with luna standing right here, staring henri down and holding up the line, she knows that that list doesn’t matter: she can’t say no. her lips press into a tight smile, and she nods. “sure. i’d, uh... i’d love to.”

     really, she’d rather do anything but. because the first con on her list is enough to wash away any of the pros. sinclair is without a doubt, one hundred percent, going to be there. and as luna tells her the time and place, disappearing before henri can change her mind, a sense of dread begins to bundle in her gut. 

      but she finds herself outside of the riot house at the end of the week, anyways, knocking on the front door as the sun begins to settle low in the sky. she very pointedly does not think about the last time she’d been in this position, snow sparkling beneath the sun instead of a green, carefully manicured lawn. when the door swings open, her heart catches in her throat. she doesn’t know why she came here.

      simon stands on the other side of the threshold, a ridiculous party hat on his head, the elastic strap pressing into the skin beneath his chin. 

      “you came!” he rejoices, ushering her inside. “i didn’t believe luna when she said people actually accepted her invitations. you can be honest, she paid you to come, didn’t she?”

      “hey!” luna scolds, as henri and simon emerge from the entryway into the kitchen. to henri’s absolute surprise, leaning against the island in the middle of the room, is professor kwon. he smiles at her, and nods his head in greeting. luna continues to defend herself, like none of this is even the least bit odd. “i didn’t bribe anyone. everyone i invited said they would come, and they did.”

      “so, this is it? this is your party?” simon asks, like he can’t help but be disappointed. “two people?”

      “of course not,” luna says, emphasizing the final t. “i invited archie as well.”

[imreallyloveleee]

thoughts on 4x08

this episode is infuriating?? it’s like it taunted us with the things we’ve all wanted for years (therapy! the acknowledgment of severe trauma!) and then undercut all of them:

- Betty’s section is first, and with the way it ends up, it might make me angriest of all. Well - no, Jughead’s does that. But Betty’s sucks because Betty gets to say out loud everything that is true - that her mom lies to her, and disrespects her privacy, and tries to control her, and has inflicted years of trauma on Betty that she’ll be unpacking for the rest of her life. and it leaves off with this “shocking” revelation that Alice is all “I don’t care for GOB” about Polly, which, whatever.

but then, at the end of the episode, Alice is just...forgiven. because she said she loves Betty the most, and because she cut her a check to pay back a tiny fraction of the money she stole from Betty’s college fund and gave to a cult. what are we supposed to take away from this? that it’s okay if your parent emotionally abuses you and leaves you homeless and destroys your hopes of paying for college because they had past trauma they’ve never really dealt with, too? 

(actually yes i think this is the takeaway, because it’s the exact same takeaway as Jughead’s section, which i’ll get to later)

anyway Betty’s outfit is super cute.

- then comes Archie’s section. i feel like his is probably the best therapy session if you just look at what Mrs. Burble is saying to him, because she’s like, stop running around at night punching people. only Archie being Archie, he somehow interprets this as “move out of your house and sleep at the rec center and start an anonymous hotline you can’t actually staff so that your range for vigilante crime fighting can go even wider than the 3-block radius around your boxing gym.”

this is one of those episodes where i feel confident in my assessment that KJ is a pretty underrated actor, though. he gets the most fkn RIDICULOUS dialogue and he delivers it straight-faced and i’m like...yeah, Archie would say that with absolutely no irony. he does a good job.

also, is Archie’s entire storyline this season not a searing indictment of FP’s abilities as sheriff? it would not even exist if there was semi-competent law enforcement in town.

- my main thought about Cheryl’s section is: Mrs. Burble doesn’t understand that Cheryl is actually talking to the literal, dug-up-from-the-grave, periodically-infested-by-rats body of her dead brother...right? like, she thinks that Jason is interred in a casket that is kept in the chapel of Cheryl’s home? this is how i have always interpreted this part, because the alternative is...concerning.

i don’t know, this whole part is weird. 

- Veronica! she is so cute when she does her little jump-dance after getting into Harvard! but then she really pulls an Archie and does the exact opposite thing with Burble’s advice than she should be doing. i don’t know, I think Cami Mendes does a good job here but Veronica’s section is boring just like every Veronica storyline is boring because it’s all about her dad even when the point of it is “everything shouldn’t be about your dad”.

- finally, Jughead. oh my god, this one enrages me. forgive your abusive alcoholic gang-member dad for mistreating you and leaving you homeless and god knows what else, because he had an abusive alcoholic gang-member dad, too. Jughead feeling so guilty about how he’s treated his dad makes me way more upset than this stupid show should be able to make me. (and also...seriously, what has Jughead done to FP that’s so terrible? he was like, “I don’t want to go to this prep school” a few times and then let his dad pressure him into it anyway. is that the terrible behavior he’s feeling so guilty about?)

this one is also confusing because Jughead goes into fast-talk-conspiracy-theory mode, and we are supposed to see it as such, but then...he’s also right? about everything? his conspiracy theory based on very little evidence is actually literally what happened? WHAT IS THE POINT OF THIS?

i like the bit with him taking all the candy.

- there’s also a cute moment at the end where Betty is reading something Jug wrote, and she thinks it’s brilliant of course because love has blinded her, and then he shows her his google research and we are introduced to the genius that is author and Stonewall alumni Charles Chickens. 

- idk i was really enjoying s4 for a while and now all the storylines seem to be mostly petering out into endless repetition and i can’t even remember what comes next. good times!! there’s a musical episode this season, right?

[elizabeethan]

Now Belongs To You

The final installment of It’s About Bloody Time

Find the rest of the series on Ao3 or Tumblr

Summary: Emma liked being pregnant in the winter. She often finds herself boiling, so she welcomed the cold Maine air to cool her down. Now that it’s late-April and she’s almost 35-weeks pregnant, though, she’s a bit miserable. 

A/N: Thank you so much to everyone who has given this monster a chance! I so didn’t anticipate a quick smutty one shot to grow into a 52k word beast. Keep an eye out for additions; I have about 4 or 5 extras that I want to include in this universe and I’m not opposed to prompts

Emma liked being pregnant in the winter. She often finds herself boiling, so she welcomed the cold Maine air to cool her down. Now that it’s late-April and she’s almost 35-weeks pregnant, though, she’s a bit miserable.

April in Maine shouldn’t be this hot. In fact, it isn’t very hot. There was still snow on the ground a week ago. Killian still wears his long leather pants, button downs, and leather jackets every day and never complains of the heat. Her mother is still wearing sweaters and thick tights. She hasn’t seen her dad in short sleeves since last August. But here Emma lies in their living room—no, in Killian’s living room—in a black maternity cami and workout shorts with a tower fan pointed directly at her.

She isn’t sure how she’ll survive the next 5 weeks if the temperature keeps rising. Someone should do something about that.

She told Killian that she would finally pick out an accent color for the baby’s room today while he was out with David picking up the crib, but she can’t seem to get herself off the couch. She barely sleeps more than two hours at a time each night, her little bambino taking any and every opportunity to practice their gymnastics routine on her bladder, ribs, and lungs, so she takes any chance she can to nap. Killian keeps referring to his many apps to try and give her advice on how to combat her insomnia, but she thinks if she hears, “maybe some warm milk, darling,” one more time, she’ll snap, and her baby will be tragically born without a father.

Once she’s fully out of her sleep-induced brain fog, she hoists herself into a seated position, somehow, and reaches towards the coffee table where Killian left the paint swatches for her to peel over. It’s difficult to decide on a color when they still don’t know what they're having. The little yellow envelop still sits on the kitchen table, although it’s been shoved to the side in favor of mail and ultrasound pictures. For a while, she was tempted to open it up and find out who their little baby is, but Killian finally whispered into her neck one night that he thinks he wants to be surprised. The concept is nice, and far be it for her to ruin this for him, so she’s been going along with it.

Although, if she were to somehow find out, she wouldn’t be upset. It would probably make this whole nursery decoration thing a lot easier.

They decided together that they wanted the nursery to be nautical-themed. She figured it would be a cute and relatively gender-neutral way to decorate their baby’s first bedroom, and when she suggested it to Killian, his blue eyes lit up brighter than she’s ever seen them. The walls are still white, but she can’t decide if she wants to paint the wall with the window sky blue or a warm shade of gray.

“Hello, my darling,” her doting baby daddy greets gleefully as he enters through the front door, holding it open for David, who’s holding up a large and seemingly heavy box. Once the door is propped, he pulls the box while David pushes the other end, scraping it loudly against the textured tile floor until it’s inside.

“Hi.” The grin he wears is adorable as he rounds the coffee table and bends down to plant a kiss on her forehead.

“Good nap?”

She shrugs, laughing internally at the fact that he just knew she was napping despite the fact that she was doing dishes when he left. She watches him make his way back over to the box and quietly count to three before he and David hoist it and start walking towards the baby’s room. “This thing kept whacking me,” she says, gesturing towards her enlarged belly, “so I wasn’t able to sleep for long.” She finally stands from the couch and follows them into the nursery.

“Blasted child,” he grunts out, finally dropping the box to the floor with a slightly-too-loud crash as Emma winces.

“I think I want gray,” she tells him, hugging her dad with one arm once he’s catches his breath and stands up. “On the wall.”

“That’s a good idea,” David says in agreement. “Where are your scissors?”

“Next to the stove. It’s a nice gender-neutral color, don’t you think? I thought blue would be good but what if it’s a girl?”

“I believe that in this realm, girls can also like the color blue, but gray is a lovely choice as well, Swan. We can run out for the paint and start it tonight while your father’s still here.”

She smiles at him, striding over as best she can with her crampy calves protesting, and wraps her arms around the back of his neck. “Sounds like a good plan.”

He hums and smiles down at her, swooping in to press a gentle, chaste kiss to her lips. “I hope you at least got a bit of sleep. Little pineapple needs you well rested.”

She laughs lightly at his remark. Each week, he checks his pregnancy apps to see how big the baby is, and he then spends the week referring to it by whatever comparison he likes best. This week, it’s a pineapple. Killian had never tried one before, so they picked up a can during their weekly grocery haul, and he loved it. She can’t wait until they're able to get some fresh. “They're gonna have to cool it with the hip hop, then. I don’t even know how there’s any space left in there.”

“Aye, well, you now have more baby than amniotic fluid, so their movements are feeling sharper. Less of a— what was the word they used? — less of a cushion.”

“Is that why I saw a hand earlier, doctor Jones?”

“Did you?” he laughs excitedly, kissing the tip of her nose as he often does.

She nods, taking his hand off her hip and pressing it softly into the bottom of the left side of her bump. She often found that giving a few light taps encouraged the baby to tap back. Sure enough, the little turd gives his or her dad an enthusiastic high five. “This kid will not stop moving. We’re gonna have to enroll them in all the sports.”

“Hmm,” he hums. “Perhaps some rum on the pacifier will calm him down once he’s here.” He raises his brows in quick succession.

“Killian!” she swats at his chest.

“No one is giving my grandchild rum until they’re at least 35.” She spins back to the door, smiling still as her dad enters and starts to cut away at the excessive packaging. “Killian, I was thinking you could go grab the paint while Emma and I work on the crib, what do you say? Mom will be here soon so we can start painting once you're back.”

“Sounds reasonable, mate.”

“Ugh, forgot my drill in the truck. I’ll be right back.”

Killian walks around Emma so that he’s facing her again, brushing away a strand of hair that fell out of her top knot. “Which swatch was it, love?”

“It’s called Dolphin Fin.”

His face twists. “Nasty buggers, if you ask me.”

“But they do make a nice wall color.”

He chuckles and presses a soft kiss to her mouth, barely slinking his tongue along her bottom lip. “I’ll be back.”

“Okay, thanks. Love you.”

He freezes. Emma freezes.

What the hell? Did she seriously just say that?

He said it weeks ago. Months ago. She still hasn’t found it in herself to say it back, no matter how many times she’s thought it. Archie says she’s scared that if she admits it aloud, it makes it real, and it means that she risks losing him.

Too late to consider that now, she supposes.

Her heart is racing and her palms are sweating; the baby even stills it’s wiggles in her stomach, as if to say mom, what the hell are you doing?

He squeezes her shoulder after a moment of silence, and it’s as if he needed the time to take in what she said before he can respond. “Aye,” he says softly, more quietly than ever. “I love you, too, Emma.”

She already knew this, but that knowledge doesn’t stop the doubts as she asks, “really?”

“I thought it was rather obvious,” he laughs, “considering I’ve already told you.”

She laughs now too, tipping forward slightly (and not gracefully—she’s so front-heavy that once she starts going, she is physically incapable of stopping), pressing her forehead into his collarbone and breathing in the soothing scent of leather and new cologne. “I haven’t really said it to anyone since… well, it’s been a long time.”

“Aye,” he replies, running a hand down her back and pulling her as close to him as the bump will allow. “For me, too. It’s alright, darling. I love you, and I’m not going anywhere. Not even if you try and force me away.”

“I won’t,” she says against his skin. “And I… I love you, too.” It comes out in a whisper, and she’s never felt so scared and excited in her life—with perhaps the exception of learning that she was pregnant. With a man whom she loves.

She hears the squealing buzz of the drill coming from down the hall and lets Killian gently press on her shoulders to help her to an upright position.

“I’ll be back, Swan.”

She smiles as David enters the room and makes his way back towards the crib. “Oh, Killian!” Emma calls. He turns at the door and hums, raising a brow at her. “We’re out of Cheez-Its.”

“Bloody hell,” he mumbles as he makes his way into the hall. “How?”

“Thank you!”

~~~~

“This is a nice one,” David says once the crib is finished. Emma’s been wrestling with getting the fitted sheet over the little mattress for at least five minutes now, and it’s honestly ridiculous for her to be struggling this much. “You can adjust the height of the mattress as the baby gets bigger.”

She nods, finally succeeding over the damn thing and passing it towards her dad so that he can plop it into the crib.

“I do have good taste, I guess.”

“Yeah,” he agrees. “About that…”

“Uh oh,” she retorts awkwardly, “am I in trouble?”

He chuckles, walking over to her once the mattress is in place to rest a hand on her shoulder. “Quite the opposite, actually. It seems like you two are in a really good place.”

She nods, smiling as she leaves the nursery and makes her way to the kitchen for some water. All she can hear in the back of her mind is, “must stay hydrated, Swan.”

“We are.”

“I must say, it took a bit for me to get over my reservations about the pirate.”

“Oh, I remember how long it took,” she says, thinking back to her birthday and how much her father distained the idea of her inviting him.

“It may have taken a bit,” he continues pointedly, “but you two are going to be fantastic parents.”

She won’t cry, honest. “Thanks. We… well, we’re really excited. Everything happened kind of out of order, but we’re happy where we are, I think.”

“I can see that. And I'm sorry I ever pushed you towards Neal.” She nods. “If I had known last year what I know now…”

Before she can argue with him that they’ve already had this conversation, the door opens and Mary Margaret steps inside, carrying grocery bags filled with dinner ingredients.

Emma’s violent aversion to meatballs has subsided, and now she can’t get enough. They have at least a dozen in the freezer, but she still requested them for dinner tonight.

“Hi honeys!” Mary Margaret calls as David takes a bag out of her hand and guides her into the kitchen area.

“Hey,” Emma responds before making her way to the table just outside of the kitchen and taking a seat. She picks up the closest ultrasound printout and smiles at the baby’s strong profile.

Killian and David are wrapping things up in the nursery, almost finished painting with the door shut so that she wasn’t exposed to the fumes, and Mary Margaret closes the oven once the tray of meatballs are formed and placed on the rack.

“Oh, Emma, I just can’t wait to meet this little one,” her mother says over her shoulder, placing a gentle hand on the top of her belly.

“Me too,” she says with a grin. Her mother takes a seat next to Emma and pours herself a glass of wine.

“I have had a heck of a week. It’s like all of the kids pooled money for an espresso machine.”

“You're still liking being back at school though?”

“Oh, I’m loving it. It’s like being back where I belong.” Emma smiles and nods, waving in front of her at a fly that decided to make an appearance. “The nursery is going to be so cute, sweetie. Killian must love the theme.”

“Yeah, he does. I was mostly his idea. He wanted,” she swats at the air again, “damn fly. He wanted to raise the kid on the Jolly Roger without actually endangering them at sea.”

“So thoughtful. He’s gonna be a great dad.” Mary Margaret brushes her hand through the air too as the fly invades her space.

“He already is.”

“I know we’ve sort of had this discussion already, but—”

“Mary Margaret—”

“Just hear me out. Please?” Emma nods, giving her consent to continue. “Neal is a great father to Henry; I can’t doubt that. Ever since he came into his life, I’ve seen nothing love and care towards his son.”

“I know.”

“But that doesn’t change the fact that what he did to you 12 years ago is unforgiveable.” Emma nods in agreement. “And your father and I, mainly me, trying to push you towards him before we knew why you were so hesitant about him being back is unforgiveable.”

“Mary Margaret…”

“I’m not saying this because I want your pity or your forgiveness. I want you to know that I’m sorry. That I see the fault in my behavior, and I want to make up for it. I’ll never stop trying to be the best person that I can for you, Emma. I hope that Neal does the same for Henry. And I know that you and Killian will do the same for your child.” She pauses for a breath and a sip of wine, swatting at the fly again before continuing. “It’s something that doesn’t always come naturally to some parents, and I was honestly worried about Killian at first, but I can see now that it is coming naturally to him, and I’m so happy that the two of you are getting the opportunity to raise a child together. I wish I had accepted these feelings months ago.”

Emma isn’t really sure what to say. They’ve talked briefly about her past with Neal over the last few months, mostly about how Emma’s working on getting past it. Emma even brought Mary Margaret to a session with Archie once. But she’s never really heard the depth of emotions that her mother was experiencing.

“Thank you… that means—”

Mary Margaret swats a bit too animatedly and bumps her hand into her glass of wine, causing it to topple over and spill onto the table. “Oh shoot!” she jumps, reaching for the soiled mail as Emma heaves herself up for some paper towel. “I’m sorry, honey, let me get this.”

“It’s no big deal.”

“Oh, this is soaking through the paper. I’m so sorry. Can I take this stuff out of their envelopes? I don’t want whatever’s inside to get ruined.”

Emma nods as she rips a few pieces of paper from the roll.

Maybe she should’ve said no, though.

“Just a few bills and ads and other junk,” she says as she quickly discards of the wine-soaked envelopes. It’s all well and good until Emma’s making her way back to the table, rounding the kitchen island, and sees Mary Margaret tearing open that small yellow envelope.

“Wait!” she shouts, holding up a hand and hurrying over to the table, but it’s too late. Or, she’s incapable of moving any faster.

Mary Margaret gasps. So does Emma.

Written on the small piece of paper that her mother pulls out is the four-letter word Emma’s been thinking about for months.

GIRL, it says, with a bold line drawn underneath, as if the technician was excited to write it down.

“Oh my.” Her mother’s eyes blow wide.

“Oh my god,” Emma whispers, placing her hands over her mouth before thinking better of it and sliding them over her bump. Over her baby girl. “Oh my god.”

“Emma…” Mary Margaret starts, “I’m so sorry! I didn’t know it was in here!”

“Mom,” Emma laughs, tears pricking her eyes, and whispers, “it’s alright.”

“You’ve…” she walks over to Emma, placing a hand on her shoulder. “You’ve never called me that before, not really.” Mary Margaret’s eyes are glossy, too.

She laughs out a soft sob, brushing the tears from her cheeks. “It’s a girl.”

Mary Margaret nods, pulling her daughter in for a hug as tight as the two of them can manage. “Do you have any names?”

“No!” Emma laughs out again, sniffling. “Killian didn’t want to know, and I haven’t been thinking about it much. You won’t tell him, right?”

“No! It’s—”

“All set, Swan, you're allowed in the room in a week!” Killian calls from down the hall, making his way into the kitchen. She crumples up the paper she’s holding and shoves it between her boobs. Ouch.

She sniffles once again and spins around, too quickly so that she gets a little uneasy on her feet, smiling at him. “Thank you.” Mary Margaret takes the paper towels from her grip and brushes it over her own cheeks before she starts to blot up the wine.

“No worries, Swan, you don’t need to cry over spilt wine,” he says, walking to her and kissing her forehead before taking the reddened towels from her mother.

~~~~

She hit 36 weeks of pregnancy on Tuesday, and when wakes up from her nap the following Sunday, it’s to round ligament pain, cramps in her legs, her esophagus essentially on fire, and gas… oh god, the gas. Poor Killian.

“It’s really just the most contemptable thing, my love. Peter Pan was perhaps the most treacherous foe your daddy has ever faced. Well, aside from your mother on that damn bean stock.”

“You better not be soiling my baby’s image of her mother,” she says groggily with her eyes still shut. Her breath catches as she inadvertently discloses the sex of the baby, but Killian thinks nothing of it.

“Could be a boy,” he responds, and damn him for stealing her line.

She smirks, because no she couldn’t, but looks down at him. When she opens her eyes, she sees that he’s holding the copy of Peter Pan that she gave him for Christmas, his head resting on the pregnancy pillow that replaced him weeks ago next to her thigh, and he’s reading to her again.

He’ll be the best dad.

“You should be getting up soon, love. Regina still wants to take you to lunch.”

“I can’t believe that. When has she ever shown any interest in spending time with me?”

He shrugs, his shoulder bumping into her leg, and presses a gentle kiss to the bottom of her belly, close to where the baby’s head is resting.

A thought dawns on her then, fueled by his refusal to answer her. “It’s not a shower is it? It better not be a shower.”

“You could take a shower, I guess. But I think you smell nice.”

She rolls her eyes. “It’s a Sunday afternoon three weeks before my due date, Killian. If it’s a shower, I’ll kill you.”

“Please don’t threaten me with physical violence in front of my son,” he says seriously, and she laughs.

“Could be a girl.”

“Could be.”

~~~~

It was a shower.

Regina picked her up at 1:30 and drove her straight to town hall. She didn’t even try to disguise it.

“This was your mother’s idea,” she tells her apathetically as she parks in her front spot. Emma is glad to have such a short distance to walk, or should she say, waddle.

The hall is decorated similarly to how the nursery is, ornamental ropes and netting and shells scattered along the tables and blue and pink streamers cascading from the ceiling.

Everyone she’s ever known is there, and while she thought she would hate the attention, she’s actually happy to see all of the friends she’s made since arriving in Storybrooke. Even Anna and Elsa made their way over via portal from Arendelle.

Her mother also provided snacks and desserts, and Emma couldn’t be happier to have a big bowl of Cheez-Its sat in front of her for the entire party. There are also onesie decoration stations, polls for guessing the due date and gender, and plenty of games to keep everyone busy before cake and gifts. The cake was beautiful; Granny somehow created one in the shape of a ship’s wheel. Emma doesn’t cry, she doesn’t.

The guests for most of the shower are women, but at the end, David, Henry, and Killian arrive to say hello to everyone and help to pack up. She received so many things that she didn’t think she would need, but her parents also gave her the things she had planned on buying herself, like the stroller and car seat she’s been looking at.

She doesn’t cry. Really.

“Hi baby,” Killian says, bending to kiss the top of her belly, and then, “hi baby mama,” as he stands straight and kisses her chastely.

She laughs, taking his face between her two hands and kissing him back with a bit more heat, slipping her tongue against his and pulling his hair. There were a few weeks there when she didn’t really feel like sex, but for some reason that she isn’t questioning, her drive is back. Her doctor says it’s healthy, so she’s taking that knowledge and running with it.

“Easy tiger,” he says, “we’ve got company.”

She hums out a laugh, leaning her forehead against his. “Just hoping to induce labor. I don’t know how I’ll survive another three weeks and two days.”

He snorts and ignores her statement in favor of asking, “where would you like us to bring the gifts, my love?”

She grins at his addition of the word my and shrugs. “Home, I guess,” she teases.

“Your home or mine?”

Did she seriously forget that they don’t actually live together? Seriously?

“Oh, um…” she starts, taking a moment to consider her answer. There are so many things she could say. She could tell him to send the things to his house. To the baby’s house, because honestly, she knows that’s where the baby is living. But instead of being blasé about the situation, she thinks about what Archie would say. About how she could start putting herself and her needs first, without worrying about the consequences that she makes up in her own head. So, she softly says, “ours,” and looks at him timidly.

“Ours,” he repeats, breathing out a laugh and shaking his head lightly. “Really?”

She nods. “I think… well, I want to live with you. Officially. I know everything in life is uncertain, but I know for sure that I want to live with you and the baby. Full time. That is… if you—if you want that.”

There could have been a more romantic time or place to have this conversation. Her family and friends are running around trying to pack, she’s eaten more cake in the last hour than she cares to disclose, and she’s trying really hard to hold in a fart. But something about this feels right, and when she sees the grin that splits his face in two, she knows that she made the right call.

“Well, when you put it like that, I would love to live with you,” he says, leaning in towards her and kissing her so gently and passionately that she can feel it in her toes. He tries to pull her in closer, but the child between them makes it pretty difficult, so he laughs into their kiss and rubs his hand along the side of her bump. “Shall I tell Dave to move your things into your new abode, my darling?”

She laughs and swats at his chest before leaning in to kiss him once more. “That sounds perfect, baby daddy.”

~~~~

Emma’s been in labor before. She knows the difference between Braxton Hicks and actual contractions, but each time she stops where she stands and rubs her belly, breathing deeply, Killian rushes over and asks if it’s time. She knows he’s excited, and he seems pretty calm, but it for some reason, that agitates her.

“No, god dammit,” she would hiss, gritting her teeth through it, trying to shake it off. She knows that if it goes away when she moves, she’s in the clear. He doesn’t ever seem to know how to respond to her outbursts, so he just kisses her temple and goes back to what he’s doing. Usually, he’s getting her a snack.

At a few days shy of 39 weeks, she supposes she could be in a much worse mood.

She’s moved past the nesting stage and straight into obsessive planning and cleaning. She’s made Killian rearrange the nursery at least four times, moved the position of the bassinet in their bedroom twice, and has yet to decide what side she wants the car seat installed. At least he’s now had plenty of practice on how to properly install it.

The worst part is how anxious she is. She wants this baby to come out more than anything—revels in the idea of finally meeting the tiny life they’ve created. She wants to meet her daughter. But she also wants to keep her safe. How is she supposed to keep her baby safe if she isn’t inside her? She’s built a lovely home for this kid over the last 9 months, thank you very much.

So, every time she has a Braxton Hicks contraction, she panics a bit. Because as much as she wants to give birth and not be 9 months pregnant anymore, she’s absolutely terrified of the idea.

Sometimes, though, the late-term pregnancy symptoms are worse than the thought of staying pregnant forever. She could do without lightening crotch and weird discharge for the rest of her life and be perfectly content.

It’s her turn to consult the apps, searching for ways to encourage labor when the heartburn and pelvic pain become too much to bear, and while walks and exercise balls are nice ideas, her favorite suggestion is sex.

Killian was nervous when she started coming on to him, but he seems to enjoy himself based on the way he runs his hand along her body, presses his mouth against her heated skin, and tucks his throbbing erection tightly into her from behind and comes with a long, deep moan.

When they're finished and she’s panting with her knees and face pressed into the mattress and her ass in the air, she sighs. “Still nothing.”

“It’s not time yet, love,” he says soothingly to her left, running his hand along her arched back and landing it on her ass. “You can’t be comfortable like this.”

With her belly hanging down and resting against the mattress, she’s surprisingly comfortable, the pressure finally releasing from her hips, but she’s going to have lines pressed into her face if she doesn’t move soon.

“It’s almost time, though. I’m literally going insane over here. I can barely breathe from the heartburn and these huge feet shoving into my lungs. Can’t she just pop out a little early?”

“While I would love to be able to prove you wrong sooner rather than later, I think that he is enjoying his time in the safety of your womb, my love.”  

She snorts at his insistence and flops over onto her side so that her back is pressed to his front, his hand sliding around her to hold her huge belly.

“I’ll be full term on Tuesday. They can come out any time they want.”

“That’s still three days away, and then you’ll only be 39 weeks.”

“I can deliver at 39 weeks. I was 37 with Henry.”

His small strokes slow when he asks, “were you?”

She nods against his chest, feeling her eyes getting heavy and her breathing finally evening out a bit. “Can you get my pillow? I think I might actually fall asleep tonight.”

“It’s only 7:30.” She shrugs. “Of course, Swan.” He chuckles lightly, kissing the back of her neck and pulling away, replacing his missing body heat with a blanket and tucking her pillow between her knees.

When she wakes to a professional dance routine just before eleven, it’s to their empty bed, the soft glow of a light down the hall illuminating her path as she gets up. As she makes her way to the bathroom, she feels a warm trickle starting down her legs and suspects that her water must be breaking, and she nearly squeals in excitement.

Then she panics, because labor and delivery is no walk in the park, but she tries to focus on the fact that her baby is on her way.

In a few hours, she’ll get to meet her daughter. Their daughter.

How is she going to raise a kid from day one? Henry was easy, all the hard work was done for her and she was left with an awesome 10-year-old. This one is all on her, though.

Well, on them. Archie would ask her why she feels the need to burden solely herself.

Shit, they should’ve discussed names more seriously.

No way is she naming her child Gertrude.

Once she’s cleaned up both herself and the floor (as best she can by rubbing a towel against it with her foot), she knows she should be heading to the hospital soon to ward off infection or illness, but she also knows that she has a long road ahead of her, so she first heads out to the living room and grabs her phone from where she left it on the couch and shoots a text first to her mother, and then to Ruby.

“Swan?” she hears from the nursery. She starts to smile, but then she feels what she assumes is the start of a contraction and she stops in her place. The pressure and pain on her back and belly are strong, starting from the top of her bump and rolling down in a wave, but it’s over pretty quickly, so she isn’t too worried. Of course, Killian is worried, though. “Swan!”

“It’s—”

“Is it time? It’s too early! The baby isn’t done cooking yet, there’s still a week to go!”

“No,” she breathes out as she sits down on the couch, bringing him with her. “It’s okay, the baby is almost full term. If they're ready, they're ready.”

“it’s too soon, Swan. I thought we would have another week.”

“What difference is a week going to make?” she snaps, calming her voice as she continues. “It’ll just be more baby for me to push out. I’m perfectly okay with delivering now.”

This was new. Usually Killian was the cool and collected one of the two of them, but it appears he’s currently losing his mind over this. “I can’t…” he starts, his eyes darting in every direction and his brows practically hidden under his thick hair. “What if I can’t do it?”

“Killian…”

“I was… I didn’t have a father. Not really. How the bloody hell am I supposed to know how to be one myself? I’m no role model for a young lad.”

“You already are a father, Killian. You’ve been the most amazing dad to this baby since the minute you found out about them,” she sooths, taking his hand in hers and drawing it to her lips to kiss his knuckles.

“What if it is a boy, and I raise him to be like me?

“That wouldn’t be so bad, but—”

“Like the worst version of me?”

“No, baby, that’s not—”

“Swan, I don’t know how I’m supposed to do this. I can’t raise a child— I can’t raise a son.” He’s practically in tears, and she can feel his hand shaking in her grasp as his breath catches in his throat.

“Killian,” she says more firmly because, let’s face it, she doesn’t have much time for breakdowns here, and she grabs his cheeks between her hands. “There is not a doubt in my mind that you are, and will continue to be, the most amazing father that this baby could ever dream of having. You and me… we understand each other, remember? Neither of us know what it’s like to be raised by loving parents. But it’s a challenge that we’re going to face together. We get a chance to love this kid the way we wish we had been.”

He can’t seem to meet her eyes with his, either because he doesn’t want to, or because he worries that if he moves them the tears that are threatening to fall will begin to cascade down his cheeks. Something dawns on her then, though, and she realizes that the thought of having a son is weighing heavily on him. Before she can consider whether it’s a good idea or not, she opens her mouth. “I know you don’t think you're capable of being a father, but… well, that ship has sailed, Hook, and your daughter’s on it and waiting for you to jump on.”

He freezes, finally looking her in the eyes as the tears roll down. “My what?”

Emma smiles, running her hand gently along his cheek before leaning in to kiss his lips tenderly. “I’m sorry. I didn’t want to spoil the surprise, but I thought it might be helpful for you to know.”

He shakes his head and lets out a breath, saying, “it’s a girl?”

“I found out by accident a few weeks ago,” she nods, her nose rubbing along his. “Are you mad at me?”

He laughs breathily and kisses her, shaking his head. “How could I ever be mad at you?”

“I know, right?” she jokes, but this conversation has gone on for too long, and she feels the wave of another contraction starting. She forgot to check the time after the last one, so she isn’t able to tell how close together they are, but she knows more will come for her to track. “Ugh,” she says, breathing as deeply as she can. “What time is it?”

“11:16.”

“Count,” she demands. She continues to breathe deeply through circled lips as he sits by her quietly and rubs her knuckles with his thumb. “Okay,” she breathes out finally.

“That was about 26 seconds.”

“From when I told you to start counting?”

“Aye.”

She figures it’s safe to add 10 seconds and takes out her phone to mark it down. “We should go. I could still talk through that one, but my water broke, so I have to go to the hospital.”

“Your water broke? When?”

“When I woke up. Don’t worry, I cleaned it. Can you get the baby’s bag from the nursery, and mine from the closet? And don’t forget yours, too.”

~~~~

Her parents meet them at the hospital once they arrive, only after she shouted at Killian from the car about all of the things she thought she forgot. When they arrived, she realized she forgot deodorant, and it took a lot of convincing on Killian’s part to get her inside rather than turning the car around.

That doesn’t mean she didn’t send him to the gift shop to get her deodorant.  

“How am I going to change a diaper with a hook for a hand?” Killian asks in another panic during one of her fiercer contractions, and she squeezed his good hand so hard she thinks she might break it.

“Fuck!” she shouts through it, then glares at him once it subsides. “I’ll magic your fucking hand back on if it’ll make you happy, okay? Fuck.”

She’s panting and sweaty, but she wanted to wait a bit before she got the epidural. She isn’t sure why the hell she would do that.

“Do you think that’s an option?” he asks as he rests the cool, damp cloth on her forehead, and she sighs.

“I don’t know, Killian, maybe. Maybe we can ask Regina.”

“Maybe Gold would know,” her father pipes in, and Emma rolls her eyes.

“You're not going anywhere near Gold, got it? He’ll probably just manipulate you until he gets what he wan—ahh, fuck.”

Another wave starts and she reaches for Killian’s hand again, drawing a grimace from him. The poor thing. He would probably have an easier time with this process if he could switch hands between contractions.

“The doctor will be in soon, my love,” he says once it passes as he kisses her temple. “She’ll check you again and then you can get your epi— your epi—epinephrin.”

She breathes out a laugh as she drops her head back to the pillow, panting and closing her eyes. “It’s an epidural. Fuck, you're so cute. I love you so much.”

He laughs now, kissing her cheek and running his crushed hand through her matted, sweaty hair. “I know you're just saying that because of all the hormones, but I love you too.”

“Sorry I keep yelling at you.”

“It’s alright, Emma, I still quite fancy you.”

“Sweetheart, do you need more ice chips?” She had honestly forgotten that her parents were in the room. She wasn’t planning on having them with her the whole time, but she thought she might want the extra moral support.

“No, I’m fine, but can you guys do something for me?” she asks, now fixated on the idea.

“Of course, anything.”

“Can you go ask Regina about Hook’s hand?”

~~~~

A beautiful baby girl is born at 7:22 on the morning of June seventh. She weighs eight pounds and four ounces, and she’s 19 inches long.

She’s absolutely perfect.

She comes out screaming and crying, but relatively easily otherwise, and the second that Emma hears her cries, she breaks down into sobs herself and reaches for her daughter. She’s placed on her bare chest shortly after her birth, with Killian resting his head against Emma’s and crying softly into her hair as he looks down at their baby.

Emma has never felt such bliss and joy in her entire life.

The last time she was in this position, she was broken. She had been heartbroken by the person she loved, whom she thought loved her. She had been betrayed by the system that was supposed to protect her.

Now, she has her family, a man she loves by her side, and her chubby, beautiful, flawless daughter in her arms.

She has almost no hair, just a few light whisps at the top of her head, and Emma suspects that she may inherit her blonde locks. She hasn’t been able to see much of her eyes yet, but she suspects that she has Killian’s.

Killian takes the baby from the nurses once she’s been weighed and measured and cleaned, and Emma notices that he’s removed his hook. The way he cradles her like she’s more impeccable than the most precious piece of treasure he’s ever pilfered makes her heart skip a beat.

She’s floating on a cloud, or perhaps on a ship, and she couldn’t be calmer and happier than she is now. Although, perhaps that’s also thanks to the hormones her body is emitting.

Her parents appear after a while and coo over the new bundle of joy as Emma rests her eyes. She’s soothed by the sounds of her mother and father doting over their grandchild and praising her parents for how beautiful and perfect she is.

A few moments later, Henry arrives and immediately give Emma a hug, making her tear up. He sits on the bed with her as Killian places the baby in his arms, encouraging him to support her neck the same way that he learned to. (“This YouTube is a wonderful thing, Swan.”)

Henry brings Emma flowers, and says that his dad helped him pick them out from the gift shop. It doesn’t bother her as much as she thinks it could have, knowing that he’s here, or at least dropped off their son. She sees the effort that he’s making and appreciates that he hasn’t been around to bother her in several months. Henry is their kid, like it or not, and if Neal continues to put him first and leave everything else out of their coparenting relationship, then maybe they can bury the hatchet one day. Again, though, perhaps that’s the oxytocin talking.

She was thrilled to see her family and to discuss the new light of her life, but when Ruby and Granny walk in with a greasy paper bag, she almost jumps from the bed and launches herself towards them. She thinks better of it, of course, and once her hands are clean, she trades Granny the baby for the grilled cheese and onion rings. She even feels generous and shares a few with Henry.

Granny hugs Killian tighter than she’s seen her hug anyone. She looks down at the sleeping baby and back up at Killian and has tears in her eyes. It’s genuinely the most unexpected, beautiful relationship Emma may have seen in Storybrooke.

Regina makes a brief appearance when she comes to pick Henry up later and takes a quick look at their baby girl with a smile on her face. She wishes them congratulations and tells them that she’s beautiful, as if they didn’t know already.

In the late afternoon, when everyone has blessedly left and Emma starts to breastfeed their daughter again, Killian speaks from the chair next to her bed for what feels like the first time in hours.

“What are we going to call her, Swan?” He’s nearly whispering, the quietness of the room setting a soft and placid mood.

“I don’t know. She’s so beautiful and perfect, we need to find the perfect name.”

“So, Gertrude.”

“No!” If she was thinking clearly, she would know that he was joking.

He stands from the recliner and makes his way to sit at the side of her bed with her. He couldn’t stay away from the two of them, and she didn’t mind. “We’ll think of something, love,” he says with a kiss to her temple, then another to the tip of her nose, and then a final kiss to the top of the baby’s fuzzy head. “She looks like my mother.”

“Does she?”

He nods. “Just a bit. I think she may have my eyes.”

“I was hoping for that,” Emma says with a grin. The baby finishes eating and spits the nipple out, impatiently wiggling around until Emma can readjust her in her arms. Her behaviors in the womb seem to match those she’s displaying outside.

He kisses Emma’s head again, lingering his lips against her hair and breathing in deeply. “Did you just smell me?”

“Not intentionally, although you do smell delicious.”

“I’m sweaty!”

“Only because you just gave birth to the most beautiful being in all the realms. That makes you smell nice.”

“Shut up,” she laughs. “Don’t make me curse at you in front of my daughter.”

“Corrine,” he blurts out suddenly and with no preamble.

“Corrine?”

“Aye, Corrine.”

“It’s…” she looks down at the baby again, at her soft cheeks and sloped nose and her closed, puffy eyes, and smiles. “It’s perfect. How did you come up with it?”

He shrugs, dropping a kiss to her shoulder this time. “You just kept saying ‘we have to think about names, Killian’, so I thought about names. Didn’t you?” He’s smirking at her, the cheeky bast—so and so.

“Not really,” she laughs. “I just knew I kind of wanted the middle name to be Ruth, after my dad’s mother.”

“Corrine Ruth. It’s rather fetching.”

“Corrine Ruth Jones,” she nods with a smile, looking down at her and running a finger along her fair brow.

Killian stills, his jaw stiffening against her head. “Jones?” he asks tightly.

“What, now you’re questioning her paternity?” The baby, Corrine, opens her eyes and looks up to Emma as if to confirm that she is most definitely a Jones. Or perhaps to tell her to be quiet, she’s trying to nap.

“No,” he says softly, touching a finger to the silky skin of Corrine’s cheek and nose. “No, look at these eyes,” he laughs. “I just didn’t realize… I know that in your realm, it’s customary to give a child it’s father’s surname, but I also know that tradition is fading in popularity…”

She sighs contentedly, leaning her forehead against his and kissing his cheek. “I always wanted her to have your name. Jones is a little more dignified than the name I gave myself when I was ten, anyway.”

“I am a rather dignified fellow.” He laughs, and she nods. “Are you sure, love?” he asks with less confidence.

“Positive.”

~~~~

“Are you ready?”

“Aye.”

“Are you sure about this? You can still change your mind.”

“I’m sure, Swan.”

Corrine tuts happily in response from her rocker in the living room. At five weeks old, Emma and Killian have found that she’s happiest when she’s moving; she settles down almost immediately when being rocked or gently bounced, but as soon as the motion stops, she’s squirming and fussing just as she was in Emma’s stomach. They purchased a rather expensive rocker a few days after she was born and found it to be life changing.

“Is your daddy ready, angel? Is he?” Emma makes her way over to Corrine from the kitchen and coos at her. “Is he ready to have his hand back, baby girl? Hmm?” She responds in kind with a kick and a contented blubber, and Emma can’t resist unstrapping and picking her up to smack a succession of kisses to her chubby cheeks and still bald head. She was born with some extra fat around the edges, and after just over a month, she’s put on plenty more. She’s a very, very good eater.

“I’m ready, love. Think about how much easier your life would be if I could change a poopy diaper on my own.” Never in her life did Emma think she would hear Captain Hook utter the phrase poopy diaper, never mind want to change one himself.

“Okay, I just don’t want you to feel like you have to do this, you know? This has been a part of you for years.”

“Aye, I know, darling, but… Captain Hook is no more. He’s retired, if you will. I want to move on with my life; from that time in my life.”

She nods, understanding what he means. When they discovered from Regina that Emma should have the ability to return his lost limb, they thought long and hard about it. Killian was quiet for the last few weeks as he seemed to consider his options, but after not too long, he told her that this is what he wants. “I want to hold my daughter with both hands, love.” Emma was the one to put it off, nervous to mess it up.

Now, though, they have the disturbing jar from Gold’s shop, courtesy of Belle, sitting on their kitchen table, and she’d like to get the ominous Halloween decoration away from their baby sooner rather than later. “Ugh,” she says. “I can’t believe he kept it.”

She places Corrine back in her rocker and straps her in safely before making her way back to the kitchen, hesitant to look at the floating hand for too long. She thinks back to what Regina told her, delving into her magic as deeply as she can before it feels right. She waves her hand in Killian’s direction, feeling the magic flowing from her core in a string towards him.

Before she knows it, he’s raising his arm and wiggling the fingers of his left hand between them. “You did it, love, thank you,” he says with a smile. He walks to her and touches her cheek with his newly returned hand, grinning at her brightly as he lets it travel into her hair. “I’ve been wanting to do this since the moment I met you.”

She leans into his touch before pressing a kiss to his palm, trying to ignore the fact that it was just in a jar of Rumpelstiltskin’s creepy magic water. “I love you,” she says, taking his hand in hers and leaning in to kiss his lips. “Now go pick up your daughter with that thing. I think it’ll change your life.”

“You're just saying that because, if my nose is correct, she needs a change,” he says, although his tone is far from annoyed.

She nods back at him, kissing him one more time before turning him around and pushing him towards her. “Maybe, but it’s your right as her father. One that you’ve been sorely missing out on over the last few weeks. I’m just looking out for you.”

“You always are, aren’t you, my love?” he asks, and once he’s undone her buckles, he wraps his hands around her middle, supporting her head with his left hand. He breathes out meaningfully once he pulls her from her seat and lifts her towards his face, pressing a lingering kiss to her forehead. “I never thought I’d be here,” he says softly, rocking her gently as he keeps his lips close to her cheek, his eyes closed.

“I know,” Emma says, making her way towards the two of them and rubbing one hand up his back and reaching the other around him to stroke a finger along her fuzzy bald head. “Me either.”

“You’ve given me so much, love. Everything I never knew I needed.” His voice is thick with emotion, and Emma can feel her own throat tightening. “There was a time centuries ago when I thought I wanted to be a father, but after everything… I just never thought it would happen. I never thought I’d be in a place where I was actually in love with the mother of my child.” She blushes at his evocative words, reaching her arms around his waist from behind him and pressing a kiss to his back between his shoulder blades. “I love you,” he says, turning in her arms. “Thank you.”

With Corrine starting to wiggle between them due to his stillness, he laughs lightly and begins to sway back and forth within Emma’s arms, and she reaches up onto her toes and kisses him softly.

Before she knows it, he’s leading her, somehow, in a gentle dance through the living room, softly humming some song she’s never heard before. Her eyes meet Corrine’s— they still match Killian’s— and she leans her forehead against his chest so that her face is just above their daughter’s. Even with the unfortunate smell suspended between the two of them, everything is perfect.

~~~~

~~~~

Tagging: @courtorderedcake @kmomof4 @stahlop @klynn-stormz @laschatzi @emelizabeth88 @lfh1226-linda @kday426 @profdanglaisstuff @elisethewritingbeast @timeless-love-story @captain-emmajones @gingerpolyglot @ebcaver @ilovemesomekillianjones @teamhook @superchocovian @itsfabianadocarmo

[coreastories]

Modern Royals: 10 Times the King and Queen of Corea made ahjummas ugly-cry over their romance

You know what this author loves about Corea? The delightful mix of tradition and modernity

I mean, in this country, you have visiting and dining etiquette, respectful address etiquette, and countless other delicious customs steeped in tradition. Catholicism with its millennia-old ceremonies is also a favored religion

On the flipside, this country has rock-solid laws on divorce, equal rights, and zero tolerance for  rape and abuse or discrimination of ANY sort

I’m quite in love with this country. Its people are well taken care of

And of course, the biggest deliciousness for me are Their Majesties

Shrouded in privacy and that same tradition I just mentioned, the king married the queen in July

In the course of a few weeks since the wedding, the queen endeared herself to her people, and even made friends with the Prime Minister, a formidable woman who was herself previously linked to the King (entirely one-sided pursuit on her part)

It’s now October, and we’re happily expecting the first royal baby in May!

I’ve seen some colleagues in the media voice that thought we’ve all had: “They didn’t take long.” 

I’ve also seen comparisons with Meghan Markle and Prince Harry and Baby Archie, who was born only a few days shy of his parents first anniversary. Corea’s royal baby will be born two whole months before his/her parents’ first anniversary. 

So this little article seems absolutely timely!

It sounds trite, I know, but lists are all the rage these days. Add Corea’s royal romance and this article will pay for my office’s bills for two months.  

This is with sanction from the Royal Public Affairs Office, who I’ll never cross, and who also gave me some background where they could or would.  

1. Who can forget the breathless kisses in New Zealand? 

Well, they made us breathless. Taken from Chateau Maryleone-- a security breach that apparently got people fired. If it was originally a video footage, we don’t know. Only the photos were spread online. 

The world is in love with this smiling kiss. 

The Royal Public Affairs Office’s only comment here is: “We’ve found the parties involved and they have been summarily dealt with.” 

You can see why I would never dream of crossing them. 

2. The snuggle at Pyeongyang Children’s Hospital

The new digital diagnostics wing was inaugurated in July. If this author remembers right, two of the queen’s photos made it to a list of 7 Times the Queen of Corea Stole Our Hearts with Her Smile. 

Children, parents, media, and hospital staff loudly showed their approval of the queen then, and she had laughingly and shyly accepted it. 

Reports have emerged that the queen was quite overwhelmed, and had actually retreated to a room with the king. It was one of the new consultation rooms of the new wing, with glass windows. 

People saw the queen seek refuge in the king’s arms, hiding her face in his chest, and the king cradling her against him, arms around her, one hand stroking her hair. 

We don’t have photos, because none of the witnesses dared. But they’ve all reported and demonstrated it. I’m sighing here. 

3. The hand-in-pocket cuteness when we visited the palace before Queens Day 

You’ve read about this in the Royal Twinkle, of course! 

4. Turning up late and blushing during Queens Day

You also remember this from our recent report. Their Majesties turned up late for their scheduled appearance, and then the king was just a giggling mess in the dim part of the stage (stage right), and the queen just looked at him, blushing. 

The Royal Public Affairs Office almost had no comment, but remarked that the king and queen are newlyweds. Well, that’s exactly and the ajhummas and I said, didn’t we. 

5. Another hand-holding-and-tuck, also during Queens Day 

Remember the king looking anxious whenever the queen was onstage, despite the queen being surrounded by the Royal Guard? 

We have eyewitness reports from people closer to the stage, who have craned their necks or ducked between people’s onstage legs to get a glimpse of the king and queen whenever the guards surrounded them. 

Apparently, the king invariably fetched the queen in the same way. He would go on stage, take her hand with his left and hold her hand against his chest while his right hand and arm tucked her securely against his side. 

I love a man who’s so enamored of his wife he takes hold of her with both hands. 

6. The distraction during the Opening of Parliament in Seoul  

The Opening of Parliament is a series of ceremonies dating back to 1945, when the parliament was first established. We were hoping to see the queen accompany the king, but she had stayed in Busan-- and we now know the reason why, don’t we? 

In one of these ceremonies, the king was supposed to signal the Usher to open the door to summon the Ministers into Parliament.  

But the king had seemed transfixed by a bunch of forget-me-nots included in the predominantly blue flower arrangement in the Parliament’s subdued decorations for the occasion. 

Sources say the king had a fond expression on his face, and his eyes were, according to the reports, shining, like he was near tears. 

The Royal Public Affairs Office had no comment. It seems the significance of the forget-me-nots remains a secret between the King and Queen.  

Since then, forget-me-nots in pots and seeds and cultivars have sold out across the kingdom.  

7. Every time they step out of the car

This is an event people of Corea have come to watch, even more so than the actual events the king and queen attended. 

Unlike other royals who get their doors opened for them, the queen gets her door opened by none other than the king. 

It always happens this way. A member of the royal guard opens the king’s car door, the king steps out, and then he goes around the car to open the queen’s door. 

And then we watch with bated breath as the queen swivels in her seat to bring both legs and feet outside the car. The king’s hand is already waiting, and she takes it with one of hers. 

He helps her to her feet and then just smiles at her for long moments, head tilted to her, whether or not she’s also looking at him or is already distracted by the crowds. 

And they hold each other’s hands until they absolutely have to let go. Duties be damned. They’re working royals, yes, but they’re married and in love! 

It’s become a game among members of the media and event organizers to attempt to prolong that hand holding as long as possible. 

Ministers of Parliament and their wives-- the more popular ones-- always seem to have planned on holding something in their hands so that they only bowed to the king and queen and Their Majesties didn’t have to offer to shake hands. 

It’s ridiculous and yet delicious, the way this romance has united the country like this, both Parliament and public besotted with them.  

Their Majesties hold hands so romantically too. Their grip is always so visible, like they’re constantly gently squeezing each other’s hands. 

Corean celebrities and their own significant others imitate this on red carpets, calling it the royal handhold. 

8. An actual kiss after the Bureau of Fire Protection Annual Gala

No wonder the gala raised nearly a billion won. The queen had turned up unexpectedly, remember? 

And we’ve had matching stories from eyewitnesses who saw the queen’s car pull up to take her back to the palace. At the time, the Royal Guard had taken care of crowd control, to make sure only the queen was leaving at the time, with no other car waiting or leaving. 

But the gala had been held in a converted warehouse in Clearwater Bay, and as such, a doorway was practically an entire absent wall, so plenty of people had a vantage point of seeing the king stepping out of the car. 

The queen was visibly surprised to see him, and then she was gently greeted with a kiss before being just as gently ushered into the car. 

9. Every time the king broke the order of precedence-- and he continues to do so 

For state and diplomatic events, the order of precedence protocol dictates that the queen consort follows two steps behind the king. If they have a son, the crown prince will be next in line, literally, after the king, overtaking the queen consort unless His Majesty gives a king’s order about it. 

That king’s order is only a matter of time. I very much doubt the king or his heir will let the queen trail after them. 

Since their marriage, we’ve witnessed the king and queen attend two state events and one diplomatic event: the investiture of the re-elected Prime Minister in July, the 383rd anniversary of King Yeongjeong’s Defeat of the Qing Invasion in early August, and a return visit from Victoria, Crown Princess of Sweden. 

The PM’s investiture was held in the Royal Audience Hall, and the king and queen arrived when everyone was already seated. 

The anniversary was commemorated in King Yeongjong’s Memorial in Yeongjong Park in Busan, where Their Majesties were driven right up to the blue carpet leading to the memorial statue. 

For Crown Princess Victoria’s arrival, the king and queen publicly welcomed her at Busan Airport, with the heir of Sweden and Their Majesties of Corea walking toward each other to give and accept welcome.

In all three events, the king does walk ahead at first, but then he always stops and waits for the queen, turning back to her and putting an arm around her upper back. Then they walk side by side, or even with the queen slightly ahead of the king. 

We’ve seen the queen give the king a look, but the king just smiles at her, a restrained close-mouthed smile, or an outright grin, which was what he wore when they met Crown Princess Victoria, who is a friend. 

10. A hug after a long day in Busan. There’s so much love inside the palace. 

This one is from the Royal Public Affairs Office, captioned, “The king meeting the queen in the grounds after a long day.”

If you’ve been to the palace grounds for Queens Day, you will recognize this clock. It’s in the part of the extensive gardens open to the public, and it has a little coffee shop where you can taste the palace’s appointed teas, coffees and cakes.

The print came to us exactly like that-- it’s not the fault of our scanners. Perhaps it’s a stolen shot and our dear Mr. Jang Mi-reuk hastily took it and then made the photo grainy and overexposed when he hid his phone again? Who knows. 

And who cares?! 

Look at how the king holds the queen as if they’d been apart for days or weeks rather than hours. The press of his head to hers, the curl of his body around hers, and that hand cradling the queen’s head-- these all speak of his love for her, and I’m melting. 

That royal baby is going to be such a beloved baby. The royal parents certainly don’t shy away from displaying that love. 

I don’t want to leave Corea. I want to follow this happily ever after today and forever. 

More to come! Stay tuned. 

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